Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/2/2020

Greek authorities have sealed off a refugee camp after 21 migrants residing there tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus. Meanwhile, the mayor of Palermo in Sicily said that anyone who does not obey the lockdown order will be guilty of mass murder. Also, the worldwide number of coronavirus cases has now passed the one million mark. And the annual Wimbledon tennis match has been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War.

In other news, the number of gun sales in the USA during March was more than 2.5 million, an all-time record.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Thucydides, 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
» Citigroup, an Admitted Felon With a History of Abusing Customers, is Handling Billions From the Stimulus Bill
» Instead of Firing Everyone, Boeing Offers “Voluntary Buyouts” To Its Entire Workforce of 161,000
» Poland: GDP Growth in 2020 May Reach 0-0.5 Pct if Crisis Ends in May — Finmin
» Record-Shattering 6.6 Million Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week
 
USA
» 44 University of Texas Spring-Breakers Test Positive for Coronavirus
» America’s 234-Year-Old Shock at Jihad
» Bay Area Man Sentenced for Chinese Espionage
» Boeing 787s Must be Turned Off and on Every 51 Days to Prevent ‘Misleading Data’ Being Shown to Pilots
» Bye Bye 2nd Amendment: Virginia Man Charged for Shooting Masked Intruders
» CA Gov. Newsom Says Trump Has Been “Responsive” To Coronavirus Needs: “I’d be Lying to You to Say” Otherwise
» Candace Owens Says She is Running for Office: “They Won’t Know What Hit Them”
» Coronageddon: Pentagon Ordering 100,000 Body Bags
» Coronavirus Deaths Top 5,000 in U.S.
» Democrats Form Committee to Investigate Trump’s Handling of Coronavirus Pandemic
» Dozens of Spring Breakers Have Tested Positive for Coronavirus
» End the Shutdown
» Epstein Survivors Slam UK’s Sun Over Ghislaine Maxwell Coverage
» Fauci Says Lockdown Will Continue Until There Are No “New Cases” Of Coronavirus
» Gavin Newsom: We Will Use Pandemic to Fundamentally Change America
» He’s Back: Schiff Demands 9/11-Style Commission on Trump’s Coronavirus Response
» Hospital Worker Faces Twitter Cancel Mob After Saying ‘Whores’ Shouldn’t Visit Er to Get Std Checks During a Pandemic
» Ilhan Omar Uses Violent Quran Passage to Respond to Criticism About Affair
» Internal Documents: Monsanto Knew for Years Their Products Damaged Farms
» Jeff Bezos to Donate $100 Million to Food Banks Struggling Because of Coronavirus
» ‘Less Time on Your Ridiculous Impeachment Hoax’: Trump Rebukes Schumer Over Coronavirus Response
» Mainstream Media Hoax Exposed: Hospitals in America Not What They Are Saying
» March Shatters Gun Sales Records, More Than 2.5 Million Sold
» Media Lies: Coronavirus Edition PT. 2
» Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Uses Team Jet to Bring 1.2 Million Masks From China to U.S.
» Police App Encourages People to Report Neighbors Who Violate Stay at Home Orders
» Rush Slams Media for Hysterical Reporting of Coronavirus Hospitalizations
» SAF Rips ‘Everytown’ Anti-Gun Rights Memo Backing Gun Shop Closures
» Shocking Parallels Between V for Vendetta and Coronavirus Pandemic
» Televangelist Kenneth Copeland Names and Claims End of COVID-19: “it is Finished. It is Over.”
» The Crisis Has Exposed the Damage Done by Government Regulations
» The Senator Who Saw the Coronavirus Coming
» V for Vendetta: The Coronavirus Endgame
» Video: Woman Threatens to Call Police on Neighbor for Violating Lockdown
 
Europe and the EU
» Brits Warned to Keep Flashlight Handy in Case of Coronavirus Power-Out
» Coronavirus Deaths Pass 50k as Italy’s “Curve” Continues to Flatten: Live Updates
» Czech Republic Prolongs Air and Land Border Controls With Austria and Germany Until April 24
» Donald Tusk Suggests Orban’s Fidesz Party Should be Expelled From EPP
» Dutch Government Paying Influencers to Urge People to Stay Home
» EU Divided: Eurosceptic Capitals Face Huge Fines After ECJ Says They Broke Migration Laws
» Europol: Criminals Adapting and Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Outbreak
» Finland: Short Sentences for Muslim Grooming Gang Who Raped 12-Year-Old Girl
» French Govt Blamed for Not Saving Factory That Produced Millions of Medical Masks
» Guardian Calls for Massive Guest Worker Program in the UK Amid Global Pandemic
» Italian Catholics Join Americans in Asking Leaders to Restore Sacraments
» Italy: ‘Hardest Talks Ever With EU’ Says Di Maio
» Italy: Coronavirus: Sick Being Treated With Blood of Recovered in Pavia
» Italy: Coronavirus: Deaths Rise by 760, No of Infected Up 2,477
» Italy: Governor Accused of Racism for Wanting to Test Travellers From China
» Italy: Sicilian Mayor Says Obey Lockdown or You Will be Guilty of ‘Mass Murder’
» Over 10,000 French Police Officers Quarantined Over Coronavirus Infection Fears
» Populist Leaders Voice Support for Orban’s Emergency Law
» Run on Coronavirus ‘Bonus’ Crashes Italian Social Security Website
» Same Liberals Who Destroyed the Earth With Coronavirus Are Now Condemning Hungary
» Somalis Top the List of New Norwegian Citizens
» UK Health Service Expecting Just Thirty New Ventilators of Thousands Promised This Weekend
» UK PM Johnson Still Showing Symptoms of COVID-19
» UK: Coronavirus Forces Wimbledon Cancellation for First Time Since WWII
» UK: Former Government Adviser Says Over-90s Shouldn’t be ‘Clogging’ Hospitals
» UK: Private Labs Urged to Do Coronavirus Testing Amid Criticism of Govt Strategy
» UK: Thief Imprisoned for Stealing Personal Protection Equipment From London Ambulance
» UK: Temporary Morgue the Size of Two Football Pitches Being Built in London
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Israeli Coronavirus Fatalities Are Mostly Elderly Men, Average Age 79.8
 
Middle East
» In Sharjah, A 40-Mn-Dollar Gas Storage Facility
 
South Asia
» Recent Attacks Highlight Atrocities Against Sikhs and Hindus
» Reports: King of Thailand Self-Isolating in Germany With 20 Female Servants
 
Far East
» Asian Cardinal: China Has ‘Primary Responsibility’ For Coronavirus Pandemic
» City of Shenzhen Bans Eating Cats and Dogs, First in China to Do So
» Half of World Population Now on Lockdown
» John Lennon’s Son: ‘Official Media Have Lost Their Legitimacy, ‘ They Quote CCP
» Medical Teams Raise Alarm to Extra Risks Faced by Diabetics From COVID-19
» Report: China Continues Attacks on Christians During Pandemic
» The True Scale of China’s Medical Stockpile is Revealed: More Than Two Billion Masks Were Imported Into Wuhan in Just One Month as the Coronavirus Crisis Escalated
» World Hits 1 Million Confirmed Coronavirus Cases
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Will Ship 1 Million Litres of Alcohol to Taiwan in Exchange for Three Tonnes of Material Used to Make Face Masks
» ‘I’m as Happy as a Pig in Mud’: Aussie Spends His $750 Stimulus Payment on a Carload of Vb Beer — But the Move Sparks a Fiery Debate
» Man Armed With a Whip Goes on a Racist Rant Outside Chinese Consulate in Sydney and Accuses Visitors Wearing Masks of Spreading Coronavirus
» Nigerian Romance Scammer Who Conned an Australian Woman Out of More Than $100,000 is Spared Jail
» Peter Dutton Accuses Cruise Ship Operators of Lying About the Number of Coronavirus Cases on Board — and Says Passengers Could Start Dying at Sea Without Proper Checks
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Military-Style Gangs Terrorize South African Gold Industry
» South African Cops Storm Cape Town Church to Expel Migrants
 
Latin America
» Exclusive: Aussie Doctor, 71, ‘Faces Almost Certain Death’ on Stranded Cruise Ship After Being Asked to Test Passengers for COVID-19 When on-Board Medic Fell Ill
» Military Going After Deep State’s Cartel Piggybank
 
Immigration
» German Officials Now Pushing to Import Migrants, House Them in Hotels Amid Pandemic
» Greece Seals Off Refugee Camp After 21 Migrants Test Positive for Coronavirus, Beginning With a Woman Who Gave Birth at an Athens Hospital
» Slovenia: Left Opposes Border Protection Amid Pandemic
» Sweden: Pro-Migrant Protest Goes Ahead Despite Coronavirus
» Sweden: 12-Year-Old Boy Stabbed to Death in School in Immigrant Ghetto
» Turkey: Migrants Will Return to EU Border After Virus Crisis Ends
» UK: That’s More Like it! Border Force Officials Finally Don Face Masks to Process Another 24 Migrants Caught Trying to Cross Channel — a Day After Doing Their Job Barefaced
 
Culture Wars
» Absurd: Dem Lawmaker Claims Coronavirus a ‘Gendered Crisis’
 
General
» Why Sleep is Vital During a Pandemic
 

Citigroup, an Admitted Felon With a History of Abusing Customers, is Handling Billions From the Stimulus Bill

Yesterday CNBC reported that Citigroup is one of the banks selected by the Small Business Administration to handle billions of dollars earmarked in last week’s stimulus bill to help small businesses get back on their feet and keep their employees paid during the coronavirus crisis

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Instead of Firing Everyone, Boeing Offers “Voluntary Buyouts” To Its Entire Workforce of 161,000

When Boeing requested a $60 billion bailout from the US government a few weeks ago, the implicit assumption was that the company may get some of this funding as long as the chronic stock repurchaser did not engage in layoffs. That, however, did not stop the brilliant financial alchemists at the aerospace giant who for the past 7 years turned debt lead into buyback gold, and instead of issuing a record amount of pink slips, Boeing generously offered voluntary buyouts to its entire staff of 161,000, in a bid to shed costs and adapt the massive manufacturer to a coronavirus crisis that could depress the aircraft market for years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Poland: GDP Growth in 2020 May Reach 0-0.5 Pct if Crisis Ends in May — Finmin

In the positive scenario that the ongoing coronavirus crisis is over by the end of May, Polish GDP growth in 2020 might reach 0-0.5 percent, Finance Minister Tadeusz Koscinski told public radio on Thursday.

“If we come out of this crisis by the end of May I think we will still be on 0-0.5 percent, positive,” Koscinski said. “But if we’re talking about late May and June then we will enter a negative scenario,” he added.

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

Record-Shattering 6.6 Million Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week

A record-shattering 6.64million Americans filed for unemployment last week, doubling the record set last week as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy.

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

44 University of Texas Spring-Breakers Test Positive for Coronavirus

Forty-four students from the University of Texas have tested positive for coronavirusafter spending two weeks in Mexico for spring break, a university spokesman told CNN Wednesday.

Approximately 70 students in their twenties flew to Mexico for spring break, ignoring White House orders to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, as well as nonessential air travel.

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

America’s 234-Year-Old Shock at Jihad

When will we — or at least the rest of us — learn?

by Raymond Ibrahim

Exactly 234 years ago this week, two of America’s founding fathers documented their first exposure to Islamic jihad in a letter to Congress; like many Americans today, they too were shocked at what they learned.

Context: in 1785, Muslim pirates from North Africa, or “Barbary,” had captured two American ships, the Maria and Dauphin, and enslaved their crews. In an effort to ransom the enslaved Americans and establish peaceful relations, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—then ambassadors to France and Britain respectively—met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Britain, Abdul Rahman Adja. Following this diplomatic exchange, the Americans laid out the source of Barbary’s hitherto inexplicable animosity in a letter to Congress, dated March 28, 1786:

We took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the grounds of their [Barbary’s] pretentions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. The ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise…

           — Hat tip: Thucydides [Return to headlines]
 

Bay Area Man Sentenced for Chinese Espionage

OAKLAND — A former Bay Area tour operator was sentenced to four years in prison for serving as an unregistered agent for China’s Ministry of State Security in a scheme to use “dead drops” to pick up digital memory cards from a source and take them to China.

Xuehua Edward Peng, 56, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Oakland. He was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Peng pleaded guilty on Nov. 25, 2019, to acting at the direction and under the control of ministry of state security officials in China. If convicted at trial, he could have faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[Comment: Article dated March 17, 2020.]

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

Boeing 787s Must be Turned Off and on Every 51 Days to Prevent ‘Misleading Data’ Being Shown to Pilots

US air safety bods call it ‘potentially catastrophic’ if reboot directive not implemented

The US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered Boeing 787 operators to switch their aircraft off and on every 51 days to prevent what it called “several potentially catastrophic failure scenarios” — including the crashing of onboard network switches.…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bye Bye 2nd Amendment: Virginia Man Charged for Shooting Masked Intruders

‘This is very sad for America.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CA Gov. Newsom Says Trump Has Been “Responsive” To Coronavirus Needs: “I’d be Lying to You to Say” Otherwise

California Gov. Gavin Newsom commended President Trump during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, saying the president has been “responsive” to the state’s needs during the pandemic.

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

Candace Owens Says She is Running for Office: “They Won’t Know What Hit Them”

Controversial conservative pundit Candace Owens announced on Thursday that she is planning a run for office, telling commentator Glenn Beck that she’s “eyeing a seat right now” and that she fully intends to win it.

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

Coronageddon: Pentagon Ordering 100,000 Body Bags

The Pentagon is aiming to provide 100,000 body bags to FEMA for civilian use as the coronavirus outbreak explodes in the US, according to reports.

Bloomberg News notes that FEMA has been directed to the Defense Department to secure a frightening number of ‘Human Remains Pouches’.

Two sources familiar with the order said that the Pentagon has a stockpile of 50,000 body bags, which it is seeking to double.

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

Coronavirus Deaths Top 5,000 in U.S.

The number of deaths from the coronavirus in the United States grew to 5,000 on Wednesday as the number of confirmed cases rose to 200,000.

The fatalities for Wednesday alone surpassed 1,000, more than double the number usually recorded for deaths by lung cancer and influenza combined, according to reports from USA Today. Some researchers estimated that deaths from the coronavirus could top 2,000 per day by mid-April.

Five more states — Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, and Pennsylvania — also added or expanded stay-at-home order. Michigan extended a declaration of a state of emergency originally set to end on April 7.

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

Democrats Form Committee to Investigate Trump’s Handling of Coronavirus Pandemic

Congressional Democrats have formed a committee to investigate President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, promising to “examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus,” including how relief money is spent and whether the president has engaged in “political favoritism.”

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

Dozens of Spring Breakers Have Tested Positive for Coronavirus

Two weeks ago, around 70 spring breakers from the University of Texas at Austin went against the advice of the White House and chartered a plane to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to party. Now, 44 of them have tested positive for coronavirus according to a university spokesman.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

End the Shutdown

The lasting and far-reaching harms caused by this authoritarian precedent far outweigh those caused by the COVID-19 virus

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Epstein Survivors Slam UK’s Sun Over Ghislaine Maxwell Coverage

Survivors of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking network have blasted The Sun for relying on second-hand news about his ‘bottom girl’ Ghislaine Maxwell.

The group have written a letter to the editor stating they are relying on news about the gone into hiding ‘madam’ from a socialite called Laura Goldman.

Kirby Sommers, who began the ‘Open Letter Project’ is an author and sex slave survivor, she said Laura Goldman is “not a reliable source as one of the men she harassed and threatened to kill, labelled her the most unbelievable pathological liar on the face of the earth.”

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

Fauci Says Lockdown Will Continue Until There Are No “New Cases” Of Coronavirus

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci says that the United States will not come out of lockdown until there are no “new cases” of coronavirus, prompting some to question precisely how long that will be.

During yesterday’s White House briefing, Fauci, who has become the face of America’s response to the coronavirus, was asked by a reporter whether social distancing measures will be imposed until there is a drug or vaccine to treat COVID-19.

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

Gavin Newsom: We Will Use Pandemic to Fundamentally Change America

(RED STATE) If anyone is taking this outbreak seriously, it’s definitely not the Democrats. As Republicans and many Americans are focusing on rebuilding our economy while trying to figure out when that will be, the Democrats are focusing on two things: using the crisis to hurt President Donald Trump and do a lot of social engineering.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is definitely going to utilize the Democrat motto of “never let a crisis go to waste” to, as he says, to usher in a “new progressive era.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

He’s Back: Schiff Demands 9/11-Style Commission on Trump’s Coronavirus Response

Partisan hack who led failed impeachment coup looking for another way to investigate president.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hospital Worker Faces Twitter Cancel Mob After Saying ‘Whores’ Shouldn’t Visit Er to Get Std Checks During a Pandemic

A woman who works in a hospital faced the fury of a Twitter cancel mob after she dared to suggest that people shouldn’t be visiting ER to get STD checks while nurses and doctors are overwhelmed with the coronavirus pandemic.

“To the little WHORE that came in the HOSPITAL for a ing STD check in the middle of a ing PANDEMIC. GO TF TO HELL,” the woman tweeted.

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

Ilhan Omar Uses Violent Quran Passage to Respond to Criticism About Affair

On Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) quoted a violent passage from the Quran calling for false accusers to receive a flogging of eighty lashes. She was responding to a Quran quote condemning adultery with another quote condemning those who falsely accuse “chaste” women of adultery. Her response was particularly rich given her recent marital history.

Omar tweeted “Subhanallah,” a celebratory phrase that roughly translates to “May Allah be exalted!” A Twitter user rained on her parade, tweeting a Quran quote condemning adultery.

“‘Nor come nigh to fornication/adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).’ —Qur’an, Sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayat 3,” Retawa Agnihotri tweeted.

Omar responded with the tweet about flogging.

“‘And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiqoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah)’ [al-Noor 24:4],” she tweeted.

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

Internal Documents: Monsanto Knew for Years Their Products Damaged Farms

According to internal documents, Monsanto and Germany’s BASF knew their products would destroy farms in the United States. The firms disregarded the risks even while they planned on how to profit off farmers who would buy Monsanto’s new seeds just to avoid the damages caused by their products.

The documents (some of them date back more than a decade) have been uncovered during a recent successful $265 million lawsuit brought against both firms by a Missouri farmer. The internal documents were seen and released by the Guardian. They also revealed how Monsanto opposed some third-party product testing, in order to curtail the generation of data that might have worried regulators. In some of the internal BASF emails, employees were even joking about sharing “voodoo science” and hoping to stay “out of jail.”

“The documents are the worst that I’ve ever seen for any case that I’ve worked on,” said lawyer Angie Splittgerber, a former tobacco industry defense attorney who works with farmers who are suing Monsanto and BASF. “So many of them put things in writing that were just horrifying.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Monsanto has been caught trying to hide the damages that are done with their products.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jeff Bezos to Donate $100 Million to Food Banks Struggling Because of Coronavirus

Amazon founder and CEO announced on Instagram on Thursday that he will donate $100 million to Feeding America, a nonprofit that helps food banks.

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

‘Less Time on Your Ridiculous Impeachment Hoax’: Trump Rebukes Schumer Over Coronavirus Response

President Trump issued a rebuke of Sen. Chuck Schumer over his actions to help his home state of New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump accused the New York Democrat of providing “incorrect soundbites,” which he claimed were “wrong in every way,” in a letter he sent Thursday.

Schumer, who has appeared on television multiple times this week, urged Trump to establish a czar with a military background to oversee the production of medical equipment. Trump responded on social media shortly thereafter, saying that the administration already has “a military man in charge of distributing goods, a very talented Admiral.”

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

Mainstream Media Hoax Exposed: Hospitals in America Not What They Are Saying

Is the coronavirus scare a false flag, or is this the calm before the storm?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

March Shatters Gun Sales Records, More Than 2.5 Million Sold

More than 2.5 million guns were sold in March, nearly doubling the amount sold the same month last year, according to an analysis of FBI background check data released on Wednesday by Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting.

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

Media Lies: Coronavirus Edition PT. 2

Fake News doing its best to drum up hysteria amid pandemic.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Uses Team Jet to Bring 1.2 Million Masks From China to U.S.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has dispatched the team jet to Shenzhen, China, to secure 1.2 million N95 medical masks for United States health workers to safely combat COVID-19.

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

Police App Encourages People to Report Neighbors Who Violate Stay at Home Orders

How do you encourage people to turn on each other during the COVID-19 pandemic? The answer is not that complicated, especially if you live in the City of Bellevue, Washington.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rush Slams Media for Hysterical Reporting of Coronavirus Hospitalizations

‘If you listen to the media and Drudge you’d believe there’s not a hospital bed to be found,’ he says.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

SAF Rips ‘Everytown’ Anti-Gun Rights Memo Backing Gun Shop Closures

BELLEVUE, WA — The Second Amendment Foundation today responded to a memorandum issued by ‘Everytown Law,’ an arm of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety gun prohibition lobbying group, calling the document “totally biased” and written solely to support the emergency closure of American gun stores, using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Shocking Parallels Between V for Vendetta and Coronavirus Pandemic

Tyrannical technocrats release virus to put humanity under the boot.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland Names and Claims End of COVID-19: “it is Finished. It is Over.”

Televangelist and prosperity preacher Kenneth Copeland “named and claimed” the end of the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, saying, “It is finished. It is over. And the United States of America is healed and well again.”

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

The Crisis Has Exposed the Damage Done by Government Regulations

The shortages and lack of flexibility caused by government red tape during the COVID-19 crisis has forced many governments to rethink their many arbitrary and unnecessary regulations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Senator Who Saw the Coronavirus Coming

(NATIONAL REVIEW) While others slept, Tom Cotton was warning anyone who would listen that the coronavirus was coming for America.

On January 22, one day before the Chinese government began a quarantine of Wuhan to contain the spread of the virus, the Arkansas senator sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar encouraging the Trump administration to consider banning travel between China and the United States and warning that the Communist regime could be covering up how dangerous the disease really was. That same day, he amplified his warnings on Twitter and in an appearance on the radio program of Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

V for Vendetta: The Coronavirus Endgame

Was COVID-19 predicted by Hollywood?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Woman Threatens to Call Police on Neighbor for Violating Lockdown

A video posted to Facebook shows a woman threatening to call the police on her neighbor for violating the coronavirus lockdown.

The clip is titled ‘When your nosey neighbor catches you leaving during the lockdown’ and shows an angry woman confronting a young man as he sits behind the wheel of his car.

“Your ass is grass, you understand?” says the woman as she waves her phone at the man.

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

Brits Warned to Keep Flashlight Handy in Case of Coronavirus Power-Out

UK Power Networks has told customers to store flashlights and warm clothes nearby in case there is a power outage during the coronavirus pandemic.

The electricity distribution operator, which manages networks for 8.3 million homes and businesses in London and in the East and South East of England, advised customers in an email on Tuesday on how to stay safe during a powercut.

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

Coronavirus Deaths Pass 50k as Italy’s “Curve” Continues to Flatten: Live Updates

Italy received more encouraging news on Thursday when the country’s Civil Protection Agency revealed that new cases and deaths continued to level off. For Wednesday, Italy reported 4,668 new cases of COVID-19, and 760 new deaths. This brought Italy to a total of 115,242 cases and 13,915 deaths.

The deaths brought the global total over the top to 50k. And although deaths and cases continued to “flatten”, Italy’s mortality rate remained disturbingly high, at 12.1%.

The outbreak has forced the Italian medical community to innovate to try and protect health-care workers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Republic Prolongs Air and Land Border Controls With Austria and Germany Until April 24

The Czech Republic has decided to extend land border controls with Austria and Germany and air border controls which were set to expire on April 4, for another 20 days, as it estimates they are vital to combat the novel Coronavirus crisis.

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

Donald Tusk Suggests Orban’s Fidesz Party Should be Expelled From EPP

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Fidesz party may need to be expelled from the European People’s Party (EPP) after the Hungarian government extended the country’s state of emergency powers, suggested Donald Tusk, the former Polish Prime Minister and current president of the EPP.

Tusk also called the extension of the state of emergency during the coronavirus crisis as “politically dangerous and morally unacceptable”, which prompted a fierce response from Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa.

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

Dutch Government Paying Influencers to Urge People to Stay Home

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Dutch government has decided to implement the use of influencers to promote staying indoors, RTL news reports.

Internet content influencers are still cashing in on every opportunity to post new content. Now they’re using their positions to spread information that urges people to stay home.

Recently, when Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was asked about paying influencers during a debate on the current corona-measures, he acknowledged not knowing anything about his government contracting influencers to spread the ‘stay at home’ message.

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

EU Divided: Eurosceptic Capitals Face Huge Fines After ECJ Says They Broke Migration Laws

THREE European Union capitals face being slapped with monstrous fines after being found in breach of EU law for refusing to home their share of refugees after the 2015 migrant crisis.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic had “failed to fulfil their obligations under European law” after they failed to comply with a decision to shelter refugees in line with national quotas. They “can rely neither on their responsibilities concerning the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security, nor on the alleged malfunctioning of the relocation mechanism to avoid implementing that mechanism,” the Luxembourg-based court said today in its binding ruling.

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

Europol: Criminals Adapting and Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Outbreak

The European Union police agency Europol has released a report claiming that criminals are adapting and taking advantage of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak through cybercrime, fraud, and counterfeit medical goods.

The agency stated in their March 2020 report that criminals across Europe were using the virus outbreak to carry out phishing email campaigns in order to install malicious software on victims looking for information on medical supplies and coronavirus.

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

Finland: Short Sentences for Muslim Grooming Gang Who Raped 12-Year-Old Girl

A Finnish court on Tuesday handed eight men who abused and raped the same girl in the Northern Finnish town of Oulu incredibly short sentences.

The rapes occurred on several occasions when the girl was just 12 to 13 years old. The perpetrators had met the young girl on social media, coaxed her into meeting up, and then sexually assaulted her, Finnish news outlet Helsingin Sanomat reports.

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

French Govt Blamed for Not Saving Factory That Produced Millions of Medical Masks

French union Solidaires Côtes d’Armor has criticised the government for not saving a factory that produced millions of FFP2 masks before it shut its doors in 2018.

The factory, which operated in the commune of Plaintel near the city of Saint-Brieuc, was owned by the U.S. corporation Honeywell which not only closed the factory but also destroyed the equipment used to make the masks, the union said.

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

Guardian Calls for Massive Guest Worker Program in the UK Amid Global Pandemic

As the coronavirus pandemic surges and a period of mass unemployment ensues, Britain’s left-wing Guardian magazine is calling on the government to fly in tens of thousands of laborers from eastern Europe into the UK.

“Charter flights to bring in agricultural workers from eastern Europe are needed as a matter of urgency, otherwise fruit and vegetables will be left unpicked in Britain’s fields,” the Guardian reports.

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

Italian Catholics Join Americans in Asking Leaders to Restore Sacraments

Italian Catholics have launched a petition asking bishops to restore Masses and the other sacraments to the faithful during the coronavirus lockdown, joining a similar movement in the United States.

“We appeal for the recognition of the personal need of every member of the Catholic faithful to participate in the Holy Mass so that each person can actively worship while respecting the current legislation,” reads a petition created by Save the Monasteries, a Catholic advocacy group, and signed by a number of clergy and laypeople.

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

Italy: ‘Hardest Talks Ever With EU’ Says Di Maio

Italy must be allowed to spend freely to help people says FM

(ANSA) — Rome, March 30 — Italy’s wrangle with some European Union partners over using ‘coronabonds’ and complete budgetary freedom to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus is “the most difficult negotiation that Italy has ever had at the EU level,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Monday after an EU summit ended in stalemate last week with leaders taking two weeks to try for a deal.

Rome rejected northern countries’ call for the use of the European Stability Mechanism while northern deficit hawks rejected a call from Italy and other southern European countries for the new Euro bonds and for Stability Pact deficit rules to be totally waived.

Di Maio said Monday that Italy was “raising its voice not because we are Euroskeptics or out of arrogance.” He said “Italy is not to blame for this pandemic, and must be able to spend everything necessary to help its people”.

On the virus fight, Di Maio added that “our doctors, our nurses, are our outpost in this war”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Coronavirus: Sick Being Treated With Blood of Recovered in Pavia

Treatment being tried at northern city’s Policlinico Hospital

(ANSA) — Pavia, April 2 — Several coronavirus patients at Pavia’s Policlinico Hospital have received the plasma of patients who have recovered from the virus, sources said Thursday.

The hospital has started testing plasmotherapy in collaboration with other local health bodies.

The first two donors were doctors from Pieve Porto Morone near Pavia, a husband and wife who were the first to contract and be cured of the virus in the province of Pavia.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Coronavirus: Deaths Rise by 760, No of Infected Up 2,477

Overall number of COVID-19 cases in Italy is 115,242

(ANSA) — Rome, April 2 — The civil protection department said Thursday that 83,049 people are currently infected with the coronavirus in Italy, 2,477 more than Wednesday. The daily rise in the number of people infected was 2,937 on Wednesday.

The department said 13,915 people have now died with the coronavirus in Italy, 760 more than Wednesday. Wednesday’s daily rise was 727.

It said 18,278 people have recovered from the coronavirus in Italy, 1,431 more than Wednesday. Wednesday’s rise was 1,118.

The overall number of people to have been infected in Italy, including the deceased and the recovered, is 115,242.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Governor Accused of Racism for Wanting to Test Travellers From China

The Governor of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, has said that he was accused of being a racist in February when he suggested that travellers coming from China should be tested for the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Fontana, who is a member of Matteo Salvini’s nationalist Lega party, revealed the response to his warning during a debate in the Regional Council on Tuesday, according to a report by La Repubblica. He claimed that when he had suggested that people arriving from China should be tested for the virus on February 3, he was assured by Italy’s Left-wing Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, that the country was in no danger of a mass outbreak because the medical system was too well-prepared for it.

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

Italy: Sicilian Mayor Says Obey Lockdown or You Will be Guilty of ‘Mass Murder’

ROME — The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, has released a video message warning citizens to stay in their homes during the coronavirus lockdown or they will be responsible for “mass murder.”

“The Minister of the Interior corrected the decree by specifying that the order to stay at home has not changed,” the mayor said. “The Minister of Health has extended the emergency throughout Italy until April 13. Obey, stay at home, in Palermo and Sicily.”

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

Over 10,000 French Police Officers Quarantined Over Coronavirus Infection Fears

Over 10,000 police officers across France are in isolation due to fears they may have the Wuhan coronavirus, according to a police union which said there had been 257 confirmed cases so far.

Stanislas Gaudon, the spokesman for the police union Alliance, announced on Tuesday that 10,131 officers were in confinement. He stated that the union had been telling French authorities since late February that officers working on the front lines need medical masks.

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

Populist Leaders Voice Support for Orban’s Emergency Law

Although the government of Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has come in for a great deal of criticism internationally since it passed the emergency Coronavirus Protection Law on Monday, Orban is receiving equal amounts of praise from Right-wing populists across Europe.

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

Run on Coronavirus ‘Bonus’ Crashes Italian Social Security Website

ROME — Hundreds of thousands of Italians raced to apply for a 600-euro coronavirus bonus Wednesday, crashing the website for Italian social security (INPS).

The Italian government has offered 600 euros of “emergency income” to self-employed workers with an annual income below €35,000, which was to become available Wednesday by filing an application on the nation’s social security website. A rumor went viral on social media, however, that the funds would be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and the concentrated volume of traffic overwhelmed the system.

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

Same Liberals Who Destroyed the Earth With Coronavirus Are Now Condemning Hungary

Yesterday, the Hungarian Parliament granted emergency powers to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to deal with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Many in the international media have been claiming that this gives him dictatorial powers. The truth, however, is very different. We’ve said it so many times already we’re tired of repeating it over and over […]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Somalis Top the List of New Norwegian Citizens

13,200 foreign nationals were given Norwegian citizenship in 2019, almost 3,000 more than were given citizenship in 2018, according to the Norwegian Bureau of Statistics.

Nine out of ten of those who were awarded citizenship last year came from non-European countries, and almost eight of ten were from Africa or Asia, Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen reports.

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

UK Health Service Expecting Just Thirty New Ventilators of Thousands Promised This Weekend

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is set to receive just 30 new ventilators to combat the growing coronavirus crisis at the weekend, according to reports. It is expected to need 30,000.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who is co-ordinating the British government’s coronavirus response, said the country’s socialised healthcare system would receive the “first of thousands” of life-saving ventilators at the coming weekend, but reporters appear to have been taken by surprise after receiving hard figures on the size of that first batch — suggesting either poor communications by Downing Street or a poor grasp of government semantics by the mainstream media.

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

UK PM Johnson Still Showing Symptoms of COVID-19

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is still showing symptoms almost a week after he announced he had the new coronavirus.

Johnson’s spokesman says the prime minister “continues to have mild symptoms.”

Johnson said Friday he had tested positive for COVID-19 after developing a fever and a cough. He said he was following U.K. health officials’ advice to self-isolate for seven days.

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

UK: Coronavirus Forces Wimbledon Cancellation for First Time Since WWII

(AP) — Wimbledon was canceled Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since World War II the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament won’t be played.

Wimbledon was canceled Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since World War II the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament won’t be played.

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

UK: Former Government Adviser Says Over-90s Shouldn’t be ‘Clogging’ Hospitals

A former British government official says people older than 90 should not be “clogging” the hospital system amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The remark by professor Sir David King, who was the chief scientific adviser under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, drew an immediate rebuke from the the U.K.’s Christian Institute.

“The elderly and vulnerable can often feel uncertain about whether their lives are still worth living and fear becoming a burden to those close to them,” said Ciaran Kelly, deputy director for communications for the organization.

“All human beings are made in the image of God and have a special, intrinsic, value regardless of how old or able-bodied that life might be,” he said. “People should not be valued purely in terms of their benefit to others or what society gains from their existence.”

The Telegraph of London reported King was urging “frail, elderly people to consider refusing hospital treatment” because “their chances of survival were slim.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Private Labs Urged to Do Coronavirus Testing Amid Criticism of Govt Strategy

The government is under increasing pressure to ramp up coronavirus testing after UK death tolls exceeded 2,000, and has now resorted to reaching out to private facilities in hopes they can work creatively to fill the gap left by inadequate state planning.

The United Kingdom saw her biggest single increase in fatalities with 563 people dying as of 5 pm, Tuesday, taking the official deaths from the Chinese virus to 2,352.

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

UK: Thief Imprisoned for Stealing Personal Protection Equipment From London Ambulance

A thief has been imprisoned for stealing personal protection equipment (PPE) from a London ambulance, at a time when health workers are facing widespread shortages of the crucial matériel as a result of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

35-year-old Mark Manley, of no fixed abode, was described as having been “jailed for six months at Croydon Magistrates Court” for the crimes of “stealing equipment from a stationery ambulance” and assaulting a security guard in a Metropolitan Police statement.

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

UK: Temporary Morgue the Size of Two Football Pitches Being Built in London

While the UK is working on building field hospitals in convention centres across the UK to deal with an increasing number of patients, emergency coronavirus measures are also taking into account the projected rise in deaths with the founding of temporary morgues.

A temporary morgue is being built in the London borough of Newham which will “act as a holding point” before burial or cremation, in anticipation of a surge in deaths in the capital.

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

Israeli Coronavirus Fatalities Are Mostly Elderly Men, Average Age 79.8

Most of Israel’s coronavirus fatalities have been elderly men with underlying medical conditions, in line with global averages.

The average age of Israel’s dead was 79.8 years old as of Thursday afternoon. Of the 34 dead, 21, or 64 percent, were men, and 13 were women.

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

In Sharjah, A 40-Mn-Dollar Gas Storage Facility

To manage internal production after Emirati deposits discovered

(ANSAmed) — NAPLES, MARCH 30 — The Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) has awarded a 40-million-dollar project to build a gas storage facility at the Moveyid field, said Gulf News. It said the facility will be built by Petrofac Facilities Management International in the Sharjah emirate of the United Arab Emirates.

The facility will be the UAE’s second large gas facility of this type, following the one in Dubai, and completion is expected in 2021.

The project aims at self-sufficiency for the emirate in production and management of gas supply for the internal market.

“The whole idea of a gas storage project came from managing the huge seasonal variations in gas demand,” said Hatem Al Mosa, CEO of SNOC.

“A storage facility would stabilise this,” he said.

The project features a high-pressure compressor facility, a high-pressure pipeline, and flow lines to four existing wells in the area. “The project will allow us to store excess gas in the winter to satisfy peak summer demand,” Mosa said. “It will also provide a readily available strategic reserve to respond to unexpected issues,” he said.

The project was initially planned in 2003 for storing imported liquified natural gas, but the recent discovery of gas deposits in the Sharjah emirate changed plans, which are now devoted to internal production.

SNOC and Italian oil and gas giant ENI announced the discovery of a large gas deposit in the emirate at the start of the year.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Recent Attacks Highlight Atrocities Against Sikhs and Hindus

by Ezzatullah Mehrdad

Gurnam Singh and his Sikh community recently held a religious gathering to pray for those overcoming the coronavirus in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. Children, women, and men of the minority religious group in the Muslim-dominated country were praying for health and wellbeing for others in their small temple on Wednesday, March 26 when tragedy struck.

Six-Hour Siege of Sikh Temple in Afghanistan’s Capital

When the ceremony reached its momentum, an Islamic State militant dressed in a local police uniform killed a Muslim guard and entered the temple brandishing a weapon. The militant began shooting at civilians trapped inside the temple complex and also tossed grenades into the crowd of worshipers. He took Afghan Sikhs hostage while exchanging fire with the Afghan security forces.

The six-hour-long siege killed 25 members of Afghanistan’s Sikh community. Gurnam Singh lost five family members in the vicious massacre.

“It is possible that this attack leads us all [Sikhs and Hindus] to leave Afghanistan,” said Gurnam Singh, the head of temples of Sikhs and Hindus in the country. Singh added that since last year’s attack, 150 members of these communities had left the country.

The Islamic State in Afghanistan — known as the Islamic State of Khorasan Province — is a violently extremist Sunni Salafist Islamic group that has repeatedly attacked minority groups in Afghanistan including Shiite Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.

In a recent example from July of 2018, Hindus and Sikhs were traveling to a gathering attended by President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangahar province. An Islamic State bomber struck a vehicle belonging to Hindus and Sikhs, killing 17 of them, including their candidate for the Afghan parliamentary election…

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

Reports: King of Thailand Self-Isolating in Germany With 20 Female Servants

King of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn is currently self-isolating from the Chinese coronavirus in a luxury hotel in Germany with an entourage of 20 concubines and female servants, local reports claimed this week.

While the majority of hotels in Germany are closed as a result of the nationwide quarantine, the 67-year-old is believed to have booked out the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl in the Alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen after local officials gave him “special permission” to do so, according to the German tabloid Bild.

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

Asian Cardinal: China Has ‘Primary Responsibility’ For Coronavirus Pandemic

The president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences said Thursday that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has “primary responsibility” for the global coronavirus pandemic and owes the world “compensation for the destruction it has caused.”

There is “one government that has primary responsibility for what it has done and what it has failed to do, and that is the CCP regime in Beijing,” writes Cardinal Charles Maung Bo (pictured), the archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, which borders China.

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

City of Shenzhen Bans Eating Cats and Dogs, First in China to Do So

The city of Shenzhen has officially banned the consumption of cats and dogs, the first municipality in China to do so, officials announced on Thursday.

The law, which goes into effect May 1, is meant to address concerns that the eating of unusual animals, including wildlife, is what led to the coronavirus pandemic that began in China and has since spread to the rest of the world.

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

Half of World Population Now on Lockdown

A new curfew in Thailand meant to help curb the spread of the coronavirus now means that half of the world’s population — more than 3.9 billion people — have been asked or ordered to stay at home.

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

John Lennon’s Son: ‘Official Media Have Lost Their Legitimacy, ‘ They Quote CCP

(CNS NEWS) Sean Ono Lennon, the son of the late-Beatles band member John Lennon, criticized the media on Twitter this week, stating that so-called “respectable” journalists had been “quoting CCP [Chinese Communist Party] official numbers for months without doubt or hesitation.”

He also derided their selective outrage over where the coronavirus originated — Wuhan or China — and whether it is “racist” to label it a Chinese virus. In the end, he said, “The official media have lost their legitimacy.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Medical Teams Raise Alarm to Extra Risks Faced by Diabetics From COVID-19

Patients with diabetes were over-represented in China who become severely ill, died

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Report: China Continues Attacks on Christians During Pandemic

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has continued its crackdown on Christian house churches as the world reels under the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, according to a report Wednesday from Bitter Winter.

In February, the Religious Affairs Bureau of the northeastern province of Jilin issued a document calling on authorities to “rectify” house churches, which are deemed illegal by the government.

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

The True Scale of China’s Medical Stockpile is Revealed: More Than Two Billion Masks Were Imported Into Wuhan in Just One Month as the Coronavirus Crisis Escalated

China secured more than two billion masks and 25 million pieces of protective clothing from overseas before the coronavirus outbreak reached pandemic levels, it has been revealed.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

World Hits 1 Million Confirmed Coronavirus Cases

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide surpasses 1 million on Thursday after doubling in less than a week, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has the greatest number of confirmed cases by a factor of two over the next country, Italy.

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

Australia Will Ship 1 Million Litres of Alcohol to Taiwan in Exchange for Three Tonnes of Material Used to Make Face Masks

Australia has agreed to send Taiwan one million litres of alcohol to make sanitiser and vaccines in exchange for three tonnes of material to make face masks.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘I’m as Happy as a Pig in Mud’: Aussie Spends His $750 Stimulus Payment on a Carload of Vb Beer — But the Move Sparks a Fiery Debate

He was one of the first Australians to receive the one-off payment from the government to ward off a looming recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Man Armed With a Whip Goes on a Racist Rant Outside Chinese Consulate in Sydney and Accuses Visitors Wearing Masks of Spreading Coronavirus

The man was captured screaming ‘F**king racist commies’ at a queue of Asian people wearing facemasks outside the building in Camperdown, in Sydney’s inner west on Monday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Nigerian Romance Scammer Who Conned an Australian Woman Out of More Than $100,000 is Spared Jail

Nigerian student Kelechi Emeh, 33, avoided a jail cell after pleading guilty to his role in a sophisticated scam which defrauded Queensland woman out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Peter Dutton Accuses Cruise Ship Operators of Lying About the Number of Coronavirus Cases on Board — and Says Passengers Could Start Dying at Sea Without Proper Checks

Eight cruise ships have been locked in a stand off with the New South Wales government for nearly three weeks after refusing to leave Australian waters and go back to their country of origin.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Military-Style Gangs Terrorize South African Gold Industry

by Daniel Davis

South Africa is having a gold problem, and it’s not a shortage or excess, but rather gangs who carry out ‘gold raids.’ The groups loot mines and smelt houses, and even take hostages, Engineering News & Mining Weekly reported.

Higher Prices Draw More Gangsters

Gold prices are at record highs, making mining operations prime targets for bandits. In 2019, Minerals Council South Africa reported 19 armed raids, up from 10 the previous year.

“These incidents are almost always associated with intimidation and physical abuse of staff and contractors, and have also included hostage taking,” read a report from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. Last year, two fatalities were recorded.

The bandits are typically armed to the teeth with AK-47 and R6 assault rifles, moving in groups of 15 or 20 raiders. In December, a raiding party target Gold Fields Ltd.’s South Deep mine and made off with $500.000 worth of stolen goods…

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

South African Cops Storm Cape Town Church to Expel Migrants

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South African police wearing riot gear forced their way into a church in central Cape Town on Thursday to remove hundreds of foreign migrants who had been sheltering there for months.

The operation at the Central Methodist Church was aimed at ending a long standoff between the group of foreign nationals and city authorities. The migrants refused to leave the church and had previously demanded that South Africa relocate them to other countries, including the United States and Canada, because they had been victims of xenophobic threats in South Africa last year.

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

Exclusive: Aussie Doctor, 71, ‘Faces Almost Certain Death’ on Stranded Cruise Ship After Being Asked to Test Passengers for COVID-19 When on-Board Medic Fell Ill

An elderly Australian doctor trapped on a cruise ship off the coast of Uruguay faces almost certain death, his family fears.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Military Going After Deep State’s Cartel Piggybank

Mexican drug cartels put on notice.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

German Officials Now Pushing to Import Migrants, House Them in Hotels Amid Pandemic

Leftist politicians working to flood Germany with more migrants during crisis

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Seals Off Refugee Camp After 21 Migrants Test Positive for Coronavirus, Beginning With a Woman Who Gave Birth at an Athens Hospital

Greece on Thursday sealed off a migrant camp near Athens after 21 of its residents tested positive for the coronavirus.

The outbreak was first detected after a pregnant woman, believed to be of African origin, being held at the Ritsona camp gave birth in a hospital in Athens.

Sixty three people were subsequently tested for the virus at the camp, of which 20 tests came back positive though the infected were not showing symptoms.

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

Slovenia: Left Opposes Border Protection Amid Pandemic

Slovenia’s Left-wing parties are opposing the decision of the new Right-wing populist government to take emergency measures to protect the border in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Social Democrats are concerned that the government’s activation of Article 37A of the Defense Act, which empowers the military police to guard the border, will trigger “insecurity and fear” in the Slovene populace. “The situation with migrants is far from comparable to that of 2015. 13 EU countries, 6 founding countries, called for measures to be proportionate even during the epidemic,” MEP Tanja Fajon of the Social Democrats wrote in a tweet, according to a report by Slovenia’s Nova24TV.

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

Sweden: Pro-Migrant Protest Goes Ahead Despite Coronavirus

Police are allowing demonstrators to gather every day.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: 12-Year-Old Boy Stabbed to Death in School in Immigrant Ghetto

A 12-year-old boy has died after he was stabbed at a school in the immigrant ghetto Kortedala, in Northern Gothenburg, by a fellow pupil of the same age.

After being stabbed in the neck on March 30th at a school parking lot in an area Swedish police regard as one of the country’s 22 “very vulnerable areas”, also known as no-go areas, the young boy later died in the hospital from the injuries he sustained during the attack, SVT reports.

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

Turkey: Migrants Will Return to EU Border After Virus Crisis Ends

Once again, Turkey has threatened to send more migrants westward to the European Union’s border as soon as the global COVID-19 pandemic which originated in Wuhan, China has ended. Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced this week that his government removed nearly 6,000 migrants from the Greek-Turkish border region and moved them to nine Turkish […]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: That’s More Like it! Border Force Officials Finally Don Face Masks to Process Another 24 Migrants Caught Trying to Cross Channel — a Day After Doing Their Job Barefaced

Border Force officers have been pictured wearing face masks to intercept migrants trying to cross the English channel — a day after they were seen without any protective gear.

Around 24 migrants, including at least one minor, have been picked up off the Kent coast today, according to reports.

It is believed two rigid-hulled inflatable boats, each carrying 12 people, were intercepted by Border Force near Dover.

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

Absurd: Dem Lawmaker Claims Coronavirus a ‘Gendered Crisis’

Social justice dogma at odds with fact more men dying from virus than women.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Sleep is Vital During a Pandemic

With the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been many who have suggested a good night’s sleep as a way to boost your immune system to protect you from the infection. Sleep is vital, and there are several reasons why.

Your body needs an adequate amount of sleep to fight of infections. That included the coronavirus. If you are losing sleep because of fear (and it’s hard not to when the mainstream media is pumping it out right now 24/7) you aren’t doing your body any favors. Studies show that people who don’t get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as the common cold (rhinovirus). Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

19 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/2/2020

  1. “Italian Catholics Join Americans in Asking Leaders to Restore Sacraments” it’s irresponsible to go to church these days, they should just come up with something like online masses and, most importantly, faith is something you have to carry inside you, not inside the pastor or the church. Especially in times like these it should strenghten you, not weaken you because you’re not able to see the other church-goers from your community for a few weeks. I didn’t think Christians in the West were THIS weak…

  2. If invaded we would resist?. Wouldn’t we? We are ready? Aren’t we? With more than paper money and free services of all kinds? Yes?

  3. This may be a symptom of terminal dirty-mindedness, but when I hear “… fundamentally transform America…,” I think of performing orificial therapy on the U.S. Body Politic.

  4. https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=59903

    Having read an interview (above) with the German statistics prof Gerd Bosbach and extending his comments about Merkel’s extension of contact restrictions to 19 April:

    it appears to me that no State anywhere has done the simple random sampling used by Gallup, or marketing firms launching a new product, let alone government statistical offices, for decades now to obtain a figure for the actual number of infected in a country. It is by now a simple procedure. Why is it not being done? (NB: a German virologist on a talk show on German State TV both objected to the gubmint not doing this sampling and started his own sampling, results pending)

    Could it be that deliberate non-testing of a random sample is happening because the current number of deaths in a country (the issue of whether deaths “from Covid-19” are being correctly recorded is another matter, it appears NOT in Italy and Germany) goes up conveniently every time only those with symptoms are tested due to selection bias, with the presstitute globalist media screaming “more deaths”?

    Because a presstitute always and wrongly equates the number infected in a country with the number who have symptoms, while mentioning as an aside that quite a few have recovered.

    And that doing random sampling to find out how widespread infection is endangers the globalist narrative, because we could then see how few people are dying of Covid-19, and which ones, and we could immediately calculate a CFR, case fatality rate for a country.

    Allah forbid :-))) that it be about the same as for influenza decade by decade, that is, 1 in a 1,000.

    So why did Fauci in the USA estimate just that figure in his article in the New England Journal of Medicine while trumpeting 100,000-200,000 deaths for the USA?

    • »It appears to me that no State anywhere has done the simple random sampling used by Gallup«

      Iceland has done something similar to this; result was (last week) about one percent of the population, who volunteered, were tested. From this data one estimates about 1 percent of the population is infected. Got this from some swedish news article; see also;

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Iceland

      Another interesting source is https://www.euromomo.eu/

      But please don’t stop after looking at the map; instead scroll down, look at per-country data. Are the present high rates of deaths in Italy and Spain a consequence of the mild climate there; people who would have died in the north already in winter 2018/2019? In what countries increases mortality least during winters?

      • I cannot see that the Iceland survey was a scientific random sample allowing conclusions based on probability theory/inferential statistics.

        The virology professor at Bonn university who was on German state TV a couple of nights back is doing that now privately, so I understand.

        There are severe problems with national death figures, I have read: for example, if Covid-19 is found in the body in Italy the cause of death is given as Covid-19 irrespective of what co-morbidities there were.

        As I said, there are about two dozen medicos at off-guardian.org complaining on 24 and 28 March that the statistical basis for the current restrictions does not exist, one of them wrote an open letter to Merkel.

        • »I cannot see that the Iceland survey was a scientific random sample«

          Not really a random sample but IMO allowing conclusions . From
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCODE_genetics

          »In March 2020, deCODE redirected its clinical research staff and laboratories to conduct large-scale testing for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Iceland.[116] Working in tandem with the National Directorate of Health., the company scaled up to collecting and analyzing some 1000 samples per day from members of the general public, who can sign up online to be tested free of charge. The immediate purpose of this effort is to complement the public health system’s testing of symptomatic individuals, and so to identify more cases among the asymptomatic public at large and help to further control the spread of the virus. Over time this testing may also be relevant to the global scientific community and health authorities in other countries, providing a detailed ongoing picture of the spread of the virus within a population; an indicator of the effectiveness of isolation and other efforts to control the epidemic; and a means of tracking how the virus mutates over time.«

  5. In our city, only grocery stores, pharmacies and banks are open. Everything else does not work. The grocery store has everything and even discounted goods. Since the Orthodox have Great Lent now, today I bought meat at a femer shop cheaper than usual.

    But here is the problem! One of my dogs nibbled shoelaces on husband’s shoes. And now I don’t know where to buy shoelaces. They are generally not sold anywhere.

    • Elena, preppers carry paracord e.g. as bracelets or belts or as a hank, among other things to thread through their boots if needed. The diameter of paracord fits through the eyelets on shoes or boots usually.

      I do not know if you can access a shop where you live which sells hiking and camping equipment? Or can you use some online store in Russia?

      • No. In our country there are shops selling ONLY essential goods.
        RECOMMENDED LIST non-food essential goods
        1. Sanitary mask 2. Hand antiseptic
        3. Wet wipes 4. Dry wipes 5. Toilet soap
        6. Laundry soap 7. Toothpaste 8. Toothbrush
        9. Toilet paper 10. Sanitary pads
        11. Washing powder 12. Nappies for children
        13. Matches, box 14. Candles 15. Diaper for a newborn
        16. Shampoo for children 17. Cream for diaper rash for children
        18. Feeding bottle 19. Soother
        20. Gasoline for automobiles 21. Diesel fuel
        22. Liquefied natural gas 23. Pet products (including animal feed and veterinary products)
        http://government.ru/docs/39306/
        =======
        Glasses and cigarettes were excluded from the list of essential goods.
        https://rg.ru/2020/03/30/ochki-i-sigarety-iskliuchili-iz-spiska-zhiznenno-neobhodimyh-tovarov.html
        … In this case, tobacco, the press, auto parts, electrical equipment, cable products, household appliances will no longer be vital. Sequestration underwent computer, electronic and optical equipment. Gardening items and equipment, construction and decoration materials and tools, sanitary-engineering and fire-fighting products, glasses, lenses and their parts, funeral accessories are excluded from the list.
        =======
        I’ll crochet his shoelaces. From some yarn of cheerful coloring.

    • If no one was killed then it wasn’t much of a brawl. Give then dueling pistols, put it on Pay-per-View and don’t allow them to quit until one of them is room temperature.

  6. This Great Leap Forward redux is wildly entertaining!
    The meltdown of decades of smoke and mirrors delusions had to happen.
    These are the last of the good old days so enjoy what you enjoy while you still can.
    Comrade Newsome wants some of that filthy lucre and still loathes the deplorables and the Trumpster with every fiber of his being.
    Something was announced on the Glennie Beck show? I’m surprised he wasn’t passing out soccer balls and care packages to future lifetime democrat voters at the border.
    Will Boeing make sure that their topflight Indian engineers get taken care of first?
    That has worked out so well for them because magic soil that is why.

    • For it to be a proper Darwin Award, they would have to remove themselves from the gene pool due to their stupidity. Likely they will only remove several elderly family members leaching off the public mammary. Worthy of an honorable mention in that case.

  7. “Greek authorities have sealed off a refugee camp after 21 migrants residing there tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus”

    They are 23 positive.
    They attacked the doctors and they did not wanted to be examined.
    They do not obey orders, they escaped the refugee camp and destroyed the crops in the islands of Lesbos and Chios.
    Here in the capital and all over the country,all of us we stay in,away from our beloved ones,children and grand children with whom communicate through Skype, and them roaming all over spreading the virus.
    I find our government completely useless not to say absolute chickens.
    I am afraid that in the near future if the gov do not send them where they came from shooting will start.

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