Reader’s Links for March 202020

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

103 Replies to “Reader’s Links for March 202020”

  1. Safer at Home emergency order stopping non-essential activities outside of residences in response to COVID-19

  3. Don’t anybody get too mad at me for thinking this but couldn’t you make the argument that the yearly flu presents a danger equal to the COVID-19 virus and that the entire world’s economy should be shut down annually in order to save the lives of the thousands that will inevitably die as a result of that yearly flu outbreak? And how many lives would be saved if we outlawed sugar and ladders and big dogs and sports and booze and smoking and mountain climbing and cancer-causing cars and romance and motorcycles and a whole lot of other things that regularly end human lives? Just think of all the lives we could save. And couldn’t we put an end to plane crashes if we simply banned the airplane? How about maritime-disaster-creating boats? Ban them! Swimming? Ban it! Deadly head-cracking non-rubber bathtubs? Ban them! There are, when you think of it, a great many ways that lives could be saved if we just stopped everything, couldn’t there?

    I’m not trying to be a smart-ass, really I’m not, but I honestly can’t see the difference. Like, this isn’t just a gambit designed to draw Donald Trump out and then find a reason to pin something on him and impeach him for it before the next election, is it? Won’t they just focus on a few areas that might draw criticism and then say that he’s “Worse than Adolf Hitler” over it and that “our democracy” will not survive if Trump isn’t at least impeached, if not imprisoned for his gross incompetence? Like, it’s not as if they haven’t spent every waking moment since 2016 doing exactly that…

    • Yes. I keep wondering if Trump had been found guilty at the impeachment trial, would we have been spared this pandemic because there would have been no further need to work against him. On the other hand, enough members of Congress have tested positive for the virus, we will know within a few weeks how it is running its course in the US. Perhaps there would have been more time devoted to assessing a response to the Wuhan pneumonia if there had been no impeachment. There is a grim seriousness, which may or may not be theater. Could this enterprise be a deliberate or accidental means to re-unite the American public in the aftermath of the impeachment trial?
      https://www.c-span.org/video/?470445-1/house-pro-forma-session
      https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4862146/daily-congress-prayer-house-march-19-2020
      https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4862198/daily-congress-prayer-senate-march-19-2020

      • And just imagine the roasting they’d be giving Trump if he failed to act as strongly as he has. Hanged if you do and hanged if you don’t.

        If this was World War II I would give the Democrats zero security clearance because I’m sure they would be on the phone to der Fuhrer telling him where the attacks are coming if they thought it would make Churchill and capitalism and democracy look bad. And if I was the Secret Service I would be very nervous about having people who hate the President more than anything on earth anywhere near the guy. Like, what’s to stop Nancy from pulling out a gun and shooting the President? She seems to hate him enough. They keep saying he’s worse than Adolf Hitler and I don’t think they’re lying about their hatred…

      • If they had convicted Trump and removed him from office they would have started on Pence, the goal of the impeachment was to throw mud and if possible en up with a Dem in the White House.

        • If they removed Trump from office there would be one million super-pissed-off Republicans with AR-15s in their hands mobbing the White House and looking for Democrat blood. Why don’t the idiots know that? Or perhaps they do and are just following orders.

          There are conservative farm-types in the USA who make Marine sharpshooters look like Wylie Coyote. Their idea of a pleasant afternoon is to grab a coffee, head up to the range, and dust off their M-1 Garands and their 1911s – never mind their (not-exactly-legal) AR-10s and their perfect-condition Sturm gewehrs and their .50 cal sniper rifles.

          Do Nancy and Chuck and Eric Swalwell really think Americans are just going to say, “Oh, well… What can you do?”, when they take out their beloved President? Really? Are they really that stupid?

          • If they removed Trump from office there would be one million super-pissed-off Republicans with AR-15s in their hands mobbing the White House and looking for Democrat blood. Why don’t the idiots know that? Or perhaps they do and are just following orders.

            The Dems think that since we didn’t turn out to protest Obama we are too cowardly to do anything besides run our mouths in small groups. Even the mass turnout of gun owners in Virginia didn’t teach them anything. They make the mistake of believing their own propaganda, you see how the conservatives and country people are protrayed in the Movies. That is what the Dems think we are, they also think that the police and military are so indoctrinated in obedience they will follow orders, any orders. They have no idea the hell their stupidity is about to unleash, they are going to learn how wrong thie BS is.

      • C’mon. An earned degree is not an awarded degree. Any patents? Peer reviewed papers or presentations?

    • I agree johnnyu. I watched the video at night and posted it before watching the entire video. When he started to talk about Atlas Shrugged (pub.1957), Ayn Rand and the Akashic records, he lost credibility. I think that Ayn Rand was inspired by the movie “Lost Horizon (1937) when she wrote Atlas Shrugged.
      It was at this moment 53:17, that I regret posting it. Look at Stefan’s face @ 53:58. He has the look “oh no, this guy.”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6VEYzwSdZU

      “Edgar Cayce Readings on the Akashic Records…”
      Kevin Todeschi and George Noory – Coast to Coast AM.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upBLdt2pgdU

      I think it makes a difference when you watch a video like this. At night it is scary, but during the day it is “Snap out of it!”

      • Remember this poor guy?

        “Man Wraps Entire House In Plastic After Terror Warning”
        Posted on 2/15/2003 by Veronica
        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/844070/posts

        Post 37 To: veronica
        House wrapped in plastic attracted national media

        WINSTED
        Reader Essay
        Paul West

        I made national news last week. My picture was in the papers, national and local. How, you ask? Did I do something notorious, in the broadest sense of that term? You may decide for yourself.

        I merely covered the greater portion of my house with plastic sheeting.

        Under the threat of terrorist attack, and with a cold northwest wind blowing under the eaves of my small New England farm house, it seemed, as so many consequence-filled actions do, like a good idea.

        All modern houses have what is called a “vapor barrier.” This is nothing more than an air-impermeable layer of plastic or fiber installed under construction, under the clapboards or siding, amd it covers the whole house, right up to the windows and doors. It is part of modern building codes and practices. Modern homes also have modern windows, which are, unlike mine, actually designed to keep out cold air. Modern windows have double panes with thermal barriers, inherent weather stripping and non-conductive layers between the exterior and interior. The vapor barrier is “flashed,” or vapor and water sealed, and when the windows are closed, air, water, even sound and ultraviolet light can be kept out.

        How well these methods and materials of construction would help in the event of radioactive or chemical fallout is open to debate, but all these things can be measured in terms of degrees of exposure.

        My house was built in the 1800s. From outside in, in cross section, my walls consist of cedar clapboards, 3/4-pine boards, native lumber studs (actual two-by-fours) and a layer of fiberboard and plaster. Remember the old fiberboard? It was made in 4-foot by 8-foot sheets and looked like it was made of pressed horse hair. Perhaps it was. It expands and contracts in reaction to temperature and humidity, unlike modem wallboard. This causes cracks in the plaster, and cold air finds those cracks.

        My windows are vintage, original to the house. Vinyl window contractors drool when they drive by. They call me all the time. They truly want to help. But modern windows are made with clear, distortion-free glass. When you look through my windows, the world appears pleasantly swirled, and this effect changes as you move through the room. It is pleasing to me to preserve this old glass. It reminds me of the window views of my youth, when I was young enough to note such things and actively wonder at them. I wouldn’t change them for the world.

        The government tells us we can protect ourselves in the event of a terrorist attack by picking a safe room in the house, an interior room, and sealing ourselves in with duct tape and plastic. We then wait for the threat to pass. Will this work? I don’t know. I’m just some guy, not a scientist. But I grasp the concept of minimizing the exposure to the “bad stuff,” whatever it may be.

        One Army newsletter describes a more elaborate scheme: You wrap your house in rolled plastic (this eliminates seams,) seal yourself in your safe room, then you set up a tent and crawl inside that. You have scuba tanks in the tent, which you set to slowly release good air. This creates a “positive pressure” inside the tent and room, so any air infIltration is from the inside going out, not the opposite. This, to me, sounds like it could actually work. Again, it’s all about minimizing one’s exposure. Presumably, the plume of radiation or nerve gas will disperse in time, and you can come back out, perhaps to help clean up the toxic waste. It’s not a nice scenario to imagine, but at least you survived the initial attack.

        Knowing all this, I decided to wrap my house with plastic. It was rather simple to do. Aided by my brother-in-law, we started at one comer and went around the house, fastening the plastic sheeting with staples and funing strips. (These are thin sticks of wood which are tacked on last, to keep the wind from getting under the plastic and shredding it.)

        I did not use duct tape. Duct tape doesn’t stick when it’s 5 degrees out.

        Now that we are done, the house looks a sight, but then again, it looked bad to start with. We scraped the walls of loose paint last summer, exposing the bare wood in many places. We planned to paint in the nice fall weather, when it wasn’t hot and humid. Well, the fall never came, rather an early form of winter hit us in late September, with unseasonable cold and snow. Yes, up here on this hill in Northwest Connecticut, the ground was covered with snow in October. So we didn’t get a chance to paint.

        The plastic wrap is actually rather pleasant to look at in the nighttime, with a soft glow from the interior lights and odd shadows created by the plants on the window sills. From the inside, of course, our view is spoiled, but the effect is rather like the Japanese rice paper walls that admit light but afford privacy. It’s different, but in cabin-fever season, different is good.

        Well, the press got a hold of the story, and the world came to our door and knocked. And called. We were on the front page of the Republican-American, our local paper. A satellite truck got stuck in our driveway and had to be towed out. Howard Stern talked about our house. So too the ladies on “The View.” CNN mentioned us, and MSNBC came and did an interview, complete with comments from my 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. She said, with her precocious way, “Well, at first it looks kinda crazy, but it’s good for protection.”

        But is it? Ah, the big question. I do not know. I do not know that when I tried to do something, attempted some preventive measure, I created a news story. That, to me, is a little scary. What I did made sense to me, what I call “common sense.”

        The press people handled me somewhat in the vein of “the crackpot up in the hills,” but they were generally kind and efficient. The fire marshal came by and checked our Co2 detectors, which also made good sense. Do not seal yourself in anything without one of these! (Our detectors indicate 0 parts per million Co2.)

        I received calls from strangers, some with advice, many indignant at my work. My wife’s family thinks I’m a little crazy. All of this I handled as best I could, knowing as I did that everybody was forming some opinion of my actions. And that is fine, their opinions don’t matter much to me. My daughter’s does.

        At least people are thinking: about preventive action, consequences, and perhaps, degrees of sanity. All react differently to this threat, this cloud of gloom and doom hanging over our heads, and the other shoe dropping after 9/11. We are living through a very scary time.

        I aim to keep on living.

        Paul West lives in Winchester.
        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/844070/posts?page=21

      • When I looked up Akashic records, I thought he was mentioning it as a sort of ultra nerdy joke. But I asked a friend who has a doctorate in biology to watch and she said all the science checked out and the reasoning was solid

  8. Over 80% of CCP virus cases undocumented in China: Report; US firm sues China for mishandling virus

  11. Wuhan Hits LA Homeless as Jails Release 600 Inmates Cops Ordered to Ticket People Over Arresting

  12. ver 10,000 COVID-19 deaths reported worldwide: Johns Hopkins Univeristy COVID-19 map

  13. Health authorities say 5% of recent arrivals from Europe with symptoms tested positive for COVID-19

    • Your forbearance please in my re-posting the link. You might be able test a whole family or a whole nursing home or a whole factory line or a whole school or a whole apartment or a whole office floor or a whole cruise ship staff or a whole 9-digit US zip code by pooling the RNA samples and using a single test kit! If you get a positive, then you can decide on further testing in smaller pools using a binary search algorithm or a heuristic that minimizes test kits used based on age etc. Think of how you search for “John Smith” on 445 S. West Street in the phonebook. You minimize the number of searches based on how you assume the entries are grouped.
      https://www.jns.org/israeli-researchers-successfully-test-new-faster-covid-19-testing-method/

      • All kinds of ideas percolating in Eretz:
        Elite IDF Tech Unit Working to Develop Medical Equipment, Protective Gear

        The IDF Military Intelligence Technological Unit has been working to develop protective gear and improvised medical equipment to assist health care workers to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the army said Thursday. The unit has been working to find a way to easily convert simple breath regulating devices known as CPAP machines into ventilators which could be in short supply. The soldiers are also developing new protective masks and other equipment for military and civilian medical teams.

        They have created a screen to seal off the front seat of an ambulance or van to transport carriers of the disease without infecting the driver, and 50 such screens have been manufactured. They are also working to better manage the data from the thousands of checks being performed each day on suspected coronavirus carriers.

        “As commanders in a leading and advanced technological unit, the responsibility is on us to reach out and help authorities find an answer to the present challenges,” said the unit commander, Col. “L.”
        https://www.timesofisrael.com/elite-idf-tech-unit-working-to-develop-medical-equipment-protective-gear/

  22. Winter is coming: cooling weather in Brazil could fan coronavirus outbreak

    RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak is landing in Brazil as the hot summer days in the southern hemisphere draw to a close and winter approaches, potentially worsening the spread of the virus, medical experts told Reuters.

    Little is known about how changes in seasonal weather affect the new coronavirus, which has sparked a snowballing global crisis. Nonetheless, six infectious disease experts in Brazil said that past outbreaks in the country, including the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, point to colder temperatures exacerbating contagion.

    https://www.oann.com/winter-is-coming-cooling-weather-in-brazil-could-fan-coronavirus-outbreak/

  23. Shops close across Turkey, dimming hopes of a boom year

    ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Shops closed across Turkey on Thursday to help halt the coronavirus spread, dimming the economy’s prospects and raising questions for hundreds of thousands of workers after Ankara pledged $15 billion in support and advised Turks to stay home.

    Clothing retailers shuttered and malls, with some 530,000 employees and annual turnover of $160 billion, were set to follow suit after Turkey announced cases of the virus had nearly doubled to 191 including a second death.

    https://www.oann.com/turkish-shops-close-after-erdogan-promises-support-for-economy/

  24. NETHERLANDS – Life sentence for Muslim who killed three in gun attack on Utrecht tram

    AMSTERDAM — A man who shot three people dead and wounded five others on a Utrecht tram last year was sentenced to life in prison by a Dutch court on Friday for what judges ruled was a terrorist attack.

    Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 38, had shown no remorse and was fully responsible for his actions, despite having low intelligence and a personality disorder, the judges said.

    The attack by Tanis on March 18, 2019, came just days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

    “The suspect stepped into a tram in broad daylight and there sowed death and destruction,” Presiding Judge Ruud Velhuisen said reading the ruling out in court.

    Tanis, a resident of the Netherlands since 1993, did not know his victims, who ranged in age from 19 to 74.

    He had tried to justify his actions afterward by saying it was “us against you, us Muslims against you ‘democrats’,” the judge said in the ruling. Tanis had used the term ‘democrats’ to describe Dutch people or non-Muslims.

    Tanis had yelled, cursed, spat at judges and taunted victims’ family members during his trial, but did not address questions put to him by judges or victims’ families in an intelligible way.

    His lawyer had acknowledged Tanis was culpable, but had argued he should not be sentenced to life in prison, given his reduced mental capacity.

    https://windsorstar.com/news/world/life-sentence-for-man-who-killed-three-in-gun-attack-on-utrecht-tram/wcm/62c670a8-5962-4593-8af6-843671d16c68/

    • He killed 4 people. Three dead on the spot, one wounded victim died later in hospital.

      he also spat his own lawyer in the face btw. Nasty piece of work, a junkie and sadistic rapist too.

  25. BARCELONA AIRPORT – Testigo del suceso en El Prat: “Han dicho que nos iban a matar a todos”

  26. Life in prison for mass shooting in Utrecht tram
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/20/life-prison-mass-shooting-utrecht-tram
    The court in Utrecht found Gokmen T. guilty of opening fire on a tram in Utrecht last March, killing four people. He was sentenced to life in prison on Friday. The sentence is equal to what the Public Prosecutor demanded.

    He was found guilty on four counts of murder or manslaughter with terrorist intent, three counts of attempted murder or manslaughter, and threatening 17 people with terrorist intent, the court said.

    Only a handful of survivors and family were allowed in court when the verdict was read, due to rules around the coronavirus. T. was not in court during the conclusion of the case. Throughout the days-long trial, he was repeatedly removed from the courtroom, for spitting at his court-appointed lawyer, and for making snide comments at a victim, among other things.

    At 10:43 a.m. on 18 March 2019, T. opened fire on a tram on 24 Oktoberplein in Utrecht as it was pulling away from the stop. The attack lasted two minutes and nine seconds, and in the end, four people were killed and multiple others were injured including two who were critically wounded. T. was arrested later that same day after an hours long manhunt. He confessed to the shooting multiple times.

    “According to the court, neither a reduced prison sentence nor the maximum sentence does justice for the nature and seriousness of the crimes committed. Also from the point of view of retribution and security of society, a reduced prison sentence with [psychiatric treatment] is insufficient. Moreover, with a life sentence, the court wants to prevent others from committing such crimes,” the court said in a statement.

    The court also rejected the argument from T.’s attorney that a life sentence contravenes European human rights laws because his client, he said, was suffering from a personality disorder and had a diminished mental capacity. “The court does not agree with this because the Dutch system provides for a reassessment, which can lead to a reduction in life imprisonment,” the court stated.

    Due to the coronavirus outbreak, most lawsuits in the Netherlands have been postponed. Only the most urgent are still continuing, and then with as few people in the courtroom as possible. Among the urgent court cases were the case against T. and the case against the first four suspects in the downing of flight MH17.

    The victims of this mass shooting were commemorated with a minute of silence in Utrecht on Wednesday. Due to restrictions in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19, the public commemoration had to be canceled.

  27. “Dutch” youth are getting stabbier all the time. It’s a particular demographic, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the reporting:

    Aggression training at schools to reduce youth stabbings in Rotterdam: report
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/18/aggression-training-schools-reduce-youth-stabbings-rotterdam-report
    The municipality of Rotterdam is presenting a plan on Wednesday to tackle the increased violence among young people in the city. Schools with many problems will get more police supervision, and the municipality will provide subsidies to train students and teaches on dealing with aggression, Trouw reports.

    The plan focuses on secondary schools and secondary vocational schools. The municipality is allocating 180 thousand euros per year for the approach.

    The number of stabbing incidents in Rotterdam involving teenagers nearly doubled to 36 last year. “Although these incidents were not school-oriented, schools feel the consequences,” education alderman Said Kasmi said to the newspaper. “Those involved, both victims and perpetrators, are at school. Schools feel the need to do something about it.”

    The safety plan consists of 15 measures. One such is that the police and enforcement officers will provide more supervision at schools that “are perceived as the most problematic” by school boards. The municipality would not say which schools are involved. But school dome LMC told Trouw that among the schools that all under it, Monfort College, Zuiderpark College, Veenoord VMBO, and De Palmentuin will get extra supervision.

    Agreements were also made that violent incidents will more often be reported to the police. Teachers will be trained on how to deal with aggression and street culture. And the curriculum will be updated to influence students’ behavior on this front.

    The program will start as soon as the measures around the coronavirus are relaxed and schools are allowed to reopen.

    • I stand corrected (partially):
      https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/20/underage-suspects-arrested-first-time-since-2009

      The majority of minor suspects last year had a Dutch background at 53 percent. Though minors with a migration background were 2.4 times more likely to be suspected of a crime as their Dutch counterparts, relatively speaking. 20 percent of minor suspects last year lived in one of the four large cities. Amsterdam had the most minor suspects, followed by Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague.

    • Rotterdam, Amsterdam see mass increase in weapon incidents involving minors
      https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/12/rotterdam-amsterdam-see-mass-increase-weapon-incidents-involving-minors
      Amsterdam and Rotterdam saw a major increase in the number of minors involved in incidents with weapons over the past years. The number of stabbings in Rotterdam involving underage victims and suspects doubled last year. And the number of underage suspects in weapon incidents in Amsterdam increased by 50 percent since 2017, NOS reports based on figures from the local police stations.

      Last year there were 36 stabbing incidents among minors in Rotterdam, compared to 19 in 2018. The number of minor suspects may be even higher, because in some cases there are multiple suspects in the same stabbing, a police spokesperson said to NOS. Rotterdam is the first police unit to specifically map out stabbings involving minor suspects.

      Amsterdam keeps track of minor suspects in weapon related incidents. That number increased by 50 percent from 209 underage suspects in 2017 to 320 last year. “In addition to stabbing weapons, this also includes firearms and tasers,” a spokesperson for the Amsterdam police said to NOS. “But we also see a trend in the actual use of stabbing weapons.”

      HALT, the service that handles the sentencing of underage suspects for first or minor offenses, also reported an increase of cases involving illegal weapons possession in almost all provinces. A spokesperson for HALT told the broadcaster that the reason behind this increase is not entirely clear. It could indicate an increase in weapons possession among teenagers, or a different approach by the police, or a combination of both.

  28. *****CORONAVIRUS: STOP GOING OUT – IT IS GOING TO KILL PEOPLE – WARNS ICU DOCTOR
    video – 8 minutes 45 seconds

  29. Iran: Rouhani says Iran will “overcome” coronavirus in Nowruz address

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the efforts of Iranians in the fight against the novel coronavirus during a televised address for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Tehran on Friday.

    “We will overcome the physical side of coronavirus with unity, effort, cooperation, and doctors’ efforts,” Rouhani said. “We have to strive to overcome the mental side of coronavirus. Unity and morality are the factors that can build a good future for us.”

    Rouhani said the Persian New Year of 1399 would be “a year of opening great projects, a boom year with the help of all the people in the economy sector.” “It will be a year of development in people’s lives, in our economic relations with the world and in our interactions with our neighbours,” Rouhani continued.

    The Iranian President also touched on US sanctions against Tehran, saying that “we have not failed in front of the pressures of the United States.”

    Nowruz, or “new day,” is an age-old observance of the beginning of spring and among the most meaningful dates on the Persian calendar, when families convene and exchange presents.

    Iran remains the hardest-hit nation in the Middle East with 18,407 COVID-19 infections and 1,284 deaths as of Wednesday morning.

    • Iran: “This is the year of the production leap” – Khamenei in New Year”s message

      In a call to boost the production and to alleviate the consequences of imposed sanctions, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the next year to be the year of the ‘production leap’, in his speech to the Iranian nation on Friday, the day that marks the Persian New Year.

      “Last year’s slogan was ‘Boosting Production’. This year, I would like to say that we need a leap in production, as the slogan of the year. This year is the year of production leap,” said Khamenei.

      Khamenei considered that, in spite of causing “some harm,” the imposed sanctions “have had some benefits, like to force us to think about our capabilities,” he said.

      “If we manage to boost production, then economic problems will certainly be terminated and these imposed sanctions on us will be in our interests,” added Khamenei.

      The Iranian New Year, Nowruz, has been celebrated by diverse communities for over 3,000 years, and falls on March 20th this year and marks the beginning of the spring.

      More sanctions were imposed from the US on Iran, on Wednesday, targeting nine entities based in South Africa, Hong Kong, and China as well as three Iranian individuals.

  30. Russia: Scientists ‘take first microscope images’ of new coronavirus

    Russian Federal Service on Surveillance for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor) said on Thursday that scientists at the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk have taken the first microscope images of the new coronavirus.

    Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement that the photos were taken using negative contrast method on a transmission electron microscope JEM-1400.

    They also stated that the size of the particle was 100-120 nanometres.

    In addition, according to the Russian Health Ministry, the first complete genome of the virus was deciphered from a sample taken from an infected patient by specialists of the Russian Influenza Research Institute.

    “This coronavirus is new to us, so it is critical to be able to determine the path of its spread and entry into the territory of our country, its changes.

    This information will help in the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs for its treatment,” the institute’s director Dmitri Lioznov stated.

    The institute said that the genetic data was sent to an international database used by the World Health Organisation as well as leading research groups to monitor the evolution of COVID-19 disease.

    According to Rospotrebnadzor, so far there have been 199 confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia.

    Earlier today Moscow’s coronavirus response headquarters confirmed that a 79-year-old woman with pre-existing health conditions had died of the virus, becoming Russia’s first COVID-19 fatality.

  31. The Economic Impact Of Coronavirus Event Cancellations
    450,840 views
    •Mar 19, 2020

  33. Donald Trump: A War Hero

    Thank you, Mr. President.
    March 20, 2020
    Bruce Hendry

    Editors’ note: Below is Part 9, the final part, of a new essay written by Bruce Hendry: Democrats, Progressives and Socialists. [See links to previous chapters below this article].

    22. The Mueller Probe.

    The Mueller investigation of whether Donald Trump or his associates colluded with the Russians to help him win the 2016 presidential election is finished. The story of this investigation is a living, current example of Alinsky-inspired Democratic tactics and is worth examining here.

    The Mueller probe is perhaps the greatest political hoax in U.S. history.

    Two parties conspiring to do an illegal act is a crime. Collusion is what we all do every day when talking with each other, and is not a crime. The press and their Democratic allies were careful not to use the word “conspir

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/donald-trump-bruce-hendry

  34. Coronavirus Communism Comes to California

    Bernie Sanders supporters learn what life under socialism is really like.

    A few weeks after Californians cast their votes for Bernie Sanders, there are huge lines to buy toilet paper. Toilet paper, like dairy products and cleaning supplies, are limited to two per household.

    Savvy shoppers have learned, like their counterparts in the old Soviet Union, to get what they need by bartering what they can buy. Toilet paper for antibacterial soap. Milk for wipes.

    Yakov Smirnoff had spent his career joking about standing on line to buy toilet paper and discovering that the government store wasn’t even selling toilet paper, but something to be bartered for it.

    “If I start making jokes about a shortage of toilet paper in America, it won`t make any sense because you walk into a store and see 15 brand names of toilet paper,” he had once told a newspaper.

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/coronavirus-communism-comes-california-daniel-greenfield

  35. Time to Hold China Accountable for Unleashing Hell on the World

    Communist regime engaged in a massive cover-up — exposing the world to global pandemic and economic meltdown.
    March 20, 2020
    Ari Lieberman

    Despite criticism from elements within the elitist establishment media and some radical progressives, President Donald Trump was correct to refer to the COVID-19 virus as a “foreign virus” or “Chinese virus.” Leading the charge of the president’s critics was none other than CNN’s Jim Acosta, who stated that reference to the virus as “foreign” may strike people as “xenophobic.”

    In response, Fox’s Tucker Carlson accurately referred to Acosta as a “poisonous moron.” In fact, Carlson was being kind to Acosta, who works for an organization that has long abandoned actual journalism in favor of propaganda.

    The Coronavirus, which has thus far killed at least 9,386 and infected 229,960 others, emerged from the city of Wuhan, which is the capital of Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China. Chinese authorities were well aware that they had a pandemic on their hands way back in December but maliciously suppressed information about it. Significantly, The Times of UK, citing a respected and independent Chinese publication, reports that in December Chinese labs identified the pathogen that caused viral pneumonia in patients infected with the coronavirus disease and described the pathogen as highly infectious. A regional health official in Wuhan ordered the compiled samples and related research destroyed. Chinese authorities belatedly acknowledged the highly infectious nature of the disease in late January.

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/time-hold-china-accountable-unleashing-hell-world-ari-lieberman

  39. Italy: Crematorium running out of space may be forced to stop accepting coffins

    A crematorium in Piacenza province in northern Italy considered halting the reception of coffins after it became overwhelmed by daily requests. The region has been one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

    Footage filmed on Friday shows the premises where all spaces including the farewell room have been used for provisional storage.

    “At the moment we receive an average of 25 coffins a day but we can manage only 12. Obviously, this situation creates an abnormal amount, bringing us to an emergency phase making us very likely to halt for a few days in order to be able to recover some space,” said the manager of crematorium.

    He added that the crematorium was receiving bodies from the neighbouring regions.

    “It is the same problem that Bergamo had and exactly for this reason, we are receiving the coffins from all across central and northern Italy. They do not have any more provisional spaces for coffins,” he said.

    According to data provided by the Italian Civil Protection on Thursday, 41,035 people were infected in the country with 3,405 deaths from COVID-19.

  43. Pakistani Doctor Arrested in US over ISIS Links
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2190456/pakistani-doctor-arrested-us-over-isis-links

    “A Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic research coordinator was arrested Thursday in Minnesota on a terrorism charge, after prosecutors say he told paid FBI informants that he had pledged his allegiance to ISIS and wanted to carry out lone wolf attacks in the United States.

    Muhammad Masood, 28, was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday by FBI agents and was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

    Prosecutors say Masood was in the US on a work visa. They allege that starting in January, Masood made several statements to paid informants — whom he believed were members of ISIS — pledging his allegiance to the group and its leader. He also allegedly expressed his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS and a desire to carry out lone wolf attacks in the US.

    At one point, Masood messaged an informant “there is so much I wanted to do here .. .lon wulf stuff you know … but I realized I should be on the ground helping brothers sisters kids,” according to an FBI affidavit.

    Prosecutors say Masood planned to go to Syria in February. But his plans changed after flight suspensions over the coronavirus outbreak. Masood and one of the informants then developed a plan for him to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet with that informant, whom Masood believed would help him travel in a cargo ship into ISIS territory.

    Masood was arrested Thursday at the airport after he checked in for his flight to Los Angeles.

    Court documents do not name the clinic where Masood worked, but a LinkedIn page for a man with the same name and work history says Masood has worked at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, since February of 2018, first as a research trainee, but has been a clinical research coordinator since May.

    A profile on researchgate.net says he has done research in cardiology; he was scheduled to present his research for the Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development in October 2018, according to an online calendar of the event.

    Mayo Clinic spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said Masood formerly worked at the medical center, but “was not employed by Mayo Clinic at the time of his arrest.””

  44. Coronavirus: Turkey to pass law to release 100,000 prisoners
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-turkey-law-release-inmates-prisons

    “The Turkish government will expedite a legal amendment to reduce the time served by inmates to facilitate their early release over coronavirus fears, Middle East Eye has learned.

    A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has confirmed that the government will bring the law to parliament next week.

    “It has been on our agenda for a while. But coronavirus hurried the whole process,” the official said.

    The law, eventually, is expected to enable the release of nearly 100,000 prisoners. Currently the prisons are hosting over 300,000 inmates and operating above their normal capacity.

    Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said on Friday that the law was ready to be submitted to parliament…”

  45. Arab countries urge UN to inspect decaying oil tanker off Yemen’s coast
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-sudan-djibouti-egypt-jordan-yemen-united-nations-houthi-oil-tanker

    “Several Arab countries have called on the UN to pressure Yemen’s Houthi rebels into allowing the world body inspect a decaying oil tanker moored off the country’s coast, warning it could explode and cause “widespread environmental damage” in the Red Sea region.

    The Safer oil tanker has been docked 60km north of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah since the late 1980s but has not been in use since the Houthis seized the region in 2015.

    Due to a lack of maintenance, and the breakdown of crude inside the vessel, the UN has repeatedly warned that there is a risk of a chemical explosion.

    In August, the UN attempted to assess the tanker but the rebels blocked access, demanding revenues from the sale of oil aboard the vessel as a precondition for the UN inspection.

    The Safer is estimated to hold 1.1 million barrels of oil, which could be worth more than $60 million…”

  46. Libya: 25 Haftar militia members killed in Tripoli
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200320-libya-25-haftar-militia-members-killed-in-tripoli/

    “Forces of Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) neutralized 25 militia members loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar early Friday during clashes in the capital, Anadolu reports.

    Tripoli-based Febrayer TV reported that troops taking part in the GNA’s Volcano of Rage Operation and the militias clashed in the Ain Zara region south of Tripoli.

    The slain militia members were said to be mercenaries brought over from Sudan and Chad. Photos of their corpses were posted on social media.

    “We stress again that we did not start this war. However, we will decide when and where this war will end,” GNA military spokesman Mohammed Qununu said in a press release.

    Noting that they had accepted a proposed ceasefire due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Qununu said Haftar’s militias violated it on Wednesday.

    Wednesday’s rocket attacks killed three children and injured four others in Ain Zara.

    Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: Haftar in eastern Libya, supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the GNA in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

    The GNA has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since last April, with more than 1,000 people killed in the violence.”

  47. Houthis impose financial penalties for refusing conscription
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200320-houthis-impose-financial-penalties-for-refusing-conscription/

    “Yemen’s Houthi militia has introduced conscription to get new recruits in the Ibb governorate, where fighting on several fronts is being intensified. The southern province is under Houthi control.

    According to Yemen Shabab.net, the Houthis have formed field committees to impose conscription on young men across the province.

    “The militia has committed tribal leaders who are loyal to the Houthis to recruit at least two people from each village and push them to the front,” one source explained. “Financial penalties have been imposed on those who refuse to be recruited. This has already happened in Al-Qafr district.”

    The source pointed out that Houthi leader Abdel Fattah Ghallab, who is from Al-Qafr, was appointed by the movement to collect such penalties from the people in the district. Each family, it is said, must pay 50,000 Yemeni riyals for every young man who does not go to the front in support of the “military effort”.

    Dozens of Houthi fighters are reported to have been killed over the past weeks.”

  48. Looks like the Greeks won this time. Article links to this video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvk0X1NYU7s

    ‘Refugees at Turkey-Greece Border Being Sent to ?stanbul Esenler Bus Terminal’
    http://bianet.org/english/migration/221670-refugees-at-turkey-greece-border-being-sent-to-istanbul-esenler-bus-terminal
    As Pazarkule Border Gate has been closed due to coronavirus, the refugees waiting there to cross into Greece are now sent to other cities, some of them have been stranded at ?stanbul Esenler Bus Terminal, says Candan from Migrant Solidarity Network.
    Waiting at the Pazarkule Border Gate in Edirne province to cross into Greece after Turkey announced that it would no longer stop refugees trying to leave the country for Europe, refugees are now being sent to other cities in busses as Pazarkule has been closed due to coronavirus outbreak.

    Speaking to bianet about the issue, Meral Candan from Migrant Solidarity Network has underlined that refugees are vulnerable to the virus and called on the authorities to take measures as soon as possible.

    There are also refugees waiting at ?stanbul Esenler Bus Terminal to come to Edirne, according to Candan, who has added that refugees have been stranded there as several others arrived in the terminal from Pazarkule.

    Indicating that tickets could be bought for these people thanks to ?stanbul Metropolitan Municipality and NGOs, Candan has briefly said:
    “People waiting for news from Edirne or having no place to go because they have no money were waiting in Esenler Bus Terminal. ?stanbul Metropolitan Municipality and NGOs bought tickets for the refugees staying in Esenler Bus Terminal so that they could go wherever they wanted to go.

    “But, now, Edirne Pazarkule Border Gate is being closed and the refugees there are being sent to different parts of Turkey. A group of refugees were left in Esenler Bus Terminal yesterday evening.

    “And, I think, the refugees staying in Edirne will continue to be sent from there in following days. But as people closed their homes and left their jobs before heading for Pazarkule, they just get stranded here. There are families. New busses might arrive as of tonight, the number of people might increase.

    “Refugees need both a place to stay and everyone has now unfortunately focused on the virus. People are said to stay home, but refugees do not even undergo a health scanning.

    “Refugees must have access to free healthcare. And are they conscious of coronavirus enough? It is also doubtful. Because they had been in Pazarkule for a long time and their access to the Internet was very limited. An action must be taken as soon as possible, refugees staying on the streets must undergo a medical screening, they should be placed in houses.”

    According to a daily brief shared by gocmendayanisma.com on March 17, all cafes in Karaa?aç village in Edirne near the border were closed, around 300 special operation forces came to the site and informed the refugees that the authorities will evacuate the area. (HA/SD)