Reader’s Links for May 13, 2020

Posted on by

Daily Links Post graphic

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

87 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 13, 2020”

    • the rebel – Exposing the ad agency behind CBC’s hit piece on Bryan Adams’ “racist” Instagram post

  2. No kidding: compulsory face masks for all brass musicians in Austria

    For two months there has been an absolute silence among the brass musicians – no rehearsals, no club activities and no concerts. The 391 bands with their 19,172 actively registered musicians are slowly but surely becoming impatient. This is confirmed by association president Erich Riegler:”The situation is bleak, there is no solution to this problem. And the Styrian emphasizes: “Especially in the summer months, our music bands are an important figurehead for social, touristic and socio-political tasks”. Therefore Riegler demands: “In the gradual restart of cultural activities, the cultural asset of brass music must also be considered and defined accordingly”. So far there has been no information for those involved. When asked at the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, the following answer is given: “According to the Covid-19 lifting regulation, there is an upper limit of ten persons for rehearsals as well as for concerts, the one-meter distance and a mechanical protection device covering the mouth and nose area must be worn”.”A mouthguard for brass musicians – that’s a joke, isn’t it?”, Werner Gollenz from the music association Grazer Linien is stunned. The bandleader is bothered by further worries: “The musicians’ motivation is decreasing from day to day.

    “A facemask for brass musicians – that’s a joke, isn’t it?”, Werner Gollenz from the music association Grazer Linien is stunned. The bandleader is bothered by further worries: “The musicians’ motivation is decreasing from day to day. What should they practice for? We don’t even know if we can play any concerts in autumn.

    The facemask regulation is valid until June 30th. Required are permitted group reharsals or rehearsals in large halls.
    https://medforth.blog/2020/05/13/no-kidding-compulsory-face-masks-for-all-brass-musicians-in-austria/

  8. More news from the Netherlands:
    No-hopers are behind sharp rise in incidents at refugee centres
    https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/05/no-hopers-are-behind-sharp-rise-in-incidents-at-refugee-centres/

    Sharp increase in violence against police officers in coronavirus crisis: report
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/05/12/sharp-increase-violence-police-officers-coronavirus-crisis-report

    Previously targeted kosher restaurant hit in suspected arson attempt
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/05/08/previously-targeted-kosher-restaurant-hit-suspected-arson-attempt

    The gay couple who were attacked by muslims in Amsterdam were attacked again last Sunday, and keep receiving theats. One is suffering from PTSD and is planning to leave the neighborhood (Oost, an increasingly muslim area). In Dutch:
    https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/homostel-fabio-en-daniel-gaat-uit-angst-verhuizen-halsema-vindt-het-afschuwelijk~a3f7f313/

    The mayor (Halsema, GreenLeft) denies that this has anything to do with muslims. She makes the astonishing claim that there’s a general trend toward “homophobia, misogyny, antisemitism and islamophobia”, enforced by violence.

  10. Iran to Provide Harsh Response to Any Military Escapade by US, Ambassador to Russia Warns (sputniknews, May 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202005131079289353-iran-to-provide-harsh-response-to-any-military-escapade-by-us-ambassador-to-russia-warns/

    “Iran will provide a harsh response to any military escapade that US President Donald Trump may resort to, Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali has said in an interview, commenting on Trump’s veto of a congressional resolution limiting his ability to conduct military operations against Iran without congressional approval.

    “Trump’s actions related to the veto may have two aims. First, this comes in the context of disagreements between political parties in the United States, and of the attempt to secure victory in the upcoming election. Secondly, the US is likely primed for a military conflict with Iran. We hope that Trump’s actions are not motivated by the second goal, as Iran will provide a harsh response to any military escapade by the US,” Jalali said…”

  11. Saudi Tankers Struggle for Days to Unload Oil at US Gulf Ports, Analysts Say (sputniknews, May 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/us/202005131079290614-saudi-tankers-struggle-for-days-to-unload-oil-at-us-gulf-ports-analysts-say/

    “Wait time has apparently grown because of oversupply and the higher cost of renting lightering ships that are used to transfer crude from tankers.

    Saudi supertankers are facing delays in unloading crude oil in American ports in the Gulf of Mexico, Bloomberg reports citing industry sources.

    Since late April, at least three Saudi oil-carrying ships are said to have waited over a week to unload after arriving at the US coast. The process typically takes from four to six days.

    “I expect the oil to get into the US only with some delay,” Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at the maritime trade group BIMCO, told Bloomberg.

    It comes as Saudi Arabia ramped up its crude production and export in April after the collapse of an OPEC+ deal on output cuts. There were 18 supertankers, each laden with 2 million barrels of oil, headed to the Gulf of Mexico last month. They were loaded in eastern Saudi Arabia in late March and early April, according to oil industry analysts.

    The influx of tankers has pushed up the costs of renting lightering ships. According to Bloomberg estimates, the price per trip reportedly mushroomed from $50,000 to $350,000 this month, complicating the transfer of oil from tankers to ports.

    Meanwhile, the unusual tanker congestion was aggravated by refineries cancelling or deferring their crude orders amid falling demand. An analysis by an energy research firm published at the end of April showed that 28 tankers with Saudi oil, carrying a total of 43 million barrels, were set to arrive on the US Gulf and West coasts in the coming weeks. They are expected to meet a fleet of 76 tankers already waiting for a slot to unload.”

  12. Massive Protest Breaks Out in India’s Kashmir as Security Personnel Shoot Dead Civilian – Video (sputniknews, May 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202005131079291097-massive-protest-breaks-out-in-indias-kashmir-as-security-personnel-shoot-dead-civilian—video/

    “The contentious Armed Forces Act, which grants special powers to the security forces to conduct operations and kill anyone acting in contravention of the law, has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 5 July 1990.

    A protest broke out in Budgam district of India’s Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday after a civilian was shot dead by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The CRFP officer said that he fired at a man after he jumped two checkpoints, fearing “sabotage”.

    As hundreds gathered in Budgam to protest against the killing, the local authority has ordered the suspension of internet connections as a precautionary measure. Several videos emerged on social media showing that scores of women took to the streets to protest the killing and chanted slogans.

    A civilian, identified as Peer Mehrajudin, the son of Ghulam Nabi, was travelling in his car when CRPF personnel stationed at Kawoosa Khalisa village tried to stop him. As he did not stop at the check-post, security personnel opened fire at his car.

    “A civil vehicle fled from two check post in Narbal Kawoosa. Upon which CRPF party fired in which one person got injured. He has been shifted to hospital,” Senior Superintendent of Police Nagpure Amod, Budgam said confirming the death of the civilian.

    The injured was taken to the SMHS hospital in capital city Srinagar in critical condition where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

    For the past one month, Kashmir has witnessed a massive surge in terror incidents in which 37 terrorists, 19 security personnel and five civilians have been killed…”

  13. Swedish Regulator Says No to ‘Irreversible’ Gender Reassignment Surgery for Teens Amid Increase (sputniknews, May 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202005131079288587-swedish-regulator-says-no-to-irreversible-gender-reassignment-surgery-for-teens-amid-increase/

    “The new assessment by the National Board of Health and Welfare is based on the rapid increase of young patients in the gender reassignment sector and the fact that many in this group suffer from neuropsychiatric diagnoses.

    In a reversal of the government’s policy, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare has said no to a lower age limit for sex realignment surgery.

    “This procedure is an irreversible one. Then one should be reasonably sure that it brings lasting and significant benefit to the person,” Thomas Lindén, director of the Department for Knowledge-Based Health Care Policy at the National Board of Health, told national broadcaster SVT.

    In 2018, the government proposed a new law that would allow gender-reassigning genital surgery starting from the age of 15 without the permission of a parent or guardian. While the bill was heavily criticised by the Legislation Council among others, it was endorsed by the National Board of Health.

    The authority wanted to go even further than the government. While the bill stated that a prerequisite for surgery was that the patient must be assumed to live in the same gender identity in the future, the National Board of Health considered that surgery should not be linked to the future gender identity.

    The Swedish government subsequently commissioned the National Board of Health and Welfare to further analyse the proposal, which resulted in a surprising U-turn. In a complete reversal, the authority no longer thinks that the age limit should be lowered.

    “I don’t really think it matters what we have said before. We have not felt bound by it, but have investigated this question from the beginning and looked at the information we have now,” Thomas Lindén explained.

    According to Lindén, the new assessment is based on the rapid increase of young patients in the gender reassignment sector and the fact that many in this group suffer from neuropsychiatric diagnoses.

    During the 2010s, the number of young people applying for gender-corrective care services faced an avalanche-like increase. The increase was highest among girls. The number of new cases soared by almost 1,500 percent from 2008 to 2018, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare.

    Recent data, however, indicate a 38 percent decrease in the last quarter of 2019 compared with the year before, SVT reported. The decrease was largely attributed to media attention. At the same time, Fotis Papadopoulos at the Academic Hospital in Uppsala emphasised that the number of patients with gender dysphoria, a perceived mismatch between one’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth, is not decreasing.”

  14. ‘Giant Screwup’: FBI Mistakenly Leaks Name of Saudi Official Suspected of Involvement in 9/11 (sputniknews, May 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202005131079291233-giant-screwup-fbi-mistakenly-leaks-name-of-saudi-official-suspected-of-involvement-in-911/

    “Over a generation after a group of al-Qaeda* terrorists killed nearly three thousand Americans in a series of coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a hijacked airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania on route to Washington, D.C., questions continue to swirl regarding who else was behind the acts of terror.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation ‘accidentally’ disclosed the name of a Saudi diplomat accused of providing assistance to two of the al-Qaeda* hijackers who rammed a plane into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001,Yahoo News has reported, citing a new court declaration filed by a senior FBI official as part of an ongoing lawsuit by families of victims who accuse Riyadh of complicity in the attacks.

    The FBI official, Jill Sanborn, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, filed the 40-page declaration in April, with the filing unsealed last week. The name of the Saudi diplomat in question – one Mussad Ahmed al-Jarrah, a mid-level foreign ministry official tasked with overseeing employees at US-based Saudi-funded mosques and Islamic centers, was redacted throughout the document in all but one instance.

    Jarrah, who has gone on to serve in Saudi diplomatic missions in Malaysia and Morocco, is one of three Saudi officials whom the families of the victims of 9/11 suspect of involvement in the terror plot. The others are Fahad al-Thumairy, a Saudi Islamic affairs official and cleric serving at the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles, and Omar al-Bayoumi, a suspected government agent provided cash and bank accounts to two of the terrorists.

    Giant Screwup
    Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the 9/11 families suing the Saudi government, whose own father died during the attacks, said he was surprised by the FBI’s apparent mistake, describing it as “a giant screwup.”

    According to Eagleson, the filing, which confirms an FBI probe into a possible link between the hijackers and the Saudi diplomatic mission in Washington, “shows [that] there is a complete government cover-up of the Saudi involvement…It demonstrates there was a hierarchy of command that’s coming from the Saudi Embassy to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs [in Los Angeles] to the hijackers,” he said.

    Justice Department officials did not comment on the leak, but inadvertently confirmed that the filing was made in error, pulling the declaration from the public docket and replacing it with a statement reading “The document was incorrectly filed in this case.” The filing remains available on Scribd.

    Release of Information Could ‘Damage National Security’
    The leak comes just weeks after the move by the Justice Department to block the release of a trove of documents about the 9/11 terror attacks, warning that the documents would expose state secrets that could damage US national security.

    In a deposition to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last month, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grennell explained that the “assertion of privilege” in relation to the documents in question “is over highly sensitive and classified national security information concerning foreign government information; intelligence activities, sources and methods; and information concerning foreign relations and foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources.”

    Grennell suggested the release of the information could lead to “exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States,” without elaborating.

    9/11 families’ attorneys blasted Washington’s decision at the time, with lawyer Steven Pounian speculating that “the extraordinary lengths that they’re going to here suggest that there must be some deep, dark secret that they’re still trying very hard to hide after almost 20 years.”

    Officials in Riyadh have repeatedly rejected any implication of a connection between the Saudi government and the al-Qaeda hijackers. In January, a spokesman told The New York Times that “Saudi Arabia is and has always been a close and critical ally of the US in the fight against terrorism.”

    * A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.”

  15. Britain’s biggest Islamic authorities say child sexual abuse in Muslim communities is ‘underreported’ because young victims are too scared to tell anyone about it (dailymail, May 13, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8314795/Child-sexual-abuse-Muslim-communities-underreported-say-Britains-big-Islamic-authorities.html

    “Britain’s biggest Islamic authorities believe that child sexual abuse within the Muslim community is ‘underreported’ because it is a ‘taboo subject’.

    The Muslim Women’s Network (MWN) presented written testimony to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) which stated that the ‘scale of the problem is hidden due to the silence of victims’ which is ‘forced upon them’.

    The inquiry also received written testimony from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) stating it thinks cases are ‘underreported… due to cultural issues and stigma’.

    All religious organisations are being investigated by IISCA, which was set up by the British government in 2014 following the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

    Since then, investigators have been told that one in ten cases of child sexual abuse have taken place in a religious institution.

    Muslim community leaders are giving evidence today via Zoom conferencing.

    The MWN said: ‘We feel that even our knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg and the scale of the problem is hidden due to the silence of victims (such silence forced upon them them due to a number of cultural barriers).

    ‘This is a serious hindrance because it makes room for excuses, such as there not being a problem of child sexual abuse in their institutional setting or even community and that therefore nothing else needs to be done.’

    It said that when raising concerns relating to child sexual abuse, they did so in the context of abuse within mosques, the home environment, through religious organisations, in a non-teaching context, and in other faith-based services.

    The MCB said: ‘Smaller organisations may be prone to dealing with child sexual abuse cases with extra sensitivity to protect the reputation of the child and the family as well as the organisation as it is often seen as a taboo subject.

    ‘Due to cultural issues and stigma it is our view, based on professional knowledge, that it (cases of child sexual abuse) is underreported’.

    Responding to the testimonies, Shaukat Warraich, chief executive of Faith Associates, told the inquiry there was ‘100 per cent’ underreporting of cases.

    He claimed there were ‘vulnerabilities around child safeguarding’ within mosques and that ‘people in their forties and fifties’ who ‘went through the system… have spoke to us to talk about what happened to them’.

    A striking number of complainants who spoke to Faith Associates were female, he said, adding that the accounts have been ‘quite harrowing’.

    Mr Warraich said he was confident that as the work of the IICSA became well-known, more cases of historic cases of child sex abuse will emerge.

    ‘Certain predators would exploit loopholes within these institutions’, he added.

    Meanwhile, one of Britain’s biggest mosque and imam umbrella bodies ‘has not felt the need to undertake audits, inspection or risk assessments specific to child sex abuse’ because ‘it has not received any information to suggest otherwise’.

    The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) told the inquiry that ‘sexual abuse is limited if not rare within the Muslim community’.

    Its vice chairman Moin Azmi said that his organisation, which represents 150 paid and 552 listed mosques, had not received reports of child sexual abuse.

    He conceded, though, that MINAB does not have ‘powers of sanction and enforcement’ and that cases of abuse within mosques may be ‘dealt with internally’.”

  17. Norway’s top military official in Iraq says virus helps IS (abcnews, May 13, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/norways-top-military-official-iraq-virus-helps-70654425

    “Islamic State militants hide in sparsely populated farmlands in Iraq from where they stage attacks on Iraqi forces scrambling to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country, the head of the 70-man Norwegian contingent in this Mideast nation was quoted as saying Wednesday.

    Iraq is not just facing the global pandemic but also a resurgence of attacks by the Islamic State group and a financial crunch as oil prices plummet to historic lows — a crisis for a nation depending on crude exports to fund 90% of its state expenditure.

    The militants “reside in agricultural areas and are thus not particularly susceptible to the virus infection,” Lt. Col. Stein Grongstad told Norway’s VG newspaper. In recent weeks, they have been targeting Iraqi forces “that are not currently coordinated to the same extent as before the virus struck.”

    Grongstad described the situation as a “paradox,” that at a time when the world is grappling with the pandemic, IS attacks are on the rise.

    “The Islamic State group has been moving the fighting from Syria to Iraq … (and ) is strengthening, both financially and militarily,” he said.

    Since 2017, a Norwegian contingent has been based in western Iraq’s vast and mostly desert Anbar province, where it trains and advises Iraqi security forces.

    Iraq has reported over 2,700 cases of coronavirus infections, including 109 deaths.”

  19. Sky News – Maternity clinic attacked in Afghanistan, killing two mothers and their babies

  20. channel pr4vd4 – Covid-19 America: Undocumented immigrants left to cope without safety net

  21. Associated Press – Judges to pick homes best decorated for Ramadan

    Three community organizations are teaming up to host a Ramadan Lights challenge in Dearborn, Michigan, calling attention to the house-decorating practices that make the city and area’s Muslim community so visible during the season

  22. BBC – Coronavirus advice ignored by Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro –

    Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has come under criticism for his response to coronavirus, most recently for attending an anti-lockdown rally where he was seen coughing without covering his mouth.

  23. MEMRI – Chicago-Based Islamic Scholar on Coronavirus Pandemic: Muslims in the U.S. Should Arm Themselves

    Chicago-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Omar Baloch said in a lesson he uploaded to his YouTube channel on March 22, 2020 that the coronavirus will infect every human being at some point, that people need to accept the will of Allah, and that the world is about to change.

    He encouraged Muslims to only buy goods from other Muslims, and he suggested that some communities should even establish their own currencies if possible because the current cash currencies are about to lose their value.

    Furthermore, he said that Muslims should acquire firearms and establish systems of security because their Trump-loving neighbors don’t necessarily love them very much.

  24. SYRIA – Syrian civilians block US forces from entering their villages

    BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:00 P.M.) – The residents of two villages in northeastern Syria blocked a U.S. military convoy from entering their area.

    According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the residents of Dishishah and Al-Qahirah blocked the U.S. convoy from entering their villages in the Tal Tamr countryside; thus, forcing the American troops to turn around.

    The SANA report said the protesters refused to leave the road until the U.S. forces turned their convoy around and found another route to their destination.

    The incident occurred in the eastern countryside of the Tal Tamr District, which is located in the western region of the Al-Hasakah Governorate.

    Since the U.S. forces began to withdraw from several areas in northern Syria, they have found themselves facing several hostile villagers who resented their decision to abandon the region in support of a Turkish military operation.

    At the same time, the arrival of the Syrian Arab Army in villages and towns around Al-Hasakah has also prompted many people to protest the U.S.’ return to these areas.

    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-civilians-block-us-forces-from-entering-their-villages/

      • Seth on Threadreader:
        Jeffrey’s goal is to give eastern Syria to Turkey, first by sidelining and isolating the groups there and giving them no voice; he has sought to reduce a successful anti-ISIS campaign and partners who sacrificed in that campaign. He views it as a colony;

        US role has been the following:
        – July 2017 end support for Syrian rebels so Iran and Russia can defeat them
        -October 2017: after partnering with Kurdish Peshmerga, shift to give pro-Iran groups control of Kirkuk to isolate and weaken KRG
        – January 2018: quietly encourage Turkey to take Afrin so as to force YPG to choose Syrian regime as US promises SDF “not another Afrin if you work for us in Raqqa”
        – summer 2018: let ceasefire lapse in southern Syria so Assad-Iran Russia can conquer it
        Spring 2019: end US stabilization and investment efforts in eastern Syria, isolating it and turning SDF into subcontractors to hold ISIS detainees

        Summer 2019 : tell SDF to allow Turkish “safe zone” patrols and “security mechanism” and demolish all defenses
        October 2019 : open door for Turkish and extremist invasion. Enabling Russia-Turkey deal to bring Syrian regime into eastern Syria. Order SDF to control ISIS detainees and guard oil.

        Feb 2020: encourage Turkey to confront Syrian regime, refugee crises and Russia on M4 results
        In the midst of it all put a bounty on PKK leaders, trying to test the SDF’s response, slam SDF for discussions with regime while also telling them that their future is with the Syrian regime…claim to end intel drone sharing whole Ankara launches airstrikes in Sinjar.
        https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1260475710029905921.html?refreshed=yes

  25. WE ARE NOT IN THIS TOGETHER
    video – 1 min 37 secs
    It is self-declared “rulers” v the people. It is the lying elite v the deplorables. It is evil v good. It is you v us, and you will not win. We are not asking for your permission. You work for us. First, we are taking our lives back, and then we are taking you out of power.
    A DECLARATION OF LIBERTY
    To be delivered to:
    ?President Trump ?US House of Representatives ?US Senate ?Governors ?State & Local Officials
    You elected officials and bureaucrats have forgotten that YOU are civil servants, that you work for us. Your delusions have convinced you that you rule over us. You do not.
    If you try to IMPOSE your unconstitutional mandates such as social distancing, mandatory face masks, indefinite quarantines, business closures, we will not comply. We will test your unconstitutional mandates. We will force your hand. We will exercise our freedom. We will take care of our family, friends and neighbors as we deem appropriate. It’s time to eradicate the nanny state. Americans will run our own lives.
    WE ARE NOT IN THIS TOGETHER!
    Signed – America.
    SIGN THE DECLARATION AT THIS LINK…
    https://wearenotinthistogether.com

  26. RAMADAN 2020 – Bergoglio : May 14: day for peoples of all religions to pray, fast and do charitable works to end coronavirus</b


  28. China Threatens ‘Non-Peaceful Measures’ to Keep Taiwan out of W.H.O. (breitbart, May 13, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/05/13/china-threatens-non-peaceful-measures-to-keep-taiwan-out-of-w-h-o/

    “China’s state-run Global Times newspaper warned on Wednesday that, should pressure on the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) to include Taiwan become successful, the Communist Party may be forced to solve “the Taiwan question once and for all via non-peaceful means.”

    The Global Times blamed the “people of the mainland,” meaning the People’s Republic of China, for the potential violence, asserting Chinese people are increasingly supportive of invading and colonizing Taiwan.

    Taiwan is a sovereign nation off the coast of Communist China. The Communist Party considers the island a renegade province despite the lack of any history in which Taiwan was ruled by Beijing. Taiwan is currently a democracy with a long history of free and fair elections and functional state institutions like a lawmaking body, a military, and extensive education and health care infrastructures.

    Despite its status as an independent country, the W.H.O. does not acknowledge its sovereignty in response to Communist Party pressure. The agency used to invite Taiwan to the World Health Assembly, its annual meeting, but stopped in 2016 after the Taiwanese people elected President Tsai Ing-wen, who has vocally challenged Beijing’s illegal attempts to control much of the South China Sea region.

    Calls are currently mounting for the W.H.O. to reverse this policy and invite Taiwan to this month’s World Health Assembly in light of the fact that Taiwan has almost completely contained the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Taiwan has not documented a domestically transmitted case of Chinese coronavirus in one month.

    Taiwan has also protested that the W.H.O. ignored warnings from its government as early as December of a potentially contagious disease spreading in China.

    In response to these calls, the Global Times, published by the government of China, threatened violence.

    “The reason why China firmly prohibits separatist Taiwan authority from participating in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer is due to the fact such authority has abandoned the one-China principle,” the Global Times asserted, “and no matter how the U.S. politicians and their allies exploit the issue to encourage Taiwan separatism, the only consequence that may ensue is the mainland [China] considering ending this senseless game by solving the Taiwan question once and for all via non-peaceful means.”

    The “One-China principle” is China’s term for the belief that Taiwan is a province of China. The “One-China policy” is a diplomatic term for a rule stating that a nation can maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei or Beijing, but not both.

    The state propaganda outlet used its usual stable of Chinese government “experts” to declare that Tsai Ing-wen’s government has a “horrible” reputation among Chinese people and that they will be eager to invade and destroy it. The newspaper articles that “the only possible consequence” of including Taiwan in the World Health Assembly would be a bloody invasion of Taiwan – or “that the people of the mainland lose their faith in peaceful reunification, and more people would urge mainland decision-makers to solve the Taiwan question via non-peaceful means.”

    The Global Times also published an editorial on Tuesday – the article threatening “non-peaceful” resolution of the W.H.O. issue was presented as an objective news article – claiming that the Communist Party would “strike back at whatever cost” if Washington takes “real actions” to support Taiwan’s plea to be included in global public health consultations. It continued:

    The Chinese mainland’s [China’s] ability to resolve the Taiwan question via military means is becoming mature. Its comprehensive strength to cope with changes surrounding the question is also increasing. This is the foremost change in the situation vis-à-vis the Taiwan Straits. It is Beijing that tightly steers the wheel of the Taiwan Straits.

    “Taiwan’s so-called independent diplomacy has met its demise,” the editorial concludes.

    The article also advises communists that “it is unrealistic to expect China to win in each round” of geopolitical conflict, belying some lack of confidence in its ability to keep Taiwan out of the World Health Assembly.

    The “non-peaceful means” threat is the latest in a series of increasingly dramatic language used by the Communist Party against Taiwan, as well as other regions that seek to liberate themselves from the Communist Party such as Tibet and Xinjiang, or East Turkestan. In October, dictator Xi Jinping personally warned that any attempt by Taiwanese officials to behave as a sovereign state would result in “their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder.”

    “Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder,” Xi reportedly said. “Anyone attempting separatist activities in any part of China will be crushed and any external force backing such attempts will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming.”

    Xi has yet to deliver on that promise, despite Taiwan holding a free and fair election in January resulting in Tsai’s decisive reelection.

    Taiwan’s government has demanded its rightful place in the W.H.O. for years, but officials have recently made the argument more loudly, noting that their successful response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic proves the value of counting on Taiwan as a member of the agency. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested in April that the W.H.O. turned down 70 percent of its requests for meetings regarding the outbreak.

    Officials also noted that Taiwan sent the W.H.O. a message in December warning that it had identified a new respiratory illness and began isolating patients, suggesting a contagious disease. A month later, W.H.O. claimed that the Chinese coronavirus was not transmissible from person to person, which is false. The German newspaper Der Spiegel published a report this weekend indicating Xi Jinping personally requested that W.H.O. chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is not a medical doctor, hide the fact that the virus was contagious from the public and delay the announcement of a pandemic.

    Tedros has responded to criticism of his treatment of Taiwan by claiming that Taipei launched a campaign of racial slurs against him, offering no evidence of any such action.

    A growing number of W.H.O. member states are requesting that Tedros invite Taiwan to the World Health Assembly, including 13 member states that recognize Taiwan as a nation as well as some that do not, like America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

    The W.H.O. responded to those requests by falsely claiming Tedros does not have the power to invite Taiwan to observe the event, which will be held virtually this year thanks to the pandemic the Chinese Communist Party created.

    “In fact, the W.H.O. Director-General does have the discretionary power to invite observers to the W.H.A. [World Health Assembly],” Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters this week, responding to the claim.”

  29. Saudis set up field hospital for coronavirus patients in Mecca

    Saudis set up a field hospital with a capacity of 100 beds to treat coronavirus patients in Mecca.

  30. Doug Collins shreds Obama’s ‘roving band of deputized street thugs’

    Rep. Doug Collins blasts the Obama administration for attacking President Trump and says it’s time to hold people accountable.

  31. Sgarbi su Silvia Romano: “Abbiamo abbracciato una nazista che ha aderito a una banda terroristica”

    • Hillary took money from Russia and China, it would have been a bidding war on who got the information first and how much it would cost to keep the other from getting the same info.

  34. FBI offers $1 million for information leading to former Taliban hostage’s captors

    The reward comes as the US seems to step up efforts to free another American.

    + video

    Ex-Taliban hostage mom opens up about abuse she says she suffered from husband
    Caitlan Coleman said her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle subjected her to years of “extreme” abuse during and after their kidnapping: “I was actually more afraid of him than of the captors.”

    The U.S. government on Tuesday offered $1 million for information leading to the capture of the Taliban militants who kidnapped and held Caitlan Coleman and her three children who were born during her five years in captivity.

    The FBI “seeking information” flier posted online Tuesday offers a substantial reward to anyone with credible information on those who abducted the Pennsylvania woman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle in Afghanistan in October 2012 and held them until 2017 in Pakistan.

    “I’m certainly happy to hear they’re taking this step and hopeful that it will make justice possible,” Caitlan Coleman told ABC News on Tuesday.

    It’s unclear why the FBI is offering the reward now. At least two Americans remain missing in Afghanistan, including commercial contractor Mark Frerichs, who was kidnapped on Jan. 31 by the Haqqani Network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban, U.S. officials believe.

    The announcement of the FBI reward in Coleman’s case comes one week after the agency released a poster asking for information leading to Frerichs’ safe return and after chief U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad first mentioned Frerichs’ name, saying in a statement that he pressed senior Taliban leaders last Wednesday to take “actions necessary to secure the freedom of” Frerichs. Khalilzad also pressed for “assistance in helping obtain the freedom of American Mark Frerichs,” in a meeting with Pakistani General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the country’s highest ranking military official.

    On Sunday, Frerichs’s family told ABC News that they are concerned he will be left behind in the peace deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban in late February. It is suspected by U.S. officials that Frerichs was kidnapped by the Haqqani Network, who also held U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl captive for five years and kidnapped journalists such as David Rohde and Sean Langan.

    The Taliban on Monday denied that they or the Haqqani Network are holding Frerichs, but some involved in the case on the U.S. side dismissed that, saying the insurgents are known for dishonest statements.

    The Haqqani Network, once led by the late Mujahideen leader Jalaluddin Haqqani — a CIA ally when Afghans fought the Russian occupation and also a close friend and protector of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden — has killed hundreds of U.S. troops over the course of the 18-year war following the 9/11 attacks.

    “The Haqqani Network has a lot of American blood on its hands and is notorious for its kidnapping of Westerners,” said Eric Lebson, a former Afghanistan and Pakistan director in the Obama National Security Council.

    Coleman, who grew up in rural Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, said the FBI has long contemplated offering a reward that could lead to her captors but said she had little insight into the timing of Tuesday’s announcement or how it could impact Frerichs’ captivity.

    “I hope that, in the atmosphere of a potential peace deal and the clear message that the U.S. is pursuing justice with my kidnappers, Mark’s captors will do the right thing and release him peacefully,” she said told ABC News Tuesday.

    While some officials doubted the U.S. would exit the war in Afghanistan without securing Frerichs’ release — particularly given that the Taliban wants 5,000 of their comrades freed by the government in Kabul — there is precedent. The Obama administration cast aside the case of vanished former FBI Agent Bob Levinson in Iran during negotiations for the nuclear deal with the regime in Tehran in 2016 on the presumption he was dead, even though Levinson’s family didn’t give up hope of his survival until this year.

    In a statement, a senior FBI official promised justice for Coleman but did not explain the timing.

    “The FBI is dedicated to not only bring American citizens back home, but also to bring them justice after years in captivity,” said Timothy R. Slater, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Years after the Coleman family returned home, dedicated FBI special agents and analysts are still actively working to identify the family’s captors. Our pursuit of justice does not end, but we also need the public’s help to identify those responsible for the family’s five years of captivity.”

    The fact that the U.S. wants to bring Coleman’s captors to face justice in a court of law also is, in effect, a declaration by the government that Coleman ended up a hostage against her will, despite lingering questions regarding her now-estranged husband’s sympathies for Islamic extremists.

    In a lengthy interview for ABC’s “Nightline” last year she said that Boyle, a Canadian, was abusive and wanted to meet Taliban commanders because he was a sympathizer.The effort went sideways when they ended up as prisoners instead.

    “For the perspective of people who may still have questions of whether our five years in captivity was ‘voluntary,’ this certainly does clear that up. The U.S. government wouldn’t offer a million dollars to catch our kidnappers if they thought otherwise,” Coleman told ABC News Tuesday.

    Last year, former Trump White House counterterrorism advisers Tom Bossert, now an ABC News contributor, and Chris Costa, now director of the International Spy Museum, paid Coleman’s family a visit for the first time, where Caitlan and her father Jim Coleman thanked them for the Trump administration’s efforts to free the family. President Donald Trump has made freeing American hostages a priority and point of pride.

    Coleman has said in past interviews that she was sexually assaulted on one occasion by Taliban guards but alleged that Boyle abused her physically and psychologically throughout their ordeal. He has denied that in Canadian courts in a child custody case and a criminal trial in which he was acquitted of assaulting his wife while in Canada in late 2017.

    “Not only was it psychological, it was physical, it was sexual,” Coleman said on Nightline last year. “I was actually more afraid of him (Boyle) than of the captors.”

    Less than three months after being freed from the Haqqani network in 2017, Boyle was arrested by police in Ottawa, where they had settled, and was charged with more than a dozen offenses involving physical abuse of Coleman and one of their children. Boyle was acquitted last December, however, despite days of testimony by his wife.

    During the couple’s captivity, multiple senior intelligence officials said that Coleman and Boyle were sometimes living apart in Taliban compounds, which she has since confirmed. Intelligence officials told ABC News at the time that Boyle was a misguided Taliban sympathizer and that Coleman had no affection for their captors and wanted to go home.

    Boyle told ABC News days before his arrest that such suspicions about his sympathies for extremists were “off base” but admitted that he had lied in public statements upon his release about providing aid to “ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan,” and in fact had wanted to write a book offering the Taliban’s perspective on the longest war.

    “He would always tell me, ‘I think they’re misrepresented in the West. I think they’re good people. When you meet them, you’re gonna see,'” Coleman said last year. “So I saw. And they are, with the exception of my husband, the worst people that I’ve ever known in my life.”

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-offers-million-information-leading-taliban-hostages-captors/story

  35. Schools Resume in China and 3 Students Died on School Grounds While Running

  37. Far-Left Antifa Suspects in Beating of German Camera Crew Come From Privileged Backgrounds (breitbart, May 13, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/13/far-left-antifa-suspects-in-beating-of-german-camera-crew-come-from-privileged-backgrounds/

    “Two of the six far-left extremists Antifa suspects involved in the brutal beating of a German television crew have been revealed as coming from a privileged middle-class background, originally from a well-off Swabian town.

    The two suspects, 27-year-old Miriam S. and her 25-year-old brother Simon S., were arrested shortly after the attack on a camera crew of German broadcaster ZDF on May 1st in Berlin that sent four members of the crew to the hospital with various injuries suffered during the brutal assault.

    The background of the pair has now been revealed by German newspaper Die Welt which reports that the two Antifa extremists originally come from the small wealthy town of Schwaigern near Heilbronn in the historic Swabia region, now divided between Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria.

    According to the paper, both siblings have connections to far-left extremist groups and have expressed support for Antifa and migrant transport NGOs in the past.

    The father of the pair, who did not find out about his children’s role in the assault until approached by the paper, said that his son works as a kickboxing coach and has supported migrant transport NGO “Sea-Watch” along with other pro-mass migration and left-wing extremist groups in the past.

    His daughter Miriam has also expressed her support for far-left groups and causes including signing various petitions and leftist campaigns and both siblings are well-known among the local leftist scene.

    The pair fit the profile of many far-left extremists in Germany and elsewhere across Europe who seldom come from working-class or more financially humble backgrounds. Antifa rioters arrested after the ultra-violent May 1st riots in Paris in 2018 were also revealed to have come from privileged upper-middle-class backgrounds as well…”

  38. London horror as man stabbed in busy street in broad daylight – Air Ambulance on scene (express, May 13, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1281827/london-news-southwark-police-stabbing-great-dover-street-crime

    “A MAN has died after being stabbed in a south London street.

    Police said they were called to Great Dover Street just before 5.30pm after receiving reports of a fight. Officers found a man with stab injuries and despite London Air Ambulance arriving, he was declared dead at the scene.

    Police are yet to release the victims name or age.

    However, a bymber of people have been arrested and a Section 60 order, giving police extra powers to stop and search suspects, has been issued.

    The air ambulance landed in the playground of St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School at Bricklayer’s Arms.

    According to the London-SE1 website paths have been closed off in the area.

    Police are appealing for information.

    Norman Brennan wrote on Twitter: “A man has been stabbed to death in Borough area of Southwark London where a group of males were reported fighting! Police were called at 5.28pm this evening & victim was pronounced dead at scene! As is always usual now a Sec 60 is now in place until the next one!”

    Another panicked resident wrote: “What happened great Dover street roads closed off forensics present?”

    The attack comes just days after two boys were stabbed in Orpington, south-east London.

    In the shocking incident last Wednesday, the boys were attacked just after midday at Crofton Road.

    The two boys were rushed to hospital. The air ambulance also arrived at that incident.

    More to follow…”

  39. Gretchen Whitmer upset that there are threats against her

    With another protest rally in Lansing expected this week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday denounced threats of violence being made against herself and others by some protesters and urged officials to do what they can to tamp down angry rhetoric.

    “To threaten someone else is beyond the pale,” Whitmer said Monday after being asked about threats and posts on social media that have reportedly included racist remarks and violent imagery. “I would appreciate if others would do their part to lower the heat.”

    Protests against Whitmer have erupted in recent weeks as she has put in place restrictions on businesses and Michigan residents, including a sweeping stay-at-home order, intending to limit gatherings as a way to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

    On April 30, a group of protesters, including some carrying rifles and not wearing masks as required under the order, crowded into the hall outside the state House chambers, demanding to be allowed inside. Others went to the state Senate gallery, leading some legislators in that chamber to feel intimidated.

    https://www.gopusa.com/?p=88815?omhide=true

  41. Wuhan tests entire population to contain virus spread; Trump blocks $4.5 billion investment in China

  42. News Flash: Most Common Civilian-Owned Firearms Are ‘Military Grade’ Weapons

    One of the phrases that frequently gets tossed around by anti-gun activists — people like noted firearms experts Emma Gonzalez and Justin Trudeau — is “military grade weapons.” The connotation, of course, is usually modern sporting rifles such as the AR-15 or so-called “high capacity” pistols, though high capacity is all rather relative and conveniently undefined.

    “Military grade” is, of course, a colloquialism that, when followed to the letter, actually describes such a long list of firearms that the term becomes completely meaningless. Which is exactly the point of most of those who use it.

    A huge number of the most popular firearms owned in America and around the world started out as military weaponry. For instance, all of the following guns have been either issued by our armed forces or a foreign military unit in some form in the past 50 years:

    https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/youd-be-surprised-how-many-guns-are-military-grade-weapons/?utm_source=wideopen&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wos_daily&utm_content=%5B%5Brssitem_title%5D%5D

    • The List of Obama Administration Officials Who Unmasked General Flynn Has Been Released

      The list of Obama administration officials who requested the unmasking of General Michael Flynn during the transition period between the November 2016 election and President Donald Trump’s January 20, 2017 inauguration has been released. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified the list late last week and it has been published by Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson.

      “Today we received a list of individuals who requested the unmasking of Lt. General Michael Flynn and others who received access to that information. The officials listed should confirm whether they reviewed this information, why they asked for it and what they did with it, and answer many other questions that have been raised by recent revelations,” the senators released in a statement. “We are making this public because the American people have a right to know what happened. We commend Acting DNI Grenell and Attorney General Barr for their transparency and responsiveness. Our investigation of these matters has been ongoing for years, and as information finally comes to light, our focus on these issues is even more important now.”

      “The records are one step forward in an important effort to get to the bottom of what the Obama administration did during the Russia investigation and to Lt. General Flynn. We will continue to review this information and push for additional relevant disclosures until we are satisfied that the American people know the full truth,” the statement continues.

      Earlier today Grassley and Johnson sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr and Acting DNI Grenell requesting the names be released. There are 39 names, some are redacted.

      Here are some of them:

      -Vice President Joe Biden – One request January 12, 2017

      -FBI Director James Comey – One request December 15, 2016

      -Director of National Intelligence James Clapper – Three requests

      -CIA Director John Brennan – Two requests – December 14-15, 2016

      -U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power – Seven requests: November 30, 2016 -December 2, 7, 14, 23, 2016, January 11, 2017

      -Obama Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough – One request January 5, 2017

      -Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration Michael Dempsey – One request January 7, 2017

      -U.S Ambassador to Russia John Tefft – December 16, 2016

      -U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Ambassador Barr – December 28, 2016

      -Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew – Two requests December 14, 2016 and January 12, 2017

      -Acting Assistant Secretary Treasury Arthur McGlynn December 14, 2016

      -Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stephanie O’Sullivan – One request January 7, 2017

      It is not a crime to ask for an unmasking of an American individual on a phone call with a foreign actor, so long as the official asking for the information has a proper security clearance. It is illegal to leak the name of the unmasked American to the media, which is what happened with General Flynn. It is also illegal to unmask Americans for political purposes.

      Vice President Biden said yesterday during an interview on Good Morning America that he “knew nothing” about the investigation of General Flynn.

      You can read the full list below:

      https://www.scribd.com/document/461282271/List-of-Flynn-unmasking

      https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/05/13/here-is-the-list-of-obama-administration-officials-who-unmasked-those-close-to-the-trump-campaign-n2568638

    • Biden, Brennan, Comey on secret list of officials who sought to ‘unmask’ Flynn

      Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to ‘unmask’ the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period; reaction and analysis from Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy.

    • FLASHBACK: MSNBC, CNN Derided Flynn as Treacherous, Possible Russian Asset – SUPERcuts!

    • Rand Paul on unmasking: ‘It was a conspiracy of high ranking Obama officials’

    • Sen. Rand Paul: ‘It’s startling’ Biden would ‘unmask a political rival’

    • Flynn’s attorney ‘not surprised’ by names on ‘unmasking’ list

      Sidney Powell, the attorney for former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, talks to FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs about the released list of Obama administration officials who purportedly sought to ‘unmask’ Flynn.

    • Federal Judge Orders Arguments on Whether Michael Flynn Should Be Jailed for Perjury

      Federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan late Wednesday issued a stunning ruling in the prosecution of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump‘s former National Security Advisor. The two-pronged order (1) appoints a former federal judge to argue against dismissing the case; and (2) considers holding Flynn in criminal contempt for perjury.

      “Upon consideration of the entire record in this case, it is hereby ORDERED that the Court exercises its inherent authority to appoint The Honorable John Gleeson (Ret.) as amicus curiae to present arguments in opposition to the government’s Motion to Dismiss,” the judge wrote. “[I]t is further ORDERED that amicus curiae shall address whether the Court should issue an Order to Show Cause why Mr. Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 401, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 42, the Court’s inherent authority, and any other applicable statutes, rules, or controlling law.”

      Judging by the order, Sullivan is not pleased that Flynn took up the court’s time by pleading guilty, firing his lawyers, hiring new lawyers, and moving to withdraw his guilty plea. As if that wasn’t enough, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss its case against Flynn.

      Gleeson, a Bill Clinton nominee to a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of New York, was previously an Assistant United States Attorney for the same district. As a prosecutor, Gleeson secured a conviction against mobster John Gotti. He also prosecuted the so-called “Wolf of Wall Street,” Jordan Belfort. He retired as a judge to pursue a career in private practice.

      The statute Sullivan cited, 18 U.S.C. § 401, reads as follows:

      A court of the United States shall have power to punish by fine or imprisonment, or both, at its discretion, such contempt of its authority, and none other, as —
      (1)Misbehavior of any person in its presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice;
      (2)Misbehavior of any of its officers in their official transactions;
      (3)Disobedience or resistance to its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command.

      Criminal Procedure Rule 42 deals with criminal contempt proceedings. It requires, in part, that criminal contempt “be prosecuted by an attorney for the government, unless the interest of justice requires the appointment of another attorney.”

      The rule also contains an escape hatch for the judge in the event the government refuses. “If the government declines the request, the court must appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.”

      Earlier Wednesday, Sullivan again pumped the brakes on attempts by the Department of Justice and Flynn’s legal team to have the criminal against Flynn dismissed. Sullivan told a group of Watergate prosecutors to stand down in their attempt to suggest Flynn could be sentenced regardless of the consecutive attempts of the actual litigating parties to toss the case. Flynn told the prosecutors — whose histories Law&Crime has detailed — to wait for the court to establish a calendar for amicus curiae proceedings.

      Flynn’s legal team has argued this week that the case should be dismissed immediately.

      Sullivan was nominated to judgeships by presidents Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

      READ the order below.

      https://www.scribd.com/document/461309822/Sullivan-wants-to-know-why-Flynn-shouldn-t-be-held-in-criminal-contempt

      https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/federal-judge-orders-arguments-on-whether-michael-flynn-should-be-jailed-for-perjury/

  44. Revisiting the Virtue of Courage in the Age of the Great UnReason

    Remembering Aristotle.

    That America is in the midst of a great pandemic of unreasonable or irrational fear is deniable only to those who have succumbed to it.

    To be clear, fear, in itself, is natural, and is deserving of neither praise nor blame. Considered in itself, it is a morally-neutral emotion. However, as those who have thought about the matter from over the centuries and millennia know all too well, there is all of the difference in the world between fear that is reasonable and that which is unreasonable.

    Aristotle’s analysis of fear and courage remains unsurpassed to this day. The man who Saint Thomas Aquinas would, some 15 centuries later, refer to as “The Philosopher,” noted that virtue, i.e. excellence of moral character, tends to be the mean between the emotional extremes of “excess” and “deficiency.”

    So, for example, when a person habitually experiences an excess of, say, fear, he suffers from the vice, the moral weakness, of cowardice. When, on the other hand, a person habitually experiences a deficiency of fear, he suffers from the vice of recklessness.

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/05/revisiting-virtue-courage-age-great-unreason-jack-kerwick

  45. Pelosi $3 Trillion Bill Includes Gift to China by Waiving “Buy American”
    May 12, 2020
    Daniel Greenfield

    Like everything with Pelosi’s name on it and trillions of dollars flying through the air, the latest massive porkulus pandemic bill is toxic garbage that includes favors for pot, a bailout for the Post Office, and a big financial benefit for Communist China.

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/05/pelosi-3-trillion-bill-includes-gift-china-waiving-daniel-greenfield

  46. List of Obama Operatives Who Unmasked General Mike Flynn Revealed… Including Brennan, Biden, Clapper and Samantha Power!

    Acting DNI Richard Grenell declassified the list of Obama officials involved in the unmasking of General Mike Flynn in his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

    CBS reporter Catherine Herridge obtained the list of Obama operatives who unmasked General Flynn.

    Names include former CIA Director John Brennan, Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and former DNI chief James Clapper.

    Joe Biden is also on the list!

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/breaking-list-obama-operatives-unmasked-general-mike-flynn-revealed-including-brennan-clapper-power/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily

  48. Wuhan Orders Testing of All City Residents to Contain Virus’s Spread

    The central Chinese city of Wuhan is requiring nucleic acid tests for the CCP virus for all residents, totaling more than 10 million. Authorities plan to complete testing within 10 days.

    Due to the timing of China’s upcoming “Lianghui” political meeting on May 21, some analysts believe authorities want to conduct widespread testing in order to avoid any infected officials from traveling to Beijing for the conference.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-city-of-wuhan-orders-virus-testing-on-all-residents-to-contain-spread_3348261.html?__sta=vhg.hhksexIJ_fmb%7CBTV&__stm_medium=email&__stm_source=smartech

    • …in order to avoid any infected officials from traveling to Beijing for the conference.

      Uh…so you have to test 10M?

  49. More Virus Cases Reported in Northern China, Hubei Province

    Chinese authorities reported new CCP virus cases in northern China and the virus’s initial hot spot of Hubei Province over the weekend.

    Officially, China’s National Health Commission announced on May 10 that there were 12 new cases in the entire country. But local governments reported more infections than that.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/more-outbreaks-reported-in-northern-china-and-hubei-province_3345680.html?__sta=vhg.hhksexIJ_fmb%7CBTV&__stm_medium=email&__stm_source=smartech

  50. China’s Factory Deflation Deepens as Pandemic Hits Demand

    BEIJING—China’s factory prices fell in April, highlighting weakening industrial demand in the world’s second-largest economy as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic takes a global economic toll.

    Data released last week showed a sharper-than-expected decline in imports and signals of weak domestic demand.

    China is trying to recover from its first economic contraction on record during the January-March quarter when the economy was paralyzed by curbs to slow the spread of the virus.

    “The pace at which producer prices are falling is faster than the market expected, which calls for more forceful measures to spur demand,” said Wen Bin, Senior Economist at Minsheng Bank in Beijing.

    Capital Economics Senior China Economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said demand-side pressures are likely to persist for some time with tumbling energy and food prices bringing headline gauges lower.

    “That should remove any concerns the People’s Bank of China has about the impact of monetary easing on inflation,” Evans-Pritchard said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-factory-deflation-deepens-as-pandemic-hits-demand_3347906.html?__sta=vhg.hhksexIJ_fmb%7CBTV&__stm_medium=email&__stm_source=smartech

    Richard: China is in trouble, the left in their zeal to destroy the West are also destroying China, as I keep saying China is a export economy and when we don’t import they don’t export. The deflation in prices helps some because any of the Chinese citizens who have money can buy more but after the long shutdown how many of the Chinese have an money left?