Category: Uncategorized
If Trump could he’d FIRE Bill Gates (ODT)
via Coronavirus: Bill Gates, in rebuke of Trump, calls WHO funding cut ‘as dangerous as it sounds’
Other Billionaires are bailed out (ODT)
Bezos Gains $24 Billion in 2020 While World Battles Pandemic – Bloomberg
You cant privatise a pandemic Scott Morrison (ODT)
It will be difficult for Morrison to backtrack on measures already put in place to cope with the economic effects of the virus and more government financial assistance can be expected before we are out the other side. The fragility of the economy will require nurturing by the State for some time to come. The funding of childcare, universities and the increased funding of Newstart will not be easy to reverse even when the economy is stronger given likely voter resistance. It will give the Labor Party a platform.
![Paramedics taking a patient into an emergency centre at Maimonides Medical Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York, United States [Andrew Kelly/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/4/14/4edc9bba279140fa9fd7ea4fff2fd239_18.jpg "US coronavirus deaths set single-day record as total hits 28,300")
Trump can’t even get the movie he’s starring in right it’s the remake of the Cain Mutiny and Captain Queeg
Trump’s ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ Fantasy Will Not End Well
If Donald Trump thinks he’d enjoy Captain Bligh’s position, and ultimate final fortunes, he’s even dumber than he looks.
via Trump’s ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ Fantasy Will Not End Well | Crooks and Liars
SOOOO Republican!! SOOOO Trump!!(ODT)
There is little evidence showing that Sweden’s approach is effective, and in fact, indicators suggest that it’s likely backfiring. Sweden has seemingly embraced the idea of “herd immunity,” As a result, Sweden’s fatality rate from coronavirus is significantly higher than those of the neighbouring countries and of the United States, at 7.68% as of April 8 compared to 1.46% in Norway, 3.85% in Denmark, and 3.21% in the U.S.
Conservatives want that approach here. History has shown that pandemics come in ever-increasing waves. So if your prepared to stand up and say that those that die are expendable and shrug for the sake of the “Economy” be prepared what you wish for as social sacrifice is never equal. News Corp and Sky News pundits are parroting the head office Fox line (ODT)
Weaponizing one point of view inevitably limits the ability of contrary views to be heard. The downside is, of course, that the frenzy that has resulted in the criminalization of free expression relating in any but a positive way to the activity of Jewish groups. It has also included the acceptance of the dishonest definition that any criticism of Israel is ipso facto anti-Semitism, giving that nation a carte blanche in terms of its brutal treatment of its neighbors and even of its non-Jewish citizens.
Mossad False Flag Attacks on Jews, by Philip Giraldi – The Unz Review
and
News Ltd issues apology to former Labor MP Melissa Parke
The Economy is a system of institutionalised patterns of behaviours that have changed over the years. This pandemic has brought out its current inability to serve all Australians and is in need of serious change. People have always been sacrificed for “the economy” it’s time the economy was sacrificed to accommodate all Australians so death isn’t structured to simply serve it. The economy isn’t an Aztec God. The Aged, immune-deficient, Indigenous, homeless addicted and poor aren’t simply expendables. All parents would sacrifice themselves for the children’s future if given the choice. However, all parents don’t have that privilege some are simply systematically made to. America is finding that COVID-19 is shining a light on their Racism. 40% of deaths are Afro-American in areas where they are only 20% of the population. Equality is the myth, the economy its agent of death. (ODT)
The coronavirus has bought with it the hope of a renaissance. That a new understanding of whom we are and what we are here for might emerge from this dreadful time.
Would it be too much to hope that a new period of enlightenment might indoctrinate itself into the hearts and minds of our leaders who at present govern us from the perspective of self-interest only?
Have they woken to the fact that good open governance has its rewards? We have so much to learn from people we disagree with that it’s a wonder we don’t do it more often.
Trump blames the WHO now for his mismanagement (ODT)
US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 25,400 on Tuesday, doubling in one week, according to a Reuters tally, as officials debated how to reopen the economy without reigniting the outbreak.
via Coronavirus death toll tops 25,000 in the US, cases exceed 600,000
The reality is that America’s response to the pandemic has been disastrous.
The latest data shows that the USA:
now has the world’s highest number of active coronavirus cases at 480,427, nearly five times higher than Italy, second with 96,877;
now has more than 38% of the world’s active cases, despite having only 4.25% of the world’s population. This is up from 27.5% 12 days ago;
has the highest total deaths, having overtaken Italy and Spain yesterday; and
has a death rate at 61.8 per million citizens, up from just 12.3 at the end of March.The falsehoods most obvious to informed observers were Trump’s assurances that everything possible was being done and the crisis was virtually over. This was conveyed via terms like “incredible” used 14 times: “It’s been really incredible what’s been happening”. Plus the word “tremendous” used 23 times: “We have tremendous plans” and “We are doing tremendous testing”. The word “great” was used 81 times: “We are in great shape in every way” and “We’re doing great. Number one in the world”.
And the never-ending self-congratulation:
“I watched a certain network, and it wasn’t Fox, and you had doctors saying that we’ve done an incredible job.”
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The new coronavirus threat to the world is the USA
I hope so, because that is what is happening right now. The system (i.e., global capitalism, not a bunch of guys in a room hatching a scheme to sell vaccines) is reacting to the last four years of populist revolt in a predictable manner. GloboCap is attacking the virus that has been attacking its hegemonic body. No, not the coronavirus. A much more destructive and multiplicitous virus … resistance to the hegemony of global capitalism and its post-ideological ideology.
HE’S YOUR PRESIDENT AMERICA
Nearly three million Chinese visitors came to this country in 2018 and 2.5 million Americans, counting only tourists, traveled to China. In fact, we now know that, in the weeks after Covid-19 was disclosed in Wuhan, China, more than 430,000 people flew here from that country, thousands of them from Wuhan itself — and this continued even after Donald Trump put his much-vaunted travel measures in place. (“I do think we were very early, but I also think that we were very smart, because we stopped China,” he nonetheless claimed.)
via The Ultimate Stress Test: America as revealed by the Coronavirus Pandemic
Biden told Sanders his endorsement “means a great deal” to him, saying, “I want to thank you for being a powerful voice. And you’ve been the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America.”
“It’s a voice like yours that refuses to allow us just to accept what is. You’ve refused to accept that we can’t change what’s wrong in our nation,” he added. “And you don’t get enough credit, Bernie.”
DOES TRUMP CARE?
Trump never wanted to close down the country, and only when his campaign’s polling showed that his reputation couldn’t survive to allow thousands of people to die, such that his reelection would anyway be in doubt, did he order social distancing on March 16. Trump is chafing all through April. He wanted to reopen things, at least in the Republican-governed states, by yesterday, Easter but was warned that such a measure would just start back up the countdown to a really big death toll. With effective social distancing, the deaths can possibly be kept to 60,000 – 100,000. Opening things back up too soon, and in the absence of large scale testing and contact tracing, could push that tally substantially higher.
via If Trump fires Dr. Fauci and installs a Barr-like Toady, what ever will become of us?
After active opposition to action on climate change, rorting on a grand scale in water management, no long term national drought strategy, and a woeful response to the bushfires, ScottyFromMarketing (SFM) is now positioning himself as some sort of crisis leader.
In actual fact, he is finally being led by advice from experts, and luckily able to share the burden with the Premiers, or pass the buck where necessary.
via Lest we forget – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Trump claims he saved lives. His chief Medical adviser said
“Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the nation likely “could have saved lives” by acting earlier on the coronavirus outbreak.”
Trump can’t sack him (ODT)
via Anthony Fauci: We “Could Have Saved Lives” by Acting Earlier on the Coronavirus – Mother Jones
Nearly all children in the UK catch chickenpox by the age of 10, and it is considered a fairly benign virus for most. However, once you have cleared chickenpox, it remains inactive in your nerve tissue, and in one in three adults it reactivates to cause shingles, a condition resulting in a painful rash.
While we cannot rule out reactivation as a possibility yet, it still seems more probable that these 91 cases were either due to the levels of the virus dipping below a detectable level, allowing symptoms to improve, but then surging again, or that there were flaws with the tests, where the clearance samples were false negatives. The tests are not perfect and, from the data received from China, the most commonly used type of test showed up to a 30 percent false-negative rate.
As South Korea investigates this further and other countries are able to offer their own findings, we are likely to understand more about the way this virus summons an immune response and, hopefully, determine for sure whether reactivation or reinfection are possibilities.
![While our immune systems are able to clear most pathogens, there are some that lie hidden in our cells [Getty Images]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/4/12/6c59bf163daf468ab447546d0e5fd29f_18.jpg "Doctor's Note: Can the coronavirus reactivate?")
Doctor’s Note: Can the coronavirus reactivate? | Doctor’s Note | Al Jazeera
What matters is that the Trump administration will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship to keep big corporations alive and profitable. That is, from the GOP’s perspective, the sole legitimate function of the U.S. government. And given their ferocious commitment and the government’s financial firepower, they have a plausible shot at success.
So get ready for further triumphalist tweets from Trump anytime the stock market goes up. You may be reading them while picking up sanitized food containers from a soup kitchen, or auctioning off the wreckage of your bankrupt small business, or attending a funeral via Zoom.
As Chomsky said, Sanders has fundamentally changed the conversation. Ideas that were unthinkable even two years ago are now part of the conversation. The media largely dismisses them, but the very fact that they have to respond at all speaks volumes. Politicians, too, are forced to respond to the ideas of M4A, tuition-free public college and eliminating student-loan debt. The conversation is changing. Sanders’ focus on the issues, sometimes unfortunately to the exclusion of smart politics, has brought that style of campaign back to the forefront of politics. Long may this continue.
Bernie Drops Out: A Post Mortem – » The Australian Independent Media Network
What will the post-coronavirus world look like? Do we take an authoritarian turn? Does government continue to play a bigger part in our lives? Does the state trump free markets?
As the end of World War I ushered in American dominance, does China emerge from this moment more powerful?
Nations matter. Sovereignty matters. Especially now. The Prime Minister is right about that. But don’t think for a moment ideology doesn’t matter too.
Trump could bluff his way through marriages, sexual abuse allegations, bankruptcies … hell, he could even bluff his way into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But he couldn’t bluff the virus. He doesn’t owe the virus any money. He hasn’t left the virus sobbing in some Reno hotel suite with no one to turn to. He can’t divorce the virus and remarry another, younger, prettier virus. He can’t slather the virus with orange pancake makeup and spray it into submission with swoops of combover cotton candy and fool everyone into believing it wasn’t really there.
via Donald Trump has tested positive — for the bulls**t virus | Salon.com
United States – 503,594 cases, 19,701 deaths
Spain – 161,852 cases, 16,353 deaths
Italy – 147,577 cases, 19,468 deaths
France – 125,942 cases, 13,216 deaths
Germany – 122,855 cases, 2,736 deaths
China – 83,014 cases, 3,343 deaths
The total includes 44 cases in Macau and 765 cases – four deaths – in Hong Kong.
United Kingdom – 79,841 cases, 9,891 deaths
Iran – 70,029 cases, 4,357 deaths
Turkey – 47,029 cases, 1,006 deaths
Belgium – 28,018 cases, 3,346 deaths
Switzerland – 24,900 cases, 1,015 deaths
Netherlands – 24,565 cases, 2,652 deaths
via Coronavirus: Which countries have confirmed cases? | News | Al Jazeera
The US is heading for having the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world next week. Admittedly the US is a big country and it still won’t have the highest number of cases per capita. But it won’t even be in the running for the country with the fewest per capita. The United States was once the most advanced country in the world. America put a man on the moon. To have Germany and South Korea outflank us in dealing with the disaster is an enormous disgrace.
![US President Donald Trump reacts during the coronavirus response daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on April 10, 2020 [Reuters/Yuri Gripas]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/4/11/b4667d8bab064e3dbfbe5d10b3e38b3a_18.jpg "The coronavirus crisis: How Trump is failing successfully")
From the outset, Trump misled the nation about the imminent danger of a coronavirus outbreak. In February, a month into the epidemic, he was reassuring the public that there was nothing to worry about, that all was under control.
And although he now denies it, Trump is on the record repeatedly underestimating the virus’s contagion, deadliness and disruption.
The question is, why? Why did he insist that the pandemic was under “tremendous control” and that the number of those infected would be brought down to zero?
via The coronavirus crisis: How Trump is failing successfully | USA | Al Jazeera
Professor Ih-Jen Su began annual rehearsals of a possible pandemic from China almost two decades ago after SARS killed more than 20 per cent of people it infected in Taiwan.
via Coronavirus: Taiwan has population the same as Australia’s but a fraction of the cases
Western Culture looks less Western these days.
Whose Muslim? Whose Christian? Complexion protectors or Hijabs. Middle East was always hot; Now we all keep our distance and out of the sun.
Fighting Fake News with REAL,12/4/20; The Hidden Face of Western Culture; Perth Hottest April ever; News Corp promotes the vilification of Chinese Australians;
A Final Comment
COVID-19 is a global issue, falsely called the “Wuhan virus” by Trump and other regime officials. Most likely it originated in the US, not China.
On April 7, UK-based Nature magazine apologized for associating COVID-19 with China, saying:
“That we did so was an error on our part, for which we take responsibility and apologize,” adding:
“(W)hen (a viral) outbreak happens, everyone is at risk, regardless of who they are or where they are from.”
“(A)ssociat(ing) a virus and the disease it causes with a specific place is irresponsible and needs to stop.”
Since early COVID-19 outbreaks, “people of Asian descent around the world have been subjected to racist attacks, with untold human costs” — Chinese nationals mostly affected.
“(W)e must all do everything we can to avoid and reduce stigma; not associate COVID-19 with particular groups of people or places; and emphasize that viruses do not discriminate — we are all at risk.”
“Coronavirus stigma must stop — now.”
via Trump Escalates War on China by Other Means – Stephen Lendman
Be prepared for WAR (ODT)
via A General once Warned against Military-Industrial Complex: Today’s West Point Mafia is It
olddogthoughts 
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