Where were the Giant Voice Systems and people lasers?
Bricks!
Fear being stirred up
Acidosis
The focus seems like it's on the knee in Mr. Floyd's
neck... But again, I'd bet my medic card that this didn't happen because he got
choked out or because he "couldn't breathe" based on the pressure on
his neck. The positional asphyxia thing would make him feel like he couldn't
breathe even without excessive pressure on his neck. Indeed, the trap for
officers in these situations is that they don't think they are applying
excessive force to the airways, but it isn't a suffocation that kills these
people, it's the acidosis I described earlier.
More Orgs
Minnesota Freedom Fund: A
Minnesota-based nonprofit that pays bail for individuals who cannot afford
it. They are currently paying for the bail of Minneapolis protestors who
have been arrested.
Reclaim the Block: A Minneapolis-based organization that
supports divestment from the police. They focus on redirecting money
toward providing community services and safety instead.
Black Visions Collective: A
Black trans and queer-led coalition that is helping organizing the current
Minneapolis protests. They have a history of other organizing work in
Minneapolis as well.
North Star Health Collective: A
collective of street medics that is providing medical care to the
Minneapolis protestors.
Unicorn Riot:
An on-the-ground, worker-run, grassroots media source providing
coverage of the Minneapolis protests.
CTUL: A
Minneapolis-based workers’ center with a history of radical movement
activity in South Minneapolis. They are helping organize the protests
while providing resources like groceries and first aid.
MAGA ROD on Twitter: "Wow.. just wow.. A paid group of Somalis that were imported into Minneapolis,Minnesota are now running the streets rapid.... AND AMERICA THINKS THEY'RE BLACK AMERICANS.... HOW SMART SOROS.... BLINDED BY THE LIGHT!!! WAKE UP!!!! THANK
Log in Sign up MAGA ROD @ VFL2013 Wow.. just wow.. A paid group of Somalis that were imported into Minneapolis,Minnesota are now running the streets rapid.... AND AMERICA THINKS THEY'RE BLACK AMERICANS.... HOW SMART SOROS.... BLINDED BY THE LIGHT!!! WAKE UP!!!! THANKS OBAMA....
3:58 PM - 28 May 2020 Melina''' @ Melina08288015
Ahmednur Ali's family fled the chaos and violence of their West African homeland Somalia in the 1990s, eventually making their way to Minnesota like thousands of their compatriots.
While many of the estimated 32,000 Somalis who settled in the state have struggled to adapt, Ali flourished, blazing a path to Minneapolis' Augsburg College on a soccer scholarship by age 20. He studied political science and aspired to a political career modeled on President Barack Obama's.
He was shot and killed last September outside a busy community center where he worked part-time as a youth counselor, and prosecutors said the 16-year-old accused of killing him was part of a gang.
Ali was one of seven Minneapolis-area Somali men killed over a 10-month period, and authorities believe all were killed by fellow Somalis. Police say it's too simple to tie all the killings to Somali gangs, which have lured hundreds of young community members to their ranks in recent years.
Those in the insular community willing to speak out, however, disagree.
"It was all gang activity, totally, 100 percent," said Shukri Adan, a former Somali community organizer who estimated in a 2007 report for the city that between 400 and 500 young Somalis were active in gangs. "The police don't want to say that but everybody else knows that."
Despite anger and despair over the killings in Minnesota's Somali community - the nation's largest - police and prosecutors have struggled to catch and try the killers. Few witnesses have stepped forward because of a fear of reprisal and deep-rooted distrust of authority. More than half of Minnesota's Somalis are living in poverty, according to state statistics, and many complain that authorities are biased against Somalis because of their Islamic faith.
Last month, prosecutors dropped the murder charge against the teenage boy in Ali's case after one witness backed out and another apparently fled the state.
Gangs like the Somali Hot Boyz, the Somali Mafia and Madhibaan with Attitude have grown more active in recent years, said Jeanine Brudenell, the Minneapolis Police Department's Somali liaison officer.
The recent spate of killings started in December 2007, when two Somali men, ages 27 and 25, were found shot to death at a south Minneapolis home. No arrests have been made in that case.
They culminated last September, when a man was fatally shot outside of the Village Market Mall, a cluster of Somali-owned businesses and a popular destination for local Somalis. Investigators believe the shooter was retaliating for the death of his cousin, one of the other slain Somalis. The mall shooting was the only of the seven slayings for which anyone was convicted - 23-year-old Hassan Mohamed Abdillahi.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he hoped the conviction would show local Somalis that the law is on their side, and spark new progress in closing the other cases. "We have a job to do to convince people they can trust us," he said.
A gang expert in California said economic and social factors are more likely to blame for the spike in gang activity than any spillover of violence from war-ravaged Somalia.
"When there's unemployment and poverty and lack of external support, there's gangs," said Jorja Leap, a social welfare professor at the University of California Los Angeles and former gang adviser to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Investigators in a separate criminal investigation have said they've also had trouble penetrating Minnesota's Somali community. The FBI is looking into the disappearance in recent years of up to 20 young Somali men, mostly from Minneapolis, believed to have been recruited into Islamist terror groups back in Somalia.
The first sign of progress in that investigation came this week with the indictment on terrorism charges of two young Somali men, at least one of whom is accused of traveling to Somalia to fight.
Elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada, police and community officials have reported an increase in Somali gang activity.
In and around Edmonton, Alberta, six young Somali men have been slain in the last six months. The leader of a small Somali outreach group there said the deaths are seen as evidence of a growing gang problem, and that they've led to better cooperation between Somalis and police.
"It seems like the community now is getting to the point where we are trying to give information to the police, and they are sharing information with us," said Mohamednur Mardowe, who heads the Brotherhood Community Support Service Association.
Police in Columbus, Ohio, which has the second largest U.S. population of Somalis, have also seen growing evidence of Somali gangs, said Sgt. Chantay Boxill.
Ahmednur Ali's sister, Hindia Ali, said she hopes her fellow Somalis will stand up against the violence.
"I don't think any Somali person wants killing to continue," she said. "We all want this violence to stop."
MN Police Chief: After 2 Nights of Violent Riots, Looting, City Burning, Only 5 People Have Been Arrested'...Candace Owens Suggests George Soros Behind Funding Of Riots
Independent reporter Andy Ngo, who last year, survived a violent beating by Antifa thugs for daring to report about their activities, as they terrorized neighborhoods in Seattle, WA, has been following the riots in Minneapolis.
Ngo believes the riots in MN have all of the trademarks of an Antifa terror attack on a city, explaining how Antifa and BLM have joined forces to terrorize Minneapolis.
Antifa have joined forces with BLM again to carry out mass carnage and violence. #Minneapolis https://t.co/SbhDUqa0zl
'-- Andy Ng´ (@MrAndyNgo) May 28, 2020
In another tweeet, Ngo exposes criminal plot by Antif and BLM extremists to kill ex-cop Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of killing George Floyd when he held him down by the neck during an arrest with his knee before he died.
Trending: MN Riot Update: Target Store Looted'...Elderly, White Woman In Wheelchair Is Sprayed In Face With Fire Extinguisher, Attacked By Large Black Man For Trying To Stop Looting [VIDEOS]
Antifa, BLM and extremists who made plans to kill ex-cop Derek Chauvin at his home were angry to find the property protected by a full squad of police. There were dozens of police around the home. #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter
Antifa, BLM and extremists who made plans to kill ex-cop Derek Chauvin at his home were angry to find the property protected by a full squad of police. There were dozens of police around the home. #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter
'-- Andy Ng´ (@MrAndyNgo) May 28, 2020
Ngo reveals a video of criminals breaking store front windows with crowbars, a signature act of the terror group, Antifa. The Post Millennial editor-at-large reveals that Antifa is already crowdfunding on social media for bail money for arrested members of the terror group.
This looks like antifa black bloc. Antifa accounts on social media are already crowdfunding bail money for any comrades that may get arrested. #Minneapolis #BlackLivesMatter #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/YlFzz3Xzbd
'-- Andy Ng´ (@MrAndyNgo) May 28, 2020
This video shows Antifa leaving their ''A'' or ''anarchist'' symbol behind on buildings they looted and destroyed:
Note ANTIFA's logo. pic.twitter.com/H9LEwq1qyw
'-- Robyn LovesPeace (@RobynLovesPeace) May 28, 2020
Conservative blacks are outraged over the violent riots.
Melissa A.Trump supporter, ''Melissa A'' tweeted the Andy Ngo video, saying:
This is how Marxist revolutionaries take over. They selectively sensationalize a tragic incident that can be used to racially divide & cause mass civil unrest. The left & Antifa couldn't care less about black lives'... this is an opportunity for them #Rioting #Target #mineapolis
MN CBS reports '' Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo is warning people protesting the death of 46-year-old George Floyd for the second-straight day that violence will not be tolerated.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Arradondo said his department is committed to protecting people's First Amendment rights, but he says not at ''the expense of other's personal safety.'' He also acknowledged that most demonstrators are peacefully protesting.
''We cannot have members of our community engaging in destructive and criminal types of behavior,'' Arradondo said.
Earlier Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for criminal charges against the officers involved in Floyd's death.
''George Floyd deserves justice. His family deserves justice. The black community deserves justice, and our city deserves justice,'' Frey said.
MN Police Chief Arradondo claimed that after a night of watching stores being looted and the city being burned to the ground, only 5 people have been arrested.Watch:
Conservative firebrand, Candace Owens also tweeted about the violent riots, saying that the MN chief of police just confirmed that many of the protesters that are burning donw the city are NOT FROM MN.
Owens wrote: ''My guess: As he did with Antifa, Democrat George Soros has these thugs on payroll.''
She added, ''He is funding the chaos via his Open Society Foundation.''
The Minneapolis chief of police just confirmed that many of the protesters that are burning down the city are NOT FROM MINNEAPOLIS.
My guess: As he did with Antifa, Democrat George Soros has these thugs on payroll.
He is funding the chaos via his Open Society Foundation. pic.twitter.com/ZWDQfLUjfa
'-- Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 28, 2020
In January, 2015, The Washington Times reported about how radical billionaire George Soros is funding Antifa.
In all, Mr. Soros gave at least $33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson, MO, according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations.
The financial tether from Mr. Soros to the activist groups gave rise to a combustible protest movement that transformed a one-day criminal event in Missouri into a 24-hour-a-day national cause celebre.
''Our DNA includes a belief that having people participate in government is indispensable to living in a more just, inclusive, democratic society,'' said Kenneth Zimmerman, director of Mr. Soros' Open SocietyFoundations' U.S. programs, in an interview with The Washington Times. ''Helping groups combine policy, research [and] data collection with community organizing feels very much the way our society becomes more accountable.''
Soros-sponsored organizations helped mobilize protests in Ferguson, building grass-roots coalitions on the ground backed by a nationwide online and social media campaign.
Other Soros-funded groups made it their job to remotely monitor and exploit anything related to the incident that they could portray as a conservative misstep, and to develop academic research and editorials to disseminate to the news media to keep the story alive.
The plethora of organizations involved not only shared Mr. Soros' funding, but they also fed off each other, using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another's website, referencing each other's news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook ''likes'' and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds.
Buses of activists from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference in Chicago; from the Drug Policy Alliance, Make the Road New York and Equal Justice USA from New York; from Sojourners, the Advancement Project and Center for Community Change in Washington; and networks from the Gamaliel Foundation '-- all funded in part by Mr. Soros '-- descended on Ferguson starting in August and later organized protests and gatherings in the city until late last month.
At the end of the #BlackLivesMatter march, organizers met with civil rights groups like the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment to strategize their operations moving forward, Ms. Solomon wrote. OBS and MORE are also funded by Mr. Soros.
Mr. Soros gave $5.4 million to Ferguson and Staten Island grass-roots efforts last year to help ''further police reform, accountability and public transparency,'' the Open Society Foundations said in a blog post in December. About half of those funds were earmarked to Ferguson, with the money primarily going to OBS and MORE, the foundation said.
OBS and MORE, along with the Dream Defenders, established the ''Hands Up Coalition'' '-- another so-called ''grass-roots'' organization in Missouri, whose name was based on now-known-to-be-false claims that Brown had his hands up before being shot. The Defenders were built to rally support and awareness for the Trayvon Martin case and were funded by the Tides Foundation, another recipient of Soros cash.
Is Soros behind the MN protests? Is this his last ditch effort to tear up America before the November elections? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Minneapolis is Burning - Soros Paid Antifa Gangs Involved - Business Game Changers with Sarah Westall
Commentary by Alexandra Bruce | Video: Journalist Andy Ngo
The Minnesota National Guard was called out by Governor Tim Walz early Thursday morning.
C60Complete Black Seed Oil & Curcumin Gel Capsules '' Proven 200x more effective than Vitamin C!Riots broke out following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man on Tuesday. All 4 officers involved were immediately fired and a DOJ investigation was immediately launched.
But after 10 weeks of COVID lockdown and large-scale unemployment, this wasn't enough to quell the rage in Minneapolis.
Big Box stores and banks were reduced to ashes. Rioters attacked firefighters who responded to the Auto Zone store that was engulfed in flames. Other fires blazed and a building collapsed without any action from the fire department.
Andy Ngo, a journalist who specializes in domestic terrorist groups claims that the mass arson attacks, looting and vandalism on Wednesday night were largely perpetrated by paid Soros gangs. He tweeted, ''Antifa have joined forces with BLM [Black Lives Matter] again to carry out mass carnage and violence.''
Ngo also noted, ''Antifa accounts are encouraging and celebrating the violence in Minneapolis. They've even started a jail fund for those who may get arrested. They are calling it a 'freedom fund.'''
Riots took place in District 5, the seat of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who tweeted, ''Our anger is just. Our anger is warranted. And our priority right now must be protecting one another.''
Omar's teenaged daughter, Isra Hirsi retweeted a list of supplies needed by rioting
Now is the time to protect your wealth & have some real insurance! Get the Lowest Prices on Silver, Gold & Other Precious Metals, GUARANTEED! Learn more'... ''comrades''. The original thread came from the Twin Cities Democratic Socialist Party, who were actively coordinating support efforts for the rioters, including car rides out of the area.
All of this, of course leads one to ask if this violence, more than 24 hours after Floyd's death was organic. Some had commented that Floyd's murder was so in-your-face and egregious. It was done in the middle of the street in broad daylight, with the cop looking right in the camera.
Observers on social media have been pointing out that this week's cluster of racially-charged viral videos may be false flags, with one tweeting, ''Do you see a pattern in viral videos the last few days? White cop kills black man, black man beats elderly white man, white woman calls cops on a man in the park and tells the 911 operator there's an African American man threatening my life. Wake up! They are creating a race war.''
This could be the beginning of a cruel summer. Ngo said that the rioting in LA was also organized by Black Lives Matter.
Mountains have been moved to trigger social unrest. 40 million Americans have been made unemployed in the past 2 months. Millions more have been arbitrarily detained in their homes. Thousands of criminals have been released from prison, while small business owners have been jailed for opening up their shops'...
Note: The two minute video has been removed by Youtube. If it is up on another platform, it will be made available.
See more information on great products, including the C60 BlackSeed Oil Gel Caps, Snake Oil, and much more @ http://SarahWestall.com/Shop
How we resist and winBend the Arc is a movement of tens of thousands of progressive Jews all across the country. For years, we've worked to build a more just society. Now we're rising up in solidarity with everyone threatened by the Trump agenda to fight for the soul of our nation. Together we:
Stand with communities under attack
When it comes to attacks on immigrants, Muslims, people of color, our communities, and our democracy, we've seen this before. We won't turn away or be silent '-- we'll show up in solidarity to fight terrible legislation and policies.
Hold elected officials accountable
If politicians are going to enable the immoral agenda of the Trump administration and the Republican Party, we're going to hold them accountable. And we won't hesitate to organize and fundraise to replace them with progressive champions.
Win local progressive victories
We have a long-term vision of what this country can be. We're mobilizing in cities and states across the country, and advocating in Washington, to win progressive legislation and policies, like criminal justice reform and economic equity.
What you can doStep 1: Raise your handYou got chutzpah? We've got work to do.We believe in the beautiful but unfulfilled promise of this country as a land of opportunity, justice, and equality for all. The first step is to raise your hand with the belief that together we have the power to transform this country.
Join usStep 2: Take actionRaise your voice. You were made for this moment.In the face of racism, inequality, and the politics of fear, we must rise up with courage to act boldly for justice. Our people's history and prophetic tradition are our guide. Our partners are our leaders.
See the current campaignsStep 3: Make some new friendsOur community is our power.When we organize, we win. Bend the Arc has put out the call to communities across the country to organize in Moral Minyans: groups of 10 or more people acting locally as part of a national network of Jewish Resistance.
Find a moral minyan near youStep 4: Show upMobilize for lasting, systemic changeWhen history calls, we show up. We're not afraid to raise our voices in the streets or the halls of power, wherever we can make a difference. Our events and trainings put people at the center of what we do.
Find an event near youStep 5: Be a leaderWe're in it for the long haul. Are you?If you've been looking for your community, you've found it. Take the next step, become a leader and inspire those around you to take action too.
Start a moral minyanOur impact 2017 No Hate in the White HouseFrom the moment Steve Bannon was announced as a Senior Advisor to President Trump, we fought against the normalization of...
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No Hate in the White House From the moment Steve Bannon was announced as a Senior Advisor to President Trump, we fought against the normalization of his brand of bigotry in the White House. In November 2016, we organized a petition with Muslim Public Affairs Council that was signed by 29,000 Jews and Muslims.
After Charlottesville, we increased the pressure, demanding the firing of Bannon and two of his allies, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller. We brought our voices to Capitol Hill where we demanded Congress choose a side: either with or against white supremacy. We were part of the coalition that made it untenable for Bannon and Gorka to continue, and they were out of the White House that month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kgMpf0MA90
2017 Victory: CA & NY Sanctuary StatesWe helped win a big victory for the resistance by making it harder for Trump's deportation machine to tear apart...
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Victory: CA & NY Sanctuary StatesWe helped win a big victory for the resistance by making it harder for Trump's deportation machine to tear apart immigrant families.
In California and New York, Bend the Arc leaders joined immigrant-led coalitions to win statewide reforms which will prevent local law enforcement agencies from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement agents.
The California legislation, SB54, is the strongest such legislation in the country. The wins resulted from months of organizing, phone banking, lobby visits, and acts of civil disobedience.
2016 We've seen this beforeIn the year leading up to the 2016 election, from days of action in over 50 cities, to videos seen...
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We've seen this before ''Only one Jewish organization fully mobilized to defeat the threatening rise of Donald Trump's candidacy: Bend the Arc.'' '--Jewschool.com
In the year leading up to the 2016 election, from days of action in over 50 cities, to videos seen by millions, and the largest Jewish get out the vote operation, our community rallied to demonstrate unprecedented resistance to Trump's politics of hate and bigotry. We made it clear that Jews across the country rejected Trumpism, leading to 76% of Jewish voters voting against Trump at the ballot box.
The day after the election, we published an Open Letter from American Jews '-- signed by 45,000 people '-- to everyone threatened by Trump's election, promising that we will stay by their sides in solidarity. We've been working tirelessly to uphold that promise throughout the Trump presidency.
In their 2016 Progressive Honor Roll, The Nation named We've Seen This Before the ''Most Valuable Activist Campaign'' of the year.
2016 Reforming the Criminal Justice SystemBend the Arc leaders in both California have organized for several years alongside our partners to reform the state's broken...
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Reforming the Criminal Justice SystemBend the Arc leaders in both California have organized for several years alongside our partners to reform the state's broken criminal justice system.
Through organizing and lobbying, we've helped shift public policy that addresses years of systematic neglect '-- from ending the ''three strikes'' law in 2012 and reforming sentencing with Proposition 47 in 2014 to ending the inhumane practice of solitary isolation for incarcerated youth in 2016.
2016 Winning a $15 minimum wageThe growth in income inequality in this country is not only an economic crisis; it's a moral crisis as well....
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Winning a $15 minimum wageThe growth in income inequality in this country is not only an economic crisis; it's a moral crisis as well. Federal minimum wage still isn't nearly enough to pay for basic needs.
In 2016, our #JewsFor15 campaign joined with the sustained efforts of low-wage workers and labor organizers to win passage of historic bills to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in New York and California, two of the most populous states in the nation. The bills also each provide a form of paid sick days or family leave.
2014 So All Can VoteIn the year after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, we launched an...
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So All Can VoteIn the year after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, we launched an effort to mobilize American Jews to protect voting rights.
We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the murders of three civil rights activists '-- Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner, who were murdered while working to register black voters in Mississippi in 1964 '-- by delivering a yahrzeit candle to every Member of Congress and creating a demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial with 3,000 candles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mDzyLFyoY
2013 Justice for Domestic WorkersThe landmark labor reforms of the New Deal in the 1930s left a few categories of workers out of basic...
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Justice for Domestic WorkersThe landmark labor reforms of the New Deal in the 1930s left a few categories of workers out of basic labor protections. In 2013, we worked to fix that.
Following a multiple year campaign in partnership with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, we helped pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in California in 2013, which extended the basic labor protection of overtime pay to 200,000 domestic workers in the state.
We also mobilized American Jews to support new Department of Labor regulations extending basic labor protections to homecare workers.
2013 Yearning to Breathe FreeIn 2013, we mobilized a nationwide Jewish campaign in support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which passed the house and came...
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Yearning to Breathe FreeIn 2013, we mobilized a nationwide Jewish campaign in support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which passed the house and came close to passage in the Senate. Our supporters attended dozens of lobby meetings with elected officials, and we helped shape the narrative with our campaign website www.entrydenied.org, which let visitors learn if their ancestors could have immigrated under current laws (over 95% could not).
2012 Launch of Bend the Arc: Jewish ActionIn 2012, we launched Bend the Arc: Jewish Action to bring a clear and unabashedly progressive Jewish voice into our...
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Launch of Bend the Arc: Jewish ActionIn 2012, we launched Bend the Arc: Jewish Action to bring a clear and unabashedly progressive Jewish voice into our nation's political discourse '-- shifting the narrative that Jews are a single-issue constituency. Two years later, we launched Bend the Arc: Jewish Action PAC to form the only national Jewish political action committee that is solely focused on domestic progressive policy.
Bend the Arc formed out of a merger between two Jewish social justice organizations in 2011 '-- Progressive Jewish Alliance of California and Jewish Funds for Justice of New York, which created Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, a nonprofit charitable organization. Our collective organizational history goes back to 1987, when Jewish Fund for Justice awarded their first grant to a young community organizer on the South Side of Chicago named Barack Obama.
Soros-backed Jewish group plays defense for Tlaib, Omar - Conservative Review
When freshmen Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib find themselves in yet another controversy involving anti-Semitism and/or support for Islamic extremism and/or support for the annihilation of Israel, what has become their favorite Jewish group springs to action to defend them against any of the aforementioned accusations, or any other issues, whatever they may be.
Over the weeked, Rep. Tlaib, D-Mich., who has already gotten into a heap of controversy over previous anti-Semitic remarks, set off a media firestorm when she falsely claimed that her Palestinian ancestors helped create a ''safe haven'' for Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.
''There's always kind of a calming feeling when I think of the tragedy of the Holocaust, that it was my ancestors '-- Palestinians '-- who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence, in many ways, has been wiped out '... in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-Holocaust,'' Tlaib said on a Yahoo! podcast. ''And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that in many ways.''
Tlaib misled listeners about the role of her ancestors before and during World War II. In fact, her ancestors sided with the Nazis during World War II and welcomed the Holocaust. Additionally, as Liel Leibovitz explains in Tablet, her ancestors were openly hostile to the idea of Jews living alongside them.
''There were 433 more Holocaust survivors killed by Palestinians and Jordanians violently opposing the creation of a safe haven for Jews in what had historically and spiritually been their homeland,'' Leibovitz wrote at Tablet in response to Tlaib's comments. ''To attempt and rewrite their well-documented experiences is to victimize them yet again, an unforgivable and deeply anti-Semitic act.''
In response, both Tlaib and her colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., invoked Bend the Arc: Jewish Action on social media as supposed evidence that Tlaib did not do anything anti-Semitic or improper. Tlaib and Omar retweeted the following tweets from the group, following Rep. Tlaib's controversial remarks:
The attacks on @RashidaTlaib are vile & baseless.
She did not minimize the tragedy of the Holocaust.
Shame on GOP leadership for weaponizing antisemitism & Jewish trauma to attack progressive leaders of color and push Islamophobia. As Jews, we reject these lies.
'-- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 13, 2019
In your first Holocaust Remembrance Day statement, you made no mention of Jews.
After Charlottesville, you said there were very fine people on both sides.
You pushed antisemitic conspiracy theories that motivated the shooters in Pittsburgh and Poway.
YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT JEWS. https://t.co/BLl5ekOlEN
'-- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 13, 2019
The GOP embraces white nationalists & pushes anti-Jewish rhetoric '-- and then turns around to accuse progressive Muslim leaders like @RashidaTlaib & @IlhanMN of antisemitism.
It's their strategy. It puts Muslim leaders in danger. And it makes fighting antisemitism even harder.
'-- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 13, 2019
Since the pair's congressional inauguration, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action has been the go-to Jewish organization for the two representatives and their defenders, such as the anti-Semitic Women's March leader Linda Sarsour.
Here's Bend the Arc yesterday, hanging out with anti-Semite Linda Sarsour. This is who reporters sought to portray as a mainstream group of ''Pittsburgh Jewish leaders''. https://t.co/Cd4PCv2pZf
'-- Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) October 29, 2018
Join @jewishaction today in their #ManyVoicesOnePrayer campaign. #Solidarity https://t.co/DWVByxSHL3 pic.twitter.com/l6Hihdb95h
'-- Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) May 1, 2019
At first glance, Bend the Arc seems to be a run-of-the-mill liberal Jewish coalition that claims to work on behalf of ''progressive American Jews to change policy and build a more just and equal nation.'' The group's website is rife with countless mentions of its Jewishness, with the word ''Jew'' or ''Jewish'' written 12 times on its front page. It describes itself as the ''Jewish Resistance'' to the Trump administration.
But these days, the outfit appears to have dedicated its entire purpose to playing defense for Reps. Omar and Tlaib. A review of the organization's social media pages shows Bend the Arc has wholly devoted itself to the two extremist congresswoman. The outfit's entire Twitter feed is dedicated to defending Omar and Tlaib and attempting to pivot the conversation toward attacking President Trump.
Since Monday, Bend the Arc has retweeted or tweeted posts supporting Rep. Tlaib 15 times and Rep. Omar five times.
Here's a small sample of the themes the group forwards in posts defending the controversial representatives.
When white nationalists threaten one of us, they threaten all of us. Proud to join @bend_thearc, @valariekaur, and countless others in sharing a prayer of hope, healing, and unity. Find out more here: https://t.co/BnR1Cs9ocy #ManyVoicesOnePrayer https://t.co/BMWJPwLFz9
'-- Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 1, 2019
White supremacy is the undercurrent that informs anti-Semitic violence and Islamophobia alike. https://t.co/h8rY998ufu
'-- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) April 30, 2019
We are disgusted by the repeated right-wing attacks on progressive Muslim leaders like @RashidaTlaib.
Antisemitism is not a game or a joke. Politicians who weaponize it for political gain must be denounced.
Jews & Muslims won't be divided. Our safety lies in solidarity. pic.twitter.com/7GH9HaXNVw
'-- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 13, 2019
Both Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib have tokenized this one Jewish group to defend themselves against allegations that they are anti-Semitic. The two have retweeted or tweeted out information about the Jewish group four times since the beginning of May.
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action was created by Alexander Soros (who is currently the group's chairman of the board), the son of infamous billionaire investor George Soros, an anti-Israel extremist who has largely renounced his Jewish identity. The current government of Israel has described Soros as a man ''who continuously undermines Israel's democratically elected governments.'' Soros funds have been used to finance the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement that seeks Israel's total destruction.
When Bend the Arc: Jewish Action was founded in 2015, the Soros-led initiative endorsed former Louis Farrakhan acolyte Keith Ellison as part of its first round of endorsements. Alex Soros then posted a note on Instagram declaring Ellison as ''aligned with the values of the majority of Jewish voters as any politician I know.''
As the Founding Chair of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, I am proud to stand with a growing list of'... https://t.co/0cSl9KFn3d
'-- Alexander Soros, PhD (@AlexanderSoros) November 16, 2016
''It will focus on issues such as income inequality, marriage equality, social justice and immigration reform,'' Politico reported, describing the aims of the newly founded, self-described Jewish movement, adding that it would not discuss foreign policy, a clear indication that it will not take a position on the lone Jewish nation-state of Israel.
Author: Jordan Schachtel Jordan Schachtel is the national security correspondent for Conservative Review and editor of The Dossier for Blaze Media. Follow him on Twitter @JordanSchachtel.
Back in Omar's district, police deal with gangs, relations with tight-lipped Somali community | Fox News
The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is home to a large Somali community. REUTERS/Craig Lassig
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - In the dead of the cold, late night on Tuesday, a young Somali man was shot in the hip. Someone took him to the local trauma center, left him there, and drove off.
The man told police at his bedside that he didn't know who shot him, who took him to the hospital, or why he was targeted. ''I'm intoxicated,'' he told cops, while doctors tended his wound, before insisting he didn't know anything else about what happened.
For the attending police officers, it was a frustrating, albeit familiar, response from a member of the Somali community, whose support in November sent one of their own, Rep. Ilhan Omar, to Congress. While Omar has spoken out frequently and forcefully on a range of issues - some that seem little connected to her district - most members of the Somali community she represents remain far more insular.
The national epidemic of shootings involving young African-American men in America's cities certainly isn't unique to Minneapolis. But some officers here believe issues of cultural assimilation involving the Somali immigrant community, and a struggle on both sides to better communicate law enforcement's mandate to protect and serve, makes it a particularly imposing challenge. One that politicians like Omar, they say, could do much more to effectively address.
OMAR GRILLS TRUMP ENVOY TO VENEZUELA AFTER BOTCHING HIS NAME
In this March 1, 2014 file photo, St. Paul, Minn. Community Officer Kadra Mohamed, left, smiles as she receives her badge from St. Paul, Minn. Police Chief Thomas Smith, during a ceremony for her and the East African Junior Police Academy at the Western District Police Station in St. Paul, Minn. (Sherri LaRose-Chiglo/Pioneer Press via AP)
''When they come here, they come with their own experiences of not trusting the police, and from a place where the police are known to be corrupt. And the challenge for us lies in trying to get them to cooperate,'' said one law enforcement officer. ''They'll often call 911 when they need help. But when we come, they often won't then tell us who is causing the problem so we can take action or stop the crime from happening again.''
''Our goal is to have a good relationship with the community, we try to engage but it's proving to be a tough egg to crack,'' another officer underscored.
According to data compiled last year by the Washington Post, more than half of all homicides statewide in Minnesota go unsolved. And that's in part because Somali-Americans in Minneapolis aren't talking enough to police, according to officers.
The Somali community grew here rapidly here during the 1990s, when large numbers of Somalis fled a devastating civil war. The community has since grown with the addition of U.S.-born children of those refugees - as has the debate over the Somalis' desire and ability to culturally assimilate.
Minnesota is now home to one the largest Somali communities in the global diaspora, with an estimated 100,000 living in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is the center of the Somali community '' and is fondly nicknamed ''Little Mogadishu'' '' for its array of Somali-centered organizations, businesses, and mosques.
Last year, it was announced that massive security upgrades totaling some $825,000 were coming to the major government-funded apartment complex in Cedar-Riverside, to ''address resident safety concerns.'' Part of the plan was to place a six-foot perimeter fence at the Cedar High Apartments, a complex owned and managed by Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, and for many, the central meeting point for the community.
While supported by some, others expressed their concerns the fence would only further isolate the Somali population, and hinder their ability to work with them and make the area safer.
Some investigators lament the difficulties in rooting out gang violence that remains a problem in not just the Somali community, but neighboring areas. The proper dismantling of the gangs, police stress, is a two-way street. Gang activity now is no longer centered on larger outfits like MS-13, or the Crips. Much more common here are smaller gangs with names like ''Somali Mafia,'' ''Somali Outlaws,'' ''Young n' Thuggin (YNT)'' and even the ''Taliban.''
''It's hard for any community to assimilate and to immediately transform from the life they knew. But the distrust is only getting worse,'' said an area law enforcement official. ''The gang violence is only getting worse. Not only do crimes go unsolved, but many don't get reported at all.''
But Jeanine Brudenell, the former Minneapolis Police Department's Somali liaison officer, who retired in 2017, believes gang violence has waned somewhat. She acknowledged that while the ''huge fear of police and government'' has made efforts to protect the community, the right steps are being put in place in terms of community relations.
In recent years, the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) has sought to do more community outreach, and bring into the fold more Somali officers. The department currently has eight ethnic Somalis serving as officers.
"The City of Minneapolis has the largest Somali population, per capita, in the United States. The Minneapolis Police Department strongly believes that a police department that reflects the community it serves is an important first step in building trust,'' John Elder, Minneapolis Police Department Public Information Officer told Fox News. ''When Somali residents see officers that look like them, on patrol and detectives in investigation units, they are more likely have the confidence the MPD will understand their culture and background.''
Elder pointed out they also have two Somali officers assigned the district with the highest concentration of Somali population, and note Chief Arradondo has placed a Community Navigator who is Somali to aid that population to work with the MPD.
But that endeavor has also come with its own set of complications.
Last July, unwelcome attention came to the community after a Somali-born Minnesota police officer, Mohamed Noor - who had been lauded by Minneapolis' mayor and championed by the local community when he joined the force in 2015 - shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman who had called to report a possible crime occurring near her house.
Mohamed Noor, 32, is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters March 20, 2018. Hennepin County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS
The incident drew international interest. And with Noor's manslaughter trial expected to start in April - and thus re-ignite interest in the case - some expect the tension between the community and law enforcement will only tighten.
RACIST POSTS SPARK POLICE RESPONSE AT MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOL
Omar, meanwhile, has consistently used her platform to take aim at law enforcement - including after the Noor incident.
''The idealist in me continues to be surprised, but I know this incident is another result of excessive force and violence-based training for supposed peace officers,'' she said in a statement after the shooting. ''The current officer training program indoctrinates individuals of all races into a system that teaches them to act first, think later, and justify with fear.''
Responding to another incident, more than a thousand miles from her district, Omar tweeted ''Seriously, where are the police with full riot gear? #hypocrisy #law&order,'' in response to unrest in Philadelphia that broke out after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in February, 2018.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., arrives for President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
For some officers, that kind of pushback from the top does more to divide than unite. And for the locals on the ground, that divide is deeply felt.
Local Somalis were generally reluctant to speak with Fox News this week on the subject of community-police relations. Similarly, Jaylani Hussein, a Somali-American who serves as the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), did not respond to a request for comment. Attempts to reach out to several other Somali-American groups went unanswered.
But one local man, Said, who came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1992, and said he raised his children alone as a single father in the community, said the perception of many is that racism against the Somali community is endemic.
''They might pull you over and give you a ticket for a reason you don't know. And if you try to argue, they just tell you to go to the court and deal with it,'' Said observed, arguing that while police and the government in Somali are outwardly corrupt '' Transparency International ranks it the most corrupt country on the planet '' in the U.S., some Somalis believe the corruption is more hidden.
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For others, however, there's simply the strong desire to stay clear of law enforcement - in any capacity.
''We don't want any problems. We don't want to have to deal with police,'' said Sadi, a local store owner, and a mother. ''Many people have come from war, and we just want peace.''
The History Behind 'When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts' : NPR
President Trump's Twitter page is displayed on a mobile phone. The social media company flagged one of his tweets about Minneapolis as "glorifying violence" and hid it from public view unless a user clicks on it. Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images President Trump's Twitter page is displayed on a mobile phone. The social media company flagged one of his tweets about Minneapolis as "glorifying violence" and hid it from public view unless a user clicks on it.
Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images Updated: 6:45 p.m. ET
President Trump told reporters Friday evening that he didn't know the racially charged history behind the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Trump tweeted the phrase Friday morning in reference to the clashes between protesters and police in Minneapolis following George Floyd's death. It dates back to the civil rights era and is known to have been invoked by a white police chief cracking down on protests and a segregationist politician.
....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020Twitter took an unprecedented step in limiting the public's ability to view the president's tweet threatening shooting, saying it "violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence." The tweet is hidden unless a user clicks to display it, and users cannot like or reply to it.
In 1967, Miami police Chief Walter Headley used the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" during hearings about crime in the Florida city, invoking angry reactions from civil rights leaders, according to a news report at the time.
"He had a long history of bigotry against the black community," said professor Clarence Lusane of Howard University.
"The NAACP and other black organizations had for years complained about the treatment of the black community by Miami police. At this hearing, in discussing how he would deal with what he called crime and thugs and threats by young black people, he issued this statement that the reason Miami had not had any riots up to that point, was because of the message he had sent out that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts,' " Lusane said.
Headley was head of the police force for 20 years and referred to his "get tough" policy on crime during a 1967 news conference as a war on "young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign. ... We don't mind being accused of police brutality."
According to Lusane, Headley may have borrowed the phrase from Eugene "Bull" Connor, who had been the notorious public safety commissioner in Birmingham, Ala. Connor was a segregationist who directed the use of police dogs and fire hoses against black demonstrators.
Miami police Chief Walter Headley, left, watches as the Rev. Theodore Gibson tells the Miami City Commission he believed Headley had used overly strong language in announcing his war on crime in December 1967. Jim Bourdier/AP hide caption
toggle caption Jim Bourdier/AP Miami police Chief Walter Headley, left, watches as the Rev. Theodore Gibson tells the Miami City Commission he believed Headley had used overly strong language in announcing his war on crime in December 1967.
Jim Bourdier/AP The late 1960s saw major riots and uprisings in cities such as Detroit in response to police action against the black community.
Headley's use of the phrase is thought to have contributed to intensified race riots, including one of the most serious ones in Miami in 1980, when a black man, Arthur McDuffie, was beaten into a coma by up to a dozen white Dade County police officers after he ran a red light on his motorcycle. He later died from his injuries.
Segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace also used the phrase during the 1968 campaign.
Trump sought to clarify his comments Friday afternoon again on Twitter: "Looting leads to shooting, and that's why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night - or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don't want this to happen, and that's what the expression put out last night means. It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement. It's very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!"
The president took questions from the press Friday evening following a meeting with business leaders to discuss reopening the economy. When asked about his use of the phrase, Trump said he was unfamiliar with its history.
"I've heard that phrase for a long time. I don't know where it came from or where it originated," Trump said. "Frankly, it means when there's looting, people get shot and they die. And if you look at what happened last night and the night before, you see that, it's very common. And that's the way that's meant."
Trump said he had spoken with family members of Floyd.
"He was in tremendous pain, obviously, and couldn't breathe. It was very obvious to anybody that watched it," Trump said.
"It was a very, very sad thing for me to see that. We also know that most policemen, you see the great job they do; they do a fantastic job. But this was a terrible insult to police and to policemen," the president said.
Trump had tweeted earlier this week that the FBI and Department of Justice are "well into an investigation as to the very sad and tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd." The president said he asked for the investigation to be expedited.
Regardless of Trump's intended meaning in his comments about "looting" and "shooting," Lusane said the message is not one of reconciliation and healing.
"So often Trump has engaged in dog whistles," Lusane said. "But he also engages in blaring trumpets. And this is a pretty clear and very loud message that the response should not be let's try to address the justice issues that are involved here but let's be hard-line."
Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death
resume reviewEdit Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's deathMay 28, 2020
meanwhile in indiaEdit Monkeys attack lab assistant in Delhi, make off with COVID-19 blood samples: 'This is something new'11:27 a.m.
WowEdit George Floyd and Derek Chauvin worked security together at a restaurant for at least a year, owner says11:14 a.m.
George FloydEdit Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton slam Trump for 'calling for violence against American citizens'10:49 a.m.
what gave it away?Edit Minnesota police claim arrested reporter had to be 'confirmed' as press, despite wearing CNN badge and being live on CNN10:23 a.m.
rainy day fundEdit 2 startling graphs illustrate how nervous Americans are about the future of the economy10:10 a.m.
solidarityEdit Minneapolis bus drivers are refusing to help police transport protesters to jail9:30 a.m.
Trump v. TwitterEdit White House doubles down on Trump's tweet that Twitter said glorified violence9:19 a.m.
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Police officer Derek Chauvin arrested and charged with murder in the death of George Floyd - Vox
Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who pinned down George Floyd, has been taken into custody and charged with murder and manslaughter, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced on Friday.
Video of the incident showed Chauvin pushing down on Floyd's neck with his knee while Floyd repeatedly yelled, ''I can't breathe!'' As onlookers complained of the officer's use of force, Floyd went silent and his body went limp. He died at a local hospital shortly after.
The three other officers in the case are still being investigated, Freeman said, adding that the initial charges are intended to focus on the ''most dangerous perpetrator.''
All the officers were previously fired after Floyd's death.
Floyd's death set off protests and riots in Minneapolis throughout the week, with some protesters burning down buildings and looting stores. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard on Thursday in anticipation of further unrest.
In response to the events, President Donald Trump tweeted that ''when the looting starts, the shooting starts.'' The tweet was later flagged by Twitter for ''glorifying violence.''
While Floyd's death was the immediate catalyst for the protests and riots, underlying them are deeper resentments about huge racial disparities in policing and the use of force in the US.
According to the Guardian's ''The Counted'' project, as of 2016 black people were more than twice as likely to be killed by police than white people, at a respective rate of 6.66 per 1 million people versus 2.9 per 1 million people.
It's also rare for officers to be held accountable for police killings. The National Police Misconduct Reporting Project analyzed 3,238 legal actions against police officers accused of misconduct from April 2009 through December 2010. Researcher David Packman found that only 33 percent of officers were convicted of criminal charges, with 36 percent of those officers serving prison sentences. That's about half the conviction rate and one-quarter of the incarceration rate compared with members of the public.
It's this combination '-- of the excessive use of force against black Americans and the lack of accountability for police officers '-- that has led protesters to take up the mantle of ''Black Lives Matter'' since police killings in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore in 2014 and 2015, respectively, led to protests similar to those seen in Minneapolis this week.
The unresolved question now is whether this time will be different '-- and whether Chauvin, as the police officer charged with murder in Floyd's death, will be held accountable.
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It is said to originate as the result of the TV show Adam-12, to be in reference to a narcotics unit, or a radio code used by police themselves.
An organizer in Chicago told me that it's because when you read police reports of when they murder someone, it's narrated from the point of view of the cops (at 12 o'clock).
Get a Fuck 12 mug for your cat Larisa.
Predator drone flies over riot-wracked Minneapolis - DroneDJ
An unarmed Predator drone owned by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was spotted flying a loop around Minneapolis on Friday morning, in the aftermath of violent protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers. It was presumably surveying for further unrest.
The drone was first reported by investigative reporter Jason Paladino with the Project On Government Oversight. He used tools by the ADB-S Exchange, a community that utilizes open-source flight data, to spot the flight. A graphic from ADB-S shows the predator's flight path as a near-perfect hexagon, 20,000 feet over the center of the city. The precision of the pattern is a telltale sign that the plane is a drone, Paladino told Vice Motherboard.
Seeing the same type of drone used in combat missions in Afghanistan now flying over a US city caused a stir in Washington, with Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeting, ''This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked.''
Now @VICE reporting that @CBP is sending predator drones over #GeorgeFloyd protests in Minneapolis.
This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked.
We need answers. And we need to defund. https://t.co/tfBZFRNI9G
'-- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 29, 2020
A history of predator drones in the USTrue to its mission, CBP typically uses such drones to patrol border regions. This model, CBP-104, has a history going back to at least 2012, reports Motherboard. Its duties have included surveilling the US-Mexico border as well as helping to bust cannabis-grow operations and methamphetamine labs. But unmanned predators have also surveilled other activities within the US. In 2012, for instance, Homeland Security flew a predator to surveil the property of a cattle rancher involved in a 16-hour standoff with another rancher.
The deployment of military technology '-- and the backlash it's caused '-- illustrate the seriousness of matters in Minneapolis. Unrest follows the death of George Floyd, an African-American man, at the hands of four white police officers. Video captured the death, in which officers are holding Floyd down. One pushes his knee against Floyd's neck as the man pleads for help, exclaiming that he can't breathe. The four officers have been fired, and one who pushed his knee into Floyd has been arrested.
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Lil Wayne On Floyd Death: Stop Blaming Entire Police Force, Entire Race; There Are 'A Bunch Of Facts We Think We Know That We Don't Know' | The Daily Wire
Reacting to the death of George Floyd, rapper Lil Wayne said Friday that folks need to be ''very specific'' when reacting to perceived injustices, warning not to blame the ''entire force'' or an ''entire race.''
Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., noted that he's unimpressed by ''hashtag'' and ''t-shirt'' activism if you don't actually help the person you're claiming to get justice for.
The rapper also implored activists to ''know'' what they're ''protesting about'' before they advocate a cause. ''It's a bunch of facts that we think we know that we don't know,'' he said.
''I think when we see these situations, I think we also have to understand that we have to get very specific,'' Wayne told rapper Fat Joe via Instagram Live, according to Rap Up. ''We have to get so specific and what I mean by that, we have to stop viewing it from such a broad view, meaning we have to stop placing the blame on the whole force and the whole everybody of a certain race or everybody with a badge.''
''We have to get into who that person is,'' he continued. ''If we want to place the blame on anybody, it should be ourselves for not doing more than what we think we're doing.''
Wayne noted that he's often questioned about his apparent silence on some issues, seemingly referring to racial issues.
''The reason people always ask me why you don't say this, why you don't do that, what else am I gonna do after that?'' he explained. ''Some people put a tweet out and they think they did something. Some people wear a shirt, they think they did something.''
''I mean, what you gon' do after that?'' Wayne emphasized. ''Did you actually help the person? Did you actually help the family? Did you actually go out and do something?''
''If I ain't about to do all that, then I ain't about to do nothing,'' he said. ''I pray for them.''
The 37-year-old added that protesters should understand what they are advocating for, noting of heavy misconceptions among activists.
''What we need to do, we need to learn about it more,'' he said. ''If we want to scream about something, know what we're screaming about. You wanna protest about something, know what we protesting about.''
''It's a bunch of facts that we think we know that we don't know,'' Wayne added. ''If we want to get into it, know what we talkin' about before we talk about it.''
During an appearance on Fox Sports' ''Undisputed'' in 2016, Wayne expressed that he was unimpressed with then-NFL QB Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest, said that he's never experienced racism, and described how a white cop saved his life years ago.
''It's the man's decision,'' Wayne said of Kaepernick's protest. ''I'm not into it enough to even give an opinion. So when he did it, someone had to tell me why he was doing it, that's how much I didn't know what was going on. And I kind of still don't.''
''I have never dealt with racism, and I'm glad I didn't have to,'' he continued. ''I don't know if it's because of my blessings'... but it is my reality. I thought it was over; I still believe it's over. But obviously it isn't.''
''[Racism] is not cool to them,'' Wayne said of younger generations, ''it's so not cool, it doesn't even matter to them.''
The rapper then recalled: ''That day that I shot myself, the police'...came through there; they knocked the doors down; I was on the floor; they hopped over me, looking for the drugs. It was a white police that ran up and stopped, and said, 'What the f*ck are ya'll doing? Do you not see this baby on the floor?' '... He picked me up, bought me to the hospital himself. He was white.''
That same year, Wayne ripped Black Lives Matter activists.
''What is it? What do you mean?'' he said when asked about the activist group. ''That just sounds weird, I don't know that you put a name on. It's not a name'...It's not 'whatever, whatever.' It's somebody got shot by police for a f***ed up reason.''
''I am a young black rich motherf***er, if that don't let you know that America understand black mothe rf***ers matters these days, I don't know what it is,'' he said. ''That man white, he filmin' me. I'm a n*****. I don't know what you don't come to me with that dumb s*** ma'am.''
''I don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothin' to do with me,'' added Wayne. ''I'm connected to this mother f***ing flag right here.''
WATCH:
Lil Wayne speaks on the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, he says we should blame ourselves for it
(@FatJoe Show) pic.twitter.com/DqYrCypHJl
'-- Complex Ambition (@ComplexAmbition) May 29, 2020
Related: WATCH: Lil Wayne Says Racism Is 'Over,' Praises White Cop Who Saved Him
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media's rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member .
As looters hit The Grove mall, a security guard begs them to stop: 'We're one of you' - Los Angeles Times
As looters began to descend on The Grove shopping mall on Saturday evening, two security guards outside the Nike store begged protesters not to enter.
''We're one of you,'' one guard said.
Several stores at the upscale shopping mall next to Farmers Market in Los Angeles were hit, including the Nordstrom. A police kiosk at the mall was set on fire but officials were able to extinguish it before it spread.
The crowd rushed into the mall after police attempted to push some of the protesters assembled near 3rd Street. As the looters entered the area, the Grove's outdoor speakers played music '-- the familiar crooners the shopping mall is known for.
Over a span of 20 minutes, looters broke into stores and emerged with goods. At the Apple Store, people were seen coming out with large boxes. One man and woman took goods from the Sephora beauty products store and placed them into a suitcase.
The Nordstrom department store was ransacked by looters. A police kiosk was burned.
Some stores, including the Gap, had just opened for in-store shopping after officials recently lifted restrictions.
As police cruisers drove into the back entrance of the mall, sirens blaring, looters fled, carrying boxes of shoes and clothes with plastic hangers still attached.
Some scrambled up the hill at nearby Pan Pacific Park, throwing their loot over the fence.
Across the street, another shopping center was hit.
When a protester smashed the front window of the nearby Whole Foods on 3rd Street with a hammer, some screamed, ''Don't do that! Please!'' while others cheered.
The protesters began to clash among themselves. Some who urged peace created a barricade of shopping carts around the store's entrance to protect it, but moments later, another group jumped the barricade and broke the store's door down.
More than three dozen officers stormed the scene from the Westside, firing rubber bullets and sending hundreds sprinting. ''Stop running!'' one man screamed, standing atop a car with a megaphone. ''Stand as one! Say his name!''
Police and protesters were in a tense standoff near The Grove, with police shooting rubber bullets and striking demonstrators with batons. Several police cars were set on fire and other were vehicles vandalized. Protesters also took over a Metro bus and climbed onto its roof to record videos of the police.
Speaking to a reporter at The Grove on Saturday evening, Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore said he understood people's anger and frustration but that the city needed to pull together.
''This is not the solution,'' he said, standing next to the Nordstrom store that was looted. ''We haven't given up on L.A., and L.A. shouldn't give up on itself. We can pull around this...Policing doesn't fix these kinds of societal problems. I need all of L.A. to step up right now and be part of the solution.''
George Floyd's Death Leads To Protests In Minneapolis | Heavy.com
Protests have erupted in the streets of Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd in police custody as illustrated by a live-stream of the protest from Unicorn Riot journalist Niko Georgiades.
Our stream is now stable from Minneapolis protest about yesterday's police killing of George Floyd. Watch with us on periscope: https://t.co/SoTevRycPu
'-- Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 26, 2020
George Floyd was a Minnesota man who died in police custody. A video of his death surfaced, showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the back of his neck for several minutes as a handcuffed Floyd begged for help and told him and other officers that he couldn't breathe.
The mayor of Minneapolis announced that the four police officers involved have been fired and that the FBI has started an investigation into the incident, local news station KSTP reported.
A better look at the crowd size of the Minneapolis march for #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/u0pg0hf4bD
'-- Ryan Faircloth (@RyanFaircloth) May 26, 2020
Georgiades said that the crowd that started at a vigil for Floyd quickly swelled to thousands. Activists participated in chants of ''No justice, no peace.'' They also led chants of ''I can't breathe,'' at times '-- the same words spoken by Floyd as he was on the ground.
The view of the protest from the top of a building next door. @mprnews pic.twitter.com/prBI5cJl1g
'-- Evan Frost (@efrostee) May 26, 2020
Several protesters were marching east down 38th Street where the incident took place, in the direction of the third precinct, Georgiades noted.
At least several hundred people have filled the streets outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis to protest the in-custody death of George Floyd. March starting now. pic.twitter.com/Mx2k3eV0ad
'-- Ryan Faircloth (@RyanFaircloth) May 26, 2020
People commenting on the videos of the protests expressed appreciation for the mix of people who joined the protests and the fact that many were wearing masks.
Protest at 38th & Chicago '' many people handing out free masks and hand sanitizer. So far I have only seen one person without a mask #NoJusticeNoPeace #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/wSyiXBnwBG
'-- Ramona @ home (@ramonah_MN) May 26, 2020
As the night wore on, there was charged language from protesters in the crowd, many of whom shouted, ''F*** the police.''
One woman yelled, ''Why didn't you just listen?''
Police in riot gear macing protestors marching for #JusticeForFloyd pic.twitter.com/7mazRZ4ddZ
'-- Keaon Dousti Ú(C)Ûا٠(@KeaonDousti) May 27, 2020
Another protester shouted out, ''You brought this on yourselves, you f***ing murderous pigs.''
Protesters were also spray-painting graffiti, with such words as ''f*** 12'' and ''ACAB,'' which stands for ''all cops are bastards,'' according to Georgiades.
FUCC DA POLICE WE FIGHTING BACK !!!!! #GeorgeFloyd #NoJusticeNoPeace pic.twitter.com/Efg0mwCCf8
'-- Hashimð--± (@HashimfrmWano) May 27, 2020
Police were shooting the crowd with rubber bullets, spraying mace and throwing tear gas into the crowd, which Georgiades noted some protesters were picking up and throwing back.
The sounds of teargas and stun grenades punctuated protests more frequently as the protests continued into the evening. Georgiades said it was the most tear gas he had ever seen and he also said it caused several small fires that were being ignited in the grass.
Tense standoff ongoing at MPD 3rd precinct protest for #GeorgeFloyd windows smashed and tear Gas fired at intersection of 38th and Minnehaha. pic.twitter.com/Aem708MDz7
'-- Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 27, 2020
During his live-stream, Georgiades said that throughout the protests, some people had been smashing windows around the police precinct, including on police officers' work and personal vehicles, according to Georgiades.
One of the protesters said that the protests began peaceful but had been infiltrated by agitators, leading to more tension between protesters and police.
lucky43113 Live Stream MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER PROTEST GEORGE FLOYD 2020-05-27T07:24:58Z
One of the protesters, who identified himself as Paul Castaway's brother, Gabriel Black Elk, said that he had watched the video and it made him cry, but his sadness quickly turned to anger. ''When the cops get away with murder and everybody wants it to be peaceful, this is as peaceful as it's going to get,'' he said, pointing to the crowd.
Paul Castaway was a Native American man who was shot and killed by Denver Police officers after Castaway began walking towards them with a knife and threatening to kill himself, according to the Denver Post.
READ NEXT: George Floyd: Minnesota Man Who Died in Minneapolis Police Custody Is Identified
China
President Donald J. Trump Is Protecting America From China's Efforts To Steal Technology And Intellectual Property | The White House
Quote Protecting the innovations, creations, and inventions that power our country are vital to our economic prosperity and national security.
President Donald J. Trump
SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY: President Donald J. Trump is dismantling China's ability to use graduate students to steal intellectual property and technology from the United States.
President Trump has issued a proclamation to block certain graduate level and above Chinese nationals associated with entities in China that implement or support China's Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy, from using F or J visas to enter the United States.China's theft of American technology, intellectual property, and research threatens the safety, security, and economy of the United States.Today's actions will not affect students who come to the United States for legitimate reasons.Affected students are those who have been employed by or who studied or researched with Chinese entities that support China's MCF strategy.PRESERVING AMERICAN SUPERIORITY: President Trump is ensuring that our Nation remains militarily and technologically dominant.
The United States is the leading innovator of next-generation technologies, including those with military applications.China's MCF strategy is an attempt to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world by any means necessary, including by co-option and coercion.Through China's MCF strategy, the People's Liberation Army is using certain Chinese students and researchers to steal American technological secrets and innovations.China should not be permitted to advance its military development through access to our Nation's educational and research centers.President Trump is preventing China from acquiring critical American technologies that could boost its military and threaten our national security interests, by suspending and limiting the entry into the United States of high-risk students and researchers from China.KEEPING PERSISTENT PRESSURE ON CHINA: Today's action is the latest example of President Trump's commitment to preventing China from taking advantage of the United States.
The Department of Justice's China Initiative and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are directing resources to identify and prosecute trade secrets theft, hacking, and economic espionage.President Trump has successfully used tariffs to persuade China to sign a Phase One Trade Agreement that secured significant protections for American businesses and workers.The President has taken action against China to protect American producers from unfair competition and counterfeit goods.President Trump has taken action to prevent foreign malign actors from gaining access to United States information networks.
U.S. Seizure of Chinese-Built Transformer Raises Specter of Closer Scrutiny - WSJ
A Chinese transformer weighing more than 500,000 pounds arrived by ship at the Port of Houston last summer, en route to an electrical substation in Colorado that funnels electricity to Denver.
It never made it there.
Instead, federal officials commandeered the electrical transformer, built by closely held Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Company, at the port and had it trucked under federal escort to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., according to people with knowledge of the matter.
What engineers at Sandia found still isn't publicly known, nor why it was seized. The laboratory, operated by Honeywell International Inc., is under contract with the U.S. Energy Department and tasked with solving national-security threats.
Mike Howard, chief executive of the Electric Power Research Institute, a utility-funded technical organization, said that the diversion of a huge, expensive transformer is so unusual'--in his experience, unprecedented'--that it suggests officials had significant security concerns.
It also raises questions about whether more interventions could be ahead as the federal government begins to enforce an executive order President Trump signed on May 1 that gives federal officials authority to block utilities from using gear sourced from companies deemed influenced or controlled by ''foreign adversaries'' of the U.S. While the order didn't identify these adversaries, it was widely seen as targeting primarily Russia and China.
Mr. Trump has used trade policy, including tariffs on Chinese goods, in his attempt to steer manufacturing back to the U.S. People familiar with these actions said the executive order is an extension of that effort, targeting growing imports of electrical equipment like large transformers from China.
These current and former federal officials and lobbyists said the Trump administration wants to improve grid security with trade barriers against large Chinese transformers, over concerns that they could wind up at choke points in the grid or near important military bases.
Jim Cai, U.S. representative for Jiangsu Huapeng in San Jose, Calif., said that for months he didn't know where the enormous transformer had been hauled and learned it was taken to Sandia only when he was informed by The Wall Street Journal.
He said his company has ''no intention of doing anything harmful to the U.S.'' and he wants an opportunity to clear his company's name. He said he hopes the U.S. government will disclose any concerns it had, so there can be an open dialogue and ''transparency about what has happened.''
Sandia, the Energy Department and the utility that purchased the transformer all declined to answer questions. Other people, with more limited knowledge of the situation, said federal officials probably commandeered the transformer because they suspected its electronics had been secretly given malicious capabilities, possibly allowing a distant adversary to monitor or even disable it on command. But these people said they didn't know whether any such alterations were found.
Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, in comments early this month about the executive order, mentioned concerns about the security of transformers, which are critical to electrical-grid functioning, but he didn't provide any specifics. The order gives him the power'--in consultation with the directors of defense, national intelligence and other agencies'--to prevent compromised gear from being installed in the nation's transmission system and to root out any gear that is already installed if deemed hazardous.
The transformer that wound up at Sandia originally was headed for the Ault substation, owned by the Western Area Power Administration, which helps direct electricity to Denver. WAPA, a federally owned utility, supplies wholesale electricity to dozens of utilities scattered across 15 states in the western and central U.S., giving it one of the biggest footprints of any utility in the country. WAPA declined to comment.
Federal officials have long worried that foreign adversaries might hack into the utility computer networks that control power flows on transmission lines and cause blackouts.
However, transformers hadn't typically been seen as products that could be easily isolated and hacked. That is because they don't contain the software-based control systems that foreign actors could access. They are passive devices that increase or reduce voltages in switchyards, substations and on power poles according to the laws of physics.
Modern units do contain diagnostic electronics, though, typically with one-way communications. In fact, this particular transformer was supposed to have diagnostic electronics allowing WAPA to keep track of its temperature and look for problems like dissolved gases, in its gigantic oil-filled tank, that could pose a fire risk.
Mr. Cai said that even if someone had access to the transformer's diagnostic data, it wouldn't matter. ''You couldn't do anything,'' he said.
But the fear, other experts said, is that malicious electronics might get added surreptitiously and wouldn't be detected.
Tom Fanning, chief executive of Atlanta-based Southern Company, which owns several utilities in the Southeast, said transformers ''have always been on the list of stuff we're worried about'' because they are expensive and hard to replace and are custom-built for specific locations. He said there was a general awareness that a foreign entity might install something that could ''potentially damage it on command,'' but he said he had never heard of an actual case.
Jiangsu Huapeng, also known as JSHP, says it has sold more than 7,000 power transformers globally in the past 20 years, including more than 100 big units to utilities in the U.S. and Canada in the past decade. In addition to WAPA, JSHP buyers include the New York Power Authority, EDF Renewables, B.C. Hydro and MidAmerican Energy Co.
Mr. Cai said the first hint of trouble came last June when WAPA abruptly changed the original $2.8 million contract for the 345/230 kV transformer. He said the utility said it didn't want JSHP to haul the unit to Colorado and do the installation. Nor did it want the five-year equipment warranty. Instead, it wanted a $400,000 credit for services not provided. ''Something like that never happened before,'' said Mr. Cai.
He said he later heard from a port official that the transformer was taken to a federal facility, but didn't know which one. He said he assumed they intended to tear the transformer apart and ''that is why they don't care about the warranty anymore.''
He said he had no idea what authorities thought they might find since the transformer had been built to WAPA's exact specifications, down to the parts numbers for the electronics that were sourced from companies WAPA chose in the U.S. and U.K.
''They picked the brands, and we ordered and put it on,'' he said.
'--Timothy Puko contributed to this article.
Corrections & Amplifications Dan Brouillette is the U.S. secretary of energy, and Sandia National Laboratories is operated by Honeywell International. An earlier version of this article misspelled his surname as Brouilette and incorrectly said Sandia is owned by Honeywell. (Corrected on May 27)
Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@wsj.com
Explainer: How ending Hong Kong's 'special status' could affect U.S. companies - Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Chinese national security restrictions imposed on Hong Kong could draw a U.S. revocation of the former British colony's ''special status'' under U.S. law, a move that would have far-reaching trade and investment implications.
U.S. businesses oppose any change in Washington's recognition of Hong Kong as a sufficiently autonomous city, where major U.S. companies enjoy access to China and Southeast Asia, and where bilateral trade flourishes across various parts of the economy, from wine to financial services.
A new U.S. law requires the State Department to certify at least annually that Hong Kong, which experienced widespread protests last year over China's extradition plans, retains enough autonomy to justify favorable U.S. trading terms. President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that Washington could react ''very strongly'' to China's new restrictions.
Here is a look at some of the consequences of a change in that status.
CORPORATE HEADACHES A revocation of the special status would cause problems for the more than 1,300 American companies with business operations in Hong Kong, including nearly every major U.S. financial firm. The State Department said 85,000 U.S. citizens lived in Hong Kong in 2018.
Visa-free travel access to Hong Kong could revert to strict Chinese visa rules, impeding business travel and work visa approvals.
As of 2018, the stock of U.S. foreign direct investment in Hong Kong stood at $82.5 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion that year, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Hong Kong's investment in the United States rose $3.5 billion in 2018 to $16.9 billion.
Hong Kong's autonomy, civil liberties, rule of law and access to China make it attractive to international companies, and a change in that status could push some U.S. firms into costly moves elsewhere in the region.
''Numerous American companies invest in Hong Kong because of its special status, its geographic location and market-based economic system,'' the U.S.-China Business Council said in a statement. ''Any change to this status quo would irreparably damage American global business interests.''
TRADE Some $67 billion in annual Hong Kong-U.S. trade of goods and services could be put at risk as Hong Kong would lose its preferential lower U.S. tariff rate.
Hong Kong is treated separately from mainland China's more managed economy, and its exports to the United States are treated differently. Hong Kong has a zero tariff rate on imports of U.S. goods, which also could be at risk.
Hong Kong was the source of the largest bilateral U.S. goods trade surplus last year, at $26.1 billion, based on U.S. Census Bureau data.
According to Hong Kong's Trade and Industry Department, the former British colony in 2018 was the United States' third-largest export market for wine, its fourth-largest for beef and seventh-largest for all agricultural products.
BROADER U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
A U.S. revocation of Hong Kong's special status would be viewed by Beijing as interfering with its sovereignty, and China has previously threatened to ''take strong countermeasures.''
Activists march against new security laws, near China's Liaison Office, in Hong Kong, China May 22, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuEswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell University and a former head of the International Monetary Fund's China department, said Hong Kong is a ''hot-button'' economic and political issue for China, much like U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL.
A precarious U.S.-China trade truce, already strained by Trump's anger at China over the coronavirus pandemic and a slow start to Beijing's purchases under the Phase 1 trade deal between the two countries could collapse into new tariffs and counter-sanctions, he said.
The United States also maintains export control offices and academic exchanges in Hong Kong separate from mainland China.
Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao
EU foreign ministers agree on tougher China policy but are ready for 'honest dialogue' '-- RT Newsline
Foreign ministers from EU states agreed to toughen their strategy on China on Friday amid concerns about China's new security law for Hong Kong, Reuters said. The ministers had a meeting via video link for the first discussion before two EU-China summits this year. One is expected at the end of June and another in September.
''We need, and are ready, to have an open and honest dialogue with China,'' EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after the meeting. ''There's a lack of progress on negotiations (on market access for European companies in China),'' Borrell said.
The bloc will prepare a new EU strategy document on China, as Brussels is trying to find a middle path between the US-Chinese rivalry.
Next month, the European Commission is expected to come forward with guidelines on ways for EU governments to potentially limit China's access to public tenders in Europe. The move is seen as a way of putting pressure on Beijing.
China Propaganda and UCA's Confucius Institute '' Conduit News Arkansas
China Propaganda and UCA's Confucius InstituteMay 28, 2020 by Conduit For Action
The University of Central Arkansas is host to a Confucius Institute. UCA says the mission of the institute is to '' strengthen ties between the State of Arkansas and the People's Republic of China, to enhance the mutual understanding of each respective culture and to promote Chinese language and culture within the State of Arkansas. ''[i] UCA's website says the institute opened in 2007 and was the 24th institute to open in the United States, and there are now over 500 institutes operating in the US.
Promoting mutual understanding between the United States and China and the offering of Chinese language courses are both good goals '... but doing so through a Confucius Institute has become controversial.
Confucius Institutes have come under heavy scrutiny. In 2018, the FBI issued a warning to universities saying FBI is ''watching warily'' dozens of activities at Confucius Institutes. Then, in 2019 a bipartisan committee of the United States Senate determined the Chinese Communist Party controls nearly every aspect of the Confucius Institutes activities here in the United States.
A bipartisan committee of the United States Senate found that the Chinese Communist Party controls nearly every aspect of the Confucius Institutes activities here in the United States.
Congress banned the use of Defense Department funds for any Chinese language program at a university that hosts a Confucius Institute, unless the university obtains a waiver. One of the requirement for seeking a waiver prohibits the course from being taught by institute staff.[ii]
Learning about Chinese culture through the lens of the Chinese Communist Party propaganda is disturbing. What would you learn from a communist controlled program about the experience of Chinese dissidents, or about the Chinese Communist Party's human rights violations, about persecution of Christians, Moslems, and ethnic minorities, about the views of the 23 million people of the island nation of Taiwan who don't want China to take over their country, or about the struggles of the people of Hong Kong who want to retain their semi-autonomy.
The most recent news development concerns China flexing its muscle is the imposition of ''national security laws'' on Hong Kong to clamp down on protesters who want to keep Hong Kong's autonomy.[iii] And, the most recent news in Arkansas about China was the arrest of a engineering professor at the University of Arkansas who hid financial ties to China in a bid to get grants from NASA.[iv]
Earlier this year United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to a gathering of our nation's governors. Arkansas' Governor Asa Hutchinson was in attendance. Secretary Pompeo warned the governors about the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to change our foreign policy using local economic ties and friendships with state and local politicians, efforts to steal our technology, and use of our educational institutions. Concerning Confucius Institutes, Secretary Pompeo said:
''Many of you are familiar with Confucius Institutes. Confucius Institutes purport to have the sole purpose of teaching Mandarin language skills and Chinese culture. A bipartisan Senate committee found last year in 2019 that the Chinese Communist Party controls nearly every aspect of the Confucius Institutes activities here in the United States.Over the past few months, the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland have independently decided to close down their Confucius Institutes. After conducting their own reviews, schools in 22 other states are doing or have already done the same.Sadly, China's propaganda campaign starts even earlier than college. China has targeted K through 12 schools through its Confucius classrooms, the CCP's program to influence kids in elementary middle and high schools around the world. Do you know that we have no ability to establish similar programs in China? I'm sure that doesn't surprise you.President Trump talked about reciprocity and trade. We should have reciprocity in all things. Today they have free rein in our system and we're completely shut out from theirs. As of 2017 there were 519 of these classrooms in the United States. Beijing knows that today's kids are tomorrow's leaders.''
It is not just in the United States where the institutes are closing. Some other countries have closed them as well.
Many U.S. universities have closed their Confucius Institutes. We scanned news items about several closings and in those reports none of the universities mentioned anything about potential problems in the design of their programs. Instead, they attributed their closings to either Defense Department funding restrictions or on low enrollment.
Perhaps some universities will also use the Covid-19 pandemic's disruption of the economy as an additional excuse to end their programs without ever having to defend their institutes against allegations of communist control.
There has been no announcement from the University of Central Arkansas about the future of their program.
Governor Hutchinson is aware of the U.S. government's warnings about Confucius Institutes. Meanwhile he is promoting greater economic ties between China and Arkansas. His law firm provides legal representation for some Chinese companies that have received Arkansas economic incentives.
Is your state Representative and state Senator aware of U.S. government warnings about Confucius Institutes? Have they reviewed the institute and, if so, what was their conclusion about allegations of control by the Chinese Communist Party?[i] https://uca.edu/confucius/
Karen is a pejorative slang term that is used to typify a person perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. One of the most common Karen stereotypes is that of a white American middle-aged woman who displays aggressive behavior when she is obstructed from getting her way; such women are often depicted as demanding to "speak to the manager."
Origins and history [ edit ] The origins of Karen as an Internet meme date back to an anonymous Reddit user, Fuck_You_Karen, who posted rants denigrating his ex-wife Karen, whom he alleged had "taken" both his children and, later, his house during divorce proceedings. The unintentional entertainment value provided by the posts led to the creation of a subreddit in 2017, r/FuckYouKaren, to both compile a narrative and share memes about the posts. Since Fuck_You_Karen deleted his account, the subreddit has since refocused to memes about the stereotype in general rather than one woman.[1]. In May of 2020, "Karen" became a viral hashtag on Twitter, accompanying tweets depicting middle-aged white women.
Usage and examples [ edit ] The Karen archetype carries several stereotypes that are common to "basic white women"; the most notable is the stereotype that a Karen will demand to "speak with the manager" of a hypothetical service provider.[1] Further common stereotypes associated with the Karen pejorative include anti-vaccination beliefs, racism against black people, use of Facebook and a bob haircut with blonde highlights'--pictures of Kate Gosselin during the airing of Kate Plus 8 were used in earlier memes about a "can-I-speak-to-your-manager haircut",[2] and continue to be used in Karen memes[1]'--engagement in multi-level marketing schemes, and Facebook posts sharing trite motivational messages.[1]
The stereotype saw greater prominence in mid-2019, when the formation of Tropical Storm Karen in the Atlantic hurricane basin led to memes likening the storm to the stereotype; several users made jokes about the storm wanting to "speak with the manager", with images photoshopped to include the "Karen haircut" on either the hurricane or its forecasted path.[3] At the same time, the term gained prominence in Hispanic and African-American communities as a way to describe suburban white women who would supposedly call the police on people of color for minor trespasses,[4] similar to the prior use of "Becky" in the same communities to describe the same archetype.[5]
The term also saw heightened scrutiny in April 2020, with considerable debate over whether the term constitutes a slur: a Twitter account named "Friends of Journalism" asserted the term to be "an equivalent of the n-word for white women" and polled Twitter users on whether they would like to see it banned; 96% of respondents answered in the negative. At the same time, journalist and radical feminist Julie Bindel asked on her Twitter feed, "Does anyone else think the 'Karen' slur is woman-hating and based on class prejudice?"[6] Bindel's comments provoked a wide-ranging debate; a columnist for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman, replied to Bindel saying that it was "sexist, ageist, and classist, in that order". Freeman's own comments received criticism from people of color'--who believed Bindel and Freeman were denigrating their use of the term to discuss racism'--and several misogynistic trolling comments.[7] Other critics of Bindel's statements asserted that "claiming Karen is a slur is a very Karen thing to do" and likened it to Bindel's opposition to the term TERF.[8][6]
The meme was also used during the COVID-19 pandemic to describe such women who would passive-aggressively enforce quarantine,[9] as well as those abusing Asian-American health workers due to the virus's origins in China.[10] The meme also manifested in different ways during different stages in the pandemic: prior to the announcement of local epidemics, Karen was used to also describe those hoarding essential supplies such as toilet paper; as quarantine restrictions continued throughout April and May 2020, the term saw use to describe those same people who protested the continuance of the restrictions because they prevented them visiting hair salons.[5] Another belief of a "Karen" includes the myth that 5G caused the virus, which led to some people burning 5G towers down in the UK. Notable posts on Reddit mocking or criticising the stereotype included a meme in which a Karen pitted "stuff I read on Facebook" with a doctor's scientific expertise, a protester in Nashville with a placard reading "Sacrifice the Weak, Reopen TN", and, in one case, mocking a woman called Karen who doubted the pandemic's danger and later died.[5]
Media began focusing on the usage of the term after it was used in the context of a video depicting a confrontation between a white woman, Amy Cooper, and a black man, Christian Cooper (no relation), in Central Park which occurred on May 25, 2020. The man said he approached the woman and asked her to leash her dog, as she was in the Ramble, a part of the park restricted for birdwatching. The woman was recorded calling the police and telling them that an "African-American man" is "threatening [her] life." At the end of the recording, the woman leashes her dog, at which point the man said the interaction ended. Police arrived shortly after the two had left but took no action. The woman's note of the man's race and her exaggerated claims were widely criticized and interpreted as reflecting negative racial attitudes towards African Americans. It also led some commentators to controversially dub her "Central Park Karen", which was followed by scrutiny of that term.[11][12] The next day, Amy Cooper was fired by her employer.[13]
See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] ^ a b c d Romano, Aja (February 5, 2020). "Karen: The anti-vaxxer soccer mom with speak-to-the-manager hair, explained". Vox . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Dozier, Rob (August 21, 2018). "Why Memes Making Fun of White People Demanding to 'Speak to the Manager!' Are So Popular Right Now". Slate . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Mansoor, Sanya (September 22, 2019). "Tropical Storm Karen Has the Internet Saying the Storm 'Wants to Speak to a Manager ' ". Time . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Attiah, Karen (April 28, 2020). "The 'Karen' memes and jokes aren't sexist or racist. Let a Karen explain". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 13, 2020 . ^ a b c Tiffany, Kaitlyn (May 6, 2020). "How 'Karen' Became a Coronavirus Villain". The Atlantic . Retrieved May 20, 2020 . ^ a b Parsons, Vic (April 6, 2020). "In these trying times, lesbian radical feminist Julie Bindel is debating whether 'Karen' is a slur. Yes, really". PinkNews . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Freeman, Hadley (April 13, 2020). "The 'Karen' meme is everywhere '' and it has become mired in sexism". The Guardian . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Lewis, Rachel Charlene (April 10, 2020). " ' Karen' Isn't a Slur '' It's A Critique of Entitled White Womanhood". Bitch Media . Retrieved April 21, 2020 . ^ Weiner, Jennifer (April 14, 2020). "Opinion | The Seductive Appeal of Pandemic Shaming". The New York Times . Retrieved May 1, 2020 . ^ Elliott, Josh K. (April 20, 2020). " ' Go to China!': 'Nurses' hailed for blocking anti-quarantine 'Karen' at coronavirus protest". Global News . Retrieved May 1, 2020 . ^ Perper, Rosie (May 25, 2020). "A woman in a video appears to call the police claiming there's an 'African American man threatening my life' '' he apparently had asked her to put her dog on a leash". Insider . Retrieved May 26, 2020 . ^ Nir, Sarah Maslin (May 26, 2020). "White Woman Is Fired After Calling Police on Black Man in Central Park". The New York Times . Retrieved May 26, 2020 . ^ Burke, Kerry (May 26, 2020). "Finance firm fires Central Park 'Karen' for calling cops on black man: 'We do not tolerate racism ' ". New York Daily News . Retrieved May 27, 2020 . External links [ edit ] Karen entry at Know Your Meme
Aerosol vs Droplets
High Humidity Leads to Loss of Infectious Influenza Virus from Simulated Coughs
John D. Noti 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Francoise M. Blachere 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Cynthia M. McMillen 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
2 Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
William G. Lindsley 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Michael L. Kashon 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Denzil R. Slaughter 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Donald H. Beezhold 1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
Lijun Rong, Editor
1 Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
2 Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America,
University of Illinois at Chicago, United States of America,
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Conceived and designed the experiments: JDN WGL CMM DHB. Performed the experiments: FMB CMM WGL JDN. Analyzed the data: JDN CMM FMB MLK DRS. Wrote the paper: JDN WGL DHB.
Received 2012 Dec 28; Accepted 2013 Jan 22.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
This article has been
cited by other articles in PMC.
AbstractBackgroundThe role of relative humidity in the aerosol transmission of influenza was examined in a simulated examination room containing coughing and breathing manikins.
MethodsNebulized influenza was coughed into the examination room and Bioaerosol samplers collected size-fractionated aerosols (<1 µM, 1''4 µM, and >4 µM aerodynamic diameters) adjacent to the breathing manikin's mouth and also at other locations within the room. At constant temperature, the RH was varied from 7''73% and infectivity was assessed by the viral plaque assay.
ResultsTotal virus collected for 60 minutes retained 70.6''77.3% infectivity at relative humidity '¤23% but only 14.6''22.2% at relative humidity '¥43%. Analysis of the individual aerosol fractions showed a similar loss in infectivity among the fractions. Time interval analysis showed that most of the loss in infectivity within each aerosol fraction occurred 0''15 minutes after coughing. Thereafter, losses in infectivity continued up to 5 hours after coughing, however, the rate of decline at 45% relative humidity was not statistically different than that at 20% regardless of the aerosol fraction analyzed.
ConclusionAt low relative humidity, influenza retains maximal infectivity and inactivation of the virus at higher relative humidity occurs rapidly after coughing. Although virus carried on aerosol particles <4 µM have the potential for remaining suspended in air currents longer and traveling further distances than those on larger particles, their rapid inactivation at high humidity tempers this concern. Maintaining indoor relative humidity >40% will significantly reduce the infectivity of aerosolized virus.
IntroductionWinter influenza outbreaks occur with seasonal regularity in temperate climates and it has been suggested that humidity may affect transmission [1], [2]. Previous studies using influenza aerosols in small settling chambers generally concluded that aerosolized virus was inactivated at high relative humidity (RH) but survived much better at low RH [3], [4], [5]. Other studies [6], [7] revealed that survival was optimum at low RH, moderate at high RH and minimum at middle RH. The aerodynamic diameters of the aerosolized particles were not determined in any of these studies; therefore, the influence of particle size on inactivation of virus has not been reported. Lowen et al. [8] used a guinea pig model to directly test whether humidity affected aerosol transmission of influenza from infected animals to uninfected animals, housed in adjacent but separate cages in an environmental chamber with five RHs ranging from 20''80% at 20°C. In their study, transmission rates were 75''100% at 20%, 35%, and 65% RH, but only 25% at 50% RH and 0% at 80% RH. However, air samples were not collected to confirm that guinea pigs housed at different RHs shed similar amounts of aerosolized virus.
During the winter, people spend the majority of their time indoors and the risk of aerosol transmission of influenza by coughing, sneezing and breathing is a concern because respirable particles carrying influenza may remain airborne for prolonged periods. Influenza RNA has been detected in the exhaled breath and coughs of patients with influenza [9]''[11] and clinical studies during influenza seasons indicated that influenza was detected in aerosol particles '¤4 µm [12], [13]. A recent study of indoor locations where jet travelers are likely to interact with locals determined that RH is one of the primary factors associated with aerosol transmission of influenza [14].
Healthcare workers treating influenza patients are particularly prone to infection as they can be exposed to multiple patients in closed examination rooms over the course of a day. A novel approach to assess risk factors is the use of manikins in a controlled environment. This approach has been used to study the flow of human respired air in a room [15], the effects of ventilation on respired air [16]''[18], and the efficacy of surgical masks and respirators for protection of healthcare workers exposed to coughed influenza aerosols [19], [20].
To address whether humidity contributes to the risk of aerosol transmission of influenza, a simulated examination room equipped with environmental controls was constructed that contained a coughing and breathing manikin to simulate a healthcare worker's exposure [19], [20]. In this study, the virus collected at the breathing manikin was separated into 3 size fractions according to their aerodynamic diameters (>4 µm, 1''4 µm, and <1 µm). We show that at low RH there is little loss in infectivity of virus from any particle fraction within the first hour but at moderate RH, 60''80% of the virus is inactivated and is dependent on viral particle size. The fastest rate of inactivation was seen in the >4 µm particle size where 78% of infectivity was reduced within 16''30 minutes of a cough.
Materials and MethodsCells and VirusMadin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells (ATCC CCL-34) and Influenza strain A/WS/33 (H1N1, ATCC VR-825) were purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) and maintained as described [21].
Bioaerosol SamplersNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) bioaerosol samplers, which collect and size-fractionate aerosols into three fractions (>4 µm, 1''4 µm, and <1 µm aerodynamic diameters), were used to collect influenza-containing aerosols [12], [22].
Real-time qPCRThe amount of total virus (infectious and non-infectious) in an aerosol sample was determined by real-time qPCR analysis to assess the number of Matrix1 gene copies as described [21].
Viral Plaque Assay (VPA)The number of infectious virus within an aerosol sample was determined by the VPA. Aerosols containing infectious influenza were inoculated onto a confluent lawn of MDCK cells and plaque forming units (PFU) were calculated as described [21].
Aerosol Exposure Simulation ChamberThe simulated examination room (aerosol exposure simulation chamber) is 3.16 m3.16 m2.27 m high and includes a HEPA filter and an ultraviolet lamp [19], [20] to disinfect the chamber. The virus solution was aerosolized with an Aeroneb 2.5''4 µm micropump nebulizer (Aerogen, Galway, Ireland) and loaded into the cough simulator remotely for a total of 5 coughs at approximately 1 minute intervals as described [19], [20], [21]. The coughing simulator uses a metal bellows driven by a computer-controlled linear motor (Model STA2506, Copley Controls, Canton, MA) to reproduce the flow and aerosol pattern of a human cough. The cough had a 4.2 liter volume with a peak flow of 16.9 liters/second and a mean flow of 5.28 liters/second. The digital breathing simulator (Warwick Technologies Ltd., Warwick, UK) was equipped with a standard medium-sized head form (Sheffield model 189003, ISI Lawrenceville, GA). The breathing waveform was sinusoidal with a flow rate of 32 liters/minute (ISO standard for an adult 1.88 m tall with a mass of 85 kg engaged in moderate work) [23]. The coughing and breathing simulators were synchronized so that each cough was initiated at the start of an inhalation. NIOSH aerosol samplers collected aerosols 1 mm above the manikin's mouth (through the mouth), 10 cm to the right and left of the mouth, and at two locations (P1 and P3) inside the room. For time course analysis, exam room air samples were collected from 3 samplers positioned outside the room (P2) to enable immediate processing of the collected samples. Aerosol particle concentrations in the exposure chamber were continuously monitored using an optical particle counter (OPC; Model 1.108, Grimm Technologies, Inc., Douglasville, GA) located 55 cm below the mouth of the coughing manikin The cough aerosol output from the cough simulator was measured using a Spraytec aerosol analyzer (Malvern Instruments, Worcestershire, UK).The aerosol exposure simulation chamber (Enviroline walk-in chamber, Norlake, Hudson, WI) maintained the selected temperature and humidity using a desiccant-based industrial dehumidifier (IAT-150-E, Innovative Air Technologies, Covington, GA), a centrifugal atomizer (Norlake), a remote heating/refrigeration system (NAWE150RL-3, Norlake) and a programmable temperature/humidity controller (CP8L, Norlake). After the chamber equilibrated at the desired temperature and humidity, the environmental control system was shut off and dampers within the system prevent aerosol particle losses in the dehumidifier and the heating/cooling air circulation system. The wall and floor seams of the chamber are sealed tightly with silicone caulk to prevent aerosol particles from leaking. The entrance door has manual locks that push the door tightly against seals that further prevent aerosol leakage during the equilibration and collection periods.
Statistical MethodsThe analysis of the number of PFUs induced by viral particles collected from the samplers was generated using SAS/STAT software, Version 9.2 of the SAS system for Windows (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Data were transformed by calculating the natural log of PFUs prior to analysis to meet the assumptions of the statistical tests (homogeneity of variance). For samples collected for 60 minutes under 7 different RHs, a two-way factorial mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on RH and fraction. This was done using RH as a numeric independent variable to calculate slopes, as well as a categorical variable to allow comparisons between mean levels of PFUs in each fraction at each RH. A significant interaction in a model with humidity as a numeric variable indicates that the slopes of the lines which plot PFUs as a function of RH are not equal across fractions. The second experiment, which sampled for 15 minute intervals for 60 minutes at 2 different RHs was analyzed with a three-way factorial mixed model ANOVA on RH, time and fraction, each being utilized as class variables. The final experiment which sampled for 60 minutes between hours 4 and 5 following aerosol generation was analyzed using a two-way mixed model ANOVA on RH and fraction. In all analyses, trial was included as a random variable in 'Proc Mixed' to account for the lack of independence between fractions in a given trial. Interactions were analyzed by examining simple main effects using the 'slice' option. All pairwise comparisons were considered significant at p<0.05.
ResultsHigh Humidity Reduces the Infectivity of InfluenzaTo assess the effect of humidity on infectivity, influenza virus was coughed into a simulated examination room where the RH was adjusted from 7''73%. The exam room contained coughing and breathing manikins facing each other and positioned 200 cm ('¼6.56 ft) apart ( Fig. 1 ). Approximately 1.0108 total virus was coughed into the exam room which equilibrated to 4.5103 total virus/per liter of room air (assessed by qPCR Matrix gene copies). A particle counter positioned just below the coughing manikin's mouth showed that the coughed particles optical diameters were largely within the respirable size range ( Fig. 2 ). Most of the virus was recovered in the 1''4 µm aerosol fraction (74.6% ± standard error 1.99%) and <1 µm fraction (18.5% ± standard error 2.17%); the remainder was detected in the >4 µm fraction (7.5% ± standard error 0.70%). The total amount of virus captured by each sampler was approximately the same regardless of their position within the room (data not shown). Approximately 4.6% of the 4.5103 total virus/per liter of room air loaded into the exam room was infectious prior to coughing (assessed by VPA). The percentage of virus that retained infectivity (number of PFUs/number of qPCR Matrix copies in an aerosol sample) relative to that prior to coughing was determined to be highest (70.6''77.2%) at 7''23% RH with a dramatic drop to the lowest (14.6%) at 43% RH ( Fig. 3A ). Increasing the RH to 57% resulted in a modest increase in the retention of infectivity (22.2%). A similar pattern of infectivity in response to humidity was observed among the three aerosol fractions when examined after 60 minutes of collection ( Fig. 3B''D ). Specifically, in each of the 3 fractions there was a significant decline in infectivity as humidity levels increased. However this percentage decrease in infectivity as a function of humidity occurs to similar extent across the 3 fractions as the 3 slopes are not significantly different from one another.
Three-dimensional view of the simulated examination room.National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) samplers collected aerosols through the mouth, 10 cm on either side of the manikin's mouth, and at 3 other positions (P1, P2, P3) as shown. The mouths of the coughing and breathing simulators and sampler inlets at P1, P2, and P3 were located 152 cm above the floor (approximate mouth height of a patient sitting on an examination table and a standing healthcare worker). All dimensions adjacent to white arrows within the room are in centimeters.
Cough aerosol particle optical size distribution.A particle counter was positioned just below the coughing manikin's mouth. Each bar represents the total volume of the aerosol particles in that size range expelled during a single cough. The amount of virus in the particles is proportional to the aerosol volume. The plot shows the mean and standard deviation of 30 coughs (six sets of five coughs each performed as described in the Methods).
High humidity reduces the infectivity of influenza.Influenza virus was coughed into the examination room and NIOSH samplers collected aerosol samples for 60 minutes from the manikin's mouth, 10 cm to the right and left of the mouth, and at positions P1 and P2 within the room. At constant temperature (20°C), the RH was varied over 7''73%.The percentage of virus that retained infectivity relative to that prior to coughing is shown. A, The percentage of infectious virus from all fractions (>4 µm, 1''4 µm, and <1 µm) was determined by the viral plaque assay (VPA) and is shown. B''D, The percentage of infectious virus within each aerosol fraction is shown. Data are means ± standard error (n'='5).
Loss of Infectivity at Moderate Humidity Occurs Rapidly After CoughingTo determine how quickly aerosolized influenza is inactivated at increased RH, aerosol samples were collected at 5 intervals (0''15 min, 16''30 min, 31''45 min, 46''60 min and 4''5 h) after coughing and compared at 20% and 45% RH. The total amount of virus (assessed by qPCR of the matrix gene) collected during the initial 60 minutes after coughing was 1.8106 at 20% RH and 1.4106 at 45% RH ( Fig. 4A ). During this time, the total virus concentration within the exam room remained approximately the same throughout the 15 minute collection periods regardless of RH ( Fig. 4A ). Within the 0''15 min collection interval, 52% of the total infectious virus lost infectivity at 45% RH as compared to that found at 20% RH ( Fig. 4B ). Continued loss of viral infectivity occurred at each 15 min collection interval and at the later 4''5 h interval, however, loses were similar at both 20% RH and 45% RH ( Fig. 4B ).
Loss of infectivity at moderate humidity occurs rapidly after coughing.Influenza virus was coughed into the examination room and NIOSH samplers collected aerosol samplers positioned on the outside wall of the examination room (P3) to enable immediate processing of the collected samples. Aerosol samples were collected at 16''30 min, 31''45 min, 46''60 min, and 4''5 h after coughing at 20% RH and 45% RH. The temperature of the examination room was maintained at 20°C throughout the collection periods. A,C,E,G, Amounts of total virus (infectious and noninfectious) from all aerosol fractions (>4 µm, 1''4 µm, and <1 µm) collected at each time interval was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). B,D,F,H, The number of infectious virus collected at each timepoint from all aerosol fractions was determined by viral plaque assay. The amount of virus collected at each 15 minute interval during the initial 60 minutes was totaled and shown as the ''Total'' on the X-axis of each graph. Data are means ± standard errors (n'='3 for each aerosol fraction assayed).
Aerosol Particle Size does not Confer Increased Stability of Influenza at Low RHThe amount of infectious virus present in the 3 aerosol fractions was then assessed to determine whether any one aerosol fraction carrying influenza virus retained infectivity longer at low RH. The amount of virus collected in the >4 µm aerosol fraction within the first 60 minutes of collection was approximately the same at 20% RH (1.3105 virus) and 45% RH (9.9104 virus) ( Fig. 4C ). Within the 0''15 min collection interval, >90% of the infectious virus in this fraction lost infectivity at 45% RH as compared to that found at 20% RH ( Fig. 4D ). Continued loss of viral infectivity occurred at each 15 min collection interval and at the later 4''5 h interval, however, loses were similar at both 20% RH and 45% RH ( Fig. 4D ).
The amount of virus collected in the 1''4 µm aerosol fraction within the first 60 minutes of collection was also approximately the same at 20% RH (1.1106 virus) and 45% RH (1.2106 virus) ( Fig. 4E ). Within 0''15 min after coughing, the loss in infectivity at 45% RH compared with that at 20% RH was not as high as that in the >4 µM fraction (29% loss vs >90% loss). However, as seen in the >4 µM fraction, there were continued losses in viral infectivity at each 15 min collection interval and at the later 4''5 h interval that were approximately the same at either 20% RH and 45% RH ( Fig. 4F ).
The amount of virus collected in the <1 µm aerosol fraction within the first 60 minutes of collection was more variable at 20% RH (5.8105 virus) then at 45% RH (2.7105 virus) ( Fig. 4G ). However, this 2''3 fold variability was consistent throughout the 15 minute collection intervals. Within 0''15 min after coughing, 94% of the virus within this fraction lost infectivity at 45% RH as compared to that at 20% RH ( Fig. 4H ). Continued loss of viral infectivity occurred at each 15 min collection interval and at the later 4''5 h interval, however, rates of loss were similar at both 20% RH and 45% RH ( Fig. 4H ).
Statistical analysis of the first 60 minutes showed there are significant main effects for humidity, fraction and time on virus infectivity and a significant humidity by fraction interaction. Specifically, with respect to humidity in general, infectious virus are reduced in the higher 45% humidity relative to low 20% humidity (p<0.0001). With respect to fraction, the number of infectious virus is highest in the 1''4 µM fraction and is significantly reduced in the <1 µM fraction and further reduced in the >4 µM fraction (p<0.0001). There was also a significant main effect of time (p<0.0068) with the first and last 15 minute collection intervals significantly lower than the two middle time points. The humidity by fraction interaction simply reflects that the size of the difference between the two humidity conditions varies as a function of fraction. Specifically, the smallest difference (while still statistically different) was in the 1''4 µM fraction while the largest difference in the number of infectious virus was in the <1 µM fraction. However, there was no statistical difference in the rate of decay of infectious virus at 20% RH versus that at 45% RH in any of the 3 aerosol fractions once the initial loss in infectivity occurred within 0''15 min after coughing.
DiscussionThe potential to transmit influenza by respirable aerosol particles ('¤4 µm) is of particular concern as these particles can remain airborne for long periods and can be inhaled deeply into the lung to cause more severe infection [24]''[27]. Healthcare workers are at particular risk as they are directly exposed to the breaths and coughs of influenza patients which have been shown to contain virus [28], [29] and aerosolized virus has also been detected throughout clinic environments during flu seasons [12], [13]. The present study allowed us to assess viral infectivity under various levels of relative humidity and showed that one hour after coughing, '¼5 times more virus remains infectious at 7''23% RH than at '¥43% RH.
Yang and Marr [30] modeled the survival, size distributions, and dynamics of influenza emitted from a cough in an indoor environment and considered the roles of gravitational settling, ventilation, and virus inactivation at RHs of 10''90%. They concluded that settling can remove over 80% of airborne influenza 10 minutes after a cough and that RH increases the removal efficiency only slightly from 87% to 92% over the range of RHs. Applying a similar model to the cough aerosol particle distribution shown in Fig. 2 , we estimated the change in the concentration of airborne particles in our chamber over time due to gravitational settling and filtration by the breathing simulator and aerosol samplers. We then predicted the amount of virus that should be collected in each stage of the aerosol sampler during the first hour (0 to 60 minutes) and the fifth hour (240 to 300 minutes) after the start of the series of coughs. Our results indicated that the amount of virus in the largest aerosol fraction (>4 µm) collected during the fifth hour would be reduced to 6% of that seen during the first hour; the second fraction (1''4 µm) would be reduced to 30%; and the smallest fraction (<1 µm) would be 58%. These model results compare very well to the actual viral particle collection results seen in Fig. 4B''D , where the amount of virus collected in each aerosol fraction during the fifth hour fell to 13%, 28% and 50% of the amounts detected during the first hour. The concentration of larger airborne particles decreases faster than smaller particles because larger particles settle much more quickly than smaller ones; in contrast, ventilation and filtration are not affected by particle size. Thus, settling accounts for much of the loss of particles >4 µm, whereas little settling occurred in the <1µm fraction.
Although most of the >4 µm particles were removed from the exam room at 4''5 h, a further decline in infectivity at 45% RH as compared to that at 20% RH nearly eliminates the potential for infection associated with particles of this size. Similarly, the potential for infection from influenza carried on the smaller particles was also further reduced at 45% RH, but the longer retention time of these particles in the air emphasizes the concern these sized particles still pose. The actual number of aerosolized viral particles that a healthcare worker could potentially inhale during a patient examination is largely dependent on the shedding rate of virus by the patient. Infected patients can shed 33 virus/min in aerosol particles '¥5 µm and 187 virus/min in particles <5 µm [28]. Therefore, in 30 minutes a single patient in a room the size of our simulated exam room can shed up to 5.6103 viral particles <5 µm in size and a healthcare worker could potentially inhale up to 237 viruses. A dose-response model developed by Teunis et al. [31] shows that the probability of infection by influenza is significant (Pinf'='0.2''0.4) at low doses (101''2 TCID50 infectious units).
The effect of increasing humidity on viral survival differed among several reported studies as Hemmes et al. [3], Hood [4] and Harper [5] concluded that survival was maximum at 10''25% RH and minimal at high >50% RH whereas, Shechmeister [6] and Shaffer et al. [7] found survival was maximal at 20''25% RH, minimal at 50% RH, and moderate at 70''80% RH. High salt concentrations are deleterious to influenza [32] and protein concentrations in the viral preparation of less than 0.1 mg/ml adversely affect stability of influenza when aerosolized at high and mid-range RH [7]. Yang and Marr [31] suggest that, although Shechmeister [6] and Shaffer et al. [7] used significantly lower concentrations of protein in some of their viral preparations, the trends they obtained were the result of increasing salt concentrations followed by crystallization of the virus at the point of efflorescence (45''48% RH). In our study, 0.2% BSA was included to maintain stability of the virus, and our results support those obtained by Hemmes et al. [3], Hood [4] and Harper [5] and closely align with the Yang and Marr model.
Extrapolation of Harper's [5] data of influenza aerosolized into a settling chamber over a range of RHs by Yang and Marr [31] revealed that infectivity of the total viral population is decreased faster at higher RHs and is evident 5 minutes after aerosolization. Our results indicate that the greatest effect of increased relative humidity occurs within 0''15 minutes after coughing and thereafter, the rates of inactivation of the virus within each aerosol fraction occurs at significantly slower rates regardless of humidity. Analysis of the aerosol fractions further indicates that the most rapid drop in infectivity within 0''15 min occurs in the >4 µM fraction (>90%) and that virus in the 1''4 µM fraction losses only 29% of infectivity during this time. Moreover, after correction for the lowered amount of virus detected by qPCR in the <1 µM fraction at 45% RH over that detected at 20% RH, the loss in infectivity during 0''15 min after coughing is '¼32%. Therefore, virus carried on smaller aerosol particles loose infectivity considerably slower. Yang and Marr [31] found that droplets shrink to one-half of their original diameter at 90% RH but to only two-fifths at 10% RH but whether droplet shrinkage accounts for these losses is unclear.
Hanley and Borup [14] examined aerosol transmission of influenza for indoor locations frequented by jet travelers and developed risk contours for temperature and humidity that were based on studies reported in the literature. They concluded that, in addition to intervention strategies including the use of masks and gloves, climate control of indoor locations should be considered by public health planners in making recommendations to interrupt the spread of influenza. The environmental controls in health care facilities are primarily designed to satisfy human comfort criteria established under ASRAE and ISO standards [33], [34] with the exception of special cases where higher humidity is specified to reduce static charge in medical test equipment and/or computer areas. Raising the humidity levels in existing facilities may not be practical given design limitations built into the facilities under the existing standards. However, if functional areas of health care facilities were identified as high risk for flu transmission due to low humidity conditions, consideration could be given during the design and construction phase of these facilities to accommodate maintaining appropriate recommended humidity levels.
AcknowledgmentsWe thank David Edgell of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for manufacturing the NIOSH samplers, Bean T. Chen of NIOSH for developing the original NIOSH cyclone sampler, Jeffrey S. Reynolds of NIOSH for help with software development for the cough simulator, and Kimberly S. Clough-Thomas of NIOSH for artwork. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Funding StatementThis work was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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It's Not Whether You Were Exposed to the Coronavirus. It's How Much. - The New York Times
The pathogen is proving a familiar adage: The dose makes the poison.
Harry Henri, a research assistant, working with blood samples from coronavirus patients at SUNY Downstate's BioBank in Brooklyn. Credit... Misha Friedman for The New York Times When experts recommend wearing masks, staying at least six feet away from others, washing your hands frequently and avoiding crowded spaces, what they're really saying is: Try to minimize the amount of virus you encounter.
A few viral particles cannot make you sick '-- the immune system would vanquish the intruders before they could. But how much virus is needed for an infection to take root? What is the minimum effective dose?
A precise answer is impossible, because it's difficult to capture the moment of infection. Scientists are studying ferrets, hamsters and mice for clues but, of course, it wouldn't be ethical for scientists to expose people to different doses of the coronavirus, as they do with milder cold viruses.
''The truth is, we really just don't know,'' said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York. ''I don't think we can make anything better than an educated guess.''
Common respiratory viruses, like influenza and other coronaviruses, should offer some insight. But researchers have found little consistency.
For SARS, also a coronavirus, the estimated infective dose is just a few hundred particles. For MERS, the infective dose is much higher, on the order of thousands of particles.
The new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is more similar to the SARS virus and, therefore, the infectious dose may be hundreds of particles, Dr. Rasmussen said.
But the virus has a habit of defying predictions.
Generally, people who harbor high levels of pathogens '-- whether from influenza, H.I.V. or SARS '-- tend to have more severe symptoms and are more likely to pass on the pathogens to others.
But in the case of the new coronavirus, people who have no symptoms seem to have viral loads '-- that is, the amount of virus in their bodies '-- just as high as those who are seriously ill, according to some studies.
And coronavirus patients are most infectious two to three days before symptoms begin, less so after the illness really hits.
Some people are generous transmitters of the coronavirus; others are stingy. So-called super-spreaders seem to be particularly gifted in transmitting it, although it's unclear whether that's because of their biology or their behavior.
On the receiving end, the shape of a person's nostrils and the amount of nose hair and mucus present '-- as well as the distribution of certain cellular receptors in the airway that the virus needs to latch on to '-- can all influence how much virus it takes to become infected.
A higher dose is clearly worse, though, and that may explain why some young health care workers have fallen victim even though the virus usually targets older people.
The crucial dose may also vary depending on whether it's ingested or inhaled.
People may take in virus by touching a contaminated surface and then putting their hands on their nose or mouth. But ''this isn't thought to be the main way the virus spreads,'' according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That form of transmission may require millions more copies of the virus to cause an infection, compared to inhalation.
Coughing, sneezing, singing, talking and even heavy breathing can result in the expulsion of thousands of large and small respiratory droplets carrying the virus.
''It's clear that one doesn't have to be sick and coughing and sneezing for transmission to occur,'' said Dr. Dan Barouch, a viral immunologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Larger droplets are heavy and float down quickly '-- unless there's a breeze or an air-conditioning blast '-- and can't penetrate surgical masks. But droplets less than 5 microns in diameter, called aerosols, can linger in the air for hours.
''They travel further, last longer and have the potential of more spread than the large droplets,'' Dr. Barouch said.
Updated May 28, 2020
My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren't being told to stay at home, it's still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
What's the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus '-- whether it's surface transmission or close human contact '-- is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
How can I protect myself while flying?If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?More than 40 million people '-- the equivalent of 1 in 4 U.S. workers '-- have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic took hold. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.
Is 'Covid toe' a symptom of the disease?There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
Can I go to the park?Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don't live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk, getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.
How do I take my temperature?Taking one's temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as ''normal'' temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don't have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
Should I wear a mask?The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don't need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don't replace hand washing and social distancing.
What should I do if I feel sick?If you've been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
How do I get tested?If you're sick and you think you've been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there's a chance '-- because of a lack of testing kits or because you're asymptomatic, for instance '-- you won't be able to get tested.
How can I help?Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.
Three factors seem to be particularly important for aerosol transmission: proximity to the infected person, air flow and timing.
A windowless public bathroom with high foot traffic is riskier than a bathroom with a window, or a bathroom that's rarely used. A short outdoor conversation with a masked neighbor is much safer than either of those scenarios.
Recently, Dutch researchers used a special spray nozzle to simulate the expulsion of saliva droplets and then tracked their movement. The scientists found that just cracking open a door or a window can banish aerosols.
''Even the smallest breeze will do something,'' said Daniel Bonn, a physicist at the University of Amsterdam who led the study.
Observations from two hospitals in Wuhan, China, published in April in the journal Nature, determined much the same thing: more aerosolized particles were found in unventilated toilet areas than in airier patient rooms or crowded public areas.
This makes intuitive sense, experts said. But they noted that aerosols, because they are smaller than 5 microns, would also contain much less, perhaps millions-fold less, virus than droplets of 500 microns.
''It really takes a lot of these single-digit size droplets to change the risk for you,'' said Dr. Joshua Rabinowitz, a quantitative biologist at Princeton University.
Apart from avoiding crowded indoor spaces, the most effective thing people can do is wear masks, all of the experts said. Even if masks don't fully shield you from droplets loaded with virus, they can cut down the amount you receive, and perhaps bring it below the infectious dose.
''This is not a virus for which hand washing seems like it will be enough,'' Dr. Rabinowitz said. ''We have to limit crowds, we have to wear masks.''
This Inexpensive Action Lowers Hospital Infections And Protects Against Flu Season
Harvard Medical School graduate and lecturer, Stephanie Taylor, is something of an Indiana Jones of medicine. She's a determined scientist who can't seem to sit still. Along with a resume full of accolades and publications, she's a skydiver with 1,200 jumps. She solves haunting medical mysteries. ''Anything that seems scary, I say I need to learn more about that,'' she explained in a recent interview.
Picornavirus (picornavirid), responsible for: Colds, gastroenteritis, poliomyelitis and meningitis. ... [+] Image made from a transmission electron microscopy view. (Photo by: Cavallini James/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesWhile practicing pediatric oncology at a major teaching hospital, Taylor wondered why so many of her young patients came down with infections and the flu, despite the hospital's herculean efforts at prevention. Her hunch: the design and infrastructure of the building contributed somehow.
Dr. Taylor embarked on a quest to find out if she was right. First, the skydiving doctor made a career jump: She went back to school for a master's in architecture, and then began research on the impact of the built environment on human health and infection. Ultimately, she found a lost ark.
She and colleagues studied 370 patients in one unit of a hospital to try to isolate the factors associated with patient infections. They tested and retested 8 million data points controlling for every variable they could think of to explain the likelihood of infection. Was it hand hygiene, fragility of the patients, or room cleaning procedures? Taylor thought it might have something to do with the number of visitors to the patient's room.
While all those factors had modest influence, one factor stood out above them all, and it shocked the research team. The one factor most associated with infection was (drum roll): dry air. At low relative humidity, indoor air was strongly associated with higher infection rates. ''When we dry the air out, droplets and skin flakes carrying viruses and bacteria are launched into the air, traveling far and over long periods of time. The microbes that survive this launching tend to be the ones that cause healthcare-associated infections,'' said Taylor. ''Even worse, in addition to this increased exposure to infectious particles, the dry air also harms our natural immune barriers which protect us from infections."
Since that study was published, there is now more research in peer-reviewed literature observing a link between dry air and viral infections, such as the flu, colds and measles, as well as many bacterial infections, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding more research. Taylor finds one of the most interesting studies from a team at the Mayo Clinic, which humidified half of the classrooms in a preschool and left the other half alone over three months during the winter. Influenza-related absenteeism in the humidified classrooms was two-thirds lower than in the standard classrooms'--a dramatic difference. Taylor says this study is important because its design included a control group: the half of classrooms without humidity-related intervention.
Scientists attribute the influence of dry air to a new understanding about the behavior of airborne particles, or ''infectious aerosol transmissions.'' They used to assume the microbes in desiccated droplets were dead, but advances in the past several years changed that thinking. ''With new genetic analysis tools, we are finding out that most of the microbes are not dead at all. They are simply dormant while waiting for a source of rehydration,'' Taylor explained. ''Humans are an ideal source of hydration, since we are basically 60% water. When a tiny infectious particle lands on or in a patient, the pathogen rehydrates and begins the infectious cycle all over again.''
These findings are especially important for hospitals and other health settings, because dry air is also associated with antibiotic resistance, which can devastate whole patient populations. Scientists now believe resistant organisms do not develop only along the Darwinian trajectory, where mutated bacteria produce a new generation of similarly mutated offspring that can survive existing antibiotics. Resistant pathogens in infectious aerosols do not need to wait for the next generation, they can instantly share their resistant genes directly through a process called horizontal gene transfer.
According to her research, and subsequent studies in the medical literature, the ''sweet spot'' for indoor air is between 40% and 60% relative humidity. An instrument called a hygrometer, available for about $10, will measure it. Every hospital, school, and home should have them, according to Taylor, along with a humidifier to adjust room hydration to the sweet spot.
Operating rooms, Taylor notes, are often kept cooler than other rooms to keep gown-wearing surgical staff comfortable. Cool air holds less water vapor than warm air, so condensation can more easily occur on cold, uninsulated surfaces. Consequently, building managers often turn humidifiers off instead of insulating cold surfaces. This quick fix can result in dry air, and Taylor urges hospitals to bring the operating room's relative humidity up, even when it is necessary, to maintain a lower temperature. Taylor's research suggests this reduces surgical site infections.
Taylor travels the country speaking with health care and business groups to urge adoption of the 40%''60% relative humidity standard. And she practices what she preaches. ''My husband has ongoing respiratory problems and had at least one serious illness each winter. Ever since we started monitoring our indoor relative humidity and keeping it around 40%, even when using our wood stove, he has not been sick. Our dogs also love it because they do not get static electricity shocks when being petted in the wintertime!''
The bad news is that it takes on average of 17 years for scientific evidence to be put into medical practice, according to a classic study. The good news is that Taylor is on the case, and she's on a crusade against the destruction of bacteria and viruses. She's not waiting 17 years. Jock, start the engine.
by James M Todaro, MD (Columbia MD, @JamesTodaroMD )
May 29, 2020
Misinformation is bad. Misinformation in medicine is worse. Misinformation from a prestigious medical journal is the worst. Herein is a detailed look at the controversial Lancet study that resulted in the World Health Organization ending worldwide clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine in order to focus on patented therapeutics.
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Study Overview
In brief, the Lancet study is a multinational registry analysis assessing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without macrolide therapy (e.g. azithromycin) in treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. The study was very large (perhaps impossibly so, but we will address that later) and included 96,032 patients, of which 14,888 were in treatment groups. The study found that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine with or without macrolide therapy resulted in significantly increased risk of both in-hospital mortality and de-novo ventricular arrhythmia during hospitalization. In summary, the authors concluded that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are actually harmful and increase risk of death when used for in-hospital treatment of COVID-19.
The Lancet study was released on Friday, May 22. After deliberating over a weekend, on Monday, May 25, the World Health Organization hastily announced the cessation of all COVID-19 clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine in 17 different countries. Instead of performing its own due diligence, the WHO immediately relied on an observational study cloaked in the reputation of the nearly 200-year old medical journal The Lancet .
After its publication, a grass-roots investigation by hundreds of physicians and researchers worldwide revealed irreconcilable inconsistencies in the data that The Lancet's peer-review process overlooked. The study is now found to have inconsistencies with data from national registries of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The authors continue to hide data sources in a black box controlled by an unknown corporation called Surgisphere.
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Surgisphere
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Only one peer-reviewed publication prior to the Lancet study.
Surgisphere appears to be the sole provider of the data for the Lancet study, and boasts itself to be a real-time global research network that "performs cloud-based healthcare data analytics" using machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Based on the Lancet study, it must be a very large, sophisticated network indeed to have partnered with hundreds of hospitals worldwide with the capability of retrieving detailed patient data in real-time.
One would expect a multinational database such as this to be a treasure trove coveted by researchers. Strangely, this is not so. Surgisphere has a razor thin folder of contributions to past publications. Besides the Lancet publication, Surgisphere's only other peer-reviewed publication is one entitled Cardiovascular, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19 that was published on May 1, 2020 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The Research section of Surgisphere's website features twenty-three ''Case Studies from Around the World'' as evidence of their prior work and product features. The vast majority of these ''case studies'' lack scientific substance and actually consist of short letters, press releases or potential use-cases for its database.
In place of actual research, the website appears primarily promotional and gives the impression of an immature tech company with lofty goals as opposed to a global database with real-time data on millions of patients.
A company with only five employees, most of which joined only two months ago.
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According to LinkedIn, Surgisphere has five employees , only one of which has a medical degree'--the founder Dr. Sapan Desai. The remaining four employees appear to have little to no science or medical background, but with a plethora of experience in business development and sales & marketing. The team's personnel consist of a VP of Business Development and Strategy, VP of Sales and Marketing and two freelance writers creating content for Surgisphere.
With the exception of the founder, the entire Surgisphere team joined the corporation only 2-3 months ago. Actually, according to LinkedIn, the VP of Sales & Marketing is still employed by another tech company, W.L. Gore & Associates. Prior to February 2020, Surgisphere appears to have had a single employee, the founder.
A shrouded internet history.
The internet trail behind Surgisphere is peculiar to say the least. Mostly because it isn't there. The Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) has records on more than 439 billion web pages and has long served as a tool to view webpages as they existed in the past. I've used the tool hundreds of times and am frequently surprised by the breadth of its database. Even some of the most obscure webpages have historical snapshots available. In the rare circumstances where a historical snapshot is not available, the Wayback Machine's response is ''Wayback Machine doesn't have that page archived.'' A far less common response'--one I've never seen before'--is ''Sorry. This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.''
It's this last response that is delivered when searching https://surgisphere.com/ in the Wayback Machine.
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There are primarily two ways for companies to hide internet histories. First, they can insert special codes into their websites to hide from the Wayback Machine's automated crawlers. Secondly, companies can request the removal of their historical snapshots, but there's no guarantee the Internet Archive will honor these requests. Both of these practices are highly unusual and almost exclusively used for obscuring nefarious activities.
A list of subsidiary companies without substance.
A deeper dive into Surgisphere reveals three subsidiary companies: Surgical Outcomes Collaborative , Vascular Outcomes and Quartz Clinical . On each of the homepages of these three websites, the Surgisphere copyright is publicly visible near the bottom of the page.
Surgical Outcomes Collaborative has almost no internet history and the page does not appear in the Internet Archive until 2019, in which it just redirects to the webpage for Vascular Outcomes.
A search of https://vascularoutcomes.com in the Internet Archive returns one snapshot from December 2019. The snapshot shows a webpage that is largely similar to that of Surgical Outcomes Collaborative and does not include any details about a team or published research.
Similarly, Quartz Clinical , another healthcare data analytics branch of Surgisphere, also appears to be devoid of published research and without a publicly visible team.
Each of the company webpages above provide a LinkedIn link. Instead of showing company profiles with track records, however, the links all direct to the profile of just one person, Dr. Sapan Desai.
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Forming partnerships with hundreds of hospitals, formatting electronic medical records in dozens of different languages and pushing the forefront of technology in machine learning and AI is an insurmountable task for a large multi-talented team over many months, let alone one person in a few weeks.
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"Get in touch with us"
Just yesterday, the Get in touch with us link on Surgisphere's homepage redirected to a strange WordPress template for cryptocurrency. The Surgisphere website has since been changed and the link deleted; however, this serves as just another example of incompleteness and unprofessionalism from a company supposedly holding highly sensitive records on millions of patients.
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Dr. Sapan Desai
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Dr. Desai appears to be the founder of Surgisphere, which was formed in 2007. A PubMed search for ''Sapan Desai'' shows 39 medical publications in the last five years. With the exception of the two very recent COVID-19 papers, the Surgisphere database does not appear to have been used in any of the other 37 publications. Why would the founder of Surgisphere have access to one of the largest repositories of real-time patient data, but not use it until publishing on COVID-19?
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If we ignore the image of multiple shell corporations enshrouding a hastily organized Surgisphere Corporation and stick to analyzing the COVID-19 data from the Lancet study, the findings are even less reassuring.
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The Data
Surgisphere provides scant detail on their data sources. Not only does Surgisphere omit which hospitals supposedly contributed, but they will not even specify the contributing countries. Instead, they categorize hospitals and patient numbers by continent. Notably, the larger the pool of data, the easier it is to obfuscate false data.
Data inconsistencies were found nonetheless.
Strike #1. Australia is unique because it is both a country and continent, which makes data obfuscation more challenging. Thus, it is no surprise that false data was first discovered in Australia. The Guardian reported yesterday that the number of COVID-19 deaths included in the Lancet study for Australia exceeded the total nationally recorded number of COVID-19 deaths. The Lancet study reported 73 deaths from the continent of Australia, but records show that Australia had only a total of 67 COVID-19 deaths by April 21. When confronted with this inconsistency, the lead author of the study, Dr. Mandeep Mehra, admitted the error but dismissed it as simply a single hospital that was accidentally designated to the wrong continent.
Strike #2. North American data from the study is highly suspicious. The study reports that 63,315 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 met inclusion criteria prior to April 14, 2020. A review of the well-curated data from the COVID Tracking Project by The Atlantic shows that there were only 63,276 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 by April 14. It is theoretically possible that Surgisphere also collected patient data from Canada and Mexico. However, both of these countries had a tiny number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in comparison to the USA. On April 16, Canada reported 2,019 COVID-19 hospitalizations . Although data is not readily available on COVID-19 hospitalizations in Mexico, the country had only 5,014 positive cases and 332 deaths by April 14 . Based on common rates of case-to-hospitalization ratios, it is likely that Mexico had fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Thus, the total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) by April 14 is about 66,000.
Are we to believe that Surgisphere truly had relationships and data exchange agreements with 559 hospitals in the USA, Canada and Mexico that captured detailed patient records for 63,315 COVID-19 patients out of a total of 66,000 patients? These figures do not even include the 2,230 patients with COVID-19 who did not meet the inclusion criteria, meaning that Surgisphere is claiming they have patient data on even a greater number than 63,315 patients.
Strike #3. The study reports patient data from Africa that requires sophisticated patient monitoring technology and electronic medical record systems. An open letter to The Lancet signed by 146 physicians and medical researchers believes this to be unlikely. For the data to be valid, nearly 25% of all COVID-19 cases and 40% of all deaths in the continent would have occurred in Surgisphere-affiliated hospitals with sophisticated electronic patient data recording and monitoring capable of detecting and recording ''nonsustained [at least 6 sec] or sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation.'' In the setting of a highly contagious virus, continuous cardiac monitoring is not always utilized as it increases high-risk patient contact for healthcare workers. A combination of cardiac monitoring practices during COVID-19 and the sophisticated equipment necessary to do so make it highly unlikely that cardiac arrhythmia data is available for such a large percentage of patients in Africa.
There are additional data oddities not mentioned above which include unusually small variances in patient baseline characteristics, interventions and outcomes among continents.
Any one of the above findings warrants closer inspection of data for a study of this importance and with such global implications on patient care.
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Surgisphere Responds
Surgisphere responded to inquiries by refusing to provide any additional details on the data sources and instead asking physicians and researchers to trust them.
Does a corporation that appeared out of thin air two months ago deserve this trust?
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UPDATE May 30, 2020: The section "Dr. Sapan Desai" was added to reflect Dr. Desai's prior research work.
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Masks and Muzzles
Mandatory Masks Aren't About Safety, They're About Social Control
On May 26, Virginia's Gov. Ralph Northam announced that wearing masks outside one's home will be mandatory effective May 29. He first hinted he might issue a masking order a week ago, likely to test the water.
A new refrain in public discourse is growing in volume by the day: ''Things will never be the same.'' The certainty with which we are assured of this pre-determined future is perplexing. Whether or not ''things'' will ever be the same is not at all clear, but that some people hope things will never be the same is certain.
To those looking to benefit politically from emergencies, COVID presents an opportunity to advance plans targeted to transform American freedom and the American way of life. Mandatory-masking policies provide a valuable foundation to weaponize the virus against American liberty'--now and in the future.
Demanding Freedoms Helps Ensure ThemMuch of our freedom is maintained by the collective resistance of the American mood. When the Minnesota governor excluded churches from his Phase I reopening plan, Catholic and Lutheran leadership announced, through counsel, that their churches would reopen with or without the state's blessing.
The governor's resulting about-face was probably not due to a legal epiphany. Rather, he understood he'd pushed the envelope too far. Minnesotans wouldn't put up with any further abuse of their religious freedoms.
Would Virginians, outside of the blue D.C. suburbs, be willing to accept a masking order? To take our freedom from us, people with anti-American agendas have to mobilize some initial quorum of consent from the population.
Masking Is Meant to Build an Opinion CascadeMandatory masking seeks to build that consent. In addition to extending the fiction that we are in an emergency sufficient to trigger the extra-constitutional authority of local and state executives, mandatory masking acts as a peer pressure-fueled signal that encourages conformity to our coming ''new normal.''
An April 18 article in the Washington Post underscores the strategy, presenting the mask controversy as a left versus right debate. People resisting mandatory mask policies are, per usual, painted as unreasonable, headstrong, and backward'--displaying ignorant American bravado while rejecting science and good sense. (That caricature is itself a tool to mock, marginalize, and silence dissent.)
The most telling passage of the article is this one:
For Trump's supporters, declining to wear a mask is a visible way to demonstrate ''that 'I'm a Republican,' or 'I want businesses to start up again,' or 'I support the president,'''' said Robert Kahn, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis who has studied Americans' attitudes toward masks. 'Masks will quickly become the new normal in blue states, but if social distancing continues through 2022, the mentality among Republicans could well change, too: If I can go to work and the cost of marginal improvement in my life is wearing a mask, maybe Americans of both parties do accommodate ourselves to it.'
And that's the key. If we want to marginally improve our lives, we will submit. The masks aren't the endgame. The point of the masks is to teach the American people that if we want to get some sense of normal, we have to accept abnormality.
If everyone is wearing a mask, it telegraphs a society-wide acceptance that the status quo has changed, and with that consensus other changes can come, too. Society will be primed to accept measures that most normal Americans would reject in any other time. Our new normal will include a permanent expansion of the bureaucracy and alarming new COVID-related regulations.
Masks Are of Limited BenefitThe truth is you aren't irrational or obdurate if you are skeptical about masks. The ''experts'' have admitted that masks' efficacy is usually negligible. Dr. Anthony Fauci himself, in a ''60 Minutes'' interview early in this pandemic, dismissed masks as essentially useless.
''There is no reason to be walking around wearing a mask. When you are in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel better, and might even block a droplet,'' he said with almost an eyeroll, ''but it's not providing the perfect protection people think it is, and often there are unintended consequences'...''
Fauci may have changed his tune, but plenty of sensible doctors are still speaking up. Last week, a doctor in the Wall Street Journal pointed out that cloth masks'--the type worn by the overwhelming majority of the population'--are not very effective, echoing Fauci's earlier admission. The WSJ author noted that even the N95 masks fall short: ''They're considered effective at blocking coronavirus particles only when they're form fitted and tested to make sure there isn't any leakage.''
In short, cloth masks are largely symbolic. The science hasn't changed, but the agenda has.
Implementing mandatory mask policies across a society of 300 million because it makes some people feel better is absurd on its face. But the policy makes a lot of sense if you understand its purpose and usefulness to shift the American mindset.
Mandatory masks are a critical predicate conditioning us to accept abuses of our liberty. Mandatory masking provides the foundation on which governments continue to justify emergency measures and rule by executive fiat, and it creates a national mood of consent that America will accept indefinite government expansion because we face a ''new normal.''
Molly McCann is Of Counsel with Sidney Powell, P.C. and lives and works in the Washington, D.C. metro area. In her free time, Molly is active in conservative policy and directs the Phyllis Schlafly Virginia Constitution Center, organizing events for young professionals.
Photo U.S. Air Force photo/Trevor Cokley
Copyright (C) 2020 The Federalist, a wholly independent division of FDRLST Media, All Rights Reserved.
MASKS = LOVE - Inslee announces Washington's 'Safe Start' plan | KOIN.com
'Stay Home, Stay Healthy' order set to expire Sunday
by: KOIN 6 News Staff
Posted:
May 29, 2020 / 11:14 AM PDT / Updated:
May 29, 2020 / 05:45 PM PDTPORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) '-- Governor Jay Inslee announced Washington's phased reopening, ''Safe Start,'' loosening some aspects of his ''Stay Home, Stay Healthy'' order.
During a press conference Friday, Inslee said he is updating the metric of requiring there to be no more than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents in past 14 days, from 10 cases per 100,00 residents.
His new plan makes it easier for businesses in bigger counties to move phases. He said he will evaluate on a county-by-county basis. No county is yet in Phase 3.
''This is a path that will have more businesses opening. It will mean more activities will be allowed, and more flexibility will be allowed for counties in a variety of phases.''
Inslee also encouraged all Washingtonians to wear face coverings in public.
''Face coverings are an expression of love,'' he said.
The ''Stay Home, Stay Healthy'' order expires Sunday.
Within the last 2 days, Inslee has introduced new protections for farmworkers and loosened restrictions on religious gatherings.
On Wednesday the Washington State Department of Health also updated the definition of ''close contact'' to be in alignment with new guidelines from the CDC. A close cotact is now defined as someone who was within 6 feet of someone with COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes (instead of 10 minutes.)
Continuing Coverage: Coronavirus
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Models and Data
98.1% Of 'COVID-19 Deaths' In Massachusetts Had An Underlying Health Condition | Zero Hedge
As the debate rages on about re-opening, new data continues to paint the picture that liberal groupthink and media panic about the virus prompted a massive overreaction.
While antibody testing, despite inaccuracies, indicates that many more people have had the virus in the U.S. than first thought, obviously reducing the total mortality rate, we continue to get ancillary data that supports the idea that the virus may not have been as dangerous as we first thought.
One example is Massachusetts, which revealed yesterday that nearly every single coronavirus-related death had been a patient with an underlying condition or previous hospitalization, according to WHDH.
"98.1 percent (1,289) of people who died after contracting the disease had an underlying condition, such as chronic lung disease, serious heart ailments, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or liver disease," the report showed.
59% of the state's 3,003 total deaths have included people who spent time in the hospital prior to contracting the virus. 1,905, or 63% of the state's deaths, have been people aged 80 or older.
Recall, we published this piece in late April, claiming that the virus mortality rate was likely 25x to 65x lower than the government claimed based on studies from across the globe.
One such study was done by Stanford and found that the prevalence of the virus was 50x to 85x higher in Santa Clara County than first thought. The study concluded:
The population prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Santa Clara County implies that the infection is much more widespread than indicated by the number of confirmed cases. Population prevalence estimates can now be used to calibrate epidemic and mortality projections.
Fury over study that halted global Covid-19 trials as letter questions its methods | Daily Mail Online
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it was suspending the hydroxychloroquine arm of its trial over safety concerns (file image)
More than 120 leading scientists and doctors from around the world have criticised a hydroxychloroquine study that halted global trials of the anti-malaria drug.
The experts have penned an open letter to the editor of the Lancet, the medical journal in which the study was published, raising serious concerns about its methods.
They have highlighted 10 major flaws, including patient data which they say does not match with public health records.
The letter's signatories include prominent Imperial College London epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson, whose stark warning that 250,000 Brits could die without action played a role in the UK triggering lockdown in March. He also made headlines this month after flouting the same lockdown rules to have secret trysts with his married mistress.
US and Swiss scientists behind the Lancet study, published last Friday, found hydroxychloroquine raised the risk of death and heart issues in Covid-19 patients.
Their finding prompted the UK's drugs watchdog to temporarily suspend two major Oxford University clinical trials of the antimalarial.
The World Health Organization also pulled the plug on its SOLIDARITY study, on the back of the worrying results.
The large observational study analysed data from nearly 15,000 Covid sufferers who received hydroxychloroquine or another form of the drug alone or in combination with antibiotics.
The team's modelling is considered the gold standard by the Government and its decisions throughout the epidemic have been heavily influenced by the London epidemiologists. It was thrust into spotlight when Professor Neil Ferguson (pictured) flouted lockdown rules
It then compared this data with the hospital records of 81,000 controls who did not receive the drug - and claimed the data came from six continents.
The signatories of the letter said the study did not mention the countries or hospitals that contributed to the data source, meaning they cannot be fact checked.
WHY IS HYDROXY-CHLOROQUINE CONTROVERSIAL? Hydroxychloroquine - branded as Plaquenil - is a cheap drug that has been used to prevent malaria and treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis for decades.
But no evidence currently exists to show the drug can prevent patients being struck down with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Scientists also warn there is no proof hydroxychloroquine, which was touted as a wonder drug by Donald Trump, can even treat COVID-19.
Hope was sparked early on in the crisis when a French study suggested the drug could have both antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects.
It triggered a flurry of research across the world, an endorsement from Trump and emergency authorization from US regulators.
But other research has dealt a blow to the drug, with one Chinese trial last month finding it did not speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients.
And New York researchers last week said patients got no benefits whether they took just the drug or paired it with the antibiotic azithromycin.
Leading doctors have warned the drug can cause severe side effects, and can even throw off the process that makes the heart beat in time.
One trial in Brazil was stopped short because so many of the enrolled coronavirus patients given the drug developed these arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats).
According to WebMD, side effects may include:
Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, dizziness, or headacheSlow heartbeat, symptoms of heart failure (such as shortness of breath, swelling ankles/feet, unusual tiredness, unusual/sudden weight gain)Mental/mood changes (such as anxiety, depression, rare thoughts of suicide, hallucinations)Hearing changes (such as ringing in the ears, hearing loss), easy bruising/bleedingSigns of infection or liver diseaseMuscle weakness, unwanted/uncontrolled movements (including tongue/face twitching), hair loss, hair/skin color changesLow blood sugar, severe dizziness, fainting, fast/irregular heartbeat, seizures.In the letter they write: 'The authors have not adhered to standard practices in the machine learning and statistics community. They have not released their code or data.
'There was no ethics review... There was no mention of the countries or hospitals that contributed to the data source and no acknowledgments to their contributions.
'A request to the authors for information on the contributing centres was denied. Data from Australia are not compatible with government reports.
'Surgisphere [the company that manages the database of patients used to inform the study] have since stated this was an error of classification of one hospital from Asia. This indicates the need for further error checking throughout the database.'
The letter, first seen by the Guardian, also states that data from Africa claims nearly a quarter of Covid-19 patients and 40 per cent of all deaths on the continent happened in hospitals where Surgisphere operates.
The experts say this is 'unlikely' to be true. They are now calling the study's findings a false alarm and are urging clinical trials around the world to get back up and running.
Surgisphere has since issued a public statement defending its study, claiming it was 'carefully performed'. But it admitted its results should not be 'over-interpreted'.
Hydroxychloroquine has been earmarked as one of the most promising existing drugs in the fight against coronavirus.
Laboratory studies showed it could prevent the disease from replicating in vitro, but the effect in humans is unclear.
President Trump was among the first to wax lyrical about the possible benefits for coronavirus patients in March.
Then this month he revealed he'd been taking the malaria drug for a week-and-a-half to stave off the virus - despite no evidence showing it worked in this way.
Three Oxford University-led human trials of the drug are underway to test its effect on a range of patients with the viral disease.
More than 10,500 NHS patients with moderate to severe Covid are taking part in the Recovery trial at hundreds of hospitals around the UK.
COPCOV is an international study investigating whether the malaria tablets can prevent coronavirus infection in the first place.
And th e Principle trial is looking at hydroxychloroquine's effect on elderly Covid patients - who are most at risk of dying from the disease.
Recruitment for the COPCOV and Principle trials have been temporarily suspended on the back of the study in the Lancet.
The researchers behind these studies say they fully expect them to be back up and running in the coming weeks.
The TRUTH about hydroxychloroquine: Cheap malaria drug being trialled to treat COVID-19 has sparked hopes - but evidence shows it may NOT help after all and can even cause severe heart problems
INFECTED PATIENTS 'GET NO BENEFIT FROM TAKING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE'
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health looked at data from 1,438 COVID-19 patients across 25 hospitals in New York.
The study, published in JAMA last month, was observational and looked at the outcomes of patients given different drug combinations.
About 25 per cent of patients who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin - another promising coronavirus drug - died.
In comparison, the rate was 20 per cent for those only given hydroxychloroquine alone and was 10 per cent for those on azithromycin.
90% OF CRITICAL PATIENTS GIVEN THE DRUG DEVELOPED ARRHYTHMIAS
Scientists in the US and France last month found 90 per cent of critically-ill COVID-19 patients given hydroxychloroquine developed heart arrhythmias.
An arrhytmia is an abnormal heartbeat rhythm, which could be that the heart beats too slow, too fast or irregularly.
It is relatively common, affecting around two million people per year in the UK, but can increase the risk of life-threatening events such as stroke or cardiac arrest.
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers monitored 90 patients in intensive care units, while University of Lyon academics analysed 40 patients.
Both uncovered similar results in JAMA Cardiology, after looking at the QT intervals - the time between the heart's ventricular muscles contracting and then relaxing.
When this interval becomes too long, the patient has developed a dangerous form of heart arrhythmia, called atrial fibrillation.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE MAY IMPAIR ABILITY OF IMMUNE SYSTEMS
Hydroxychlorouquine may impair the ability of patients' immune systems to fight off the infection, a review suggested at the start of April.
Harvard scientists analysed 10 studies as well as anecdotal reports from doctors that suggested the drug could help coronavirus patient.
The review found many of the clinical trials were poorly conducted and anecdotal reports carried little weight.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE DOES NOT SPEED UP RECOVERY
The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine did not speed up coronavirus patients' recovery in a trial in China, scientists revealed in April.
In a disappointing blow for the promising drug, doctors said it did not work as a cure.
Patients who were taking it suffered fewer symptoms than others who were treated alongside them without the medication but their recovery time was the same.
They had tested hydroxychloroquine on 75 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and compared their illnesses to 75 patients who didn't receive the drug.
BRAZIL TRIAL STOPPED EARLY BECAUSE OF HEART PROBLEMS
A clinical trial in Brazil had to be stopped early, it was revealed last month, because patients developed heart problems.
The Brazilian study, taking place in the Amazonian city of Manaus, had planned to enroll 440 severely ill COVID-19 patients to test two doses of chloroquine.
But researchers reported their results and called a halt to the experiment after only 81 people had received the high-dose treatment which gave them 1,200mg per day.
One in four of the patients had developed heart rhythm problems and early data suggested death rates were higher among those patients.
MALARIA DRUG DOES IMPROVE SURVIVAL ODDS, PHYSICIANS CLAIM
Hydroxychloroquine has improved the survival and recovery odds for about 90 per cent of patients treated, a physicians group claimed.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) presented data on 2,333 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine.
Results showed 91.6 per cent of those who got the controversial drug fared better after treatment, it was reported at the end of April.
COMBINING DRUG WITH DIET SUPPLEMENT COULD WORK BETTER
Combining hydroxychloroquine with the dietary supplement zinc could create a more effective treatment for coronavirus patients, a study suggested last week.
Researchers found taking the drugs together, along with the antibiotic azithromycin, increased patient's chances of being discharged and decreased their risk of dying.
It did not, however, change the average time patients spent in hospital, how long they spent on a ventilator or the total amount of oxygen required.
The team, from New York University Grossman School of Medicine, says the findings are encouraging but that more studies are needed.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE COULD HELP TREAT PATIENTS, STUDY SAYS
French researchers last month found hydroxychloroquine could treat coronavirus patients, sparking hope of a cure.
Thirty patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine for 10 days, combined with azithromycin, an antibiotic.
Although very small, the study 'showed a significant reduction of the viral carriage' after the six days.
And results showed patients had a 'much lower average carrying duration' compared to patients who received other treatments.
Several weeks later, the study's publisher said the paper 'did not meet its standards' because it excluded data on patients who did not respond well to the treatment.
Testing x 3
Coronavirus: Monkeys 'escape with COVID-19 samples' after attacking lab assistant | World News | Sky News
A gang of monkeys attacked a laboratory assistant and escaped with a batch of coronavirus blood test samples, it has been reported.
The bizarre incident saw the troop of primates launch their assault near Meerut Medical College in Delhi, India.
According to local media, the animals then snatched COVID-19 blood test samples that had been taken from three patients and fled.
Monkeys run off with COVID-19 samplesOne of the monkeys was later spotted in a tree chewing one of the sample collection kits, the Times of India reported - adding that test samples from the patients had to be taken again.
The undamaged kits were later recovered, the Meerut medical college superintendent, Dheeraj Raj, told AFP.
He added: "They were still intact and we don't think there is any risk of contamination or spread."
It is the latest example of the highly intelligent, red-faced rhesus macaques taking advantage of India's nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus.
While they have proved an increasing problem in urban areas of the country in recent years, lockdown measures in the last two months are believed to have emboldened the monkeys.
Image: Monkeys get on a motorcycle to eat fruits from a box during a the lockdown in New DelhiReports have shown them congregating in parts of Delhi normally crowded with humans.
The animals have adapted to live in close contact with people, and it is believed some groups have struggled in the absence of human food they had come to rely on.
People have been advised not to feed the monkeys while the pandemic continues, with experts suggesting doing so could cause the virus to mutate and infect primates.
Image: People have been asked not to feed monkeys during the pandemic, although many have come to rely on human sources of foodA senior biologist from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department previously warned that if this did happen, the mutated virus could have a devastating impact on primate species and other wildlife which prey on them.
"The point is, we have very little understanding of the virus, and it is better to limit our interactions with wildlife till there is more research done on its effects on non-human primates and other animal species," he told The Hindu.
Reports have previously emerged of the primates causing chaos in Delhi, snatching food and mobile telephones, breaking into homes and terrorising people in and around the Indian capital.
They have colonised areas around the city's parliament and the sites of key ministries, from the prime minister's office to the finance and defence ministries, scaring both civil servants and the public.
"Very often they snatch food from people as they are walking, and sometimes they even tear files and documents by climbing in through the windows," said Ragini Sharma, a home ministry employee, in 2018.
Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.
We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too.
If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email afterthepandemic@sky.uk
CDC Admits COVID-19 Antibody Tests Are Wrong Half The Time & Virus Isn't That Deadly | Zero Hedge
The mainstream media is ignoring the fact that the CDC has admitted the death rate for COVID-19 is actually lower than the flu. This is happening as the media admits that the antibody tests are wrong 50% of the time!
The scamdemic fear-mongering is ongoing and the propaganda is getting worse daily, even as their OWN DATA shows otherwise. Instead of giving the public the facts, the media continues to push for an extended lockdown, freedom trampling regulations, mass surveillance, and our permanent enslavement for their political overlords.
The CDC just came out with a report that should be earth-shattering to the narrative of the political class, yet it will go into the thick pile of vital data and information about the virus that is not getting out to the public. For the first time, the CDC has attempted to offer a real estimate of the overall death rate for COVID-19, and under its most likely scenario, the number is 0.26 percent.
Until now, we have been ridiculed for thinking the death rate was that low, as opposed to the 3.4 percent estimate of the World Health Organization, which helped drive the panic and the lockdowns. Now the CDC is agreeing to the lower rate in plain ink.
Plus, ultimately we might find out that the IFR is even lower because numerous studies and hard counts of confined populations have shown a much higher percentage of asymptomatic cases. Simply adjusting for a 50 percent asymptomatic rate would drop their fatality rate to 0.2 percent '' exactly the rate of fatality Dr. John Ionnidis of Stanford University projected.
More importantly, as I mentioned before, the overall death rate is meaningless because the numbers are so lopsided. Given that at least half of the deaths were in nursing homes, a back-of-the-envelope estimate would show that the infection fatality rate for non-nursing home residents would only be 0.1 percent or 1 in 1,000. And that includes people of all ages and all health statuses outside of nursing homes. Since nearly all of the deaths are those with comorbidities. -The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
This is something most people have known relatively early on, as the government continued to inflate the numbers and call every death a COVID-19 casualty so they could commit economic terrorism on the entire planet. And those antibody tests the ruling class wants us all to take before can even think about coming off house arrest? Those are only right half the time. How did CNN spin this into more fear porn and propaganda? Check it out:
''Serologic test results should not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace.''
Health officials or health care providers who are using antibody tests need to use the most accurate test they can find and might need to test people twice, the CDC said in the new guidance. ''CNN
So, you can't be free, which is your birthright, because their tests are inaccurate. It's actually quite shocking people are even agreeing to these tests in the first place, all to pad the numbers for this scamdemic that has been little more than a hoax since day one. This has become so blatantly ridiculous that it's actually hard to believe there's anyone out there still supporting the government and their puppets in the mainstream media. They want you to still be afraid. They need you in fear. Do not comply.
2020
Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death after previous conduct complaints
George Floyd's death in police custody is renewing criticism of Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) prosecutorial record.
Before she became a senator and a top contender for former Vice President Joe Biden's vice presidential spot, Klobuchar spent eight years as the Hennepin County attorney, in charge of prosecution for Minneapolis. And while in that position, Klobuchar declined to prosecute multiple police officers cited for excessive force, and did not prosecute the officer who kneeled on Floyd's neck as he protested, The Guardian reports.
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derick Chauvin saw at least 10 conduct complaints during his 19-year tenure before he was fired Tuesday, according to a database that documents complaints against police. In particular, he was involved in the shooting death of a man who had stabbed other people before attacking police, as well as some other undisclosed complaints. Klobuchar did not prosecute Chauvin and other officers involved for the first death, which occurred in October 2006 while she was running for Senate. The case was under investigation when Klobuchar took office in the Senate in Jan. 2007, and later went to a grand jury, which declined to charge the officers. Chauvin was later placed on leave when he and other officers shot and wounded a Native American man in 2011.
As The Washington Post noted in March, Klobuchar "declined to bring charges in more than two dozen cases in which people were killed in encounters with police" as Hennepin County attorney. Instead, she "aggressively prosecuted smaller offenses" that "have been criticized for their disproportionate effect on poor and minority communities," the Post continues. And as Klobuchar undergoes vetting to become a possible vice presidential candidate, that track record is being scrutinized and criticized once again. Kathryn Krawczyk
Editor's note: This article has been updated since publication to clarify certain aspects of the investigation and timeline.
Klobuchar on defense as Floyd death puts spotlight on record | TheHill
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) defended her record as a county prosecutor on Friday after George Floyd's death in police custody, which has shocked the country and sparked days of protests in Minneapolis, the largest city in her home state.
Klobuchar specifically pushed back after reports circulated online falsely accusing her of declining to press charges in 2006 against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death.
"This idea that I somehow declined a case, which has been reported on some news blogs ... against this officer is absolutely false. It is a lie. I don't know what else to say about it, than it is a lie. The case was investigated. ... That investigation continued into a time where I was already sworn into the U.S. Senate," Klobuchar told MSNBC.
"It was handled and sent to the grand jury by my successor," she added.
In 2006, Chauvin was one of six officers involved in the shooting of a man allegedly involved in a stabbing. The incident took place on Oct. 29, when Klobuchar, while still county prosecutor, was deep into her ultimately successful Senate bid. The case wasn't sent to a grand jury until after she was sworn in.
The Hennepin County prosecutor's office said in a statement that Klobuchar "had no involvement in the prosecution of this case at all."
Klobuchar has been dogged for years over questions on her tenure as Hennepin County attorney, which includes Minneapolis, over criticism that she did not bring criminal charges in case including police-involved deaths.
Now Floyd's death, and the reignited national discussion around police misconduct, is putting the spotlight back on Klobuchar just as she's being vetted as a potential vice presidential pick.
Klobuchar declined to take herself out of the running for vice president on Friday, telling MSNBC that Biden would "make the decision for him, for our country, for the pandemic and the crisis we're facing."
"He will make that decision. He'll decide who he's considering," she added.
Klobuchar also sought to defend her record on race-related issues, acknowledging that there is "institutional racism" and positioning herself as "one of leaders" in the Senate "in terms of pushing for sentencing reform ... a leader on voting rights, that's my record."
But Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close ally of Biden's, acknowledged this week that Floyd's death would likely have an impact on the VP race.
"We are all victims sometimes of timing," he told reporters, according to CNN. "This is very tough timing for Amy Klobuchar."
Asked about the same topic during an interview with Vanity Fair, he said that "it certainly won't help."
"But it's not just this. Her history with similar situations when she was a prosecutor came up time and again during the campaign," he added. "I suspect this incident plays into that."
Biden in a separate MSNBC interview declined to offer specifics on his pick. But on Friday MoveOn, a progressive advocacy group, called on Klobuchar to "immediately take herself out of the running" because of previous role as Hennepin's prosecutor and a "failure to hold the @MinneapolisPD accountable for racism and abuse."
Klobuchar isn't the only potential VP pick who has ties to law enforcement. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has faced questions over her record on criminal justice, was California attorney general and Rep. Val Demmings (D-Fla.) is a former police chief.
But Klobuchar - who, unlike the other two women, is white - has been trailed for years over questions about her handling of cases when she was prosecutor and skepticism from black voters, who are an influential voting bloc for Democrats.
Klobuchar faced criticism during the presidential campaign after an Associated Press review found "new evidence and myriad inconsistencies" in the case against Myon Burrell, a black man who was sentenced as a teenager to life in prison after a stray bullet killed an 11-year-old black girl.
Klobuchar subsequently called for an investigation into the handling of the case against Burrell, who was convicted twice - once by Klobuchar and again, after the conviction was reversed, by her successor.
The Washington Post also reported last year that Klobuchar declined to bring charges in more than two dozen cases where individuals were killed during police encounters - one of several reports from the time that shined new light on her record as a county prosecutor as she battled for the party's presidential nomination.
Klobuchar has since said her decision to send the cases to grand juries, routine at the time in the state, was "wrong."
"I actually no longer think that that's the right way to do it. I think you should take personal responsibility," Klobuchar said in January at a forum hosted by VICE.
She added on Friday that she thought "it would have been much better if I took the responsibility and looked at the cases and made the decision myself. But let me make this clear, we did not blow off these cases."
Klobuchar has been providing updates to Floyd's case; she helped break the news on Friday that Chauvin had been arrested. She's also called for "systemic reform" and a "large scale federal investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department."
But she's also caught criticism including when she put out a statement this week about Floyd's death that did not mention him by name.
"When I said that Senator Klobuchar should in no way be a VP pick, I'm talking about a person that could write a statement about the police murder of George Floyd without saying POLICE MURDER or GEORGE FLOYD," Aimee Allison, the founder of She The People, said in a tweet.
Klobuchar's problems with black voters run deeper than just the new scrutiny she's facing this week, which has included some calls to withdraw herself from consideration as Biden's VP. She got approximately 3 percent of the vote in South Carolina. A CNN exit poll had her receiving 1 percent of the black vote.
A group of black female activists also urged Biden not to pick Klobuchar in a March Washington Post op-ed.
"A choice such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), who failed to prosecute controversial police killings and is responsible for the imprisonment of Myon Burrell, will only alienate black voters," they wrote.
Back to Work
Presidential Veto Message to the House of Representatives for H.J. Res. 76 | The White House
I am returning herewith without my approval H.J. Res. 76, a joint resolution that would undermine the efforts of my Administration to protect students and taxpayers by nullifying the Borrower Defense Institutional Accountability Regulation, which the Department of Education published in the Federal Register on September 23, 2019, following extensive public hearings and public comment.
The Borrower Defense Institutional Accountability rule sets forth clear standards for borrower defense to repayment, providing needed transparency to both students and schools. Under this rule, a fair process will deliver deserved relief to students harmed by their educational institutions. Whereas the last administration promoted a regulatory environment that produced precipitous school closures and stranded students, this new rule puts the needs of students first, extends the window during which they can qualify for loan discharge, and encourages schools to provide students with opportunities to complete their educations and continue their pursuit of economic success. H.J. Res. 76 would return the country to a regulatory regime in which the Federal Government and State attorneys general, rather than students, determine the kinds of education students need and which schools they should be allowed to attend.
American higher education must transform to better meet the needs of today's students. My Administration stands ready to work with the Congress to foster the development of a more affordable, more flexible, and more innovative system of higher education that is better able to meet the educational needs of our students, and in which schools take on more responsibility for the success of the students who enroll in their programs.
H.J. Res. 76 is a misguided resolution that would increase costs for American students and undermine their ability to make choices about their education in order to best meet their needs. For these reasons, it is my duty to return H.J. Res. 76 to the House of Representatives without my approval.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,May 29, 2020.
Statement from the President Regarding Veto of H.J. Res. 76 | The White House
Today, I vetoed H.J. Res. 76, which sought to overturn a rule from the Department of Education that protects students and taxpayers. H.J. Res. 76 sought to reimpose an Obama-era regulation that defined educational fraud so broadly that it threatened to paralyze the Nation's system of higher education. The Department of Education's rule strikes a better balance, protecting students' rights to recover from schools that defraud them while foreclosing frivolous lawsuits that undermine higher education and expose taxpayers to needless loss.
Many Historically Black College and University (HBCU) leaders believe that the Obama-era rule that H.J. Res. 76 sought to reinstate would have irreparably harmed their great institutions. As President, I have been strongly committed to fighting for HBCUs. As I have said before, HBCUs have never had a better champion in the White House. My disapproval of this resolution is another marker of that support.
I urge Members of Congress to sustain my veto, and to stand with HBCUs and students against the trial lawyers who want to undermine our higher education system for their own financial gain.
City releases eligibility guidelines for Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund - Entertainment - Austin 360 - Austin, TX
Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band Performs for Free Week on Jan. 4 at Barracuda in the Red River Cultural District. [ROBERT HEIN FOR AUSTIN360]'²
At 10 a.m. on June 8, the city of Austin will begin taking applications from local musicians for $1,000 grants from the $1.5 million Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund, which was created by Austin City Council in late April.
According to guidelines published by the city on Wednesday, the grants are intended "for Austin's most vulnerable musicians experiencing economic hardship."
To qualify, musicians must have a verified address in one of Austin's City Council districts, a demonstrated loss of income due to the coronavirus pandemic and less than two months of funds on hand to pay living expenses. Bank statements or other documentation will be required to demonstrate financial need.
Eligible musicians also must verify their participation in the Austin music scene with six released singles or music videos or at least two years of documentation of live performance activities in Austin.
Musicians who have already received a grant from the Musicares COVID-19 Relief Fund will not be eligible.
Multiple members of bands can apply for the grants individually. The city lists backup singers, DJs, drummers, singer-songwriters, drag performers and "anyone on stage performing for a public audience as part of musical performances" as eligible to apply.
According to the city's guidelines, applications will be "sorted by identifying question to determine immediate need," and then processed on a first come, first serve basis.
Musicians are encouraged to prepare their answers and gather documentation before the application pool opens on June 8. The application period will close at 5 p.m. on June 12.
Curbside retail and outdoor businesses are back in operation.
The phases for reopening are:
Phase 1 to 2a Phase 2bPhase 2cPhase 3Phase 4Activities marked with an asterisks (*) require the State to be in advanced Phase 2 or Phase 3 by the time San Francisco roll out is planned.
When you leave your house, you must stay 6 feet apart and wear a face covering.
All allowed activities are subject to safety protocols and other measures.
All dates are tentative. Progression to next phase depends on local public health indicators and state guidance. Additional local health or capacity restrictions may apply.
Phase 1 to 2aBefore June 15
BusinessAll constructionHotels, hospitality, and short-term rentals for essential travel, homeless, first responders, and isolation and quarantine roomsEssential manufacturing, wholesale trade, leasing, and transportation with fewer than 50 employeesElective surgeries and dental appointmentsLimited private household outdoors like a gardener or home maintenanceIn-person appointments for real estate with social distancing and face coveringsCurbside retail for goods and services with minimal contactProfessional sports practices with approved planEquipment rental businesses for outdoor recreational activitiesAll non-essential employees should teleworkChildcare and educationDaycare and preschools with stable groups of up to 12 and in-home careCulture and recreationBotanical gardensOutdoor historical sitesFenced dog parksOutdoor museumsParks, beaches, golf in groups of 4*, and skate parksSingles-only tennis with no shared equipment including balls Phase 2bTarget date June 15
BusinessOutdoor fitness like boot camps and yoga with social distancing*All manufacturing, wholesale trade, leasing, and transportation with over 50 employeesNon-emergency medical appointmentsAll private indoor household services like cooks and house cleanersOutdoor dining including restaurants and bars with foodIndoor retail (malls require approved plans)Professional sports games, tournaments, and other entertainment venues allowed with no spectators with approved plans*Religious services and ceremonies*Anyone who can should continue to telework except those who are necessary for operationsChildcare and educationSummer camps with stable groups of up to 12 Phase 2cTarget date July 13
BusinessHair salons and barber shops*Indoor diningReal estate open houses with appointments only Phase 3Target date mid-August (with more than 1 sub-phase possible)
BusinessesGyms and fitness centersLimited indoor leisure like movie theaters, billiards, and bowling alleysNonessential healing artsAll other personal services like personal training, tattoo, permanent makeup, and piercing, and nail salonsBars without food*Childcare and educationSFUSDSchools, including primary, secondary, and higher educationCulture and recreationIndoor museumsBasketball courtsPlaygroundsIndoor and outdoor swimming poolsIndoor tennisZoos Phase 4Date unknown
The timing for Phase 4 will depend on our experience in Phases 1 to 3. We will rely on our health experts and health indicators to determine when to safely enter Phase 4. Phase 4 will be the full reopening of our economy and the removal of all social distancing limits and other restrictions related to the COVID-19 response.
All activities will be allowed to resume like:
Hotels, hospitality, and short-term rentals for leisure and tourismConcert venuesLive audience sports and performancesNight clubs Festivals Last updated May 28, 2020
Section 230
BOTG Trump Digital Team
From Team Trump Digital: I’m not just saying this
because I work for the man, but this Executive Order showed that Trump is truly playing 5D Chess.
This order, or a at least a version of it, had been ready to go since October (https://www.theverge.com/21273768/section-230-explained-internet-speech-law-definition-guide-free-moderation).
Trump was waiting for Jack to make this move.
People on the digital team
here had no idea what to expect and I still don’t think they know how to process it. But if I may put on my No
Agenda hat: Isn’t weird how this week that
Mika, seemingly out of nowhere, asked for Trump to be banned from Twitter?
Nothing provoked her, Trump only brought up the Scarborough thing AFTER she
mentioned banning him. There is that video floating around of Mika fawning over Trump and even he said, “they loved
me”. Maybe the fix wasn't in, but you can’t
rule out anything nowadays.
The law is outdated, written
in 1996 when the only thing on the internet were message boards (hyperbole). And these sites, YouTube and Twitter mainly, have been
exploiting this to their benefit and for control. Biden himself even
said it needed to be revoked (https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21070403/joe-biden-president-election-section-230-communications-decency-act-revoke). The same people who are saying
this will, "change the internet as we know it", said the same thing
about Net Neutrality. And how has that worked out.
This once again shows that Trump has everyone on a string,
whether he means to or not.
(20) jack on Twitter: "Agree this should be open source and thus verifiable by everyone" / Twitter
If you have been following the Minneapolis riots on Twitter or Facebook, you may have come across an edgy new media channel called Unicorn Riot. The company is five years old and describes itself 'viewer-supported', 'independent' and 'alternative'. In fact, it thrives by circulating images and videos of social unrest with indisputable glee '-- on riot porn, in other words. Unicorn Riot's Twitter channel has about 150,000 followers. The account specializes in fanning the flames of racial aggravation. It also helpfully informs viewers where the National Guard blockades are in case anyone might want to avoid or attack them.
In the last few days Unicorn Riot has published countless images of street-level terrorism, along with vox pop interviews of the rioters, including one delightful young man in a bandana who says:
'We're gonna f*** y'all up. Matter of fact, we gotta two-for-one rule, n**** '-- one of ours, two of yours. Innocent mother****ers dying, coz y'all bitch ass n***z don't want none. There's more of us than you, b****. What's up! Exactly! We coming for all y'all n***ers! This is only the beginning mother***er. What's up!'
Twitter doesn't seem too concerned about that sort of talk whistling around its network while a city burns. The company will, however, censor President Trump when he tweets the following in response to the riots:
'....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
Twitter shielded that statement from public view because it 'violated Twitter rules about glorifying violence' '-- though, pompously citing the public interest, the company has allowed the tweet to remain available for those willing to click past the warning. Given the last two days of bickering between Trump and Twitter, the company's decision to censor (that is the word) him this morning looks very much like an act of provocation, a trolling of the Troller-in-Chief.
But if you want an insight into how progressive thinking warps common sense, I can think of no better example. People on the streets calling for murder, arson and destruction '-- all in the name of racial justice, of course '-- are widely broadcast. A President calling for the restoration of law and order is muted. That's the radical left's idea of 'social justice'. It has a bias towards anarchy.
Let's put aside for a moment whether we think the President of the United States should be tweeting so glibly about a serious problem. The silly line about shooting and looting was a classic Trump provocation, and probably best ignored. But it is absurd for Twitter to try to grab the higher moral ground over the Commander-in-Chief while, through its platform, hooligans and criminals incite violence on the streets. That isn't just a double-standard. It is a perversion of justice and it is divisive.
*** Get three months of The Spectator for just $9.99 '-- plus a Spectator Parker pen ***
Thanks to Trump's recent moves against Twitter, there has been a lot of talk about publishers vs platforms. Conservatives are increasingly agreed that, if social media companies are to start editorializing content, they should no longer be free to absolve themselves of blame when their platforms are used to promote libel, criminal abuse or violence. Even more questions should be asked of social media when it comes to riots in the 21st century.
Social media and rioting are these days symbiotic: that's why riot police jam phone signals to quell disturbances. It's not just crass and pretentious channels such as Unicorn Riot. There are no end of popular social media accounts suggesting that the police have got what is coming to them: that now is only the start of a devastating revolt. Like all urban social phenomena, riots quickly turn into a form of middle-class entertainment. For many social media users, riot footage really is a kind of pornography '-- a crude performance art that titillates thrill-seekers from a safe and privileged distance. It's true-crime, but deliciously live. It's not so much fun for the people having their livelihoods and homes destroyed '-- but hey, who cares when such behavior is so memetic? The more images of smashed up shops and buildings in flames go viral, the more appetite there is to create them. We're almost all guilty of gawping at scenes of street violence and rioters and it's by no means all Twitter's fault: rioters can and do use plenty of other networks to communicate. But if Twitter is going to start deciding what the President can and can't say on its website, they should be held more accountable for their role in the wider glorification of violence we are seeing this week.
Het gaat volgens het kabinet om geanonimiseerde zendmastdata die Nederlandse telefoonproviders aanbieden. Daarmee kan het RIVM per uur en per gemeente zien hoeveel mobiele telefoons daar aanwezig zijn en uit welke gemeente de eigenaars van die telefoons komen. Volgens het kabinet zijn de data niet terug te leiden naar individuen.
Het RIVM had gevraagd om meer gegevens, waarmee het sneller de drukte en verplaatsingen van mensen in beeld brengt. Het instituut werkt nu vooral met ziekenhuisopnames, maar die cijfers laten de verspreiding van het virus met een vertraging van (C)(C)n tot drie weken zien.
Het kabinet stelt dat het RIVM met de gegevens ook beter regionaal kan ingrijpen. Zo kan het nu bijvoorbeeld snel zien dat veel mensen uit een bepaalde gemeente op een dag in een andere gemeente zijn geweest. Als in een van die gemeentes vervolgens een corona-uitbraak is, kan het RIVM de lokale GGD erop attenderen om ook op de andere gemeente te letten.
AppHet delen van de zendmastdata volgt op een eerder mislukt experiment om een corona-app te ontwikkelen om de bewegingen van mensen te volgen. De apps die het kabinet in noodvaart door marktpartijen liet ontwikkelen, bleken stuk voor stuk niet veilig genoeg.
Iedere middag de belangrijkste corona-updates en het laatste nieuws in je inbox.Ongeldig e-mailadres. Vul nogmaals in aub.
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Ministry of Truthiness
German Official Leaks Report Denouncing Corona as 'A Global False Alarm' '-- Strategic Culture
Germany's federal government and mainstream media are engaged in damage control after a report that challenges the established Corona narrative leaked from the interior ministry.
Some of the report key passages are:
The dangerousness of Covid-19 was overestimated: probably at no point did the danger posed by the new virus go beyond the normal level.The people who die from Corona are essentially those who would statistically die this year, because they have reached the end of their lives and their weakened bodies can no longer cope with any random everyday stress (including the approximately 150 viruses currently in circulation).Worldwide, within a quarter of a year, there has been no more than 250,000 deaths from Covid-19, compared to 1.5 million deaths [25,100 in Germany] during the influenza wave 2017/18.The danger is obviously no greater than that of many other viruses. There is no evidence that this was more than a false alarm.A reproach could go along these lines: During the Corona crisis the State has proved itself as one of the biggest producers of Fake News.So far, so bad. But it gets worse.
The report focuses on the ''manifold and heavy consequences of the Corona measures'' and warns that these are ''grave''.
More people are dying because of state-imposed Corona-measures than they are being killed by the virus.
The reason is a scandal in the making:
A Corona-focused German healthcare system is postponing life-saving surgery and delaying or reducing treatment for non-Corona patients.
Berlin in Denial Mode. The scientists fight back.
Initially, the government tried to dismiss the report as ''the work of one employee'', and its contents as ''his own opinion'' '' while the journalists closed ranks, no questions asked, with the politicians.
But the 93-pages report titled ''Analysis of the Crisis Management'' has been drafted by a scientific panel appointed by the interior ministry and composed by external medical experts from several German universities.
The report was the initiative of a department of the interior ministry called Unit KM4 and in charge with the ''Protection of critical infrastructures''.
This is also where the German official turned whistleblower, Stephen Kohn, work(ed), and from where he leaked it to the media.
The authors of the report issued a joint press release already on Mai 11th, berating the government for ignoring expert advise, and asking for the interior minister to officially comment upon the experts joint statement:
''Therapeutic and preventive measures should never bring more harm than the illness itself. Their aim should be to protect the risk groups, without endegearing the availibilty of medical care and the health of the whole population, as it is unfortunately occurring''
''We in the scientific and medical praxis are experiencing the secondary damages of the Corona-measures on our patients on a dialy basis.''
''We therefore ask the Federal Ministry of the Interior, to comment upon our press release, and we hope for a pertinent discussion regarding the [Corona] measures, one that leads to the best possible solution for the whole population''
At the time of writing, the German government had yet to react.
But the facts are '' sadly '' vindicating the medical experts' worries.
On Mai 23 the German newspaper Das Bild titled: ''Dramatic consequences of the Corona-Measures: 52,000 Cancer Ops delayed.''
Inside, a aeading medical doctor warns that ''we will feel the side-effects of the Corona crisis for years''.
Shooting the Whistleblower. Ignoring the Message.
As Der Spiegel reported on Mai 15th: ''Stephen Kohn [the whistleblower] has since been suspended from duty. He was advised to obtain a lawyer and his work laptop was confiscated.''
Kohn had originally leaked the report on May 9th to the liberal-conservative magazine Tichys Einblick one of Germany's most popular alternative media outlets.
News of the report went mainstream in Germany during the second week of Mai '' but already in the third week media and politicians alike stopped discussing the issue by refusing to comment upon it.
Emblematic was the approach taken by G¼nter Krings, the representative for Interior Minister Horst Seehofer '' the whistleblower's boss:
Asked it he would treat the document seriously, Krings replied:
''If you start analyzing papers like that, then pretty soon you'll be inviting the guys with the tin foil hats to parliamentary hearings.''
Men in tin foil hats '' Aluhut in German '' is a term used to describe people who believe in conspiracy theories.
Indeed one article by Der Spiegel adressing the Corona protest movement and the consequences of the leaked report contained the word ''conspiracy'' no fewer than 17 times!
And no discussions of the issues raised by the report itself.
Outside Germany the news has virtually gone unreported.
The Protest Movement '' or ''Corona-Rebellen''.
Germans begun demonstrating against Lockdowns as early as April.
And thousands of citizens keep showing up at demos every week-end, even as the government is easing the restrictions.
The demos are not merely against restrictions, which have actually been comparatively mild compared to many other Western countries.
The demos question the entire Corona Narrative, and even more its principals, especially the role Bill Gates is playing, as the WHO second biggest donor (the first one since Trump suspended U.S. contribution).
Indeed the biggest such demos took place in Stuttgart on May 9th, where tens of thousands people assempled to say no '' to the NWO.
Germans are saying no to any orwellian solution the government might one day impose out of a questionable ''emergency status'', from mass surveillance Apps to mandatory vaccinations.
The leaked report has proved their fears to be well founded.
At least as far as the fake nature of the ''Corona pandemic'' is concerned.
The rest might soon follow.
Vaccines and Such
Full Hydroxycholorquine analysis
An ongoing
personal investigation into Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), I'm neither in the
"it's harmless!" nor the "it's poison!" camp which seem to
be all political.
It does look
like HCQ+ZINC (with or without azithromycin) is effective to prevent fatal
progressions when taken at first onset of symptoms especially to avoid the
hospital altogether, and convalescent plasma with antibodies donated from
recovered patients is the best treatment in the hospital for advanced
cases. Not that remdesivir junk being thrust into everyone's faces that
is presently riding on some thin "reduces hospitalization duration
slightly" claim.
HCQ is a
powerful ZINC ionophore. To administer it to sick patients without
supplementing ZINC borders on medical malpractice. To (presumably) treat
COVID with HCQ without supplementing ZINC is sabotage (if you are setting up a
drug trial) or murder (if it was done deliberately).
ZINC has a
proven anti-COVID mechanism.
Country doctor
from NY treats with HCQ+ZINC successfully and Trump mentions the
treatment. Fauci and a (corrupt? stupid? both?) medical establishment
then oversees drug trial after trial that test this powerful ZINC ionophpre
given WITHOUT ZINC. Patients in trials die from COVID without any benefit
from ZINC or HCQ. Then HCQ is vilified. Happening in plain sight.
________
Some are
exploring the financial ties between persons vilifying Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)
and Gilead and that is interesting (yawn)
But there is
another story here that has contributed to many needless deaths in the USA, and
certainly will in the future if journalists do not move to stop it. And it may be that those financial ties are
also associated with wrongful deaths.
Simply the
OMISSION of ZINC given with HCQ in treatment, "suspicious" drug
trials that test HCQ without also giving ZINC and even some HCQ treatment given
today without ZINC. It is possible that
HCQ given BY ITSELF NEVER had any reliable effectiveness with COVID, and
clinical studies are starting to bear this out.
These "zinc-less"
studies have come with a great human cost -- in terms of the patients involved
in them both treated and controls… and time wasted
by even trying this ridiculous no-ZINC option first in a crisis, and now a
politicized public backlash against HCQ that is unfounded because it was never
given a fair trial until recently. And
on into the future as the unfair/broken no-ZINC drug trials continue to steer
doctors and the public.
This is a
difficult issue to describe for we are talking about the absence of
something. For example, even a fair
coverage of HCQ that fails to mention the possible role of zinc's anti-COVID
mechanism and failing to press doctors to describe it -- is nevertheless helping to bury HCQ even
though HCQ+ZINC if given early is the most promising treatment discovered to
date. Zinc's anti-COVID mechanism has
been known since 2010 and HCQ makes the treatment viable.
Consider all
of the HCQ press coverage you have heard to date. How often has the topic of
ZINC arisen? There's the problem.
Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine were first tried because they are zinc
ionophores. So why has all the discourse
been about HCQ itself, but seldom if ever ZINC?
Part of the
problem is that like many supplements ZINC by itself has a whole "snake
oil" culture grown around it, and while it has been shown somewhat to help
fight viruses like the common cold, there are so many ridiculous claims out
there doctors feel unscholarly
discussing zinc by itself. When they are
discussing some new drug they are on more comfortable ground.
But what if
that promising new drug does nothing
by itself, but is already known to do
something great in combination with zinc (where it is the zinc brought into the
cells that actually has the anti-viral effect)?
Sadly, they will continue to discuss the wonder drug. They may have done good research and
personally recognize the crucial role of ZINC and would never treat patients
with HCQ without also supplementing ZINC… but unless you ask them about it you
may never hear it mentioned. This is a
tragedy in the making.
Now what if
other doctors, distracted and beset by crisis, hear about this "wonder
drug" from that news story and fail to do the simple research themselves? And are given the chance to administer HCQ
without ZINC, the omission of ZINC stemming from simple ignorance of its
promising mechanism? Some patients might
be fortunate to have high levels of ZINC from other sources. Many will be ZINC-deficient because they are
elderly and the disease has disrupted their lives and what small supplements
they may normally take. To work
effectively this anti-COVID mechanism may require a large amount of ZINC to be
present in the blood, always given with the HCQ.
And I allege
that ZINC has NOT been given to many.
What was by the end of March most probably a comedy of tragic errors of
this kind (just failing to do the research)… by the first week of April becomes
suspicious. Prominent researchers who
should have spoken out against the omission of ZINC in these trials failed to
speak out publicly, and it begins to become sinister. As I put it, through a combination of human
error and suspicious circumstances, practically indistinguishable from evil.
We have an important
milestone in this story that is especially relevant to Fauci's actions in
April. For Fauci is "the" one
you would have expected have done the research and recognize the crucial
importance of ZINC.
But actually
the research was handed to him, on a platter!
At the April 8th press conference Trump astonished many by giving some
very specific details about medical treatment, something presidents seldom do,
TRUMP
4/8/2020: "In addition [to hydroxychloroquine] the azithromycin and ZINC —
they say ZINC — you should add ZINC. Now, it’s all — has to be recommended by
doctors, physicians. But they say ZINC. I want to throw that out there because
that’s where they seem to be having the best result. So you add the ZINC and
the azithromycin."
Mentioning ZINC
five times in one paragraph? Why would ZINC feature so? The person Trump had privately heard from and
maybe even spoken to was probably Dr. Zev Zelenko, a family practitioner in
upstate NY. Zelenko had recently announced results of treating some 350 patients,
some among them very ill, and reported a near 100% recovery rate. Using HCQ
with ZINC, plus azithromycin.
Zelenko had
done his research. And it is out there,
not just embedded in research papers. This March 6 MedCram video explains the
mechanism by which ZINC opposes coronavirus, two timecodes from the same video
are copied below. The step by step explanations are not difficult to follow and
the whole video is worth a watch.
Several of MedCram's subsequent videos about the HCQ mechanism have been
taken down by youtube which is worthy of its own angry email. But this one has escaped the youtube censors,
to inhibit replication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeh054-Hx1U&t=14m33s
On March 23
Zelenko wrote an open public letter to the medical community ( http://www.nunesfarma.com.br/download.php?id=TlRBPQ==
) with a copy to President Trump detailing his successful treatment with
HCQ+ZINC+AZ. To his great credit Zelenko stressed the importance of ZINC in the
letter, alluding to the mechanism described in the video above with these
words,
"We know
that hydroxychloroquine helps Zinc enter the cell. We know that Zinc slows
viral replication within the cell."
Should that
alone be enough to communicate that it is actually ZINC doing the useful work,
with HCQ as just a crucial component to
get ZINC into the cells? Remember, ZINC
taken orally tends to stay in the blood and only enters cells en masse in the
presence of a powerful ZINC ionophore such as HCQ.
On April 7th
Zelenko followed up with a "Mr. President please…" letter ( https://t.co/QJNF0JkLVt?amp=1 )
addressed directly to President Trump re-hashing the treatment and imploring
Trump to issue Executive Orders to remove State obstacles to physicians
attempting to prescribe HCQ to patients.
This April 7th
letter repeated his regimen but did not
stress the importance of ZINC as should have been. But perhaps Zelenko felt it would have been
belaboring the obvious, an echo of medical professionals' reluctance to expound on zinc from all the "snake oil"
surrounding it. That is tragic.
But as we see
24 hours later, someone was
listening. And that someone had read
Zelenko's previous letter also.
TRUMP 4/8/2020
the day after Zelenko's letter:
"In addition [to hydroxychloroquine] the azithromycin and ZINC — they say
ZINC — you should add ZINC. Now, it’s all — has to be recommended by doctors,
physicians. But they say ZINC. I want to throw that out there because that’s where
they seem to be having the best result. So you add the ZINC and the
azithromycin."
Now that we
see Trump's remark in light of in vito
COVID research going back to 2010 describing ZINC's ability to slow or stop
viral replication… and considering Dr. Fauci's considerable experience in
virology…
By April 9
what had Fauci and the medical establishment done? Fauci did oversee the
beginning of a clinical trial whose announcement you can read here ( https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-hydroxychloroquine-potential-therapy-covid-19-begins
) WITH NO ZINC.
Followed by
trial after trial of HCQ with NO ZINC.
HCQ by itself, HCQ with azithromycin.
How about HCQ with sugar sprinkles, HCQ with roofing nails and railroad
spikes? Now that you know the extent to
which Zelenko had communicated the importance of ZINC to President Trump
successfully, doesn't that seem a little… unusual?
Fauci's
dismissive public remarks at the time about 'anecdotal' versus 'clinical'
results don't even raise a red flag with me.
But yet there is little excuse if you are launching trials and must try
variations of a drug. Wouldn't you try
the combination that has the greatest claimed efficacy, first?
So it is not
idly that I harbor actual suspicions about Fauci's motives and conduct around
April 9th. At his level of expertise the
omission of ZINC given with ZINC ionophore HCQ might be the type of blunder that ends careers, or even deliberate and criminal.
There is also such a thing as a growing
conspiracy of omission and ignorance.
Something begins to not happen.
Some may begin to notice something crucial that is missing, but everyone
believes it's someone else's job to point it out. Has this happened across the United
States? Are people who 'do the research'
so rare?
Consider what
may have happened already with HCQ drug trials in the USA. Given the query
hydroxychloroquine, a known zinc ionophore whose most likely anti-COVID
mechanism is actually bestowed by ZINC, and relies on the presence of ZINC --
perhaps in copious amounts -- in a patient.
Here is where
the absence of ZINC becomes surreal,
in these clinical trial announcements.
Everything that is part of the test must be listed, even ZINC. The absence of anything in these study
announcements means it may be either simply not present or its presence would remain
forever unknown and never recorded.
Unless the trial or study is specifically "given with zinc" or "controls for ZINC" there may not be zinc. These trials are at the very least useless or of marginal value in crisis. We see no mention of ZINC in almost all of
these.
What is
happening in the US? I cannot find fault
in Trump aside from a lack of follow-up.
Of course you
cannot rule out the mere presence of ZINC in any actual patient because it is
present in everyone and essential to life.
So there are people out there with ZINC in their blood when they arrive
at the hospital. But is it a sufficient
amount for this treatment? Even failing
to record the various levels of patients' ZINC in the blood and report it as
part of the trial result would seem to be ludicrous!
I'd surely
like to hear a doctor weigh in to say whether testing a ZINC ionophore for
efficacy with no ZINC is ridiculous, ignorant or immoral. But will not hold my breath. And I am wondering also, why aren't more
doctors communicating actual alarm
over this?
If you ask
you'll get some wagon-circling, for sure.
"Zinc? Huh??" (not done the research). "The anti-COVID
ZINC mechanism has been shown in the laboratory but not in patients" (not
true! See below), "we really don't know how it works" (always a
favorite because people love to hand out benefit of doubt), or even the grave
accusation "Zelenko is a fraud!" (not true far as I know), "zinc
is a 'quack' medicine!" (true for some supplement claims, but deflecting
from its proven COVID mechanism).
Fauci's
explanation for NOT seeing trials launched with ZINC on April 9th after Trump's
ZINC remarks would be most interesting of all.
Dr. Zelenko
has gone through some difficult times as a new celebrity. His youtube videos have been taken down, and
one contained some back of the napkin calculations that attempted to
extrapolate the number of COVID cases in his area based on his patient load and
population… which was not such a great idea as his quick estimates embarrassed
the town elders who felt compelled to challenge the numbers publicly. It also turned out that some of the patients
he counted at first were treated with symptoms but had not actually tested
positive at the time he claimed them as COVID patients, due to a shortage of
tests.
There was also
a bizarre affair involving an email [corsi zelenko zelinski] that generated a
strange story in the Times that had the flavor of a smear, in which someone
claimed Zelenko had said that a hospital-approved study he was conducting was
FDA-approved. In light of the fact that the drugs he was using (HCQ+ZINC+AZ)
are FDA-approved for some things, one could see how confusion might arise over
the terms. Exasperated, he has
apologized that he misspoke and is not familiar with all the terms researchers
use.
And most
recently Zelenko has decided to leave the community where he has practiced
medicine for 16 years. The announcement
was sudden but I see no foul deeds in his mishaps, certainly not his stellar
record of COVID treatment. There might
be a separate human interest story in this too.
In a real
"first" hopefully to bring an end to one of the most shameful
episodes in medical history, the FIRST REAL case study of HCQ+ZINC to yield
direct insight into ZINC's effectiveness was FINALLY completed in the United
States Published in May, it pitted
HCQ+ZINC against HCQ alone… involving patients treated between March 2 through
An art object. A fashion accessory. A medical treatment. A scientifically advanced gadget. And even, recently, a solution to COVID-19-induced lockdown boredom.
Philip Morris International, one of the world's largest tobacco companies, is promoting its new star product, the IQOS, as everything except what it really is: a tobacco delivery device.
After decades of pressure from anti-smoking groups, the world's major tobacco companies have been forced to admit that cigarettes cause cancer and other serious health conditions like heart disease and emphysema.
In many countries they have been hit with major restrictions '-- bans on advertising and promotion and strict limits on indoor smoking '-- stemming from the landmark Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty that aims to reduce the demand and supply of tobacco.
So 14 years on, the industry is also pivoting. PMI launched a global campaign last year called ''Unsmoke Your World,'' urging smokers to give up cigarettes. ''Society expects us to act responsibly,'' it proclaims on its website. ''And we are doing just that by designing a smoke-free future.''
''Cigarette sales are declining everywhere in the world and we are going to accelerate this decline,'' chief executive Andre Calantzopoulos told the BBC last year.
Andre Calantzopoulos poses with the IQOS 3 at an event in Tokyo in 2018 Credit: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
But while PMI says it wants the world to be smoke-free, it has no intention of making it tobacco-free.
Instead, the company has banked its future on selling an entirely different way of getting aerosolized nicotine into its customers' lungs: a proprietary system that uses electricity inside the IQOS device to heat short tobacco plugs to 350°C, substantially lower than the temperature of a cigarette, which burns at around 900°.
The company is betting big on IQOS, especially in markets where cigarette smoking is already on the decline or seen as d(C)class(C), like many European countries and wealthier parts of Asia and Latin America.
At PMI's most recent shareholder meeting on May 6, IQOS dominated the discussion and traditional cigarettes were barely mentioned, according to Mich(C)l Legendre of the non-profit organization Corporate Accountability, who was present at the meeting. IQOS products, which are more profitable per unit than cigarettes, generated US$5.6 billion in revenues for PMI last year, up from $700 million in 2016.
Philip Morris argues that when tobacco smolders rather than burning, it produces ''on average 90-95 percent fewer'' toxic substances, making it safer for smokers and those around them. The company has bombarded governments and the public with what it claims are ''independent studies'' that will prove that puffing an IQOS is healthier than smoking a cigarette.
But many of the studies on the health effects of IQOS were financed by PMI itself. There are only a few independent analyses on the safety of IQOS and how it compares to ordinary cigarettes in terms of the harm done to the body over time, according to Anna Gilmore, a professor at the University of Bath who studies the tobacco industry. They tell a different story.
After Philip Morris applied to sell the IQOS in the United States as a ''modified-risk tobacco product,'' the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the claim that using the device cuts the risk of tobacco-related diseases. Although the IQOS may produce fewer levels of some toxins, the FDA said there is still no evidence it is healthier in the long term.
Another government analysis, in Italy, came to the same conclusion, but was never released. However, a copy of the report was exclusively obtained by OCCRP's partner in Italy, RAI3's Report investigative television program.
How IQOS is marketed on social media around the world.
As well as touting the health claims of IQOS, Philip Morris has been pushing a key advertising and sales strategy: separating the smoking device from the tobacco sticks that go inside it.
This sleight of hand has opened up a whole new world of advertising possibilities to the manufacturer that were shut down by the FCTC and related national anti-smoking laws.
The electronic device is still not taxed as a tobacco product in a number of countries, and it largely exists in a kind of regulatory limbo where it doesn't need to be sold like one either.
This allows PMI to boost the public image of IQOS by creating sleekly branded shops that resemble Apple stores, even as the tobacco plugs, branded as ''Heets'' or ''Marlboro Heets,'' are still limited to shops licensed to sell tobacco.
In Italy, IQOS flagship shops are dubbed ''embassies'' and often feature art installations or architectural gimmicks. Rome's IQOS Embassy has interiors made of recycled bottle caps and decorative elements shaped like nicotine molecules.
The IQOS Embassy in Rome. Credit: Sartoria Comunicazione
''We use a lot of high-quality wood, ash and walnut in the interior,'' a German executive for Philip Morris said of the new IQOS boutiques springing up on high streets in the country's major cities.
The devices themselves are no less sleek. They resemble high-end pens, with matte chrome finishes and color options in a variety of jewel tones and limited-edition specials, like a recent Ukrainian version in aquamarine. (''One of the most trendy colors of the spring/summer 2020 season,'' an advertorial in Cosmopolitan Ukraine buzzed.
IQOS street advertisements and billboards showing off the lines and curves of the electronic device have become common sights in countries like Romania and Japan that are FCTC signatories and have laws against tobacco advertising. Kiosks and stalls emblazoned with the IQOS logo have gone up in shopping malls, inside subway stations, and even on train carriages '-- which, emblazoned with the ''Unsmoke'' tagline, traveled thousands of kilometers around Romania earlier this year.
A campaign for IQOS in Romania Credit: Andrei Ciurcanu
And IQOS is picking up sponsorships that a tobacco company would normally be barred from: Formula 1 cars in Australia and Japan, a medical conference in Romania, and the largest indie music festival in Colombia, Estereo Picnic, where attendees can enjoy acts like Lana del Rey and the Arctic Monkeys '-- and buy Heets at a specially-branded stall called ''Chill Vibes.''
Promotions giving users free trial runs of an IQOS device or samples of Heets have also taken place around the world. OCCRP and partners spotted these in Romania, Ukraine, Japan, Germany, and the UK, among other countries.
In Bucharest, an event space known as the ''Qreator Hub'' sponsors art and theater shows and sells limited-edition ''Qollections'' of designer silk scarves, handbags, and furniture for pets. When visitors are thirsty, they can grab a drink in the Qreator bar, which has an IQOS-branded receptacle for used Heets on every table.
In Italy, IQOS sponsored articles in a food magazine, ''Cooked and Eaten,'' and threw a launch party with recipes all cooked to precise temperatures, supposedly inspired by IQOS's ''HeatControl'' technology. (Tobacco advertising in magazines or newspapers is illegal in Italy, and the Italian Competition Authority fined Philip Morris 500,000 euros for hidden advertising for this stunt).
At last year's Milan Design Week, PMI even hired British sculptor Alex Chinneck to create an art installation inspired by the IQOS. He produced a giant molded zipper that created the illusion of a building shedding its facade to reveal an ethereal light within.
A Sprinkle of Night and a Spoonful of Light,'' a sculpture commissioned by Philip Morris, said to be inspired by IQOS. Credit: Claudia Beretta / Alamy Stock Photo)
''IQOS wanted to channel the notion of opening the future, so this zip is the idea of revealing, opening,'' the artist told media.
But although the art and decor can be frivolous, the implications of Philip Morris's ''decoupling'' strategy are dead serious. PMI has lobbied fiercely around the world to carve out a new regulatory regime for IQOS, with lower taxes than cigarettes and fewer restrictions on where it can be smoked.
Taylor Billings, a spokeswoman for Corporate Accountability, told OCCRP there was a major push by tobacco companies at the 2018 Conference of the Parties to the FCTC to create an entirely new classification for heated-tobacco products.
''And the whole point of that is just to create a separate policy track to set countries back 10 years from implementing the same regulations that currently apply to cigarettes,'' she said. ''So every lobbying push you see in the country is really just to carve out an unprecedented policy track so that they aren't taxed as highly, so they don't have marketing bans, so they can market them close to schools or... at kid-targeted events.''
In Romania, Philip Morris lobbied against a new tobacco draft law that would tax and regulate heated tobacco products at the same rate as ordinary cigarettes (they are currently taxed at a sixth of the rate), and ban them from being promoted in public spaces or handed out as free samples.
Officials from Philip Morris Romania stormed the doors of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies during discussions on the law, and openly attended debates and special sessions in the Romanian parliament to argue against it, although this should be illegal under the terms of the FCTC. It also used two front groups to argue against imposing restrictions on heated-tobacco products.
A Romanian Chamber of Deputies document showing how Philip Morris International lobbied against a law that would place more restrictions on heated-tobacco products like IQOS, saying it would ''cancel out the investments that the industry is making, including in the field of research. Credit: OCCRP
In Ukraine, PMI has also been lobbying against a law that would tax heated-tobacco products in the same way as cigarettes. Between 2017 and 2019, it paid out nearly half a million dollars to an advocacy group called the Ukrainian Economic Freedoms Foundation whose founder, Maryan Zablotskyy, is now a member of parliament. (Zablotskyy did not respond to requests for comment.)
Zablotskyy's draft law. Credit: Kyiv Post
He tried to postpone the regulation of heated-tobacco products, introducing a draft law that would allow them to be smoked indoors as ''smokeless tobacco.'' Using this term, which echoes PMI's marketing language, would allow them to be exempted from normal tobacco regulations.
IQOS even got its tobacco sticks certified by the Ukrainian State Service of Food Safety and Consumer Protection as ''not for smoking,'' meaning that they can be used indoors and in other areas where smoking is forbidden.
In Colombia, Philip Morris has provided financial incentives to politically influential groups to block changes that are unfavorable to the tobacco company, and high-level national government officials have had direct or close relationships with the industry. Colombian Vice Minister of Finance Juan Alberto Londo±o was manager of government affairs for Philip Morris-Coltabaco between 2009 and 2010.
While HTPs are supposed to be treated like any other tobacco product in any country that has signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, tobacco companies are fighting hard to make sure that never happens.
For the ''Blowing Unsmoke'' project, OCCRP partnered with more than 14 journalists in 10 key countries '-- from Italy and Japan, where the IQOS debuted in 2014, to Romania and Colombia, where PMI is heavily promoting the device, to Macedonia, where the IQOS is just entering the market. Journalists collected exclusive documents and interviewed politicians, scientists, and former PMI employees over the course of several months.
Overall, their reporting paints a picture of a company taking advantage of legislative gray areas and relying on its own paid-for scientific literature to back its claims. By relentlessly marketing the IQOS as a fashionable, fun, and ''clean'' device that has nothing to do with smoking, PMI is pushing for a future in which ''unsmoke'' takes over the world of tobacco.
PMI's Vice President of Strategic & Scientific Communication, Moira Gilchrist, denied that the company is flouting anti-tobacco regulations, arguing that campaign groups are targeting IQOS as part of a ''disastrous prohibition-only crusade.''
''If people who smoke are denied accurate information '-- or worse yet, are misled about less harmful alternatives '-- the vast majority will simply continue to smoke cigarettes,'' she said.
But it's not just ex-smokers who are trying IQOS.
In North Macedonia, although the device is not officially on sale yet, it already has a market of avid young users who have been buying it in neighboring Balkan countries. Some of them have eagerly embraced the message that using an IQOS is not really smoking.
Veronika, a 16-year-old living in the capital, Skopje, was just four years old when Macedonia enacted a smoking ban in 2008. She spent her childhood hearing that cigarettes were bad for you, and has no memory of throngs of smokers in bars and restaurants.
But last year, she started what she calls ''sort of smoking.'' Instead of cigarettes, she puffs an IQOS she got on a shopping trip to Serbia with friends.
She already has three devices and plans to buy a fourth '-- for aesthetic reasons. She wants a ''chic'' pink IQOS.
''It's not really a cigarette, not a real one, from what I know about smoking,'' she said.
Veronika shows off one of her three IQOS devices. Credit: Saska Cvetkovska
PedoBear
Breaking their silence: Why has US sport been rocked by a series of child abuse scandals? '-- RT Sport News
The world of US sport has been left stunned by a string of scandals after hundreds of elite athletes came forward to reveal they were sexually abused by coaches, senior team members or doctors when they were children.
A recent child abuse row in US hockey has become the latest ugly twist in a lengthy saga which has undermined the credibility of youth sport in the country.
READ MORE: 'He groomed us': Bellator champ and sister claim 'disgusting' coach offered schoolgirls cash for sex acts in campaign of abuse
USA Hockey President Jim Smith has reportedly been under investigation amid claims that he mishandled sexual abuse allegations in the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois (AHAI).
Longtime AHAI coach Tom Adrahtas has been accused of abusing several junior players in the 1980s, when Smith was serving as AHAI president.
Smith denied all accusations, insisting that ''there were no reports alleging misconduct by Tom Adrahtas.''
What is going on with US sport, which has been riddled with sex scandals?
The world sports powerhouse has been shaken by new details and accusations surfacing on a regular basis, with former athletes revealing darker sides to their seemingly successful sporting careers.
The snowball started with the USA women's artistic gymnastics squad, after Olympic and world champions, inspired by the #MeToo campaign, came forward one-by-one to speak about sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of the team's doctor Larry Nassar.
Also on rt.com 'It happened hundreds of times': Olympic gold medal gymnast Maroney on Nassar sex abuse Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney said she was systematically molested by Nassar while performing for the national team, emphasizing that US sports officials were aware of his sex crimes and paid her ''hush money'' to cover up the scandal.
After Maroney spoke out, the majority of the US women's team, including world leader Simone Biles, came forward to reveal they were also victims of the disgraced doctor.
Also on rt.com 'I'm on anxiety medicine': Simone Biles gets treatment after speaking out on sexual assault The scandal dropped a bombshell on US sport, with Nassar being sentenced to 175 years in prison.
The next sport affected by sex scandals was figure skating, after US Senator Richard Blumenthal called on his colleagues to make immediate changes in the sport, which he said has suffered from a long-lasting ''culture of sexual abuse.''
The row escalated after several skaters accused John Coughlin, an American pair skater champion, of sexual abuse. A day after his interim suspension and one week before the US Championships, Coughlin died by suicide at the age of 33.
Also on rt.com 'Culture of sexual abuse': Senator says US figure skating needs immediate change Last year, USA Swimming was investigated for allegedly stifling athletes' sexual abuse claims.
After the Pandora's box was opened, accusations and lawsuits against US sports officials poured in, raising questions about whether it was safe to send kids to sports clubs.
When asked why they had kept silent for so many years, former athletes said they were afraid of not being heard or believed, knowing that their coaches had more power and ties.
Also on rt.com Olympic swimmer files sexual abuse lawsuit, claims USA Swimming ignored matter Some of them, including Maroney, revealed that their complaints were simply ignored by adults, who allowed Nassar to go unpunished for more than 30 years.
It remains unknown how many scandals will be revealed, but US sport in numerous areas will need to restore its reputation by making guarantees to parents that children will not be preyed upon by coaches.
Obamagate
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: According to Attorney the DNI Allegedly Has Call Records Between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks - It's Now Presumed Brennan's CIA Was More Involved Than We Thought
CIA Involvement in the Creation of the Russia Hack and Seth Rich Cover-up is now the focus of Group requesting the truth behind Trump-Russia collusion sham.In June 2016, Ellen Nakashima, a Deep State favorite from the Washington Post, released a report that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) had been hacked by Russia. The firm that validated this was Crowdstrike and its President Shawn Henry confirmed the claims. In December 2016, Ms. Nakashima followed up her reporting with the outlandish claim that the CIA had determined that Russia hacked the DNC because Russia wanted Trump to win the election. Nakashima also reported that the the Intel Community had determined that Russia also sent the emails to WikiLeaks. This position was reinforced by the Mueller gang in their efforts to have President Trump removed from office.
WikiLeaks did release DNC emails related to John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's Campaign Manager, in the months before the 2016 Presidential election which showed massive corruption combined with an elitist attitude from members of the Hillary Clinton team '' all willing to do whatever it took to win the election.
The Trump '' Russia collusion narrative never really passed the smell test to us. It just sounded fraudulent from the start and even preposterous.
TRENDING: As Police Station Goes Up in Flames, Minneapolis Mayor Frey Accuses Trump of 'Weakness' in Response to President's Threat to Bring in National Guard to Stop Riots
On March 8, 2020 and before on June 16, 2019, we presented arguments against the Mueller gang's assertion that the DNC was hacked by Russians.
Cyber expert Yaacov Apelbaum posted an incredible report with information basically proving that the DNC was not hacked by the Russians.
Then, after years of being hidden by corrupt lying Representative Adam Schiff in Congress, a number of testimonies related to the Russia collusion sham were unveiled after Schiff received pressure from Richard Grenell, the Acting Director of National Intelligence (ADNI) to release the transcripts. One transcript was from Crowdstrike's Shawn Henry who stated under oath that Crowdstrike had no evidence that Russia even ''exfiltrated'' the emails from the DNC. The whole 'Russia stole the DNC emails and sent them to WikiLeaks' story was a fraud.
Many people suspected that in 2016 a young man working for the DNC by the name of Seth Rich, copied emails from the DNC and shared them with WikiLeaks. Mr. Rich was murdered in Washington D.C. in July 2016 but his wallet, phone and watch were found on his person when the police arrived at the scene. We reported numerous oddities surrounding his death.
For years the Seth Rich story has been covered up and labeled a conspiracy. However, we reported numerous incidents and activities within the Deep State related to covering up the Seth Rich story. We recently reported that Judicial Watch released documents obtained in a FOIA request. These emails revealed that corrupt cops Peter Strzok and Jonathan Moffa were copied in an email regarding a report from Daily Mail where ex-Brit Craig Murray claimed he traveled to Washington DC and obtained Clinton emails in an exchange in a wooded area near American University.
(Here is a link to the article that was shared between the dirty cops.)
The Mueller gang never looked into the Seth Rich matter and never interviewed Julian Assange from WikiLeaks to determine who provided him the DNC emails which were reportedly the cause of the Russia collusion sham.
In a prior post related to this subject we detailed the many actions taken over the past few years to determine if Seth Rich was the one who provided emails to WikiLeaks.
Recently, transcripts of a conversation between George Papadopoulos and a confidential informant believed to be Stefan Halper were released by the DOJ. This transcript confirms that Papadopoulos was spied on and recorded, and that they discussed the WikiLeaks emails and likely Seth Rich.
We know from our previous reporting that a Deep State Anti-Trump former Assistant US Attorney claimed under oath that the FBI did examine Seth Rich's computer and that she met with an FBI Agent and prosecutor from the Mueller gang. This indicates the meeting should have been recorded but the FBI continues to claim no records related to Seth Rich are available!
We reported in mid-February how Attorney Ty Clevenger, who represents a client who is being sued for his comments about Seth Rich, reported to the courts that despite numerous assurances from the FBI that they had no information related to Seth Rich, emails related to Seth Rich were identified and provided to Judicial Watch. It looked like the FBI was lying to Clevenger all this time.
(There is much, much more in our prior posts that refer to this matter. Please take a look.)
The May Shocker In early May (as we reported at the time), Attorney Ty Clevenger wrote to Richard Grenell at the DNI and shared the following:
I am reliably informed that the NSA or its partners intercepted at least some of the communications between Mr. Rich and Wikileaks. Before elaborating on that, however, I should first note the extent to which the ''deep state'' has already tried to cover up information about Mr. Rich. In an October 9, 2018 affidavit submitted in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, FBI section chief David M. Hardy testified that (1) the FBI did not investigate any matters pertaining to Mr. Rich, and (2) the FBI was unable to locate any records about Mr. Rich. Both claims were unequivocally false.
According to Ty, the NSA, knows exactly who sent the records to Wikileaks. So does the FBI.
Today it is now suspected that the CIA had a more prominent role in the fabrication that Russians hacked the DNC and ''fingerprints'' were identified in the purported hacking. A non-profit group by the name of 'The Transparency Project'' is requesting data from the CIA related to these actions.
After several years of investigative reporting we now know there is no evidence Russia hacked the DNC and sent the hacked emails to WikiLeaks. Attorney Ty Clevenger asserts the DNI has been covering up for 4 years the fact that they have communications between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks. Now it looks like the CIA had a more prominent role in the cover-up than previously known as well.
Nothing unusual about unmasking you SLAVE - Transcripts released of former national security adviser Michael Flynn's calls with Russian diplomat - Chicago Tribune
Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, leaves the federal court following a status conference with Judge Emmet Sullivan, in Washington.(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The Trump administration's new national intelligence director waded into political waters in his first week on the job, declassifying documents that allies of the president say bolster their contention that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was wrongly pursued.
The extraordinary decision to release transcripts of Flynn's calls with a foreign country's ambassador, a closely guarded secret for more than three years, is part of an ongoing Trump administration effort to disclose information from the Russia investigation in hopes of painting Obama-era officials in a bad light and suggesting they acted improperly.
The transcripts of calls with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador at the time, provide opportunities for partisans on both sides to advance their perspectives of the investigation.
They appear to show, as prosecutors have alleged, that Flynn urged Kislyak to refrain from escalating tensions with the U.S. in response to newly imposed sanctions against Russia. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about that call.
But Republicans who maintain that Flynn was simply trying to avoid aggravating the situation with the Kremlin quickly pointed to the transcripts to say the calls were proper. Trump's Justice Department dismissed the case this month, saying the FBI didn't have a basis to question Flynn in the first place.
The documents were released Friday by Senate Republicans after being declassified by John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman and loyalist of President Donald Trump who was sworn into the job earlier this week.
Ratcliffe's predecessor as intelligence director, Richard Grenell, this month declassified a list of names of intelligence and Obama administration officials who in late 2016 and early 2017 requested to see the identity of an American citizen that was concealed in classified intelligence reports. That name was revealed to be Flynn.
There is nothing unusual about that process, known as unmasking, and it's been more prevalent at the beginning of the Trump administration than it was at the end of the Obama administration. But supporters of the president have suggested that the requests were made for political reasons.
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Battery Life
Could we eventually become a battery society, where the government controls your juice allotment?
All-electric Grand Caravan makes maiden flight | News | Flight Global
An electric-powered Cessna 208B Grand Caravan lifted off a Moses Lake runway on 28 May, marking another milestone in a project that aims to bring all-electric flight to consumer air travel.
In taking flight, the Caravan became, according to the companies behind the project, the largest all-electric passenger or cargo aircraft ever to fly.
Economically-feasible all-electric commercial flight has remained elusive for years, hamstrung largely by the relatively low energy density of batteries, which has constrained aircraft range and payload.
But propulsion company Magnix and AeroTEC, an engineering and flight test specialist, say their modified Grand Caravan proves that small all-electric aircraft can feasibly and economically operate short routes that airlines long ago abandoned.
Wichita-based Cessna, a division of Textron Aviation, delivers Grand Caravans equipped with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprops generating 867shp (647kW). The aircraft can carry 10-14 people.
But the Grand Caravan that flew on 28 May received power not from a PT6A, but from Magnix's Magni500, a 750hp all-electric propulsion system.
AeroTEC had performed the complex task of replacing the PT6A with the new electric system.
The ''eCaravan'' took off from Grant County International airport and circled the field for about 30min before landing. The test pilot described the maiden flight as ''flawless'', Magnix chief executive Roei Ganzarski says. Ganzarski calls the flight ''a real significant watershed moment for aviation''.
Magnix, which has offices in Australia and Seattle, has been working on the Grand Caravan project alongside other electric-aircraft efforts. In December, Canadian commuter airline Harbour Air flew a Magni500-powered de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver. That airline and Magnix are working to have that configuration certificated.
Magnix has also been named one of two companies to supply propulsion systems for Alice, an all-electric, nine-passenger aircraft being developed by Israeli company Eviation Aircraft. That project hit a snag in January when an electric system fire damaged an Alice prototype in Arizona.
As configured, the Magni500-powered Grand Caravan can carry 4-5 passengers on flights up to 100 miles, taking into account the need for reserve power, says Ganzarski.
Magnix and AeroTEC are working on certificating that aircraft by the end of 2021. By then, Ganzarski predicts battery technology will have advanced to where the Grand Caravan will be able to operate 100-mile flights carrying a full load of nine passengers.
Magnix and AeroTEC are pitching Magni500-powered Caravans as perfect for operating routes less than 500 miles that connect cities within regions, says AeroTEC chief executive Lee Human. Decades ago, small airlines known as ''commuters'' operated such routes in the USA. Nearly all such carriers long since folded as the airline industry trended toward larger regional jets.
''There is a huge gap,'' Human says, adding that no existing aircraft have the economics to make such routes feasible.
But electric propulsion systems burn no fuel and have fewer moving parts and less complexity than fuel-burning engines. That means they cost significantly less to operate '' about half as much as internal combustion engines, says Ganzarski. The Magni500 consumed about $6 worth of electricity during the Grand Caravan's 30min test flight, he adds.
The Magni500 on the Grand Caravan receives power from a 750V lithium-ion battery system weighing roughly one tonne, though Magnix is studying other technologies, including lithium-sulfur batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
In airline service, operators would need to recharge the batteries between flights, with charging times correlating closely to flight times, says Ganzarski. That means the batteries would need about 30-40min of charging following a 30min flight. The weight of the batteries makes swapping spent cells for fresh cells unfeasible between flights, he says.
Ganzarski declines to disclose pricing or say how many Magnix-powered aircraft customers have ordered. ''There is way more interest at this point than we anticipated,'' he says.
Clips
VIDEO - Een crisis in de wetenschap, lockdown is een schande. Willem Engel en Ramon Bril - YouTube
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin indicated on Wednesday that choosing Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as running mate would not help the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with African-Americans.
Her comments came during a broader discussion about the killing of an unarmed black man '' which she plainly called "murder" '' in Klobuchar's home state of Minnesota.
"We're seeing that black people in Minneapolis are arrested at nine times the rate of a white person for nonviolent offenses," she said. "That says something to me, and I think, you know, when we talk about politics, and we talk about Joe Biden's selection for a vice presidential pick, that is why the black community has said that Amy Klobuchar is a nonstarter for them, because in many respects from 1999 to 2007, she declined to prosecute over two dozen cases involving police killings of unarmed people."
JOY BEHAR STANDS UP FOR SENATOR AS SHE'S GRILLED BY CO-HOST: 'ARE WE PROSECUTING AMY KLOBUCHAR TODAY?'
Biden has reportedly asked Klobuchar to undergo a vetting process for serving as his running mate. In February, Hostin confronted Klobuchar over the case of Myon Burrell, whom Klobuchar prosecuted in the 2002 shooting death of an 11-year-old girl. An Associated Press investigation into the case uncovered new evidence and myriad inconsistencies, raising questions about whether Burrell, who is serving a life sentence, was railroaded by police.
"I've reviewed the facts of that case and it is one of the most flawed investigations and prosecutions that I think I have ever seen," said Hostin, a former prosecutor.
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD DISMISSES BIDEN 'LIP SERVICE,' SUGGESTS KLOBUCHAR AS VP WOULD HURT BLACK VOTER TURNOUT
After criticizing the prosecution, she asked Klobuchar: "How do you defend something like that to someone like me who is the mother of a black boy, a black teenager? This case would be my worst nightmare."
Klobuchar, who joined the show remotely from New Hampshire, said she's already called for a review of all the evidence in that case. That apparently wasn't good enough for Hostin, who pressed further on the issue.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Hostin and her co-hosts unanimously expressed outrage at George Floyd's death.
"I think people are sitting in their homes and seeing what is blatantly a murder of a man on camera, and George Floyd, I watched the entire video," co-host Meghan McCain said. "I know we didn't want to show the entire thing, but it's very graphic. It's very violent. The police officer has his knee on his neck."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
VIDEO-Twin cities mayors, Minnesota governor walk back comments about out-of-state protestors | TheHill
May 30, 2020 - 08:44 PM EDT By Marty Johnson St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter (D) Saturday evening walked back his comments from earlier in the day claiming that "every single person" who was arrested Friday night from protests over the killing of George Floyd was from out-of-state.
Carter said in a joint press conference with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and state Gov. Tim Walz (D) that the information he had received regarding the arrests made in St. Paul Friday night was inaccurate.
Walz said that officials should be able to get a better idea of which arrested protestors were from out of state or not after tonight.
"Whether they're from Minnesota or not, if you're out there doing that at night, you're not sharing these values, you're not sharing who we are."
The governor also urged Minnesotans to follow the imposed curfew, which goes into effect at 8 p.m. local time.
"Don't be the one to say that you destroyed that business that's been there for 50 years," he said.
The Minneapolis Police Department tweeted Saturday afternoon that its law enforcement presence would triple Saturday night "to address a sophisticated network of urban warfare."
Additionally, the department shut down large portions of the city's highways at 7 p.m. local time.
VIDEO - Rep. Maxine Waters Says Cop Who Kneeled On George Floyd 'Enjoyed' It
Rep. Maxine Waters Cop Kneeling On George Floyd 'Enjoyed Doing it' 5/28/2020 1:00 AM PT Exclusive TMZ.comRep. Maxine Waters says George Floyd's killing has her thinking some police officers wake up thinking, "I'm gonna get me one today," and she suspects George was this guy's one.
The Congresswoman from California joined us on "TMZ Live" and was outraged by Floyd's death at the hands of police, telling us it's got her reflecting on other killings of young black men by cops and white supremacists.
Waters says the Minneapolis cop who kept his knee jammed deep into Floyd's neck for several minutes actually "enjoyed doing it." She took it a step further with a theory about what goes through the minds of rogue police officers.
Facebook/ Darnella FrazierThe way Rep. Waters sees it ... the cop was out for blood, and that's why he didn't care that citizens were not only witnessing his actions, but recording video of him slowly killing Floyd.
As for the other officers involved -- she's not letting them off the hook, criminally, either.
Dragon WokThe Congresswoman says the police and white supremacists who think they can get away with killing a black person feel empowered because of "dog-whistling" from President Trump.
And, in a sobering commentary, she explains how the justice system has repeatedly failed millions of citizens ... which makes it increasingly important to have irrefutable video when crimes like this occur.
Related Articles Maxine Waters White House Politix Viral Exclusive Police
VIDEO-St. Paul Mayor: Everyone Arrested Last Night In His City From Out Of State - YouTube
VIDEO - (20) CBS News on Twitter: "Attorney General William Barr gives a statement amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd https://t.co/0x8tHbwS8f https://t.co/mUlASV5E2y" / Twitter
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VIDEO-SkyNews on Twitter: "Epidemiologist and SAGE member Professor John Edmunds says it is "rather dangerous" to ease lockdown before the track and trace system has been proven to be working effectively. Read more here: https://t.co/97DJOduVPY https://t.
6h Did not see full interview so not doubt clip only shows what Sky want to prompt in aide of their cause. During the interview was he asked for his time scales of unlocking and the exact scenario he believes would allow us to?
View conversation · Arthur Pendragon @ LeavePower
5h All that lockdown does is force us to behave in a way that stops us passing on, or getting the virus. We must now take the lessons of lockdown and apply them, even more rigourously, to daily life. Its up to us. Don't give the virus a new home.Keep your distanceWash your hands
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VIDEO-Kay Kaye on Twitter: "Last night, while everyone was paying attention to the Soros funded riot in MN, THE NYS BAR ASSOC. called for MANDATORY COVID VACCINATION OF ALL NEW YORKERS. (Link to full video) ***WARNING Profanity*** https://t.co/hlG2YwV89U
Log in Sign up Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising Last night, while everyone was paying attention to the Soros funded riot in MN, THE NYS BAR ASSOC. called for MANDATORY COVID VACCINATION OF ALL NEW YORKERS. (Link to full video) ***WARNING Profanity***
m.facebook.com/story.php?stor'... PLS SHARE
pic.twitter.com/YFh0g7LQsf 9:41 AM - 29 May 2020 Twitter by: Kay Kaye @LadyKayeRising Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising
@DrutangAtHome @DrutangAtHome View conversation · Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising
20h Replying to
@LadyKayeRising Apparently the New York State Bar Association has also taken it upon themselves to call for the mandatory vaccination of everyone in the United States.
thinktwice.com/NY_Task_Force_'... pic.twitter.com/P1XcqLmalT View conversation · Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising
13h Replying to
@LadyKayeRising The NYS Bar Assoc chose 6/13 to hold their meeting calling for the covid vaccination of EVERY NEW YORKER. (They have since called for EVERY AMERICAN.) Don't know the significance of 6/13? Have a peek here. *Profanity* Link to full video:
m.facebook.com/story.php?stor'... pic.twitter.com/K1eQojFXOO View conversation · Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising
@LadyKayeRising WTF is with June 13th??? It has to mean something to these demons. They love to cling to Jacobsen v Mass like it's a stone tablet. Yet ignore the supreme court admission in March 2011 that vaccines are "unavoidably unsafe".
View conversation · Kay Kaye @ LadyKayeRising
19h Replying to
@MissyVespucci Follow the link to my Facebook page
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VIDEO - (20) MSNBC on Twitter: ""Tear gas canisters all over the place," @AliVelshi reports of protests in Minneapolis. "We now have people advancing on the National Guard and the police, who are working together firing these tear gas canisters, which are
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VIDEO - (38) Brian Johns on Twitter: "I believe this was a setup! Those bricks are up the street from some very expensive shops in Downtown Dallas! WATCH!! ðð¾ðð¾ðð¾ #Dallas #DallasProtest @wfaa #AtlantaRiot #chicagoprotest #dcprotest #Blac
One might think that MSNBC might give Rev. Al Sharpton the day off when the hot topic is protesters burning down buildings. In 1995, Sharpton's protest against the "white interloper" who ran Freddy's Fashion Mart in Harlem led to a fire where seven people died of smoke inhalation (and the arsonist shot himself).
Discussing the rioting in Minneapolis on today's Morning Joe, Al Sharpton began by telling protesters that the goal of a fair criminal justice system wouldn't be achieved by "appearing" to be criminal themselves. He warned that people would "exploit" that. A clearly upset Sharpton then said:
"As I walked around Minneapolis yesterday . . . some of the stores that are being damaged are black-owned stores! So we cannot become so reckless that we are destroying each other in our rage. "
Would Sharpton be less upset, and the rioters less "reckless," if only non-black-owned stores were destroyed? What happened to "we're all in this together?" Or is that only for pandemics?
Also on Morning Joe, reporting from Minneapolis, NBC's Shaquille Brewster said that "all" of the protesters he interviewed oppose violence. All? Brewster needs to get around more.
Brewster also said that his crew had "planned to be at the 3rd Precinct, where the fire happened." The fire "happened?" Another regrettable case of spontaneous combustion?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBCMorning Joe5/29/206:09 am EDT
AL SHARPTON: The question now is how you deal with that outrage to where you get the results you're looking for, which is a fair criminal justice system. And you don't do it by appearing to be criminal yourself. We are not the ones that inflict the pain. We are the ones that have been pained.
And our reaction must show that, and highlight that. Otherwise, people will exploit that and change the focus into demonizing those that conduct themselves in a violent way, rather than those that are saying, as the Floyd family is saying, we want justice. They've said very clearly '-- I've talked to the Floyd family, and they've said very clearly and publicly: we want to see justice. We understand the outrage, but we do not want to see violence.
The other thing I might add here, Joe, is that as I walked around Minneapolis yesterday with Ms. Carr [mother of Eric Garner] and some of the ministers and elected officials, some of the stores that are being damaged are black-owned stores! So we cannot become so reckless that we are destroying each other in our rage.
VIDEO - (7) Timothy Burke on Twitter: "Police literally opening fire on the free press. https://t.co/g8RMImZLGr" / Twitter
VIDEO-NBC News on Twitter: "Hennepin Co. Attorney Freeman: ''That video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that. But my job in the end is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there's other evidence that does not sup
Log in Sign up NBC News @ NBCNews Hennepin Co. Attorney Freeman:''That video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that. But my job in the end is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there's other evidence that does not support a criminal charge... I will not rush to justice.''
@NBCNews Ridiculous. THERE IS VIDEO. The whole press conference was a sham. The video alone is enough evidence for an arrest. They had far less evidence when they placed Floyd under arrest for ''forgery'' to begin with. There's already a miscarriage of justice.
pic.twitter.com/OzNuCGsNsT View conversation · Midwin Charles @ MidwinCharles
May 28 Replying to
@NBCNews This will not do.
View conversation · Tod Young @ tod_young
May 28 Replying to
@MidwinCharles @NBCNews I'm sure he's already coordinating with Bill Barr on how to squash all of this & move on.
View conversation · The Mad Hatter of Austin @ cjkeller
14h Replying to
@NBCNews What the actual HELL?? HE KILLED HIM ON CAMERA. I don't care if he scribbled a $20 bill in front of a store clerk, you don't execute someone for that. There's footage from all around where this happened that Mr. Floyd didn't resist. You can put a man in handcuffs and put him
View conversation · The Mad Hatter of Austin @ cjkeller
14h Replying to
@NBCNews in a squad car, but to focus one's entire body weight on a knee on a man's neck, you KNOW what the outcome will be. How in the HELL can you say there's no criminal charge??
View conversation · MsActivissð @ MsActiviss
May 28 Replying to
@NBCNews He could stop the protests with swift action. We all saw the MURDER.
View conversation · MsActivissð @ MsActiviss
May 28 Replying to
@NBCNews Protesters showed up at the home of County Atty Freeman last night demanding arrests.
View conversation · LucyðVOTE BLUE stop the authoritarian goon @ lucyBern3
May 28 Replying to
@NBCNews So putting your knee on someone that already submitted for 7 minutes AND disregarding him voicing he could not breath is not criminal?! Cops know airway management, they are taught CPR. He CHOSE not to do any of that and kept his knee on George's throat until he was dead.
View conversation · Linda Suarez @ LindaSu2099
May 28 Replying to
@lucyBern3 @NBCNews Yup and then even when he was passed out (or dead who knows)....he still kept his knee on him, WTF?
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VIDEO-Jackson on Twitter: "Y'all '-- Van Jones just said on CNN that it's the White, liberal HRC supporters we have to look out for, and I- https://t.co/py3QPnzHXY" / Twitter
During a guest appearance on CNN's The Situation Room Thursday evening, CNN Tonight host Don Lemon flipped out and doubled down on comments he made the previous night, blaming President Trump for the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Insisting it was the ''God's honest truth,'' Lemon decried how the U.S. attorney on the case had said the White House and the Justice Department were monitoring the case, yelling ''no one wants to hear that!''
Following a press conference with Minneapolis and DOJ officials, Lemon exploded with anger (Click ''expand''):
Now, for the attorney general [U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald], I watched. I know she has a tough job, but guess what '' I'm just '' as long as we are being honest with '' right now, nobody wants to hear from the White House or the attorney general right now. No one wants to hear from the man who wanted the death penalty to come back from the Central Park Five. No one wants to hear from the man who says that the former president was not born in this country. No one wants to hear from the man who says there are very fine people on both sides.
Do you understand what I am saying? No one wants to hear from the person that they perceive as contributing to this situation '' situations like this in this society. Not directly, but allowing people like that to think they can get away from this.
He went on to say that the only thing he wanted to hear from the President was that he understood ''the mistakes'' he has ''made with African-Americans in this country.''
Teeing up Lemon to continue to vent, Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer read from MacDonald's statement how the White House and DOJ were investigating to see how they could pursue the case.
''Where is the news in that,'' Lemon shouted over his colleague. ''The president should always be involved, the Justice Department should always be involved in these situations. That is not a headline. That is not something I felt she even had to announce there. I don't understand why she announced it.''
Ignoring the fact that the President had told the press something similar earlier in the day, and how the liberal media would be on Trump's case if that message wasn't delivered at all, Lemon was upset that the U.S. Attorney had said something:
You should leave it-- The White House should be sending out a press release saying that, not just a tweet. If he wants to conduct business by tweet, then let the President tweet that out.
But why does she need to say that? Is she his proxy? Does she speak for him? No. The President should send out a press release and say: ''I am monitoring what's happening here. I am dealing with it. This is a top priority.'' He doesn't need the U.S. attorney to do that.
''Again, I said what I said about this President and the environment that he has contributed to in this country. And that is the God's honest truth,'' he concluded.
Hours later, during the handoff between Chris Cuomo's show (Cuomo PrimeTime) and his, Lemon lashed out at people who were angry at the looting and rioting. ''Why are you mourning a Target store or an auto body store or an automobile store and you're not placing that same emphasis, if not more, on the conditions that led to this happening; on the injustice that that man felt on the ground,'' he said.
But what Lemon failed to grasp was that people weren't mourning for the stores themselves, they were mourning for the innocent people hurt. Target, Autozone, Napa, and many small businesses may not reopen at all. And that could mean the jobs and livelihoods of people in George Floyd's community were gone, and it only made the situation worse.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN's The Situation RoomMay 28, 20206:30:47 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: Now, for the attorney general [U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald], I watched. I know she has a tough job, but guess what '' I'm just '' as long as we are being honest with '' right now, nobody wants to hear from the White House or the attorney general right now. No one wants to hear from the man who wanted the death penalty to come back from the Central Park Five. No one wants to hear from the man who says that the former president was not born in this country. No one wants to hear from the man who says there are very fine people on both sides.
Do you understand what I am saying? No one wants to hear from the person that they perceive as contributing to this situation '' situations like this in this society. Not directly, but allowing people like that to think they can get away from this. No one wants to hear from the birther-in-chief, from the sons-of-bitches-calling person who saying that athletes who are kneeling for this very reason. No one wants to hear from that.
The justice system should work for everyone. The President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States should have the same system in place for everyone. That should be a given. You should not have to announce that at a press conference. And no one wants to hear that.
Unless you want to come out and say, ''I understand how African-Americans feel in this country, I understand the mistakes I have made with African-Americans in this country. I understand that there is an election coming, but I don't just want your vote, I want you to understand that I know were you're coming from,'' we don't want to hear that. And that is the God's honest truth.
So, that was a misstep on her part.
('...)
6:33:54 p.m. Eastern
WOLF BLITZER: You know Don, what she did say '' the U.S. attorney, Erica MacDonald was '' and I know this is what you're reacting too, and I'm looking at my notes. She said, in her words, ''a top priority'' for the Department of Justice here in Washington. And she said the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, in her words, are ''directly and actively monitoring the investigation to determine if any federal criminal laws were violated, including civil rights violations.'' That's what she specifically said. And you're angry--
LEMON: Where is the news in that? The president should always be involved, the Justice Department should always be involved in these situations. That is not a headline, that is not something I felt she even had to announce there. I don't understand why she announced it. You should leave it-- The White House should be sending out a press release saying that, not just a tweet. If he wants to conduct business by tweet, then let the President tweet that out.
But why does she need to say that? Is she his proxy? Does she speak for him? No. The President should send out a press release and say: ''I am monitoring what's happening here. I am dealing with it. This is a top priority.'' He doesn't need the U.S. attorney to do that.
Again, I said what I said about this President and the environment that he has contributed to in this country. And that is the God's honest truth. That's how black people feel. The person who said from Klansmen and racists and Nazis and anti-Semites, that there were very fine on both sides, no one wants to hear that!
('...)
VIDEO - "They Were DENIED Access" - What The News WON'T Show You! - YouTube
International bestselling author, Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA, explains how the coronavirus 'crisis' has affected health care and assesses the impact that social distancing has had on the treatment of seriously ill patients. He points out that politicians are using social distancing to control us, describes how social distancing is wrecking our lives, and suggests that unless we stand up and fight against it, social distancing will be with us forever and will ruin our lives in every conceivable way.For the truth about the coronavirus and much, much more please visit http://www.vernoncoleman.comThank you for your support and encouragement. It means a great deal.
May 22, 2020
VIDEO-George Floyd, fired officer overlapped security shifts at south Minneapolis club
A former club owner in south Minneapolis says the now-fired police officer and the black man who died in his custody this week both worked security for her club up to the end of last year.
George Floyd and now-former Officer Derek Chauvin both worked security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club on Lake Street, according to Maya Santamaria. Santamaria owned the building for nearly two decades, but sold the venue within the last few months.
'Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open,' Santamaria said. 'They were working together at the same time, it's just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside.'
5 INVESTIGATES has reached out to Chauvin's attorney and the Minneapolis Police Department, but they could not be reached for comment at the time this story was published.
KSTP's complete coverage
Although the two overlapped working security on popular music nights within the last year, Santamaria can not say for certain they knew each other because there were often a couple dozen security guards, including off-duty officers.
Santamaria says she did not recognize either one of her security guards in the video showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck not far from where they used to work.
'My friend sent me (the video) and said this is your guy who used to work for you and I said, 'It's not him.' And then they did the closeup and that's when I said, 'Oh my God, that's him,'' Santamaria said. 'I didn't recognize George as one of our security guys because he looked really different lying there like that.'
Santamaria still operates La Raza 95.7 FM radio station in the same building that houses El Nuevo Rodeo, but a power outage has knocked them off-air as a result of Tuesday's protests. The Latino owned business is two blocks east of where protests erupted in front of the Minneapolis Police Department Third Precinct and spilled into nearby businesses. Like their neighbors, the building's glass doors are shattered and now covered in graffiti.
'All of the neighborhood has come out to volunteer and clean up and lend a hand,' Santamaria said.
Santamaria says they are still updating the Latino community on their Facebook page until they can get power back.
Ana Lastra and Eric Rasmussen Published: May 28th 2020, 4:20 pm Updated: May 28th 2020, 6:21 pm Copyright 2020 KSTP-TV LLC, a Hubbard Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved.
VIDEO-Phil Kerpen on Twitter: "Montgomery County, Maryland executive Marc Elrich finally announces Phase I, gets relentlessly heckled. https://t.co/UxTh0ywVbG" / Twitter
Log in Sign up Phil Kerpen @ kerpen Montgomery County, Maryland executive Marc Elrich finally announces Phase I, gets relentlessly heckled.
pic.twitter.com/UxTh0ywVbG 4:10 PM - 28 May 2020 Twitter by: Phil Kerpen @kerpen GljJr @ cardlaw35
13h Replying to
@kerpen Are the hospitals there really near full capacity?
View conversation · Phil Kerpen @ kerpen
13h Replying to
@cardlaw35 No
View conversation · JKoenig @ JoshuaKoenig11
14h Replying to
@kerpen They just started phase 1?
View conversation · Phil Kerpen @ kerpen
14h Replying to
@JoshuaKoenig11 Not yet! Monday
View conversation · Mary Kilberg @ Mary_Contrary
14h Replying to
@kerpen @TheLastRefuge2 Barbers and hair salons can open for hair but no haircuts? ð¤...ð½''¸
View conversation · Phil Kerpen @ kerpen
14h Replying to
@Mary_Contrary @TheLastRefuge2 Blowouts only
View conversation · Rusty Kuhl @ HumphreyPT
14h Replying to
@kerpen ''It was only the actions that we have taken that flattened the curve.'' What a joke. These guys all want to say the saved us and there is no evidence they did anything to the virus at all.
View conversation · Kassieððð Text TRUMP to 88022 @ Janee_Roemer
14h Replying to
@HumphreyPT @kerpen We can thank these 2
#DeepStatePlants ð
pic.twitter.com/pLz4lPsfTI View conversation · i dont even know anymore @ srburgo2
14h Replying to
@kerpen WE ALL NEED TO STAND UP!! I still work everyday since this started but it's not about individuals! It's about us as a collective!!! If they can do it to one they can do it to all. ðºð¸
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VIDEO-calas on Twitter: "Somalis been put Minnesota on the map, stop playin with us #minneapolisriots https://t.co/42BREXptpa" / Twitter
@_calaso @adnanforlife @adnanforlife u been riding out bro ?
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VIDEO-DJLC Studio on Twitter: "@adamcurry LOOK AT THE GRAY HOODIE @ EXACTLY 33 SECONDS '¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸'¸" / Twitter
3h mister president sir, someone posted audio that's been altered to make it sound like you're a dimwitted old buffoon lost and wandering in a thick haze of advancing dementia and untreated tertiary syphilis. oh wait, the audio wasn't altered. oh wait, you posted it yourself
View conversation · Mark Dice @ MarkDice
3h My "Community Standards" are ball games and BBQs. Silicon Valley's Community Standards are child drag queens and 'throuples'. No wonder social media giants enforcement of their "community standards" have led to censorship of normal people expressing our thoughts on life.
