"Jamaica Plain mainstay Bella Luna & The Milky Way will close because of the effects of COVID-19, owners told the Globe. The restaurant opened in Hyde Square as a 19-seat pizza parlor in November 1993 and evolved into a local gathering place for candlepin bowling, themed dance parties, drag nights, comedy shows, and weddings. It relocated to Amory Street in 2009. Co-owner Megan Mainzer said, “We don’t see how we can operate in this COVID world. We’re about social closeness, groups, music. Distancing isn’t our thing,” she told the Globe, “and I don’t see how we can operate at 25 percent. It’s not like we have 25 percent of expenses.” She’s not sure what’s next after 27 years. “I feel so lost,” she said. “This has been my life.”
The above was placed on page B2, and my heart broke when I was reading it. Twenty-five years of hard work and a dream destroyed over an abominably evil agenda and pack of distortions if not outright lies, and the politicians that brought the destruction to you in order to serve their genocidal, control-freak, psychopathic masters don't care.
Related:
NYC restaurants can open with outdoor seating on Monday
You can go indoors come Monday in Ma$$achu$etts, yaaaay!
Also see:
Gov. Abbott suggests Texans under 30 ignored virus warning signs
The kids going into the bars are getting sick, but COVID didn't spread amongst the sackers of cities. What a crock.
Electricity and water shut off to Oxford gym that refused to close
There will be a peaceful protest at the gym on Saturday, so take the day off and go down there.
Then, at the bottom of the page:
"60,000-plus people have been tested for COVID antibodies in Mass, but the state won’t say how many tested positive" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, June 18, 2020
Tens of thousands of people across Massachusetts have been tested for antibodies linked to COVID-19, offering what researchers say could be vital information on how far the disease has spread, but the state, despite recently disclosing how many new tests are being performed, has made little else public, including how many of the 61,000 people who’ve received antibody tests have tested positive.
One can only wonder what they are hiding since all we get are scary numbers day after day that are devoid of context?
The truth is the state has been tight-lipped other than their daily caseload and death toll tallies. Oner of the least transparent.
Even that answer, infectious disease experts say, begs more questions, from who received tests to where — none of which the state provides publicly while releasing other detailed data on the coronavirus’s spread.
While viral testing can detect whether someone is infected with COVID-19, antibody testing — also known as serology testing — can reveal if someone was infected in the past, even if they never showed symptoms or have recovered. That tool, doctors say, can provide a fuller picture of the virus’s reach through Massachusetts, and potentially crucial information about a person’s immunity.
I'm starting to see why they are guarding the information and not realizing it. The results could prove a far-wider herd immunity and thus deny them the basis for continuing fear regarding the ongoing first wave, second surge in September, and the continuing reversals on reopens and such. This thing is becoming more wicked the longer it goes on.
The reliability of such tests, however, can be scattershot, and even Governor Charlie Baker has questioned the accuracy of antibody testing. “It’s definitely an evolving science,” Baker said this week.
Many produce false positives, readers, and that guy is a real piece of work.
Still, the state this month began incorporating data from antibody testing into its official count of cases, one of the crucial metrics Baker’s administration uses in gauging when to reopen sectors of the state’s economy.
Among the new infections the state now reports each day are “probable cases,” which can include people who had a positive antibody test and either had COVID symptoms or were likely exposed to a positive case, according to DPH.
I just linked it above, but these criminals that threw in with the sick genocidal globalists are literally making the numbers up.
Still, probably, likely, ugh!
The state does not specify how many of those positive tests there are each day, and, the “probable” tag can apply to other circumstances, too: people who didn’t have an antibody test but had COVID symptoms and were exposed to a positive case, as well as those who died and whose death certificates listed COVID-19 as a cause of death, even though they were not tested, but DPH has not released information on how many of those tests found antibodies, despite Globe requests this week for that information. Nor has the department described the populations of people that have received them, beyond a spokeswoman saying it includes people in “seroprevalence studies or if they had a compatible illness in the recent past” but didn’t receive a viral test.
Translation: the state #s are TOTAL SHIT!
“Just knowing the numbers of tests being done is worthless information,” said Dr. David Hamer, an infectious disease expert at Boston Medical Center and professor at Boston University School of Public Health. “What are the populations being tested? Is it random sampling? And among those who are having random testing, it would be useful to have some degree of breakdown by age, sex, county — at least.”
They are even being called out within their own tight-knit community.
That the state now has data on more than 60,000 tests is a large sample, said Dr. Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health, but without knowing important underlying information, the results “can be very, very misleading.”
“As we’ve seen with a number of different attempts at this so far, releasing the data can go awry,” Mina said. "We want to make sure that we’re not selecting antibody tests that come from populations that are at potentially higher risk or lower risk, and then having people extrapolate that onto the whole population.
“What we need to do is develop very representative samples,” he said, “and how you do that is an art form and a science in itself.”
Okay. I held off on commentary as long as I could. The above is a polite and brilliant way of describing lies. A real contortion. Just above that he spews some crap about not extrapolating out skewed data after the miserable models they used to do all this, and even if they did release the raw data it can be very misleading (like Iraqi WMD on the front pages).
I sick of Bo$ton Globe experts and their bull$hit, how about you?
Mina said he and colleagues are setting up a program in association with Harvard University aimed at recruiting 5,000 people for longitudinal sampling, in which researchers would follow them over time. Other Boston-area researchers have launched or were awaiting approval for their own studies, while researchers at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard built their own test.
They will pay you?!
“In peace time . . . serological sampling is actually a very powerful tool because it gives you a lot of useful information for public health decision-making,” Mina said.
They are just stretching this thing out for as long as they can, and will probably get away with it. That's the sad thing. I can bang this keyboard as fast as I can and it still ain't enough.
“You can debate the quality of it,” Dr. John Iafrate, vice chairman of MGH’s pathology department and a member of the research team behind the Chelsea and Boston studies, said of having broader data, “but having some data would be infinitely better than having none, and guessing. You’re feeling the same frustrations that I’m feeling in academic settings: The absolute urgent need to gather data to make rational public health decisions.”
That is NOT what we have been getting?
The role antibody testing will play in the state’s long-term response remains unclear. The market has been flooded with different tests, and whether the presence of antibodies confers immunity to the virus and if so, for how long, remain open questions. “We need to know desperately whether people are protected by the presence of antibodies,” said Iafrate.
This is when I start thinking the thing is non-existent. You would have immunity and it would not go away. This starts to stink of vaxx with the stench of evil.
Baker said state officials are “hoping” to include antibody testing as part of their long-term surveillance strategy, including ramping up the state lab’s ability to conduct as many as 1,600 antibody tests each day, but the governor has also pointed to cautious advice from a group of outside advisors he convened, including former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Eric Lander of the Broad Institute, MGH leaders, and others.
LONG-TERM SURVEILLANCE, huh?
WHY?
Because the threat of an invisible enemy is never going away even after is getting burned off by summer?
“If you start getting into a grander scale use of this,” Baker said of serology testing, “I think we would like to get a little more positive feedback from the advisory board.”
So safety the King.
--more--"
Here is a court jester:
"Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Thursday said the city’s coronavirus data continues to trend downward but warned Boston “can and will get spikes” unless residents continue exercising caution. Walsh urged residents to remain cautious and continue wearing face coverings in public, practice social distancing, and frequently wash hands and surfaces. Walsh, who last week declared racism a public health crisis in Boston, urged residents to reflect Friday on “the history behind the issues we face today in 2020. We acknowledge that the role that we all have to play in breaking down systemic racism once and for all is here. This is a time to make history and move forward. There needs to be an acknowledgement of some of that work that’s been done,” Walsh said. “Our arrests are down in the city of Boston [by] 33 percent. Most people don’t think of that as a big thing, but that’s a big number, and it’s a big thing because it’s about trying to lift people up, rather than lock them up. It’s about dealing with a situation that’s in front of you, dealing with how do you deescalate it and how do you make a situation where you don’t have that.” He said complaints against officers have also dropped. “Complaints against police officers are down 41 percent in the city of Boston from 2013,” Walsh said. “Aggressive use of force [complaints] against a police officer [are] down by 50 percent since 2013. All of this should be reviewed again. Because there’s room for improvement in every single number.” Walsh was also asked about the possibility of making Juneteenth an official holiday in the city. Statewide, 271 more cases were reported on Thursday, bringing the Massachusetts caseload total to 106,442, according to state data. Among that caseload, 36 new deaths were reported on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 7,770. The numbers reflected both confirmed and probable deaths and cases....."
Funny how the riots didn't spread the viru$, huh?
Related:
After a Globe review found police pay surged over the past decade, Mayor Walsh says overtime is a necessity
He is still standing with the cops?
What we celebrate this Juneteenth
Not the mayor, that's for sure.
Reflections on Juneteenth
Zoe Greenberg of the Globe says it is ‘something we can hold onto.’
White students more likely to finish college than Black, Latino peers
No cause for celebration there (could that be why whites have "privilege?" They actually finish what they start? Just asking).
Some emergency child care centers closed due to coronavirus
Baker can't understand why parents are keeping their kids home.
Man disguised as UPS driver shot Braintree woman with rifle hidden in box
That means driverless deliveries, and what is wrong with this picture?
Braintree Police outside the home of Laurie Melchionda, who was allegedly shot to death in the doorway of her home by a former neighbor (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Do you see what I see?
They must have a guardian angel, huh?
Either that or they have immunity.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Eastern Bank prepares to go public
In a major culture shift, the nation's largest mutually owned bank traces it roots back two centuries to Salem and will thus pay reparations to women and not Blacks.
Looks like the Cold War is heating up:
"China lashes out at the United States over Xinjiang sanctions law" by Steven Lee Myers New York Times, June 18, 2020
China lashed out at the United States on Thursday after President Trump signed into law a bill that would allow him to impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the mass incarceration of more than 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minorities in the western region of Xinjiang.
The rebuke came after China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, held an unusual meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Hawaii that underscored the depth of discord between the two countries. The Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China on a variety of fronts, especially its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s incarceration of members of minority groups in Xinjiang has become another increasingly contentious, if complicated, issue between the two countries. New accusations by John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, have muddied the issue even further.
On Wednesday, the same day Trump signed the legislation, Bolton accused the president of once supporting Beijing’s crackdown in Xinjiang in an excerpt from his forthcoming book, published in The Wall Street Journal.
The Globe continues to censor the comments from Lighthizer.
In a private meeting with Xi at the Group of 20 meeting in Japan last year, Bolton wrote, the president even accepted the rationale of Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, for the creation of a vast system of camps and surveillance in Xinjiang.
Bolton also accused Trump of making obsequious appeals to Xi to buy produce from farmers in states considered vital to his reelection campaign.
Bolton’s account underscored the jarring contradictions of Trump’s policies toward China, which have confused and angered the Chinese leadership. The administration has strongly criticized China, most recently for its aggressive move to limit Hong Kong’s autonomy and for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has now killed more than 117,000 Americans and infected more than 2 million.
Bolton, who left his position last fall, portrays a president pleading with Xi for political help, particularly through a truce in the trade war that would increase Chinese purchases of US products.
Bolton, Bolton, Bolton. Lies, lies, lies.
Now, however, the Trump administration’s fury with China is a pillar of his reelection strategy — and that of many Republican lawmakers.
Chinese officials portrayed the meeting between Yang and Pompeo — which was hastily arranged and conducted in unusual secrecy — as a constructive dialogue, signaling that perhaps the two countries would step back from a confrontation that has plunged relations to the lowest level in decades.
I hope so, but it's all sideshow next to the diabolical COVID-19 agenda.
Both sides, however, offered only scant details of the talks in Hawaii, which were conducted with unusual opacity, usually reserved for only the most sensitive diplomatic missions. What information they did release suggested the meeting did little to resolve the underlying tensions between the two countries.
A statement by a spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, said Yang had challenged the United States on three issues. He criticized US support for Taiwan, accused the administration of interfering in Hong Kong, and said the United States should support what he characterized as a successful anti-terrorist campaign in Xinjiang.
Taiwan is helping Hong Kongers escape to the island.
A separate statement from the Communist Party Standing Committee in Xinjiang, which has carried out the central government’s orders to crack down on Uighur culture and faith, called the legislation “a scrap of paper that will be swept into the garbage dump by the force of justice.” Its members would presumably be among those targeted by the administration for punishment under the bill Trump signed.
The juxtaposition of Trump making the legislation law and his former adviser saying he endorsed China’s actions in Xinjiang dismayed activists who had long implored the United States and other countries to do more to stop the repression of Uighur culture and faith.
“The president that we trusted had already betrayed us from the beginning,” Fatimah Abdulghafur, a Uighur activist in Australia, said in a telephone interview.
No offense, but in the back of the line.
Tahir Imin, a Uighur activist in the United States, said that Trump had put his presidency and reelection hopes above human rights issues. Still, he said that it was possible that Trump’s views had evolved and that Trump’s signing of the legislation outweighed any concerns about his comments to Xi.
“The happiness and joy overcome the sadness,” he said.....
Someday, when we are seeing righteous vengeance from the hand of God.
--more--"
Thus, as the virus toll preoccupies the US, China is testing the limits of American power, as is Russia:
"In China, where officials have chafed at Trump’s criticism of how they handled the coronavirus outbreak, the state-run news media heavily featured reports about Floyd’s death and portrayed the protests as another sign of America’s decline. The violent protests were covered extensively in the news media and on the social media platform Weibo. “BunkerBoy” became a trending topic after reports that Secret Service agents rushed Trump to a bunker Friday night as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House. Pierre Haski, a noted French journalist, commented on France Inter on Monday: “Beijing could not have hoped for a better gift. The country that designates China as the culprit of all evils is making headlines around the world with the urban riots.”
China then escalated the situation by banning US farm and conducting war games:
"In a strategic setback for China, the Philippine government Tuesday said it was suspending termination of a longstanding military pact with the United States that President Rodrigo Duterte has criticized as unfair. The Philippine foreign secretary, Teodoro Locsin, made Tuesday’s announcement over Twitter, saying that he had informed Washington of the suspension in a diplomatic note. The decision was made “in light of political and other developments in the region,” Locsin said in the diplomatic note, without elaboration. The United States welcomed the reversal. “Our longstanding alliance has benefited both countries, and we look forward to continued close security and defense cooperation with the Philippines,” the US Embassy in Manila said. The Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia all have disputes with China about its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Some analysts saw the reversal as a strategic gain for the United States, given that the Philippines is the only US treaty ally near the South China Sea, a vital maritime shipping route. The pact permitted the US military to conduct large-scale joint exercises in the Philippines, decades after the Americans were evicted from naval bases north of Manila because of lease disagreements. In February, Duterte had ordered the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement, endangering a security blanket for the Philippines, which has been facing increasingly hostile Chinese actions in the South China Sea. Under the agreement, Washington and Manila had 180 days after the issuance of a termination notice — until August, in this case — to try to salvage the deal. Duterte’s decision to end the military alliance had followed Washington’s refusal to grant a visa to the Philippine lawmaker, Ronald dela Rosa, the early architect of Duterte’s violent war against drugs. The notice to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement came as Duterte was warming up to China while distancing himself from the United States, the Philippines’ former colonial ruler, and alarmed those in his administration who saw the alliance as a cornerstone of Philippine security and a counterweight to China’s growing regional naval might. Political analysts interpreted the reversal as a sign that China’s neighbors are worried about its growing military assertiveness."
Here they come:
Chinese navy vessels take part in a drill in the waters off Zhoushan. China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea have prompted the Philippine government to reassess a military pact with the United States (Associated Press/File 2012)
A file photo from 2012!??!!
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Will need help from England:
"More than 200 travel and hospitality executives, including the head of London’s iconic Ritz hotel, called on Britain to scrap contentious quarantine plans and allow unhindered flights from countries with a low risk of spreading the coronavirus. The group of 217 industry figures — spanning travel agents to chefs — also want Britain to relax advice warning against nonessential travel, according to a statement Monday. The intervention came as the International Air Transport Association published research suggesting the policy of 14 days of self-isolation for UK arrivals will put people off flying almost as much as fears surrounding the pandemic itself. Travel companies are ramping up efforts to head off the quarantine plan before it takes effect on June 8 in a bid to salvage what’s left of the summer vacation season."
"The Bank of England identified for the first time 53 companies that received emergency funding to help them through the coronavirus pandemic and the list includes luxury brand Burberry and Rolls Royce. The program, which started in March and is financed from the BOE’s reserves, is currently providing companies with 16.2 billion pounds ($20.4 billion) of funding."
It's the $ame over there as it is here!
"A British woman who was convicted of killing her husband after decades of emotional abuse is entitled to the family’s estate, a judge has ruled — the latest development in a case that has gripped Britain for years and exposed the challenges of confronting domestic abuse....."
They are not out in the streets in protest over it, though.
"In London, thousands of demonstrators gathered around the moated US Embassy in defiance of stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions and chanted Floyd’s name, “I can’t breathe,” and “No justice, no peace,” before making their way to Grenfell Tower. The building was the site of a devastating fire in 2017 that killed many Arab, Muslim, and African residents. On a memorial at the base of the tower, a protester wrote, “Black Lives Matter.”
"As protests spread across the United States over the two weeks following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, British activists took to the streets in solidarity. Protesters chanted Floyd’s name, but other names stood out among the shouts and signs: those of Black people killed by police in the United Kingdom. ‘‘Who killed Mark Duggan? The police killed Mark Duggan,’’ demonstrators chanted at a protest in London over the weekend. Duggan was 29-year-old Black man who was shot dead by an unidentified Metropolitan police officer in Tottenham, North London, during his attempted arrest on Aug 4, 2011. While protests were initially peaceful, the days that followed saw some of the most extensive rioting in modern British history."
"Tens of thousands flowed to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon, shouting anti-racist slogans and carrying signs paying homage to Floyd, 46, who died after a white police officer held his knee to Floyd’s neck in Minneapolis on May 25. Though most people were wearing masks, their collective chants could be heard: “George Floyd,” “Black Lives Matter,” “No justice, no peace,” they said. Footage showed hundreds streaming toward the US Embassy on foot and by car, hooting and honking horns. The health minister in Britain pleaded with residents not to gather for similar demonstrations in cities like London, Manchester, and Birmingham to stop the virus’ spread, but throngs showed up anyway — despite the cold weather, the spitting rain, and warnings by police that mass gatherings would violate the rule that only six people from different households could gather outside during the pandemic."
"Anti-racism protesters in the southwestern England port city of Bristol have toppled the statue of a prominent slave trader and dumped it into the harbor....."
Such things are happening all around the world, sob.
"British officials said the grave of an enslaved African man has been vandalized in an apparent “retaliation attack” after anti-racism protesters in Bristol toppled the statue of a slave trader. Two headstones in memory of Scipio Africanus, who lived in Bristol in the 18th century, were smashed. A message scrawled in chalk nearby called for the statue of Edward Colston to be restored. “Now look at what you made me do . . . put Colstons statue back or things will really heat up,’’ the message read. Earlier this month, protesters at a Black Lives Matter demonstration toppled a bronze statue of Colston in Bristol’s city center. It was then dumped into the harbor. The vandalized grave, a brightly painted memorial in a churchyard in Henbury, Bristol, is listed as a structure of historical interest to be preserved."
"Two of Britain’s largest companies have promised to financially support projects that assist minorities as Britain continues to reckon with its role in the slave trade. The insurance giant Lloyd’s of London and the pub chain Greene King made the pledges after they were included in a University College database of companies with ties to the slave trade. “Lloyd’s has a long and rich history dating back over 330 years, but there are some aspects of our history that we are not proud of,’’ Lloyd’s said in a prepared statement. “In particular, we are sorry for the role played by the Lloyd’s market in the eighteenth and nineteenth Century slave trade. This was an appalling and shameful period of English history, as well as our own, and we condemn the indefensible wrongdoing that occurred during this period.’’ The pub chain was founded in 1799 by Benjamin Greene. He was among the 47,000 people who received compensation intended for slave owners when the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833. Greene surrendered three plantations in the West Indies for the equivalent of 500,000 pounds ($628,000) in today’s currency. The database showed that Simon Fraser, a founder subscriber member to Lloyds, was given 400,000 pounds ($502,00) in today’s currency, to surrender an estate in Dominica. There are revived calls for Oxford University to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, a Victorian imperialist in southern Africa who made a fortune from mines and endowed Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships. Greene King’s chief executive, Nick Mackenzie, told the Daily Telegraph the company would update its website to mention past connections to slavery. He also offered an apology. “It is inexcusable that one of our founders profited from slavery and argued against its abolition in the 1800s,” he told the newspaper. “We don’t have all the answers, so that is why we are taking time to listen and learn from all the voices, including our team members and charity partners, as we strengthen our diversity and inclusion work.’’ The governors of Oriel College voted Wednesday to recommend removing the statue of Rhodes, one of Britain’s leading imperialists. He made a fortune after pushing the empire to seize South Africa’s diamond mines in the 19th century and cofounded De Beers, which eventually controlled most of the world’s diamond mines. He was a major benefactor of Oriel College, which established the Rhodes Scholarship in his name."
Of course, all that distracted the British people from who should really be tarred and feathered before dumped in the same place:
"Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government faced a rebellion from some of its own legislators on Tuesday after it summoned Members of Parliament back to London and scrapped a remote-voting system used during the coronavirus lockdown. Like millions of other Britons, the country’s 650 lawmakers have largely been working from home during the outbreak. As normal life gradually resumes, the government decreed it was time they came back to the office. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the government’s leader of the House, said lawmakers should be setting an example by showing up in person as the country gets back to work. “We need to have a proper full-blooded democracy . . . and that’s what we are getting,” he told lawmakers, but some legislators said ending the ‘‘virtual Parliament’’ before the outbreak was over would turn those who must stay home because of age, illness, or family issues into second-class lawmakers. “I feel both discriminated against and disenfranchised,’’ said opposition Labour Party lawmaker Margaret Hodge, who like many over-70s, is considered especially vulnerable to the virus and has been urged to stay at home."
Then RESIGN!
"The UK became the second country to officially record more than 40,000 coronavirus-related deaths as more than 100 scientists wrote to the British government on Friday to urge it to reconsider lifting virus lockdown restrictions. The government said another 357 people who had tested positive for the virus have died in the UK across all settings, including hospitals and care homes. That takes the total to 40,261, the world’s second-highest pandemic death toll behind the United States. The UK’s actual COVID-19 death toll is widely considered to be higher as the total only includes those who have tested positive for the virus. In an open letter, the scientists urged the government to postpone further easing of the lockdown given the still-high level of daily virus-related deaths and new infections. “Despite a two-month lockdown, we are still experiencing unacceptable daily numbers of deaths, still in the hundreds, and an estimated 8,000 new infections a day in England alone,” they said. The scientists, many of whom work in infectious disease biology and immunology, are particularly vexed by the level of community transmission of the virus. They voiced worries that there could again be “exponential growth” in the number of cases and deaths."
F**king liars doubling down on a busted flush!
"Coronavirus nearly ended street homelessness in U.K. Maybe not for long" by Ceylan Yeginsu New York Times, June 6, 2020
LONDON — As part of Britain’s effort to contain the spread of the virus, the government required local councils in England and Wales to provide emergency accommodation in budget hotels to every homeless person living on the streets.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown, more than 90 percent of people sleeping on the street have been offered a place to stay, according to government statistics. At the same time, a new, undocumented wave of homelessness is hitting the streets as people made jobless by the pandemic are being evicted from rooms they were renting.
Isn't the landlord subject to an eviction moratorium, or is that just in Bo$ton?
Kind of a kick in the a$$, huh?
Nevertheless, homeless charities say the initial success of the government’s homeless program has proved what they have long maintained: that an injection of funding and support from the government can quickly and effectively bring people off the streets.
“It was an amazing effort, and it shows what you can do when you have the political will and a willingness to spend the money,” said Dominic Williamson, the executive director of strategy and policy for the British homeless charity St. Mungo’s, but now, homeless advocates are concerned over what will happen when the emergency legislation runs out.
It is not going to be, so buck up!
In recent weeks, as businesses shuttered in accordance with the coronavirus lockdown and millions of people lost their jobs, a new wave of homelessness has spread across the country. Hit particularly hard are people in the hospitality industry who had sublet from private landlords without tenancy agreements and were therefore unable to benefit from the government’s temporary ban against evictions, but all that changed in late March.....
That's wor$e and more infectiou$ than COVID!
--more--"
May God help them:
"Britain began imposing a 14-day quarantine Monday on travelers coming into the country, months after other European countries imposed similar measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. The quarantine was roundly criticized by the aviation and tourism industries, with many questioning its timing. Critics say it has been introduced too late to be useful and doubted it could be effectively enforced. All passengers — bar a handful of exceptions like truckers or medical workers — will be asked to fill in a form detailing exactly where they will self-isolate for two weeks and give a phone number so authorities can check up on them. The requirement applies regardless if they are citizens or not and those who fail to comply could be fined."
They will also confiscate your passport while you are locked up:
"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Wednesday to overhaul immigration rules to grant almost 3 million Hong Kong residents a pathway to British citizenship, a response to Beijing’s move to impose a far-reaching security law here that many fear will dismantle the city’s political freedoms. Johnson’s vow comes as the United States, Canada, Australia, and others face pressure from lawmakers and human rights groups to offer residency to Hong Kong people fleeing deteriorating political circumstances in the former British colony, which was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of its 1997 handover to China. London’s move, which Johnson said he would implement when China formally enacts the security law, could emerge as among the most significant ramifications of Beijing’s effort to undercut Hong Kong’s freedoms and bring the city more closely under its rule. It would potentially grant British residency and working rights to up to 40 percent of Hong Kong’s population, raising the specter of a brain drain from the financial center."
Some will be sent to Canada:
"In Toronto, calls to end American racism merged with outrage at the recent death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, a Black woman who police said fell from her balcony after officers arrived at her home in response to what Toronto’s police chief called a “rather frantic” call about an assault. In downtown Montreal, a protest Sunday turned violent after police deemed it illegal and ordered people to disperse. Clutches of protesters responded by throwing projectiles at police, who used tear gas and pepper spray."
America is also going to open its doors to refugees from Hong Kong:
Protesters wave American flags during a rally outside the US Consulate in Hong Kong in December (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press).
You won't be able to fly in after thousands in Hong Kong held a vigil, even as China’s exports and imports both fell in May as the coronavirus and trade tensions with the United States weighed on demand at home and abroad.
That forced the Chinese to back down before they came out swinging:
"Under continued fire for its early mishandling of the coronavirus, the Chinese government vigorously defended its actions in a new, detailed account Sunday that portrays the country’s approach to combating the outbreak as a model for the world. The Chinese government put its full propaganda muscle behind the report. The report also highlights its cooperation with the United States. It notes that the heads of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Chinese equivalent spoke to each other by phone Jan. 4 and again four days later...."
We all knew the Chinese are in on this, and what was Lieber doing in Wuhan anyway?
As Congre$$ gets closer to declaring war, several prominent critics of the Chinese government, including protest leaders in Hong Kong and pro-democracy activists in the United States, have accused Zoom of shutting their accounts and severing live events in recent weeks under pressure from Beijing.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
It was then that Chinese troops shot through the Himalayan pass and invaded India:
"China and India have stepped back from a tense confrontation along their shared border high in the Himalayas, pledging to resolve disputes over territory through diplomatic and military channels, India’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. The announcement came a day after military commanders from the two sides met near Chushul, where troops from the two countries clashed last month. China did not immediately discuss the talks, but officials and the state news media had sought to play down the confrontation in the days leading up to them....."
Looks like the latest war zone in the area.
"India reported 9,971 new coronavirus cases Sunday in another biggest single-day spike, a day before it prepares to reopen shopping malls, hotels, and religious places after a 10-week lockdown. India has now surpassed Spain as the fifth hardest-hit by the pandemic with 246,628 confirmed cases and 6,929 fatalities. New Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad are among the worst-hit cities in the country. Six of India’s 28 states account for 73 percent of total cases. India has already partially restored train services and domestic flights and allowed shops and manufacturing to reopen. E-commerce companies have started to deliver goods, including those considered nonessential, to places outside containment zones. Subways, schools, and movie theaters remain closed."
"Lord Jagannath, the favorite deity of millions of Indians, won’t have his annual ceremonial procession for the first time in almost three centuries amid the pandemic. The Supreme Court on Thursday prohibited the festival, which goes on for about 10 days, citing risks to public health and safety. India stands behind the United States, Brazil, and Russia in the number of cases....."
Then they are not ready for a war with Pakistan:
"Pakistan passed another grim milestone as the number of deaths from COVID-19 crossed the 2,000 mark on Sunday. Pakistan is also pushing toward 100,000 confirmed infections as Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the country’s 220 million people in speeches that they are going to have to learn to live with the virus. He said the country is too poor to go into a full lockdown, which he warned would devastate a failing economy, already dependent on billions of dollars in loans from international lending institutions. Pakistan’s medical professionals have pleaded for more controls and greater enforcement of social-distancing directives. They’re infuriated that Khan’s government bowed to the religious right to keep open mosques, which have been one of the leading causes of the spikes in infections. To try to stem the spread of the virus, the government has ordered markets closed on weekends and inspections have been stepped up in some areas where clusters have emerged, quarantining entire neighborhoods. Pakistan has some 3,000 ICU beds, and while the demands are increasing, nearly 25 percent are still available."
Better cover up over there!
"Pakistan has reported 5,358 new coronavirus cases, pushing infections in the Middle East beyond 1 million. Cases in Pakistan have been spiraling in recent weeks, crossing 160,000 on Thursday even as Prime Minister Imran Khan has resisted pleas from medical professionals and the World Health Organization to reimpose a strict lockdown for at least two weeks. Khan says a countrywide lockdown would devastate an already crumbling economy and hurt the poorest with unemployment expected to near 7 million. Economists say Pakistan’s poverty rate of 30 percent has increased to 40 percent since the first lockdown was imposed in mid-March."
You resist the WHO and they lean on you like a mob bo$$.
Anyway, life goes on, and here is something you don't see much anymore:
The carrier Abraham Lincoln in the North Arabian Sea in 2019 (Bryan Denton/The New York Times).
The Iranians warned the United States against any dangerous behavior in Persian Gulf, and it would be a gamble with the US military so sick. The Navy has been laid low with the virus, with infections nearly doubling by the day, and a full investigation has been launched as the aircraft carriers have been grounded.
Fortunately, the Iranians falsely believe belief that toxic methanol cures the coronavirus, and it has seen more than 700 people killed in Iran -- a higher death toll than so far released by the Iranian Health Ministry. An adviser to the ministry, Hossein Hassanian, said that the difference in death tallies is that some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital. Alcohol poisoning has skyrocketed by 10 times over in Iran in the past year, according to a government report released earlier in April, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
At least they can go to a drive-in movie as Iran and the United States are negotiating a deal that would release a US Navy veteran, infected with coronavirus while in prison and held by Iranian authorities in exchange for an Iranian-American doctor detained by the Americans, according to a senior Iranian official and a spokesman for the veteran’s family, and prayers were allowed to resume in Iranian mosques in certain cities.
Then under the cover of a prisoner swap, Iran struck the U.S. in Iraq as plunging oil prices have hastened a potential economic catastrophe with coronavirus is still stalking the country, although the contagion rate has appeared to be lower than expected, health experts say that the risk of a second wave is very real should Iraq’s lockdown be eased too quickly -- which is why the new Iraq prime minster released the protesters and promoted a respected general:
"The number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported daily in Iraq has reached 1,000 for the first time and the country has seen its cases more than triple in the last two weeks due to increased testing. A Health Ministry statement issued on Friday said at least 1,006 new coronavirus cases had been reported in the previous 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 9,846. Ministry figures showed the death toll remained at 285. Health Ministry teams have been doing random virus tests of the population, and Iraqi officials have said that is why confirmed cases are spiking. Iraq has conducted nearly 10,000 tests per day in recent days, but the rising numbers are concerning for health workers who cite a scarcity of medical supplies and trained staff. country’s health sector. Doctors have told patients who have tested positive to stay at home unless their symptoms worsen."
"Iraq’s Health Ministry has reported the country’s highest single-day spike in confirmed coronavirus cases since late February, when the government began recording cases. The ministry said at least 416 new cases were reported on Friday. The country had given Iraqis a week’s holiday to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Curfew hours had been relaxed during the month of fasting, which contributed to higher daily rates of infection."
They are no longer being allowed into Iran because of the new surge in virus cases after reopening:
A woman wore a mask and gloves as she walked through the Grand Bazaar in Tehran last week. The country has been hit by a new surge of coronavirus cases three weeks after reopening, according to health officials in some of the eight provinces where the numbers have spiked again (Arash Khamooshi/New York Times).
Of course, in Iran, which has violently put down demonstrations, state television has repeatedly aired images of the US unrest and Iran on Thursday freed Michael R. White, a Navy veteran whose nearly two-year-long incarceration had become another sore point in the country’s increasingly tense relationship with the United States. White was flown out of the country a day after US immigration authorities returned an Iranian scientist to Iran. Both men had been infected with the coronavirus while in custody -- meaning Iran wanted to get rid of them (Deep $tate agent Bill Richardson's working behind the scenes), and for Trump, the news of White’s release offered a diversion from the multiple crises that have rocked his administration — his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the widespread protests against the police killing of George Floyd and other African Americans, and his bellicose threat to deploy the military to crush urban unrest..... as he allowed the Iranian oil tankers to pass into Venezuelan ports:
"Five Iranian tankers likely carrying at least $45.5 million worth of gasoline and similar products are now sailing to Venezuela, part of a wider deal between the two US-sanctioned nations amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The tankers’ voyage comes after Venezuela’s socialist leader, Nicolás Maduro, turned to Iran for help in flying in chemicals needed at an aging refinery amid a gasoline shortage. For Iran, the tankers represent a way to bring money into its cash-starved Shi’ite theocracy and put its own pressure on the United States, which under President Trump has pursued maximalist campaigns against both nations, but the strategy invites the chance of a renewed confrontation between the Islamic Republic and America both in the Persian Gulf and wider afield. Late Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying the US “piracy” threatened the “disruption of Iran’s fuel transmission to Venezuela.’’
It worked, because the U.S. didn't lay a finger on them.
I wonder what kind of ally Egypt would make in the war on Iran:
"In Egypt, where the rate of new confirmed infections doubled last week, the pandemic has created friction between President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and doctors who have revolted over a lack of protective equipment and training. Although Egypt’s 30,000 cases are far fewer than those of several other Arab countries — Saudi Arabia has three times as many — it has by far the highest death toll in the region, and its infection rate is soaring. Last Sunday the government recorded 1,500 new cases, up from about 700 just three days earlier. The next day the minister for higher education and scientific research warned that Egypt’s true number of cases could be more than 117,000."
Maybe they could occupy Syria for us:
"Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday fired his prime minister, a month ahead of elections and as the economic crisis worsens and public anger rises in the territory under his control. The surprise decision comes amid a deepening economic crisis that Assad’s government is grappling with while public anger has spilled over into the streets. Such protest scenes have not been seen in government-held areas since the early days of the civil war that has ravaged the country over the past decade. There was no explanation for the sacking of Khamis, but the move appeared aimed at deflecting public anger. The staggering economic downturn and meltdown comes ahead of looming new US sanctions against any entity or country that does business with the Syrian government. The new sanctions are due to take effect in the second half of June but they have shaken the already teetering economy. Hundreds of protesters in the southern Sweida province have taken to the streets in the last four days, decrying the rising cost of living and chanting against Assad, in scenes reminiscent of the early days of anti-government protests that erupted in 2011....."
The regime change operations never end, and isn't Syria's next door neighbor Israel?
"Israel’s attorney general said Thursday that neither the criminal charges that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing nor the unusual terms of the coalition deal he struck with a former rival should disqualify him from forming a new government. The opinion by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who oversaw the investigation of Netanyahu and personally issued the indictment against him, could wind up strengthening his defenses against removal. It comes as Israel’s Supreme Court is to hear legal challenges Sunday to Netanyahu’s power-sharing agreement with Benny Gantz, who fought him to a draw in three elections before giving up and joining him...."
He was allowed to form a government, thus setting Israel on a painful path:
Israelis protested against their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday in Jerusalem (Amir Levy/Getty Images/Getty Images).
"A 21-year-old Israeli soldier was killed early Tuesday when he was struck in the head by a heavy rock as his unit was completing a nighttime arrest mission in a Palestinian village near Jenin, in the northern West Bank, the army said. It was the first combat fatality for the Israeli military this year, and it came as the region was bracing for a possible uptick in violence in response to an Israeli push to annex land in the occupied West Bank that the Palestinians have long counted on for a future state. Later in the day, a Palestinian man who attempted a stabbing attack at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem was shot and wounded, the Israeli police said. The overnight killing of the soldier, Staff Sergeant Amit Ben Ygal, of the city of Ramat Gan, occurred during what the army described as a routine operation that resulted in the arrest of four Palestinians in Yaabed, west of Jenin, including some suspected of throwing stones at passing Israeli motorists. The soldier was hit by a rock thrown from a house on the outskirts of the village, the army said. He was wearing a helmet, but it did not save him. A hunt was underway for his killer on Tuesday, and the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that Israeli forces were raiding homes in Yaabed and had arrested seven additional people by around noon. The mayor of Yaabed, Saed Zaid Kilani, said later that Israeli forces had arrested an entire family living in the home from which it was believed the rock had been thrown at Ben Ygal. Kilani said that several residents had been shot with rubber bullets by Israeli forces searching for the killer. He added that Israeli troops had been in Yaabed, a town of about 20,000, repeatedly over the past week and had clashed with residents each time, firing tear gas and rubber bullets. In a wrenching radio interview Tuesday morning, Ben Ygal’s father, Baruch, recalled how his son, phoning home from a high school trip to concentration camps in Poland that is a rite of passage for Israeli youngsters, had pleaded for permission to enlist as a combat soldier. “I said to him, ‘Amit, my precious, you’re my only child, understand the significance.’ He said, ‘Dad, we have no other country. We have no other country.’ ” Ben Ygal added: “I’m broken and shattered now.”
The parents (center) of Israeli army Staff Sergeant Amit Ben Ygal grieved during his funeral in Beer Yaakov, Israel, Tuesday. (Ariel Schalit/Associated Press/Associated Press)
No one suffers grief more than the Jew.
"An Israeli Army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, said, “We have a good assessment of who it is, and it’s just a matter of time before they will be apprehended.” Conricus described Yaabed as “a known hot spot of terrorists and sympathizers and supporters of terrorist activity — and lots of stone throwing.” Palestinian officials said militants representing Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and rival factions claimed many supporters in the area. On a Facebook Live video at midday, Israeli forces could be seen detaining a woman and firing a large round of tear gas toward residents and journalists. The Israeli military did not provide details about why the four Palestinians had been arrested but described the mission as the sort of operation that is conducted by security forces almost every night. Kamel Abu Shamleh, a member of the municipal council, said that two of his sons had been taken away after his home was raided by about 10 soldiers at 4 a.m., as his family was eating its Ramadan predawn meal before fasting for the day. He said it was the first time that they had been arrested and that the soldiers had not given a reason. Abu Shamleh said that he had called the Red Cross and another humanitarian group out of concern that his sons might be harmed while in Israeli custody in reprisal for Sergeant Ben Ygal’s killing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said that he wants to annex West Bank land, a long-held dream of the Israeli right, as soon as July. That will be among the subjects covered during a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday. But opponents of annexation have warned that annexation could ignite a new wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The killing of Ben Ygal appeared to stoke tensions, at a minimum. A grisly video showing a trail of blood leading from the spot where he was struck was shared thousands of times on Palestinian social media Tuesday morning. In Gaza, Hamas praised the killing, and Ibrahim al-Madhoun, an analyst close to the militant group, wrote on Twitter and Telegram, “The annexation policy in the West Bank will be confronted by intense resistance — rock, knife, gun, explosion.” In the early afternoon Tuesday, a Palestinian man was shot and wounded by Israeli security officers at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. Israeli police said that he had run at one of the security officers wielding a screwdriver as a weapon but that he was shot before harming anyone. Israel had not lost a soldier in the West Bank since August, when a 19-year-old student who had technically enlisted but was still studying in a yeshiva was stabbed to death near his school. The last combat soldier killed, in March 2019, was guarding a hitchhiking station near the settlement city of Ariel. The killing on Tuesday was reminiscent of that of Ronen Lubarsky, a soldier in an elite combat unit who was struck in the head and fatally wounded by a heavy slab that broke his helmet in May 2018 in the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah."
Pompeo flew in for a meeting (during a pandemic?) with China very much on the agenda (possible infighting among allies?), before Israelis celebrated their Independence Day at home Wednesday amid a nationwide lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The national holiday, which honors the creation of Israel after the end of the British Mandate in 1948, is usually a festive occasion, with people heading to the beach, hosting barbecues, and watching fireworks. This year, however, the government has banned public gatherings and ordered people to remain within 100 meters of their homes unless they require medicine or have other vital needs. Public transportation has been shut down, and police are manning roadblocks to prevent travel. The Israeli air force devoted its annual fly-by to health workers, with four planes crisscrossing the nation and performing aerial acrobatics over hospitals and medical centers. President Reuven Rivlin hosted an annual televised event in which the president usually presents awards to soldiers. This year, the awards ceremony was postponed and the event was reconfigured as an online, star-studded tribute to medical workers and security forces, with performances by famous musicians and comedians but no live audience.
Meanwhile, just over the fence:
"Israel’s defense minister apologized on Sunday for the Israeli police’s deadly shooting of an unarmed Palestinian man who was autistic. The shooting of Iyad Halak, 32, in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, drew broad condemnations and revived complaints alleging excessive force by Israeli security forces. Benny Gantz, who is also Israel’s “alternate” prime minister under a power-sharing deal, made the remarks at the weekly meeting of the Israeli Cabinet. He was sat near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who made no mention of the incident in his opening remarks. “We are really sorry about the incident in which Iyad Halak was shot to death and we share in the family’s grief,” Gantz said. “I am sure this subject will be investigated swiftly and conclusions will be reached.” Halak’s relatives said he had autism and was heading to a school for students with special needs where he studied each day when he was shot. In a statement, Israeli police said they spotted a suspect “with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol.” When he failed to obey orders to stop, officers opened fire, the statement said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld later said no weapon was found. Israeli media reported the officers involved were questioned after the incident as per protocol, and a lawyer representing one of them sent his condolences to the family in an interview with Israeli Army Radio. Lone Palestinian attackers with no clear links to armed groups have carried out a series of stabbings, shootings, and car-ramming attacks in recent years. Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups have long accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force."
Anti-semites!
"Gaza’s Hamas rulers allowed mosques to reopen for Friday prayers for the first time since March despite a spike in coronavirus cases. Worshipers brought their own prayer rugs, wore masks, and kept space between themselves. They were given hand sanitizer at the entrances to mosques. The opening came ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Authorities in Gaza have reported 35 new cases in recent days, bringing the total number to 55. All the new cases were detected in quarantine facilities, but they have renewed concerns about a wider outbreak that could overwhelm the depleted health care system in the impoverished territory, which is home to 2 million people. Hamas says it would bar the entry of returnees until the end of June to allow health workers to deal with the new cases."
"Jordan’s king warned Israel of a “massive conflict” if it proceeds with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank, as European Union foreign ministers agreed on Friday to step up diplomatic efforts to try to head off such a move. Israel has vowed to annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley, which could end the long-stalled peace process by making it virtually impossible to establish a viable Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved a step closer by reaching an agreement to form a government after more than a year of deadlock. President Trump’s Middle East plan, which overwhelmingly favors Israel, gave a green light to annexation, but most of the international community is strongly opposed. Jordan’s King Abdullah II told the magazine Der Spiegel: “What would happen if the Palestinian National Authority collapsed? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region. If Israel really annexed the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” Jordan is a close Western ally and one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. Abdullah declined to say whether annexation would threaten that agreement. “I don’t want to make threats and create an atmosphere of loggerheads, but we are considering all options. We agree with many countries in Europe and the international community that the law of strength should not apply in the Middle East,’’ he said. At a video-conference, EU foreign ministers reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution and opposition to any annexation. The ministers, whose countries are deeply divided in their approach to Israel, agreed to ramp up diplomatic efforts in coming days with Israel, the Palestinians, the United States, and Arab countries. “We reaffirm our position in support of a negotiated, two-state solution. For this to be possible, unilateral action from either side should be avoided and, for sure, international law should be upheld,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after chairing the meeting. “We must work to discourage any possible initiative toward annexation,’’ Borrell told reporters in Brussels. “International law has to be upheld. Here, and there, and everywhere.” He made no mention of the use of sanctions, saying only that the EU will use ‘‘all our diplomatic capacities in order to prevent any kind of unilateral action.” The ministers had planned to welcome the formation of a new Israeli government and offer the bloc’s cooperation, but Netanyahu and his rival-turned-partner, Benny Gantz, have postponed the swearing-in of their controversial new Cabinet as the Israeli leader tries to quell infighting within his Likud party. The ceremony, originally scheduled for Thursday, is now planned for Sunday to give Netanyahu more time to hand out coveted Cabinet appointments to members of his party. Their coalition agreement allows him to present an annexation proposal as soon as July 1. The EU has long been committed to a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, with the possibility of mutually agreed land-swaps. Israel seized east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three to form their future state. The bloc has already rejected Trump’s Mideast plan, which would allow Israel to annex about a third of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians with heavily conditioned statehood in scattered territorial enclaves surrounded by Israel. “In our opinion, an annexation is not compatible with international law,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday. “From our point of view, changes to borders must, if at all, be the result of negotiations and happen in agreement between both sides.” Jordan has been lobbying the EU to take “practical steps” to make sure annexation doesn’t happen. In a statement, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi “stressed the need for the international community and the European Union in particular to take practical steps that reflect the rejection of any Israeli decision to annex.”
What then, WAR?
I hope he doesn't expect Saudi Arabian help, for they are with Israel and how is the mass-murdering slaughter in Yemen going?
"Saudi Arabia, which cohosted the UN pledging event, said it would pay half a billion dollars in aid for Yemen this year, the largest amount pledged by any country. The kingdom, which has been at war in Yemen since 2015 against Iran-allied Houthi rebels, hopes to use the event to showcase its role as one of the largest donors of aid to the country. The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced more than 3 million. The United Arab Emirates, a close partner of the Saudis in the war in Yemen, offered no funding during the conference."
How f**king absurd. Use the conference to show what a great donor they are to a country they destroyed!
Of course, no one will stand up to them, and efforts in the House and the Senate to pass legislation that would use the War Powers Act to curtail US military and intelligence support for Saudi Arabia have either fallen short or been stymied by leaders before they could ever get to the floor:
"The US ambassador to Yemen on Thursday accused Iran of ‘‘throwing gasoline on the fire’’ of conflicts across the Middle East, vowing that America will defend its regional interests and will not ‘‘shy away when the problems get difficult.’’ Ambassador Matthew Tueller’s comments signal that America’s hard-line approach to Tehran in the wake of withdrawing from the nuclear deal will continue for now. His remarks also take on even more importance as Tueller is now President Trump’s nominee to be the next ambassador in Iraq, a country where Iranian-led militias just beat back the Islamic State group and Tehran holds political sway. ‘‘Wherever we see instability here in the region — and I’m not saying that Iran is the source of all of the instability — but we see that opportunistically, they’re going in,’’ Tueller said at a military ceremony in eastern Yemen. ‘‘They’re throwing gasoline on the fire in an area of the world that’s so important to all of us.’’ Tueller became America’s ambassador to Yemen in 2014, just as the Arab world’s poorest country spiraled into chaos. Rebels known as Houthis stormed into the capital, Sanaa, and later seized power from the country’s government. The Houthis, members of a Shi’ite sect, pushed government forces almost entirely out of the country before a Saudi-led coalition launched a war to back them in March 2015. The war has devastated Yemen, pushing the nation to the brink of famine. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, and left much of the infrastructure in ruins."
It's a real wrestling match, with the U.S. on one side and the Saudis on the other. What is needed is leadership, even if it comes from Turkey and Americans will need to speak up if they want a free press after a shakeup in the cabinet (whatever happened to that reporter from Malta, btw? The body was never found even after the prayers and funeral).
"Turkish authorities have made the wearing of masks mandatory in three major cities to curb the spread of COVID-19 following an uptick in cases since the country allowed many businesses to reopen. Turkey has reported 182,727 confirmed cases and 4,861 deaths from COVID-19 since March....."
Spilling over into Lebanon:
"Lebanese rushed to food stores to stock up on vegetables and basic items, hours before the government was to reinstate a four-day nationwide lockdown on Wednesday, following a spike in reported coronavirus cases. The government called on the public to stay home, starting Wednesday evening and until dawn on Monday, reversing measures earlier this month that phased out restrictions imposed in mid-March. The new shutdown is a rare reversal and comes as many countries, seeking to balance economic and health care needs, have started easing restrictions. The health crisis comes at a particularly turbulent period for Lebanon. The country is facing an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, putting pressure on a population that is seeing its savings erode. The currency, pegged at a fixed rate to the dollar since 1997, has lost 60 percent of its value in a few weeks."
"Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in northern Lebanon Monday amid a crash in the local currency and a surge in food prices. Dozens of young men smashed the fronts of local banks and set fire to an army vehicle, as the protests turned into riots. The Red Cross said its teams were working on evacuating wounded people in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and one of the most neglected regions in Lebanon. Scattered antigovernment protests resumed last week as the government began easing the weekslong lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus in Lebanon, which has reported 710 cases and 24 deaths so far. The virus outbreak has exacerbated a severe economic and financial crisis gripping the country since late last year, the most serious to hit Lebanon since the end of its 1975-90 civil war. Earlier Monday, scattered anti-government protests broke out in several parts of the country, leading to road closures that prevented medical teams from setting out from Beirut to conduct coronavirus tests across the country."
The government has to get tough on them, and look, up in the sky:
"Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near Damascus early Monday, killing three civilians, the Syrian military and state media said, while a war monitoring group said four Iran-backed fighters were also killed. The military said Syrian air defenses shot down some of the missiles in the attack, which happened around dawn. The airstrike is the fourth in Syria in less than a month, despite the coronavirus pandemic gripping the region, and comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Syria as well as along the Lebanon-Israel border. The Syrian military statement gave no other details about the attack or what it targeted specifically. Syria’s state SANA news agency said shrapnel from the Israeli missiles hit homes in the Damascus suburbs of Hajira and Adlieh, killing three people there and wounding four. Israel did not comment on the Syrian report....."
The Israel's bombed them because Anwar Raslan stands out as a former colonel and the first high-ranking official to be tried on such charges, and the proceedings against him are the world’s first to deal with state-sponsored torture in Syria of children, and that caused a the elections to be delayed a second time and military action the be taken:
"In Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, the target of a monthslong offensive by the Syrian government to seize control from opposition forces, two artists painted a mural on the shell of a ruined building that read “I Can’t Breathe” and “No to Racism.”
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Of course, the entire thing will drag in Russia (the accident is one of the biggest oil spills in modern Russian history):
"The virus continued to spread across the globe, with Italy adding another 270 confirmed coronavirus cases to its official count, including a cluster of two dozen more cases at a Rome hospital that has been sealed off to contain the spread. Russia reported its second-highest one-day death toll from COVID-19 even as the number of new infections remained steady. The national coronavirus task force said that 197 people died over the past day, up from 144 a day earlier. Meanwhile, China’s capital, Beijing, is lowering its emergency response level to the second-lowest starting Saturday for the coronavirus pandemic. That will lift most restrictions on people traveling from Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei, where the virus first appeared late last year....."
Since then it has ravaged Russia because they took their chances, and what is Russia without Germany and Japan:
"The Alternative for Germany is looking to capitalize on the economic frustration the virus crisis has triggered. In France, the hard-right National Rally had the country’s strongest showing in the last European Parliament elections, and in Italy, the birthplace of fascism, the descendants of post-fascist parties have grown popular as the stigma around Mussolini and strongman politics has faded. Italy is especially vulnerable to the loss of memory. It has endured a severe epidemic and has the oldest population in Europe. It is also a politically polarized place where areas of consensus in other countries are constantly relitigated, with recollections of Nazi and fascist atrocities countered with retorts of summary executions by Communist partisans. In the three-quarters of a century following Italy’s defeat and de facto civil war with Mussolini’s short-lived Nazi puppet state in the north, the people who lived through the war and fascism have offered a living testimony that shined through the muddle. Unlike Germany, which has forced itself to look unflinchingly at its crimes, Italy has often looked away. Post-fascist parties sprouted after the war, and their direct political descendants are still vibrant, and growing. Nationalism is back in vogue, with leaders purposefully echoing Mussolini, whom many here openly admire....."
Should have been liquidated when they had the chance:
"Bayer is blocked from selling its controversial dicamba-based herbicide in the United States after an appeals court rejected a federal regulator’s permit for the product, compounding the German company’s weed-killer woes. The three-judge panel concluded the Environmental Protection Agency had ‘‘failed entirely’’ to acknowledge some risks dicamba poses and that the agency violated federal regulations when it extended its approval of registration for the herbicide for another two years in October 2018. The ruling means farmers who bought seeds to be used with dicamba for this year’s growing season may not be able to plant them, since pesticides can’t be sold or distributed in the United States without EPA registration. The decision is the latest blow to Bayer in the wake of its $63 billion takeover of Monsanto — a deal that made the German company a leader in agriculture products but also saddled it with a mountain of legal liabilities related to weed killers."
The Germans are now wondering why no kissy-kissy this time?
"Germany’s agriculture minister said Thursday that conditions at a slaughterhouse where hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 were untenable and backed an official investigation into the outbreak....."
"Germany’s defense minister suggested Monday that President Trump’s reported plans to withdraw more than a quarter of American troops out of Germany could weaken not only the NATO alliance but the United States itself....."
Then you will have to fight the next war for us, but stay out of Greece this time.
Better recall the Imperial Japanese Army:
"For the fourth time, Nissan is recalling hundreds of thousands of midsize cars in the United States and Canada to fix a nagging latch problem that may allow the hood fly open while cars are moving. The latest recall covers nearly 1.9 million Altimas and includes cars from the 2013 through 2015 model years that were recalled earlier. It’s also been expanded to the 2016 through 2018 model years. Nissan has said previously that a coating can flake off the secondary hood latch, exposing bare metal. Over time, the metal can rust and cause the secondary latch to stay open. If the main latch isn’t closed and the cars are driven, the secondary latch may not hold the hood down as designed, Nissan said."
Maybe they could be extradited to Japan for helping ex-Nissan CEO flee because that is what Japan wants so they can arrest him.
With that, they can sweep down and conquer Australia this time:
"Thousands gathered in Australia’s capital on Friday to protest racial inequality in reaction to George Floyd’s death in the United States, while a court effectively banned a larger rally planned for Sydney because of the coronavirus threat. The Canberra rally by about 2,000 people came ahead of larger rallies planned in Australia’s most populous cities on Saturday, with authorities concerned about maintaining social distancing. Police on Friday successfully applied to the New South Wales state Supreme Court to declare that the Stop All Black Deaths in Custody rally planned for Sydney on Saturday was not an authorized public assembly. The rally was expected to attract 5,000 people to the Sydney Town Hall. Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the court ruling means “all of the police powers available to us can be used” to prevent the protest. State government and police also urged demonstrators not to attend a rally in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, because of the coronavirus risk."
"Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia warned them against attending Black Lives Matter marches Saturday because of the coronavirus risk, but tens of thousands would not be deterred. Even as Morrison, the prime minister, advised against attending the Black Lives Matter marches Saturday for fear of new outbreaks in a country that has managed to beat back the virus, huge crowds turned out in cities like Sydney and Melbourne, calling for an end to systemic racism and indigenous deaths in police custody. Anger has grown for years over the deaths: There have been more than 400 such fatalities since 1991, without a single officer having been convicted. Despite warnings that they could be fined for defying coronavirus restrictions, protesters showed up wearing masks, holding signs with slogans like “Australia is not innocent,” and shouting, “I can’t breathe” — echoing Floyd’s plea. In Melbourne, many held indigenous flags, signs, and clap sticks, which they struck in solidarity, chanting, “I can’t breathe” — also the final plea of an indigenous man, David Dungay, who died at the hands of Australian police in 2015."
The cop has finally been charged with murder before they take the war to the moon (or Africa):
"African countries on Thursday backed off their call for the UN’s top human rights body to launch its most intense scrutiny of police brutality and systemic racism in the United States, after American officials led back-channel talks to air opposition to the idea, diplomats said. The Africa Group was reworking a draft resolution but had already cut out language calling on the Human Rights Council to set up a commission of inquiry — its most potent tool — to examine issues like systemic racism and abuse against “Africans and of people of African descent” in the United States and beyond, said the diplomats, who were part of the talks. Once tabled, the text was expected to come up for a vote on Friday or Monday, the council office said. The wording could still change, diplomats cautioned. The diplomats, from Western and African countries, spoke on condition of anonymity. The “outreaching” — as one European diplomat put it — by US officials to other delegations comes even though the United States sits on the sidelines: The Trump administration pulled the United States out of the 47 member-state council in 2018, citing its alleged anti-Israel bias and acceptance of autocratic regimes as members. The council on Thursday wrapped up an urgent debate on racism and police brutality that was called after the George Floyd killing last month, which sparked Black Lives Matter protests worldwide, but the draft resolution from the Africa Group was still being finalized, diplomats said. The European diplomat said the US government clearly opposed any such commission, and he insisted the United States and others “will have to maneuver very carefully: Racism is an important subject . . . you have to be on the right side of history.” Another European diplomat credited the Africa Group for taking more time to flesh out its resolution and give other delegations time to send it back to their capitals. African negotiators “did not want to create chaos and a mess . . . Everybody wants it to be adopted by consensus,” he said. One West African diplomat said “pushback” from powerful countries in such cases was common, and the United States was no exception. Asked if US officials had pressured any countries, a diplomat from southern Africa quipped: “What do you think? I think you know the answer.” On Thursday, US Ambassador Andrew Bremberg acknowledged “shortcomings” in the United States, including racial discrimination, and said “we are not above scrutiny,” but “any resolution on the topic that calls out countries by name should be inclusive, noting the many countries where racism is a problem.”
So give it a rest.
"A Chinese public health expert says an outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing is under control and the number of new cases should drop in the coming days. Authorities have confirmed 158 cases in Beijing in the past week. Most if not all have been linked to the city’s largest wholesale food market, where thousands of people work. Wu said workers in the seafood section were infected first and in greater numbers than those in other sections....."
Finally, a beam of light from above.
