"Fake Coronavirus Data, Fear Campaign. Spread of the COVID-19 Infection" by Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, April 05, 2020
Introduction
Do not let yourself be misled by the fear campaign, pointing to a Worldwide coronavirus calamity with repeated “predictions” that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die.
These are boldface lies. Scientific assessments of the health impacts of the COVID-19 have been withheld, they do not make the headlines.
While COVID-19 constitutes a serious health issue, why is it the object of fear and panic?
According to the WHO, “The most commonly reported symptoms [COV-19] included fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath, and most patients (80%) experienced mild illness.”
Examine the contradictory headlines:
According to the WHO and John Hopkins Medicine (see below), the risks of dying from influenza are higher than from COVID-19.
Moreover, the media fails to acknowledge that there are simple and effective treatments for COVID-19. In fact, the reports on the treatment of COVID-19 are being suppressed. And the issue of “recovery” is barely mentioned.
Persistent headlines and TV reports. Fear and panic. Neither the WHO nor our governments have taken the trouble to reassure us.
According to latest media hype, citing and often distorting scientific opinion (CNBC)
One model from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that between 160 million and 210 million Americans could contract the disease over as long as a year. Based on mortality data and current hospital capacity, the number of deaths under the CDC’s scenarios ranged from 200,000 to as many as 1.7 million. (The Hill, March 13, 2020)
The Unspoken Truth: Unprecedented Global Crisis
The unspoken truth is that the novel coronavirus provides a pretext to powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians to trigger the entire World into a spiral of mass unemployment, bankruptcy, extreme poverty and despair.
This is the true picture of what is happening. “Planet Lockdown” is an encroachment on civil liberties. Entire national economies are in jeopardy. In some countries martial law has been declared.
This crisis is unprecedented in World history. It is destabilizing and destroying people’s lives Worldwide. It’s a “War against Humanity”.
While it is presented to World public opinion as a WHO global health emergency, what is really at stake are the mechanisms of “economic warfare” sustained by fear and intimidation, with devastating consequences.
The economic and social impacts far exceed those attributed to the coronavirus. Cited below are selected examples of a global process:
- Massive job losses and layoffs in the US, with more than 10 million workers filing claims for unemployment benefits.
- In India, a 21 days lockdown has triggered a wave of famine and despair affecting millions of homeless migrant workers all over the country. No lockdown for the homeless: “too poor to afford a meal”.
- The impoverishment in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa is beyond description. For large sectors of the urban population, household income has literally been wiped out.
- In Italy, the destabilization of the tourist industry has resulted in bankruptcies and rising unemployment.
- In many countries, citizens are the object of police violence. Five people involved in protests against the lockdown were killed by police in Kenya and South Africa.
Moreover, the timing of the WHO emergency coincided with America’s ongoing wars as well simmering financial instability on the World’s stock markets.
This is an exceedingly complex process which we have examined in detail in the course of the last two months. Consult our archive on coronavirus.
To reverse the tide, we must confront the lies. And the lies are overwhelming. A counter propaganda initiative is required.
When the Lie become the Truth, there is Moving Backwards.....
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In Part II of the piece, he focuses on the following issues: the definition of COVID-19 and the assessment of the number of “confirmed cases”, the risks to people’s health, how the alleged epidemic is measured and identified.
Related:
Graph of COVID Cases Goes UP, While Graph of Flu Cases Goes DOWN?
That is what has been suspected all along, and now comes the confirmation.
Then there are the disturbing videos of quiet hospitals all across the country, save for the sirens in New York City. The Matrix is real, and the mass social experiment and new reality is already bringing about a fundamental restricting in the labor market as those deemed non-essential will be put out of sight and be caged up to die at the hands of the master race.
"Walsh recommends curfew for Boston, asks all to wear masks outside home" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff, April 5, 2020
Related:
Graph of COVID Cases Goes UP, While Graph of Flu Cases Goes DOWN?
That is what has been suspected all along, and now comes the confirmation.
Then there are the disturbing videos of quiet hospitals all across the country, save for the sirens in New York City. The Matrix is real, and the mass social experiment and new reality is already bringing about a fundamental restricting in the labor market as those deemed non-essential will be put out of sight and be caged up to die at the hands of the master race.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Walsh recommends curfew for Boston, asks all to wear masks outside home" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff, April 5, 2020
Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Sunday said he is asking everyone in Boston to observe a curfew and to wear masks when they are outside their homes, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the city and the state rises toward a peak that could test the region’s public health infrastructure in coming days.
Walsh said the recommended curfew will be in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. starting Monday and running at least through May 4. He said people should rely on cloth face coverings and leave sorely needed medical grade masks for health care workers. The city is also closing sporting facilities at Boston parks, including basketball courts.
The measures come as the number of known cases of novel coronavirus in the state grows. Meanwhile, one of the newly reported deaths was a Middlesex County man in his 50s who had no preexisting conditions.....
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That's the front-page, right-corner lead, and it's lies. People are dying, yes, but COVID-19 is a MYTH! They are mislabeling seasonal flu.
The "Great Divide" leaves one online, but off-kilter if you are a Boston sixth-grader, in what will be the "first story in an ongoing series, Education Interrupted, which looks at how school closures in the wake of the coronavirus crisis are affecting individual students."
That means a series of pure propaganda pieces to push the agenda forward.
They are also asking if Massachusetts schools should close for the rest of the year because other states are doing it (if they were all jumping off cliffs would you.... never mind), but officials say they will wait to decide.
Playgrounds and schools in Walpole and across the state have been closed for weeks. (Steven Senne/Associated Press)
(below fold)
How fitting that the Globe goes beneath the waves:
New England fishing industry grinds to a halt
With the restaurants closed, a 52-year-old fisherman — saddled with mortgages on his two boats, hefty docking fees, and a host of other expenses — says “this is just going to be an economic disaster for us.”
"MBTA employees are also on the front lines, often unnoticed" by Adrian Walker Globe Columnist, April 5, 2020
In the best of times, Jose Molina’s is a low-visibility, often thankless job, but now — with no choice but to perform a job that carries heavy risk — the normal challenges are multiplied. Even with ridership down to a fraction of its normal level, and the frequency of service adjusted, there’s still plenty of exposure to the public.
I find that hard to believe when it has been reported that "a video on Twitter showed an empty Green Line train rolling past an empty platform in mid-morning, and the usually packed Alewife MBTA parking garage was 4 percent full," but anyway.
MBTA officials — reacting to a crisis they had never considered — have scrambled to keep operators and other employees as safe as possible. The agency has been distributing personal protective equipment as quickly as it can acquire it.
The virus has also prompted temperature checks for employees at the beginning of their shifts. Those with fevers are sent home and urged to contact co-workers with whom they’ve had close contact.
“They are on the front lines of it,”said the MBTA’s general manager, Steve Poftak, in an interview.
He noted that absenteeism remains at normal levels, but the fact that showing up for work is a closely watched metric indicated a concern for how this is all affecting morale among the MBTA’s workforce.....
Of course not. They are considered e$$ential (with no riders?), still getting paid and have jobs, and will $hut up if nece$$ary.
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At least the virus made you forget all about the dilapidated equipment and neglected maintenance along with the derailments, 'eh?
Who gets sick with coronavirus, who doesn’t, and why?
The data they don't have shows a clear pattern of who is at risk, but the occasional outlier points to an enduring mystery:
"Kara VanGuilder’s symptoms started one day in early March, with a cough and a vague feeling that she was coming down with something. By a week and a half later, she was running a high fever, soaked in sweat, barely able to tell night from day — shivering, coughing, weeping, praying. “That’s the closest encounter I’ve had with death in my whole life. I really was convinced that weekend that I was going to die,” said VanGuilder, who received test results confirming COVID-19 on March 24, just as she was starting to feel better. As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, data on those who fell ill have revealed clear patterns, but as with any illness, there are outliers — such as young athletes who succumb, or the Connecticut newborn who died of COVID-19 even though infections are exceedingly rare in young children....."
There they go again, telling lies!
A LIHOP in the works?
"Surgeon general says coming week will ‘be our Pearl Harbor moment’" by Marisa Iati and Adam Taylor Washington Post, April 5, 2020
Now I do want to puke.
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Sunday said the coming week could be a national catastrophe comparable to Pearl Harbor or 9/11, echoing President Trump’s dire prognostication as the coronavirus exacts a deadly toll on America.
‘‘This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,’’ Adams said in an appearance on Fox News. ‘‘This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country.”
What EVIL do you liars have planned?
He added that the next 30 days would be critical for slowing the coronavirus’s spread, noting that some early hot spots are actually starting to contain the virus.
Once this drill is over they will all pat themselves on the back and give themselves a round of applause for how great they did -- like that ER center in New York all standing outside, laughing, not wanting to answer questions, looking at the citizen funny.
Still, Adams urged governors in Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Iowa, to look for ways to keep residents at home without disrupting the food supply. ‘‘What I would say to those governors is, if you can’t give us a month, give us what you can. Give us a week,’’ Adams said. ‘‘Give us whatever you can to stay at home during this particularly tough time when we’re going to be hitting our peak over the next seven to 10 days.’’
The food supply chain is already breaking down. I need fresh food, and am forced to go to the grocery at least twice a week. I have notice a major drop in quality regarding the fresh produce, along with the accompanying stomach problems (I made it through, thankfully). The pickings are skimpy, and what used to last the whole week is now beginning to spoil within days. The workers are probably under orders to disregard the don't sell past date because the food will allegedly last longer. That's how kids got that months-past due meat and other USDA products shoveled into the school lunch program years ago, remember that?
I see more pork and GMO corn in the American diet.
Public health specialists, meanwhile, say more Americans are almost certainly dying of COVID-19 but being left out of the official count of more than 9,000 deaths.
They have that backwards.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that the coming week is going to be a difficult one for Americans, although the rate of infections will probably go down as the month goes on. ‘‘This is going to be a bad week,’’ Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview on CBS News’ ‘‘Face the Nation.’’
Meanwhile, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted that the US economy is ‘‘going to be an 80 percent economy’’ until efforts at creating a vaccine are successful. ‘‘There are things that are not coming back. People are not going to crowd into conferences. They’re not going to crowd into arenas … and we need to accept that,’’ Gottlieb said on ‘‘Face the Nation.’’
South Sudan says “the only vaccine is social distancing,” because a United Nations worker who arrived from Netherlands on Feb. 28 is ill with the disease -- like when the UN brought cholera to Haiti!
That means $PORT$ are FINI$HED for the fore$eeable future!!
How many leagues will not survive?
Oh, yeah, I would run out and get some Vitamin C if I were you.
Also see: "FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said there’s no evidence that any drug is in short supply because China or another country is blocking critical ingredients from the US market. “We are monitoring that very closely,” he said in an interview with Fox News......"
I think it is our governments and suppliers that are withholding things, toilet paper in particular. No TP is a way of traumatizing the people.
Overseas, in a rare broadcast Queen Elizabeth II called on the British people to show their self-discipline and quiet resolve during the pandemic, and Pope Francis marked Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in a service surrounded by only a few aides and a handful of clergy, after the annual public ceremony in St. Peter’s Square was scrapped.....
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Related:
"Although the royal family has endured a litany of bad news in the last year — from the bitter departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, to the messy dealings of Prince Andrew with disgraced financier and convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein — Queen Elizabeth II remains a revered figure among many Britons. After her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, announced his illness, Buckingham Palace said the queen was healthy, but it has not issued any updates on her condition. The palace did not comment on a recent report in a British tabloid, The Sun, that one of the queen’s footmen, who walks her dogs, had contracted the virus. Her 98-year-old husband, Prince Philip, was flown to Windsor Castle by helicopter from his residence on the grounds of Sandringham, another of the queen’s residences....."
The New York Times was able to hitch a ride while you were watching on TV:
A family in Hartley Wintney, west of London, watched Queen Elizabeth’s address to the nation on TV on Sunday. (Adrian DEnnis/AFP/Getty Images)
Palm Sunday services held without public
I'm told Francis looked pensive and sounded subdued.
Is that because he is aware of the globalist world depopulation program that will considerably thin his herd?
Europe sees more signs of hope as Italy’s curve falls
France is also fastly catching up.
This is what greeted me when I flipped the paper open and saw the A2 Nation/World page:
Joe Biden seeks to revive fund-raising momentum
The Washington ComPost tells us that ‘‘Joe Biden is driving huge voter turnout during this primary season’’ and who gives a fuck about Joe Biden and HIS money problems at this point? They are going to anoint him anyway so why bother voting?
Taliban warn peace deal with US near breaking point
I'm glad I wasn't taking the peace deal seriously then.
Maybe the French would like to take a stab at it:
Third person held in France knife attack south of Lyon
They can help bury the hatchet like they did the dead in Rwanda:
Rwanda finds genocide grave that could contain 30,000 bodies
We are looking at those kind of pits thanks to COVID-19.
Bike, motorcycle crash in Florida kills 2 on popular street
Happened in Tampa about 11 a.m.
Teen arrested in fatal shooting of Wisconsin doctor, husband
Expect a lot more of that as jails and prisons are emptied across the country, and at least they are still holding the primary even as the pandemic upends the battle for Congress.
Premier infuriated by Trump, says Canada helped US amid 9/11
As with that Trauma-based Mind Control Psychological Operation and false-flag atrocity, they ignored the warning signs:
US ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic
That's odd because no less than Henry Kissinger says the U.S. administration has done a solid job in avoiding immediate catastrophe.
Navy captain removed from carrier tests positive
That will keep him from talking for at least two weeks!
Tiger at NYC’s Bronx Zoo tests positive for virus
That smells like cat shit, sorry.
Virus cancels anniversary event for mine explosion
Or maybe it was that.
Baker should account for what he keeps open
And for what he has closed!
The Globe now pimps the role of architecture in fighting a pandemic as spaces can be purposefully designed to assist in the prevention, containment, and treatment of infectious disease, including COVID-19, but in these unsettling times, you might want to turn to nature for comfort because spending time outside is critical to mental and physical health.
Hospitals on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket worry about possible need to evacuate patients
Three more dead at Williamstown nursing home after testing positive for coronavirus
(FOLD)
As colleges go online, a mixed experience for students
Deirdre Fernandes of the Globe Staff spoke with a Ms. Rachel Woodiwiss, 19, a junior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who is from Long Island.
Kate Mattes, whose Kate’s Mystery Books was a haven for fans and authors alike, dies at 72
Only one corona death out of all that?
God help u$ all:
The Rev. Miniard Culpepper of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, gave a $10 bill to a shopper at Save-A-Lot. He handed out $250 each at Save A Lot and Stop & Shop, for a total of $500. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Gal Tziperman Lotan of the Globe Staff is saying that with donations trickling in, the $10 ministry is continuing, but I would advise you to still keep your distance.
6-year-old boy receives new heart after 4 years of waiting
His last Christmas was his best ever.
Man charged after coughing, spitting inside Kingston Stop & Shop, leading to fight
That item was relayed by a Ms. Abigail Feldman, a Globe Correspondent.
Rockland Police investigating hit & run crash that seriously injured pedestrian
The driver was on his way to the grocery store.
Even now, you can have some control over your finances
Harvard Business School grad Tina Hay’s visual approach to money matters seems especially appealing in these scary times.
Better read the FINE PRINT:
State unemployment agency adds staff, still nearly overwhelmed
Tired of the excu$es yet when others get their money in a jif?
During the crisis, the library is at your fingertips
They will help you build a fort!
"Federal aid program for small businesses gets off to a rocky start" by Mark Niquette, Michael Sasso and Hannah Levitt Bloomberg News, April 5, 2020
Small businesses had mixed results trying to apply for loans on the first day of an unprecedented and quickly arranged federal relief program, with some banks including Wells Fargo & Co. saying they weren’t ready as lenders across the country grappled with a lack of detailed guidelines from the government.
They just wanted to hold on to the money a bit longer.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. started taking applications Friday afternoon after warning clients Thursday night that it was still awaiting guidance. Bank of America Corp. initially took applications only from its existing small-business borrowers but later said it would broaden its lending after that sparked criticism.
Remember the criticism of BoA for later.
Friday was the first day small businesses could start applying for loans under a $349 billion program included in a $2 trillion stimulus package passed last month to shore up the economy.
People were fighting like animals for it.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said more than 800 lenders, mostly community banks, participated on Friday and that he expects all big banks will be accepting applications in the coming week. He promised that if the fund runs out of money, he’ll ask Congress for more.
“I know there’s a lot of hardworking small businesses that couldn’t get their applications processed this week,” Mnuchin said on Fox Business. “They shouldn’t worry about it.”
That is ea$y for him to $ay.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. (Win McNamee/Getty)
I don't know when that photograph was taken, and can we get someone with a tape measure out there because it looks like several members are not practicing what they are preaching to all of us.
Still, there have been at least 17,503 loans valued at more than $5.4 billion total, the Small Business Administration’s chief, Jovita Carranza, tweeted Friday night.
I love it when a paragraph starts with still or but.
Does the journali$t know he or she just undercut everything they just said?
The rollout has been plagued by uncertainty, partly because of its magnitude and the urgency to get money to distressed small-business owners before they’re forced to shut down permanently.
Your fate is in the hands of the banks now.
The first applicants reported widely different experiences. Some got error messages when trying to apply online, another had been trying since 4 a.m., in vain, while two Bank of America small-business clients said they got through quickly and smoothly.
The National Federation of Independent Business, the largest group representing small businesses in the country, said it was hearing from too many that were shut out and called on lenders and the government to change that immediately. “These small businesses did their due diligence and were ready this morning, but are hearing ‘no,”’ NFIB President Brad Close said in a statement.
Wells Fargo was not accepting applications as of Friday afternoon, according to its website. The bank is working “as quickly as possible to be ready to assist small business customers,” spokeswoman Kate Pulley said via e-mail. Huntington Bancshares Inc. CEO Steve Steinour said Friday afternoon that the lender would be taking applications “momentarily” and expected to be “going seven days a week from now until June 30.”
The nation’s credit unions early Friday were still seeking guidance on how they can participate. Some smaller banks also said they’re weren’t ready until they got more guidance about processing loans from the Treasury and SBA, the agency in charge of the program.
The initiative, called the Paycheck Protection Program, is meant to help small businesses keep workers on payrolls by offering loans of as much as $10 million with the portion used for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utility payments for two months forgivable if firms retain and rehire employees.
It's for tho$e who really need protecting.
Wahid Nassar, who runs a restaurant in the Highlands, N.J., said he tried going online Friday to apply for the loan through Bank of America, but repeatedly got error messages. “There’s so much confusion and it’s hard to get a straight answer from anyone right now,” he said, but Joseph Colangelo, chief executive of Boxcar Inc., a Chatham, N.J., startup whose app offers parking and bus service, had better luck. He said he found the application online, and since he was already logged into the Bank of America website, it took him only 10 minutes to complete. The site said the bank would be in touch with him if it needed further information, he said.“It was so slick,” Colangelo said. “I was very impressed.”
Earlier in the week, there were doubts about how many lenders would participate because they originally believed they would be able to charge interest of as much as 4 percent and were dismayed when the government set the rate at 0.5 percent — a rate below many banks’ own costs of funds, said Julie Huston, chief executive of Immito LLC, an SBA lender backed by a nonprofit community development group. By Thursday, Mnuchin announced the government had bumped up the allowable interest rate to 1 percent.
Ju$t trying to pitch in and do their part, I gue$$.
Look at the u$uriou$ fucks!
Advocates for small businesses have also said the $349 billion won’t be nearly enough to meet demand, and that many businesses — especially mom-and-pop shops that don’t have an established relationship with a lender — could get beaten out for funding. Some lenders have said they’ll take applications only from existing clients.....
BoA was criticized for that so WTF?
The mom and pops shops, along with people living their entrepreneurial dreams, will never be coming back, either. That's part of this evil plot.
--more--"
Related:
"Top Democratic lawmakers have urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to quickly provide US airlines with direct payroll assistance and to avoid overly restrictive terms that could deter companies from taking the money. Major airlines began submitting applications for aid to the Treasury Department on Friday, but there is growing concern that Mnuchin will demand strict terms to ensure that taxpayers are compensated, such as large equity stakes in the companies. Some of the airlines are wary of giving the government too much control over their businesses. Democrats fear that if Mnuchin drives too hard a bargain, airlines will lay off more workers. In a letter to Mnuchin on Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California warned that it would not be in the public interest if airlines declare bankruptcy. “Assistance must not come with unreasonable conditions . . .” they wrote. The lawmakers said they recognize the need to protect taxpayer money but the companies must commit to protecting workers, which was the intent of the law signed by President Trump."
Why not?
Looks like they are going to nationalize certain industries after globalization caused a world of hurt.
Also see:
"Boeing Co. has decided to keep its Seattle-area manufacturing hub closed indefinitely as state health officials work to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and suppliers show signs of stress......"
"Few predict anything less than turbulence for global markets in the coming week, but those who think the worst has passed are finding their voice. Commentators from Morgan Stanley to Eaton Vance are turning less gloomy, encouraged by unprecedented government and central bank stimulus efforts, declining volatility, and signs the pandemic is peaking in parts of Europe. “There is light at the end of the tunnel but it’s still a long tunnel,” Erik Nielsen, UniCredit SpA’s London-based chief economist, wrote Sunday....."
With a speeding freight train at the end of it, so shield yourself.
"Saudi Arabia, Russia push on with talks for a deal to end oil price war" by Javier Blas and Henry Meyer Bloomberg News, April 5, 2020
NEW YORK — Saudi Arabia, Russia and other large oil producers are racing to negotiate a deal to stem the historic price crash as diplomats said some progress was made on Sunday.
The talks still faced significant obstacles: a meeting of producers from OPEC+ and beyond — delayed once — is only tentatively scheduled for Thursday. Russia and Saudi Arabia want the United States to join in, but President Trump has shown little willingness to do so.
Oil diplomats are trying to stitch together a meeting of G20 energy ministers for Friday, as part of the effort to bring the United States on board, said two people familiar with the situation.
They are masters at such things.
Crude prices have fallen 50 percent this year as the economic effects of the pandemic have knocked out about a third of global demand. The price crash is so dramatic that it’s threatening the stability of oil-dependent nations and the existence of US shale oil producers and poses an extra challenge to central banks.
Oh, the poor, poor banks!
Even the International Energy Agency, which represents nations that consume oil, is calling for action, and oil officials know that if a deal to cut output in an orderly way isn’t reached, the slump in prices will force some producers to shut down operations as storage on land and at sea fills up.
The aim of the talks, first revealed by Trump last week, is to cut oil production by about 10 percent — the biggest ever coordinated reduction. Oil rallied on Trump’s comments last week, but then pared those gains as the diplomatic intricacies became clearer.
Saudi Arabia and Russia both say they want the United States, which has become the world’s largest producer thanks to the shale revolution, to join the cuts, but Trump had only hostile words for OPEC on Saturday, and threatened tariffs on foreign oil.
We are swimming in the stuff as it is.
“If the Americans don’t take part, the problem which existed before for the Russians and Saudis will remain — that they cut output while the US ramps it up, and that makes the whole thing impossible,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group that advises the Kremlin.
It’s not clear if Russia and Saudi Arabia will require the United States to publicly commit to cutting production — a challenge in the private, fragmented American industry — or if a compromise gesture would be enough. Alexander Dynkin, president of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow, a state-run think tank, said Moscow would like the United States to lift some sanctions as a compromise.
Democrats won't allow that.
Russia and Saudi Arabia, which sparred publicly over the weekend, have also disagreed about how they would calculate the cuts, according to a person familiar with the talks, but in another sign of progress, Norway, which hasn’t joined any production cuts since 2002, signaled over the weekend that it was ready to reduce its output unilaterally if others did, and a senior official from the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta said it will dial into the oil meeting this week. Iraq’s oil minister said he was optimistic.
At least Finland is “ready for a major catastrophe or a World War III,” as well as Sweden. After all, they fought off a Soviet invasion in 1939, and it is a virtual world for the taking be it 1917 or 1945 (they left out 1941, which is when Germany invaded Balkans).
Any agreement will require diplomatic agility as nations devote massive resources to fighting the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also a battle of wills between Putin, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and Trump. On all sides, there are maneuvers to avoid blame if negotiations fail.
Who do you think blinks first, then second?
Trump said Saturday that he has opposed OPEC his whole life and characterized it as a cartel, or monopoly. “I don’t care about OPEC,” he said. He threatened to use tariffs if needed to protect the domestic oil industry.....
The supertankers can then be turned around.
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Look what is lurking under the bridge:
"As trolls invade, Zoom vows action; CEO promises to fix vulnerabilities" by Hailey Waller Bloomberg News, April 5, 2020
Zoom’s boss has embarked on an apology tour to reassure users he’s working to improve security and privacy on the videoconferencing app, which has emerged as the virtual town square of the coronavirus epidemic.
The service, once mostly used for client conferences and training webinars, has during the coronavirus lockdown become a home for virtual cocktail hours, exercise classes, meetings, and remote classroom learning, but during the twentyfold surge to 200 million daily members since the end of last year, the service has been hit by trolls interjecting porn or hijacking meetings, drawing regulators’ scrutiny amid privacy concerns.
Chief executive Eric Yuan started the mea-culpa messaging with an April 1 blog post on Zoom Video Communications Inc.’s website, saying “we recognize that we have fallen short of the community’s — and our own — privacy and security expectations.” He sounded similar notes in an interview in The Wall Street Journal and a Sunday appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
“I really messed up as CEO, and we need to win their trust back,” Yuan told The Wall Street Journal. “This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened.”
Zoom’s chief executive, Eric Yuan, attended the opening-bell ceremony at the Nasdaq exchange in April of last year as the company held its initial public offering of stock on Wall Street. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press/File 2019/Associated Press)
You might want to zoom in on him.
The lapses have driven away customers including Elon Musk, who banned Zoom at SpaceX and Tesla due to privacy concerns. New York City has directed its schools, a system with more than 1.1 million students, to move away from using Zoom as soon as possible.
The company is working to protect privacy, including adding end-to-end encryption that is still months away, Yuan said. For now, he’s trying to keep customers on board. Many of the problems stem from the fact the app was geared to enterprise clients with their own IT security teams, instead of the broad consumer market.
“We are still in the process of working with New York schools to make sure we do enforce security safety,” Yuan told CNN.
Yeah, sure. That's why use zoomed up just as the crisis hit.
Since the public health crisis unfolded, Zoom has become the most downloaded free app on Apple’s iOS App Store, ahead of TikTok, DoorDash, and Disney+.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Alex Zukin has a “sector perform” rating and $125 price target on Zoom, which closed at $128 Friday. “If the company is able to provide new default settings that solve 90 percent of the issues, which I view as totally reasonable, it should be fine,” he said.
“Zoombombing” — unauthorized people getting access to a meeting and sharing hate speech or pornography — started trending on social media. Security experts found publicly highlighted problems with Zoom’s technology could leave user data vulnerable.
I am really sick of the damned fal$e flags, sorry.
In March, journalists Kara Swisher and Jessica Lessin hosted a women-in-tech event on Zoom and had to cut it short when an unwelcome guest started broadcasting porn.
The feminists say porn empowers women.
The FBI warned about videoconference hijacking, the Journal said, and 27 attorneys general have raised questions about privacy issues, Zoom said, adding it is cooperating with the authorities.
9/11 again.
The number of daily meeting participants across Zoom’s paid and free services has gone from around 10 million at the end of last year to 200 million, the company said. Most are using its free service.....
That is the ri$k you take for u$ing a free platform.
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Related:
Two veteran CEOs risk $1.8 billion on a streaming app in a pandemic
The article by Nicole Sperling of the New York Times says:
"They had to cancel the premiere party, but Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have stuck with the Monday start date of Quibi, the short-form video app for smartphones that they hope will attract millions of subscribers. The two executives have led some of the nation’s top companies for decades. They have spent the past two years in startup mode, prodding investors to kick in nearly $1.8 billion and courting producers and stars like Jennifer Lopez, LeBron James, Chance the Rapper, Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Steven Spielberg, and Chrissy Teigen. Now Katzenberg and Whitman are ready to unveil their ambitious venture right in the middle of a pandemic....."
What timing, huh?
Just a Zoom comes back to earth.
Also see:
Gaps in Amazon’s Response as Virus Spreads to More Than 50 Warehouses
Credit...Elaine Cromie for The New York Times)
They are in the “epicenter of it all,” right, and their is no ComfortZone for them.
"Sports, like the rest of life, will never be the same again" by Kevin Paul Dupont Globe Staff, April 3, 2020
Our sports have crossed into a second month of government-imposed behavior modification here in Massachusetts. It’s no fun.
Sometimes you find truth in the oddest places.
All games have been placed in deep hibernation. It’s an especially unfortunate time of year because everything around us, especially here in New England, is supposed to be waking up, our days full of sunshine and spirit, and the anticipation of our winter teams about to reach playoff delirium.
Everything suddenly is backward, foreign, disorienting, and unsettling. We’ve been crushed by a tumblin’ tide of utter sports nothingness, with no hint of a return to normal in sight. If our normal ever was normal.
We’ll find out someday. Be it later this spring, or in the thick of summer, or maybe later, in the fall, say, around Thanksgiving. No one has a clue. Last week, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were tolled forward to 2021.
I think all 2020 sports seasons are going to be cancelled. The vaccination program will begin in January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl remains on the schedule for Feb. 7, 2021, and even that could be in peril, no matter what Roger Goodell and his band of Goodfellas want to tell us. The NFL may be bigger than government, but even it must duck when Mother Nature puts down the hammer.
On the morning of March 8, we here in the Hub of the Universe turned the clocks ahead, lost an hour, and in a flash, summarily lost the Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox, along with the Revolution, not to mention all college, high school, and youth sports. We got clocked.
Virtually every business, school, and church is closed. All arenas and ballparks shut tight based on the guidance from Beacon Hill and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we’re not going anywhere until at least May 4.
We’re not living in a sci-fi movie. Rather, we have been thrust into a sci-fi dystopian reality, one absent all sports.
Friends and family are dying, often with no family members allowed bedside, only a trained medical professional, gloved and goggled, permitted to bear witness to their final breath and then record the time of death. Grim beyond all words. There is no placing our games in any context alongside that.
Virtually all of our favorite places are closed. Some will soon be facing the harsh prospect of going out of business. Main Street in the center of my hometown, usually bustling, has only a couple of places open for takeout, but Dunkies remains open, a reassuring sign that, should Nuclear Winter one day befall us, America will always have jelly-filled doughnuts and iced lattes.
Oh, yeah, as long as Dunkin' is open!
The DPW in my town rolled out a small electric sign, the kind that might normally flash reminders of the springtime high school play production. Instead it encouraged all to “WASH YOUR HANDS." The storefronts were all dark, the sidewalks empty.
Our games will come back. Our lives and sports will continue, but in the meantime, our emotions and senses and memories are being belted like so many rods of hot, malleable steel under the blacksmith’s hammer.
Or like alleged jet fuel fires dropping 100-story towers into their own footprint at free-fall speed.
We will not emerge from this unchanged.....
--more--"
It's going to be a lost year in sports, but look on the bright side. It will be the end of the world as we know it so it would be best to keep your distance whenTrump declares a national quarantine and martial law.
