Puppet MastersS


Sherlock

Best of the Web: Did COVID-19 escape Fort Detrick vaccine trial? Evidence that virus originated in US bioweapons lab

Fort Detrick Maryland
Fort Detrick, Maryland, actual source of the 'Wuhan' Flu?
It would be useful to read this prior article for background:

China's Coronavirus: A Shocking Update. Did The Virus Originate in the US?
As readers will recall from the earlier article (above), Japanese and Taiwanese epidemiologists and pharmacologists have determined that the new coronavirus could have originated in the US since that country is the only one known to have all five types - from which all others must have descended. Wuhan in China has only one of those types, rendering it in analogy as a kind of "branch" which cannot exist by itself but must have grown from a "tree".

The Taiwanese physician noted that in August of 2019 the US had a flurry of lung pneumonias or similar, which the Americans blamed on 'vaping' from e-cigarettes, but which, according to the scientist, the symptoms and conditions could not be explained by e-cigarettes. He said he wrote to the US officials telling them he suspected those deaths were likely due to the coronavirus. He claims his warnings were ignored.

Immediately prior to that, the CDC totally shut down the US Military's main bio-lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland, due to an absence of safeguards against pathogen leakages, issuing a complete "cease and desist" order to the military. It was immediately after this event that the 'e-cigarette' epidemic arose.

Comment: This analysis sounds like it's on the right track. The media shouted too loudly about that Wuhan market. We initially suspected a connection with China's only BSL-4 biolab in Wuhan, but that does indeed appear to be pure coincidence.


Info

DOJ asks Congress for "indefinite detention powers" to fight the Coronavirus

fema camp
The Justice Department is using the outbreak of the coronavirus to expand their power. They have reportedly asked Congress for the power to detain Americans indefinitely without a trial in order to fight the outbreak which has so far, infected 32,000 Americans.

The government is rapidly moving to destroy human rights and the basic fundamental freedoms we hold dear in the name of fighting the coronavirus. This is far more severe than an outbreak. Enslaving humanity should never be the solution to a problem. However, the justice department thinks this request is acceptable. They are asking Congress to allow the U.S. attorney general to ask courts to suspend court proceedings. These include "any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil process and proceedings," reports Betsy Woodruff Swan, citing DOJ documents presented to Congress.

Basic human rights are in danger of being severely diminished if not outright destroyed. If Congress approves this power grab (and I wouldn't put it past them) totalitarianism is in our very near future.

Eagle

Organization of American States head Luis Almagro's new term promises more corruption, cronyism and coup-plotting in Central and South America

Luis Almagro
Luis Almagro
The shocking story of the most incompetent, unethical and imperial-minded Secretary General in the history of the Organization of American States.

The following is a translated version of an article that has circulated widely in Spanish-language media. Authored by an anonymous individual with apparent inside knowledge of OAS affairs, it has been edited and adapted by The Grayzone to bring closer attention to the disturbing record of Luis Almagro.

In a result that surprised no one, the US-favored Luis Almagro was re-elected as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). For the next five years, Almagro will lead the oldest multilateral organization in the world, overseeing the affairs of member states comprising the Western hemisphere.

Almagro has been the most unethical and inconsistent OAS Secretary General in recent times. Within the OAS, there is widespread questioning of his administration. But with US government - the main financial backer of the OAS - fully behind him, he has run roughshod over all opposition with his agenda.

The Secretary General passionately invokes the principles of democracy and human rights, quoting the American Convention on Human Rights, the Democratic Charter, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. But in his actions, he flagrantly contravenes his lofty rhetoric.

Comment: See also:


Life Preserver

UN rights chief: Sanctions on Iran should be re-evaluated given coronavirus pandemic

Bachelet
© EuronewsUNHRC Commissioner Michelle Bachelet
Sanctions should be revisited or suspended altogether during the Covid-19 crisis, the UN human rights chief has said, arguing that they might cause healthcare in affected countries to collapse, and harm the situation globally.

Any international and unilateral sanctions should be "urgently re-evaluated," UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said Tuesday.
"It is vital to avoid the collapse of any country's medical system - given the explosive impact that will have on death, suffering and wider contagion. In a context of global pandemic, impeding medical efforts in one country heightens the risk for all of us."
The sanctions have already damaged Iran's ability to procure crucial equipment, including respirators and protective suits needed to fight the deadly disease. Apart from the scale of the outbreak in the country, the shortages might be behind the high death toll among its healthcare workers. The standing "variety of sanctions" against nations such as Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe could impede their medical efforts as well, Bachelet added.

Comment: AOC, Sanders, et.al. nix sanctions during epidemic
Nine members of Congress have signed on to a letter asking the Trump administration to suspend U.S. sanctions on Iran amid the COVID-19 crisis. The letter, which was sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin:
"Rather than continue to pile on sanctions in the Iranian people's hour of need, we urge you to substantially suspend sanctions on Iran in a humanitarian gesture to the Iranian people to better enable them to fight the virus, it reads. Sanctions relief should encompass major sectors of the Iranian economy, including those impacting civilian industries, Iran's banking sector and exports of oil, and should last for at least as long as health experts believe the crisis will continue. Failure to do so risks inhibiting the delivery of key humanitarian goods, and putting the Iranian people into further health and economic peril."
It was signed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA), Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA).

Activists have launched a "80 Hours for 80 Million Lives" campaign, which calls on individuals to collectively make 80 hours of calls to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and demand an end to the sanctions. They've also scheduled a "Twitter storm" for this afternoon using the hashtag #EndCOVIDSanctions.

Narges Bajoghli, an assistant professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Mahsa Rouhi, a research fellow at the Nonproliferation and Nuclear Policy program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, detail the the horrific reality in todays New York Times:
"The Trump administration claims that its sanctions do not hinder medicine and humanitarian trade. But since the sanctions prevent international financial transactions and shipping, any trade, including that of medicines and medical equipment, is almost impossible. Several companies that supply the medical equipment required to fight coronavirus have stopped shipping to Iran because their banks refuse to handle the transactions.

"The Trump administration's unwillingness to ease restrictions when Iran faces this debilitating crisis will severely hobble efforts at engagement for years to come and stain the reputation of the United States as a global leader."
Times like these seem to bring out the best and worst in people. Is it more than a choice?


Life Preserver

White House and senators agree on massive $2 TRILLION coronavirus stimulus, Democrats bill rejected

cornavirus
© Reuters / Brian SnyderFirefighters walk away after responding to a medical call amid the Covid-19 outbreak in Seattle, Washington, March 24, 2020.
US senators and the Trump administration have finally reached an agreement on a massive rescue plan to help stem the impact Covid-19 is having on the country's economy.

The compromise bill directs around $2 trillion to help keep the economy afloat amid the massive shutdown of businesses in a bid to curb the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the proposal "the largest rescue package in American history."

Schumer said that the bill is "far from perfect, but we believe the legislation has been improved significantly to warrant its quick consideration and passage."

Comment: It just shows how opportunist and pathological some politicians are that they would use the coronavirus crisis for their own ends: Nancy Pelosi isn't going to let a global crisis go to waste

In response to the bill, U.S. stocks whipsawed:
Wall Street was up and down on Wednesday after a historic surge in the previous session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring more than 2,000 points in its best one-day percentage gain since 1933.

The Dow jumped 700 points from the opening bell before retreating into negative territory. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also traded lower.

On Wednesday, the US Senate and the White House reached a deal on a massive $2 trillion relief bill to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Asian markets soared. And European stocks rose too.

See also: UK MPs to leave Parliament for month-long recess as controversial Coronavirus Bill is rushed through


Alarm Clock

UK MPs to leave Parliament for month-long recess as controversial Coronavirus Bill is rushed through

Downing Street
© Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing StreetDowning Street press conferences and Cabinet meetings have been stripped back to a video link
MPs are set to leave Parliament tonight as they begin an almost month-long recess due to the coronavirus.

The House of Commons will break up almost a week earlier than planned for Easter until April 21 - as long as an emergency law to tackle the outbreak is passed by tonight.

Yet manual workers like builders, plumbers and electricians are still being told to go into work, even where there work is not essential to the running of the country.


Comment: This perhaps gives us an idea of just who the 'essential workers' are in the country.


The Coronavirus Bill will give police powers to fine people £1,000 for not taking a coronavirus test and keep them in quarantine for a month.

It allows mentally ill people to be detained or dead people to be medically certified on the opinion of just one doctor.

Comment: And at the same time we're being told that the the country is basically on a war footing?

See also:


Chess

Trump wants to have America reopened following coronavirus shutdown 'by Easter' and more corona-related updates

trump
© REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
US President Donald Trump has finally given a date for when he would like America to at least partially reopen after the Covid-19 shutdown: April 12. Otherwise, he argued, the depression would cause far more deaths than the virus.

"I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," Trump said on Tuesday during a Fox News virtual town hall.
We have to get our country back to work. Our country wants to go back to work.

Comment: Trump also announced during a town hall that he canceled the Democrat's version of the coronavirus bill on Tuesday, which was bloated with financial aid to places that weren't even affected by the shutdown. Meanwhile, France is expected to stay locked down for six more weeks, That's the recommendation from a group of Macron advisors. The Dow surged on Tuesday on the hopes of a trillion-dollar stimulus package passing. Three US Navy sailors aboard aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippines were the first service members deployed on a ship to test positive for coronavirus. The LA County Sheriff decided to make gun shops non-essential services, which means they will have to close during the lockdown.

Greta Thunberg felt the need to announce to the world that it's "extremely likely" she has contracted the coronavirus, despite the fact that her symptoms are not so bad that she needs immediate attention. Italy has upped the fines for people defying the quarantine. People can now be fined up to $3,200 for having the temerity to go outside. The Moscow mayor met with Putin today and warned that there could be many more cases than what has been officially reported in Russia. He urged the president to take more robust measures to fight the spread. Putin already has to deal with being referred to as a dictator - which is ridiculous - so it's hard to blame him for being reticent to lock down Russia. They have continued to shut down non-essential businesses, as on Tuesday all night clubs, cinemas, entertainment centers and hookah bars will have to shutter their doors.

Anyone who has left NYC over the last few days is being urged to self-quarantine for two weeks due to the large number of cases coming out of the East Coast. Trump's senior immunologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has slammed the mainstream media for trying to pit him against Trump. The media has a serious issue with trying to always find a way to make Trump look bad, they don't care about the consequences. A hysterical journalist at the Telegraph revealed her xenophobia by tweeting that, once the coronavirus madness is over, anyone who owns a product made in China should wear a "badge of shame."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo thinks that "the worst is yet to come" for NYC and that the apex will be in the next few weeks. He believes the priority for medical supplies like ventilators should be in NY. A legal counsel for Julian Assange, Baltasar Garzon, has been admitted to a hospital in Spain after testing positive for the virus. The French department of Aisne has banned the sale of alcohol during the lockdown. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has classified gun shops as an essential service, reversing a sales ban when the state went into lockdown.

The epicenter of the outbreak, China's Wuhan, saw no new cases today as 60 million residents go back to living their normal lives.

Kudlow: Look at reopening safe areas
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said that congressional leaders are close to striking a deal on a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus package to try to assist workers and businesses who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak. He said the package is "absolutely essential" to the reopening of the economy.

"After the 15-day period is over, which I guess ends [at] the end of this week or the weekend, we will take another look at the possibility of targeting areas that are safe enough. We have to do this with the assent and help of the health specialists — there's no question about that."

He said they're hearing from a lot of small businesses who want to see if they can "liberalize" and "target more" and "stop as many shutdowns as we have. That doesn't mean [we're] going to leave social distancing; that doesn't mean we're going to walk away from the mitigating advice that we've received from our health specialists and so forth. It just means we're going to take a slightly different look at this and I think the president would like to do something in the next couple of weeks. We know small businesses have been shut in, we know that a lot of workers are either furloughed or laid off."

Coupled with $4 trillion of lending authority for the Federal Reserve, the stimulus could add up to about $6 trillion, or 30% of GDP.

"This is the largest Main Street assistance package in the history of the country. Here we are with a $6 trillion package and we may be taking a new look at the shut-ins around the country. But let's get this thing passed. Let's just get this bill passed. It's so important."

Mr. Kudlow said a $500 billion stabilization fund for businesses, states and localities is not a "slush fund," as Democrats have described it. "This is aboveboard. Everyone will get a chance to see it. Nothing's going to be hidden, and we're just trying to get the basic essentials of the economy."



NPC

Start with yourself? CNN host chides Biden after he coughs into his hand ON AIR while ripping Trump coronavirus response

biden
© REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
After saying President Donald Trump needs to better listen to his medical advisors, Joe Biden proceeded to cough into his hand, prompting CNN host Jake Tapper to give him a lesson about germs.

Another day, another gaffe for presidential hopeful Biden, who has been doing his best to stay in the spotlight amid the coronavirus spread through television interviews where he's criticized the Trump administration and its response to the outbreak.

During an interview with CNN's Tapper where he revealed he has not been tested for the coronavirus because he has not displayed any symptoms, Biden coughed straight into his hand. A clearly shocked Tapper then gave the former vice president a lesson in spreading germs.

Comment: On the one hand, it's over the top to scold Biden for coughing in his own home. On the other hand, if Biden is going to criticize Trump he should make sure that he is not leaving himself open to criticism. He's rather clueless overall, so this isn't surprising behavior.


Heart - Black

Venezuela FM rebukes Washington for barring emergency repatriation flight for 800+ citizens 'stranded' in US amid Covid-19 crisis

planes
© Reuters / Marco Bello
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has castigated Washington for blocking an emergency flight to bring home hundreds of Venezuelans stuck in the US, slamming sanctions on the country's airlines.

As the US becomes one of the world's major epicenters for the rapidly spreading coronavirus, Caracas has launched an effort to help more than 800 stranded citizens return home aboard a special flight arranged by the country's flagship airline, Conviasa. But with US sanctions slapped on the carrier last month - barring the airline's entire fleet from entering the country - the rescue operation has been halted in its tracks.

"We denounce that the US insists on its air blockade of Venezuela and still refuses to authorize direct humanitarian flights [through] @LAConviasa or other lines, to bring back more than 800 compatriots stranded in the US and registered in the system of our Chancellery," Arreaza said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Arrow Down

Nancy Pelosi isn't going to let a global crisis go to waste

The coronavirus relief bill congressional Democrats are pushing has all the hallmarks of Obama's 2009 stimulus package: welfare funding disguised as relief.
Pelosi
© AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
So it turns out the real reason congressional Democrats blocked a Senate coronavirus relief bill on Sunday wasn't because they were concerned it favored corporations over individuals or because they wanted more direct aid to families and small businesses. It was because they want to use this crisis as pretext for passing a bunch of Democratic policies that have nothing to do with the pandemic.

On Monday, right around the time Senate Democrats blocked a $2 trillion coronavirus spending bill for the second time in as many days, we found out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fresh from a weeklong vacation, has her own bill, a 1,400-page monstrosity chock full of mandates, regulations, and nonsensical federal programs that leftists would enact if they were king for a day.

Many of the provisions in Pelosi's bill have no discernable relation to the coronavirus pandemic, much less helping families and small businesses facing economic ruin. There are sections mandating "risk-limiting audits" of election results, early voting, same-day voter registration, mandatory reporting for federal agencies on their use of minority-owned banks, new rules for the retirement plans of community newspapers, and even a section requiring airlines to provide passengers information about greenhouse gas emissions from flights they took. The list goes on, like a parody of Democratic governance.

Comment: