Society's ChildS


Brick Wall

Best of the Web: The big debate: Is lockdown wrong?


The Spectator
Tue, 26 May 2020 04:52 UTC
lockdown cartoon
Is lockdown a gargantuan mistake? That's the view of a growing number of thinkers and critics, including The Spectator's very own Toby Young, who sees the political class's shutting down of entire populations as the most catastrophic policy error in history. Not every free thinker agrees, however. We asked Matt Labash, a contributing editor and a skeptic of lockdown skepticism, to challenge Toby over email.

Matt Labash: Toby, thanks for stepping into the squared circle and joining me for a Pandemania tussle as a gentleman pugilist, sage, and co-equal partner in the search for truth. And also, as a fellow amateur epidemiologist, which there is no longer any shame in saying, since the pros have bunged things up so spectacularly. (Remember when they insisted we shouldn't wear masks, before insisting we do? Makes me want to cough on them.) But I look forward to going old-school in the sort of online dialogue Slate used to do, back when it was still legal to speak to people you disagree with. It beats the hell out of the communication rage of the moment, the inspirational Zoom choir. I solemnly vow that no matter how hairy this gets, I will at no point break into 'We're All In This Together' from High School Musical, featuring special guest-star Ashley Tisdale.

Comment: For all his talk of being libertarian leaning, LeBash comes across as more of a hysterical worry-wart, all too eager to trade his civil liberties for any modicum of supposed safety. It goes to show that the real virus circulating the globe at the moment is fear, along with it's co-symptom lack of clear-thinking. And sadly, it seems LaBash has a full-blown infection.

See also:

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Propaganda

New York Times admits report on 26-yr-old ER doctor who died from coronavirus was completely made up

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Thu, 28 May 2020 09:06 UTC
fake news NYT headline
Back in April The New York Times Magazine ran a report on a brave 26-year-old Emergency Room doctor in New York City who contracted the coronavirus and later died.

Well, it was all hogwash.

The New York Times admitted this week the doctor didn't die and didn't have coronavirus.

Comment: It could have been a case of mistaken identity, likely due to a lack of vigilance on the part of the New York Times staff eager for click-bait headlines and sensationalist content. Or it could have been purposely deceptive for the same reasons. Either way, the goal of getting readers outraged and consuming more of their coverage was achieved by the New York Times. In the breakneck speed of the 24-hour new cycle, how many will go back to the story to find the retraction?

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Attention

'Masks Are Symbolic,' say Dr Fauci and The New England Journal of Medicine

Bill Hennessy
Hennessy's View
Thu, 28 May 2020 06:23 UTC
masks
In the past week, Dr. Anthony Fauci and the New England Journal of Medicine have admitted that masks are little more than symbols. Virtue signaling.

For those of you who shout "science" like it's a Tourette tick, this is from the New England Journal of Medicine on May 21, 2020:
We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.
So, why are we ordered to wear masks? Symbolism. From the same article in NEJM:

Comment: See also:

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Family

Why Belarus hasn't faced massive spike in deaths despite lack of coronavirus lockdowns

Ilya Tsukanov
Sputnik
Fri, 29 May 2020 16:14 UTC
belarus
© Sputnik / Виктор Толочко
Western media and opposition activists predicted a massive spike in coronavirus infections in Belarus earlier this month after thousands of soldiers and spectators gathered in Minsk to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Instead, the number of cases has stabilized, and fatality rates remain incredibly low.

Nearly three weeks after Victory Day on May 9, and more than a month after Orthodox Easter celebrations and Belarus's annual large-scale 'community labour' day events on April 19 and 25, the republic's sanitary inspection agency is predicting a gradual decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases after reaching a plateau.

Belarus has become somewhat of an oddity over its decision to defy the European consensus of instituting lockdowns to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus, joined only by Sweden in refusing to implement strict restrictions. In Belarus, factories and farms, schools, shops, restaurants and other public amenities have remained open all this time, and authorities have urged (but not forced) the public to take individual precautionary measures such as social distancing and the wearing of medical masks in public places.

Western observers have scolded Minsk over its decision not to cancel mass events, warning that the festivities would soon cause an inevitable massive spike in infection rates.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

No Lives Matter: 1268 white people were shot to death by US police-state Nazis in the last few years

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ News
Fri, 29 May 2020 18:52 UTC
SWAT team, SWAT police
The reality of the police state and police brutality affects all Americans. It affects African Americans and Latinos disproportionately. But in absolute terms, it also affects white America abhorrently more than it does the other citizens of other high GDP countries.

We have a crisis in America not only in the epidemic of the police carrying out summary executions, 'suicide by cop', and trigger-happy secret cop clubs that award rank and points through killings - but a problem in how the political class frames this and exploits it. The aim is to be divisive and destructive, while appearing to talk about the right questions.

We also have a problem in how we talk about the problem. White, middle-class, guilt ridden liberals are to blame. And their poverty-pimp allies, those one-time-idealistic-turned-corrupt graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, who go on to work on Soros-adjacent NGO and trust-type institutional work, are to blame as well.

They frame the police-state and summary executions as a uniquely black problem. It is indeed a serious problem facing the black community. When we figure that black America makes up about 13% of the population, we can better understand these figures:
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Heart - Black

Just released video testimony shows Planned Parenthood admitting to illegal baby parts sales


LifeSite News
Thu, 28 May 2020 19:17 UTC
Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood
Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood
Sixteen unsealed excerpts of sworn video testimony from Planned Parenthood executives were released Tuesday by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), which shows in their own words that Planned Parenthood was involved in obtaining "donations" of fetal tissue organs from women having abortions, only to illegally sell them to middle-man organ procurement companies for profit.

The video testimony was presented in court during a trial last fall in a case* brought by Planned Parenthood against the CMP members who were involved in the undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood's sale of aborted baby parts for profit. Among the defendants was Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, who served as a CMP board member at the time of the investigation.
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Handcuffs

Fired Minneapolis officer charged with murder in death of George Floyd

Erin Donaghue
CBS News
Fri, 29 May 2020 19:08 UTC
Derek Chauvin
© AFP PHOTO / Facebook / Darnella FRAZIERDerek Chauvin
Fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been arrested days after the death of George Floyd, which sparked protests and unrest in the city. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

John Harrington, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has taken Chauvin into custody. Floyd was seen on a disturbing video begging for air as Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck.

Freeman said the investigation is ongoing into the other three officers involved, all of whom have been fired. Freeman said his office wanted to focus on the "most dangerous perpetrator." Chauvin was arrested at 11:44 a.m. in Minneapolis, according to the BCA.

Comment: Previously: 'I can't breathe' 2.0: Minneapolis police in hot water as suspect dies during BRUTAL chokehold arrest - HUGE crowds clash with cops during protest

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Jet5

Stealth flying wing: Russia's next-gen strategic bomber already in the works


RT
Thu, 28 May 2020 18:37 UTC
S-70 Okhotnik UAV and Su-57 fighter jet
© Sputnik / Yevgeniy BiyatovFILE PHOTO. Models of S-70 Okhotnik UAV and Su-57 fighter jet are seen during an aviation fair.
Russian aircraft makers have reportedly started the assembly of a new, next-generation bomber aircraft, known under the designation PAK DA. RT has learned more about the highly-secretive machine.

The launch of the PAK DA's assembly was reported earlier this week by TASS news agency. The cockpit of the plane has already been partially built and the whole machine is expected to be ready next year, sources within the country's aircraft industry told the agency.

The PAK DA designation stands for 'perspective aircraft complex (PAK) for long-range aviation (DA)'. The PAK programs were launched by Russia in the early 2010s in an effort to provide the military with modern hardware. So far, only the development of a new multirole fighter jet has been completed - the 5th generation fighter jet Su-57 has already entered the mass-production stage, while the pre-production batch of the planes is already in service.
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Arrow Up

Shocking spike in Covid-19 jail suicides should end Britain's obsession with imprisonment

Chris Sweeney
RT
Fri, 29 May 2020 18:23 UTC
HMP Barlinnie
© PA Images via Getty Images / Danny LawsonGeneral view of HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow, Scotland
Coronavirus has shone on a light on the crisis in the UK's prisons. The justice system needs to be overhauled to bring an end to ridiculous sentencing, overcrowding and disgraceful conditions.

Britain's justice system, like many of its prisons, is stuck in Victorian times. And recently there's been a proliferation of the 'throw away the key' mantra.

HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow is so cramped that its one-man cells have two prisoners squeezed in. It's also using holding cells that were condemned 25 years ago and breach human rights.

The Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) found it was operating at 120 percent of capacity back in 2014. Yet by 2019, that had risen to 140 percent. The chief inspector of prisons, Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, said: "The reality is that the ageing and fragile physical infrastructure means that the prison is no longer fit for purpose."
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Bizarro Earth

Approximately 2B people may lose their jobs in the near future due to fallout from the pandemic


RT
Fri, 29 May 2020 10:09 UTC
job wanted
© Getty Images/JJ GouinA sign of the times...
More than half of the world's workforce (nearly two billion people) risk losing their jobs or moving to part-time work in 2020 as a result of the economic fallout from coronavirus outbreak. That's according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), seen by RIA Novosti.

"It's hard to overestimate the radical changes in the global workforce due to the crisis caused by the outbreak of COVID-19," said the report, citing estimates by the International Labor Organization that global labor income losses will reach $3.4 trillion this year. In the next two to three months, one out of six people in the world will lose their jobs, with the unemployment rate to exceed 17 percent, said the authors of the research.

The impact of the crisis on the labor market will vary greatly across industries, with those most directly affected by quarantine measures to be hit the hardest. According to BCG analysis, more than 80 percent of all the layoffs in the world are likely to occur in the non-food retail sector, manufacturing, hotel and restaurant business, tourism and construction.
"We expect that the world's unemployment rate will start returning to balance by the end of 2020. However, [the] pandemic has already launched the process of long-term structural changes - from flexible and remote work schemes to accelerated automation - and these changes will affect up to 1.5 billion jobs over the next decade."
BCG estimates that by 2030, automation will put 12 percent of existing jobs at risk, and about 30 percent of jobs will require completely new skills.
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