Society's ChildS

Question

Best of the Web: Did European athletes catch coronavirus while competing at World Military Games in Wuhan in OCTOBER?

French athletes
The French delegation were competing in the 7th World Military Games in Wuhan - just 20 days before the first Chinese person officially became ill with coronavirus - with 402 athletes present, along with 10,000 other athletes from all over the world
French athletes believe they caught coronavirus at the World Military Games in Wuhan in October, 20 days before the first recorded case in China.

It comes after it was revealed that Frenchman Amirouche Hammar, 43, had been infected with COVID-19 outside Paris as early as December.

The hospital where Hammar was treated for chest pains has since re-tested samples and found the fishmonger was positive for the virus on December 27. It is not known where he caught the virus, although his wife works close to Charles de Gaulle airport.

A number of French athletes who were at the World Military Games from October 18 to 27 have since described coming down with severe flu-like symptoms while at the event.

Elodie Clouvel, a world champion modern pentathlete, was asked on March 25 whether she was anxious about spending the summer in Japan for the Olympics. She told Loire 7: 'No because I think that with Velentin (Belaud, her partner, also a pentathlete) we have already had the coronavirus, well the COVID-19.'

The 31-year-old went on: 'We were in Wuhan for the World Military Games at the end of October. And afterwards, we all fell ill. Valentin missed three days of training. Me, I was sick too. [...] I had things I had never had before. We weren't particularly worried because no one was talking about it yet.'

Comment: A US delegation of athletes was also in attendance at the games in Wuhan. The Chinese put out reports in late January that they suspected US military troops brought the virus along with them. Given the fact that the science points to this strain of Coronavirus being lab-created, and some other pieces of data, a more apt name for the disease might then be: 'the American Virus'.

In any event, it's clear that this thing was circulating the globe by December. Which means the Deep Staters knew all about it long before March when they decided to capitalize on it by instituting this batsh*t crazy lockdown.


Yellow Vest

German establishment blames lockdown protests on mystery 'far-right' forces

Berlin lockdown
© Reuters / Christian Mang AFP / Odd Andersen(L) A masked protester in Berlin's Kreuzberg district on May 1, 2020 ; (R) Police officers detain a protester during a demonstration against the coronavirus lockdown in Berlin, Germany, May 2, 2020
As Germans burst onto the streets to insist on leaving their coronavirus lockdown, it's clear that patience with Angela Merkel has worn paper thin, and though her health might survive the pandemic, her chancellorship may not.

Protests in cities across Germany - including Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and Dortmund - saw the German media intent on pinning the unrest on the "far right" without any evidence, when the reality seemed to be a hotchpotch of demonstrators with a range of gripes, all of whom shared the common belief over the nation's lockdown, that enough is enough.

Some corners of the MSM were even hyping up fears that the wave of protests are creating a "fertile ground for radicalisation" from the far right. Who exactly was supposed to be behind this was not identified, and no representatives from usual suspects the AfD came forward to claim credit, so maybe it's safe to say this is the product of some over-excited journalism, a hysterical hangover.

Stock Up

Bitcoin ready for 'big bull run & best is yet to come,' director of business development tells RT's Keiser Report

bitcoin
© Reuters / Tyrone Siu
Bitcoin has undergone its latest 'halving' event, which occurs every four years and reduces the reward miners receive for mining new coins to help control inflation. It's the third halving in the cryptocurrency's 11-year history.

Keiser Report spoke to Dan Held of Kraken.com about the event, and what it means for this halvening to happen in an age of infinite fiat.

Bitcoin was purpose-built to be a new sound money, says Held, noting: "That message resonates really loudly with this sort of macro backdrop." According to him, there will be a lot of investor appetite in the near future.


Bizarro Earth

Ice cream shop closes one day after reopening due to patrons harassing workers

Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour
© Fox News
The owner of a Massachusetts ice cream parlor closed its doors just one day after reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic in response to how angry customers mistreated a teenage employee.

Mark Lawrence, who for 19 years has operated Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee, a small town on Cape Cod, waited to reopen his shop under the state's restaurant guidelines until Mother's Day weekend.

But Friday's grand reopening turned into a harsh lesson for the small business, according to Lawrence, who told FOX25 Boston that customers frustrated with having to wait longer for their ice cream after the shop grew busy took their anger out on his staff.

"One of my best workers quit yesterday at the end of her shift," he said. "But the words she was called and the language, you wouldn't even say in a men's locker room. And to say it to a 17-year-old kid, they should be ashamed of themselves."


Comment: The shutdown has created an environment of distrust and fear. This is clearly not something that is just 'turned off' as businesses begin to reopen. Your mask really is making you meaner.


Yellow Vest

Best of the Web: Militia mobilize to thwart arrest of 77-year-old Michigan barber who reopened his shop


Comment: Michiganders know how to do freedom!


Manke
© Sarabeth Maney/The Flint Journal via APKarl Manke, 77, waves to people gathered for a press conference, having defied the governor's order not to conduct business.
The Michigan Militia says the police will not be allowed to arrest 77-year-old Owosso, Mich., barber, Karl Manke, who has defied Governor Whitmer's orders that all non-essential businesses stay closed. Friday night, Michigan State Police delivered a health protection order from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office ordering that Manke close his doors.

A local Fox affiliate spoke to Daniel Brewer, one of the militia members standing up for the barber's right to work.
"Yesterday six troopers came in to enforce the governor's order or to issue a cease or desist order so we are here to make sure he doesn't get arrested. We're willing to stand in front of that door and block the entrance so the police will have no entry there today."
As relationships heat up between overreaching government agents and protesters who want to open the economy, people like Manke are being completely let down by the system that claims to want to help them, leading to more anger and outrage than government officials are ready to handle. Manke obeyed the original orders and closed his shop, but when he was turned down for unemployment โ€” twice โ€” he said he had no choice but to go back to work to survive.


Comment: Here's more from Mr Manke himself:




Bad Guys

Judge says biological males in women's sports must be called 'transgender females,' while trying court case

transgender athletes beat girls
© AP Photo/Pat Eaton-RobbIn this Feb. 7, 2019 file photo, Bloomfield High School transgender athlete Terry Miller, second from left, wins the final of the 55-meter dash over transgender athlete Andraya Yearwood, far left, and other runners in the Connecticut girls Class S indoor track meet at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn.
Three female high school track athletes are suing the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) over unfair rules that allow biological males who identify as female to compete in women's sports. Last month, a district court judge barred the girls' lawyers from referring to the biological males as "males," insisting that the lawyers call them "transgender females." He threatened to retaliate if they refuse to do so. This effective gag order may undermine their case, and it certainly shows bias against their underlying argument. Therefore, the lawyers moved for the judge to recuse himself.

"The Court has now reprimanded Plaintiffs' counsel and prohibited Plaintiffs from referring to those individuals as 'male athletes' because โ€” in the Court's view โ€” alluding to an individual of the male sex as male is contrary to science, 'bullying,' and violates 'human decency' if that individual claims a female gender identity," attorneys Roger Brooks, Kristen Waggoner, and Howard M. Wood III wrote in a motion filed Friday and provided to PJ Media. "A disinterested observer would reasonably believe that the Court's order and comments have destroyed the appearance of impartiality in this proceeding. That requires recusal."

Comment:


Red Flag

Interpol issues red notice for 'fugitive' Anne Sacoolas

Harry Dunn
© Family Handout/PAHarry Dunn was 19 when he was killed after his motorcycle was hit by a car.
An Interpol notice has been circulated worldwide making Anne Sacoolas in effect a fugitive from justice if she sets foot outside her native United States.

Sacoolas was charged in the UK with causing the death by dangerous driving of a 19-year-old motorcyclist, Harry Dunn, last August.

The US refused to accept an extradition warrant, saying she enjoyed diplomatic immunity at the time of the crash. Her husband worked at a CIA spying base, RAF Croughton in Northampton.

She and her family left the country with the knowledge of the Foreign Office a fortnight later. The Foreign Office agreed she had diplomatic immunity, a point disputed by lawyers working for Dunn's family.

Boris Johnson and the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, have both asked for Sacoolas to be extradited, but the political pressure has led nowhere. Donald Trump instead suggested compensation and tried to engineer a meeting in the White House between Sacoolas and Dunn's parents.

Comment: For more background see: Craig Murray: The disgusting lies on Harry Dunn's death must stop


Jet5

F-35s are still a $428 billion bundle of flaws despite latest fixes

F-35B Lightning II
© SeongJoon Cho/BloombergA U.S. Marine Corps. F-35B Lightning II fighter jet performs a maneuver at the Singapore Airshow on Feb. 9.
The F-35 fighter jet is starting to outlive its reputation as a $428 billion bundle of flawed hardware and buggy software: Lockheed Martin Corp. and the military have eliminated all of the deficiencies believed to endanger pilots and about 90% of other serious flaws that could hamper missions.

That's down from 111 "Category 1" safety-of-flight and mission-impeding deficiencies in January 2018, according to Defense Department data compiled by the Government Accountability Office.

The improvements may be critical to reassuring lawmakers and U.S. allies buying the F-35 that the costliest U.S. weapons system is worth its price tag, especially as pressure builds to reduce government spending after the response to the Covid-19 pandemic escalates budget deficits. The aircraft is already being operated by forces in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The Defense Department's F-35 program office has "done a good job at working" with the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps "to really prioritize what needs to get fixed versus what would be just a helpful thing to the pilot -- getting to the actual things they need to get at," Jon Ludwigson, the GAO's top F-35 analyst, said in an interview. He said "they have procedures in place to work around" the remaining flaws.

The last "Category 1A" deficiency that could endanger pilots was deemed corrected in mid-November. Now, Lockheed and the Pentagon are resolving eight remaining "Category 1B" deficiencies that pose a "critical impact on mission readiness." Five of those are expected to be completed and verified by December, the program office said.

Comment: Still a modern marvel of incompetently built machinery.


Info

Iran says ready for prisoner swap with U.S. without preconditions

Michael White, Joanne White
© ReutersMichael White poses with his mother, Joanne, in Washington in this undated photo.
Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei says, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Iran's call for a prisoner swap.

"We have announced that we are ready without any preconditions to exchange all prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue but the Americans have not responded yet," Rabiei told the news site Khabaronline on May 10.

"We are worried about the safety and health of Iranians in jail.... We hold America responsible for Iranians' safety amid the new coronavirus outbreak," Rabiei added.

"Washington is aware of our readiness and we think there is no need for a third country to mediate between Tehran and Washington for the prisoner exchange," Rabiei was quoted as saying.

Attention

Twitter anoints itself arbiter of coronavirus truth with pledge to label even 'disputed' & 'unverified' claims as disinfo

twitter banner NYSE
© Reuters / Lucas Jackson
Twitter has expanded its war on Covid-19 wrongthink, announcing it will label "disputed" and "unverified" claims - categories that technically include even the scientific consensus, which has evolved with knowledge of the virus.

The social media platform will label not only "misleading" Covid-19 information - claims experts have determined to be false - but also "disputed" material whose accuracy is uncertain and "unverified" statements that simply haven't yet been confirmed, Twitter announced in a blog post on Monday.

Offending tweets will feature a label linking to either a curated "Moment"-style Twitter page or an "external trusted source" featuring additional information on the tweet's content. In the most extreme cases, the tweet will be hidden beneath a warning screen alerting the viewer that "some or all of the content shared in this tweet conflicts with guidance from public health experts" and the user will have to click through to view it.

Comment: See also: