Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

UK MPs reject bill that would have banned low standard food imports

Sophie McCandlish
Yorkshire Post
Fri, 15 May 2020 12:00 UTC
cow farming
© jpimediaAn amendment to safeguard the UK's welfare standards was voted down by MPs
The Bill, the biggest overhaul of UK farming policies since the end of the Second World War, returned to the Commons on Wednesday for its third and final reading before it goes before the House of Lords.

It outlines the way agriculture will be funded after leaving the EU, with the introduction of the new "public money for public goods" payment scheme putting the focus on animal welfare, the environment and sustainability.

There have been concerns about the lack of formal requirements in the Bill to uphold British farming standards during trade-deal negotiations, leading to fears over cheap imported food produced to standards illegal in the UK.

Comment: Permitting trade from countries with lower food standards, and thus potentially lower production costs, is likely to threaten the UK farming industry as well as the health of the country's citizens, however, as with the NHS, it would appear that many in government are itching to sell off the country to the highest bidder:

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Airplane

The future of air travel sounds miserable: Flying may soon involve on-the-spot blood tests, thermal scanning,and 'disinfection tunnels'

Cecilia Rodriguez
Forbes
Sun, 10 May 2020 18:59 UTC
thermal tracing
© SHUTTERSTOCK
Once airports and borders open again and people are able to fly freely — a process already in play as airports of all sizes around the world ready strategies to ensure healthy air travel — how much are you ready to change your flying habits?

As much as was required after 9/11? Less? More?

Considering some of the changes already happening and the many more recommended before airports can reopen safely to commercial routes, experts are referring to the coronavirus pandemic as 'the new terrorism,' triggering the biggest crisis the airline industry has ever faced.

Let's start with the entire process of checking in for flights, which some calculate that it could take up to four hours and involving social distancing, sanitation of passengers and luggage, wider spaces for various lines and waiting to board.
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Star of David

Rabbi Weiss: Zionists should return entire occupied lands to Palestinians


MEHR
Sat, 16 May 2020 09:44 UTC
Rabbi Weiss
© MNARabbi Dovid Weiss, Spokesman of Neturei Karta International
In an interview with Mehr News Agency, Rabbi Weiss said the Israeli regime was established in Palestine by committing all kinds of crimes against its people, which is a violation of Jewish religious laws towards fellow human beings, adding that the anti-Zionist Jews support "the return of the entire land to the Palestinian people."

His interview was conducted on the occasion of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe) and on the eve of Quds Day when back in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homeland and Israel proclaimed existence. The refugees were forced to seek refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, often without citizenship being granted.

Here is the full text of his interview with Morteza Rahmani:

Morteza Rahmani: 72 years have passed since the Israeli regime's occupation of the Palestinian lands; where is the regime standing today in terms of identity as well as the political and social status?

Rabbi Weiss: Before I answer the question I'd like to state our viewpoint as traditionally Orthodox Jews. We oppose Zionism because it is an anti-Jewish philosophy of building a sovereign homeland for Jews while in a divinely decreed exile, which is forbidden by the Jewish religion. Also, this homeland was established in Palestine by committing all kinds of crimes against its people, which is a violation of Jewish religious laws towards fellow human beings. We don't support "two states for two peoples"; we support the return of the entire land to the Palestinian people. We believe that peaceful non-militant Jews will be able to live under a Palestinian state in peace.

Comment: Refreshing viewpoints based on Torah scriptures, from a rabbi who predicts the failure of Zionist political moves regarding Palestine.

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Bad Guys

Bloomberg changes headline YET AGAIN amid backlash over article on why Covid-19 'didn't kill more Russians'


RT
Sun, 17 May 2020 18:50 UTC
doctor
© Sputnik / Grigory Sysoev
Bloomberg has yet again had to correct the title of an article, after rolling out a report about why Covid-19 hasn't "killed more Russians." Moscow has argued that Western media distort Russia's fight against the disease.

US-based Bloomberg News had published the story, originally titled "Experts Want to Know Why Coronavirus Hasn't Killed More Russians," on Wednesday. The news piece was ostensibly about how Russia's relatively low death toll from Covid-19 "puzzles health experts," especially since the nation has the second-highest number of officially-recorded cases of the disease, trailing only behind the US.

The headline prompted a backlash online, with people slamming it as tasteless and "deplorable." Russia's Foreign Ministry didn't pull punches on the publication with a rather click-baity headline either, branding it "horrendous." It also said the article appeared to have been in line with the "disinformation campaign" waged against Moscow's efforts to fight the novel coronavirus.
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Bad Guys

UK coronavirus laws created in panic led to unlawful convictions

Vikram Dodd
The Guardian
Fri, 15 May 2020 17:26 UTC
North Yorkshire police officer
© Ian Forsyth/Getty ImagesA North Yorkshire police officer talks to a motorist in March.
Police and prosecutors got the emergency laws on coronavirus wrong dozens of times, leading to scores of people being wrongly charged and convicted, it has emerged.

Police and the Crown Prosecution Service apologised for the errors and said the rushed nature of the laws and the pressure caused by the pandemic were to blame.

Gregor McGill, the director of legal services at the CPS, said 175 people out of 231 had been charged correctly. In the other cases, people were sometimes charged under a law from a different country in the United Kingdom, such as people in England being charged under a Welsh law.

Emergency legislation rushed in by government included regulations limiting movement and how and where people associated with each other.
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Attention

Trump economic advisor: Blue states near 'rioting in the streets' if shutdown continues

Carrie Sheffield
Just the News
Fri, 15 May 2020 03:22 UTC
Protesters Lansing MI
© Getty Images/Jeff Kowalsky'Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine' demonstration at State Capita, Lansing, MI
'People are not going to put up with the government keeping them in a state of impoverishment, which is what they're doing,' economist Stephen Moore told Just the News.

A key 2016 Trump campaign adviser and current member of the Trump Economic Recovery Task Force said he predicted "almost rioting in the streets," particularly in Democratic-held states, if people are kept in "state of impoverishment" through a continued economic shutdown due to coronavirus.

Stephen Moore, now an informal Trump economic adviser who served during the Trump 2016 presidential campaign, told Just the News on Thursday that the widespread coronavirus economic shutdown should not have occurred at all and that it is dragging on for too long, especially in Democratic-held states.

Comment: Some Americans remember their proud history of defiance and what was achieved by bucking the system. Perhaps not all of us have bought the 'program'.

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Stormtrooper

LAPD wants to give rapid-result coronavirus tests to everyone it arrests

Kevin Rector
LA Times
Sat, 16 May 2020 17:16 UTC
LAPD officer
© Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles TimesOfficer Nick Ferara checks the address for his next food donation drop with other officers April 29 at LAPD Harbor Station in San Pedro.
The Los Angeles Police Department wants to give a rapid-result test to everyone its officers arrest to check for the coronavirus and is pushing city officials to secure the equipment to do so.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore told the Police Department's civilian oversight body that he has asked City Hall to secure a rapid-result testing system capable of determining within 15 minutes whether people are infected with the coronavirus.

Such systems exist, though their accuracy has been questioned.

Right now, jails are testing all new arrivals, but results take days to come back, Moore said. The delayed results give the department a "backwards look" at exposure, but rapid-result testing would provide real-time data that could help the department isolate sick detainees, keep others incarcerated in local jails safe and quickly alert officers to any potential exposure, Moore said.

Comment: At this point, the issue of privacy and people's rights is not even a question. Got that? If you think this invasion will stop at 'rapid-result tests' for COVID-19, then you haven't been paying attention.

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Bulb

Italy to open borders with unrestricted travel after months of severe lockdown

Peter Aitken
Fox News
Sat, 16 May 2020 17:08 UTC
italy
Italy will reopen its borders next month after months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government announced.

Both international and regional borders will open June 3 in an attempt to revive Italy's tourism industry. The summer season is about to start, and tourism accounts for 13 percent of the country's GDP.

"We hope to work with the neighboring countries, those who can travel by car," said Gianni Serandrei, owner of the 4-star Hotel Saturnia near St. Mark's Square in Venice.

The hotel's last guests -- determined honeymooners from Argentina -- checked out around March 11, two days after Italy started its national lockdown, including border closures.
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Fire

Eleven firefighters injured, building ablaze after explosion in downtown Los Angeles

James Gordon
The Daily Mail
Sat, 16 May 2020 16:28 UTC
fire los angeles May 2020
© Daily MailThe firefighters had no option to escape other than though the ball of flames which was 30-feet wide and swirling around the ladder they were using
Shocking footage shows the moment firefighters had to crawl down a ladder through a wall of flame as they desperately tried to escape a building following an explosion in Los Angeles.

Eleven firefighters were injured in the massive blast as they tackled a blaze at a supplier of butane honey oil - also known as hash oil - in downtown LA.

The first responders had gone inside the building after an initial report of a fire and then had to run for their lives when a ball of flame shot out of the building, scorching a fire truck parked truck across the street.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said the 'significant explosion' shook the neighborhood around 6:30pm.

Comment: From local news station KTLA:
All 11 firefighters were hospitalized, three of them in critical condition and one in serious condition, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said. LAFD had previously estimated that 10 firefighters were hurt.

Four firefighters will be going to the burn intensive care unit, two were placed on ventilators for swelling of their airways from inhalation of the superheated gases, and the others suffered varying burns to their upper extremities, ranging from very serious, to moderate, to minor, according to Dr. Marc Eckstein, attending physician at L.A. County USC Medical Center, where the firefighters were being treated.

"We have every anticipation the firefighters will pull through," the doctor said.

Doctors said all of the crew members were alert when they were brought in, and that it could have been even worse.


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Stock Down

Some 42% of jobs lost in lockdown are gone for good

Kenneth Rapoza
Forbes
Fri, 15 May 2020 16:40 UTC
going out of business
© AP Photo/Nam Y. HuhA woman takes walk with a dog in front of the closing signs displayed in a store's window front in Niles, Ill., Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Only some of roughly 36 million jobs lost since the beginning of the lockdowns designed to protect hospitals from surging cases of COVID-19 patients are not coming back in a V-shaped or a U-shaped recover. The University of Chicago estimates that 42% of the recent layoffs will result in permanent job losses.

"We find three new hires for every 10 layoffs caused by the shock and estimate that 42% of recent layoffs will result in permanent job loss," writes Jose Maria Barrero, Nick Bloom and Steven Davis from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago in a working paper titled "COVID-19 As A Reallocation Shock" published on May 5.

Most of those workers are now surviving on a record level of unemployment insurance. That means that some workers, including part-timers, are actually making as much or more from unemployment than if they were collecting a paycheck. But that stimulus is not permanent, unless the Democrats get away with their universal basic income policy to give people around $2,000 a month — a nice subsidy to corporate payroll.

Comment: Supply chains are being broken in industries all around the world. The small business economy is basically crushed at this point, and in this sense, all business is essential to a functional economy. Money is also being printed and handed out like candy - and that is a recipe that results in hyperinflation (crash of currency) in every country that does something like this. The dollar is stabilized through its use in global trade, but the global shutdown has affected all economies and trade. We're in a precarious position, and it's better to not have our heads buried in the sand.

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