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Nobel prize winning scientist Prof Michael Levitt: lockdown is a "huge mistake"


UnHerd
Sat, 02 May 2020 17:22 UTC
Michael Levitt
As he is careful to point out, Professor Michael Levitt is not an epidemiologist. He's Professor of Structural Biology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for "the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems."

With a purely statistical perspective, he has been playing close attention to the Covid-19 pandemic since January, when most of us were not even aware of it. He first spoke out in early February, when through analysing the numbers of cases and deaths in Hubei province he predicted with remarkable accuracy that the epidemic in that province would top out at around 3,250 deaths.

In this interview with Freddie Sayers, Executive Editor of UnHerd, Professor Levitt explains why he thinks indiscriminate lockdown measures as "a huge mistake," and advocates a "smart lockdown" policy, focused on more effective measures, focused on protecting elderly people.

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Eye 1

No shock there: Police said to keep huge secret database on movement of Israelis' cars


Times of Israel
Thu, 07 May 2020 17:10 UTC
The police force has been compiling information on the movements of Israelis not suspected of any crime in a secret database that does not appear to have any oversight, a report said Wednesday.

According to the Walla news website, the database includes footage of cars driving across the country that was filmed using smart LPR cameras, which can identify license plates and determine whether the vehicle was stolen or if its owner's driver's license is expired.

The purpose of the so-called Hawk-Eye program is to retroactively track where a car came from if its driver is suspected of involvement in a crime or a terror attack. However, a police source with knowledge of the system told the news site that the video footage is saved for at least six months and possibly years.

That means there is a massive database on the movement of innocent Israelis, just in case their vehicle is involved in a crime in the future.


Comment: Don't worry, it's all for the 'greater good'.


The system began operating as a pilot project in 2014, the report said. The smart cameras are now located on many central roads in Israel and thoroughfares leading into or out of many cities, while others are mounted on police vehicles.

The issue of government tracking of movement has emerged into the public eye in recent weeks as law enforcement authorities have sought and received permission to use phone data to track the movement of people for epidemiological purposes as part of the effort to keep the novel coronavirus from spreading.

Comment: "Only democracy in the Middle East!" Luckily, we have the Covid-19 craziness to thank for causing some people to ponder their own political freedom - or lack of it - for the first time. As usual, comedians put it best. Here's J.P. Sears:



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Bad Guys

A red-baiter, an anti-Trumper & a libertarian walk into a bar: Facebook angers conservatives & liberals alike with oversight picks


RT
Wed, 06 May 2020 16:58 UTC
Facebook
© Reuters / Johanna Geron
Facebook has unveiled its 20-person Oversight Board, a supposedly independent body able to reverse the platform's own content moderation decisions. The names have raised eyebrows all over the political spectrum.

The social media behemoth revealed its 'supreme court' roster on Wednesday, showing off a pedigreed list of legal scholars, human rights advocates, and journalists from around the globe. While the Oversight Board idea was initially presented to the Facebook community back in 2018, as a way for aggrieved users to appeal content take-downs to an independent panel, bylaws unveiled in January suggested its vaunted independence would be nominal at best.
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Light Saber

'The pandemic is a scam': Aussie rugby wife behind anti-vaxx workshops blasts 'dehumanizing & degrading' compulsory jabs


RT
Thu, 07 May 2020 16:28 UTC
Taylor Winterstein, Frank Winterstein
© Instagram / tays_way_
The angry anti-vaccination activist wife of a rugby ace has lashed out at the compulsory flu shots being given to players in Australia, citing "corruption" and claiming that many players feel their human rights are being violated.

Star second-row Bryce Cartwright has sparked a furious row over the regulations set out by the National Rugby League (NRL), which has announced strict vaccination measures for all players in order for the competition to resume on May 28.

The Gold Coast former World All Star is on a collision course with NRL chief medic Paul Bloomfield and Prime Minister Scott Morrison for refusing to take a mandatory flu shot, with the Australian leader insisting a "no jab, no play" policy should be enforced.

After Cartwright's wife defended his position on social media, outspoken anti-vaccination figurehead Taylor Winterstein - whose husband is former NRL regular Frank Winterstein - issued a fierce attack on the "corruption and coercion" of the league's decision.

"The truth is, there are more than just a handful of us," said Winterstein, who has joined the likes of footballer Dejan Lovren in sharing an image of Bill Gates holding a syringe as part of allegations that the Microsoft boss wants to use a vaccine to create population control.

"There is a strong core group...who proudly stand for medical freedom and informed consent.

Comment: For more information on vaccines see:

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Health

Native American health center in Seattle receives body bags instead of coronavirus supplies

Yaron Steinbuch
New York Post
Wed, 06 May 2020 09:12 UTC
Seattle Indian Health Board
© Seattle Indian Health Boardsther Lucero (left), CEO of the Seattle Indian Health Board, and Abigail Echo-Hawk, the board's chief research officer, with a box of body bags.
A community health center treating Native Americans in the Seattle area issued an urgent call for medical supplies to local, state and federal agencies — but instead received "a box of body bags," according to a report.

"My team turned ghost white," Esther Lucero, CEO of the Seattle Indian Health Board, told NBC News. "We asked for tests, and they sent us a box of body bags."

Lucero said bags bearing tags that read "attach to toe" was a mistaken delivery to the center — which serves some 6,000 people a year in Seattle and King County — from a distributor via the county Health Department.

Abigail Echo-Hawk, the health board's chief research officer, said the macabre shipment resonates among Native American communities across the country during the coronavirus outbreak.
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Bad Guys

German government bails out owners of German corporations, saddles public with debt

Eric Zeusse
Saker Blog
Wed, 06 May 2020 12:00 UTC
lufthansa planes
© Ralph Orlowski / Reuters
Just as the corrupt U.S. Government is bailing out owners of U.S. corporations while the American public experiences a recession that is heading into a depression, the corrupt German Government likewise is bailing out investors. It's not illegal for the Government to do that — not even when the corporation that they might bail out next is the nation's flag-carrying airline, which already receives unfair advantages in competing against other airlines in that country.

The German Government has offered to bail out even the wealthy investors who control the already governmentally favored but privately investor-owned airline Lufthansa, but those super-rich investors demand that it be an unconditional bailout, and negotiations are continuing. On May 5th, the "Flight Global" site bannered "Lufthansa reluctant to accept state aid with conditions attached", and reported that "Lufthansa Group is holding 'intensive talks' with governments in Germany, Austria and Belgium about the provision of state aid."

Comment: Historically, revolutions never really end well - they're often hijacked by nefarious forces - nor do they really achieve what they set out to do; what is needed is an education of at least a significant proportion of people - akin to the 'Tipping Point' - as to the nature of corruption and how it insidiously takes hold of a society. Without this, history is only bound to repeat itself: Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes

As things are, it looks like a time of revealing is upon us, those who have stuck their heads in the sand hoping things would get better despite the fact that life for the majority was getting worse, will now have to face up to reality, because it is their livelihoods now on the line.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Robot

Facebook names 20 people to its 'Supreme Court' for content moderation

David Ingram
NBC
Wed, 06 May 2020 19:00 UTC
facebook hq corporate headquarters
© Josh Edelson / AFP - Getty ImagesThe Facebook "like" sign at Facebook's corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2019.
Facebook on Wednesday appointed 20 people from around the world to serve on what will effectively be the social media network's "Supreme Court" for speech, issuing rulings on what kind of posts will be allowed and what should be taken down.

The list includes nine law professors, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Yemen, journalists, free speech advocates and a writer from the libertarian Cato Institute.

Absent, however, was any prominent expert in studying disinformation. Facebook has struggled to contain state-based manipulation efforts as well as hoaxes on subjects like false cures and gun violence.

Comment: It's difficult to say whether or not this is anything more than a public relations move on the part of Facebook. Whether it will end up improving the social media platform's implicit bias in censoring content remains to be seen.

See also:

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Bullseye

Swedish Model: Ruined economy will cause more deaths than coronavirus - Prof


Sputnik
Thu, 07 May 2020 05:00 UTC
sweden lockdown
© AFP 2020 / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND
Unlike its European neighbours Sweden has not opted for a strict COVID lockdown: and although all public gatherings of more than 50 people are banned and people are largely encouraged to stay home, restaurants and bars are open and children are still attending schools. Swedish academics have weighed up the pros and the cons of Stockholm's model.

Despite opting for flexible quarantine measures Sweden has been trailing far behind Spain, Italy and the UK in terms of confirmed COVID-19 cases and related deaths with just 23,216 infected and 2,854 fatalities. However, at the same time, the Nordic country has substantially outpaced its neighbours, Denmark, Norway and Finland which account for 503, 214 and 246 fatalities, respectively. Whether or not Stockholm's health strategy has worked will be seen in coming months, say Swedish observers.


Comment: We apparently have to wait months before we can accept the successes of the Swedish model meanwhile those countries in lockdown are using daily tally's to justify that their draconian actions are saving lives?


Functioning Economy & Herd Immunity

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Coronavirus survivors to be 'permanently disqualified from joining US military'


Sputnik
Thu, 07 May 2020 02:09 UTC
US soldier coronavirus mask
© REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
According to the Washington Times, over 4,000 US troops have tested positive for COVID-19, while nearly 1,000 crew members of USS Theodore Roosevelt were confirmed to have been infected, as well.

Any applicant who has survived the COVID-19 coronavirus will be barred from enrolling in the US military, unless they can obtain a waiver from the branch they would like to join, according to a tweeted Pentagon memo.

"During the medical history interview or examination, a history of COVID-19, confirmed by either a laboratory test or a clinician diagnosis, is permanently disqualifying..." the US Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) memo reads.

Comment: This seems rather counter-intuitive. If someone has had the coronavirus and recovers they would presumably have immunity. So why would that disqualify them from the military? Do the military know something about the virus we don't?

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Car Black

Best of the Web: 'CBS This Morning' aired faked COVID-19 drive-through testing site line of cars

Sarah Taylor
Project Veritas
Wed, 06 May 2020 06:26 UTC
veritas cbs covid-19
A CBS News crew pulled medical professionals off the floor at the Cherry Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to line up in their vehicles so a CBS film crew would have a long line for their COVID-19 coverage.

"Our insider witnessed the whole thing and came to Project Veritas, because he knew we would protect him," said James O'Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas.

"The insider told us that medical personnel were taken away from treating patients and making the line longer for actual patients wait for the COVID-19 test," he said.

In an interview with the insider, O'Keefe asked the insider: "You're telling me you're a hundred percent certain that CBS News, CBS News Corporation--national, staged a fake event. They faked the news. They faked the reality and broadcasted that to all of their audience last Friday on "CBS This Morning."

The insider said to him: "A hundred percent. Absolutely."


Comment: And that is not even the first time CBS has been caught making fake news to spread fear and panic about Covid-19:

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