Society's ChildS


House

SOTT Focus: Brave New Normal

goodbye jews germany girl ww2
'Goodbye Jews!'
So the War on Populism is finally over. Go ahead, take a wild guess who won.

I'll give you a hint. It wasn't the Russians, or the white supremacists, or the gilets jaunes, or Jeremy Corbyn's Nazi Death Cult, or the misogynist Bernie Bros, or the MAGA-hat terrorists, or any of the other real or fictional "populist" forces that global capitalism has been waging war on for the last four years.

What? You weren't aware that global capitalism was fighting a War on Populism? That's OK, most other folks weren't. It wasn't officially announced or anything. It was launched in the summer of 2016, just as the War on Terror was ending, as a sequel to the War on Terror, or a variation on the War on Terror, or continuation of the War on Terror, or ... whatever, it doesn't really matter anymore, because now we're fighting the War on Death, or the War on Minor Cold-like Symptoms, depending on your age and general state of health.

Comment: See also:


Question

Best of the Web: Where is the vigorous debate about our response to Covid-19?

schematic diagram coronavirus
© Wrapp et al. / UT-Austin / NIH via Science / AAASA schematic diagrams of the 'spike' used by the novel coronavirus to force its way into cells.
After a career as a scientist and clinical academic, I have been struck by how often they (we!) have very complicated and exceedingly well-reasoned ways of getting things quite wrong. That's why I have always thought it best for the recommendations of experts to have 'advisory' status only. Experts' roles are to examine the minutiae of a small subject area - with a view to gaining or advancing understanding. It is the job of our politicians and civil servants to develop appropriate policies.

Experts can be guilty of being monomaniacs, interested only in the thing they are studying. That's understandable, of course, because many of these things are hard to comprehend. And having put so much effort into their work, it's also not unexpected, and very human, that most experts put a lot of weight on their conclusions and are convinced of their importance.

That's exactly why, when scientists call for their findings to be implemented by government, we need politicians and civil servants to moderate their enthusiasm, examine contrary views and express appropriate scepticism. And, in short, judiciously weigh all the other factors that come to bear on any given set of conclusions. The Covid-19 crisis took the world by surprise, and the world (Sweden excepted) has reacted in roughly the same way: with lockdowns. In the rush, the usual checks and balances have not been applied.

Comment: It seems Dr. Lee is one of the few rational heads speaking out in the mainstream media. More from Dr. John Lee:


Handcuffs

Jeffrey Epstein accuser loses bid to unmask his accomplices

Epstein accuser Courtney Wild
© James MesserschmidtCourtney Wild is seen during a 2019 press conference.
A Jeffrey Epstein accuser's attempts to unmask his alleged accomplices was scuttled Tuesday following an appeals court decision.

Courtney Wild, 32 — who claims the financier sexually abused her starting when she was just 14 — was trying to resurrect her 2008 lawsuit seeking to throw out a controversial non-prosecution agreement protecting Epstein's alleged co-conspirators from criminal charges.

But the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reluctantly rejected Wild's bid on legal grounds in a split decision, acknowledging the decision leaves Epstein's victims "emptyhanded."

Comment: That these people are still being protected is a slap in the face to their victims and the public at large who have a right to know the evil being perpetrated by the world's elite.

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Apple Red

Cars line up for miles at food banks across the US

Cars in line for food
© BFM TVThousands of cars were spotted crawling along the street to receive food items being distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank at the The Forum arena in Inglewood at the weekend.
Grim footage has shown lines of cars stretching for miles outside a Los Angeles food bank as droves of desperate Americans continue to line for hours across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of cars were spotted crawling along the street to receive food items being distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank at the The Forum arena in Inglewood at the weekend.

More than two million people in California have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March when the coronavirus started to spread rapidly throughout the US.

In other scenes across the country in recent days, hundreds of people lined up in their cars on Tuesday in order to get free food from the Feeding South Florida food bank in Opa-Locka.


Toys

WWE Wrestling deemed 'essential business' in Florida, will resume filming live shows

WWE wrestling
World Wrestling Entertainment has been deemed an "essential business" in Florida and will resume filming live shows without an audience.

The WWE was initially deemed to be non-essential, but Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced on Monday that their status was changed after discussion with Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"I think initially there was a review that was done. They were not initially deemed an essential business," Demings said. "With some conversation with the governor's office regarding the governor's order, they were deemed an essential business. So therefore they were allowed to remain open."

Comment: It seems ridiculous that wrestling would be considered an 'essential service', but on the other hand, it's actually nice to see the administration making measured decisions of the threat versus the consequences of staying locked down. They know the threat of the virus is much lower than the threat of economic ruin, so why not open? It would be nice if they applied that thinking to the lockdown as a whole.


Megaphone

Dissension in the ranks: Academics break ranks to criticise New Zealand Prime Minister's lockdown strategy as too severe

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
© Getty
Public health experts in New Zealand have warned that tens of thousands of lives would be put at risk if the country moves too quickly out of lockdown after a group of academics broke ranks to criticise Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's strategy as too severe.

With the number of new coronavirus cases in New Zealand continuing to fall, the group of health and economy academics said the government's lockdown plan was out of proportion with the health risks posed by the virus.

The group said that from April 22, when the current lockdown period is due to end, New Zealand should drop from "level four" to a "level two" alert.

Comment: The fact that more and more people seem to be waking up to the fact that the lockdown measures have been completely out of proportion to the severity of the virus means that the elite are going to have a lot of explaining to do when the full consequences have emerged.


Brick Wall

Coronavirus: Lockdown 'hysteria is ruining 10 million lives'

Prof. Paul Frijters
Professor of economics at London School of Economics Paul Frijters.
A top health economist has called for an urgent unwinding of lockdown rules born of "mass hysteria", saying the social and economic misery they cause has already destroyed the equivalent of more than 10 million lives.

As the global death toll from coronavirus heads towards 120,000, Paul Frijters, a professor of economics at London School of Economics, told The Australian "saving tens of thousands of lives" was "a drop in the ocean compared to the long-lasting disaster caused by economic collapse".

Professor Frijters, an Australian, estimates the loss of wellbeing "to be at least 10 million lives but probably closer to 50 million", based on his estimates for the ­deterioration in global wellbeing from isolation, unemployment and physical inactivity. "The biggest effect is through loneliness. We see anxiety rates going up an awful lot," he said.

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Heart - Black

Ill children, autistic people, seniors pressured to sign 'do not resuscitate' forms

london ambulance
© Alex Davidson/Getty Images
The family of an 11-year-old cancer sufferer and an autistic support group have been pressured to sign 'do not resuscitate' (DNR) forms during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ilhan Ates-Suddes from Scarborough suffers from a rare cancer, called a Desmoid tumour, in his neck and jaw. His mother Margaret expressed shock when the family's general practitioner asked the family if they wanted to sign a DNR form in case he contracts Chinese coronavirus.

Calling the request inhumane, his mother said in comments reported by The Times: "Ilhan has fought cancer for seven years. There's no way I'm going to let anyone give up on him."

"They asked if we wanted a DNR if Ilhan had to be taken to hospital. When I called to complain, one of the GPs said there had been a mistake. But how on earth can someone see an 11-year-old boy's age on a computer and think that it is ­responsible behaviour?" the mother said.

NPC

Coronavirus authoritarianism is getting out of hand

Gretchen Whitmer
© Jeff Kowalsky/ReutersDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer reacts after declaring victory in Detroit, Mich., November 6, 2018.
We should be preserving our laws and our freedom in times of crisis.

It's reasonable to assume that the vast majority of Americans process news and data, and calculate that self-quarantining, wearing masks, and social distancing make sense for themselves, their families, and the country. Free people act out of self-preservation, but they shouldn't be coerced to act through the authoritarian whims of the state. Yet this is exactly what's happening.

There has been lots of pounding of keyboards over the power grabs of authoritarians in Central and Eastern Europe. Rightly so. Yet right here, politicians act as if a health crisis gives them license to lord over the most private activities of America people in ways that are wholly inconsistent with the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

I'm not even talking about national political and media elites who, after fueling years of hysteria over the coming Republican dictatorship, now demand Donald Trump dominate state actions. I'm talking about local governments.

Under what imperious conception of governance does Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer believe it is within her power to unilaterally ban garden stores from selling fruit or vegetable plants and seeds? What business is it of Vermont or Howard County, Ind., to dictate that Walmart, Costco, or Target stop selling "non-essential" items, such as electronics or clothing? Vermont has 628 cases of coronavirus as of this writing. Is that the magic number authorizing the governor to ban people from buying seeds for their gardens?

Comment: What is as bad, if in some ways worse - than the state abusing its power over individual freedom - is when individuals internalize the authoritarian mindset for themselves and become an oppressive force against those they perceive as breaking the arbitrary and hystericized "rules" we are now finding all around us.


Attention

Child sex abuse in Pakistan's religious schools is endemic

pakistan
© AP Photo/K.M. ChaudaryMohammad Iqbal talks to her daughter Misbah, center, who was allegedly abused by her religious teacher in Leiyah, Pakistan.
Muhimman proudly writes his name slowly, carefully, one letter at a time, grinning broadly as he finishes. He's just 11 years old and was a good student who had dreams of being a doctor.

School frightens him now. Earlier this year, a cleric at the religious school he faithfully attended in the southern Punjab town of Pakpattan took him into a washroom and tried to rape him. Muhimman's aunt, Shazia, who wanted only her first name used, said she believes the abuse of young children is endemic in Pakistan's religious schools. She said she has known the cleric, Moeed Shah, since she was a little girl and describes him as an habitual abuser who used to ask little girls to pull up their shirts.

"He has done wrong with boys and also with two or three girls," Shazia said, recalling one girl the cleric brutalized so badly he broke her back.

An investigation by The Associated Press found dozens of police reports, known here as First Information Reports, alleging sexual harassment, rape and physical abuse by Islamic clerics teaching in madrassas or religious schools throughout Pakistan, where many of the country's poorest study. The AP also documented cases of abuse through interviews with law enforcement officials, abuse victims and their parents. The alleged victims who spoke for this story did so with the understanding only their first names would be used.

There are more than 22,000 registered madrassas in Pakistan, teaching more than 2 million children. But there are many more religious schools that are unregistered. They are typically started by a local cleric in a poor neighborhood, attracting students with a promise of a meal and free lodging. There is no central body of clerics that governs madrassas. Nor is there a central authority that can investigate or respond to allegations of abuse by clerics, unlike the Catholic Church, which has a clear hierarchy topped by the Vatican.

The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised to modernize the curriculum and make the madrassas more accountable, but there is little oversight.