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'Seize empty hotels and motels': Homeless activists are losing patience with Los Angeles amid coronavirus 'pandemic'

Doug Smith, Benjamin Oreskes and David Zahniser
Yahoo! News
Sun, 03 May 2020 18:00 UTC
Homeless at W. LA hotel
© Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles TimesOmar Spry pushes a cart of bags into a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for homeless people during the pandemic.
Not long after L.A. County reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday, Davon Brown decided he was done putting himself at risk. So he put on a blazer and went to The Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles.

Joined by activists with Street Watch L.A., he told hotel staff that they were interested in renting several rooms but wanted a tour first. The concierge happily obliged, he said, and took the group to room 2221.

Then he revealed his plan: "I'm homeless in Echo Park and I'm not leaving this hotel."

Brown, who was later arrested and released, told The Times that he had planned to stay until government officials had commandeered enough hotel rooms to house every homeless person in Los Angeles.

"If I stayed outside," he said, "I could die."
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Arrow Up

Mexican Army kills 7 Los Zetas gunmen in border city shootout

Cartel Chronicles
Breitbart
Sun, 03 May 2020 17:45 UTC
mexican army
Mexican Army soldiers killed seven Los Zetas gunmen who had set up an ambush attack. Two of the gunmen were the personal bodyguards of a regional cartel boss. The shootout is the latest bout of violence in the border city of Nuevo Laredo where the criminal organization has historically set their base of operations.

The shootout took place this week in the Nuevo Laredo when a Mexican Army convoy driving near Cavazos Lerma Boulevard attempted to enforce coronavirus containment measures when they spotted a convoy of cartel gunmen. The gunmen, part of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas, began shooting at the soldiers as they fled and then tried to set up an ambush-style attack at a highway overpass.
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Eye 1

Police arrest anti-lockdown protesters in London, UK

James Robinson
Daily Mail
Sat, 02 May 2020 15:45 UTC
lockdown police
Police have arrested a number of anti-lockdown protesters
An activist has been arrested after 5G conspiracy theorists carried out a 'group hug' near the Met Police's headquarters while holding signs with slogans such as 'my body my choice'.

The group were spotted outside New Scotland Yard in Westminster, London, this afternoon, chanting 'hug someone, save lives' in defiance of the government's coronavirus lockdown laws.

Others in the group, including children, were seen holding up signs protesting 5G and vaccines.


Comment: Note the Daily Mail's spin throughout this report: the primary reason for the protest was against the draconian lockdown, some were advocating pro-choice vaccination, and some were also speaking out against 5G.


Meanwhile, video has also emerged of one protester, dressed in a florescent jacket, being arrested as he repeatedly shouts phrases like 'I do not consent' and 'police brutality'.

Comment: And 64% are not in favour of extending the lockdown? One could infer from those statistics that a significant proportion are against the lockdown.

Biased reporting like this Daily Mail article is to be expected because UK newspapers are now admittedly on the government payroll: UK gov to PAY newspapers £35 million as part of 'coronavirus communications campaign'

Unsurprisingly, protest movements against the draconian lockdown measures are building worldwide: #Resistance: Protesters gather in southern Russia and Germany to demand end to 'pandemic lockdown'



See also: "This is what a police state is like": UK's ex-supreme court judge lambasts policing, 'collective hysteria' and the lockdown

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Bad Guys

Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Major among five security personnel killed in terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir


DevDiscourse
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:34 UTC
Colonel Ashutosh Sharma jammu kashmir
Colonel Ashutosh Sharma
An Army Colonel and a Major were among five security personnel killed in an encounter at a village in Handwara in north Kashmir that also saw the elimination of two terrorists, officials said on Sunday. Army officers Col Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj, and Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub-Inspector Shakeel Qazi were among the deceased, they said.

Col Sharma was leading a team to rescue civilians who had been taken hostage by the terrorists hiding in a house at the Chanjmullah area of Handwara in frontier Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Saturday, the officials said. As the hostages were being rescued, the team, which also consisted of a Lance Naik and a Rifleman, came under heavy fire which was effectively retaliated by the security personnel in the outer cordon, they said.

Comment: India.com adds:
In 2015, Colonel MN Rai had lost his life in an operation in the Kashmir Valley. In November same year, Colonel Santosh Mahadik had lost his life. Since then, there has been no martyrs in the rank of a colonel of a first commanding officer to have lost their lives in encounters with terrorists. Colonel Ashutosh Sharma's is the first in such rank to have lost his life — in yesterday's operations in Handwara.

Colonel Sharma has been serving in the Guards Regiment for a long time and has been awarded the Sena Medial for gallantry twice, once for his bravery as the commanding officer. In a major feat, he had saved the men of his troops when a terrorist was rushing towards his men with a grenade hidden in his clothes. It was for this achievement, he had won the gallantry award.

Colonel Sharna, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, is survived by his wife and a 12-year-old daughter.
The Northern Command of the Indian Army has identified the jawans killed in the line of duty as Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh, Lance Naik Dinesh and Colonel Ashutosh Sharma. Officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have also identified the deceased sipahi as sub-inspector Shakeel Qazi.
Tensions between Pakistan and India over the disputed area have been simmering for decades, but they have escalated since India declared jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir:

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Stop

Maine restaurant owner reopens despite governor's COVID-19 orders, immediately gets health licenses revoked

Dialynn Dwyer
Boston.com
Sat, 02 May 2020 16:28 UTC
Rick Savage
© Robert F. Bukaty / APRick Savage, owner of Sunday River Brewing Company, talks with customers at his restaurant after he defied an executive order that prohibited gatherings of 10 or more people and opened his establishment during the coronavirus pandemic on Friday.
Maine restaurant owner Rick Savage followed through on his vows to reopen for business on Friday, defying a state order that all eateries remain closed until June because of the coronavirus.

But by the end of the day, Savage announced that Sunday River Brewing Co. in Bethel would once again close "until further notice" after the state revoked his health licenses.

More than 150 people had lined up to eat at the restaurant by mid-afternoon Friday as the eatery reopened despite orders from Gov. Janet Mills, according to the Portland Press Herald.


"I can't tell them where to stand and what to do," Savage told the Bangor Daily News of his customers, many of whom were not observing guidelines for social distancing by standing 6 feet apart as they waited to get into the restaurant. "We're America. If they want to isolate, they can isolate."

Savage made an appearance on Fox News's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" the day before, criticizing the governor's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and encouraging other businesses to follow his lead in defying orders to stay closed.

At one point during the interview, Savage offered up what he said was Mill's cellphone number and encouraged viewers to call her directly and dared state officials to take him to court.

Comment:


Savage isn't the only business owner defying the authorities. Some California businesses are doing the same:




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Cell Phone

Data privacy advocates alarmed by NHS's new 'contact-tracing' app

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 02 May 2020 16:34 UTC
COVID-19 app, coronavirus app
As both countries prepare to start unwinding the strict nationwide lockdowns imposed more than 6 weeks ago, the UK and France are collaborating on a new 'voluntary' surveillance app purportedly designed to help with 'contact tracing' for coronavirus patients.

The Evening Standard reports ministers from both countries have been "liaising" on the development of the new technology, which is expected to be ready within two or three weeks.

But why are the two allies collaborating on building their own 'surveillance' app instead of adopting a model proposed by Apple or Google? Well, apparently, British officials felt Apple's treatment of user privacy was "too cautious".

The app will use bluetooth to collect data from the phones of everybody one passes; should one of them test positive, a user will be notified.
A consultant to the French government said: "Apple appeared to be much more cautious about protecting client data and privacy than the French or British authorities."

The smartphone app will track and trace any possibly affected persons near the user. Some have feared its use of Bluetooth could divulge confidential information about people's locations.
To be sure, Matthew Gould, head of the unit at the NHS that's in charge of developing the app, has said the location-tracking feature - pretty much the only reason to use the app - would be "opt-in".
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Footprints

California: Two more counties to reopen defying Governor's order

Eric Quintanar
Daily Wire
Sat, 02 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Newsom
© Gage SkidmoreCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom
Two more California counties have decided to re-open with social distancing measures in defiance of the governor's stay-at-home order, which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has said takes precedence over any county directives.

The neighboring counties of Yuba and Sutter in Northern California appear to have followed in the steps of Modoc County, which announced earlier this week that it would begin to re-open businesses with modifications, such as half-capacity seating for dine-in restaurants. The Yuba County public health office stated:
"This is a time for personal responsibility in minimizing our movements and physical interactions. It is up to all of us to show respect for each other's health and safety by adhering to guidance on facial coverings, social distancing, small group gatherings, and good hand hygiene."
In a statement on Friday, Yuba-Sutter County health officer Dr. Phuong Luu said that waiting to re-open would exacerbate economic and health problems, unrelated to coronavirus, in the two communities.
"We cannot wait for a vaccine without seeing extreme economic damage done to our community. The consequences of waiting will be additional health concerns brought on by stress and the very real dilemma for those with limited resources whether to buy life-saving food or life-saving medicines."

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

Your passport and corona test, please: Vienna airport starts on-site screening for those who wish to avoid quarantine


RT
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:19 UTC
Vienna International Airport
© REUTERS / Lisi NiesnerFILE PHOTO. Passengers arrive at Vienna International Airport.
Starting Monday, passengers arriving at Vienna International Airport will be offered an on-site Covid-19 test to avoid the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Austrian health officials require everyone arriving in the country by air to provide a health certificate ensuring they are not carrying the coronavirus. Without one issued no less than four days prior to arrival, travelers must sign up for two weeks of self-isolation. Starting Monday, there will be an alternative - an on-site express test with a three-hour wait before the results come through.

The same PCR express test will be available to people leaving Austria who may need a certificate to travel to another country with similar entry requirements or for other people who wish to be tested, the airport said on Sunday. The service costs €190 (about $210).
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: The science is becoming clear: Lockdowns are no longer the right medicine

John Ioannidis and Rohan Silva
The Sunday Times
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:11 UTC
social distancing
When reports emerged of an epidemic in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, policy-makers had to make far-reaching decisions based on extremely limited information. Terrifying statistics led many global leaders to shut their economies and quarantine entire populations.

The World Health Organisation declared at first that the Covid-19 death rate was 3.4%. Modelling at Imperial College London — based on early, unreliable data — suggested more than 500,000 people could die in the UK unless drastic action were taken.

Since then academics have been working hard to understand more about Covid-19 and we have seen remarkable progress. Here are some of the key findings.

Comment: Ioannidis isn't just a professor of epidemiology; he's the world's leading expert on it.

Here he has been given a platform on the UK's 'top newspaper'.

And yet the British govt, like most other Western ones... isn't lifting the lockdown until mid-summer.

Clearly then, the medical and epidemiological facts about COVID-19 are not informing their decisions.

So what is?

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Red Flag

Almost a fifth of UK homes with children go hungry in lockdown

Nosheen Iqbal
The Guardian
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:03 UTC
food kitchen
© Kate Green/Getty Images
The number of households with children going hungry has doubled since lockdown began, as millions of people struggle to afford food.

New data from the Food Foundation shared exclusively with the Observer has revealed that almost a fifth of households with children have been unable to access enough food in the past five weeks, with meals being skipped and children not getting enough to eat as already vulnerable families battle isolation and a loss of income.

The strain on larger families, single parent homes and those with disabled children has been immense. A reported 30% of lone parents and 46% of parents with a disabled child are facing food insecurity and finding it difficult to manage basic nutritional needs at home. With schools no longer providing a reprieve for children reliant on free breakfast clubs and school lunches, poorer families are at crisis point.
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