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Intel boss confirms investigation into whether coronavirus outbreak the 'result of an accident' at Wuhan lab

Richard Grenell
© Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Richard Grenell
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed on-record for the first time Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community is investigating whether the coronavirus outbreak, which has wreaked havoc across the globe, started as the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

"The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S. policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China. The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified," a statement from the office of acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said.


Comment: Given the levels of trust the U.S. intelligence community inspires, we suppose this means there's a high chance the virus didn't come from the Wuhan lab, and that it was man-made or genetically modified (which isn't to say it hasn't mutated since it's hypothetical creation/tinkering.)


"As we do in all crises, the Community's experts respond by surging resources and producing critical intelligence on issues vital to U.S. national security. The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan," the statement said.

Fox News first reported earlier this month that there is increasing confidence that the outbreak likely escaped from the lab, not as a bioweapon but as part of a Chinese effort to show that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal or greater than those of the U.S. This would be at odds with claims the outbreak originated at a wet market nearby.

Fox News also reported previously that a full-scale investigation was underway, with intelligence operatives said to be gathering information about the laboratory and the initial outbreak of the virus. Intelligence analysts are piecing together a timeline of what the government knew and "creating an accurate picture of what happened," sources said.

Comment: Official Trump seems to believe it, but then again of course he would:




Dominoes

White House efforts to exonerate Michael Flynn could see America explode

Michael Flynn
© Getty Images / The Washington Post / Jabin Botsford
Michael Flynn
As new information indicates the FBI set a 'perjury trap' for Trump's former national security adviser, the gloves have come off between the Democrats and Republicans. The epic showdown could lead to a national existential crisis.

For much of the world - transfixed as it is with the Covid-19 pandemic and a crumbling global economy - Russiagate sounds like ancient history. From the perspective of the Trump administration, however, it is a lingering, festering wound that points to corruption and possibly even treason at the highest levels of the US political and intelligence circles. That is why Michael Flynn's possible exoneration is, or should be, a very serious news story.

Yet for Americans searching for information on the subject, they will be greeted by the cacophony of crickets. The Drudge Report, for example, devoted just one short article to the controversy since the news broke on Thursday. And in the event that one of the Big Six media corporations reports on it, they can be trusted to do so without any modicum of objectivity. CNN, for example, fired up its snark machine to produce this whopper of an article-opener: "Trump went on a Twitter rampage Thursday about his former adviser Michael Flynn, flooding the zone with conspiracy theories and paper-thin allegations that crooked FBI investigators entrapped Flynn as part of a 'deep state' plot."

Cult

Pedo king Epstein used his office at Harvard University over 40 times AFTER being convicted of child sex crimes

Harvard math professor Martin Nowak placed on leave for giving Jeffrey Epstein own office on campus, allowing website to be used to boost his reputation
Epstein Harvard

Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Epstein, Steven Pinker, [unknown] and Lawrence Summers
A Harvard math professor was placed on administrative leave Friday after a damning new report claimed he had continued to maintain an office on campus for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even after the deceased financier's 2008 sex crimes conviction.

Martin Nowak, the lead on Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, provided Epstein with a campus key card which allowed him to visit more than 40 times between 2010 and 2018, the report states.

A room in the department was established as 'Jeffrey's office' and Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019, even had his own Harvard phone line.


Comment: Epstein didn't kill himself.


The report added that Nowak also signed off on false, flattering statements about Epstein for the school's website as the deceased financier attempted to rehabilitate his image after his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from an underage girl.

Yellow Vest

France extends 'state of health emergency' until July 24, effectively continuing lockdown for THREE MORE MONTHS


Comment: They're still being extremely cagey about their next moves, Our Dear Western Leaders, but it's looking more and more like they intend to keep as much of the lockdown in place as possible. For many more months to come...


france prime minister Édouard Philippe

French PM Édouard Philippe has become the most reviled man in France because of the govt's ever-stricter lockdown measures...
France has decided to extend a "state of health emergency" imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic for two months until July 24, Health Minister Olivier Véran said on Saturday.

A proposal to be put to parliament on Monday says plans this month to lift the public health emergency, which began on March 24, would "be premature" and "could see a risk of the outbreak" intensifying.


Comment: Not to be confused with the date the lockdown began in France, one week prior on March 17th.


"We are going to have to live with the virus for a while," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said after a cabinet meeting.


Comment: That's a given - just like we live with every other virus. What it really looks like is that we are going to have to live with authoritarians like Castaner for a while. Their 'cure' is going to last a lot longer than the disease - and it's also going to do far more damage.


The bill also lays out the quarantine conditions for people coming to France from abroad.


Comment: More on this below...


Comment: We can live with politicians being vague during normal times. But politicians being vague during 'war-time' (as they themselves have repeatedly described this) is FATAL to a country's health. As things stand, they are telling people several different things at once, all the while the financial, social, health and psychological screws tighten on everyone's mind. This CANNOT go on indefinitely; the politicians are driving people to revolt...

On the new 'quarantining of foreigners' mentioned in the above report, The Local (France) has more:
As part of the planned measures, Veran [health minister of France] said people entering France may have to remain confined for two weeks.

Entry into France is currently heavily restricted, with only essential travel into the country allowed, and an international travel certificate required for everyone crossing the border.

"The compulsory quarantine will concern anyone entering the national territory, an overseas territory or Corsica," said Véran. [...]

Véran said people who are not symptomatic would be quarantined and those who develop symptoms and are diagnosed positive for coronavirus by a doctor will be put in isolation.

Anyone arriving from abroad and infected with the virus would be obliged by law to be quarantined.
So which is it: anyone entering French territory, or anyone who tests positive for the virus?? Because the minister just said BOTH are grounds for mandatory quarantine.
However Interior Minister Cristophe Castaner added that there would be exceptions for people who regularly cross the border such as frontalier workers and haulage drivers.

He said there were already provisions in place for people "who live close to the border or who live in France and travel regularly to another country for work".

It was not clear where people would be quarantined or isolated with the government planning to announce further details in the coming days.
You can bet that they already know exactly where they want to put people; they're just - once again - 'breaking it to us gently'...
The condition of the length of quarantine, the place where people will be asked to stay, the health monitoring and restrictions on outings that apply to those quarantined will be specified after the advice of the Scientific Council, said the minister. The total duration of isolation, whatever the situation, could never exceed 30 days, said Véran, and people will have the right of appeal to a judge who must decide their case within 72 hours.
Oh. So it's an entire MONTH of solitary confinement??
Infected people already in France will, however, not be forced to accept isolation and treatment, as "we trust French people's sense of responsibility," Veran said.
Oh how very considerate of them. They know perfectly well that those who are 'confirmed infected' are already 'in the care of the state' because those are symptomatic people who voluntarily sought treatment. The above is a message to those who are infected, asymptomatic and living freely (to the extent that they can while under house arrest): 'we could come find you and forcibly remove you from your homes, but we're not just yet'...
The government had initially announced a plan for everyone in France who tested positive for Covid-19 to isolate for two weeks either at home or in special accommodation, and initial plans were to give local authorities the power to enforce quarantine.

However this was altered after protests over heavy-handedness, and now the quarantine will be something that people are only asked to do in order to protect the health of others.
Like all other 'government recommendations' in the past two months, this is bullshit of the highest order. They are SAYING it's all voluntary, WHILE their security forces are arresting and fining people on the basis of strict adherence to the 'recommendations', AS IF THEY WERE LAW.

We fear another revolution is in the making.


Star of David

Election interference? Israeli official dangled offer of 'critical intell' at Trump campaign in 2016 — FBI doc

netanyahu trump
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Donald Trump, March 5, 2018
Here's a delicious story that is not likely to get any pickup from the American mainstream obsessed with Russian interference: evidence that Trump's friend Roger Stone was in touch with high Israeli officials in the runup to the 2016 election to discuss efforts to help Trump win. One official says "we have critical intell" that can help Trump avoid "defeat."

The declassified FBI affidavit is a smoking gun inasmuch as it reveals an apparent willingness on the part of high Israeli officials, including those close to the "PM" — Benjamin Netanyahu — to interfere in the election on behalf of Donald Trump. At least one of these officials met with Trump in July 2016 at the St. Regis in New York.

The evidence of any actual interference is largely suggestive. It includes such lines as these:

MIB

US analytics firm spied on Russian defence plants, media claims in report on COVID-19-related issues

russian defense
© Sputnik / Sergey Mamontov
The global pandemic has affected businesses worldwide, forcing them to close or reduce their activities, but the company Orbital Insights claims the Russian defence industry hasn't been spared either. The latter based its allegations on "anonymous cell data" obtained without clarifying how it got its hands on such information.

Several Russian defence industry factories have been slowing down recently amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report by geospatial analytics company Orbital Insights, cited by media outlet Defence One claims.

The reports names the Salut factory where parts for the Su-27 are built, Uralvagonzavod where parts for most of Russia's modern tanks are manufactured, and Hydromash which produces landing gear for modifications of the Su-30 and Su-34 jets. The report, however, claims that not all of the Russian defence industry has reduced its activities.

Arrow Up

Trump hits 49 percent approval rating in Gallup poll

Trump national emergency
President Trump's job approval soared to 49 percent in a new Gallup poll released Thursday, making up a 6-point loss from a similar survey released just two weeks ago.

The new approval number is tied for Trump's personal best in Gallup's polling data. A survey conducted by Gallup in mid-March similarly found his approval ticking up to 49 percent before it took a 6-point dive in the first half of April.

The poll released on Thursday marked a rare instance in Gallup's polling history in which Trump's overall approval is above water. Only 47 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the job he's doing in the White House.

Bad Guys

Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela's Maduro

anti-government protester
© BORIS VERGARA/AP

Comment: The following story is interesting in that it gives some insight into how the US goes about attempting to overthrow governments that do not bow to the whims of the Empire. But make no mistake, this plan did not originate and come to fruition by a single ex-Green Beret but rather within the walls of a CIA office. It also shows how shoddy the plans to overthrow Maduro were.


The plan was simple, but perilous. Some 300 heavily armed volunteers would sneak into Venezuela from the northern tip of South America. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in President Nicolás Maduro's arrest.

What could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything.

The ringleader of the plot is now jailed in the U.S. on narcotics charges. Authorities in the U.S. and Colombia are asking questions about the role of his muscular American adviser, a former Green Beret. And dozens of desperate combatants who flocked to secret training camps in Colombia said they have been left to fend for themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The failed attempt to start an uprising collapsed under the collective weight of skimpy planning, feuding among opposition politicians and a poorly trained force that stood little chance of beating the Venezuelan military.

War Whore

US deploys 4 B-1 bombers & 200 airmen to Guam for 'deterrence' amid weeklong 'show of force' over South China Sea

B-1B Lancers
© US Air Force / Senior Airman Mercedes Porter
Four B-1B heavy bombers and hundreds of servicemen were sent to Guam to carry out "deterrence missions" with eyes on Beijing, following days of provocative maneuvers near contested territory in the South China Sea.

The warplanes and personnel arrived at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam on Friday, US Strategic Command announced in a statement, noting that three of the B-1B Lancers flew directly to the base, while one diverted to waters near Japan to train with the Navy before joining the others.

"Four bombers and approximately 200 airmen from the 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing... deployed to support Pacific Air Forces' training efforts with allies, partners and joint forces," the military said in a statement, adding that the planes would also participate in "strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region."

War Whore

Pre-FBI raid, doctor said patients would be supercharged vs COVID-19 with vitamin C treatment

FBI, vitamin C
FOX 2 - Last week, we found out that Dr. Charles Mok, who owns Allure Medical Spa was advertising vitamin C infusions to treat COVID-19 patients.

After interviewing Mok, and watching one of these treatments FOX 2 held off on airing the story. It turns out, the FBI thought something wasn't right either.

Health spa doctor promised patients supercharged after VItamin C COVID-19 treatment
Last week, we found out that Dr. Charles Mok, who owns Allure Medical Spa was advertising vitamin C infusions to treat COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Charles Mok one week ago explained to FOX 2 how his Vitamin C infusions were supposedly helping COVID-19 patients.

"I'm mostly seeing people that are mild to moderate illness and they turn around pretty quick usually after one or two doses they are remarkably better," Mok said. "We are giving them more of an immune booster, an intravenous high dose Vitamin C, we are also using things like Zinc and Glutathione and a B complex."

A new treatment Mok was offering, at his facilities that do mostly cosmetic surgery and vascular therapy.