Society's ChildS

Indian pharmaceutical company set to test Russian Covid-19 vaccine reports cyberattack

Sputnik
Wed, 28 Oct 2020 16:46 UTC

The Dr Reddy's Laboratories pharmaceutical company, which was just given a green light to begin trials of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in India, said on Wednesday that its IT systems had been attacked by hackers earlier in the month, possibly resulting in a breach of personal data.

"On 22nd October 2020, we experienced an information security incident and consequently isolated the impacted IT services. This incident involved a ransomware attack. We promptly engaged leading outside cybersecurity experts, launched a comprehensive containment and remediation effort and investigation to address the incident," the company said in a report on its latest consolidated financial results.

The company's internal investigation has not yet established if the breach of data due to the cyberattack included any personally identifiable information, according to the report.

Ingraham: Americans will be 'stripped of any freedom' under Biden presidency, coronavirus lockdowns

Angelica Stabile
Fox News
Wed, 28 Oct 2020 16:31 UTC

Joe Biden's approach to managing the coronavirus pandemic and the promise of more lockdowns will be detrimental to American free will, "The Ingraham Angle" host Laura Ingraham argued Tuesday night.

"The looming Biden lockdowns," she began. "He's going to use euphemistic language, a lot of talk about social distancing and so forth, to describe these draconian restrictions. But it's all meant to lull you into complacency and compliance."

Ingraham said under Biden, the U.S. will mimic the "nightmarish" conditions in Europe, where lockdowns are severe and coronavirus cases are exploding. In Italy, she noted, anti-lockdown protesters are being tear-gassed by police.

"So if you have out-of-town relatives or friends who live across the country, and you think Biden's going to win, well, you better see them soon," she said. "Because if Biden's experts are in charge, your traveling days are over."

US Marshals recover 45 missing children during human trafficking sting

Jack Phillips
The Epoch Times
Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:01 UTC

The U.S. Marshals Service said it has recovered 45 more children in an anti-human-trafficking operation in southern West Virginia and southern Ohio during the month of October.

"Operation Autumn Hope" was described as a multi-agency law enforcement operation focused on human trafficking as well as finding missing or endangered children. In all, 45 missing children were rescued, and 169 arrests were made, according to the U.S. Marshals, as reported by WCMH.

In one of the missing child recoveries, a loaded gun was recovered, officials said. A 15-year-old male juvenile who was found had two warrants for his arrest, suspected in homicide and several shootings, officials said.

Comment: See also:

Bellingcat DID take UK Foreign Office money, open logs show, directly contradicting Eliot Higgins' claims

Kit Klarenberg,
RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:35 UTC

Controversial 'open source investigations' website Bellingcat was paid directly by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) at least once, official data shows, debunking its founder and chief's claims to the contrary.

Suggestions that Bellingcat is a tool of Western governments, and funded by them directly, have long-abounded - and consistently been denied by founder and chief Eliot Higgins.

Such allegations reached fever pitch in late 2018, when files related to the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) military intelligence operation Integrity Initiative were leaked by hacktivist collective Anonymous. The papers revealed the secret endeavour, among other things, worked to discredit left-leaning, anti-war figures at home and abroad, and maintained clandestine global networks of journalists, academics, and military and intelligence operatives to spread pro-Western propaganda and encourage more aggressive policies toward Moscow.

Comment: See also:

Propaganda Alert! Not wearing a mask is linked to antisocial traits, 'study' finds

Independent
Mon, 26 Oct 2020 17:10 UTC

Those who don't comply with Covid-19 containment measures were found to be more callous, hostile and deceitful.

Scientists in Brazil have linked resistance to Covid-19 safety measures, such as wearing a mask, with antisocial personality traits.

Their study was the first of its kind in Latin America and surveyed over 1,500 people aged 18-73.

Using a questionnaire, the scientists sought to identify the participants' affective resonance - their impulse to act on feelings stirred by another person - and asked a series of personality questions about how well certain statements represented their behaviour on a scale.

Comment: Step 1) Put out bogus study linking people resistant to your propaganda as social deviants, Step 2)..., Step 3) Collect profits.

'Pseudo-expert': College dropout billionaire Bill Gates attacks Trump adviser Dr. Scott Atlas over Covid-19 stance

RT
Mon, 26 Oct 2020 21:28 UTC

Self-styled Covid-19 authority and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has weaponized media demands to "trust the science" to tear into Trump adviser (and actual medical doctor) Scott Atlas for not backing stricter Covid policies.

"We now have a pseudo-expert advising the president," Gates snarled during an interview at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Monday, denouncing Atlas - who, unlike the billionaire software tycoon, completed both college and medical school - as an "off the rails" bad influence on the Trump administration.

"The most malign thing is where you start to attack your own experts and suggest that maybe politicians know better than disease experts," Gates continued. The billionaire is neither a politician nor a medical doctor, despite the vast sums he has spent through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its affiliates in an effort to vaccinate the developing world. Atlas, on the other hand, has a medical degree from the University of Chicago and has taught healthcare policy at Stanford University's Hoover Institute.

Comment: The nerve of Gates is astounding. To deride an actual expert for not following his advice, when he has no qualifications whatsoever, is a level of gall rarely witnessed!

See also:

'I could go to jail': Project Veritas VIDEO alleges FRAUD by 'ballot chaser' in Texas who prompts woman to change vote to Democrat

RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:41 UTC

An undercover video has supposedly caught a political consultant in Texas breaking several laws by "flipping" a vote from Republican to Democrat, as well as giving voters gifts.

Describing the report as their "biggest story," Project Veritas published a video on Tuesday taken by an undercover journalist. According to the outlet, it shows Raquel Rodriguez, a consultant for GOP House candidate Maura Garza. She is talking to an elderly woman and getting her to change the vote on her ballot from Republican Sen. John Cornyn to his Democratic challenger MJ Hegar.

Rodriguez is seen examining the ballot and then referencing a conversation she previously had with the woman where she said she wanted to vote for only Democrats. She then walks her through changing the vote and gives her a shawl as a gift.

Comment: See also:

'Election misinformation pre-bunking'? Twitter again censors Trump as it begins spamming Americans with new Orwellian warnings

RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2020 04:25 UTC

Twitter has slapped a "misleading" label on yet another tweet from President Donald Trump, as it rolls out a new effort to "pre-bunk" criticism of mail-in voting and warns Americans not to expect final results on election night.

In a tweet on Monday night, Trump stressed the need to have a final vote tally on the day of the general election, stating there are "big problems and discrepancies with mail-in ballots all over the USA," reiterating previous complaints about potential flaws in universal distance voting. The post was soon appended with a notice warning users the tweet is "disputed" and "might be misleading," directing them to a link explaining that "voting by mail is legal and safe," citing a coterie of favored "experts."

Comment: See also:

Best of the Web: Who deserves your trust in the COVID debate?

Stacey Rudin
American Institute for Economic Research
Mon, 26 Oct 2020 07:33 UTC

Stoic philosopher Epictetus believed that honorable character and a life of wisdom begin with a clear understanding of one basic principle: "some things are within our control, and some things are not." How we are perceived by others — our popularity — is ultimately outside our control; we should focus on character, not reputation, because "trying to control or change what we can't only results in torment." The year 2020 has revealed this to be true. Many Americans, especially affluent types, prioritize reputation over character, and it has indeed resulted in torment.

In the COVID debate, there is a mainstream, "popular" narrative, and a competing, "unpopular" narrative — a "fringe." The former exploits the common, mediocre desire to be "popular." Joining the movement is easy. It results in back-pats, validation, and requires no uncomfortable confrontations. This narrative states that it is impossible for humanity to survive the COVID19 pandemic without a vaccine, lockdowns, and masks, some combination of which will be required into the indefinite future. The narrative supports blaming others for "infecting you" with diseases, rather than encouraging personal responsibility for immune and general health.

Proponents of the competing narrative, on the other hand, must stand up to massive social forces simply to make their arguments, which are not radical: they support a return to classic pandemic management tools, the same ones used by Sweden and other states and countries which did not lock down for COVID19, which resulted in average mortality for 2020. They do not believe this pandemic warrants a complete overhaul of the economic, social, and educational systems. They believe that every human being should be empowered with truthful information about risk and how to best care for personal health, and to make his or her own choices.

Comment: We may well be reaching a tipping point as people are getting restless and anti-lockdown protests are on the rise:

Russian watchdog reinstates face mask mandate in public places, on transport

Tass
Tue, 27 Oct 2020 10:36 UTC

Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor Anna Popova, who heads the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, has mandated mask wearing in places of mass gatherings, on public transport, including taxis, and in elevators. Read also Over 46,000 people in Moscow fined for not wearing face masks since September 1

"All those residing in Russia are obliged to ensure the use of hygienic masks in order to protect the respiratory system in places of mass gatherings, on public transport, including taxis, in parking lots and elevators," Popova said in an order published on the government's website containing legal information.

The watchdog specified that places of mass gatherings included public spaces in settlements and city districts, specially designated territories outside settlements and public spaces in buildings where more than 50 people can gather in certain circumstances.

Popova requested regional heads to enforce the order, which will take effect on October 28.

Comment: In addition to the mask mandates, they are looking at the closure of all nightclubs and 11pm curfew for bars & restaurants:

According to Tuesday's decree by health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, from October 28, entertainment events and public catering should be stopped by 11pm. The recommendation, which effectively means that all restaurants would only be able to work until the end of dinner service and nightclubs would not be able to open at all, has not been imposed on Russian regions, with the decision to follow the decree falling on regional administrations. The unexpected announcement follows assurances that everything would be done to keep the service industry alive in the world's largest country.

[...]

Russia's bars and nightclubs began to re-open in late June, after spring saw some of the world's strictest anti-Covid measures. In Moscow, residents were restricted from leaving their apartments for anything other than food, medical help, or walking a dog. The restrictions were partially lifted on June 16, with cafes and restaurants being allowed to open terraces, and bars and clubs operating fully just weeks later. Ever since, most of the country has been functioning normally, with regional governor's having control over their area's restrictions.

Last week, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that the city's nightclubs and bars would be allowed to keep working if they introduced electronic registration for contact tracing. This system may now become obsolete. In Saint Petersburg, the city authorities had already decided to shut down nightlife after 23.00. In some other regions, there were curfews that were often not strictly enforced.

On October 19, speaking to the press service of Saint Petersburg's regional government, local Vice Governor Yevgeny Elin called for citizens to "dance and cuddle a little less and give less work to our health care system," adding that now is not the time for "having fun and transmitting the virus to each other during a hot dance."