Society's Child

Italian army chief of staff tests positive for coronavirus, death toll rises by 1/3, Iran releases 70,000 prisoners to mitigate spread

RT
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:56 UTC

© Reuters / Flavio Lo Scalzo
Military are seen on Duomo square in Milan after the Italian government imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of Italy on March 8, 2020.

Italian Chief of Army Staff Salvatore Farina has tested positive for the coronavirus and will remain quarantined in his home, with a replacement taking on his official duties.

Farina announced he is self-isolating after not feeling well and then testing positive for the disease. He will be replaced in his role as chief of staff by General Federico Bonato.

The coronavirus has been especially harmful in Italy, with at least 16 million people having been quarantined in the country due to concerns over the disease.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced the closure of schools, gyms, nightclubs, and other venues in the country to help combat the spread of the coronavirus. Citizens living in Lombardy and 14 other provinces also need to get special permission to travel. The restrictions are in place until April 3.

The death toll from the coronavirus has jumped from 233 to 366 in the country, local authorities said on Sunday.

Comment: The death toll rose by another 100 today, bringing the total to 463. Italy's containment efforts have provoked riots in several prisons across the country.

In contrast, Iran has decided to release about 70,000 prisoners, temporarily, to mitigate the spread within prisons, prioritizing those with underlying conditions must vulnerable to catching the virus.

See also:

Russia swiftly reacts to market bloodbath: It's 'ready' for $25 oil

RT
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:34 UTC

Russia's sovereign wealth fund has enough reserves to cover budget deficit for years, even if oil prices stay between $25 and $30 per barrel, the Finance Ministry announced amid a dramatic oil market crash.

Despite Monday being a public holiday in Russia, both the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank were quick to react to the overnight drop in oil prices of nearly 30 percent. The former said that the Russian National Wealth Fund has $150 billion (more than 10 trillion rubles) worth of liquid assets from additional oil and gas revenues, which is enough to offset a possible shortfall from falling crude prices for 6-10 years.

Comment: Russia has known for years the West is tottering on the edge of financial ruin. Under Putin, it has been putting its fiscal house in order by reducing foreign debt (having already paid off the USSR's old obligations), increasing its gold reserves, finding amicable trading partners, and with the added incentive of U.S. sanctions, developing as much manufacturing and agricultural self-sufficiency as possible. Whatever world events may ensue, Russia seems well-poised to meet them.

International Women's Day was conceived as a celebration of women's rights, but its turned into a pseudo-feminist nightmare

Barbara McCarthy
RT
Sun, 08 Mar 2020 07:16 UTC

Woman in red high heels stepping on a shrunken man

When German Marxist activist and women's rights advocate Clara Zetkin tabled the idea of International Women's Day in Copenhagen in 1910, she couldn't have fathomed how badly it would betray both its feminist and socialist roots.

At the time, women across the US and Europe were demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote, and March 8 was to mark women's achievements, from social to political, while calling for equality and acceptance.

Despite the fact that it was adopted by the worldwide feminist movement in 1967, International Women's Day didn't affiliate with any one group, and sought to bring together women's organisations, governments and charities.

Traditionally, it was marked with cultural cohesion, rallies, networking, prayer, conferences and marches, while in many countries, it's a holiday, including Cuba, Afghanistan, China, Nepal and Madagascar (for women only), and in Russia, where it is similar to Mother's Day.

A tradition hijacked

Sadly, International Women's Day has turned into a theme park complete with matching T-shirts, feel-good clichés and vapid slogans. It's been hijacked not just by female-led media, corporate brands, capitalists and academics, but by the worst cases of modern-day fourth-wave 'feminists'.

Comment: And what did International Women's Day look like this year?

Women, and some men, have marched in capitals around the globe over issues ranging from violence against women to patriarchy to climate change. Some chose topless protests, while some others got a rough response from police.

Late on Sunday, activists took to the streets of Turkey's largest city, condemning violence against women, only to be met with a violent police response.

Marches were held across Pakistan as well, with protesters calling for gender equality and an end to the practice of "honour killings" of women, still practiced in some areas by hardline Muslims. In Islamabad, participants of the Women's Day rally clashed with counter-protesters who advocated conservative values.

In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan a march opposing violence against women was targeted by a group of masked men, donning traditional Kyrgyz hats. The attackers snatched placards belonging to protesters and beat up some of them. Adding insult to injury, many protesters and attackers were detained by police in the aftermath of the scuffle.

A massive rally for gender equality was held in the Iraqi capital city, Baghdad, where participants spotted coronavirus protection measures.

But in Western countries protesters decided just going on to the streets was not good enough.

In Paris many protesters were seen dressed like WWII feminist icon, Rosie the Riveter, while others chose to wear next to nothing with placards reading 'Stop the patriarchy pandemic!'

FEMEN's performance on the Place de la Concorde combined feminist action with the coronavirus scare, as participants donned hazmat gear - on the lower parts of their bodies, at least - and 'cleaned' the streets of 'patriarchal virus.'

Warning: Explicit Video

Another topless protest was held in London, this time combining climate change scare with feminism. The bare-breasted activists from the Extinction Rebellion group blocked Waterloo Bridge, while the inscriptions on their bodies read 'Climate Murder', 'Climate Rape', 'Climate Abuse' and so on.

Warning: Explicit Video

'Guilt-tripping misogynist crap': Opinion in the Guardian tells of one feminist's anguish over hiring female cleaner

RT
Sun, 08 Mar 2020 21:32 UTC

Author Sally Howard pondered in the Guardian whether she can have a "clean feminist conscience" if she hires a female cleaner, and people responded with pure shock at the privileged issue.

Howard lamented she used to return home to "a clean kitchen and bathroom and a drenching sense of guilt." Hiring a female to clean her home weighed on her "feminist conscience," so she was inspired to go "undercover" as a cleaner to learn more about the job firsthand for a new book. Working in office buildings and hotels, she says, "I picked used tampons off bathroom carpets and scrubbed bathtub tidemarks and sauces spattered across kitchen walls."

She goes on to demand cleaners be paid more, but she admits that paying her own cleaner well above the national average still wasn't enough to alleviate her guilt.

"Did I find I could hire a cleaner with a clean conscience? No, but I found I could ease my feminist conscience by scrubbing my own toilet," she announces at the end of her Guardian piece, which is meant to promote her book 'The Home Stretch' on the same subject.

Sad: Coronavirus outbreak may have unleashed panic buying of Hostess Twinkies and Ding Dongs

Brian Sozzi
Yahoo!
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 00:01 UTC

Alongside those coronavirus prep bags being filled by shoppers with bleach and hand sanitizer may be boxes of long shelf life Twinkies and Ding Dongs.

"We are seeing that," Hostess Brands CEO Andy Callahan said on Yahoo Finance's On the Move, when asked if he is seeing a bump in business as people stock up, should they be trapped at home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Added Callahan, "We are benefiting likely in the short-term due to traffic. That's the great thing about Hostess, we are there to celebrate things. We are there to comfort things. So we are seeing a slight uptick in traffic. It's too early to tell, a lot of our point of sale data lags."

Comment: The fact that people's instincts on prepping is so off-the-mark would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. Twinkies and Donettes aren't going to do your immune system much good if an overzealous government quarantines you in your home for weeks.

See also:

Several injured as conservatives throw stones at Women's Day march in Pakistan

RFE/RL
Sun, 08 Mar 2020 17:22 UTC

Women's Day march In Pakistan

Several people were reportedly injured as social and religious conservatives clashed with International Women's Day demonstrators in Islamabad on March 8.

RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reported that participants in a conservative demonstration called Modesty Walk threw stones at demonstrators holding a march to mark International Women's Day.

Ismat Shahjahan, head of the Women's Democratic Front, which organized the march, said four participants suffered head injuries, while three others were less seriously hurt.

Police intervened to stop the violence.

Comment: See also:

NHS distributes 'inclusive' leaflet about smear tests for transgender men, forgets to mention women

RT
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 20:13 UTC

Striving for 'inclusivity' has played a bad joke on the NHS which addressed a pamphlet about a cervix exam to transgender men and forgot to mention the group it concerns the most - biological women.

A leaflet created by Public Health England for the NHS presented specific instructions for transgender women who are invited to take part in smear tests, but don't have a cervix and transgender men who do have one. There was no mention of just women - biological females who are encouraged to get the test every three to five years to avoid cancer.

"If you are registered as male you will not receive invitations, but your GP or practice nurse can arrange an appointment for you if you have a cervix. If you are a trans woman you do not need a cervical screening," the leaflet also reads, according to the Sunday Times.

Comment: State sanctioned madness:

Gunman storms Paris mosque, injures 1, flees the scene

RT
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 21:22 UTC

At least one person has been seriously injured after an armed man wearing a helmet opened fire inside a mosque at Rue de Tanger, Paris, before fleeing the scene on a scooter.

The gunman opened fire in the courtyard of the Adda'wa Islamic Cultural Association Mosque in the 19th arrondissement shortly before 8pm local time. There were around 15 people inside at the time of the incident, one of whom suffered multiple gunshot wounds. A 32-year-old man was rushed to a hospital and is reportedly in serious condition.

Police have launched a manhunt for the suspect who fled the scene of the attack on a two-wheeler in an unknown direction. Several 9mm caliber shells were found at the scene of the attack.

Comment: Just last week in London: Man stabbed in neck at London mosque during afternoon prayer

UK: Westminster police tase then shoot dead knife wielding man

Vikram Dodd
The Guardian
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 02:18 UTC

A man has been shot dead by police in Westminster after an incident that was not being treated as terror-related.

Officers from the Metropolitan police remained overnight at the scene of the incident which occurred at around 11.30pm on Sunday. Road closures were put in place.

The force tweeted: "A man has been shot dead by officers following an incident in #Westminster at 23.27hrs on Sunday 8 March. This is NOT being treated as a terrorist incident."

Comment: Details surrounding the incident are still emerging and exactly why they were compelled to shoot the man dead - normally a choice of last resort for police in the UK - has yet to be revealed.

Also in the last 24 hours: Gunman storms Paris mosque, injures at least 1 & flees the scene

Huawei & Russia's largest bank to develop cloud services for businesses

RT
Sun, 08 Mar 2020 05:49 UTC

Chinese technology giant Huawei announced this week a strategic partnership with Russia's Sberbank to provide cloud services for Russian businesses.

The clients of SberCloud.Advanced are projected to range from large businesses to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups. They will have access to 37 new cloud services, which will be fully integrated into one system.

According to Huawei's Director General in Russia, Wang Wei, the deal with Sberbank could significantly improve Russia's digital prospects.

Comment: See also:

If you read the linked white house statement try not to puke.

sbc

Let's go, Brandon! Fucking asswipe, worthless, POS. Fraud! Argh! 😤

slbeaudry

I don't think this new requirement has undergone proper public review. There are procedures codified for this sort of thing. If some sort of...

Buffalo_Ken

First it will be 100 employees,then 50, then one. Masses are collectively powerful against the intolerant vocal minority and it is time to wipe...

Bezel Bub

I most certainly would not park my arse on a plane full of vaccinated people and have them infect me with their mutated virus. Whilst my...

Winternights3

Society's Child

Italian army chief of staff tests positive for coronavirus, death toll rises by 1/3, Iran releases 70,000 prisoners to mitigate spread

Russia swiftly reacts to market bloodbath: It's 'ready' for $25 oil

International Women's Day was conceived as a celebration of women's rights, but its turned into a pseudo-feminist nightmare

'Guilt-tripping misogynist crap': Opinion in the Guardian tells of one feminist's anguish over hiring female cleaner

Sad: Coronavirus outbreak may have unleashed panic buying of Hostess Twinkies and Ding Dongs

Several injured as conservatives throw stones at Women's Day march in Pakistan

NHS distributes 'inclusive' leaflet about smear tests for transgender men, forgets to mention women

Gunman storms Paris mosque, injures 1, flees the scene

UK: Westminster police tase then shoot dead knife wielding man

Huawei & Russia's largest bank to develop cloud services for businesses

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