Category: zerohedge

Authored by Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com,

“…..but the plan insidiously advances.”

– ordo ab chao

“They are banned from churches and public spaces. They can’t hold hands to pray. LOL!”

– The Devil

At the very end of last year, I wrote a New Year’s piece entitled “America is Over But You Knew That Already”, whereby various “cracks and water in the nation’s foundation” were explored.  In that article, I said:  “winter is finally here” along with these words:

 Exactly how and when America’s foundational stones will shatter in the coming months is anyone’s guess, but do know this:  When Progressive Democrats, and an activist mainstream media, stage a third-world impeachment trial of a U.S. President while reverently citing the words of the nation’s long-dead founders who were, by their own definition, privileged white males and racist slave owners – the end is nigh.

In a later article, six reasons were explored as to why the COVID-19 virus failed “the sniff test” along with the coincidental timing that marked the rise of the virus:

…[the first COVID-19 death outside of China] was one day before the Iowa Caucuses were held (2-3-2020) where the results were massaged to raise Mayor Pete over Bernie and bump Biden to the bare minimum viability.

It was also two days before the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined in Japan … and three days before Trump was acquitted in the Senate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019-nCoV outbreak a global health emergency on January 30, 2020 when China’s death count was 213.  How did they know? Regardless, the next day, President Trump declared the outbreak a public health emergency and restricted travel from China even as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, cited “8,000 deaths in the U.S. this season” from influenza.

Yet, in spite of COVID-19 being deemed infectious enough for WHO to declare a global health emergency, and Trump to declare a public health emergency, American citizens were evacuated from ground zero in Wuhan China and flown to March Air Reserve Base in Southern California.  Additionally, over “300 U.S. citizens and their immediate family members” were transported from the Diamond Princess ship to Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, and the University of Nebraska.

Next, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a COVID-19 infected former Diamond Princess passenger who was “mistakenly” allowed to spend two hours at a San Antonio mall.

These are the paradoxes of the Coronavirus pandemic:  We were told the virus was extremely contagious and, yet, just as global and national health emergencies were declared, Americans infected with COVID-19 were repatriated to four (4) separate locations around the United States simultaneously.

Even now, all across America… bars, restaurants, and small businesses are shuttered as no more than 10 people are allowed to gather together at any given time.  But, American’s First Amendment Right to Free Assembly remains viable at Wal-Mart. No problem there.  And grocery stores are also deemed “essential” around the country – even as “dead bodies are loaded into refrigerated trucks outside New York hospitals”.

Indeed, there have been many oddities during the Coronavirus outbreak.  One peculiarity is how the same players consistently appear to advance the narrative; to wit, Bill Gates, John Hopkins University, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO).  These show up almost everywhere Coronavirus tales are told and, perhaps unsurprisingly, participated in the October 2019 Event 201 Pandemic Exercise – a near-exact simulation which took place a mere few weeks before the current COVID-19 outbreak went viral globally.

Although Bill Gates acknowledged “it’s super painful”, he urged a “10-week nationwide lockdown”  during a CNN Global Town Hall on March 26, 2020 and has since outlined three steps for the U.S. Government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak to include lockdown, testing, and vaccination.

But wait… isn’t Bill Gates the computer software guy? Yet he is now advocating for a national lockdown and specific COVID-19 response measures.  How did he get from there to here exactly? Because, at this point, would you be surprised if outer space aliens landed on earth tomorrow with the cure? I know I wouldn’t.

These frightening times have become surreal. And just as the photos of the dead bodies on the refrigeration truck were absolutely terrifying, endless headlines have increasingly generated more fear.  One prevailing theme tells of how Coronavirus threatens young people and the stories quite often cite the ever-available John Hopkins data:

A 28-year-old who said she and her boyfriend tested positive for the novel coronavirus is speaking out in hopes to remind the public that young, healthy adults are still at risk.

Noemi Orofino and her boyfriend Julian, 31, are now in recovery after fighting the COVID-19 virus, the new respiratory illness in which hundreds of thousands have been diagnosed globally, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The COVID-19 monster has infected actor Tom Hanks and his wife, various celebrities and athletes, and even recently killed CBS News veteran, Maria Mercader, who was only 54 years old.  Of course, there were some underlying issues:

CBS News said Mercader fought cancer and related illnesses for more than 20 years, and noted that numerous treatments and surgeries had left her among the most vulnerable to the disease.

In the video below, Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford University, provides some insights into the data behind COVID-19, underlying conditions, infectivity and mortality rates, as well as how various countries have handled the “outbreak”.  Dr. Ioannidis also shares some observations as to why Italy was gobsmacked by the virus more than other nations.

Now, contrast that presentation to the hysteria and emotionalism we’ve seen in the daily reporting of COVID-19.  But, when you think about it, hasn’t hysteria and emotionalism been utilized throughout history to hasten the agendas of collectivism?  In America, the most recent histrionics have been over climate change, identity politics, gun control, Orange Man bad, Russian election hacking, Judge Kavanaugh rape fantasies, Ukraine, impeachment, and… now…  social distancing.

But where the former fell short, the last one has succeeded; a Hail Mary, as it were.

Overreaction to the novel virus has had the support of both Left and Right politicos as well as the mainstream and alternative media universes.  And, as a result, Virginians can now be jailed for a year for attending church services with 10 people.  Certainly, COVID-19 has provided new energy to Leftist schemes with brave new headlines in the New York Times such as “The Road to Coronavirus Hell Was Paved by Evangelicals”:

Today, the hard core of climate deniers is concentrated among people who identify as religiously conservative Republicans. And some leaders of the Christian nationalist movement, like those allied with the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has denounced environmental science as a “Cult of the Green Dragon,” cast environmentalism as an alternative — and false — theology.

This denial of science and critical thinking among religious ultraconservatives now haunts the American response to the coronavirus crisis.

The bipartisan $2.2 trillion Cornonavirus Relief Bill has, once again, bailed out banks and corporations with taxpayer funds.  And, as local businesses fade to black, global distribution networks are energized, and centralized, as companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon have benefited by the new normal.  Soon, the nation’s healthcare system will be nationalized as digital dinero sends paper cash the way of the dinosaur – right along with privacy. Every financial transaction will be tracked and taxed as private ownership of property and goods wanes like Joe Biden’s memory.

Instead of Coronavirus and COVID-19 the invisible threat could have been called Communistvirus or CHICOM-19.

In my previous article, I described how Coronavirus was an Orwellian-style PLANdemic that killed the Constitution:

COVID-19 is a perfect means for a global reset – and in the United States, it had to happen under a Republican president. Why? Because conservative Americans own the guns.

If all this was happening under Hillary, Biden, Sanders, et al, there would be politicians hanging from street lights in Washington DC. But Trump is the great anesthetizer. For the past couple of years I’ve been writing article after article on how everything we’ve been watching has seemed like a reality TV show; a movie in our mind’s eye.

So I ask you this: What if Hillary, Trump, Russiagate, Mueller, Ukrainegate, impeachment … all of it… was part of the plan; distractions and cover stories for the build-up to what is happening now?

It’s perfect. Too perfect.  And the timing was impeccable.

Even more than that:  It’s too insane not to be on purpose.

To be sure, the leftist agenda has progressed according to plan.

The collectivist activist, Saul Alinsky (1909-1972), in his early 1970s book “Rules for Radicals” included itemized strategies such as “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules” (# 4) and “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition”(#10).  For decades, the Political Left has had a plan and they’ve worked that plan.

Accordingly, the Left has never held itself accountable as it relentlessly challenged its ideological opponents to meet the demands of their own code.  It’s why Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam can wear blackface but comedienne Rosanne Barr can’t tweet a Planet of the Apes joke about former presidential aide Valerie Jarrett. It’s why Former President Bill Clinton can stain a blue dress but Judge Brett Kavanaugh is proven guilty of rape by vague recollections, lurid smears, and zero evidence.  It’s how a Republican president was impeached for actions taken years before by a Democrat Vice President.

Every day of the year, every hour, the pressure is steadily applied by the Collective and their Orwellian Media Ministry of Truth.  One drama unfolds, after another, after another until, today, even the compassion and civility of the American people has been weaponized into six-feet of separation.

In previous articles I’ve stated that COVID-19 has become the new Terrorism® and it’s stunning how “See Something, Say Something®” has been taken to entirely new levels with Coronavirus:

A group of armed vigilantes cut down a tree and dragged it across a man’s driveway in Maine to force him to quarantine in his home amid fears he could be infected with the coronavirus, officials said.

Welcome to the revolution. The individual must now assimilate into the collective.

The COVID-19 outbreak has proven to be a perfect coup de grace on America, and in ways we’re only beginning to realize.  It has caused We the People to turn on each other under the guise of caring for one another. Or, Essentialism, twisted from the words of collectivist revolutionary Karl Marx (1814 – 1883):  From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Here is a personal example of the new age:  A few days ago, a friend sent me some nasty texts because he was told I held a meeting with five other people on private property. He claimed I was minimizing the danger to others. I replied that he was hysterical.

In a few months, if not weeks, this guy will be begging for Government As God to save him, and, in so doing, I have no doubt he’d sell me out to any governing authority for any reason. We’re about to enter into a real Walking Dead scenario and the Dark Powers will be getting years of mileage out of COVID-19 in every aspect of post-American life.

Truly, the new age will be delivered by concentrically tightening circles of control – like a noose. The Powers That Be have successfully divided and dispersed what they have deemed a threat:  the American people.  All that remains now is the conquering, and it will come in waves, or seasonal cycles.

It has begun and will now continue as the month of April 2020 has been canceled.

April fools.

From now until further notice, the COVID-19 Overton Window should be compared to watching an action movie in a crowded movie theater. On our screens, we’ll see Trump, like Rambo, kicking ass and taking names.  But challenging the Coronavirus narrative will be akin to mute persons donning tinfoil hats and waving lighted cell phones from the back row.

The poet T.S. Elliot framed it best:

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

Hello? Can anyone hear? Anyone?

A little more than a month ago, the US Surgeon General tweeted, “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” 

Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!

They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
https://t.co/UxZRwxxKL9

— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 29, 2020

Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to reverse the recommendation on wearing face masks. 

President Trump suggested on Thursday that new CDC guidelines could require Americans to wear masks. 

But there’s a problem: Masks are in short supply – the average American can’t find 3M N95s or higher, and if they do, some masks can cost upwards $10 to $20 per. Several months ago, the masks were on Amazon or at Home Depot for $1 per, but huge demand as a pandemic unfolded has extinguished all supply. Even major US hospital systems are lacking masks and other medical equipment as confirmed cases reach 245,658 and deaths breach over the 6,000 level.  

For anyone who didn’t heed our warning about purchasing 3M N95 masks in January/February – here’s another option: You can now 3D-print masks at home thanks to the medical students and engineers of Rowan University.

“Rowan University engineering and medical students have developed a prototype for a durable, lightweight, reusable face mask to augment the supply of face masks during the current shortage of PPE during the COVID-19 outbreak. The mask is provided “as-is” and primarily acts as a mechanical barrier. It is not a replacement for N95 masks. 

Developed in collaboration with medical professionals, the mask prototype may serve in clinical and field use. If printed, used and maintained correctly, the mask provides a durable, reusable mechanical barrier,” read the Rowan University website.

“This is part of a humanitarian effort by Rowan,” said Dr. Shreekanth Mandayam, an engineering professor on the university’s Glassboro campus who is leading the project.

“It’s not just New Jersey and South Jersey where we are. There are plenty of countries around the world where there’s a shortage of PPE. This is a low-cost, quick solution people can use,” Mandayam said. 

Courtesy of Courier-Post, students at Rowan show how the masks are assembled: 

In a separate print operation, here’s a timelapse video of the masks are being printed: 

COMMUNITY DONATES OVER 200 3D FACE MASKS IN 3 DAYS AFTER POLICE PLEA

Each 3D Mask Takes 2 ½ Hours to Print pic.twitter.com/lwKOWVRwOB

— Provo Police (@ProvoPolice) March 30, 2020

The printed masks are made from polylactic acid and are not N95 grade. Anyone can slide in HEPA material for the filter — it’s a better option than wearing no mask. 

3D-printed adult face mask instructions: 

Here’s the 3D-printed adult face mask software: 

• Small adult mask – small_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
• Medium adult mask – medium_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
• Large adult mask – large_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
• Filter – filter_rowan3dprintedmask_v2.stl (438KB)

We also mentioned guns and ammo are selling out across the country — forcing some people to print 3D guns at home. 

Authored by James Bovard via The Mises Institute,

The Food and Drug Administration helped turn the coronavirus from a deadly peril into a national catastrophe. Long after foreign nations had been ravaged and many cases had been detected in America, the FDA continued blocking private testing. The FDA continued forcing the nation’s most innovative firms to submit to its command-and-control approach notwithstanding the pandemic.

South Korean is in a far better situation dealing with coronavirus, because its government did not preemptively cripple private testing.

One of the clearest lessons from the current pandemic is that nothing has changed at one of the nation’s most powerful regulatory agencies. The FDA is repeating the same mistakes and showing the same arrogance that I chronicled decades ago in articles for the Wall Street Journal, the American Spectator, and other publications.

Dr. David Kessler, who became FDA commissioner in 1990, quickly sought to intimidate the companies that his agency regulates. A laudatory Washington Post article concluded, “What he cannot accomplish with ordinary regulation, Kessler hopes to accomplish with fear.”

Kenneth Feather of the FDA’s drug advertising surveillance branch boasted:

“We want to say to these companies that you don’t know when or how we’ll strike. We want to eliminate predictability.”

Dr. Kessler’s heavy-handed tactics battered the American medical device industry—one of the nation’s export superstars. An American Electronics Association survey found that “40% [of medical device companies] reduced the number of U.S. employees because of FDA delays, 29% increased their investment in foreign operations, and 22% moved U.S. jobs overseas.” The survey also found that “57% of the firms said the FDA had applied guidance instructions retroactively to some of their submissions,” as Biomedical Market Newsletter reported.

The FDA’s stonewalling of new medical devices was sometimes politically motivated. A 1994 report by the Medical Device Manufacturers Association noted, “It is not unusual for [FDA] reviewers to express the position that excessive requests [for additional information] are made because of a concern or fear about how a particular member or members of Congress will react” to the approval of a new device. Sacrificing lives was a small price to pay for bureaucrats to avoid bothersome interrogatories from Capitol Hill.

FDA employees also sowed fear with a deluge of official Warning Letters (up more than 300 percent since Dr. Kessler took office) to private companies. Once the FDA issues a Warning Letter, it can seize a company’s products or get a court injunction to paralyze its operations. The FDA refused to establish clear guidelines or rules for issuing its letters. As a result, manufacturers could find themselves in a nightmare at the whim of a midlevel FDA employee.

Dr. Kessler did not spare the First Amendment in his grab for power, and cancer patients and other seriously ill people suffered as a result. Doctors, hospitals, and researchers often discover after FDA approval that a drug to treat one disease is also effective at treating other diseases. Drug companies have routinely publicized this news, alerting physicians to other possible ways to save lives. American Medical Association vice president Roy Schwarz estimated that “off-label” uses of drugs account for up to 60 percent of all drugs prescribed.

But in 1991 Dr. Kessler prohibited pharmaceutical companies from informing doctors of new uses for approved drugs. He announced that the FDA would enforce the ban with seizures, injunctions, and prosecutions. Though the agency never finalized its proposed regulations, it warned companies that they would face its wrath if they violated the draft proposals. Dr. Kessler, in a speech before the Drug Information Association, said: “I would urge all members of the pharmaceutical industry to take a long and hard look at their promotional practices. I do not expect companies to wait until this guidance becomes final to put their advertising and promotional houses in order.” The question of off-label treatments is becoming a key issue again as doctors search for effective treatments for the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The FDA even suppressed medical textbooks as part of its attempt to restrict what Americans learned about new treatments. In 1992, the FDA cracked down on a company for distributing, for free, portions of Cancer, Principles and Practice of Oncology. In 1993, the FDA stopped a pharmaceutical company from distributing free copies of The Chemotherapy Source Book—even though the company had already received FDA approval to give away thousands of copies. The FDA claimed that when a drug company gives doctors free textbooks that mention an off-label use of its products the drugs become subject to seizure.

Under Kessler, the FDA became far more restrictive in approving new drugs and medical devices. Stanford University professor Dale Geringer observed, “In terms of lives, it’s quite possible that the FDA bureaucracy could be killing on the order of three to four times as many people as it saves.” One study estimated that 150,000 heart attack victims may have lost their lives as a result of the FDA’s delays in approving the emergency blood-clotting drug TPA. National Cancer Institute officials accused the FDA of being “mired in a 1960’s philosophy of drug development, viewing all new agents as…poisons.”

Dr. Kessler bragged that his reforms had given FDA employees “a place where, once again, the good guys could win.” And how could Americans be sure that FDA enforcement agents were the good guys? Because they worked for the government.

Dr. Kessler declared in 1992: “If members of our society were empowered to make their own decisions…then the whole rationale for the [FDA] would cease to exist.” Kessler derided “freedom of choice” as an illusion unless people are presented only with government-approved choices. But the FDA “liberated” people by shielding them from information, devices, and drugs that could have saved their lives.

Many Americans could die in the coming weeks and months thanks to the FDA’s blockade on coronavirus testing. Should we consider those victims as martyrs for the principle of bureaucratic supremacy? The FDA’s current commissioner, Stephen Hahn, conceded last week: “There are always opportunities to learn from situations like this one.”

Perhaps the clearest lesson is that it is time to track the death toll of FDA regulatory debacles.

The World Health Organization (WHO) expects COVID-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia to peak in mid-April as there are some signs of curve flattening. There are 3,116 confirmed cases and 50 deaths in the Southeast Asian country, by far, the most in the region. The country has imposed a travel ban, along with an extension of a nationwide lockdown through April 14. 

During nationwide lockdowns, many countries around the world have put their unique spin on it. For example, Panama, on Wednesday, said men and women will only be allowed to leave their homes for two hours at a time, and on different days. 

As for Malaysia, the Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development has requested that women do not nag their husbands during the lockdown, reported NPR. 

The ministry advised women from being “sarcastic” if their husbands asked them to help out with household chores. The request urged women to look pretty for their spouses, by dressing up and wearing makeup. 

The Malaysian All Women’s Action Society called the ministry’s campaign sexist and said they should focus on preventing domestic violence during these unprecedented times. 

While dressing up to work is one way of maintaining discipline and a routine while working from home, the focus on LOOKS, DRESS, and MAKEUP is absolutely unnecessary.

Stop this sexist messaging @KPWKM and focus on #domesticviolence survivors who are at higher risk now! https://t.co/mU7nBqbkgk

— All Women’s Action Society (@AWAMMalaysia) March 31, 2020

Women’s Development Department director-general Akhma Hassan said the message is to spread positivity during the lockdowns, according to state-run news agency Bernama. 

“The approach used was to share methods and practices to maintain positive relationships within the family and during the phase of working from home,” Hassan said in a statement.

 “We have taken note of numerous comments on some tips for women, which were promoted through posters via our social media accounts.

Here’s how some on social media reacted to the ministry’s request: 

“Avoid wearing home clothes. Dress up as usual, put on makeup and dress neatly. OMG! This is what Rina, our Minister of Women, Family & Community Development thinks is important during the #COVID19 lockdown?” tweeted @honeyean.

“How did we go from preventing baby dumping, fighting domestic violence to some variant of the Obedient Wives Club?” wrote @yinshaoloong.

The Malaysian government should shift its attention to an imminent recession that could result in 2.4 million job losses and a spike in domestic violence cases. 

We’ve been noting over the last several weeks that the evolution of the virus crisis will crack households across the world, lead to surging domestic violence cases, and possibly social unrest will follow.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Residents in Wuhan, the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, have told reporters that “nobody believes the official numbers” being touted by the communist Chinese government, and that the general consensus is it could be 100 times worse than the world is being told.

While Whuan is reopening its transport systems and businesses, residents are adamant that they have not been informed of the true scale of the situation, according to Spanish newswire service EFE.

“There are suspicions that many people died in their homes without being diagnosed and, at first, there were no kits to do the test,” one resident said, adding that “Many people would die, officially, of a cold or some other disease. But there are stories going around of citizens who were made to sign death certificates of relatives without any other explanation.”

“Nobody in Wuhan believes the official numbers. The real one, only they know,” the resident said, pointing to the sky.

The report states that while frustration has led to a huge number of residents questioning the official narrative in social media chat groups, it has also led to a massive increase in censorship by the government.

The Spanish reporters pointed to reports suggesting that the number of urns provided by just 7 funeral homes in Wuhan adds up to between 30,000 and 40,000, while the Chinese government says that less than 4000 people have died from coronavirus.

A report by the independent Chinese media outlet Caixin estimated that just one of the funeral homes handed out 5,000 urns in one day last week.

The Spanish journalists attempted to interview workers at one of the funeral homes, but were stopped and turned away by authorities guarding the facilities.

Other residents told anti-Communist newspaper The Epoch Times that they simply cannot believe the government’s assertions about the death toll.

“Just exactly how many Wuhan residents have died from the virus if the line at the cemetery is so long?” one resident said, adding “China’s official media reported over 3,000 coronavirus deaths. I think the real figure is at least ten times the official figure, and even 100 times is not impossible.”

“The citizens of Wuhan believe that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) concealed the true death toll,” the report states.

It continues “They made this judgment based on two facts: one, the lines outside the funeral home to collect the ashes are very long, and two, the medical standards of European and American countries are higher than those in China. But the reported death rates in these countries are higher than that of China.”

Another Wuhan resident told Radio Free Asia “They are saying that only a few thousand died here in Wuhan, but does that sound right?”

Both the US and the UK governments are of the belief that China is hiding the real scale of the pandemic, estimating that it could be 15 to 40 times worse than the communist state admits.

The Philippines could be on the brink of social chaos, sparked because the virus pandemic forced the government to lockdown 57 million residents, many of which are living in poverty and left jobless in the last month. Social unrest broke out mid-week in a Manila slum as food and health equipment are in short supply, reported AFP.

DZRH, Manila Broadcasting Company, posted a chilling video of the social unrest, as low-income folks clashed with government forces during the quarantine.

WATCH: Pwersa ng QCPD dumating na sa lugar kung saan nagra-rally ang mga miyembro ng Kadamay na residente ng Sitio San Roque, Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, QC | via @dzrh5 Val Gonzales #DZRHat80 #COVID19Alert pic.twitter.com/TH13flb3Ng

— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) April 1, 2020

While other reports suggest social unrest could soon erupt in the country, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte made it very clear on government media on April 1 that police will shot any citizen defying the public health order to shelter-in-place.

“Shoot them dead”: After Filipinos defied a coronavirus lockdown to protest a lack of food, their president, Rodrigo Duterte, took to the airwaves declaring that he will order the military to shoot troublemakers deadhttps://t.co/dcJFXgsOua pic.twitter.com/ttbaXF3hml

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 2, 2020

“I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, as well as village officials, if there is any trouble, or occasions where there’s violence and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead,” Duterte said. “Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose.”

“Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave,” he warned, adding that COVID-19 is quickly spreading across the country despite a lockdown.

According to Johns Hopkins, the Philippines (on Friday morning, April 3) has recorded 3,018 confirmed cases of the virus and 136 deaths – much less than surrounding countries.

“It is deeply alarming that President Duterte has extended a policy of shoot-to-kill… Deadly, unchecked force should never be referred to as a method to respond to an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” Amnesty International Philippines said in a statement.

On Thursday, Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa defied Duterte and said his forces would not shoot people who are violating quarantine orders.

“Probably the president just overemphasized on implementing the law in this time of crisis,” Gamboa added.

It appears social unrest is developing in the Philippines – something that we’ve identified in the last several weeks that could be seen in the Western world.

FLASH REPORT: Umano’y mga nagugutom nang residente ng Sitio San Roque, Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, QC, lumabas na ng kanilang mga bahay at hinahanap na si @officialqcmayor Joy Belmonte | via @dzrh5 Val Gonzales #DZRHat80 #COVID19Alert pic.twitter.com/9xaXjDbKHg

— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) April 1, 2020

LOOK: KADAMAY stages another protest in Sitio San Roque, Quezon City amid arrests made during enhanced community quarantine.

RELATED: https://t.co/Qbic3xrixs pic.twitter.com/h4yfvolCig

— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) April 1, 2020

#FreeSanRoque21

“If you continue to jail the hungry poor people, expect more protests against this fascist, and elitist solution of the dictator Duterte”

21 hungry protesters from Sitio San Roque, Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City were arrested … pic.twitter.com/nlP5iTGGWa

— NUSP #5StudentDemands (@NUSPhilippines) April 1, 2020

The evolution of the virus crisis isn’t just collapsed economies across the globe, but rather the social unrest that follows.

Having put put America straight on what we are facing and the consequences of these unelected and unaccountable officials terrifying experiments, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer editor Jim Grant is back with another warning that irresponsible policy from the Federal Reserve made the coronavirus crisis worse than it had to be.

As Grant notes, “it took a viral invasion to unmask the weakness of American finance.”

Distortion in the cost of credit is the not-so-remote cause of the raging fires at which the Federal Reserve continues to train its gushing liquidity hoses; but, as Grant exclaims, the firemen are also the arsonists echoing his earlier in the week comments that:

Jay Powell’s seemingly blinkered proclamation that “he sees no prospective consequences with regard the purchasing power of the dollar” as “very concerning” adding more pertinently that he thinks “that wilful ignorance is a clear-and-present-danger for creditors of The United States.”

Grant continues:

It was the Fed’s suppression of borrowing costs, and its predictable willingness to cut short Wall Street’s occasional selling squalls, that compromised the U.S. economy’s financial integrity.

The coronavirus pandemic would have called forth a dramatic response from the central bank in any case. Not even the most conservatively financed economy could long endure an official order to cease and desist commercial activity. But frail corporate balance sheets and overextended markets go far to explain the immensity of the interventions.

Perhaps never before has corporate America carried more low-grade debt in relation to its earning power than it does today. And rarely have equity valuations topped the ones quoted only weeks ago.

“John Bull can stand many things, but he can’t stand 2%,” said Walter Bagehot, the Victorian-era editor of the Economist, concerning the negative side effects of a rock-bottom cost of capital. Needing income, investors will take imprudent risks to get it. And if 2% invites trouble, zero percent almost demands it.

Interest rates are the critical prices that measure investment risk and set the present value of estimated future cash flows. The lower the rates, other things being equal, the higher the prices of stocks, bonds and real estate—and the greater the risk of holding those richly priced assets.

In 2010 the Federal Reserve set out to lift market prices through a rate-suppression program called quantitative easing. Chairman Ben Bernanke was forthright about his intentions. “Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth,” he wrote at the time. Lower interest rates would make housing more affordable and business investment more desirable. Higher stock prices would “boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending.” The Fed commandeered investment values into the government’s service. It seeded bull markets in the public interest.

But investment valuations don’t exist to serve a public-policy agenda. Their purpose is to allocate capital. Distort those values and you waste not only money but also time – human heartbeats.

Like a shark, credit must keep moving. Loans fall due and must be repaid or rolled over (or, in extremis, defaulted on). When the economy stops, as the world’s has effectively done, lenders are likely to demand the cash that not every borrower can produce.

To resolve the devastating panic of 1825, the Bank of England rendered “every assistance in our power,” as a director of the bank testified, “and we were not upon some occasions over nice.”

In a still more radical vein, the Fed has set about buying (or supporting the purchase of) commercial paper, residential mortgage-backed securities, Treasurys, investment-grade corporate bonds, commercial mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities. It has abolished bank reserve requirements. Through a new direct-lending program, the Fed has become a kind of commercial bank.

If not for the buildup of the financial excesses of the past 10 years, fewer such monetary kitchen sinks would likely have had to be deployed. No pandemic explains the central bank’s massive infusions into the so-called repo market that followed this past September’s unscripted spike in borrowing costs. For still obscure reasons, a banking system that apparently is more than adequately capitalized was unable to meet a sudden demand for funds on behalf of the dealers who warehouse immense portfolios of government debt.

The superabundance of Treasury securities is the spoor of America’s trillion-dollar boom-time deficits. Persistently low interest rates have facilitated that borrowing, as they have the growth of private-equity investing (ordinarily with lots of leverage), the rise of profitless startups, the raft of corporate share repurchases, and the unnatural solvency of loss-making companies that have funded themselves in the Fed’s most obliging debt markets.

For savers in general, and the managers of public pension funds in particular, lawn-level interest rates confer no similar gains. On the contrary: To earn $50,000 in annual interest at a 5% government bond yield requires $1 million of capital; to earn the same income at a 1% yield demands $5 million of capital. To try to circumvent that forbidding arithmetic, income-famished investors buy stocks, junk bonds, real estate, what have you. It worked as long as the bubble inflated.

In a bubble, performance is the name of the investment game. Over the past 10 years, skeptics of our debt-financed prosperity have had to fall in line. To keep up with the Joneses, fiduciaries have sought an edge in lower-quality assets. Managers of investment-grade bond portfolios dabbled in junk bonds. Junk-bond investors slummed it in lower-rated junk or in the kind of bank debt that is senior in name but structured without the once-standard protective legal fine print.

Investing at positive nominal yields, Americans are still comparatively lucky. The holders of some $10.9 trillion of yen-, euro- and Swiss franc-denominated bonds are paying for the privilege of lending. “Investors seeking safety were prepared to face a guaranteed loss when holding the debt to maturity,” was how the Financial Times last summer tried to explain the nearly inexplicable.

Negative nominal bond yields are a 4,000-year first, according to Sidney Homer’s “A History of Interest Rates,” republished for a fourth edition with co-author Richard Sylla in 2005. Topsy-turvy investment-grade bond markets aren’t without precedent, but the extent of the upheaval today is startling. If adversity is the test of the quality of a senior security, as old-time doctrine held, segments of today’s corporate bonds and tradable bank loans have already flunked. On March 20, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the volume of such loans quoted below 80 cents on the dollar topped the peak distress level of 2008. While the panic subsequently abated, many supposedly senior corporate claims are proving to be fair-weather investments, not so different from common equity.

Deceived by ultralow interest rates, Americans borrow and lend in the kind of false economy that candidate Donald Trump properly condemned in 2016. Covid-19 will sooner or later beat a retreat. For the sake of honest prices and true values, it would be well if the central bankers did the same.

Simply put, Grant concludes, credit and equity markets “have become administered government-set indicators, rather than sensitive- and information-rich prices… and we are paying the price for that through the misallocation of resources.”

Grant ends on a hanging chad of a rhetorical question “what do corrections correct? Is there no salutary role for recessions and bear markets?”

Of course there is, he answers, “they separate the sound from the unsound, they separate the well-financed from the over-leveraged and if we never have these episodes of economic pain, we will be much the worse for it.”

“After living and working in China for over 10 years and speaking fluent Chinese, you get to know a society pretty well… and let me tell you this – if you’re applauding or admiring the political leadership of China, you’re all deluded beyond belief.“

That is how “laowhy86” begins this succinct  video exploring the ‘facts’ – not conspiracies – behind the source of the coronavirus that is ravaging the earth.

“China doesn’t operate like ‘your’ country,” he warns, “the Chinese government is a face- and greed-driven government that relies on lies and bullying to maintain leadership.”

Furthermore, he notes, the Chinese government layers are “broken and fragile” and so it didn’t surprise him when he was able to follow breadcrumbs – as begun by our inquisition about the roles that certain individuals played in Wuhan – to discover the “very suspicious” fact that the Wuhan Bio lab had a job opening from November 18, 2019, asking for scientists to come and research the relationship between the coronavirus and bats.

However, after ZeroHedge was permanently suspended from Twitter for daring to suggest anything but the official narrative handed down, laowhy86 notes that another job opening appeared on December 24th (remember this is before any news broke of the virus publicly), which basically says ‘we’ve discovered a new and terrible virus and would like to recruit people to come deal with it’…

So, he decided to dig a little bit more into the staff… and that’s where it gets interesting… as he discovers silenced scientists, disappeared doctors, and constant propaganda…

“…it’s quite clear that the Chinese government needs to close its mouth and acknowledge that this virus did in fact come from Wuhan, Hubei, China.”

As he concludes,

“I did not get into any conspiracy theories, I’m not talking about bioweapons or biolabs; this is all public information on the Chinese internet published by researchers, scientists, and doctors.”

“Despite the CCP’s all-powerful ability to hide everything it can, the truth usually finds its way out – the Chinese government should cover their tracks better next time if they’re going to blame this on Italy or the US or whatever is convenient to your narrative.”

“…the CCP’s incompetence and its understanding of the danger of the virus on a pure scientific level – and then going on to silence those who wanted to warn the public… and letting the virus spread for months… is the reason the Chinese government must be held accountable!“

Watch the full breakdown below:

What is really fascinating, however, is that while this thread was dismissed and censored as utter nonsense just two months ago (and got many banned for even daring to mention it), none other than David Ignatius, The Washington Post’s favorite establishment columnist, is now questioning China’s narrative and raising his own doubts as to the origin of the virus, writing that …as China dished wild, irresponsible allegations of its own.

On March 12, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao charged in a tweet: “It might be [the] US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”

He retweeted an article that claimed, without evidence, that U.S. troops might have spread the virus when they attended the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019.

A competing theory has been gathering momentum – of an accidental lab release of bat coronavirus…

Less than 300 yards from the seafood market is the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from that facility and the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology have posted articles about collecting bat coronaviruses from around China, for study to prevent future illness. Did one of those samples leak, or was hazardous waste deposited in a place where it could spread?

Richard Ebright, a Rutgers microbiologist and biosafety expert, told me in an email that “the first human infection could have occurred as a natural accident,” with the virus passing from bat to human, possibly through another animal. But Ebright cautioned that it “also could have occurred as a laboratory accident, with, for example, an accidental infection of a laboratory worker.” He noted that bat coronaviruses were studied in Wuhan at Biosafety Level 2, “which provides only minimal protection,” compared with the top BSL-4.

Ebright described a December video from the Wuhan CDC that shows staffers “collecting bat coronaviruses with inadequate [personal protective equipment] and unsafe operational practices.” Separately, I reviewed two Chinese articles, from 2017 and 2019, describing the heroics of Wuhan CDC researcher Tian Junhua, who while capturing bats in a cave “forgot to take protective measures” so that “bat urine dripped from the top of his head like raindrops.”

Ignatius unapologetically admits that what’s increasingly clear is that the initial “origin story” – that the virus was spread by people who ate contaminated animals at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan – is shaky.

“Shaky” indeed, David!

 

Via MassPrivateI blog,

The biometrics industry has never been known to miss an opportunity to make a profit. Especially when it comes at the expense of everyone’s privacy.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, facial recognition companies have been hard at work creating a new sales pitch that will allow them to maximize their profits.

Across the globe, facial recognition companies are hard at work trying to convince politicians, law enforcement and the public that thermal imaging cameras will help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Forbes.com is all too eager to jump on the thermal imaging bandwagon, claiming that Athena Security’s facial recognition/thermal imaging software can scan 1000 people per hour.

“With Covid-19, you see the problem at airports today,” Athena Security CEO Lisa Falzone explains. “Passengers are waiting in lines to manually take their temperatures, which slows traffic down. With our technology, we can analyze 1000 people per hour.”

In fact, Athena Security has gone so far as to combine fever detection, facial recognition and gun detection into an all-in-one screening system.

“Our Fever Detection COVID19 Screening System is now a part of our platform along with our gun detection system which connects directly to your current security camera system to deliver fast, accurate threat detection – including guns, knives, and aggressive action. Our system can also alert you to falls, accidents, and unwelcome visitors.”

As Forbes.com points out, what makes Athena’s software so unique is their ability to send out real-time alerts to authorities.

“What’s different about Athena’s system, explains Falzone, is its ability to send out immediate alerts to the appropriate parties, who can then make an informed decision on how to act.”

The scariest thing about the proliferation of facial recognition/thermal imaging cameras is it gives law enforcement near god-like powers to identify and quarantine anyone they choose.

Real-time facial recognition being offered to universities and hospitals for free

The biometrics industry has put a new spin on marketing by offering universities and hospitals free real-time facial recognition.

A recent Jumio press release revealed that they are donating their facial recognition identity verification services to U.S. and U.K. hospitals and universities.

“Starting today, Jumio will provide free identity verification services through our AI-powered, fully automated solution, Jumio Go, to any qualifying organization directly involved in helping with COVID-19 relief including (but not limited to): Hospitals and Universities. This free offer is powered by Jumio Go, our real-time, fully automated identity verification solution.”

DroneUp suggests that law enforcement could use thermal imaging drones as an excuse to monitor people for COVID-19.

“Assurance is key in uncertain times. That is why DroneUp is functioning in conjunction with FAA regulatory precautions as we collaborate with state and local officials to ensure safety for all. We strongly encourage our fellow drone operators to also become keenly aware of the protocol and regulations as the pandemic evolves.”

That same scenario is being played out across the country, with more than 1,500 police departments using drones to monitor the public. In Michigan, the Hillsdale Sheriff’s Office recently purchased a DJI Matrice 210 drone equipped with thermal imaging.

Three police departments in particular have taken drone surveillance to a whole new level.

The Owensboro Police Department in Kentucky has created a 10-member thermal imaging drone surveillance team.

“The Owensboro Police Department recently created a 10-member Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Team who were trained and certified to fly the department’s $2,300 drone inside city limits.”

In Texas, the Public Safety Unmanned Response Team has partnered with the Airborne Incident Response Team to help expand police drone surveillance.

“The objective is to create a robust network of drone responders and geographic information systems experts capable of rendering direct assistance and location intelligence during complex emergencies, rapidly expanding incidents, and major disasters. Increased communication and cooperation are essential to the successful deployment of drones and other unmanned systems in support of public safety operations,” said Travis Calendine, chairperson of the Public Safety Unmanned Response Team North Texas.

The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD), arguably the most famous drone surveillance police department in the country, is creating a 52 square mile drone surveillance zone.

“The CVPD can proactively cover about 17 of the 52 square miles of our city with drones launched from two sites. Our goal this year is to add launch sites to provide 100% aerial support coverage during daylight hours 7 days a week by the end of the year,” Vern Sallee, patrol operations captain said. 

The worldwide fear of the cornavirus is so widespread that MIT, Harvard and The Mayo Clinic have designed a new COVID-19 warning app called “Private Kit.”

credit: Private Kit

As Fast Company explains, Private Kit will allegedly alert a user when someone infected with the COVID-19 virus is close.  Maybe they could use this app to alert them when a “Walking Dead” zombie is close by?

“Researchers just released an app in beta that alerts people when they come into contact with someone who’s been diagnosed with COVID-19, potentially reducing the virus’s spread if the app is downloaded by a large chunk of the population.”

Of course there is a catch to using Private Kit: users will lose their privacy.

“After you download the app and consent to sharing your location (which is necessary in order for the app to work), the app starts tracking you. Should you cross paths with someone who’s been diagnosed with the coronavirus who also has the app, you’ll receive a notification telling you when and for how long.”

Facial recognition companies like Veriff show how little they care about everyone’s privacy by offering universities and health care providers 1 million free identity verification’s.

“Potential beneficiaries of free verification’s range from universities who need to verify people taking exams to marketplaces that have volunteers who help people in need and to registries that could tackle fake accounts and set up reliable databases about people in quarantine. But also, digital health care service providers, organizations fighting fake news and beyond.”

If corporations, politicians and law enforcement can convince an apathetic public that facial recognition, thermal imaging and gun detection cameras can keep us safe, then our privacy will vanish before COVID-19 runs its course.

US airline companies had a 5pm deadline to submit their applications for a share of $25 billion in cash grants. The problem: if the following letter from Delta CEO to his employees is representative of the broader industry, that $25 billion will last about two weeks.

BREAKING: Delta Air Lines says it expects Q2 revenue to be down 90% and the company is burning through $60 million in cash every day. pic.twitter.com/rkNTHCD1X2

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 3, 2020

In a memo from CEO Ed Bastion to his workers, the CEO unveiled that the situation for US carriers is hopeless and getting worse, as Delta traffic is down 94%, cash burn is $60 million per day, and Q2 revenue is expected to be down 90%. To wit:

As we move into April, we continue to see our passenger volumes and revenues drop. For example, on Saturday we had about 38,000 customers flying, versus our normal late-March Saturday of 600,000. Unfortunately, even as Delta is burning more than $60 million in cash every day, we know we still haven’t seen the bottom.

This month our schedule will be at least 80 percent smaller than originally planned, with 115,000 flights cancelled. I wish I could predict this would end soon, but the reality is we simply don’t know how long it will take before the virus is contained and customers are ready to fly again.

The passage of the CARES Act, which provides emergency relief for airline employees nationwide, was welcome news. We submitted our application this morning to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for our share of the worker-protection grants. We appreciate the decisive action of our nation’s leaders to protect our people.

But those funds alone are not nearly enough. We are expecting our revenue in the second quarter to be down 90 percent. Without the self-help actions we are taking to save costs and raise new financing, that money would be gone by June.

At the same time, United Air said it sees revenue loss of $100 million per day in March with April capacity cut 80% more, and sees reduction in revenue of at least 30% for 4Q of 2020 compared to the prior period.

There is more the full Delta letter below, although its contents appear to have already been known to Warren Buffett whose Berkshire made a very rare announcement after the close that instead of catching the falling airplanes knives had sold 12.99 million Delta shares on April 1 and 2, at prices ranging from $22.96-$26.04 each, and now holds 58.9 million shares. Berkshire also sold another 2.3 million Southwest shares in what appears to be Buffett capitulation on his airline thesis.

JUST IN: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sells 12.9M Delta shares and 2.3M Southwest shares. pic.twitter.com/2jDFpsX0ky

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 3, 2020

Full Delta letter below:

To:          Delta Colleagues Worldwide

From:     Ed Bastian, CEO

Subject: Looking Ahead

This week we closed the books on the first quarter of 2020, and it was unlike any. quarter in Delta’s history. We know that the second quarter will be even more difficult than the first as the pandemic continues to evolve. We’ll get through it by sticking to our shared values of honesty, perseverance and service to each other, our customers and our communities.

Those values start by ensuring we put health and safety first — now more than ever. That applies especially to those of you who are in higher-risk categories because of age or underlying health conditions. If you are particularly vulnerable, you should not be at work — we have options that help protect you financially to keep you at home and healthy. You have my full support and that of your managers to ensure you protect your health. Nothing is more important.

As we move into April, we continue to see our passenger volumes and revenues drop. For example, on Saturday we had about 38,000 customers flying, versus our normal late-March Saturday of 600,000. Unfortunately, even as Delta is burning more than $60 million in cash every day, we know we still haven’t seen the bottom.

We continue to shrink our network as demand falls and will operate just enough flying to maintain essential services. This month our schedule will be at least 80 percent smaller than originally planned, with 115,000 flights cancelled. I wish I could predict this would end soon, but the reality is we simply don’t know how long it will take before the virus is contained and customers are ready to fly again.

The passage of the CARES Act, which provides emergency relief for airline employees nationwide, was welcome news. We submitted our application this morning to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for our share of the worker-protection grants. We appreciate the decisive action of our nation’s leaders to protect our people.

But those funds alone are not nearly enough. We are expecting our revenue in the second quarter to be down 90 percent. Without the self-help actions we are taking to save costs and raise new financing, that money would be gone by June.

In true Delta fashion, thousands of you have stepped up to help protect Delta jobs, preserve our cash and get us through the next few months. An extraordinary 30,000 of you have volunteered for unpaid leaves of absence. My deepest thanks goes to every single one of you. That is the most important action you can take to support our company. We continue to need more volunteers, and this week announced longer-term opportunities of leaves lasting six, nine and 12 months. Please consider whether a short- or long-term leave makes sense for you and your family at this time.

In addition, with the operation significantly reduced, the 25 percent short-term reduction in hours for both merit and hourly ground-based employees is essential to protecting Delta for the long term. And we’re saving billions of dollars in cash by pausing capital projects, consolidating airport facilities, delaying non-essential maintenance and reviewing every expense across the operation.

Amid this unprecedented effort, I’ve heard countless stories of Delta heroes across all of our work groups and divisions. Just a few examples:

Despite unprecedented volumes, our Res & Care team achieved their highest customer satisfaction scores in Delta history in

• March, with NPS up 11 points year over year.
• Delta teams from TechOps, Flight Ops and the OCC have safely and securely parked more than 450 of the 600 aircraft that will be parked in April. Using scarce airport space across our system and at other U.S. storage facilities, this will enable a
• quick return to active flying when the time is right.
• The professionals in Supply Chain are managing our relationships with vendors as our needs shift dramatically to reflect our temporary smaller footprint.
• Our government affairs team has worked diligently for weeks to secure passage of much-needed emergency relief for the airline industry in the CARES Act.
• Teams in HR, Finance and Corporate Communications are working around the clock to respond to the ever-changing
• landscape and safeguard our company and our people.
• Our ACS, Cargo and IFS teams continue keeping our customers and each other safe while they provide essential services.

Delta continues to be front and center in the global response to the virus, with free flights for medical workers, cargo shipments of much-needed medical supplies, and repatriating thousands of people worldwide back to their homes among other efforts.

You are also showing the Delta spirit across your communities during this time of crisis. Just this week I learned about Cristina, who works in IT in Minneapolis and is spending her free time sewing re-usable face masks for medical workers. Thank you, Cristina, for your dedication to service and community — you’re yet another example of how Delta people are connecting the world even in times like these.

I know that many of you have been affected in some way by this virus. Whether it’s you personally, a friend or family member, my heart and prayers are with you and your loved ones. If you haven’t done so already, I also encourage anyone to take advantage of our free Resources for Living (formerly known as Delta’s Employee Assistance Program) online or via phone at any time.

I have never been more proud to be part of this Delta family, and never so humbled to be your leader. I’ll be in touch soon with another update and look forward to taking your questions at another virtual Town Hall next week. lathe meantime, please keep your safety and the safety of your colleagues and loved ones top of mind at all times — nothing is more important.

We will all get through this together.

Ed