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Trump says Iran planning 'sneak attack' on US troops in Iraq
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
On the lighter side: Prince Andrew's ex-lover Koo Stark loses High Court battle with former partner she claims went back on deal 23 years ago to give her £50k-a-year for life to give up newspaper column
[Daily Mail, of course]
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 00:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Koo Stark - that's a Blast from the Past!
Posted by: SteveS || 04/01/2020 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  What's with the witch costume? Trying to "scare up" some paliminy cash, is she?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/01/2020 4:15 Comments || Top||

#3  HE went back on the deal? 'Your Honor, I'd like to call Ms Stark to the stand. Oh, no I don't have any questions, I believe the visual will suffice.'
Posted by: Cesare || 04/01/2020 8:07 Comments || Top||


Venezuelan navy OPV vessel the GC-23 Naiguata was sunk early yesterday morning after it collided with the Resolute, Passenger ship registered in Portugal
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must have been a solid collision to sink this:
GC-23 Naiguata: Guaicamacuto-class patrol boat:
Length: 79.9 m (262 ft)
Displacement: 1,453 tons standard displacement, 1,720 tons full load
Complement: 34 + 30

The cruise ship is pretty small: 403ft.

The Resolute continued to sale to Curaçao

I wouldn't want to be apprehended in Venezuelan waters.
Posted by: Ulaviling Dark Lord of the French1268 || 04/01/2020 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Damned satellite guidance!
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  "Ramming speed!"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2020 7:25 Comments || Top||

#4  The Resolute continued to sale to Curaçao without rescuing the Venezuelan crew of the sinking vessel.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2020 10:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Obviously a NSA plot.
/baguette du merde
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Pulling in front of another ship to stop it only works in the movies.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 04/01/2020 17:59 Comments || Top||

#7  They're down to one boat in their Navy now?
Posted by: KBK || 04/01/2020 19:28 Comments || Top||

#8  More detail:
[FleetMon]Cruise ship sunk Venezuelan Navy ship and fled, to avoid unlawful seizure(4/1/20)
On first look Venezuela wanted to play Somalian Pirate Gambit and messed up badly.
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2020 20:05 Comments || Top||


Nickelodeon: Today is International #TransDayOfVisibility We’re celebrating
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not Bee? Down $1 today.
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  TrandDayofVisibility?

But what do they have to show?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 0:59 Comments || Top||

#3  When's Dan Schneider perp walk day?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/01/2020 7:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Here I thought it was Halloween.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2020 7:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Obviously a cheap ruse to enforce house arrest.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/01/2020 8:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Trans Day Of Visibility?

insert photo of Big Mike with 'her' bulge
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 04/01/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Nah, if you've been around 'childrens television channels' recently this is not Bee/Not Bee, but sadly predictable.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2020 10:22 Comments || Top||

#8  well it is april fool’s day, emphasize fool.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/01/2020 10:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Fools sans tools
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 10:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Identity politics has never been more irrelevant
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 11:30 Comments || Top||

#11  Everybody gets their own truth, huh? Tell that to the gods of the copybook headings.
Posted by: Spot || 04/01/2020 12:20 Comments || Top||

#12  Not Bee ?!? Pardon me a moment because I am nauseous.
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2020 12:58 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
#TheResistance Media Mocks ‘My Pillow Guy' Who's Trying To Save Lives By Producing Masks, CNN Cuts Away
[LI] What have CNN and MSNBC done to save lives? "Lindell said it took MyPillow workers three days to turn over a 200,000-square-foot factory into a facility to produce the masks. They are currently making about 10,000 a day and aim to produce up to 50,000 a day."

During Trump’s Coronavirus press conference on Monday, he invited some people from private industry to speak, including Mike Lindell, the owner of My Pillow.

CNN decided to cut away from the event when Lindell spoke.

Lindell was not there to sell pillows. Trump invited him to speak because he has restructured his company in order to manufacture face masks for hospitals. In other words, he is doing far more for the country than anyone at CNN or any other media outlet.

Smug critics couldn’t even be bothered to use Lindell’s name, opting instead to call him the "My Pillow guy."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 01:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His crime against the communist Deep State: Lindell gave a short 'off script' Christian message at the end of his presentation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 3:43 Comments || Top||

#3  There are those who can do. Those that can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, administrate become talking heads.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2020 7:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Didn't see any of the local Twin Cities Marxist media telling the story. Typical Christaphobia from Moscow on the Mississippi Pravda.

Now if he were a Somali Muzzy...
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/01/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Now if he were a Somali Muzzy

Would you trust a mask made by Muslim?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 10:17 Comments || Top||

#6  no
Posted by: Chris || 04/01/2020 10:38 Comments || Top||


Thanks, China: Wet Markets Gave Us the Coronavirus and They're Back In Business
[TownHall] The start of the Wuhan coronavirus has been traced back to a wet market in Wuhan, China, where exotic mammals in unsanitary conditions are bought and traded for consumption. And, despite what we know about the start of this virus, China has allowed wet markets to reopen, The Daily Mail reported. Even worse, there are no apparent attempts to raise hygiene standards to prevent another virus from emerging.

From The Daily Mail:
Terrified dogs and cats crammed into rusty cages. Bats and scorpions offered for sale as traditional medicine. Rabbits and ducks slaughtered and skinned side by side on a stone floor covered with blood, filth, and animal remains.

Those were the deeply troubling scenes yesterday as China celebrated its 'victory' over the coronavirus by reopening squalid meat markets of the type that started the pandemic three months ago, with no apparent attempt to raise hygiene standards to prevent a future outbreak.

As the pandemic that began in Wuhan forced countries worldwide to go into lockdown, a Mail on Sunday correspondent yesterday watched as thousands of customers flocked to a sprawling indoor market in Guilin, south-west China.
At another market in the southern China city of Dongguan, a seller was advertising bats and scorpions for sale.

But the scariest thing: the Chinese seem to believe the Wuhan coronavirus is done and over with, even though countries around the world are grappling with the virus. And it's why life is starting to go back to normal in China.

"Everyone here believes the outbreak is over and there's nothing to worry about any more. It's just a foreign problem now as far as they are concerned," an unnamed Daily Mail photographer said. "The markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus. The only difference is that security guards try to stop anyone taking pictures which would never have happened before."

This isn't the first time that infectious diseases have been traced back to animals, the Associated Press reported in February:
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 01:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  China delenda est
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Wuhan is the home of the Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Medical Research Institute and I believe the only known biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory in China. The wet markets are essential to their study and research.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 1:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Since Chinese know it came from the lab, not the market, why close the market?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 2:27 Comments || Top||

#4  We need to completely reconceptualize "cordon sanitaire."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/01/2020 5:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Either the Wuhan lab's sanitary procedures are Chinese style - great on paper but bullshit in practice - or an employee was selling used lab animals out the back door to the wet market.

Either way, it must have come from that lab.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 04/01/2020 6:44 Comments || Top||

#6  As they say....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2020 7:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Common waste control floor drains join to public waste network. Rain runoff control systems, gutters, roof and street drains commingle with open sewage.

When the animal techs wash down the cage rooms, it ends up in the streets.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 10:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Tucker Carlson last night talked about a report from a Chinese science journal that said 60 people with direct knowledge of the wet market in Wuhan were interviewed and none had ever seen bats in the market. However, the virology lab in Wuhan did stuff with bats and the virus likely escaped from there, not the market. In either case, it started in Wuhan.
Posted by: Spot || 04/01/2020 12:17 Comments || Top||

#9  THIS IS WHAT BIOLOGICAL ATTACKS LOOK LIKE FOLKS
Posted by: 746 || 04/01/2020 14:09 Comments || Top||

#10  #9 THIS IS WHAT BIOLOGICAL ATTACKS LOOK LIKE FOLKS

12 monkeys
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 17:14 Comments || Top||

#11 
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 04/01/2020 19:55 Comments || Top||


Trump administration sending troops to border as part of coronavirus fight
[FOX] The Trump administration is sending more than 500 troops to the southern border, as part of the ongoing effort there to combat the coronavirus threat by preventing more infections coming into the U.S. interior.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made the request that the Defense Department provide 540 personnel to support Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations on the southern border. Defense Secretary Mark Esper approved the request, which is currently in place until the end of September.

“At a time when Americans face a profound public health and national security threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that the men and women of law enforcement have the support they need to prevent public health threats from entering the country through our borders,” a DHS official told Fox News.

The request was first reported by Reuters, which noted that the U.S. already has approximately 5,000 troops at the border to conduct non-law enforcement activities.

The request was made in order to help assist in detection and monitoring of activity across the border, but troops will not be involved in law enforcement, officials said. The request was made because of the extra strain that conducting additional health and security measures places on CBP in its border security efforts.

President Trump has made securing the border a top priority of his presidency, particularly since the U.S. has dealt with a crisis at the southern border in 2019 as more than 100,000 migrants flooded to the border each month last spring.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  approximately 5,000 troops at the border to conduct non-law enforcement activities.

assist in detection and monitoring of activity across the border

Somebody sniffed some intel that required an interdiction mission.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 17:19 Comments || Top||


Coronaplague Roundup: Italy Finally Starts Mass Treatment with Hydroxychloroquine
[TRUSTNODES] Doctors in Italia have finally began widely prescribing hydroxychloroquine in certain combinations in Rome and the wider region of Lazio with a population of around six million.

According to Corriere della Sera, a well known Italian daily newspaper, Dr. Pier Luigi Bartoletti, Deputy National Secretary of the Italian Federation of General Practitioners, explains that every single person with Covid-19 that has early signs, like a cough or a fever for example, is now being treated with the anti-malaria drug.

The drug "is already giving good results," Bartoletti says while Malaysia reveals they have been using it since the very beginning. Bartoletti further adds that the drug:

"Must be used with all the necessary precautions, it must be evaluated patient by patient. It can have side effects. But those that take it are responding really well.
Thank goodness. Hopefully hospital staffs will be able to slow down a little soon. Also submitted by Iblis.




Coronavirus death rate much lower than previously reported
[NYPOST] The coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
may not be as deadly as previously suggested, according to a new study that accounts for cases that were not diagnosed.

The study published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases estimated that the death rate will be 0.66%, which is much lower than figures between 2% and 3.4% that have come out of Wuhan, China, according to CNN.
From what we've been watching, ten percent infection rate (USA pop. is 325,000,000), which works out to 32,500,000. A three percent death rate means we're looking at 975,000. Iran (worst case scenario) population is 81,160,000. Ten percent positive rate is 8,116,000 x 3% = 243,480. A couple days ago their numbers were 35,408 cases and 2,517 deaths. That means they're not close to peaking, or that the infection rate isn't as high as claimed.
Of course, this assumes Iran is not fudging their numbers ...
Researchers said the lower coronavirus mortality rate was determined by accounting for cases that went undiagnosed — possibly because they were mild or had no symptoms.

To do this, researchers used modeling based on the number of detected cases among repatriated citizens who were aggressively tested for the virus.

But in line with other studies, the researchers found that the majority of fatalities are among adults who were age 80 or older.

“There might be outlying cases that get a lot of media attention, but our analysis very clearly shows that at aged 50 and over, hospitalization is much more likely than in those under 50, and a greater proportion of cases are likely to be fatal,” Azra Ghani, a professor at Imperial College London and an author of the study, said in a statement.


Louisiana sees over 1,200 new coronavirus cases in one day
[NYPOST] Louisiana suffered its worst day yet in the state’s coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
outbreak Tuesday, with more than 50 deaths and 1,200 new cases, according to health officials.

The newly diagnosed 2,212 cases brought the state’s tally to 5,237 cases, representing a 30% increase in 24 hours, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Within the same period, 54 died from the virus, pushing its corpse count to 239 and marking its deadliest day since the Pelican State’s first case was found on March 9.

Health officials have now detected the dangerous bug in 60 out of the state’s 64 parishes, which are similar to counties.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday that he will extend the state’s stay-at-home order through the end of April, which is in line with the White House’s most recent guidance.






That's a five percent death rate worldwide, of those diagnosed with it.




Saudi minister asks Muslims to wait on making hajj plans
[AlAhram] Saudi Arabia wants Muslims to wait until there is more clarity about the coronavirus pandemic before planning to attend the annual haj pilgrimage, the minister for haj and umrah said on state TV on Tuesday. Some 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world usually flock to the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long ritual, which is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim and a major source of income for the kingdom. The largest annual gathering of Muslims is scheduled to begin in late July, but the coronavirus outbreak has raised questions about whether it can or should go ahead given the risk of spreading the disease further in large gatherings.

Saudi Arabia has already suspended the smaller, year-round umrah pilgrimage until further notice, halted all international passenger flights indefinitely and last week blocked entry and exit to several cities, including Mecca and Medina.

The kingdom has reported 10 deaths among 1,563 cases of coronavirus, which has infected some 800,000 people globally and killed more than 38,000.

Italy health official says nation hits new nfection 'plateau as death toll from coronavirus raised by 837 on Tuesday
[AlAhram] The head of Italy's national institutes of health says the country has hit the "plateau" in its coronavirus infection rate, three weeks into a national lockdown, and should start to see a decline in new cases.

Dr. Silvio Brusaferro stressed Tuesday that it would be folly to relax Italy's productivity shutdown and stay-at-home restrictions now, even though the rate of new virus infections is slowing.

Brusaferro confirmed that Italy's R0, the average number of people who will get infected from one contagious person, is nearing one, down from estimates as high as two or three. Officials are aiming to get the R0 under one to rein in the epidemic.

Lagos in lockdown as Africa virus closures spread
[AlAhram] Africa's largest city Lagos was deserted Tuesday after Nigeria locked down its economic hub and shuttered its capital, in the continent's latest effort to brake the juggernaut of coronavirus. Businesses were closed, markets abandoned and streets empty as the usually chaotic megacity of 20 million, along with the capital Abuja, shuddered to a halt on the first full day of a two-week shutdown.

Nigeria embarked late Monday on one of Africa's most ambitious efforts at social distancing after recording 135 confirmed cases and two deaths.

Dozens of countries across the continent have imposed restrictions from night-time curfews to total shutdowns to try to halt the disease. Across all of Africa, countries have recorded more than 5,300 cases and 170 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP. Tanzania on Tuesday became the latest nation to record its first fatality from the novel coronavirus. The numbers have lagged behind those of other continents, and as of Monday, there were still six countries out of 54 in Africa -- South Sudan, Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe, Malawi, Lesotho and the Comoros -- that had yet to detect a single case.

Possible Good News: Fewer Fevers Reported Nationwide, Says Smart Thermometer Company
[Reason] Social distancing and lockdowns appear to be working to slow the coronavirus pandemic.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Idiots give navy shore leave in DaNang now USS Teddy R is Virus Central
[UPI] COVID-19 spread on USS Roosevelt is 'ongoing and accelerating'.

The captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is pleading with the U.S. Navy for more resources to help contain a coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship and avoid possible deaths.

The aircraft carrier docked in Guam last week so its crew of 5,000 sailors could be tested for the novel coronavirus.

At the time 23 members of its crew had tested positive for the virus.

Now more than 100 sailors are infected, and according to Capt. Brett Crozier, in a four-page letter first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the situation is rapidly deteriorating.

According to Crozier, only a small contingent of soldiers have been off-boarded, and most remain aboard the ship, where it's impossible to follow recommendations for 14-day quarantines and social distancing.

According to military.com, the first positive cases aboard the Roosevelt emerged after the ship made a port call in Vietnam in early March, despite warnings that the virus was likely to sweep through the Asia-Pacific region.

Crozier's letter comes as the number of reported cases among military personnel climbs -- with more than 1,000 total cases as of Monday -- and recruiters have called for the closure of boot camps amid the pandemic.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is USS Roosevelt in the Chinese target folder? Is he ship still combat effective? What about our nuclear submarines?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Hydroxy or straight chloroquine ASAP. I would be surprised if it were not on hand.

And fire the idiot in charge.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/01/2020 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  And be sure to wear your 'masks' when you go on shore leave!
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 1:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Bet they all went to Dog Patch for Boom Boom...
Posted by: crazyhorse || 04/01/2020 3:11 Comments || Top||

#5  And fire the idiot in charge.

At least the captain, it seems. Maybe higher.
Posted by: gorb || 04/01/2020 5:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Navy Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, should kiss his career good-bye.
Posted by: b || 04/01/2020 10:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Decent retirement pay at O6.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2020 11:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh my God, Dog Patch, the stuff of legends...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/01/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Atleast the captain, it seems. Maybe higher. --gorb
Aren't visits like this cleared at a higher lever than O6? If the State Department and the DOD think a visit is "appropriate" then what does the captain do ... resign in protest or just "soldier on"?
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#10  @#1: Some Nuclear Submarine Crews May Not Even Know About the Pandemic
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 04/01/2020 16:48 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK NHS Nurses Banned from Wearing Uniforms in Public After Abuse
[Breitbart] NHS nurses have been told to not wear their uniforms in public after some had been discriminated against and verbally abused in public, spat at, and called even "disease spreaders".

"Until further notice, can all nurses no longer wear their uniforms to travel to and from their place of work... There have been reported cases of some nurses being challenged by the public so this is not just to protect you from carrying anything on your uniforms but potential abuse," said an email sent to nurses on Thursday and reported on Monday.

In response to the email, one nurse told The Times: "I’m not surprised, sadly. I know people are worried and upset and we are easy targets. We’ve also been told to hide our ID badges, be careful when using them to access areas ‐ only show them to official NHS staff and for work purposes, ie showing it to the patient."

In March, Susan Masters, the Royal College of Nursing’s director of policy, had said: "I hear from community nurses that they are being heckled at and verbally abused in the street and called ’disease spreaders’. This is abhorrent behaviour. It must stop."

Last week, nurses were told not to wear their NHS identity badges in public because thugs had been stealing them in order to access the free food, drinks, and priority shopping hours that British retailers are offering medical staff, while reprobates had tried to mug two doctors leaving Lewisham hospital of their badges in London.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 01:46 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  reported cases of some nurses being challenged


How many in a some? No Brit men got the balls to escort a nurse?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/01/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  A lead suppository will cure them of COVID....the Bastids!
Posted by: Warthog || 04/01/2020 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Old man, retired SAS/SBS escorts with walking canes, MP5 slung under rain jacket. Take out 3-5 abusers, problem solved. Word gets around. Next challenge please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 9:08 Comments || Top||

#4  As if their jobs weren't tough enough.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#5  And of course the British cops won't do anything because...raciest.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 04/01/2020 18:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Failure to police ... sad. Wonder if their is a correlation of incidents to "non-European" (and you know what I mean by that) immigrant numbers in the area.
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2020 21:28 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Coronavirus: Countries reject Chinese-made equipment
h/t Instapundit
[BBC] - ...On Saturday, the Dutch health ministry announced it had recalled 600,000 face masks. The equipment had arrived from a Chinese manufacturer on 21 March, and had already been distributed to front-line medical teams.

Dutch officials said that the masks did not fit and that their filters did not work as intended, even though they had a quality certificate

...Spain’s government encountered similar problems with testing kits ordered from a Chinese company.

It announced it had bought hundreds of thousands of tests to combat the virus, but revealed in the following days that nearly 60,000 could not accurately determine if a patient had the virus.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 02:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  And a report from Australia says the Longshoremen are refusing to unload a Chinese ship that has berthed there.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/01/2020 13:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Chinese "Leadership," per the New York Times
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 13:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Ref #1: Hat tip to the Auzzie longshoremen.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 13:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Boesoker, I see you are back to randomly deleting other peoples comments for no readon at all like you were doing during the early morning hours here yesterday you fat little F!ck.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 04/01/2020 14:56 Comments || Top||

#5  No. I did it.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 15:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Play nice or the next ones go too
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 15:35 Comments || Top||

#7  I hope the mods aren't playing Chinese and filtering comments. It's bad enough here if you don't think like grom your nuts (you're not). What's the banner here? Well Reasoned Discourse? Only if you think like grom?
I like to add, many of you think it's cool that New Yorkers are dying. You are a apathetic lot. They are Americans just like you.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 04/01/2020 21:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Play nice or the next ones go too
Posted by: Frank G 2020-04-01 15:35

Punk, bull shit.

Let us speak.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 04/01/2020 21:10 Comments || Top||

#9  #7 Pathetic
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 04/01/2020 21:11 Comments || Top||

#10  What is your real problem, Thimp Clusort2035? You hit the ground running with baseless insults ungodly early in the morning, and haven’t let up even once, as far as I can tell. So whatever it is predates today.

You want to talk? Fine. Meet me in the O Club and we’ll talk. I’m tired of your childish games, so I’ll expect you to produce something a good deal better than the nonsense you spewed today.

Besoeker, while as imperfect as the rest of us, wore our country’s uniform for a full and interesting career, and then supported the troops as a civilian, and doesn’t need to prove anything to you or anyone. And Frank G is considerably less patient with nonsense than I, being a managerial type. So if you cannot persuade me that you can and will behave as a mannerly member of this convocation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2020 23:43 Comments || Top||


Economy
Average Gasoline in USA now below $2/gal
[CNN] The average price of a gallon of gas has fallen below $2 in the United States ‐ the lowest price in four years, according to AAA.

The plunge can be attributed to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has wiped out demand as people are increasingly told to shelter at home. The ongoing oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has exacerbated that decline.

Not even two weeks ago, the price of a gallon of gas was $2.19, but could be purchased for $2 or less in about a dozen of states. Today, drivers can find a gallon of gas for $1.99 or less at roughly 70% of US gas stations, AAA said.
per AAA website, price/gal is $1.26 in Adair County OK but $3.65 in Hawaii big island
Posted by: lord garth || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like the demand for gasoline is down during this coronavirus period where people are staying put. Thank goodness, the U.S. decided to become oil and energy independent.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2020 11:09 Comments || Top||

#2  ...You could make the case that this helps prove that the Chinese have lied about casualties and how many people had recovered and how everything was fine - if it was, they'd be using more oil and the prices would be going up.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/01/2020 18:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, our entire office is taking a 20-25% pay reduction:S This really sucks and I guess it's too much to hope that this stupid virus ravishes the ME so they have to stop or slow production.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/01/2020 22:52 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Is it worth it?
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 23:21 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Virus threatens fragile Turkish economy
It’s hard to be a regional hegemon and future sultinate when you’re broke. More details at the link, but this bit is quite enough to trigger schadenfreude.
[Rudaw] The Ottoman Turkish economy was healing after a recession when the new coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
struck, leaving Ankara scrambling to contain the damage with stimulus measures worth billions and facing demands to do much more.

The corpse count in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
is 168 with 10,827 recorded cases of the virus but the fear is that the situation could get much worse.

President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
announced earlier this month a $15 billion package to support the economy, with tax cuts for businesses and measures to help low-income households.

While business leaders and analysts agreed Ankara’s measures would benefit companies, experts warned of higher unemployment and lower growth.

They also pointed to the possible devastating impact on tourism which employs hundreds of thousands of people.

The concern is that before the outbreak, the economy was growing only tentatively after a currency crisis in 2018.

Moody’s ratings agency said among the G20, it expected Turkey "to be hit the hardest, with a cumulative contraction in second- and third-quarter GDP of about 7.0 percent" in 2020.

But as recently as March 19, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak
The Imperial Son-in-Law (Bow the Knee!)...
said he did "not see any risks to the economy for now" and was still aiming to meet the ambitious target of five percent growth for 2020.

"The shock will likely take a large toll on tourism-related sectors through the summer," Moody’s added.

Last year, tourism income rose 17 percent to $34.5 billion while the number of visitors increased nearly 14 percent to about 52 million.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2020 00:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Big mustaches are NOT a 'virus duster'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  last year's tourism boom was partly because the decline of Turkey's Lira; you can get about 7 lira for a dollar now, it was about 3 lira for a dollar back in 2016

I imagine Turkey's activities in Syria and Libya are also costing a bunch.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/01/2020 11:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Nevada governor is allowing chloroquine for coronavirus inpatients, office says
[Just the News] Sisolak has 'based every decision he's made on politics the opinions of medical experts,' says governor's spokesman.
When you know what answer you want, it’s easy to find experts to back you up.
Nevada Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak is allowing malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to be prescribed for the inpatient treatment of coronavirus patients, a spokesperson on Tuesday.

Last week, Sisolak endorsed restrictions on the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for outpatient prescriptions as the Trump administration touted its potential effectiveness in treating coronavirus. The governor's office had said the restrictions were to protect the supply of the drugs for individuals with lupus and other conditions.

Influential Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have criticized Sisolak for his state's handling of the drugs, which on Monday received emergency Food and Drug Administration approval for treating coronavirus patients.

"The Governor of Nevada, practicing medicine w/o a license‐trying to score political points against Trump‐& prohibiting NV doctors from prescribing medicines to treat COVID19," Cruz recently tweeted.

The governor's spokesperson defended Sisolak's actions in a statement provided to Just the News, saying the governor has "based every decision he's made on the opinions of medical experts."

"His endorsement of the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy's decision to place common-sense limitations on outpatient prescription and dispensing of those drugs to prevent hoarding, as has been done in at least six others states (including Texas), is no different," the governor's statement read.

"To further clarify, the Governor's order still allows those drugs to be prescribed and dispensed for inpatient treatment of a COVID-19 diagnosis," he added.

The spokesperson included a copy of the full state regulation that's in effect.

Before the federal agency's approval for emergencies, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs issued a warning about prescribing the drugs.

"Prescribing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine without further proof of efficacy for treating COVID-19 or with the intent to stockpile the drug may create a shortage for patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or other ailments for which chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are proven treatments," read the department's letter.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are the other afflictions fatal? Is this an either/or situation?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/01/2020 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I can understand the concern that increased demand might create a shortage for existing patients, but rather than ration existing supplies (assuming there is an actual shortage), let's make more of it. This is America. We make things. (or did)
Posted by: SteveS || 04/01/2020 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Less control on cocaine.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Bet his handlers started getting calls from irate money donors, eh?
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2020 13:04 Comments || Top||

#5  He's a real Piece of Shit:
Nevada Governor Uses Coronavirus Emergency to Illegally Stop Residents From Buying Guns
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 14:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Looks like being a Democrat Governor automatically gets you past the boards for a Medical License, " Look Ma! I are a doctor now and six months ago I couldn't even spell doctor ! "
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 04/01/2020 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  PLanned unintentional manslaughter is 1st degree murder.

Governor if the largest gun murder in our nation's history. Something about tits on a boar fits.
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/01/2020 20:07 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
'They are leading us to catastrophe': Sweden's coronavirus stoicism begins to jar
[Guardian] - There’s a surreal calm in the last country in Europe to hold out against lockdown. But the death toll is rising and some are voicing dissent

...The precautions that Swedes have been advised to adopt ‐ no gatherings of more than 50 people (revised down from 500 last Friday), avoid social contact if over 70 or ill, try to work from home, table service only in bars and restaurants ‐ seem to have allayed public fears that the shocking images from hospitals in Italy and Spain could be repeated here.

The prime minister, Stefan Löfven, has urged Swedes to behave "as adults" and not to spread "panic or rumours".

Panic, though, is exactly what many within Sweden’s scientific and medical community are starting to feel. A petition signed by more than 2,000 doctors, scientists, and professors last week ‐ including the chairman of the Nobel Foundation, Prof Carl-Henrik Heldin ‐ called on the government to introduce more stringent containment measures. "We’re not testing enough, we’re not tracking, we’re not isolating enough ‐ we have let the virus loose," said Prof Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, a virus immunology researcher at the Karolinska Institute. "They are leading us to catastrophe."


Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 12:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The wiki link
See the graph - that's what I call exponential
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Just the other day I saw them being touted by some polyannas as the model we should be following.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/01/2020 14:45 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 I noticed that all West European countries/US states go through 3 stages with novel coronavirus*
(1) Shouldn't panic, just another flu, not harm our pwesious economy - like economy doesn't need people going about their business without worrying of getting infected and passing it to their families?
(2) As the numbers of infected and dead increase, and people begin to panic, the part about "exponential growth (in virgin field) begins to penetrate, and instructions about "social distancing" begin to be issued.
(3) Since it doesn't work --- day late & dollar short, governments begin tightening the screws to complete lockdown. Except, of course, lockdown isn't possible.
Hopefully, with all the new/old drugs, passive immunization, new respirators & hospitals, masks in public, the lethality can be decreased. And with antibody tests, we'll know who is safe.

*Not gonna call it Wuhan Flu since it's not a flue (see my post on vaccination)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 15:37 Comments || Top||

#4  They should keep the mosques open. Religious freedom and all.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/01/2020 18:15 Comments || Top||

#5  You have to start the measures in the beginning with an R0 factor of 2.5 it will double in a few days. Exponential interest.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/01/2020 20:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Just the other day I saw them being touted by some polyannas as the model we should be following.

Uh...that statement is no longer operative, Rob. Like a lot of the advice we've been getting from Top Men lately.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/01/2020 20:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Here's what I posted, on Monday, in response to the first post (#1 "there are proven ways to deal with them that don’t involve shutting down the economy and putting everyone under house arrest"):

Funny that it should turn out to be the Swedes who are showing the greatest calm and understanding of the above.

Perhaps their approach is wrong. Perhaps it's a balanced and wise approach that will end up saving lives. We shall see.

Posted by Lex 2020-03-30 08:10|| 2020-03-30 08:10||

Perhaps you're right, and destroying the global economy, and with it, hundreds of millions of lives, will have been worth it.

But maybe you're wrong. One day or one week or even one month's worth of spikes in reported fatalities will not settle the argument.

We shall see which approach, on balance, causes more deaths and more misery.
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 21:56 Comments || Top||


FDA approves Israeli drug for coronavirus treatment trials
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 04:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hopefully it works really well and the word gets around in omar's and tlaib's districts that it contains pee pee shrinkage factor™
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/01/2020 5:10 Comments || Top||

#2  From Wikipedia: "Aviptadil (INN) is an analog of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction."

Does nothing about the virus. This is to reduce the severity of ARDS.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/01/2020 12:07 Comments || Top||


FDA authorizes two-minute antibody testing kit to detect coronavirus
Update from the Washington Examiner at 4:445 p.m. EDT:
That viral story on FDA approving two-minute coronavirus test looks like a cruel April Fools' hoax
Bummer.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 03:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
A Man is Arrested for Teaching His Pit Bull How to Drive
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 05:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So Dog is no longer my co-pilot?
Posted by: Warthog || 04/01/2020 8:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I've never seen a dog using an iphone (either gender). They've past his first driver's test question as far as I am concerned.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2020 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  The eternal question of what happens now that the dog has caught the car is finally answered.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/01/2020 9:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Holy crap. A '96 Buick still on the road?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2020 10:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Fun haters
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2020 11:32 Comments || Top||

#6  "Sir? You let the dog drive?"
"Yeah, I was too drunk to"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 12:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Amazingly, not a Florida Man.
Posted by: charger || 04/01/2020 13:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Funny enough there is a song about that FrankG

Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2020 14:05 Comments || Top||

#9  Frank G, and he was never off the leash. Not even for an insatant.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/01/2020 14:30 Comments || Top||

#10  LOL - both of you
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2020 14:44 Comments || Top||


Buzzfeed Crew Shocked To Learn They Have Low Testosterone Levels (to Bee or not to Bee)
[InformationLiberation] From 2017, but a good reminder.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 02:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  men who are physically strong are more likely to be right-wing, while weak men are more likely to be left-wing socialists

So, to extrapolate, the virus is killing off the low T males because they gather in coffee shops and get their brows plucked?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2020 10:47 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect that those Buzzfeed crewmembers were happy, not shocked, as testosterone is toxic and defending yourself and family is so backwards.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/01/2020 13:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm shocked that they have any at all.
Posted by: charger || 04/01/2020 17:23 Comments || Top||



Yale epidemiology professor accuses NY Times of 'journalistic malpractice' over report on Trump's virus-testing claim
BLUF: Ivy league expert demands the New York Times be harder on President Trump’s team.
Snipped per poster’s request.
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oops. BLUF is correct. Mods, please delete this -- my mistake. It's the opposite of what it appeared to be based on the initial tweet.
Apologies and thanks in advance, L.
Posted by: Lex || 04/01/2020 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Assistant professor = one of academic serfs.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2020 5:23 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2020-04-01
  Trump says Iran planning 'sneak attack' on US troops in Iraq
Tue 2020-03-31
  Iran gas pipeline to Iraq blows up
Mon 2020-03-30
  Turkish military attacks Syrian Army, YPG
in northern Aleppo
Sun 2020-03-29
  Khamenei family fears he might have Coronavirus
Sat 2020-03-28
  LNA scores big advance around Tripoli
Turkish-backed forces suffer tremendous losses
Fri 2020-03-27
  Riots in China
Thu 2020-03-26
  Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi confirms Saudi coalition ceasefire
Wed 2020-03-25
  LNA forces eliminate GNA/al-Qaeda leader Ayoub Bu Ras in Tripoli
Tue 2020-03-24
  Gutierrez calls for an immediate global ceasefire
Mon 2020-03-23
  27 Taliban militants killed, 19 others wounded in Kunduz
Sun 2020-03-22
  Greeks Find Tunnel Full of Weapons Under Athens,
Arrest Turkish Terrorists
Sat 2020-03-21
  TSA halts all NY airport departures do to infected people showing up at each one.
Fri 2020-03-20
  Militant attack kills about 30 Malian soldiers -army
Thu 2020-03-19
  Migrants at Refugee Camp in Germany Riot,
Display ISIS Flags After They’re Put Under Coronavirus Quarantine
Wed 2020-03-18
  Manchester Arena bombing: Hashem Abedi guilty of 22 murders

Better than the average link...



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