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Khamenei family fears he might have Coronavirus
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Texas company looking to dock stimulus money from paychecks, relieve their payroll
name and shame the bastids
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Federal money meant for an individual is not payroll. It is as if a Will says you are heir to an estate and the company finds out and says you must work for us for free for equal amount of time working for us that Uncle Lou's estate pays you. The company you work for has no right to that money. If you work for a company, they pay you. If they don't just because you inherited money from an estate or stimulus money from the government, they are to be reported to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Posted by: Dr. Wheat Faartz007 || 03/29/2020 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  If it is 'stimulus' money - and it is, to Wall Street - they could fly over in airplanes and shovel it out and been more efficient. They sold it to the people as aid money for those hurt by the virus - those who lost income, jobs etc. - but it only does that for some, and only coincidentally.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/29/2020 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  You pay for the man's work. Anything else he receives has nothing to do with the implied or written contract between the employer and the employee. This is how you bring unions to your company.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Flip the coin. If the money had gone to the company no way would they be passing it along to their workers. Who is digging to find out what "company" this is?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Tom Coburn, one of the best senators of our era is gone
[Washington Examiner] Former Sen. Tom Coburn, who died Saturday morning of complications from prostate cancer, was one of the finest public servants of my lifetime.

The Oklahoma Republican, a practicing obstetrician, combined fierce devotion to principle with rigorous intellectual integrity and tremendous personal decency. One of the most hard-line conservatives in first the House and then the Senate, he nonetheless enjoyed the respect and friendship of many liberal Democrats. Not the least of these was President Barack Obama, with whom he reportedly spoke in private, as a friend and sounding board, almost weekly throughout Obama’s White House tenure.

"I’m adamantly against 80 percent of President Obama’s policies," Coburn told the Oklahoman newspaper. "But he is an honest liberal. ... Am I to hate him because he has a different viewpoint than I do? Or should I love him and try to touch his heart and change him?"

When Coburn arrived on Capitol Hill in the "Gingrich Revolution" Republican class of 1994, he was an unyielding ideologue. Even then, though, there was a difference: Whereas some super-hard-liners are full of sound and fury without much thoughtfulness, Coburn obviously had depth and intellect.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 00:33 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  RIP Dr. Coburn
Posted by: Warthog || 03/29/2020 9:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Sun Valley, Idaho: 'No One Should Come Here'
[NPR] To hear year-round Sun Valley, Idaho, residents like Justin Malloy tell it, town right now is as crowded as you'd expect to see it in the peak Fourth of July or Christmas seasons. The small airport is packed with private jets. And then there's the parking lot at the Atkinsons' Supermarket, one of only two in town where bread and essential cleaning items are particularly hard to come by.

"We've been seeing a lot of Washington plates, a lot of California plates, their cars just full of all of their stuff that they've brought from out of state," Malloy says.

This has fueled outrage on social media, and on unusually crowded hiking and ski trails, where locals are wondering aloud whether rich people are fleeing cities to seek refuge in rural Idaho, and unknowingly making the public health crisis here even worse.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: 746 || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I lived there back in 2003-2005 (Hailey), it's a beautiful place. A lot of lower class service people who party like its 1999 (bartenders, waiters, etc.), a few professionals (real estate, doctors, nurses, lawyers), and a few STEM jobs. The rest are LA people with second homes or hard core snow sports people. Ton Hanks has a home there. I wonder if he is heading to Sun Valley now?
Posted by: Beau || 03/29/2020 1:23 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd like to visit Idaho when the situation is reasonable. I don't waste my money going to blue states and cities for leisure. CO, NM, CA, upper tier Midwest and everything north and east of the VA-NC border, I'm talkn bout you.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 11:49 Comments || Top||

#3  tom hanks isn't here
Posted by: 746 || 03/29/2020 14:20 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Coronavirus cases are growing faster in red states, new data reveals, with Texas recording a whopping 236% increase in cases in just FOUR DAYS - while infection rates slow in blue state Washington suggesting lockdowns work
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 10:43 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Drill down and find it's blue cities in red states.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Quicker and easier to double 1 than 1,000,000. Doesn't mean that the virus is progressing that much faster.
Posted by: ruprecht || 03/29/2020 11:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Washington started sooner, should be expected to die down sooner.

Sensational journalism! [irony and cynicism intended]
Posted by: Bobby || 03/29/2020 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Now y'all come to Rantburg, you should know better than to expect the Media types to get something right or accurate or give a FULL reporting of facts.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 03/29/2020 12:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Journolism Barbie: "Math is hard"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 12:30 Comments || Top||

#6  #2 exactly right. You can always get huge percentage increases from a very small base. Sheesh.
Posted by: Tom || 03/29/2020 12:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Once it's working through the population this is inevitable. Kind of like having rats in your pristine basement because the neighbor is a slob.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 13:31 Comments || Top||

#8  This is quite possibly the most moronic statistical analysis I have ever seen. Or maybe I'm just angry, because I know the media is probably this dumb regularly.

Washington State has pretty clearly burned through the virus. It was the First area to have a major outbreak, and quarantines are working. Also, when major testing started, it also had increases like this. Every state did. New York City had increases far in excess of this (partly because the dumbass mayor told everybody to go out and party). That's what looking for everybody who has it instead of just people showing up deathly ill at a hospital does, it increases the number of cases. Why else do people think nations like India and Indonesia have only a couple thousand cases at most? Nobody is getting tested.

Additionally, lockdowns and quarantines, even theoretically, cannot work in less than a week, because almost all infections discovered within the first week have already occurred and are just being registered.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 03/29/2020 13:52 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ this
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 21:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Re $8: Not sure we are over the hump here in WA; think we still have a week or so to go. Maybe Seattle, but the smaller towns and rural areas are still fairly unhit, for now. Nursing homes are hot spots; seems many of the staff work multiple jobs at different homes, so they carry the bug w/them.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/29/2020 21:32 Comments || Top||


Finland blocks roads to Helsinki to curb coronavirus spread
HELSINKI, March 27 (Reuters) - Police and the Finnish army set up roadblocks on all routes that connect Helsinki with the rest of the country, while Finland's parliament approved the plan at the last moment to enforce the capital region's coronavirus blockade by midnight on Friday.

Finland's government decided on Wednesday to issue a three-week blockade of the region around Helsinki, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Finland, to prevent people from travelling and spreading the virus elsewhere in the country. But the decision needed parliament's approval, which it granted unanimously late on Friday.

Traffic began to jam towards evening on the motorways leading out from the capital region, Uusimaa, as police began blocking lanes with bollards and fences at roughly 30 makeshift checkpoints, local media reported.

Meanwhile in Helsinki, legislators at the parliament debated the law throughout the evening as it got delayed due to constitutional technicalities earlier on Friday.

Travelling to and from the Uusimaa region will be prohibited until April 19, with certain exceptions such as goods deliveries and indispensable work-related commuting.

By Friday, authorities had counted seven deaths and 1,025 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Finland, most of them in the capital region.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 01:16 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Finland has blocked entrance. No one will be allowed to cross the Finnish line.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/29/2020 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  To Your Room
/Pappy
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 20:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess that comment was over the line.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/29/2020 20:49 Comments || Top||


South African soldiers fire rubber bullets to enforce social distancing
[NYP] South African soldiers trying to slow the spread of the coronavirus fired rubber bullets at hundreds of grocery shoppers in Johannesburg to keep them a safe distance apart, photos taken Saturday show.

The soldiers were deployed to a Shoprite in the Yeoville neighborhood, where a crowd of a few hundred had gathered outside the store, The Guardian reported.

Saturday was the second day of a 21-day imposed last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 01:09 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I recommend a "strongly worded advisory."
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Not "rubber coated metal bullets" like the Juice used to?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 3:22 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: One Eyed Splat7213 || 03/29/2020 12:21 Comments || Top||


Abbott Labs Unveils COVID-19 "Gamechanger": Portable Test Can Detect Virus In Under 5 Minutes
[Zero] One week after the FDA granted emergency approval to a point-of-care test purporting to produce results in under 45 minutes, the agency has granted "emergency use authorization" to Abbott Labs so the company can bring to market a rapid-response test for COVID-19 that can tell if somebody is infected in under five minutes, and is portable enough to be used in practically any health-care setting.

The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day beginning April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics. The molecular test scans samples for fragments of the coronavirus genome, which can quickly be detected when present at high levels. An even more thorough search to definitively rule out an infection can take up to 13 minutes, BBG reports.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 01:02 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Know some research/development people at Abbott's Lake Forest, Ill. facility.

We talk about really smart people a lot, but the folks there are in the 'rarefied' intelligence category.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/29/2020 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The Brits are talking about a pin prick antibodies test that takes 5 minutes
Seems to me that the testing for this should be very simple and the test the CDC was distributing is not
Any test taking four days for results is functional useless in epidemic control
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/29/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Well SPOD, molecular biology is sexy - all the cool girls & boys like to play with it. Immunochemistry is icky.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 10:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Awesome 5/minutes and they already have a proven beyond proven cheap and old cure that woeks! Guess there is no problem only group think psychosis greed arrogance etc etc etc lies fraud etc etc! Good luck kids and group psychosis meds are in development stage twelve to eighteen months out! So not forget to get your free trillions short your own company make money twice and wait for the next handout! And sell sell sell the survival Carl on the left and the right cuz China is invading and martial law is coming with no cure for their troops or masks or dood! Wake up America you are all being fucked!
Posted by: Glavising Angiting6040 || 03/29/2020 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Testing is nice, but I think maybe that horse has left the barn. We are way past containment. The real gamechanger will be treatment and wartime production rates of essential supplies.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Iblis, this is different kind of testing. This tells you if you're susceptible (can be infected) or resistant (immune). Now imagine a doctor who's been exposed. If the antibody test is positive, he can go back to work. If it isn't, he goes to quarantine.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 13:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Now imagine a doctor who's been exposed. If the antibody test is positive, he can go back to work. If it isn't, he goes to quarantine.

Given how hard this has hit healthcare providers, I see the appeal.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 14:12 Comments || Top||

#8  ^And that's true for any essential profession. Not to mention, non-essential who need their pay check.
Finally, look at me. Today, deciding to visit my son (I'm divorced, he lives with his mom) is a major decision. What if I caught something on the way in the public transport and pass it to him? Not to mention, I'm one of these with underlying condition - several in fact. However, if I knew I already had it, and am immune ...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 14:19 Comments || Top||

#9  There is something about a larger exposure which creates a more severe infection.

My mom turns 80 this May. Has a number of conditions. In fact, was sent home for hospice care about a year ago. We beat the odds so far, but who knows?

Stay safe. Also, chloroquine works prophylactically.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 14:39 Comments || Top||

#10  The French are saying chloroquine stops this thing in its tracks
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/29/2020 15:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Been approved in Israel since march 16, no further news.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 15:08 Comments || Top||

#12  Coronavirus: Israel sending 50 respirators in return for chloroquine
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 15:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Faster please
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/29/2020 21:15 Comments || Top||


Rhode Island Governor Tells New Yorkers They'll Hunt Them Down to Stop Wuhan Coronavirus Spread
[Town Hall] President Trump is mulling a 14-day quarantine for the Tri-State area, but Rhode Island’s Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo has already gone DEFCON 1 with regards to containing the spread into her state: she’s giving the green light for the National Guard and state law enforcement agencies to stop New Yorkers from coming into the state. It’s no exaggeration. Some New Yorkers have summer homes in the state and Gov. Raimondo said they will be going door-to-door to search these residences. Anyone from New York discovered will be ordered into self-quarantine for 14 days.

Anyone driving into the state with New York license plates can be pulled over by the police. As for bus stops, airports, and Amtrak stations, the National Guard will be stationed there. Raimondo’s order is clear to those from the Empire State: We’re closed. Of course, the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter is crying foul (via Bloomberg):
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 00:48 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Blue on blue..
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Pic of blood hounds?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 3:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Does this mean that these put-off New Yorkers will not vote in multiple states this November?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:45 Comments || Top||


#5  If you've got a home, stay in it as instructed. What is so difficult about understanding this obvious necessity ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Shoot on sight?
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Sanctuary from New Yorkers City? How quaint...
Posted by: magpie || 03/29/2020 13:47 Comments || Top||


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Expands Quarantine to Louisiana Travelers, Installing Checkpoints on Roads
[Breitbart] Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is requiring travelers from Louisiana to self-isolate for 14 days and said the Florida Highway Patrol will install checkpoints on major roads to screen travelers from that area, he announced on Friday.

DeSantis is imposing restrictions on travelers fleeing to Florida from Louisiana ‐ particularly New Orleans, which is emerging as one of the hotspots of the coronavirus outbreak.

"New Orleans is having a lot of problems ‐ they may not be quite as widespread as New York City. There was a concern from the Panhandle that this could impact them," DeSantis said during a press conference on Friday.

"They are working hard to keep their rates low and we don’t want to add any problems to them," he added.

The Florida Highway Patrol will install checkpoints on the major roads along the Alabama-Florida state line and screen drivers from Louisiana, with the exception of those driving commercial vehicles.

"There’ll probably be a diversion for folks with certain license plates," DeSantis said.

Others will be required to tell authorities where they are staying in Florida and told to self-isolate for 14 days. A violation of that order could result in criminal penalties.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 00:43 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like I-75 is still open then (going to look for NY plates gov?).

The Florida Highway Patrol will install checkpoints on the major roads along the Alabama-Florida state line and screen drivers from Louisiana, with the exception of those driving commercial vehicles.

Can't wait for the first rig found loaded with a shipment of TP with dozens of Louisiana migrants behind the boxes.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  I hate the fact that we can't secede from the Viciously Retarded New Orleaneans but we're always judged as a whole state by whatever suicide-by-stupidity those racist asshoes are committing today.

Florida! Don't trust New Orleans!! New Orleans is Asshoe!
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/29/2020 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  We be all 'Mericans heah...
Can't we all jus' git along?
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 11:17 Comments || Top||


Trump decides against quarantine in coronavirus 'hotspots'
[ARUTZ SHIVA] US President Donald Trump on Saturday night backed away from calling for a quarantine for coronavirus hotspots in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, instead directing that a "strong Travel Advisory" be issued to stem the spread of the outbreak, The Associated Press reports.

Trump announced he reached the decision after consulting with the White House task force leading the federal response and the governors of the three states. He said he had directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government."

"A quarantine will not be necessary," added the President.

The notion of a quarantine had been advocated by governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida, who sought to halt travelers from the heavily affected areas to their states. It drew swift criticism from the leaders of the states in question, who warned it would spark panic in a populace already suffering under the virus.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has criticized the federal government´s response as his state became the country's virus epicenter, said roping off states would amount to "a federal declaration of war."

Cuomo added the prospect of a quarantine didn't come up when he spoke with Trump earlier Saturday, adding that he believed it would be illegal, economically catastrophic, "preposterous" and shortsighted when other parts of the U.S. are seeing cases rise, too.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said he had directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to issue a strong Travel Advisory

Meaningless. Absolutely meaningless.

WTF? Cuomo threatens Trump with 'war?'

How can allowing the dispersal of potentially infected populations be the answer? I am told Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach are already overrun with NY and NJ refugees.

Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Ft Sumter's been relocated to NY Harbor?
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3 
I suggest the silent majority self quarantine, while the liberals frolic and rant in the streets until they feel faint and unable to breathe.

I used to mock preppers and ammo hoarders. Now I know better.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 03/29/2020 4:59 Comments || Top||

#4  It's called federalism. Let the local authorities handle it. From what I have observed, they're just giddy with all the power.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:39 Comments || Top||


WTH? Project Veritas Investigate What Is Really Going on in NYC Hospitals
So they won't test you until you are obviously sick?
Posted by: Woodrow || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  COVID tests won't be given

How... China Communist Party of you.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/29/2020 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  One of the things about pneumonia is develop intermittently. The fever comes and goes with increasing intensity each time.
Posted by: Cesare || 03/29/2020 10:06 Comments || Top||

#3  OK, 'The symptoms develop intermittently'.
Posted by: Cesare || 03/29/2020 10:07 Comments || Top||

#4  So they won't test you until you are obviously sick?

COVID tests won't be given


There aren’t enough tests out there to give to everybody who wants one, just as clearly there aren’t enough medical supplies. Mr. O’Keefe is doing a service by pointing it out.

There will be enough of both as production ramps up over the nest weeks and months, but for the moment we must continue to practice patience.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/29/2020 11:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Makes one wonder if there are warehouses full of medical supplies somewhere in the city...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/29/2020 12:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Wherever medical supplies are "free" you'll see privileged access to those who are friends of those who controls this "free" treatment.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/29/2020 15:32 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus Roundup: Trump 'considering quarantine on New York'
[BBC] US President Donald Trump has said he is considering imposing a quarantine on New York in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"We'd like to see [it] quarantined because it's a hotspot," he told reporters. "I'm thinking about that."

He spoke as confirmed cases in the state increased to more than 52,000, around half of the total in the US.

But the state's governor, Andrew Cuomo, said he had not discussed such measures with the president.

"I didn't speak to him about any quarantine," he told reporters shortly after he had spoken with Mr Trump by phone.

"I haven't had those conversations," he added. "I don't even know what that
Subsequently, from the Times of Israel:
US President Donald Trump backed away from calling for a quarantine for coronavirus hotspots in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, instead directing Saturday night that a “strong Travel Advisory” be issued to stem the spread of the outbreak.

The notion of a quarantine had been advocated by governors, including Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who sought to halt travelers from the heavily affected areas to their states. But it drew swift criticism from the leaders of the states in question, who warned it would spark panic in a populace already suffering under the virus.

Trump announced he reached the decision after consulting with the White House task force leading the federal response and the governors of the three states. He said he had directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government.”

He added: “A quarantine will not be necessary.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has criticized the federal government’s response as his state became the country’s virus epicenter, said roping off states would amount to “a federal declaration of war.”






ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital's coronavirus protections has been fired
[SEATTLETIMES] An emergency room physician who publicly decried what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel 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...
at his workplace, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, has been fired.

Ming Lin, who has worked at the hospital for 17 years and became a local cause célèbre for his pleas for more safety equipment and more urgent measures to protect staff, was informed of his termination as he was preparing for a shift at the hospital Friday afternoon, he said.

"I got a message that said, ’Your shift has been covered,’" Lin told The Seattle Times. He phoned his supervisor and was told, "You’ve been terminated." Lin said he was told he would be contacted by human resources staff from his employer, TeamHealth, a national firm that contracts with PeaceHealth’s emergency department.





Israeli doctor in Padua says Italy will ‘flatten the curve’ in weeks
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli doctor in Padua tells Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, about treatments that have been effective in Italy.

“In the past few days, people have begun to recover, in part due to new medications and also as a result of the fact that it takes some two weeks to recover from the virus,” says Carmi Sheffer.

He attributes the high death rates in Italy to the spread within geriatric hospitals. “The moment the virus arrives in a place where an elderly population is concentrated, it spreads like wildfire,” he says.

In Padua, the autoimmune medicine Tocilizumab has proven effective, but can only be used once established that no other viruses are present in the patients’ bodies, he says. The hospital where he works has also seen positive results from the antiviral drug Remdesivir, he says.
Thank goodness they are no longer relying just on ibuprofen.
“We will control the virus and flatten the curve within a few weeks, but the closure will continue until June,” he predicts. “Italy is ahead of Israel by something like a month, so in my opinion, [in Israel] it will end only in July.”

UN donates 250,000 protective masks to New York City
There are stashes of necessary stuff all over the place, just waiting to be found. Three cheers for our monkey heritage!
[IsraelTimes] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announces the donation of 250,000 protective face masks, which had just been located in United Nations storage facilities, to the United States for use in hard-hit New York City.

The UN chief says: “These masks, in surplus to United Nations requirements, will be given to the medical professionals in New York City who have been working courageously, selflessly, and tirelessly in response to the spread of COVID-19 across the boroughs in the hope that they play some small role in saving lives.”

Guterres says the United Nations and the US Mission to the UN are working with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office to ensure swift delivery of the masks to medical facilities around the city.

“On behalf of the UN community and the diplomatic corps, we sincerely hope this modest donation makes a difference,” Guterres says.

Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In North Texas, 80% tested are negative. I assume you must have some serious symptoms to be tested. Which suggests there is something else nasty circulating out there.

[Two data points] A few weeks ago, my seven-year old grandson had a roller-coaster fever for ten days, which he seems to have passed to his Nanna. Nanna (not my wife) has been really sick for the last ten days, improving, she says), but not sick enough to get tested.

So is there something else out there - maybe another flu virus, or some mutations of the WuFlu, or another novel virus, perhaps? Or are the tests incredibly inaccurate? Or both?
Posted by: Bobby || 03/29/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I dunno. There's a nasty and long-lasting flu going around--my wife got that back in Jan. There's an hardhitting head-cold, and something that acts like norovirus--I got the combo deal, and my symptoms were drastic enough that they tested me (negative--but a serious inconvenience to my daughter, who couldn't work until my test cleared). And I gather there's a fourth bug as well--all over and above the Wuhan flu.

OTOH I have family/friends (in their 30s) in another city that do seem to have gotten the Wuhan flu (no tests available)--and their recovery looks like it's going to be a multi-week affair.
Posted by: James || 03/29/2020 13:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Numbers I've seen vary from 5-20% require hospitalization. There is also some meaningful percentage who are completely asymptomatic. Part of why this thing is so insidious. You have it and pass it around without knowing.

That said, no reason why someone couldn't get regular sick. That still happens.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Hydroxychloroquine wrap up here.
Posted by: lord garth || 03/29/2020 15:09 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Something a bit familiar, a bit different...
[Noreen Firearms] Peter Noreen has been a gunsmithing legend for the last quarter century. He made his mark custom-building scaled up Pre-64 Model 70 Winchester actions for use in heavy caliber rifles designed for taking the world' s dangerous game.

Phil Noreen grew up in his father's shop, learning the rifle-building trade from the ground up. A shared passion for ultra long range shooting led the father/son team to create the first Noreen Ultra Long Range Rifle in 2007.

Their ideas evolved, and in early 2010, the Noreens introduced the "Bad News" 338 Lapua Ultra Long Range Semi-Automatic Rifle.

The first rifle to utilize the popular 338 Lapua loading in the proven AR platform, the Noreen Bad News has been widely praised in tactical circles for its range, power, performance and versatility.

In 2013 the Noreens unveiled an AR style rifle called the BN36, in 30-06, 270, and 25-06 to the public.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!

Something appealing,
Something appalling,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/29/2020 2:22 Comments || Top||


Britain
72% satisfied with Boris Johnson
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea conducted a projectile launch toward the sea off its east coast
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  A 'projectile' you say? Could you be more specific? Perhaps an artillery shell. A cat's eye marble? Maybe a missile. Ballistic, cruise, anti-ship? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/29/2020 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Marshmallow trebuchet?
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 2:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Prolly the Nork General in charge of Disease Prevention
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 5:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Body disposal
No urns.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 9:29 Comments || Top||


Urn Deliveries In Wuhan Raise Question About China's Real Coronavirus Death Toll


No one really knows the true severity of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in China. In fact, no one even knows exactly when it begin. The secretive Chinese government says the first case of the virus was officially diagnosed on Dec. 1, 2019. Some experts say it could have been weeks earlier.

And now, even the reported number of deaths from China ‐ especially Wuhan, which was ground zero for the virus ‐ are in question.

China has 81,999 confirmed cases, at least according to John Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering. Of those cases, there were 3,299 deaths.

In the Hubei province, home to Wuhan, a city of about 8 million, there were reportedly 3,177 deaths. But massive deliveries of cremation urns to Wuhan have raised new questions about the communist country’s reporting.

"One funeral home received two shipments of 5,000 urns over the course of two days, according to the Chinese media outlet Caixin," Fox News reported.

"The long lines and stacks of ash urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan are spurring questions about the true scale of coronavirus casualties at the epicenter of the outbreak, renewing pressure on a Chinese government struggling to control its containment narrative," Bloomberg News reported.


The families of those who succumbed to the virus in the central Chinese city, where the disease first emerged in December, were allowed to pick up their cremated ashes at eight local funeral homes starting this week. As they did, photos circulated on Chinese social media of thousands of urns being ferried in.

Outside one funeral home, trucks shipped in about 2,500 urns on both Wednesday and Thursday, according to Chinese media outlet Caixin. Another picture published by Caixin showed 3,500 urns stacked on the ground inside. It’s unclear how many of the urns had been filled.

People who answered the phone at six of the eight funeral homes in Wuhan said they either did not have data on how many urns were waiting to be collected, or were not authorized to disclose the numbers. Calls were not answered at the other two.

Some families said they had been forced to wait for several hours to pick up the ashes. The photos circulated as mass deaths from the virus spiked in cities across the west, including Milan, Madrid and New York, where hospitals were erecting tents to handle the overflow as global infections soar past 500,000, with 24,000 dead.
Posted by: Woodrow || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Eat fast. We need hot pot for funeral of Grandpa.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/29/2020 1:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Why anyone would believe the numbers coming from the PRC is an object lesson in delusion or a well paid sock puppet for them
Stand up and take a bow main stream media
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/29/2020 9:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
France issues call to 'buy French' as coronavirus erodes single market
[France24] As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the Eurozone’s economy, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire issued a rallying cry to the nation’s supermarkets on 24 March: ’Stock French products!’

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the eurozone’s economy, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire issued a rallying cry to the nation’s supermarkets on 24 March: ’Stock French products!’

Supermarkets in France have heeded the call for what Le Maire termed "economic patriotism". French supermarket chain Carrefour has already moved to source 95% of its fruits and vegetables from within France. The supermarket industry’s trade body, La Féderation du Commerce et de la Distribution, told French business daily Les Echos that once fresh foreign produce runs out on French supermarket shelves, it won’t be replaced.

"Delegating our food supply [...] to others is madness. We have to take back control," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech just two weeks before Le Maire announced the economic measures.
I agree - champagne and wines should be American
But for a continent that has built an intricate agro-food market connected by cross-border supply chains, France’s plea to focus inwards for its food supply is a cause for concern for Brussels.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 05:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a prudent, common-sense response to me.

Hat tip to Monsieur Le Maire. Perhaps one day, when all this unpleasantness is over, he might develop an interest in US Politics.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 5:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Hypocrisy is the cornerstone of international relations. And, I guess, I approve of anything that is a cause for concern for Brussels
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 5:43 Comments || Top||

#3  p.s. France exports from United States
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 6:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Frexit?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 9:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Really clear nations need to support certain vital industries no matter what. Food production is an obvious example. I'd say pharmaceuticals as well. We've been foolish for decades offshoring things an enemy could then restrict, or tamper with.
Posted by: ruprecht || 03/29/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Foolish? Mor like malfeasance.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/29/2020 12:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Food security is a pretty basic function of a (viable) society, never mind a state.

Obviously, conditions vary and most entities can't achieve it without at least some "outsourcing" and trade.

France is one the few countries in the world that could pull this off if it needed to.

This has some fascinating implications for the EU down the road, given that France is one of the two core states of the union.

I figured the EU would gradually recede into an empty shell ala NATO, or at best be reduced to a "Charlemagnic core" -- but this crisis (and the ones that will follow) is going to speed up that process, and make it more dramatic and sudden than I thought.
Posted by: charger || 03/29/2020 13:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Food, pharmaceuticals, steel and computers all all strategic assets. There may be others but it's the height of folly to let China corner the market in any of them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/29/2020 17:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
After panicked crowds swarm Denver liquor stores and dispensaries, mayor reverses order to close both
Major backlash/smackdown
[Denver Post] It only took three hours for the city of Denver to change course on listing liquor stores and recreational dispensaries as "non-essential". Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D-ickhead) changed course drastically Monday evening after announcing earlier in the day that liquor stores and recreational marijuana dispensaries would close across the city in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.

His office made a new announcement around 5 p.m. via Twitter, saying that liquor and marijuana stores "with extreme physical distancing in place" will be exempt from the mandated citywide closure of non-essential businesses starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday and continuing through April 10.

The definition of extreme is six feet, or the normal amount of social distancing that’s now recommended, the city clarified.

Hancock’s shift came just hours after he had deemed liquor stores and recreational marijuana dispensaries non-essential businesses, as opposed to groceries, gas stations and healthcare operations.

"We do not have them listed as essential," Hancock had said of liquor stores. "As much as I might think it’s essential for me, it’s not essential for everyone." He suggested Denver residents buy their alcohol Monday night while they still could.

And Denverites did just that, swarming their neighborhood liquor stores Monday afternoon in response ‐ and violating social distancing requirements while they were at it ‐ with some stores reporting lines forming a block long just 15 minutes after the mayor’s press conference.

Argonaut Wine & Liquor co-owner Josh Robinson told The Denver Post that his staff had to act like bouncers, allowing one shopper in for each person that left.

"It’s created a safety issue in the short term," Robinson said. "The mayor said not to panic buy, but that is exactly what he encouraged people to do by shutting us down."

Independent liquor stores weren’t the only ones confused by the first announcement.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 12:56 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Panty waist local pols want to go full scale prohibition. Let's see how that works out. Laboratories of federalism and all that...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 13:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Hancock obviously has no interest in being reelected. Shut down the dispensaries? In Denver?
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 14:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Gotta have your weed. Gotta mess up your lungs and make yourself high risk.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/29/2020 17:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Indian variant of the virus is DNA/RNA different and seems optimized for Indians.
[Twitter and bixRXiv]
Link goes to the actual pdf of the paper not to some news site.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any more questions on this thing, this monster being a carefully crafted biological weapon?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/29/2020 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Beginning to remind me of "Regenesis"
A Canadian TV series set in Toronto.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  The virus' preference for older people, men, and pre-existing condition 'cloaking' resonates a bit loader.

Extremely selective horseshoe bats, or a laboratory assisted anomaly ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Virus mutating as to not kill host(s)?

Although the 'escaped/released from the lab' intent scenario has not left me.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/29/2020 10:36 Comments || Top||

#5  What would Occam say?
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 11:12 Comments || Top||

#6  It's not really surprising that in a given population a variant that reproduces better in that population is more prominent.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/29/2020 12:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Any more questions on this thing, this monster being a carefully crafted biological weapon?

Nope.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/29/2020 13:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Accident or act of war?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/29/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||

#9  By some accounts, it's out of control in China. Still, that could be an unforeseen consequence.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/29/2020 17:45 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hundreds attend rabbi's funeral despite coronavirus regulations
[JPost] - ...The mass gathering was in direct violation of the Health Ministry directives, which forbids gatherings of more than 10 people, including prayers, weddings, and funerals, in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

Related: Haredi cities lead in number of coronavirus patients in Israel

NYC Mayor to synagogues: Close for coronavirus or be shut down permanently

And you thought it's just Shiites!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 05:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The police allegedly tried to reach an understanding with haredi leaders, but nothing came of it.

Since they tend to segregate themselves from the general population, perhaps the dangers were minimized. Israeli solutions for Israeli problems I always say.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 5:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Since they tend to segregate themselves from the general population

They don't have separate public transportation, or separate hospitals with separate ICU.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 5:38 Comments || Top||

#3  p.s. Their top rabi told them not to congregate.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 7:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Last gasp for Kapparot, maybe?
Posted by: Pancho Thereque4050 || 03/29/2020 7:05 Comments || Top||

#5  ^Is that you, Besoeker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 7:09 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ ZF (the dumb one)
Posted by: Pancho Thereque4050 || 03/29/2020 7:16 Comments || Top||

#7  ZF????????
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 7:50 Comments || Top||

#8  So much for fines and prison.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/29/2020 9:21 Comments || Top||

#9  Domo arigato for the links mods.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Ref #5: ????
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Well, you gotta admit Besoeker, it could've been you.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 10:31 Comments || Top||

#12  Got to go back and watch it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#13  ZF is our own limericist, Zenobia Floger. For reasons of his own he just gets the Rantburg-assigned anonymous nym each time he posts.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/29/2020 12:08 Comments || Top||

#14  our own limericist

Heh. A less scrupulous person (there must be one somewhere) might be tempted to spin that into the Royal Warrant.

Them newfangled ways when ya sicken?
Yer oils' an' yer leeches an' lickin'?
Well, look, I'm still kickin',
By g-m. Till I'm stricken,
I'm gonna keep shakin' this chicken!
Posted by: Pancho Thereque4050 || 03/29/2020 13:49 Comments || Top||

#15  Heh. A less scrupulous person (there must be one somewhere) might be tempted to spin that into the Royal Warrant.

Wouldn't you rather be 'Burg's Li Po?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 14:04 Comments || Top||

#16  ^ That'd be great... except I'd have to start drinking (love wine, hate hangovers) and writing poems.
Posted by: Pancho Thereque4050 || 03/29/2020 23:59 Comments || Top||


Israeli HMOs resume publicizing coronavirus test results after 8 mistakes found
Follow up to this story from yesterday.
[IsraelTimes] HMOs resume publicizing coronavirus test results after some errors were found in a previous batch, prompting a freeze for experts to reevaluate the data, the Ynet news site reports.

The Health Ministry says Saturday just eight out of 6,000 tests were found to be incorrect as a result of a computer error, and that the mistakes were caught before the results were sent back. But fears that more tests were inaccurate led the HMOs to temporarily refrain from alerting Israelis about their test results.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/29/2020 00:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
CDC to Colleges: 'Consider' Canceling Exchange Programs
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 08:37 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya Think?
Posted by: Warthog || 03/29/2020 9:52 Comments || Top||


22-year-old coronavirus patient in serious condition
[Arutz 7] - A 22-year-old COVID-19 patient without background illness is currently hospitalized in serious condition at Assuta Hospital in Ashdod.

He started in home isolation, but was transferred to the hospital in light condition after not feeling well, and his condition worsened.

He is currently sedated and connected to artificial respiration.

The number of coronavirus infections diagnosed in the State of Israel as of this morning at 8:00 is 3,865, according to Health Ministry data.

So far, 12 people have died in Israel. The condition of 66 is now defined serious, 54 of which are on assisted breathing. From the beginning of the pandemic, 81 patients have been hospitalized in serious condition.

The condition of 82 patients is defined as moderate as of this morning, while 3,616 patients' condition are defined as light.

89 patients have recovered and were released from the various hospital venues.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 04:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Always some outliers. I still propose that there is some genetic predisposition involved or an underlying illness not detected.
Posted by: Warthog || 03/29/2020 9:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
PA woman who coughed, spit on $35K worth of food charged with 4 felonies
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 16:20 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She needs to pay for all that food too, plus 2%.
Public apology for contaminating our food stuffs during an emergency.

That stupid bitch.
Posted by: newc || 03/29/2020 16:41 Comments || Top||

#2  I say let make her fast until she has foregone $35000.00 worth of food.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 17:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Two years in jail and restitution, like you'll ever get that from this deadbeat. Hang that on her, fucking loser.
Posted by: Raj || 03/29/2020 17:28 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: jpal || 03/29/2020 18:45 Comments || Top||

#5  But she has her Rosa DeLauro glasses...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/29/2020 19:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Pillory and Stocks had a point. Bring em back.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 20:36 Comments || Top||


As coronavirus ravages his native New York, media mogul David Geffen observes a sunset from his $400 million superyacht: ‘I'm hoping everybody is staying safe'
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 04:39 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He can sail wherever he wishes:

Wiki: In 1995 he donated $5 million towards UCLA's Westwood Playhouse. The theatre was renamed the Geffen Playhouse.[31][32]

According to Forbes ("The 400 Richest Americans of 2004") and other sources, Geffen has pledged to give whatever money he makes from now on to charity, although he has not specified which charities or the manner of his giving. In 2002, he announced a $200 million unrestricted endowment for the School of Medicine at UCLA. The School thereafter was named David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Along with Kenneth Langone's gift to New York University School of Medicine, Geffen's donation is the largest donation ever made to a medical school in the United States.[33][34] On December 13, 2012, UCLA announced that Geffen had donated another $100 million in addition to his 2002 donation of $200 million, making him the largest individual benefactor for the UC system.[35] The latest donation funds the full cost of attendance for up to 30 students per year, beginning with the Class of 2017.

In 2015, Geffen pledged $100 million toward renovation of what was then called Avery Fisher Hall, part of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. His gift, which amounted to about 20% of the hall's renovation costs, gave him naming rights in perpetuity over the building, now known as David Geffen Hall.[36]
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 4:47 Comments || Top||

#2  According to your except, Besoeker, he is an egoputz - but, at least, he didn't waste his money on ego-trip for presidency like mini-Mike.
Also, I liked the story about his college degree.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/29/2020 4:59 Comments || Top||

#3  There's a story about the later days of the plague in Medieval Europe... Some high princes of the church barricaded themselves in an abbey to wait out the disease with wine and good food. Locals felt they should have the same experience as the rest of the populace so they flung bodies of victims over the walls. Makes me wonder if Geffen has CIWS on his little piece of paradise to keep the speedboats of the riff-raff away.
Posted by: Mercutio || 03/29/2020 6:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks for telegraphing all the world's terrorist where they can find you. Hope you have damn good security. Best to give his one some very serious social distancing.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Self-isolating. How virtuous!
Posted by: Bobby || 03/29/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#6  There's a story about the later days of the plague in Medieval Europe...

Sounds like the Masque of the Red Death.

Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/29/2020 10:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Hope he has enough toilet paper.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 03/29/2020 11:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Compared to the machinations of Soros he doesn't sound that bad. Laudable even...
Posted by: magpie || 03/29/2020 11:21 Comments || Top||

#9  .... Or compared to Bloomberg, and Steyer, and the Silicon Valley shitheads who flew Blasey Ford on their private jet to D.C... We'd have a much better society if all our billionaires behaved like Geffen instead of the way they do now.
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 11:27 Comments || Top||

#10  apparently adrift off the coast of the Grenadines

"Journalism" again. Your editor might want to look that word up.

Reminds me of a recent article about a cruise ship "docked eight miles West of San Francisco." Reelee? Where might that dock be?
Posted by: JHH || 03/29/2020 12:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Does he have the rest results from the people who prepped his yaxht?
Posted by: Punky Uneack6599 || 03/29/2020 12:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Re #6: True story. "Masque" may have been inspired by it.
Posted by: Mercutio || 03/29/2020 14:18 Comments || Top||


Government
Deep State Department Accelerates Foreign Workers into U.S. Jobs Despite Mass Coronavirus Unemployment
[Breitbart] Despite mass unemployment of Americans during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, federal agencies are accelerating the speed at which foreign workers will be imported to the United States to take blue-collar industry jobs.

This week, the federal government announced that nearly 3.3 million Americans have filed for unemployment as businesses have been forced to close due to the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. from Wuhan, China.

The 3,283,000 jobless Americans due to the coronavirus crisis far surpass the 1982 record of 695,000 jobless claims, and the number of unemployed is expected to continue to surge.

Despite mass unemployment, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf will fast-track foreign workers on H-2A and H-2B visas into the U.S. to take blue-collar agricultural and nonagricultural jobs.

A memo released by Pompeo reads:
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 00:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wall Street.
Posted by: Dr. Wheat Faartz007 || 03/29/2020 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody has to be hired to restock the box store shelves and do sorting and truck loading for Amazon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 5:00 Comments || Top||

#3  If there is a non-essential office that needs to be closed.....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/29/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 Again, we see the violence inherent in the left. Never, ever, ever let these people back in power. Posted by DarthVader

A reference to DV's post this morning about the Clinton gang. As long as Foggy Bottom, The FBI, and our friends in McLean are still in operation, they've not been completely rooted out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 9:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Once Trump knows this I hope these people get an irate phone call
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/29/2020 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  "If the Tsar only knew."
Posted by: charger || 03/29/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
VIDEO: Quarantined New Yorker Tries to Recreate ‘Italy Magic' By Singing Out Window ‐ But is Told to ‘Shut The F**k Up'
Yup, that's the NYC I remember.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 03/29/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That didn't take long.
Posted by: gorb || 03/29/2020 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  If they sang like me I'd say the response was entirely appropriate.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/29/2020 2:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Recalls Blutarsky and the Steven Bishop character's stairwell serenading of the coeds
Posted by: Lex || 03/29/2020 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  More singing. Enjoy !
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/29/2020 2:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, it IS the home of Yoko Ono
Posted by: Frank G || 03/29/2020 5:37 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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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Two weeks of WOT
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
Tue 2020-03-17
  China expels ALL American reporters!
Mon 2020-03-16
  Saudi Arabia detains 298 officials in new corruption cases
Sun 2020-03-15
  Hezbollah commander prosecuted in Austria for terror finance


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