Ugh. Mitt Romney Says Trump Administration “Substantially” Unprepared for Coronavirus Outbreak

Mitt Romney being Mitt Romney.

The #NeverTrumper slammed President Trump again this week saying the administration is substantially unprepared for a coronavirus outbreak.

Lifezette reported:

As Trump tried to tamp concerns over the coronavirus in New Delhi, saying that the situation was “under control” and is a “problem that’s going to go away,” Romney was confronting officials in Washington D.C. at a private briefing on the virus. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Romney claims to not think Trump is doing enough to stop coronavirus from spreading within the United States.

“I’m very disappointed in the degree to which we’ve prepared for a pandemic, both in terms of protective equipment and in terms of medical devices that would help people once they are infected,” Romney said, according to The Hill.

“At this stage, I think we are substantially under-investing in what would be appropriate for a setting which could be serious,” the failed 2012 presidential candidate continued.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/ugh-mitt-romney-says-trump-administration-substantially-unprepared-for-coronavirus-outbreak/

After Breaking The Repo Market, JPMorgan Wants To Start Using The Fed's Discount Window Again

Back in 2013, JPMorgan's billionaire CEO reminded the general public why it hates bankers so much when in response to a simple question from bank analyst Mike Mayo, he answered "that's why I'm richer than you." Dimon's arrange aside, nothing in that exchange explained why Dimon is richer not only than Mayo, but 99.9999999% of the US population; the real reason why Dimon was richer than most is that every few years, JPMorgan, now America's biggest bank, gets a generous taxpayer or Fed bailout even as Dimon claims he never needed that bailout and would have been perfectly ok if unlike his failing peers, he was left to his own devices. He did that in 2008, and he did it again today.

As a reminder, back in 2008, JPMorgan - alongside most other major US commercial banks - received a $25 billion bailout as part of the TARP program (which was created by current Minneapolis Fed president Neil Kashkari). With the money, JPMorgan, whose fate was inexorably intertwined with that of its its weakest peer and counterparty, would have ceased to exist long ago. However, thanks to the Fed's generosity which not only did not shutter any bank but rewarded bank CEOs handsomely for blowing up the financial system in 2008, JPMorgan flourished, eventually becoming the largest US commercial bank, and made Jamie Dimon into a billionaire. Of course, being a master at revisionist history, Jamie has repeatedly claimed that he didn't need the $25BN TARP bailout, and that the bank would have been perfectly ok, but he only took the money under duress and to appear in solidarity with his far more insolvent peers.

That, of course, is a lie: facing tens of billions in exposure to counterparties that would have liquidated and dragged JPM down with them, Dimon's bank needed the money as much as anyone, because only if the entire financial system was rescued would every bank survive - there would not be piecemeal winners or survivors. The fact that he not only got the money, but then pretended he didn't need it - amazingly without any serious pushback - is why Jamie Dimon was "richer than you" for the past decade.

So fast forward 11 years, when on the 11th anniversary of Lehman's bankruptcy, the repo crisis shocked Wall Street when on Sept 16, 2019 it suddenly became apparent that despite $1.3 trillion in "excess" deposits, there was not enough liquidity in the system. A month later we were the first to piece together the puzzle, which confirmed that it was JPMorgan's drain of over $100 billion in repo and money market liquidity that was the precipitating factor for the repo market collapse. In other words, not only did JPMorgan precipitate the repocalypse (and it's not just us who make this claim, but other more "reputable" websites and news sources have since joined our clarion call), but with its actions it also triggered the launch of the repo liquidity flood and, a few weeks later, the Fed $60BN in T-Bill purchases, aka QE4. And yes, with JPMorgan stock surging as a result of JPMorgan once again holding the financial system hostage and forcing the Fed to inject hundreds of billions in liquidity, Jamie Dimon just became "even richer than you."

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/after-breaking-repo-market-jpmorgan-wants-start-using-feds-discount-window-again

>>8249851

I pondered earlierwhether it is targeting only cabal bloodlines but can be spread by anyone.

Here's what led me to that:

Iran deputy health minister contracts coronavirus, vows decisive fight

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/25/619496/Iran-health-official-coronavirus-infection-parliament-member-Passive-Defense-Organization

In last days of campaign, Netanyahu stops shaking hands over coronavirus fears

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-last-days-of-campaign-netanyahu-stops-shaking-hands-over-coronavirus-fears/

Assange Reportedly 'Phoned White House to Warn of Risk to Lives' Before Documents Went Online

The allegation was made on the second day of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London. Assange is fighting against being forcibly sent to the United States to stand trial over the 2010 leak of classified materials relating to US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The defence team for the imprisoned founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, said in Tuesday’s extradition hearing in London that their client tried to contact the White House to warn them that unredacted documents were about to go online, according to BBC.

Assange’s lawyers rejected claims by prosecutors that the 48-year-old “knowingly” put hundreds of sources around the globe at risk of “torture and death” by the publication of classified materials containing names or other identifying details.

Attorneys argued in court that Assange phoned the White House and asked to speak with then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over "a matter of urgency" due to fears that information would be uploaded by third parties who gained access to the leaked documents.

Mark Summers QC, a member of Assange’s defence team, said that the Australian national warned: “I don't understand why you're not seeing the urgency of this. Unless we do something, then people's lives are put at risk”.

The team argued that the extradition request “boldly and brazenly” misrepresents the facts.

Defence claims that Assange began redacting 250,000 leaked documents in December 2011, with the assistance of media partners around the world, along with the US government, according to the BBC. The attorneys put the blame on The Guardian newspaper, which published a book in 2011 that contained a password to the leaked documents.

“That process involved the US government and state department feeding suggested redactions to the media. Knowing the US government was involved in the redaction process, can it be in any way said the request represents a fair or accurate representation of what occurred?,” Summers said, cited by Sky News.

“[Assange] didn't have to publish the unredacted cables,” said James Lewis QC, a representative of the US government. “He decided to do so on a widely followed and easily searchable website, knowing that it was dangerous to do so”.

Australian national Assange is sought by the US for extradition to face charges of espionage, following the leak of classified materials relating to US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010.

If brought to and convicted in the United States, Assange could face a prison term of up to 170 years. The ongoing initial court hearing in London will likely continue for the rest of this week, with a second hearing set for May.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202002261078405645-assange-reportedly-phoned-white-house-to-warn-of-risk-to-lives-before-documents-went-online/

Ohio: Somali market owners charged with $10 Million in food stamp fraud

Some Somali Market owners in Ohio have allegedly defrauded the government and, more importantly, taxpayers out of $10 Million dollars due to food stamp and WIC fraud.

Here’s more from The Columbus Dispatch.com:

Investigators say two brothers sold ineligible items or paid cash for federal food assistance benefits through their Sullivant Avenue market. Fraudulent purchases totaled about $10 million over nearly a decade, according to court documents.

The owners of a Somali market on the West Side were charged Friday in federal court in Columbus with defrauding food-assistance programs of more than $10 million over nine years.

Prosecutors say that Abdurahim Nuriso of the Southwest Side and his brother, Hassan Nuriso of Grove City, converted food stamps and other benefits into cash or accepted them for ineligible purchases at their Towfiq Market, 3655 Sullivant Ave.

According to a 19-page indictment, the Nurisos would buy customers’ benefit credits or sell ineligible items through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Federal law prohibits such transactions or the use of food stamp benefits for alcohol, tobacco products, cleaning products and some other items.

Court documents outline dozens of instances in which Abdurahim Nuriso is accused of accepting food stamp benefits in exchange for shampoo, calling cards, a dish scrubber, hookah pipes and other items not allowed under the programs or as payment of store credit, according to court documents.

Investigators also noted instances when Abdurahim Nuriso told customers that he could not complete transactions or pay for benefits because “he was being watched” and “the government was watching all Somalis,” according to documents.

One customer told investigators that others regularly sold “WIC and food stamp benefits for United States currency,” documents state.

The indictment accuses Hassan Nuriso of being present during at least one of the transactions.

Investigators said the activities took place from about October 2010 through April 2019 and involved more than $8 million in SNAP transactions and nearly $2.1 million in WIC benefits.

A federal grand jury charged each man with five felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, unlawful food stamp redemptions and theft of public funds. Each count carries a potential penalty of five years in prison.

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2020/02/25/ohio-somali-market-owners-charged-with-10-million-in-food-stamp-fraud/

>>8249978

THIRDED

Bahrain orders all schools & kindergartens SHUT DOWN for 2 weeks as coronavirus cases soar

Bahraini students will be skipping classes due to a perfectly valid reason for the next two weeks, after the country’s education ministry ordered schools and nurseries to be temporarily closed amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

State-run as well as private kindergartens and schools in Bahrain will shut their doors for two weeks starting Wednesday, the Gulf monarchy's authorities announced on Tuesday, after the 9 new cases of the deadly COVID-19 were reported, bringing the total number to 17.

All of the new cases so far have been linked to Iran. The authorities said that those infected traveled from the Islamic Republic to Bahrain either through Dubai or the United Arab Emirates.

“The nine new registered cases were detected among four female Bahraini nationals, three male Bahraini nationals, and two female Saudi nationals, all arriving from Iran via Dubai or Sharjah.”

The patients were taken for treatment to Ibrahim Khalil Kano Health Centre in Manama, the kingdom’s second largest city.

With the coronavirus outbreak spreading to the Middle East, Bahrain stepped up screening procedures at the airports, and on Tuesday moved to suspend flights from Dubai International Airport and Sharjah International Airport in the UAE for the next 48 hours.

The health authorities said that shutdown of schools was made as a precaution. One of the confirmed cases is a bus driver who arrived from Iran on February 21 and it was not until a few days later that he showed the flu-like symptoms typical for the coronavirus, the ministry said. The man had already dropped off children at two schools and one kindergarten by that time, prompting the authorities to test all the children who took the bus and their families.

Iran is currently experiences the deadliest outbreak of the novel coronavirus outside China, with the death toll rising to 15 by Tuesday. Nearly 100 people have been infected, according to the state media.

https://www.rt.com/news/481687-bahrain-coronavirus-school-shutdown/

Lolita Island part 2? FBI raid New York HQ of fashion mogul friend of Prince Andrew in sex trafficking probe

The FBI and NYPD have raided the New York offices of fashion exec Peter Nygard as part of a sex trafficking investigation - the fourth such probe of the mogul, who is accused of drugging and raping girls on his Bahamas estate.

Six vans full of agents from the FBI and NYPD descended on Nygard’s Times Square headquarters on Tuesday morning to gather evidence, according to two officers who spoke to the New York Times following the raid. The flamboyant Canadian businessman has been under investigation for allegedly trafficking underage girls by a joint child-exploitation task force comprised of state and federal law enforcement for at least five months.

The criminal probe is separate from a lawsuit filed earlier this month by 10 women alleging Nygard drugged and raped them when they were 14 or 15 years old on his estate in the Bahamas, though at least four of the women involved in that lawsuit have been interviewed by the task force. The suit charges Nygard ran a “sex trafficking ring,” luring “young, impressionable, and often impoverished children and women” to his home by dangling cash and promises of successful modeling careers.

Nygard, the suit claims, threw “pamper parties” on his palatial Bahamas estate, where he spiked girls’ drinks with Rohypnol and raped them. The parties were said to be extravagant affairs featuring massages and jet-ski rides, and the estate itself - with a fake Mayan temple, a disco with a stripper pole, and showy animal sculptures - is reminiscent of Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Island. In fact, Nygard is a friend of Epstein’s pal Prince Andrew, and like both men is known for being perpetually surrounded with a bevy of attractive young women. He allegedly kept a database with details about each guest going back to 1987 to help him decide who to prey on.

https://www.rt.com/usa/481680-nygard-raided-island-trafficking-girls/

Harvard Genetic Research Team Collected and Transferred China Blood and DNA Samples Back to the US

ntroduction.

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We bring to the attention of Global Research readers, excerpts from an important study entitled “An International Collaborative Genetic Research Project Conducted in China” which has a bearing on our understanding of China’s coronavirus epidemic.

At this juncture of the CoVid-19 pandemic there is no firm evidence that the virus is “Man Made”. The Western media initially claimed that “the virus was transferred to humans from animals or seafood” as analyzed by Larry Romanaff in an earlier article.

At the same time, we should not rule out a priori the possibility that the CoVid-19 coronavirus was “man made” in a laboratory.

The study below pertains to a US initiative by an unnamed “renowned University” involved in collecting blood and DNA samples in China’s Anhui province in the 1990s. The unnamed university is Harvard University.

Blood samples were collected. In turn, the US scientists “acquired DNA samples of the target group for research purposes.

“The principal investigator himself admitted that for the asthma research alone, 16,400 DNA samples had been transferred to the US.“. These DNA samples collected by the Harvard research team were then shipped to the US. They are part of extensive data base.

According to Romanoff (in an earlier article) the number of DNA samples transferred to the US was much larger than the figures quoted in Zhang Yong and Zhao Wenxia’s chapter:

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… it became known that Harvard University had surreptitiously proceeded with experiments in China that had been forbidden by the authorities years earlier, where they collected many hundreds of thousands of Chinese DNA samples and then left the country.

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Xiong Li, China Daily’s premier medical correspondent

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makes a plea for justice for some 200,000 [? ] Chinese farmers [exact figures to be confirmed] who were used in 12 genetic experiments without their informed consent. The experiments were conducted by Harvard researchers and funded by the US government.

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The underlying purpose of collecting Chinese DNA samples was not mentioned, nor was the relationship of Harvard University to several entities of the US government.

As documented by the authors, the Harvard study and “theft” of Chinese DNA (biopiracy) was also supported by Big Pharma. In this regard, the blood and DNA samples of Anhui province constitute a potential goldmine for the pharmaceutical companies which provided financial support to the Harvard team.

The authors do not openly condemn the renowned [Harvard] University or more specifically the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) which was involved in “biopiracy”. They nonetheless confirm the coverup:

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On 2 May 2003, the US university [Harvard] published the investigation results of the US government, which stated that there had been some procedural errors in supervision and record-keeping, but no participant was found to have been harmed in any way, so the school would not be penalized (HSPH 2003). Some biomedical experts and ethicists in China expressed regret about these results. They insisted that the studies had apparently violated basic research ethics, and called for a joint US-Chinese review of the experiments

https://www.globalresearch.ca/harvard-genetic-research-team-collected-and-transferred-china-blood-and-dna-samples-back-to-the-us/5704728

New Conflict of Interest Evidence Against UK Judge in Charge of Assange Extradition Process

Information has come to light demonstrating that the chief magistrate overseeing the extradition proceedings against Julian Assange received financial benefits from organizations with close ties to the UK Foreign Office prior to her appointment.

According to a report on Friday in the South African-based Daily Maverick, Lady Emma Arbuthnot attended, along with her husband Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, all-expenses-paid secretive gatherings of the organizations Tertulias and Tatlidil in 2014 that included numerous UK foreign policy officials. Lady Arbuthnot was appointed chief magistrate in Westminster in October 2016.

Although as of November 2019 Arbuthnot is no longer formally presiding over the Assange extradition proceedings, she has refused to recuse herself and remains in a supervisory role overseeing the trial with her subordinate District Judge Vanessa Baraitser on the bench. According to the UK court rules, the chief magistrate is “responsible for … supporting and guiding district judge colleagues.”

The Daily Maverick report states: “Tertulias, an annual forum held for political and corporate leaders in the UK and Spain, is regarded by the UK Foreign Office as one of its ‘partnerships’.” In attendance at the Tertulias conference in Bilbao, Spain in October 2014 was Conservative Party member Liz Truss, who is now UK Trade Secretary. The report says, “Liz Truss, then Justice Secretary, ‘advised’ the Queen to appoint Lady Arbuthnot in October 2016.”

The expenses of Lady Arbuthnot at the Bilbao conference were covered by the Tertulias organization, since her husband, “a former Conservative defense minister with extensive links to the British military and intelligence community exposed by WikiLeaks,” was the chairman of the organization.

Lady Arbuthnot was also present with her husband at the British-Turkish Tatlidil Forum in Istanbul in November 2014. Daily Maverick describes Tatlidil (Turkish for “sweet talk”) as “a forum established by the UK and Turkish governments for ‘high level’ individuals involved in politics and business.” Those present included Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/new-conflict-interest-evidence-against-uk-judge-charge-assange-extradition-process/5704662

>>8250256

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-02-21-revealed-chief-magistrate-in-assange-case-received-financial-benefits-from-secretive-partner-organisations-of-uk-foreign-office/