Coronavirus to Slow Down Gitmo Detainees’ Legal Cases - Lawyer

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will slow down the legal processes of detainees at Guantanamo Bay because the measures undertaken to combat the virus will most likely cause scheduled hearings to be postponed, attorney Stephen Truitt, who represents a detainee, said.

The US Navy said on Tuesday that a sailor stationed at the Guantanamo Bay naval station has tested positive for COVID-19.

"So far as I can tell, protective measures have been taken for the entire base in light of the presence of coronavirus at the base. I believe that arrivals at the base must be isolated for 14 days," Truitt said. "Such a measure would help protect guard forces, civilian contractors and prisoners."

Truitt said he expects any isolation requirement to delay meeting with clients if imposed on visiting lawyers.

"It is also likely to slow down hearings scheduled, scheduling new hearings, telephone calls and the like. We shall have to wait and see how the new (as well as any added) requirements work out. It is too soon to tell," Truitt said.

Truitt said the last time he visited the base was in mid-November before COVID-19 had stimulated any reaction in the United States.

"So I have not directly interacted with the local base authorities," Truitt said, noting that he has visited his client at the detention center at Guantanamo bay a total of 18 times since 2005.

Truitt said his client remains detained and is not yet cleared to be released while other detainees from Yemen who were arrested with him were all cleared for release and released, prior to the current Trump administration.

Truitt stressed that his client has never been charged with any crime, much less tried or convicted, and the prosecution has declared that it does not intend to bring charges against him.

Truitt pointed out that his client actively participated in his latest PRB Review proceeding in November 2019 and is now awaiting a decision.

"No further review has yet been set," he said.

Truitt also said that there has never been an allegation that his client - an electrician from the city of Aden - has harmed, or attempted to harm, any American.

The attorney said there is a possibility his client could be transferred to another country because of the ongoing war in Yemen and because he has close family in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Truitt noted that some 40 prisoners remain in the Guantanamo prison, 24 of whom are considered "low value."

Former US President George W. Bush opened the Guantanamo Bay detention center in 2002 amid the Global War on Terror. Since, Guantanamo has housed more than 700 prisoners.

The facility has long been criticized for the mistreatment and abuse of its detainees, prompting many to call on US authorities to close it down. It has housed suspected terrorists from Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and other countries since 2002, many of them without being charged.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202003261078711417-coronavirus-to-slow-down-gitmo-detainees-legal-cases—lawyer/

Italian Mayor Threatens to Send ‘Police With Flamethrowers’ to Graduation Parties

Italian mayors have started to become extremely hostile in their public addresses, as many citizens are refusing to comply with the social distancing orders that have been put into place.

Vincenzo De Luca, mayor of the Italian town of Campania, gave an angry speech from his Facebook page where he threatened to send police “with flamethrowers” to illegal gatherings like graduations parties that were happening in the midst of the nationwide quarantine.

“I’m getting news that some [people] would like to throw graduation parties… We will send police. With flamethrowers,” De Luca said, according to the National Post.

In another rant published to social media, Massimiliano Presciutti, the mayor of Reggio Calabria, complained of people walking their dogs like Will Smith in I Am Legend.

“Where the f*** are you all going? You and your dogs… which must have an inflamed prostate?” he said in a video circulating on social media.

Presciutti claimed that he stopped dog walkers on the street to shame them about being outside.

“I stopped him and said, ‘Look, this isn’t a movie. You are not Will Smith in I Am Legend. Go home,” he said.

Antonio Tutolo, the mayor of Lucera, was upset that people were going out to get their hair done.

“Getting in mobile hairdressers? What the f is that for? Who the f is supposed to even see you with your hair all done in a casket? Do you understand the casket will be closed?” he said.

The streets are mostly empty throughout the country, but there are still some people who are defying the order for a variety of reasons. Police say that at least 40,000 people were fined for being outside in the first week of the lockdown. Italians who are found to break quarantine while being infected with the virus could face up to 21 years in prison.

Even gatherings like funerals have also been banned. At least 50 people in Sicily are facing serious criminal charges after breaking the quarantine order after having a funeral for a loved one.

Italy has the worst experience with the CoViD-19 virus than any other country thus far, with over 6,000 deaths and 64,000 cases of the illness. However, the number of new cases in the country have started to decline in recent days, giving hope that the worst could be over.

https://governmentslaves.news/2020/03/25/italian-mayor-threatens-to-send-police-with-flamethrowers-to-graduation-parties/

Common ingredient in high street brands of MOUTHWASH could make saliva more acidic and increase the risk of tooth damage, study finds

People using chlorhexidine mouthwash had more of a pH lowering bacteria

This made their saliva more acidic which can lead to a greater risk of damage

Researchers are hoping to discover the impact of using chlorhexidine long term

A common ingredient in mouthwash brands could be damaging your teeth by turning your saliva more acidic, scientists claim.

Researchers at the University of Plymouth examined the effect of chlorhexidine on the bacteria found within the mouths of volunteers.

They found it significantly increased the number of 'lactate-producing bacteria' that lower the pH of saliva - making it more acidic and dangerous to teeth.

The team say it is vital to understand the impact of the chemical as many dentists are using chlorhexidine as a pre-rinse before dental procedures.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8147229/Commonly-used-mouthwash-make-saliva-acid-study-finds.html

Where did Israel’s Mossad get 100,000 coronavirus testing kits from?

Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has caused an unprecedented global pandemic. This has spread fear, suffering and needless death around much of the world. Due to the genuine and serious threat to public safety, governments are taking steps usually only witnessed in wartime to curb freedom of movement in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

The British government, however, has been far too slow to take the threat to public health seriously. Richard Horton, the editor of respected medical journal The Lancet lamented on Wednesday that the government has wasted precious time in the fight against the virus. The “rapid and rigorous work” of Chinese scientists in identifying the virus and writing about it in his journal “was an urgent warning to the world. We owe those scientists enormous thanks,” Horton wrote in the Guardian.

“Why did it take the UK government eight weeks to recognise the seriousness of what we now call Covid-19? … After weeks of inaction, the government announced a sudden U-turn on Monday, declaring that new modelling by scientists at Imperial College had convinced them to change their initial plans.”

Horton didn’t pull his punches, but seems confident the tide can now be turned. Let us hope that he is correct and that the right lessons have been learned.

Meanwhile, in occupied Palestine the Israelis are leveraging the pandemic to further increase their control of the already suffering Palestinians living under Israel’s military dictatorship in the West Bank, and in the Gaza Strip under siege and occupation.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200320-where-did-israels-mossad-get-100000-coronavirus-testing-kits-from/

‘Covid-19 could be seasonal’: Fauci warns coronavirus is likely to return in ‘CYCLES’, stresses need for vaccine

Even if the US and other nations battling Covid-19 succeed in beating it back, the illness may return in yearly cycles, warned Anthony Fauci, a top expert on the US coronavirus task force, urging for the fast rollout of a vaccine.

“This could become a seasonal, cyclic thing, and I’ve always indicated to you that I think it very well might,” Dr. Fauci told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We're starting to see now in the southern hemisphere and southern Africa … that we’re having cases that are appearing as they go into their winter season.”

If, in fact, they have a substantial outbreak, it will be inevitable that we need to be prepared that we’ll get a cycle around the second time.

Fauci, who also heads up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and holds some 45 honorary doctoral degrees, emphasized the need to develop a vaccine, test it quickly and try to “get it ready so we’ll have a vaccine available for that next cycle.” A “menu” of various treatments must also be fast tracked through clinical trials, he said.

Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, also raised the possibility that the virus could be seasonal at a press briefing last Friday, but said it was too soon to tell.

The US has confirmed some 65,000 cases of Covid-19 to date, seeing more than 900 deaths, and is fast becoming one of the world’s hardest-hit countries, surpassed by only Italy and China.

Asked about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) praise for China’s response to the outbreak at Wednesday’s briefing, Fauci became frustrated, telling the reporter “I don’t even know what the question is,” with President Donald Trump cutting in: “Welcome to the group.”

Trump was more willing to weigh in on the question, stating the WHO had “very much sided with China,” and that the organization was “biased” toward the People’s Republic, but nonetheless added “there are a lot of good people there.”

Worldwide, the virus has infected in excess of 466,000 people and killed more than 21,000, with cases now climbing by the tens of thousands each day.

https://www.rt.com/usa/484116-fauci-coronavirus-seasonal-cycles/

US military confirms 1st Covid-19 case INSIDE Pentagon after Marine tests positive

A US Marine has become the first confirmed carrier of the coronavirus within the Pentagon’s walls, with the US military announcing that a serviceman has gone into self-isolation after testing positive this week.

The officer’s test for Covid-19 came back positive earlier this week, Captain Monica Witt, a spokesman for the US Marine Corps, confirmed Wednesday, according to Defense One.

The Marine is believed to have contracted the deadly illness sweeping through all 50 American states from his spouse, who was displaying flu-like symptoms. Assigned to the plans, policy and operations office of the Marine Corps headquarters, the officer last set foot into the Pentagon building on March 13, and has since been in self-isolation awaiting the outcome of his test.

Once he started feeling unwell himself, the Marine “contacted his assigned medical facility,” Witt said, noting that the infected officer’s workplace has been disinfected.

A “thorough” investigation was launched to determine the officer’s recent contacts, as he could have unwittingly exposed others to the virus that has already infected over 66,000 people in the US alone.

While the Marine has become the first known coronavirus case permeating the US Defense Department’s HQ, it might not be the last, since several other staffers have yet to receive their results.

One of those Covid-19 suspects is an employee of the Pentagon’s National Military Command Centre – frequently referred to as the ‘war room’ – from where a nuclear strike can be launched, among other things.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper further restricted access to the Pentagon building, raising its health protection status to the second highest level. Although the flow of people into the cornerstone of the US defense complex has dwindled, Defense One reported that some 30 percent of its employees still show up to work, citing an internal briefing.

The US military has sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the virus and its potential to undermine combat readiness. The viral threat has already brought most US overseas operations to a standstill, with Esper ordering all American troops to halt all travel for up to 60 days on Wednesday, except in Afghanistan, where the drawdown of the US contingent continues.

The pandemic also dealt a heavy blow to NATO's ‘Defender Europe 2020’ war games exercise, which was supposed to feature some 20,000 American soldiers, with the bulk of the exercise set for April and May.

While the drill was not called off altogether, US participation was cut “drastically” and the exercise itself – once touted as the biggest transfer of US soldiers to Europe in over 25 years – has been scaled back significantly.

https://www.rt.com/usa/484117-pentagon-coronavirus-case-first/

Joe Biden accused of sexual assault by former staff assistant

She claims that he assaulted her in 1993

A woman accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexual assault in 1993 when she worked for him as a staff assistant.

Tara Reade revealed the graphic details of her accusations in an interview on Wednesday with journalist and podcaster Katie Harper.

Reade said that she was sent to rush a gym bag to Biden, who was a U.S. Senator at the time, when he accosted her in a side area and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

"We were alone, and it was the strangest thing. There was no, like, exchange really, he just had me up against the wall," Reade said.

"His hands were on me, and underneath my clothes," she went on, explaining with graphic details what he went on to do to her.

She claimed that he was kissing her during the assault and asked her if she wanted to go "somewhere else."

After the assault, he said to her, "C'mon man, I heard you liked me."

Reade claims that he angrily dismissed her and walked off. She says that the assault left her shaking in a stairwell, "trying to grasp what had just happened and what I should do or what I should say."

While there were no witnesses to the alleged assault, Harper noted that Reade had told her brother and a close friend about what happened at the time.

Biden has been accused by numerous women of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/joe-biden-sexual-assault-1993