'Terrible, Tragic Mistake:' Top General Warns Enemies Not to Test US Military Readiness

The Pentagon's top leaders said Thursday they can see a "light at the end of the tunnel" of the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed that the U.S. military remains a force in readiness, with fewer than 2,000 cases out of more than two million troops available to support contingency operations.

During an internet broadcast Thursday morning, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned adversaries that it would be a "terrible, tragic mistake if they thought that … [they] can take advantage of any opportunities … at a time of crisis."

"The U.S. military is very, very capable to conduct whatever operations are necessary to defend the American people," Milley said. "We will adapt ourselves to operating in a COVID-19 environment. We are already doing that."

As of Thursday, 1,898 service members had confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 389 soldiers, 367 airmen, 164 Marines, 597 sailors and 381 National Guard members.

Given that the Defense Department has 2.3 million troops, including the National Guard and reserve components, the services are "ready today and will be ready tomorrow," Milley said.

"I'm absolutely confident that we are very ready to handle any mission that comes our way," added Defense Secretary Mark Esper during the broadcast. "Why is that? It's because our commanders and NCOs have taken measures to protect our members."

Less than .09 percent of U.S. forces have confirmed COVID-19 infections, and nearly all are "mild or moderate" cases, according to Esper. Sixty-four service members have been hospitalized for the coronavirus.

By contrast, .13 percent of the U.S. population have confirmed cases of the illness.

"We also have far, far, far smaller numbers of hospitalizations. …. I attribute that to the measures we took very early on, going all the way back to 3 February when we issued our first guidance to the field in regard to health protection," Esper said.

According to Esper and Milley, the DoD has more than 50,000 service members responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes 29,400 National Guard members, as well as 17,000 members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and thousands of military medical personnel.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Thursday that many of the military medical personnel are now serving in civilian hospitals, filling in for staff members who have become ill or need rest – especially in hard-hit areas like New York City.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/09/terrible-tragic-mistake-top-general-warns-enemies-not-test-us-military-readiness.html

Officials in at least 6 states are accusing the federal government of quietly diverting their orders for coronavirus medical equipment

State and local authorities in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Kentucky, Texas, and Florida made these accusations.

States have been making their own orders for ventilators, masks, and other personal protective equipment since President Donald Trump told them in March not to rely on the national stockpile for medical supplies.

Trump has also instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lead efforts to distribute equipment according to priority, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But state and health leaders in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Kentucky, Texas, and Florida are now accusing the federal government of of intercepting and diverting their equipment orders without explaining why.

"Either you're buying them and you're providing them to the states and letting us know what we're going to get and when we're going to get them. Or stay out and let us buy them," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in comments addressed to FEMA on CNN.

A FEMA spokeswoman denied seizing any states' shipments, but told The Times that "prioritizing PPE deliveries to COVID hot spots can have the unintended consequence of disrupting the regular supply chain deliveries to other areas of the country."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The federal government has been accused of intercepting shipments of vital medical equipment ordered by state authorities to shore up their supplies in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

In March, President Donald Trump had told states to seek their own supplies and minimize their requests from the national stockpile, which has resulted in local authorities scrambling to place large orders of ventilators, masks, and other personal protective equipment.

Trump has put the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in charge of deciding which states are in most need of equipment from the national stockpile, replacing the Department of Health and Human Services, according to The New York Times.

Since then, there have been multiple reports of FEMA or the wider federal government diverting thousands of pieces of equipment from the states that ordered them, without explanation.

State representatives say the situation has caused confusion and dismay.

https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/coronavirus-federal-govt-fema-accused-taking-states-masks-ventilator-orders-2020-4

Did Trump give Israel 1 million face masks despite coronavirus equipment shortages in the US?

An Israeli press report claiming the US Department of Defense had shipped one million face masks to Israel to help protect Israeli soldiers has angered Americans, causing some to question the Trump administration's priorities amid the coronavirus pandemic amid reports of shortages of protective equipment for US health workers.

The Pentagon's alleged shipment was initially reported by the Jerusalem Post, however mention of American involvement was later scrubbed, raising suspicions that US public anger may have forced Israeli military censors to act.

Israel's army is notorious for tightly monitoring media output, having barred or redacted over 2,000 stories just last year, according to the Movement for Freedom of Information.

"US Department of Defense give 1 million masks to IDF for coronavirus use," read a headline published by the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, referring to the shipment that had arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday night.

The original article said: "A plane carrying over a million surgical masks for the IDF landed in Ben-Gurion airport Tuesday night, in an operation run by the US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement".

Curiously, the headline was later revised to: "Israel brings 1 million masks from China for IDF soldiers" but traces of the old headline can be seen in the article's URL.

All mention of the US Department of Defense's alleged involvement also appear to have been removed, with no reason given in the updated article for the revision or official retraction posted.

A yet-to-be-deleted tweet by the Jerusalem Post official account still shows the original introduction (screenshot here).

The New Arab has reached out to the Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. The DLA on its website says it "provides logistical, acquisition, and technical support for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and other federal agencies and allies."

Israel's spy agency Mossad has been involved in a frantic effort to secure protective gear as Tel Aviv scrambles to respond to a major coronavirus outbreak.

The initial headline mentioning US involvement in the shipment sparked fury on social media, where users highlighted America's own struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

"American hospitals are begging for protective gear, this is sickening," wrote one Twitter user, referring to US medical workers who have complained about reported shortages of protective gear for frontline workers.

"While frontline American health workers go without & Palestinians are told to use their socks, Trump ships a million masks to israel's army," wrote another, referring to reports that Palestinian prisoners were told by Israeli authorities to use socks as face masks.

The Trump administration has been praised by Israeli leaders as the friendliest ever to Israel.

The delivery of alleged US supplies to support Israel's military comes just days after a US Navy captain was removed for alleging that the Pentagon had given inadequate attention to a Covid-19 outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier.

Brett Crozier wrote a letter that was leaked to the media describing the virus-struck vessel's dire situation.

Following Crozier's removal, US Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday over his mishandling of the affair and the heavy-handed approach towards the navy captain.

The Crozier affair was just the latest in a string of missteps by the Trump administration amid the coronavirus pandemic, drawing sustained criticism from the American public.

US President Donald Trump initially downplayed the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.

More than 12,000 Americans have now died from Covid-19.

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/4/8/did-the-pentagon-give-israel-1-million-face-masks

Israel tells Palestinians to use tracking app to verify their residency status

Palestinians living in Israel have been told to download an invasive app that verifies whether their residents’ permits are still valid, reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz, but the app also tracks the user’s movements and the messages received on the device.

Called “Al Munasiq”, or “The Coordinator” in Arabic, the mobile app enables the Israeli military to track the user’s location as well as access any notifications they receive, files they download or save, and the device’s camera.

The controversial measure is raising constitutional privacy questions and criticism while the country deals with its own security during a public health crisis.

Palestinians who are granted humanitarian or family reunification permits in Israel are usually required to visit the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) offices to verify their status.

However, the offices are currently closed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, so they have no choice but to download the application.

According to Haaretz, in order to install the app, users need to approve the following terms: “We may make use of the information we collect for any purpose, including for security purposes.”

“You agree and declare that you know that all the information you are asked to provide is not required by law or defense regulations, and it is provided of your own free will, so that we can make use of it as we see fit. In addition, you consent that we may store the information you have provided to us in our databases based on our considerations.”

Lawyers with human rights NGO Hamoked, Adi Lustigman and Benjamin Agsteribbe, wrote on behalf of their organisation that “The connection between clarifying the status of the permits and revealing private information is unclear.”

“Placing these requirements as the sole default for a person to use the application is extremely unreasonable, and cynically exploits public distress and panic in these grim times for the inappropriate purpose to invade one’s privacy in a manner that damages human dignity,” the letter added.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200409-israel-tells-palestinians-to-use-tracking-app-to-verify-their-residency-status/

COVID-19: The Zionist Underpinnings of Israel’s Violent Crackdown on Haredi Jews

The Israeli government’s long-running campaign to forcibly secularize Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Jews has left them particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

In a conversation I had with Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro for an upcoming episode of the Miko Peled Podcast, Rabbi Shapiro referred to Jewish Zionists as “idol worshipers.”

“They did not get these values, of loving their guns and stealing Palestinian land, from Judaism,” he said. He explained that Jewish people throughout history have kept to themselves, avoided violence and war, and, in fact, are prohibited by heavenly decree from sovereignty over the Holy Land. “Establishing sovereignty in the Holy Land, from which we were expelled by the Almighty,” he explained, is a “terrible sin.”

There are, however, Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews, that live in the Holy Land and reject Zionism and the State of Israel altogether. “I am with them,” said Rabbi Shapiro.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israel

In the United States, one does not usually hear much about the Ultra-Orthodox community that lives in Israel. Historically, there has always been a small observant Jewish community in Palestine. It was mostly a poor community of people who came to study the Torah and bask in the holiness of the land. There were small communities in Hebron, Tabaria and Safad and, of course, in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In the nineteenth century, some of the Jews in Jerusalem moved out of the Old City into neighborhoods that were built for them by wealthy Jewish donors from Europe. When Zionism emerged in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the entire Ultra-Orthodox Jewish world opposed it in the strongest possible terms. Throughout the twentieth century, all the way up to the very moment when Israel was established, representatives of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Palestine had asked not to be part of the state of Israel.

From the moment it was established, and even to this day, the state of Israel invests enormous efforts and resources to get the Ultra-Orthodox Jews to accept Zionism. Israel also does its very best to secularize this community. These efforts resulted in the creation of a “National Religious” group which the Haredi see as heretics. It also brought about a group of Haredi Jews who do not accept the legitimacy of the state but opted for practical reasons to work with it and within it. Both of these groups have representatives in the Israeli Knesset.

The price that the Israeli government pays to get the Haredi groups to agree to work with it amounts to many millions of dollars to Haredi education institutions. “It is like a fisherman with a worm on a hook,” Rabbi Shapiro explains, “and the Haredi community, like a smart fish, is trying to get the worm without biting into the hook.” The worm is funding, the hook is Zionism, the draft, and modifications to their religious education.

Throughout the twentieth century, as “Israeliness” was being defined as a secular testosterone-filled identity, a deep resentment towards the Haredi community was cultivated. They represented the old Jews in exile who went like sheep to the slaughter. I can attest to the fact that growing up as an Israeli one learns very early on that there are two groups of people one is supposed to hate: The Arabs and the Haredi Jews.

In his book “Real Jews, Secular vs. Ultra-Orthodox and the Struggle for Jewish Identity in Israel,” Noah Efron describes in great detail just how deeply secular Israelis hate Ultra-Orthodox Jews. However, one would do well to remember that the Haredi community preceded Israel.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/coronavirus-zionist-underpinnings-israel-crackdown-haredi-jews/266486/

>>8736114

>>8736179

So Q calls Anon's who have had enough of his carrot and stick bullshit shills

Interesting

Hi unit 8200 we reject your rituals that feed off our hope

>>8736271

>>8736227

Yep

Brazilian military plan to overthrow Bolsonaro

Brazilian Armed Forces declare support for vice-president Hamilton Mourao

The political situation in Brazil worsens day after day. The irresponsible way in which President Jair Bolsonaro is managing the effects of the pandemic has been causing concern and fury in all sectors of Brazilian society. All the bases that have so far guaranteed President Bolsonaro’s power are being shaken by his irresponsible policies. At the same time as its popularity plummets exponentially, the group that guaranteed the inviolability of his mandate – the military – is increasingly distant from the president’s projects.

In fact, the relationship between Bolsonaro and the military lasted a long time until its decline, which in itself is curious when we look at the concrete data. Despite his speech praising the Armed Forces and his apologies for the military dictatorship that prevailed in Brazil between 1964 and 1985, Bolsonaro’s government has been marked by a serious process of scrapping of the Armed Forces. The public budget allocated to the Ministry of Defense in 2020 was the smallest in more than two decades. Clearly, Bolsonaro’s project has as its main objective the complete subordination of Brazil to the foreign military and economic powers of the western axis and this project requires the definitive bankruptcy of national military institutions. For this reason, the common discourse of the Brazilian political left, stating that Bolsonaro intends to militarize the country, is a flawed and shallow one, which does not understand the real problem of the current government.

Certainly, the great military mass was deceived by the Bolsonarian speeches and thus formed his electoral base. On the other hand, a small group of generals and high-ranking officials agreed to political positions with the neoliberal leadership and agreed to support the regime in exchange for personal benefits. However, these same soldiers are already beginning to realize the serious mistake they made. Jair Bolsonaro’s neoliberal ideological fanaticism has led him to make serious mistakes that endanger national security itself. Examples of this attitude can be seen in the irresponsible creation of unnecessary friction and tension with Venezuela, at the regional level, and China, at the global level. With an economically bankrupt country, facing the serious pandemic of the new coronavirus and with the Armed Forces absolutely scrapped, how to manage geopolitical crises of this magnitude? This is the big question that generals are beginning to ask and realizing that the only possible way is the end of the Bolsonaro’s government.

https://theduran.com/brazilian-military-plan-to-overthrow-bolsonaro/

Bill O’Reilly UNLOADS on Hannity’s Radio Program About Coronavirus Death Toll Farce

The questions is whether the current death rate of over 16,000 people in the United States is accurate. It seems there are doubts from others as well, just not me personally.

Former Fox News reporter, Bill O’Reilly shrugged off the growing death toll from the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday while on Sean Hannity’s radio program. Claiming that projected deaths from the virus will be low because those who are currently dying “were on their last legs anyway, and I don’t want to sound callous about that., O’Reilly said.”

Sensing that O’Reilly’s comments would draw immediate outrage, Hannity interjected and let O’Reilly know that he’s “going to get hammered for that.” “Well, I don’t care,” the one-time O’Reilly Factor host fired back. “I mean, a simple man tells the truth.”

“The death projections that you just mentioned are down to 60,000,” O’Reilly said, citing a recent model on projected American deaths through August. “I don’t think it will be that high.”

The ex-Fox star’s comment echoes those of other right-wing personalities recently who have questioned the death count. Fox News senior analyst Brit Hume, for instance, has repeatedly asserted that the American death toll, which currently stands at over 16,000, is inflated because anyone who dies after contracting COVID-19 is being counted.

O’Reilly, meanwhile, ended the discussion by predicting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will say that a large percentage of “people who died from the virus, also had other things that killed them.”

https://thedcpatriot.com/bill-oreilly-unloads-on-hannitys-radio-program-about-coronavirus-death-toll-farce/

Watch

>>8736371

Fuck I posted that shit yesterday and weeks ago second hand bullshit

Hey Q why all the bullshit posts???

Saudi Arabia, Russia Agree To Oil Output Cuts To Try To Bolster Crude Prices

Saudis agreed to slash 4 million barrels a day from its April production levels

Russia agreed to cut by 2 million barrels a day

Global oil consumption is expected to plunge by as much as 30 million barrels a day this month.

Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Thursday to cut their oil production in order to stem the plunge in crude prices caused by cratering global demand since the coronavirus outbreak.

During a video conference that included members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers, the Saudis agreed to slash 4 million barrels a day from its April production levels, while Russia agreed to cut by 2 million barrels a day.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iraq and others have yet to agree on how much they will cut.

Bloomberg reported that OPEC-plus is expected to seek production cuts of 5 million barrels a day for Group of 20 nations at a meeting to be held on Friday.

Meanwhile, oil consumption is expected to plunge by as much as 30 million barrels a day this month.

“The supply and demand fundamentals are horrifying,” said OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo.

He added that the demand decline in the second quarter would amount to “close to 12 million [barrels a day] and expanding,” which is “unprecedented in modern times.”

However, the oil markets have not reacted favorably to the decisions. As of 2:45 p.m. EDT, West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 8.45% to $22.97 per barrel, while Brent Crude was down 3.56% at $31.67.

“Maybe the market was betting on a bit more in the volume than was announced,” said Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at consulting firm Rystad Energy. “It’s also lacking detail when it comes to the baseline level and whether the deal hinges on cooperation from other nations outside of OPEC-plus.”

Thus far, the U.S. has refused to cut its own oil production, although President Donald Trump said such reductions may happen due to falling oil demand.

https://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-arabia-russia-agree-oil-output-cuts-try-bolster-crude-prices-2955958

Zakharova Mocks CNN Reports of Russia Running Troll Factory in Ghana

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected allegations that the country is running a troll factory in the western African nation of Ghana to target US voters in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

On 12 March, CNN published a month-long journalism investigation accusing Russia-linked organizations of meddling in the US presidential election via troll factories in Ghana and Nigeria. The next day, five US Democratic Senators, in a letter on the European Union, called for tightening sanctions on Russia.

"Another ‘masterpiece’ has appeared, i.e. a CNN investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the US electoral process. As you see, we are all over just that at the moment. Now they say about some serious Russian structures allegedly using non-governmental organizations registered in a foreign country – this time it is the Republic of Ghana – to employ deep-cover trolls to sow discord among African-American voters in the United States," stated Maria Zakharova, director of Russia's Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She added that it was not the first "pseudo-report" on the matter but one of the most catchy.

The spokeswoman described the reports as "provocative hoaxes" that have their purpose and are generously funded by those who order them.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/202004091078899782-zakharova-mocks-cnn-reports-about-russia-running-troll-factory-in-ghana/

BANNON KISSINGER COVID 19 & THE PRELUDE TO WAR IN JULY 2020

Good vid

Wasn't Alex Jones going to expose Q yesterday?

How's that go…