France says no evidence Covid-19 linked to Wuhan research lab set up with French help

France on Friday said there was no factual evidence so far of a link between the Covid-19 outbreak and the work of the P4 research laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which France helped set up and where the current pandemic started.

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"We would like to make it clear that there is to this day no factual evidence corroborating recent reports in the US press linking the origins of Covid-19 and the work of the P4 laboratory of Wuhan, China," an official at President Emmanuel Macron's office said.

The broad scientific consensus holds that SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the coronavirus, originated in bats.

In 2004, France signed an agreement with China to establish a research lab on infectious diseases of biosafety level 4, the highest level, in Wuhan, according to a French decree signed by then-foreign minister Michel Barnier.

US trying to determine if virus originated in lab

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his government was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing "needs to come clean" on what they know.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that US intelligence indicates that the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there is no certainty either way.

The Washington Post said this week that national security officials in the Trump administration have long suspected research facilities in Wuhan to be the source of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

As far back as February, the Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology dismissed rumours that the virus may have been artificially synthesised at one of its laboratories or perhaps escaped from such a facility.

The allegations came amid mounting international criticism of China’s initial cover-up of the virus and suspicions that Beijing had not revealed the extent of the public health crisis due to economic concerns.

China on Friday revised its pandemic toll again, this time by a major 50 percent increase in the total death toll. But Chinese authorities denied it was due to a cover-up, maintaining the revision was due to insufficient capacity during the peak of the pandemic.

https://www.france24.com/en/20200418-france-says-no-evidence-covid-19-linked-to-wuhan-research-lab-set-up-with-french-help?ref=tw

Potbelly secures $10M small business loan for virus relief days after exec gets $100K bonus

Less than two weeks ago, the federal government launched the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, aimed at keeping small businesses afloat as the coronavirus pandemic forces an unprecedented shutdown of the nation’s economy.

Among those that qualified for the loans — businesses with fewer than 500 workers may borrow up to 2 1/2 times their payroll, or up to $10 million — is Potbelly Sandwich Shops, a Chicago-based chain with restaurants throughout the country.

On April 10, the sandwich shop secured a $10 million loan from JPMorgan Chase through the program at an interest rate of 0.98 percent, according to a new regulatory filing. The company said the money will go toward “qualifying expenses” in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The money can be used for payroll and other expenses, like insurance premiums, mortgages, rent or utilities through June 30. The loans, which are guaranteed by the federal government, will be fully forgiven if 75 percent of the money goes toward keeping workers employed and maintaining salary levels, according to the Small Business Administration. If the headcount declines, or salaries and wages decrease, forgiveness will be reduced.

www.foxbusiness.com/money/potbelly-secures-10m-small-business-loan-for-virus-relief-days-after-exec-gets-100k-bonus

White House petition to investigate Bill Gates for ‘crimes against humanity’ surpasses 380,000 signatures

A petition to investigate Bill Gates for “crimes against humanity” and “medical malpractice” has gained a staggering 380,000 signatures from concerned citizens, almost tripling the number required to get a response from the White House.

The “We the People” petition asks the federal government to call on Congress to investigate the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, stating that “Congress and all other governing bodies are derelict in duty until a thorough and public inquiry is complete.“

The petition created on April 10 reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures within days and is currently one of the most popular petitions on the site.

As the White House’s “We the People” website explains, the petition platform empowers every American citizen “to become an agent of change” – and, if a petition gains 100,000 signatures in 30 days, the White House will “make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts”.

“We the People is a platform that empowers the American public to take this action like never before – it’s a way for anybody, anywhere, to speak directly to the government and become an agent for change.

“With We the People, you can easily create a petition online, share it, and collect signatures. If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, we’ll review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, has also sharply criticized Gates for what he describes as a “messianic conviction that he is ordained to save the world with technology.”

“Vaccines, for Bill Gates, are a strategic philanthropy that feed his many vaccine-related businesses (including Microsoft’s ambition to control a global vac ID enterprise) and give him dictatorial control over global health policy—the spear tip of corporate neo-imperialism,” Kennedy Jr. wrote.

“Gates’ obsession with vaccines seems fueled by a messianic conviction that he is ordained to save the world with technology and a god-like willingness to experiment with the lives of lesser humans.”

Full petition:

We Call For Investigations Into The “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” For Medical Malpractice & Crimes Against Humanity Created by C.S. on April 10, 2020

As we look at events surrounding the “COVID-19 pandemic,” various questions remain unanswered. On Oct. 18th of 2019, only weeks prior to ground zero being declared in Wuhan, China, two major events took place. One is “Event 201,” the other is the “Military World Games,” held in none other than Wuhan. Since then a worldwide push for vaccines & biometric tracking has been initiated.

At the forefront of this is Bill Gates, who has publicly stated his interest in “reducing population growth” by 10-15%, by means of vaccination. Gates, UNICEF & WHO have already been credibly accused of intentionally sterilising Kenyan children through the use of a hidden HCG antigen in tetanus vaccines.

Congress & all other governing bodies are derelict in duty until a thorough and public inquiry is complete.

https://hangthebankers.com/white-house-petition-investigate-bill-gates-signatures/

Sign here

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/we-call-investigations-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-medical-malpractice-crimes-against-humanity

Here Come The Drinking Water Shortages In The United States?

We’ve been covering the problems with the supply chain for some time, but now, supply chain disruptions are affecting things in ways that people may not have anticipated.

For example, reports are coming in that now clean water itself is at risk.

That is, having clean water.

Yes, in the United States, the water supply is under threat.

Please excused the redundancy, for I’m just attempting to show that for a gazillion reasons, which now include the water supply, America won’t be getting back to normal anytime soon.

Entire systems we take for granted are under severe strain.

Here’s more on the CO2 shortage, from The Guardian (bold added for emphasis)

An emerging shortage of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) caused by the coronavirus pandemic may affect food supply chains and drinking water, a Washington state emergency planning document has revealed.

The document, a Covid-19 situation report produced by the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), contains a warning from the state’s office of drinking water (ODW) about difficulties in obtaining CO2, which is essential for the process of water treatment.

The document says that the ODW is “still responding to [that day’s] notification of a national shortage of CO2”.

It continues: “Several [water plants] had received initial notification from their vendors that their supply would be restricted to 33% of normal.”

It further warns: “So far utilities have been able to make the case that they are considered essential to critical infrastructure and have been returned to full supply. However, we want to ask if CISA [the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] can assess this through their contacts, if this is sustainable given the national shortage.”

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/here-come-the-drinking-water-shortages-in-the-united-states/

Here we go again with the regime change

In a new Foreign Affairs article this week, Eric Edelman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Ray Takeyh argue that the United States should be using every tool of statecraft at its disposal to aid dissidents in Iran to overthrow the regime.

They bluntly state that, with Iran, the “only U.S. policy that makes sense is to seek regime change.” They contend that the Iranian regime is inherently revolutionary, and as such, American interests in the Middle East can only be secure once the regime is deposed.

To carry out regime change in Iran, the authors contend that covertly supporting dissident movements, engaging in public diplomacy campaigns, and continuing the use of sanctions and other tools of statecraft to put maximum pressure on the regime is necessary. In so doing, they contend that the U.S. can aid local dissidents and protestors to overthrow the theocracy in Tehran, and the U.S. can begin reaping the benefits of negotiating with a less revolutionary regime.

There are a host of issues with this argument that the U.S. has implicit interests in engaging in regime change in Iran. Chief among these problems is the belief that the regime change strategy proffered “will not be terribly costly.”

Even if the diagnosis of a weak, revolutionary theocracy in Iran is correct, the costs of engaging in regime change cannot be minimized. Attempting regime change in Tehran would harm not only average Iranian citizens and future relations between Iran and the U.S., but also the utility of various tools of American foreign policy in future contexts.

Research has shown that regime change fails to succeed in its objectives, increases domestic unrest and instability, and harms the effectiveness of various tools of American foreign policy when they become seen as agents of regime change. In the end, the pursuit of regime change in Iran would only most likely harm the dissident movements and domestic population the authors seek to support more than the Iranian regime they distrust.

Rather than producing a stable Iran cheaply, the academic research on regime change is clear that any form of regime change is unlikely to produce the effects the authors predict. Regime change is unlikely to produce greater democracy, greater stability in the region, nor is an imposed government more likely to be amenable to American interests.

Even more, predictions that the U.S. can achieve regime change quickly and cheaply, as the authors suggest, overlook the most likely costs that go along with regime change missions. Since the nineteenth century, regime change has been associated with a higher likelihood of civil war and instability after state institutions are weakened during the regime change mission.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2020/04/16/here-we-go-again-with-the-regime-change/

Ruth’s Chris Made $468 Million in Revenue but Gobbled Up $20 Million in Small Business Relief. The steakhouse chain has more than 150 locations and $86 million in cash reserves—and it furloughed workers.

When Congress passed the $2 trillion stimulus to help the country weather the coronavirus outbreak, it created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—a $349 billion fund for small businesses with 500 or fewer employees. If the business uses more than 75 percent of the low-interest loan to keep paying employees, then the entire amount is forgiven. In less than two weeks, it was completely out of money, and the Small Business Administration website is refusing any new applications until Congress manages to replenish it. That seems likely to come through in the near future, since Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said a $300 billion deal is set to close soon, according to NPR. But more money won't solve one of the fundamental problems with PPP—it's not just small businesses that can make a grab for these small-business loans.

Take, for example, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which has more than 150 locations and more than 5,700 employees, and is owned by the publicly traded Ruth's Hospitality Group. The company made $42 million in profit on $468 million in revenue last year, which the company partly spent on more than $5 million in stock buybacks, and it has $86 million in cash reserves. Ruth's Hospitality Group successfully applied for the maximum $10 million in PPP loans for two of its properties, even as the company reports that it has furloughed a "significant number of field and home office team members."

Employees told Popular Information that in locations across the country, managers and cooks remain on the payroll, but no other hourly employees. One furloughed worker in Indianapolis received a final check in late March for less than $150. Meanwhile, CEO Cheryl Henry reportedly makes $6.1 million a year, with a base salary of $650,000. The PPP loan is forgivable as long as a company spends at least 75 percent of the funds on salaries up to $100,000. As Popular Information reports, Ruth's Hospitality could make that threshold merely by keeping on 150 employees.

How exactly did a publicly traded corporation with more than 5,000 employees make the cut? Because PPP is written so that chain restaurants qualify as a small business so long as they don't employ more than 500 people at a single location, a qualification that effectively makes companies like McDonald's a small business. And Ruth's Chris isn't the only national chain to get in on the action. According to Bloomberg, the sandwich chain Potbelly Corp. received $10 million also, despite annual sales of $410 million and 6,000 employees. Fiesta Restaurant Group, which owns the Tex-Mex restaurants Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana and reportedly had 10,500 employees and $661 million in sales last year, also got $10 million. In fact, more than a dozen companies with annual revenue counted in the hundreds of millions qualified for and took PPP money. Meanwhile, in research conducted at the beginning of April, 11 percent of restaurant owners surveyed told the National Restaurant Association they expect to close permanently by the end of the month. An analyst for the investment bank UBS estimates that 200,000 restaurants in the U.S., one in five, could go out of business because of the outbreak. Small restaurants, like the beloved 31-year-old Lucky Strike in New York, have permanently closed, and Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation is fundraising direct relief for unemployed workers and independent restaurants.

Another not-small business recipient of PPP funds is Shake Shack, the New York–based burger chain. In a statement out Sunday, the CEOs for Shake Shack and its parent group wrote that the company will return the full $10 million, adding, "Our people would benefit from a $10 million PPP loan, but we're fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not. Until every restaurant that needs it has had the same opportunity to receive assistance, we’re returning ours."

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/04/ruths-chris-made-468-million-in-revenue.html

Reopening America will require 20 million tests per day, a Pandemic Testing Board to secure supplies and a team of 100,000 contact tracing personnel, panel of experts suggest as they fear it could be a YEAR until everyone is back to work

As President Donald Trump ramps up public support for lifting coronavirus lockdowns and reopening the economy, a bipartisan panel of experts have released a 'road map' for ensuring that happens safely with increased testing, tracing and isolation efforts.

In a report titled 'Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience' released Monday, more than 45 leading economists, social scientists, lawyers and ethicists warned that sending Americans back to work too quickly will likely cause a resurgence of COVID-19 that would cost the US economy trillions of dollars.

The experts labeled COVID-19 'a profound threat to our democracy, comparable to the Great Depression and World War II' as they outlined the three main components to safely ending quarantine: testing, tracing and supported isolation - a combination known by the acronym TTSI.

The most crucial part of TTSI containment is testing, as the other components are obsolete without it, the report says.

It states that the US needs to be performing 20 million tests per day before the economy can fully reopen - a dramatic increase from the current 120,000 tests per day.

'This is the first plan to show operationally how we can scale up COVID-19 testing sufficiently to safely reopen the economy — while safeguarding fundamental American democratic principles of protecting civil rights and liberties,' Danielle Allen, lead author of the report and a professor at Harvard University's Edmond J. Safra Center on Ethics, said in a statement.

Allen explained the plan further in an interview with ABC News, calling the current crisis 'a moment for "Can Do America" to really show up and put itself to work'.

'What people need to recognize is that a massively scaled-up testing, tracing and supported isolation system is the alternative to national quarantine,' she said.

'We all had to learn PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] and we all had to learn about flattening the curve … now we have to learn about TTSI.'

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/04/reopening-america-will-require-20.html

Lockdown until 2021 and all talk of 'exit strategy' is banned: 'Tentative' Boris Johnson sides with Cabinet 'doves' who want restrictions until coronavirus is crushed as experts warn ANY lifting of measures 'will see explosion in cases'

The UK faces tough coronavirus curbs until 2021 amid claims Boris Johnson's personal battle with the disease has made him 'tentative' about lifting lockdown.

Tories have suggested the PM is 'frightened' of taking chances with the deadly virus after his own close call, despite fears the economic havoc might prove even more damaging to public health.

The pressure is intensifying on ministers to plot a way out of the crisis, but divisions have emerged between cautious 'doves' and 'hawks' who believe the NHS has capacity and would prefer to loosen the draconian social distancing measures earlier.

The PM has intervened from his recuperation at Chequers to snuff out speculation about an imminent easing, with Downing Street making clear his priority is avoiding a 'second peak' in the outbreak.

There are reports Mr Johnson's close circle has stopped using the phrase 'exit strategy' and instead wants to signal a 'next phase' of lockdown, with varying levels of restrictions set to continue for the rest of the year until the virus gets 'close to eradication' or a vaccine is found.

The 'doves' have been supported by grim behind-the-scenes warnings from scientists, who have advised that control of the outbreak is still so uncertain that even slight changes to the curbs on normal life could result in a disastrous flare-up.

In other developments today:

Official figures suggest the true number of coronavirus victims in the UK may be 41 per cent higher than previously announced. Mortality data released by the ONS imply the death toll might be closer to 23,000 than 16,509;

An RAF plane sent to collect crucial PPE for the NHS from Turkey still has not started its return journey with ministers admitting it might be 'days' before the supplied arrive;

The House of Commons is returning from Easter recess, but only to approve a 'virtual' Parliament that will kick off tomorrow.

http://www.madnesshub.com/2020/04/lockdown-until-2021-and-all-talk-of.html

Jeff Gundlach: “Doing some rough math, it looks like the combined value of the U.S. stock market gains off of the recent lows is roughly equivalent to the combined actual-plus-announced increases in the National Debt.”

The Fed printed a TON of money and it all ended up in the stock market so the value of the stocks went up.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/jeff-gundlach-doing-some-rough-math-it-looks-like-the-combined-value-of-the-u-s-stock-market-gains-off-of-the-recent-lows-is-roughly-equivalent-to-the-combined-actual-plus-announced-increases-in/

Netanyahu's son 'hopes' elderly leftists die from coronavirus after protesting against his father

Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israel's Prime Minister, tweeted on Thursday during a demonstration against his father that he hopes elderly leftists die from Covid-19.

In the now-deleted tweet, Netanyahu junior replied to a photo of the protest posted by left-wing Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz, saying that he hopes: "the elderly people who die following this protest will be from your bloc".

Horowitz had captioned his photo: "Very powerful protest tonight at Habima square. Fighting against corruption. Struggling for

The Prime Minister was quick to retract his son's tweet, releasing a statement saying: "In the fight against coronavirus there are no blocs, and there must not be. The prime minister is working around the clock to secure the well-being and safety of all Israeli citizens, without exception."

Hundreds demonstrated against Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, claiming the long-serving premier has become authoritarian.

The protesters, belonging to the so-called Black Flag movement, expressed anger at attempts to curb political demonstrations due to coronavirus, as well as dismay at the Knesset's standstill following three consecutive rounds of elections.

Netanyahu's trial for corruption has been postponed due to the pandemic, which many of his opponents say is an attempt to buy more time to secure his immunity.

Yair Netanyahu, 28, is no stranger to controversies over his openly antagonistic anti-liberal Twitter feed.

Just last month, he was sued 250,000 shekels (£55,665) for libel and slander and ordered to pay another 37,000 shekels (£8,238) in legal costs, after posting false stories about journalist Avi Alkalay, whose news site had been covering the corruption scandal.

Netanyahu junior regularly takes to the social media to express his anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim views, tweeting last year that Palestine has never existed because there is "no P in Arabic", and in another instance that he'd "prefer" for all Muslims to leave Israel.

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/4/18/netanyahus-son-hopes-elderly-leftist-protesters-die-from-coronavirus

SBA Exposes Private Information Of 8,000 Small Businesses In ‘Accidental’ Website Leak

Never forget that the government is one giant DMV (it’s one of many reasons why so many millions of Americans are wary of universal health care).

Minutes ago, CNBC reported that the private and “personally identifiable information” of as many as 8,000 small business loan applicants may have been leaked during the chaotic rollout of the federal paycheck protection program – or ‘PPP’.

CNBC’s Kate Rogers said the issues arose on the SBA side via the EIDL application process. The nearly 8,000 businesses impacted by the leak have been notified, per the SBA. The ‘impacted portion’ of the site was “immediately disabled.”

The leak was purportedly a problem with the website – meaning it was very likely self-inflicted. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the federal government’s ability to manage the task of handing out hundreds of billions of dollars of loans to every beauty salon, restaurant and pro shop in the country (plus thousands of other businesses).

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/04/sba-exposes-private-information-of-8000-small-businesses-in-accidental-website-leak.html

Pentagon Seeks Billions for Arms Companies in Coronavirus Funds

Undersecretary: 'We're talking billions and billions on that one'

With debate picking up for the US to pass another major emergency stimulus package for coronavirus, the Pentagon is lining up this time with the expectation that they will be included. The money would be going to well-connected US arms makers, already some of the world’s most heavily subsidized companies as it is.

Undersecretary of Defense Ellen Lord says the pandemic is effecting ship-building, aviation, and space-launch companies, and that the Pentagon is going for a major pay-day for these groups, adding “we’re talking billions and billions on that one.”

Talk of small space launch firms having to shut doors because of the pandemic wrongly gives the impression that we are not talking talking about the same handful of huge companies constantly lining up for large amounts of subsidy.

The big winners are expected to be Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and Boeing was already expected to get some money out of the airliner bailout that was already coming. The money is either going to their subsidies, or to suppliers heavily beholden to those companies for their business.

Tellingly, the undersecretary could not single out any particular programs that might actually be impacted by the virus, rather saying that notapproving the billions of dollars could lead to “inefficiencies and so forth.”

That’s probably more than the Pentagon expected to have to offer in way of explanation, since generally when billions are being doled out, those arms makers will be getting a large slice as a matter of course. That the coronavirus isn’t meant to be a defense bill seems very much beside the point.

It’s not clear how eager Congress will be to make this new bill about the military, though the Pentagon seems to be betting, to the tune of billions of dollars, that they will.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/04/20/pentagon-seeks-billions-for-arms-companies-in-coronavirus-funds/

Latest CDC COVID-19 Numbers Make the Doom-and-Gloom Cult Look Like Complete Idiots

The CDC recently released coronavirus numbers from February 1, 2020 to April 18, 2020.

With each day it is getting harder and harder for these so-called experts to defend their complete destruction of the American economy.

Since February there have been 17,229 COVID-19 deaths.

Another 7,676 died from COVID-19 and pneumonia.

During this same time period 49,013 Americans died from pneumonia.

And then there is the age gap.

There were 20 deaths under the age of 25.

That comes out to 0.1% of all coronavirus deaths.

There were 13,518 deaths over 65 years of age.

There is no way in hell this justifies the complete destruction of the US economy.

When this is all over the good doctors and garbage IHME researchers will have a lot of explaining to do!

More from Alex Berenson…

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/latest-cdc-covid-19-numbers-make-doom-gloom-cult-look-like-complete-idiots/

OOKLA 5G Interactive Map Provides Locations of Communities Being Fried for Faster Internet

People and their pets have been getting sick where 5G has been turned on since 2018 (see 1. 2, 3, 4). Few have even signed up for it where it’s been installed. That still hasn’t stopped deployment. In fact, proponents are using the pandemic as an excuse to speed up installation. How sick is that?

Thanks to OOKLA for providing this map so at least people have the opportunity to find out what hit them (see 1, 2, 3, 4) and/or their pets.

The interactive Ookla 5G Map tracks 5G rollouts in cities across the globe. Updated weekly from verified public sources and Ookla data, you can follow operators’ newest 5G networks on @Ookla5GMap.

https://www.speedtest.net/ookla-5g-map?

Worldwide opposition to 5G continues to grow because of the catastrophic risks it poses to biological health (see 1, 2, 3. 4. 5), cybersecurity (see 1, 2), environmental health (see 1, 2. 3. 4), privacy (see 1. 2), safety (see 1, 2. 3) and humanity as we know it (see 1, 2. 3).

Although many cities and countries have already banned 5G and/or issued moratoriums against installation, the “Race for 5G” continues in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The second Global 5G Protest is being held this weekend. Consider yourself on the guest list.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/04/ookla-5g-interactive-map-provides-locations-of-communities-being-fried-for-faster-internet.html

Israel ignores the Biblical command to ‘love thy neighbour’ at its peril

The mantra “we are all in this together” has been said numerous times every day recently by politicians of various stripes around the world as the Covid-19 pandemic rips through our communities. And it does feel as though we are all under attack, regardless of our status and position in life.

Are we, though, as human beings, really fighting this together? The answer, if you are a Palestinian, has to be “no”. All that “coronavirus” means to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank through to Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip is more suffering, more hardship and more inhumane treatment at the hands of Israelis, who ignore the Biblical command that “thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself”.

Television adverts in many languages advise us on the best way to combat Covid-19. Most of the advice originates from the World Health Organisation, but for Palestinians, many of its recommendations are impossible to fulfil. Washing your hands with soap and water regularly, and practising social distancing are virtually impossible if you live in the overcrowded Gaza Strip where space and clean water, never mind soap, are in desperately short supply.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200421-israel-ignores-the-biblical-command-to-love-thy-neighbour-at-its-peril/

How the National Security State Is Using Coronavirus to Push AI-Driven Mass Surveillance

Last year a government commission called for the US to adopt an AI-driven mass surveillance system far beyond that used in any other country. Now, many of the “obstacles” cited as preventing its implementation are being removed under the guise of combating coronavirus.

WASHINGTON DC (The Last American Vagabond) — Last year, a U.S. government body dedicated to examining how artificial intelligence can “address the national security and defense needs of the United States” discussed in detail the “structural” changes that the American economy and society must undergo in order to ensure a technological advantage over China, according to a recent document acquired through an FOIA request. This document suggests that the U.S. follow China’s lead and even surpass them in many aspects related to AI-driven technologies, particularly their use of mass surveillance. This perspective clearly clashes with the public rhetoric of prominent U.S. government officials and politicians on China, who have labeled the Chinese government’s technology investments and export of its surveillance systems and other technologies as a major “threat” to Americans’ “way of life.”

In addition, many of the steps for the implementation of such a program in the U.S., as laid out in this newly available document, are currently being promoted and implemented as part of the government’s response to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. This likely due to the fact that many members of this same body have considerable overlap with the taskforces and advisors currently guiding the government’s plans to “re-open the economy” and efforts to use technology to respond to the current crisis.

The FOIA document, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), was produced by a little-known U.S. government organization called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI). It was created by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and its official purpose is “to consider the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and associated technologies to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States.”

The NSCAI is a key part of the government’s response to what is often referred to as the coming “fourth industrial revolution,” which has been described as “a revolution characterized by discontinuous technological development in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), big data, fifth-generation telecommunications networking (5G), nanotechnology and biotechnology, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum computing.”

However, their main focus is ensuring that “the United States … maintain a technological advantage in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other associated technologies related to national security and defense.” The vice-chair of NSCAI, Robert Work – former Deputy Secretary of Defense and senior fellow at the hawkish Center for a New American Security (CNAS), described the commission’s purpose as determining “how the U.S. national security apparatus should approach artificial intelligence, including a focus on how the government can work with industry to compete with China’s ‘civil-military fusion’ concept.”

The recently released NSCAI document is a May 2019 presentation entitled “Chinese Tech Landscape Overview.” Throughout the presentation, the NSCAI promotes the overhaul of the U.S. economy and way of life as necessary for allowing the U.S. to ensure it holds a considerable technological advantage over China, as losing this advantage is currently deemed a major “national security” issue by the U.S. national security apparatus. This concern about maintaining a technological advantage can be seen in several other U.S. military documents and think tank reports, several of which have warned that the U.S.’ technological advantage is quickly eroding.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/national-security-state-using-coronavirus-push-artificial-intelligence-driven-mass-surveillance/266820/

Part 1

>>8874824

Also discussed is how China’s “adoption advantage” will “allow it to leapfrog the U.S.” in several new fields, including “AI medical diagnosis” and “smart cities.” It then asserts that “the future will be decided at the intersection of private enterprise and policy leaders between China and the U.S.” If this coordination over the global AI market does not occur, the document warns that “we [the U.S.] risk being left out of the discussions where norms around AI are set for the rest of our lifetimes.”

The presentation also dwells considerably on how “the main battleground [in technology] are not the domestic Chinese and US markets,” but what it refers to as the NBU (next billion users) markets, where it states that “Chinese players will aggressively challenge Silicon Valley.” In order to challenge them more successfully, the presentation argues that, “just like we [view] the market of teenagers as a harbinger for new trends, we should look at China.”

The document also expresses concerns about China exporting AI more extensively and intensively than the U.S., saying that China is “already crossing borders” by helping to build facial databases in Zimbabwe and selling image recognition and smart city systems to Malaysia. If allowed to become “the unambiguous leader in AI,” it says that “China could end up writing much of the rulebook of international norms around the deployment of AI” and that it would “broaden China’s sphere of influence amongst an international community that increasingly looks to the pragmatic authoritarianism of China and Singapore as an alternative to Western liberal democracy.”

What will replace America’s “legacy systems”?

Given that the document makes it quite clear that “legacy systems” in the U.S. are impeding its ability to prevent China from “leapfrogging” ahead in AI and then dominating it for the foreseeable future, it is also important to examine what the document suggests should replace these “legacy systems” in the U.S.

As previously mentioned, one “legacy system” cited early on in the presentation is the main means of payment for most Americans, cash and credit/debit cards. The presentation asserts, in contrast to these “legacy systems” that the best and most advanced system is moving entirely to smartphone-based digital wallets.

It notes specifically the main mobile wallet provider in India, PayTM, is majority owned by Chinese companies. It quotes an article, which states that “a big break came [in 2016] when India canceled 86% of currency in circulation in an effort to cut corruption and bring more people into the tax net by forcing them to use less cash.” At the time, claims that India’s 2016 “currency reform” would be used as a stepping stone towards a cashless society were dismissed by some as “conspiracy theory.” However, last year, a committee convened by India’s central bank (and led by an Indian tech oligarch who also created India’s massive civilian biometric database) resulted in the Indian government’s “Cashless India” program.

Regarding India’s 2016 “currency reform,” the NSCAI document then asserts that “this would be unfathomable in the West. And unsurprisingly, when 86% of the cash got cancelled and nobody had a credit card, mobile wallets in India exploded, laying the groundwork for a far more advanced payments ecosystem in India than the US.” However, it has become increasingly less unfathomable in light of the current coronavirus crisis, which has seen efforts to reduce the amount of cash used because paper bills may carry the virus as well as efforts to introduce a Federal Reserve-backed “digital dollar.”

Part 2

>>8874836

Katharina McFarland, consultant at Cypress International and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition

Andrew Moore, head of Google Cloud AI

As can be seen in the list above, there is a considerable amount of overlap between the NSCAI and the companies currently advising the White House on “re-opening” the economy (Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Lockheed Martin, Oracle) and one NSCAI member, Oracle’s Safra Katz, is on the White House’s “economic revival” taskforce. Also, there is also overlap between the NSCAI and the companies that are intimately involved in the implementation of the “contact tracing” “coronavirus surveillance system,” a mass surveillance system promoted by the Jared Kushner-led, private-sector coronavirus task force. That surveillance system is set to be constructed by companies with deep ties to Google and the U.S. national security state, and both Google and Apple, who create the operating systems for the vast majority of smartphones used in the U.S., have said they will now build that surveillance system directly into their smartphone operating systems.

Also notable is the fact that In-Q-Tel and the U.S. intelligence community has considerable representation on the NSCAI and that they also boast close ties with Google, Palantir and other Silicon Valley giants, having been early investors in those companies. Both Google and Palantir, as well as Amazon (also on the NSCAI) are also major contractors for U.S. intelligence agencies. In-Q-Tel’s involvement on the NSCAI is also significant because they have been heavily promoting mass surveillance of consumer electronic devices for use in pandemics for the past several years. Much of that push has come from In-Q-Tel’s current Executive Vice President Tara O’Toole, who was previously the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and also co-authored several controversial biowarfare/pandemic simulations, such as Dark Winter.

In addition, since at least January, the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon have been at the forefront of developing the U.S. government’s still-classified “9/11-style” response plans for the coronavirus crisis, alongside the National Security Council. Few news organizations have noted that these classified response plans, which are set to be triggered if and when the U.S. reaches a certain number of coronavirus cases, has been created largely by elements of the national security state (i.e. the NSC, Pentagon, and intelligence), as opposed to civilian agencies or those focused on public health issues.

Furthermore, it has been reported that the U.S. intelligence community as well as U.S. military intelligence knew by at least January (though recent reports have said as early as last November) that the coronavirus crisis would reach “pandemic proportions” by March. The American public were not warned, but elite members of the business and political classes were apparently informed, given the record numbers of CEO resignations in January and several high-profile insider trading allegations that preceded the current crisis by a matter of weeks.

Perhaps even more disconcerting is the added fact that the U.S. government not only participated in the eerily prescient pandemic simulation last October known as Event 201, it also led a series of pandemic response simulations last year. Crimson Contagion was a series of four simulations that involved 19 U.S. federal agencies, including intelligence and the military, as well as 12 different states and a host of private sector companies that simulated a devastating pandemic influenza outbreak that had originated in China. It was led by the current HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Robert Kadlec, who is a former lobbyist for military and intelligence contractors and a Bush-era homeland security “bioterrorism” advisor.

Part 3

>>8874856

Another report in The Guardian states that “If one of the government takeaways from coronavirus is that ‘smart cities’ including Songdo or Shenzhen are safer cities from a public health perspective, then we can expect greater efforts to digitally capture and record our behaviour in urban areas – and fiercer debates over the power such surveillance hands to corporations and states.” There have also been reports that assert that typical cities are “woefully unprepared” to face pandemics compared to “smart cities.”

Yet, beyond many of the NSCAI’s specific concerns regarding mass AI adoption being conveniently resolved by the current crisis, there has also been a concerted effort to change the public’s perception of AI in general. As previously mentioned, the NSCAI had pointed out last year that:

In the press and politics of America and Europe, Al is painted as something to be feared that is eroding privacy and stealing jobs. Conversely, China views it as both a tool for solving major macroeconomic challenges in order to sustain their economic miracle, and an opportunity to take technological leadership on the global stage.”

Now, less than a year later, the coronavirus crisis has helped spawn a slew of headlines in just the last few weeks that paint AI very differently, including “How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Fight Coronavirus,” “How AI May Prevent the Next Coronavirus Outbreak,” “AI Becomes an Ally in the Fight Against COVID-19,” “Coronavirus: AI steps up in battle against COVID-19,” and “Here’s How AI Can Help Africa Fight the Coronavirus,” among numerous others.

It is indeed striking how the coronavirus crisis has seemingly fulfilled the NSCAI’s entire wishlist and removed many of the obstacles to the mass adoption of AI technologies in the United States. Like major crises of the past, the national security state appears to be using the chaos and fear to promote and implement initiatives that would be normally rejected by Americans and, if history is any indicator, these new changes will remain long after the coronavirus crisis fades from the news cycle. It is essential that these so-called “solutions” be recognized for what they are and that we consider what type of world they will end up creating – an authoritarian technocracy. We ignore the rapid advance of these NSCAI-promoted initiatives and the phasing out of so-called “legacy systems” (and with them, many long-cherished freedoms) at our own peril.

Part 4

End

White House, Congress reach deal to replenish small business loan program

The White House and Congress have reached a deal on a new funding package that will replenish a lending program meant to aid small businesses impacted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, two administration officials confirmed on Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows struck an agreement on the core components of the deal with Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) early Tuesday morning.

Schumer announced the deal during an interview on CNN shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday and White House officials confirmed after 1 p.m.

Final details of the package are forthcoming but it is expected to total more than $450 billion and provide roughly $300 billion for the Small Business Administration’s popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and $50 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, $25 billion for testing and $75 billion for hospitals.

Schumer announced that $125 billion of the money for PPP will be set aside for “under-banked” small businesses that don’t have strong relationships with local banks, such as small restaurants and hair salons.

President Trump urged the House and Senate to pass the legislation in a pair of tweets Tuesday afternoon and laid out his vision for what would be included in the next round of coronavirus legislation.

“After I sign this Bill, we will begin discussions on the next Legislative Initiative with fiscal relief … to State/Local Governments for lost revenues from COVID 19, much needed Infrastructure Investments for Bridges, Tunnels, Broadband, Tax Incentives for Restaurants, Entertainment, Sports, and Payroll Tax Cuts to increase Economic Growth,” the president wrote.

The Trump administration and congressional negotiators have been locked in negotiations over a deal to replenish the $350 billion for the PPP, which was authorized in the third coronavirus relief package signed by Trump at the end of March and ran out of funds to lend small businesses last week.

The program allows small businesses to keep workers on the payroll and in some cases has aided shops from going under completely amid the downturn. Social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders in some states meant to slow the spread of the virus have hit small business owners particularly hard.

The Senate and House will need to pass the legislation. Doing so this week will require the Senate to pass the bill in unanimous consent.

Along with Schumer, GOP Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), who are both members of GOP leadership, expect the deal to pass the Senate at 4 p.m.

The House is expected to vote on the legislation Thursday if the Senate passes it Tuesday.

The small business lending program has come under scrutiny this week after it was revealed that large corporations like chain restaurants and hotels were able to tap into the funds. The CEO of burger chain Shake Shack said Monday the company was returning $10 billion in loans that it received through the program because the company is “fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not."

The launch of the program was marred by confusion as thousands of businesses flooded the system to apply for loans. Banks and industry officials also expressed frustration over the lack of clarity in the program’s lending set up.

Administration officials have focused on the positive influence of the program, with Trump touting on Monday that it had affected 30 million American jobs thus far.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/493910-white-house-congress-reach-deal-to-replenish-small-business-loan

Confusion reigns as IRS starts issuing coronavirus payments

The rollout of coronavirus relief payments has been clouded by confusion for the millions of Americans struggling to understand why they haven’t received their money.

The IRS last week sent out more than 80 million payments to people via direct deposit. But tens of millions more are still waiting for their funds, and they have questions.

Tax policy experts said it’s understandable for those people to be upset.

“People are losing their jobs, they’re frustrated, they’re scared,” said Chuck Marr, senior director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.

But experts also said they have been impressed by how quickly the IRS started disbursing payments, even with a number of challenges including budget cuts over the past decade, antiquated technology and many IRS employees needing to work remotely during the pandemic.

“Under those circumstances, people need to realize that the IRS is making a strong effort,” Marr said.

President Trump signed a law late last month that provides one-time direct payments to most Americans of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. Individuals with income under $75,000 and married couples with income under $150,000 qualify for the full amount.

The IRS moved quickly after enactment, getting the first batch out the door in less than three weeks. The agency also launched web tools in an effort to help people get their money faster.

Trump touted the rollout at a press briefing Friday.

“I have some very good news: We sent out 80 million deposits, and less than 1 percent had even little problems,” he said.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that as of Thursday, about 1 percent of the direct deposit payments had been rejected by banks. It’s possible more could be rejected this week.

But the direct deposits and web tools have come with other bigger hiccups, leaving many taxpayers frustrated.

One area causing a lot of confusion is how people will receive their payment if they purchased tax refund anticipation loans from their tax preparer or used a portion of their refund to pay their tax-prep company. In those cases, the IRS transmits a taxpayer’s refund to a temporary bank account and may not have their direct deposit information.

The Treasury spokeswoman said the department is encouraging people in those situations to use the IRS's Get My Payment online tool to submit their bank account information to the agency.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/493789-confusion-reigns-as-irs-starts-issuing-coronavirus-payments

TOP Scientist & HIV/AIDS Research Pioneer Blows Whistle on Dr. Fauci; DISTURBING Details of Threats; Research Theft; Tainted Vaccines; Fraud; Cover-Ups; Pay to Play; GREED

A top U.S. scientist and research pioneer has broken her long silence, revealing an insider’s nightmare spanning three decades of conducting research under the governmental control of Dr. Anthony Fauci. And the allegations are downright frightening.

And if true, these details warrant a host of NEW federal investigations to get to the bottom of numerous Fauci-led schemes revealed by Dr. Judy Mikovits on the Thomas Paine Podcast on Tuesday. Dr. Mikovits said Fauci helped imprison her after stealing her proprietary research not once, but twice and her allegations against the White House’s coronavirus top medical advisor and his government cronies paint a disturbing portrait of widespread institutional corruption. And greed. The alarming allegations include: stealing research, covering up tainted vaccines, fraud and much more. And Fauci’s parent agency, the National Institute of Health is not the only governmental agency involved in what amounts here to decades of corruption gone awry.

https://truepundit.com/exclusive-top-scientist-disturbing-details-of-threats-research-theft-tainted-vaccines-fraud-pay-to-play-greed/

America’s Governors ‘Disturbingly Close to House Arrest’ AG Barr Says

Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that some state governors’ efforts to fight the coronavirus “infringes on a fundamental right” of American residents.

“When a governor acts, especially when a governor does something that intrudes upon or infringes on a fundamental right or a Constitutional right, they’re bounded by that,” the attorney general said. “And those situations are emerging around the country, to some extent.”

He also said “that governments in the U.S. need to “do a better job” of ensuring coronavirus restrictions are “properly targeted” and do not unnecessarily infringe on constitutional rights. He added that currently, the country is facing “unprecedented burdens on civil liberties.”

These comments were made during an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

Barr said the stay-at-home orders are “disturbingly close to house arrest,” but added, “I’m not saying it wasn’t justified.”

“We didn’t adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease,” he said. “And we are now seeing that these are bending the curve, and now we have to come up with more targeted approaches.”

He also called President Trump’s plan to allow governors to reopen their states a “very commonsensical approach,” adding that he has acted “well within the traditional rules of law.”

For additional information visit our friends at THE HILL.

https://thedcpatriot.com/americas-governors-disturbingly-close-to-house-arrest-ag-barr-says/

FDA Approves First At-Home Coronavirus Test

On Tuesday, the FDA announced that they had authorized the first ever at home Coronavirus test.

Fox News reports: “In a statement released Tuesday, the FDA said that it had reissued an Emergency Use Authorization for LabCorp to COVID-19 RT-PCR Test to permit testing of samples that were self-collected by patients at home using LabCorp’s Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 Test home collection kit.”

“Throughout this pandemic we have been facilitating test development to ensure patients access to accurate diagnostics, which includes supporting the development of reliable and accurate at-home sample collection options,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said.

Testing has been one of the largest components to treating and combating the coronavirus crisis in America as there have been over 100,000 coronavirus tests a day conducted in the United States.

“This reissued EUA for LabCorp’s molecular test permits testing of a sample collected from the patient’s nose using a designated self-collection kit that contains nasal swabs and saline,” the FDA said in its statement. “Once patients self-swab to collect their nasal sample, they mail their sample, in an insulated package, to a LabCorp lab for testing.”

Fox News also notes: “As of Tuesday morning, more than 2.49 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, at least 787,960 of which are in the U.S. The disease has accounted for at least 171,255 deaths around the world, including at least 42,364 people in the U.S.”

Americans are itching to get back to normal life however director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that if states open up their economies too soon, things may “backfire.”

During an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America on Monday, Dr. Fauci sat down with ABC host George Stephanopoulos to talk about the virus.

Stephanopoulos started, “We’re seeing these protests crop up all across the country right now, including those protests in Texas and other places where they are saying “Fire Anthony Fauci, Fauci is wrong,” and resisting these stay-at-home orders from governors. What’s your message back to those protesters?”

https://thedcpatriot.com/breaking-fda-approves-first-at-home-coronavirus-test/

Central Banks Try To Stave Off Depression, Could Buy Trillions More In Assets

The U.S. Federal Reserve has moved the most aggressively, starting with its initial $2.3 trillion in loan arrangements for local governments, and small and midsize businesses

G-7 central banks could hold $6.8 trillion in assets by the time the crisis is over

The G-7 banks bought $1.4 trillion in assets in March and are on pace to equal that total in April

Central banks, attempting to cushion global economies from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, could buy as much as $6.8 trillion in assets before the crisis ends. Economists agree the virtual shutdown of the world economy has triggered a recession, the traditional definition notwithstanding, and governments have been scrambling to keep the downturn from slipping into a depression.

A Bloomberg Economics analysis indicates central banks in the Group of Seven nations bought $1.4 trillion in financial assets in March and were on pace to at least match that in April. The monthly total is five times as great as the previous record in April 2009 as the world was climbing out of the Great Recession.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has been the most aggressive, expanding its balance sheet by some $41 billion a day through April 15. The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, which pioneered the concept, and the Bank of England also have ramped up their asset purchases with Canada, New Zealand and Australia also making large-scale moves, Bloomberg said. Even smaller economies are considering action.

The New York Times reported Brazil is debating whether to give its central bank limited quantitative easing authority.

The Fed kicked off the buying spree April 9 with an initial $2.3 trillion in loan arrangements for local governments, and small and midsize businesses. It also set up dollar swap lines with several other central banks and began buying municipal and corporate bonds and exchange traded funds before kicking in $700 billion for U.S. Treasuries, mortgages and agency securities. It then lifted the $700 billion limit.

The Fed didn’t unwind its balance sheet from the last recession until 2017.

Former Fed Chair Janel Yellen has said she thinks Congress should give the central bank the authority to buy equities but that is not an action the Fed needs to take immediately.

https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-recession-central-banks-try-stave-depression-could-buy-trillions-more-2962498

Citizens Against Government Waste Compiles Earmarks Database as ‘Potent Reminder’ Against ‘Costly, Inequitable, and Corrupting’ Practice

House Democrats, and some Republicans as well, want to restore earmarks—taxpayer-funded special interest projects once dubbed “the gateway drug to federal spending addiction”—but Tom Schatz has a new tool to stop them.

“The earmark database is a potent reminder that the practice is costly, inequitable, and corrupting,” the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) president told The Epoch Times on April 21.

Earmarks are unique spending measures inserted, often anonymously, by individual senators and representatives in appropriations bills for parochial projects that frequently benefit a campaign donor, family member, or the member’s own financial interest such as real estate.

“From the $50 million for an indoor rainforest in Coralville, Iowa, in 2004; to the $25 million for the University of Alaska to study how to trap energy from the aurora borealis in 1993; and the $500,000 to restore the boyhood home of Lawrence Welk in Strasburg, ND, in the first Congressional Pig Book in 1991, the database has all 111,114 earmarks worth $359.8 billion that members of Congress have added with the taxpayers’ money for their own parochial purposes,” Schatz said.

The database is searchable by date, state, chamber of Congress, name of the sponsor, whether the funds requested exceeded the incumbent president’s budget request (if any), and the type of legislation that contained it. A brief description of the funded project is also included.

Today's News Updates

Earmarks first became significant in the 1960s when Democrats controlled the White House under President Lyndon Johnson and both chambers of Congress.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/citizens-against-government-waste-compiles-earmarks-database-as-potent-reminder-against-a-costly-inequitable-and-corrupting-practice_3321070.html

How Homeland Security And The FBI Are Spreading Fake News

The story about how DHS fans the flames of fear is nearly as old as the terror attacks of 9/11.

In 2014, an article in The Council on Foreign Relations revealed how DHS told a scared public that Al Qaida could weaponize Ebola and spread the virus across the country.

"At present, we have no credible information that ISIL is planning to attack the homeland of the United States, but that is not by any means the end of the story," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.

Fast forward 16 years and that same scenario is being played out again, except this time it is with the coronavirus.

Despite having no evidence that terrorists are weaponizing COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Director for Infrastructure Protection, Brian Harrell issued a nationwide alert, warning people that terrorists could purposefully infect grocery stores and gas stations with the coronavirus.

An ABC News article titled, "COVID-19 is changing potential terror targets; grocery stores, even testing sites should be vigilant" explained that since most businesses across the country are closed, terrorists 'could' decide to target grocery stores and gas stations.

"That’s why federal authorities want grocery stores, gas stations and even COVID-19 testing sites to know that they now could be targeted by terrorists determined to strike inside the U.S. homeland – even if such an event is unlikely."

Despite not having a shred of evidence to back up their claim, DHS’s latest Minister of Propaganda, Brian Harrell said, “now is the time to engage community businesses and other stakeholders to encourage vigilance and awareness.”

Asking law enforcement to remain vigilant during a pandemic is one thing; but it crosses the line when their mission appears to have changed to becoming harbingers of fear.

DHS has crossed the line of credibility and entered into the world of fake news by asking law enforcement to warn the public of potential COVID-19 grocery store and gas station attacks.

"On Friday, Harrell’s division within DHS, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, issued a nationwide notice saying, it is imperative that law enforcement be alert for potential individuals triggered by the pandemic to inflict further harm, and [that agencies] provide residents with information that can augment community safety and security.”

Two weeks ago, the FBI and DHS issued the same warning but in a less dramatic fashion.

https://youtu.be/gOVDAMxSY3M

http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-homeland-security-and-fbi-are.html

Forced Vaccination by the Medical Mafia or Informed Choice?

In the next 18 months, we could see an attempt at forced vaccination. You may not have much of a choice. Is this what you want? I certainly don’t.

And even worse, one may need a digital certificate that proves you have been vaccinated or you may not be allowed to renew a driver’s license or participate in many other public activities.

We need to rethink germ theory (I need to be afraid of and do something about bogeyman pathogens) and return to terrain theory (I need to take care of my body and be truly healthy). Terrain theory assumes responsibility for the environment in which pathogens can survive but thrive. Terrain theory is a movement towards taking full responsibility for the health or conditions we create in our bodies. A truly healthy terrain equals far less disease and health issues. Chinese medicine takes the side of terrain theory and personal responsibility. Western medicine large takes the side of germ theory and using drugs to simply manage issues, not getting to their root or encouraging people to deal with their diet, lifestyle and emotional factors.

We have been programmed to believe that pathogens are all out to get us and the ONLY solution offered by the mainstream media is a vaccine.

We also have been led to believe that vaccines are what lowered infection rates with regards to polio, measles, mumps, smallpox and other pathogenic diseases. But, it this really true? Could there be other reasons for the decline of such health issues? How would you know? You certainly have never been told this by the media or medical doctors.

Check out this website here to get the other side of the issue with regards to vaccines. This site outlines the other factors that were far more influential in stopping the spreading of acute infectious disease.

Let’s take a look at the massive downside of vaccines as it relates to autism. But this doesn’t just apply to autism, because a massive amount of other health issues can stem from damage caused by vaccines in the short and long run including by not limited to allergic reactions and increased allergies, malformations, auto-immune conditions, inflammatory responses, Well’s syndrome, developmental delay, and neurodevelopmental disorders, including tics, speech delay, language delay, attention deficit disorder, and many more.

In 1970 only 1 in 10,000 developed autism.

By 2020, it is 1 in 59, with some stating it might be as high as 1 in 35.

In 1950, 14 doses of 5 vaccines were given. Now, in 2020, 70 doses of 16 vaccines are administered.

Vaccines contain known poisons including Thimerisol (mercury), aluminum, aborted fetal cells, formaldehyde, and other toxic ingredients.

I understand that one cannot just simply say that vaccines are the direct cause of autism. But, why the exponential increase in autism in the last 60 years?! Other dietary and environmental factors exist. But, contrary to what you may have heard, the evidence is compelling, especially when the testing is not done by BigPharma. See for yourself below in the most trusted database for science-based medicine (Pubmed).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878266/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25377033

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24995277

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12145534

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22099159

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364648/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454560

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106436

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3774468/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697751/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21299355

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21907498

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17674242

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21993250

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15780490

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12933322

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16870260

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19043938

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675092

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2020/04/forced-vaccination-by-the-medical-mafia-or-informed-choice.html

Trump Instructs Treasury, Energy Depts to Devise Plan to Fund US Oil, Gas Industry

American businesses – especially in the petroleum sector – suffered a heavy blow due to the collapsing oil markets during the past week, as the global pandemic has resulted in a dramatic drop in crude oil prices around the world.

"We will never let the great US Oil & Gas Industry down. I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!" Trump said via Twitter.

The news comes as Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that there will be a deal between legislators on coronavirus funding. The upper chamber of the US Congress is expected to approve a bill on economic measures to curb the crisis later in the day.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202004211079043543-trump-instructs-treasury-energy-depts-to-devise-plan-to-fund-us-oil-gas-industry/

>>8875057

yep reminds me of that time LdR claimed she was here posting, said a similar thing

Police officer interrupts Mass, priest refuses to kick out 12 faithful

'It wasn’t human to send them out,' the parish priest later explained.

SONCINO, Italy, April 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Police interrupted a Mass celebrated with only 12 faithful present last Sunday in the northern Italian village of Soncino, close to Milan. A video shows a police officer talking to the priest, Don Lino Viola, right after the homily.

Moments later he returned, trying to get Viola to speak to the town’s mayor, who was on hold on the police officer’s the phone. However, the priest refused to bend to the will of the local authorities.

Cremona Oggi, a local online news outlet, spoke of “few faithful” present at the Mass, “only about fifteen, but still too many for the strict rules that have imposed the prohibition of religious celebrations and any other form of assembly.” Public Masses in Italy had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic back in March.

Mayor Gabriele Gallina said “it would have been enough” for Viola “to get the faithful out and continue the celebration.” However, the priest refused to do that.

The mayor explained that he had already talked to Viola on Sunday afternoon. “Nothing was broken, there is a good relationship between us, but it would have been enough to let the faithful go out, and perhaps everything would have gone smoothly.”

Don Lino Viola later clarified that there a grand total of 13 people were present in the church, including the priest. He pointed out that “six extra people” walked in while he was changing in the sacristy to get ready for Mass.

“They were a family who at that Mass commemorated some people who had died, plus a lady who had lost a relative to coronavirus two days earlier. It wasn’t human to send them out,” he emphasized.

The priest explained that the faithful were four meters apart from each other, even though most so-called social distancing guidelines only recommend about two meters, at most. Everybody was wearing masks.

While a fine of €280 was imposed on each of the faithful present for Mass, Viola told people not to pay. The priest, who was fined €680, said that “if anything, the parish will take care of it. I’m convinced that I haven’t created an assembly.”

He promised to talk to local authorities, specifically the Prefect of the Province of Cremona, “and I want to talk to a lawyer to understand if there hasn’t possibly been an abuse of power.”

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana pointed out that police entering the church building and interrupting the celebration of Mass might actually constitute a violation of international law between Italy and the Vatican.

The agreement states that “the public authority may not enter for the exercise of its duties in buildings open to worship without having given prior notice to the ecclesiastical authority,” unless there is an emergency.

Bishop Antonio Napolioni of Cremona did not support his priest. A statement issued by the diocese on Monday called out Viola for “failure to comply with current emergency regulations prohibiting the celebration of Mass in the presence of the faithful.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/watch-police-officer-interrupts-mass-priest-refuses-to-kick-out-12-faithful

A Government Against the People

The 24/7 intensified media coverage of the coronavirus story has meant that other news has either been ignored or relegated to the back pages, never to be seen again. The Middle East has been on a boil but coverage of the Trump administration’s latest moves against Iran has been so insignificant as to be invisible. Meanwhile closer to home, the declaration by the ubiquitous Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that current president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro is a drug trafficker did generate somewhat of a ripple, as did dispatch of warships to the Caribbean to intercept the alleged drugs, but that story also died.

Of more interest perhaps is the tale of the continued purge of government officials, referred to as “draining the swamp,” by President Donald Trump as it could conceivably have long-term impact on how policy is shaped in Washington. Prior to the virus partial lockdown, some of the impending shakeup within the intelligence community (IC) and Pentagon were commented on in the media, but developments since that time have been less reported, even when several inspectors-general were removed.

To be sure, Trump has good reason to hate the intelligence and national security community, which utterly rejected his candidacy and plotted to destroy both his campaign and, even after he was elected, his presidency. Whether one argues that what took place was due to a “Deep state” or Establishment conspiracy or rather just based on personal ambition by key players, the reality was that a number of top officials seem to have forgotten the oaths they swore to the constitution when it came to Donald Trump.

Be that as it may, beyond the musical chairs that have characterized the senior level appointments in the first three years of the Trump administration, there has been a concerted effort to remove “disloyal” members of the intelligence community, with disloyal generally being the label applied to holdovers from the Bush and Obama administrations. The February appointment of U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard “Ric” Grenell as interim Director of National Intelligence (DNI), a position that he will hold simultaneously with his ambassadorship, has been criticized from all sides due to his inexperience, history of bad judgement and partisanship. The White House is now claiming that he will be replaced by Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe after the interim appointment is completed.

Criticism of Grenell for his clearly evident deficiencies misses the point, however, as he is not in place to do anything constructive. He has already initiated a purge of federal employees in the White House and national security apparatus considered to be insufficiently loyal, an effort which has been supported by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Many career officers have been sent back to their home agencies while the new appointees are being drawn from the pool of neoconservatives that proliferated in the George W. Bush administration. Admittedly some prominent neocons like Bill Kristol have disqualified themselves for service with the new regime due to their vitriolic criticism of Trump the candidate, but many others have managed to remain politically viable by keeping their mouths shut during the 2016 campaign. To no one’s surprise, many of the new employees being brought in are being carefully vetted to make sure that they are passionate supporters of Israel.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/government-against-people/5710342

>>8875128

>Focus on diet and healthy immune system

Best advice ever!

Crooked Richard Burr Says He Stands by His Junk Report that Russia Interfered to Help Trump in 2016 Despite Recent Findings the Show the Opposite Took Place

This guy is as dumb as he is crooked.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) released another report on Tuesday with his buddy Mark Warner (D-VA) saying they stand with their junk reports that Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.

Richard Burr was recently accused of insider trading for dumping his hotel stocks before the coronavirus panic hit the US.

Burr is the same senator who harassed the Trump family and subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to testify in the junk Russia collusion hoax.

This horrible Republican senator also extended his bogus investigation of Russia collusion well into 2019 in order to abuse the Trump family, the Trump campaign and the Trump administration.

Earlier this month the DOJ released info that Comey’s FBI knew the Hillary Clinton-funded dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was bogus Russian disinformation — but they used it anyway to spy on Trump’s campaign.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/crooked-richard-burr-says-stands-junk-report-russia-interfered-help-trump-2016-despite-recent-findings-show-opposite-took-place/

1. WO2020060606 - CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA

CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA

BACKGROUND

[0001] A virtual currency (also known as a digital currency) is a medium of exchange implemented through the Internet generally, not tied to a specific government-backed “flat” (printed) currency such as the U.S. dollar or the Euro, and typically designed to allow instantaneous transactions and borderless transfer of ownership. One example of virtual currency is cryptocurrency, wherein cryptography is used to secure transactions and to control the creation of new units.

[0002] Several cryptocurrencies exist. Among these, the most well known is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Most blockchain-based cryptocurrency is decentralized in the sense that it has no central point of control. However, blockchain-based cryptocurrency can also be implemented in a centralized system having a central point of control over the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is one of the examples of blockchain-based cryptocurrency. It is described in a 2008 article by Satoshi Nakamoto, named“Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer

Electronic Cash System”.

[0003] A blockchain is a data structure that stores a list of transactions and can be thought of as a distributed electronic ledger that records transactions between source identifier(s) and destination identifier(s). The transactions are bundled into blocks and every block (except for the first block) refers back to or is linked to a prior block in the blockchain. Computer resources (or nodes, etc.) maintain the blockchain and cryptographically validate each new block and the transactions contained in the corresponding block. This validation process includes computationally solving a difficult problem that is also easy to verify and is sometimes called a“proof-of-work”. This process is referred to as“mining”. The mining may be a random process with low probability so that a lot of trial and error is required to solve a computationally difficult problem. Accordingly, the mining may require enormous amounts of computational energy.

[0004] It is with respect to these and other general considerations that the following embodiments have been described. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the embodiments should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background.

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020060606