Maryland governor says coronavirus tests acquired from South Korea under guard at undisclosed location to protect the tests from seizure by the federal government

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Thursday that thousands of coronavirus tests obtained by the state from South Korea are currently protected in an undisclosed location by the Maryland National Guard.

Asked in a Washington Post Live interview whether he was concerned the federal government would seize the tests, Hogan acknowledged “it was a little bit of a concern.”

“We spent about 22 days and nights dealing with this whole transaction with Korea. We dealt with the Korean Embassy, folks at the State Department … and our scientists on both sides trying to, you know, figure out these tests,” Hogan said, adding that he also coordinated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“And then at the last moment, I think 24 hours before, we got the sign-off from the FDA and Border and Customs, to try to make sure that we landed this plane safely," he continued.

Hogan said state officials ensured the plane landed at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport rather than Dulles International Airport in Virginia, noting that it was the first time a Korean Air passenger plane had landed at the airport.

“We landed it there with a large contingent of Maryland National Guard and Maryland State Police, because this was an enormously valuable payload. It was like Fort Knox to us, because it’s going to save the lives of thousands of our citizens,” Hogan continued.

Asked whether the National Guard was continuing to protect the tests from seizure, Hogan responded, “They are.”

“The National Guard and the State Police are both guarding these tests at an undisclosed location. These things are being distributed; they’re helping us distribute the tests," he said.

He also said that the National Guard was assisting the state in various other humanitarian efforts, including supply and personal protective equipment distribution.

Hogan’s decision reflects growing distrust between states seeking to outsource their own medical supplies and federal agencies.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) had a purchase of 3 million N95 masks confiscated by an unspecified federal agency at the Port of New York in March just as the state was in the process of acquiring another 1.2 million from China.

Baker ultimately relied on a private jet owned by the New England Patriots to transport the other 1.2 million masks that he purchased from China to Boston.

Two weeks later, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) arranged for two charter flights to transport millions of masks and gloves from China to Illinois, intentionally keeping the details of the flights secret from the Trump administration to avoid confiscation.

“It is true that the federal government seems to be interrupting supplies that are being sent elsewhere in the nation, and so I wanted to make sure that we received what we ordered,” Pritzker told reporters at an April 15 press conference.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/05/maryland-governor-says-coronavirus.html

White House Blocks Fauci From Testifying on COVID-19 Response - House Panel Spokesperson

The White House has blocked Dr Anthony Fauci, a senior health official on the Coronavirus Task Force, from testifying on the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, House Appropriations Committee spokesperson Evan Hollander said in a statement.

"The Appropriations Committee sought Dr Anthony Fauci as a witness at next week's Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee hearing on COVID-19 response", Hollander said as quoted by CNN on Friday. "We have been informed by an administration official that the White House has blocked Dr Fauci from testifying".

In a separate statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said it would be counterproductive to have Fauci testify before Congress while dealing with the ongoing battle against the pandemic.

"While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at Congressional hearings. We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time", Deere commented.

Fauci and Trump have contradicted each other at times when giving health advice to the US public amid the pandemic.

The doctor is also the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The United States, as of Friday evening, has 1,100,197 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and about 64,600 deaths caused by the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202005011079167123-white-house-blocks-fauci-from-testifying-on-covid-19-response—house-panel-spokesperson/

DARPA research lab designing ‘game changer’ rapid coronavirus blood test repurposed from BIOWEAPONS detection project

Germ warfare researchers at the Pentagon’s shadowy advanced projects unit have developed a new coronavirus test that could spot infected patients before they become contagious, originally created to diagnose victims of bioweapons.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says the new test may be capable of identifying infections within 24 hours, some four days prior to any of the test kits currently available, the Guardian reported on Friday. The rapid diagnosis could find carriers well before they show symptoms and become contagious, which typically occurs within two to 14 days after infection.

Initially designed to detect poisoning from biological and chemical weapons, the tests were hastily repurposed after the health crisis erupted late last year. Since they already employed the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines used to check standard coronavirus nasal swabs, the tests needed only “a simple tweak” to refocus them to Covid-19, according to Dr Eric Van Gieson, who helped to create the original bioweapons test.

Calling the project a potential “game changer” in combating the pandemic, the head of DARPA’s biological technologies office, Dr Brad Ringeisen, said the test could fill a “diagnostic gap worldwide” if it receives emergency approval from the FDA, which could happen as early as next week.

The test will look at the body’s immune response, rather than for the virus itself, which the researchers hope will detect infection faster than the nasal swabs available now. “Because the immune response to infection develops immediately after infection, a Covid signature is expected to provide more sensitive Covid infection diagnosis earlier,” said Stuart Sealfon, who heads up a team of scientists at Mount Sinai hospital in New York.

While the research – a collaboration between teams at Mount Sinai hospital, Princeton and Duke University – currently sits behind closed doors, it will eventually be published for review by other scientists. If the FDA grants the test emergency approval, it could be introduced in the US sometime later this month.

“We are all extremely excited,” Van Gieson said. “We want to roll this test out as quickly as we can, but at the same time share with others who might want to implement in their own countries.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/487603-darpa-bioweapons-research-coronavirus/

NYTimes, WashPo Reporting on Iran Read Like Neocon, State Dept Press Releases

Operating as imperial mouthpieces, US establishment media are hostile toward all sovereign independent nations on its target list for regime change.

They’re countries unwilling to sacrifice their sovereign rights to US interests.

Iran tops the list of Middle East nations Washington wants transformed into a vassal state — to gain control over its vast hydrocarbon resources and eliminate Israel’s main rival.

Ignoring endless US wars on humanity at home and abroad, and Iran’s regional peace, stability and mutual cooperation agenda, the NYT earlier turned truth on its head, falsely claiming

“Tehran uses religious arguments, anti-imperialist nationalism, and neo-Stalinist repression to ensure compliance (sic).”

The above reads like a State Department propaganda press release — published by the Times, consistent with its press agent services for the state.

The above characterization is polar opposite how Iran operates, abhorrent of endless wars, related violence, and repression in all forms.

They’re US, NATO, Israeli specialties, including atrocities, what the Times and other establishment media consistently ignore — blaming victims of US high crimes for what’s committed against them.

Despite US war on Iran by other means, notably Trump’s sanctions war and medical terrorism, the Islamic Republic is way outdoing the US in combating COVID-19.

The US leads the world with over 960,000 outbreaks and around 55,000 deaths because of Trump regime failings in dealing with the coronavirus, notably his regime’s indifference toward the health and welfare of ordinary people at home and abroad.

On Saturday, Iranian deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi announced significant progress in containing COVID-19 outbreaks, saying the following:

“There is a declining trend in corona disease in most provinces, and this has been the result of effective actions by the people and the government.”

Outbreaks are 50% below their peak numbers, deaths down about 70%, remarkable results given enormous US imposed obstacles on the country, its ruling authorities and people.

Overall, nations illegally sanctioned by the US are more successful than the world’s richest country in containing and dealing with coronavirus outbreaks.

https://russia-insider.com/en/media-criticism/nytimes-washpo-reporting-iran-read-neocon-state-dept-press-releases/ri29977

Remdesivir approved for emergency use for Covid-19 treatment in US despite lackluster clinical trials

The antiviral drug remdesivir has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use for Covid-19 treatment, despite mixed clinical results and lingering scientific questions.

Remdesivir, made exclusively by Gilead, received FDA approval for emergency use on Friday after appearing to show clinical benefit in a single trial conducted by the National Institute for Allergy and Infections Disease (NIAID). Gilead has pledged to donate 1.5 million doses of the drug, and the stockpile currently on hand will be distributed to hospitals starting on Monday, according to Vice President Mike Pence.

FDA commissioner Steve Gottlieb called the drug an “important clinical advance.” Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House’s coronavirus task force, gushed that it was “the first positive step forward” in treating Covid-19.

Emergency drug approval differs from full FDA approval in that it is only valid while the emergency declaration - in this case, the coronavirus pandemic - remains in effect. Remdesivir is not the first drug to receive such approval for treating Covid-19 - the malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were approved on an emergency basis in late March. While their use remains controversial due to the vocal support of President Donald Trump, doctors in other countries (and even in the US) have anecdotally reported success in treating patients with the malaria pills in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, though clinical trials have produced mixed results.

While the results of the NIAID’s remdesivir trial reported on Wednesday were reportedly positive, indicating a 31 percent faster recovery time, the full data has not been publicly released, let alone peer-reviewed. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the NIAID, nevertheless cheered the drug as having a “clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.” He insisted the drug “can block this virus” and suggested that no further studies with placebos were needed, declaring that scientists had an “ethical obligation” to let those receiving the sugar pills have access to the active drug - no further comparison needed.

https://www.rt.com/usa/487596-remdesivir-approved-fda-testing/

>>8994624

Probably tainted with false positive, hiding them so they don't get busted

The (Almost) Debunking of Christopher Steele, Stopped By Bill Priestap

The FBI’s former head of the Counterintelligence Division, Bill Priestap, whose unsealed notes discussed the FBI’s possible motivations for setting up then-National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, is also allegedly responsible for stopping FBI Special Agents from doing an ‘enhanced asset validation review’ of the former British spy, whose now debunked dossier launched the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign, sources with knowledge told this reporter.

On Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered four pages of emails and handwritten notes to be unsealed in the case of Flynn. Then, on Thursday, another 11 pages of internal text messages and emails between FBI Special Agents were unsealed by the court, after they were discovered by U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea, as well as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen, who was appointed by Attorney General William Barr to oversee the Flynn case.

The January 2017 handwritten notes by Priestap suggested that the FBI was targeting Flynn and, in the notes, Priestap writes, “what is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

Priestap could not be immediately reached for comment.

In Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December report on the origins of the Russia investigation, he revealed that it was Priestap who made the final decision to launch the Russia probe. The FBI probe against the Trump campaign was called “Crossfire Hurricane,” and in the case of Flynn it was “Crossfire Razor.” After years of congressional and Department of Justice investigations, evidence revealed that former British spy Christopher Steele, who was paid by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign to investigate Trump, had purveyed Russian disinformation and made up sources in his now debunked dossier. Horowitz’s investigation also revealed that Steele had been manipulated by Russian intelligence, who had fed him lies about the Trump administration with the specific intent to sow chaos in the 2016 U.S. election.

Normally an enhanced validation review in the FBI is triggered “if a source is paid more than $100,000 per year for information, or the source’s information is so critical that it can shape national policy or trigger some sort of diplomatic or military action. In this case, an enhanced validation of Steele would have been the appropriate course of action given the fact that this had the potential to impact our Presidential election. In this context, it becomes very questionable as to why Priestap would shut it down,” said the former senior FBI official.

The biggest question raised by Horowitz and members of Congress was how did Steele’s dossier become the main piece of evidence used to gather a secret warrant on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, and why did the FBI believe the information? Horowitz’s investigation revealed that the FBI never bothered to conduct an asset validation on Steele and according to the former FBI official, who spoke to this reporter, it was Priestap who insured that they didn’t do it.

https://saraacarter.com/the-almost-debunking-of-christopher-steele-stopped-by-bill-priestap/

Back to the Future: ‘Evil Communist’ Bogeyman Returns

U.S. pundits and politicians have with gusto taken to dusting off an old bogeyman – “evil communism” – in reference to China over the Covid-19 pandemic. Such retrograde rhetoric shows how politically bankrupt Washington is.

Leading the charge is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who hardly ever now refers to China simply as “China” in media interviews. He continually and feverishly equates the nation with the “Chinese Communist Party”. In recent weeks, going by the number of times the word “communist” has been heard across U.S. media one would be forgiven for thinking that we have been transported back to the Red Baiting days of the Cold War ca. 1950-60.

Fox News, the pro-Trump, rightwing Murdoch-owned channel, is the premier platform for this China bashing. Its hosts and guests are painting “communist China” as the “evil of our time”. Pompeo and other obsessed anti-China hawks like Senators Lyndsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, or Trump aides like Peter Navarro and former aide Steve Bannon, are given free rein to spout rhetorical venom demonizing China. The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have unleashed pent-up hostility that was already lurking in Washington.

It’s like watching a political parody of the sci-fi movie ‘Back to the Future’. Though the present real-life rendition is far from funny. The Cold War reboot against China is careening in a dreadful direction towards open conflict.

It seems obvious what is happening. President Donald Trump and his administration are scapegoating China for the social and economic disaster that the U.S. has incurred from the Covid-19 pandemic. With more than 63,000 American deaths in a matter of two months, over a million people infected – a third of the world’s total – and at least 30 million unemployed, the Trump administration is seeking to blame China rather than be held to account for its own failings and gross incompetence.

This week President Trump is pushing even harder on accusations that China is responsible for the disaster. He is trying to line up a legal case to make China pay enormous reparations, perhaps trillions of dollars. To this end, Trump is touting a conspiracy that the novel coronavirus which causes the deadly Covid-19 disease was released from a laboratory in Wuhan, near the city where the outbreak first emerged in December. Trump assured U.S. media that he has seen evidence to back up his charges, but he refuses to provide details. There are now reports that his administration is pressuring U.S. intelligence agencies to find a link between the virus and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Echoes there of the 2003 Iraq War and the non-existent WMD farce.)

What’s even more incendiary is that Trump is insinuating that the Chinese government deliberately spread the disease as a political weapon to undermine his presidency. He claimed this week that China favors Democrat presidential contender Joe Biden and that Beijing “will do anything” to thwart Trump’s re-election in November.

This is insane politics. For, make no mistake, Trump is on a cynical, perilous path towards war with China. The accusations against China are preposterous. His conspiracy theory has been debunked by international scientific assessment. The virus was an unfortunate natural accident that happened to emerge in China. But if somehow U.S. intelligence implicates Chinese responsibility, as Trump is gunning for, then the agenda for “punishing” Beijing will become implacable. China, which claims it is a victim of disinformation, will not tolerate the audacious baseless attack on its vital interests.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/01/back-to-the-future-evil-communist-bogeyman-returns/

“Black People Get Executed by Police Just for Existing” – Unhinged Democrat Rashida Tlaib Attacks Police Because White People Carry Guns in Lansing

Hundreds of aprotesters turned out in Lansing Thursday to protest the tyrannical policies by the Democrat governor.

Many of the armed protesters later entered the Michigan Capitol.

The protesters were carrying guns but were not wearing masks.

And they didn’t appear to follow the governor’s social distancing orders either.

Following the protest Detroit Democrat Rashida Tlaib lashed out at police? Because, why not?

Rashida Tlaib: Black people get executed by police for just existing, while white people dressed like militia members carrying assault weapons are allowed to threaten State Legislators and staff.

📣Our gun laws are so broken.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/black-people-get-executed-police-just-existing-unhinged-democrat-rashida-tlaib-attacks-police-white-people-carry-guns-lansing/

>>8995211

kek