#11574

>>9041769 British Scientist Neil Ferguson, Whose Wildly Wrong Coronavirus Model Prompted US, UK Lockdowns, Resigns After Caught Breaking Social Distancing Rules With Married Lover

>>9041773 Coronavirus testing kits heading to the UK found to be contaminated with Covid-19

>>9041811 Yet Another University Shuts Down Chinese Communist Party-Funded Confucious Institute

>>9041911 Biden Voted to Block Creation of Senate Office That Handles Sexual Harassment Complaints

>>9042007 Tanzania has suspended the head of its national health laboratory in charge of coronavirus testing, a day after President John Magufuli questioned the accuracy of the tests.

>>9042151 Politicians Have Destroyed Markets and Ignored Human Rights with Alarming Enthusiasm Ron Paul

>>9042174 Matt Gaetz urges William Barr to ground Chinese-made drones over possible data transmission to China

>>9042233 HSI partners with Pfizer, 3M, Citi, Alibaba, Amazon, Merck to protect consumers against COVID-19-related fraud

>>9042419 Ahead of 2020 election, Facebook bans accounts linked to QAnon

NOT NOTABLES

Researcher Close To ‘Very Significant Findings’ In Coronavirus Study Killed In Murder-Suicide

A University of Pittsburgh researcher that was close to “making very significant findings” in his coronavirus studies was killed in a murder-suicide, numerous sources reported.

Bing Liu, 37, was found dead in his home in Ross Township, near Pittsburgh, May 2. Police found Liu with apparent gunshot wounds in his head, neck and torso. According to KDKA News, police ruled his death to be a homicide.

A second man who police believe Liu knew was also found dead in his car near Liu’s home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police have not yet released a motive.

Liu was a research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where scientists were making strides in developing a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus, according to the Pharmacy Times.

“Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie SARS-CoV-2 infection and the cellular basis of the following complications. We will make an effort to complete what he started in an effort to pay homage to his scientific excellence,” the Computational and Systems Biology department’s site said.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/05/university-of-pittsburgh-medical-school-researcher-killed-murder-suicide-bing-liu-coronavirus/

>>9042579

Bakers union are hasbara

Gun Sales Amid Coronavirus Pandemic Spike 71% In April

Have gun, will shelter in place.

With Americans hunkered down in their homes for a second straight month, gun sales have soared. Sales in April rose 71.3% from the previous year, with the purchase of more than 1.7 million firearms.

An estimated 1,797,910 guns were sold in April 2020, but sales in March, when most states locked down Americans, 2,583,238 firearms were sold. That was 85.3 percent more than the previous year, according to data released late Monday by Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting.

Gun checks are also soaring. The week of April 13-19 was in the 10 highest weeks since the tracking system was set up in November 1998. During that week in April, the FBI conducted 766,739 checks.

“This shows us there is continued appetite among Americans to be able to provide for their own safety during times of uncertainty,” said Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, although his organization found the numbers rose by 69.1% in April. “These are buyers who have witnessed their governments empty prisons… Police departments are stretched beyond capacity in many cases. Law-abiding Americans recognize this and exercising their right to own a gun and defend themselves and their loved ones,” he told Fox Business.

The report comes as more Americans are being forced to hunt for their own meat. Meat plants have been forced to halt operations over the coronavirus outbreak and shortages are spreading across the country.

“People are starting to consider self-reliance and where their food comes from,” Hank Forester of Quality Deer Management Association told the New York Post, adding that he believes there will be a hunting resurgence as grocery store shelves continue to go bare.

At least three major meat producers — Tyson Foods, JBS USA and Smithfield Foods — have shut down more than dozen plants across the U.S.

Oliva recently told Fox Business that during the virus, “Americans want to know they can provide for their own safety and the safety of their loved ones.”

“Our rights don’t end during a pandemic,” he said. “In fact, the need for responsible and law-abiding adults to exercise their rights is magnified.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying to use the virus as cover for dismantling the Second Amendment.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/gun-sales-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-spike-71-april/

>>9042630

>>9042630

Jews are evil

>>9042671

he says all kinds of shit that never happens

>>9042677

fuck you

You guys are just mad as I call you out for your bullshit

Only cabal puppets call me that

The Feds Are Already Investigating Wells Fargo For Botching Small Business Relief Program

From the moment Secretary Mnuchin laid out the White House's plan to use banks and credit unions as the intermediary to dole out the hundreds of billions of dollars in "emergency liquidity" approved as part of the virus bailout, we anticipated a wild ride ahead. And when the administration begged the biggest banks to keep the taps running at the expense of rooting out fraud, we knew that, too, was bound to end poorly.

The result? The PPP successfully doled out the funds, though whether the businesses that received them actually needed the money isn't really clear. And just hours after the DoJ filed the first fraud charges tied to the program against two middle-aged small business owners from Rhode Island, we suspected it was only a matter of time before the administration renegged on its promise and threw the bankers under the bus.

It was actually only a matter of hours, because as Wells Fargo revealed Tuesday afternoon, the Feds are already digging around for a Wall Street scapegoat, and where better to start than the bank that has become almost synonymous with "consumer banking fraud and abuse"

In its 10-Q, Wells reported the following under "Legal Actions":

Plaintiffs have filed putative class actions in state and federal court in Texas, California, and Colorado against the Company. The actions seek damages and injunctive relief related to the Company’s offering of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The Company has also received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans.

The more cynical among us couldn't help but laugh.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/feds-are-already-investigating-wells-fargo-botching-small-business-relief-program

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt claims he can link tech & defense, but he’s just a civilian dilettante who doesn't get reality of war

The former CEO of Google claims he can improve the US military’s integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations. But is AI the panacea Schmidt claims? And if so, is he the person best suited to lead the way?

In a culture known for complex problems and inherent inefficiencies, the US military would seem ideally suited for the kind of cutting-edge solutions offered by the emergence of computer-driven artificial intelligence (AI).

The US military – like its counterparts in China, Russia, India and elsewhere – has, over the course of the past decade, invested heavily in research and development projects designed to bring AI to the battlefield in support of intelligence collection and analysis, logistical support, autonomous warfighting capabilities, healthcare, and cybersecurity. Indeed, in this computer-driven age, there isn’t an aspect of military operations where AI hasn’t been investigated as a potential enhancement.

While the US military hasn’t ignored AI and its utility, Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, believes it has done so in a highly inefficient manner. And he is convinced he is the man who can best help the US military solve its AI challenges.

The arrogance and hubris exhibited by Schmidt – who has never served in the military and as such is unfamiliar with the ethos, culture and operational realities associated with organizing, training and leading millions of men and women for war – has rubbed some senior US military officers the wrong way. However, his wonkish approach to problem solving, combined with the inherent attractiveness of technology-driven solutions, has found an audience within the ranks of the civilian component of the US defense establishment, who have invited Schmidt to sit on several advisory boards involved in the pursuit of AI-driven solutions to military problem sets.

Past attempts to incorporate Schmidt’s digital-centric philosophies into realms driven by the human condition have proven inchoate. In 2013, Schmidt co-authored a book, ‘The New Digital Age’, with Jared Cohen. Cohen had helped spearhead an effort built around a soft-power philosophy known as ‘digital democracy’, where the US sought to exploit perceived digital commonalities (ie. the integration of social media platforms, use of electronic and computer-driven communications and, most telling, the notion that these digital interfaces exposed the youth of foreign societies to American culture, and as such ingrained a predilection for American values that supplanted those of their own cultures and societies) for the purpose of altering the political makeup of areas such as the Middle East.

‘Digital democracy’ drove the US’ support of the Iranian opposition in 2009, the Arab Spring movement of 2010, and the so-called Syrian revolution of 2011. The failure of ‘digital democracy’ to bring about the desired change highlights the risks associated with seeking to digitally manipulate human emotions and values.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/487846-eric-schmidt-us-military-ai-google/

Pence: White House Looking to Disband Coronavirus Task Force by Early June; Fauci Kept Out of the Loop

Vice President Mike Pence told reporters Tuesday the White House is looking at disbanding the coronavirus task force by early June. The task force was created by President Donald Trump on January 29 and was initially led by HHS Secretary Alexander Azar. Pence was named by Trump on February 26 to lead the revamped task force as the threat from the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus grew.

Leading task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci was not informed of the discussions to disband the task force according to CBS News reporter Paula Reid, “Just spoke with Dr. Anthony Fauci and he says #coronavirus task force is not winding down. “That’s not true, I’ve been in every task force meeting, and that’s not what they are doing.” #COVID19″

“At the moment @VP Pence was telling reporters his goal is to wind down the coronavirus task force by Memorial Day, Dr. Anthony Fauci was on the phone with @PaulaReidCBS saying he’d heard no such thing …”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/pence-white-house-looking-disband-coronavirus-task-force-early-june-fauci-kept-loop/

Supposed Reason Behind SouthFront’s Ban On Facebook Revealed

On April 5, Facebook released a that includes the supposed (formal) reason for the censorship of SouthFront’s work. In its “April 2020 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report”, Facebook claimed that the big international team of SouthFront authors and experts work to “mislead” the audience and exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to do so.

“We know that people looking to mislead others — whether through phishing, scams, or influence operations — try to leverage crises to advance their goals, and the coronavirus pandemic is no different. All of the networks we took down for CIB in April were created before the COVID-19 pandemic began, however, we’ve seen people behind these campaigns opportunistically use coronavirus-related posts among many other topics to build an audience and drive people to their Pages or off-platform sites. The majority of the networks we took down this month were still trying to grow their audience or had a large portion of engagement on their Pages generated by their own accounts.

…

We removed 46 Pages, 91 Facebook accounts, 2 Groups, and 1 Instagram account. This network posted in Russian, English, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Serbian, Georgian, Indonesian and Farsi, focusing on a wide range of regions around the world. Our investigation linked this activity to individuals in Russia, the Donbass region in Ukraine and two media organizations in Crimea — NewsFront and SouthFront. We found this network as part of our internal investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region,” the report claims.

The claims that SouthFront exploits the COVID-19 pandemic to push some kind of disinformation (misleading coverage) as well as that our international team of authors is based in Crimea are blatant lie. In order to push this claim, the Facebook report put SouthFront near another organization with alike name “News Front”. We took a look at this media and it’s in fact based in Crimea (contrary to SouthFront).

There is no secret in the fact that a few members of SouthFront are from Russia and other post-USSR states. Some of them sometimes visit or spend some time in Crimea, especially in the summer. This does not mean that SouthFront, as an international team of independent authors and experts, is based in Crimea or the SouthFront Steering Committee is located in Crimea. This is a blatant lie and we are ready to prove this in the court.

As to the COVID-19 accusations, apparently, the Facebook report meant 3 articles (of about 3,000 released since the start of 2020) that recently were mentioned by pro-NATO propaganda units. Tomorrow, we will publish a detailed look at these articles and their critique.

In spite of the false claims in the Facebook report, we want to say a big thank you to Mark Zuckerberg and his team for the explanation of the social network’s actions. We hope that other global social platforms and their staff still have at least a little bit of sense, conscience and an objective perception of the reality.

Sincerely yours,

The big team of SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence

https://southfront.org/supposed-reason-behind-southfronts-ban-on-facebook-revealed/