'Had One on Before': Trump Flaunts Rules, Refuses to Wear Mask While Touring Michigan Plant - Video

US President Donald Trump refused to wear a mask during a Thursday tour of the Ford facility in Michigan, ignoring the rules of the facility and the state's executive order.

"I had one on before… but I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it," Trump is quoted as saying in response to criticism. Trump also said that it was "not necessary" for him to be wearing a mask because he was tested for the novel coronavirus this morning.

The Ford facility is producing ventilators and personal protective equipment amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

This is not the first time that Trump has been criticized for not wearing a mask in public settings. In early May, Trump was criticized for failing to wear a mask while touring a Honeywell facility in Phoenix, Arizona, which manufactures N-95 respirators for health care workers.

Trump sported goggles during the tour but left his face bare, despite the fact that signs around the facility clearly state that masks are required, according to reporters who were present. However, an administration official said to reporters that Honeywell had told officials they weren’t required to wear masks while touring the facility.

Trump previously said during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing that he couldn’t see himself wearing a mask while meeting with “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens.”

US Vice President Mike Pence also received widespread criticism after not wearing a mask during his April 28 visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to learn more about COVID-19 testing as part of his White House Coronavirus Task Force duties.

Photos and videos of Pence visiting the clinic without a mask were widely circulated on Twitter, showing other people, including US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and US Representative Jim Hagedorn (R-MN) all wearing masks. Pence later admitted that he should have worn a mask and did wear one during a later trip to a ventilator plant.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202005211079379459-trump-flaunts-rules-refuses-to-wear-mask-while-touring-ford-plant/

Beijing Has Finally Run Out Of Patience With Hong Kong

Update (1430ET): After China's National Congress adopted a resolution calling for a new National Security law in Hong Kong, the SCMP spoke with a party insider to offer a more detailed account of how we arrived at this point, where Beijing is finally moving the pieces into place to justify a violent crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

Unsurprisingly, Beijing has given up on the idea that Hong Kong can be reformed from within, and that changes to the city-state's "Basic Law" to impose mainland-style censorship and political repression won't ever be undertaken voluntarily.

According to a mainland source familiar with Hong Kong affairs, Beijing had come to the conclusion that it was impossible for the city’s Legislative Council to pass a national security law to enact Article 23 of the city’s Basic Law given the political climate. This was why it was turning to the NPC to take on the responsibility.

Article 23 of the city’s mini-constitution requires the Hong Kong government to enact its own national security law prohibiting acts of “treason, secession, sedition, or subversion”.

“Some opposition politicians have shut the window for Hong Kong to enact its own national security law,” the mainland source said, citing the confrontational approach they had adopted towards Beijing.

“If the national security legislation is not done during the annual session of the NPC or shortly afterwards, is there any guarantee that it can be passed by the Legco in the next two years?

“We can no longer allow acts like desecrating national flags or defacing of the national emblem in Hong Kong."

Notably -as we touched upon earlier - this is all happening at a critical time, as the US has until the end of May to certify HK's "autonomy" under a recent law that has made certain economic and financial links enjoyed by Hong Kong dependent on this certification.

The US has until the end of this month to certify Hong Kong’s autonomy under the Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019. It will make an assessment on whether Hong Kong remains suitably autonomous from China, a prerequisite for extending the city’s preferential US trading and investment privileges.

In preparation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday slammed China for crackdowns on Hong Kong dissidents, including Jimmy Lai.

Earlier this week, Pompeo seriously angered Beijing by congratulating Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen following her latest electoral victory - and unprecedented move.

• • *

Update (1120ET): As expected, Chinese state media reported Thursday that lawmakers are reviewing the resolution described below, WSJ reports.

China signaled it will impose new national-security laws on Hong Kong, dealing a blow to the territory’s autonomy as Beijing seeks to stamp out widespread pro-democracy protests that have challenged leader Xi Jinping.

Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for China’s rubber-stamp legislature, which begins meeting on Friday, said lawmakers will review a resolution targeting what he called “secessionist and subversive” activity, foreign interference and terrorism in the city, where millions of people have marched over the past year in opposition to the Communist Party.

The surprise move is likely to send shock waves through a city in the throes of an antigovernment movement and a decimated economy.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijing-legalizes-persecution-hong-kongs-pro-democracy-movement-new-national-security

Pelosi: “Vote-by-Mail is More Democratic” Than Voting in Person with Photo ID (VIDEO)

It is obvious the Democrats are using the Coronavirus as an excuse to push for mail-in ballots rather than in-person voting in an effort to steal the 2020 election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has repeatedly tried to sneak in federal ballot harvesting laws into several of the Coronavirus stimulus bills.

Pelosi is now trying to shove a $3.6 billion ‘vote-by-mail’ proposal into the latest Coronavirus stimulus bill.

“First of all, we’re now calling it ‘Voting at Home’ because that’s really what it’s all about, enabling people to vote at home,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. “And in the legislation we have additional funds, $3.6 billion, which is what is necessary for us to conduct an election.”

Pelosi said that voting by mail, with no chain of custody, is “more democratic” than voting in person with photo ID.

This isn’t about keeping people ‘safe’ during a pandemic. This is about stealing the 2020 election with voter fraud.

The state of Michigan announced it is mailing absentee ballot applications to all 7.7 million registered voters.

President Trump threatened to withhold funding to Michigan if they “want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/pelosi-vote-mail-democratic-voting-person-photo-video/

Gov. Tom Wolf: Pennsylvania Cannot Return to Normal Without ‘Foolproof’ Vaccine

Pennsylvania cannot fully return to normal until a “foolproof” vaccine is available, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said on Wednesday.

When asked if the return of large events are contingent on a vaccination, Wolf said Pennsylvanians need to be confident that the novel coronavirus is under control and treatable. He said he believes it will take a vaccine or “some assurance that they’re not going to get sick” to attend big events, go shopping, and return to school.

“Ultimately I think what it’s going to take for everybody to feel safe going to a Penn State game or a basketball game is that they have some confidence that they’re not going to get sick by being in close contact with somebody else,” Wolf said, noting that the state is focusing on testing and contact tracing.

“I think that’s what it’s going to take to really get our economy back to normal, and I really think that can’t happen fully, 100 percent until we have a vaccine that is foolproof,” Wolf said. “That’s my own stance.”

Two other Democrat governors have also hinged their hopes of future normalcy on the development and availability of a vaccine.

“Until a proven vaccine is widely available, we cannot firmly enter the ‘new normal,’ when life will once again return to all our workplaces, downtowns, and main streets,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) stated bluntly on Monday:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/21/gov-tom-wolf-pennsylvania-cannot-return-normal-without-foolproof-vaccine/

Trump Criticizes ‘Garbage’ Fox News Employees, Says Network Isn’t Helping Him Win Reelection

President Donald Trump again went after Fox News Channel in tweets Thursday, saying that network isn’t helping Republicans get re-elected and is a net negative for him.

“Many will disagree, but @FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd,” Trump said.

“Sure, there are some truly GREAT people on Fox, but you also have some real “garbage” littered all over the network, people like Dummy Juan Williams, Schumerite Chris … Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others,” the president continued.

“They repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points, and lies. All of the good is totally nullified, and more. Net Result = BAD! CNN & MSDNC are all in for the Do Nothing Democrats! Fox WAS Great!”

Trump went after Fox earlier this week after on air personality Neil Cavuto criticized his use of hydroxychloroquine.

Following Cavuto’s statement, Trump announced that he was “Looking for a new outlet!”

In December, Trump criticized the company, saying that it would “die” along with other establishment media outlets.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/21/trump-fox-news-garbage-reelection-republicans/

Pennsylvania Republicans Torch ‘Petty Tyrants’ Tom Wolf, Rachel Levine over Nursing Homes

Pennsylvania congressional Democrats remain silent on Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) decision to put coronavirus-infected patients in nursing homes, while Pennsylvania Republicans chastised the governor for endangering the state’s elderly in exclusive statements to Breitbart News.

Wolf, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) have all received intense backlash for forcing nursing homes to accept coronavirus-infected patients.

At least partly due to the order, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania have three of the four highest deaths in long-term care facilities, or nursing homes.

Wolf came under such controversy that he said on Monday that he would be open to a federal investigation into this administration’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in nursing homes.

Breitbart News wrote about how New York and New Jersey congressional Democrats have remained silent on their governors’ decision to mandate that long-term care facilities host coronavirus patients.

Breitbart News sent comment requests to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, House and Senate, and Democrats have ignored the request for comment.

The Pennsylvania Democrats that ignored the comment request include:

Bob Casey

Brendan Boyle

Dwight Evans

Madeleine Dean

Mary Scanlon

Chrissy Houlahan

Susan Wild

Matt Cartwright

Conor Lamb

Mike Doyle

Several Pennsylvania Republicans chided Wolf for endangering some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) told Breitbart News, “It is clear that aggressive measures should have been taken in Pennsylvania to protect nursing home residents and prevent outbreaks in long-term care facilities, particularly in those the PA Department of Health knew were ill-equipped to control the spread of the virus.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) called for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to investigate the governor’s handling of the coronavirus last week.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/21/exclusive-pennsylvania-republicans-torch-petty-tyrants-tom-wolf-rachel-levine-over-nursing-homes/

Secret Closing 250 Stores After Company Suffers a $275.2 Million Quarterly Loss

Victoria’s Secret will permanently close around 250 stores in the U.S. and Canada in 2020, parent company L Brands announced Wednesday.

The company made the announcement Wednesday in their first-quarter fiscal report.

The parent company L Brands has said it plans to spin-off Bath & Body Works and operate Victoria’s Secret as a standalone business. L Brands was founded in 1963 by Leslie H. Wexner in Columbus, Ohio. Wexner was the only known client of disgraced money manager Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019.

The company has been hard hit by the economic turmoil of the coronavirus. Nearly all of its stores in the U.S. closed in March and those that will reopen are not expected to open until July.

L Brands said its overall sales for the three months ended May 2 fell 37 percent compared with a year ago. Gross profit fell 59 percent. The company lost $275.2 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $40.3 a year ago. Profits per share were down 807 percent for a loss of 99 cents per share.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/05/21/victorias-secret-closing-250-stores/

Coronavirus Overkill, as Stats, New Facts Belie Panic

Stay home, stay away from strangers, shut down the schools and for God’s sake, whatever happens, do not touch plastic or stainless steel. That was COVID-19, April.

Now? A few hop, skip and jump days later? Oops. Oopsies. Oppose-daisies.

“Coronavirus ‘does not spread easily’ by touching surfaces or objects, CDC now says,” one USA Today headline read.

How embarrassing.

Or, if you’re a small business owner or one of the 33 million, err, 35 million, err 36 million put out of work by government’s forced closures due to COVID-19 — how #$(&&*%! unbelievable.

It was just April, after all, when the news headlines rang loud and panicky about a study from The Lancet Microbe that showed the virus was a pesky little thing that clung stubbornly to all kinds of stuff people touched daily, particularly plastic.

“Researchers behind the new study tested the virus’ life span in a 71-degree-Fahrenheit room at 65% relative humidity,” Business Insider wrote in April. “After three hours, the virus had disappeared from printing and tissue paper. It took two days for it to leave wood and cloth fabric. After four days, it was no longer detectable on glass or paper money. It lasted the longest, seven days, on stainless steel and plastic.”

It’s quite a different tune, circa May.

As Fox News wrote, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now finds the coronavirus “does not spread easily” by “touching surfaces or objects.” Still, in the next breath, the CDC also says, the spread of the coronavirus by the touching of surfaces “may be possible.” Confused?

Mea culpa, CDC says.

Oh, and oh yeah, here’s another update-slash-course-correction-in-science: The coronavirus doesn’t spread from animals to people, either. Or from people to animals.

“COVOD-19 is a new disease and we are still learning about how it spreads,” the agency excused itself, in a website update.

The CDC recommends; the medical bureaucrats concur; the government clamps down; the American people panic and suffer. The damage to America’s economy goes on; the destruction to America’s Constitution continues..

“[T]wo cats in New York have tested positive for the coronavirus,” Market Watch reported May 14. “The cats are also believed to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the US Department of Agriculture and the CDC told the Associated Press.

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/21/coronavirus-overkill-as-stats-new-facts-belie-panic/

Central Bank Digital Currencies On the Way

Six countries have digital currency pilot programs in place. Canada is in development mode while the US lags.

The Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker shows the evolution towards central bank sponsored digital currencies.

Nearly 80% of central banks are engaged in work related to national digital currencies, according to a 2020 Bank of International Settlements survey.

Last month, China announced a pilot project of its digital Yuan in four cities. This month, the US is considering implementing a digital dollar.

Digital Currencies are Coming

There are advantages to digital currencies especially in terms of payments.

But the push for digital currencies is also nefarious. Once cash is banned, governments can and will track every penny of every person 100% of the time.

And I do expect a ban on cash, starting with Sweden.

Once in place, digital currencies open up new avenues of control especially in regards to negative interest rates and wealth taxes.

https://www.thestreet.com/mishtalk/economics/central-bank-digital-currencies-on-the-way

Ohio Declares Racism a Public Health Crises Because 33% of COVID-19 Victims Are Black

https://governmentslaves.news/2020/05/21/ohio-declares-racism-a-public-health-crises-because-33-of-covid-19-victims-are-black/

Jerusalem Mayor Lion says Reform Jews can’t pray together at Western Wall

Mayor tells Kol Barama radio station 'there is no place holier than the Kotel'

Reform Jews should not be able to pray together at the Western Wall, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said on Thursday, causing consternation in several quarters.

Lion was speaking on the ultra-Orthodox Kol Barama radio station and was asked his position on the dispute over access to the Kotel for non-Orthodox Jews.

“There is no place holier than the Western Wall,” claimed Lion, although the Temple Mount itself and not the Western Wall is considered the holiest site in Judaism.

Asked what he thought about the “Reformers,” an ultra-Orthodox phrase connoting any stream of progressive Judaism, seeking to pray in mixed gender, egalitarian prayer services at the holy site, Lion replied “not at the Western Wall.”

Leader of the Opposition and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid condemned Leon’s comments, saying “the times in which Jews are told where it is permitted to pray are over.”

There is no provision for egalitarian prayer services at the central Western Wall plaza, although there is a non-Orthodox prayer area at the southern end of the site where Reform and Conservative Jews frequently conduct prayer services and religious celebrations.

The Reform and Conservative movements, together with the Women of the Wall prayer rights organization, have sought to turn that area into a state-recognized prayer space and part of the Western Wall holy site, but the ultra-Orthodox and hard-line religious-Zionist parties forced the government to indefinitely suspend an agreement to do so during the last government.

Women of the Wall condemned Lion’s comments, saying they demonstrated “ignorance and a lack of inclusivity toward the biggest Jewish denomination in the world.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/jerusalem-mayor-lion-says-non-orthodox-cant-pray-together-at-western-wall-628882

Likud ups attacks on legal establishment ahead of trial

Anti-Netanyahu groups plan “guerrilla activities” near court

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest allies in Likud and his family escalated their criticism of the legal establishment on Thursday, ahead of the opening of Netanyahu’s trial on Sunday.

Netanyahu shared an article on his Facebook page with the headline “Netanyahu has no chance of receiving a fair trial.”

His son Yair Netanyahu referred to his father’s legal proceedings as a “show trial” in which the judges have already determined the defendant’s guilt, and compared the prime minister to wrongly convicted French-Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus. Yair called Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, who indicted his father “a criminal!!!!”

Likud Cyber Minister David Amsalem also referred to Mandelblit as a criminal in an Army Radio interview and said a previous attorney-general had seen Mandelblit as “immoral and abnormal.”

New Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn responded to the continuous attacks on Mandelblit by reiterating that he has full faith in the attorney-general and saying “ministers in the government are permitted to express substantive criticism, but unrestrained attacks cross a redline.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced she would come to the court on Sunday to “show support for Netanyahu and his wife.” Her associates said she “was not coming to protest,” that she would respect the court and that she was sure the judges would find Netanyahu innocent.

Likud faction chairman Miki Zohar said attacking the legal establishment would not be his party’s strategy.

“We trust and hope that with God’s help, justice will come to light,” he said.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/likud-ups-attacks-on-legal-establishment-ahead-of-trial-628888

Killing Off a Pandemic is Engineering, Not 'Science'

More than half a century ago a fellow grad student invited me into his laboratory to show me his doctoral research. He introduced me to the science of animal reflexes. A novel stimulus induces in an animal, however briefly, a freeze reaction. This is called an “orienting reflex.” What happens next depends on the animal’s response to the potential threat. If the novel stimulus does not seem to be a threat the animal gradually relaxes. Repeats of this type of stimulus gradually habituate its orienting reflex so that the animal, in effect, learns to ignore this particular stimulus.

On the other hand, in the case of a real threat, the animal can only respond in one of two ways: It can freeze for an extended length of time or it can panic and run to escape.

Humans, too, experience the orienting freeze reflex to novel stimuli. If the stimulus is a threat, a person may freeze in place for a substantial time, or the person may flee in panic. Or, and this is what makes humans different from all animals, some people may become coldly rational and plan out, and execute, an appropriate course of action. Training, especially, helps create this rational response.

The important thing to note is that the orienting reflex is so essential to survival that it evolved very early in the history of life. Its creation was back so deep in time that we share the orienting reflex with insects, with spiders, and with even more primitive creatures.

Society emulates an organism. An animal is a collection of functioning elements, all working in cooperation. It is useful to consider a society, such as America, as a kind of organism analogous to an animal. Individual people make up the cooperating functional elements of society. I postulate that our society has an orienting reflex, as well.

Consider the response of America to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor: Shock! Freeze! Anger! That was the first orienting response. Then, since we are human, came coldly rational plans, then fully unified action to destroy this threat to our existence. Consider America’s first response to 9-11. Initially it was the same, but soon different factions chose to use the event to promote their ideologies. Instead of unity we had disunity. America has changed — and not for the better.

Think of America’s response to COVID-19. We indeed have had the orienting reflexive freeze. What is this new threat? We wondered. What are its characteristics? What should we know about it? Because of the novelty of this virus we knew too little to make rational plans. Our natural reaction was to continue the orienting freeze reflex until we could find a way to defeat it.

We did know at the beginning a few things about this new disease: We knew that this virus is exceptionally contagious. One thing we thought we knew (but maybe were wrong about) was that this virus is exceptionally deadly. The thing we were certain of was that a really serious pandemic would overload our medical facilities. Rational response required a temporary lockdown to “flatten the curve” so as to not overload our medical establishment. This we did — successfully.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/killing_off_a_pandemic_is_engineering_not_science.html