New software in China decides whether people should be quarantined or permitted to enter public places like subways. Green means a person is at liberty to go out.Credit...Raymond Zhong
As countries around the world race to contain the pandemic, many are deploying digital surveillance tools as a means to exert social control, even turning security agency technologies on their own civilians. Health and law enforcement authorities are understandably eager to employ every tool at their disposal to try to hinder the virus — even as the surveillance efforts threaten to alter the precarious balance between public safety and personal privacy on a global scale. Yet ratcheting up surveillance to combat the pandemic now could permanently open the doors to more invasive forms of snooping later. It is a lesson Americans learned after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
A debt jubilee is the only way to avoid a depression - Washington Post Opinion - by Michael Hudson, president of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends and distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Jesus & His Mission
The word “Jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word for “trumpet” — yobel. In Mosaic Law, it was blown every 50 years to signal the Year of the Lord, in which personal debts were to be canceled. When Jesus delivered his first sermon, the Gospel of Luke describes him as unrolling the scroll of Isaiah and announcing that he had come to proclaim the Year of the Lord, the Jubilee Year.
The coronavirus outbreak is serving as a mind-expansion exercise, making hitherto unthinkable solutions thinkable. Debts that can’t be paid won’t be. A debt jubilee may be the best way out.
Microsoft says attackers are exploiting a previously undisclosed security vulnerability found in all supported versions of Windows, including Windows 10. But the software giant said there is currently no patch for the vulnerability. The security flaw, which Microsoft deems “critical” — its highest severity rating — is found in how Windows handles and renders fonts, according to the advisory posted Monday. The bug can be exploited by tricking a victim into opening a malicious document. Once the document is opened — or viewed in Windows Preview — an attacker can remotely run malware, such as ransomware, on a vulnerable device.
The personal details of more than 538 million users of Chinese social network Weibo are currently available for sale online. In ads posted on the dark web and other places, a hacker claims to have breached Weibo in mid-2019 and obtained a dump of the company's user database, allegedly containing the details for 538 million Weibo users. Personal details include the likes of real names, site usernames, gender, location, and -- for 172 million users -- phone numbers.
"Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is in domestic quarantine. According to a message on Sunday (22nd March), this was necessary because a doctor who had vaccinated Merkel against pneumococci on Friday had tested positive for the coronavirus will be tested regularly in the coming days and continue to work, it said.
Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual assault and rape, has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the head of the state corrections officers union. This happens shortly after Weinstein was sentenced to 23-year in jail (and possibly struck a deal, to expose the names of other abusers.). Most likely he will be suicided by "corona" shortly.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is stepping up its evaluation of whether to build an advanced chip facility in the U.S. in response to pressure from Washington, which wants the world's biggest contract chipmaker to produce on American soil over security concerns. TSMC, which makes chips for U.S. F-35 fighter jets and supplies almost all global chip developers, including Apple, Huawei, Qualcomm and Nvidia, is actively considering a U.S. plant, two sources briefed on the plan told the Nikkei Asian Review. A new plant would aim to be the world's most cutting-edge, producing semiconductors more advanced than the 5-nanometer node chips that Apple will adopt in its latest 5G iPhones this year, they said.
How much moral responsibility does the Catholic Church have to take on for the Holocaust? Why did the then Pope Pius XII say? nothing significant about the genocide of the Jews? Files that have been blocked so far should now provide information about this.
Thousands of Nazi criminals fled to South America over the so-called rat line during and after the Second World War - with the help of the Vatican. Now the archives of Pius XII. open. How much did the Pope know?
Who controls Gilead Sciences, the US pharmaceutical producing a COVID-19 treatment which was rapidly approved by NIH and praised by the WHO? Donald Rumsfeld was chair of the board and remains a top shareholder.
With a coronavirus vaccine at least a year away, some scientists are investigating existing medicines and compounds that might work as effective treatments. A drug called Remdesivir is now in the spotlight.
The big biotech has a drug that struck out on one super-contagious disease but could be the best option on the scene for treating another. Chinese health officials scrambled to begin two clinical studies evaluating remdesivir in treating patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Gilead provided the drug at no charge for these studies and gave input on how the studies should be designed and conducted. In late February 2020, the National Institutes for Health (NIH) began the first U.S. clinical trials of remdesivir in treating COVID-19. Gilead also initiated two late-stage clinical studies of its own in Asian countries and other countries with high numbers of COVID-19 cases in early March. World Health Organization assistant director-general Bruce Aylward even said that remdesivir is the "one drug right now that we think may have efficacy."
In remarks at the daily Coronavirus Task Force press briefing, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn pointed out that the drug, remdesivir, is available under compassionate use in addition to the ongoing clinical trials being run by Gilead Sciences and the NIH.
The coronavirus’ grip on the market continues. Since the beginning of February, the S&P 500 has shed 8.5% of its value, a reflection of the effect the outbreak is having on the global economy. Amidst the bloodbath, one specific group of stocks is holding up. These are the drug companies those infected, the public at large and investors are hoping can halt the virus from spreading any further. Gilead Sciences (GILD) is among those leading the search for a treatment and is currently being rewarded by the market. In contrast to the broader market, GILD stock is up 23% year-to-date.
Gilead Sciences Inc said on Sunday it was temporarily putting new emergency access to its experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir on hold due to overwhelming demand and that it wanted most people receiving the drug to participate in a clinical trial to prove if it is safe and effective.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced that board member Donald H. Rumsfeld will assume the position of Chairman, effective immediately. Mr. Rumsfeld succeeds Michael L. Riordan, M.D., who founded Gilead in 1987 and has served as Chairman since 1993. Dr. Riordan will continue to serve as a director on the board.
The company Gilead Sciences has deliberately carried on with testing Sovaldi (Sofosbuvir), its drug against Hepatitis C, in violation of international laws and without first obtaining its patients’ consent.
"Rummy was Chair of the Board of Directors at Gilead Sciences until named to the Bush cabinet and, like [Vice President Dick] Cheney, still has ties that bind to the 'old company.' Now isn't it an 'amazing coincidence' that the drug Tamiflu patented by Gilead Sciences is being pushed by the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases as the NUMBER ONE choice for flu, which, wonder of wonders, is sweeping through in one epidemic after another," Free Market News related October 21, 2005, from a January 2004 web posting.
Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has recused himself from government decisions concerning medications to prevent or treat avian flu, rather than sell his stock holdings in the company that patented the antiviral agent Tamiflu, according to a Pentagon memorandum issued Thursday. The memorandum, to Mr. Rumsfeld's staff from the Pentagon general counsel, said the defense secretary would not take part in decisions that may affect his financial interests in Gilead Sciences Inc. Before becoming defense secretary in January 2001, Mr. Rumsfeld was chairman of Gilead. On each of his annual financial disclosure statements, he has listed continued stock holdings in the company. Gilead holds the patent on Tamiflu, but contracts for it are signed with an American subsidiary of F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd., which holds marketing and manufacturing rights. Mr. Rumsfeld will remain involved in matters related to the Pentagon response to an outbreak, so long as none affect Gilead.
Queen Elizabeth cancels garden parties and escapes London’s Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle. Prince Charles in isolation after meeting with Prince Albert of Monaco, who tested positive.
"Conspiracy theory" is a pejorative applied to ideas which challenge an official narrative; people interested in them are termed "conspiracy theorists". This usage stems from the US deep state's efforts to promote the "lone nut" theory of the JFK assassination. The concept was later developed into a general purpose enemy image used to try to prevent the connection of deep events that the commercially-controlled media presented as isolated incidents. Post 9/11, it is the subject of pseudo-scientific study to limit freedom of speech by promoting the idea that the holders of such opinions are inclined to violence and deserve to have their civil liberties removed, in particular by subjecting them to internet censorship.
Abstract: Powerful institutions of Western capital, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, viewed the African Ebola outbreak of 2014–2015 as an opportunity to advance an ambitious global agenda. Building on recent public health literature proposing “global health governance” (GHG) as the preferred model for international healthcare, Bill Gates publicly called for the creation of a worldwide, militarized, supranational authority capable of responding decisively to outbreaks of infectious disease—an authority governed by Western powers and targeting the underdeveloped world. This article examines the media‐generated panic surrounding Ebola alongside the response and underlying motives of foundations, governments, and other institutions. It describes the evolution and goals of GHG, in particular its opposition to traditional notions of Westphalian sovereignty. It proposes a different concept—“global health imperialism”—as a more useful framework for understanding the current conditions and likely future of international healthcare.
A senior Russian official says an upcoming digital assets bill will ban the issuing and selling of cryptocurrencies. Forbes reports: "We believe there are big risks of legalizing the operations with the cryptocurrencies, from the standpoint of financial stability, money laundering prevention and consumer protection," Russia's central bank head of legal, Alexey Guznov, told Russia news agency Interfax this week in comments translated to English via Google. "We are opposed to the fact that there are institutions that organize the release of cryptocurrency and facilitate its circulation," Guznov said, adding the coming bill "directly formulates a ban on the issue, as well as on the organization of circulation of cryptocurrency, and introduces liability for violation of this ban...."
. However, Guznov admitted that Russia would not be able to completely ban bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. "Nobody is going to ban owning cryptocurrencies," Guznov said, adding people will not be punished for owning crypto "if they made their deal in a jurisdiction that does not prohibit that."
The impact of the coronavirus around the world and the resulting turmoil in global markets are dominating global attention. As governments respond to these interlinked crises, they must not lose sight of a major challenge of our time: clean energy transitions.
The profit sags, the low market value in the crisis invites to takeover. The Chinese major shareholders are already securing further share packages. Daimler CEO Ola Källenius has to fight for the independence of the German top brand.
Some of the world’s wealthiest people spent more than $1 billion combined to boost their stakes in companies as markets around the world tumbled. Activist investor Carl Icahn increased his holdings in Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Newell Brands Inc., according to regulatory filings. Warren Buffett’s holding company added shares of Delta Air Lines Inc., while the heirs of the Tetra Laval fortune plowed $317 million into International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. stock.
Fallout from Covid-19 outbreak puts Beijing and Washington on a collision course. Additionally, along the hard slog down the road, with immense, inbuilt human and economic sacrifice, with or without a reboot of the world-system, a more pressing question remains: will imperial elites still choose to keep waging full-spectrum-dominance hybrid war against China?
"US irresponsible, opaque, selfish, disorganized: analysts" - "Low transparency" - "Anarchy in the US" - "The world should be worried about the situation in the US."
“It’s China’s fault,” Bolsonaro claimed on Twitter, retweeting a message that said: “The blame for the global coronavirus pandemic has a name and surname: the Chinese Communist party.” Yang Wanming, Beijing’s top diplomat in Brazil, demanded an immediate retraction and apology for the “evil insult”, while his embassy accused Eduardo Bolsonaro of contracting “a mental virus” during a recent trip to the United States.
