March 28, 2024

The Power Hour

Knowledge is Power

News for April 07, 2020

World News
Boris Johnson is ‘stable’ in ICU amid questions about who’s running the UK
CNN – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is receiving “standard oxygen treatment” and is breathing without assistance, his spokesperson said Tuesday, a day after he was transferred to intensive care with coronavirus.
Johnson’s condition is stable and he “remains in good spirits,” his spokesperson said. He has not required invasive or non-invasive ventilation and does not have pneumonia.
But the seriousness of the Prime Minister’s condition at a time of national emergency, combined with the lack of a formal succession procedure for heads of government in the UK, has raised questions about who is leading the country.
Johnson has nominated his Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, to deputize for him “as necessary” but there is no recent precedent for a sitting UK prime minister becoming incapacitated for a lengthy period.
In its daily update to reporters, Downing Street moved to head off concerns, stressing that Raab was running the country from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the support of government officials.
>> Related: Boris Johnson receiving oxygen, does not require ventilator
Al Jazeera – Johnson was stable overnight in intensive care and is in good spirits as he battles coronavirus, says UK PM’s spokesman.
Israeli govt makes masks in public compulsory, tightens travel restrictions
RT – Israeli government issued orders on Tuesday making the wearing of masks in public compulsory. Trying to stem the spread of the coronavirus, it also approved a timeline for tightened travel restrictions for the Passover holiday, which begins on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that this year the festive dinner should be a small affair, limited to household members. Last week, the PM urged Israelis to wear masks while in public. The government says this measure will become compulsory as of Sunday. Children under the age of six, the mentally disabled or those alone in vehicles or workplaces are exempted. Masks could be homemade.
From Tuesday evening until Friday morning, a ban on unnecessary out-of-town travel will be in place, effectively preventing large gatherings of family and friends.
Israel has more than 9,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with sixty people having died, Reuters said.
Japan declares state of emergency over coronavirus
Japanese leader Shinzo Abe announces month of restrictions and unveils record stimulus package
The Guardian – Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has declared a month-long state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and unveiled a record stimulus package aimed at steering the world’s third-largest economy through its biggest crisis since the war.
Abe told a televised news conference a recent sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in Tokyo and other urban areas had forced him to rethink Japan’s approach towards stemming the outbreak.
“We are not at a stage where rapid nationwide spread is being observed, but some areas are under pressure, so we don’t have the luxury of time,” he said, adding that the rise in infections was straining the country’s health service.
“To relieve that pressure there will have to be a transformation in people’s behaviour,” he said. “Preventing an explosion in cases, saving people in serious conditions and protecting you and your loved ones depends on how we change our behaviour.”
Abe asked people to reduce their contact with others by 70-80%, saying successful social distancing could see infections peak in two weeks. He called on non-essential workers to work from home and for companies to stagger shifts for employees who cannot remotely.
Coronavirus: Paris bans daytime outdoor exercise
BBC – Authorities in Paris have banned exercise outside during the day, as the fight against the coronavirus outbreak continues.
The new rules are in force between 10:00 and 19:00 local time, and come into effect on Wednesday.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the chief of police said this would restrict people to exercise “when the streets are generally at their quietest”.
France has one of the highest death tolls in the world from the virus.
Henry Kissinger & Bill Gates Call For Mass Vaccination & Global Governance
RT – Activist Post – We are in the middle of the worst global health pandemic of our lives according to the Media, the Government and the United Nations. We are witnessing an unprecedented global lockdown in response to the Coronavirus outbreak known as COVID19.
The global population living in Western countries have been taught for more than a generation to live in a constant state of fear ever since 9/11. We have been encouraged to sacrifice our liberty for a false sense of security, being conditioned more and more each day to rely on the state for protection, and now many of us find ourselves relying on the state to pay our bills.
Despite the government’s budget and deficit continuing to grow exponentially every day… some are beginning to see that there may be more to the official story than what we are led to believe. The very few may have seen this coming and are waiting for the next phase of what very well could be another step closer to global governance. The very men and women, the exact same individuals and government agencies, in addition to global institutions who stand to benefit the most, are the ones calling the shots…
Welcome to COVID-1984 and the official rollout of the New World Order…
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Crewmember of Navy ship sent to NYC tests positive for coronavirus
Nes4Jax – A crewmember of the US Navy hospital ship dispatched to New York harbor to help with the coronavirus pandemic has tested positive for the virus and has been isolated from patients and other crew members, a Navy spokesperson said Tuesday.
“There is no impact to Comfort’s mission, and this will not affect the ability for Comfort to receive patients. The ship is following protocols and taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of all crewmembers and patients on board,” Navy spokesperson Lt. Marycate Walsh told CNN.
Walsh said the crewmember had no contact with patients. As of Tuesday morning, the ship has treated over 50 patients, according to a defense official.
A US defense official tells CNN, “those who had contact with the crew member who tested positive have been tested and will remain in isolation for several days regardless of the test result, out of an abundance of caution.
Ted Cruz: Mainstream Media Are ‘Rooting for This Pandemic to Be Worse and Worse’
Breitbart – Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) took a few jabs at the press during a Monday appearance on Fox News for its handling of coronavirus coverage.
According to the Texas Republican U.S. Senator, the mainstream media were rooting for “disaster,” given they believe it would be a mark against President Donald Trump.
Cruz cited an example of a tweet from The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, who he challenged days earlier for questioning Trump’s remarks about unemployment at the State of the Union address last month.
High Court ruling: Wisconsin polls open despite safety concerns
CS Monitor – Wisconsin residents went to the polls today becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy.
stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary election, becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy.
The National Guard is helping to run voting sites across the state after thousands of election workers stepped down fearing for their safety. Dozens of polling places will be closed, but those that are active opened at 7 a.m. CDT. 
The lines were particularly long in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold, where just five of 180 traditional polling places were open. Many voters across the state did not have facial coverings in line with public health recommendations. 
Nearly 20% of NYPD’s uniformed workforce is out sick
CNN – The New York City Police Department has lost its 12th member to a suspected case of coronavirus.
NYPD Auxiliary Police Officer Ramon Roman died on Sunday from coronavirus-related complications, according to a daily coronavirus report from the NYPD.
Nearly 20% of its uniformed workforce is out sick.
The city is a hotspot for the virus, with more than 68,000 cases and 2,700 fatalities. The city’s hospitals have been struggling to maintain the space, personnel and equipment to treat the growing number of patients.
On Monday, 6,974 uniformed members of the NYPD were out sick, accounting for 19.3% of the Department’s uniformed workforce, according to the report. That number has jumped from 12% on March 28.
By a 5–4 Vote, SCOTUS Lets Wisconsin Throw Out Tens of Thousands of Ballots – Slate
Slate – On Monday, by a 5–4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court approved one of the most brazen acts of voter suppression in modern history. The court will nullify the votes of citizens who mailed in their ballots late—not because they forgot, but because they did not receive ballots until after Election Day due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in dissent, the court’s order “will result in massive disenfranchisement.” The conservative majority claimed that its decision would help protect “the integrity of the election process.” In reality, it calls into question the legitimacy of the election itself.
Wisconsin has long been scheduled to hold an election on April 7. There are more than 3,800 seats on the ballot, and a crucial state Supreme Court race. But the state’s ability to conduct in-person voting is imperiled by COVID-19. Thousands of poll workers have dropped out for fear of contracting the virus, forcing cities to shutter dozens of polling places. Milwaukee, for example, consolidated its polling locations from 182 to five, while Green Bay consolidated its polling locations from 31 to two. Gov. Tony Evers asked the Republican-controlled Legislature to postpone the election, but it refused. So he tried to delay it himself with an executive order on Monday. But the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court reinstated the election, thereby forcing voters to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote.
Because voters are rightfully afraid of COVID-19, Wisconsin has been caught off guard by a surge in requests for absentee ballots. Election officials simply do not have time, resources, or staff to process all those requests. As a result, a large number of voters—at least tens of thousands—won’t get their ballots until after Election Day. And Wisconsin law disqualifies ballots received after that date. In response, last Thursday, a federal district court ordered the state to extend the absentee ballot deadline. It directed officials to count votes mailed after Election Day so long as they were returned by April 13. A conservative appeals court upheld his decision.
Now the Supreme Court has reversed that order. It allowed Wisconsin to throw out ballots postmarked and received after Election Day, even if voters were entirely blameless for the delay. (Thankfully, ballots postmarked by Election Day but received by April 13 still count because the Legislature didn’t challenge that extension.) In an unsigned opinion, the majority cited the Purcell principle, which cautions courts against altering voting laws shortly before an election. It criticized the district court for “fundamentally alter[ing] the nature of the election by permitting voting for six additional days after the election.” And it insisted that the plaintiffs did not actually request that relief—which, as Ginsburg notes in her dissent, is simply false.
Dem. Detroit Rep Says Hydroxychloroquine, Trump Saved Her Life From Coronavirus
National File – Michigan State House Rep. Karen Whitsett, who represents District 9 in Detroit, said Monday that she credits hydroxychloroquine and President Donald Trump with saving her from the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Whitsett says she had heard of the positive effects of hydroxychloroquine before, but she would not have asked for or been given a prescription for the anti-malaria drug if President Trump had not repeatedly touted it during White House press conferences.
Via Detroit Free Press:
State Rep. Karen Whitsett, who learned Monday she has tested positive for COVID-19, said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18.
“It was less than two hours” before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection. She is still experiencing headaches, she said.
Whitsett said she was familiar with “the wonders” of hydroxychloroquine from an earlier bout with Lyme disease, but does not believe she would have thought to ask for it, or her doctor would have prescribed it, had Trump not been touting it as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
Economy & Business
Without rights for farm workers, EU’s food supplies are at risk
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the EU has to ensure labour and health protection for migrant farm workers.
Al Jazeera – European Union institutions and national governments are scrambling to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for European farming, vowing that food supplies will not be affected. Procedures for accessing the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies are being relaxed and funds are being pumped into the sector to keep farmers and businesses afloat.
Meanwhile, farming associations have sounded the alarm about large labour shortages, highlighting the fact that, whatever Europe’s populists claim, our farming depends to a large extent on migrant labour.
Lockdowns across the EU mean that seasonal workers from Central and Eastern EU states cannot travel, although Germany has allowed them to do so to salvage the spring produce. Those from outside the EU also cannot get in, although exemptions to the EU travel ban were hastily broadened last week to include seasonal labourers.
In their quest to guarantee food supplies without fixing a broken system, however, policymakers appear not to be focusing on the people picking our fruit and vegetables, packing and processing our food, and transporting it across Europe.
In fact, calls to cut red tape and to suspend reporting requirements will probably make working conditions even worse. Replacing migrant workers with unemployed nationals, as some governments are trying – largely unsuccessfully – to do, will also not improve labour conditions.
Worse Than 2008: We Are Being Warned That The Coronavirus Shutdown “Could Collapse The Mortgage Market”
Michael Snyder – The cascading failures that have been set into motion by this “coronavirus shutdown” are going to make the financial crisis of 2008 look like a Sunday picnic.  As you will see below, it is being estimated that unemployment in the U.S. is already higher than it was at any point during the last recession. That means that millions of American workers no longer have paychecks coming in and won’t be able to pay their mortgages.  On top of that, the CARES Act actually requires all financial institutions to allow borrowers with government-backed mortgages to defer payments for an extended period of time. Of course this is a recipe for disaster for mortgage lenders, and industry insiders are warning that we are literally on the verge of a “collapse” of the mortgage market.
Never before in our history have we seen a jump in unemployment like we just witnessed.  If you doubt this, just check out this incredible chart.
Food Banks Warn They Will Soon Run Out Of Food As Economic Suffering Explodes All Over America
Michael Snyder – What are hungry Americans going to do when the food banks don’t have any more food for them?  Over the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed the largest spike in unemployment in all of U.S. history.  Since most of those workers did not have any sort of a cushion to fall bank on, a lot of of them have been forced to seek out emergency assistance for themselves and their families almost immediately.  Of course our national network of food banks was not built to handle this sort of a scenario, and as you will see below, many of them are already starting to run out of food. But if things are this bad at the very beginning of this new economic downturn, what are things going to look like a few months from now?
It is imperative for people to understand that we are now in uncharted territory.  At this point, even the head of the IMF is warning that this new economic crisis will be “way worse” that the last recession…
The coronavirus pandemic has created an economic crisis “like no other” — one that is “way worse” than the 2008 global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund’s top official said Friday.
“Never in the history of the IMF have we witnessed the world economy come to a standstill,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, said at a news conference.
And of course we are already seeing economic numbers in the United States that absolutely blow away anything that we witnessed back in 2008 and 2009.  I don’t know that any of us ever anticipated seeing a single week when 6.6. million Americans would file new claims for unemployment benefits.
Of course the people that are going to feel the most pain are those on the lowest rungs of the economic food chain.
According to Bloomberg, “bread lines are forming” even in some of the wealthiest areas of the country…
With more than 10 million people across the nation suddenly unemployed, bread lines are forming in the shadows of privileged enclaves like this one in Florida.
For the past two weeks, the kitchen staff at Howley’s has been cooking up free meals—the other day it was smoked barbecue chicken with rice and beans, and salad—for thousands of laid off workers from Palm Beach’s shuttered restaurants and resorts. The rows of brown-bag lunches and dinners are an early warning that the country’s income gap is about to be wrenched wider as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and the deep recession it has brought with it.
Elsewhere, vehicles are lining up at the crack of dawn at food banks all across the United states.
Feeding America is the largest food bank network in the nation, and the demand that they are seeing right now is unprecedented
Many Americans won’t get coronavirus stimulus checks
Stimulus check funding leaves out most college kids, immigrants without Social Security numbers and some disabled adults.
NCBC – For millions of Americans awaiting coronavirus cash, help is not on the way.
Although the $2 trillion stimulus bill passed last month includes payments of up to $1,200 for everyone who makes less than the limit, many Americans will fall through the cracks. That includes most college kids, immigrants without Social Security numbers and some disabled adults.
Why so many gaps? Part of it is the urgency that faced Congress as it rushed to get money to Americans as fast as possible. There wasn’t much time to fine-tune the bill to address every contingency. Lawmakers opted to base eligibility on tax returns, even though many people don’t file them.
Science & Technology
Coronavirus: YouTube tightens rules after David Icke 5G interview
BBC – YouTube has banned all conspiracy theory videos falsely linking coronavirus symptoms to 5G networks.
The Google-owned service will now delete videos violating the policy. It had previously limited itself to reducing the frequency it recommended them in its Up Next section.
The move follows a live-streamed interview with conspiracy theorist David Icke on Monday, in which he had linked the technology to the pandemic.
YouTube said the video would be wiped.
During the interview, Mr Icke falsely claimed there “is a link between 5G and this health crisis”.
And when asked for his reaction to reports of 5G masts being set on fire in England and Northern Ireland, he responded: “If 5G continues and reaches where they want to take it, human life as we know it is over… so people have to make a decision.”
Several users subsequently called for further attacks on 5G towers in the comments that appeared alongside the feed.
Mr Icke also falsely claimed that a coronavirus vaccine, when one is developed, will include “nanotechnology microchips” that would allow humans to be controlled. He added that Bill Gates – who is helping fund Covid-19 vaccine research – should be jailed. His views went unchallenged for much of the two-and-a-half-hour show.
April’s ‘pink moon’ is the biggest supermoon of 2020
CNN – If you’ve been stargazing as part of your at-home activities since the pandemic began, prepare to see the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year on Tuesday night.
Supermoons occur when the moon is within 90% of perigee — which is its closest approach to Earth in orbit. The moon will appear brighter and bigger in the night sky, and hopefully no clouds and inclement weather will obscure the view.
April’s full moon, also known as the pink moon, happens to be the closest of the year. People around the world should be able to see the supermoon at its best around 10:35 pm ET to midnight on Tuesday night and even into the early morning hours of Wednesday, according to EarthSky.org.
Health
Plasma from coronavirus survivors found to help severely ill patients
Guardian – Doctors have found tentative evidence that seriously ill coronavirus patients can benefit from infusions of blood plasma collected from people who have recovered from the disease.
Two teams of medics working at separate hospitals in China gave antibody-rich plasma to 15 severely ill patients and recorded striking improvements in many of them.
In one pilot study, doctors in Wuhan gave “convalescent plasma” to 10 severely ill patients and found that virus levels in their bodies dropped rapidly. Within three days, the doctors saw improvements in the patients’ symptoms, ranging from shortness of breath and chest pains to fever and coughs.
The findings raise hopes that donated blood from recently recovered patients could be used to boost the immune systems of more vulnerable people and help them fight the infection. But with only a small number of patients so far treated with plasma, and the infusions given outside of formal trials, it is impossible to know how much benefit the treatment really brings.
Can Your Toothpaste Cause Cancer?
Newsmax – We diligently brush our teeth after every meal as part of good oral hygiene. But experts warn that the toothpaste we use to keep our pearly whites sparkling may be dangerous to our health. Because your mouth is the gateway to your body, what you put into it is crucial to your health.
“Thank of your mouth as the trauma center to your bloodstream,” Dr. Philip Memoli, founder of the Center for Systemic Dentistry in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, tells Newsmax. “Whatever chemicals you put into your mouth travel through the body. Some ingredients in commercial toothpastes can lower your immune system and damage vital organs over time.”
You may think that the dollop of toothpaste you use to brush daily is harmless. But experts say that over the course of a lifetime, the average American uses about 20 gallons of toothpaste — and even if you spit most of it out, some of the chemicals make their way into your bloodstream.
Because the mouth has a 90% absorbency rate it’s also one of the most vulnerable areas of the body for chemical sensitivity. That’s why certain medications are given sublingually, or under the tongue, for maximum absorption.
“Some of the ingredients used in our commercial toothpastes have been identified in Europe as carcinogens but here, in the U.S.
Some of the questionable ingredients are triclosan, sodium lauryl sulfate, fluoride, and artificial sweeteners. Fluoride may not only cause cancer but also brain damage.
Researchers from the Environmental Health Perspectives performed a review and meta-analysis of published studies to understand the effects of fluoride exposure on neurodevelopment. What they found was that children in high-fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low-fluoride areas.
“Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain,” said senior author Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University.
Memoli says these ingredients are just the tip of a toxic iceberg of products in commercial toothpaste. Other potentially dangerous ingredients are propylene glycol, carrageenan, parabens, and GMOs.
>> CHECK OUT VITAMYR ALL NATURAL TOOTHPASTE & MOUTHWASH!
Good News
Teen pilot flies medical supplies to hospitals (video)
Associated Press – TJ Kim, who just turned 16, doesn’t yet have his driver’s license, but he’s been flying across Virginia delivering gloves, masks, gowns and other supplies to rural hospitals in need. (April 7) 

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