Today's News: April 01, 2020

World News

For Autocrats, and Others, Coronavirus Is a Chance to Grab Even More Power

Leaders around the world have passed emergency decrees and legislation expanding their reach during the pandemic. Will they ever relinquish them?
NY Times – In Hungary, the prime minister can now rule by decree. In Britain, ministers have what a critic called “eye-watering” power to detain people and close borders. Israel’s prime minister has shut down courts and begun an intrusive surveillance of citizens. Chile has sent the military to public squares once occupied by protesters. Bolivia has postponed elections.
As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a juddering halt and anxious citizens demand action, leaders across the globe are invoking executive powers and seizing virtually dictatorial authority with scant resistance.
Governments and rights groups agree that these extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. States need new powers to shut their borders, enforce quarantines and track infected people. Many of these actions are protected under international rules, constitutional lawyers say.

Former Obama-Era U.S. Ambassador Calls for Hungary to Be Expelled from EU

Breibtart – Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has called for Hungary to be expelled from the European Union after the country passed emergency measures to combat the Wuhan coronavirus.
Ms Rice, who served as UN Ambassador and later National Security Advisor in the administration of former President Barack Obama, demanded that Hungary be removed from the European Union, stating: “Kick Hungary out of the EU.”
The comments were made in response to measures taken by the Hungarian government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, labelled the “Coronavirus Protection Act”, which critics say allows the Hungarian government to rule by decree without the need for parliamentary consent.
The Hungarian government rebuffed claims about the new law stating that parliament is able to lift the state of emergency “at any time” and that the measures do not dissolve parliament either.
In a tweet quoted by former Ambassador Rice, it was also claimed that the Hungarians would be handing down prison sentences of up to 5 years for “spreading fake news and rumours”.
According to the text of the law, which was released by the Hungarians on Tuesday, the measures are more specific and cover those intentionally spreading false information.
“The law makes it a criminal act to intentionally spread false information and distortions that could undermine or thwart efforts to protect the public against the spread of the virus. It’s in force only during the state of danger,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs wrote.
everal European countries have passed sweeping authoritarian laws to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, from banning people from meeting in groups of more than two in public, to requiring citizens to fill out a government form in order to leave their own homes. Yet international criticism for unprecedented attacks on civil liberties in Europe seems to be limited to Hungary, where moves by other countries are quietly accepted.
Ms Rice went on to further criticise Prime Minister Orbán on Tuesday in an interview with broadcaster MSNBC, where she said: “We’ve had a problem in Hungary for a while where Orbán has repeatedly demonstrated his autocratic tendencies, but this power grab is near complete. He’s taken all the reins indefinitely, [and] there’s nothing to check him.”

Why Asia’s New Wave of Virus Cases Should Worry the World

After a surge in cases tied to international travelers, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and other places that seemed to have the epidemic under control have imposed stricter measures.
NY Times – In China, international flights have been cut back so severely that Chinese students abroad wonder when they will be able to get home. In Singapore, recently returned citizens must share their phones’ location data with the authorities each day to prove they are sticking to government-ordered quarantines.
In Taiwan, a man who had traveled to Southeast Asia was fined $33,000 for sneaking out to a club when he was supposed to be on lockdown in his home. In Hong Kong, a 13-year-old girl, who was spotted out at a restaurant wearing a tracking bracelet to monitor those in quarantine, was followed, filmed and subsequently shamed online.
Across Asia, countries and cities that seemed to have brought the coronavirus epidemic under control are suddenly tightening their borders and imposing stricter containment measures, fearful about a wave of new infections imported from elsewhere.
The moves portend a worrisome sign for the United States, Europe and the rest of the world still battling a surging outbreak: Any country’s success with containment could be tenuous, and the world could remain on a kind of indefinite lockdown.

Virus restrictions in Portugal ‘could last months’

RT – Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday that the country may be facing “one, two, three months” of restrictions on movement of people. A total of 3,600 companies have applied for government support to pay a proportion of salaries for 76,000 workers whose jobs have been temporarily suspended as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to the prime minister.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is expected to decide later on Wednesday whether to extend a state of emergency, declared on March 18. The move has restricted non-essential travel and led thousands of businesses to close their doors.

Russian plane takes off for US with coronavirus help on board

Putin offered Trump ‘humanitarian aid’ in the hope the US president would do the same for Russia when it needs it.
Al Jazeera – A Russian military transport plane took off from an airfield outside Moscow on Wednesday and headed for the United States with a load of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight the coronavirus pandemic.
President Vladimir Putin offered Russian help in a phone conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday, when the two leaders discussed how best to respond to the virus.
The flight, which was organised by the Russian defence ministry, is likely to be unpopular with some critics of Trump who have urged him to keep his distance from Putin and who argue that Moscow uses such aid as a geopolitical and propaganda tool to advance its influence, something the Kremlin denies.
“Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday night. Trump himself spoke enthusiastically about the Russian help after his call with Putin.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Will COVID-19 kill the Constitution?

Politicians and the public are alarmingly willing to violate civil liberties in the name of fighting the epidemic.
Chicago Sun Times – The great American jurist St. George Tucker, writing at the beginning of the 19th century, called the right to armed self-defense “the true palladium of liberty” and “the first law of nature.”
But California Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks that right, guaranteed by the Second Amendment, is optional.
After Newsom ordered “nonessential” businesses to close in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, he let local sheriffs decide whether that category included gun dealers. Newsom’s decision, which allowed Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva to unilaterally ban the sale of firearms and ammunition, illustrates how readily politicians ignore constitutional rights in the very circumstances where they matter most.
Villanueva’s ban, which several gun rights groups challenged in a federal lawsuit last Friday, was inconsistent with recent guidance from the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Second Amendment. In an advisory published on Saturday, the department added firearm retailers to its definition of the “essential critical infrastructure workforce,” which Newsom explicitly exempted from his order.
On Monday, Villanueva, who describes himself as “a supporter of the Second Amendment” but also suggests that keeping guns for self-protection is irresponsible, rescinded his ban, citing the new federal guidelines. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, whose business closure order initially covered gun stores, likewise recognized them as “essential” after seeing the federal advisory.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf also deigned to allow firearm sales, but only after three members of the state Supreme Court said that “it is incumbent upon the governor to make some manner of allowance for our citizens to continue to exercise this constitutional right.” Notably, that rebuke came in a dissent from a March 22 decision summarily denying a challenge to Wolf’s violation of the Second Amendment.
The reversals by Murphy and Wolf, who are now allowing firearm sales by appointment and in compliance with social distancing rules, show that shutting down gun stores was never necessary to curtail transmission of COVID-19. But their reluctance to respect the Second Amendment and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s unwillingness to intervene do not bode well for civil liberties at a time when many people seem to think that fighting the pandemic trumps all other concerns.
To “save the nation” from COVID-19, Cornell law professor Michael Dorf argued two weeks ago, Congress should suspend the writ of habeas corpus, an ancient common-law right that allows people detained by the government to demand a justification. Yet the Constitution says that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”
Although neither of those circumstances applies, Dorf suggested that the spread of the COVID-19 virus from other countries to the United States could be construed as an invasion. While “no one knows” whether the courts would accept that interpretation, since “Congress has only ever suspended habeas in wartime,” Dorf said, “there is reason to think that the courts would dismiss a habeas case following nearly any congressional suspension.”
In a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, the University of Chicago’s Adam Chilton and three other law professors found bipartisan agreement that “now is the time to violate the Constitution,” as they put it. The survey asked whether the respondents would support various constitutionally dubious policy responses to the epidemic.
Sizable majorities of both Democrats and Republicans favored confining people to their homes, detaining sick people in government facilities, banning U.S. citizens from entering the country, government takeovers of businesses, conscription of health care workers, suspension of religious services and even criminalizing the spread of “misinformation” about the virus.
“Even when we explicitly told half of our sample that the policies may violate the Constitution,” Chilton et al. report, “the majority supported all eight of them,” including the speech restrictions.
”After the threat has subsided,” the law professors conclude, “Americans must recognize any constitutional violations for what they were, lest they become the new normal.”
By then, it may be too late.

What’s Next, Mandatory Coronavirus Checkpoints?

Activist Post – At present, National Guard coronavirus testing is voluntary; however, will that still be the case in a few weeks?
It was a mere four years ago when public outrage forced police in Missouri, Ohio and Colorado to stop intrusive DNA and drug checkpoints.
Currently, there are at least thirty-three different types of police checkpoints going on at any given time across the country.
In some states, police are actually setting up firewood, agriculture and fish and game checkpoints to name a few. With the outbreak of COVID-19, Americans could be facing new type of checkpoint across the country.
In Florida, state police are setting up checkpoints on Interstate 10 looking for Louisiana residents trying to enter the state. In Rhode Island police are stopping vehicles with New York state license plates and the National Guard is going door-to-door looking for New York City residents. The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority has recently issued “travel papers” to all their employees.
My greatest fear is watching authorities use the public’s fear of COVID-19 to create mandatory coronavirus checkpoints.

China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says

Bloomberg – China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.
The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret and declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.
The report was received by the White House last week, one of the officials said.

Rural areas fear spread of virus as more hospitals close

AP – As the coronavirus spread across the United States, workers at the lone hospital in one Alabama county turned off beeping monitors for good and padlocked the doors, making it one of the latest in a string of nearly 200 rural hospitals to close nationwide.
While the nation’s coronavirus hot spots so far have been big cities like New York and New Orleans, officials fear inadequate testing and the lack of medical resources linked to hospital failures will catch up with smaller population centers.
About 15% of the U.S. population, or more than 46 million people, lives in rural areas, according to the Census Bureau. They are more likely than urban dwellers to die from chronic respiratory illnesses, heart disease and other problems that put people more at risk for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Aircraft carrier captain pleads for help with coronavirus outbreak

MSN – The captain of a U.S. aircraft carrier stricken by the coronavirus is pleading with Navy officials for help in isolating sailors aboard the ship that is now docked in Guam.
In a memo obtained and published Tuesday by the San Francisco Chronicle, Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, warned of dire consequences if the majority of the crew is not taken off the ship to isolate them.
“This will require a political solution, but it is the right thing to do,” Crozier wrote about finding individualized lodging for crew members. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset – our sailors.”
Asked by The Hill for comment on the memo, a Navy official said in a statement that Crozier “alerted leadership in the Pacific Fleet on Sunday evening of continuing challenges in isolating the virus.”
“The ship’s commanding officer advocated for housing more members of the crew in facilities that allow for better isolation,” the statement said. “Navy leadership is moving quickly to take all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of the crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt, and is pursuing options to address the concerns raised by the commanding officer.”
The Navy first confirmed positive coronavirus cases aboard the Roosevelt a week ago, and on Thursday, officials announced the ship would dock in Guam while all 4,000-plus people aboard are tested for coronavirus.
A senior officer on board the ship told the Chronicle that 150 to 200 sailors had tested positive as of Monday.

Rep. Chip Roy introduces Beat China Act, says prescription drug manufacturing must return to US
Fox – America needs to bring drug manufacturing back home to the United States in preparation for future health crises like the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas., said Wednesday.

In an interview on “Fox & Friends” with host Steve Doocy, Roy said that because of the COVID-19 virus, the American people are starting to recognize the importance of U.S.-based production of medical supplies.
“China, I think something like 97 percent of our antibiotics come either directly from China or have significant materials that are coming through China,” he remarked. “But, it’s not just China by the way, right? India — I think 40 percent of our generics come from India. And this is something we need to deal with.”
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, it is believed that approximately 80 percent of the basic components used in U.S. drugs, known as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), come from China and India. However, the exact dependence remains unknown since no reliable API registry exists.
“We have got a piece of legislation we are introducing — I think this week — we’re calling the ‘Beat China Act,’ but it will help us with all countries maintaining our ability to produce drugs here in the United States or at least in our territories and protectorates,” he stated.

Economy & Business

Stocks fall, capping Wall Street’s worst quarter since 2008

PBS – Stocks fell Tuesday to close out Wall Street’s worst quarter since the most harrowing days of the 2008 financial crisis.
The S&P 500 dropped a final 1.6%, bringing its loss for the first three months of the year to 20% as predictions for the looming recession caused by the coronavirus outbreak got even more dire. Stocks haven’t had this bad a quarter since the last time economists were talking about the worst downturn since the Great Depression, when the S&P 500 lost 22.6% at the end of 2008.
The surge of coronavirus cases around the world has sent markets to breathtaking drops since mid-February, undercutting what had been a good start to the year. Markets rose early in the quarter, and the S&P 500 set a record with expectations that the economy was accelerating due to calming trade wars and low interest rates around the world.

Coronavirus Threat: Dock Workers Refuse to Unload Chinese Cargo Ship

Breitbart – Upwards of 60 Australian longshoremen were stood down Tuesday after they refused to unload a container ship from China.
The Xin Da Lian docked at the DP World terminal in the Victoria state capital of Melbourne after leaving Shanghai on March 17. Union organizers claim the ship may be contaminated with coronavirus and should instead be held in quarantine.
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says the vessel is in breach of the federal government’s 14-day coronavirus quarantine period after visiting a Taiwanese port on March 19 during its voyage Down Under, local outlet News.com reports.
Workers say shaving two days off the quarantine period is “a risk to workers and the community” and those who refused to unload the vessel over concerns about the risk of the coronavirus were sent home.

China Must Be Obeyed: Huawei Warns U.S. Against New Trade Restrictions

Breitbart – Chinese tech giant Huawei forecast Tuesday that 2020 will be its toughest year ever due to American trade restrictions and warned the U.S. not to instigate any trade restrictions lest they invoke the wrath of the Communist Chinese government.
It said Beijing could hit back against U.S. measures to restrict chip sales to Huawei, by restricting sales of American products in China and by shifting to alternative suppliers in China and South Korea.
“The Chinese government will not just stand by and watch Huawei be slaughtered on the chopping board,” chairman Eric Xu told reporters at the launch of Huawei’s annual report, according to Reuters.
“Why wouldn’t the Chinese government ban the use of 5G chips or 5G chip-powered base stations, smartphones and other smart devices provided by American companies, for cybersecurity reasons?”
The United States alleges the Chinese government could use Huawei’s equipment to spy, an accusation rejected by the company.
Washington placed Huawei on a blacklist in May last year, citing national security concerns, restricting sales of U.S.-made goods to the company. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is also preparing further measures that will seek to restrict the supply of chips to the company.
As Breitbart News reported, integration of Huawei technology in forthcoming 5G networks will enable China to deploy ubiquitous surveillance and control over America and the broader West.

Energy & Environment

Trump administration rolls back vehicle mileage standards

Christian Science Monitor – On Tuesday, the Trump administration weakened tough Obama-era vehicle mileage standards intended to push automakers to produce more electric and fuel-efficient vehicles. Last year, a majority of the new autos purchased by Americans were trucks or SUVs.
The Trump administration released a final rule Tuesday on mileage standards through 2026. The change – after two years of President Donald Trump threatening and fighting states and a faction of automakers that opposed the move – waters down a tough Obama mileage standard that would have encouraged automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient gas and diesel vehicles.
“We are delivering on President Trump’s promise to correct the current fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards,” Andrew Wheeler, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement Tuesday marking the release.
He said the final rule “puts in place a sensible” national program that “strikes the right regulatory balance that protects our environment, and sets reasonable targets for the auto industry. This rule supports our economy, and the safety of American families.”
The Trump administration says the looser mileage standards will allow consumers to keep buying the less fuel-efficient SUVs that U.S. drivers have favored for years. Opponents say it will kill several hundred more Americans a year through dirtier air, compared to the Obama standards.
Even “given the catastrophe they’re in with the coronavirus, they’re pursuing a policy that’s going to hurt public health and kill people,” said Chet France, a former 39-year veteran of the EPA, where he served as a senior official over emissions and mileage standards.
“This is first time that an administration has pursued a policy that will net negative benefit for society and reduce fuel savings,” Mr. France said.

Science & Technology

Scientists discover new coronavirus drug target from proteins that let virus hide from immune system

Fox – Currently, there is no known cure for the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe, but researchers have identified a potential new drug target, mapping two critical proteins, as the world looks for a cure for COVID-19.
Scientists from Northwestern University mapped the atomic structure of two critical proteins in a complex, nsp10 and nsp16, according to a statement from Argonne National Laboratory, which helped collect the data.
The researchers noted the proteins modify the genetic material of the virus so it looks more like human RNA, allowing the virus to multiply and potentially give time for the immune system to find the virus and remove it, once a drug is developed.
“This is a really beautiful target, because it’s a protein absolutely essential for the virus to replicate,” said lead investigator Karla Satchell in the statement.
The nsp10/nsp16 protein is made up of two proteins tied together, which makes it “more difficult to work with,” according to the statement. With the two proteins tied together, it can be a functional protein, according to previous research done on another acute respiratory disease, SARS.
The new protein will be sent to Purdue University, where it will be screened for work that could be used to develop drugs to aid patients. However, researchers believe multiple drugs will be needed to treat COVID-19, Satchell added.
“We need multiple drugs to treat this virus, because this disease is likely to be with us for a long time,” Satchell added. “It’s not good enough for us to develop a single drug. If COVID-19 develops a resistance to one drug, then we need others.”

New App Requires Reporting of People Sneezing or Coughing

Mercola – Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has launched an online portal for COVID-19 testing that will be under the auspices of Verily, its health care and life sciences arm.
To apply for testing, you have to fill out a symptoms checklist and provide your travel history, health status and information about contact with individuals known to be infected. You must also provide a valid Google account and cell phone so that you can be tracked should your test be positive.
Verily’s COVID-19 testing portal will give them access to infection and health data, combined with the ability to track in great detail the exact whereabouts of a majority of Americans (anyone who uses the online portal).
The tracking system about to be launched in the U.S. is eerily similar to that already being used in China, where residents are required to enroll in a health condition registry. Once enrolled, they get a personal QR code, which they must then enter in order to gain access to grocery stores and other facilities.
According to Bill Gates, we need a national tracking system, and positive tests for infectious disease must be publicly identifiable so that people will know to maintain social distance from infectious individuals

Health

WHY SLEEP IS VITAL DURING PANDEMIC

SHFTPlan – With the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been many who have suggested a good night’s sleep as a way to boost your immune system to protect you from the infection. Sleep is vital, and there are several reasons why.
Your body needs an adequate amount of sleep to fight of infections. That included the coronavirus. If you are losing sleep because of fear (and it’s hard not to when the mainstream media is pumping it out right now 24/7) you aren’t doing your body any favors. Studies show that people who don’t get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as the common cold (rhinovirus). Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.
We are still going to get sick once this pandemic is in our past. We cannot live out lives apart and inside our homes for the remainder of humanity’s existence, so at some point, we all need to do our best to keep ourselves healthy.
During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines, some of which help promote sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when you have an infection or inflammation, or when you’re under stress. Sleep deprivation may decrease the production of these protective cytokines. In addition, infection-fighting antibodies and cells are reduced during periods when you don’t get enough sleep.
So, your body needs sleep to fight infectious diseases. Long-term lack of sleep also increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease. –Mayo Clinic
Aim to get 7-8 hours of good quality sleep at night. More isn’t necessarily better either. Poor sleep for 10 hours is still not as effective at boosting the immune system as 7 hours of good quality sleep (meaning you stay asleep and don’t toss and turn or wake up frequently at night).
There are some natural solutions to help with your sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, you can do the following:

Minimize Light and Sound. By using curtains to eliminate light and shutting down anything that makes noise, you’ll be able to sleep better. Darkness causes your brain to release melatonin for a calming, sleepy effect. That means, don’t expose your eyes to too much light such as that of a smartphone or the TV right before you go to bed.
Stick To A Routine. Make a schedule and stick to it, even on the weekends. Get up and go to bed at the same time every day to make sure your body gets into a routine that works for you.
Keep Your Stress Levels Low. Try to not stress out as much during the day. Use meditation or prayer if it helps you create a sense of calm. You can also simply turn off the news. The mainstream media is in a state of panic and fear right now and that’s creating a public that’s emulating those same emotions. Don’t let others dictate how much stress you have. Anxiety and worry are sleep disrupters.

All of this is easier said than done right now while the globe is battling a pandemic. But it’s important to understand just how vital it is to decrease your fears and worry. Panicking and consuming fear-mongering media all day can be catastrophic for your immune system, and as preppers, we need to understand how best to protect ourselves, and not just fall victim to our fears.

Study: Dirty Air Can Increase Chances for Dementia

Newsmax – Smog drives up dementia risk, particularly for older men and women with heart disease, according to a new Swedish study.
For more than a decade, researchers tracked exposure to air pollution and dementia cases among nearly 3,000 Stockholm residents aged 60 and up.
Lead author Dr. Giulia Grande noted that exposure to dirty air has long been linked to an increased risk for lung and heart disease.
“More recently, several research groups have started to focus on the damages of air pollution on the brain — for example, its impact on cognitive functions in older adults,” she said.
“We found that people continuously exposed to higher levels of air pollution were at increased risk of dementia, as compared with those exposed to lower levels,” Grande said. That link was especially strong among participants who had a history of heart failure, ischemic heart disease or stroke.