World News
EXCLUSIVE: Soviet Dissident Recalls Jews And Christians Stood United Against Fear
Daily Wire – “In the Soviet Union, the important thing was to overcome the fear.” That is what former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky told me over tea in a Jerusalem cafe.
In the totalitarian, atheist Soviet Union, Jewish identity was forcibly submerged. “The only Jewish thing that was in my life,” Sharansky says, “was anti-Semitism!” That was until 1967. Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, Sharansky says, changed the way the Soviets viewed Jews, and changed the way Soviet Jews viewed themselves. They were now, to friend and foe alike, part of something larger than themselves, connected to the Jewish state and to Jews the world over. With this knowledge, Soviet Jewish dissidents were no longer afraid and had the courage to confront the Evil Empire.
Sharansky has told this story many times before, but faced with the rising tide of anti-Semitic attacks and libels against Jews worldwide, I asked him about an often forgotten aspect of the crusade for human rights in the Soviet Union. There were many dissident groups with different goals, but the group that was best organized and had the most reliable contacts with the outside world were the Jewish “Refuseniks” (Soviet Jews who were denied the right to emigrate to Israel).
Sharansky, their spokesperson, was happy to help others. And that included many, many persecuted Christians.
Reports about the abuses suffered by Christians in the Soviet Union made their way through Sharansky’s network to the Western press and human rights groups. With each new revelation, demands on the Soviets to respect freedom of religion increased.
The importance of this channel wasn’t lost on Christians. “A group that I helped to establish their first contacts to reach the foreign press and to speak to the world were Pentecostals. I was very pleased later to find out that when I was arrested, there were tens of thousands of Pentecostals in Siberia who were fasting in solidarity with me.”
When the Soviets arrested Sharansky and sent him to the Gulag, his communist tormentors thought they might break him by placing him in a cell with a Christian activist. A religious Jew and a religious Christian would surely tear each other apart, they thought. But it did not turn out that way.
Supreme Court of India Declares Internet Ban Unconstitutional
Activist Post – On 10th of January, 2019, the Supreme Court of India requested the Indian central government to review the suspension of internet services in Jammu and Kashmir. The ruling stated that the five-month long communication blockade imposed on the region by the Indian government is unlawful, and it gave the administration seven days to justify its continued use.
Since August 5 2019, after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution that provided special autonomy status to Jammu and Kashmir, access to mobile, landline and internet networks have been suspended. The government cited protection of national security as a reason for the restrictions. In October 2019, certain services were partially restored; however, most of Kashmir has remained disconnected from the internet making it the longest network restriction in a country that likes to describe itself at the ‘world’s largest democracy’.
In November 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court disposed of a petition seeking restoration of prepaid mobile phone connectivity and internet services in Kashmir on the ground that similar petitions were pending before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of India, responding to the petition by Ms Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, gave the petitioners and the people of Jammu and Kashmir a glimmer of hope with this verdict. Ms Bhasin, in her argument, challenged that such blanket restrictions violate the fundamental right to freedom of expression, and that there is no proved connection between the availability of the internet and the rise of terrorism.
The ruling by the Apex Court is being seen as a welcome move, even though restrictions on fundamental rights in Jammu and Kashmir continues.
Iran announces arrests over downing of Ukrainian plane
Reuters – Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday arrests have been made over the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 people on board just after takeoff from Tehran.
The announcement came shortly after Iran’s president called for a special court to be set up to probe the downing last week of the plane by Iranian forces.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili was quoted by Iranian state media saying that “extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested. He did not say how many individuals have been detained or name them.
Iran, which initially dismissed allegations that a missile had brought down the jetliner, acknowledged — three days after Wednesday’s downing and in the face of mounting evidence — that its Revolutionary Guard had shot down the Ukrainian plane by mistake.
“The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech televised in Iran on Tuesday. “This is not an ordinary case. The entire the world will be watching this court.”
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Mueller Witness Who Allegedly Funneled Money To Clinton Pleads Guilty To Child Porn, Trafficking
George Nader admitted to possessing child pornography and trafficking a 14-year-old boy into the U.S. for sex.
National File reported on the indictment of key Mueller witness George Nader for allegedly funneling $3.5 million to the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in December. Today, he pleaded guilty to possessing child porn and sex trafficking.
Nader, 60, was a key witness in the Robert Mueller Russia probe against President Donald Trump, and a Hillary Clinton supporter who was indicted for funneling millions of dollars to the latter’s failed presidential campaign.
Nader was convicted Monday of possessing child pornography and transporting a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic into the United States for sexual purposes.
Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of only ten years for Nader, according to the Washington Post.
Nader went on to serve in the Defense Department and the George W. Bush administration as an advisor on Middle Eastern policy after engaging in statutory rape against at least five Czech boys.
The Lebanese-American businessman was convicted of sex crimes against minors in the Czech Republic in 2003, and was sentenced to a year in Czech prison.
Nader also has a conviction dating to 1991 for possessing child pornography. This will not impact his current sentencing, as prosecutors have dropped possession of obscene material charges against him as part of the plea deal.
Nader’s attorneys tried unsuccessfully tried to argue that the statute of limitations was still in existence at the time of his crimes, and therefore should not be applied to the current trial.
Washington Post: Donald Trump Will Transfer $7.2 Billion for Border Wall
Breitbart – President Donald Trump will transfer another $7.2 billion from Pentagon accounts in 2020 to build the promised border wall, according to the Washington Post.
The paper reported January 13 that the president would use his national emergency powers to:
divert an additional $7.2 billion in Pentagon funding for border wall construction this year, five times what Congress authorized him to spend on the project in the 2020 budget, according to internal planning figures obtained by The Washington Post.
The Pentagon funds would be extracted, for the second year in a row, from military construction projects and counternarcotics funding. According to the plans, the funding would give the government enough money to complete [a total of] approximately 885 miles of new fencing by spring 2022, far more than the 509 miles the administration has slated for the U.S. border with Mexico.
The pending transfer, if not blocked by Congress or the courts, would bump up his border wall spending to $18.4 billion.
So far, Trump’s deputies have built a little over 100 miles of upgraded “wall system” and are in the process of planning and building another 350 miles.
Chad Wolf, the acting chief of the Department of Homeland Security, admitted last week that the agency will not meet the president’s target of 450 miles by election day. “I can tell you right now that we remain confident that we are on track to [reach] 400, 450 miles that are either completed or under construction by the end of 2020,” Wolf told attendees at a January 10 press conference in Yuma, Arizona.
Parents rage as homeless litter Boston school grounds with feces, syringes, used condoms
American Mirror – Parents and neighbors are sounding off over human feces, syringes, liquor bottles and other trash greeting students at McKinley School in Boston’s South End neighborhood.
It’s “a serious safety concern” caused by homeless vagrants who use the school property as a campground at night, Boston 25 reports.
Neighbors told the news site homeless residents descend on the school at nightfall to sleep in the garden and school parking lot, and it’s getting out of hand. Video shows the grounds covered in trash, used condoms, drug paraphernalia and other disgusting things.
“You don’t want fecal matter in a schoolyard,” said local John Paul Prunier. “They seem to spreading out in our neighborhood a lot more, like the school here, the park over there. It’s startling.”
“It’s a big concern for kids,” neighbor Scott Feinstein said. “I’m not worried that a homeless person is going to attack a child or something. I’m worried about the needles and the drugs.”
Neighbors told the news site they noticed an increase in homeless activity following “Operation Clean Sweep” last August aimed at addressing crime in an area known as “Methadone Mile,” near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard.
Judge hands Trump admin a victory against the ACLU on family separations at the border
The Blaze – A federal judge sided with the Trump administration against the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit challenging their power to separate families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued a lengthy 26-page decision saying that the administration was not abusing the power of the executive branch, according to the Associated Press.
“It is an invitation that is potentially massive in scope,” Sabraw wrote, “invades an area that is particularly within the province of the executive branch to secure the nation’s border, and goes beyond this court’s class certification and preliminary injunction orders, which were focused on the administration’s practice of separating families at the border for the purpose of deterring immigration, and failing to reunify those families.”
The ruling applies to family separation at the border due to the administration finding the parents to be unfit or dangerous. It applies to about 900 children who were separated under such criteria.
House Democrats Demanding ICE Release All Transgender Undocumented Immigrants
Flag & Cross – It is exactly reasons like this why Donald Trump is president. The left has still to figure that much out, or they just don’t care. Both can be true but which is more likely? Take your time. Think it over.
It begs the question, though…why aren’t Democrats fighting for the release of illegal aliens who identify as Americans? Or birds who think they are dogs? Or potatoes that think they’re plumbs?
It’s just all so crazy. Until Dems change their harmful ways, stuff like this will continue to happen. Check it, via The Hill:
House Democrats plan to call on a key immigration agency to release all transgender people who are currently being detained, arguing that the U.S. has failed to follow guidelines to protect individuals who face more perilous conditions in detention than other migrants.
But wait, there’s more…
The letter cites research articles from the Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International and the Center for American Progress in arguing that due to their gender identity, transgender migrants are more likely to face “the pervasive use of solitary confinement” and that they are “97 times more likely to be sexually victimized” compared to “their cis-gender and straight counterparts in detention.”
[…]
Under the fiscal 2020 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, ICE is directed “to limit the detention of individuals who self-identify as transgender to facilities,” which points back to the 2015 memo. The exception, according to the text, is if “the individual has voluntarily declined placement in such a facility after being informed of the opportunity to do so.”
GOP Senators Reject Plans to Dismiss Trump Impeachment
Newsmax – Senate Republicans signaled they would reject the idea of simply voting to dismiss the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as the House prepares to send the charges to the chamber for the historic trial.
“I think our members, generally are not interested in the motion to dismiss. They think both sides need to be heard,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who is part of GOP leadership, said Monday.
It will be only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, a serious and dramatic endeavor coming amid the backdrop of a politically divided nation and the start of an election year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not set the timing for the House vote that will launch the Senate action. Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House last month on charges of abuse of power over pushing Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and obstruction of Congress in the probe. Democrats said the vote could be Wednesday.
With the impeachment trial expected to start in a matter of days, senators are still debating the rules of the proceedings. GOP senators are conferring privately about whether to allow a motion to dismiss the charges against the president or to call additional witnesses for testimony.
Trump suggested over the weekend he might prefer simply dismissing the charges rather than giving legitimacy to charges from the House, which he considers a “hoax.”
House prepares to vote Wednesday to transmit Trump impeachment articles to the Senate
NBC – The House of Representatives is preparing for a Wednesday vote to transmit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, members told reporters Tuesday.
“The Speaker indicated that the articles of impeachment … will be transmitted to the Senate at some point tomorrow,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y., said at a news conference following a closed Democratic caucus meeting.
Wednesday’s House resolution is expected to have three functions: To transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate, name the House members who will serve as managers of the impeachment trial, and fund the trial itself.
Pelosi has yet to announce who she has selected to serve as impeachment managers, the House members who will effectively act as prosecutors in the president’s trial. On Tuesday, Jeffries said Pelosi would release the names of the managers sometime before Wednesday’s vote.
But the list is likely to include House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Schiff led the formal House impeachment inquiry against Trump last year. Nadler leads the committee which drafted and approved the two articles of impeachment against the president that were passed in December.
If Dems Get Witnesses, Hunter Biden Will Testify: Rand Paul
Newsmax – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday said if his fellow Republicans allow Democrats to have the witnesses they demand in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, he will demand Hunter Biden testify.
Paul tweeted:
“My colleagues can’t have it both ways. Calling for some, while blocking others. If we are going to give a platform to witnesses the Dems demand, I look forward to forcing votes to call Hunter Biden and many more!”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who also opposes witnesses in the trial, has warned against them for just such a tit-for-tat reasoning.
McConnell told Fox News Radio in December that a calling of witness by Democrats coud lead Republicans to want Hunter Biden and even the whistleblower who’s identity has never been officially revealed.
Such a move would be a “kind of mutual assured distraction” that might be unending, McConnell warned.
Other Republicans, such as Maine’s Susan Collins and Utah’s Mitt Romney, have been more open to possibly allowing witnesses. Democrats needs only four Republicans to cross over and vote with them to get their wish. CBS News reported Monday they likely have found four
Republicans to join them.
Russians Hacked Ukrainian Gas Company at Center of Impeachment
NY Times – With President Trump facing an impeachment trial over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, Russian military hackers have been boring into the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the affair, according to security experts.
The hacking attempts against Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company on whose board Hunter Biden served, began in early November, as talk of the Bidens, Ukraine and impeachment was dominating the news in the United States.
t is not yet clear what the hackers found, or precisely what they were searching for. But the experts say the timing and scale of the attacks suggest that the Russians could be searching for potentially embarrassing material on the Bidens — the same kind of information that Mr. Trump wanted from Ukraine when he pressed for an investigation of the Bidens and Burisma, setting off a chain of events that led to his impeachment.
DHS Secretary: Allowing People To Get Regular Drivers Licenses “Puts People At Risk”
Activist Post – A few weeks ago, DHS took absurdity to a whole new level in New Jersey.
DHS told residents that allowing people an alternative to Real-ID drivers licenses would put citizens and police officers in danger.
Why?
Because the state had the audacity to ignore Homeland Security and the TSA by giving residents a choice between Real-ID drivers licenses and the regular drivers licenses that have been in use for approximately 107 years.
DHS, the TSA, and law enforcement continuously “cry wolf” whenever a state pushes back against Real-ID.Appropriately named, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was quoted by New Jersey 101.5 as saying,
“These types of laws make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain fraudulent documents and also prevent DHS investigators from accessing important records that help take down child pornography and human trafficking rings and combat everything from terrorism to drug smuggling,” Swift said in the Monday statement.
DHS is so good at crying wolf, that they expect the public to believe that only terrorists, criminals, child pornographers, human traffickers and drug smugglers would seek regular drivers licenses!
Wolf’s interview on Fox & Friends claimed that people possessing regular drivers licenses endanger entire communities and put police officers’ lives at risk.
Cops Acquire ‘Nasal Ranger’ Smell Amplifier to Crack Down on Marijuana Users
Free Thought Project – n case after infuriating case, the Free Thought Project has reported on instances of horrifying rights violations all stemming from a police officer claiming to smell a plant. We have seen both women and men sodomized and raped — often times in public — as cops search for this smell. We have seen entire families held hostage, women and children beaten up, rampant sexual assault, and all of it stemming from a plant smell. Now, police are arming themselves with a “smell amplifier” to go after those who’d dare grow or partake in a plant—in a state where recreational marijuana is legal.
n December 2018, the state of Michigan legalized recreational marijuana. According to the city council in the town of Bessemer, however, the most common complaint from residents in the town is the smell of weed. Despite it being legal, cops are now arming themselves with new smell technology to go after those who dare partake in a legal plant in the legal state.
The Daily Globe reported that the Michigan town of Bessemer has voted to spend approximately $3,400 to purchase a device to smell marijuana plants and train police officers in its use.
“The city of Bessemer stinks,” council member Linda Nelson said. “You can smell marijuana everywhere. We’ve got people who can’t sit in their backyard because the smell from their neighbor is so bad.”
Council Member William McDonald added, “It’s time we do something,” even though he said the cost of the equipment posed some concern for him, the Globe reported.
Economy & Business
Chamber of Commerce Wants Mass Immigration, Claims Trump Economy Created Worker Shortage ‘Crisis’
The Chamber of Commerce is at odds with President Trump’s America First agenda.
As President Trump’s pro-growth economic agenda continues to strengthen the private sector, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is demanding the US import more foreign workers to the detriment of American workers and U.S. wages.
But U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue warns the roaring economic boom has resulted in a “crisis” of worker shortages.
“We’ve identified 10 states, where every individual who wants to work could find a job tomorrow — and still, more than a quarter of the jobs would remain unfilled,” Donohue said during the chamber’s annual presentation about its agenda on Thursday.
“This is just one reason we will be pushing hard for real immigration reform, so businesses can find the workers they need, when and where they need them.”
US May Ground Civilian Drone Fleet Over China Spy Fears
ZeroHedge – US and Chinese economies are undergoing a great decoupling despite an optically pleasing Phase 1 trade deal. The Trump administration is preparing to ground the largest civilian drone program in the country because drones are made in China and could be susceptible to foreign hackers, reported the Financial Times.
The Department of the Interior is expected to ground nearly 1,000 drones in the near term, two sources told the Times. They said the drones are at high risk of being hacked by the Chinese.
The decision to ground the drones could be expensive – as there would need to be non-Chinese alternatives to fill the void. The Times reviewed internal documents from the agency that shows strong protests against banning of the drones. David Bernhardt, secretary of the Interior, has not signed the order to ban Chinese drones from the agency. Sources said he’s planning to ground the fleet, with several exceptions, including the use for natural disasters and training.
Science & Technology
‘LIVING ROBOT’ DEVELOPED BY SCIENTISTS USING FROG EMBRYOS
Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issues
The Guardian – Be warned. If the rise of the robots comes to pass, the apocalypse may be a more squelchy affair than science fiction writers have prepared us for.
Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam.
One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”. Another has a hole in the middle that researchers turned into a pouch so it could shimmy around with miniature payloads.
“These are entirely new lifeforms. They have never before existed on Earth,” said Michael Levin, the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. “They are living, programmable organisms.”
Roboticists tend to favour metal and plastic for their strength and durability, but Levin and his colleagues see benefits in making robots from biological tissues. When damaged, living robots can heal their wounds, and once their task is done they fall apart, just as natural organisms decay when they die.
Their unique features mean that future versions of the robots might be deployed to clean up microplastic pollution in the oceans, locate and digest toxic materials, deliver drugs in the body or remove plaque from artery walls, the scientists say.
“It’s impossible to know what the applications will be for any new technology, so we can really only guess,” said Joshua Bongard, a senior researcher on the team at the University of Vermont.
The robots, which are less than 1mm long, are designed by an “evolutionary algorithm” that runs on a supercomputer. The program starts by generating random 3D configurations of 500 to 1,000 skin and heart cells. Each design is then tested in a virtual environment, to see, for example, how far it moves when the heart cells are set beating. The best performers are used to spawn more designs, which themselves are then put through their paces.
Because heart cells spontaneously contract and relax, they behave like miniature engines that drive the robots along until their energy reserves run out. The cells have enough fuel inside them for the robots to survive for a week to 10 days before keeling over.
The scientists waited for the computer to churn out 100 generations before picking a handful of designs to build in the lab. They used tweezers and cauterising tools to sculpt early-stage skin and heart cells scraped from the embryos of African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis. The source of the cells led the scientists to call their creations “xenobots”.
Health
Bill to End Religious Exemptions for Vaccinations Collapses in N.J.
Washington Post – The proposal had been one of the nation’s broadest, but it came under intense criticism from vaccine skeptics.
But after weeks of sustained and boisterous protests by vaccine skeptics, as well as a last-minute effort to amend the proposed bill to win the support of key lawmakers, the effort collapsed on Monday in the New Jersey State Senate.
The Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, maintained that science, not protesters, would eventually emerge victorious.
“It’s going to get done,” Mr. Sweeney, a Democrat, said, repeating a vow he had made since last month when a far more sweeping version of the bill passed in the Assembly but failed to win enough support in the Senate. Democrats control both chambers.
‘We’re ready to go to war on this’: N.J. lawmakers pledge to reintroduce failed vaccine bill
PBS – Democratic leaders in the New Jersey Senate failed again on Monday to rally enough support for a controversial bill that would eliminate the religious exemption for mandatory childhood vaccines.
The monthslong effort inspired raucous protests at the Statehouse in Trenton from opponents who said requiring childhood vaccines would violate their religious beliefs.
Although the Assembly previously passed the measure, there were not enough votes in support of the bill in the state Senate on Monday, the last day of the two-year legislative session.
Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said the bill would be reintroduced Tuesday, the first day of the new two-year session.
“We’re ready to go to war on this, and we will,” Sweeney said. “We will pass this bill. It’s not an easy one, and a lot of bills we do aren’t easy and take time to get through. But this is about public health. It’s about protecting people.”
Air Pollution from Brake Dust may be as Harmful as Diesel Exhaust — New Study
NaturalBlaze – The harmful impact of air pollution caused by diesel exhaust fumes on our health is well known. It’s responsible for causing everything from respiratory problems to dementia and even certain types of cancers. But what most people don’t realise is that exhaust fumes aren’t the only cause of air pollution. In fact, up to 55% of roadside traffic pollution is made of non-exhaust particles, with around 20% of that pollution coming from brake dust. And as our latest research reveals, these particles may be just as damaging to our lungs as exhaust fumes.
Composed of iron particles, brake dust is caused by friction between the iron brake rotor grinding on the brake pads when a vehicle slows down. This brake dust is then worn away and becomes airborne. And as recent research conducted by me and my colleagues found, brake dust triggers inflammation in the lung cells with the same severity as diesel particles.
By adding brake dust particles to macrophages – the cells responsible for clearing the lungs of invading germs, waste and debris – we saw a nearly 185% increase in the cell’s inflammatory activity. Not only that, we also found brake dust prevented the immune cells from destroying Staphylococcus aureus – a species of bacteria responsible for pneumonia. Once again, the brake dust was found to be as toxic as diesel particles.
This discovery might mean that pollution from brake dust might be contributing to the high numbers of chest infections and froggy “city throats” that are reported by people living and working in urban areas. However, because the isolated cells that we used in our experiments can act differently to cells found in a living human’s lungs, further research is needed to confirm whether particle exposure contributes to infection risk in people.
The FDA Just Approved a New Drug Application for Cocaine-Based Nasal Spray
NaturalBlaze – In a shocking drug approval last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a ketamine-based nasal spray for treating depression. The news was surprising considering the history that the substance has as a snortable club drug and the strict policy of drug prohibition and regulation in the United States. However, in the short time since, ketamine is slowly becoming more respected as a legitimate treatment for depression in clinical settings.
Meanwhile, other nasal sprays for drugs that were once considered illicit are beginning to reach the market as well.
As the Mind Unleashed reported last month, a pharmaceutical company called Silo Wellness announced that they were developing a nasal spray for psilocybin, the active ingredient in many of the most popular “magic mushrooms.” The psilocybin-based spray is also intended to be used as a treatment for depression.
WHO says new China virus could spread, warns hospitals worldwide
Reuters – There may have been limited human-to-human transmission of a new coronavirus in China within families, and it is possible there could be a wider outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS. A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain of coronavirus, Thai authorities said on Monday, the first time the virus has been detected outside China.
In all, 41 cases of pneumonia have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which preliminary lab tests cited by state media showed could be from a new type of coronavirus, and one patient has died. There have since been no new cases or deaths, Wuhan health authorities said on Tuesday.
“From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of WHO’s emerging diseases unit.
The WHO is however preparing for the possibility that there could be a wider outbreak, she told a Geneva news briefing. “It is still early days, we don’t have a clear clinical picture.”
Some types of the virus cause less serious diseases, while others – like the one that causes MERS – are far more severe.
Extra News
Stephen King Savaged by ‘Woke’ Mob For Saying Art Should be Judged on Quality, Not “Diversity”
Infowars – Author Stephen King is facing potential cancellation from the ‘woke’ mob after he responded to the Oscar nominations by saying art should be judged on quality, not the “diversity” of its creators.
King was responding to controversy surrounding the Oscar nominations being too “white” and too “male”.
Vogue reported that the choices were “a pretty poor showing for…well, anyone other than straight white men,” complaining that no females were nominated for best director and “zero performers of color were nominated in the best supporting actor and best supporting actress categories.”
King responded on Twitter by daring to suggest that potential winners should be judged on their merits and not their genitalia or skin color.
“As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay,” tweeted King.
“For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said…I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong,” he added.
For daring to suggest that movies should be judged solely on whether they are good or not, King faced an immediate backlash from ‘woke’ Twitter users.
“When films created by people of color, irrespective of quality, constantly get overlooked by institutions that are predominately comprised of white men, there is an implicit bias at work here,” responded Morgan Jerkins.
“Sir, respectfully saying you as a white man can’t really say that. You had more advantages and opportunities than a person of color would have. They have been wrongfully held back in so many ways just because of their color skin,” tweeted David Weissman.
“With all due respect, I’m afraid that a meritocracy could work only if the game weren’t rigged,” responded Laura Lippman.
“That is like saying “I don’t see color” and as problematic,” lectured another user.
The backlash from the woke mob is particularly funny given that King panders to them 99% of the time with his endless anti-Trump diatribes.
But 99% is not enough – unless you show flawless devotion to the cult – you will be cancelled.
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