World News
Hong Kong govt orders schools to remove books breaching new security law
France24 – Hong Kong’s government on Monday ordered schools to review and remove any books that might breach a sweeping new security law that Beijing imposed last week on the restless city.
“In accordance with the four types of offences clearly stipulated in the law, the school management and teachers should review teaching and learning materials in a timely manner, including books,” the Education Bureau said.
“If they find outdated content or content that may concern the four aforementioned offences, they should remove them,” the bureau added.
Last week China enacted a security law outlawing four national security crimes: subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.
Authorities promptly declared political views espousing independence or self-autonomy would be viewed as illegal under the new law.
Rights groups and legal analysts have warned the broad wording of the law, which was kept secret until it was passed, would have a chilling effect of political freedoms in the semi-autonomous hub.
The order for schools to review and remove any contraband books comes two days after Hong Kong’s libraries said they were also pulling titles deemed to breach the law for a review.
Among those withdrawn from shelves was one by prominent activist Joshua Wong, another by pro-democracy lawmaker Tanya Chan and multiple other titles written by Chin Wan, a scholar who is seen as the godfather of a “localist” movement advocating greater self-determination for the city.
Hong Kong has some of Asia’s best universities and a campus culture where topics that would be taboo on the mainland are still discussed and written about.
But Beijing has made clear it wants education in the city to become more “patriotic” especially after a year of huge, often violent and largely youth-led pro-democracy protests.
EXCLUSIVE: Chinese virologist accuses Beijing of coronavirus cover-up, flees Hong Kong: ‘I know how they treat whistleblowers’
Li-Meng Yan told Fox News that she believes China knew about the coronavirus well before it claimed it did. She says her supervisors also ignored research she was doing that she believes could have saved lives.
Fox – Hong Kong scientist Dr. Li-Meng Yan was stepping into uncharted territory.
Hours before she boarded an April 28 Cathay Pacific flight to the United States, the respected doctor who specialized in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health had plotted her escape, packing her bag and sneaking past the censors and video cameras on campus.
She had her passport and her purse and was about to leave all of her loved ones behind. If she was caught, she knew she could be thrown in jail — or, worse, rendered one of the “disappeared.”
Yan told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she believes the Chinese government knew about the novel coronavirus well before it claimed it did. She says her supervisors, renowned as some of the top experts in the field, also ignored research she was doing at the onset of the pandemic that she believes could have saved lives.
Netherlands to take Russia to European Court of Human Rights over MH17 downing
RT – The Dutch government has said it will file a suit against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It alleges that Moscow played a part in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Achieving justice for the 298 victims of the tragedy, two thirds of whom were citizens of the Netherlands, “is and will remain the government’s highest priority” and by going to the ECHR it’s “moving closer to this goal,” said Stef Blok, the Dutch foreign minister, as cited by his ministry’s website.
The ECHR will be handed “all available and relevant information” about the downing of the Malaysian Boeing 777 from the Netherlands.
The Dutch government said it “attaches importance” to continuing meetings with Russia on the matter of state responsibility in order to find a solution that “does justice to the enormous suffering and damage” caused by the crash six years ago.
Moscow, which denies any involvement in the downing of MH17, maintains that it’s also interested in establishing the truth about what happened to the ill-fated flight through a thorough and impartial investigation.
The Dutch-led probe by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which found that the plane was downed by anti-Kiev rebels who received a BUK air defense system from Russia, is regarded by Moscow as politically biased.
Russia wasn’t invited to participate in the JIT, despite it including Ukraine, which had been fighting units from the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and Lugansk in the area and had all the means to bring the plane down.
The probe, according to Moscow, also ignored a batch of data on the crash that Russia was willing to provide, instead largely relying on Ukrainian evidence and information from open sources, like videos posted on social media.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Utah gov declares state of emergency
The Hill – Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) late Thursday declared a state of emergency in Salt Lake City following tense demonstrations that saw protesters square off against Salt Lake City police.
Protesters flooded the streets after the Salt Lake County district attorney announced that the May police killing of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal was justified.
“In the case of the Salt Lake City Officer Involved Critical Incident that resulted in the death of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal, District Attorney Sim Gill’s findings provide significant evidence of the justifiable actions of Salt Lake City police officers,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall (D) said in a statement after the news was released. “This evidence shows that our officers acted according to their training and the state law regarding use of lethal force.”
She added: “I know that for some, today’s decision does not feel like justice. It has become increasingly apparent in our city and across the nation that there is a difference between what so many feel is morally correct, and what is considered appropriate and justified under the law.”
Palacios was shot on May 23 after a report of someone making “threats with a weapon,” according to a CNN report.
According to the report, police fired 34 shots and Palacios had more than a dozen wounds.
RON PAUL: IS THE TEXAS COVID ‘SPIKE’ FAKE NEWS?
The basis for Abbott’s unconstitutional “executive order” has been shown to be false. Will he admit his mistake?
Infowars – On July 2nd, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order mandating the wearing of face masks across the state, whether indoors or outdoors, when six feet cannot be maintained between people. In the governor’s decree, he cited a rise in Covid cases, a rise in test positivity, and a rise in hospitalizations as justification to force people to cover their faces in public.
The move is not only a violation of the civil liberties of all Texans. Abbott may have based his executive order on inaccurate information about a “rise” in Covid cases due to the Texas State Department of Health Services changing the definition of what constitutes a “Covid case.”
Thanks goes to Collin County Judge Chris Hill for blowing the whistle on what appears to be a move in mid-May to redefine what was a “Covid” case to open the door to a massive increase – all to match the mainstream media line that a “second wave” was on the way.
In a Commissioners Court hearing for Collin County on May 18th, it was revealed that while previously the determination of a Covid “case” was a confirmed test result, the definition was suddenly changed to count “probable” cases as “cases.” At the same time, the threshold for determining “probable” was lowered to a ridiculous level.
As Judge Hill said at that May 18th meeting, “If you have a subjective fever and you have a headache and you live in Collin County, you now meet the qualifications to be a probable COVID patient. It is remarkable how low the standard is now.”
Even worse, once a “probable” case was determined based on possibly unrelated subjective criteria, up to 15 people in possible contact with that “probable” case were also listed as “probable cases.” And “probable cases” were considered cases.
Repeat that farce across Texas and is it any wonder there was a “spike” in “cases”?
Texas Doctor Reverses Coronavirus Symptoms in 100% of Cases With Inexpensive Treatment
Before It’s News – Texas family doctor Dr. Richard Bartlett joins Debbie Georgatos on her show American Can We Talk to discuss a potential COVID CURE!
Dr. Bartlett describes how he has been treating Covid-19 patients with 100% success rate using an inexpensive safe treatment that is commonly used for people with asthma.
The treatment is inhaling a steroid called budesonide using a nebulizer. Dr. Bartlett says many patients experience rapid relief from Covid symptoms after the first treatment.
It’s the same treatment that worked in crowded countries like Taiwan, Singapore and Japan who’ve had very few deaths compared to countries that locked down. Therefore, Bartlett questions the effectiveness of mandatory masks, social distancing or a vaccine.
He explained that a vaccine is unnecessary because the mortality rate is so low and effective treatments already exist. And he emphasized that vaccines would be ineffective because of constant mutations to the coronavirus.
“The beautiful thing about the treatment that using is that no matter how many times it mutates it’s universally going to work because it decreases the inflammation. It’s a respiratory anti-inlammatory solution to a respiratory inlammatory problem.”
Report: U.S. Intel “Concerned” After China Buys Up 130 Thousand Acres of “Frontier Land” Near Ft. Hood
Wayne Dupree – Why on earth would the U.S. allow a sale like this to happen? Why are we selling so much of our land to foreigners – and foreigners who hate us? And foreigners who hate us, buying land near Ft. Hood…this is absurd.
US intel people can see the potential for espionage…yeah, no kidding. A blind person could see it.
Why on earth would the U.S. allow a sale like this to happen? Why are we selling so much of our land to foreigners – and foreigners who hate us? And foreigners who hate us, buying land near Ft. Hood…this is absurd.
US intel people can see the potential for espionage…yeah, no kidding. A blind person could see it.
Canada Free Press reports that given its hold on many American Democrat politicians (Joe Biden among them) and its aggressive global stance, it is not surprising that during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2019, FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized: “there is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat right now than China.” Now in 2020, China has purchased over 100,000 acres in West Texas for what they say is an economic project. U.S. intelligence is casting a suspicious eye at their claim.
Retired CIA station chief Daniel Hoffman told the media, “The specific location in Xi’s crosshairs is the iconic frontier landscape, framed by the pristine Devils River and legendary Pecos River, in the West Texas borderlands of Val Verde County. Beginning in 2015, GH America Investment Group purchased over 130,000 acres of property in Val Verde County. GH America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Xinjiang-based Guanghui Industry Investment Group. Xinjiang is notorious for its so-called ‘re-education’ camps, where China detains Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities against their will and violates their human rights.”
Dems Fear President Will Rush Vax to Boost Re-Elect
Daily Beast – When Trump administration officials leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic came to Capitol Hill last week, they were grilled for hours on everything from the reopening of schools to the efficacy of wearing masks.
But as the hearing wound down, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) posed an altogether different type of question to Dr. Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration. Could he, Smith asked, promise that the administration wouldn’t rush a vaccine simply to help the president’s re-election chances?
A first-term Democrat, Smith hardly has a reputation as a congressional bomb-thrower—which was just one reason that her question stood out during an otherwise staid hearing. But she is not alone in wondering about a vaccine-related October surprise. Indeed, there is a growing anxiety among President Trump’s critics that he will sidestep the proper scientific processes in order to make a triumphant pre-election announcement that he’s delivered a cure for the pandemic that has roiled the country, left more than 130,000 people dead, and thrown his presidency into turmoil. They note, for starters, that he’s dubbed the effort “Operation Warp Speed.”
“I would not put it past this administration and this president to advance his personal political agenda ahead of our national interest,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a member of the House Oversight Committee who has pushed the administration to provide regular briefings to lawmakers on the vaccine development process. “That’s why so many of us are so deeply disturbed by the prospect that… what’s going to happen is a bunch of emergency use authorizations are going to be handed out at ‘warp speed.’”
“It’s deeply concerning to me that the president and the administration would offer up some false hope in a hail-mary effort to rescue the election… to put pressure on scientists and epidemiologists to say, there’s a vaccine,” said Smith.
At the Senate Health panel’s hearing, Hahn responded by telling Smith she posed a “really good question,” before stressing that the government will hew closely to data and evidence-driven standards through rigorous trials. “We will,” said Hahn, “ensure that our high levels of safety and efficacy are met.”
Trump threatens to cut funding for schools, slams guidelines
AP – Determined to reopen America’s schools despite coronavirus worries, President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to hold back federal money if school districts don’t bring their students back in the fall. He complained that his own public health officials’ safety guidelines are impractical and too expensive.
Shortly afterward, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing new guidance next week “that will give all new tools to our schools.” The recommendations will keep students safe, he said, but “the president said today we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough. ”
Despite Trump’s increased pressure on state and local officials, New York City announced that most of its students would return to classrooms only two or three days a week and would learn online in between. “Most schools will not be able to have all their kids in school at the same time,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Indoor face mask mandate to start Monday in Dane County
Wisconsin State Journal – Face masks will be required indoors except at home in Dane County starting Monday, officials said Tuesday, announcing Wisconsin’s first mask mandate in response to a recent increase in COVID-19 cases especially among young adults and those who have attended large gatherings.
An order from Public Health Madison and Dane County, starting at 8 a.m. Monday, will require everyone age 5 and older to wear a face covering or mask in any enclosed building where other people could be present — except in a person’s own home or living unit.
The order applies to businesses, health care settings, waiting in line, public transportation and even visits to other people’s homes. Some people with conditions that prevent them from wearing masks are exempt, as are certain activities, such as eating at a restaurant. But physical distancing of 6 feet is required for such activities.
NYC Black Lives Matter marches can continue despite large-event ban, de Blasio says
Fox – Mayor Bill de Blasio is permitting Black Lives Matter protesters to continue marching through city streets while canceling all large events through September.
Speaking on CNN Thursday night, de Blasio said the demonstrators’ calls for social justice were too important to stop after more than a month of demonstrations have not led to an outbreak of coronavirus cases.
“This is a historic moment of change. We have to respect that but also say to people the kinds of gatherings we’re used to, the parades, the fairs — we just can’t have that while we’re focusing on health right now,” de Blasio told host Wolf Blitzer.
The de Blasio administration will also deny all permits for events in parks it believes will “unreasonably diminish public use” as well as street fairs and events stretching larger than one block or for gatherings that require a sound system.
Seattle City Council seems ready to defund police by 50 percent
Fox – The Seattle City Council has enough support in its body to defund the city’s police department by 50 percent even without Mayor Jenny Durkan’s approval, a report said.
Seattle has recently been the focus of an intense protest that occupied a precinct and about six city streets called CHOP. The city eventually removed the protesters but not before two people were killed by gunfire.
Police tore down fences that protesters had erected around their tents and used batons to poke inside bushes, apparently looking for people who might be hiding inside. One officer took down a sign saying “we are not leaving until our demands are met: 1. Defund SPD by 50 percent now. 2. Fund Black Communities. 3. Free all protesters.”
‘Emotional beatdown on daily basis’: 150 Minneapolis police officers seek disability for PTSD over BLM riots
RT – At least 150 Minneapolis police officers have begun seeking duty disability because of post traumatic stress following the George Floyd protests and riots, their attorney has revealed.
The attorney who handles disability claims for the Minneapolis police, Ron Meuser, told FOX 9 that 75 officers are already under doctors’ orders not to return to work and are being treated for symptoms consistent with PTSD.
The ongoing unrest seems to have broken the already exhausted police force as most of the officers seeking disability are veterans of the department with 16 to 23 years of experience. “The symptoms didn’t just start six weeks ago. They’ve been dealing with symptoms for decades,” Meuser said. The officers’ stress reached a tipping point when protesters breached the Third Police Precinct building and set it ablaze at the end of May.
Economy & Business
Washington town prints own currency to boost coronavirus relief
Residents of Tenino, Washington are eligible for up to $300 in the wooden banknotes each month to spend at local businesses
Reuters – Tucked away under lock and key in a former railroad depot turned small-town museum in the U.S. state of Washington, a wooden printing press cranked back to life to mint currency after nearly 90 dormant years.
The end product: $25 wooden bills bearing the town’s name – Tenino – with the words “COVID Relief” superimposed on the image of a bat and the Latin phrase “Habemus autem sub potestate” (We have it under control) printed in cursive.
With the coronavirus pandemic plunging the United States into a recession, decimating small businesses and causing job losses across the country, some local governments are looking for innovative ways to help residents weather the storm.
For Tenino, the answer was the revival of the local currency that had bolstered the town’s economy in 1931 in the wake of the Great Depression.
“It was kind of an epiphany: Why don’t we do that again?” Mayor Wayne Fournier told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “It only made sense.”
Tenino, a town of less than 2,000 people located about 60 miles (95km) southwest of Seattle, started printing the local banknotes in April, five weeks into Washington state’s lockdown.
Anyone with a documented loss of income as a result of the pandemic is eligible for up to $300 a month of the local currency.
Businesses up and down the town’s quaint Main Street accept the wooden note for everything except alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and lottery tickets.
Tenino’s city government backs the local currency, which merchants can exchange for U.S. dollars at city hall at a 1:1 rate.
Susan Witt, executive director of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, a Massachusetts-based think tank, said alternative currencies like Tenino’s banknote are better than direct cash payments at boosting local economies.
Fed officials suggest recovery may be stalling
Reuters – Federal Reserve officials raised fresh doubts on Wednesday about the durability of the U.S. recovery, while new business surveys highlighted developing risks from the relentless coronavirus pandemic.
In separate appearances, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin noted what Barkin characterized as “air pockets” facing the U.S. economy – businesses exhausting existing order books without refilling them, and households facing the end of unemployment benefits and other support.
“Businesses like construction had pretty good pipelines and kept going,” through the first phase of the pandemic Barkin said in webcast remarks to a group of local chambers of commerce in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
But, “new orders are not coming on line in the same way. We have fiscal payments … that are coming to an end and it is not clear what is going to replace them.” Enhanced unemployment benefits that have proved key to replacing spendable income amid record setting unemployment are due to expire this month.
Facing that “fiscal cliff,” the economy is also grappling with a surge of COVID-19 cases to record levels.
Not all Fed officials are gloomy. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on CNBC he felt that face masks will become “ubiquitous” to tame the pandemic, and many lost jobs will be regained by year’s end.
But Bullard may be the outlier among his colleagues at the central bank.
“I do expect unfortunately that the economy is going to remain weaker than many had hoped through the summer and fall,” Rosengren said in a Reuters interview.
Energy & Environment
TROP STORM FAY TO DUMP ON TRI-STATE.
CBS – Tropical Storm Fay is moving into the Tri-State Area, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds.
Tropical storm warnings and flash flood watches are in effect from the Jersey Shore to Long Island.
Some models predict up to 4 inches of rainfall accompanied by 45 mile-per-hour winds.
Health
Go nuts for nuts: Long-term nut consumption can reduce your risk of obesity and reduce weight gain
NaturalNews – Nutritionists have been hyping the health benefits of eating nuts for years — and for good reason. Numerous studies have found strong evidence of the ability of nuts (and seeds) to lower the risk of chronic conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. Besides disease prevention, nuts also provide plenty of nutrients which the body needs to stay healthy.
In a 2017 study, researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University found that 45 percent of the more than 300,000 deaths linked to heart disease, diabetes and stroke in 2012 were due to eating too much or too little of certain nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, which can be found in nuts.
An earlier study by Harvard researchers also reported that people who eat nuts regularly tend to live longer and healthier lives than those who don’t. This, the researchers discovered, is because nut-eaters are 20 percent less likely to die from serious diseases like cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases. The researchers also found that regular nut-eaters are more slender than their counterparts, meaning nut consumption does not lead to overweight.
In a recent study, researchers at Iran University of Medical Sciences found more evidence supporting the idea that eating plenty of nuts can reduce weight gain. In fact, studies conducted over the past decade suggest that long-term nut consumption lowers the risk of obesity considerably. The researchers discussed their findings in a review published in the journal Nutrition Research.
Eating nuts is better for your metabolic health in the long run
According to the researchers, nuts are not only rich in essential dietary nutrients, they are also great sources of bioactive compounds that promote metabolic health. But because they are high in calories — most of which, however, come from heart-healthy fats — some people have raised concerns that nuts may contribute to unwanted weight gain.
To determine if this is indeed the case, the researchers looked for prospective cohort studies, which investigated the relationship between consumption of nuts or nut subtypes (e.g., pistachios, walnuts and pecans) and changes in body weight, body mass index (BMI) waist circumference (WC) and risk of overweight or obesity.
They found six papers that met their criteria and had a follow-up duration of at least one year. Four of those studies showed an inverse association between nut consumption (at least one to two servings per week) and weight gain, as well as overweight/obesity risk. Of the remaining two studies, both of which evaluated the association between nut intake and changes in WC, one reported a significant inverse association.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that long-term nut consumption helps reduce weight gain and decreases a person’s risk of overweight or obesity. (Related: Give your digestive system a quick boost by eating sprouted nuts.)
42% of All COVID-19 Deaths Occurred in Nursing Homes
Mercola – Early on in the pandemic it became clear that older individuals were at disproportionate risk of severe COVID-19 infection and death.
According to an analysis1 conducted by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, which included data reported by May 22, 2020, an average of 42% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. had occurred in nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities. This is beyond extraordinary, considering this group accounts for just 0.62% of the population.
Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, wrote an article2 about their findings in Forbes, pointing out that “42% could be an undercount,” since “states like New York exclude from their nursing home death tallies those who die in a hospital, even if they were originally infected in a long-term care facility.” Roy also testified before Congress June 17, 2020, about racial disparities in COVID-19 and the health care system.3
Why Do Some States Have Exaggerated Nursing Home Death Rates?
Disturbingly, some states have nursing home mortality rates that are significantly higher than the national average of 42%. Minnesota4 tops the list in this regard, with 81.4% of all COVID-19 deaths having occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Ohio comes in second, with a rate of 70%.
As reported by Roy:5
“Another way to cut the data is to look at nursing home and assisted living facility deaths as a share of the population that lives in those facilities. On that basis, three states stand out in the negative direction: New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut, COVID deaths per 10,000 nursing home and assisted living facility residents were 703 and 827, respectively. In New Jersey, nearly 10 percent of all long-term care facility residents — 954 in 10,000 — have died from the novel coronavirus.”
Thousands Have Died Unnecessarily
By and large, nursing homes are ill equipped to care for COVID-19 infected patients.6 They’re set up to care for elderly patients, whether they are generally healthy or have chronic health problems, but they’re not typically equipped to quarantine and care for people with highly infectious disease.
It’s logical to assume that comingling infected patients with noninfected ones in a nursing home would result in exaggerated death rates, as the elderly are far more prone to die from any infection, including the common cold.
March 17, 2020, Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis wrote an op-ed in STAT news,7 stating that “even some so-called mild or common-cold-type coronaviruses have been known for decades [to] have case fatality rates as high as 8% when they infect people in nursing homes.”
March 25, 2020, instructions from the New York Department of Health stated nursing homes were not allowed to deny admission or readmission of a COVID-19-positive patient. Nursing homes were even “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
In other words, we should not be surprised that COVID-19 disproportionally affects older people. Most elderly are frail and have underlying health problems that make them more prone to death from any infection whatsoever. Since this is common knowledge, why did some states decide to violate federal guidelines and send COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes?
Maryland Man May Be First to Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19
Newsmax – David Rach claims he may have been successfully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The graduate immunology student from Maryland took part in a clinical trial last May to test a drug developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech. While it’s not known if he was given the experimental vaccine or a placebo, early reports indicate that he already has antibodies that are equal to or higher than those reported in people who have had COVID-19.
According to Fox News, Rach said he did experience a reaction to his second dose, which could indicate he received the experimental vaccine and not the saline solution placebo. He will be formally tested in October to see if he has immunity to the virus.
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