- Sweden Says Herd Immunity "Surprisingly Slow" To Develop Despite Avoiding Lockdowns
Sweden Says Herd Immunity “Surprisingly Slow” To Develop Despite Avoiding Lockdowns
Tyler Durden
Thu, 06/18/2020 – 02:45Despite allowing its economy and schools to remain open during the coronavirus outbreak, Sweden is finding that the incidence of COVID-19 antibodies among its population is still surprisingly uncommon, suggesting that the country hasn’t yet reached the point of “herd immunity”, unlike other European countries which embraced much more drastic measures to stop the spread and the deaths.
Speaking to the nation during an interview on a Swedish radio station, Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s government epidemiologist and architect of its coronavirus containment strategy (a model that Goldman analysts claim wouldn’t work elsewhere in Europe or in the US), noted that the development of herd immunity is taking much longer than expected. Per Tegnell: “the trends in immunity have been surprisingly slow.” He also says “it’s difficult to explain why this is so.”
To be sure, Tegnell noted, there is “always a lag in all such measurements,” and the percentage of the population with detectable COVID antibodies is likely higher today than it was a few weeks ago, when a surveillance test carried out by a private Swedish company found that only 14% of Swedes have antibodies, compared to more than 50% of Italians in some of the hardest-hit parts of Northern Italy.
Critics of Sweden’s strategy have been more vocal lately now that the country’s death toll has surpassed the 5,000 mark, leaving Sweden with a mortality rate well above its Nordic neighbors.
As the country’s mortality rate has climbed in recent weeks, polls have reflected a growing dissatisfaction among Swedes with the government’s handling of the virus, though Tegnell’s approach remains broadly popular.
To be sure, Tegnell has acknowledged that some mistakes were made, and has said if he could do it over, he would have done some things differently, including directing more resources toward protecting the most vulnerable. But he never disavowed his approach, as some English-language media outlets have twisted his words.
For those who don’t understand the concept of ‘herd immunity’, Bloomberg created a helpful illustration. Even readers who think they understand how it works should probably take a look.
Sweden’s Parliament held a memorial for those who have lost their lives, or family members and friends, to the virus. “This moment is for all of those who have lost their work, their health, their lives,” Andreas Norlen, parliament’s speaker, said. “The parliament is mourning. Sweden is mourning.”
Tegnell and Swedish PM Stefan Lofven have insisted that Sweden’s strategy was the right choice. It was based on an assumption that the virus would be around for a long time – a fair assumption considering we don’t yet have a vaccine – rendering any short-term lockdowns effectively useless.
As the debate around what might constitute a more “sustainable” model for dealing with the outbreak rages, India is finding that even after 2 months of one of the most restrictive lockdowns on the planet, the virus came roaring back as soon as restrictions were lifted. So far, we haven’t seen a similar pattern emerge in Europe. But all of this just serves to remind us how little scientists really know for certain about the virus.
- Floundering NATO Tries To Surface By Confronting China
Floundering NATO Tries To Surface By Confronting China
Tyler Durden
Thu, 06/18/2020 – 02:00Authored by Brian Cloughley via The Strategic Culture Foundation,
On June 8 Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the U.S.-NATO military alliance, gave a speech at NATO’s new billion dollar headquarters in Brussels. It was followed by a selection of patsy questions, but in spite of the trite predictability of Stoltenberg’s statements and the eager friendliness of the questioners, enough was said to indicate that NATO is still on the lookout for enemies to attempt to justify its continuing shaky existence.
New on the Stoltenberg list is China, which is a long way from the North Atlantic. He was reported as declaring that “the rise of China is fundamentally shifting the global balance of power, heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy, multiplying the threats to open societies and individual freedoms and increasing the competition over our values and our way of life.” He wants NATO to become involved with the U.S. in confronting China which has a population of 1.4 billion, the longest land border in the world (22,117 km) and a coastline of 14,500 km (the U.S. coastline is 19,924 km), which enormous numbers are ample justification for maintenance of a large defence force.
But he complained that China “already has the second largest defence budget. They are investing heavily in modern military capabilities, including missiles that can reach all NATO Allied countries. They’re coming closer to us in cyberspace. We see them in the Arctic, in Africa. We see them investing in our critical infrastructure. And they are working more and more together with Russia. All of this has a security consequence for NATO Allies. And therefore, we need to be able to respond to that, to address that.”
This is not altogether consistent with the North Atlantic Treaty which is precise in stating that the members of the military alliance “undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” Yet Stoltenberg, with the energetic guidance of Washington, is threatening a “global approach” against China. The fact that Russia and China are “working more and more together” is a major factor in Stoltenberg’s justification for revving up confrontation, and Washington thoroughly approves of measures that could disrupt mutually beneficial economic cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.
In May 2020 members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee proposed a multibillion dollar “Pacific Deterrence Initiative” intended to expand U.S. military deployment in Asia and “send a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that the American people are committed to defending U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific.” Then in early June Senator Tom Cotton (he who wishes to use armed soldiers to put down protestors in his own country) introduced legislation titled “Forging Operational Resistance to Chinese Expansion (FORCE)” with a multi-billion dollar price tag. It is intended to “help thwart the Chinese Communist Party’s main geopolitical aim [of] pushing the United States out of the Western Pacific [and] achieving cross-strait unification with Taiwan via military force.”
It is not surprising that Stoltenberg has leapt on the anti-China bandwagon, but his reference to Beijing’s defence budget being second-largest in the world is somewhat misleading. He emphasised that NATO countries “represent 30 members, close to one billion people” but didn’t mention the fact that military spending by all these countries totalled over 1 trillion dollars (USD 1,036,077,000,000) in 2019 while China’s expenditure was $261 billion. The U.S. on its own spent an awe-inspiring $732 billion, indicating that that the rest of NATO shelled out $471 billion which is decidedly more than China’s outlay. As Stoltenberg announced on 29 November 2019, NATO members “are also investing billions more in new capabilities and contributing to NATO deployments around the world. So we are on the right track but we cannot be complacent. We must keep up the momentum.”
Then there is the matter of nuclear weapons. According to the Arms Control Association the United States (which is modifying its F-15E Strike Eagle multirole fighters to deliver B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs) has “1,365 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 656 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers.” So far as NATO is directly concerned the U.S. has deployed an estimated 150 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs at six NATO bases in five European countries: Aviano and Ghedi in Italy; Büchel in Germany; Incirlik in Turkey; Kleine Brogel in Belgium; and Volkel in the Netherlands. These are in addition to the 300 nuclear weapons of France and Britain’s 200.
China has an estimated 290 nuclear weapons, so by no stretch of the imagination could be described as a nuclear-expansionist or global threat. In fact the reason that China embarked on a nuclear weapons programme in the Fifties was the U.S. nuclear threat, as enunciated by the commander of Strategic Air Command, the near-psychotic General Curtis LeMay who was asked what should be done if the truce in the Korean war were to break down because of Chinese military action and replied “There are no suitable strategic air targets in Korea. However, I would drop a few bombs in proper places like China, Manchuria and South-eastern Russia.” This caused alarm bells to ring in Beijing (and Moscow) — and they have been ringing ever since.
In addition to overflight of the South China Sea by USAF nuclear bombers, and aggressive manoeuvres by U.S. Navy missile-armed destroyers aimed at provoking action by China in that region, the Pentagon is operating the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CVN 76) in the waters near the Philippines, and CVN 71, the USS Ronald Reagan, is preparing to sail from Guam. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet announced on June 8 that the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and its Strike Group had left San Diego “in support of global maritime security operations”, but there is no secret about its operational commitment, as on 12 June the director of operations at Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Stephen Koehler, told Associated Press that “Carriers and carrier strike groups writ large are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I really am pretty fired up that we’ve got three of them at the moment.”
The picture is one of increasing U.S. military encirclement of China, combined with such economic pressure as it can manage bring to bear in order to weaken its government. While Stoltenberg’s NATO is anxious to join in this campaign in order to justify its continuing existence, its contribution would be insignificant to the point of absurdity. Stoltenberg claims that “NATO does not see China as the new enemy or an adversary” yet wants the alliance to “address the security consequences of the rise of China” by joining the Pentagon’s antics.
NATO is a disaster and has achieved nothing in its military deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. For Stoltenberg to assert that its involvement in the war in Afghanistan has enabled “the Afghans to fight the terrorism themselves, to stabilise their own country” is preposterous. The world as a whole would benefit if NATO quietly disbanded.
- Turkey Launches 'Largest Ever' Air & Ground Assault Into Northern Iraq
Turkey Launches ‘Largest Ever’ Air & Ground Assault Into Northern Iraq
Tyler Durden
Thu, 06/18/2020 – 01:00NATO-member Turkey has controversially initiated a major bombing campaign over northern Iraq targeting Kurdish armed groups, specifically the outlawed PKK which Ankara has long said uses Iraqi territory to conduct a cross-border insurgency.
The military incursion also involves ground troops. On Tuesday evening the Turkish Defense Ministry announced the start of “Operation Tiger Claw” with the following statement: “In order to neutralize the elements of the ‘Kurdistan Workers Party’ (PKK) and other terrorist elements that threaten the security of our people and our borders, victory has reached the heroes of the commando units who are currently in the Haftanin area.”
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – outraged at yet another violation of Iraqi sovereignty – promptly summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad and lodged a memorandum of protest.
Turkish ministry of defense photo of Turkish troops in action against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, via AP. The Erdogan government, meanwhile, has claimed it’s acting in ‘defense’ after PKK insurgents have launched repeat attacks from Iraqi and Syrian soil over the past years.
Multiple reports suggest that this particular operation is unprecedented in its scale:
Special forces were airlifted and deployed overland to the border region of Haftanin in the early hours of Wednesday for Operation Claw-Tiger. The campaign targeted 150 suspected Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) positions and was supported by jets, helicopters, drones and artillery, the Turkish defense ministry said.
The ongoing airstrikes included attacks in and around Sinjar Mountain, where it must be remembered tens of thousands of members of the ethno-religious group, the Yazidis, took refuge from ISIS in 2014, after which a US military rescue mission ensued to protect the group. It’s yet another example of local US allies coming under NATO member Turkey’s bombs.
The Turkish Defense Ministry further issued the following propaganda video upon the start of “Operation Tiger Claw”:
Halkımızın ve hudutlarımızın güvenliğini tehdit eden PKK ve diğer terörist unsurları etkisiz hale getirmek maksadıyla; Hava Kuvvetleri, ateş destek vasıtaları, ATAK Helikopterleri, İHA ve SİHA’larla desteklenen Komandolarımız, hava hücum harekâtıyla bölgeye intikal etmişlerdir. pic.twitter.com/hDJfsncxet
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) June 16, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The bombings have reportedly impacted Yazidi refugee camps in the area as well. Critics of this latest Turkish aggression against the Kurds and other ethnic minorities have pointed out that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has remained silent.
Stoltenberg has in the past not only remained silent amid the pattern of Turkish cross-border attacks, but has repeatedly defended Turkey, which has the second-largest army in NATO behind the United States.
Alongside Iraq’s government, the Arab League has also weighed in to condemn the new operation, which further threatens the northern Iraq border region’s civilians, especially the vulnerable internally displaced refugee population (IDPs).
- Politicisation Of The Great Lockdown Result Of "TINA"-Economic-Ignorance & Censorship
Politicisation Of The Great Lockdown Result Of “TINA”-Economic-Ignorance & Censorship
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 23:45Authored by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog,
In the United States questioning liberal economic ideology is not tolerated, so when the latest inevitable economic bust in capitalism occurs it is little wonder that their society talks about everything except economic ideology. They spend their time inventing and discussing non-economic solutions to economic catastrophes, which is precisely how their fundamental weaknesses and inequalities only get worse and worse.
Now we are talking about the murder of George Floyd, police brutality and White supremacy – these are old but still important issues, but they are also certainly issues which will not lead to systematically redistributing one cent towards governmentally-abandoned African-American areas.
The fall of the USSR and the triumphant parades led by banners bearing TINA – There Is No Alternative (to neoliberalism and neo-imperialism) – encouraged Americans to throw away their textbooks on the “dismal science” of economics. “Yeah,” they said, “Marx might have been interesting in his day, but it’s all over now – get with the times: it’s the economy, stupid! (whisper) But seriously – don’t openly question liberal economic ideology.”
For those of us following the data it has become quite clear: “Everything Bubble 2” is a great pica-saving handle to describe the 2020 Western economy, but it gives the wrong impression that what’s going on is just a repeat of 2008 (when Everything Bubble 1 popped) – it’s actually much worse. Nobody expected Everything Bubble 2 to be popped by something as economically-suicidal as a Great Lockdown, but we now have no choice but to add the effects of the two together, so… wow… we just cannot say that this is like 2008, or 2001, or 1929, or any other era.
But in the US you can’t say anything about ideological economic direction, of course. This leads us to two realisations about their society which are now obvious to all:
1) By abandoning economic ideological debate for three decades Americans can only politically snipe each other to death in 2020 because they simply cannot intelligently discuss economics, much to the glee of the 1%.
2) By censoring ideological debate the US is unable to devise new solutions to the latest capitalist bust, so in order to end this very atypical capitalist bust they are vainly reapplying previous solutions: hyper-partisanship, militarism and economic ideological totalitarianism.
Combine these two realisations and it’s clear that the American solution to their 2020 economic crisis is militarist in nature: Militarism against those who disagree with the Mainstream, militarism to guide the economic way out, and militarism towards the Covid-19 germ as well. As a result of the George Floyd murder we may even add a fourth militarism – though one which will surely end after the November presidential election – militarism against anti-Black racism.
Why would this “solution” of militarism be a surprise to anyone?
Removing economics from politics creates stupid politics, but also hyper-partisanship
Americans today have only one solution for domestic or international failure – declare war on the other guy, even if he is a fellow citizen.
This economic crisis is so bad for the already-weakened West that one would think the economic debate for its solutions would have never become partisan. (Considering that both mainstream parties agree on TINA – what was there to argue about economically, anyway?) Georgia, Florida and Texas have cities just as dense as Illinois, Michigan, California, New York and New Jersey, but it can’t be a coincidence that this latter camp of blue-states remain economically closed with a severity and duration seemingly unparalleled in the world.
It is as if working with the other side – even for the good of the nation – implies risking a deadly (moral) contagion? It’s as if doing a single thing Trump did, suggested or supported makes one an irredeemable “deplorable”? It’s as if losing an election this November is a bigger catastrophe in the minds of politically-involved Republican and Democrat citizens than the unprecedented capitalist catastrophe of having over 40 million unemployed people?
All I can say is: LOL you can’t possibly run a nation that way. I am as political as anybody, but if unemployment was 25% my primary motivation would not be getting credit at the polling booth!
So it’s an amazing proof of how undesirable the American cultural-political-economic model truly is when we observe how the re-opening of their economy has become such a politically-polarised issue.
That may or may not be old news to many, but here is something which is never discussed: This seeming “militarisation of political partisanship” is predicted on confining mainstream political discussion solely to exactly that – the alleged importance of political partisanship. Western culture’s proclamation of TINA, the chucking out of economic textbooks and censoring “time-wasting” economic debate has thus given two-party political affiliations an entirely outsized place in US culture.
And TINA was always going to be especially fatal for heterogenous Western societies: In a country like Iran, which is 90% Shia, or homogenous & self-segregated Japan it’s perhaps not necessarily economics which can hold the title of “champion of societal unification”, but in the very heterogeneous West economic class clearly provides the broadest basis for life-saving and nation-saving unity. (The West’s White supremacists will sputter that, “It didn’t used to be this way here!” Who cares? It is this way now for your children, and it was only ever not “this way” because of massive segregation.) National unification may be rejected by Trotskyists, but not everyone wants to see the nation founder in response to every serious crisis.
But by rejecting discussion of economic unity (a.k.a. class warfare against the 1%) the West could only logically choose to emphasise other factors in its place, i.e. political, cultural, ethnic, sexual, gender and religious factors, all of which (for their heterogeneous societies) are inherently less unifying and even quite controversial. In a crisis this disunity is not just readily apparent but leads to tangible disaster – certainly the West is currently burning in crisis.
The problem goes deeper than their facile blaming of only the political and media classes: there are many everyday American citizens who clearly want to increase the stranglehold of this economic crisis in order to oust Trump or just their local incumbent. In 2020, because they are not in power, it’s logical to agree that Democrats are acting the most desperately and power-hungrily. However, it’s not as if Republicans are promoting consensus, unity and high ideals – of course they are using the economic crisis to achieve the neoliberal tenet of slashing government ranks down to just cops and fire departments.
It is not an exaggeration to say that by removing economics from the discussion US political culture has become not “militant” – which has positive connotations of ideological purity – but “militarist”: Democrats and Republicans are going on the war path to stoke problems instead of focusing on societal unity amid this unprecedented crisis.
You couldn’t honestly talk about imperialism with an American in 2019, and it’s not like they want to hear about it now; nor can you honestly talk about capitalism with an American despite its current epic fail; in June 2020 they want to talk only about how their political party is superior, and how corona is the new Black Plague, and now they’ve added a new problem they’ve recently discovered: police brutality against Blacks.
The problem of this faux-militancy, which has such a gaping intellectual void (the lack of an economic component), is similarly and glaring obvious in the centuries-old militarisation of imperialist US culture: War on Indians, war for/against slavery, war on socialism, war on Soviet-led communism, war on poverty, war on drugs, war on Muslims – the US solution of “war on corona” is thus not at all unique for them.
The new – and probably temporary – “war on police brutality” is certainly necessary but cannot possibly reach the halls of power nor the ears of the US vanguard party of bankers.
The solution in US corporate fascism is always war, but conquering corona yields no booty
The real economic ideology of the US is – of course – corporate fascism, which is why their military-industrial complex had a ready solution to the 2001 Y2K/dot.com bust via declaring war on the Muslim world. Very profitable indeed, and it allowed their Pentagon-planned economy (the Pentagon is the world’s largest employer) to continue organising the very unequal US economic redistribution.
There was no new war to be had in 2008 – Obama could only double down on the existing wars (after accepting his Nobel Peace Prize) and double down on the status quo economic ideology as well: QE dropped helicopter money at the problem and hoped the problem was resolved. It was resolved very satisfactorily indeed, but only for the 1% and their asset classes.
In 2020 Everything Bubble 2 was popped by the Great Lockdown and a new war was declared: against corona. As if Red men with tomahawks had amassed just outside the picket-topped fort, Americans threw themselves wholeheartedly into this battle for self-survival. Now, as the stock market has been boosted with taxpayer QE money back to pre-crisis levels, Americans are (kind of) throwing themselves into a battle against police brutality as well.
Declaring war is what American culture does, period.
What does war do? It rallies around the flag – for countries who were not inspired by 1917 it is truly the “champion of societal unification” – but there is no booty to be had this time: no new frontiers to provide cheap land; no new resources to allow Western manufactures to be made more cheaply; no oil; not even any way to use US taxpayer money to pay mercenaries in order to boost the stock prices of Pentagon-linked corporations.
Americans need to realise that “keep-capitalism-alive-through-jingoism” is a primary pillar of imperialism, and that true patriotism is never allowed in neoliberal capitalism – thus their hyper-partisanship today. War also provides a useful distraction from endemic economic inequality, which is why this “endless war” ruse has been going on across the anti-socialist West ever since WWI.
The West has thrown themselves into the war on the corona germ, but their lower classes are screaming that this war is economic suicide. Once the war on corona is over – even if the West extends past the “surge” this fall or even into 2021 – economic ideology will finally have to be discussed.
But the West doesn’t ever have to do that intelligently – they were the economic ideological winners, right?
- Putin Has Three 'Disinfection Tunnels' To Shield Him From COVID
Putin Has Three ‘Disinfection Tunnels’ To Shield Him From COVID
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 23:25Russian President Vladimir Putin has three disinfection tunnels, one at Novo-Ogaryov, his official residence, located in a Moscow suburb, and two others at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, reported Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Reuters published a video showing how the tunnel sprays a “fine water mist” covering the clothes and exposed areas of the occupant who steps through with a disinfectant solution. It was noted by Ria Novosti, that anyone who visits Putin will have to step through the tunnel.
The report made no mention of the type of disinfectant solution used. However, in two past reports, we noted the solution could be “a fine mist of water and nitrogen” or electrified tap water that produces a hypochlorous acid (which is an environmentally friendly disinfectant that kills bacteria and viruses).
- “Disinfecting Tunnels” Are Headed To Supermarkets In Post-COVID World
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Putin’s tunnels were designed and built by a firm in western Russia. The three were installed in April as confirmed virus cases and deaths exploded across the country.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia
COVID-19 number of deaths in Russia
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said the tunnels were installed at the height of the pandemic — he noted, lockdown restrictions are being eased as cases and deaths decrease.
At some point, these tunnels are coming to America — could be seen at stadium entrances.
- Exploring The Hypersonic Strike Systems Of The United States
Exploring The Hypersonic Strike Systems Of The United States
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 23:17Even two years ago, hypersonic weapons were barely an item of discussion among the US national security establishment. Today these weapons are all the rage. What accounts for that sudden emergence of US interest in this category of weapons, which has spurred research and development on several different weapon systems that are to enter service at some point in the upcoming decade? And what are the implications of their eventual likely entry into service?
The triggering reason is most likely the failure of US, French, and British stand-off weapons used against Syria, specifically against targets covered by modern air defenses. Russian and even Soviet-era surface-to-air gun and missile systems racked up an impressive tally of successful interceptions of Tomahawk cruise missiles that still represent the most important component of the US stand-off weapon arsenal. Even the supposedly stealthy cruise missiles like France’s SCALP-EG, Great Britain’s Storm Shadow, and the US JASSM-ER proved to have low survivability against modern defenses. Israel’s equivalent munitions were not an exception to that rule, as they too had to rely on saturation attacks or, more likely, striking targets that were outside the integrated air defense bubble. Compounding the problem was the absence of sub-strategic ballistic missiles, with the exception of the short-ranged US Army TACMS which, while a formidable weapon, is too slow to evade interception by tactical anti-ballistic systems.
Nor were “hard kill” defenses the only weapons that proved effective against the array of NATO’s air- and sea-launched cruise missiles. Though hard data is difficult to come by, there is evidence suggesting “soft kill” electronic warfare measures were quite effective at countering a wide variety of stand-off munitions as well.
Collectively, these experiences have shaken US and NATO confidence in their chosen technological approach that emphasized stealth for every aerial vehicle in their arsenals, including manned and unmanned platforms as well as missiles. Yet even though stealthy cruise missiles such as the JASSM and its anti-ship version, the LRASM, might be successful at avoiding targeting by long-range radar-guided weapons, the fact that they are jet-powered means they are detectable by infrared imaging sensors at closer ranges. The remarkable information campaign waged by NATO countries against the Pantsir-S short-range air defense system is a reflection of its effectiveness as a missile, bomb, and drone-killer.
Whereas the US military establishment embraced stealth as a “silver bullet” technological solution to all manner of tactical and even strategic problems, Russia’s approach was more measured. While the studies that have led to this conclusion probably will remain classified for a long period of time, the Russian military came to the reasonable conclusion that since avoiding detection cannot be guaranteed, the best way to deal with missile defenses is to decrease exposure time by making the missiles ever-faster. This trend was already evident during the Cold War, when NATO settled for subsonic anti-ship missiles such as the Exocet, Harpoon, Penguin, Otomat, and ultimately the Tomahawk which had both anti-ship and land-attack applications, which relied on stealth of sorts in the form of flying at extremely low altitudes. USSR, on the other hand, already by the late 1960s was making a major investment in highly supersonic air-, surface- and submarine-launched missiles. By 1980s, Soviet weapons were increasingly employing air-breathing ramjet propulsion which pushed their speeds ever-closer to the hypersonic realm. NATO’s use of ramjet propulsion during that time was limited to surface-to-air missiles such as the British Sea Dart and US Talos, while its cruise missiles were almost exclusively jet-powered.
Russia’s evolutionary development of these technologies has led both to systems already in service, such as the Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles (with an anti-ship variant of the latter employing a highly supersonic terminal stage). These are be soon joined by the Tsirkon, a genuinely hypersonic cruise missile, the Avangard ICBM maneuvering re-entry vehicle and the Kinzhal aeroballistic missile derived from the Iskander INF-threshold 500km range ballistic missile.
US interest in conventional hypervelocity strike weapons is not exactly new. The George W. Bush administration initiated the Prompt Global Strike program which made its first appearance in the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review, shortly before the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Nevertheless, in the post-9/11 wars the US has shifted attention and budgets away from strategic weapons and towards counterinsurgency, therefore while the interest in these weapons was never abandoned, it was nowhere near the top of US defense priorities. Not even the rapid deterioration of Russia-NATO relations in 2014 and later years led to visibly greater interest in these weapons. The Trump Administration’s two rounds of cruise missile strikes against Syria, however, appear to have had that effect. As a result, every service of the US military is interested in the development of at least one weapon system that would provide with hypervelocity strike capabilities. With the exception of Avangard, every Russian system mentioned has a similar US system under some stage of development.
The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) is quite literally the US equivalent of the Iskander, possessed of similar range and capabilities. There are two versions of the weapon being developed, one by Lockheed-Martin which conducted the first test launch in 2019, and another by Raytheon which appears to be behind schedule. While the weapon is intended to be used from the same HIMARS launchers that Army TACMS uses, the missile itself has considerably greater range of just under 500km, though it is widely assumed it is going to be extended to 700km. The original official 500km range requirement was placed when the INF Treaty was still in force, but since that treaty’s demise was already being planned by the White House, it is rather likely the two competitors were informed that actual desired range was greater than the specified one.
The Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) picks up where the PrSM leaves of, and moreover is one of the missile designs using the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) developed by Sandia National Laborary. C-HGB is an Avangard-like though smaller maneuvering hypersonic vehicle that has been tested at speeds of up to Mach 8 and ranges in excess of 6,000km as part of the Army Hypersonic Weapon program that has since been folded into this and other projects. Operational LRHW range will depend on the kinematics of the carrier. However, since the START I treaty defines an ICBM as a missile with a range exceeding 5,500km, if LRHW has performance comparable to the AHW, it would be a de-facto road-mobile ICBM. While it is planned as a delivery vehicle for conventional payloads, nothing prevents it from carrying nuclear warheads. LRHW and other long-range surface-launched hypersonic weapons may be the reason the United States has shown no interest in extending New START treaty which uses the same definitions and which is set to expire in 2021. The US Army hopes to have the first LRHW battery in service in 2023, though that date is likely to slip, if only because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Global Strike (IRCPS) is the US Navy’s equivalent of the LRHW in the sense that it uses C-HGB. However, unlike the missiles mentioned earlier, it does not appear to have a custom-designed launch vehicle but will instead use repurposed Trident SLBMs, most likely the intermediate-range Trident I. One point which speaks in favor of Trident I is that its smaller size makes it compatible with the Virginia Block III attack submarines “Virginia Payload Tubes” which normally carry Tomahawk SLCM packs but which are large enough to accept a single Trident I-based IRCPS. So here too we see a deliberate blurring of the line separating strategic and non-strategic weapons. Since the C-HGB can be used as a nuclear delivery vehicle, it would transform the US Navy’s future attack submarines with suitable launch tubes into ballistic missile submarines.
Unlike LRHW and IRCPS, the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) does not use the C-HGB. That weapon was supposed to be the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW) which is still advertised on the Lockheed-Martin web site, alongside ARRW, IRCPS, and LRHW, but which was rejected in favor of ARRW, a smaller vehicle with a different, smaller glide body. The USAF chose ARRW over HCSW because the smaller size would enable B-52s and B-1s to carry larger numbers of these missiles, and even permit F-15 fighters to act as carriers.
Since all of these weapons have ranges bordering or possibly even exceeding the strategic armaments’ range threshold of 5,500km and moreover could have nuclear variants, they should properly be termed strategic weapons. With the exception of the PrSM, their capabilities go well beyond the need to launch battlefield strikes or to target key rear-area facilities. These missiles’ capabilities in some respects even exceed those of Cold War-era IRBMs like the Pershing II. Indeed, even when carrying conventional payloads, their high velocity turns them into very effective “bunker-busters” capable of threatening ICBM launch silos and underground command centers. This makes them ideal first-strike weapons, used against leadership and weapons sites, with the target country’s degraded nuclear response being restrained or limited by US anti-ballistic missile defenses which are being developed in parallel with hypersonic strike capabilities, and the still-untouched US nuclear arsenal.
- Trump Says Bolton Broke The Law, Says China Could Have "Easily" Stopped The Virus Spread
Trump Says Bolton Broke The Law, Says China Could Have “Easily” Stopped The Virus Spread
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 23:15Shortly after lengthy excerpts of neocon John Bolton’s upcoming book were leaked to various media outlets, President Trump accused his former National Security Advisor of breaking the law by trying to publish a book on his time in the White House, even as his administration was seeking an emergency restraining order to halt its publication.
“He broke the law, very simple. As much as it’s going to be broken,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night. “This is highly classified.”
Among the various claims by Bolton is that Trump encouraged China’s president Xi to build detention camps in the Xinjiang region to imprison hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims; not coincidentally just hours after the leaks, Trump signs a bill punishing Chinese officials over Uighur internment camps, which in turn prompted an angry response by China which vowed to retaliate if the US uses the Bill and asked the asks the to stop using the bill to hurt its interests and interfere in China’s internal affairs. “Otherwise, China will for sure firmly retaliate.”
Trump also responded that Bolton had been a “washed up guy” when he brought him into the administration. “I gave him a chance, he couldn’t get Senate-confirmed, so I gave him a non-Senate confirmed position, where I could just put him there, see how he worked. And I wasn’t very enamored.”
Speaking to Hannity by telephone, the president said that “nobody has been tough on China and nobody has been tough on Russia like I have. And that’s in the record books and it’s not even close. The last administration did nothing on either.”
In the lengthy interview Trump also touched on several other topics, including the ongoing virus pandemic, claiming the US was in great shape to deal with the virus, and claiming that China should have kept the virus where it was as it could have “easily” stopped the virus spread.
Trump also covered the ongoing protests, said that he will be visiting the border wall “very soon”, and called for schools to reopen by the fall.
- Investing Legend Jeremy Grantham Is "Amazed" At This Unprecedented Stock Bubble
Investing Legend Jeremy Grantham Is “Amazed” At This Unprecedented Stock Bubble
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 22:46Two weeks ago, the generally cheerful investing icon Jeremy Grantham unleashed fire and brimstone, taking his $7.5BN portfolio to a net short position for the first time since the financial crisis, and summarizing his dire assessment of the current unprecedented situation simply by saying “this will end badly.”
Turns out, Grantham was only getting started.
Doubling down on his apocalyptic message, the one-time value investing guru told CNBC that the US stock market is in a unprecedented bubble and investing in it is “simply playing with fire.”
“I have been completely amazed,” the veteran bearish investor said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC. “It is a rally without precedent – the fastest in this time ever and the only one in the history books that takes place against a background of undeniable economic problems.”
His advice to an entire generation of young daytraders jumping into the market now should sell U.S. stocks, buy emerging market equities and “throw the key away” for a few years, he said, adding “this is becoming the fourth real McCoy bubble of my career.”
He also had some bad news for those fighting the Fed: “The great bubbles can go on for a long time and inflict a lot of pain.” The previous three bubbles Grantham referred to were Japan in 1989, the tech bubble in 2000 and the housing crisis of 2008.
Commenting on the insanity in Hertz, which today was mercifully stopped by the SEC before even more young Robinhood traders would take their lives – like Alexander E. Kearns, facing a $730,000 negative cash balance – Grantham said events like firms trying to sell stock in bankrupt companies should make “any bear feel better.”
Refusing to buy the V-shaped recovery narrative, Grantham also said that it’s difficult to imagine when the broad economy will completely recover from the effects of the pandemic.
Where does Grantham’s unprecedented bearishness come from? Simple: as he wrote in his latest investor letter, which we recapped last week, “the market and the economy have never been more disconnected” and while “the current P/E on the U.S. market is in the top 10% of its history… the U.S. economy in contrast is in its worst 10%, perhaps even the worst 1%…. This is apparently one of the most impressive mismatches in history.”
For those who missed it, here is the rest of our observations:
As a result of this total loss of coherence driven by trillions in central bank liquidity that have propelled a massive wedge between fundamentals and stock prices, GMO, the Boston fund manager Mr Grantham co-founded in 1977, cut its net exposure to global equities in its biggest fund from 55% to just 25%, near the lowest levels it reported during the global financial crisis, according to a separate update from GMO’s head of asset allocation, Ben Inker.
That decision, according to the FT, slashed GMO’s Benchmark-Free Allocation Fund exposure to US equities from a net 3-4% to a net short position worth about 5% of the $7.5bn portfolio, said Inker, perhaps the first time the fund has turned net short US stocks since the crisis. This, after GMO loaded up on stocks during the sell-off but has since cut offloaded its exposure to the US market following the unprecedented 40% rally in the past 2 months.
“The Covid-19 pandemic “should have generated enhanced respect for risk and it hasn’t. It has caused quite the reverse,” Grantham told the Financial Times. He noted that trailing price-earnings multiples in the US stock market were “in the top 10 per cent of its history” while the US economy “is in its worst 10 per cent, perhaps even the worst 1 per cent”, echoing what he said in his quarterly letter.
And while markets seem to be taking all the negative news in stride, Grantham is worried that the wave of devastation that is coming is unlike anything experienced before:
At GMO we dealt with three major events prior to this crisis, and rightly or wrongly, we felt “nearly certain” that sooner or later we would be right. We exited Japan 100% in 1987 at 45x and watched it go to 65x (for a second, bigger than the U.S.) before a downward readjustment of 30 years and counting. In early 1998 we fought the Tech bubble from 21x (equal to the previous record high in 1929) to 35x before a 50% decline, losing many clients and then regaining even more on the round trip. In 2007 we led our clients relatively painlessly through the housing bust. In all three we felt we were nearly certain to be right. Japan, the Tech bubbles, and 1929, which sadly I missed, were not new types of events. They were merely extreme cases akin to South Sea Bubble investor euphoria and madness. The 2008 event also was easier if you focused on the U.S. housing euphoria, which was a 3-sigma, 100-year event or, simply, unique. We calculated that a return trip to the old price trend and a typical overrun in those extreme house prices would remove $10 trillion of perceived wealth from U.S. consumers and guarantee the worst recession for decades.All these events echoed historical precedents. And from these precedents we drew confidence.
But this event is unlike all those. It is totally new and there can be no near certainties, merely strong possibilities. This is why Ben Inker, our Head of Asset Allocation, is nervous and this is why you are nervous, or should be.
While the uncertainties are indeed large, one can triangulate a sufficiently material dose of “certainty” about what is coming, and as Grantham explains further, it is not pretty, especially with the US economy already on the back foot heading into the crisis:
We had U.S. and global problems looming before the virus: an increasingly disturbed climate causing global floods, droughts, and farming problems; slowing population growth, in the developed world, soon to be negative; and steadily slowing productivity gains, especially in the developed world, and therefore a slowing GDP trend. In the U.S., our 3%+ a year trend is down to, at best, 1.5% in my opinion. It is closer to a 1% maximum in Europe. We had, as mentioned, top 10% historical P/Es in the U.S. and much the highest debt level ever in the U.S. for both corporations and peacetime government. So, after a 10-year economic recovery, this would have been a perfectly normal time historically for a setback.
And then the virus hit.
Simultaneously, it is causing supply and demand shocks unlike anything before. Ever. It is generating a much faster economic contraction than that of the Great Depression. And unlike 1989 Japan, 2000 Tech (U.S.), and 2008 (U.S. and Europe), it is truly global. The drop in GDP and rise in unemployment in four weeks have equaled what took one to four years to reach in the Great Depression and were never reached in the other events. Rogoff & Reinhart, Harvard Professors who wrote the definitive analysis of the 2008 bust, agree that this event is indeed completely different and suggest it will take at least 5 years to regain 2019 levels of activity. But this is a guess. We really don’t know how long it will take. Nearly certain is that a V-shaped recovery looks like a lost hope. The best possible outcome would be that there will be, almost miraculously, billions of doses of effective vaccine by year-end. But most viruses have never had a useful vaccine and most useful vaccines have taken well over five years to develop and when developed have been only partially successful. Yes, this time there will be an enormous effort with unprecedented spending. But still, a leading vaccine expert says quick success would be like “drawing successfully to several inside straights in a row.” And even if all works out well with a vaccine there will remain deep economic wounds.
Meanwhile, as the world waits for a vaccine, and buys stocks confident one is imminent, the “bankruptcies have already started (Hertz on May 22nd) and by year-end thousands of them will arrive into a peak of already existing corporate debt. It will need spectacular management, which it may get. But it may not. Throwing money – paper and electronic impulses – at the problem can help psychology and, particularly, the stock market, where extra stimulus money can end up but does not necessarily put people back to work; there will be up to 20% unemployment for at least a moment.”
In response to this historic economic collapse, central banks’ unprecedented stimulus efforts have “temporarily overwhelmed” underlying economic realities but “it’s hard to believe that will continue.”
And when it stops, watch out below: Grantham told the FT in an interview that after seeing markets price in “total recovery” over recent weeks, “my confidence that this will end badly is increasing.”
Speaking as protests against police brutality and racism filled the streets of US cities, Grantham said previous outbreaks of social instability had had few lasting effects on the US economy, but “there are more things going wrong than normal“.
However, the value investing legend’s most dire prediction was that “if you look back in two to three years and this market turns around and drops 50%, the history books will say ‘That looked like one of the great warnings of all time. It was pretty obvious it was destined to end badly,” Grantham said, adding: “If it does end badly the history books are going to be very unkind to the bulls.” For the sake of an entire generation of Robinhooders who will lose everything if there is a 50% crash, one hopes Grantham is wrong.
Finally, Grantham also chimed in on the “most important question in finance right now”, revealing that he was proud of not having “made a fuss about inflation” in 20 years of writing his widely followed letters, but said that record amounts of monetary easing from central banks had now created the possibility of inflationary pressures.
“With a generous stimulus program in many countries you can just about daydream about inflation for the first time in 30 years.”
To this, all we can add is that in the very near future that daydream will become a nightmare.
- US Futures Slide As Kim Threatens South Korea With "Explosive Justice Far Beyond Imagination"
US Futures Slide As Kim Threatens South Korea With “Explosive Justice Far Beyond Imagination”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 22:28Having literally blown-up their diplomatic channel, North and South Korean officials (and state mouthpieces) are rattling sabres at one another is ever-escalating language tonight.
First, Yonhap reported that North Korea is preparing to redeploy troops to two inter-Korean business zones near the border and reinstall border guard posts removed under a tension reduction deal.
“Units of the regiment level and necessary firepower sub-units with defense mission will be deployed in the Mount Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong Industrial Zone where the sovereignty of our Republic is exercised,” a spokesperson of the General Staff said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
The official said that “civil police posts” that had been pulled back from the Demilitarized Zone straddling the inter-Korean border under a military deal “will be set up again to strengthen the guard over the frontline” and open areas along the border to support leaflet-sending by its own people into the South.
That triggered a small drop in futures.
But, then Yonhap confirmed that South Korea’s top nuclear envoy arrived in Washington on Wednesday for talks with U.S. officials. His visit was unannounced, leading to speculation that he may have been sent as a special envoy by the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, triggering another leg down in futures.
And finally, North Korea’s official newspaper said that this week’s demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office was just the beginning, warning there could be additional retaliatory steps against South Korea that could go “far beyond imagination.”
“It is just the beginning,” the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North’s ruling party, said of Tuesday’s destruction of the liaison office.
“The explosive sound of justice that will continue to come out could go far beyond the imagination of those who make a noise about what could unfold.”
“Our military’s patience has run out,” the paper added. “The military’s announcement that it is mulling a detailed military action plan should be taken seriously.”
Dow futures are down 350 points from the US cash market close…
If only The Fed could print up some ‘peace’?
- It All Comes Back To The Fed: The NWO Is Being Shoved Down Our Throats
It All Comes Back To The Fed: The NWO Is Being Shoved Down Our Throats
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 22:25Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,
The coronavirus was a heck of a cover for the Federal Reserve’s failings, and the riots laid even more cover for what’s to come. While the masses focus on what’s happening on the surface, the real criminals laugh at our ignorance from their metaphorical ivory towers.
As we fight amongst ourselves and try to figure out which violence is more acceptable looting or police brutality, the ruling class is tightening the chains of our enslavement. With the help of the mainstream media, we are distracted from the core of the problem while dividing ourselves as the masters command.
“We need to direct our attention and our fury at the Federal Reserve,” says Brian of the YouTube channel High Impact Vlogs. This channel is being heavily censored by YouTube for speaking truth to power. But Brian keeps on making videos to try to wake people up. Watch this one before it’s removed. The video starts at 6:30.
“The corporate entity, known as mainstream media, is LITERALLY, the propaganda arm for the military-industrial complex, so they WILL NOT expose lies. The lies that lead us into devastating wars. Devastating and costly wars that we cannot afford. So you can’t trust CNN.”
“If there is anything that we’ve learned from history…it is that we do NOT learn from history. CNN (this so-called “authoritative” source for news) has consistently lied to us as they’ve pushed their agendas and promoted banker wars,” wrote Brian in the pinned comment on this video.
“You cannot trust CNN. You cannot trust lamestream, fakestream media. We know that they have an agenda. We know that they cherry-pick facts. And we know they lay down heavy deception. They are there to distract, deceive, and divide the masses. And what’s really going on in this country, remember, make no mistake; the Federal Reserve is laying cover for their operation to get rid of the dollar and move us all into a one-world digital reserve currency. And once we get rid of physical currency, guys, that is the granddaddy of them all as far as a surveillance state. Because they will be able to detect every single purchase by every single person every moment of the day.”
We have to resist the control the bankers want over all of us. If you choose to use their currency when it’s rolled out, you will be their slave. This is why we have repeatedly suggested leaving the system and ceasing compliance right now. Get into precious metals and use the dollar only when you have to. And DO NOT use the new one-world digital currency. Become as self-reliant as you can. Open your eyes, and realize what’s being done. The government will not stop the New World Order. It’s right on schedule. The only way to stop it is by all of us standing together and creating our own free society out of non-compliance with their demands we become their slaves.
- Status Update
Status Update
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 22:11Here’s what’s going on.
We can do what the Federalist did, and pull the entire comment section to stay alive, or we can implement a filter to comments which avoids triggering a limited number of keywords that started this whole fiasco (one can figure out the context there) and get reinstated. At the same time, there are legislative developments in the pipeline which we reported on earlier, which may or may not come to pass. We are not holding our breath.
We are going with option 2 because we would like to preserve the comments, and the website. We are doing everything we can to maintain an open forum. That said, now that we know which way the winds are blowing, we are urgently working on a premium version of the site which will be independent of outside forces, and ad free. Incidentally many of the comments that got us here, were the result of targeted provocation by people who don’t have this site’s best interest at heart.
One other thing: we have also been deplatformed by PayPal, which is why the donation section is different now.
In summary, there is a full blown assault against this website and even if we go premium it is unclear what will happen if all funding lines are cut off. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we get there.
Bottom line: we are just asking for some patience.
- China Deploys Miniature Robo-Tank With "Ferocious Firepower"
China Deploys Miniature Robo-Tank With “Ferocious Firepower”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 22:05The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed a new robot equipped with a machine gun, night vision, missile pod, camera, and variety of sensors that will free up human soldiers from unnecessary danger.
“Equipped with a machine gun, and observation and detection equipment including night vision devices, the robot can replace a human soldier in dangerous reconnaissance missions, the report said. Target practice results showed the robot has acceptable accuracy, and the use of weapons still requires human control,” People’s Online Daily said.
Capable of carrying a machine gun, the small ground robot can traverse complicated terrains and replace human soldiers in dangerous reconnaissance missions. h/t People’s Online Daily, CCTV PLA forces in the Eastern Theater Command said Monday via Weibo — they’re “in possession of the small ground robot, which can traverse complicated terrains, accurately observe battlefield situations, and provide ferocious firepower.”
A military expert told the Global Times that the new robot would allow soldiers to avoid dangerous confrontations with enemy forces by sending the weaponized device to the front line.
It was not clear if the robot will be controlled in full autonomy mode or through a remote operator. The size of the robot will allow it to operate as a forward-positioned weapon for ground attacks.
Along with China, the US military has been deploying combat robots on the modern battlefield. We recently noted that the Pentagon has had an obsession with robots from Rhode Island-based weapons company Textron.
- Army Selects QinetiQ & Textron To Build Robot Tank With Chain Gun
- Pentagon Has An Obsession With This Robot Minesweeping Stealth Boat
A cold war is developing between the US and China — we’ve noted this on many occasions, pointing out, the first superpower to deploy hypersonic weapons and fifth-generation stealth fighters will be victorious in the next global conflict.
- Vermont Principal Put On Leave For Not Agreeing With Black Lives Matters
Vermont Principal Put On Leave For Not Agreeing With Black Lives Matters
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 21:45We have yet another teacher suspended or put on leave for merely expressing her opinion of Black Lives Matter on her personal Facebook page. After Tiffany Riley wrote that she does not agree with the BLM, the Mount Ascutney School Board held an emergency meeting to declare that it is “uniformly appalled” by the exercise of free speech and Superintendent David Baker assured the public that they would be working on “mutually agreed upon severance package.” The case magnifies concerns over the free speech rights of teachers on social media or in their private lives.
As we have previously discussed (with an Oregon professor and a Rutgers professor), there remains an uncertain line in what language is protected for teachers in their private lives. There were also controversies at the University of California and Boston University, where there have been criticism of such a double standard, even in the face of criminal conduct. There were also such an incident at the University of London involving Bahar Mustafa as well as one involving a University of Pennsylvania professor. Some intolerant statements against students are deemed free speech while others are deemed hate speech or the basis for university action. There is a lack of consistency or uniformity in these actions which turn on the specific groups left aggrieved by out-of-school comments. There is also a tolerance of faculty and students tearing down fliers and stopping the speech of conservatives. Indeed, even faculty who assaulted pro-life advocates was supported by faculty and lionized for her activism.
Most recently, we discussed the effort to remove one of the country’s most distinguished economists from his position because Harald Uhlig, the senior editor of the Journal of Political Economy, criticized Black Lives Matter and Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson is reportedly facing demands that he be fired because he wrote a blog about the Black Lives Matter movement.
So what is the act that uniformly appalled the school board? Riley wrote:
“I do not think people should be made to feel they have to choose black race over human race. While I understand the urgency to feel compelled to advocate for black lives, what about our fellow law enforcement? What about all others who advocate for and demand equity for all? Just because I don’t walk around with a BLM sign should not mean I am a racist (sic).”
She said that she actually does believe that black lives do matter but was motivated to write to object to “the coercive measures taken to get to this point across; some of which are falsified in an attempt to prove a point.” One can certainly disagree with that view. Indeed, it could be the foundation for a substantive discussion on how to best protect black lives and how to deal with police abuse. However, it was declared “tone deaf” because Riley was challenging an approved or orthodox position.
Simply because she shared her view of BLM in her private life, Baker declared ““They don’t see any way that she’s going to go forward as the principal of that building given those comments and that statement. It’s clear that the community has lost faith in her ability to lead.”
What about the faith and tolerance of free speech? There is not even a nod of concern over the right of people to support reforms but not necessarily the BLM movement or some of its more controversial positions.
As always, I come to these issues from a free perspective. I am less concerned with the merits of the position than I am in the refusal to allow one side to be stated without punitive measures. I would take (and have taken) the same position if the view on BLM were reversed. I fail to see what educators cannot express their views in favor of or against BLM in participating in one of the most important periods of debate in our history. The message to educators is that you must not criticize BLM in your private life if you want to keep your job. The board does not even entertain the possibility that Riley might not be a racist and still question BLM, which has been involved in controversies over academic freedom and free speech on campuses. We have never had any organization treated as so inviolate that it cannot be challenged by anyone in their private or personal discourse.
Teachers in Chicago can go to Venezuela to support a dictator who has arrested and murdered scores of people, including suppressing free speech and the free press. They were not punished or declared “tone deaf.” Boards like Mount Ascutney School Board engage in open content-based regulation of speech of teachers in the private lives of teachers. They will be applauded for such action against free speech as people ignore the implications of such punitive measures.
This is not about BLM. It is about free speech. Of course, the Board is not being “tone deaf.” Mount Ascutney School Board has guaranteed that there will be no sound at all, at least no dissenting voices heard among its teachers.
- Americans Are The Saddest In 50 Years As 2020 Turmoil Crushes Hope For Kids' Futures
Americans Are The Saddest In 50 Years As 2020 Turmoil Crushes Hope For Kids’ Futures
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 21:25Americans are more miserable in 2020 than they’ve been in nearly five decades, according to the COVID Response Tracking Study, conducted by the National Science Foundation (NORC) at the University of Chicago, reported AP News.
The survey of 2,000 Americans reveals that just 14% of adults say they’re very happy, down from 31% in 2018. That year, 23% said they felt isolated, it has since doubled, now 50%.
Conducted in May, the survey captures Americans’ beliefs, mental health, and outlook before, and during the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, most responded before the death of George Floyd, which triggered nationwide social unrest and widespread destruction of many downturn districts in the country. Americans were already facing hardships because of virus-related issues if that was a job loss, insurmountable debts, isolationism, and mental health problems.
With nearly a half-century of survey data — this was the first time the survey dipped below 29% of Americans have called themselves very happy, which has now crashed to 14%. If social unrest was reflected in the polling data, the level is likely much lower as the country has descended into socio-economic chaos.
Another finding is the rapid deterioration in the standard of living. Only 42% of Americans believe their children will have a better life than they did — opposed to 57% answering the same question in 2018.
The amount of Americans reporting that they’re lonely has doubled since 2018, which is not surprising given several months of lockdowns to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Louise Hawkley, a senior researcher with NORC, was surprised that more respondents weren’t lonelier — noting that social media and video conferencing has enabled people to connect digitally.
“It isn’t as high as it could be,” she said. “People have figured out a way to connect with others. It’s not satisfactory, but people are managing to some extent.”
AP spoke with several Americans, who detailed their sad stories as hope for a better life has collapsed:
Lexi Walker, a 47-year-old professional fiduciary who lives near Greenville, South Carolina, has felt anxious and depressed for long stretches of this year. She moved back to South Carolina late in 2019, then her cat died. Her father passed away in February. Just when she thought she’d get out and socialize in an attempt to heal from her grief, the pandemic hit.
“It’s been one thing after another,” Walker said. “This is very hard. The worst thing about this for me, after so much, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Jonathan Berney, of Austin, Texas, said that the pandemic — and his resulting layoff as a digital marketing manager for a law firm — caused him to reevaluate everything in his life. While he admits that he’s not exactly happy now, that’s led to another uncomfortable question: Was he truly happy before the pandemic?
“2020 just fast-forwarded a spiritual decay. When things are good, you don’t tend to look inwards,” he said, adding that he was living and working in the Miami area before the pandemic hit. As Florida dealt with the virus, his girlfriend left him, and he decided to leave for Austin. “I probably just wasn’t a nice guy to be around from all the stress and anxiety. But this forced an existential crisis.”
Berney, who is looking for work, said things have improved from those early, dark days of the pandemic. He’s still job hunting but has little savings to live on. He said he’s trying to kayak more and center himself so he’s better prepared to deal with any future downturn in events.
Melinda Hartline, of Tampa, who was laid off from her job in public relations in March, said she was in a depressed daze those first few weeks of unemployment. Then she started to bike and play tennis and enrolled in a college course on post-crisis leadership.
Today, she’s worried about the state of the world and the economy, and she wonders when she can see her kids and grandkids who live on the West Coast — but she also realizes that things could be a lot worse.
“Anything can happen. And you have to be prepared,” she said. “Whether it’s your health, your finances, whether it’s the world. You have to be prepared. And always maintain that positive mental attitude. It’s going to get you through it.”
The smoke and mirrors of “the greatest economy ever” has come crashing down with tens of millions unemployed and an economic crash that could take several years to recover. Nevertheless, a virus pandemic and social unrest continue to rage across the country as the Trump administration and Federal Reserve bailout corporate America/Wall Street elites at the expense of the real economy — no wonder the average American’s psyche has collapsed to five-decade lows — it is because the country is imploding as wealth inequality is soaring.
- "Just Say No…" To The 'New Normal'
“Just Say No…” To The ‘New Normal’
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 21:05Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,
Sometimes a video can communicate important political ideas very well and quickly. That is the case with the two-minute video “No New Normal” at the Essential People YouTube page.
Starting off, it seems as if the video, like many others, is promoting that people make all sorts of sacrifices, changing their lives drastically and painfully, to counter coronavirus. Then, the video takes a quick turn, harshly criticizing the coronavirus crackdown and the “new normal” of dystopian restrictions on human actions that people in government and media often assert must persist. At the same time, the video denounces Bill Gates who has been a prominent backer of the crackdown and promoter of the “new normal.”
The video also provides a haunting visual demonstration of the dehumanizing nature of the masks and other face coverings that some governments and businesses are mandating people wear.
The video was posted in April, before a much increased recognition that coronavirus is way less threatening to most people than proclaimed through the imposing of coronavirus restrictions in America and before the United States, state, and local governments began their much-touted ramping down of their coronavirus crackdowns. Yet, unfortunately, the video still very much addresses the current state of intense restrictions in America and the continued ominous talk of subjecting people to a “new normal” forever.
Much of the ramp-down has been glacial in pace. It has also been accompanied by the introduction and expansion of attacks on liberty in the name of countering coronavirus, such as surveillance programs termed “contract tracing” and mandates that people wear masks. Meanwhile, some politicians are working hard to ensure a significant portion of restrictions enacted in the name of countering coronavirus stick around no matter what. Plus, there is the persistent threat of starting a new round of full-out crackdowns to deal with a “second wave” of coronavirus, another disease, or some other future “emergency.”
The lyrics in the song played in the video say, “wake me up when it’s all over.” Unfortunately, there are people, including in government and the media, who want to make sure the precoronavirus “old normal” never returns.
Watch the video here:
- "Money They're Desperate For": Many Gig Workers Still Can't Get Their Unemployment Benefits
“Money They’re Desperate For”: Many Gig Workers Still Can’t Get Their Unemployment Benefits
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 20:45It has now been several months since the federal government has implemented monetary stimulus to try and alleviate the financial effect of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuring economic shut down.
Back in the beginning of May – nearly 6 weeks ago – we highlighted how many gig workers were still waiting for their first round of unemployment benefits. Today, past the mid-point of June, many of those workers are still waiting, according to CBS Chicago.
And we wonder what is helping fuel the riots in the streets over the last few weeks…
The money appears to be on hold due to audits, according to gig workers that spoke to CBS. Meanwhile, the same workers say that it is “money they’re desperate for”.
One worker, Bill Mylan, says the government has had his information “for months” but he still hasn’t received benefits. “We’ve missed out on two to three good months of making money already,” he said. He has had no income since March, which is when he first applied for unemployment.
He eventually reapplied through the state’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance portal, because he’s considered a gig worker. That portal only just opened last month.
“I’ve been doing little odd jobs for my landlord just to get by; make ends meet. It says on my claim it’s a benefit payment control issue,” he said. When he called to ask about it, he got a recorded message simply saying “We are closed due to unforeseen circumstances.”
When he reached someone at the Illinois Department of Employment Security, they told him the holdup was due to an audit. “I don’t understand why now, the last step, is all of a sudden to do an audit when we’ve been in the system,” he said.
CBS reached out to IDES who told them the Benefit Payment Control division is within their fraud division.
An IDES spokesperson said: “Each claim filed in the PUA system goes through a check based on the responses provided by the claimant. The PUA system will also check with the regular unemployment system to determine if the claimant is eligible for regular unemployment benefits.”
They continued: “Per federal guidelines, a claimant will receive benefits from the regular unemployment system if they have been determined eligible for regular benefits. The Benefit Payment Control (BPC) division is the IDES fraud division. When a case is reported for fraud, the BPC will step in to investigate and make a determination after assessment and investigation. This unit it performing the job duties as required.”
- Tom Cotton Says "Low-Level Twitter Employee" Tried To Bully Him Into Deleting Tweet
Tom Cotton Says “Low-Level Twitter Employee” Tried To Bully Him Into Deleting Tweet
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 20:05Shortly before Senator Tom Cotton publicly backed a Senate GOP bill that would make the liability shield enjoyed by social media companies contingent on a pledge not to suppress political speech, he shared an experience with the staff of Twitter, who tried to intimidate the senator into deleting several of his tweets.
ICYMI: I joined @foxandfriends earlier to discuss @Twitter’s efforts to censor me. https://t.co/Y6PGpsqorD
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 17, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Cotton caused a near-mutiny inside the New York Times, causing the newspaper to take a major reputational hit, after kowtowing to a mob of ‘woke’ journalists-activists (apparently a large faction among the NYT’s reporters, many of whom claimed that the paper “put black reporters in danger” by publishing Cotton’s editorial, not exactly the view of an “objective” journalist).
On Wednesday, as the debate over Silicon Valley censorship raged, Cotton published an editorial on Fox News’ website, and later appeared on TV to share the story again. In it, he shared how “a low-level employee in Twitter’s Washington office” nitpicked the language in one of his tweets – just like they recently did with President Trump’s use of the phrase ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’, which the left claims has a ‘secret racist history’, Cotton used the phrase “no quarter”, a common English-language idiom – and threatened to permanently suspend his account if he didn’t delete the tweet. They allegedly gave him 30 minutes to comply.
Anarchy, rioting, and looting needs to end tonight.
If local law enforcement is overwhelmed and needs backup, let’s see how tough these Antifa terrorists are when they’re facing off with the 101st Airborne Division.
We need to have zero tolerance for this destruction.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 1, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Like Trump, Cotton clearly intended the phrase to reflect the common idiomatic usage (Trump, on the other hand, perhaps went a little overboard with his trademark bluster, but we doubt he was aware of the term’s “historical significance”, as WaPo once put it).
Still,threatened one of the senator’s aides that Cotton had to delete the tweet within 30 minutes or have his account suspended.
After trying to explain this to the twitter staffer who was liaising with his team, the staffer said she would “take this back to my team”, while Cotton’s team opted to play it safe and comply.
Cotton recounts the interaction in a section from the op-ed:
On June 1, Americans awoke to news of rioting and looting in our streets. In Washington alone, rioters burned an historic church, looted many businesses and defaced memorials to Abraham Lincoln and the veterans of World War II.
First on television, then on Twitter, I noted that the National Guard and active-duty troops could be called out to support local police if necessary, as happened during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. “No quarter for insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters, and looters,” I wrote.
This was apparently too much for the professional umbrage-takers on Twitter. In high dudgeon, they exclaimed that “no quarter” once meant that a military force would take no prisoners, but instead shoot them.
Never mind that the phrase today is a common metaphor for a tough or merely unkind approach to a situation. For instance, former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and The New York Times have used the phrase in this way. Or that politics often employs the language of combat as metaphors: campaigns, battleground states, target races, air war and ground war, and so forth. And, of course, the exaggerated foolishness that I was literally calling for the arrest and summary execution of American citizens.
But a sense of proportion is not Twitter’s long suit. Within a few hours, a low-level employee in Twitter’s Washington office contacted some of my aides at random, claiming that my tweet violated the company’s policies. She also issued an ultimatum: delete the tweet or Twitter would permanently lock my account. She gave me only 30 minutes to comply.
My aide tried to reason with the employee. We offered to post a new tweet clarifying my meaning — which I did anyway — but the employee refused, insisting I had to delete the original tweet because some snowflakes had retweeted it.
We asked why my tweet wouldn’t simply be flagged, as Twitter recently did to a tweet by the president. She contended that Twitter only did so for heads of state, not elected legislators, though its policy plainly states otherwise. The only option, she reiterated, was deleting the tweet or losing my account.
Finally, we provided them some dictionary definitions of “no quarter.” She said that she would “take that back to our teams.”
Is this really the new status quo? Being held responsible – and censored accordingly – for even the most uncharitable interpretations of every word, every phrase? Does that really sound like a responsible way to build trust in an on-line “community”?
- Australia Says Border Won't Reopen Until 2021; COVID-19 Infections Climb In Texas, California: Live Updates
Australia Says Border Won’t Reopen Until 2021; COVID-19 Infections Climb In Texas, California: Live Updates
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 19:58Summary:
- Texas, California report another jump in new cases
- Illinois Gov tests negative
- Aussie border won’t reopen to foreign travelers until next year
- 1/3rd of workers at Orlando International test positive
- Italy reports another 43 deaths
- NYC on track for ‘Phase 2’ reopening Monday
- Texas reports 11% jump in hospitalizations
- Fla. positivity rate hits highest level since April
- Fla. reports another jump in new cases
- Health-care worker and 15 friends infected after night out at Fla. bar
- Pakistan report another alarming jump in COVID cases
- Beijing expands lockdowns to nearly 30 residential compounds
- India suffers deadliest day yet
- WHO praises UK dexamethasone trial
- Global case total tops 8.1 million
* * *
Update (1645ET): After reporting another jump in hospitalizations earlier, Texas has followed that up with a near-record jump in new cases, suggesting that the outbreak’s pace hasn’t slackened.
- TEXAS VIRUS CASES JUMP 3.4%, SURPASSING 7-DAY AVERAGE OF 2.7%
The increase pushed the statewide total to 96,335. As hospitalizations surge across the state, health authorities in Houston warned that two hospitals in America’s 4th-largest city have been “saturated” with COVID-19 cases, and are unable to accept additional COVID-19 patients, according to David Perrse, the city’s director of emergency medical services, per BBG.
* * *
Update (1515ET): The latest figures out of California have been released, and unfortunately (for the market’s sake), we’ve seen another unsettling jump in cases, just after the country was taken off the NYT’s list of state’s with increasing casesl
- CALIFORNIA COVID-19 CASES RISE 2.2% VS. 7-DAY AVG. 2%
- CALIFORNIA COVID CASES RISE BY 3,455, THIRD-BIGGEST DAILY JUMP
The market reaction was overwhelmed by the coordinated leaks of John Bolton’s book, which the White House has repeatedly tried to stifle on national security grounds.
Combined with the Florida numbers from earlier, the biggest jump in the state’s positivity rate since April 12 (a sign that the state might be bowing to the criticisms of a former employee), the Cali numbers have certainly helped stir anxieties, but between the salacious claims in the Bolton book, and the looming threat of confrontation between nuclear powers (not only China and India), the market has plenty to worry about.
On a lighter note, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker tested negative on Wednesday after attending protests and purportedly coming into contact with a carrier.
After attending recent protests and coming into contact with someone who tested positive, I have tested negative for covid-19.
I strongly encourage anyone who’s attended a gathering & couldn’t maintain social distance to get tested today. Find a site: https://t.co/SyrpMgMWoC
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) June 17, 2020
* * *
Update (1305ET): Just days after New Zealand confirmed its first handful of cases in nearly a month (after PM Jacinda Ardern), Australia’s trade minister just said that the country is unlikely to reopen its borders to international travelers until next year, though it will look to relax entry rules for students and other “long-term” visitors.
Australia’s close trade ties to China also probably factored into the decision. Here’s more from Reuters:
Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, which it attributes to curbs on international travel and tough social-distancing rules.
Birmingham said a quarantine rule for returning citizens could be applied to international students and other visitors who plan to stay for a long period of time.
“We can simply work through the 14-day quarantine periods that have worked so well in terms of returning Australians to this country safely,” Birmingham said in a speech to the National Press Club.
The return of international students will be a boost for universities facing big financial losses with the border closed as international education is Australia’s fourth-largest foreign exchange earner, worth A$38 billion ($26.14 billion) a year.
Australia has had more than 7,300 cases of the coronavirus and 102 people have died from COVID-19, the disease it causes.
It recorded its biggest daily rise in new infections in more than a month on Wednesday, with the most of them in Victoria, the second most populous state.
Victoria reported 21 new cases overnight, of which 15 are returned travellers in quarantine, taking the total tally for the day to 22 cases, with some states yet to report their data.
Additionally, we have an update from OIA regarding the number of workers who tested positive. That 260 figure represents the total figure who have tested positive since March. Also, the total number of airport employees at OIS is 25,000, not 800. We apologize for the error.
— Orlando International Airport (@MCO) June 17, 2020
For everybody arguing that this isn’t a ‘second wave’ (which, while probably true, entirely misses the point), take a look at the following tweet.
Wow don’t miss this new opinion piece from up-and-coming writer Coron A. Virus who is absolutely 100% not a coronavirus in some sunglasses and a trenchcoat. pic.twitter.com/QLKjTg0blV
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) June 16, 2020
* * *
Update (1200ET): After Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that 500 workers at Orlando International Airport had been tested for COVID-19 after several of their colleagues tested positive, it appears the outbreak at the airport is far more pervasive than officials expected.
260 of the airports more than 25k employees have tested positive, according to several media reports published late Wednesday morning, according to a local Orlando TV station.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said 260 workers at the Orlando International Airport have tested positive for the coronavirus after nearly 500 employees were tested.
“[An]Airport in Central Florida had a couple of cases, they did the contract tracing. They looked [at] almost 500 workers [and] 260 people working close together were positive, 52 percent positivity rate on that one,” DeSantis said.
The news comes after Florida reported more than 2,780 new cases of the virus, the biggest daily jump yet. More than 80,100 people have tested positive and the state has recorded roughly 3,000 deaths.
The Florida Department of Health announced that 5.5% of people taking a COVID-19 test have tested positive for the virus. Gov. DeSantis said this month around 30,000 COVID-19 test results are coming back each day.
Perhaps a silver lining is that Florida’s ICU numbers and the number of patients on ventilators are still below their peak from April.
Meanwhile, in Italy, officials reported just 43 deaths on Wednesday, up from 34 the day before but still well below levels from the peak, when hospitals around the country were reporting nearly 1,000 new deaths a day.
* * *
Update (1130ET): NY State just reported that the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from across the state has dropped below 1,500.
That’s 1,000 less than the number hospitalized in Texas. Cuomo is delivering his daily newsbriefing. Watch it below.
Giving my daily press briefing now. Watch Live: https://t.co/NpLXhF2Ohc
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 17, 2020
After reviewing the daily figures, Cuomo said NYC – the biggest hotspot in the state – is on track to enter its ‘Phase 2’ reopening on Monday…now that businesses have finally removed all the plywood and other reinforcements installed during the riots and protests, which probably won’t lead to a spike in infections because they were for a good cause, right? Cuomo has asked everyone who attended the protests to get tested.
The UK Department of Health and Social Care just released the latest outbreak data.
As of 9am 17 June, there have been 7,121,976 tests, with 140,359 tests on 16 June.
299,251 people have tested positive.
As of 5pm on 16 June, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 42,153 have sadly died.
More info:
▶️ https://t.co/xXnL3FU15k pic.twitter.com/XprhDFro7c— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) June 17, 2020
* * *
Update (1045ET): In addition to reporting more than 1,000 new cases for the 16th straight day, the rate of positive tests among total tests administered has climbed to its highest level since at least April.
- FLORIDA COVID-19 POSITIVITY SURGES TO 10.3% VS. 7.4% DAY AGO
- FLORIDA COVID-19 POSITIVITY AT HIGHEST SINCE AT LEAST APRIL
It’s important to keep in mind the criticism Fla. Department of Health has faced over these numbers from a recently fired data scientist who claimed the state was deliberately making its positivity rate look lower than it actually was.
As millions of Americans try to determine whether it’s safe enough to go out for a night on the town, one 40-year-old health care worker and 10 of her friends shared a cautionary tale after testing positive for COVID-19 after visiting a bar following 2 months of lockdown. Several staff at the bar also tested positive, according to her Facebook posts.
* * *
Update (1000ET): In keeping with the focus on Southwestern Asia this morning, Pakistan reported yet another batch of troubling coronavirus numbers, as India’s Muslim-majority neighbor and longtime rival has seen both cases and deaths climb as health authorities expand testing.
After lifting COVID-19 measures, including a nationwide lockdown, back in May, the virus has come roaring back. Yesterday, officials reimposed emergency lockdown measures impacting 1 million Pakistanis in the most “high risk” areas, including Lahore and other densely populated cities.
On Wednesday, Pakistan reported 5,839 new cases of coronavirus and 136 new deaths, bringing the death toll to roughly 3,100, breaking above the 3k mark.
In other news, Texas public officials just jumped 11% in 24 hours, marking what appears to be a 5th straight record jump.
As anxiety about the situation intensifies following a record jump in new COVID-19 cases reported Tuesday, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on barred Texas cities from implementing any rules that would require face coverings, insisting that all mask wearing must be voluntary.
Already, Florida, Texas and Arizona have reported record increases in new COVID-19 cases over the past week as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis insists that the state won’t approve another lockdown. Shortly after the Texas hospitalization figures hit, Fla. reported that new cases had once again risen faster than the 7-day average, suggesting that the outbreak is growing.
- FLORIDA COVID-19 CASES RISE 3.3% VS. PREVIOUS 7-DAY AVG. 2.8%
No sooner did the Texas headline hit the tape than stocks tanked, adding to the day’s losses as early gains were completely reversed.
It’s not just hospitalizations that have been rising. New cases and deaths have climbed, too, though deaths have notably lagged. Yesterday, Texas reported almost twice as many new deaths from the novel coronavirus compared to New York on Tuesday, as the former state sees an ongoing spike in cases and hospitalizations related to the respiratory syndrome.
In Europe, a meatpacking plant in Germany was ordered to shut after hundreds of workers became infected by the coronavirus, adding to a string of slaughterhouse closures that have plagued Europe and the US.
* * *
Nuclear-armed neighbors China and India may be enmeshed in a deadly border dispute with potentially serious ramifications for the global community, both countries are struggling with an alarming resurgence of COVID-19 cases, according to media reports.
Yesterday, Chinese officials ratcheted up restrictions in Beijing as nearly 150 new coronavirus cases have been identified in the city over the past week. More residential compounds were placed under ‘partial lockdown’ conditions on Tuesday. Beijing has already tested more than 350k people since Saturday, with a goal of testing a large chunk of the city’s population of ~20 million people.
According to Al Jazeera English, one of the few English-language news organizations with reporters still on the ground in Beijing, many locals were taken by surprise as the local government raised the emergency alert level to ‘II’, closed schools and markets and began imposing movement restrictions, particularly on those who live in “high risk” areas (ie areas near the Xinfadi wholesale food market where officials believe the outbreak originated).
Some Beijingers didn’t realize that their residential community had been placed on ‘partial lockdown’ with nobody allowed in or out until all residents have been tested. AJ says there are currently at least 27 communities under these conditions.
Nelson Quan had no idea he had been locked into his compound in the Yuquan district of Beijing until he arrived at the front gate and saw the barricade.
Four days earlier, on June 11, Beijing had reported its first COVID-19 case in almost two months. Now, Quan’s community and at least 27 others are forced to stay at home while they await the results of their nucleic acid virus tests. No one is allowed in, or out.
“Two months of things loosening up, and life feeling like it’s going to be normal, and all of a sudden we’re back to where we were in February,” Quan said in a phone call.
As Beijing cut off transportation including bus and rail service, and 70% of flights were cancelled. We reported last night that China had confirmed 44 total new cases yesterday, with 11 of them imported, according to public health officials. That’s a total of 1,255 flights.
One official said Wednesday that Beijing cannot rule out the possibility that the number of cases in the city will stay at current levels for some time. Pang Xinghuo, a senior official for the Beijing disease control authority, said the epidemic has continued to accelerate in the city. On a lighter note, Chinese and Norwegian authorities have confirmed that Norwegian salmon was likely not the source of the novel coronavirus that was discovered on cutting boards in the Xinfadi market, the purported ‘epicenter’ of the Beijing outbreak, which has reportedly now spread to several surrounding provinces, while the city of Guangzhou struggles with an outbreak of its own.
More than 1,250 flights that were scheduled to depart from Beijing on Tuesday were cancelled, some 70% of the total scheduled flights, according to media reports.
Even more dire numbers were reported out of India on Wednesday, which registered 2,000 deaths in a day for the first time, a record-breaking total that took the Indian death toll to 11,903. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed infections surged over 354,000, as Mumbai and Delhi feel the brunt of the outbreak.
One analyst shared several charts illustrating how the latest outbreaks in China are “textbook” examples of a ‘second wave’ pattern.
Textbook second wave https://t.co/6KERak9gq8 pic.twitter.com/W5JkeEJ7Xc
— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) June 17, 2020
Globally, the outbreak has surpassed the 8.1 million case mark, while deaths neared 444,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US has the most cases and deaths, followed by Brazil.
Finally, the WHO has welcomed news that dexamethasone, a cheap and widely available and steroid, has helped save the lives of people with severe COVID-19. One rep described it as “great news.”
- Prof Says University "Inclusion & Diversity" Efforts Are A "Smokescreen" That Harms Black Students
Prof Says University “Inclusion & Diversity” Efforts Are A “Smokescreen” That Harms Black Students
Tyler Durden
Wed, 06/17/2020 – 19:45Authored by Lacey Kestecher via Campus Reform,
Amid nationwide calls for more diversity initiatives at universities, one professor argues that these types of programs fail to address the real issues and ultimately harm minority students.
In a recent interview, Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo, said the focus on “inclusion and diversity” on college campuses has been an excuse to avoid any actual confrontation of race issues. Taylor says that the primary issue of the century is race, and argues that society needs to bring more attention to how different organizations handle issues of race and racism.
He says this should be done by bringing these topics to the forefront.
According to Taylor, universities have “replaced conversations around race with conversations around inclusion and diversity, which shifts the conversation and issue away so that we don’t have to deal with all of those complex issues that are related to grappling and dealing with race.”
Taylor claims that the move toward “inclusion and diversity” at universities “has been nothing more than a smokescreen to marginalize the discussions of race and, in particular, the issues facing African Americans.”
“There are these predominantly white science departments and medical centers that years later still have no or very few black folks or Puerto Ricans,” said Taylor. “And this is one of the reasons the anger is so deep.” Taylor states that as a result of the current situations, people are having their voices be heard by bodies of government. The spread of the coronavirus and the recent protests have us “caught in this kind of purgatory” by showing all “people across the racial divide…the commonalities of pain and misery.”
According to the professor, the coronavirus crisis created the perfect storm for the types of change he believes is necessary.
“COVID-19 has snatched the mask off of America the beautiful, and revealed disfigurement as a characteristic of this country,” said Taylor.
“It’s created a common experience of people across the racial divide that allowed them to see the commonalities of pain and misery.
“So we won’t go back to the old world. We have a vision, that’s what they’re talking about — saying that enough is enough,” he explained
Taylor told Campus Reform that certain university diversity efforts have increased enrollment of international students on college campuses, there has been an unnoticed decrease of black students.
“The inclusion and diversity framework, in practice, pushed issues concerning black and brown people to the margin as they became increasingly abstract. In some places, people were even calling for ideological diversity,” Taylor told Campus Reform.
Taylor added that college campuses’ diversity efforts actually harm the very people they are meant to aid, saying that “the rise of international students made it easier to hide the disappearance of Blacks on college campuses, along with Latinxs.”
“Of course, I support and celebrate international students, but administrators used them to make the campus appear diverse, while black and brown people disappeared,” said Taylor.
“I belong to the inclusion and diversity committees at the university and school levels, and those groups rarely mention race and never champion the cause of African Americans. In this space, all groups are juxtaposed, and no group is viewed as disproportionately treated, nor do the issues of power occur under this banner,” explained Taylor.
“The hard reality is inclusion and diversity had made discussions of racism and anti-racism harder. For these reasons, I advocate recentering race and anti-racism in our conversations and replace inclusion and diversity committees with racial equity committees.”
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