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Ruth King

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Coronavirus: A French Disaster by Guy Millière

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15880/coronavirus-france-disaster

The first bad decision was that, in contrast to the European Union fantasies, borders apparently do matter. France never closed them; instead it allowed large numbers of potential virus-carriers to enter the country.

In January 2020, several hundred thousand masks were available, but on February 19, President Macron decoded to send them to Wuhan, as a “gesture of solidarity with the Chinese people”…. The French government announced that masks would be available soon, but by the end of March, most doctors and caregivers still had no masks. Several doctors fell ill. As of April 10, eight have died from COVID-19 and several others are in critical condition. On March 20, the Government’s spokeswoman, Sibeth N’Diaye, incorrectly said, “masks are essentially useless”.

On February 25, a renowned French epidemiologist, Professor Didier Raoult… published a video… In it, he said he had found a treatment quickly to end the pandemic: hydroxychloroquine… (used with azithromycin)… On April 10, Professor Raoult published data showing that he had treated and cured 2,401 patients.

Immediately, Olivier Veran, the new French minister of health, said that Professor Raoult’s statements were “unacceptable” and that the treatment he was proposing was “worthless”…. In an attempt to quell the controversy, the French government, by decree, authorized Professor Raoult’s treatment in “military hospitals” for “patients reaching the acute phase of the disease” but prohibited family doctors from prescribing hydroxychloroquine. Professor Raoult replied that the treatment was only effective if administered “before the disease reaches its acute phase”. [Emphasis added]

France’s mainstream media would do well to fight harder for physicians to be able supply hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin and zinc sulfate. The French media would also do well to be more aware of the dirty game China is playing.

“The behavior of our leaders has been marked by unpreparedness, casualness, cynicism, and many of their acts imply the enforcement of the criminal law. Deliberate endangerment of the lives of others and failure to provide assistance to people in danger are obvious… In war, generals who are judged incompetent are sometimes shot. The President and other officials are well aware of this.” — Regis de Castelnau, attorney, in Marianne, a center-left magazine, April 4, 2020.

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IMF Must Not Buy the Mullahs’ Coronavirus Lies by Majid Rafizadeh

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15884/imf-iran-coronavirus-lies

The U.S. Embassy wrote in a Facebook post: “The possessions of the current supreme leader Ali #Khamenei alone are estimated at $200 billion, while many people languish in poverty because of the dire economic situation in #Iran after 40 years of rule by the mullahs.”

If the Iranian leaders are so concerned about the public health, why they have been ratcheting up their use of lethal force, suppression and human rights abuses against those who have been revealing the truth about the COVID-19 virus in Iran or who have been voicing their concern about the regime’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis?

“The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism is seeking cash to fund its adventurism abroad, not to buy medicine for Iranians. The regime’s corrupt officials have a long history of diverting funds allocated for humanitarian goods into their own pockets and to their terrorist proxies.” — U.S. State Department Spokesman to CNN, April 9, 2020.

The ruling mullahs of Iran are doubling down on requests to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), headquartered in Washington DC, immediately to give Tehran an emergency $5 billion loan.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated that his government wants to use the $5 billion fund to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and stressed once again, “I urge international organizations to fulfill their duties … We are a member of the IMF.” The IMF, however, should definitely decline the mullahs’ financial request, because the ruling mullahs have plenty of cash and that they would most likely misuse the funds to advance their anti-American and anti-Semitic — and even anti-Iranian people — agendas.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for instance, the unelected “representative of God on earth” and the longest-ruling autocrat in the Middle East, has a financial empire worth at least $95 billion, according to a report published by Reuters in 2013.

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Florida Mosque Promotes Books Calling for Violence Against Jews Joe Kaufman

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/04/taliban-imams-mosque-promotes-books-calling-joe-kaufman/

Masjid Jamaat Al-Mu’mineen (MJAM) is a radical mosque, located in Margate, Florida, infamous for having an imam that was charged by the FBI with helping to finance the Taliban. Surfing the mosque’s website, one is able to access a web library of downloadable Islamic texts. The amount of bigotry and violence found in the books is alarming, especially in their attacks against members of the Jewish and Christian faiths.

This past decade, MJAM has been working hard to expand construction beyond the mosque to include a children’s school, a conference center and more. As Phase II of MJAM’s Islamic Center expansion project was underway, the mosque’s imam, Izhar Khan, was behind bars. In May 2011, Khan was arrested and spent the next 20 months in a Miami federal detention center for his alleged participation in a terror financing scheme to ship $50 thousand to the Pakistani Taliban for the specific goal of murdering American troops overseas.

As stated in the US Justice Department indictment against him and his family, “Izhar is a Pakistani Taliban sympathizer who worked with [his father Hafiz] and others to collect and deliver money for the Pakistani Taliban… Izhar… provided and attempted to provide material support and resources… knowing and intending that they be used in preparation for and in carrying out… a conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim persons in a foreign country.”

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NY Times Scapegoats Trump for Coronavirus Spread When history is written by fake news. Joseph Klein

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/04/ny-times-scapegoats-trump-coronavirus-spread-joseph-klein/

The New York Times featured a front-page article this past weekend  with the accusatory headline “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.” The so-called “newspaper of record” has chosen to scapegoat President Trump rather than thoroughly investigate the true malefactors responsible for the pandemic in the first place – Chinese government officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) leaders who did their bidding. In point of fact, many of the more than 101,000 deaths and at least 1.6 million known infections linked to the pandemic to date might have been prevented if Chinese officials, with WHO’s complicity, had not minimized the danger of the virus’s human to human transmission when it could have been effectively contained. China lied, with WHO’s help, to protect China’s public image rather than to protect human life. However, the Times’ weekend article characterized criticisms of the Chinese government’s response to the virus and lack of transparency as mere assertions by “Mr. Trump’s allies and some administration officials.”

The Times article grossly distorted the facts in order to paint President Trump in as bad a light as possible. For example, the article blamed President Trump for ignoring various government officials’ advice during January 2020 as to the virus’s potential danger to Americans’ health. “Throughout January, as Mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on other issues, an array of figures inside his government — from top White House advisers to experts deep in the cabinet departments and intelligence agencies — identified the threat, sounded alarms and made clear the need for aggressive action,” according to the Times’ account. The article referred to the World Health Organization only once, mentioning that WHO had declared a world health emergency on January 30th. The article omitted WHO’s continued opposition to imposing travel restrictions, which President Trump did anyway the very next day. This decision alone to restrict travelers from China no doubt saved thousands of lives. The Times article also omitted WHO’s statements in mid-January, which had repeated without any qualifications China’s false claims that there was no clear evidence of the Covid-19 coronavirus’s human-to-human transmission. And, not to be forgotten, the impeachment hoax was in full swing during this time, which distracted the Trump administration from conducting the nation’s business.

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The New York Times exonerates Biden from a sexual assault accusation By Andrea Widburg

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/04/the_new_york_times_exonerates_biden_from_a_sexual_assault_accusation.html

On March 25, news broke that Tara Reade, who had worked in Joe Biden’s office in 1993, alleged that Biden had sexually assaulted her by slamming her against a wall and digitally penetrating her with his fingers. Immediately after the event, she told her brother and a close friend. Both are willing to corroborate her claim.

Within 24 hours, Hillary Clinton retweeted a message from her 2016 run for president: “Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported.”

The New York Times was also on the case. Its reporters searched records to find possible witnesses to talk about sexual harassment and assault rumors dogging Biden during his 26 years in the Senate and his eight years in the White House. It also ran daily reports showing videos of Biden pawing at little girls’ chests and sniffing their hair, as well as photos of him grabbing and hugging women. Lastly, it breathed new life into the stories of his insisting on swimming nude in front of female Secret Service Agents. In addition to that reporting, television network and cable news outlets ran regular panel discussions focusing on believing all women and Biden’s history of sexual harassment and inappropriate comments.

Just kidding.

When Tara Reade went public, the Democrat establishment media tried to bury the story for two weeks.

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Fauci ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ US Can Gradually Reopen Next Month As CCP Outbreak Flattens By Katabella Roberts

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fauci-cautiously-optimistic-us-can-gradually-reopen-next-month-as-ccp-outbreak-flattens_3309359.html

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has suggested that the United States may begin relaxing stay-at-home orders as early as next month amid the CCP (The Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

Fauci told CNN’s “State of the Union” on April 12 that there are signs the outbreak “not only has flattened, it’s starting to turn the corner” and that the country could open “in some ways” in May, noting that there is a “need to try and get back to normal.”

“I think it could probably start at least in some ways maybe next month,” Fauci said. “We are hoping by the end of the month we can look around and say, ‘OK, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously start pulling back on.’ If so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down,” he said.

Fauci’s comments come just days after CCP deaths in the United States surpassed 2,000 on Friday, the highest daily tally to date, with the most significant numbers in and around New York City. Its tally has now overtaken Italy’s with 532,879 confirmed cases and 20,577 deaths attributed to the disease so far.

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New York’s Incurable Spenders Coronavirus? Albany spends as usual as it awaits a federal rescue.

By on April 13th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yorks-incurable-spenders-11586717599?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that Congress’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus bill short-changed New York, but then the $177 billion blowout budget he signed recently suggests that Albany doesn’t think it has to practice any spending discipline.

The state budget is $2 billion larger than last year’s despite what Mr. Cuomo says could be a $10 billion hit to revenues this year on top of a $6 billion deficit before the coronavirus. Legislators didn’t even attempt to triage spending or rationalize priorities.

The budget authorizes a $3 billion Restore Mother Nature Bond to “adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change, and reduce emissions.” It also includes a 7.5% refundable tax credit for green jobs and a 5% investment tax credit for green projects. Expect every New York business to claim it’s “green.”

There are also hundreds of millions of dollars of more pork for upstate New York to make up for Mr. Cuomo’s ban on fracking, which the budget made permanent. The politicians made sure to help themselves too with $100 million in public campaign financing, including up to $375,000 for state Senate candidates and $175,000 for Assembly candidates.

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Third time NOT a charm: Experts say Biden’s chances are ‘really low’

By on April 13th, 2020

www.bizpacreview.com/2020/04/12/third-time-not-a-charm-experts-say-bidens-chances-are-really-low-906313

The lessons of history strongly suggest that presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden faces almost-guaranteed defeat in the 2020 race come November.

“Once you’ve been on the national scene for more than a decade, your odds of winning the presidency are really low,” Sean Trende, a “premier political number cruncher” known for his expertise in analyzing American elections, said in recent remarks to the Washington Free Beacon.

It doesn’t help that Biden is a 40-year political veteran who’s already failed twice at capturing a coveted seat at America’s helm.

“The second- or third-time runner is part of a broader trend that people who have been in elected office for a long time don’t do well, and that’s something that has been consistent going back to the 1920s,” Trende added.

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Declining Med School Standards in a Time of Pandemic written by Steve Salerno

By on April 12th, 2020

https://quillette.com/2020/04/11/declining-med-school-standards-in-a-time-of-pandemic/

“The world’s current struggles against COVID—19 underscore the vital importance of quality medicine. If you are the best and the brightest, you should be in medical school. You should not be in medical school for reasons other than that.”

In the beginning were the Medical College Admission Tests, or MCATs, a time-honored means of ascertaining worthiness for medical school. Formulated by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the MCATs assessed an applicant’s cognitive heft and baseline acumen in such no-nonsense disciplines as anatomy, biology, kinesiology, chemistry, and other precincts of hard biophysical science.

Then, around the turn of the millennium, early social-equity advocates began insisting, in essence, that the MCATs unfairly limited med school to people who showed significant potential as doctors. Specifically, the pool of physicians being churned out each year was judged insufficiently diverse. A chief concern was that African Americans, 13 percent of the US population, represented barely six percent of medical school enrollees. Efforts were made; the numbers ticked up incrementally.

Then in 2009 the body that accredits medical schools, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), touched off a parity panic across the med school landscape by issuing stern new guidance on diversity. In order to remain accredited, declared LCME, medical schools “must” have policies and practices in place that “achieve appropriate diversity.” Enough airy talk of opportunity; let’s talk outcomes.

Words like “quota” were judiciously avoided but were legible in the reams of bureaucratic gobbledygook produced by newly socially aware medical administrators. Example:

Addressing the structural inequities laden in our system of selection of medical students… begins with ensuring we are using accurate metrics to set goals and track our progress. The representation quotient, one such metric, can be applied at the state and institutional level to ensure efforts align with the intended goal of creating a future workforce reflective of their respective patient populations.

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When Panic Is Mistaken for Policy Peter O’Brien

By on April 12th, 2020

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2020/04/when-panic-is-mistaken-for-policy/

On Friday, March 20,  I was due to fly from Sydney to Adelaide for a much anticipated family wedding.  Four days earlier and after much thought, my wife and I, being in the age-related ‘at-risk’ group for the Wuhan virus, decided to do the responsible thing and cancel our trip.  I doubt that, among the threatened cohort, we were alone in protecting ourselves, and, indirectly, the health system from what by then was recognised as a pandemic.

On Wednesday, March 18, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, with the support of the National Cabinet, announced the first tranche of what has turned out to be a rolling series of restrictions.   Essentially, these initial measures involved the still-novel term ‘social distancing’, hygiene rules, a limit of 500 people at outside gatherings and no more than 100 at inside gatherings,. Schools were to remain open, despite calls that they be shut. All these measures were based on what, at the time, was billed as the best medical advice available.

On the March 19, my wife and I travelled to Sydney for a small family gathering (nine of us) at the Kingsgrove Hotel for my grand-daughter’s second birthday.  At 5pm the hotel’s main lounge  hosted no more than 30 people. We sat in a separate lounge with an open roof and dutifully maintained observed the social-distancing rules: during the two hours we were there, at any one time there would have been no more than five other people in that lounge.  Looking back, it seems to me that even so early in the ‘lockdown’, people were pretty much “doing the right thing” — the encomium with which all of Australia would soon become endlessly familiar.

On March 24, PM Scott Morrison announced Stage Two of the restrictions:

# Food courts, nail salons, museums and libraries are among those ordered to shut

# Weddings have been limited to the couple, celebrant and witnesses

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