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What do we know about the novel coronavirus?
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  • Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is postponing its major summer shopping event, Prime Day, until at least August

    Amazon is usually good indicator. So do not expect to be out of four walls until August.

  • ...and sadly , from the above reddit post, it looks like hydroxy wasn't all it was cracked up to be....esp during severe stages of the disease. I don't think the US will reach the top of the curve until nov, maybe dec. Better amazon just hold off for black friday. And it sounds more appropriate too .

  • I don't think it, capitalism, will be so easily swept away, unless we decide to reap vengeance on china and start wwiii

    In reality all that it takes is for working class and now small business to understand their interests and also have real smart leaders.
    They now have lot of time to think and constant lessons on class theory that capitalist are teaching them online and on all major TV stations. We now have somethign like WWI, but on fast forward mode. Now all this "we must keep quarantine" is similar to "pro war" declaration (supported by almost all political forces!) and big demonstrations during WWI start. At the time bolsheviks had been considered idiots and morons.
    But as situation in economy will worsten you'll see that happens.

    overheard a guy saying " the revolutions coming"....and we thought it would happen the next day

    Do not trust idiots and emptions.

    The simple solution for the aussies is temporarily nationalize hospitals , like spain. Mexicos in a similar predicament, but we have a leftist pres and a history of nationalizing industries.

    Something tells me that it won't be enough.

  • ...and sadly , from the above reddit post, it looks like hydroxy wasn't all it was cracked up to be....esp during severe stages of the disease.

    It is good to remembe that it is reddit post, no one checked this facts.

  • @Vitaliy....it was the new orleans er doctors post. We'll see soon enough with the US using it in numbers. And in 1970 we mobilized a million people on the west mall. Far from idiots...just young and naive. My friend went on as a fund raiser for swp, hobnobbing with dylan. I think you might be a bit isolated from the real capitalist world. The USa won't be like the Philippines where a few hundred thousand in the streets cause the dictators downfall. All those small businesses you mention...they're just small capitalist waiting for their growth hormones, happily paying for their military/industrial complex to protect them. It's a worldview, it's not an elective choice. Worldview paradigms only change when world's change...and that won't happen with corona...not even close. It's too transitory...a year and a half at most....if we don't go to war with china. That would be a worldview paradigm changer.

  • Austrian guys again rose their head

    When the economy is melting down, do nothing because the free market will self-correct and naturally return to a healthier equilibrium.

    Recessions — even deep ones called depressions — cause short term pain and damage; in the long term, however, such corrections allow for the healthy adjustment of overvalued assets and provide buying opportunities for the prudent.

    Issue is that ruling class can't "do nothing" as it wants to survive. They do not want to see equilibrium while resting in the rope on the tree.

  • While import barriers are being removed, U.S. imports of ventilators and personal protective equipment fell 35.5% and 33.5%, respectively, compared to a year earlier in the first three weeks of March. Pharmaceutical imports fell only 3.5%, but lockdowns in India and Europe introduce risks.

    Negotiations to formulate new trade deals are likely to be on hold, particularly in terms of U.S. plans for deals with the EU, the U.K., Kenya and India, while progress in Asia on the RCEP and CPTPP are unlikely in Q2. Implementation of the USMCA is delayed until at least July. U.S.-China relations may continue to deteriorate.

  • Local news

    Goverment thinks about banning all tocacco product sales, smoking and all alcohol sales.

    For now talk about time restrictions, but some regions already moved to bans.

    With almost 100% probability it'll lead to social unrest. During 1989-91 counterrevolution time rising class used same measures to get that they wanted in return (new laws, change of specific people).

  • Total mental shock

    Very respectable and liberal US based software developers (some of this industry already tanking fast if you do not know, with people sitting home without any income and huge rental payments) started asking me about North Korea and talking that it can be not bad thing and they wantto know if they have any software development around.

  • It has nothing to do with socialism type planning. I suggest you to read that US did during WWII. Or UK. Even China actions this time had been pretty far from socialism.

    thanks, I know it has nothing to do with socialism. But American pundits, right wingers, and corporate shills are always quick to accuse politicians of being socialist or communists if they propose anything that might cut into the private sector, planned mobilization or Universal Healthcare,etc . FDR who is thought to have saved Capitalism by entering WWII, is still vilified as being a socialist by Republicans. The US was better organized after WWI than today, the US Military had planning units set up, and began preparations for the next war in the 1920's and 1930's. FDR ramped up aircraft and munitions production before the US entered WWII. Trump is scrambling to reinvent the wheel overnight with ventilators and PPE, .... still he is accused of being a socialist on some news channels!

  • Was the Wuhan Doctor a Brave Whistleblower silenced by the government?

    According to the mainstream narrative, a brave whistleblower in Wuhan was silenced/arrested by the Chinese government when he tried to warn the public about the new coronavirus. The doctor, Li Wenliang, also just died from the virus. While his death is tragic, how truthful is the media’s narrative?

    https://worldaffairs.blog/2020/02/08/was-the-wuhan-doctor-a-brave-whistleblower-silenced-by-the-government/

    Some China social media discussion, posted as food for thought:

    February 6 at 8:38 PM

    The doctor which leaked information has died. Many people do not understand why he was summoned to police station . He spread information which might lead to mass panic. That's why. He is a good doctor, he might be speaking truth that time. But what public need most, is not panic. Panic causes more death rather than the disease. We have seen it in simulations, movies. Once people panic, crimes will happen, quarantine will fail, and death will be everywhere calculating from the number of citizens. My condolences for the passing's family.

    Dr. Li Wen Liang…and 8 others posted their unverified findings online which resulted in a panic in the city and 5 million people leaving. That created this whole mess. This doctor not only endangered himself, his medical staff and the police, he ended up dead. It is tragic that this had happened, but certainly doctors must ensure that they take the necessary precautions by wearing masks and doubling down on hospital security if they suspect that the patient may be carrying a contagious virus.

    I think we need to make clear Dr Li was as much a hero as thousands of medical professionals who are risking their lives now fighting the nCoV epidemic on the frontline. He was NOT a hero for whistle-blowing as the West would like the world to believe so as to paint China and CPC as a "repressive and dictatorial regime". Their motive is clear : incite hatred among the populace so as to overthrow CPC. We have to move on from here, and give support to those still doing battle with the "demon virus", as Xi put it. We must not fall for the empire's bait of dividing the Chinese nation and people at this juncture, when unity of purpose and determination are needed to overcome the public health emergency. ||

    Thomas Hon Wing Polin (HK): || This is not a black-&-white case. Anyone who insists it is, is simply denying the nuances of reality. As it happened, Dr. Li was right this time and the local authorities were wrong to have doubted him. His tragic death didn't seem a direct consequence of that, and the relevant officials have already received punishment for their mishandling of the affair. No doubt they will receive more after the official investigation has been completed. Yet no one in authority can responsibly assume every case brought before the government by a doctor or someone else would be truthful or valid and quickly act as if it were. This especially at a time the Empire is trying all out to undermine China, including through its agents within the country. So they weren't totally wrong, nor did they act abusively against Dr. Li. Regardless of the facts, the Empire and its agitators will of course stir maximum shit against Beijing, globally and as much as possible within China itself.|| I will not approve any MSM stories on this as all the submissions sell the fake narrative that China was trying to suppress the story of the virus getting out. It simply is ludicrous. China has quarantined tens of millions of people and built a hospital for 1600 patient in 10 days. That is not hiding the virus.

    Yijuin: On hindsight, he seemed to be a hero. However, from the notice put out by the hospital he worked at, it is clear to me that he specialized in the treatment of eye-related diseases. What do you think?
    • 1. Is an ophthalmologist in a confident position to raise the alarm about a novel strain of Coronavirus?
    • 2. How much professional confirmation is required to trigger potential widespread panic in the society?
    • 3. What is the purpose of establishing organizational protocol in every workplace?
    • 4. How would you handle the situation, if a nurse were to suspect something instead, and sound the alarm bell?
    • 5. How, and with whom did Dr. Li confirm his suspicion, at a time when most biomedical experts in the field were still scratching their heads, trying to understand the nature of this emerging strain of virus?
    This is indeed a tricky situation, given the need to weigh impacts on complicating concerns.
Thus, making the right decision in the best interest of the society is not as straightforward as some seem to think. Everyone may conveniently play the blame game, before a proper investigation is even carried out, and without asking deeper questions beneath the surface. In my view, there is much more to it, than meets the eye.
  • Dr Li Wenliang: Fodder for Color Revolution?

    The unexpected death-by-coronavirus of Dr. Li Wenliang has ignited incendiary discussion across China. With extraordinary speed, Beijing punished errant officials and initiated an investigation. For their part, Western MSM quickly and extensively lionized Li as the “whistleblower” silenced by a repressive Communist Party bent on covering up lethal mistakes.

    But in China, people are asking: Is the ruckus over Dr. Li a naturally occurring phenomenon? Or is it being engineered … along the lines of US-patented color revolutions, as recently demonstrated in Hong Kong?

    A note, ostensibly from individuals in the Department of State Security, is circulating widely online in the country. It sheds interesting light on the issue. My translation:

    ( translated from Chinese, so grammar and some terms may sound strange :) )

    An analysis of the Dr. Li Wenliang incident, from the ( China ) State Security Ministry:

    Regarding major public-health events in the country's explosive infectious-virus outbreak, we must speak with a unified voice. After impeccable verification, the information should be released by the relevant specialized departments. The virus must be identified not only through clinical experience, but be corroborated by all tests available. That’s a basic mechanism for national governance.

    Dr. Li was an ophthalmologist and not a front-line infectious-disease or fever clinic doctor. Nor was he a doctor who conducted professional testing and screening of the virus. That is to say, the information he obtained came from a colleague or medical circle, not through his own professional analysis or that of an equivalent. Further, he did not go through the normal channels before crossing the red lines to release major information to medical circles. Given the circumstances and lacking clearance for information release, public security officials handled things correctly. Their disciplining of Dr. Li was also moderate; they did not apply excessive force or injure him.

    In this outbreak, there will of course be cases of weak response or dereliction of duty. But ordinary people are unable to obtain public information on whether the disaster is natural or externally manufactured. Nor is the state able to put certain information or evidence on the table. If it is a manufactured disaster, then the possibility that the relevant departments and officials responsible might have been impeded in their duties or misled into error is relatively large, and their culpability comparatively small. To judge from CCTV’s whitewashing of Hubei Province, the prospect of an externally made crisis seems larger.

    At present, the situation facing the country is extremely complex and severe. It has to deal not only with domestic pressure but also with foreign pressure, not only with the pressure of the epidemic but also with production, food, materials, public opinion, economy, finance, diplomacy, military pressures. These are comprehensive. If a weak link is breached, it could spark a serious chain reaction and a domino effect. The consequences can not be imagined!

    National security is the people’s interests. There are no rights and wrongs that supersede state security. The handling of all matters is related to the chain reaction: actions that benefit the nation’s interests are right; those that do the opposite are wrong. The immediate priority is to overcome the outbreak and end it. Everything else can be handled later, by correction or through accountability.

    The world is not as peaceful and harmonious as it might seem to average folks. The greater the tensions within the country, the more furiously the rumors fly. That’s when external forces aim at public opinion and begin their precisely targeted attack. It’s like what we have seen in Hong Kong. Once the government loses its credibility and control of the narrative, it’s on an irreversible path to perdition!

    Why did public opinion choose Dr. Li to focus on? Because he was young, handsome, progressive, kind-hearted. Pick him and you can readily get ordinary people to sympathize … the easier to incite public opinion. Given his youth and what’s known about the virus, Dr. Li’s death was a very low-probability event. Yet within an hour, even before his treatment began, public sentiment was boiling over and people were mourning him. Disinformation was circulating that his parents, wife and children had died as a result of the outbreak. What despicable, cold-blooded actions!

    The rumors are no more than a bid to create a climate of terror and undermine internal unity. Hubei Province has been their breakthrough point. If Hubei falls, so would the whole country. So they zeroed in on Hubei. But if Hubei can pull together and tide itself over the difficulties, the country can turn to safety!

    Even if the People's Daily or some VIPs intervened, it would not yet be possible to determine what’s true and what’s false. Whatever the case, the state has been obliged to make concessions to pacify public opinion. This only underscores the precariousness of the situation!

    The discourse on the epidemic is now pointing fingers at the public security units -- verbally and in writing. Medics aside, which police force isn’t fighting on the frontlines against the virus? If their morale and their ability to maintain order are undermined, the consequences can be easily imagined. That’s why the external forces are making precision attacks, replicating the Hong Kong model.

    This incident seems no simple matter. Whether it’s a natural or man-made disaster may never be answered, but its impact on China evidently is not just an epidemic. Heaven bless China!

    -Thomas Hon Wing Polin, is a journalist from Hong Kong, former editor of Time Magazine's Asiaweek.

  • @BillGates Fascinating…Nextstrain uses genetic data from viruses to help scientists track the spread of disease outbreaks.

    https://qz.com/920836/a-new-genetic-tool-maps-how-deadly-viruses-spread-around-the-world-in-real-time/?linkId=35474420

    https://nextstrain.org/ncov

    Has Covid-19 been in humans for years?

    Leading scientists tell CNN that it's possible the virus didn't just come from bats in the past months, but that it could made the leap to humans many months, perhaps even years ago before it then transferred among people to become as lethal as it has.

    https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/04/04/uk-coronavirus-evolution-walsh-pkg-vpx.cnn

    Virus was circulating ‘before we were aware of the outbreak in China’, says Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research

    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076334/coronavirus-strange-pneumonia-seen-lombardy-november-leading

    Some COVID-19 deaths have been diagnosed as flu-related in the United States, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday. Redfield made the remarks when responding to a question at a hearing about whether people in the United States dying of what appears to be influenza could in fact be infected with the coronavirus.

    https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/flu-related-deaths-in-us-may-be-caused-by-covid-19/ar-BB118rPD

    June 30, 2019: a powerful pneumonia with unknown source, was identified in a Springfield, Virginia nursing home near the Fr. Detrick mega bio lab, and only 15 minutes away from Fort Belvoir, where the 325 US military trained for the Wuhan Military Games. //

    Cause of Respiratory Illness Still Unknown After Dozens Sickened at Virginia Retirement Community

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/health-officials-to-give-update-after-respiratory-illness-sickens-dozens-at-virginia-retirement-community/135890/?fbclid=IwAR1WdC8IbictXlZO4KHdGdFTkUAMUmfb-8kEkiGK6rKYxnOd745ldB1jfHU

  • Americans managed to "steal" the face masks from the French at a Chinese Airport, Only because the French fell for the US Media story about BAD quality of Chinese masks, and the French wanted to pay AFTER the masks are delivered to France for inspection. This is "free press" brainwash!

    Similar to the admitted false stories the US spread about "bad Chinese metalurgy"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Eldest_Son

    a program of covert operations conducted by the United States ... augmented by forged documents to generate mistrust between Vietnamese troops and Chinese suppliers. One [forged document claimed] poor Chinese quality control

    Remember the German ship with masks and respirators from China that was seized by US Coast Guard while ON INTERNATIONAL WATERS and had the cargo confiscated to be used by US authorities during the pandemic in US. So, basically OPEN SEAS PIRACY. US government also confiscated another Chinese mask and respirators cargo of a Panamanian ship while it was stopped at Fort Lauderdale's port on its way to Brazil. Basically another act of piracy.
  • Final preparations! A team of 161 professionals disinfected an area of around 570,000 square meters in Terminal 3 of Wuhan airport Friday, as operations will soon resume on April 8 when the city lifts its travel restrictions.

  • @jleo...the cnn article is nothing but speculation bs, unless you're buying the bat did it origin hypothesis...which I don't. Even they say it's a theory....and we know it's one used by the USa govt to distract from their active bioweapons programs. I can understand that northern Italy could have seen the virus as early as November. We have no idea exactly when corona leaked out of bsl-4. But we know corona was smuggled into china from canada on july 5th. That's a pretty big window for the virus to leak and spread. Italy has a shxtload of chinese tourist. And yes many flu deaths during this period could have been corona.

  • @jleo...I would say the chinese are preparing their second wave. This might be the murder of the archduke. If they think the west believes them to be virus free, they're in for a big surprise.

  • A video surfaced this morning of a man asking his Amazon Alexa if the government release the Coronavirus. Doesn't say which government :)

  • well...now I feel alot better !

  • obviously the big question is...do all alexa's say the same thing? This , I imagine is a creative, highly entertaining easy to do fake. And it's at least 4 days old, according to google.

  • Is this real? ...dated today.....

  • a man asking his Amazon Alexa if the government release the Coronavirus

    probably fake, but a cheap laugh for the day

  • @Jleo.....that was actually good. I hope bill gates sees it.

  • While people are dying worldwide, Bill looks like he's enjoying the pandemic... look at his smirking smile on CNN:

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