Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Shimon Deri seen at Mt Herzl in Jerusalem, where Israel’s 72nd Independence Day events will take place. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel's 72nd Independence Day
Apr 28, 2020

This year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations will be different than those in the previous 71 years, but you can count on Israelis to create new ways to honor their nation.

While there won’t be massive concerts, well-attended state ceremonies, or giant barbecues in the parks on Yom Ha’atzmaut this year, Israelis will join together to celebrate Independence Day, at least virtually.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a national curfew and tightened restrictions will keep Israelis at home, but the nation will nonetheless cheer 72 years of the Jewish state.

8.

Μαρινάκης: «Λεκές για το ποδόσφαιρο ό,τι έχει κάνει ο Σαββίδης!»

Μαρινάκης: «Λεκές για το ποδόσφαιρο ό,τι έχει κάνει ο Σαββίδης!»
Τετάρτη, 29 Απριλίου 2020 – 12:07
Αρθρογράφος: Βαϊος Μπαλάφας

ΒΑΪΟΣ ΜΠΑΛΑΦΑΣ

«Χρησιμοποιούν ψευδείς ειδήσεις που δεν ανταποκρίνονται στην πραγματικότητα. Ότι έχει κάνει ο Σαββίδης στο ελληνικό ποδόσφαιρο και στην επιχειρηματικότητα αποτελούν λεκέδες και για το ελληνικό ποδόσφαιρο και για το επιχειρείν», τόνισε ο Βαγγέλης Μαρινάκης, ενώ ακολούθησε και επίθεση και στον Σαββίδη και στον Μάκη Γκαγκάτση: «Τις περισσότερες φορές δεν είναι ο Σαββίδης, Ρώσος είναι, στην Ρωσία είναι. Μόνο μέσω τηλεφώνου και Skype. Όλη την βρώμικη δουλειά την κάνει ο Γκαγκάτσης».

Παράλληλα, ο Μαρινάκης επικεντρώθηκε και στα όσα κάνουν στον ΠΑΟΚ: «Ο ΠΑΟΚ και ο ιδιοκτήτης του δεν πρέπει να ξεφτιλίζουν το ελληνικό ποδόσφαιρο στο εξωτερικό. Μόνος πρεσβευτής του είναι ο Ολυμπιακός. Εμείς στον Ολυμπιακό, ο πρόεδρος του ή κανένας παράγοντας του δεν έχει μπει στο γήπεδο με πιστόλια. Εμείς πληρώσαμε το γήπεδο που χτίσαμε και δεν πήραμε επιχορηγήσεις. Εμείς πληρώσαμε όλους μας τους φόρους στο ελληνικό δημόσιο χωρίς να μας χαρίζουν εκατομμύρια ευρώ φόρων και προστίμων. Δεν καταδικαστήκαμε με τρεις αποφάσεις».

Ο Μαρινάκης εξαπέλυσε… μύδρους, αναφερόμενος και στο σκάνδαλο της πολυιδιοκτησίας ΠΑΟΚ–Ξάνθης: «Δεν καταδικαστήκαμε με τρεις αποφάσεις. Ούτε έχουμε αγοράσει την Ξάνθη και ελέγχουμε και άλλη ομάδα. Αυτοί είναι οι λεκέδες. Αν δεν τους θεωρείτε λεκέδες συνεχίστε να μπαίνετε με όπλα στα γήπεδα και να αγοράζετε ομάδες».

Ακόμη ο ηγέτης του Ολυμπιακού αναφέρθηκε και στην επανεκκίνηση του ποδοσφαίρου: «Πρέπει να παίξουμε ποδόσφαιρο, όπως άλλωστε το θέλει και η UEFA. Οι προπονήσεις να αρχίσουν 5 Μαΐου. Να βοηθήσουμε οικονομικά όλες τις μικρότερες ομάδες, σύμφωνα με την πρόταση που κάνουμε στην επιστολή. Εμείς θα συναινέσουμε σε αποφάσεις που θα βοηθήσουν άλλες ομάδες έστω κ αν χάσει χρήματα ο Ολυμπιακός. Λόγω της πρωτοφανούς κρίσης που υπάρχει στο ποδόσφαιρο».

Προς το τέλος του ΔΣ ο Μαρινάκης έβαλε τον Γκαγκάτση στη θέση του, όταν ο εκπρόσωπος του ΠΑΟΚ εξαπέλυσε επίθεση σε Αυγενάκη και ΕΕΑ, με τη γνωστή… καραμέλα. «Είναι ντροπή να μιλάτε έτσι», του είπε ο ηγέτης του Ολυμπιακού.

Ακόμη, ο Μαρινάκης διαμαρτυρήθηκε για τη μεγάλη καθυστέρηση έναρξης της συνεδρίασης.

9. 

NYC Mayor condemnation of ‘Jewish community’ for violating rules sparks outrage

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter on Tuesday night to condemn a large funeral gathering in Brooklyn for a prominent Hasidic rabbi who passed away from the coronavirus.

“Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonight: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic,” de Blasio wrote. “When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. What I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the coronavirus.”

“My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period,” he added.

According to local reports, hundreds of Hasidic Jews gathered in the streets on Tuesday to pay respects for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, the leading rabbi of the Tola’as Yaakov Hasidic sect, who died of coronavirus at age 73.

Although the participants were wearing facemasks at the time, their actions violated NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s social distancing orders of keeping 6-feet distance between one another and gatherings of no more than 50 people.

The NYC mayor’s decision to generalize all the city’s Jewish communities for the actions of a few sparked outrage amongst many leading public and political officials.

“There are over a million Jewish people in NYC. The few who don’t social distance should be called out, but generalizing against the whole population is outrageous,” Anti-Defamation League head Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.

NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsch tweeted: “What??? This has to be a joke. Did the Mayor of NYC really just single out one specific ethnic community (a community that has been the target of increasing hate crimes in HIS city) as being noncompliant??”

Senator Ted Cruz tweeted: “Would DeBlasio have sent this identical tweet with the word ‘Jewish’ replaced by any other religious minority? If not, why not? Laws should be enforced neutrally w/o targeting religious faith.”

Surprisingly, the Tola’as Yaakov community defended de Blasio’s “well-intentioned” response on Wednesday and issued an apology to the Jewish people for violating the order.

“We understand Mayor Bill de Blasio’s frustration and his speaking out against the procession,” a joint statement by prominent Tola’as Yaakov rabbis said.

“It also hurts that this led to singling out the Jewish community, and for that, we apologize to all Jewish people. We know that the mayor’s reaction came from his concern for the health and safety of our community and the entire city, and it wasn’t ill-intended.”

“Health and life take precedence to anything else, and we shall all follow those rules,” the statement concluded.

New York City has been hit hard by the coronavirus with more than 300,000 testing positive and 23,100 deaths to date.

10. 

Russia Threatens Massive Response if US Deploys Low-Yield Nukes on Subs

By VOA News April 29, 2020

Russia is warning that any U.S. attempt to use a low-yield nuclear weapon against a Russian target would set off a massive nuclear response.

The Russian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department paper released last week that says placing low-yield nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles launched from submarines would counter what it sees as possible new threats from both Russia and China.

Experts describe a low-yield weapon as the kind the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

The State Department asserts that the low-yield weapons “reduce the risk of nuclear war by reinforcing extended deterrence and assurance.”

It alleges Russia is considering using such nonstrategic nuclear arms in a limited war.

Russia denies it is a threat to the U.S. and accuses Washington of “lowering the nuclear threshold.”

“Any attack involving a U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), regardless of its weapon specifications, would be perceived as a nuclear aggression,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday. “Those who like to theorize about the flexibility of American nuclear potential must understand that in line with the Russian military doctrine such actions are seen as warranting retaliatory use of nuclear weapons by Russia.”

Russia says it wants to extend the 2010 New START treaty limiting the number of deployed nuclear missiles, warheads, and bombers along with strict inspection regimes. The pact is set to expire next year.

The Trump administration says it wants a new arms control agreement that also includes China – which Russia calls impractical.

11.

Syria: As coronavirus threat intensifies, ceasefire more urgent than ever

U.S. Seeks To Extend Iran Arms Embargo, Setting Stage For Clash Over Nuclear Deal

US Down to Just One Open Skies Surveillance Plane as Trump Weighs Treaty Exit

Two FONOPS in Two Days: U.S. Navy Moves Through South China Sea

PLA expels trespassing US warship from Xisha Islands, urges it to fight COVID-19 at home

Manila Downplays Chinese Laser-Gun Incident in South China Sea

North Korea Extends COVID-19 National Emergency to End of Year

Iran’s Zarif, Russia’s Lavrov dismiss as ‘impractical’ Pompeo’s anti-Iran UN bid

IS Militants Stepping Up Attacks in Syria’s Desert

12. 

A World Without God

A BBC series explores the horrors of a world in which “anything is possible.”

 

Editors note: This marks the second in an ongoing series of entertainment recommendations for your consideration. In our left-dominated culture, conservatives often struggle to find high-quality movies or TV/internet shows that aren’t openly contemptuous of conservative audiences and their values. In this series at FrontPage Mag we will suggest recommendations that may or may not be political but which we think our readers will find entertaining and thought-provoking.

* * *

Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow on Popular Culture for the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

With few exceptions, the overwhelmingly secular filmmakers in Hollywood don’t present Christianity in a favorable, or even a balanced, light. Characters who are overtly Christian are almost always caricatures if not the bad guys: fanatical fundamentalists, over-the-top hypocrites, sexually perverse, outright evil, or a combination thereof. The British leftist propaganda network, the BBC, is typically just as bigoted in this respect as Hollywood, which makes its series The Frankenstein Chronicles all the more stunning as a pro-life, cautionary tale of a world without God.

The Frankenstein Chronicles is a two-season BBC series (six episodes in each) from 2015-17, available on Netflix. It stars Sean Bean, who is well-known from dozens of films and TV shows such as the James Bond film Goldeneye (Bean reportedly was once considered for the role of Bond), The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones. Set in 1820’s London, the series follows Bean, looking even more grizzled than usual here, as war veteran and river detective John Marlott. He is tasked with investigating a monstrous crime: the body of a young girl has been recovered from the Thames, and Marlott learns that her corpse actually consists of the parts of eight different children, stitched together into a single body. Someone is kidnapping and murdering street urchins, then performing unholy experiments on them. But for what purpose?

The show reflects a real-life, early 19th-century surge of interest in anatomy thanks to an increase in the importance of surgery. At this time, only the corpses of executed murderers could legally be used for dissection. But the rise of medical science and a reduction in executions meant that an underground trade in grave robbing began to flourish. The trade was conducted by so-called “resurrectionists,” who robbed graves to sell corpses for medical study. An Anatomy Act was proposed which would ensure that anyone practicing anatomy had to obtain a license from the Home Secretary. It gave physicians, surgeons, and students legal access to corpses unclaimed after death – in particular, those who had died in hospitals, prisons, and workhouses – which would end the work of the despised resurrectionists but meant that the bodies of society’s downtrodden would be denied dignity and become fodder for medical experiments.

Marlott is a working-class stiff whose soul has been ravaged by the drowning death of his young daughter and his wife’s subsequent suicide – and if you’re familiar with Sean Bean’s work, you know that there is literally no actor alive whose face more convincingly conveys a world-weariness and torturous guilt. Troubled by dreams and hallucinations in which he sees, but cannot reunite with, his deceased family, and disturbed by the prospect that children are being victimized by “a monster with a human face,” Marlott begins to obsess over the case, which leads him deeper and deeper into a tangled political web, and dangerously close to the darkest evil.

The trail leads Marlott to Lord Daniel Hervey, the proprietor of a private charity hospital. Hervey and his sister Lady Jemima are both fervently opposed to the pending passage of the Anatomy Act, which would shut down Hervey’s practice. Lady Jemima implores Marlott to help. She recognizes in him a fellow Christian and expresses her concern to him that the Act could lead to denying the common folk their holy body to stay intact, disqualifying them for resurrection on Judgment Day. “If we deny Christ the poor, Mr. Marlott,” she asked, “don’t we deny him for ourselves? And that’s what’s at stake here – not merely the future of medicine, but the prospect of a world without God” – a theme explicitly stated on more than one occasion throughout the series.

Marlott gradually deduces that some skilled surgeon is attempting to give life to the corpses to arrogate to himself the ultimate power: the power to overcome death. Suspecting there is a connection between the murders and the popular but shocking novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, Marlott questions the book’s author Mary Shelley, whom he also suspects is involved. She explains to him the significance of the Prometheus legend: “He stole fire from the Gods and molded from human clay, like my Victor [Frankenstein]. A symbol of rebellion. For all of us who oppose tyranny and oppression.”

“Tyranny and oppression? Or the laws of God?” Marlott counters.

“What would we not do to defeat death, Mr. Marlott?” Shelley challenges. “Might we not defy God’s laws, in order to be reunited with those we love?” — a message that hits too close to home for the bereaved Marlott.

An increasingly determined Marlott pursues the truth until at last he confronts the monster with a human face – and his most successful experiment. When Marlott tells the villain’s protégé that they will answer to God for their perversion, the latter justifies it by summing up the show’s theme again – replying that there is no God, and where there is no God, “anything is possible.” In his mind, no God means that the possibilities for humanity are freeing and limitless; but the show’s message is clearly meant to be that the absence of God means the possibilities for plumbing the depths of evil are limitless. In that respect, the show also addresses the topic of abortion (which of course was illegal at the time) and takes a surprisingly pro-life stance.

Actual historical characters who make appearances in the series include the aforementioned novelist Mary Shelley; the mystic poet and artist William Blake, whose occult paintings offer clues to a missing child; Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, considered the father of modern British policing; and a young, muckraking journalist named Charles Dickens (under his pseudonym “Boz”). Romantic poet Lord Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace, who is sometimes acknowledged as one of the first computer programmers for her work with inventor Charles Babbage, also plays a creepy role in the second season.

With unusual exceptions, I’m not a fan of the horror genre. I would recommend a horror movie or show only if it was intelligently written, well-told (including in terms of its production values), and presented thought-provoking ideas and/or moral insights. The Frankenstein Chronicles fulfills all of this. While all the acting in The Frankenstein Chronicles is outstanding, the underrated Sean Bean is extraordinary as Marlott, particularly at one jaw-dropping plot twist halfway through the series. Be forewarned though that the show is grim, occasionally gruesome, and haunting, but is less about the standard tropes of horror flicks than it is about the depraved depths to which people with no moral limits will sink in the course of usurping the power of God. In the face of this evil, it offers hope.

In an age in which the numbers of believers are reportedly in decline; in which Christians are the most persecuted believers in the world; in which secular elites relentlessly push the false notions that science and religion are incompatible and that Christians are “anti-science,” The Frankenstein Chronicles offers a refreshing condemnation of the arrogance and lust for divine power that have characterized humanity ever since Adam and Eve were seduced by the serpent’s promise that “ye shall be as gods.”

13.

The ‘Evil Called Barack Obama’ and the Genocidal Slaughter of Nigerian Christians

New allegations concerning the “sheer wickedness” of Obama, Kerry, and Clinton.

 

 

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Not only is Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari behind what several international observers are calling a “genocide” of Christians in his nation—but Barack Hussein Obama played a major role in the Muslim president’s rise to power: these two interconnected accusations are increasingly being made—not by “xenophobic” Americans but Nigerians themselves, including several leaders and officials.

Most recently, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former minister of culture and tourism, wrote in a Facebook post:

What Obama, John Kerry and Hilary Clinton did to Nigeria by funding and supporting Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and helping Boko Haram in 2014/2015 was sheer wickedness and the blood of all those killed by the Buhari administration, his Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram over the last 5 years are on their hands.

Kerry’s and Clinton’s appeasement of Boko Haram—an Islamic terror organization notorious for massacring, enslaving, and raping Christians, and bombing and burning their churches—is apparently what connects them to this “sheer wickedness.”

For example, after a Nigerian military offensive killed 30 Boko Haram terrorists in 2013, then secretary of state Kerry “issued a strongly worded statement” to Buhari’s predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015), a Christian.  In it, Kerry warned Jonathan that “We are … deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations” against the terrorists.

Similarly, during her entire tenure as secretary of state, Clinton repeatedly refused to designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization, despite nonstop pressure from lawmakers, human rights activists, and lobbyists—not to mention Boko Haram’s countless atrocities against Nigerian Christians.

“Those of you that still love the evil called Barack Obama,” Fani-Kayode added in his post, “should listen to this short clip and tell me if you still do.”  He was referring to a recent Al Jazeera video interview of Eeben Barlow, a former lieutenant-colonel of the South African Defence Force and chairman of a private military company hired in 2015 by Jonathan, when still president, to help defeat Boko Haram.

“In one month,” Barlow said in the interview, “we took back terrain larger than Belgium from Boko Haram. We were not allowed to finish because it came at a time when governments were in the process of changing,” he said in reference to Nigeria’s 2015 presidential elections.  “The incoming president, President Buhari, was heavily supported by a foreign government, and one of the first missions [of Buhari] was to terminate our contract.”

On being asked if he could name the “foreign government,” the former lieutenant-colonel said, “Yes, we were told it was the United States, and they had actually funded President Buhari’s campaign, and the campaign manager for President Buhari came from the US.  And I am not saying the United States is bad—I understand foreign interests—but I would have thought that a threat such as Boko Haram on the integrity of the state of Nigeria ought to be actually a priority. It wasn’t.”

Fani-Kayode was quick to add in his Facebook post that it would have been the priority had Obama not been president:  “I just thank God for Donald Trump,” the former minister said in the same post. “Had he been President of America in 2015 things would have been very different, Jonathan would have won, Boko Haram would have been history and the Fulani herdsmen would never have seen the light of day.”

Fani-Kayode and Barlow are not alone in accusing Obama of “heavily supporting” and “actually funding” a presidential candidate who, since becoming president, has increasingly turned a blind eye to the worsening slaughter of Christians at the hands of Muslims—that is, when not actively exacerbating it, including with jet fighters.  In 2018, former president Jonathan revealed that,

On March 23, 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of releasing a video message directly to Nigerians all but telling them how to vote… Those who understood subliminal language deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the [Buhari/Muslim-led] opposition to form a new government…  The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them.

Between 2011 and 2015, and supposedly because they were angry at having a Christian president, Boko Haram slaughtered thousands of Christians, particularly those living in the Muslim majority north, and destroyed countless churches. In 2015—and thanks to Obama—Nigeria’s Muslims finally got what they want: a Muslim president in the person of Muhammadu Buhari.

As seen, however, not only did he immediately rescue Boko Haram from imminent defeat, as former lieutenant-colonel Eeben Barlow has now revealed; but atrocities against Christians have gotten significantly worse since Buhari replaced Jonathan—they are now regularly characterized as a “pure genocide”—particularly at the hands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen, the ethnic tribe whence Buhari himself happens to hail.  Thus according to a March 8, 2020 report titled, “Nigeria: A Killing Field of Defenseless Christians,”

Available statistics have shown that between 11,500 and 12,000 Christian deaths were recorded in the past 57 months or since June 2015 when the present central [Buhari-led] government of Nigeria came on board. Out of this figure, Jihadist Fulani herdsmen accounted for 7,400 Christian deaths, Boko Haram 4,000 and the ‘Highway Bandits’ 150-200.”

How and why Fulani tribesman have managed to kill nearly twice as many Christians as the “professional” terrorists of Boku Haram—and exponentially more Christians than under Jonathan—may be discerned from the following quotes by various Christian leaders and others:

  • “They [Fulani] want to strike Christians, and the government does nothing to stop them, because President Buhari is also of the Fulani ethnic group.”— Bishop Matthew Ishaya Audu of Lafia, 2018.
  • “Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism… Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people.”— Rev. Musa Asake, the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, 2018.
  • Buhari “is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities.”— Bosun Emmanuel, the secretary of the National Christian Elders Forum, 2018.
  • Buhari “is himself from the jihadists’ Fulani tribe, so what can you expect?” — Emmanuel Ogebe, Washington DC-based human rights lawyer, in conversation with me, 2018.

Based on all these developments, statistics and accusations, it seems clear that the Muslim president is behind the unfolding genocide of Christians in Nigeria—and Obama helped.

* * *

Photo from Obama White House

14. 

The Origin of the Coronavirus: From Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory to Plausible

Suddenly, skepticism is no longer “crackpot.”

 

In February the Daily Kos, an influential left-wing website, denounced “a whole parade of right-wing hand-waving that includes not just Republican Rep. Tom Cotton claiming that COVID-19 was cooked up in a Chinese bio lab.” Likewise, The Guardian reported that Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance in the United States, an organization that researches emerging diseases, said: “Conspiracy theories circulating on social media claim the coronavirus was artificially manufactured in a lab conducting bioweapons research. They are ‘crackpot theories that need to be addressed, but in the age of social media it is just impossible.'”

The Chinese government claimed that the COVID-19 originated at a Wuhan food marketplace where live animals are sold. But Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., thought otherwise. Cotton said: “We don’t know where it originated, but we do know that we have to get to the bottom of that. We also know that just a few miles away from that food market is China’s only biosafety level-four superlaboratory that researches human infectious diseases. Now, we don’t have evidence that this disease originated there, but because of China’s duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question to see what the evidence says.”

Rutgers University chemical biology professor Richard Ebright dismisses the idea that the virus was a product of a laboratory. Ebright said, “There’s absolutely nothing in the genome sequence of this virus that indicates the virus was engineered.” But Ebright, according to the Asia Times, also said he “could not rule out the possibility that the unfolding pandemic could be the result of a ‘lab incident.'” Bear in mind, Cotton did not claim the virus was manufactured in a Wuhan lab, let alone that the virus is a product of biological warfare. He speculated that the virus might have accidentally escaped from the lab.

The virus-might-have-escaped theory suddenly became less crackpot when The Washington Post recently published an opinion piece called “State Department Cables Warned of Safety Issues at Wuhan Lab Studying Bat Coronaviruses.” American experts who visited two virology labs in Wuhan in 2018 were shocked at the lack of security and appropriate protocols to prevent a virus from escaping. The piece said: “What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology) lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable … also warns that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.”

As to China’s official story that the virus started at a so-called wet market that sold bats, The Washington Post wrote: “As many have pointed out, there is no evidence that the virus now plaguing the world was engineered; scientists largely agree it came from animals. But that is not the same as saying it didn’t come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals, said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley. …

“The Chinese government’s original story — that the virus emerged from a seafood market in Wuhan — is shaky. Research by Chinese experts published in the (British medical journal) Lancet in January showed the first known patient, identified on Dec. 1, had no connection to the market, nor did more than one-third of the cases in the first large cluster. Also, the market didn’t sell bats.”

It is maddening that there is so much about this virus that we do not know. We are uncertain of its origin. We are uncertain about its lethality. We don’t know whether one develops an immunity after infection and survival. We don’t know how many have or have had the virus and have recovered. We don’t know how many have the virus and are asymptomatic. There are still questions about whether after one can get the virus, survive and get it again.

We do know that the disease does not discriminate against Republicans or Democrats. Nor does the disease care whether theories about its origin came from the right-wing “crackpots” or left-wing Trump haters. This is a political year. And President Donald Trump and his supporters are so despised by Democrats and their media enablers that many reflexively wrote off conservative skepticism about the official Chinese government story on the origin of the coronavirus. But suddenly, the skepticism is no longer “crackpot.”

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host.

* * *

Photo from Pexels

15.

Trump Does the Unthinkable

When kindness knows no bounds.

 

Donald Trump is a racist, bigot, sexist, xenophobe, anti-Semitic and Islamophobe — did I miss anything?….Yup: he is also deplorable. The left and the media launch these hideous kinds of attacks at Trump every day; yet, nothing could be further from the truth about the real estate mogul.

As an entertainment journalist, I’ve had the opportunity to cover Trump for over a decade, and in all my years covering him I’ve never heard anything negative about the man until he announced he was running for president. Keep in mind, I got paid a lot of money to dig up dirt on celebrities like Trump for a living, so a scandalous story on the famous billionaire could’ve potentially sold a lot of magazines and would’ve been a Yuge feather in my cap.

Instead, I found that he doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs. He’s a hardworking businessman.

On top of that, he’s one of the most generous celebrities in the world, with a heart filled with more gold than his $100 million New York penthouse.

Since the media has failed so miserably at reporting the truth about Trump, I decided to put together some of the acts of kindness he’s committed over three decades which have gone virtually unnoticed or fallen on deaf ears.

• In 1986, Trump prevented the foreclosure of Annabell Hill’s family farm after her husband committed suicide. Trump personally phoned down to the auction to stop the sale of her home and offered the widow money. Trump decided to take action after he saw Hill’s pleas for help in news reports.

• In 1988, a commercial airline refused to fly Andrew Ten, a sick Orthodox Jewish child with a rare illness, across the country to get medical care because he had to travel with an elaborate life-support system. His grief-stricken parents contacted Trump for help and he didn’t hesitate to send his own plane to take the child from Los Angeles to New York so he could get his treatment.

• In 1991, 200 Marines who served in Operation Desert Storm spent time at Camp Jejune in North Carolina before they were scheduled to return home to their families. However, the Marines were told that a mistake had been made and an aircraft would not be able to take them home on their scheduled departure date. When Trump got wind of this, he sent his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami to safely return the Gulf War Marines to their loved ones.

• In 1995, a motorist stopped to help Trump after the limo he was traveling in got a flat tire. Trump asked the Good Samaritan how he could repay him for his help. All the man asked for was a bouquet of flowers for his wife. A few weeks later Trump sent the flowers with a note that read: We’ve paid off your mortgage.

• In 1996, Trump filed a lawsuit against the city of Palm Beach, Florida, accusing the town of discriminating against his Mar-a-Lago resort club because it didn’t allow Jews and blacks. Abraham Foxman, who was the Anti-Defamation League Director at the time, said Trump put the light on Palm Beach not on the beauty and the glitter, but on its seamier side of discrimination. Foxman also noted that Trump’s charge had a trickle-down effect because other clubs followed his lead and began admitting Jews and blacks.

• In 2000, Maury Povich featured a little girl named Megan who struggled with Brittle Bone Disease on his show and Trump happened to be watching. Trump said the little girl’s story and positive attitude touched his heart. So he contacted Maury and gifted the little girl and her family with a very generous check.

• In 2008, after Jennifer Hudson’s family members were tragically murdered in Chicago, Trump put the Oscar-winning actress and her family up at his Windy City hotel for free. In addition to that, Trump’s security took extra measures to ensure Hudson and her family members were safe during such a difficult time.

• In 2013, New York bus driver Darnell Barton spotted a woman close to the edge of a bridge staring at traffic below as he drove by. He stopped the bus, got out and put his arm around the woman and saved her life by convincing her to not jump. When Trump heard about this story, he sent the hero bus driver a check simply because he believed his good deed deserved to be rewarded.

• In 2014, Trump gave $25,000 to Sgt. Andrew Tamoressi after he spent seven months in a Mexican jail for accidentally crossing the US-Mexico border. President Barack Obama couldn’t even be bothered to make one phone call to assist with the United States Marine’s release; however, Trump opened his pocketbook to help this serviceman get back on his feet.

• In 2016, Melissa Consin Young attended a Trump rally and tearfully thanked Trump for changing her life. She said she proudly stood on stage with Trump as Miss Wisconsin USA in 2005. However, years later she found herself struggling with an incurable illness and during her darkest days, she explained that she received a handwritten letter from Trump telling her she’s the bravest woman, I know. She said the opportunities that she got from Trump and his organizations ultimately provided her Mexican-American son with a full-ride to college.

• Lynne Patton, a black female executive for the Trump Organization, released a statement in 2016 defending her boss against accusations that he’s a racist and a bigot. She tearfully revealed how she’s struggled with substance abuse and addiction for years. Instead of kicking her to the curb, she said the Trump Organization and his entire family loyally stood by her through immensely difficult times.

Donald Trump’s kindness knows no bounds and his generosity has touched and continues to touch the lives of people from every sex, race, and religion. When Trump sees someone in need, he wants to help. Two decades ago, Oprah Winfrey asked Trump in a TV interview if he would run for president. He said: If it got so bad, I would never want to rule it out totally because I really am tired of seeing what’s happening with this country.

That day has come.

Trump sees that America is in need and he wants to help. How unthinkable!

On the other hand, have you ever heard of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama ever doing such things with their own resources?

Now that’s really unthinkable!

Liz Crokin is an award-winning author, a seasoned journalist and an advocate for sex crime victims. Liz began her journey at the University of Iowa where she received a bachelor’s in journalism and political science.

16.

17.

Dünya Altın Konseyi’nin yayımladığı verilere göre TCMB yılın ilk 3 ayında 72.7 ton net altın alımı yaptı ve açık ara dünyanın en fazla altın alan merkez bankası oldu. Türkiye’yi net altın alımlarında 28 tonla Rusya, 7 tonla Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri, 6.8 tonla Hindistan, 2.8 tonla Kazakistan ve 2.2 tonla Özbekistan takip etti. Merkez bankaları yılın ilk 3 ayında toplam 145 ton net altın alımı yaptı. Yani net alımların yarısı Türkiye’den geldi.

18.

Biyolojij tehdit biriminin başındaki isim konuştu: Biyolojik silah ancak böyle olur

Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Tıbbi KBRN (Kimyasal-Biyolojik-Radyoaktif-Nükleer) Tehdit Anabilim Dalı Başkanı Prof. Dr. Levent Kenar, dünyayı etkisi altına alan Kovid-19 virüsünün laboratuvar ortamında yapılma ihtimalinin bulunduğunu söyledi. Kenar, dünyada bir biyolojik saldırı olsa ancak bu kadar olabileceğini belirtti

30.04.2020
Kovid 19 salgını tüm dünyada milyonlarca kişiye buluşırken hastalıktan dolaylı yolla etkilenen sayısı milyarları buldu. Virüsün Çin’in Vuhan şehrinde bulunan bir laboratuvarda üretildiği iddiaları her geçen gün daha sesli söylenirken Türkiye’de bu konunun en etkin ve uzman ismi Haber7’ye konuştu. Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi (GATA) Tıbbi KBRN (Kimyasal-Biyolojik-Radyoaktif-Nükleer) Anabilim Dalı Başkanı Levent Kenar, Haber7 Yayın Koordinatörü Tarık Dağlı’ya yeni tip koronavirüs hakkında önemli açıklamalarda bulundu.

KBRN NEDİR, NE İŞ YAPAR?

Bu ülkemiz için de dünya için de  yeni bir kavram. Kimyasal, biyolojik, radyolojik ve nükleer… Bunların ilk harflerinden oluşmuş bir kısaltma ancak tüm bunların içini dolduracak olursak hem silah hem de terör ajanları olarak bunların etkilerini inceleyen, bunlara ait tanının nasıl olacağını inceleyen  ve buna yönelik tedavinin de nasıl olacağı ve ilk yardım konusunu da içinde bulunduran bir kavram.
Buna maruz kalan hastaların, yaralıların nasıl tedavi edileceği, nasıl tanı konulacağı bunlara yönelik planlama organizasyon ve diğer kurumların koordinasyonunun nasıl gerçekleştirileceğini inceleyen bir bilim dalı…

Tabi biz KBRN’nin tıbbi kısmıyla sağlık alanıyla ilgiliyiz. Bu tür yaralanmalar olduğu zaman bu yaralılara müdahale etmek, bu yaralıların koordinasyonunu, tıbbi yönetimini sağlamak bizim bölümümüz üzerinden yapılan bir işlem.  İşin bir de askeri kısmı var. AFAD’ın ilgilendiği kısmı var. Onlar daha çok işin olay yeri yönetimiyle ilgilenmekteler. Milli Savunma Bakanlığı’nda da bir KBRN birimi var. Bizim bölümümüz daha çok işin akademik kısmı.

TEK BİR IRKA YÖNELİK MİKTOBİYOLOJİK AJANLAR GELİŞTİRİLEBİLİR

– Peki, KBRN koronavirüsü ne şekilde tanımlıyor?

KBRN’nin “B” kısmı ile koronavirüsü ilişkilendirebiliriz.  Biyolojik silah kısmıyla. Çıktığı ortam sebebiyle hala tartışmalar devam ediyor. Biyolojik silahın özel bir tanımı var. İnsanları kasıtlı öldürmek, kaos yaratmak, sosyal hayatı bozmak, panik, korku yaymak gibi maksatlarla kullanılan mikrobiyolojik ajanlar… Hatta bazen sadece ırka yönelik mikrobiyolojik ajanlar da üretilebilir. Mevcut olanlar üzerinde de çeşitli genetik oynamalarla bunlar daha etkili tedaviye daha dirençli hale getirilebilir.

BİYOLOJİK SİLAH DİYEBİLMEMİZ İÇİN DURUM YARI YARIYA

-Bu virüsü laboratuvar ortamında inceleyerek doğal yolla mı yoksa yapay  yolla mı olduğunu anlayamaz mıyız?

Tabi ki zor! Öncelikle bunu insanlara ulaştırmak için aracı bir kuvvet lazım.  Vektör lazım taşınması için. Mesela yarasalar deniyor. SARS da mis kedilerinden bahsedilmişti. Yarasa ile geçtiği söyleniyor. Fakat soru işareti olan birçok yer var. Bunlardan bir tanesi yarasa bunu kendi doğal yolla mı aldı? Ya da laboratuvardan alınıp yarasaya enjekte edilip ondan sonra mı verildi? Biyolojik silah dememiz için şu an durum 50-50. Bu çeşitli deneylerle değişebilir de ileriki süreçte. Tabi tıp dünyasında şu an kabul edilen bunun bir biyolojik silah olmadığı doğal üretim olduğu söyleniyor. Bir tarafta biyolojik silah olabileceği yönünde düşünceler var, diğer tarafta olmadığı yönünde. Şu an tam ortada bir durum var. Dinamik bir süreç yaşıyoruz. Bugün olan belirti yarın ortadan kalkabilir.

Farklı bir açıdan bakarsak eğer bir kişi bunu laboratuvar ortamında yaptıysa gerçekten çok başarılı yapmış, bunu yaymış. Gerçekten dünyayı iyi korkuttu. Tüm dünyanın ekonomisini mahvetti. 4 trilyon dolarlık bir ekonomik kayıp var. Bir kurum yada ülke tarafından yapıldıysa teknolojisi ve bilimselliği çok yüksek bir tanesi tarafından yapılmış olmalı. Bu kadar başarılı bir biyolojik ajan ancak bu şartlarda yapılabilir. Düşünün hava şartlarından etkilenmiyor, hiçbir belirti göstermeden bulaşabiliyor. Hastaların yüzde 20-25’i hiçbir belirti göstermeden taşıyıcılık yapıyor. Çin’deki meteorolojik şartlarda yaşadığı gibi Ekvator’daki iklimde de yaşayabiliyor. Ya da İzlanda’da… Bu yüzden şu an hala ortada, muallakta olan bir durum biyolojik silah olduğu konusu.

BİYOLOJİK SAVAŞ OLSA DURUM BUNDAN HAFİF BİLE OLABİLİRDİ

– Kovid-19’un bir biyolojik bir silah olmadığını kabul edersek, gerçek bir biyolojik silah dünyaya yayılsaydı tablo nasıl olurdu?

Aynen böyle olurdu, dünya bir biyolojik savaş içinde olsaydı en iyi şartlarda böyle olurdu. Bundan daha hafifi de olasılık dahilinde.

BİYOLOJİK SİLAH İÇİN ‘FAKİRLERİN ATOM BOMBASI’ DERLER

-Bir biyolojik savaş dünyayı çepe çevre saracak olsaydı aynen böyle  bir şey olacaktı. Ve dünyanın teknoloji, silah, ekonomi açısından dev ülkeleri bu durumda çuvalladılar. Ortaya da böyle bir fotoğraf mı çıkıyor?

Biyolojik silah için şöyle bir tabir var aslında. Fakirlerin atom bombası. Üretime bakıldığında nükleer silahların üretimi gerçekten pahalıdır. Oysa biyolojik silahların üretimi kolay ve çok daha ucuzdur. “Aynı etkiyi oluşturabilecek nükleer silahın maliyetin 2 bin dolar ise biyolojik silahın maliyeti 1 dolar” derler. İşte önemli olan taşıyıcılardır bunların yüklenmesinin saptanmasıdır.  Bütün sorun da buradan kaynaklanmakta.

ABD, Rusya, İngiltere, Kanada olsun… Bu gibi ülkelerin kitle imha silahlarına karşı hazırlıklı odluğunu düşünürdük. Fakat hiç de öyle olmadığını gördük. Teoride hazır gibi davrandılar. ANcak afet yönetimine geçtiklerinde olayı farklı olduğunu görmekteyiz. Keza biz KBRN konusunda, salgın olaylarında kendimizi geride görürüz. Tam tersinin olduğunu bizim bu konuda daha pratik olduğumuzu gördük. Nispeten başarılı olduğumuzu gördük ancak henüz net konuşmak için erken…

MAYIS AYI ÇOK ÖNEMLİ

– Biyolojik silah ya da pandemiye karşı başarılı olma kıstası nedir?

Rutin hayatın düzene oturması genel anlamda. Hastanelere başvuran sayısının azalması. Yoğun bakım sayısının azalması. Buna bağlı olarak da ölüm sayısının azalması. Temel kriter olarak bunlar.. Şu an baktığımızda küçük de olsa pozitif bir ivme kazandığımızı söyleyebiliriz. Tabi bunu rahatlıkla söyleyebilmek için hala erken bir dönem. Bunu ilerleyen zamanlarda özellikle mayıs ayı iyi bir gösterge olacaktır. Biyolojik silahların en büyük etkisi toplumda bu kaosun oluşturulmasıdır. Bu kaosun sonlanması başarılı mücadelenin en önemli kıstasıdır.

– Mayıs ayı nasıl olacak ?
Mayısta gevşetilme konusunda bir süreç yaşanacak. Sokağa çıkma yasaklarında bir azalma olacak. 65 yaş üstü ve çocukların belli zamanlarda çıkması gibi.. Nasıl ki yavaş yavaş tedbirler artırıldıysa yavaş yavaş da tedbirlerin azaltılması söz konusu olacak.

EKİM, KASIMDA İKİNCİ DALGA GELEBİLİR

– Elimizde eldiveni, ağzımıza maskemizi takmadan, 0 tehdit ile ne zaman dışarı çıkabileceğiz Psikolojik adaptasyon nasıl olacak?

Artık yavaş yavaş psikolojiler zorlanmaya başladı. Özellikle sokağa çıkması yasak olan grupta. Artık insanların dayanma sınırlarında son dönemlerine geldiklerine şahit olmaktayız. Bunun için kesin bir zaman vermek bilimsel olarak mümkün değil. Benim düşüncem yaz mevsiminden sonra aşı konusunda olumlu bir gelişme olmazsa Ekim ve Kasım gibi ikinci bir dalga oluşabilir. Ama ülkeler daha hazırlıklı olacağı için ilki gibi olmaz.

– Aşı ya da tedavi bulunana kadar tehdit devam mı edecek?

Arada sırada vakalar görülecektir. Zaten virüs hastalıklarının, bakteri hastalıklarında olduğu gibi tam tedavisi yoktur. Semptomatik tedaviler yapılır. Virüslere karşı en etkili mücadele korunmadır. O da en iyi aşı ile gerçekleşir. Olayı bir biyolojik silah olarak düşünürsek, şeytanın avukatlığını yapacak olursak bunu üreten kişi aşısını da üretir. Bunu ortaya çıkarmak için belli bir süre geçmesini bekliyor da olabilirler. Bu ihtimal gerçekse bunu yıllar sonra belki öğrenebiliriz.

ÜLKELERİN SAVAŞ STRATEJİLERİ DEĞİŞECEK

-Peki ülkeler bundan sonraki savaş ve savunma stratejileri için radikal bir dönüş gerçekleştirir mi?

Ülkelerin savunma ve ofansif stratejileri değişecektir. Kulaklara kar suyu kaçtı. Devletler biyolojik silahların varlığını biliyordu ama bir virüsün bu kadar etkin olduğunu da öğrenmiş oldu. Maalesef sonuçları çok acı olan bir tatbikat yapıldı gibi. Bu tatbikatla bu silahların varlığı görülmüş oldu. Biyolojik kısım unutulmuştu. Ne kadar etkili olduğu görüldü bu mikrobiyolojik ajanların. Ve tabi bu stratejiyi değiştirecektir. Üretilmeleri çok kolaydır bu silahların ancak korunmak çok pahalıdır. Çok yüksek teknolojiler ister.

Biz de yıllardır bu konuda Aselsan benzeri hem teknoloji hem strateji geliştirecek bir merkezimiz olması gerektiğini yıllardır savunurduk. Savunmaya yönelik bazı çalışmaların yapılacağı, kimyasal ve biyolojik silahlar konusunda imzaladığımız sözleşmeler çerçevesinde bugünkü durumlarda kullanabileceğimiz kavramları netleştirebileceğimiz merkezlere ihtiyaç olduğunu görmekteyiz.

P4 LABAROTUVARLARINDA BU VİRÜSÜN ÜZERİNDE OYNAMAK MÜMKÜN

– Vuhan’daki gibi P4 güvenlik seviyesinde bir laboratuvarımız var mı?

Hayır yok. Biyogüvenlik seviyeleri 4 seviyede inceleniyor. P4 güvenlik seviyesine sahip olanlar çok büyük korumalı laboratuvarlar. İçeriye çok özel eğitimle girilebilirler. Şehir merkezlerinden uzakta bunların yapılması lazım. Herhangi bir kaçağın olmasının engellenmesi gerekiyor.  Bu laboratuvarlar dünyada çok yaygın değil. ABD’de bile 3 tane P4 laboratuvarı var. He tabi ülkemizde biyogüvenlik bir alt seviyesi olan biyogüvenlik 3 seviyesi çalışmaların yapıldığı birkaç laboratuvar var. P4’lerin dezavantajı ise şu… Uluslararası bir kontrol mekanizması oluşturulamadı. Kimyasal silahlar için bu biraz daha iyi durumda. Ancak bu laboratuvarların biyolojik anlamda kontrol edilebileceği bir sistem geliştirilemedi.

– Mesela bu laboratuvarlardan biri, Kovid 19’u alıp bulaşı hızı çok yaygın bir virüsü aynı zamanda ölüm oranı çok daha yüksek bir virüse çevirebilir mi?

Tabi, olasıdır. P4 laboratuvarlarında bu tür organizmalar üzerinde çalışılır. Genetik uzmanları da bu işin içinde yer alır. Virüslerin DNA, RNA’sı üzerinde oynanarak bu çalışmalar yapılır. Zaten aşının geliştirilmesinde çeşitli basamakları var. Bir basamaktan sonra çalışma aşıya doğru gider ise bir başka basamakta biyolojik silah üretimine doğru da gidebilir.

BULUNAN AŞI, VİRÜS MUTASYONA UĞRARSA ETKİLİ OLMAYACAKTIR

– Kovid19 için mevsimsel bir döngüye girme durumunu konuşmak için henüz erken mi?

Erken ama öngörülebilir. Mutasyon denen bir kavram var biliyorsunuz. Çin’deki virüsün genom dizilimi ile ABD’dekinin farklı olduğu söyleniyor. Ve bu eldeki virüsün 1 sene sonra mutasyona uğrayıp uğramayacağı belli değil. Şu anki genetik yapıya göre yapılan bir aşı virüs mutasyona uğradığında etkili olamayacaktır. Grip aşısının da farklı yıllarda farklı şekillerde yapılmasının sebebi de budur. Aşı sürekli olarak modifiye edilmesi gereken bir tedavi yöntemidir.

– Tatbikat demiştiniz. Hangi ülkeler bu tatbikatta başarılı oldu ve başarıyı getiren şey neler?

Olaya nereden baktığınıza bağlı. Ülke bazında bir karşılaştırma yapmak doğru olmayabilir. Her ülkenin kendine ait şartlarıyla verdiği bir mücadele var. Herkes kendi verdiği reaksiyonuyla bu tatbikatta yer aldı. Bizim övündüğümüz yoğun bakım ve tedavi üniteleriyle iyiydik. Acildeki hızlı reaksiyonlar. Farklı hastalıklara hızlı ve pratik yanıt verebilmemiz, bir geçiş coğrafyasında olmamız, bizim tedavi alanında hızlı yanıt vermemize sebep oldu. Belki toplumsal olarak hızlı yanıt veremedik ama tanıdan çok tedavi olarak hızlı yanıt verdik. Kısaca her ülkenin başarılı veya başarısız olduğu alanlar oldu bu tatbikatta.

– Çin bunu önleyebilir miydi en başta bu kadar yayılmadan yoksa her durumda bu hastalık böyle yayılacak mıydı?

Tabi Çin de tecrübe kazandı. Bu Çin değil de ABD olsaydı belki onlar da Çin’in yaptığını yapacaklardı. Öyle değerlendirebiliriz. Çin’in tabi SARS ve diğer salgınlardan gelen bir yeteneği vardı. Bu farklı bir ülkede çıkmış olsaydı çok daha fazla yayılma olabilirdi. O anda önleyebilir miydi önleyebilirdi. Ama bunu biz şimdi düşünebiliyoruz. Bu bir süreç, bir dinamizm gösteriyor, hem tıbbi hem toplumsal açıdan..
19. Ρε φιλαράκο, εσύ ο…”ΑΜΙΜΗΤΟΣ”, δεν έχεις ακόμα πάρει χαμπάρι, με τί ακριβώς καταπιανόμαστε εδώ στο “σάϊτ” μας; Πήγαινε στην “ΓΑΔΑ” και πες εκεί ό,τι θες! Αν κάποιοι Αστυφύλακες, κλπ, “τα πιάνουν” από τους Αλβανούς,  κλπ, στα ΑΤ στην Κυψέλη, στην Βόδα, στην Βικτώρια και όπου αλλού, και ξέρεις και ονόματα όπως λες, πες τα στην ΓΑΔΑ και αυτοί ξέρουν τί να κάνουν!.. 

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