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Celerity

Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
April 14, 2020

Beijing tightens grip over coronavirus research, amid US-China row on virus origin

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/12/asia/china-coronavirus-research-restrictions-intl-hnk/index.html



Hong Kong (CNN)China has imposed restrictions on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus, according to a central government directive and http://www.it.fudan.edu.cn/Data/View/3657" target="_blank">online notices published by two Chinese universities, that have since been removed from the web. Under the new policy, all academic papers on Covid-19 will be subject to extra vetting before being submitted for publication. Studies on the origin of the virus will receive extra scrutiny and must be approved by central government officials, according to the now-deleted posts.

A medical expert in Hong Kong who collaborated with mainland researchers to publish a clinical analysis of Covid-19 cases in an international medical journal said his work did not undergo such vetting in February.
The increased scrutiny appears to be the latest effort by the Chinese government to control the narrative on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sickened 1.7 million people worldwide since it first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.

Since late January, Chinese researchers have published a series of Covid-19 studies in influential international medical journals. Some findings about early coronavirus cases -- such as when human-to-human transition first appeared -- have raised questions over the official government account of the outbreak and sparked controversy on Chinese social media.
And now, Chinese authorities appear to be tightening their grip on the publication of Covid-19 research.

A Chinese researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation said the move was a worrying development that would likely obstruct important scientific research. "I think it is a coordinated effort from (the) Chinese government to control (the) narrative, and paint it as if the outbreak did not originate in China," the researcher told CNN. "And I don't think they will really tolerate any objective study to investigate the origination of this disease."

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here are snapshots of an early, highly suppressed (the Chinese government had it pulled from Nature, one of the world's most influential scientific journals) Chinese study that said the virus probably came from the Wuhan Level 4 Biolab



















April 14, 2020

Trump Supporters Are Directly Responsible For The Enormous Coronavirus Death Toll

America now leads the world in Coronavirus deaths, and all thanks to Trump and the supporters who voted for him.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/trump-supporters-are-directly-responsible



It’s official, the United States now has the highest death toll from Coronavirus of any country on earth. That includes China, were the virus originated from, and Italy, the previously hardest hit nation that failed spectacularly to control the outbreak. As per NBC News: The United States now has the lead with the most deaths from the coronavirus outbreak of any nation worldwide with nearly 22,000 lives lost. Meanwhile in Italy, previously the worst-hit country, officials on Monday were considering loosening lockdown measures after the lowest number of deaths in a single day since March 19. This happened because Donald Trump did not listen to the urgent pleas of government scientists and disease experts and get a head start on the outbreak that was wreaking havoc on Asia and Europe. This also happened because enough Americans voted for a madman in 2016, apparently believing a reality TV show host and fake billionaire could actually run the country. He can’t, and now Americans are paying the ultimate price.

From bad to terrifyingly horrible

On Sunday, the New York Times broke a truly devastating story on Trump’s astonishing stonewalling of the experts pleading with him to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. The timeline laid out by the Times reporters is beyond damning — it is incriminating: The National Security Council office responsible for tracking pandemics received intelligence reports in early January predicting the spread of the virus to the United States, and within weeks was raising options like keeping Americans home from work and shutting down cities the size of Chicago. Mr. Trump would avoid such steps until March. Despite Mr. Trump’s denial weeks later, he was told at the time about a Jan. 29 memo produced by his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, laying out in striking detail the potential risks of a coronavirus pandemic: as many as half a million deaths and trillions of dollars in economic losses.

The health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, directly warned Mr. Trump of the possibility of a pandemic during a call on Jan. 30, the second warning he delivered to the president about the virus in two weeks. The president, who was on Air Force One while traveling for appearances in the Midwest, responded that Mr. Azar was being alarmist. Mr. Azar publicly announced in February that the government was establishing a “surveillance” system in five American cities to measure the spread of the virus and enable experts to project the next hot spots. It was delayed for weeks. The slow start of that plan, on top of the well-documented failures to develop the nation’s testing capacity, left administration officials with almost no insight into how rapidly the virus was spreading. “We were flying the plane with no instruments,” one official said.

By the third week in February, the administration’s top public health experts concluded they should recommend to Mr. Trump a new approach that would include warning the American people of the risks and urging steps like social distancing and staying home from work. But the White House focused instead on messaging and crucial additional weeks went by before their views were reluctantly accepted by the president — time when the virus spread largely unimpeded. These crucial weeks that went by are being paid for by Americans choking to death on ventilators all around the country. Trump had an opportunity to make America an example of how to deal effectively with an epidemic. Instead, he has turned the most powerful country on earth into a global laughing stock.

America the joke

Other countries are watching in sheer disbelief at the calamity in America, amazed by the incompetence, carelessness, and extraordinary indifference to human suffering..................................... (much more at the link)

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https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

April 13, 2020

blah, we (Sweden) just past the US-equivalent of 30,000 deaths, now at 30,195 equivalent

and generally a shedload not reported from over the weekend will come flooding in by 1600 or 1700 our time. 351,351 cases reported, atm, US population adjusted.

Still no lockdowns.

https://c19.se/en




Easter weekend pics













April 13, 2020

Stan's Donuts to close after 55 years of business, citing COVID-19

Stan’s Donuts, a 55-year staple of Westwood Village, served its last doughnut Thursday.

https://dailybruin.com/2020/04/10/stans-donuts-to-close-after-55-years-of-business-citing-covid-19/

The famous doughnut shop at the corner of Weyburn and Broxton avenues permanently closed in light of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement published by owner Stan Berman on the store’s website.

“It is with a sad heart that I inform you that I have made the decision to close my doors and (Thursday) will be the last day I will be making donuts,” Berman said. “Unfortunately COVID-19 made the decision happen sooner, but I hope that you will remember how our donuts made you smile for many years to come.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered restaurants to close March 15 and Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated nonessential businesses to close statewide March 19 to slow the spread of the virus. Restaurants are still permitted to serve food to-go or offer delivery, but the pandemic and the government response has nevertheless constrained economic activity, putting many businesses in dire circumstances.

Berman opened Stan’s Donuts as The Corner Shoppe in 1965. Located in the heart of Westwood Village and right across from the historic Fox Theater, the shop has served over 75 doughnut varieties to generations of UCLA students, locals and tourists. Stan’s Donuts & Coffee, a shop inspired by Berman’s original, opened in Chicago in 2014 and has since expanded to multiple locations. Berman tried to expand Stan’s Donuts to other locations over the years but ultimately decided to only operate his Westwood shop.

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https://www.stansdoughnuts.com/








I used to get coffee and a peanut butter and jelly donut (soo jummi!) sometimes there whilst I attended UCLA

Enzo's pizza too, omg their white pizza was super good
April 12, 2020

Covid-19 Has Decimated the Fashion Industry & Could Spell the End for Hype Product

The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company have released a new update examining the effects of Covid-19 on the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. The findings, as one would expect, make for seriously grim reading, with millions of jobs put at risk.

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/covid-19-fashion-industry-impact/

The devastating impact of the virus has decimated the industry, leaving fashion businesses exposed or rudderless across the board. Previously planned strategies for 2020 have become redundant, as leaders try to control the fall-out from what is being described in some quarters as “the ultimate Black Swan event.” This impacts everyone, from media planners in Philadelphia to factory workers in Phnom Penh. “Though the duration and ultimate severity of the pandemic remains unknown, it is apparent that the fashion industry is just at the beginning of its struggle,” reads an ominous part of the introduction.

Store closures due to quarantine measures are already having disastrous consequences. If stores remain closed for two months, the report suggests that 80 percent of publicly listed fashion companies in Europe and North America will find themselves in financial distress. It doesn’t window dress what that might entail, stating: “Combined with the McKinsey Global Fashion Index (MGFI) analysis, which found that 56 percent of global fashion companies were not earning their cost of capital in 2018, we expect a large number of global fashion companies to go bankrupt in the next 12 to 18 months.”




The report predicts that revenues for the global fashion industry (apparel and footwear sectors) will contract by up to 30 percent in 2020 year-on-year, while the personal luxury goods industry (luxury fashion, luxury accessories, luxury watches, luxury jewelry, and high-end beauty), will contract up to 40 percent. As backed up in a Stackline report yesterday, this can be attributed to the discretionary nature of fashion and the fact that wealthy consumers have stopped traveling and shopping.

It then goes on to explain how the interconnectedness of the industry is causing it to suffer. Staff layoffs and wage cuts have become a reality, just as closed stores mean orders have been canceled, leaving garment workers in the developing world out of work. “For workers in low-cost sourcing and fashion-manufacturing hubs, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Honduras, and India, extended periods of unemployment will mean hunger and disease,” reads a particularly stark paragraph.

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April 12, 2020

Jonathan Pie - LOCKDOWN Episode 4



Orange Man Bad!

Pie invents a drinking game to help spice up Trump's press conferences.


A Trump presser: A James Joyce novel written in crayon.

April 12, 2020

Easter Sunday service with the Archbishop of Canterbury (from his kitchen)

I'm an atheist, but what the hell, it is history.

April 12, 2020

App to ease direct deposit of stimulus checks will launch next week, US officials say

Two U.S. government agencies are collaborating to launch a web app next week that will help Americans access payments from the country's economic stimulus measures.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/app-to-ease-direct-deposit-of-stimulus-checks-will-launch-next-week-us-officials-say/ar-BB12tZDw

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the treasury department and the IRS will launch the free "Get My Payment" app at IRS.gov next week. The app will allow taxpayers who have filed tax returns in 2018 and 2019 without providing bank information to submit information for direct deposit and receive the economic impact payments sooner, rather than waiting for a check to arrive in the mail.

App users will also be able to track the status of their economic stimulus payment by providing basic information, including Social Security number, date of birth and mailing address. Taxpayers who want to add bank account information to speed receipt of payment will be prompted to provide their adjusted gross income from the most recent tax return submitted in either 2018 or 2019 and the refund or amount owed from their latest tax return. App users will also be asked to provide their bank account type, account and routing numbers.

The app, which can operate on any desktop, phone or tablet, does not need to be downloaded from an app store. Treasury and IRS officials are encouraging those who plan to use the app to collect the required information ahead of time. Taxpayers who did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 can use "“Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here” to submit basic personal information to quickly and securely receive their payments.

Americans who filed 2018 or 2019 tax returns with direct deposit information or receive Social Security do not need to take action. They will automatically receive payment in their bank accounts, according to Treasury officials. To help protect against potential fraud, the "Get My Payment" app does not allow people to change bank account information already on file with the IRS.

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April 12, 2020

BREAKING:FL Gov DeSantis, seeking to hide Covid infections & deaths, pressures Miami Herald law firm

to squelch records suit

https://twitter.com/jkbjournalist/status/1249138171117539328

Herald drafted a suit seeking ALF records. DeSantis aide pressured law firm not to file it

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241942211.html

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ general counsel called a representative of the Miami Herald’s law firm seeking to quash a public records lawsuit that would force the state to divulge the names of all elder-care facilities that have had a positive test for the coronavirus. The back-door pressure — through an attorney that had no involvement in the case — paid off.

The law firm, Holland & Knight, told Sanford Bohrer, a senior partner with decades of representing the Miami Herald, to stand down and abandon the lawsuit. The suit will still be filed, but by another law firm, said Miami Herald publisher and executive editor Aminda Marqués González.

“We are disappointed that the governor’s office would go so far as to apply pressure on our legal counsel to prevent the release of public records that are critical to the health and safety of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens,” Marques said. “We shouldn’t have had to resort to legal action in the first place. Anyone with a relative in an elder care facility has a right to know if their loved ones are at risk so they can make an informed decision about their care.” The lawsuit did not seek the names of residents or staffers who tested positive.

For people with parents and grandparents in group homes, the frustration of not knowing which facilities are affected has been compounded by a ban on visitation put in place early in the coronavirus pandemic. The state has yet to provide a legal justification for its refusal to provide records. Under Florida’s public records law, records are considered public unless the custodian can provide a legal basis for withholding them.

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Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,499

About Celerity

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