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Django

Elitists
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  1. Exclusive: The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming

    The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds in 2017—but the Trump administration did nothing.

     

    Despite President Trump’s repeated assertions that the Covid-19 epidemic was “unforeseen” and “came out of nowhere,” the Pentagon was well aware of not just the threat of a novel influenza, but even anticipated the consequent scarcity of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds, according to a 2017 Pentagon plan obtained by The Nation.

    “The most likely and significant threat is a novel respiratory disease, particularly a novel influenza disease,” the military plan states. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel (meaning new to humans) coronavirus. The document specifically references coronavirus on several occasions, in one instance saying, “Coronavirus infections [are] common around the world.”

    covid-screenshot-1.png

    The plan represents an update to an earlier Department of Defense pandemic influenza response plan, noting that it “incorporates insights from several recent outbreaks including…2012 Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.”

    covid-screenshot-2.png

    Titled “USNORTHCOM Branch Plan 3560: Pandemic Influenza and Infectious Disease Response,” the draft plan is marked for official use onlyand dated January 6, 2017. The plan was provided to The Nation by a Pentagon official who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.

    Denis Kaufman, who served as head of the Infectious Diseases and Countermeasures Division at the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2014 to 2017, stressed that US intelligence had been well-aware of the dangers of coronaviruses for years. (Kaufman retired from his decades-long career in the military in December of 2017.)

    “The Intelligence Community has warned about the threat from highly pathogenic influenza viruses for two decades at least. They have warned about coronaviruses for at least five years,” Kaufman explained in an interview.

    “There have been recent pronouncements that the coronavirus pandemic represents an intelligence failure…. it’s letting people who ignored intelligence warnings off the hook.”

    In addition to anticipating the coronavirus pandemic, the military plan predicted with uncanny accuracy many of the medical supply shortages that it now appears will soon cause untold deaths.

    The plan states: “Competition for, and scarcity of resources will include…non-pharmaceutical MCM [Medical Countermeasures] (e.g., ventilators, devices, personal protective equipment such as face masks and gloves), medical equipment, and logistical support. This will have a significant impact on the availability of the global workforce.”

    covid-screenshot-3.png

    The 103-page response plan provides an overview of what might cause a pandemic, likely complications, and how the military might respond. The plan outlines conditions under which an infectious disease can become a pandemic, several of which were at play with Covid-19: crowded workplaces, proximity to international airports, unsanitary living conditions. It also contains references to classified annexes that go into further detail. (The Nation is not in possession of these annexes.)

    Last week, Trump lashed out at General Motors and Ford on Twitter, demanding that they manufacture ventilators, a life-and-death appliance for many people with acute Covid-19 symptoms.

    The plan’s warning about face masks and ventilators was prescient: The US Strategic National Stockpile of medical equipment including respirators, gloves, face masks, and gowns is reportedly nearly depleted.

    The military plan also correctly anticipates “insufficient hospital beds.” Indeed, hospitals are in critically short supply in Italy and rapidly filling up across New York.

    covid-screenshot-4.png

    “Even the most industrialized countries will have insufficient hospital beds, specialized equipment such as mechanical ventilators, and pharmaceuticals readily available to adequately treat their populations during clinically severe pandemic,” the report goes on.

    Another prediction in the report anticipates worldwide competition for, and scarcity of, Covid-19 vaccines. Trump has already reportedly offered German scientists large sums of money for exclusive rights to a vaccine, and efforts to develop drugs are underway in several countries.

    The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

     

    https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/covid-military-shortage-pandemic/

  2. 1 hour ago, rebelvvv said:

    People forgot to mention that every Asian country until recently, Germany, many other European countries, and Australia also banned all exports of medical supplies.

    Sorry but you not confiscate something that has already been paid and sent to its destination. Turkey just did that too with a cargo plane coming from China and heading to Spain. You stop selling them, right, but not STEAL the material already sent. 

  3. Another thing that corona has proved: Monarchy is useless and a waste of money and resources. Hopefully this institution will die along with the virus.

     

     

    Coronavirus: Thai king self-isolates in Alpine hotel with harem of 20 women amid pandemic

    Tens of thousands of Thais risk breaking law to criticise him online

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-thailand-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-grand-hotel-sonnebichl-germany-a9431936.html

  4. Coronavirus: Teenage boy whose death was linked to COVID-19 turned away from urgent care for not having insurance

    Mayor confirms teenager’s death with heart-breaking statement: ‘The Friday before he died, he was healthy ... By Wednesday, he was dead’

    A 17-year-old whose death was initially linked to the novel coronavirus despite not having any previously reported health conditions was denied treatment at a California medical facility over his lack of insurance, according to the mayor.

    R Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California, confirmed the teen’s death in a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, in which he warned residents to take the global pandemic seriously and practice self-isolation and social distancing measures. 

    “The Friday before he died, he was healthy,” the mayor said about the teenager. “By Wednesday, he was dead.” 

    The mayor said the teen “didn’t have insurance, so they did not treat him” when he arrived at an urgent care facility in the area. The medical staff then told the child to go to a local public hospital.

    “En route to AV Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest,” the mayor said. “They were able to revive him and keep him alive for about six hours. But by the time he got there, it was too late.”

    The teen’s death comes amid a wave of reports about young victims suffering deadly symptoms from Covid-19, defying previous assumptions that the novel virus was only fatal for some older patients and people with severe underlying conditions. 

    Another teen in Louisiana was reported to have passed away this after contracting the coronavirus, as well as a 21-year-old woman in the UK who also had no underlying health issues.

    However, Los Angeles’ County Department of Public Health later said the teen’s death was taken off a list of deaths associated with Covid-19 in the area. The department said the CDC would complete an investigation into the teen’s death. It remained unclear what symptoms he may have been experiencing prior to his death.

    As health officials warned the country’s hospital system was already reaching capacity, the US confirmed at least 85,000 cases of the coronavirus by Friday. The death toll has meanwhile risen to nearly 1,300, with those figures likely to continue soaring in the coming days. 

    New York has seen the vast majority of confirmed cases, with nearly 40,000 in total as the state managed to distribute a significant amount of testing kits despite challenges the federal government had procuring test to send to states across the country. 

    Doctors and nurses on the front lines of the unfolding crisis previously told The Independent the virus was impacting young people the same way it was older patients in some cases.

    One resident physician from Mount Sinai in New York City issued a stark warning during a Thursday interview.

    “Relatively young people — age 30 through 50 — often male, with little to no known past medical history are getting sick from this virus, getting intubated, [and] dying,” they said. “The principles of social distancing are not solely for protecting your grandparents.”

    Another New York-area nurse said: “What I really want the public to know is that the old and sick are not the only ones who are getting severely ill and dying from this virus. Both of my patients I took care of over the weekend were in their 30’s. Both with no known past medical history.”

     

     

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-teenager-death-california-health-insurance-care-emergency-room-covid-19-a9429946.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR144GAGhYBuLEpkeov0RxFrcVjQfHS8I0ojb_6GkIurxxAAzvI2WebMVcc#Echobox=1585313812

  5. Wow Germany and Netherlands.... showing their true colors... Even the president of Portugal said it's disgusting what they are saying and doing. The European Union is a farce and now it's showing with no sugar-coating. I doubt the EU will survive after this. Spain and Italy must and will remember what they did. 

     

     

     

    REPULSIVE

  6. 16 minutes ago, Raider of the lost Ark said:

    What do you mean by "nothing"? And if it wasn't for a lot of irresponsible assholes who think it's a good thing to have corona parties and such, a lockdown wouldn't be needed (most of public life has already come to a halt). Fuck those idiots. 

     

    They did send some help for workers and stuff. But the lockdown needs to happen and it shouldn't be left to the population. It didn't work in Italy or Spain. It will not work in Germany. And the fact is, they do not follow them so it must be ENFORCED by the authorities. 

  7. 4 hours ago, karbatal said:

    I've been thinking (mainly because I'm at home and there's only so much you can do) and I think that maybe countries like Spain, Italy and France are having more cases because we use to greet each other with kisses? 

    Also, I read that it's recommended to be careful with the soles of our shoes, as the virus can be there for hours (I haven't fact checked this). And we don't use to take off our shoes when we get home, whereas the rest of Europe seems to do more usually? 

    Sorry if my post seems silly but I'm going out of my mind at home :lol:

     

    This virus transmits through just breathing. 

     

    Be strong 💪

  8. 3 hours ago, horn said:

    DISGUSTING

    BUSINESS NEWSMARCH 15, 2020 / 7:38 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
    Germany tries to stop U.S. from luring away firm seeking coronavirus vaccine
    Paul Carrel, Andreas Rinke

    BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin is trying to stop Washington from persuading a German company seeking a coronavirus vaccine to move its research to the United States, prompting German politicians to insist no country should have a monopoly on any future vaccine.

    German government sources told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. administration was looking into how it could gain access to a potential vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac.

    Earlier, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.

    There was no comment immediately available from the U.S. embassy in Berlin when contacted by Reuters over the report.

    “The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe,” a Health Ministry spokeswoman said, confirming a quote in the newspaper.

    “In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac,” she added.

    Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-usa/germany-tries-to-stop-us-from-luring-away-firm-seeking-coronavirus-vaccine-idUSKBN2120IV

     

    This man should be in trial for crimes agains humanity. Instead of cooperate and help each other... Whoever votes for this guy needs to be put in quarantine FOR LIFE. 

  9. 3 minutes ago, XXL said:

     

    It is very difficult to organise and to set the rules for organising such thing and make it less dictatorship like than any other neoliberal system. Two faces of the same coin. This is what Marx was preaching yet he lived very comfortably in London mingling with British aristocracy. As noble an idea as it is it's also highly utopic and hard to establish. I'm not saying I'm against it, hope you understand what I mean. Egualitarian experiments gone wrong: bloodbath and dictatorship just the same

     

    Well, you have to have the basics covered in order to have time to theorize and rationalize about these things. If your daily problem is how you are gonna get to eat that day, you don't really have time to sit down and think about it.

     

    I agree that the theories on paper sound better than what came out in its practical delivery, but I'm not asking to bring communism back or anything like that. I'm just saying that are certain things (health and education in this case) which shouldn't be treated as business or for profit. 

  10. 16 hours ago, XXL said:

     

    Totally agree

    And a right that comes at a price anyway

    You pay taxes for it

     

    Just like you pay taxes to have a public school system, to have roads etc. If someone wants to pay more to get the luxury fast treatment is fine but EVERYONE should be entitled to basic healthcare, regardless of income, especially in situations like this one

     

    Actually, I still think that private healthcare and education should be illegal everywhere. Those are serious matters. Just as an example, if you have money you can buy yourself a 1 million dollar car while an average person can afford a second hand economic car. Both eventually take u to the same place, just one is more fancy than the other. On the other hand, healthcare and education should be EQUAL for everyone. Elites should actually mingle with the common people in those two areas, cause eventually most of this people end in positions of power. If they grow up surrounded by reality maybe they would act less psychopathically than they do now. And since they wold have no choice, they maybe would assure the public systems works as it should be. It may sound radical and utopian, but given that the current "neoliberalist" and capitalist system is blatantly failing to achieve common wellbeing, radical and utopian measures need to be done. it's not like we have other choices. It isn't only the current corona virus crisis but the following economic crisis, inequality (gender, sexuality, race, poverty...) and more importantly: THE ENVIRONMENT. The current system is crashing and it's not gonna be pretty, but maybe it's the chance to start something new, learn from mistakes and wake the fuck up for once. Again, I may sound utopian but we are fucked if we continue like this. It may be even too late at this point.

    Society must work together, not compete. 

  11. Hopefully this coronavirus crisis will wake people up regarding private health care. All the pressure is falling on the public system while the private washes its hands and tries to make profit out of it charging 300-800 euros to only get tested. Private health care should not only not exist, it should be considered a crime against humanity. Period. Health is a RIGHT, not a business.

     

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