Today's News: April 21, 2020

World News

Covid-19 mutations underestimated, Chinese scientists warn, as DEADLIEST strains grip Europe and US

RT – Chinese scientists have found that Europe and America’s East Coast have been infected by some of the most aggressive Covid-19 strains, as they discovered dozens of virus mutations. These destroy a host’s cells faster than others.

The ability of the novel coronavirus to mutate has been previously vastly underestimated, a team from China’s Zhejiang University, led by Professor Li Lanjuan, says in a new study. The group found as many as 33 virus mutations in just 11 coronavirus patients they examined in the city of Hangzhou.

The researchers say that 60 percent of the strains they discovered turned out to be entirely new. In a worrying development, they also discovered that the virus’s mutations directly affect its deadliness. Their research revealed that the most aggressive type of Covid-19 could create a virus load 270 times greater than the least potent one.

COVID-19 ‘Immunity Passports’ Stoke ‘Grave Concerns’

ZeroHedge – With the global economy in freefall as worldwide COVID-19 cases surpass 2 million this week, officials in hard-hit countries are suggesting that so-called ‘immunity passports’ may be a path back to economic stability, according to France 24.

The way it would work is that those who have already had the disease would be assumed to be immune, and would be given permits to conduct their lives like they did before the pandemic.

Shortly after emerging from self-isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, the UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced in early April that the British government was considering an “immunity certificate” system to allow those who qualify to “get back as much as possible to normal life”.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has also given the idea her backing – putting it in a list of proposals for returning to business as usual in the City of Lights that she sent to the French government. On the other side of the Atlantic, Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that immunity passports are “being discussed” in the Trump administration. “It might actually have some merit under some circumstances,” he added. –France 24

There are a few problems with this idea. For starters, nobody knows how long immunity lasts.

“At this point, the virus has been widely circulating in Europe and North America only for a couple of months, and so that is all the information we have – we will know in a year if immunity lasts a year; we will know in two years if immunity lasts two years,” said Abram Wagner, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. “From past research into other coronaviruses, immunity was not long lasting, and I would not be surprised if, for most people, immunity lasted less than one year.”

Second, antibody tests are not ‘sufficiently accurate’ at this point, according to Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security assistant professor Claire Standley, so added “we are still a long way off it being useful to test individuals with these methods.”

A major reason why such tests look likely to be ineffective, Standley explained, is that they do not seem specific enough to avoid mistaking a similar virus for Covid-19: “There may be cross-reactivity between the antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 [Covid-19] and other circulating coronaviruses – including those that cause common colds – meaning a positive result might not indicate past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 but maybe another coronavirus instead.”

Standley also warned that the tests can fail to detect those who have experienced a minor case of COVID-19, noting that “High false negative rates (lack of sensitivity) of the test mean that those currently available are not recommended for patient-level clinical diagnosis; unless the sensitivity improves, these tests may also not be effective in identifying people who have recovered from mild cases of Covid-19, and thus may have lower levels of antibodies in their blood.”

Beijing rattles sabers as world battles pandemic.

Reuters – China is becoming increasingly assertive in the region as the coronavirus crisis eases on the mainland while raging elsewhere in the world, with a crackdown in Hong Kong and sabre-rattling around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

The U.S. State Department said China was taking advantage of the region’s focus on the pandemic to “coerce its neighbours”.

In a significant strike against democracy activists in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, police in the city arrested 15 people on Saturday, just days after a senior Beijing official called for the local government to introduce national security legislation “as soon as possible.”

The arrests drew a strong rebuke from the United States and Britain.

China has also been flying regular fighter patrols near Chinese-claimed Taiwan, to the island’s anger, and has sent a survey ship flanked by coast guard and other vessels into the South China Sea, prompting the United States to accuse Beijing of “bullying behaviour.”

“Now that the domestic coronavirus outbreak has been stabilised, China wants to send an important signal to the world that its military and foreign affairs, previously put on hold, are back on track,” said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor of international politics at Beijing’s Renmin University.

China describes Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea as its most sensitive territorial issues.

The most dramatic actions have been close to Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its own. Beijing has been angered by moves by President Tsai Ing-wen during the outbreak to assert the island’s separate identity from China.

In the latest uptick in tensions, China’s navy this month sailed a battle group, led by the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, around Taiwan’s east coast and has mounted regular air force drills near the island.

Lo Chih-cheng, a senior legislator with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said China was showing that its military power had not been affected by the virus and that things had returned to normal.

“The other aspect is of course to test whether the combat strength of the U.S. military has been reduced due to the impact of the epidemic,” he said.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a short statement to Reuters: “No matter when or where, China resolutely safeguards its sovereignty, security and development interests”. China’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

South Korea: No Unusual Activity From North Amid Kim Health Claims

Breitbart – Representatives from the government of South Korea have responded to claims that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un is in “grave condition”, with government sources stating they have not observed heightened levels of unusual activity occurring in the hermit kingdom.

A spokesman for the South Korean president, Kang Min-seok said that “no unusual signs have been identified inside North Korea,” adding: “there is nothing we can confirm with regard to Chairman Kim’s alleged health problem.”

Another source within the government told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency that the “North Korea’s Workers’ Party, the military, the cabinet are not showing any special moves, such as an emergency alert.”

On Monday, the Seoul based Daily NK online newspaper reported that Kim Jong-un had undergone heart surgery in a hospital exclusive to the Kim family near Mount Myohyang.

“Kim had suffered from inflammation of blood vessels involving the heart from last August, but his condition worsened after he made multiple trips up and down Mt. Paektu recently,” a North Korean source is alleged to have told the paper.

“Mt. Paektu has low atmospheric pressure, which is not a suitable environment to visit frequently or stay in for long periods of time if you’re dealing with blood pressure problems or inflammation of the blood vessels,” he added.

The source claimed that a helicopter and the dictator’s personal car were spotted leaving Pyongyang on April 12, the same day that the heart surgery supposedly occurred.

A report from CNN followed, citing an anonymous American official who is quoted as saying that the leader is in “grave danger” following recent surgery. NBC News’ Katy Tur added more fuel to the fire after she posted on social media that the North Korean dictator was “brain dead”, before later deleting the post.

STATE GOVERNORS SAY FACEBOOK CONTACTED THEM ABOUT ‘REOPEN AMERICA’ EVENTS

Fake news outlets originally reported that States demanded Facebook ban protest event pages

Infowars – State governors have denied asking Facebook to remove ‘Reopen America’ event pages, saying that it was the social network that contacted them over the matter, not the other way around as initially reported.

Fake news CNN reporter Oliver Darcy tweeted Monday that Facebook had taken down pages promoting lockdown protests, pointing to California, New Jersey, and Nebraska, and saying that the action was taken “on the instruction of governments in those three states”:

Fellow fake news CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan noted that Facebook had taken the action after “consultation with state governments”, again making it appear that the governors had demanded Facebook take down the pages.

Politico reported: “Facebook shuts down anti-quarantine protests at states’ request.”

However, they all got it wrong, again.

The Nebraska governor’s office told Breitbart News Tuesday:

The Governor’s Office is not aware of any Facebook events regarding COVID-19 protests, and has not requested Facebook to pull any events down. Facebook reached out last week to learn more about Nebraska’s social distancing restrictions, and the Governor’s staff provided already publicly available information about Nebraska’s ten-person limit and Directed Health Measures.

Politico reported: “Facebook shuts down anti-quarantine protests at states’ request.”

However, they all got it wrong, again.

The Nebraska governor’s office told Breitbart News Tuesday:

In addition, New Jersey’s governor also denied mandating Facebook take action, saying ”The governor’s office did not ask Facebook to remove pages or posts for events promoting lifting the provisions of the governor’s stay-at-home order.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America Monday and announced that Facebook would ban the event pages as “misinformation.”

So, Facebook took that decision on its own, without any instruction from State governors. However, it now appears that the company may be doing an about turn on the matter.

Breitbart reports that a Facebook spokesperson told them that “Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook.”

“For this same reason, events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook.” the statement also noted.

Americans across the country are becoming impatient with the prolonged lockdowns that have gripped their towns and cities and halted the economy.

Protests have been organised nationwide in defiance of the stay-at-home orders

UK: TWO MEN ARRESTED FOR POSTING “PUBS CLOSED, BORDERS OPEN” STICKERS

Councillor says message is an affront to diversity.

Infowars – Two men in the UK were arrested on charges of racially aggravated offenses after they posted stickers related to the coronavirus outbreak which said “pubs closed, borders open.”

The stickers, another of which said “open border, virus disorder,” were posted on lamp posts, bins, bus stop signs and bollards around areas of Sheffield. They are believed to be the work of the Hundred-Handers group, described as “far right” by the BBC.

Police said two men, aged 20 and 22, were held on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences and have now been released while investigations continue.

Local councillor Miskell said the stickers were an affront to diversity.

“This is absolutely disgusting and comes at a time where our diverse community is busy working together to tackle the virus,” he said. “This sort of behaviour can damage community cohesion and relationships across the city. We’re all working together to try to combat the virus.”

SImilar stickers have also been posted in other northern cities, including Leeds, York and Hull.

The stickers were deemed “racist” despite the fact that early border controls are what saved some countries from the worst of the coronavirus.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Trump to ‘suspend immigration into the United States’ by executive order amid coronavirus

Fox – President Trump announced late Monday he will soon sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States,” in what appeared to be a drastic escalation of his efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic and boost the economy.

The declaration came hours after U.S. equity markets plunged, with oil prices turning negative for the first time in history. Also on Monday, three states — Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina — revealed plans to begin reopening some businesses.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” the president tweeted.

NYT Says Trump’s Immigration Suspension Includes Visa Workers

Breitbart – President Donald Trump’s temporary suspension of the immigrant inflow includes the routine inflow of non-immigrant visa workers, according to the New York Times.

“A formal order temporarily barring the provision of new green cards and work visas could come as early as the next few days, according to several people familiar with the plan,” said the NYT report, posted early Tuesday morning.

The report continued:

Under such an executive order, the Trump administration would no longer approve any applications from foreigners to live and work in the United States for an undetermined period of time, effectively shutting down the legal immigration system in the same way the president has long advocated closing the borders to illegal immigration.

…

Workers who have for years received visas to perform specialized jobs in the United States would also be denied permission to arrive, though some workers in some industries deemed critical could be exempted from the ban, the people familiar with the president’s discussion said.

The plan is likely to exempt the roughly 4,000 foreign doctors who are scheduled to arrive by June via the J-1 visa program, plus the large blocs of 200,000+ H-2A farmworkers who are already scheduled for myriad farm tasks, and some family reunifications.

But the suspension likely will cover the many college starter-level jobs held by many Indian and Chinese graduates in the H-1B program.

The suspension of the H-1B program would block the agency processing of the roughly 100,000 new H-1B workers who are expected to take U.S. jobs after October 1.

But many more H-1B jobs could be opened to U.S. graduates if the government does not help U.S. and Indian companies keep their laid-off H-1B workers in the United States.

Roughly 900,000 foreigners hold U.S. jobs through the H-1B program. Many are being laid-off from their outsourcing jobs in the economic crash. Under federal law, any laid-off H-1Bs must go home in 60 days unless the Labor Department helps U.S. and Indian companies rewrite the rubber-stamped “Labor Condition Application” documents which fix the workers’ work locations, hours and wages.

Similarly, the immigration suspension may also hit the Occupational Practical Training program, which is already stalled because the work-permit requests are stalled by agency closures. Roughly 200,000 foreign graduates get jobs via the OPT program each, including many thousands of jobs at elite U.S. companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Intel.

Many other white collar visa programs could be stalled by the suspension, including the L-1 program for company transfers, and the B-1 visa to allow foreign workers to visit but not work. The suspension may also hit the “Curricular Practical Training” program that allows foreign students to hold full-time jobs.

Nationwide, U.S. companies employ roughly 1.5 million foreign contract workers in white collar jobs sought by U.S. graduates.

HARVARD LAW PROF GETS ROASTED AFTER PUSHING BAN ON HOMESCHOOLING

Harvard Magazine attacks homeschooling as public schools nationwide are locked down

Infowars – A Harvard Law professor is facing near-universal condemnation after pushing for a total ban on homeschooling, especially when public schools are locked down due to the coronavirus.

The latest edition of Harvard Magazine interviewed the professor who is demanding a “presumptive ban on the practice” and claims homeschooling “violates children’s right to a ‘meaningful education’” and keeps them from “contributing positively to a democratic society.”

“The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18? I think that’s dangerous,” she says. “I think it’s always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless, and to give the powerful ones total authority.”

But that tends to be the trajectory of government itself once it starts taking away more and more power from the people.

The article also suggested that homeschoolers are driven “by conservative Christian beliefs,” which led to a strong rebuke by the top commenter of the comment section.

“This article is sad in its total inaccuracy. First off 90% of homeschoolers are not conservative Christian. I have homeschooled for eight years and we are atheists,” the read. “In my state of North Carolina only 60% of homeschoolers are Christian and only a small percentage are conservative fundamental Christian homeschoolers.”

“The reason they do not have lots of regulations on them is because homeschoolers have proven over and over again that the majority are above in academics, social skills and life skills of public schooled children.”

It’s a little unusual for an article to be universally condemned in its comment section – with the top commenters getting 200 to 300 upvotes for rebuking the article – but that’s exactly what happened in this case, with the resistance to mandatory public schooling being fueled, in part, by the ongoing public school lockdowns, which is forcing normal, everyday Americans to reanalyze aspects of society they once took for granted without question.

The Harvard article was also blasted by PJ Media’s Paula Bolyard, who wrote an extensive response in defense of homeschooling.

“She cites no law that requires a child to receive a ‘meaningful’ education (because there is no such law in the U.S.) but defines it thusly: ‘But it’s also important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints.’ (Nothing about reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic in her formula, it ought to be noted,)” she wrote.

“In other words, she knows that homeschooled children are being taught to think for themselves, and she won’t stand for it.”

Dems push former first lady

Politico – With the Democratic primary settled, the Rev. Al Sharpton says he now includes a political consideration in his daily prayers: God, please let Michelle Obama be Joe Biden’s running mate.

Sharpton’s decision to implore a higher power is perhaps unique among Democrats, but the strong sentiment is commonplace among party leaders, operatives, rank-and-file voters — and it’s led many to hold out hope she’ll be Biden’s vice presidential pick.

“When former Vice President Biden said he would choose a woman, she’s considered by most Americans of all races and all economic backgrounds to be the ultimate woman,” Sharpton told POLITICO. “Look at her book sales. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone write a book that can fill arenas. She has packed more arenas than Donald Trump.”

Of the roughly dozen or so names Biden is seriously considering, Obama isn’t one of them. She has made clear that she would rather focus on her work to register and turn out voters through her new organization “When We All Vote.”

““I’ll say it here directly: I have no intention of running for office, ever,” she wrote in her best-selling memoir, “Becoming,” released in 2018.

Her refusals haven’t stopped Democrats from asking her to reconsider.

Testing shows hundreds of thousands in LA County may have been infected with coronavirus

Fox – The coronavirus outbreak in Los Angeles County is believed to have infected an estimated 28 to 55 times more people than originally thought, according to a report on Monday.

National security adviser pressed on how China will be punished for COVID-19 pandemic

Fox – “Fox & Friends” anchor Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday pressed White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on the Trump administration’s plans to hold China accountable for unleashing the coronavirus on the world.

“I’m just wondering when we’re going to get punitive with [China] and why are we just continuing to put the analyst hat on and we don’t get aggressive with them to come clean once and for all?”

“I think we’re being pretty tough on China,” O’Brien responded on “Fox & Friends.”

O’Brien went on to say, “Look, there are lawsuits that have been filed by folks out there. Some countries are looking at how to deal with China going forward. We certainly are.”

China on Monday called on the United States to stop blaming the country for the global COVID-19 crisis, as pressure increased over Beijing’s mismanagement of the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 2.4 million people worldwide.

Families Sue Helicopter Company in Deadly Kobe Bryant Crash

AP – Family members of four of the eight passengers killed in a helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant and his daughter have joined the NBA star’s widow in filing wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the aircraft.

MSNBC Panel: ‘Overwhelmingly White’ ReOpen Protesters Are ‘Nazis’ And ‘Racists’ Who ‘Want More Black And Brown People to Die’

Information Liberation – The protesters calling for America to reopen are “overwhelmingly white” and “want more black and brown people to die,” according to MSNBC’s crazed analysts.

“One thing I think is really interesting is how these protests have started after all the headlines last week or so about the disproportionate effect the virus is having in communities of color,” Boston Globe opinion writer Renee Graham said Sunday on Joy Reid’s AM Joy. “And so when I look at these protests what I see are a bunch of white people essentially saying ‘oh, it’s affecting those people, so why do I have to change my life for them.'”

As Townhall.com reported, The Root’s Michael Harriot said the protesters are saying “quite clearly” that they “want more black and brown people to die.”

“If you want the government to open up, then you want more black and brown people to die,” Harriot said.

Right before this hysterical segment, The Nation’s “political sportswriter” Dave Zirin said the protesters were part of a “Fox News, Nazi, confederate death cult of the Republican Party” and their actions were a “slap in the face” to “black and brown people.”

Reid responded by saying it was a “good point.”

Economy & Business

Death of US retail was a long time coming and coronavirus was just final nail in coffin, ex-Fed insider tells Boom Bust

The coronavirus lockdown has caused most US department stores to shut, threatening their survival. But even without the impact of virus, many retailers would still eventually have collapsed, a former Fed insider believes.

No one knows how long the closures will last, given the still-rising number of deaths from Covid-19 in the US, and retailers have been dealt a painful blow by the crisis. Neiman Marcus, a chain of luxury department stores, is reportedly set to file for bankruptcy protection later this week, having missed recent debt repayments.

“Coronavirus has acted like an accelerant you would throw on a fire,” Danielle DiMartino Booth told RT’s Boom Bust, adding that the troubles of the retail sector are a real blow, because it’s the nation’s largest employer. “We knew that Neiman Marcus would be the first one to declare bankruptcy, if there was any kind of red swan or, even worse, black swan event,” she said.

“Some of these retail deaths had been a long time coming,” she added. DiMartino Booth explained that many other major retailers just chose the wrong strategy, trying to close a number of stores instead of “rightsizing” the company to real demand level.

Home sales drop as sellers take properties off market

CNBC – Sales of existing homes fell a wider than expected 8.5% in March compared with February to an annualized pace of 5.27 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index.

These sales figures are based on closings that represent contracts signed mostly in late January and February, before the coronavirus shut down so much of the economy.

Sales could decline 30% to 40% in the coming months, according to the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist.

The sweatshops are still open. Now they make masks

LA Times – Rosario Ruiz got a call from her boss in early April: The small factory on the southern edge of downtown L.A. where she sews T-shirts had work for her. It was getting into the mask business.

The next morning, she left the home she shares with her 70-year-old father and walked the mile to work, fearful that she could catch the virus on the bus and pass it on to him.

When she arrived, she learned her pay had changed. Instead of making 5 cents for every label that she sewed onto a shirt, she would be paid 20 cents for each pair of elastic straps she sewed onto a fabric mask.

Before, she had made anywhere from $250 to $400 per week, depending on how many hours she worked and how simple the pieces were to sew. Now, she could get through about 300 masks per day, and expected to get $350 at the end of a 50-hour workweek.

Mayor Eric Garcetti has called on the city’s garment industry to step up during the COVID-19 crisis, as hospital workers face shortages of personal protective equipment and all Angelenos are required to wear masks when entering stores.

In late March, City Hall launched a program called L.A. Protects to facilitate the manufacture and sale of 5 million non-medical masks for frontline workers in essential sectors. The city has partnered with a number of manufacturers known for following labor law, such as Reformation and Buck Mason, and is connecting more than 1,800 buyers to over 500 approved producers making masks to specifications provided by Kaiser Permanente. So far, nearly 2 million masks have been produced under the program.

But even as they’re called upon to make protective gear during the pandemic, many garment workers in factories across Los Angeles are facing the same sub-minimum-wage pay and poor working conditions that have been standard in the industry for years.

But dozens of worker center members like Ruiz have reported their factories switching over to mask production in recent weeks while maintaining conditions that put workers at risk of infection.

“This is an industry that had workers working in very unsanitary conditions prior to [COVID-19], and we’re seeing a lot of business as usual now,” Nuncio said. “When workers are producing something that is so critically needed it’s unacceptable that they’re having to continue to work in unsafe conditions and for sweatshop wages.”

Puerto Rico 2.0? Wall Street Warns of More Caribbean Debt Dramas

Bloomberg – The Caribbean countries of Barbados, Belize and the Bahamas, among the preferred playgrounds for the world’s wealthiest bankers, may soon become known instead for Wall Street’s dark side: Debt crises.

The three nations are some of the most exposed to the sudden stop in global tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic. And after decade-long borrowing sprees, they’re also staring down big bond payments, raising concern over how the Caribbean region can repay its debt.

“This pandemic shock is unlike any shock that these sovereigns have seen in their history,” said Julia Smith, a Toronto-based analyst at S&P Global Ratings.

Tourism in the Caribbean will probably decline by 60% to 70% from April to December compared with last year, according to S&P. The ratings company downgraded the Bahamas and Belize last week, and it lowered credit outlooks in Aruba, Belize, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica to negative.

Marla Dukharan, an economist in Barbados, calls it a once-per-century shock for the Caribbean. She said even in the most optimistic scenario, the region will lose about 50% of its tourist revenue this year.

That will weigh heavily on the Caribbean’s roughly $80 billion foreign debt load. Some of the largest reported holders of those notes include BlackRock Inc., AllianceBernstein, Pacific Investment Management Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., although the regional exposure is just a fraction of their total assets under management. Officials at BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Pramol Dhawan, Pimco’s head of emerging-market portfolio management, said differentiation is key. He highlighted the Dominican Republic’s strong balance sheet and request for rapid financing from the International Monetary Fund.

Katrina Butt, AllianceBernstein’s senior Latin America economist, said there’s value in some Caribbean nations like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, which benefit from ample fiscal space and bigger reserve buffers.

“The smaller islands in the region have much more limited buffers,” she said.

Deja Vu?

It’s too soon to say whether the damage will rival Puerto Rico, the basket case of Caribbean default dramas. When the three major credit-rating firms cut it to junk in 2014, the island’s debt burden had reached about 74% of gross domestic product. The government dipped into its savings to repay bonds, and in 2016, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla defaulted.

Oil wipe out sees prices plunge -220% to -$37 / barrel… ECONOMIC WARFARE has been unleashed against America

NaturalNews – Something happened today that will never happen again in your lifetime. Crude oil just plunged from over $20 / barrel down to -$37 / barrel in a matter of a couple of hours. This means oil companies must now pay others to haul away their oil.

The economic ramifications of this truly cannot be overstated. This could be a “global extinction” scale event when it comes to western finance and the debt-based banking infrastructure which has enormous exposure to oil derivatives and commodities leverage.

The first wave of impacts from this will be mass bankruptcies and unemployment across the energy sector, strongly affecting states like Texas, which derives a very large portion of its revenues from the energy sector.

Next, the wave of economic destruction will ripple through the financial sector in the days ahead, shredding anyone who had placed bets (derivatives, options, etc.) that counted on oil staying over $20 / barrel. Expect to see a large number of trading firms, hedge funds and institutional investors suffer extraordinary losses that no mathematical model could have predicted. (Today is another “black swan” event that financial models never anticipate.)

But it won’t stop there. There is significant counter-party risk in the oil finance sector, and with a price plunge this radical, counter-parties that are required to pay up on the losing side of the market bets are going to be annihilated. Many will implode into bankruptcy this week.

Energy & Environment

Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Trump EPA Approves Use of Important TB Antibiotic as Pesticide

Global Research – s the nation struggles to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has approved an antibiotic considered critical in the ongoing fight against the global tuberculosis pandemic for use as a pesticide on California citrus groves.

This marks the third straight year the so-called “emergency” approval has been granted for use of streptomycin to fight citrus greening disease in citrus trees like oranges, tangerines and grapefruits in California. As has become routine under the Trump Environmental Protection Agency over the past year, the emergency approval was not publicly announced but quietly posted to agency’s Emergency Exemption Database.

“The Trump administration’s shortsighted approval of medically important antibiotics as pesticides has very dangerous long-term consequences,” said Nathan Donley, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These are lifesaving medicines, and we risk losing them forever if we keep using them as short-term fixes for reoccurring agricultural diseases.”

The EPA’s own analysis indicates that the widespread use of streptomycin could have negative long-term effects on all mammals that forage in treated fields, including chipmunks and rabbits. The EPA has also not analyzed how this change could affect endangered and threatened species that forage or nest in these citrus groves, or that rely on waterways contaminated by the antibiotic.

The emergency approvals are also controversial because they sidestep the typical pesticide safety review and because the World Health Organization has discouraged overuse of this antibiotic. Streptomycin is considered “critically” important to treating human disease, such as multidrug resistant tuberculosis.

Swiss fashion company creates 100% compostable clothes

NaturalNews – Freitag, a fashion company based in Zurich, Switzerland, is creating clothes that are 100 percent compostable – down to the last thread. After two to five months of use, they will begin decomposing, leaving nothing behind, contributing to the fight against clothing waste.

Founded by brothers Markus Freitag and Daniel Freitag in 1993, Freitag gained a lot of fame in the fashion industry when they began making bags out of recycled materials, like truck tarpaulins. Since it saw large-scale success with its recycled bags, it spent five years developing its first compostable garment. It was supposed to be a new uniform for workers in Freitag’s factories, but the Freitag brothers saw potential in selling it. They believed that it could create a massive shift in the fashion industry.

“We ended up crating clothes that are completely biodegradable,” said Pascal Dulex, Freitag’s creative director, during a design festival. “Once you want to get rid of them, you just compost them – you bury them and there’s hopefully growing something new.”

The average person throws away 70 pounds’ worth of shoes and clothes annually. According to studies, it takes over 5,000 gallons of water to manufacture either a single T-shirt or a pair of jeans. Nearly 20 percent of global waste water being produced by the fashion industry. With that in mind, alternatives to the fast fashion model of production like the ones championed by Freitag are sorely needed.

Summer heat will NOT slow down the coronavirus outbreak

NaturalNews – A new study has found that summer will not slow down the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the northern hemisphere. Previously, it was believed that an increase in ambient temperatures would slow the virus’s spread, as it does with other infectious diseases such as influenza and SARS. However, after comparing transmission rates with weather data, scientists from Fudan University in Shanghai revealed that no such relationship seems to exist for COVID-19.

“It is premature to count on warmer weather to control COVID-19,” states the study. “And relying on seasonality to curb this pandemic can be a dangerous line of thought.”

Science & Technology

Irreversible No Longer: Blind Mice See Again Thanks To New Method of Synthesizing Lost Cells

Good News Network – Age-related macular degeneration (MD) is a variety of ocular disease that affects so many millions of people, it’s downright characterized as nothing more than the process of aging.

In fact, the study of MD has proven itself to be so fruitful for understanding aging as a whole, MD has become one of the first places that scientists have looked to in order to attempt to repair the damage of aging and restoring youthful, or normal function.

Now in a new paper published in Nature, researchers demonstrate an alternative to stem cells by creating replacement photoreceptors from skin fibroblast cells via pharmacological-conversion—a process that promises to be cheaper, faster, and unburdened by ethical and legal restrictions.

Containing the genetic code for every protein we need to build and repair our cells, DNA can become damaged over time through the stresses of life. Similarly to how scratches or cracks in a CD prevent lasers from reading the information on the disk, damaged DNA becomes difficult, and even impossible for our RNA (which you could imagine as the laser inside the CD player) to read the genetic information contained therein.

“The photoreceptor is the neuron in the eye that turns on visual circuity in response to light which enables us to have vision,” says Sai Chavala, Ph.D. and author of the new paper.

The loss of photoreceptors can result in MD and other retinal diseases that lead to irreversible blindness. In this new study, however, cells called fibroblasts can be chemically reprogrammed to produce photoreceptor-like cells that are now shown to restore vision in mice.

Fibroblasts are cells that help maintain the structural integrity of connective tissues, and a reduction in fibroblast cell count leads to wrinkled skin.

Sai Chavala and colleagues from the Center for Retina Innovation in Dallas, Texas, found a set of five compounds that can drive embryonic fibroblast cells to convert themselves into retinal, rod-like, photoreceptors in both mice and human cells.

“Stem cell-based strategies are extremely exciting,” Dr. Chavala tells World at Large, but adds that generating these cells can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Describing his strategy of chemically reprogramming existing cells as a ‘breakthrough,’ Chavala added that the generation of the photoreceptors using his method requires “a fraction of the time”.

In the study, these converted photoreceptors were transplanted into the eyes of 14 blind mice to see if they would restore vision.

Owing to their nature, mice with working vision prefer dark spaces, and so a test of whether or not the transplant was a success was fairly straight forward; create a bright space and a dark space and wait to see which one was preferred by the mice.

Six mice were found to not only have restored visual function and reflexes—notably in the pupil—but they also preferred to spend their time in the dark space. Chavala hypothesizes that it could have been down to how many of the chemically-reprogrammed cells survived the transplant into the retina that determined whether vision was restored in the mice or not.

Health

FDA authorizes first at-home coronavirus test

Fox – The FDA has authorized the first diagnostic test with a home collection option for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

In a statement released Tuesday, the FDA said that it had reissued an Emergency Use Authorization for LabCorp to COVID-19 RT-PCR Test to permit testing of samples that were self-collected by patients at home using LabCorp’s Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 Test home collection kit.

“Throughout this pandemic we have been facilitating test development to ensure patients access to accurate diagnostics, which includes supporting the development of reliable and accurate at-home sample collection options,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn.

Sorghum: The New Superfood

Newsmax – There’s a new healthy grain trending that’s actually thousands of years old. It’s called sorghum, and although it’s fairly new to American palates, this cereal grain is revered around the world, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts say that sorghum is poised to surpass quinoa in popularity as more Americans discover its taste, versatility, and health benefits.

According to John Franke of Franke Culinary Consulting, sorghum is ideal for those who have given up gluten but still want to bake with flour.

“It’s the closest thing to all-purpose flour I’ve found,” he tells Newsmax. Besides baking, you can use this super grain as you would rice or quinoa. It can also be popped in a frying pan for a tasty variation of popcorn, says Frank, who describes its taste as “rich and earthy.”

According to Healthline, sorghum contains B vitamins, which play an essential role in metabolism, neural development, and the health of hair and nails. It’s also chock-full of magnesium, which is important for over 600 biochemical reactions in the body. Magnesium is also crucial for bone and heart health.

Sorghum is high in antioxidants that can help lower oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, says Healthline. Another health benefit is that just a half cup of sorghum gives you 20% of your daily recommended fiber intake to promote a healthy gut, stabilize blood sugar levels, and aid in weight management.

“Even better, this grain contains lots of protein — as much as quinoa, its better-known cousin,” says Franke. You can make sorghum just like rice, on top of the stove, in a slow cooker or in a rice cooker, says the expert.

“I suggest making it in advance using different stocks and spices. Then freeze it for future use,” says Franke.

Animal News

The Uncanny Way Horses Can Read Human Emotions

Mercola Pet – Researchers conducted a series of experiments in which domestic horses were shown photographs of an angry or happy human face.

Several hours later, the person from the photograph met with the horse, but kept a neutral expression on their face.

By tracking the horse’s gaze direction, the researchers found that horses perceived the person more negatively if they had previously seen a photograph of the person with an angry facial expression.

The results suggest that horses essentially “eavesdrop” on humans’ emotional state cues revealed on a moment-to-moment basis, then use memories of those emotions to guide their future interactions with specific individuals.

The U.S. is home to an estimated 9.5 million horses, which have been involved in human’s lives for more than 6,000 years.1 Initially, horses were harnessed for their speed and power, allowing humans to travel faster and farther than was previously possible.

With the help of horses, “tribes were united into empires, distance travel became viable, and cultures and languages raced around the known world,” the Equine Heritage Institute noted,2 describing horses as “unsung heros.”

For horse owners, the bond with their equines is strong, and equestrians often feel that their horses have a way of understanding what they’re feeling. The connection is real, as evidenced by a number of studies, including one in Current Biology, which found horses remember people’s facial expressions and use that information in future responses toward that person