Could it be because the media has become the government's mouthpiece

Coronavirus anger foments violence against journalists 

Protesters from across Germany's political spectrum are demonstrating against coronavirus restrictions. But their ire is also directed at established media outlets, making life increasingly dangerous for journalists.

The left always dismisses individual rights and choices as being just being exploited

Revealed: How the US gun lobby exploits the coronavirus pandemic to further its aims

An investigation into protests against coronavirus restrictions in the US revealed a tale of coordinated political action by gun lobbies, and one Florida man who was trying to get ahead of the curve.

What it's like to be governed from afar

Court of justice of the European Union

EU court rules three member states broke law over refugee quotas

Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland failed to comply with 2015 programme, ECJ says

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic broke European law when they failed to give refuge to asylum seekers arriving in southern Europe, often having fled war in Syria and Iraq, the EU’s top court has ruled.

The three central European countries now face possible fines for refusing to take a share of refugees, after EU leaders forced through mandatory quotas to relocate up to 160,000 asylum seekers at the height of the 2015 migration crisis.

Issuing its judgment on Thursday, the European court of justice said the three member states “had failed to fulfil their obligations under European Union law”. The Czech Republic took in just 12 asylum seekers, while Hungary and Poland refused to take a single person.

The court rejected the legal argument that Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were entitled to disregard EU law in order to maintain public safety, law and order. None of the countries had proved it was necessary to invoke that opt-out clause in the EU treaties, the court concluded.

The European commission is now entitled to embark on legal action to impose fines on the three member states.

The decision to impose mandatory quotas of asylum seekers was taken in the teeth of fierce opposition from Hungary and the Czech Republic. After the nationalist Law and Justice party was elected in October 2015, Poland joined its neighbours in opposing the scheme.

The quotas have come to be seen as one of the modern EU’s defining moments, which poisoned relations between central Europe and western member states, leaving divisions that continue to thwart a common EU asylum policy.

The previous head of the European council, Donald Tusk, said the scheme had been “divisive and ineffective”, but countries, such as Germany and Sweden, which took in large numbers of refugees, have argued it is unacceptable for member states to shirk the task of easing the strain on the most-affected EU countries.

In September 2015, EU leaders took two decisions to relocate 40,000, then 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other EU countries. More than 1 million migrants and refugees arrived on Europe’s shores in 2015, triggering a political crisis that continues to haunt the union.

When the scheme closed, only 34,712 people had been relocated: 21,999 from Greece and 12,713 from Italy. The European commission claimed that the EU’s deal with Turkey meant the original number of places were no longer needed, because migrant arrivals fell sharply from March 2016.

The UN refugee agency reported last month that more than 36,000 asylum seekers were living in desperate conditions on five Greek islands in squalid camps originally designed for 5,400 people.

Greece’s minister for migration, Notis Mitarachi, told members of the European parliament’s home affairs committee on Thursday that 20 asylum seekers living at a camp near Athens had been confirmed as having coronavirus.

He said no cases had been confirmed on the Greek islands and urged other EU countries to take in people on the islands.

Responding to widespread concern about filthy camp conditions, he said: “Some have argued to transfer people to the mainland – that is from non-infected areas to infected areas – but we do not have empty spaces to do that. We will require additional funding for additional spaces, but these spaces cannot be ready within a few days.

“We will strongly welcome any offers of relocation from member states that have capacity because we cannot resolve this crisis instantly and alone.”

The EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, told MEPs that some unaccompanied children on the islands would be relocated from next week. Eight EU countries have volunteered to take in 1,600 lone children.

Why is Italy In So Much Trouble? – It’s More Than ICU Beds

By Brian C.Joondeph, MD

Watching cable news these days, it is difficult to know which is greater, the rise in Chinese Coronavirus cases worldwide or the panic and sense of doom for those unable to work, travel, or freely associate with others.

The media is in overdrive, under the journalistic principle of, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Predictions of an exponential rise in illnesses and hospitalizations are a cable news staple this week, with many reports suggesting America is just a few weeks behind Italy.

Rather than offering calm, USA Today warned, “Too many coronavirus patients, too few ventilators: Outlook in US could get bad, quickly.”

Referring to Italy they report, “Italy’s hospitals are choosing who gets  lifesaving breathing machines and who does not.” In other words, death panels and rationing. 

This is what’s ahead for the US they claim, even without Bernie Sanders’s “Medicare-For-All” scheme. “US hospitals are on the cusp of too many severely ill patients without enough intensive care unit beds and ventilators to keep those patients breathing,” warns USA Today. 

What is left out of the story is why Italy has so many cases of a Chinese virus. If calling the virus “Chinese Coronavirus” or the “Wuhan virus” is deemed racist, despite a long tradition of naming infectious diseases based on their origin, we can call it the “Belt and Road virus”.

A Chinese newspaper headline from last year makes the connection, “Italy aims to develop closer trade ties with China through Belt and Road.” Business ties between Italy and China provided not just a road, but a superhighway for the Coronavirus to travel from Wuhan to Milan. How’s that globalism working out?

The world has luxury handbags and clothes with labels from Gucci and Prada, but Italy has Chinese workers manufacturing those items, and now a deadly virus.

Italy has a tight Chinese connection, and not the Bruce Lee movie variety of the same name. From the South China Morning Post, “The Chinese began migrating to Italy about 30 years ago but numbers have swelled in the past decade, bringing the total population to about 300,000.” A travel website shows 9 inexpensive flight options between China and Italy. 

A Chinese couple from Wuhan took advantage of these travel opportunities in mid-January, visiting Verona, Parma and Rome before becoming febrile and quarantined in hospital, testing positive for the virus. How many Italians did this couple encounter in restaurants and shops?

The Wuhan virus was well known at the time yet Italy was unconcerned, with travel and commerce proceeding as usual with China. An Italian virologist observed, “The Italian government lagged at first. It was lazy in the beginning... too much politics in Italy."

A few weeks later, rather than social distancing, Italian officials recommended social intimacy. The woke Florence mayor encouraged Italians to “hug a Chinese”. How did that work out? How many Italians died of Coronavirus due to political correctness?

Mid-January brought the annual Wuhan Lunar New Year banquet. How many Chinese nationals living in Italy traveled home to Wuhan to visit friends and family, bringing the virus back to Italy when they returned?

Italy is also an old country, at least in terms of percentage of the population older than age 65. Italy ranks number two in the world behind Japan, with 22.4 percent of their citizens age 65 or older, the high risk population for Coronavirus deaths.

While Italy now leads the world in Coronavirus deaths, passing the country of origin China a few days ago, “99% of those who died from virus had other illnesses” according to Bloomberg. In other words, if it wasn’t Wuhan Coronavirus this month, it might have been pneumonia or heart failure next month. 

Smoking is another Italian problem. 28 percent of Italians smoke, lower than China at 48 percent, but higher than the US at 20 percent. Smoking is one more risk factor contributing to the high death rate in Italy.

Instead the media blames the lack of ICU beds, not political correctness, woke Italian politicians, Italian demographics, or China’s belt and road running roughshod through Italy. 

Italy has a great healthcare system, we are told. International living encourages would-be ex-pats, “Italy ranks among the World Health Organization’s top 10 countries for quality health services (by contrast, the US only holds 37th place, despite being the highest spender).”

So why is Italy in such a medical crisis, leading the world in Coronavirus deaths? Perhaps the US healthcare system isn’t that bad, and we have more ventilators than the hair-on-fire media claims.

Healthcare policy wonks know all about the “Triple Aim” and “Bending the cost curve” but are probably are not versed on how many intensive care unit beds we have compared to other countries. These critical care beds include ventilators which approximate the number of beds.

A 2012 paper in Intensive Care Medicine looked at critical care beds per capita in Europe. Germany lead the way with 29 ICU beds per 100,000 population. Italy had less than half that number at 13 beds. Interestingly further down was Denmark, Bernie Sanders’s ideal country, with only 7 beds per capita. 

With our healthcare system barely keeping up with Cuba, according to healthcare policy expert Michael Moore, the US should be pulling up the rear in this metric compared to the rest of Europe. How does the US compare?

Another paper from 2015 answers that question. In the US, ICU beds per 100,000 population was significantly higher than for Italy. For adults age 20 years and older, ICU beds range from 32 to 39 beds per 100,000 depending on location. For the elderly, those 65 years and older, most vulnerable to the Coronavirus, there are 171 to 210 ICU beds per 100,000, 15 to 20 times the number in Italy.

While the numbers are clearly insufficient for Italy, they may be adequate for the US, depending on the course of the virus over the next few weeks. With President Trump instituting a travel ban from China in late January, criticized severely at the time, the number of infected Chinese bringing the virus to the US, compared to Italy, was blunted and hopefully fewer Americans will require critical care.

Italy, and much of the EU with no such travel restrictions until recently and much too late, are swamped with cases, overloading their lauded healthcare systems.

Despite fearmongering predictions from cable news, I would wager that most 80-year-olds infected with Chinese Coronavirus would rather be in the United States than in Italy, despite the World Health Organization’s opinion on the two healthcare systems.

While things could change, it is not likely that U.S. doctors will have to rely on death panels to decide which patients receive an ICU bed and which are told to take two aspirin and call the undertaker in the morning. 

America may be better equipped to withstand this viral pandemic than the mainstream wants to acknowledge. For example, be wary of media reported data. Increasing the number of people tested in the US will artificially raise the confirmed cases. 

ABC News ran this headline, “NIH director: Up to 70K coronavirus cases could be confirmed in US by end of next week.” Yes, due to more people being tested including many asymptomatic or recovered individuals testing positive.

But they conveniently bury an important caveat to their headline. 

That doesn’t mean necessarily that the outbreak has exploded at an even more rapid rate. It just means we’re now able to find out who’s out there, who is infected, because testing is now going to be much more available across the country.

In the meantime, follow current hygiene precautions and turn off cable news. Be thankful a fixer is in the White House rather than some political hack. The storm will pass, and the country will recover and eventually be greater after going through all of this. 

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a Denver based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, and QuodVerum. 

When you give up control of the border!

Erdogan warns 'millions' of refugees heading to Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized Turkey's actions at the Greek border, saying that it was "wholly unacceptable" for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to punish migrants because of his dissatisfaction with Europe.

Zuckerberg plays to an audience that enjoys no First Amendment protection

'More guidance and regulation': Zuckerberg requests government rules on 'what discourse should be allowed'

by Joel Gehrke

 | February 15, 2020 08:08 PM

MUNICH — Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg called on Western governments to provide regulatory guidance for how social media companies can identify the boundaries of “what discourse should be allowed” on their platforms.

“There should be more guidance and regulation from the states on basically — take political advertising as an example — what discourse should be allowed?” Zuckerberg told an assembly of Western leaders Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. “Or, on the balance of free expression and some things that people call harmful expression, where do you draw the line?” 

Facebook has faced accusations of mismanagement since Russia launched a series of high-profile election interference operations against Western countries, most notably the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said federal legislation is necessary to counteract anti-conservative “political censorship,” while European Union officials are mulling antitrust proposals targeting Facebook. 

“There are a lot of decisions in these areas that are really just balances between different social values,” Zuckerberg said. “It's about coming up with an answer that society feels is legitimate and that they can get behind and understand that you drew the line here on the balance of free expression and safety. It's not just that there's one right answer. People need to feel like, ‘OK, enough people weighed in, and that’s why the answer should be this, and we can get behind that.’” 

That argument gives a preview of the charm offensive that Zuckerberg will attempt during his meetings next week with European Union officials. His meeting in 2018 with members of the European Parliament backfired, as Zuckerberg’s performance left European Union leaders stewing that he had avoided giving specific answers to their most pressing questions. This time, he is prepared to argue that regulations are necessary to preserve free speech and privacy rights from authoritarian rule-makers. 

“We need to make sure that the internet can continue to be a place where everyone can share their views openly and where the legal framework around this is one that encodes democratic values,” he said. “I do think that as part of that, we've got to move forward on regulation. Hopefully, we move forward quickly before a more authoritarian model gets adopted in a lot of places first.”

Stifling regulations crippling innovation

MEPs vote for universal phone connection and an end to Apple Lightning

By What Hi-Fi? a day ago

Apple had said a ban on different connections would 'stifle innovation'

 
 
 
 

(Image credit: Apple)

Members of the European Parliament have voted in favour of introducing a single charging connection for mobile phones, going against Apple's wishes to keep using its own Lightning port.

The resolution passed with 582 votes in favour to 40 against, reports the BBC. MEPs will now urge the European Commission (EC) to adopt the new rules.

Last week, the EU called for Apple to abandon its Lightning connection and adopt a common charger, and now a vote has reinforced that belief.

Apple responded to the vote with a statement: "Regulations that would drive conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones freeze innovation rather than encourage it. Such proposals are bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers.

"More than one billion Apple devices have shipped using a Lightning connector in addition to an entire ecosystem of accessory and device manufacturers who use Lightning to serve our collective customers.

"We want to ensure that any new legislation will not result in the shipment of any unnecessary cables or external adaptors with every device, or render obsolete the devices and accessories used by many millions of Europeans and hundreds of millions of Apple customers worldwide."

Members of EU Parliament have been campaigning for a common charger for over a decade, with mixed success. Now, the European Commission is being encouraged to force electronics companies to adopt a universal charging type, with the USB-C port used by Android phones the most likely choice. 

Apple, meanwhile, insists that regulation isn't necessary as the industry is already moving to USB-C through a connector or cable assembly. Indeed, the firm's iPad Pro already boasts a USB-C charging port.

Apple has even commissioned a study that claims that consumer harm from a regulatory-mandated move to a common charger would cost at least 1.5 billion euros, outweighing the 13 million euros in associated environmental benefits.

An ultimate solution could, in fact, come from Cupertino. Apple is said to be developing an iPhone for 2020 that will use only wireless charging. Problem solved.

Nigel Farage's comments on leaving the EU are great. The last act of the Commissioner proves his point; "no more being talked down to"

'Leave and take your flags with you': Furious EU parliament chair CUTS OFF Nigel Farage during his triumphant last speech to Brussels after 21 years - for waving the Union Flag

• Nigel Farage delivered final speech in the European Parliament this afternoon
• He launched a savage attack on the EU and promised UK would never be back 
• But he was cut off because Brexit Party MEPs started cheering and waving flags
• Following speech Farage said leaving EU was the 'achievement of my lifetime'
• Came as MEPs voted on Brexit deal, clearing the way for UK to leave on Jan 31 

By JACK MAIDMENT, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 12:29 EST, 29 January 2020 | UPDATED: 16:40 EST, 29 January 2020 

Farage's comments below  or watch:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7943833/Nigel-Farage-cut-speech-European-Parliament-waving-Union-flag.html#v-8005314731892426355

Britain's withdrawal from the European Union will take place at 11 p.m. GMT Friday.

"What we proved is that the British are too big to bully, thank goodness," he continued. "If we want trade, friendship, cooperation, reciprocity, we don't need a European commission. We don't need a European court. We don't need these institutions and all of this power."

"And I can promise you, both in U.K. and indeed in the Brexit Party, we love Europe. We just hate the European Union," Farage added. "It's as simple as that. So I'm hoping this begins, the end of this project. It's a bad project. It's not just un-Democratic, it's anti-Democratic. And it puts in that front row, it gives people power without accountability. People cannot be held to account by the electorate. That's an unacceptable structure. Indeed, there's a historic battle going on now, across the West, in Europe, America, and elsewhere. It is globalism against populism. And you may loath populism. But I tell you a funny thing, it's becoming very popular.

"And it has great benefits. No more financial contributions. No more European court of justice. No more Common Fisheries Policy. No more being talked down to. No more being bullied. No more Guy Verhofstadt. I mean, what's not to like? I know you'll miss us. I know you want to ban our national flags. But we'll wave you goodbye," he added as he began to wave the British flag. "We look forward in the future to working with you, as sovereign—"

"If you disobey the rules, you get cut off. Could we please remove the flags?" European Parliament Vice President Mairead McGuinness interrupted as Farage's microphone was turned off. "Resume your seats. Put your flags away. You're leaving. And take them with you, if you're leaving now." 

When bureaucrats decide how to run your business. What socialism looks like.

Apple hits out at EU's proposed ban on Lightning connection

By What Hi-Fi? 12 hours ago

Cable ban would 'stifle innovation'

 
 
 
 

(Image credit: Apple)

Last week, the EU called for Apple to abandon its Lightning connection and adopt a common charger. Apple's response? Get knotted! Or words to that effect. 

In a statement, the Californian tech giant claimed the proposed ban would 'stifle innovation', create mountains of electronic waste and disrupt hundreds of millions of Apple users. 

In a statement, Apple said: "We believe regulation that forces conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, and would harm consumers in Europe and the economy as a whole." 

continue

Greedy unions...remember that we pay a significant portion for their defense as a part of Nato. Unions will never give up their perks no matter economic circumstances.

French strikers angry about pension reform cut power to homes, companies

by Reuters

Wednesda

* CGT union defends power cuts against pension reform

* Central bank, clinics, fire brigades hit - minister

* Macron names new lead negotiator on pensions

* French leader's office says Macron won't back down

* But president keen to make improvements - Macron office

* Unions in talks with prime minister (Adds details, quotes on power cuts, background)

By Michel Rose and Bate Felix

PARIS, Dec 18 (Reuters) - France's warring trade unions on Wednesday defended their decision to cut power to thousands of homes, companies and even the Bank of France to force a weakened government to drop a wide-ranging pension reform.

The power cuts added to a sense of chaos in the second week of nationwide strikes that have crippled transport, shut schools and brought more than half a million people onto the street against President Emmanuel Macron's reform.

Asked on French radio whether the power cuts, illegal under French law, weren't a step too far, Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT union, said the cuts were necessary to force Macron to back down.

"I understand these workers' anger," the mustachioed union leader said. "These are targeted cuts. You'll understand that spitting on the public service can make some of us angry."

His remarks coincided with comments by Macron's office saying the president ruled out abandoning his reform plans but was keen to make improvements in talks with unions, ahead of a new day of talks between his prime minister and union leaders.

The government is keen to reach a truce before Christmas, when millions of French people travel to their home place to spend the holiday with their families.

Macron's transport minister condemned the power cuts, which hit at least 150,000 homes on Tuesday according to the French power grid, and said the government would ask the grid company to file complaints.

"I hear they're cutting power to CAC 40 companies, prefectures, shopping malls. That's already rather questionable," Elisabeth Borne said, referring to an index of blue chip companies on the French stock market.

"But clinics, metro stations, fire brigades and thousands of French people also saw power cuts. This is far from normal ways of striking," she said.

The hardening union tactics came just as Macron was forced to change the lead negotiator for the reform, naming a lawmaker from his party to replace pensions tsar Jean-Paul Delevoye, who resigned following accusations of conflicts of interest.

Macron wants to turn the myriad of French pension systems into a single points-based one.

That would force employees at state-backed companies such as the national railways company SNCF or power utility EDF, who currently enjoy more generous pension plans than private-sector workers, to work longer.

Train drivers at SNCF can retire at just over 50, for instance, against 62 for those in the private sector. That means French taxpayers have to plug in the deficit of the railway company's pension system to the tune of 3 billion euros every year. (Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Caroline Pailliez)