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China on Edge of Chaos: “7 Cities, 23 Million People Under Quarantine”

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hqanon
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  • 7 Chinese cities, around 23 million people, effectively under quarantine
  • Multiple cases across the world – from Scotland to Singapore and USA
  • 634 Infected (according to Chinese officials)
  • 18 Dead (following 1st death outside Wuhan)
  • WHO says “not the time to declare a global health emergency”

“Make no mistake: This is an emergency in China,” Tedros said. “But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.”

*  *  *

Update (1325ET): The World Health Organization, after a second day of meetings, have decided AGAINST declaring an international virus alarm. The panel was reportedly split on the decision and may revise the decision but for now states that “now is not the time” to declare an emergency.

“Make no mistake: This is an emergency in China,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.”

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*  *  *

Update (1300ET): CNBC’s Eunice Yoon just provided a shocking update to the status of the deadly virus in China:

“7 cities and 23 million people are effectively under quarantine.”

The cities under effective martial law – with all travel in, around, and out halted – are Wuhan, Huanggang, Zhijiang, Ezhou, Qianjiang, Chibi, and Xiantao.

That is more people quarantined than the population of Florida (21.6m).

Outside of China, cases keep appearing (map does not include recent cases in Scotland and Ireland):

*  *  *

Update (1150ET): If you haven’t cancelled those tickets to Wuhan yet, you might want to hold off: The State Department has just reverted its safety warning on travel to China to “exercise caution” from “reconsider your travel plans”.

Clearly, somebody in the Chinese government complained, and with US stocks deep in the red, it seems the Trump Administration was perceptive.

After all, the point is to convince the public not to panic.

* * *

Update (1130ET): As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases nears 650 (the latest count put the number at 647), the US State Department has decided to reassure Americans that they are ‘safe’ from the virus.

China has nearly competed its quarantine of four cities in Hubei, even as experts warn it won’t be enough. As millions prepared to travel, George Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, warned the Chinese public to stay home during the holiday season, warning that this was a “crucial time” to stop the virus.

With 444 confirmed cases, Wuhan remains the epicenter of the epidemic. Reports about another virus-related death are circulating on social media, along with a terrifying video of first-responders in full-body gear treating an individual who had seemingly collapsed in the middle of the road.

That’s not exactly reassuring.

Meanwhile, in Wuhan, shortages of medical supplies and facemasks are already prompting hospitals, universities and charities to reach out to the surrounding area for donations.

But sure – everything is under control.

* * *

Update (1045ET): Just in case you had plans to celebrate LNY at a fish market in Wuhan, the US government has published a travel warning advising Americans to ‘reconsider traveling to China’ amid the latest viral outbreak.

  • U.S. URGES TRAVELERS TO RECONSIDER CHINA VISITS DUE TO VIRUS

Even if you made it to Wuhan at this point, one might encounter difficulties trying to enter the city, especially as a foreigner.

* * *

Update (0950ET): The BBC is reporting that a suspected case of coronavirus has been detected in Scotland.

Note: These are only suspected cases – not yet confirmed.

If confirmed, this would be the first case of the virus in the UK, and would indicate another intrusion into the developed world, this time in Europe.

The UK Health Secretary said Friday morning that the coronavirus is “increasingly likely” to hit Britain, the Times of London reports.

According to CNN, the number of coronavirus cases confirmed around the world has climbed to 622 (once again, the graphic below is ever-so-slightly out of date):

And the scramble for face masks continues, with Hong Kong stores swiftly running out of stock, and black-market sellers engaging in widespread gouging of terrified customers.

* * *

Update (0935ET): India’s foreign office said Thursday that an Indian nurse in Saudi Arabia has been diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus.

“About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Corona virus,” tweeted Vellamvelly Muraleedharan, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, on Thursday.

Cases have also been reported in Russia, Hong Kong and Macau, in addition to all of the countries listed below:

Saudi Arabia’s economy depends on millions of migrant workers, a group that includes many Indians.

* * *

Update (0841ET): Beijing says the number of confirmed Wuhan cases in China has climbed to 634, bringing the global total to 641.

Here’s a breakdown of cases by region (though it might be slightly out of date, it gets the point across):

In keeping with China’s insistence that the Wuhan virus is far less deadly than the 2003 SARS outbreak, the SCMP reports that almost half of the 17 people who have succumbed to the virus so far were aged 80 or older, and most of them had pre-existing health conditions. All of those who died, 13 men and four women so far, were from the central province of Hubei, and were treated in hospitals in its capital, Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak. Chinese authorities have quarantined most of the biggest sources in the province.

Here’s some more information on the victims, including the types of illnesses they faced:

At least nine of those who died had pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease. Eight were in their eighties, two in their seventies, five in their sixties and one man was in his fifties. The youngest woman was 48 and had a pre-existing condition.

One 89-year-old man, surnamed Chen, had a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease and other conditions. He began experiencing symptoms on January 13, including difficulty breathing but not fever. Five days later, he was admitted to the Wuhan Union Hospital with severe breathing difficulties, and tested positive for pneumonia. He died the following evening.

The 48-year-old woman, surnamed Yin, had suffered from diabetes and had also had a stroke. She first had a fever, aches and pains on December 10 and her condition slowly deteriorated. She was treated at two hospitals in Wuhan before she died on Monday.

Officials in Beijing have been cautious about making definitive statements about the origins and characteristics of the disease, including its incubation period, saying more investigation was needed.

“There’s still a need for further study of the virus over time,” said Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press briefing on Wednesday.

“As for the impact on younger people, according to current epidemiology and what we know right now, they really aren’t susceptible,” he said.

Patients as young as 15 have been infected with the pneumonia-like virus, according to Wuhan health officials. There are now more than 570 confirmed cases, including some reported in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

* * *

Update (0800ET): CNA, an English-language news website based across Asia, has just reported that Singapore has confirmed the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus.

In a media briefing on Thursday evening, the Ministry of Health said the carrier is a 66-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan. The man arrived in Singapore with his family on Jan. 20 after flying in from Guangzhou via China Southern. The man reported having a soar throat on the flight, but no fever.

Earlier, St. Petersburg reportedly confirmed its third case of the Wuhan virus.

The man traveled to Singapore General on Wednesday, and was immediately placed in isolation. He tested positive for the virus at 6 pm local time on Thursday. Singaporean authorities have already begun a contact tree, and are isolating all those with whom the suspect had contact.

The diagnosis is just the latest indication that, even as more Chinese cities cancel LNY celebrations, too many Chinese, including Chinese from Wuhan, have already traveled abroad. And the week-long holiday doesn’t even start until Saturday.

This live NYT map of confirmed Wuhan cases appears to be out-of-date, despite having just been updated.

The number of confirmed cases is closer to 600. Still, it gets the point across.

* * *

Update (0700ET): Beijing is reportedly planning to quarantine a third city in Hubei Province, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, while a fourth city in the province is planning to shut down train travel.

Media reports claim that Chibi, a city with half a million Chinese, will be quarantined like Wuhan and Huanggang. Meanwhile, Ezhou, a city with 1 million people in Hubei, is seeing some transportation shut down.

Meanwhile, officials in Beijing have joined several other Chinese cities in cancelling Chinese New Year celebrations.

locks down more cities due to . Huanggang (7.5mln pop.) will suspend public bus, railway from midnight (11a ET). Internet cafes, movie theaters, tourist sites, entertainment venues temporarily closed. Ezhou (1mln pop.) said it shut train stations.

Beijing joins Wuhan, Zhejiang, Macau in canceling celebrations. capital’s culture & tourism bureau says all public gathering activities, incl. traditional temple fairs, are off. (Holiday is normally major consumer spending time. ) @TheDomino

Conflicting report are alternatively claiming that Ezhou and Chibi will be the third Chinese city to face a quarantine. Does that mean officials are planning to quarantine the entire province?

BREAKING: Chinese officials say a 3rd city, Chibi with a population of nearly half a million, will be put on lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus

BREAKING: City of Ezhou becomes the third to be put under lockdown to contain the @guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/coronavirus-panic-spreads-in-china-with-three-cities-in-lockdown?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet …

China virus: five cities locked down and Beijing festivities scrapped

Residents in affected cities hoard supplies and isolate themselves at home

There have also been reports about a third patient being identified in St. Petersburg, while other cities, including Hong Kong, stock up on facemask supplies.

* * *

As cases of the new coronavirus popped up around the globe, Chinese health officials managed to assuage the worries of the public, and the market, by insisting that the new, deadly coronavirus that emerged late last month in Wuhan had been ‘contained’ and that the outbreak would swiftly die down.

Despite imposing some draconian travel bans, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this isn’t going to happen. Even after quarantining an entire city of 11 million people – Wuhan is the 7th largest city in China and larger than any US city – experts are warning that it’s too late: The cat is already out of the bag.

But that won’t stop Beijing from trying: Now that Wuhan has been effectively cut off, Chinese officials announced another city-wide quarantine on Thursday: Huanggang city, which is in Hubei province and situated close to Wuhan, will suspend outbound train and bus services, as well as all bus services within the city effective Friday. All public places, including movie theaters, have been ordered to close until further notice, practically guaranteeing that the quarantine will take a bite out of GDP. Though even after authorities cut off all flights, Reuters reports that a few airlines were still running flights out of Wuhan.

As the SCMP pointed out, Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, is five times larger than London.

The decision comes as more than 600 cases of the virus have now been confirmed. The death toll has been steady since yesterday at 17, as the WHO ponders whether to label the outbreak as a global pandemic risk.

Chinese state broadcasters shared images of Wuhan’s ghostly transport hubs, including the Hankou rail station, with all gates barred or blocked. Highway toll booths were shutting down as guards patrolled major highways. Inside the city, residents crowded into hospitals and rushed to buy up essential supplies from supermarkets and gas stations.

Interestingly, at least one Western journalist is reporting from Wuhan. We imagine Beijing allowed ABC access to the city to try and calm the growing panic in the West.

ABC News

✔@ABC

.@ABC News’ @BobWoodruff travels to Wuhan, China, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed 17 people, and gives an inside look on how airports and travelers are trying to prevent the virus from spreading. https://abcn.ws/36epjEx 

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As more barriers rise, one well-known public health expert known for his work on the SARS outbreak warned that the quarantines likely wouldn’t be enough to stop the virus from becoming a global pandemic, according to the New York Times.

Dr. Guan Yi, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong who visited Wuhan earlier this week, warned there was a potential for the virus to spread rapidly despite the controls put in place Thursday morning.

“We have a chance to have a pandemic outbreak,” said Dr. Guan, who was part of the team that identified the coronavirus that caused the deadly SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003. SARS infected more than 8,000 people and killed nearly 800.

Dr. Guan also told Caixin, an influential Chinese magazine known for investigative reports, that he had traveled to Wuhan earlier in the week hoping to help track the virus’s animal source and control the epidemic. But he left, he said, feeling “powerless, very angry.”

Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who advised the Chinese government and the World Health Organization during the SARS outbreak, said that infected people outside Wuhan would continue to spread the disease.

“The horse is already out of the barn,” he said.

Another expert warned that there could already be as many as 4,000 cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, meaning that the vast majority of infections likely haven’t yet been reported.

Meanwhile, regulators around the world are scrambling to cut off flights from Wuhan (even though Beijing has supposedly cut off all rail and plane travel out of the city): The Philippines is the latest country to cut off flights from the city. The country’s Civil Aeronautics Board added that flights from elsewhere in China would be placed under ‘strict monitoring’, according to CNN Philippines. Manila, the Philippines’ crowded capital city, has started handing out 100,000 face masks.

The director of the country’s Civil Aeronautics Board explained that, even though Beijing is quarantining entire cities, it’s up to the Philippines to take their own steps to curb the outbreak.

“When you look at the seriousness of the outbreak, Wuhan should be the focus of attention,” CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla told reporters.

“Even if they lift it, we have to look at our side first and make our own assessment. So our assessment is different from theirs, I mean, even their decision is different from ours,” Arcilla said.

Experts have warned that quarantining an entire city of 11 million would be virtually impossible. But the nabobs in Beijing refuse to be deterred: Videos circulating on social media show Chinese police setting up barricades across roads leading out of the city. Anybody in Wuhan who had New Year’s travel plans should probably cancel them and ask for a refund.

CNW@ConflictsW

Roads leading to and from Wuhan have now been blocked as the city has been placed in quarantine to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus

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After a suspected case of coronavirus was discovered in Macau yesterday, officials in the special autonomous region warned that they might close all casinos in the territory, a move that would spoil the vacation plans of millions of Chinese planning to travel to Macau for the Chinese New Year. A second case was reportedly discovered on Thursday.

Across the world, a mildly risk-off mood is once again dominating markets. That means US stocks are one outbreak headline away from deeper declines.

By Tyler Durden | ZeroHedge.com | Republished with permission

What Mainstream Media Won’t Tell You About Martin Luther King Jr.

By
hqanon
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0

While the likes of President Donald Trump, right-wing Republicans, and Pentagon officials—in addition to many liberals—marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day with selective quotes and messages, others aimed to challenge their whitewashed narrative of the civil rights leader’s legacy with detailed reminders of King’s scathing critique of not only racism but also capitalism, militarism, and imperialism.

Among those who spoke out leading up to the Monday holiday was Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, who said over the weekend that “in this historical moment, we especially need to remember the real Martin Luther King, because there are a lot of false portraits that are being pandered in the public square.”

The real King, Barber explained, “found himself having to take on a society he loved so much he had to criticize it—a society he properly diagnosed as having a neurotic sickness and a septic commitment to racism, poverty, and militarism that was destroying its soul and ripping apart its moral promises and possibilities.”

As King told the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board on March 30, 1967, “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”

Just a few days later, on April 4, 1967—exactly one year before King was assassinated—he delivered an infamous speech at Riverside Church in New York City condemning the Vietnam War. He called for an end to the “nightmarish conflict” as well as for the nation to “undergo a radical revolution of values,” saying in part:

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed to “that extraordinary speech” and “how completely [King’s] vehement anti-war advocacy is ignored when commemorating his life (just as his economic views are)” in a 2013 column for The Guardian that he shared on Twitter Monday. In his column, Greenwald wrote:

What I always found most impressive, most powerful, about King’s April 4 speech is the connection he repeatedly made between American violence in the world and its national character. Endless war wasn’t just destructive in its own right, but is something that ensures that America’s “soul becomes totally poisoned,” fosters “spiritual death,” perpetuates the “malady within the American spirit,” and elevates “the Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them.” In sum, to pursue endless war is “to worship the god of hate” and “bow before the altar of retaliation.”

This is the overarching point that drives our current debates about war and militarism through today. The debasement of the national psyche, the callousness toward continuous killing, the belief that the U.S. has not only the right but the duty to bring violence anywhere in the world that it wants: that is what lies at the heart of America’s ongoing embrace of endless war. A rotted national soul does indeed enable leaders to wage endless war, but endless war also rots the national soul, exactly as King warned. At times this seems to be an inescapable, self-perpetuating cycle of degradation.

“On MLK Day, worth remembering his stirring, passionate condemnation of U.S. militarism,” Greenwald tweeted Monday, “and his arguments about why opposition to it can’t be extricated from anti-racism or anti-poverty activism.”

Various political figures, academics, activists, and reporters also used social media to spotlight King’s true legacy:

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) also took to Twitter Monday to call for honoring King by acknowledging his actual record, noting that he “saw racial injustice, economic injustice, and war as three of the world’s great evils.”

Omar shared a 2018 “must-read” editorial from The Charlotte Observer, republished last week, which explained that King “was not the cuddly creature we re-invent every King Day to lie to ourselves and our kids about how he only wanted us to get along.”

King “was a radical progressive,” the group Public Citizen tweeted Monday. “Do not allow America to whitewash his legacy.”

Others—including this writer—have repeatedly used the national holiday to combat sanitized narratives. In 2016, Zaid Jilani published a piece for The Intercept titled, “Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations Overlook His Critiques of Capitalism and Militarism.”

As Candice Benbow wrote for Essence in 2018:

He was suspected to be communist, considered a race baiter, and was deemed the most dangerous man in America by the FBI. But the past few decades have canonized him into sainthood and it is virtually impossible to travel in many communities without seeing a street named in his honor.

[….]

The universal adoration of Dr. King can only be described as a willful decision to mischaracterize his person and work. Detaching Dr. King from his radical, socialist, left-leaning politics is the only way many Americans who now praise him can do so with (what they think is) a clear conscience.

Decrying the soundbites and revised histories that circulate on this day each year, Benbow added that “whitewashing Dr. King’s radical legacy to make him more palpable to the masses works to alleviate America’s conscience and sell the lie that we are post-racial. But we know the truth.”

By Jessica Corbett | CommonDreams.org | Creative Commons

6-Year-Old Girl With Down Syndrome and Heart Condition Turned Away at US Border

By
hqanon
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1

Border agents in the United States on Thursday morning turned away a sick child seeking medical help, drawing outrage from rights advocates who say the refusal to allow the six-year-old girl to attend a scheduled meeting with doctors in Philadelphia is putting her life in danger.

“Let her in,” tweeted advocacy group Families Belong Together.

The child, who has Down Syndrome and a heart condition, was brought to the border by an immigration lawyer and doctor who begged agents to allow the girl into the country on a vulnerability exemption to President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) border policy. Border officials refused on the basis that the child’s condition was not immediately life threatening.

According to the group Doctors for Camp Closure, the girl has also survived two kidnapping attempts in the three months she has been stuck in Mexico awaiting medical care.

Dr. Marie DeLuco, a member of Doctors for Camp Closure who is currently in Matamoros, Mexico, said in a statement that the child’s experience on the border was part of a worrying trend. DeLuco accompanied the the child to the border on Thursday with Lawyers for Good Government attorney Kim Hunter.

“When we advocate for our patients who need access to urgent and emergent care across the border, we are turned away by border officers,” said DeLuco. “We are being denied the chance to even speak with border patrol medical personnel about the children we are caring for.”

According to HuffPost, the situation for the child and her family grows ever more precipitous the longer they remain in Mexico:

The 6-year-old girl and her family have stayed in at least three apartments since being sent to Mexico but were kicked out of one because of the child’s violent outbursts, according to Hunter. The lawyer worries the family could end up in a large, unsanitary tent camp where it’s easy to catch infections and where violence and kidnappings are rampant.

The story drew outrage from immigrant rights advocates.

“Every child has a right to safety, protection, and future,” Save the Children U.S. said on Twitter. “Many kids at the U.S. border are fleeing extreme poverty and brutal violence at home.”

“A 6-year-old with a heart condition should not be put at unnecessary risk when trying to receive life-saving care,” the group added.

Doctors for Camp Closures’ DeLuco called on border agents to show compassion.

“We urge immigration authorities to address the needs of children, particularly children who are known to be sick,” said DeLuco. “We are a country that takes care of families, not one that sends them into harm’s way.”

By Jessica Corbett | CommonDreams.org | Creative Commons

Cities Around the World Unite for Global Protest Against 5G Technology on January 25

By
hqanon
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0

5G, or 5th generation cellular technology, is proving to be the most controversial generation yet as a growing number of people across the planet demand answers regarding the safety of the emerging technology. Protests, marches, rallies, documentary screenings, and teach-ins are set to take place on January 25 as part of the “Global 5G Protest Day.”

The stated goal of the event is to “stop the deployment of millions of 5G antennas on Earth and 50,000 5G satellites in space, and to secure emergency high-level meetings with officials in governments and international governmental organizations including the European Union, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization.”

The day of action is being organized by Stop 5G International, an international group of activists who say they are seeking to grow an international movement to counter the deployment of 5G technology. As of January 17, there are events being planned in Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States.

According to the Stop 5G International website, in the days leading up to the Global Day of Protest activists will deliver copies of the International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space to local governments in hopes of raising awareness about the concerns surrounding the technology. The 5G Space Appeal is a statement signed by a reported 191,733 signatories from 203 nations and territories.

The Appeal states:

“We the undersigned scientists, doctors, environmental organizations and citizens, urgently call for a halt to the deployment of the 5G (fifth generation) wireless network, including 5G from space satellites. 5G will massively increase exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation on top of the 2G, 3G and 4G networks for telecommunications already in place. RF radiation has been proven harmful for humans and the environment. The deployment of 5G constitutes an experiment on humanity and the environment that is defined as a crime under international law.“

5G technology is expected to herald the beginning of Smart Cities where driverless cars, pollution sensors, cell phones, traffic lights, and thousands of other devices interact in what is known as “The Internet of Things.” However, there have been a number of health and privacy concerns raised by opponents of the rapidly advancing 5G expansion. It is these concerns which has sparked a global movement against the technology and electromagnetic frequencies (EMF’s) in general. The organizers of the Global Day of Protest are calling for concerned citizens to organize actions in the form of candle-light vigils, marches, music events, or rallies.

“While the media’s attention with regard to environmental issues has been captured by climate change, fracking, and plastics in the ocean, an International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space has been quietly making its way around the world,” reads a press release from Stop 5G International. “Signed by 4,800 scientists, 2,800 medical doctors, 770 beekeepers, 2,000 environmental organizations, and 180,000 others from 202 countries and territories, this Appeal calls on the world’s governments to stop the deployment of 5G.”

The organizers state that their concerns are focused on the apparent increase in radiation as a result of a massive increase in cell towers and small cells which are necessary for 5G to operate at full capacity with low latency. “Instead of cell towers every few miles, there will be cell towers—small but powerful—in front of every third to fifth home. Instead of 2,000 satellites orbiting the Earth, there will shortly be 50,000,” the group wrote.

Federal Communication Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai has estimated that there will be 800,000 new small cells and cell towers installed around the United States to complete the 5G grid.

Despite the growing concern from scientists, health professionals, legal experts, politicians, and activists the FCC has wholeheartedly endorsed the rollout of 5G claiming that there are no public health concerns. As the Mind Unleashed has previously reported, cities and localities are raising alarm bells due to the federal government and their partners in Big Wireless usurping local control of 5G expansion. In 2019, the Mayor of Danville, California went so far as to admit that the city council had “lost control” of the 5G rollout to the federal government and Big Wireless.

According to the FCC’s regulations, local governing bodies are not allowed to consider health risks when making their decisions. This is because the federal law known as the Wireless Communications Act of 1996 prohibits local jurisdictions from considering perceived health effects when taking an action on a proposed facility.

Instead, cities and towns can only regulate cell sites based on the aesthetics and placement of the devices. This problem was only made worse in September 2018 when the FCC passed a new rule putting the federal government in complete control of the 5G rollout. In April 2019, President Trump issued an executive order stating that local and state bodies must now approve new 5G infrastructure within 90 days. The Trump administration also initiated a cap on the fees local governments can charge telecom companies wanting to install 5G technology.

Although Big Wireless has invested billions in the so-called “Race to 5G,” a diverse group of people from nations around the world are coming together to ask important questions about this new technology and the role that digital technology plays in our lives. If you are concerned about the effects of 5G, EMFs, and radiofrequency radiation consider getting involved in a local event or creating one for your community.

Find more details on events here. Join the Stop 5G Global Protest Day Facebook group to share your events and ideas with others around the world. If you are looking for ideas for posters or signs check out this helpful site from Americans for Responsible Technology.

By Derrick Broze | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com

Cop Fired for Giving Dog Sh*t Sandwich to Homeless Man… Wins Job Back

By
hqanon
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0

A Texas police officer who lost his job after feeding dog feces to a homeless man has returned to the job after his termination was successfully overturned following an appeal.

Officer Matthew Luckhurst of the San Antonio Police Department admitted to intentionally placing the dog waste in between bread and leaving in a food container next to a homeless man.

The bike patrol officer had initially admitted to pulling the cruel prank while he was on duty on May 6, 2016.

Luckhurst said that he had stumbled upon the bread and feces during his patrol route with another officer. The items were lying alongside a pile of personal hygiene products, condoms, and vomit.

The officer claims that in an attempt to clear the mess, he grabbed the feces with the bread to avoid contact with it before placing it in the food container.

He then placed the “sandwich” next to a non-compliant transient man in an attempt to clear people from the area. When the homeless man picked up the container, he smelled it before tossing it to the ground, according to KSAT.

The officer’s fellow bike patrol officer then reprimanded Luckhurst, telling his colleague, “You can’t be doing that. You have to go pick that up,” according to police arbitration documents.

Luckhurst was suspended from his job on October 28, 2016.

However, the suspension was overturned following an investigation that found the incident could not have occurred on the date initially reported because Luckhurst had been injured in a martial arts class and was assigned to light duty from April 6 to June 14 of 2016 when he would not have been allowed to ride a bike.

Due to the mistakenly-reported date, the alleged incident was determined to have occurred outside of the 180-day window within which discipline against the officer was allowed, thus giving Luckhurst immunity from any disciplinary measures for the act.

However, Luckhurst is still facing arbitration for a second indefinite suspension for a separate incident also involving feces, KSAT reports.

Following Luckhurst’s October 2016 suspension, he and a fellow officer defecated in the women’s restroom at the bike patrol office in downtown San Antonio and failed to flush it.

They then acquired a brown substance with a tapioca-like appearance and spread it along the toilet seat to make it seem like the toilet was soiled with fecal matter, according to termination paperwork from November 2016.

The trouble-making officer with a tendency to play with fecal matter enjoys strong police union protections, according to the city’s human relations department. There currently aren’t any new dates for his arbitration hearings.

In a statement, City Manager Erik Walsh said:

“Clearly, the current collective bargaining agreement limits the Chief’s ability to appropriately discipline officers that deserve to be disciplined. We intend to bring those issues to the next contract negotiation with the police union.

I am hoping the police union will agree that these cases tarnish and impact the community’s confidence in our police department. The residents of San Antonio expect better behavior from police officers than what these individuals demonstrated, and frankly, so do I. Fortunately, the conduct of these few does not reflect of the high character of the more than 2,300 other officers on the streets protecting our community today.”

By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com

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