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from BBC News (UK)
Shenzhen becomes first Chinese city to ban eating cats and dogs
Shenzhen has become the first Chinese city to ban the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat. It comes after the coronavirus outbreak was linked to wildlife meat, prompting Chinese authorities to ban the trade and consumption of wild animals. Shenzhen went a step further, extending the ban to dogs and cats. The new law will come into force on 1 May. Thirty million dogs a year are killed across Asia for meat, says Humane Society International (HSI). However, the practice of eating dog meat in China is not that common - the majority of Chinese people have never done so and say they don't want to.
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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website
This week, our hero is John Stuart Mill – a 19th century English philosopher, parliamentarian and political economist. Throughout his life, Mill advocated for greater freedom of expression and the abolition of slavery. As a Member of the British Parliament, Mill presented the House of Commons with the first mass petition in favor of women’s suffrage. The petition inspired the creation of numerous suffragette campaigns throughout the world. One of Mill’s greatest contributions to philosophy was his harm principle, which holds that an action of a person should only be legally prohibited if it causes harm to other individuals. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has dubbed him “the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century.”
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from Insider
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, lifestyle news site in New York City
The Patriots used their team plane to fly 1.2 million N95 masks from China to Massachusetts in a whirlwind operation
The New England Patriots lent their team plane to help bring 1.2 million N95 masks from China to Massachusetts. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, it was a whirlwind operation that included getting permission to land in China, rushing visas for the plane crew, getting a crew of employees from Tencent to help load the masks because the flight crew couldn't leave the plane, then flying out of China in under three hours. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who then lent 300,000 masks to New York City, said he had never seen so many "obstacles" in an operation.
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The Patriots used their team plane to fly 1.2 million N95 masks from China to Massachusetts in a whirlwind operation
The New England Patriots lent their team plane to help bring 1.2 million N95 masks from China to Massachusetts. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, it was a whirlwind operation that included getting permission to land in China, rushing visas for the plane crew, getting a crew of employees from Tencent to help load the masks because the flight crew couldn't leave the plane, then flying out of China in under three hours. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who then lent 300,000 masks to New York City, said he had never seen so many "obstacles" in an operation.
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RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED
The Bureaucrats Can't Fix This
In the midst of the emerging economic chaos triggered by the COVID-19 coronavirus, individuals are seeking answers from governments as to how to prevent the emerging economic disaster. Most economic experts are sympathetic to this and are urging the authorities to push massive injections of money. Thus in the US the central bank has embarked on a $2 trillion stimulus. At the same time government officials are imposing draconian measures to keep the population in isolation. The isolation is expected to arrest the spread of the coronavirus. Even if one were to accept that the total lockdown of the population will slow the spread of the virus, this will inevitably reduce the production of goods and services needed in the economy—needed to support individuals’ lives and well-being. This could lead to a global economic problem the effect of which is likely to be much worse than the damage inflicted by the coronavirus.
The Crisis Has Exposed the Damage Done By Government Regulations
As we watch in real-time how governments respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic, some of the most predictable forms of state overreach—from restrictions on the freedom of assembly to the suppression of regular commerce—have been rolled out. Thankfully, there is no unified world government, so there exist various examples of how certain countries are dealing with the crisis that we can closely examine and learn from. Pessimism and cynicism are generally warranted under the political climate we’re living in. However, there are some silver linings we can take away from America’s response to the coronavirus. In a previous article, I noted that several states have started adopting deregulation on a whole host of issues. With the coronavirus still raging on, now elected officials are slowly beginning to recognize the absurdity of some of America’s regulations.
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from The Moscow Times (Russia)
Russia sent a military plane carrying protective gear and ventilators to the United States on Wednesday to help the country battle the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Shortly after, the U.S. said it purchased the medical supplies from Russia, the State Department said Wednesday, contradicting the Kremlin's initial description of the shipment as humanitarian aid. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the U.S. had paid for half of the plane's cargo, while Russia donated the other half.
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from New York Times Newspaper in New York
Intelligence officials have told the White House for weeks that China has vastly understated the spread of the coronavirus and the damage the pandemic has done.
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from Northwest Public Broadcasting
News & Media Website in Pullman, WA
North Idaho Legislator Urges Constituents To ‘Push Back’ Against Governor’s Stay-Home ‘Edict’
A state legislator in North Idaho is using her official government newsletter to urge constituents to defy Gov. Brad Little’s order to stay home in face of the coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican who represents the Blanchard area, sent the newsletter Thursday morning. It was titled, in part, “the virus that tried to kill the Constitution.” Scott isn’t the only politician in the Inland Northwest questioning how the state and federal governments are reacting to the pandemic. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler wrote an open letter to Little on Thursday, asking him to reconvene the Legislature to discuss the stay-home order, saying “Covid-19 is nothing like the Plague.” North Idaho pastor and state Rep. Tim Remington has called the coronavirus a “gimmick” in a sermon, and continues to hold Sunday services at The Altar church in Coeur d’Alene. Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, who represents the Spokane Valley (not the city of Spokane), has shared numerous articles on his Facebook page that describe the coronavirus as a possible “Chinese biological attack.” One article was from a website called UnderstandingTheThreat.com, which says it offers “strategic and operational training and consulting on the threat of the global islamic movement.”
North Idaho Legislator Urges Constituents To ‘Push Back’ Against Governor’s Stay-Home ‘Edict’
A state legislator in North Idaho is using her official government newsletter to urge constituents to defy Gov. Brad Little’s order to stay home in face of the coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican who represents the Blanchard area, sent the newsletter Thursday morning. It was titled, in part, “the virus that tried to kill the Constitution.” Scott isn’t the only politician in the Inland Northwest questioning how the state and federal governments are reacting to the pandemic. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler wrote an open letter to Little on Thursday, asking him to reconvene the Legislature to discuss the stay-home order, saying “Covid-19 is nothing like the Plague.” North Idaho pastor and state Rep. Tim Remington has called the coronavirus a “gimmick” in a sermon, and continues to hold Sunday services at The Altar church in Coeur d’Alene. Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, who represents the Spokane Valley (not the city of Spokane), has shared numerous articles on his Facebook page that describe the coronavirus as a possible “Chinese biological attack.” One article was from a website called UnderstandingTheThreat.com, which says it offers “strategic and operational training and consulting on the threat of the global islamic movement.”
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from Psephizo (blog)
Dr Andy Angel is vicar of St Andrew’s, Burgess Hill in West Sussex, and has just published an intriguing book The Jesus You Really Didn’t Know, exploring the importance of judgement and obedience in the teaching of Jesus in the gospels.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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Russian mercy mission to Italy is a front for intelligence gathering, British expert warns
A Russian military mission that is in Italy ostensibly to help tackle the coronavirus crisis will be covertly gathering vital intelligence, a British expert warned on Thursday. The team of more than 100 Russian soldiers, including experts in chemical and biological warfare, arrived in Italy last week, with their equipment stamped with logos reading “From Russia with Love”. But the mission has raised suspicion in Italian political and military circles, with sources telling the Italian media that “80 per cent” of the equipment the Russians flew in on massive transport planes was “useless” and was being used as a pretext for the intervention.
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from The Telegraph (UK)
Russian mercy mission to Italy is a front for intelligence gathering, British expert warns
A Russian military mission that is in Italy ostensibly to help tackle the coronavirus crisis will be covertly gathering vital intelligence, a British expert warned on Thursday. The team of more than 100 Russian soldiers, including experts in chemical and biological warfare, arrived in Italy last week, with their equipment stamped with logos reading “From Russia with Love”. But the mission has raised suspicion in Italian political and military circles, with sources telling the Italian media that “80 per cent” of the equipment the Russians flew in on massive transport planes was “useless” and was being used as a pretext for the intervention.
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from The Tyee
Online news magazine in Vancouver, BC
How China’s Fails, Lies and Secrecy Ignited a Pandemic Explosion
The world is now paying a frightful price for a historical accident. It is this: a highly disruptive and novel virus happened to emerge first in China, a high-tech surveillance state that, despite the experience of SARS, remains allergic to the truth and fearful of transparency. Compounding the cost to humanity is China’s influence over the World Health Organization, which has whitewashed its public health analysis and prescriptions at this crucial moment.
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How China’s Fails, Lies and Secrecy Ignited a Pandemic Explosion
The world is now paying a frightful price for a historical accident. It is this: a highly disruptive and novel virus happened to emerge first in China, a high-tech surveillance state that, despite the experience of SARS, remains allergic to the truth and fearful of transparency. Compounding the cost to humanity is China’s influence over the World Health Organization, which has whitewashed its public health analysis and prescriptions at this crucial moment.
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