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from BBC News (UK)
There has been a spike in poaching in many countries during lockdown – as well as being bad for wildlife, that raises our risk of exposure to new viruses.
PPictures of smog-free skies and videos of lions and hyenas strutting across fairways could easily lead you to believe that nature is thriving during the coronavirus pandemic. For some species, lockdown may indeed be good news. For many other wild animals, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s because lockdown means many things: in the cities of rich countries, it means less traffic on the roads and less pollution, which can give wildlife space to thrive. But in rural parts of poor countries, it means some people are being driven to extremes to support themselves through poaching.
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from Fox News (& affiliates)
Doctors raise alarm about health effects of continued coronavirus shutdown: 'Mass casualty incident'
More than 600 doctors signed onto a letter sent to President Trump Tuesday pushing him to end the "national shutdown" aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, calling the widespread state orders keeping businesses closed and kids home from school a "mass casualty incident" with "exponentially growing health consequences." The letter outlines a variety of consequences that the doctors have observed resulting from the coronavirus shutdowns, including patients missing routine checkups that could detect things like heart problems or cancer, increases in substance and alcohol abuse, and increases in financial instability that could lead to "[p]overty and financial uncertainty," which "is closely linked to poor health." "We are alarmed at what appears to be the lack of consideration for the future health of our patients," the doctors say in their letter. "The downstream health effects ... are being massively under-estimated and under-reported. This is an order of magnitude error."
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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website
From testing, to cures, to developing a vaccine, to creative and practical methods of physical distancing, the solution to the current crises is more innovation, not less.
When you think about it, what has happened to human society in the last 300 years is pretty weird. After trundling along with horses and sailboats, slaves and swords, for millennia, we suddenly got steam engines and search engines, and planes and cars and electricity and computers and social media and DNA sequences. We gave ourselves a perpetual motion machine called innovation. The more we innovated, the more innovation became possible.
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RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED
We’re All in This Together. But Not in the Way You Think.
We are all interdependent through the production of goods and services that constitutes the market order. Some critics of the current crisis see it as yet another case of the rich getting one over on the rest of us. I will argue that this cannot be correct, because the rich as well as the poor (and the middle class) depend on the freedom to produce, and are all harmed by the lack of it.
Do Lockdowns Work? Mounting Evidence Says No
Most of the world's regimes enthusiastically destroyed their economies and consigned millions to destitution (and a rising tide of resulting health problems) in pursuit of a trendy and unproven theory. There's still not evidence that the lockdowns worked.
Let's Hope Deflation Is Headed Our Way
Central banks have decided that one of their main missions is to prevent deflation. But this only ends up causing the malinvestments that lead to economic busts.
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from National Defense Magazine
Magazine published by National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)Finland Upgrading Military Capabilities
The Finnish Defence Force is developing new capabilities so it can operate more independently without the help of neighboring countries, according to an official. Raimo Jyväsjärvi, director general of the Ministry of Defence of Finland’s resource policy department and national armaments director, said the country’s unique geographical position next to Russia and the Arctic requires it to have a strong, self-sustaining military. “Finland’s isolated geographical position from the industrial clusters of Europe … compels Finland to insert self-sustaining capability for critical capability areas,” he said at the U.S.-Finland Defense and Security Industry Seminar. The government spends about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense. However, this is expected to increase to 2 percent in the 2020s due to a boost in investment in strategic capability programs, he said during the event, which was hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.
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U.S. Navy Fears Them: Sweden AIP Submarines Are Even Stealthier Than Ever
Despite staying on the sidelines during both World Wars and continuing to remain non-aligned in the Cold War, since the 1960s, Sweden has been seen as a mini-super power at least in terms of submarine warfare when the notoriously neutral Scandinavian nation modernized its fleet. This included the Gotland-class submarines, which were built at the Kockums shipyard in the 1990s and the first to feature a Stirling engine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system. That allowed the boats to extend their time underwater endurance from a few days to weeks, a capability that had previously only been available with nuclear-powered submarines. Diesel engine submarines typically need to surface every few days or draw in air from the snorkel to recharge the batteries. In the case of AIP the batteries are saved for times when the submarines need speed but otherwise cruise on the AIP.
from The National Interest Magazine
U.S. Navy Fears Them: Sweden AIP Submarines Are Even Stealthier Than Ever
Despite staying on the sidelines during both World Wars and continuing to remain non-aligned in the Cold War, since the 1960s, Sweden has been seen as a mini-super power at least in terms of submarine warfare when the notoriously neutral Scandinavian nation modernized its fleet. This included the Gotland-class submarines, which were built at the Kockums shipyard in the 1990s and the first to feature a Stirling engine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system. That allowed the boats to extend their time underwater endurance from a few days to weeks, a capability that had previously only been available with nuclear-powered submarines. Diesel engine submarines typically need to surface every few days or draw in air from the snorkel to recharge the batteries. In the case of AIP the batteries are saved for times when the submarines need speed but otherwise cruise on the AIP.
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from National Review RIGHT BIAS
‘As I said from day one, I’m not going to choose between public health and economic activity.” So insists Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. That is a lie, of course. Everybody knows it is a lie, beginning with Governor Cuomo. We are going to choose between public health and economic activity. We are going to try to strike some intelligent balance between competing concerns, and, even if we do our very best, innocent people are going to get hurt on both sides of that balance, and some of them will surely die — either from COVID-19 or from the economic consequences of the lockdown.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
Spokane County health officer makes masks mandatory in public – but rule won’t be enforced
As officials press to ease restrictions on businesses and reopen parts of the Spokane County economy, they are urging residents to wear masks. Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz issued a directive on Wednesday that says residents must wear face coverings at indoor or confined public settings when they will be within 6 feet of another person with whom they don’t live.
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Spokane County health officer makes masks mandatory in public – but rule won’t be enforced
As officials press to ease restrictions on businesses and reopen parts of the Spokane County economy, they are urging residents to wear masks. Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz issued a directive on Wednesday that says residents must wear face coverings at indoor or confined public settings when they will be within 6 feet of another person with whom they don’t live.
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