Hydroxychloroquine in patients with mainly mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019: open label, randomised controlled trial

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1849

Conclusions Administration of hydroxychloroquine did not result in a significantly higher probability of negative conversion than standard of care alone in patients admitted to hospital with mainly persistent mild to moderate covid-19. Adverse events were higher in hydroxychloroquine recipients than in non-recipients.

"לנהוג במשנה זהירות, שלא ניפרד שוב מבית הכנסת"

https://www.kikar.co.il/360978.html

הגאון רבי אשר וייס מתייחס לפתיחת בתי הכנסת ומספר על הדילמה שלו כיצד להגיד למרבית המתפללים שאסור להם להגיע עקב חוסר המקום בבית מדרשו • צפו בוידאו

67 NJ Pastors Say They'll Sue if Not Allowed to Reopen, Question Why People Can Go to Home Depot but Not Church

https://www.newsweek.com/67-nj-pastors-say-theyll-sue-if-not-allowed-reopen-question-why-people-can-go-home-depot-not-1506187

Sixty-seven New Jersey pastors said they will sue the state if they are not allowed to reopen their churches to in-person services, according to a letter sent to Governor Phil Murphy Thursday.

Agudath Israel Welcomes NYS Religious Gatherings Update

https://agudah.org/agudath-israel-welcomes-nys-religious-gatherings-update/

Today, Governor Cuomo announced that beginning Thursday, May 21st, religious gatherings of up to 10 people in a house of worship will be allowed, statewide, if strict social distancing measures are enforced and all participants wear masks.

We thank the governor for his attention to Agudath Israel’s and others’ advocacy on this important issue. With Shavuos and Kabolas HaTorah soon arriving, we look forward to the day when our batei knessios and batei midrashim will once again be lively centers of Torah and tefillah.

Trump’s Demand That Houses Of Worship Reopen Met With Dire Warnings | MSNBC

'Things Are Looking Swampier And Swampier': Pompeo Under Fire Amidst Growing Scandals | MSNBC

Data goes against Trump's fear of mail-in voting

Reporters band together, FORCE press secretary to answer how Trump can “override” governors

Appeal Court orders Flynn judge to explain himself

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/appeal-court-flynn-judge-273967

A panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia say district court judge Emmet Sullivan must respond within 10 days to a request by Flynn that the higher court force him to drop the case. The appeals court order is the latest twist in a remarkable series of events that have thrown the Flynn case into turmoil on the eve of his sentencing for pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

Will the Coronavirus Kill What’s Left of Americans’ Faith in Washington?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/us/coronavirus-government-trust.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

In 2019, just 17 percent of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing. The pandemic appears to be eroding their faith even more.

US synagogues demur as Trump demands states let houses of worship reopen

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-synagogues-demur-as-trump-demands-states-let-houses-of-worship-reopen/

Many Jewish leaders reject president’s entreaty as evidence shows group prayer conducive to outbreaks; debate over how to resume services divides some observant communities

UAE activists rail against Palestinians for rejecting medical supplies

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/uae-rail-against-palestinians-for-rejecting-medical-supplies-629047

 United Arab Emirates (UAE) political activists, academics and social media users have expressed outrage over the Palestinian Authority’s reported refusal to accept medical supplies from the Gulf state because they were delivered through Ben-Gurion Airport.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said last week that the UAE did not coordinate the delivery of the medical supplies with the Palestinians.

 

Why do people believe conspiracy theories - and can they ever be convinced not to?

 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-why-do-people-believe-conspiracy-theories-and-can-they-ever-be-convinced-not-to-11985334

As a new video titled "Plandemic" spreads disinformation online, Sky News looks into the appeal of conspiracy theories.

A disgraced scientist and a viral video: how a Covid conspiracy theory started

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/coronavirus-viral-video-plandemic-judy-mikovits-conspiracy-theories

In Plandemic Dr Judy Mikovits blames coronavirus outbreak on a ‘circular cabal’ led by Bill Gates, accuses Dr Fauci of burying her research and says wearing a mask ‘activates your own virus’

 

Fox News Poll: Biden more trusted on coronavirus, Trump on economy

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-biden-more-trusted-on-coronavirus-trump-on-economy

The latest Fox News Poll finds voters trust Biden to do a better job than Trump on health care by 17 points, coronavirus by 9, and relations with China by 6.  Trump is trusted more on the economy by a slim 3-point margin.

In the 2020 ballot test, Biden leads Trump by 48-40 percent.  Biden’s 8-point advantage is outside the poll’s margin of error.  However, given that 11 percent are undecided or plan to vote for someone else, neither candidate hits 50 percent support.  The race could go either way.

Trump’s Inaccurate Claims on Hydroxychloroquine

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/politics/trump-fact-check-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

The president falsely described scientific research around the malaria drug, falsely denied the existence of a federal warning against it and argued, with no evidence, that large numbers of health care workers were taking it.

 

Toxicologist says anti-malaria drugs show 'promise' in treating coronavirus

https://www.foxnews.com/media/toxicologist-reacts-after-trump-announces-fda-making-anti-malaria-drug-available-to-test-covid-19-treatment

 

Appearing on "Fox & Friends Weekend," Dr. Chris Martenson said the experimental drugs -- including hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin -- were made available on Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration.

Although chloroquine has a "spotty past" and is unsafe at certain levels, Martenson noted that at the levels used in studies, the drug seems to "be reasonably safe" and works by allowing zinc to stop viruses from replicating.

In addition, azithromycin could potentially stop secondary infections in damaged lungs, he said.

 Martenson, a futurist and co-founder of PeakProsperity.com, said that while a small number of patients saw viral loads going down, long-term effects have yet to be revealed.

Trump confirms US is withdrawing from another major arms treaty

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/21/politics/us-open-skies-arms-control-treaty/index.html

 President Donald Trump confirmed the US will be exiting the Open Skies Treaty, a pact designed to reduce the risk of military miscalculations that could lead to war, and said Russia's actions had prompted him to take the decision.

"Russia didn't adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out," Trump told reporters outside the White House Thursday.

 

Former President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, former President George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense William Perry, and former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn -- who together with Henry Kissinger formed the Nuclear Security Project -- wrote the administration in March to urge they keep the Open Skies Treaty.

A trumped up EXCLUSIVE?

https://apac.news/a-trumped-up-exclusive/

 

On her Sky News program last night Markson told guest Clive Hamilton, of the origins of COVID-19, “There’s no firm intelligence on this either way on this, at least none that we know about, none that’s public.”

This is the same Sharri Markson who just six days earlier told Fox News she had a firm intelligence report, saying “These are just the facts that the dossier lays out and this is not ideology, this is not propaganda, these are just the facts.”

Controversial China 'influence' book to be published

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42954476

Australian author Prof Clive Hamilton said three publishers had declined to take on his book due to fears of legal "retaliation" from Beijing.

Last year one publisher, Allen & Unwin, withdrew plans to release it.

Wider discussion in Australia about possible Chinese influence has been dismissed by Beijing as "hysteria".

Publisher Hardie Grant said it would release the book, now titled Silent Invasion: China's Influence in Australia, after it had been rewritten to "minimise the legal risk".

Prof Hamilton told the BBC that he had earlier submitted the book to Australian lawmakers in a bid to have it published under parliamentary privilege. Such a move would give it legal protection.

 

Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls long thought to be blank contain text that's invisible to the naked eye

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/20/world/dead-sea-scroll-hidden-text-scn-trnd/index.html

 For decades, fragments from the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls were stowed away at the University of Manchester, deemed largely worthless.

Yes, they were still significant as authentic fragments of the coveted scrolls have been hard to come by, but they were blank, and therefore, just scraps of paper.

Until now.

Researchers have found that four of the 51 fragments believed to have been blank do, in fact, contain readable Hebrew/Aramaic text. They just needed a special camera to see it.

 

הגר"א וייס: משרד הבריאות עם הארץ ומיקל

https://www.kikar.co.il/360738.html

בעל המנחת אשר התייחס לנושא פתיחת בתי הכנסת והורה במהלך שיעורו השבועי כי יש להחמיר יותר מההנחיות של משרד הבריאות, כי "בדיני נפשות עסקינן" • צפו בשיעור 

 

"אני חושב שמשרד הבריאות הוא מיקל גדול, הוא עם הארץ, ואנחנו צריכים להחמיר יותר ממנו", אמר הרב שהוסיף בקריאה להקפיד ככל הניתן.

הגר"א וייס הוסיף והסביר, "אני חושב שאנחנו צריכים לנהוג במשנה חומרא במשנה זהירות, כי בדיני נפשות עסקינן".

 

 

Trump's Washington is failing badly with no end in sight to pandemic battle

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/21/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-washington/index.html

At the apex of political power, a President who ought to be unifying the country seems to be using his office to indulge his own need for attention and is exclusively talking to the sizable minority that supports him no matter what.

Amid crushing economic pain caused by shutdowns, a divided Congress cannot decide whether it wants to do more to help, compounding the impression that the fractured national political system and those in it are not equal to the moment.

Every four years, the instrument of political renewal, the presidential election, offers a pressure valve for partisan angst and, for all the nation's acrimonious political divides, legitimacy to the winner. 

 

 Trump is making clear that he plans to use every instrument of the federal government to ensure he wins a second term. This ranges from the seemingly trivial -- the use of the Lincoln Memorial as a backdrop to a boosterish Fox News town hall -- to the more sinister, the declassification of intelligence to fuel conservative conspiracy theories.

On Wednesday, Trump threatened to withhold coronavirus aid from Michigan and Nevada -- states trying to protect their residents by offering them the option of voting by mail in November.

Trump, who previously falsely claimed that millions of fraudulent votes cost him a popular-vote win in 2016, warned of "thousands and thousands" of fake ballots. 

 

With polls finding Biden in the lead, Trump has shown he plans to build another campaign on false claims about Obama -- this time alleging criminality in the investigation mounted into his own 2016 campaign's many and unusual contacts with Russia.

It's an extraordinary spectacle: a President running for a second term and focusing not on his own record but pinning hopes on falsifying the conduct of his predecessor.

 

"He thinks he's a builder, but he's a destroyer of everything he touches," Biden said of his opponent.

'Morning Joe' Host Says Trump is 'Pushing 300' Pounds in Rebuttal to Fox News Host Calling His Health 'Superhuman'

https://www.newsweek.com/morning-joe-trump-300-pounds-1472433

MSNBC's Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Monday morning mocked White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for conveying President Donald Trump's health is "superhuman," by suggesting Trump appears overweight and "pushing 300" pounds.

"You know, Stephanie, he's almost superhuman," Pirro said. "I don't know how anyone can deal with what he's dealing with, I mean I get frustrated with what's going on in Washington."

 

Covid-19 patients struggle with symptoms after recovery

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/05/20/coronavirus-covid-19-long-term-impact-health-recovery-gupta-dnt-newday-vpx.cnn

Did Trump Say More COVID-19 Testing Makes the US Look Bad?

 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-more-testing-look-bad/

But a quote meme circulated in May 2020 presented Trump as saying that undertaking more coronavirus testing made the U.S. “look bad” by revealing more infections — even though revealing infections is one of the primary purposes of the testing. According to the meme, Trump lamented that, “More testing only reveals more infections and therefore increases the numbers. In a way, by doing all this testing we make ourselves look bad”:

As Washington Post once observed, “Trump’s obsession with numbers has dominated and shaped the administration’s response to the coronavirus, as advisers and public health experts try to placate a leader who largely views the global pandemic through the political lens of how the statistics reflect on his presidency and hopes for reelection.”

True

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Mika Brzezinski: TV host blasts 'sick' Trump's conspiracy theory

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52748844

 In tweets, Mr Trump has appeared to link MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough to the death of an aide two decades ago, a conspiracy theory debunked by police.

"Donald, you're a sick person," anchor Mika Brzezinski said on air as she defended her husband.

Orthodox doctor who promoted coronavirus cocktail leaves community

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/orthodox-doctor-who-promoted-coronavirus-cocktail-leaves-community-628762

Leaders of the Kiryas Joel community spoke out publicly against Zelenko in an open letter in March.

The announcement comes after Zelenko was accused by community leaders of spreading disinformation about the rate of coronavirus infection in Kiryas Joel, leading to discrimination against residents of the village. Zelenko is also being investigated by a federal prosecutor over his claim that a study of the drugs he promoted had won approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Trump will lose in a landslide because of the economy, new election model predicts

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/20/business/economy-election-trump-biden-jobs/index.html

 The economy has gone from President Donald Trump's greatest political asset to perhaps his biggest weakness.

Unemployment is spiking at an unprecedented rate. Consumer spending is vanishing. And GDP is collapsing. History shows that dreadful economic trends like these spell doom for sitting presidents seeking reelection.

The coronavirus recession will cause Trump to suffer a "historic defeat" in November, a national election model released Wednesday by Oxford Economics predicted.

Oops: Elaine Chao Caught Pimping Her Family Business with China

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/elaine-chao-china-trip-foremost

The transportation secretary thought it’d be cool to bring family members to government meetings in which they had a financial interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a normal presidential administration—hell, in a normal professional setting of any kind—it would be considered inappropriate to bring one‘s family members to official work meetings and/or on business trips. But of course, the Trump administration is not normal. Rather, it‘s a family affair, the primary goal of which is to enrich Donald Trump and the people who surround him—who, among others, include his not-very-bright son-in-law. That M.O. starts at the top with the grifter-in-chief, but it also extends to dozens of current and former cabinet members who’ve seen no issue with taking their wives on taxpayer-funded European vacations, using a government plane to get a better shot of the solar eclipse, plunking down $31,000 on dining-room sets, and allegedly planning work travel based on a “desire to visit particular cities or countries.” So it’s not entirely surprising that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao thought it would be no big deal to bring her relatives—who happen to have major business interests in Beijing—to meetings with government officials during a visit to China in the fall of 2017, but unfortunately for Chao, not everyone in government has adopted Team Trump’s way of thinking.The New York Times reports that in October 2017, an alarmed official at the American Embassy in Beijing wrote an urgent email seeking advice concerning “a series of unorthodox requests” made by Chao‘s office related to her first visit to China as a Trump cabinet member. According to the Times, Chao—who is married to Senate leader Mitch McConnell—wanted federal officials to “coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with government officials.” Such requests would be wildly inappropriate for any secretary’s relatives, but were even more so given the Chao family’s business: her father, James Chao, founded Foremost Group, a shipping, trading, and finance company now run by Elaine’s sister Angela Chao. While the company is based in New York, its fleet is, per the Times, “overwhelmingly focused on China,” with roughly 72% of the raw materials it has shipped since early 2018 going to China, cargo that “helps feed” Beijing’s “industrial machine, which manufactures steel products that are a point of dispute in the deepening trade war between” China and the U.S. The company reportedly constructs almost all its vessels in state-owned shipyards in China, some with loans from the Chinese government.

 

China grants 18 trademarks in 2 months to Trump, daughter

https://apnews.com/0a3283036d2f4e699da4aa3c6dd01727

 The Chinese government granted 18 trademarks to companies linked to President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump over the last two months, Chinese public records show, raising concerns about conflicts of interest in the White House.

In October, China’s Trademark Office granted provisional approval for 16 trademarks to Ivanka Trump Marks LLC, bringing to 34 the total number of marks China has greenlighted this year, according to the office’s online database. The new approvals cover Ivanka-branded fashion gear including sunglasses, handbags, shoes and jewelry, as well as beauty services and voting machines.

 

Jared Kushner Is China’s Trump Card

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/jared-kushner-is-chinas-trump-card

How the President’s son-in-law, despite his inexperience in diplomacy, became Beijing’s primary point of interest.

 

15 times Trump praised China as coronavirus was spreading across the globe

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736

The president has lambasted the WHO for accepting Beijing’s assurances about the outbreak, but he repeated them, as well.

'We've been muzzled': CDC sources say White House putting politics ahead of science

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/20/politics/coronavirus-travel-alert-cdc-white-house-tensions-invs/index.html

In interviews with CNN, CDC officials say their agency's efforts to mount a coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic have been hamstrung by a White House whose decisions are driven by politics rather than science.

Trump calls study his administration partly-funded phony

U.S.-China Relations Are In A Free Fall, Says Expert | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Mika Responds To Trump Tweet | Morning Joe | MSNBC