Amerika

• Pandemic: Less air pollution means thousands fewer die
• US blacklists five Amazon foreign websites
• China begins construction of airport in Taxkorgan city bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
• British doctors warn some Chinese ventilators could kill if used in hospitals
• Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support – sources
• U.S. in talks with India, other ‘friends’ to restructure global supply chains: Pompeo
• Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Is Getting Ready for War
• Toronto synagogue’s Zoom prayer service hijacked by trolls screaming derogatory slurs
• Canada’s early COVID-19 cases came from the U.S. not China, provincial data shows
• 50 corpses discovered in US trucks after neighbours noticed smell and leaks

• Video shows Chicago officer shooting subway rider in back (vid)
• Condom sales down as lockdown limits sex lives, says Durex maker
• Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart Workers Organize a Historic Mass Strike
• Sealing borders saves lives during coronavirus pandemic: Devine
• ‘They owe trillions’ – Steve Bannon says China must be held accountable for coronavirus spread
• ‘Please, go outside’: COVID-19 much less likely to spread outdoors, Dr. Bonnie Henry says
• Trump administration asks intelligence agencies to find out whether China, WHO hid info on coronavirus pandemic
• No Policy Can Save Lives; It Can Only Trade Lives
• WHO ‘not invited’ to join China’s COVID-19 investigations
• Scientists Identify 1.9 Million Pieces of Microplastic in Square Meter of Ocean Floor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp62qPYhXns

• Judge rules Michigan stay-at-home order doesn’t infringe on constitutional rights
• United Front groups in Canada helped Beijing stockpile coronavirus safety supplies
• Canada set to ban assault-style weapons, including AR-15 and the gun used in Polytechnique massacre
• Taiwan Emerging From Pandemic With a Stronger Hand Against China
• Nearly half of global workforce at risk as job losses increase due to COVID-19: UN labour agency
• France to sell some of nation’s antique furniture to support hospitals
• Newly unsealed FBI records show internal debate over goal of Flynn probe
• Sweden plans to ask European Union to investigate origin of Covid-19, likely further straining relations with China
• Chinese ambassador’s coronavirus inquiry warning was ‘reckless, undiplomatic’, Alexander Downer says
• What if immunity to COVID-19 doesn’t last?

• Dead people are receiving $1,200 stimulus checks from the IRS, reports say
• Former top FBI lawyer worried Hillary Clinton would be indicted after winning election
• Biggest Hurdle to Bringing People Back to the Office May Be the Commute
• The Strange Story of a Las Vegas Radio Station Co-Opted by China
• Giant new Russian cathedral glorifies Putin and Stalin in mosaics
• Hundreds of protesters, some carrying guns in the state Capitol, demonstrate against Michigan’s emergency measures
• ‘Infecting our dreams’: Pandemic sabotages sleep worldwide
• Pentagon formally releases 3 Navy videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena”
• Coronavirus Pushes Colleges to the Breaking Point, Forcing ‘Hard Choices’ about Education
• Do Lockdowns Save Many Lives? In Most Places, the Data Say No

We knew the modern order was fragile, but no one knew how fragile. As it comes apart at the seams after a month of lockdown, modernity leaves a huge gap into which something will rush, most likely the increased strong executive authority and traditionalist social focus of the populists, who believe that biology (not ideology) provides a glimpse of our destiny.

Globalism seems to be disintegrating as China prepares for war at the same time that everyone who can is extracting their manufacturing from China and finding other places to make their supplies. Every nation has somewhat figured out by now that whoever makes everything it needs, and finds substitutes for rare materials, will come out ahead since it will not be forced into war. On the other hand, whoever finds their supplies cut off will have to attack Pearl Harbor, metaphorically or not.

Moving swiftly with their pawns, China continues its expansion into the middle east and Africa while simultaneously waving sabers near Taiwan and Vietnam. Most likely, China knows that it needs to seize wealth, and its goal is middle eastern oil and the raw materials of Africa. That way, it will not depend on America, Russia, or Europe. This will of course devastate European economies, which have grown fat, lazy, and liberal on the steady flow of checks from Beijing for all those fancy European motorcars and specialty cheese.

As that plays out, we are also seeing the complete collapse of the market socialist system, which uses high taxes to pay for benefits in order to keep the voters swimming Left. Witness the carnage:

France is to sell off some of the nation’s antique furniture to support the country’s hard-pressed hospitals.

It is not yet known exactly what will be sold and officials did not respond to requests for details, but French media reported that about 100 objects dating from the 19th century, particularly from the reign of Louis-Philippe I between 1830 and 1848, will be selected.

If you wonder why we have such a nebulous grasp of history, consider that what we are seeing now shows how dying civilizations eat up their own history: they delete the offensive parts, leaving all of their past a mystery, while simultaneously selling off the artifacts to pay for votes today. This means that important items and books go into private collections in the unstable parts of the world, where they are promptly destroyed through theft, incompetence, and revolutions.

In a first, an American president stood up to the Saudis and told them that bad things would happen if the Saudis did not stop the oil scheme which is devastating the American economy. Good thing we got that new World Trade Center built, especially since the airlines have so many idle planes. Perhaps the biggest news story of all is that despite widespread panic over the economy, people are enjoying the simpler life with more personal time that quarantine has had to offer. Modernity has died of our lack of faith in it as much as its constant stumbling failures.

Tags: linkpost, periscope