German Health Minister Jens Spahn has said that his country is facing a “coronavirus epidemic.” Since breaking out in northern Italy, the deadly COVID-19 virus has spread to more than a dozen European countries.
“We are at the beginning of a coronavirus epidemic in Germany,” the minister told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday. Spahn added that infection chains can no longer be tracked in Germany, and called on hospitals and employers to review their pandemic planning.
A new instance of the deadly infection confirmed in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen on Tuesday brought to 18 the number of cases recorded in Germany.
Spahn claimed earlier that “detection and containment” efforts in Europe were working to hold back the spread of the virus, but an explosion of cases in northern Italy and at least 13 other European countries have forced him to reevaluate the situation. At his last press conference on Tuesday, Spahn admitted “it could get worse before it gets better.”
Tracking the ‘infection chains’ – noting the previous travel and social encounters of the infected – is vital to understanding the spread of the illness. Thus far, the majority of patients in Germany were found to have recently traveled from Italy or China, or had contact with travelers.
“The infection chains are partially no longer trackable, and that is a new thing,” Spahn said on Tuesday. “Large numbers of people have had contact with the patients, and that is a big change to the 16 patients we had until now where the chain could be traced back to the origin in China.”
Despite growing panic across the continent, EU health ministers agreed on Tuesday to keep international borders open for the time being. “Closing borders would be a disproportionate and ineffective measure at this time,” Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza told reporters after a meeting in Rome.
Originating in Wuhan, China, in November, the novel coronavirus has since spread to around 40 countries worldwide. Over 80,000 people have become infected, and more than 2,700 have died, the majority of them in China.
Journalists and security guards were attacked by violent Bernie Bros in Austin, Texas yesterday, with one having to visit hospital to receive stitches after having his head gashed.
One of the security guards revealed what happened to him and his colleagues when Owen Shroyer began bullhorning during the event.
“As soon as Bernie went on stage and Owen tried to give some counter-points with the bullhorn, we were immediately rushed by a number of very aggressive individuals,” said the security guard.
Shroyer and his security were situated well outside the perimeter and where police officers had said they were allowed to be. They did not attempt to insert themselves into where the Bernie supporters were located.
“There were people on the perimeter that were Bernie supporters and as soon as Owen started with his counter-message they rushed us,”the security guard added, noting that a man wearing a black bandana used a large steel flashlight as a threatening weapon while another tried to physically grab Shroyer’s bullhorn.
During this confrontation, a security guard was left bloodied and had to be taken to the hospital to receive stitches. Police were nowhere to be seen during the scuffle.
“I promise you, these people were not peaceful, they were literally preparing themselves, masking up, getting metal objects into their hands, into their pockets, they were looking for a confrontation,” said the security guard.
Other clips from the confrontation showed Bernie supporters acting out in bizarre ways, including one older man who pulled strange faces into the camera while Shroyer was bullhorning.
Senior ABC News correspondent David Wright accused his own network of denying President Donald Trump “credit” for his administration’s accomplishments and revealed that he’s a “socialist,” according to an undercover video captured by Project Veritas.
“I feel terrible about it,” Wright says of ABC’s coverage of the presidential election. “I feel that the truth suffers, the voters are poorly informed and people have the opportunity to tune into whatever they want to hear.”
“It’s like there’s no upside in, or our bosses, don’t see an upside in doing the job we’re supposed to do; which is to speak truth to power and hold people accountable,” he adds.
In another part of the video, Wright claims that the media doesn’t hold President Donald Trump to account, and then admits that reporters don’t give the president “credit” where it’s due. “I think, some of that at least in the place that I work and places like it, is that with Trump, we’re interested in three things: we’re interested in the outrage of the day, the investigation, and of the palace intrigue of who’s backstabbing who,” he says.
Later in the footage, Wright is asked about his political ideology, to which he says that he not only sees himself as a Democrat-socialist, but a full-blown socialist. “I think there should be national health insurance,” Wright argues. “I’m totally fine with reining in corporations, I think there are too many billionaires, and I think that there’s a wealth gap. That’s a problem.”
The video concluded with Wright saying that the establishment media is more interested in covering the election as a “horse race” than a contest about issues important to voters. “I don’t think we’re terribly interested in voters,” he concedes.
“In addition to the candidate of the week, we need the story to move on,” Wright explains. “We’re happy to have Buttigieg be the story last week and we’re happy to have Klobuchar as a new subject this week, and then when we’re tired of her we’ll be delighted if Elizabeth Warren kicks ass in Nevada because then we have something new to talk about.”
“We’re all guilty of the same thing,” Wright continues.” I think that all of the big news organizations… ABC, CBS, NBC.”
“We recognize that we’re dinosaurs and we’re in danger of dying,” he adds.
The Washinton Post reported that ABC News has suspended correspondent Wright “for unguarded remarks he made in a video by operatives of Project Veritas.”
In a statement to Project Veritas, ABC News said of the decision: “Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved. David Wright has been suspended, and to avoid any possible appearance of bias, he will be reassigned away from political coverage when he returns.”
Re: the title “crisis no obvious to all“… NOT obvious to the average person who is not paying attention!
at the end of this pandemic, the WHO should be sacked with how they have handled this situation very very poorly. especially that corrupted tedros guy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Mondayreleaseda fact sheet explaining how he will fund his “major” multitrillion-dollar campaign proposals — the Green New Deal, free college, housing for all, etc. — and revealed that he will pay for them through a combination of cutting military spending, creating new taxes, and enacting penalties on the fossil fuel industry in the form of lawsuits.
While Sanders has released a suite of lofty plans with the promise to improve the lives of middle class and low income Americans, critics have repeatedly asked the socialist senator to explain how his administration will pay for his grandiose proposals.
His campaign released a fact sheet on Monday listing each of his “major plans” and providing a line on how he will make it a reality.
His $16.3 trillion Green New Deal plan, perhaps one of his most prolific proposals, will be paid for, he claims, through a variety of methods including slashes in military spending and lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry.
He is calling to reduce defense spending by $1.215 trillion “by scaling back military operations on protecting the global oil supply.” His campaign claims he will raise $3.085 trillion by “making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies.” He expects to garner another $6.4 trillion “from the wholesale of energy produced by the regional Power Marketing Administrations.”
“This revenue will be collected from 2023-2035, and after 2035 electricity will be virtually free, aside from operations and maintenance costs,” his website states.
Sanders also claims his Green New Deal plan will create 20 million jobs, which will effectively create a new tax base and eliminate the need for $1.31 trillion in “federal and state safety net spending due to the creation of millions of good-paying, unionized jobs.”
His campaign actually argues that enacting his multitrillion-dollar climate change proposal will save the United States $2.9 trillion in the next decade, $21 trillion over the next 30 years, and $70.4 trillion over the next 80 years.
“If we do not act, the U.S. will lose $34.5 trillion by the end of the century in economic productivity,” he claims.
That is far from Sanders’ only proposal. Offering free college and cancelation of student debt will cost, according to his estimates, $2.2 trillion. Sanders claims the plan is “fully paid” for with a “modest tax on Wall Street speculation,” contending that it will raise more than enough — $2.4 million over the next decade.
Sanders says his $1.5 trillion housing for all plan and $1.5 trillion universal child care/pre-K plan will be paid for with “a wealth tax on the top one-tenth of one percent – those who have a net worth of at least $32 million.” He claims it will raise “a total of $4.35 trillion.”
His other plans rely almost entirely on new taxes on the wealthy. His vow to erase $81 billion past-due medical debt will be “fully paid for by establishing an income inequality tax on large corporations that pay CEOs at least 50 times more than average workers.”Additionally, Social Security expansion will be paid for, he says, with a tax on Americans with incomes over $250,000.
Instead of explicitly stating how Sanders will fund his Medicare for All plan, which some experts say could cost over $60 trillion over the next decade, the fact sheet simply touts a “menu of financing options that would more than pay for the Medicare for All legislation he has introduced,” which includes raising taxes on the middle class.
Per the fact sheet, those options include:
Creating a 4 percent income-based premium paid by employees, exempting the first $29,000 in income for a family of four.
Imposing a 7.5 percent income-based premium paid by employers, exempting the first $1 million in payroll to protect small businesses.
Eliminating health tax expenditures, which would no longer be needed under Medicare for All.
Raising the top marginal income tax rate to 52% on income over $10 million.
Replacing the cap on the state and local tax deduction with an overall dollar cap of $50,000 for a married couple on all itemized deductions.
Taxing capital gains at the same rates as income from wages and cracking down on gaming through derivatives, like-kind exchanges, and the zero tax rate on capital gains passed on through bequests.
Enacting the For the 99.8% Act, which returns the estate tax exemption to the 2009 level of $3.5 million, closes egregious loopholes, and increases rates progressively including by adding a top tax rate of 77% on estate values in excess of $1 billion.
Enacting corporate tax reform including restoring the top federal corporate income tax rate to 35 percent.
Using $350 billion of the amount raised from the tax on extreme wealth to help finance Medicare for All.
The release of the fact sheet follows Sanders growing frustration over the mounting questions over the costs of his massive proposals.
Anderson Cooper grilled Sanders on the costs of his various proposals during the presidential hopeful’s recent sit-down interview with 60 Minutes.
“But you say you don’t know what the total price is, but you know how it’s going to be paid for. How do you know it’s going to be paid for if you don’t know how much the price is?” Cooper asked.
“I can’t rattle off to you every nickel and every dime,” Sanders said. “But we have accounted for — you talked about Medicare for All — we have options out there that will pay for it.”
US Customs and Border Protection agents in South Texas are reportedly being given respirator face masks to deal with Chinese immigrants crossing illegally into the US through Mexico.
The agents, stationed in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sector, on Tuesday said they’ve encountered 91 immigrants from China since start of 2020, according to Center for Immigration Studies fellow and counter-terrorism expert Todd Bensman.
Fortunately, none of the Chinese immigrants have tested positive for the Coronavirus currently wreaking havoc in China and other parts of the world.
From Bensman:
Border Patrol source: 91 Chinese migrants apprehended at Texas Rio Grande sector since Jan. 1. They are being isolated and screened for virus. Agents given respirators to deal. No virus detected as of today. Lots of Chinese still coming over there and elsewhere.
The update from the southern border comes as US health officials on Tuesday warned the virus’ spread to the United States appears inevitable as cases continue to pop up in Asia and the Middle East.
“Ultimately, we expect we will see community spread in the United States,” a top scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. “It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.”
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