wakingtimes--2020-02-05--Novel Coronavirus — The Latest Pandemic Scare

Chances are you ’ ve heard the news about a new and potentially lethal coronavirus .
Ground zero is Wuhan City , Hubei Province in China .
As of February 2 , 2020 , mainland China reported a total of 17,187 confirmed cases , including 2,110 severe cases and 362 deaths ( including a retired doctor working with coronavirus patients in Wuhan ) .
The first case was reported in Wuhan on December 21 , 2019 .
According to ProMED International Society for Infectious Diseases : On January 21 , 2020 , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patient in Washington state who had recently visited Wuhan , China .
A second case , in Illinois , was confirmed January 24 , 2020 .
This patient had also recently returned from a visit to Wuhan .
As of February 2 , 2020 , there were 11 confirmed cases in the U.S .
Since then cases have also been reported in at least 23 other countries , including Canada , Australia , Japan , Thailand , South Korea , France , Taiwan , Vietnam , Singapore and Saudi Arabia .
Globally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and one death as of February 2 , 2020 .
January 22 , 2020 , China shut down all transport networks in and out of Wuhan — a city with a population of 11 million — in an effort to contain the spread of the disease .
So far , most of those who have died have been elderly .
As reported by the Foreign Policy Journal : The Foreign Policy Journal goes on to suggest children may be protected by other vaccines given during childhood , such as the measles and rubella @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to wonder whether innate immunity against the coronavirus might be boosted in adults by giving them the measles vaccine .
If you ask me , that would be a significant long-shot .
Vaccines have risks , so getting a vaccine on the remote chance that it might confer protection against a completely different infection than what it ’ s designed for seems inappropriate in the extreme .
As noted in the Washington Examiner : “ Sending out coronavirus vaccines won ’ t make sense unless the spread gets worse … The bare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone knows them yet , are that a global rollout of a coronavirus vaccine would kill some 7,000 people or so .
Of course , we ’ re never going to get everyone vaccinated .
And I ’ m guessing here , but that average death rate from vaccination , for all things , is one in a million .
Yes , that ’ s including those influenza shots the old folks are abjured to get every winter — we know that some will die because of them .
That we know this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compensation program … The … trade-off in this situation is how many we kill by giving them the vaccine , versus how many die without it ?
The coronavirus is simply not widespread enough yet to take the risk of jabbing everyone.
” Like other coronaviruses , such as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ( MERS-CoV ) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus ( SARS-CoV ) , this new coronavirus ( dubbed 2019-nCoV ) , is suspected of being zoonotic , meaning it can be transmitted between animals and humans .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to blame the outbreak on snakes and bat soup , as of January 22 , none of the animals sold at the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market had been found to carry the virus .
Meanwhile , a number of other reports cast a disturbing light on the outbreak , raising questions about biohazard safety at laboratories working with dangerous pathogens .
Season of Fear and National Budgeting Go Hand in Hand Whatever the source , the hysteria being drummed up follows a now well-worn pattern where the population is kept in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ microbes so that drug companies ( aided by federal health officials ) can come to the rescue with yet another expensive ( and potentially mandatory ) drug or vaccine .
Back in 2005 , headlines warned the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event with a calculated 2 million Americans succumbing to the bird flu ; the best-case scenario had a calculated death toll of 200,000 .
The same scare tactics were used during the 2009 swine flu outbreak .
Both pandemics turned out to be grossly exaggerated threats , but that didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , cool-headed approach to subsequent outbreaks .
If anything , efforts to drum up fear and hysteria have only escalated .
In 2014 , we were told Ebola might overtake the U.S. and then it was pertussis outbreaks .
In January 2015 , it was measles in Disneyland .
In January 2016 , it was zika , followed by more news about pertussis outbreaks .
In 2017 and 2018 it was influenza , then back to measles again in 2019 .
Now we have coronavirus .
January and February appear to be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scare with the dutiful assistance of corporatized media .
It ’ s convenient , seeing how usually by the first Monday in February every year ( Feb. 3 , 2020 ) , the president sends the U.S. Congress the administration ’ s budget requesting funds to be allocated to federal agencies for the next fiscal year ’ s budget ( Oct. 1 , 2020 – Sept. 30 , 2021 ) .
Each time there ’ s a public health scare , the Pharma and public health lobby is able to vie for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for drug and vaccine development .
January 23 , 2020 , Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the NIH ’ s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , announced a coronavirus vaccine is in the pipeline , with human trials set to start in about three months .
Stock prices for makers of coronavirus vaccines experienced an immediate upswing in response to media reports of impending doom .
As mentioned , a number of reports raise questions about the source of the 2019-nCoV .
For starters , a 2014 NPR article was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2014 U.S. moratorium on experiments on coronaviruses like SARS and MERS , as well as influenza virus , that might make the viruses more pathogenic and/or easy to spread among humans .
The ban came on the heels of “ high-profile lab mishaps ” at the CDC and “ extremely controversial flu experiments ” in which the bird flu virus was engineered to become more lethal and contagious between ferrets .
The goal was to see if it could mutate and become more lethal and contagious between humans , causing future pandemics .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been red flags raised in the scientific community about biosecurity breaches in high containment biological labs in the U.S. and globally .
There were legitimate fears that a lab-created superflu pathogen might escape the confines of biosecurity labs where researchers are conducting experiments .
It ’ s a reasonable fear , certainly , considering that there have been many safety breaches at biolabs in the U.S. and other countries .
The federal moratorium on lethal virus experiments in the U.S. was lifted at the end of December 2017 , even though researchers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lab-created hybrid coronavirus similar to that of SARS that was capable of infecting both human airway cells and mice .
The NIH had allowed the controversial research to proceed because it had begun before the moratorium was put in place — a decision criticized by Simon Wain-Hobson , a virologist at Pasteur Institute in Paris , who pointed out that “ If the [ new ] virus escaped , nobody could predict the trajectory.
” In January 2018 , China ’ s first maximum security virology laboratory ( biosecurity level 4 ) designed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s most dangerous pathogens opened its doors — in Wuhan .
Is it pure coincidence that Wuhan City is now the epicenter of this novel coronavirus infection ?
The year before , Tim Trevan , a Maryland biosafety consultant , expressed concern about viral threats potentially escaping the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory , which happens to be located just 20 miles from the Wuhan market identified as ground zero for the current NCIP outbreak .
As reported by the Daily Mail : Equally curious is the fact that Johns Hopkins Center for Health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a novel coronavirus pandemic preparedness exercise October 18 , 2019 , in New York called “ Event 201.
” The simulation predicted a global death toll of 65 million people within a span of 18 months .
As reported by Forbes December 12 , 2019 : Sounds exactly like NCIP , doesn ’ t it ?
Yet the new coronavirus responsible for NCIP had not yet been identified at the time of the simulation , and the first case wasn ’ t reported until two months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fictional pandemic as “ Disease X ” — the same designation used by The Telegraph in its January 24 , 2020 , video report , “ Could This Coronavirus be Disease X ?
” which suggests that media outlets were briefed and there was coordination ahead of time with regard to use of certain keywords and catchphrases in news reports and opinion articles .
Johns Hopkins University ( JHU ) is the biggest recipient of research grants from federal agencies , including the National Institutes of Health , National Science Foundation and Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dollars in research grants from the Gates Foundation .
In 2016 , Johns Hopkins spent more than $ 2 billion on research projects , leading all U.S. universities in research spending for the 38th year in a row .
Research conducted under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA ) is completely shielded from FOIA requests by the public .
Additionally , agencies may deny FOIA requests and withhold information if government officials conclude that shielding it from public view “ protects trade secrets and commercial or financial information which could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a company.
” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that its mission is “ to protect America from health , safety and security threats , both foreign and in the U.S. ” Clearly , it will be difficult to obtain information about government-funded biomedical research on microbes like coronavirus conducted at major universities or by pharmaceutical corporations in biohazard labs .
How likely is it , then , that the coronavirus outbreak making people so sick today “ suddenly ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ snakes in a Wuhan market ?
It looks more like a biosecurity accident but , until more is known , inevitably there will be more questions than answers about whether this latest global public health emergency is a more ambitious tactical “ sand table exercise , ” echoing unanswered questions about the 2009 swine flu pandemic fiasco .
This time , there could be a lot more bodies left on the field , although some statisticians conducting benefit cost analyses may consider 65 million casualties in a global human population of 7.8 billion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical research conducted in the name of “ the greater good.
” According to the WHO , signs and symptoms of NCIP in its initial stages include : In more severe cases , the infection can lead to pneumonia , severe acute respiratory syndrome and kidney failure .
WHO ’ s “ rapid advice note , ” detailing how to care for patients presenting mild symptoms of NCIP in the home can be downloaded here .
Recommendations include : • Limiting the number of caretakers .
Ideally , designate a healthy younger person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care for the patient ( older people appear to be more susceptible to severe disease ) • Keeping other household members in a different room , or keeping a distance of at least 1 meter ( 3.2 feet ) from the patient • Limiting the movement of the patient and minimizing shared space .
Make sure shared spaces such as kitchen and bathroom are well-ventilated by keeping the windows open Instructions on protective gear , such as protective masks and gloves , and the safe handling and disposal of them are also detailed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to maintain good hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the home .
General recommendations for how to reduce your risk of contracting an infection at home , work or when traveling can be found on WHO ’ s Novel Coronavirus Advice for the Public page .
A key recommendation — which applies to all infections , both bacterial and viral — is to frequently wash your hands with soap and water .
Also , be sure to cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing , and avoid close @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or influenza .
According to Peter Horby , professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the Centre of Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford , NCIP has the hallmark signs of “ classic viral pneumonia , ” and since there are currently no antivirals available for NCIP , the focus of care is to support the lungs and other organs until the patient recovers .
During this time , I recommend boosting your immune system with regular sensibly controlled sun exposure and , when unable to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Adding liposomal vitamin C and quercetin supplements can also be helpful .
All three help protect against infections in general , and quercetin may offer benefits as a treatment for SARS coronavirus infections .
According to a study in the Journal of Virology , “ quercetin offers great promise as a potential drug in the clinical treatment of SARS.
” Resveratrol is another antioxidant that could be useful .
It ’ s been shown to inhibit MERS-CoV infection , at least in vitro .
There are some events that happen , which are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing we can do is learn how to better respond to bad news that causes stress , which can depress the immune system .
Living in a constant state of anxiety and fear is not healthy .
Finding ways to lower stress through regular exercise , spending time in nature , practicing meditation and getting plenty of sleep on a daily basis all help optimize immune function and decrease the effects of stress that are all too often a part of our lives today .

Novel Coronavirus — The Latest Pandemic Scare
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
Chances are you’ve heard the news about a new and potentially lethal coronavirus. Ground zero is Wuhan City, Hubei Province in China. As of February 2, 2020, mainland China reported a total of 17,187 confirmed cases, including 2,110 severe cases and 362 deaths (including a retired doctor working with coronavirus patients in Wuhan).
The first case was reported in Wuhan on December 21, 2019. According to ProMED International Society for Infectious Diseases:
“Patients’ clinical manifestations were consistent with viral pneumonia. Most patients had severe and nonproductive cough following illness onset, some had dyspnea, and almost all had normal or decreased leukocyte counts and radiographic evidence of pneumonia. Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market has western and eastern sections, and 15 environmental specimens collected in the western section were positive for 2019-nCoV virus through RT-PCR testing and genetic sequencing analysis. Despite extensive searching, no animal from the market has thus far been identified as a possible source of infection.”
On January 21, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. case — a patient in Washington state who had recently visited Wuhan, China. A second case, in Illinois, was confirmed January 24, 2020. This patient had also recently returned from a visit to Wuhan. As of February 2, 2020, there were 11 confirmed cases in the U.S.
Since then cases have also been reported in at least 23 other countries, including Canada, Australia, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, France, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Globally, there were 14, 557 confirmed cases and one death as of February 2, 2020.
January 22, 2020, China shut down all transport networks in and out of Wuhan — a city with a population of 11 million — in an effort to contain the spread of the disease.
Elderly Appear Particularly Vulnerable
So far, most of those who have died have been elderly. As reported by the Foreign Policy Journal:
“One puzzling aspect so far is the thankful lack of child victims. Usually, children, with less developed immune systems than adults, come down with one illness after another … Yet few children have yet been reported with coronavirus symptoms. That does not mean that no children have been infected. A similar pattern of benign disease in children, with increasing severity and mortality with age, was seen in SARS and MERS. SARS had a mortality rate averaging 10 percent. Yet no children, and just 1 percent of youths under 24, died, while those older than 50 had a 65 percent risk of dying. Is being an adult a risk factor per se? If so, what is it about childhood that confers protection?”
The Foreign Policy Journal goes on to suggest children may be protected by other vaccines given during childhood, such as the measles and rubella vaccines. It even goes so far as to wonder whether innate immunity against the coronavirus might be boosted in adults by giving them the measles vaccine.
If you ask me, that would be a significant long-shot. Vaccines have risks, so getting a vaccine on the remote chance that it might confer protection against a completely different infection than what it’s designed for seems inappropriate in the extreme. As noted in the Washington Examiner:
“Sending out coronavirus vaccines won’t make sense unless the spread gets worse … The bare facts, at least as far as anyone knows them yet, are that a global rollout of a coronavirus vaccine would kill some 7,000 people or so. Of course, we’re never going to get everyone vaccinated. And I’m guessing here, but that average death rate from vaccination, for all things, is one in a million. Yes, that’s including those influenza shots the old folks are abjured to get every winter — we know that some will die because of them. That we know this is exactly why we have the vaccine compensation program … The … trade-off in this situation is how many we kill by giving them the vaccine, versus how many die without it? The coronavirus is simply not widespread enough yet to take the risk of jabbing everyone.”
Source of Novel Coronavirus Remains Unknown
Like other coronaviruses, such as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), this new coronavirus (dubbed 2019-nCoV), is suspected of being zoonotic, meaning it can be transmitted between animals and humans.
The disease itself has been named “novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia” or NECIP. As reported by CNN: “Both SARS and MERS are classified as zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals. This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans. Now these viruses can be transmitted from person to person … In the case of this 2019 coronavirus outbreak, reports state that most of the first group of patients hospitalized were workers or customers at a local seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles.”
However, while media have been quick to blame the outbreak on snakes and bat soup, as of January 22, none of the animals sold at the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market had been found to carry the virus.
Meanwhile, a number of other reports cast a disturbing light on the outbreak, raising questions about biohazard safety at laboratories working with dangerous pathogens.
Season of Fear and National Budgeting Go Hand in Hand
Whatever the source, the hysteria being drummed up follows a now well-worn pattern where the population is kept in a perpetual state of anxiety and fear about microbes so that drug companies (aided by federal health officials) can come to the rescue with yet another expensive (and potentially mandatory) drug or vaccine.
Back in 2005, headlines warned the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event with a calculated 2 million Americans succumbing to the bird flu; the best-case scenario had a calculated death toll of 200,000. The same scare tactics were used during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.
Both pandemics turned out to be grossly exaggerated threats, but that didn’t result in a more conservative, cool-headed approach to subsequent outbreaks. If anything, efforts to drum up fear and hysteria have only escalated.
In 2014, we were told Ebola might overtake the U.S. and then it was pertussis outbreaks. In January 2015, it was measles in Disneyland. In January 2016, it was zika, followed by more news about pertussis outbreaks. In 2017 and 2018 it was influenza, then back to measles again in 2019. Now we have coronavirus.
January and February appear to be a favorite time to launch a global disease scare with the dutiful assistance of corporatized media. It’s convenient, seeing how usually by the first Monday in February every year (Feb. 3, 2020), the president sends the U.S. Congress the administration’s budget requesting funds to be allocated to federal agencies for the next fiscal year’s budget (Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021).
Each time there’s a public health scare, the Pharma and public health lobby is able to vie for a larger slice of taxpayer money to pay for drug and vaccine development.
January 23, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced a coronavirus vaccine is in the pipeline, with human trials set to start in about three months. Stock prices for makers of coronavirus vaccines experienced an immediate upswing in response to media reports of impending doom.
Moratorium on SARS/MERS Experiments Lifted in 2017
As mentioned, a number of reports raise questions about the source of the 2019-nCoV. For starters, a 2014 NPR article was rather prophetic. It discusses the October 2014 U.S. moratorium on experiments on coronaviruses like SARS and MERS, as well as influenza virus, that might make the viruses more pathogenic and/or easy to spread among humans.
The ban came on the heels of “high-profile lab mishaps” at the CDC and “extremely controversial flu experiments” in which the bird flu virus was engineered to become more lethal and contagious between ferrets. The goal was to see if it could mutate and become more lethal and contagious between humans, causing future pandemics.
However, for the past decade there have been red flags raised in the scientific community about biosecurity breaches in high containment biological labs in the U.S. and globally. There were legitimate fears that a lab-created superflu pathogen might escape the confines of biosecurity labs where researchers are conducting experiments. It’s a reasonable fear, certainly, considering that there have been many safety breaches at biolabs in the U.S. and other countries.
The federal moratorium on lethal virus experiments in the U.S. was lifted at the end of December 2017, even though researchers announced in 2015 they had created a lab-created hybrid coronavirus similar to that of SARS that was capable of infecting both human airway cells and mice.
The NIH had allowed the controversial research to proceed because it had begun before the moratorium was put in place — a decision criticized by Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at Pasteur Institute in Paris, who pointed out that “If the [new] virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory.”
Others, such as Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist and biodefence expert at Rutgers University, agreed, saying “The only impact of this work is the creation, in a lab, of a new, non-natural risk.”
Wuhan Is Home to Lab Studying World’s Deadliest Pathogens
In January 2018, China’s first maximum security virology laboratory (biosecurity level 4) designed for the study of the world’s most dangerous pathogens opened its doors — in Wuhan. Is it pure coincidence that Wuhan City is now the epicenter of this novel coronavirus infection?
The year before, Tim Trevan, a Maryland biosafety consultant, expressed concern about viral threats potentially escaping the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which happens to be located just 20 miles from the Wuhan market identified as ground zero for the current NCIP outbreak. As reported by the Daily Mail:
“The Wuhan lab is also equipped for animal research,” and “Regulations for animal research — especially that conducted on primates — are much looser in China than in the U.S. and other Western countries … But that was also cause for concern for Trevan. Studying the behavior of a virus like 209-nCoV and developing treatments or vaccines for it requires infecting these research monkeys, an important step before human testing. Monkeys are unpredictable though, warned [Rutgers University microbiologist Dr. Richard] Ebright. ‘They can run, they can scratch they can bite,’ he said, and the viruses they carry would go where their feet, nails and teeth do.'”
Coronavirus Outbreak Simulation Took Place in October 2019
Equally curious is the fact that Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a novel coronavirus pandemic preparedness exercise October 18, 2019, in New York called “Event 201.” The simulation predicted a global death toll of 65 million people within a span of 18 months. As reported by Forbes December 12, 2019:
“The experts ran through a carefully designed, detailed simulation of a new (fictional) viral illness called CAPS or coronavirus acute pulmonary syndrome. This was modeled after previous epidemics like SARS and MERS.”
Sounds exactly like NCIP, doesn’t it? Yet the new coronavirus responsible for NCIP had not yet been identified at the time of the simulation, and the first case wasn’t reported until two months later.
Forbes also refers to the fictional pandemic as “Disease X” — the same designation used by The Telegraph in its January 24, 2020, video report, “Could This Coronavirus be Disease X?” which suggests that media outlets were briefed and there was coordination ahead of time with regard to use of certain keywords and catchphrases in news reports and opinion articles.
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is the biggest recipient of research grants from federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Defense and has received millions of dollars in research grants from the Gates Foundation. In 2016, Johns Hopkins spent more than $2 billion on research projects, leading all U.S. universities in research spending for the 38th year in a row.
If research funded by federal agencies, such as the DOD or HHS is classified as being performed “in the interest of national security,” it is exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Research conducted under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is completely shielded from FOIA requests by the public. Additionally, agencies may deny FOIA requests and withhold information if government officials conclude that shielding it from public view “protects trade secrets and commercial or financial information which could harm the competitive posture or business interests of a company.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that its mission is “to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S.” Clearly, it will be difficult to obtain information about government-funded biomedical research on microbes like coronavirus conducted at major universities or by pharmaceutical corporations in biohazard labs.
How likely is it, then, that the coronavirus outbreak making people so sick today “suddenly” emerged simply because people ate bats and snakes in a Wuhan market? It looks more like a biosecurity accident but, until more is known, inevitably there will be more questions than answers about whether this latest global public health emergency is a more ambitious tactical “sand table exercise,” echoing unanswered questions about the 2009 swine flu pandemic fiasco.
This time, there could be a lot more bodies left on the field, although some statisticians conducting benefit cost analyses may consider 65 million casualties in a global human population of 7.8 billion people to be relatively small when advancing medical research conducted in the name of “the greater good.”
Signs and Symptoms of NCIP
According to the WHO, signs and symptoms of NCIP in its initial stages include:
Fever
Fatigue
Sore throat
Shortness of breath
Dry cough
In more severe cases, the infection can lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome and kidney failure.
Care Advice
WHO’s “rapid advice note,” detailing how to care for patients presenting mild symptoms of NCIP in the home can be downloaded here. Recommendations include:
Placing the patient in a well-ventilated room
Limiting the number of caretakers. Ideally, designate a healthy younger person who has no underlying risk factors to care for the patient (older people appear to be more susceptible to severe disease)
Keeping other household members in a different room, or keeping a distance of at least 1 meter (3.2 feet) from the patient
Limiting the movement of the patient and minimizing shared space. Make sure shared spaces such as kitchen and bathroom are well-ventilated by keeping the windows open
Instructions on protective gear, such as protective masks and gloves, and the safe handling and disposal of them are also detailed, as are special instructions for how to maintain good hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the home.
General recommendations for how to reduce your risk of contracting an infection at home, work or when traveling can be found on WHO’s Novel Coronavirus Advice for the Public page.
A key recommendation — which applies to all infections, both bacterial and viral — is to frequently wash your hands with soap and water. Also, be sure to cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, and avoid close contact with anyone exhibiting symptoms of cold or influenza.
According to Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the Centre of Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford, NCIP has the hallmark signs of “classic viral pneumonia,” and since there are currently no antivirals available for NCIP, the focus of care is to support the lungs and other organs until the patient recovers.
During this time, I recommend boosting your immune system with regular sensibly controlled sun exposure and, when unable to do that, taking oral vitamin D3. Adding liposomal vitamin C and quercetin supplements can also be helpful.
All three help protect against infections in general, and quercetin may offer benefits as a treatment for SARS coronavirus infections. According to a study in the Journal of Virology, “quercetin offers great promise as a potential drug in the clinical treatment of SARS.” Resveratrol is another antioxidant that could be useful. It’s been shown to inhibit MERS-CoV infection, at least in vitro.
There are some events that happen, which are not in our control, but one thing we can do is learn how to better respond to bad news that causes stress, which can depress the immune system.
Living in a constant state of anxiety and fear is not healthy. Finding ways to lower stress through regular exercise, spending time in nature, practicing meditation and getting plenty of sleep on a daily basis all help optimize immune function and decrease the effects of stress that are all too often a part of our lives today.


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--Coronavirus Crisis Exposes the Brutal, Inhumane and Orwellian Truth About Communism

There ’ s an ongoing debate amongst 20th century historians .
Who killed more people , Hitler , Stalin or Mao ?
Surprisingly , Chairman Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) is the frontrunner with estimates ranging from 45 to over 60 million people murdered , starved , or worked to death under his iron fist .
Mao ’ s CCP lives on as a modern capitalistic , technocratic , authoritarian regime , and aside from general information about what life is like for the average Chinese citizen , we in the free world really don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like .
In recent years we ’ ve been able to learn about some of the more outrageous social controls in Chinese society , like social credit scores , heavy internal censorship of the internet , the occasional mass public execution , and the ubiquity of facial recognition technology to monitor ordinary people .
Not since Tiananmen Square has the world really bothered to criticize Chinese authoritarianism , and even those who ’ ve been fighting for decades to stop the persecution of the Falun Gong have faced an uphill battle against Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , massive protests in Hong Kong have brought attention to the daily injustices of everyday life under modern communism .
Now , with massive crisis of coronavirus quickly becoming a serious crisis , technology , social media , and the internet are giving us a closer look at how the Chinese government manages its citizenry .
READ : ENGINEERED BIOWEAPONS AND CORONAVIRUS – ANOTHER CONSPIRACY THEORY QUICKLY BECOMING CONSPIRACY FACT What we are seeing is really quite terrifying , for it really is one enormous human experiment .
The official story is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lockdown and quarantine in central China .
While information control is historically a primary objective of authoritarians , desperate citizens and independent journalists have been able to break through the Great Firewall of China to share statements and videos about the government ’ s response to the coronavirus crisis .
Since this is communism we are talking about , the response we are seeing is predictably brutal , inhumane , and Orwellian , and for the frightened people in and around ground zero , things appear to be deteriorating rapidly .
Regardless of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how dangerous you perceive it to be , a massive human experiment is taking place , in the form of the largest and most sophisticated quarantine in human history .
I have waited to share a lot of the videos because they were hard to confirm , but now some smaller mainstream sources are starting to report on the people that are being literally welded into their apartment buildings , the big weird ass trucks driving through the streets shooting disinfectant chemicals into the air , hospitals lined with body bags , cops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ streets and violently carrying anyone away who shares footage of this stuff happening or walks around in public without a mask .
They got tanks on the streets right now , and they are scooping up activists and throwing them in “ quarantine ” even when they aren ’ t sick .
It is not news that the Chinese government is authoritarian , but the scale and intensity of what is happening over there is not normal , even for this regime .
Another interesting thing about this situation is that the WHO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicians in the US on both ends of the spectrum , said during the house subcommittee hearing today that the WHO can ’ t really be trusted , implying that they were corrupt .
The WHO has excluded Taiwan and Hong Kong from individual representation in this situation , which means that China can easily just impose their own quarantine in these areas , and impose similar measures as they did in the mainland without any kind of international pushback , at least not from the major organizations that have sway in that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the following videos are allegedly from recent events in China , however , given the nature of this crisis and the state control over the narrative , it is not possible to verify their authenticity , although there certainly is enough supporting evidence to place the burden of proof on skeptics .
Here are the most disturbing and Orwellian clips that have so far surfaced from affected areas of China .
This first video shows Chinese officials monitoring citizen text messages , monitoring what people are saying about the outbreak .
Here is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who knows what : Another video of disinfectant spraying of city streets : Video of a newly constructed hospital which looks more like a prison : Thermal drones are used to check the temperature of pedestrians : This housing complex is sealed up with a load of dirt : All rooms in a housing complex are welded to prevent people from leaving : Another video from inside of a barricaded home : Forcibly removing people from their homes and shipping them away to quarantine : In this video a woman apparently resisting being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a screaming woman is loaded into a metal box on a truck and taken away : This man is arrested for not wearing a mask : Another patient is being arrested and beaten by militarized police with masks : This video shows a trio of heavily armed officials in hazmat suits patrolling empty streets : Apparently the same men are seen arming themselves : Here , armed officials in hazmat suits man the entry of a building : Two men are arrested after police search their cell phones : Here , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her temperature taken : In this video , police are threatening citizens with the death penalty for not reporting themselves to the authorities after traveling to Wuhan : Communism is historically brutal and inhumane .
It is corruption , nepotism , tyranny , violence , oppression , murder , and authoritarianism , with no regard for human life .
For those in other parts of the world who have a more favorable relationship with government , you have to wonder how a modern western government would handle such a situation like this .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of emergency and bypass constitutional law to enforce harsh social controls on people ?
Will countries with armed citizenries be able to navigate such a public health without losing basic liberty ?
Buck Rogers is the earth-bound incarnation of that familiar part of our timeless cosmic selves , the rebel within .
He is a surfer of ideals and meditates often on the promise of happiness in a world battered by the angry seas of human thoughtlessness .
He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com .
This article ( Coronavirus Crisis Exposes the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Communism ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Buck Rogers and WakingTimes.com .
It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution , author bio , and this copyright statement .
Like Waking Times on Facebook .
Follow Waking Times on Twitter .

Coronavirus Crisis Exposes the Brutal, Inhumane and Orwellian Truth About Communism
Buck Rogers, Staff Writer
Waking Times
There’s an ongoing debate amongst 20th century historians. Who killed more people, Hitler, Stalin or Mao?
Surprisingly, Chairman Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the frontrunner with estimates ranging from 45 to over 60 million people murdered, starved, or worked to death under his iron fist.
Mao’s CCP lives on as a modern capitalistic, technocratic, authoritarian regime, and aside from general information about what life is like for the average Chinese citizen, we in the free world really don’t know what true authoritarianism is like.
In recent years we’ve been able to learn about some of the more outrageous social controls in Chinese society, like social credit scores, heavy internal censorship of the internet, the occasional mass public execution, and the ubiquity of facial recognition technology to monitor ordinary people.
Not since Tiananmen Square has the world really bothered to criticize Chinese authoritarianism, and even those who’ve been fighting for decades to stop the persecution of the Falun Gong have faced an uphill battle against Chinese public relations efforts.
Recently, however, massive protests in Hong Kong have brought attention to the daily injustices of everyday life under modern communism. Now, with massive crisis of coronavirus quickly becoming a serious crisis, technology, social media, and the internet are giving us a closer look at how the Chinese government manages its citizenry.
What we are seeing is really quite terrifying, for it really is one enormous human experiment. The official story is that some 50 million people are on severe lockdown and quarantine in central China. While information control is historically a primary objective of authoritarians, desperate citizens and independent journalists have been able to break through the Great Firewall of China to share statements and videos about the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
Since this is communism we are talking about, the response we are seeing is predictably brutal, inhumane, and Orwellian, and for the frightened people in and around ground zero, things appear to be deteriorating rapidly.
Author and activist John Vibes comments:
Regardless of what you think about the virus or how dangerous you perceive it to be, a massive human experiment is taking place, in the form of the largest and most sophisticated quarantine in human history. I have waited to share a lot of the videos because they were hard to confirm, but now some smaller mainstream sources are starting to report on the people that are being literally welded into their apartment buildings, the big weird ass trucks driving through the streets shooting disinfectant chemicals into the air, hospitals lined with body bags, cops with biosuits and machine guns roaming the streets and violently carrying anyone away who shares footage of this stuff happening or walks around in public without a mask. They got tanks on the streets right now, and they are scooping up activists and throwing them in “quarantine” even when they aren’t sick. It is not news that the Chinese government is authoritarian, but the scale and intensity of what is happening over there is not normal, even for this regime. Another interesting thing about this situation is that the WHO is basically covering for China, and politicians in the US on both ends of the spectrum, said during the house subcommittee hearing today that the WHO can’t really be trusted, implying that they were corrupt. The WHO has excluded Taiwan and Hong Kong from individual representation in this situation, which means that China can easily just impose their own quarantine in these areas, and impose similar measures as they did in the mainland without any kind of international pushback, at least not from the major organizations that have sway in that kind of situation.
All of the the following videos are allegedly from recent events in China, however, given the nature of this crisis and the state control over the narrative, it is not possible to verify their authenticity, although there certainly is enough supporting evidence to place the burden of proof on skeptics.
Here are the most disturbing and Orwellian clips that have so far surfaced from affected areas of China.
This first video shows Chinese officials monitoring citizen text messages, monitoring what people are saying about the outbreak.
#BREAKING: This video surfaced of how the CCP monitors peoples conversations & tracks everything being said about the coronavirus outbreak. #coronavirus #coronavirusoutbreak #coronaviruschina #wuhan pic.twitter.com/jLTBrmA2kQ — 24/7 Crisis News LIVE ☢ (@livecrisisnews) February 6, 2020
Here is an operation to fumigate public streets with who knows what:
Another video of disinfectant spraying of city streets:
Video of a newly constructed hospital which looks more like a prison:
The first video from inside the Chinese hospital, made in ten days and designed like a prison.
This hospital is not a regular hospital! #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/OKurTapKA8 — Happening Now (@HappeningNow__) February 4, 2020
Thermal drones are used to check the temperature of pedestrians:
This housing complex is sealed up with a load of dirt:
Welding people into their homes:
Imagine being sealed off in your house because you might have the virus… & people still think all deaths are registered! #CoronaOutbreak #coronavirus#WuhanViruspic.twitter.com/LB9M4wWieW — 🦋↓ϻ𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔢 ✶°・🇺🇬 (@MiraclEuphoria) January 29, 2020
All rooms in a housing complex are welded to prevent people from leaving:
Two videos show all floors of a residential building in Jiangsu-China were blocked by welding fence because a confirmed case found in it. #2019nCoV #WuhanCoronavirus #WuhanVirus pic.twitter.com/C5i4UMltjl — 𝓟𝓪𝓬𝓸 🇸🇬 (@PacoHk) January 29, 2020
Another video from inside of a barricaded home:
Video of a large apartment building being welded shut:
Speech in the video:
The doors of Building 7 are welded to death.
Just leave a small window for food delivery.#coronavirus pic.twitter.com/KMJWJLooey — Joe Black (@JoeB14ck) February 6, 2020
Forcibly removing people from their homes and shipping them away to quarantine:
Something important to consider! I’ve received several reports when non-infected people are being forcefully taken away as #coronavirus “patients” for reporting the truth on social media. CCP can use quarantine as an excuse to hunt down the dissidents.
pic.twitter.com/k8TsEFEsdt — Max Howroute▫ (@howroute) February 4, 2020
In this video a woman apparently resisting being quarantined is brutalized by officials:
Another gruesome scene from China. Appears this woman refuses to be quarantined. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/uWiDbc67aq — Max Howroute▫ (@howroute) February 1, 2020
Here, a screaming woman is loaded into a metal box on a truck and taken away:
What the hell is going on in China , No media , no human rights, nothing Sensoring every ground reality of china #WuhanPneumonia Quarantined in a box. On a truck.#coronavirus #corononavirus #CoronaOutbreak pic.twitter.com/7TG2bFxvOq — Coronavirus Live Updates (@Rntk____) February 6, 2020
This man is arrested for not wearing a mask:
He was arrested on the street without a mask, and said that he could not afford to buy a mask Gangsters drive the cost up and intercept care packages and the innocent are arrested to where? Where do they go????#CoronavirusOutbreak #CoronavirusWho #coronaviruschina pic.twitter.com/yRxEYWbzIs — Harry Chen PhD (@IsChinar) February 4, 2020
Another patient is being arrested and beaten by militarized police with masks:
Fucking shit!! #Coronavirus patient, trying to get away….Knocked down as if he were a murderer #Wuhan … is this shit a civilized way of doing it! #China pic.twitter.com/vncsevcnTI — Tocamelaotravez (@tocamelaotravez) February 6, 2020
This video shows a trio of heavily armed officials in hazmat suits patrolling empty streets:
WTF is going on in China? It looks more and more like a horror movie every day. #Wuhan #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/hyqlF4nIOm — Sortbīnue (@sortbinue) February 1, 2020
Apparently the same men are seen arming themselves:
Here, armed officials in hazmat suits man the entry of a building:
He was arrested on the street without a mask, and said that he could not afford to buy a mask Gangsters drive the cost up and intercept care packages and the innocent are arrested to where? Where do they go????#CoronavirusOutbreak #CoronavirusWho #coronaviruschina pic.twitter.com/yRxEYWbzIs — Harry Chen PhD (@IsChinar) February 4, 2020
Two men are arrested after police search their cell phones:
2/5 #coronavirus Amid the outbreak of deadly virus, CCP censorship evolves into cellphone checking and arrest. Two Wuhan people were caught in Hainan. Policemen checked their cellphones and they were asked to delete some pictures. Then both were still arrested. WTH? For what? pic.twitter.com/ZjdGN3Fa8g — 西行小宝 (@htommy998) February 5, 2020
Here, a woman is beaten for refusing to have her temperature taken:
In this video, police are threatening citizens with the death penalty for not reporting themselves to the authorities after traveling to Wuhan:
It’s totally normal for the Chinese Communist Party to threaten people with death for not complying with quarantine orders. It’s just the flu after all, and there’s nothing to be concerned about. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ZhgkhvHOE4 — MIKE 😷 ░▒▓█ マイケル (@northexpedition) February 6, 2020
Final Thoughts
Communism is historically brutal and inhumane. It is corruption, nepotism, tyranny, violence, oppression, murder, and authoritarianism, with no regard for human life.
For those in other parts of the world who have a more favorable relationship with government, you have to wonder how a modern western government would handle such a situation like this.
Would a western democracy declare a state of emergency and bypass constitutional law to enforce harsh social controls on people? Will countries with armed citizenries be able to navigate such a public health crisis without losing basic liberty?
Read more articles from Buck Rogers .
About the Author
Buck Rogers is the earth-bound incarnation of that familiar part of our timeless cosmic selves, the rebel within. He is a surfer of ideals and meditates often on the promise of happiness in a world battered by the angry seas of human thoughtlessness. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com.
This article (Coronavirus Crisis Exposes the Brutal, Inhumane and Orwellian Truth About Communism) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Buck Rogers and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--The Pornification of America: How Young Girls Are Being Groomed by Sexual Predators

What can we do to protect America ’ s young people from sexual predators ?
That ’ s the question I keep getting asked by people who , having read my article on the growing danger of young boys and girls ( some as young as 9 years old ) being bought and sold for sex , want to do something proactive to stop these monsters in their tracks .
It is estimated that the number of children who are at risk of being trafficked or have already been sold into the sex trade would fill 1300 school buses .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ children for sex come from all backgrounds , races , ages and work forces , they do have one thing in common : 99 % of them are men .
This is not a problem with an easy fix .
That so many children continue to be victimized , brutalized and treated like human cargo is due to three things : one , a consumer demand that is increasingly lucrative for everyone involved—except the victims ; two , a level of corruption so invasive on both a local and international scale that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ channels for change ; and three , an eerie silence from individuals who fail to speak out against such atrocities .
Sure , there are things that can be done to catch those who trade in young flesh : police need to do a better job of training , identifying and responding to these issues ; communities and social services need to do a better job of protecting runaways , who are the primary targets of traffickers , and educating parents and young people about the dangers ; legislators need to pass legislation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the buyers who drive the demand for sex slaves ; and hotels need to stop enabling these traffickers , by providing them with rooms and cover for their dirty deeds .
However , these are reactive responses to a menace that grows more sophisticated by the day .
We need to be preemptive and proactive in our understanding of the threats and smarter and more sophisticated in our responses , as well .
What we are dealing with is a culture that is grooming these young children , especially young girls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As Jami Nesbitt writes for Bark , “ Grooming is the process by which someone befriends and gains the trust of a child ( and sometimes the child ’ s friends and family ) in order to take advantage of the child for sexual purposes.
” There are usually six stages to grooming by a sexual predator : friendship ( targeting and gaining trust ) ; relationship ( filling the child ’ s needs ) ; gauging the level of protection surrounding the child ; exclusivity ( isolating the child from others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sex talk and activities ) ; and abuse .
All of those screen devices being passed along to children at ever-younger ages ?
They have become the sexual predator ’ s primary means of gaining access to young people , and it ’ s primarily happening online .
As The New York Times reports : Indeed , video games such as Minecraft and Fortnite , social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram , and online chat forums have become “ hunting grounds ” for sexual predators .
Again from The New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sloane Ryan , a 37-year-old woman who poses as an 11-year-old girl online in order to better understand predation and help those who are fighting it , wrote a chilling account of the kinds of solicitations she received after merely uploading a generic photo ( of her 11-year-old self ) to Instagram .
“ By the end of two-and-a-half hours , I ’ ve had seven video calls , ignored another two dozen of them , text-chatted with 17 men ( some who had messaged her before , gearing back up in hopes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the genitalia of 11 of those , ” notes Ryan .
“ I ’ ve also fielded ( and subsequently denied ) multiple requests for above-the-waist nudity ( in spite of being clear that Bailey ’ s breasts have not yet developed ) and below-the-waist nudity.
” This is the new face of how predators are grooming young girls ( and boys ) to be trafficked , molested and raped .
However , it starts much earlier , with a culture that has brainwashed itself into believing that sexual freedom amounts to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women spend 20 minutes twerking , gyrating ( some of it on a stripper pole ) and showing off sexually provocative dance moves .
This is part and parcel of the pornification of American culture .
“ Pop culture and porn culture have become part of the same seamless continuum , ” explains theatre historian and University of Illinois professor Mardia Bishop .
“ As these images become pervasive in popular culture , they become normalized… and… accepted.
” This foray into porn culture—the increasing acceptability and pervasiveness of sexualized imagery in mainstream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turn .
“ Visual images and narratives of music videos clearly have more potential to form attitudes , values , or perceptions of social reality than does the music alone , ” notes author Douglas A. Gentile in his book Media Violence and Children .
In fact , music videos are among the worst culprits constantly bombarding young people today with sexual images and references .
Screen time has become the primary culprit for the oversexualization of young people .
Little wonder when 8-to-12-year-olds spend almost 5 hours daily on screen media ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ screen devices ) and that does not include time spent using those devices for school or homework .
A good chunk of that screen time is gobbled up by YouTube , which has been repeatedly red flagged by watchdog groups for peddling violent imagery , drug references , racist language and sexually suggestive content at young viewers .
Music videos overwhelmingly contain sexually suggestive materials , and with the advent of portable technology , children ’ s television and music are often unmonitored by parents or guardians .
In fact , one study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parents have caught young children repeating offensive lyrics or copying “ porn-style ” dance moves after being exposed to explicit pop music .
Numerous studies have found that exposure to sexual content in music , movies , television , and magazines accelerate adolescent sexual behavior : this is how young people are being groomed for sex by a predator culture .
As Jessica Bennett notes in “ The Pornification of a Generation ” for Newsweek : How we got to this place in time , where children are sexualized at an early age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all manner of predators is not really all that hard to decipher , but it requires a certain amount of candor .
First , there is nothing sexually liberating about young women—young girls—reducing themselves to little more than sex objects and prancing about like prostitutes .
Second , this is a dangerous game that can only end in tragic consequences : there are sexual predators out there only too eager to take advantage of any innuendo-laced sexual “ invitations ” being put out there , intentional or not .
Third , if it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and imitates porn , it is porn , and it is devastating on every front , turning women into objects for male aggression .
Fourth , no matter what its champions might say about the First Amendment and women ’ s liberation , pornography in all its forms—whether overtly packaged as skin flicks and mags or more subtly disguised by pop culture as trendy music videos and precocious clothing—is about one thing only : money .
Fifth , parents : turn off your cell phones for a change and tune into what your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to , and whom they are emulating .
And finally , remember that the sexualization of young children is part of a larger continuum in America that runs the gamut from sexualized entertainment , the glorification of a pimp/ho culture , and a billion dollar sex industry built on the back of pornography , music , entertainment , etc.
, and ends with these same young people being bought and sold for sex .
It is estimated that the porn industry brings in more money than Amazon , Microsoft , Google , Apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continues to be treated with a shrug , especially by those who claim to care about the state of our freedoms , is not only surprising and unnerving but also dangerously oblivious .
Like so many of the evils in our midst , sex trafficking ( and the sexualization of young people ) is a cultural disease that is rooted in the American police state ’ s heart of darkness .
It speaks to a sordid , far-reaching corruption that stretches from the highest seats of power ( governmental and corporate ) down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on our silence and our complicity to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing .
You don ’ t have to be a parent to care about what ’ s happening to our young people .
Likewise , you shouldn ’ t have to subscribe to any particular political viewpoint to recognize and be alarmed by the authoritarian trajectory of the nation .
Those concerned about the emerging police state in America , which I detail in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , should be equally concerned about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and boys ) and the pornification of America : they are two sides of the same coin .
As Aldous Huxley explains in his introduction to Brave New World : Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute , where this article ( John Lennon Was Right : The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

The Pornification of America: How Young Girls Are Being Groomed by Sexual Predators
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“The brutal reality is that a predator doesn’t have to be in the same room, building, or even country to abuse a child. And that’s what they’re doing — subjecting children to psychological and sexual abuse.”—“I’m a 37-Year-Old Mom & I Spent Seven Days Online as an 11-Year-Old Girl. Here’s What I Learned,” Medium
What can we do to protect America’s young people from sexual predators?
That’s the question I keep getting asked by people who, having read my article on the growing danger of young boys and girls (some as young as 9 years old) being bought and sold for sex, want to do something proactive to stop these monsters in their tracks.
It is estimated that the number of children who are at risk of being trafficked or have already been sold into the sex trade would fill 1300 school buses.
While those who seek to buy young children for sex come from all backgrounds, races, ages and work forces, they do have one thing in common: 99% of them are men.
This is not a problem with an easy fix.
That so many children continue to be victimized, brutalized and treated like human cargo is due to three things: one, a consumer demand that is increasingly lucrative for everyone involved—except the victims; two, a level of corruption so invasive on both a local and international scale that there is little hope of working through established channels for change; and three, an eerie silence from individuals who fail to speak out against such atrocities.
Sure, there are things that can be done to catch those who trade in young flesh: police need to do a better job of training, identifying and responding to these issues; communities and social services need to do a better job of protecting runaways, who are the primary targets of traffickers, and educating parents and young people about the dangers; legislators need to pass legislation aimed at prosecuting traffickers and “johns,” the buyers who drive the demand for sex slaves; and hotels need to stop enabling these traffickers, by providing them with rooms and cover for their dirty deeds.
However, these are reactive responses to a menace that grows more sophisticated by the day.
We need to be preemptive and proactive in our understanding of the threats and smarter and more sophisticated in our responses, as well.
What we are dealing with is a culture that is grooming these young children, especially young girls, to be preyed upon by men.
As Jami Nesbitt writes for Bark, “Grooming is the process by which someone befriends and gains the trust of a child (and sometimes the child’s friends and family) in order to take advantage of the child for sexual purposes.”
There are usually six stages to grooming by a sexual predator: friendship (targeting and gaining trust); relationship (filling the child’s needs); gauging the level of protection surrounding the child; exclusivity (isolating the child from others); sexualization (desensitizing the child to sex talk and activities); and abuse.
All of those screen devices being passed along to children at ever-younger ages? They have become the sexual predator’s primary means of gaining access to young people, and it’s primarily happening online. As The New York Times reports:
“Sexual predators have found an easy access point into the lives of young people: They are meeting them online through multiplayer video games and chat apps, making virtual connections right in their victims’ homes. Many of the interactions lead to crimes of ‘sextortion,’ in which children are coerced into sending explicit imagery of themselves.”
Indeed, video games such as Minecraft and Fortnite, social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram, and online chat forums have become “hunting grounds” for sexual predators.
Again from The New York Times:
“Criminals strike up a conversation and gradually build trust. Often they pose as children, confiding in their victims with false stories of hardship or self-loathing. Their goal, typically, is to dupe children into sharing sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves — which they use as blackmail for more imagery, much of it increasingly graphic and violent. Reports of abuse are emerging with unprecedented frequency around the country, with some perpetrators grooming hundreds and even thousands of victims.”
One Bark investigator, Sloane Ryan, a 37-year-old woman who poses as an 11-year-old girl online in order to better understand predation and help those who are fighting it, wrote a chilling account of the kinds of solicitations she received after merely uploading a generic photo (of her 11-year-old self) to Instagram. “By the end of two-and-a-half hours, I’ve had seven video calls, ignored another two dozen of them, text-chatted with 17 men (some who had messaged her before, gearing back up in hopes for more interaction), and seen the genitalia of 11 of those,” notes Ryan. “I’ve also fielded (and subsequently denied) multiple requests for above-the-waist nudity (in spite of being clear that Bailey’s breasts have not yet developed) and below-the-waist nudity.”
This is the new face of how predators are grooming young girls (and boys) to be trafficked, molested and raped. However, it starts much earlier, with a culture that has brainwashed itself into believing that sexual freedom amounts to a Super Bowl half-time show in which barely-clad women spend 20 minutes twerking, gyrating (some of it on a stripper pole) and showing off sexually provocative dance moves.
This is part and parcel of the pornification of American culture.
As commentator Dixie Laite writes for Bust magazine:
Sex sells. Madonna knew it when she crawled the VMA stage very much not “Like a Virgin”. Rihanna, Beyonce, Britney and countless others have climbed that ladder to fame… Last time I looked, we as a nation absolutely adored this so-called slutty behavior. I see people voting with their dollars and their attention to Playboy’s Bunnies, Victoria’s Secrets, strippers, people who dress like strippers, and girls who’ve gone wild.
“Pop culture and porn culture have become part of the same seamless continuum,” explains theatre historian and University of Illinois professor Mardia Bishop. “As these images become pervasive in popular culture, they become normalized… and… accepted.”
This foray into porn culture—the increasing acceptability and pervasiveness of sexualized imagery in mainstream media—is where pop culture takes a dark turn. “Visual images and narratives of music videos clearly have more potential to form attitudes, values, or perceptions of social reality than does the music alone,” notes author Douglas A. Gentile in his book Media Violence and Children. In fact, music videos are among the worst culprits constantly bombarding young people today with sexual images and references.
Screen time has become the primary culprit for the oversexualization of young people.
Little wonder when 8-to-12-year-olds spend almost 5 hours daily on screen media (teens rack up nearly 8 hours on screen devices) and that does not include time spent using those devices for school or homework.
A good chunk of that screen time is gobbled up by YouTube, which has been repeatedly red flagged by watchdog groups for peddling violent imagery, drug references, racist language and sexually suggestive content at young viewers.
Music videos overwhelmingly contain sexually suggestive materials, and with the advent of portable technology, children’s television and music are often unmonitored by parents or guardians. In fact, one study found that more than 80% of parents have caught young children repeating offensive lyrics or copying “porn-style” dance moves after being exposed to explicit pop music.
Numerous studies have found that exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines accelerate adolescent sexual behavior: this is how young people are being groomed for sex by a predator culture.
As Jessica Bennett notes in “The Pornification of a Generation” for Newsweek:
“In a market that sells high heels for babies and thongs for tweens, it doesn’t take a genius to see that sex, if not porn, has invaded our lives. Whether we welcome it or not, television brings it into our living rooms and the Web brings it into our bedrooms… All it takes is one look at [social media] photos of teens to see examples—if they aren’t imitating porn they’ve actually seen, they’re imitating the porn-inspired images and poses they’ve absorbed elsewhere. Latex, corsets and stripper heels, once the fashion of porn stars, have made their way into middle and high school… Celebrities, too, have become amateur porn stars. They show up in sex tapes (Colin Farrell, Kim Kardashian), hire porn producers to shoot their videos (Britney Spears) or produce porn outright (Snoop Dogg). Actual porn stars and call girls, meanwhile, have become celebs. Ron Jeremy regularly takes cameos in movies and on TV, while adult star Jenna Jameson is a best-selling author.”
How we got to this place in time, where children are sexualized at an early age and trotted out as easy targets for all manner of predators is not really all that hard to decipher, but it requires a certain amount of candor.
First, there is nothing sexually liberating about young women—young girls—reducing themselves to little more than sex objects and prancing about like prostitutes.
Second, this is a dangerous game that can only end in tragic consequences: there are sexual predators out there only too eager to take advantage of any innuendo-laced sexual “invitations” being put out there, intentional or not.
Third, if it looks like porn, sounds like porn and imitates porn, it is porn, and it is devastating on every front, turning women into objects for male aggression.
Fourth, no matter what its champions might say about the First Amendment and women’s liberation, pornography in all its forms—whether overtly packaged as skin flicks and mags or more subtly disguised by pop culture as trendy music videos and precocious clothing—is about one thing only: money.
Fifth, parents: turn off your cell phones for a change and tune into what your kids are watching, reading, listening to, and whom they are emulating.
And finally, remember that the sexualization of young children is part of a larger continuum in America that runs the gamut from sexualized entertainment, the glorification of a pimp/ho culture, and a billion dollar sex industry built on the back of pornography, music, entertainment, etc., and ends with these same young people being bought and sold for sex. It is estimated that the porn industry brings in more money than Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.
That this issue continues to be treated with a shrug, especially by those who claim to care about the state of our freedoms, is not only surprising and unnerving but also dangerously oblivious.
Like so many of the evils in our midst, sex trafficking (and the sexualization of young people) is a cultural disease that is rooted in the American police state’s heart of darkness. It speaks to a sordid, far-reaching corruption that stretches from the highest seats of power (governmental and corporate) down to the most hidden corners and relies on our silence and our complicity to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing.
You don’t have to be a parent to care about what’s happening to our young people. Likewise, you shouldn’t have to subscribe to any particular political viewpoint to recognize and be alarmed by the authoritarian trajectory of the nation.
Those concerned about the emerging police state in America, which I detail in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, should be equally concerned about the sex trafficking of young girls (and boys) and the pornification of America: they are two sides of the same coin.
As Aldous Huxley explains in his introduction to Brave New World:
As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase. And the dictator (unless he needs cannon fodder and families with which to colonize empty or conquered territories) will do well to encourage that freedom. In conjunction with the freedom to daydream under the influence of dope and movies and the radio, it will help to reconcile his subjects to the servitude which is their fate.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (John Lennon Was Right: The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--Stoned Ape Theory: Could Magic Mushrooms Be Responsible For Human Evolution?

There are many mysteries about human evolution , and many questions about how we became the thinking species that we are today .
One of the most interesting potential explanations for the development of our mental capacities is the “ Stoned Ape Theory , ” which suggests that our ancient primate ancestors stumbled upon psychedelic mushrooms and integrated them into their diet , creating a massive jump in the evolution of the brain .
Scientists and anthropologists tend to agree that the brain size of our hominid ancestors rapidly doubled sometime in our distant past , but they disagree about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Other researchers suggest that there were multiple periods of rapid brain growth in the history of our species .
Some anthropologists believe that somewhere between 2 million and 700,000 years ago , the brain of the average Homo erectus doubled in size , while others point to a possible tripling of brain volume in the Homo sapiens between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago .
The theory was first proposed by Terrence McKenna and his brother Dennis , who were pioneers of the counter-culture , and the once-anonymous authors of the first manual for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested that psychedelic mushrooms would have been an obvious source of food for our primate ancestors .
If this was the case , the theory asserts that the psychedelic mushrooms could have rewired their brains in a way that allowed for the development of language and more complex thinking .
As to be expected , the mainstream scientific community has been largely dismissive of this theory .
However , the idea has recently gotten a new push from mycologist Paul Stamets , who says that the Stoned Ape Theory is a “ very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evolution of Homo sapiens from our primate relatives.
” This hypothesis remains unproven , but scientific findings in recent years do seem to support the fundamentals of the theory , or at the very least have shown us that it is possible for psychedelics to “ rewire ” the brain and accelerate brain growth .
In a study last year from the University of California , researchers showed that psychedelic compounds can rewire a person ’ s brain , and even increase in neuron branches , dendritic spines , and synapses .
John @ @ @ @ @ @ @ takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

Stoned Ape Theory: Could Magic Mushrooms Be Responsible For Human Evolution?
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
There are many mysteries about human evolution, and many questions about how we became the thinking species that we are today. One of the most interesting potential explanations for the development of our mental capacities is the “Stoned Ape Theory,” which suggests that our ancient primate ancestors stumbled upon psychedelic mushrooms and integrated them into their diet, creating a massive jump in the evolution of the brain.
Scientists and anthropologists tend to agree that the brain size of our hominid ancestors rapidly doubled sometime in our distant past, but they disagree about exactly when this could have happened. Other researchers suggest that there were multiple periods of rapid brain growth in the history of our species.
Some anthropologists believe that somewhere between 2 million and 700,000 years ago, the brain of the average Homo erectus doubled in size, while others point to a possible tripling of brain volume in the Homo sapiens between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago.
The theory was first proposed by Terrence McKenna and his brother Dennis, who were pioneers of the counter-culture, and the once-anonymous authors of the first manual for at-home mushroom cultivation. The McKenna brothers suggested that psychedelic mushrooms would have been an obvious source of food for our primate ancestors. If this was the case, the theory asserts that the psychedelic mushrooms could have rewired their brains in a way that allowed for the development of language and more complex thinking. As to be expected, the mainstream scientific community has been largely dismissive of this theory.
However, the idea has recently gotten a new push from mycologist Paul Stamets, who says that the Stoned Ape Theory is a “very, very plausible hypothesis for the sudden evolution of Homo sapiens from our primate relatives.”
“What is really important for you to understand, is that there was a sudden doubling of the human brain 200,000 years ago. From an evolutionary point of view, that’s an extraordinary expansion. And there is no explanation for this sudden increase in the human brain,” Stamets says.
This hypothesis remains unproven, but scientific findings in recent years do seem to support the fundamentals of the theory, or at the very least have shown us that it is possible for psychedelics to “rewire” the brain and accelerate brain growth.
In a study last year from the University of California, researchers showed that psychedelic compounds can rewire a person’s brain, and even increase in neuron branches, dendritic spines, and synapses.
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--Singapore Hospital Designed To Accommodate Nature Is The Future!

The Khoo Teck Puat Hospital ( KTPH ) in Singapore has been called a “ biophilic hospital ” because the entire architecture of the building is designed to complement nature , instead of erasing it .
The architects began with a few ideas in mind .
They wanted to have visual access to greenery and water , as well as the sound of falling water and the smell of plants .
Also , a diversity of plants , birds and butterflies , in a community-oriented space .
The hospital opened in 2010 , and the public spaces have been open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some of these spaces are even used for community events like dancing , tai chi , and Zumba .
In 2016 , roughly 200 people were surveyed by researchers from the National University of Singapore .
The respondents consisted of a mixture of patients , staff , visitors , and most of them reported an overall better sense of well-being at this hospital as opposed to others .
KTPH reportedly out-performs all other hospitals in Singapore in the annual Ministry of Health public satisfaction survey nearly every year .
Khoo Teck Puat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care hospital , serving more than 550,000 people living in the north of Singapore .
According to the hospital ’ s website : KTPH combines medical expertise with high standards of personalised care , set within a healing environment , to provide care that is good enough for our own loved ones .
From intuitive wayfinding to logical clustering of services , KTPH ’ s design is focused on providing a hassle-free experience for patients .
The hospital has been designed with patients ’ comfort in mind .
Since its opening , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ green and energy efficient design .
Patients can enjoy comfortable accommodation in different categories of wards with views of greenery and naturally cool air from improved ventilation .
KTPH also provides a wide range of outpatient specialist services .
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

Singapore Hospital Designed To Accommodate Nature Is The Future!
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
The Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) in Singapore has been called a “biophilic hospital” because the entire architecture of the building is designed to complement nature, instead of erasing it.
The architects began with a few ideas in mind. They wanted to have visual access to greenery and water, as well as the sound of falling water and the smell of plants. Also, a diversity of plants, birds and butterflies, in a community-oriented space.
The hospital opened in 2010, and the public spaces have been open to patients as well as nearby residents. Some of these spaces are even used for community events like dancing, tai chi, and Zumba. In 2016, roughly 200 people were surveyed by researchers from the National University of Singapore. The respondents consisted of a mixture of patients, staff, visitors, and most of them reported an overall better sense of well-being at this hospital as opposed to others.
KTPH reportedly out-performs all other hospitals in Singapore in the annual Ministry of Health public satisfaction survey nearly every year. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is a 761-bed general and acute care hospital, serving more than 550,000 people living in the north of Singapore.
According to the hospital’s website:
KTPH combines medical expertise with high standards of personalised care, set within a healing environment, to provide care that is good enough for our own loved ones. From intuitive wayfinding to logical clustering of services, KTPH’s design is focused on providing a hassle-free experience for patients. The hospital has been designed with patients’ comfort in mind. Since its opening, the building has garnered numerous awards for its green and energy efficient design. Patients can enjoy comfortable accommodation in different categories of wards with views of greenery and naturally cool air from improved ventilation. KTPH also provides a wide range of outpatient specialist services.
http://www.facebook.com/SeniorsAloud/videos/10156972669247785/
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--Half-Million Hermit Crabs Killed by Plastic Waste on Remote Islands, Sparking Fears of Global Traged

Over half a million tiny hermit crabs have been trapped and killed by the massive amounts of plastic debris on two remote island chains in the Indian and Pacific Oceans .
The tragic mass mortality event has researchers fearing the worst on a global scale .
The discovery of 570,000 dead hermit crabs in the Indian Ocean ’ s Cocos ( Keeling ) Islands and the Pacific Ocean ’ s Henderson Island is just the latest sign of the growing crisis of plastic waste polluting our oceans , posing a grave threat to wildlife .
The first-of-its-kind study , published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that 508,000 crabs died in the Cocos archipelago along with 61,000 on Henderson Island .
The crabs ’ lives were likely claimed by the massive amount of plastic containers littering the area , whose openings are sloped upward in a manner that prevented them from climbing out once they had gone in .
Those involved in the study had been surveying the beaches of the islands for plastic waste before noticing a huge amount of open plastic containers filled with a mixture of both dead and alive hermit crabs .
Dr. Jennifer Lavers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies ( IMAS ) said : “ We decided to do additional surveys across a range of sites of how many containers there were , including how many were open , how many were in a position likely to trap crabs , and how many contained trapped crabs .
These results are shocking but perhaps not surprising , because beaches and the vegetation that fringes them are frequented by a wide range of wildlife.
” The research was carried out by scientists from IMAS , the Natural History @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group the Two Hands Project .
Some of the leading scientists like Lavers had months ago sounded the alarm on the shocking extent to which the remote islands had become transformed into massive waste dumps due to the vast amounts of garbage—and primarily single-waste plastics—that make their way into our oceans .
In the study led by Lavers , researchers found that about 414 million pieces of plastic—including 977,000 shoes and 372,000 toothbrushes—had washed up on the Cocos Islands .
Scientists believe that the amount of plastic waste washing up on such remote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ total amount of debris in the ocean .
To make matters worse , because hermit crabs don ’ t have their own shells and instead inhabit empty ones , when they do find what they believe to be available shells they emit chemical signals that notify their fellow crabs , essentially drawing whole communities of the creatures to their deaths , explained Dr. Alex Bond of the Natural History Museum in London .
The blow to hermit crabs could be the start of a nasty chain reaction impacting marine life .
In addition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food chains , the scavengers also help clean island beaches and tropical forests while breaking down organic matter , spreading nutrients by aerating and fertilizing the soil , and dispersing seeds .
Researchers are stressing that their discovery of the hermit crabs ’ fate should spark an urgent global investigation into the death rates of hermit crabs .

Half-Million Hermit Crabs Killed by Plastic Waste on Remote Islands, Sparking Fears of Global Tragedy
Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
Over half a million tiny hermit crabs have been trapped and killed by the massive amounts of plastic debris on two remote island chains in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The tragic mass mortality event has researchers fearing the worst on a global scale.
The discovery of 570,000 dead hermit crabs in the Indian Ocean’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Pacific Ocean’s Henderson Island is just the latest sign of the growing crisis of plastic waste polluting our oceans, posing a grave threat to wildlife.
The first-of-its-kind study, published in Journal of Hazardous Materials, revealed that 508,000 crabs died in the Cocos archipelago along with 61,000 on Henderson Island. The crabs’ lives were likely claimed by the massive amount of plastic containers littering the area, whose openings are sloped upward in a manner that prevented them from climbing out once they had gone in.
Those involved in the study had been surveying the beaches of the islands for plastic waste before noticing a huge amount of open plastic containers filled with a mixture of both dead and alive hermit crabs.
Dr. Jennifer Lavers of the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) said:
“We decided to do additional surveys across a range of sites of how many containers there were, including how many were open, how many were in a position likely to trap crabs, and how many contained trapped crabs. These results are shocking but perhaps not surprising, because beaches and the vegetation that fringes them are frequented by a wide range of wildlife.”
The research was carried out by scientists from IMAS, the Natural History Museum in London, and community science group the Two Hands Project. Some of the leading scientists like Lavers had months ago sounded the alarm on the shocking extent to which the remote islands had become transformed into massive waste dumps due to the vast amounts of garbage—and primarily single-waste plastics—that make their way into our oceans.
In the study led by Lavers, researchers found that about 414 million pieces of plastic—including 977,000 shoes and 372,000 toothbrushes—had washed up on the Cocos Islands. Scientists believe that the amount of plastic waste washing up on such remote islands is a strong indicator of the total amount of debris in the ocean.
To make matters worse, because hermit crabs don’t have their own shells and instead inhabit empty ones, when they do find what they believe to be available shells they emit chemical signals that notify their fellow crabs, essentially drawing whole communities of the creatures to their deaths, explained Dr. Alex Bond of the Natural History Museum in London.
Bond added:
“This attracts more crabs that then fall into the containers and die, which then sends out more signals that say there are more shells available … Essentially, it’s a gruesome chain reaction.”
The blow to hermit crabs could be the start of a nasty chain reaction impacting marine life. In addition to forming an important part of maritime food chains, the scavengers also help clean island beaches and tropical forests while breaking down organic matter, spreading nutrients by aerating and fertilizing the soil, and dispersing seeds.
Researchers are stressing that their discovery of the hermit crabs’ fate should spark an urgent global investigation into the death rates of hermit crabs.
By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-02-06--Fire-Plagued Australia Set to Receive Most Epic Drenching of Rainfall in Months

Fire-afflicted regions of Australia will be getting a welcome respite as a storm later this week is set to deliver a major drenching that hasn ’ t been seen in months .
The country ’ s Bureau of Meteorology ( BOM ) has released a forecast for the next seven days that shows that bushfire and drought affected areas will be enjoying “ significant relief ” in the coming storm .
Coastal regions will see the majority of the incoming rain , which will also likely entail flash flooding in certain zones .
Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of New South Wales ( NSW ) will be the chief beneficiaries of the “ huge amount ” of rain , which will offer “ significant drought relief.
” He said : “ It could be enough rain for widespread flash flooding , perhaps even river flooding , through eastern NSW and the far southern part of Queensland .
It ’ s enough rain to extinguish bushfires up and down the eastern seaboard.
” Along with the unprecedented fires that have raged the island nation since September , arid conditions due to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the livelihoods of farmers and local economies .
However , farmers in the north coast of New South Wales will likely be overjoyed by the news of the heavens parting to dump over 200 millimeters ( nearly 8 inches ) of rain across the region , while the Australian Capital territory will see at least 100 millimeters ( almost 4 inches ) of rain—an amount that should make a significant contribution to putting out bushfires that have flared up in the last few days .
Dean Narramore of the Bureau of Meteorology told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we had earlier in September and October in northern NSW will see this widespread rainfall .
And it looks like even many of the ongoing fires to the west of Sydney and down towards the south coast and into East Gippsland will also get some of this rainfall as well .
It ’ s definitely looking like all fire zones will at least get some rainfall in the coming weeks.
” The massive storm is being caused by a huge high pressure system that has been gathering strength over the southern Tasman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with unpredictable weather over the past month , including massive dust storms and golf ball-sized hailstones that battered parts of the country .
Despite the harsh effects of the thunderstorms , the rain is more than welcome in terms of helping to extinguish the devastating bushfires that have plagued the country for the past several months .

Fire-Plagued Australia Set to Receive Most Epic Drenching of Rainfall in Months
Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
Fire-afflicted regions of Australia will be getting a welcome respite as a storm later this week is set to deliver a major drenching that hasn’t been seen in months.
The country’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has released a forecast for the next seven days that shows that bushfire and drought affected areas will be enjoying “significant relief” in the coming storm.
Coastal regions will see the majority of the incoming rain, which will also likely entail flash flooding in certain zones.
Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders said that Queensland and the hard-hit state of New South Wales (NSW) will be the chief beneficiaries of the “huge amount” of rain, which will offer “significant drought relief.” He said:
“It could be enough rain for widespread flash flooding, perhaps even river flooding, through eastern NSW and the far southern part of Queensland. It’s enough rain to extinguish bushfires up and down the eastern seaboard.”
Along with the unprecedented fires that have raged the island nation since September, arid conditions due to a prolonged drought have wrought heavy damage on the livelihoods of farmers and local economies.
However, farmers in the north coast of New South Wales will likely be overjoyed by the news of the heavens parting to dump over 200 millimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rain across the region, while the Australian Capital territory will see at least 100 millimeters (almost 4 inches) of rain—an amount that should make a significant contribution to putting out bushfires that have flared up in the last few days.
In a tweet, the NSW Rural Fire Service wrote:
“Easing conditions have seen all fires now at the advice alert level. More than 1500 firefighters will use favourable conditions to work on containment of a number of large fires.”
Dean Narramore of the Bureau of Meteorology told ABC:
“Many of the fires that we had earlier in September and October in northern NSW will see this widespread rainfall. And it looks like even many of the ongoing fires to the west of Sydney and down towards the south coast and into East Gippsland will also get some of this rainfall as well. It’s definitely looking like all fire zones will at least get some rainfall in the coming weeks.”
The massive storm is being caused by a huge high pressure system that has been gathering strength over the southern Tasman Sea.
The country has been coping with unpredictable weather over the past month, including massive dust storms and golf ball-sized hailstones that battered parts of the country.
Despite the harsh effects of the thunderstorms, the rain is more than welcome in terms of helping to extinguish the devastating bushfires that have plagued the country for the past several months.
By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com