Corona Police State Watch

Ah, the irony.

The coronavirus originated in China and the Chinese Communist Party lied about it repeatedly, which helped it spread around the world.  And killed tens of thousands.

Now another kind of sick “virus” is spreading around the world. In order to combat the first virus, governments all over the world, and in the USA, are mimicking Communist China.

Almost every nation in the world – and most states in the USA – have become “temporarily” authoritarian.

People are being ordered to stay home, ordered not to go to church, ordered not to meet each other, ordered not to go to parks, and ordered to close their businesses even if it causes financial ruin.

Even if it is the right thing to do – to social distance and stay at home – it does not change the fact that these authoritarian measures violate the US constitution and deprive people of freedom.

Sweden’s model of voluntary compliance might be an example of how a free state can operate. By all means, social distance but do it because it is wise to do – not because you are forced to do so.

Still, it is hard to imagine that there are not some who are happy about the pandemic.  I suspect some people believe this is the “happy crisis” that “strong government” advocates have prayed for.

The Bernie dream.

Some people may actually be grateful to China for unleashing it on us for it gives them the opportunity to implement strictures they could never consider introducing without a crisis of this magnitude.

Contact tracing, for instance, might get the public indoctrinated into 24/7 surveillance. Vaccines might become mandatory. Government control of workplaces with potentially no one allowed to work without being subject to testing and, as is being discussed, a special “immunity passport,” may be forthcoming.

None of this could have been imposed without a crisis.

Once government decides who can work and who cannot, the possibilities are interesting and ominous.

A vaccine passport could include a multipurpose microchip which becomes in effect a “body passport.”

Many politicians have already said that before we get to the “new normal” [an Orwellian term if ever there was one], there will have to be many changes. All of those changes will include a diminution of freedom; all will be sold under the banner of “it is for your safety.”

Before this is over, many people in the world may have to ask permission of government to enter public places. This could lead to having to ask permission [perhaps online] to leave your home.

To accept extreme measures, people must be assured that it is done for our safety and is only temporary,  We shall find out later if government, once it gets new authority, will relinquish its new powers.

Drones to Watch People

In many parts of America, police are using donated drones to enforce social distancing. Will they give them back when the pandemic ends?

Ironically, the drones were “donated” by DJI, a Chinese company. The donated drones have gone to 43 law enforcement agencies in 22 states.

DIJ is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

It is ironic that a lot of people are concerned about what the Chinese government-backed company that manufactures the drones may be doing with data it gathers.  Are images the Drones view for American police being sent back to China?

Many are worried about China misusing the images or data. But shouldn’t we be more concerned that police are spying on our people with drones? They are using drones to enforce the suppression of our right to assemble and using donated drones from Communist China!

Reportedly, the drones are being used to monitor areas that aren’t easily accessible by patrol cars. Supposedly, police don’t keep pictures or video and are – so far – using the drones only to find offenders of social distancing and issue warnings.

While police may not be taking photos, it is unknown if the Chinese are receiving images from the drones.

It is of such concern – that the Communist Chinese may be getting images – that the U.S. Army, which was also using Chinese drones – have ordered soldiers to stop using DJI consumer drones and software because of an “increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products.”

The Interior Department grounded its fleet of DJI drones at the beginning of this year out of fear they might be utilized by the Chinese for spying.

In civilian America – the corona excuse – everything for our safety – has local police agencies spying on us in every nook and corner, with Chinese-donated drones, and possibly unknowingly sharing these images with the Communist Chinese, the folks that brought us the virus.

Sounds like a good idea.

The drones are being used in Oregon, Washington, California, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.

Track Our Phones and Us Too

Contact tracing – a central feature of government public-health response to the virus – will need to use downloadable apps and hundreds of thousands of people [contact tracers] to find people at risk of infection.

If there is a determination that the public is not cooperating, laws will be made to enforce compliance and to make it easier for government to control the virus [and people.]

If you want to get an idea of how contact tracing will likely work in the US, you might look at how the UK plans to do it this month.

Millions in the UK will be required to track their movements – for their own safety – to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The UK government says hiring is underway for a team of 18,000 people to trace contacts of those infected.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick says ”all of society” will be required to download a nationwide app when it is released in mid-May.

How It Works

The UK wants to track down anyone who an infected person was in “prolonged” contact with, to get them into isolation.

What is not clear is if the isolation will be voluntary. Will the isolation be monitored with the apps, or by random contact tracer check-ins?

It is also not clear whether isolation will be at people’s homes, or if they do not live alone, if they will be removed from their home to government isolation facilities.

Scientists don’t agree on “close contact”

The World Health Organization recommends staying one meter apart, while the UK government recommends two meters.  Some scientists say two seconds spent one meter apart is as dangerous as spending one minute two meters apart. So in the UK, as the mandatory apps capture distance, it is not clear who will be required to isolate.

The apps apparently cannot track some risk factors, like the length of time spent in proximity with some people and in what setting (inside or outside, well-ventilated or not). If the contact tracing errs on the side of caution, more people will be required to take a test to determine whether they are to be isolated.

The actual risk may have to be determined by “discussions” with contact tracers. Who has final authority is to be determined – the tracer, or the individual.

Contact tracing is already being used in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Germany.

What Will Contact Tracing Look Like in the UK?

Initially, the 18,000-member team will be divided into 3,000 civil servants and health workers and 15,000 call handlers.  It is not clear what police powers the civil servants will have – and what obligations call handlers will have to report to law enforcement for monitoring purposes.

The phone system will be used with the tracing app, which everyone who has a smartphone will have to download.

If a user develops coronavirus symptoms, at first, at least, it is up to him or her to let the app inform the NHS.

Voluntary disclosure will trigger an anonymous alert to everyone they recently had contact with, potentially asking/ordering those people to go into quarantine or be tested.

Imagine, you get an anonymous message [and I expect in time everyone will get such a message] that you were in contact [traced by your app on your phone] with someone who said they had symptoms of coronavirus. Now, you are informed that you are required to isolate or be tested.

Many will opt to be tested. If they test negative, they can go about their business, until the next anonymous alert.

If they test positive, they will be required to isolate and all their contacts will, in turn, be alerted that they must isolate or get tested.

If they choose or are allowed to self-isolate, the app can monitor if they stay in place or make contact with anyone else.

Of course, people could secretly leave their cell phones behind when they leave home so the government cannot monitor their movements. This would be a good argument to make carrying cell phones mandatory, at least when one is in isolation.

This is also a good argument for embedded microchips whereby you have no choice but to carry it with you.

For those without smartphones, an alternative suggested is a mandatory Bluetooth-enabled wristband, like those being required in other countries to detect lockdown breaches.

Way easier than carrying cell phones around everywhere.

Will Phone App End Lockdown?

Contact tracing, when combined with other authoritarian measures, has been credited with lifting restrictions in other countries.

South Korea used extensive tracing, combined with mass testing. South Korea required citizens to recall their movements, and used credit card transactions, CCTV footage, and mobile phone tracking to piece together where they had been.  Then, they required isolation.

However, continued lockdown would mean new outbreaks of the virus would be easier to track.

Covid-19 Tracing App Launched in Australia

Phone tracing is labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Tracers in Ireland had to make about 40 phone calls per infected person.  The mobile app is easier. Phone calls are not needed, but everyone must use the app and always keep it with them so that the virus [like their freedom] is suppressed.

Academics advising the UK’s NHS estimate 80% of smartphone users – 60% of the population – would have to actively use it for success. If it is voluntary, people would have to be honest about reporting potential symptoms and inform the NHS.

It is quite possible that the UK, and potentially some states in the US, may make installing an app a condition for leaving lockdown or returning to work.

NHSX, the digital development arm of the UK health service, says the information gathered will never be used for anything but health and research purposes, and the app can be deleted any time the government chooses.

An alternative model by Apple and Google is reportedly harder for hackers or authorities to track and identify specific individuals. But NHSX says a government-controlled tracking system will give government more insight into how the disease spreads and how to make the app more efficient.

The app may be around for a long time – years perhaps – until there is a vaccine [presupposing there is not another pandemic right around the corner].

In the UK, people will become used to government tracking their whereabouts.

See, Over Here in China, We’re Back to Normal!

Photo China Daily

According to Chinese media, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, China is back to normal.

According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, over one million people visited Shanghai’s 130 main tourist attractions on Friday and Saturday, the first two days of the May Day holiday.

Xinhua reported that Shanghai received 456,000 visitors on Friday and 633,000 on Saturday.

Of course, you cannot believe a word the Communist Chinese say, but the point is obvious: To show western democracies how well the Communist Chinese Party handled the pandemic [they created].

For slaves in China, things are back to normal. The slaves can go to government permitted tourist attractions any time the government lets them.

Implied in this is that, if we embrace a more authoritarian government, we can do the same.

Did it Start in Wuhan Lab?

President Donald Trump contradicted a statement from the Intelligence Community, a community that has been known to be wrong as often as it is right – and to lie to Americans as often as it tells the truth.

Of course, he was criticized and portrayed as stupid in mainstream media.

Trump said he has seen evidence that gives him a “high degree of confidence” that the novel coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

He was chided in mainstream media because it contradicted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which stated that so far they have not made a high confidence assessment and will continue to “rigorously examine” whether the outbreak “began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”

He might check a third option: That China unleashed the virus on purpose.

The Intelligence Community makes assessments. Generally, they are made to serve their masters, the Military-Industrial complex.

Scientists and intelligence professionals say the US may never know the origin of the virus.

However, WHO officials assure us that the virus is “natural in origin.”

“We have listened again and again to numerous scientists who have looked at the sequence and looked at the virus and we are assured that this virus is natural in origin,” Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference when asked about the virus’ origins.

Dossier

A 15-page document from intelligence agencies of five countries – the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand – was leaked to Australia’s Saturday Telegraph newspaper.

The dossier states that China’s secrecy surrounding the coronavirus amounted to an “assault on international transparency.”

The dossier treats the outbreak of the virus, including an initial denial by China that the virus could be transmitted between humans, the silencing or “disappearing” of doctors who tried to speak up, the destruction of evidence in laboratories, and the refusal to provide live samples to international scientists working on a vaccine.

China knew about the spread between humans earlier than it said, and knew it was a novel coronavirus earlier than it said, and knew that it spread wider than they reported to the international community in the first weeks of their outbreak.

Ground Zero? — the Wuhan Institute of Virology where the coronavirus may have got its start.

President Trump said he has seen evidence that suggests the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology where the strain was being studied.  Supposedly the Chinese were not studying it as a bioweapon but as part of a Chinese effort to show that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are greater than the U.S.

Nice going. If an accidental leak was caused by scientists trying to show off that they were better at combating viruses which winds up infecting the world.

A senior intelligence source told Fox News that 70-75 percent of the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies [The Intelligence Community] believe the coronavirus came from the Wuhan laboratory and not from an accidental bat-to-man transmission.

Naturally, China lies. They would blame it on a bat even if were a leak from their highly vaunted lab.  And obviously they would lie if it was not accidental but a purposeful attack on world democracy.

Communist China is our enemy. Yet Americans continue to buy Chinese products. It reminds me of the Aesop Fable – an eagle was shot by an arrow made with eagle feathers.  How often we give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

Timeline of China’s Lies

Let’s look at the timeline, according to the dossier, to get a better idea of why Communist China is the villain in this story and not – as CNN likes to say – Donald Trump.

The virus was unleashed in December or earlier but China did not want the world to know.

Why?

CNN and others love to report Trump bungled the response to coronavirus, but if you want to understand who bungled it, look at this timeline:

Dec 31

China began censoring news of the virus on search engines and social media, deleting terms including “SARS variation,” “Wuhan Seafood market” and “Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia.”

They were seeking to hide it from the world. Why?

Jan. 3

China’s National Health Commission ordered virus samples to be either moved to designated testing facilities or destroyed, while simultaneously issuing a “no-publication order” related to the disease.

Jan. 5

Wuhan’s Municipal Health Commission stopped releasing daily updates on the number of new cases and would not resume them for 13 days.

Jan. 10

Wang Guanga, a respiratory specialist at Peking University First Hospital who had been investigating the outbreak, said it was “under control” and largely a “mild condition.” (Wang himself would disclose 12 days later that he had been infected with the virus.)

Jan. 12

A Shanghai professor’s lab was closed down after it shared data on the virus’ genetic sequence with the outside world.

YouTube will remove any content that contradicts WHO. And who can be trusted more than WHO?

Jan 14

WHO’s official Twitter account of Jan. 14 stated: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.”

Jan 20

Chinese authorities denied the virus could be spread between humans until Jan. 20, “despite evidence of human-human transmission from early December.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the Chinese deception that the coronavirus could not be transmitted from human-to-human despite the fact that “officials in Taiwan raised concerns as early as December 31, as did experts in Hong Kong on January 4.”

WHO chose to purposely ignore Taiwan and make its “no transmission from people to people” statement because China wanted it that way. China does not recognize Taiwan’s right to exist.

The Communist Chinese are the enemies of all people, including the Chinese people.

WHO could have included in their statements that scientists in Taiwan and Hong King expressed doubt about China’s position. They chose instead to only give the Communist Chinese position. Why?

President Trump stopped funding to WHO last month over its reckless role in the crisis – and has been savagely criticized by the mainstream [corporate owned – pro authoritarian] media.

Trump said WHO was either complicit in the cover-up or looked the other way.

“I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China,” Trump said and, of course, was roundly criticized by CNN and other corporate-owned mainstream [pro-authoritarian] media.

Bad Donald Trump – he dares to contradict the Intelligence Community and dares to cut funding to Communist China parrot – The World Health Organization.

Jan. 23

The dossier states: “Millions of people [left] Wuhan after the outbreak and before Beijing lock[ed] down the city on January 23.”

Jan. 24

Chinese officials stopped the Wuhan Institute of Virology from sharing virus samples with a lab at the University of Texas.

Feb.

Throughout February, “Beijing [pressed] the U.S., Italy, India, Australia, Southeast Asian neighbors and others not to protect themselves via travel restrictions, even as [China] impose[d] severe restrictions at home.”

The dossier describes Chinese defensiveness about their failure and their deceptions, stating: “As [European Union] diplomats prepare a report on the pandemic, [China] successfully presses Brussels to strike language on [China] disinformation.”

And  “As Australia calls for an independent inquiry into the pandemic, [China] threatens to cut off trade with Australia. [China] has likewise responded furiously to US calls for transparency.”

Meantime, YouTube and Facebook are working hard to censor information about the coronavirus that contradicts WHO’s official positions.

US Rep Adam Schiff wants all Big Tech to censor anything online that contradicts WHO.

The enemy of free speech, Adam Schiff.

Here is something else that is interesting. It may be the clue to the pandemic:

According to the dossier, key figures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology previously worked or trained in Australian government labs where they conducted research on pathogens in live bats as part of an ongoing partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to the dossier, the team’s work at the Wuhan lab involved discovering samples of coronavirus within a cave in Yunnan province. Then they worked to synthesize the bat-derived coronavirus into a virus that could not be cured!

They seemed to have succeeded.

Is the real reason no one is hinting that this was deliberate – a purposeful leak of a bio-weapon – is that it would mean, if true, all-out war with the Communist Chinese?

This pandemic is far from over.

And the secondary virus – the contagion of authoritarian government and the curtailing of freedom in its wake may be in the long run 1000 times more dangerous than the coronavirus pandemic.

The cure may actually be much worse than the disease – in the long haul.