Opuscula You must be kidding If you expect China To pay virus damages

INDIVIDUALS AND NATIONS ARE LINING up to “sue China” for inflicting the latest China-originating virus/pandemic.

Politicians are telling their constituents to stop buying cheap Chinese products and to start buying products made “at home.”

A few brave politicians even are questioning China’s take-over of national infrastructure and critical industries.

 

 

SUING CHINA IS A WASTE OF paper and time. Any attorney who files a suit against China is doing it for personal PR; he or she cannot reasonably believe China’s government — a government that denies it inflicted the pandemic du jour on the world — will pay anyone anything.

What China WILL do, and IS DOING, is to produce, and sell to the world, products needed to counter the effects of the pandemic: personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, etc. In other words, China is making money off the pandemic that started in China.

Editorial cartoon from UAE The Khaleej Times

 

This scrivener’s crystal ball fails to show what would happen to the world’s economy if consumers were to heed the politicians’ advice and buy from anyone BUT China.

The Chinese have been buying up infrastructure and essential businesses around the world.

PORTS The Chinese are buying, or buying control of, sea ports. The Mediterranean rapidly is becoming a Chinese sea. China also is present at the biggest ports on Europe’s Atlantic coast.

 

Chinese sea port interests (Credit: American Journal of Transportation
https://tinyurl.com/ybnk6c7h)

 

According to the NPR¹ "this is about more than just moving cargo, analysts say. President Xi Jinping's new silk road, named after the ancient trade route, has sped up China's advance toward becoming a superpower of the seas, spreading not just commercial ships but naval power and influence to more and more areas of the world."

Not everyone is happy about the Chinese invasion.

Giorgos Nouchoutidis, who worked at the Greek port of Piraeus before retiring, believes "We handed over control of our most important port to a company that's not even in the European Union." The EU pushed us to do it. They will see the damage to our interests in a few years."

The American Journal of Transportation (AJOT) web site², notes that “Chinese port investment encircles the Mediterranean from the eastern ports like the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod, the Egyptian Port of Alexandria, and Piraeus in Greece. While some worry about the nature of the Chinese expansion – debt trap diplomacy - others laud the investment as a key to the region’s port development, which has lagged behind increases in ship sizes and volume.”

There are about 15 major ports in the U.S. Each is divided into a handful of separately operated terminals. That makes roughly 100 terminals.³

According to Bob Waters, a VP at SSA Marine, "the biggest U.S.-owned terminal operator manages seven terminals. The next biggest? That's Maher Terminals, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They manage one terminal. Waters says about a dozen are managed by city or state governments. "

Of those, "United States companies have eight, foreign companies have 80. Those companies managing U.S. terminals are all over the world, in China, Denmark, Singapore, South Korea."

Joe King, Former Chief, U.S. Customs Terrorism Unit: "There is always a debate in the U.S. government between trade and security. For the last 20 years, trade is winning it." However, "If security is tightened, You'd have containers backed up that you could walk across the Pacific Ocean on, they'd be so tightly packed".

Some, like Sen. Hillary Clinton, have suggested that the U.S. should allow foreign companies to run U.S. terminals, but forbid companies owned by foreign governments. That's almost equally impossible, says Peter Tirschwell, of the Journal of Commerce.

 

Potential problem for manufacturers

“Under bilateral agreements as part of the Container Security Initiative, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) inspectors work in nearly 20 foreign ports to help ensure the security of U.S.-bound cargo before it disembarks.” Additionally, CBP tracks all cargo from the time it is loaded on board until the time it is released from its U.S. destination port. Shippers can be fined heavily for failing to provide CBP with up-to-date tracking information. Ships that have undocumented containers can be barred from U.S. ports.⁴ There are tales of undocumented containers “falling” off a ship before the ship enters U.S. waters.

Ports lacking non-CBP personnel could manage to allow dangerous cargo to be loaded onto U.S. bound vessels (ship or air).

 

U.S. Navy access

Control of foreign ports by the Chinese, or any other potential enemy, could deny U.S. warships access to the port or cause the port to be a combat zone.

Currently U.S. ships are welcome in most Mediterranean ports, albeit some, such as at least one in Turkey, discourage U.S. Navy ships by attacking sailors on shore leave.⁵

As noted earlier, China’s control of the world’s ports is part of China's advance toward becoming a superpower of the seas

 

Not just shipping

In addition to moving to control sea ports around the globe, China also is buying up food processing companies. The most prominent foreign acquisition of an American food company in the past few years was Chinese company WH Group’s 2013 purchase of Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion. The combined company is the largest pork producer in the world. WH Group, formerly known as Shuanghui, allegedly has received subsidies from the Chinese government. The deal was the largest ever Chinese acquisition of an American company.⁶

The same source, Food & Power, notes that “China isn’t the only growing power in the American food system. Two powerful Brazilian companies, 3G and JBS, have amassed enormous influence in the food sector. JBS is a meatpacker that, by annual sales, is the number two food company in the world, second only to Nestle. The largest meat producer in the world, JBS leads in beef, chicken, and lamb production, and is number three in pork, after Smithfield and Tyson. In 2007, JBS acquired Swift Foods Co., which was at the time the third-largest pork and beef processor in the U.S., for $1.4 billion. In 2009, JBS purchased a controlling stake in Pilgrim’s Pride, now the largest chicken producer in the U.S.”

Israel’s leading dairy products company, Tnuva, was bought by the Chinese. The Chinese also own agrochemicals manufacturer Makhteshim Agan with ChemChina in 2011. Both companies are owned by companies the Chinese government. ⁷

Additionally Chinese firms are heavily involved in infrastructure projects. These companies, too, are owned by the Chinese government.

 

China “owns” the U.S.

 

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Chinese President Xi Jinping with former U.S. president (Wang Zhou - Pool/Getty Images)

 

Over the years the U.S. government – including both major parties – have been writing IOUs to China.

While Social Security was supposed to be sacrosanct, untouchable, the U.S. government has issued IOUs to China using the Social Security fund — the one that was never to be touched by any politician — as collateral. Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits also cover IOUs to China.

How much does the U.S. owe China?

The quick answer is that as of January 2018, the Chinese owned $1.17 trillion of U.S. debt or about 19% of the total $6.26 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds held by foreign countries. That sounds like a lot of money—because it is—but it is actually a little less than the $1.24 trillion China-owned in 2011.⁸

 

Say it isn’t so

Just what do foreign nations or foreign companies own in the U.S. There are some surprises.

According to CNBC⁹, China owns

• AMC theaters
• GE Appliances
• Ingram Micro
• Legendary Entertainment Group
• Motorola Mobility
• Riot Games
• Ritz-Carlton locations in California
• The Chicago Stock Exchange
• The Fairmont Scottsdale in Arizona
• The Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
• The Waldorf Astoria

From ABC News¹⁰ a number of “American” companies no longer are “American.”

• Alka-Seltzer (German)
• Armour, Farmland and Healthy Ones (China)
• Gerber (Swiss)
• IBM Thinkpad (China)
• John Hancock Insurance (Canada)
• Purina (Swiss)
• Smithfield Ham (China)
• Vaseline (English & Dutch)

 

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Sources

1. NPR: https://tinyurl.com/y7artgx2

2. AJOT: https://tinyurl.com/ybnk6c7h

3. NPR/WLRN: https://tinyurl.com/y7yfzhjj

4. Containers: Personal knowledge with an ocean transport company.

5. Turkish gang attacks U.S. sailors (video): https://tinyurl.com/y8j3jhvv

6. Smithfield acquisition: https://tinyurl.com/y7sujvfu

7. Israel: https://tinyurl.com/y9dd6b48

8. U.S. debt to China: ThoughtCo. https://tinyurl.com/ycqs7pka

9: CNBC: https://tinyurl.com/yavhq6w6

10: ABC: https://tinyurl.com/yagaqaxo

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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Opuscula WashPost never Misses chance To slam Israel

THE WASHINGTON POST had a great story of Muslim-Jewish cooperation at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.¹

The article, by WashPost Jerusalem bureau chief Steve Hendrix tells how Muslim and Jewish patients are cared for equally by Muslim and Jewish medical staff.

 

 

Then, SHIR NOSATZKI, “A JEWISH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST,” recounted a day in March when Israelis went to their balconies at 6 p.m. to applaud health-care workers, then, later that evening, the news reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had labeled Arab Israeli members of parliament “terror supporters.

WHAT HAS ONE GOT TO DO WITH THE OTHER?

 

The medics are NOT politicians. As with most Muslims and Jews, they just want to live their lives in peace.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the politicians from the Joint List are promoting destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from the area.

If the “bureau chief” cannot see the difference, then he either is anti-Israel or his editors control his content. (Having been a newspaper reporter, I know that can happen. I can see someone adding the Nosatzki quote “for balance.”)

Of what value is the Nosatzki quote? How does it add to the article?

Nor, really, is a Muslim doctor’s remarks about the road by his brother's house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. According to Dr. Fadi Kharouf, who Hendrix writes “is a Palestinian Muslim,” he “sleeps on a sofa by the living room window, because that’s where the cell signal is strongest in this marginalized part of the city. “I know this street would be paved if it was not in an Arab neighborhood,” he said, pointing down at the rutted dirt lane. (Never mind Hendrix’ editorializing — marginalized part of the city.)

Elsewhere in the same article, Hendrix writes that Kharouf, was born in Israel and is a citizen.

So what is the good doctor? An Israeli Muslim or a Muslim from the PLO-controlled area?

Hendrix fails to tell the readers where Dr. Kharouf studied medicine.

Cell phone capabilities are in the hands of private enterprise in Israel. As with all other commercial enterprises, it is “follow the money.” If the residents of “East” Jerusalem want better cell phone coverage, they can demand it from the cell phone providers.

As an aside. Between 1949 and 1967, Israel controlled the western part of Jerusalem, while Jordan took the eastern part, including the old walled city containing important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites.²

Apparently rutted dirt roads were fine when Jordan controlled the area.

Although technically under Israeli control, east Jerusalem, in part due to its harboring of terrorists, has been allowed to flounder. Recently, however, east Jerusalem residents have requested, and received, increased police presence to reduce the amount of Muslim-on-Muslim crime. As Israel expands control over the eastern part of Jerusalem, the area will see improved services; this already is occurring with garbage collection.

The sad thing is that this peaceful cooperation exists primarily in the hospital, where medical staff put their profession above politics and where patients are grateful for medical attention from any source. Will it continue outside the hospital’s walls?

Hendrix quotes Julie Benbenishty who has her doubts. For a research paper, she once surveyed dozens of ultra-orthodox patients to see whether their experience in the hospital had changed their view of the Arab-Jewish schism once they got out.

The answer was largely no.

This scrivener’s opinion: Ms. Benbenishty likely would have gotten a similar answer if she asked the ultra-Orthodox patients if their attitude would be changed if they were treated by non-observant Jewish doctor. With the “ultra-orthodox” is is not a matter of religion as much as it is a matter of how the religion is practiced: their way is the only way. (To be fair, there are many older Jews who immigrated from Muslim-dominated lands that, recalling their treatment in their former countries, don’t trust any Arab, regardless of the Arab’s religion.)

 

Although he had to work at it, Hendrix did manage to sneak in an inappropriate and unwarranted comment about the Muslims in the Knesset — would ANY other country allow people who vow to over-throw the county in their ruling body? Even “The Squad” in the U.S. does not actively support overthrowing the U.S. government (just those people with whom they disagree).

Now if Hendrix and his editors could just decide if Dr. Kharouf is an Israeli Muslim or a Muslim from the PLO-controlled areas.

 

Was the WashPost ever a reliable newspaper?

 

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Sources

1. WashPost: https://tinyurl.com/y9fo35zj

2. East Jerusalem: https://tinyurl.com/y7v2cayu

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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Opuscula DERELICT!

 

IF THE INFORMATION ON THE WEB that is spreading as fast as the Chinese virus is correct, a number of people in past and present administrations failed the American people.

They were, and are, derelict in their duties.

Those who are proven be derelict should be charged with, at a minimum, involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of thousands of people worldwide.

The operative word in the foregoing sentence is PROVEN.

 

 

ACCORDING TO “THE INTERNET,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, who some claim is “the nation's top expert in infectious diseases"¹ allegedly said, before cameras in 2017, that “there will be a challenge in the coming administration (Trump’s presidency) in the area of infectious diseases, both chronic infections diseases … also there will be a surprise outbreak” (See VID-20200420-WA0049.mp4)

The Gateway Pundit² also quotes Fauci speaking at Georgetown University on 11 Jan 2017.

How could Fauci make such a prediction more than two years before the Wuhan disaster?

 

President Trump Will Be Challenged By a “Surprise Global Disease Outbreak,” Gateway Pundit²

 

According to several sources, in addition to those already cited, Fauci allegedly

• Managed to shut down a U.S. program working on viruses on the theory that there was no need for the program — it couldn’t happen here.
• He violated Federal law and contracted with the Chinese to research the virus.
• He managed to get the research in China funded for only US$3.7 million during the Obama administration.

Joan Swirsky, writing for Review America³ and other sites, prepared four questions, all of which have the same answer. The questions:

1. Which person, foreign or American, predicted three years ago, in 2017, that President Trump would be challenged by a "surprise global disease outbreak"?
2. Which person, foreign or American, wrote de facto love letters (actually emails) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton through her lawyer Cheryl Mills, saying that he loved ole Hillary "more than ever"?
3. Which person, foreign or American, said that the collapse of the American capitalist system as a result of the coronavirus plague would be "inconvenient"?
4. Which person, foreign or American, said on January 21, 2020, that the coronavirus "was not a major threat to the United States" and also on January 23 downplayed the virus's potential impact on the U.S.?

If you guessed that the correct answer to all four questions was Dr. Anthony Fauci , congratulations.

Fauci’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) official biography⁴ states he has been director of the National Institute if Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984. His NIH career began well before 1984.

 

Given Fauci’s prominence in high visibility infectious diseases (HIV/AIDs, Ebola) and his role at NIAID with responsibility for extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research on infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, and his (in)famous remark at Georgetown University (ibid.), and other remarks (e.g., that the collapse of the American capitalist system as a result of the coronavirus plague would be "inconvenient"?) it would seem appropriate for someone to vet Fauci before retaining him in his position.
 

From the NAID web page.

 

Bottom line: While Fauci — IF even just part of the foregoing is true — has at least indirectly caused the deaths of thousands worldwide, but has severely damaged this country and its trading partners’ economies, the Trump administration also is liable for leaving Fauci in place.

Granted, — and again if it is proven — that Fauci violated Federal law and moved dangerous research to China and funded it under the Obama administration, research that brought Covid-19 to the world, the doctor should be held criminally liable and punished severely.

Again, if what Fauci said in 2017 (there will be a surprise outbreak of a serious infectious disease) failed to get anyone’s attention in the current administration, someone needs to resign for failing to do due diligence. Fauci, while not a presidential appointee, should have been “encouraged” to give up his position at the NIH.

It would seem the only way Fauci could have known what to expect for 2020 in 2017, was to have been receiving information on development progress of what became Covid-19. There may be another explanation, but given the information before me today, it seems unlikely.

 

CAVEAT In the U.S. a person is considered innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law. While the information above is damming, is is so far not proven.

 

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A Bobblehead Of Dr. Fauci Will Help Pay To Produce Masks For Health Workers⁵

(EXCERPT) CNN contends that “Dr. Anthony Fauci, (is) the nation's top expert in infectious diseases.”

The 7-inch Dr. Fauci bobbleheads cost $25 and are available for pre-order. They are expected to ship in July.

A portion of each sale will go toward helping produce personal protective equipment for health care workers on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus.

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum will donate $5 to the American Hospital Association for every Fauci bobblehead sold to raise money for the 100 Million Mask Challenge.

 

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Sources

1. CNN: https://tinyurl.com/uabb6ga

2. Gateway Pundit: https://tinyurl.com/uqgtasj

3: Joan Swirsky: https://tinyurl.com/y84anwd3

4. Anthony Fauci bio: https://tinyurl.com/qqy9qlh

5. CNN bobblehead: https://tinyurl.com/uabb6ga

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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Opuscula Isolate, Sequester. Quarantine

I HEAR PEOPLE SAYING “Now I know how Anne Frank felt” hiding from the nazis for 761 days in the Secret Annex.

Today we have a plethora of ways to talk to people around the globe. We even can, with the right tools, see them face-to-face.

Anne Frank lacked those tools.

Her world was the “Secret Annex” and the seven other people who shared it with her.

 

 

THE CHINESE VIRUS, as President Trump correctly identifies it, has changed the lifestyle of most of us.

There are some, the entitled generation who go about pleasure as usual, knowing IF they become infected, the likelihood that they will survive with only minimal discomfort is great.

Never mind that they may, through their cavalier, hedonistic, attitude, infect others — both the very young and the elderly. “Not my problem.”

CONFESSION

I hate telephones, but I realize they are a “necessary evil.”

For most of my 70-plus years I have communicated in writing. I used to have a good “hand” and, frankly, I was proud of it. My words? Always room for improvement.

For several decades I have used email to share what I know with people whom I hope want to read what I write.

But mail — “snail” or electronic — is not the same as a face-to-face conversation. It’s great for “CYA” situations, but — as with the telephone — you cannot see your correspondent’s face as what you wrote is read or as a reply is communicated..

Since I have (and have had) a computer for many years — OK, many computers over many years; designed obsolescence in action — I have had applications that allow me to see and talk to people around the globe.

Skype, before it as MS Skype, for awhile.

Now Facebook’s WhatsApp.

Google's DUO – a company that obsoletes applications almost as fast as it acquires them.

Zoom.

Some friends and family prefer WhatsApp; great on iPhone or Android “smartphones,” but not so good on a computer — it does text OK and images transfer, but on the computer users cannot see the other party/parties.

Zoom works on “smartphones” and the desktop; it seems popular with businesses although it offers a free version geared to the individual.

Bottom line: today even being home-bound, a person need not be isolated.

For several years I worked from my home office and communicated with 42 remote sites in 17 different states and never — never — traveled from my house.

Of course when the Internet Service Provider (ISP) crashes, everything on the desktop is out of service, too. The mobile phone is another story for some things.

By and large, however, today’s sequestered individuals still have access to “The World.”

They can read news blogs — the media’s veracity may be questionable, but it is there to read — they can call family and friends, even their elected officials who may, or may not, be responsive. If there is a window, they can gaze out as they communicate electronically.

This is not Anne Franks’ world.

Sequestered or quarantined — call it what you will — will not prevent anyone from reaching out.

Unless the isolation is in a hospital or similar setting where communications tools may be banned from isolation areas for the patient’s protection. Some diseases can be transferred to patient property that cannot be sanitized without being ruined. Most cellphones, tablets, and computers would not survive an autoclave session.

Isolation related to the Chinese virus is only “semi-isolation.”

People still can go out to buy food; delivery people still can deliver. But, except for necessities, a walk around the block is about the maximum distance to wander.

Since this was keyed, residents of my area are confined by executive order to their yards — if they HAVE a yard. Pity the apartment dwellers.

In Israel, police will arrest people who go more than 100 meters (that is about 330 feet) from their door.

This is not Anne Frank’s isolation.

 

Stay home

According to Florida’s governor — who may very well be a one-term governor — about 190 airplanes arrive in Florida every day. Many are from New York-New Jersey-Conneticut, an epicenter of the Chinese virus.

Florida, particularly south Florida, already has hundreds of cases of the disease.

Florida is scrambling to get enough test kits to test Floridians — never mind the folks from New York and similar locales.

The governor claims that all passengers will be tested — “temperature tested” one guesses — and then told to go into “a 14-day self-quarantine or isolation period.”

Editorial opinion: FAT CHANCE!

Floridians already see 20-somethings flaunting the laws on the supposedly closed beaches.

Who cares if the young people infect others; they are — but maybe not — immune from any serious illness.

Never mind the burden their excursions to Florida put on the state’s ability to protect its citizens health and, frankly, their wallets as its Floridian’s tax dollars that will fund testing (with or without promised assistance from the Federal government).

Floridians’ advice to anyone getting on a plane, train, bus, or even a private automobile: STAY HOME

If the governor really wants to protect the citizens, he needs to close the borders.

Winter is over.

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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