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Global Void Called USA

by Oui Mon May 4th, 2020 at 07:38:05 PM EST

Trump puts blame on WHO and withdraws $340 million from yearly budget ...

More below the fold ...


Trump puts blame on the Communist Party of China ...

US uses coronavirus to challenge Chinese Communist party's grip on power | The Guardian |

The escalating row between Washington and Beijing over blame for the coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming a battle over the Chinese Communist party's legitimacy, raising the stakes in an already fraught relationship.

In castigating Beijing for its failure to contain the outbreak, senior Trump administration officials have gone out of their way to portray the crisis as a deadly illustration of the threat that Communist party rule poses the Chinese people - and the world beyond.

In a speech delivered on Monday morning in fluent Mandarin, the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Pottinger, warned Beijing that its efforts to suppress internal criticism were doomed to backfire.

"When small acts of bravery are stamped out by governments, big acts of bravery follow," Pottinger said in the remarks delivered by video to a University of Virginia webinar, to commemorate China's May the Fourth movement, a student-led populist uprising in the wake of the first world war.

Mike Pompeo calls China Communist Party the `central threat of our times' | Times of Israel - Jan. 30, 2020 |

Wealth from Middle East funds many universal causes of the United Nations and WHO ...

Work in progress ... more to follow

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Dr Yves Cohen, head of the emergency services ward at the Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals near Paris, says he went back through the files of patients who had been admitted with flu symptoms in December 2019 and January 2020.

"Out of 14 patients, one tested positive. We tested it two more times to make sure there was no mistake. And twice, it came back positive."

Nasal swab tests, or Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), using a long cotton bud inserted into the nose, can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the Covid-19 disease.

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According to Cohen, his file showed a scanner which revealed "signs that were totally connected to Covid-19", including signs of inflammation consistent with the virus when he was hospitalised in December at Jean-Verdier Hospital in Bondy, north of Paris.

Contacted later by Cohen's staff, the patient explained that he had not travelled to any infected areas. He had been sick for two weeks and had infected his two children - but not his wife.



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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 08:08:42 PM EST
`Silent spreaders': Almost a third of infected kids under 9 are asymptomatic | Times of Israel |

According to the report in the 0-9 age group, 27% of children infected with the virus show no symptoms whatsoever, raising concern among Health Ministry officials regarding the potential of that age group to spread the disease. The figure compares with 7% asymptomatic in the 20-29 age group; 4% among 50-59 year olds; and 7% in the 70-79 age group.

What Roles Do Children Play in Spreading COVID-19?

Soni says she's struck by one case report of a 6-month-old boy in Singapore. Both of his parents fell ill with COVID-19, so he was cared for at the hospital -- and his condition tracked -- for nearly 3 weeks in February.

He only had a mild fever for about an hour and no other symptoms, but the boy tested positive for COVID-19 and consistently shed high levels of the virus for 16 straight days. "On day 17, he became negative," she says, suggesting that children who do get infected may be able to spread high levels of the virus for a long time.

Related ...

There is so much the experts do NOT know about SARS CoV-2 😟

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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 08:30:13 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 08:43:53 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 08:50:38 PM EST
Arnon Grünberg spoke eloquently tonight ... a day of remembrance the victims at the hand of fascism by German Nazis in WWII ...

Refering to right-wing parties openly spreading Xenophobia in The Netherlands ... PM Mark Rutte refusing to act in name of all citizens ...

Grünberg speaking on May 4th: "When they speak about Moroccans, they speak about me."

Jacqueline Rose in LRB on counting, innocent murders, Camus, and the state

"Counting is at once a scientific endeavour and a form of magical thinking. It can be a way of bracing ourselves for and confronting an onslaught, and at the same time a doomed attempt at omnipotence, a system for classifying the horror and bundling it away. What exactly are we being told each time the latest figures are announced, rising consistently, dropping slightly, increasing again? Other than that we cannot get a grip on what is happening. We take all the measures there are to be taken, adequate and inadequate according to where and who we are. And we wait.

In Camus's novel, it is only when men start dying, as opposed to hundreds of rats, that the public begins to understand. And even then, only slowly.

Primo Levi - Biography

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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 09:24:02 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 09:29:12 PM EST

Trump rips George W. Bush after he calls for unity amid coronavirus outbreak | The Hill |

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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 09:35:25 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 09:39:14 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 09:40:50 PM EST
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So suppose a WHO support project is the first to come up with a vaccine for Covid-19, but it takes months or even years to ramp up production to cover everyone at risk throughout the world. Where in the queue would you place the USA, given that it has withdrawn funding for the WHO?

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 10:32:18 PM EST
And what priority do you think Trump would give to providing vaccines to the rest of the world if the US where to be the first to produce an effective vaccine?

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 10:42:21 PM EST
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The only thing Trump cares about is Trump.  If he had a vaccine he would provide it at the highest price he could get away with.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 02:18:41 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 10:36:09 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 10:50:25 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 10:57:19 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 11:02:07 PM EST
by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 4th, 2020 at 11:58:19 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:11:32 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:14:11 AM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:18:36 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:20:19 AM EST
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Leaving ally Donald Trump holding an empty bag ...

No evidence virus came from China lab, says Aussie PM | The Straits Times |

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has angered Beijing by calling for a global inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, said yesterday he had no evidence to suggest the disease originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

China's Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities, comments which the Australian government has called "threats of economic coercion".

Some of Australia's top business leaders are nervous that economic ties with China will become irreparably damaged.

Billionaire Kerry Stokes used the front page of his West Australian newspaper to warn against poking the country's biggest customer in the eye, while iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest called for an inquiry to be delayed until after the US presidential election.

Australia's trade with China is worth A$235 billion (S$214 billion) annually, or a third of the country's exports.

'Twiggy' Forrest's $160m China deal to bring lifesaving supplies to Australia | 9News - Apr. 1, 2020  |

How Australia ended up with 10 million more COVID-19 tests to help with the coronavirus fight

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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:52:18 AM EST
The hornets could have arrived by way of Canada, especially since Blaine sits on the border with British Columbia ...

What is a murder hornet? Dangerous killer Asian gisnt hornets threaten beehives after invading US | Newsweek |

Asian-Americans are stocking up on guns to protect themselves during coronavirus pandemic | SCMP |



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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 08:41:29 AM EST
The Chaotic Triumph of Arron Banks, the "Bad Boy of Brexit" | The New Yorker - March 2019 |

His UK is turning into a Socialist State 😠



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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 11:01:52 AM EST
Speaking of voids, I give you Arron Danks's and Lord Sumptuous's heads.
by rifek on Sat May 9th, 2020 at 05:23:18 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 19th, 2020 at 06:16:46 PM EST
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by generic on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 11:42:35 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 11:47:45 AM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 11:49:49 AM EST
Saudi Arabia's central  bank committed to riyal - US dollar peg | Arab News |

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia threatens to ditch dollar oil trades to stop 'NOPEC' - sources | Reuters - April 2019 |

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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 02:36:35 PM EST

by generic on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 05:20:45 PM EST
by generic on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 05:29:42 PM EST
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Operation Gideon: 8 Mercenaries Killed

Ex-US Green Beret Claims Authorship in Failed Terrorist Plots in Venezuela | Telesur |

As news about the foiled attempts came out, parallelly a United States former Army special forces operative claimed responsibility. The man is Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret who recorded himself saying he's been hired by lawmaker Juan Guaido to overthrow Venezuela's President Maduro.

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Yet Goudreau's story with Venezuela is quite recent as it goes back to February 2019, when he worked security at a concert in support of Guaido organized by British billionaire Richard Branson on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

"Controlling chaos on the Venezuela border where a dictator looks on with apprehension," he wrote in a photo of himself on the concert stage posted to his Instagram account as an AP investigation reported.

Soon after he met Lester Toledo, then Guaido's coordinator for the delivery of so-called humanitarian aid. In Bogota, it was Toledo who introduced Goudreau to Cliver Alcala, the ringleader of the Venezuelan military deserters that are hiding in Colombia and who is now in U.S. custody on charges of drug trafficking.  

According to Goudreau, his plan had been coordinated with Guaido who signed a contract on Oct. 16, 2019, for US$212 million. Miami-based opposition Venezuelan journalist Patricia Poleo published the document Sunday evening, which she purported to be a copy of the original contract.

Mercenaries Behind Failed Venezuela Coup Claim to Have Done Trump Security | Vice |

    Led by Jordan Goudreau, a former special forces soldier, the Florida-based security company, has made headlines ...

    A photo posted to Instagram by the company is taken from what appears to be backstage at President Trump's October 2018 political rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mr. Goudreau Goes To Colombia

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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 06:31:59 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 09:32:06 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Sat May 9th, 2020 at 02:00:07 AM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 5th, 2020 at 07:14:50 PM EST
Pfizer, BioNTech dose first U.S. patients in Covid-19 vaccine trial | MedCity |

The Phase I/II study dosed its first cohort in Germany last week. The trial is enrolling 7,600 participants who will be randomized to receive one of four vaccine candidates or placebo.

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The trial is designed to determine safety, immunogenicity and optimal dose of four vaccine candidates. The study, of which BioNTech is the main sponsor, is enrolling 7,600 participants and randomizing them to receive one of four vaccine candidates - BNT162a1, BNT162b1, BNT162b2 and BNT162c2 - or placebo. The companies said the two medical schools are dosing participants, though the ClinicalTrials.gov page for the study, last updated Tuesday, still listed NYU Langone Health as not yet recruiting as of midday, while two other University of Maryland sites were also listed as not yet recruiting. The announcement stated that two additional sites not listed on the trial page - the University of Rochester in upstate New York and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center - would begin enrollment shortly.

My earlier post ...

Global Reach Partnership Pfizer and German BioNTech

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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 06:26:09 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 06:50:17 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 06:54:02 AM EST
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The most advanced chipmachine China ordered but export license blocked after intervention by president Trump .. the close friendship with ally PM Mark Rutte to no avail. Selling your soul to the devil in the White House.



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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 07:07:38 AM EST
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Covid Created Collateral China Crisis

China relationship damage will far outlast direct Covid19 logistics impact. Economic damage could be huge but trade damage could be larger with more specific impact on chips.

A long build up to a China trade nuclear winter, the "drum-beat of war"
When we started talking about a potential chip trade embargo with China 3 years ago we were roundly criticized and laughed at....not so any more as the specter of a full blown, tech led, trade war with China seems to get larger by the day.

Several months ago the heat got turned up again. On Monday the Commerce department issued three new rules that will effectively pave the way for technology exports to China and exports to companies doing business with China (read that as TSMC) to be more easily restricted.

  • Elimination of License Exception
  • Expansion of controls for Military Use
  • Modification of License Exception

This feels an awful lot like tanks are massing on the border and warships are moving into position. The direction and intention of moves made over the last several months are very, very clear. It seems with all this planning and build up that implementation is all but inevitable.



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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 07:21:32 AM EST
Chinese leader in stark warning on Hong Kong anniversary | RTE - July 1, 2017 |



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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 07:29:29 AM EST
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Use of public transport could be discouraged as lockdown ends - IFS

Rishi Sunak preparing to wind down coronavirus furlough scheme from July

Related reading ...

Viral recessions: Lack of demand during the coronavirus crisis

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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 10:13:22 AM EST
Coronavirus restrictions to ease next week; country to slowly open up over summer

Coronavirus restrictions to ease through spring and summer; Testing widely available | NL Times |

The Dutch government announced plans to begin reopening the Netherlands, starting on May 11 with the opening of some close contact professions, and the gradual easing of restrictions will follow throughout the summer. If all goes well, by September 1, the government hopes to begin allowing events with large audiences, including festivals, concerts, and professional football matches.

Fitness centers, saunas, sports club canteens, and casinos may all be able to begin again, as well as contact sports and indoor sports. The government also said sex workers would likely be allowed to start work again in September, and confirmed earlier reports that masks would be required on public transportation.

The plans were simultaneously announced in a statement from the government, and by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge during a press conference on Wednesday. The press conference followed a meeting of the Cabinet's Outbreak Management Team (OMT), which was set to advise the government on the state of the pandemic in the Netherlands, and the measures in place to slow the spread of the virus.

In order to get to that point, more access to testing will be needed. According to De Jonge, any person showing symptoms of Covid-19 will be able to request a test for coronavirus from June 1, directing people to the government website to find out more. If found to be positive, patients will then be required to wait out in home quarantine 1 for a period of two weeks, during which time the regional branch of health service GGD will investigate with which people the patient had been having contact.  

1 Not the intelligent approach as this has been advised from the start, not to go to your GP or hospital until one gets serious issues with fever, breathing and lungs. Hopefully a medicine such as remdesivir can be prescribed before ICU risk.

Dutch coronavirus deaths decline again, 36 new deaths reported | Dutch News |

Current numbers COVID-19: 6 May 2020 | RIVM |

Netherlands will open primary schools in May; Other lockdown measures continue | NL Times - Apr. 21, 2020 |

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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 06:56:54 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 6th, 2020 at 08:43:35 PM EST

Trump administration shelves CDC guide to reopening the country | LA Times |

Trump's gut feeling ... he now owns the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

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by Oui (Oui) on Thu May 7th, 2020 at 02:08:06 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Thu May 7th, 2020 at 09:48:09 PM EST
Churchill led Europe against Nazi Germany in WWII ...

America's Trump leads himself to defeat against an invisible intruder from China ...

The Pacific War ended with two atom bombs over Japan ...

Churchill, God and the Bomb

Although brought up in the Anglican tradition, by his early twenties Churchill was expressing views which, if not atheistic, were in conflict with the doctrinal tenets of Christianity. As a subaltern in India in 1897-98, he wrote to his mother of his hopes for a future in which 'science and reason' triumphed over religious superstition. If he fell in battle, he advised her to seek out `the consolations of philosophy' and added, apparently conclusively, that 'I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief'.

In the upheaval of British politics, the Churchill government faced defeat as the Big Three met in Potsdam in July 1945. New PM Attlee came to Potsdam and replaced Churchill ...

The Potsdam Conference, 1945

In te early years as NATO was establushed, under British leadership, the focus to prevent a German resurgence was adjusted to fight Communism and the Soviet Union. The new US weapon not only split the atom, but also the Allied Forces united in defeat of Fascism.

Key words WWII peace talks | Crimea | Tehran | Stalingrad turning point in War |

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by Oui (Oui) on Fri May 8th, 2020 at 08:37:52 AM EST
by Oui (Oui) on Sat May 9th, 2020 at 01:50:36 AM EST

'Chaotic disaster': Obama hits Trump's coronavirus response, warns of disinformation ahead of election | NBC News |

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by Oui (Oui) on Sat May 9th, 2020 at 08:36:46 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 05:32:23 AM EST
'Arbeit Macht Frei': Nazi Slogans Show Up at Illinois Rally Protesting Coronavirus Lockdown | Haaretz |

The use of an infamous Nazi slogan featured on the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in an Illinois protest against coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, along with other Nazi imagery, has sparked widespread condemnation.  

"Arbeit Macht Frei," a German phrase meaning "work sets you free", was famously featured atop the iron gates at the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as other Nazi concentration camps.

Another protester was photographed with a sign featuring a swastika and the words "Heil Pritzker" in reference to Governor Pritzker, who is Jewish.

Eichmann's Men by Hans Safrian



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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 08:35:35 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 10:33:27 AM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 08:54:10 AM EST
Anti-lockdown efforts during Spanish flu offer a cautionary tale for coronavirus | NBC News |

An estimated 650,000 Americans lost their lives to the infamous and tragic 1918-1919 influenza epidemic, a small but significant fraction of the approximately 50 million deaths the disease caused worldwide. Countless more were left without parents, children, friends, and loved ones. Communities across the country did what they could to stem the rising tide of illness and death, closing their schools, churches, theaters, shops and saloons. Doctors, nurses, and volunteers gave their time - and, occasionally, their lives - to care for the ill.

2020 Economic High Tide after decades of Globalization

Trump claims Germany and Japan are "following us" in their coronavirus responses. No chance.



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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 11:10:54 AM EST
Video of my high school soccer coach Harry Keough.

Key words | Corona lockdown | Football History | Archives |

United States v England 1-0

Scottish footballer Ed McIlvenny was named captain for the US Squad as he was British. Although he was not a US citizen, he had declared his intention of becoming one and thus was eligible to play, according to the rules of the United States Soccer Football Association at the time.

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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 12:09:43 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Mon May 11th, 2020 at 10:12:48 PM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Wed May 13th, 2020 at 05:48:30 PM EST
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by Oui (Oui) on Sat May 16th, 2020 at 06:09:38 AM EST


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by Oui (Oui) on Sat May 16th, 2020 at 10:04:33 AM EST
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