Protective gear in national stockpile is nearly depleted, DHS officials say  

(Source washingtonpost.com)

The government’s emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves and other medical supplies is running low and is nearly exhausted due to the coronavirus outbreak, leaving the Trump administration and the states to compete for personal protective equipment in a freewheeling global marketplace rife with profiteering and price-gouging, according to Department of Homeland Security officials involved in the frantic acquisition effort. As coronavirus hot spots flare from coast to coast, the demand for safety equipment — also known as personal protective equipment (PPE) — is both immediate and widespread, with health officials, hospital executives and governors saying that their shortages are critical and that health-care workers are putting their lives at risk while trying to help the surging number of patients. Two DHS officials said the stores kept in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Strategic National Stockpile are nearly gone.

Putin seeking to create new world order with ‘rogue states’ amid coronavirus crisis, report claims

(Source cnbc.com)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration are using the coronavirus crisis to spread conspiracy theories in a bid to “subvert the West” and create a new world order, a new report has alleged. In an article published Wednesday by The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, it’s claimed Russia has been “churning out propaganda that blames the West for creating the virus.” The report’s author, Sergey Sukhankin, said the state was propagating disinformation and conspiracy theories via social media accounts, fake news outlets, state-controlled media, pseudo-scientists and Russians living in the West. The Kremlin has previously denied such claims.

“Putin’s larger goal in spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories is to subvert the West,” Sukhankin said. “Russia seeks to seriously damage the solidarity among EU members and capitalize on any internal European weaknesses to promote broader conflicts. COVID-19 is seen as an ideal way for Russia to deal a powerful blow not only to the EU, but to inflict damage on the ties between Europe and its North American allies.” Moscow also wanted revenge on the West for economic sanctions that were imposed on Russia for various reasons, including its annexation of Crimea, Sukhankin added, warning that the Kremlin saw an opportunity amid the crisis to unravel the current world order.

“Moscow views the virus as a fortuitous harbinger of the end of the post-Cold War liberal world order,” the report said. “The new leaders to emerge from this liberal collapse, according to this view, will be Russia and China. Indeed, Russia is seeking to strengthen its ties with China, as well as with Iran, and the danger is that other rogue states could join this new configuration.”

REFRIGERATION TRUCKS ARRIVE TO HOLD BODIES
AS PRISONERS START DIGGING MASS GRAVES IN
NEW YORK (Source thefreethoughtproject.com)
America is currently in utter turmoil. Panic buying
has emptied shelves across the country, millions of
unemployed people are spending their last dollar on
food, hundreds of cities have been placed on
lockdown, and cops are using Chinese-made patrol
drones to monitor citizens 24-hours a day. In a
matter of just 2 weeks, America has shifted from the
land of the free to the land of the economic collapse
and newly ushered in police state. The level of fear
among the populace is at an all time high. They are
using America’s fear to give massive sums of
money to special interests while fleecing the value
of the dollar and ensuring lifetimes of debt for future
generations. As if this situation couldn’t get any
more grim, a report from the Intercept this week —
confirmed by Avery Cohen, a spokesperson for the
office of Mayor Bill de Blasio — points out that Rikers
Island prisoners are being offered incentive to dig
mass graves. The city of New York is offering
prisoners personal protective equipment (PPE) and
$6 per hour, which is an extremely high number for
prison labor, to dig mass graves on Hart Island.
The mayor’s spokesperson told the Intercept that the
mass graves being dug on Hart Island are not “Covid-
specific” but the fact that they are being given PPE
leaves little room for guessing what this is all about.
What’s more, mass graves on Hart Island are part of
the city’s contingency plan for pandemics.

According to the 2008 plan, developed by the city’s
late chief medical examiner, Charles Hirsch, when
regular city morgues are “at or near capacity and
NYC does not have access to additional cold storage
units, the OCME will direct temporary interment at
the Hart Island Cemetery, managed by the
Department of Correction (DOC), as its second tier
approach.” Business Insider reported on the
contingency plan earlier this month but questioned
whether or not it would be necessary. But according
to a report this week out of the NY Post,
city morgues and cemeteries are already
overwhelmed, and FEMA is sending 85 refrigerated
trucks for bodies of those dying from COVID-19. “We
are sending refrigeration trucks to New York to help
with some of the problem on a temporary basis,”
FEMA regional director Thomas Von Essen said at a
Manhattan press briefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio on
Monday. Now, inmates are being asked to clear a
much larger area on Hart Island that can receive
massive casualties.