Marijuana is now being studied for its potential to resist Covid-19. A subtext of the following story involves the Sisters of the Valley, a group of “Nuns” who don’t belong to any Order of the Catholic Church.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.10.2020

Cannabis researchers in Canada say the plant-based drug may provide resistance to SARS-CoV-2. Their preliminary findings are part of broader research into the use of medicinal cannabis in treating cancer.

And, now, preliminary research is emerging out of Canada that certain strains of the psychoactive drug cannabis may also increase resistance to the coronavirus. If the study, which is not yet peer reviewed, can be verified, it would appear that cannabis works in a similar way to nicotine.

“The results on COVID-19 came from our studies on arthritis, Crohn’s disease, cancer and others,” says Dr. Igor Kovalchuck, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge, in an email to DW.

Based near the town of Merced in California’s Central Valley, which produces over half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States, the Sisters of the Valley grow and harvest their own plants – cannabis plants.

Despite the moniker, the nuns don’t belong to any order of the Catholic Church. “We’re against religion, so we’re not a religion. We consider ourselves Beguine revivalists, and we reach back to pre-Christian practices,” says Sister Kate, who founded the sisterhood in 2014.

Sister Kate adopted the nun persona after she took part in an Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011 dressed as a Catholic nun, a look that led her to be known by protesters as “Sister Occupy.”

Members turn the hemp into cannabis-based balms and ointments, which they say have the power to improve health and well-being. Sister Kate reports that the group had roughly $750,000 (€700,000) in sales last year, the most since it started selling products in January 2015.

More than two dozen US states have legalized some form of marijuana for medical or recreational use, but the drug remains illegal at the federal level. California legalized recreational use of marijuana in November 2016. “We’ve gotten a few hate calls but, by and far, the Catholics understand what we’re doing,” Sister Kate says.

“The thing Trump has done for us is put a fire under our butts to get launched in another country,” says Sister Kate. “Our response to Trump is Canada.” The group makes online sales to Canada, and hopes to launch an operation there in two months.

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-the-tide-is-coming-for-medicinal-cannabis/a-53371342

Ignoring the fact that nearly 80,000 Americans have perished from the Covid-19 these people, who can charitably be described as Lunkheads and Luddites, rallied at San Francisco City Hall demanding that Shelter in Place cease, business places reopen and life return to normal. Whatever that may be.

Good luck with that. This is a Pandemic folks and because of the Moron currently occupying the White House the situation in America will not improve any time soon.

Rather than parade the flag, sing the national anthem and rant their nonsense these people should be marching on Washington to demand the Federal government grow up, stop encouraging dangerous conspiracy theories and do its job.

The photo above shows one of these folks encouraging people to check out http://www.infowars.com. An absolutely scrurrilous website which anyone with an iota of intelligence should disregard.

San Francisco Chronicle 5.9.2020

Supporters of the movement to reopen California by abandoning restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus rallied Saturday in front of San Francisco City Hall, but their numbers were modest and their actions as mellow as the noontime sunshine.

Signs being waved included “SF never even had a curve to flatten” and “We reject your new normal.” They listened to live and recorded versions of the national anthem, cheered when cars driving by honked their horns, and chanted: “USA, USA.”

That stood in stark contrast to recent rallies in Michigan, where some showed up with rifles — and in Sacramento on Saturday, where a cluster of anti-shutdown demonstrations included dozens of people in camouflage uniforms standing in silent protest while California Highway Patrol officers blocked access to the Capitol grounds. The Sacramento Bee reported the group said its members were unarmed and identified themselves as the 2nd Regiment of the California State Militia.

Last week in Sacramento, hundreds of anti-shutdown demonstrators defied a CHP order against state Capitol protests, resulting in 32 arrests and placement of a steel fence around the Capitol grounds.

Despite the growing pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom to ease restrictions closing most businesses and shutting down public gatherings, though, the movement hasn’t developed a firm foothold in the Bay Area.

Only about 60 people, some from as far away as Sonoma and Santa Cruz, gathered Saturday on Polk Street for a peaceful “Fully Open California” rally sponsored by a conservative group called We Have Rights.

Across Polk Street, about 20 police officers and sheriff’s deputies stood watch.

Some of the demonstrators said they believe the coronavirus is a threat, but that nearly two months of shutdown is enough and that people should be allowed to return to jobs and reopen businesses.

“I think everyone knows it’s a risk and they could get sick,” said Jeff Thomas, who said he works in education in Silicon Valley. “But they should be allowed to make the decision on whether to take that risk themselves.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Dozens-rally-at-City-Hall-to-get-coronavirus-15259299.php#photo-19395612

Germany was a leader in locking down the country and only loosening restrictions when the number of Covid-19 cases dropped dramatically.

Now, just days after loosening the restrictions, the number of newly reported cases of Covid-19 has jumped. Will the German authorities take swift action to reimpose strict Shelter in Place measures?

If the German reaction to the initial Covid-19 outbreak is indicative, look for another round of Shelter in Place. This will not go down well with the Germans, like those who took to the streets on Saturday, demanding a further loosening of Shelter in Place.

Stay tuned.

Deutsche Welle 5.9.2020

Thousands of protesters slam isolation measures

Demonstrators gathered in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart and other German cities to decry coronavirus-triggered restrictions imposed by the government. A right-wing protester attacked a team of reporters in Dortmund.

Over 3,000 people rallied in Munich and thousands more gathered in Stuttgart and across Germany on Saturday to demand the lifting of restrictions ordered by the German authorities. Many of the protesters defied the guidelines which call for a limited number of participants and for social distancing to be maintained during such events.

The protesters accuse politicians and medical workers of spreading panic and infringing on the population’s rights with the prolonged lockdown. Some of the rallies included anti-vaccination activists.

Germany has been slowly easing restrictions introduced in mid-March, with states opening various businesses and public sites starting this Monday. However, a new report by the country’s official Robert Koch Institute indicated a steep rise in infection rates on Saturday, possibly prompting the politicians to respond with even more caution.

In Munich, police used loudspeakers to urge the protesters to minimize the infection risk. While the participants failed to heed the instructions, the police decided not to disperse the gathering “on the grounds of proportionality” as the participants were not violent. However, the authorities dispersed a separate right-wing demonstration which gathered around 25 people in the same city, according to the Germany’s public broadcaster ARD.

The Stuttgart event also saw thousands of participants take part. Most of them respected the distancing rules, according to the police. Two separate protests were recorded in Berlin, including a smaller one in front of Germany’s parliament that ended with the security forces detaining around 30 protesters in order to determine their identity. The larger one saw hundreds of people gather at the Alexanderplatz, in spite of the order which limits the maximum of 50 protesters per rally.

Journalists attacked — again

About 150 people, including a group of known right wing extremists, also gathered in the western city of Dortmund, according to the DPA news agency. One of the right-wingers insulted and subsequently attacked a team of reporters, lightly injuring one of them, according to the police. The 23-year-old was arrested. This assault follows an attack of on a crew working for the satirical Heute-Show at a similar protest on May 1 in Berlin, and a separate attack on another team of journalists on May 6 in the same city.

Brandenburg Gate before the Pandemic May 2017 – Photo Liz Heidhues

Over two-thirds of German residents support the need for social distancing, according to the latest research published by the official BfR Institute. However, this still marks a sharp drop from the numbers reported in March, when 92% supported the restrictions.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-thousands-of-protesters-slam-isolation-measures/a-53382891

This latest story of racist violence in America is only just now getting attention.

On February 23, 2020 an ex-cop and his son gunned down a 25 – year old black man in the American State of Georgia.

It was only when a graphic video of the cold blooded murder surfaced that State law enforcement authorities stepped in and arrested the father and son.

In custody: Gregory McMichael above and son Travis below.

Excerpted from Daily Mail UK – 5.7.2020

A four-vehicle convoy from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation pulled up outside the home of Gregory and Travis McMichael at 7.50pm Thursday to take the men into custody on charges of murder and aggravated assault.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a statement shortly after the swoops saying the two men were arrested on suspicion of murder and aggravated assault.

And in a fresh twist, the agency said it was also investigating threats made towards its officers and people involved in the investigation.

The dramatic arrests come days after leaked cellphone video of the McMichaels’ fatal confrontation with Ahmaud Arbery on February 23 made headlines nationwide, sparking fevered outrage and demands for justice.

Mr. Arbery would have been 26 on May 8, 2020

The shocking footage showed the two men ‘ambushing’ Arbery as he tried to run past their pickup truck, the younger McMichael getting into a physical fight with Arbery before shooting him with a shotgun.

The father and son were initially not arrested after they claimed they thought Arbery was a burglar after a spate of thefts in their area, and that he attacked them when they tried to make a citizen’s arrest.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation on Tuesday after a graphic video of the murder emerged.

Two days later, around a dozen GBI officers equipped with bulletproof vests and assault rifles descended on the McMichaels’ two-bedroom property in suburban Brunswick to execute arrest warrants.

They entered the house just before 8pm and emerged minutes later with Gregory McMichael, 64, in handcuffs.

Wearing a scruffy black shirt, cap and jeans the retired cop stared straight ahead and ignored questions from DailyMail.com as he was placed in a police car.

His son Travis, 34, emerged moments later without a struggle, wearing a checked shirt, cap and jeans.

He said nothing as he was led to a vehicle in handcuffs.

Locals emerged from their homes to watch the dramatic swoop, with two people verbally abusing a DailyMail.com photojournalist, calling him ‘scum’ and ordering him to leave.

Investigators were at the house for about ten minutes before the left as abruptly as they had arrived.

A middle-aged woman carrying a young child walked out of the $280,000 family house, looked up and down the street, before going to a neighbor’s home.

Attorney S. Lee Merritt, who is representing Arbery’s parents Wanda Jones Cooper and Marcus Arbery Sr, told DailyMail.com they had no advance warning about the dramatic arrests Thursday night.

Citizens march demanding Justice

‘They heard about it on the news like everyone else,’ he said.

‘Wanda was extremely relieved but she remains very stoic as she has been since this all started.

‘It’s a huge, huge step but it’s only a first step on a very long road to justice.’

Merritt said he was heartened by the fact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had stepped up after the original team of police and prosecutors assigned to the case ‘failed in their duty’ to make arrests.

‘A case like this breeds mistrust within the community. It hurts the people involved, it hurts the law enforcement community, the prosecutorial community, the black community, everyone,’ he added.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she believes her son, a former football player, was just jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood before he was killed on a Sunday afternoon.

Gregory McMichael told police he suspected the runner was the same man filmed by a security camera committing a break-in. He and his grown son, Travis, grabbed guns and began a pursuit in the truck.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8299259/Two-white-men-shot-killed-unarmed-black-jogger-Ahmaud-Arbery-charged-MURDER.html?ito=push-notification&ci=14685&si=7511025

For presidental candidate Biden this could be the Karma backlash and fatal to his candidacy.

The accusation of sexual abuse against Joe Biden warrants serious attention. It is no surprise  former Fox News megastar Megyn Kelly, herself a subject of sexual abuse, landed the first on-camera interview with accuser Tara Reade. The broadcast is receiving major buzz in the British tabloid The Daily Mail.

Afterall, then Senator Biden was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committe in 1991 when Clarence Thomas was up for confirmation to the US Supreme Court

Anita Hill testifed in public and leveled serious charges of sexual misconduct against then nominee Thomas.  There were other women who wanted to testify about similiar sexual harassment by now Associate Justice Thomas.

Senator Biden did not permit this testimony.  Had he done so, Clarence Thomas may not have been elevated to the Supreme Court from which he has wreaked havoc on the rights of Americans for nearly 30 years.

To learn in detail about Biden’s performance I recommend reading the book Strange Justice by Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson.

Daily Mail-UK 5.7.2020

Tara Reade, the woman who’s accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, sat down with Megyn Kelly for her first major on-camera interview and said she wished Biden would drop out of the presidential race. 

She also blasted Biden’s campaign for not making her feel ‘safe’ to speak out about an alleged assault that occurred when she worked for Biden as a U.S. senator in 1993.

‘I want to say you and I were there, Joe Biden, please step forward and be held accountable, you should not be running on character for president of the United States,’ Reade told Kelly, who had asked what her message was for Biden.

Kelly followed up by asking Reade if she wanted Biden to withdraw from the presidential contest.

‘I wish he would,’ Reade answered. ‘But he won’t, but I wish he would,’ Reade said.

She explained that’s how she feels ’emotionally’ and also told Kelly that an apology now wouldn’t be sufficient.

‘I think it’s a little late,’ Reade said.

Kelly, formerly of Fox News Channel and NBC News, had announced earlier Thursday on Twitter that she had nabbed the first major sit-down with Reade, who previously complained about the big networks not giving her TV time.

‘Her story & some tough Q’s in a riveting exchange,’ Kelly wrote. ‘A ton of news coming … ,’ she said and included a photo of both she and Reade.

Since leaving NBC News in January 2019, Kelly has worked for herself, posting interviews to her YouTube channel, and then promoting them on social media platforms.

The first clip of the interview, which Kelly posted on Twitter late Thursday afternoon, began with Reade telling the former Fox anchor about harassment she’s endured at the hands of so-called Biden ‘surrogates.’

‘It’s been stunning, actually, how the – some of his surrogates, with the blue checks, that are his surrogates, have been saying really horrible things about me and to me on social media,’ Reade said.

‘He hasn’t himself, but, there’s a measure of hypocrisy with the campaign saying it’s safe,’ she continued.

‘It’s not been safe,’ Reade said. ‘All my social media has been hacked. All my personal information has been dragged through. Every person that maybe has you know a gripe against me, an ex-boyfriend or an ex-landlord whatever it is, has been able to have a platform rather than me.’

Late last month, Reade told The New York Times’ media critic Ben Smith that no major networks had offered to put her on TV.

‘They’re just doing stories. No anchors, no nothing like that,’ she said.

At the time, Smith reported, Reade was in talks with Fox News Channel about doing an on-camera interview, with ‘Fox News Sunday’ with Chris Wallace looking to be the venue.

Fox News Channel told The Atlantic that the interview reported by The Times was ‘never confirmed.’

Reade told The Times that she backed out due to getting death threats.

Reade previously did an on-camera interview with Hill.TV, but when discussing media coverage with The Times, she was referencing major network television, saying she had hoped for a sit-down with someone like Gayle King, the host of ‘CBS This Morning.’

Reade has accused Biden of sticking his hand down her skirt and digitally penatrating her in a Congressional hallway when she worked for him as an aide in 1993.

She first told her story to journalist Katie Halper for her ‘Katie Halper Show’ podcast on March 25.

Biden denied the allegations on-camera last Friday on ‘Morning Joe,’ which was his first television appearance pushing back on Reade’s story.

Kelly was among the women at Fox News Channel who accused the late Fox News Channel CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.

Since leaving NBC News, Kelly’s video report on how real life Fox News employees responded to the movie ‘Bombshell,’ a film where she’s portrayed by Charlize Theron, was her most widely viewed piece of content, receiving 1.5 million hits on YouTube.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8297889/Megyn-Kelly-reveals-major-camera-interview-Joe-Bidens-sex-assault-accuser-Tara-Reade.html?ito=push-notification&ci=14675&si=7511025

The Pandemic is not going away.  Nonetheless some business owners want to pretend they can go back to making money and try to believe their lives will be the same.

Their lives and the lives of their customers have changed for the forseeable future.

California authorities are taking the only reasonable action. Come down hard on people who are putting their fellow citizens at risk.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 5.6.2020

YUBA CITY, Sutter County — State regulators began threatening to shut down dozens of restaurants, pubs, barbershops and beauty salons in rural Sutter and Yuba counties this week, just one day after officials in the region defied California’s shelter-in-place order and gave the go-ahead for businesses to reopen.

Several areas of the state, including many Northern California counties, have become weary of restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus because of the economic fallout, with some spots allowing residents to start ignoring Gov. Gavin Newsom’s prescribed lockdown. But the 160,000-population Yuba City metro area, the largest place to defy the stay-at-home directive, is the only one that appears to have been hit with consequences.

“People are just trying to get back to work and communicate with each other again,” said Donnie Walker, whose family runs Walker’s Wine and Brew House in the town of Wheatland, south of Yuba City, where state regulators swept through Tuesday afternoon. “It’s sad that they’re doing this.”

Like many businesses in the region, Donnie Walker opened his tap room Monday to crowds eager to get out and about after six weeks of hunkering down. But on Tuesday afternoon, a state regulator stopped in and put an end to the welcome — yet brief — brush with normal life.

“They said, ‘If you continue to serve, we’ll take your liquor license away,’” Walker said. “I mean, what are you going to do?”

State officials confirmed Wednesday that agents spoke with an undisclosed number of businesses in Sutter and Yuba counties on Tuesday to enforce the shutdown order’s safety regulations. Several business owners told The Chronicle that they got visits or phone calls from regulators demanding that they abide by shelter-in-place rules or risk losing their license to operate.

Restaurants and pubs were visited by officials with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, who made sure businesses like Walker’s offered only takeout dining, which is permitted under the state rules.

Barbershops, salons and spas, meanwhile, reported receiving phone calls from officials with the state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, telling them to close completely. These businesses are considered too risky to open because they could hasten spread of the coronavirus.

“We thought we were going to be open this week,” said Kristi Goldby, who runs Headlines Salon and Spa in Yuba City and had begun rescheduling appointments with customers.

But state regulators called Goldby on Tuesday afternoon, telling her not to honor the appointments. Several of her cosmetologists said they had received emails from the state telling them not to go to work.

The Board of Barbering and Cosmetology could not be reached immediately, but the state ABC confirmed it was helping enforce the statewide lockdown. It did not provide details of the effort.

“Agents asked those ABC-licensed locations to close to in-house dining voluntarily until it is safe to reopen, in order to stop the spread of COVID-19,” spokesman John Carr said in an email. “ABC could discipline a business that does not comply with the request to turn into a take-out only operation. As of today, we have not filed any administrative actions against any businesses.”

On Wednesday, many establishments — namely those that don’t require state licensing — continued to operate in defiance of Newsom’s order.

The reopening of the region follows a similar resumption of commerce in remote Modoc County last week as well as various reopenings of clusters of businesses across the state, all growing weary of the state shutdown.

As in the other areas, officials in Sutter and Yuba counties cited the low number of COVID-19 cases and a need for the governor to loosen restrictions in places less affected by the virus.

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment from The Chronicle on the Yuba City-area crackdown.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Newsom-cracks-down-on-rural-counties-defying-15252216.php#photo-19383840

It’s easy to draw parallels between Trump, his Make America Great Again know nothings and the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany.

Now we have a disturbing study by the Federal Reserve Bank.  It makes comparisons between the 1918 influenza outbreak and the 2020 Pandemic. This is another analysis of the eerie symbiosis between the rise of Nazism in Germany and Trump’s America.

Picture above: American Neo-Nazis.

What makes it more compelling is that the study was done by the austere Federal Reserve.

Top picture: A street scene in Berlin showing the shattered fronts of Jewish-owned store

Politico 5.5.2020

A new academic paper produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concludes that deaths caused by the 1918 influenza pandemic “profoundly shaped German society” in subsequent years and contributed to the strengthening of the Nazi Party.

The conclusions come amid fears that the current coronavirus pandemic will shake up international politics and spur extremism around the world, as officials and public health experts look to previous outbreaks for guidance on how to navigate the months and years to come.

The Washington Post has looked into the Crystal Ball and paints a gloomy picture for Republicans and their Captain Ahab Trump at the helm.  If the Post is correct the ship will sink and take Trump, the Republican Senate and all their Fox News media sycophants with them.  Here’s hoping.

May Day is always a tumultuous time in Berlin. Liz and I were in the epicenter of Berlin’s politically active Kreuzberg neighborhood on May Day in 2017.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreuzberg

Kreuzberg was swarming with local citizens and hundreds of Polizei

This year was no other and to make things more distressing a crew of journalists were assaulted.  Several were injured to the point of being hospitalized.

Berlin law enforcement has several suspects in custody and is investigating the “political background” of the assailants in custody.

Deutsche Welle 5.2.2020

A day after an attack on a camera crew in Berlin, police have announced that state security are looking into the political background of the suspected assailants. Protesters in Berlin also injured 20 police officers.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that they are investigating the political motives behind an attack on the camera team of popular German satirical news show the heute-show [Today Show].

While filming on May Day, several members of the crew were attacked while filming in Berlin. Four members of the team sustained injuries severe enough to be sent to hospital. Five men and one woman were arrested.

The German Journalists’ Association described the event as an attack on the freedom of the press, although the motives of the assailants remain unclear.

German state security is now investigating the crime, Berlin Chief of Police Barbara Slowik told German broadcaster RBB on Saturday morning. She described the attack as “cowardly” and said federal investigators were looking into the political backgrounds of the assailants.

One of the suspects will appear before a judge on Saturday, she confirmed.

Read more: Labor Day — Berlin workers’ rally defies social distancing ban

‘Not a peaceful May Day’

May Day is a traditional day for protests in Germany, but they were curtailed by restrictions put in place to counter the coronavirus pandemic.

Police allowed several small-scale protests to take place in the German capital, but thousands defied the bans and took to the streets in the district of Kreuzberg in the evening to take part in demonstrations for Labor Day.

The German police union said that almost 20 officers were injured during the course of Friday night when scuffles and small-scale riots emerged from the protests. “It was not a peaceful May Day,” the union added.

Nearly 350 people were arrested or had their details noted, with police confirming the presence of right-wing activists and conspiracy theorists.

The heute-show went ahead as usual on Friday night on German TV station ZDF, with the production team condemning the attack.

“We are seriously affected by this and wish our colleagues a speedy recovery,” they wrote on Twitter.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-attack-on-journalists-to-be-investigated-for-political-motives/a-53311058