Saturday, May 2, 2020

Comment du Jour






WHO is Covering for China?? 

Did World Health Organization (WHO) Cover-up China's Role in Corona Crisis? 



t’s easy to point fingers during a deadly pandemic, and let’s do so. WHO first sounded the alarm? WHO downplayed real medical risks? WHO calmed or stoked irrational fears? 

WHO  in this case, is the global medical monitor providing us with real time warnings and assessments.

Governments and health officials counted on the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) to be the proverbial canary in the coal mine warning us about the evolving dangers of the Coronavirus.  Instead the health monitor downplayed the initial phases of the deadly Coronavirus aka COVID-19 in Wuhan, China giving outside observers the impression that the outbreak was a small and containable blip on the radar in far off interior China.  

The timing was worthy of a spy thriller; the crisis starts slowly in China’s Yangtze River valley in late November; the Chinese government in its characteristic covert and obfuscatory way withholds early data warnings allowing the virus to take root before the world really notices. Then by December early warnings are noted but the world was in holiday mode. 

WHO’s in charge?  Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia became Beijing’s select candidate to run WHO.  He was elected Director General in 2017, for a five year term, succeeding  China’s Dr.Margaret Chan.  

Timelines show conclusively that while WHO knew of the impending epidemic, it proceeded too cautiously to kick in emergency measures.  Why?  Dr. Tedros said on Jan 23rd,  “I am not       declaring a public health emergency of international concern today… this is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency.  It may yet become one.”  He added, “At this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

Dr. Tedros stated dutifully, “Once again, I would like to thank the Government of the People’s Republic of China for its cooperation and transparency.  The government has been successful in isolating and sequencing the virus very quickly.”  Pure farce!

Dr. Tedros was far too late in declaring a pandemic only on March 11th.

Though the COVID-19 virus emanated from Mainland China, neighboring areas such as South
Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong acted with alacrity and professionalism to stem the spread.  


WHO pays?  The USA remains WHO’s largest financial supporter.  In 2019 the U.S.               contributions to WHO exceeded $400 million both in assessments (22%) and voluntary           donations; almost double China, the second largest contributor at $44 million.  Importantly,   China has become WHO’s second largest donor assessed at 12% of the budget or $28 million.   Japan pays $20 million or 8.5% of the budget. Ethiopia, Dr.  Tedros home country, pays $48,000.   

President Donald Trump has warned WHO that its China-centric actions will prompt a major review of American funding.  
WHO profits?  We cite the old Roman proverb, WHO profits?  China now controls five of the UN’s fifteen specialized agencies such as WHO.  Through its legitimacy as a supposedly neutral health monitor, WHO was able to effectively spread Beijing’s talking points to a wider audience first in the scientific community, then governments, and later via the media a frightened global populace.  WHO served as China’s transmission belt for the Coronavirus narrative.

WHO suffers?   Among the first was Dr. Li Wenliang in Wuhan who discovered and warned  about the dangers of Coronavirus.  He contracted the virus, was silenced by the police and later died.  Dr. Li has since become an icon for dissidents and ordinary people for courageously  speaking out.  Now more than a million people have been infected;  24,000 Americans, 20,000 Italians, 15,000 French, 11,000 British, and 3,200 Chinese (if you believe the number)  have died from this terrible virus. This is not the end either. 

WHO’s responsible? The primary guilt lies with Beijing’s regime who spread a deadly miasma of disinformation about the virus through both its State run media as well as the gullible WHO in Geneva.  The narrative that Coronavirus came from eating bats offered a colorful and folkloric story to obscure the Chinese Communist Party’s hidden hand of both screwup and coverup     inside China most likely connected to two research labs; the Institute of Virology and the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control. 


The United States and other key countries such as Britain, Canada,  France, Germany and Japan have provided WHO’s funding for emergency preparedness, response capability and expertise.  There’s no doubt that WHO has positively contributed to disease eradication and control such as the fights against Polio and Malaria. Thus the issue clearly becomes the WHO’s leadership, not its important and vital global health mission. 

Friday, April 10, 2020

Comment du Jour







Coronavirus Shrouds Easter



The Coronavirus outbreak has closed down the world, at least as we know it.  From the Far East into Europe and North America shutdowns, lockdowns, and stay at home orders are the norm.  And for good reason; COVID-19 poses the most dangerous global Pandemic since the 1918 scourge which killed millions. 


Easter is upon us and both the rituals and rites and joyful religiosity of the Season are strangely absent save for  some chocolate bunnies in the supermarkets.  Church services are banned; in this case Palm Sunday and Easter, the holiest most hopeful days of the Christian calendar, can’t be publicly celebrated since gatherings are forbidden.      

Yet this is not the order of some dystopian alien dictatorship which has seized our world while 
we were watching Netflix, but rather the sober realization of policymakers that we had better not
fool around with Covid-19.  

Clearly the atmosphere remains surrealistic in our cities, schools and stores. 

So from the USA to South America, Australia, South Africa and even India; We are Closed.   Wuhan, China where the deadly virus started in November faces a socio/political Purgatory which still continues despite the happy talk by Beijing’s Marxist mandarins that the health emergency is largely solved.  

China’s lack of transparency has deepened and obscured the overall crisis.  Beijing’s mendacious regime may still face its “Chernobyl Moment” when the full truth emerges!  And it most certainly will. 

Western Europe remains the epicenter of the deadly virus with Italy, Spain and France
facing the largest mass casualty events since the Second World War.  Britain and Germany are not too far behind.  France has used draconian police powers to keep people off the streets, to
protect them from this unseen enemy.  Even senior citizens need permission passes to take walks during the day!  Vibrant cities such as Paris are ghost towns, bathed in beautiful Spring days!

Just a year ago during Holy Week, Notre Dame cathedral, the iconic Gothic masterpiece which has graced Paris for nearly a millennium, suffered a terrible fire; the heart of France was ripped but her Soul has yet more to endure from further calamities with the pandemic.  

The USA now too confronts a frightful onslaught of Corona, with the virus sweeping major urban centers such as New York and New Orleans.  New York has become an eerie place.

Again the jarring changes come not from atheistic regimes but from the cold hard dictate of
“The scientists” who in the name of our salvation, are vigorously guarding our health. 
These experts are being followed with near theological rigor. 

Indeed Netflix has become the new deacon and holds our attention with droning vespers of vivid entertainment and mini-series.   While I will refrain from saying Hooray for Hollywood, let’s be happy that given this Sports Free Spring there is some entertainment.   

The U.S. Economy which stood powerfully at its bright zenith; has now been eclipsed by Planet Corona.  As publisher Steve Forbes suggested on FOX, the economy has been put into an induced coma.  Stopping for a time before its revival.  But a revival soon it must be.  

The sudden shutdown loss of more than nine million jobs, through no fault of the companies or the workers, remains a grim consequence of the government/Governors health shutdowns. People are hurting and want to get back to work.  Small business and farmers deserve a chance.  Health care workers, doctors, truckers and food store staff deserve a shout out!

New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan in a special message to Christians and Jews in the New York Post underscored that as a country, a state and especially “for us as a city, are ‘passing over’ from contagion, fear, infection, isolation and suffering, to unity, healing, recovery and a renewed life.” Cardinal Dolan added that both the message of Passover and Easter underscored the point of salvation.

Now as a wartime president, Donald Trump has marshaled a Public/private sector initiative and coordination not seen in the USA since WWII.  What used to be rightly called the Arsenal of Democracy during WWII, will become the Engine of American Revival and Renewal in our times. 
  
But it’s now Spring!   Easter is a time of rebirth and reawakening, for our societies worldwide
and for our battered economies.  Donald Trump stressed, “We have to open our country again!”  This is certain. We eagerly await the green light to get going again!


Monday, March 23, 2020

Comment du Jour





Coronavirus--Stormy Clouds Ahead for Europe, USA

Truth is often stranger than fiction.  If somebody suggested a thriller novel plot set to the backdrop of gyrating stock markets, falling oil prices, rising tensions with Iran, amidst a spreading worldwide health pandemic, all juxtaposed to a contentious American Presidential election, most literary agents would gruffly scoff, “it’s too far fetched.”  Perhaps, but look at the news.

The Coronavirus, which started in China late last year in Wuhan has since mushroomed into
a full fledged flu epidemic from the Far East to Western Europe and Middle America.
Corona or more properly COVID-19 has dramatically changed day to day life and drastically  reduced business activity, shut schools and Universities, and cancelled sporting events.

Even James Bond, or should we say his latest movie No Time to Die, has been postponed due to 
the Corona.




The 24/7 media and especially social media has turned the crisis into a near frenzy of information, disinformation and often simply information overload.  People are nervous and rightly so given the dire health predictions and infection rates.

There are serious medical and economic storm clouds ahead for Europe and the USA--Italy, France and Spain have seen the worst of the pandemic.  Now it is in the United States and Canada and spreading.

STAY SAFE!

STAY HEALTHY!

STAY ALERT!










Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Comment du Jour

                                          Miami Beach Museum



The now world famous Wolfsonian Museum has emerged as a repository of
Art Deco and Twentieth Century Moderne.  Situated in Miami Beach, what can
only be described as an eclectic collection ranges from Classic Art Deco to
Propaganda Posters and World's Fair memorabilia.



The Wolfsonian is based on the extraordinary collection of Micky Wolfson
the Museum's visionary founder.  Holding more than 180,000 objects the
Museum is connected to Florida International University (FIU).




Friday, January 31, 2020

Comment du Jour

Miami Beach
Art Deco in Sunny Florida


The South Beach district of Miami is one of America's best known,
authentic and geographically compact regions.  From the 1920's
through 1940's the iconic area along Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue,
and surrounding streets saw a proliferation of Art Deco and later
Streamline Modern structures.

According to the Miami Beach Design Preservation League there
are over 800 buildings in the relatively small area which fit the
Art Deco architectural style.


The Essex House Hotel dates from 1938 and is a work of the renown architect
Henry Hohauser.  The Essex while Deco also uses the curved streamlining form.


                  The Deco Post Office, still very much in use, remains an icon


                   The newly reopened Cardozo Hotel, is right on Ocean Drive.





Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Friday, December 20, 2019

Comment du Jour

                       Countdown for Christmas