Tuesday, February 11, 2020

One of the eight ‘misinformers from Wuhan’ is now dead. We are still searching for the other seven among new hoaxes


Oscars 2020 Times Literary Supplement

US charges four Chinese military hackers in 2017 Equifax breach

The hackers spent weeks in the Equifax system, breaking into computer networks, stealing company secrets and personal data, Attorney General William Barr said.


Everything we know about the pangolin — the scaly mammal that may have spread the coronavirus to humans Business Insider


'Even death doesn't scare me': Virus storytellers challenge China's official narrative

Armed with smart phones and social media accounts, citizen-journalists in China are telling their stories and those of others from Wuhan and other locked-down virus zones in Hubei province.



For a man widely regarded as a cross between Machiavelli and Rasputin, Dominic Cummings has lost a lot of battles lately. The prime minister’s special adviser opposed both Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5g networks and the hs2 rail network (which he labelled “a disaster zone”). Boris Johnson has given the green light to the first and is shortly expected to approve the second. Mr Cummings’s plan to cut the size of the cabinet and create a super-department of business has been ditched. So have his schemes to turn Downing Street into a nasa-style mission-control centre and to ship Conservative Party headquarters to the north of the country
Dominic Cummings v the blob






What Happens When QAnon Seeps From the Web to the Offline World


The New York Times – “…What began online more than two years ago as an intricate, if baseless, conspiracy theory that quickly attracted thousands of followers has since found footholds in the offline world. QAnon has surfaced in political campaigns, criminal cases, merchandising and at least one college class…QAnon began in October 2017, when a pseudonymous user of the online message board 4chan started writing cryptic posts under the name Q Clearance Patriot. The person claimed to be a high-ranking official privy to top-secret information from Mr. Trump’s inner circle. Over two years and more than 3,500 posts, Q — whose identity has never been determined — has unspooled a sprawling conspiracy narrative that claims, among other things, that Mr. Trump was recruited by the military to run for office in order to break up a global cabal of pedophiles, and that Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation would end with prominent Democrats’ being imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. The anonymous posts subsequently moved to 8chan, where they remained until August, when that site was taken offline after the El Paso mass shooting. They now live on 8kun, a new website built by 8chan’s owner. Some QAnon fans are hardened conspiracy buffs who previously believed other fringe theories, such as the bogus claim that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job.” But many QAnon adherents are everyday Americans who have found in Q’s messages a source of partisan energy, affirmation of their suspicions about powerful institutions or a feeling of having special knowledge. Some are older adults who discovered the theory through partisan Facebook groups or Twitter threads, and were drawn in by the movement’s promises of inside information from the White House (some QAnon devotees even believe that Mr. Trump posts himself, under the code name “Q+”)…”



CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Coronavirus Updates: A Grim Landmark as Official Death Toll in China Tops 1,000.

UK ‘superspreader’ may have passed coronavirus to nearly a dozen people in 3 countries

Chinese social media’s response to the coronavirus: finger-pointing in the post-truth era

Chinese social media has been dominated by a single topic: the coronavirus. Typically, misinformation walks hand-in-hand with memes and division.


COLLUSION:  Number of professors allegedly in cahoots with communist China quickly mounts.

IN THE MAIL: Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer.













Passengers wear masks to prevent an outbreak of a new coronavirus in a subway station, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

China arrested 8 for spreading ‘hoaxes’ about what is now known as coronavirus. What happened to them?

 

Inventive Aussies stuck on coronavirus cruise ship in Japan get their wine club to bring them two cases of booze delivered by DRONE.
WHO chief expresses concern over coronavirus spread from people with no China travel history.
Crew member found dead on cruise ship where dozens tested for coronavirus.
Coronavirus: China’s death toll rises to 908 as confirmed cases exceed 40,000.
Briton infected seven with coronavirus: New cases linked to businessman returning from Singapore.
UK facing ‘major outbreak’ of coronavirus as disease spreads, expert warns.
Wuhan coronavirus kills 97 more people in one day as death toll tops SARS.
Briton in French Alps may have spread coronavirus to others across Europe.
Hong Kong: Nine members of the same family test positive for coronavirus after sharing hotpot and barbecue dinner.
Luxury cruise ship diverted to Fremantle from Singapore amid coronavirus fears.
‘Crisis mode’: Coronavirus disrupts the heart of electronics manufacturing in China.
Take off that facemask: You’re not protecting yourself from coronavirus.
Most ASU students studying in China return home over novel coronavirus fears.
China’s Shenzhen denies blocking Apple supplier Foxconn from resuming production.
Opinion: We will survive coronavirus, but are we prepared for the next health crisis?
Coronavirus is the biggest market threat right now, Wall Street bull Ed Yardeni says.
Coronavirus is airborne, Chinese officials confirm.