Author: HP McLovincraft

Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.

Black Lives Matter protesters vandalize Oakland mayor’s home; she accuses them of terrorism

The Democratic mayor of Oakland, California, accused vandals who left Black Lives Matter messages spray painted at her home of trying to “terrorize” her and her family.POLL: Do you think the 2020 presidential debates are still going to happen?

The incident occurred early Tuesday morning outside Mayor Libby Schaaf’s house.

Witnesses say that 30 to 40 protesters dressed in black fired off projectiles and firecrackers during the vandalism. They spray-painted messages on the mayor’s stone wall, sidewalk and garage, including “Defund OPD,” “homes 4 all,” and “blood on your hands.”

A neighbor of the mayor told KGO-TV, “I know there’s a lot of unrest and frustration and I sympathize with that, but this was jarring and felt like to another level.”

A spokesperson for Schaaf released a statement condemning the vandalism.

“This attack designed to intimidate the Mayor and strike fear into her family, will not stop her from advocating for the policies she believes are in the best long-term interests of her beloved hometown,” said Justin Berton.

“Like all Oaklanders, she supports passionate protest but does not support tactics meant to harm and terrorize others,” the statement concluded.

‘A wake up call to Libby’

The Sacramento Bee reported that a post at the San Francisco Independent Media Center’s website contained a message from someone claiming responsibility for the vandalism.

“Last night we sent a wake up call to Libby and a call for action to the whole Bay Area. We left a note on her garage, and treated her to a nice fireworks display and the musical notes of pots and pans and assorted noisemakers,” read the message.

“Our message to Libby and other elected officials is simple: You have the power to take the boot off our necks — so we have the duty to struggle against you until that boot is lifted,” they added. “You can’t hide from your responsibility!”

The message included four demands from the group. They called for the defunding of the Oakland Police Department, cancellation of rent, “Homes for All,” and “Drop the Charges,” without elaborating.

Police are investigating the vandalism.

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Scientists revive microbes from 100 million years ago

Scientists have successfully revived microbes that had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaurs, allowing the organisms to eat and even multiply after eons in the deep.

Their research sheds light on the remarkable survival power of some of Earth’s most primitive species, which can exist for tens of millions of years with barely any oxygen or food before springing back to life in the lab.

A team led by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology analysed ancient sediment samples deposited more than 100 million years ago on the seabed of the South Pacific.

The region is renowned for having far fewer nutrients in its sediment than normal, making it a far-from-ideal site to maintain life over millennia.

The team incubated the samples to help coax the microbes out of their epoch-spanning slumber.

Astonishingly, they were able to revive nearly all of the microorganisms.

“When I found them, I was first sceptical whether the findings are from some mistake or a failure in the experiment,” said lead author Yuki Morono.

“We now know that there is no age limit for (organisms in the) sub-seafloor biosphere,” he told AFP.

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MARICOPA COUNTY MOVED HOMELESS PEOPLE TO SWELTERING PARKING LOTS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

There are usually hundreds of tents sprawled out in an industrial zone southwest of downtown Phoenix. For years, roughly 500 people experiencing homelessness have camped out there on the streets surrounding Arizona’s biggest homeless shelter, Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), though the shelter doesn’t have any room for them.

Since April, roughly 200 of those people and their tents have instead been fenced in on black asphalt lots near the encampment as part of Maricopa County’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Although Phoenix has managed to avoid a major outbreak among its homeless population so far, many of the steps taken by the city and by the county since the pandemic began have been questioned. The decision to corral people into the lots is perhaps the government’s most controversial choice. 

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China Says Mysterious Seed Packages Are “Forged” And Aren’t Really From The Country’s Postal Service

It was just two days ago that we highlighted a mysterious trend that was sweeping the U.S.: citizens were receiving unsolicited packages of seeds, with return addresses from China, for apparently no reason at all.

In our report, we suggested the mailings could be some sort of agricultural warfare brewing between the U.S. and China – where agriculture remains a key point of trade tensions – and where a cold war of sorts appears to be bubbling up under the surface. 

After multiple reports in the U.S. media regarding the seeds, China’s Foreign Ministry responded on Tuesday by saying that China Post (the country’s state owned mail service) “has strictly followed regulations that ban the sending and receiving of seeds,” according to Bloomberg.

Further, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin says that the parcels were “forged” and “not from China”. China has supposedly requested that the U.S. mail the seeds back to China so they could investigate further.

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Next Time You’re Called A “Crank” Or “Flat Earther” On Concerns About A ‘Rushed’ Coronavirus Vaccine, Show Them This

We detailed earlier that a number of US universities will enforce mandatory COVID-19 tests for all students wishing to return to campus through the Fall semester — with some lately announcing that this will be at a rate of two nasal swabs per week — which is a policy, no doubt uncomfortable for those having to endure such “routine” swabs, also appearing among companies for on-site personnel.

And in many parts of the country, cities and counties currently have mask laws requiring them in all public spaces. Given that over the past months the race has been on to develop and fast-track a coronavirus vaccine, the logical next step will be that students and employees provide proof they’ve received the vaccine before returning to work or school. Naturally, the idea of fast-tracking this process also amid a deeply politically charged climate has people concerned. And they should be, if Bill Gates’ latest appearance on CBS is any indicator of where things stand.

British veteran journalist Neil Clark had this reaction to the Bill Gates interview, which came days ago: When anyone tries to gaslight you by calling you a ‘crank’ , a ‘tin-foil hat conspiracy theorist’ or ‘Flat Earther’ for having perfectly legitimate & sensible concerns over a rushed through ‘Coronavirus’ vaccine & its side effects, just send them this.

Even the mainstream media correspondent giving the interview appeared momentarily exasperated and incredulous that Bill Gates shrugged off credible reports of side effects as ultimately no big deal. When the anchor pressed him again on the safety of the vaccine, his answer appeared to be simply, trust us. Gates was asked:

Side effects from the Moderna vaccine sound concerning… we looked. After the second dose at least 80% of participants experienced a systemic side effect, ranging from severe chills to fevers. So are these vaccines safe?

“The FDA, not being pressured, will look hard at that,” Gates said, addressing the issue of possible side effects. “The FDA is the gold standard of regulators, and their current guidance on this — if they stick with that — is very very appropriate.”

Gates even goes on to candidly acknowledge the likelihood of side effects from the vaccine, which he admitted would “improve” over time. Does this sound comforting? Add to this that as part of his explanation he argues that for a vaccine to be effective it would have to be administered to the population on a mass scale, and globally:

“If what you’re trying to do is block all the transmission, then you need to get 70-80% coverage on a global basis. So it’s unbelievably big numbers,” he said.

Gates, who has been warning about the threat of a global pandemic since 2015, admitted that “there will be a lot of uncertainty” about the efficacy of any vaccine, but stressed that it’s a solution “that will improve over time.”

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‘Patently Unconstitutional’: Portland Judges Are Barring Arrestees From Attending Public Protests As A Condition of Release

In a move that legal experts say is “patently unconstitutional,” federal authorities in Portland are arresting people for minor offenses and then barring them from attending any future protests as a condition of their release, ProPublica reported Tuesday. According to the report, at least 12 people arrested in connection with the demonstrations were expressly prohibited from being present at any future public demonstrations as they await their days in court.

In one instance, the conditions of release issued by the U.S. District Court in Oregon for a defendant whose offense was “fail[ing] to comply with the lawful direction of federal police officers” stated that “Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gatherings in the state of Oregon.”

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