Showing posts with label THE VILLAGE LOCKDOWN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label THE VILLAGE LOCKDOWN. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

ISRAEL ITS TIME TO FULFILL PROPHECY AND GET RID OF THE ARABS AROUND USE.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

 

 DISEASES-ANIMAL TO HUMAN

REVELATION 6:7-8 (500 MILLION DEAD EACH FROM THE 4 JUDGEMENTS)(2 BILLION TOT DEAD HERE)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 billion) of (8 billion) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS)(500 million) and with hunger,(FAMINE)(500 million) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES)(500 million) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)(500 million).

THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 148,481,490 DEAD 3,136,649 AS OF TUE APR 27,21

DR ZELENKO ON COVID-19 RECOVERY-TAMAR YONAH
https://soundcloud.com/israel-news-talk-radio/while-cautious-im-not-so-afraid-of-the-coronavirus-anymore-the-tamar-yonah-show
DR VLADMIR ZE'EV ZELENKOS MIXTURE FOR RECOVERY OF COVID-19
https://www.vladimirzelenkomd.com/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TaRDwXMhQHSMsgrs9TFBclHjPHerXMuB87DUXmcAvwg/editReuters

Israeli aid team heads to Uruguay, where COVID dream has turned to nightmare-The South American country hardly felt the virus last year, but now has the world’s second-highest infection rate and hospitals are under pressure-By Nathan Jeffay-APR V27,21-Today, 1:42 pm

An Israeli aid delegation was set to land Tuesday in Uruguay, a country that went almost overnight from a low-COVID oasis to a notorious hotspot with the world’s second-highest rate of new cases.The four-person team from Sheba Medical Center’s weeklong mission will focus on helping hospitals struggling to cope with the sudden skyrocketing of cases in recent weeks to establish new coronavirus facilities.For most of 2020, Uruguay, which has a population of just 3.5 million, had very low virus stats. It ended the year with just 181 COVID deaths, but has now seen 2,391, and aside from Cyprus, which just had a sudden spike, has the highest incidence of new cases in proportion to the population.Some 187,000 Uruguayans have been diagnosed — almost three quarters of them since mid-February, apparently as a result of a variant from neighboring Brazil.“As cases rise in Uruguay, we’re here to give whatever help, advice and information proves useful in fighting the crisis,” Moriya Suliman, a nurse from the Sheba delegation, told The Times of Israel. “We’re excited to help.”The delegation includes senior doctor Moshe Ashkenazi and Sheba’s logistics coordinator Shai Swissa, who was responsible for identifying spare areas at the hospital, including parking lots, and converting them into coronavirus wards.He will be helping hospitals in Uruguay to do the same — to open new intensive care facilities and wards for COVID-positive psychiatric patients, dialysis patients and others — as done in Sheba. Swissa is the son of Uruguayan parents who moved to Israel, and will do his coaching in fluent Spanish.The team will mainly help and advise in hospitals, but will also provide consultations to authorities on vaccination strategies. Uruguay has been racing to vaccinate since it became the last country in South America to start its vaccination campaign on March 1. Almost a third of its population has now received at least one shot.Members of the Sheba Medical Center aid team to Uruguay (in T-shirts) before departure, with the ambassador of Uruguay to Israel Bernardo Griever (in suit) next to Prof. Arnon Afek, deputy director general of the hospital. (courtesy of Sheba Medical Center)-Authorities in Uruguay asked Sheba’s Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response for help, and the hospital responded by shipping equipment, including ECG machines and ventilators, and assembling the aid team.“They came to us because we’re the first nation to beat coronavirus and return to normal routine,” said Suliman. “At Sheba we’ve closed all our coronavirus wards and we can share all our knowledge, allowing them to learn from our experiences, including from our mistakes.”Delegation head Amit Gutkind, a nurse who masterminded Sheba’s rapid vaccination program, said: “They ask a lot about what’s happening in Israel and how we improved things in such a short time, and we’re pleased to now be on the ground to provide some answers.”

WELL WE AT THE VILLAGE WERE LUCKY. OUR PRECAUTIONARY ISOLATION WAS LIFTED AT 6AM YESTERDAY MORNING. SO JUST OVER NIGHT WE WERE IN ISOLATION IN OUR ROOMS. THEY MUST HAVE CAUGHT THE FALSE POSSITIVE QUICK. SO WERE BACK TO WERE WE WERE. IN LOCKDOWN. BUT NOT ISOLATED IN OUR ROOMS.

Green body petitions High Court over right to info on Israel’s natural resources-With so little money paid into sovereign wealth fund, Adam Teva V’Din seeks to fix transparency rules for details on natural resources owned by public, exploited by private sector-By Sue Surkes-APR 27,21-Today, 2:57 am

The environmental advocacy organization Adam Teva V’Din filed a Freedom of Information petition at the High Court on Monday to clarify the status of natural resources in Israeli law and the obligation for transparency, given that those resources are owned by the public.In 2014, the Israeli Citizens’ Fund Law was passed, setting out the mechanism for the creation of a sovereign wealth fund aimed at ensuring that Israeli citizens — not only investors — reap benefits above and beyond corporate taxes and royalties from the massive natural gas reserves discovered off the Mediterranean coast in recent years.The law was subsequently amended to add levies on profits from natural resources such as mines as well.The wealth fund needs NIS 1 billion ($291 million) to start operating. But despite predictions at the time that it would contain billions of dollars by 2022, to date only around NIS 450 million ($130 million) has been collected, 75 percent of it paid in 2013 for the Mari-B Yam Tethys gas field, which closed in 2012. The rest came from ICL, which, in addition to the Dead Sea Works, also mines phosphates in the Negev Desert.The petition addresses the balance that should be struck between commercial confidentiality and the duty of transparency where publicly owned natural resources are concerned.It names the Tax Authority, the official in charge of Freedom of Information at that authority, and seven companies that have franchises to explore for, or mine, natural resources, including gas.“This is another step in our long journey to ensure that the public receives its share of the profits from natural resources,” a statement from the organization said.The filing came the same day Israeli energy giant Delek Drilling announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its entire stake in Israel’s Tamar offshore gas field to the Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Petroleum, potentially handing the United Arab Emirates a major share in one of the Jewish state’s key strategic and economic assets.

Birthright resuming trips to Israel for vaccinated or recovered US Jews from May-The organization, which canceled its visits for over a year due to COVID-19, says it expects hundreds of tour groups over the next few months-By TOI staff-APR 27,21-Today, 10:25 am

After a yearlong hiatus, Birthright Israel will resume its trips to the Holy Land, the organization announced Tuesday.Starting in May, vaccinated or recovered participants from the United States will be able to travel to Israel to participate in a 10-day tour. Birthright discontinued its trips in March 2020 due to COVID-19.The free 10-day trip takes participants throughout the country — from the stone streets of Jerusalem and the beaches of Tel Aviv to the ancient plateaus of Masada and the Golan Heights.Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel. (Erez Uzir / Courtesy of Birthright Israel-Taglit)“With the input of Israel’s Health Ministry, we’re confident that we’ve developed the best plan to safely and efficiently resume our trips, which play such a critical part in strengthening the Jewish identity of hundreds of thousands of young people around the world,” Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement.“The last year has been hard, but we never lost hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel. Now, the wait is over, and it is time to come back to Israel on Birthright Israel,” Mark added.Participants will be required to present a negative PCR test before they fly and undergo a serological test upon arrival in Israel, which tests for antibodies. They will also be asked to maintain social distancing and mask-wearing measures in accordance with the Health Ministry guidelines.Groups will be limited to 20 participants, half the size of Birthright groups pre-pandemic.“When the first Birthright Israel groups took off in December of 1999, we could never have imagined all of the incredible milestones we would hit in just 20 years,” said Charles Bronfman, co-founder of Birthright Israel.“The pandemic has been heartbreaking for all of us. Needless to say, the pause in our program was so sad, but I’m thrilled to know that our participants will soon be back in Israel. The magic continues,” he said.While the trips to Israel were in hiatus due to COVD, Birthright organizations offered several virtual alternatives, such as Birthright Excel, a 10-week internship program delivered via Zoom last summer, the organization said.Birthright Israel announced that over 400 tour groups are planned for July, August and October. It also expects dozens of trips to take place in May and June.Before COVID-19 stopped Birthright’s operations, the organization provided tours for over 750,000 young Jewish Adults hailing from 68 countries. To be eligible, participants must have at least one Jewish parent or have converted to Judaism, and be between the ages of 18 and 32.Last summer, it was estimated that the cancellation of Jewish heritage trips — including Birthright — would cost Israel’s economy $200 million. According to the organization, Birthright Israel trips have contributed approximately $1.825 billion to the Israeli economy in the past two decades.

EU to push Israel on Jerusalem voting as Abbas set to delay election – report-Lebanese newspaper says bloc wants time to pressure Jewish state on formally allowing voting in capital, a matter on which Israel has been silent-By TOI staff-APR 27,21-Today, 9:45 am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has told the European Union, Egypt and Jordan of his decision to postpone the upcoming elections, but the EU has asked for a delay to a formal announcement on the matter so that it can pressure Israel to allow voting in East Jerusalem, a Lebanese newspaper reported Tuesday.As justification for the postponement, Abbas is set to cite Israel’s silence on whether East Jerusalem Palestinians can participate.The report in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, widely considered a mouthpiece for the terror group Hezbollah, came amid mounting indications that the elections will be delayed.Palestinians are currently scheduled to head to their first national vote in 15 years on May 22. The last Palestinian national elections were held in 2006, when Hamas defeated Abbas’s Fatah movement in a landslide.At a Monday meeting of the Fatah Central Committee, Abbas reiterated that he would not permit the elections to take place without the residents of East Jerusalem being permitted to vote.The Palestinian leadership — including leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — is scheduled to meet on Thursday to decide whether the elections can go forward without Israel officially permitting East Jerusalem Palestinians to participate. According to Al-Akhbar, the EU has asked Abbas to wait until at least after those discussions before making a formal announcement.Egyptian officials said Monday that the Palestinian Authority intends to call off the elections at Thursday’s meeting. An Egyptian diplomat and an intelligence official said they had been briefed on the decision. They said Egypt was in talks with Israel to reach a compromise to allow the vote but those efforts have so far failed.The intelligence official said Hamas wants the elections to go ahead but that no faction wants to proceed without guarantees from the international community that voting will be held in East Jerusalem. The official said the factions are discussing the formation of a unity government instead that would include Hamas.Abbas’s opponents have charged in recent days that the widely unpopular PA president, fearful of political defeat, is using Israel’s refusal to formally permit East Jerusalem voting as a pretext to back away from holding the election. The vote, originally scheduled for 2010, sees his once-dominant Fatah movement under challenge from breakaway factions as well as Hamas.Sources from Gaza’s ruling terror organization told Al-Akhbar on Monday that the potential cancellation of the elections could lead to an escalation of violence.According to the Kan public broadcaster, top-level discussions are now taking place in Hamas to decide how the terror group will response to the expected postponement of the elections.Israel has yet to say whether it will permit voting in East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognized by most of the international community. Palestinians there have Israeli residency rights, and in principle can apply for Israeli citizenship.The Oslo Accords, a series of bilateral agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, stipulate that Palestinians can vote at designated post offices throughout Jerusalem.The Palestinian election commission says 150,000 voters will be able to cast ballots on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, in a process that does not require a green light from Israel. And a symbolic 6,300 will get to vote within the holy city itself under Israeli supervision.But Palestinian authorities fear that arrangement could still leave thousands of the city’s inhabitants disenfranchised.The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel considers the entire city its undivided capital and bars any PA activity from taking place in the city. About 60 candidates in the Palestinian elections are from East Jerusalem.Aaron Boxerman and agencies contributed to this report.

UK’s Johnson denies saying thousands of ‘bodies piled high’ better than lockdown-British PM calls reports of leaked remarks from debate over imposing a third UK lockdown ‘total, total rubbish,’ as pressure on him mounts ahead of local elections-By Jill Lawless-APR 27,21-Today, 5:52 am

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed as “total rubbish” a press report which quoted him as allegedly saying he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than impose a third national lockdown on the country.The Daily Mail claimed that Johnson made the comment during a heated discussion in late October, when his government imposed a second lockdown to combat a surge in coronavirus cases. A third lockdown was ordered in January as infections shot up again, driven by a new, more contagious variant of the virus.The Daily Mail didn’t cite a source for the claim, but there has been a spate of leaks from Johnson’s 10 Downing St. office, which are being investigated by government officials. Broadcasters BBC and ITV said they had also been told of the “bodies” remark.Johnson said Monday that the allegation was “total, total rubbish.”Britain has spent much of the last year under restrictions on business and daily life as it tried to contain a COVID-19 outbreak that has left more than 127,000 people dead, the highest toll in Europe. Restrictions are gradually being eased alongside a mass-vaccination campaign that has given at least one dose of vaccine to half the UK population.Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said Johnson had treated decisions about lockdowns extremely seriously.“This is a prime minister who was in hospital himself in intensive care” with the virus last year, Gove said. “The idea that he would say any such thing I find incredible.”The claim is the latest in a swirl of allegations of cronyism and ethical breaches against Johnson and his Conservative government that have been piling up ahead of local and regional elections next week.The prime minister’s former top aide, Dominic Cummings, claimed last week that Johnson planned to get Conservative Party donors to fund the refurbishment of the prime minister’s Downing Street apartment. Cummings, who left his job late last year, said he had told Johnson the plan was “unethical, foolish, possibly illegal.”Johnson’s office said the prime minister paid to renovate the apartment, where he lives with fiancĂ©e Carrie Symonds and their baby son Wilfred, though it did not say whether he had been lent the money for the work.The Electoral Commission, which regulates political finances in the UK, has said it is seeking answers from the Conservative Party over whether any sums should have been declared under the law on political donations.Johnson has also denied doing anything wrong when he exchanged text messages with a wealthy industrialist and promised he would “fix” the tax rules for him.The exchange occurred in March 2020 when Johnson was trying to encourage vacuum cleaner tycoon James Dyson to make ventilators for the hard-pressed National Health Service. Singapore-based Dyson sought assurances that his staff members would not have to pay extra taxes if they came to Britain to work on the project.Johnson said he would not apologize “for shifting heaven and earth” to secure vital medical equipment in an emergency.One of Johnson’s Conservative predecessors, former Prime Minister David Cameron, is also facing cronyism allegations over his lobbying for a now-bankrupt financial services firm, Greensill Capital, whose founder he had employed as an adviser. Cameron denies wrongdoing.Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the “drip, drip, drip of allegations” was damaging people’s trust in politics.“We need to get to the bottom of it, we need strong recommendations for change,” he said. “Because I think, for a lot of people, this is beginning to feel like very strongly like one rule for them and another rule for everybody else.”

PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)

REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.

MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)(NUKED BY SNEAK ATTACK FROM RUSSIA)

IN REVELATION 17 & 18 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL BABYLONS.IF YOU CAN NOT DECERN BETWEEN THE 2 BABYLONS IN REV 17 & 18.YOU WILL JUST THINK THEIR BOTH THE SAME.BUT NO-THERES A RELIGIOUS BABYLON (THE VATICAN IN REV 17)(AND THE POLITICAL BABYLON IN REV 18 (AMERICA OR NEW YORK TO BE EXACT)

ISAIAH 34:10
10  It (AMERICA-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

JEREMIAH 51:29-32 (CYBER ATTACK 1ST)
29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land of Babylon (AMERICA) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30  The mighty men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
031  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32  And that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D) and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)

COMPLETE SILENCE AFTER AN EMP GOES OFF
REVELATION 8:1
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(AMERICA) and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK CYBER,EMP ATTACK,THEN NUKE ATTACK ON AM

WELL AFTER READING THESE HEADLINES THIS MORNING. NOW I KNOW WHY CNN IS TALKING ABOUT ISRAEL SO CALLED DEDPRIVING THE POOR ARABS OF EVERYTHING IN A REPORT. NO-CNN IS JUST TRYING TO GET THE WORLD AGAINST ISRAEL - BECAUSE ISRAEL IS READY TO NUKE IRAN OUT OF HISTORY.

Amid nuclear deal talks, Iran, US warships in 1st tense Mideast brush in a year-Incident follows a series of events attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, including attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility-By AP and TOI staff    Today, 12:08 pm

American and Iranian warships had a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year amid wider turmoil in the region over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal, the US Navy said Tuesday.Footage released by the US Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard cutting in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.The Guard also did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet. Such close passes risk the ships colliding at sea.Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident in the southern reaches of the Persian Gulf, which resulted in no injuries or damage.“The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns, and while the (Iranian) Harth 55 responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, they continued the unsafe maneuvers,” Rebarich said. “After approximately three hours of the US issuing warning and conducting defensive maneuvers, the (Iranian) vessels maneuvered away from the US ships and opened distance between them.”The Wall Street Journal first reported on the incident, which involved the Iranian Harth support ship and three Iranian fast-attack craft. The Coast Guard units operate out of Bahrain as part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, its biggest unit overseas.The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving the Iranians since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran had largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of 2019, she said.In 2017, the US Navy recorded 14 instances of what it describes as “unsafe and or unprofessional” interactions with Iranians forces. It recorded 35 in 2016, and 23 in 2015.The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes.Some analysts believe the incidents are meant in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal. They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 US sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.“US naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defense,” Rebarich said.The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, talks due to resume Tuesday. It also follows a series of incidents across the Mideast attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.Earlier this week, Iran’s Armed Forces chief Mohammad Bagheri threatened to “teach Israel a very good lesson,” appearing to hint the Jewish state was behind a reported attack on an Iranian tanker off Syria’s coast over the weekend, but stopping short of blaming Jerusalem explicitly for the incident.Bagheri’s threat came the day before Israel sent a delegation to Washington on Monday to voice objection to the US return to the Iran nuclear deal. Israeli officials believe Iran poses an existential threat to the Jewish state, and adamantly oppose the US returning to the deal, putting Jerusalem at odds with the new White House administration.

Iran warns Israel that regional ‘mischief’ will be met with great force-Revolutionary Guards commander makes comments after reported strike on Iranian ship off Syrian coast and amid unrest in Jerusalem and on Gaza border-By TOI staff-APR27,21-Today, 12:58 pM

Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Israel on Monday against carrying out any further “mischiefs,” saying they will be responded to with great force.The comments, made by commander Gen. Hossein Salami in an interview with the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel, apparently referred to the recent unrest in Jerusalem and at the Gaza border, as well as the shadow maritime war between Tehran and Jerusalem and a recent explosion at a nuclear facility that Iran has attributed to Israel.“The mischiefs that the Zionists commit in the region will backfire on them. The Islamic Republic of Iran will give an equal and more powerful reaction to any evil act,” said Salami, according to the Fars news agency.In the past few days, you have witnessed how their evil deeds did not go unanswered and how some developments happened in the occupied territories, and these incidents and developments will definitely be repeated and will grow greater in the future,” he said.The comments followed similar remarks on Sunday by Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri, who also referred to a reported attack on an Iranian tanker off the Syrian coast on Saturday.“The Zionists imagine that they can continuously target the Syrian territories and conduct mischief in different places and in the sea and receive no response,” Bagheri said.Bagheri threatened to “teach Israel a very good lesson,” but stopped short of blaming Jerusalem explicitly for the incident.Bagheri told reporters: “We don’t announce anything about the incidents that happened recently, nor do we know who did it, but the Resistance Front will teach Israel a very good lesson,” according to several Iranian journalists.The comments by the military officials came amid recent rising tensions with Iran that have seen the two countries blame each other for attacks on their ships in the region, which caused minor damage, and also an operations-disrupting explosion at a key Iranian nuclear facility that Tehran attributed to Israel.Further stoking tensions, Gazan armed factions, some of which receive Iranian support, launched over 40 rockets into Israel over the weekend. On Saturday, a number of Palestinian terror groups fired experimental rockets toward the Mediterranean Sea as a show of force.Palestinian terror groups have said that the weekend’s rocket attacks were in response to ongoing unrest in Jerusalem, where Arab residents demonstrated for several days against Ramadan restrictions on congregating near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.Those restrictions were lifted by police on Sunday evening.Hamas, the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip, has at times been supported by Iran, but resisted openly moving too close to hardliners in Tehran. However, last year Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh spoke at the Tehran funeral of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, crediting the Quds Force leader with building his and other Palestinian groups.

Facing outcry, Kerry denies he told Iran’s Zarif about Israeli strikes in Syria-Former US secretary of state cites Israeli minister’s 2018 speech mentioning raids, and State Department notes generally that such operations were public knowledge-By TOI staff-APR 27.21-Today, 11:09 am

Former US secretary of state John Kerry on Monday denied Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s claim that the top US diplomat told him Israel had carried out 200 strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.“I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened — either when I was Secretary of State or since,” Kerry tweeted.The tweet cited a 2018 article by the Reuters news agency in which then-intelligence minister Israel Katz said that Israel had carried out over 200 airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria over the previous two years.Kerry’s denial came amid pressure from some parts of the Republican party after The New York Times published a report on a leaked interview Zarif gave last year.Zarif said that he was often kept in the dark about security matters, and that “to his astonishment,” Kerry told him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times.In the recording, Zarif told the interviewer that he hadn’t been told about key issues.“Kerry has to tell me that Israel has attacked you 200 times in Syria?” said Zarif.“You did not know?” the interviewer asked twice, according to direct quotes published by the Times for the first time on Monday evening, to which Zarif responded “no, no” on both occasions.Zarif did not clarify when the purported conversation with Kerry took place. Kerry served as a chief negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and dealt closely with Zarif over the years.Israel acknowledges having launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war there in 2011, aimer to counter Iranian moves to establish a permanent military presence in the country and to transport advanced, game-changing weapons to terrorist groups in the region, principally Hezbollah.Still, Israel’s official policy is to neither officially confirm nor deny specific operations in Syria, save for those in retaliation for an attack from the country.State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday noted the widespread reporting on Israel’s strikes and implied that even if Kerry had made the comments, the existence of the strikes was public knowledge.“I would just make the broad point that if you go back and look at press reporting from the time, this certainly was not secret,” Price said. “And governments that were involved were speaking to this publicly, on the record.”Some Republican officials attacked Kerry in the wake of the Times report, accusing him of leaking Israeli military secrets. Kerry, who now serves as US President Joe Biden’s special envoy on the climate crisis, was already under fire from the GOP over those policies.“People are talking about treason — and I don’t throw that word around a lot,” said Alaska’s Sen. Dan Sullivan. “John Kerry does all kinds of things that I can’t stand. But this is the one that broke the camel’s back.”Nikki Haley, who served as US ambassador to the UN under the Trump administration and is widely thought to be considering a 2024 presidential run, called the reported conversation between Kerry and Zarif “disgusting.”However, others in the party urged a more cautious approach to Zarif’s comments.“I don’t know if we should trust that tape or not. If it’s true, it’s very damaging,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I like John Kerry, but that would not be helpful and it would be very problematic if it were true. But let’s wait and see how authentic this is.”Ahead of Kerry’s public response , Sen. Mitt Romney also said that the matter should be examined in light of the fact it was based only on the Iranian envoy’s comments, Politico reported.“It’s very troubling, and there needs to be full transparency to understand exactly what was done, by whom, for what purpose, and an accounting of what occurred,” said Romney, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We have one recording by an Iranian official, but this is something that has to be evaluated and looked into.”The most recent time a high-level US official was accused of divulging Israeli military secrets was 2017, when then-president Donald Trump told Russia of intelligence that reportedly came specifically from a spy embedded in the Islamic State terrorist group on behalf of Israel. The spy was also reportedly a major asset in gaining information on the actions of Iran in Syria — through its Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. The leak reportedly placed the person’s life at risk and Israeli intelligence officials were said to have been outraged by Trump’s actions.Zarif made the comments about Kerry in an hours-long taped conversation that took place last March as part of an oral history project. A copy was leaked to the UK-based Persian language news channel Iran International, which is viewed as hostile to Iran and is owned by Saudi Arabians.In the interview, Zarif also criticized the power of Qassem Soleimani, saying the assassinated head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been setting Tehran’s policy.Zarif said that Soleimani had worked with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal and acted in Syria’s long-running war in a way that damaged Tehran’s interests, as well as undermining him on a number of occasions, the Times reported.“In the Islamic Republic the military field rules,” Zarif said. “I have sacrificed diplomacy for the military field rather than the field servicing diplomacy.The extracts also suggested Soleimani refused to listen to a request by Zarif’s Foreign Ministry that Tehran show less overt support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad, including not using state airline Iran Air to transport military equipment and personnel to Syria and not deploying ground forces to the war-torn country.Zarif also criticized Soleimani for allowing Russian planes to fly over Iran on their way to bomb Syria.According to the Times, Zarif could be heard on a number of occasions in the interview emphasizing that his words were not for publication.Zarif also claimed that Soleimani traveled to Moscow to “demolish our achievement” and try to stop Russia’s support for the nuclear deal struck with world powers.

Monday, April 26, 2021

AFTER 40 ROCKETS SHOT IN ISRAEL LAST 3 DAYS-ISRAEL CLOSES FISHING

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

 DISEASES-ANIMAL TO HUMAN

REVELATION 6:7-8 (500 MILLION DEAD EACH FROM THE 4 JUDGEMENTS)(2 BILLION TOT DEAD HERE)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 billion) of (8 billion) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS)(500 million) and with hunger,(FAMINE)(500 million) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES)(500 million) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)(500 million).

THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 147,809,197 DEAD 3,122,319 AS OF MON APR 261,21

DR ZELENKO ON COVID-19 RECOVERY-TAMAR YONAH
https://soundcloud.com/israel-news-talk-radio/while-cautious-im-not-so-afraid-of-the-coronavirus-anymore-the-tamar-yonah-show
DR VLADMIR ZE'EV ZELENKOS MIXTURE FOR RECOVERY OF COVID-19
https://www.vladimirzelenkomd.com/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TaRDwXMhQHSMsgrs9TFBclHjPHerXMuB87DUXmcAvwg/editReuters

HERE AT THE VILLAGE WE AT 4PM WERE TOLD TO STAY IN OUR ROOMS AGAIN FOR THE 3RD TIME AS A PRECAUTION THAT SOMEONE HERE HAS COVID 19. BUT WE ALL KNOW THIS WILL BE ANOTHER FALSE YES TO ONE OF THE WORKERS AGAIN FOR THE THIRD TIME. THIS IS GETTING REDICULAS.

Growing anger as virus devastates India, overwhelming cemeteries, crematoriums-Government and Prime Minister Modi face criticism amid deadly record-breaking wave of infections; authorities ask Twitter to stifle some reproving voices-By SHEIKH SAALIQ and AIJAZ HUSSAIN-APR 26,21-Today, 2:44 am

NEW DELHI, India (AP) — With life-saving oxygen in short supply, family members in India are left on their own to ferry coronavirus patients from hospital to hospital in search of treatment as the country is engulfed in a devastating new surge of infections. Too often their efforts end in mourning.The stories are told on social media and in television footage, showing desperate relatives pleading for oxygen outside hospitals or weeping in the street for loved ones who died waiting for treatment.One woman mourned the death of her younger brother, aged 50. He was turned away by two hospitals and died waiting to be seen at a third, gasping after his oxygen tank ran out and no replacements were to be had. She blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for the crisis.“He has lit funeral pyres in every house,” she cried in a video shot by India’s weekly magazine The Caravan.For the fourth straight day, India on Sunday set a global daily record of new coronavirus infections, spurred by an insidious new variant that emerged here. The surge has undermined the government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic.The 349,691 confirmed infections over the past day brought India’s total to more than 16.9 million cases, behind only the United States. The Health Ministry reported another 2,767 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing India’s fatalities to 192,311.Experts say this toll could be a huge undercount, as suspected cases are not included, and many COVID-19 deaths are being attributed to underlying conditions.The unfolding crisis is most visceral in India’s overwhelmed graveyards and crematoriums, and in heartbreaking images of gasping patients dying on their way to hospitals due to lack of oxygen.Burial grounds in the capital New Delhi are running out of space. Bright, glowing funeral pyres light up the night sky in other badly hit cities.In the central city of Bhopal, some crematoriums have increased their capacity from dozens of pyres to more than 50. Yet officials say there are still hours-long waits.At the city’s Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium, workers said they cremated more than 110 people on Saturday, even as government figures in the entire city of 1.8 million put the total number of virus deaths at just 10.“The virus is swallowing our city’s people like a monster,” said Mamtesh Sharma, an official at the site.The unprecedented rush of bodies has forced the crematorium to skip individual ceremonies and exhaustive rituals that Hindus believe release the soul from the cycle of rebirth.“We are just burning bodies as they arrive,” said Sharma. “It is as if we are in the middle of a war.”The head gravedigger at New Delhi’s largest Muslim cemetery, where 1,000 people have been buried during the pandemic, said more bodies are arriving now than last year. “I fear we will run out of space very soon,” said Mohammad Shameem.The situation is equally grim at unbearably full hospitals, where desperate people are dying in line, sometimes on the roads outside, waiting to see doctors.Health officials are scrambling to expand critical care units and stock up on dwindling supplies of oxygen.Hospitals and patients alike are struggling to procure scarce medical equipment that’s being sold on the black market at an exponential markup.The drama is in direct contrast with government claims that “nobody in the country was left without oxygen,” in a statement made Saturday by India’s Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before Delhi High Court.The breakdown is a stark failure for a country whose prime minister only in January had declared victory over COVID-19, and which boasted of being the “world’s pharmacy,” a global producer of vaccines, and a model for other developing nations.Caught off-guard by the latest deadly spike, the federal government has asked industrialists to increase the production of oxygen and other life-saving drugs in short supply. But health experts say India had an entire year to prepare for the inevitable — and it didn’t.Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the government should have used the last year, when the virus was more under control, to stockpile medicines and develop systems to confront the likelihood of a new surge.“Most importantly, they should have looked at what was going on in other parts of the world and understood that it was a matter of time before they would be in a similar situation,” Kuppalli said.Instead, the government’s premature declarations of victory over the pandemic created a “false narrative,” which encouraged people to relax health measures when they should have continued strict adherence to physical distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large crowds.Modi is facing mounting criticism for allowing Hindu festivals and attending mammoth election rallies that experts suspect accelerated the spread of infections. At one such rally on April 17, Modi expressed his delight at the huge crowd, even as experts warned that a deadly surge was inevitable with India already counting 250,000 new daily cases.Now, with the death toll mounting, his Hindu nationalist government is trying to quell critical voices.On Saturday, Twitter complied with the government’s request and prevented people in India from viewing more than 50 tweets that appeared to criticize the administration’s handling of the pandemic. The targeted posts include tweets from opposition ministers critical of Modi, journalists, and ordinary Indians.A Twitter spokesperson said it had powers to “withhold access to the content in India only” if the company determined the content to be “illegal in a particular jurisdiction.” The company said it had responded to an order by the government and notified people whose tweets were withheld.India’s Information Technology Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.Even with the targeted blocks, horrific scenes of overwhelmed hospitals and cremation grounds spread on Twitter and drew appeals for help.The US is actively looking at ways to boost aid to India, including sending oxygen supplies, virus tests, drug treatments and personal protective equipment.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration’s top medical adviser on the pandemic, told ABC’s “This Week” that the US would review how to increase India’s vaccine supply, such as by sending doses or helping India “to essentially make vaccines themselves.”The White House said national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone Sunday with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, and that the US is ”working around the clock” to send supplies.Help and support were also offered from archrival Pakistan, with politicians, journalists and citizens in the neighboring country expressing solidarity. Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it offered to provide relief including ventilators, oxygen supply kits, digital X-ray machines, PPE and related items.“Humanitarian issues require responses beyond political consideration,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.The Indian government did not immediately respond to Qureshi’s statement.

Man admits to past missionary work, but says he 'repented'-Shock in Jerusalem community as rabbi outed as undercover Christian missionary-Family supported by ultra-Orthodox community after mother dies of cancer, father worked as scribe and mohel; investigators say they faked being Jewish to move to Israel-By TOI staff-APR 26,21-Today, 4:08 am

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood was in shock on Sunday after a prominent member of the community was reportedly outed as an undercover Christian missionary.Beyneynu, a non-profit organization that monitors missionary activity in Israel, said Sunday that it had been “investigating the case of a covert missionary in French Hill for many years,” but had acted to expose him now “due to one of the missionary’s children proselytizing in school.”Hebrew media said the man, a rabbi, who was not identified publically, had posed as a cohen (priest) and worked as a scribe and a mohel, conducting ritual circumcisions.However, it was discovered that the family was actually not Jewish, but from a Christian family from New Jersey in the US, and had reportedly forged documents to show they were Jewish in order to emigrate to Israel under the Law of Return.“We are confident that the Jewish leaders will act strongly against this threat, and quickly put protective measures in place to protect the Jewish community,” Beyneynu said.The ultra-Orthodox newspaper Behadrei Haredim reported that when the man’s recently deceased wife became ill with cancer several years ago, she told friends some things that did not make sense to them and sparked the investigation.The wife had reportedly falsely claimed to be the daughter of Holocaust survivors.Investigators discovered that the family’s parents in the US were not Jewish and posting missionary material on social media, the paper said. The man’s late father was buried in a non-Jewish cemetery. An obituary identified him as a member of the Friendship Mennonite Church.Beyneynu said it had “taken great care in verifying each piece of evidence before exposing this case to the public,” but did not detail the evidence“Until now we kept it quiet because we did not want the father to move to another neighborhood (to carry on his work,) and we wanted to work to get his citizenship revoked,” Yoni Kayman, a community member involved in the investigation, told Behadrei Haredim.Kayman said the father had also recently begun to try and get rid of the evidence, deleting things on social media, and had stopped sending his daughters to the local religious school, so they decided to inform the community of his activities.Channel 13 news broadcast clips from 2011 of the father speaking on US television, acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah.Speaking to Channel 13, the man denied he was working as an undercover Christian missionary.“It’s a lie, I was born Jewish,” he said. However, he acknowledged working as a missionary 7 or 8 years ago, but said he had “repented.”Community members expressed shock, noting how involved the family was and the fact that after the wife died, the community set up a fund for the family and had been helping to support them.“The family looked completely ultra-Orthodox, he had a long beard and a hat, the boys had side-curls, the girls went to ‘Beis Ya’akov’ schools,” Kayman told Channel 13.“For five years we have been supporting them, paying for their groceries, school busses, for everything, and they deceived us,” he said.Israel enjoys vigorous support from Christian evangelical movements in the United States but keeps a lid on missionary work in the Holy Land.While Israeli law only expressly forbids the giving of money or gifts to encourage conversions to another religion, missionary activities, in general, are closely monitored by the authorities and are offensive to many Israelis.Also forbidden by law is “missionary or proselytizing activity directed at minors without the permission of their parents.”

Netanyahu said to offer Gantz to be prime minister first in new unity deal-Blue and White leader turns down proposal, TV network reports, but PM is considering offering same carrot to other leaders from bloc of parties aiming to oust him-By Stuart Winer-APR 26,21-Today, 5:02 am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, running out of time to form a coalition, has offered his former coalition partner Benny Gantz a rotation deal with the Blue and White leader to serve first as prime minister, Channel 12 news reported Sunday.The offer would seem to indicate Netanyahu’s growing desperation, given that the last government fell apart over Netanyahu’s refusal to honor the coalition agreement with Gantz that would have seen the defense minister take over as premier from Netanyahu, later this year.Under the terms of the reported offer, Gantz would be prime minister for the first year, after which Netanyahu would return to lead the country for another two years, and then Gantz take over again for a final year.During his terms as prime minister, Gantz would continue to also serve as defense minister. Netanyahu would continue to live at the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem throughout the four years, the report said.The Likud idea of offering Gantz a new rotation deal as prime minister was first reported last week by Zman, the Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.Gantz reportedly turned down the offer that was eventually made during a Friday phone call, Channel 12 reported, telling Netanyahu “I don’t see that as feasible.”The station assessed that though Gantz refused, in line with his campaign promise to not join a Netanyahu-led government, the offer is still tempting to him because it would enable him to finally become prime minister, a development that has been all but dashed by the collapse of the last unity government. However, were he to accept, it would mark the second time that Gantz would break the same election promise, having vowed to not enter a coalition with Netanyahu before the previous elections as well.Netanyahu and Gantz formed their doomed unity government after the March 2020 election, agreeing that Netanyahu would serve first for two years and then Gantz takes over for another two, which was scheduled to begin in November this year. However, the unity government automatically dissolved at the end of the year after failing to pass a state budget, a development that was widely seen as orchestrated by Netanyahu to prevent Gantz from becoming prime minister.Elections in March were inconclusive, just like the previous three votes, with the Knesset divided between two blocs, a Netanyahu-led group of right and religious parties facing others who want to see the prime minister changed. Neither bloc has a majority in the Knesset and both sides are engaged in negotiations to reach the minimum of 61 seats needed for a majority in 120-seat Knesset.Though Gantz turned down Netanyahu’s offer, the prime minister is considering making the same proposal to the leaders of two other parties who are in talks with the so-called “change bloc,” Yamina chief MK Naftali Bennett, and New Hope leader MK Gideon Sa’ar, both Channel 12 and Channel 13 news stations reported, without citing sources. Bennett, who is determined to become prime minister himself, has not committed to either bloc while Sa’ar has vowed to see Netanyahu ousted.In addition, Netanyahu is also said to be considering suggesting the same arrangement with Knesset Speaker MK Yariv Levin, a member of the Likud party that Netanyahu leads.Elevating Levin to become prime minister would still leave Netanyahu in the powerful position of the alternative prime minister as part of the rotation arrangement and enable both Gantz and Sa’ar to join his coalition, giving him the Knesset majority he needs.Netanyahu has just another nine days to complete the task of building a government before the mandate returns to President Reuven Rivlin who can then look at other options, including tasking the next lawmaker in line, opposition leader MK Yair Lapid whose Yesh Atid party is the largest in the bloc of parties trying to replace Netanyahu.In the meantime, there has reportedly been some progress in talks among the change bloc, which is comprised of an assortment of left, center, and right-wing parties with dramatically different world views on some key national issues. Lapid, who wants there to be no more than 20 ministers in the government has agreed to Bennett and Sa’ar’s demand that there be more, though just how many is still disputed, Channel 13 reported.Bennett, for his part, has given up on a demand that he have a double vote in the broader cabinet, but is still insisting on that power in the top-level security cabinet, Channel 13 reported.There are also disputes over the control of key ministries. Though Channel 13 reported that there is agreement among the parties that Gantz would remain defense minister the Kan public broadcaster said that Sa’ar wants the post. The justice ministry is being chased by New Hope, Yamina, and some of the left-wing parties in the bloc, while the Labor and Yisrael Beytenu parties are haggling over the Finance Ministry, Kan reported. Also, the Education Ministry is being contested by New Hope and the left-wing Meretz party, according to the station.A change bloc government would also be based on a rotation of the premiership between Lapid and Bennett, according to Hebrew media reports. However, Bennett is said to be facing reluctance from within his own right-wing nationalist party to cooperating with Lapid, and some of his Yamina’s seven lawmakers may not agree to join such a coalition, Channel 12 reported. That would further hamper Lapid’s efforts to build a viable coalition.Should no government be formed the country will head to its fifth elections in two and half years.

In bid to stem violent protests, police allow crowds at Old City’s Damascus Gate-Recent evenings have seen intense clashes between Palestinians and law enforcement in Jerusalem, as well as a far-right Jewish march-By TOI staff and AFP-25 April 2021, 11:04 pm

Hundreds of Palestinians celebrated at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday evening after police halted a controversial policy that barred Muslim worshipers from congregating in the area during the holy month of Ramadan.Thousands of Palestinians had descended on the flashpoint area each night since Ramadan began on April 13 to protest the policy, which had seen the basin outside Damascus Gate filled with dozens of police divider fences, along with armed officers ordered to prevent anyone from sitting on the steps.Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai told reporters Saturday that it was a longstanding policy implemented annually by officers in order to prevent crowding and allow for the free flow of visitors in and out of the Old City on Ramadan.However, photos of Damascus Gate from previous years that were posted on social media showed the site packed with visitors and no police fences and roadblocks around the basin outside the gate, as there have been this month.There have been times in recent years when the fences were installed, but that was done for a short amount of time, rather than for weeks on end.Asked on Sunday to explain the discrepancy between photos of a packed Damascus Gate from previous years and the comments by Shabtai that longstanding policy has prevented crowding at the Old City entrance on Ramadan, police declined to do so.Channel 12 spoke with a series of former senior officials in the Israel Police, including ex-commissioners, who called on Shabtai to scrap the policy as a demonstration of good faith to Palestinians during the particularly sensitive time of year.Shortly after the network’s report aired, Shabtai ordered the scrapping of the policy.The decision came “following consultations with local leadership, religious leadership, situation assessments, while taking into consideration the shop owners who need to make a living, and in order to lower the level of violence,” a police spokesman told AFP.“Our forces are still deployed on the ground, and we won’t let violence resurge,” the spokesman said.Hundreds of Palestinians, including male youths who tossed the barricades to the side, held celebratory rallies in the plaza, watched over by police.Minor scuffles erupted after some of the revelers began waving Palestinian flags, moves which prompted police to briefly move into the plaza.AFP reporters saw several young Palestinians being detained by police. Police said Monday morning that 12 people were arrested overnight for throwing rocks and glass bottles at cops or for assaulting passersby.But the plaza remained open, with police maintaining a heavy presence in the area into Monday’s early hours.Footage from Damascus Gate showed the area packed with visitors, as it had been in previous years, cheering and whistling in victory.The atmosphere contrasted starkly from that of previous nights, which have featured violent clashes.More than 105 Palestinians were wounded late Thursday in clashes with police who found themselves in the middle of the Arab demonstrators and a mob of hundreds of Jewish extremists marching toward Damascus Gate, chanting “Death to Arabs,” “May your village burn,” and other hateful slogans.Police used riot dispersal measures against both crowds, but reserved more severe means, including rubber bullets, for the Palestinian mob.The Hamas terror group in Gaza, which has been firing rockets into Israel for the last three nights, allegedly in response to the clashes in Jerusalem, hailed the decision to remove the barriers as a victory for the “Palestinian youths against the occupation.”Jerusalem has also seen a series of viral videos on the social network TikTok, which appear to show Palestinians attacking ultra-Orthodox Jews without any provocation. The clips have fueled Jewish anger.The racist Lehava group, which led the Jewish protests, said in a statement that it would not be reconvening outside Damascus Gate on Sunday night, and instead would be offering Krav Maga classes for its activists. However, the group said that it would be prepared to take to the streets “to protect Jews, if police failed to do their job.”Earlier Sunday evening, three Arab sanitation workers were attacked by a group of Jewish youths on Ben Sira Street in downtown Jerusalem.One of the suspects was arrested, police said, adding that they found a knife on him. Officers were engaging in a manhunt for the remaining assailants.Hours earlier, a Jewish Israeli distributing religious booklets at a junction outside the mixed town of Ramle was assaulted by an Arab teen. The 19-year-old suspect was apprehended shortly thereafter by police.The victim received treatment for minor injuries at nearby Assaf Harofeh Medical Center..

 Thou shalt not kill.(Murder)(THAT INCLUDES ABORTION)

MATTHEW 18:6
6  But whoso shall offend (HURT) one of these little ones (CHILDREN) which believe in me,(JESUS) it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY FOLKS)

EXODUS 21:12
12 He that smiteth (MURDER)a man,(OR BABY) so that he die, shall be surely put to death.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY PEOPLE)

REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)

Zarif criticized Soleimani’s power, said Russia tried to sabotage Iran nuke deal-In leaks from interview last year, minister says he was often kept in dark as IRGC dictated policy, was ‘astonished’ when US told him of Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria-By TOI staff-APR 26,21-Today, 9:02 am

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the power of Qassem Soleimani in leaks published Sunday from an interview he gave last year, saying the assassinated head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been setting Tehran’s policy.Zarif said that Soleimani had worked with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal and acted in Syria’s long-running war in a way that damaged Tehran’s interests, as well as undermining him on a number of occasions, the New York Times reported.“In the Islamic Republic the military field rules,” Zarif said. “I have sacrificed diplomacy for the military field rather than the field servicing diplomacy.”The extracts also suggested Soleimani refused to listen to a request by the Foreign Ministry that Tehran show less overt support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad, including not using state airline Iran Air to transport military equipment and personnel to Syria and not deploying ground forces to the war-torn country.Zarif also criticized Soleimani for allowing Russian planes to fly over Iran on their way to bomb Syria.Zarif said that he was often kept in the dark about security matters, and that “to his astonishment,” former US Secretary of State John Kerry told him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times.The Times did not clarify when the conversation between the two officials took place.The Israel Defense Forces has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011 against moves by Iran to establish a permanent military presence in the country and efforts to transport advanced, game-changing weapons to terrorist groups in the region, principally Hezbollah.Zarif made the comments in an hours-long taped conversation that took place last March as part of an oral history project. A copy was leaked to the UK-based Persian language news channel Iran International, which is viewed as hostile to Iran and is owned by Saudi Arabians.According to the Times, Zarif can be heard on a number of occasions in the interview emphasizing that his words were not for publication.Zarif also claimed that Soleimani traveled to Moscow to “demolish our achievement” and try to stop Russia’s support for the nuclear deal struck with world powers.He also said that Russia did not want the deal to succeed as that would result in Tehran normalizing relations with the West, and therefore Moscow “put all its weight” behind placing obstacles on the path to the agreement.According to the Guardian, which did not publish direct quotes from the interview, Zarif said that “forces inside Iran” tried to prevent the passage of the 2015 nuclear agreement through a number of methods, including an attack on the Saudi embassy.Zarif reportedly described the IRGC’s influence on foreign policy as “akin to a cold war,” the Guardian reported, adding that the top Iranian envoy claimed he spent more of his time dealing with the organization than with any other tasks.Zarif said that when the IRGC shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all on board, he attended a meeting with security officials who attacked him and told him that it was not true that Iran had downed the plane.He said he was told to send a tweet denying the Guard had shot down the plane, despite the IRGC immediately knowing what had happened.According to the Times, Zarif did praise Soleimani at times during the interview, saying they successfully worked together ahead of the United States invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Iranian envoy said that the US assassination of Soleimani caused more damage than the wiping out of a city.The US killed Soleimani, who oversaw the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, and others in the January 3, 2020, strike near Baghdad International Air.Soleimani was for years seen as the architect of much of Iran’s malign activities in the Middle East, including attempts to place a foothold in Syria and rocket attacks on Israel, making him one of Israel and the US’s most sought-after targets.The strike on Soleimani came after months of incidents raising tensions between the two countries and saw Iran retaliate with a ballistic missile strike targeting American troops in Iraq, an attack Zarif said the United States knew of before he did.The leaks came at a sensitive time, with Iran currently engaged in indirect talks with the US, mediated by Europe in Vienna, aimed at reviving the nuclear pact, even as it enriches uranium to its highest-ever levels.Iran’s Foreign Ministry admitted that Zarif gave the interview, but said that his words had been distorted through the use of selective quotes, the Guardian reported.Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the ministry, called the leak “unethical politics.”Former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said that the publication of Zarif’s comments was “tantamount to Israel stealing the nuclear documents” from Iran.In 2018, the Mossad spirited a huge trove of documentation out of a warehouse in Tehran, detailing Iran’s rogue nuclear program.

PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)

REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.

MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)(NUKED BY SNEAK ATTACK FROM RUSSIA)

IN REVELATION 17 & 18 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL BABYLONS.IF YOU CAN NOT DECERN BETWEEN THE 2 BABYLONS IN REV 17 & 18.YOU WILL JUST THINK THEIR BOTH THE SAME.BUT NO-THERES A RELIGIOUS BABYLON (THE VATICAN IN REV 17)(AND THE POLITICAL BABYLON IN REV 18 (AMERICA OR NEW YORK TO BE EXACT)

ISAIAH 34:10
10  It (AMERICA-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

JEREMIAH 51:29-32 (CYBER ATTACK 1ST)
29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land of Babylon (AMERICA) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30  The mighty men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
031  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32  And that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D) and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)

COMPLETE SILENCE AFTER AN EMP GOES OFF
REVELATION 8:1
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(AMERICA) and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK CYBER,EMP ATTACK,THEN NUKE ATTACK ON AM

After 3rd straight night of rocket attacks, Israel closes Gaza fishing zone-After initially restricting fishermen to sailing within 9 miles of the coast, Israel’s military liaison to Palestinians announces total closure as launches continue from Strip-By Judah Ari Gross-APR 26,21-Today, 7:18 am

Israel fully closed the Gaza fishing zone on Monday morning, forbidding Palestinians from sailing off the coast of the beleaguered enclave, after terrorists in the Strip launched five rockets toward southern Israel overnight.It was the third straight night of rocket attacks from Gaza, raising the specter of wider conflict in the restive region.The closing of the fishing zone appeared to be Israel’s sole retaliation to the rocket attacks, with the Israel Defense Forces refraining from conducting airstrikes on the Hamas terror group in the Strip — its usual response to rocket fire.The launches began at 10:45 p.m., with a rocket that struck an open field near the Gaza border, without triggering alarms in populated areas. Roughly an hour later, a second rocket was fired toward southern Israel, but it failed to clear the border and landed inside the Strip, according to the army.Shortly after 3 a.m., terrorists in Gaza launched three rockets toward the town of Sderot and the surrounding area, triggering sirens in the communities. Two of these were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system; the third landed inside Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said.Four people, including a pregnant woman, were lightly wounded after falling while running to bomb shelters in that attack, medics said.After the initial two attacks, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians — known formally as the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) — announced that the military was restricting the Gaza fishing zone from its usual 15 nautical miles to nine nautical miles in light of the attacks.However, after the third round of rocket launches in the predawn hours of Monday morning, the liaison Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian announced that beginning at 6 a.m. on Monday, Israel was closing off the Gaza coast to Palestinian fishermen entirely.“This is because of the continued rocket fire from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory during the night,” COGAT said in a statement.“Hamas bears responsibility for everything that happens in or originates from the Gaza Strip against Israel, and it will bear the consequences for the violence directed against Israeli citizens,” Alian said.Fishing is a significant source of revenue for the enclave. The size of the fishing zone has varied over the years. It was set at 20 nautical miles by the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s before being reduced to six miles under the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took over the Strip in a violent coup against the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007.Israel has raised and lowered the limit several times in recent years in a bid to pressure Hamas, the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip.The attacks on Sunday night and Monday morning came after Gazan terrorist groups launched over 40 rockets into Israel over the weekend. On Saturday, a number of Palestinian terror groups fired experimental rockets toward the Mediterranean Sea as a show of force.Palestinian terror groups have said that the weekend’s rocket attacks were in response to ongoing unrest in Jerusalem, where Arab residents have demonstrated for several days against Ramadan restrictions on congregating near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Those restrictions were lifted by police just over an hour before the rocket was fired, leading to some speculation that the launch had been a “celebratory” measure.Rockets are fired toward the sea during a military drill by members of the Mujahideen Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian movement of the same name, along a beach off of Gaza City, on April 24, 2021. (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)-Two Gaza factions, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a branch of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, claimed responsibility for the Friday-Saturday rocket fire. But Israel holds Hamas directly responsible for all fire from the enclave into Israeli territory, charging that it takes place with the terror group’s consent.The Hamas leadership earlier Sunday called East Jerusalemites to continue “mobilizing in the Old City and at its gates.” Hamas also said night patrols of Palestinians ought to be formed to protect East Jerusalem residents from assaults by Jewish extremists.The widening circle of clashes has sparked concerns in Israel that the situation could escalate across the West Bank and Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Saturday for the military to “prepare for any scenario” with Gaza. Defense Minister Benny Gantz similarly said that the Israel Defense Forces “will do what is necessary so the calm is preserved,” following security consultations at defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.The Israeli military notably refrained from conducting retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night as well as on Sunday night, in an apparent bid to ease tensions. Israel normally adopts a tit-for-tat strategy, responding to Gazan rocket fire by shelling Hamas observation posts or imposing restrictions on the Gaza Strip.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Rockets fired from Gaza for 3rd night, 4 lightly hurt running for shelter-Iron Dome intercepts two rockets; Israel to restrict Gaza fishing zone in response to rockets as armed groups in coastal enclave continue to ramp up tensions-By TOI staff-25 April 2021, 11:29 pm

Terrorists in Gaza fired rockets toward Israel for the third night in a row on Sunday and early Monday, with the Iron Dome system intercepting two of them.Four people, including a pregnant woman, were lightly wounded after falling while running to bomb shelters early Monday, medics said.A first projectile was detected by the Israel Defense Forces, which said it only set off red alert sires in an open area where it evidently fell. A second rocket landed inside Gaza near the security fence.Just after 3. a.m, three more rockets were fired, with the Iron Dome system intercepting two of them. A third fell inside Gaza, the army said.The launches came hours after the Gaza-ruling Hamas issued a statement calling on “our noble resistance in Gaza to keep their fingers on the trigger, to keep their rockets on standby to target the enemy’s fortresses and military and vital structures.”Just after midnight Sunday, the Israeli military announced that it would be restricting the fishing zone off the Gaza coast from 15 to 9 nautical miles, starting at 6 a.m. Monday until further notice.“The decision was made in light of repeated terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip against the citizens of the State of Israel during the recent days, which constitute a violation of  Israeli sovereignty,” said a statement from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which is the branch of the Defense Ministry responsible for liaising with the Palestinians.“Hamas is held accountable for all that is done in and from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, and it will bear the consequences for the violence committed against the citizens of the State of Israel, the statement said.Fishing is a significant source of revenue for the enclave. The size of the fishing zone has varied over the years. It was set at 20 nautical miles by the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s before being reduced to six miles under the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took over the Strip in a violent coup against the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007.Israel has raised and lowered the limit several times in recent years in a bid to pressure Hamas.Gazan armed factions have launched over 40 rockets into Israel over the weekend. On Saturday, a number of Palestinian terror groups fired experimental rockets toward the Mediterranean Sea as a show of force.Palestinian terror groups have said that the weekend’s rocket attacks were in response to ongoing unrest in Jerusalem, where Arab residents have demonstrated for several days against Ramadan restrictions on congregating near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Those restrictions were lifted by police just over an hour before the rocket was fired, leading to some speculation that the launch had been a “celebratory” measure.Two Gaza factions, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a branch of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, claimed responsibility for the Friday-Saturday rocket fire. But Israel holds Hamas directly responsible for all fire from the enclave into Israeli territory, charging that it takes place with the terror group’s consent.The Hamas leadership earlier Sunday called East Jerusalemites to continue “mobilizing in the Old City and at its gates.” Hamas also said night patrols of Palestinians ought to be formed to protect East Jerusalem residents from assaults by Jewish extremists.The widening circle of clashes has sparked concerns in Israel that the situation could escalate across the West Bank and Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Saturday for the military to “prepare for any scenario” with Gaza. Defense Minister Benny Gantz similarly said that the Israel Defense Forces “will do what is necessary so the calm is preserved,” following security consultations at defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.The Israeli military notably refrained from conducting retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night, in an apparent bid to ease tensions. Israel normally adopts a tit-for-tat strategy, responding to Gazan rocket fire by shelling Hamas observation posts or imposing restrictions on the Gaza Strip.

Expert: Last week’s ‘blast’ in central Israel was a solid rocket fuel test-American professor bases assessment on satellite images, similar trials in other parts of the world-By Judah Ari Gross-25 April 2021, 4:50 pm

The mysterious blast seen in central Israel last week was, in fact, a test of solid rocket fuel at a secretive Israeli defense facility, according to an American nuclear nonproliferation expert.Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at Middlebury Institute of International Studies and self-described “arms control wonk,” made his assessment based on satellite images of the site and video footage of similar tests from elsewhere in the world, publishing his findings on his website on Friday.Last Tuesday, a Twitter user uploaded a video of the incident, showing a sudden massive blast of fire and smoke south of Kibbutz Mishmar David in central Israel, in the vicinity of the government-owned Tomer defense contractor, which manufactures propulsion systems for a variety of Israel’s rockets and missiles. This led to widespread speculation that the explosion was caused by Iranian sabotage as retaliation for a recent attack on the Islamic Republic’s Natanz nuclear facility, which was widely attributed to Israel.When asked about the incident, a spokesperson for Tomer denied that an accidental blast had taken place, maintaining that the fire and smoke were caused by a “controlled test,” but refusing to elaborate further.According to Lewis, the blast was in fact the controlled, directed explosion of a solid fuel rocket test.The "explosion" video was posted on April 20. Satellite images captured by our friends at @planetlabs show a large burn scar that appeared on the same day at the test stand. I false-colored a pair of near-infrared images to reveal the scorched vegetation. (6/12) pic.twitter.com/QuBo7848Kh — Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) April 23, 2021“There is a low rumble during the burn. And it seems to extinguish after a few seconds. At the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, we spend a lot of time looking at missiles. This event looks and sounds much more like the last few seconds of a test of a solid-propellent rocket motor than an explosion,” Lewis wrote in an article on his website.Lewis and his colleagues reviewed satellite images of the area where Israel is known to test rocket motors and found that a large burn scar appeared on the day in question, one similar to those found after solid rocket fuel tests. They then cross referenced the images with the location data from the video, determining that the blast in the footage and the burn scar were in the same place.“So, in the end, it is pretty clear to me that someone in Mishmar David recorded the last few seconds of a solid rocket motor test,” Lewis wrote.The weapons expert questioned why Tomer decided to be cagey in its response instead of acknowledging the nature of the test, especially when it openly produces rocket motors for well-known, non-controversial Israeli missiles, including the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 air defense systems and the Shavit satellite launcher.“Why didn’t Tomer just say it was a solid rocket motor test? The fact that Israel produces large solid rocket motors for, among other systems, the Shavit space launch vehicle is no secret. There isn’t really any reason to be coy, it’s just… a habit. A culture that evolved in a past era and has yet to adapt to the current one,” Lewis said.

Iraqis blame hospital fire on mismanagement as health minister suspended-Death of over 80 people in a Baghdad COVID-19 hospital blaze seen as further proof of deadly consequences of corruption-By Sarah Benhaida and Ammar Karim-25 April 2021, 4:28 pm

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — The death of over 80 people in a Baghdad Covid-19 hospital fire was seen by Iraqis Sunday as more proof of the deadly consequences of mismanagement and corruption.Iraqis, some of whom evacuated the injured themselves, blamed Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi, who was suspended Sunday, with calls for him to be sacked resounding across social media.The deadly inferno broke out overnight Sunday at Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khatib hospital, blamed on poorly stored oxygen cylinders.The interior ministry said 82 people were killed and 110 people injured.An official with the Iraqi Human Rights Commission said 28 of those killed were patients who were taken off critical ventilators to escape the flames.The evacuation was slow, painful and chaotic, with patients and their relatives crammed into stairwells as they scrambled for exits.President Barham Saleh tweeted on Sunday “the tragedy at Ibn al-Khatib is the result of years of erosion of state institutions by corruption and mismanagement.”A doctor at the hospital said that “in the whole Covid intensive care unit, there were no emergency exits or fire prevention systems.”Witnesses and doctors told AFP many bodies had yet to be identified, the remains too charred by the intense flames.‘Mismanagement’ to blame“It’s mismanagement that killed these people,” the doctor added, who, on condition of anonymity, angrily listed the hospital’s many shortcomings.“Managers walk around smoking in the hospital where oxygen cylinders are stored,” he said. “Even in intensive care, there are always two or three friends or relatives at a patient’s bedside.”And, he added, “this doesn’t just happen at Ibn al-Khatib, it’s like this in all the public hospitals.”“When equipment breaks down, our director tells us not to report it,” said a nurse, in another hospital in Baghdad. “He says it would give a bad image of his establishment, but in reality, we have nothing that works.”These institutions — which until the 1980s were the pride of Iraq, known across the Arab world for its free, high quality public health services — are now seen as an embarrassment by many.Their equipment is outdated, staff are poorly trained and buildings crumbling.In Iraq, the health sector only accounts for two percent of the budget, despite the country being one of the most oil-rich in the world.These issues were raised in a 2017 public report on the Iraqi health sector.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Iraq only has 13 hospital beds and eight doctors for every 10,000 people. Forty years ago, there were 19 beds per person.Moreover, with corruption rife and the drug market unregulated, speculation has driven prices through the roof.From oxygen cylinders to vitamin C tablets, prices have risen threefold or more since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.-Iraqis fend for themselves-Many Iraqis have long opted to go abroad for operations and treatment, mainly to neighboring Iran and Syria, where currency devaluations in recent years have upped their purchasing power.For Iraqis, thousands of whom protested for months starting in October 2019 against widespread corruption, the breakdown of public services is the direct result of years of nepotism and political self-preservation.On Sunday, Iraqis questioned if the suspended health minister would be sacked, because he is backed by the powerful Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr.Local and hospital officials have already been suspended over the fire and are being questioned, but they are only scapegoats, angry social media users say.In the face of an intransigent status quo and leaders they consider “corrupt” and “incompetent,” Iraqis have long fended for themselves.As the fire raged Sunday, it was young men, bare-chested with their shirts as face masks against the acrid smoke, who pulled the injured from the burning building, loaded ambulances and helped survivors escape.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

NURSE THAT TOOK THE VACCINE SHOT. TESTS POSSITIVE FOR COVID-19.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

 2020 AMERICAN ELECTION

THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 101,717,138 DEAD 2,191,747 AS OF THU JAN 28, 2021-1.37PM

Nurse vaccinated for COVID-19 tests positive-Social Sharing-Positive test doesn't necessarily mean nurse has contracted illness, experts say-Nicole Williams · CBC News · JAN 28,21 4 hours ago

An Ottawa nurse has tested positive for COVID-19 about two weeks after getting vaccinated, and experts say there are a number of possibilities why that might be.Santosh Baral said he was "speechless" when his results came back positive for COVID-19 last week after a routine test.The positive test comes after receiving his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Jan. 8 and testing negative on Jan. 13.There are positive cases at the long-term care home Baral works at, but he said to his knowledge, no other person who has received both doses of the vaccine has tested positive for COVID-19 since. Baral said he feels fine, but is at home self-isolating until he is sure it is safe to return to work."I thank God I [don't] have any symptoms so far, but who knows whatever is happening in my body. So definitely I have some anxiety," Baral said.Immunized could still carry and transmit COVID-19-Clinical immunologist and allergist Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said there are a number of possibilities why Baral could have tested positive.Why COVID-19 vaccines won't return our lives to normal overnight-It takes up to a week to ten days after getting both vaccinations before becoming fully immune, so depending on the timing, she said a person could be exposed to the virus before the doses take full effect.Abdurrahman added that while both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are 95 per cent effective, "there's a small chance that you could still catch COVID-19 after you're fully vaccinated."Health experts say even though vaccines have a 95 per cent chance of preventing you from getting COVID-19, it's possible people can still carry and transmit the disease. (Grant Hindsley/AFP/Getty Images)-"Although with the studies, we did see those who did get it in that small percentage after being fully immune had very mild disease. So they didn't have as much of the severe cases of COVID and this is not unlike any other vaccine," Abdurrahman said.What's still unclear for researchers is whether the vaccine reduces the risk of carrying and transmitting COVID-19, Abdurrahman said.Just because someone might be immune to the disease, it doesn't mean they can't carry or spread it, she said.Physicians say COVID-19 vaccines both safe, protective for elderly Canadians. Here's what seniors need to knowVaccines not a replacement of other measures-Dr. Peter JĂĽni, scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, said without showing symptoms, it's hard to determine if Baral does in fact have COVID-19 or is just carrying the disease.But JĂĽni said immunized people testing positive "is nothing out of the ordinary," as more people get vaccinated across the country.General public will have to wait until August for COVID-19 vaccine-"What makes it, of course, a bit more extraordinary is the situation we're in right now with the mutations from Brazil, South Africa and the U.K.," JĂĽni said, which are being evaluated carefully by researchers.He said that while the vaccines are both safe and effective, it's important to continue to follow other health measures."Even if you're vaccinated, you need to continue with physical distancing. You need to continue with wearing masks, especially because you want to protect others," he said.

Why you might want to start wearing better masks — even outdoors-Spread of more infectious coronavirus variants in Canada requires renewed vigilance, experts say-Adam Miller · CBC News · Posted: Jan 28, 2021 4:00 AM ET |

The spread of more contagious coronavirus variants in Canada amid already high levels of COVID-19 makes it a critical time to think about the masks we wear. Whether that means finding better quality masks, doubling up on masks, or wearing them in settings we wouldn't normally think to, experts say it's time we step up our game.The variants first identified in South Africa and the U.K are spreading in Canada, in some cases with no known link to travel, and have already led to devastating outbreaks in long-term care homes. The variant discovered in the U.K., known as B117, is estimated to be at least 56 per cent more transmissible and potentially more deadly than the original coronavirus strain.But even as COVID-19 case numbers show early signs of slowing down in Canada, experts say it's becoming more important than ever to lower our risk of exposure as much as possible to prevent variants from taking hold here. "The floodwaters are receding right now, but it's still very, very dangerous," said Erin Bromage, a biology professor and immunologist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth who studies infectious diseases."If [B117] does pop up as the dominant variant here, we are going to need to really up our game in regards to masks, in regards to ... how many contacts we have in a day, because it definitely appears to have an upper hand." 'Time to step it up' with masks-Canada currently recommends the use of three-layer non-medical masks with a filter layer to prevent the spread of the virus, but has not updated its recommendations since November, before the emergence of new variants. Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, said that while three-layer non-medical masks are a good "minimum standard," Canadians should opt for masks that offer better protection whenever possible.Those include surgical masks, which are a step below N95s and KN95s and come in three different filtration levels determined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).Doctors answer viewer questions about COVID-19 including why three-layer masks are now being recommended to protect against the virus."When I go to the grocery store now, I wear my very best mask," said Linsey Marr, one of the top aerosol scientists in the world and an expert on the airborne transmission of viruses at Virginia Tech. "Before I was wearing an OK mask that was comfortable and easy."She said a cloth mask can "easily filter out half of particles, maybe more, but we're at the point where we need better performance." Bromage said he changed his approach to masks several months ago when COVID-19 cases started to spike in many parts of North America. That's when he ditched common cloth masks for surgical masks, he said.Bromage said Level 3 ASTM surgical masks, those that are used at dental clinics, for example, offer both a better level of protection and a better quality fit."The most important part is you've got to make sure your breath actually goes through the material," he said."You really should see the mask expand and then collapse and expand and collapse with each breath that you take. That's a good indication that what you're breathing is actually going through the material."Double-masking and other tips-Bromage said a tight-fitting mask is more important than ever due to the emergence of variants, which is why it's becoming more common to see people wearing two masks at the same time."It's not that double-masking provides extra protection if the mask was fitting well," he said. "Double-masking helps the mask that is closest to your skin fit more snugly, meaning more air goes through that mask."If you're already wearing a high-quality mask that fits well, with air going through the material rather than out the sides, Bromage said there's really no extra benefit in throwing an extra mask on top.He recommends looking at yourself in the mirror before you go out to make sure your mask isn't too loose fitting, which could put you at heightened risk of exposure in situations such as in-store shopping. "I really want people to look at them and think, is all the air going through the material? And if it's not, work out a way to do that," he said. "And that may be putting a second mask on or finding a different mask that fits their face." Outdoors not without risk-Coronavirus variants can also change the level of risk we face in situations that are typically more safe, such as being outdoors. Places such as San Francisco and New Brunswick have mandated outdoor mask use, and Toronto recently announced it now requires face masks for outdoor activities such as skating."The risk is much lower outdoors than indoors, but with the new variants, we should be more careful outdoors as well as indoors," said Marr."The times we need to be paying attention to it is if there are a lot of people around at a sporting event, or in a crowded park, or if you're out walking or running and you're passing by several people per minute, because all those little exposures can add up over time."Coronavirus variants can also change the level of risk we face in situations that are typically more safe, such as being outdoors. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)-Bromage said he wears a cloth mask or surgical mask with a lesser filtration level when in an isolated area outdoors, but gets concerned when he sees a group of people huddling together outdoors without moving around."The closer you are outdoors, the much more risky it is," he said. While not common, there have been cases of outdoor transmission of COVID-19 in Canada. Second Opinion-How the spread of coronavirus variants could completely change the pandemic in Canada An outdoor 40-person barbecue at a park in Ottawa last summer led to 105 people being exposed and two testing positive, while a "heated conversation" in B.C. caused an infection. B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told CBC News there have been several outdoor transmission events between spectators "clustering and talking with each other" during soccer games, and during wedding receptions where groups of people crowded together under tents.Second Opinion-Canada is on the hunt for coronavirus variants — but may not be able to keep up with outbreaks"Again it comes down to being in close contact, without a mask, talking loudly or sharing food and drinks that makes it risky even outside," Henry said.  She said B.C. has not seen transmission from brief outdoor encounters, waiting in line outside or at outdoor picnics where people maintain a reasonable distance and wear masks when close for short periods of time.Chagla said standing six-feet apart while wearing masks is a responsible way to interact with others outdoors."There are ways to do things outdoors safely, even in the context of the variant," said Chagla. "You don't want outside to be a free pass, but you also want to use it for what it is, to let people see each other and have contact with humanity, too." Places such as San Francisco and New Brunswick have mandated outdoor mask use and Toronto recently announced it will require face masks for outdoor activities such as skating. (Andrew Lee/CBC)-Bromage said that while the risk of exposure outdoors is less than indoors, the risk of both is higher due to the emergence of coronavirus variants."It's really time that people think about upping their game just in general," he said."Because if we are going to get a new wave from this variant, and it's already going to build off a very high level of infection that we already have, we need to do better to keep it out of our lives."

Data error means completed Ontario COVID-19 vaccinations only half of what was reported-Revelation comes as Ontario reported another 2,093 cases of COVID-19-CBC News · Last Updated: 24 minutes ago-JAN 28,21

Ontario Premier Doug Ford watches a health-care worker prepare a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a University Health Network vaccine clinic in Toronto earlier this month. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)-Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, co-chairman of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, is scheduled to detail revised COVID-19 projections for the province at a news conference beginning at 3 p.m. ET.Ontario has been over reporting the number of people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the province, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.The error means that the number of people who have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines is only half of what the province has been logging."Rather than provide data on the number of people who have been fully vaccinated … officials inadvertently provided data on the number of doses administered to achieve full vaccination," a spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement sent to media.Data on the total number of doses administered was not affected, the spokesperson said.Why you might want to start wearing better masks — even outdoors'It's non-stop': Ornge takes lead on moving COVID patients as Ontario ICUs fill up-The province reported yesterday that 96,549 people had received both doses of either vaccine so far. In reality, only 48,239 had. That is up to 55,286 this morning. The vaccine data page has since been updated to accurately reflect the current figures, the spokesperson said.The news comes as Ontario reported another 2,093 cases of COVID-19 and 56 more deaths of people with the illness.It's the first time since Sunday that the province recorded more than 2,000 additional infections. The seven-day average of daily cases, however, continued to steadily decline down to 2,128.The new cases in today's update include 700 in Toronto, 311 in Peel, 228 in York Region and 123 in Niagara Region. Other public health units that saw double-digit increases were:Hamilton: 94.Durham: 85.Windsor-Essex: 67.Halton Region: 64.Waterloo Region: 56.Simcoe-Muskoka: 53.Ottawa: 45.Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 43.Middlesex-London: 37.Eastern Ontario: 30.Chatham-Kent: 25.Huron-Perth: 18.Southwestern: 16.Lambton: 15.Thunder Bay: 14.Note: All of the figures used in this story are found on the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 dashboard or in its Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit, because local units report figures at different times.)-There are currently 21,478 confirmed, active infections provincewide, down from a peak of 30,632 on Jan. 11. That figure has been trending downward as resolved cases consistently outpace new ones. Ontario's labs processed 64,664 test samples for the virus and reported a test positivity rate of 3.3 per cent — the lowest in five days.According to the Ministry of Health, there were 1,338 people with COVID-19 in hospitals, down 44 from the day before. The number of people that were being treated in intensive care fell by 19 to 358, while the number that required ventilator decreased by 15, down to 276.The 56 additional deaths push Ontario's total COVID-19-linked death toll to 6,014. Public health officials are scheduled to provide an update on revised COVID-19 modelling projections this afternoon.Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, the co-chairman of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, will be on hand to present the update, the province said. It has been two weeks since the provincial government implemented a stay-at-home order in a bid to halt surging transmission of the virus. 1 in 3 Ontario registered practical nurses considering quitting due to pandemic, poll suggestsThe province's chief medical officer of health said earlier this week that it looks as though a provincewide "lockdown," which began on Dec. 26, 2020, has contributed to a recent reduction in daily cases.The last modelling update, outlined earlier this month, suggested that patients with COVID-19 in need of critical care could overwhelm Ontario's health-care system if community transmission of the virus continued on pace.Students in 4 more health units return to school next week-Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education said today that students in four more public health units have a green light to return to schools for in-person classes next week.That's about 280,000 students in the following health units:Middlesex-London.Ottawa.Southwestern.Eastern Ontario.Read the full list of school boards affected by the announcement.In a release, Education Minister Stephen Lecce wrote that the government agrees with the "growing consensus in the medical community" that returning to school is "essential to the wellbeing, development and mental health of children."The government has introduced some new safety measures in schools this winter — including masking for grades 1 to 3 — though debate continues about whether the measures are adequate. The next wave of students, from Toronto, Peel, York Region, Windsor-Essex and Hamilton, are currently scheduled to return on Feb. 10. Students in eleven other health units, including Halton and Durham regions and Simcoe-Muskoka, have not yet been told to expect when they'll be able to return to schools.With files from Lucas Powers, Kate McGillivray and The Canadian Press.

THE VILLAGE LOCK DOWN DAY 5-THU JAN 28,21 (IS OFFICIALLY OVER FOR THE 2ND TIME IN 2 MONTHS)
UPDATE-11.15AM-THE NURSE CAME TO TALK TO ME ABOUT TAKING THE COVID VACCINE. I TOLD HER. NO-I WILL NOT BE TAKING IT. SHE SAID DO YOU KNOW THE SYMPTOMS. I SAID YES. AND SHE SAID I COULD STILL GET COVID AFTER MOST PEOPLE GOT THEIR SHOTS. FROM WHEN WE FINALLY GET OUTSIDE TO TRAVEL. I SAID I KNOW. I STILL REFUSE THE VACCINE I SAID. SO THIS TELLS ME THE VACCINE SHOTS WILL BE COMING HERE TO THE VILLAGE ANY TIME NOW. AND ALSO EVERYBODY IN THE VILLAGE HAS A CLEAR NO COVID. THE ONLY REASON WERE STILL IN OUR ROOMS. IS BECAUSE THE HEAD OFFICE AT REVERA HAS NOT GIVIN US PERMISSION TO GET OUT YET. AND I JUST HEARD A MINUTE AGO AT 11.26AM. THAT THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT IN OTTAWA WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE REVERA IN OTTAWA BECAUSE OF SOME TAX GRAB THEIR GETTING FOR BEING PART OF THE COMPANY. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE OWNERS IN REVERA. OUR COMPANY WHO OWNS THE VILLAGE HERE IN HANOVER. DON'T BE SURPRISED IF PEACE-LOVE-JOY-UTOPIA-BABY KILLERS JUSTIN TRUDEAU TAKES OVER ALL THE REVERA HOMES OF THE AGED IN CANADA. UNDER THE GUISE OF TAX EVASION. REVERA IS THE 2ND BIGGEST OWNERS OF AGED HOMES IN CANADA.ITS 12.59PM-AND I WAS JUST TOLD WE ARE OFFICIALLY ALL NO COVID IN HERE. AND WE CAN GO OUT OF OUR ROOMS. AND TONIGHT EAT IN THE MEAL ROOM AGAIN.


REVERA JAGMEET SINGH OCT 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7csF2hV2fKA

NDP calls for Revera care homes to be made public-November 20, 2020

During this pandemic, many families lost their loved ones in long-term care homes across the country. Some of the worst outbreaks across the country right now are happening in homes owned by Revera – a for-profit company that is run by a federal agency. The number of outbreaks coming out of long-term care homes in Winnipeg, Calgary and across Ontario is devastating.“The outbreaks are more than a statistic. They’re loved ones gone. They’re one less smile at the dinner table,” said NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh. “This is the result of the failure of profit-driven care in long-term care and a federal government refusing to do the right thing. Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government must put an end to for-profit long-term care homes – starting with Revera. Lives count on it.”Problems in Revera homes are not new. In the first wave of the pandemic, Revera had the second-most deaths in the industry, accounting for 230 deaths and has been unable to protect loved ones from major outbreaks across the country, the NDP noted in a media release. During the second wave, Revera is again the site of significant outbreaks across the country, the statement added. But despite calls by many stakeholders to make Revera public, Justin Trudeau has stood by and now, people are in the worst scenario, party officials said.“Justin Trudeau has chosen to protect the for-profit model, instead of protecting our loved ones,” said Singh. “If the Prime Minister was able to make Trans Mountain public, he can absolutely make Revera public and save people’s lives.”

PSP Investments' Revera Disaster? By Leo Kolivakis September 17, 2020

Kevin Skerrett, a Senior Research Officer assigned to pensions for CUPE and co-editor of The Contradictions of Pension Fund Capitalism (2018), wrote a comment in The Bulltet on pension fund capitalism and the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Revera:Of the many crises provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic across Canada, the dire situation in long-term care facilities and retirement housing may be the most widely and urgently recognized. Even Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose own party engineered the significant shift to more privatized and ‘marketized’ long-term care (LTC) provision in the 1990s, recently declared the system to be “absolutely broken.”A scathing report prepared by Canadian military specialists sent by the Ontario government to provide emergency staff support to five (eventually six) of the province’s worst-hit homes described the conditions found as “gruesome.” A subsequent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHI) found that Canada has had the highest proportion of total COVID-19 related deaths in LTC facilities (81%) among the 17 OECD countries studied. Public policies promoting the partial commodification, deregulation, and underfunding of seniors’ care in the LTC system by neoliberal governments in Ontario and across the country have now been exposed as nothing short of catastrophic.While less discussed, the media has also reported on the peculiar role being played within this “broken” system by one of Canada’s largest pension funds. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) is a federal crown corporation established in 1999 to invest the pension funds of federal public service workers, along with most of military personnel and RCMP employees. Since its acquisition in 2006, PSP has owned and operated the second-largest for-profit LTC company in the country under the name ‘Revera’. PSP’s ownership of Revera is not in the familiar passive form of a pension fund buying a small packet of equity shares in the company and collecting dividends. Rather, as part of a recent wave of ‘private equity’ corporations getting more directly involved in for-profit healthcare, PSP bought an existing chain of care homes in 2006 and consolidated it under a new management structure that it fully controls. As its 100% owner, PSP is Revera.Privatization, Deregulation, and Mismanagement-The social implications of this ownership are especially troubling in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The terrible consequences of the privatization, deregulation, and mismanagement of so much of our long-term care have provoked serious questions. How could such an important system have become so broken? Who broke it, and for whose benefit? Most importantly, this crisis has generated a wave of demands for the entire LTC sector to be taken into full public ownership. These demands, which polls indicate have wide popular support, put the spotlight on the central involvement of PSP and other workers’ pension funds in this “business.”Even prior to the pandemic, long-term care was well known for its exploitative labour regime, a system imposed on a workforce that is very disproportionately comprised of women and racialized workers. The direct care work involved has been systematically deregulated and shifted from nurses to lower-paid personal support workers (PSWs) and care aides. Very low wages are often combined with part-time and precarious scheduling systems that force workers to take up multiple jobs at different facilities to get enough hours to survive. Subcontracting key functions, such as food service, laundry, and cleaning, to private for-profit companies is pervasive. (Some non-profit and public homes in Ontario are now privately contracting out the management of entire facilities.) In combination, these business practices have made owning, operating, and managing LTC homes highly profitable for their corporate owners and managers, and also unstable and under-resourced places to work and to live. It is for these reasons that LTC facilities have been left incredibly vulnerable to an outbreak of serious viral infection.In this context, PSP’s move into this sector is an especially revealing example of what has been referred to as “pension fund capitalism.” This term has been used to signify the shift that has aligned and implicated pension fund investment managers in neoliberal policy shifts – favouring deregulation, privatization, and intensified worker exploitation. The phrase also signals the fact that pension funds themselves have become key actors within sectors where longer-term ‘fixed capital’ investment, such as public infrastructure and real estate, play a central role in this reconfigured kind of capitalism.This crisis – a combination public health, social, and economic crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic – offers an opportunity for the left, the labour movement, and pro-public healthcare groups to respond to these developments by building a political challenge to capitalist business-as-usual as it relates to healthcare. It seems clear that most workers do not want their retirement incomes to be derived from the worker exploitation and diminished care provision that is so central to the profit making in long-term care. If so, a serious effort to mobilize pension plan members in support of a campaign to decommodify and transform long-term care could play a role in blocking these processes of capitalist restructuring and at the same time meaningfully strengthen Canada’s public healthcare system. Achieving this would literally save lives.The COVID-19 Crisis in Long-Term Care-A review of some details of how the pandemic initially unfolded in the LTC sector is instructive. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam reported in early May that some 81% of the country’s COVID deaths were “linked to long-term care facilities.” It is also clear that these death rates are far worse among those facilities owned and operated on a for-profit basis – including many owned by large chain operators. The Ontario Health Coalition has published data showing that these death rates are far higher among the for-profit facilities. An investigative report published by the Toronto Star showed that per capita death rates were four times higher in for-profit LTC homes compared to those publicly owned. Of those residents in Ontario LTC homes that have died of COVID-19, more than half were residents at homes owned by just six for-profit companies. (Revera had the second-highest number of resident deaths in that list as of that report, with 230; data published by journalist Nora Loreto put this figure at 261 as of July 21.A more recent study of available data on Ontario’s COVID-19 experience in LTC published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (July 2020) confirmed that “for-profit LTC homes have larger COVID-19 outbreaks and more deaths of residents.” This study also underlined previous research that found that for-profit homes “tend to deliver inferior care,” which they summarize as including “lower levels and quality of staffing, more complaints from residents and family, higher rates of emergency department visits, more acute care hospital admissions, and higher mortality rates.”This direct relationship between for-profit ownership and death rates should surprise no one. It is fully consistent with the evidence published by a comprehensive, ground-breaking research collaboration led by York University’s Pat Armstrong. Over many years of comparing Canada’s increasingly private and under-funded system to those of several other countries (including Sweden and Norway), this research has repeatedly shown that profit-driven ownership consistently generates negative outcomes for residents and workers:“Private, for-profit services are necessarily more fragmented, more prone to closure and focused on making a profit. The research demonstrates that homes run on a for-profit basis tend to have lower staffing levels, more verified complaints, and more transfers to hospitals, as well as higher rates for both ulcers and morbidity. Moreover, managerial practices taken from the business sector are designed for just enough labour and for making a profit, rather than for providing good care.”They point out that this adoption of practices “from the business sector” exerts downward pressure on wages and working conditions – and quality of care – even in the not-for-profit and publicly-owned facilities. Among their recommendations is an end to such practices, including the extensive subcontracting of so-called “ancillary” services now recognized as crucial to both quality of care and infection control. They also confirm that the disproportionately racialized and feminized labour force has been subjected to increasingly exploitative working conditions.Crucially, such conditions translate directly into degraded care and living conditions for residents, which these researchers suggest opens up important potential for alliances between workers, residents, and family members who share an interest in transforming this system.New Calls for Public Ownership of Long-Term Care.The suffering of the pandemic’s hardest hit populations has obviously given significant new force to these recommendations. In recent weeks there has been a steady stream of new and ambitious appeals for long-term care to be treated as vital healthcare – and made fully public, following the model of the Canada Health Act. The Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Health Coalition, the federal NDP, and a growing number of public healthcare advocates are demanding a full-scale overhaul of the entire LTC sector so that it can be properly integrated into the public healthcare system. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has launched a major new campaign to this effect, calling for a “well-funded, well-staffed, public long-term care system.” More recently, CUPE was joined by two other unions (SEIU and Unifor) to launch a joint campaign to “end profit-making” in the provision of residential care.Such a transformation would obviously be no small matter. It would require not only new funding commitments from governments, but also a legal mandate to transfer existing facilities from private to public (or, at a minimum, not-for-profit and strictly regulated) ownership. But the calls for such public control are finding widespread public support. An Angus-Reid poll on the issue showed that fully two-thirds (66%) of respondents supported the full-scale “nationalization” of long-term care. An Abacus Data poll recently released by NUPGE indicates an even larger 86% majority of respondents support having long-term care facilities brought under the ‘universal, accessible’ mandate of the Canada Health Act.With such a strong mandate – galvanized by the especially catastrophic performance of the for-profit care homes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic – a genuine transformation for this sector suddenly seems achievable. The mechanics of implementation are not clear, but some measure of financial compensation for the homes’ existing private owners would likely be attached. Any such compensation should be closely scrutinized and debated, particularly given the millions of dollars in public subsidies and supports that the companies have been channelling to shareholders and owners.Of course, the for-profit industry and its extremely well funded lobby have already launched their defence. The largest companies involved – including Extendicare, PSP-Revera, and Chartwell – have been issuing statements to the media rejecting outright the suggestion that private, for-profit ownership of so many facilities has anything to do with the crisis. Industry organizations such as the Ontario Long-Term Care Association (OLTCA) have begun to mobilize such self-interested arguments against these popular pressures, taking full advantage of their links to Doug Ford’s cabinet and Ontario’s governing PC party. The battle is now on. So, what does this mean for the pension fund-LTC operator PSP-Revera? Pension Fund Capital in For-Profit Healthcare-PSP and Revera are already engaged in a fulsome defence of their ownership rights in this sector, so understanding some basics of their history may be useful. The full, legal name of PSP is Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB), and it was established as a federal crown corporation in 1999 after the Liberal government of the day decided to build up a fund of financial market assets linked to federal government-sponsored pension plans. One of the largest such funds in the country, they now manage some $170-billion in assets, with about $66-billion of that amount held in private equity, infrastructure, or real estate.Among PSP’s earliest major acquisitions was a friendly $800-million takeover of an existing for-profit LTC and retirement home company (Retirement REIT) whose Board was chaired by former Tory Premier Bill Davis and also included former Ontario Finance Minister (and later premier) Ernie Eves. Once “Revera” was launched, Davis was invited to join the Board of the new company – and he is still there. These close PC-LTC industry relationships were developed even further in 2003 when former Premier Mike Harris joined the Board of Chartwell Retirement Residences shortly after leaving politics. He is still there today. This means three of the last four PC Ontario premiers have spent time on the boards of these companies – with Doug Ford the only exception.After Revera was launched as a “private” entity, PSP quickly consolidated it into a multinational operation with more than 500 LTC and retirement homes in Canada, the US, and the UK. According to one recent study, it is now the second largest corporate LTC chain in Canada.PSP’s move into this sector was rooted in the politics of privatization that marked the neoliberal turn of the 1980s and 1990s. Following the recession of 1991, the federal and most provincial governments worked to cut taxes and social transfer payments, reduce the role of public ownership in the economy, and make private ownership of various types of public infrastructure easier and more profitable. This was particularly the case in Ontario, where the hard-right governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves (1995-2003) showed an ideological preference for private, for-profit ownership in, among other areas, long-term care. According to Justin Panos’ brief history, regulatory and legislative changes in that period significantly shifted a sector that had previously been primarily public or not-for-profit into a far more attractive field for private capital to occupy.In Ontario, these policy changes included the elimination of a minimum-hours standard of care per resident, the de-linking of public funding flows from staffing levels, and the provision of 20-year streams of government payments to for-profit corporate operators to build new LTC facilities. When combined with serious shortages of available beds for a rapidly growing senior population, these policies greatly enhanced the sector’s profitability. Real estate and financial firms began buying up and consolidating individual homes (both private and non-profit) into larger, for-profit chains operating both publicly-supported LTC as well as what have come to be called “retirement residence” facilities or “retirement homes.” (In 2015, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan expanded their interest in the retirement residences sector by combining the Amica chain of facilities with an existing portfolio of homes under the name Baybridge.)-As a result, investors in private LTC companies, such as Chartwell, have been rewarded with consistently high profit rates, ranging from 9.6% to 12.6% from 2007 to 2012 according to one study. While Revera’s profit rates are not disclosed – even to federal public service plan members – its tax-exempt status, bestowed as a result of its pension fund ownership, suggests that its annual profits may be even higher than this. But these profit levels are not disclosed, and most financial information is even redacted out of reporting required by requests using federal Access to Information legislation.The Contradictions of ‘Pension Fund Capitalism’The historic shift of pension fund practices, from primarily passive investment in stocks and bonds into active, direct operation of corporations such as Revera, raises challenging questions about the relationship between pension plan members and these controversial new portfolios. It has been suggested that this could have a perverse impact on the political views of plan members and their unions with respect to sensitive policy topics such as the private ownership of healthcare facilities. A columnist with the Toronto Sun recently suggested that trade union advocates of full public control over LTC facilities don’t appear to “have much to say” about care homes that are owned by “workers’ pension funds” – citing PSP’s ownership of Revera (along with the ownership of the Amica-Baybridge chain of residences noted above). When the workers who belong to such pension plans learn that “their” funds own and profit from these companies, the columnist argued, their perspective on the legitimacy of such private ownership will become more positive simply out of financial self-interest.However, there are several reasons that this columnist’s confidence about this is misplaced. First, it is quite clear that until recently, very few members of the federal government pension plans that use PSP were even aware that “their” pension fund owns and operates Revera. Pension plan members are told very little about the portfolios or investment practices of their funds, with managers generally limiting such communication to their latest annual ‘rate of return’ and some very abstract commentary about their investment ‘principles’. If the 850,000 members of PSP’s client pension plans were told about its Revera operation, and the real, brutal basis of its profitability, it seems likely that a very large number would want nothing to do with it – if they had any choice in the matter.Secondly, the membership of the pension plans that have their funds invested by PSP is composed primarily of public sector workers, most of whom are, or were, members of unions with strong commitments to public services and public ownership. It also includes over 400,000 retirees and survivors receiving benefits – at least some of whom are themselves likely to be residents of a troubled LTC facility operated by Revera or one of the other for-profit facilities. These members of the client plans of PSPIB may well be even more likely to support moving to a fully public long-term care system than the general public recently polled.Third and most significantly, the recent exposure of Revera’s ownership by PSP has prompted the largest union representing federal public service workers – the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) – to follow up on previously-expressed concerns with a public call in May for the full-scale transfer of Revera to public ownership. PSAC president Chris Aylward argues that his union has long believed that these facilities should be publicly owned and managed. He argues that the growing number of recent class action lawsuits against Revera and the grave problems exposed by the COVID-19 crisis illustrate that the PSP’s ownership of this company now poses a clear “material risk” to plan members.PSAC appears to be quite right about this risk. According to a Toronto Star investigation, some $1.5-billion in dividend-profits have been flowing into the pockets of private LTC company shareholders over the last decade – a figure that does not even include the unreported profits captured by Revera. Now, the disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a number of multi-million dollar class action lawsuits citing negligence causing death against Revera, Sienna, and other private operators. This litigation, combined with concerns relating to both pandemic and pre-pandemic problems, has triggered a collapse in the share values of the large for-profit LTC companies. Will these companies continue to reap significant profits in the coming years? The PSAC, other unions, and plan members, have a very good reason to oppose “their” fund being invested in this risky and socially harmful profiteering. The pro-public control statements, campaign launches, and other responses to this crisis from the labour movement suggest that the private corporate operators in this sector have already lost a great deal of their legitimacy. This includes PSP-Revera.Revera and the For-Profit LTC Lobby-Whether these companies can survive financially may well be decided in the battle over public policy now being waged. Will governments bail out these troubled companies, which have for years extracted large profits by underinvesting and understaffing their facilities, while underpaying workers? In the past, it has been public policy decisions that determined the portion of public funding taken in by these private providers, and it has been government policy that protected the companies from the “costs” of minimal staffing standards – despite pressure from both resident advocates and unions. But the pandemic has provoked an intensified policy “engagement” from the for-profit LTC sector in Ontario, which is likely to have parallels across the country. It was recently reported that five of the for-profit LTC corporations (including Revera) have enlisted the services of professional lobbyists who previously worked inside the Ford cabinet to lobby their former employers on their behalf. Their agenda in doing so is no secret – they will be looking to counter the popular momentum behind moving to public ownership and management of the LTC sector.These lobbyists will press for urgent increases in the public funding that flows to them, such that their ongoing profitability will be secured. In fact, they have already scored an important victory with the Ford government’s rapid passage of quasi-bailout legislation (Bill 161) that will provide at least some measure of “immunity” to the for-profit providers, and itself, even from entirely valid COVID-19 death-related class action lawsuits. This measure was then supplemented by an announcement of a massive infusion of public funding for new and redeveloped LTC beds, much of which will flow to the for-profit entities.Of course, such lobbying may not even be necessary, as established neoliberal reflexes are reinforced by the close links between the for-profit LTC industry and Ontario’s PC party (noted above). In addition to his appointment to the Board of LTC operator Chartwell, former Premier Mike Harris has also spent time as a ‘Fellow’ of the hard-right Fraser Institute, arguing alongside former Reform Party leader Preston Manning for the further privatization of Canada’s public healthcare system. As noted above, former Tory premier Bill Davis has had a seat on the PSP-Revera Board from its inception. His presence surely continues to serve a useful purpose, even symbolically. While both former Tory premiers have presumably received generous compensation for their services over the years, their most important role may be as communications conduits for company agendas.Notwithstanding such existing linkages, these corporate-political relationships are further organized and brokered through the province’s industry lobby group mentioned above, the Ontario Long-Term Care Association (OLTCA). Alongside all of the other major for-profit firms, Revera is represented on the OLTCA Board of Directors by its Senior VP for Long Term Care, Wendy Gilmour, whose personal background is in private sector lab service companies CML and Lifelabs. The primary spokesperson for OLTCA, Donna Duncan, is yet another LTC industry player with past connections to Ontario Tory politicians, having served as policy director for then-PC leader John Tory in 2006 as well as “various” roles in the Government of Ontario in the 1996-2001 period (most of the Mike Harris years).But Revera also intervenes politically on its own accord. From the time of its formation, the company – again, a subsidiary of a federal crown corporation – has made thousands of dollars in direct donations to those provincial political parties it sees as representing its interests. (Notably, according to the National Post’s donations database, the company has not reported any donations to the NDP.) In this context, we can anticipate that Revera, alongside its fellow for-profit LTC operators in Ontario and across Canada, will be working hard in the coming weeks to defend for-profit long-term care, and to politically oppose the growing popular calls to make the entire sector public.Challenging Revera and ‘Pension Fund Capitalism’Most workers do not want their pension benefits, or their RRSP or mutual fund investments, to be built from the exploitation of other workers, or the privatization and degradation of public services such as healthcare (including long-term care). For this reason, it should not be surprising that the pension and retirement fund industry appears to limit disclosure of their most politically sensitive investments. The PSAC’s call for relinquishing PSP’s ownership of this company, and its transfer into public hands, is an exceptionally bold demand. Similar calls from other unions representing federal public service workers, and from members of the general public, may well follow.

But while the Revera case may be a particularly disturbing example of predatory pension fund investment, it is not exceptional. The PSP also holds significant private equity stakes in corporate entities that own and operate other kinds of public infrastructure, including airports, electricity generation and transmission, toll highways, child care centres, and even a US company specializing in for-profit physician outsourcing. These are among the most socially and politically sensitive types of “public infrastructure,” and include investments into functions that many people in Canada (and many pension plan members) feel should be publicly owned and managed in the public interest.These kinds of investment holdings and practices reflect an industry-wide 20-year trend among Canada’s large pension funds, including CPPIB, Ontario Teachers, Caisse de dĂ©pĂ´t et placement du QuĂ©bec (CDPQ), and OMERS. Such pension fund strategies reflect the ongoing ‘financialization’ of vital public services and infrastructure. Virtually all of the largest Canada-based pension funds have channeled billions of dollars into these very same sectors, often in other countries where their controversial social impacts are less likely to be reported. As with the case of Revera and long-term care, these large pension funds have not only taken advantage of the opportunities that neoliberal policies have created, they have also collaborated and formed partnerships with other giants of global finance to maintain and extend them ever further.These powerful collaborations and agendas must be politically challenged. When institutions of private capital like PSP-Revera run into inevitable clarifying moments – such as the COVID-19 pandemic – social movements of workers and public interest advocates need to seize them to build the counterweight we need. In this case, two key strategic initiatives present themselves. First, the tragic case of Revera, and the loud new calls for long-term care to be made fully public, offer an opening for those of us arguing that this system can only be fully fixed through a combination of accountable public ownership and enough public funding to allow the care work at its centre to be fully decommodified, valued, and properly compensated. Along with trade union and social advocacy campaigns in this direction, pension plan members and their unions can insist that any pension investments involving privatization or private for-profit management of public services and infrastructure be, at bare minimum, fully disclosed. As a principle, we should know what is being done in our name, with what we are told is “our” money. From there, we can entertain the serious debates needed about how we can work to ensure that the role currently played by pension funds and other forms of private capital in the provision of healthcare, social care, and other vital public services is phased out entirely.Secondly, and over the longer term, the labour movement and the retirement security movement need to develop a strategy for reversing the expanded “financialization” of our pension system. That process has involved more than just workplace pension plans and fund managers like PSP. Through a series of public policy measures, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the QuĂ©bec Pension Plan (QPP) were re-engineered into massive financial asset funds that now hold over $750-billion in global financial markets. As these funds were being built up, retirement security was being re-framed as an individual under-investment problem, to be solved through more private savings into individualized RRSPs and investment savings accounts – highly profitable products that channel these savings into financial markets with ecologically destructive and anti-social appetites. In that light, the Revera case and the COVID-19 pandemic have underlined the serious risks of building our vital social systems on a foundation of private financial profits. The alternative we now urgently need is a universal and adequate public pension system that is secured – like public healthcare – by our collective commitment to each other. O9h boy! I wasn't going to touch this with a ten foot pole but after reading it, I decided it definitely is Pension Pulse worthy.First, let me thank Sam Boskey for sending this comment. Sam is a proud Montrealer and an even prouder Lefty. He he has been a provincial civil servant for many decades. He represented south-eastern NDG on Montreal City Council for most of the 1980s and 1990s, first for the Montreal Citizens’ Movement and later for the Democratic Coalition of Montreal, under three different Mayors.Sam is part of an old email distribution list (called UGLYNEWWORLD) started by the late Sam Noumoff, a "radical Leftist" who taught politics at McGill University for decades (he was one of the nicest and smartest professors I ever had when I took an elective course he taught and I enjoyed many dinners with him and the rest of the Men's Club at Alep restaurant here in Montreal).My own political and economic leanings are right of center but I've learned a lot about capitalism from guys like Sam Noumoff, Tom Naylor, George Archer, Jonathan Nitzan, Robin Rowley, Sam Boskey and others.I have also openly stated on a few occasions that greatest intellectual tour de force I ever came across is professor Charles Taylor, a renowned political philosopher who is a card carrying member of the NDP. So if I used to hang around with all these Lefties and admire their intellectual prowess, why do I lean right of center? Maybe because I've worked in finance and genuinely believe in the primacy of the private sector. Without a strong, vibrant private sector, you simply can't afford to have a strong and vibrant public sector.It doesn't mean I think capitalism is perfect, far from it, and I will touch more about it tomorrow when I go over Ray Dalio's latest warning on the crisis of capitalism:Billionaire investor Ray Dalio on capitalism’s crisis: The world is going to change ‘in shocking ways’ in the next five years https://t.co/3QFYdyCljV — MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) September 17, 2020-Now, let me get back to Kevin Skerrett's comment above as it's extremely critical not just of PSP-Revera, but also of the process he has dubbed as "pension fund capitalism" which according to him, pervades all of Canada's large public pensions and is a real cause for concern as it exposes all these large public pensions to "predatory pension investments".Before I share my thoughts with you on the comment above, please note I did send it to PSP's President and CEO, Neil Cunningham, as well as to Darren Baccus, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Real Estate and Natural Resources, over the weekend. Not surprisingly, they didn't get back to me and are probably reluctant to discuss this comment publicly for legal reasons (Mr. Baccus used to head up PSP's Legal department so I'm sure he told Neil not to comment and PSP generally avoids making any public comments).That's fine, I totally understand PSP's corporate culture but I would have appreciated some feedback.I think it's fair to state Revera has been an unmitigated communications disaster for PSP Investments:From that last article:In a column on May 11, I reported that the federal government owns 100 per cent of the second largest chain of for-profit nursing homes and retirement residences in Canada, Revera Inc., which, as it happens, is also the second largest for-profit operator in the United States.That ownership is held through a Crown corporation, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which invests the pension contributions of federal public servants, Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP. PSP Investments, as it known, created Revera in 2007 when it purchased retirement residences and LTC homes from the Reichmann family.Although none of the five nursing homes in the military report is owned by Revera, the company has been the focus of considerable controversy and legal activity. Its Forest Heights Long-Term Care Centre in Kitchener has been the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis in Waterloo Region, as another Revera property, McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre, has been in Calgary.Dozens of lawsuits have been filed over deaths at Revera homes in Western Canada and Ontario. In the largest COVID-related class action in Canada, six representative plaintiffs are seeking $120 million in damages against Revera and Sienna Senior Living Inc., another for-profit chain.Even without the COVID-19 deaths and lawsuits, why the government would want to be in the business of squeezing profit from the care of frail, elderly citizens is a question that deserves to be asked.It was not until last Thursday, however, that the question finally got asked, by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, and answered, after a fashion, by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. She said federal pensions funds are managed by independent Crown corporations — in addition to the PSPIB, there is a separate Crown corporation for the Canada Pension Plan. But, she added, the “ownership structure” of LTC facilities “is something that needs on be on the table.”I am puzzled by the PSPIB. In its 2019 annual report, the investment board expresses sensitivity to environmental issues: “We strongly believe that environmental, social and governance factors — such as climate change, health and safety and ethical conduct — are material to long-term returns and that we need to integrate them into our investment decision-making processes.”But there is no indication in the report that the board has any interest in the care, or lack of care, of patients in the LTC homes it holds for the federal government.I went over PSP's 2009 Annual Report. Back then, they used to post the compensation of Revera's CEO:And they added a footnote: "Mr. Watchorn is not an employee of PSP Investments, but is employed by Revera Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PSP Investments. His compensation is based on a contract with Revera Inc. Revera Inc.’s financial year ends on December 31."Today, Revera Inc. is run by Thomas G. Wellner, and his senior managers:I'm not sure how much Mr. Wellner earns but I'm sure it's market rate which is a few million dollars a year.Now, to be fair and completely honest, I haven't reached out to anyone at Revera, I don't know them at all and I'm sure they have been extremely busy ever since the pandemic hit Canada.It's also worth noting that this isn't the first time Revera has received bad press. In 2016, a Toronto malpractice lawyer launched an unprecedented multimillion dollar class-action lawsuit against Revera, charging that it routinely neglected or mistreated elderly residents.The multimillion-dollar suit was prompted by the case of Ross Jones, a 68-year-old man who allegedly spent the last days of his life in agony, an infected pressure sore left untreated by a Revera Inc. facility.At the time, John Beaney, a former Revera vice-president, said he could not comment on the specifics of the allegations, but argued the suit lacks merit:“We’ve been operating as an organization for more than 50 years … and have successfully cared for hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.  “We’re very proud of our dedicated employees who provide that care.”He also noted that nursing home residents have increasingly complex health issues, their deaths often a result of multiple factors.“When a resident passes away … it’s not black and white and this can understandably make it difficult for loved ones, who seek answers in those cases.”Mr. Beaney is still with Revera, SVP Retirement, and I never found out the fallout from this class action lawsuit. He is right about one thing, nursing home residents have increasingly complex health issues, and their deaths often are a result of multiple factors. It's easy to point the finger at neglect and mistreatment, sometimes it's just that there are underlying health conditions which are very complex and can make the old and frail a lot more vulnerable to death.We saw this with COVID-19. Canada's long-term care facilities (LTC) got hit very hard. We have one of the worst track records among any OECD nation, if not the worst. From Quebec to Ontario to British Columbia, public and private long-term care facilities got hit hard during this pandemic, and we lost too many people that quite honestly shouldn't have died.Importantly, we as a nation failed our most vulnerable citizens, we should all be ashamed of this.But to politicize this tragedy the way Kevin Skerrett does above and to blame it on "pension fund capitalism" and "predatory pension investments" is just ridiculous and plain wrong.I can tell you for a fact, one of the worst hit long-term care facilities in the country was Town of Mount-Royal's Vigi Home, right in my backyard.Investigators are still looking into the catastrophic outbreak that infected all residents of TMR seniors' home, killing over 70 people.

The Canadian Armed Forces were called in, I saw them in the parking lot loading up dead bodies, it was horrific.Anyway, the Army report found workers at this publicly run facility stole PPEs (personal protective equipment) and neglected patients, it was a disaster.Now, to be fair, another bigger catastrophe in Montreal was CHSLD Herron, a privately run long-term care facility run by incompetent criminal fools who were tied to the mob and where abuse and neglect was rampant.The point is there are plenty of cases of mismanagement, neglect and abuse at both private and public long-term care facilities in Canada, and I question Mr. Skerrett's biased comment which basically claims abuse and neglect was much worse at for-profit facilities.This isn't to say we don't need a commission to investigate what went wrong and how we can make sure this never happens again but to blame private long-term facilities and neoliberal deregulation is just a bunch of left-wing nonsense.I can't stomach that crap and I don't care if it comes from Mr. Skerrett, CUPE or PSAC.What else do I find ridiculous in his comment? His entire discussion on pension fund capitalism and predatory pension investments is so ill-informed and just plain ludicrous.Canada's large pensions are known to be the best pensions in the world. That's a fact.They are run like businesses and are run by professionals who have extensive experience managing public and private assets in the best long-term interests of their members. This includes adopting the best ESG standards for all their investments across public and private assets. Importantly, the cornerstone to their success is a governance model which keeps government out of their day-to-day operations.All this is totally lost on Mr. Skerrett and these public sector unions whose members benefit the most from the success of the Canada model".Is the governance at Canada's large public pensions perfect? No, it isn't, it's a work in progress, but to lambast them and accuse them of "predatory pension investments" is so wrong on so many levels.I know Neil Cunningham, PSP's President and CEO. I guarantee you he has had multiple calls with Mr. Wellner, Revera's CEO, over the past six months to discuss the pandemic and how they are treating and caring for their patients.There's no doubt in my mind Neil cares about these people, none whatsoever, and if he thought Revera was doing a lousy job, heads would have rolled. I'm convinced of this.All this to say it's easy for Mr. Skerrett and others to criticize from the outside, they have no clue what is going on in the background.And I'd rather have PSP Investments managing long-term care facilities than some bozo government agency where there's literally no accountability whatsoever.Having said all this, I do agree with Mr. Skerrett on one thing, the pandemic has exposed PSP and its members to litigation risk and this can go on for years and potentially cost cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There will also be increased regulations and much more scrutiny on all long-term care facilities.That all remains to be seen, however, so it's hard to gauge the fallout right now.The other problem for PSP and other large pensions investing in long-term care facilities is how the pandemic will impact demand in the years to come.On the one hand, more people are getting older with all sorts of health conditions and will require long-term care, on the other, I'm not so sure people will be carting their loved ones off to a long-term care facility as they have been doing pre-COVID. I wouldn't want to see my loved ones die like that, nobody would. Alright, I realize this is a long comment but I needed to cover this topic and give you my thoughts.If you have anything to add, feel free to reach out to me at LKolivakis@gmail.com.Below, Revera CEO Thomas Wellner welcomes you to Revera .He doesn't sound like an evil capitalist to me. Also, a Director of Care explains a day in her life at Revera. Remember, Revera is global now.Lastly, the Canadian military's report into Quebec's long-term care homes during the COVID-19 crisis found ongoing staff shortages and issues with the use of personal protective equipment. As I stated above, this is a national tragedy, a disgrace that needs to be thoroughly investigated and we need to learn and make sure it never happens ever again at public and private long-term care facilities.Update: Wayne Kozun, CIO at Forthlane Partners and former SVP at OTPP, shared this with me after reading this comment:I enjoyed your response to this Leo.  A couple of other things I would add.The story implies that it was just recently "revealed" that PSP owns Revera.  You showed that there was info on Revera in PSP's annual report from 11 years ago.  This was not a secret. If PSP members were not aware that the plan owned Revera then that is their own ignorance of failing to pay attention. The story talks about privatization of LTC. I am not an expert on this, but I don't think that LTC homes were ever primarily government owned institutions.  These were always privately run. You can argue that for profit is not a good model, but that is a different issuE.Amica/Baybridge is mentioned in the article.  I was part of OTPP creating Baybridge. Baybridge owns and operates independent living and assisted living homes, not LTC.  The difference is that LTC are nursing homes that are populated by very old and frail people. Independent living and assisted living are different and have much less of a healthcare component. They are more like apartment buildings for seniors with food service and some lighter nursing care.I thank Wayne for sharing his wise insights with my readers.Also, on Friday morning, James Infantino of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) shared this with me:I was obviously interested in your most recent posting on PSP Investments and Revera Inc.! I am not sure you are aware or not but on Wednesday evening the PSAC in conjunction with the Canadian Health Coalition sponsored a very successful cross-country virtual Town Hall meeting in support of the “Make Revera Public” campaign. The event is already receiving media interest (see here) and the PSAC anticipates further news coverage in the forthcoming 24 to 48 hours.I think it is important to emphasize that the PSAC does not claim that PSP Investments or Revera Inc. are a bunch of capitalistic evil-doers out to deliberately annihilate seniors in private long-term care facilities. Rather, the point is that the for-profit model does not work and is a failure in the long-term care industry. For your information, I am attaching copies of the exchange of e-mail correspondence between PSAC National President, Brother Chris Aylward and PSP Investments CEO Neil Cunningham which raises the concerns of the “material risk” Revera Inc. presents to the pension funds of our members.As for your Mr. Kozun, please advise him that the PSAC has had concerns with Revera Inc. dating back to 2012 when approximately 80 Licensed Practical Nurses, Health Care Aides and other support workers at Revera Inc. long-term care facility in Alberta (Revera Riverbend, were forced out on strike in an attempt to negotiate a first collective agreement for “salary and working conditions equivalent to industry standards”. The response of then PSP Investments CEO to a formal request from the PSAC to intervene with Revera Inc. that PSP Investments does not involve itself in the operational matters of its subsidiaries was frankly B.S.. Fortunately, the Alberta Government at the time, out of concern for the welfare of the residents of Revera Riverbend, issued a Ministerial Order which put an end to the strike and referred the outstanding issues to binding arbitration.Secondly, Mr. Kozun is right that Revera Inc. operates chains of both “long-term care facilities” as well as “retirement residences”. The latter are less problematic for the PSAC and would probably not be included in the proposal to transition the management and operation of these facilities to the provincial jurisdictions in which Revera Inc. operates.As I said during the “Make Revera Public” Town Hall meeting, PSAC is determined to pursue this matter and be on the right side of history in this debate. Are you? I thank James for sending me this message as well as the email correspondence between "Brother Chris Aylward" and Neil Cunningham, PSP's President and CEO. James allowed me to share this with the public but for brevity purposes, I am only sharing Neil's email response (added emphasis is mine):Dear Mr. Aylward, Thank you for your letter dated May 11 regarding PSP’s investment in Revera Inc. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care facilities across Canada has been devastating as we all now know and we at PSP have the deepest sympathy for those who have succumbed to COVID-19, their families, their friends and all those effected, including the staff who cared for them. PSP insists that our investment partners who operate the assets in which we invest use best industry practices in their operations, including, but certainly not limited to, health and safety concerns for the workers and all those who access our facilities. This is especially true for residents and staff of Revera operated long-term care homes and other facilities.Revera has been operating elder care facilities for close to 60 years, with dedicated and professional management and employees. At the time of our acquisition of Revera in 2007, PSP put in place a public company-style governance structure with an autonomous Board of Directors that oversees Revera’s activities and ensures it consistently applies best industry practices throughout its long-term care facilities. The Revera Board is composed of a majority of independent Directors, including two former medical professionals, with deep and relevant industry experience, expertise and skill sets to rigorously oversee the quality of care provided at Revera facilities.The structural issues in the long-term care system, many of which stem from chronic under-funding, have long been apparent to those involved in the industry. Sadly, it has taken a horrific event to bring those issues to the forefront, but we’re hopeful that, if there is a silver lining in this very dark cloud, there will be a review of the sector that leads to positive change. Revera has always worked within the long-term care system to try to improve it and they are today committed to being part of the solution going forward. For more background on Revera’s initiatives towards constantly improving care within its facilities as well as some statistics from industry studies on care levels in long-term care homes, including some broken down by ownership type, I invite you to read the recent release by Revera here.I would caution you against relying on media reports of potential litigation as a means of risk assessment of PSP’s investments or as justification for a divestiture decision. PSP has a very robust risk management process and I can assure you that this investment has been subjected to appropriate scrutiny and does not in our view represent undue risk for the Federal Public Service Pension Plan.It is unfortunate that you were not available to get together in Ottawa when I was there. I hope that we’ll find a mutually convenient time to meet at some point in the not too distant future, although obviously not possible in the very near term. In the meantime, I trust you, your family and colleagues are all safe and well.James Infantino also told me PSP Investments will be doing its annual update to stakeholders next Friday (virtually) and the PSAC plans to raise the issue of Revera directly with PSP's senior managers. I'm looking forward to getting an update on that meeting, it will be very interesting.Lastly, I did reach out to Thomas Wellner, CEO of Revera, on Friday morning to inform him of my blog comment and Susan Schutta, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, sent me back this response:Mr. Wellner shared your email with me and requested that I follow up with you. We have both read your blog and we appreciate the passion with which you raise the need to address systemic issues in Canada’s long term care sector. We agree that the sector has not received the support or funding needed from governments across Canada, and that more attention needs to be brought to the sector if we are to address longstanding issues such as labour shortages and a stable workforce. As Revera outlines in our May media release, these pre-existing systemic issues impacted operators of all ownership models.Change is needed in the long term care sector. It is important that we invest time and energy advocating for the right change.Thank you for your passion and commitment to improving the long term care sector in Canada. I thank Mr. Wellner and Ms. Schutta for sending me their response on this matter.      

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