September 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Re: Are you a man, or a pouty little bitch? - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 10 Jan '21

10 Jan '21

The shuttening - "No Fap" website? It's a thing, for sure, and it's being targetted by the (((shut it downs))). Surprising. But also not surprising. Man, dats amazin'! >From the "I'll believe it when I see it" and the "snake no prisoners", sorry, I mean "take no prisoners" departments: The Porn Industry is Trying to Shut Down Anti-Masturbation “NoFap” Movement, Lawsuits Filed http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/the-porn-industry-is-trying-to-shut-down-anti… NoFap “is a website and community forum that serves as a support group for those who wish to avoid pornography and masturbation.” https://www.nofap.com/ There’s also a Reddit community with the same name, where a post announces that “the porn industry and its friends” are trying to shut it down. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/duumhs/the_porn_industry_and_its_fr… The website has more details about what’s happening: https://nofap.com/defend-alex/ In retaliation for effectively whistleblowing the negative effects of compulsive Internet porn use, the porn industry and its allies are on a mission to defame, deplatform, and destroy NoFap and its founder Alexander Rhodes. … Alex has filed a lawsuit against the main orchestrator of defamation against him. For transparency’s sake to further prove the legitimacy, necessity, and authenticity of this crowdfunding campaign, the complaint is being provided in its entirety. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/30620620/RHODES_v_PRAUSE_et_al Alexander Rhodes is the founder of NoFap. As a result of creating and operating this website, he has been targeted by an unprecedented campaign of defamation from entities who appear to be closely associated with the porn industry. Alex was forced to file a lawsuit to defend himself, as this defamation campaign is intended to destroy his reputation and distort public opinion about our website. Not only is this defamation destroying Alex’s quality of life and sleep, ultimately, we believe that this campaign is soon going to threaten our ability to continue keeping NoFap online. We need your help. ... From the lawsuit: https://nofap.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Alexander-Rhodes-vs-Nicole-Pra… Defendant Prause also accuses NoFap of being a hate group, that NoFap promotes discrimination against protected groups, that NoFap advertises multiple antisemitic groups, and that by visiting NoFap people are supporting misogyny and antisemitism. The accusations against both Plaintiff Rhodes and NoFap will herein be referred to as the “False Statements”. ... 5 days muffas ... On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 10:17:35PM +1100, Zenaan Harkness wrote: > A 6 minute true story for y'all (and just a couple mentions o' God). > > tl;dr - "Am I a man . . . or a pouty little bitch?" > > Fell Back Into the Fallen State ... All For a Girl! ... > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpWnAdhv3J8 > ~5:54 > > "I'm going to get myself out of this hole, because I put myself in > this hole." > > > JLP - "Rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man." > > > -- > 5 day challenge muffas :) > Do not wake the snake for 5 days.

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From the Assange indictment: Is there Extraterritoriality present in the Statutes the Indictment references?
by jim bell 04 Jan '21

04 Jan '21

From: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1153486/download 15(B) to intentionally access a computer, without authorization and exceeding authorizedaccess, to obtain information from a department and agency of the United States infurtherance of a criminal act in violation of the laws of the United States, that is, aviolation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 641, 793(c), and 793(e).(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371, 1030(a)(l), 1030(a)(2),1030(c)(2)(B)(ii).) [end of partial quote] There is a principle of American law, upheld by the Supreme Court, that a Federal law is only supposed to be considered of "extraterritorial" application (applies outside the boundaries of United States territory) if the Congress specifically intended that application, and was signified by including such language within the law itself.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritorial_jurisdiction × "In Morrison v. National Australia Bank, 2010, the Supreme Court held that in interpreting a statute, the "presumption against extraterritoriality" is absolute unless the text of the statute explicitly says otherwise." "https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2016/06/us-supreme-court-cont… http://www.virginialawreview.org/volumes/content/rjr-nabisco-and-runaway-ca… >From that: "The Supreme Court threw out the lawsuit after invoking the presumption against extraterritoriality. That canon of statutory interpretation instructs judges to assume “that legislation of Congress, unless a contrary intent appears, is meant to apply only within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”[8] In applying the presumption in RJR Nabisco, however, a majority of four Justices[9] rejected multiple indications that Congress intended RICO’s private right of action to extend abroad[10] while raising the bar on what Congress must do to make its extraterritorial expectations clear.[11]" [end of quote] Understanding the presumption against extraterritoriality: https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1170&conte… Very interesting: https://www.thefacultylounge.org/2019/04/some-thoughts-on-the-extradition-o… >From that:"THE RULE OF DUAL CRIMINALITY: Even if extradition is sought only under the computer intrusion indictment, it will still need to meet the test of dual criminality, found in Article 2, which provides that "An offense shall be an extraditable offense if the conduct on which the offense is based is punishable under the laws in both States." Although computer hacking is no doubt also a crime in the U.K., there is a further wrinkle of territoriality, because Assange's alleged offense was committed outside the United States. Another section of Article 2 provides:If the offense has been committed outside the territory of the Requesting State, extradition shall be granted in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty if the laws in the Requested State provide for the punishment of such conduct committed outside its territory in similar circumstances. If the laws in the Requested State do not provide for the punishment of such conduct committed outside of its territory in similar circumstances, the executive authority of the Requested State, in its discretion, may grant extradition provided that all other requirements of this Treaty are met." Unlike the U.S., however, Britain apparently takes a strict view of territorial jurisdiction. According to The New York Times, Britain has already denied a U.S. extradition request for computer intrusion, on the grounds that the offense was committed on British soil and would therefore have to be tried in the U.K. [end of quote] 18 U.S.C. 641 does not appear to explicitly have an extraterritoriality reference. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/641 18 U.S.C. 793(c), nor the whole 793, does not appear to explicitly have an extraterritoriality reference. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793 × 18 U.S.C. 371 does not appear to explicitly have an extraterritoriality reference. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/371 18 U.S.C. 1030 does not appear to explicitly have an extraterritoriality reference. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030 Jim Bell

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Distributed Defense: Millions Buy Guns for Defense as The State's Anti-Gun PsyOp Gets Reality Checked
by grarpamp 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

https://mises.org/wire/kenosha-and-minneapolis-burn-millions-americans-buy-… As Kenosha and Minneapolis Burn, Millions of Americans Buy Guns Tags Big GovernmentThe Police State Lea esto en Español 09/01/2020 Ryan McMaken It’s increasingly clear to even the average American that if riots come to your neighborhood, you’re on your own. The message received is increasingly be this: if your plan is to wait until the police show up to provide "protection," be prepared to wait a long time. Consequently, as violence appears to surge in America's cities, millions of Americans have become first-time gun owners. Government Officials Aren't Keeping Us "Safe" There are two trends at work which are making Americans doubt that government law enforcement is reliable and effective. On the one hand, the public is witnessing nightly displays of looting, rioting, and general civil unrest. At the same time, many police officers don't appear particularly able or willing to defend the public against looters and rioters. Homicide rates in New York, for example, have surged among accusations of a "police slowdown." A number of police departments (including those in Los Angeles and Atlanta) are rumored to be using strategies such as the "blue flu" in which police personnel pretend to be ill as a negotiating tactic for obtaining political favors from lawmakers. But even when police personnel are able, there are not enough of them in most cases to truly address the ongoing nightly violence in many cities. And in some cases, elected officials, like in Portland and Chicago, appear uninterested in confronting rioters with much enthusiasm at all. It easy to see how ordinary Americans could look on current events with increasing alarm. On August 29, a man was allegedly murdered by at least one protestor among the many who have been protesting, rioting, and looting in Portland for more than three months. Two weeks ago, a truck driver sustained serious injuries, also in Portland, when he was attacked by a group of “protestors” while reportedly attempting to help a woman who was being robbed. Last week in Kenosha, protestors were seen attacking a teenager who had been attempting to protect businesses from looting and vandalism. The teen reportedly opened fire in self-defense. In Washington, DC, a mob threatened restaurant patrons, and in Minneapolis, dozens of businesses have been burned and looted. But even before the current rash of arson, looting, and violence, the police response to serious crime was never terribly impressive. For violent crimes, studies have shown police may take up to an hour to respond more than one-third of the time. (This summer, response times fo rthe NYPD are up by four minutes compared to last year.) And if one survives an attack from violent criminals, one shouldn’t assume justice will be done. Fewer than half of violent crimes are ever “solved” in the United States. Gun Purchases Are Growing Meanwhile, gun purchases have surged. According to new estimates from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), using the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System (NICS), “there were over 12 million guns bought in the first seven months of 2020—up more than 70 percent over the same time span in 2019. This number is likely to include nearly 5 million first-time gun owners so far this year.” Moreover, as noted in an unsigned editorial at the Wall Street Journal, The FBI’s most recent gun-sale figures are stunning. They show that in July the bureau carried out 3.6 million background checks, the third highest month on record. [T]his translates to 1.8 million gun sales for July 2020—a 122% increase over July 2019. The 12,141,032 gun sales through this July is just shy of the 13,199,172 sales for all of 2019. Gun retailers saw a 95 percent increase in firearm sales and a 139 percent increase in ammunition sales in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2019. Statistically, it remains unclear that life for the average American is much more dangerous this year than it has been over the past five years. After all, in 2014, the homicide rate in America hit a 51-year low. But the American public has never been one to sit back and conclude everything is fine just because homicides are relatively low. After all, gun purchases were already surging even before the apparent killing of George Floyd touched off a wave of protests followed by riots and looting. Gun purchases that had been fueled by general uncertainty and anxiety over the covid-19 panic soon became gun purchases fueled by far more immediate fears of violent crime. Also notable is that many new gun owners are outside of groups known as the usual suspects when it comes to gun purchases. The NSSF reported that 58 percent of the new firearms purchases were by black men and women, while “women comprised 40% of first-time gun buyers.” Millions Aren't Buying the Usual Gun Control Claims Needless to say, these trends are going very much against the grain of the usual narrative employed by gun control advocates, a narrative that generally employs several main tenets we’ve seen many times. They include: Government police agencies provide better protection than a private firearm ever could. If you’re in danger, it’s best to call 911 and then wait. If you buy a gun, the gun is more likely to kill someone you love than to stop a criminal. America would be safer if fewer people had guns. People who buy guns are mostly just right-wing hayseeds. Hillary Clinton calls these people "deplorables." And while opponents of private gun ownership rarely say this explicitly, the sum total of their narrative is this: only police and military personnel should own guns. The basic idea here is that private gun owners cannot be trusted, and that government officials will keep us safe. But as so often occurs when there are riots—as happened in Ferguson (in 2014) and as is happening in Kenosha police officers and other government "public safety" personnel mostly just protect government property. The private sector must just fend for itself. Many Americans appear to have gotten the message.

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Vaccine
by jim bell 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

Coronavirus vaccine still years away, experts warn https://www.yahoo.com/gma/health-experts-warn-life-saving-coronavirus-vacci…

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Schlicter: "attack the enemy in a manner the enemy can neither limit nor control" - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Kurt Schlicter on the war path, oh it's on muh gritty muffaduckas :D It’s Time for Us Conservatives to Riot https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2020/09/28/its-time-for-us-c… ... It’s a lie. They have nothing real. They have no combat power, no tactical control of anything besides a few square blocks, and they only have that because the cops are held back by liberal city leaders. They have no more than the power we give them by fearing them and reacting to them. So, civilians kicking their sissy tails is a meaningless exercise. For us, a riotous riot gets us nothing. Plus, we own the stuff that would get burned down. That means a traditional riotous riot is a dumb strategy for us, a counterproductive move that would play into the left’s nearly-nonexistent strengths while exposing our weaknesses. Instead, we should riot our way. That is, attack the enemy in a manner the enemy can neither limit nor control and both cause real damage to its forces while demonstrating, as part of our own information operation, that we are in control. There are two components to our riot. The first is a riot at the ballot box. We need to ruthlessly eliminate all opposing candidates of either party. That means mobilizing to turn out votes and to vote viciously. Your nice city councilman who is kind and gentle and sort of squishy? He cut the ribbon at the petting zoo and send you emails about a library book drive? Yeah, he needs to go in favor of the bomb-thrower who wants to buy the cops a new armored personnel carrier. No Democrats, not ever. No soft Republicans, not ever. Only harsh conservatives who loudly live the dogma. Elect conservawoke candidates who understand the threat, and who savor the opportunity to use their political power to harm the left in every way they can. ...

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Tippi Degre - animals and children - Soul Cookies - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

It's been a long haul people. Sometimes one needs to take a few days off. Peace, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tippy+elephants https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chito%20crocodile https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kangaroo+friend

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Behind the curve. The mathematics of deaths.
by Peter Fairbrother 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Please recirculate freely. Behind the curve. The mathematics of deaths. The present United Kingdom strategy on COVID-19 was to initially try to contain the virus with a weak containment policy, and when that failed to move to the "delay phase" we are in now to try to slow its spread. This delay would place a lower maximum load on healthcare, spread heathcare requirements over time, and thereby allow more per-patient care. An underlying assumption and consequential end result of that policy is that practically everybody in the UK will inevitably eventually catch the virus. And the Red Death will hold illimitable dominion over all. The strategy made sense if, as was believed when it was made, there would be no way of eventually stopping the epidemic by containment, something I myself believed. However, that does not seem to be the case: the disease is not quite as infectious as at first thought, as recent evidence shows that the Chinese have managed to slow it almost to a stop using strong confinement. If they succeed in containing the disease, as seems very likely, then most Chinese people will never catch the virus - whereas if the present UK policy is continued then at some point a majority of people in the UK will catch the disease, and a million people will die unnecessarily [1]. So what new policy should be adopted? Well we have the Chinese example to follow. Strong containment is working for the Chinese, it should work for us. All people entering the UK should be quarantined. The UK has a "moat" in the seas surrounding it, and should take advantage of that. Schools and universities should close. Large public gatherings should be banned. People should be encouraged to wear masks, not discouraged - even a tiny difference in transmission rate can be the straw which will make the difference between the epidemic dying out or growing: that is how the chain reaction of an epidemic works. If each infected person infects more than one other person on average then the epidemic spreads, if on average each infected person infects less than one then the epidemic dies out. We should be taking extreme measures to get that figure of new infections per case down to less than 1. Testing should be stepped up by at least an order of magnitude. Medical staff should have the power to require testing, and if positive then quarantine should be enforced if necessary. But most of all, we have to stop thinking that a million people will die and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Diligent and intense containment can work if we are willing to pay the price now, the Chinese example is proof of that. Any delay in implementing strong containment will cost lives. Failing to implement strong confinement will result in a million unnecessary deaths over the next few months. [1] "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." - Joe Stalin. The UK age demographic contains more older people than the Chinese, and older people are far more likely to die of COVID-19 than younger people; so the UK fatality rate would be more than the Chinese rate, which works out to a bit over a million deaths if we assume 3/4 of the population get the virus. A delay to provide better health care might reduce the death toll to about a million. Strong confinement now could reduce it to a few thousand. Peter Fairbrother

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God is real: Lady Luscious in -epic- burn to USA press corps: "maybe we're visual learners"
by Zenaan Harkness 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

The heavens smile today as our new White House press secretary Ms Kayleigh "Lady Luscious" McEnany delivers an epic burn to the USA press corps: McEnany: "Did anyone take it upon themselves to pose any questions about Michael Flynn and unmasking to President Obama's spokesperson?" she asked. Rando journalist: "but buh but Flynn's name wasn't mas--" McEnany: "So I would like to lay out a series of questions and perhaps, if I write them out in a slide format - maybe we're visual learners and you guys will follow up with journalistic curiosity." Oohh. Ouch. Aargh! Epic mic drop !! Absolutely burned! Go you sweet thang :D Yes, CNN and co. are most definitely in the slow class and must be treated as "visual learners". We have no doubt about that m'lady :D She then literally played four (that's the number "4" for the visual learners...) slides each with four simple questions to ask: - "Why did the Obama Admin use opposition research, funded by a political organization and filled with foreign dirt to SPY ON MEMBERS OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN?" - "Why was Lt. Gen. Micahel Flynn UNMASKED by Obama's Chief of Staff, Joe Biden, Susan Rice, and others?" - "Why was Flynn's identity leaked - A CRIMINAL ACT - to the press?" - "Why did the DOJ learn about the FBI's interest in Flynn's conversations with the Russian Amb. from a CONVERSATION WITH OBAMA in the Oval Office?" Now, in an even more epic moment, even for the atheists amogst our ranks, this happed shortly before Trump wrapped up his Friday (just gone) press conference, which he called only 13 minutes in advance! Now that must be important - so why was it important? Trump: "Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It's not right." Update (1400ET): President Trump on Friday declared churches to be 'essential', and says he will 'overrule' governors who don't allow them to open "right now." So why is this such awesome news (for those who don't quite get it)? Because this is OUR RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE !! Human rights baby! Yee haw! You have the right to assemble, the right to communicate - and while you're at it, uphold with others your great 2nd amendment too! And for the be-subjugated men amongst us: you can't let a woman Salon hair stylist put you to shame now can you? Live it muffas! Trump Declares Houses Of Worship Essential, Says Governors Must Allow Services Or 'I Will Overrule Them' https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/watch-live-trump-announces-surprise-press… "We're Gonna Do It God's Way!" - Baltimore Pastor Rips Up Cease-And-Desist Letter https://www.zerohedge.com/political/were-gonna-do-it-gods-way-baltimore-pas… A Baltimore County pastor ripped up a cease-and-desist order mid-sermon Wednesday evening after county officials threatened him with a fine earlier in the week for holding in-person services. Calvary Baptist Church's pastor, Stacey Shiflett, tweeted a video clip of the sermon, where he was seen ripping up the cease-and-desist order that informed him if the church continued to conduct services, a $5,000 fine would be applied. https://t.co/klOrD2Bgn7 .. Shiflett's fight with county officials is outlined in our latest piece titled ""Land Of The Free?" - The Polarizing Politics Of A Pandemic Exposed." https://www.zerohedge.com/political/polarizing-politics-pandemic-exposed White House Press Secretary Stuns Journos With Interactive 'Obamagate' Presentation On How To Do Their Jobs https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-house-press-secretary-stuns-journ… .. https://t.co/FQ475dZOJt White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany point-blank asked all the journalist at the press conference if they had contacted Obama‘s press secretary about the unmasking of general Flynn. Pure silence. .. https://t.co/XakC89gzYz Live free or die ya scurvy dawgs! Live free or die!

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Boing Boing: What you need to know about police drone surveillance at protests against police brutality
by jim bell 22 Dec '20

22 Dec '20

Boing Boing: What you need to know about police drone surveillance at protests against police brutality. https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/what-you-need-to-know-about-po.html

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Chloroquine is "highly effective" at inhibiting reproduction of Novel Coronavirus nCov in cell culture.
by jim bell 20 Dec '20

20 Dec '20

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8184997/Doctors-worldwide-say-ma… Doctors around the globe report that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine seems the most effective treatment they've tried for coronavirus patients - but less than half as many doctors are prescribing it in the US as in other hard-hit countries like Spain. A survey of 6,200 doctors around the globe reveals that while few corners of the world are untouched by the virus, the pandemic is being handled very differently from country-to-country. And in some measures, the US continues to fall behind other nations' responses. For example, an American waits an average of four to five days to get results back after being tested for COVID-19. Half of doctors in Europe and most in China get the test results back within 24-hours. Dr Murali Doraiswamy, an adviser to Sermo, urged that countries should take note of what is working for doctors and governments elsewhere and move quickly to adopt practices that are saving lives. Hydroxychloroquine (pictured) was deemed the most effective coronavirus treatment comared to other options by more doctors worldwide than any other in a global survey =========================================================== On Sat, Feb 8, 2020 at 9:18 PM jim bell <jdb10987(a)yahoo.com> wrote: jim bell [chloroquine is an old-line drug typically used against malaria] [partial quote follows] https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/020620/could-an-old-malaria-drug-… ASBMB Today Science Could an old malaria drug help fight the new coronavirus? Could an old malaria drug help fight the new coronavirus? By John Arnst February 06, 2020 Chloroquine might be getting new life as an antiviral treatment for the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and has infected some 25,000 people in more than 25 countries. For decades, the drug was a front-line treatment and prophylactic for malaria. In a three-page paper published Tuesday in Cell Research, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s State Key Laboratory of Virology write that both chloroquine and the antiviral remdesivir were, individually, “highly effective” at inhibiting replication of the novel coronavirus in cell culture. Their drug screen evaluated five other drugs that were not effective. The authors could not be reached for comment. Though the paper is brief, John Lednicky, a professor at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, found its results intriguing. “It’s interesting in that it really lacks a lot of details but, nevertheless, if you look at the data as presented, at least in vitro, it seems like chloroquine can be used as an early-stage drug,” he said. “It would be very good if these types of experiments were repeated by more laboratories to see whether the same results occur across the board.” Chloroquine is a synthetic form of quinine, a compound found in the bark of cinchona trees native to Peru and used for centuries to treat malaria. Chloroquine was an essential element of mass drug administration campaigns to combat malaria throughout the second half of the 20th century, and remains one of the World Health Organization’s essential medicines. However, after the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax began exhibiting resistance to the drug in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively, it was replaced by similar antimalarial compounds and combination therapies. Chloroquine is still widely used against the three other species of plasmodium and to treat autoimmune disorders and some cases of amebiasis, an intestinal infection caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Chloroquine’s antiviral properties were explored in the mid-1990s against HIV and in the following decade against severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which is closely related to the novel coronavirus. In 2004, researchers in Belgium found that chloroquine inhibited replication of SARS in cell culture. The following year, however, another team at Utah State University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong evaluated a gamut of compounds against SARS replication in mice infected with the virus, finding that chloroquine was only effective as an anti-inflammatory agent. They recommended that it could be used in combination with compounds that prevent replication. Nevertheless, in 2009, the Belgian group found that lethal infections of human coronavirus OC43, a relative of SARS, could be averted in newborn mice by administering chloroquine through the mother’s milk. [end of partial quote] Also: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0 Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro Manli Wang, Ruiyuan Cao, Leike Zhang, Xinglou Yang, Jia Liu, Mingyue Xu, Zhengli Shi, Zhihong Hu, Wu Zhong & Gengfu Xiao Cell Research (2020)Cite this article 171k Accesses 1108 Altmetric Metrics details Dear Editor, In December 2019, a novel pneumonia caused by a previously unknown pathogen emerged in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China. The initial cases were linked to exposures in a seafood market in Wuhan.1 As of January 27, 2020, the Chinese authorities reported 2835 confirmed cases in mainland China, including 81 deaths. Additionally, 19 confirmed cases were identified in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and 39 imported cases were identified in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, France, Australia and Canada. The pathogen was soon identified as a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is closely related to sever acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV).2 Currently, there is no specific treatment against the new virus. Therefore, identifying effective antiviral agents to combat the disease is urgently needed. An efficient approach to drug discovery is to test whether the existing antiviral drugs are effective in treating related viral infections. The 2019-nCoV belongs to Betacoronavirus which also contains SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV). Several drugs, such as ribavirin, interferon, lopinavir-ritonavir, corticosteroids, have been used in patients with SARS or MERS, although the efficacy of some drugs remains controversial.3 In this study, we evaluated the antiviral efficiency of five FAD-approved drugs including ribavirin, penciclovir, nitazoxanide, nafamostat, chloroquine and two well-known broad-spectrum antiviral drugs remdesivir (GS-5734) and favipiravir (T-705) against a clinical isolate of 2019-nCoV in vitro. Standard assays were carried out to measure the effects of these compounds on the cytotoxicity, virus yield and infection rates of 2019-nCoVs. Firstly, the cytotoxicity of the candidate compounds in Vero E6 cells (ATCC-1586) was determined by the CCK8 assay. Then, Vero E6 cells were infected with nCoV-2019BetaCoV/Wuhan/WIV04/20192 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.05 in the presence of varying concentrations of the test drugs. DMSO was used in the controls. Efficacies were evaluated by quantification of viral copy numbers in the cell supernatant via quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and confirmed with visualization of virus nucleoprotein (NP) expression through immunofluorescence microscopy at 48 h post infection (p.i.) (cytopathic effect was not obvious at this time point of infection). Among the seven tested drugs, high concentrations of three nucleoside analogs including ribavirin (half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) = 109.50 μM, half-cytotoxic concentration (CC50) > 400 μM, selectivity index (SI) > 3.65), penciclovir (EC50 = 95.96 μM, CC50 > 400 μM, SI > 4.17) and favipiravir (EC50 = 61.88 μM, CC50 > 400 μM, SI > 6.46) were required to reduce the viral infection (Fig. 1a and Supplementary information, Fig. S1). However, favipiravir has been shown to be 100% effective in protecting mice against Ebola virus challenge, although its EC50 value in Vero E6 cells was as high as 67 μM,4 suggesting further in vivo studies are recommended to evaluate this antiviral nucleoside. Nafamostat, a potent inhibitor of MERS-CoV, which prevents membrane fusion, was inhibitive against the 2019-nCoV infection (EC50 = 22.50 μM, CC50 > 100 μM, SI > 4.44). Nitazoxanide, a commercial antiprotozoal agent with an antiviral potential against a broad range of viruses including human and animal coronaviruses, inhibited the 2019-nCoV at a low-micromolar concentration (EC50 = 2.12 μM; CC50 > 35.53 μM; SI > 16.76). Further in vivo evaluation of this drug against 2019-nCoV infection is recommended. Notably, two compounds remdesivir (EC50 = 0.77 μM; CC50 > 100 μM; SI > 129.87) and chloroquine (EC50 = 1.13 μM; CC50 > 100 μM, SI > 88.50) potently blocked virus infection at low-micromolar concentration and showed high SI (Fig. 1a, b).

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