EN-AG – Pagina 3 – Apokalyps Nu!

Execs Scramble To Buy Spyware To Keep Tabs On ‘Locked-Down’ Employees

Posted by EN-AGon 31 maart 2020in Execs, Scramble

31-03-20 10:03:00,

Tens of millions of Americans have transitioned from their corporate desks to living room sofas in the last month as “shelter in place” government health orders have forced many to work at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Corporate executives, who once had unlimited control over employees, have lost much of it, and that is why they’re now panic buying spy software to monitor employees who work from home, reported Bloomberg.

Axos Financial Inc. told employees who are working from home that they’re monitoring every keystroke, logging every website, and taking screenshots of their desktops, in a bid to keep tabs on how productive they’re. In an internal email to employees, the company wrote that “disciplinary action” or “termination” is possible if slacking was seen.

“We have seen individuals taking unfair advantage of flexible work arrangements,” Axos Financial CEO wrote in an internal email reviewed by Bloomberg. If daily tasks aren’t completed, workers “will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.”

It’s not just corporations that are ushering in digital surveillance tools to monitor employees, but also we’ve noted that governments are utilizing mass surveillance to monitor social distancing and the health care system.

“Of course, digital surveillance has been used for years on office desktops, yet it seems a violation of privacy to a lot of workers when they’re required to have software on their computers that tracks their every move in their own homes.

Employers justify going full Orwell by saying that monitoring curbs security breaches, which can be expensive and helps keep the wheels of commerce turning.

With so many people working remotely because of the coronavirus, surveillance software is flying off the virtual shelves.” – Bloomberg.

Brad Miller, CEO of surveillance-software maker InterGuard, said businesses are “scrambling” to purchase software that monitors the productivity of employees who are working from home.

Axos spokesman Gregory Frost released a statement to Bloomberg that said, “the enhanced monitoring of at-home employees we implemented will ensure that those members of our workforce who work from home will continue” to be productive during these challenging times.

Along with InterGuard,

Maryland ups the ante on coronavirus quarantine enforcement with $5,000 fine or one year in PRISON

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Coronavirus, Maryland

30-03-20 08:45:00,

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has issued a stay-at-home order for state residents, warning that violations are punishable by fines of $5,000, a year’s prison time, or both, the heftiest sentence yet as states strengthen penalties.

Hogan effectively locked down Maryland residents on Monday, declaring that as of 8pm that night leaving one’s home for any other reason than “an essential job or for an essential reason such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention or for other necessary purposes” would incur the steep punishment.

Also on rt.com
Six months in jail for standing too close to strangers? Countries worldwide roll out draconian measures to fight Covid-19

The stay-at-home order includes a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people and the closure of all “non-essential” businesses, echoing similar decrees by other states and cities. However, while New York City and Chicago have adopted $500 fines for repeat violators of the six-foot “social distancing” rule, their punishments are a slap on the wrist compared to Hogan’s sentence.

“This is a deadly public health crisis,” the governor explained at a press conference. “We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home. We are directing them to do so.”

Maryland has 1,414 diagnosed cases of coronavirus, while 16 people have died of the disease. The state reported 174 new cases on Monday. Total cases in the US number 144,146, with 2,572 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Also on rt.com
US coronavirus cases near 150,000, with over 2,500 dead

Later on Monday, Virginia joined its neighbor in the lockdown, with Governor Ralph Northam ordering residents to stay at home effective until June 2010. Virginians will be permitted to venture outdoors to buy groceries and medicines, go to work, care for family members, seek medical help, and engage in “outdoor activity,” but must follow “strict social distancing requirements” and are forbidden from gathering in groups of 10 or more, Northam warned.

More than 1,020 cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in Virginia,

Kunstler: When Americans Wake From The Corona-Coma, This Will Be A Different Country

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Americans, Kunstler

30-03-20 08:45:00,

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

People, Get Ready!

The cable news announced the other day that Covid-19 patients placed in critical care may have to be on ventilators for 21 days. Only a few years ago, I went in for an ordinary hip replacement. A month or so later, I got the hospital billing statement. One of the line-items went like this: Room and board: 36 hours…$23,482.79. I am not jiving you. That was just for the hospital bed and maybe four lousy hospital meals, not the surgery or the meds or anything else. All that was billed extra. Say, what…?

Now imagine you have the stupendous good fortune to survive a Covid-19 infection after 21 days on a ventilator and go home. What is that billing statement going to look like? Will the survivors wish they’d never made out of the hospital alive?

Right now, we’re in the heroic phase of the battle against a modern age plague. The doctors, nurses, and their helpers are like the trembling soldiers in an amphibious landing craft churning toward the Normandy beach where the enemy is dug in and waiting for them, with sweaty fingers on their machine guns and a stink in the pillbox. Some of the doctors and nurses will go down in the battle. The fabled fog-of-war will conceal what is happening to the health care system itself, while the battle rages. After that, what?

One thing will be pretty clear: That the folks in charge of things gave trillions of dollars to Wall Street while tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 survivors got wiped out financially with gargantuan medical bills. Do you think the Chargemaster part of the hospital routine will just stop doing its thing during this emergency? The billings will continue – just as the proverbial beatings will continue until morale improves! In the aftermath, I can’t even imagine the ‘splainin’ that will entail. The rage may be too intense to even get to that. For some, it may be time to lubricate the guillotines?

Meantime, of course, the global economy has shut down which suggests to me, anyway, that any prior frame of reference you may have had about money and business and social normality goes out the window.

Handout or Bailout? Transferring Trillions to the Super-Rich. “Crumbs” for US Households – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Bailout, Handout

30-03-20 08:34:00,

The measure agreed to near-unanimously by both right wings of the one-party state is all about transferring countless trillions of dollars from ordinary Americans to the nation’s privileged class.

Deception defines it by including crumbs for about 150 million US households. Most people are unaware of how Congress and the White House are fleecing them.

The scheme is straight from Wall Street’s playbook, discussed in my books titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America” and “Banker Occupation.”

What Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein once claimed was doing “God’s work” is all about making money the old-fashioned way by stealing it.

GS and other Wall Street banks do it by fraud, grand theft, market manipulation, front-running, pump and dump schemes, scamming investors, bribing politicians, serving in senior government posts, and getting trillions of dollars in bailouts on request.

According to Section 4018/Division A of the corporate bailout bill, “a new special inspector general…within the” Treasury Department is established to oversea distribution of half a trillion dollars in corporate bailout funds.

In his Friday signing statement, Trump claimed the measure “includes several provisions that raise constitutional concerns” — regarding executive branch authority and the separation of powers.

The bill mandates congressional oversight over distribution of funds, the newly created inspector general required to report to Congress on how this is administered.

Trump wants control of the slush fund to hand disbursements to regime favorites with no oversight.

He cited the Constitution’s Article II, Section 3, stating that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” — the so-called Take Care Clause.

According to the Constitution Center, it’s “a major source of presidential power because it seemingly invests the office with broad enforcement authority.”

“Yet, at the same time, the provision also serves as a major limitation on that power because it underscores that the executive is under a duty to faithfully execute the laws of Congress and not disregard them.”

Three US presidents, including Trump, were in part impeached for allegedly violating the Take Care Clause.

The same holds for most or all of their predecessors and vast majority of current and former congressional members.

The Totally Spontaneous Health Worker Balcony Applause Phenomenon – #PropagandaWatch

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Spontaneous, Totally

30-03-20 08:32:00,

SHOW NOTES: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=35592

Are you thanking the valiant soldiers in the war on the invisible enemy? Yes? Good. But are your thanking them in the right way? At the appropriate time? Using the state-sanctioned hashtag? No? Then you are a thoughtcriminal! Join James for this week’s edition of #PropagandaWatch as we peel back the curtain on The Totally Spontaneous Health Worker Balcony Applause Phenomenon, and how the propagandists will use this programming in the long run.

Share this:

Vind ik leuk:
Like Laden…

Netanyahu uses coronavirus to lure rival Gantz into âemergencyâ government

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Coronavirus, Netanyahu

30-03-20 07:57:00,

Benny Gantz, the former Israeli general turned party leader, agreed late last week to join his rival Benjamin Netanyahu in an âemergency governmentâ to deal with the coronavirus epidemic.

Two weeks ago he had won a wafer-thin majority vote in the parliament that gave him first shot at trying to put together a coalition government.

Instead he has conceded to Netanyahu, who will remain prime minister for the next 18 months. Gantz is supposed to take over in late 2021, though Netanyahu has a formidable reputation for double-dealing.

Over the past year Gantz fought three hotly contested, though indecisive, general elections in which he vowed to bring down Netanyahu, who has ruled continuously for 11 years.

He had promised supporters he would never sit in a government alongside Netanyahu, who is due to stand trial on multiple corruption charges.

Predictably, the U-turn tore apart Gantzâs Blue and White party. Denouncing the decision, two of the allianceâs three constituent factions said they would head into the opposition.

There has been increasing governmental paralysis over the past year with neither Gantz nor Netanyahu able to cobble together a majority coalition with other parties.

The reason was the Joint List party, representing Israelâs Palestinian citizens, a fifth of the countryâs population, which effectively held the balance of votes. None of the main Jewish parties was prepared to be seen relying on its 15 seats.

Even with Gantzâs depleted party, Netanyahuâs âemergency governmentâ should now be able to muster more than 70 seats in the 120-member parliament, giving him a safe majority.

Renowned for his ability to pull off political miracles, Netanyahu appears to have gradually worn down Gantzâs resistance over the past 12 months. The coronavirus epidemic proved the final straw.

Netanyahu has exploited justifiable fears about the virus to cement his status as Father of the Nation. In regular addresses, he has presented himself as Israelâs Winston Churchill, the British wartime leader who helped vanquish the Nazis.

He has now served longer as prime minister than the countryâs founding father, David Ben Gurion.

Gantz, it seems, assessed that there was no practical way to push for a fourth election during the current lockdowns. And in any case Netanyahu,

“What Is Really Essential”? In The US Golf And Guns, In France Wine And Pastries

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Essential, Really

30-03-20 10:16:00,

Among countless other unprecedented changes and transformation, the coronavirus pandemic has unveiled an odd divergence within global cultures: the definition of what’s deemed “essential” for people across the world, and what things we really can’t do without, even though we might not need most of them for survival.

As AP reports, in its attempt to slow the spread of the virus, authorities in many places are determining what shops and services can remain open. They’re also restricting citizens from leaving their homes. Stay-at-home orders or guidance are affecting more than one-fifth of the world’s population. This has left many contemplating an existential question: What, really, is essential?

Whether it is in Asia, Europe, Africa or the United States, there’s general agreement: Health care workers, law enforcement, utility workers, food production and communications are generally exempt from lockdowns. But some lists of exempted activities reflect a national identity, or the efforts of lobbyists.

In some U.S. states, golf, guns and ganja have been ruled essential, raising eyebrows and — in the case of guns — a good deal of ire. In many places, booze is also on the list of essentials. Britain at first kept liquor stores off its list of businesses allowed to remain open, but after reports of supermarkets running out of beer, wine and spirits, the government quickly added them.

“Recent events clearly demonstrate that the process of designating ‘essential services’ is as much about culture as any legal-political reality about what is necessary to keep society functioning,” said Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University.

Countries including India and U.S. states are listing the information technology sector as essential. The world’s dependency on the internet has become even more apparent as countless people confined to their homes communicate, stream movies and play games online to stave off cabin fever.

Several states where marijuana is legal, such as California and Washington, deemed pot shops and workers in the market’s supply chain essential. For some, the emphasis is on medicinal uses, not enabling cooped-up people to get stoned.

“Cannabis is a safe and effective treatment that millions of Americans rely on to maintain productive daily lives while suffering from diseases and ailments,” Erik Altieri,

With a Quarter of the World’s Population Under US Sanctions, Countries Appeal to UN to Intervene – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in quarter, World's

30-03-20 08:38:00,

The governments of China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela – all under sanctions from the United States – sent a joint statement to the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN’s High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Director-General of the World Health Organization calling for an end to the unilateral American economic blockade, as they are, “illegal and blatantly violate international law and the charter of the United Nations.”

The eight countries, representing around one-quarter of humanity, say that Washington’s actions are undermining their response to the COVID–19 pandemic sweeping the planet. “The destructive impact of said measures at the national level, plus their extraterritorial implication, together with the phenomenon of over-compliance and the fear for ‘secondary sanctions,’ hinder the ability of national governments” in procuring even basic medical equipment and supplies, including coronavirus test kits and medicine. It is a “hard if not impossible deed for those countries who are currently facing the application of unilateral coercive measures,” to cope, they conclude.

The letter was shared on Twitter by Joaquin Perez, Venezuela’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN.

Today 🇨🇳,🇨🇺,🇰🇵,🇮🇷,🇳🇮,🇷🇺,🇸🇾,🇻🇪 addressed the #UNSG on the negative impact of sanctions on nat’l efforts to fight COVID19. We cannot allow a zero-sum game in the midst of a pandemic. #SanctionsAreCriminal & must end now! Political calculations cannot get in the way of saving lives! pic.twitter.com/ujnmyf7ASL

— Joaquín A. Pérez Ayestarán (@japerezve) March 26, 2020

That U.S. sanctions are “blatant violations of international law,” the letter states, is not in doubt. As the American Special Rapporteur to the UN, Alfred de Zayas, notes, only sanctions expressly verified and imposed collectively by the UN Security Council can be considered legal; any unilateral punishment is, by definition, illegal. De Zayas, a legal scholar, notes that sanctions are tantamount to a “collective punishment” against a population, an explicit violation of multiple articles of the UN Charter, the foundation of international law.

De Zayas traveled to Venezuela last year, describing the U.S. sanctions as akin to a medieval siege and accusing the Trump administration of “crimes against humanity.” The United Nations Human Rights Council formally condemned the U.S., called on all member states to break the sanctions,

U.S. Troops Out of Iraq – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Global, troops

30-03-20 08:37:00,

A petition launched on March 19, 2020

The mass killing and destruction of Iraq that began 17 years ago today, assessed by the most scientifically respected measures available, killed over 1.4 million Iraqis, saw 4.2 million additional people injured, and 4.5 million made refugees.

The 1.4 million dead (and still rising) was 5% of the Iraqi population. That compares to 2.5% of the U.S. population lost in the U.S. Civil War, or 3.5% in Japan in World War II, 1% in France and Italy in World War II, 0.3% in the United States in World War II, and 0.001% in the United States in this war on Iraq.

The U.S. military has targeted civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances. It has made use of cluster bombs, white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new kind of napalm in urban areas. Birth defects, cancer rates, and infant mortality are through the roof. Water supplies, sewage treatment plants, hospitals, bridges, and electricity supplies remain devastated. Healthcare, nutrition, and education are nothing like they were before the war. And we should remember that healthcare and nutrition had already deteriorated during years of economic warfare waged through the most comprehensive economic sanctions ever imposed in modern history, sanctions that were accompanied by bombs and which followed the destruction of the Gulf War.

For years, the occupying forces have broken the society of Iraq down, encouraging ethnic and sectarian division and violence, resulting in a segregated country and the repression of rights that Iraqis used to enjoy, even under Saddam Hussein’s brutal police state – which, of course, was itself supported by the U.S. government for years.

While U.S. troops have been reduced in Iraq, they have never been removed. In January, the Iraqi Parliament voted that all U.S. troops should leave. The U.S. government has refused to leave, and has instead proposed installing (“defensive”) missiles in Iraq targeting Iran. While Iran is depicted in U.S. media as an evil enemy, the U.S. military does not claim that Iran is a threat to the actual United States, only to U.S. troops near Iran and U.S. “interests.” The refusal to leave and the decision to install missiles endanger Iraq, Iran, the entire region, and a world at risk of nuclear escalation and climate collapse that cannot afford any more wars.

Transformational Hypnosis with a certified master clinical hypnotherapist

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Hypnosis, Transformational

30-03-20 08:25:00,

The Choice between Two Things, or is it Three?

In the beginning of this second week of house arrest here in Spain, known globally as social distancing, where I get to go out for a few minutes to the local store to buy food each day, making sure I don’t get too close to anyone, I’ve started to think. I mean it’s obvious that this virus or whatever it is, is nothing compared to past pandemics or even close to the deadly effects of the ‘normal’ flu, so what on Earth is actually going on. Big changes, that’s for sure.

Many years ago, I read of an upcoming split between ‘realities’, where some of humanity moved into a higher frequency and others moved into an increasingly negative one; an ascension if you like. As time went by, I noticed a huge evolution and awakening of millions of people, while the evil in the world also became more palpable and obvious. I thought ah ha, the evil ones with be sucked down into lower realms and the awakened and good will somehow find themselves on a parallel reality of a higher frequency and my gosh, that’s where I intend to be.

And so now here we are in 2020, the year of clear vision, locked down in our houses by a manufactured pandemic as laws are made to destroy the last vestiges of personal freedom we had, in the name of public health. It’s so much easier than using force. Hell, we police ourselves. I can’t take my dog for a walk in the hills in case someone sees me and calls the police who will inflict some huge fine!

Some are in fear during this time, while others are not. Some are panic buying, dressing up in useless masks and plastic bags, while others they are enjoying the peace, reading, meditating etc.…. but everyone is thinking or talking about what all this means.

The dual camps seem very clear. On the one hand we have the putrid, dystopian, service to self, fear and ego driven AI/Satanic/Elite partnership with their forced vaccines, GMO food, constant surveillance, digital currency, military boot stomping, war, starvation, social credit system from hell, murder, rape and consumption of children and the manufacturing of adrenochrome,

Pentagon Orders Essential Staff To Deep Underground Mountain Bunker As Pandemic Prep Escalates

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Orders, Pentagon

30-03-20 08:08:00,

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) & the US’ Northern Command (NORTHCOM) held a Facebook Live town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 24, informing the public how their essential teams in charge of homeland security are isolating at the Cheyenne Mountain bunker in Colorado amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, who commands NORAD and NORTHCOM, told reporters on Facebook Live last Tuesday that essential staff is being moved from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado to the underground bunker complex that is 24 miles away in Cheyenne Mountain. The facility is more than 2,000 feet underground and can survive a 30 megaton nuclear explosion.

“To ensure that we can defend the homeland despite this pandemic, our command and control watch teams here in the headquarters split into multiple shifts and portions of our watch team began working from Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, creating a third team at an alternate location as well,” O’Shaughnessy said.

“Our dedicated professionals of the NORAD and NORTHCOM command and control watch have left their homes, said goodbye to their families and are isolated from everyone to ensure that they can stand the watch each and every day to defend our homeland.

“It’s certainly not optimal, but it’s absolutely necessary and appropriate given the situation.”

NORAD and NORTHCOM have already used up about 30% of the underground facility, according to The Drive. O’Shaughnessy said with the increased personnel, his “primary concern was … are we going to have the space inside the mountain for everybody who wants to move in there, and I’m not at liberty to discuss who’s moving in there.”

If the staff at Cheyenne are infected, there is a third team of higher-ranking military officials operating at another facility that can remotely assume command.

With the virus crisis deepening in the US, confirmed cases have now surged over 124,000, with 2,191 deaths (as of Sunday morning). President Trump signed an executive order Friday, allowing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to activate National Guard and reservists to battle the COVID-19 outbreak across the US.

We noted last week that the US is in the “acceleration phase”

How To Actually Effectively Cope With Your Covid-19 Anxiety

Posted by EN-AGon 30 maart 2020in Actually, Effectively

30-03-20 08:06:00,

As 2020 gets crazier and crazier, emotional self-care is getting more and more important. A lot of people, especially the “plugged-in” types who like to pay close attention to what’s going on in the world, are getting into some looping stress patterns over the Covid-19 pandemic that are unnecessary, unhealthy, and unhelpful.

It’s an understandable web to get tangled in; there are all these alarming news stories and statistics pouring in every single day, many of which speak of dangers which may pose a direct threat to the lives and livelihoods of ourselves and our loved ones. Some people spend hours online combing through all the latest information they can find about this thing, and as they’re doing this a tremendous amount of stress builds up in the background of their experience, ultimately culminating in depression, panic attacks, angry outbursts, substance abuse or other unpleasantness.

You see strategies for coping with this increasingly common problem everywhere online, from common healthy stress management techniques like deep breathing and meditation, to escapist claims that the virus doesn’t pose any real danger, to many people simply unplugging from their news feeds altogether. What people aren’t talking about nearly enough, in my opinion, is the simple yet highly effective practice of consciously feeling your feelings.

You wouldn’t think “feel your feelings” is something that needs to be said; it sounds not just like common sense, but like something that happens automatically without your intention or permission. We’ve all experienced emotions we’d prefer not to experience if given the choice, so we assume emotion arises unbidden like a force of nature.

While that can certainly be true, a tremendous range of our emotional spectrum is often blotted out by a basic lack of emotional attentiveness. Our culture tends to encourage us to put all but our loudest emotions on the back burner and focus on other matters, and Covid-19 happens to feed into that dynamic especially well by giving us a bunch of sparkly news headlines and statistics to focus on while this low-level background anxiety slowly builds unnoticed.

Feelings need to be felt. Not acted out on other people, but felt. They’re like small children; if you just give them a cuddle, let them cry and listen to their grievances they feel better in a few minutes,

COVID-19: Martial Law, Digital Currency, and World Government – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in COVID-, Martial

29-03-20 08:48:00,

I certainly don’t claim to be a financial wizard. In fact, at best, I have a rudimentary understanding of how the convoluted funny money economy works. However, you don’t need to fully comprehend the ins-and-outs of rigged monetary system to understand we’re in for big trouble and the coronavirus “pandemic” is not only accelerating the fall but will make the outcome far, far worse.

For more detail on the financial end of this disaster, read Mike Whitney’s Why Washington’s COVID-19 Relief Package Must Be Stopped!

No chance, however. As I write this, Congress passed a pork-laden“stimulus” bill.

If we can believe numbers put out by the CDC, as of Friday, March 27 there were 1,246 deaths in the US attributed to the virus. Compare this with the 1968 H3N2 “Hong Kong Flu.” It reportedly killed 100,000 people in the US and around a million around the world.

At the time, the response was not to lock down the country and destroy the livelihood of millions of Americans and usher in the severe violations of the Constitution we are now witnessing.

Short of COVID-19 numbers shooting into the stratosphere in the long run, the death rate will be nowhere near those of the H3N2 pandemic. After the virus is put down by warm temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, jobless and impoverished Americans will scratch their heads in wonderment at the overreaction by government.

Back in 1968, the US economy was doing fairly well. It was the economic powerhouse of the world. The economy began the slow process of engineered deterioration after the so-called “Nixon shock” imposed wage and price freezes in response to Federal Reserve manufactured inflation and the direct international convertibility of the dollar to gold in 1971.

10% inflation in the 1970s was “the result of the honest mistakes of a well-meaning central bank (sic),” according to the Fed.

The former Fed boss, Ben Bernanke, said in 2002 “honest mistakes” were also responsible for the stock market crash in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed (see Jerry Mazza’s How the FED engineered the Great Depression;

After Receiving $25 Million Coronavirus Bailout, JFK Center Stops Paying Musicians

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in After, Receiving

29-03-20 08:40:00,

After receiving a controversial $25 million bailout (which would pay for a lot of respirators), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts notified nearly 100 musicians with the National Symphony Orchestra that they won’t receive paychecks after April 3rd, according to the orchestra’s COVID-19 Advisory Committee obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“The Covid-19 Advisory Committee was broadsided today during our conversation with [Kennedy Center President] Deborah Rutter,” reads the email. “Ms. Rutter abruptly informed us today that the last paycheck for all musicians and librarians will be April 3 and that we will not be paid again until the Center reopens.”

The email went out to members on Friday evening, shortly after President Trump signed the $2 trillion CARES Act, a stimulus package intended to provide relief to people left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. Congress included $25 million in taxpayer funding for the Kennedy Center, a provision that raised eyebrows from both Democrats and Republicans, but ultimately won support from President Trump. The bailout was designed to “cover operating expenses required to ensure the continuity of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and its affiliates, including for employee compensation and benefits, grants, contracts, payments for rent or utilities, fees for artists or performers,” according to the law’s text. The arts organization decided that the relief did not extend to members of the National Symphony Orchestra, its house orchestra. –Washington Free Beacon

“Everyone should proceed as if their last paycheck will be April 3,” the email continues. “We understand this will come [as a] shock to all of you, as it did to us.”

One veteran member of the orchestra (who we suspect forwarded the email to the Beacon) told the outlet that the decision has “blindsided” musicians.

“It’s very disappointing [that] they’re going to get that money and then drop us afterward,” the musician said. “The Kennedy Center blindsided us.”

The cente, which received $41 million from taxpayers in 2019, just completed a $250 million renovation – however it faced insurmountable deficits after shuttering its doors on March 12 due to COVID-19.

What an Incredibly Useful Little Virus This Has Been for the Power Elite

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Incredibly, Useful

29-03-20 10:19:00,

I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy. But if it was, what would be any different?

Christmas came early for our rulers and power elite this year. Let’s count up all the goodies covid hysteria pandemic nets them:

They get to distribute hundreds of billions, even trillions in dollars, euro and pound among their friends in the name of making up for an economic slowdown amid outbreak and countermeasures.
They get to posture as decisive men of the moment who take drastic action when circumstances demand it. And when spring sunshine takes care of the viruses, as it does every year, they can posture as our saviors.
They get to push us off the streets and into our homes. Forget Kim Jong-il, Stalin or African post-coup martial law, this is the real deal. It’s a level of repression even North Korea couldn’t get away with. It serves to bring relief from and possibly break the populist revolt (gilet jaunes anyone?), but more than that don’t forget about the straightforward pleasure these people get from exercising power and feeling important.
They get to dodge the blame for the coming economic collapse. A collapse which was due to happen soon anyway, as something or other was bound to burst the global debt bubble their central banks and monetary policies had blown up, but which will now be blamed on corona. What a dodge!

This hysteria pandemic has been such godsend to them. So much so that if I were in their place I would be looking to extend it for as long as possible.

I would make sure everyone who died while having coronavirus would be counted as its victim. And I would drown the land with corona test kits (who cares just how reliable they are having been approved so quickly) to make sure the number of infected keeps rising for as long as possible as an ever-greater proportion of your usual seasonal patients with flu-like symptoms are identified as having the dreaded covid-19.

If Trump is smart he’ll put the US under an European-style martial law to extend the crisis. The bigger the virus hysteria and the greater the fallout from anti-virus measures the more believable his claim in November that it was a great economy until the unfortunate act of nature/god.

You might not want to scroll down! Dr. Bruce Lipton “BE AWARE OF THIS!”

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Bruce, scroll

29-03-20 10:18:00,

Skip to content

Antroposofisch tijdschrift voor politieke en maatschappelijke vraagstukken van deze tijd

Search for:

404

We are sorry, but the page you are looking for does not exist. Maybe try a search?

Zoeken naar:

Russia declares European Endowment for Democracy undesirable

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Declares, Russia

29-03-20 09:58:00,

On 10 March 2020, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office added the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) to the list of “undesirable organizations.” The NGO was asked to cease its activities in Russia or be liable to a prison sentence.

It is the twentieth foreign organization which has been banned from working in Russia.

The European Endowment for Democracy (EED) is the European Union’s replica of the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), also undesirable in Russia.

This Cold War construct was devised by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, within the framework of the 1941 Atlantic Charter which had been set up to enlist US and British Trotskyists against Soviet Stalinist sympathisers to advance their goal of “world revolution” … under Anglo-Saxon leadership.

The 1983 initiative ushered in the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) whose budget is voted with that of the Department of State and the US Institute of Peace (USIP) whose budget is in turn voted with that of the Department of Defense. President Reagan called on all vital forces in the United States, including those on the left, to rally against the “Empire of Evil” (Kirkpatrick Doctrine). Sister organizations were created in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

This system was maintained beyond the dissolution of the USSR. It proved particularly effective in the staging of coups d’etat branded as “colour revolutions.” In 2006, realizing that they were up against a new form of covert war, several countries banned the activities of the NED and the USIP, including Russia. In 2012, the High Representative of the European Union, British national Catherine Ashton, created the European Endowment for Democracy to fill in for its US counterpart. In particular, it played a prominent role in fostering the 2013 Euromaidan coup in Ukraine.

After a pause for reflection, on 27 March, the European Union issued a declaration rejecting the decision of the Russian authorities.

The Propaganda Of Terror And Fear: A Lesson From Recent History

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Propaganda, Terror

29-03-20 09:48:00,

Authored by Dr Piers Robinson, Co-Director Organisation for Propaganda Studies, via Off-Guardian.org,

The ongoing and unfolding reactions to the Coronavirus look set to have wide-ranging and long-lasting effect on politics, society and economics. The drive to close down all activities is extraordinary as are the measures being promoted to isolate people from each other.

The deep-rooted fear of contagious disease, hardwired into the collective consciousness by historical events such as the ‘Black/Bubonic Plague’ and maintained through popular culture (e.g. the Hollywood movies Outbreak and Contagion), means that people are without question highly susceptible to accepting extreme emergency measures whether or not such measures are rational or justified. The New York Times called for America to be put on a war footing in order to deal with Corona whilst former Army General Stanley McChrystal has been invoking his 9/11 experience in order to prescribe lessons for today’s leaders.

At the same time, political actors are fully aware that these conditions of fear and panic provide a critical opportunity that can be exploited in order to pursue political, economic and societal objectives. It is very likely, however, that the dangers posed by the potential exploitation of Corona for broader political, economic and societal objectives latter far outweigh the immediate threat to life and health from the virus. A lesson from recent history is instructive here.

9/11 AND THE GLOBAL ‘WAR ON TERROR’

The events of September 11 2001 represent a key moment in contemporary history. The destruction of three skyscrapers in New York after the impact of two airliners and an attack on the Pentagon, killing around 3000 civilians, shocked both American and global publics. The horror of seeing aircraft being flown into buildings, followed by the total destruction of three high rise buildings within a matter of seconds, and the spectre of a shadowy band of Islamic fundamentalists (Al Qaeda) having pulled off such devastating attacks, gripped the imagination of many in the Western world.

It was in this climate of paranoia and fear that extraordinary policies were implemented. The USA Patriot Act led to significant civil liberty restrictions whilst the mass surveillance of the digital environment became normalized.

It’s Okay To Be Uncertain What’s Happening And Where This Is All Going

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in It’s, Uncertain

29-03-20 09:46:00,

There was a kids’ game show on Nickelodeon in the early nineties called Get the Picture where contestants would be shown an image that is obscured in some way and slowly made more clear. First one to guess the image correctly got the points.

That’s kind of how our whole situation feels right now. No one really knows exactly what’s going on just yet, and those of us who are interested in figuring it out are intensely peering at the screen trying to make out what we’re looking at. We’re all shouting out guesses, but that’s all they are. The picture’s still unclear, and Mike O’Malley hasn’t chimed in with the correct answer.

There’s so much going on right now as this new virus works its way through world populations, and so much is still very uncertain. There are individual issues coming up which we can shake our fists at, like massive bailouts for corporations and governments implementing dangerously authoritarian measures while refusing to adequately provide for their citizenry, but a full picture of what’s happening and where this is all going remains unclear.

There’s this weird dynamic in conspiracy and anti-establishment circles where everyone wants to pretend they know exactly what’s going on, and those who express uncertainty tend to attract less interest and attention than those who claim forcefully and assertively to have a crystal-clear HD perspective of The Big Picture. This dynamic of has led to the rise of many professional fringe pundits who don’t actually have much going for them other than the ability to communicate in a confident tone, and it’s created a very confusing information ecosystem during the current pandemic.

And today I’m just writing to say that it is actually okay to simply not know for a bit.

It seems like some of the conflict and stress people are expressing–at least in the circles I move in–stems not only from perfectly valid concerns about the future, but from a general discomfort with not knowing exactly what’s happening. We know from our experience that understanding what’s happening gives us more control over our fate, so not fully understanding can make us feel out of control. It can feel threatening. It can feel like a very stressfully urgent matter that we come up with an cohesive “How It Is” understanding of what exactly is happening.

Fictional Reserve Lending Is The New Official Policy

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Fictional, Reserve

29-03-20 09:41:00,

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Official policy finally caught up with reality. Reserves are fictional.

Official Announcement

With little fanfare or media coverage, the Fed made this Announcement on Reserves.

As announced on March 15, 2020, the Board reduced reserve requirement ratios to zero percent effective March 26, 2020. This action eliminated reserve requirements for all depository institutions.

Amusingly, a few days ago yet another article appeared explaining how the Money Multiplier works. The example goes like this: Someone deposits $10,000 and a bank lends out $9,000 and then the $9,000 gets redeposited and 90% of the gets lent out and so an and so forth.

The notion was potty. That is not remotely close to how loans get made. Deposits and reserves never played into lending decisions.

What’s Changed Regarding Lending?

Essentially, nothing.

The announcement just officially admitted the denominator on reserves for lending is zero.

There are no reserve lending constraints (but practically speaking, there never were).

Fictional Reserve Lending Flashback

I wrote about this in December of 2009 in Fictional Reserve Lending and the Myth of Excess Reserves.

The flashback is amusing as I reference a number of people worried about hyperinflation.

Here are the facts of the matter as I explained in 2009.

Money Multiplier Theory Is Wrong

Lending comes first and what little reserves there are (if any) come later.
There really are no excess reserves.
Not only are there no excess reserves, there are essentially no reserves to speak of at all.

The rationale behind the last bullet point pertains to banks hiding losses. Regulators suspended mark-to-market accounting.

When Do Banks Make Loans?

They meet capital requirements
They believe they have a creditworthy borrower
Creditworthy borrowers want to borrow

All three requirements must be met.

Banks generally do not lend if they are capital impaired.
Clearly someone must want to borrow.

Are the Nevada Governor and President of France in the Pay of Big-Pharma?

Posted by EN-AGon 29 maart 2020in Governor, Nevada

29-03-20 08:31:00,

Blogview Paul Craig Roberts Archive

Are the Nevada Governor and President of France in the Pay of Big-Pharma?

◄►Bookmark◄❌►▲ ▼Toggle AllToC▲▼Add to LibraryRemove from Library • B

Search Text Case Sensitive Exact Words Include Comments

This question is invited by news reports that they are preventing the use of the anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients. According to experts, the anti-malaria drugs are effective if used early enough in the infection. But the drugs are cheap and there is no profit in them.

As of Tuesday, New York hospitals have federal permission to give desperately ill patients a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on a âcompassionate careâ basis.

According to the worldâs leading expert, Didier Raoult, it is too late to give the anti-malarial drugs in the latter stage of the infection: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/03/27/coronavirus-profiteers-are-worse-than-war-profiteers/

Fauci says there is no substantive proof that the drugs are effective, but the Chinese and Didier Raoult, who is far more prominant than Fauci, say otherwise.

(Republished from PaulCraigRoberts.org by permission of author or representative)

Of Related Interest

The French government is arguably helping Big Pharma profit from the Covid-19 pandemic

The Pace At Which COVID-19 Is Changing Life In America Is Absolutely Breathtaking

Posted by EN-AGon 28 maart 2020in COVID-, Which

28-03-20 05:09:00,

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Fear of COVID-19 has fundamentally transformed our entire country in a matter of weeks, and as long as people are afraid of this virus life is definitely not going to return to normal. In fact, every “shelter-in-place” order in America could be lifted tomorrow and economic activity would not rebound even close to previous levels because a large percentage of the population would still be extremely hesitant to leave their own homes. As coronavirus survivors tell us stories of the hellish ordeals that they have endured, an increasing number of Americans are finally realizing how dangerous this crisis has become. If you have asthma, a history of respiratory problems or other serious underlying health conditions, I strongly recommend that you do everything in your power to avoid catching this virus. The global death toll is more than nine times larger than it was back on March 1st, and you do not want to become a statistic.

Here in the United States, we now have more confirmed cases than anywhere else in the world. If you would have told me at the beginning of this month that the U.S. would be the first nation to 100,000 confirmed cases, I would have laughed at you. And even though about half the country is currently under some sort of a “shelter-in-place” order, the virus just keeps on spreading. In fact, the number of confirmed cases in the United States has doubled in just three days…

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 Friday, doubling in just three days as the pandemic accelerates and the U.S. rolls out broader testing measures.

Data from Johns Hopkins University showed the total number of coronavirus cases as 101,707 and the total number of deaths in the U.S. as 1,544.

We had better hope that the measures that have already been implemented will start to slow down this rate of growth, because otherwise every healthcare system in America will soon be completely overwhelmed.

Of course this has already happened in New York, and now other hotspots across the country are starting to become major problems.

Trump Signs Corporate Bailout Bill: A Measure That Will Live in Infamy – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 28 maart 2020in signs, Trump

28-03-20 04:52:00,

Congress, the Trump regime, and Wall Street owned and operated Fed conspired to hand monied interests trillions of dollars of free money.

Ordinary people are getting crumbs when millions are being laid off at a time of growing economic duress along with a public health emergency.

They need substantial help, including medical care, but aren’t getting it from Washington’s criminal class.

Both of its right wings are indifferent toward ordinary people at all times, including when help is most needed.

This week, Congress rammed through an economic stimulus package that features bailouts for corporate America and large investors, ordinary people getting short shrift.

The measure was unanimously passed by the Senate, the House by voice vote, in both chambers with minimal debate.

According to Americans for Tax Fairness, the bill largely benefits business, saying:

It’s “ill-focused and unnecessarily costly, spending a lot of taxpayer dollars to aid companies that may not be particularly impacted by the economic emergency.”

The Tax Policy Center explained that “payments to as many as 150 million households” may take “months” to arrive when help is needed now.

Self-styled progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the measure during House debate, but did nothing to stall the measure by demanding a roll call vote to improve it for ordinary Americans.

Nor did other House and Senate progressives in name only, notably Bernie Sanders.

He failed to demand greater help for Americans in need instead of a “no-strings-attached bailout to corporate CEOs and bankers on Wall Street” he rhetorically opposed, then voted to hand them hundreds of billions of dollars of free money.

Right-wing Republican Thomas Massie alone tried and failed to force a voice vote. Trump called him a “third rate grandstander.”

“Throw Massie out” of the party, he tweeted. The ghost of John Kerry reappeared, slamming Massie via Twitter as follows:

“Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an a..hole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity (sic).”

“He’s given new meaning to the term #Masshole. (Finally, something the president and I can agree on!)”

Both right wings of the one-party state support privileged interests at the expense of peace,

The Greatest Depression

Posted by EN-AGon 28 maart 2020in Depression, Greatest

28-03-20 12:27:00,

Skip to content

Antroposofisch tijdschrift voor politieke en maatschappelijke vraagstukken van deze tijd

Search for:

404

We are sorry, but the page you are looking for does not exist. Maybe try a search?

Zoeken naar:

Coronavirus Epidemic in America? Can We Trust the Data? How Much Does it Cost to Get a COVID-19 Test? – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 28 maart 2020in Coronavirus, epidemic

28-03-20 08:56:00,

So much discussion among virologists regarding the number of COVID-19 “confirmed cases” in the USA. The fact of the matter, is that the existing data base under the helm of the CDC is totally unreliable. Why? Because people across America cannot afford to pay for the corona virus test. Which means that millions of Americans who might have the COVID-19 virus are simply not accounted for.

The latest figures from the CDC (March 27, 2020) suggest that at least 85,356 people are “known to have been infected” with the coronavirus. There are at the time of writing more than 1,246 recorded deaths in the US attributed to the coronavirus. (ie. more cases than in China or Italy).

Where and How do they collect the data?

The CDC refers to “Reported Cases”: It lumps “presumptive cases” with “confirmed cases” of COVID-19. It is an absolute mess with regard to categorization and integration of local, State and federal data collection.

The presumptive positive data does not confirm coronavirus infection: Presumptive testing involves “chemical analysis of a sample that establishes the possibility that a substance is present“(emphasis added). But it does not confirm coronavirus infection. Yet the CDC adds it to the “confirmed cases” category.

The presumptive test must then be sent for confirmation to an accredited government health lab.

A confirmatory testing implies “identification of the specific substance [coronvirus] through further chemical analysis.”

It is worth noting that the WHO does not tabulate presumptive data, which means that the CDC data is totally at odds with the criteria of the WHO. It is what we might call sloppy statistics.

Millions of Americans simply cannot afford to pay for the test, which means that the official data is totally unreliable. And if they are infected, they cannot afford followup medical treatment.

The richest country on planet earth does not have a public health system. It follows that there are many COVID-19 tested (positive) cases which then go untreated, thereby contributing to the relentless transmission of the virus.

Coronavirus Testing

In an essentially private healthcare system, can I afford to get the test?

With Heroes Like This, Who Needs Villains?

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in Heroes, Needs

27-03-20 08:20:00,

Via SchiffGold.com,

According to Owen Ullmann in an op-ed published by USA Today, there are some unsung “heroes” in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic – the brave and courageous bankers at the Federal Reserve.

I think Ulmann misspelled “villains.”

Ulmann writes that the Fed “has taken extraordinary steps to prevent the global economy from crashing into irreversible catastrophe as business around the world grinds to a virtual halt.”

This is like praising the arsonist for trying to put out the fire he set by throwing more gasoline on it.

The Fed certainly has taken extraordinary steps. Just a few days ago, it announced QE infinity. It committed to buy an “unlimited” amount of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. It also announced a new program to buy corporate bonds for the first time ever.

In Ulmann’s Keynesian wonderland this is fantastic news.

The Fed can create unlimited amounts of dollars — that’s right, trillions, if required — to ensure that banks have enough funds to make emergency loans to businesses large and small.”

Yes indeed. Printing new money out of thin air so companies, governments and individuals already drowning in debt can borrow more money is the prescription for saving the economy! Free money for everybody!

According to his bio, Ulmann has been covering the Federal Reserve for more than 40 years. Given that fact, it’s staggering that he could remain so completely oblivious to the fact that these very same policies set up the 2008 financial crisis and that the Fed doubled-down after the 2008 crash to blow up an even bigger bubble to set up the meltdown we’re witnessing today. In simplest terms, the Fed wrecks the economy over and over again. Easy money created by the Fed blows up bubbles. Bubbles pop and set off a crisis. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

Meanwhile, the Ulmanns of the world cheer on this monetary malfeasance perched on a throne of ignorance.

Ulmann said because the Federal Reserve is “an independent agency” (I could write an entire article on the absurdity of calling politically connected bankers “independent.”) the central banks “can move immediately and with creativity.”

The Fed certainly did move immediately.

Covid-19 Hysteria Vs. Your Actual (Very Low) Chance of Dying | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in COVID-, hysteria

27-03-20 08:17:00,

You don’t have permission to access /2020/03/27/covid-19-hysteria-vs-your-actual-very-low-chance-of-dying/
on this server.

Manufactured Pandemic: Testing People for Any Strain of a Coronavirus, Not Specifically for COVID-19 – Global Research

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in Manufactured, Pandemic

27-03-20 05:14:00,

The following is from a medical forum. The writer, who is a widely respected professional scientist in the US, prefers to stay anonymous, because presenting any narrative different than the official one can cause you a lot of stress in the toxic environment caused by the scam which surrounds COVID-19 these days. – Julian Rose

***

I work in the healthcare field. Here’s the problem, we are testing people for any strain of a Coronavirus. Not specifically for COVID-19. There are no reliable tests for a specific COVID-19 virus. There are no reliable agencies or media outlets for reporting numbers of actual COVID-19 virus cases. This needs to be addressed first and foremost. Every action and reaction to COVID-19 is based on totally flawed data and we simply can not make accurate assessments.

This is why you’re hearing that most people with COVID-19 are showing nothing more than cold/flu like symptoms. That’s because most Coronavirus strains are nothing more than cold/flu like symptoms. The few actual novel Coronavirus cases do have some worse respiratory responses, but still have a very promising recovery rate, especially for those without prior issues.

The ‘gold standard’ in testing for COVID-19 is laboratory isolated/purified coronavirus particles free from any contaminants and particles that look like viruses but are not, that have been proven to be the cause of the syndrome known as COVID-19 and obtained by using proper viral isolation methods and controls (not the PCR that is currently being used or Serology /antibody tests which do not detect virus as such). PCR basically takes a sample of your cells and amplifies any DNA to look for ‘viral sequences’, i.e. bits of non-human DNA that seem to match parts of a known viral genome.

The problem is the test is known not to work.

It uses ‘amplification’ which means taking a very very tiny amount of DNA and growing it exponentially until it can be analyzed. Obviously any minute contaminations in the sample will also be amplified leading to potentially gross errors of discovery.

Additionally, it’s only looking for partial viral sequences, not whole genomes, so identifying a single pathogen is next to impossible even if you ignore the other issues.

Devastating Revelations About the Truth Behind the Destruction of MH17 | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in Devastating, Revelations

27-03-20 05:07:00,

On 17 July 2014 MH 17, a Malaysian airlines flight en route from Amsterdam in The Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was shot down while in transit over Ukrainian airspace.

Although there were no admissions as to culpability and at least initially very little factual data available, it did not stop an immediate blame game being promoted by the Dutch, Ukrainian and Australian governments. The Netherlands (189 citizens on board) and Australia (27 citizens plus some non-citizen residents), were together with the Malaysians (44 citizens) the countries to suffer the greatest losses.

An inquiry group was immediately set up. This was the first clue that the investigation was not destined simply to establish what had happened, but had wider geo political motives. The inquiry group consisted of the Netherlands, Australia, Ukraine and Belgium. The last named country lost only one citizen. In the absence of any plausible reason for including that country, the fact that it serves as NATO headquarters in what was turning out to be a major anti-Russian exercise is the probable reason for their inclusion.

The inclusion of Ukraine was even less understandable. As the country over which the disaster occurred it was an obvious candidate for the suspect list of being responsible for what was manifestly not an accident but a deliberate destruction of a civilian airliner, and hence the murder of all those on board.

That this was not going to be an honest and objective inquiry into the shooting down of MH 17 was reinforced by the fact that the four original nations signed a secret non-disclosure agreement, the key component of which for present purposes was that there would be no public announcements unless all four nations unanimously agreed. This must be the first time in recorded history where a potential prime suspect is given a veto over the investigation.

The other factor that raised suspicion among independent analysts was that the existence of this agreement was not widely publicised. To this author’s knowledge, it has never been publicised in the Australian mainstream media.

The Malaysians, whose plane it was, refused to sign that agreement. They were initially excluded from the official inquiry, although as we now know, they instigated their own investigation.

Zen and Willem Report on the Unfolding Madness Around the World – Activist Post

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in report, Willem

27-03-20 05:02:00,

By Willem Felderof

Activist Post Editor’s Note: One of the familiar refrains from the establishment is that “we are all in this together.” Yet, much of the establishment will not be as gravely affected by the consequences of government decisions as the rest of us. One of our missions is to bring personal stories and perspectives to light about how a variety of individuals are coping with this madness from around the world.

Zen Gardner is in Latin America and Willem Felderof is in Europe to bring their views of what is happening on the ground in the real world amid the corona chaos and the changing dynamics in society.

Image: Pixabay

Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.

Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.

Why Washington’s COVID-19 Relief Package Must Be Stopped!

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in COVID-, Washingtons

27-03-20 01:48:00,

Authored by Mike Whitney via The Unz Review,

The Senate’s $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package is not fiscal stimulus and it’s not a lifeline for the tens of millions of working people who have suddenly lost their jobs. It’s a fundamental restructuring of the US economy designed to strengthen the grip of the corrupt corporate-banking oligarchy while creating a permanent underclass that will be forced to work for slave wages. This isn’t stimulus, it’s shock therapy.

Who can survive on $1,200 for one, two or three months time? And what happens to the millions of people who paid no taxes last year? Are they supposed to scrape by on nothing? Congress knows that most households live paycheck to paycheck. With no savings how will they pay the rent, the electric bill, the phone and the cable? Congress is quibbling over an extra $600 per month unemployment for those who are lucky enough to get it, when most people are just trying to figure out how they’re going to survive, how they’re going to pay the mortgage, when they’ll be able to go back to work, and whether their job will still be there when this nightmare is finally over?

Did you know that “if you don’t already have direct-deposit information on file with the IRS from previous tax returns, you won’t get the emergency funds for up to 4 months”? That means millions of people will have zero income for 4 months! What will become of them? Where will they go? Who will provide them with shelter and food? Shouldn’t congress be asking these questions?

And what happens to the 50% of the American people who had less than $400 saved before the crisis hit? What happens to them when they fall between the cracks and lose their apartments, lose their jobs, and lose their ability to maintain their tenuous standard of living? These people will never regain their financial footing. Never. It’s a death sentence. We’re going to see an explosion of homelessness, drug addiction, depression, alcoholism, suicide and crime unlike anything this country has ever seen before. Are the imbeciles in congress so blind that they can’t see that they’re condemning a large part of the population to permanent,

Israel to deploy army to help enforce Covid-19 lockdown

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in Deploy, Israel

27-03-20 12:29:00,

Israel will deploy its army to help police enforce the coronavirus lockdown in the country, as people are told to stay at home and businesses are closed down.

A partial lockdown that was already in place was made even stricter earlier this week, with people being required to stay within 100 meters of their homes and to stay at home as much as possible, with the threat of fines or prosecution for violating the rules.

In line with many other countries, gatherings have also been banned and schools shut down.

Now the army will come in to help enforce the rules.

We are preparing to allocate 500 soldiers to assist in limiting the spread of #COVID19, as requested by @israelpolice & approved by the government.From Sunday, IDF troops will be assisting police teams with patrolling, isolating & securing areas in Israel.#StayHome

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 27, 2020

The restrictions are hitting the Israeli economy hard, with the state’s central bank projecting the economy will shrink by 2.5 percent this year.
Israel has been trying to form a government for many months now, after it went to the polls for the third time in less than two years.

Also on rt.com
Gantz elected Israel’s parliament speaker, moves closer to unity govt with Netanyahu

Now, however, opposition leader Benny Gantz said on Thursday that there could be a unity government to deal with the pandemic, potentially ending the political gridlock.

So far Israel has reported over 3,000 infections, with 10 deaths.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

Syrian Peace Process Beginning to Look Realistic | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AGon 27 maart 2020in Peace, Syrian

27-03-20 12:14:00,

Nine years have already passed since the first anti-government protests of Syria’s civil uprising, the so-called “Arab Spring”, organized from overseas by those pulling the strings in the Middle East and North Africa and broken up by the police. This civil uprising phase is said to have marked the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. According to the Spanish online newspaper Público, the West played a crucial role by intervening in the initial stage of the conflict in the Siege of Daraa, which would lead to the escalation of the Syrian conflict into a full-blown civil war. The newspaper goes on to describe how the United States and their allies armed and bankrolled a tiny minority they called “moderate rebels”, and gave the green light to countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to do the same.

Over the years, the civilian population in Syria have suffered terrible losses, and their country’s infrastructure and economy have been left in ruins. The situation has also been made worse by terrorist activities carried out by DAESH and affiliated militants, as well as openly subversive and aggressive policy of the US, a country which is still trying to use militants and various extremist groups to shamelessly plunder Syria’s national assets and energy resources to this day.

The obsession Ankara later developed with protecting its borders with Syria and preventing the Syrian Kurds from establishing their own state on the border with Turkey did nothing to help stabilize the situation in Syria. The United States, Britain and France actually began to direct their trilateral aggression against Syria under the flimsy pretext of protecting the Syrian people from President Bashar al-Assad’s “apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians.” Saudi Arabia joined them, along with a few other Arab countries that intervened in the Syrian conflict under the pretext of protecting the “Sunni” presence in the face of Iranian “Shiite” expansion, and in order to combat the Iranian influence on Syrian territory.

The measures taken by the international community in conjunction with the Syrian authorities to stabilize the situation in the country and bring an end to the bloodshed did not produce any significant results for a long time. Their only significant achievement was probably the decisive victory over DAESH terrorists in Syria and in the Middle East as a whole,