activistpost--2020-09-22--Melbourne Police Surround & Arrest 2 Elderly Women Resting On Park Bench For “COVID Violation”

“ Victoria Police have lost all commonsense , ” one Australian eyewitness quipped upon posting a video showing police telling a 38-week pregnant woman she can ’ t sit down due to coronavirus and social distancing enforcement measures .
It ’ s one of many recent viral videos to come out of Australia ’ s southeast state of Victoria , home to Melbourne , showing absurd “ crackdowns ” by police for alleged coronavirus policy violators .
“ As a pregnant woman I can ’ t sit in the park ?
” the incredulous woman whose story was covered widely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers who harassed her .
Apparently not… because COVID .
“ You can only be out of your house for one of four reasons , ” the officer responded .
“ One of those would be exercise .
Sitting in a park is not one of the four reasons.
” The woman reasoned , “ So , I ’ m pregnant and obviously my exercise is limited because I have to walk I ’ m now puffed out because I ’ m 38 weeks pregnant .
So , even I can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right ?
” “ You can only be out for one of the four reasons , ” the officer asserted , explaining that her designated one-hour of exercise outdoors still includes certain restrictions ( as if free citizens are under a prison regimen ! )
.
But the above scene which unfolded earlier this month is nothing compared to another recent moment caught on video of police surrounding two old ladies resting on a park bench in Melbourne .
This one made national media in Australia and is still going viral across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week of September : Here ’ s how national news source news.com.au described the scene unfold : Dramatic footage has captured a bizarre stand-off between five police officers and two elderly women sitting on a Melbourne park bench .
The video posted to YouTube on Sunday showed the officers surrounding the two women as one of them said firmly : “ No , I ’ m not standing up ” .
“ On what grounds am I under arrest ?
This is unlawful , ” the woman said .
The officers snatched a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women as soon as she took it out to start recording the encounter .
They were then threatened with arrest for allegedly refusing to show identification – all because police literally wouldn ’ t let them sit down to rest , supposedly in violation of coronavirus measures .
In yet another incident police entered a pregnant woman ’ s home and arrested her for merely planning an anti-lockdown protest on Facebook .
This also unfolded in Victoria .
Protests have sprung up in various major cities across the Australian continent over authorities ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by these and other incidents are among the most stringent and far-reaching in the world .
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By Tyler Durden
“Victoria Police have lost all commonsense,” one Australian eyewitness quipped upon posting a video showing police telling a 38-week pregnant woman she can’t sit down due to coronavirus and social distancing enforcement measures.
It’s one of many recent viral videos to come out of Australia’s southeast state of Victoria, home to Melbourne, showing absurd “crackdowns” by police for alleged coronavirus policy violators. “As a pregnant woman I can’t sit in the park?” the incredulous woman whose story was covered widely in local media asked the couple of officers who harassed her.
Apparently not… because COVID. “You can only be out of your house for one of four reasons,” the officer responded. “One of those would be exercise. Sitting in a park is not one of the four reasons.”
We all ready knew it but now it’s confirmed. Victoria Police have lost all commonsense. Apparently 38 week pregnant women can’t stop for a breather on a park bench. pic.twitter.com/6RGI9GhN8f — Damo Pelham🦈 (@DamoPelham) September 10, 2020
The woman reasoned, “So, I’m pregnant and obviously my exercise is limited because I have to walk I’m now puffed out because I’m 38 weeks pregnant. So, even I can’t sit in a park, is that right?”
“You can only be out for one of the four reasons,” the officer asserted, explaining that her designated one-hour of exercise outdoors still includes certain restrictions (as if free citizens are under a prison regimen!).
But the above scene which unfolded earlier this month is nothing compared to another recent moment caught on video of police surrounding two old ladies resting on a park bench in Melbourne.
This one made national media in Australia and is still going viral across the world after it happened during the first week of September:
Truly disgusting 🤬 – I thought we were supposed to be looking after our elderly? How many cops for two little old ladies? https://t.co/yb9R6nEIsd pic.twitter.com/wHqzT5HdG4 — val glass (@AussieVal10) September 5, 2020
Here’s how national news source news.com.au described the scene unfold:
Dramatic footage has captured a bizarre stand-off between five police officers and two elderly women sitting on a Melbourne park bench. The video posted to YouTube on Sunday showed the officers surrounding the two women as one of them said firmly: “No, I’m not standing up”. “On what grounds am I under arrest? This is unlawful,” the woman said.
The officers snatched a mobile phone from one of the elderly women as soon as she took it out to start recording the encounter.
They were then threatened with arrest for allegedly refusing to show identification – all because police literally wouldn’t let them sit down to rest, supposedly in violation of coronavirus measures.
In yet another incident police entered a pregnant woman’s home and arrested her for merely planning an anti-lockdown protest on Facebook.
A young mum who was arrested at her Ballarat home over a 'Freedom Day' protest says she plans to fight her incitement charge. Zoe Buhler's arrest sparked international outrage as it was live-streamed on Facebook, but a top cop has defended the move. | @JaydeCotic pic.twitter.com/ohOwKzRryK — 10 News First Melbourne (@10NewsFirstMelb) September 3, 2020
This also unfolded in Victoria.
“Pregnant mum Zoe Buhler’s arrest is dictatorial and dangerous.” Great piece by Caroline Overington. https://t.co/HRCsxRSpng — Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) September 3, 2020
Protests have sprung up in various major cities across the Australian continent over authorities’ ultra-restrictive coronavirus lockdown measures, which judging by these and other incidents are among the most stringent and far-reaching in the world.
Source: Zerohedge
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activistpost--2020-09-24--Conflicted Barr, Clayton, Greg Werkheiser/MNAT Protect Sachs and Bain Cap. Rackets

Since the beginning , POTUS Trump has signed Executive Orders that have , no pun intended , trumped America .
Trump is “ grifting ” things by conflicts waivers , whereas USAG Barr is now on the record stating : “ What exactly am I interfering with ?
” Barr asked during a recent speech at a college .
“ Under the law , all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general.
” Barr is one to speak about ethics when there ’ s an obvious conflict of interest of Barr previously being a partner of Kirkland and Ellis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal .
But Trump has arranged that Barr is “ ethically waived.
” Although there ’ s an ongoing international crisis , one of the biggest ongoing issues , for decades , has been the business practices of Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital bankrupting companies .
As this reporter has been detailing ( here and here and here ) , even before Toys R Us filed bankruptcy , it is observable that Sachs and Bain have been causing catastrophic multi-billion-dollar losses for investors and creditors .
Organized crimes are compounded by the massive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Under USAG Barr , SEC Jay Clayton and the Delaware Federal system of justice , willful blindness has placed the United States economy and its systems of justice , in peril .
Trump and USAG Barr have some splain ’ n to do .
Whistleblower Laser Haas in his quest for eToys justice has helped bust up several law firms , including Dreier LLP , Traub Bonacquist & Fox and he is currently working on helping to hold both Pierce Bainbridge and MNAT to account .
Trump golfed with Jay Clayton after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proof that Jay Clayton , Colm Connolly and Steven Peikin have buried Sachs and Bain Capital cases from being investigated or prosecuted .
USAG Barr then pushed out SDNY and EDNY U.S .
Attorneys to pave the way for SEC Chairman Jay Clayton to be demoted to SDNY US Attorney ( a place many claim Clayton is unqualified for ) ; and Trump gave Goldman Sachs conflicted USAG Barr a Sachs Malaysia 1MDB waiver .
The next thing we see is – poof – Malaysia drops criminal charges against Goldman Sachs execs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( see this reporter ’ s recent article on Peikin here ) and MNAT partner , Greg Werkheiser , recently fled to Benesch Law !
For 20 years , Goldman Sachs personnel and lawyers have been partners with Bain Capital personnel and lawyers , doing white collar organized crimes ( racketeering ) that have completely destroyed most iconic retail toy stores .
More than 50,000 plus jobs are gone with the plotted Bust Out demise of many toy industry companies such as Kay-Bee , Zainy Brainy , Jumbo Sports , Gymboree , FAO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Greg Werkheiser and his conflicted associated parties helped make all that happen .
It began back in 1999 when the Delaware law firm of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell ( MNAT ) was part of the scheme to defraud Mattel investors of $ 4 billion via the merger of The Learning Company with MNAT involved ( see my previous article here ) .
Goldman Sachs helped Bain Capital , Mitt Romney and Thomas Lee Partners get involved with Learning for $ 38 million .
At that time , $ 38 million turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner “ revolving door ” federal prosecutor , Colm Felix Connolly ( now promoted to be a Trump Judge ) , was the Delaware Assistant United States Attorney who had clerked for 3rd Circuit Judge Walter K Stapleton .
Judge Stapleton also was a partner of MNAT !
Resultant of the probable cooked books scheme that defrauded Mattel investors of $ 4 billion , the Bain Capital contingency reportedly received 12 million shares of Mattel stock , which was likely a part of the plot to march toward ownership of Toys R Us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ client , eToys of a billion dollars when eToys went public in 1999 ( see NYT March 2013 article “ Rigging the I.P.O .
Game ” here ) .
Delaware United States Attorney Richard Andrews ’ office was refusing to investigate or prosecute Goldman Sachs or Bain Capital for Mattel and eToys ’ case ; thus as when Colm Connolly switched sides from working as a prosecutor under Andrews so that Colm Connolly could become a partner of MNAT .
Connolly was an MNAT partner from 1999 , until August 2001 ( see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
After getting inside Mattel , Bain Capital continued its march towards Toys R Us by first acquiring Kay-Bee and stiffing Big Lots of near $ 100 million .
Due to Mattel and eToys being defrauded of billions of dollar , and Bain Capital needing to steal even more in order to buy Toys R Us , a plan was hatched to put eToys into bankruptcy ( even though eToys was not insolvent ) .
Meanwhile , Mitt Romney bankrupted his Stage Stores entity , which was formulated by Michael Milken ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help Romney/Bain Capital with a recent pardon for Milken ( see Trump Pardons Romney ’ s Fraudster Michael Milken ) .
A conflicted judge allowed Michael Milken ’ s junk bond monies to stay in place whilst the judge ’ s wife was partners in Stage Store ’ s formation ( see Rolling Stone ‘ s September 2012 cover story by Matt Taibbi titled “ Greed and Debt ” ) .
Rolling Stone ‘ s Taibbi has spurned his source ( Laser Haas ) and that caused Taibbi to miss any important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simultaneously CEO of Kay-Bee and a Director at Stage Stores ) .
Barry Gold was Glazer ’ s executive assistant at Stage Stores who hired Paul Traub ’ s law firm to work for Stage ’ s bankruptcy case .
MNAT then placed eToys into bankruptcy ; and Greg Werkheiser was MNAT ’ s partner court-appointed as eToys Debtor ’ s counsel ; and Werkheiser was the person Chief Judge Walrath appointed as Laser Haas counsel for filing eToys ’ case paperwork .
Paul Traub ’ s law firm snuck into eToys by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so that Traub could become the court-appointed eToys Creditors counsel .
Problem is , MNAT/Werkheiser was working for Mattel/Bain Capital/Learning Company and Traub was working for Stage Stores/Bain Cap/ Kay-Bee CEO Glazer prior to MNAT/Werkheiser/Traub moving over to the eToys cases .
By transitive logic of … .
if A=B and B=C , then A=C – and that means Goldman Sachs , Bain Capital – Mattel , Werkheiser/ MNAT , Colm Connolly , Paul Traub , Barry Gold , Michael Glazer , and Kay-Bee – are one and the same – eToys case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proves both SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and SEC top enforcer Steven Peikin have serious conflicts of interest , which have become impeachable issues due to the fact both Clayton and Peikin have been willfully blind to the eToys-related cases .
This is why Toys R Us was deliberately destroyed !
Paul Traub ’ s deceits were just as serious an illegal issue as they could be , because Traub worked under Bain Capital , Barry Gold , and Kay-Bee CEO Michael Glazer – who all were at Stage Stores .
Werkheiser ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Bain Capital , Barry Gold and Michael Glazer all moved over to eToys – lying under oath – to conceal the fact MNAT & Traub ’ s law firm ’ s many conflicts included their direct connections to Mattel , Goldman Sachs , Bain Capital , Michael Glazer , and Kay-Bee .
It was the plan of the perpetrators to sell eToys billion-dollar company to Bain Capital/Kay-Bee for a mere $ 5.4 million ; but that plot was foiled by ‘ Laser the Liquidator ’ .
Laser , as court-appointed fiduciary CEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ larceny going on , in the millions of dollars ; Laser reported his findings of the many schemes to eToys VPs David Haddad and David Gatto .
Laser also reported his findings to eToys Debtor ’ s counsel , Greg Werkheiser of MNAT ; and Haas also reported the crimes to Federal authorities and eToys Creditors counsel Paul Traub .
Being that Laser was the only non-conspirator – things began to blow up as the racketeers began to panic .
Making matters worse , eToys VP David Haddad was one of the parties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cash , of eToys , in London .
Haddad ’ s ploy should have resulted in criminal prosecution .
But due to the fact that neither eToys Debtor ’ s counsel of MNAT ’ s Greg Werkheiser , nor Creditors counsel Paul Traub wanted to upset their masters of Goldman Sachs & Bain Capital – MNAT/ Werkheiser partner , Colm Connolly , made sure the prosecutions never occurred .
David Haddad also was another ace-in-the-hole for the criminal conspiracy , because Haddad also had been the President of Mattel ’ s Media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pay tens of millions of dollars for eToys assets ; and Laser even had a merger planned with Scholastic .
Laser ’ s success of getting higher sales prices frustrated the many Machiavellian schemes running amok – and this is when the crooks tried to bribe Laser Haas .
The scheme to bribe Lased failed when he turned down the bribery offer – and reported the bribery attempt – to the Delaware Department of Justice .
Unfortunately , along with Laser being unaware that both Werkheiser and Traub were partners in crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subsequently unaware that David Haddad was colluding with Mattel , Sachs , and Bain Capital to permanently destroy eToys public company .
Compounding all of those schemes and artifices to defraud their court-approved clients , there was the additional burden upon justice that Greg Werkheiser MNAT partner ( Colm Connolly ) had switched sides to go back to the DOJ .
Colm Connolly then became Delaware United States Attorney , as sole authority , who continued to bury Mattel , Fingerhut , Kay-Bee , and eToys cases from investigation or prosecution .
Then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MNAT forged Laser ’ s eToys resignation paperwork .
Upon sneaking the forgery into the court docket – the racketeers then inserted Barry Gold into Laser ’ s position as President/CEO of eToys – doing so without disclosing Barry Gold worked under Glazer whilst Barry Gold was partners of Paul Traub .
Transitive logic points out the fact that being MNAT/Werkheiser worked for Sachs & Bain Capital , with Barry Gold furtively in Laser ’ s seat as the new head of eToys , and being represented by MNAT/ Werkheiser – whilst Barry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner , ( where Traub is supposed to be opposite eToys and its CEO as Mattel/ Creditors counsel ) – then there was no good faith/ “ arm ’ s length ” between eToys Debtors and Creditors .
In 2001 , Laser authorized eToys suing Goldman Sachs in New York Supreme Court for the billion dollars Sachs ripped eToys off when Sachs took eToys public .
With Laser out of the picture , Barry Gold and MNAT nominated their partner in crimes – Paul Traub – to be the guy to sue Goldman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In 2005 , Laser compelled Paul Traub to confess that Traub and Barry Gold were partners in Asset Disposition Advisors , formed in April 2001 .
Traub also confessed that Barry Gold was a paid person from Traub ’ s law firm .
Also in 2005 , Greg Werkheiser ’ s MNAT law firm confessed that MNAT failed to disclose Goldman Sachs also was a client of MNAT .
In other words , when Werkheiser was helping Barry Gold and Paul Traub defraud eToys – in essence – Goldman Sachs was suing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billion dollars , a second time !
Confident they were getting away totally scot-free ( the bandits having their other ace-in-the-hole of MNAT partner , Colm Connolly , being THE United States Attorney , in Delaware ) , the culprits knew Colm Connolly would assure the DOJ never would allow a case against Werkheiser/MNAT/Traub – or their secret clients of Goldman Sachs , Bain Capital , and Mattel .
When you are Al Capone ( Bain , Sachs , MNAT/Werkheiser ) protected from indictments – because your Frank Nitti buddy ( Colm Connolly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases – then the racketeers steal bigger and faster from as many as they can .
Whereas Mattel , Traub , and Werkheiser have helped Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital fleece billions and totally destroy Kay-Bee , Zainy Brainy , Jumbo Sports , FAO Schwarz , Gymboree , Toys R Us , and eToys .
But Trump , USAG Barr , and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton think they can let the crooks slither away into unjustly enriched retirement ( like Romney has done parking Sankaty mega millions – offshore – in Bermuda ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being fraud partners of Marc Dreier ( doing 20 years in prison ) , and Traub got away with being “ control ” partners of Tom Petters Ponzi ( Tom doing 50 years ) .
The schemers escalated the amounts they fleece .
If you will look again at Rolling Stone ‘ s “ Greed and Debt ” article by Taibbi – the parties escalated their bribery schemes .
Michael Glazer paid himself $ 18 million and Glazer paid Bain Capital $ 83 million – prior to Michael filing bankruptcy of Kay-Bee .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of its deceit in eToys , and Traub confessed international lies under oath about Barry Gold – it was at this time Laser blew the whistle on the Kay-Bee Toys case of the $ 100 million dollar fraud .
Illegally , Greg Werkheiser ’ s MNAT was representing eToys against Bain Capital – whilst MNAT was also in the Kay-Bee case representing Bain Capital concerning the $ 100 million fraudulent conveyance .
Making matters even worse , MNAT partner Colm Connolly was the Delaware US Attorney , and Paul Roy Traub was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Glazer and Bain Capital ( as Traub concealed the fact he worked under Bain and Glazer at Stage Stores ) .
Traub partners also worked both sides of Okun 1031 Tax Group ( Ed Okun died after getting 100 years in prison ) .
Paul Traub has since changed company names to Consilium , whilst Barry Gold seems to have vanished .
During his pursuits for justice , Laser has blown the whistle on many other of the Goldman Sachs , Bain Capital/Traub cases ; and he also helps others fighting crooked law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hold his 6th law firm accountable : Pierce Bainbridge .
Pierce Bainbridge has downsized from 70 lawyers to 10 ( including listing clients like Tulsi Gabbard , Rudy Giuliani , and Michael Avenatti ) after Pierce associate lawyer , Don Lewis , refused to do crimes and was retaliated upon ( in a similar fashion that MNAT , Traub , and Werkheiser have retaliated upon Laser Haas ) .
Laser also suffered as his daughter was abducted shortly after his own lawyer emailed a Traub law firm partner a threat that Laser @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or else !
Paul Roy Traub had an additional ace-in-the-hole with Larry Reynolds being involved with Traub , whilst Paul was in “ control ” of Tom Petters Ponzi .
Larry Reynolds was sitting 25 feet away from Laser , at another company Laser was saving , during the eToys cases ( where Lasef kept his backups of eToys files , locked away ) .
Whilst Larry Reynolds was sitting a short distance from Laser , Reynolds was laundering $ 12 billion dollars for Tom Petters Ponzi ( controlled by Paul Traub ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was Larry Reservitz , who laundered $ 12 billion dollars – while also being inside the federal government ’ s Witness Protection Program .
Inexplicably , due to people being willfully blind , like USAG Barr and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton , such seems to be the reason it takes 20 years to bring down fraudsters like Allen Stanford , Marc Dreier , Scott Rothstein ( linked to Petters via Discala ) Tom Petters , Ed Okun , and Bernie Madoff .
Laser has well-documented hundreds of racketeering crimes , including mayhem and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and SEC federal government agents refuse to address the readily apparent organized crimes .
Greg Werkheiser has moved to a new Benesch law firm and has received emails from Laser Haas .
Despite Laser begging Werkheiser to be the first to confess his MNAT crimes in eToys , Kay-Bee , Fingerhut , Mattel , Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs cases – Greg Werkheiser remains silent at his new home of Benesch Law .
So Laser forced Greg ’ s wife , Rachael Werkheiser , to have her name redacted as an assistant to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Additionally , Laser already forced Paul Traub to be booted away from the Gordon Brothers and Epstein Becker & Green law firm .
MNAT is likely to be the 7th law firm Laser is going to take down , which could be why Greg Werkheiser has chosen to jump ship to Benesch Law ( website here ) .
Perhaps Benesch Law has yet to get the memos .
Laser seems to have aided SEC Chair Jay Clayton and top enforcer Steven Peikin , to jump ship as well ( see my articles on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Steven Peikin here and here ) .
Perhaps Benesch Law is going to wait to see the response to my upcoming story on Colm Connolly ’ s gang seizing – Total Control – of Delaware Federal District Court , which continues to allow Wall Street fraudsters to run amuck .
There are only 4 Federal District Court Judgeships in Delaware ; and though there are 50,000 lawyers in Delaware , the 4 District Court Judgeships belong to – Chief Judge Lenard P. Stark , Court Judge Richard Andrews , Court Judge , Colm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Coincidentally , Leonard Stark was the Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney under Colm Connolly .
DE District Court Judge Richard Andrews was the DE US Attorney from 1999-2001 ; where Andrews filled in for Colm whilst Connolly was a partner of MNAT .
Then there ’ s Colm Connolly former US Attorney/ MNAT and Maryellen Noreika who also was a partner at MNAT .
The entire retail toys industry has been destroyed by Sachs and Bain Capitals RICO gang , with 50,000 plus jobs gone ; and it is obvious Laser can ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , US Trustee or Federal courts to get justice .
Compounding those racketeering crimes , there are several instances of mayhem and homicides Mitt Romney seeks to continue to be “ retroactively ” retired from .
But the shadows know , as does this reporter , that Laser has a new plan ; because the new evidence/smoking guns – continue to be handed to Laser .
In 2005 , Chief Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary F. Walrath published an OPINION ( here ) that warned MNAT/ Werkheiser , Barry Gold , and Paul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conflicts , then the Judge warned that it would be consequential .
To this date , Greg Werkheiser , Paul Traub , and Barry Gold have never disclosed their many direct links ( and many other conflicts of interest ) to Mattel , federal agents , Goldman Sachs , Bain Capital/ Kay-Bee , and Michael Glazer .
Greg Werkheiser/MNAT , Paul Traub , and Barry Gold all argued to the Chief Judge that eToys shareholders should not be allowed an equity committee , because MNAT/Werkheiser , Barry Gold , and MNAT promised they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same time , whilst being questioned on the stand , both Barry Gold and Paul Traub denied being involved with each other .
After successfully blocking eToys shareholders , and being given a warning by the Chief Judge to stay clean , MNAT had eToys Books & Records destroyed ; and then Werkheiser and Barry Gold betrayed their promise to eToys shareholders in a rush to settle eToys v. Goldman Sachs NY Supreme Court billion-dollar case for a paltry $ 7.5 million .
Compounding all that , Laser had sold eToys assets to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dollars , which MNAT/ Greg Werkheiser and Paul Roy Traub reduced the sale prices of .
With the whole gang believing they are protected by a never-ending stream of crony corrupts – like Colm Connolly , James Lackned , Steven Peikin , Ellen Slights , Jay Clayton and new willfully blind USAG Barr who gets a conflicts waiver from the Sachs-conflicted POTUS Trump – the racketeering gangs have more recently slaughtered Gymboree , Fingerhut , Stage Stores , and Toys R Us .
Being that MNAT/Werkheiser , Traub , Glazer , Colm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Barry Gold have never addressed the fact Mattel/Bain Capital were partners with Goldman Sachs in destroying the entire , iconic , retail toys industry – then there ’ s no Statute of Limitations on Laser and the eToys cases .
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By Aaron Kesel
Since the beginning, POTUS Trump has signed Executive Orders that have, no pun intended, trumped America.
Trump is “grifting” things by conflicts waivers, whereas USAG Barr is now on the record stating: “What exactly am I interfering with?” Barr asked during a recent speech at a college. “Under the law, all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general.”
Barr is one to speak about ethics when there’s an obvious conflict of interest with Barr previously being a partner of Kirkland and Ellis which is involved with defending the 1MDB deal.
But Trump has arranged that Barr is “ethically waived.”
Although there’s an ongoing international crisis, one of the biggest ongoing issues, for decades, has been the business practices of Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital bankrupting companies.
As this reporter has been detailing (here and here and here), even before Toys R Us filed bankruptcy, it is observable that Sachs and Bain have been causing catastrophic multi-billion-dollar losses for investors and creditors.
Organized crimes are compounded by the massive loss of employment for the working class.
Under USAG Barr, SEC Jay Clayton and the Delaware Federal system of justice, willful blindness has placed the United States economy and its systems of justice, in peril.
Trump and USAG Barr have some splain’n to do.
Whistleblower Laser Haas in his quest for eToys justice has helped bust up several law firms, including Dreier LLP, Traub Bonacquist & Fox and he is currently working on helping to hold both Pierce Bainbridge and MNAT to account.
Trump golfed with Jay Clayton after this reporter noted Haas found smoking gun proof that Jay Clayton, Colm Connolly and Steven Peikin have buried Sachs and Bain Capital cases from being investigated or prosecuted.
USAG Barr then pushed out SDNY and EDNY U.S. Attorneys to pave the way for SEC Chairman Jay Clayton to be demoted to SDNY US Attorney (a place many claim Clayton is unqualified for); and Trump gave Goldman Sachs conflicted USAG Barr a Sachs Malaysia 1MDB waiver.
The next thing we see is – poof – Malaysia drops criminal charges against Goldman Sachs execs.
Then, Steven Peikin leaves the SEC (see this reporter’s recent article on Peikin here) and MNAT partner, Greg Werkheiser, recently fled to Benesch Law!
For 20 years, Goldman Sachs personnel and lawyers have been partners with Bain Capital personnel and lawyers, doing white collar organized crimes (racketeering) that have completely destroyed most iconic retail toy stores.
More than 50,000 plus jobs are gone with the plotted Bust Out demise of many toy industry companies such as Kay-Bee, Zainy Brainy, Jumbo Sports, Gymboree, FAO Schwarz, Toys R Us & eToys.
Greg Werkheiser and his conflicted associated parties helped make all that happen.
It began back in 1999 when the Delaware law firm of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell (MNAT) was part of the scheme to defraud Mattel investors of $4 billion via the merger of The Learning Company with MNAT involved (see my previous article here).
Goldman Sachs helped Bain Capital, Mitt Romney and Thomas Lee Partners get involved with Learning for $38 million.
At that time, $38 million turned into $4 billion – and MNAT partner “revolving door” federal prosecutor, Colm Felix Connolly (now promoted to be a Trump Judge), was the Delaware Assistant United States Attorney who had clerked for 3rd Circuit Judge Walter K Stapleton.
Judge Stapleton also was a partner of MNAT!
Resultant of the probable cooked books scheme that defrauded Mattel investors of $4 billion, the Bain Capital contingency reportedly received 12 million shares of Mattel stock, which was likely a part of the plot to march toward ownership of Toys R Us.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs defrauded its client, eToys of a billion dollars when eToys went public in 1999 (see NYT March 2013 article “Rigging the I.P.O. Game” here).
Delaware United States Attorney Richard Andrews’ office was refusing to investigate or prosecute Goldman Sachs or Bain Capital for Mattel and eToys’ case; thus as when Colm Connolly switched sides from working as a prosecutor under Andrews so that Colm Connolly could become a partner of MNAT.
Connolly was an MNAT partner from 1999, until August 2001 (see Colm’s DOJ resume here).
After getting inside Mattel, Bain Capital continued its march towards Toys R Us by first acquiring Kay-Bee and stiffing Big Lots of near $100 million.
Due to Mattel and eToys being defrauded of billions of dollar, and Bain Capital needing to steal even more in order to buy Toys R Us, a plan was hatched to put eToys into bankruptcy (even though eToys was not insolvent).
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney bankrupted his Stage Stores entity, which was formulated by Michael Milken’s junk bond monies; and Trump continues to help Romney/Bain Capital with a recent pardon for Milken (see Trump Pardons Romney’s Fraudster Michael Milken).
A conflicted judge allowed Michael Milken’s junk bond monies to stay in place whilst the judge’s wife was partners in Stage Store’s formation (see Rolling Stone‘s September 2012 cover story by Matt Taibbi titled “Greed and Debt”).
Rolling Stone‘s Taibbi has spurned his source (Laser Haas) and that caused Taibbi to miss any important issues (such as Michael Glazer being simultaneously CEO of Kay-Bee and a Director at Stage Stores).
Barry Gold was Glazer’s executive assistant at Stage Stores who hired Paul Traub’s law firm to work for Stage’s bankruptcy case.
MNAT then placed eToys into bankruptcy; and Greg Werkheiser was MNAT’s partner court-appointed as eToys Debtor’s counsel; and Werkheiser was the person Chief Judge Walrath appointed as Laser Haas counsel for filing eToys’ case paperwork.
Paul Traub’s law firm snuck into eToys by numerous lies under oath (confessed) so that Traub could become the court-appointed eToys Creditors counsel.
Problem is, MNAT/Werkheiser was working for Mattel/Bain Capital/Learning Company and Traub was working for Stage Stores/Bain Cap/ Kay-Bee CEO Glazer prior to MNAT/Werkheiser/Traub moving over to the eToys cases.
By transitive logic of …. if A=B and B=C, then A=C – and that means Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital – Mattel, Werkheiser/ MNAT, Colm Connolly, Paul Traub, Barry Gold, Michael Glazer, and Kay-Bee – are one and the same – eToys case gang.
Subsequently, evidence arose that proves both SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and SEC top enforcer Steven Peikin have serious conflicts of interest, which have become impeachable issues due to the fact both Clayton and Peikin have been willfully blind to the eToys-related cases.
This is why Toys R Us was deliberately destroyed!
Paul Traub’s deceits were just as serious an illegal issue as they could be, because Traub worked under Bain Capital, Barry Gold, and Kay-Bee CEO Michael Glazer – who all were at Stage Stores.
Werkheiser’s MNAT firm, along with Paul Traub, Bain Capital, Barry Gold and Michael Glazer all moved over to eToys – lying under oath – to conceal the fact MNAT & Traub’s law firm’s many conflicts included their direct connections to Mattel, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, Michael Glazer, and Kay-Bee.
It was the plan of the perpetrators to sell eToys billion-dollar company to Bain Capital/Kay-Bee for a mere $5.4 million; but that plot was foiled by ‘Laser the Liquidator’.
Laser, as court-appointed fiduciary CEO of eToys, discovered there was grand larceny going on, in the millions of dollars; Laser reported his findings of the many schemes to eToys VPs David Haddad and David Gatto.
Laser also reported his findings to eToys Debtor’s counsel, Greg Werkheiser of MNAT; and Haas also reported the crimes to Federal authorities and eToys Creditors counsel Paul Traub.
Being that Laser was the only non-conspirator – things began to blow up as the racketeers began to panic.
Making matters worse, eToys VP David Haddad was one of the parties who was hiding $2 million dollars of cash, of eToys, in London.
Haddad’s ploy should have resulted in criminal prosecution. But due to the fact that neither eToys Debtor’s counsel of MNAT’s Greg Werkheiser, nor Creditors counsel Paul Traub wanted to upset their masters of Goldman Sachs & Bain Capital – MNAT/ Werkheiser partner, Colm Connolly, made sure the prosecutions never occurred.
David Haddad also was another ace-in-the-hole for the criminal conspiracy, because Haddad also had been the President of Mattel’s Media Division.
Laser had lined up buyers to pay tens of millions of dollars for eToys assets; and Laser even had a merger planned with Scholastic.
Werkheiser and Traub quashed the profitable deals.
Laser’s success of getting higher sales prices frustrated the many Machiavellian schemes running amok – and this is when the crooks tried to bribe Laser Haas.
The scheme to bribe Lased failed when he turned down the bribery offer – and reported the bribery attempt – to the Delaware Department of Justice.
Unfortunately, along with Laser being unaware that both Werkheiser and Traub were partners in crime, breaking the law, Laser was subsequently unaware that David Haddad was colluding with Mattel, Sachs, and Bain Capital to permanently destroy eToys public company.
Compounding all of those schemes and artifices to defraud their court-approved clients, there was the additional burden upon justice that Greg Werkheiser MNAT partner (Colm Connolly) had switched sides to go back to the DOJ.
Colm Connolly then became Delaware United States Attorney, as sole authority, who continued to bury Mattel, Fingerhut, Kay-Bee, and eToys cases from investigation or prosecution.
Then, Greg Werkheiser as a partner of MNAT forged Laser’s eToys resignation paperwork.
Upon sneaking the forgery into the court docket – the racketeers then inserted Barry Gold into Laser’s position as President/CEO of eToys – doing so without disclosing Barry Gold worked under Glazer whilst Barry Gold was partners of Paul Traub.
Transitive logic points out the fact that being MNAT/Werkheiser worked for Sachs & Bain Capital, with Barry Gold furtively in Laser’s seat as the new head of eToys,and being represented by MNAT/ Werkheiser – whilst Barry Gold also was Paul Traub’s partner, (where Traub is supposed to be opposite eToys and its CEO as Mattel/ Creditors counsel) – then there was no good faith/ “arm’s length” between eToys Debtors and Creditors.
In 2001, Laser authorized eToys suing Goldman Sachs in New York Supreme Court for the billion dollars Sachs ripped eToys off when Sachs took eToys public.
With Laser out of the picture, Barry Gold and MNAT nominated their partner in crimes – Paul Traub – to be the guy to sue Goldman Sachs in NY Supreme Court case 601805/2002.
In 2005, Laser compelled Paul Traub to confess that Traub and Barry Gold were partners in Asset Disposition Advisors, formed in April 2001.
Traub also confessed that Barry Gold was a paid person from Traub’s law firm.
Also in 2005, Greg Werkheiser’s MNAT law firm confessed that MNAT failed to disclose Goldman Sachs also was a client of MNAT.
In other words, when Werkheiser was helping Barry Gold and Paul Traub defraud eToys – in essence – Goldman Sachs was suing Goldman Sachs; and eToys lost a billion dollars, a second time!
Confident they were getting away totally scot-free (the bandits having their other ace-in-the-hole of MNAT partner, Colm Connolly, being THE United States Attorney, in Delaware), the culprits knew Colm Connolly would assure the DOJ never would allow a case against Werkheiser/MNAT/Traub – or their secret clients of Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, and Mattel.
When you are Al Capone (Bain, Sachs, MNAT/Werkheiser) protected from indictments – because your Frank Nitti buddy (Colm Connolly) is the federal prosecutor over your cases – then the racketeers steal bigger and faster from as many as they can.
Whereas Mattel, Traub, and Werkheiser have helped Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital fleece billions and totally destroy Kay-Bee, Zainy Brainy, Jumbo Sports, FAO Schwarz, Gymboree, Toys R Us, and eToys.
But Trump, USAG Barr, and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton think they can let the crooks slither away into unjustly enriched retirement (like Romney has done parking Sankaty mega millions – offshore – in Bermuda).
Paul Traub has moved on from being fraud partners of Marc Dreier (doing 20 years in prison), and Traub got away with being “control” partners of Tom Petters Ponzi (Tom doing 50 years).
The schemers escalated the amounts they fleece.
If you will look again at Rolling Stone‘s “Greed and Debt” article by Taibbi – the parties escalated their bribery schemes. Michael Glazer paid himself $18 million and Glazer paid Bain Capital $83 million – prior to Michael filing bankruptcy of Kay-Bee.
In 2005, after MNAT confessed part of its deceit in eToys, and Traub confessed international lies under oath about Barry Gold – it was at this time Laser blew the whistle on the Kay-Bee Toys case of the $100 million dollar fraud.
Illegally, Greg Werkheiser’s MNAT was representing eToys against Bain Capital – whilst MNAT was also in the Kay-Bee case representing Bain Capital concerning the $100 million fraudulent conveyance.
Making matters even worse, MNAT partner Colm Connolly was the Delaware US Attorney, and Paul Roy Traub was the person asking to be the prosecutor of Glazer and Bain Capital (as Traub concealed the fact he worked under Bain and Glazer at Stage Stores).
Traub partners also worked both sides of Okun 1031 Tax Group (Ed Okun died after getting 100 years in prison).
Paul Traub has since changed company names to Consilium, whilst Barry Gold seems to have vanished.
During his pursuits for justice, Laser has blown the whistle on many other of the Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital/Traub cases; and he also helps others fighting crooked law firms.
Currently, Laser is helping to hold his 6th law firm accountable: Pierce Bainbridge.
Pierce Bainbridge has downsized from 70 lawyers to 10 (including listing clients like Tulsi Gabbard, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Avenatti) after Pierce associate lawyer, Don Lewis, refused to do crimes and was retaliated upon (in a similar fashion that MNAT, Traub, and Werkheiser have retaliated upon Laser Haas).
Laser also suffered as his daughter was abducted shortly after his own lawyer emailed a Traub law firm partner a threat that Laser had to “back off” – or else!
Paul Roy Traub had an additional ace-in-the-hole with Larry Reynolds being involved with Traub, whilst Paul was in “control” of Tom Petters Ponzi.
Larry Reynolds was sitting 25 feet away from Laser, at another company Laser was saving, during the eToys cases (where Lasef kept his backups of eToys files, locked away).
Whilst Larry Reynolds was sitting a short distance from Laser, Reynolds was laundering $12 billion dollars for Tom Petters Ponzi (controlled by Paul Traub).
Mr. Reynolds’s actual name was Larry Reservitz, who laundered $12 billion dollars – while also being inside the federal government’s Witness Protection Program.
Inexplicably, due to people being willfully blind, like USAG Barr and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, such seems to be the reason it takes 20 years to bring down fraudsters like Allen Stanford, Marc Dreier, Scott Rothstein (linked to Petters via Discala) Tom Petters, Ed Okun, and Bernie Madoff.
Laser has well-documented hundreds of racketeering crimes, including mayhem and homicides; but the DOJ, FBI and SEC federal government agents refuse to address the readily apparent organized crimes.
Greg Werkheiser has moved to a new Benesch law firm and has received emails from Laser Haas. Despite Laser begging Werkheiser to be the first to confess his MNAT crimes in eToys, Kay-Bee, Fingerhut, Mattel, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs cases – Greg Werkheiser remains silent at his new home of Benesch Law.
It appears Werkheiser simply doesn’t “get it”!
So Laser forced Greg’s wife, Rachael Werkheiser, to have her name redacted as an assistant to Chief Fed Bankruptcy Judge in Delaware.
Additionally, Laser already forced Paul Traub to be booted away from the Gordon Brothers and Epstein Becker & Green law firm.
MNAT is likely to be the 7th law firm Laser is going to take down, which could be why Greg Werkheiser has chosen to jump ship to Benesch Law (website here).
Perhaps Benesch Law has yet to get the memos.
Laser seems to have aided SEC Chair Jay Clayton and top enforcer Steven Peikin, to jump ship as well (see my articles on Clayton here and here, and on Steven Peikin here and here).
Perhaps Benesch Law is going to wait to see the response to my upcoming story on Colm Connolly’s gang seizing – Total Control – of Delaware Federal District Court, which continues to allow Wall Street fraudsters to run amuck.
There are only 4 Federal District Court Judgeships in Delaware; and though there are 50,000 lawyers in Delaware, the 4 District Court Judgeships belong to – Chief Judge Lenard P. Stark, Court Judge Richard Andrews, Court Judge, Colm Connolly, and Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Coincidentally, Leonard Stark was the Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney under Colm Connolly.
DE District Court Judge Richard Andrews was the DE US Attorney from 1999-2001; where Andrews filled in for Colm whilst Connolly was a partner of MNAT.
Then there’s Colm Connolly former US Attorney/ MNAT and Maryellen Noreika who also was a partner at MNAT.
The entire retail toys industry has been destroyed by Sachs and Bain Capitals RICO gang, with 50,000 plus jobs gone; and it is obvious Laser can’t go to the Delaware corrupted DOJ, US Trustee or Federal courts to get justice.
Compounding those racketeering crimes, there are several instances of mayhem and homicides Mitt Romney seeks to continue to be “retroactively” retired from.
But the shadows know, as does this reporter, that Laser has a new plan; because the new evidence/smoking guns – continue to be handed to Laser.
In 2005, Chief Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary F. Walrath published an OPINION (here) that warned MNAT/ Werkheiser, Barry Gold, and Paul Traub, if there were any other conflicts, then the Judge warned that it would be consequential.
To this date, Greg Werkheiser, Paul Traub, and Barry Gold have never disclosed their many direct links (and many other conflicts of interest) to Mattel, federal agents, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital/ Kay-Bee, and Michael Glazer.
Greg Werkheiser/MNAT, Paul Traub, and Barry Gold all argued to the Chief Judge that eToys shareholders should not be allowed an equity committee, because MNAT/Werkheiser, Barry Gold, and MNAT promised they would protect eToys shareholders.
At the same time, whilst being questioned on the stand, both Barry Gold and Paul Traub denied being involved with each other.
OOPS!
After successfully blocking eToys shareholders, and being given a warning by the Chief Judge to stay clean, MNAT had eToys Books & Records destroyed; and then Werkheiser and Barry Gold betrayed their promise to eToys shareholders in a rush to settle eToys v. Goldman Sachs NY Supreme Court billion-dollar case for a paltry $7.5 million.
Oh Boy!
Compounding all that, Laser had sold eToys assets to Bain Capital/Kay Bee for tens of millions of dollars, which MNAT/ Greg Werkheiser and Paul Roy Traub reduced the sale prices of.
Geez, Louise…
With the whole gang believing they are protected by a never-ending stream of crony corrupts – like Colm Connolly, James Lackned, Steven Peikin, Ellen Slights, Jay Clayton and new willfully blind USAG Barr who gets a conflicts waiver from the Sachs-conflicted POTUS Trump – the racketeering gangs have more recently slaughtered Gymboree, Fingerhut, Stage Stores, and Toys R Us.
Being that MNAT/Werkheiser, Traub, Glazer, Colm Connolly, Jay Clayton, Steven Peikin, and Barry Gold have never addressed the fact Mattel/Bain Capital were partners with Goldman Sachs in destroying the entire, iconic, retail toys industry – then there’s no Statute of Limitations on Laser and the eToys cases.
Rhut Roh!
**By [@An0nkn0wledge](https://hive.blog/@an0nkn0wledge)**
Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post.
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activistpost--2020-09-23--In Unprecedented Monetary Overhaul, The Fed Is Preparing To Deposit “Digital Dollars” Directly To “E

In Unprecedented Monetary Overhaul, The Fed Is Preparing To Deposit “Digital Dollars” Directly To “Each American”

Activist Post Editor ’ s Note : This is , of course , a plan that has long been discussed and is now coming to fruition with the Great Reset .
Please don ’ t miss Spiro Skouras ’ report about the big picture “ Coronavirus End Game : The Economic Crisis & Roll Out of the New Digital Financial System.
” Over the past decade , the one common theme despite the political upheaval and growing social and geopolitical instability , was that the market would keep marching higher and the Fed would continue injecting liquidity into the system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ despite sparking unprecedented asset price inflation , prices as measured across the broader economy – using the flawed CPI metric and certainly stagnant worker wages – would remain subdued ( as a reminder , the Fed is desperate to ignite broad inflation as that is the only way the countless trillions of excess debt can be eliminated and has so far failed to do so ) .
The Fed ’ s failure to reach its inflation target – which prompted the US central bank to radically overhaul its monetary dogma last month and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FAIT ) whereby the Fed will allow inflation to run hot without hiking rates – has sparked broad criticism from the economic establishment , even though as we showed in June , deflation is now a direct function of the Fed ’ s unconventional monetary policies as the lower yields slide , the lower the propensity to spend .
In other words , the harder the Fed fights to stimulate inflation , the more deflation and more saving it spurs as a result ( incidentally this is not the first time this “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we wrote “ One Bank Makes A Stunning Discovery – The Fed ’ s Rate Cuts Are Now Deflationary “ ) .
In short , ever since the Fed launched QE and NIRP , it has been making the situation it has been trying to “ fix ” even worse while blowing the biggest asset price bubble in history .
And having recently accepted that its preferred stimulus pathway has failed to boost the broader economy , the blame has fallen on how monetary policy is intermediated , specifically the way the Fed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commercial banks instead of “ tricking down ” all the way to the consumer level .
To be sure , in the aftermath of the covid pandemic shutdowns the Fed has tried to short-circuit this process , and in conjunction with the Treasury it has launched “ helicopter money ” which has resulted in a direct transfer of funds to US corporations via PPP loans , as well as to end consumers via the emergency $ 600 weekly unemployment benefits which however are set to expire unless renewed by Congress as explained last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over which fiscal stimulus will be implemented next .
And yet , the lament is that even as the economy was desperately in need of a massive liquidity tsunami , the funds created by the Fed and Treasury ( now that the US operates under a quasi-MMT regime ) did not make their way to those who need them the most : end consumers .
Which is why we read with great interest a Bloomberg interview with two former Fed officials : Simon Potter , who led the Federal Reserve Bank of New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was the head of the Fed ’ s Plunge Protection Team for years , and Julia Coronado , who spent eight years as an economist for the Fed ’ s Board of Governors , who are among the innovators brainstorming solutions to what has emerged as the most crucial and difficult problem facing the Fed : get money swiftly to people who need it most in a crisis .
The response was striking : the two propose creating a monetary tool that they call recession insurance bonds , which draw on some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which will be wired instantly to Americans .
As Coronado explained the details , Congress would grant the Federal Reserve an additional tool for providing support—say , a percent of GDP [ in a lump sum that would be divided equally and distributed ] to households in a recession .
Recession insurance bonds would be zero-coupon securities , a contingent asset of households that would basically lie in wait .
The trigger could be reaching the zero lower bound on interest rates or , as economist Claudia Sahm has proposed , a 0.5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Fed would then activate the securities and deposit the funds digitally in households ’ apps .
As Potter added , “ it took Congress too long to get money to people , and it ’ s too clunky .
We need a separate infrastructure .
The Fed could buy the bonds quickly without going to the private market .
On March 15 they could have said interest rates are now at zero , we ’ re activating X amount of the bonds , and we ’ ll be tracking the unemployment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ ll buy more .
The bonds will be on the asset side of the Fed ’ s balance sheet ; the digital dollars in people ’ s accounts will be on the liability side.
” Essentially , the Fed is proposing creating a hybrid digital legal tender unlike reserves which are stuck within the financial system , and which it can deposit directly into US consumer accounts .
In short , as we summarized “ The Fed Is Planning To Send Money Directly To Americans In The Next Crisis “ , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : So this morning , as if to confirm our speculation of what comes next , Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester delivered a speech to the Chicago Payment Symposium titled “ Payments and the Pandemic “ , in which after going through the big picture boilerplate , Mester goes straight to the matter at hand .
In the section titled “ Central Bank Digital Currencies ” , the Cleveland Fed president writes that “ the experience with pandemic emergency payments has brought forward an idea that was already gaining increased attention at central @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) .
” And in the shocking punchline , then goes on to reveal that “ legislation has proposed that each American have an account at the Fed in which digital dollars could be deposited , as liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks , which could be used for emergency payments .
” But wait it gets better , because in launching digital cash , the Fed would then be able to scrap “ anonymous ” physical currency entirely , and track every single banknote from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ various transactions that take place during its lifetime .
And , eventually , the Fed could remotely “ destroy ” said digital currency when it so decides .
Oh , and in the process the Fed would effectively disintermediate commercial banks , as it would both provide loans to US consumers and directly deposit funds into their accounts , effectively making the entire traditional banking system obsolete .
Here are the details : Other proposals would create a new payments instrument , digital cash , which would be just like the physical currency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a digital form and , potentially , without the anonymity of physical currency .
Depending on how these currencies are designed , central banks could support them without the need for commercial bank involvement via direct issuance into the end-users ’ digital wallets combined with central-bank-facilitated transfer and redemption services .
The demand for and use of such instruments need further consideration in order to evaluate whether such a central bank digital currency would allow for quicker and more ubiquitous payments in times of emergency and more generally .
In addition , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues surrounding central bank digital currency need to be better understood , and the costs and benefits evaluated .
The Federal Reserve has been researching issues raised by central bank digital currency for some time .
The Board of Governors has a technology lab that has been building and testing a range of distributed ledger platforms to understand their potential benefits and tradeoffs .
Staff members from several Reserve Banks , including Cleveland Fed software developers , are contributing to this effort .
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is also engaged in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology , to experiment with technologies that could be used for a central bank digital currency .
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has established an innovation center , in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements , to identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends and financial technology of relevance to central banks .
Experimentation like this is an important ingredient in assessing the benefits and costs of a central bank digital currency , but does not signal any decision by the Federal Reserve to adopt such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bank digital currency related to financial stability , market structure , security , privacy , and monetary policy all need to be better understood .
To summarize , the wheels are already turning on a plan that sees the Fed depositing “ digital dollars ” to “ each American ” , a stunning development that essentially sees the Fed bypass Congress , endowing the Central Bank with targeted “ fiscal stimulus ” capabilities , and which could lead to a dramatic reflationary spike as it is the lower income quartile segments of US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for economic goods and services .
And having already implemented Average Inflation Targeting , the resulting burst of inflation would be viewed by the Fed as insufficient on its own ( as it would have to persist for a long time over the “ average ” period whatever it may end up being ) , to tighten monetary policy .
In fact , even as inflation rages – which some alternative inflationary measures to CPI suggest it already is – the Fed will have a semantic loophole in explaining just why it needs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the standard of living in America collapses to the benefit of a handful of asset holders .
Why ?
The CBO showed the answer yesterday : Absent a massive burst of inflation in the coming years which inflates away the hundreds of trillions in federal debt , the unprecedented debt tsunami that is coming would mean the end to the American way of life as we know it .
And to do that , the Fed is now finalizing the last steps of a process that revolutionizes the entire fiat monetary system , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks as financial intermediaries , as they will allow the Fed itself to make direct deposits into Americans ’ “ digital wallets ” , in the process also making Congress and the entire Legislative branch redundant , as a handful of technocrats quietly take over the United States .
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
Send resources to the front lines of peace and freedom HERE !
Follow us on SoMee , HIVE , Parler , Flote , Minds , and Twitter .
Provide , Protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
Get a free issue of Counter Markets today .

By Tyler Durden
Activist Post Editor’s Note: This is, of course, a plan that has long been discussed and is now coming to fruition with the Great Reset. Please don’t miss Spiro Skouras’ report about the big picture “Coronavirus End Game: The Economic Crisis & Roll Out of the New Digital Financial System.”
Over the past decade, the one common theme despite the political upheaval and growing social and geopolitical instability, was that the market would keep marching higher and the Fed would continue injecting liquidity into the system. The second common theme is that despite sparking unprecedented asset price inflation, prices as measured across the broader economy – using the flawed CPI metric and certainly stagnant worker wages – would remain subdued (as a reminder, the Fed is desperate to ignite broad inflation as that is the only way the countless trillions of excess debt can be eliminated and has so far failed to do so).
The Fed’s failure to reach its inflation target – which prompted the US central bank to radically overhaul its monetary dogma last month and unveil Flexible Average Inflation Targeting (or FAIT) whereby the Fed will allow inflation to run hot without hiking rates – has sparked broad criticism from the economic establishment, even though as we showed in June, deflation is now a direct function of the Fed’s unconventional monetary policies as the lower yields slide, the lower the propensity to spend. In other words, the harder the Fed fights to stimulate inflation, the more deflation and more saving it spurs as a result (incidentally this is not the first time this “discovery” was made, in December we wrote “One Bank Makes A Stunning Discovery – The Fed’s Rate Cuts Are Now Deflationary“).
In short, ever since the Fed launched QE and NIRP, it has been making the situation it has been trying to “fix” even worse while blowing the biggest asset price bubble in history.
And having recently accepted that its preferred stimulus pathway has failed to boost the broader economy, the blame has fallen on how monetary policy is intermediated, specifically the way the Fed creates excess reserves which end up at commercial banks instead of “tricking down” all the way to the consumer level.
To be sure, in the aftermath of the covid pandemic shutdowns the Fed has tried to short-circuit this process, and in conjunction with the Treasury it has launched “helicopter money” which has resulted in a direct transfer of funds to US corporations via PPP loans, as well as to end consumers via the emergency $600 weekly unemployment benefits which however are set to expire unless renewed by Congress as explained last week, as Democrats and Republicans feud over which fiscal stimulus will be implemented next.
And yet, the lament is that even as the economy was desperately in need of a massive liquidity tsunami, the funds created by the Fed and Treasury (now that the US operates under a quasi-MMT regime) did not make their way to those who need them the most: end consumers.
Which is why we read with great interest a Bloomberg interview with two former Fed officials: Simon Potter, who led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s markets group i.e., he was the head of the Fed’s Plunge Protection Team for years, and Julia Coronado, who spent eight years as an economist for the Fed’s Board of Governors, who are among the innovators brainstorming solutions to what has emerged as the most crucial and difficult problem facing the Fed: get money swiftly to people who need it most in a crisis.
The response was striking: the two propose creating a monetary tool that they call recession insurance bonds, which draw on some of the advances in digital payments, which will be wired instantly to Americans.
As Coronado explained the details, Congress would grant the Federal Reserve an additional tool for providing support—say, a percent of GDP [in a lump sum that would be divided equally and distributed] to households in a recession. Recession insurance bonds would be zero-coupon securities, a contingent asset of households that would basically lie in wait. The trigger could be reaching the zero lower bound on interest rates or, as economist Claudia Sahm has proposed, a 0.5 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate. The Fed would then activate the securities and deposit the funds digitally in households’ apps .
As Potter added, “it took Congress too long to get money to people, and it’s too clunky. We need a separate infrastructure. The Fed could buy the bonds quickly without going to the private market. On March 15 they could have said interest rates are now at zero, we’re activating X amount of the bonds, and we’ll be tracking the unemployment rate—if it increases above this level, we’ll buy more. The bonds will be on the asset side of the Fed’s balance sheet; the digital dollars in people’s accounts will be on the liability side.”
Essentially, the Fed is proposing creating a hybrid digital legal tender unlike reserves which are stuck within the financial system, and which it can deposit directly into US consumer accounts. In short, as we summarized “The Fed Is Planning To Send Money Directly To Americans In The Next Crisis“, something we reminded readers of on Monday:
So this morning, as if to confirm our speculation of what comes next, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester delivered a speech to the Chicago Payment Symposium titled “Payments and the Pandemic“, in which after going through the big picture boilerplate, Mester goes straight to the matter at hand.
In the section titled “Central Bank Digital Currencies”, the Cleveland Fed president writes that “the experience with pandemic emergency payments has brought forward an idea that was already gaining increased attention at central banks around the world, that is, central bank digital currency (CBDC).”
And in the shocking punchline, then goes on to reveal that “ legislation has proposed that each American have an account at the Fed in which digital dollars could be deposited, as liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, which could be used for emergency payments. ”
But wait it gets better, because in launching digital cash, the Fed would then be able to scrap “anonymous” physical currency entirely, and track every single banknote from its “creation” all though the various transactions that take place during its lifetime. And, eventually, the Fed could remotely “destroy” said digital currency when it so decides. Oh, and in the process the Fed would effectively disintermediate commercial banks, as it would both provide loans to US consumers and directly deposit funds into their accounts, effectively making the entire traditional banking system obsolete. Here are the details:
Other proposals would create a new payments instrument, digital cash, which would be just like the physical currency issued by central banks today, but in a digital form and, potentially, without the anonymity of physical currency. Depending on how these currencies are designed, central banks could support them without the need for commercial bank involvement via direct issuance into the end-users’ digital wallets combined with central-bank-facilitated transfer and redemption services. The demand for and use of such instruments need further consideration in order to evaluate whether such a central bank digital currency would allow for quicker and more ubiquitous payments in times of emergency and more generally. In addition, a range of potential risks and policy issues surrounding central bank digital currency need to be better understood, and the costs and benefits evaluated. The Federal Reserve has been researching issues raised by central bank digital currency for some time. The Board of Governors has a technology lab that has been building and testing a range of distributed ledger platforms to understand their potential benefits and tradeoffs. Staff members from several Reserve Banks, including Cleveland Fed software developers, are contributing to this effort. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is also engaged in a multiyear effort, working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to experiment with technologies that could be used for a central bank digital currency. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has established an innovation center, in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements, to identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends and financial technology of relevance to central banks. Experimentation like this is an important ingredient in assessing the benefits and costs of a central bank digital currency, but does not signal any decision by the Federal Reserve to adopt such a currency. Issues raised by central bank digital currency related to financial stability, market structure, security, privacy, and monetary policy all need to be better understood.
To summarize, the wheels are already turning on a plan that sees the Fed depositing “digital dollars” to “each American”, a stunning development that essentially sees the Fed bypass Congress, endowing the Central Bank with targeted “fiscal stimulus” capabilities, and which could lead to a dramatic reflationary spike as it is the lower income quartile segments of US society that are the marginal price setters for economic goods and services. And having already implemented Average Inflation Targeting, the resulting burst of inflation would be viewed by the Fed as insufficient on its own (as it would have to persist for a long time over the “average” period whatever it may end up being), to tighten monetary policy. In fact, even as inflation rages – which some alternative inflationary measures to CPI suggest it already is – the Fed will have a semantic loophole in explaining just why it needs to keep inflation scorching hot even as the standard of living in America collapses to the benefit of a handful of asset holders.
Why? The CBO showed the answer yesterday:
Absent a massive burst of inflation in the coming years which inflates away the hundreds of trillions in federal debt, the unprecedented debt tsunami that is coming would mean the end to the American way of life as we know it. And to do that, the Fed is now finalizing the last steps of a process that revolutionizes the entire fiat monetary system, launching digital dollars which effectively remove commercial banks as financial intermediaries, as they will allow the Fed itself to make direct deposits into Americans’ “digital wallets”, in the process also making Congress and the entire Legislative branch redundant, as a handful of technocrats quietly take over the United States.
Source: Zerohedge
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activistpost--2020-09-23--The Pandemic is a Test Run — Propaganda Watch

The death cult that wants to suppress humanity has issued their warning : the lockdown of the world in the name of the global scamdemic is not the end of this madness .
It is only the beginning .
Join James for this week ’ s edition of # PropagandaWatch as he dissects the latest attempt to leverage the climate scam on the back of the COVID scam , and how both of these distractions are being used to indoctrinate the public into the death cult .
• What would happen if the world reacted to climate change like it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( May Boeve and others ) • The pandemic didn ’ t solve climate change .
This week ’ s disasters are proof Become an Activist Post Patron for $ 1 per month at Patreon .
Visit James Corbett at CorbettReport.com .
Subscribe to his channel on YouTube and Bitchute , and support him on Patreon .
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
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Follow us on SoMee , HIVE , Parler , Flote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Protect and Profit from what ’ s coming !
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The death cult that wants to suppress humanity has issued their warning: the lockdown of the world in the name of the global scamdemic is not the end of this madness. It is only the beginning.
Join James for this week’s edition of #PropagandaWatch as he dissects the latest attempt to leverage the climate scam on the back of the COVID scam, and how both of these distractions are being used to indoctrinate the public into the death cult.
SHOW NOTES:
Become an Activist Post Patron for $1 per month at Patreon.
?
Watch on Archive / BitChute / LBRY / Minds / YouTube
Visit James Corbett at CorbettReport.com. Subscribe to his channel on YouTube and Bitchute, and support him on Patreon.
Become a Patron!
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Send resources to the front lines of peace and freedom HERE! Follow us on SoMee, HIVE, Parler, Flote, Minds, and Twitter.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


activistpost--2020-09-23--Quarantine as Punishment: Thousands of Latin Americans are Held in “Police State” Detention Centers

U.S. immigration detention centers are often the prime focus of people ’ s outrage ; and , to be sure , there are plenty of reasons for that , including recent accusations of forced sterilizations ( See : “ Shocking Number of Women in ICE Facility Were Sterilized Against Their Will , Nurse Reveals.
” However , it ’ s important to remember that the government response to COVID is truly a global outrage and has resulted in countless other grave abuses of basic human rights beyond the U.S. As you ’ ll read below , people in various parts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warehouses , sports stadiums and other makeshift facilities .
Often they are people who already have suffered from the economic fallout and have been caught up in various dragnets as they flee or return from oppressive conditions .
It could make a person wonder if it ’ s really all about # SavingLives .
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March , authorities in Venezuela , El Salvador and Paraguay have held tens of thousands of people in inadequate state-run quarantine centres without sufficient safeguards against human rights violations , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the detentions becoming arbitrary , Amnesty International said in a new report published today .
When protection becomes repression : Mandatory quarantines under COVID-19 in the Americas documents how the authorities in three countries have disproportionately held migrants , refugees , people returning to their countries of origin , and low-income communities in state-run quarantines , often in unsanitary and sometimes inhumane conditions without adequate food , water and medical care , which may amount to ill-treatment .
The appalling conditions stand to make them counterproductive spaces where people are at risk of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the world , authorities have asked people to stay at home or voluntarily quarantine to mitigate the risk of contracting COVID-19 .
But when states lock up tens of thousands of people without ensuring each detention is necessary and proportionate , detain them in appalling conditions under military or police supervision , and discriminate against them or use the quarantine as punishment , they convert a public health intervention into a punitive and repressive tactic , ” said Erika Guevara-Rosas , Americas director at Amnesty International .
By the end of August @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorities had mandatorily quarantined some 90,000 Venezuelans who had returned home after being left jobless and homeless in neighboring countries such as Colombia and Peru , only to be sent to unsanitary and sometimes inhumane quarantine centers under military control .
While El Salvador and Paraguay had largely closed their state-run quarantines or reduced them in scale by the end of August , President Bukele ’ s government had quarantined more than 16,000 people , including those accused of breaking the mandatory national lockdown , people returning from overseas , or those suspected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who had tested positive for COVID-19 .
As of late June , authorities in Paraguay had also mandatorily quarantined some 8,000 people , mainly Paraguayans who had returned to the country after losing their jobs in neighboring Brazil ’ s informal sector as COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced there .
Amnesty International reviewed and verified dozens of videos available on social media or sent to the organization directly , mostly filmed by people placed in mandatory quarantine centres including warehouses , sports stadiums and other facilities , describing the conditions in which they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 14 phone interviews , reviewed dozens of newly passed laws , policies , and protocols related to lockdowns and the implementation of the mandatory quarantines , as well as court documents , and reports by independent monitors and journalists .
The organization received information in all three countries that people have been quarantined often for well beyond the 14 days currently recommended by the WHO , and sometimes for more than a month .
The people held in quarantine did not have sufficient access to information about how long they would be detained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be used at any given time to determine their discharge from quarantine or isolation .
This constitutes a violation of their right to information and the requirement under international human rights law that any deprivation of liberty , even when in pursuit of the protection of public health , must be provided by law and be necessary , proportionate and time-bound .
Authorities should only hold people in state custody when alternative , less invasive measures , such as voluntary quarantine measures and education campaigns , have failed .
If they do mandatorily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appropriate conditions , safeguard against human rights violations and ensure that quarantines are not used discriminatorily to target specific communities .
Authorities should only hold people in state custody when alternative , less invasive measures , such as voluntary quarantine measures and education campaigns , have failed .
If they do mandatorily quarantine people , they must provide the appropriate conditions , safeguard against human rights violations and ensure that quarantines are not used discriminatorily to target specific communities .
“ While governments have had to respond quickly to an unprecedented pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mandatory quarantines was defined by arbitrariness , coupled with police and military enforcement , ” said Erika Guevara-Rosas .
“ Instead of providing the appropriate conditions and safeguards against human rights violations , authorities in Venezuela and El Salvador , in particular , have converted a public health intervention into a punitive response , disproportionately impacting low-income communities , and refugees and migrants returning to their countries of origin.
” In El Salvador , for example , the Minister of Justice and Security warned in April that people who broke the national lockdown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ far from their families and run the risk in those centres of quarantine of also contracting the virus.
” This indicated that quarantine was seen as a punishment and that the authorities were fully aware that centres lacked the appropriate standards to prevent contagion .
“ I ’ d like to forget all this , but I can ’ t , ” Ana Cristina told Amnesty International after describing how she had spent 40 days sleeping on a dirty mattress on the floor in a quarantine facility in El Salvador .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the police who accused her of breaking the national lockdown when she was out buying groceries and medicine , an activity that was considered essential and allowed at the time of her detention .
The most openly disturbing example of state-sponsored campaigns of stigma and discrimination has come from Venezuela .
In recent months , while requiring that all returning Venezuelans be placed in mandatory quarantine facilities , high level officials of President Nicolás Maduro ’ s government have simultaneously described Venezuelan refugees returning from Colombia as “ biological weapons ” sent to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials have also described those returning as “ traitors.
” This narrative , based on the returning Venezuelans ’ perceived political views and deliberate association with COVID-19 , coupled with their automatic placement in state-run mandatory quarantines , raises concerns that their deprivation of liberty was discriminatory and arbitrary .
Amnesty International is calling on governments who detain people in state-run quarantines for public health purposes to immediately grant humanitarian organizations and independent human rights monitors access to these centres so they can monitor the conditions , safeguard against ill-treatment and provide urgently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to comply with international human rights obligations and WHO guidelines on quarantine settings .
Authorities must also prevent indefinite detentions .
They must ensure time limits for mandatory quarantine and isolation are limited to the minimum period necessary , as informed by evolving scientific evidence and best practice and given clear information about the length and process of their detention .
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues , and countries across the Americas face the possibility of repeated lockdowns , this initial research into state-run quarantines highlights the need for authorities to avoid resorting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they implement public health measures .
“ We know from other pandemics that punitive approaches do no protect communities and associating specific communities with a virus only drives stigma and discrimination .
Instead , human rights-based approaches that empower people with the knowledge they need to protect their own health and providing them with the resources and support they need to comply with voluntary measures , have historically proven more effective , ” said Erika Guevara-Rosas .
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
Send resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom HERE !
Follow us on SoMee , HIVE , Parler , Flote , Minds , and Twitter .
Provide , Protect and Profit from what ’ s coming !
Get a free issue of Counter Markets today .

Activist Post Editor’s Note: U.S. immigration detention centers are often the prime focus of people’s outrage; and, to be sure, there are plenty of reasons for that, including recent accusations of forced sterilizations (See: “Shocking Number of Women in ICE Facility Were Sterilized Against Their Will, Nurse Reveals.”
However, it’s important to remember that the government response to COVID is truly a global outrage and has resulted in countless other grave abuses of basic human rights beyond the U.S. As you’ll read below, people in various parts of Latin America have been detained in warehouses, sports stadiums and other makeshift facilities. Often they are people who already have suffered from the economic fallout and have been caught up in various dragnets as they flee or return from oppressive conditions. It could make a person wonder if it’s really all about #SavingLives.
Op-Ed by Duncan Tucker – CuencaHighLife, Ecuador
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, authorities in Venezuela, El Salvador and Paraguay have held tens of thousands of people in inadequate state-run quarantine centres without sufficient safeguards against human rights violations, in what could amount to ill-treatment and risk the detentions becoming arbitrary, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.
When protection becomes repression: Mandatory quarantines under COVID-19 in the Americas documents how the authorities in three countries have disproportionately held migrants, refugees, people returning to their countries of origin, and low-income communities in state-run quarantines, often in unsanitary and sometimes inhumane conditions without adequate food, water and medical care, which may amount to ill-treatment. The appalling conditions stand to make them counterproductive spaces where people are at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“In many parts of the world, authorities have asked people to stay at home or voluntarily quarantine to mitigate the risk of contracting COVID-19. But when states lock up tens of thousands of people without ensuring each detention is necessary and proportionate, detain them in appalling conditions under military or police supervision, and discriminate against them or use the quarantine as punishment, they convert a public health intervention into a punitive and repressive tactic,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
By the end of August, according to government figures, Venezuelan authorities had mandatorily quarantined some 90,000 Venezuelans who had returned home after being left jobless and homeless in neighboring countries such as Colombia and Peru, only to be sent to unsanitary and sometimes inhumane quarantine centers under military control.
While El Salvador and Paraguay had largely closed their state-run quarantines or reduced them in scale by the end of August, President Bukele’s government had quarantined more than 16,000 people, including those accused of breaking the mandatory national lockdown, people returning from overseas, or those suspected of having been in contact with anyone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
As of late June, authorities in Paraguay had also mandatorily quarantined some 8,000 people, mainly Paraguayans who had returned to the country after losing their jobs in neighboring Brazil’s informal sector as COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced there.
Amnesty International reviewed and verified dozens of videos available on social media or sent to the organization directly, mostly filmed by people placed in mandatory quarantine centres including warehouses, sports stadiums and other facilities, describing the conditions in which they were being held. It also carried out 14 phone interviews, reviewed dozens of newly passed laws, policies, and protocols related to lockdowns and the implementation of the mandatory quarantines, as well as court documents, and reports by independent monitors and journalists.
The organization received information in all three countries that people have been quarantined often for well beyond the 14 days currently recommended by the WHO, and sometimes for more than a month. The people held in quarantine did not have sufficient access to information about how long they would be detained for or the scientific criteria that would be used at any given time to determine their discharge from quarantine or isolation. This constitutes a violation of their right to information and the requirement under international human rights law that any deprivation of liberty, even when in pursuit of the protection of public health, must be provided by law and be necessary, proportionate and time-bound.
Authorities should only hold people in state custody when alternative, less invasive measures, such as voluntary quarantine measures and education campaigns, have failed. If they do mandatorily quarantine people, they must provide the appropriate conditions, safeguard against human rights violations and ensure that quarantines are not used discriminatorily to target specific communities.
“While governments have had to respond quickly to an unprecedented pandemic, Amnesty International found their implementation of state-run mandatory quarantines was defined by arbitrariness, coupled with police and military enforcement,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.
“Instead of providing the appropriate conditions and safeguards against human rights violations, authorities in Venezuela and El Salvador, in particular, have converted a public health intervention into a punitive response, disproportionately impacting low-income communities, and refugees and migrants returning to their countries of origin.”
In El Salvador, for example, the Minister of Justice and Security warned in April that people who broke the national lockdown would be placed in a containment centre, “far from their families and run the risk in those centres of quarantine of also contracting the virus.” This indicated that quarantine was seen as a punishment and that the authorities were fully aware that centres lacked the appropriate standards to prevent contagion.
“I’d like to forget all this, but I can’t,” Ana Cristina told Amnesty International after describing how she had spent 40 days sleeping on a dirty mattress on the floor in a quarantine facility in El Salvador. She was taken there in mid-April by the police who accused her of breaking the national lockdown when she was out buying groceries and medicine, an activity that was considered essential and allowed at the time of her detention.
The most openly disturbing example of state-sponsored campaigns of stigma and discrimination has come from Venezuela. In recent months, while requiring that all returning Venezuelans be placed in mandatory quarantine facilities, high level officials of President Nicolás Maduro’s government have simultaneously described Venezuelan refugees returning from Colombia as “biological weapons” sent to infect people living in Venezuela. Senior officials have also described those returning as “traitors.”
This narrative, based on the returning Venezuelans’ perceived political views and deliberate association with COVID-19, coupled with their automatic placement in state-run mandatory quarantines, raises concerns that their deprivation of liberty was discriminatory and arbitrary.
Amnesty International is calling on governments who detain people in state-run quarantines for public health purposes to immediately grant humanitarian organizations and independent human rights monitors access to these centres so they can monitor the conditions, safeguard against ill-treatment and provide urgently needed water, food and other supplies to comply with international human rights obligations and WHO guidelines on quarantine settings.
Authorities must also prevent indefinite detentions. They must ensure time limits for mandatory quarantine and isolation are limited to the minimum period necessary, as informed by evolving scientific evidence and best practice and given clear information about the length and process of their detention.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and countries across the Americas face the possibility of repeated lockdowns, this initial research into state-run quarantines highlights the need for authorities to avoid resorting to coercive, punitive and discriminatory approaches as they implement public health measures.
“We know from other pandemics that punitive approaches do no protect communities and associating specific communities with a virus only drives stigma and discrimination. Instead, human rights-based approaches that empower people with the knowledge they need to protect their own health and providing them with the resources and support they need to comply with voluntary measures, have historically proven more effective,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.
Credit: Relief Web
Top image: Pixabay
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Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Send resources to the front lines of peace and freedom HERE! Follow us on SoMee, HIVE, Parler, Flote, Minds, and Twitter.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


activistpost--2020-09-23--CA Governor Newsom Announces Ban On All Gas-Powered Cars By 2035

Last week saw California plunged into red-darkness during the day amid raging wildfires , and Governor Newsom decreed that : “ The debate is over , around climate change… This is a climate damn emergency .
This is real and it ’ s happening.
” “ I have no patience , and I say this lovingly , not as an ideologue but as someone who prides himself on being open to argument , interested in evidence…but I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers , ” the governor continued .
He said skeptics ’ point of view is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ground.
” He did briefly acknowledge failings in forest management in recent decades , but added : Oh , but as David Stockman recently noted , drastic forestry mismanagement and negligence , which has turned much of California into a dry wood fuel dump , is exactly the point .
The purported global warming has nothing to do with it… But that has not stopped Newsom from signaling just how virtuous he is by announcing that California will be phasing out all gasoline-powered cars by 2035 in a major effort to reduce the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ signed an executive order that requires all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles by the 2035 deadline .
“ This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change , ” said Newsom in a press release .
“ For too many decades , we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe .
You deserve to have a car that doesn ’ t give your kids asthma .
Our cars shouldn ’ t make wildfires worse – and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Cars shouldn ’ t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.
“ As ABC7News.com reports , the executive order lays out several other priorities , including : • New health regulations regarding oil extraction and the communities it impacts • Directing the legislature to no longer issue hydraulic fracking permits by 2024 • Directing agencies to create a plan for a statewide rail and transit network The path forward on Newsom ’ s newly-announced initiative is likely to be a challenge , politically and legally .
President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California from setting auto emission standards that are different from the country ’ s standards .
We have a couple of quick questions for Mr. Newsom : • So what will you do with the 1000s of gas stations and their 10s of 1000s of workers ?
• And what happens when we get blackouts and no one can charge their EVs…work from home day ?
Probably not your problem , right ?
Interestingly , after its “ Battery Day ” -dud , TSLA ’ s share price has done nothing on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – as Newsom notes – California has 34 EV makers in the state… and competition is coming for Elon .
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
Send resources to the front lines of peace and freedom HERE !
Follow us on SoMee , HIVE , Parler , Flote , Minds , and Twitter .
Provide , Protect and Profit from what ’ s coming !
Get a free issue of Counter Markets today .

By Tyler Durden
Last week saw California plunged into red-darkness during the day amid raging wildfires, and Governor Newsom decreed that:
“The debate is over, around climate change… This is a climate damn emergency. This is real and it’s happening.” “I have no patience, and I say this lovingly, not as an ideologue but as someone who prides himself on being open to argument, interested in evidence…but I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers,” the governor continued. He said skeptics’ point of view is “completely inconsistent…with the reality on the ground.”
He did briefly acknowledge failings in forest management in recent decades, but added:
“That’s one point, but it’s not the point.”
Oh, but as David Stockman recently noted, drastic forestry mismanagement and negligence, which has turned much of California into a dry wood fuel dump, is exactly the point. The purported global warming has nothing to do with it…
But that has not stopped Newsom from signaling just how virtuous he is by announcing that California will be phasing out all gasoline-powered cars by 2035 in a major effort to reduce the state’s emissions.
The governor signed an executive order that requires all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles by the 2035 deadline.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” said Newsom in a press release. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. You deserve to have a car that doesn’t give your kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse – and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.“
As ABC7News.com reports, the executive order lays out several other priorities, including:
New health regulations regarding oil extraction and the communities it impacts
Directing the legislature to no longer issue hydraulic fracking permits by 2024
Directing agencies to create a plan for a statewide rail and transit network
The path forward on Newsom’s newly-announced initiative is likely to be a challenge, politically and legally. President Donald Trump has previously tried to bar California from setting auto emission standards that are different from the country’s standards.
We have a couple of quick questions for Mr. Newsom:
So what will you do with the 1000s of gas stations and their 10s of 1000s of workers?
and their 10s of 1000s of workers? And what happens when we get blackouts and no one can charge their EVs…work from home day?
Probably not your problem, right?
Interestingly, after its “Battery Day”-dud, TSLA’s share price has done nothing on the Newsom announcement…
Perhaps it’s because – as Newsom notes – California has 34 EV makers in the state… and competition is coming for Elon.
Source: Zerohedge
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Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Send resources to the front lines of peace and freedom HERE! Follow us on SoMee, HIVE, Parler, Flote, Minds, and Twitter.
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