investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--Russia And China Are Battling For Influence In Oil Rich Iraq

With the U.S. ’ s patience wearing thin on its dealings with neighbouring Iran , endemic corruption still prevalent in both the south of the country and in the northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan , and enduring political chaos with frequently-changing prime ministers popping up whilst the real power remains with firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr , the last thing Iraq needed was Saudi ’ s oil price war .
Even before Saudi Arabia embarked yet again on exactly the same oil price strategy that nearly bankrupted it and all of its neighbours the last time it tried and failed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2014 to 2016 , Iraq was trying to minimise outgoing payments to the international oil companies ( IOCs ) that operate its fields and to come to some accommodation the government of Kurdistan ( the KRG ) on co-ordinating oil exports and sales revenues .
All of this now hangs on a thread , and Russia and China are just waiting for it all to collapse so that they can continue to accelerate their drive to further dominate Iraq ’ s oil ( and gas ) sectors .
At the beginning of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ committee suggested that IOCs be paid with crude oil rather than cash or cash-equivalents as a means to reduce near-term state expenditure .
It also proposed delaying payments of foreign debt ( including reparations to Kuwait ) , introducing salary cuts of 60 per cent for various state sector employees , and reducing all non-essential spending .
Despite pumping at least 4.65 million barrels per day ( bpd ) of oil in February – above its OPEC+ quota of 4.46 million bpd – and exporting around 3.4 million bpd of crude that month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Iraq ’ s oil-related revenues had fallen by nearly 50 per cent at that point .
This is in line with the collapse in oil prices and the fact that about 90 per cent of Iraq ’ s government revenues still come from oil , hence the requests to the IOCs .
“ The problem with the idea of reducing output to reduce per barrel reimbursements to the IOCs is that in some cases Iraq is liable under the terms of the TSCs [ technical service contracts ] to pay out very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IOCs for lost production , and this includes such operations as those at Rumaila [ run by BP and CNPC ] , West Qurna 1 [ ExxonMobil ] and West Qurna 2 [ Lukoil ] , and Zubair [ ENI ] , among others , ” a senior oil industry figure who works closely with Iraq ’ s Oil Ministry told OilPrice.com last week .
“ Some of the operators have already signalled or action some degree of cutting expenditure due to the demand effect of the coronavirus , such as BP [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expenditure cut this year from the previous US $ 12 billion across its entire global portfolio ] but this doesn ’ t necessarily mean any extra cuts in Iraq and even if it does include Iraq in part , it doesn ’ t meant that actual oil output will be significantly reduced , ” he added.Related : The Most Critical Oil Storage In The United States With extremely limited scope for further manoeuvre in cutting payments to the IOCs , then , last week saw a last-ditch attempt at the least-likely option for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing a deal with the KRG in Erbil .
To this effect , a Kurdish delegation – led by the KRG ’ s Finance Minister , Awat Sheikh Janab – arrived in Baghdad to discuss oil production and the federal budget , in a familiar dance of death that has been occurring on and off since 2014 .
In November of that year , faced with an equally ruinous economic scenario , this one almost entirely due to industrial-scale graft – according to the Oil Minister at the time , Adil Abdul Mahdi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” from the beginning of 2011 up to the end of 2014 as “ cash compensation ” payments relating to these fields ’ development – Baghdad and Erbil struck the first of its oil-for-budget payments deals .
This envisaged the KRG exporting up to 550,000 bpd of oil from its own fields and Kirkuk via Iraq ’ s State Oil Marketing Organization ( SOMO ) .
In return , Baghdad would send 17 per cent of the federal budget after sovereign expenses ( around US $ 500 million at that time ) per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kurdistan region in the north .
From the start , both sides relentlessly cheated on the deal , with the KRG at various times stopping all oil shipments to SOMO and preferring instead to try to sell it to a range of other countries , including much of the energy-starved Former Soviet Union states , Turkey , and Israel , among others .
Baghdad has sought to take the KRG to court repeatedly to stop such activity on the basis that it is illegal .
For its part , Baghdad has at various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at one point , shortly after the 2017 ‘ yes ’ vote in the Kurdistan independence referendum , sought to change the entire parameters of the deal , completely to the detriment of Kurdistan .
Specifically , Baghdad came up with a particularly tricky new tactic to base all payments to Kurdistan on its analysis of what percentage of Iraq ’ s total population is made up of Kurds living in the KRG region .
Although this figure is impossible to pinpoint – ranging from around 10 per cent to about 20 per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at 12.67 per cent , in fact .
At around that point , the KRG teamed up with Russia and suggested to Baghdad that the Kurdistan area receive 40 per cent of the revenues for the oil that it sends to the south as a starting point .
On top of that , though , the KRG suggested an additional sliding scale of further payments to compensate it for the security for the fields that would be provided by the Kurdish Peshmerga in light of ongoing threats from Islamic State and similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ total up to between 55 and 58 per cent for the KRG .
It was finally agreed between the KRG and the new Iraqi federal government formed in October 2018 ( now gone , of course ) – centred on the 2019 national budget bill – that Baghdad transfer sufficient funds from the federal budget to pay the salaries of KRG employees along with other financial compensation in exchange for the KRG handing over the export of at least 250,000 bpd of crude oil to SOMO .
This deal also broke down a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ KRG did not send the required oil in exchange for the payments received or because Baghdad did not send the required money for the oil received – but is nonetheless the same deal that is now back on the table .
In the interim , following an order from Baghdad ’ s Council of Ministers on 16 April , the federal government did not send any budget transfer to the KRG in April .
The tacit threat from the KRG is that it will increase the pace of its independent exports of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ although the Iraq Constitution is unclear on the issue , which does not help matters .
According to a senior lawyer spoken to by OilPrice.com throughout the breakdown of the various KRG/Baghdad deals , the basic legal architecture that defines the Iraqi oil industry has been the battleground for bitter disputes between the two sides for years and will continue to be so .
A test-case in May 2014 that prompted the November agreement , failed to finalise the dispute but acts as a neat example of why the disputes between the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq ’ s Oil Ministry , represented by SOMO , filed an arbitration claim with the International Chamber of Commerce claiming that : “ By transporting and storing crude oil from Kurdistan , and by loading that crude oil onto a tanker in Ceyhan , all without the authorisation of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil , Turkey and BOTAS [ Turkey ’ s state owned pipeline operator ] have breached their obligations under the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline [ ITP ] Agreement.
” In this context , the Kurdistan government maintained , and still maintains @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oil through the ITP , and that the Federal ( Iraq ) government does not have exclusive exporting authority under the 2005 Iraq Constitution that sought to delineate the legal boundaries within which the energy sector would operate .
According to the KRG , it has authority under Articles 112 and 115 of the Constitution to manage oil and gas in the Kurdistan Region extracted from fields that were not in production in 2005 , the year that the Constitution was adopted by referendum .
SOMO , however , argued , and still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Iraq Constitution oil and gas are the ownership of all the people of Iraq in all the regions and governorates .
In addition , the KRG maintains that Article 115 states : “ All powers not stipulated in the exclusive powers of the federal government belong to the authorities of the regions and governorates that are not organised in a region.
” As such , the argument runs , the KRG says that as relevant powers are not otherwise stipulated in the Constitution , it has the authority to sell and receive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Moreover , the Constitution provides that , should a dispute arise , priority shall be given to the law of the regions and governorates .

By Simon Watkins
With the U.S.’s patience wearing thin on its dealings with neighbouring Iran, endemic corruption still prevalent in both the south of the country and in the northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, and enduring political chaos with frequently-changing prime ministers popping up whilst the real power remains with firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the last thing Iraq needed was Saudi’s oil price war. Even before Saudi Arabia embarked yet again on exactly the same oil price strategy that nearly bankrupted it and all of its neighbours the last time it tried and failed to destroy the U.S. shale oil industry in 2014 to 2016, Iraq was trying to minimise outgoing payments to the international oil companies (IOCs) that operate its fields and to come to some accommodation the government of Kurdistan (the KRG) on co-ordinating oil exports and sales revenues. All of this now hangs on a thread, and Russia and China are just waiting for it all to collapse so that they can continue to accelerate their drive to further dominate Iraq’s oil (and gas) sectors.
At the beginning of this month, Iraq’s economic parliamentary committee suggested that IOCs be paid with crude oil rather than cash or cash-equivalents as a means to reduce near-term state expenditure. It also proposed delaying payments of foreign debt (including reparations to Kuwait), introducing salary cuts of 60 per cent for various state sector employees, and reducing all non-essential spending. Despite pumping at least 4.65 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in February – above its OPEC+ quota of 4.46 million bpd – and exporting around 3.4 million bpd of crude that month, and almost the same in March, Iraq’s oil-related revenues had fallen by nearly 50 per cent at that point. This is in line with the collapse in oil prices and the fact that about 90 per cent of Iraq’s government revenues still come from oil, hence the requests to the IOCs.
“The problem with the idea of reducing output to reduce per barrel reimbursements to the IOCs is that in some cases Iraq is liable under the terms of the TSCs [technical service contracts] to pay out very large amounts in compensation to the same IOCs for lost production, and this includes such operations as those at Rumaila [run by BP and CNPC], West Qurna 1 [ExxonMobil] and West Qurna 2 [Lukoil], and Zubair [ENI], among others,” a senior oil industry figure who works closely with Iraq’s Oil Ministry told OilPrice.com last week. “Some of the operators have already signalled or action some degree of cutting expenditure due to the demand effect of the coronavirus, such as BP [which announced a 25 per cent capital expenditure cut this year from the previous US$12 billion across its entire global portfolio] but this doesn’t necessarily mean any extra cuts in Iraq and even if it does include Iraq in part, it doesn’t meant that actual oil output will be significantly reduced,” he added.Related: The Most Critical Oil Storage In The United States
With extremely limited scope for further manoeuvre in cutting payments to the IOCs, then, last week saw a last-ditch attempt at the least-likely option for success in improving its financial position: doing a deal with the KRG in Erbil. To this effect, a Kurdish delegation – led by the KRG’s Finance Minister, Awat Sheikh Janab – arrived in Baghdad to discuss oil production and the federal budget, in a familiar dance of death that has been occurring on and off since 2014. In November of that year, faced with an equally ruinous economic scenario, this one almost entirely due to industrial-scale graft – according to the Oil Minister at the time, Adil Abdul Mahdi, Iraq “lost US$14,448,146,000” from the beginning of 2011 up to the end of 2014 as “cash compensation” payments relating to these fields’ development – Baghdad and Erbil struck the first of its oil-for-budget payments deals.
This envisaged the KRG exporting up to 550,000 bpd of oil from its own fields and Kirkuk via Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). In return, Baghdad would send 17 per cent of the federal budget after sovereign expenses (around US$500 million at that time) per month in budget payments to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in the north. From the start, both sides relentlessly cheated on the deal, with the KRG at various times stopping all oil shipments to SOMO and preferring instead to try to sell it to a range of other countries, including much of the energy-starved Former Soviet Union states, Turkey, and Israel, among others. Baghdad has sought to take the KRG to court repeatedly to stop such activity on the basis that it is illegal.
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For its part, Baghdad has at various times withheld payments or underpaid, and at one point, shortly after the 2017 ‘yes’ vote in the Kurdistan independence referendum, sought to change the entire parameters of the deal, completely to the detriment of Kurdistan. Specifically, Baghdad came up with a particularly tricky new tactic to base all payments to Kurdistan on its analysis of what percentage of Iraq’s total population is made up of Kurds living in the KRG region. Although this figure is impossible to pinpoint – ranging from around 10 per cent to about 20 per cent – Baghdad managed to pinpoint it, at 12.67 per cent, in fact. At around that point, the KRG teamed up with Russia and suggested to Baghdad that the Kurdistan area receive 40 per cent of the revenues for the oil that it sends to the south as a starting point. On top of that, though, the KRG suggested an additional sliding scale of further payments to compensate it for the security for the fields that would be provided by the Kurdish Peshmerga in light of ongoing threats from Islamic State and similar outfits, which would have brought the total up to between 55 and 58 per cent for the KRG.
It was finally agreed between the KRG and the new Iraqi federal government formed in October 2018 (now gone, of course) – centred on the 2019 national budget bill – that Baghdad transfer sufficient funds from the federal budget to pay the salaries of KRG employees along with other financial compensation in exchange for the KRG handing over the export of at least 250,000 bpd of crude oil to SOMO. This deal also broke down a number of times – either because the KRG did not send the required oil in exchange for the payments received or because Baghdad did not send the required money for the oil received – but is nonetheless the same deal that is now back on the table. In the interim, following an order from Baghdad’s Council of Ministers on 16 April, the federal government did not send any budget transfer to the KRG in April.
The tacit threat from the KRG is that it will increase the pace of its independent exports of all, which Baghdad maintains is illegal, although the Iraq Constitution is unclear on the issue, which does not help matters. According to a senior lawyer spoken to by OilPrice.com throughout the breakdown of the various KRG/Baghdad deals, the basic legal architecture that defines the Iraqi oil industry has been the battleground for bitter disputes between the two sides for years and will continue to be so. A test-case in May 2014 that prompted the November agreement, failed to finalise the dispute but acts as a neat example of why the disputes between the two sides continue.
At the time, Iraq’s Oil Ministry, represented by SOMO, filed an arbitration claim with the International Chamber of Commerce claiming that: “By transporting and storing crude oil from Kurdistan, and by loading that crude oil onto a tanker in Ceyhan, all without the authorisation of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Turkey and BOTAS [Turkey’s state owned pipeline operator] have breached their obligations under the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline [ITP] Agreement.” In this context, the Kurdistan government maintained, and still maintains, that it is entitled to export oil through the ITP, and that the Federal (Iraq) government does not have exclusive exporting authority under the 2005 Iraq Constitution that sought to delineate the legal boundaries within which the energy sector would operate.
According to the KRG, it has authority under Articles 112 and 115 of the Constitution to manage oil and gas in the Kurdistan Region extracted from fields that were not in production in 2005, the year that the Constitution was adopted by referendum. SOMO, however, argued, and still argues, that under Article 111 of the Iraq Constitution oil and gas are the ownership of all the people of Iraq in all the regions and governorates. In addition, the KRG maintains that Article 115 states: “All powers not stipulated in the exclusive powers of the federal government belong to the authorities of the regions and governorates that are not organised in a region.” As such, the argument runs, the KRG says that as relevant powers are not otherwise stipulated in the Constitution, it has the authority to sell and receive revenue from its oil and gas exports. Moreover, the Constitution provides that, should a dispute arise, priority shall be given to the law of the regions and governorates.
By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--Technofascism: Digital Book Burning in a Totalitarian Age

We are fast becoming a nation—nay , a world—of book burners .
While on paper , we are technically free to speak—at least according to the U.S. Constitution—in reality , however , we are only as free to speak as the government and its corporate partners such as Facebook , Google or YouTube may allow .
That ’ s not a whole lot of freedom .
Especially if you ’ re inclined to voice opinions that may be construed as conspiratorial or dangerous .
Take David Icke , for example .
Icke , a popular commentator and author often labeled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently had his Facebook page and YouTube channel ( owned by Google ) deleted for violating site policies by “ spreading coronavirus disinformation.
” The Centre for Countering Digital Hate , which has been vocal about calling for Icke ’ s de-platforming , is also pushing for the removal of all other sites and individuals who promote Icke ’ s content in an effort to supposedly “ save lives.
” Translation : the CCDH evidently believes the public is too dumb to think for itself and must be protected from dangerous ideas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to protect us from ourselves .
In the long run , this “ safety ” control ( the censorship and shadowbanning of anyone who challenges a mainstream narrative ) will be far worse than merely allowing people to think for themselves .
Journalist Matt Taibbi gets its : “ The people who want to add a censorship regime to a health crisis are more dangerous and more stupid by leaps and bounds than a president who tells people to inject disinfectant.
” These internet censors are not acting in our best interests to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about COVID-19 , a virus whose source and behavior continue to elude medical officials .
They ’ re laying the groundwork now , with Icke as an easy target , to preempt any “ dangerous ” ideas that might challenge the power elite ’ s stranglehold over our lives .
This is how freedom dies .
It doesn ’ t matter what disinformation Icke may or may not have been spreading about COVID-19 .
That ’ s not the issue .
As commentator Caitlin Johnstone recognizes , the censorship of David Icke by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with Icke : “ What matters is that we ’ re seeing a consistent and accelerating pattern of powerful plutocratic institutions collaborating with the US-centralized empire to control what ideas people around the world are permitted to share with each other , and it ’ s a very unsafe trajectory.
” Welcome to the age of technofascism .
Technofascism , clothed in tyrannical self-righteousness , is powered by technological behemoths ( both corporate and governmental ) working in tandem .
As journalist Chet Bowers explains , “ Technofascism ’ s level of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to repressive systems that will not tolerate dissent.
” The internet , hailed as a super-information highway , is increasingly becoming the police state ’ s secret weapon .
This “ policing of the mind : is exactly the danger author Jim Keith warned about when he predicted that “ information and communication sources are gradually being linked together into a single computerized network , providing an opportunity for unheralded control of hat will be broadcast , what will be said , and ultimately what will be thought.
” Eventually , as George @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become a revolutionary act .
We ’ re almost at that point now .
What you are witnessing is the modern-day equivalent of book burning which involves doing away with dangerous ideas—legitimate or not—and the people who espouse them .
Today , the forces of political correctness , working in conjunction with corporate and government agencies , have managed to replace actual book burning with intellectual book burning .
“ Free speech for me but not for thee ” is how my good friend and free speech purist Nat Hentoff used to sum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about much more than free speech , however .
This is about repression and control .
With every passing day , we ’ re being moved further down the road towards a totalitarian society characterized by government censorship , violence , corruption , hypocrisy and intolerance , all packaged for our supposed benefit in the Orwellian doublespeak of national security , tolerance and so-called “ government speech.
” The reasons for such censorship vary widely from political correctness , safety concerns and bullying to national security and hate crimes but the end result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of what Benjamin Franklin referred to as the “ principal pillar of a free government.
” The upshot of all of this editing , parsing , banning and silencing is the emergence of a new language , what George Orwell referred to as Newspeak , which places the power to control language in the hands of the totalitarian state .
Under such a system , language becomes a weapon to change the way people think by changing the words they use .
In totalitarian regimes—a.k.a .
police states—where conformity and compliance are enforced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the government dictates what words can and can not be used .
In countries where the police state hides behind a benevolent mask and disguises itself as tolerance , the citizens censor themselves , policing their words and thoughts to conform to the dictates of the mass mind lest they find themselves ostracized or placed under surveillance .
Even when the motives behind this rigidly calibrated reorientation of societal language appear well-intentioned—discouraging racism , condemning violence , denouncing discrimination and hatred—inevitably , the end result is the same : intolerance , indoctrination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ correctness disguised as tolerance , civility and love , but what it really amounts to is the chilling of free speech and the demonizing of viewpoints that run counter to the cultural elite .
The police state could not ask for a better citizenry than one that carries out its own censorship , spying and policing : this is how you turn a nation of free people into extensions of the omniscient , omnipotent , omnipresent police state , and in the process turn a citizenry against each other .
Tread cautiously : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ominous rise of ubiquitous technology , fascism and totalitarianism , has become an operation manual for the omnipresent , modern-day surveillance state .
1984 portrays a global society of total control in which people are not allowed to have thoughts that in any way disagree with the corporate state .
There is no personal freedom , and advanced technology has become the driving force behind a surveillance-driven society .
Snitches and cameras are everywhere .
People are subject to the Thought Police , who deal with anyone guilty of thought crimes .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” is headed by Big Brother who appears on posters everywhere with the words : “ Big Brother is watching you.
” We have arrived , way ahead of schedule , into the dystopian future dreamed up by not only Orwell but also such fiction writers as Aldous Huxley , Margaret Atwood and Philip K. Dick .
Much like Orwell ’ s Big Brother in 1984 , the government and its corporate spies now watch our every move .
Much like Huxley ’ s A Brave New World , we are churning out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their liberties taken away from them , but … rather enjoy it , because they [ are ] distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing.
” Much like Atwood ’ s The Handmaid ’ s Tale , the populace is now taught to “ know their place and their duties , to understand that they have no real rights but will be protected up to a point if they conform , and to think so poorly of themselves that they will accept their assigned fate and not rebel or run @ @ @ @ @ @ @ K. Dick ’ s darkly prophetic vision of a dystopian police state—which became the basis for Steven Spielberg ’ s futuristic thriller Minority Report—we are now trapped in a world in which the government is all-seeing , all-knowing and all-powerful , and if you dare to step out of line , dark-clad police SWAT teams and pre-crime units will crack a few skulls to bring the populace under control .
What once seemed futuristic no longer occupies the realm of science fiction .
Incredibly , as the various nascent technologies employed and shared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , iris scanners , massive databases , behavior prediction software , and so on—are incorporated into a complex , interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements , predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior , the dystopian visions of past writers is fast becoming our reality .
In fact , our world is characterized by widespread surveillance , behavior prediction technologies , data mining , fusion centers , driverless cars , voice-controlled homes , facial recognition systems , cybugs and drones , and predictive policing ( pre-crime ) aimed at capturing would-be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Surveillance cameras are everywhere .
Government agents listen in on our telephone calls and read our emails .
And privacy and bodily integrity have been utterly eviscerated .
We are increasingly ruled by multi-corporations wedded to the police state .
What many fail to realize is that the government is not operating alone .
It can not .
Thus , the increasingly complex security needs of the massive federal government , especially in the areas of defense , surveillance and data management , have been met within the corporate sector , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ally that both depends on and feeds the growth of governmental overreach .
In fact , Big Tech wedded to Big Government has become Big Brother , and we are now ruled by the Corporate Elite whose tentacles have spread worldwide .
The government now has at its disposal technological arsenals so sophisticated and invasive as to render any constitutional protections null and void .
Spearheaded by the NSA , which has shown itself to care little to nothing for constitutional limits or privacy , the “ security/industrial complex ” —a marriage of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at keeping Americans under constant surveillance—has come to dominate the government and our lives .
There is no shortage of motives fueling the convergence of mega-corporations and government .
But who is paying the price ?
“ We the people , ” of course .
Not just we Americans , but people the world over .
We have entered into a global state of tyranny .
Where we stand now is at the juncture of OldSpeak ( where words have meanings , and ideas can be dangerous ) and Newspeak ( where only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ accepted ” by the majority is permitted ) .
The power elite has made their intentions clear : they will pursue and prosecute any and all words , thoughts and expressions that challenge their authority .
This is the final link in the police state chain .
Americans have been conditioned to accept routine incursions on their privacy rights .
In fact , the addiction to screen devices—especially cell phones—has created a hive effect where the populace not only watched but is controlled by AI bots .
However , at one time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state tracking one ’ s every move would have been abhorrent to most Americans .
That all changed with the 9/11 attacks .
As professor Jeffrey Rosen observes , “ Before Sept. 11 , the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras , peering at them in government buildings , shopping malls , subways and stadiums , would have seemed unthinkable , a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity.
” Having been reduced to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials who refuse to represent us , helpless in the face of police brutality , powerless in the face of militarized tactics and technology that treat us like enemy combatants on a battlefield , and naked in the face of government surveillance that sees and hears all—we have nowhere left to go .
We have , so to speak , gone from being a nation where privacy is king to one where nothing is safe from the prying eyes of government .
In search of so-called terrorists and extremists hiding amongst us—the proverbial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as one official termed it—the Corporate State has taken to monitoring all aspects of our lives , from cell phone calls and emails to Internet activity and credit card transactions .
This data is being fed through fusion centers across the country , which work with the Department of Homeland Security to make threat assessments on every citizen , including school children .
Wherever you go and whatever you do , you are now being watched , especially if you leave behind an electronic footprint .
When you use your cell phone , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call was placed , who you called , how long it lasted and even where you were at the time .
When you use your ATM card , you leave a record of where and when you used the card .
There is even a video camera at most locations equipped with facial recognition software .
When you use a cell phone or drive a car enabled with GPS , you can be tracked by satellite .
Such information is shared with government agents , including local police .
And all of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your whereabouts and your activities is now being fed to the U.S. government .
The government has nearly inexhaustible resources when it comes to tracking our movements , from electronic wiretapping devices , traffic cameras and biometrics to radio-frequency identification cards , satellites and Internet surveillance .
Speech recognition technology now makes it possible for the government to carry out massive eavesdropping by way of sophisticated computer systems .
Phone calls can be monitored , the audio converted to text files and stored in computer databases indefinitely .
And if any “ threatening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or silly—the record can be flagged and assigned to a government agent for further investigation .
Federal and state governments , again working with private corporations , monitor your Internet content .
Users are profiled and tracked in order to identify , target and even prosecute them .
In such a climate , everyone is a suspect .
And you ’ re guilty until you can prove yourself innocent .
Here ’ s what a lot of people fail to understand , however : it ’ s not just what you say or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how you think that is being tracked and targeted .
We ’ ve already seen this play out on the state and federal level with hate crime legislation that cracks down on so-called “ hateful ” thoughts and expression , encourages self-censoring and reduces free debate on various subject matter .
Say hello to the new Thought Police .
Total Internet surveillance by the Corporate State , as omnipresent as God , is used by the government to predict and , more importantly , control the populace , and it ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For example , the NSA has designed an artificial intelligence system that can anticipate your every move .
In a nutshell , the NSA feeds vast amounts of the information it collects to a computer system known as Aquaint ( the acronym stands for Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence ) , which the computer then uses to detect patterns and predict behavior .
No information is sacred or spared .
Everything from cell phone recordings and logs , to emails , to text messages , to personal information posted on social networking sites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ library circulation records , to credit card histories , etc.
, is collected by the NSA and shared freely with its agents .
Thus , what we are witnessing , in the so-called name of security and efficiency , is the creation of a new class system comprised of the watched ( average Americans such as you and me ) and the watchers ( government bureaucrats , technicians and private corporations ) .
Clearly , the age of privacy is at an end .
So where does that leave us ?
We now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being monitored , managed and controlled by our technology , which answers not to us but to our government and corporate rulers .
This is the fact-is-stranger-than-fiction lesson that is being pounded into us on a daily basis .
It won ’ t be long before we find ourselves looking back on the past with longing , back to an age where we could speak to whom we wanted , buy what we wanted , think what we wanted without those thoughts , words and activities being tracked , processed and stored by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to government agencies such as the NSA and CIA , and used against us by militarized police with their army of futuristic technologies .
To be an individual today , to not conform , to have even a shred of privacy , and to live beyond the reach of the government ’ s roaming eyes and technological spies , one must not only be a rebel but rebel .
Even when you rebel and take your stand , there is rarely a happy ending awaiting you .
You are rendered an outlaw .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ surveillance state ?
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , we ’ re running out of options .
We ’ ll soon have to choose between self-indulgence ( the bread-and-circus distractions offered up by the news media , politicians , sports conglomerates , entertainment industry , etc . )
and self-preservation in the form of renewed vigilance about threats to our freedoms and active engagement in self-governance .
Yet as Aldous Huxley acknowledged in Brave New World Revisited : “ Only the vigilant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who are constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures .
A society , most of whose members spend a great part of their time , not on the spot , not here and now and in their calculable future , but somewhere else , in the irrelevant other worlds of sport and soap opera , of mythology and metaphysical fantasy , will find it hard to resist the encroachments of those would manipulate and control it.
” Which brings me back to this technofascist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and all those like him who dare to voice ideas that diverge from what the government and its corporate controllers deem to be acceptable .
The problem as I see it is that we ’ ve allowed ourselves to be persuaded that we need someone else to think and speak for us .
And we ’ ve allowed ourselves to become so timid in the face of offensive words and ideas that we ’ ve bought into the idea that we need the government to shield us from that which is ugly or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a society in which we ’ ve stopped debating among ourselves , stopped thinking for ourselves , and stopped believing that we can fix our own problems and resolve our own differences .
In short , we have reduced ourselves to a largely silent , passive , polarized populace incapable of working through our own problems and reliant on the government to protect us from our fears .
In this way , we have become our worst enemy .
You want to reclaim some of the ground we ’ re fast losing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yourself .
If that means reading the “ dangerous ” ideas being floated out there by the David Ickes of the world—or the John Whiteheads for that matter—and then deciding for yourself what is true , so be it .
As Orwell concluded , “ Freedom is the right to say two plus two make four .
”

by John W. Whitehead
“Those who created this country chose freedom. With all of its dangers. And do you know the riskiest part of that choice they made? They actually believed that we could be trusted to make up our own minds in the whirl of differing ideas. That we could be trusted to remain free, even when there were very, very seductive voices—taking advantage of our freedom of speech—who were trying to turn this country into the kind of place where the government could tell you what you can and cannot do.”—Nat Hentoff
We are fast becoming a nation—nay, a world—of book burners.
While on paper, we are technically free to speak—at least according to the U.S. Constitution—in reality, however, we are only as free to speak as the government and its corporate partners such as Facebook, Google or YouTube may allow.
That’s not a whole lot of freedom. Especially if you’re inclined to voice opinions that may be construed as conspiratorial or dangerous.
Take David Icke, for example.
Icke, a popular commentator and author often labeled a conspiracy theorist by his detractors, recently had his Facebook page and YouTube channel (owned by Google) deleted for violating site policies by “spreading coronavirus disinformation.”
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate, which has been vocal about calling for Icke’s de-platforming, is also pushing for the removal of all other sites and individuals who promote Icke’s content in an effort to supposedly “save lives.”
Translation: the CCDH evidently believes the public is too dumb to think for itself and must be protected from dangerous ideas.
This is the goosestepping Nanny State trying to protect us from ourselves.
In the long run, this “safety” control (the censorship and shadowbanning of anyone who challenges a mainstream narrative) will be far worse than merely allowing people to think for themselves.
Journalist Matt Taibbi gets its: “The people who want to add a censorship regime to a health crisis are more dangerous and more stupid by leaps and bounds than a president who tells people to inject disinfectant.”
Don’t fall for the propaganda.
These internet censors are not acting in our best interests to protect us from dangerous, disinformation campaigns about COVID-19, a virus whose source and behavior continue to elude medical officials. They’re laying the groundwork now, with Icke as an easy target, to preempt any “dangerous” ideas that might challenge the power elite’s stranglehold over our lives.
This is how freedom dies.
It doesn’t matter what disinformation Icke may or may not have been spreading about COVID-19. That’s not the issue.
As commentator Caitlin Johnstone recognizes, the censorship of David Icke by these internet media giants has nothing to do with Icke: “What matters is that we’re seeing a consistent and accelerating pattern of powerful plutocratic institutions collaborating with the US-centralized empire to control what ideas people around the world are permitted to share with each other, and it’s a very unsafe trajectory.”
Welcome to the age of technofascism.
Technofascism, clothed in tyrannical self-righteousness, is powered by technological behemoths (both corporate and governmental) working in tandem. As journalist Chet Bowers explains, “Technofascism’s level of efficiency and totalitarian potential can easily lead to repressive systems that will not tolerate dissent.”
The internet, hailed as a super-information highway, is increasingly becoming the police state’s secret weapon. This “policing of the mind: is exactly the danger author Jim Keith warned about when he predicted that “information and communication sources are gradually being linked together into a single computerized network, providing an opportunity for unheralded control of hat will be broadcast, what will be said, and ultimately what will be thought.”
It’s a slippery slope from censoring so-called illegitimate ideas to silencing truth.
Eventually, as George Orwell predicted, telling the truth will become a revolutionary act.
We’re almost at that point now.
What you are witnessing is the modern-day equivalent of book burning which involves doing away with dangerous ideas—legitimate or not—and the people who espouse them.
Today, the forces of political correctness, working in conjunction with corporate and government agencies, have managed to replace actual book burning with intellectual book burning.
“Free speech for me but not for thee” is how my good friend and free speech purist Nat Hentoff used to sum up this double standard.
This is about much more than free speech, however. This is about repression and control.
With every passing day, we’re being moved further down the road towards a totalitarian society characterized by government censorship, violence, corruption, hypocrisy and intolerance, all packaged for our supposed benefit in the Orwellian doublespeak of national security, tolerance and so-called “government speech.”
The reasons for such censorship vary widely from political correctness, safety concerns and bullying to national security and hate crimes but the end result remains the same: the complete eradication of what Benjamin Franklin referred to as the “principal pillar of a free government.”
The upshot of all of this editing, parsing, banning and silencing is the emergence of a new language, what George Orwell referred to as Newspeak, which places the power to control language in the hands of the totalitarian state.
Under such a system, language becomes a weapon to change the way people think by changing the words they use.
The end result is control.
In totalitarian regimes—a.k.a. police states—where conformity and compliance are enforced at the end of a loaded gun, the government dictates what words can and cannot be used.
In countries where the police state hides behind a benevolent mask and disguises itself as tolerance, the citizens censor themselves, policing their words and thoughts to conform to the dictates of the mass mind lest they find themselves ostracized or placed under surveillance.
Even when the motives behind this rigidly calibrated reorientation of societal language appear well-intentioned—discouraging racism, condemning violence, denouncing discrimination and hatred—inevitably, the end result is the same: intolerance, indoctrination and infantilism.
It’s political correctness disguised as tolerance, civility and love, but what it really amounts to is the chilling of free speech and the demonizing of viewpoints that run counter to the cultural elite.
The police state could not ask for a better citizenry than one that carries out its own censorship, spying and policing: this is how you turn a nation of free people into extensions of the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent police state, and in the process turn a citizenry against each other.
Tread cautiously: Orwell’s 1984, which depicts the ominous rise of ubiquitous technology, fascism and totalitarianism, has become an operation manual for the omnipresent, modern-day surveillance state.
1984 portrays a global society of total control in which people are not allowed to have thoughts that in any way disagree with the corporate state. There is no personal freedom, and advanced technology has become the driving force behind a surveillance-driven society. Snitches and cameras are everywhere. People are subject to the Thought Police, who deal with anyone guilty of thought crimes. The government, or “Party,” is headed by Big Brother who appears on posters everywhere with the words: “Big Brother is watching you.”
We have arrived, way ahead of schedule, into the dystopian future dreamed up by not only Orwell but also such fiction writers as Aldous Huxley, Margaret Atwood and Philip K. Dick.
Much like Orwell’s Big Brother in 1984, the government and its corporate spies now watch our every move. Much like Huxley’s A Brave New World, we are churning out a society of watchers who “have their liberties taken away from them, but … rather enjoy it, because they [are] distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing.” Much like Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the populace is now taught to “know their place and their duties, to understand that they have no real rights but will be protected up to a point if they conform, and to think so poorly of themselves that they will accept their assigned fate and not rebel or run away.”
And in keeping with Philip K. Dick’s darkly prophetic vision of a dystopian police state—which became the basis for Steven Spielberg’s futuristic thriller Minority Report—we are now trapped in a world in which the government is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful, and if you dare to step out of line, dark-clad police SWAT teams and pre-crime units will crack a few skulls to bring the populace under control.
What once seemed futuristic no longer occupies the realm of science fiction.
Incredibly, as the various nascent technologies employed and shared by the government and corporations alike—facial recognition, iris scanners, massive databases, behavior prediction software, and so on—are incorporated into a complex, interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements, predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior, the dystopian visions of past writers is fast becoming our reality.
In fact, our world is characterized by widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, fusion centers, driverless cars, voice-controlled homes, facial recognition systems, cybugs and drones, and predictive policing (pre-crime) aimed at capturing would-be criminals before they can do any damage. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Government agents listen in on our telephone calls and read our emails. And privacy and bodily integrity have been utterly eviscerated.
We are increasingly ruled by multi-corporations wedded to the police state.
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What many fail to realize is that the government is not operating alone. It cannot.
The government requires an accomplice.
Thus, the increasingly complex security needs of the massive federal government, especially in the areas of defense, surveillance and data management, have been met within the corporate sector, which has shown itself to be a powerful ally that both depends on and feeds the growth of governmental overreach.
In fact, Big Tech wedded to Big Government has become Big Brother, and we are now ruled by the Corporate Elite whose tentacles have spread worldwide.
The government now has at its disposal technological arsenals so sophisticated and invasive as to render any constitutional protections null and void. Spearheaded by the NSA, which has shown itself to care little to nothing for constitutional limits or privacy, the “security/industrial complex”—a marriage of government, military and corporate interests aimed at keeping Americans under constant surveillance—has come to dominate the government and our lives.
Money, power, control.
There is no shortage of motives fueling the convergence of mega-corporations and government. But who is paying the price?
“We the people,” of course. Not just we Americans, but people the world over.
We have entered into a global state of tyranny.
Where we stand now is at the juncture of OldSpeak (where words have meanings, and ideas can be dangerous) and Newspeak (where only that which is “safe” and “accepted” by the majority is permitted). The power elite has made their intentions clear: they will pursue and prosecute any and all words, thoughts and expressions that challenge their authority.
This is the final link in the police state chain.
Americans have been conditioned to accept routine incursions on their privacy rights. In fact, the addiction to screen devices—especially cell phones—has created a hive effect where the populace not only watched but is controlled by AI bots. However, at one time, the idea of a total surveillance state tracking one’s every move would have been abhorrent to most Americans. That all changed with the 9/11 attacks. As professor Jeffrey Rosen observes, “Before Sept. 11, the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras, peering at them in government buildings, shopping malls, subways and stadiums, would have seemed unthinkable, a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity.”
Having been reduced to a cowering citizenry—mute in the face of elected officials who refuse to represent us, helpless in the face of police brutality, powerless in the face of militarized tactics and technology that treat us like enemy combatants on a battlefield, and naked in the face of government surveillance that sees and hears all—we have nowhere left to go.
We have, so to speak, gone from being a nation where privacy is king to one where nothing is safe from the prying eyes of government.
In search of so-called terrorists and extremists hiding amongst us—the proverbial “needle in a haystack,” as one official termed it—the Corporate State has taken to monitoring all aspects of our lives, from cell phone calls and emails to Internet activity and credit card transactions. This data is being fed through fusion centers across the country, which work with the Department of Homeland Security to make threat assessments on every citizen, including school children.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you are now being watched, especially if you leave behind an electronic footprint.
When you use your cell phone, you leave a record of when the call was placed, who you called, how long it lasted and even where you were at the time. When you use your ATM card, you leave a record of where and when you used the card. There is even a video camera at most locations equipped with facial recognition software. When you use a cell phone or drive a car enabled with GPS, you can be tracked by satellite. Such information is shared with government agents, including local police. And all of this once-private information about your consumer habits, your whereabouts and your activities is now being fed to the U.S. government.
The government has nearly inexhaustible resources when it comes to tracking our movements, from electronic wiretapping devices, traffic cameras and biometrics to radio-frequency identification cards, satellites and Internet surveillance.
Speech recognition technology now makes it possible for the government to carry out massive eavesdropping by way of sophisticated computer systems. Phone calls can be monitored, the audio converted to text files and stored in computer databases indefinitely. And if any “threatening” words are detected—no matter how inane or silly—the record can be flagged and assigned to a government agent for further investigation. Federal and state governments, again working with private corporations, monitor your Internet content. Users are profiled and tracked in order to identify, target and even prosecute them.
In such a climate, everyone is a suspect. And you’re guilty until you can prove yourself innocent.
Here’s what a lot of people fail to understand, however: it’s not just what you say or do that is being monitored, but how you think that is being tracked and targeted.
We’ve already seen this play out on the state and federal level with hate crime legislation that cracks down on so-called “hateful” thoughts and expression, encourages self-censoring and reduces free debate on various subject matter.
Say hello to the new Thought Police.
Total Internet surveillance by the Corporate State, as omnipresent as God, is used by the government to predict and, more importantly, control the populace, and it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. For example, the NSA has designed an artificial intelligence system that can anticipate your every move. In a nutshell, the NSA feeds vast amounts of the information it collects to a computer system known as Aquaint (the acronym stands for Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence), which the computer then uses to detect patterns and predict behavior.
No information is sacred or spared.
Everything from cell phone recordings and logs, to emails, to text messages, to personal information posted on social networking sites, to credit card statements, to library circulation records, to credit card histories, etc., is collected by the NSA and shared freely with its agents.
Thus, what we are witnessing, in the so-called name of security and efficiency, is the creation of a new class system comprised of the watched (average Americans such as you and me) and the watchers (government bureaucrats, technicians and private corporations).
Clearly, the age of privacy is at an end.
So where does that leave us?
We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed and controlled by our technology, which answers not to us but to our government and corporate rulers. This is the fact-is-stranger-than-fiction lesson that is being pounded into us on a daily basis.
It won’t be long before we find ourselves looking back on the past with longing, back to an age where we could speak to whom we wanted, buy what we wanted, think what we wanted without those thoughts, words and activities being tracked, processed and stored by corporate giants such as Google, sold to government agencies such as the NSA and CIA, and used against us by militarized police with their army of futuristic technologies.
To be an individual today, to not conform, to have even a shred of privacy, and to live beyond the reach of the government’s roaming eyes and technological spies, one must not only be a rebel but rebel.
Even when you rebel and take your stand, there is rarely a happy ending awaiting you. You are rendered an outlaw.
So how do you survive this global surveillance state?
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we’re running out of options.
We’ll soon have to choose between self-indulgence (the bread-and-circus distractions offered up by the news media, politicians, sports conglomerates, entertainment industry, etc.) and self-preservation in the form of renewed vigilance about threats to our freedoms and active engagement in self-governance.
Yet as Aldous Huxley acknowledged in Brave New World Revisited: “Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures. A society, most of whose members spend a great part of their time, not on the spot, not here and now and in their calculable future, but somewhere else, in the irrelevant other worlds of sport and soap opera, of mythology and metaphysical fantasy, will find it hard to resist the encroachments of those would manipulate and control it.”
Which brings me back to this technofascist tyranny being meted out on David Icke and all those like him who dare to voice ideas that diverge from what the government and its corporate controllers deem to be acceptable.
The problem as I see it is that we’ve allowed ourselves to be persuaded that we need someone else to think and speak for us. And we’ve allowed ourselves to become so timid in the face of offensive words and ideas that we’ve bought into the idea that we need the government to shield us from that which is ugly or upsetting or mean.
The result is a society in which we’ve stopped debating among ourselves, stopped thinking for ourselves, and stopped believing that we can fix our own problems and resolve our own differences.
In short, we have reduced ourselves to a largely silent, passive, polarized populace incapable of working through our own problems and reliant on the government to protect us from our fears.
In this way, we have become our worst enemy.
You want to reclaim some of the ground we’re fast losing to the techno-tyrants?
Start by thinking for yourself. If that means reading the “dangerous” ideas being floated out there by the David Ickes of the world—or the John Whiteheads for that matter—and then deciding for yourself what is true, so be it.
As Orwell concluded, “Freedom is the right to say two plus two make four.”


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--How much different in practice is Communist China’s state-controlled media from America’s “free” med

How much different in practice is Communist China’s state-controlled media from America’s “free” media?

PROPAGANDA : ‘ Put on a mask and shut up ’ : China ’ s new ‘ Wolf Warriors ’ spread hoaxes and attack a world of critics .
The newscast blares from a television set in a Beijing apartment , carrying through an open window and echoing across the compound .
The refrain is the same every evening : praise for China ’ s handling of the coronavirus , dire scenes from foreign hospitals and condemnations of the United States .
The tone is often withering .
Last week , U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo was declared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A few nights later , the anchor feigned sympathy for Americans , who she said were left to die while their government railed against China .
Beijing has pushed this story line at home for months — a mixture of self-congratulation for defeating the virus , denial of central government missteps , and horror at other countries ’ failures to contain the pandemic .
Now , facing escalating international criticism over its handling of the outbreak and growing demands for an investigation into its origins , China has taken its strident nationalist message @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , THE NEWS MEDIA PRODUCE NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES AS PART OF MAKING A PROFIT : How Negative News Distorts Our Thinking .
WHAT ’ S SAD IS THAT YOU KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE PRESS ARE DISAPPOINTED THAT FLORIDA IS DOING SO WELL .
A Rundown Of Major U.S. Corporate Media ’ s Business Ties To China It seems a number of major US media outlets have financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party , and it shows in their coverage .
Despite the Chinese Communist Party ’ s ( CCP ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are parroting the authoritarian government ’ s propaganda , even in the midst of an outbreak the CCP worsened through a cover-up .
Many of those media outlets have financial ties to Chinese companies with intense oversight from the CCP .
“ You often see representatives from American companies with financial ties to China naturally become defenders of the CCP ’ s policies and spreading the CCP ’ s propaganda , ” said Helen Raleigh , an author and senior contributor at The Federalist who emigrated from China .
“ The financial tie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely to challenge China ’ s human rights record or unacceptable demand such as technology transfer.
” We do not know the extent of editorial oversight from corporations and individuals with financial incentives to placate the CCP , if any .
But we know the incentives exist , and that ’ s worth understanding .
Below is a breakdown of financial ties between major U.S. media organizations and the CCP .
RATCHET IT UP SOME MORE : As China ’ s Economy Implodes , Trump Ratchets Up the Pressure .

PROPAGANDA: ‘Put on a mask and shut up’: China’s new ‘Wolf Warriors’ spread hoaxes and attack a world of critics.
The newscast blares from a television set in a Beijing apartment, carrying through an open window and echoing across the compound. The refrain is the same every evening: praise for China’s handling of the coronavirus, dire scenes from foreign hospitals and condemnations of the United States. The tone is often withering. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo was declared “the public enemy of humanity.” A few nights later, the anchor feigned sympathy for Americans, who she said were left to die while their government railed against China. Beijing has pushed this story line at home for months — a mixture of self-congratulation for defeating the virus, denial of central government missteps, and horror at other countries’ failures to contain the pandemic. Now, facing escalating international criticism over its handling of the outbreak and growing demands for an investigation into its origins, China has taken its strident nationalist message abroad.
LIKE A DIRTY STEEL MILL, THE NEWS MEDIA PRODUCE NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES AS PART OF MAKING A PROFIT: How Negative News Distorts Our Thinking.
WHAT’S SAD IS THAT YOU KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE PRESS ARE DISAPPOINTED THAT FLORIDA IS DOING SO WELL.
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
The predictions versus the reality. t.co/53eaDnYy5Q — Byron York (@ByronYork) May 3, 2020
A Rundown Of Major U.S. Corporate Media’s Business Ties To China
It seems a number of major US media outlets have financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and it shows in their coverage. Despite the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) record of oppression, corporate media outlets are parroting the authoritarian government’s propaganda, even in the midst of an outbreak the CCP worsened through a cover-up. Many of those media outlets have financial ties to Chinese companies with intense oversight from the CCP. “You often see representatives from American companies with financial ties to China naturally become defenders of the CCP’s policies and spreading the CCP’s propaganda,” said Helen Raleigh, an author and senior contributor at The Federalist who emigrated from China. “The financial tie means these Americans will be much less likely to challenge China’s human rights record or unacceptable demand such as technology transfer.” We do not know the extent of editorial oversight from corporations and individuals with financial incentives to placate the CCP, if any. But we know the incentives exist, and that’s worth understanding. Below is a breakdown of financial ties between major U.S. media organizations and the CCP.
RATCHET IT UP SOME MORE: As China’s Economy Implodes, Trump Ratchets Up the Pressure.
h/t SG


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--LOCKDOWNS FOR THEM BUT NOT FOR ME:

LOCKDOWNS FOR THEM BUT NOT FOR ME:

Exclusive : Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover : Prof Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing .
The scientist whose advice prompted Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position on Tuesday night as The Telegraph can reveal he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover .
Professor Neil Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spread of coronavirus .
The woman lives with her husband and their children in another house .
The epidemiologist leads the team at Imperial College London that produced the computer-modelled research that led to the national lockdown , which claimed that more than 500,000 Britons would die without the measures .
Prof Ferguson has frequently appeared in the media to support the lockdown and praised the “ very intensive social distancing ” measures .
The revelation of the “ illegal ” trysts will infuriate millions of couples living apart and banned by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lockdown , which is now in its seventh week .

Exclusive: Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover: Prof Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing.
The scientist whose advice prompted Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position on Tuesday night as The Telegraph can reveal he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover.
Professor Neil Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The woman lives with her husband and their children in another house.
The epidemiologist leads the team at Imperial College London that produced the computer-modelled research that led to the national lockdown, which claimed that more than 500,000 Britons would die without the measures.
Prof Ferguson has frequently appeared in the media to support the lockdown and praised the “very intensive social distancing” measures.
The revelation of the “illegal” trysts will infuriate millions of couples living apart and banned by the Government from meeting up during the lockdown, which is now in its seventh week.


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--It Will Be Very Difficult, If Not Impossible, To Return To The Pre-Coronavirus Days

Hard talk with Václav Klaus : “ The people should say NO to all of it.
” As we get deeper into this crisis and we get used to our “ new normal ” , it ’ s easy to focus on the daily corona-horror stories in the media or the latest shocking unemployment numbers , and lose track of the bigger picture and of what is really , fundamentally important .
Even as the lockdown measures begin to get phased out , the scale of the economic damage is unimaginable and the idea of returning to “ business as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The last couple of months have had a severe impact not just on the economy , but on our societies and geopolitical reality too .
These changes are most likely irreversible and we as citizens and as investors will have to be prepared to deal with this massive shift and all that it entails for a long time .
Amid the panic , the distractions and the hyperbole that are prevalent these days , my own daily task has been an effort to separate the signals from the noise .
In order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reached out to the few people whose views and insights I have long found invaluable and who have prioritized critical thought and kept their principles intact throughout this crisis .
Straight talk and direct answers are very hard to come by these days from most Western leaders and institutional figures , this is why I turned to Former President of the Czech Republic , Prof. Ing .
Václav Klaus , who has long been a voice of reason and whose unique perspective is even more important now .
In the interview that follows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current crisis and on what ’ s to come , in a succinct and resolute way and with a directness that is as rare and as it is essential in times like these .
Claudio Grass ( CG ) : The magnitude and the global scale of the lockdown and shutdown measures we ’ ve seen during this corona-crisis are unprecedented .
How do you evaluate the response compared to the threat itself ?
Do you believe it is justified ?
Václav Klaus ( VK ) : I don ‘ t pretend to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my background in economics and statistics tells me that the threat is smaller than the consequences „ organized “ by governments all over the world as a reaction to this pandemic .
I would add unnecessary consequences .
The authorities reacted in an exorbitant way , in a moment of fear .
This is partly the result of the current „ online democracy “ .
CG : The “ emergency measures ” and the restrictions that have been imposed on civilians ’ basic rights have served as a reminder of the true extent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Do you find this worrying and do you see a risk that these new , extraordinary powers might not be as easy to roll back once the crisis is over ?
VK : The restrictions on basic civil rights that were introduced so swiftly and so easily demonstrate the power of the modern state , with all its new , “ smart “ technologies and drastically expanded enforcement capabilities .
Economists often talk about the so-called “ ratchet effect ” , or the limited ability of existing processes and dynamics to be reversed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specific event has radically altered them .
It is true of prices , of productivity and it is also true of social and political systems .
Therefore , I am afraid it will be very difficult , if not impossible , to return to the pre-corona days .
CG : On an economic level , what is your assessment of the impact of the shutdown measures ?
VK : Most , if not all , of the circulating quantitative estimates and forecasts , are wrong .
The “ experts ” should first say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and when the economic shutdown will be fully lifted .
Their economic forecasts depend on the length of the quarantine period .
They should announce explicitly when they plan to end it .
Until this is established and known , the current forecasts are economically meaningless .
CG : The monetary and fiscal interventions that we ’ ve seen so far are as extreme and as shocking as the shutdown policies themselves .
Do you think they ’ ll be enough to keep the economy afloat though , or is a deep and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The monetary and fiscal measures – unacceptable for the true democrats – may have positive short-term effects , but they will destabilize the economy and public finances for a very long period of time .
They could lead to very high inflation .
CG : Trillions upon trillions are being injected into the system , while wild ideas like the Universal Basic Income have become mainstream .
Apart from the obvious monetary and economic risks of these policies , do you also foresee political and social implications ?
VK : Those of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ living in a world of something like “ Universal Basic Income ” .
We wanted to get rid of communism because of principles like this .
These principles destroyed the motivation to work , which proved to be ruinous .
CG : Within just a few weeks we have witnessed an abrupt and absolute turn towards centralization .
The free market has been brought to its knees , individual voluntary exchanges , productivity and the very right to work and to create were all suspended and replaced with central planning .
Do you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being sustainable ?
VK : I would not call it “ central planning ” yet .
I prefer Walter Eucken ’ s term ( used for the description of the German economy in Hitler ’ s time ) , “ centrally administrated economy ” .
It is not planning in its original meaning .
It is the very heavy and visible hand of the government at work , instead of the “ invisible hand ” of the market .
CG : The corona-crisis has also had some very serious geopolitical ramifications , especially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes that you expect to see going forward in this arena ?
VK : We shouldn ’ t use this situation for the introduction of new dangerous foreign relations policies and to strengthen the demonization of countries such as China and Russia .
To my great regret , however , we see this is already happening .
CG : What about the future of the EU ?
Do you think this crisis has further weakened it and what is your outlook for the bloc ?
VK : The EU will – unfortunately , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Its exponents will use it to further weaken nation-states .
They are on the defensivenow , but they will reemerge again in full strength very soon .
I wish I ’ ll be proven wrong , but I do believe they ’ ll use this crisis to their advantage and I fear they ’ ll do so successfully .
CG : Citizens , investors and savers everywhere are justifiably scared , if not of the virus itself then certainly of financial ruin .
In your view , what can we do to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our own future ?
VK : It ’ s quite simple .
The people should say “ NO ” to all of it .
Otherwise , what lies ahead is a real-life approximation of the dystopian “ Brave New World ” of Aldous Huxley .

by Claudio Grass via Claudiograss.ch
Hard talk with Václav Klaus: “The people should say NO to all of it.”
As we get deeper into this crisis and we get used to our “new normal”, it’s easy to focus on the daily corona-horror stories in the media or the latest shocking unemployment numbers, and lose track of the bigger picture and of what is really, fundamentally important. Even as the lockdown measures begin to get phased out, the scale of the economic damage is unimaginable and the idea of returning to “business as usual” is no longer tenable. The last couple of months have had a severe impact not just on the economy, but on our societies and geopolitical reality too. These changes are most likely irreversible and we as citizens and as investors will have to be prepared to deal with this massive shift and all that it entails for a long time.
Amid the panic, the distractions and the hyperbole that are prevalent these days, my own daily task has been an effort to separate the signals from the noise. In order to do so, I’ve also reached out to the few people whose views and insights I have long found invaluable and who have prioritized critical thought and kept their principles intact throughout this crisis. Straight talk and direct answers are very hard to come by these days from most Western leaders and institutional figures, this is why I turned to Former President of the Czech Republic, Prof. Ing. Václav Klaus, who has long been a voice of reason and whose unique perspective is even more important now. In the interview that follows, he shares his views on the current crisis and on what’s to come, in a succinct and resolute way and with a directness that is as rare and as it is essential in times like these.
Claudio Grass (CG): The magnitude and the global scale of the lockdown and shutdown measures we’ve seen during this corona-crisis are unprecedented. How do you evaluate the response compared to the threat itself? Do you believe it is justified?
Václav Klaus (VK): I don‘t pretend to be an expert in epidemiology, but my background in economics and statistics tells me that the threat is smaller than the consequences „organized“ by governments all over the world as a reaction to this pandemic. I would add unnecessary consequences. The authorities reacted in an exorbitant way, in a moment of fear. This is partly the result of the current „online democracy“.
CG: The “emergency measures” and the restrictions that have been imposed on civilians’ basic rights have served as a reminder of the true extent of the state’s powers. Do you find this worrying and do you see a risk that these new, extraordinary powers might not be as easy to roll back once the crisis is over?
VK: The restrictions on basic civil rights that were introduced so swiftly and so easily demonstrate the power of the modern state, with all its new, “smart“ technologies and drastically expanded enforcement capabilities. Economists often talk about the so-called “ratchet effect”, or the limited ability of existing processes and dynamics to be reversed and to return to normal once a specific event has radically altered them. It is true of prices, of productivity and it is also true of social and political systems. Therefore, I am afraid it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to return to the pre-corona days.
CG: On an economic level, what is your assessment of the impact of the shutdown measures?
VK: Most, if not all, of the circulating quantitative estimates and forecasts, are wrong. The “experts” should first say how long the quarantine restrictions will last and when the economic shutdown will be fully lifted. Their economic forecasts depend on the length of the quarantine period. They should announce explicitly when they plan to end it. Until this is established and known, the current forecasts are economically meaningless.
CG: The monetary and fiscal interventions that we’ve seen so far are as extreme and as shocking as the shutdown policies themselves. Do you think they’ll be enough to keep the economy afloat though, or is a deep and long recession simply inevitable?
VK: The monetary and fiscal measures – unacceptable for the true democrats – may have positive short-term effects, but they will destabilize the economy and public finances for a very long period of time. They could lead to very high inflation.
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CG: Trillions upon trillions are being injected into the system, while wild ideas like the Universal Basic Income have become mainstream. Apart from the obvious monetary and economic risks of these policies, do you also foresee political and social implications?
VK: Those of us in the ex-communist countries were used to living in a world of something like “Universal Basic Income”. We wanted to get rid of communism because of principles like this. These principles destroyed the motivation to work, which proved to be ruinous.
CG: Within just a few weeks we have witnessed an abrupt and absolute turn towards centralization. The free market has been brought to its knees, individual voluntary exchanges, productivity and the very right to work and to create were all suspended and replaced with central planning. Do you think this approach has any chance of being sustainable?
VK: I would not call it “central planning” yet. I prefer Walter Eucken’s term (used for the description of the German economy in Hitler’s time), “centrally administrated economy”. It is not planning in its original meaning. It is the very heavy and visible hand of the government at work, instead of the “invisible hand” of the market.
CG: The corona-crisis has also had some very serious geopolitical ramifications, especially vis-à-vis China. What are the main changes that you expect to see going forward in this arena?
VK: We shouldn’t use this situation for the introduction of new dangerous foreign relations policies and to strengthen the demonization of countries such as China and Russia. To my great regret, however, we see this is already happening.
CG: What about the future of the EU? Do you think this crisis has further weakened it and what is your outlook for the bloc?
VK: The EU will – unfortunately, in my view – survive the corona-crisis. Its exponents will use it to further weaken nation-states. They are on the defensivenow, but they will reemerge again in full strength very soon. I wish I’ll be proven wrong, but I do believe they’ll use this crisis to their advantage and I fear they’ll do so successfully.
CG: Citizens, investors and savers everywhere are justifiably scared, if not of the virus itself then certainly of financial ruin. In your view, what can we do to take back at least some control of our own future?
VK: It’s quite simple. The people should say “NO” to all of it. Otherwise, what lies ahead is a real-life approximation of the dystopian “Brave New World” of Aldous Huxley.
Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Schweiz


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--I work in a meat packing plant we just had to close do to employee walk offs

Some employees have been upset since mid march they are not getting hazard pay for going to work .
We had a small outbreak the end of march and many people stopped going to work then and because of the new rules Trump put in place you can call off at any time and not be fired .
We were falling behind but still doing our best to fill orders .
Then all hell broke lose .
One employee died of “ flu like symptoms ” and we wanted to know if he had covid .
No one would give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few more employees at this time .
Then a few days later Trump ordered meat packing plants to stay open .
This was like the straw that broke the camels back .
Suddenly employee moral was at a zero .
I was the only one not worried about this at all .
The management got harder and threatened people that did not come to work .
At this point we were so far behind and down so many employees we were working 6 12s .
There is no catching up at this point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we can .
Then came last friday .
We got an email that several states were doubling food stamp amounts so we had to step up production to meet demand .
People were furious we have been going as fast as humanly possible and they acted like we have been taking it easy .
3 people walked out on saturday .
On sunday we had employee protests and they organized a strike to get hazard pay at least .
On money only 10 of us showed !
!
!
The management called us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are closing down until they can figure out which way to go from here .
We have to use out pto before we can get unemployement .
Its looking bleak for us folks .
Take care shit is about to get ugly I fear !
Disclaimer : This is a guest post and it doesn ’ t necessarily represent the views of IWB .

by AC
Some employees have been upset since mid march they are not getting hazard pay for going to work. We had a small outbreak the end of march and many people stopped going to work then and because of the new rules Trump put in place you can call off at any time and not be fired. We were falling behind but still doing our best to fill orders.
Then all hell broke lose. One employee died of “flu like symptoms” and we wanted to know if he had covid. No one would give us an answer. We lost a few more employees at this time. Then a few days later Trump ordered meat packing plants to stay open. This was like the straw that broke the camels back. Suddenly employee moral was at a zero. I was the only one not worried about this at all. The management got harder and threatened people that did not come to work. At this point we were so far behind and down so many employees we were working 6 12s. There is no catching up at this point so we just crack along the best we can.
Then came last friday. We got an email that several states were doubling food stamp amounts so we had to step up production to meet demand. People were furious we have been going as fast as humanly possible and they acted like we have been taking it easy. 3 people walked out on saturday. On sunday we had employee protests and they organized a strike to get hazard pay at least. On money only 10 of us showed!!! The management called us into the office and told us they are closing down until they can figure out which way to go from here. We have to use out pto before we can get unemployement. Its looking bleak for us folks. Take care shit is about to get ugly I fear!
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Disclaimer: This is a guest post and it doesn’t necessarily represent the views of IWB.


investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--Tim Pool: Leftists IGNORE Science And Keep Pushing More Lockdowns, NYC Says They Won’t Reopen Until

Tim Pool: Leftists IGNORE Science And Keep Pushing More Lockdowns, NYC Says They Won’t Reopen Until SEPTEMBER

NYC is a different country compared to the rest of NY .
So not surprising .

NYC is a different country compared to the rest of NY. So not surprising.
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investmentwatchblog--2020-05-05--Tempers Are Flaring Over Lockdown, Masks, and Money: Is All-Out Civil Unrest About to Erupt?

Across the nation , tempers are flaring over the continued lockdowns in many parts of America , and also on the requirement to wear masks in public .
I wrote previously about the possibility of civil unrest over the lockdowns , and unfortunately , it appears that ’ s where we ’ re headed .
The longer the lockdowns are continued , the more likely it is that we are going to see violence erupt .
People seem unable or unwilling to respect the opinions of others with regard to COVID19 , which has affected every family differently .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk to loved ones , while others are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads .
Others are rightfully concerned about the losses of liberty that we ’ re seeing .
All of these concerns are valid , and not mutually exclusive .
Some violence has already occurred over mask requirements .
Just over the past couple of days , there were several disturbing incidences of violence when people refused to wear face masks in businesses that required it .
Whether or not you think that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toward employees is not the answer .
People working in retail just want to keep their jobs , and unfortunately , that sometimes leaves them in the vulnerable position of having to police customers who don ’ t want to comply with store policies .
A physical fight erupted at a gas station in Decatur , Illinois when a customer refused to don a mask to pay for his fuel .
Sgt .
Brian Earles with Decatur Police spoke to the press about the incident .
It seems that a 59-year-old customer got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cashier when he was trying to pay for gasoline without a mask , as is mandated by the state of Illinois .
The customer allegedly shoved the cashier , who said he felt threatened , and the cashier responded by punching the customer in the face .
The customer was arrested and charged with battery over the incident .
In Holly Michigan , a Dollar Tree customer refused to follow the posted store policy of wearing a mask .
When a young female employee approached him and let him know of the policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I will just use this as a mask , ” and wiped his face on her sleeve .
The customer continued to behave belligerently until he left .
The entire incident was caught on store surveillance .
At a Family Dollar store in Flint , Michigan , the most violent response yet occurred when Calvin Munerlyn , a security guard for the store , was shot and killed after he refused to allow a customer ’ s daughter to come into the store without a mask .
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Munerlyn and spit at him and Munerlyn told her to leave the store and instructed a cashier not to serve her.
” Sharmel left the store .
About 20 minutes later , she returned with two men who officials identified as Larry Teague and Ramonyea Bishop .
The two men confronted Munerlyn , and Bishop shot Munerlyn in the back of the head , the prosecutor ’ s office said .
Bishop is Sharmel Teague ’ s son , the office said .
( source ) Sharmel Teague and both men have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anti-lockdown protests are spreading across the nation .
A lot of people aren ’ t formally protesting – they ’ re simply ignoring restrictions .
Parks and beaches have been full of people who are sick of being stuck at home .
Police officers are fed up with going out to break up crowds and enforce social distancing .
While some states are beginning to lift lockdowns , others are not .
Protesters across the United States are demanding that restrictions be lifted .
The Hill reports that protests are taking place in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Illinois , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , Tennessee , and Washington .
There are also protests occurring in Massachusetts , Vermont , and Maine , as well as North Carolina .
Protests are scheduled this coming weekend in Oregon , Maine , Massachusetts , Nevada , Louisiana , and Wisconsin .
Many of the protesters cite the need to go back to work while others say that their concern is liberty .
In much of the mainstream media , the protesters are painted as pro-Trump white supremacist gun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the playbook used by Virginia ’ s governor , Ralph Northam , during the anti-gun control march back in January , when he said that “ armed militias were planning to storm the Capitol.
” While many of the protesters do lean more toward the right-wing , not all Republicans support the protests .
And clearly , not all of the protesters are hate-mongering racists and its disingenuous of the media to promote this biased portrayal .
Counterprotesters have shown up at some of the protests to represent healthcare workers .
Currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have raised grave concerns because the protesters are not practicing social distancing or wearing masks .
Facebook has banned anti-lockdown protest pages and coordinators .
Dr. Deborah Birx , the White House coronavirus response coordinator , is unhappy to see the protests .
The protests are likely to continue until the lockdowns end , and we can probably expect to see greater numbers of protesters the longer the restrictions go on .
A lot of people still don ’ t have the money they were promised .
Back when the lockdowns began and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” to flatten the curve , a lot of promises were made by the federal government to help people weather the economic disaster caused by shutting down businesses .
30 million Americans have become unemployed since the middle of March .
Unfortunately , many of those promises have not been kept .
( For tips on getting through the application processes for Pandemic Unemployment or Payroll Protection loans , go here . )
Whether it ’ s due to antiquated application processes or shady business practices by large banks and publicly held corporations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for many people – and those folks are beginning to become desperate .
People in many states , including New Jersey , Maine , and Pennsylvania report they haven ’ t yet gotten a dime from unemployment .
In fact , a whopping 71 % of jobless Americans haven ’ t gotten their unemployment payments from March .
Lines at food banks are literally miles long in some areas .
Rents and mortgages are not being paid .
Soon it ’ s going to bubble over into rage and when it does , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we haven ’ t seen in this country in centuries .

by Daisy Luther
Across the nation, tempers are flaring over the continued lockdowns in many parts of America, and also on the requirement to wear masks in public. I wrote previously about the possibility of civil unrest over the lockdowns, and unfortunately, it appears that’s where we’re headed.
The longer the lockdowns are continued, the more likely it is that we are going to see violence erupt.
People seem unable or unwilling to respect the opinions of others with regard to COVID19, which has affected every family differently. Some are devastated by the loss of or risk to loved ones, while others are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Others are rightfully concerned about the losses of liberty that we’re seeing. All of these concerns are valid, and not mutually exclusive.
Some violence has already occurred over mask requirements.
Just over the past couple of days, there were several disturbing incidences of violence when people refused to wear face masks in businesses that required it. Whether or not you think that you should be wearing masks, violence toward employees is not the answer. People working in retail just want to keep their jobs, and unfortunately, that sometimes leaves them in the vulnerable position of having to police customers who don’t want to comply with store policies.
A physical fight erupted at a gas station in Decatur, Illinois when a customer refused to don a mask to pay for his fuel. Sgt. Brian Earles with Decatur Police spoke to the press about the incident. It seems that a 59-year-old customer got into a verbal altercation with a 56-year-old cashier when he was trying to pay for gasoline without a mask, as is mandated by the state of Illinois. The customer allegedly shoved the cashier, who said he felt threatened, and the cashier responded by punching the customer in the face. The customer was arrested and charged with battery over the incident.
In Holly Michigan, a Dollar Tree customer refused to follow the posted store policy of wearing a mask. When a young female employee approached him and let him know of the policy he responded by saying, “Here, I will just use this as a mask,” and wiped his face on her sleeve. The customer continued to behave belligerently until he left. The entire incident was caught on store surveillance.
At a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, the most violent response yet occurred when Calvin Munerlyn, a security guard for the store, was shot and killed after he refused to allow a customer’s daughter to come into the store without a mask.
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said Sharmel Teague “began yelling at Munerlyn and spit at him and Munerlyn told her to leave the store and instructed a cashier not to serve her.” Sharmel left the store. About 20 minutes later, she returned with two men who officials identified as Larry Teague and Ramonyea Bishop. The two men confronted Munerlyn, and Bishop shot Munerlyn in the back of the head, the prosecutor’s office said. Bishop is Sharmel Teague’s son, the office said. (source)
Sharmel Teague and both men have been charged in Munerlyn’s death.
Anti-lockdown protests are spreading across the nation.
A lot of people aren’t formally protesting – they’re simply ignoring restrictions. Parks and beaches have been full of people who are sick of being stuck at home. Police officers are fed up with going out to break up crowds and enforce social distancing.
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
While some states are beginning to lift lockdowns, others are not. Protesters across the United States are demanding that restrictions be lifted. The Hill reports that protests are taking place in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, and Washington. There are also protests occurring in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine, as well as North Carolina.
Protests are scheduled this coming weekend in Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Louisiana, and Wisconsin.
Many of the protesters cite the need to go back to work while others say that their concern is liberty. In much of the mainstream media, the protesters are painted as pro-Trump white supremacist gun owners, which is taken right out of the playbook used by Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, during the anti-gun control march back in January, when he said that “armed militias were planning to storm the Capitol.” While many of the protesters do lean more toward the right-wing, not all Republicans support the protests. And clearly, not all of the protesters are hate-mongering racists and its disingenuous of the media to promote this biased portrayal.
Counterprotesters have shown up at some of the protests to represent healthcare workers.
Currently, the protests have been peaceful but have raised grave concerns because the protesters are not practicing social distancing or wearing masks. Facebook has banned anti-lockdown protest pages and coordinators. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, is unhappy to see the protests.
Dr. Deborah Birx told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace that protesters may inadvertently jeopardize the health and lives of their family members. “It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a co-morbid condition and they have a serious or a very — or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives,” said Birx. (source)
The protests are likely to continue until the lockdowns end, and we can probably expect to see greater numbers of protesters the longer the restrictions go on.
A lot of people still don’t have the money they were promised.
Back when the lockdowns began and President Trump announced a “two-week plan” to flatten the curve, a lot of promises were made by the federal government to help people weather the economic disaster caused by shutting down businesses. 30 million Americans have become unemployed since the middle of March.
Unfortunately, many of those promises have not been kept. (For tips on getting through the application processes for Pandemic Unemployment or Payroll Protection loans, go here.) Whether it’s due to antiquated application processes or shady business practices by large banks and publicly held corporations, the money just has not arrived for many people – and those folks are beginning to become desperate. People in many states, including New Jersey, Maine, and Pennsylvania report they haven’t yet gotten a dime from unemployment. In fact, a whopping 71% of jobless Americans haven’t gotten their unemployment payments from March. Lines at food banks are literally miles long in some areas. Rents and mortgages are not being paid.
Anger is increasing.
Soon it’s going to bubble over into rage and when it does, we could see unrest and crime like we haven’t seen in this country in centuries.