"Stocks roar, with Dow spiking 1,300 points, after Senate passes $2 trillion stimulus bill" by Rachel Siegel and Thomas Heath Washington Post, March 26, 2020
WASHINGTON — A dismal unemployment report failed to pop Wall Street’s buoyant mood on Thursday, with stocks running to their third straight day of gains following the federal government’s pledge to shower trillions of dollars on US citizens and commerce.
It's been that way forever.
The index’s rally has been powered by Boeing, which has seen a resurrection of its stock price this week on word that federal help is on the way.
Lord Jesus!
See: Tho$e Needing Protection
They $uccored $ome (back in the $ports $ection).
‘‘It’s proof that greed isn’t dead, and neither is optimism,’’ said Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller & Washington, an investment management firm. ‘‘Investors are anxious to have the worst behind us.’’
Yeah, “every little bit helps, but anyway....”
The coronavirus bill the Senate passed Wednesday night is the largest economic intervention in US history. It will provide checks to more than 150 million American households, launch massive loan programs for businesses, and direct spending to unemployment insurance programs, hospitals, localities, and more.
$ounds great!
The relief cannot come soon enough for those who have already lost jobs and business owners who have closed down. There is near universal agreement that the country’s economic system faces months, if not years, of difficulties. A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Some investors have a simple explanation for the market’s big gains this week.
‘‘The easy answer is that this always happens,’’ said Dan Niles, hedge fund manager of the Satori Fund. ‘‘You always see vicious rallies in the midst of bear markets. The best example is the Great Depression, when the S&P rallied eight separate times, on average 24 percent each, on its way to losing 86 percent from peak to trough.’’
Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices, said investors are going to have to live with severe fluctuations for months as Wall Street sorts out the financial implications of the coronavirus. ‘‘This has been an amazing three days, but remember we are still way down from where we started and the volatility remains.’’
I think it when down again today.
The expectation of a breakthrough in the Senate and the scope of the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented intervention had already propelled markets to first back-to-back stock gains in more than a month, yet the pandemic, at once an economic nightmare and public health crisis, continues to wreak havoc worldwide. In an interview Thursday morning with NBC’s ‘‘Today’’ show, Fed chair Jerome Powell said the country ‘‘may well be in a recession’’ already.
Related: "The economy grew by a moderate 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, but many economists believe that will be the last positive growth seen for some time as the country endures a sharp contraction due to the coronavirus....."
Yeah, it was the coronavirus even though all the problems predate it and the market was way overdue for a "correction" after all the stock buybacks. How convenient for the looters that profited off there mismanagement of the $y$tem.
‘‘This $2 trillion stimulus package is just round one,’’ said Chris Brightman, chief investment officer at Research Affiliates, which has more than $130 billion under management. ‘‘Debt and deficits will be mind boggling, not just here but around the world. It’s too soon to worry about inflation, but that coming complication can’t be put off forever. Expect extreme market volatility to continue.’’
Soon the $$ will be worth nothing, like Weimar Germany. Probably around the time your check arrives:
"How much money might you see from the bill, if it’s passed without changes by the House and signed by President Trump? The IRS will use your current tax form on file, which is probably 2018 for many people, but the 2019 submission for those of you who filed early. Those who have direct deposit information on file with the IRS will see the money sooner; those who do not will get checks mailed to them, so it could take weeks for the money to arrive....."
Wall Street gets theirs right away.
The story was different in Asia, where markets posted some of their steepest losses of the past few days.
In his ‘‘Today’’ interview, Powell emphasized that the US economy wasn’t facing a typical downturn as the outbreak pushes people to shutter businesses and withdraw from normal activity, but once the virus is contained and consumer confidence returns, Powell said, ‘‘There can also be a good rebound on the other side.’’
Meaning the rich will be getting even richer with so many of us left in the Waffled wreckage.
I mean just above they said it was going to be years, and now Powell comes along with this cowflop about getting the economy moving again.
Until then, the Fed will continue to step in ‘‘aggressively and forthrightly, as we have been.’’
‘‘When it comes to this lending, we’re not going to run out of ammunition,’’ Powell said.....
Well, as long as the dollar is the world's reserve currency, they can keep those printing pre$$es running. Once they lose that, America becomes Zimbabwe.
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"The economy is in free fall, but these businesses are hiring; Food and drug manufacturers, delivery drivers, and health care workers are in high demand" by Janelle Nanos Globe Staff, March 26, 2020
It's almost as if the virus is being used to cover for the planned economic transformation and shift we see taking place, with 24/7 megaphoning by the agenda-pushing ma$$ media, and free fall an obvious referral to a certain September morning.
What if this is all another Trauma-based Mind Control Psychological Operation as well, dear, readers, because it is sure starting to stink of it.
Governor Charlie Baker’s decision on Tuesday to close all non-essential businesses was the latest blow to the state’s economy, as many tens of thousands of Massachusetts workers now face unemployment due to restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in spite of these unprecedented measures, a subset of businesses scrambling to meet the demands of the new outbreak-driven economy are offering a surprising counter-narrative: They’re hiring.
This is exactly what I was saying it is, and $ick! It's a mind-manipulating whipsaw of trauma to people. They have totally upended lives, and are now going to fashion the new work force -- as the Globe pre$$titute applauds it all.
Are you "non-essential?"
Amazon is recruiting 100,000 warehouse workers to handle a surge in online orders nationwide. Domino’s Pizza is bringing on 500 new drivers in Greater Boston to meet delivery demands. Walmart is looking to hire 1,900 new associates in the state, while CVS is hoping to fill over 50,000 positions across the country, including 2,500 locally, and it plans to hire those workers within 24 hours from the time they apply.
Meanwhile, supermarkets are bumping up pay and benefits for those willing to restock shelves and handle anxious shoppers. Liquor stores are bringing on new team members as shoppers stock up on booze, and health care staffing firms say they can’t keep up with the demand for nurses, respiratory therapists, and other caregivers, and are offering the equivalent of combat pay to bring on workers willing to meet the coronavirus challenge head-on.
You are literally risking your life, huh?
Not only that. The colleges gave the kids a pass and the medical schools are graduating students early to help with coronavirus.
Anybody feel a DRAFT?
I've also been told the grocery workers are fearing for the lives, and the food shopping experience for me has been totally ruined. In fact, all enjoyment has been ruined by this.
Oh, btw, Baker lets the booze shops stay open but he closed the pot places. Go figure. I guess that's never coming back. To hell withy that tax revenue. They never really wanted it anyway.
Ironically, the surge in unemployment — in just five days last week, the state received twice as many new unemployment claims as were filed during the entire worst month of the Great Recession, totaling 147,995 — has led the state’s unemployment office to enlarge its workforce. The caseload has gotten so pressing that the Department of Unemployment Assistance is now exploring the possibility of temporarily contracting with remote call-center vendors to help until everyone gets a callback.
Oh, yeah, how "ironic," ha-ha! Not funny, eliti$t $cum.
Related: Widespread computer glitches foil residents filing for unemployment benefits
Didn't you read the fine print, and didn't we just go through all this?
“It’s a wild time,” said Art Papas, the chief executive of Bullhorn, a Boston software firm that serves the staffing industry. Papas has been closely tracking the spread of the outbreak, and said he anticipated the pandemic would cut job activity among his users in half, but now he’s seeing an uptick in demand for workers in factories that serve the food and drug supply chains, for home delivery drivers for supermarkets and restaurants, and for tech employees at sites like Netflix and Amazon, which are trying to keep up with the streaming and shopping needs of a housebound populace, but all of that pales in comparison to the demand he’s seeing for workers able to respond directly to the crisis. “Companies which are focused on health care," he said. "They’re absolutely crushed right now.”
You mean super-spread, right?
Yup, we are not under lockdown or anything like that, we are simply a "housebound populace" -- sort of like June Cleaver or a pet dog or cattle.
The biggest challenge many companies face is hiring both quickly and safely. This is making remote recruiting “the new normal,” said Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at the iCIMS staffing firm, whose recruiting tools are used by the City of Boston and organizations like 7-Eleven and Rite-Aid. Vitale said the company is currently working with organizations who are hoping to redeploy laid-off workers and line them up with jobs at Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, and other companies that are staffing up, but not all jobs can be done virtually.
I'm getting really, really annoyed at that term.
David Jenks, who owns 30 Boston-area Domino’s franchises, said he’s hoping to bring on 60 new hires to help with pizza deliveries as customers demand more take-out orders. “We want to make sure that our service levels remain strong,” he wrote via e-mail. “We’re also looking to help out those who may have lost their job and who are looking to find a way to put food on the table.” He said contactless delivery and carryout options keep both customers and drivers safe, and noted that the company plans to train its new hires while using social distancing.
I'm just wondering why the ruling cla$$ doesn't have to practice social distancing, and I'm not the only one. Those under curfew (despite the lying pre$$ saying otherwise) know, and I thank him for bringing that to my attention. The photo is a keeper even if it was from two weeks ago.
James Kleeberger, the general manager at Total Wine in Everett, is also looking to tap into the pool of unemployed restaurant workers, particularly if they have a knowledge of wine and can help respond to a flood of customers who have been pouring into his stores. He said he’s brought on a dozen new staffers since the overall business slowdown first started in Massachusetts.
The process has been remarkably quick, he said. “We’re interviewing people and hiring them on the spot.”
OMFG!
Not even a health check?
--more--"
Related:
"Walmart Inc. has taken on 25,000 new employees and given offers to thousands more in the first week of a hiring push, as the biggest private employer in the US scrambles to keep its shelves stocked and checkouts staffed during the coronavirus pandemic. The retailer has compressed a hiring process that can often take two weeks into as little as three hours by eliminating formal interviews and written job offers, giving store managers authority to make verbal offers right away, according to Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs. The applicants include high school and college students along with those let go from jobs at restaurants and hotels. Walmart last week pledged to hire 150,000 hourly workers, increasing its US work force by 10 percent amid a rapid economic shift due to the coronavirus pandemic."
They are using the coronavirus "crisis" -- whatever it is -- to DO THI$, folks. To f**k ya'!
"Americans filed for unemployment pay in historic numbers last week, as coronavirus shutdown orders from Boston to Chicago to San Francisco triggered a tsunami of layoffs that is expected to swell the ranks of the jobless to levels not seen in nearly 40 years....."
People waited in line for help with unemployment benefits at the One-Stop Career Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday. (John Locher/Associated Press).
Where is the social distancing, right?
Of course, the Globe only cares if you are an undocumented immigrants losing their job, because that’s bad for all of us.
"Home buyers and sellers face a new reality as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts what should be a busy time of the year. Open houses have been canceled or are being live-streamed. Video tours are quickly becoming the norm. Many agents made this tough transition out of necessity....."
With each article, my analy$i$ is confirmed.
Also see:
3-D printing to the coronavirus rescue?
The Globe reporter says not so fast, that you must trust official authority whose learned a lot about coronavirus, but not enough.
Why (answer about 20 minutes in)?
"The Justice Department brought its first coronavirus-related criminal fraud case in the nation Wednesday night, accusing a small-time actor in Southern California of peddling a fake cure to millions of social media followers and trying to woo investors with promises of millions of dollars in returns. Keith Lawrence Middlebrook, 53, was arrested by the FBI Wednesday during a meeting in which he delivered pills to a potential ‘‘investor’’ — an undercover agent — that Middlebrook claimed would prevent COVID-19, the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles said. He is charged with one count of attempted wire fraud, which carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. In videos he posted this month for his 2.4 million Instagram followers, Middlebrook showed off nondescript white pills and a liquid injection he claimed would offer immunity and a cure, respectively. The self-described ‘‘genius entrepreneur’’ frequently accused Democrats, the news media, and federal and world health officials of creating mass hysteria as a ploy to hurt President Trump....."
Yeah, Bill Barr's Ju$tU$ Department is working for Trump, sure.
Market upheaval worries victims of California wildfires
PG&E will take care of them, and if not, then Newsom will, and if not, the federal government. Hasta!
Time to $mell the flowers:
"Floral arrangements from the 117-year-old Olympia Flower Store in Boston’s South End are brightening days for customers during the spread of COVID-19. “There’s been a lot of coronavirus-related deliveries to keep people’s spirits up,” said Joe Bornstein, who has owned the shop since 1981....."
That's when my interest wilted as Spring 2020 has become a season of hope and dread.
"World leaders vow to coordinate coronavirus response in video call" by Aya Batrawy and Edith M. Lederer Associated Press, March 26, 2020
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of the United Nations told leaders of the world’s 20 major industrialized nations during an emergency virtual summit Thursday that ‘‘we are at war with a virus – and not winning it” despite dramatic measures by countries to seal their borders, shutter businesses, and enforce home isolation for more than a quarter of the world’s population.
The unusual video call in lieu of a physical gathering comes as governments around the world stress the importance of social distancing to curb the spread of the highly infectious virus, which has prompted closures, curfews, and lockdowns globally.
Is it?
The Group of 20 nations, criticized for not taking cohesive action against the virus or its economic impact, vowed to work together and said they are collectively injecting more than $4.8 trillion into the global economy to counteract the social and financial impacts of the pandemic.
Hone$tly, this is smacking of de$peration on the part of the globali$t ruling cla$$.
In a final statement after the meeting, the G20 said they were committed to strengthening the World Health Organization’s mandate. They said “global action, solidarity, and international cooperation” were needed more than ever, but made no specific commitments.
“The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities,’’ the group said. “The virus respects no borders.’’
Neither does Israel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged G20 leaders to adopt a war-time plan to tackle the pandemic.
“It took the world three months to reach 100,000 confirmed cases of infection,” he said. “The next 100,000 happened in just 12 days. The third took four days. The fourth, just one and a half.”
“This is exponential growth and only the tip of the iceberg,” Guterres said, adding that countries must be able to combine systematic testing, tracing, quarantining, and treatment, as well as coordinate an exit strategy to keep it suppressed until a vaccine becomes available.
Read the MIT journal article the Globe is ignoring.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said later that the secretary-general “thought the meeting was an important step in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go for truly concerted and effective global leadership in response to this pandemic and its impact.”
The WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told the G20 leaders: “We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart — if we let it.“
With a war criminal to lead it.
He urged leaders to fight without excuses, without regrets, thanking countries that have already taken steps to fight the pandemic and urging them to do more. He also encouraged leaders to unite, saying no country can fight COVID-19 alone.
Saudi Arabia, which is presiding over the G20 this year, opened the meeting with an urgent appeal by King Salman for the world’s most powerful nations to finance the research and development of a vaccine for the virus.
No problem presiding is the country with the worst human rights record on planet Earth, and the pre$$ takes no notice whatsoever.
“This human crisis requires a global response. The world counts on us to come together and cooperate in order to face this challenge,’’ the Saudi monarch said.
Related: Turkey indicts 20 Saudis in Khashoggi’s killing
Who remembers him now?
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced during the call that the UK was providing additional funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is supporting the development of vaccines, bringing its contribution to 250 million pounds ($302 million).
He's now got it, and he said in a video message posted on his Twitter account, “be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fightback against coronavirus.”
OMG!
This is all crap, all these elites coming down with it. Actors, etc. This is a staged and scripted rollout, a "live exercise" as Pompeo put it, with everyone fulfilling their role and telling us we are "all equal now." Never mind the wealth inequality and current looting.
It's only their way of $aying they love you.
The meeting was not open to the media, and governments and organizations distributed the comments of participants after it concluded.
In the video call, world leaders such as India’s Narendra Modi, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, and Canada’s Justin Trudeau, whose wife has contracted the virus, could be seen in little boxes on a screen seated at desks in photos shared on Twitter by European Council President Charles Michel.
President Trump was shown seated at the end of a long conference table in Washington with other American officials in photos shared on social media by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
Were they practicing social distancing?
--more--"
Why no photograph?
"Flatter or fight? Governors seeking help must navigate Trump" by Kathleen Ronayne and Jonathan Lemire Associated Press, March 26, 2020
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At first, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker tried to play nice. He limited criticisms of the federal government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and asked for medical supplies through official channels, but nothing came, so he went on television. The first-term Democrat blasted the Trump administration Sunday on CNN for failing to help states obtain masks, gloves and other protective gear.
It got President Trump’s attention. After a Twitter feud and some mudslinging (Pritzker compared Trump to a “carnival barker”), the two got on the phone Monday, and Trump promised Illinois 250,000 masks and 300 ventilators.
Facing an unprecedented public health crisis, governors are trying to get what they need from Washington, and fast, but that means navigating the disorienting politics of dealing with Trump, an unpredictable president with a love for cable news and a penchant for retribution.
Yup, middle of a public health crisis according to their shit reporting, and yet they still must savage the President of the United States. That's the AmeriKan pre$$ for you.
Republicans and Democrats alike are testing whether to fight or flatter, whether to back channel requests or go public, all in an attempt to get Trump’s attention and his assurances.
At stake may be access to masks, ventilators, and other personal protective gear critically needed by health care workers, as well as field hospitals and federal cash. As Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat of Michigan, put it, “I can’t afford to have a fight with the White House.’’ West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, was lavish in his praise.
Underlying this political dance is Trump’s tendency to talk about the government as though it’s his private business.
California’s Gavin Newsom, usually a fierce Trump critic, is among those who have gone out of their way not to lay the federal government’s failings during the coronavirus outbreak at Trump’s feet.
Newsom complimented Trump for “his focus on treatments’’ for the virus and thanked him for sending masks and gloves to California. He said the president was “on top of it” when it came to improving testing and said Trump was aware “even before I offered my own insight” of the state’s need for more testing swabs.
Hypocritical little ass-kisser!
Trump has kept a close eye on the coronavirus media coverage and noted which local officials were praising or criticizing him, according to three aides who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the president’s private deliberations. In conversations, Trump has blasted Whitmer and praised Newsom, they said.
More than a close eye, he's immersed in it (about 14 minutes in). Thank God he's there, if for no other reason than laughs as he plays whack-a-mole.
There’s no evidence that Trump has held up a governor’s request for assistance for personal or political reasons. Still aides say it’s understood that governors who say nice things about the federal response are more likely to be spared public criticism from the White House or threats of withheld assistance.....
That's from a President who has a "penchant for retribution," or so I'm told.
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Related:
Vacant jobs, leaders with little experience leave parts of government unprepared in crisis, critics say
So says the New York Times.
"Scientists had warned that the United States someday would become the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. That moment arrived Thursday. In the United States, at least 81,321 people are known to have been infected with the coronavirus, including more than 1,000 deaths — more cases than China, Italy, or any other country has seen, according to data gathered by The New York Times....."
Again! More trash can material.
In a tornado, group shelters will be open, despite virus
Students no longer have to pick up free meals in person
School districts are distributing meals ‘‘to a parent or guardian to take home to their children,’’ and one can only wonder how long until they begin shipping to door so there will be no reason to go outside at all?
New Orleans faces a virus nightmare, and Mardi Gras may be why
The New York Times says "the situation in and around New Orleans is particularly acute, and in a grim irony, there is a rising suspicion among medical experts that the crisis may have been accelerated by Mardi Gras, the weekslong citywide celebration that unfolds in crowded living rooms, ballrooms, and city streets, which this year culminated Feb. 25."
Party's over!
"Conservatives push Trump to end social distancing, citing a conspiracy of the left to impose its agenda" by Katie Shepherd Washington Post, March 26, 2020
At the start of his Tuesday show, conservative radio host Glenn Beck spoke in an upbeat cadence over a jaunty music track, even as he discussed possibly sacrificing lives during the coronavirus outbreak to save the United States and its economy.
‘‘I would rather have my children stay home and have all of us who are over 50 go in and keep this economy going and working,’’ Beck said. ‘‘Even if we all get sick, I’d rather die than kill the country. Because it’s not the economy that’s dying, it’s the country.’’
Beck’s offer to sacrifice his health and other older Americans’ lives for the good of the US economy comes amid President Trump’s evolving rhetoric against the social distancing guidelines that have urged people to avoid public gatherings and work from home as much as possible to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Trump has spoken in recent days of lifting social distancing policies that have shut down nonessential businesses around the United States after a 15-day period ends to ‘‘have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.’’
Behind him, a chorus of conservative thinkers, pundits, and politicians have been sowing arguments to support a potential walk-back of the policies that public health experts say will slow the spread of coronavirus and limit the number of severe cases inundating hospitals.
At the heart of their campaign is a skepticism over the advice offered by experts and a willingness to accept a certain number of deaths to incur fewer economic costs. Many also see in the mass shutdowns and shelter-in-place policies a plot to push the country to the left.
There are now more than 1,000 deaths in the United States, but Heather MacDonald’s position remains the same. The vast majority of coronavirus fatalities will be ‘‘concentrated among the elderly and the already severely sick,’’ argued MacDonald, a conservative thinker, who might die of another cause, if not coronavirus. She estimated death rates close to the flu and nowhere near as high as auto accidents.
Yeah, we are all assholes down here, and I know a lot of people feel that way.
Public health experts have disputed those analogies when discussing the coronavirus pandemic, and new data have shown higher rates of illness and death among young and middle-aged adults than previously expected, but MacDonald and others arguing to end the self-isolation that is hampering the stock market don’t deny people will die. While the virus might kill thousands, MacDonald argued, a depressed economy could irreparably harm millions of Americans, young and old.
‘‘The millions of people whose lives depend on a functioning economy also deserve compassion,’’ MacDonald wrote.
They have a point, and what good is life if it is in grinding poverty and home confinement with no socialization?
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board agreed the impact on the nation’s financial health could potentially be catastrophic, particularly if the stay-at-home orders continue into April, May, or even June, as some experts have suggested. The board suggested last week that seeking alternatives that would allow commerce to resume, but stopped short of urging a sudden end to the social distancing policies in place now.
‘‘No society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its overall economic health,” the editorial board wrote, ‘‘Even America’s resources to fight a viral plague aren’t limitless — and they will become more limited by the day as individuals lose jobs, businesses close, and American prosperity gives way to poverty.’’
--more--"
Also see:
EPA, citing coronavirus, drastically relaxes rules for polluters
That will cause respiratory illnesses that they can then blame on coronavirus.
"Brazil’s governors are defying President Jair Bolsonaro over his call to reopen schools and businesses, dismissing his argument — borrowed from President Trump — that the cure of widespread shutdowns to contain the spread of the new coronavirus is worse than the disease. Bolsonaro, in a nationally televised address Tuesday night, contends that the clampdown already ordered by many governors will deeply wound the already beleaguered economy and spark social unrest. The country’s governors protested on Wednesday that his instructions run counter to health experts’ recommendations and endanger Latin America’s largest population. They said they would continue with their strict measures and, in a joint letter, nearly all of them begged that the federal government join forces with states. The rebellion even included traditional allies of Brazil’s president....."
They were “blown away” by the president’s instructions, and at least President Trump has someone to commiserate with.
"People are dying in waiting rooms before they can even be admitted as the coronavirus pandemic overpowers medical staff. With some funeral services halted in the Spanish capital and no space left in the morgues, corpses are being stored at the main ice rink. Overflowing intensive care wards and new rules dictate that older patients miss out to younger people with a better shot at surviving, Daniel Bernabeu said by telephone. The number of fatalities in the country of 47 million people is now rising faster than it did in China, where the virus first emerged, and faster than in Italy, where the disease took hold this month. Spanish authorities reported another 738 people had lost their lives, making it the deadliest hot spot on Wednesday while elsewhere countries unveiled more measures to deal with the economic carnage. The daily count of fatalities dropped to 655 on Thursday. Spain’s total death toll, now at 4,089, already overtook China’s this week....."
You keep thinking I'm making it up when I say they are killing old people in a massive cull, yet there it is. I sure as heck hope it's not fake.
"Some of India’s legions of poor and others suddenly thrown out of work by a nationwide stay-at-home order began receiving aid on Thursday, as both public and private groups worked to blunt the impact of efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic. India’s finance ministry announced a $22 billion economic stimulus package that will include delivering grains and lentil rations for three months to 800 million people, some 60 percent of the world’s second-most populous country. In the meantime, police in one state were giving rations of rice to shanty dwellers, while another state’s government deposited cash into the bank accounts of newly unemployed workers. Aid groups worked to greatly expand the number of meals they could hand out. The unprecedented order keeping India’s 1.3 billion people at home for all but essential trips to places such as markets or pharmacies is meant to keep the virus from surging above the 593 active cases and 13 deaths currently recorded and overwhelming an already strained health care system."
"France began evacuating infected citizens from the northeastern hotspot of Alsace using a special high-speed train. Meanwhile, Britain ordered 10,000 ventilators, working with engineers from Dyson. The government wants to increase its supply of the breathing machines from 8,000 to 30,000. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. So far, more than 115,000 people have recovered from the virus, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University. China’s cases have slowed, with only 67 new cases reported, all recent arrivals."
"Kosovo lawmakers voted to remove Prime Minister Albin Kurti, becoming the first nation in Europe to vote out a government over the way it is handling the coronavirus outbreak. The government collapsed late on Wednesday, just months after it took office. The vote was called by a junior coalition partner who criticized the steps that were taken to curb the contagion. Kurti ordered a curfew and banned public gatherings on Monday to stem the spread, defying President Hashim Thaci who wanted to declare a national emergency."
That's what the governors and pre$$ here are hoping, and it is inspiring to see Kosovo toss off repression.
"Could we really end the coronavirus crisis in two weeks if we stopped all interaction? Sorry, no. Here’s why" by Deanna Pan Globe Staff, March 26, 2020
Here’s a thought experiment for our pandemic times: What if all of us — every single one of us — defied our individual impulses in favor of the greater good, heeded the advice of our government, hunkered down for 14 days and halted all human interaction? Could we turn the tide of the COVID-19 outbreak and emerge, after two weeks in isolation, battered but victorious against a disease that now threatens to overwhelm our hospitals and decimate our economy?
That is what is this whole damn exercise, one massive social experiment.
The answer is yes, as reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. wrote in a now-viral story for the New York Times, but only in theory. McNeil likened the necessary circumstances to “waving a magic wand.”
The New York Times is nothing but crap!
“In theory, if we were all to sit far enough apart that we couldn’t and we didn’t interact with anyone, sure, that would break the chains of transmission here,” said Crystal Watson, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It wouldn’t mean we would be out of the woods immediately because those people who have already gotten [infected] and haven’t shown symptoms yet are still going to get sick, and a portion of them are going to go to the hospital, and a portion of them are going to die."
Epidemiologists are cautioning against conflating theoretical possibilities with real-world solutions, especially as some business and political leaders, including the president, have hinted at their desire to quickly return to business as usual and lift the recent social distancing measures that have shuttered large segments of the economy.
Here’s why that’s a bad idea:
Two weeks is not nearly long enough.
“One of the problems with the 14-day narrative is basically that’s what China did. They said everybody has to stay inside, but it wasn’t 14 days, it was more like two months before things really started to come back to normal,” said Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, who is studying the pandemic using mathematical and computational modeling.
Is that where they are coming up with the numbers? A computer model?
In late January, the Chinese government imposed harsh travel restrictions to control the coronavirus outbreak in the province of Hubei, where the pandemic began, suspending all outbound travel and confining people to their homes. Now that the outbreak there has slowed, China is finally easing its lockdown measures. On April 8, public transportation will start running again in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, but the United States doesn’t need to adopt China’s extreme measures to flatten the epidemic curve of its outbreak, Scarpino said, if Americans take social distancing very seriously — and for several more weeks — and we test much more widely for COVID-19.
FUCK OFF!
“The point of imposing these measures is to bring the outbreak under control to a level where we can control it with the kind of testing and isolation strategy that we see in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” he said. “So I think what we need to do is take the steps that we’re taking now and understand that for them to work it’s going be more like four or five or six weeks,” and keep in mind infected people can carry the virus for several days before showing any signs of illness. Research indicates the incubation period for COVID-19 is between two and 14 days after exposure. Say you were infected right before your mandated 14-day period of isolation. If your symptoms arrived on day 10, you would still be contagious even after emerging from your temporary solitude.
At least, and thanks for the warning.
“As soon as you impose those restrictions on people, it’s not really that it’s 14 days, it’s 14 days until everybody that was already exposed could become sick,” Scarpino explained. “So it’s really more like a month or more you would have to physically lock everybody down in order to have this go away, and the situation is, we already are having a lot of of trouble maintaining the social and political will to implement the measures we’ve done in the US.”
Good.
“The options aren’t social distance or life is completely normal," said Ellie Murray, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. "It’s social distance or we have a huge number of cases, an overwhelmed medical system, people dying from COVID, people dying from other diseases where they can no longer get the care they need, and ... the [economic] impact is almost certainly going to be greater than the current impact of social distancing.”
They are leaving you NO OPTION and the MESSAGE IS: If we relax social distancing measures too early, we’ll undo whatever progress we’ve made AND The economic consequences would be even worse.
They can't prove that, of course. It's all conjecture and prediction based on computer models!
--more--"
Related:
"The state’s prison system is seen as particularly susceptible to the outbreak and the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater, which houses roughly 560 inmates convicted of sex crimes, has emerged as the main hot spot. A total of nine inmates and three staff members have tested positive so far for COVID-19, according to the Department of Correction. In a more hopeful development, Governor Charlie Baker reported that the state is making progress on expanding testing, which is seen as is crucial to isolating patients to stop the spread of the virus....."
Ironically, Baker can not go home tonight so he has ordered you to stay where you are, too.
Also see:
More than 160 Boston hospital workers test positive for coronavirus
Many appear to be due to community spread, as opposed to contact with infected patients, and Baystate Health in Springfield has consistently declined the Globe’s request for all information related to patient hospitalizations and staff infections.
A possible path to protect our economy and hospitals from the coronavirus
That's the opinion of Simon Johnson and Retsef Levi are cochairs of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance and professors at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. I wonder if they know Gideon.
Stop letting senators play the stock market
The Globe Editorial Board totally ignores Feinstein's sales, the most of the bunch.
Charles Portis’s humor is a tonic for tough times
That's morbid!
The November election is in jeopardy — save it with mail-in voting
You can already smell the fraud.
In a pandemic, Nobody thinks we should smoke more weed
The lying propagandist got a letter from the state of Massachusetts a few days ago saying he was an essential worker.
Expectant mothers face searing anxieties over how coronavirus will affect pregnancy and childbirth
Abort, abort!
$250 for Purell? State probes complaints of price gouging
What will they use to sterilize the baby?
State child welfare worker infected with coronavirus, others ill and awaiting test results
The workers, each based out of a different DCF office, have recently interacted with children and families the agency serves, as well as colleagues.
Time to abandon them.
R.I. board will borrow up to $300m as crisis chokes off state’s revenue
Yeah, going into more debt is a good move.
Boston artist installs surgical masks on oversized baby head statue outside MFA
Just whistling past the graveyard.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
In OTHER NEWS:
My A2 lead:
"United States indicts Venezuela’s Maduro on ‘narco-terrorism’ charges" by Anthony Faiola and Matt Zapotosky Washington Post, March 26, 2020
The Trump administration unsealed sweeping indictments Thursday against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and members of his inner circle on narcoterrorism charges, a move that dramatically escalates US efforts to force the authoritarian socialist from power.
They want the oil.
The United States also offered a $15 million bounty for information leading to Maduro’s capture and conviction.
Like a MOB BO$$ would!
Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has charged Maduro, along with a host of other current and former Venezuelan officials, with narcoterrorism, money laundering, and drug trafficking. Barr and other US officials outlined a detailed conspiracy headed by Maduro that effectively worked with Colombian guerrillas to transform Venezuela into a trans-shipment point for moving massive amounts of cocaine into the United States.
OMG, him again! The enforcer!
The long-awaited decision to file charges against Maduro echoed the US indictment of Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega in 1988 that ultimately led to his capture and incarceration, but Venezuela’s far better-equipped military and Russian support for Maduro would complicate any US attempt to take him into custody the same way.
The Washington ComPost reacts as if that is fine, America's God-given right to interfere in another country's elections and overthrow their government. Doesn't phase them in the least.
Barr said officials do expect to arrest Maduro, but he would not comment on whether the administration would entertain a military option, as it did in Panama. ‘‘We’re going to explore all options for getting custody,’’ Barr said. ‘‘Hopefully, the Venezuelan people will see what’s going on and will eventually regain control of their country.’’
OMG, what a thug!
Among those charged, Barr said, were Venezuela’s current head of the Constitutional Assembly, its former director of military intelligence, a former high-ranking general, the minister of defense, and the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Some of the indicted officials — notably Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez — failed to live up to secret pledges to move against Maduro during an abortive military uprising backed by the United States and sprung last April 30. Barr said the charges showed that Maduro’s regime was ‘‘infected by criminality and corruption.’’
There he goes, projecting again (didn't Epstein allegedly die on his watch and custody?), and they are punishing the guys whop bailed on them during an earlier overthrow attempt.
The charges were brought in indictments in New York and Florida. US Attorney Geoff Berman in Manhattan said they were the culmination of more than a decade of work.
‘‘Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon,’’ he said.
Same as the CIA did in South Central!
The charges against Maduro, in particular, carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison and a maximum of life, Berman said. He seemed to concede that US authorities could not arrest Maduro in Venezuela but noted that the leader may travel outside his country. Berman announced that the State Department is offering a $15 million reward for Maduro’s capture or for additional information that leads to his conviction.
Meaning Maduro is UNDER LOCKDOWN with the rest of us, and why would he leave his country?
I suppose that $15 million is better used there than here at home fighting the coronavirus. I wonder how many masks or ventilators that would buy.
The indictments mark a sharp escalation in tactics that have gradually ramped up under President Trump. What started as targeted, individual sanctions on Venezuelan officials moved to far broader measures that have locked Venezuela out of the US financial system. A US oil embargo imposed on Venezuela last year denied Caracas its single largest source of hard currency.
I'm not happy about Trump delegating things to the neocons here; however, we are in the fight of our lives for freedom at home and need him. He's the only thing standing between us and total tyranny.
Even before the charges were announced Thursday, Maduro rejected them.
‘‘There’s a conspiracy from the United States and Colombia and they’ve given the order of filling Venezuela with violence,’’ he said on Twitter. ‘‘As head of state I’m obliged to defend peace and stability for all the motherland, under any circumstances.’’
The unsealing of the indictments comes as Maduro is scrambling to cope with a domestic outbreak of the coronavirus at a time when Venezuela’s broken hospitals are reeling from chronic shortages of medicines, dilapidated equipment, and unsanitary conditions. Barr suggested that the pandemic had delayed Thursday’s announcement, but he said the time was right now because Venezuela’s ‘‘people are suffering.’’
The United States and the Venezuelan opposition had sought dialogue with some members of Maduro’s inner circle in an attempt to strip away or at least weaken his internal support. Yet by targeting a large number of those people with indictments, the administration could inadvertently push them to close ranks around Maduro, complicating the attempt to make him toxic and encourage those around him to abandon support.
This is disgusting.
The United Nations last year documented the torture, arbitrary arrest, and killing of government opponents and citizens under Maduro. In a January interview with The Washington Post, Maduro dismissed those reports as lies being spread by ‘‘rightist antirevolutionary media outlets.’’
Otherwise known as the American pre$$.
He scoffed at allegations that his government had established agreements with Colombian guerrillas engaged in narcotrafficking and kidnapping on the Venezuelan-Colombian border, or that operatives of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group were operating in Venezuela.
‘‘It makes me laugh,’’ he said.....
I'm glad he can.
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"Gantz, breaking vows, says he would serve under Netanyahu" by Isabel Kershner and David M. Halbfinger New York Times, March 26, 2020
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was set to hold onto power after his chief rival, Benny Gantz, reversed himself Thursday and signaled that he would be open to serving in a Netanyahu-led government.
Gantz, a former Israeli army chief who had vowed to bring Netanyahu’s long rule to an end and fought him to a draw in three elections, said he was changing course to help bring the country together to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“These are unusual times, and they call for unusual decisions,” Gantz said in a speech to parliament early Thursday evening.
“This is not the time for infighting and mudslinging,” he said. “This is not the time for controversy and divisions. This is the time for responsible, committed, patriotic leadership. Let’s join hands and get Israel out of this crisis.”
What a FRAUD!
The move was a 180-degree reversal and broke countless campaign promises by Gantz. Gantz’s move immediately led to the breakup of his centrist Blue and White party. He may also have doomed his own political future as a credible alternative to Netanyahu, some analysts said. Others said a unity government would offer Gantz his best chance at taking over as prime minister at some point in the future.
It's Netanyahu for LIFE then, and I don't mean a prison sentence from a court case that is going to be dismissed.
The shape of a new government and of Gantz’s role in it were not immediately clear Thursday afternoon. As an interim move, Gantz nominated himself for the position of parliament speaker, acquiescing to a key demand by Netanyahu, and was voted into that position Thursday evening.
Gantz is taking it up the jou know.
Netanyahu had been urging Gantz to join forces with him to fight the coronavirus crisis after the most recent election, on March 2, left neither of them in a position to form a majority government.
Netanyahu has proposed a three-year government in which he would stay on as prime minister for the next 18 months and Gantz would take over for the next 18. Alternatively, Netanyahu has floated the idea of a temporary emergency government for the next six months under his leadership, to be followed either by a new deal for a unity government or a fourth election.
Gantz did not say Thursday whether he supported either of these proposals. Thursday’s endgame was particularly head-spinning, even for the hurly-burly of Israeli politics. Many Israelis, however, thought Gantz took the high road in light of the public-health emergency.....
--more--"
I couldn't help but notice the cute bikinis ad in the middle of it all.
Also see:
"The US-led coalition on Thursday started pulling out of a second base in Iraq, in line with a planned drawdown of troops, hours after two rockets hit inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. The attack in the Iraqi capital, the seat of government and home to the American Embassy, was the first following a brief lull in violence from earlier this month. Iraqi officials also said the United States renewed a sanctions waiver enabling Iraq to import crucial gas and electricity from Iran, but with a shorter deadline. The pullout from the Qayara airfield in northern Iraq is in line with plans to withdraw from bases across Iraq and consolidate coalition forces in Baghdad and at Ain al-Asad Air Base in the country’s western desert. The plan has been in the works since late last year, a senior coalition military official said last week, and accelerated when Iraqi forces proved they were capable of facing the threat from the Islamic State with limited coalition assistance....."
The plan has been in the works since last year, but the Iraqis are giving us a big assist in helping us leave their country.
"A Chinese citizen who was working as a professor in Japan has been detained in China for alleged espionage and has confessed to spying and other unspecified wrongdoing, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Thursday. Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the case against Yuan Keqin was backed up by “clear fact and conclusive evidence’’ and has been transferred to prosecutors. “He confessed to the crime,’’ Geng said at a daily briefing. Chinese state security legislation is often extremely vague and can criminalize acts such as passing on research that could be retroactively labeled as confidential. Confessions are also widely relied on for convictions in lieu of hard evidence, and many who make them later say they were coerced through torture or threats. China demands strict political loyalty both from academics and students who go abroad and closely monitors their work and social media postings for any content that could be considered subversive or disrespectful to the country’s Communist leadership....."
All I can think of is Gitmo.
Related:
"An opposition politician in Hong Kong has been arrested over an online post criticizing a policeman who blinded a journalist in one eye during anti-government protests last year, local media said......"
Then the "journali$t" can't see a damned thing, can he?
Man pleads guilty to New Zealand mosque massacre
I'm told the killer had posted a hate-filled manifesto online and livestreamed the shootings on Facebook for several minutes.
What are they going to do, throw him in jail?
Oh, he was stripped of his leadership instead! That's a severe enough punishment for a member of the PARTY!
3 cyclists, driver injured in Ipswich crash
What were they doing outside?
Man charged with murder in Mashpee
See what happens when you confine people to their homes?
Mayor Walsh just relaxed some Boston parking rules
Spot just opened up because I'm on my way to the airport:
FAA bans Mass. group from conducting historical flights after fatal crash
Better grab your parachute then!
