The Thank$giving leftovers have long since spoiled and they didn't serve any at Sunday brunch, with the leftover chicken from Walmart being the other pandemic and it gives one a Tingle to see the Globe ask how many Americans must die before the country treats alcohol and drug addiction as the national emergency it is?
This is from yesterday, top of page A4:
"Battered Turkish economy puts a powerful Erdogan to the test" by Carlotta Gall New York Times, December 27, 2020
ISTANBUL — Turks had been grappling with a falling currency and double-digit inflation for two years when the pandemic hit in March, sharply worsening the country’s deep recession. Nine months in, as a second wave of the virus sweeps through Turkey, there are signs that a significant portion of the population is overwhelmed by debt and increasingly going hungry.
Any restaurants still open?
MetroPoll Research, a respected polling organization, found in a recent survey that 25 percent of respondents said they could not meet their basic needs. For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who this year had drawn attention at home and abroad with an aggressive foreign policy and military interventions, things suddenly came to a head in November.
I now take a grain of salt with this NYT report, thank you.
The government admitted that it had been understating the extent of Turkey’s coronavirus outbreak by not recording asymptomatic cases, and new data revealed record infection levels in the country.
There are no asymptomatic cases to record because it doesn't spread that way, so once we again we are being lied to about the data and infections. Nevertheless, Turkey is on board with the COVID deception for reasons of its own.
The Turkish lira has been battered by a record depreciation — down more than 30 percent against the dollar this year — and foreign exchange reserves have been badly depleted. Along with double-digit inflation, the country now faces a balance of payments crisis, Moody’s Investor Service said recently.
The crisis comes as Erdogan is about to lose a powerful ally when President Trump leaves office next month. Turkey is already facing sanctions from the United States for purchasing a Russian missile defense system and from the European Union for gas drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus. Trump had been instrumental in holding off the sanctions from Washington until this month.
What is left unsaid is the absorption of refugees in light of the mounting evidence that indicates the European Union’s border agency has been complicit in Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back migrants to Turkey, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with officials, not even a f**king thank you from the bloody hypocrites.
Erdogan was notably slow in congratulating President-elect Joe Biden on his victory. Analysts expect a Biden administration to be tougher on Erdogan’s sliding record on human rights and democratic standards.
What I would expect where I them is a resumption of destabilization efforts and a possible coup attempt like what occurred under Obama, something the New York Times conveniently omits in this article.
On Sunday, Turkey’s Parliament approved a law that would increase government monitoring of civil society groups, which rights groups have warned would violate the freedom of association.
Aren't they all, and no civil groups are concerned about COVID tyranny nor the lies that support it.
Newly introduced articles on associations and foundations, included in a bill on weapons proliferation, allow the annual inspection of nongovernmental organizations, ostensibly to combat terrorism financing.
The law also lets the interior ministry replace members of associations if they are being investigated on terrorism charges and gives it the power to suspend activities with a court order.
Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws are broad and have led to the jailing of politicians, journalists, civil society activists, and thousands of others. Nearly 680 civil society groups signed a declaration against the bill, saying it would limit their ability to raise funds and organize while putting them under ministry pressure. They said the law violates the Turkish Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of association.
To deal with Turkey’s spiraling economy, Erdogan has recently moved with a ruthlessness that is usually carefully hidden from view. He appointed a new head of the Central Bank, and when Erdogan’s finance minister, who is also his son-in-law and heir apparent, resigned in objection, the president surprised many by accepting the resignation and replacing him.
Then the president promised economic and judicial reforms and even floated the possibility of releasing political prisoners — which some in his own party advocate to improve relations with Europe and the United States.
In mid-December, Erdogan announced a new aid package to tide over small businesses and tradesmen for three months. Last weekend he dropped into a bakery to make some purchases in a show of support for merchants, but critics have described Erdogan’s various maneuvers as too little, too late.
Same here, with $ome exceptions.
The former finance minister, Berat Albayrak, may have been a convenient scapegoat — little is known of what really went down inside the Presidential Palace — but his dramatic fall from grace and complete disappearance from public life indicate a more serious course correction. It seems the economic crunch and the consequences for Erdogan’s own fate have become paramount concerns.
Mehmet Ali Kulat, who conducts opinion polls for political parties, including for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, said the president watches opinion polls assiduously.
“What he particularly pays attention to is how things reflect on society,” Kulat said.
I can see why he bounded with Trump and is slow to welcome the criminal Biden regime.
Recent opinion polls show that the standing of Erdogan’s A.K. Party has fallen to its lowest point in the 19 years it has been at the helm of Turkish politics, hovering around 30 percent, according to MetroPoll. That figure suggests that the party’s alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party would fail to secure Erdogan the 50 percent of the vote needed to win a presidential election.
“The next elections are not a slam dunk,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. “There is a good chance he will lose unless he either broadens his coalition or manages to appeal to people who voted for the opposition.
I am of the firm belief that all elections are fixed and have been ever since Brexit and Trump. The global ma$ters are not taking the chance of leaving it in the recalcitrant populations who make known their objections in every election given the parameters that have been selected.
I gue$$ Erdogan is living on borrowed time, huh?
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Related:
"No longer restrained by President Trump’s affection for Turkey’s authoritarian leader, U.S. officials and Congress are using the waning days of his presidency to ready sanctions and strike a strident tone against the strategic but unreliable ally. Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has vexed the administration almost since its start. That has been as much Mr. Trump’s doing — and his admiration for its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan — as that of actions by the government in Ankara, which has abused human rights, imprisoned Americans and journalists, and muscled into confrontations from Syria to Libya to the Caucasus to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The redirection of U.S. policy also will require President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to carefully bring Turkey back into the West’s embrace and keep from pushing it closer to Russia. Congress is poised this week to approve economic sanctions against Turkey for buying Russian missile defense systems early in Trump’s term, potentially exposing NATO military technology to Moscow. Trump stalled the sanctions last year, after the defense systems were delivered to Turkey. For the first time, and after Ankara tested the system this fall, White House officials have informed Turkish diplomats that the Trump administration will not oppose the congressional sanctions, according to two people involved in the discussions."
The Times adds that the sanctions are meant in part to warn Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia and other nations that have signaled interest in purchasing Russian military equipment as Turkey is feeling increasingly isolated and no longer the key U.S. ally in the Eastern Mediterranean, but experts warn that this could push Turkey into Russia’s arms if Biden is not careful (they talked to James F. Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq who retired last month as the State Department’s special envoy for Syria policy and the coalition to defeat the Islamic State, and who admittedly lied to Trump about US troop levels in Syria) because “it’s a little bit of a crossroads for Erdogan, and he’s going to have to make a decision — is he going to be the faithful NATO ally, or is he going to go it alone in a region that includes accusations of war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan's borders but under ethnic Armenian control?”
Or not:
"The U.K. expects to sign a continuity agreement with Turkey on Tuesday to roll over tariff-free trade arrangements worth 18.6 billion pounds ($25 billion) last year. “It will provide certainty for thousands of jobs across the U.K. in the manufacturing, automotive and steel industries,” Trade Secretary Liz Truss said in an email. “We now look forward to working with Turkey towards an ambitious tailor-made U.K.-Turkey trade agreement in the near future.” The deal, which will be the first signed since the U.K. reached a trade accord with the European Union on Dec. 24, will be signed this week subject to approval from the bloc, which has a Customs Union agreement with Ankara, Truss’s office said....."
That should give them an early taste of Brexit as some cargo and people will be let through but it's wave after wave in Europe, according to of the New York Times, and it is the migrant refugees who are helping the most, according to Constant Méheut of the New York Times, as Deutsche Lufthansa AG will airlift fresh produce to Britain on Wednesday amid fears of shortages.
Good thing the UK and EU were on the cusp of striking Brexit trade deal as negotiators worked through the night and right into Christmas Eve to put the finishing touches on a trade deal that should avert a chaotic economic break between the two sides on New Year’s Day as the backlog of cargo remains and the EU balks at Britain's demands.
Once the deal is done, Britain will scramble to see how it will work as the government warns of a bumpy post-Brexit transition despite the deal that had been expected, since all EU leaders warmly welcomed the deal which is designed to put post-Brexit relations between the bloc and former member Britain on a reliable footing, but companies are scrambling to digest the details and implications of the 1,240-page deal sealed by the EU and the UK on Christmas Eve, just a week before the year-end deadline and with major issues still unresolved (they have contingency plans for those after going the extra mile).
My question is, did anyone read it?
Also see:
"Turkey’s minimum wage will rise 22 percent next year, challenging efforts to keep down inflation while dismaying unions that found it insufficient to address the economic hardships caused by the coronavirus. The monthly net minimum wage will be 2,826 liras ($377), Labor Minister Zehra Zumrut Selcuk said in Ankara on Monday. About half of all workers in the country of 83 million people earn a monthly salary at or near minimum wage, according to a study by labor confederation DISK."
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Here is another turkey, in more ways than one, and it was yesterday's page A1, above-the-fold lead:
My printed NYT pos said it was a sudden reversal after last minute resistance, like the entire whole four years of his presidency. The Trumptards are saying his life was threatened if he didn't sign, but the pertinent point is he caved again -- just as he will come January 20.
"House Passes One-Week Stopgap Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown" by Erik Wasson, The Associated Press, December 9, 2020
The U.S. House passed a one-week stopgap spending bill on Wednesday to avert a government shutdown as congressional negotiators try to finalize funding for the rest of the fiscal year.
The temporary measure passed 343 to 67 and now heads to the Senate where it is expected to easily pass. President Donald Trump has indicated he’ll sign it before current funding runs out Dec. 11.
The short-term spending bill is necessary because none of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the fiscal year which began Oct. 1 have been enacted and talks on the omnibus package wrapping them altogether have not yet been completed. Lawmakers are also hoping to use that spending package as a vehicle for more than $900 billion in coronavirus-related stimulus.
As part of the virus-aid negotiations, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made a surprise $916 billion offer on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, but Democratic leaders said they wouldn’t accept a proposal that doesn’t include at least $300 per week in supplemental unemployment benefits. Democrats said they’re prioritizing the $908 billion plan by a bipartisan group that is still trying to resolve disagreements on liability protections for businesses and state and local aid.
McConnell on Wednesday urged Democrats to accept the Mnuchin offer or to move ahead with a bill that doesn’t include those two contentious provisions.
Congress‘s votes to push the government funding cliff off for a week gives negotiators a few more days to finalize a stimulus package.
“In addition to an omnibus appropriations bill, it is my hope that this additional week will allow negotiators the time to assemble an emergency coronavirus relief package. To take advantage of this window of opportunity, Leader McConnell must finally sit down with Democrats to find a bipartisan agreement,” said Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro, who will lead the House Appropriations Committee next year.
The underlying omnibus bill seems to be on a more secure track.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said talks were getting close on the government spending bill, especially after he conferred with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday.
“I’ve told you we were at probably 95% closure a couple of days ago. I spoke with the speaker at length, we’ve got to get a deal,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Key sticking points involved $2 billion for Trump’s border wall, as well as funding for immigration raids and detention. Montana Senator Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the subcommittee overseeing the Homeland Security Department, told reporters he thinks differences can be resolved.
“I don’t anticipate that’ll be a problem,” he said. “I think we could have gotten this done by the 11th if we hadn’t gotten into the habit of settling deadlines and then never meeting them.”
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Related:
"A selloff in some of the world’s biggest technology companies weighed heavily on the equity market, dragging down stocks amid dimming prospects for fresh stimulus. The S&P 500 slid from a record, while the Nasdaq 100 had its biggest slump in a month. Facebook Inc. sank after being sued by U.S. antitrust officials, while Tesla Inc. tumbled as JPMorgan Chase & Co. called it “dramatically” overvalued. Zoom Video Communications Inc., one of the biggest stay-at-home winners, plunged after an analyst downgrade. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down half as much as the tech-heavy gauge. DoorDash Inc. defied the market weakness -- almost doubling in its debut -- before Airbnb Inc.’s initial public offering. Stocks took a nosedive Wednesday as it became clear that a stimulus deal remains elusive amid the most-intense negotiations over a Covid-19 package since Election Day. The Democratic and Republican lawmakers working on a relief plan delivered a more-detailed summary of their proposal, but haven’t yet resolved the deadlock over a business liability shield as well as aid to state and local governments....."
"Economic relief talks descend into disarray as congressional bickering intensifies" by Mike DeBonis and Jeff Stein Washington Post, December 10, 2020
WASHINGTON — Congressional bickering over a new economic relief package escalated on Thursday, as lawmakers traded blame and put negotiations over critical legislation on the brink of collapse, and the finger pointing even threatened to imperil a must-pass spending bill in the Senate, as lawmakers were still unsure if they would be able to pass a measure by a deadline Friday night to avert a government shutdown.
Tired of getting jerked around on every f**king issue by these bastards?
The devolving situation came as multiple lawmakers appeared to be pursuing conflicting goals all at once, with little time to sort out disagreements. The House passed a spending bill Wednesday to fund the government for one week and avoid a shutdown deadline Friday night. The Senate must pass an identical bill — and have President Trump sign it — to avoid a shutdown, but they still weren’t sure how to do that with unanimous consent as of Thursday afternoon.
That's when you reach for your wallet.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, suggested on Thursday that discussions over emergency legislation could stretch beyond Christmas, even though multiple critical programs expire at the end of this month and there are fresh signs the economy is weakening. The Labor Department on Thursday announced that 853,000 Americans filed jobless claims last week, a big increase from the week before, a sign that the economy could be sliding backwards as new coronavirus cases pile up.....
Who cares about unemployment when stocks were mixed as traders assessed prospects for fresh stimulus amid the most-intense negotiations since Election Day, but negotiations continue to be bogged down by differences over shielding employers from liability for Covid-19 infections?
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Also see:
Were they at least wearing masks?
I'm so glad the New York Times has picked up the gauntlet, aren't you?
That was the Globe's page A1, above the fold lead on the 21st of December, although my print article was by Emily Cochrane of the NYT, so no big loss on the flop, and the po$ is something they passed so they could get out of town and celebrate holidays:
"At the core of the breakthrough was a mutual agreement to drop critical priorities championed by one party and loathed by the other: a Democratic push to establish a direct stream of funds for cash-strapped state and local governments, and a Republican demand for sweeping liability protections for businesses, hospitals and other institutions open during the pandemic, but “we have now reached agreement on a bill that will crush the virus and put money in the pockets of working families who are struggling,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote to Democrats on Sunday in a letter outlining some of the details of the measure....."
The over-the-top hyperbole and false hope never ends from those folks as Rachel Siegel, Jeff Stein and Mike DeBonis of the Wa$hington Compost tell you what’s in the new $900 billion stimulus package that has secured the ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction (I gue$$ their restaurants are still open for dining).
The Globe is now of the opinion that “half a loaf is better than none,” but the economy will need much more help because the bill doesn’t include the massive help state and local governments will need even as Trump suggested he may not sign the COVID-19 relief bill in what Biden calls a down payment.
After the measure was sent to Trump and awaited his signature, the New York Times tells us how the stimulus came together with Trump almost entirely absent from the talks and quiet prodding from Biden after a month of frenzied negotiating by the moderates, intense bargaining by party leaders, and several near-misses with a government shutdown to produce the final product (the criminals with their names on the loot job were Warner, Murkowski, Romney, and Shaheen), and Biden is to push for more coronavirus relief upon inauguration, echoing the view of many Democrats who see the bill as the beginning of a negotiation, not the end (they act more like they Zioni$t controllers and funders by the day).
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Time to open the thing up and see what is in it (on page C8 of the Globe!):
"Spending bill includes $110 billion in tax breaks" by Yeganeh Torbati The Washington Post, December 22, 2020
WASHINGTON — Congress on Monday unveiled a 5,593-page spending bill and then voted on it several hours later, with lawmakers claiming urgent action was needed to rescue an ailing economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, but tucked in the bill was more than $110 billion in tax breaks that strayed far from the way the bill was marketed to many Americans. These giveaways include big tax cuts for liquor producers, the motorsports entertainment sector, and manufacturers of electric motorcycles.
Oh, someone has gotten it tucked to them, citizen taxpayers, as they could not have possibly read what was in the bill.
It's the very definition of a rubber stamp.
These measures, added onto the broader spending bill, are known as “tax extenders” — tax breaks targeted at specific, sometimes niche industries, and routinely extending these “temporary” measures has become something of a year-end tradition, despite loud complaints from some lawmakers who allege the votes largely benefit special interest groups who stand to gain money from the outcome. (The Senate vote Monday took place shortly before midnight.)
The "routine, year-end tradition" is nothing more than political extortion to keep the campaign loot flowing and $hower $pecial intere$ts with tax loot, and it is particularly egregious given the COVID $camdemic that is merely a cover.
That's our $y$tem, folks.
These tax extenders are designed to be temporary but are frequently renewed, often at the urging of industry lobbyists and done so during late-night votes at the end of the year. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the extenders benefiting industry and special interests included in the stimulus bill would cost more than $110 billion over 10 years.
Tax experts and good governance advocates have criticized such short-term tax relief extensions, arguing they hide the true cost of the cuts and advantage industries with the most well-connected lobbyists.
"They are a gravy train for members and lobbyists, who repeat the same exercise every year or two," said Howard Gleckman, a tax policy expert at the Urban Institute, in an email. "The lobbyists get to keep billing hours. The members get campaign money from the same people. Many of these are classic special interest tax breaks that do not benefit the overall economy in any way."
It's nice to know there is gravy train amidst increasing hunger.
The enormous bill packages together emergency economic relief, government funding and tax cuts. The economic relief component of the bill is worth around $900 billion. The legislation included a slew of provisions that had nothing to do with coronavirus relief or funding the government, including many of the tax extenders.
One measure, for instance, makes permanent a cut in excise taxes for producers of beer, wine and distilled spirits, which first became law in 2017 as part of the Republican-led tax cut package. The cuts were due to expire without congressional action, and the alcohol industry had pushed hard for their renewal, arguing that their businesses had been decimated by the pandemic. The industry has supporters among both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who in turn pushed their leaders to include a bill making the cuts permanent "in the next appropriate legislative package."
You may want to get a drink before continuing.
Anheuser-Busch, the Distilled Spirits Council, Bacardi North America, and the Brewers Association all lobbied Congress in recent months on the excise tax issue, lobbying records show.
"I wrote this law for one purpose: to help small brewers and wineries and everybody in this space because the rules, the regulations, and the taxes were practically from Prohibition," Wyden said in an interview.
The excise tax cut has won praise in some corners. An analysis by the Progressive Policy Institute published last month argued that the cut helped fuel an expansion in brewery employment, a rare bright spot amid overall US manufacturing decline.
Forgive me for $lurring my words, but I thought the alcohol industry had been decimated by the plannedemic.
Chalk it up to a drunken blackout, I gue$$.
Another extension, of a tax credit aimed at helping the wind industry, sparked impassioned speeches on Monday night as the Senate debated the bill. Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, introduced an amendment to strip the credit from the bill, and was backed by Republican colleagues Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and James Lankford of Oklahoma. They argued that the credits benefit a mature industry that doesn’t need the extra help, and its benefits and harms had not been fully debated by lawmakers.
Lankford said the wind production tax credit was a "zombie" that legislators had agreed years ago should be ended, only for it to be resurrected by lobbyists. Cramer called the credit a "market-destroying atrocity," and called for an end to all tax extenders.
"Let them all expire," Cramer said. "K Street wouldn't like it, but it would be one less section in this giant package."
I agree.
The American Wind Energy Association, the trade group for the wind industry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hoeven's amendment was not approved.
The wind power is part of the UN's $u$tainable development goals as well as the WEF's Great Re$et, thus taxpayers are made top pay for their own enslavement on the basis of utter lies.
Another extension benefits the motorsports entertainment industry, such as NASCAR, by allowing for the faster write-down of costs related to their complexes. That provision, which has appeared in prior legislation going back to 2004, helps those companies lower their overall tax bills, and has now been extended until 2025.
A spokesman for NASCAR, which has lobbied Congress on the extension, did not respond to a request for comment.
Another extender grants a tax credit to buyers of “two-wheeled plug-in electric vehicles” — that is, electric motorcycles. That credit is worth 10 percent of the cost of the motorcycle, up to $2,500. Manufacturers of the bikes, like Energica and Zero, advertise the tax credit on their websites.
Yeah, they are really $eriou$ about carbon emissions as the cars go round and round and round.
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Related:
"The huge pandemic relief and spending bill includes billions of dollars to promote clean energy such as wind and solar power while sharply reducing over time the use of potent coolants in air conditioners and refrigerators that are considered a major driver of global warming. The energy and climate provisions, supported by lawmakers from both parties, were hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade. The sprawling legislation also extends tax credits for solar and wind power that are a key part of President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious plan to generate 100 percent “clean electricity” by 2035. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the environment panel, said the bill would cut pollution from school buses, air conditioners, refrigerators and more, while creating thousands of American jobs and helping “save our planet from the climate crisis.″"
Also see:
Coral Davenport of the New York Times says "if Trump had won the presidential election, the rule could have had a significant effect," and my question is why was the space wasted with filler?
It's enough to make one vomit, and what did vanish like a fart in the wind was the gobs of billions going to foreign aid and the rest!!
"What airlines, other industries got in $900B relief bill" by The Associated Press, December 22, 2020
At a mind-numbing 5,593 pages, Congress’ $900 billion pandemic relief package covers a lot of ground. The bill passed Monday establishes a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit, a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, and a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters. It also provides $82 billion for education, $10 billion for child care, and $25 billion in rental assistance. Food stamp benefits would temporarily be increased by 15 percent.
OMFG, they make it sound like the bill was filled with nothing but things to help the American people!
The longest piece of legislation in US history also has numerous clean-energy provisions sought by Democrats with fossil fuel incentives favored by Republicans, $7 billion to increase access to broadband, $4 billion to help other nations vaccinate their people, $14 billion for cash-starved transit systems, $1 billion for Amtrak, and $2 billion for airports and concessionaires.
They voted a few hours later, and all this loot is to prop up Wall Street as well as bribe local officials to continue with this $cam.
Here’s a look at what some industries are getting in the bill, which President Trump is expected to sign in the coming days:
AIRLINES: The airline industry, which was crushed in the spring and summer as people shunned travel because of the virus outbreak, got $15 billion and an extension of their Payroll Support Program from the previous rescue bill in March. The money must be used to pay employees’ salaries, wages, and benefits and the airlines are required to recall furloughed employees who were let go in October, when the previous payroll support program expired. Tens of thousands of airline workers will likely return to work soon.
Why would they be returning to work soon in midst of second surge and panic?
Related:
"Southwest Airlines said it would rescind plans to cut jobs and wages next year now that new federal payroll support has been approved, averting what would have been the first worker layoffs in the carrier’s history. US airlines will receive $15 billion to pay workers as part of the package President Trump signed into law Sunday. The measure funds employee wages through March 31. Southwest could receive $2 billion from the law, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated last week. Airlines are grappling with the worst financial crisis in history as the pandemic continues to rage globally. US daily airport traffic set a record during the pandemic on Sunday, with 1.28 million people screened as part of Christmas holiday travel, according to Transportation Security Administration data. Volume generally remains only about 35 percent of last year’s levels, however. In October, carriers including American Airlines and United laid off about 32,000 employees after a previous federal aid package lapsed. Those employees are expected to be called back now that the new funding has been approved."
Some would call paying people to not work communi$m, and if it looks like a duck, $ounds like a duck.....
"A sweeping package that would require aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing Co. to enact new safety policies and to shield employees from company pressures has been included in the compromise legislation to finance the government released Monday. The package, which had been sought in the wake of the two fatal crashes of 737 Max jetliners, was a last-minute addition to the so-called omnibus legislation enabling government spending and almost $900 billion in virus assistance. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a version of the bill earlier this year. The Senate considered a similar package, but hasn’t passed it. “Our bipartisan deal is the result of nearly two years of intense investigation in my committee, multiple public hearings on both sides of the Capitol, and countless conversations with the families of the victims and the aviation community,” said Representative Pete DeFazio of Oregon, the Democratic chair of the House Transportation Committee."
"Former Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg is joining Monarch Tractor, a Silicon Valley startup that’s angling to be the Tesla Inc. of the agriculture world with an all-electric tractor that is “driver optional.” While Monarch isn’t a household name, it combines longstanding interests for Muilenburg, an engineer by training who grew up on an Iowa farm and served on Caterpillar Inc.’s board for nine years. He is an investor and adviser as the Livermore, Calif.-based company prepares to deliver the first of its $50,000 tractors late next year. The former Boeing chief has largely flown under the radar since being ousted a year ago after fumbling the planemaker’s response to two deadly 737 Max accidents and their aftermath."
That's a story you may have missed from the world of business, and what is with the delay?
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Live venues and theaters, which have been completely shut down or limited to a fraction of their regular capacity since March, are also getting $15 billion. The bill lists eligible businesses as live venue operators or promoters, theatrical producers, live performing arts organization operators, museum operators, and movie theater operators. The live entertainment industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, with many storied venues already shutting down for good. Businesses desperately need the funds as they are likely to remain closed in most places through winter as infections remain elevated.
Yes, the mind-molding, perverted propaganda arm known as Hollywood must be funded, and who would want to go see there rank rot garbage these days?
See:
"Wonder Woman and her golden lasso exceeded box office forecasts to bring in $16.7 million for North America’s top post-pandemic opening weekend for any feature film this year. “Wonder Woman 1984” took in an estimated $36.1 million globally from 42 markets in release this weekend, after opening to slow sales in international markets last weekend. Even so, with most US theaters closed, the film generated a fraction of the $412.8 million in domestic ticket revenue that the first installment in the series brought in three years ago. That may not be so bad for Warner Bros., the studio behind the $200 million film. “Wonder Woman 1984” also debuted on HBO Max on Christmas Day, which helped to break usage records, according to the studio. Almost half of the platform’s retail subscribers watched the film on the day of its arrival and HBO Max saw total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month."
With all due respect, something is lost without the big screen demanding your attention and immersing you in the product.
RESTAURANTS: There’s no specific provision in the bill for restaurants, but they can benefit more than before from the Paycheck Protection Program.
You can eat you-know-what.
For example, restaurants can tap into the PPP a second time at 3.5x monthly payroll. This compares with 2.5x for other industries. Eligibility puts a 300-employee cap per restaurant location, compared with a 300 allocation cap for other industries. Tax deductions include certain business expenses paid with PPP loans, such as payroll, rent, mortgage interest, utilities and other allowable expenses. This applies to either a first draw or a second draw PPP loan.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is being extended by five years, supporting restaurants that hire, train, and keep employees from target groups. Business meals will be fully deductible next year and in 2022, which is double the previous deductible amount.
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Try chewing on thi$:
"U.S. stocks fell for a third day as optimism over a covid-19 relief bill was tempered by the emergence of a new variant of the virus and a slew of lockdowns and travel curbs. The bill passed by Congress on Monday represents the second-biggest economic rescue package in American history. It "will undoubtedly help mitigate some of the negatives but unfortunately, it won't be able to fully offset the effects of people staying at home as many businesses face tighter restrictions or are even forced to close," according to James Knightley, chief international economist at ING Groep...."
It wasn't meant to do that, and Trump's last-minute outburst on Christmas Eve was hidden behind a Wa$hington Compost paywall.
Related:
"Here’s what we know about the Paycheck Protection Program in the federal stimulus bill; There are new limits on the size of loans and the size of the businesses that can receive them" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff, December 23, 2020
A new wave of emergency assistance for small businesses may be on the way under the COVID-19 relief measure passed by Congress this week.
The $900 billion package contains $284 billion to refresh the Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable loan initiative that provided a vital lifeline early this year to businesses that were forced to close or lost business because of the pandemic, but this time around, the program will undergo some significant changes. The measure would require businesses to demonstrate more clearly than in the previous program that they lost revenue this year. There are new limits on the size of loans and the size of the businesses that can receive them, and it will be possible for some recipients from the first round to again seek money.
Still, a lot remains unsettled about the latest measure, even after its overwhelming approval in both the House and Senate. President Trump has not yet said whether he will sign the package, as he calls for larger cash payments to individuals — something Republicans have opposed, and much of how the new program winds up working will be up to the US Small Business Administration, which is tasked with carrying it out.
Many tax and legal professionals are spending the holiday week digesting the contents of the bill, trying to get a grip on what’s ahead. They say there are some things that businesses should know now as they begin preparing to apply for help.
Like last time, the main point of contact for businesses seeking relief will be banks and community lending programs. There are, however, some measures in the new legislation that seek to make sure banks take a more uniform approach to doling out the money than they did last time.....
They have been sitting on most off it all this time, to no one's $urpri$e.
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Also see:
"The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 89,000 last week to a still-elevated 803,000, evidence that the job market remains under stress nine months after the coronavirus outbreak sent the US economy into recession and caused millions of layoffs. The latest figure, released Wednesday by the Labor Department, shows that many employers are still cutting jobs as the pandemic tightens business restrictions and leads many consumers to stay home. Before the virus struck, jobless claims typically numbered around 225,000 a week before shooting up to 6.9 million in early spring when the virus — and efforts to contain it — flattened the economy. The pace of layoffs has since declined but remains historically high in the face of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases. A tentative economic recovery from the springtime collapse has been faltering in the face of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. According to the data firm Womply, closings are rising in some hard-hit businesses....."
That's as Democrats try and fail to jam the $2,000 chump-change afterthought through House to answer Trump’s implicit threat on Tuesday to reject a relief compromise that overwhelmingly passed both chambers, and it may be a $urpri$e that a surprise medical billing ban was included after Richard Neal got on board to provide consumers relief (you are not a patient in their eyes) as the relief bill was flown to Florida for signing.
"Aid holdup threatens another blow for already shaky economy" by Katia Dmitrieva and Julia Fanzeres Bloomberg, December 25, 2020
A surprise scuffle over pandemic relief is set to run up against a crucial federal funding deadline next week as Democrats side with President Trump in his demand for $2,000 payments to most Americans and Republicans take up his criticism of government spending.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning a full floor vote Monday on pandemic aid that includes the $2,000 payments that Trump says he wants, replacing the $600 in the original legislation. Republicans blocked majority leader Steny Hoyer’s attempt to make that switch on Thursday.
Trump renewed his insistence Friday on the larger sum while spending Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago resort, temporarily finding common cause with Pelosi as she maneuvers a vote that will force Republicans to accept the bigger payments or break with Trump, but unlike the speaker, Trump didn’t explicitly call attention to the fact that it was GOP lawmakers who had balked at spending more.
“Why would politicians not want to give people $2000, rather than only $600?” Trump said in a tweet. “Give our people the money!”
Pelosi pinned the blame on the GOP on Thursday after the failure of an initial gambit to pivot to $2,000 checks as part of the COVID-relief package.
“House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly fought for bigger checks for the American people, which House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected – first, during our negotiations when they said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The standoff over stimulus payments comes after months of intense negotiations finally yielded a compromise to inject $900 billion into the US economy – including forgivable loans for small businesses, supplemental unemployment benefits, support for renters facing eviction, and funds for vaccine distribution. Those measures were combined with $1.4 trillion in annual government spending, and now the entire package is in limbo.
When you add both mea$ures together, Pelosi got everything she wanted -- and yet the pre$$ focus has been on the crumb of a check you will get.
Trump hasn’t explicitly said he would veto the legislation, which Congress finished processing Thursday after it passed both chambers on Monday. The White House didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. The bill has been flown to Florida, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump played a Christmas Day round of golf at his private club in West Palm Beach with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an ally of the president who has urged him to sign the measure.
Trump said he would never do again, so.....
If the president doesn’t do so by Monday night, the government – now operating under temporary funding – would begin a partial shutdown starting on Tuesday. The House may attempt to pass another stopgap funding measure on Monday if Trump hasn’t acted.....
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Related:
The massive, year-end catchall bill that President Trump signed into law combines $900 billion in COVID-19 aid with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and reams of other unfinished legislation on taxes, energy, education, and health care.
Also see:
That was today's page A1, above-the-fold lead after President Trump signed off on the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill Sunday night, and this was the page D1, above-the-fold bu$ine$$ lead:
The Baker administration said Monday that new or extended federal benefits would kick in for the week ending this Saturday, but Massachusetts residents, like those of many states, will likely have to wait a week or more for their checks.
"U.S. equities rallied to records after President Donald Trump backed away from earlier threats and signed a coronavirus aid package. The S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite closed at all-time highs following Trump’s surprise approval of the combined $2.3 trillion Covid-19 relief and government funding package. Bitcoin retreated after a rally over the holiday pushed it past $28,000 for the first time. Investors cheered the U.S. aid package, restoring some of the optimism that drove global stocks to a record this month even as the pandemic escalated. In approving the bill, Trump also demanded a vote in Congress to replace the $600 in direct stimulus payments with $2,000 -- a non-binding request that is unlikely to pass both chambers. Still, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded its first-quarter U.S. economic growth forecast. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. tumbled in Hong Kong despite boosting its share buyback program to $10 billion, amid ongoing concern over China’s inquiry into alleged monopolistic practices. Regulators over the weekend ordered affiliate Ant Group Co. to return to its roots as a provider of payments services, a development that threatens to clip its growth. The pound weakened after the U.K. last week clinched a historic Brexit trade deal with the European Union....."
That gets us full circle, and don't expect the extra $1400 they are arguing over.
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The House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override President Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, setting the stage for what would be the first veto override of his presidency, and it should sail through the Senate:
"In break with Trump, McConnell urges passage of defense bill" by Matthew Daly, Associated Press, December 10, 2020
WASHINGTON — In a rare break with President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging passage of a wide-ranging defense policy bill that Trump has threatened to veto.
That was just the beginning as he has congratulated Biden and is urging others to accept the electoral theft (must have been the shots that brought them closer together, as Romney says Trump has made the GOP’s course uncertain and it is “time to move on.”
McConnell said Thursday that it was important for Congress to continue a nearly 60-year streak of passing the National Defense Authorization Act, which affirms 3 percent pay raises for US troops and authorizes billions in military programs and construction.
“This NDAA will unlock more than $740 billion for the training, tools, and cutting-edge equipment that our service members and civilian employees need to defend American lives and American interests,’' McConnell said in a Senate speech ahead of an expected vote Thursday or Friday. “It will give our troops the 3 percent pay raise they deserve. It’ll keep our forces ready to deter China and stand strong in the Indo-Pacific.’'
The Democratic-controlled House overwhelmingly approved the defense bill on Tuesday, defying Trump’s veto threat and setting up a possible showdown with the Republican president in the waning days of his administration.
A total of 140 Republicans joined 195 Democrats in backing the bill, which received support from more than 80 percent of the House — well above the two-thirds support required to override a potential veto.
Trump has vowed to veto the bill unless lawmakers clamp down on social media companies he claims were biased against him during the election. Trump also wants Congress to strip out a provision of the bill that allows renaming of military bases that now honor Confederate leaders.
McConnell did not address Trump’s veto threat, but said the bill “does not contain every policy that either side would like to pass, but a huge number of crucial policies are included and a lot of bad ideas were kept out,” McConnell said.
The veto threat — with just weeks left in his term — is Trump’s latest attempt to bend political norms.....
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Related:
In defiance of his veto threats, according to Catie Edmondson of the New York Times.
"Trump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override vote; The House was poised to return Monday, and the Senate on Tuesday, to consider votes to override the president’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act" by Kevin Freking The Associated Press, December 23, 2020
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency.
The bill affirms 3 percent pay raises for US troops and authorizes more than $740 billion in military programs and construction.
The action came while Trump was holed up at the White House, stewing about his election loss and escalating his standoff with Republicans as he pushed fraudulent conspiracy theories and tried to pressure them to back his efforts to overturn the results.
The House was poised to return Monday, and the Senate on Tuesday, to consider votes to override the president’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
Trump's move provoked swift condemnation, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling it “an act of staggering recklessness that harms our troops, endangers our security and undermines the will of the bipartisan Congress.”
Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, avoided any criticism of Trump, but called the NDAA “absolutely vital to our national security and our troops. ... Our men and women who volunteer to wear the uniform shouldn’t be denied what they need — ever.”
Long before issuing the veto, Trump offered a series of rationales for rejecting it.....
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So let me get this straight: he vetos a bill that will be overridden, and signs a piece of pork loot job that wouldn't have been?
It's the surest sign of a presidency that is going down:
"Next-Generation U.S. Nuclear Sub Facing Cost Overruns, Delays" by Anthony Capaccio Bloomberg News December 23, 2020
The U.S. Navy’s plan to deliver the first vessel in its $128 billion next-generation submarine program on time is at risk by a dependence on inexperienced contractors with spotty quality control track records, according to a congressional watchdog.
The Government Accountability Office, in a restricted Nov. 6 report to the Pentagon and congressional defense committees, said the design contract for the first vessel in the Columbia-class sub fleet being built by General Dynamics Corp. could have a cost overrun of as much as 14%, or $384 million.
And all you got was a lousy $600.
The initial vessel in the new class of nuclear-missile-carrying subs, the Navy’s highest-priority program, is due for delivery in 2027. The Navy wants the first submarine to launch on patrol in 2030, yet that timeline “hinges on timely and quality materials from” an “atrophied supplier base” as General Dynamics and it top subcontractor, Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., face “risk of delays from critical suppliers that are not yet ready to support construction,” according to the 73-page report obtained by Bloomberg News and marked “For Official Use Only.”
The GAO report outlines in detail the myriad challenges facing contractors and the Navy in the design and construction of a 12-vessel program that advocates say is most survivable leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, comprising land, air and sea-based warheads.
As an example, the report says that General Dynamics “continues to identify problems with non-destructive testing and welding across the supplier base, including suppliers responsible for piping, valves and large mechanical equipment.”
More broadly, the report signals the difficulties the Navy will face in trying to carry out the Trump administration’s vision for a 355-to-500 vessel fleet by 2045, up from 297 today.
He's surfacing so what difference does it make?
Those difficulties will be one of the first defense-procurement challenges confronting the Biden administration when it takes office next month amid a U.S. economy hobbled by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Columbia’s five-year plan envisions $30 billion being spent on the program through 2026, increasing from $4.7 billion planned for next year to $8.2 billion in 2026, but first, several quality-control issues have to be addressed.....
That's when I blew my stack.
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Speaking of blown stacks:
Michael Kranish, Paulina Firozi, Brandon Gee and Meryl Kornfield of the Wa$hington Compost say the remains of patsy scapegoat Anthony Q(!) Warner were found in wreckage and that he died in the blast (how convenient!) as police officers gave a harrowing account of the bombing.
He allegedly told a neighbor that Nashville and the world are never going to forget him,” and at least his getaway driver survived after hitting the gas.
Surprisingly(?), Trump has been mum on Nashville bombing as the fate of his $2,000 checks now rests with the GOP-led Senate.
Related(?):
"Nearly two dozen people were rescued on Wednesday morning after an explosion in an office building in downtown Baltimore caused part of the structure’s roof to collapse, the authorities said. Firefighters and ambulances responded to the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company building on Center Street after the explosion was reported just before 8:30 a.m. Twenty-one people were taken to hospitals, the Baltimore City Fire Department said. The department said earlier on Wednesday that nine people were in critical condition and one was in serious condition. Two people were pulled to safety from a window-washing platform that dangled precariously against the building’s facade after the explosion, the authorities said. “Right now we need people to pray for those people that were inside of this building and praying that they all have a speedy and full recovery,” Mayor Brandon M. Scott of Baltimore told reporters at the scene. The explosion took place on the 16th floor of the 21-story building, a Baltimore firefighters’ union said. The Baltimore field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Twitter that its special agents were at the scene assisting city police and fire officials. In a statement on Wednesday evening, B.G.E. said the explosion “appears to be related to construction work that was occurring on the building’s air handling and boiler system” and that it “was not natural gas related.” The company also said that the building’s gas service had been shut off while the work was being done. “The building was largely empty due to the upcoming holidays and the pandemic,” B.G.E. said. Two workers were rescued after they were trapped on a window-cleaning platform, the fire union said. Video from a local TV station showed the platform dangling at an angle as firefighters broke windows to the reach the workers....."
Also see:
"Federal and local authorities were investigating a fiery oil car train derailment north of Seattle near where two people were arrested last month and accused of attempting a terrorist attack on train tracks to disrupt plans for a natural gas pipeline. Seven train cars carrying crude oil derailed and five caught fire Tuesday, sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky close to the Canadian border. There were no injuries. Officials were asked about recent attempts to sabotage oil trains, but they said the investigation was just beginning. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board along with the FBI and other federal, state and local agencies were on the scene. Last month federal authorities in Seattle charged two people with a terrorist attack on train tracks, saying they placed “shunts” on Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks. Shunts consist of a wire strung across the tracks, mimicking the electrical signal of a train. The devices can cause trains to automatically brake and can disable railroad crossing guards. Authorities said the pair were opposed to the construction of a natural gas pipeline across British Columbia when they interfered with the operation of a railroad in Washington state. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has said there have been dozens of such cases involving BNSF tracks since January, with a message claiming responsibility posted on an anarchist website early this year......"
Expect a plethora of the false flag events as Biden takes over, as well as endless police shootings. reported by the pre$$.
A5 cops:
"Police in Ohio’s capital city promised Friday to facilitate safe and peaceful demonstrations this weekend over the shooting death of a Black man by a white sheriff’s deputy, while noting body cameras will be worn to record all interactions. Friday evening and Saturday afternoon protests were expected in and around downtown Columbus following the Dec. 4 killing of Casey Goodson Jr. Columbus police and the Justice Department are investigating. Protesters’ First Amendment rights will be protected, said Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan in a statement. No video of the fatal shooting of Goodson has emerged....."
I'm told it “becomes really hard to know what exactly went down when the only person who can provide an account has a vested interest in presenting him or herself as having acted in a justified way,” by Justin Nix, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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NEXT DAY UPDATES:
They will need to take wing to catch Airbus.
A flood of passengers swelling Logan Airport and other US airports for the Christmas holidays is alarming public health specialists, who warn that widespread travel could result in a surge of coronavirus infections similar to outbreaks that followed Thanksgiving.
It's okay for the acting defense chief to visit Afghanistan, though.
"Almost 1.2 million people took to the skies in the United States on Wednesday, the most since the pandemic erupted in March, despite warnings against large gatherings and travel during the holidays. People have flocked to airports in the past week, according to Transportation Security Administration data. An average of more than 1 million people a day passed through TSA screening over the past week, which is a post-coronavirus record. The passenger levels remain far below what was typical before the pandemic, when airlines routinely carried more than 2.5 million people a day during busy periods. Airlines are set to receive a financial lifeline of $15 billion for payrolls in a virus relief package Congress passed this week if President Trump signs it into law. The money will allow carriers to bring back furloughed workers, but Trump has balked at other provisions in the measure."
That's allowing the charlatan Fauci to warn of a surge upon surge with a "new variant" thrown in to boot.
"Even with air travel surging ahead of the Christmas holiday in the United States, demand for jet fuel is unlikely to recover to historic levels anytime soon. The spread between the price of jet fuel and crude oil, a rough gauge of how much a refinery can make for producing it, rose to $8 a barrel. That’s the highest since the pandemic forced most flights to be grounded but far below the roughly $21 margin a year ago. Domestic jet fuel demand is at its highest since April, according to US government data, but still half of levels a year earlier. Globally, the market has seen an uneven recovery. While China is now scheduling 10 percent more domestic flights than a year ago, other parts of the world are far behind, hobbling jet fuel consumption."
One if by land.....
US railroads are back, with freight volume posting the first quarterly gain in two years, with the surge reflecting stronger demand for electronics, patio furniture, and exercise equipment as consumers are stuck at home.
The railroad industry has installed an automatic braking system on nearly 58,000 miles of track where it is required ahead of a year-end deadline.
The COVID-19 $camdemic was the brake that was put on the US economy.
