https://www.aboveandbeyond.nu/
There were some good digs 2 breads ago. Q may have been pointing us to this company. Leads to GOA (island), apparently known trafficking island.
See digs, which I did not work on so I don't want to mislead.
Go back to PronHub.
Q sure brought out the shills tonight.
W.H.O. Recommends Bringing Back Alcohol Prohibition During Coronavirus Crisis
The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that governments institute alcohol prohibition in order to promote public health during the coronavirus crisis.
The bureaucrats at the WHO believe that restricting access to alcohol will help boost people’s immune systems and help them ward off the Chinese virus.
“Fear and misinformation have generated a dangerous myth that consuming high-strength alcohol can kill the COVID-19 virus. It does not. Consuming any alcohol poses health risks, but consuming high-strength ethyl alcohol (ethanol), particularly if it has been adulterated with methanol, can result in severe health consequences, including death,” WHO wrote in their press release in favor of prohibition.
“Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and mental health disorders, which can make a person more vulnerable to COVID-19. In particular, alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes. Therefore, people should minimize their alcohol consumption at any time, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” they added.
In true authoritarian fashion, they want governments to force individuals not to consume alcohol, and they are not concerned about the negative effects that prohibition would cause among the public.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we should really ask ourselves what risks we are taking in leaving people under lockdown in their homes with a substance that is harmful both in terms of their health and the effects of their behaviour on others, including violence,” said Carina Ferreira-Borges, who manages the Alcohol and Illicit Drugs Program for the European chapter of WHO.
WHO is advocating for one of the worst policy experiments in human history. The negative impacts of alcohol prohibition are well-known:
Prohibition was billed, they point out, as the “one-size-fits-all” cure for the ills of American society.
“Prohibition was really sold as not just that it would solve the problem of alcoholism, it would solve poverty. It would solve child labor, it would solve prostitution, it would solve crime, it would get rid of slums,” said Novick.
With so many problems to address, it’s not surprising that the Dry coalition was dizzyingly diverse.
Suffragettes who originally wanted the vote so they could outlaw demon liquor … small town Protestants threatened by the wave of Catholic immigrants and their city saloons … the Ku Klux Klan, who exploited the pernicious stereotype of the dangerous black man with a bottle … even Broadway producers who wanted patrons out of bars (and in their theaters).
It was, Rocca noted, the epitome of strange bedfellows.
Okrent agreed: “If you can imagine a very large bed that accommodates, you know, some guy wearing a KKK uniform, somebody from the Industrial Workers of the World, Jane Addams, and J.J. Shubert of the theater chain, that’s a very strange set of bedfellows.”
“Is it true that the KKK supported women’s suffrage?” asked Rocca.
“The KKK supported it because they knew that women would support Prohibition,” Okrent said…
The Drys had the Wets over a barrel, and the 18th Amendment went into effect at midnight on January 17, 1920.
And how soon did it become clear that it was not going to work?
“One could say it didn’t work by around 2:00 a.m. on January 17th,” Okrent laughed. “I think that the general feeling was in the first year that it could work and that it was working. But as people found ways to exploit the loopholes, and criminality expanded, as the saloons were able to turn themselves into speakeasies and all you needed to do was bribe a local cop or judge, these things began to snowball as early as 1921, 1922.”
Legitimate enterprises were corrupted and respect for the law corroded. Drug stores – allowed to dispense medicinal alcohol – became virtual liquor stores.
The Walgreen’s chain went from 20 to 525.
But the ultimate buzzkill?
“It really is the Depression,’ said Novick, “this incredible crisis that, I think, made America kind of take another look and say, ‘Wait, what are our priorities? Is this really that important? We’re spending all this money to enforce a law that nobody wants?'”
The more WHO fails, the more they support policies that only exacerbate their failure. It may be best for the globalist institution to be de-funded and disbanded for good.
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/w-h-o-recommends-bringing-back-alcohol-prohibition-during-coronavirus-crisis/
The Ventilator Shortage That Wasn’t
Part 1
The ventilator shortages of which we were all gravely warned have not yet come to pass.
In March, one of the most feared aspects of the pandemic was the widely reported coming shortage of ventilators. One well-publicized estimate, repeated by the New York Times, the New Yorker and CNN, was that the U.S. would need roughly one million ventilators, or more than five times as many as we had. Gulp. Ventilators are expensive, they’re complex machines, and they can’t be churned out in the thousands overnight.
In the state that (as of today) has one-third of the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases, New York governor Andrew Cuomo sounded the alarm for ventilators repeatedly. On March 27, he acknowledged “I don’t have a crystal ball” but said his state desperately needed 30,000 ventilators, maybe 40,000, but had only 12,000. When President Trump noted that Cuomo’s state had thousands of unused ventilators it hadn’t even placed yet, Cuomo admitted this was true but said he still needed more: “Yes, they’re in a stockpile because that’s where they’re supposed to be because we don’t need them yet. We need them for the apex,” Cuomo said at the time. On April 2, Cuomo predicted the state would run out of ventilators in six days “at the current burn rate.” But on April 6, Cuomo noted, “We’re ok, and we have some in reserve.”
Now New York appears to have passed the apex. Deaths, a lagging indicator, crested at 799 on April 9 and hit 606 on April 16, the lowest figure since April 6. Hospitalizations are also declining, and on April 16 also hit their lowest level since April 6. Cuomo today has so many ventilators he is giving them away: On April 15, he said he was sending 100 of them to Michigan and 50 to Maryland. On April 16, he announced he was sending 100 to New Jersey.
New Jersey has by far the most cases outside of New York, with 75,000 positive tests. It also has by far the most deaths outside of New York: 3,518 as of April 16. However, New Jersey, with 8,011 total hospitalizations as of April 16, also has more ventilators than it is currently using and also may have passed its apex; as of April 16, the fewest New Jerseyans were on ventilators since April 8. So far, the peak was April 14, when 1705 patients were on ventilators. Yet before Cuomo’s announcement, New Jersey reported that 46 percent of its ventilators were still available.
Michigan, the fifth-hardest-hit state after Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, may or may not have had its worst day. So far its worst daily death toll was 205 on April 10, but its second-highest total was 172 on April 16. The number of new cases reported fell slightly from a peak on April 14. But Michigan isn’t even using most of its ventilators yet: As of April 16, it reported 1,232 ventilators were being used but 1,754 more were available. So New York’s surplus is at the moment adding to the Michigan surplus.
Maryland, which was sent 50 ventilators by California recently before Cuomo offered to send them 50 more, appears to be right around its apex; deaths hit a record high of 47 on April 15, then dropped slightly each of the next two days. I couldn’t find any stats about ventilators on the state’s COVID-19 website. The state’s largest paper, the Baltimore Sun, appears not to have run any pieces discussing feared ventilator shortages since late March. On March 25, Gov. Larry Hogan said the state had received a shipment of FEMA ventilators and said it was “not enough” without divulging numbers. Hogan appears not to have said anything about ventilators lately except for last Sunday, when he said President Trump was “not quite accurate” when he claimed governors were in good shape regarding medical equipment. “Everybody still has tremendous needs on personal protective equipment and ventilators and all of these things that you keep hearing about,” Hogan said, without being specific.
The Ventilator Shortage That Wasn’t
Part 2
Three weeks ago, President Trump was mocked and ridiculed for downplaying the need for more ventilators. “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump said on March 27. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators,” he added, referring to Cuomo’s estimate for New York state. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others said they had “facts” on their side. Said De Blasio, “When the president says the state of New York doesn’t need 30,000 ventilators, with all due respect to him, he’s not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth of this crisis. And a ventilator . . . means someone lives or dies.”
NPR ran a strange piece casting these rival predictions as matters of fact also: “FACT CHECK: N.Y. Governor Slams Trump Ventilator Claim As ‘Ignorant’ And ‘Uninformed.’” Well, yes, it’s a fact that the governor expressed those opinions, but NPR doesn’t ordinarily fact-check opinions. NPR couldn’t fact-check the future in this “FACT CHECK,” and didn’t. The ventilator shortages of which we were all gravely warned have not yet come to pass. If we have indeed reached the crest of the crisis, perhaps they won’t.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-crisis-ventilator-shortages-have-not-come-to-pass/
Norwegian Cruise taps Goldman Sachs to explore stake sale
(Reuters) – Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd <NCLH.Nhas hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> to explore financing options that could include the sale of a stake in the company, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Norwegian’s attempt to bolster is finances comes as cruise operators have been forced to suspend their operations due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. They have been left out of a $2.3 trillion stimulus package that U.S. lawmakers have adopted to support the economy and provide aid to troubled companies.
Among the options Norwegian Cruise is considering is a stake sale known as private investment in public equity (PIPE), the sources said. The company is in talks with several private equity firms about a PIPE deal, the sources added.
The sources, who requested anonymity as the deliberations are confidential, cautioned that no deal is certain. Norwegian Cruise did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Several companies have turned to PIPE deals in recent weeks to bolster their finances, including car e-commerce platform Carvana Co <CVNA.N>, payment firm EVO Payments Inc <EVOP.O>, and online real estate broker Redfin Corp <RDFN.O>.
Cruise lines have been rushing to bolster their cash coffers through equity and debt offerings following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to outbreaks on several ships.
Earlier this month, Carnival Corp <CCL.N>, the world’s largest cruise operator, raised $6.25 billion by issuing new debt and equity to investors, while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd <RCL.Nclinched a $2.2 billion loan last month.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund disclosed earlier this month that it had amassed an 8.2% stake in Carnival.
Norwegian Cruise, the world’s third-largest cruise operator, has lost almost four-fifths of its market value this year, as it grounded its 28-ship fleet to help contain the spread of the virus.
The Miami-headquartered company, which also operates Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, disclosed last month it had drawn down on $1.55 billion of new and existing credit lines. As of the end of December, Norwegian Cruise had disclosed long-term debt of close to $6.9 billion.
“This liquidity is sufficient to cover expected cash needs over the balance of the year, but the cushion will be modest given any further deterioration in earnings,” credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service Inc analysts wrote about Norwegian Cruise’s finances on March 31.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on April 9 extended its “no sail order” for all cruise ships for up to 100 days. The cruise industry is currently working on a proposal to submit to the CDC, which will include enhanced sanitization and health safety protocols, according to industry trade group CLIA.
https://www.oann.com/exclusive-norwegian-cruise-taps-goldman-sachs-to-explore-stake-sale-sources/
Pres. Trump says he will deliver West Point commencement address
President Trump announced that he will deliver the U.S. Military Academy commencement speech next month as both he and his campaign express hope that he can resume campaign rallies ahead of the November election.
The president has left Washington only once during the past month as he took charge of the coronavirus crisis.
His guidelines on social distancing urge people to avoid all but essential travel.
But on Friday, a day after unveiling a road map for states to begin lifting restrictions, he announced he will travel to West Point for the May 23 ceremony.
"I understand they’ll have distancing," he said. "They’ll have some big distance, so it will be very different than it ever looked."
“Do I like the look? No, I don’t," he added. "And eventually, next year, they’ll have a commencement like it’s been."
His only previous trip was to Norfolk, Virginia, to see off the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship bound for New York.
It comes as Vice President Mike Pence also resumes travel. On Saturday, he will deliver the commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its social distancing requirements have halted campaigning for the election, leaving presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden livestreaming from his basement and robbing Trump of the rallies that in 2016 were one of his biggest electoral weapons.
The president’s guidance urges the public to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people to limit the spread of a virus that has claimed more than 36,000 victims across the country.
During his Friday coronavirus briefing, Trump expressed excitement about the return of rallies.
“It’s great for the country,” he said. “It’s great spirit … For me, it’s a tremendous way of getting the word out.”
There is a long way to go before mass events can begin. The president’s own guidelines recommend that groups of more than 50 people will only be allowed after states have successfully completely one phase of the recovery program, and even then, they must ensure that participants can keep their distance from each other.
Some experts think mass events will not be possible until next year, and major league sports are already working on contingency plans to start their seasons in empty stadiums.
But the president said he expected the rallies to be a feature of the campaign again.
“I hope we’re going to have rallies,” he said. “I think they’re going to be bigger than ever.”
Earlier in the day, his campaign said the rallies would be returning.
"We will get back to those rallies," campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told ABC News. "Never fear, the president is certain that we're going to be back out there speaking directly to the American people."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-says-he-will-deliver-west-point-commencement-address
RINO Sen. Kelly Loeffler Claims Criticism of Her Sleazy Insider Trading is a ‘Socialist Attack’
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) has insisted that she did not do anything wrong when she dumped stocks as the coronavirus worsened and she continued on that line of defense in a Fox News interview when she called criticism of her trades a “socialist attack.”
Speaking on Fox News on Friday, Loeffler said, “This is a political attack that is designed to distract from the issue at hand and to use to this outbreak to play politics. We have addressed this and taken extraordinary measures to make sure that we can’t be attacked for our success.”
She continued:
“This gets to the very heart of why I came to Washington — to defend free enterprise, to defend capitalism and this is a socialist attack. We have taken extraordinary measures and I am focused solely on working for Georgians. I’ve been doing that seven days a week, around the clock and it’s my honor to be here and serve and that’s why I stepped out of the private sector.”
Loeffler said that she is liquidating her stocks after allegations that she used non-public information to dump stocks before the coronavirus pandemic worsened in the United States.
Asked about that step, she said, “We’ve taken extraordinary measures to take that off the table as an attack area and we’re done with it. We’re moving on.”
"We have taken extraordinary measures to make sure that we can't be attacked for our success … this is a socialist attack" — Fox News just had @SenatorLoeffler on for an interview and the one question they asked her about her coronavirus stock selling scandal was a softball pic.twitter.com/jNK3O0tK7K
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020
Loeffler dumped millions in stocks at the same time that she and other senators were receiving private coronavirus briefings. She also purchased stocks in companies that make protective gear, for which demand has surged during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Georgia senator has insisted that the trades were made by a third-party and that she was not informed of them until later.
But some Republicans in Georgia are not buying her defense. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga), who is running for Loeffler’s Senate seat, accused her of “profiting off [people’s] pain.”
https://ijr.com/kelly-loeffler-socialist-stock-dump/
Larry Kudlow: “May is the ‘Transition’ Month, the Economy Will Resume”
Friday, the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow that May will be a “transition month” for the United States while it recovers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but he “firmly” believes the economy will improve from its sudden closures.
“We will get to the other side and we will resume what was one of the strongest economies in American history,” Mr. Kudlow said in a TV interview. “That is what I want to get back to. I want to get back to the incentives from tax cuts and deregulation and the energy and good trade deals, but let’s just get through the next bunch of weeks and we will come out okay, I firmly believe that.”
The economy was “pretty darn strong” before the pandemic, so “we can recover that economic growth and get people working again, Mr. Kudlow said. “All we want to do is protect the workforce and the businesses, so in the next few weeks, we can rebound. A rebound will come.“
Friday morning, Mr. Kudlow discussed President Trump’s plan for reopening the country, saying that the gradual transition coming out of the nationwide closures will mean that social distancing and other measures will continue for a while.
“May will be a transition month and hopefully America will get back to work,” he said. “We need it but it’s got to be safe and secure.“
Meanwhile, he said he does not know why Congress will not replenish the $250-B in additional money needed for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan process, which ran out of money Thursday.
“The program has been a terrific success, an absolutely terrific success and Secretary Mnuchin and I and others have said, it has been eaten up rapidly,” said Mr. Kudlow. “What is Congress waiting for? Let’s get going. This thing should be done in a couple of hours and a voice vote today.”
Friday, the major US stock market indexes finished at: DJIA +704.81 at 24242.49, NAS Comp +117.78 at 8650.15, S&P 500 +75.01 at 2874.56
https://www.livetradingnews.com/may-is-the-transition-month-the-economy-will-resume-173053.html
Calling Him the Most Consistent President in American History, Christian Leader Albert Mohler Reverses 2016 Position, Says He’s Supporting Trump in 2020
Part 1
Calling him the most “consistent” president in American history, prominent Southern Baptist R. Albert Mohler Jr., indicated Wednesday that he will likely support President Donald Trump in 2020 despite not voting for him in 2016 when he also encouraged other Christian leaders to do the same.
“I did not vote for Donald Trump [in 2016], I certainly did not vote for Hillary Clinton, as a matter of fact,” Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, revealed in an Ask Me Anything session posted on YouTube.
Before making the confession, he explained how 2016 had been a challenging time of “disequilibrium” for the Republican Party, which he had supported consistently since 1980 when he voted for Ronald Reagan.
“The disequilibrium in the race had everything to do with the Republican side. It had everything to do with Donald Trump. Can I stand in all expectations of the political class and winning the Republican nomination? Look, he came with more baggage than any presidential candidate in American history of a major party,” Mohler said.
“He wrote books in which he bragged about his promiscuity, bragged about how he cut deals. His personal character was such that Americans knew what they were getting in the 2016 election and in the final weeks of the election. You had the bombshell of the video in which he made comments to a television personality that were just beyond even the moral vocabulary of most evangelical Christians and yet against all odds, again … Donald Trump won the election in 2016, winning in the Electoral College,” he said.
And Mohler, like many in the “Never Trump” camp in 2016, did not withhold his concern for Trump’s moral character, which some critics dismissed as “borne of false piety and self-righteousness.”
While he doesn’t have a different opinion of Trump’s moral character today, Mohler said he was impressed by the president’s commitment to his campaign promises and as a result he will not make the same decision he did in 2016, when he refused to support him.
“I don’t have a different moral estimation of Donald Trump. Even in office he continually leaves me very frustrated in how he presents himself, how he speaks, but he has been more consistent in pro-life decisions, executive orders … than any president of the United States in any party. He’s been more consistent than any Republican certainly in the quality of appointments he has made to the federal judiciary, which will far outlive any presidency,” he said, noting that he will “will make a different political calculation in 2020.”
“I’m having to look at the situation differently,” he added, “because 2020 is not 2016.”
Mohler told The Washington Post in an interview published Thursday that he first began to believe Trump would deliver on his campaign promises during the 2017 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Neil M. Gorsuch.
Trump also went on to appoint a number of evangelicals throughout his administration, including Mohler’s son-in-law, Riley Barnes, who currently serves as a senior adviser in the State Department. And because Trump has kept his promises, Mohler argued that he could likely see stronger support in 2020 from evangelicals than the 80 percent he got in 2016.
“In retrospect, I made my vote of minimal importance,” he told The Washington Post. “I don’t intend to do that in 2020. There’s a bit of regret in that.”
Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, who is black, told the publication that he would no longer recommend Mohler’s seminary to black students.
Calling Him the Most Consistent President in American History, Christian Leader Albert Mohler Reverses 2016 Position, Says He’s Supporting Trump in 2020
Part 2
“It shows you’re tone deaf or you don’t care about the sensitivities of the majority of African Americans who find Donald Trump a repulsive personality and politician,” McKissic said.
Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English at Liberty University, noted in a series of tweets that she would not be supporting President Trump or the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, this fall.
“In humility, hope, and faith, I will vote in November for a president who has better character, promotes more consistently life-affirming policies, and isn’t as handsy (or worse) with women than either of the two major party candidates. This is not throwing my vote away,” she wrote. “This is refusing to accept a bar so low. I will also ask God to bless—and multiply—this vote and others like it. Not to 'win' in a worldly sense, but in a more eternal one. I believe God will bless and use a remnant of voters. If you are with me, please pray likewise.”
Popular Bible teacher and author Beth Moore replied that she would be doing the “same.”
Left-leaning Christian legal analyst and commentator Monique Pressley commented that Prior's response is the same as a vote for the president.
“You’re right. It’s not throwing it away, it’s a vote for Trump. More so, it is a slap in the face of every person of color who has suffered injustice upon inhumane act under this president. You are voting from a place of luxury your brothers and sisters can ill afford,” Pressley began in her response to Prior.
“FYI—it was the devil, not God, who used this same remnant of which you speak leading to us having this godless man as potus. This is no time to be so spiritual you are of no earthly good. Civil rights being snatched away, the WH run like a criminal enterprise,” she continued.
“I cannot express to you in strong enough terms how disappointing it is for any Christian leader to rest in his or her privilege continuing to ignore or justify the abandonment of those whose lives are right now hanging in the balance. What rights would the majority have in this country if Black people (since permitted to exercise the right to vote) had refused to pick the better of two candidates because of how low the bar was? When did we have the luxury of picking a completely non-viable candidate because our wish list wasn’t met?” Pressley asked. “I will not join you in praying God raises a remnant so wedded to its ideals that it is detached from reality. I pray God raises an army…of believers who see clearly enough to do what is required to protect those they claim to love.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/sbc-leader-albert-mohler-indicates-support-for-donald-trump-in-reversal-of-2016-position.html
Jim Acosta in a Skirt: Rude CBS Fake News Reporter Paula Reid Asked To Leave Chi-Com Virus Survivor Meeting Several Times
CBS News reporter Paula Reid is apparently taking notes from CNN’s Jim Acosta.
For the second time now in a week, Reid has attempted to hijack a White House briefing on the coronavirus so she could scream and demand that President Donald Trump answer her questions.
During a meeting between Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, a state Democratic lawmaker who survived coronavirus to discuss COVID-19, Reid had to be told four times by a White House staffer to leave the room at the end of the event.
Reid was positioned directly across the conference table from Trump with the press pool and started to pepper him with questions after he ended the event by telling the press pool he would “see you in a little while,” meaning at the daily briefing that he does every single day.
A female staffer had to order Reid four times to leave before she finally decided to follow the rules and exit the room.
The White House staffer had her arms behind her back, which appeared to be an attempt to ensure there was no contact.
The staffer can be heard saying, “Paula…let’s go, Paula! Paula, we’re done, let’s go. Paula, let’s go, we’re finished! Paula let’s go! We’re done.”
https://twitter.com/carrieksada/status/1250124026275491840
Reid is the same reporter who tried attacking Trump on Monday during the White House coronavirus briefing.
Reid rudely and obnoxiously demanded to know what the Trump administration has done to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
Trump played a video during the briefing criticizing the media for their reaction while praising his own handling of the crisis, Trump slammed Reid as a “disgrace” and a “fake” and said the media has a low “approval rating” after she implied the president hasn’t done anything to combat the virus and keep Americans safer.
“What did you do with the time that you bought?” Reid asked. “The video has a complete gap the month of February.”
“Are these rants supposed to make people feel confident?” Reid later asked.
“Look, look, you know you’re a fake. You know that. Your whole network, the way you cover it is fake. And most of you–and not all of you, but the people are wise to you. That’s why you have a lower–a lower approval rating than you ever had before times probably three,” Trump said.
Another day, another outrageous and embarrassing moment for the media.
https://explainlife.com/cbs-reporter-hijacks-survivor-meeting-gets-removed-after-shouting-at-trump-21368/
Q has already said in a Q & A quite a while ago, we are not alone.
Q has already said in a Q & A quite a while ago, we are not alone.
I think most of us anons feel that way, UKanon.
Sorry, Anon, I'm not in agreement with you re: aliens. But you are right on them trying to distract us. And I'd add 'by any means necessary'.