Government Sanctioned Suicide: Study Finds Coming Economic Crisis Could Lead to 831,600 Suicides – Or 13 Times the Number of Coronavirus Deaths

As reported earlier Goldman Sachs updated its economic forecast earlier this week and we are looking at a man-made catastrophe!

The economic crash we are looking at is Biblical in proportions!

The US unemployment rate will rise to 15% from 3% due to the current economic shutdown in place across the country.

A study by Goldman Sachs in the paper this morning suggests unemployment will be soar to 15% from about 3% this quarter. That means from 27 million minimum to 67 million maximum will lose their jobs in the next three months.

This is a catastrophe! The pain, suffering and death will be immense from this man-made disaster!

According to this one study, at “1% increase in the annual unemployment rate, approximately 21 additional suicides per 100,000 of the population can be expected.” If that’s correct, each 1% increase in the unemployment rate in the U.S., with a 330 million population, will lead to 69,300 additional suicides.

Based on the current predictions, those 12 percentage points could lead to an estimated 831,600 US suicides.

Recently the so-called “experts” cut down the total number of expected COVID-19 deaths in the US to around 61,000.

That means we can expect more suicides than coronavirus deaths in the US in the months ahead and possibly as many as 13 times the number of coronavirus deaths.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/government-sanctioned-suicide-study-finds-coming-economic-crisis-lead-831600-suicides-13-times-number-coronavirus-deaths/

ID2020 + Central Banking Digital Currency=NWO by Nicholson1968

Harvard And Other 'Well Endowed' Colleges Face Backlash For Tapping Tens Of Millions In Stimulus Funds

Several US colleges with multi-billion dollar endowments have been tapping into the massive coronavirus stimulus passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in January.

As part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), $14 billion was set aside to support higher education institutions - ostensibly those without billions already in the bank.

Harvard, for example, which has a $40 billion endowment, will receive $8.7 million in federal aid. Harvard points out that at least half of which has been mandated for emergency financial aid grants to students, which we would note that they can cover themselves.

Hilariously, Harvard's Crimson points to the risk that their endowment could shrink due to market volatility, and that the University's financial situation is "grave." On the other hand - buried halfway through the article, Rutgers Business School professor John Longo points out that "it is conceivable that Harvard's market neutral and long/short hedge funds actually delivered positive returns," adding "If this is the case, it would materially soften the blow from the sharp drop in equities from around the world."

Let's look at which other financially sound universities stuck their hands in the cookie jar, courtesy of Twitter user @Oilfield_Ranndo:

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Nevermind the decade-plus these universities have been enjoying inflated tuition thanks to $1.6 trillion in student loans which may be about to default - which will undoubtedly stick taxpayers with an even larger bill.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harvard-and-other-well-endowed-colleges-face-backlash-tapping-tens-millions-stimulus

State official's chief of staff: Protesters against stay-at-home orders should be lured into 'MAGA' warehouse, locked in — 'then let Darwin work his magic'

Len Foxwell, who wrote now-deleted Facebook post, admits 'deep, searing distaste' for President Donald Trump's 'politics'

Len Foxwell — chief of staff for Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot — last Monday on Facebook shared a link to an article about a group called "The Patriot Movement," which called on people to defy coronavirus-related stay-at-home orders, WJZ-TV reported.

The station said Foxwell wrote the following on his post, which has since been taken down:

Let's lure them into a big, big warehouse (we'll call it something real classy to suit their refined sensibilities, like "America MAGA Platinum Palace") with the promise of all the unfiltered Camels they can smoke, all the Salisbury steak and banana moonpies they can eat, washed down by all the Old Crow and Icehouse they can drink.

Plus, autographs from Scott Baio and pics with Tawny Kitean [sic], posing all sexy and everything on a sportscar, just like in that old Whitesnake video! Get them in, bar the door, and then let Darwin work his magic.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/state-official-chief-of-staff-protesters-should-be-lured-into-warehouse-let-darwin-work-his-magic

US oil benchmark plummets to below $3 per barrel in new record low

West Texas Intermediate oil prices have fallen to $2.28 per barrel, reaching a new low for the US benchmark as the market continues to crater amid the general economic collapse.

Vanishing demand due to coronavirus-related lockdowns and travel restrictions and a glut of supply have combined to heavily tank the US benchmark fuel, as prices dropped from $18.27 to below $3 on Monday - down 83 percent from the previous day’s close.

As prices looked poised to drop still further than the record low, analysts noted it was possible for futures contracts to trade negative.

The collapse in oil markets comes amid a generalized economic downturn, with the coronavirus pandemic plunging most of the world’s economies into a downward spiral many believe will be the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Global oil storage is currently reaching its limits, and while OPEC recently secured a 9.7 million barrel per day cut in production, the US Department of Energy is nevertheless weighing the idea of paying domestic producers to simply leave the oil in the ground so as not to further depress prices.

https://www.rt.com/usa/486368-us-benchmark-oil-price-plummets/

Fauci: No Recovery Possible If Virus Isn't "Under Control"

President Trump's top doctor on the White House coronavirus task force has pushed back against protesters demonstrating against stay-at-home orders, warning that the US economy won't recover until COVID-19 is "under control."

"This is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics," Fauci acknowledged during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," in comments which sharply contrast with those by President Trump, who has encouraged the protests, Bloomberg reports.

"Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen," Fauci added. "So what you do if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re going to set yourself back."

“Clearly this is something that this is hurting …. but unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not going to happen.” — NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci on protests against stay-at-home orders. pic.twitter.com/n7x3cunEAm

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 20, 2020

Fauci added that while it can be "painful" to follow federal guidelines regarding a phased re-opening, it will "backfire" if done too soon.

Protests have erupted in Michigan, Minnesota, Texas and other states demanding that governors lift strict social distancing policies that have battered the U.S. economy. Some demonstrators have called for Fauci’s firing.

Trump has encouraged the protests, tweeting that protesters should “liberate” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia. The president said Sunday he watched footage of the crowded protests, called them “orderly” and said people “were all six feet apart.” -Bloomberg

According to Trump, people on both sides - including state governors, have gone "too far."

"Some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate," he said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/fauci-no-recovery-possible-if-virus-isnt-under-control

France: Attacks on first responders on the rise amidst lockdown

Attacks on police officers and other first responders in France are on the rise, as indicated by several incidents that occurred over the last few days.

On Wednesday in Les Mureaux, a police van which was responding to a group of “youths” who had been spotted launching fireworks on surveillance cameras was attacked, forcing the officers to use stun grenades to escape the scene, according to a report by Le Parisien.

On Thursday in Mantes-la-Jolie, police who were checking to make sure that locals were obeying the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown were targeted by ten “youths” throwing stones. The police had to use tear gas to escape safely.

Then, at 3:30 AM that night, police vehicles were again assaulted in the area, damaging the windows of one of them and again forcing officers to use tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In Trappes, an egg was thrown at officers on foot patrol at around 5 PM on Thursday. Shortly after midnight that night, firefighters and police who had responded to a trash fire were surrounded by a group of youths who were waiting for them. The youths then launched fireworks at the officers, leading to a clash.

And last night in Mureaux, at around 7:30 PM, a group of about fifteen people threw stones at a police vehicle. Later that night, in Mantes-la-Jolie, after officers had intervened in a domestic dispute, officers were assaulted by fifteen people while leaving the building, who threw projectiles at them. Police were again forced to use stun grenades to escape, according to another report by Le Parisien.

In Sartrouville last night, police responded to a report of several trash fires at around 1:45 AM. When they arrived a group of ten “youths” was waiting for them, and they fired fireworks mortars at the officers. Police again used stun grenades to disperse the crowd. Firefighters were eventually able to put out the fires, which threatened to spread to nearby buildings, under police protection.

These were only some of the reports of such violence from France over the past few days. Police are concerned that if the lockdown goes much longer, violence in France’s migrant areas could increase, especially once existing illicit drug supplies are exhausted due to bans on international travel, as previously reported by Voice of Europe.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/04/france-attacks-on-first-responders-on-the-rise-amidst-lockdown-video/

Europe needs €1.5 TRILLION to recover or single market could ‘break in two’ – EU economy commissioner

The European Union urgently requires financial injections to stay afloat and survive the coronavirus epidemic currently ravaging the continent, the European commissioner for economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has warned.

A whopping €1.5 trillion ($ 1.63 trillion) could be needed to “deal with this crisis,” Gentiloni told Der Spiegel ahead of the EU leaders summit on the crisis sparked by the outbreak of Covid-19.

The commissioner for economic and financial affairs said that Europe is going through the “worst crisis” since WWII, which threatens the very existence of the EU as a single economic and political entity. Gentiloni cited an International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast, saying the EU could see an unprecedented 7.5 percent drop in GDP this year. In 2009, during the global financial crisis, the EU’s GDP fell by only 4.4 percent.

Gentiloni, an Italian, rejected the idea of common Eurobonds advocated by his own nation and consistently opposed by Germany. He called the approach “backward-looking,” adding that Europe has had “enough of that.” To avoid the fallout from the crisis, Europe instead urgently needs “a common tool to fund the reconstruction,” he said.

Otherwise, we risk [a situation] when the differences between economies in the Eurozone and the rest of the Single Market become too great and the two break apart.

However, the Eurogroup – the finance ministers of the Eurozone nations – have so far allocated only €500 billion for funding medical expenses and assisting small and medium-sized enterprises, leaving Europe in need of around €1 trillion more.

The clock is ticking, Gentiloni warned. “We cannot wait until the virus ‘makes peace’ with us before we rebuild. The reconstruction must start now, in spring, in summer.”

https://www.rt.com/news/486286-eu-need-trillion-recover-coronavirus/

BARR: The FBI Is Playing Games With Gun Background Checks

For more than two decades, the system codified in federal law for ensuring that persons prohibited from possessing a firearm are not able to lawfully acquire one from a licensed firearms retailer has worked reasonably well. Since 1998 when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or “NICS,” became operational, the FBI has completed hundreds of millions of background checks on prospective gun purchasers; 28.4 million last year alone.

For some reason, however, the FBI recently has taken to playing games with NICS, and by bureaucratic fiat ignoring or overriding an important provision in the law. Neither firearms purchasers nor retailers should stand for such skullduggery.

The provision at issue is that which permits the FBI to place what amounts to a “hold” on a prospective firearm purchase, in order to allow the Bureau time to determine if a particular purchaser falls within one of the several categories of persons not permitted to possess a gun. Under the law establishing NICS, with the FBI as the “go-to” agency, that temporary “hold” is strictly limited to “three business days.”

While the vast majority of inquiries submitted to the FBI each year by firearms dealers (Federal Firearms Licensees or “FFLs”) are approved or denied almost immediately (hence, the “instant” check system), occasionally there are those that raise questions, and in each such instance, the FFL is notified and the statutorily allowed “three business day” period begins to run. If the dealer does not receive a denial within that window, the dealer is permitted at its discretion to allow the purchase (or “transfer”) to proceed.

The three-business-day hold period is clearly defined as days in which “state offices are open” in the particular state where the transaction is taking place. This particular language was designed so as not to box the FBI into having to resolve the potential problem with a purchaser’s background on a Friday right before a three-day state or federal holiday. For the past 22 years this has been the common understanding. Until now, that is.

Since the announcements over the past several weeks of federal and state-level COVID-19 “state of emergency” decrees, during which many businesses and public events are closed, FFLs have been receiving notices from the FBI that certain transactions are delayed not for three business days, which is the maximum the law allows, but for 30 days or even longer.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/20/barr-the-fbi-is-playing-games-with-gun-background-checks/

‘Biden Loves Kids’: Trump attacks Biden with meme video of his swimming pool gaffe

President Donald Trump has shared a meme featuring Joe Biden rambling about children touching him in a swimming pool. Fresh from sparring with Biden over China, Trump may be previewing a new line of attack on his handsy opponent.

Posted by Trump on Monday, the meme is a send-up of an Allstate Insurance ad, and features a visibly embarrassed Barack Obama – his head pasted onto an actor’s body – squirming as Biden talks about some perplexing encounters with children at a Delaware swimming pool.

The video features real footage of Biden speaking at a pool in Wilmington, Delaware, after the municipality renamed the facility in his honor in 2017. In front of a crowd, Biden fondly recalled how “the kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again.”

“I learned about kids jumping on my lap,” he continued. “I love kids jumping on my lap.”

In the video shared by Trump, “Biden Loves Kids” is emblazoned across the television screen.

Biden’s speech was met with confusion and disgust when it surfaced online last year. However, Trump has thus far held off on attacking Biden for his questionable statements about children. Though Biden has been hammered by Trump for his notoriously wandering hands, the president has not yet bashed his rival for grabbing, stroking, and whispering to visibly uncomfortable children – all of which has been caught on video.

The meme video may be the first in a series of personal attacks on Biden, who Trump has previously described as “creepy.”

Trump’s most recent attack ads have attempted to portray Biden as an ally of the Chinese Communist Party, a predictable tactic as the coronavirus pandemic continues to claim American lives. However, the Biden campaign responded in kind over the weekend with an ad claiming that Trump “rolled over for the Chinese,” and “took their word,” as the virus first spread beyond China.

https://www.rt.com/usa/486361-trump-biden-loves-kids/

Open Borders Britain: Hundreds of Private Jets Fly In Despite Lockdown

The British government has maintained an open borders policy during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing hundreds of private jets to land in the country despite introducing lockdown measures that have forced millions of ordinary citizens into self-isolation.

At lest 545 private jets have landed in the United Kingdom since the lockdown was introduced last month, with 25 confirmed as arriving from Spain, 27 from France, and 32 from Germany. An additional 15 jets have arrived from the United States, the country with the most reported coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, an estimated 15,000 people are arriving daily on normal flights into the nation’s airports with no mandatory health screenings being carried out and no quarantine requirement, according to The Sunday Times.

The president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine, Professor Gabriel Scally, said that he found the government’s open borders policy “hard to understand” and “most peculiar”.

Private jet carriers are supposed to limit flights in order to conform with the government’s “essential travel” notice, but many wealthy individuals are reportedly skirting the regulations by lying about their reason for entering the country.

The Civil Aviation Authority, the regulatory body responsible for monitoring flights into the country, said that because it does not monitor the number of private flights, it has “no way of knowing if the hire of private aircraft has increased or declined in recent weeks.”

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/20/open-borders-britain-hundreds-of-private-jets-fly-in-despite-lockdown/

U.S. Supreme Court abolishes split jury verdicts; dozens of convictions voided

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that juries across the nation must be unanimous to convict or acquit a criminal defendant, outlawing the split verdicts that had persisted in Louisiana since openly racist lawmakers enshrined them in the state Constitution during the Jim Crow era.

In a splintered, 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that the Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial implicitly requires a unanimous verdict, and that the need for jury consensus in federal courtrooms applies equally to state courts through the 14th Amendment.

"Wherever we might look to determine what the term 'trial by an impartial jury trial' meant at the time of the Sixth Amendment’s adoption—whether it’s the common law, state practices in the founding era, or opinions and treatises written soon afterward—the answer is unmistakable," wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in Monday's majority opinion. "A jury must reach a unanimous verdict in order to convict."

The decision came in the case of life prisoner Evangelisto Ramos of New Orleans and immediately affects dozens of other recent criminal convictions and hundreds of pending felony prosecutions in Louisiana and Oregon, the only two states to adopt non-unanimous jury verdicts – in 1898 and 1934, respectively.

The decision, which was anticipated by many legal scholars, appears to hand new trials to at least 44 Louisiana inmates who, like Ramos, were convicted by split juries and have not exhausted their appeals, according to defense advocates.

It came a more than a year after Louisiana voters took the initiative, sparked by a groundswell in the state Legislature, to eliminate split jury verdicts by a nearly 2-1 margin, in the first such referendum on the verdict law in its 120-year existence.

That change applied only prospectively, however, to prosecutions of crimes committed on or after Jan. 1, 2019. Left untouched by the amendment was anyone charged with or convicted of crimes committed before then.

"We are heartened that the Court has held, once and for all, that the promise of the Sixth Amendment fully applies in Louisiana, rejecting any concept of second-class justice," said Ben Cohen, an attorney at the New Orleans-based Promise of Justice Initiative who brought the case on Ramos' behalf.

Mercedes Montagnes, executive director of the Promise of Justice Initiative, said the high court "reckoned with the largest standing monument to the Confederacy" in its ruling on Monday.

Anticipating Monday's ruling, the organization formed a team last fall to identify every Louisiana inmate who was convicted by a split jury – a task often confounded by missing or sealed court records.

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2020/04/us-supreme-court-abolishes-split-jury.html

Boston Globe prints 15 pages of obituaries in its Sunday issue

The Boston Globe newspaper’s obituary section spanned a devastating 15 pages in its Sunday edition, as Massachusetts reels from the coronavirus crisis with more than 36,000 cases.

Massachusetts has the third greatest coronavirus breakout in the country with more than 1,560 deaths reported so far.

While not all the deaths that filled Sunday’s Boston Globe issue were virus-related, there has been a stunning spikes in deaths in the state as a result of the pandemic.

‘Never in my life have I seen the obituary listings take up almost a whole page. I can’t imagine what NY and NJ papers look like,’ one Twitter user said, sharing photos of the hefty paper.

The Boston Globe newspaper printed 15 pages of obituaries in its Sunday edition as Massachusetts reels from over 36,000 cases of COVID-19

More

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2020/04/boston-globe-prints-15-pages-of.html

Private hospitals in Nigeria declare all patients Covid-19 positive until tested

Patients admitted to private hospitals in Nigeria will be declared Covid-19 positive until proven otherwise, the country's guild of medical directors (GMD) has declared.

The decision was taken after doctors were exposed to the virus by patients who had not disclosed their travel histories.

According to The Guardian Nigeria, private hospital patients will be required to comply with all regulations and protocols currently in place, such as hand washing, use of hand sanitisers, temperature checks and possible isolation.

GMD president, professor Femi Dokun-Babalola said three of the guild's members had died after coming into contact with infected patients.

He asked the ministry of health to assist private hospitals with protective equipment as they were not only dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, but had other illnesses they needed to attend to.

“The impression that private hospitals in Nigeria are keen to treat patients with Covid-19 infection, perhaps for monetary gain, must be dispelled.

“Permit me to mention that three of our colleagues have already died. Dr. AliyuYakubu, proprietor of Daura Clinics and Medical Centre in Katsina State, Dr. Dominic Essien of San Dominic Hospital in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and Dr. Emeka Chugbo, a well renowned obstetrician who died recently in Lagos.

“The death of Dr. Chugbo is perhaps illustrative of the dilemma faced by private practitioners in Nigeria.

“He was an obstetrician who carried out a caesarian section on a Covid-19 patient and he had no idea the patient was positive. It is clear he would not have undertaken the operation if he had that knowledge,” Dokun-Babalola said.

By Sunday, the country had reported 86 new cases of the virus, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 627. To date, 170 individuals have been discharged after recovering from the virus. Twenty-one people have died as a result of the infection.

The 86 new cases stem from seven states: Lagos, FCT, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Borno, Bauchi and Jigawa, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2020/04/private-hospitals-in-nigeria-declare.html

Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick calls on Congress to take a paycut amid coronavirus

Texas is rolling out its plan to re-open slowly, smartly and safely, says Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/texas-lt-gov-patrick-calls-on-congress-to-take-a-paycut-amid-coronavirus/

Conspiracy FACT: Why does the WHO and CDC require ZERO virus testing for "COVID DEATHS"?

Since my last personal note to you on April 8th, I received hundreds of powerfully affirmative responses. I am not able to respond to them all, but know that I do make my best effort to read each and every one of them.

Clearly you want to know what's going on, without it being watered down. And like me, I think you realize the cost of inaction, or a lack of inquiry, may be far worse than the risks associated with openly questioning and even challenging the dominant narrative (so dominant that we are all consenting to house arrest, despite the fact that it violates many of our basic civil liberties).

I truly believe I am witnessing the beginning murmurs of a collective awakening – which may be the true silver lining of this plan-demic (I'm just going to call it what it is from here on out). I'd like to direct you to a colleague's post on the 7 silver linings of the Pandemic if you need more encouragement. Also, my beloved wife Kelly Brogan's new piece: Why the Present Moment is an Opportunity.

For those who missed my last email, it's now in article form after some of you asked to share it via social media: Let's Get Real About This So-Called "Plan-Demic".

Since then, we've seen a powerful tug-of-war between the "doom-and-gloom" spinners and those who are willing to speak up and against what is increasingly feeling like a theater of the absurd. This is one reason why I derive great pleasure from the meme below, which is – tragicomically accurate – on a metaphoric level.

This is the same CNN whose lead reported Anderson Cooper was a CIA intern and which is based in Atlanta, GA, where the CDC lives.

If you recall, on March 14th they published a highly dubious Imperial College fatality estimate as if it were fact, claiming that 1.7 million Americans would die if the entire country wasn't locked down, and that the mandatory quarantine and social distancing measures (not to mention the economic devastation this "health policy" wrought) could last as long as 18-months "until a vaccine is available." The lead author Fergusen later unapologetically retracted that estimate (even though it had already adversely affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people). This was the report that turned the at-the-time much more optimistic Trump, and the next day he bowed to the pressures of the deep state, i.e. military-medical industrial establishment, locking the country down on March 15th, for the first 14-days. CNN continues, daily, to catastrophize. Here's a new piece of highly inflammatory and dubious information from their daily Coronavirus email update:

"A new study modeled on Chinese data suggests that lockdowns can’t be fully relaxed until a vaccine is available — and warns that loosening restrictions could result in a second wave of infections in mid-summer. And worrying new research from the Korean CDC indicates that the virus may “reactivate” in people previously cured of the illness, Bloomberg reports."

https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/conspiracy-fact-why-does-who-and-cdc-require-zero-virus-testing-covid-deaths?utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%3A%20Personal%20update%20%28VVNwqr%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJ2bGF

Shake Shack returning $10 million government loan meant for small businesses

Shake Shack, one of several large restaurant chains that got federal loans through the coronavirus stimulus law meant to help small businesses, said Sunday night that it is giving all $10 million back.

The New York-based burger company is among more than a dozen companies with annual revenues in the hundreds of millions that are reported to have received money from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. The loan program set aside $349 billion in the stimulus law called the CARES Act to help small businesses keep their workers on the payroll. Less than two weeks after it started, the program has already run out of money.

In a statement Sunday night on LinkedIn, Danny Meyer, Shake Shack's founder and CEO of its parent company, Union Square Hospitality Group, and Randy Garutti, Shake Shack's CEO, said the company pursued the loan because the law stipulated that it was open to any restaurant location with no more than 500 employees — which describes Shake Shack's 189 individual U.S. restaurants.

"The 'PPP' came with no user manual and it was extremely confusing," they wrote.

The program offered to forgive the loans if recipients rehired furloughed and laid-off workers by June, and because Shake Shack and its parent company had already furloughed hundreds of employees, they said, they gambled that "the best chance of keeping our teams working, off the unemployment line and hiring back our furloughed and laid off employees, would be to apply now and hope things would be clarified in time."

But they said they had no idea the fund would dry up so quickly, so after they were able to secure separate funding last week, "we've decided to immediately return the entire $10 million" so restaurants that "need it most can get it now."

"We now know that the first phase of the PPP was underfunded, and many who need it most, haven't gotten any assistance," Meyer and Garutti wrote, urging Congress to ensure that "all restaurants no matter their size have equal ability to get back on their feet and hire back their teams."

"Our people would benefit from a $10 million PPP loan, but we're fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not," they wrote. "Until every restaurant that needs it has had the same opportunity to receive assistance, we’re returning ours."

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/04/shake-shack-returning-10-million.html

Mayor Who Resigned After Comparing Trump Supporters to KKK Members Dies in Crash

The former mayor of a Northern California city who stepped down after he harshly criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters died Saturday in a plane crash, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Dr. Bill Kirby, who was the mayor of Auburn, died in the crash Saturday morning near the Auburn Municipal Airport, officials told The Bee.

Kirby, a urologist, was the pilot of the plane that crashed shortly after 11 a.m., the newspaper reported.

passenger in the plane suffered minor injuries and was transported to a hospital, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Bee reported that a Facebook post from Sacramento political consultant Jeff Raimundo carried a statement from the Kirby family confirming he was the victim.

http://www.tathasta.com/2020/04/mayor-who-resigned-after-comparing.html

Harvard Professor Wants A ‘Presumptive Ban‘ On Homeschooling, Claims It Promotes White Supremacy

In a shocking essay for Harvard Magazine, a professor of law and director of Harvard Law School’s child advocacy legal clinic, claims homeschooling is a threat to children’s rights, a method of promoting white supremacy, and a drain on democratic society — and even goes so far as to suggest a national “presumptive ban” on the practice.a

Harvard is playing host to a “homeschooling summit,” slated to take place (at least digitally) June 18-19, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation. But Harvard’s concern isn’t so much whether homeschooling is a viable, cost-effective, and comfortable method of education for many Americans, but rather whether homeschooling is (and homeschooled children are) a ticking time bomb.

The summit brings together a number of “experts” from across the spectrum to discuss the “problems of educational deprivation and child maltreatment that too often occur under the guise of homeschooling, in a legal environment of minimal or no oversight.”

Prof. Elizabeth Bartholet is leading the charge against those who actively resist public schools and she believes that the generation currently being homeschooled is an eventual, if not active, breeding ground for racism, sexism, and isolationism.

“Many homeschool precisely because they want to isolate their children from ideas and values central to public education and to our democracy. Many promote racial segregation and female subservience. Many question science. Many are determined to keep their children from exposure to views that might enable autonomous choice about their future lives,” she claims.

In the essay for Harvard Magazine, Bartholet goes one step further, arguing not just that homeschooling is, itself, problematic, but that it should be snuffed out as a practice by the heavy hand of American government.

“Homeschooling, she says, not only violates children’s right to a ‘meaningful education’ and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society,” the article’s author reports.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2020/04/harvard-professor-wants-presumptive-ban.html

Comedian Patton Oswalt Mocks Anti-Shutdown Protesters, Recalls Anne Frank

On Saturday, comedian Patton Oswalt mocked protesters angered by the economic hardships brought on by the prolonged lockdowns, comparing them to famed Holocaust victim Anne Frank.

“Anne Frank spent 2 years hiding in an attic and we’ve been home for just over a month with Netflix, food delivery & video games and there are people risking viral death by storming state capital buildings & screaming, ‘Open Fuddruckers!'” the comedian tweeted.

Given Patton Oswalt’s wealth and success, Twitter users trolled the comedian for being insensitive in the face of people’s economic hardships.

“Not everyone can afford Netflix, food delivery & video games due to the economic shutdown…,” tweeted Joey Saladino.

“‘Let them eat kale!’ laughed the rich comedian,” tweeted Bridget Phetasy.

“Roughly 22 million Americans are out of work,” tweeted one user. “There are news reports of miles-long lines of cars at food distribution centers. People aren’t asking for restrictions to be lifted so they can go to Fuddruckers, they are doing so b/c they want to earn money to eat.”

“This is extremely elitist, many of these people are out of work and on their last leg,” tweeted another. “Yes, if you are part of the lucky few who are able to work from home or have jobs that are essential it seems this easy. Millions of Americans are struggling right now… come on Patton!”

“The wealthy comedian would like you to know that he and Anne Frank are morally superior to the ignorant and tasteless peasants who want their jobs and businesses back,” tweeted another.

Despite the blowback, Patton Oswalt did have his share of defenders, many of whom denounced the protesters as being selfish in the face of a pandemic.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2020/04/comedian-patton-oswalt-mocks-anti.html

Docs in Aussie State Banned from Prescribing Drug Trump Mentioned for COVID, Face a Hefty Fine

If you’re a doctor Down Under, you could now face a $13,000 fine for prescribing hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 patients — and you can probably guess the genesis of this.

According to the Brisbane Times, doctors in the Australian state of Queensland are now banned from prescribing the anti-malarial drug for coronavirus patients as of Tuesday.

The drugs can only be dispensed to patients who take it for one of its other approved uses or who are part of a clinical trial.

Failure to comply? A fine of $13,000 Australian dollars, which translates to about $8,300 American.

It’s not just doctors, either.

“The new law, introduced under public health powers granted to the state’s top doctor, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young, is also aimed at stopping pharmacies and GP clinics from stockpiling the medication,” the Brisbane Times reported.

“Under the public health order, only some specialists are allowed to prescribe the drug and it must be for the ongoing treatment of a chronic disease or as part of a clinical trial.”

The health minister in Australia, Greg Hunt, has said that the drug has shown “some promising research so far.” That said, trials are mixed — but the drug does a very good job stopping the virus in test tubes.

Professor David Paterson, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Queensland — where a large-scale clinical trial is about to begin — said that the drug showed promise on a very small scale when the disease first hit Australia.

“Prior to the clinical trials going ahead, the medications were given to some of the first patients in Australia infected with COVID-19, and all have completely recovered without any trace of the virus left in their system,” he said.

“However, we know that most people with COVID-19 recover completely, thanks to their immune system, so random anecdotal experiences of some people need to be replaced by rigorous clinical trials.”

In addition to antiviral drug Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine (and its older relative, chloroquine) has been one of the more promising routes of treatment for coronavirus patients. That doesn’t mean there aren’t risks, but coronavirus is a serious risk. So why stop doctors from prescribing it in certain cases?

Officially, it’s because hydroxychloroquine is used to treat patients suffering from autoimmune conditions, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Demand for the drug as a treatment for COVID-19 could make it difficult for patients who need it for those conditions to get it — at least that’s how the argument is most often presented.

But the implicit blaming of Trump, and the implication that he’s hyping the drug without any foundation, gives the game away.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/04/docs-in-aussie-state-banned-from.html

The world’s tyrants do not want Covid-19 to disappear

The coronavirus Covid-19 has achieved what tyrants haven’t been able to by spreading fear and panic around the whole world, encompassing all creeds and ethnicities. The virus does not discriminate between a Muslim and a Christian, black or white, rich or poor, prince or pauper; everyone is the same in its eyes. Nevertheless, all that the tyrants see is the people’s fear, prompting them to be even more tyrannical and oppressive. It is as if they were waiting for this opportunity to further their own interests and put the people into lockdown to which they alone hold the key.

Indeed, the tyrants have taken advantage of the fear and panic to create fear of another kind among their people, as if sticks and bullets were not enough to discipline and enslave them over the years. The virus has made them even more brutal and even more powerful. The mainstream and social media are filled with millions of pages that serve their masterfully-created intelligence industries. The masses, therefore, accept what they say, without thinking, and stay in their homes voluntarily, not by force.

Regardless of the fact that staying at home and social distancing are preventative precautions to protect against Covid-19 and are recommended by the World Health Organisation, the tyrannical rulers who invented such measures will use them even after the crisis dies down as a weapon against their helpless citizens, creating ever more oppression. Ordinary citizens become accustomed to this dull life off the streets and their daily buzz; lifestyles change as everyone keeps to themselves and cares little about what is happening in the country or what their rulers are doing. They become disinterested with no concern for the plight of others and so lose the spirit of solidarity and unity, making the people prisoners in their own homes.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200420-the-worlds-tyrants-do-not-want-covid-19-to-disappear/

US, Russia Are Blocking UN Push for Global Ceasefire

UN Secretary-General calls on world to focus on coronavirus

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to create a global crisis of generational proportions, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is pushing a broad measure to declare a global ceasefire among all nations, allowing the world to focus on fighting the virus instead of one another.

The proposal has got a lot of interest internationally, but is falling just short of going into effect, with the United States and Russia both insisting they wouldn’t consider themselves bound by any such ceasefire for their wars.

The US is complaining that the ceasefire would hinder their wars against ISIS and other groups that they believe are hostile to US interests. Given the number of US wars around the world, that’s a substantial number of conflicts. Among primary interests is the US ability to attack Iraqi militias in the near future.

Its not just America’s many wars that America believes would be at stake, but also Israel’s intermittent attacks on Syria and other nations, with US objections including that no ceasefire can be allowed to inhibit Israel’s ability to launch unilateral attacks.

Russia’s complaints were similar but more narrow, focused on wanting to keep their military activities in Syria ongoing, and not wanting the international ceasefire to get in the way of Libya’s Civil War, in which Russia is supported Gen. Hafter’s forces.

In general, it can be expected that neither Russia or the US will go along with this unless the other agrees first. The support among other global powers is more promising, with France advocating the ceasefire outspokenly. China seems on board as well, though they balked at an initial version of the resolution when the US wanted to call coronavirus the “Wuhan Virus,” implying China is to blame.

Ceasefire support in Colombia, Sudan, Yemen, and the Philippines has seen some agreement and unilateral announcements, and the UN remains hopeful. Without the US and Russia, however, it will be difficult for it to become a global movement.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/04/19/us-russia-are-blocking-un-push-for-global-ceasefire/

Markets Completely Decouple from Reality

Investment demand for physical gold and silver is unrelenting. Buying activity actually picked up slightly last week as paper gold and silver prices drifted sideways to lower.

Once again, anyone simply watching the gold price on CNBC would be shocked to know just how many people are buying gold.

The Fed, and the cabal of Wall Street Banks it represents, are undoubtedly relieved to have metals prices under control. But they have a serious problem and it is bigger than the gold market.

The disconnect between virtually all paper asset prices and real-world fundamentals has never been greater.

The screen capture below pretty well sums it up:

The ponies at the Federal Reserve performed their one trick. They printed $4 trillion and handed it to Wall Street bankers. They galloped in to buy everything bankers needed to sell, including junk bonds, other corporate debt, and stocks.

Despite the rules against outright equity purchases, there can be little doubt the Fed’s largesse is behind the frenzied buying in the stock markets in recent weeks.

There may be rules, but nobody is watching as to whether or not they get broken. The Fed is not required to provide the details of its exploits to anyone. It never submits to an audit.

Nobody in Washington even wants to know exactly where the Fed’s trillions go anymore. The rest of us, however, can make a pretty good guess just by watching CNBC.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/04/markets-completely-decouple-from-reality.html

Unity government deal guarantees vote on West Bank annexation

According to coalition agreement signed by Netanyahu and Gantz, all government legislation will need agreement from both sides, but bill to apply sovereignty can’t be blocked

Unity government deal promises vote on annexation in July

According to the wording of the “emergency government” deal between the Likud and Blue and White, from July 1, 2020, Netanyahu “will be able to bring the agreement reached with the US on the application of sovereignty [in the West Bank] for the approval of the cabinet and or the Knesset.”

Furthermore, “if the prime minister chooses to bring the proposal before the Knesset, he will be able to do the same through another MK, provided that the lawmaker is from the Likud party who will be obligated to ensure that the legislation is identical to the version placed before the cabinet.”

In addition, “the law will be passed as quickly as possible… and will not be disrupted or delayed by the chairmen of either the House or the Foreign Affairs and Defense committees.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-april-20-2020/

Montana County Demands People Wear Government-Issued Arm Bands To Do Business

In what might be one of the most over-the-top and draconian responses to coronavirus yet seen in Montana, Valley County is mandating that people wear government-issued pink arm bands in under to purchase products inside of stores. The measure, enforced by the Valley County Health Department, insists that store-owners keep customers out unless they have the pink arm-bands, which denote the customer has been in the area more than 14 days and submitted to quarantine protocol.

According to the flier produced by the Valley County Health Department, out-of-towners who lack the government-issued armbands will be prohibited from stores and residents are notified to call law enforcement if they do not comply.

The health department even issued a script to warn customers to flee, saying, “You are violating our Governor’s and Valley County’s Health Officer’s orders. I am happy to shop for you with curbside delivery. I will get the items for you and bring them to your car. If you don’t cooperate, you will force me to call law enforcement.”

https://thedcpatriot.com/montana-county-demands-people-wear-government-issued-arm-bands-to-do-business/