Something Impossible Just Happened: A CLO Just Failed Its AAA Overcollateralization Test

Over the weekend, we reported that in its quest to bailout the richest Americans and the country's financial system, the Fed unleashed an unprecedented array of actions meant to backstop capital markets, going so far as buying investment grade, high yield bonds and even AAA-rated CLO bonds.

However, as we warned, it won't be enough, for two reasons: first, recall that the expanded Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) announced by the Fed last Thursday only buys AAA-rated bonds of CLOs, which after the coming tsunami of CLO downgrades is complete, will not only collapse in nominal size but will mean that any further attempts to stabilize the CLO space will require yet another Fed backstop of even riskier - i.e., rated AA and lower - structured products.

The second reason - one which Bloomberg called a "bigger and more ominous force at work that has investors bracing for the kind of pain they’ve never experienced in the decades that the [CLO] market has existed" - is that late on Friday, in the most draconian and widespread ratings action since the financial crisis, Moody's warned it may cut the ratings on $22 billion of U.S. collateralized loan obligations - a fifth of all such bonds it grades - as a result of the collapse in cash flows due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ratings agency took action on 859 bonds from 358 CLOs that package leveraged loans into securities of varying degrees of risk and return. The step - which according to Bloomberg affects about 19% of Moody’s-rated CLOs that purchase broadly syndicated loans - comes as the underlying debt gets downgraded at a record pace.

The action followed a report by Moodys earlier in the week in which it reported that its "B3 Negative and lower list" soared to its highest tally ever — 311 companies. That tops a former peak of 291 companies, reached during the credit crisis of 2009 and the commodity-related downturn in April 2016. At 20.7% of the total rated spec-grade population, the list also shot up above its long-term average of 14.8%, and closing in on its all-time high of 26.1%. This spike is the result of the confluence of a coronavirus outbreak, plunging oil prices, and mounting recessionary conditions, which created severe and extensive credit shocks across many sectors, regions and markets, the effects of which are unprecedented.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/something-impossible-just-happened-clo-just-failed-its-aaa-overcollateralization-test

Sir Richard Branson calls for government bailout, warns of repercussions of Virgin Australia collapse

Sir Richard Branson has called for Government assistance to save his Virgin airlines, while warning of the repercussions should Virgin Australia collapse.

Key points:

Sir Richard Branson says Virgin Australia is fighting to survive, and its demise would give Qantas "a monopoly of the Australian skies"

He suggested his private island could be used as collateral for a government loan

Sir Richard refuted claims he should be providing more of his own finance to Virgin airlines saying his wealth "is not sitting as cash in a bank account:

Virgin Australia is on the brink of entering voluntary administration with requests for a $1.4 billion bailout from the Federal Government unlikely to be granted, while Virgin Atlantic faces a similarly uncertain future.

In an open letter to Virgin employees, Sir Richard said Virgin Atlantic "will need government support" to keep the airline going "in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for".

Sir Richard also made specific mention of Virgin Australia, which he said is "fighting to survive".

"We are hopeful that Virgin Australia can emerge stronger than ever, as a more sustainable, financially viable airline," he said.

"If Virgin Australia disappears, Qantas would effectively have a monopoly of the Australian skies.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-20/richard-branson-government-bailout-virgin-australia-coronavirus/12166994

MSNBC Panel: 'Overwhelmingly White' ReOpen Protesters Are 'Nazis' And 'Racists' Who 'Want More Black And Brown People to Die'

The protesters calling for America to reopen are "overwhelmingly white" and "want more black and brown people to die," according to MSNBC's crazed analysts.

"One thing I think is really interesting is how these protests have started after all the headlines last week or so about the disproportionate effect the virus is having in communities of color," Boston Globe opinion writer Renee Graham said Sunday on Joy Reid's AM Joy. "And so when I look at these protests what I see are a bunch of white people essentially saying 'oh, it's affecting those people, so why do I have to change my life for them.'"

As Townhall.com reported, The Root's Michael Harriot said the protesters are saying "quite clearly" that they "want more black and brown people to die."

"If you want the government to open up, then you want more black and brown people to die," Harriot said.

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61398

Insider Trading? Huge Bet Made Shortly Before STAT News Report Touting Gilead's Remdesivir Results

STAT News writer Adam Fuerstein's market-moving article on Thursday touting leaked early trial results for Gilead's drug Remdesivir is raising suspicions and has one congressman calling for a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Trader Tian Zeng on Thursday night highlighted a suspiciously timed large bet that Gilead's stock would surge within around 24 hours:

As I reported Friday, the media hyped this report massively with little skepticism – despite being hyper-skeptical of hydroxychloroquine and relentlessly bashing Trump for touting it.

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61393

TIPSHEET: Homeless Vets, the Google Lawsuit and Drug Smuggling

It Took COVID-19 for LA VA That Illegally Rents Its Grounds to House Homeless Vets in Tents

“Honestly, it’s like a Band-Aid considering that there are around 4,000 homeless veterans in the city of L.A.,” said Robert Rosebrock, a U.S. Army veteran and activist who leads a troop called the Old Veterans Guard. Read more.

Judicial Watch Subpoenas Google in Hillary Clinton Email Lawsuit

Platte River Networks’ IT specialist Paul Combetta reportedly used the Google account to transfer Clinton’s emails from a laptop to a Platte River server, then usedBleachBit to remove any traces of the emails from the laptop. Judicial Watch’s subpoena seeks all Clinton emails from her time at State, January 21, 2009, to February 1, 2013. Google is requested to produce the emails by May 13. Read more.

Hillary Clinton’s “Inappropriate” Appeal to Avoid Judicial Watch Testimony

Hillary Clinton’s “desperate motion to the appellate court” has done little to stop Judicial Watch’s unrelenting effort to uncover the full extent of the Clinton email scandal. Read more.

Mexican Drug Tunnel Exits in U.S. Warehouse Run by Illegal Aliens Near CBP Crossing

Mexican drug smugglers are really getting bold. A cross-border tunnel recently discovered by U.S. authorities exits in a San Diego warehouse right next to a busy Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port of entry. It gets better. The southern California warehouse is manned by Illegal immigrants even though it is situated just a few hundred yards from a hectic border crossing staffed with federal agents around the clock. Read more.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/tipsheets/tipsheet-homeless-vets-the-google-lawsuit-and-drug-smuggling/

Justice Department Issues Business Review Letter to AmerisourceBergen Supporting Distribution of Critical Medicines Under Expedited Procedure for COVID-19 Pandemic Response

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-business-review-letter-amerisourcebergen-supporting-distribution

US Threatens Strikes On 122 Targets Within Iraq Unless Tension Subsides

In recent days, it would appear that Iran-US tensions are decreasing, within Iraq.

This could potentially be a result of an alleged vow by the Untied States to carry out a wide bombing campaign within Iraq, as well as Usbat al-Thayireen, (League of Revolutionaries) promised attacks on US troops, as well as on the US embassy.

In a video, released on April 8th, it released a video in which it said that it is addressed to the whole world.

The message opens with Quran 3:200:

“Oh you who believe! Be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast and be careful of your duty to Allah, that you may be successful.”

It further explains that the previous release, which included footage of “the evil embassy, was not our first surveillance mission and will not be the last of them.”

The video showed photos of Ain Al-Asad Airbase, describing it as the second-largest air base in Iraq and saying it housed American, British, and Iraqi troops.

Switching between several locations of the base, such as a runway and a warehouse of U.S. weapons. An aerial view shows what the video describes as the “housing compound.” It also shows several military planes parked at the base.

The video shows footage, apparently filmed inside the base, of military planes landing and taking off. It concludes with a message that reads: “Our eyes are watching their movements and they will not achieve what they want.”

In a possible response to the shelling on various US bases, as well as Katyusha rockets hitting near the Green zone, as well as rockets hitting the Zubair oilfield, which is being operated by the US company Haliburton, Washington withdrew some of its troops from its more remote bases, and repositioned them at more “defensible” positions.

Reportedly, in March, the Pentagon began drafting plans for a major escalation against the Iran-backed factions, namely Kata’ib Hezbollah, blamed for the rockets.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is a part of the Popular Mobilization Units, which are a part of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The US attacked their positions on December 30th, 2019 in a reported response on attacks blamed on them, and as a result killed dozens.

The above-mentioned Pentagon plan, reportedly includes simultaneously hitting 122 inside Iraq if any more Americans died.

“Washington told us they’d simultaneously hit 122 targets in Iraq if more Americans died,” a top Iraqi official said.

https://southfront.org/us-threatens-strikes-on-122-targets-within-iraq-unless-tension-subsides/

Pelosi Bragged on MSNBC on How Democrats Killed Crucial Funding to Small Businesses During Coronavirus Crisis

On Thursday the PPP Loan program ran out of money. Already $349 billion was handed out to struggling businesses.

80% of restaurants say they may never reopen and are struggling to pay their bills.

Four out of five restaurants fear they may never reopen!

At least 20,000 business applications went unprocessed on Thursday and Friday.

But so far Nancy Pelosi refuses to act.

All she needs to do is approve more funding for the program.

Last week Speaker Pelosi congratulated Senate Democrats for blocking crucial funding to small business owners in America.

Pelosi made the comments on MSNBC.

Nancy Pelosi went on late night TV, standing in front of her $24,000 fridge, to brag about Democrats blocking funding for small businesses

“They [Republicans] asked for a quarter of a trillion dollars.

“I said, ‘I don’t think so.'”

How heartless!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/stunning-pelosi-bragged-msnbc-democrats-killed-crucial-funding-small-businesses-coronavirus-crisis-video/

Wells Fargo Sued Over Paycheck Program, Accused Of Favoring Larger Loans

The paycheck protection program ran out of money last Thursday and the White House and Democrats have yet to reach agreement on replenishing it

The most recent lawsuit was filed in California against Wells Fargo, accusing it of violating an SBA promise the loan applications would be processed in the order received

Some 5,000 banks participated in the program

Frustrated small business owners across the country are filing lawsuits against banks and the federal government, accusing them of playing favorites under the coronavirus Small Business Administration paycheck protection program, accusing them of giving priority to larger loans and discriminating against women and minorities.

The most recent such suit was filed late Sunday by a California company and comes as Democrats and the White House say they are close to a deal that would replenish the $349 billion paycheck protection fund created by the March 27 CARES Act with $400 billion. The program, which is aimed at encouraging small businesses to keep their employees on the payroll, ran out of money last Thursday, less than two weeks after banks began accepting applications. The loans are to be forgiven if at least 75% go toward salaries.

Some 5,000 banks participated in the program and the government also authorized fintech companies, including Square and PayPal, to help distribute the funds.

The class-action suit filed Sunday was lodged against Wells Fargo, accusing the bank of giving priority to businesses seeking large loans – limited to $10 million under legislation authorizing the program – despite SBA promises applications would be processed in the order in which they were received.

“Wells Fargo concealed from the public that it was reshuffling the PPP applications it received and prioritizing the applications that would make the bank the most money,” the lawsuit alleges.

An earlier Texas suit filed by Houston businessman Edward Scherer against Wells Fargo and Frost Bank accused the latter of picking and choosing who would gain access to the loans.

“The priority of access to these limited funds is material – the demand is overwhelming as America responds to the economic tsunami of COVID-19 upon small businesses,” the suit said.

https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-relief-wells-fargo-sued-over-paycheck-program-accused-favoring-larger-2961785

Newly Declassified Evidence: Russia Didn't Try to Help Elect Trump in 2016

It has become conventional "wisdom" on the left that Russia wanted Trump to win in 2016, and therefore they helped his campaign. The latter belief was debunked by the Mueller report—though many on the left still believe it. The theory that Russia wanted Trump to win has also persisted, but newly declassified evidence suggesting that Russia was spreading false information about Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign "is calling into question the Obama administration’s intelligence assessment that Moscow was trying to help the Republican win the 2016 election," according to a report from Just The News's John Solomon.

Evidence recently declassified by DNI Richard Grenell and Attorney General Barr revealed that as early as July 2016 British intelligence operative and FBI informant Christopher Steele was involved in an FBI investigation of Trump. The same evidence showed that the FBI was repeatedly warned that Steele was susceptible to Russia disinformation and that U.S. intelligence had "concluded some of his Hillary Clinton-funded dossier’s claims about Trump were false information planted by Moscow’s intelligence services."

Experts agreed that efforts by Russia to provide false negative information about Trump to Christopher Steele "undercut the notion that Moscow was trying to defeat Clinton and help Trump."

It has become widely accepted that Russia's hacking of DNC emails meant that they were trying to help then-candidate Trump win in 2016, but this newly declassified information supports the other theory—that Russia was simply trying to sow division and election discord in the United States.

Daniel Hoffman, the CIA’s former station chief in Moscow and one of America’s premier experts on Russia spy tradecraft, said he believed all along the Obama administration’s assessment was wrong and the newly declassified evidence confirms his suspicions.

“The question of whether Russia favored Clinton or Trump is superfluous,” he said. “There is no evidence Russia ever had the throw weight to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, the 2017 DNI report confirmed that.

“The reason for Russia’s interference in our electoral process was more simple. Putin hates Democrats, and he hates Republicans because what scares him the most is democracy — freedom, liberty — which continued to be an inspiration to the Russian people whom he oppresses,” Hoffman told Just the News.

Rep. Devin Nunes says he believes the Obama administration’s intelligence assessment was as flawed as the Steele dossier and the Mueller report.

Was the assessment flawed, or deliberately wrong to sabotage Trump?

https://pjmedia.com/trending/newly-declassified-evidence-russia-didnt-try-to-help-elect-trump-in-2016/

Branson Pleads For State Loan To Save Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Offers Caribbean Island As Collateral

Branson warned that without a loan from the UK government, Virgin Atlantic will collapse

Virgin Atlantic is owned jointly by Branson and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines

Branson purchased Necker Island in the late 1970s for $180,000

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has again pleaded with the British government to provide him with a £ 500 million ($622 million) commercial loan in order to save his Virgin Atlantic airlines from collapse.

"Many airlines around the world need government support and many have already received it,” Branson wrote to his staff in a public blog post. Without aid from the U.K. government, he warned that "there won't be any competition left and hundreds of thousands more jobs will be lost.”

Virgin Atlantic, which is owned jointly by Branson and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (DAL), was reportedly turned down for aid by the U.K. Treasury last week. The British government has recommended that struggling airlines seek all other options – including reaching out to stockholders – before requesting government aid.

Branson further wrote in his letter: "We will do everything we can to keep the airline [Virgin Atlantic] going – but we will need government support to achieve that in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for. This would be in the form of a commercial loan – it wouldn't be free money and the airline would pay it back.”

Branson cited that another British airliner, EasyJet recently received a £600 million ($746 million) loan from the government."

Last month, Branson himself offered £250 million ($311 million) into the Virgin Group, with the bulk of that figure earmarked for the airline subsidiary.

Virgin Australia – which Branson owns a 10% stake in – is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy after the Australian government refused to provide it with a loan.

Branson, who reportedly has a net worth in excess of $5 billion, also addressed sharp criticism he has received for asking the British taxpayer for funds while he has lived in the tax-free haven of the British Virgin Islands for the past 14 years – that is, paying no taxes in the U.K.

Branson insists his true financial worth has not been accurately depicted.

"I've seen lots of comments about my net worth – but that is calculated on the value of Virgin businesses around the world before this crisis, not sitting as cash in a bank account ready to withdraw," he said. "Over the years significant profits have never been taken out of the Virgin Group, instead they have been reinvested in building businesses that create value and opportunities."

https://www.ibtimes.com/branson-pleads-state-loan-save-virgin-atlantic-airlines-offers-caribbean-island-2961771

Mike Stone - Mass Media Will Never Stop Lying

The only difference between the

US mass media and Pravda in the old USSR, is that the Russians weren't so naive as to believe it.

"They told us that JFK, RFK and MLK were all assassinated by lone gunmen, and that anyone who disputes that is a conspiracy theorist."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us that the North Vietnamese navy attacked our ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, that the Iraqi soldiers were bayoneting babies and pulling them out of incubators, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that Syria's Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us in 1977 that a coming ice age would destroy all life on the planet. They told us in 2008 that global warming would destroy all life on the planet. They're telling us now that climate change will destroy all life on the planet."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us there's no cure for cancer or arthritis, but cures for cancer have existed in the alternative health field for decades, and arthritis is the easiest disease in the world to cure."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us, 'You can keep your doctor,' 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman,' and 'Read my lips: no new taxes,' and they all lied."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us 9/11 was the work of Osama Bin Laden; that it was pulled off by 19 guys with box cutters, that a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon, and that Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us that vaccines are safe and effective, that there is no correlation between vaccines and autism, and that fluoride is good for your teeth and prevents cavities."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us two weeks before the election that Hillary Clinton had a 92% chance to win. After the election they told us that Trump won because of Russian collusion."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us that HIV causes AIDS, that AIDS would devastate the heterosexual population, and that AZT is a safe and proven cure for AIDS."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They told us that West Nile Virus will kill us all, that SARS will kill us all, and that Ebola will kill us all."

"Yeah, but this time they're telling us the truth."

"They're telling us now that the Coronavirus is a once in a lifetime pandemic, that it will kill millions of people around the world, and that the only way to save humanity is to take away our rights, imprison us in our homes and destroy the economy until we all take the vaccine and get microchipped."

"Yeah, but this time they're really, really, REALLY telling us the truth!!! What are you, one of those conspiracy nuts? Can't you see what's happening? Why aren't you wearing a mask? Don't come near me, stay away! I'm calling the police to report you! AAAIIEEEE!!"

https://www.henrymakow.com/2020/04/mike-stone-will-never-stop-lying.html

Kansas Judge Stands by Constitution, Rules Churches Can Stay Open Under 1st Amend.

A federal judge on Saturday handed a legal victory to two churches that challenged an executive order by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s order limiting church attendance to 10 or fewer worshippers.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Broomes in Wichita stays enforcement of Kelly’s order until May 2.

Five days before Easter, Kelly had added churches to a list of banned activities in an executive order issued to address the threat of the coronavirus, according to Kansas.com. That brought a strong pushback from lawmakers and churches, culminating in a lawsuit filed Thursday by First Baptist Church in Dodge City and Calvary Baptist Church in Junction City.

Citing the executive orders issued by Kelly, Broomes noted in his ruling that “Plaintiffs claim, among other things, that the restrictions on religious activity imposed by EO 20-18 (and now 20-25) violate Plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion, including their right to attend worship services in their respective church facilities. For reasons that follow, the court concludes, based on the matters presented so far, that Plaintiffs are likely to prevail on this claim,” thus enabling him to grant a temporary restraining order that blocks Kelly’s edict.

It was just one of a series of cases that have arisen across the country since the coronavirus pandemic began, as states and local governments in Florida, Mississippi, Texas and other regions faced challenges from the faithful after trying to impede religious gatherings.

The ruling said that that the churches filing suit “made a substantial showing that development of the current restriction on religious activities shows religious activities were specifically targeted for more onerous restrictions than comparable secular activities. The Governor previously designated the attendance of religious services as an ‘essential function’ that was exempt from the general prohibition on mass gatherings.”

The ruling said that “religious activities appear to have been singled out among essential functions for stricter treatment. It appears to be the only essential function whose core purpose – association for the purpose of worship – had been basically eliminated.”

The governor, Brromes ruled, “has not argued that mass gatherings at churches pose unique health risks that do not arise in mass gatherings at airports, offices, and production facilities. Yet the exemption for religious activities has been eliminated while it remains for a multitude of activities that appear comparable in terms of health risks.”

“Based on the record now before the court, the most reasonable inference from this disparate treatment is that the essential function of religious activity was targeted for stricter treatment due to the nature of the activity involved, rather than because such gatherings pose unique health risks that mass gatherings at commercial and other facilities do not, or because the risks at religious gatherings uniquely cannot be adequately mitigated with safety protocols,” he ruled.

Broomes required that churches that open observe social distancing and keep everyone in attendance at least six feet apart, as well as observe other practices such as not using a collection plate that would be passed through the congregation.

In a court filing supporting the lawsuit, attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom argued that Kelly had banned church worship but allowed “26 types of secular activities,” including bars, libraries and shopping malls

“So under the current (order) … a large group of people are permitted to get together at an office complex and have unrestricted meetings discussing real estate and real estate issues. But if a group of people wanted to get together in that same office building to have a Bible study or conduct a religious service, they would be prevented from doing so,” the ADF argued.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/04/kansas-judge-stands-by-constitution.html

Universities ‘feeding at the public trough’ Find Themselves At The Center Of COVID Lawsuits

Riley Heath was gearing up to graduate from Princeton University when he received an unexpected notification from his school saying he needed to vacate the campus within a week. He wasn’t the only one at his school and it was one of the first of many American universities to close its campus before the end of the semester amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The FitzRandolph Gate, where students traditionally walk through only after graduating from Princeton, was closed when Heath was leaving his campus alone with his belongings in tow. He manually kicked opened the gate to exit and walked through leaving his college career behind. He told me it was a symbolic moment of the abrupt end of his four years that was anything but pomp and circumstance.

Heath and his peers are finishing their semesters of classes via Zoom video conferencing, which he described as “painful” and a format that “doesn’t compare” to in person learning.

“The discussion is so flat because you don’t know when to talk because you don’t want to talk over people.” Heath said, “So everyone just kind of ends up sitting there looking at each other while the preceptor just asks questions, which is just like honestly a little painful.”

Heath, however, is the example of so many college students across the country who are trying to adapt to a new method of learning, which they say isn’t what they paid for. That argument has become a sticking point for several recent class action lawsuits in which students are asking universities to provide partial tuition refunds.

The University of Miami in Florida and Drexel University in Pennsylvania are facing similar suits from students arguing that online programs offered by colleges are typically significantly cheaper than in person programs. Moreover, the students are saying that the university ‘breached’ their contracts with them and engaged in “unjust enrichment” from tuition that was collected but unused to better the students’ experiences.

The firm representing these students has created collegerefund2020.com because of the influx of inquiries they have received amid the coronavirus, Roy Willey IV, a lawyer with the Anastopoulo Law Firm, said in an email to insidehighered.com.

https://saraacarter.com/universities-feeding-at-the-public-trough-find-themselves-at-the-center-of-covid-lawsuits/

The Morning Briefing: Educators Are Nervous About Kids Being Away From Public School Indoctrination During Shutdown

We Have Come for Your Children

The past couple of months have certainly been a time of many adjustments for a lot of Americans. Some of us – like myself – haven’t really had our daily routines upset. My child is finishing up college and heading into whatever the real world will look like after.

Parents with younger children who are in school, however, have had new reality thrust upon them. Their kids are home, restless, and still need to learn. Twentieth-century technology is making it easier to set up online learning, but that can still be a little glitchy. There are a lot of teachers who aren’t very tech-savvy, which can bog down the process.

Either way, many parents are becoming more involved in their kids’ daily education than they’d perhaps ever planned to be.

Whether reluctant or enthusiastic new homeschooling parents, they’re going to be on the job for at least the rest of the school year. Who knows what is going to happen in the fall? We’re all hoping for the best, but many experts predict a second wave of infections in the fall, which could further disrupt school schedules.

All of this time away from the public school indoctrination mills is making some modern educators nervous. Mustn’t let the wee ones get too much exposure to mom and dad now, after all.

We were only a couple of weeks into the shut-down stuff when the Washington Post published an article written by a former teacher and education bureaucrat titled "Homeschooling during the coronavirus will set back a generation of children."

As the coronavirus pandemic closes schools, in some cases until September, American children this month met their new English, math, science and homeroom teachers: their iPads and their parents. Classes are going online, if they exist at all. The United States is embarking on a massive, months-long virtual-pedagogy experiment, and it is not likely to end well. Years of research shows that online schooling is ineffective — and that students suffer significant learning losses when they have a long break from school.

Modern American public educators are always touting studies that claim they need to get their indoctrinating leftist paws on our children as early and often as possible. To hear them tell the story, a kid doesn’t stand a chance unless they get passed directly from the womb into the hands of strangers and left there until they finish college. My book Don’t Let the Hippies Shower examines and mocks this at length.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/the-morning-briefing-educators-are-nervous-about-kids-being-away-from-public-school-indoctrination-during-shutdown/

Revolutionary Times and Systemic Collapse – “The System Cannot Handle It”

Some have queried how it could be that President Putin would co-operate with President Trump to have OPEC+ push oil prices higher – when those higher prices precisely would only help sustain U.S. oil production. In effect, President Putin was being asked to underwrite a subsidy to the U.S. economy – at the expense of Russia’s own oil and gas sales – since U.S. shale production simply is not economic at these prices. In other words, Russia seemed to be shooting itself in the foot.

Well, the calculus for Moscow on whether to cut production (to help Trump) was never simple. There were geo-political and domestic economic considerations – as well as the industry ones – to weigh. But, perhaps one issue trumped all others?

Since 2007, President Putin has been pointing to one overarching threat to global trade: And that problem was simply, the U.S. dollar.

And now, that dollar is in crisis. We are referring, here, not so much to America’s domestic financial crisis (although the monetisation of U.S. debt is connected to threat to the global system), but rather, how the international trading system is poised to blow apart, with grave consequences for everyone.

In other words, Covid-19 may be the trigger, but it is the U.S. dollar – as President Putin has long warned – that is the root problem:

“We’re looking at a commodity-price collapse and a collapse in global trade unlike anything we’ve seen since the 1930s”, said Ken Rogoff, the former chief economist of the IMF, now at Harvard University. An avalanche of government-debt crises is sure to follow, he said, and “the system just can’t handle this many defaults and restructurings at the same time”.

“It’s a little bit like going to the hospitals and they can handle a certain number of Covid-19 patients but they can’t handle them – all at once”, he added.

More than 90 countries have inquired about bailouts from the IMF—nearly half the world’s nations—while at least 60 have sought to avail themselves of World Bank programs. The two institutions together [only] have resources of up to $1.2 trillion”.

Just to be clear, this amount is not nearly sufficient. Rogoff is saying that $1.2 trillion is a drop in the ocean – for what lies ahead. The health of the global economy thus has attenuated down to a race between dollars flooding out of this ‘complex self-organising’ system amidst the coronavirus pandemic, versus the very limited resources of the IMF and World Bank to pump dollars in.

Simple? Just ramp up the dollar flow into system. But whoa there! This would mean the U.S. providing a flow of dollars sufficient to meet ‘rest of world’ needs – ‘during the biggest collapse since the 1930s’? There is $11.9 trillion of U.S. denominated debt out there alone, plus the dollar float required to finance day-to-day international trade (usually held as national, foreign exchange reserves).

That however, is only a fraction of the dollar-denominated debt ‘problem’, since a part of that debt takes the characteristics of a distinct ‘currency’ used in international trade, called Eurodollars. Mostly (but not exclusively), they present themselves as if ordinary dollars, but what distinguishes them is that they are overseas dollar deposits that exist outside of U.S. regulation, in one sense.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/04/20/revolutionary-times-and-systemic-collapse-the-system-cannot-handle-it/

Nadler, Schiff Demand Investigation of AG Bill Barr’s Comments on Firing of ICIG Michael Atkinson

House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) have nothing better to do right now so they are demanding the DOJ’s IG investigate Attorney General Bill Barr’s comments on the firing of ICIG Michael Atkinson.

Recall, Barr said during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Trump firing Atkinson was the “right thing” to do.

Barr backed Trump and said it was the right thing to do given Atkinson broke protocol when he ran to Congress with the whistleblower complaint rather than letting the executive branch determine whether there was a problem.

“I think the President did the right thing in removing Atkinson,” Barr said explaining that the whistleblower statute only gave Atkinson jurisdiction over wrongdoing by intelligence people.

“Atkinson tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government and immediately report it to Congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem,” Barr said.

Nadler and Schiff on Monday in a 4-page letter to DOJ IG Horowitz demanded Barr’s statements be investigated to see whether he “violated applicable DOJ policies and rules of professional conduct.”

“Public confidence in our system of justice depends on the integrity, fairness, and impartiality of DOJ’s leadership. It is, therefore, imperative that the attorney general be held to the same high standard expected of all Department personnel, particularly in matters involving the President’s own interests,” Nadler and Schiff wrote.

Nadler and Schiff are a danger to this country.

Schiff hijacked Congress with his phony impeachment against President Trump while the Coronavirus was spreading across the globe and now he’s wasting time and resources investigating Barr over comments he made about a corrupt government official.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/new-nadler-schiff-demand-investigation-ag-bill-barrs-comments-firing-icig-michael-atkinson/

Omar Introduces Bill to Cancel Rent, Mortgage Payments During Coronavirus Crisis

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has introduced legislation to cancel rent and mortgage payments for millions of Americans as the coronavirus crisis continues to hamper the U.S. economy.

Under the bill, rent and mortgage payments could be canceled for “all Americans regardless of income or employment status,” Fox News reports. The bill would also set up a massive fund for landlords and mortgage holders to cover losses from the canceled payments.

“The coronavirus crisis is more than just a public health crisis—it’s an economic crisis. Minnesotans are losing jobs, getting their hours reduced and struggling just to put food on the table,” Omar said in a statement. “We must take major action to protect the health and economic security of the most vulnerable, including the millions of Americans currently at risk of housing instability and homelessness.”

“Congress has a responsibility to step in to stabilize both local communities and the housing market during this time of uncertainty and crisis. In 2008, we bailed out Wall Street. This time, it’s time to bail out the American people who are suffering,” she said.

Omar is a member of a progressive group of Democrats dubbed “The Squad,” which includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

It’s unknown how much the bill would cost American taxpayers. Three other bills already passed by Congress are set to cost more than $2.2 trillion.

Dubbed “The Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act,” Omar’s bill “would be a full payment forgiveness plan, with no accumulation of debt for renters or homeowners and no negative impact on their credit ratings or rental histories, Omar said,” Fox reported.

It also would create an optional fund to finance the purchase of private rental properties by non-profits, public housing authorities, cooperatives, community land trusts and states or local governments in order to make affordable housing available.

Omar has also called on a halt to “all” deportations during the pandemic after Guatemala’s health minister complained that many of the COVID-19 cases in his country could be traced back to migrants returned from the U.S. …

Omar also called for Congress’ coronavirus relief package to include so-called “mixed-status” families, which would include noncitizens. “It is absurd and cruel that a taxpaying, mixed status [sic] couple or family could be excluded from this relief,” Omar said at the time.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/omar-introduces-bill-cancel-rent-mortgage-payments-coronavirus-crisis/

How a Manipulated Coronavirus Pandemic Is Being Used to Try to Topple Donald Trump and Xi Jinping

By Frank Dux and Patrick Nohrden

Part 1—The Chinese Coup

China’s recent rise as a world power scares a lot of people. After taking over the South China Sea without a shot being fired, after taking over most of the world’s manufacturing, after becoming a crucial leg of America’s supply chain, it should surprise nobody that Americans should fear China’s growing influence.

What might surprise many, though, is that it scares a lot of Chinese, too.

China’s government is different than most governments in the West. It’s power and economy is centralized in the Chinese Communist Party. America is a diverse democracy managed by the various states, at least according to the Constitution, which have retained sovereignty over their own territories. The apex of America’s power rests with its three branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. Only two, the Executive and Legislative branches are duly elected by the people and whose candidate choices are mostly controlled by select groups within the Democratic and the Republican Party.

At any given moment, one party is seemingly planning on how to get the other party out of power. When in actuality they can be accepting campaign funds from same sources, as in case of 1968 Richard Nixon’s election bid for the presidency against Hubert Humphrey. Both were being financed by Howard Hughes in the form of cash payments delivered by Robert A. Mahue, who served as the go between, virtually, Hughes alter ego.

https://frankreport.com/2020/04/20/how-a-manipulated-coronavirus-pandemic-is-being-used-to-try-to-topple-donald-trump-and-xi-jinping/

Part 1

>>8864911

But before Chinese dissidents were able to manipulate perceptions to destabilize the government by claims the Chinese president used this against its own people, on social media there exists a virtual parade of special disinfectant teams and then, rather suddenly, the pandemic is officially announced no longer a threat in Wuhan to where even local newscasts using social media portray the tourism industry has returned and goes on, almost seamlessly, undisturbed.

It is now common knowledge that there is a bioengineering laboratory in Wuhan operated by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Now known as the National Bio-Safety Laboratory, since it changed its name from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The lab, along with a couple of other labs in China, has been studying the SARS virus ever since that epidemic in 2003. Something to think about is the fact that there are more of these labs throughout China, and one in Beijing accidentally released the SARS vaccine, sickening and killing hundreds before it was contained. That happened at least twice.

Certain scientists originally believed that SARS came from a virus found on civets, a strange wild cat indigenous to southern China. But the lab in Wuhan discovered that the virus that infected civets came from a horseshoe bat found in one particular cave in Yunnan province, about 600 miles south of Wuhan.

In their research, for whatever reasons they might have had, scientists in Wuhan were able to mutate that virus, turning it into a slightly different strain, which they called SARS-CoV-2. We call it COVID-19.

Some of us call it the Wuhan virus or the Chinese virus.

What worked was saying that it came from a bat. It sort of did, but not from people that might have been eating bats that are alleged to have been sold at the wet market.

Even so those merchants would have had no reason to incur greater costs by importing bats from 600 miles away when local bats taste the same. But for some reason people like to believe the bat story. Maybe because bats are disgusting looking creatures, and it makes sense.

But these are not the bats responsible for a worldwide pandemic.

People in Wuhan were first reported getting sick in November 2019, maybe as early as October. Then they started to die. Crematoriums were so busy the government had to bring in special mobile incinerators to dispose of the bodies. Funeral homes were ordering burial urns by the thousands. And the people of Wuhan started to complain.

It is self-evident now how China backed up by the UN’s World Health Organization had lied about the virus, claiming that there was no evidence of “human to human” infection. Enabling, nearly a half a million people to leave Wuhan and infect the world.

China has been forced to reckon with the publicity fallout, and Xi Jinping reacted. He shut up the people of Wuhan by shutting them in, often padlocking them into their apartments where many died from starvation. The mass protests that predictably would have otherwise destabilize China never materialized, so Xi Jinping still has his jobs, no tanks needed.

But like the too-often quoted Rahm Emanuel says, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.”

And just like the virus that moved from China to America, so perhaps moved the plot to endanger Trumps re-election, if not remove a president from office. Every step of the way, the Democrats and a biased corporate media are right there criticizing everything President Trump says or does in his battle to defeat the Wuhan Virus.

Part 2

>>8864938

These political wolves would now be feeling the sting of their illicit revenue streams drying up were it not for their salvation by way of hyping the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to the Wuhan virus outbreak, the Trump-stimulated economy practically guaranteed Trump’s reelection in 2020.

The 1981 published book ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz eerily predicts the Corona virus outbreak and in keeping with the ongoing pattern of fictions aimed at negating Trump’s accomplishments, arguably, Operation 201, was apparently the inspiration to set in motion yet another coup attempt.

This coup depended upon a new fiction of having employed an entirely new mortality model in predicting the expansion growth rate of pandemics, like COVID 19, which was introduced in association with Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

They hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY.

In selling the sometimes, dubbed, “Event 201 model” to the government at the state level, Democratic Party leaders appointed pandemic experts who were directed to use the new model, as introduced at Event 201.

Thereafter, the WHO announces the COVID 19 outbreak in Wu Han, China.

Using the new and unproven model, the California economy (that dwarfs the GNP of many countries) was unconstitutionally power-grabbed and tanked by California governor Gavin Newsome.

Other Governors did likewise.

Based on this alleged national security necessity.

The media coverage of the power grab visibly overshadows how Newsome’s aunt, Nancy Pelosi’s attempt to impeach the President backfires on her and the plot’s ringleader, Adam Schiff, whose sister happens to be married to George Soros’ son, where one may argue the connection proves there exist an obvious conflict of interest on Schiffs part to investigate the President, about his investigating their inter-connection to corruption of Ukrainian government.

Coming to light around this same time is how the night before leaving office, President Obama freed $1.5 billion in Iranian assets and delivered. In essence, he makes possible for $1.8 billion in cash to get into the hands of the world’s greatest sponsors of terrorist acts carried out against US citizens, Iran.

Almost immediately thereafter, the world saw an uptick in terrorist acts against Israel and American interests and citizens.

Part 3

>>8864967

ABC News and Univision reporter Matthew Jaffe is married to Katie Hogan, Obama’s former Deputy Press Secretary.

ABC President Ben Sherwood is the brother of Obama’s former Special Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood.

CNN President Virginia Moseley is married to former Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Secretary Tom Nides. Mosely is alleged to have rewarded journalists for biased reporting and encourages the defaming of President Trump at CNN.

There seems to be only one major news network not involved in this web of deceit and corruption.

It is self-evident that the corporate media world and high-ranking Washington Establishment make use of the same narrative that benefits these incestuous relationships, an arrangement that is threatened by any Washington Establishment outsider, such as President Trump.

Denzel Washington once said in a video interview, “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uniformed. If you do read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.”

This statement suggests ratings are what matter in the media, that corporate media is responsive to the public.

Unfortunately, ratings do not ultimately determine the financial health of any media corporation. It never has, given the fact that advertising client Westinghouse threatened to stop advertising with CBS if the award-winning CBS news show 60 Minutes did not kill its expose story of how the tobacco industry knew about cigarette smoking’s link to cancer.

Likewise, an expose by ABC Prime Time News magazine show featuring the findings of Frank Dux’s book The Secret Man (HarperCollins 1996), which revealed a CIA plot to take the US to war with Iraq based on it selling the lies of weapons of mass destruction was killed by influences outside of ABC Network.

In CNN infamously libeling Trump, eroding support for him, TPG holdings reputedly doubled down on its advertising with CNN irrespective of CNN’s dramatic decline in its viewership ratings, correlating to it being repeatedly caught producing fake news surrounding President Trump.

You may ask what do all of the incestuous goings on have to do with COVID-19? Everything! They have arguably produced the desired overreaction by which to erode American’s constitutional rights and influence the outcome of their next presidential election.

By understanding how the media and partisan party political corruption works in tandem, it has never been more brazenly clear than how their portrayals influence the President’s ability to NOT RESPOND.

When President Trump talks about the cure being worse than the diseases, he may very well be talking about the announced strategy of enemies of the United States, visibly embraced by the far left, many of whom publicly express that they prayed and hoped for the failure of the US economy just to see Trump fail at any cost.

Despite the dire warnings and the apocalyptic response of the media and the so-called scientists advising the President, the media overlooks the obvious.

These are the same scientists who say that viruses do not like warm weather, so we should see a reduction of infections during the summer. How they overlook the fact that Thailand where it is always hot has over 2,700 cases.

These are the same scientists who said that wearing face masks will not help you but will make it easier for you to become infected, later changing their mind and encouraged us to wear face masks, just not the ones needed for medical personnel.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic is apparently no greater a threat to health than was SARS or Swine Flu. The empirical and statistical evidence proves this true.

Part 4

End