History In The Making: Oil Settles At Negative $37.63 Per Barrel
Update (1425ET): And there it is… May WTI just traded below zero for the first time ever (trading below NEGATIVE $40 per barrel)… There was a small bid right into the settlement at 1430ET leaving the May contract to settle at negative $37.63.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/historic-oil-crash-sends-canadian-oil-prices-negative
Behar Calls Lockdown Protesters That Bring Guns to Rallies ‘Terrorists’
Monday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Joy Behar said lockdown protesters who brought guns to rallies were “terrorists.”
Behar said, “Well, you know, let me first say that we are lucky to be working from home, all of us. I feel for these people who are losing their jobs. I really do. But they have to understand that they can infect other people. You know to paraphrase Patrick Henry, give me liberty and give me death is what they are basically proposing because a lot of people are going to die because of this behavior. It has already been shown that self-quarantining, whatever you want to call it, besides distancing and PPE’s, has been working. It works.
She continued, “I was looking up Sweden, one of my favorite countries, well they really screwed up. They have had this policy where everyone can go out and do what they have to do and use your own judgment don’t gather in groups more than fifty people, which is a lot of people, by the way. They have closed the schools, yes they have, but people are going to restaurants. Now they have 17 times the rate of their fellow Scandinavian countries, Norway, Finland, etc. So it has not worked. It doesn’t work. Stay home.”
She added, “These people are being egged on by right-wing media and people like Alex Jones, like Rush Limbaugh. Why are you bringing guns to a rally? You want to call yourself protesters leave your guns home. Those are terrorists that bring guns to rallies. I don’t trust that at all. Don’t listen to these people.”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/04/20/behar-calls-lockdown-protesters-that-bring-guns-to-rallies-terrorists/
Netanyahu: Unlike Holocaust, We Saw Danger of Coronavirus in Time
Netanyahu, Rivlin speak at pre-recorded ceremony at Yad Vashem marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. Rivlin: Hatred and anti-Semitism too spread like a contagion
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that unlike the Holocaust, "we identified the danger of the coronavirus in time," and that Israel must always be the master of its own destiny with the strength…
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-netanyahu-unlike-holocaust-we-saw-danger-of-coronavirus-in-time-1.8784959
Thousands protest in Israel over 'corrupt' PM's coronavirus plan
Netanyahu's coalition talks with Gantz have reportedly stalled due to demands by the prime minister to gain more control over judicial appointments and assurances that he can remain in office even if he gives up the prime minister's job in a proposed power-sharing arrangement with Gantz. Under Israeli law, public officials, with the exception of the prime minister, must resign if charged with a crime.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavirus-israel-protests-benjamin-netanyahu-corruption-charges-emergency-government-benny-gantz/52bdb790-8c04-4ea8-bc56-dc1d1e518fca#7
Multiple Explosions Heard in Syria's Palmyra, Syrian Air Defenses Thwart 'Hostile Targets'
Syrian state media reported late Monday that multiple explosions had been heard near the city of Palmyra as Syrian air defenses engaged "hostile targets."
Air defenses were reportedly activated against airborne threats above the Syrian cities of Homs and Palmyra late Monday night, with enemy targets being shot down in the latter city, according to Syrian Arab News Agency.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202004201079035663-multiple-explosions-heard-in-syrias-palmyra-syrian-air-defenses-thwart-hostile-targets—reports/
https://twitter.com/IntelDoge/status/1252335513891229698
https://twitter.com/leon_sverdlov/status/1252335206335422464
Exactly How Many Deaths Are Needed to Justify Giving Governments Control of Everything?
The CDC estimates that 61,000 Americans died from the flu during the 2017–18 flu season (with a range of 46,000 to 95,000 deaths). Few of us even remember that event. Stores stayed open, folks met and worked, and everyone lived as normal.
Taking sixty-one thousand deaths as our baseline, how deadly does a virus have to be to justify the destruction of our livelihoods and economy in general?
Half as deadly? No that wouldn’t make sense. But neither would "as deadly," either.
Would twice as deadly cross the panic threshold? But that would be just twice something we didn’t notice while it was happening. So maybe even double is not enough.
No one is ever safe, ever. But we all lived lives in a world of uncertainty. That is, until many panicked and allowed governments to drive us into our own caves, so to speak.
But who incited panic? Media and social media initially sounded the alarm, sparking fear. However, it was government that provided justification for that fear, wrapping dour pronouncements in a veneer of supposed science and truth. Soon the panic threshold was breached. While the various media live off provocative headlines, government lives off fear.
So we end up with this strange symbiotic relationship: with the aid of a friendly media, government justifies the fears it propagandizes; constituents panic and turn to both government for help and the media for information. Certainly, it has to be this way. Why? Because government rules through the consent of the governed.
As Mises noted:
Only a group that can count on the consent of the governed can establish a lasting regime. Whoever wants to see the world governed according to his own ideas must strive for domination over men’s minds. It is impossible, in the long run, to subject men against their will to a regime that they reject.
So, a government looking to extend its powers, to assume additional rights from its citizens, will need to manufacture consent, else rebellion with ensue. And there is no better opportunity to manufacture consent than during an existential crisis, whether it's enemies massed at the gate or ones concealed within.
Obviously, if those enemies do not exist, they have to be invented. As Schumpeter stated:
There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were those of Rome's allies; and if Rome had no allies, then allies would be invented. When it was utterly impossible to contrive such an interest—why, then it was the national honor that had been insulted. The fight was always invested with an aura of legality. Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbors, always fighting for a breathing space. The whole world was pervaded by a host of enemies, and it was manifestly Rome's duty to guard against their indubitably aggressive designs. They were enemies who only waited to fall on the Roman people.
https://mises.org/wire/exactly-how-many-deaths-are-needed-justify-giving-governments-control-everything
Nigel Farage: Only Trump Has Stood up to China, But Citizens of the West Must Stand up Next
China’s dishonesty over coronavirus could lead to a global reassessment of how vital the authoritarian regime should be to the fate and prosperity of Western democracies, Brexit leader Nigel Farage has told Breitbart News.
Speaking to Breitbart News Network editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on the Breitbart News Daily Show on Sirius XM Patriot, “Mr Brexit” Nigel Farage — known for shepherding Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union from being a harshly opposed position to the proven view of the majority by the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum — turned his fire on China during a coronavirus discussion.
While Mr Farage praised the “very good, and very brave” U.S. President Trump for being the only global leader who dared to stand up to vested interests and Chinese power, the grassroots political leader made it clear it would take more than leadership from the corridors of power to reorientate the West away from Beijing, pointing out this ultimately was in the hands of consumer-citizens.
Drawing attention to the paradox of Westerners being perfectly willing to buy cheap mass-produced goods made in circumstances that would not be tolerated at home, and enabled by a brutal authoritarian regime, Mr Farage told Breitbart listeners: “What you’re now seeing across the world is the growing realisation that this is a Communist dictatorship that has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people just because of their religion, and tried to indoctrinate them.
“That through state executions gets rid of huge numbers of people every year — many of them, frankly for what they’ve believed, not what they’ve done wrong — and have completely hushed up this outbreak from the very beginning.”
On the global awakening that could now take place to shake off dependence on Chinese goods, Mr Farage continued: “I think what’s happening, is the great publics around the west are waking up to the fact that China is no longer an opportunity for us to buy cheap goods, but that China is a threat. And I hope we’re going to see two things — firstly, governments being demanded by their electorates that they are at least self-sufficient of things we need in times of national emergency. And secondly, my attitude, Alex, is going to be in years to come if I go into a shop in years to come and see a label that says ‘made in China’, I’m not going to buy that product while that barbarous regime is in charge.”
Emphasising the people’s power to make this change, Mr Farage concluded: “Ultimately, it isn’t governments or trade deals that decide how much business gets done between nations. It is consumers that make that decision, and I am hoping tens of millions of consumers across the west will follow my lead.
“And if that’s right, we will diminish the power of China. And if it’s not right, then in 10-15 years time, they will rule the world.”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/20/farage-trump-has-stood-up-to-china-but-western-consumers-must-follow/
Virgin Australia set for voluntary administration BAILOUT REJECTED
Virgin Australia is preparing to go into voluntary administration, unable to survive under the weight of enormous debts and starved of cash by the coronavirus travel shutdown.
The Morrison government's refusal of financial support sealed Virgin's fate and the government now plans to wait out the process to see if taxpayers' money is needed to keep it flying.
Virgin did not return calls on Monday afternoon. One board member declined to comment when contacted.
Virgin employs around 10,000 people directly and supports another 6000 jobs indirectly, who will face an uncertain future when the airline officially appoints administrators, expected to happen on Tuesday morning.
The collapse will also send shockwaves through Australia’s travel and tourism sectors which were already reeling from the devastating twin hits of the summer bushfires and the pandemic.
The airline grounded almost its entire fleet and stood down most staff weeks ago and only restarted a minimum network of 64 government-subsidised domestic flights last week.
Virgin's board of directors were meeting on Monday and one well-placed source said the announcement of it going into administration was "imminent".
The airline is saddled with around $5 billion in debt and was running out of money as the coronavirus pandemic forced it to almost completely shut down its business.
The company being reborn through a deed of company arrangement struck in administration is "the airline's only chance", said a source familiar with Virgin's struggles.
In administration, an independent party will assess Virgin’s position and negotiate with shareholders and creditors about the best outcome for the business.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/virgin-australia-set-for-voluntary-administration-20200420-p54lcd.html
NRL boss Todd Greenberg sensationally QUITS after the game's financial woes were laid bare by the coronavirus lockdown
Todd Greenberg has quit his job as NRL CEO amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis
The NRL boss since 2016, he had come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks
Greenberg, 48, had lost the support of NRL clubs and rugby league commission
A bombshell statement by Channel Nine slammed his 'mismanagement' of NRL
Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
NRL boss Todd Greenberg has stood down amid mounting financial pressure on the game due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.
Greenberg made the announcement on Monday afternoon and in a statement said it had been an 'honour' to oversee the national rugby league code.
'It has been my great honour and privilege to be the CEO of the NRL for the last four years,' Greenberg said.
'Despite the variety of challenges and pressures I have loved every single minute of the journey. Our growth over the last 4 years has been extraordinary and I am very proud of my contribution to the game.'
Greenberg's decision to quit follows increased scrutiny on him in recent weeks, after the full state of the league's financial woes were laid bare amid the COVID-19 crisis.
It was revealed the league's head office was operating at a cost of almost $500,000-a-day, which is believed to have lost Greenberg the support of the clubs and ARL.
The NRL is desperate to get its players back on the park with serious fears not doing so could result in permanent financial ruin for some clubs.
Players have already been told they will have to take pay cuts up to 87 per cent due to the coronavirus crisis, while clubs have begun sacking coaching and front office staff.
Pressure on Greenberg only grew last week NRL TV rights holder Channel Nine hit out at 'mismanagement of the code' in recent years, in a bombshell statement.
'At Nine we had hoped to work with the NRL on a solution to the issues facing rugby league in 2020, brought on so starkly by COVID-19,' the statement began.
'But this health crisis in our community has highlighted the mismanagement of the code over many years. Nine has invested hundreds of millions in this game over decades and we now find they have profoundly wasted those funds with very little to fall back on to support the clubs, the players and supporters.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8235845/NRL-boss-Todd-Greenberg-sensationally-QUITS-amid-coronavirus-lockdown.html
Talpiot out
Dem Rep. AOC Deletes Tweet Calling For a Communist Revolution, Celebrating Destruction of US Economy
Communist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) on Monday in a tweet celebrated the oil crash, which can lead to massive loss of jobs.
A futures contract for US crude dropped over 100% on Monday as demand for oil dropped amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Democrat-media complex is using the Coronavirus as a vehicle to usher in Socialist policies.
AOC celebrated American workers losing their jobs and said, “You absolutely love to see it. This along with record low interest rates means it’s the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet. cough”
AOC panicked and deleted the tweet after getting called out for celebrating loss of jobs while calling for a Communist revolution.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/dem-rep-aoc-deletes-tweet-calling-communist-revolution-celebrating-destruction-us-economy/
Photo Surfaces of Tyrant Governor Grethen Whitmer Mocking Trump in Hat That Celebrates Abortions
This is the type of person Democrats want on their ticket with Joe Biden.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is famous for blocking seed sales, tiling, carpet, flooring, gardening supplies and motorboat rides for no reason.
She also is an unapologetic leftist and Planned Parenthood devotee.
A photo so Whitmer in a pink hat mocking President Trump and celebrates abortion surfaced this week.
Life News reported:
A tweet from 2018 made by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has recently surfaced in on Twitter that highlights her leftist pro-abortion dogma, while mocking Pres. Donald Trump’s famous campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Whitmer is shown in a pink t-shirt and matching ball cap with white words emblazoned across it that read, “Planned Parenthood Makes America Great.” She captioned her selfie saying, “The future is bright…. and pink!”
Last week, Whitmer drew widespread outrage from the right when she made a nonsensical statement on a liberal podcast calling abortion “life sustaining” during the COVID-19 outbreak:
A woman’s health care, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is fundamental to her life. It is life sustaining and it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of.
Whitmer has drawn huge protests for overstepping her authority during the pandemic by imposing despotic restrictions on the people of Michigan, including banning the purchase of seeds, American flags, and other items. She has also prohibited the use of motor boats and vacation homes – all while keeping abortion facilities open and operating.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/photo-surfaces-tyrant-governor-grethen-whitmer-mocking-trump-hat-celebrates-abortions/
WHO chief: Worst of coronavirus pandemic still ahead
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is still ahead.
“Trust us. The worst is yet ahead of us,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing.“Let’s prevent this tragedy. It’s a virus that many people still don’t understand.”
The pandemic globally had infected nearly 2.5 million people and killed more than 167,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Tedros's comments come as President Trump has ordered the halt of funding to WHO, citing missteps in how the organization dealt with the pandemic. The move is supported by some conservatives but was met with blowback from others, including business groups and Democrats.
Tedros urged global solidarity and national unity in order to continue fighting the virus and help limit future deaths.
The global community has to take the virus on as a “common enemy for humanity” in order to defy it, he said.
“Please let's consider those who are dying as individuals, they are not numbers or figures. Even one life is precious,” Tedros said.
He said the novel coronavirus is a “dangerous combination,” comparing it to the 1918 influenza outbreak.
“This is happening in a hundred years for the first time again, like the 1918 flu that killed up to 100 million people,” he said. “But now we have technology, we can prevent that disaster, we can prevent that kind of crisis.”
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/493695-who-chief-worst-of-coronavirus-pandemic-still-ahead
Here are the new exemptions to the military’s coronavirus travel ban
The Defense Department’s stop-movement order has been extended through June, per a defense secretary memo that went out to the force Monday.
Most permanent change-of-station moves, training and temporary duty ― as well as some deployments and re-deployments ― have been on hold since March 12, as DoD encouraged troops, civilians and families to stay put amid the the coronavirus pandemic.
“While I understand the impact this has on our troops and their families, this is a necessary measure to keep out people safe and our military ready to act,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Tuesday, after announcing that he had decided to extend the travel ban.
When asked Saturday whether another ban could come down extending that June 30 end date, Defense Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Matthew Donovan told reporters, “Never say never.”
The original policy threw hundreds of service members into turmoil. Some had handed over the keys to their apartments and sent their families and household goods ahead of them to the next duty station, only to be told their temporary arrangements ― hotels, friends’ couches ― would be extended by two months at least.
Others have not been able to take leave for the birth of a child, as is the case with troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Much of the general guidance remains as before: no domestic or international travel unless it’s deemed mission essential.
The previous memo gave local commanders the ability to grant exemptions based on hardships and other extenuating circumstances, but the latest version offers more details on the kinds of situations that could constitute an exception.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/04/20/here-are-the-new-exemptions-to-the-militarys-coronavirus-travel-ban/
Tennessee Governor Announces Stay-At-Home Order Will Expire April 30
Nashville, Tenn. — Today, Governor Bill Lee announced the order for Tennesseans to remain at home will expire April 30, with the vast majority of businesses in 89 counties allowed to re-open on May 1.
“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” said Gov. Lee. “These businesses will open according to specific guidance that we will provide in accordance with state and national experts in both medicine and business.”
The Lee Administration will work with Shelby, Madison, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Sullivan counties and their health departments as they plan their own re-open strategies.
“While I am not extending the safer at home order past the end of April, we are working directly with our major metropolitan areas to ensure they are in a position to reopen as soon and safely as possible,” said Lee. “Social distancing works, and as we open up our economy it will be more important than ever that we keep social distancing as lives and livelihoods depend on it.”
The state of Georgia also made a similar announcement Monday.
https://breaking911.com/breaking-tennessee-governor-announces-stay-at-home-order-will-expire-april-30/
Rather Than Being Drained, the Swamp Is Draining the U.S. Treasury Via the New York Fed
The Federal Reserve’s role under the U.S. law that governs it (the Federal Reserve Act) is to function as the nation’s central bank and lender of last resort to deposit-taking commercial banks in a crisis and to set monetary policy to achieve the dual objectives of stable prices (preventing deflation as well as runaway inflation) while maximizing employment.
But since December 2007, the Federal Reserve has simply written its own playbook, independent of the law that governs it. The Fed has decided to outsource to one of its 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, the New York Fed, the role of propping up the swamp on Wall Street.
The New York Fed’s own playbook involves dangling a shiny object for mainstream media in a “look here but not there” operation. During the 2008 financial collapse on Wall Street that took down the U.S. economy in the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the shiny object was a four-letter acronym called TARP, short for Troubled Asset Relief Program.
TARP was a congressionally-approved taxpayer bailout of the Wall Street banks, including those that had brought on the crisis by turning their federally-insured banking unit into a derivatives casino. Mainstream media was all over TARP as it doled out chunks of $10 billion to $45 billion to the largest banks on Wall Street in the fall of 2008, as well as lesser amounts to smaller banks caught up in the panic.
But while the $700 billion TARP shiny object was all over the front pages of newspapers, the New York Fed, with nary a vote in Congress or even the awareness of Congress, was running a secret $29 trillion Wall Street bailout. The New York Fed was using its unlimited ability to create money out of thin air to ply Wall Street banks and trading houses, as well as global foreign banks and central banks, with the lion’s share of $29 trillion in revolving loans, at a fraction of the interest rate these financial firms would have been charged in the open market. Those revolving loans began secretly in December 2007 and ran through at least July 21, 2010.
So desperate was the Fed to keep that $29 trillion a secret from the American people that it battled in court for more than two years, arguing that the American people had no right to this information. It lost that battle.
This time around, the Fed and New York Fed have brazenly upped their game because they have a much bigger shiny object: a deadly pandemic that is dominating the news and effectively eliminating any network or newspaper coverage of what is happening behind the scenes at the New York Fed.
What is happening at the New York Fed is the same thing that happened during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010. Average Americans are getting the short-end of the stick in the stimulus bill known as the CARES Act while Wall Street banks are getting astronomical sums from the New York Fed’s unlimited money spigot.
Even worse, in what is beginning to resemble a conspiracy of silence, no mainstream news outlet has reported on the more than $9 trillion in super cheap repo loans the New York Fed has pumped into Wall Street trading houses or the fact that those loans began on September 17, 2019 – four months before the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States and at a time when President Trump was bragging on TV about the unprecedented robustness of the U.S. economy…
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/76825/rather-than-being-drained-the-swamp-is-draining-the-us-treasury-via-the-new-york.html
Suspected Serial Rapist Jory Wiebrand Accused Of at Least 10 Sexual Assaults In Minneapolis Charged
A Ham Lake man has been charged in two home invasions in which women were assaulted and charges in additional cases are expected, perhaps late this week, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.
Jory Wiebrand, 34, was charged with first-degree burglary and criminal predatory conduct in a June 2, 2019 break-in. Wiebrand also was charged with first-degree criminal sexual assault and first-degree burglary assault in an Aug. 7 crime.
Wiebrand is suspected in at least 10 total cases between 2013 and 2020.
“These charges are the result of excellent police work by a number of agencies and we expect to file charges in additional cases soon,” Freeman said. “Until last week, Mr. Wiebrand’s DNA was not on file with any police agency, so developing a fingerprint and getting a match from an earlier, unrelated arrest allowed police to identify him as a suspect and seek a search warrant to obtain his DNA.While we need to prove his guilt in court, if we are successful, we will seek an enhanced sentence so he will be unable to terrorize women for a long time.”
According to the criminal complaints, a woman was sleeping in her home in the 800 block of Fifth Street Southeast on June 2 when she was awakened by a man who put a hand over her mouth and another around her neck. The woman fought against him and he eventually fled out the front door, taking the woman’s wallet with cash and credit cards.
Police found a garbage can pushed up underneath a window to the woman’s apartment. The glass was broken and police gathered some of the glass and testing revealed Wiebrand’s fingerprint, the complaint states.
On Aug. 7, in the 700 block of Fourth Street Southeast, about two blocks from the June attack, a woman returned home from work in the early morning. About 4 a.m., she took a shower and as she walked into her bedroom Wiebrand appeared and put one hand over her nose and mouth making it hard to breathe and the other hand across her chest, according to the complaint. He pushed her onto the bed and sexually assaulted her.
The woman fought him and at one point, kicked him in the stomach. He reacted by spraying pepper spray in her face. She continued to fight and he fled, the complaint states. She provided a description of Wiebrand and a sex assault examination provided DNA which eventually was compared to Wiebrand’s. He could not be excluded, but up to 99.99998 percent of the human population could be.
Wiebrand is suspected in 10 total cases between 2013 and 2020 in the same Minneapolis neighborhoods and in Anoka County, according to the complaint.
https://breaking911.com/suspected-serial-rapist-jory-wiebrand-accused-of-at-least-10-sexual-assaults-in-minneapolis-charged/
Madonna Joins The Gates Foundation on COVID-19 effort
"I’m joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation effort to find a drug that will prevent or treat COVID-19. We need this to protect our health workers, the most vulnerable, and all of our friends and families.
I’m talking about this: I am so impressed by the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator’s urgent efforts to find new or existing drugs that could effectively prevent or treat the disease. Harnessing the strength and knowledge of the research community, the Accelerator’s critical scientific progress will inform how we end this pandemic and prevent future impact from the virus. I send enormous gratitude and strength to the courageous first responders, medical professionals and scientists who are protecting our communities, those suffering and our most vulnerable." -Madonna
https://www.madonna.com/news/title/madonna-joins-the-gates-foundation-on-covid-19-project