‘Top Them Out’: US to Use Historically Low Oil Prices to Fill Strategic Reserve

As oil prices hit historic lows amid unprecedented oversupply on Monday, US President Donald Trump renewed an earlier promise to fully fill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve by buying as many as 75 million barrels of oil.

The US Department of Energy’s (DoE) emergency petroleum supply will be filled to the brim, Trump said at the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Monday.

“We are filling up our national petroleum reserves. We are looking to put as much as 75 million barrels into the reserves themselves," Trump told reporters at a daily news conference. "That would top them out. That would be the first time in a long time it has been topped out."

The DoE had previously moved to allow companies to lease space in the strategic reserve’s tanks for up to 77 million barrels of oil.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established after the 1973-74 oil shock, when Arab oil-producing nations sought to punish Western support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War by sharply hiking petroleum prices. The network of underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas is capable of holding some 797 million barrels of crude oil.

Trump initially announced his intent to fill the reserves “up to the top” on March 13, when he first declared a national emergency. At that time, the move was intended to mitigate economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis, which at the time had infected just 1,800 Americans and killed 41. On Monday, the US had registered 770,000 cases and seen more than 37,000 Americans die.

However, the DoE ditched a plan to buy up 30 million barrels after congressional lawmakers did not include funding for the purchase in national economic stimulus legislation. A separate bill explicitly providing $3 billion toward the initiative was introduced earlier this month, but has failed to progress.

The move comes amid historically low oil prices as petroleum producers run out of storage space. May futures for West Texas Intermediate petroleum collapsed on Monday, falling to negative $13.10 per barrel after hitting a low of negative $40.32 per barrel, even as OPEC+ nations have struck a deal to mutually slash oil production.

Trump told reporters he believed the negative oil futures were “a short-term squeeze,” adding it was mostly a financial phenomenon in which “a lot of people got caught” short-selling. He also noted he would look into stopping oil shipments from Saudi Arabia to the US amid the market glut.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202004201079036388-top-them-out-us-to-use-historically-low-oil-prices-to-fill-strategic-reserve/

Architect of legal abortion in UK resigns after child abuse cover-up accusations surface

This month is the 52nd anniversary of UK's Abortion Act, sponsored by David Steel in 1967. Steel has now been accused of child abuse cover-up.

Next Monday, April 27th is the 52nd anniversary of the coming into effect of the UK’s Abortion Act (1967), the key legislation which opened up abortion on a mass scale in England, Wales, and Scotland.

The government has been celebrating early, first by imposing abortion on Northern Ireland, to which the Act never applied, and then by loosening the rules on ‘do it yourself’, home abortions, in the context of the Coronavirus epidemic.

A lot of things have happened since 1967 in the UK, as in other jurisdictions, which have clarified the issues at stake. The Member of Parliament who sponsored the passage of this law—it was not a government bill—later admitted that he had grossly underestimated the number of abortions that would be performed under the Act.

If the vast number of deaths the Act would bring about had been foreseen when it was being debated, it would have been much harder to get it passed. The same goes for the way that safeguards have been interpreted and evaded. But isn’t that always the way? The radical agenda is forced through with the claim that each change is quite minor. When it turns out that it is anything but, the promoters say, oh well, but there’s no going back now.

The only thing which should surprise us is the willingness of moderates and conservatives to keep on accepting the radicals’ assurances. It happened with abortion, contraception and divorce back in the 1960s, it happened with same-sex “marriage” more recently, and it is happening right now with the trans movement.

The consequences of destroying fundamental legal and moral protections, and fundamental legal and moral concepts, are incalculable. Those who wish to remake the world from atoms upwards thrive in the chaos, but they are a tiny minority. The problem is that most people would rather accept the reassurances than get into a big fight about it.

There’s another interesting thing about the sponsor of the Abortion Act, David Steel. He was a member of the UK’s then third party, the Liberals, and later became its leader. On retirement, he joined the House of Lords, as one would expect in the UK system after a distinguished political career. The Abortion Act has always been his great achievement. He has, however, now been disgraced, to such an extent that earlier this year he “resigned” from the House of Lords (whatever that means), and from his party, now called the Liberal Democrats. It turns out that as party leader in the 1970s and 1980s he had tolerated and covered up child abuse perpetrated by one of his Members of Parliament

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/architect-of-legal-abortion-in-uk-resigns-after-child-abuse-cover-up-accusations-surface

Mom Discovers Facebook Ad Claiming Her Entire Family Died From Coronavirus

Keep in mind that Facebook, not the people on it, but the company, is now violating federal law all over the place in their business practices. They are also a part of what is now the mainstream media in attempts to silence dissenting voices, especially when it comes to telling the truth about coronavirus and COVID-19, as well as vaccines. They continually send out their self-appointed, paid “fact checkers,” who often don’t even read the articles they are claiming are fake in order to stifle distribution of truthful, accurate reports. Now, they’ve been busted putting out ads with a family photo claiming the entire family died from coronavirus, and then the mom discovered what Facebook did.

Here’s the report from WRDW, a CBS affiliate:

LOS ANGELES (KCAL/KCBS/CNN) – A Facebook ad for a company selling face masks claimed all but one member of a Los Angeles family died from COVID-19, but the story, which used a real family’s photos, isn’t true.

Mother Sara Ancich says a professional photo her family took for their holiday card eight years ago showed up in a Facebook ad for FilterMax face masks.

The ad claimed she and her entire family had died, except for the youngest son, after contracting COVID-19 at a church service.

Is anyone else smelling a major lawsuit? I am.

Here’s the photograph used in the ad.

“Who would have the audacity to clearly not know a family and type that they had died?” Ancich said. “It’s on the forefront of everybody’s mind in the news and everything and how quickly it is taking lives. It could so, so clearly be true to people.”

‘Weaponized Journalism’

WBTV added:

FilterMax also claimed in the ad that it’s the most efficient respirator on the market and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but the FDA says that’s not true. The ad features video of a teenager, falsely presented as the surviving member of the Ancich family.

“I am curious about the boy in the video, too. Where’s he in this? Does he know that he’s out there?” Ancich said.

Over several days, Ancich was inundated with Facebook messages from concerned family and friends, who wanted to make sure the story wasn’t true.

Ancich says she tried reporting the video to Facebook, but it kept popping up in her feed. She says she hasn’t posted the photo on social media in years, but a reverse image search on Google reveals the photo is on several Pinterest boards for examples of family photos.

“It was upsetting. It’s violating,” she said. “I don’t know how I could have prevented this, or I would have.”

I’m sure it was, and now it’s time that Facebook and the advertiser were held accountable for their lies.

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2020/04/19/mom-discovers-facebook-ad-claiming-her-entire-family-died-from-coronavirus/

ACTOR TOM LESTER DEAD AT 81

Tom Lester, best known for his role as the smart-aleck farmhand Eb Dawson on the ’60s sitcom “Green Acres,” died Monday in Nashville, Tennessee at the home of his fiancee and caregiver Jackie Peters, from complications related to Parkinson’s disease.

He was 81 and and his death was confirmed by his brother Michael on Facebook and in local media reports. He was survived by Michael and fiancee Jackie Peters and was the last surviving actor of the original “Green Acres” cast.

He was born Sep. 23, 1938 in Jackson, Miss., and grew up working on his grandfather’s farm. He earned a degree in chemistry at the University of Mississippi and taught in Oklahoma for a few years before making the move to Hollywood.

Lester landed his role in “Green Acres” in 1965, beating out the competition because he was the only actor who could actually milk a cow. He went on to star in “Green Acres” until the show’s end in 1971, also appearing in the two related series “Petticoat Junction” and “Beverly Hillbillies.”

After “Green Acres,” Lester appeared in movies such as “Benji” in 1974 and “Gordy” in 1994, as well as popular TV series like “Little House on the Prairie” and “Knight Rider.” Lester traveled the country to speak to religious gatherings and youth groups about Christianity.

https://thedcpatriot.com/%e2%80%8bactor-tom-lester-dead-at-81/

CREEPY AF PIC

==All UN member states favor making coronavirus vaccine accessible for everyone]]

The resolution was adopted after a virtual discussion, without voting

The 193 nations of the UN General Assembly have unanimously supported a resolution with a call to prevent speculation and undue stockpiling of the future vaccine against the novel coronavirus and to ensure accessibility of medicines and personal protection equipment.

A spokesperson for the UN General Assembly chair told TASS the resolution was adopted after a virtual discussion, without voting.

In the document, obtained by TASS, the General Assembly calls upon "member states and other relevant stakeholders to immediately take steps to prevent, within their respective legal frameworks, speculation and undue stockpiling that may hinder access to safe, effective and affordable essential medicines, vaccines, personal protective equipment and medical equipment as may be required to effectively address COVID-19."

The United States was among the countries that supported the document, which, among other things, stresses the World Health Organization (WHO)’s special role in tackling the pandemic.

On Monday, the chairman of the UN General Assembly’s 74th session, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, appointed his two deputies in charge of novel coronavirus issues. Permanent representatives of Afghanistan and Croatia were appointed to the posts.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,414,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 165,000 deaths have been reported.

https://tass.com/world/1147465

GTFO UN

Unity deal allows PM to begin advancing West Bank annexation from July 1

Move must be carried out in full cooperation with US, which has all but given its blessing already; can be advanced through cabinet or Knesset, where right enjoys clear majority

The unity government agreement inked on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz will allow Israel to initiate legislation to annex large parts of the West Bank starting in the beginning of July.

According to clause 29 of the deal, 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 starting July 1, 2020.”

Setting out two legislative paths to enact annexation, the deal appears to provide Netanyahu with an alternative route if he fails to gain a majority for annexation in the cabinet, where some half of the ministers will be Blue and White members. It is more likely to pass in the Knesset given that the right-wing Likud, Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu, United Torah Judaism and Shas parties, which all have voiced support for annexation, hold a majority there.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/unity-deal-allows-netanyahu-to-begin-advancing-annexation-from-july-1/