Amazon, Google, and Apple have moved past monopoly status to competing directly with governments… and winning

US Senator Josh Hawley is demanding a criminal antitrust probe of Amazon as the e-commerce behemoth’s powers grow to rival the government’s own. Google and Apple, too, are now ordering governments around.

Amazon “abuses its position as an online platform and collects detailed data about merchandise so Amazon can create copycat products under an Amazon brand,” Hawley charged in a letter he sent to US Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday. The senator (R-MO) demanded a criminal probe of the e-commerce giant, accusing it of engaging in “predatory and exclusionary data practices to build and maintain a monopoly” – a textbook violation of antitrust law.

Charging that Amazon has gained unprecedented monopoly power through the sheer wealth of data it has collected on its users, allowing it to clone sellers’ products and undercut them on price, the senator likened the company’s “capacity for data collection” to “a brick and mortar retailer attaching a camera to every customer’s forehead.” With the coronavirus pandemic forcing the lion’s share of commerce online, Amazon has assumed near-omnipotence.

Even if all of Hawley’s allegations – derived from a Wall Street Journal investigation published earlier this month – are proven 100 percent true, it’s questionable whether the Justice Department would be willing (or able) to punish Amazon.

In some ways, the company is at least as powerful as the government whose laws it goes through the motions of obeying. Amazon’s cloud servers host the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department, and other US agencies, meaning if the company decided to throw a temper tantrum in response to legal penalties (as it threatened to do in France) government operations could be severely disrupted.

https://www.rt.com/news/487146-amazon-apple-google-government-competition/

Biden Says "I'm With Her" After Hillary Endorsement, Discusses "Economic Intercourse"

Well… that puts an end to any 'hopes' that Hillary Clinton will run… again. 'She' appears to be ready to endorse Joe Biden…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-says-im-her-after-hillary-endorsement-discusses-economic-intercourse

As US Plunges Into Poverty, Super Rich See Wealth Jump by $282 Billion in 3 Weeks of Pandemic

(MPN) — A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies found that, while tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, America’s ultra-wealthy elite have seen their net worth surge by $282 billion in just 23 days. This is despite the fact that the economy is expected to contract by 40 percent this quarter. The report also noted that between 1980 and 2020 the tax obligations of America’s billionaires, measured as a percentage of their wealth, decreased by 79 percent.

In the last 30 years, U.S. billionaire wealth soared by over 1100 percent while median household wealth increased by barely five percent. In 1990, the total wealth held by America’s billionaire class was $240 billion; today that number stands at $2.95 trillion. Thus, America’s billionaires accrued more wealth in just the past three weeks than they made in total prior to 1980. As a result, just three people ­– Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet – own as much wealth as the bottom half of all U.S. households combined.

The Institute for Policy Studies’ report paints a picture of a modern day oligarchy, where the super-rich have captured legislative and executive power, controlling what laws are passed. The report discusses what it labels a new “wealth defense industry” – where “billionaires are paying millions to dodge billions in taxes,” with teams of accountants, lawyers, lobbyists and asset managers helping them conceal their vast fortunes in tax havens and so-called charitable trusts. The result has been crippled social programs and a decrease in living standards and even a sustained drop in life expectancy – something rarely seen in history outside of major wars or famines. Few Americans believe their children will be better off than they were. Statistics suggest they are right.

Billionaires very theatrically donate a fraction of what they used to give back in taxes, making sure to generate maximum publicity for their actions. And they secure positive coverage of themselves by stepping in to keep influential news organizations afloat. A December investigation by MintPress found that Gates had donated over $9 million to The Guardian, over $3 million to NBC Universal, over $4.5 million to NPR, $1 million to Al-Jazeera, and a staggering $49 million to the BBC’s Media Action program. Some, like Bezos, prefer to simply outright purchase news organizations themselves, changing the editorial stance to unquestioning loyalty to their new owners.

The spike in billionaire wealth comes amid an unprecedented economic crash; 26.5 million Americans have filed for unemployment over the last five weeks, and that number is expected to continue to rise dramatically. While the super-rich are holed up in their mansions and yachts, the 49-62 million Americans designated as “essential workers” must continue to risk their lives to keep society functioning, even as many of them do not even earn as much as the $600 weekly increase in unemployment benefits the CARES act stipulates. Many low paid workers, such as grocery store employees, have already fallen sick and died. The mother of one 27-year-old Maryland worker who contracted COVID-19 and died received her daughter’s last paycheck. It amounted to $20.64.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/americas-super-rich-wealth-increase/

Gunshots ring out and cars are set ablaze in Haiti as police officers protest against government corruption (VIDEO)

Rioting cops stormed the Finance Ministry in the capital over complaints about their pay and working conditions, as Covid-19 rips through the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Videos from the scene show cars set ablaze and government buildings being stormed, as Haitian police took to the streets of Port au Prince on Monday.

Officers went out to protest their pay, working conditions, and government corruption against the bleak backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has put further strain on the country’s dire economic situation.

Rioting cops, calling themselves ‘Fantomes 509’ (Ghosts 509) exchanged gunfire with their colleagues sent in to quell the protests.

An SUV was even used as a battering ram against the gate of the Finance Ministry as the dispute turned even uglier.

A masked, rifle-toting member of Fantomes 509, who claim to represent officers killed while on the job, told news outlet VOA Creole, “we still haven’t received what we asked for,” as some civilians also joined the protests which have sprung up periodically since October last year.

In February, clashes between police officers and the army saw one soldier fatally wounded following a shoot-out.

https://www.rt.com/news/487141-haiti-police-officers-unrest/

UK: Facebook apologises for suspending accounts that posted English flag on St. George’s Day

Representatives of social media giant Facebook have apologised for suspending the accounts of many British users who had posted images of the English flag on Thursday, which was St George’s Day. St George is the patron saint of England, and the English flag features St George’s cross.

Many Facebook users posted images which incorporated the English flag as part of wishing their friends and family a happy St George’s Day. In response, Facebook suspended and banned dozens of accounts. Other users were banned for posting an image which included the words “Proud to be English,” according to a report by The Sun.

Users were informed that the images promote “dangerous individuals and organisations,” and violated the network’s community standards on hate speech. Many of the affected users were furious. Besides having the images removed, some alleged violators were banned from the site outright, while others received temporary suspensions.

The bans particularly came as a shock given that British authorities had urged citizens to fly the English flag at home as opposed to going out to celebrate the occasion due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

On Saturday, a Facebook representative apologised for “any upset caused,” explaining that “our team reviews millions of pages, posts, and images each week and we occasionally make a mistake, as has likely happened here.”

Facebook added that the restrictions on the accounts affected are being removed.

Social media platforms have become particularly draconian in enforcing so-called “hate speech” rules. Last month, Hanni Afsar, an ex-Muslim living in Norway, was banned from Facebook for 30 days for posting comments critical of Islam, as previously reported by Voice of Europe. Last year, a Finnish MP became the subject of a police investigation after she published a Bible verse critical of homosexuality on Facebook. And in Sweden, Facebook users who made posts about Tommy Robinson receive bans.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/04/uk-facebook-apologises-for-suspending-accounts-that-posted-english-flag-on-st-georges-day/

OPCW insiders dispute SECOND chemical weapons probe on Syria, blast watchdog for ‘glaring technical weaknesses’

A group of current and former OPCW employees have explosively slammed the organization for producing what they say is yet another “procedurally and scientifically flawed” report into alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Writing at the Grayzone, the insiders denounced the “compromised” investigation into chemical incidents in the town of Ltamenah in March 2017. The probe was conducted by the watchdog's newly formed Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), which claimed there are “reasonable grounds to believe” the Syrian government was responsible.

The IIT concluded that sarin and chlorine bombs were dropped by Syrian forces on Ltamenah in a series of attacks in March 2017, saying it was “unable to identify any other plausible explanation.” The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the alleged evidence gathered by the team came mostly from anti-government groups eager to see a regime change and could only be described as “misinformation.”

The IIT report on Ltamenah was instantly amplified by Western media as fact, despite claims by high-level OPCW whistleblowers that the organization’s leadership had suppressed evidence during a previous probe into an alleged chemical attack in Douma in 2018. The suppressed evidence, in that instance, had strongly suggested the incident may have been staged by jihadist rebel groups in order to frame the Syrian government and trigger a Western intervention. The OPCW, however, publicly offered a narrative which backed up Western claims of Syrian guilt, legitimizing US, British and French air strikes conducted in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

The fact that insiders are now also disputing the credibility of the Ltamenah report proves that “dissension within the OPCW ranks extends well beyond the Douma investigation,” the Grayzone said in its editor’s note.

The reports are so flawed and “politically motivated” that many OPCW professionals “no longer wish to be associated” with them, the group wrote, and many feel they should not be seen as representing the work of OPCW inspectors at all.

The Ltamenah report highlights the fact that “influential state parties” are misusing the OPCW to further their foreign policy objectives, and that the IIT was formed not to investigate the incidents but “simply to find the Syrian government guilty,” they said.

Indeed, the ITT merely “glossed over” some “glaring technical weaknesses” in reports from fact-finding missions to Ltamenah. Further damaging the report's credibility is the fact that not one single member of the IIT conducted a field investigation, and “literally everything” in the case was provided by enemies of the Syrian government – some of whom are reportedly “well-known British military figureheads” who stood to gain by implicating the Syrian government, they said.

https://www.rt.com/news/487145-opcw-insiders-ltamenah-report/

Oklahoma Calls On Trump To Declare COVID-19 An “Act Of God” To Help Oil Industry

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt called on U.S. President Donald Trump to declare the coronavirus pandemic an ‘Act of God’ to help oil firms in Oklahoma as they look to curtail or stop production until demand recovers.

In a letter sent to President Trump on Saturday, Governor Stitt asked the Administration to declare the pandemic an ‘act of God’, which, as per a U.S. code on oil pollution liability and compensation is “an unanticipated grave natural disaster or other natural phenomenon of an exceptional, inevitable, and irresistible character the effects of which could not have been prevented or avoided by the exercise of due care or foresight.”

Governor Stitt of Oklahoma wrote in his letter to President Trump that by declaring the COVID-19 pandemic an ‘Act of God’ or force majeure, the Administration would protect producers “from actions to cancel leases held by production as a result of production stoppage.”

“This will be a necessary step to encourage and support those operators who choose to stop production until demand returns and storage becomes readily available,” Gov. Stitt said.

“Over-production of oil continues to threaten the economy, posing many environmental threats to Oklahoma and other producing states with no demand and rapidly diminishing storage capacity,” the Governor noted.

Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the oil regulator in the state, passed last week an emergency order allowing oil producers to keep their leases if they shut production due to the very low oil prices, collapsing demand, and storage shortage.

Oil producers in Oklahoma and across the entire U.S. oil patch are curtailing production amid the glut and regional prices in the single digits because of lack of storage amid crashing demand.

Continental Resources is said to have stopped drilling operations and shut in most of its wells in North Dakota, ConocoPhillips is curtailing some production in Canada and the U.S. until market conditions improve—and these are just a few examples of large companies responding to the gloomy market conditions.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Oklahoma-Calls-On-Trump-To-Declare-COVID-19-An-Act-Of-God-To-Help-Oil-Industry.html

Pressure Mounts For Biden To Unseal Documents Related To Time In Senate, Tara Reade

Pressure is mounting for 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden to unseal documents related to his time in the Senate as he faces increased scrutiny for allegations of sexual assault leveled against him by Tara Reade.

Reade, who worked as a Senate staffer for Biden in 1993, has accused the then-senator of kissing her, touching her and penetrating her with his fingers without her consent. The Biden campaign has denied the assault and said it “absolutely did not happen,” and has not responded to many requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Reade has said that she made harassment complaints to three Biden staffers, none of whom reportedly took action, and that she filed a written complaint with a “Senate personnel office” in 1993, according to The New York Times.

She said she did not have a copy of this complaint, TheNYT reported.

If Reade’s story is true, the complaint would likely be held in Biden’s Senate records, which are housed by the University of Delaware Library — Senate records that cover a wide swath of Biden’s political career but are being kept secret until Biden “retires from public life.”

Beginning in 2011 and onward, according to The Washington Post, the University of Delaware had said it would keep the papers sealed “for two years after Biden retires from public office.”

The collection of these documents fills 1,875 boxes and includes 415 gigabytes of electronic records, according to WaPo, containing committee reports, drafts of legislation and correspondence.

But the university announced that the records would not be made available shortly before Biden made his presidential campaign official in April 2019, WaPo reported. The university then said that instead of waiting until Biden departs from “public office,” the documents would not be made available to the public until two years after Biden “retires from public life” — or after Dec. 31, 2019, without defining what “public life” is.

“The entire collection is unavailable,” spokeswoman Andrea Boyle Tippett told WaPo. She has not responded to a request for comment from the DCNF. “Its contents will become available, as the website indicates, when Mr. Biden retires from public life.”

She added: “As he is currently running for office, he is in public life. Since retirement for anyone, not just public figures, takes different forms, I can’t speculate beyond that.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/28/joe-biden-tara-reade-senate-documents-university-delaware/

Matteo Salvini Attacks PM Conte: ‘It Is Time for Italy to Reopen’

ROME — The leader of Italy’s principal opposition party has slammed Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for failing to deliver on promises to liberate Italians from the coronavirus lockdown and get the country working again.

“After 47 days of imprisonment, we can say on behalf of millions of Italians, ‘basta.’ Let us out, let us earn, let us work, let us make a life again,” said Matteo Salvini following the prime minister’s disappointing announcement of continuing restrictions for Italy’s “phase 2” of the coronavirus lockdown.

“We expected more and better, honestly, as in other European countries, dates, certainties, security, guarantees, and instead we only get vague hints,” Mr. Salvini said, before announcing that his party would be proposing a comprehensive plan on May 1 to relaunch Italy.

“On Friday, May 1, we the Lega will present a plan for national, economic, civil, cultural and moral reconstruction,” Salvini said.

“If we go on like this, many companies will not reopen, many will file for bankruptcy, thousands of companies will close and jobs will be lost. Why not reopen certain key supply chains safely tomorrow?” he asked.

“They must allow us to return to life and we will do it. Even if we have to leave our homes to recover our freedom we will do it,” he said, suggesting that many Italian are ready to take to the streets to peacefully protest the lockdown “with safety precautions and social distancing.”

“Hunger and lack of freedom along with the virus? We can’t afford it,” he said. “First of all, Italy and the Italians.”

The former interior minister also attacked Mr. Conte’s reversal of position on the need to carry special forms or “autocertificazioni” in order to leave home. On Sunday, Conte said that all Italians must continue to carry the hated papers to justify leaving their residences.

“We understood that self-certifications are still required this week and again for the next, that’s enough, we can’t take it any longer, they force us to go around again carrying these self-certifications 24 hours a day,” Salvini said.

“Friends, the only ‘self-certification’ you need is that of common sense, otherwise the economy, work, and the life of Italians risk never recovering,” he said.

Mr. Salvini also took issue with Conte’s silence regarding the restarting of Italy’s tourism industry, a mainstay of the Italian economy particularly in the upcoming summer season.

“Not a word on tourism, which makes up 15 percent of our gross domestic product,” he said. “Five million Italians live off tourism, many of whom are seasonal workers, and yet not a word from the president of the government on the tourism sector.”

“Bars and restaurants will not be able to reopen until June,” he continued, “but why not immediately reopen those that are able to guarantee distances, safety, cleanliness, protection of life and health?”

“How many cooks, waitstaff, seasonal workers have no certainty, no paycheck, no unemployment benefits?” Salvini asked. “But their rent doesn’t wait, their mortgage payments don’t wait, and we get nothing but empty words.”

Mr. Salvini also joined the Italian bishops in censuring the prime minister for arbitrarily banning public worship.

“The bishops came out demanding freedom of worship, and I completely agree,” Salvini said.

“In Italy there are 8 thousand churches, that can guarantee distances, safety, masks,” he said. “They could reopen the doors for boys and girls, helping parents who have to work with closed schools.”

“Why not reopen summer camps, scout camps, parishes and oratories, which are looking forward to helping Italians in difficulty?” he asked.

https://www.breitbart.com/health/2020/04/28/matteo-salvini-attacks-pm-conte-it-is-time-for-italy-to-reopen/

Outrageous! FOX News Cuts Ties with Diamond and Silk After They Questioned Coronavirus Numbers

FOX News cut ties with the popular conservative duo Diamond and Silk recently after their comments on coronavirus.

The Daily Beast, who broke the story, says the ladies were promoting “conspiracy theories” on the coronavirus. The two sisters were favorites of Trump supporters and President Trump. They appeared with President Trump at several rallies throughout the years.

The sisters alleged that the coronavirus deaths were inflated to make Donald Trump look bad. In Pennsylvania last week the governor had to remove 269 fake covid deaths from the state totals. In New York state they added 3,700 covid deaths to their totals that included “presumed” cases.

So Diamond and Silk are banned for promoting “conspiracy theories” but Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx are NOT banned after over estimating coronavirus deaths by 30 fold and destroying the US economy?

How does that work.

President Trump retweeted his support for Diamond and Silk today.

CNN’s creepy Oliver Darcy is mentioned in this report.

Newsweek reported:

Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, two women respectively known as Diamond and Silk, will no longer appear on Fox News or its online streaming service Fox Nation, following their tweets and videos pushing coronavirus conspiracy theories, according to The Daily Beast.

The duo—who first rose to prominence during the 2016 election as pro-Trump YouTubers, hosts of “Women United for Trump” events and occasional on-stage speakers at his rallies—have since made appearances on Fox News’s Fox and Friends, Watters’ World and contributed original weekly content to Fox Nation.

Though the duo has regularly contributed five- to seven-minute-long videos to Fox Nation each week since December 18, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy noted that they haven’t added any new videos since April 7, one day after the duo was briefly locked out of Twitter for a tweet telling their 1.4 million followers to defy quarantine stay-at-home orders, thus violating the microblogging platform’s policy against COVID-19 misinformation.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/04/outrageous-fox-news-cuts-ties-with.html

While everyone is watching the meltdown in the crude oil market, the global market for natural gas is also cratering.

At least 20 cargoes of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been cancelled by buyers in Asia and Europe, according to Reuters. The global pandemic and the unfolding economic crisis have slashed demand for gas worldwide. Cheniere Energy, one of the main exporters of U.S. LNG, has seen an estimated 10 cargoes cancelled by buyers halfway around the world, Reuters said.

The price for LNG in Asia was already crashing before the pandemic, owing to a substantial increase in supply last year. Prices for LNG in Asia for June delivery have recently traded at $2/MMBtu, only slightly higher than Henry Hub prices in the U.S. As recently as October, LNG prices in Asia traded at just under $7/MMBtu.

The problem for American gas exporters is that after factoring in the cost of liquefaction and transportation, gas breakeven prices for delivering to Asia are around $5.56/MMBtu, according to Reuters. But prices are trading at less than half of those levels.

Gas exports tend to be conducted under rigid contracts, but cargoes are now facing cancellation. “The financial prospects for [LNG], once one of the globe’s hottest energy commodities – seem to be imploding before our eyes,” Clark Williams-Derry wrote in a new report for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). He noted that LNG prices in the fall of 2018 were at around $12/MMBtu.

The oil majors have made large bets on LNG in recent years. Royal Dutch Shell spent more than $50 billion to buy BG Group in 2015. The move back then was made with an eye on surging demand for natural gas. “We will now be able to shape a simpler, leaner, more competitive company, focusing on our core expertise in deep water and LNG,” Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden said after closing on the acquisition of BG Group more than four years ago.

The deal remade Shell into one of the largest traders of LNG on the planet. Several other oil majors – Total SA, ExxonMobil and Chevron, for instance – have also made massive bets on LNG.

LNG is now arguably getting hit just as hard as crude oil from the pandemic and the global slowdown. A series of high-profile investment delays or cancellations have occurred in the past month. ExxonMobil, for instance, delayed a final investment decision on a large LNG export project in Mozambique in early April.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/while-everyone-is-watching-the-meltdown-in-the-crude-oil-market-the-global-market-for-natural-gas-is-also-cratering/

Hundreds of Virgin Media broadband users in the UK are STILL reporting being unable to get online 18 hours after technical chaos started

Thousands of customers complain after Virgin Media broadband goes down

A spokesperson for the firm says the issues last night were fixed this morning

But hundreds still facing issues as of 11am today, says website Down Detector

Problems started just before 5pm last night leaving customers without internet

Cities Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester affected

Virgin Media apologised for the outages and disruption to its customers today

Hundreds of Virgin Media broadband users say they are still unable to get online today more than 18 hours after a nationwide outage and despite the company saying its issues have been fixed.

Tens of thousands of customers were unable to access the internet yesterday evening, according to data from Downdetector, which monitors online outages.

Virgin says the issues were resolved in the early hours of this morning.

But hundreds of customers are still suffering issues, according to Downdetector

Some customers say they are still facing issues this morning, sparking complaints on social media.

Others have hit out at the company's lack of communication with customers, with Virgin Media posting just one update on its Twitter account in just 12 hours following the outage.

One Twitter user, Jake Ballinger, said: 'Any chance of an update today? If I wasn't losing money already in this crisis, losing even more now that I am unable to work from home because of this isn't acceptable.'

Another said: 'Any idea of when you will update the information on this outage as there has been nothing from you in 12 hours.'

More

http://www.tathasta.com/2020/04/hundreds-of-virgin-media-broadband.html

The downfall of Reddit – About censorship, controversies, inconsistency, hidden policies, CEO editing comments and more scandals.

Vague rules, favoritism, inconsistent enforcement, false bans, unwarranted punishments and politically biased censorship are destroying reddit.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-downfall-of-reddit-about-censorship-controversies-inconsistency-hidden-policies-ceo-editing-comments-and-more-scandals/

China threatens product,export boycotts if Australia launches investigation of Beijing's handling of coronavirus

Chinese officials are threatening economic consequences if Australia moves ahead with an investigation into Beijing’s early handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Australian Sky News reported on Monday.

Chinese Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye said Beijing could encourage Chinese citizens to boycott Australian exports and products if Australia was to initiate the probe, the news outlet reported.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called the Chinese threats “economic coercion” and repeated calls for an investigation into the early handling of the outbreak, which is thought to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

"Australia has made a principled call for an independent review of the COVID-19 outbreak, an unprecedented global crisis with severe health, economic and social impacts," she reportedly said. “We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global co-operation.”

The call by Australia to launch an independent investigation echoes criticisms by the U.S. that Beijing mishandled the coronavirus outbreak from its beginnings.

The U.S. has accused Chinese authorities of covering up the extent of the outbreak and alleged that Beijing failed to warn the world early enough about the coming pandemic.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/04/china-threatens-productexport-boycotts.html

Does It Matter If the Fed is the One Forcing Stocks Higher?

It is looking increasingly as if the bottom is in.

At the March lows, the percentage of stocks trading below their 200-day moving averages hit levels associated with major bottoms (think 2002 or 2009).

This doesn’t mean we couldn’t revisit the lows… but it does suggest that we won’t see levels much lower than those of late March.

Indeed, have ramped 30% from their lows in late March. Every dip has been bought aggressively or resulted in a consolidation that was then resolved upwards with great energy.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/does-it-matter-if-the-fed-is-the-one-forcing-stocks-higher/

Cornell Will Accept $12.8 Million in Federal Aid Despite $7 Billion Endowment

Cornell University announced this week that it will accept $12.8 million in federal coronavirus relief despite mounting public pressure to reject the funds. Several Ivy League institutions, including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, announced last week that they would reject the federal funds after pressure from both President Donald Trump and the American public.

According to a report by the Ithaca Journal, Cornell University has announced that it will accept a $12.8 million in federal funding that it is eligible for under the CARES Act, a coronavirus relief bill that was passed by Congress in March. Elite institutions like Cornell, which boasts an endowment of over $7 billion, have been criticized for accepting federal funds during the Chinese virus pandemic.

Cornell claims that the $12.8 million that they receive from the CARES Act will go directly to Cornell students in need. Joel Malina, Cornell vice president for university relations, said that the funds will help the university ensure that every newly admitted Cornell student will have the resources to complete their degree.

“Even as our Ithaca campus faces an anticipated COVID-related budget shortfall of over $100 million for the coming fiscal year, we aim to guarantee that every single one, currently enrolled or newly admitted, has the financial resources to complete their Cornell education,” Malina told the Ithaca Journal.

Most universities and colleges have been forced to shut down their campuses as a result of the Chinese virus pandemic. Secretary Betsy DeVos has criticized wealthy institutions that have accepted federal funds from the CARES Act. DeVos has urged elite institutions to reject funds so that they may be diverted to institutions that may not survive the Chinese virus pandemic.

Breitbart News reported last week that Harvard University had announced that they would reject the $8.7 million that they were eligible for under the CARES Act. During a press conference that took place last week, President Trump told Harvard that they would be required to return funds that accepted under the coronavirus relief act.

“They have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess,” Trump said during the press conference. “And they’re going to pay back that money. They shouldn’t have taken it.”

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/04/27/cornell-will-accept-12-8-million-in-federal-aid-despite-7-billion-endowment/

13 Public Companies Agree To Return $170 Million In Small Business Coronavirus Stimulus; Others Are Keeping It

At least 13 public companies have agreed to return coronavirus funds meant for small businesses after controversy erupted when the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ran out of funds, leaving many struggling business owners unable to make ends meet.

According to the Wall Street Journal, one such company returning funds AutoNation, the country's largest car-dealership chain which said they would return a cumulative $77 million in forgivable loans.

Other companies returning funds include Ruth's Hospitality Group, Shake Shack, and pharmaceutical manufacturer OptiNose, Inc. - which will return $4.4 million. Restaurant owner J. Alexander Holdings will return $15.1 million, while sandwich chain Potbelly Corp gave back their $10 million loan on Saturday.

"We were surprised and disappointed when the fund was quickly exhausted, leaving many without help," the company said in a carefully crafted statement.

So far 13 public firms, including AutoNation, will return a total of almost $170 million, according to the Journal analysis. The funds returned could provide roughly 825 loans, at the average loan size of $206,000 reported by the Small Business Administration. -Wall Street Journal

On the other hand, companies such as cruise ship operator Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, which has a market cap of $250 million and had over $300 million in revenue last year, says they're keeping the $6.6 million loan they received. The company says that since March 12 when they voluntarily halted all new cruises, that they have not generated any revenue, "which has been financially devastating."

"Despite this circumstance, Lindblad is the very rare travel company that has not imposed any layoffs, furloughs or salary reductions to date because of our access to the PPP," the company said, adding that they don't have ready access to capital.

Another public company has applied for roughly $123 million in loans, Ashford Inc., says they'll keep whatever they receive.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/13-public-companies-agree-return-170-million-small-business-coronavirus-stimulus-others

“THIS IS A BIG DEAL. He’s Actually Investigating the Greatest Crime in American History!” – Former US Attorney Joe diGenova on Durham Investigation

Former US Attorney Joe diGenova held another riveting interview on Monday about General Flynn’s case and the Durham investigation.

About the Durham investigation, diGenova said the following at the 5:20 mark in the video below:

Remember what [US Attorney John Durham] is doing is, he is deconstructing the Mueller – Weissman inquiry. This investigation by Durham will show conclusively that the Mueller – Weissman investigation was a fraud. That it was never intended to find a crime. That it was intended to entrap the President to get an impeachment for a false statement if he gave an interview. Which of course his lawyers and lawyers like us, told him never to do, never to give that information.

So that’s why it’s taking time, Mary. It’s taking time because he’s destroying Mueller as he makes the case against Clapper, Brennan, Comey, and Sally Yates and others. This is a big deal. He’s actually investigating the greatest crime in American history!

diGenova earlier in the interview claimed that Durham has broought in former FBI agents to assist with his investigation, because he knows them and he knows he can trust them.

This is a very big deal!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/big-deal-actually-investigating-greatest-crime-american-history-former-us-attorney-joe-digenova-durham-investigation/

Reminder he told us indictments last week.

The Propaganda Report Dissects The Second Wave

A “second wave” is coming . . . and they’re going to blame it on YOU.

Today James talks to Monica Perez and Brad Binkley of ThePropReport.com about their analysis of the “second wave” narrative and how it is going to play out in the unfolding covid crisis.

SHOW NOTES:

ThePropReport.com

Predictions: What Will Happen Next in the Corona Crisis?

Patton Oswalt “Open Fuddruckers” tweet

Anti-Lockdown Protesters Harass COVID-19 Nurses | NowThis

We’re not going back to normal

B.F. Skinner behavioral conditioning of pigeons

Bill Gates writes about “Pandemic I”

The State of the Police State – #NewWorldNextWeek (Russian online protests)

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/04/the-propaganda-report-dissects-the-second-wave.html

How Are You Gonna Pay For It? Stop Giving Money to Israel

Israel is not a poor country. It is certainly not the poorest in the world. So why is it the top recipient of US military “aid?”

Did you know that the U.S. government has done something odd with your tax dollars? The ones you get so furious and indignant about when they’re used to feed anybody who’s hungry? It has given over 280 billion of those dollars to the government of Israel (not counting classified hush-hush super-secret amounts).

Israel is not a poor country. It is certainly not the poorest in the world. Why is it the top recipient of “aid.”

It isn’t. Its military is. Most of those billions of dollars are for weapons, and most of those weapons have to be bought from U.S. weapons dealers — you know, the ones crammed into close quarters risking the spread of a deadly disease because their jobs have been deemed “essential.”

Economists tell us that military spending reduces jobs, that you get more jobs by never taxing the money, or by taxing it and spending it on anything else. That has to be even more strongly true when funneling the money through a foreign military. So, this scheme is the opposite of a domestic jobs program. It also has some surprising corrupting influences on U.S. state governments, which themselves pile more billions onto the mountain of free loot for the Israeli military.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/stop-giving-united-states-money-israel-miltiary-aid/267054/

Trump Wants All US Troops Out of Afghanistan on Coronavirus Fears

Advisers trying to talk Trump out of troop cuts

With a peace deal in place in Afghanistan, at some point US troops would be expected to leave the country. Amid concerns of a coronavirus buildup, President Trump is thinking it is best to get those troops out of the country sooner, rather than later.

Officials say Trump complains about the troops not being out of Afghanistan yet almost daily, but that his advisers continue to stall and try to talk him out of it, arguing that if the virus is a reason to leave, US troops should also withdraw from Italy.

That argument seems a continuation of the strategy for getting out of Trump’s calls for drawdowns, which is to confuse the question and hope that Trump gets fixated on something else before they have to actually do anything.

Afghan officials have been emphasizing the risk of a pandemic, and how widespread it could be. While the US already has plenty of opportunity to leave Afghanistan now, this is just another opportunity on top of that, but whether Trump’s impulse to leave will actually pan out this time depends heavily on how he reacts to the ever-present resistance of officials.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/04/27/trump-wants-all-us-troops-out-of-afghanistan-on-coronavirus-fears/

Bill Gates Worked To End Livestock Production, Pushed Lab Grown Meat

As the United States faces unprecedented meat shortages due to processing plants going offline in response to the coronavirus, a long-standing globalist agenda to halt meat consumption is being fulfilled.

Tyson foods recently warned that the food supply chain is “breaking.”

Lockdowns have created a situation in which farmers have nowhere to send their product, and in turn millions of animals are being slaughtered. Additionally, vegetables that would normally end up on store shelves are rotting in the field.

Despite this reality, Twitter has announced that talk of food shortages will be censored.

Lab grown meat producers are hoping that the COVID-19 outbreak could boost public acceptance.

As Bill Gates was working to establish a worldwide digital ID system prior to the pandemic, he was also working to end meat production and funding lab grown “meat.”

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/04/bill-gates-worked-to-end-livestock-production-pushed-lab-grown-meat.html

House reverses plan, will not return to Washington next week

House leaders on Tuesday reversed course on plans to bring the chamber back into session next week amid fears about whether it is safe to return to the Capitol during the coronavirus pandemic.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced the change in plans after initially saying the day before that the House would return the following Monday, citing discussions with the Capitol physician, who warned that the Washington region has not yet flattened its number of coronavirus cases.

"We will not be meeting next week," Hoyer told reporters. "The House physician's view was that there was a risk to members that was one he would not recommend taking."

Hoyer said that House leaders will instead wait to call members back to Washington when the next round of coronavirus relief legislation is ready for a vote. House members have gathered en masse in the Capitol twice in the last several weeks since the social distancing restrictions began to vote on bills to respond to the crisis, but only returned in session for a day at a time.

Hoyer acknowledged that it would be more "dangerous" for lawmakers to stay in Washington for extended amounts of time, like they typically do, than it is for members to be in the Capitol for a short period of time

"So under those circumstances, we have decided that we will not come back next week, but we will come back very soon to pass the [next] piece of legislation. And at that point in time, we will be asking members to return to Washington," Hoyer said.

A bipartisan task force including Hoyer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the leaders of the Rules and the Administration committees have been discussing ways to conduct votes and committee business virtually while it remains unsafe for lawmakers and staff to gather in large groups. Hoyer said that the group would be in talks later Tuesday on potential options.

"We are going to be working in the interim on trying to facilitate committees meeting in a real way, but virtually, and provisions for the House of the Representatives to meet if in fact members cannot come back because of the virus," Hoyer said.

The Senate is still planning to reconvene in May. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Monday that the upper chamber would reconvene the next Monday and "modify routines in ways that are smart and safe." A McConnell spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that plans for the Senate had not changed.

Washington, D.C., remains under a stay-at-home order through at least May 15, along with many other states from which lawmakers would be traveling.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/495016-house-reverses-plan-will-not-return-to-washington-next-week

Gen. Flynn Lawyer to PAINE: Key Documents Could Be Unsealed as Soon As Today

The lead counsel for retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said records that were filed under seal last week that may exonerate her client could be released publicly as soon as Tuesday.

Sidney Powell, the lead lawyer for the former National Security Advisor of President Trump, gave an update early Tuesday morning to True Pundit’s Thomas Paine. Powell informed Paine that if the documents were not unsealed today, she expected the records to be unsealed on Wednesday.

Earlier Monday night on Fox News, Powell, a former federal prosecutor, said she was told by an assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the case that they are working on having the records disclosed publicly.

Powell said on Monday that her client’s plea — which had arisen when he had previously been represented by the high-profile white collar firm Covington & Burling — was “coerced by a lack of information and a threat to his son’s prosecution,” which she noted is reflected in the documents that her team filed in the public docket last week.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen was named by Attorney General William Barr in January 2020 to investigate the Flynn case.

This story is developing.

https://truepundit.com/gen-flynn-lawyer-to-paine-key-documents-could-be-unsealed-as-soon-as-today/

Dr. Buttar Accuses Fauci, Gates & the Media for Using COVID-19 to Drive Hidden Agenda! - Must See

What We Should ALL Be Doing Right Now!

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