Category: Uncategorized

The Pandemic Profiteers Swarm Washington as Trump Goes off the Deep End | The Smirking Chimp

The GFC saved the Banks from irresponsible lending. Now Trump is supplamenting the Corporate Tax Cuts with massive rescue packages. In the meantime individuals can borrow more money at credit card rates if the have cards (ODT)

We could use a roving gang of indignant citizens today to confront the shameful greed of such corporate scammers as Boeing, American Airlines and Marriott, as well as such billionaire hucksters as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. They are among a new breed of pandemic profiteers that have rushed to Washington, shoving aside millions of workers, small businesses, poor people, students, nonprofits, farmers, cities and all other devastated victims of the COVID-19 crisis, demanding that corporations be first in line for a massive government rescue.

via The Pandemic Profiteers Swarm Washington as Trump Goes off the Deep End | The Smirking Chimp

The Senate’s Coronavirus Relief Package Must Be Stopped!, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review

The Senate’s $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package is not fiscal stimulus and it’s not a lifeline for the tens of millions of working people who have suddenly lost their jobs. It’s a fundamental restructuring of the US economy designed to strengthen the grip of the corrupt corporate-banking oligarchy while creating a permanent underclass that will be forced to work for slave wages. This isn’t stimulus, it’s shock therapy.

via The Senate’s Coronavirus Relief Package Must Be Stopped!, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review

Venezuela’s Maduro indicted on narcoterrorism charges

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

In the case of Noriega one forgets he worked for the DEA. There is nor country on the planet like the USA with rendition, and the abuse of extradition of anybody thay regard as opposition to what they want and the Oligarchy in the USA want Iranian and Venezuelan oil (ODT)

Analysts said the indictments could boost US President Donald Trump’s re- election chances in the key swing state of Florida, which he won by a narrow margin in 2016 and where Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans fleeing authoritarian regimes have political muscle.

Maduro, a 57-year-old former bus driver, portrays himself as an everyman icon of the Latin American left. He’s long accused the U.S. “empire” of looking for any excuse to take control of the world’s largest oil reserves, likening its plotting to the 1989 invasion of Panama and the removal of strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega to face drug trafficking charges in Florida.

via Venezuela’s Maduro indicted on narcoterrorism charges

Clap For NHS: UK Erupts In Applause In Moving Tribute To Carers | HuffPost Australia

Lincoln Cathedral is lit up in blue in a gesture of thanks to the hardworking NHS staff who are trying...

via Clap For NHS: UK Erupts In Applause In Moving Tribute To Carers | HuffPost Australia

The great awakening – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The most striking reversal of LNP ideology though was the government’s decision to double the Newstart allowance and extend it to others. Hoping that voters would not see that as tacit acceptance of the repeated advice of countless social advocates, as well as hard-nosed economists, they ditched the name ‘Newstart’ in favour of the more benign-sounding ‘Jobseeker Allowance’. It was obvious to all that the LNP was devoted to the belief that Newstart recipients were bludgers, ‘leaners’ rather than ‘lifters’, people who ought to be out getting a job. It must have been a hard pill to swallow to accept that increasing Newstart would have large economic benefits, as so many have been telling them for months.

Morrison and Frydenberg have been given praise for their package, bordering on lavish from their media set. But we have to ask why it took a crisis the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic to bring about their awakening.

via The great awakening – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Great Barrier Reef hit by third mass bleaching event in five years

Coral bleaching near Magnetic Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The bleaching is the third such mass event in just five years.

via Great Barrier Reef hit by third mass bleaching event in five years

Old Dog Thoughts- Murdoch’s 180 degree turn, Bank Credit Card Theft,

Fighting Fake News with REAL 27/3/20; The Shovel Truth in Humour; Banks charging Interest X80 the rate they can borrow for;

Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the US. American culture might make it uniquely vulnerable – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A man in his undies and a cowboy hat standing in Times Square alone

Its a rigged system go to Robert Reich’s explanation on Youtube (ODT

Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the US. American culture might make it uniquely vulnerable – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Trump rages on Twitter after he’s busted saying New York must ‘treat us well’ to get pandemic help – Raw Story

He’s Your President America- Quid Pro Quo Threat

President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the news media for accurately reporting his remarks about New York officials being nice to him as a prerequisite for getting help with the coronavirus pandemic.

During a Fox News town hall on Tuesday, Trump attacked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who earlier in the day sharply criticized the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

“It’s a two-way street,” Trump said of helping out New York during the crisis. “They have to treat us well, too.”

via Trump rages on Twitter after he’s busted saying New York must ‘treat us well’ to get pandemic help – Raw Story

Trump’s Claim That Ventilator Shortage Was “Unforeseen” Is False

Medical equipment for resuscitation in operating-room

But the need for large stockpiles of masks, like the need for ventilators, has been no secret.

via Trump’s Claim That Ventilator Shortage Was “Unforeseen” Is False

Democrats Are Trying to Block Trump’s Company From Getting Bailout Money – Mother Jones

When Donald Trump took office, he refused to divest from his business empire, setting the stage for a presidency riddled with conflicts of interest. The coronavirus outbreak, which has battered the hospitality sector, including the president’s collection of hotels and resorts, raised the unprecedented question of whether the federal government might help to bail out Trump’s company. But a provision Democrats inserted in the $2 trillion rescue package that could be passed by the Senate on Wednesday would block the Trump Organization from accessing the biggest pot of rescue funds.

The measure prohibits companies owned by the president, vice president, and other federal officeholders from receiving aid from the $500 billion fund, overseen by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, that is allotted for helping ailing businesses. Also excluded from receiving a federal handout from this fund are companies owned by the spouses, children, or in-laws of these officials—a provision that seems targeted at presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, who retains a stake in his family’s company, which has struggled in recent months. (A final draft of the bill hasn’t been released, but a legislative draft includes the conflict-of-interest language.)

via Democrats Are Trying to Block Trump’s Company From Getting Bailout Money – Mother Jones

Democrats Are Handing Donald Trump The Keys To The Country | HuffPost Australia

The emergency coronavirus legislation that the Senate agreed to on Tuesday can only be described as an outrage. It is not an economic rescue package, but a sentence of unprecedented economic inequality and corporate control over our politics that will resonate for a generation.

It represents a transfer of wealth and power to the super rich from the rest of us, with the support of both political parties ― a damning statement about the condition of American democracy.

via Democrats Are Handing Donald Trump The Keys To The Country | HuffPost Australia

The Senate Corporate Bailout Package Is a ‘Robbery in Progress,’ Warn Critics | Common Dreams News

via The Senate Corporate Bailout Package Is a ‘Robbery in Progress,’ Warn Critics | Common Dreams News

What’s the Point of Bailing out Hurting CEOs if they Just use Funds to Buy Back Stock & Feather their Nests?

via What’s the Point of Bailing out Hurting CEOs if they Just use Funds to Buy Back Stock & Feather their Nests?

Coalition, conservatives and the great unwashed PR campaign

View image on Twitter

The party whose benefactors hold them to ransom must always put the needs of the rich first. This same pattern of behaviour may be seen in the responses of Tory governments everywhere.

This all adds up to the inescapable conclusion that conservatives will do the right thing but only when a more profitable choice fails to materialise. It is about pushing survival of the fittest, one hand-wash at a time.

The grossly inadequate and slow response from Australia has been primarily only about washing hands. It has not been about stringent quarantine procedures, the production of testing kits, investing in cures or vaccines.

Today they are telling us to wash our hands while they wash their hands of the great unwashed.

via Coalition, conservatives and the great unwashed PR campaign

The Club: will Virgin Australia’s political influence deliver taxpayer subsidies for its foreign shareholders? – Michael West

Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah and his predecessor John Borghetti have, over the past two years alone, personally handed Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg – and at least 52 other current Coalition MPs – “gifts” worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Already, the Prime Minister and Treasurer have given Virgin taxpayer support – part of the $715 million fees and charges waiver – but Scurrah is chasing more. Does the Government bail-out a company which is 91% foreign owned and which pays no tax? Anthony Klan reports on a classic case of political influence.

via The Club: will Virgin Australia’s political influence deliver taxpayer subsidies for its foreign shareholders? – Michael West

Peter Dutton is NOT the man we need in this crisis – » The Australian Independent Media Network

via Peter Dutton is NOT the man we need in this crisis – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Fox News linked fish tank cleaner to Trump’s recommended coronavirus treatment. A man who drank it died. | Media Matters for America

Source: Fox News linked fish tank cleaner to Trump’s recommended coronavirus treatment. A man who drank it died. | Media Matters for America

Old Dog Thoughts- LNP Failure Calling the crowds to Center Link and sharing the virus not the money

View image on Twitter

Fighting Fake News with REAL,26/3/20; LNP action Revealed, Humour, Fake News and idiocy,

Intercepted Podcast: Capitalist Death Panels

While President Donald Trump fantasizes of wrapping up the virus in time for Easter church services, people are getting sick and dying, hospitals are overwhelmed, medical workers are begging for vital supplies and protesting their conditions.

People are literally prevented from social distancing. Premal Dharia, founder and director of the Defender Impact Initiative, describes the situation in carceral facilities across the U.S. and why she is warning of a humanitarian disaster if action is not taken immediately.

via Intercepted Podcast: Capitalist Death Panels

China’s coronavirus aid seeking to shift narrative away from Beijing’s cover-up, experts say – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Medics and paramedics from China salute as the board a Red Cross vehicle upon arrival at an airport in Milan.

United we stand divided we fall and in the English speaking world the division is clear on all global matters like Climate Change and the Coronavirus. China certainly is leading by action Trump is way behind vocalising. (ODT)

via China’s coronavirus aid seeking to shift narrative away from Beijing’s cover-up, experts say – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Coronavirus pandemic offers China a unique opportunity

China is using the pandemic to challenge America's usual leadership role during a global crisis.

Racism is racism whether in your face or subtle. Chanel 9/Fairfax shows just how it’s done when it to calls Covid-19 a Chinese sourced virus as opposed to simply a human pathogen discovered in China and now contained. The Age continues to promote China’s global assistance in suspicious terms rather than for what it is assisting some 89 nations to fight the contagion as it has the experience and knowledge that seems to have contained it. The Age rarely comments on America’s assistance in 144 nations the supply of its commandos and hardware it to has advanced knowledge but of a different sort. No doubt the Age believes it should be trusted more than China that saved the lives of a once starving nation. (ODT)

via Coronavirus pandemic offers China a unique opportunity

Fed Up With Social Distancing, Trump Goes Back to Likening Coronavirus to the Flu – Mother Jones

America will export the virus whenever and wherever it can rather than wait. It’s not about waiting for the last man to stand but the richest left standing. (ODT

via Fed Up With Social Distancing, Trump Goes Back to Likening Coronavirus to the Flu – Mother Jones

Fox News’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic: medically inaccurate, malevolently racist, motivated by politics | Media Matters for America

via Fox News’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic: medically inaccurate, malevolently racist, motivated by politics | Media Matters for America

Filed under:

The Fox News Coronavirus Special Features Doctors Who’ve Pushed Dangerous Information – Mother Jones

via The Fox News Coronavirus Special Features Doctors Who’ve Pushed Dangerous Information – Mother Jones

American Corporatism on Display: The COVID-19 Response – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Image

Republican Americas response to Covid-19 (ODT)

via American Corporatism on Display: The COVID-19 Response – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Scott Morrison’s coronavirus stimulus package shows he has finally learnt to love deficits – Business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Morrison looks pensive in front of a flag

It used to be called nationalisation; a term once considered abhorrent for any Liberal leader. But these aren’t normal times.

via Scott Morrison’s coronavirus stimulus package shows he has finally learnt to love deficits – Business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Old Dog Thoughts- Talking National Bankruptcy and Faith Healers

Man drinking cow urine at a "gaumutra" event in Delhi

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 25/3/20; The Great Economic Correction is coming; Dr Trump’s cure: Fake News

Senate Democrats Applauded for Again Stopping GOP ‘Corporate Bailout That Leaves Americans Behind’ | Common Dreams News

via Senate Democrats Applauded for Again Stopping GOP ‘Corporate Bailout That Leaves Americans Behind’ | Common Dreams News

Marco Rubio Attcks The Chinese For Only Being ‘Interested In Their Image’ With COVID-19 Response | Crooks and Liars

Marco Rubio Attcks The Chinese For Only Being 'Interested In Their Image' With COVID-19 Response

Rubio was asked by Bartiromo about the timeline of the Chinese response to the virus, and was more than happy to pile on in attacking them for making this worse, which they have, but was unwilling to utter a single word criticizing Trump for his weeks of denying the pandemic and its severity, delaying testing, calling it a “Democratic hoax,” and some sort of evil plot designed to keep him from being reelected.

via Marco Rubio Attcks The Chinese For Only Being ‘Interested In Their Image’ With COVID-19 Response | Crooks and Liars

Doctors and nurses exposed, medicines run short, while profiteers run rampant – Michael West

 

Incredibly distressing footage of thousands of Australians, all across the country, queueing around the block for Centrelink, then a desperate parliament working into the night to shove through its third bail-out package in as many weeks, each one more urgent then the last. As the country runs short of critical medicines and life-saving protective gear, Michael West reports on those profiting from the tragedy.

 

via Doctors and nurses exposed, medicines run short, while profiteers run rampant – Michael West

The 5 climate denier tactics Fox News repurposed for its coronavirus coverage | Media Matters for America

Coronavirus misinformation and climate denial

via The 5 climate denier tactics Fox News repurposed for its coronavirus coverage | Media Matters for America

Hope in the time of coronavirus lies in rebuilding the state | Van Badham | Opinion | The Guardian

People queue outside an Australian government welfare centre, Centrelink, in Melbourne on 23 March 2020

via Hope in the time of coronavirus lies in rebuilding the state | Van Badham | Opinion | The Guardian

‘We are sitting ducks for Covid 19’: asylum seekers write to PM after detainee tested in immigration detention | Australia news | The Guardian

The Villawood immigration detention centre in west Sydney

It’s when the Gov

via ‘We are sitting ducks for Covid 19’: asylum seekers write to PM after detainee tested in immigration detention | Australia news | The Guardian

The IPA has captured the Liberal Party

IPA?Murdoch/LNP the triumvariate of an unhinged and diminished Democracy (ODT)

What are some of the things they succeeded in?

Many of the items can be ticked off, as having been completed, or at least attempted. Most, if not all of them, as reactionary, elitist and nasty:

Repeal the carbon tax, and don’t replace it;
Abolish the Department of Climate Change;
Cease subsidising the car industry;
Repeal the mining tax;
Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states;
Cease funding the Australia Network; and
Privatise Medibank.

It seems like the sort of list that very young, privileged brats would produce before they actually encountered some real life. Let us just say it is a work of stupendous lightness and the Liberal Party has been captured by it for nearly eight years now.

There isn’t one thing that would materially improve the life of a single citizen. It is all self-aggrandisement writ large, with not a thought for the weak or the helpless. We have been blaming Abbott, Hockey, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton for a long time, but they are just dupes of three would-be intellectuals, who wouldn’t know what the words mutual obligation meant.

The IPA gave Abbott a plan for Australia and he bought it.

via The IPA has captured the Liberal Party

Greetings from Australia, the Commonwealth of confusion

If a picture could tell a thousand words: Bondi Beach being closed after beachgoers ignored social distancing rules.

The ABC should be our center for information and instruction (ODT)

The other lessons of the Spanish flu for Australia? One is that social distancing is essential and must be enforced “because it’s probably the only weapon we have got” for the time being, at least.

Rait says: “We will lose control of the virus if we don’t take social distancing seriously, and that’s how Italy got to where it is today.”

via Greetings from Australia, the Commonwealth of confusion

Old Dog Thoughts- The Incompetent have another tack blame the Chinese and cry “I’m not responsible”

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 24/3/20; A Government creating as many problems as it’s trying to fix; Capitalism is a fine and healthy virus; Liberate debt Liberate the Economy; Blaming the Chinese for our inability;

 

Jack Ma, Alibaba Donate More Masks As High-Profile China Philanthropic Push Continues

China billionaire Jack Ma stepped down as chairman of Alibaba Group last year to focus on... [+] philanthropy.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Trump’s a Billionaire what has his contribution been? Jack Ma’s donation called Trump’s newfound stockpile (ODT)

via Jack Ma, Alibaba Donate More Masks As High-Profile China Philanthropic Push Continues

WATCH: Bernie Sanders Holds Roundtable on Coronavirus Response With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib | Common Dreams News

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stand together during his campaign event at the Whittemore Center Arena on February 10, 2020 in Durham, New Hampshire.

via WATCH: Bernie Sanders Holds Roundtable on Coronavirus Response With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib | Common Dreams News

Joe Biden Blisters Trump For Lying About Defense Production Act After FEMA Admits Holding It As ‘Leverage’ | Crooks and Liars

Joe Biden Blisters Trump For Lying About Defense Production Act After FEMA Admits Holding It As 'Leverage'

“Mr. President, stop lying and start acting. Use the full extent of your authorities, now, to ensure that we are producing all essential goods and delivering them where they need to go.”

“President Trump’s dithering on preparing us for this global pandemic and his lies about his response to this dangerous crisis is one of the most unjustifiable failures of presidential leadership in American history.”

via Joe Biden Blisters Trump For Lying About Defense Production Act After FEMA Admits Holding It As ‘Leverage’ | Crooks and Liars

Trump Declines To Promise That His Own Company Won’t Get Coronavirus Bailout Money | HuffPost Australia

via Trump Declines To Promise That His Own Company Won’t Get Coronavirus Bailout Money | HuffPost Australia

Martial Law in the US Coming? – Stephen Lendman

Image result for Images of martial law

The Trump regime will likely take full advantage of spreading COVID-19 outbreaks for hardened police state rule — instead of prioritizing public health and economic justice actions for ordinary Americans.

It’s not unseeable that Trump could call a National Emergency and cancel the election. (ODT)

via Martial Law in the US Coming? – Stephen Lendman

Trump Says He’s Mobilizing the National Guard in New York, California, and Washington – VICE

https://video-images.vice.com/test-uploads/articles/5e77e2994d3c0f009c347814/lede/1584915108498-AP_20082794214188.jpeg?crop=1xw:0.8427xh;0xw,0.0411xh&resize=700:*

Not a word of the donations from China that Jack Ma has sent to America and possibly already arrived 1 million masks and 500,000 testing kits. Not a single thanks from Trump.(ODT)

“What we’re seeing, on a purely voluntary basis, based on the leadership of this administration, we’re seeing the greatest mobilization of the industrial base since World War II,” Navarro said at the presser.

via Trump Says He’s Mobilizing the National Guard in New York, California, and Washington – VICE

Why are so few children suffering from the virus? – Michael West

coronavirus, COVID-19

via Why are so few children suffering from the virus? – Michael West

Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the economy, but house prices are holding up — for now – Business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Auction sign on house replaced with sold sign

via Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the economy, but house prices are holding up — for now – Business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

New coronavirus shutdown rules see Australian shares plunge – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

This will ensure the elderly will die a lot faster I’ve had a drop of 33% in my investment and I’m 74 my wife 72 self-funded retirees (ODT)

via New coronavirus shutdown rules see Australian shares plunge – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Old Dog Thoughts- Jack Ma does more than Trump and for Free

Ethiopia's national coronavirus co-ordinator, Dr Shumete Gizaw (centre right) with medical supplies from a shipment sent to Addis Ababa on Sunday.China billionaire Jack Ma stepped down as chairman of Alibaba Group last year to focus on... [+] philanthropy.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Fighting Fake News with REAL,23/3/20; Jack Ma & Ali Ba Ba’s CHINA AID 5.4 million masks; All talk little action from Trump and his lackey Morrison

Rachel Maddow Warns Networks Of The Dangers Of Airing Trump Pressers Live | Crooks and Liars

Rachel Maddow Warns Networks Of The Dangers Of Airing Trump Pressers Live

How many phone calls can Trump make in a day while Tweeting and watching Fox? What he claims he makes and expects us to believe is living a dream and really showing disrespect for his audience. The fact is Trump is behind in the polls never seen since 1948 and Truman’s election year. 42/53 (ODT)

Rachel Maddow Warns Networks Of The Dangers Of Airing Trump Pressers Live
Trump’s press conferences aren’t informative, and they aren’t newsworthy. They’re rallies, and they are putting us all at risk.

via Rachel Maddow Warns Networks Of The Dangers Of Airing Trump Pressers Live | Crooks and Liars

White House Won’t Say When More Masks Will Be Available To Health Care Workers | HuffPost Australia

Repeating the I’m not responsible claim coupled with the “amazing number of tests” and supplies are coming as if they are here. Snake oil (ODT)

Trump also blamed the previous administration for the current shortage of tests and supplies.

“We inherited an obsolete broken system,” the president said. “When you hear the number of tests that we will be providing, and are now, it’s incredible. And I’ve heard a lot of governors saying the same thing.”

via White House Won’t Say When More Masks Will Be Available To Health Care Workers | HuffPost Australia

Will Donald Trump Bail Out His Coronavirus-Battered Company? – Mother Jones

 

Will Donald Trump Bail Out His Coronavirus-Battered Company? – Mother Jones