Society's ChildS


Megaphone

'The establishment is happy again': UK media fawning over new Labour leader incites fiery backlash from Corbynites


RT
Thu, 23 Apr 2020 16:04 UTC
Starmer
© AFP / PRU; Former / AFP / Paul Ellis(L) Labour leader Keir Starmer (R) Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
UK mainstream media heaped praise on the new Labour leader Keir Starmer after his first appearance at PMQs, claiming that the country finally had an official opposition - and incurring the wrath of Jeremy Corbyn supporters.

Social media was awash with supportive tweets from high-profile British media figures on Wednesday, after Starmer and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab - deputizing for PM Boris Johnson - traded blows during the first session of Prime Minister's Questions in the UK's 'hybrid' parliament. The House of Commons has been modified to allow the majority of MPs to participate via video link.

London Evening Standard editor and former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne - the architect of the damaging austerity program implemented by David Cameron's Tory government between 2010 and 2016 - took to Twitter to claim that "after a 5 year absence, Britain has an opposition again."

Comment: See also:

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Dollars

Why is there a shortage of dollars in the world despite the Fed's massive injections?

Daniel Lacalle
Mises Brasil
Wed, 15 Apr 2020 06:42 UTC
dollar
In response to the economic collapse caused by the general confinement imposed by state governments as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve (the American Central Bank) announced an injection of more than $ 2 trillion into the American economy .

But the dollar remains strong against other currencies in the world - as can be seen from the high value of the DXY index , which compares the US currency to the euro, the yen, the pound sterling, the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc.

So the question is inevitable: how can the Fed launch a program of virtually unlimited monetary stimulus, and the dollar index still remain strong?

Shortages amid abundance

The answer lies in the growing global scarcity of the dollar, something that should serve as a lesson for monetary alchemists around the world, who swear that it is possible to do in other Central Banks (mainly in developing countries) what the Fed is doing.

First of all, it is worth remembering that gold once again reached the historic highs that had only been reached in 2011 , which proves that monetary inflation is in fact already turning into asset inflation. However, it is a fact that the dollar remains strong against other currencies in the world, which requires explanations.
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Yellow Vest

Social distance enforcement fail: Skate park California officials filled with sand to discourage boarders taken over by dirt bikers

Greg Norman
Fox News
Thu, 23 Apr 2020 02:20 UTC
california skate park sand social distancing
© Benny/Twitter
California officials who closed a popular skate park and filled it with 37 tons of sand in hopes of keeping residents away during the coronavirus outbreak have inadvertently turned the recreational site into a dirt biker's paradise.

A video posted on Instagram this week shows riders catching air at Ralph's Skate Court in San Clemente despite the city's effort to enforce social distancing.

"The fact the city put the sand in there to try to social distance everyone - I think it's a big joke," Connor Ericsson, who posted the video, told KUSI News. "These kids are cooped up inside their houses, they just want to go to the skate park and have some fun."

Another video on his account shows locals shoveling up the sand and placing it into buckets.
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Sheriff

Cops AGAINST masks: Houston police union says they won't enforce 'IDIOTIC' order mandating face covered for everyone over 10


RT
Thu, 23 Apr 2020 02:14 UTC
Houston Police Officers Union
© Facebook/HPOUHouston Police Officers Union
Harris County, Texas officials may learn the hard way the wisdom of never issuing an order they know will not be obeyed, as the Houston police union signaled it would exercise discretion in enforcing their face mask mandate.

Starting Monday, every resident of the third-largest county in the US will be subject to a fine if they are caught in public without some kind of face covering, county executive Judge Lina Hidalgo announced on Wednesday. The mandate applies to everyone over the age of 10 and will last at least 30 days, and maybe longer.

Hidalgo went even further and said that "acceptable" coverings include a "homemade mask, scarf, bandana or handkerchief" but not N-95 respirators or medical masks, as those are needed by health workers.

"This is about personal responsibility," she told reporters, adding that while the police will have discretion just as with enforcing her stay-at-home orders, there will be a fine of up to $1,000 with the goal of "getting residents to comply."
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Heart - Black

Harvard refuses calls to return $8.6mn bailout money, despite sitting on endowment worth more than 100 COUNTRIES' GDP - UPDATE: Harvard relents after Trump threatens endowment fund audit


RT
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:30 UTC
harvard students
© Reuters / Brian Snyder
Harvard University has refused a call from President Donald Trump to return millions in coronavirus bailout money, insisting it needs it for financial aid. Trump has threatened to "look at" Harvard's fat $41-billion endowment.

The deep-pocketed Ivy League school stated on Tuesday that it would not return $8.6 million in 'emergency' funding allotted as part of last month's $2.2 trillion CARES Act, despite pleas from several politicians, including Trump and some members of Congress. The generous bailout package showered cash on educational institutions of all stripes without regard for their existing financial reserves, only stipulating that at least half the money go to financial aid for students.

Harvard's refusal followed a press briefing in which Trump called on Harvard, with one of the largest endowments "in the country, maybe in the world," to pay back the government's largesse. "Harvard is going to pay the money back and they shouldn't be taking it," Trump had told reporters on Tuesday.

Comment: Nothing like a little time in the presidential spotlight to bring about a change of heart.

UPDATE 22/04/2020: Harvard reverses course on taking coronavirus bailout money.
The Ivy League university revealed on Wednesday that it would refuse the money it had been allotted under last month's $2.2 trillion coronavirus bailout, complaining in a statement about being singled out for "intense focus by politicians and others."

Despite having the world's largest university endowment, valued at $41 billion as of June, Harvard had just the previous day defied Trump's request that it return the money, claiming it planned to use 100 percent of the funds for student financial assistance.

Trump was far from alone in highlighting the unfairness of an elite university, with more wealth than many countries, receiving emergency funding while Americans struggled to keep small businesses afloat. Several members of Congress had also protested the "obscene" giveaway.

It's not clear what really triggered Harvard's change of heart, given that circumstances cited in its statement - political scrutiny and "evolving guidance" regarding the use of the bailout money - already existed on Tuesday, when the school vowed to keep the money. However, its about-face came less than 24 hours after Trump threatened via Twitter to have the school's "whole 'endowment' system...looked at" if it did not give the money back "now."


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Birthday Cake

NY Governor Cuomo snaps: 'You want to go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker.'

Hank Berrien
The Daily Wire
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Governor Andrew Cuomo
© Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty ImagesGovernor Andrew Cuomo
On Wednesday at a briefing to give an update on the response of his state government to the coronavirus crisis, New York governor Andrew Cuomo stated that economic hardship was "not death." He also snapped at a reporter who asked if there was a fundamental right to work if the government couldn't get a person the money when they needed it, "By the way, you want to go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker. Do it tomorrow."

Comment: Sounds a bit like Cuomo just had his "let them eat cake" moment. Some reactions were forthcoming:
The incongruity of the perfectly groomed governor wearing a pressed shirt with french cufflinks telling millions of New Yorkers to suck it up and deal with not being able to pay rent or feed their families did not escape Cuomo's critics, who were quick to describe his comments as evil or a "slap in the face."

"Which essential worker cut his hair?" wondered journalist Greg Pollowitz.

Many others chimed in accusing Cuomo of saying what amounted to "let them eat cake," the comment long attributed to French Queen Marie Antoinette as proof of her indifference to the plight of the starving peasants - before they revolted and had her executed on the guillotine.

More charitable ones compared Cuomo to fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who recently boasted on a comedy show about a freezer stocked with ice cream while holding up relief funding for small businesses.
See also: Let them eat ice-cream!

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Brick Wall

Israel: The number of Palestinian child prisoners increases during COVID-19

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
File photo of a Palestinian child being arrested in Jerusalem
File photo of a Palestinian child being arrested in Jerusalem, from the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association site.
There has been a six percent increase in the number of child prisoners since January

Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, Israel has stepped its arrest of Palestinian children in the occupied territories, a new report from Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP) says.

According to the report, released on Tuesday, 194 Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons and detention centers, marking a six percent increase from January.

Using data released by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), DCIP found that as of March 31 only 28 percent of Palestinian child detainees were actually serving out sentences, while the rest, over 60 percent of them (117 out of 194) were being held in pretrial custodial detention.

The data also indicated that the majority of the detainees were ages 16-17, while 30 were ages 14-15. Israeli forces have been documented as arresting Palestinian children as young as 12 years old.

Comment: These horrific types of stories never seem to stop coming out of Israel. See also:

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Attention

Best of the Web: Nobel-winning scientist who discovered HIV claims SARS-CoV-2 virus 'contains HIV genetic sequence', likely 'leaked from a lab'


Livemint
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 19:15 UTC

Comment: Of course, he gets the source wrong (Wuhan, China), but still, what a bombshell if true that this thing has been genetically modified by mad scientists. Even IF this came out of the Wuhan BSL-4 bio-lab, that's a WHO-accredited facility with heavy academic and govt links to US and European bio-weapons labs...


laboratory
© ANIFile Photo
French Nobel prize winning scientist Luc Montagnier has sparked a fresh controversy by claiming that the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from a lab, and is the result of an attempt to manufacture a vaccine against the AIDS virus.

In an interview given to French CNews channel and during a podcast by Pourquoi Docteur, professor Montagnier, who co-discovered HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), claimed the presence of elements of HIV in the genome of the coronavirus and even elements of the "germ of malaria" are highly suspect, according to a report in Asia Times.

"The Wuhan city laboratory has specialized in these coronaviruses since the early 2000s. They have expertise in this area," he was quoted as saying.

The theory that Covid-19 virus originated in the lab is making rounds for quite some time.


Comment: See also: Coronavirus now has thousands of strains and mutations, some rare, some more pathogenic

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Broom

Harry & Megan tell British tabloids to get lost

Barbara McCarthy
RT
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 07:01 UTC
Harry Meghan
© Getty Images / Chris JacksonPrince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, March 09, 2020, London, England
It may have come 23 years too late, but finally the British gutter press is getting its well deserved comeuppance from a member of the royal family. This week, royal renegades Meghan and Harry did the unthinkable.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex wrote to four British tabloid newspapers stating they would no longer deal with them, because the outlets had run stories that were "distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason."

Their letter - to The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail and Daily Express - stated that "there will be no corroboration and zero engagement" with the publications, their websites or their Sunday counterparts.

The couple said in no uncertain terms that they will not "offer themselves up as currency for an economy of click bait and distortion."

Comment: In general, the Royals don't really directly engage with much of press anyway, their PR may but it's usually with specific outlets and they tend to only do it when it's of benefit to them, and this isn't going to stop the named outlets reporting on their lives.

Yes, the press is intrusive and needs reforming, but what's more concerning, and affects the nation, not just Harry and Megan, is that there is no mainstream British 'free press'. For anyone paying attention it's obvious the British press is owned and directed by the few, for the agendas of those few; now that's a story and that's important. It's telling and is typical of the royals that they have little to say on this matter.

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Handcuffs

Return to sender? Mayor de Blasio astounded his freed criminals committed new crimes

M. Dowling
Independent Sentinel
Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Rikers Island
© APRikers Island, New York City's main jail
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, née Warren Wilhelm, is shocked that the criminals he released over virus concerns committed new crimes and are back in the slammer. He said Monday it is "unconscionable" that criminals released early from prison over coronavirus fears would commit new crimes.

"I think it's unconscionable just on a human level that folks were shown mercy and this is what some of them have done," de Blasio told reporters during a briefing Monday.

Yes, imagine criminals behaving unconscionably? Who would have seen that coming? Everyone will just keep doing what they're doing, he confirmed.


Despite assurances from Mayor de Blasio that only nonviolent, elderly or chronically ill inmates would be sprung, 329 prisoners accused of violent felonies were released from city jails in the three weeks up to April 6, at least some under age 30.
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