Puppet MastersS


Arrow Down

New York: April has lowest Covid-19 death toll, but to reopen requires 'army' for contact tracing, tests


RT
Sat, 18 Apr 2020 17:09 UTC
Cuomo
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo
New York had its lowest death toll from Covid-19 since April 1, but Governor Andrew Cuomo warned a lot is still required before the state can start to reopen, including an 'army' of tracers and more coronavirus tests.

Though announcing 540 new Covid-19 deaths at his daily press briefing represents a fairly sharp decline from past weeks, Cuomo warned the numbers are still "soul-crushing," and coronavirus hospitalization rates remain steady at about 2,000 new patients a day.

The governor also stressed the decline in the death toll does not mean the state is any closer to reopening and easing lockdown restrictions in place as more testing and tracing of the virus needs to be done.

But the state's labs are struggling to get more access testing materials.

Comment: Germany warns states of second Covid-19 lockdown:
Germany's economy minister issued an unorthodox warning to federal states: "If we keep our nerve now, we can avoid a second lockdown. That is why a joint action by the federal and state governments is so important," said Peter Altmaier, Germany's economy minister.

The nation shouldn't go too far while Covid-19 is still raging across German cities - infecting close to 144,000 people and killing roughly 4,500 - Altmaier said, using an unusual metaphor to make his point. "We should not run around like a bunch of chickens, outdoing each other by alternately tightening and loosening [the lockdown]."

Starting from May 4, other ventures like bookstores, car dealers, and hairdressers can restart their activities, again, enforcing strict hygienic measures. Schools will open on that day "gradually and very slowly," as Merkel put it, but each state was given the right to deviate from the nationwide timeline.


Read More...
Wall Street

Americans pay a tragic price by allowing 5 banks to control the US economy

Pam Martens, Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade
Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Bank chart
© Wall Street on ParadeBank stock trading pattern February 15-April 16, 2020 versus Dow Jones Industrial Average. (BAC = Bank of America; MS = Morgan Stanley; GS = Goldman Sachs; C = Citigroup; JPM = JPMorgan Chase.)
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as of yesterday there were 5,117 federally-insured banks and savings associations in the United States. But in terms of risk to the U.S. economy and financial system, according to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research, only five of those banks matter. And as you can see from the chart above, those five banks are tanking.

On February 14 of this year, Citigroup's share price closed at $78.79. Yesterday, it closed at $40.52, a decline of 48.5 percent in two months. This is the same bank that was resuscitated by its regulators during the 2007-2010 financial crash when its share price went to 99 cents. Citigroup received the largest bailout in global banking history, including $2.5 trillion in secret, cumulative revolving loans from the Federal Reserve.

On February 14, the common stock of JPMorgan Chase - the bank that has perpetually bragged for years about its "fortress balance sheet" — closed at 137.46. Yesterday JPMorgan Chase closed at $87.33, a decline of 36 percent in two months.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Zarif dismisses Trump's ventilator offer: 'We don't take advice from ANY American politician'


RT
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 14:30 UTC
couple w masks, Iran
© Reuters/WANA News AgencyQom, Iran, March 24, 2020
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has rebuffed an offer by US President Donald Trump to send ventilators to Iran, claiming that the Islamic Republic will be exporting its own devices "in a few months."

Trump offered a number of the US' "excess ventilators" to Iran during a press briefing on Saturday. "If they need ventilators, which they do, I would send them ventilators," Trump said. Though the offer was a humanitarian one on its surface, Trump followed it up with a characteristic flex on Iran. "Right now they just want to survive," he said, adding "they're loaded up with the plague."

Zarif slapped away Trump's likely backhanded offer on Sunday. "Iran will be EXPORTING ventilators in a few months," he wrote in a tweet addressed to Trump. "All you need to do is stop interfering in the affairs of other nations; mine especially. And believe me, we do not take advice from ANY American politician."

Comment: Hubris is more important than saving lives? There's a plethora of it going around.

Read More...
Magnify

Judicial Watch subpoenas Google, seeking to obtain Hillary Clinton emails

Alex Nitzberg
Just the News
Thu, 16 Apr 2020 17:38 UTC
hillary
© Cindy Ord/WireImage via Getty Image
The government watchdog group Judicial Watch has served Google with a subpoena seeking more emails from Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of State.

The group is seeking emails from any Clinton emails related to a Google account affiliated with the email address CarterHeavyIndustries@gmail.com or carterheavyindustries@gmail.com.

The firm Platte River Networks used the accounts when it ran the private server Clinton used to send and receive official emails when she was secretary of state.

Revelations that Clinton, as as the country's top diplomat, used the server to send and receive emails resulted in an FBI probe that conclude she was "extremely careless" but resulted in no criminal charges.
Read More...
Vader

Uh-huh. Commander says US naval buildup in Caribbean not aimed at ousting Maduro


Daily Mail
Fri, 17 Apr 2020 16:36 UTC
us navy patrols venezuela drug smuggling
Admiral says US wants to oust Venezuelan leader through economic pressure

The top U.S. military commander for Latin America said Friday that the Trump administration isn´t looking to use military force to remove Nicolas Maduro even as it expands counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean.

Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, said in an interview that the recent decision to double anti-narcotics assets in Latin America was months in the making and not directly tied to Maduro´s indictment in New York on charges of leading a narcoterrorist conspiracy that sent 250 metric tons of cocaine a year to the U.S.

Faller said economic and diplomatic pressure - not the use of military force - remain the U.S.´ preferred tools for removing Maduro from power.

Comment: The deployment of the Empire's navy to the coast of Venezuela is part of the operation to frame Maduro as a drug smuggler a la Noriega.

Read More...
Rocket

Iraqi govt reportedly urges purchase of Russian S-400s despite US warnings of fallout from the deal


Sputnik
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 16:48 UTC
s-400
© Reuters / Grigory Dukor
In January 2020 members of the Iraqi parliament said the country was mulling the purchase of advanced Russian S-400 missile systems amid concerns that Washington might stop supporting Iraq and providing it with modern air defence armaments.

The Parliamentary Security and Defence Committee of Iraq submitted a detailed study requesting the purchase of Russian long-range, surface-to-air S-400 missile defence systems for the consideration of the country's caretaker prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi on 18 April.

"The issue has already been discussed with relevant figures at the General Command of Armed Forces, and now awaits the prime minister's agreement," committee member Badr al-Ziyadi was quoted as saying by the Arabic-language newspaper al-Sabaah.

As he underscored the country's need to enhance its defence capabilities, the parliamentarian explained that the acquisition of the S-400 missile system could be finalised after ratification of the deal by the new government that succeeds the current caretaker one, adding his parliamentary committee "will support the next Iraqi government's decisions in this regard, and will present relevant proposals and pieces of advice to it."
Read More...
Bad Guys

Russia sought China's APPROVAL for missile test, US diplomat claims. His proof? They didn't come to his Twitter to deny it


RT
Sat, 18 Apr 2020 21:34 UTC
russian flag
© Reuters / Jason Lee
Ignoring one's tweet can apparently not only spell the end to a teenage romance, but it can also be proof for high-profile geopolitical assertions. That is, at least, according to a high-ranking US diplomat.

The recent secretive test of a Russian - presumably - anti-ballistic missile weapon has seemingly caused quite a stir in the US. Apart from prompting the Pentagon to play some solid 'Russians are coming' tunes straight from the 1950s, it caused Robert Wood, the US Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament (CD), to hit a new high - or rather, low - in producing baseless allegations against Moscow.

The CD is a UN-linked international forum on arms control and disarmament which has been largely catatonic and dysfunctional for some two decades due to the participants' inability to see eye-to-eye on a wide range of issues, including nuclear disarmament. Its US envoy is still very active, however - at least on Twitter.
Read More...
Star of David

Israel's Netanyahu, Gantz fail to reach unity deal AGAIN, fourth election looms

Rami Ayyub
MSN
Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:27 UTC
netanyahu gantz campaign posters
© Reuters/Ammar Awad/FileA banner depicts Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, and Israel Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of Blue and White party's campaign ahead of the upcoming election, in Tel Aviv
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz failed to strike a unity government deal in last-ditch talks late on Wednesday.

Even the medical and economic crises brought on by the coronavirus outbreak have so far failed to end an unprecedented political deadlock that has pushed Israel into three inconclusive elections in the last year, and perhaps now a fourth.

Gantz and Netanyahu had been negotiating a power-sharing deal that would have kept the right-wing premier in office for another 18 months, Israeli media reported. Under the arrangement, centrist former general Gantz would have taken over after that.

It was Gantz, a relative newcomer to politics, who was given the first chance to put together a government after the most recent election, in March.

Comment:

Read More...
Treasure Chest

Russia has enough reserves to protect its people amid coronavirus pandemic - Putin


RT
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 16:23 UTC
Moskva City Business Center
© Sputnik / Alexey FilippovThe Moskva City Business Center, Moscow, Russia, April 17, 2020
Russia has everything it needs to cope with the coronavirus crisis, including a "healthy economy" and vast reserves, the country's President Vladimir Putin has said.

"All the measures to protect people's lives and health and support the economy require additional and large resources and reserves. We have them," the president said as he congratulated Orthodox Christians and Russian citizens celebrating Easter on Sunday. He added that the funds will be used to help those who have faced difficulties amid the pandemic.

As of Sunday, over 42,000 people in Russia have tested positive for the virus, which has already left 361 people dead. As Covid-19 started rapidly spreading across the country in March, the government enforced mandatory self-isolation regimes in most regions, including Moscow.

Comment: The US can't say the same after years of gutting the economy and spending trillions on the endless War on Terror.

Read More...
Pirates

Venezuela slams Trump for theft after central bank assets quietly transferred to Guaido's Fed account


Sputnik
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 16:12 UTC
new york federal reserve
New York Federal Reserve, Wall Street
The Trump administration quietly ordered the transfer of some $342 million in funds from a Venezuelan central bank account at Citibank to an account controlled by opposition leader and self-proclaimed Venezuelan 'president' Juan Guaido at the New York branch of the US Federal Reserve.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has hit out against the Trump administration over its move to effectively siphon off seized Venezuelan state assets and redirect them to Guaido.

Comment:

Read More...