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Bank of America restricts coronavirus bailout loans to businesses who previously borrowed


RT
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 19:02 UTC
Brooklyn
© Reuters/Stephen Yang
Brooklyn, New York, closed for business
Bank of America customers trying to apply for their piece of the $350 billion small business bailout were appalled to learn the bank was restricting loans to businesses who'd borrowed previously - despite claiming otherwise.

Outraged customers discovered on Friday that the massive financial institution is unilaterally denying loans through the Paycheck Protection Program - the small business bailout passed as part of last month's coronavirus economic stimulus - to any business that hasn't borrowed from Bank of America previously.

While the bank's CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC it was merely prioritizing existing business loan customers, the policy posted on its website contradicted that claim, revealing that a prerequisite for applying to the scheme was a "small business lending relationship, inclusive of credit card," that existed prior to February 15. Bank of America was the first of the 'big banks' to begin accepting applications - and, as of Friday morning, the only one, though the program's website was supposed to go live at midnight on Thursday.

Comment: Perhaps only those who had financial problems and utilized BofA for previous loans should have been the quarantined test cases for this PTB experiment! It doesn't take much forethought to see what will ensue, given the shock and severity of circumstances in this relatively sudden globally-perpetrated change agent. What comes next is extremely predictable! It is the unforeseen that should worry us.

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Family

Soros globalists: Why don't we just get rid of families and cash? Covid-19, the 'technocratic solution'

Helen Buyniski
RT
Sun, 05 Apr 2020 13:01 UTC
family walking
© Reuters/Stephanie McGehee.
The family: a casualty of the epidemic?
Technocratic activists are full of solutions to the coronavirus crisis - the same panaceas they've been pushing for years. What problem wouldn't be solved by abolishing the family, privacy, and other things we take for granted?!

Under the time-honored rubric of "never let a good crisis go to waste," the usual suspects have come out of the woodwork to tout their favored "solutions" as answers to the coronavirus pandemic and the attendant economic crisis. Of course, they've been pushing these initiatives for years, and there's a reason (or three) that they haven't been terribly popular - they'd require completely upending current societal models, and few have the stomach for such fundamental change.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. Surely there's something of value in these revolutionary projects? Let's have a look, shall we...

Comment: Swiftly destroying the in-common structures of society disintegrates the individuals that comprise it - a mass swipe and wipe of civilization's history, constructs, laws, the protection of community, economic substance and common ground. What is left is soul-crushing fragmentation in an unrecognizable, but covertly manageable form.

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Footprints

US-led coalition evacuates another Iraqi base

Oleg Burunov
Sputnik
Sun, 05 Apr 2020 13:20 UTC
US soldiers/officers
© Reuters/Abdullah Rashid
US soldiers and officers, prior to handover ceremony as US forces draw down in Iraq.
Late last month, the US-led international coalition's headquarters in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh near the Syrian border was reportedly transferred to the Iraqi Army, who earlier took over several local military bases left by coalition troops.

Colonel Myles Caggins, spokesman for the combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), has announced that the US-led anti-terror coalition is leaving an air base located in central Iraq.

He tweeted on Saturday that "after months of planning", at least 500 CJTF-OIR troops had departed the Taqaddum (Habbaniyah) Air Base, transferring $3.5 million in property to the Iraqi government, and that the Iraqi Ministry of Defence "remains strong against Daesh in Anbar Province".

Comment: The exit of US troops is better now than never, which could easily have become the case given US' historic and intrusive military base proliferation across the globe. Is it a real drawdown or merely a consolidation ploy?

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Attention

Prepare! If Sweden pulls this off, the 'mother of all s**t storms' will hit


the commentator
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 08:36 UTC
Swedes outdoor
© unknown
Currently in Sweden...
If Sweden, which has not locked down its economy and society, emerges with a death toll from COVID-19 that is somewhere in the middle of the pack of European countries, there is going to be a lot of recrimination, particularly against those who have tried to silence any discussion about the true extent of the threat that COVID-19 actually poses.

In a word: Sweden.

What happens if they pull this off? What happens if it turns out that we could have coped with COVID-19 without collapsing entire sectors of the economy putting millions on the dole, and imposing some of the most draconian restrictions on civil liberties in living memory?

Sweden has not closed the bars. Shopping malls are open. Schools and companies are open too. There are some restrictions such as on gatherings of over 500 people. But, in comparison with most European countries, life in Sweden is relatively normal.

Right now, Sweden's death rate from coronavirus is 33 per million of the population. In France it is 83. In Italy it is 230. In Britain it is 43. In the Netherlands it is 78.
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Gold Seal

Coronavirus 'Plandemic' - This IS the global reset

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:47 UTC
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . ." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Global Reset
© Corbett Report
Every now and then, the world resets.

Sometimes it's a cataclysm or natural disaster that pushes the reset button. Sometimes it's a political revolution. Sometimes it's a war. Sometimes it's a technological innovation.

Dickens' immortal "best of times / worst of times" formulation comes from his novel about one such reset: the French Revolution. Dickens' words capture the dual natures of these fracture points in history. Like the old (and spurious) trope about the Chinese word for "crisis," a reset presents both a danger and an opportunity.

It is now apparent to all that we have arrived at another world reset. This time we are being asked to believe that it is a viral pandemic that has pushed the reset button. Others would contest that it is in fact the panic over the (presumed) pandemic that is responsible for this crisis. Yet others insist that the p(l)andemic is nothing more than a distraction from the global financial reset which was going to happen regardless.

Whatever the case, the fact remains that the reset button has been pushed. No one knows for certain what lies on the other side of this chasm, but — as we've been endlessly told in recent weeks — life will never be the same.

So, following Dickens, let's explore the dual nature of this global reset and outline the dangers and the opportunities that this crisis presents.
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Compass

Galloway: 3 nails in Corbyn's leadership coffin are anti-Semitism smears, appeasement & attitude to Brexit

George Galloway
RT
Sun, 05 Apr 2020 10:10 UTC
Corbyn
© Getty Images / Joe Giddens / PA Images
FILE PHOTO: Jeremy Corbyn at a rally outside Bristol City Council in Bristol, while on the General Election campaign trail
Full disclosure: I have known the departing Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader whose five year term ended at the weekend, for 40 years, nearly 30 of those as a close colleague in parliament.

In almost all of my speeches in parliament available on YouTube, Corbyn is sitting by my side.

And I was, without a close competitor, his most supportive ally in the national media. My defences of him obtaining millions of viewers and earning my former employer TalkRadio a substantial fine from the state regulator Ofcom for the "lack of balance" in my spirited rejection of his critics. But that was then and this is now.

In the decades in which he was at my side I never rated Corbyn highly, as a thinker - I literally never saw him read a book, a writer - I am not aware of anything he has ever written, an orator or even as a companion - there was too much of the student squat about him for my tastes. It was unthinkable that he would ever be a leader.

Comment: Corbyn may not have been perfect for the job, but he represented qualities that are sorely lacking in that swamp that is British politics and that are clearly yearned for by its citizens; that's why the establishment saw him as such a threat and rallied the full power of the propaganda media against him:

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Star of David

Tunisia leads the way: New report exposes Israel's false democracy

Ramzy Baroud
Counterpunch
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Tunisia flag
© Keith Roper – CC BY 2.0
Tunisia is the Middle East's greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019.

One of the world's most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

While Tunisians can be proud of the prospect of democracy in their country, Israelis have little to be proud of. A country that has long prided itself, however misleadingly, of being 'the only democracy in the Middle East', has lost the title to Tunisia, a small North-African Arab nation of just over 11 million people.

Understandably, Tunisians might find their overall ranking ahead of well-established democracies less meaningful, considering that the politically unstable country is still undergoing a painful democratic transition. However, considering that the country has registered a sizable improvement in every democratic aspect examined by the V-Dem Report, Tunisia truly deserves the title of "the star pupil of democratization of the past ten years."

Israel, however, has been, once more, exposed for its charade democracy. Since it was established atop the ruins of the Palestinian homeland, Israel has relentlessly touted its democratic virtues while excluding millions of Palestinian Arabs from any form of democratic participation.

Comment: Far from not being a real democracy, Israel should certainly be tried for war crimes:

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Syringe

WHO is inducing panic, is utterly corrupt, and is being paid off by Gates Foundation & Big Pharma to push vaccines

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Tedros Adhanom
The most influential organization in the world with nominal responsibility for global health and epidemic issues is the United Nations' World Health Organization, WHO, based in Geneva. What few know is the actual mechanisms of its political control, the shocking conflicts of interest, corruption and lack of transparency that permeate the agency that is supposed to be the impartial guide for getting through the current COVID-19 pandemic. The following is only part of what has come to public light.

Pandemic declaration?

On January 30 Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern or PHIEC. This came two days after Tedros met with China President Xi Jinping in Beijing to discuss the dramatic rise in severe cases of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan and surrounding areas that had reached dramatic proportions. Announcing his emergency PHIEC declaration, Tedros praised the Chinese quarantine measures, measures highly controversial in public health and never before in modern times attempted with entire cities, let alone countries. At the same time Tedros, curiously, criticized other countries who were moving to block flights to China to contain the strange new disease, leading to charges he was unduly defending China.

Comment: The confluence of monied interests, societal engineering goals, egregious corruption and sheer stupidity is off the proverbial charts as we continue to follow where the Covid-19 story leads us. We can do no better than to get the word out to those with 'ears to hear' of this immense crime being foisted on half the world.

Don't miss:

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Brick Wall

Still stalling: Prosecutors ask for delay in Michael Flynn case as defense fights for dismissal


Sara Carter
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Michael flynn

General Michael Flynn
Justice Department prosecutors in the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn are asking the court for an additional three weeks continuance on the case, citing the review of "voluminous" documents submitted by Flynn's former legal team that represented him for a span 30 months.

The status report was filed by prosecutors Friday in anticipation of a scheduled hearing on April 3. Justice Department prosecutors stated in the status report that the documents provided by Flynn's former legal counsel with Covington and Burling "are voluminous, span numerous topics that arose during Covington's 30-month representation of Mr. Flynn, and include many pages of sometimes difficult-to-decipher handwritten notes."

"The government needs additional time to digest this information and any additional information that Covington may provide," the status report stated. "In order to allow the government adequate time to review the materials that have been produced and to request, receive, and review any follow-up information or documents, the government respectfully asks this Court to allow the government three additional weeks to provide a further status update and, if feasible, a proposed briefing schedule."

In February, Attorney General William Barr ordered a re-examination of several high-profile cases, including Flynns. The re-examination of Flynn's case will be headed by U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen of St. Louis. According to sources familiar with the matter, Jensen will be working with Brandon Van Grack, who is the former prosecutor that pursued the case against Flynn during Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Saudi Arabia wants to put pressure on Russia...but could it hurt itself instead?


RT
Sat, 04 Apr 2020 03:01 UTC
kingdom tower
© Reuters / Faisal Al Nasser
While the world faces an unprecedented crisis over the coronavirus pandemic, Riyadh is trying to push other countries to play by its rules in the oil market, but those actions could have backfired.

Since the OPEC+ deal collapsed, Saudi Arabia has brought out the big guns to grab the market share, but the move eventually drove crude prices to new lows. After Moscow and Riyadh failed to reach a new production-cut deal in early March, the kingdom decided to boost production and granted discounts to its oil buyers.

"I think they're trying to put pressure, especially on Russia, so they could come to agree with what they were trying to push over during the last OPEC meeting," Roberto d'Ambrosio, the CEO of Axiory Global, said in an interview to RT.
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