Republicans reject plans to save millions of Americans from coronavirus bankruptcy – and come for AOC instead

Moya Lothian-McLean in news

Getty/indy100

As the coronavirus crisis causes society as we know it to shut down around our ears, it is also prompting some… questions.

Like the structures capitalism is built upon that we’re told are fundamentally just part of life and for which there is no alternative.

You know: paying rent, paying mortgages, getting meagre sick pay, having to accrue capital in order to access certain premium stratas of healthcare and education etc.

But due to coronavirus, it’s emerged that these inalienable “facts of life” can be suspended to ensure people don’t suffer when their ability to earn money is hampered.

Like Italy pausing all mortgage payments.

Or flights suddenly becoming strangely “affordable” (you mean... cost price) as demand has gone down.

It’s almost like the value of money is… made up.

Now Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC aka a big pain in Donald Trump’s butt has suggested perhaps the US could take a brief leave from its arch-capitalism and cut people a little slack by suspending collection on student loan debt.

She also threw in some mortgage relief, as a treat!

Student loan debt in the US totals around $1.6 trillion (£1.27 trillion).

On average, students carry $32,731 in loan debt.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed wiping out all student debt if elected president, while rival Joe Biden wants to make it easier for people to repay the loan.

As for Donald Trump… he’s supported legislation that would make it more difficult for struggling students to have their debts "forgiven". Plus his administration just called a Democrat-led coronavirus response bill a "radical left" agenda because it wants to give people things like free testing and extended unemployment insurance.

It's not just student loan debt, either. If coronavirus stops Americans from being able to keep up with medical bills or any owed payments, millions could be at risk of bankruptcy.

59 per cent of Americans live paycheque to paycheque, and coronavirus poses a significant risk to their financial security if there's no safety net or emergency measures.

But given the Republican response to Pelosi, it’s unlikely he will take any notice of AOC’s proposal.

So, as of today, the financial security of Americans hangs in the balance.

Coronavirus: Senate Republicans block emergency sick leave bill as outbreak spreads across US

In New York, Democratic governor announces guaranteed paid sick leave for government employees
THE INDEPENDENT

Senate Republicans have blocked an emergency paid sick leave bill aimed at helping deal with complications stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, arguing that the federal government should foot the bill — not employers — for the measure that Democrats claim is a public health imperative.

The Republican resistance to paid sick leave for employees in the United States comes as the deadly virus continues to spread throughout the country, which has led state governments to consider their paid leave policies and how those might impact worker safety.

“Employees are struggling, our employers are struggling, and it’s not a cure for the coronavirus to put a big new expensive federal mandate on employers who are struggling in the middle of this matter,” said Republican senator Lamar Alexander, who spiked the bill in the Senate’s health committee even though he also called it a “good idea”.

The measure was introduced by Democrats, who have argued that forced isolation for those who might come into contact with the virus could ruin people financially — and that not paying for sick leave provides a dangerous incentive to employees to go to work even if they are sick.

“For many of our workers — restaurant workers, truck drivers, service industry workers — they may not have an option to take a day off without losing their pay or losing their job,” said Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who tried to speed the measure through the health committee to the Senate floor for a vote

She continued: “That’s not a choice we should be asking anyone to make in the United States in the 21st century.”

The Republican effort to kill the bill comes as outbreaks have spread across the country, including in Ms Murray’s home state of Washington — where 281 cases have been confirmed alongside 24 deaths — and Democratically controlled New York — where 212 cases have been confirmed.

On Wednesday, as the Senate considered the emergency paid sick leave policy, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he would enforce a new rule ensuring at least two full weeks of paid leave for any government worker who cannot work because of the coronavirus.

“No one should face economic hardship because a quarantine prevents them from working,” Mr Cuomo wrote on Twitter. “New York State is going to set an example by guaranteeing 2 full weeks of paid leave for all state workers who are quarantined or in isolation due to #Coronavirus.”

Beyond state and federal governments, arguments that the coronavirus outbreak shows the need for paid sick leave in the US — there are no federal mandates on this —have been met with some major companies in the US updating their sick leave policies in recent days, hoping to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Those companies include Walmart, McDonald’s, Apple, Instacart, Uber, Lyft and Darden Restaurants, which operates the popular restaurant chain Olive Garden.

Trump's coronavirus travel ban conveniently excludes the only countries where he owns resorts


President Trump has announced a string of new travel restrictions between America and Europe in a bid to stop the global spread of coronavirus.


But eagle-eyed observers have pointed out that Trump’s new European travel restrictions have one (very convenient) thing in common: they avoid countries where Trump-owned golf resorts are located.


Trump’s obsession with promoting his own properties while serving as president has already come under criticism.


After staying at many of his resorts, he’s been served numerous lawsuits and investigations alleging that he’s violating the Constitution by accepting taxpayer money other than a salary (which he doesn't take). People have also speculated whether his recent trip to India, or his political bromance with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are partly linked to Trump Organisation dealings in both countries.

How does Trump’s travel ban exclude his resorts?

The US government travel ban targets 26 European countries that comprise a visa-free travel zone known as the “Schengen Area”.

The UK is home to two Trump resorts (Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links). Ireland is home to another Trump-branded hotel and golf course at Doonbeg. Both of these countries, as well as Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, are not part of the Schengen Area.

So rather conveniently Trump’s travel ban has no affect at all on his business at a time when they are struggling financially. Hmm.


The administration’s European travel statement reads:

The Schengen Area has exported 201 COVID-19 cases to 53 countries. Moreover, the free flow of people between the Schengen Area countries makes the task of managing the spread of the virus difficult.

On social media, people think it’s pretty odd that Trump’s ban excludes the UK, particularly seeing as Britain just recorded its biggest single rise in cases.

So it’s not entirely clear what’s driven the loophole.

"FOUR"

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A controversial televangelist actually attempted to heal people with coronavirus through their televisions
Greg Evans in news
UPV

Picture: Victory News/ Screengrab

The controversial televangelist Kenneth Copeland has attempted to cure viewers with the coronavirus by reaching out to them through the television screen.

The 83-year-old made headlines last year after being asked in a tense interview about living a luxury lifestyle including having a private jet.

Now he is back in the news for even odder behaviour as he is literally trying to cure people from the comfort of his television studio on Victory News.

Reaching out to the screen with a hand coated in oil for anointing viewers, Copeland creepily says:

Put your hand on that television set. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. He received your healing. Now say it: 'I take it. I have it. It’s mine. I thank you and praise you for it…'
According to the Word of God, I am healed. And I consider not my own body. I consider not symptoms in my own body, but only that which God has promised.
Only that what the Word has said. And by His stripes, I was healed. And by His stripes, I am healed now.
I am not the sick trying to get healed. I am the healed, and the Devil is trying to give me the flu!… Or whatever else kind of thing he’s trying.
Heal and well in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah.

We're not experts but we aren't sure that this will help people at all.

Regardless people were quite freaked out by Copeland's actions which were hardly normal.

Advice from the CDC to prevent the spread of the illness has been to regularly wash your hands, avoid contact with anyone who is sick, cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze and disinfect surfaces that are touched daily. If you are sick then stay at home and wear a facemask if you need to be around other people.

At the time of writing, there have been more than 100,000 confirmed cases worldwide and more than 4,000 deaths. Countries like Italy have been placed on lockdown while the United States had banned all travel into the country from parts of Europe and China.

Coronavirus will bankrupt more people than it kills — and that's the real global emergency


We may look back on coronavirus as the moment when the threads that hold the global economy together came unstuck

NOW IS THE TIME FOR

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM, MEDICARE FOR ALL, UBI; UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

A LIVING WAGE $20 PER HOUR, FOUR HOUR DAY/FOUR DAY WEEK/ 40 HOURS PAY
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, HOUSING IS A RIGHT.

Omar Hassan New York

Coronavirus’s economic danger is exponentially greater than its health risks to the public. If the virus does directly affect your life, it is most likely to be through stopping you going to work, forcing your employer to make you redundant, or bankrupting your business.

The trillions of dollars wiped from financial markets this week will be just the beginning, if our governments do not step in. And if President Trump continues to stumble in his handling of the situation, it may well affect his chances of re-election. Joe Biden in particular has identified Covid-19 as a weakness for Trump, promising “steady, reassuring” leadership during America’s hour of need.

Worldwide, Covid-19 has killed 4,389 with 31 US deaths as of today. But it will economically cripple millions, especially since the epidemic has formed a perfect storm with stock market crashes, an oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the spilling over of an actual war in Syria into another potential migrant crisis.

We may look back on coronavirus as the moment when the threads that hold the global economy together came unstuck; and startups and growing businesses like mine could end up paying the price.


Just as important as fighting the virus — if not more important — is vaccinating our economies against the incoming pandemic of panic. Human suffering can come in the form of illness and death. But it can also be experienced as not being able to pay the bills or losing your home.

Small businesses in particular are struggling as supply chains dry up, leaving them without products or essential materials. Factory closures in China have led to a record low in the country’s Purchasing Manager’s Index which measures manufacturing output. China is the world’s largest exporter and is responsible for a third of global manufacturing, so China’s problem is everyone’s problem — even in the midst of a trade war between the White House and Beijing.

All this makes it even more worrying that governments continue to see this as a health crisis, not an economic one. It is time the economists took over from the doctors, before the real pandemic spreads.

It is difficult to imagine Italy not entering a recession (the world’s ninth largest economy is now on lockdown). It is also difficult to imagine that failing to affect Europe and its largest trading partner, the United States. And it is impossible to see how any of this will not add up to a global downturn, unless governments step in faster and harder than they did 12 years ago during the last financial crisi


The stakes are higher this time, because there seems to be a coordinated effort to economically hurt many Western countries, and warn them away from the aggressive trade policies that Trump has so enthusiastically adopted.

Although China bore the brunt of the virus’s economic and human cost, many in Beijing will see a silver lining in the weakening of the US economy, and a distraction from Trump’s trade wars that appeared to be escalating with no end in sight.

Almost perfectly synchronized with the coronavirus, a Russia-Saudi oil war has erupted. In the short-term, both Moscow and Riyadh can afford the 30 per cent overnight drop in the oil price. But America’s shale gas business cannot: The more expensive process of fracking means that much of the US oil sector will simply not exist if oil prices stay at historic lows, leading to shut downs, job losses and perhaps even state-level recessions.

President Trump has pushed through overdue payroll tax cuts and help for hourly workers — measures that will help both employers and employees survive. In the UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled a ‘Coronavirus Budget’. But everyone needs to think bigger if they want to properly deal with how this new factor changes the status quo.

This is about much more than coronavirus, oil prices, or even the global economy. This is about the balance of power between East and West. The epicenter of this has been, for the last 10 years, Syria. After a decade of conflict on the ground, the face-off seems to have now escalated from proxy war to economic conflict.

The emerging superpowers of Russia and China witnessed what many saw as American irrelevance in Syria. And they are now trying to cement their vision of a truly multi-polar world. Rather than allowing US ally Saudi Arabia to lead the oil markets through the OPEC cartel, Russia and China want to reshape global markets — and power balances — to their advantage.

To survive these shifts, the US, UK and others will need to protect the future of their businesses, large and small, and look for opportunities to benefit from the new economic world order, not deny it. Ignoring these changes will be even more damaging than any flu pandemic.

Omar Hassan is a an economic development specialist and co-founder of UK:MENA Hub

Russian city cancels holy procession to cure coronavirus - over fears of coronavirus

Believers in western city of Lipetsk had hoped to pray away the pandemic

Oliver Carroll Moscow correspondent 12/3/2020

Sergei Bobylev/TASS

The rest of the world may have descended into panic and pandemonium over the coronavirus pandemic, but for a while Orthodox devotees in the Russian city of Lipetsk believed they had found a fail-proof way to a cure.

A religious group going by the name of the “Holy Royal Martyrs” intended to delegate the problem of banishing Covid-19 from Lipetsk to God – by organising a “holy automobile procession” through the city. Organisers said the idea to give a “spiritual push to banish the virus woe” came about after “multiple requests” from believers.

Approximately 50 such fanatics were ready to join in the event this Sunday.

But the procession was not to be after city authorities scuppered plans over public health fears. Now the group will be forced to pray away the virus in the safety of their churches and their own homes.

“We ask followers to sing hymns and read prayers against coronavirus,” Yury Bernikov, the group’s spiritual leader wrote on his social media page.

Earlier in the week, Lipetsk local authorities closed schools and introduced a ban on all mass cultural and sport gatherings. The restrictions, which are due to last two weeks, mirrored similar measures introduced across the country.

Moscow, home to over 12 million often densely populated people, has for over a week been subject to severe restrictions and a regime of “high alert.”

Thousands of flights coming from the seven countries deemed to be most at risk — China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France, Spain and Germany — have been cancelled. Those who have been in any one of these countries are also being asked to self-isolate for a period of two weeks.

Speaking on Wednesday, prime minister Mikhail Mishustin said that such measures have enabled the country to limit the impact of the virus in Russia.

“Despite the seriousness of the situation abroad, we have managed to keep the risk of transmission to a minimum,” he said. 

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Bereaved families who lost loved ones aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 have converged on the crash site to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy. THERE WERE CANADIANS ON THAT FLIGHT


In Nigeria, the influential former Emir of Kano speaks out after being removed from his position. His lawyers say his treatment is unconstitutional.   

Finally, we head to Morocco, where women are gaining ground on the rap scene, which is largely dominated by men.

HOWIE MANDEL IS A GERMOPHOBE

Howie Mandel wears hazmat suit to ‘America’s Got Talent’ taping as fellow judge Heidi Klum falls ill on set

Suzy Byrne Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
Yahoo TV March 11, 2020

Some celebrities just aren’t taking chances when it comes to protecting themselves amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Howie Mandel showed up to work on the set of America’s Got Talent in a full hazmat suit, with gloves, a mask and breathing tube. The comedian, who is a notorious germaphobe, took off his ball cap to pose for photographers outside the studio.

Perhaps it wasn’t the worst idea. After all, fellow judge Heidi Klum left the set on Tuesday after falling ill. She missed the taping, so for the live show there were only three judges, also including Simon Cowell and Sofia Vergara.

Howie Mandel outside the 'America's Got Talent' studio on March 10. (Photo: PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

THIS IS OVERKILL, NOT REQUIRED, HE IS ACTUALLY USING WHAT IS CALLED A SCOTT PACK OR SCBA, SELF CONTAINED BREATHING APPARATUS. 

While the hosts joked in front of the audience about Klum having food poisoning, with new host Vergara quipping that she sent Klum food the night before, Klum doesn’t have food poisoning, according to TMZ. She was just under the weather.

And, no, she does not have the coronavirus, an insider told the news outlet.

AGT continues to have live audiences while other shows — the Wendy Williams Shows, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune included — have temporarily halted the practice as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S.

While Mandel may have been going for laughs with his attire, he does have a crippling fear of germs. He suffers from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), and has long opted for a fist bump, instead of shaking hands, from way back in his Deal or No Deal days. He’s also said he won’t touch money (unless it’s been washed), doesn’t use handrails and makes his makeup artist use a new sponge before touching his face each day. And his signature bald haircut? That he does by choice — he’s said it feels more “clean.”

It’s not to say he’s not having a little fun with the hazmat suit — after all, he is a comedian. The other day he joked about how , with the coronavirus, he’s not comfortable going to the movies or the mall. The one place he was OK going, he joked, was the DMV.

And Mandel isn’t the only one protecting himself. Naomi Campbell also wore a hazmat suit at Los Angeles International Airport.

The model, who also takes germs very seriously, shared several photos of herself in the zip up outfit, which featured a hood. She had a blue mask over her mouth, wore goggles and pink gloves.

She thanked fellow model Linda Evangelista for the “next level” protection, writing, “safety first.”

Campbell shared her travel routine last year and it went viral for its extremeness. As soon as she gets on a flight, she dons rubber gloves then uses wipes “to clean anything that you can possibly touch. After a lengthy cleaning session, she put on a seat cover on (which get hand washed at whatever hotel she goes to). She also wears a mask for every flight — regardless of whether it’s private or commercial.

NITRILE GLOVES NOT RUBBER OR LATEX 

NITRILE COME IN DISPOSABLE AND GLOVE STYLE

HERE IS WHAT A HOSPITAL WORKER WEARS IN COMPARISON TO HOWIE

HOWIE AIN'T THE ONLY ONE

Protect yourself: Naomi Campbell takes coronavirus threat literally

Outbreak of false virus news in Europe
Issued on: 12/03/2020 

As the global fight against the coronavirus continues, so does the battle against misinformation. Peter O'Brien from the France 24 Observers team busts some myths.

Coronavirus pandemic in the US: Nurses stage protests to call for better protection against virus 

12/03/2020