Dick Morris: Make Corporate PPP Cheats Cough It Up – Or Else
Drew Angerer / Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump speaks during a tree-planting ceremony in recognition of Earth Day and Arbor Day on the South Lawn of the White House on April 22, 2020. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
President Trump needs to take a Clint Eastwood-like stand and bluntly tell the dozens of major American companies that have greedily — and possibly illegally — wolfed down 70 percent of the money allocated to small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Plan that they have to refund the money, in full, by Monday morning or face legal criminal prosecution for larceny.
No kidding around.
These corporate behemoths knew that they were raiding a cookie jar not intended for them, but they edged out the mom-and-pop stores for whom the program is designed, forcing Congress to appropriate over $300 billion in additional funding.
While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decried the actions of these huge companies at the Tuesday media briefing, he suggested that his department would “give them the benefit of the doubt” and presume that they just didn’t know that they weren’t eligible.
Baloney. Are we to believe that these well-lawyered companies just didn’t read the fine print?
Over $243 billion of the $349 billion lent out under the PPP has gone to major publicly traded companies, who were not supposed to get the loans.
For example, DMC Global got a loan of $6.7 million despite having a market value of $405 million, allowing it to raise capital easily on normal private markets.
Other companies getting loans included Shake Shack (which has since given it back) and Fiesta Restaurant Group (which owns Pollo Tropical fast food outlets).
Do you think these publicly traded companies should all send the loan money back?
100% (1 Votes)
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Democrats like to claim that President Trump is beholden to his large corporate donors and will cite this misallocation of funds as a perfect example.
The president needs to nip their attacks in the bud by demanding, loudly and publicly, that they give the money back by Monday — or else.
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Democratic Lawmaker Resigns After Party Turns on Him for Trump Endorsement
Georgia House of RepresentativesDemocratic Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones endorsed Republican President Donald Trump. (Georgia House of Representatives)
Georgia Democratic state Rep. Vernon Jones announced he is resigning Wednesday morning after he faced backlash for endorsing President Donald Trump’s re-election.
“Someone else can occupy that suite. Therefore, I intend not to complete my term effective April 22, 2020.”
A week before his resignation, the lawmaker endorsed Trump, saying the Republican president’s policies that have helped African-American voters, military veterans and farmers.
“It’s very simple to me. President Trump’s handling of the economy, his support for historically black colleges and his criminal justice initiatives drew me to endorse his campaign,” Jones told The Journal-Constitution.
“There are a lot of African-Americans who clearly see and appreciate he’s doing something that’s never been done before. When you look at the unemployment rates among black Americans before the pandemic, they were at historic lows. That’s just a fact.”
His endorsement received a quick backlash from his fellow Georgia Democrats.
State Sen. Nikema Williams, chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, called him an “embarrassment” who “does not stand for our values.”
The Democratic parties in DeKalb and Rockdale counties, part of Jones’ district, also planned to censure Jones for his endorsement.
Do you think Jones should have stayed in office to fight his Democratic colleagues?
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Jones’ resignation seemed to have been suggested in a Monday night tweet.
“I’ve seen more Democrats attack me for my decision to endorse @realDonaldTrump than ask me why,” he tweeted.
“They’ve used and abused folks in my community for far too long, taking our votes for granted. Black Americans are waking up. An uprising is near.”
I’ve seen more Democrats attack me for my decision to endorse @realDonaldTrump than ask me why.
They’ve used and abused folks in my community for far too long, taking our votes for granted.
Black Americans are waking up. An uprising is near.
In a statement announcing his resignation, Jones said he intends to help the “Democrat Party get rid of its bigotry against Black people that are independent and conservative,” according to The Journal-Constitution.
“I endorsed the White guy (Donald J. Trump) that let Blacks out of jail, and they endorsed the White guy (Joe Biden) that put Blacks in jail,” he said.
Jones told “The Rashad Richey Morning Show” on WAOK-AM that even though he is resigning from his office, he is not leaving the Democratic Party because “somebody’s got to be there to hold them accountable — hold them accountable to how they are treating black people [and] root out the bigotry.”
In a series of tweets following his resignation, Jones said, “I don’t care what the Democrat Party does to me. What are they going to do? Spank me?”
“The Left hates me because they can’t control me. They can stay mad,” he tweeted.
Jones will also not be seeking re-election, his spokesman told The Journal-Constitution.
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When the people we love are suffering or going through a difficult time, we can feel a little helpless. During this season, that helplessness is multiplied by the fact that when our loved ones are in the hospital, we can’t visit them and reassure them like we want to.
But as Owen from Atlanta, Georgia, knows, we can always pray.
Owen’s family had multiple members get hit by the coronavirus; according to WTOl, his aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma and grandpa all contracted COVID-19.
“Every one of us, out of all four of us — our chief complaint was something different,” Bob Paulus, the uncle, told WTOL. “We were able to interconnect that I had something similar with my mom or my wife had something similar with my dad, but at the time, we weren’t able to connect all the dots.”
On April 9, Owen’s mom, Brandee Hanes, posted an update, attaching a photo of her son.
A stack of toy trucks was piled next to him on the glass table as he bowed his head, folded his hands and prayed for his grandpa, Chuck Paulus, who had been on life support and in a coma while he’d spent a month in the hospital.
“DAY 21 EVENING REPORT: It’s now been 3 WEEKS of this nightmare!” Hanes posted on Facebook. “About Mom & Bob: They went to the doctor’s office and got re-tested. They are now NEGATIVE for the active virus & POSITIVE for the antibodies.”
“Now about DAD: Today they started Dad on the CRRT (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy) aka 24/7 dialysis. His creatinine (kidney function lab) is down further than it’s been in a few weeks. This has also resulted in Dad’s blood gases to even out a little more. This is GREAT news for his kidneys. Hopefully they will be able to continue to get all that excess fluid off of him!! Dad’s vent settings and sedatives are essentially unchanged. He has no fevers and his vitals are staying stable. They will continue to administer blood thinners to keep Dad’s blood thin and hopefully prevent the recurrence of clotting at his access sites.”
“Again, thank you all for your prayers and love!! If I may ask, please say a little extra for the grandkids. All they know is Opa is very sick and they miss him dearly!!”
The photo has touched hearts around the world. News outlets have picked up and shared the adorable photo, and many people who have heard about the family’s story are now sending their best wishes to Chuck.
“Dad’s a huge Ohio State fan, and very hard of hearing, so we have told the nurses, that if they yell OH, my Dad will reply IO if he can,” Hanes told WTOL. “So, that’s another way that Dad knows we are in contact with the nurses and staffing, because how else would they know to say that?”
Meanwhile, Hanes has continued to keep followers and friends updated on her dad’s (Owen’s grandpa’s) progress through Facebook.
The most recent news is hopeful, as Hanes details how her father is waking up.
“Dad is doing really, really good,” she said. “We have had more days of progress and that is a blessing — an absolute blessing.”
“Again thank you all for your support, love, and prayers!!” Hanes posted on Tuesday. “Our number of family members have grown drastically because of all of you!! Know We ❤ U and APPRECIATE you all!!”
As for Chuck’s wife, Nancy, she has some wise words for those who are following the family’s encouraging story.
“We hear a lot of doom and gloom and don’t hear the success stories,” she said.
“And there are some. Like the Bible says, this too, shall pass.”
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We are in lockdown in Virginia after Governor Ralph Northam closed beaches, book stores, libraries, restaurants, coffees shops, cancelled live music concerts, and ordered churches closed.
He said to not have gatherings of more than 10 people and to practice “social distancing,” which I think in this strange world of invisible enemies, threatening us at all times, means staying away from people mostly and staying about 6 feet apart when you are with people. I am not totally sure, though.
The governor’s edict – or maybe it was the CDC’s – qualified the 6-feet distance, or “socially distancing” recommendation to say that spouses and children and their parents did not have to stay 6 feet apart.
I am a public-school teacher, not in school now, because they are closed, of course. I love my church, my libraries, bookstores, musicians I go to hear, and getting together with my friends.
Two friends in the last few days have declined walking outside together, even though I said, “We can walk apart from each other if you want to.” I am not sure why. Quarantine? Just stay home? Will walking outside endanger me or others? I thought we could gather as long as it’s less than 10 people. Isn’t two OK?
Keeping clarity and a sense of humor is a challenge, while trying to make sense of a morass of fear and language around this virus, which I know may be serious, but which I also think has been surrounded by a lot of panic and misinformation. I found a few anchoring facts that seem reliable – people with the virus have a recovery rate in the high 90 percents, and infection, or testing positive for it, does not mean you will get the disease.
Also, most people who die, who have tested positive, die of other serious causes, though the CDC has misled the public by forcing doctors to say the deaths were caused by the virus rather than saying the truth, which often is that the person died of heart disease, diabetes, old age, pneumonia, while they had also had tested positive for Coronavirus.They died with the virus but not from it.
Some doctors have reminded us that outside in the sunshine is one of the safest places we can be when an illness like this is a worry. Fear and misinformation have convinced people that inside their homes, in closed rooms, they are safer from this invisible enemy that we are “at war with,” according President Trump.
The War on Terror, the War on Drugs, the U.S. is always at war with someone or something. I am not buying this war any more than I have bought the others.
“Somewhere behind all wars are a few founding lies,” wrote Mark Kurlansky in Non-Violence: Twenty-Five Lessons in the History of a Dangerous Idea. I do not think this “war” is much different than others with its early lying and distortions that take hold, take on lives of their own, and manipulate us into group-think and rash actions, like forcing all businesses to close, probably causing many small business owners to lose what they have spent their lives building.
Isolation and loneliness, especially loneliness of the elderly, who can’t see their friends, go to the symphony, to book groups, to church – all activities that give life sustenance and meaning; economic despair, unemployment, exacerbated addictions without the social supports that keep people alive and healthy – all these kill many more people that any virus, I believe.
Language viruses infect our culture this spring.
This is not a “lockdown,” as it really is, not government control, as it really is, or the government’s taking our civil liberties, such as practicing our religion at our churches or exercising our right to peaceably assemble.
I do not think the writers of the Constitution wrote that we have the right to peaceably assemble, unless there is a sickness around.
No, this is not lockdown.
As people comply with hardly a word of protest, they are not calling it lockdown; instead they are not only doing as they are told, they are speaking as they are told — “sheltering in place” or “staying home” or “social distancing.” These are creepy terms, meant to make government-enforced lockdown sound cozy and good for us.
We are also told that this is the “new normal.” Words and phrases like this distort realities, and not for the better, I believe. This is not normal at all.
Human beings are meant to live in communities. Research supports that human touch, emotional and physical connection, strengthens immunities and prevents disease. There are viruses that cause people to get sick, and some to die, but so much of this so-called pandemic is not adding up. We are not seeing the deaths from this virus in the context of deaths from other causes, such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, car accidents, domestic violence.
I remain skeptical that the government knows what is good for us after studying other wars and calamities and their precipitating and enabling language and lies. Lies around the Gulf of Tonkin incident ignited the U.S. war against Viet Nam.
The Kuwaiti ambassador’s daughter was told to tell a false story of babies yanked from incubators to whip the U.S. government into the war frenzy of the first Iraq War. The Weapons of Mass Destruction and “mushroom cloud” nonsense, touted by politicians and bureaucrats, sent thousands of Americans to their deaths, destroyed a whole country, and scattered millions as war refugees.
I have mistrusted the media, while continuing to seek alternative, independent-thinking information sources, after almost every major U.S. media outlet championed war against Iraq.
US media outlets never issued formal retractions after that devastation and after the lies were made plain. I remain skeptical of the government and health bureaucrats when they approved harmful drugs, such as high dosages of estrogen from mare’s urine, which scientists knew caused cancer in women, and they approved it anyway. Women died.
The examples of government deceptions that cause death are numerous. We must read and talk and listen, and keep thinking.
Now, because the government and its highly paid health and disease bureaucrats told them to, people put their pictures inside “Stay at Home” or “I am Saving Lives by Staying at Home” signs or even the stronger “Stay the F Home” admonition to others and shared them on the Internet.
Language changes have been fascinating and frightening when friends now are scared to walk outside, even in pairs. My teenage son, whom his dad and I wheeled in a stroller in demonstrations against the U.S. war in Iraq when he was a toddler while a gauntlet of counter-protestors screamed in our faces, today tells me that I shouldn’t drive to do farm chores on my friend’s farm to help with food production because the government said, “We have to stay home,” my son said.
Death has done it this time. Death and fear and language. Insidious death. Unseen. Phantom death on the TV or computer screens – or even rumored to be there. We don’t even have cable TV in our home, but this fear has infected our home.
The red numbers are out there flashing, digits rising, blinking. Attractive people with super white teeth and expensive haircuts talk nonstop. Bureaucrats and politicians wield language of fear and death – death, like the greenish smoke, snaking by each door in the Charlton Heston movie, The Ten Commandments, my brothers and I watched on TV when we were children.
Maybe our “Stay at Home” hashtags will save us like the blood painted in the shape of the cross on the doors in the Charlton Heston movie.
Today a “news” station showed a cartoon-colored virus spray cascading over a barricaded grocery aisle to the cartoon people on the other side. Over weeks, we have had to look at lines of bright stick people in diagrams multiplying and stacking up, dead presumably, if we did not “social distance” because the deaths will rise exponentially. But even the exponential part is being called into question by health professionals.
On social media today a New York writer, I somehow ended up “friends” with, posted an obscure study saying that 6-feet distance is not enough to stay safe while running outside. It was complete with cartoon figures and bright colored virus sprays, clouding the air and making their way to a cartoon runner many feet away. Oh, brother.
Tell people, like the politicians and bureaucrats are doing, that they may have it, not know it, may not even know how long they have had or will have it. You could not even be sick and still have it, give it to others. Reading and listening to so-called news, I could not get a handle on how long you could have it and not know it – some said five days, someone else said two weeks or more. It may be me. It may be you. Paranoia abounds.
But, guess what? We all have it. We are all going to die. This virus, however, has a recovery rate in the high 90 percents. Most people recover – not in the hospital but at home, I read today contracting it and recovering may build immunity and make us stronger. Our bodies – and our lives – are amazing, are miracles. How can we miss this in this season of resurrection?
Because I miss my friends, and I love getting outside in the sunshine, especially before the government closed the Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, even to motorists, I still wanted to better understand Governor’s Northam’s rules after he closed the beaches and businesses too. My teenage son is worried I am not following the rules or taking them seriously enough. I am. Nothing is open. I only go to the grocery store. I have been making the best of it.
We have planted flowers, moved mulch, cleared brush, had a fire on the deck and made Smores. I taught him how to thread a needle, how to sew on a button, how to mend a tear, with two different kinds of stitches, as my mother taught me, I taught him to make French toast. We played Jenga and listened to my 60s and 70s Pandora station.
I do not like lockdown, however. I do not like the sorrow and grief I feel as I hear of friends and acquaintances losing their beloved businesses they have spent their lives building. And many others do not have the economic privilege to “work at home” or not work at all. I like being free to come and go as I chose while being responsible for my health and caring for the health of others.
When I learned we will likely have to endure this government-mandated lockdown until the end of April at least, I wanted to understand it better. Maybe others were having similar questions, and I could help.
I called the CDC press line, planning to tell them I was a freelance journalist doing a story on safe practices for outdoors.
I thought I would be able to talk to someone and ask my questions right then, take notes. Write my story. I was trying to get a handle on how the 6 feet rule (or is it guidance?, surely not a law?) worked with gatherings of 10 people or less – and how did that work with being outdoors?
Maybe I should call Northam’s office with my questions. I decided to start with the CDC. I also wanted to tell my son, whom I told him he could walk to a nearby friend’s house, and they could walk or play in the neighborhood (stay apart if they wanted to) and that the CDC and the governor said that was OK. I was worried about this health, staying inside so much, and know he misses his friends and is out of the school routine. But my son said no, he didn’t want to go outside to meet his friend. I said, “Why not?” He said, “You know, quarantine.”
So, I planned to ask the CDC and the governor if it was OK to walk outside with my friend – if one friend was OK, and should we walk 6 feet apart? I see people walking in my neighborhood, in pairs and small groups.
I knew people in Walmart were not always 6 feet apart though they have little tape marks on the floor now because maybe because the governor told them to do that.
Surely, outside is healthier than Walmart with all the hands that have touched the bread bags and housewares from China?
I planned to ask how the 6 feet rule worked with gatherings of less than 10, which I thought were OK. And how did it work with family members, which the governor and the CDC said were not required to stay 6 feet apart? What if you had a cook-out in this glorious spring weather with, say, eight people, five family members and three close friends, middle-aged, healthy, not sick?
Would we have to stay 6 feet apart? And what about beaches? They are closed, but the governor said not for fishing, and that the beaches could still be used for exercise. So, can you fish with your spouse or child or friend and not get in trouble? Can you walk on the beach with your boyfriend, for exercise, or would you have to be six feet apart?
I had my notes ready and planned to start by asking the CDC press office these questions. But things are different now than they were when I was a reporter 20 years ago and got people on the phone quickly then wrote my story.
The woman who answered the CDC phone said that I would have to complete an online form, listing my name and my questions, and then a press officer would get back to me.
I haven’t done that yet. Maybe I will take a walk outside instead.
The town of Cushing, Oklahoma, lies about halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. With a population of just under 8,000, Cushing is unremarkable save for the fact that, thanks to an accident of history, thousands of barrels of West Texas Intermediate oil are delivered to and distributed from there every month.
As the economy has ground to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, demand for oil has dropped, but Texas rigs have continued to pump it out of the ground. With supply steady but demand dropping, Cushing’s storage tanks filled up. As a result, the people expecting to take delivery of oil in May started dumping those contracts, driving the price for a May-delivered barrel of WTI down. Eventually, something funny happened: The price went negative, reflecting the fact that the bearer would need to pay someone to take the oil off his hands.
Most readers might take this situation for what it is: another strange side effect of the market entering a self-imposed shutdown, combined with the fact that there isn’t that much space in which to store crude oil.
To the Democratic Party’s ecosocialist flank it was something different entirely: the latest sign of impending global catastrophe—perversely, something they are celebrating.
Freshman firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) responded to the news by writing in a tweet she later deleted that "you love to see it"—that is, oil prices dropping below zero. In a subsequent tweet, the Green New Dealer wrote that her fellow environmentalists were celebrating the market fluke "as a turning point in the climate movement" and that "fossil fuels are in long-term structural decline."
Failed 2020 contender Tom Steyer took to Twitter to argue that, "oil is in total free-fall because it is a bad investment that won’t create sustained jobs or prosperity." The Sunrise Movement, the youth wing of American ecosocialism, claimed the temporary drop is "our chance to publicly own oil & gas companies."
Enter reality. Far from being in "structural decline," the shale revolution has brought U.S. oil production to record highs, helping to ensure our energy independence from two-bit tyrants in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. And even as contracts on one month’s delivery of oil go south, oil remains a key strategic resource and every patriot should hope and pray for the day that consumption returns to where it was—because that will be the day that the American people have their lives back, their jobs back, their schools back.
What’s really telling about Monday’s environmentalist jubilation is not the greens’ misunderstanding of the situation, but the value judgements that lay behind their misapprehension. If negative oil prices did, in fact, mean the coronavirus had crushed wholesale the American oil industry and the 10 million jobs it supports, then Ocasio-Cortez’s pronouncement that "you love to see it" cannot be judged anything other than grotesque.
The same motivated reasoning attends when climate activists applaud the shutdown’s effect on the environment; moan that while "emissions are way down," it’s "not all good news" because President Trump is more focused on saving jobs than saving forest animals; or scold you about having children or refusing to eat bugs. Their conclusion is that the collapse of America’s industrial prowess and the attendant suffering that would accompany it are a necessary and even desirable part of the coming eco-realignment. Americans must suffer not just because it might lead to a better tomorrow but as punishment for our hubris.
As Americans endure an unprecedented economic and health crisis, take notice of who is cheering for a recovery—and who thinks our loss is Gaia’s gain.
"Eat A Bag Of Dicks": De Blasio’s COVID-19-Lockdown Snitch-Line Flooded With Penis Pics And Memes
New Yorkers didn’t seem to take too kindly to Mayor Bill de Blasio asking them to snitch on each other.
Back on April 18, the mayor put out this video on social media commending New Yorkers, before asking them to snitch on each other if they see other New Yorkers violating social distancing rules.
In what we’d guess was more of a bi-partisan effort than some Democrats would like to admit, the city seems to have told de Blasio exactly what they think of his program, texting the NYC snitch-line photos of penises, middle fingers and memes, instead of using it to snitch on their fellow citygoer.
In addition, people have texted the snitch-line with photos of the mayor dropping the Staten Island groundhog and news coverage of him going to the gym, according to the NY Post.
“We will fight this tyrannical overreach!” one person texted to the line. Another posted a photo of Hitler and said:
“TO THOSE TURNING IN YOUR NEIGHBORS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES — YOU DID THE REICH THING.”
“Start flooding their reporting text numbers with this pics!” the person continued.
One person sent a bowl of penis-shaped candies with the banner "Eat A Bag of D*cks". A source at the NYPD says that actual dick pics have also been texted to the line.
Another person called in and said that de Blasio was seen having oral sex with someone “in an alleyway behind a 7-11”.
“He looked at me…and coofed in my direction,” the anonymous tipster said.
The service had to be shut down temporarily as a result of the chaos.
Viral Video Arrest Of Idaho Mom At Neighborhood Playground Sparks Backlash
Mass anti-lockdown protests like those recently seen in state capitals of Michigan and Pennsylvania have come to Idaho, after a mother was filmed being arrested by police for allowing her children to play at a playground closed by coronavirus ‘stay at home’ orders.
The incident happened in the city of Meridian, which like most other places across the nation closed down its public parks and recreational facilities for use. It immediately sparked a protest of about 100 people in front of Meridian City Hall in Idaho’s third largest city.
40-year old Sara Brady had reportedly been at the playground with a small group of others as part of a ‘playdate protest’ against the park closure, which they slammed as local government overreach against freedoms of people in the community.
Police said they asked Brady to leave multiple times, while she’s seen in the now viral video asking why the officers don’t have masks on.
"Arrest me for being difficult. Do it! Record it!," she was heard saying.
Police say that when they showed up they saw that caution tape and metal signs prohibiting the play area’s use had been removed, and they "observed numerous individuals gathered on the closed playground area."
"Meridian officers made several attempts to help Brady adhere to the rules," police said in a statement. "She was non-compliant and forced officers to place her under arrest to resolve the issue. She was arrested for trespassing." She had argued to officers: "But we’re not trespassing!" – seen in the video.
A follow-up video with her in handcuffs being escorted out of the park further showed moms holding babies attempting to block the officers’ paths. "Move out of my way," one officer tells a mother with her infant.
A woman was heard saying as Brady was taken out of the park area: "Her kids are here! Her kids are here? What is going to happen? Who’s got her kids?"
The city and county reportedly posted that all playground structures were "closed" last month over concerns that coronavirus can live on plastic and other surfaces up to two or three days.
CBS affiliate KBOI-TV reported that Brady was charged by police with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.
This is likely to spark further backlash from locals who don’t want to adhere to ‘closure’ orders in public park spaces, given it’s their tax dollars that pay for such things as playground structures in the first place.
Idaho is an example of a state which hasn’t witnessed a significant outbreak, with over 1,766 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, including 51 deaths, out of a population of approaching two million people.
Many Americans in the central and southern states have begun to question whether the fate of their states and local communities should be dictated by the more dire circumstances of large cities on the East and West coasts – where case numbers have been soaring.
Drew Angerer / Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump speaks during a tree-planting ceremony in recognition of Earth Day and Arbor Day on the South Lawn of the White House on April 22, 2020. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
(@TrumpJew) 
Protests against the COVID imprisonment are spreading across America.
