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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
April 3, 2020
https://www.ccn.com/moodys-mortgage-meltdown-warning-rings-30-default-doom-scenario/
Moody's: up to 30% of US mortgages could go into default
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/home-lenders-brace-for-up-to-15-million-u-s-mortgage-defaultshttps://www.ccn.com/moodys-mortgage-meltdown-warning-rings-30-default-doom-scenario/
April 2, 2020
Cool, all good.
April 2, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed many flaws in America—from a lack of medical equipment in the federal government’s national emergency stockpile to the fact that there’s no universal requirement for employers to offer paid sick leave. It has also reinforced the need to address certain geographic inequities. Case in point: D.C. and Puerto Rico are less equipped to fight the virus than most of the rest of the nation simply because they are not states.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion stimulus to rescue the economy from the shock of coronavirus, which will provide millions of Americans with direct cash infusions and will allocate billions of dollars in funding to states and municipalities to fight COVID-19. But some parts of the country are getting a lot less help than others. As the Washington Post reported, D.C was intentionally classified as a territory instead of a state, cutting the number of federal dollars the District will receive by more than half. Whereas each state will get $1.25 billion, the bill appropriated $3 billion for D.C. and the five U.S. territories—Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa—to be divided by population. D.C. will ultimately get $500 million in relief, less than half of what it would if it were a state.
“I was enraged by the fact that the District of Columbia was going to be shortchanged,” Senator Chris Van Hollen told the Post, which reported that Democrats tried to classify D.C. as a state in the legislation but that Republicans shut it down as a deal-breaker. This reveals yet another reason why it’s necessary for Democrats to start pushing strenuously for D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood. It’s not just for their own political advantage; as Ben Paviour explained in a 2018 Monthly piece, the party stands to gain a lot by adding four more Democratic senators and several House members. It’s a moral imperative. Without this representation, these areas are grossly neglected, particularly in times of crisis.
D.C. and Puerto Rico don’t have the representatives to lobby for them when it matters. This dynamic was also on display when Congress made decisions about disaster relief for Puerto Rico following its devastating hurricanes and earthquakes. The House and Senate took months to come to a consensus about the amount of aid the territory would receive, leaving the disaster relief unresolved for a dangerous amount of time. Now, with the stimulus (the largest in American history), the District has also seen the financial consequences of being without statehood. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents D.C. as a non-voting member of the House, told the Monthly that this issue never would have occurred if the District had full representation in the House and Senate. “If we had had two senators, this issue would not have come up,” Norton said. “There would have been no notion that any states should have been shortchanged in this way. It’s another indication of why we need D.C. statehood.”
snip
Coronavirus Shows the Need for D.C. and Puerto Rico Statehood
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-shows-the-need-for-d-c-and-puerto-rico-statehood/The coronavirus pandemic has revealed many flaws in America—from a lack of medical equipment in the federal government’s national emergency stockpile to the fact that there’s no universal requirement for employers to offer paid sick leave. It has also reinforced the need to address certain geographic inequities. Case in point: D.C. and Puerto Rico are less equipped to fight the virus than most of the rest of the nation simply because they are not states.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion stimulus to rescue the economy from the shock of coronavirus, which will provide millions of Americans with direct cash infusions and will allocate billions of dollars in funding to states and municipalities to fight COVID-19. But some parts of the country are getting a lot less help than others. As the Washington Post reported, D.C was intentionally classified as a territory instead of a state, cutting the number of federal dollars the District will receive by more than half. Whereas each state will get $1.25 billion, the bill appropriated $3 billion for D.C. and the five U.S. territories—Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa—to be divided by population. D.C. will ultimately get $500 million in relief, less than half of what it would if it were a state.
“I was enraged by the fact that the District of Columbia was going to be shortchanged,” Senator Chris Van Hollen told the Post, which reported that Democrats tried to classify D.C. as a state in the legislation but that Republicans shut it down as a deal-breaker. This reveals yet another reason why it’s necessary for Democrats to start pushing strenuously for D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood. It’s not just for their own political advantage; as Ben Paviour explained in a 2018 Monthly piece, the party stands to gain a lot by adding four more Democratic senators and several House members. It’s a moral imperative. Without this representation, these areas are grossly neglected, particularly in times of crisis.
D.C. and Puerto Rico don’t have the representatives to lobby for them when it matters. This dynamic was also on display when Congress made decisions about disaster relief for Puerto Rico following its devastating hurricanes and earthquakes. The House and Senate took months to come to a consensus about the amount of aid the territory would receive, leaving the disaster relief unresolved for a dangerous amount of time. Now, with the stimulus (the largest in American history), the District has also seen the financial consequences of being without statehood. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents D.C. as a non-voting member of the House, told the Monthly that this issue never would have occurred if the District had full representation in the House and Senate. “If we had had two senators, this issue would not have come up,” Norton said. “There would have been no notion that any states should have been shortchanged in this way. It’s another indication of why we need D.C. statehood.”
snip
April 1, 2020
He takes near-dictatorial powers, while the EU does nothing
https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/04/01/how-hungarys-leader-viktor-orban-gets-away-with-it
LIKE A BOND villain, Viktor Orban cannot resist revealing his plans. The Hungarian prime minister has never hidden his desire to entrench himself in power. Before taking office in 2010, he remarked ominously: “We have only to win once, but then properly.” True to his word, when handed a big enough majority by Hungarian voters, Mr Orban hollowed out the Hungarian state, rewriting its constitution, purging the country’s courts and nobbling the media. In 2013 he told an interviewer: “In a crisis, you don’t need governance by institutions.” Again, he has followed through. A law enacted on March 30th means Mr Orban can rule by decree—bypassing parliament—until the coronavirus crisis is over. In films the villain is thwarted after revealing his hand. But Mr Orban is up against the European Union, not James Bond, so he succeeds.
No one can say there was no warning. Mr Orban’s career—which has encompassed everything from anti-Soviet liberalism to right-wing nationalism via Christian Democracy—has been dedicated to the accumulation and maintenance of power, rather than the pursuit of principle. Those who knew him well saw what was to come. In 2009 Jozsef Debreczeni, the author of a critical biography, warned: “Once he is in possession of a constitutional majority, he will turn this into an impregnable fortress of power.” A combination of careful strategy, political cunning and a dash of luck have made this prediction come true.
To the frustration of those who have spent the past decade trying to stop him via legal means, Mr Orban is more astute they think. His “reforms” tend to reach the edge of legal acceptability, but no further. If Mr Orban ever does hit a legal obstacle, he surrenders some gains, while keeping the bulk of them. (The Hungarian leader even has a name for this legal waltz: the peacock dance.) Opposition figures, civil-rights monitors and commentators around the globe have denounced the latest move as a big step towards dictatorship. Yet, so far, the European Commission has pledged only to examine it. This mealy-mouthed response stems from the fact that its lawyers see little glaringly wrong with the act as it is composed. On paper, Hungary’s parliament can end the state of emergency if the government oversteps the mark. In practice, this probably would not happen. Mr Orban’s Fidesz party—over which he has had near absolute control for nearly three decades—has two-thirds of the seats in parliament. It is in this gap between legal theory and political reality that Mr Orban thrives.
Luck plays its part in Mr Orban’s success. Hungary is a small country. For EU officials, the erosion of the rule of law in, say, Poland with its 40m citizens matters far more in practice if not principle. Mr Orban has consequently been free to attack the EU institutions that bankroll his country to the tune of 6% of GDP in some years without generating a fatal backlash from Brussels. Hungary slips down the order of business when leaders are busy with other things, such as a pandemic. Mr Orban has also been fortunate in his opponents. In 2006, while Mr Orban sat in opposition, the then Hungarian prime minister was recorded slating his own government. (“Obviously we have been lying our heads off for the past one-and-a-half, two years.”) A mammoth majority for Mr Orban followed. Hungary’s opposition parties have failed to coalesce. When they do manage to rub along, they succeed. Opposition parties won local elections in Budapest last year.
snip
How Hungary's leader, Viktor Orban, gets away with it
He takes near-dictatorial powers, while the EU does nothing
https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/04/01/how-hungarys-leader-viktor-orban-gets-away-with-it
LIKE A BOND villain, Viktor Orban cannot resist revealing his plans. The Hungarian prime minister has never hidden his desire to entrench himself in power. Before taking office in 2010, he remarked ominously: “We have only to win once, but then properly.” True to his word, when handed a big enough majority by Hungarian voters, Mr Orban hollowed out the Hungarian state, rewriting its constitution, purging the country’s courts and nobbling the media. In 2013 he told an interviewer: “In a crisis, you don’t need governance by institutions.” Again, he has followed through. A law enacted on March 30th means Mr Orban can rule by decree—bypassing parliament—until the coronavirus crisis is over. In films the villain is thwarted after revealing his hand. But Mr Orban is up against the European Union, not James Bond, so he succeeds.
No one can say there was no warning. Mr Orban’s career—which has encompassed everything from anti-Soviet liberalism to right-wing nationalism via Christian Democracy—has been dedicated to the accumulation and maintenance of power, rather than the pursuit of principle. Those who knew him well saw what was to come. In 2009 Jozsef Debreczeni, the author of a critical biography, warned: “Once he is in possession of a constitutional majority, he will turn this into an impregnable fortress of power.” A combination of careful strategy, political cunning and a dash of luck have made this prediction come true.
To the frustration of those who have spent the past decade trying to stop him via legal means, Mr Orban is more astute they think. His “reforms” tend to reach the edge of legal acceptability, but no further. If Mr Orban ever does hit a legal obstacle, he surrenders some gains, while keeping the bulk of them. (The Hungarian leader even has a name for this legal waltz: the peacock dance.) Opposition figures, civil-rights monitors and commentators around the globe have denounced the latest move as a big step towards dictatorship. Yet, so far, the European Commission has pledged only to examine it. This mealy-mouthed response stems from the fact that its lawyers see little glaringly wrong with the act as it is composed. On paper, Hungary’s parliament can end the state of emergency if the government oversteps the mark. In practice, this probably would not happen. Mr Orban’s Fidesz party—over which he has had near absolute control for nearly three decades—has two-thirds of the seats in parliament. It is in this gap between legal theory and political reality that Mr Orban thrives.
Luck plays its part in Mr Orban’s success. Hungary is a small country. For EU officials, the erosion of the rule of law in, say, Poland with its 40m citizens matters far more in practice if not principle. Mr Orban has consequently been free to attack the EU institutions that bankroll his country to the tune of 6% of GDP in some years without generating a fatal backlash from Brussels. Hungary slips down the order of business when leaders are busy with other things, such as a pandemic. Mr Orban has also been fortunate in his opponents. In 2006, while Mr Orban sat in opposition, the then Hungarian prime minister was recorded slating his own government. (“Obviously we have been lying our heads off for the past one-and-a-half, two years.”) A mammoth majority for Mr Orban followed. Hungary’s opposition parties have failed to coalesce. When they do manage to rub along, they succeed. Opposition parties won local elections in Budapest last year.
snip
April 1, 2020
Label:
Hansa International ?– 600 081-213, Hansa ?– 600 081
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single, Transparent
Country:
Germany
Released:
1979
Genre:
Funk / Soul
Style:
Disco
Boney M. - Gotta Go Home (Long Version, 1979)
Label:
Hansa International ?– 600 081-213, Hansa ?– 600 081
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single, Transparent
Country:
Germany
Released:
1979
Genre:
Funk / Soul
Style:
Disco
April 1, 2020
Tory MPs cheering after denying Nurses a pay rise in 2017.
Don’t let them fool you
https://twitter.com/BenTheTim/status/1241427151372668928
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/watch-moment-tories-cheered-blocking-10707293
April 1, 2020
A coastal town in north Wales has found a whole new meaning to the phrase herd immunity, after goats were spotted roaming its quiet streets.
It comes just days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced tighter restrictions around social movement last week in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Residents spotted herds of goats strolling around Llandudno on Friday and over the weekend, after more than a dozen of the animals ventured down from the Great Orme headland and roamed the streets of the coastal town.
Videos and pictures shared online show the goats grazing on grass from church grounds, flower beds, and residential properties.
They are referred to as Great Orme Kashmiri goats, whose ancestors originated from northern India, according to the town's official website.
Town resident, Carl Triggs, was returning home after delivering personal protective equipment masks when he saw the goats.
"The goats live on the hill overlooking the town. They stay up there, very rarely venturing into the street," he told CNN.
snip
Wild goats take over Welsh town amid coronavirus lockdown
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/31/europe/wild-goats-wales-streets-lockdown-scli-gbr/index.htmlA coastal town in north Wales has found a whole new meaning to the phrase herd immunity, after goats were spotted roaming its quiet streets.
It comes just days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced tighter restrictions around social movement last week in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Residents spotted herds of goats strolling around Llandudno on Friday and over the weekend, after more than a dozen of the animals ventured down from the Great Orme headland and roamed the streets of the coastal town.
Videos and pictures shared online show the goats grazing on grass from church grounds, flower beds, and residential properties.
They are referred to as Great Orme Kashmiri goats, whose ancestors originated from northern India, according to the town's official website.
Town resident, Carl Triggs, was returning home after delivering personal protective equipment masks when he saw the goats.
"The goats live on the hill overlooking the town. They stay up there, very rarely venturing into the street," he told CNN.
snip
April 1, 2020
The insane, drunken, wild history of Four Loko
Why did Four Loko get banned from multiple states? When was the caffeine taken out of the drink? How did one 23.5-ounce camo can cause so much madness in just a couple of years?
April 1, 2020
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh area pastor says he plans to organize an outdoor “Woodstock”-like Easter service to protest the stay-at-home orders to prevent coronavirus. Conservative Christian pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth made the announcement on social media Tuesday. “I’m gonna announce it. We’re gonna hold an outdoor Easter blowout service. Not online. A national gathering. You come from all over, like Woodstock. And we’re gonna gather and lift up Jesus Christ,” Shuttlesworth says.
https://twitter.com/JDShuttlesworth/status/1245147492171141121
His announcement comes following the arrests of several pastors in the U.S. for violating the stay-at-home orders. Shuttlesworth is a televangelist who co-founded Revival Today TV, and is based in Washington County. This isn’t the first time Shuttlesworth has made headlines. Earlier this month he called out European churches that are taking measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“Shame on every European full gospel church, bunch of sissies, that shut down during this thing,” Shuttlesworth said. “If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down — turn it into a casino or something,” he said on social media. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.”
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1237761136507981824
The pastor also claims that coronavirus prevention is the work of the devil. “Let me tell you if the devil doesn’t want there to be mass gatherings — it’s time to hold mass gatherings. If I lived in Italy I would call an open-air crusade to pray for the sick. If you have to go to jail, go to jail.”
snip
'Bunch Of Pansies': Pennsylvania Pastor Slams Coronavirus Precautions, Plans 'Woodstock'-Like Easter
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/04/01/pittsburgh-pastor-to-hold-woodstock-like-easter-gathering-despite-coronavirus-pandemic/PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh area pastor says he plans to organize an outdoor “Woodstock”-like Easter service to protest the stay-at-home orders to prevent coronavirus. Conservative Christian pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth made the announcement on social media Tuesday. “I’m gonna announce it. We’re gonna hold an outdoor Easter blowout service. Not online. A national gathering. You come from all over, like Woodstock. And we’re gonna gather and lift up Jesus Christ,” Shuttlesworth says.
https://twitter.com/JDShuttlesworth/status/1245147492171141121
His announcement comes following the arrests of several pastors in the U.S. for violating the stay-at-home orders. Shuttlesworth is a televangelist who co-founded Revival Today TV, and is based in Washington County. This isn’t the first time Shuttlesworth has made headlines. Earlier this month he called out European churches that are taking measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“Shame on every European full gospel church, bunch of sissies, that shut down during this thing,” Shuttlesworth said. “If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down — turn it into a casino or something,” he said on social media. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.”
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1237761136507981824
The pastor also claims that coronavirus prevention is the work of the devil. “Let me tell you if the devil doesn’t want there to be mass gatherings — it’s time to hold mass gatherings. If I lived in Italy I would call an open-air crusade to pray for the sick. If you have to go to jail, go to jail.”
snip
April 1, 2020
No Lockdown Sweden Update, US population equivalent of almost 2000 deaths in the last 15 hours
6 days ago we had the US equivalent of 2500 deaths, now we have 8500
IF we get to a death rate of 100 per day (at this rate of increase we will be there in a couple days), that works out to 100,000 US deaths per month, 1.2 million per annum
https://c19.se/
for the last update (and a lot of background from my replies) see here
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213208883
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,327
