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Dan Andrews COVID State of Emergency in Victoria extended for fourweeks

Sam Bernardo
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Dan Andrews COVID State of Emergency in Victoria extended for fourweeks

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 Dan Andrews COVID State of Emergency in Victoria extended for four weeks

State of Emergency in Victoria will be extended for four weeks to continue measures we know are working to slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives.

We know how challenging it is to live with Stage 4 restrictions and it’s easy to feel frustrated or get complacent – especially as the weather improves – but right now it is critical that all Victorians follow the directions to drive this virus down and keep each other safe.

This is far from over and our best weapon against the spread of this deadly virus is limiting movement. In Melbourne, that means following Stage 4 restrictions and not leaving your house during the curfew hours of 8 pm to 5 am, unless it is for work, medical care or caregiving. Only permitted workers can attend work premises.

We have made the decisions necessary to slow the spread of coronavirus in regional Victoria, including the introduction of Stage 3 restrictions across all regional local government areas from 11.59 pm, Wednesday 5 August.

Today we have seen 15 new cases in regional Victoria and while we are still seeing new cases in the regions, it is critical that these numbers don’t continue to increase – as we know, all it takes is one positive case to set the virus off again in any of our regional communities.

If you have even the mildest of symptoms, please get tested and stay home. People without access to sick leave or other supports can apply for the $450 payment to help you get through while waiting for their test result.

No matter where you live, if you have a legitimate reason for leaving home you must wear a mask, physically distance from other people and practice good hygiene, such as handwashing.



The State of Emergency will now be extended to 11.59 pm on Sunday, 13 September 2020 which allows the Victorian Government to continue enforcing physical distancing and isolation requirements as well as other directions from the Chief Health Officer (CHO).



Victoria Police has strong powers to enforce these directions and can issue on the spot fines for breaches of stay-at-home directions. This includes up to $1,652 for individuals and up to $9,913 for businesses. Under the directions, people who don’t comply could also be taken to court and receive a fine of up to $20,000. Companies face fines of up to $100,000.



Since 2 August, Victoria has also been in a State of Disaster, which can remain in place for up to one month, and may then be renewed.



Quote attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews



”We will beat this virus – and extending the State of Emergency ensures we have all the tools we need for the fight.”



”I thank every Victorian who is part of our massive team keeping our community safe – you can thank them too by following the rules, which will see us all get through the pandemic.”



Quote attributable to Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos



“There is no room for complacency when it comes to stopping this deadly disease. Our public health team will work in partnership with local communities to keep you and your family safe.”

Bill Gates warns of “climate disaster”

Sam Bernardo
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Bill Gates warns of “climate disaster”

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What if the United States and the rest of the world eliminated carbon emissions – would the planet’s climate “change”?

The climate will certainly change – regardless of whether carbon emissions from man-made sources are eliminated.

William H. Gates, III, co-founder and long time chief of the Microsoft Corporation (now retired), earlier this week warned on his “GatesNotes” blog that we must “eliminate the world’s carbon emissions.” If not, “the loss of life and economic misery caused by this pandemic are on par with what will happen regularly.”

Mr. Gates predicts the “death toll from climate change” will equal the pandemic by 2060, and exceed it five-fold by 2100. He further asserted that economic conditions in the next two decades could be “as bad as having a Covid-sized pandemic every ten years.” In other words, warmer temperature equals more death.

To paraphrase platoon Sergeant Hulka, lighten up, Bill.

Mankind’s contribution of carbon dioxide from tailpipes, exhaling, power plants and everything else comprises 0.12 percent of all greenhouse gas. Total CO2, in turn, comprises four ten thousandths (0.04%) of all atmospheric gases. How would “eliminating” this infinitesimal man-made amount, assuming it were feasible, alter the planet’s average global temperature? Theoretically, if eliminating man-made carbon emissions cooled the planet by a degree or two in temperature, ceteris paribus—as in, other things equal—do we live happily ever after?

The planet is way more complex.

If man-made carbon emissions were “eliminated,” as in, China, India and the developing world went along with this economic fools’ errand (hint: they won’t), there are many the other influences on the planet’s climate. We cannot stop El Nino and the ocean currents, which have a say in this; we cannot alter the Earth’s tilt on its axis; and we surely cannot stop the rate of sunspot activity. In other words, “other things” do not stand still to comport with climate computer models assembled by scientists funded by Mr. Gates or from grants awarded by federal climate bureaucracies.

These and other natural phenomena get a vote on the planet’s climate, and impact its “change” one way or the other. They all are beyond the reach of the aging baby boom generation—including its billionaire class—and successor generations X, Y and Z, no matter how many protest marches, emails to Congress, meatless Mondays, UN conferences, or corporate virtue signals they generate.

I mention these other wrinkles in the climate discussion, and quote Sgt. Hulka, as no disrespect to Bill Gates. He is a larger than life figure and a historically talented and successful businessman and job creator. Not for nothing was he the wealthiest man on the planet for many years running, until being eclipsed recently by Amazon head, Jeff Bezos.

Mr. Gates’ business acumen made personal computers ubiquitous, revolutionized the workplace and, more broadly, contributed to our increased standard of living. Gates also is a generous philanthropist as his and his wife Melina’s foundation has spent billions of dollars worldwide to combat disease and improve education, among other good works.

None of these exceptional accomplishments, however, make him a sage on predicting Earth’s climate and resulting deaths by 2060 or 2100.

Centuries ago, the world was warmer than today, and humans survived without air conditioning. Then the planet got cooler not because we replaced incandescent light bulbs, stopped driving SUVs and banned air travel and plastic straws. The Medieval warm period and subsequent Little Ice Age occurred all by themselves, naturally.


Credit Mr. Gates on this: he rejects the idea that less driving or air travel will have much impact, and does not attempt to shame us into curtailing our economic lives, as others do. Instead, he correctly points to innovation and technological solutions to adapt to climate conditions and “fight” global warming. Some of his visionary ideas can be useful on their own, even if they end up fruitless in changing the weather four or eight decades from now.



Bill Gates is free to invest his remaining tens of billions to help find ways to live better and cleaner, and even carbon-free. But we all should be a bit more humble and sober about the efficacy and necessity of policies to alter the climate in a different direction from its natural course.



Author



  • -Peter MurphyPeter Murphy, a CFACT analyst, has researched and advocated for a variety of policy issues, including education reform and fiscal policy, both in the non-profit sector and in government in the administration of former New York Gov. George Pataki. He previously wrote and edited The Chalkboard weblog for the NY Charter Schools Association, and has been published in numerous media outlets, including The Hill, New York Post, Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal. Twitter: @PeterMurphy26.



 Attribution of the author and source to CFACT.org

President Trump Announcing the Normalization of Relations Between Israel and the United Arab Emirates

Sam Bernardo
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President Trump Announcing the Normalization of Relations Between Israel and the United Arab Emirates





PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. This is very important. This is a big event. And I want to just congratulate all of the people standing behind me because they have done an incredible job. This is something that hasn’t been done in more than 25 years.





Just a few moments ago, I hosted a very special call with two friends — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates — where they agreed to finalize a historical peace agreement. Everybody said this would be impossible. And, as you know, Mohammed is one of the great leaders of the Middle East.




After 49 years, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will fully normalize their diplomatic relations. They will exchange embassies and ambassadors, and begin cooperation across the board and on a broad range of areas, including tourism, education, healthcare, trade, and security.




This is a truly historic moment. Not since the Israel-Jordan peace treaty was signed more than 25 years ago has so much progress been made towards peace in the Middle East.




By uniting two of America’s closest and most capable partners in the region — something which said could not be done — this deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East.




Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead. And I want to just thank them for being — it’s not surprising, knowing Mohammed so well. It’s not surprising. They are in that lead position. And normalize relations with Israel. We are already discussing this with other nations — with very powerful, very good nations and people that want to see peace in the Middle East. So you will probably see others of these, but this is the first one in more than 25 years.




This deal will allow much greater access to Muslims from throughout the world to visit the many historic sites in Israel — which the Muslims want to see very badly and have wanted to see for many, many decades — and to peacefully pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a very special place for them.




My first trip as President was to Saudi Arabia in May of 2017. In my speech to the assembled leaders of 54 Muslim countries — every single one was by their leader, their number-one leader. It was an amazing — really, an incredible event. A very important event. I made clear that the problems of the Middle East can only be solved when people of all faiths come together to fight Islamic extremism and pursue economic opportunity for people of all faiths.




And when you look at what’s happening, you’re seeing a lot of progress is being made that nobody thought could possibly be made. And things are happening that I can’t talk about, but they’re extremely positive.




I want to thank the leaders of Israel and the UAE for their courage and for their leadership to forge this tremendous agreement. It will be known as the “Abraham Accord.” And I’d like to ask our ambassador, David Friedman, to please explain why we’re doing and calling it the “Abraham Accord.”




David.




AMBASSADOR FRIEDMAN: Thank you, Mr. President, and congratulations to you on brokering this historic peace agreement.




Abraham, as many of you know, was the father of all three great faiths. He is referred to as “Abraham” in the Christian faith, “Ibrahim” in the Muslim faith, and “Avraham” in the Jewish faith.




And no person better symbolizes the potential for unity among all these three great faiths than Abraham, and that’s why this accord has been given that name.




THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great — great thing. I wanted it to be called the “Donald J. Trump Accord.” (Laughter.) But I didn’t think the press would understand that. I didn’t do that.




Avi, say a few words, please.




MR. BERKOWITZ: Thank you, Mr. President. It’s really been the honor of my life to work in your administration. I think this re- — reaffirms your commitment to Israel, to stability in the region.




It’s just a historic accomplishment, and it’s — it’s peace. Peace is a beautiful thing, and it’s something that everybody in the country should celebrate, I hope. And I’m just so honored to — to be here and to serve in your administration.




THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’ve done a great job. And Jared has done a fantastic job. People don’t really understand the things that he’s able to do. He’s done a fantastic job on this. And you and your team — nobody else could have done it. I don’t think anybody else could have done it.




Jared, say a few words, please.




MR. KUSHNER: Thank you, Mr. President. And I would like to say that — I want to thank the President for his leadership on this historic peace effort.




The President, like with all things, urged us to take an untraditional approach. You can’t solve problems that have gone unsolved by doing it the same way that people before you have tried and failed.




The President takes untraditional approaches. He does things in different ways, but he uses common sense and he tries to unite people by focusing on common interests, as opposed to allowing them to focus on their common grievances.




And what happened was, here — is we were able to achieve results that others were not able to achieve, and this will advance the region, and this will advance the whole world.




I would like to say to the people of the region — Muslims, Jews, Christians — that this does give hope that the problems of the past do not condemn you to a future with conflict. There is a lot of hope and a lot of potential, and this will benefit you and this will also benefit people here in America. Because in America, we used to have a big dependency on the Middle East for gas and for oil. Thanks to your leadership, America is now energy independent. We no longer have that.




But a lot of American soldiers have fought for securing our allies in that region. And making more peace there lessens our need, as a country, to have as many soldiers in that region and lessens our need to have as many conflicts in that region.




And obviously, radical extremism, which we see as a cancer that has infected so many areas in the world — a lot of the extremists have used these conflicts to — to recruit people and to say that the mosque is under attack and that Muslims don’t have access to the mosque.




And now this will enable people to take flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi directly to Tel Aviv. Muslims will be welcome in Israel, and this will create better interfaith exchange.




So this is a tremendous step forward for peace in the world, for — for America, for — for Israel, for Abu Dhabi. And all would not have been possible without your leadership. So I just want to thank you.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you, Jared. What a great job. And what Jared said is so, though — we don’t have to be there anymore. We don’t need oil. We don’t need anything there except friendship. We have some great friends. These are two countries that have been great friends, and we’ve been great friends to them. But we no longer have to be there.




It started off when we had to be there, but as of a few years ago, we don’t have to be there. We don’t have to be patrolling the straits. We’re doing things that other countries wouldn’t do. But we put ourself, over the last few years, in a position where we no longer have to be in areas that, at one point, were vital. And that’s a big statement. But we are there for our friends, and we always will be there for our friends.




Robert, would you say a few words please?




MR. O’BRIEN: Mr. President, thank you. The point I want to make, Mr. President: You inherited a Middle East that was a mess when you came to office, and this is one more historic step in bringing peace to the Middle East.




First of all, there was a caliphate that was raging — an ISIS caliphate. And that physical caliphate was destroyed, and you brought justice to al-Baghdadi. You reassured our friends in Israel, who had suffered at the end of the last administration, with a U.N. resolution. You moved the capital to Jerusalem. You recognized the Golan Heights.




In the broader region, you had a very difficult situation in Afghanistan, where we were — soldiers were — American soldiers were coming home injured; wounded; sadly, in some cases, dead. You brought a — you’ve got a peace agreement now with the Taliban, and we’re going to have less than half the number of troops in Afghanistan that were there when you started your term of office.




And now you’ve brought about this historic peace deal between the UAE and Israel. This is the first time in 25 years that Israel and an Arab country have normalized diplomatic relations and entered into a peace deal. And they’re the two most capable countries in the Middle East — two very capable, very skilled, very innovative allies of the United States. So, it’s great for Israel, it’s great for the UAE, but it’s also great for the American — the American people.




So, you came in — you came into office with a region that was — that was really aflame, and you brought peace to that region, and there’s more to come. And so it’s an honor to be part of your team, Mr. President, and to serve under your leadership.




THE PRESIDENT: We do have a lot more to come in the Middle East. A lot of very positive things are happening, and you’ll be seeing that taking place. But where we can get a leader like UAE to head the band and get along with Israel, that’s a big — that’s a very big step.




Would you please say a few words? You have done such a fantastic job.




MR. HOOK: Thank you, Mr. President. The Trump administration made history today. It’s been an honor to be a part of this team that Jared has led.




Peace between the Arabs and the Israelis is Iran’s worst nightmare. And no one has done more to intensify the conflict between Arabs and Israelis than Iran.




And what we see today is a new Middle East. The trend lines are very different today. And we see the future is very much in the Gulf and with Israel, and the past is with the Iranian regime. It clings to power on the basis of brute force that has lost the — it is facing a crisis of legitimacy and credibility with its own people. And the President’s maximum pressure campaign has achieved historic results.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Great job you’ve done.




Would you like to say something?




MAJOR GENERAL CORREA: Yes, sir. As a — as a soldier who has been in every war since Desert Storm, it is an honor and a privilege for your leadership, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and Prime Minister Netanyahu to get to peace.




So, your vision and those leaders’ vision on what we can do in the future is just incredible. So, I would thank you, as a soldier.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.




Would anybody like to say a few words? Anybody here? Because you were saying plenty of words during that negotiation. (Laughter.) So they got very quiet in front of the media.




SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Mr. President —




THE PRESIDENT: That happens — that happens on occasion.




SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Mr. President —




THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Steve.




SECRETARY MNUCHIN: It’s a historic moment. Thank you for being — letting us all be part of this. It is really extraordinary. Nothing is more important than peace. This is an unbelievable moment.




And I would just echo what Brian Hook said: Your maximum-pressure campaign — under your leadership, we’ve had the strongest sanctions on Iran. And your commitment to make sure that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon is part of the most important legacy for peace in the Middle East.




THE PRESIDENT: So, which is easier: dealing with the Democrats or dealing with the Middle East? (Laughter.)




SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, a lot of people never thought you’d get a — this type of deal.




THE PRESIDENT: I tell you, I think —




SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So I’ll be hopeful that we can deal with the Democrats.




THE PRESIDENT: I think the Middle East is more reasonable, actually. (Laughter.)




I’d like you two guys to say a couple of words. You’ve been so instrumental. Please.
MR. GREENWAY: Sir, it’s a privilege to serve in your administration. This is a remarkable achievement that’ll stand the test of time, and we look forward to the prosperity and the peace this brings the Middle East and the ways we’ll be able to leverage that for the United States’ national interest.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.




MR. GREENWAY: So, it’s a privilege, sir.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.




MR. VANDROFF: And I would just echo what Rob said. It’s — thank you for the opportunity to be part — and especially, I want to thank Avi and the opportunity to serve in his negotiating team to do something so historic. That — thank you for this opportunity, Mr. President. This really changes the world.




THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is very exciting. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.




Do you have any questions? Do you have any questions on this accord?




Q Mr. President —




THE PRESIDENT: Steve, go ahead, please.




Q Could you just describe the tenor of the conversation you had with the two other leaders? Was there any hesitation on their part —




THE PRESIDENT: No.




Q — in reaching this deal?




THE PRESIDENT: No. It was like and love. It was a tremendous relationship that’s been built up over the last, I would say, year. Before that, it was very tense, as everything in the Middle East is. It’s very tense. It’s a very tense place. But it’s becoming less tense, and I have great relationships with all of the leaders. And some of — some are enemies against each other, and I get along with both.




That’s, I guess, the big thing; people don’t understand that about me. I actually — I’ve gotten along. Remember, when I was elected, they said the war will start with somebody within days, and I’ve kept us out of war.




You look at North Korea. Everybody said, including President Obama, that’s the biggest problem. Everybody said you’d be at war. Well, we’re not at war. It would have been a war if I wasn’t elected, if it was somebody else.




No, we’re — we’re doing very well in the Middle East. And I’ll tell you what: It’s been an incredible thing.




But, no, it was tense, but the relationship has become a very good one with — between UAE and Israel — and also with other countries, many other countries.




And I think you’ll be seeing some very exciting things, including ultimately with the Palestinians. I think that’s going to be happening at some point because it makes a lot of sense for them to let it happen.




Q Do you support annexation of Palestinian land by Israelis at this point?




THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re talking to Israel about that right now, actually.




Q What about the snapback option on Iran? Do you support that?




THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you really know you’re stuff, don’t you? (Laughter.) Well, we’re not going to talk to you about that. We’re going to work something out, and then we’ll talk after it’s completed. But it’ll be a very satisfactory —




Q Why now did they come to an agreement?




THE PRESIDENT: We’ve been working on this for a long time. It’s been a labor of love for a lot of the people in this room. And a lot of them love Israel, and a lot of them love the Middle East, and they love the countries that we’re talking about —




MAJOR GENERAL CORREA: Yes, sir.




THE PRESIDENT: — like UAE, as an example — standing right here. And it’s been a labor of love. They know it has to happen.




And I don’t want to be speaking too much about it, but if you look, what’s happened since I broke up that ridiculous Iran nuclear deal — money isn’t going to some horrible, horrible groups. And you haven’t seen the kind of terrorism that you saw before.




Now, I don’t like saying it, because all of a sudden, they’ll say, “We’ve got to do something.” But you know what? They’re not getting money because Iran isn’t giving money, and I appreciate that. But Iran is going through very difficult times, and I appreciate that.




And I’ll say this, and I can say it very publicly, that if I win the election, I will have a deal made with Iran within 30 days. They make a very fast deal. They’re dying to make a deal, but they’d much rather negotiate with Sleepy Joe Biden than with us.




Q Why haven’t you already done that, sir?




THE PRESIDENT: But we’ll — we’ll be having a deal made very, very quickly. But, you know, rightfully, they’re waiting until after the election because they would — there’s nothing China, Iran, Russia, all of them would like to see more than have Trump be defeated, where they could deal with Joe Biden, because that would be like a dream.




And this was something that was very exciting. We thought this would be the first country. He’s a great leader; Mohammed is a great leader. And we’re very happy that he was the first country, I would say. And you can see many other things happening in the Middle East over a fairly short period of time. But this is the first time in more than 25 years and — and UAE is big stuff.




The UAE is very powerful, very strong —




Q Do you know when the dele- —




THE PRESIDENT: — has one of the strongest militaries. It’s big stuff.




Q Do you know when the delegations are going to meet specifically?




THE PRESIDENT: Very soon. I guess they’ll be setting up the meetings. Do you have any time?




MR. O’BRIEN: I think in the next several weeks, Mr. President. And then we expect that there will be a meeting here at the White House, with the — the leaders as well.




THE PRESIDENT: There will be an official signing at the White House over the next few weeks. Okay?




And other than that, we’ll meet you at 5:30 or so, and we’ll talk, and we’ll actually take one of your questions. Okay? Thank you. Thank you, everybody. (Applause.)




Attribution: This article royalty-free license WhiteHouse.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.




 


Online Gaming to be banned in Queensland

Sam Bernardo
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Online Gaming to be banned in Queensland

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Palaszczuk Government has introduced draft legislation in State Parliament to deliver stronger consumer protections for Queenslanders gambling online.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath said the proposed laws were aimed squarely at minimising gambling harm to Queenslanders.

“The rate of online problem gambling is three times higher than other types of gambling and we’re determined to drive this rate down,” she said.

“We know that inducements to open an account, such as free bonus bets, are being offered by some online wagering operators and that this is contributing to excessive and unsafe gambling levels.



“That’s why we’re introducing a ban on inducements to open a betting account with an online wagering provider.



“Inducements for referring a friend to open an account will also be banned.”



The proposed ban on online wagering inducements to open an account was agreed between the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments under the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering signed in November 2018.



The Attorney-General said the Palaszczuk Government was going even further than the national framework by moving to ban inducements offered to punters to stop them closing a betting account or from unsubscribing from direct marketing.



“This is all part of the Palaszczuk Government’s ongoing efforts to tackle problem gambling and the harm it causes,” she said.



The Queensland Government provides more than $6.7 million each year for Gambling Help Services (GHS) to assist those who experience problems with gambling.



These services include Queensland Government delivers $4 billion support for health, jobs and business face-to-face counselling, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week telephone helpline, the Gambling Help Online counselling service, as well as counselling in alcohol and other drug support services.



If you or a friend or family member need further information or support, contact Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 or visit www.gamblinghelpqld.org.au.



Source: Attorney-General and Minister for Justice The Honourable Yvette D’Ath

Morrison Government will ease eligibility criteria for organisations to qualify for the JobKeeper

Sam Bernardo
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Morrison Government will ease eligibility criteria for organisations to qualify for the JobKeeper

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ScoMo: Following the introduction of stage four restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne and stage three restrictions across regional Victoria, the Morrison Government will help more businesses qualify for JobKeeper.

Key adjustments include:

  • A change to the employee reference date – from 3 August 2020 the relevant date of employment for an eligible employee will move from 1 March to 1 July 2020, expanding employee eligibility.
  • A change to the turnover reference period – to be eligible for JobKeeper post 28 September 2020, organisations will only have to demonstrate that their actual turnovers have significantly declined in the previous quarter.


As a result, organisations that are able to demonstrate a significant decline in turnover in the September 2020 quarter will be able to access the JobKeeper extension in the December quarter. An organisation able to demonstrate the requisite decline in turnover in the December 2020 quarter would be able to access the JobKeeper extension in the March 2021 quarter.

The combined effect of the economic deterioration in Victoria which will see more firms needing to rely on JobKeeper and the eligibility changes being made to the program will see the cost of JobKeeper increase by around $15.6 billion in 2020-21.

While these changes will apply nation-wide, it is expected that more than 80 per cent of the increased payments will flow to Victorian businesses and employees.

These changes, combined with a deterioration in the economy as a result of the stricter restrictions imposed in Victoria will see the total cost of the JobKeeper program increase to $101.3 billion.

It is now expected that around 4 million Australians will be benefiting from JobKeeper Payments at the end of the September quarter, falling to around 2.24 million in the December quarter and 1.75 million in the March 2021 quarter. 



Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government was doing whatever it took to save lives and save livelihoods.



“Australia is facing a situation that is constantly changing. Our response is to get the right support to all those Australian families, workers and businesses that need us, as these circumstances change,” the Prime Minister said.



“This means more support for more workers and more businesses for longer, as we battle this latest Victorian wave.”



Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the introduction of stage four restrictions by the Victorian Government will have a severe economic impact on the Victorian and Australian economy.



“Already more than 270,000 businesses covering around 975,000 employees in Victoria are being supported by the Morrison Government’s JobKeeper Payment.”



“To help keep more businesses in business and Australians in jobs through this incredibly challenging period, the Government will ease the eligibility criteria to make it easier for organisations to qualify for the JobKeeper extension from 28 September 2020.”



“These change will add to the $15 billion the Morrison Government has already contributed to the Victorian economy through JobKeeper and small business CashFlow boost payments.”



Every arm of government is working to keep Australians in jobs and businesses in business.



The Morrison Government will continue to do what it takes to cushion the blow and help Australians get to the other side of the coronavirus crisis.



Source: Licensed from the Commonwealth of Australia under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.



The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the content of this publication.

Trump signs Executive Order, Threat Posed by China WeChat TikTok

Sam Bernardo
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Trump signs Executive Order, Threat Posed by China WeChat TikTok

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President Donald J Trump: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,


I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that additional steps must be taken to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain).  As I explained in an Executive Order of August 6, 2020 (Addressing the Threat Posed by Tiktok, and Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain), the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.  To protect our Nation, I took action to address the threat posed by one mobile application, TikTok.  Further action is needed to address a similar threat posed by another mobile application, WeChat.



WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States.  Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users.  This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.  In addition, the application captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the United States, thereby allowing the Chinese Communist Party a mechanism for keeping tabs on Chinese citizens who may be enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives.  For example, in March 2019, a researcher reportedly discovered a Chinese database containing billions of WeChat messages sent from users in not only China but also the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and Australia.  WeChat, like TikTok, also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive and may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party.  These risks have led other countries, including Australia and India, to begin restricting or banning the use of WeChat.  The United States must take aggressive action against the owner of WeChat to protect our national security.
Accordingly, I hereby order:



Section 1.  (a)  The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.



(b)  The prohibition in subsection (a) of this section applies except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order.



(c)  45 days after the date of this order, the Secretary shall identify the transactions subject to subsection (a) of this section.



Sec. 2.  (a)  Any transaction by a United States person or within the United States that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate the prohibition set forth in this order is prohibited.



(b)  Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.



Sec. 3.  For those persons who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to section 1 of this order would render those measures ineffectual.  I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13873, there need be no prior notice of an identification made pursuant to section 1(c) of this order.



Sec. 4.  For the purposes of this order:



(a)  the term “person” means an individual or entity;



(b)  the term “entity” means a government or instrumentality of such government, partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization, including an international organization; and



(c)  the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.



Sec. 5.  The Secretary is hereby authorized to take such actions, including adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to me by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order.  The Secretary may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions within the Department of Commerce.  All departments and agencies of the United States shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement this order.



Sec. 6.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:



(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.



(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.



(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.



DONALD J. TRUMP



Attribution: This article royalty-free license WhiteHouse.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Holds a Press Briefing, 7 August 2020

Sam Bernardo
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Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Holds a Press Briefing, 7 August 2020

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Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: Hello. Sorry to keep you all waiting. Before I begin, it is day 42 of the botched New York City primary, where still there is no election results in one congressional race. This, as the New York Times notes, is due to, quote, “the deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots,” previewing the, quote, “challenges facing the nation as it looks towards conducting the November general election with mass mail-in voting.”

Now I’d like to highlight the Trump administration’s actions on telehealth, which the President detailed yesterday. The President signed an executive order to make regulatory reforms, allowing for greater access to telehealth and toward making it permanent.

Trump administration has cut red tape, allowing telehealth services for seniors and for other Americans. Thirty-five percent of Medicare beneficiaries took advantage of the President’s reform, seeking telehealth services over the phone rather than through video conference. A simpler and smarter way to go about things is now available to Medicare beneficiaries.

The President also took executive action to boost rural healthcare services. According to a 2019 study by Navigant, rural hospitals would be devastated by Medicare for All, otherwise known as a government takeover of healthcare. And under that analysis, they found that if Democrats had their way, 55 per cent of rural hospitals or 1,037 hospitals across 46 states would be at high risk of closure.

The President’s executive order calls for strategic investments in our rural communications infrastructure, which will expand telemedicine and rural broadband access. Democrats seek to deny Americans their healthcare freedom, but President Trump is working hard to save your healthcare by guaranteeing protections for people with preexisting conditions, eliminating the highly unpopular individual mandate of Obamacare, stopping surprise medical billing, increasing transparency, and lowering drug prices.



President Trump will continue to work hard to enact these healthcare principles by requiring price transparency; allowing states to purchase drugs from other countries, and improving Medicare to lower drug prices and reduce out of pocket costs for seniors; and by ending surprise medical billing, and making companies compete for your business by providing more options and more affordable plans.



Lastly, later today, Advisor to the President, Ivanka — Senior Advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump, will be joined by Attorney General Barr; Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Brooke Rollins; executives from organizations that combat human trafficking; and survivors from across the country for a roundtable to highlight newly awarded Department of Justice grants to provide safe, stable housing to survivors of human trafficking.



DOJ will award over $35 million in Housing Assistance Grants for victims of human trafficking to provide supportive housing and appropriate services to survivors of human trafficking.



And with that, I’ll take questions. Yes.



Q Thank you, Kayleigh. Two questions about the coronavirus. The president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, he said two days ago that he believed that the only way to have a real strong, robust economic recovery would be to shut the country down again for a month to six weeks.



I know that this idea of short-term pain for long-term gain has been shot down before by President Trump, but has it been given any more consideration, given the recent flare-ups across the country?



MS. MCENANY: No. And I would refer you to what Dr. Fauci said back in May. He said, “We can’t stay locked down for such a considerable period of time that you might do irreparable damage and have unintended consequences, including consequences for health.” And several of those consequences I’ve outlined for you before. For instance, the fact that, in any given year, you have 120,000 Americans who die from drug overdose or suicide. And we saw during the lockdown previously that we saw overdoses nationally jump by 18 percent in March and 29 percent in April, 42 percent in May.



Overdoses do go up, suicides do go up, cancer cases are missed, as Dr. Scott Atlas has pointed out that, “In the U.S. alone, there are 150,000 new cancer cases that arise every month among patients…most have not been seen.” And that was referring to the lockdown.



The American Cancer Society also noted that, during the pandemic, they’ve seen an 80 percent drop in cancer cases being identified.



So there are many health consequences. Those are three of what are a long list.



Q But — so no matter how bad it gets, you don’t think there’s any way that President Trump would look at a nationwide lockdown?



MS. MCENANY: I’m certainly not going to engage in hypotheticals, but, no, the President is not considering a national lockdown. What he is encouraging is mitigation efforts like wearing a mask, which is patriotic; like social distancing; and engaging in these really commonsense, safe measures to safely reopen and avoid the health consequences of a lockdown.



Q Okay. And one more thing about the negotiations going on today on Capitol Hill. Given the amount of money that is involved, the amount of Americans that would be impacted by this next stimulus bill, why isn’t President Trump, more — more personally involved or at least more — more visible in these negotiations?



MS. MCENANY: Well, he is through his Chief of Staff and through his Secretary of the Treasury. He’s regularly updated. I was just in the Oval Office with him, and the Chief of Staff was updating him on that very measure.



But, right now, the Democrats are being fundamentally unserious. They’ve offered no concessions, they’ve offered no plans. If anything, they’re moving the opposite way. And to demonstrate their unseriousness: Their $3 trillion plan, they’ve now said, “Oh, it needs to be $3.4 trillion.” When the President has had a very narrow, specific focus right now, it’s extending unemployment insurance, it’s making sure Americans don’t get evicted.



And when Democrats, as I noted on Friday, were offered the Martha McSally bill, which would have been extending unemployment insurance for at least seven days while these negotiations continue, that was rejected by Chuck Schumer, which should tell you exactly where Democrats stand: and it’s against hardworking Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.



Yes.



Q Thanks, Kayleigh. The President, about 10 minutes ago, tweeted about vote-by-mail, absentee voting. He says, “…In Florida, the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True.” What, in his view, changed? Was he advised by Republicans that he was potentially suppressing his own vote by stoking unfounded fears about mail-in voting? And will he admit now what is the fact that voting across the country by mail is
“safe and secure” and “tried and true”?



MS. MCENANY: Well, the President has always said that absentee voting for a reason is different than mass mail-out voting like what Nevada is seeking to do, which leads to mass fraud.



Q But in his tweet, he says it’s the same thing.



MS. MCENANY: And also, I’d refer you to the campaign on this, but there was a victory in Florida with regards to ballots. So I believe that’s what he was referencing. Would refer you to the campaign for details on that. But he’s been unmistakably clear that when you have this mass mail-out voting, like what Nevada wants to do, the consequences are real.



When the Las Vegas Journal-Review was reporting — did extensive and very good reporting on Nevada’s first all-mail primary election, they note that there were photos of ballots tossed in trash cans, littering apartment mailbox areas, dozens pinned on the complex’s bulletin boards in various apartment complexes, and you have a postal worker who said that when she went to go deliver some of these ballots, in several cases, people had moved or died. She kept 65 ballots on her first delivery, 100 on her second. It is rife with fraud and with delay, and that is what the President stands firmly against. He wants a free and fair election.



Q But extensive research shows that there is — that fraud in vote-by-mail systems is extraordinarily rare. The President votes by mail, you vote by mail, and a dozen other top Trump administration officials vote by mail.



MS. MCENANY: So, with regard to the absentee system, that’s right.



And there is ample evidence of fraud. I would point to you the best example of this and very recent was May 12th: New Jersey’s special election in Paterson, New Jersey, where one in five mail-in ballots were found to be fraudulent in the election. New Jersey officials were charged in that case. And resident Ramona Javier said this: “This is corruption. This is fraud.” There are eight relatives and immediate neighbors she knows of listed as having voted but who insist they never even received a ballot. There are ample examples of fraud. And we can get those to you — more than just Paterson, New Jersey.



Q Another question on different issue. What can the administration tell us about the deadly explosion in Beirut? What led to it, in your understanding?



MS. MCENANY: So that was breaking as I came out. We’re tracking it closely. And just rest assured that we’re taking a very good look at that.



Yes.



Q Kayleigh, thank you. The environmental bill the President signed this morning, it was passed overwhelmingly by both houses of Congress. Both Republicans and Democrats signed on to that legislation. Can you explain why there were no Democrats at the ceremony or even mentioned in the President’s remarks?



MS. MCENANY: The President is very proud of what happened today: the single largest investment in America’s national parks and public lands in history. The most significant conservation achievement since Teddy Roosevelt. It won the support of more than 850 conservation groups. And it provides $900 million a year in permanent funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund.



And you’re asking about recognition of congressional Democrats right now, and the only thing that we’re recognizing about congressional Democrats right now is how appalling it is that there are Americans who are going without paychecks, because they refuse to partner with Martha McSally, Republicans, and the President in ensuring that those payments go out.



Yes.



Q Kayleigh, the President has said in recent — as recently in this Axios interview, that he believes that there — that many people believe that there’s disadvantages to testing. Can you walk us through what those disadvantages are, and if, as he stated back in June, he still believes that testing is overrated and makes the U.S. look bad?



MS. MCENANY: So I would note what the President refers to with regard to testing is that — you know, the media doesn’t often acknowledge that when you do do the most testing in the world, lead the world in testing, that you do identify more cases. So that is what he refers to with testing. And he’s made that point a few times.



But, look, we lead the world in testing. The President is very proud of this. The administration is very proud of this. We’ve done more than 60 million tests. On track, according to HHS, to do 100 million by September. That’s extraordinary.



And when you compare that to the next highest number — India, in the ballpark of about 16 million tests — what we’ve done in this country is impressive. And the President is very proud of that effort.



Q But does he still believe that testing in the U.S. is overrated?



MS. MCENANY: The President, again, points out that the media refuses to acknowledge that when you test so much, you do identify more cases. That’s the point he was making. And he’s very proud that — actually, since March 12th, we have increased daily testing by 32,000 percent. Worth mentioning this is a novel virus; there wasn’t a test. And this President led the way in getting emergency use authorizations to, one, identify working tests, and then to surge the testing capacity by 32,000 percent since March 12th. And that’s thanks to President Trump.



Yes.



Q Thanks, Kayleigh. On TikTok, the President has argued that the United States should receive money in return for a potential sale, but he hasn’t really explained how. Under what authority could the Treasury collect fees from China, from Microsoft, or from any other U.S. buyer to get this done, as the President demanded?



MS. MCENANY: Okay, so I’m not going to get ahead of the President on any official action, but he has made that point. And he and both Secretary Pompeo have said that the U.S. action — that the U.S. will take action in the coming days on Chinese apps, including TikTok — TikTok, excuse me, due to the national security risk. And we all agree that there needs to be a change, especially with TikTok collecting significant amounts of private data on users. It’s unacceptable, but I won’t get ahead of the President on what those actions look like.



Yes.



Q Thanks very much. I wanted to ask, also on TikTok, about — Beijing has said that it may hit U.S. firms as a response to sort of slammed — this sma- — you know, smash and grab of TikTok. What do you say to that, in regard to China?



And secondly, China has not complied with its commitments under the U.S.-China phase one trade deal. We’re reporting today that, you know, they’ve only completed 5 percent, for instance, of the energy purchases in this first half of the year. Can you just sort of say?



MS. MCENANY: Yeah, we encourage China to fulfill their obligations in the phase one China deal and to fulfill their end of the agreement.



But the President remains keenly focused on TikTok and protecting the private data of millions of people in this country. And PRC’s, the People’s Republic of China’s, laws require Chinese companies to cooperate with PRC’s security and intelligence services, enabling the CCP to access foreign-user data. And what this means is that these entities ultimately answer to the CCP, which actively undermines U.S. interests and is hostile to American values and the rights of individuals. And the President will stand firmly against China on this.



Yes, Jon.



Q Thank you, Kayleigh. I wanted to ask you about the COVID relief bill. The President has suggested, if there is no agreement that is reached, the President would act unilaterally. As you know, the power of the purse resides with Congress. So what would the President do unilaterally? Explain what he could do unilaterally, as it relates to providing relief to American families and American businesses.



MS. MCENANY: Yeah, again, I won’t get ahead of the President on determining what that action would look like or would be. I will leave that to him to determine.



But would I say is this — is, you know, right now, we have Secretary Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows once again asking Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to come to the table. The ball is in their court here. We’ve made at least four offers; they’ve made zero offers. It’s unacceptable for hardworking Americans.



Q And then, Kayleigh, on mail-in voting, which you talked about at the very top of the briefing, the President suggested yesterday that he has the right to write some sort of an executive order as it relates to mail-in balloting. Can you explain what would empower the President in the Constitution to take some sort of executive action as it relates to mail-in voting?



MS. MCENANY: Again, I won’t get ahead of the President on his actions and what those actions would be, and I’m not going to get engaged in a hypothetical as to what the actions would be and what authorities they would be based upon for yet-to-be announced actions.



But just to once again underscore the President’s concern, when you look at the delays in voting in Pennsylvania — a very good report by CBS, Zach Hudak. He got a quote from Luzerne County manager, David Pedri, who oversaw — or who identified some of these delays that they saw in Pennsylvania with mass mail-in voting. And he said this, quote: “I have this nightmare of CNN, Fox, CBS, and everyone else waiting for these things to come in on election night and we don’t have them.” It is very hard to speed up this process, and Luzerne’s experience was replicated across the state.



So, as we’ve seen in Pennsylvania, as we’ve seen in New York, as we see across the country, the President is very concerned about delays and outright fraud.



Q And then one final thing, Kayleigh, on TikTok, if I may: The President said yesterday in the briefing that was — that took place right here in the briefing room — the United States “should get a very large percentage of that price because we’re making it possible.” And that was referring to Microsoft’s proposed purchase of TikTok.



I’ve never heard of that before, and maybe you could explain that to me how the government could get a percentage of a price of a private transaction. Can you explain how the President would be able to do that?



MS. MCENANY: Again, I’m not going to get ahead of the President, again, on this action.



Yes, Francesca.



Q Thank you, Kayleigh. I want to ask you something about the executive orders, but I do want to follow up on Kristin’s question and just get a better understanding of what the President is doing personally to make sure that those extra unemployment benefits are reinstated. Is he calling senators on Capitol Hill? Does he have any plans to meet with Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer personally? And is the White House concerned that all parties will be blamed if there is no deal and voters will just stay home in November?



MS. MCENANY: No one has worked harder to ensure that those payments get to Americans than this administration. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin have been on the Hill many, many days now, trying to get this deal worked out.



But it is Democrats, it is Nancy Pelosi, it is Chuck Schumer that are making an absolute mockery of this process. Rather than coming towards us and to a clean extension of unemployment insurance, they are moving beyond what their initial request was of $3 trillion, and then they move to $3.4 trillion. They wanted $100 billion for schools, and we offered $105 billion, to which they rejected. They are making a mockery of this process.



We’re still engaging with them, but this President has been clear: He’s ready to act on this, and it is of paramount importance to him.



Q Is he calling them?



MS. MCENANY: And again, why would you reject Martha McSally’s clean extension? Democrats are fundamentally unserious, and they’re making a mockery of the process.



Q Kayleigh, is he calling them?



MS. MCENANY: Yamiche.



Q Okay, then if you don’t want to — if you don’t want to move on that —



MS. MCENANY: Yamiche. Okay.



Q With the regards to the executive orders, the President has signed a flurry of those recently. He said yesterday that he expects to have a healthcare plan by the end of the month and also an immigration plan by next month. Does the White House feel a sense of pressure to get everything on the President’s to-do list done before November?



MS. MCENANY: No, but the President moves at a very rapid pace, and he wants to get as much of his agenda accomplished this term and going into next term. This President has done a lot already, but he will work on COVID and, alongside that, many other issues, as he routinely does.



This administration often is accomplishing items on two or three different topics in a day, as you can see today with the human trafficking, the event this morning — and then, also, I have an announcement: The President will have a COVID briefing at 5:30.



But I do want to just step back and say this, with regard to COVID: I think it’s really important to put the successes of this administration in context, and I got some new information from HHS just before I came out here. You know, this was a novel virus. There were no tests. There were no therapeutics. But what did this administration do? We, as I noted earlier, surged testing — increased it by 32,000 since March. HHS is projecting 100 million tests completed by September. Because of President Trump’s tearing down of red tape, there are — more than 230 clinical trials of potential COVID drugs and biological products are underway, and over 510 are in the planning stages. Today, NIH announced two separate COVID treatment trials, ACTIV-2 and ACTIV-3, and these are monoclonal antibody treatments.



And also, by September, we have secured more than half a million courses of treatment of remdesivir. That is one of the several therapeutics that this President has achieved in finding for the American people to treat this novel disease — this novel virus. And the vaccine, again, moving to phase three clinical trial at the fastest rate for any novel virus in history.



This could only be accomplished by President Trump — by a businessman in the White House who is not only on the race to get a vaccine — we have two in phase three clinical trial — but is securing 100 million doses in advance so that we’re ready to ship them out. This President has been hard at work on COVID, along with a number of other issues, and those EOs will be forthcoming.



Yes.



Q You called on me. Can I please go?



Q Thank you.



MS. MCENANY: (Calls on the next reporter.) Yes.



Q Israel — Israel reopened —



Q (Inaudible.)



MS. MCENANY: No, you can go ahead. I called on you.



Q Israel opened schools — Israel opened schools — Israel opened schools, and they got —



Q Please go.



Q — and they had issues with that. There were outbreaks; students got sick.



MS. MCENANY: I called on you.



Q What do you think of the fact that Israel opened schools and had to close?



MS. MCENANY: Yamiche, you — you — I had called on you, and you didn’t ask your question, so then I proceeded to call on Andrew.



Q (Inaudible) ask to speak over another reporter; I wasn’t going to do that.



MS. MCENANY: Go ahead, Andrew.



Q So do you not want to answer my question now that I was not being rude to another reporter?



MS. MCENANY: Go ahead, Andrew.



Q Okay. The President said in his interview with Axios that he was doing everything he can do to address the virus. Is that really true? I mean, is there nothing more that he can do at this point?



And also, is he willing — so does that suggest that he’s willing to accept the number of deaths that we’re seeing every day?



MS. MCENANY: No, we’re hard at work each and every day to defeat the invisible enemy. And, in fact, just to give you an update on some of the actions we’ve taken: Right now, there are currently 28,220 U.S. government personnel deployed for COVID-19 response. On top of that, next week — Dr. Birx has visited states across the country, and next week, she’ll be visiting Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.



We’re hard at work at, again, getting more EUAs for more treatments and therapeutics and testing. So we — every day, we’re rapidly looking at how we can make this the most robust response in the history of this country. And I think that we’ve done that, when you look at remdesivir and the therapeutics at play.



And the case fatality rate is really indicative of what this President has done. When we have the lowest case fatality rate — one of the lowest in the world, below the average of the world and below Europe — that shows that our therapeutics are working: remdesivir, convalescent plasma, and dexamethasone.



This President is hard at work, and he’ll continue to work hard on this.



Q But how can you say you’re doing everything that you can possibly do when there are still waits for getting test results back; when you have declined to impose a national mask mandate; when you’re saying that you won’t shut down the entire country again?



MS. MCENANY: So with regard to testing and the timing, when we identify a problem, we quickly identify a solution. And when there were delays in testing, we immediately identified pooled testing as a way to increase the speed of testing. We already lead the world in testing, so to increase the speed, we moved towards pooled testing, and that’s the flexibility with which this administration adapts to problems we identify on the ground, and we rapidly develop a solution to ameliorate the problem.



Yes.



Q Thank you, Kayleigh. Would the President like to see Mitch McConnell put the 600-dollar extension of the unemployment benefits through the end of the year on the Senate floor to put the Democrats in the spot of having to vote for that clean extension?



MS. MCENANY: So I haven’t talked to him about that proposal, and I don’t want to get into the middle of the negotiations. But what I — it’s safe to say is there’s been one proposal — one clean proposal to extend unemployment insurance. That was put forward by Martha McSally. The President was ready to sign it, and it was rejected by Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.



Q Can I follow up and just ask on a —



MS. MCENANY: Yes, you may.



Q — on a slightly separate topic whether or not the White House has a view on whether or not members of the media, a pool, should be allowed to cover the Republican National Convention’s official proceedings in Charlotte, which apparently, as of right now, because of the space limitations, the convention committee is saying that that’s not going to be possible.



MS. MCENANY: Yeah, I’m not read into the convention discussions, but I certainly will inquire about that and follow up with you and find out what the status is.



Yeah. (Inaudible.) Yes.



Q Thank you so much, Kayleigh. Do you have anything with regards to the massive explosion in Beirut that occurred earlier?



MS. MCENANY: Again, that was breaking as I came out here, and safe to say we are monitoring the situation.



Yes.



Q Thanks for calling on me. I wanted to give my question over to Yamiche.



MS. MCENANY: Sure. That’s fine.



Q Thank you so much. So my question is — I have two questions. The first question is: Israel opened its schools back up. They thought they had the virus under control. That virus then spread and it became an outbreak. Students got sick. They had to close schools down. How worried are you that what happened in Israel might happen here, given the fact that there are experts in Israel who say they made a mistake there?



MS. MCENANY: Well, I would refer to our experts. And CDC Director Robert Redfield answered about schools on the Hill last week, and he said this: “I don’t think I can emphasize it enough, as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, the leading public health agency in the world: It is in the public health interest [that] these K-through-12 students…” get back to schools that are open for face-to-face learning. “I want these kids back in school…It is paramount to the health of the child.”



Q And the President just tweeted to — you answered a question about this — mail-in voting or absentee voting, whatever you call it — he is saying that, essentially, it’s the same thing. So why is it now something that can be done in Florida but not in other states? Why is that the appropriate thing to do?



MS. MCENANY: He’s not saying — he’s always made the distinction: Mass mail-out voting —



Q He’s not, in his tweet.



MS. MCENANY: — is with Nevada, where ballots are mailed en masse out to the voter rolls. So in a place like L.A., for instance, where 112 percent of L.A. County is registered, ballots go out, and at least 12 percent of those we know are not active voters.



So that is the distinction from absentee voting, which is where you proactively request an absentee ballot. There’s a difference there. And the President —



Q He’s not making the difference, though.



MS. MCENANY: — the President repeatedly makes the difference. And he is also noting — as I told Jeff, you can follow up with the campaign on this — but there was a victory in the courts in Florida, and that’s what he was referencing in the tweet.



Yes.



Q Thanks, Kayleigh. You mentioned extending the eviction moratorium and the unemployment insurance. On Saturday, Trump tweeted “Payroll Tax Cut plus Dollars!” Is a payroll tax cut still on the table?



MS. MCENANY: The President would love to see the payroll tax holiday because it would, in fact, benefit low- and middle-income Americans the most. But, right now, his keen and laser focus is unemployment insurance and evictions. Those are the preeminent priority, especially with that Friday deadline that Nancy Pelosi missed.



Chanel.



Q Thank you, Kayleigh. This administration has worked to — has identified human trafficking as a crisis and has worked to combat it. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has identified TikTok an online — online platform that enables sexual exploitation of young people, especially in America. Would this administration ever consider — if TikTok became a U.S. asset, would this administration ever consider rules or imposing rules that would help mitigate this risk against young people on the platform TikTok?



MS. MCENANY: Yeah, I haven’t spoken to the President about that specific fact scenario, but absolutely it is a priority for this administration to combat human trafficking and the exploitation of children. So we would certainly take a close look at that. But I — I have not talked to him about that specific fact pattern.



I would like to end just by highlighting a troubling trend that I think we’ve seen play out across the country, and I believe we have a few graphics to illustrate this. It pertains to the “Defund the Police” movement.



And when you look at, across the country, the ties of defunding the police with increases in violence, it’s a cause for concern. As we saw in the beginning of this administration, violent crime was starting to come down, and then bring in the “Defund the Police” movement.



In Los Angeles, you had L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti proposing a cut of $150 million from the LAPD. L.A. Mayor Garcetti said this: “It starts someplace, and we have to say we are going to be who we want to be, or we’re going to continue being the killers that we are,” was his quote, in support of the defund movement. And as a result, we saw a 14 percent rise in homicides this year over last year.



In Minneapolis, the “Defund the Police” movement was afoot as well, with a unanimous vote in Minneapolis City and their council to dismantle the police. And you had Minneapolis City council member Jeremiah Ellison saying, “This is one action of many that we need to take on the road to a more equitable and just system that keeps people safe.” In fact, it did not keep people safe. We’ve seen a 94 percent increase in homicides compared to last year in Minneapolis.



And then, finally, in New York City, “Defund the Police” — you had the New York City Council voting to cut police budget by $1 billion. You had Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying, “Defund the police means defunding the police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math.” So it wasn’t enough for AOC. But you did have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio saying, “We think it’s the right thing to do.” It was absolutely not the right thing to do, as we’ve seen a 177 percent increase in shootings from July 2019 in New York.



When you defund the police, there are consequences. And that’s where the Democrats of today stand. And, unfortunately, we’ve seen a corresponding rise in violence in these Democrat cities, and it’s not acceptable.



Attribution: This article royalty-free license WhiteHouse.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Palaszczuk future light rail link to the Gold Coast Airport are on track

Sam Bernardo
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Palaszczuk future light rail link to the Gold Coast Airport are on track

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Premier and Minister for Trade The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk Premier Plans for a future light rail link to the Gold Coast Airport are on track thanks to a pledge by the Palaszczuk Government and the City of Gold Coast to start the business case.

Future east-west bus and light rail connections will also be explored with a study to prioritise rapid transit options on the Broadbeach – Robina and Broadbeach – Nerang corridors.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was on the Gold Coast to announce the $7 million deal today, which would be funded under a 50/50 partnership between the State and Council.

“This business case will support the next critical steps needed to push major transport investments on the Gold Coast forward which is vital for Queensland’s economic recovery,” the Premier said.

“This is about building a pipeline of projects that can continue to support and create jobs, boost our economy and improve transport for locals, particularly those living on the southern end of the Gold Coast.”

The Premier said the global pandemic impacted economies around the world, including here in Queensland.

“But it’s because we’re continuing to manage the health response that we’re able to focus on Queensland’s economic recovery plan,” the Premier said.



“At the heart of that plan is a $50 billion guarantee to invest in large infrastructure projects that will support and sustain jobs for Queenslanders for years to come.



“We’re already doing that on the Gold Coast with the $1 billion M1 upgrade between Varsity Lakes to Tugun underway now, supporting almost 850 jobs and we’re nearly ready to award the contract to build the next stage of Gold Coast Light Rail from Broadbeach to Burleigh, creating 760 jobs.



“I want to thank Mayor Tom Tate for his continued support for light rail, this partnership funding means we can now start planning for the 13km corridor from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta.”



City of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the southern light rail link was of strategic importance to the Gold Coast, Queensland and New South Wales



“It will result in a 40km public transport spine linking key employment, transport, health and education nodes, with an opportunity to also connect with the growing northern New South Wales economic region,” Mr Tate said.



“I thank the Queensland Government for their commitment to this business case.



“The entire light rail project is an example of the great things that can be delivered when all 3 levels of government work together collaboratively and I expect Stage 4 to prove that once again.



“Ideally we will finish Stage 3 and immediately break ground on Stage 4.”



Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the partnership with Council had been critical for supporting light rail on the Gold Coast.



“Earlier this year, G:link celebrated its 50 millionth passenger trip since services began in July 2014,” Mr Bailey said.



“Much like its famous beaches and surfside towers, the iconic blue and yellow trams are now inextricably linked with the Gold Coast’s identity.



“Locals and visitors love light rail, and our government has backed each new stage thanks to the support we’ve received from the City of Gold Coast.



“It was Labor that got light rail started on the Gold Coast, and we built stage 2 in record time for the Commonwealth Games. 



“We’re underway with stage 3, and now we’re moving forward with plans for stage 4 and beyond.”



Member for Gaven Meaghan Scanlon said work would start this year on the $5 million light rail Stage 4 (previously known as Stage 3B) business case, as well as on the $2 million east-west transport corridors study.



“The study into those key east-west road corridors will determine short and long-term options to improve public transport, including rapid bus services and whether they can accommodate future spur lines for light rail,” Ms Scanlon said.



“Building light rail is a priority, but we also need to plan for the future of public transport on these key east-west arterial routes.”



Ms Scanlon said the east-west transport study would assess the potential for light rail to connect to Metricon Stadium and look at locations for infrastructure such as bus stops and stations, electric vehicle charging requirements and depot infrastructure along those corridors.



“With work rapidly progressing on stage 1 of the Coomera Connector, which will connect to Nerang Broadbeach Road near Metricon Stadium, this is the ideal time to be putting plans in place for future public transport,” she said.



The transport planning partnership comes as the results of an independent survey revealed community support for the Stage 4 light rail alignment sticking to the Gold Coast Highway instead of going west to use up the heavy rail corridor.

Minister Bailey said the survey of southern Gold Coast residents and businesses conducted in March and April this year showed a clear preference for light rail to run along the highway between Burleigh and Tugun.



”The survey revealed 58 per cent of respondents backed the light rail extension from Burleigh Heads to Tugun compared to 25 per cent who preferred bus lanes,” he said.



”The resounding message from many residents was that taking this approach would result in improved walking and cycling paths, reduced traffic congestion and a faster and easier journey for commuters.



“It doesn’t make sense to send the light rail west towards the M1 and then use up the heavy rail line, as local LNP members have called for.



“The LNP plan would effectively cut the connection between the Gold Coast Airport and the rest of south-east Queensland’s heavy rail network.



“The community understands the importance of preserving the option of future heavy rail to the Airport, with 87 per cent of people in this survey backing that option.



“We’re planning for a future light rail extension that actually takes locals and tourists where they want to go – to the beach, dining and retail centres and beachside accommodation, as well as connecting them to the airport.”

Gold Coast Highway (Burleigh Heads to Tugun) Multi-modal Corridor Study community consultation report is available at on the TMR website <link: www.tmr.qld.gov.au/goldcoasthwymultimodalstudy>.



Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

5G Apocalypse: The Extinction Event

Sam Bernardo
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5G Apocalypse: The Extinction Event

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A full-length documentary by Sacha Stone exposing the 5G existential threat to humanity in a way we never imagined possible!.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Please SHARE this as widely as you feel drawn…use it to target your local bureaucrats, technocrats, health practitioners, local and federal government agencies and more than anything else…your family and friends. Featuring in this film: weapons development experts, biologists, molecular & cellular biologists, blood microscopists, activists, as well as good leaders out there on the frontline. We know what this technology is – we know how it was conceived and we know where it is intended to take people and planet. We are drawing the line here….and we are doing so with the full fire of consciousness. Arise Homo sapiens! Source: Sacha Stone

In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones.Like its predecessors, 5G networks are cellular networks, in which the service area is divided into small geographical areas called cells. All 5G wireless devices in a cell are connected to the Internet and telephone network by radio waves through a local antenna in the cell. The main advantage of the new networks is that they will have greater bandwidth, giving higher download speeds,eventually up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbit/s). Due to the increased bandwidth, it is expected that the new networks will not just serve cellphones like existing cellular networks, but also be used as general internet service providers for laptops and desktop computers, competing with existing ISPs such as cable internet, and also will make possible new applications in internet of things (IoT) and machine to machine areas. Current 4G cellphones will not be able to use the new networks, which will require new 5G enabled wireless devices.

The increased speed is achieved partly by using higher-frequency radio waves than current cellular networks. However, higher-frequency radio waves have a shorter range than the frequencies used by previous cell phone towers, requiring smaller cells. So to ensure wide service, 5G networks operate on up to three frequency bands, low, medium, and high.A 5G network will be composed of networks of up to 3 different types of cells, each requiring different antennas, each type giving a different tradeoff of download speed vs. distance and service area. 5G cellphones and wireless devices will connect to the network through the highest speed antenna within range at their location. Source: Wikipedia


Header Image by Ria Sopala from Pixabay

Dan Andrews Tonight Victoria will enter a State of Disaster

Sam Bernardo
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Dan Andrews Tonight Victoria will enter a State of Disaster

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Dan Andrews Media Release: From the outset of this second surge, our aim has been to protect regional communities. By putting a ring around the city, we want to protect the entirety of our state.

For the most part, it’s worked. But as we know, this virus doesn’t discriminate, and its only goal is to spread.

Based on the current numbers, it’s clear there is a real and growing threat in some regional communities.

The thought of this virus getting into regional aged care – and wiping out entire generations within our regional communities – is something that keeps me up at night. I know I’m not alone.

We cannot let this virus tear through regional aged care in the way it has with private sector aged care in Melbourne.

We cannot let it mean more Victorians in hospital beds. More Victorians hooked up to machines just to breathe.



And more Victorians – more grandparents, parents, sons, daughters, partners and loved ones – choked to death by an invisible enemy.



That’s not something I’m willing to accept. I don’t think it’s something any of us are willing to accept.



We must do more. We must go harder. It’s the only way we’ll get to the other side of this.



It’s why from 6 pm tonight, Victoria will enter a State of Disaster.  We used this same provision over summer, and as we step-up our fight against this public health bushfire, we need to use it again.

This will give our police additional powers to make sure people are complying with public health directions – more on which we’ll have to say in the coming days.

And from 11:59pm on Wednesday, regional Victoria will return to Stage 3 “Stay at Home” restrictions.

That means there’ll again only be four reasons to be out:  shopping for food and essential items. Care and caregiving. Daily exercise. Work and study – if you can’t do it from home.

Otherwise, you need to stay home.



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Businesses in regional Victoria will also return to Stage 3 restrictions.

That means restaurants and cafes can only offer delivery and takeaway. Beauty and personal services will need to close. Entertainment and cultural venues will need to close. Community sport will need to stop.



This we’ll be tough for these businesses and their workers – and we’ll have more to say very shortly about extra support to help get you through.

Face coverings will continue to be compulsory – ensuring that if we do have to be out, it’s in the safest way possible.

The question I know most parents will be asking: regional schools will return to remote and flexible learning – across all year levels and across the state. The only exception will be for our specialist schools.



Onsite supervision will again be made available for students who need it, including children whose parents are permitted workers and vulnerable kids who can’t learn from home.



We know this will be a significant ask of parents with little ones – and big ones too. But I promise, as a parent to three, it’s an ask I don’t make lightly.



These changes will be in place for at least the next six weeks. As always, we’ll keep reviewing and realigning the restrictions in line with the advice of our health experts – and if we can change things earlier, we will.



I know there’ll also be questions about why restrictions are needed in some communities that have no cases.



But as we’ve learnt over the course of thing, just because you have no cases today – doesn’t mean you won’t tomorrow. And when the cost of failure if measured in lives, it’s a risk we cannot afford to take.



I’ve had the job of leading this state for almost six years – more than 2000 days. And today is by far the hardest day – and the hardest decision.



But it is the decision I’ve made to keep our state safe.



The whole way through this, I promised to be upfront. So I’ll say this now. This will be imperfect. And for a little while, there’ll be more questions than answers.



It’s why I’m asking something else of Victorians – please be calm, please be kind, please be patient.



I understand people will feel scared and sad and worried.



But we are Victorians – and we will get through this as Victorians.  With grit, with guts and together.

All the temporary sacrifices we make now – all the time missed with mates, those delayed visits to mum – those sacrifices will help keep our mates and our mums and our fellow Victorians safe.

We can – we will – get through this.

Apart. But together.



Source Dan Andrews State of Victoria

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