Jan 302020
 
 January 30, 2020  Posted by at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Ben Shahn “Just one more bolt of cloth”, county fair, central Ohio 1938

 

Coronavirus Deaths Leap In China As Countries Struggle To Evacuate Citizens (G.)
New Coronavirus Spreads As Readily As 1918 Spanish Flu, Linked To Bats (LAT)
WHO: Coronavirus Spread Outside Of China Is Of ‘Grave Concern’ (CNBC)
Hubei Province Has Severe Shortage Of Medical Supplies – Governor (CGTN)
Joe Biden’s ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Memo To Media Doesn’t Match The Facts (Solomon)
Ukraine Ex-Prosecutor In Burisma Case Demands Criminal Probe Of Biden (RT)
The Choice is Now Between Witnesses and Dictatorship (Turley)
GOP Reportedly Has Votes To Block Witnesses In Early End To Impeachment (ZH)
White House Told Bolton His Book Contains ‘TOP SECRET’ Information (ZH)
‘GAME OVER,’ Trump Declares, As Old Bolton, Schiff Videos Surface (Fox)
Ukraine Investigates Ex-President Poroshenko Over Embezzlement (RT)
Flynn’s Defense Files Motion Saying His Former Legal Team “Betrayed Him” (SAC)
Deutsche Bank Posts Larger-Than-Expected Loss In Q4 And Full Year (R.)
US Announces 3 New Bases In Iraq After Govt Demands Full Withdrawal (MPN)
France To Send Warships To Support Greece In Turkish Standoff (G.)
Most Children Sleep With Mobile Phone Beside Bed (BBC)

 

 

It’s no time to put the 2019-nCoV coronavirus on the backburner. The numbers out today are shocking.

• Deaths +29% (from 132 to 170)
• Confirmed cases +29% (6062 to 7814)
• Suspected cases +32% (from: 9239 to 12167)
• Severe cases +10% (from 1239 to 1370)
• Discharged from hospitals in mainland China: 124

 

A new sequence popped up -not sure from where- to accompany our familiar Fibonacci sequence. This new one is less “extreme”, but still says 1 million deaths 3 weeks from now:

 

 


Fibonacci

 

And there is ever more talk of infection and fatalities numbers being hidden and/or lowered:

[..] as research published in the Lancet claims the true mortality rate is actually close to 11% (the official rate is 2%-3%). That is a big one!

 

I like this map:

 

 

 

Given that we have known forever and a day that the next pandemic would come, see my article yesterday, 2019-nCoV, all these reactions and measures should come out of a playbook. They do not, it’s improv theater.

Coronavirus Deaths Leap In China As Countries Struggle To Evacuate Citizens (G.)

China reported its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus deaths on Thursday, as countries struggled to evacuate citizens still trapped in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak began. The death toll rose to 170 on Thursday – up from 132 reported on Wednesday, a rise of 29%. The number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 7,711, up from 5,974 a day earlier. It is understood that 162 of the deaths – or 95% – are in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. Of the new deaths, 37 were in Hubei province and one in the south-western province of Sichuan.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which initially downplayed the severity of the disease, has warned all governments to be “on alert”, with the UN agency’s emergency committee due to meet later on Thursday to decide whether to declare the outbreak a global health emergency. The WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr Michael Ryan, said the few cases of human-to-human spread of the virus outside China – in Japan, Germany, Canada and Vietnam – were of “great concern”. The US and Japan have started evacuating citizens, and other countries are poised to send chartered flights to the city, amid reports that some evacuations had been held up by delays in obtaining permission from the Chinese authorities.

A British flight to bring about 200 nationals back to the UK was unable to take off as planned on Thursday. The Foreign Office said it was “working urgently” to organise a flight to the UK “as soon as possible”. Australia is yet to gain permission from the Chinese government to evacuate hundreds of its citizens, and New Zealand has launched a separate rescue mission from its neighbour, though a timeline is still unclear. France, South Korea and other countries are also pulling out their citizens or making plans to do so. About 250 French citizens and 100 other Europeans will be flown out of Wuhan on board two French planes this week.

Businesses are beginning to feel the impact of the outbreak. Several airlines, including British Airways, have suspended services to China, while Toyota, Ikea, Foxconn, Starbucks, Tesla and McDonald’s were among major companies to temporarily freeze production or close large numbers of outlets in China. [..] Almost 200 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan on Wednesday are undergoing three days of testing and monitoring at a Southern California military base to make sure they do not show signs of the virus.

Read more …

2019-nCoV moves slower than Spanish flu, giving it more time to infect more people.

New Coronavirus Spreads As Readily As 1918 Spanish Flu, Linked To Bats (LAT)

Chinese scientists racing to keep up with the spread of a novel coronavirus have declared the widespread outbreak an epidemic, revealing that in its early days at least, the disease’s reach doubled every week. By plotting the curve of that exponential growth and running it in reverse, researchers reckoned that the microbe sickening people across the globe has probably been passing from person to person since mid-December 2019. Scientists in China are also closing in on the source of the aggressive new germ — bats. The furry flying mammals may have been the original host of the coronavirus now crisscrossing the world, says one of three scientific studies released on Wednesday. But it may be another wild animal sold in Wuhan City’s Huanan Seafood Market that served up the virus to humans, who quickly began passing it to others through close contact.

[..] All three of the new studies — two published by the British journal Lancet and a third in the New England Journal of Medicine — were conducted by scientists working in China. And all focused on some of the first patients seen with a pneumonia caused by 2019-nCoV. One of the studies published in Lancet probed the genetic connections among viral samples drawn from nine infected patients, eight of whom had visited the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. The second study in Lancet culled data on the disease progression and outcomes of 99 infected patients who were admitted to Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan with symptoms of pneumonia.

The New England Journal of Medicine study, performed by researchers at China’s leading public health agency, mapped the early spread of pneumonia cases caused by the virus and used the results to create a transmission timeline. That accounting offered the most authoritative gauge to date of the emerging epidemic’s rate of growth. The new findings underscore the fact that it may take stern domestic measures to bring the fast-moving virus under control in China. One of the research teams calculated that in its early stages, the epidemic doubled in size every 7.4 days. That measure, called the epidemic’s “serial interval,” reflects the average span of time that elapses from the appearance of symptoms in one infected person to the appearance of symptoms in the people he will go on to infect.

In the early stages of the outbreak, each infected person who became ill is estimated to have infected 2.2 others, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. That makes the new coronavirus roughly as communicable as was the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed 50 million and became the deadliest pandemic in recorded history. The new epidemic, however, is moving more slowly than the Spanish flu. That’s because 2019-nCoV takes longer to induce coughing, fever and breathing difficulties in a newly infected victim. “It’s concerning that case reports are increasing, and increasing in a way that’s consistent with pretty efficient human-to-human transmission,” said Derek Cummings, a University of Florida expert in the spread of infectious diseases.

Read more …

WHO also too slow.

WHO: Coronavirus Spread Outside Of China Is Of ‘Grave Concern’ (CNBC)

The spread of a fast-moving virus outside of China is of “grave concern” and has prompted the World Health Organization to reconvene an emergency meeting this week to decide whether it’s become a global health emergency, WHO officials said Wednesday. The coronavirus has spread to a handful of people through human-to-human contact outside of China, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said at a news conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters Wednesday. “These developments in terms of the evolution of the outbreak and further development of transmission, these are of grave concern and has spurred countries into action,” Ryan said, adding that he just returned from China on Wednesday.


“What we know at this stage, this is still obviously a very active outbreak and information is being updated and changing by the hour.” The coronavirus outbreak has killed 132 people in China and sickened more than 6,150 across more than a dozen countries across the globe. Ryan said there are currently 71 cases outside of China in 15 other countries. The WHO declined at two emergency meetings last week to declare the virus a global health emergency. Since the first patient was identified in Wuhan on Dec. 31, the number of coronavirus cases has mushroomed to 6,061 in mainland China as of Wednesday morning, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2003 epidemic.

Read more …

“Among the five million migrants who left Wuhan [..] during the Chinese Spring Festival, 60 to 70 percent of them went to other cities in the Hubei Province..”

People need a new mask every 4 hours. Most workers in mask -making factories are on holiday.

Hubei Province Has Severe Shortage Of Medical Supplies – Governor (CGTN)

There’s currently a severe shortage of medical supplies, not just in Wuhan but in surrounding cities as well, the governor of Hubei Province, Wang Xiaodong said at a press conference on Wednesday. “The first thing I want to do when I wake up every morning is to figure out how to get disposable protective clothing,” people in a hospital procurement department in Huanggang, a city lying 76 kilometers away from Wuhan and where over 1,000 suspected cases of the new coronavirus, told Yicai. “Medical supplies in our hospital can only support one day work, we cannot receive patients without masks and protective clothing,” he added, “It’s almost out of stock, and we have nowhere to buy.”

Some of our medical staff wear raincoats and disposable garbage bags as shoes covers to protect themselves. In the isolation ward of a county-level hospital in Huanggang City, doctors said they usually stay there for hours without coming out, because they have to save supplies. Wang stressed at the press conference the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in Huanggang City, and vowed to prevent it from becoming the second Wuhan. Among the five million migrants who left Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, during the Chinese Spring Festival, 60 to 70 percent of them went to other cities in the Hubei Province, according to migration data released by Baidu Map. Huanggang city and Xiaogan city, both about two-hour drive from the Wuhan city, are the top two infected areas.

[..] On Wednesday, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) responded to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the anti-graft body of the Communist Party of China – about the mask shortage, as well as the supply and production concerns. For now, the mask shortage has become a country-wide problem since the new coronavirus outbreak spread domestically. Everyone who goes outside is suggested to wear mask. But the problem is it’s hard to get one. Besides experts suggested the use of normal surgical masks, people have to replace it every four hours. Facing such a huge demand, the whole country is expected to have a supply shortage at least in the short term, especially in the period when the majority of workers are on holiday during the Spring Festival.

Read more …

Solomon is methodical as usual.

Joe Biden’s ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Memo To Media Doesn’t Match The Facts (Solomon)

Former vice president Joe Biden’s extraordinary campaign memo this week imploring U.S. news media to reject the allegations surrounding his son Hunter’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company makes several bold declarations. The memo by Biden campaign aides Kate Bedingfield and Tony Blinken specifically warned reporters covering the impeachment trial they would be acting as “enablers of misinformation” if they repeated allegations that the former vice president forced the firing of Ukraine’s top prosecutor, who was investigating Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden worked as a highly compensated board member.


Biden’s memo argues there is no evidence that the former vice president’s or Hunter Biden’s conduct raised any concern, and that Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s investigation was “dormant” when the vice president forced the prosecutor to be fired in Ukraine. The memo calls the allegation a “conspiracy theory” (and, in full disclosure, blames my reporting for the allegations surfacing last year.) But the memo omits critical impeachment testimony and other evidence that paint a far different portrait than Biden’s there’s-nothing-to-talk-about-here rebuttal.

Read more …

One of the questions yesterday in the Senate (paraphrased): who decided, and when, that the Hunter and Joe Biden thing was a debunked ‘Conspiracy Theory’?

Ukraine Ex-Prosecutor In Burisma Case Demands Criminal Probe Of Biden (RT)

Former top prosecutor of Ukraine, Viktor Shokin, has filed a criminal complaint with the state authorities, claiming former US Vice President Joe Biden strong-armed Kiev into firing him in order to stop the Burisma investigation. In the complaint Shokin sent to the Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on Tuesday, the former prosecutor requests that Biden be charged with “interference with the activities of a law enforcement officer.” The document was obtained by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Shokin urged the SBI to kick-start a pre-trial investigation into the alleged crime committed by Biden, who he claims was illegally pressuring Ukrainian officials into ousting him from office while using a $1 billion loan guarantee as a leverage.

Noting that Biden, in his official capacity as the second-in-command in the US political hierarchy, repeatedly visited Ukraine in late 2015 and early 2016 to persuade high-ranking officials to remove him, Shokin argued that “as a result, he curtailed an objective investigation criminal proceedings on the facts of unlawful activities of persons associated with the company Burisma Holdings Limited (Cyprus), including the son of the specified high-ranking official [Biden’s son Hunter, who sat on the company’s board from 2014 till 2019].” Shokin specifically refers to the recently released documentary series ‘UkraineGate: Inconvenient facts,’ by French investigative journalist Olivier Berruyer, which challenges the Western media claims that the corruption investigation into Burisma was “dormant” at the time Biden was lobbying for Shokin’s dismissal.

Berruyer, founder of the popular anti-corruption blog Les Crises, said that he collected documents that show that the investigation into the gas company was in full swing at the time. Shokin’s own words to that effect have receive only a passing mention, or no mention at all in the mainstream US media outlets, however. In a recent interview with ABC News, Shokin said that his office was handling six investigation into Burisma at the time of his resignation.

Read more …

“One senator who may not be inclined to listen is Mitch McConnell who Tribe has called “McTurtle” and a “flagrant d**khead.”

The Choice is Now Between Witnesses and Dictatorship (Turley)

While I disagreed with Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz on this theory of impeachment, I recently praised his presentation in the Senate as a cogent and well-constructed case for the defense. Clearly, his colleague Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe does not share my view. He denounced Dershowitz’s argument as “remarkably absurd and extreme and dangerous.” In this presentation, Dershowitz defended his own switch on the issue of the prerequisite of criminality for impeachment by noting that Tribe had also switched his view. Tribe went further to declare that the choice was now between witnesses and “dictatorship.” Even as someone who favors witnesses, I fail to see the imminent danger of dictatorship on the issue. Indeed, I understand the reluctance over witnesses aside from any desire to protect Trump.

I believe senators have a legitimate interest in not creating precedent allowing the House to impeachment on such a slipshod and incomplete record. That is why I proposed an alternative solution. On MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” Tribe that, if the President succeeds in blocking witnesses, “You will harm not only the country today but you will leave a lesson for future presidents that will be terrible to the Republic. It will not be a constitutional democracy but it will be a dictatorship.” The use of O’Donnell’s show to warn of authoritarianism was curious since the host recently declared that his show would not invite Trump defenders because they are all “liars.”

Tribe however had particularly caustic remarks for Dershowitz as advancing an “absurd” argument that “it doesn’t matter if a president uses the vast powers of his office to shake down an ally and help an adversary in order to get dirt on an enemy and corrupt an election.” He spoke directly to Senators and added “So I implore you, if you are inclined to vote to acquit this president, don’t do it on the ridiculous basis that abuse of power, because it’s not a statutory crime and is rather open-ended, is not a basis to remove.” One senator who may not be inclined to listen is Mitch McConnell who Tribe has called “McTurtle” and a “flagrant d**khead.” I have previously discussed my disagreement with Dershowitz’s theory, including what I believe is a misreading of the trial of Andrew Johnson and defense of Justice Benjamin Curtis. This however is a good-faith academic dispute and I felt that Dershowitz raised some interesting point. While I was not persuaded, it is unfair to characterize them as “absurd.”

Read more …

However this turns, more ugliness is ensured.

GOP Reportedly Has Votes To Block Witnesses In Early End To Impeachment (ZH)

Hours after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said Hunter Biden would be a “relevant witness” in President Trump’s impeachment trial, Senate Republicans seem to think there aren’t enough votes to call witnesses following a morning meeting between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) which lasted approximately 30 minutes. According to The Hill, the meeting “was seen as a sign by several senators that Democrats will fail to convince four Republicans to join them in calling for witnesses. Without a vote to hear from witnesses, the trial could end as soon as Friday.” Murkowski, one of a handful of Senate Republicans thought to be leaning towards witnesses, appears to have changed her mind.


“We’re going to get it done by Friday, hopefully,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) following a Senate GOP lunch meeting on Wednesday which was held after McConnell and Murkowski spoke. “I think I can say the mood is good,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), adding “If I had to guess, no witnesses.” “We’ll be in a place where I think everyone is going to have their mind made up and I believe that we’ll be able to move to a verdict and the witness question will be clear at that point,” Braun added. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) – who has forcefully advocated for testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton after a leaked manuscript from his upcoming book claims President Trump directly tied Ukraine aid to investigations into the Bidens – said nothing after the lunch, which Murkowski did not attend.

Read more …

Letter sent 3 days before NYT article. So when Bolton was told the info was secret, he decided to leak it?!

White House Told Bolton His Book Contains ‘TOP SECRET’ Information (ZH)

The White House told former national security adviser John Bolton that his tell-all book contains “significant amounts of classified information,” including some which is “TOP SECRET” and could harm national security. “Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed, as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information,” the letter continues. Notably, the letter, sent from the National Security Counsel to Bolton’s attorneys, was sent three days before the manuscript mysteriously leaked to the New York Times on the eve of the Senate impeachment proceedings – sparking a debate over calling Bolton as a witness in the trial.


As we noted on Tuesday, the identical twin brother of Democratic impeachment witness Alexander Vindman, Yevgeny Vindman, is reportedly in charge of reviewing all publications by current and former officials at the National Security Council (NSC), according to Breitbart News – which would ostensibly include Bolton’s manuscript. Meanwhile, House Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff insisted on Wednesday that Trump’s impeachment trial won’t be fair unless Bolton testifies. Where have we seen this before?

Read more …

Not looking good. “..but remember: you’re a despicable Trump-loving apologist if you said ahead of time that this entire thing would be a joke..”

‘GAME OVER,’ Trump Declares, As Old Bolton, Schiff Videos Surface (Fox)

A string of newly resurfaced video clips of former national security adviser John Bolton spurred President Trump and his supporters Wednesday to highlight what they described as serious credibility questions – raised by both Democrats and Republicans — amid the Senate impeachment trial, as the president tweeted, “GAME OVER!” In his tweet, Trump linked to an interview of Bolton in August 2019 where he discusses Ukraine policy. In the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty interview clip, Bolton made no mention of any illicit quid pro quo, and acknowledged, as Republicans have claimed, that combating “corruption” in Ukraine was a “high priority” for the Trump administration.

Bolton also called Trump’s communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “warm and cordial,” without mentioning any misconduct. It seemingly contradicted reported assertions in Bolton’s forthcoming book that Trump explicitly told him he wanted to tie military aid to Ukraine to an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. (Zelensky has said his communications with Trump involved no pressure for any investigation.) Separately, Fox News has identified clips of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., now the lead House impeachment manager, in which he says Bolton had a distinct “lack of credibility” and was prone to “conspiracy theories.” This week, Schiff said Bolton needed to testify in the impeachment trial as an important and believable witness.


“This is someone who’s likely to exaggerate the dangerous impulses of the president toward belligerence, his proclivity to act without thinking, and his love of conspiracy theories,” Schiff told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on March 22, 2018, when Trump named Bolton national security adviser. “And I’ll, you know, just add one data point to what you were talking about earlier, John Bolton once suggested on Fox News that the Russian hack of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] was a false flag operation that had been conducted by the Obama administration,” he said. “So, you add that kind of thinking to [former U.S. attorney] Joe diGenova and you have another big dose of unreality in the White House.”

[..] speaking to CNN on Monday, Schiff took a different approach – calling Bolton essential to the “search for truth.” “I think for the senators, and I’m just not talking about the four that have been so much the focus of attention, for every senator, Democrat and Republican, I don’t know how you can explain that you wanted a search for the truth in this trial and say you don’t want to hear from a witness who had a direct conversation about the central allegation in the articles of impeachment,” Schiff said on CNN’s “New Day.” Seemingly responding to charges of hypocrisy, Schiff remarked on the Senate floor late Wednesday: “I’m no fan of John Bolton, but I like him a little more now than I used to.”


[..] “Democrats are currently begging Mitt Romney to agree with them that John Bolton should swoop to the impeachment trial and save the day, but remember: you’re a despicable Trump-loving apologist if you said ahead of time that this entire thing would be a joke,” mused journalist Michael Tracey.

Read more …

The legacy of Obama, Hillary, John McCain and Victoria Nuland. Who’s in court for this?

Ukraine Investigates Ex-President Poroshenko Over Embezzlement (RT)

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau has opened a probe against former president, Petro Poroshenko, who is suspected of abuse of power, embezzlement “on a grand scale” and allegedly stealing US aid funds. The case against the ex-president was opened following a complaint by a group of Ukrainian MPs and the nation’s High Anti-Corruption Court demanding the authorities investigate embezzlement and misappropriation of the foreign financial aid at the time of Poroshenko’s term in office, a Ukrainian MP Renat Kuzmin said in a Facebook post.

Kuzmin, a member of the Opposition Platform – For Live party, also published the anti-corruption bureau’s documents, confirming that the case against Poroshenko had been launched. The papers state that the former president and some “unknown people” from his administration are suspected of embezzling “on a grand scale,” subsequent legalization of criminally obtained funds, and abuse of power. The MP himself said that the investigation would look into the misappropriation of funds provided to Ukraine in the form of international aid, including by the administration of the former US President Barack Obama.

Poroshenko did not react directly to the accusations against him. Instead, his lawyer told the media that the ex-president plans to file as many as 14 lawsuits seeking moral compensation from Ukraine’s National Bureau of Investigations, the anti-corruption bureau and the police. His lawyer also denounced the investigation against his client as political persecution instigated by the administration of the current president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The news comes just months after Poroshenko’s ally, Kiev mayor and three-time world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko was also accused of embezzlement and even treason by the anti-corruption bureau.

Read more …

At what point will Sidney Powell subpoena Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Laufman et al?

Flynn’s Defense Files Motion Saying His Former Legal Team “Betrayed Him” (SAC)

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn filed a supplemental motion to withdraw his guilty plea Wednesday citing failure by his previous counsel to advise him of the firm’s ‘conflict of interest in his case’ regarding the Foreign Agents Registration Act form it filed on his behalf, and by doing so “betrayed Mr. Flynn,” stated Sidney Powell, in a defense motion to the court. Flynn’s case is now in its final phase and his sentencing date, which was scheduled for Jan. 28, in a D.C. federal court before Judge Emmet Sullivan was changed to Feb. 27. The change came after Powell filed the motion to withdraw his plea just days after the prosecutors made a major reversal asking for up to six months jail time.

The best case scenario for Flynn, is that Judge Sullivan allows him to withdraw his guilty plea, the sentencing date is thrown-out and then his case would more than likely would head to trial. Powell alleged in a motion in December, 2019 that Flynn was strong-armed by the prosecution into pleading guilty to one count of lying to FBI investigators regarding his conversation with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Others, close to Flynn, have corroborated the accounts suggesting prosecutors threatened to drag Flynn’s son into the investigation, who also worked with his father at Flynn Intel Group, a security company established by Flynn.

In the recent motion Flynn denounced his admission of guilt in a declaration, “I am innocent of this crime, and I request to withdraw my guilty plea. After I signed the plea, the attorneys returned to the room and confirmed that the [special counsel’s office] would no longer be pursuing my son.” He denied that he lied to the FBI during the White House meeting with then FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka. The meeting was set up by now fired FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was also fired for lying to Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigators. Strzok was fired by the FBI for his actions during the Russia investigation.

[..] Powell noted in Wednesday’s motion that Flynn’s former defense team at Covington & Burling, a well known Washington D.C. law firm, failed to inform Flynn that their lawyers had made “some initial errors or statements that were misunderstood in the FARA registration process and filings.” She also reaffirmed her position in the motion that government prosecutors are continuing to withhold exculpatory information that would benefit Flynn.

Read more …

High time for someone to investigate what being in the European Banking Union will cost banks from other countries in order to save Deutsche.

Deutsche Bank Posts Larger-Than-Expected Loss In Q4 And Full Year (R.)

Deutsche Bank posted a 1.6 billion euro loss in the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the total loss for the year to 5.7 billion euros as the bank undergoes a costly overhaul, the lender said on Thursday. It was the third consecutive quarterly loss and fifth annual loss in a row for Germany’s top bank. The results were worse than expected. Analysts on average forecast Deutsche would lose 1 billion euros in the quarter and 5 billion euros for the full year. The figures conclude a turbulent decade for Deutsche, which lost a cumulative 15 billion euros over the last five years, more than wiping out the 9 billion euros in profit during the previous five years. The share price fell 82% during the course of the decade.

Read more …

Call Putin.

US Announces 3 New Bases In Iraq After Govt Demands Full Withdrawal (MPN)

Less than a week after millions of Iraqis took to the streets demanding the U.S. military leave for good, the United States announced that is planning to build three new military bases in Iraq, according to military news service Breaking Defense. The three sites chosen – Erbin, Sulimania and Halabja – are all extremely close to Iran, with Halabja (the site of the 1988 chemical weapons attack) just eight miles from the border. The news will come as a shock to the Iraqi parliament, who earlier this month voted overwhelmingly (with some abstentions) to expel American forces from the country.

But the U.S. government has flatly refused to leave. “At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership — not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East,” said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, adding, “We strongly urge Iraqi leaders to reconsider the importance of the ongoing economic and security relationship between the two countries… We believe it is in the shared interests of the United States and Iraq to continue fighting ISIS together.” Earlier this month the U.S. decided to send an extra 3,000 troops to the region.

President Trump responded by threatening sweeping mass punishments against the Iraqi people. “We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it…If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,” he said. U.S.-led sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s are thought to have killed over one million people, including over half a million young children. Successive U.N. diplomats in charge of Iraq during the sanctions denounced them as genocide against its people. Trump said his sanctions would make the ones on Iran look tame by comparison.

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Time for Trump to nip this in the bud. There is no other choice.

France To Send Warships To Support Greece In Turkish Standoff (G.)

Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has welcomed a decision by France to dispatch war frigates to the eastern Mediterranean as a standoff with Turkey over regional energy reserves intensifies. With tensions between Athens and Ankara causing growing international alarm, Mitsotakis described the vessels as “guarantors of peace”. “The only way to end differences in the eastern Mediterranean is through international justice,” he told reporters after holding talks in Paris with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. “Greece and France are pursuing a new framework of strategic defence.”

Mitsotakis was in the French capital on a visit aimed at rallying EU support at a time when hostile relations with Turkey have eclipsed all other issues on the agenda of his near seven-month-old government. Macron pledged France would step up its strategic bond with Greece, accusing Turkey of not only exacerbating regional tensions but failing to stick to its promised course of action in war-torn Libya. “I want to express my concerns with regard to the behaviour of Turkey at the moment … we have seen during these last days Turkish warships accompanied by Syrian mercenaries arrive on Libyan soil. This is an explicit and serious infringement of what was agreed [at last week’s peace conference] in Berlin. It’s a broken promise.”

[..] Greece’s defence minister, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, recently went as far as to warn that armed forces were “examining all scenarios, even that of military engagement” in the face of heightened aggression from Ankara. Rejecting Turkish demands that Greece demilitarise 16 Aegean islands, he accused Turkey of displaying unusually provocative behaviour. The demand, made by his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, follows a dramatic surge in recent months in the number of violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter jets. “Greece does not provoke, does not violate the sovereign rights of others, but it doesn’t like to see its own rights violated,” said Panagiotopoulos.

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When will we see the studies reporting on the effects of phones on people’s lives? If not now, it’ll likely be too late for many.

Most Children Sleep With Mobile Phone Beside Bed (BBC)

More than half of children say they sleep with their mobile phone beside their bed, according to an annual survey of young people’s use of media. The Childwise report found children getting mobiles at an earlier age, with most now having their own phone by the age of seven. The average time spent on mobiles by seven to 16-year-olds is three hours and 20 minutes per day. Researcher Simon Leggett says mobiles can “dominate children’s lives”. When phones are always so close at hand, as a “private and personal technology”, Mr Leggett says it can be tough for parents to put limits on how children use them.

The survey, based on interviews with 2,200 children in the UK aged five to 16, shows the pivotal place of the mobile phone in young lives. There are 57% who always have the phone beside their bed and 44% who feel “uncomfortable” if they are ever without a phone signal. There are 42% who say they keep their phone on them at all times and never turn it off. Even though the average age of owning a phone is becoming younger, the step up to secondary school at the age of 11 is still the point at which many children get a phone and ownership becomes “almost universal”.

[..] YouTube, a veteran by online standards, remains dominant, used by 61% of children every day, mostly on mobile phones. It is the favourite app and website of this age group, used as the most typical starting point for videos, particularly “funny” clips, listening to music, “how to” tutorials or watching programmes. This is followed by Snapchat, Instagram and this year’s fast-riser, Tik Tok, with WhatsApp also among the most regularly used. Showing the speed of change, Facebook is not even in the top 10 of favourites.

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2020 so far…

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle January 30 2020

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  • #53189

    Ben Shahn “Just one more bolt of cloth”, county fair, central Ohio 1938   • Coronavirus Deaths Leap In China As Countries Struggle To Evacuate Ci
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 30 2020]

    #53190
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Ben Shahn “Just one more bolt of cloth”, county fair, central Ohio 1938

    An amazing, if hilarious, picture…given its date…

    One of the problems is that, most of us do not understand the numbers…
    This thread goes to explaining the numbers; thanks for that Ilargi…
    On no level is it easy to understand what’s really going on across the globe.
    Pandemic or no; we’ll soon know one way or the other.

    #53192

    About the numbers: Albert Bartlett said:

    “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”

    More numbers: that the mortality rate now appears so much higher (11%) than the “official” rate (2-3%) is so scary I would like to see that from more sources.

    Still, the source is the Lancet, no fools, even if the study group is just 99 people in a Wuhan hospital from Jan 1 to Jan 20.

    #53194
    John Day
    Participant

    The Lancet case study should be interpreted in context. Who had an 11% mortality rate during the trial was those people sick enough to make several selection/concentration jumps, firstly, to select themselves to go to a hospital, perhaps repeatedly, then to be tested, because they were not getting better, then to be shipped to the bigger hospital to be in the study. This selects the sickest patients, who die more.
    Look at the pattern, though. Guys like us get hit the most, especially chronically ill and smokers. Guys like y’all, then. I’m healthy and take vitamin-D, which I’ll get to next.
    Rapidly advancing pneumonia, followed by multi organ failure, seems related to the virus whacking the T-lymphocytes, disabling the immune system, and/or inflaming it in deadly “cytokine storm”.
    Antivirals, AIDS drugs were used on 3/4 of patients, but any relative benefit is not discussed.
    Why not?
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30211-7/fulltext

    Clif O. MD, i n Hawaii sent me this nice NIH paper on antiviral benefits of vitamin-D. Take 5000 to 10,000 units per day of vitamin D-3, available cheap and OTC. If you have not been taking it, take 10,000U/d for the first month to get it up to speed. It accumulates slowly.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3308600/

    Don’t smoke stuff. Eat fresh vegetables in large amounts. Sleep all night and be active every day.
    Be a healthy young woman, if possible.

    #53195
    zerosum
    Participant

    Casino slot machines typically have the highest payouts at 95%.
    What are your odds of getting and surviving the coronavirus?

    https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200129-sitrep-9-ncov-v2.pdf?sfvrsn=e2c8915_2
    Data as reported by 29 January 2020*

    SITUATION IN NUMBERS
    Globally
    6065 confirmed
    China
    5997 confirmed
    9239 suspected
    1239 severe
    132 deaths

    Outside of China
    68 confirmed
    15 countries

    #53196
    zerosum
    Participant

    “can’t get any medical treatments, can’t even get a diagnosis. can only sit and wait.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/6000-quarantined-italian-cruise-ship-due-virus-scare-russia-closes-border-china
    Summary:

    7,921 confirmed cases worldwide, 170 fatalities
    South Korea confirms first human-to-human transmission
    China reported largest one-day jump in fatalities on Wednesday with
    Hong Kong warns of surgical mask shortage
    Russia closes border
    6,000 quarantined aboard Italian cruise ship
    Thailand leads with most cases outside China (14)
    Chinese national hospitalized and quarantined in York
    Virus arrives in India, Philippines
    Air France suspends flights to/from mainland

    Update (1000ET): Italians are breathing a sigh of relief. Initial tests suggest there is no coronavirus aboard the quarantined cruise ship.

    #53197
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “The Choice is Now Between Witnesses and Dictatorship (Turley)”

    They’ve pointed out that the House was supposed to collect evidence, establish witnesses and refer to the Senate trial. They’ve failed to do any of that, including choosing a specific legal crime, much less a ‘High” crime. I have to admit that’s a compelling argument. If they didn’t want witnesses and evidence before, why would we add them now? I think this DOES happen in court, but in the movies where someone happens to find the missing person or the smoking gun and puts the trial in disarray as they struggle to add evidence later.

    And dictatorship? Words have meanings: use them some time. So dictators usually obey all court orders, send all legislation through parliament, stop if it doesn’t pass, tolerate impeachment and removals meekly and without so much as counter-arresting, counter-impeaching, much less calling the generals and having mass arrests of resisting officials? I think that may be the opposite of every tick on the checklist for “dictator”. “Dic·ta·tor /ˈdikˌtādər/ a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force”. Laughably lacking total power, and lacking control by force of any kind, and arguably much of any control at all as the executive refuses direct orders every day, and he cannot even fire insubordinate Ambassadors or reverse executive orders. But I’m sure if we don’t call ONE witness, all that will change and suddenly everyone will slavishly obey Cheeto-in-Chief, you know, ‘cause: reasons!

    …As if Americans obey anybody, ever. Talk about arguments “absurd”

    Actually, in a world of lies and madness I appreciate Dershowitz’s argument that you’re SUPPOSED to use “Abuse of Power”… but as a POLITICAL accusation, to win elections. It’s tradition. Go ahead, knock yourself out, it’s free speech, make your case, win your contest. …However, it is not a specific legal crime and has been hurled against 45 Presidents in a row, including George Washington, so it can’t be a legitimate standard. Seemed more compelling than Schiff’s “Orange Man is Bad, RussiaRussiaRussia.” Okay, great Adam: where and when? This is your case. Evidence please? “Adam Schiff just argued on the Senate floor that House Democrats can’t possibly be expected to prove their case” Because they, he, has no evidence, apparently? He’s not just the prosecutor, he’s the House manager who gathered the evidence and forced the vote. But now YOU, the chief gatherer-of-ecvidence find you have no evidence? The evidence you were supposed to have long before now as your job and your homework? Sorry, sir, I cannot help you now.

    White House Told Bolton His Book Contains ‘TOP SECRET’ Information (ZH)”

    Surprise to no one, media reported by this that Trump “attacked” Bolton. By telling him some things were still classified and would need to be reviewed. As is done 100% of the time. And is his required job to say. I guess Government officials doing their job really WOULD be news, wouldn’t it? And making them follow the rules in a time of universal failure really IS an attack! I mean, why single out this poor guy when no one else follows laws?

    Bolton also called Trump’s communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “warm and cordial,”

    Just like the House and the delayed foreign aid, Bolton was so disturbed by Trump, he told no one and reported nothing. He had no objections and filed no complaints. Then he went on T.V. in full support. Sounds serious! Who can stand such villainy? And all America loves John Bolton. We are breathless on his every word and trust him implicitly.

    Ukraine Investigates Ex-President Poroshenko over Embezzlement (RT)”

    They’re Slavs so nothing they say or do can ever matter to the Ubermench in the media and DNC. Even when they have official reviews, official statements, and start new investigations into Joe. That’s all “unproven” “not suggested” as if they don’t exist. Those silly slavs! They’re not like real people, they are just children who must be guided and told by their betters. White Swede’s burden, who will graciously tell them what to do.

    #53198
    zerosum
    Participant

    All is calm in la-la-land
    Impeachment trials hiding/diverting reports/danger/concerns of coronavirus.

    #53200

    Dr. D, just imagine what will happen if the Senate votes against witnesses. The Dems will use that as their main tool to carry into the election: “We would have proved it all if only they let us…” No matter where you look, there’s much more ugliness on the horizon.

    schiff

    #53201

    Interesting, John. Don’t think I should try to turn into a healthy young woman though, certainly not before the epidemic hits; these things take time. I hope everyone takes your Vit. D3 advice to heart. Just ran out of mine (2,000 units), which I took to make up for lost daylight. That didn’t work at all.

    I’ve been in almost full hibernation state (why I’ve been writing so little) ever since I left Athens for Amsterdam mid Dec. Won’t try that at that time of year again. 2 hours less daylight, and what there is, is always overcast. I grew up as a kid in Holland, but my body doesn’t like it anymore apparently, it demands light, sun. Only now, 5-6 weeks after the shortest day, am I waking up a bit. Been going to the gym 3-4 times a week all the time, but then early afternoon I just fell asleep.

    But, so, yeah, Vit. D3. Get it guys, for now it’s much easier to get than face masks.

    #53202
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks, Ilargi. Sorry you are under-the-weather.
    If you can’t be healthy young woman, be a surf-lifeguard.
    http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/01/fatal-mechanisms.html
    Switching to poison as a purported cause of death, I am grateful to Tom for sending​ this essay explaining Joe Stalin’s belief that FDR was poisoned to death by “the Churchill gang”, as he explained to FDR’s son, who he had met previously at a high level negotiation in Iran, during the war. My Grandmother Day was always of the belief that FDR was murdered, and may have seen this same interview summary.
    ​ ​Stalin took a few steps around the office, and almost in a rage roared, “They poisoned your father, of course, just as they have tried repeatedly to poison me.”
    “They, who are they,” Elliot asked
    “The Churchill gang!” Stalin roared, “They poisoned your father, and they continue to try to poison me…the Churchill gang!”
    http://www.prouty.org/coment11.html

    Cat sends this whimsical essay by CJ Hopkins, where he paints Trump as a ​”​Dead President Walking”​:
    ​ Relax, folks. I’m just kidding, of course. The Intelligence Community would never dream of doing anything … you know, illegal. The Community doesn’t assassinate people, and commit all sorts of other atrocities. That’s just a thing they do in the movies. In reality, they would never assassinate a president, especially not one they had been telling everyone is a “Russian asset,” and “literally Hitler,” and a “traitor,” and a “dictator,” for over three years.
    ​ ​OK, those are pretty harsh words, but they probably don’t really mean all that stuff. Odds are, they’re just horsing around. They’re a notorious bunch of jokesters, those CIA guys.
    https://www.unz.com/chopkins/dead-president-walking/

    #53203
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    The MSM calculations are misleading.

    Please give Chris Martenson one full minute of your attention:

    It looks to me like the infection rate is approaching a full order of magnitude every seven days. That’s approaching a tenfold total every week. Having the supplies to do so for a year, I self-quarantined three days ago. It’s the shedding of virus for a week before showing symptoms that told me this one was the one to avoid.

    If your calculation includes only the resolved cases from hospitals, the number of dead throughout China has always exceeded the number of fully-recovered patients released from hospitals. Deaths have ranged between 50% and 60% of resolved cases every day for the last week or so.

    Quoted below is Brandon Smith from his article yesterday:
    Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-viral-pandemic-benefits-globalist-agenda

    “Only three months ago, John Hopkins, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum (a hive of self-professed globalists) ran a “pandemic simulation” called “Event 201” specifically focused on Coronavirus. Not Ebola, or Swine Flu or even Avian Flu – but CORONAVIRUS. The simulation features the spread of coronavirus in South America, blamed on animal to human transmission (pigs). The conclusion of the exercise was that national governments were nowhere near ready, scoring 40 out of 100 on their preparedness scale. The simulation projected over 65 million deaths worldwide.

    “Event 201 played out almost exactly as it has been in China today. Some very disingenuous or perhaps rather stupid people have been arguing that this kind of thing is “normal”, claiming that we are “lucky” that the elites have been running simulations in advance in order to “save us” from a coronavirus outbreak. I assert that Event 201 was not a simulation but a war-game to study the possible outcomes of an event the globalists already knew was coming. Set aside the fact that before almost every major crisis event and terrorist attack for the past few decades authorities were running simulations for that exact event right before it happened; does anyone really believe that Event 201 is pure coincidence?”

    Personally, and it’s just my opinion, but I now strongly believe that 2019-nCoV a bioweapon. And rather than an accidental release, I suspect this was actually an act of war against world “over-population.”

    By the way, Albert Bartlett was my physics professor at the University of Colorado in 1971. My sole claim to fame in life is that I passed his class with a ‘B.’

    #53204

    Schiff is really getting to me now. he’s doing a little CNN press-op surrounded by real stupid looking lackeys, repeating all the same stuff again that he has for half a year now. But Schiff has zero proof about anything bad in the Trump-Zelensky call, he only has the story he made of it. He also has zero proof about Russia, just like Robert Mueller did, but keeps talking about “..so we don’t have to fight Russia over here”. Another made-up story. It’s insulting.

    Thing is, he’s the only Democrat who’s “attractive” to viewers and voters right now, much more than any of the candidates. They must be wishing so hard he’d run for president, he’s all they have, with his made from whole cloth tales and all. And CNN, NYT,MSNBC and WaPo will go all out for him, because they need to create the impression there’s an actual contest for the presidency.

    The story is not Trump, it’s the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of the entire US political system. Which no-one is trying to fix; the Dems have dick-all, so they make you believe it’ll all be fixed and fine if only Trump were gone.

    When do you think the civil war will start, before or after November 3?

    #53205

    Diogenes,

    I covered the Event 201 simulation in my article yesterday (Eric Toner).

    I think you’re talking infection numbers, not rate.

    #53206

    First US human-to-human transmission. Illinois. Things will change.

    #53207
    zerosum
    Participant

    I like your “clown picture”
    I can’t tell if its photo shopped or real.
    ;_)

    #53208
    Arttua
    Participant

    Immune system.
    A British study of cyclists aged 70 through 80s found their immune system to be close to a 20 something. At the age of 63, as a cyclist I have had certainly less than 63 colds, nothing like Wes from yesterday with 100 to 200.

    #53209
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Civil War? Virginia just had their little armed discussion with an enormous number of fully- armed citizens 10x more than needed to overrun the State.

    “Roger-dodger loud and clear. We hear you. So we are going to DOUBLE the number of gun laws, AND outlaw criticizing anyone in Richmond, AND have any case against anyone we bring be held in Richmond instead of “by a jury of your peers”. So going after the 1st, 2nd, and i dunno, 4th? Amendments now? Sigh. Okey-dokey.

    The thing of moving ALL trials to Richmond so we can get a hanging judge and jury is ominous, totally 3rd world. As much as this:
    VA
    The Seal of the State of Virginia. Thus to all Tyrants. How we’ve fallen.

    #53210
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Be a healthy young woman, if possible.”

    Oh, John, I tried so hard. Really. But not only am I improperlu anatomically provisioned, I’m also hopelessly heterosexual, or if one prefers: a male lesbian. I just plain like pussy.

    I used to be a moderately successful wimp, which our culture sadly equates with femininity, but discovered before I’d turned 30 that I am simply not someone to fuck with. I have a kill switch and know how to turn it on.

    I am now struggling to relieve myself of the popular delusion (imo, and I’m sticking to it) that violencve other than obvious blatant self-defense, does anything to promote more good than evil in this world. It doesn’t. Violence as our culture codifies and condones it, the popular concept of “necessary evil”, is not. It is unnecessary evil.

    WHile I do not absolutely claim that all evil is necessary, I do believe that this is true only in the hands of intelligence, wisdom, and power beyond our own. “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord, and all that. And evn that allegedly Almighty hypothetical Being gave up on trying to whip or euthanize or coerce and sense into humanity, and this thing they say His Son did was to receive violence unto Himself (for reasons so many claim to understand but not I, although I have a peth theory).

    We’ll fight each other and reality to death. Reality will win. We won’t.

    But that is just my personal moral sphere, something I have to do to preserve my sanity. Others feel a need to fight and I deeply sympathize with them: been there, done that. It just doesn’t work for me.

    Blowing Away

    We’ll have corpses enough to bury ere soon.

    #53211
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Have I detected a little objectivity and a turn away from the xenophobia to China exhibited on this blog recently?

    #53212
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Schiff is really getting to me now. he’s doing a little CNN press-op surrounded by real stupid looking lackeys, repeating all the same stuff again that he has for half a year now. ”

    Schiff is like a scarecrow. After awhile, the birds ignore him except as a place to roost and shit. Wait and wee what happens when they discover he’s stuffed with peanuts.

    eat crow

    I repost the image as a link in case the IMG button fails:

    Eating Crow

    ***

    “Personally, and it’s just my opinion, but I now strongly believe that 2019-nCoV a bioweapon. And rather than an accidental release, I suspect this was actually an act of war against world “over-population.”

    I quite understand the rationale of your logic and how existing data defines a trend of drill-before-deliberate-calamity, so I can’t naysay the concept’s viability. Zerosum has several times said that when it is shown to transit via wealthy persons’ private air yachts, we’ll see and hear a different response from elite-dominated instruments of social manipulation.

    I can hear their logic over espresso and cognac: “It’s a necessary evil if we’re to save humanity, which only we can do, being the gods of this milieu.”

    It’s plausible.

    But self-deceiving arrogant blind self-delusion works as well or better running on stupid ignorance as on intelligent hubris (and the likes of Bill Gates have both in spades).

    So I won’t forego the prospect that this is just the natural consequence of overall cultural ignorance, our culture being mostly a tissue of silly dreams driven by the highly accurate applied physics discovered by mostly rogue geniuses, their acolytes, and lackeys. That E.O. Wilson quote again:

    “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.”

    A guy like Gates is perhaps as well satisfied to have his reflection say, “We told them so,” as it is to say, “Looks like it’s up to save the world via encrypted mass euthanasia.” Maybe more so.

    It’s hard to say with egoes so hyper-inflated and financially empowered.

    ***

    “Thing is, he’s (Schiff) the only Democrat who’s “attractive” to viewers and voters right now, much more than any of the candidates. They must be wishing so hard he’d run for president, he’s all they have, with his made from whole cloth tales and all. And CNN, NYT,MSNBC and WaPo will go all out for him, because they need to create the impression there’s an actual contest for the presidency.”

    Sadly, when I learned from you that Nicole Foss was endorsing the notion that removing Trump is the solution, the inescapable logic I perceived is that the people who identify with whatever it is they call the “left” these days have grown to be the biggest obstacle to meaningful political reform.

    If I had a dollar for every time someone said, “At least Obama could form coherent sentences” as if that morally elevated his actions above their vile swamping grounds, as if it’s better to be lied to with elegant sophistry rather than with word salad sound-bites (Trump’s verbal forte), as if it’s better to believe those elegant lies than face discomfiting truths, I’d be able to go out for a swell dinner with my wife tonight.

    Eat at Home

    #53213
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #53214
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Yeah, I know the scarecrow corpse is fake. Sort of a triple entendre.

    #53215
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Have I detected a little objectivity and a turn away from the xenophobia to China exhibited on this blog recently?”

    I hadn’t seen any xeno-. I saw a healthy mistrust of its government, and a subjective distaste for China’s willingness to not hide all of the animals-for-food slaughtered, but no xenophobia either in the true sense (fear of China/Chinese) nor condescencion toward same.

    I too have detected a little objecticvity which, with human beingsd, is as good as it gets: a little here and there. We’re not rational beings.

    #53216
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Hahahahaha!

    #53217
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Here is Patrick Cockburn comparing his personally lived, later journalistically researched, with a polio outbrak in Cork, Ireland (apparentl;y the national whiskey bottle stopper or something?). It presents (at least superficially) as seasoned, level-headed, experienced prudent perspective (but appearances are often deceiving):

    Cork Polio Outbreak

    #53218
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I tend to doubt Prouty’s version of FDR’s death, and Stalin is as credible as witness as Trump: not.

    Which is not to say that the astoery is entirely false, just that it’s not entirely true’ For example, this is a false attribution. The actual quote comes from the 19th century (which one can also see in the VIctorianesque iron trellised prose).

    That said, I certainly wouldn’t put it past Churchill, a shiny-nosed SOB albeit a gorgeous writer and somewhat shrewd philosopher so long as he stuck to abstractions and physical reality or factual history.

    #53223
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    My reply to a survey request received just now from OHSU, Portland’s ludicrously over-sized, over-priced, narcissitically self-elated medical monolith, I sent this rather than click the survey and begin answering inane question on a scale of 1-10:

    I’m sure that hitting reply won’t place my response before human eyes except maybe one of your IT people, but I have no time to waste on abstracted numerical surveys. Gawdamighty. But if you do read this, I’ll share this:

    Despite the constant confusion and the inevitable malfunctions in protocol/procedure produced by an impossibly over-large bureaucracy and the omnipresence of useless, wasteful marketing/PR, I find that, once one gets through the rat’s maze of unnecessary redundancy coupled with missing necessities (‘undone-dancies’), your actual medical staff is an extremely competent joy to work with. It’s almost as if they’re compensating for an administrative structure they know is out of control and incompetent.

    #53224
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “When do you think the civil war will start, before or after November 3?”

    Like epidemics, it’s hard to identify a desicive ‘nodal inflection point’ (I think, I hope, I used that 3-word expression aprtly, maybe even accurately). Retroactively, perhaps easier.

    But if you mean armed bands of self-identifying groups shooting at bands of self-identifying groups (armed or not), I’d say when the food, or water, or lights run out or turn off. Possibly with crank-crime-labelled miniature precursors fighting for gasoline. Can’t say how that relates to the next election.

    Or perhaps will see a coup d’etat from within the military, assuming there are enough military personnel in high enough places, of sufficient charisma and skill in clique manipulations who would not be caught up in the slime bomb (call it the unBarred-Epstein virus for poetic sake) I personally believe would explode if Trump were offed. Again, uncertain relation to Nov 3.

    I don’t think people will get their civil war on over this election alone. For all the armed protestors milling about some legislature on a public holiday, the USa plebiscite is a bovine mass on hormones, antibiotics, piped-inmusic, eating weird-ass food while doing their best not to think about the way big bunches occasionally leave after being rounded up in cattle cars headed toward death camps that very few of them can even imagine unless they’re watching All Hitler All Day on The History Channel.

    Moo Chew News

    #53225
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “The Seal of the State of Virginia. Thus to all Tyrants. How we’ve fallen.”

    It wasn’t fall too far. Virginia is the rotten center that produced this nonsensical polity known as the Unitesd States, with its silly Declaration of Independence for slave owners or slavery-endorsing wannabes who hogged the l;and from its native inhabitants while revering a buncha same if long dead greeks because, hey, at least they’re not Catholics.

    Not far at all. The American dream is something I’ve never once drwamt of nor heard of anyone else doing likewise. It’s something we collectively hallucinate in our somnambulistic waking hours. I know: I’ve seen it on TV. (Don’t tell me that TV isn’t real. Ic havwe personally smashed the screen and sung songs with Little Elmo. That boy’s got some good drugs!)

    #53226
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    But, so, yeah, Vit. D3. Get it guys, for now it’s much easier to get than face masks.

    Ilargi, 2 – 4 grams of vitamin C per day does wonders and is an excellent adjunct to vita D…Linus Pauling pioneered vita C research and himself, took 4 grams a day.
    I take 2 grams every day; vita D is redundant here in the sunny tropics… 😉
    Besides, I eat a lot of natural, plain, yogurt; zero added sugar…

    #53227
    Dr D Rich
    Participant
    #53228
    John Day
    Participant

    Lovely thread today, guys. I’ve ridden my bike to work, worked, and am back home, since Jenny let me put my bike in the back of he Toyota Matrix as she headed home.
    While riding to work I formulated an engaging Unified Conspiracy Theory hypothesis, which should work for all of us, as to how things may have come to appear as they do with Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
    Let’s look at the article about Wuhan’s Institute of Virology, which we saw yesterday. https://www.zerohedge.com/health/man-behind-global-coronavirus-pandemic
    This institute was advertising on November 18 for a couple of hard working grad level research slaves, sleep under desk kinda; guys. The implication of this ZH article is that thefruit- bats-carry-deadly-coronavirus program was ramping up, but what if they just had to fire a couple of guys in mid November? Have you ever worked in animal research? I have, and sometimes people have to be fired for violating animal treatment protocols. It’s actually really important, and can go on a long time before anybody at the boss level finds out. (I’m thinking of somebody. Hi Larry. I presume you are not reading this.)
    Lab animals are typically docile, raised and fed well by humans in captivity their whole lives, then “sacrificed” at the end of the study. Nobody paid much attention to the rat corpses I had to create in college and med school, but they were not infected with stuff, either.
    Imagine you are a hard working Chinese grad student guy, taking really good care of these lovely fat, pleasant fruit bats every day, and there are lots of them that you are just supposed to euthanize at the end of each project run, then cremate.
    What a waste! These are prime dining, and no hassle at all to slaughter, and there is this guy at the exotic meat market who gives good money for each and every one, no questions asked.
    It’s arguably un-Chinese to persistently ignore such an obviously efficient and virtuous business arrangement. It could be a real steady thing.
    (Larry seemed to have mistreated monkeys and chimps for years, and lab primates are a sensitive issue.)
    So for months there is an intermittent supply of live fruit bats delivered to the Wuhan fish market, variously infected with viral strains that have been tested in previous months. It’s a regular thing. Goes on for at least months, maybe years, until a researcher finds out one day. Unfortunately, it’s something like a month after the virus is already doing human-to-human spread at the fish market (RNA mutation regression analysis placed case-1 in October)
    Case-temporarily-closed. Hire new qualified workers and let them know why the other guys got fired, so they don’t try it.
    Event 201, making the world safe for coronavirus pandemics, was held October 18, which is about the time the virus started it’s journey of spreading and mutating in human hosts, one month before the job postings.
    Well, what if you had researched the Chinese lab, and wanted to hoist it upon it’s own petard, while unleashing a bioweapon on the Chinese economy? Just askin’.
    So you are a deep-state-economic-hit-man spook with flair, a boss who likes your style, plenty of budget, and you know these guys who take care of the infected fruit bats at the virology lab would really like to have girlfriends and money, and you know some guys who can show them a way to help make that happen, with nobody hurt, and nobody the wiser?
    The sort of weakness with this simply scenario is that nobody in the world is protected from whatever weaponized virus finds out it can spread in humans. There has been no real picking and choosing, unless your intel was so good that you actually knew the details of each ongoing experiment, and COULD pick and choose which bats went to market…

    Anyway, Dr D, and Boscohorowitz , and Zerosum, Gilligan, the Skipper, too, I hope everybody can find something to like in this tragicomic screenplay.
    More or less sincerely yours and taking vitamin-D, John

    #53229
    John Day
    Participant

    Oh, this mistreating lab primates Larry is not the Larry who just flew to Thailand with his wife, Timi yesterday, viral-prepared.
    I just wanna’ clarify that is the-good-Larry.

    #53230
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Chinese Resilience and Silent, Simple and Steady Resistance: a Model for Mankind

    A good and timely article Dr. D Rich; thanks.
    The U.S. is, at its roots, a racist and bigoted country. Some few have always recognised this and gotten beyond that life view.
    Almost twenty years in S.E. Asia has taught me all people/cultures are racist and bigoted; but the U.S. version is particularly pernicious and violent; unlike most of the rest of the world.
    This new iteration of the corona virus has sparked fear, bordering on panic, in the west (especially the U.S.) and they express that by projecting onto the other…

    #53231
    WES
    Participant

    Raul:. Noted your comment about your winter blues.

    I was raised in northern Labrador near the tree line. Winters were long (October to May) snow from September to June with few hours of sun. So I know first hand about what the shortage of sun does to one’s body and mind! Everyone from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia can verify this too!

    One thing you never hear about is the use of phototherapy. Specifically UV B light.

    I built my own dual 6 foot light fixture to fit neatly behind the bathroom door out of the way and I do a full body 5 minutes every night before I go to bed.

    I have been doing this for just over 2 years (3rd winter) now. Since I started the phototherapy, the one thing I have noticed is that I no longer have a craven for sunlight! Of course the main reason I do this is to tame my eczema (dry skin).

    When you first start only do 1 minute the first few days. It is like getting a mild sunburn. Look for some slightly pink skin! When you no longer turn pink increase the time exposure. Then increase the time to 2 minutes for a day or two, then 3 minutes, 4 minutes, then 5 minutes. After reaching 5 minutes it then depends upon how you feel whether to keep increasing the time. Your body/mind will tell you how much is enough!

    The special UV B light blubs are made by Phillips of Holland. In Canada they cost about $150 for one 6 foot tall bulb. You can get smaller sizes too. Check Phillips website for available sizes and nearest dealer. Commerical units are greatly over priced! All they are, are nothing but glorified ordinary light fixtures!

    I made mine for about $400. All you need, in my case, are; eye protection goggles, 2 UVB light bulbs, a timer, an electronic ballast, and 2 pairs of light blub end caps. It helps to be an electrical engineer!

    If you don’t want to build you own unit then you should be able to buy shorter light bulbs that should fit an ordinary 4 foot ceiling light fixture. Get one with it’s own on/off pull chain then you don’t need to buy a timer either! Use your phone as a timer instead. In Canada an ordinary 4 foot shop light fixture runs between $25 to $40. I know everything in Europe costs more!

    Years prior to this I built a small solarium so I could sit in the sun during the winter months. It was the only way I could afford to go south during the winter months. This didn’t work so well during December or January as that is when we see little sun here in Toronto due to the clouds plus shortest daylight. Just like in Holland! Lots of clouds but no bloody sun!

    Anyway Raul, I would give serious consideration to getting yourself a UV B light blub! It doesn’t need to cost you an arm and leg either!

    Don’t be like me! It took me 64 years to figure this out!

    If you need any help let me know and I will gladly guide you the best I can!

    #53232
    WES
    Participant

    John Day:. Your short parable makes perfect sense!

    Your character was merely doing what he/she had been taught since he/she was a kid!

    Recycle!

    #53233
    WES
    Participant

    That Stalin was paranoid about being poisoned is no surprise!

    Especially considering what he did to everybody else!

    #53235
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    O bravew world and Hail Motherfucking ATLANTIS!
    So What Awreddy

    #53236
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Synchronizing the two p[layers requires some careful grace.

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