Feb 032020
 


Harris&Ewing “Slaves reunion DC. Lewis Martin, age 100; Martha Elizabeth Banks, age 104; Amy Ware, age 103; Rev. Simon P. Drew, born free.” c1916

 

China Censors Top Media Outlet That Says It Underreports Cases, Deaths (ZH)
Virus Worries Wipe $420 Billion Off China’s Stock Market (R.)
Chinese Shares Drop 9% (G.)
China’s Sinopec Cuts Feb Daily Refinery Output By 12% As Virus Hits (R.)
Huawei, Chinese Chip Makers Keep Factories Humming Despite Coronavirus (R.)
China’s Reaction To The Coronavirus Outbreak Violates Human Rights (G.)
The Democrats’ New Online Troll Fighters Make 2020 Debut In Iowa (CNN)
Democrats Need to Break Their Cold War–Addled Impeachment Fever (Maté)
The Real John Bolton (CP)
Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring (Slate)

 

As the US and China accuse each other of, respectively, not accepting help and not offering it, numbers continue to rise. Just like doubts about the accuracy of the official numbers from Beijing do. Here are the official numbers:

• 17,480 cases (+2930 from yesterday’s 14,550)

• 362 deaths (+57 from yesterday’s 305)

• 11 U.S. confirmed infected

 

 

Also, the Lancet paper I’ve been citing a lot lately by Gabriel Leung and his team says “We estimated that if there was no reduction in transmissibility, the Wuhan epidemic would peak around April, 2020, and local epidemics across cities in mainland China would lag by 1–2 weeks.”

That would mean another 3 months. Mobility is a factor, mind you, as the graph shows, though a minor one. But imagine the Chinese economy being on lockdown for another 3 months. Where will OPEC sell their oil? Where will WalMart buy its supply? What will happen to the Chinese confined to their homes and/or cities? Will there be a global economy left?

 


Epidemic forecasts for Wuhan and five other Chinese cities under different scenarios of reduction in transmissibility and inter-city mobility

 

 

 

This is why I wrote yesterday’s The Party and the Virus. Question is when will the rest of the world increase pressure on China for real numbers? Will that first take multiple deaths in Europe or the US?

China Censors Top Media Outlet That Says It Underreports Cases, Deaths (ZH)

Let’s be honest, do you think China is reporting the actual coronavirus cases and deaths? After all, Beijing has been the master of falsifying its economic growth figures for years, what makes you think they’ll change in the reporting of the deadly virus outbreak? Balaji S. Srinivasan, angel investor and entrepreneur, also former CTO of Coinbase, tweeted Saturday that a top news organization in China, Caijing, had one of their articles banned by Beijing after it noted Chinese officials were significantly underreporting coronavirus confirmed cases and deaths, especially among the elderly. Srinivasan said, “If half the claims in this article are true, #nCoV2019 seems to have completely overloaded Wuhan’s healthcare system. It appears particularly deadly for the elderly. But this 45-year-old had to be anesthetized and intubated in order to breathe.”

“In the past two days, he had seen a 45-year-old patient, a family of five, his parents had died of the new coronavirus pneumonia, and his son was infected. The patient’s condition was very serious. She used high-flow oxygen inhalation and non-invasive mask ventilation, but her blood oxygen saturation was only 50%. Finally, she had to be anesthetized and intubated with ECMO. “Before intubation and anesthesia, she watched us prepare, tears kept flowing down, and that fear made people feel very distressed,” said Shen Jun. There are still many cases like this, “Our doctors have made a decision Determined to do everything possible to treat all patients,” Caijing wrote.

Srinivasan points out that the Chinese newspaper found hospitals in Wuhan and elsewhere were intentionally recording coronavirus deaths as “general pneumonia” to keep the death count low. The article also notes test kits for the virus were in low supply, which allowed those who were infected, to continue their daily lives during a 7-10-day incubation period, enabling the virus to spread even more. The healthcare system was so overloaded in Wuhan, which forced hospital officials to send the dying home; hospitals didn’t have enough beds to house the sick. “Caijing understands that at least five suspected deaths at the hospital have not been diagnosed, so it does not count towards the confirmed deaths. This means that the number of confirmed and fatal cases that people can see at present does not fully reflect the full picture of the epidemic,” the article noted.

And then there’s this, from SixthTone’s David Paulk: “The 8 people detained in Wuhan for “spreading rumors” — who we wrote about in a Jan. 2 article that was censored — were doctors trying to raise the alarm about a new SARS-like virus.” We leave the last word to Zeng Guang, the chief scientist of epidemiology at China’s CDC, who, on Jan. 29 made a rare candid admission about why Chinese officials cannot tell people the truth in an interview with the state-run tabloid Global Times: “The officials need to think about the political angle and social stability in order to keep their positions,” which is all one needs to know about any “facts” coming out of China.

Read more …

“More than 2,500 stocks fell by the daily limit of 10%.”

Virus Worries Wipe $420 Billion Off China’s Stock Market (R.)

Investors erased $420 billion from China’s benchmark stock index on Monday, sold the yuan and dumped commodities as fears about the spreading coronavirus and its economic impact drove selling on the first day of trade in China since the Lunar New Year. The market slide came even as the central bank poured cash in to the financial system – a show of support for the economy -and despite apparent regulatory moves to curb selling. The total number of deaths in China from the coronavirus rose to 361 as of Sunday. It had stood at 17 when Chinese markets last traded on Jan. 23. By lunchtime, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index sat 8% lower near an almost one-year trough and poised to post its worst day in more than four years.


The yuan opened at its weakest level in 2020 and slid almost 1.2%, past the symbolic 7-per-dollar level CNY=, as the falls soured the mood in markets throughout Asia. Shanghai-traded oil, iron ore, copper and soft commodities contracts all posted sharp drops, catching up with sliding global prices. The new virus has created alarm because it is spreading quickly, much about it is unknown, and authorities’ drastic response is likely to drag on economic growth. “This will last for some time,” said Iris Pang, Greater China economist at ING. “It’s uncertain whether factory workers, or how many of them, will return to their factories,” she said. “We haven’t yet seen corporate earnings since the (spread of the) coronavirus. Restaurants and retailers may have very little sales.” More than 2,500 stocks fell by the daily limit of 10%.

Read more …

Fluid, but 9% seems right.

Chinese Shares Drop 9% (G.)

Stock markets in China have seen the biggest daily fall for five years as traders rushed to sell amid continued fears about the impact on the global economy of the coronavirus epidemic. The benchmark Shanghai composite index fell 8.7% on Monday on a wave of negative sentiment that has built up for 10 days during the long market shutdown for the lunar new year. The Shenzhen composite was off 9.1% and dangerously close to the daily maximum permitted fall of 10% after which trading is suspended. The yuan fell through the seven-to-the-US-dollar mark for the first time since December. The losses were the worst on the Chinese markets since 2015 although they pared back slightly later in the day to 7.7%. [..]

Chinese authorities have reeled off a series of measures to tackle the market panic. On Sunday they announced they flood the financial system with 1.2 trillion yuan (US$170bn) in extra liquidity, a measure designed to buy up securities from investors seeking to sell. On Monday the People’s Bank of China – the country’s central bank – lowered the interest rate it charges banks for short-term funding upon which many banks rely to remain trading. Capital Economics said that while the move might take some pressure off the banks the rate cut was not enough to offset the drag on economic activity from the coronavirus outbreak and that more rate cuts were therefore on the way.

The growing fears about the Chinese economy also prompted the finance ministry to subsidies on interest payments for some companies hit by the coronavirus outbreak, state-run newspaper Guangming Daily said. [..] Many economists are predicting that the coronavirus will have a significant impact on the Chinese economy. Many businesses have been shut as part of the lockdown to contain the virus while most overseas airlines have suspended flights to the country and Chinese people are now banned from travelling overseas. Goldman Sachs has forecast that the virus could knock Chinese growth down to 5.5% for the year, from 6.1% in 2019, with knockon effects for the rest of the world economy. Economists at Citigroup said the steps taken by Chinese authorities were “unlikely” to be enough to prevent a sharp downturn in the first quarter.

Read more …

Bloomberg claims Chinese oil demand is down 20%.

China’s Sinopec Cuts Feb Daily Refinery Output By 12% As Virus Hits (R.)

China’s Sinopec Corp, Asia’s largest refiner, is cutting throughput this month by around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) as the rapidly spreading coronavirus hits fuel demand, four people with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The cut is equivalent to roughly 12% of the state refiner’s average daily throughput last year. Sinopec asked refineries last Friday to cut production and gave plants different reduction targets based on local fuel demand and logistics, the sources told Reuters. They declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to media. Sinopec is closely monitoring the changing market situations and stands ready to ensure supplies, the refiner said in an email to Reuters.


“Company is closely monitoring the changing market situations, and will optimize operation rates and product mix based on market demand,” the company said, without commenting directly on the throughput cut rates. The four sources estimated cuts of about 2.5 million tonnes in total, equal to about 600,000 bpd on average, for February. One plant in eastern Jiangsu province is lowering runs by 10%, while a plant in Tianjin, near Beijing, is cutting throughput by 20%, two people with direct knowledge of the plants’ operations said. A plant manager with a central-China based Sinopec refinery said his plant has since Friday lowered processing rates to 60% of capacity. He said his plant was operating at near full rates before the cut.

Read more …

Total lockdown, except for…

Huawei, Chinese Chip Makers Keep Factories Humming Despite Coronavirus (R.)

Some Chinese technology firms are continuing to manufacture parts and products despite government calls across various cities and provinces for work to be halted as Being seeks to stop the spread of the coronavirus ravaging the country. Chinese telecom giant Huawei said on Monday it had resumed production of goods including consumer devices and carrier equipment, and operations are running normally. The company restarted manufacturing in line with a special exemption that allows certain critical industries to remain in operation, despite Beijing’s call to halt all work in some cities and provinces. The spokesman said most of the production was in Dongguan, a city in the southern Guangdong province.


Other companies have also kept production running, in some cases even through Chinese New Year, in a sign of the critical importance Beijing places on its domestic tech supply chain, a subject of friction with the United States Yangtze Memory Technologies, a state-backed maker of flash memory chips based in Wuhan – the city where the virus outbreak originated – confirmed on Monday that it has not yet ceased production. “At present, production and operations at YMTC are proceeding normally and in an orderly manner,” a company spokesman wrote in a statement on Monday. The spokesman added that no factory employees have been confirmed as infection cases, and that the company has enacted certain isolation measures and partitions to ensure the safety of employees. State media reported that the chip maker did not cease operations over the Lunar New Year holiday.

Read more …

Are we going to argue that keeping borders open does not violate human rights?

China’s Reaction To The Coronavirus Outbreak Violates Human Rights (G.)

When the World Health Organization declared the 2019nCoV coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, it effusively praised China’s response to the outbreak. The WHO issued a statement welcoming the government’s “commitment to transparency”, and the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, tweeted: “China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.” The WHO is ignoring Chinese government suppression of human rights regarding the outbreak, including severe restrictions on freedom of expression. In turn, Chinese state media are citing the WHO to defend its policies and try to silence criticism of its response to the outbreak, which has included rights violations that could make the situation worse.

China’s response to the outbreak included a month-long government cover-up in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, that led to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Local authorities publicly announced that no new cases had been detected between 3-16 January in the lead up to a major Communist party meeting, likely to suppress “bad news”. Despite early evidence of human-to-human transmission when medical staff became infected, this information was not relayed to the public for weeks. Hardly a “commitment to transparency”. Chinese police punished frontline doctors for “spreading rumours” for trying to warn the public in late December. Police are still engaged in a campaign to detain Chinese netizens for spreading so-called “rumours”.

Rumours included reports of potential cases, including people turned away from hospitals or dying without ever being tested and quickly cremated, criticism of the government, the distribution of masks, or the criticism of the discrimination of people from Wuhan or others who may be infected. Activists have been threatened with jail if they share foreign news articles or post on social media about the coronavirus outbreak. That the Chinese government can lock millions of people into cities with almost no advance notice should not be considered anything other than terrifying. The residents of Wuhan had no time to buy food, medicine, or other essentials. Authorities hastily announced the lockdown in the middle of the night with an eight-hour gap before it went into effect, giving people time to flee and thus raising questions on the rationale for such extreme measures.

[..] The international community should support all efforts to end this outbreak, but human rights should not be a casualty to the coronavirus crisis. The WHO declares that core principles of human rights and health includes accountability, equality and non-discrimination and participation. It even acknowledges that “participation is important to accountability as it provides … checks and balances which do not allow unitary leadership to exercise power in an arbitrary manner”. The WHO’s admiration for the unitary actions of the Chinese dictator Xi Jinping exercising power in an arbitrary manner is a direct contradiction of its own human rights principles.

Read more …

DNC and CNN are even regurgitating Mueller.

Twitter comment: “Brace yourself, the DNC is launching its troll army (branded as “troll fighters”) headed by a former Hillary staffer to counter “disinformation”. If you use the word “rigged”, they will come after you. Get ready to be called a Russian all over again.”

The Democrats’ New Online Troll Fighters Make 2020 Debut In Iowa (CNN)

Days after the 2016 Iowa caucuses, the instructions were clear. “[U]se any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them),” they read. The guidance had been circulated among a group of Russians who were covertly running a vast network of social media accounts seeking to divide Democrats and push the candidacy of Donald Trump. (The instructions were later found during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.) Four years later, unhappy with Silicon Valley’s efforts to curb the manipulation of its platforms, the Democratic Party has developed capabilities of its own to monitor and tackle online disinformation.

The first-in-the-nation caucuses here Monday will be the Democrats’ first 2020 test of its new team on a day when voters have their say. The effort reflects Democrats’ growing discontent with Silicon Valley executives like Mark Zuckerberg and highlights concerns that viral disinformation could have an impact on this year’s election. “It’s like algorithmic wars here, it’s kind of crazy,” a Democratic National Committee staffer who works on the Democrats’ new counter disinformation team said on Saturday as preparations were underway in Des Moines. The staffer asked not to be identified due to the nature of their work and possibly being subjected to online harassment themselves.

“Both Republicans and foreign actors, like Russia, have an incentive to divide the American electorate and may try to use the Iowa Caucus to further that goal,” the DNC wrote in a “counter disinformation update” sent to campaigns on Thursday. Among the new weapons in the Democrats’ online arsenal is a monitoring tool called “Trendolizer.” When stories from websites known to peddle misinformation mention candidates and begin getting shares on social media, Trendolizer detects it and an alert is sent to the relevant campaigns. Another tool built in-house at the DNC monitors Twitter traffic. On Monday, it’ll watch for misinformation about how and where to caucus. Variations of the word “rigged” had been loaded into system when CNN was shown it Saturday — attempts to undermine legitimate vote results using disinformation is something Democrats are watching out for.

Read more …

Today is closing argumants in the Senate “trial”. One more chance for Schiff to take revenge on the entire world, including Jerry Nadler, and repeat the same old points another 20 times. And announce a “surprise” subpoena for John Bolton in the House.

Democrats Need to Break Their Cold War–Addled Impeachment Fever (Maté)

Sondland, according to Schiff’s account, told Yermak, “You ain’t getting the money until you do the investigations.” But both Sondland and Yermak offer a radically different account. According to Sondland, he told Yermak in “a very, very brief pull-aside conversation,” that he “didn’t know exactly why” the military funding was held up, and that its linkage to opening an investigation was only his “personal presumption” in the absence of an explanation from Trump. Yermak does not even recall the issue of the frozen aid being mentioned. To overcome that, Schiff has gone to the extraordinary step of arguing that it’s not just Sondland who is lying but the Ukrainians as well. “Like they’re going to admit they were being shaken down by the president of the United States,” Schiff told the proceedings.

Sure, that’s one possibility, but it is also wildly speculative. Ukrainian officials say they did not learn about the weapons freeze until it was publicly reported more than one month after the Trump-Zelensky call. And even after they did find out, and even voiced concerns to their US counterparts, there is no record of any complaints about the alleged linkage. As Democratic Senator Chris Murphy recalled of a meeting with Zelensky in early September—after the funding freeze became known—the Ukrainian president “did not make any connection between the aid that had been cut off and the requests that he was getting from [Trump attorney Rudy] Giuliani.”

House impeachment managers have not overcome this evidentiary flaw. They have tried to claim that the White House effectively admitted to their allegation in an October 2019 news conference by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. But as I detailed back when Mulvaney’s comments initially caused a stir, Democrats and media outlets pundits rendered them as damning by isolating one fragment and ignoring the bulk of what Mulvaney said.

The absence of concrete evidence explains the last-minute excitement over compelling the potential testimony of another Trump administration official, former national security adviser John Bolton. A New York Times report about Bolton’s forthcoming memoir led to declarations that Bolton confirmed the quid pro quo allegation at the heart of the impeachment trial. As in other cases, that is based on a mistaken and maximalist interpretation of the available facts. The Times did not quote from Bolton’s manuscript. In its characterization of what Bolton wrote, the Times reports that Bolton said Trump “preferred sending no assistance to Ukraine until officials had turned over all materials they had about the Russia investigation that related to Mr. Biden and supporters of Mrs. Clinton in Ukraine”.

If this account is accurate, then Bolton is not confirming that Trump conditioned military assistance to Ukraine’s announcement of an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Instead, Bolton is relaying that Trump “preferred” that Ukraine assist efforts to uncover the extent of Ukrainian meddling to hurt Trump’s campaign and help Democrats in 2016—meddling that did in fact happen. Recall that Trump is not on trial for preferring that Ukraine hand “over all materials they had about the Russia investigation,” but for pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation of Trump’s political rival.

Read more …

Dems’ new favorite boy.

The Real John Bolton (CP)

It isn’t enough for the corporate media to praise John Bolton for his timely manuscript that confirms Donald Trump’s explicit linkage between military aid to Ukraine and investigations into his political foe Joe Biden. As a result, the media have made John Bolton a “man of principle,” according to the Washington Post, and a fearless infighter for the “sovereignty of the United States.” Writing in the Post, Kathleen Parker notes that Bolton isn’t motivated by the money he will earn from his book (in the neighborhood of $2 million), but that he is far more interested in “saving his legacy.” Perhaps this is a good time to examine that legacy. Bolton, who used student deferments and service in the Maryland National Guard to avoid serving in Vietnam, is a classic Chicken Hawk.

He supported the Vietnam War and continues to support the war in Iraq. Bolton endorsed preemptive military strikes in North Korea and Iran in recent years, and lobbied for regime change in Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. When George W. Bush declared an “axis of evil” in 2002 consisting of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, Bolton added an equally bizarre axis of Cuba, Libya, and Syria. When Bolton occupied official positions at the Department of State and the United Nations, he regularly ignored assessments of the intelligence community in order to make false arguments regarding weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Cuba and Syria in order to promote the use of force.

When serving as President Bush’s Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and Disarmament, Bolton ran his own intelligence program, issuing white papers on WMD that lacked support within the intelligence community. He used his own reports to testify to congressional committees in 2002 in effort to justify the use of military force against Iraq. Bolton presented misinformation to the Congress on a Cuban biological weapons program. When the CIA challenged the accuracy of Bolton’s information in 2003, he was forced to cancel a similar briefing on Syria. In a briefing to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2005, the former chief of intelligence at the Department of State, Carl Ford, referred to Bolton as a “serial abuser” in his efforts to pressure intelligence analysts. Ford testified that he had “never seen anybody quite like Secretary Bolton…in terms of the way he abuses his power and authority with little people.”

Read more …

Luckily there’s still important news going on.

Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring (Slate)

Across much of the United States, many have been enjoying a mild winter. And if the world’s most famous groundhog is to be believed, the trend will continue and there will be an early spring. In fact, on Sunday morning, Punxsutawney Phil declared that early spring “is a certainty.” Well, obviously the groundhog didn’t actually declare anything but that didn’t matter to the thousands of people who gathered at sunrise on Sunday to watch as Phil emerged from his den in Punxsutawney, Pa. The groundhog allegedly did not see his shadow, according to members of his “inner circle,” meaning there will be an early spring. According to legend, if he had seen his shadow it would have signified six more weeks of winter.


[..] Since Phil’s weather-predicting career began in 1887, he has seen his shadow 104 times and has failed to see it on a mere 20 instances (a few years are missing from the official record). That makes this year’s prediction relatively rare and marks the first time Phil hasn’t seen his shadow two years in a row. Phil’s forecast “seems fitting considering the lack of winter weather this winter so far,” notes the Washington Post. But truth be told, Phil doesn’t have the best track record. From 2010-2019, Phil predicted a longer winter seven times and an early spring three times. He was right only 40 percent of the time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He has been on a particularly poor streak lately as Phil got it wrong the past three years.

Read more …

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 3 2020

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 60 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #53388

    Harris&Ewing “Slaves reunion DC. Lewis Martin, age 100; Martha Elizabeth Banks, age 104; Amy Ware, age 103; Rev. Simon P. Drew, born free.” c1916
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 3 2020]

    #53389
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Harris&Ewing “Slaves reunion DC. Lewis Martin, age 100; Martha Elizabeth Banks, age 104; Amy Ware, age 103; Rev. Simon P. Drew, born free.” c1916

    Damn! What a picture! History captured forever…
    A picture is worth a thousand words?
    Hell no! Many, times many, more…

    #53391
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “One more chance for Schiff to take revenge on the entire world”

    How you are able to watch those proceedings and remain sane is a wonder to me. I suspect today’s Calvin & Hobbes reflects the allergic reactions you must be having to your prolonged exposure to so much bullshit expressed through living human beings in the audio-video virtual flesh.

    #53392
    Dave Note
    Participant

    An interesting article about US bio-weapons research spearheaded in part by DARPA funded Duke University which has a branch in Wuhan, what a shock.

    Quite a long dense article, make a snack and a cup-o-joe.

    The Corona Virus Hysteria: Was China Being Set Up?

    https://northerntruthseeker.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-corona-virus-hysteria-was-china.html

    #53395
    zerosum
    Participant

    PLACE YOUR BETS

    dow up +360 points (10:30 ET)

    “More than 2,500 stocks (asia) fell by the daily limit of 10%.”
    • Virus Worries Wipe $420 Billion Off China’s Stock Market (R.)
    • Chinese Shares Drop 9% (G.)

    HELP IS COMMING TO THE NEEDY
    China’s central bank will pump 150 billion yuan ($21.7 billion) into markets, and has banned short selling on Monday to prevent a sell-off.

    Can anyone point out someone who lost their money/shirt?

    #53396
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Trump saved the 2016 GOP from exceptional disgrace. He did so by being his genuinely lunatic self which, for all its contradictions, frank callousness, open corruption, and blatantly visible absurdity, was more genuine than anyone in the contest except Bernie on the other side.

    It seems that the Dems can’t quite grasp that, to the American plebiscite, offensive and inconsistent but sincere phoniness sounds more truthful than the equally offensive and inconsistent but insincere phoniness they sell. I started that sentence with “It seems” because I don’t pretend to understand their motives other than the obvious one: stay out of jail.

    As the Dems plumb the depths of the USA populace’s credulity, they find time and again that they suck at lying perhaps even more than they suck at telling the truth. Having trashed their mainstream media platform (specifically, Ms. Maddow falling into her own cloaca live on TV), they seek to exploit the online media they previously denounced as agents of Russian voter puppetry. While I confess that the boneheadedness of their voter bloc is stunningly dense to logic and reason, it seems to have reached its nadir and is now moving to its zenith. This zenith is surely not much higher than its nadir but it nonetheless seems incapable of believing the same old nonsense to the same degree as before — and the previous level of credulity was already insufficent to defeat a well-known blowhard whose record of malfeasance is plainly on record and didn’t need a Steele dossier to paint him black.

    This must be very disturbing to them.

    Meanwhile, the GOP rides the tiger that is Trump, aware that their standard-bearer is not one of them and something they’re unable to sufficiently control.

    How much longer can this continue before a genuine* demagogue arises from the populist depths? One can’t even *see* the GOP at this point. It’s just a cloud of gnats hovering about Trump’s combover. Meanwhile, the Dems are far too visible in their inept chicanery. Between the two parties, there’s enough bruised and bleeding cognitive dissonance to elect the ghost of Barney Fife if he managed to speak any truth.

    *Trump is a bona fide demagogue but not one that speaks across the political spectrum. I mean a demagogue that gets conservatives and liberals together in the same room shaking hands and agreeing on common principles. A demagogue who really knows how to lie from both sides of his mouth at the same time. Or, or, maybe even a genuinely truthful, morally congruent demagogue who captures the nation’s heart and presumably gets blown away. Or, or… (Bosco staggers to his Chamber of Recovery to take a hot bath in his tinfoil-lined clawfoot tub and watch the surf on his new improved waterproof iphoney…)

    Wingnut’s Demand Sedation!

    Sped up for the kids:

    Wingnut’s Theme

    #53397
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Oh, regarding Schiff: this is as goodly bad as it gets:

    The Pillow Man

    “On October 23, 2018, Schiff solemnly told a young audience at the old Hillary Clinton/John Podesta Center for American Progress Action Fund that he had been told that Putin has one of his henchmen follow Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev around with a pillow to smother him in his sleep if he ever gets out of line.”

    Followed by a pillow man to smother the pillow man if he ever gets out of line. It’s pillows,pillows, pillows, all the way down…

    #53398
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Enough to drive one batty

    India To Probe Wuhan Institute Of Virology

    https://www.zerohedge.com/health/india-probe-wuhan-institute-virology

    #53399
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Asides being slaves, they were born in 1815. Imagine what they’ve seen. 1815 is essentially the Revolutionary war, knee-breeches and all.

    “17,480 cases / 362 deaths”

    Steady 2% death rate. But 200,000 people could have it and we wouldn’t know.

    ““More than 2,500 stocks fell by the daily limit of 10%.”

    Ouch. Funny how lucky ol’ America just happens to win by accident again. Hey here’s a plan: the US knows what’s in the lab since we’re inside their Intel chips. We find out what they’re cooking since – clearly – we watched them importing it from Harvard and Canada and intercepted it. Then what? Well if I were these meddling bastards, I’d make my own, release it on China, and then China would THINK their own team made a mistake. Losing face! The worst! They fire the animal handlers, don’t believe their denials, cover it up like we hoped. They can’t protest, what can they say?

    But qui bono? Who stands to gain on this amazing, amazing accident, with amazing, amazing timing that Cheeto is not the least worried about? And why? Because we have the code and can turn it off at will? Because we know what it is and what HIV drugs stop it? He’s a terrible, terrible actor, don’t quit your day job.

    Meanwhile, everyone can roll out their worldwide control network undisturbed and blame the collapse not on the bad guys but an “Act of God.” Their god. The god of war, lies, and murder.
    …Or not. I dunno. Does it matter? That’s what everyone is going to do anyway.

    The guidance had been circulated among a group of Russians who were covertly running a vast network of social media accounts”

    You mean like the ones the NYT reported were hired by the DNC? That they got kicked of FB for? RussiaRussiaRussia. It will never end. Let me ask you a question: if all it takes is a couple bots to win an election, why doesn’t Biden do it? Is he too stupid or too lazy? Somehow Russia can do it for $10k but the DNC can’t, having access to the same accounts and information for $1B. Huh.
    I’d ask how stupid they think we are, but no one asks any questions or finds this slightly weird. Synapse-free is not just for The Guardian.

    Democrats Need to Break Their Cold War–Addled Impeachment Fever (Maté)”

    I don’t know what to say: they are asking for research and evidence which was supposed to be long since completed by the House. By the very same Adam. NOW you want some research and evidence? Do you usually go to court before the police inspector has got back from the crime scene? Don’t worry: if the Mueller report had no effect, neither will this oversight. They are calling Civil War II instead…while being totally untrained and disarmed. No effect from that reality/fact either. #AntiLogos. Logic and Facts are my only enemy.

    P.S. Antifa’s new fight of the resistance is against clean streets in Salem. They fought a trash pick-up in poor neighborhoods tooth and nail this weekend. Keep our cities brown and needle-y! No help for you, poor inner-city districts! #Winning, if #Winning is making everybody think you’re both racist and crazy.

    The Real John Bolton (CP)”

    So now both John Bolton AND Crystal are “all Democrats now”. You should be so proud. Why not pick up the rest of the Bush cabinet while you’re at it. You already had W’s Treasury/Sachs guys, it’s not too many more.

    No effect. No synapses. Z-Zzzz. No connection.

    #53400
    zerosum
    Participant

    There is no treatment for any/all kind of flues

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/i-cant-let-my-mom-die-home-desperate-patients-swarm-wuhan-hospital-hong-kong-closes
    Supply shortages are still making it impossible for China to diagnose every case of the virus.

    Ms. An, 67, needed an official diagnosis from a hospital to qualify for treatment, but the one she and her son raced to last week had no space, even to test her. The next hospital they were referred to here in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the center of the outbreak, was full,

    Now, many residents say it is nearly impossible to get the health care they need to treat – or even diagnose – the coronavirus.

    Expressing exasperation, doctors say there is a shortage of testing kits and other medical supplies, and it is not clear why more are not available.

    For many sickened residents, their best hope is the new coronavirus hospital that has just been finished (a second hospital is also being built).

    Those who do make it to the hospital say they are squeezed together for hours in waiting rooms, where infections are easily spread. But the shortages have meant that many are ultimately turned away and sent home to self-quarantine, potentially compounding the outbreak by exposing their families.

    Many doctors and residents are putting their hopes on the two new coronavirus hospitals that China has been racing to build in Wuhan in just a matter of days. One of them spans about eight acres, has 1,000 beds and is scheduled to open on Monday. The government says 1,400 military medical workers will be deployed to work there, potentially helping with the shortage of health professionals on hand to combat the outbreak.

    On Sunday, city officials announced plans to set up quarantine stations around Wuhan for people with symptoms of pneumonia and close contacts among coronavirus patients.

    Members of the G-7 will hold an emergency call on Monday to discuss strategies for containing the outbreak.

    Get ready for another week of virus-induced craziness as this doesn’t look ready to disappear from the headlines any time soon.

    Best recommendation:
    Stay home take an aspirin, drink water

    #53401
    zerosum
    Participant

    Winner: Quote of the year

    RussiaRussiaRussia. It will never end. Let me ask you a question: if all it takes is a couple bots to win an election, why doesn’t Biden do it? Is he too stupid or too lazy? Somehow Russia can do it for $10k but the DNC can’t, having access to the same accounts and information for $1B. Huh.

    #53402
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Bill Murray makes even stupid pointless car commercials something to genuinely enjoy:

    Groundhog Day

    #53404
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    A quote from the plehtora of articles challenging the more or less official version of the outbreak:

    “We must have an investigation of the outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese must grant the world total transparency. The truth must come out. If Chinese officials are innocent, they have nothing to hide. If they are guilty, they will refuse to cooperate.”

    This is obviously bullshit to anyone who understands bureaucracy. Innocence is not itself sufficient protection. Meanwhile, looking whom to blame wastes resources that could be used dispensing practical wisdom on exposure prevention and recovery if infected. While it is intriguing, therefore entertaining, to pursue these mytho-rabbits down hypothetical holes, that’s all it is in the practical world: fun if of a dismal sort.

    I think zerosum’s advice is the basic best. Avoid public places. Wear breathing filters of some kind. Wash your hands before (because you may already be carrying virus and not know it) and after. Take good care of yourself, paying speciall attention to hydration (and its cohort, sufficient electrolytes).

    #53406
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    As for Antifa/Salem (Oregon, btw, not Massachusetts), it’s not the B&W Doc D portrays:

    Political Theater Is Political Theater

    If they were serious, they’d be pulling up to the countless (and filthy) homeless encampments throughout the area and offer to haul trash away from the encampments. Most of the times, a fair number of the homeless would help them. They would also haul off dirty blankets/pillows, etc., while proferring used in exchange.

    I’ve little use for Antifa. I have little use for anti-antifas, either. Neither do jack shit for the problems, Both sides gather at their respective boundaries and toss shit at each other.

    How very unhelpful.

    #53408
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Fools

    #53409
    zerosum
    Participant

    Serious action …. save the poor street people …. do a clean up
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/i-cant-let-my-mom-die-home-desperate-patients-swarm-wuhan-hospital-hong-kong-closes

    Update (1140AM ET): The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US is starting to increase at a concerning pace, and moments ago, the CDC confirmed in a telebriefing that there are 11 cases in the US.

    U.S. CDC CONFIRMS 11 CONFIRMED CORONAVIRUS CASES IN UNITED STATES – TELEBRIEFING
    More ominously, the CDC said that the new Coronavirus case is close contact of other California case, and was spread person-to-person.

    And while traders were not happy with this latest confirmation that the disease is anything but contained, it is what the CDC aid said next that sent stocks and yields both sliding:
    CDC: PREPARING AS IF CORONAVIRUS WERE THE NEXT PANDEMIC
    Judging by the market reaction, it appears that algos are not fans of that word.
    ( dow at +189 at 12:50)
    Finally, the CDC also said at its briefing that it has added four more airports for screening of Coronavirus.

    —–
    If you believe why the coronavirus is spreading is due to filth, poverty, poor health, poor housing, no private sanitary system then hurry up and help the poor street people in all the cities.
    If you don’t remove the street people problem then, I ask, “Do you believe that the coronavirus will take care of the problem for you AND leave you free of the coronavirus?”

    #53410
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    It looks more and more like 2020 gonna be The Year.

    Offspring

    Song always makes me wanna march somewhere, but marching’s no good. Makes me wanna punch a hole in the wall, but walls are stronger than fists. Makes me wanna go and do what I can out on the streets, but I am old and sick, my wife wants me alive, and I owe her primary allegiance.

    So I pray. I can’t cry. Not because I am emotionally numb but because crying makes me bleed, asnd i lose enough blood as it is.

    So I pray. And remind myself that you can’t stop running water, you can’t kill the fire that burns inside.

    It’s all we have in the end.

    #53411
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #53412
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #53413
    zerosum
    Participant

    Remember?
    AIDS scare was, its only affects gay people, not my problem.
    Wrong bet.
    CORONAVIRUS scare is only poor, dirty, old, sick, people, not my problem.
    Place your bet:

    get on your private jet, solve the problems, ignore the problems, prepare for the worst.
    Watch the entertainment presented in la-la-land

    #53414
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Meanwhile, the crowlings got to do what young folks got to do, lord love ’em:

    Old Folks Young Folks

    From comment thread for song above:

    Christine Brown
    11 months ago
    Who is listening to this during the apocalypse

    Toronto cops
    9 months ago
    Christine Brown omg ME

    Cyphik
    9 months ago
    Did I miss it? Wat happened?

    Aman Mohammed
    9 months ago
    Lol , me

    Don Harrison
    9 months ago
    Bring it……..all we Care about is talkingggg,talking about me and youuuuuuu….

    Don Harrison
    8 months ago
    If I told you how I used to B…….

    TOXIC_ V3NOM111
    8 months ago
    It’s always the apocalypse

    Ezekiel Watters
    7 months ago
    The stage is being set as we speak.

    Deja Seigler
    7 months ago
    😳

    james pilcher
    7 months ago
    @Cyphik it’s literally happening right now all around you

    Cyphik
    7 months ago

    @james
    pilcher No offense, but I really hope you’re wrong about that… btw, it was a joke that I made, friend. No seriousness intended. Buscemi Love
    <end>

    Helluva zeitgeist they have to contend with. Nobody’s fault. Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, Greatest Gen, Silent Gen, Lost Gen.. it’s all been too big for us since, to quote Joni Mitchell, “we ate that altering apple”, or whatever those Edenic creation myths are trying to convey about this species, homo sap, stepping outside certain boundaries before their time (assuming divine oversight) or just plain outside (assuming nature is blind yet weirdly obedient to its own laws).

    #53415
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I was a janitor in large gay bathhouse on Chicago’s North Side (“Man’s Country”) when AIDS first hit. I was their token straightboy, was the joke we made about it. Crazy place. Hedonism squared. Nice people, obvious chip on their shoulder, but generally kind, sweet, and sympathetic.

    The sad thing is that, at first, a whole buncha them faggots believed it really was some kind of curse, divine or otherwise, for being gay. If one wonders why gay pride has metastasized into the oppressive rainbow pride nonsense we see today, understand that gays have been horrifically oppressed in our culture for a long time. What is compressed will eventually rebound, and its trajectory will tend toward the ballistic.

    We tend to reap what we sow.

    #53418
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “was more genuine than anyone in the contest except Bernie on the other side.”

    Oops. Didn’t mean to slight Ron Paul, who is also fairly cngruently genuine. But he’s become like Bernie, an old has-been.

    #53419
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Because this coronavirus adventure has all the earmarkings of collapsing China’s Ponzi economy and the global ‘just-in-time’ supply chain, it’s the perfect coverup device/event for blaming instead of fake ‘growth’ ghost cities and rampant banking fraud. The U.S. can then say China brought down the global economy and hide the US’s own financial Rico racketeering Ponzi hide-the-canoli fluffernutter three card Monti lame excuse for an economy.

    A Win-win for both corrupt tyrannies masquerading as free markets.

    #53420
    WES
    Participant

    I am beginning to wonder if Joe Biden is now in political “free fall”?

    Since the Ukraine Impeachment hoax is drawing to a close, the Dems no longer need the support of old creepy Joe running around in his “No Malarkey” campaign bus!

    I noticed that old Joe is suddenly being asked by the Dem controlled media about the Ukraine. Why ask now after ignoring the Ukraine question for nearly a year?

    My prediction:. Old Joe is going to fall like a rock in the next Dem manipulated media polls!

    It was nice knowing you Joe!

    #53421
    WES
    Participant

    When it comes to the coronavirus what most people are missing is the lack of availability of tests to confirm cases.

    Ijt isn’t just China! It also applies to the west too. We have very few test kits available!

    That China’s medical system is over whelmed is no surprised. They are so over whelmed that they are simply leaving everyone to their own devices! Just go home and die!

    Anyone who dies is automatically cremated no questions asked. Basically if you die outside of a hospital then you are not counted in official death totals.

    So we know the official death totals only include those officially confirmed which are greatly limited by the lack of test kits.

    I seriously doubt our medical system could cope with such great numbers either.

    #53422
    zerosum
    Participant

    Oh my god ….
    Oral transmission , fecal transmission , then what ….it becomes a venereal disease

    #53423
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    If we had a medical system avble to deal with a pandemic of significant speed/density/lethality, we’d know it. We’d be part of it. We’d all have been trained in basic protocols, and have neighborhood “block captains” etc.

    We’d know where local essential supplies are kept, who to go to, etc.

    But we don’t need the absence of that to know we’re incapable of dealing with it. Our medical system as it stands is unable to provide basic healthcare needs for a large swath of Americans as it is. It is designed in a way that forces many people to go to work when ill so long as analgesics and symptomatics casn keep them on their feet and doubling over to cough their lungs out.

    USA people sneering at the Chinese communist party are better advised to sneer at their own. I have what’s considered pretty good healthcare. Even so, it’s a ightmare navigating the sytem. I’d love to have Canadian healthcare. (I know Canadians who’ve been through major health crises that typically destroy an American family’s finances even with decent insurance. All systems, repeat, ALL systems have parasites and weak links, period. But not all systems are for a select target audience and unaffordable for the rest. My wife has worked in healthcare admin for 20 years. She concurs. The system is not only slanted toward the upper crust, it is Byzantine and incompetent.)

    If… and I say if merely as a rhetorical device to pretend I’m objective, really, I mean when the virus mainstreams here in the States, the shoddy mess of USA public health care will be revealed. We’ve been resting on the laurels of a healthcare system in significant part put into place as a response to the 1918 flu epidemic.

    Now it’s Ask Your Doctor About Drug with 7-Syllable Name… so you can find out what the drug is about. That’s what passes for public health care information: TV ads as misleading as the average Alternate Nation headline.

    The panic wave is liable to be tsunamic: suddently bursting onshore after lying low during its transoceanic crossing.

    I mean, we don’t even make our own face masks, right? Except for the ‘spensive ones, that is:

    Made In USA Face Masks

    Microbes don’t care. They don’t even know we exist, best we can tell. They are not moved by rhetoric or political determination or solidarity.|

    We’ve ignored reality long enough. It’s tired of being ignored. It wants our attention. It will soon get it.

    #53424
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “A Win-win for both corrupt tyrannies masquerading as free markets.”

    Only if they can quickly repair the damage, which they most certainly cannot.

    Lose-lose.

    #53425
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    ” it’s the perfect coverup device/event for blaming instead of fake ‘growth’ ghost cities ”

    Those ghost cities will make quarantine sites, either positive (ship sick people there) or negative (ship people there who’ve tested clean.

    Money is an illusion. Rebar steel, plumbing, wiring, streets, rail lines, remain real whether the money behind them retains its perceived value or not.

    #53426
    zerosum
    Participant

    Update (1720ET): It’s early Tuesday morning and China, which means we’re getting another batch of statistics about the coronavirus outbreak – statistics that likely underplay the severity of the outbreak.
    According to Chinese health authorities, 2,345 were confirmed on Monday, while another 64 died (including 48 in Wuhan alone).
    Hubei Province is now reporting 13,522 cases of coronavirus infection (including 6384 in Wuhan), while 58,544 are under observation across China.
    For those who are keeping score at home, that’s a 18% rise in deaths overnight

    #53427
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Creator Of US BioWeapons Act Says Coronavirus Is Biological Warfare Weapon

    https://www.zerohedge.com/health/creator-bioweapons-act-says-coronavirus-biological-warfare-weapon

    “n an explosive interview Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already knows about it….”

    #53428
    Dave Note
    Participant

    So I guess we have the chicken or the egg situation.

    Did China release nCov from their Level 4 lab in Wuhan by negligence or by intention, a giant experiment like the US did to it’s citizens in the 60’s, 70’s and 80″s with biological agents.

    or

    Did the US release it in China to f*ck with the already precarious Chinese Potemkin economy which is balanced on a razor’s edge of fraudmand mirrors?

    #53429
    Dave Note
    Participant

    This could be seen as a real honest to God Dr Strangelove act of war with the right PR optics

    #53430
    zerosum
    Participant

    Did THEY do this to reduce air pollution?

    Canadian gov.is still having to overcome extra barriers to give free transport vacation to Canadians to go back to Canada and to spent 14 day free vacation in a Canadian army base.

    #53431
    zerosum
    Participant

    latest
    https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screen%20Shot%202020-02-03%20at%205.29.33%20PM.png?itok=gBAgvB_F
    USA seasonal flue will produce about 10,000 death

    ps I never knew anyone dying from the seasonal flue

    #53432
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Chris Martenson really tees off on MSM pushing the talking point of “downplaying the coronavirus threat, by trying to convince us that the standard flu is more dangerous…”

    To shoot down that idea he posts:

    CFR – CASE FATALITY RATE
    Flu = 0.1%
    nCoV = 3% or higher

    RO SPREAD RATE TRANSMISSION EASE
    Flu = 1.28
    nCoV = 4.08

    SERIOUS COMPLICATION RATE (ICU beds requirement needed, who needs hospital to survive)
    Flu = <1%
    nCoV = ~20%

    Regular flu has less than 1% needing hospital attention
    nCoV needs 20% to be in an ICU unit

    The US has maybe 100,000 ICU beds, tops, and wait for it….., they are pretty much ALL taken at the moment with current patients.

    So, which one do you think is more dangerous???

    Coronavirus Continues Spreading Fast

    #53433
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Chris Martenson is known more for his financial career and website, but he is Dr Chris Martenson who got his PhD from Duke in Pathology, he just choose to pursue a career in finance and economics instead of the medical field. He’s quite familiar with the issues of pathology.

    And remember it’s Duke’s virology Institute that has the partnered branch in Wuhan.

    #53435
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “ps I never knew anyone dying from the seasonal flue”

    It happens. If not for modern medical care, my grand-niece would’ve died from it last year. Right now she’s recovering from Epstein-Barr disease. Before IV drips and related aids, children whose immune systems take awhile to obtain robusticity (it’s a word now, dammit, not to be confused with robossticity, which is how smartphones act these days) often died in their first fgew years. She’s had maybe 4-5 touch’n’gos, but with luck will grow to be strong and resilient.

    I was a sickly toddler too. As an adult, I starved and froze and shared close quarters with questionable characters and did fine.

    10,000 people out of 300,000,000 is one out of every 30,000 people. I don’t know 30k people, and I doubt you do too.

    #53436
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I saw on Facebook (someone else’s feed, I dropped out a good while back) my first ‘Calm Down About Coronavirus’ “meme” (I have yet to get used to how vernacular has ruined Dawkins once useful term). It failed even a glancing logic test. But very few people practice logic.

    Anyway, it depressed me. And that takes a lot; I’m already miserable. 😉

    Cold Rain and Snow

    I don’t know if this is cheering, but it’s awful damn good. There are some amazing musicians out there these days.

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