Jun 182020
 


NPC Grand Palace shoe shining parlor, Washington DC 1921

 

Vitamin D New Hope In The War On Corona (DM)
Doctors Can Still Prescribe HCQ to Patients – US Health Secretary (N18)
New Zealand Reports Fresh Corona Case, More Quarantine Breaches Emerge (G.)
Beijing COVID19 Cluster May Have Begun A Month Earlier – Health Official (G.)
China Reports 28 New Coronavirus Cases In Mainland (R.)
Sweden Says Herd Immunity “Surprisingly Slow” To Develop (ZH)
Dr. Fauci, Health Officials Flag Coronavirus Risk Of Trump’s Tulsa Rally (CNBC)
Coronavirus Is Killing Our Economy Because It Was Already Sick (Levitz)
Massive Spying On Users Of Google’s Chrome Shows New Security Weakness (R.)
Arrest Of Former Japanese Minister Could Hasten PM Abe’s Departure (R.)
Sidney Powell Files Motion Against Gleeson: A ‘Wrap-Up Smear’ of Flynn (SAC)
Bolton Says Trump Asked China To Help Him Get Reelected (AP)

 

 

It was a long travel day yesterday, with an empty train and two almost deserted airports. Amsterdam Airport was running at maybe 20% of capacity, if that. Athens was empty in the evening.

But in between there was a full plane, with both the Dutch government and the airline bragging about the pathogen-killing capacities of the (Boeing 737, not MAX) plane’s air-circulation systems.

Once arrived in Athens, demands were much less stringent than announced in advance. There was no one night mandatory quarantine demand, it appeared to be a voluntary one. Write down your address (hotel) in Athens, and your phone #, get tested, we may or may not call you the next day, and off I was in a cab to the apartment I always stay in here.

It all seems a little risky, but the people at the airport also seemed a little overwhelmed, and they will soon have to deal with much larger crowds. We can only hope that it will work out alright.

I’m not sure I’m quite back yet (late in getting up, and lost an hour due to the timezone), but I did pick up a few stories.

Hoping the change of scenery, and meeting with my friends here, will do me good. 3 months of near total isolation is a lot.

 

 

I’m sure you didn’t miss that while I was missing, global daily new cases set a whole new whopper of a record. And it came as we were all hoping the trend was turning downward.

After all, June 15 was 124,600. But then June 16 was 142.557.

 

 

As global daily new deaths almost doubled from one day to the next (they came back down to 5,264 yesterday):

 

 

But that was largely due to a “correction” in India:

 

 

Forward to today, June 18. Worldometer reports new cases for June 17 (midnight to midnight GMT+0) at + 141,872.

 

 

 

 

New cases past 24 hours in:

• US + 26,073
• Brazil + 31,475
• Russia + 7,790
• India + 13,802

 

 

Cases 8,425,191 (+ 283,802 from June 16’s 8,141,389)

Deaths 451,808 (+ 12,103 from June 16’s 439,705)

 

 

 

From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close-:

 

 

From Worldometer:

 

 

From COVID19Info.live:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing new here for Automatic Earth readers. Try get vit. D while you can, if you haven’t stored up yet. Get the tablets, not just the sun and fish. Especially if you’re not pale white.

Vitamin D New Hope In The War On Corona (DM)

Nearly 99 per cent of Covid-19 patients who are vitamin D deficient die, according to a terrifying study that adds to mounting evidence that the ‘sunshine’ nutrient could be a coronavirus life-saver. Scientists in Indonesia analysed hospital records of 780 people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Results revealed 98.9 per cent of infected patients defined as vitamin D deficient — below 20ng/ml — died. Yet this fell to just 4.1 per cent for patients who had enough of the nuResearchers warned the study was not definitive, however, because the patients with high vitamin D levels were healthier and younger. It comes as health chiefs are urgently reviewing the use of vitamin D as a coronavirus lifesaver, with several studies suggesting that Covid-19 patients are far more likely to die if they have a deficiency.

One investigation – carried out by Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge – found European countries with lower vitamin D levels have had significantly more pandemic casualties. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is conducting a ‘rapid evidence review’ of the issue – and publication is expected as early as next week. One in five British adults and one in six children is lacking in vitamin D, thanks to poor diets, indoor lifestyles and lack of sunshine. Experts fear that the lockdown and months of indoor living have cut levels even further. Some ethnic groups tend to be at higher risk because their skin is less able to make the vitamin in response to sunlight. And older people are also in danger because the body gets less efficient at producing the vitamin with age.

[..] Data in a Public Health England report showed that the mortality rate – the number of people dying with the coronavirus out of each 100,000 people – was considerably higher for black men than other group. The risk for black women, people of Asian ethnicity, and mixed race people was also higher than for white people of either sex. People with non-white skin are also at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency because it takes them longer to make it from sunlight [..]

Read more …

And this story keeps just going on. But Automatic Earth resident GP John Day can at least continue to do what he thinks is best.

Doctors Can Still Prescribe HCQ to Patients – US Health Secretary (N18)

Doctors can still prescribe anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to patients, US Health Secretary Alex Azar said, hours after the FDA withdrew the emergency use authorisation of chloroquine and HCQ in the treatment of COVID 19 patients. The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision came on Monday after it concluded that the anti-malarial drugs may not be effective to cure the virus infections and lead to greater risks than any potential benefits. “At this point, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine are just like any other approved drug in the United States. They may be used in hospital, they may be used in out-patient, they may be used at home, all subject to a doctor’s prescription,” Azar said.


“In fact, the FDA’s removal of the Emergency Use Authorization takes away what had been a significant misunderstanding by many that had made people think that somehow it could only be used in a hospital setting, and we’ve tried to make that clear throughout,” he said in response to a question. During a White House media appearance with President Donald Trump, Azar asserted that HCQ was approved in the United States. “If a doctor wishes to prescribe it, working with a patient, they may prescribe it for any purpose that they wish to do so. And, this (FDA’s decision) actually removes a potential barrier to them,” the health secretary said.

Read more …

It’s not easy being green.

New Zealand Reports Fresh Corona Case, More Quarantine Breaches Emerge (G.)

A fresh coronavirus case has been reported in New Zealand as officials scramble to contain the fallout from Tuesday’s embarrassing quarantine breach and reports emerge of people disappearing after leaving isolation early. Thursday’s case – the third to emerge this week after a 24-day streak of no cases – was a man in his 60s who arrived in Auckland from Pakistan on 13 June on Flight NZ124, transiting through Doha and Melbourne. Officials were contacting all passengers on the flight and have alerted overseas counterparts for the other flights, said Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health. The man was wearing a mask on all flights and was now in a quarantine facility in Auckland, Bloomfield said.

It came as police said six people absconded from managed isolation after being granted compassionate leave from Covid-19 quarantine to attend a funeral in Hamilton. And TVNZ reported that a birthday party for a girl in isolation brought people together who should not have been mingling. Bloomfield was forced to apologise on Thursday after initially claiming the sisters behind Tuesday’s new cases had not contacted anyone during their road trip from Wellington to Auckland. It was revealed late on Wednesday that they came into contact with at least two friends who helped them after they got lost on a motorway.

[..] On Tuesday, New Zealand recorded its first new cases of the virus for 24 days after the two New Zealanders, sisters returning after travelling to the UK, were found to be infected. The pair, who were permitted to leave their managed isolation early to visit a dying parent, had not been tested. Since then more reports have emerged. A Christchurch funeral director told Stuff that about 10 people had been let out of quarantine early to attend one of the funerals it had arranged on Tuesday. Steve Parkyn, chief executive of funeral directors Lamb and Hayward, said he refused to let them attend the service after being contacted by health authorities, but they joined mourners at the burial, accompanied by a health official. Around 200 people attended the funeral.

Read more …

I said on Tuesday that: “Given how fast it spread in the past 2-3 days, it’s obvious the disease had been present for a 1 or 2 weeks.”

Beijing COVID19 Cluster May Have Begun A Month Earlier – Health Official (G.)

Beijing’s cluster of new cases may have begun a month earlier than first thought, partly due to asymptomatic infections, according to the director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Amid tight restrictions to stop the spread of the capital’s cluster, which now numbers more than 150 cases, Gao Fu said the outbreak probably did not occur in early June or late May, but probably a month earlier, according to state media. Gao said the volume of asymptomatic cases detected in the outbreak may be partially responsible, but that further investigation was needed. “A lot of asymptomatic or mild cases were detected in this outbreak and that is why the environment has such amount of virus,” said Gao at a seminar in Shanghai on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Beijing reported 21 new cases of Covid-19, down slightly from the 31 reported on Wednesday. There were two additional cases in Hebei province that were also linked to the Beijing cluster. The city on Thursday ordered all hotels be shut down, as well as restaurants in high-risk areas. Officials said Beijing was not under lockdown but urged all residents not to travel or gather unnecessarily, and pledged to ensure continued food supply. “We are now at a critical time for the prevention and control of the epidemic,” an official said of the outbreak, which centred on a Xinfadi wholesale food market A further five residential compounds were designated at higher risk on Thursday, bringing the total number to 32, including one high risk and 31 medium risk.

More than 356,000 people have been tested in a five-day period, with entire neighbourhoods walled in or under entry monitoring. Schools have been closed flights cancelled, and travel in and out of the city restricted. On Wednesday the emergency response level was raised from level three to level two.

Read more …

They’ve allowed it to spread for a few weeks. I love the assertion that salmon imported from Europe was the culprit. I tried my smell test on that, and it failed spectacularly.

China Reports 28 New Coronavirus Cases In Mainland (R.)

China reported 28 new coronavirus cases in the mainland as of end-June 17, 21 of which were in the capital of Beijing, the country’s health commission said on Thursday. The National Health Commission said four of the 28 cases were so-called imported ones involving travellers from overseas, and that there were 8 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases. A day earlier, the commission reported 44 confirmed cases, 11 of which were imported, and 11 asymptomatic cases. The total number of confirmed cases stands at 83,293. The death toll remains unchanged at 4,634. China does not count asymptomatic patients – those who are infected with the coronavirus but have no symptoms – as confirmed coronavirus cases.

Read more …

1,200 new cases yesterday in Sweden, 100 new deaths. And the guy responsible remains popular. Propaganda works.

Sweden Says Herd Immunity “Surprisingly Slow” To Develop (ZH)

Despite allowing its economy and schools to remain open during the coronavirus outbreak, Sweden is finding that the incidence of COVID-19 antibodies among its population is still surprisingly uncommon, suggesting that the country hasn’t yet reached the point of “herd immunity”, unlike other European countries which embraced much more drastic measures to stop the spread and the deaths. Speaking to the nation during an interview on a Swedish radio station, Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s government epidemiologist and architect of its coronavirus containment strategy (a model that Goldman analysts claim wouldn’t work elsewhere in Europe or in the US), noted that the development of herd immunity is taking much longer than expected. Per Tegnell: “the trends in immunity have been surprisingly slow.” He also says “it’s difficult to explain why this is so.”

To be sure, Tegnell noted, there is “always a lag in all such measurements,” and the percentage of the population with detectable COVID antibodies is likely higher today than it was a few weeks ago, when a surveillance test carried out by a private Swedish company found that only 14% of Swedes have antibodies, compared to more than 50% of Italians in some of the hardest-hit parts of Northern Italy. Critics of Sweden’s strategy have been more vocal lately now that the country’s death toll has surpassed the 5,000 mark, leaving Sweden with a mortality rate well above its Nordic neighbors. As the country’s mortality rate has climbed in recent weeks, polls have reflected a growing dissatisfaction among Swedes with the government’s handling of the virus, though Tegnell’s approach remains broadly popular.

To be sure, Tegnell has acknowledged that some mistakes were made, and has said if he could do it over, he would have done some things differently, including directing more resources toward protecting the most vulnerable. But he never disavowed his approach, as some English-language media outlets have twisted his words. For those who don’t understand the concept of ‘herd immunity’, Bloomberg created a helpful illustration. Even readers who think they understand how it works should probably take a look.

Read more …

After the mass protests, this has zero value. I can only guess at the reason to do it indoors, but better control might be it, in view of the protests.

Dr. Fauci, Health Officials Flag Coronavirus Risk Of Trump’s Tulsa Rally (CNBC)

White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci as well as other health officials are raising concerns that President Donald Trump’s upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa will become a hotbed for coronavirus infections. The rally, Trump’s first since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. over three months ago, is slated to take place Saturday in a 20,000-person indoor arena. Asked whether he would attend the rally, Fauci said in an interview published late Tuesday by the Daily Beast, “of course not,” adding that when it comes to mass gatherings, “outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd” and “crowd is better than big crowd.”


Studies have shown that the virus spreads more easily in crowded, poorly ventilated, indoor spaces than it does outside. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb echoed Fauci’s concerns Wednesday in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Personally, I wouldn’t attend a large gathering right now, especially one indoors. Certainly things held indoors are less safe than things held outdoors,” Gottlieb said. “But all these large gatherings are going to lead to spread. There’s just no question about it.”

Read more …

I guess it’s an OK piece.

Coronavirus Is Killing Our Economy Because It Was Already Sick (Levitz)

Channeling investment into genuinely productive projects gets harder once you’ve picked the low-hanging industrial fruit. And this challenge is all the greater in a context where the purchasing power of ordinary people has been systematically depressed: Simply put, when the vast majority of workers have little discretionary income, profitable business ideas are harder to find (businesses need paying customers, after all). Thus, at a certain point, wage suppression stops aiding growth and starts inhibiting it. In their (excellent) new book, Peking University economist Michael Pettis and Barron’s columnist Matthew Klein argue that China’s iteration of the invest-led development model has been obsolete for more than a decade.

Unwilling or incapable of enacting reforms that would increase wages — and thus, consumption — Beijing has sustained employment and GDP growth by financing useless capital investments. Instead of giving ordinary Chinese people the financial means to assert their material wants and needs — and then enabling investment to flow into enterprises that fulfill those mass desires — China is building housing developments in cities without people. In the U.S., the supply-side model has produced similar (if less egregious) imbalances. Before the coronavirus pandemic, record-high corporate profits coincided with aberrantly low business investment. As Republican Senator Marco Rubio lamented last year, America’s “nonfinancial corporate business sector routinely spends more on buying financial assets than on capital development.”

Many factors have contributed to this outcome. But the fact that America’s ultrarich have commandeered the bulk of the past four decades of income growth is surely one. [This] was a choice. With strong labor rights, high minimum wages, and more post-tax redistribution, the bottom 90 percent of U.S. households could have seen their incomes rise steadily over the past half-century. In that world, the typical American family would have less debt and more disposable income. And that mass purchasing power would allow the economy to support a wider array of businesses and services.= We opted for a different path. The U.S. slashed taxes on the wealthy, undermined unions, and left its social safety net remaining exceptionally threadbare.

As a result, America’s economic elites ended up with more income than they could spend or profitably invest in productive enterprises. So, they bid up the price of urban real estate, and bankrolled the development of socially useless financial innovation. Instead of directing the gains of growth toward better meeting the wants and needs of ordinary Americans, we built 1,000-foot towers full of perpetually empty luxury apartments that Russian criminals could use for money laundering.

Read more …

There should be huge penalties for things like this, but there never will be, because the CIA and its ilk find it far too valuable.

Massive Spying On Users Of Google’s Chrome Shows New Security Weakness (R.)

A newly discovered spyware effort attacked users through 32 million downloads of extensions to Google’s market-leading Chrome web browser, researchers at Awake Security told Reuters, highlighting the tech industry’s failure to protect browsers as they are used more for email, payroll and other sensitive functions. Alphabet Inc’s Google said it removed more than 70 of the malicious add-ons from its official Chrome Web Store after being alerted by the researchers last month. “When we are alerted of extensions in the Web Store that violate our policies, we take action and use those incidents as training material to improve our automated and manual analyses,” Google spokesman Scott Westover told Reuters.


Most of the free extensions purported to warn users about questionable websites or convert files from one format to another. Instead, they siphoned off browsing history and data that provided credentials for access to internal business tools. Based on the number of downloads, it was the most far-reaching malicious Chrome store campaign to date, according to Awake co-founder and chief scientist Gary Golomb. Google declined to discuss how the latest spyware compared with prior campaigns, the breadth of the damage, or why it did not detect and remove the bad extensions on its own despite past promises to supervise offerings more closely.

Read more …

“Abe cannot last,” said an LDP lawmaker who, like other politicians interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity. “He probably cannot last until the year-end.”

Arrest Of Former Japanese Minister Could Hasten PM Abe’s Departure (R.)

The arrest of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s former justice minister could be a devastating blow for the Japanese leader whose support is near record lows, raising the possibility of his departure before the end of his term next year. Some in Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are speaking of an early exit and rivals have stepped up manoeuvring to succeed him, party sources said. While Abe has rebounded from low ratings before, Japan’s longest-ruling prime minister now appears to be losing more internal support. Prosecutors on Thursday arrested former justice minister Katsuyuki Kawai, a one-time foreign policy adviser close to Abe, and Kawai’s wife, Anri, on suspicion of vote-buying in a 2019 upper-house election.


Tokyo prosecutors said in a statement that the couple paid 1.7 million yen ($15,904) to five people to get her elected. Separately, Katsuyuki Kawai gave a total of about 24 million yen to about 90 people. At the time, Anri Kawai’s campaign received 150 million yen ($1.4 million) in funds from LDP headquarters. The size of the contribution, although not illegal, raised questions about whether Abe approved it. Abe has declined to comment on the Kawais, but has said lawmakers had the responsibility to explain their actions. “Abe cannot last,” said an LDP lawmaker who, like other politicians interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity. “He probably cannot last until the year-end.”

Read more …

Almost entirely out of view of the mainstream media, the Flynn story churns on. I predict it will explode in their faces.

Sidney Powell Files Motion Against Gleeson: A ‘Wrap-Up Smear’ of Flynn (SAC)

Sidney Powell, the defense attorney for Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, filed a scathing response in the court Wednesday against federal Judge John Gleeson’s amicus brief, which asked the court to reject the Justice Department’s request to drop all charges against Flynn. Powell’s motion is powerful and contains a lengthy time-line revealing the stunning evidence discovered by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, as well as, the litany of new evidence uncovered by U.S. Attorney Jeffery Jensen, who was appointed by the Justice Department to conduct an independent review of Flynn’s case. Powell argues in her brief that the “irony and sheer duplicity” of Gleeson’s accusations “against the Justice Department now—which is finally exposing the truth—is stunning.”

Gleeson submitted his lengthy brief on July 10, on behalf of D.C. Federal Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who appointed him as the amicus and is refusing to drop the case against Flynn. He is doing all this despite the fact that both the Justice Department and defense agree the charges should be dropped against President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor. Powell also pointed out in her motion of opposition Wednesday that Gleeson’s amicus filing on behalf of Sullivan is a “wrap-up smear” against Flynn.

“It demonstrates the difference between a Department of Prosecutions and a Department of Justice,” Powell argues in her conclusion regarding Gleeson’s amicus. “It shows how the Department of Justice, as the government’s representative in every federal criminal case, has the power to walk into courtrooms and ask judges to remedy injustices. For these reasons and those stated in our other briefs, the only lawful action this court can take is to dismiss the case with prejudice on the Government’s motion and vacate the plea.”

Further Powell states in her motion, that Gleeson’s “Amicus elides the reality of the egregious government misconduct of the FBI Agents—particularly that of [former FBI Director James] Comey, {Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe, [former Special Agent Peter] Strzok, [Former FBI Attorney Lisa] Page, [FBI Special Agent] Joe Pientka, [former FBI Assistant of Counterintelligence Bill] Priestap and others who met repeatedly to pursue the targeted “take-out” of General Flynn for their political reasons and those of the “entirety lame duck usic.” Much of this has been revealed in the December 19, 2019, IG Report, the 86 pages of newly produced exonerating material produced by U.S. Attorney Jensen, filed in the Government’s Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 198), and hundreds of the texts between Strzok and Page demonstrating abject bias.”

“Amicus is lost down the rabbit hole on the other side of the looking glass— where “nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would,” argues Powell. Last week, Powell argued before the U.S. District Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit against Sullivan’s decision to appoint Gleeson. She noted that the government submitted an extensive and thoroughly documented motion to dismiss this prosecution based on the discovery of “extraordinary exculpatory evidence that came to light from an independent review… It can not go on any longer.”

Read more …

Look, we know in advance how the MSM will spiel this. And those are all the same people who for years, as it fit their goals, presented Bolton to you as the most dangerous man in America. Now Bolton is your friend. Because he says something negative about Trump, and that’s something half the nation can’t get enough of. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it dumps Trump.

Still, to rehash the failed impeachment probe and state that Trump was impeached, well, maybe that’s another level.

As for the claim that Trump asked Xi to help him in elections, that doesn’t pass my personal smell test. It makes no sense at all. It likely only does for those who still believe Trump asked Putin the same, and choose to fully disregard Mueller’s report to get there. But sure, I know I will be accused-again- of being biased for saying this.

A “journalist” named Eli Lake tweeted: “According to Bolton, Trump privately told China’s tyrant that he should keep building concentration camps for Uighurs. That is an obscenity. He deserves to lose every state in November.” I’m sorry, but if you believe that, you need to get professional help as much as Bolton and Eli Lake do.

Bolton Says Trump Asked China To Help Him Get Reelected (AP)

President Donald Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing new book by former Trump adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions. The White House worked furiously to block the book, asking a federal court for an emergency temporary restraining order Wednesday against its release. Bolton’s allegations that Trump solicited Chinese help for his reelection effort carried echoes of Trump’s attempt to get political help from Ukraine, which led to his impeachment.

“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by re-election calculations,” Bolton wrote. The 577-page book paints an unvarnished portrait of Trump and his administration, amounting to the most vivid, first-person account yet of how Trump conducts himself in office. Several other former officials have written books, but most have been flattering about the president. Other former officials have indicated they were saving their accounts of their time working for Trump until after he left office in order to speak more candidly. The Associated Press obtained a copy of Bolton’s book in advance of its release next week.

Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser for a 17-month period, called Trump’s attempt to shift the June 2019 conversation with Xi to the U.S. election a stunning move, and wrote that it was among innumerable conversations that he found concerning. He added that Congress should have expanded the scope of its impeachment inquiry to these other incidents. [..] Trump was asked about the book Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.” He turned to personal insults, calling Bolton a “washed-up guy. I gave him a chance.” He also took issue with copies of the book being released. “He broke the law. Very simple. I mean, as much as it’s going to be broken.” Trump said. “It’s highly classified information and he did not have approval.”

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 18 2020

Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #60104

    NPC Grand Palace shoe shining parlor, Washington DC 1921   • Vitamin D New Hope In The War On Corona (DM) • Doctors Can Still Prescribe HCQ to Pa
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 18 2020]

    #60105
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    We’re well and truly stuck; everyday, a broken record…
    Same old thing…same old thing…same old thing…same old thing……………..

    #60106

    No, VA, these are exciting times!

    #60107
    Carlos Jimenez
    Participant

    Jerry Nadler and his ilk, or even the “promising” rising stars like AOC, Warren, Tulsi, are the reason why I don’t listen to any politician at all. One has to have serious brain impairment or zero cognitive abilities to swallow their stupid sxxt. The perks and dough that come with the position are a powerful incentive to keep making sxxt up. I understand that. I once flew in a Gulfstream V, while enjoying such orgasmic experience I thought “this type of luxury is what makes telepreachers and politicians sell their soul to the devil”. And they don’t want to end up either like Paul Wellstone & family, James Traficant, Louis T. McFadden or Cinthya Mc Kinney and Ron Paul just to name a few.

    #60108

    What I should have mentioned here, but didn’t think of because of the timing, is Google demonetizing ZeroHedge. I find that ridiculous because my relationship with Tyler has been very good through the years even if we don’t always share all of our opinions, and Tyler is not some extreme fool, ZeroHedge simply has its own opinion, and that’s something we should all celebrate, even if those opinions are not our own.

    This also makes me think once again about how used I’ve become to Google stealth-demonitizing the Automatic Earth over the past years. They couldn’t do that with ZH because of its size, but with TAE they can.

    It hurts Tyler because they got all these people they have on the payroll, it hurts TAE because AdSense was always so important to revenues, the same as with so many small sites.

    I love being independent of anything and anyone, it’s a prerequisite to what I do, and then it turns out that I am still dependent on that one party that should be neutral: Google. Revenue is down 90% or so from its peaks, and that makes no sense no matter what numbers you look at.

    I am actively looking for an ad service that could replace Google, but since they have a near monopoly, that is not easy. Suggestions welcome, but don’t waste my time. I know what goes on.

    #60109
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    No, VA, these are exciting times!

    I guess I fail to see that…
    Exciting times for whom?
    In a rigged game it’s difficult to get too optimistic…

    #60110

    No, VA, these are exciting times!

    I guess I fail to see that…
    Exciting times for whom?

    For me! I am back in Athens!

    Don’t you get all grumpy on me now.

    #60111

    Tyler is one real person? I thought “he” was plural.

    One person’s excitement is another person’s anxiety.

    On cspan right now: “National Guard and Operation Warp Speed Confirmations”. Hunh?
    Warp Speed is the vaccine/treatment program. I really don’t want to listen to the hearing, but confirmations of who for what? What’s the national guard have to do with it? I don’t like this at all.

    Vitamin D levels turn out to be clinically significant. That’s why everyone had to stay indoors. No mention of sunscreen as a cause for low D levels. I’m surprised rickets hasn’t returned.

    Gen. Gustave Perna (Warp Speed COO nominee) saying he’ll make sure operations move quickly.
    NO NO NO NO! No military!

    #60112

    I’m so happy you finally made it to Greece, RIM. May the gods smile on you and leave you be so you and your group may flourish.

    #60113
    zerosum
    Participant

    Glad you had a trip that will give you a personal insight into the future of leisure travel.
    Were you the only one having a “vacation trip?”
    Are seniors travelling? (You can spot them by the color of their hair)
    ——
    Look on the bright side – look at the trends.

    “Close to 45 million people in the European Union are under some form of jobless subsidy.
    Despite massive temporary jobless schemes, unemployment is soaring.”
    ——
    US weekly jobless claims hit 1.5 million, bringing the 13-week total to 46 million
    ——-

    “development of herd immunity is taking much longer than expected. “
    Wait, its going to improve. So far nobody gets the virus more than once or die more than once.
    ——
    It’s a Democrate’s dream.
    • Dr. Fauci, Health Officials Flag Coronavirus Risk Of Trump’s Tulsa Rally (CNBC)
    Old people, obese people, are being recomended not to attend (Trump is old and obese)

    #60114
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    In case anyone gets optimistic, I remind us that the Jeffrey Epstein remains buried. It was made official today:

    Prince Charles in Charge

    As for the military and Op Warp Speed: when you occupy your own streets to enforce compliant use of medicine that doesn’t work, your government is about done. My fear is that the military will be humbled by popular resistance, and then we’ll really get to work burning the place down.

    #60115
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    THE ‘PANDEMIC’ IS AS BAD AS A COUNTRY WANTS IT TO BE!

    As you say, the vitamin D effect is old news. I had expected it to be more widely reported at the time, especially as Asians and blacks were disproportionately affected by C-19 and it could be the reason. I would expect people in care homes don’t get much sunshine either.

    Although it is only correlation it fits in with our understanding of the importance of vitamin D in fighting infection. It is a cheap supplement – you can probably get a months supply for a dollar so better to take it.

    It seems that HCQ+zinc is close to being 100% effective IF given as soon as the symptoms become serious. Of course this is from doctors actually trying to save the lives of their patients, not anti-Trumpers or those with links to the pharmaceutical industry.

    The most impressive story is Spain, which used to be the worst country in Europe for C-19. I read a couple of articles saying Spain was using HCQ widely so started checking their stats, then about three weeks ago the number of daily deaths plummeted to single figures, and they have reported that there have been NO DEATHS REPORTED IN THE PAST TEN DAYS!

    It seems that there is little interest from the media or other countries in what Spain has been doing which implies they WANT to have a continuing horror story. The possible reasons are disturbing, such as COMPULSORY extreme tracking or COMPULSORY vaccination [and micro-chipping?].

    #60116
    zerosum
    Participant

    Nobody want to know the truth.
    “There a hole in de bucket”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-hiding-5-billion-paycheck-protection-slush-fund#comment_stream
    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

    #60117
    Dr. D
    Participant

    The full round was entertaining: A foreign political actor used an NBC reporter to CREATE a story — instead of reporting one — by asking/demanding Google ban NBC’s financial news competition. Google joyfully complied. So foreign agents prompt an end of freedom of speech and plausible election-rigging in service of a monopoly destroying competition.

    …Snap goes the trap. So Google will ban not the sites, but the COMMENTS section, that is, the public itself. But ZH comments are notoriously rude and saucy. Don’t matter: the same rude bois go to NBC, HuffPo, all over to say the same rude things…but compliant, election-rigging sites are not banned, although the anti-war left is. Don’t see why it should matter. As we see with Flynn, DACA, other court/SC rulings, they just say “We don’t like it so we made up a rule the legislators didn’t say.” “The Law is in my mouth.” You know, like ACA, aka Schrodinger’s Tax. “’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” Newsflash: We’re not the master; we’re the slaves. Might makes right. Power is the master, by any means necessary.

    Whether you like the recent ruling, the SC is at it again with conflating sex and gender, one of which is social. And in NY for example, “gender” is literally ANY THING you wish it to be. So if your gender involves being naked and robbing people, or dressing up like a yellow cat and crawling on all fours on your salesman rounds, that’s legally protected. You’d think that’s crazy, but it took about a week for people to say they were “women” and enter sports and visit little girls’ bathrooms too. Even I thought trouble from that take time and be real but minor. Nope. Noticeable and instant. Women’s protections trampled and made unsafe. That’s why words have meanings. But if you can’t change the law, change the meaning of the words in the law instead. Reality is whatever I say it is.

    #60118
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Keeping up with Chaz, or in this case “Chop” (“What did they do during the French Revolution??? Chop!” – Actual quote from CHAZ meeting.)

    Chaz has moved seamlessly from colonization, violence, police brutality, suppression of due process, religion, and human rights, into race-slavery: “A post that appeared on the subreddit for the Seattle ‘CHAZ’ autonomous zone that has been taken over by left-wing extremists suggests rounding up all the white people and organizing them into forced work brigades.”

    That’s right: depending solely on your pigmentation, you are now officially captured and enslaved, though not transported…yet. But like I said, these guys just love slavery. Don’t know why. Love Apple, love Nike, love Amazon, love Weinstein, major fund raiser, love Epstein major political power-player for decades and his buddy’s clothes in Victoria’s Secret, love human trafficking across the border, and the poor maligned coyotes who do the trafficking before INS stops to give 13-year-olds their pregnancy tests. Love slavery in forcing smart, highly-trained doctors to give them care for free, love slavery when they print money and get free Cheetos on the couch provided by others who work. Love, love, love. They are the party of love-bricks and love-arson, the party that re-established open-air slave markets, and now the proud party of race slavery here at home.

    But thankfully the statues of abolitionists have been removed by the roving safety council in black masks and carrying bats, and so long as we love being beaten in the streets we are indeed safe…from being beaten some more. What a crazy day.

    ““I can help keep a lookout for them, how do they look like?” asks one CHAZ occupier. “What are the signs to identify them? I would think going up to ask them is dangerous.”

    “Anyone that is white,” says a respondent.”

    Stunning and brave. Tolerance and diversity in action.

    Meanwhile, back in the real world: “Harvard Professor: “Defunding The Police Is Not A Solution And Could Cost Thousands Of Black Lives”

    Hope they didn’t spend a lot of money on that study. The Black community, along with minorities, whites, and a majority of all Americans agree. Except for these tiny fringe lunatics – fronted by rich, white progressives, but backed by most major establishment media and corporations – everyone wants police with reform. So they are therefore measurably AGAINST what the black and minority communities want. …And told Black people to shut up about it at the Chaz. They didn’t notice. Irony is dead, because it requires rules, thoughts, and words to have meanings.
    While this is going on, open riots shoulder to shoulder, liquor stores are essential, Church is cancelled permanently, and they’re attacking Jews at funerals, welding their gardens shut.

    Wish I were making it up.

    So…does the side attacking Jews, supporting open, active anti-Semites like Farrakhan, Ilhan Omar, and the Women’s March people, does trampling the black community and doing the opposite of what they say, to say nothing of destroying the jobs and livelihoods of 200M working people and burning their much-needed mostly inner-city businesses say, “Are we the baddies here” yet? Nope. Not on your life. That would require self-reflection of ego, which cannot be restrained by mere #Logic and #Physics. That would require submission to #Logos, which is the very rebellion they stand for.

    As you like it. As you wish. However, know that in #Reality, cause and effect are not actually suspended and rules and consequences do still exist.

    Well, at least Paw Patrol and Fawlty Towers have been banned. Hattie McDaniel and Candice Owens have been silenced. Books are burned, Jews are driven out of public spaces. The world is safe for tolerance and diversity again.

    “Prof Says University “Inclusion & Diversity” Efforts Are A “Smokescreen” That Harms Black Students”

    Huzzah White Karen! Stunning and brave!

    #60119
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Give it a few minutes. He hang glides with the bird. Way cool.

    Eagle Reborn

    Thank god our culture is collapsing. Otherwise, we’d eventually have national parks with with theme music piped in everywhere.

    #60120
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Smile

    How Michael Jackson’s star ever came to eclipse that of this brillieant genius explains in part why we’re so screwed now.

    #60121

    Here’s something that is not the same old same old: Gene Drive Files. It’s a website that covers the following. [I still haven’t got links down.]
    “Gene drives are a gene-editing application that allows genetic engineers to drive a single artificial trait through an entire population by ensuring that all of an organism’s offspring carry that trait. For example, recent experiments are fitting mice with ‘daughterless’ gene drives that will cascade through mouse populations so that only male pups are born, ensuring that the population becomes extinct after a few generations.”

    What fun! We’re gonna chop out links in the Great Chain of Being!
    [I got this from over at Rappoport today.]

    #60122
    John Day
    Participant

    Notice that Ilargi spoke of “Tyler”, then “they”, and has in the somewhat distant past speculated about “the Tyler Durdens”.

    #60123
    John Day
    Participant

    http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/06/a-hard-fall.html
    Martin Gugino, the 75 year old man, protesting in Buffalo week before last, who was shoved in the chest by riot police, took steps back and fell (off camera) DID have a basilar skull fracture from that fall. I was dubious, since the steps back, as he lowered himself, looked fairly controlled. A statement Tuesday by his lawyer makes it clear that he did have a skull fracture and cannot walk properly as a result. This confirms my initial impression when apparent blood came from his right ear. I had reconsidered that impression, looking at how he lay still and calm, with smartphone in hand, and considering how mild the fall looked. Others had also questioned whether this was a real injury. It was. This has been brought up by a couple of correspondents, and may have been an unvoiced concern to others.
    I do not want to be a partisan. I want to find out the truth, and share useful information, so that we can cooperatively rebuild our human economy, in a way that respects our place in nature. I think we can be good stewards of life on Earth.
    ​ ​In a recent statement to CNN, Gugino’s attorney Kelly Zarcone revealed that Gugino suffered a skull fracture due to the unnecessary violence of the police officers that day, and Gugino is currently unable to walk. According to Zarcone, Gugino remains in rehabilitation.
    “I am not at liberty to elaborate at this time other than to confirm that his skull was fractured,” Zarcone said. “While he is not able to walk yet, we were able to have a short conversation before he became too tired. He is appreciative of all of the concern about him but he is still focused on the issues rather than himself.”

    Buffalo protester Martin Gugino diagnosed with fractured skull

    ​Ranking of places to catch coronavirus by likelihood puts bars and big indoor concerts first, followed by sports stadiums, gyms, amusement parks, churches and buffets.
    It’s reducing tiers of risk from there.
    Libraries/museums, grocery stores, hotels and golf courses are just above self-serve gas stations.
    https://nypost.com/2020/06/13/experts-rank-most-likely-places-to-contract-coronavirus/

    How likely are kids to get COVID-19? Still no answer except “somewhat less and usually milder”.
    We’ll know for sure by Thanksgiving, won’t we?

    How likely are kids to get Covid-19? Scientists see a ‘huge puzzle’ without easy answers

    For the Immunologically inclined, here is a good summary of immune system responses and stages of response to coronavirus. The innate immune response is the first line of defense, and may stop the virus in the nose for many people, sometimes without even developing an antibody response. If the virus gets into the system, like lungs or gut, then the adaptive immune response has to protect the body, mounting an antibody response in time. There is a lot of complex activity by the white blood cells, too. Sometimes it can’t find the elusive virus, and other times, it may go too far, attack too widely, and cause death by “cytokine storm”.
    https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/05/15/good-news-on-the-human-immune-response-to-the-coronavirus

    Closing Time, an essay by an English Mom who came through coronavirus infection in the same part of town where her grandparents and great grandparents walked, and survived the 1918 flu. Reflections upon humanity.

    Closing up time

    #60124
    zerosum
    Participant

    He is not fit for office

    Right.
    Its a good thing that there are people behind the curtain.
    Its even better that its not me. ( They would be having a funeral for me rather than follow my orders.)
    Democrates will be on their knees for the next week with their ear buds tuned to the latest news.
    Hillary will be making special prayers requests.

    If prayers and wishes were granted then we would no longer need them.

    #60125
    zerosum
    Participant

    Defund the police
    Where will municipality find the money that they need?
    1. Grants from higher level of governments
    2. Raise taxes
    3. Cut costs of operation
    ie .Lower the # of employed people, Change functions, reduce functions, upload responsibilities to other agencies,
    keep police for homicide,
    Use lower paid people for speed traps, parking fees, social, mental intervention, drug education, riot, demonstration, ambulance service, merge services, etc.

    #60126
    zerosum
    Participant

    Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I could be worst.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/labor-recovery-stalls-benefits-not-paid-massive-unemployment-lines-kentucky

    “The cost of late unemployment benefits will not just damage the labor force and recovery – but has already resulted in thousands of people swarming a government building in at least one state – pleading for help as the economic depression crushes their household finances. “

    #60127
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Exciting times for whom?

    For me! I am back in Athens!

    Don’t you get all grumpy on me now.

    Ah, well of course I can understand that. I’d be excited to be in Greece too.
    But, Thailand still does it for me. 😉
    @75, I reserve the right to a little grumpyness sometimes… 😉

    #60128
    John Day
    Participant

    Ilargi,
    “Greatest commercial I’ve ever seen” is a category akin to “best crewcut ever”.
    That being said, that may have been the most painfully frank commercial I have ever seen.
    Robert Lee is a straight up dude.
    Here, in the same spirit, but with a whole lot more flair and some fancier pictures, is Southern Culture On The Skids, with “My House Has Wheels”. Great band; great song.

    #60129
    WES
    Participant

    John Day:

    Your house on wheels reminded me of a fellow I worked with in Gallup, New Mexico!

    Being in contraction he, like so many, lived in a mobile home, in a trailer park.

    One day as usual he left at 5 AM for work in his pick up truck. He put in the standard 12 hour work day. He then went home.

    When he arrived home, about 7 PM, his wife, house, and car were gone!

    For good measure she also cleaned out his bank account! She left no forwarding address!

    About 6 months later he located her in Arizona!

    A large percentage of people out west, live in mobile homes. Homes with wheels! The American dream!

    #60130
    WES
    Participant

    John Day:

    I guess you could also say “Divorce On Wheels – American Style”!

    #60131
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    With all the protests going on, I suspect Hillary is hiding low, for now.

    If the rif-raf knew now, that she is going to be the Dem’s real presidential candidate, they would really start rioting!

    Hillary really believes, more than anybody else, black lives matter!

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