Aug 292020
 


Johannes Vermeer Woman (in Blue) Reading a Letter 1662-3

 

The US Social Fabric Is Fraying Severely, if Not Unravelling (Greenwald)
Kyle Rittenhouse Worked as a Lifeguard in Kenosha the Day of the Shooting (GP)
CNN Has Turned Itself Into America’s Baghdad Bob (Widburg)
Kamala Harris Promises National Mask Mandate If Elected (NYP)
Judge Voids 50,000 Absentee Ballot Requests In Iowa County (AP)
Chairman of Joint Chiefs: No Role For Military In Presidential Election (AP)
France Sees ‘Exponential Rise’ In COVID Cases (BBC)
German Court Overturns Protest Ban (ZH)
German Economy Succumbing to Zombie Companies – Lacalle (SL)
End of an Abe Era for Japan

 

 

There are serious infection problems popping up in Europe, exposing even more incompetence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dark Side Of Social Media

 

 

It’s coming from within. It comes from the realization across -social- media that people’s sub-conscious can be easily manipulated into generating fear and anger.

The US Social Fabric Is Fraying Severely, if Not Unravelling (Greenwald)

The year 2020 has been one of the most tumultuous in modern American history. To find events remotely as destabilizing and transformative, one has to go back to the 2008 financial crisis and the 9/11 and anthrax attacks of 2001, though those systemic shocks, profound as they were, were isolated (one a national security crisis, the other a financial crisis) and thus more limited in scope than the multicrisis instability now shaping U.S. politics and culture. Since the end of World War II, the only close competitor to the current moment is the multipronged unrest of the 1960s and early 1970s: serial assassinations of political leaders, mass civil rights and anti-war protests, sustained riots, fury over a heinous war in Indochina, and the resignation of a corruption-plagued president.

But those events unfolded and built upon one another over the course of a decade. By crucial contrast, the current confluence of crises, each of historic significance in their own right — a global pandemic, an economic and social shutdown, mass unemployment, an enduring protest movement provoking increasing levels of violence and volatility, and a presidential election centrally focused on one of the most divisive political figures the U.S. has known who happens to be the incumbent president — are happening simultaneously, having exploded one on top of the other in a matter of a few months. Lurking beneath the headlines justifiably devoted to these major stories of 2020 are very troubling data that reflect intensifying pathologies in the U.S. population — not moral or allegorical sicknesses but mental, emotional, psychological and scientifically proven sickness.

Many people fortunate enough to have survived this pandemic with their physical health intact know anecdotally — from observing others and themselves — that these political and social crises have spawned emotional difficulties and psychological challenges. But the data are nonetheless stunning, in terms of both the depth of the social and mental health crises they demonstrate and the pervasiveness of them. Perhaps the most illustrative study was one released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month, based on an extensive mental health survey of Americans in late June. One question posed by researchers was whether someone has “seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days”— not fleetingly considered it as a momentary fantasy nor thought about it ever in their lifetime, but seriously considered suicide at least once in the past 30 days. The results are staggering.

For Americans between 18-24 years old, 25.5 percent — just over 1 out of every 4 young Americans — said they had. For the much larger group of Americans ages 25-44, the percentage was somewhat lower but still extremely alarming: 16 percent. A total of 18.6 percent of Hispanic Americans and 15 percent of African Americans said they had seriously considered suicide in the past month. The two groups with the largest percentage who said yes: Americans with less than a high school degree and unpaid caregivers, both of whom have 30 percent — or almost 1 out of every 3 — who answered in the affirmative. A full 10 percent of the U.S. population generally had seriously contemplated suicide in the month of June.

In a remotely healthy society, one that provides basic emotional needs to its population, suicide and serious suicidal ideation are rare events. It is anathema to the most basic human instinct: the will to live. A society in which such a vast swath of the population is seriously considering it as an option is one which is anything but healthy, one which is plainly failing to provide its citizens the basic necessities for a fulfilling life.

Read more …

No, I don’t know all the facts. But I’m always wary of people crucifying minors. And I’m intrigued by the interest of Lin Wood in the case, since he took on the defense of Nicholas Sandmann, himself also a minor the media crucified, on completely false and fabricated grounds. It has cost those same media not only millions, but also a great deal of their reputation.

Kyle Rittenhouse Worked as a Lifeguard in Kenosha the Day of the Shooting (GP)

Kyle Rittenhouse is a community lifeguard who was working in Kenosha the day of the shooting. This simple fact destroys the narrative being peddled by the mainstream media that he had “crossed state lines” to harm the rioters. In a statement by Rittenhouse’s legal team at Pierce Bainbridge, provided to the Gateway Pundit, “after Kyle finished his work that day as a community lifeguard in Kenosha, he wanted to help clean up some of the damage, so he and a friend went to the local public high school to remove graffiti by rioters.” Additionally, the weapon Rittenhouse was using to protect himself and others never crossed state lines. “Later in the day, they received information about a call for help from a local business owner, whose downtown Kenosha auto dealership was largely destroyed by mob violence,” the statement continues.

“Business owner needed help to protect what he had left of his life’s work, including two nearby mechanic’s shops. Kyle and a friend armed themselves with rifles due to the deadly violence gripping Kenosha and many other American cities, and headed to the business premises. The weapons were in Wisconsin and never crossed state lines.” When Rittenhouse arrived at the mechanics shop, he and others stood guard to prevent further destruction. Later that night, long after the 8 p.m. curfew had passed, the police began to disperse a group of rioters. His lawyer, John M. Pierce, explains that while dispersing the mob, they maneuvered a mass of individuals down the street towards the auto shops. Rittenhouse and the others were threatened and taunted, but he did not react. “His intent was not to incite violence, but simply to deter property damage and use his training to provide first aid to injured community members,” Pierce says.

After the situation seemed to be diffused, Rittenhouse became increasingly concerned about people who were injured at the gas station, so he went in that direction with his first aid kit. He helped those he could find who were injured, either by administering aid or directing them which way to go for help beyond what he could offer. The statement says that by the final time that Rittenhouse returned to the gas station and “confirmed there were no more injured individuals who needed assistance, police had advanced their formation and blocked what would have been his path back to the mechanic’s shop. Kyle then complied with the police instructions not to go back there. Kyle returned to the gas station until he learned of a need to help protect the second mechanic’s shop further down the street where property destruction was imminent with no police were nearby.”

“As Kyle proceeded towards the second mechanic’s shop, he was accosted by multiple rioters who recognized that he had been attempting to protect a business the mob wanted to destroy. This outraged the rioters and created a mob now determined to hurt Kyle. They began chasing him down. Kyle attempted to get away, but he could not do so quickly enough. Upon the sound of a gunshot behind him, Kyle turned and was immediately faced with an attacker lunging towards him and reaching for his rifle. He reacted instantaneously and justifiably with his weapon to protect himself, firing and striking the attacker,” Pierce explains. Additionally, Rittenhouse stopped to ensure care for his attacker, hardly sounds like someone who had went to the riot with intent to kill.

“Kyle stopped to ensure care for the wounded attacker but faced a growing mob gesturing towards him. He realized he needed to flee for his safety and his survival. Another attacker struck Kyle from behind as he fled down the street. Kyle turned as the mob pressed in on him and he fell to the ground,” his legal team says. “One attacker kicked Kyle on the ground while he was on the ground. Yet another bashed him over the head with a skateboard. Several rioters tried to disarm Kyle. In fear for his life and concerned the crowd would either continue to shoot at him or even use his own weapon against him, Kyle had no choice but to fire multiple rounds towards his immediate attackers, striking two, including one armed attacker. The rest of the mob began to disperse upon hearing the additional gunshots.” Rittenhouse then attempted to turn himself in, but was told to keep moving. He went and turned himself in to his local police that evening.

Lin Wood

Tucker Rittenhouse

Read more …

There are no limits anymore.

CNN Has Turned Itself Into America’s Baghdad Bob (Widburg)

On Tuesday, with its reporter standing in front of a raging fire, CNN ran a ludicrous chyron stating, “fiery but mostly peaceful protests after police shooting.” Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be worthy of reporting three days later. However, for some reason, this chyron was a bridge too far for many people, and the internet is still flooded with memes. It’s apparent that, with this latest denial of objective reality, CNN has finally completed its transformation into Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, whom many Americans remember almost fondly as Baghdad Bob, the Hussein regime propagandist who insisted that Saddam was winning even as U.S. troops entered Baghdad.

In 2003, when our military successfully invaded Iraq and quickly captured Baghdad, Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhafk, AKA Baghdad Bob, was Saddam Hussein’s minister of information. As troops neared and then entered Baghdad, al-Sahhaf gave daily press briefings during which he announced the most outrageous lies about the wars. For example, Baghdad Bob insisted that American troops were committing suicide “by the hundreds” and that none had entered Baghdad. Meanwhile, Americans were a few hundred yards away from him, and the audience could hear the sounds of their fighting. On April 8, four days before Americans captured Baghdad, al-Sahhaf was still insisting that U.S. troops “are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. They will surrender. It is they who will surrender.”


Baghdad Bob was last heard from some years ago, living in the United Arab Emirates. However, it’s entirely possible that he’s currently working for CNN, a former news network and now a sloppy propaganda outlet for the anarcho-Marxists of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Obviously, things are a bit different here for Bob. Last time, American troops were closing in on Baghdad as Bob spun manifest lies about events. This time, American anarchists and communists are closing in on an American city as CNN spins manifest lies about events. But aside from the details, that chyron running across the bottom of the CNN screen is vintage Baghdad Bob:

Read more …

Still thinks she wants to win?

Kamala Harris Promises National Mask Mandate If Elected (NYP)

Kamala Harris said on Friday that a nationwide mask mandate would be among the first orders of business if she and Joe Biden were elected to the White House in November, calling it the “responsible” thing to do. The Democratic vice presidential nominee expanded on the three-month plan that Biden has promised to enact if he won the White House, explaining that every American would be expected to wear a face covering amid the pandemic. “Yes,” Harris, 55, said when asked if that would be one of their first actions in power during an interview on NBC’s “TODAY.” “It’s a standard. I mean, nobody’s going to be punished,” Harris continued when asked how it would be enforced.


“Nobody likes to wear a mask, this is a universal feeling, right? So, that’s not the point,” she said. “The point is this is what we as responsible people who love our neighbor, we have to just do that right now. God willing, it won’t be forever.” The CDC recommends mask-wearing in public when you are unable to stay 6-feet away from others so as to stop the spread of disease. President Trump rejected Biden’s mandate earlier this month during a White House briefing, telling reporters the Democratic nominee had showed an “appalling lack of respect” for the American people. “It’s up to the governors. We want to have a certain freedom,” Trump said. “If the president has the unilateral power to order every single citizen to cover their face in nearly all instances, what other powers does he have?” he asked.

Read more …

There are dozens of such lawsuits pending.

Judge Voids 50,000 Absentee Ballot Requests In Iowa County (AP)

A judge ordered an Iowa county Thursday to invalidate 50,000 requests for absentee ballots, agreeing with President Donald Trump’s campaign that its elections commissioner overstepped his authority by pre-filling them with voters’ personal information. Judge Ian Thornhill issued a temporary injunction ordering Linn County Auditor Joel Miller to notify voters in writing that the forms should not have been pre-filled with their information and cannot be processed. Instead, they’ll have to either fill out new requests for absentee ballots or vote on Election Day. The ruling marks an initial victory for Trump’s challenges to absentee voting procedures in three counties in Iowa, which is expected to be competitive in his race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

They’re part of an unprecedented legal battle involving dozens of lawsuits nationwide that will shape the rules of the election. Republicans said the ruling would hold a “rogue auditor” accountable and enhance voting security, while outraged Democrats called it an act of voter suppression. Miller said he would abide by the order, pledging to void the returned requests and send out new blank forms to voters next month. At issue was Miller’s decision to send absentee ballot request forms to 140,000 voters in July that were already filled with their personal information, including names, dates of birth and, most significantly, voter identification numbers. Miller, a Democrat, has said his goal was to make it as easy as possible to vote absentee during a pandemic, as the virus spreads uncontrolled across the state.


Voters had to review, sign and return the forms to request ballots that will be mailed beginning Oct. 5. About 50,000 requests have been returned in the Democratic-leaning county, which is Iowa’s second largest and is recovering from a derecho that devastated the region Aug. 10. The phone system for the county elections office remained out of service Thursday. Thornhill ruled that Miller’s mailing violated a “clear directive” from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who told county officials in July that absentee ballot request forms mailed to voters must be blank in order to ensure uniformity.

Read more …

Both sides will sell this as an affirmation of their views.

Chairman of Joint Chiefs: No Role For Military In Presidential Election (AP)

The U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer told Congress in comments released Friday. The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses. Trump’s repeated complaints questioning the election’s validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results.

Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his reelection prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature. “I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley said in written responses to several questions posed by two Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”


Milley’s tone reflects the longstanding views of military leaders who insist that the nation’s military stays out of politics and that troops are sworn to protect the country and uphold the Constitution. But the two Congress members, Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, said Friday that Trump’s recent comments and his efforts to use the military to quell protests have fueled their concerns. The two lawmakers released Milley’s answers.

Read more …

“On Friday, masks were made mandatory outdoors in Paris to fight the rising infections.”

How does that work exactly?

France Sees ‘Exponential Rise’ In COVID Cases (BBC)

France has recorded its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections since March, as President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of another nationwide lockdown. A further 7,379 cases were confirmed on Friday, bringing the country’s total to 267,077. It was the largest daily spike since 31 March, when 7,578 cases were tallied at the peak of the first wave. France was seeing an “exponential” rise in cases, the health ministry said. The ministry said Friday’s rise follows daily increases of 6,111 on Thursday and 5,429 on Wednesday. Despite the sharp rise, hospital numbers and daily deaths were relatively stable, as young people less vulnerable to the disease make up most of the new infections, the ministry said. Another 20 people were confirmed to have died with Covid-19 on Friday, bringing France’s overall death toll to 30,596.


Shortly before Friday’s figures were released, Mr Macron said a second national lockdown could not be ruled out if infections spiralled out of control. However he said his government was trying to avoid the return of restrictions that would set back the country’s fragile economic recovery. “Containment is the crudest of measures to fight against a virus,” said Mr Macron, urging people to be “collectively very rigorous”. France began easing its eight-week-long lockdown in May. But some parts of the country – including the capital Paris – remained under tighter controls. Local authorities have been given powers to enforce lockdown measures, such as closing down bars and restaurants, in areas where cases are surging. On Friday, masks were made mandatory outdoors in Paris to fight the rising infections.

HCQ OTC

Read more …

Germany, too, has fallen into the trap of allowing one type of protest, but banning another. That’s just politics, nothing to do with health care.

German Court Overturns Protest Ban (ZH)

Earlier in the week, we reported that authorities in Berlin had banned a series of planned demonstrations against the country’s COVID-19 lockdown measures – claiming they were organized by “right-wing extremists” and would lead to the spread of the virus. The city said it would deploy several thousand police around the German capital this weekend, citing threats. Notably, the German city did not ban a June Black Lives Matter protest in which approximately 15,000 people turned out. Meanwhile, the Assembly for Freedom had 17,000 registered demonstrators for the August 29 event before Berlin shut it down. “We are still in the middle of a pandemic with rising infection figures,” said Berlin Interior Minister, Andreas Geisel.

“This is not a decision against freedom of assembly, but a decision in favor of infection protection,” he continued, adding that Berlin should not be “misused as a stage for corona deniers… and right-wing extremists.” About 20,000 people, including libertarians, constitutional loyalists, far-right supporters and anti-vaccination activists, marched in Berlin on Aug. 1. But now, as Off-Guardian reports, the Berlin Senate’s decision to ban the coronavirus protest planned for this weekend has been overturned by the Administrative Court. That said, the protest will still be under some restrictions – the court ruled that the organizers must follow all the laws and restrictions they are protesting against.


According to a report from Deutsche Welle: “…the judges said protest organizers and participants must provide barriers in front of the stages where speeches will be held – and must regularly remind participants to observe social distancing rules and keep their distance. Wearing masks was not included in the judge’s guidelines for the protest.” The court’s decision can be appealed by the Senate, but given the timeframe that seems unlikely at this stage. Many thousands were reportedly travelling to Berlin regardless, as it was thought the protest organizers intended to go ahead in spite of the ban. A similar protest on August 1st drew tens of thousands of people. The Berlin protest is taking place alongside other events around the world for a global day of action. Protests are planned for London, Ottawa, Paris and Zurich.

Read more …

“..these types of policies are relatively social at the beginning but they become the most anti-social afterwards..”

German Economy Succumbing to Zombie Companies – Lacalle (SL)

Zombie companies are generally defined as companies that have been in business for at least ten years and whose debt servicing costs have exceeded profits for at least the last three years. Such structurally unprofitable companies, once a rarity, now represent a terrifying 18% of publicly traded companies in the US. The trend is growing in Europe as well, and as Mr. Lacalle warns, endless stimulus, low interest rates, and bailouts in the wake of Covid are exacerbating the phenomenon. The end result is a stifling of innovation, lower long term productivity, and decreased economic mobility. Some excerpts from Daniel Lacalle:

“The (German) government has given enormous levels of subsidies to keep companies that had problems in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic, to keep them alive…” “Huge transfers of public money go to companies that… don’t allow a certain level of creative destruction, which is very important for progress…. The rise of Zombie Companies, which is a big problem in the European Union, is doing three things: It’s stopping innovation…, consumers end up with worse products and services, and the third problem is that these companies don’t hire and invest more…” “Something that looks quite good as a headline can be extremely damaging for jobs, for growth, and for the future development of the economy… The rise of zombie companies inevitably leads to a financial crisis when those companies inevitably become insolvent…”


“The biggest lesson for the United States is that these types of policies are relatively social at the beginning but they become the most anti-social afterwards when higher unemployment, lower growth, and lower productivity become the norm.” Another problem with larger and larger swaths of the economy being taken over by structurally unprofitable companies is taxes. Companies only pay taxes on profits and with governments running deficits like there is no tomorrow, there is simply no feasible tax plan that will come close to balancing America’s budget deficits. The economy is simply insufficiently productive to support current levels of government spending. Keeping money-losing companies in business only makes the matter worse.

Read more …

This can’t help but make me laugh: “He was widely praised for early “Abenomics..” One look at Japan’s debt-to-GDP tells you all you need to know.

End of an Abe Era for Japan

Abe’s political legacy is substantial. After working as cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, he became prime minister in 2006 but crashed and burned and resigned – officially due to ulcerative colitis – in 2007. He was older, wiser and better advised when he started his second term at the helm in December 2012. In that term, which ended on Friday, he served the longest premiership in Japanese history. In many ways, Abe has overseen a success story. Economically, his inflationary “Abenomics” overcame Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s, and socially, as Asia Times recently noted in a review of an Abe biography, the country boasts low unemployment, equal distribution of income, fine infrastructure, minimal public disorder, a low crime rate and low Covid-19 death rates.

Even so, his legacy is mixed. In neighboring countries, he is widely seen as a raging nationalist for his claimed historical revisionism and his moves to empower Japan’s military. However, in terms of trade and tourism, many of his actions in office have been those of an internationalist. He was widely praised for early “Abenomics,” but while its loose monetary and expansionary fiscal policies beat back the deflation that had plagued Japan, it’s “third arrow” – corporate reform – never rose from the deck. He won hosting rights to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics to local acclaim, only to see the multi-billion dollar dream crash amid the pandemic.

Politically, Abe appears to have maintained a balance within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party between its center-right and hard-right elements, and as a result, a true hard-right party has not appeared on Japan’s political scene. There have also been clear failures. Abe talked about “creating a Japan where women can shine,” but according to the World Economic Forum’s annual gender equality ranking, last year Japan placed 121st out of the 153 countries, the worst among G7 economies. Abe has also leaned on media. National broadcaster NHK has been ridiculed as “Abe TV” and Japan’s Freedom Of Press ranking, 22 when he took office, is now 66th. And when it comes to Japan’s biggest national challenge – its ongoing demographic decline – he proved incapable of reversing it.

Abe’s grandfather and a strong personal influence was war criminal Nobuskue Kishi, who was rehabilitated by the US and then became Japan’s prime minister. Many in China and the Koreas, countries which suffered from Japan’s militarism and imperialism in the first half of the 20th century, consider Abe his grandfather’s grandson, a dangerous nationalist. However, he has declined to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine since 2013, although his cabinet members, in a sop to Japan’s hard right, have done so. Abe’s oft-stated hopes of rewriting article 9 of Japan’s constitution – a Herculean task – enabling a wider, more expeditionary role for Japan’s Self Defense Forces, came to naught. Even so, during his term, he quietly oversaw the expansion and empowerment of Japan’s military. Notably, the Maritime Self Defense Force took on a far more expeditionary look under his oversight, standing up a marine brigade and green-lighting the conversion of two existing warships into F-35-armed aircraft carriers.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 29 2020

Viewing 21 posts - 1 through 21 (of 21 total)
  • Author
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  • #62700

    Johannes Vermeer Woman (in Blue) Reading a Letter 1662-3   • The US Social Fabric Is Fraying Severely, if Not Unravelling (Greenwald) • Kyle Ritt
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 29 2020]

    #62701
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Koyaanisqatsi

    (n.) “life out of balance.”
    a state of life that calls for another way of living.

    #62703
    Moo Foo Bay
    Participant

    If the account of Kyle Rittenhouse is close to true, who gave this 17 year old minor a gun and put him in harms way to defend someone else’s private property?

    #62704
    zerosum
    Participant

    Obviously, the herd is self culling when you supply the tools.
    Yep! Its happening
    Opioids! Exit ramp
    Our educated elites have compiled the numbers

    https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28/the-social-fabric-of-the-u-s-is-fraying-severely-if-not-unravelling/
    The Social Fabric of the U.S. Is Fraying Severely, if Not Unravelling
    Why, in the world’s richest country, is every metric of mental health pathology rapidly worsening?

    Glenn Greenwald, System Update
    August 28 2020, 8:23 a.m.

    In March 2020, the New Yorker’s Atul Gawande published a survey of data from two Princeton economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, under the headline: “Why Americans Are Dying from Despair: the unfairness of our economy, two economists argue, can be measured not only in dollars but in deaths.” The decadeslong economic stagnation for Americans, the reversal of the American Dream, and the shockingly high mass unemployment ushered in by the pandemic are obviously significant reasons why these pathologies are rapidly worsening now.

    Observing these trends is necessary but not sufficient for understanding their breadth and their impact. Why is virtually every metric of mental and spiritual disease — suicide, depression, anxiety disorders, addiction, and alcoholism — increasing significantly, rapidly, in the richest country on earth, one filled with advanced technologies and at least the pretense of liberal democracy?

    Today’s SYSTEM UPDATE on The Intercept’s YouTube channel is devoted to exploring this unravelling of the social fabric: not just the data demonstrating that it is happening, but also what the causes are, and what the consequences are likely to be for our politics, our culture, our society generally. And the answers to the question prompted by all of this — where is the exit ramp to prevent these trends from worsening even further? — are as elusive as they are vital.

    #62705
    zerosum
    Participant

    Big demonstrations have been happening everywhere in the USA
    Is this another tool for the herd to do self culling?
    Next. Let’s test schools.
    Let’s all gather in the school yards

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/german-court-overturns-protest-ban-tomorrows-massive-anti-lockdown-march-go-ahead

    Earlier in the week, we reported that authorities in Berlin had banned a series of planned demonstrations against the country’s COVID-19 lockdown measures – claiming they were organized by “right-wing extremists” and would lead to the spread of the virus.

    The city said it would deploy several thousand police around the German capital this weekend, citing threats.

    Notably, the German city did not ban a June Black Lives Matter protest in which approximately 15,000 people turned out.

    #62706
    madamski cafone
    Participant
    #62707
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    What kind of parent let’s their minor children have free/complete access to firearms without adult supervision? And what adult business owner would make a call to kids asking for their help in protecting a commercial enterprise? That was a job for a licensed security firm who employs trained professionals.

    Who is taking responsibility for allowing Kyle’s participation in this event? Who may have noticed that there were kids with guns on the scene and did nothing to discourage their involvement? An honest analysis has to start there.

    I have never been on the scene of an “in-progess” shooting. But isn’t it well understood that trying to disarm the shooter, the person who has the weapon and who is NOT the police, is an important task?

    So you are a hero when you disarm a schoolyard shooter and a criminal when you try to disarm a shooter in the streets of a protest?

    The fierce intensity of those defending this young man says something.

    When we declare self defense alone – without giving equal weight to why he was in a position where he needed to defend himself – we surrender our integrity and redirect responsibility. Now it is the fault of the protester? Kyle had a role in this and he should take responsibility for it. Anyone who takes responsibility for showing up with a loaded AK gets to take responsibility for the outcome of his/her actions.

    #62708
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    I certainly don’t object to the idea of mask-mandates for the pandemic, but I think such decisions should be left to the state governments.

    #62709

    I think anyone talking about a mask mandate should define what that is in their eyes. Forcing people to wear masks outside, other than in very cramped shopping streets, or maybe a concert situation, makes no sense when it comes to risk assessment. The risk that you would get infected from someone you just pass on the street is close to zero. And therefore not a reason to force a million people to wear a mask.

    John Day a while ago said you would have to talk to someone standing close to you for FIVE minutes for them to infect you. I thought then, and still do, that that may be a bit much, but 2 seconds certainly won’t do. Unless that someone spits or coughs straight into your face.

    Indoors is a whole different thing, because droplets can stay in the air for quite some time if there’s no air flow. Viruses don’t travel, far as I know, off their own accord, they need something to offer them a lift. So yeah, in a store or a bar, wear the thing, but take it off as soon as you hit the exit. We got this.

    The whole “follow the science” idea became empty when the scientists started contradicting each other, and now only cause more fear and panic. But we are clever enough to figure this one out.

    I wrote about Taleb many months ago, and his approach still stands as the only one that makes sense. That people, and politicians, are not smart enough to understand the most basic things, is not his fault.

    Lockdowns work, as an initial reaction, but they must be counted in weeks, not months. Masks work, but only if they’re worn where there is an actual infection risk.

    #62710
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Tucker admits (in the segment linked above) that the media coverage of this shooting event is incomplete, all though he does not say why. My guess is that reports using Kyle’s own “social media footprints” revealing connections/associations to a Trump rally and to Blue Lives Matter movement are the cause of his “angst”. We are just learning of Kyle’s community support efforts as a lifeguard and his volunteer efforts to remove graffiti. Guess that will balance out the scorecard! Look over here!! Not once in this segment does TC refer to the points of common concern and agreement: that a kid with a loaded gun was on the streets in a town he did not live in in the middle of a protest defending property he did not own.

    #62711

    susmarie:

    The fierce intensity of those defending this young man says something.

    I can of course easily argue that so does the intensity of those attacking him.

    We don’t know much about his background, so talking about the parents who got him into this may not be very relevant. As for the “friend handing him a gun” situation, and him being part of a community watch, who says anyone there knows he’s just 17? His 18th birthday could be a week away, far as I know.

    I don’t have the impression, from my limited knowledge, that he was out there to cause havoc. But that’s just me. But that Lin Wood and the other lawyers who have joined his defence team concluded after watching the videos that he’s not some crazed kid, that’s not just me. These guys don’t take on lost cases. It would hurt them going forward too much. Really, they do not.

    I personally find it very hard to watch videos like that, my stomach can’t take it. But still, calling the people who attacked him “protesters” will undoubtedly be labeled “leading” in court by Wood et al. They would at minimum label them “rioters”, and that changes the entire concept.

    Let’s wait for the court case before we reach a verdict in “public court”.

    #62712
    Kimo
    Participant

    Heard in the aftermath of Bunker Hill, “Who gave the 17 year old a gun?”.
    From the nature of his day’s activities, it seems Kyle was answering the call of volunteerism in support of victims, not adventurism or blood lusting. I would judge him by his regrets, which he hopefully does have about showing up.

    #62713
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Two are dead and one severely injured because a kid was there with a loaded gun.

    #62714
    Mr. House
    Participant

    A neighbor spent over half an hour yesterday trying to convince me to vote for joe biden so we can be protected from nazis. Its ironic, for 12 years i’ve been telling people we need to change the system. Neither party can be trusted, and at best you were blown off, at worst someone took it upon themselves to tell you what a downer you are. I lost friends due to trying to warn people. Now people are trying to convince me to vote for biden to save us from the nazis. I’ve been plugging away for 12 years, they’ll plug away for 2 and half months. Neither side is right, neither side is wrong. I’m scared that the only way this will resolve itself is via blood being shed. Like lincoln said a house divided amongst itself can not stand. It’ll either become all “liberal” intolerance or “conservative” intolerance with whoever ends up being in charge largely guilty for causing the situation.

    #62715
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #62716
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “What kind of parent let’s their minor children have free/complete access to firearms without adult supervision?”

    What kind of parent allows their children to riot? Wrong on both sides, stop trying to take a side.

    #62717

    How do we stop the unravelling of the fabric? Ignore the virus. If you think you are vulnerable, take care of yourself. Let humans get back to real normal. When people can’t discuss things, ideas rot in their heads; if ideas are shared, they can ferment into fine wines.

    A couple of sprouted organic potatoes has turned into 12 pounds of gorgeous spuds, and that was only half of the 6′ x 3′ bed. We going to scrounge up a couple of tykes to help us with the next half- we have a feeling they will be as delighted as we were digging up the treasures of the earth.

    #62719
    John Day
    Participant

    @Susmarie 108 and Kimo, hell, everybody.
    I have been looking hard to find factual, non-divisive information about Kyle Rittenhouse. Thanks Ilargi for this particular find, which comes close.
    The glaring omission is Who Armed Kyle That Afternoon?
    The gun did not come from across the state line, not from Kyle’s home.
    Who, in Kenosha, armed Kyle with an AR-15 to go with his first aid kit?
    What was the mechanism of the arming of Kyle?
    This is actually very important.
    It’s true that nothing about him says that he wanted to do anything but help.
    Young men don’t cause wars, but they do the fighting and dying.
    There are chains of command, and supply and mechanisms for war on all sides.
    There were a lot of guns being discharged that night, it seems.
    People become targets and somebody shoots first.
    The guy who got shot in the arm ran up at Kyle from behind, and regrets not having shot him before he could bring his firearm to bear and pull the trigger. He looks older than 17.
    Was he just there to help and render aid?
    It seems like a lot of people in some cities like Chicago are just getting out of their homes before sun goes down, going somewhere else until the riots are over.
    What I am worried about is that this is such a strong inoculation, that the backlash may go into a new fascism.

    #62720
    John Day
    Participant

    @Mr. House: I’m going to write in Tulsi Gabbard for president.
    One of the docs i work with went into a serious harangue about me electing Donald Trump, “the worst thing possible for the whole world” If I don’t vote for Joe Biden.
    The place he was coming from was not approachable, so I really didn’t try much, but he held me at political bay for a good 10 minutes when I was dressed in my bike clothes and headed for the door.
    As you may know, i already elected Bush by voting for Nader. Ill be a repeat offender.

    #62721
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    Kenosha WI is a rust belt city of 100,000 people, 80% white, which use to manufacture AMC and then Chrysler automobiles. Today, the largest employer is Snap-on Tools with around 750 full time employees. Jobs that supported families are mostly gone. Last year, there were 30 overdose deaths. Blacks are a minority at 11.5%.

    The US flyover Rust Belt was the intentional result of offshoring and globalization. It made the wealthy on both coasts of America richer. Corporate media plays up the racial tensions to divert attention from the real causes, inequality and injustice. This is the classical divide and conquer Empire tactics. Right now two Brahmin Clans (globalists and nationalists) are fighting for control of the remnants of the fallen Western Empire.

    What is frightening is an authoritarian Republican incompetent incumbent and his followers are using this unrest (that they incite) to keep control. Ruling class Democrats won’t restore the public health system or give jobs to the unemployed to end the Pandemic Depression and deescalate the tensions. Instead chaos is sure to increase. Gangs will seize and barricading their home turf to prevent retaliation. Warfare is next.

    Neither ruling caste gives a damn about the American lives lost, all that matters is that they are making money, hands over fist.

    #62722
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks Vietnam Vet.
    The elites are afraid of losing their stuff nd powerful positions.
    There’s too many of them for the amount of stuff.
    Some of ’em have to go.
    They’ll go over a lot of our dead bodies as usual.
    It’s nature’s way, and so on. To do anything different would require the conscious and selfless action of billions of regular people, many of whom would be killed by other regular people, mostly scared ones.
    We’d all have to be guided by spirituality, ’cause the devil/CIA already got the smart-phones.
    What’s the odds?

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