Oct 282020
 
 October 28, 2020  Posted by at 9:21 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Gustav Klimt Pine forest I 1901

 

Last Round-up at the Wokester Corral (Jim Kunstler)
Multi-Organ Impairment In Low-Risk Individuals With Long COVID (medrxiv)
UK Study Finds Evidence Of Waning Antibody Immunity To COVID19 Over Time (R.)
Spanish Doctors In First Walkout In 25 Years To Protest New COVID19 Order (ZH)
White House Watch: Biden 49%, Trump 47% (Rasmussen)
Don’t Believe The Polls – Trump Is Winning (Hill)
Bobulinski Says He Met Joe Biden Twice In Connection With Chinese Venture (JTN)
How The Authenticity of Hunter’s Laptop Became Immaterial (Turley)
Biden Calls Russia #1 Threat But Slammed Romney For Saying It In 2012 (JTN)
Senate Investigates Hunter Biden’s Failure to Register as Foreign Agent (RCI)
The Last Days of the Trumpian Reich (CJ Hopkins)
‘Covid First’ China Is Trumping ‘America First’ In Economic Recovery (Roach)
Banksy’s Foolproof Plan for Dealing With Anyone Who Steals His Art (Y!)
Newly Sworn-In ACB Immediately Orders All Women To Wear Handmaid Outfit (BBee)

 

 

 

 

Kim Dotcom Joe Biden

 

 

“…a free society is obliged to tolerate the expression of disagreeable ideas up to the limit, as the Supreme Court put it, of “crying ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”

Last Round-up at the Wokester Corral (Jim Kunstler)

I have some questions for former friends who have dumped me on account of my support for Mr. Trump’s re-election — which is mostly a vote to prevent the Democratic Party and its fellow travelers from running the government. On the whole, these former friends are college-educated, mature in experience, and cultured. Some of them are well-acquainted with history, which is to say, they ought to know better than to support the obviously illiberal motives of the political Left. Are you against the principle of free speech? The Democratic Party is. They used to be champions of the First Amendment; now they want to make it conditional on ideas and sentiments they support. Contrary ideas are to be labeled “hate speech,” and suppressed, along with anything that might hurt somebody’s feelings.

How did you come to such a complete misunderstanding of what free speech means? Namely, that a free society is obliged to tolerate the expression of disagreeable ideas up to the limit, as the Supreme Court put it, of “crying ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.” I will answer my own question partially by saying: you have been programmed against free speech by what used to be the very vehicles of it, the newspapers and TV News channels, which have, amazingly, come out against freedom of the press and turned into propaganda outlets for Woke Progressivism and its illiberal agenda — thereby inadvertently committing suicide of the entire profession. We’ve seen this acted-out most vividly just the past week in the social media companies’ efforts to suppress all news of the Biden family’s global business operations, along with The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and other leading news organizations that Americans used to depend on to know what was happening in the nation.

This is especially unforgivable during a national election. Did you support the movement on campus in recent years to shut down events featuring speakers such as Charles Murray (The Bell Curve), Heather Mac Donald of City Journal, Dinesh D’Souza, and many others who represented not-so-Woke ideas that “offended” you? Since when are your feelings so special that they negate the open exchange of ideas in the places that used to be dedicated to it, the universities? Should higher education only entertain ideas that you and your cohorts approve of? What if, in some future, a different cohort gains control of higher education and seeks to exclude your ideas on the grounds that they’re “offensive” (i.e. they just don’t like them)?

Are you in favor of a politicized Department of Justice and CIA? That is what the Democratic Party’s Resistance League deliberately brought about during the 2016 election, and they continue to promote it. Is it okay for bureaucrats to break the law to disable their political adversaries? That was the essence of the RussiaGate ruse. Former employees of those agencies, such as ex-CIA chief John Brennan and Andrew Weissmann, who ran the Mueller investigation, to this day still hype “Russian collusion” falsehoods to deflect attention from their own misdeeds. You let them get away with that.

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201 participants, median age 44, 70% women, large majority not high risk. Only 18% hospitalized. Median time 140 days from first symptom: 99% suffered at least four symptoms. 42% suffered at least ten. In 66%, injuries in at least one organ, in 25% in at least two organs.

Multi-Organ Impairment In Low-Risk Individuals With Long COVID (medrxiv)

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has disproportionately affected older individuals and those with underlying medical conditions. Research has focused on short-term outcomes in hospital, and single organ involvement. Consequently, impact of long COVID (persistent symptoms three months post-infection) across multiple organs in low-risk individuals is yet to be assessed.

Methods An ongoing prospective, longitudinal, two-centre, observational study was performed in individuals symptomatic after recovery from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Symptoms and organ function (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, spleen) were assessed by standardised questionnaires (EQ-5D-5L, Dyspnoea-12), blood investigations and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, defining single and multi-organ impairment by consensus definitions.

Findings Between April and September 2020, 201 individuals (mean age 44 (SD 11.0) years, 70% female, 87% white, 31% healthcare workers) completed assessments following SARS-CoV-2 infection (median 140, IQR 105-160 days after initial symptoms). The prevalence of pre-existing conditions (obesity: 20%, hypertension: 6%; diabetes: 2%; heart disease: 4%) was low, and only 18% of individuals had been hospitalised with COVID-19. Fatigue (98%), muscle aches (88%), breathlessness (87%), and headaches (83%) were the most frequently reported symptoms. Ongoing cardiorespiratory (92%) and gastrointestinal (73%) symptoms were common, and 42% of individuals had ten or more symptoms.

There was evidence of mild organ impairment in heart (32%), lungs (33%), kidneys (12%), liver (10%), pancreas (17%), and spleen (6%). Single (66%) and multi-organ (25%) impairment was observed, and was significantly associated with risk of prior COVID-19 hospitalisation (p<0.05).

Interpretation In a young, low-risk population with ongoing symptoms, almost 70% of individuals have impairment in one or more organs four months after initial symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. There are implications not only for burden of long COVID but also public health approaches which have assumed low risk in young people with no comorbidities.

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It’s the combination of the article above, and this one, that has me thinking. Both talk about what happens in a 6 month period or longer.

UK Study Finds Evidence Of Waning Antibody Immunity To COVID19 Over Time (R.)

Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community. Scientists at Imperial College London have tracked antibody levels in the British population following the first wave of COVID-19 infections in March and April. Their study found that antibody prevalence fell by a quarter, from 6% of the population around the end of June to just 4.4% in September. That raises the prospect of decreasing population immunity ahead of a second wave of infections in recent weeks that has forced local lockdowns and restrictions.

Although immunity to the novel coronavirus is a complex and murky area, and may be assisted by T cells, as well as B cells that can stimulate the quick production of antibodies following re-exposure to the virus, the researchers said the experience of other coronaviruses suggested immunity might not be enduring. “We can see the antibodies and we can see them declining and we know that antibodies on their own are quite protective,” Wendy Barclay, head of the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London told reporters. “On the balance of evidence I would say, with what we know for other coronaviruses, it would look as if immunity declines away at the same rate as antibodies decline away, and that this is an indication of waning immunity at the population level.”

Those for whom COVID-19 was confirmed with a gold standard PCR test had a less pronounced decline in antibodies, compared to people who had been asymptomatic and unaware of their original infection. There was no change in the levels of antibodies seen in healthcare workers, possibly due to repeated exposure to the virus. The study backs up findings from similar surveys in Germany which found the vast majority of people didn’t have COVID-19 antibodies, even in hotspots for the disease, and that antibodies might fade in those who do.

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“The order requires doctors and nurses to report to any of a range of assignments that could be handed to them by the government during the state of emergency..”

Spanish Doctors In First Walkout In 25 Years To Protest New COVID19 Order (ZH)

Doctors across Spain have walked out on Tuesday in what media outlets have called the first medical strike to rock the country in 25 years. As the coronavirus pandemic rages across Spain, where the Health Ministry reported another 18,418 new daily cases on Tuesday, doctors are beginning the strike, which was called in defiance of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s latest emergency order, which was implemented on Sunday. The order requires doctors and nurses to report to any of a range of assignments that could be handed to them by the government during the state of emergency, which could be in place for months. Doctors complained that the new law violated their rights, and compromised the standard of care for patients, as doctors would end up working in an area they weren’t specialized in.


The strike will continue indefinitely, with doctors set to continue striking on the last Tuesday of every month until a deal has been reached. For the first time, 200,000 new cases were confirmed in Spain over the previous two weeks, and cases on Tuesday were up 33% compared with the prior week. And over the last 24 hours, another 267 people have died. “The Health Ministry hasn’t even dignified us with a meeting to try and get us to call off the strike,” he told Spanish health journal iSanidad. Spain’s hospitals harbor nearly 16,700 active COVID-19 patients – up more than 600 compared to Monday, with one quarter of all the country’s ICU units used to treat those with an infectious disease.

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The day before, Trump was ahead.

White House Watch: Biden 49%, Trump 47% (Rasmussen)

Democrat Joe Biden has edged back ahead in Rasmussen Reports’ daily White House Watch survey. The latest national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows Biden earning 49% support to President Trump’s 47%. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, while two percent (2%) are still undecided. Yesterday, Trump was ahead for the first time since mid-September – by a minimal 48% to 47%. The race has been tightening since early in the month.


Rasmussen Reports has been releasing White House Watch weekly on Wednesdays since the beginning of July. But starting this week, White House Watch will be posted daily at 10:30 am Eastern. Trump earns 82% support among Republicans. Biden has 78% of the Democrat vote and leads by three among voters not affiliated with either major party. The survey of 1,500 Likely Voters was conducted October 22 and 25-26, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Trump: VOTE

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FYI.

Don’t Believe The Polls – Trump Is Winning (Hill)

We predict that President Trump is going to win the 2020 presidential election — and win big. While the majority of the polls suggest that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading, or at best that it’s close, those polls suffer from at least three problems. First, the tone of the questions. There is significant evidence from behavioral psychology that suggests that the way a question is framed predetermines the range of potential answers. In fact, Gallup has found that respondents can answer very differently to questions with the same topic even in the same survey based on the language that’s used. And the use of metaphors can even dwarf the importance of pre-existing differences between Republicans and Democrats.

One of the reasons respondents do that is because of a tendency to give socially desirable answers, which was the case especially during the 2016 election. Most people don’t like confrontation, so the easiest, albeit not necessarily the best, solution is to avoid it. Right now, saying that you’re voting for Trump/Pence is often not the socially desirable answer. In fact, a recent poll by the Cato Institute suggests that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that the political climate is sufficiently harsh that they don’t want to give their genuine opinion about politics.

Second, the sample of respondents. Who responds depends on many factors, including the medium (e.g., landline versus cellphone), the location, the sample size and demographic factors. Moreover, the pool of respondents is not necessarily the same as the pool of likely voters. Even though election polls all contain a margin of error, that margin of error is unreliable if the underlying sample does not reflect the population. Researchers have also identified self-screening as the major contributing factor to the polling failures during the 2016 election cycle. For example, distrust of pollsters also leads to lower response rates for Trump supporters. Rasmussen finds that 17 percent of likely U.S. voters who “strongly approve” of the job President Trump is doing say they are less likely to let others know how they intend to vote in the upcoming election.

By comparison, only 8 percent of those who “strongly disapprove” of the president’s performance say the same. While proper sampling methodology matters more than the size, having a representative sample with enough people still helps considerably. Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group notes how their work to create minimum samples sizes of 1,000 voters, added to their work to doggedly pursue the “quiet Trump voter,” led to Trafalgar being one of the most successful battleground polling firms in the country in 2016. Cahaly explains that “we don’t do a state with less than a thousand. You see these polls, 400, 500, 600 people for a state. I don’t buy that. Your margin of error is far too high.”

Third, the content of the current news cycle. What’s going on in a particular moment in time can influence voter attitudes, particularly in swing states. For example, the recent revelation of Hunter Biden’s hidden emails on his laptop, coupled with the link to his father, has come at an opportune time for the president. Moreover, if the economic recovery continues, the good news may continue putting wind in Trump’s sails.

Leaflet left on reporters’ chairs in Airforce One.

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Crickets in the MSM.

Bobulinski Says He Met Joe Biden Twice In Connection With Chinese Venture (JTN)

In a lengthy interview with Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night, former Biden family business associate Tony Bobulinski accused Joe Biden of a “blatant lie” in denying any familiarity with his son Hunter’s business undertakings, claiming he himself met with Biden on two separate occasions to discuss prospective ventures into Chinese markets. Bobulinski painted a picture of the Democratic presidential nominee as actively aware in broad strokes of plans for the Biden family to enter into a business partnership with Chinese nationals closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army — yet with Biden himself maintaining enough distance from the operational details in face-to-face encounters to preserve what his brother Jim Biden would characterize as “plausible deniability.”


Biden’s family members, Bobuilnski claimed, were “putting their entire family legacy on the line” in their dealings with the Chinese. “They knew exactly what they were doing,” he said. They were dealing with a Chinese owned enterprise … that had strong financial support and political support from the Chinese Communist Party. That’s how it was presented to me. That’s not my own words. That’s how they presented it to me and read me in on it.” Bobulinski made headlines last week when he claimed to have firsthand evidence of Biden’s involvement in those deals. “I’ve seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business,” Bobulinski said in a statement. “I’ve seen firsthand that that’s not true.”

Tucker Bobulinkski

In a largely unbroken 45-minute interview with Carlson on Tuesday, Bobulinski further went on the record, telling the Fox host that he was approached by the Biden family and several associates in 2017 in order to help manage a business venture in China. Bobulinski said he met with Biden at the Milken Institute’s 2017 Global Conference in Los Angeles. “They were wining and dining me to get me more engaged,” he told Carlson. “I didn’t request to meet with Joe,” Bobulinski said. “They requested I meet with Joe.” Bobulinski, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant, said he met with Biden twice in the course of his association with the family. Biden reportedly told Bobulinski to “keep an eye on Hunter and [Biden’s brother] James” during their dealings.


Chinese officials, Bobulinski said, looked at him as “irrelevant,” seeing “the Biden family” as the main focus of their dealings. He claimed that the Bidens received a $5 million no-collateral, no-interest loan from Chinese officials. Bobulinski was motivated to come forward, he told Carlson, after California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff denounced recently leaked emails involving Hunter Biden as “Russian disinformation.” That allegation, Bobulinski told Carlson, also smeared his own family’s name. “I was at the end of the rope,” he said. “I called [Biden associate] Rob Walker. I told him if that statement wasn’t retracted by midnight on Sunday then I was going on record.”

Tucker Bobulinkski 8 Minutes
https://twitter.com/i/status/1321285423793131527

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“It simply does not matter. It is disinformation because it is simply inconvenient to treat it as real information.”

How The Authenticity of Hunter’s Laptop Became Immaterial (Turley)

Yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden was again insisting that the scandal involving Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation despite the direct refutation of that claim by the FBI. No mainstream reporter bothered to ask the simple question of whether this was his son’s laptop and emails, including emails clearly engaging in an influence peddling scheme and referring to Joe Biden’s knowledge. Instead, media has maintained a consistent and narrow focus. Indeed, in her interview, Leslie Stahl immediately dismissed any “scandal” involving Hunter in an interview with the President on 60 Minutes. It was an open example of what I previously noted in a column: “After all, an allegation is a scandal only if it is damaging. No coverage, no damage, no scandal.”

In her interview with Joe Biden, CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell did not push Biden to simply confirm that the emails were fake or whether he did in fact meet with Hunter’s associates (despite his prior denials). Instead O’Donnell asked: “Do you believe the recent leak of material allegedly from Hunter’s computer is part of a Russian disinformation campaign?” Biden responded with the same answer that has gone unchallenged dozens of times: “From what I’ve read and know the intelligence community warned the president that Giuliani was being fed disinformation from the Russians. And we also know that Putin is trying very hard to spread disinformation about Joe Biden. And so when you put the combination of Russia, Giuliani– the president, together– it’s just what it is. It’s a smear campaign because he has nothing he wants to talk about. What is he running on? What is he running on?”

It did not matter that the answer omitted the key assertion that this was not Hunter’s laptop or emails or that he did not leave the computer with this store. Recently, Washington Post columnist Thomas Rid wrote said the quiet part out loud by telling the media: “We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation — even if they probably aren’t.” Let that sink in for a second. It does not matter if these are real emails and not Russian disinformation. They probably are real but should be treated as disinformation even though American intelligence has repeatedly rebutted that claim. It does not even matter that the FBI has seized the computer as evidence in a criminal fraud investigation or that a Biden confidant is now giving his allegations to the FBI under threat of criminal charges if he lies to investigators. It simply does not matter. It is disinformation because it is simply inconvenient to treat it as real information.

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Times change. RussiaRussia has become indispensible.

Biden Calls Russia #1 Threat But Slammed Romney For Saying It In 2012 (JTN)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden recently identified Russia as the number one threat to America but in 2012, when he was vice president, Biden called then-GOP presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney “out of touch” for taking the same position. Biden said Romney views the “world through a Cold War prism that is totally out of touch with the realities of the 21st century.” Biden slammed Romney for referring to Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe,” which was greeted with laughter from members of the audience watching Biden’s address in April 2012. “Governor Romney is mired in a Cold War mindset,” Biden said in a foreign policy speech at New York University in 2012.

Biden referred to Romney’s criticism of Obama’s handling of the New START treaty, which was a nuclear arms control treaty reached with Russia in 2010. “Governor Romney was part of a very small group of Cold War holdovers who never met an arms control treaty that he likes,” he said. “He was way out of the mainstream on this issue, unless you think that’s just political hyperbole.” “He acts like he thinks the Cold War is still on, Russia is still our major adversary,” Biden said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” in 2012. “I don’t know where he has been. We have disagreements with Russia, but they’re united with us on Iran. One of only two ways we’re getting material into Afghanistan to our troops is through Russia … if there is an oil shutdown in any way in the Gulf, they’ll consider increasing oil supplies to Europe. This is not 1956.”

In October 2012, Obama mocked Romney’s position on Russia as the top threat to the U.S. during a presidential debate. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Obama said. In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday evening, Biden said Russia is the greatest threat to the U.S. “The biggest threat to America right now in terms of breaking up our security and our alliances is Russia,” he said.

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“The email indicates Hunter was familiar with the requirements of the law. It is a crime to knowingly violate FARA. Violations carry a maximum punishment of five years in prison.”

Senate Investigates Hunter Biden’s Failure to Register as Foreign Agent (RCI)

A search of Justice Department databases reveals that Hunter Biden failed to register as a foreign agent while promoting the interests of foreign business partners in Washington, including brokering meetings with his father and other government officials, and RealClear Investigations has learned at least one Senate committee is investigating whether Joe Biden’s son violated federal laws requiring disclosure of such foreign contacts. The Obama administration did not prosecute Hunter Biden for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, despite its much more aggressive pursuit of FARA cases relative to other administrations — including its opening of criminal investigations on no fewer than six Trump campaign advisers in 2016.

One of them, Paul Manafort, ended up in prison in part for failing to publicly disclose his lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian clients and partners. Newly discovered April 2015 emails show Hunter Biden appeared to be helping a Ukrainian energy executive meet with and lobby his father, who was vice president at the time. Hunter, who held a lucrative seat on the board of Ukrainian gas giant Burisma at the time, also sought meetings with State Department officials. None of these contacts was publicly disclosed in government filings, according to a search of both FARA and Lobbying Disclosure Act records, which show Hunter registered as a federal lobbyist in 2001 and stopped filing disclosures in 2008. In contrast, Hunter’s former law partner and fellow lobbyist, William Oldaker, has registered as a foreign agent under FARA. Oldaker is Joe Biden’s longtime campaign lawyer and fundraiser.

At least one Senate committee is actively investigating Hunter’s compliance with the FARA law. Though it has not sent a criminal referral to Justice, RCI has also learned that a public-interest law firm is preparing a complaint to Justice regarding Hunter Biden’s arranging meetings between his foreign contacts and his father when he was vice president. Former investigators and prosecutors say the uneven enforcement of the federal statute smacks of politics. “It’s a double standard, 100%,” said former assistant FBI director Chris Swecker, who led public corruption cases out of Washington. Added Swecker, who also served as a prosecutor: “It’s strange how in this election there is no curiosity whatsoever about foreign influence on a potential president of the United States, especially from this country’s greatest threat — China.”

[..] In a May 2017 email, their mutual business partner, James Biden, sent his nephew Hunter, Bobulinski and other partners a list of friendly American political contacts whom they could exploit to advance the proposed joint venture with their Chinese partners. Among the “key domestic contacts” were: Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who is now Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate. (FARA records show James Biden has not registered as a foreign agent, either.) In an earlier email that same month, Hunter sought to avoid registering as a foreign agent as part of the venture. “We don’t want to have to register as foreign agents,” he told Bobulinski on May 1, 2017, and suggested setting up a U.S. shell company to work around it. The email indicates Hunter was familiar with the requirements of the law. It is a crime to knowingly violate FARA. Violations carry a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

@RobertPLewis: “I didn’t think the audio from Hunter Biden’s laptop could be worse than the child endangerment pics, but it is. Verbal admission from Hunter that he knew he and his dad were in bed & business with Chinese intelligence. Bruh. That’s treason”

Hunter: F*cking spy chief of China

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“Trump will face some sort of Nuremberg trial, where he will have to answer for mass-murdering six million people with the Coronavirus by taking off his mask on the White House balcony. Hillary Clinton will be appointed … something.”

The Last Days of the Trumpian Reich (CJ Hopkins)

So, according to the corporate media, this is it for Russian-backed Hitler. Game over. The walls are closing in. It’s the last days of the Trumpian Reich. Get those vuvuzelas ready! Yes, apparently, the American people, who were all a bunch of Putin-worshipping, white-supremacist neo-Nazis when they elected Trump in 2016, have come to their senses and are going to deliver a landslide victory to “Slappy” Joe Biden and bring down the curtain on this “Age of Darkness,” or save the world from “racial Orwellianism” or the “bottomless pit of facsism,” or whatever. White supremacy will be defeated and globalization will rise from the ashes! Decency will be restored! Love will trump hate! Black lives will matter!

Slappy and Kamala will immediately fly down and liberate the concentration camps. Trump will face some sort of Nuremberg trial, where he will have to answer for mass-murdering six million people with the Coronavirus by taking off his mask on the White House balcony. Hillary Clinton will be appointed … something. Exuberant liberals will pour into the streets, chanting unintelligible slogans through their designer masks and plastic head bubbles. OK, sure, the global economy will be ruined, and millions of people will be unemployed, and homeless, or will have needlessly died, so that GloboCap could simulate an apocalyptic global plague, and foment racialized civil unrest, and just generally create an atmosphere of confusion, depression, and paranoia, but the War on Populism will finally be over … and GloboCap will start to “Build Back Better!”

OK, it won’t be “better” right away. As our friends at the World Economic Forum note: “Thanks to the ongoing pandemic, the world is off-balance – and it will remain so for years to come. Far from settling into a ‘new normal’, we should expect a Covid19 domino effect, triggering further disruptions – positive as well as negative – over the decade ahead. The wave of civil unrest that spread across America and beyond recently may be one example …” So, all right, maybe not quite the end of the War on Populism, but at least a new stage of it. A chaotic, destructive, violent stage of it, which will require a lot of “emergency measures” and will end up radically transforming the planet into one big pathologized-totalitarian marketplace.

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Stephen Roach knows a thing or two.

‘Covid First’ China Is Trumping ‘America First’ In Economic Recovery (Roach)

Just as China led the world in economic recovery in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, it is playing a similar role today. Its post-Covid rebound is gathering momentum amid a developed world that remains on shaky ground. Unfortunately, this is a bitter pill for many to swallow – especially in the United States, where demonisation of China has reached epic proportions. The two crises are, of course, different. Wall Street was ground zero for the 2008 crisis, while the Covid-19 pandemic was spawned in the wet markets of Wuhan. But in both cases, China’s crisis-response strategy was far more effective than that deployed by the US. In the five years following the onset of the 2008 crisis, annual real GDP growth in China averaged 8.6 per cent (on a purchasing power parity basis).

While that was slower than the blistering (and unsustainable) 11.6 per cent average pace of the five previous years, it was four times the US economy’s anaemic 2.1 per cent average annual growth over the post-crisis 2010-14 period. China’s pandemic response hints at a comparable outcome in the years ahead. The GDP report for the third quarter of 2020 suggests a rapid return to the pre-Covid trend. The 4.9 per cent year-on-year figure for real GDP growth does not convey a full sense of the self-sustaining recovery that is now emerging in China. Measuring economic growth on a sequential quarterly basis and converting those comparisons to annual rates – the preferred construct of US statisticians and policymakers – provides a much cleaner sense of real-time shifts in the underlying momentum of any economy.

On that basis, China’s real GDP rose at an 11 per cent sequential annual rate in the third quarter, following a 55 per cent post-lockdown surge in the second quarter. The comparison with the US is noteworthy. Both economies experienced comparable contractions during their respective lockdowns, which came one quarter later for the US. China’s 33.8 per cent sequential (annualised) plunge in the first quarter was almost identical to the 31.2 per cent US contraction in the second quarter. Based on incoming high-frequency (monthly) data, the so-called GDPNow estimate of the Atlanta Federal Reserve puts third-quarter sequential real GDP growth in the US at around 35 per cent. While that is a welcome and marked turnaround from the record decline during the lockdown, it is about 20 percentage points short of China’s post-lockdown rebound and still leaves the US economy about 3 per cent below its peak of late 2019.

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“The big problem I had with people removing my street work wasn’t that it was exploiting and stealing from the community — it was because the stolen stuff looked so much better than what I was making in the studio..”

Banksy’s Foolproof Plan for Dealing With Anyone Who Steals His Art (Y!)

Contemporary art is a tricky business. If you’ve collected a painting or sculpture by a modern artist, odds are good that you’ll have some record of the transaction, and some method of verifying that the work you have is both genuine and genuinely obtained. That becomes a bit more complicated when the artist in question — though world-famous — has a penchant for anonymously leaving their work in urban spaces to create impromptu public art. Yes, we’re talking about Banksy, and one of his lesser-known practices which has recently come into sharp relief. Last week, a clip from Antiques Roadshow went viral. It features a man looking to get a small painting by Banksy evaluated. When asked how he’d come by it, the man admit he’d seen it while walking down a street in Brighton one night.

Recognizing it as Banksy’s handiwork, he then removed it from where it had been screwed into place. What follows is a brief and memorable lesson in morality. Pro tip: it’s generally considered poor form to admit to stealing something while being recorded for television. As the show’s host reveals, Banksy has established a virtual portal to authenticate whether specific works of his are both genuine and genuinely obtained — and, as the guy trying to get a painting valued admits, he’d visited the site and been told that the painting could not be validated because it was not obtained legally. Dubbed Pest Control, the service offers an easy-to-use interface to determine a particular work’s validity.

Elsewhere on Pest Control’s site, they offer a more extensive explanation of what they do — namely, issue certificates of authenticity. As for what that means, well — here’s what Pest Control themselves have to say: “The certificate of authenticity (COA) means you can buy, sell or insure a piece of art knowing it’s legitimate and the wheels won’t fall off,” they write. “Pest Control is the only source of COA’s for Banksy. We issue them for paintings, prints, sculptures and other attempts at creativity. We don’t issue them for things like stickers, posters, defaced currency or anything which wasn’t originally intended as a ‘work of art’.” Pest Control also offers a “Keeping It Real” service, which lets prospective buyers of a work by Banksy confirm that the work is, in fact, legitimate.

[..] “The big problem I had with people removing my street work wasn’t that it was exploiting and stealing from the community — it was because the stolen stuff looked so much better than what I was making in the studio,” he told artnet news.

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“All women are now required to bear at least seventeen babies.”

Newly Sworn-In ACB Immediately Orders All Women To Wear Handmaid Outfit (BBee)

After being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett immediately issued a decree that all women are to wear red handmaid’s outfits for the rest of their lives. “Execute papal order 66,” she said, her eyes glowing red. “Implement the theocratic state.” Barrett sent out squads of soldiers to round up women and make sure they wear the garment at all times. All women are now required to bear at least seventeen babies. Attendance at Catholic Mass is also mandatory. Those who violate the order will be executed, “no exceptions,” said Barrett. “She can’t do this! This is unconstitutional!” screamed Rachel Maddow as enforcement squads kicked in the doors at MSNBC’s studios and grabbed her for reconditioning as a subservient handmaid. “I warned you! I WARNED ALL OF YOU!” The whole country turning into a Christofascist state seems to be a negative to many, but the nation is quite a bit more peaceful now.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle October 28 2020

Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
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  • #64909

    Gustav Klimt Pine forest I 1901   • Last Round-up at the Wokester Corral (Jim Kunstler) • Multi-Organ Impairment In Low-Risk Individuals With Lon
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle October 28 2020]

    #64911
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Gustav Klimt Pine forest I 1901
    What an exquisite, detailed, picture picture of a forest…
    Earth First!; We’ll log the other planets later…
    Anybody remember them?
    Possibly the difference between me and thee………
    One can post shit; and I’ll bring you plants that need that fertilizer…

    #64912
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “…a free society is obliged to tolerate the expression of disagreeable ideas up to the limit, as the Supreme Court put it, of “crying ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”

    That’s ridiculous. Obviously if you comment on open police reports and court records, use accurate legal language like “Illegal immigrant” or claim you won as a candidate “Dewey Beats Truman”, it’s hate speech and you should be silenced, de-personed, and arrested.

    Dewey
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Deweytruman12.jpg

    RussiaRussiaRussia. Land of the Free: That’s the American way!

    Clearly speech is only safe when protected by under a dozen unelected oligarchs who shut down political campaigns at will worldwide. Right Mr. Benjamin, Ms. Loomer, and Mr. Trump? You can have all the speech Mr. Bezos allows you.

    “UK Study Finds Evidence of Waning Antibody Immunity to COVID19 Over Time (R.)”

    I was more entertained by Bill “I’m not a doctor” Gates saying his first vaccine – the one we don’t have and they claim is only now in trial – won’t work. So we can’t stop until we have the SECOND vaccine, that we ALSO never tested and don’t have. That ALSO won’t work and will need to be re-taken regularly and posted on our citizen-travel-slip. “Papers, Please!” Or in this case “Nano-tattoos, please!” You know, or else you’ll be de-facto murdered by poverty and lack of opportunity, like all good Totalitarian Socialist Governments do when they’re “Helping” another 100 Million into mass graves.

    “We predict that President Trump is going to win the 2020 presidential election — and win big.”

    Wait, what about “Can every pollster in America be totally, stupidly wrong?” and “They will all have to look for a new job”? Don’t be so hard on yourself: every one of you were completely wrong in 2016 and nothing happened! You were not discredited, and are still breathlessly referred to as “Experts”. 100% credible and believed. I’m sure you could call every wrong for 100 years and still be experts. You know: like Economists.

    Appropos to nothing, there were so few people at Biden rallies, Kamala went to a voting station to rally voters. That is a felony. Election tampering. But not her first! Nothing will happen!

    “These election leaks are even more powerful than the Hillary Clinton emails.”

    Yes, and since the NY Times and NPR run infinite cover, they are releasing the news out of Taiwan. You know, where like Hong Kong, NON-Americans wave flags, clash in the streets, and defend America and human rights, because the media won’t.

    “I’m receiving calls from SDNY”

    Notice with both the NY Times and SDNY Feds calling him every day for years, nothing happened. Or ever will. They were so unconcerned, they didn’t even stop or change methods.

    “‘Covid First’ China Is Trumping ‘America First’ In Economic Recovery (Roach)”

    Yes, all VOLUNTARY lockdowns. That didn’t work. That the WHO says to stop now. That they say are killing more than the disease. With <10 Covid deaths e.g. in NY. And they made the lockdowns HARDER, in TN where they knew restaurants had nothing and nursing homes did, and Illinois, where the same is true.

    …But it’s Covid, not DNC Governors bucking the WHO directives and “science”. It’s not the AMA suppression of all and every therapy. Actually it’s South Dakota’s fault, which had no lockdown, no cases, and no economic crash. ‘Cause you know when anything happens, it’s always the fault of the poor and powerless, never the fault of the connected and powerful. As Mrs. Clinton has many times said.

    “The riots in Rome have become intense. You would think that any elected politician would think twice about imposing lockdowns after destroying an unbelievable number of jobs and small businesses which are vital in Italy which also counted on tourism which is non-existent. Something is just not right. This is not the way elected governments have acted in the past.” –Armstrong

    They are using helicopters and approaching them as rebels, as as Italy, looking to change the laws to use the military to “Bloody Sunday” the people. Totally predictable and on par with government ways. France already shot their eyes out.

    Meanwhile, although the U.S. is annoyed and dodging the rules, they are not rebelling against masks, generally. Our Federal system allows regional differences. Instead they are rioting and murdering policemen in Philly, “the City of Love” when they use self-defense against armed attackers. ‘Cause, no civil rights. Amirite? I can loot and kill YOU, you can’t defend yourself and kill me back. That’s tolerance! If you don’t let me stab you, you’re Hitler.

    Hey, is that #AntiLogos? Being against all rules, all sense, all order, and all laws? It is our god after all. Anything, everything, against the Word.

    Good times, good times. Eric Holder says, “Given Supreme Court rulings I urge everyone to now vote in person; early vote or use drop boxes.” He was summarily censored by Twitter for telling people to vote the way we have for 220 years.

    What did he mean by “Given court rulings”? What do court rulings have to do with whom you voted for? It is somehow related to recent videos of ONE person delivering 7,000 votes – such that ten people in 10 states could have swung the 2016 election – or the Iowa, Patterson, and Brooklyn screwups that were like 100k apiece? Or maybe randos on a lark burning ballot drop boxes from Boston to CA since they are unguarded?

    Eric: don’t you know that mail-in voting is just as safe as in-person and Carter was smoking crack when he said the twice-as-secure-as-mail-in, “absentee voting”, was the least secure method, the weakest link, and led to +2% error rate? Tsk tsk, sir.

    Clearly when you have a game with 220 year-old-rules, the only logical thing to do is to change the rules while we’re in the middle of an election, a few weeks before people have to play. That’s what makes it MORE fair and secure! Then we can tie-up that last second pass-play with the referees for two months until President Pelosi settles it for us. Democracy, we hardly knew ya.

    Stay tuned, I expect none of this is a surprise to the supercomputers burning electrons in the basement of Pennsylvania Avenue.

    #64913

    Washington Post headline this morning:

    Hundreds of Trump Supporters Stuck In The Cold For Hours When Buses Can’t Reach Omaha Rally

    See, they DO care about Trump supporters, deplorables, scum, lizard brains.

    #64915
    zerosum
    Participant

    Politics
    https://www.best-body-hair-removal.com/brazilian-wax-job.html
    How long the effects of a Brazilian wax treatment will last for you depends entirely on your own personal situation. If you are doing the ‘traditional’ Brazilian wax, then you need to remind yourself that the hair will grow back. Going for a quick Brazilian wax job may well get you through the vacation poolside however.

    #64916
    zerosum
    Participant

    The lawyers made sure that its “the law and legal” to help some but not all.
    https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/10/fad-press-release-2020-10-28/
    The Bank is continuing its QE program and recalibrating it as described above. The program will continue until the recovery is well underway. We are committed to providing the monetary policy stimulus needed to support the recovery and achieve the inflation objective.

    #64917

    How long the effects of a Brazilian wax treatment will last for you depends entirely on your own personal situation.

    As in, whether you’re personally situated in Brazil or not?

    But no, no silly questions, here we go, Let’s switch the Automatic Earth to practical advice you can actually use in your daily life, instead of all the theoretical and finance and political stuff, Who cares anyway? A properly done bikini wax, however, can pay off in spades. Choose your priorities wisely!

    #64918
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Multi-Organ Impairment In Low-Risk Individuals With Long COVID (medrxiv)

    Sounds scary, but is it scarier than other diseases out there? Difficult to put into perspective when you don’t know what percentage of COVID cases become “Long COVID”. I didn’t see any indication of this when I looked at that article last week..

    The study only looks at people who already have ongoing symptoms of Long COVID, i.e., “individuals symptomatic after recovery from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

    #64919
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Craig Murray posted this a few days ago, under the title “Covid-19 and the Political Utility of Fear

    As a Stanford led statistical study of both Europe and the USA concluded

    “People <65 years old have very small risks of COVID-19 death even in the hotbeds of the pandemic and deaths for people <65 years without underlying predisposing conditions are remarkably uncommon. Strategies focusing specifically on protecting high-risk elderly individuals should be considered in managing the pandemic.”

    The study concludes that for adults of working age the risk of dying of coronavirus is equivalent to the risk of [dying from] a car accident on a daily commute.

    I should, on a personal note, make quite plain that I am the wrong side of this. I am over 60, and I have underlying heart and lung conditions, and I am clinically obese, so I am a prime example of the kind of person least likely to survive.

    The hard truth is this. If the economy were allowed to function entirely normally, if people could go about their daily business, there would be no significant increase in risk of death or of life changing illness to the large majority of the population. If you allowed restaurants, offices and factories to be be open completely as normal, the risk of death really would be almost entirely confined to the elderly and the sick. Which must beg the question, can you not protect those groups without closing all those places?

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/10/covid-19-and-the-political-utility-of-fear/

    The Stanford study he references:
    Population-level COVID-19 mortality risk for non-elderly individuals overall and for non-elderly individuals without underlying diseases in pandemic epicenters
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935120307854

    #64920
    zerosum
    Participant

    ” ….. Choose your priorities wisely!”
    LOL
    —–
    The tsx is down. Maybe, because BOC just said that they will not print money for everyone.

    The Dow is down. Maybe its because Nancy Pelosi and others are not letting Trump give money to people, ( another $1,200 stimulus check.), before the election.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/what-nancy-pelosi-has-said-about-a-second-stimulus-check-for-americans/ar-BB1apjiv

    Earlier last week, the House speaker told SiriusXM’s Joe Madison Show that President Donald Trump’s desire to send out another round of stimulus checks was an advantage for Democrats in the negotiation process.

    “The president needs this legislation. He wants that check to go into people’s pockets. He doesn’t care about any of the rest of it in terms of what it does for working families,” she said. “So that’s our leverage, you know, that he wants that, and that’s how we’re going to try to get the rest of it.”

    But Pelosi said Democrats couldn’t turn the other way on other areas of relief, such as funding for education and state governments, just for another $1,200 stimulus check.

    “We want it too,” she said. “We want that purchasing power to be in people’s pockets. We want that too. But you can’t just say, ‘We’ll abandon all the health issues, the education issues, the poverty issues, the state and local government and all that that does in order for just a $1,200 check as important as that is.”

    That’s been a repeated sentiment for the House speaker. Last month, when Trump urged Republicans to go for the “larger amount” relief package that included $1,200 stimulus checks, Pelosi reminded lawmakers that more would be needed for a deal than just “Trump checks.”

    “All they want is to have the president’s name on a check going out. That’s all he really cares about,” she said at the time. “We have to do more than just have the Republicans check a box.”

    #64922
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for more fine commentariat yesterday , brothers and sisters. I just caught up. Tuesday, election day, will bring no respite, I think. There is further news, which I cannot yet verify, and which may be false, set to further shatter things (until 5G can bring us all together in harmony some day.)

    There is a competition between the Western Empire and Chinese Empire. Russia is its own agent. Iran is Iran. The EU is whatever, an imperial construct in disarray…
    Here are 4 articles looking at geopolitics going forward. There is a battle over 5G standards, because 5G is emerging as the Ring Of Power to control people. their minds, their transactions, what they know, all that they do, and to banish them from all economy, if necessary, individually, or by the billions.
    5G will directly feed AI, which will know us, each ant, and all of our anthills and ant ways, and will direct our thoughts and movements in a lovely symphonic dance orchestration.We need this,because mistrust, selfishness and dishonesty are rampant, widespread. This leads to nihilism and the institutionalization of terrorism in a society.  In collapse and reset, like the Bolshevik revolution, anomie escalates to sadism. We have entered that Twilight Zone, already.(We need 5G to bring us together harmoniously in a new and better and fairer and safer world, with only good participants and nobody else.)..
    Alastair Crooke , a British diplomat, presents. Thanks for grouping these, Eleni.

    The Two Undersides to Geo-Politics

    The Double De-Coupling

    How Russophobia Wrought Death of the United States

    The Barbarians Are Threatening Us!

    Social media’s erasure of Palestinians is a grim warning for our futurehttps://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/palestine-facebook-twitter-google-erasure-warning

      China’s top cyber authority said on Monday it would carry out a “rectification” of Chinese mobile internet browsers to address what it called social concerns over the “chaos” of information being published online. China’s strict internet censorship rules have been tightened numerous times in recent years and in the latest crackdown, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has told firms operating mobile browsers that they have until Nov. 9 to conduct a “self examination” and rectify problems. The problems include the spreading of rumours, the use of sensationalist headlines and the publishing of content that violates the core values of socialism, it said in a statement.
      “For some time, mobile browsers have grown in an uncivilised way … and have become a gathering place and amplifier for dissemination of chaos by ‘self-media’,” the CAC said, referring to independently operated social media accounts, many of which publish news. “After the rectification, mobile browsers that still have outstanding problems will be dealt with strictly according to laws and regulations until related businesses are banned.”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-censorship-browsers/china-launches-crackdown-on-mobile-web-browser-chaos-idUSKBN27B1Z3

    #64923
    John Day
    Participant

    I work with a young female physician, a true, intelligent humanitarian, who had COVID in mid July. She is still very tired every day, still coming to work, still caring for people, still unable to physically exert herself for sudden exhaustion. She continues to care for people, continues to test people, advises vitamin-D, but has no answer at all for her own human condition.
    I think this is the big deal going forward.
    This virus alters heart-muscle cells permanently.
    They don’t work effectively after that. They are not replaced in our bodies.
    What else might we yet discover?
    80% of people stop this virus in their noses and go on with life.
    20% don’t, it gets into their systems, arterioles, lungs, kidneys, heart and does weird things that are new to medicine.
    I don’t really care which lab it leaked from at this point. Coulda’ been any of ’em.
    Vitamin-D 5000 units/day long term is the prudent baseline. The upswing we are seeing in cases is the fall-off in natural vitamin-D levels. It is starting to get compounded by indoor gatherings again in the northern hemisphere. Vitamin-D : good, breathing air in crowded rooms : bad.
    See if you can get an option on Ivermectin/zinc/doxycycline treatment in case it gets past your nose.
    Good video by PAul Marik. Thanks Marjorie.. Skip to minute18 if you already now the pathophysiology. I am not convinced that the infection and viral load are all in the nose. That’s what’s easy to measure. I think it’s a flawed assumption. That’s my opinion. Marik is an expert. I’m just a simple-country-doctor.
    The course of action is exactly right-on, either way.

    #64924
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    “Gustav Klimt Pine forest I 1901”

    Got a chance to see Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” (aka Woman in Gold) while in NY a few years ago. A beautiful piece! When I tried to lean in to get a better look at his gold leaf work, a couple of guards responded immediately to head me off. Tourists can be such blockheads.

    “Last Round-up at the Wokester Corral (Jim Kunstler)”

    Kunstler gave voice to an issue that so many of us have had to deal with since Trump took office: where TDS, fanned to an intense heat by the bellows of state media, has driven family and friends apart. I remember posting a comment on this problem a couple of years ago when someone from the UK responded, “Tell me about it, you should try dealing with Brexit.”

    “Trump: VOTE”

    Is it just me or did anyone else think this was well done? It may have been the first time I actually made it to the end of a Trump video without stopping it partway in. With President Obama I never bothered to start it. His schtick aside, at least with Trump you can sense that his vocal cords are still connected to the core man; whereas with Obama, it always seemed that several layers of obfuscation separated the two.

    “Crickets in the MSM.”

    Compared to 2016, the state/tech media complex appears much more ham-fisted in its attempts to control the outcome. “They don’t even try to hide their bias anymore” is a common refrain. This has to be jarring a few people out of their media-induced trance.

    Of course, it pleases the Trump-haters immensely. The law and constitution be damned! No institution is more important than the emotional satisfaction of destroying Trump. If Carl Jung were alive, he could give a timely lecture on the dangers of the shadow; but then he’d have to be escorted out of the building under armed guard, while the frenzied crowd chanted “Burn him!”.

    #64925
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    It is very difficult to protect vulnerable populations from Covid. Why? Because they are intermingled with the general, low covid risk population and it is financially and socially impossible to separate the vulnerable from the low-risk populations without empowering individuals and families to make granular decisions on a case by case basis, and for the individuals to receive financial support (such as: per rules of pandemic unemployment insurance). And the elites don’t want to give that much financial power to “the little people.”

    Case in point: A family with a father with a medical condition that affects immune system, mother, two elementary school age children. Father is able to work from home. Children are now doing remote school, and mother has taken on the full time job of caring for the children. Mother is no longer able to work outside the home. (Real-life case — I teach these kids piano through Zoom. Fortunately for this family, father’s income is sufficient. But what about families where income from one adult simply isn’t sufficient to keep the family afloat?)

    Case in point: My parents came to live with myself, partner, children. All of our activities then need to be cautious so we don’t get/spread the virus. This affects how we work, how we shop, our recreational activities.

    Case in point: Grandparents visit family regularly. Family does not take great care…family members get sick, and grandmother falls ill with covid.

    Case in point: Teen girl has condition that makes her vulnerable to covid. 3 step-siblings live 50% in her home and 50% in another home. Now, both households need to take great care in how they work, shop, and recreational activities.

    These are just situations that I am personally involved in — and I am just one person. “Lockdowns” don’t affect these situations — people will autonomously adjust their behavior (or not — and unwittingly spread covid), and that adjusted behavior (or covid spread) will be reflected economically. Many families are taking risks they should not take — sending kids to in-person school because they must work outside the home to support the family, even though they come in regular contact with vulnerable individuals.

    The only compassionate way to respond is to let people choose their own level of risk, and then give them access to the means to support themselves financially. But our economic/political systems are not compassionate, and they do not operate in a way to empower individuals to make their own choices. Propagandizing and influencing is what our systems do well.

    #64926
    John Day
    Participant

    @Phoenix Voice: Yes, when we see government advocacy of vitamin-D and ivermectin/Zn/doxy, we will know that the elites have agreed to cooperate and we can quit being subjected to the fear-and-isolation drills.
    Might not happen, right?
    Gotta’ bike to work in the cold and wet now, but I have appropriate garments.

    #64927
    John Day
    Participant

    Oh, Johndayblog is up, but you already saw the contents.
    https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/10/5g-for-permanent-president.html

    #64928
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    LAPTOP

    I still can’t get over the enormity of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

    Firstly it shows the sleaze which seems to be a major part of US politics.

    Even worse, the pictures and videos of the underage girl turns ou to be his niece, who was 14 at the time.

    It isn’t as if he could not afford a new laptop so why put it in for repair when it contains such damaging information. It just seems to be arrogance to think there could be no consequences. There are some things which are illegal so it will be interesting to see if he ever gets prosecuted.

    #64929
    zerosum
    Participant

    If Trump loses, who want to bet that another $1,200 stimulus check will be approved before the next inauguration which is scheduled take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.

    #64930

    Biden Biden
    You’ve been slidin’
    What in the world have you been hidin’?
    Influence peddlin’
    fattened purse-
    Oh, my god, it’s much much worse!

    Would someone please run that Hunter audio on TV?

    If my spouse votes for Biden and I vote for Trump, have I joined the cancel culture?

    I still don’t know if I can do it. I think I need to take voting less seriously.

    Get out there and keep your immune system up and running.

    #64933

    Okay- over at Turley under the heading “Professors call out Beer and Beethoven…”, a commentor put up a video of “Old Movie Stars Dance to Uptown Funk”. (2015) I had never seen it! What an absolute delight!

    From above^. There wasn’t supposed to be a break in “influence peddlin’ fattened purse”.

    Zerosum- you are a hoot!

    #64934
    Dr. D
    Participant

    The long-term Covid is very real, but follows the rest of this non-science.

    They say, “COVID has caused permanent, long-term damage…”

    Really? How do you know? Nobody’s ever had it before. They may be bad at first and suddenly recover. Or gradually. Or get steadily worse. Point is: nobody knows, yet they’re claiming it anyway, all Sciencey-n-s**t.

    I expect it will be what it appears, but many are younger and can recover more than dismal science expects. People often do. They often survive things doctors claim is impossible and walk away. While others bump their head and drop dead, equally impossible.

    But the point is THEY DON’T KNOW. That tells me they desire the fear and seek evidence to support it. Humans do this, but Doctors need to be better and compensate. And when they talk, especially, because the media won’t. No matter what a doctor tells them in good faith, they will lie like a fiend, then laugh and get paid.

    #64936
    a kullervo
    Participant

    The missing headline:
    Extra! Extra! Read all about it:
    Education died of COVID-19

    Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.” (unknown origin)

    “Multi-Organ Impairment In Low-Risk Individuals With Long COVID (medrxiv)”

    Greetings,

    The new fear porn fantasy damaging adults’ brains all over the world:
    – Scientism has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that body organs will never fail nor deteriorate unless you get the SARS-CoV-2 thingy.

    This raises the question:
    – Are you supposed to die with an 100% healthy body?

    #64937
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    @anticlimactic

    “I still can’t get over the enormity of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop.”

    I’ve had a couple thoughts on this… Seeing that Hunter is indeed a drug addict, his life might be such a ball of chaos that the laptop fell into the background noise and disappeared from whatever available consciousness the drugs left behind. Therefore, utter drug-addled carelessness.

    I lean more toward this next thought: that Hunter is not as horrible a person as his behavior implies, but is just trapped in a crime family from which he cannot escape. Bullied by his father, and continually troubled by his conscience, he turns to drugs and sex as an escape. The abandoned laptop, conveniently loaded up with enough evidence to bring down the whole kit-and-kaboodle, represents the proverbial “cry for help” — the trail of clues left by someone who desperately wants to be caught so that the whole nightmare can end.

    However, I’m not a real psychologist, but only play one on TV.

    #64938
    a kullervo
    Participant

    The four pedestrian truths:

    – Life is a sequence of transitory moments of pleasure and pain;

    – there’s nothing you can do to prevent it;

    – insulate from pain, insulated from pleasure;

    – increase the pleasure, increased pain follows.

    The Universal speaks through all things (and all people); some will pretend to be too busy to listen, some prefer to become autistic.

    Do with it what you may.

    #64939
    a kullervo
    Participant

    @Maxwell Quest

    Greetings,

    Thank you for keeping sanity alive.

    Cheers.

    #64941
    straightwalker
    Participant

    @MaxwellQuest

    I agree.. Although, I would expand “crime family” to include the large number of politicians who cheat and steal one way or another. The group normalizes the behavior, seduces new comers, provides protection, and makes it hard to change or escape. Power can be extremely addictive.

    A real, but human, mess. “There but for fortune…”

    #64942
    Bill7
    Participant

    ‘Mirages in a Desert Whose Water Runs Out’, by Russell Bangs:

    “The World Economic Forum gives another run-down on the totalitarian plan:

    “Far from settling into a ‘new normal’, we should expect a Covid19 domino effect, triggering further disruptions – positive as well as negative – over the decade ahead. “

    There’s a clue to the mass psychology of the Covid Death Cult. The rhetoric is familiar from forecasts of rising climate chaos, but with “Covid19” substituted for “climate”. (Of course in reality “positive as well as negative” feedback loops refer only to the direction of dynamism. All the effects on civilization and especially most of the effects on the 99% will for the short run be bad and destructive. But leave it to the global-technocratic elites to look for the good in the Covid “crisis” they engineered. Self-evidently they did it only in expectation of good for them and evil for everyone else.)
    In spite of all the rhetoric about a “green economy” and a “Green New Deal”, deep down everyone except the most idiotic *****climate crocodiles and right-believers in the climate-industrial movement know that the climate crisis cannot be solved within the framework of the economic civilization.
    Since no one wants to face the implications of this, the global technocratic elites waging the terror-lockdown assault which uses Covid as a pretext had the idea to include among their propaganda a substitution of “Covid”, which everyone (wrongly) believes can be controlled and suppressed by system institutions (just as they wrongly believe it needs special control), for the uncontrollable Earth..”

    Mirages in a Desert Whose Water Runs Out

    #64943
    Bill7
    Participant

    I too would like to thank Maxwell Quest for his comment today. That description of Mr. Obama was pithy, but it was all notably good.

    -Bill7

    #64945
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    There are opposing world views out there. One the pandemic is no big deal. Another is that trying to save the lives of the elderly is a humane undertaking worthy of restoring democracy and funding a functional public health system.

    But this interpretation from “Multi-organ impairment in low-risk individuals with long COVID” report is terrifying. “In a young, low-risk population with ongoing symptoms, almost 70% of individuals have impairment in one or more organs four months after initial symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection”.

    This turns the world upside down. China made the right decision. The USA the wrong one. The Trump Administration turning the White House into a super-spreader site and letting coronavirus run wild is way beyond being Herbert Hoover the Second. It is civilization destroying bad; not unlike, Tojo, Napoleon or Nero. Long haul symptoms are reported in 25% of the cases. If 25% of 9,119,836 Americans already infected (2,279,969 million) and 70% of them need long term healthcare (1,595,971), and a greater number to be infected through 2021 this helps to break the national bank unless public health system takes care of them for half the cost of the for-profit insurance scheme.

    If the exploitation of the little people continues together with the arrogance and the incompetency of the ruling elite; Civil War 2.0 is a certainty.

    #64946
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    @ VietnamVet

    I’m not finding evidence to support the statement “Long haul symptoms are reported in 25% of the cases.” Instead of 25%, it seems to be more like 2.5%.

    A recent study looked at 4,182 cases and found that less than 5% had symptoms lasting more than 8 weeks, and only 2.3% had symptoms lasting longer than 12 weeks. (Long COVID is defined in the Multi-Organ Impairment study as “persistent symptoms three months post-infection.”)

    Attributes and predictors of Long-COVID: analysis of COVID cases and their symptoms collected by the Covid Symptoms Study App
    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.19.20214494v1

    #64948
    Huskynut
    Participant

    @ VietnamVet
    Even if it were true, would it mean we should automatically do everything possible to prevent it?
    This is the crux of the risk aversion strategy at the heart of Taleb’s model – rational enough.
    But history shows all species to be anything but rational. Society is built on emotions and conventions and superstitions and irrational attitudes at least as much as on rationality.
    And animal species will reflexively seek to preserve their own lives, but not to the detriment of the social group.
    This is where I believe we’ve been “blinded by science”. Rationality is wonderful at what it does well, but sterile in other domains ala Spock. therefore our response should be considered, but – weighing all dimensions – not necessarily preferencing science.
    I was struck by the Saker’s latest column in referencing the death of Soleimani here:
    http://thesaker.is/when-exactly-did-the-anglozionist-empire-collapse/
    He may be right or wrong in his characterisation of the man, but the outlook and heart he describes are a fundamental part of deeply founded human nature.
    We’ve lost touch with it in our technocracy, but it lives within us despite ourselves.

    #64949
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    @Doc Robinson

    My error. It was from National Geographic; “25 percent were still recovering after two months or longer”. It was a study of pregnant women. Like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, age; pregnancy changes to the immune system and made the participants more susceptible to the virus.

    2.5% of the current number of US cases for two years calculates out to about 319,194.

    CDC has reported back in July that “As many as a third of patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized are not back to their usual health up to three weeks after their diagnosis”

    Still the basic problem of letting the virus run free is that the illnesses have reached the current number of intensive care beds in the many hot spots across the nation and a large number of long term illness that will cost billions to treat are possible in the future. All because they didn’t close the borders or fund a public health system to fight the virus but decided to wait for a vaccine in 2021.

    #64950
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    @Huskynut

    Being a retired lowest rung technocrat, what do I have, if there isn’t a technological, scientific or an engineered solution? Not much. So, as the alternative, I fall back to the restoration of the New Deal (regulated capitalism) and a functional government that I grew up with. Eradicating the virus is possible. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, New Zealand are doing it.

    My war 50 years ago was for no good reason. They continue today. It is not rational. So you avoid thinking about it, too much, but it gets harder as the craziness grows. Americans are playing Russian Roulette right now.

    #64951
    Bill7
    Participant

    > Eradicating the virus is possible. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, New Zealand are doing it.

    What is your evidence for this claim-
    Press clippings, maybe? No virus has ever been “eradicated”, contrary to your claim; virii run their course, regardless of human actions.
    The ‘virus™’
    is cover for the economic reset that
    our so-to-say “elites” have been planning for
    quite some time. The ‘virus’ is the
    *least* of our present worries.. that otherwise reasonable people are advocating for continued, more stringent ‘lockdowns’
    to “fight the virus™” is far more frightening than their nominal target. Are you OK with the *permanent* loss of civil
    liberties that is inherent in your preferred approach?

    -Bill7

    #64952
    Huskynut
    Participant

    @Vietnamvet
    As a NZ citizen I want to flatly challenge the idea NZ is “eliminating” anything. We’re hiding, that’s all. And being an isolated pimple on the butt of the world, we can hide hide better than most.
    The virus will ultimately have it’s way with us, as it will for all others. As I observed earlier in the year – we can;t even keep fire ants out of NZ, despite fumigating all containers and the fact those bastards are visible to the naked eye. Eliminating a virus? Hubris.. utter hubris.

    But on the lighter side, and in keeping with the more upbeat note in recent days, I loved this vid:
    https://youtu.be/SkJPDXrlP6w

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