Nov 052020
 


Pablo Picasso Bull plates I-XI 1945

 

Trump Goes To Supreme Court, Files Lawsuits To Stop Vote Counting In PA (F.)
Trump Assembling All-star Legal Team To Mount Election Challenges (JTN)
US Inability To Count Votes is a National Disgrace. And Dangerous (Greenwald)
How The GOP Retook House Seats From Democrats (F.)
House Democrats Fall Way Short In Disappointing Night (Hill)
Statehouse Wins Position GOP To Dominate Redistricting (Pol.)
Election Update, 9:50 am Weds Nov 4 (Jim Kunstler)
Michigan Finds 138,339 Ballots, Every Single One Has Biden’s Name on It (RS)
For Stocks, Any Election Outcome is Now the Best Outcome (WS)
ECB May Cut Support For Indebted Countries In Nudge Towards EU Loans (R.)
COVID Testing: We’ve Been Duped (AT)
England Underestimates The Costs Of Lockdown At Its Peril (Jonathan Sumption)
Kim Dotcom Can Be Extradited To US But Can Also Appeal (BBC)
Bayer Takes Over $10 Billion Write-Down Over Monsanto Roundup Weed Killer (RT)

 

 

There is this odd divide between the presidential vote, which Biden may win, and all the other votes, where the GOP candidates are doing much better than expected, and taking back House seats. How is that possible?

 

 

 

 

Happy lawyers.

Trump Goes To Supreme Court, Files Lawsuits To Stop Vote Counting In PA (F.)

The Trump campaign is filing multiple lawsuits in Pennsylvania targeting the state’s rules for election observers and mail-in ballots, as well as intervening in an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the state’s mail-in ballot deadline, the campaign said Wednesday, ramping up the GOP’s legal efforts in the battleground state as the race between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden narrows. The Trump campaign said in a statement Wednesday that it is suing Pennsylvania to stop the state from “hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers,” specifically mentioning a policy that requires poll watchers to stand 25 feet from where the counting process is taking place.

The campaign is appealing a case that previously failed in a lower court in Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which alleged an election observer could not “observe the writing on the outside of the ballots.” The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee sued state and local officials over a practice in which mail-in voters are allowed to provide proof of identification after the ballot deadline if it was initially missing, which Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar recently extended by an additional three days to November 12. Republicans claim allowing voters to provide identification through that date will “create a high risk of jeopardizing the integrity” of the election by delaying election results, and are calling for the court to throw out any ballots where the voter’s identification isn’t received by the original deadline of Nov. 9.

The Trump campaign also filed a motion to intervene in an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the state’s mail-in ballot deadline, which allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they’re delivered up to three days after Election Day.The Supreme Court previously declined to overturn the extended deadline before Election Day—in a 4-4 ruling before Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court—but several conservative justices said the court could still revisit the ruling and invalidate the deadline, which would result in any late-arriving ballots being rejected.

Trump to win Arizona

Read more …

“President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process.”

“President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else.”

Trump Assembling All-star Legal Team To Mount Election Challenges (JTN)

President Trump’s campaign on Wednesday began assembling an all-star legal team to file challenges to election regularities in several battleground states, starting with a Court of Claims lawsuit in Michigan. Among the lawyers the president is activating include his private attorney Jay Sekulow, who will help campaign lawyers with matters before the Supreme Court as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, officials said. Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, may also be called upon, officials said. The legal team’s first stop was Michigan, where the campaign filed an action in the Court of Claims seeking to halt vote counting until irregularities are addressed, campaign manager Bill Stepien announced.


“As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be. President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law,” Stepien said. “We have filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted. We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access. President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else.”

Read more …

“..the monumental failures of the polling industry and the data nerds who leech off it, for the second consecutive national election, only serve to sow even further doubt and confusion..”

US Inability To Count Votes is a National Disgrace. And Dangerous (Greenwald)

Nations far poorer and less technologically advanced have no problem holding quick, efficient elections. Distrust in U.S. outcomes is dangerous but rational. The richest and most powerful country on earth — whether due to ineptitude, choice or some combination of both — has no ability to perform the simple task of counting votes in a minimally efficient or confidence-inspiring manner. As a result, the credibility of the voting process is severely impaired, and any residual authority the U.S. claims to “spread” democracy to lucky recipients of its benevolence around the world is close to obliterated. At 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the day after the 2020 presidential elections, the results of the presidential race, as well as control of the Senate, are very much in doubt and in chaos.

Watched by rest of the world — deeply affected by who rules the still-imperialist superpower — the U.S. struggles and stumbles and staggers to engage in a simple task mastered by countless other less powerful and poorer countries: counting votes. Some states are not expected to finished their vote-counting until the end of this week or beyond. The same data and polling geniuses who pronounced that Hillary Clinton had a 90% probability or more of winning the 2016 election, and who spent the last three months proclaiming the 2020 election even more of a sure thing for the Democratic presidential candidate, are currently insisting that Biden, despite being behind in numerous key states, is still the favorite by virtue of uncounted ballots in Democrat-heavy counties in the outcome-determinative states.

[One went to sleep last night with the now-notorious New York Times needle of data guru Nate Cohn assuring the country that, with more than 80% of the vote counted in Georgia, Trump had more than an 80% chance to win that state, only to wake up a few hours later with the needle now predicting the opposite outcome; that all happened just a few hours after Cohn assured everyone how much “smarter” his little needle was this time around].

NYT’s predictive needle for Georgia at 8:40 pm ET, Tuesday night.

https://twitter.com/TravisAllen02/status/1323855693359861762

NYT’s predictive needle for Georgia less than four hours later, at 12:12 a.m., early Wednesday morning.


Given the record of failures and humiliations they have quickly compiled, what rational person would trust anything they say at this point? A citizen randomly chosen from the telephone book would be as reliable if not more so for sharing predictions. And the monumental failures of the polling industry and the data nerds who leech off it, for the second consecutive national election, only serve to sow even further doubt and confusion around the electoral process. A completely untrustworthy voting count is now the norm. Two months after the New York state primary in late June, two Congressional races were in doubt by what The New York Times called “major delays in counting a deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots and other problems.” In particular: Thousands more ballots in the city were discarded by election officials for minor errors, or not even sent to voters until the day before the primary, making it all but impossible for the ballots to be returned in time.

Read more …

“..a 2020 election night awash with Democratic disappointment..”

How The GOP Retook House Seats From Democrats (F.)

Republicans wrested at least seven U.S. House seats from Democrats this year, retaking districts the party lost in 2018 and expanding slightly into blue territory, a surprising set of victories that could narrow the House’s thin 14-vote Democratic majority. Republicans have won back six moderate rural and suburban districts that Democrats took from the GOP in 2018 — in New Mexico, South Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Iowa — reversing some of the Democrats’ gains from two years ago.In two of those districts, this year’s races were rematches of 2018, featuring the same candidates but different outcomes: Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) defeated Republican Maria Elvira Salazar in 2018 but lost to her in 2020, and Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) lost to Republican Yvette Herrell despite winning against her two years ago.

Republicans also took Minnesota’s rural, conservative-leaning seventh district, ousting moderate 30-year incumbent Rep. Collin Peterson (D) after a tough re-election battle. Meanwhile, Democrats picked up just two seats in North Carolina, defeating Republican nominees in a pair of new urban and suburban districts created after a court-ordered redistricting effort last year. Dozens of House districts remained too close to call Wednesday morning, as officials rush to count mail-in ballots. In particular, Republicans are vying to win back former Republican strongholds like Orange County, Calif. and Staten Island, N.Y.

Democrats flipped dozens of congressional districts from red to blue in 2018, part of a wave election that propelled the party to a House majority. Many of those suburban and rural districts were traditionally conservative but changed hands amid nationwide leftward momentum, making their status as Democratic seats tenuous at best. Still, Democrats hoped to extend those gains in 2020 by flipping several moderate seats, and pre-election polls indicated most voters favored Democrats over Republicans in local House races. But on a 2020 election night awash with Democratic disappointment, the party’s hopes of another Democratic wave in the House quickly faded, and Republicans ended up regaining some ground.

Read more …

“The spate of Democratic losses were not limited to any one geographic region.”

House Democrats Fall Way Short In Disappointing Night (Hill)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her invigorated caucus charged into Tuesday with an energized base, a sharp fundraising advantage and hopes to flip anywhere from five to 15 Republican seats on election night. Instead, it was the Republicans who scored big — at least in the early counting — knocking out at least a half dozen vulnerable Democrats with several more clinging to the ropes. It was a reversal of fortunes for the Democrats, who had led big in the polls and the money race and were betting that President Trump at the top of the ticket would be a drag on GOP lawmakers all the way down the ballot. With gushing optimism, Democrats were expecting Tuesday night would give them a chance to pad their 232-197 majority next year.

“We’re well-positioned to have a good night,” Rep. Cheri Bustos (Ill.), head of the Democrats’ campaign arm, told reporters hours before polls closed Tuesday. As the sun came up Wednesday morning, however, there appeared few bright spots for Bustos’s party. While Democrats will retain their majority, a handful of their front-line members — incumbents facing the toughest races — had been defeated. And after boasting about how they’d expanded the map and were playing “deep into Trump country,” they’d failed to pick off even a single House Republican running for reelection. Democrats did manage to pick up a pair of GOP-held open seats in North Carolina, where redistricting had made the districts much bluer, and a third in Georgia after the retirement of vulnerable GOP Rep. Rob Woodall.

The spate of Democratic losses were not limited to any one geographic region. In rural Minnesota, Rep. Collin Peterson (D), a 15-term veteran and chairman of the Agriculture Committee, was clobbered by the state’s former lieutenant governor, who’d linked Peterson to the liberal Pelosi. In the suburbs of Oklahoma City, Rep. Kendra Horn (D), a first-term moderate, was defeated by Republican Stephanie Bice, a state senator, in one of the country’s most contested races. On New Mexico’s southern border, Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D), a 36-year-old centrist also in her first term, fell to Yvette Herrell, a former state legislator, in a rematch of 2018. And in South Carolina, first-term Rep. Joe Cunningham (D) was ousted by state Rep. Nancy Mace (R).

Read more …

And this is what comes next.

Statehouse Wins Position GOP To Dominate Redistricting (Pol.)

Here’s something else Republicans can be happy about after Tuesday. An abysmal showing by Democrats in state legislative races on Tuesday not only denied them victories in Sun Belt and Rust Belt states that would have positioned them to advance their policy agenda — it also put the party at a disadvantage ahead of the redistricting that will determine the balance of power for the next decade. The results could domino through politics in America, helping the GOP draw favorable congressional and state legislative maps by ensuring Democrats remain the minority party in key state legislatures. Ultimately, it could mean more Republicans in Washington — and in state capitals.

By Wednesday night, Democrats had not flipped a single statehouse chamber in its favor. And it remained completely blocked from the map-making process in several key states — including Texas, North Carolina and Florida, which could have a combined 82 congressional seats by 2022 — where the GOP retained control of the state legislatures. After months of record-breaking fundraising by their candidates and a constellation of outside groups, Democrats fell far short of their goals and failed to build upon their 2018 successes to capture state chambers they had been targeting for years. And they may have President Donald Trump to blame. “It’s clear that Trump isn’t an anchor for the Republican legislative candidates. He’s a buoy,” Christina Polizzi, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said Wednesday.

“He overperformed media expectations, Democratic and Republican expectations, and lifted legislative candidates with him.” Democrats had a disappointing night in congressional and state legislative races across the country, as they realized the suburban revolt against Trump did not extend in 2020. Republicans appear poised to hold on to the Senate, gain seats in the House and pick up a governorship in Montana, defying expectations. But it is the victories they won in state legislatures could be the most consequential of all, giving the GOP outsize influence over the congressional and legislative redistricting process that begins early next year.

Read more …

“Let’s not forget the rather reckless remark made by PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Halloween night that “if all the votes are added up, Mr. Trump is going to lose.“

Election Update, 9:50 am Weds Nov 4 (Jim Kunstler)

The election has rolled out as expected here – that is, not resolved the morning after, with Antifa and BLM rioters already moiling in the streets of Washington D.C.Portland, Oregon, remains in continual uproar after four months of violence and destruction, and Mayor Ted Wheeler won reelection against “Antifa candidate” Sarah Iannarone. Lucky Portland. Outside the swing states still in play, the margins were strikingly lopsided. Joe Biden’s radiant charisma worked in the usual blue coastal states — Cal 65% to 33%, NY 55% to 33% — but Mr. Trump’s margins were equally lopsided in the flyover red states — OK 65% to 32%, TN 60% to 37%, MO 56% to 41%. Mr. Biden won thumpingly in VA once the Deep State bedroom counties next to DC came in late at night. But the president won convincingly in FLA, OH, and TX.

For now, at 9 a.m. Weds, the race hinges on the usual suspects. Mr. Trump is up a half a percent in Michigan with 91% of votes counted; Mr. Biden is seven-tenths up in Wisconsin, with 95% in… awaiting Green Bay results (delayed, apparently, because a vote-processing machine ran out of ink (!). Similar close margins in NC… not so close in GA, with the president ahead a healthy 2 percent, and finally the dark maw of mischief, PA, where Mr. Trump was up by more than ten full percentage points (@700,000 votes) this morning, but awaiting more than a million mail-in ballots. Let’s not forget the rather reckless remark made by PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Halloween night that “if all the votes are added up, Mr. Trump is going to lose.” Sounded pretty sure of himself.

Now, as I understand it, the PA state supreme court ruled recently that counties could continue to process mail-in votes until Friday, and, more importantly, that they did not require postmarks or signature authentication — which would appear an easy invitation to simple ballot fraud. The president vowed late Tuesday night to take a case to the US supreme court where, I expect, that PA ruling will be tossed out as self-evidently unsound. Can the forces of Dem Lawfare work around that? I don’t see how, but I’m not a constitutional lawyer. The Dems have worked hard in recent years to manufacture the inane and false narrative that any kind of voter-ID procedure amounts to “suppression.” America needs to get its mind right about that. Does Lawfare have other tricks up its sleeve? I rather expect so, but the president has had months to plan his own defense against the threat of a Lawfare coup, so now we will see the game play out. Meanwhile, we await mayhem in the streets, condoned and encouraged by Joe Biden’s party, as though that will endear him to nation.

Read more …

Standing next to 17,000 simulated ballots
https://twitter.com/HalosRamsFan/status/1324073111969554435

Michigan Finds 138,339 Ballots, Every Single One Has Biden’s Name on It (RS)

Saying that this is an impossible thing wouldn’t be right as statistically, the early vote combined with mail-in voting was always heavily Democrat-leaning. The catch here is that it’s definitely not probable. The idea that not one of them is a Trump vote seems a little off. However, what should really make people suspicious is the fact that not one of these votes leans toward a third-party vote. While people voting for Trump definitely wanted their votes counted by showing up in person, third-party voters didn’t particularly follow the same idea as some of these were leftists as well. Not one vote for the Green Party candidate? Not one for Jo Jorgenson of the Libertarian Party?

Read more …

Second hand car salesmen.

For Stocks, Any Election Outcome is Now the Best Outcome (WS)

At first, long ago, the narrative was that a Trump victory would boost stocks. And then when this became more uncertain, the narrative was that a Biden victory would also boost stocks, and that a “Blue Wave” would boost stocks hugely because it would trigger the mother of all stimulus packages, which would spread trillions of dollars directly and indirectly to these companies, which would be good for stocks. And so it was that a victory by either presidential candidate would boost stocks, and that only a disputed election outcome with a long drawn-out legal battle or a split government would derail stocks.

And now, that Trump is already disputing the still unknown election outcome and is threatening a long-drawn-out legal battle if he loses – with Biden leading in electoral votes but millions of mail-in ballots left to be counted – even the threat of a disputed election and a long-drawn-out mess is now boosting stocks. And even funnier: The only remaining outcome that would not boost stocks, and by some measures would be the worst possible outcome during these times – namely a split government, with the Senate remaining under Republican control and Biden in the White House, and therefore no stimulus package – is suddenly a distinct possibility.

But it now too is seen as boosting stocks because it would mean, according to the newly fashioned narrative, that the absence of a Blue Wave would be good for Big Tech because it would be less threatened by antitrust pressures. These narratives are funny. They change and adapt constantly, like a weather vane. Major investment banks come out with reports to create and support these narratives, and adjust them as probabilities of outcomes change, with the purpose being that whatever happens, and no matter how it happens, and regardless of why or when it happens, it has to boost stocks, according to the narratives.

Read more …

Nice little country you have there…

ECB May Cut Support For Indebted Countries In Nudge Towards EU Loans (R.)

The European Central Bank could offer less generous support for indebted governments when it puts together a further stimulus package next month, to push them to apply for European Union loans tied to productive investments, sources told Reuters. The ECB promised last week to introduce more measures in December to help euro zone countries cope with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, including new lockdowns that will curtail economic activity. The four sources who spoke to Reuters said policymakers were debating whether the ECB should extend its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), which gives it unprecedented flexibility in buying bonds from any country in distress, or its regular Asset Purchase Programme (APP), under which purchases should mirror the relative size of each country.


This is because PEPP has driven down borrowing costs for indebted governments such as Spain and Portugal so much that they are shunning EU loans tied to digital and green investments in favour of raising no-strings cash on the bond market. The composition of the package should be decided at the ECB’s Dec. 10 policy meeting and the sources said a compromise could be on the cards, with both PEPP and APP being expanded but the former remaining the main instrument. The difference between the two programmes is material and the decision will have implications for how much help the ECB might give to the bloc’s most indebted countries. The ECB has significantly overbought Italian and Spanish bonds under PEPP since the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, helping lower their bond yields to pre-pandemic levels — a welcome relief for their governments at a time of stress. But in doing so, it has made borrowing from the EU’s Next Generation fund less attractive.

Read more …

Most stunning is there has been hardly any movement in the whole thing. Where are the better and faster tests?

COVID Testing: We’ve Been Duped (AT)

During a considerably quieter time, back in 2007, the New York Times featured a very interesting exposé on molecular diagnostic testing — specifically, the inadequacy of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in achieving reliable results. The most significant concern highlighted in the Times report is how molecular tests, most notably the PCR, are highly sensitive and prone to false positives. At the center of the controversy was a potential outbreak in a hospital in New Hampshire that proved to be nothing more than “ordinary respiratory diseases like the common cold.” Unfortunately, the results wrought by the PCR told a different story.

Thankfully, a faux epidemic was avoided but not before thousands of workers were furloughed and given antibiotics and ultimately a vaccine, and hospital beds (including some in intensive care) were taken out of commission. Eight months later, what was thought to be an epidemic was deemed a non-malicious hoax. The culprit? According to “epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists … too much faith in a quick and highly sensitive molecular test .. led them astray.” At the time, such tests were “coming into increasing use” as maybe “the only way to get a quick answer in diagnosing diseases like … SARS, and deciding whether an epidemic is under way. Nevertheless, today, the PCR test is considered the gold standard of molecular diagnostics, most notably in the diagnosis of COVID-19.

However, a closer analysis reveals that the PCR has actually been pretty spotty and that false positives abound. Thankfully, the New York Times is once again on the case. “Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive; Maybe It Shouldn’t Be,” according to NYT reporter Apoorva Mandavilli. Essentially, positive results are getting tossed around way too frequently. Rather, they should probably be reserved for individuals with “greater viral load.” So how have they’ve been doing it all this time you ask? “The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample . .. the more likely the patient is to be contagious.”

Unfortunately, the “cycle threshold” has been ramped up. What happens when it’s ramped up? Basically, “huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus” are deemed infected. However, the severity of the infection is never quantified, which essentially amounts to a false positive. Their level of contagion is essentially nil. How are they determining the cycle threshold? If I didn’t suspect that it was based on maximizing the amount of “cases,” I would find the determination pretty arbitrary. More than a few of the professionals on record for Times report appear pretty perplexed on this vital detail which is essentially driving “clinical diagnostics, for public health and policy decision-making.”

Read more …

They don’t know what they’re doing.

“Lockdowns temporarily reduce infections and associated deaths. But they do so only by deferring them to the period after they are lifted.”

England Underestimates The Costs Of Lockdown At Its Peril (Jonathan Sumption)

Suppose there is nothing that governments can do to stop the spread of Covid-19. What then? It is not a hypothetical question, as England is discovering. “We’ve got to be humble in the face of nature,” the prime minister observed in Saturday’s Downing Street press conference. But humility learns from experience, and there was no sign of that in the measures he then went on to announce. In my opinion, the problem with lockdowns is that they are indiscriminate, ineffective in the long term, and carry social and economic costs that outweigh their likely benefits. Lockdowns temporarily reduce infections and associated deaths. But they do so only by deferring them to the period after they are lifted. Members of the government’s Sage group pointed this out back in February.

“Measures which are too effective,” they said, “merely push all transmission to the period after they are lifted, giving a delay but no substantial reduction in either peak incidence or overall attack rate.” In the meantime, these restrictions prolong the crisis, slow down the process by which the population acquires a measure of natural immunity, and cause immeasurable collateral damage. This is what we are experiencing now. Lockdowns are indiscriminate because they do not distinguish between different categories of people whose vulnerabilities are very different. Some are young, some old. Some have had the disease and enjoy a measure of immunity while others do not. Some live alone and are starved of company, others have their families around them. Some live in rural Cornwall, where the reproduction rate is low, others in Liverpool, where it is high.

Allowing people to make their own judgments, tailored to their own circumstances and those of the people around them, is not only a more humane and rational response to the pandemic. It also directs resources to where they are actually needed. Instead, ministers treat the entire population as an undifferentiated mass. This one-size-fits-all approach is irrational. The result is to inflict an appalling injustice on the young, who are unlikely to become seriously ill but are bearing almost all the burden of the counter-measures. The average age at which people die with Covid-19 is over 82. As of 3 November, the Office for National Statistics reports that 49,420 out of 55,311 deaths involving Covid-19 were among people aged 65 or older. The risk of death for young people is very small. They are not the ones who are filling NHS beds.

Yet their job prospects are being snuffed out. The spectacle of bright engineering graduates and talented musicians forced into unemployment, or to take jobs in which their training will go to waste, is a savage indictment of current policies. It is the old and vulnerable whom we should be protecting from the virus. Care homes should be better managed and resourced. Older people who live outside such institutions may shield themselves from infection, if they choose to, though some may prefer to take the risk. But the young and healthy should not be deprived of the ability to live fulfilling and productive lives simply to spare the old and vulnerable from taking precautions for their own safety. The lower proportion of positive test results from older people since the summer suggests that many of them are already doing so.

Read more …

Political persecution?!

Kim Dotcom Can Be Extradited To US But Can Also Appeal (BBC)

A long-running effort to extradite file-sharing site mogul Kim Dotcom to the US has been left in limbo after a Supreme Court decision in New Zealand. The court ruled that he can be returned to the US to face copyright charges – but has also overturned another lower court’s decision, effectively granting him the right to appeal. Mr Dotcom himself described the ruling as a “mixed bag”. The legal wrangling is likely to continue. The court ruled that Kim Dotcom and his three co-accused were liable for extradition on 12 of the 13 counts the FBI is seeking to charge them with. But it also ruled that the Court of Appeal had erred in dismissing judicial review requests from Mr Dotcom, and granted him the right to continue with them.

The FBI alleges that Megaupload facilitated copyright infringement on a huge scale, but Mr Dotcom’s lawyers argue that the website was never meant to encourage copyright breaches. If he is extradited, he faces a lengthy jail term. In response to the ruling, he tweeted a statement from his lawyers which read: “For the Dotcom team, and especially for Kim and his family, it is a mixed bag.” “There is no final determination that he is to go to the United States. However, the court has not accepted our important copyright argument and in our view has made significant determinations that will have an immediate and chilling impact on the internet.”

The controversial figure founded file-sharing site Megaupload in 2005, and made millions of dollars from advertising and premium subscriptions. At one point, he boasted that it was responsible for 4% of internet traffic. In 2012, he was arrested when armed police stormed his Auckland home in a dramatic dawn raid, which was later to become the subject of its own legal enquiry, when Mr Dotcom sued for damages. A district court in New Zealand ruled in 2015 that he could be extradited, but a series of appeals and judicial reviews followed. Lawyers for Mr Dotcom argued that his actions did not amount to criminal offences in New Zealand, and were therefore not extraditable.

Read more …

And who goes to jail?

Bayer Takes Over $10 Billion Write-Down Over Monsanto Roundup Weed Killer (RT)

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer said it’s facing a double hit from a higher legal bill for claims relating to weed killer Roundup and €9.25 billion ($10.8 billion) in impairments on Monsanto-related agriculture businesses. According to the company, the write-downs were driven by weaker demand from farmers due to low biofuel prices and an increase of about $750 million in the costs of settlement terms with US plaintiffs over Roundup. As a result, the losses before interest and tax amounted to €9.4 billion ($10.9 billion) in the third quarter. “The impact of the (coronavirus) pandemic is placing additional strain on our Crop Science Division. We are also facing negative currency effects,” Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Nickl said as quoted by Reuters.


Nickl explained that a massive depreciation of the Brazilian real was weighing heavily on the firm’s business in the world’s second-largest agricultural market. Bayer said it was unable to say what part of the impairment was attributable to legacy Monsanto businesses, saying only that two-thirds of the write-downs were due to currency and interest rate effects. Bayer has been under fire and facing a wave of lawsuits in the US over Roundup since its 2018 takeover of Monsanto for about $63 billion. The deal made Bayer the world’s largest supplier of seeds and pesticides. In June, Bayer struck an $11 billion outline agreement with US plaintiffs’ lawyers, but a judge later took issue with a side arrangement on future cases that may yet be lodged, known as a class plan.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle November 5 2020

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)
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  • #65203

    Pablo Picasso Bull plates I-XI 1945   • Trump Goes To Supreme Court, Files Lawsuits To Stop Vote Counting In PA (F.) • Trump Assembling All-star
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle November 5 2020]

    #65204
    Basseterre Kitona
    Participant

    There is this odd divide between the presidential vote, which Biden may win, and all the other votes, where the GOP candidates are doing much better than expected, and taking back House seats. How is that possible?

    In theory, it is possible that some voters would split their tickets, i.e., vote Republican but reject Trump for the “moderate” Biden. But given Trump’s high approval rating amongst Republicans (97%) this seems unlikely.

    Instead it is straight fraud on the part of Democrat states putting their fingers on the scale with their blatant late night counting schenanigans. Soon well have the deluge of “credible” media telling us Biden is President-elect. Any other year, election is over Tuesday night Trump is declared winner, no controversy. Frankly, it was an excellent election for Trump & Republicans. But the RUSSIA, RUSSIA RUSSIA crowd refuse to let anything be easy.

    As for the PCR tests, again another fraud perpetuated by “credible” media and “experts”. Tests result on their own mean little without a doctor to interpret them in light of examination. But rising numbers help the narrative and driving panic.

    Forget the mass testing. Let Doctors treat the people who are actually sick and the rest of us can get on with our lives. As the virus is already everywhere, containment efforts are near worthless. Thus th only use of mass tests is adding to the daily panic pornography.

    #65205
    John Day
    Participant

    We’re all trapped in a thought box. I can tell that I am. The indecisiveness is torture. We reject it. We’re irritated and impatient. Whatever comes next will be no different, because the situation is no different.That makes this an opportunity to pray for good. No format. Just engage my heart into the mess and be with it, longing for good patterns to arise, that I can be part of.
    Good and bad, and I can recognize ’em when I see ’em, often look a lot different than what I had imagined.
    Here I am in purgatory, earnestly and patiently and lovingly longing for ways that I can help us all do better.

    #65206
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for the kind words yesterday papanaca.

    #65207
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “Forget the mass testing. Let Doctors treat the people who are actually sick and the rest of us can get on with our lives. As the virus is already everywhere, containment efforts are near worthless. Thus th only use of mass tests is adding to the daily panic pornography.”

    Here Here!

    Even Chris Martison is beginning to question what is going on here these days.

    #65208
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    If this story is true, it looks like Sweden is having similar problems to everyone else.
    https://nationalpost.com/news/world/in-sweden-a-very-serious-resurgence-of-coronavirus-and-a-grim-winter-ahead

    #65209
    zerosum
    Participant

    Great reading selection for today

    My crystal ball message –

    Some or all of the content shared in this BLOG is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other social/economic activities.

    Thank you!

    #65210
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “If this story is true, it looks like Sweden is having similar problems to everyone else.”

    Sad that is the state of things. Who is telling the truth? Or as one famous person said “what is truth?”

    #65211
    John Day
    Participant

    https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/11/reflective-in-gridlock.html

    Our Imperial Presidency, Charles Hugh Smith {“We have always been at war with Eastasia.”}
    Regardless of who holds the office, America’s Imperial Project and its Imperial Presidency are due for a grand reckoning.
    While elections and party politics generate the emotions and headlines, the truly consequential change in American governance has been the ascendancy of the Imperial Presidency over the past 75 years, since the end of World War II.
    As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the Constitution grants the President extraordinary but temporary powers in wartime. With the power to declare war granted solely to Congress, this dangerous (in the Founders’ view) expansion of Executive power was tolerated because it was temporary and necessary in the fast-moving emergency of war…
    The extraordinary powers granted to President Roosevelt in World War II did not expire at the end of the war. Rather, the powers of the presidency expanded along with the National Security agencies which rose to unprecedented power in the Cold War era of 1945 – 1991. The entire alphabet soup of the National Security State–CIA, NSA, DIA, etc.–serve the president, not Congress, which has been relegated the role of toothless oversight. {Really, they serve themselves and their hidden dark lords, now.}
    http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2020/11/our-imperial-presidency.html

    Craig Murray assumes a Biden win, with mixed thoughts and emotions:
    I know that many of my readers will be triumphant at the departure of Trump. I can understand that. From the viewpoint of US domestic policy and particularly attitudes to social division, race and immigration, the end of Trump’s cynical manipulation of atavistic instinct among the electorate will be in itself a good thing. This has not been a healthy period in US politics.
    But Trump has not been defeated by a Bernie Sanders; he has been defeated by a corrupt political hack backed to the hilt by the large majority of the billionaire owned media, financed out of Wall street and with no intention of pursuing anything other than neo-liberal economic policies. It is also the firm re-establishment of the rule of the security state and the military-industrial complex. Trump’s instinctive isolationism made him an enemy of the security state interest which spent a great deal of time in trying to undermine its President.
    With Biden we will return to business as usual, and that means war and invasions. Under Trump we have had no new wars started, even if he continued old ones with little control. Without Trump, I have not the tiniest doubt that Syria would have been bombed back to the Stone Age, exactly like Libya, and millions more people would have been killed. Irrespective of the undoubted damage Trump has caused inside the United States across many fronts, Hillary would have killed a lot more people. Just not Americans.

    American Presidents

    That’s not a bug, it’s a feature of all the specific local and regional and personal, competent and incompetent, human and A.I. Vote Rigging.
    The U.S. Inability To Count Votes is a National Disgrace. And Dangerous. Glenn Greenwald
    Nations far poorer and less technologically advanced have no problem holding quick, efficient elections.
    Distrust in U.S. outcomes is dangerous but rational.
    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-us-inability-to-count-votes-is

    Caitlin Johnstone:
    All the hours of post-electoral analysis you’re about to hear are just mental gymnastics to avoid confronting one very simple fact: that the way the Democratic Party has been securing funding is incompatible with securing votes. That’s the only correct answer to the question of what went wrong for the Democrats this year. They court wealthy donors who in exchange demand policies which hurt ordinary Americans. Ignore all answers besides this one.
    It’s not because of inadequate outreach to this or that demographic. It’s not because of racism. It’s not because of being too “woke”. It’s not because of the Electoral College or gerrymandering. It’s because Democratic donors advance interests which hurt the Democratic base, which naturally makes the base disinclined to vote for them.
    People simply are not going to support a party which does not advance their interests. If the Democratic Party were obtaining material benefits for people, they would dominate the US government. But that would mean taking things away from the donor class, so it’s been a no-go. Meanwhile the donor class is never going to support a party which acts against its interests. Getting enough votes and getting the support of wealthy elites are therefore mutually exclusive endeavors. You cannot have both. Dems will keep struggling with votes until they figure this out…
    The idea that everything will be fine once Trump’s gone is more dangerous than Trump.
    There’s no point telling the Democratic establishment that Bernie would have won. They know Bernie would have won. That’s why they stopped him.

    Electoral Musings: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

    Brandon Smith sticks by his cheery prediction:
    Just as I successfully predicted the outcome of the 2016 election months in advance, my predictions on the 2020 election are now coming to pass. In July of this year in my article ‘Election 2020: The Worst Case Scenario Is The Most Likely One’, after I outlined the strange factors surrounding Biden and Trump, I stated that:
    “These factors and more lead me to predict that Election 2020 will be a contested election which ends with Trump staying in office but accused of usurping the democratic process. This outcome is the worst possible outcome and also the most advantageous for the globalist establishment.”
    I also noted the predictive programming campaign by the media and members of the Council On Foreign Relations like Max Boot to acclimated the public to the idea of a contested election while also “wargaming” (planning) that exact outcome…
    Trump has said he will take the results to the Supreme Court and there is no doubt that recounts will be held in states like Michigan and Arizona. I continue to predict that Trump will stay in office despite the close election. I also predict that numerous fake ballots will be discovered during recounts only throwing gasoline on the fire and implicating Democrats in certain districts with fraud. Social justice leftists will surely try to riot in response, and Trump will call for martial law if the current scenario plays out as I expect.
    The leftists will NOT accept the results of a Supreme Court decision in favor of Trump.
    Conservatives WILL NOT accept a Biden presidency.

    Alt-Market Calls It Again: As Predicted In July, 2020 Election Will Be Contested

    A US Postal Service employee from Michigan has reportedly turned whistleblower, telling Project Veritas that his supervisor instructed mail carriers to collect and segregate new ballot envelopes received after the election cutoff so that they could be fraudulently back-dated with a Nov. 3 postmark
    Update 0958ET: The USPS Inspector General’s office has contacted Project Veritas following their report from a postal employee who says he was instructed to collect ballots after the election cutoff so they could be backdated.
    “They’re aware of this, it falls under their jurisdiction, they’re assessing whether to investigate,” said James O’Keefe, founder of PV.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/michigan-usps-whistleblower-claims-late-ballots-backdated

    #65212
    John Day
    Participant

    https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/11/reflective-in-gridlock.html

    I continue to wonder if Long-COVID is caused by persistence of viral infection in some small proportion of cells in some people. I get asked, “wouldn’t they have found that by now?” “How would they find that” , I respond. Knowledge arises through process, and we are talking about cutting open human bodies to take specimens here, living humans. Not my body, please… Some people die and get autopsies, often focusing on the lungs, though we know this virus infects cells of the arterial lining, leading to clots, strokes, heart attacks and lung failure. I noticed this.
    The research, published in the journal Lancet eBioMedicine, also found the virus itself was still present in many types of cells.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-lungs-int-idUSKBN27K00X

    The Lancet article, excerpted:
    Persistence of viral RNA, pneumocyte syncytia and thrombosis are hallmarks of advanced COVID-19 pathology
    Pneumocytes and endothelial cells contained viral RNA even at the later stages of the disease. An additional feature was the common presence of a large number of dysmorphic pneumocytes, often forming syncytial elements (36/41, 87%). Despite occasional detection of virus-positive cells, no overt signs of viral infection were detected in other organs, which showed non-specific alterations.
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(20)30480-1/fulltext

    One vaccine is already found to be helpful in COVID Pneumonia, when you’re already sick with it, the good old tuberculosis vaccine, BCG.
    Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) is widely used in national vaccination programs worldwide. It is accepted that BCG alleviates both pathogen and allergy induced respiratory diseases that could also include Covid-19. To investigate this possibility, we randomly assigned 60 Covid-19 patients, after admission to the hospital with pneumonia and requirement for oxygen therapy in a 1:1 ratio to receive either a single adult dose of intradermal BCG or normal saline with concomitant standard of care (SoC) medications. Primary endpoints were favorable prognosis of Covid-19 as deduced from resolution of pneumonia, viremia and secondary outcome were enumeration of ICU admissions, duration thereof and mortalities. Results Both primary and secondary endpoints were significantly improved in the BCG+SoC group. This could be seen from reduction in oxygen requirement due to Covid-19 associated pneumonia decreasing from day 3-4, improved radiological resolution from day 7-15. There were a total of 6 (10%) adverse events in the study of which 2 deaths and 4 ICU admissions were in SoC group (1 ICU admission culminated in death of the subject) and in contrast only 1 ICU admission in the BCG+SoC group. While there was an increase in Covid-19 specific IgG levels in the BCG+SoC group, there was no evidence of BCG induced cytokine storm in this group
    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.28.20221630v1

    #65213
    John Day
    Participant

    Oh, and there’s this, which is sort of like Xtacy, but short-acting, and no weird regrets later.

    #65214
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    “the U.S. voting process is rife with major systemic failures and doubt-sowing inefficiencies that can be explained only as a deliberate choice and/or a perfect reflection of a collapsing, crumbling empire.” – Greenwald

    It’s a “deliberate choice”. The best way to hide mischief is by covering it in a shroud of chaos and complexity. Just ask Wall Street. Then, if all the so-called “watch dogs” are in on it (aka captured), it is guaranteed that one’s crimes will never see the light of day.

    I’m in agreement with Basseterre Kitona, that it appears incongruent that Republicans could do so well in other races, only to have Trump unseated. And it certainly raised a lot of eyebrows when Trump’s battleground leads all seemed to disappear magically overnight. Almost as if it’s easier to get away with criminal activity under the cover of darkness. Lots of smoke here! A big story just waiting to be uncovered by the press. Oh yeah, they’ll get right on it… never.

    #65215
    John Day
    Participant

    Now This:
    WATCH: Ballot Count Watcher Describes At Least 130,000 Ballots ALL FOR BIDEN Arriving in Three Vehicles in Detroit in Dead of Night

    WATCH: Ballot Count Watcher Describes At Least 130,000 Ballots ALL FOR BIDEN Arriving in Three Vehicles in Detroit in Dead of Night

    #65216
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    It must now be apparent to even the dimmest bulb, that the power establishment has hated Trump from day one. At first, he was an entertaining straw man set up by the DNC/media for Hillary to knock down so that the illusion could be formed in the public mind that she actually won the presidency, instead of having it handed to her on a silver platter – which was the deal made eight years earlier when Obama was given the tap over Hillary.

    We all know what followed, one attempt after another to, at first sabotage his candidacy, but when that failed, to remove him from office by any means necessary. Why does the establishment see him as such a danger? It can’t be because of his ineptitude. We suffered with George Dubya just fine for 8 years, so that can’t be it. As Caitlin Johnstone points out: Trump puts an ugly face on Empire, but I don’t think that’s their problem either.

    During the last 4 years, every time Trump attempted to scale back militarily (or make nice) with any state on the US hit list, the establishment went ballistic. On the other hand, whenever he took aggressive action against the same, trumpets were sounded in the media. For example, when he fired missiles at Syria: “I am guided by the beauty of our weapons”, sung Brian Williams. And “I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night” crowed Fareed Zakaria on CNN.

    I believe the main reason that Trump in a thorn in their side is because his anti-war leanings are an impediment to their global hegemony plans. Therefore, he has to go.

    #65217
    teri
    Participant

    Just wanted to pass on some useful (I hope) information:

    Re: discrepancy between numbers of votes for president and for senate.
    Lots of people only vote for the president in a presidential election year and don’t bother with down-ticket candidates. And lots of people only bother to vote at all when it is a presidential election year and don’t bother voting during mid-term years. Also, US senators serve for 6 years and the schedule is staggered so that only about a third of the Senate is up for reelection during any given election. Neither of Maryland’s Senators was up for reelection this year, for example, so there was no section on the ballot for US Senator in our state.

    Choosing sources of media reporting: about a couple of sites that are being quoted here more and more often (both of these are from wiki, but you can find the exact same information at any media-bias group or truth-in-media fact-checking outfit):

    The Gateway Pundit is an American far-right[9] news and opinion website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.[17]
    The Gateway Pundit is known as a source of viral falsehoods and hoaxes.[8][28][29] It has been described by Newsweek as a fake news website[30] and by CNN as a website “prone to peddling conspiracy theories.”[31] As a result of a number of lawsuits against The Gateway Pundit over its false stories, it was reported in March 2018 that Jim Hoft had told his writers to be more careful: “I don’t want any more lawsuits so we have to be really careful with what we put up.”[32] Hoft stated that he believes the lawsuits “are part of a multi-pronged effort to attack media outlets on the right.”[32]
    ——–
    Project Veritas is an American far-right[4][5][6][7][8][9] activist group founded by James O’Keefe in 2010.[10][11][12][13] The group uses undercover techniques to reveal supposed liberal bias and corruption[10] and is known for producing deceptively edited videos about media organizations, left-leaning groups[14][11][15][16][17][18][19] and debunked conspiracy theories.[11][20][21] In a 2018 book on propaganda and disinformation in U.S. politics, three Harvard University scholars refer to Project Veritas as a “right-wing disinformation outfit”.[22]

    In March 2020, The New York Times published an exposé detailing Project Veritas’ use of spies recruited by Erik Prince, to infiltrate “Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda”. The Times piece notes O’Keefe’s and Prince’s close links to the Trump administration, and details contributions such as a $1 million transfer of funds from an undisclosed source to support their work. The findings were based in part on discovery documents in a case brought by the American Federation of Teachers, Michigan, which was infiltrated by Project Veritas.[23]

    #65218
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    I know nothing, just like John Snow. I can’t help but feel concerned about about what will come to pass. If the technology and infrastructure remains intact then probably not the worst. The urban areas are very prone to undesirable consequences. I can’t imagine living in a high rise should the power fail, or what about the water supply in such an event…very vulnerable. If survival comes knocking, think about where you are. Prepare is my advice. There is a whole movement on the internet called preppers that have worked out many of the logistics. I feel it is worth a read if you have concerns. I wish you well.

    #65219
    zerosum
    Participant

    Going to court is the USA system to get to the the truth and to determine if there has been interference.
    HUMMMMM
    Russian interference.
    Chinese interference.
    Iran interference.
    Pollsters interference
    USA interference
    Hunter Biden interference
    Hillary interference
    MSM interference
    —–
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/what-spectacle-iran-other-us-enemies-mock-election-impasse
    “What A Spectacle…Grab Your Popcorn!” Iran & Russia Mock US Election Impasse

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/put-simplythe-swamp-just-too-big-be-drained
    While President Trump has changed federal-level politics in this country forever, the globalist cabal has proven that they’ve been able to carry on without a hiccup no matter who sits in the Oval Office.

    #65220
    zerosum
    Participant
    #65221
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    The USA is full of delusions starting with that it is a democracy. There are elections but the people don’t rule. Money does.

    I remember the reviews of the move “Platoon” back when it was released in 1986; “The Soldiers spent more time fighting each other than the enemy.” “If they made of movie of my year in Vietnam it would have been 90 minutes of filling sand bags and 5 minutes of sure terror.”

    We Northerners/Westerners in country had nothing in common nor associated with the Oakies from Muskogee (Hillbillies – Rednecks). We who spoke TV English (no matter the race or ethnic background) were naturally assumed to be exceptional educated people (Americans).

    All the statues of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee and Confederate soldiers that were built at the turn of the 20th century were to restore the backwater South into the North American Empire. Now the statues are being torn down and Trumpeters called White Supremacists. The names of Confederate Generals on bases in the South will be shortly erased if Defense Secretary isn’t fired and Joe Biden somehow falls short. The Empire is gone. Industry is gone. The Last Emperor can do nothing. All that left in the USA is a service industry that can’t even keep its customers healthy. Americans are dying an early death.

    The Democrats are the Professional Managers. Around 5% of the population. They earn their keep from helping the ruling plutocrats exploit everyone else. Republicans are even more crazy servile to big business and magical myths. The contradictions are getting so great that nobody can rule the West and the coronavirus is spreading like wildfire. Unless the truth is acknowledged that government can only function with the consent of the governed for the best interests of Americans; the future will be even more chaotic than today.

    #65234
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Not much to say with no real information, so much going on. Everything goes to court as the Democrats said back in April. Here we are.

    But nothing’s going to be reformed unless this is the worst election ever.

    Same as 2016 with polls. Nothing happened then either. Except now they are 12 points off not 4. Alaska was like 22 points off. Pretty average for the media. Maybe slighter better than usual, since usually the tests are True-False and they’re 99% wrong. (Were there WMD and ties to Al-qaeda, Alex?)

    https://twitter.com/thomasjwood/status/1324009733691461632/photo/1Charts

    “2020 Election Isn’t Over But They’re Already Polling 2024” There is no level of failure….

    So everyone can count votes. Except the swings states and only the swing states. Everyone can post results next day as usual for 200 years. Except the swing states and only the swing states. Everyone counted all night and didn’t go home, taking the ballots with them. Except the swing states and only the swing states. The Congressional races went to the party ticket as is statistically normal. Except the swing states and only the swing states. No sudden lumps of votes were found anywhere that radically changed the counting. Except the swing states and only the swing states. Polling was normal, with exit polls, election monitors given access. Except the swing states and only the swing states.

    Well I’m satisfied. Nothing to see here.

    Been working at a polling station in Erie county, PA all morning. A lot of people have already voted 🙂 I’ve thrown out over a hundred ballots for trump already!! Pennsylvania gonna turn blue 2020!!,” –Sebastian Machado

    “An abysmal showing by Democrats in state legislative races on Tuesday”

    That’s odd. Abysmal for states, Congress, and all candidate except one and only one.

    “Lockdowns temporarily reduce infections and associated deaths. But they do so only by deferring them to the period after they are lifted.”

    Correct. As I said back when. They said so too, that’s why it was only to “Flatten the curve” not to “cure death itself.” But this comes with a cost on the economy that will kill maybe half again as many, and those killed are exclusively poor, while the beneficiaries of their deaths are exclusively rich. “their job prospects are being snuffed out.” As predicted. As planned. As applauded by all “good” people.

    …And then there’s Sweden. No essential difference, if anything it’s better.

    “Even Chris Martenson is beginning to question”

    Chris Martenson, like other doctors, believes everything he’s told by doctors, and that included the Pharmaceutical industry. Luckily for him, he’s a smart and honest guy and after every other possibility has been exhaustively eliminated, he will tell the truth. The rest of us just do that right away, unencumbered with a mis-education and expert beer-goggles.

    Yes the most interesting thing as that most people shrug it off, almost everyone not over 80 with comorbidities, yet certain dissimilar young ones get chronically injured. They are largely health workers (regularly exposed). If it weren’t too strange to bother, I’d say they’re salted with a different, similar virus. Or something in their PPE. But I can’t see why or how and dismiss it.

    It has been described by Newsweek as a fake news website[30] and by CNN as a website “prone to peddling conspiracy theories.”

    Astonishing. And said with a straight face. Newsweek, of “Kuwait incubator babies” and CNN of RussiaRussia, Walls are closing in OPCW Syria gassed his own people, Russia is in Vermont, Biden up by 20 points CNN calls ANYONE on earth, even Baghdad Bob “Prone to peddling conspiracy theories”? This is well-recorded “Factogenisis”. Wikipedia only allows “sources”, which it says can only be CNN and Yahoo. Not any sites we don’t like nor any of the eyewitnesses who would actually know. As we just saw, the FBI leaks false info to Yahoo, which is thereafter reported by NYT. Not reported that it is TRUE, no. That Yahoo SAID it. The FBI then investigates their own fake release, but more importantly, Wikipedia then says it is SOURCED, and therefore TRUE. Anyone who says it isn’t – which is virtually everybody else in the country – is NOT a source. Then NYT quotes Wikipedia as “common knowledge” “everybody knows”. Like you just did. We’ve done a couple thousand of these in the last few years. It’s called the “Wrap up smear.”

    So they say Gateway stinks. Maybe they do. But Who says? Their arch enemies? The ones whose lies were exposed by them, as Greenwald, Taibbi and others have shown? What a coincidence. “My enemy is my enemy. My enemy is a lying poopy-pants. News at 11.”

    “Just the facts, ma’am.”

    “The group uses undercover techniques to reveal supposed liberal bias and corruption” “detailing Project Veritas’ use of spies…” Those spies are “journalists”. It’s called “journalism”. Once upon a time it used to happen. That doesn’t make the Post or Veritas RIGHT. We need a court of law to determine. But they’re not MEANT to be a court of law, reporters can ONLY print sourced allegations. And hen provide their evidence. Which Veritas does. Not “15 anonymous sources” which CNN and Newsweek does. Wikipedia (I assume is your source) claims – without evidence, as we now say – that Veritas is “deceptively editing”. …Because nobody knows how to use Google. They are too retarded to dial a telephone. Veritas ALWAYS posts the WHOLE video the clips are from for exactly this reason. Journalists don’t bother to watch them because then they wouldn’t be able to claim falsehoods without evidence. Like Hunter’s laptop, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T LOOK. How do I know? They just got sued and lost to Covington. The whole video was always, 100%, immediately available and showed nothing unusual. Just CNN, Newsweek, the Twitterati didn’t watch it. It would have taken a whole 15 extra minutes, so they lost a couple million$. Proof in court of law. There’s a new one of these every week.

    NPR is a good example. They said they won’t look because it’s unsubstantiated. Um, NPR? Substantiating allegations is YOUR job. That’s your ONLY job. It can’t BE substantiated or dismissed UNTIL you look at it. YOU. I know you’re used to printing pro-war CIA press releases, but you’re supposed to DO work, not have the other guy hand completed work TO you. Oh and NPR? The nation’s oldest paper says they DID substantiate it. So how is it “unsubstantiated” when an outlet who is older, wider larger, than you are says it was? Does CNN or the Guardian not exist anymore? Same with the Post. As a clear, long-term public “authority,” if they SAY it’s substantiated, IT IS. It’s up to YOU then to investigate and DISPROVE them. With more speech. In public. Not less. Via censorship and total information blackout. This is an extension of the media outlet reviews above.

    This isn’t complicated. So easy a 5-year old could figure it out. They say “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!” “Says who?” Joe says I lost the election and I beat my wife. I allege HE lost the election and beats his wife. No one investigates anything, so I guess nobody lost the election and nobody beats their wife. Case closed. “No evidence was found…” because nobody from sea to shining sea wanted to look for 60 seconds, and if they DID look they didn’t find anything and if they DID find something it didn’t matter and if it DID matter it wasn’t important and if it WAS important it wasn’t my fault, and if it WAS my fault, so what? Whaddya gonna do about it? Now get out there and stop investigating! We found no evidence, I tell ya! No evidence crawled down to my office, slipped past the doorman, crept up the stairs and crawled from the carpet to my desktop, covered in notary seals and red bows. Because if it did — like Snowden — I still wouldn’t print it or believe it. I’d fire any reporter who touched it. CoughGreenwaldCough.

    There’s no corruption here. Would a corrupt person, a reporter, never leave their desk, never watch unedited videos, never read the other paper’s stories, never call people on the phone, and never google any information? I rest my case.

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