Dec 102020
 
 December 10, 2020  Posted by at 9:58 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


August Strindberg Alpine Landscape I 1894

 

No Drinking Alcohol For Two Months After COVID19 Vaccine – Russia (NYP)
Uni Of Pittsburgh Medical Center Won’t Require Staff To Take Vaccine (ZH)
‘95% Effective’ May Not Mean What You Think It Means (Neuburger)
Trump Campaign, 16 Other States Join Texas Motion To Supreme Court (JTN)
Trump To Meet With Ten State Attorneys General Backing Case To Overturn Election (F.)
Sen. Ron Johnson Does Not Rule Out Challenging Electoral College Results (JTN)
Hunter Biden Under Federal Investigation For Possible Tax Fraud (NYP)
Hunter Biden Criminal Probe Bolsters Claim About Beijing’s Influence In US (GG)
House Intel GOP Not Told About Eric Swalwell Relationship With Chinese Spy (NYP)
Secret Deal Gave Chinese Spies Free Rein In Switzerland (G.)
Clinton Associate 2016 Anti-Trump Dossier Claimed Russian FSB Source (JTN)
ECB To Unveil Yet Another Stimulus Package (R.)
Federal Trade Commission Calls For Breakup Of Facebook (NBC)

 

 

 

 

People with (auto-)immune issues were already not getting a vaccine. Now they add everyone with severe allergies; must be 25% of people?! Re: peanuts, asthma, hay fever. And you can’t travel etc., without proof of being vaccinated. While the CEO for Pfizer says they have no idea if even with the vaccine, you will not infect other people. Where’s the logic? Also, 4 people got facial paralysis after taking the Pfizer vaccine.

No drinkie, no problem!

No Drinking Alcohol For Two Months After COVID19 Vaccine – Russia (NYP)

Russian officials are warning citizens to avoid alcohol for two months after receiving the country’s COVID-19 vaccine — tough-to-swallow news for one of the world’s heaviest-drinking countries. The warning came from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, who said in an interview that Russians will have to observe extra precautions during the 42 days it takes for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to become effective. “[Russians] will have to refrain from visiting crowded places, wear face masks, use sanitizers, minimize contacts and refrain from drinking alcohol or taking immunosuppressant drugs,” Golikova told TASS News Agency. Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer safety watchdog, echoed the sentiments in an interview with Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, as reported in the Moscow Times.


“It’s a strain on the body. If we want to stay healthy and have a strong immune response, don’t drink alcohol,” she said. According to the World Health Organization, Russia is the fourth-largest consumer of alcohol per person in the world. The average Russian consumes 15.1 liters (almost 4 gallons) of alcohol a year, according to the agency. Russia’s efforts to vaccinate its population began in earnest over the weekend in Moscow. Health authorities in the country estimate that 100,000 people have already been inoculated. “By the end of the week, all regions of the country will join this campaign,” Golikova said. Russian health officials say the Sputnik V vaccine is over 90 percent effective, but reports say medical workers who have taken the shot have come down with COVID-19. Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly refused to take it.

Read more …

Common sense.

Uni Of Pittsburgh Medical Center Won’t Require Staff To Take Vaccine (ZH)

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) won’t require its health care employees to take the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine, which the medical provider expects to begin offering as soon as this month, according to PennLive. The reason are several-fold, according to UPMC medical director of infection prevention and epidemiology, Dr. Graham Snyder. For starters, general uncertainty over the vaccine. And while the $21 billion nonprofit organization (which employs 89,000 people) has a mandatory flu vaccination policy, it’s “based on decades of experience with the influenza vaccine,” according to Snyder. “But there’s no comparable data for a COVID-19 vaccine, or on whether a mandate is the best way to get large numbers of people to become vaccinated, Snyder said on Tuesday.

The first COVID-19 vaccine, from Pfizer, is expected to soon receive emergency approval. A second vaccine, from Moderna, is also expected to soon receive emergency approval. Distribution of at least one vaccine is expected to begin this month. Snyder said UPMC is “very excited about the preliminary information we have about how safe the vaccine is and how it will work.” Still, he said UPMC will conduct its own review of the vaccines before injecting any of its employees.” -PennLive. “Until we learn more and build our own experience with this vaccine, plus, until we see the uptake of vaccine in our communities, and have an understanding about the role that vaccination has in ending this pandemic, it’s not the right thing to make it mandatory,” said Snyder – who added that UPMC’s independent review won’t slow down their plans to distribute the vaxx.

On Tuesday, UPMC outlined their plans for receiving and distributing shots of the vaccine – while planning to launch an information campaign ‘to persuade the public to get vaccinated’ – despite their own hesitance over the jab. Perhaps it has something to do with several UPMC employees having participated in vaccine trials, only to report fever, fatigue or arm pain, with some needing to take a day or two off from work. According to Snyder, this is “a normal and healthy immune response.”

Read more …

See my article Sunday: 95% Vaccine Efficacy? Not So Fast.

‘95% Effective’ May Not Mean What You Think It Means (Neuburger)

To a lay person, a phrase like “95% effective” means one of two things: either that she or he, upon exposure to the virus, is protected 95% of the time, or that 95% of the people who take the vaccine are protected 100% of the time. And this is where the mutual eagerness of the two highly motivated groups — the public; the profiteers — intersect. The public wants to hear “95% effectiveness” and think it knows what those words means. The drug companies want the same thing as the public; it wants the public to think it knows what those words mean. But in the world of drug advertising, the word “effective” does not mean what you think it means. The other way to look at effectiveness is this: Based on the numbers released from phase 3 trials, the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective, but 1% of the time. In the same way, the Moderna vaccine is 94% effective, but 2% of the time.

To sort this out, let’s look at real numbers, thanks to Twitter friend David Windt. For the Moderna product, the phase 3 trial contained 30,000 individuals divided between those given the vaccine and those given a placebo. Let’s assume that individuals in each group were allowed to roam freely “in the wild” — that is, told to live their regular lives among the general population, including going out infrequently, staying masked, and practicing social distance — as opposed being proactively and aggressively exposed to the virus by the researchers, which would be highly immoral, to say the least. In the Moderna vaccinated group, 11 people out of 15,000 got the virus (by Moderna’s definition of what “got the virus means”) for an overall infection rate of 0.07%. (There’s disagreement about whether the drug company’s “got the virus” measurements are well chosen [..] But we’ll ignore that point for now.)

In the Moderna placebo group, 185 people of 15,000 got the virus, for an overall infection rate of 1.23%. Do you see where this is headed? If you divide 0.07% by 1.23%, you get a 5.7% infection rate — or inversely, a 94% protection rate, which is what’s claimed. But that’s a percentage of a percentage, a ratio of a ratio, something called the “relative rate” in the medical profession. What this really means is that, of the 1.23% of people who would have gotten the virus in the vaccinated group, 94% of them didn’t. But Moderna isn’t testing 30,000 people who are infected with the virus, or even 15,000 people. Only 185 people “got the virus” (by their definition) in the placebo group. That population was reduced to 11 people with vaccination. These are very small numbers. As stated above, the Moderna vaccine is 94% effective — but only 1.23% of the time.

[..] For comparison, let’s look at the absolute numbers from the Moderna test. In the unprotected population, 1.23% of the people who could have been exposed to the virus, got it. In the vaccinated population exposed to the same conditions, a little less than 0.07% got the virus. Subtracting the two, the absolute gain in protection was 1.16% — that is, taking the vaccine bought you a little over 1% in absolute protection. The numbers for the Pfizer vaccine are similar. According to Windt, “the infection rate was reduced slightly, from 0.75% to 0.04% – that’s “95% efficacy” [but] these results do NOT mean that 95% of those vaccinated are protected.” In absolute terms, taking the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of getting the virus by just 0.71%.

Read more …

No matter how much people dump on this, it was always going to go this route.

Trump Campaign, 16 Other States Join Texas Motion To Supreme Court (JTN)

The Trump campaign and seventeen states have now joined a motion filed in Texas asking the Supreme Court to delay the conclusion of the election in four key states based on concerns of potentially unconstitutional voting systems and procedures. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton late Monday asked the country’s highest court to invalidate the Nov. 3 election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, arguing officials in those four battleground states violated the Constitution by making changes to how ballots were cast and counted without legislative approval. Paxton’s suit asks the justices to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the states “from taking action to certify presidential electors or to have such electors take any official action including without limitation participating in the Electoral College.”

The Supreme Court as of Wednesday afternoon had yet to publicly say whether it will hear the case. In the meantime, 17 other states have signed on as amici curiae, signaling their support of the suit’s efforts. Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska and others announced that they mutually hold “several important interests in this case.” On Wednesday, the Trump campaign also announced that it was intervening in the suit on the side of Texas. The campaign said in an announcement that President Trump’s “rights as a candidate are affected by the Defendant States’ failure to follow and enforce state election laws during the 2020 election.” “After reviewing the motion filed by Texas in the U.S. Supreme Court, I have determined that I will support the motion in all legally appropriate manners,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Republican, tweeted late Tuesday.

“The integrity of our elections is a critical part of our nation and it must be upheld.” Also late Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Twitter that his state is “in the fight” after Texas announced its election challenge. The court deciding to hear the case would be a huge victory for President Trump’s lawyers and others trying to get the courts to investigate voter fraud, states’ last-minute changes to voting laws and numerous other issues, all in hope of having the certification of the 2020 presidential race delayed and potentially overturned.

Read more …

17 now. That’s a sizeable chunk of America.

Trump To Meet With Ten State Attorneys General Backing Case To Overturn Election (F.)

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with a group of Republican state attorneys general at the White House on Wednesday – most of whom are engaged in or supporting an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election – as he still refuses to concede just days before the electoral college is set to vote. Trump is scheduled to have lunch with the attorneys general in the cabinet room of the White House at 12:45pm EST, according to a public schedule released by the White House Wednesday evening. The list of attendees, provided to Forbes by White House spokesperson Judd Deere, includes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is spearheading the lawsuit, which is aimed at overturning the results in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Also on the list are the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Utah, all of whom signed an amicus brief released Wednesday supporting the Texas case.


Also expected to attend is Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich – who represents a state Biden won and who filed a separate amicus brief “respecting” the Texas lawsuit – and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who did not join either brief. The case – which Trump called “the big one” and said he would be “intervening” in – seeks to invalidate electors in the four key states based on allegations the states expansions of mail-in voting due to Covid-19 resulted in substantial fraud. The fraud claims pushed by the lawsuit have continuously been rejected by courts, with one election law expert deriding the case as, “utter garbage. Dangerous garbage, but garbage.”

Read more …

“The only way to resolve suspicions is with full transparency and public awareness. That will be the goal of the hearing.”

Sen. Ron Johnson Does Not Rule Out Challenging Electoral College Results (JTN)

Sen. Ron Johnson is not ruling out the possibility of challenging the Electoral College results in January when Congress is slated to certify the vote. “I would say it depends on what we found out,” the Wisconsin Republican said to reporters when he was asked about whether he plans on challenging election results, according to The Hill. “The American people need more information. I’m not ready to just close and slam the book on this thing and go ‘OK, let’s walk away from it.'” Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama has indicated that he intends to object to some states’ Electoral College votes. Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced Wednesday that the committee will hold a hearing next week about election irregularities.


“Today I gave notice for a hearing for next Wednesday titled ‘Examining Irregularities in the 2020 election,'” the senator said in a statement. “I am mindful that many of the issues that have been raised have been, and will continue to be, appropriately resolved in the courts. But the fact remains that a large percentage of the American public does not view the 2020 election result as legitimate because of apparent irregularities that have not been fully examined. That is not a sustainable state of affairs for our country. The only way to resolve suspicions is with full transparency and public awareness. That will be the goal of the hearing.”

Ron Johnson

Read more …

I wonder about the timing here. The probe started in 2018, and he says he only learned about it yesterday? He had zero idea for over 2 years?

Hunter Biden Under Federal Investigation For Possible Tax Fraud (NYP)

President-elect Joe Biden’s son revealed Wednesday that he’s under federal investigation for possible tax fraud, with a report saying the Justice Department is examining his overseas business dealings. The probe also reportedly involves a laptop that belonged to Hunter Biden, the existence of which was first reported by The Post, and which contains communciations and documents detailing some of his business dealings in China and Ukraine. Hunter Biden, 50, disclosed the probe in a statement released by his father’s presidential transition office. “I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in the statement.

“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.” A statement attributed to “the Biden-Harris Transition” said, “President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger.” The probe began in 2018, sources told Fox News and CNN. Investigators are looking into whether Hunter and his business associates violated various tax and money laundering laws, CNN said. The probe is focused on Hunter’s business dealings in China and other countries and invovles transactions with people who posed counterintelligence concerns, CNN said.

The investigation was put on hold during the run-up to the November election due to Justice Department guidelines that prohibit activity that could influence a political race, CNN said. But it’s since resumed and is entering a new phase, with the FBI and IRS issuing subpoenas and seeking interviews, CNN said. Fox News reported that the probe includes examining the Hunter Biden laptop exposed by The Post, citing two sources familiar with the investigation. The probe is before a grand jury, and involves so-called “Suspicious Activity Reports” from banks flagging transfers of funds from China and other nations, Fox News also said.

In September, Republican senators released a report on Hunter’s business affairs that said he “and his family were involved in a vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe.” Some of those ties “raise criminal financial, counterintelligence and extortion concerns,” the report said. Wednesday’s surprise disclosure of the federal probe came exactly one year after FBI agents seized a laptop from a Delaware computer shop whose owner claims it was left there by Hunter and never retrieved.

Read more …

Greenwald. “We have our old friends who are at the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence.”

Hunter Biden Criminal Probe Bolsters Claim About Beijing’s Influence In US (GG)

Hunter Biden acknowledged today that he has been notified of an active criminal investigation into his tax affairs by the U.S. Attorney for Delaware. Among the numerous prongs of the inquiry, CNN reports, investigators are examining “whether Hunter Biden and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings in foreign countries, principally China.” Documents relating to Hunter Biden’s exploitation of his father’s name to enrich himself and other relatives through deals with China were among the cache published in the week before the election by The New York Post — revelations censored by Twitter and Facebook and steadfastly ignored by most mainstream news outlets. That concerted repression effort by media outlets and Silicon Valley left it to right-wing outlet such as Fox News and The Daily Caller to report, which in turn meant that millions of Americans were kept in the dark before voting.

But the just-revealed federal criminal investigation in Delaware is focused on exactly the questions which corporate media outlets refused to examine for fear that doing so would help Trump: namely, whether Hunter Biden engaged in illicit behavior in China and what impact that might have on his father’s presidency. The allegations at the heart of this investigation compel an examination of a fascinating and at-times disturbing speech at a major financial event held last week in Shanghai. In that speech, a Chinese scholar of political science and international finance, Di Donghseng, insisted that Beijing will have far more influence in Washington under a Biden administration than it did with the Trump administration.

The reason, Di said, is that China’s ability to get its way in Washington has long depended upon its numerous powerful Wall Street allies. But those allies, he said, had difficulty controlling Trump, but will exert virtually unfettered power over Biden. That China cultivated extensive financial ties to Hunter Biden, Di explained, will be crucial for bolstering Beijing’s influence even further. Di, who in addition to his teaching positions is also Vice Dean of Beijing’s Renmin University’s School of International Relations, delivered his remarks alongside three other Chinese banking and development experts. [..] The centerpiece of Di’s speech was the history he set forth of how Beijing has long successfully managed to protect its interests in the halls of American power: namely, by relying on “friends” in Wall Street and other U.S. ruling class sectors — which worked efficiently until the Trump presidency.

Referring to the Trump-era trade war between the two countries, Di posed this question: “Why did China and the U.S. use to be able to settle all kinds of issues between 1992 [when Clinton became President] and 2016 [when Obama’s left office]?” He then provided this answer: “No matter what kind of crises we encountered — be it the Yinhe incident [when the U.S. interdicted a Chinese ship in the mistaken belief it carried chemical weapons for Iran], the bombing of the embassy [the 1992 bombing by the U.S. of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade], or the crashing of the plane [the 2001 crashing of a U.S. military spy plane into a Chinese fighter jet] — things were all solved in no time, like a couple do with their quarrels starting at the bedhead but ending at the bed end. We fixed everything in two months. What is the reason? I’m going to throw out something maybe a little bit explosive here. It’s just because we have people at the top. We have our old friends who are at the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence.”

Read more …

Swalwell needs to be investigated for real.

House Intel GOP Not Told About Eric Swalwell Relationship With Chinese Spy (NYP)

House Intelligence Committee Republicans were surprised to learn this week that a member of their panel, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, was targeted by a suspected Chinese spy who slept with US politicians as a tactic to elicit information. Swalwell, who represents a California district south of Oakland, received an FBI “defensive briefing” in 2015 on operative Fang Fang, but most if not all Republicans on the elite committee weren’t told that a colleague had been targeted by China. Fang, also known as Christine Fang, returned to China in mid-2015 as US officials heightened their scrutiny of her string of honey-trap seductions. She reportedly fundraised for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign before he joined the Intelligence Committee in 2015.

A congressional Republican source told The Post that Intelligence Committee Republicans had not been informed of the relationship. The committee is supposed to have access to some of the nation’s most sensitive information to fulfill its oversight role of shadowy government programs. If the Chinese operation occurred as described in a bombshell Tuesday article in Axios, it’s unclear why lawmakers aside from Swalwell were kept in the dark, especially since Fang may have targeted Swalwell due to his proximity to sensitive information. The Post asked Swalwell’s 12 Democratic colleagues on the Intelligence Committee, including Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), about when they learned of Swalwell’s association with Fang, but they did not immediately reply.

Swalwell has not said if he had a romantic relationship with Fang, who allegedly seduced two Midwest mayors as part of her operation from 2011 to 2015. He claimed in a Wednesday CNN appearance that he “can’t talk too much about the details of the case” because the information should be kept secret. The issue is likely to dog Swalwell as Republicans demand more information. “Did Schiff and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi know? Why did no one take any steps to keep sensitive intel, at least as it relates to China, far away from a member who is at best potentially compromised?” a Republican close to the White House told The Post.

Read more …

Lots of China stories all of a sudden.

Secret Deal Gave Chinese Spies Free Rein In Switzerland (G.)

The full text of a secret deal between Switzerland and China that allowed Chinese security officials access to the country at Swiss taxpayers’ expense has been revealed for the first time as the government pushes to renew it. The five-year “readmission agreement”, which was signed in 2015 and expired on Monday, lay out terms for Chinese agents to travel to Switzerland and interview suspected Chinese nationals that Swiss authorities wished to deport. Unlike more than 50 similar deals Switzerland has signed with other countries, it was never published by the government and was not even publicly acknowledged until August. The official English translation of the agreement has been obtained by Safeguard Defenders, an Asia-focused human rights campaign group.

It reveals an extraordinary commitment to secrecy within an agreement that had itself been concealed from the public, the group says. The “experts” from the ministry of public security (MPS) had to be invited on the two-week “missions”, but once the invitation had been issued China could choose its agents without Swiss approval. They could enter the country without official status, and Switzerland committed to keeping their identity confidential. The reports they produced for Swiss authorities were also kept secret. Readmission deals are a regular part of international law, but Safeguard Defenders said the 2015 arrangement with Beijing, which was not reciprocal, was of “an entirely different character” from others signed by Switzerland.

The secrecy surrounding both the agreement itself and the work of Chinese agents, the choice of partner – a security super-ministry with extensive remit including police and intelligence services – and even the presence of agents were unusual. “In only a minority of cases [do other readmission] deals allow for the other party to send representatives to accompany the individual to be returned, and in those cases [the representatives] are limited to that specific activity, and it is a public, official duty being carried out,” Safeguard Defenders said. The deal was extremely favourable to the Chinese and went above and beyond normal migration information-sharing arrangements, said Margaret Lewis, a law professor at Seton Hall University in the US.

Read more …

If Crossfire Hurricans is not thoroughly and indepenndently investigated, how will the FBI ever recover?

Clinton Associate 2016 Anti-Trump Dossier Claimed Russian FSB Source (JTN)

Evidence released by the Senate this month reveals that longtime Hillary Clinton associate Cody Shearer received anti-Trump dirt in 2016 from a Russian intelligence source and got it into the hands of the FBI through the ex-British spy Christopher Steele. Shearer’s claim that his information came from a Russian FSB source, experts say, should have alerted senior US officials that the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties Russia was compromised by its sources, Clinton surrogates and alleged Russian spies. The documents also indicate the State Department played a much larger role than previously reported in shaping the media narrative, and eventually the official Obama administration intelligence assessment that Vladimir Putin wanted Trump to win in 2016, lawmakers said.

“Clinton confidantes and campaign surrogates repeatedly sought information from individuals with links to known or suspected Russian intelligence officers and assets,” Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis, told Just the News. “This demonstrates the double standard and bias of the FBI’s investigation of only Trump campaign officials for their contacts with Russian agents. Americans deserve equal justice, and the FBI has a long way to go before its integrity and credibility is restored.” The new documents released jointly by Johnson’s committee and the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Chuck Grassley sheds significant new light on the extensive network of Clinton associates who participated and exerted influence on the 2016-17 effort to falsely portray Trump as the agent of a hostile power.

One of Shearer’s reports, alleging that Trump was compromised by Russian intelligence, made its way to the FBI shortly before the 2016 election through a series of Clinton allies. It included Steele, the British ex-spy who authored a now-debunked dossier tying the Trump campaign and associates to Kremlin officials. Steele submitted the Shearer memo, titled “FSB Interview,” to the FBI as a supplement to his own Trump-Russia reporting funded by the Clinton campaign. In a prefatory note to the Shearer memo, Steele wrote to his FBI handlers that “some of the reporting is remarkably similar” to his own, especially regarding “TRUMP’s compromise by the FSB,” and the “funding of the TRUMP campaign.” Steele dated Shearer’s memo Oct. 19, 2016. Two days later, the FBI obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on Trump adviser Carter Page based on some of the information from Steele’s dossier.

Read more …

For the banks.

ECB To Unveil Yet Another Stimulus Package (R.)

The European Central Bank will unveil fresh stimulus measures on Thursday to prop up the recession-hit currency bloc long enough for a coronavirus vaccine to be deployed and its devastated economy to start to heal. With fresh support measures already promised, only the details of the package remain up in the air. But the bottom line is clear: borrowing costs will be kept close to zero for years so that governments and firms can spend their way out of the biggest recession in living memory. The ECB’s challenge will be to balance a growing range of short-term risks against improving long term prospects, indicating that its move will be big but lack the “shock and awe” impact of previous crisis-fighting measures.

“With the positive news in terms of vaccine development, Europe is now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Oxford Economics said in a note. “However, the short-term outlook remains extremely challenging, with euro zone GDP likely to contract in the fourth quarter.” For now, the 19-country euro zone is facing a triple shock: a lingering second wave of the pandemic, the prospect of a hard Brexit and political stalemate over the European Union’s 750 billion euro ($908 billion) recovery fund. But all three are seen as temporary shocks, with the political strife likely to be resolved and the pandemic easing by the spring, leaving the ECB with the task of getting the bloc through a difficult winter.

The economy also recovered surprisingly quickly after the first wave of coronavirus lockdowns, suggesting more resilience than is built into economic models. Fresh projections could thus point to lower growth in 2021 but better prospects in 2022, leaving the overall growth path little changed.

Read more …

This is supposed to happen under Biden?

Federal Trade Commission Calls For Breakup Of Facebook (NBC)

The Federal Trade Commission sued to break up Facebook on Wednesday, asking a federal court to force the sell-off of assets such as Instagram and WhatsApp as independent businesses. “Facebook has maintained its monopoly position by buying up companies that present competitive threats and by imposing restrictive policies that unjustifiably hinder actual or potential rivals that Facebook does not or cannot acquire,” the commission said in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit asks the court to order the “divestiture of assets, divestiture or reconstruction of businesses (including, but not limited to, Instagram and/or WhatsApp),” as well as other possible relief the court might want to add.

The announcement is a major step that has been years in the making, with Facebook and several other major U.S. technology companies having grown quickly in the past 10 years with little government oversight. But the lack of scrutiny has changed recently, with a series of lawsuits that now threaten to rein in the dominance of big American tech firms that have grown to be among the world’s most valuable companies. Attorneys general from 48 states and territories said they were filing their own lawsuit against Facebook, reflecting the broad and bipartisan concern about how much power Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have accumulated on the internet. Facebook’s share price fell by as much as 4 percent after the news, before paring its losses.

“Breakup Facebook” has become a rally cry for the company’s critics — from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to one of Facebook’s wealthy founders, Chris Hughes, who last year wrote a 6,000-word case for a break-up. But the idea has never been truly attempted in court. Facebook said it was reviewing the two lawsuits, and pointed out that the FTC approved the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions at the time. “Years after the FTC cleared our acquisitions, the government now wants a do-over with no regard for the impact that precedent would have on the broader business community or the people who choose our products every day,” Facebook said in a statement, adding that it would have more to say soon.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle December 10 2020

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  • #66648

    August Strindberg Alpine Landscape I 1894   • No Drinking Alcohol For Two Months After COVID19 Vaccine – Russia (NYP) • Uni Of Pittsburgh Medical
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle December 10 2020]

    #66649
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “17 now. That’s a sizeable chunk of America.”

    They are reminding them that the “United States” is a Union of “United” “States.” The clue was in the name.

    Which will matter only depending on who runs the military. That’s Insider Faction B, the Nationalists.

    “Sen. Ron Johnson Does Not Rule Out Challenging Electoral College Results (JTN)”

    Not only that, but regardless of approach, they MUST challenge the results and arrest many, many people, very publicly. If not, there is no democracy, and instantly, the only remedy is immediate civil war. …I mean you can’t vote them out anymore now can you? And they are already FAR past universal martial law and illegal, partisan arrest fro no reason. And the side that has the guns knows all about this, and they are the world’s largest military force and have won 100% of the war games of Army v. People so far.

    All those states have been systematically murdered, they know it, they, the coast, the media, the DNC daily write their intentions to murder, destroy, and “re-educate” every Deplorable, and they know there are no remaining options but open violence. Meanwhile, half the Blue, Globalist areas of Insider Faction A are just as dissatisfied and likely to riot and rebel from within major cities: so the island states from D.C. to Boston would be perpetually surrounded and fighting on two fronts. And lose. But the POINT is to create an open civil war. When that happens, for the most part, the Globalists and China win, as planned since at least 1968. It’s no victory to eventually return to our values after leveling every major city and 70M citizens.

    These are very grave matters.

    I mean, what are we going to do? Put Hunter Biden and Swalwell into top military, intel, and negotiating positions? That’s the alternative right now, well-described by Biden’s cabinet-of-Raytheon.

    An important thing to remember is it’s not “China”. All insiders, globalists, want the oppressive, murdering, organ-harvesting, slave-running, social-credit-killing Chinese model of 1984 installed worldwide. It’s not like they hide it. They publish it, social-credit scores, universal surveillance, end of all human rights hundreds of times every day. But there aren’t really nation states in China, or here for that matter. The Insider Factions, A, B, C, D, have aligning interests. And this is the last and only chance to prevent that before complete annihilation and a 20-year war that kills millions.

    So yes, perhaps having a little transparency and faith in the election would be good for everyone involved.
    That’s how you know it’s rigged: the only enemy is #Truth.

    “ECB To Unveil Yet Another Stimulus Package Insider Bailout for Billionaires to cover over their Continent-wide oppression and mass murder.” Fixed it.

    #66650
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Perhaps it has something to do with several UPMC employees having participated in vaccine trials, only to report fever, fatigue or arm pain, with some needing to take a day or two off from work. According to Snyder, this is “a normal and healthy immune response.”
    According to Jon Barron, if you don’t experience some such symptoms, your body has not generated an immune response to the vaccine.

    The COVID Vaccines and What They Mean

    #66651
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) won’t require its health care employees to take the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine, which the medical provider expects to begin offering as soon as this month,

    This may be a story about keeping your workers happy. Here’s a real life example from my family circle: the hospital employer tried to make the flu vaccine (referred to in the article above as ever so safe) mandatory for workers during periods in which the institution was in outbreak mode. This creates a perverse incentive – who wants to take a shift during outbreak mode? So there was a generalized rejection of the flu vaccine among workers. Sooooo, the hospital decided that the flu vaccine was no longer mandatory.

    #66652
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    PS:In the link above to Jon Barron’s article, Jon argues that the covid vaccine is less likely than the regular flu shot to generate adverse reactions because the covid vaccines have much simpler protein profiles.

    #66653
    Mr. House
    Participant

    If it aint mandatory i aint getting it. Even if it is mandatory, i aint getting it

    #66654
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    sumac.carol: “In the link above to Jon Barron’s article, Jon argues that the covid vaccine is less likely than the regular flu shot to generate adverse reactions because the covid vaccines have much simpler protein profiles.”

    I read Jon Barron’s article when the link was posted earlier (thanks carol), and that claim –less adverse reactions because of simpler protein profiles– stuck out because it’s not supported by the Pfizer trials, in which the simpler protein gave worse side effects.

    Pfizer initially tested two vaccines, BNT162b1 and BNT162b2, abbreviated as b1 and b2.

    “Both use messenger RNA to instruct cells to make viral proteins in an attempt to stimulate an immune response; the difference is that cells receiving b1 make part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus’ “spike” protein, while b2 stimulates production of the entire protein.”

    b2 (with the entire protein) had less side effects than b1 (with only part of the protein), and b2 was chosen because of this.

    In the case of b1, three-quarters of patients aged 18 to 55 and one-third of patients aged 65 to 85 experienced fever after the second of two shots of either 10 or 30 micrograms. For b2 at 30 micrograms, 17% of patients 18 to 55 and 8% of those 65 to 85 reported fever after the second dose.

    By comparison, Phase 1 results showed Moderna’s vaccine mRNA-1273, which also uses mRNA, led to fever in 40% of patients injected with the 100-microgram dose selected for Phase 3 trials.

    https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/pfizer-biontech-coronavirus-vaccine-choice-safety/583878/

    #66655
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Thanks for this Doc Robinson. I will send it to Jon.

    #66656
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Some quotations from the Jon Barron article linked above:

    “In any case, at the moment, until the vaccine is used at much higher levels and we get to see if there are any long-term complications, the safety of these vaccines is an open-ended question

    “And remember, even those who have been vaccinated will silently lose their protection, at any point in time, and with no easy way to know when that had happened.”

    “That means that annual mass vaccination for COVID will be a likely reality for at least several years to come.”

    #66657
    John Day
    Participant

    Someday We’ll Be Together, Diana Ross and THE SUPREMES

    #66658
    John Day
    Participant

    @Dr.D: Right On, Brother!

    #66659
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Doc Robinson, you misread Jon’s article re proteins and protein fragments. Whether it is a fragment or whole protein, Jon’s point is that it’s only one protein as opposed to the whole or fragment of multiple proteins. Here is a quote:

    “One advantage to this approach is that since we’re talking about building the vaccine around only one virus protein or protein fragment as found in the spike, rather than the entire virus, there’s no way the vaccine can accidentally infect someone or make them sick with COVID-19. A second advantage, theoretically, is that the more proteins you’re dealing with, the more likely you are to have a negative side effect. With only one protein, the odds of a negative response, then, are less—and likely to be less intense if one occurs. In any case, whether it’s one protein or many, as long as the right protein or protein fragment is included, your body will build an antibody defense for it. Thus, if someone who was immunized gets exposed to the coronavirus later on, their body’s adaptive immune system should be able to fight it off more easily and be, therefore, more likely to avoid serious illness.”.

    #66660
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    I remember hearing months ago that Putin would be first to take the vaccine. Then some American rag says otherwise. If Putin doesn’t want to take the vaccine, he’ll lie about it. Who do they think he is? Trump who can’t distinguish truth from deceit? Or Biden, who can’t remember the difference? Right now, he is Russia’s CEO and shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.

    And yes, anything that dehydrates or otherwise weakens the body is bad even without pandemia. Alcohol is toxic, period.

    ^&*

    Why did Strindberg choose to paint a mountain clearcut?

    #66662
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    @ sumac.carol

    Thanks for the additional context. Without going back to re-read the article, my comment was in response to your summary about simpler protein profiles: “Jon argues that the covid vaccine is less likely than the regular flu shot to generate adverse reactions because the covid vaccines have much simpler protein profiles.”

    In any case, the Pfizer trials don’t seem to support the claim that “the covid vaccine is less likely than the regular flu shot to generate adverse reactions.”

    #66664
    John Day
    Participant

    It’s up to 19 states suing now.
    Welcome Arizona!

    #66666
    John Day
    Participant

    The link to that story will not post. I tried 3 times.

    #66667
    John Day
    Participant

    Now we learn that not only does the FBI have more than 20,000 pages relevant to the search term, “Seth Rich,” the FBI still has Seth Rich’s laptop computer.

    The FBI collects and retains evidence of federal crimes. It also has responsibility for counterintelligence matters. I can understand the FBI collecting Seth Rich’s computer as possible evidence after he was murdered. It would have been entirely appropriate to investigate whether or not Rich was in contact with Wikileaks. The FBI only retains evidence on an active, open case.

    But the FBI has insisted for more than four years that it was never involved actively in the investigation of Seth Rich’s murder and that it never opened a case. That lie is now exposed.

    HUGE: After 4 Years of Stonewalling Corrupt FBI Finally Admits They’re Holding Seth Rich’s Laptop

    #66668
    John Day
    Participant

    SPUTNIK has this story first::
    The US Supreme Court has ordered the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to respond by Thursday to a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who seeks to ban the four states from participating in the Electoral College after they certified Joe Biden’s victory, according to a court document.
    https://sputniknews.com/us/202012091081405589-us-supreme-court-orders-4-states-to-reply-to-texas-election-lawsuit-by-10-december/

    #66669
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “What the Covid-19 panic has revealed, and continues to reveal, is the managerial elite has no respect for things like the rule of law, individual liberty or any of the other foundation items of consensual government. To protect democracy, they will rig the election process. To keep us free they will strip us of our rights. In the name of inclusion and diversity they will exclude anyone who disagrees. What we are seeing is that the real plague on our society is the ruling class.”

    #66670
    John Day
    Participant

    https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/12/seventees-states-sue.html

    ​SPUTNIK again: (Uh, I read it is the legislature, not the Governor who decides on the electors…)
    ​ The US president called on the governor to convene a special session of the state legislature after Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to conduct a signature audit of the ballots.
    Georgia’s governor, Republican Brian Kemp, has warned state lawmakers that they will not be gathering for a special session to pick the electors who will vote in the upcoming Electoral College for the next US president. Kemp said that such a scenario, which could be undertaken if the ballot-counting results can’t be certified or if the accuracy of the counting is questioned, was “not an option” for Georgia.
    https://sputniknews.com/us-elections-2020-news/202012091081410218-georgias-republican-governor-tells-lawmakers-they-wont-be-picking-electors-for-trump/

    Sen. Ron Johnson is not ruling out the possibility of challenging the Electoral College results in January when Congress is slated to certify the vote.
    “I would say it depends on what we found out,” the Wisconsin Republican said to reporters when he was asked about whether he plans on challenging election results, according to The Hill. “The American people need more information. I’m not ready to just close and slam the book on this thing and go ‘OK, let’s walk away from it.'”​ …​
    ​ ​“Today I gave notice for a hearing for next Wednesday titled ‘Examining Irregularities in the 2020 election,’” the senator said in a statement. “I am mindful that many of the issues that have been raised have been, and will continue to be, appropriately resolved in the courts. But the fact remains that a large percentage of the American public does not view the 2020 election result as legitimate because of apparent irregularities that have not been fully examined. That is not a sustainable state of affairs for our country. The only way to resolve suspicions is with full transparency and public awareness. That will be the goal of the hearing.”
    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/sen-ron-johnson-does-not-rule-out-possibility-challenging-electoral

    Sidney Powell: CIA, mainstream media, globalists all part of a grand conspiracy to rig elections and defraud We the People
    ​ ​It’s saddening to know that American elections have been just as rigged as elections in third world countries have been. I’m sure the CIA has been involved in any number of those activities. If not here and other places around the world, it may have been the CIA that created this software and programs to begin with, and then exported them for their own use, only to have it come back to us. It could be that very important, powerful, extremely wealthy people were involved in rigging this election. It’s globalist interests.
    https://dcdirtylaundry.com/sidney-powell-cia-mainstream-media-globalists-all-part-of-a-grand-conspiracy-to-rig-elections-and-defraud-we-the-people/

    Attorney Sidney Powell drops more bombshells, says election software that rigged 2020 elections has been used for years to steal House, Senate, governor races

    Attorney Sidney Powell drops more bombshells, says election software that rigged 2020 elections has been used for years to steal House, Senate, governor races

    #66671
    zerosum
    Participant

    What good is money and power if it cannot be used for your own benefit?

    #66672
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “”The Market Is Being Shut Down”: European Bond Market Disappears As ECB Takes Over”

    End of markets, capitalism, freedom, and choice. Say hello to Soviet Central Planning.

    When this kills everyone, they’ll demand more government and power to unelected eugenics billionaires to fix it. Join the black market and beat the rush. Soon the only food or money you can get will be from a Serbian named Vasilije.

    ““I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in the up-building of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the up-building, fast money in the crack-up. Remember my words. Perhaps they may be of use to you some day.” –Rhett Butler

    And it’s way easier to destroy a country and make money than to build one.

    #66673

    Jeffrey Romoff, CEO of UPMC: “his vision for the future of American healthcare was “the conversion of health care from social good to a commodity.””
    From Whitney Webb’s “engineering contagion series. (The darkest winter)

    Now he’s gonna let his workers skirt the vaccine? Maybe he’s not so “evil” after all. /s

    Has there been a poll which has asked Americans who they voted for on Nov 3rd (or 4th, or 5th, or…)? It might have interesting results.

    #66674

    Dr. D- Interesting you should mention GWTW. One economic truth I learned from that book was to have a little gold so you can pay your taxes when the currency is worthless.

    #66675
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Lots of activity today on the Supreme Court docket for Texas v. Pennsylvania et al., including Washington DC filing on behalf of itself and 22 states and territories in support of the defendents. Lots of people getting involved (on both sides).

    Dec 10 2020 Motion of State of Ohio for leave to file amicus brief not accepted for filing. (December 10, 2020) (corrected motion electronically filed)
    Dec 10 2020 Response to motion for leave to file bill of complaint and motion for preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order or stay
    from defendant Wisconsin filed.
    Dec 10 2020 Opposition to Texas’s motion for leave to file bill of complaint and its motion for preliminary relief from defendant Georgia filed.
    Dec 10 2020 Opposition to motions for leave to file bill of complaint and for injunctive relief from defendant Michigan filed.
    Dec 10 2020 Opposition to motion for leave to file bill of complaint and motion for preliminary injunction, temporary restraining order, or stay from defendant Pennsylvania filed.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion for leave to file amicus brief from the District of Columbia on behalf of 22 States and Territories filed.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion to Intervene and Proposed Bill of Complaint in Intervention of State of Missouri submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion of State of Ohio for leave to file amicus brief submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion for Leave to File Brief as Amicus Curiae and Brief for Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. as Amicus Curiae in Support of Plaintiff/Defendants of Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion of Certain Select Pennsylvania State Senators for leave to file amicus brief submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion of Christian Family Coalition for leave to file amicus brief submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Amicus brief of Bryan Cutler Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Kerry Benninghoff Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 For Leave to File Complaint-in-Intervention of Ron Heuer, et al. submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion of U.S. Representative Mike Johnson and 105 Other Members for leave to file amicus brief submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion of Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin, Senator Lora Reinbold, Representative David Eastment, et al. (Elected State Officials) for leave to file amicus brief submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Amicus brief of City of Detroit submitted.
    Dec 10 2020 Motion for Leave to File and Amicus Curiae Brief of Justice and Freedom Fund in Support of Plaintiff of Justice and Freedom Fund in Support of Plaintiff submitted.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/22o155.html

    #66676
    WES
    Participant

    My take on the MSM like CNN suddenly talking about the corruption of Biden and his son, Hunter, is the Democrat Party beginning it’s efforts to push Biden out the airplane door with a backpack strapped on, instead of a parachute.

    “Heels Up” Harris is their choice.

    Biden was always just a placeholder. The backpack is stuffed with money.

    #66677
    WES
    Participant

    For the clueless, the giveaway “clue” that Senator Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, is 100% uniptary, rests in his use of the word “transparency”.

    He intends no such thing. What he says is not what he will do.

    He is no friend of the people living in Wisconsin, or of people living anywhere else.

    #66678
    WES
    Participant

    my parents said know:

    Correction! The lesson is you keep the gold and pay your taxes in worthless paper currency!

    #66679
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    FDA Panel Recommends COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use

    In a 17-4 vote, with one abstention, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended Thursday that the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech be authorized for emergency use during the pandemic.

    The vote in favor of the vaccine was taken to answer the agency’s question: Do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks for use in people age 16 and older..

    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/10/944813076/fda-advisers-weigh-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine

    17 out of 22 “expert advisors” voted that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks. Why would the other experts on the panel not join in recommending the vaccine? Perhaps it has something to do with the Unknown Benefits, Known Risks, Unknown Risks, and Data Gaps associated with the vaccine (conveniently summarized in this committee meeting briefing document sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech).

    8.2. Unknown Benefits/Data Gaps
    Duration of protection
    Effectiveness in certain populations at high-risk of severe COVID-19
    Effectiveness in individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2
    Effectiveness in pediatric populations
    Future vaccine effectiveness as influenced by characteristics of the pandemic, changes in the virus, and/or potential effects of co-infections
    Vaccine effectiveness against asymptomatic infection
    Vaccine effectiveness against long-term effects of COVID-19 disease
    Vaccine effectiveness against mortality
    Vaccine effectiveness against transmission of SARS-CoV-2

    8.3. Known Risks
    …The most common solicited adverse reactions were injection site reactions (84.1%), fatigue (62.9%), headache (55.1%), muscle pain (38.3%), chills (31.9%), joint pain (23.6%), fever (14.2%).
    …Severe adverse reactions occurred in 0.0-4.6% of participants, were more frequent after Dose 2…

    8.4. Unknown Risks/Data Gaps
    Safety in certain subpopulations
    Adverse reactions that are very uncommon or that require longer follow-up to be detected
    Vaccine-enhanced disease
    …risk of vaccine-enhanced disease over time, potentially associated with waning immunity, remains unknown and needs to be evaluated further in ongoing clinical trials…

    https://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download

    #66680
    WES
    Participant

    Sumac.Carol:

    I prefer your version of the Univ of Pitts story over the official MSM version!

    #66681
    WES
    Participant

    Doc Robinson:

    When the known risks for taking the vaccine are not good, then the odds that the unknown risks being safe are poor. The risk/reward ratio is just too unattractive.

    It seems to me like more people are 100% guaranteed to become ill after taking the vaccine than people taking their chances of not catching the virus.

    I have also noted that no one on TAE has offered to be the first one to cross my bridge designed to be 95% effective either! I am definately not volunteering! The risk/reward ratio is 100%/0.

    #66682
    WES
    Participant

    John Day:

    With the Republican half of the uniparty now actively circling the wagons to protect the fraudulent election results (see Ron Johnson), I now expect SCOTUS to punt the fraudulent election back into the hands of their masters. They will not rule on the election results. Their side stepping decision will prove to be most unsatisfactory.

    Even Sparkle Socks supports Harris.

    #66683

    I had asian food tonight- and the first cookie I open has been “for the president” for the last 25 years.
    Tonight’s was interesting: “Fear drives you and makes you better.”

    Chinese predictive programming?

    WES- You made me laugh out loud.

    On topic: The last time a deerfly bit me I swelled up like a balloon. I guess I’m out on the vaccine. Darn barn.

    #66684
    WES
    Participant

    My parents said know:

    Glad you got a laugh!

    However I wanted to make sure you understood that they want your gold not their worthless currency!

    #66685
    WES
    Participant

    I find it very interesting how the MSM constantly lie about what has actually happening in Sweden concerning the virus.

    It is along the same lines of “Orange Man Bad”. Everything Sweden has done is bad.

    Well let’s compare the results between Sweden and the US state of Michigan.

    Sweden has about 10,127,000 people. Michigan has 9,987,000 people.

    Sweden 7,067 virus deaths. Michigan 10,321 virus deaths.

    Sweden no lockdown. Michigan total lockdown.

    Sweden no loss of freedom. Michigan near total lost of freedom.

    It is all about the power to control the people.

    The story you are not hearing!

    #66686
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    WES — If 17 out of 22 experts think your bridge is safe-ish, then I want to know why the other experts don’t agree with them.

    #66687
    WES
    Participant

    I would like to say a few things about gov money printing and it’s effects on everyday people.

    When governments print money and reduce borrowing costs to below zero for the elite, 99% of the people loose.

    You say how is this possible?

    Well, I will try and give you an example of this so you can understand.

    Amazon. Yes, Amazon!

    How is it that Amazon has been able to slaughter small businesses all across the country?

    You see Amazon has access to borrow all the money it wants at below zero interest rates. Small businesses do not have any such access. Neither do you.

    How is Amazon able to borrow at less than zero interest rates, you say?

    Simple they borrow at near zero interest rates with actual inflation at 10%. That is how!

    Say Amazon borrows at 0.25% interest rates. With 10% inflation, their actual borrowing costs are minus 9.75%!

    So in effect, the government is paying Amazon 9.75% per year to borrow money.

    Now if you were paid 9.75% to borrow money, just think what you could do to other people and businesses!

    Amazon has choosen to hurt everybody they can.

    That is it any wonder why you feel the way you do.

    #66688
    WES
    Participant

    Doc Robinson:

    A bridge designed to only take 95% of it’s minimum expected load is guaranteed to fail 100% of the time! But you already knew that! Everybody else at TAE seems to know this too!

    This being a government political body, I would suggest the 17 of 22 were bought and paid for. The other 4 didn’t get enough money.

    I base this observation on the fact that medical experts are declining to take the vaccine themselves, until it has been properly tested. I will wait for the testing with them too!

    That the MSM are pushing the vaccine relentlessly while siliencing all questioning voices, is also telling!

    Just look at the MSM’s 100% negative Swedish stories.

    Someone is pushing an agenda.

    This agenda doesn’t have my best interests at heart.

    Sorry but I am a logical person. When you try to provoke my emotions, my alarm bells go off!

    When you point an AK-47 at me I do not get emotional! I stay very calm.

    How do I know this?

    I have had AK-47s pointed at me, including directly to my head.

    I have survived several near death experiences.

    No, I have never been in the military.

    #66689
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Let’s make it a threesome:

    Well let’s compare the results between Seoul, Sweden and the US state of Michigan.

    Seoul has about 10 million people. Sweden has about 10,127,000 people. Michigan has 9,987,000 people.

    Seoul has fewer than 200 deaths. Sweden 7,067 virus deaths. Michigan 10,321 virus deaths.

    Seoul has no lockdown but everyone wears a mask, there is hand sanitizer everywhere, and more people have changed their lifestyle to avoid large gatherings. Sweden no lockdown. Michigan total lockdown.

    Seoul has some loss of freedom but there is widespread support for the measures. Sweden no loss of freedom. Michigan near total lost of freedom.

    So which of the three would you choose?

    #66690
    WES
    Participant

    Boogaloo:

    Why not make it a foursome?

    Add Ontario to the mix!

    I think Ontario falls somewhere near Michigan! Well at least on the map it does!

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