Feb 162021
 
 February 16, 2021  Posted by at 10:25 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Vincent van Gogh Snowy landscape with Arles in the background 1888

 

How to Make COVID Vaccines More Effective: Vitamin and Mineral Supplements (NC)
Aiming For Zero Covid-19: Europe Needs To Take Action (Rep.)
Millions of Texans Left Shivering In Arctic Cold Without Power (NBC)
“Unity” (Jim Kunstler)
Cuomo Blames ‘Politics,’ Fails To Address Nursing Home Cover-Up (NYP)
Democrats Slam ‘Lying’ Cuomo Over COVID-19 Nursing Home ‘Cover-Up’ (NYP)
Bipartisan Support For 9/11-Style Commission To Investigate Capitol Riot (PFW)
How Trump’s Trial Became A Tale Of Constitutional Noir (Turley)
What Comes Next in HNA Group’s Bankruptcy in China (Barron’s)
Fauci Awarded $1m Israeli Prize For ‘Speaking Truth To Power’ (Ind.)
WHO Adviser: Wuhan Lab Probe Was Conducted By ‘Chinese Authorities’ (SAC)
Cancel Culture, Where Liberalism Goes to Die (Chris Hedges)

 

 

CNN is trying to compete with The Onion.

 

 

The obvious.

How to Make COVID Vaccines More Effective: Vitamin and Mineral Supplements (NC)

If we’re going to rely on COVID-19 vaccines to bring an end to the pandemic, we need to maximise their effects. But one thing that risks undermining their protectiveness is nutritional deficiency, particularly in the elderly. Older people have weaker immune responses and are known to respond less well than younger adults to many vaccines, including the seasonal influenza vaccine. This is partly down to frailty, which cannot be easily remedied, but can also be due to deficiencies in vitamins and minerals – known as micronutrients. For the immune system to fight off infection or generate good protection against a disease following vaccination, it needs a variety of micronutrients. This is likely to be just as true for COVID-19 as for other diseases. Given that malnutrition is common among elderly people, raising their vitamin and mineral levels before they get vaccinated could be a way of boosting the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

As the European Food Safety Authority notes, the vitamins A, B6, B9, B12, C and D and the minerals zinc, selenium, iron and copper are all needed for the immune system to function as it should. Each of these micronutrients – as well as vitamin E – has been shown to play multiple roles in supporting immune function and reducing the risk of infection. Research has found a link between having an impaired immune system and having low amounts of many vitamins and minerals. When the immune system isn’t properly fuelled and is impaired, this can then lead to poor vaccine responses. For example, a review of nine studies – together involving 2,367 people – found that individuals deficient in vitamin D were less well protected against two strains of flu after having been vaccinated compared to those who had adequate vitamin D levels.

By contrast, randomised controlled trials of micronutrient supplements (such as vitamin B6, vitamin E, zinc and selenium) in older people have been shown to increase the ability of the immune system to respond to challenges. Furthermore, it appears that to work at its best the immune system needs vitamins C, D and E together with zinc and selenium in excess of amounts that can usually be achieved through diet alone. For example, selenium levels above those typically regarded as optimal have been associated with a better cure rate for COVID-19. Trials in older people have also shown that responses to vaccination are better after actions are taken to improve nutrition.

Read more …

Letter published in several European newspapers.

For me, personally, three pillars: “Vaccination, green zones, and test, trace and isolate strategies”, is not enough. Not without boosting people’s health.

Aiming For Zero Covid-19: Europe Needs To Take Action (Rep.)

Vaccination is a critical element for our way out of the pandemic. But the hope to reach herd immunity in Europe by the end of the summer is fading, as the roll-out of vaccines proves to be a major challenge. In addition, the emergence of new variants from Brazil, the UK, and South Africa is a warning signal that we may be confronted with lower protection from vaccines. Furthermore, history demonstrates that vaccination cannot single-handedly control a virus: it needs concerted efforts and a combination of public health measures. A global exit from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 seems unlikely if not impossible. To avoid lockdown cycles as experienced over the past and present year, we need to curb the spread of the virus as soon as possible, and choose the path of sustainable recovery.

The European strategy needs to markedly shift its focus from long-term and nationwide lockdowns due to high numbers of non-traceable community transmission and high death tolls, to having the virus under control. We thus call on politicians and the public to jointly commit to a European elimination strategy that builds on three pillars: Vaccination, green zones, and test, trace and isolate strategies. Importantly, this needs to be accompanied by clear, coherent and transparent communication. We are part of a group of international scientists ranging from epidemiologists, virologists, and mathematicians, to political scientists, and economists who support the strategy, some of whom have recently signed a call in The Lancet. In addition, No Covid – an approach suggested by a group of German scientists – is actively developing tools to render elimination successful.

While controlling the virus across Europe seems to be a daunting task, it can be achieved by defining common public health measures and standards that aim at achieving and then protecting green zones. The smaller the zones and the less mobility between them, the faster the exit can be reached and worst-in-class measures avoided. However, as the zoning needs to be politically and socially acceptable, and locally enforceable, each country should make its own pragmatic choice. For example, Italy could opt for regions, Germany could opt for Landkreise or Länder, and a small country like Lithuania could opt to be considered as one zone. Even more granularly, single cities could be considered a zone if feasible.

A zone is labelled green once the origin of every transmission is known, such that test, trace and isolate strategies can prevent further uncontrolled spreading of the remaining few infections. Green zones can progressively return to normal life: schools, restaurants, tourism and other businesses can fully reopen, and travellers freely move within and between green zones. Once a green zone is established, the priority then shifts from contact-inhibiting measures to avoid the reintroduction of the virus via travel regulations and testing, and the preparedness to implement fast, decisive and targeted containment measures should infections flare up locally again.

Read more …

“Midnight electricity price went up by more than 20000% in the past 4 days in Texas.”

Millions of Texans Left Shivering In Arctic Cold Without Power (NBC)

As a record winter storm slammed across the country Monday, millions of people in Texas found themselves shivering in the dark. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the power grid for 26 million customers, called for rolling outages to conserve power as arctic weather froze wind turbines, pushed several power plants offline and drove up demand from home heating systems. Outages affecting more than 2 million people were initially expected to be brief, lasting 15 to 20 minutes, but many Texans reported losing power for hours.


“The blackout just kept on going, and as the night progressed, the temperatures just started getting lower,” said Esteban Ramirez, 19, a college student from Del Rio, west of San Antonio, on the Mexican border. He huddled with his mother and his grandparents on a sofa to stay warm after they lost power at 2:30 a.m. At one point, he said, the temperature outside was 6 degrees. “It was scary,” he said. Power was out except for a couple of brief spurts for most of the day. His pipes froze, cutting off running water to the house, and the dim light made it difficult for his grandfather to get his medication, he said. “It was my first time experiencing something like this,” he said. “I was afraid of not making it through the night.”

Read more …

“Address me as Mr. President or President Biden,” Biden said. “I will not, and you can go fuck yourself,” DeSantis said before hanging up.

“Unity” (Jim Kunstler)

This played out dramatically last week in a telephone parley between Mr. Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the governor’s refusal to lockdown his state. The world-famous Dr. Fauci was also on the call, in which Mr. Biden threatened to curtail American citizens travel to Florida by road and air — since an offshoot of Covid-19 policy has been to drive a huge demographic exodus from economically failing states of New York, Illinois, and California down there. He also threatened to withhold federal funding to Florida and deny the state access to Covid-19 vaccines. Dr. Fauci chimed in, “Governor, do you want to be responsible for reinfecting the nation? Truth is, we don’t even know how effective current vaccines are against the UK strain.”

DeSantis told Dr. Fauci he trusted his own state health authorities over financially incentivized federal officials. The conclusion of the conference call went like this: “How much do you stand to earn from these vaccines, Dr. Fauci? And, Joe, if you continue with this course of action, I will authorize the state National Guard to protect the movement of Floridians,” DeSantis said. “Address me as Mr. President or President Biden,” Biden said. “I will not, and you can go fuck yourself,” DeSantis said before hanging up. Hmmm. Now, that got right to the point, didn’t it? And consider this was not just Citizen Joe Blow mouthing off to alleged President Joe B, but the governor of a populous state. And what if it suggests a trend?

Another obvious and disconcerting irony in that affair was, of course, that Mr. Biden seeks to restrict the movement of people across Florida’s borders for fear of spreading new strains of Covid-19, while he insolently authorizes thousands of illegal aliens to cross our border with Mexico daily, with no testing for the virus. Could Mr. Biden’s intentions look any worse?

Read more …

Let him go.

Cuomo Blames ‘Politics,’ Fails To Address Nursing Home Cover-Up (NYP)

An unapologetic Gov. Cuomo doubled down on a litany of past excuses Monday as he blamed “politics” for the spiraling scandal that’s engulfed his administration since The Post revealed his top aide admitted they hid from elected officials and the public the true number of nursing-home residents killed by COVID-19. During a virtual news conference at which he declined to take a question from The Post, Cuomo claimed that “there’s nothing to investigate” regarding the cover-up to which Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa confessed during a video conference call with Democratic lawmakers last week. Cuomo never directly addressed DeRosa’s recorded remarks in which she admitted “we froze” over whether to come clean to the Legislature — or the public — about nursing home deaths in the face of a Justice Department inquiry.

“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa said in the Wednesday evening conference call. Cuomo once again claimed that the state had always reported the number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19 — even though it only began releasing figures on those who died in hospitals after a damning report last month by state Attorney General Letitia James, a fellow Democrat. As of Saturday, official figures show, 13,407 nursing home residents died of COVID-19, including 4,181 — more than 31 percent — in hospitals. “This past year, there is a toxic political environment and everything is political,” Cuomo said during the news conference in Albany.

[..] Left unsaid was that Cuomo had enough spare time to publish a self-serving memoir, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which made the Times “Best Sellers” list with the help of the self-proclaimed “Cuomosexuals” who turned his daily briefings into must-see TV, also garnering him a special Emmy Award. But Cuomo pushed back against a bipartisan move to strip him of his COVID-19 emergency powers in the wake of DeRosa’s remarks. And Cuomo insisted state pols should have known about the DOJ probe, despite his not telling them, because The Post broke a story about it in October. “Emergency powers have nothing to do with nursing homes,” Cuomo said. Cuomo said legislators “can reverse any action I take.” “They have never reversed a single action,” Cuomo said. “These are public health decisions, not local political decisions.”

Read more …

“She implicated all of us in the cover-up.”

Democrats Slam ‘Lying’ Cuomo Over COVID-19 Nursing Home ‘Cover-Up’ (NYP)

Fellow Democratic legislators in New York weren’t buying Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s explanation Monday as to why he refused for months to release a true accounting of nursing home residents who died from the coronavirus. Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), whose uncle died from COVID-19, bluntly said, “all of it is BS” and a cover-up. “They could have given us the information back in May and June of last year. They chose not to,” Kim said, when hearing Cuomo was blaming the DOJ probe for delays in releasing the accurate coronavirus death tally of nursing home residents. Cuomo cited an exclusive Aug.26, 2020 story in The Post that broke the news about the Department of Justice inquiry into his administration’s nursing home admission policy and the undercounting of deaths, claiming Albany legislators should have known about the probe based on that report.


Kim said lawmakers could have passed laws to tighten up accountability and liability in nursing homes to save lives if they had the information sooner. Kim also said Cuomo’s comments Monday don’t square with what top aide Melissa DeRosa told him and other legislators during a private meeting last week, when she said former President Donald Trump made the issue a “political football” and claimed that as an excuse for withholding the nursing home data. The Post first reported on her explosive remarks after obtaining an audio recording of the meeting. “And basically, we froze,” DeRosa said. “She talked about the potential that the information would be weaponized against them. DeRosa needs to be accountable for what she said,” Kim insisted. “She implicated all of us in the cover-up.”

Read more …

It’s all still about Trump.

Bipartisan Support For 9/11-Style Commission To Investigate Capitol Riot (PFW)

Bipartisan support for a 9/11-style commission to further investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has grown bipartisan support with lawmakers urging such a body to get to the root cause of the events that day. “I’d like to know, did the Capitol Hill police inform the House sergeant at arms and the Senate sergeant at arms the day before the attack that they needed more troops?” Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Sunday after mentioning he believed there was a preplanned element to the highly publicized actions that took place. “We need to look at did Nancy Pelosi know on January 5 that there was a threat to the Capitol… What did President Trump do after the attack… We need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again, and I want to make sure that the Capitol footprint can be better defended next time,” he continued.

Graham would add that the preplanned element had no connection to former president Donald Trump’s speech during a rally earlier that day. Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who unlike Graham, voted to convict the former president during the impeachment trial, also called for a 9/11-style commission, telling ABC over the weekend that “there should be a complete investigation about what happened.” “I think there should be a complete investigation about what happened on Jan. 6. Why was there not more law enforcement, National Guard already mobilized, what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again in the future,” Cassidy said.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Senator Dennis Coons also vocalized support for such a commission, telling ABC “there’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear.” “A 9/11 commission is a way that we make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath president Trump really was,” Coons said on Sunday.

Read more …

“We do not afford due process to people simply because we have to. It is like decency, civility and other values. They are not observed because they are mandatory but because they are right.”

How Trump’s Trial Became A Tale Of Constitutional Noir (Turley)

In the 1946 movie “Gilda,” Rita Hayworth delivered perhaps the ultimate film noir line. Looking at her former lover, she declared, “I hate you so much that I would destroy myself to take you down with me.” Hayworth made self-destruction sound positively alluring. That line came to mind as I watched House impeachment managers and Democratic senators systematically discard basic values that once defined fair trials — and American values — under the Constitution. When Donald Trump’s defense counsel objected that he was not afforded due process in the House, the managers shrugged and said due process was not required. When the defense objected that Trump’s Jan. 6 speech was protected under the First Amendment, the House scoffed that free speech is not only inapplicable but “frivolous” in an impeachment.

Nothing, it seems, is so sacred that it cannot be discarded in pursuit of Trump. Over and over, it was made clear that his trial is about the verdict, not about our constitutional values. Even with acquittal all but ensured, there was no room for constitutional niceties like free speech or due process. There was only one issue — the same one that has driven our media and politics for four years: Trump. Through that time, some of us have objected that extreme legal interpretations and biased coverage destroy our legal and journalistic values. It was not done out of love for Trump: I voted against him in two elections and have regularly denounced his actions and rhetoric, including his Jan. 6 speech. However, I cherish our values more than I dislike him.

That is why the second Trump impeachment trial played out with a film noir flourish, featuring the same “lost innocence,” “hard-edged cynicism” and “desperate desire” of that movie genre — most obviously when House managers dismissed any due process in an impeachment proceeding. Indisputably, the House could have held at least a couple days of hearings and still impeached Trump before he left office. It knew the Senate would not hold a trial before the end of his term, so it had until Jan. 20 to impeach him. It did so on Jan. 13. A hearing would have given Trump a formal opportunity to respond to the allegation against him; no one has ever been impeached without such an opportunity. It would have allowed witnesses to be called (including many who already were speaking publicly), to create even a minimal record for the trial.

Yet the House refused, and then declined for more than four weeks to call a dozen witnesses with direct evidence to create a record even after its snap impeachment. So the House could have afforded basic due process but chose not to do so simply because it does not have to. When confronted about this in the Senate, one House manager scoffed at the notion that Trump should be afforded more due process. Representative Ted Lieu said, “Trump is receiving any and all process that he is due.” A chilling answer, since Trump received none in the House. There was a time when denying due process would have been shocking. Even if you believe that due process is not required in an impeachment, it is expected. We do not afford due process to people simply because we have to. It is like decency, civility and other values. They are not observed because they are mandatory but because they are right.

Read more …

It’s Xi’s casino now.

What Comes Next in HNA Group’s Bankruptcy in China (Barron’s)

Conglomerate HNA Group encapsulates at least three facets that have defined many overly-acquisitive Chinese firms in recent years. Those include origins in a defined sector with attempts to become a player in dozens of unrelated areas; an appetite for loose credit that backfired when Beijing decided too much was too much; and a meteoric rise and fall from a lack of discipline. Between 2015 and 2017 the then-airline firm’s $40 billion acquisition spree included stakes in the Hilton hotel chain and Deutsche Bank, bringing its total assets to more than $150 billion. It spent $6 billion to acquire California-based electronics firm Ingram Micro.

But debt piled up faster, and creditors and Beijing swooped in, demanding accountability, and forcing a massive asset selloff to pay down its arrears—which as of its last filing, in 2019, were roughly $109 billion. The saga seemed all but over after the Hainan provincial government last year essentially took control of the indebted behemoth, with plans for further asset sales and restructuring. But more bad news came crashing in. The Hainan government investigation concluded some 500 companies connected to HNA may be forced into bankruptcy restructuring, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported. Creditors then filed for HNA itself to be placed into bankruptcy and restructuring.

“HNA Group will comply with the court’s instructions of judicial review in accordance with law, promote the debts disposition actively, support the court to protect the legal rights and interests of creditors in accordance with law, and safeguard our normal business to be operated successfully,” the company said in a statement. HNA’s main creditor and head of the creditor committee is China Development Bank, one of the country’s three cabinet-led policy lenders. The head of the bank from 2013 to 2018, Hu Huaibang, led numerous underwritings for HNA acquisitions during its meteoric rise. Last year, Hu was arrested and charged with “suspected serious violations of discipline”—meaning corruption. How much of that, if any, is related to HNA deals is unclear.

Read more …

Yeah, give him another million.

Fauci Awarded $1m Israeli Prize For ‘Speaking Truth To Power’ (Ind.)

Dr Anthony Fauci was among recipients of the Dan David Prize, recognising his career in public health and “speaking truth to power” during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the awards organisation. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the US National Institutes of Health “is the consummate model of leadership and impact in public health,” the awards committee said in a statement. The prize, associated with Tel Aviv University, awards three $1 million prizes for “achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world.” Ten per cent of the prize money is set aside for academic scholarships in each winner’s field. [..]


The nation’s leading infectious disease expert emerged as a face of the US response to the public health crisis amid a turbulent and insufficient federal effort under Donald Trump’s administration. After the former president sidelined or removed him from the foreground of the federal response in the final months of his administration, Dr Fauci has returned to the White House under President Joe Biden, who enlisted him as a chief medical adviser. Within hours of the president’s inauguration, Dr Fauci addressed the World Health Organisation to assure the agency that the US will honour its partnership and funding commitments, after Mr Trump antagonised the United Nations group and pledged to isolate the US from its global health efforts.

Read more …

This son’t make the WHO happy.

WHO Adviser: Wuhan Lab Probe Was Conducted By ‘Chinese Authorities’ (SAC)

World Health Organization adviser Jamie Metzl revealed that the WHO’s investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducted “by Chinese autorities,” during an interview Wednesday night on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” The WHO announced earlier this week that the investigation had ended because investigators had found it a “very unlikely” source of the COVID-19 virus. It has been alleged that the virus may have leaked from the lab. Such accidents, however, were dismissed by the WHO as “extremely rare.” It is the global organization’s belief that the virus was first transmitted from animal to human. “Well, the investigation itself was very short. It was two weeks of quarantine and two weeks of meetings, but the actual investigation was done by Chinese authorities.

And so, the W.H.O. investigators were basically receiving reports from the Chinese officials,” Metzl told Ingraham. “And as I see it, the big failure is that they outlined four possible ways that COVID could have begun. One was direct bat to human. Second, bat through an animal intermediate host. Third, through shipping or some kind of frozen food from somewhere else. And four, the accidental lab leak. As you know, Laura, for more than a year, I’ve been one of the leading advocates saying we have to look very, very seriously at option four.”

“But rather than saying, alright, let’s look more deeply at all of those possibilities, the W.H.O. investigators said we should look at the first three, but not at the accidental lab leak,” Metzl said. “And I’m just miffed that this has happened and I think it’s really terrible.” The U.S. State Department in January detailed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting dangerous research on coronaviruses and couldn’t be ruled out completely as a possible source of the virus outbreak. In fact, the report mentioned that in the fall of 2019, researchers at the lab became sick and exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms. Further, the State Department said the lab was being operated by the Chinese military.

Read more …

The Rev. Will Campbell was a wise man.

Cancel Culture, Where Liberalism Goes to Die (Chris Hedges)

The Rev. Will Campbell was forced out of his position as director of religious life at the University of Mississippi in 1956 because of his calls for integration. He escorted Black children through a hostile mob in 1957 to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School. He was the only white person that was invited to be part of the group that founded Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He helped integrate Nashville’s lunch counters and organize the Freedom Rides. But Campbell was also, despite a slew of death threats he received from white segregationists, an unofficial chaplain to the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

He denounced and publicly fought the Klan’s racism, acts of terror and violence and marched with Black civil rights protestors in his native Mississippi, but he steadfastly refused to “cancel” white racists out of his life. He refused to demonize them as less than human. He insisted that this form of racism, while evil, was not as insidious as a capitalist system that perpetuated the economic misery and instability that pushed whites into the ranks of violent, racist organizations. “During the civil rights movement, when we were developing strategies, someone usually said, ‘Call Will Campbell. Check with Will,’” Rep. John Lewis wrote in the introduction to the new edition of Campbell’s memoir Brother to a Dragonfly, one of the most important books I read as a seminarian.

“Will knew that the tragedy of Southern history had fallen on our opponents as well as our allies … on George Wallace and Bull Connor as well as Rosa Parks and Fred Shuttlesworth. He saw that it had created the Ku Klux Klan as well as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. That insight led Will to see racial healing and equity, pursued through courage, love, and faith as the path to spiritual liberation for all.” Jimmy Carter wrote of Campbell that he “tore down the walls that separated white and black Southerners.” And because the Black Panther organizer Fred Hampton was doing the same thing in Chicago, the FBI — which, along with the CIA, is the de facto ally of the liberal elites in their war against Trump and his supporters — assassinated him.

When the town Campbell lived in decided the Klan should not be permitted to have a float in the Fourth of July parade Campbell did not object, as long as the gas and electric company was also barred. It was not only white racists who inflicted suffering on the innocent and the vulnerable, but institutions that place the sanctity of profit before human life. “People can’t pay their gas and electric bills, the heat gets turned off and they freeze and sometimes die, especially if they are elderly,” he said. “This, too, is an act of terrorism.” “Theirs you could see and deal with, and if they broke the law, you could punish them,” he said of the Klan. “But the larger culture that was, and still is, racist to the core is much more difficult to deal with and has a more sinister influence.”

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 16 2021

Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #69765

    Vincent van Gogh Snowy landscape with Arles in the background 1888   • How to Make COVID Vaccines More Effective: Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 16 2021]

    #69766

    New French nasal spray eliminates 99% of Covid virus

    A French pharmaceutical company has developed a nasal spray that it says could eliminate up to 99% of the Covid-19 virus, with the product set to be available to buy within weeks. French group Pharma & Beauty (P&B) has been working on the spray for almost a year. It says that according to several studies it can eliminate 99% of the viral load in nasal passages within 30 seconds and reduce the spread of the virus by up to 90%. The company is set to begin selling the product from March 1.

    Production is scheduled to begin next week at the P&B site in Montélimar, Drôme; and then in four other P&B factories across France. Between 1 million-3 million bottles are expected to be available in March, followed by 13 million-15 million each month from April. Each bottle of 30ml is expected to last one month, and will be sold at €14.90 each.

    A statement on the P&B LinkedIn page reads: “[The spray] prevents viral spread by mechanically dislodging infectious agents in the nasal cavity, and facilitating their evacuation – and locally reduces the viral load.” The spray is 40% ionised water with high antimicrobial properties and 60% purified water.

    #69767
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    A French pharmaceutical company has developed a nasal spray that it says could eliminate up to 99% of the Covid-19 virus, with the product set to be available to buy within weeks.

    Ka Ching…

    #69768
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    MULTIVITAMINS AND MINERALS

    As a heavy smoker I used to suffer badly when I caught a cold. I started taking one-a-day vitamin and mineral supplements and although I still caught colds the symptoms were much less severe. I am also taking a vitamin D supplement [5,000iu/day].

    A couple of weeks ago I caught a cold. At 8am in the morning my nose started streaming. Soon I could feel the infection move to my lungs and I had a slight cough. By 8am the following day all the symptoms had gone! My nose did run a few times during the next day but that was it.

    Not having a clone to act as a control I do not know how much the supplements helped BUT I think of it as very positive reinforcement to keep on taking them.

    #69769
    zerosum
    Participant

    Makes you think
    https://theautomaticearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/NoJails.jpg
    ——
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/millions-texans-left-shivering-arctic-cold-without-power-n1257959
    Millions of Texans left shivering in arctic cold without power
    No price control in an emergency
    Kick them when they are down
    The rich arn’t complaining as they see the money flowing into their bank accounts.
    Rusty snow plows on the street driven by inexperience kids
    Crops freezing no insurance
    ——-
    capitalism at work
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/hna-groups-bankruptcy-isnt-over-what-comes-next-for-the-chinese-conglomerate-51613176158
    HNA Group’s Bankruptcy Isn’t Over. What Comes Next for the Chinese Conglomerate.
    By Tanner Brown
    Feb. 15, 2021
    ——-

    #69770
    Kimo
    Participant

    When do we start to hear about investigations into foreign influence into the election? Are they afraid it might be proven we already lost our Republic? Is it so evident, that it’s impossible to “fix” the outcome?

    #69771
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Waxing paranoiacally old-school, I’ll wonder if, now that the Trump-derived click-bait revenue stream is drying up (and fast), we aren’t due for our next phony false flag “Pearl Harbor”, something that will keep the media monoliths in business and therefore continuing their relentless propaganda war.

    Meanwhile, the French anti-covid nasal spray is right on time. The contracts are cashed, Fauci is a 1 million dollar quisling hero, and the covid narrative is proving increasingly uncontrollable now that they don’t have Trump as scapegoat. It’s time to move on to a new War on Something.

    I suppose Biden will, ironically, get out of their way, his usefulness rapidly dwindling, via a fatal attack of covid.

    #69772
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Kunstler mentioning “Unity”, or frequent references by the TV hosts to “our community”.
    At the beginning at the part 1 of the brilliant BBC serial, linked few days ago on this blog, there was a tale how “rugged individualism” is jammed down the throats of an ordinary Joe, spiced by the Ayn Rand’s tripe. Post war economic boom only fueled that assumption, something that in the eyes of the power entity it was never meant to last looking from today’s perspective, isn’t it? It served as a mighty tool for ideological battle with the Soviets that was needed at the time. Pain of having to pay workers a decent salary was subdued and beautifully rewarded by inviting officials from Eastern block countries to tour production plants. The main reason of those tours was not to show production equipment, which just about anybody can assume was top of the line, but the PARKING LOT, full of WORKER’S cars. That alone made an instant conversion, albeit private and kept for themselves, of those officials. In another words, US generation as a whole, born in (cca) mid 20’s to 30’s became the inadvertently luckiest in entire human history but rather as a result of a social experiment and urgent need of the ruling class to make it happen, then from the goodness of the system. It is obvious by now that riches that ordinary Joe accumulated in those golden years somebody would LOVE to harvest and kick “rugged individual” in the ditch.

    Today’s painting: Take this “Starry night” or “Sunflowers”.

    #69773
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    New French nasal spray eliminates 99% of Covid virus

    60% water plus 40% water equals 100% water.
    Not effective if you inhale some virus through your mouth.

    Spraying water up your nose is what a former commenter here was recommending early last year (I forget his name, Robin something?)

    From the article linked by Ilargi:

    Not a cure, but prevention

    The spray is not a treatment for Covid-19 but an extra barrier method…

    It can be used, for example, after returning home from going outside in public spaces, where you may have come into contact with many other people – such as using public transport or going shopping.

    After spraying it into your nose, you should blow your nose strongly, to get rid of any potentially-infected mucus; and carefully and securely dispose of any tissues used, to avoid spreading the virus.

    #69774
    kultsommer
    Participant

    WES had a “random thoughts” yesterday, alas so easy to dismantle.
    Work in Siberia, not as a great life experience, but view through condescending “Discovery channel” glasses. I do not have a horse in the race, but Soviets not capable of thinking “out of the box”? Have anybody checked history of the space exploration lately? Even AK-47, to be blunt, is a product of inquisitive mind. You may rage on the system, which is fine, but don’t crush a human spirit, which I have personal interest and admiration in, regardless in which system people live.
    My personal observation by working for about dozen companies in the US is that they are staffed by the C.Y.A. manager tyrants, which was followed a dozen two-week notices on my part before I finally went on my own. Before I get colored as ideologically blind, do not listen to me, watch “The office space” movie. It is not a comedy, it is a real life portrayal of millions of Companies throughout the country. Where ere the geniuses that you claim should be in there?
    David Graeber in his “Bullshit jobs” is himself puzzled how enormous amount of waste is happening in the midst of the economy where “mighty hand of market” rewards or punishes ones work effort, based on output.

    #69775
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Oh for goodness sake … purchase a quality colloidal silver (or make it, if you know how) and an inexpensive glass bottle and nasal spray gadget, and spritz your nose when you return home from out in public. We make this stuff so complicated, and for no good reason.

    #69776
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    “We make this stuff so complicated”

    And expensive.
    30 ml (1 ounce) of the French water costs €14.90 (US$18)

    #69779
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Exciting news on the nasal spray! I have been using this strategy since the beginning, but with a slightly different formula.

    I put Nano-Silver (note it must be the patented 10ppm silver water solution) into a small sprayer and spray directly into my eyes, nose, and mouth. It provides a protective barrier. You can spray the areas mentioned as frequently as you wish.

    NOTE: My late husband (Vietnam Vet) was dying (the first time) from a massive lung infection. The Nano-Silver saved him. He ingested it two to three times daily until his infection cleared. Blew his Doctors away; since it was a dietary supplement that did the work and not a prescription antibiotic – they did not want to know the details. A few years later after forgetting about the silver solution, he was told he had a month or two to live – cancer everywhere. It was too late for Nano-Silver. Anyway – for the sake of full disclosure, I ended up taking over the Nano-Silver company.

    #69780
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    In response to additional comments, I should clarify.

    If you plan to ingest the silver solution, it is best to have Nano-Silver 10 ppm. For topical use only, the other versions of colloidal silver or homemade will do.

    #69781

    I hope John Day’s avocado trees are alright.
    I hope John and Jenny are alright.

    Anticlimactic- I have learned the same thing- bumping up the good stuff makes the sniffles disappear.
    A few years back, the vitamin people were worried that vitamins would be removed from the markets and turned into prescription-only.
    I could see that threat looming larger, now. What else could we expect from people who suppress- even deny- useful public info?

    Minus 32C yesterday morning. Minus 27C today. Things are looking up.

    #69782
    Farmer McGregor
    Participant

    @zerosum: Just curious here, I observe that you post a comment each day which reiterates some of the articles with links and teaser text of some of the very articles from this day’s Debt Rattle. What’s that about — Department of Redundancy Department?


    @kultsommer
    : I cannot locate “The Office Space” movie you recommend. A link, perhaps?

    @my parents said know: A second on that “hope John and Jenny are alright”.
    Here in Colorado we are finally pulling out of a week of sub-zero’s. Yesterday my milking machine froze up during the process.

    #69783
    zerosum
    Participant

    Farmer McGregor
    Just my way of adding “extra” and verifying/checking the sources.
    Why? do you prefer to do your own homework?

    #69786
    DarkMatter
    Participant

    anticlimactic – My wife and I started taking 1 or 2 grams of vitamin C every day after reading about Pauling Therapy about 5 years ago. Neither of us have had a cold since then. I have had a similar experience to yours where I feel some stuffiness but it goes away in a matter of hours or overnight. As mentioned we started this because of Pauling therapy which is aimed at preventing heart disease. Both of us felt chest discomfort prior to this and that also has disappeared. Anecdotal, but we’re convinced.

    #69787
    ctbarnum
    Participant

    @FarmerMcGregor

    There’s a fairly good summary of the movie “Office Space” here.

    Even 20 years it hits home.

    #69788
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ DarkMatter

    My wife and I started taking 1 or 2 grams of vitamin C every day after reading about Pauling Therapy about 5 years ago.

    Pauling took 4 grams of V-C per day.
    I likewise take 4 grams per day for the last 20 years or so…
    Works wonders for colds and allergies as well. V-C has anti-histamine qualities as well…

    Kultsommer
    My personal observation by working for about dozen companies in the US is that they are staffed by the C.Y.A. manager tyrants, which was followed a dozen two-week notices on my part before I finally went on my own.

    Yep, my experience as well. Best thing I did was to get the hell out…
    18 years later; happy as can be…

    #69789
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @Kultsommer

    WES had a “random thoughts” yesterday, alas so easy to dismantle.
    Work in Siberia, not as a great life experience, but view through condescending “Discovery channel” glasses. I do not have a horse in the race, but Soviets not capable of thinking “out of the box”? Have anybody checked history of the space exploration lately? Even AK-47, to be blunt, is a product of inquisitive mind. You may rage on the system, which is fine, but don’t crush a human spirit, which I have personal interest and admiration in, regardless in which system people live

    Based on my own experience working outside the U.S. I must concur with Kultsommer’s comment.
    Especially regarding the Soviet Union’s lack of critical thinking; history alone puts the lie to that…
    76 years later, Russia is still showing it’s mettle and intelectual prowess….
    …while the U.S, struggles with its steady decline…

    #69790
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ Farmer McGregor
    It is almost a kult movie. Clips are available for free. Enjoy.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=the+office+space+movie+clips&rlz=1CAHXUG_enUS617US619&oq=the+office+space+movie+clips&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.8671j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    @ Arnold
    So, your experience too. Isn’t that something, when it comes to “efficiency pie in the sky”, imagined?

    #69791
    WES
    Participant

    Kultsommers:

    Of all the places in the world that I have been, Siberia is the one place where I could see the dispare and lack of hope in people’s eyes! To temporarily escape their “workers paradise” they drank! My construction crew drank 24/7!

    The way we determined if the crane operator was sober enough to operate the crane, was to see if he could crawl into the operator’s seat! Some morning he couldn’t even make it up onto the crawler pads! We would then direct him to a wooden parts crate to sleep it off!

    There were vodka bottles everywhere on my construction site! Whenever I found one, I just ignored it! Trust me they were watching me! But when I did nothing, then they warmed up to me, because then they knew I wasn’t going to snitch on them. I understood what they were facing.

    I can tell you these were just ordinary people doing the best they could under a bad system. These were good people too. Just like us! Unfortunately for them a bad system makes everybody look bad.

    As far as making rockets and weapons those were state mandated! And the best and brightest were used to make it happen. But not so for butter, milk, food, etc.

    As far a bad bosses goes, every company seems to have them! I have had my share of them. Including ones who have tried to fire me!

    #69792
    John Day
    Participant

    @My Parents said Know: Thanks, Bro. We’re ok, but we’ve had a lot of time without electricity. We have some now. We are fortunate to have a gas stove, which makes heat when there is no electricity. Many of us lived with unvented gas heaters for many years, and are not properly fearful of them. People with gas furnaces and no blower are as bad off as people with electric heaters. Only electric resistance heating, horribly wasteful, works in weather this cold. This is way colder than I’ve ever had in Texas, colder than January 1983, for instance. That killed every palm tree in Houston.
    More in the morning, if we have power.
    If any of the avocado trees live, it will be from some kind of super power, not the sheets of plastic we tied around them in the sub freezing wind Saturday.

    #69793
    WES
    Participant

    V. Arnold:

    Nobody has ever said the Russians are stupid because they aren’t! But under communism, only state interests are looked after. Today Russia has banned communism! I wonder why!

    It will take Russia a few generations to undo the damage of communism. Right now there are shortages of opportunities for bright Russians in Russia. Many solve this problem by leaving! One place millions of Russians have gone to is Tel Eve, in Isreal. Have you noticed all of the high tech stuff coming out of Israel these days? It is being driven by many of Russia’s best and brightess!

    I am not so down on America (been to 42 states) as some because having been in over 20 countries, I have seen first hand what they have or don’t have. The US is still one of the best places for tech innovations but they now face increased competition for talent, unlike 30 years ago.

    #69794
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ WES
    “Lack of thinking out of box” prompted me to respond, that’s all.

    #69795
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    IME, one of the toughest battles for Americans living overseas is ethnocentrism.
    For the most part, I avoid westerners here; with very few exceptions, Americans are the worst, followed by English and Australians. That is my experience.
    They complain bitterly about the culture, customs, and language.
    An American I met for lunch even had the temerity to ask me why Thai’s couldn’t be more like Americans, he actually said that!
    It left me aghast.
    Language is a window into a culture; without knowing the language one has no chance to understand culture. I know this for a fact.
    Until and unless one is willing to understand and overcome ethnocentrism, that one is stuck in neverland; forever isolated and ignorant…

    #69796
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Yes, the old USSR was a terrible place to live, but I wouldn’t want to live in a “libertarian paradise” any more than I would have wanted to live in Lenin’s “worker’s paradise”.

    #69797
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Yes, the old USSR was a terrible place to live, but I wouldn’t want to live in a “libertarian paradise” any more than I would have wanted to live in Lenin’s “worker’s paradise”.

    #69798
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    …a comment so nice, you posted it twice…
    😉

    #69799
    WES
    Participant

    V. Arnold:

    Your avoiding westerners made me chuckle! I never really had that problem as I was always on my own!

    Westerners don’t visit mining sites located in the middle of nowhere! There are no nice hotels and restaurants there either! Nobody puts a mine in a nice place!

    So my view of complainers is pretty much the same as yours!

    Working in mines allowed me the opportunity to see local people in their communities, not tourist traps. Being there longer than tourists also help me get a better feel for what was happening in a given country.

    #69800
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Wes
    Working in mines allowed me the opportunity to see local people in their communities, not tourist traps. Being there longer than tourists also help me get a better feel for what was happening in a given country.

    Yep! I have always avoided the tourist traps here.
    Our village is small and somewhat rural; surrounded by real folks, rice paddies, sugar cane, and banana plantations.
    I agree that spending time is important; depth is almost assured… 😉

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