Feb 222021
 
 February 22, 2021  Posted by at 10:22 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Thomas Abercrombie Beirut 1957

 

Biden’s $1.9-Trillion Big Spend Is A Big Bet On MMT (LAT)
Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal May Rise To Federal Level Of Criminal Offense (Fox)
Scalise Requests Data On NY Nursing Home COVID Deaths (SAC)
More New York Politicians Accuse Cuomo Of Threatening Behavior (F.)
Why Do Democrats Pretend Andrew Cuomo Did a Good Job With COVID? (Slate)
Psaki Declines To Say Whether Biden Still Views Cuomo As ‘Gold Standard’ (JTN)
The Battery of American Power Is Running Flat (SCF)
Boeing 777s Grounded Around World After Denver Engine Failure (R.)
Garland Expected To Become Biden’s AG (Hill)
Vitamin D: Doctors Will Further Erode Trust In Experts (Cook)
Canada To Follow Australia, Take On Facebook, Seek Payment For Content (NYP)
Disney Labels ‘The Muppet Show’ As ‘Offensive Content’ (RT)

 

 

It’s Andrew Cuomo day! Why is he still in office? Well, the Dems want the GOP to go after him, so they don’t have to. Biden won’t have anything to do with this hot potato, until and unless he can squeeze political capital out of it. Among lower level Dems, there are too many that Cuomo has collected dirt on – or that are afraid he did.

This may take a while therefore, everyone’s playing a waiting game. And the press drip-drip new stories about Cuomo every day, without condemning him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’ll be the first to deny it.

Biden’s $1.9-Trillion Big Spend Is A Big Bet On MMT (LAT)

As Stephanie Kelton, former chief economist on the Senate Budget Committee, argues in her bestseller “The Deficit Myth,” the country’s real deficits are in healthcare, jobs, infrastructure, education and the climate. But rather than address those things by spending, writes Kelton, the government proceeds in terror of not “balancing the budget,” falsely believing that an unbalanced budget is the source of inflation. “We run around like a six-foot-tall guy who wanders around perpetually hunched over in a house with eight-foot ceilings because someone convinced him that if he tries to stand up tall he’ll suffer a massive head trauma,” she writes. Jason Furman, who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama, concurs. “Given low interest rates, the United States actually has even more fiscal room to respond to the crisis today than it did in the financial crisis,” he told me. “We should use that room.”

If the Biden stimulus goes through, and inflation doesn’t skyrocket, the experiment may bear out a new monetary theory. It could be time at last for the nation to stand tall, and unfurl its economy to its full height. Of course, an experiment on such a big scale is unnerving, and Biden is facing substantial criticism for the $1.9-trillion plan. Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist at the IMF, tweeted earlier this month that such a stimulus would not just overheat the economy; it would incinerate it. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers issued a less hyperbolic warning but he brought up the fear: The policy would need to come with an aggressive fiscal policy to keep “inflationary pressures” at bay.

Kelton doesn’t completely disagree. On Twitter, she pointed out that the modern monetary theory she advocates requires Congress to stop talking about budgets and start talking entirely about mitigating inflation, if it comes, by other monetary policy means. You’re going to hear a lot more kvetching about government spending and, geez, $1.9 trillion. But remember, no one pushing Biden’s plan is trying to pave the way for a big, fat inflationary decade, filled with 1970s malaise, austerity measures and agony at the pump. They’re just willing to bet that a nearly $2-trillion stimulus, if the economy is monitored closely enough, will improve infrastructure, education, climate and healthcare, while making employers eager to find workers, which will push up wages and benefits. Which all sounds great. Especially when the checks show up.

Read more …

“New York’s willful failure to provide information may itself constitute a criminal offense—particularly if the intent was to thwart a federal investigation—..”

Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal May Rise To Federal Level Of Criminal Offense (Fox)

Legal experts are warning that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged undercounting of nursing-home deaths amid the COVID-19 pandemic may rise to the level of a criminal offense. Cuomo has found himself at the center of a federal investigation into whether his administration sought to hide the true toll of the pandemic. The New York Post reported earlier this month that Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top aide, told lawmakers the administration had withheld the numbers for fear of them being “used against us.” In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, John B. Daukas, who served as acting U.S. attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote that DeRosa’s reported admissions weren’t “merely negligent, but intentional and perhaps criminal.”


Daukas said numerous federal statutes could apply, noting that Cuomo’s administration is accusing of both making false statements to the federal government and trying to thwart an investigation. “Even if it cannot be proved that the Cuomo administration knowingly provided false information to Justice and the (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), New York’s willful failure to provide information may itself constitute a criminal offense—particularly if the intent was to thwart a federal investigation—which, after all, is exactly what Ms. DeRosa reportedly said the administration did,” Daukas wrote. And on Saturday, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said DeRosa’s admission to lawmakers – if true – constitutes a potential obstruction of justice charge. Per the federal statute, Jarrett noted, if a government official falsifies or hides evidence to avoid triggering an investigation (or acts out of fear that such a probe may occur) that official is still culpable under the law of obstruction.”

Read more …

There’s a shredder working overtime somewhere…

Scalise Requests Data On NY Nursing Home COVID Deaths (SAC)

As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) faces increasing criticism over reports that his administration underreported coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes and a preliminary federal investigation underway, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (La.) renewed his call Friday for Cuomo to provide all data on such deaths, describing his administration’s alleged conduct as an “apparent obstruction of justice”. Scalise, the ranking member of Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, reiterated his call in a press release emailed Friday afternoon by the House Oversight Republicans. The press release cites the February 11 New York Post exposé reporting that Melissa DeRosa, a top Cuomo aide, had privately admitted to Democratic lawmakers that the administration withheld nursing home death data out of fear that it would be “used against us” by federal prosecutors.

On top of that, the release mentioned the report that Cuomo had allegedly threatened a Democratic assemblyman if he didn’t help cover up the nursing home deaths. “This apparent obstruction of justice necessitates an immediate and thorough investigation by Congress especially in light of the recent revelation that you and your Administration engaged in a cover-up aimed at concealing your culpability in New York State’s COVID-19 nursing home crisis,” Scalise wrote. “Recent reporting suggests that your attempts to cover-up the truth and conceal your culpability extend beyond obstruction to threats of retaliation toward anyone who might cross you. This behavior appears to be your modus operandi when anyone attempts to question your ‘leadership.’”

The press release goes on to mention that the subcommittee’s Republicans have repeatedly called for Cuomo to provide information regarding his since-rescinded directive ordering nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit untested and contagious COVID-19 patients from hospitals. According to the press release, they first asked the governor in June 2020, and subsequent times in July 2020 and last month. [..] In a letter from Scalise to Cuomo attached to the press release, the Louisiana Republican touched on the aforementioned points but also requested transcribed interviews from DeRosa and New York Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard Zucker.

Read more …

Some are just too pissed off.

More New York Politicians Accuse Cuomo Of Threatening Behavior (F.)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces a growing number of allegations he and his subordinates routinely threaten critics, with two New York politicians – a former Democratic congressional candidate and a Republican ex-rival of Cuomo’s – recounting to Forbes their hostile experiences with the governor’s staff. Nate McMurray, a two-time House candidate in Western New York, told Forbes that after criticizing Cuomo for plans to attend a Buffalo Bills game, he received a call from a Cuomo aide on New Years Eve that began “you motherf***er,” before devolving into threats like “you’re done in politics.” McMurray said he took down his tweet after the call because he was “scared” and looking for a job after his run, adding that he’s heard from people in both Cuomo’s staff and the New York legislature about a “pervasive culture of fear that has trickled down from his office.”

“We’ve all been yelled at by someone in that administration,” Marc Molinaro, a Republican county executive in upstate New York who ran against Cuomo in 2018, told Forbes, adding, “It’s unacceptable but how they operate.” Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, tweeted that she was “flooded” with stories from people who said they were “bullied, mistreated, or intimidated” by Cuomo, a statement echoed by former Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan, who has previously accused him of harassment. Alessandra Biaggi, a Democratic state senator, told the New Yorker Cuomo once asked her to “tell me again how your grandfather’s career ended,” which she perceived as a threat given that her grandfather, Mario Biaggi, resigned over a corruption scandal – though a Cuomo spokesperson told the New Yorker it was about the “importance of integrity in government.”

Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean tweeted that she was told by someone close to the Cuomo family to “‘Watch my back,’” when she began speaking out against him prolifically over the coronavirus-related deaths of her parents, who were both nursing home residents.

Read more …

“..a serially underachieving chief executive playing three-card monte with dead bodies. At this point, Andrew Cuomo could probably shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.”

Why Do Democrats Pretend Andrew Cuomo Did a Good Job With COVID? (Slate)

Most concerningly, Cuomo’s administration admitted this month that it had been excluding nursing home residents who died of COVID but didn’t technically die on the grounds of their facilities from its official count of COVID-related nursing home deaths. Since many such residents died only after being hospitalized, this had the effect of making the state’s nursing home outbreak look thousands of deaths smaller than it actually was. Cuomo’s office appears to have compiled the more comprehensive, accurate data months ago but didn’t release it until the state’s attorney general—who is elected independently of the governor—issued a Jan. 28 report alleging that nursing home deaths had been undercounted.

(It does not look like the discrepancy could have resulted from innocent semantic misunderstandings: A representative of the data team that manages the AARP Public Policy Institute’s Nursing Home COVID-19 dashboard noted to Slate that “CDC guidance for the data we use in our dashboard specifically states that resident deaths are supposed to be counted regardless of the place of death,” while the managing editor of the COVID Tracking Project said its staff is “not currently aware of any other US state or territory that reports deaths associated with nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities in the way that New York did for most of the pandemic.”)

[..] His press conference performances notwithstanding, the facts and evidence show that Cuomo is not someone who cares much about facts and evidence. But his liberal supporters don’t care: A Siena College poll taken after the nursing home scandal broke found that 83 percent of New York Democrats still approve of Cuomo’s handling of COVID, with more than 80 percent also saying specifically that they approve of his work “communicating with the people of New York” and “providing accurate information.”

To hammer home the cognitive dissonance, only 54 percent said he’d done a good job “making public all data about COVID-related deaths of nursing home patients,” which suggests both that 54 percent of New York Democrats are full of it and that a significant portion of the rest of them know Cuomo is full of it but don’t care. To many voters, celebrating the idea of the competent blue-state governor is more important than reckoning with the reality of a serially underachieving chief executive playing three-card monte with dead bodies. At this point, Andrew Cuomo could probably shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.

Read more …

Hot potato.

Psaki Declines To Say Whether Biden Still Views Cuomo As ‘Gold Standard’ (JTN)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during an interview on ABC’s This Week would not provide a direct answer about whether President Biden still considers New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo the “gold standard” on dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Journalist Jonathan Karl posed the question after playing a clip of Biden last year stating that Cuomo has performed “one hell of a job” and describing the governor as “sorta the gold standard.” Cuomo, who has come under fire for his handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, has faced heightened scrutiny since his top aide Melissa DeRosa revealed the administration held back on answering questions from lawmakers due to concerns about a potential Justice Department investigation.


“Well John, we work with Governor Cuomo just like we work with governors across the country,” Psaki said, noting that Cuomo chairs the National Governors Association and has “an important role in ensuring that we’re coordinating closely in getting assistance out to people of his state and to states across the country.” She said that any matter of investigations would be in the hands of “the appropriate law enforcement authorities to determine how that path is going to move as we look forward. ”But we are going to continue to work with a range of governors, including of course Governor Cuomo because we think the people of New York, the people of states across the country need assistance, not just to get through the pandemic, but to get through this difficult economic time.”

Read more …

NATO and Pentagon are Siamese twins.

The Battery of American Power Is Running Flat (SCF)

Historically, the United States relies on NATO as a conduit to project its power and influence over Europe. This was its fundamental objective when NATO was first set up in 1949 at the start of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. In recent decades, NATO has assumed an ever-expanding purpose for American imperial power projection, encompassing not just Western Europe but all of Europe right up to Russia’s borders. NATO has become a vehicle for American hegemonic ambitions holding sway over the Balkans, Caucasia, North Africa and the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. For an organization that nominally originated for maintaining security in the North Atlantic, it sounds rather odd indeed to hear its spokesmen talk now about the need for NATO to confront China.

That oddly expanded global mission reflects the real but unspoken fact that NATO is all about serving American global ambitions. Former President Trump was too ignorant or obsessed with money-grubbing financial costs – “we’re being ripped off” he would repeatedly complain with regard to NATO – to realize the strategic bigger picture of what the alliance is really purposed to serve. Under a new man in the White House – an old-time establishment operative – there is seemingly a more consensual approach with allies. Nevertheless, underlying the liberal lexicon there is the same old mantra of hostility towards Russia and China. Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon chief, told European allies this week that there would have to be “more burden sharing” in order to confront the “threats” allegedly posed by Russia and China.

Biden continued the same theme of confronting Russia and China during his G7 and Munich conferences over the weekend. American hegemonic ambitions required to satisfy its corporate capitalism are dependent on a zero-sum geopolitics. The globe must divided into spheres of influence as in the earlier Cold War decades. There must be antagonism to thwart genuine cooperation which is anathema to American capitalism. Indeed, it can be said that the Cold War never actually ended when the Soviet Union dissolved more three decades ago. America’s imperialist ideology continued under new guises of “fighting terrorism”, “democracy promotion and nation building”, or more recently “great power competition” with Russia and China.

The bottom line is that NATO is more important than ever for enabling Washington’s global power ambitions given the demise of American capitalism and the rise of China and Eurasia. NATO provides a crucial political cover for what would otherwise be seen as naked American imperialism.

Read more …

Ha ha ha: “Boeing has recommended grounding..”

Yeah, Boeing’s a very responible corporate citizen…

Boeing 777s Grounded Around World After Denver Engine Failure (R.)

Boeing has recommended grounding more than 120 of its 777 jets worldwide following a catastrophic engine failure on a United Airlines plane in Denver. The company said on Sunday night that airlines using the same type of engine that scattered debris across Denver before making an emergency landing should suspend operations until inspections could be carried out. Flight 328 was flying from Denver International Airport to Honolulu with 231 passengers and 10 crew on board on Saturday when one engine failed shortly after take-off. Police in Broomfield, Colorado posted photos of pieces of debris from the plane near houses and other buildings. There were no reports of any injuries on the ground or among the passengers.

United Airlines said it was temporarily grounding all 24 of its Boeing 777s on active duty, and Japan’s aviation regulator swiftly followed suit, ordering Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) to cease flying 777s that use the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines while it considered whether to take additional measures. Japan said ANA operated 19 of that kind and JAL operated 13. The planes are also used by carriers in South Korea. A spokeswoman for South Korea’s transport ministry, speaking before Boeing’s statement, said it was monitoring the situation but had not yet taken any action. Korean Air Lines said it had 12 of the planes, half of them stored, and it would consult with the manufacturer and regulators and stop flying them to Japan for now.

Boeing said in total 69 of the planes were in service and 59 were in storage, at a time when airlines have grounded planes due to a plunge in demand associated with the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency directive late on Sunday that required immediate or stepped-up inspections of planes similar to the one involved in the Denver incident. “We reviewed all available safety data following yesterday’s incident,” the FAA said in a statement from its administrator, Steve Dickson . “Based on the initial information, we concluded that the inspection interval should be stepped up for the hollow fan blades that are unique to this model of engine, used solely on Boeing 777 airplanes. “This will likely mean that some airplanes will be removed from service”.

Read more …

What will happen to Durham and the Hunter files?

Garland Expected To Become Biden’s AG (Hill)

Nearly five years after Senate Republicans refused to grant Merrick Garland a hearing to be confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court, the appeals court judge is getting his chance to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, this time as President Biden’s choice to be attorney general. In 2016, former President Obama nominated Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not allow a hearing on the nomination, citing the presidential election eight months later. Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the seat on the high court the following year, just more than two months after he was nominated by former President Trump.

Garland is one of the last major Cabinet appointments by Biden, and he is likely to secure confirmation with bipartisan support despite the former Republican blockade on his last nomination. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has said Garland’s experience “makes him well-suited to lead the Department of Justice, and I appreciated his commitment to keep politics out of the Justice Department.” “Unless I hear something new, I expect to support his nomination before the full Senate,” Cornyn added, according to The Associated Press. In opening remarks released Sunday, Garland pledged to address the threat of domestic extremism as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, specifically invoking the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“From 1995 to 1997, I supervised the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who sought to spark a revolution that would topple the federal government,” Garland’s remarks read. “If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.” Biden has pledged that the Justice Department during his tenure will be free of political influence or interference.

The Justice Department has asked for the resignations of all Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys, a somewhat typical move for incoming administrations. But Biden left in place the U.S. attorney in Delaware in charge of investigating the tax affairs of his son Hunter Biden. He is also allowing U.S. Attorney John Durham to continue in his role as a special prosecutor probing the origins of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, a position appointed by former Attorney General William Barr. [..] Garland currently serves as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Read more …

Jonnathan Cook picks the wrong angle. Vitamin D given to severely ill people is not the story.

Vitamin D: Doctors Will Further Erode Trust In Experts (Cook)

The role of Vitamin D on our general wellbeing and health has come under increasing scrutiny over the past two decades after it was discovered that it is the only vitamin for which there is a receptor in every cell in our body. Long before Covid, researchers had begun to understand that Vitamin D’s role in regulating our immune systems was chronically under-appreciated by most doctors. The medical profession was stuck in a paradigm from the 1950s in which Vitamin D’s use related chiefly to bone health. As a consequence, today’s recommended daily allowances – usually between 400IU and 800IU – were established long ago in accordance with the minimum needed for healthy bones rather than the maximum needed for a healthy immune system.

Today we know that many people in northern latitudes, especially the elderly, are deficient or severely deficient in Vitamin D, even those taking these low-level supplements. In fact, it would be true to say there is a global plague of Vitamin D deficiency, even in many sunny countries where people have lost the habit of spending time outdoors or shield themselves from the sun. The doctors and researchers who have been gradually piecing together the critically important role of Vitamin D are the medical equivalent of the dissident journalists who try to present a realistic picture of what goes on in Israel-Palestine.

Because Big Pharma can make no serious money from Vitamin D, researchers into the sun hormone have struggled to raise funds for their work and have mostly been denied corporate platforms from which to publicise the stunning findings they have made. Until recently, corporate medicine simply ignored most Vitamin D research, relegating it to the supposedly fringe science of “nutrition”, which is why most doctors know little or nothing about it. With the outbreak of Covid, when these Vitamin D studies should finally have come into their own, researchers found themselves shunted further into the margins. Just as journalists, politicians and human rights groups trying to tell you real things about Israel get labelled antisemites, anyone trying to tell you real things about Vitamin D gets labelled a crank, conspiracy theorist or Covid denier.

The desperate need for Covid treatments has not led to intensified interest in Vitamin D among most doctors, even though it is very cheap, almost completely safe even in large doses, and has been shown to help in damping down immune over-reaction of exactly the kind killing Covid patients. Rather, the opportunity for Big Pharma to develop a magic bullet to treat Covid has led to an intensified campaign to discredit Vitamin D research.

Read more …

When you threaten sovereign nations, others will notice.

Canada To Follow Australia, Take On Facebook, Seek Payment For Content (NYP)

Canada is poised to take on Facebook, following the example set by Australia, which began a war with the tech giant when the country’s publishers backed proposed legislation demanding payment for their content. Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault condemned Facebook’s actions as “highly irresponsible” last week when the social media giant removed all Australian news content from its sites in retaliation. Guilbeault warned that Canada would be next in making sure Facebook paid for news content from Canadian publishers. Guilbeault is charged with drafting legislation in the next few months that would require Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay up. “Canada is at the forefront of this battle … we are really among the first group of countries around the world that are doing this,” Guilbeault told reporters.


Guilbeault said he recently met with government ministers from Australia, Finland, France and Germany to hammer out a common front with respect to Google and Facebook, the Globe and Mail reported.“It was the first ministerial meeting where we jointly started talking about what we want to do together regarding web giants, including fair compensation for media. We believe that there’s real strength in unity on that,” he said, adding that the growing coalition of countries opposed to Facebook and Google could soon reach 15. “I’m a bit curious to see what Facebook’s response will be. Is Facebook going to cut ties with Germany, with France, with Canada, with Australia and other countries that will join? At a certain point, Facebook’s position will be completely untenable.”

Read more …

But not for animal cruelty?!

Disney Labels ‘The Muppet Show’ As ‘Offensive Content’ (RT)

Five seasons of ‘The Muppet Show’ appeared on the Disney+ streaming service on Friday night but many viewers were shocked to discover that one of their childhood favorites is now considered “offensive content.” According to a warning from Disney, the show features “stereotypes” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.” “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the roughly 300 billion-dollar corporate giant declared. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”


No references are made to what specifically Disney considers to be offensive about the show’s content, though it does depict minorities including Asians and people from the Middle East, as well as featuring a homeless character named “Oscar the grouch” who lives in a trash can. In season five, singer Johnny Cash also performs in front of a confederate flag. “Even the Muppets are now ‘offensive.’ Anyone watching ‘The Muppet Show’ on Disney+ will first see a warning against ‘offensive content.’ It’s time to pack up, seriously,”wrote one baffled Twitter user.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 22 2021

Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #70083

    Thomas Abercrombie Beirut 1957   • Biden’s $1.9-Trillion Big Spend Is A Big Bet On MMT (LAT) • Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal May Rise To Federal Lev
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 22 2021]

    #70086
    Germ
    Participant
    #70087
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Dr. John is MIA…
    …but I suspect he’s busier than most of us could bear…
    The horrorors coming out of Texas are legion…

    #70088
    zerosum
    Participant

    “I get it”
    1. Andrew Cuomo didn’t tell the truth. Its normal. He’s a politician.
    2. NATO provides a crucial political cover for what would otherwise be seen as naked American imperialism.
    3. I said the same thing. The planes have been grounded gathering dust.
    Boeing said in total 69 of the planes were in service and 59 were in storage, at a time when airlines have grounded planes due to a plunge in demand associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
    ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_777_operators#:~:text=The%20most%20successful%20variant%20is%20the%20777-300ER%20with,have%20been%20ordered%2C%20and%201%2C598%20have%20been%20delivered.
    List of Boeing 777 operators )

    4. One more time. – NO proof of wrong doing.
    The Justice Department has asked for the resignations of all Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys, a somewhat typical move for incoming administrations. But Biden left in place the U.S. attorney in Delaware in charge of investigating the tax affairs of his son Hunter Biden.

    5. We know, on TAE, we/I follow Dr. John’s recommendation
    Big Pharma to develop a magic bullet to treat Covid has led to an intensified campaign to discredit Vitamin D research.
    6. I got to say it again.
    Advertisers, with my money and your money, are making facebook rich.
    Advertisers will continue “to feed” the web because “experts advertisers” have convinced companies that they can make more profit by doing advertising on the web.
    Stopping advertising on facebook has got to be a worst/poor way of subsidizing news papers and news reporters.
    7. I have confidence that Dr. John will be able to tell us that his preparation prepared him to be lucky in all the changes that impacted him in Texas.

    #70089
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    “Why Do Democrats Pretend Andrew Cuomo Did a Good Job With COVID? (Slate)”

    As one writer cleverly pointed out, Cuomo’s image as the ideal leader during the Covid hysteria was a carefully run PR campaign to make Trump look bad. A Covid savior was needed to create a contrast with the Covid devil, Trump. “See, here’s what real leadership looks like! That idiot in the White House is going to get us all killed!”

    I looked all over, but couldn’t find the source article in order to link to it. Maybe, someone else will remember. For all I know it may have even been on TAE.

    I remember my sister, who is a New Yorker, praising Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic to high heaven while blasting Trump in the leadup to the election. Her husband is a hard-of-hearing news junky, so I know that she is bombarded continually by TV pundit propaganda. So, I bit my lip and said nothing. One has to pick their battles, and I didn’t think it was worth it at the time. We all know that the messenger is shot first.

    Anyway, now that Andrew Cuomo has served his purpose, and recently become a radioactive asset, I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw him to the wolves. Such is politics.

    #70090
    cloudhidden
    Participant

    Cat gets out of the bag…..

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-vaccination-scotland-hospitalization-1.5922714

    “vaccines were found to reduce the risk of hospitalization”

    Apparently they are admitting that, though vaccinated, one  can still get the virus, but symptoms are not as bad. So the vaccines offer no better protection than the rejected (non profit making) alternatives that are very effective, inexpensive, readily available, and are known to have very few side effects.
    . Editors apparently approved this for publication prior to having their morning coffee. Wonder how quickly this story gets pulled?

    #70092
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I get it!

    We wear one mask for each person Andrew Cuomo killed.

    And I’m sure you all today’s Day of History article where St. Fauci said “We would never shut down the economy for ebloa.” Well of course not! It’s got a higher than 99.97% death rate! In Oppositeland, the MORE deadly it is, the LESS we shut down, and vice-versa.

    #70093
    zerosum
    Participant

    If someone borrows money then someone lend money.

    Who is lending the money to the gov of USA?
    Seriously, do you believe that the loans will be paid back to someone?
    Look at ….

    https://usdebtclock.org/

    The interest is going up faster than anyone can earn it.
    Why bother pretending that interest is accumulating and that the loans plus interest will need to be paid back to ?????

    We need a new breed of economists that can see what is happening.
    Its MMT time.

    #70094
    zerosum
    Participant

    Nothing new. Who started the con virus?
    https://nypost.com/2021/02/21/wuhan-lab-at-heart-of-covid-outbreak-may-get-more-us-funding/
    The Wuhan Institute of Virology remains the most likely source of the coronavirus pandemic, yet it is set to receive US taxpayer dollars for the next three years. Worse, the cash will fund more animal research.

    The National Institutes of Health told the Daily Caller that the Wuhan lab has an active Foreign Assurance file that authorizes it for US funding until 2024. When the virus first broke out, the Wuhan Institute had reportedly been testing coronaviruses in bats with $600,000 of US funding routed via the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.

    If this grant goes ahead, you’ll know the Biden administration is committed to restoring Washington business-as-usual in all its disgusting ingloriousness.

    #70095
    zerosum
    Participant

    Homework assignment

    Programs


    Working in the U.S. and more than 30 countries worldwide, EcoHealth Alliance’s programs are founded on innovations in research, training, global partnerships, and policy initiatives.

    #70097
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    In case you are wondering who is lending the money the US government borrows it is now mainly the Fed.
    Another large lender are “captive” US pension funds required by government laws to buy US bonds.
    Another major buyer of US bonds are Wall Street banks using them to create derivatives.

    #70098
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    Yes, it is MMT time!
    They are hoping MMT will releave them of the burden of ever having to pay back what they have borrowed!

    #70099
    WES
    Participant

    Andrew Cuomo the same Democrat who tried to empty the New York teacher’s pension fund!

    Everything his hands touches, dies!

    #70100
    absolute galore
    Participant

    But IIRC, TAE did have a link to the Spanish study, or a story about it, with a positive spin, a week or so back. And why not study it as an active cure rather than just a prophylactic. I would think trying to set up a study proving its worth as a prophylactic would be more difficult. I don’t need a study, I’ve been taking 2000-4000 IU a day for a while. Because why not, here in winter in the Northeast.
    I think Cook makes the basic point that the “health industry” has passed the second watermark Illich talks about, and exists mainly to tend to its own existence. The Spanish study is trashed, and the Brazilian study is lauded, even though it sounds like the reverse should be true. Who knows, maybe the right form of the vitamin in super high doses can help already ill patients. It certainly doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.

    #70101
    WES
    Participant

    So now the “Muppets” are evil!

    I remember when they banned the Road Runner & Coyote and Bugs Bunny as too violent! Look at how incredibly violent their replacements were!

    #70102
    zerosum
    Participant

    WES
    There is no way that there are trillions of $ dollars waiting to be invested by the 0.01%

    #70103
    WES
    Participant

    Nice picture of a wonderful time of peace in Beirut that no longer exists!
    Yes the contrast between the old and the new!

    Brings back memories roasting lamb on an open fire in the Sahara desert!

    In the late 1950s and early 1960s Beirut, Lebanon was a wonderful place.
    You could go skiing in the morning then sit on the beach in the afternoon!
    All of the Middle East banked and vacationed there.
    No more.

    #70104
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    You are 100% correct that there is nobody with the cash to buy US bonds!

    If you look carefully at the 3 things I listed above, you will note that all 3 are tied directly to the US government!

    1. The Fed now buys just over half of new US bonds issued by the US Treasury. They create the money out of thin air to do so, or in their more politically correct Fed speak they “monitize” the US government debt. Government spending keeps going up. It never goes down! It can never stop growing!

    2. Captive US pension are required by US government regulations to maintain a certain percentage of “safe” US bonds in their portfolios. The amounts required keep rising.

    3. Wall Street banks have to buy US bonds to create new derivatives. New derivative are constantly required to manipulate the markets such as keeping US interest rates low, suppress gold and silver prices, etc. This demand never stops because the amount of money keeps growing every day!

    I hope you now see a pattern! It supports what you are saying! It is MMT all the way!

    #70105
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    Another way of looking at this whole business of creating money out of thin air, is to what great lengths the US government is going to, to hide the obvious from you!

    #70106
    John Day
    Participant

    https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/02/texas-warmed-up.html

    Warm Well Wishers,

    Jenny and I are fine. I guess the news cycle ended Thursday, because Texas warmed up Friday, and we hit the road to Yoakum that afternoon when the roads were safe from being driven on for several hours. Our duplex in Austin did not have water when we left, or when we returned after a big Saturday workday in Yoakum, but we took showers in Yoakum. That modest town was almost unscathed, though it had not gotten the initial ice storm 2/10 – 2/11/21. One outside pipe burst, but was heard to burst Friday by the electrical work crew. That was quickly dealt with, capped off by the plumber they called, who had done a lot of work on the house last year.

    Our sons Steve and Jim came down from Dallas and Ft. Worth late Friday night, and we did a lot of tree work and cleaning up of the grounds..
    Jim cut down lots of big limbs and we dut them up into firewood and brush piles laid out neatly by the street.

    The avocado trees were hit really hard. I’ve never had somebody tell me their avocado tree survived 8 degrees F. We unwrapped the plastic tents we had created around them and put that neatly away in the shop.
    We will see over the next month if any of them shows signs of life sprouting out from below.

    The Mexican avocado seedlings I have been growing for a little over a year got covered in ice by the initial ice storm, and stayed in it for a few days, but

    we put them in the garage before the temperatures dropped down below the mid 20s, and they are doing pretty well. 6 to 8 of them are looking like we could just put them in the ground, though I did just pot them up into big pots a few weeks ago. I have ordered at least one replacement avocado tree, and will likely order another variety, and get as many other replacement varieties as I can from Texas growers.
    The roster might shift a bit. We’ll see over the next month or so.

    The Texas power grid was seconds to minutes from collapse, which is estimated would have taken at least 8 days to bring back online. That sure would have been worse. A very few professionals had to act quickly and decisively. They did. They will never be thanked, I suspect.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/texas-was-seconds-and-minutes-complete-disaster

    Clarity came to Texans last week. It was clear that things were much worse with power, water and gas infrastructure than people realized, and everybody was affected. It all needs major fixing which will take a long time and be expensive. It may be politically unifying, for awhile…
    ​ ​Hardship like what Texas is going through right now can bring clarity. And in the teeth of this winter storm, the entire energy industry, with its high-powered lobbyists and its billions in taxpayer subsidies, is beginning to look like every other elite institution in America: a corrupt and parasitic enterprise whose failures come at the expense of ordinary Americans—in this case, people who are now trying to stay alive in their own homes.
    https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/18/the-failure-of-the-texas-power-grid-is-worse-than-you-think/

    #70107
    zerosum
    Participant

    “Another way of looking at this whole business of creating money out of thin air, is to what great lengths the US government is going to, to hide the obvious from you!”

    Let’s get to the obvious punch line ….. there is nobody to pay back the loans/bonds, it printed money.
    Therefore, its going to be A JUBILLE.
    Borrows will never be chased by anybody to pay back the loans.
    As far as gov. pension plans monthly payment …. nothing will change …. the money that was put in from payroll deduction has been spent faster than it went in …. the printing press will continue as before.

    #70108
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:
    There will be no debt jubilee because MMT will inflate the debt to zero!

    #70114
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Well Biden certainly delivered that “Dark Winter” he’s been nattering on about. Especially to his political enemies. What? I thought every thing that happened is the President’s fault. Those are the rules. So I guess he killed all 500k people too.

    I heard Texas would finally secede over it, but I find that unlikely. Part of their trouble was they are not integrated into the other state’s grids in order to secede. Very not clear-cut, and more likely they should reinforce their grid first which would take years.

    #70165
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ Dr. D

    “Fauci said “We would never shut down the economy for ebloa.” ”

    Fauci is probably right. Ebola is so virulent and fatal it doesn’t get far. Very easy to track.

    ^&*

    There is no way to hold a jubilee. That is, imo, silly worship of those in power. There is only crash. You can’t steer a tobaggan on a nearly vertical incline. Those few wealthy bastards who create a genuinely loyal survival team may hold on to a bunch of their capital via applied defensive military force, but no one is in control of the money machine. It’s like the Midas touch: they can turn everything into money but all that does is turn valuable stuff into useless $$ denominations.

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