Mar 102021
 
 March 10, 2021  Posted by at 10:04 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Vincent van Gogh Pink peach trees (Souvenir de mauve) 1888

 

Lockdowns the ‘Biggest Public Health Mistake We’ve Ever Made’ (NW)
Coronavirus Variants To Evolve, Escape Current Generation Of Vaccines (RT)
Growing Covid Inequality Virus To Fuel Popular Rebellions Across The World (RT)
In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab (Pol.)
Incompetence and Corruption Allegations Blight Germany’s Handling Of Covid (RT)
Covid Has Exposed Dire Position Of England’s Local Councils (G.)
The Best Way to Rob a Bank (Ben Hunt)
European Parliament Lifts Immunity Of Catalonia MEPs (RT)
Cuomo Gave Bond Deals To His Wall Street Donors (IBT)
Twitter Sues Texas AG (ZH)
Massive Secret UK Propaganda Campaign in Former Soviet Republics (MPN)
White House Won’t Admit Biden’s Dealing With A Border Crisis (RT)
Secret Service Agent Saves Biden As Reporter Tries To Ask A Question (BBee)
OECD Believes Biden Stimulus Will Boost World GDP (ZH)
The Biden Blitz Is Coming (Pol.)

 

 

Giant iceberg.

 

 

 

 

 

I know I wrote a year ago that lockdowns work. But obviously, that was not about year-long ones. A few weeks when nothing is clear about a virus makes sense. What happens now does not.

“The lockdowns are trickle down epidemiology.”

Lockdowns the ‘Biggest Public Health Mistake We’ve Ever Made’ (NW)

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School, recently said that COVID-19 lockdowns are the “biggest public health mistake we’ve ever made…The harm to people is catastrophic.” Several U.S. states have started to ease their COVID-19 restrictions over the past few weeks. Bhattacharya, who made the comments during an interview with the Daily Clout, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a petition that calls for the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, claiming that they are “producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.” As of Monday, the Great Barrington Declaration has received signatures from over 13,000 medical and public health scientists, more than 41,000 medical practitioners and at least 754,399 “concerned citizens.”

During the interview last month, Bhattacharya said that the declaration comes from “two basic facts.” “One is that people who are older have a much higher risk from dying from COVID than people who are younger…and that’s a really important fact because we know who his most vulnerable, it’s people that are older. So the first plank of the Great Barrington Declaration: let’s protect the vulnerable,” Bhattacharya said. “The other idea is that the lockdowns themselves impose great harm on people. Lockdowns are not a natural normal way to live.” He continued, “it’s also not very equal. People who are poor face much more hardship from the lockdowns than people who are rich.”

In an email sent to Newsweek, Bhattacharya wrote: “I stand behind my comment that the lockdowns are the single worst public health mistake in the last 100 years. We will be counting the catastrophic health and psychological harms, imposed on nearly every poor person on the face of the earth, for a generation. At the same time, they have not served to control the epidemic in the places where they have been most vigorously imposed. In the US, they have – at best – protected the “non-essential” class from COVID, while exposing the essential working class to the disease. The lockdowns are trickle down epidemiology.”

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Get healthy. Now.

Coronavirus Variants To Evolve, Escape Current Generation Of Vaccines (RT)

A new study examining the efficacy of current generation of vaccines against the UK and South Africa variants of SARS-CoV-2 makes for sobering reading, and raises the specter of widespread reinfection. The study, published in Nature on March 8, warns that the current generation of vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments may lose the arms race against the coronavirus, raising the daunting, open-ended possibility of reinfection unless vaccine rollout is greatly expedited worldwide to prevent further mutations. The study’s findings are currently being borne out amid the latest results concerning the Novavax vaccine, which reported a 90 percent efficacy rate against the UK variant but only 49.4 percent efficacy in combating the South African variant.

“Our study and the new clinical trial data show that the virus is traveling in a direction that is causing it to escape from our current vaccines and therapies that are directed against the viral spike,” says the study’s lead author, David Ho. Ho warned that, with continuing “rampant spread” of the virus in certain areas of the globe, humanity “may be condemned to chasing after the evolving SARS-CoV-2 continually, as we have long done for influenza virus.” He called for redoubled mitigation efforts in concert with expedited vaccine rollouts, arguing that time is of the essence when it comes to eradicating the threat posed by the coronavirus permanently, rather than allowing it to mutate and linger indefinitely.

Ho and his team found that antibodies in recipients of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines were less effective at neutralizing the UK and South African variants, with a two-fold drop in efficacy in the case of the former, and up to an 8.5-fold drop in neutralizing activity with the latter. “The drop in neutralizing activity against the South Africa variant is appreciable, and we’re now seeing, based on the Novavax results, that this is causing a reduction in protective efficacy,” Ho says.

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“As we come out of our lockdowns blinking in the light of our empty and boarded up town centres, global civil unrest seems inevitable.”

Growing Covid Inequality Virus To Fuel Popular Rebellions Across The World (RT)

As the gap between rich and poor rapidly worsens during the pandemic, you can detect a surge in support for revolutions and remedies. But instead of truly tackling the underlying problems, governments will react with repression. There’s a sense of some relief in the UK that the Covid-19 year of lockdowns, illness and industrial-scale death tolls that have seen our health care services overwhelmed may finally be coming to an end. Even a Tory-hating cynic like me has to grudgingly admit that the country’s vaccination programme has been a success. The sheer numbers of people getting the jab – 20m-plus as of the start of this week – has been impressive. It has started to open debates about possible summer holidays, travelling to see family, even going to festivals and gigs – a welcome silver lining. But the rhetoric coming from the government that better times are on the way is just political BS. The hope of a brighter future is misplaced.

There are some dark storm clouds of reality moving in at a fast pace that may well be more deadly that the virus: the spectres of growing global inequality, of widespread poverty and mass unemployment, and of the vast majority of us being under the control of an emboldened elite that through the pandemic has increased its wealth, power and political influence. Research shows that those who were already rich have increased that wealth exponentially, while those who were at the bottom have sunk even lower. An Oxfam report earlier this year showed not only that wealth inequality was deepening and becoming more entrenched, but also that policies enacted by governments around the world have resulted in giving even more billions to the super-rich while denuding the poorest.

[..] As we come out of our lockdowns blinking in the light of our empty and boarded up town centres, global civil unrest seems inevitable. Studies have shown that when inequality worsens, revolutionary fervour grows and states become unstable and unsafe. We can see the first rumblings, from anger in Poland, riots in the Netherlands, to protests in Denmark, Belgium and France and sporadic demonstrations in other countries. How far will it go lies in the hands of governments. In past times of hardship, governments have used the welfare state as a prop to keep their populations from the edge of starvation and away from full-blown insurrection. But most are running out of road this time. They’ve hugely increased borrowing to keep a semblance of their economies going during the shutdowns, and have little room for maneuver.

After the banking crash of 2008, most governments slashed and burned their welfare states to bail out the bankers and now do not have that crutch. Governments all over the globe are going to have to make tough choices. Are they going to genuinely confront the growing wealth inequality, which they know destabilizes democracies as the social contract is compromised and broken?

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“..the name of the laboratory was familiar. Its research on bat viruses had already drawn the attention of U.S. diplomats and officials at the Beijing Embassy in late 2017..”

In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab (Pol.)

On January 15, in its last days, President Donald Trump’s State Department put out a statement with serious claims about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The statement said the U.S. intelligence community had evidence that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory were sick with Covid-like symptoms in autumn 2019—implying the Chinese government had hidden crucial information about the outbreak for months—and that the WIV lab, despite “presenting itself as a civilian institution,” was conducting secret research projects with the Chinese military. The State Department alleged a Chinese government cover-up and asserted that “Beijing continues today to withhold vital information that scientists need to protect the world from this deadly virus, and the next one.”

The exact origin of the new coronavirus remains a mystery to this day, but the search for answers is not just about assigning blame. Unless the source is located, the true path of the virus can’t be traced, and scientists can’t properly study the best ways to prevent future outbreaks. The original Chinese government story, that the pandemic spread from a seafood market in Wuhan, was the first and therefore most widely accepted theory. But cracks in that theory slowly emerged throughout the late winter and spring of 2020. The first known case of Covid-19 in Wuhan, it was revealed in February, had no connection to the market. The Chinese government closed the market in January and sanitized it before proper samples could be taken. It wouldn’t be until May that the Chinese Centers for Disease Control disavowed the market theory, admitting it had no idea how the outbreak began, but by then it had become the story of record, in China and internationally.

In the spring of 2020, inside the U.S. government, some officials began to see and collect evidence of a different, perhaps more troubling theory—that the outbreak had a connection to one of the laboratories in Wuhan, among them the WIV, a world leading center of research on bat coronaviruses. To some inside the government, the name of the laboratory was familiar. Its research on bat viruses had already drawn the attention of U.S. diplomats and officials at the Beijing Embassy in late 2017, prompting them to alert Washington that the lab’s own scientists had reported “a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.” But their cables to Washington were ignored.

When I published the warnings from these cables in April 2020, they added fuel to a debate that had already gone from a scientific and forensic question to a hot-button political issue, as the previously internal U.S. government debate over the lab’s possible connection spilled into public view. The next day, Trump said he was “investigating,” and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Beijing to “come clean” about the origin of the outbreak. Two weeks later, Pompeo said there was “enormous evidence” pointing to the lab, but he didn’t provide any of said evidence. As Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s relationship unraveled and administration officials openly blamed the Wuhan lab, the U.S.-China relationship only went further downhill.

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“..he was paid €600,000 for lobbying a mask supplier..”

Incompetence and Corruption Allegations Blight Germany’s Handling Of Covid (RT)

Allegations of German politicians at the highest level of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government profiteering from the pandemic have rocked a nation sick of lockdown restrictions, struggling with a stubborn Covid-19 infection rate and a shambolic vaccine rollout. A leading figure in Germany’s largest opposition party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Euro MP Gunnar Beck, fears the corruption could go deeper, telling me, “While two of Mrs. Merkel’s allies have been found out and resigned from their parties so far, the odds are there are significantly more involved in this corrupt behaviour.”

German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting that up to a dozen MPs might be involved in the face-masks-for-kickbacks scandal where two key MPs were allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of euros in exchange for facilitating lucrative government contracts. Beck said the environment for corruption became apparent at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak. “There was an acute shortage of face masks and other relevant equipment in Germany and predominantly foreign companies were looking to shift production and take advantage of that situation,” he said. “They were looking for quick and smooth access to government deals and it appears that some MPs provided such access in return for significant financial gain that was straightforwardly unlawful.

“So not only do we have incompetence that led to a shortage of protective equipment in the first place, it seems we have incontrovertible evidence of widespread corruption. Incompetent and corrupt; those are the two adjectives that characterise the German government’s whole approach to the coronavirus crisis.” The two politicians embroiled in the scandal have quit not only their parliamentary posts but their political parties as well, with the Christian Democrats’ (CDU) Nikolas Loebel, 34, announcing that he was to quit politics altogether, leaving his parliamentary seat, a post on the Foreign Affairs Committee and his party with immediate effect.

Resigning, Loebel said: “I take responsibility for my actions and draw the necessary political consequences.” He had admitted that a firm he ran earned €250,000 commission from face mask sales. Georg Nuesslein, a 51-year-old MP with Christian Socialist Union (CSU) the sister party of Merkel’s CDU has denied charges stemming from an inquiry into alleged bribery after accusations were made that he was paid €600,000 for lobbying a mask supplier during the first wave of the pandemic.

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This we will see all over the world. Local governments have lost far too much revenue.

Covid Has Exposed Dire Position Of England’s Local Councils (G.)

The pandemic has a habit of bringing hidden social crises into the open. Now it reveals the precarious position of local government, the provider of vital services from care homes to public health and bin collection, which has helped keep the show on the road in the UK’s biggest national emergency since the second world war. The National Audit Office (NAO) account of the near implosion of England’s local councils during Covid is sobering: only by the government’s swift, if grudging, injection of billions of pounds of emergency cash into council coffers over recent months did ministers avert what the auditors call “system-wide financial failure”.

The watchdog rightly praises ministers for this: the consequences of scores of local authorities having to declare bankruptcy in the middle of lockdown are frightening. But it makes two other points: first, that 10 years of austerity made municipal finances structurally fragile; and second, that councils’ budget crisis isn’t over. It makes clear successive Tory governments not only dismantled the town hall roof but failed to fix it by the time hurricane Covid blew in. Council spending was cut by a third, rising demand for social care was ignored and council budgets made reliant on the whims of local income, whether council tax or car parking charges.

Grand, longstanding government plans to reform local government and social care funding failed to materialise. For years, councils patched up their threadbare budgets by using up financial reserves and cutting frontline services. The more ambitious borrowed billions to spend on risky office and retail investments. So when Covid arrived, council spending rocketed, income crashed and many found they had little in the way of rainy-day cash reserves. As the NAO puts it: “Funding reductions … means that authorities’ finances were potentially more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic that they would have been otherwise.”

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… is to own a bank. Greensill is a pretty unbelievable story.

The Best Way to Rob a Bank (Ben Hunt)

Is this a Madoff Moment for the unicorn market? Honestly, if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have told you that a Madoff Moment was impossible in our narrative-consumed, speak-no-evil market world of 2021. Now I’m not sure. We’ll see, but I think this has legs. By all rights, Greensill – the eponymously named investment bank started by former Citigroup and Morgan Stanley banker Lex Greensill in 2011 – should have been shot between the eyes in 2019. That’s when their “supply-chain finance” loans, in this case to the steel and energy companies of the UK’s “Savior of Steel”, Sanjeev Gupta, blew up Swiss asset manager GAM’s $11 billion flagship fund, the Absolute Return Bond Fund (ARBF).

It’s a story as old as capital markets … Greensill lent Gupta a lot of money, Greensill wined and dined and private jetted ARBF portfolio manager Tim Haywood, and so naturally Haywood bought as much of the Greensill-originated loans as humanly possible, topping out at 12% of ARBF NAV. LOL. The loans, of course, were not as they seem, Gupta’s companies were nowhere near as solid as they were represented, and GAM ended up firing Haywood and seeing their stock price crater. The GAM CEO got fired, lots of people lost lots of money … end of the road for Greensill, right? Nope. Enter Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, who ended up putting $1.5 billion into Greensill in 2019 through Softbank and then another $1.5 billion into Greensill through the Vision Fund, becoming Greensill’s largest investor and diluting the prior largest investor – General Atlantic – from a 15% to a 7% position. And then the fun begins.

Since that 2019 rescue, Greensill has lent billions of dollars to Softbank and General Atlantic affiliates (mostly Softbank, but GA looks plenty stinky here), loans that were then bought by Credit Suisse funds and laundered by Greensill’s German bank subsidiary. Now when I say ‘laundered’, I don’t mean that metaphorically. The German banking and markets regulator, BaFin, has suspended Greensill’s banking license and referred the case for criminal prosecution.

Here’s an example of how the scam worked. Again, it’s a story as old as capital markets. In early 2020, Greensill lent Softbank portfolio company Katerra $435 million. The company ran into … errr … operational difficulties, and Softbank ponied up $200 million in additional capital last December. For its part, Greensill wrote off the $435 million loan in exchange for … again, wait for it … 5% of common equity. LOL. The $9 billion valuation for Katerra (I am not making this up) was determined by Softbank, of course, and so the Greensill German bank subsidiary reported on its balance sheet that all was well. A $435 million senior loan, secured by trade receivables, was exchanged for a 5% equity position in a bankrupt company, with no loss reported. Seems fair! As always, the best way to rob a bank is to own a bank.

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This doesn’t smell right.

European Parliament Lifts Immunity Of Catalonia MEPs (RT)

The European Parliament has voted to strip MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati of immunity, paving the way for their extradition to Spain over their roles in the outlawed 2017 Catalonia independence referendum. The three politicians were elected to the European Parliament in 2019, after having fled Spain two years earlier to avoid arrest warrants for sedition, after they helped to organize and run the 2017 independence referendum in Catalonia, despite it being banned by Spain’s central government. Spain had asked the European Parliament to vote to strip the three politicians of immunity last year but that vote had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.


Puigdemont lost his immunity in a 400-248 vote, while Comin and Ponsati lost their protection in a 404 to 247 ballot, confirming a recommendation that was made by a European parliament committee last month. The committee’s report had laid out how the three individuals should lose their protection against the charges filed by Spain, as the crimes they are accused of committing occurred before they took office and was unrelated to their work as MEPs. The three individuals will now be at risk of being extradited back to Spain to face charges, with the countries they are currently seeking refuge in left to decide whether to fulfil the judicial request from Spain. Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia, and Comin, the region’s former education minister, both reside in Belgium, while Ponsati, the ex-health minister, is currently living in Scotland.

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Drip.

Cuomo Gave Bond Deals To His Wall Street Donors (IBT)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has since 2012 taken in more than $131,000 in campaign contributions from three major financial firms that were then tapped by his administration to manage state bond work, according to an International Business Times review of campaign finance documents and state bond prospectuses. The Democratic governor accepted the money — and his officials handed out the government business without competitive bids — despite federal rules that bar campaign contributors from receiving taxpayer-financed state bond work. Last week, Cuomo officials designated the three banks that contributed the campaign funds — JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America — as the dealers for a $33 million bond issue, enabling the firms to reap lucrative fees.

That came on top of the Cuomo administration assigning the firms to manage a $68 million bond issue last fall, even as federal law enforcement officials were investigating allegations that New York lawmakers were doing favors for political donors. Federal rules bar states from awarding bond work to parties who have donated to gubernatorial campaigns within the last two years (more than $86,000 of the campaign cash from the firms flowed to Cuomo in the last two years). The rules aim to prevent financial firms from gaining influence over officials who have the power to select which firms receive the lucrative bond business. The rules explicitly seek to stop financial companies from circumventing those strictures: They prohibit firms from channeling contributions to bond overseers through PACs, which are giant pools of money distributed to multiple campaign war chests.

“The pay-to-play rules are very clear,” said Craig Holman, an ethics expert at the watchdog group Public Citizen. “If Andrew Cuomo’s receiving any money from a PAC controlled by a municipal dealer, he’d be in violation of pay-to-play rules.”

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Split it up into baby Twiiters.

Twitter Sues Texas AG (ZH)

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming that he used his office to retaliate against the social media giant for banning former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol, according to the Associated Press. Following Trump’s banishment by several left-leaning companies, Paxton announced that his office was investigating Twitter, Apple, Google and Amazon for what he called “the seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the President.” He made several document requests related to their content moderation policies, as well as internal communications. Twitter demands that the court effectively halt Paxton’s investigation.

“Paxton made clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his expansive investigatory powers, to retaliate against Twitter for having made editorial decisions with which he disagrees,” wrote Twitter’s lawyers in the suit filed in a Northern California court. Twitter’s counterpunch comes as states, in addition to federal lawmakers and governments outside the U.S., are cracking down on tech companies they see as having amassed too much power in the past decade. This includes antitrust and anti-monopoly regulation, internet privacy laws as well as attempts to regulate how platforms like Twitter, Facebook and others moderate their sites.

In December, Paxton led 10 Republican attorneys general in suing Google for allegedly running an illegal digital-advertising monopoly in cahoots with Facebook. GOP politicians in roughly two dozen states have also introduced bills that would allow for civil lawsuits against platforms for what they call the “censorship” of posts. Almost always, this means what they view as the censorship of conservative or Christian religious viewpoints. -Associated Press Paxton cited the First Amendment while launching his investigation, claiming that tech companies’ deplatforming of Trump “chills free speech” and “wholly silences” his detractors.

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Bellingcat.

Massive Secret UK Propaganda Campaign in Former Soviet Republics (MPN)

Standing against the scorching blue backdrop at the EU podium in late 2017, then British Prime Minister Theresa May mendaciously promised to “counter [Russian] disinformation” in all the former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe, Eurasia and the Baltics by pledging €110 Million ($130 Million) over five years to fight the Kremlin’s influence in the region. A massive data leak published by the Anonymous hacktivist group this past February has revealed how some of that money was used to create and disseminate disinformation, alternate narratives and effectuate the outright manipulation of media by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through a number of partnerships with stalwart disinformation outfits like Bellingcat, established information warfare specialist firms like the Zinc Network among dozens more that were working in secret with the governmental entity responsible for promoting British interests around the world.

Several different operations dedicated to a specific region or country have been discovered so far, as reporters sift through the trove of documents. Highly sophisticated and disturbingly insidious propaganda campaigns to influence society, mold perceptions about Russia, and affect political outcomes were carried out by teams of Western media organizations, consultants, paid assets, and operatives from the Baltics to the shores of the Mediterranean. The Open Information Partnership (OIP), as one of these far-reaching operations is named, received funding from the FCDO, according to RT, of at least £10 Million and was comprised of 44 partners, among which the aforementioned Bellingcat and Zinc, were joined by the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab and London-based NGO Media Diversity Institute and others.

Billed as a “diverse network of organisations and individuals united in our determination to expose and counter disinformation,” OIP’s partners had their agents strewn across Central and Eastern Europe to deliver on the scope of work delineated in its contracts with the FCDO, which would determine what locations to target at any given moment. North Macedonia was selected early on and Zinc initiated the operation by identifying the largest media outlet in the country, MOST Network. The information warfare outfit and OIP partners approached DFRLab and Bellingcat to offer a two-week course on “cyber security training, mentoring on digital forensics, open source investigation and media ethics.”

Although the documents don’t provide specific dates, it is inferred that the 2019 election in North Macedonia was what moved the FCDO to prioritize it at that time, given the choice between pro-EU and pro-Russia candidates. A recent RT exposé revealed disinformation efforts by the UK that predate May’s speech by at least a year, targeting ethnic Russians in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. A 2016 request for proposal issued by the FCDO seeks contractors to “provide overt innovative soft power interventions that will foster better links between the United Kingdom and individuals in the Baltic States whose primary language is Russian.”

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“.. if illegal crossing attempts continue at the rate they’ve been going in the last four months, the final tally by the end of this fiscal year will surpass 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined.”

White House Won’t Admit Biden’s Dealing With A Border Crisis (RT)

The fruits of Joe Biden’s border policies are already apparent: a tripling of children detained at the border, and crossings set to hit record levels. Yet the administration refuses to acknowledge it has a crisis on its hands. The number of unaccompanied migrant children detained along the southern US border has tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. These children are filling the same Customs and Border Patrol facilities that Biden himself called “inhumane” during his 2020 campaign, and the “overflow shelters” opened by the Biden administration are nearing capacity. On top of the surge in child arrivals, agents encountered 78,000 migrants attempting to cross the border in January, the highest number for that month in more than a decade.

John Modlin, the interim chief in charge of the Border Patrol’s Tucson, Arizona sector, told Sinclair reporter Sharyl Attkisson on Sunday that if illegal crossing attempts continue at the rate they’ve been going in the last four months, the final tally by the end of this fiscal year will surpass 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined. This uptick in illegal immigration has been directly linked to Biden’s near-total reversal of former president Donald Trump’s tougher border policies. Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy was eliminated by executive order, and migrants awaiting their asylum claims in Mexico have now begun heading north to the US. Biden has also modified Trump’s policy of turning back all border crossers during the Covid-19 pandemic, carving out an exception for under-18s, hence the surge in unaccompanied minors highlighted by the New York Times.

Among his flurry of executive orders overturning Trump’s border policies, Biden resurrected the so-called ‘Catch and Release’ program, an Obama-era policy suspended by Trump, under which migrants apprehended at the border would be released in the US, on the condition that they later show up for an immigration court hearing. Unsurprisingly, few ever do, and even those who play by the rules face a wait time of up to 689 days. Critics claim that ‘Catch and Release’ effectively invites migrants to make the journey to the US, and Biden has faced criticism even from within his own party for reinstating the policy. “I don’t think, quite frankly, the Biden administration was aware of what’s happening on the ground here,” Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa told The Hill on Sunday. “The Border Patrol is overwhelmed, they’re throwing their hands up because they don’t know what to do.”

Psaki

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“My training kicked in and I leapt into action. I’m just happy I was able to make a difference.”

Secret Service Agent Saves Biden As Reporter Tries To Ask A Question (BBee)

In an extraordinary act of bravery and heroism, a Secret Service agent dove in front of Biden to block a question from a pesky reporter. As Biden slowly stepped out of his vehicle, a nosy reporter rudely attempted to ask him intrusive questions about things that were none of her business. “Nooooooooooo!” said agent James Carter as the CBS reporter raised her hand to ask a completely inappropriate question– possibly about the Middle East, or executive orders. Carter ran up to the president, arms outstretched, and dove through the air to shield the president from the incoming query.


“It’s like everything went into slow motion,” said Agent Carter. “My training kicked in and I leapt into action. I’m just happy I was able to make a difference.” Carter took the entire force of the blow from the incoming question before collapsing to the ground. “Hey– lookie there, they fly now!” said President Biden. “Hey there young man, would you mind not flying in front of me while I exit my vehicle? I have to get to the Oval Office in time for Matlock.” The Secret Service agent sustained minor injuries but is grateful to have saved the president from a reporter’s unwelcome question. “Just doing my job,” he said.

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Moar.

OECD Believes Biden Stimulus Will Boost World GDP (ZH)

A global economic recovery is coming in hotter and faster than previously anticipated by the OECD as President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus program will boost not just the domestic economy but the world. The Paris-based organization upgraded its outlook for global growth on Tuesday in a note titled “The need for speed: faster vaccine rollout critical to stronger recovery,” where it explains global output could surge above pre-pandemic levels by the second half of 2021 as vaccine rollouts and stimulus aid the recovery but warned of unevenness. In Europe, measures to boost output will result in slower growth, with the OECD lowering France and Italy’s outlook this year. It also warned accommodative policies should not be prematurely tightened.

OECD estimates global GDP growth will print around 5.6% this year, an upward revision of more than one percentage point since its December 2020 report. Laurence Boone, the OECD’s chief economist, told the Financial Times that the stimulus bill – known as the American Rescue Plan – will add one percentage point to global economic growth in 2021. There are consequences to governments and monetary authorities across the planet printing like there was no tomorrow – that is – a sharp rise in inflation expectations are putting pressure on central banks to adopt some form of the yield curve control to cap the long end of the curve. It has also added to a violent shift from growth to value, where the once favored tech stocks have lost their luster, such as TSLA, NFLX, and AMZN, as investors pivot to value companies like XOM.

Boone doesn’t believe the stimulus package will increase domestic inflation to dangerous levels because “there is a lot of slack in US labor markets,” she said. “The amazing fiscal support everywhere means that we have preserved the economic fabric across OECD countries. Even in emerging markets, we’ve seen amazing policy support,” Boone said.

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Babylon Bee outdone by Politico. “A sales job”. Indeed.

The Biden Blitz Is Coming (Pol.)

President Joe Biden spent the first months of his presidency hunkered down as he worked on getting more vaccines into people’s arms and a massive bill to deal with the pandemic to his desk. With that $1.9 trillion legislation set to clear Congress and the pace of vaccinations picking up, the White House is preparing to embark on a new, far more public-facing phase. Biden is scheduled to deliver his first prime-time address as president Thursday, which will focus on the Covid crisis. Later this month, he’ll hold the first press conference of his young presidency. He’s committed to making a still-unscheduled address to Congress. And officials are busy preparing for a sprawling sales campaign designed to draw attention to the benefits of the Covid-relief package. Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and others will hit the road to tout, among other things: the $1,400 checks, how billions of dollars in the bill will reopen schools, and the investments being made in increasing the numbers of vaccinations.

“There are a lot of people who use the term ‘victory lap’ in a derogatory way. I’ve already heard people saying that Biden is about to take a victory lap. Well, that’s a lot of crap,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close Biden ally. “One of the—if not the biggest—mistakes that Obama made, in my opinion, was getting the Recovery Act done and not explaining to people what he had done.” Biden and top administration officials acknowledged they’ll have to do more to ensure the benefits of their package sink into the public’s consciousness. And they’ve spent weeks carefully planning how best to begin their efforts while much of the country remains consumed by the pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that once the American Rescue Plan is signed, “We will need to do some work and use our best voices.”

Part of the White House strategy before the Covid package passed was aimed at avoiding the kinds of storyline distractions that Biden can sometimes create in less guarded moments. That’s one reason the White House so far has avoided putting Biden in front of reporters for more in-depth questioning. The upcoming sales job will require Biden to assume a new posture: fewer scripted events and private dealings with lawmakers, more interactions with the press and appearances before the public. That will give the president opportunities to make more emotional appeals, such as highlighting older family members finally being able to get together with their grandchildren.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 10 2021

Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)
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  • #70887

    Vincent van Gogh Pink peach trees (Souvenir de mauve) 1888   • Lockdowns the ‘Biggest Public Health Mistake We’ve Ever Made’ (NW) • Coronavirus V
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 10 2021]

    #70889
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Vincent van Gogh Pink peach trees (Souvenir de mauve) 1888

    Beautiful; how could one not love it?
    Reminds me of Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams; The Peach Orchid was one of 10 storeylines and a sublime trip into human behavior……

    #70890
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    The Peach Orchid AKA peach orchard
    The edit sucked…

    #70891
    Polder Dweller
    Participant

    “Immune escape” seems to be the new scary phrase across the internet.

    Virologist and epidemiologist Geert Vanden Bossche published this open letter a couple of days ago explaining that the global vaccination campaign, lockdowns and other measures are working together to produce increasingly dangerous strains of the coronavirus which are likely to devastate the population if nothing is done about this now.

    The problem is on the one hand that the current vaccines do not stop people from shedding viral material, infecting others and giving the virus the perfect opportunity to get around the body’s immune system. On the other hand, keeping people locked away in their homes is weakening their natural defenses through lack of exercise, sunlight etc, but also by preventing them from being exposed to pathogens that they can easily handle (such as the common cold) which keeps their immune systems from being in optimal form.

    The pandemic is being exacerbated by the very measures put in place to cope with it.

    #70892
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    The edit sucked…

    Actually…I sucked, SNAFU!!!!

    #70894
    John Day
    Participant

    Gonna go to the Texas Capital, get a free COVID swab, and enter, to see if I am asked to say anything.

    Aloha

    #70895
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    My dubiousness about lockdowns probably began when the effect of them made the financial economy go into the toilet so dramatically that the Fed had to essentially “socialize” the financial markets, and all those unemployment numbers just went right through the freaking roof. And it’s not that I care more about money than about people’s well-being, it’s just that people’s well-being is to a very large measure maintained by the economy being able to function in a certain way.

    I think Gail Tverberg might have been on to something in positing that the real idea behind the lockdowns was to apply the breaks to a complexity-fragile and overheated economy that was in danger of demanding more fuel than could be reliably supplied indefinitely. Only when they did this did it become apparent that the at least some broken pieces of the pre-Covid economy might not be so easily glued back into place, on account being too broken.

    #70897
    zerosum
    Participant

    Human nature
    Its too late to go back.
    Before is yesterday.
    Don’t help the virus, Help your immune system, stay healthy
    • Coronavirus Variants To Evolve, Escape Current Generation Of Vaccines (RT)
    ———
    As always ….
    Feed yourself first

    “….those who were already rich have increased that wealth exponentially, while those who were at the bottom have sunk even lower.
    policies enacted by governments around the world have resulted in giving even more billions to the super-rich while denuding the poorest.
    In past times of hardship, governments have used the welfare state as a prop to keep their populations from the edge of starvation and away from full-blown insurrection. ”
    ——–
    How to feed yourself first
    President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus program will boost not just the domestic economy but the world global GDP growth will print around 5.6% this year
    Local/School/Municipal gov., around the world, need more income than what they collect from taxes.
    —–
    @ John Day
    Good Luck
    Assume that “they” know the info that you might want to reveal/put on the record.
    (don’t forget your meds)
    ——-

    #70898
    zerosum
    Participant

    Pent up demand
    No money.
    No Problem
    Its not “my” money
    Governments not changing their spending patterns.
    Nobody is changing their addictive spending patterns

    #70899
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Speaking of losing yesterday, “Huffington Post Fires 1/3rd Of Its Staff”

    So there are so many Conservative sites they have to be force-banned off every platformed, every news site is rising, every middling pundit like Shapiro is top 10, CNN and HuffPo are essentially dead. NYT cannibalized all other U.S. papers to stay alive and is still failing. Yet it’s the right that’s losing, not the Left. Uh-huh. When you have to spend 100gal/hour on both engines to fight the tide, you’ve lost. At some point you run out of energy to pointlessly throw at King Canute, someone blinks, and the waters roll over you. That’s the Tao te Ching. You go WITH the way, the tide, the river, not against it.

    You can almost hear them screaming from their lair, “This can’t be happening! It’s impossible!”

    RussiaRussiaRussia! “US Preparing Cyberattack Against Russia Over SolarWinds Hack: Report”

    Because they literally don’t know if Russia did it and suspect they probably didn’t. But that’s reality so who cares! “We make our own reality now…”

    ” Lockdowns the ‘Biggest Public Health Mistake We’ve Ever Made’ (NW)”

    They weren’t a mistake. They did exactly what they intended. Destroyed poor people, killed some, moved all their wealth to Jeff Bezos, and gave a few more months to the dying economic system. That’s like win-win-win.

    “In the US, they have protected the “non-essential” class from COVID, while exposing the essential working class to the disease.”

    Frame this in needlepoint on your wall.

    ” Coronavirus Variants To Evolve, Escape Current Generation Of Vaccines (RT)”

    Good thing we have 10 cures and the disease won’t kill you anyway. But Dr. Fauci’s on the “Prevent Vitamin D” taskforce and wants you to hide inside, and if going outside, cover every inch of skin to prevent vitamins from reaching you. Toronto says you’re required to lock your children in a closet and not speak to them. “The lockdown did exactly what they intended.”

    “Growing Covid Inequality Virus to Fuel Popular Rebellions across the World (RT)”

    I did wonder what it was going to take.

    “In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab (Pol.)”

    Yes, in a lab funded by Dr. Fauci. Personally. The money has started up again under Biden. Rather than, say, use it for vitamin D research or medical care in Little Rock.

    “faster vaccine rollout critical to stronger recovery,”

    Why? You still have to wear (two) masks in your own home, and not go out. It only made a difference to Pharma profits and to Amazon.

    P.S. The OECD has been wrong about everything since the day they were born.

    “President Joe Biden spent the first months of his presidency hunkered down”

    Well that is a true statement. Will they ever let him out? “He’s committed to making a still-unscheduled address to Congress.” Three months in and he’s thinking he might, maybe, go talk to government about, you know, his job. But there is good news, the less they do the safer well all be.

    Back the real world, bond market gyrating, but in motion. Don’t know where the motion is yet. Looks like BTC new high though. Why not? We clock 1,000 a week in the DOW.

    #70900
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    The Van Gogh image insisted I post this musical offspring:

    Poulenc

    #70901
    Noirette
    Participant

    Surveillance of Covid vaccines effects, France.

    Data is hard to find, one has to get around a ‘page doesn’t exist’ thingie. Links in a 2nd post.

    * = my comment*

    From the French Public Health site. Nos. are cumulative to 5 March (or noted if different)

    *All are certainly undercounts; the report does not warn about this.*

    Total vax so far: 4,315,000

    *this is jabs and not ppl fully vaccinated, fully vaxxed maybe about 5% of the population*

    Pfizer 3,954,000 (rest: Moderna, Astra Zeneca.)

    Undesirable effects (for all) 9,174

    For just one week, last week in Feb, 29% serious, 71% not serious.

    Pfizer (leaving out Moderna and Astra Z.)

    cumul. to 25 Feb: 7,000 undesirable side effects

    *the no. is not given, I’m peering at a shoddy chart*

    22% serious
    78% not serious

    75% for women, 25% for men.

    *Vaxxed, from other stats, is 60% women and 40% men, as the group ‘working in med / health / old ppls homes etc. are predominantly F. Still .. ?*

    68% aged 16-64 —32 % aged 65 +

    *As the huge majority of ppl vaxxed have been elderly, this shows that relatively ‘younger’ ppl experience more serious side effects. All the F stats have been very reticent re. age-groups, and this info is often missing, or obfuscated somehow. For ex, in the report summarized here, no “effects” / the deaths are detailed by age.*

    Serious effects of ‘special interest’ – implying not all are listed – total on the list is 834:

    >> most frequent:

    259 “heart” (various)

    65 convulsions

    64 strokes

    49 Covid 19

    49 acute respiratory distress

    54 hemorragic disease (idk what exactly this refers to)

    37 anaphylaxis level II and III

    30 facial paralysis (Guillain-Barré is a separate category: 1)

    21 thrombosis

    16 pulmonary embolism

    217 deaths

    *this cat. appears as the last entry on the table, it is not a total, but a separate category.* (very sneaky)

    ——

    peculiarly Diabetes is on the list (9)!

    The list is incomplete because accompanying text mentions zona (shingles) while stating “most cases weren’t serious” (91 cases.) High blood pressure is also mentioned but not on the list.

    So the F official site logs 217 deaths as directly caused by the Pfizer vax. Implied as well is the Pfizer vax causes Covid-19, if only in a very few cases.

    I have never seen such a mess in F. stats. The F. are good at math, good at stats, and many of the d-bases and Gvmt. reports on all kinds of topics are well done, or OK, acceptable, and can be downloaded, checked, etc. Caveats are regularly in the prelude, introduction. E.g. employment (in all its forms), leukemia cases, prisoners, etc.

    Naturally, many damning or sensitive numbers / topics are simply not published, the control is tight.

    #70902
    Noirette
    Participant

    https://ansm.sante.fr/S-informer/Actualite/Point-de-situation-sur-la-surveillance-des-vaccins-contre-la-COVID-193

    At the top of the page, click on the FIRST “fait marquants” report to download it.

    #70903
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ Polder Dweller

    “…the global vaccination campaign, lockdowns and other measures are working together to produce increasingly dangerous strains of the coronavirus which are likely to devastate the population if nothing is done about this now.”

    Thanx for sharing that. I’ve been wondering the same thing the past few months. And it will hit when public trust in major institutional authority has been trashed. THere are times when the looming future seems like a disaster movie producer’s nightmare. It’s like the future’s been hoarding disasters, waiting for our arrival at the proper moment. Big surprise party.

    %^&

    @ Dr. D

    “Yet it’s the right that’s losing, not the Left.”

    But it’s neither the left nor the right who are losing or winning. This is not a game with winners, only losers. If any ideological parties are being amplified or selected for right now, it’s the libertarians and anarchists. Liberals/conservatives is SO Enlightenment Industrial Era.

    Taibbi is neither lib nor con altho he surely has roots in one or the other. Those have entirely, and I mean entirely reduced to stickers the customer can remove and place on other merchandise as they please. It’s 90% off everything, and everything must go.

    I will say that in core road/street terms, certain factions associated with conservatism, hollahboyz being a clarion example, definitely hold the upper hand regarding survival and all that when the last illusions fall. But the turfs that are blue-stickered as liberal will fast produce their urban equivalents.

    If I were young, I’d be sizing up the local big guns and making myself useful to them. One can enlist before there is an army to join.

    We will see adventure, most of us. We can be heroes, even.

    #70904
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ John Day
    Why my posts did appear as pointing at you (duh kinda?), my inquiries are aimed to the medical community in general. After a full year of this Covid craze it is safe that it nothing but the craze? By no means that I am expecting you to go point by point in answering, this is the partial basket of questions that any sane and thinking person has in mind and, yet, we still have train of “statistics”, “recommendations”, “vaccines” as if skepticism about it is a lunacy and thrown aside. We have non medical people digging into the field that have no business in or hardly understand, just to uncover the truth, and are vocal on internet in clumsy amateurish way, while medically educated are silent, except for some voices from the other side of the globe. You (meaning entire med profession) DO UNDERSTAND that we have nobody else to ask?
    – Are we in pandemic or “pandemic”?
    – How pandemic can be declared if the PCR tests are not reliable?
    – Isn’t it already proven that masks are useless, yet we can not run daily life without?
    – Vaccines are already referred to as an experiment and without known side effects are administered forcefully on
    population and without guarantee of “anything” including maker’s responsibility.
    – I see you’re busy, and I tip a hat for that to you. Busy with what? Covid patients? If so why the facilities are overflowing
    with Covid cases (which are questionable due to PCR testing) and others are not?
    – Last but not the least, a major bomb: “Class action lawsuit” video of which was posted by me and other poster too on this blog. In that l-suit, (which BTW will have extremely hard time if any chance, but shows that some are not buying into BS) lawyer is clear that even medical practitioners will be held responsible and “I just followed the orders” will be no defense. And, yet, no peek from the meds, except for the few brave ones assisting the lawyers, and mentioned above?

    Non-medical defender on the blog who stepped out of the barn to defend you as “being busy” and not owing ME any answers, as if I was asking it for myself and not puzzled by the silence.
    During 911 I was a busy engineer, overworked by dealing with tight tolerances, responsibility for the field assessments and installation. Basically in the profession that does not go away after hours and over the week end. That did not prevent me to see through the narrative BS of that event and delighted (if that is the right word, given the gravity of the deceit) to see my skepticism confirmed by “Loose change” documentary and others to follow than cherry topped by A&E for the 911 truth movement
    Again, my apology if I stepped bit hard on you while I really meant on entire med field.

    #70905
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Madamski
    Thank you for the musical idea this morning.
    Perhaps I should always read in the morning to beautiful classical piano music…it might provide some perspective and balance when I read about the insanity going on in the human sphere.

    Mondays I meet with a an older friend to make music. This past Monday I asked whether we truly needed masks indoors? My friend is now “fully vaccinated” with the Pfizer jab (his wife also), my partner and I recovered from Covid, my kids were away. Yes, we must still wear masks indoors, y’see, because his wife (not present) insists that he must because the CDC says that vaccinated folks must still wear masks.

    We respected his wishes — don’t want him “in trouble with the missus.”

    I always struggle to understand why so many fail to THINK. The CDC guidance appeared mostly based on the fact that, as far as we know, the fully vaccinated can still transmit Covid to others. So if a fully vaccinated person is around others who are not at risk from Covid or unconcerned about Covid, there is no purpose to the mask. This perspective was largely confirmed yesterday when the CDC changed their stance, and now says the fully vaccinated may unmask around those for whom Covid poses little to no risk.

    There is a purpose for the CDC, and in some situations I pay close attention to their guidelines. We live in a litigious society and when there is a fair chance that an interaction could proceed to legal issues, following CDC regulations is good for CYA.

    I’ve heard (but didn’t bother confirming) that the CDC states that natural immunity wanes after a month. Fat chance that will be fact-checked anywhere…but don’t be surprised if any narrative suggesting otherwise silently sinks to the bottom of the web.

    #70906
    island raider
    Participant

    Vaccine adverse event reporting from the US CDC website:
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.htmlOver 92 million doses of “COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through March 8, 2021. During this time, VAERS received 1,637 reports of death (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. CDC and FDA physicians review each case report of death as soon as notified and CDC requests medical records to further assess reports. A review of available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records revealed no evidence that vaccination contributed to patient deaths. CDC and FDA will continue to investigate reports of adverse events, including deaths, reported to VAERS.”

    #70907

    The issue with mRNA “therapy” was never that people might drop dead right after being injected. The issue is what these things do with/to your immune system. Short term gain vs long term effects. Same as our economic systems.

    #70908
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Both Giant Icebergs are Heart-breakers. Add that upon the shoulders of most Americans and they will break.

    The packages from India arrived and are exactly as ordered. Now my plans are complete, including hard copies of the “recipe” (thank you John Day) for implementation.

    The Vitamin D3 (2500IU) that I take is derived from plants (lichen) and has K2 (100mcg). Use the words: purathrive Micelle Lipsomal vitamin D3 with K2 – to find. The BioZnQ is a powerhouse (Quercetin from flower buds) (anything you can get/always best from flowers). Radiant C, B12 and Turmeric (all purathrive), Purely-E, Mag-SRT, Alaskan Cod Liver Oil, enviro Beef Liver (for bio-active A and precious copper), trace mineral drops, Jigsaw Adrenal coctail, and Redmond salt. Nanosilver for protection: spraying eyes, nasal passages, mouth and throat when around people, and many other uses. This is a comprehensive list; not for everyone at this level of participation. It takes dedication to health to stay the course; I also admit to having access and resources to make this happen. Do what you can.

    #70909
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    island raider: “Vaccine adverse event reporting from the US CDC website…”

    A more comprehensive view of the data can be found at this site, using the VAERS data once it’s made public. These are the results as of 2/26/2021:

    From the 2/26/2021 release of VAERS data:
    Found 25,212 cases where Vaccine is COVID19

    Death 1,265 5.02% [of reports)
    Permanent Disability 479 1.9%
    Office Visit 3,888 15.42%
    Emergency Room 22 0.09%
    Emergency Doctor/Room 4,908 19.47%
    Hospitalized 2,742 10.88%
    Hospitalized, Prolonged 1 0%
    Recovered 9,236 36.63%
    Birth Defect 36 0.14%
    Life Threatening 886 3.51%
    Not Serious 8,946 35.48%

    (Because some cases have multiple vaccinations and symptoms, a single case can account for multiple entries in this table. This is the reason why the Total Count is greater than 25212 (the number of cases found), and the Total Percentage is greater than 100.)

    https://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=CAT&EVENTS=ON&VAX=COVID19

    #70911
    Germ
    Participant

    Well, well, well ….. It’s Moderna’s SEC filing.

    On page 19 they themselves state – “Currently, mRNA is considered a gene therapy …”

    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1682852/000119312518323562/d577473ds1.htm

    Stop calling Moderna’s and Pfizer’s jab a vaccine – ‘cos it ain’t.

    #70914
    WES
    Participant

    Are Universities re-opening this fall?

    Yesterday my daughter and I were debating whether her university in Toronto, Ontario, would be fully opened this fall or if it would remain 100% online. We concluded it is still too early to tell yet.

    B.C. has told it’s universities to “prepare” to re-open. A crack. But then there is the covid outbreak in a fully vaccinated B.C. nursing home. This brings up the issue of how effective the vaccine is in stopping covid? We don’t know. We do know people everywhere are tired of the lockdown. Lockdowns are increasingly being seen as failing.

    If you put yourself in the shoes of the CEO of a university, what faces them? Money of course. That means keeping all your present 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th year students plus getting new 1st year students. They have already mastered 100% online teaching. Then there are the huge 100 to 500 seat classrooms. Will big group gatherings still be restricted?

    My daughter says all her friends hate online learning except her. She loves it plus being able to live at home, much cheaper. Obviously her friends miss the social aspect, probably one of the biggest motivators for going to university.

    So as a university CEO, what are your options since the future is a clear as mud! You can continue 100% online learning. You could offer a combination of both online learning and open classes. You could open fully. What would be your customer’s (student’s) reactions be? Would you lose any students? Would some students just take a year off? That would hurt $.

    My guess is most students would be O.K. with going back to classrooms. My daughter however wouldn’t be so keen. The costs is one thing. The other is since we are older parents, she wouldn’t want to expose us to the higher risks. Therefore she would need to live downtown. All of her friends have young parents so this isn’t a concern. Students want their social back. Maybe parents too?

    I wonder what TAE folks think will happen to universities this fall?

    #70915
    Bill7
    Participant

    “Questioning the principle of a lockdown is not terribly helpful or smart..”

    from: https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2020/05/why-lockdowns-work/

    How did the great majority’s *not* questioning lockdowns work out in practice; and who could have *ever, ever
    known* that said lockdowns would introduce the seemingly-permanent dystopian hellscape we now live under?

    Well, a few commenters here saw that as clear as day, and over a year ago, and said so..

    yeesh.

    #70916
    Bill7
    Participant

    “And you want to argue that the problem here is lockdowns?”

    Yes, and even more strongly so, in retrospect. How’d they work out for the great majority of Humans?

    #70917
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Questioning the principle of lockdown is indeed foolish. We know its working facets. It’s the application of said principle that wanted questioning and challenging.

    #70918
    Bill7
    Participant

    The indeterminate one is right, of course: the problem with Lockdown has only been one of Incorrect Application; and will be fixed by Rev. 7.22 at latest, when all the Proles are finally dead, Dead, DEAD..

    “Whoops, we’re sorry; who coulda knowed that would happen?”

    it’s a darksider

    #70919
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Anything can be darksided.

    #70920
    John Day
    Participant

    @Wes, Texas universities are more open than not, and will be in-person this fall, I predict.

    #70921
    John Day
    Participant

    @All-Y’all: I spent almost 5 hours getting to the Texas Capital and waiting, to leave for clinic, and did not ever say anything there today. Dr McCullough did testify after I was at clinic seeing patients.
    I did get to walk through the UT campus twice. It is much different than 1976-1982. I never would have thought they could cram in so many more buildings, but they closed streets to make room.

    #70922
    Bill7
    Participant

    > Anything can be darksided.

    Ooh, so Sexy!

    Replace its “can be” with “has been”, for accuracy’s sake..

    #70923
    John Day
    Participant

    @Kultsommer: That’s a lot that you present, Amigo.

    We have non medical people digging into the field that have no business in or hardly understand, just to uncover the truth, and are vocal on internet in clumsy amateurish way, while medically educated are silent, except for some voices from the other side of the globe. You (meaning entire med profession) DO UNDERSTAND that we have nobody else to ask?
    – Are we in pandemic or “pandemic”?

    It all depends on the definition of “pandemic”. It does not seem to be as bad as we were led to believe a year ago, since about 85% of people with infections don’t bother to get a test.
    (My thought is that PANDEMIC is more useful for the Great Reset than “pandemic”)

    “How pandemic can be declared if the PCR tests are not reliable?”
    PCR tests run over 25 amplification cycles give more and more and more false positives. The big labs won’t say how many amplification cycles they are running before they do the test. It should be 25. It has been up to 40.
    Who Benefits?
    The rapid antigen tests are pretty reliable for detecting clinically significant viral loads, and are increasingly available.

    “– Vaccines are already referred to as an experiment and without known side effects are administered forcefully on
    population and without guarantee of “anything” including maker’s responsibility.”

    That is the perfect business model. That’s why more and more and more money and power are concentrated in vaccine manufacture. You can cram all kinds of criminal activity into that business model. That is exactly the intention.
    Follow RFK Jr, please. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/

    “why the facilities are overflowing
    with Covid cases (which are questionable due to PCR testing) and others are not?”

    Some people get very sick and die of this virus when it gets into their bloodstreams, unlike the majority of people, who stop it in the nose, via their innate immune system. All other hospitalization events follow from that. Texas has had plummeting cases since the big peak in mid January. Your region may be different. You have to research that.

    “lawyer is clear that even medical practitioners will be held responsible and “I just followed the orders” will be no defense. And, yet, no peek from the meds, except for the few brave ones assisting the lawyers, and mentioned above?”

    You can’t sue an organized criminal syndicate this big. It’s a bluff. You and I are cattle, meat on the hoof. We are not players. We are product.

    “During 911 I was a busy engineer, overworked by dealing with tight tolerances, responsibility for the field assessments and installation. Basically in the profession that does not go away after hours and over the week end. That did not prevent me to see through the narrative BS of that event and delighted (if that is the right word, given the gravity of the deceit) to see my skepticism confirmed by “Loose change” documentary and others to follow than cherry topped by A&E for the 911 truth movement”

    So sue Dick Cheney, who ran the war room against America that day while Bush Jr read My Pet Goat on camera as his alibi.
    This is the power structure. This is their game.
    That’s all my non-medical opinion.

    Doctors are run by administrators these days. Independent thought and action were mostly squeezed out of medical training , in favor of COMPLIANCE.
    It’s the same everywhere. Doctors are now almost all afraid to do anything non-compliant.
    I was always a poor student in school because I thought for myself.
    Somehow I got through the grind based upon being good at figuring things out.
    That was not typical in my class. Most people had GREAT MEMORIES for facts and protocols.
    The world you live in is not the world you were told you lived in.
    That’s the main thing, Brother.
    It’s ALL like 9/11.

    #70924
    Bill7
    Participant

    I walked twenty-seven miles to work and back today, through snow, sleet and hail (we did in fact have the latter here, last night) -uphill *both ways*. After my twenty-hour regular workday I plowed thirty-seven acres with my bare hands; pulling that mule with all my might, and the implements, too

    It’s a hard life but a good one and I am satisfied

    #70925
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Bill7
    I walked twenty-seven miles to work and back today, through snow, sleet and hail (we did in fact have the latter here, last night) -uphill *both ways*. After my twenty-hour regular workday I plowed thirty-seven acres with my bare hands; pulling that mule with all my might, and the implements, too

    I’m very uncomfortable with your above post.
    So that I do not jump to any untoward conclusions; please speak in plain English, what you mean, by what you say…thanks…

    #70927
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    @John Day: I can relate to what you’re saying about Austin. I went to school at the UW in Madison in the late eighties, and I have since visited Madison in person and through Google Streetview. The downtown/ campus area is so hyperdeveloped that it hardly seems like the Madison of my fond old memories anymore. And it isn’t just university buildings, it’s also expensive high-rise student housing. You can always pick out the new residential structures by this weird, puzzle-boxy look they have.

    About lockdowns: I was kind of on the fence about lockdowns when the pandemic started, because I had no living memory of living through any sort of pandemic either major or minor. But the longer it goes on, the more apparent it is that this approach is just too antithetical to normal human life. Not to mention the fact that we have very readily available means for treating this virus that for some reason we’re not using, and the establishment press can be counted on to do hacky hit-pieces on those means. A whole year of this, and you really have to start wondering if something else is going on here.

    #70934
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    John, you forgot to answer this one from koltsommer’s list:

    – Isn’t it already proven that masks are useless, yet we can not run daily life without?

    No, it is not proven that “masks are useless” — not when everyone is wearing them. Masks are one of the main reasons Asian countries have fared much, much better than Western countries. Voluntary (common sense) compliance was already 95% before the mandates, and now it is close to 100%. Densely-populated Korea has kept new cases to under 500 per day, and has had only 90,000 cases since the beginning — with a case counted as a positive PCR test. 90,000 is just another day in the USA. Isn’t it funny how the “masks are useless” crowd never talks about the data from Asia?

    By the way, thanks whoever suggested the India site to buy Ivermectin. Mine arrived today, and now I have enough for the whole neighborhood.

    #70936
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Boogaloo: Ever since the Trumpsters decided to make masks into a cultural signifier, that pretty much guaranteed that the science would go right out the window. Here’s how that science works: When we respirate, we exhale a significant amount of moisture. That is why you “see” your breath when it’s very cold outside. In the case of an airborne respiratory virus such as Covid, there are bound to be a lot of the virus in the moisture we exhale. When everyone is wearing masks, the extent to which this moisture is sprayed into the air is dramatically curtailed. Not only that, but the mask does afford something of a barrier between one’s own nose and mouth and whatever breathed-out moisture particles are floating around in the air (though not enough to make a difference if you are indoors and the only person wearing a mask, the mask is more about protecting other people with an enhanced vulnerability to becoming infected and very sick).

    That way, the amount of virus you breathe in will be rather reduced so that it’s a lower innoculum. Because the amount of virus you are taking in is a lot less likely to overwhelm your immunological response when everyone is wearing a mask, your immune system is a lot more likely to be able to build up a defense against coronavirus. If your immune system is successful, hopefully that means if you do breathe in an excessive innoculum at some point down the road, you’ll be able to handle it without getting terribly sick.

    #70941
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Masks are clearly and provably useless and always have been. Read the gol-durned research. https://aapsonline.org/mask-facts/

    (Link denied)

    #70942
    Dr. D
    Participant

    But failing that, Raul posted it just YESTERDAY, from the CDC site:
    https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/pdfs/mm7010e3-H.pdf (link denied)

    Congratulations, you’re against the CDC and a Science Denier. Like everybody in medicine, everyone in media, everyone in government, so you’re in good company.

    Thankfully, everyone is illiterate and refuses to read anything, or they’d have to stop killing poor people.

    ““In the US, they have protected the “non-essential” class from COVID, while exposing the essential working class to the disease.”

    #70945
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Right, Dr D, right. It must be the kimchee. Maybe that’s a better explanation for why the infection rate is 99% lower in Korea even though the population density is much higher. Not masks. Nope, it must be the kimchee. Evidently the KCDC hasn’t seen your link yet. Because we are still wearing masks. And still going about our daily business with no lockdowns.

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