Mar 112021
 


Edgar Degas Danseuse au Tutu Vert 1887

 

Mass Vaccinaton Amidst A Pandemic Creates An Irrepressible Monster (VDB)
UK Covid-19 Variant Has Significantly Higher Mortality Rate Than Others (RT)
Scientists Accuse CDC Of Misinterpreting Their Research (F.)
Digital Health Pass: IBM and Moderna to Capitalize on COVID Reset (MPN)
2 Separate Studies Debunk Theory That Vitamin D Protects Against Covid-19 (RT)
France Faces Challenge To Persuade Millions Of Vaccine Sceptics (Sky)
ECB To Signal Faster Money Printing To Combat Yield Rise (R.)
Putin Warns Against US ‘Retaliation’ For SolarWinds Hack (ZH)
Russia Begins Slowing Down Twitter, Warns It Could Block Service Altogether (RT)
Facebook Seeks Dismissal Of Antitrust Lawsuits (F.)
Google, Ad Tech, and the Gutting of the News Publishers (WS)

 

 


 

 

Excellent. We need many more alternative voices in the debate. Thinking of posting the whole letter, but it’s an editor’s nightmare, looks as if the “i” on his keyboard is AWOL half the time.

Geert Vanden Bossche, DMV, PhD, independent virologist and vaccine expert, formerly employed at GAVI and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundaton.

Mass Vaccinaton Amidst A Pandemic Creates An Irrepressible Monster (VDB)

As stated, I am not against vaccinaton. On the contrary, I can assure you that each of the current vaccines have been designed, developed and manufactured by brilliant and competent scientsts. However, this type of prophylactc vaccines are completely inappropriate, and even highly dangerous, when used in mass vaccinaton campaigns during a viral pandemic. Vaccinologists, scientsts and clinicians are blinded by the positve short-term efects in individual patents, but don’t seem to bother about the disastrous consequences for global health. Unless I am scientfcally proven wrong, it is difficult to understand how current human interventons will prevent circulating variants from turning into a wild monster.

Racing against the clock, I am completing my scientfc manuscript, the publicaton of which is, unfortunately, likely to come too late given the ever increasing threat from rapidly spreading, highly infectous variants. This is why I decided to already post a summary of my fndings as well as my keynote speech at the recent Vaccine Summit in Ohio on LinkedIn. Last Monday, I provided internatonal health organizatons, including the WHO, with my analysis of the current pandemic as based on scientfcally informed insights in the immune biology of Covid-19. Given the level of emergency, I urged them to consider my concerns and to initate a debate on the detrimental consequences of further ‘viral immune escape’. For those who are no experts in this feld, I am attaching below a more accessible and comprehensible version of the science behind this insidious phenomenon.

While there is no tme to spare, I have not received any feedback thus far. Experts and politcians have remained silent while obviously stll eager to talk about relaxing infecton preventon rules and ‘springtme freedom’. My statements are based on nothing else but science. They shall only be contradicted by science. While one can barely make any incorrect scientfc statements without being critcized by peers, it seems like the elite of scientsts who are currently advising our world leaders prefer to stay silent. Sufcient scientfc evidence has been brought to the table. Unfortunately, it remains untouched by those who have the power to act. How long can one ignore the problem when there is at present massive evidence that viral immune escape is now threatening humanity? We can hardly say we didn’t know – or were not warned. In this agonizing leter I put all of my reputaton and credibility at stake. I expect from you, guardians of mankind, at least the same. It is of utmost urgency. Do open the debate. By all means: turn the tide!

 

The key queston is: why does nobody seem to bother about viral immune escape? Let me try to explain this by means of a more easily understood phenomenon: Antimicrobial resistance. One can easily extrapolate this scourge to resistance to our self-made ‘antviral antbiotcs’. Indeed, antibodies (Abs) produced by our own immune system can be considered self-made antviral antibiotcs, regardless of whether they are part of our innate immune system (so-called ‘natural’ Abs’) or elicited in response to specifc pathogens (resulting in so-called ‘acquired’ Abs). Natural Abs are not germ-specifc whereas acquired Abs are specifcally directed at the invading pathogen. At birth, our innate immune system is ‘unexperienced’ but well-established.

It protects us from a multtude of pathogens, thereby preventing these pathogens from causing disease. As the innate immune system cannot remember the pathogens it encountered (innate immunity has no so-called ‘immunological memory’), we can only contnue to rely on it provided we keep it ‘trained’ well enough. Training is achieved by regular exposure to a myriad of environmental agents, including pathogens. However, as we age, we will increasingly face situatons where our innate immunity (often called ‘the frst line of immune defense’) is not strong enough to halt the pathogen at the portal of entry (mostly mucosal barriers like respiratory or intestnal epithelia). When this happens, the immune system has to rely on more specialized effectors of our immune system (i.e., antgen-specifc Abs and T cells) to fght the pathogen.

So, as we grow up, we increasingly mount pathogen-specifc immunity, including highly specifc Abs. As those have stronger affinity for the pathogen (e.g., virus) and can reach high concentratons, they can quite easily outcompete our natural Abs for binding to the pathogen/virus. It is precisely this type of highly specifc, high affinity Abs that current Covid-19 vaccines are inducing. Of course, the noble purpose of these Abs is to protect us against Covid-19. So, why then should there be a major concern using these vaccines to fight Covid-19? Well, similar to the rules applying to classical antimicrobial antibiotcs, it is paramount that our self-made ‘antviral antibiotcs’ are made available in suffficient concentraton and are tailored at the specifc features of our enemy

Read more …

This is what the above article addresses. The variants don’t arise despite the vaccines, but because of them.

UK Covid-19 Variant Has Significantly Higher Mortality Rate Than Others (RT)

The strain of Covid-19 originally discovered in Kent, South East England, is associated with a much higher risk of fatality, according to new research carried out by the universities of Exeter and Bristol. A study published on Wednesday in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says that the B117 variant, often referred to as the ‘British’ or ‘Kent’ strain, is 30-100 percent more deadly than other Covid-19 variants in circulation. “Coupled with its ability to spread rapidly, this makes B117 a threat that should be taken seriously,” said Robert Challen, a researcher at Exeter University, who co-led the research. Challen’s team found that the new variant caused 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 patients, while 141 people died in a sample of the same number of people who had been infected with other Covid-19 strains.


Leon Danon, a senior author of the study and a professor at the University of Bristol, said that “there is a real concern that other variants will arise with resistance to rapidly rolled out vaccines,” and stated that monitoring new variants must be “a key part of the public health response in the future”. Researchers had already estimated that the virus’s mutations meant it was 53 percent more contagious. The strain was first identified in September 2020 along with hundreds of other variants, but it wasn’t until the English lockdown in November that scientists realised it probably associated with surging infection rates in Kent and England’s South East as case numbers decreased in other parts of the country.

Read more …

“..science has shown “schools can remain fully open safely.”

Scientists Accuse CDC Of Misinterpreting Their Research (F.)

A group of researchers whose work has been cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is accusing the agency of ignoring their positive findings about low transmission rates in schools and putting out overly stringent school reopening guidelines. The four researchers—Dr. Tara Henderson and Dr. Daniel Johnson of the University of Chicago, Dr. Monica Gandhi of the University of California-San Francisco and Dr. Tracy Tracy Beth Hoeg of the University of California-Davis—labeled the guidelines released last month by the CDC “harmful” in a Tuesday USA Today op-ed, arguing that science has shown “schools can remain fully open safely.”

The researchers say the CDC, which on its website cites one of their studies showing minimal transmission in Wisconsin schools with high community positivity rates, ignored their research, as well as findings from the broader scientific community that have highlighted the low risks associated with Covid-19 for children and the lack of science mandating 6-feet of distance between children wearing masks. “Although the guidance cites the work performed across Wisconsin districts performed by our group,” the researchers said, the CDC guidance does not “take that data and new analyses from that dataset into account.”

They argue keeping schools closed or even partially closed is “unwarranted, is harming children, and has become a human rights issue,” and sought to dispel fears about the impact of variants, arguing Switzerland and Belgium have demonstrated that K-12 schools can remain fully open safely even after the U.K. variant becomes the dominant strain. “President Joe Biden ran on a campaign indicating that science and data would guide his policy,” the researchers wrote. “As we approach the anniversary of the first Covid-19 shut down, this approach is needed more than ever, especially when it comes to schools.”

A study published Tuesday on the partial reopening of public schools in New York City found students did not have a higher prevalence of Covid-19 compared with the general community. Though the transmission rate was higher among teachers and staff, just 191 of the 36,000 students and staffers in schools quarantined after a school virus exposure tested positive for the virus (a 0.5% transmission rate).

Read more …

This is scarier than the virus.

Digital Health Pass: IBM and Moderna to Capitalize on COVID Reset (MPN)

IBM is partnering with Covid-19 mRNA vaccine maker Moderna to track vaccine administration in real time through its various blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and hybrid cloud services. According to a company press release, the collaboration will “focus on exploring the utility of IBM capabilities in the U.S.,” such as a recently unveiled pilot program for a Covid-19 Digital Health Pass in the State of New York, which effectively deputizes private businesses to enforce government-imposed Covid-19 regulations. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the initiative, billed as the “Excelsior Pass,” during his 2021 State of the State Address in January and the program’s initial phase was tested at the Barclays Center during an NBA game, followed by another test at Madison Square Garden for an NHL game on March 2.

According to the state’s official website, the trial runs were designed to maximize “return on investment and saving development time” before submitting the “wallet app” to the Google and Apple app stores. “The Excelsior Pass will play a critical role in getting information to venues and sites in a secure and streamlined way,” said Cuomo, who in February rolled out the state’s reopening guidelines for sports and entertainment venues, which would pave the way “to fast-track the reopening of these businesses and getting us one step closer to reaching a new normal.” Built on IBM’s Digital Health Pass technology, the QR code-based health data tracking app is only one of multiple blockchain ledger applications the company will leverage as part of its partnership with Moderna.

Others include their Blockchain Transparent Supply and Food Trust services, which use the open-source Hyperledger technology to share supply-chain and food sourcing “credibility” data respectively with enterprise customers. IBM’s Blockchain World Wire cross-border payment processing service rounds out the blockchain ecosystem that will serve to “enhance” supply chain visibility and “real-time” vaccine management and administration. Using what have already become clichéd industry buzzwords like “transparency,” “trust,” and even “privacy,” IBM’s Digital Health Pass marketing literature describes the mass tracking app as a “smart way to return to society” that allows people to “return to the activities and things they love.”

Read more …

Oh sure.

2 Separate Studies Debunk Theory That Vitamin D Protects Against Covid-19 (RT)

Two separate non-peer-reviewed studies looking into the use and effectiveness of Vitamin D against Covid infection have both reached the same conclusion: there’s no clear benefit to using supplements. In the first study, researchers examined a database of nearly 450,000 mostly white people of European ancestry to understand whether giving them vitamin D supplements would lower the probability of contracting Covid-19. The researchers, from 10 separate universities in Canada, Israel, Japan, Italy and the UK, looked at genetic markers that would leave people predisposed to vitamin D deficiencies. They concluded that “vitamin D supplementation as a means of protecting against worsened Covid outcomes is not supported by genetic evidence,” they wrote in the study.

“Other therapeutic or preventative… avenues should be given higher priority for Covid-19 randomized controlled trials.” In the second study debunking vitamin D’s usefulness against Covid, researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece examined data on vitamin D deficiency from 24 European countries and compared it to data on Covid infections, recoveries and deaths. The researchers, who did not include data from people living in nursing homes, looked at how vitamin D deficiency rates varied across European nations and compared that data to infection rates.

They concluded that the “prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was not significantly associated with either the number of infections, recoveries or mortality rate of Covid-19” across Europe. The two new studies contradict a preprint study released in mid-February by researchers at the University of Barcelona. It suggested that giving high doses of vitamin D to Covid patients in hospital could cut deaths by 60 percent. The Lancet, a leading medical journal in the UK, has since removed the paper from its server after concerns were expressed over the methodology used to support its conclusion.

Read more …

Odd mix of anti-vaxxers.

France Faces Challenge To Persuade Millions Of Vaccine Sceptics (Sky)

As much of the world desperately seeks COVID vaccines, there is evidence in France that millions of people are reluctant to have a jab. The most recent polls suggest around half of the adult population may refuse a vaccination – leading health professionals to worry about public safety long term. Vaccine scepticism is high in many European countries and in few places more than France where so-called “anti-vax” websites and platforms have drawn thousands of followers. One of the most active sites is run from a tiny French village by Marie Werbregue who believes her daughter and others developed autism from childhood vaccines – a claim widely disputed by the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies.

She tells us: “I have never, ever been scared of COVID. I know for a fact that it’s simply a nasty flu and that’s not what scares me.” She states she will not have a coronavirus vaccine and when challenged that could put others at risk she says: “If one uses the logic that the vaccine is effective, how does an unvaccinated person affect the life of a vaccinated person? “Let’s say that I get the vaccine, I take the risks. I have the right to choose, when it concerns my life. I’m not going to risk my life, or even die for someone else. Why should I make this sacrifice?” While Marie Werbregue’s view, and her outspoken positions on vaccines and big pharma companies represent an extreme position in France, there is plenty of evidence millions of people lack confidence in inoculations and historically have been much more reluctant to have them.

French health sociologist Dr Caroline De Pauw speaks to us from the University of Lille and says that fear and scepticism are rooted in past health scares especially over the hepatitis B vaccine in the 1990s. “At the time there was the scandal that linked the vaccine with cases of multiple sclerosis. And suddenly, a link was made which has since been denied by all health authorities, including independent medical authorities, because of links with the pharmaceutical industry. “And France has trouble going beyond this issue of hepatitis B and links with the pharmaceutical industry.”

[..] Even many medical professionals have refused to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. And you don’t have to approach too many members of the public to hear the doubts. One man in Lille told us: “I’m against it, especially when we see so much pushback and that even nursing staff do not want to be vaccinated. “There is only a quarter of nursing staff in France who have accepted it, and that raises questions. So, ordinary people like me, we also ask ourselves questions.”

Read more …

One more effect of the American Rescue Plan. They can’t let the euro rise too much.

ECB To Signal Faster Money Printing To Combat Yield Rise (R.)

The European Central Bank is likely to signal faster money printing on Thursday to keep a lid on borrowing costs but it will stop short of adding firepower to its already aggressive pandemic-fighting package. Concerned that a steady rise in borrowing costs could derail the bloc’s recovery from a pandemic-fuelled recession, ECB policymakers meeting on Thursday will be keen to calm markets and recommit to rock-bottom rates until well into the recovery. But converting that commitment into specific policy action will be a delicate balancing act. The ECB cannot appear to micro-manage bond yields since that would tie its hands in the future and invite accusations it is shielding governments from market forces.


The euro zone’s central bank will also be keen not to overstate the rise in yields, which are still low by most standards, with the German yield curve, the benchmark for the 19-country bloc, still in negative territory up to 20 years. Having already committed to “maintaining favourable financing conditions”, however, it cannot ignore the rise in borrowing costs, which has not been matched by improving economic prospects and mostly mirrors a move in U.S. Treasuries. Policymakers have already approved all the firepower needed to combat the rise in yields, so technically no decision is required. The ECB still has a 1 trillion euro quota to buy bonds through next March, with flexibility to tailor volumes to market conditions.

Read more …

“..the White House is preparing a series of devastating cyberattacks on Russia..”

Putin Warns Against US ‘Retaliation’ For SolarWinds Hack (ZH)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted fiercely to the contents of a report in the The New York Times this week that cited unnamed senior admin officials to say the White House is preparing a series of devastating cyberattacks on Russia as ‘retaliation’ for the SolarWinds hack. A spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Tuesday that the “alarming information” would constitute a “pure international cybercrime” and is thus condemned under international law. “The Russian state has never had anything to do with cybercrimes and cyberterrorism it is being accused of,” Peskov emphasized. Specifically addressing the NY Times report further, Peskov added, “the fact that the newspaper doesn’t rule out that the American state could be involved in cybercrime, is definitely of great concern to us.”


Amazingly, the anonymous Biden admin officials revealed to the Times that a “series of clandestine actions across Russian networks” are expected to start within the next three weeks. The cyber-operations will by design seek to get Putin and Russian intelligence’s attention while being concealed from the broader public when it occurs, the NYT report said. Detailing the Kremlin’s condemnation and warning against any such cyber espionage, US News & World Report writes: “He spoke in response to a series of claims from U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray, that they are considering harsh punishments on Russia for the attack, including overt sanctions and some form of covert salvos in the cyber realm. Wray hinted at the action in testimony before Congress this month, saying the U.S. was preparing cyber “joint sequenced operations.”

Read more …

It’s not just Twitter.

Russia Begins Slowing Down Twitter, Warns It Could Block Service Altogether (RT)

Twitter users in Russia are about to find it takes longer to share their thoughts online, as authorities start slowing the service’s connection speeds amid a row over illegal content hosted by the US-based social media giant. Communications regulator Roskomnadzor issued a statement on Wednesday morning announcing the decision, which it says is because Twitter “does not remove content that incites minors to commit suicide, contains child pornography or information about the use of drugs.” The watchdog claims it has sent more than 28,000 requests for posts, links and publications to be deleted or blocked on the platform. However, at present, “3,168 pieces of content containing prohibited information… remain not deleted.”

These reportedly include more than 2,500 calls for children to kill themselves and 450 involving child pornography. Accusing the network of failing to adhere to Russian laws, Roskomnadzor said that “the latest vivid example was the demonstrative disregard for the requirements of the regulator to remove calls to minors to commit mass suicide.” Unlike other social networks, officials claim, “Twitter did not delete the materials.” If the company continues to refuse to comply with the requests, Moscow says, “these measures will continue in line with regulations, up to the point of blocking” the service.

Anton Gorelkin, a member of the Russian Parliament’s information policy committee said that the assembly supported the move, and that “it is a pity that Russian users have become hostages to decisions by Twitter.” But, justifying the slowdown, he said, “the state simply has no other tools to influence the violator.” Senator Alexander Bashkin added that other social media sites should take notice, claiming that “this will act as a wake up call for YouTube and other networks that make gains at the expense of law and order in Russia.”

Read more …

These suits are a decade (too) late.

Facebook Seeks Dismissal Of Antitrust Lawsuits (F.)

Facebook asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss two landmark antitrust lawsuits against the company, teeing up what is expected to be a protracted legal battle that could result in the social network being broken up if it loses. Facebook is facing two lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., one from the Federal Trade Commission and one from 48 state attorneys general, alleging the company squashed competition through anticompetitive acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook argued in a filing the FTC doesn’t have the authority to challenge acquisitions already approved by the agency, adding that it isn’t a monopoly because the government “cannot establish that Facebook has increased prices or restricted output” without losing market share.

Facebook argued the state lawsuit was grounded in “public policy concerns” instead of antitrust law, pointing to the states’ argument that Facebook froze out competing services that could have offered better privacy protections. Both lawsuits call for remedial action, such as forcing the company to potentially sell off Instagram or WhatsApp and requiring it to get prior approval before future mergers and acquisitions. “Antitrust laws are intended to promote competition and protect consumers. These complaints do not credibly claim that our conduct harmed either,” Facebook said in a blog post.

The FTC and state lawsuits represent the most significant regulatory action Facebook has ever faced. The social giant has been under fire from both parties in recent years following privacy mishaps in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a growing concern that Facebook’s has too much control over political speech and information due to its sheer size. In October, House Democrats released a report concluding that Facebook and Google wield “monopoly power” and asked Congress to consider legislation breaking them up. House Republicans didn’t sign onto the final report and instead released their report opposing “onerous and burdensome regulation.”

Read more …

Yeah, we’re not the only victims. Looking for alternatives.

Google, Ad Tech, and the Gutting of the News Publishers (WS)

Other news publications have filed for bankruptcy without ever specifying the real reason for the losses. Big publishers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have gutted their staff without specifying the real reason – the company that is the real reason. But separately, the bad boy of news publishing, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which owns the Wall Street Journal among many other publications, officially broke the omertà about the existential issue for publishers: Google’s total dominance in multiple layers at the core and all over internet advertising. And its abuse of power in that arena.

Last year, it was reported that News Corp complained to antitrust authorities in the US and other countries that Google was abusing its power and sucking revenues out of the stream that should be going to publishers. And I see what Google is doing to publishers every day on my own site. The US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in October last year, a decade behind the curve, after much of the damage had already been done. The New Media Alliance, which advocates for news publishers, repeated some industry data – a bitter but well-known dose of reality for publishers – in its latest missive of February 21, concerning the antitrust lawsuit:

“News publisher ad revenues have plummeted dramatically over the last two decades; between 2005 and 2018, news organizations saw their ad revenue fall by 70 percent. During that same period, Google’s ad revenue increased from approximately $6 billion to $116 billion, and Google’s market capitalization increased from approximately $100 billion to $1 trillion.” Since the endpoint of this data in 2018, the situation has continued on the same trajectory: Google siphoning out more money that should have gone to publishers, more publishers collapsing, more publishers losing more money and laying off more people, and Google’s advertising revenues rising 26% to $147 billion, and its market cap rising another 40% to $1.4 trillion.

I have seen this for years on my own site: Every year, ad revenues per million Google ads served declined. Via the Google empire, you need to get more and more traffic and serve more and more Google ads, and overall revenues from Google ads might still decline.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 11 2021

Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #70933

    Edgar Degas Danseuse au Tutu Vert 1887   • Mass Vaccinaton Amidst A Pandemic Creates An Irrepressible Monster (VDB) • UK Covid-19 Variant Has Sig
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 11 2021]

    #70937
    Basseterre Kitona
    Participant

    Oh sure.

    • 2 Separate Studies Debunk Theory That Vitamin D Protects Against Covid-19 (RT)

    These studies always look at the wrong thing and end up conflating issues. Nobody is claiming that Vitamin D “protects against covid”, rather there is evidence that upwards of 80% of infections & deaths are in people with Vitamin D deficiencies. Moreover, Vitamin D deficiency has been a common though mostly under the radar problem for many people for any years now, especially in northern climates like North America and Europe.

    Additionally, supplements are never as good as the real thing. Better to get outside with some sun exposure where the body naturally produces Vitamin D. This will, for a fact, improves one’s health including their immune system. Next they’ll be producing studies that claim that being thin & healthy (rather that ob*se) do not protect against covid either.

    Odd mix of anti-vaxxers.

    • France Faces Challenge To Persuade Millions Of Vaccine Sceptics (Sky)

    We need to abandon the disparaging smear of “anti-vaxx” because the so-called anti-vaxx crowd is simply normal people with honest questions & concerns about vaccines and their giant corporate pharmaceutical companies.

    Here’s an article from NPR about the rollout of a dengue vaccine in the Philippines. Read it and I dare you to tell that you still trust vaccines and would take one unquestioningly (especially the experimental new vaccines):

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/03/719037789/botched-vaccine-launch-has-deadly-repercussions

    Thus the anti-vaxx crowd is not the freaks who deserve scorn, rather it is the Evangelical Vaccine Fanatics, i.e., those people who unwittingly shill for corporate pharmaceutical companies who are the twit that deserve to be disparaged at every turn. We need to stop using the anti-vaxx terminology and start laughing at the EVFs or Vac Fans.

    #70939
    WES
    Participant

    Lots of heavy weights today that can’t be trusted!
    Deep state, FBI, US government, drug companies, Fed, ECB, facebook, google, Twitter, the msm, the science, CDC, Moderna, IBM, the French government. Did I forget anyone?

    Read a story about 2 Americans who just learned they can’t trust the FBI. The FBI exists only to protect the state from it’s citizens. They learned too late. Most Americans know better than to talk to the FBI.

    A few days ago the FBI asked the public to help identify the suspect who planted 2 pipe bombs in D.C. No they really don’t want help identifying the pipe bomb suspect. They just want to help their political masters set the narrative that the capital is under constant attack. If nobody attacks DC soon, the FBI is up to the task. The same narrative for keeping troops in DC.

    Washington’s border is closed tight, but the southern border is wide open! There is no crisis at the border!

    #70943
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    I have only read the introduction to the “vaccination monster” article so far because it looks like a long and thinky piece and I’m going to have to start getting ready for work here pretty soon. But while I am mostly pro-vaccine, I also like to think that I have a certain if very limited amount of psychic intuition or “sixth sense”. There’s just…something about the idea of vaccinating our way out of Covid the way it is being planned that just makes that sixth sense scream “NO!” Perhaps this article will provide a more rational and conventional explanation for these intuitive misgivings of mine.

    #70946
    John Day
    Participant

    Just look at the wrong thing and find nothing there:

    “vitamin D supplementation as a means of protecting against worsened Covid outcomes is not supported by genetic evidence,”

    The researchers, who did not include data from people living in nursing homes, looked at how vitamin D deficiency rates varied across European nations and compared that data to infection rates.

    They concluded that the “prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was not significantly associated with either the number of infections, recoveries or mortality rate of Covid-19” across Europe.

    #70949
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Scientists Accuse CDC Of Misinterpreting Their Research (F.)”

    As we saw with CDC research on masks yesterday (under 1% effect), the CDC is radically anti-science. If you didn’t already know. But they ARE pro-money. Cash has been running briskly since they started mis-reporting statistics. THEY PAY YOU FOR BAD MATH? So easy a cave man can do it.

    I’ll give you TWICE as bad math for HALF the price! Cough-PCR40-cough.

    But The Lancet will publish fake research for free. I can’t compete with that.

    “not supported by genetic evidence,”

    Genetic? Non-sequiturs-R-Us.

    Let’s see: if it were Vitamin D related, we’d see disease in norther countries (check) but not those who pointedly favor the outdoors, like Sweden, (check). It would be worse in the winter and closely follow daylight hours (check). Dark people would be far harder hit (check) but only if they aren’t in the tropics (check). We’d see the entire tropical band from Thailand through Ivory Coast essentially untouched despite poor health services (check) and Florida and Texas would be better than NY and NJ (check).

    Nope! I don’t see any case here! Carry on, The Lancet, I always believe doctors who’ve totally, laughably discredited themselves almost yearly. They’re not even a whore; they’re a cheap whore.

    “France Faces Challenge To Persuade Millions Of Vaccine Sceptics (Sky)”

    That’s odd. Why would anyone be a vaccine sceptic? Maybe they should look into why NOBODY TRUSTS THEM anymore. Maybe The Lancet can help explain it to them with Perdue Pharma’s help.

    WhaddapDoc

    I’m sure they’ll only be locked down 15 days discussing it to flatten the curve of a 99.997% safe explanation.

    “..the White House is preparing a series of devastating cyberattacks on Russia..”

    Hahahahaha! The White House can’t even devastate countries who are already IN the stone age, like Afghanistan. The only devastation will be to taxpayers in Flint, Michigan and Muncie, Indiana. Oooops! Too late. Baltimore is already in the Stone Age. Or maybe they’ll call it the Blue Age. It’s now more thoroughly devastated than when the Delaware Indians lived there. At least they had fish and trees.

    “Twitter “does not remove content that incites minors to commit suicide, contains child pornography or information about the use of drugs.””

    This is entirely true and Dorsey is perfectly proud. And of Youtube, Facebook, and the others too. There’s never a bad day for ISIS and Child porn with the Tech Giants. Keep those hits comin’.

    Meanwhile, Hollywood is a-Twitter with hoping everyone in Texas dies ON Twitter. That’s perfect love and protected speech. Your kids. My woodchipper. Now.

    “Facebook Seeks Dismissal of Antitrust Lawsuits (F.)”

    A decade late in the sense that, “Give me Liberty! ….Or I’ll get up and get it myself.” They’re already dead. The Walking Dead, of self-inflicted wounds. Everyone except Congress, Media, and Billionaires already hate them. And we people hate the other three already, so you’re not helping yourself.

    #70951
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I don’t know what it is with people ASKING for Liberty. You don’t ask. You DO it. You ARE it. If you have to ask, you’re a slave.

    Now if only we could get them to stop asking permission to walk down the street and sit on the Capital steps. Armed to the teeth and using naughty words.

    How about this: DON’T give me Liberty. You don’t own my Liberty. I do. So go suck an egg instead.

    #70953
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    The best window into the real world -Ilargi thanks for doing what you do.

    #70958
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Remember there are natural anti-microbials (garlic, oil of wild oregano, horse radish)each of which have so many mechanisms of action that antimicrobial action that microbes cannot develop resistance. This is unlike the one-or two-trick ponies made by big pharma
    Fire cider – look it up, lots of recipes on the interweb.

    #70959
    zerosum
    Participant

    Yeah, we’re not the only victims. Looking for alternatives.

    • Google, Ad Tech, and the Gutting of the News Publishers (WS)

    Before the internet, ….
    Advertising companies were able to convinced/sell companies to spend advertising dollars to increase sales and profits..

    Google, Ad Tech, and the Gutting of the News Publishers


    Google, Ad Tech, and the Gutting of the News Publishers
    by Wolf Richter • Mar 10, 2021 • 59 Comments

    NOW

    “News publisher ad revenues have plummeted dramatically over the last two decades; between 2005 and 2018, news organizations saw their ad revenue fall by 70 percent. During that same period, Google’s ad revenue increased from approximately $6 billion to $116 billion, and Google’s market capitalization increased from approximately $100 billion to $1 trillion.”
    Google and the entire industry of “Ad Tech” have inserted themselves in multiple opaque layers between the advertiser (such as Macy’s) and publications (such as WOLF STREET), and extract by now most of the money out of the huge pile that advertisers spend, leaving less and less for publishers.

    ( WOLF STREET comments are interesting)
    Advertising cost money. Stop spending money for advertising. Stop feeding the advertising companies.
    ——
    WES

    Washington’s border is closed tight, but the southern border is wide open! There is no crisis at the border!
    That’s because BC has an impenetrable fence of blackberries. ( Hehehehehe)

    #70962

    The best window into the real world -Ilargi thanks for doing what you do.

    Happy to oblige, Carol. But still will need the means to do it. Hope people understand that. Ad revenues are down 85% from 10 years ago. That’s my reality. So I need Paypal and Patreon. Hope people understand that too. I don’t want a paywall here, but that means people must volunteer to donate for what they appreciate. It’s a shift in how you get your news, but it makes a lot of sense, I think, once you think about it.

    #70963
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Something to consider:

    In 2014 we published a disclaimer about the forecast. In six years the scenario has changed dramatically. This new disclaimer is meant to single out the situation from 2020 onwards. Talking about the United States and the European Union as separated entities no longer makes sense. Both are the Western block, keep printing money and will share the same fate.

    After COVID we can draw two major conclusions:

    The Western world success model has been built over societies with no resilience that can barely withstand any hardship, even a low intensity one. It was assumed but we got the full confirmation beyond any doubt.
    The COVID crisis will be used to extend the life of this dying economic system through the so called Great Reset.

    The Great Reset; like the climate change, extinction rebellion, planetary crisis, green revolution, shale oil (…) hoaxes promoted by the system; is another attempt to slow down dramatically the consumption of natural resources and therefore extend the lifetime of the current system. It can be effective for awhile but finally won’t address the bottom-line problem and will only delay the inevitable. The core ruling elites hope to stay in power which is in effect the only thing that really worries them.

    The collapse of the Western financial system – and ultimately the Western civilization – has been the major driver in the forecast along with a confluence of crisis with a devastating outcome. As COVID has proven Western societies embracing multiculturalism and extreme liberalism are unable to deal with any real hardship. The Spanish flu one century ago represented the death of 40-50 million people. Today the world’s population is four times greater with air travel in full swing which is by definition a super spreader. The death casualties in today’s World would represent 160 to 200 million in relative terms but more likely 300-400 million taking into consideration the air travel factor that did not exist one century ago. So far, COVID death toll is roughly 1 million people. It is quite likely that the economic crisis due to the lockdowns will cause more deaths than the virus worldwide.

    The Soviet system was less able to deliver goodies to the people than the Western one. Nevertheless Soviet society was more compact and resilient under an authoritarian regime. That in mind, the collapse of the Soviet system wiped out 10 percent of the population. The stark reality of diverse and multicultural Western societies is that a collapse will have a toll of 50 to 80 percent depending on several factors but in general terms the most diverse, multicultural, indebted and wealthy (highest standard of living) will suffer the highest toll. The only glue that keeps united such aberrant collage from falling apart is overconsumption with heavy doses of bottomless degeneracy disguised as virtue. Nevertheless the widespread censorship, hate laws and contradictory signals mean that even that glue is not working any more. Not everybody has to die migration can also play a positive role in this.

    The formerly known as second and third world nations are an unknown at this point. Their fate will depend upon the decisions they take in the future. Western powers are not going to take over them as they did in the past because these countries won’t be able to control their own cities far less likely countries that are far away. If they remain tied to the former World Order they will go down along Western powers but won’t experience the brutal decline of the late because they are poorer and not diverse enough but rather quite homogenous used to deal with some sort of hardship but not precisely the one that is coming. If they switch to China they can get a chance to stabilize but will depend upon the management of their resources.

    We expected this situation to unfold and actually is unfolding right now with the November election triggering a major bomb if Trump is re-elected. If Biden is elected there will very bad consequences as well. There is a lot of bad blood in the Western societies and the protests, demonstrations, rioting and looting are only the first symptoms of what is coming. However a new trend is taking place overshadowing this one.

    The situation between the three great powers has changed dramatically. The only relevant achievement of the Western powers during the past decade has been the formation of a strategic alliance, both military and economic, between Russia and China. Right now the potential partnership between Russia and the European Union (EU) is dead with Russia turning definitively towards China. That was from the beginning the most likely outcome. Airbus never tried to establish a real partnership but rather a strategy to fade away the Russian aerospace industry. Actually Russia and China have formed a new alliance to build a long haul airliner. Western Europe (not to mention the United States) was never interested in the development of Russia or forming anything other than a master slave relationship with Russia providing raw materials and toeing the line of the West. It was clear then and today is a fact.

    Russia has been preparing for a major war since 2008 and China has been increasing her military capabilities for the last 20 years. Today China is not a second tier power compared with the United States. Both in military and economic terms China is at the same level and in some specific areas are far ahead. In the domain of high-tech 5G has been a success in the commercial realm but the Type 055 destroyer is also another breakthrough with the US gaining a similar capability (DDG 51 Flight IIII) by mid of this decade (more likely by 2030). Nanchang, the lead ship of the Type 055 class, was commissioned amid the pandemic and lockdown in China.

    Six years ago the likelihood of a major war was tiny. Since then it has grown steadily and dramatically and today is by far the most likely major event in the 2020s. The ultimate conflict can come from two ways. A conventional conflict involving at least two major powers that escalates into an open nuclear war. A second scenario is possible in the 2025-2030 timeframe. A Russian sneak first strike against the United States and its allies with the new S-500, strategic missile defenses, Yasen-M submarines, INF Zircon and Kalibr missiles and some new space asset playing the key role. The sneak first strike would involve all Russian missile strategic forces branches (bombers and ground-based missiles) at the different stages of such attack that would be strategic translation of what was seen in Syria in November 2015. There was no report that the Russian had such a capability of launching a high precision, multiple, combined arms attack at targets 2,000+ kilometers away. Western intelligence had no clue. The irony is that since the end of the Cold War the United States has been maneuvering through NATO to achieve a position to execute a first strike over Russia and now it seems that the first strike may occur but the country finished would be the United States.

    Another particularity of the Western system is that its individuals have been brainwashed to the point that the majority accept their moral high ground and technological edge as a given. This has given the rise of the supremacy of the emotional arguments over the rational ones which are ignored or deprecated. That mindset can play a key role in the upcoming catastrophic events. At least in the Soviet system the silent majority of the people were aware of the fallacies they were fed up. We can see the United States claims about G5 being stolen from them by China or hypersonic technology being stolen by Russia as the evidence that the Western elites are also infected by that hubris. Over the next decade it will become obvious that the West is falling behind the Russia-China block and the malaise might grow into desperation. Going to war might seem a quick and easy solution to restore the lost hegemony to finally find them into a France 1940 moment. Back then France did not have nuclear weapons to turn a defeat into a victory. The West might try that swap because the unpleasant prospect of not being Mars and Venus but rather a bully and his dirty bitch running away in fear while the rest of the world is laughing at them.

    If there is not a dramatic change of course the world is going to witness the first nuclear war. The Western block collapse may come before, during or after the war. It does not matter. A nuclear war is a game with billions of casualties and the collapse plays in the hundreds of millions.

    This website is non-profit, built on spare time and we provide our information and services AS IS without further explanations and/or guarantees. We are not linked to any government. Take into account that the forecast is nothing more than a game of numbers whether flawed or correct based upon some speculative assumptions.

    deagle.com/forecast

    #70968
    a kullervo
    Participant

    Yeah, we’re not the only [Tech giants] victims. Looking for alternatives.

    Greetings,

    When you voluntarily adhere to something, you cannot be a victim – you are self-victimizing.
    If you think otherwise then I have a nice spot I can sell to you in Utopia, the consequence-free planet.

    Yes, freedom of choice instead of freedom from choice, multiple choices between lesser evils and all that jazz – life sucks and then you die.

    Cheers.

    #70972
    John Day
    Participant

    Posts now all getting blocked

    COVID Is Endemic Now
    https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/03/covid-is-endemic-now.html

    #70974
    John Day
    Participant

    The blocking is quite bad right now. Maybe it’s the ivermectin stories.

    We are fatigues from the long crisis of COVID. How long can a “pandemic” last?
    When is the presence of the dread contagion “the new normal”?
    I argue that our world has already passed from the spread of SARS-CoV-2 into a vulnerable and naive population, “Pandemic”, into the situation we have always had with colds and flu, “endemic”.
    COVID is here to stay, no matter where you live.

    I live in Texas, so I like to follow the graphics which the Texas Tribune compiles. Texas has (usually) a mild enough climate that people can get sun on their skins, even in winter. Texas is close enough to the equator for the winter sunlight to cause vitamin-D production. To drug companies, vitamin-D is a competing product. To our bodies it is an essential hormone, with receptors on every cell in the body, that our species lost the ability to make a couple of hundred thousand years ago, when we lived in the tropics, with minimal clothing.
    TexasTribune graphics show the “double wave” of the pandemic, with the first dip in September, peak natural vitamin-D month. The big second wave peaked in mid January, and is fading fast in “cases”, hospitalizations, deaths and the percent-positive rate of tests.
    Few tests are coming back positive these days.
    https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2020/texas-coronavirus-cases-map/

    Texas would be expected to have milder pandemics, since people can be outside more, don’t ride trains much, and get the sunshine vitamin.
    When looking at public health mandates, like lockdowns and masking, people often ignore the differences in the regions and lifestyles. Most people have a political position they want to argue.
    I’m just a public-health guy. I want to help people live healthy lives. I don’t have a product competing in the marketplace.

    Our main defense against the coronavirus family is the innate immune system in our nose and throat area, which aggressively attacks viruses, molds, bacteria and sometimes pollen that we inhale. It’s a mixed blessing for those with allergies. The innate immune system is always ready to go, but it has to keep in training with frequent exposure to non-self things we inhale. This vaccine scientist worries that the current vaccine strategies actually weaken the innate immune system, our main defense, while promoting viral escape from the vaccines. The vaccine targets a viral coat protein, so the virus changes it to look different. He worries that the current vaccination track (business-driven) is making the world more susceptible to future viral variants, and weakening our critical first-line defense systems.

    #70975
    John Day
    Participant

    ​Fear of death keeps people willing to give their life force to mysterious business products for profit and control.
    Cheap and safe competitors threaten that business model.
    It’s the business model of our owners/masters.
    Censorship Kills: The Shunning of a COVID Therapeutic
    Pierre Kory, MD, is president and chief medical officer of the Front-Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
    Doctors fighting COVID-19 should be supported by their profession and their government, not suppressed. Yet today physicians are smothered under a wave of censorship. With coronavirus variants and vaccine hesitancy threatening a prolonged pandemic, the National Institutes of Health and the broader U.S. medical establishment should free doctors to treat this terrible disease with effective medicines.
    For centuries, doctors have addressed emerging health threats by prescribing existing drugs for new uses, observing the results, and communicating to their peers and the public what seems to work. In a pandemic, precious time and lives can be lost by an insistence on excessive data and review. But in the current crisis, many in positions of authority have done just that, stubbornly refusing to allow any repurposed treatments. This departure from traditional medical practice risks catastrophe. When doctors on the front lines try to bring awareness of and use such medicines, they get silenced.
    I’ve experienced such censorship firsthand. Early in the pandemic, my research led me to testify in the Senate that corticosteroids were life-saving against COVID-19, when all national and international health care agencies recommended against them. My recommendations were criticized, ignored and resisted such that I felt forced to resign my faculty position. Only later did a large study from Oxford University find they were indeed life-saving. Overnight, they became the standard of care worldwide. More recently, we identified through dozens of trials that the drug ivermectin leads to large reductions in transmission, mortality, and time to clinical recovery. After testifying to this fact in a second Senate appearance — the video of which was removed by YouTube after garnering over 8 million views — I was forced to leave another position. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/03/10/censorship_kills_the_shunning_of_a_covid_therapeutic_145376.amp.html

    #70979
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    • 2 Separate Studies Debunk Theory That Vitamin D Protects Against Covid-19 (RT)

    RT’s coverage of those 2 studies is even worse than The Guardian.
    “Vitamin D supplements may offer no Covid benefits, data suggests” (The Guardian)

    #70981
    Susan C
    Participant

    I listened to a very astute and amusing discussion about Covid between Patrick Coffin and Wm M. Briggs (Statistician to the Stars) this morning. It’s here should you have 55 minutes.

    Thanks Raul and commenters for providing sanity and good sense in these very trying times.

    #70982
    papanca
    Participant

    I’ve read and re-read the article posted by Ilargi and John Day by G V Bossche. I know enough about the immune system to think I understand his argument. But I don’t know enough to comment critically. Can anyone provide more insight?

    If his argument holds up, I too find it very, very scary.

    #70985

    If the kids go back to school, there will be a few whose parents have “vaccine hesitancy” (ahem) and despise the lockdown, etc. These kids will be “cool” to those whose parents have been cowering and OCDing for a year now. Kids influence kids, and the kids influence their parents. It’s a real threat to the narrative.
    (As for the chicken-**** teachers…fire ’em. It seems like a good cull to me.)

    #70991
    cloudhidden
    Participant

    Dr John Day
    “Posts now all getting blocked” and “The blocking is quite bad right now. Maybe it’s the ivermectin
    stories”
    Looks like at least some of the doctors that belong to America’s Front Line Doctors are now being targeted. Here is a top-of-page story on CBC today
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/nl-doctor-peter-morry-caution-social-media-posts-cpsnl-1.5944589
    We can see the attack on Ivermectin and other not-profitable-for-Big-Pharma drugs, now its an attack on doctors who ask questions.

    #70993
    thomasjkenney
    Participant

    Can I lighten the mood a bit?

    Portland, OR, isn’t a lost cause: Paul Gilbert – Argument About Pie

    #70997
    John Day
    Participant

    Oh things are not being allowed to post again.

    Texas Senate testimony of Peter McCullough MD yesterday, after I had to leave for clinic.

    #70998
    John Day
    Participant

    Richard Urso MD also testified to the Texas Senate, even later than Dr McCullough. Dr Urso faced threat from the Board of Medical Examiners for advocating early outpatient treatment, and sweated some bullets through the long review process. Fortunately, he had all of the data to present, and was ultimately vindicated, but his crime was ethically practicing medicine.

    #70999
    John Day
    Participant

    Sorry:

    #71000
    zerosum
    Participant

    WOW!
    Peter McCullough MD

    I did a little bit of homework. I’ll only put up one link.
    Others people can do more.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/518589-why-home-treatment-of-covid-19-with-several-drugs-is-crucial
    Why home treatment of COVID-19 with several drugs is crucial
    BY PETER A. MCCULLOUGH, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 10/01/20 214 comments

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