Mar 182021
 
 March 18, 2021  Posted by at 9:01 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,


John William Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs 1896

 

Russian Ambassador To US Summoned Back To Moscow For Consultations (RT)
Biden: Putin Is A Killer (Ind.)
Biden Talks Cuomo, Putin, Migrants, Vaccine (ABC)
Joe Biden’s ‘Putin Is A Killer’ Claim A ‘Tantrum Of Powerlessness’ – MP (RT)
Past Covid Infections Don’t Confer Strong Enough Immunity (F.)
Why Vaccine Safety Experts Put The Brakes On AstraZeneca’s Vaccine (ScienceM)
Blanket ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Orders Imposed On English Care Homes (G.)
Will Adam Schiff Be California’s Next Top Cop? (G.)
A Big Win Against Anti-Tax Zealotry (DP)
Ohio AG Sues Biden Administration Over Pandemic Bill (Hill)
Fed Expects Growth Surge, Inflation Jump In 2021 But No Rate Hike (R.)
It Is Time To Remove The Debt Barrier To Economic Growth (Hudson/PCR)
Bitcoin Bros Rediscovering Our Monetary Past (AIER)
Woman Who Thought Being A Princess Was Too Hard, To Run For President (BBee)

 

 

 

 

This is a carefully planned attack by Warmongers “R” Us.

Russian Ambassador To US Summoned Back To Moscow For Consultations (RT)

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, has been recalled to Moscow for in-person discussions on the country’s ongoing relations with Washington and Joe Biden’s administration, the Foreign Ministry has said.
In a statement announcing the envoy’s recall on Wednesday night, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the ambassador was needed in Moscow for “consultations to analyze what to do and where to head in the context of the relations with the US.” Representatives of the Foreign Ministry and other relevant agencies will participate in the discussions with Antonov about US relations going forward, she added.With the Biden team in power for almost two months, it was a good time to analyze “where it succeeds and where it fails,” she added.


For us, it’s important to determine possible ways of straightening out Russian-American relations, which remain in harsh conditions after being effectively led into a dead end by Washington in recent years. Moscow is “interested in avoiding the irreversible degradation” of its ties with Washington, Zakharova said, expressing the hope that Biden’s officials also understood the risks of such a scenario. The news of the ambassador’s recall came hours after the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday announced the expansion of Washington’s sanctions on exports to Russia. The fresh restrictions were imposed over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the poisoning of opposition figure Alexey Navalny – an allegation that Kremlin officials have repeatedly denied. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow was “calm” about the new sanctions, as such measures had already been taken many times before. However, he pointed out that such moves by Washington reduced the chances of a “normalization of relations” between the parties.

Read more …

Bide plays some wise guy strongman role for which he is not suited.

Biden: Putin Is A Killer (Ind.)

US President Joe Biden said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “killer” when asked by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos. His question follows a federal investigation into Russian-linked cyber attacks and an intelligence report linking the Kremlin to election-related online interference that promoted Donald Trump and right-wing conspiracy theories in an attempt to discredit Mr Biden. Asked whether he believes Mr Putin is a “killer” in a pre-taped interview that aired on Wednesday, the president responded: “I do.” “The price he’s going to pay, you’ll see shortly,” he said. Mr Biden recalled meeting Mr Putin, during which he reportedly told him that he doesn’t “have a soul”: “I wasn’t being a wise guy.”

“He looked back at me and said, ‘We understand each other’,” Mr Biden said. A report released on Tuesday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that Russia sought to interfere with the 2020 presidential election with an expansive social media and online influence campaign similar to an operation from 2016. The newly declassified report also said that a network of Ukraine-linked individuals connected to Russian intelligence relied on “prominent US persons and media conduits to launder their narratives” alleging “corrupt ties” among members of Mr Biden’s family with Ukraine.


That 2020 misinformation campaign was aimed at “denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US,” according to the report. Mr Biden said he had warned his Russian counterpart about a potential response from the US during a call in January. “He will pay a price,” Mr Biden said. “We had a long talk … and the conversation started off, I said, ‘I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.’”

Read more …

Biden has no idea what the vaccine does.

Biden Talks Cuomo, Putin, Migrants, Vaccine (ABC)

President Joe Biden sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for a wide-ranging interview Tuesday in which he said his message to migrants was to not come to the border and that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should resign if allegations he committed sexual harassment are confirmed. Biden also told Stephanopoulos that he agreed Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “killer” and would “pay a price” for interfering in U.S. elections. And he said it would be “tough” to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by May 1, a deadline set out in a deal former President Donald Trump’s administration made with the Taliban.


Biden told Stephanopoulos he was surprised that COVID-19 vaccinations were still so politicized. “How do you get the politics out of this vaccine talk?” Stephanopoulos asked. “I honest to God thought we had it out,” Biden said. “I honest to God thought that, once we guaranteed we had enough vaccine for everybody, things would start to calm down. Well, they have calmed down a great deal. But I don’t quite understand – you know – I just don’t understand this sort of macho thing about, ‘I’m not gonna get the vaccine. I have a right as an American, my freedom to not do it.’ Well, why don’t you be a patriot? Protect other people.” Biden said getting vaccinated himself has let him to show Americans doing so is safe – and has changed his life “because I can hug my grandkids now.” “They come over to the house,” the president said. “I can see them. I’m able to be with them.”

Read more …

“Even former president Donald Trump, he claimed, “despite the decisions that were being made on sanctions, maintained rhetoric appropriate to the level of head of state.”

Joe Biden’s ‘Putin Is A Killer’ Claim A ‘Tantrum Of Powerlessness’ – MP (RT)

Explosive comments made by US President Joe Biden, in which he suggested his Russian counterpart is “a killer,” have ignited a diplomatic row, as Moscow’s chief parliamentarian said the remarks constitute an attack on the country. In a statement posted to Telegram, the speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that “Biden has insulted the citizens of our country with his statement” about Vladimir Putin. “This is a tantrum that comes from powerlessness. Putin is our president, attacking him is an attack on our country,” he added. Volodin contrasted the tone of the criticism to that of previous US presidents, who, despite often overseeing tense relations with Russia, and the USSR before it, maintained mutual respect.


Even former president Donald Trump, he claimed, “despite the decisions that were being made on sanctions, maintained rhetoric appropriate to the level of head of state.” However, he argued, “Biden’s statement today is beyond common sense. This is no way for the leader of a country that claims to be a bearer of democratic principles and morality to behave.“ The American president made the remarks in an interview on Wednesday with the ABC news channel. He was asked by chief anchor George Stephanopoulos whether he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a killer.”“Mmm-hmm, I do,” Biden replied. Biden said he had warned Putin earlier this year that he would take action if evidence was found of Russian interference in the 2020 US election. “He will pay a price,” Biden said.

Read more …

How to sell a “vaccine”.

Past Covid Infections Don’t Confer Strong Enough Immunity (F.)

Most people who catch Covid-19 are unlikely to get sick from the disease again, but reinfection is more common than previously thought and older people face an especially high risk, according to a study Wednesday that researchers cast as proof that vaccines are the best form of protection against the coronavirus — even for people who have already been infected. The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, looked at millions of people who took PCR coronavirus tests through Denmark’s nationwide mass-testing initiative last year. Just 0.65% of those who tested positive for the virus during Denmark’s spring surge showed a positive result during the country’s second wave in the fall, suggesting a protection rate against reinfection of 80.5% according to a team of researchers from Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen.

Among people 65 and over, the protection rate was just 47.1%. Both are higher reinfections rate than other studies have found, a commentary published by Lancet noted.The study’s authors say elderly people could face a higher risk of reinfection from the coronavirus because their immune systems are less effective, a dire problem because the elderly are most vulnerable to severe illness and death from Covid-19.The researchers said this study shows vaccines are important for those who have already contracted the coronavirus, especially if they’re elderly, because “natural protection cannot be relied on.” The coronavirus vaccines that have been authorized so far vary in efficacy, but most appear to offer more protection than natural immunity.


“These data are all confirmation, if it were needed, that for SARS-CoV-2 the hope of protective immunity through natural infections might not be within our reach, and a global vaccination programme with high efficacy vaccines is the enduring solution,” the Lancet said in a commentary released alongside the study.

Read more …

How not to sell a vaccine.

Why Vaccine Safety Experts Put The Brakes On AstraZeneca’s Vaccine (ScienceM)

The decision this week by more than 20 European countries to temporarily stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has opened a rift between vaccine safety experts, who say the cases of serious clotting and bleeding that triggered the pause are alarming and unusual, and public health officials concerned that the immunization pause on a continent in the grip of the pandemic’s third wave could take a heavy toll. “The harm caused by depriving people of access to a vaccine will likely vastly outweigh even the worst case scenario if any link to the clotting disorders is eventually found,” University of Leeds virologist Stephen Griffin told the United Kingdom’s Science Media Centre. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization have recommended that countries continue immunizations while they investigate the reports.

Scientists don’t know whether the vaccine causes the syndrome, and if so, what the mechanism is. “Everyone’s scratching their heads: Is this a real signal?” says Robert Brodsky, a hematologist at Johns Hopkins University. But vaccine safety officials say they did not take the decision lightly, and that symptoms seen in at least 13 patients, all between ages 20 and 50 and previously healthy, in at least five countries are more frequent than would be expected by chance. The patients, at least seven of whom have died, suffer from widespread blood clots, low platelet counts, and internal bleeding—not typical strokes or blood clots. “It’s a very special picture” of symptoms, says Steinar Madsen, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency. “Our leading hematologist said he had never seen anything quite like it.”

A somewhat similar blood disorder, called immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), has been seen in at least 36 people in the United States who had received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against COVID-19, The New York Times recently reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was investigating these cases, but also said the syndrome did not appear to be more common in vaccinated people, and immunizations in the United States have continued. But Madsen says the cases seen in Europe in recent weeks are distinct from ITP, which lacks the widespread blood clots seen in the European patients. The United Kingdom, which has administered the AstraZeneca vaccine to more than 10 million people, has so far not reported similar clusters of unusual clotting or bleeding disorders.

In Europe, a 49-year-old intensive care nurse in Austria was one of the first cases. She died last week from what officials called “clotting disorders” that culminated in internal bleeding. (A colleague at the same hospital who received the vaccine developed lung embolisms, but was expected to recover.) A similar constellation of symptoms has been identified in four patients in Norway, two of whom have died, Madsen says.

Read more …

Imagine living in one and then reading this.

Blanket ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Orders Imposed On English Care Homes (G.)

Blanket orders not to resuscitate some care home residents at the start of the Covid pandemic have been identified in a report by England’s care regulator. A report published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found disturbing variations in people’s experiences of do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions during the pandemic. Best practice is for proper discussions to be held with the person involved and/or their relatives. While examples of good practice were identified, some people were not properly involved in decisions or were unaware that such an important decision about their care had been made. Poor record-keeping, and a lack of oversight and scrutiny of the decisions being made, was identified.

The report, Protect, respect, connect – decisions about living and dying well during Covid-19, calls for a ministerial oversight group – working with partners in health and social care, local government and the voluntary sector – to take responsibility for delivering improvements in this area. The report surveyed a range of individuals and organisations, including care providers and members of the public, and identified: • Serious concerns about breaches of some individuals’ human rights • Significant increase in DNACPRs put in place in care homes at the beginning of the pandemic, from 16,876 to 26,555 • 119 adult social care providers felt they had been subjected to blanket DNACPR decisions since the start of the pandemic • A GP sent DNACPR letters to care homes asking them to put blanket DNACPRs in place • In one care home a blanket DNACPR was applied to everyone over 80 with dementia.


Healthcare professionals emphasise that resuscitation is both invasive and traumatic with only a 15-20% survival rate when performed in hospitals and a 5-10% success rate when performed outside hospitals. However, concerns have been raised about both blanket DNACPR orders being put in place and such instructions being recorded on patients’ records without discussion or informed consent being given.

Read more …

“..his record as state senator and congressman, authoring legislation to increase the criminalization and incarceration of Black and brown Californians..”

“Here in California, we know him as someone who was, in many ways, one of the chief architects of mass incarceration..”

He sounds just like Kamala.

Will Adam Schiff Be California’s Next Top Cop? (G.)

As the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, Adam Schiff, the representative from southern California, became a household name, an icon of the anti-Trump resistance, and a rising star in the Democratic party. A year on, the congressman looks increasingly well positioned to be appointed as California’s next attorney general. But in Schiff’s home district, criminal justice and immigrant rights advocates say that his record as state senator and congressman, authoring legislation to increase the criminalization and incarceration of Black and brown Californians, should disqualify him from holding the position. “There’s this real disconnect,” said Jody Armour, a University of Southern California law professor who studies the intersection of race and legal decision making.

“The country knows Schiff as sort of an icon. Here in California, we know him as someone who was, in many ways, one of the chief architects of mass incarceration.” Schiff has reportedly been lobbying governor Gavin Newsom for the attorney general spot that will open up if the US Senate confirms Xavier Becerra as the Health and Human Services secretary later this week. House speaker Nancy Pelosi has given her blessings, and reportedly even a personal endorsement. Schiff, 60, began his career at a US district court in California, first as a law clerk and eventually as an assistant US attorney, rising to prominence for prosecuting the case against a former FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.


He was elected to the California state senate in 1996, and four years later moved to the US House of Representatives. There, he served as the chair of the powerful Intelligence Committee, becoming one of Pelosi’s closest confidants. As the lead impeachment manager pursuing Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Schiff’s fiery speeches gained him lavish praise from liberals, begrudging recognition from conservatives and $41m in campaign funds last election cycle. Schiff’s star power, his powerful allies in the Democratic party and fundraising prowess have set him up as a top contender for attorney general.

Read more …

“The language, slipped into the legislation at the last minute by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is designed to prevent federal money from subsidizing new tax cuts..”

Q: what’s the difference between Anti-Tax Zealotry and Anti-Vax Zealotry?

A Big Win Against Anti-Tax Zealotry (DP)

The American Rescue Plan’s $1.9 trillion of spending represents a significant and long overdue break with the budget-cutting, deficit-obsessed austerity ideology that has held sway since the Reagan Era. But that’s not all it does. A provision tucked into the final bill also aims to halt the anti-tax movement that has drained state and local coffers of resources to fund infrastructure, public education, and other basic social services. The language, slipped into the legislation at the last minute by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is designed to prevent federal money from subsidizing new tax cuts at a moment when some Republican-led states have been considering them.

“Money from COVID relief needs to go to helping every day Americans get through the pandemic, not paying for tax cuts for the rich,” Schumer said in a statement to The Daily Poster. “The American Rescue Plan explicitly prohibits states from using emergency COVID relief dollars to fund frivolous tax cuts. Governors should use this money to maintain public health and social assistance programs to fight the pandemic, and keep millions of other essential employees on the job and working for our communities.” The provision, coupled with Biden’s upcoming plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, represents the first significant effort to explicitly combat the anti-tax movement that has dominated American politics for the last half century.


Such efforts suggest Democrats have learned a valuable lesson since their 2009 economic stimulus bill about the importance of prioritizing public aid for local and state governments — and keeping that aid from being waylaid by Republicans’ anti-tax zealotry.

Read more …

Washington wants more power.

Ohio AG Sues Biden Administration Over Pandemic Bill (Hill)

Ohio’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Wednesday over a provision of the recently signed pandemic relief bill. In a complaint filed in federal district court in Ohio, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) challenged a provision in the legislation that forbids state and local government from using pandemic aid to offset tax cuts. “Ohio seeks to enjoin federal officials from enforcing the unconstitutional Tax Mandate, and seeks declaratory relief establishing that the State of Ohio, under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, retains the freedom to manage its own tax policy,” the lawsuit reads. The lawsuit was filed against Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the Treasury Department. Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department immediately responded when asked for comment.

President Biden signed the bill last week, authorizing aid including direct payments for individuals and $195.3 billion for states and Washington, D.C. — including about $5.5 billion for Ohio, according to the lawsuit. The aid is largely distributed based on each state’s number of unemployed workers. Yost argues in his lawsuit that Congress violated constitutional restraints in seeking to control how states set their tax policies. “By accepting that money, the State must sacrifice its sovereign authority to set tax policy as it sees fit, because changes to tax policy that reduce revenues violate the Tax Mandate,” the lawsuit reads. “Such violations could be used to force the State to return funding received through the Act.” [..] Carl Davis, the research director for the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said that the rhetoric from the conservative attorneys general has been overblown.


“There’s a lot of potential very positive uses for this money that states and localities could find in this moment,” Davis told The Hill. “It’s not intended to be a way to help states to go ahead and cut taxes, particularly for folks at the top, which is really what we’re talking about in a lot of these states that are objecting most loudly to the provision.” “So I think if a state believes that its budget is so strong, and it can afford to actually cut taxes and it’s not going to be doing those kinds of investments, dealing with the economic situation of the hardship we’re seeing right now, it would forego an equivalent amount of aid,” he added. Daniel Hemel, a tax law professor at the University of Chicago law school, agrees that the rhetoric from the attorneys general has been overblown but says that the tax provision in the relief bill is not “Congress’s best work.”

Read more …

Stop talking about markets, there’s only the Fed.

Fed Expects Growth Surge, Inflation Jump In 2021 But No Rate Hike (R.)

The U.S. economy is heading for its strongest growth in nearly 40 years, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, and central bank policymakers are pledging to keep their foot on the gas despite an expected surge of inflation. “Strong data are ahead of us,” a confident Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after a two-day policy meeting, ticking off the list of forces Fed officials expect will produce 6.5% GDP growth this year – from massive federal fiscal stimulus to optimism around the success of coronavirus vaccines.“The (stimulus) checks are going out … COVID cases are coming down. Vaccination is moving quickly,” Powell said, marking a moment in which a body of top U.S. economic officials expect growth in the United States to rival that of China this year, not to mention surging quickly beyond that of Europe and Japan.


Fed officials, in fact, expect economic growth to remain above trend for at least two years to come, at 3.3% in 2022 and 2.2% in 2023, compared to estimated long-term potential growth of just 1.8%. While inflation is expected to jump to 2.4% this year, above the central bank’s 2% target, Powell said that is viewed as a temporary surge that will not change the Fed’s pledge to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero as part of an effort to ensure the economic wounds from the pandemic are fully healed. [..] in overlooking the expected jump in inflation this year without a policy response, the Fed held true to its new framework and a pledge not to overreact at the first hint of rising prices, a reaction that has in the past been felt to nip off periods of growth before workers felt the full benefits.

Read more …

Michael Hudson and Paul Craig Roberts.

It Is Time To Remove The Debt Barrier To Economic Growth (Hudson/PCR)

Out of habit, American economists worry about federal debt. But federal debt can be redeemed by the Federal Reserve printing the money with which to retire the bonds. The debt problem rests with individuals, companies, and state and local governments. They have no printing press. We have explained that the indebtedness of the population means there is little discretionary income with which to drive the economy. The offshoring of middle class jobs lowered incomes, and after paying debt service—mortgage interest, car payments, credit card interest, student loan debt—Americans’ pockets are empty. This situation has been worsened by Covid lockdowns. In the US the federal government has sent out a few Covid payments to help keep people’s heads above water as they face expenses without income.

The financial press refers to these Covid checks as “fiscal stimulus,” but there is no stimulus. The Covid checks do not come close to replacing the missing wages, salaries and business profits from lockdowns. Corporations have indebted themselves and impaired their capitalization by borrowing money with which to repurchase their stock. This has built up their debt in the face of stagnant or declining consumer discretionary income. We propose to deal with the debt crisis by forgiving debts as was done in ancient times. Our basic premise is that debts that cannot be paid won’t be. Widespread foreclosures and evictions would further worsen the distribution of income and wealth and further contrain the ability of the economy to grow. Writing debt down to levels that can be serviced would clear the decks tor a real recovery.

Income that would be siphoned off in debt service would instead be available to purchase new goods and services. A few economists muttered that we were overlooking the “moral hazzard” of absolving people of their debts. But leaving the economy stagnated in debt is also a moral hazzard. Policymakers did not endorse our proposal, but, in effect, policymakers adopted our policy. However, instead of forgiving the debt itself, they forgave payment of the debt service. Individuals and businesses who cannot pay their landlords or lenders cannot be evicted or foreclosed until June. This doesn’t hurt the lenders or banks, because the loans are not in default, and their balance sheet is not impaired. The banks add the unpaid payments to their assets, and their balance sheets remain sound.

When June arrives, the prohibition against eviction and foreclosure will have to be extended as the accrued debt service cannot be paid. Extending the moratorium on foreclosures and evictions will just build up arrears. Is the implication a perpetual moratorium? The question is: If policymakers are willing to forgive debt service, why not just forgive the debt. The latter is neater and clears the decks for an economic renewal.

Read more …

Solid discussion. Welcome.

Bitcoin Bros Rediscovering Our Monetary Past (AIER)

All eyes on bitcoin, it seems, as the price hits new all-time-highs, its proponents celebrate, and the economists who have long pronounced it dead and useless scratch their head in confusion (any “bubble” pronouncements as of late?)“The discomforting reality for the early idealists,” wrote Izabella Kaminska, a long-time critic of cryptocurrencies, before the price explosion in recent months, “is that 12 years on, the bitcoin ecosystem has more in common with the incumbent one it was hoping to displace than that original utopian vision.” She’s more right than she knows. In one sense, we should probably celebrate this as it means that bitcoin is approaching the monetary commodity dream it always harbored: it is running into some eternal troubles common to all monetary systems.

Even better, we should take the opportunity to teach some monetary history, as those in the crypto world have never been particularly well-versed in our monetary past. The audience they cater to is even less informed and so the “bitcoin heroes” – Saifedean Ammous, Robert Breedlove etc – are celebrated for their wisdom, no matter how rudimentary or inaccurate. It’s easy to discard an entire field of centuries-long academic inquiries, especially if you’ve never been exposed to it, or only investigated a caricature. Some humility is recommended since, as Denis Patrick O’Brien writes in his collection of scholarly articles The Development of Monetary Economics, “Monetary economics has attracted some of the very best people to have written about economic problems.”

In contrast to Bitcoin’s money supply mechanism, set in stone since its origin, many of bitcoin’s rivals – “alt-coins” or “sh**coins” – want to set their own monetary policy, laid down arcane rules in fancy white papers that only the insiders have the discretion to change. This dispute over rules and discretion about who runs the printing press is about three centuries old if not more, and was thoroughly investigated by the likes of Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Tooke, Horsley Palmer, Walter Bagehot, John Clapham and others. Some of the seemingly novel features of many cryptocurrency innovations are not so novel, and quickly run into precisely the problems that plagued past economies; these were promptly examined and argued over by monetary economists long since dead and forgotten.

When Bitcoin was small and insignificant, the dollar-cost of sending value across the network was minuscule. For the first few years of the cryptocurrency’s existence, this was among the best reasons to use it: you could send any amount, to anyone in the world, much cheaper and much faster than the legacy banking system of the 2000s. That was roughly correct. Legacy systems were slow and expensive, and doing international banking only 15-20 years ago caused headaches to plenty more people than money launderers.

The Internet, effective competition, and the rise of fintechs changed all that – but the most vocal bitcoiners remained in the past that the legacy system had long left behind, thinking that their magnificent invention still trumped the system against which bitcoin was created. For most uses it doesn’t: unless you’re living under authoritarian regimes or are trying to do business in the legal grey (two very important, yet comparatively small, market segments), using bitcoin for its initial transactional purposes isn’t that great.

Read more …

“Experts say that Markle may be the most qualified presidential candidate to ever run for office since she is a Democrat woman of color and has a ton of useful experience as a princess.”

Woman Who Thought Being A Princess Was Too Hard, To Run For President (BBee)

The former Duchess of Sussex, who left the royal family after realizing how hard it was to be a princess, is now eyeing a presidential run. According to sources, Meghan Markle is networking with Democratic leaders for a possible shot at becoming America’s first female president. “Being a princess was, like, the absolute worst,” said Markle to some trusted political consultants. “There were so many things to do, and so many annoying obligations I had to fulfill. I think being President of the United States will be much easier. Let’s do that instead!” Experts say that Markle may be the most qualified presidential candidate to ever run for office since she is a Democrat woman of color and has a ton of useful experience as a princess.


“Meghan Markle may be the one to finally save America and get all those migrant kids out of cages,” said local Meghan Markle enthusiast Camy Fumbertook. “Obama was a letdown, and Biden was a letdown, but I think Markle will be totally different due to her womanness and person-of-colorness.” In a statement, Biden announced support of Markle’s future run. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” he said as he descended his basement stairs for another nap. “The presidency is way easier than being a princess.”

Read more …

 

 

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International trash-talk:

5. You are a potato with the face of a guinea pig (French)
4. Your brain is like two walnuts in a bag (Arabic)
3. My foot is in your butt’s destiny (Urdu)
2. You’re the son of a gender-neutral dog (Bengali)
1. Your gran masturbates standing up (German)

 

 

You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.


Lá fhéile pádraig

Seamus Heaney

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 18 2021

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 58 total)
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  • #71362

    John William Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs 1896   • Russian Ambassador To US Summoned Back To Moscow For Consultations (RT) • Biden: Putin Is A
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 18 2021]

    #71363
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    John William Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs 1896

    Just lovely; In classical mythology, Hylas (Ancient Greek: Ὕλας) was a youth who served as Heracles’ (Roman Hercules) companion and servant. His abduction by water nymphs was a theme of ancient art, and has been an enduring subject for Western art in the classical tradition.

    As to the rest? Insanity…no further comment…
    😉

    #71365
    absolute galore
    Participant

    Can the U.S. get any more depraved or debased? This “killer with no soul” business is magnitudes more shocking than anything out of Trump’s mouth during his four years. It’s like we are a comic book country. Biden has always been a fool who believes the myth he created for himself as a tough acting tough talking kinda guy. Now that his meager mental abilities are even more diminished, it would appear he has no capacity to reign that in when needed.

    I can’t imagine a president whose handlers have not yet allowed him to have a press conference would permit him to sit down to an interview without having a list of the questions to be asked. But maybe the interviewer caught him off guard with the killer question. How he could be allowed to talk like that about the leader of a country as important as Russia in global affairs is just incredible. How is this idiot now going to sit down and have any kind of meaningful talk with Putin? Or will Harris step in as “good cop?” since apparently she is the one talking to world leaders. “Hi Vlad. Kamala here. Don’t mind old Joe, he was off his meds again. Let’s chat.”

    We have exactly nobody at the helm who has a clue about diplomacy. We have become so narcissistic that we are simply no longer capable of seeing anything, especially anything remotely resembling reality. Pelosi was worried about Trump with the nuclear codes? I am much more alarmed by who exactly has their finger on that button right now. What little committee that might consist of we have no idea, but we can safely imagine it is singularly unqualified.

    #71366
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    • Past Covid Infections Don’t Confer Strong Enough Immunity (F.)

    The study results suggest that previous infection gives “a protection rate against reinfection of 80.5%.” This is right up there with the effectiveness of vaccines, maybe even higher when considering the variants.

    “Don’t Confer Strong Enough Immunity” is the slant to fit the narrative.

    Meanwhile, there are increasing cases where Covid Vaccines Don’t Confer Strong Enough Immunity.

    From the Hawai’i State Department of Health, March 11

    The Department of Health also recently identified a case of COVID-19 in a fully vaccinated Hawai‘i healthcare worker which was associated with recent travel to the mainland United States. An Oahu healthcare worker received two doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine in accordance with recommended vaccine guidelines, completing the vaccine series in early January 2021. The individual then traveled to multiple mainland U.S. cities approximately one month later. Pre-travel testing was performed for the individual and a travel companion in preparation for returning to Hawai‘i. Results were received after the travelers arrived back in Hawai’i; both individuals tested positive.

    The next day, March 12, “The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) has announced three cases in which a fully vaccinated person contracted COVID-19. The DOH said, fully vaccinated means the person received both doses of the Moderna and/or Pfizer vaccine.”
    www. khon2.com/coronavirus/doh-confirms-3-vaccinated-hawaii-residents-tested-positive-for-covid-19/

    This can’t just be happening in Hawaii. Are the other states suppressing the news of vaccinated people catching Covid?

    #71367
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    A little while back I saw one of the local marginal evangelical Xtians holding a sign at bus-stop that proclaimed “LESBIANS RUN AMERICA! I wasn’t able to bring myself to believe that, because if the lesbians were actually in charge, I really have to think we wouldn’t be in the royal mess we’re in right now.

    #71368
    absolute galore
    Participant

    More unreality: The entire front fold of the digital New York Times is devoted to the rise of violence against Asians, people of color, and women. All tied to a tragic bloodbath in the Atlanta area committed by a 21-year-old who has confessed to having a “sex addiction.” Can we wait for the investigation before rolling out the editorials? Because isn’t that inflaming a bad situation with so far unrelated events? But since speculation now counts as hard news, once they made the assumption they went full in, because it bolsters their narrative.

    #71369
    absolute galore
    Participant

    @Doc Robinson I was talking with a friend last night who just got the Johnson and Johnson single shot, in anticipation of visiting her elderly parents, who got their double dose shots. But she is hesitant, because a friend of hers just came down with Covid a week after receiving her second shot. I think we may hear more stories like this as people start to congregate thinking they are fully protected by their vaccinations.

    #71370
    Mr. House
    Participant

    @absolute galore

    They were actually talking about that for a month before the shooting. People were being attacked in SF by non white people and they were calling it white supremacy. Lots of people on zerohedge were actually calling for a FF and were not surprised when that happened the other day. As the empire falls apart more quickly we will only get more unreality. If you’ve ever watched the movie a street car named desire, i’d say the united states is blanche.

    #71371
    zerosum
    Participant

    Finding the truth
    Required Masks to save your life.
    Paint, Mining, Asbestos, smoke/fires, and deadly virus.
    Overkill
    ———–
    What are the indicators of a lie and/or a truth?
    1. Who is the messenger
    2. Who is the receiver
    3. Why is the message being transmitted
    ———
    common sense is the truth
    Ask Trump
    Ask Biden

    ——–
    Fear
    Chose wisely. Life with the angels or life in a care home.
    Healthcare professionals emphasise that resuscitation is both invasive and traumatic with only a 15-20% survival rate when performed in hospitals and a 5-10% success rate when performed outside hospitals.
    ——
    Diplomacy is the art of insulting without hurting anybody’s feeling
    ———
    Truth
    If you don’t agree with the answer, change the question.

    ——
    Lies are for the past. Truth is for the future.
    ——–
    Repetition consumes energy.
    Repetition does not make it truth
    Ask a politician

    ——-
    ‘m still confused.
    ‘m still looking

    ———

    #71372
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “Whoever you are…I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

    #71373
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    The latest data on excess deaths in Europe (for week 10, 2021) was released today. The total weekly excess deaths, from all causes, are again below the baseline (below zero) for every age category.

    Looking at the map, all of the reporting countries are showing “No excess” deaths in Week 10 except for Estonia, Netherlands, and Israel (“moderate” excess, one step above “low” excess.)

    The media has lots of coverage about Israel’s success with the vaccines, but I haven’t seen any news coverage about why Israel’s excess deaths are higher than all those countries in Europe.

    https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps#excess-mortality
    (choose Weekly instead of Cumulated)

    #71374
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ Mr. House

    Does “FF” mean ‘false flag’? Or?

    $%^

    Violence against and by Asians is part of San Francisco’s founding DNA.

    ^&*

    As for the immunity remarks: what they’re calling vaccines, aren’t. Immunity isn’t part of the deal. LOrd knows what those imbeciles think they’re doing. Which reminds me: it occurred to me that being evil requires exertion while being stupid requires inertia.

    #71375
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Silver Lining

    Take this silver lining
    Keep it in your own
    Sweet head
    And shine it when the night is
    Burning red
    Shine it in the twilight
    Shine it on the cold, cold ground
    Shine it till these walls
    Come tumbling down
    We were born with our eyes wide open
    So alive with wild hope now
    Can you tell me why
    Time after time they drag you down
    Down in the darkest deep
    Fools and their madness all around
    Know that the light don’t sleep
    Step into the silence
    Take it in your own
    Two hands
    And scatter it like diamonds
    All across these lands
    Blaze it in the morning
    Got to wear it like an iron skin
    Only things worth living for
    Innocence and magic, amen
    We were born with our eyes wide open
    So alive with wild hope now
    Can you tell me why
    Time after time they drag you down
    Down in the darkest deep
    Fools and their madness all around
    Know that the light don’t sleep
    Know that the light don’t sleep

    #71364
    Germ
    Participant

    “Global Coup d’État: Mapping the Corporate Takeover of Global Governance”
    https://dryburgh.com/nick-buxton-great-reset-global-coup-detat/

    Northern Ireland: Dr. Anne McCloskey on COVID Fraud
    https://www.cryptogon.com/?p=60955

    #71376
    zerosum
    Participant

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet China’s top two diplomats, State Councilor Wang Yi and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi, in Anchorage, Alaska.

    But so far, Biden declined to rescind hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs imposed by Trump against China or to lift bans on Chinese apps.

    Just a day before the meeting, Blinken announced new sanctions on officials over China’s crackdown on pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong. In response, the Chinese stepped up their rhetoric opposing U.S. interference in domestic affairs.

    The United States and China will face a new test in their increasingly troubled relations when top officials from both countries meet in Alaska.

    Ties between the world’s two largest economies have been torn for years and the Biden administration has yet to signal it’s ready or willing to back down on the hard-line stances taken under President Donald Trump. Nor has China signalled it’s prepared to ease the pressure it has brought to bear. Thus, the stage is set for a contentious first face-to-face meeting Thursday.

    No agreements are expected.

    Blinken will attend the meeting having just come from Japan and South Korea, where he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin were promoting the Biden administration’s commitment to its treaty allies in Asia.

    The imposition of sanctions “fully exposes the U.S. side’s sinister intention to interfere in China’s internal affairs, disrupt Hong Kong and obstruct China’s stability and development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing Wednesday.

    The White House set low expectations for Blinken and Sullivan’s meeting, which officials say will be an initial opportunity to address intense disagreements.

    The senior administration official described the talks as a chance for the two sides for “taking stock” determining the kickback in the relationship.

    #71377
    Mr. House
    Participant

    This fits with the CY post yesterday about killing ghosts

    https://deflationland.blogspot.com/2014/03/currency-collapse-is-agency-of-reform.html

    FF stands for false flag.

    #71378
    Mr. House
    Participant


    Collapse of the Treasury complex and of the Dollar do not necessarily bring back our Old Republic. Classical political thought holds that tyranny follows democratic excess and collapse, and we are very likely to have a series of Caesars.

    Vladimir Putin is a Caesar, actually not a bad one at that, but he is what the Russian people needed after their own collapse, and I believe that he does act in the best interests of the Russian Federation. His personal fortune is excessive and an embarrassment; a true statesman would repatriate the bulk of it to the Russian people in their hour of need. But I am not Simonides to Putin’s Hiero.”

    #71379
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Faced as we are with this destiny, there is only one world outlook that is worthy of us, that which has already been mentioned as the Choice of Achilles — better a short life, full of deeds and glory, than a long life without content. Already the danger is so great, for every individual, every class, every people, that to cherish any illusion whatever is deplorable. Time does not suffer itself to be halted; there is no question of prudent retreat or wise renunciation. Only dreamers believe that there is a way out. Optimism is cowardice.

    We are born into this time and must bravely follow the path to the destined end. There is no other way. Our duty is to hold on to the lost position, without hope, without rescue, like that Roman soldier whose bones were found in front of a door in Pompeii, who, during the eruption of Vesuvius, died at his post because they forgot to relieve him. That is greatness. That is what it means to be a thoroughbred. The honourable end is the one thing that can not be taken from a man.

    — Oswald Spengler, Man and Technics, Knopf, 1932

    #71380
    John Day
    Participant

    The Nymphs are very attractive and alluring!
    Uh, what was the rest of that story?

    @Madamski
    , what do you think?
    (BTW, that was a very good commentary about the upcoming geopolitical worst of times in the USA bringing out the best in people (and teher other stuff, too). I am observing Texans opening up more since the Deep-Freeze last month, more smiles and eye contact and street conversations.

    #71381
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Biden: Putin Is A Killer (Ind.)”

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the Biden who took millions from Moscow?

    Maybe he’s forgotten when you buy something which side is the owner.

    “How do you get the politics out of this vaccine talk?”

    By not saying this: “I can hug my grandkids now.” Which is anti-science since kids don’t get it. That was your research, not mine. When your vaccine and vaccine-sciencey explanations make no sense it makes us suspicious.

    “Border patrol have been told to deny all media”

    Most transparent ever. Like Obama, who imprisoned more whistleblowers than all Presidents combined. Doesn’t matter because #Reality.

    “Joe Biden’s ‘Putin Is a Killer’ Claim a ‘Tantrum of Powerlessness’ – MP (RT)”

    Maybe they should accidentally shut off the gas pipes to England and see what they think. Since he comes from #OppositeLand, above, he may have forgotten who’s in charge.

    “This is no way for the leader of a country that claims to be a bearer of democratic principles and morality to behave.“

    Yeah! Putin is a killer. You can’t tell the #Truth. That’s the only remaining law of the West.

    But it hardly matters: Trump gave Putin’s wish list to strengthen Russia with the last sanctions, and everybody already knows we’re collapsed and “not agreement capable.”

    “Most people who catch Covid-19 are unlikely to get sick from the disease again, but reinfection is more common than previously thought”

    And also can’t tell and don’t care since they’re not sick. I also get Corona monthly because it’s the common cold. I also can’t tell. Not even if it’s Covid. Am I making this up? This is their own sentence: “people who catch Covid-19 are unlikely to get sick from the disease again

    Goblin-Fairies also invisibly circle me on the full moon, but since I can’t see them and they have no effect I don’t care. This is what science has come to: their version of invisible angels on a pin.

    “AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine”

    My guess is profits aren’t high since half the healthcare workers won’t take it. Therefore some Pharma companies are cannibalizing the others. …Not that they don’t deserve it. Pretty clearly they are killing hundreds, thousands? But it’s all the same-old, God’s work.

    “Blanket DNR”

    This is a tough case, since you’re in a nursing home, therefore not recovering, and if we DO resuscitate, we’re going to break your sternum and a bunch of ribs. Probably. And it probably won’t work anyway. Probably. And therefore a horror not only for you, but the healthcare worker. But yes, this is properly a discussion and decision…

    Death (Image)

    I’m sorry there are limits to timespace. Just deny #Reality like everybody else and I’m sure it’ll all get better.

    “designed to prevent federal money from subsidizing new tax cuts..”

    Why bother? Our taxes don’t pay for anything now and haven’t in decades. It’s all inflation/borrowing/printing money. We’re never going to pay it back: stop the charade. Oh wait, Rule #1 of the West: Never tell the truth. As Churchill said, “Never tell the truth. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never.” …Or something like that.

    ” Ohio AG Sues Biden Administration Over Pandemic Bill (Hill)”

    Yes but the Supreme Court no longer hears cases so, good luck.

    “Markets” There may be one market left, sort of. UST 10-year is now at 1.75% Since the low was 0.32%, rates have risen fivefold in an economic Great Depression. Dodge this.

    “But federal debt can be redeemed by the Federal Reserve printing the money with which to retire the bonds.”

    Yes they can. But then rates quintuple and your yearly interest payments rise 500%. The dollar falls and Bitcoin rises 1300%x, displacing the dollar in places like Kenya. Stop me when any of this sounds familiar.

    The SEC just told Michael Burry of the Big Short not to tell the truth. Since that is our only enemy. Meanwhile after placing a legal order on Musk he told them to suck his…but this is a family show…I’ll tweet all I want, and they said, “How much sir?” The only enemy is the truth. Just like last time. In ’08. And ’01. And ’94. And 1979. We said it all then and were right. We know they are lying. Yet they are still lying. And we are still crediting, believing, and following the liars who got it wrong, and punishing the truthtellers who get it right. #OppositeLand.

    Bitcoin Bros Rediscovering Our Monetary Past (AIER)”

    Yes and that makes it a trap. But it’s your job to steal the bait and destroy the trap, which is easier than ever. You’re using $60,000 of their own money, their complete failure, measured mathematically.

    ““LESBIANS RUN AMERICA!”

    Yeah, but it’s run by Biden, who’s not a man, and Kamala, who’s not a woman, so…

    #71382
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Dr. D reads the sandman comics?

    #71384
    John Day
    Participant
    #71385
    John Day
    Participant

    Helen of DesTroy (Thanks Wiggs, RUSSIAN Alert!)
    ​ ​Faith in Big Brother’s willingness to toss out a last-minute lifesaver has bred a profound laziness into the American media establishment – a phenomenon some have dubbed ‘truth decay’ – that has wrecked not just its quality, but its believability. The media establishment, effectively dominated by just six companies – Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, Comcast, Viacom and CBS – survives to fight another day, but at what cost? Even the most amateur-hour alt-media enterprise comes off more believable than an article from the Washington Post or the New York Times, which bear up each other’s falsehoods only to see themselves further discredited, driving their former audiences into what they insist on dubbing the ‘fringe’ – outlets populated by their own former employees who, no longer capable of looking themselves in the eye after a workday spent lying furiously to their public, are abandoning their former employers like rats deserting the proverbial sinking ships.
    http://www.rt.com/op-ed/518367-establishment-media-cartel-narrative-collapse/

    #71387
    John Day
    Participant

    Rumored “Russian asset”, Paul Craig Roberts. Thanks Wiggs (Where are you from?)​
    ​ ​Putin came to power as the American neoconservatives were girding up to establish US and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. As General Wesley Clark told us, seven countries were to be overthrown in 5 years. The American preoccupation with the Middle East permitted Putin to throw off American overlordship and reestablish Russian sovereignty. Once Washington realized this, the American establishment turned on Putin with a veng​a​nce.
    ​ ​Stephen Cohen, Jack Matlock (Reagan’s ambassador to the Soviet Union), myself and a few others warned that Washington’s refusal to accept Russian independence would reignite the Cold War, thus erasing the accomplishment of ending it and resurrecting the specter of nuclear war. But Washington didn’t listen. Instead, Cohen and I were put on a list of “Russian agents/dupes,” and the process of trying to destabalize Putin began. In other words, once an American colony always an American colony, and Putin became the most demonized person on earth.
    ​ ​Today (March 17) we had the extraordinary spectacle of President Biden saying on ABC News that President Putin is a killer, and “he will pay a price.” This is a new low point in diplomacy. It does not serve American interests or peace…
    ​ ​In the United States Russian Studies has degenerated into propaganda. Recently, two members of the Atlantic Council think tank, Emma Ashford and Matthew Burrows, suggested that American foreign policy could benefit from a less hostile approach to Russia. Instantly, 22 members of the think tank denounced the article by Ashford and Burrows.
    ​ ​This response is far outside the boundaries of the 20th century Cold War. It precludes any rational or intelligent approach to American foreign policy. Sooner or later the Kremlin will comprehend that it is confronted by a gangster outfit of the criminally insane. Then what happens?
    http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/03/17/washington-has-resurrected-the-specter-of-nuclear-armageddon/

    ​Are the Russians getting suspicious of America?​
    Russian ambassador to US summoned back to Moscow for consultations on future relations with Washington
    http://www.rt.com/russia/518406-ambassador-antonov-us-biden/

    ​Them’s Fightin’ Words!
    Putin Responds To Biden’s “Killer” Slur: “It Takes One To Know One”
    http://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-responds-biden-killer-slur-it-takes-one-know-one

    ​(Irish-Russian?) ​RFK, Jr. to President Biden: No. 1 Driver of Vaccine Hesitancy Is Mistrust of Regulators
    Children’s Health Defense Chairman RFK, Jr. says transparency, robust science and a functional surveillance system are the only ways to build public trust for the COVID vaccine.
    childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rfk-jr-president-biden-vaers/

    #71388
    Noirette
    Participant

    From around here, France, Switz. some legal issues re. Covid.

    1. In F, as the vaccines are approved only for ‘emergency’ use, informed consent is required. In principle, a pre-vax meet with a medico who explains, at least 5 days before, must be done. Consent can be verbal, and withdrawn at any time. —Note Spain has had two court cases where the judge ruled that forced vaccination was legitimate – both cases involved old ppl in care homes with family opposed to the vaccine.—

    No doubt the letter of the guidance is not rigorously followed, particularly in old ppls homes, yet, such is the legal frame. Once the person has been vaccinated, it will be (imho) well-nigh impossible to prove ‘error’ or ‘coercion’.

    Life Insurance Cos. have made their position public, in F, for now only thru interviews, e-mails, responses to individual queries, etc. ..>..

    Dying post cov-vaccine is tantamount to a voluntary participation in an experiment. Put for ex. in these terms, trans. participating in a bio-medical experiment, which is an exclusionary case ..

    In ‘official’ Med. trials, the subjects, as willing participants, either forego compensation for insult, or the responsibility falls to the drug Co. or the State, or is shared, all as agreed to, signed, beforehand.

    So, in F, for post-vax death, insurance policies won’t be paid to the beneficaries. *Unless the State intervenes.

    2. In Switz. small biz owners have discovered that many of them had (private, personal/own biz) insurance against biz losses in case of an EPIDEMIC. Typically, a medium-end popular restaurant I know of, with two venues, making money hand over fist. But as the WHO declared a PANDEMIC, these biz. are not being paid the compensation. … *Unless the State invervenes..

    Such snarls may concern many others in other places…What about ppl’s, private, or public (or mix) health insurance / guarantees / State policies. Ex. What about long-haul Covid in various settings? How are the sufferers going to be ‘classed’, treated? Disabled? Chronic infection?

    2 links MSM in next post.

    #71391
    Noirette
    Participant

    links didn’t post

    #71392
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-children-moderna/
    [CBS news story, in case the link above doesn’t post (story can be found in multiple sources via web search)]

    Moderna has begun testing its COVID-19 vaccine on young children, the company announced Tuesday. The study, called KidCOVE, is testing Moderna’s vaccine candidate in children ages 6 months to less than 12 years old.

    Moderna plans to enroll approximately 6,750 pediatric participants in the U.S. and Canada in the two-part study. In part 1, each participant ages 2 years to less than 12 years may receive one of two dose levels, while each participant ages six months to less than 2 years may receive one of three dose levels.
    Following analysis, researchers will determine which dose will be used in part 2 of the study, which involves a placebo for comparison.

    Children participating in the study will be followed for 12 months after receiving the second vaccination. The vaccine’s effectiveness, as well as its safety and reactogenicity (potential side effects like injection-site pain, headache and fever) will be studied.

    The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are helping conduct the study.

    I have young grandchildren. I am extremely worried. They’re “following the children for 12 months” after vaccination. 12 months? What in god’s name are we doing??

    #71383
    John Day
    Participant

    Russians Kill Everybody
    https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/03/russians-kill-everybody.html

    Helen of DesTroy (Thanks Wiggs, RUSSIAN Alert!)
    ​ ​Faith in Big Brother’s willingness to toss out a last-minute lifesaver has bred a profound laziness into the American media establishment – a phenomenon some have dubbed ‘truth decay’ – that has wrecked not just its quality, but its believability. The media establishment, effectively dominated by just six companies – Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, Comcast, Viacom and CBS – survives to fight another day, but at what cost? Even the most amateur-hour alt-media enterprise comes off more believable than an article from the Washington Post or the New York Times, which bear up each other’s falsehoods only to see themselves further discredited, driving their former audiences into what they insist on dubbing the ‘fringe’ – outlets populated by their own former employees who, no longer capable of looking themselves in the eye after a workday spent lying furiously to their public, are abandoning their former employers like rats deserting the proverbial sinking ships.
    https://www.rt.com/op-ed/518367-establishment-media-cartel-narrative-collapse/

    Glenn Greenwood, via the ​slanderous, ​pro-Russian, renegade Substack platform:
    How Do Big Media Outlets So Often “Independently Confirm” Each Other’s Falsehoods?
    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-do-big-media-outlets-so-often

    ​Rumored “Russian asset”, Paul Craig Roberts. Thanks Wiggs (Where are you from?)​
    ​ ​Putin came to power as the American neoconservatives were girding up to establish US and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. As General Wesley Clark told us, seven countries were to be overthrown in 5 years. The American preoccupation with the Middle East permitted Putin to throw off American overlordship and reestablish Russian sovereignty. Once Washington realized this, the American establishment turned on Putin with a veng​a​nce.
    ​ ​Stephen Cohen, Jack Matlock (Reagan’s ambassador to the Soviet Union), myself and a few others warned that Washington’s refusal to accept Russian independence would reignite the Cold War, thus erasing the accomplishment of ending it and resurrecting the specter of nuclear war. But Washington didn’t listen. Instead, Cohen and I were put on a list of “Russian agents/dupes,” and the process of trying to destabalize Putin began. In other words, once an American colony always an American colony, and Putin became the most demonized person on earth.
    ​ ​Today (March 17) we had the extraordinary spectacle of President Biden saying on ABC News that President Putin is a killer, and “he will pay a price.” This is a new low point in diplomacy. It does not serve American interests or peace…
    ​ ​In the United States Russian Studies has degenerated into propaganda. Recently, two members of the Atlantic Council think tank, Emma Ashford and Matthew Burrows, suggested that American foreign policy could benefit from a less hostile approach to Russia. Instantly, 22 members of the think tank denounced the article by Ashford and Burrows.
    ​ ​This response is far outside the boundaries of the 20th century Cold War. It precludes any rational or intelligent approach to American foreign policy. Sooner or later the Kremlin will comprehend that it is confronted by a gangster outfit of the criminally insane. Then what happens?

    Washington Has Resurrected the Specter of Nuclear Armageddon

    ​Are the Russians getting suspicious of America?​
    Russian ambassador to US summoned back to Moscow for consultations on future relations with Washington
    https://www.rt.com/russia/518406-ambassador-antonov-us-biden/

    ​Them’s Fightin’ Words!
    Putin Responds To Biden’s “Killer” Slur: “It Takes One To Know One”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-responds-biden-killer-slur-it-takes-one-know-one

    ​(Irish-Russian?) ​RFK, Jr. to President Biden: No. 1 Driver of Vaccine Hesitancy Is Mistrust of Regulators
    Children’s Health Defense Chairman RFK, Jr. says transparency, robust science and a functional surveillance system are the only ways to build public trust for the COVID vaccine.

    RFK, Jr. to President Biden: No. 1 Driver of Vaccine Hesitancy Is Mistrust of Regulators

    #71393
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ John Day

    They’re too waif-like for me. And at my age, thinking of them erotically feels pedophilic. 😉

    ^&*

    @ Mr. House

    Lovely quotes and refernces today. The Spengler in particular perked my wrinkles.

    ^&*

    Regarding CHurchill and truth:

    “There are a lot of lies going around… and half of them are true.”

    “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

    “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

    “Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminological_inexactitude#:~:text=Terminological%20inexactitude%20is%20a%20phrase,phrase%20following%20the%201906%20election.

    I suspect old Stalin goty a kick watching Winnie and FDR scam each other.

    #71390
    Noirette
    Participant
    #71389
    Noirette
    Participant
    #71395
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Hylas and the Nymphs

    An Epstein ‘honeypot’ hustle

    #71397
    Bill7
    Participant

    “The quaint old forms-elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of nonviolent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial . . . Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.”

    -Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World Revisited” 1958

    “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust… One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

    hear, hear.

    #71394
    Germ
    Participant
    #71399
    zerosum
    Participant

    Look! Same story. Different slant. Who is not telling the truth? Who is doing a character assassination?

    1. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-fauci-wearing-masks-covid-vaccine-theater
    Rand Paul spar with Dr. Fauci over masks Fauci stressed that vaccines and natural immunity did not protect against COVID variants

    2. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-rand-paul-accused-dr-164045169.html
    Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of ‘theater’ and wearing masks ‘for show’ after being vaccinated

    3. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4952626/senator-rand-paul-clashes-dr-fauci-mask-wearing
    CLIP OF DR. FAUCI, CDC DIRECTOR DR. WALENSKY & FEDERAL OFFICIALS TESTIFY ON COVID-19 RESPONSE
    Senator Rand Paul Clashes with Dr. Fauci Over Mask-Wearing

    4. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/03/18/watch-rand-paul-destroy-dr-fauci-over-mask-wearing-you-parade-around-in-two-masks-for-show-n1433482
    Watch Rand Paul Destroy Dr. Fauci Over Mask Wearing: ‘You Parade Around in Two Masks for Show’

    5. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/uselection/rand-paul-challenges-dr-fauci-again/vi-BB1eJeKB
    See Rand Paul spar with Dr. Fauci over masks

    6. https://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-accuses-fauci-of-theater-wearing-masks-for-show-2021-3
    Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of ‘theater’ and wearing masks ‘for show’ after being vaccinated

    7. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/03/18/watch-rand-paul-destroy-dr-fauci- -mask-wearing-you-parade-around-in-two-masks-for-show-n1433482
    Watch Rand Paul Destroy Dr. Fauci Over Mask Wearing: ‘You Parade Around in Two Masks for Show’

    #71400
    zerosum
    Participant

    Look! Same story. Different slant. Who is not telling the truth? Who is doing a character assassination?

    1. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-fauci-wearing-masks-covid-vaccine-theater
    Rand Paul spar with Dr. Fauci over masks Fauci stressed that vaccines and natural immunity did not protect against COVID variants

    2. http://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-rand-paul-accused-dr-164045169.html
    Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of ‘theater’ and wearing masks ‘for show’ after being vaccinated

    3. http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4952626/senator-rand-paul-clashes-dr-fauci-mask-wearing
    CLIP OF DR. FAUCI, CDC DIRECTOR DR. WALENSKY & FEDERAL OFFICIALS TESTIFY ON COVID-19 RESPONSE
    Senator Rand Paul Clashes with Dr. Fauci Over Mask-Wearing

    4. pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/03/18/watch-rand-paul-destroy-dr-fauci-over-mask-wearing-you-parade-around-in-two-masks-for-show-n1433482
    Watch Rand Paul Destroy Dr. Fauci Over Mask Wearing: ‘You Parade Around in Two Masks for Show’

    5. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/uselection/rand-paul-challenges-dr-fauci-again/vi-BB1eJeKB
    See Rand Paul spar with Dr. Fauci over masks

    6. http://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-accuses-fauci-of-theater-wearing-masks-for-show-2021-3
    Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of ‘theater’ and wearing masks ‘for show’ after being vaccinated

    #71401
    zerosum
    Participant

    First time – double post

    #71402
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Bravo. I clicked the site and it showed me a Patron subscriber request. But it didn’t block me, just nudged me to subscribe (which I did). Nice gentle start. Well done.

    #71404
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    How can the Covid vaccine trials on infants and children be considered ethical? Setting aside the informed consent issue, the benefits to children are minimal, while the potential risks to these children are substantial.

    The above chart (deleted because it wouldn’t post) shows that the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) for those under age 20 is only 3 (or less) deaths per 100,000 infections. The IFR doesn’t reach 100 per 100,000 (or 1 death per 1,000 infections) until age 45-49. It jumps up to 1,000 deaths per 100,000 infections (1%) in ages 65-69, increasing to 3,000 per 100,000 (3%) for ages 75-79.

    The vaccine might make sense for someone in the 75-79 age group who is scared of a 3% fatality rate, but people of that age are literally 1000 times more likely to die from Covid than somebody under age 20 (according to that chart).

    The CDC has published similar data.
    Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death By Age Group
    Compared with 5—17-year-olds, the rate of death is 45 times higher in 30—39-year-olds, [2,800 times higher in 75—84-year-olds,] and 7,900 times higher in 85+-year-olds.
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html

    The vaccine benefit/risk judgement call for oldsters is much different that for youngsters, since the risk to oldsters is thousands of times higher, while the long-term risks of the experimental vaccine are much higher for the youngsters (who have their whole lives ahead of them).

    #71405
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ zerosum

    Fun watching Fauci’s face as Rand makes it clear he thinks he’s a complete shithead. You can see the pressure around Fauci’s eyes, the strain in his smile. Oh, he knows Rand won’t get anywhere in that confrontation, nor do I know if he’s smart enough to see his fall from grace on the horizon. But his massive ego is taking fire and it isn’t used to that. His smug condescension doesn’t even make Rand blink.

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