Mar 052021
 
 March 5, 2021  Posted by at 10:29 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Vincent van Gogh Landscape with House and Ploughman 1889

 

Covid Vaccine Ads Aim To Influence Without Alienating People (G.)
Does Social Solidarity Only Count When It Gets Us Back To The Pub? (Cook)
eBay Bans Sale Of Some Dr. Seuss Books (DW)
WHO Inspectors ‘To Scrap Interim Report’ On Probe Of COVID Origin (AlJ)
Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown (SN)
Capitol Police Requests National Guard Past March 12 (F.)
White House Weighs Minimum Wage Negotiations With Republicans (Pol.)
How To Stop The Manchin Presidency And Raise The Minimum Wage (DP)
Brexit: EU To Launch Legal Proceedings Against UK ‘Very Soon’ (G.)
Michael Brown’s Father, Ferguson Activists Demand $20M From BLM (NYP)
Almost A Full Year of Tomorrows (Snider)
The Appalling Death Of An Extremely Strange Genius (Taibbi)
71kg of Waste Found In Stray Indian Cow’s Stomach (Y!)
Estimated 9 Billion Already Dead From Texas Mask Mandate Reversal (BBee)

 

 

Bit of a strange news day, it seems incoherent, maybe that’s just me. What I do notice is the increasing pressure to promote vaccines, as in this:

Washington Post: The anti-vaccine movement is comparable to domestic terrorism, and must be treated that way

Pfizer not only gets governments to first fund research, then purchase billions of doses, it now also gets them to pay for their advertizing.

They’ll shame and threaten you for asking questions about untested substances, and call you anti-vaxxers.

 

 

 

 

“In a way, governments have to work on a parallel vaccine rollout – immunising the public against science denial.”

Who’s doing the denying here?

Covid Vaccine Ads Aim To Influence Without Alienating People (G.)

In England, the NHS signed up Elton John and Michael Caine for a lighthearted social media campaign aiming to convince the public that Covid vaccines are safe and effective. In Germany, a more sober public information campaign has been led by a virologist and health workers. And in France and elsewhere there have been no mass campaigns aimed at driving up vaccine acceptance. Government attempts to drive up vaccine acceptance will come under increasing scrutiny in the coming months as more jabs are made available. Public health experts say they have to walk a fine line between boosting trust and not being seen to force the jab on the public.

Germany’s campaign, called Germany Pulls Up Its Sleeves, has run across radio, regional newspapers and billboard posters. At a time when the public is being urged to stay at home and avoid commuting, the health ministry chose to spend more than half of its €25m campaign budget on outdoor advertising. A new campaign aimed at spreading confidence among younger people is due to launch when the vaccine becomes more widely available. In France there has been no major mass information campaign. Instead, the prime minister, Jean Castex, the health minister, Olivier Véran, and the country’s “Monsieur Vaccin”, Prof Alain Fischer, who is overseeing the programme, give weekly televised press conferences to update on progress and announce when different groups will be eligible for a shot.

In the US, the federal government is holding off on a nationwide push to raise awareness until vaccine supply increases, and is instead focusing its efforts on vaccine-hesitant minority communities. “When it comes to shifting attitudes to vaccines, it is crucial to distinguish between public information campaigns that seek to educate the public and those that seek to persuade them,” said Philipp Schmid, a behavioural scientist researching vaccine scepticism at the University of Erfurt. “In Germany at least, the latter would risk a backlash. But if you don’t proactively tackle the problem at all, you end up playing catch-up with the anti-vaxxers. In a way, governments have to work on a parallel vaccine rollout – immunising the public against science denial.”

Read more …

Jonathan Cook gets a bit lost in this very long piece. But he means well. And the Dr. Seuss is a great find.

Does Social Solidarity Only Count When It Gets Us Back To The Pub? (Cook)

For decades our societies have worshipped a single value with two faces: money and power. But we are suddenly being told by the very people who atomised our communities, who created an economic system of dog eat dog, who wrecked the planet with their greed – the people who made a religion of neoliberal orthodoxy – that we must trust that they have our best interests at heart during the pandemic. They cared not one whit for the common good until now. But suddenly, after many months of economic contraction, when corporations finally have a chance to make a quick buck again – either by producing and selling vaccines to desperate governments and their populations or by demanding a hurried return to business as usual through enforced vaccination programmes – the corporations and their dutiful servants in the media and political class are shocked that some of the public, those most betrayed, are indicating a lack of “trust”.

Nick Cohen offers an interesting survey result: “In Birmingham – the only city to have produced detailed statistics – just 60% of people over 80 accepted the jab in Alum Rock, a deprived and racially mixed part of the inner city, while 95% accepted it in Sutton Four Oaks, an overwhelmingly white commuter suburb.” Why would that be? Why would affluent white people whom the system has always favoured be quicker to trust a system that cared for them than the poor and ethnic minorities who have always been treated with contempt by that system? To ask the question is to answer it. Affluent liberals like Cohen understand that too. Which is why they hope to revive social controls that tightly police or censor information not to their liking, leaving them once again with exclusive rights to tell the poor and marginalised what constitutes the truth, to define for them what is in their interests.

An alien studying western societies from the heavens for the past half-century could better explain the problem than Cohen. People are being asked to trust the corporate medicine industry, the corporate media and the politicians dependent on the good will of profit-obsessed corporations to decide what is best for us, to believe that this time the corporate elite won’t take short cuts, that they won’t conceal information, that they won’t cause harm, that they won’t externalise the costs on to us, the public. That this time it will be different.

These are exactly the same corporations and their functionaries who in the past destroyed manufacturing industries that were the lifeblood of now-decimated communities; that approved the intensified militarisation of institutionally racist and corrupt police forces, turning them into domestic armies; and that are engaged in ransacking and destroying the planet on which we all depend.

Read more …

We do not ban nor burn books.

eBay still sells Mein Kampf.

eBay Bans Sale Of Some Dr. Seuss Books (DW)

On Thursday, reports surfaced that eBay, the online auction and shopping website, had blocked the sale of certain Dr. Seuss books. One eBay lister received the following response: “We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Offensive material policy. Listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination aren’t allowed. What activity didn’t follow the policy[:] Dr. Seuss Enterprises has stopped the publication of this book due to its negative portrayal of some ethnicities. As a courtesy, we have ended your item and refunded your selling fees, and as long as you do not relist the item, there will be no negative impact to your account. Please review our Offensive Materials Policy prohibits this item for more information. What you need to do next. You can’t relist items we’ve ended. Please ensure your current and future listings follow this policy.

[..] In light of the fact that books such as “Mein Kampf” can be offered on eBay while some Dr. Seuss books are banned, it is important to examine what the company’s Offensive materials policy states: Listings that promote, perpetuate or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender or sexual orientation, aren’t allowed. This includes but is not limited to the following: • Slurs or epithets of any kind • Slavery items, including reproductions, such as tags, shackles, documents, bills of sale, etc. • Items with racist, anti-Semitic, or otherwise demeaning portrayals, for example through caricatures or other exaggerated features, including figurines, cartoons, housewares, historical advertisements, and golliwogs • Black Americana items that are discriminatory •Confederate battle flag and related items with its image • Historical Holocaust-related and Nazi-related items, including reproductions • Any item that is anti-Semitic or any item from after 1933 that bears a swastika • Media identified as Nazi propaganda • Listings that imply or promote support of, membership in, or funding of a terrorist organization

This week, Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press that the books “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer” portrayed “people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” adding, “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families.” “Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process,” the company continued. “We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles.”

Read more …

Running down the clock.

WHO Inspectors ‘To Scrap Interim Report’ On Probe Of COVID Origin (AlJ)

A World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of COVID-19 is planning to scrap an interim report on its recent mission to China amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and an appeal from one international group of scientists for a new inquiry, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. “The full report is expected in coming weeks,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters news agency. No further information was immediately available about the reasons for the delay in publishing the findings of the WHO-led mission to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in late 2019.

In an open letter (PDF), a group of 26 scientists called on Thursday for a new international inquiry. They claim that “structural limitations” made it “all but impossible” for the WHO mission to adequately pursue its investigation. Among other issues, the scientists questioned the scientific independence of the “Chinese citizens” composing half of the team. “We have therefore reached the conclusion that the joint team did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation into all the relevant SARS-CoV-2 origin hypotheses – whether natural spillover or laboratory/research related incident,” read the letter.

China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to a WHO-led team investigating the origins of the pandemic, Dominic Dwyer, one of the team’s investigators, said last month, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began. The investigation had been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between Beijing and Washington, which accused China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak and criticised the terms of the visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the first phase of research. The team, which arrived in China in January and spent four weeks looking into the origins of the outbreak, was limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and prevented from contact with community members, due to health restrictions. The first two weeks were spent in hotel quarantine.

Read more …

Doesn’t say which aspects.

Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown (SN)

A new opinion poll in the UK finds that over half of Brits say they will miss either “some” or “many” aspects of lockdown despite the country now having been under some form of restrictions for nearly a year. Yes, really. The YouGov survey asked participants, “Do you think you will or will not miss any aspects of lockdown when it is over?” 9 per cent of respondents said they would miss “many” aspects of lockdown while 46 per cent said they would miss “some” aspects of lockdown – a combined total of 55 per cent. Just 39 per cent of respondents said they won’t miss any aspects of lockdown.


Previous polls have routinely showed majority or plurality support for lockdown, with little concern for what innumerable observers have called the biggest imposition on civil liberties in British history. One aspect that many will “miss” about lockdown is undoubtedly getting paid for doing nothing. Under the government’s furlough scheme, those who can’t work from home have had 80 per cent of their wages covered by the state for almost a year, with that program to be extended until September despite the government saying all restrictions will be lifted by the end of June. The prospect of having to work for their money will become a reality for some once again soon, although not for all given that the UK’s economy contracted the most in 300 years as a result of the lockdown, leading to 726,000 job losses.

Read more …

Biden’s entire presidency under siege.

Capitol Police Requests National Guard Past March 12 (F.)

The U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday asked the Pentagon to keep National Guard troops stationed at the Capitol past March 12 – the date at which they are scheduled to depart, citing a 93% increase in threats to lawmakers this year. In a statement, the Capitol Police announced that acting Cchief Yogananda Pittman “formally asked the Department of Defense to extend the support provided by the National Guard.” The statement didn’t specify the length of time for which the Guard troops have been requested, though multiple outlets reported Pittman wants them for an additional 60 days. The statement noted Pittman’s testimony in a House appropriations subcommittee hearing that “threats to members are up 93% during the first two months of this year” compared to 2020.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the chair of that committee, credited the National Guard presence in part for his belief that a Jan. 6-style attack on the Capitol could now be effectively dealt with. The statement noted the Pentagon “takes its mission seriously and will do whatever is necessary to achieve that mission,” adding that the Capitol Police is “extremely grateful” for their support. Thousands of National Guard troops have been stationed in and around the Capitol since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which Trump supporters stormed Capitol Police and attempted to stop lawmakers from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory. “We understand the Guard has a tremendous service need back home responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement concluded.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the request for an extension is “an outrage,” according to pool reports. “That’s not their function, that’s not their mission. They cannot do it,” he said, claiming it’s “destroying careers of people.”

Read more …

He promised.

White House Weighs Minimum Wage Negotiations With Republicans (Pol.)

The White House is weighing whether to engage in talks with Republicans on a minimum wage hike once Congress passes its Covid relief bill, two sources with knowledge of their strategic thinking say. White House aides said they believe there’s room to bring Republicans into the fold because raising the minimum wage is popular across ideological grounds. They pointed to the recent $15-an-hour wage increase passed in Florida, a state that voted for Donald Trump, as evidence that the issue has widespread support. In a sign that the White House is looking to broaden the coalition behind a wage hike, administration officials reached out to trade groups last week to gauge their willingness to support legislation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Negotiations with Republicans would be another step entirely. And it would likely frustrate progressives and raise alarms among labor and advocacy groups who are looking to Biden to make good on his promise to deliver a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Progressives argue that a phased-in $15 floor over five years is already a compromise and would likely oppose any deal that would go significantly lower. “They don’t want to blow up the world politically and pay a huge political cost, but if the politics aligned for a smaller increase, Joe Biden generally wants to get deals done,” said a source with knowledge of the administration’s thinking. The White House is “not doctrinaire on policy grounds about what it is they sign” the source added.

Cedric Richmond, a White House senior adviser, would only say that the administration is “exploring all options,” and that internal deliberations were still in the preliminary stages. “It’s still early in the game,” Richmond said. “This is not the point where you lay your whole strategy out for the world to see.”

Read more …

Oh sure, let’s pretend that Manchin keeps Biden from keeping his promises.

How To Stop The Manchin Presidency And Raise The Minimum Wage (DP)

For the last week, Americans paying attention to politics have learned an important truth: Joe Biden may live in the White House, but conservative Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is effectively president. This depressing reality can certainly be fixed, but only if progressive Democrats in Congress are willing to actually change the dynamic — and they have a rare opportunity to do that right now by using their power to raise the minimum wage. But so far, they aren’t choosing to use their power — which is a huge structural problem not just now, but also for the foreseeable future. Some have argued that the way to fix this situation is by ending the filibuster, but that’s a catch-22: It is absolutely a necessary reform, but President Manchin is pledging to veto it.

Even if Democrats were to eliminate the filibuster, they would still need Manchin’s stamp of approval for virtually all legislation, given the Senate’s current 50-50 split. The way to fix this dynamic is for a decisive number of House Democrats or Democratic senators to make clear, line-in-the-sand demands, and demonstrate they will vote down Democratic legislation that does not honor those demands. And they must do this specifically on must-pass legislation for which Biden can find zero GOP votes. That is the way to force Biden to stop pretending he has no agency and instead motivate him to use the overwhelming power of the executive branch to press the conservative wing of the party to back down. It is also the way to get Manchin himself to negotiate — right now, he gets to operate with impunity because there is no counterforce.

The COVID relief bill provides progressives this game-changing opportunity, and in the process they can heroically deliver not on some unimportant issue or tangential agenda item — but instead on the crucial cause of delivering a desperately needed higher minimum wage to millions of Americans. The debate over the legislation also gives the public a way to see whether self-identified progressive heroes are as serious about actually using power as President Manchin is. We can see this opportunity in the current wrangling over a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, where Manchin has successfully pressured the executive branch to support further limiting eligibility for survival checks, devising a phase-out policy so absurdly punitive that even reliably partisan Democratic pundits and centrist think tank wonks can’t support it. The payments — which are $1,400 instead of the $2,000 people were promised — will likely now go to 17 million fewer people than the last round of checks under Donald Trump, as a result of Manchin’s handiwork.

Read more …

Boris: “I’m sure with a bit of goodwill and common sense all these technical problems are eminently solvable..”

Brexit: EU To Launch Legal Proceedings Against UK ‘Very Soon’ (G.)

Brussels has warned it will launch legal action “very soon” following a move by the UK to unilaterally delay implementation of part of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland. The European commission vice-president, Maros Sefcovic, said the announcement by the government on Wednesday had come as a “very negative surprise”. David Frost, the Cabinet Office minister, said the UK was extending a series of “grace periods” designed to ease trade between Northern Ireland – which remains in the EU single market for goods – and Great Britain while permanent arrangements are worked out. It provoked a furious response in Brussels, with the EU accusing Britain of going back on its treaty obligations in the Brexit withdrawal agreement intended to ensure there is no return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.


In an interview with the Financial Times, Sefcovic – who is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the agreement – said the European commission was now working on “infringement proceedings” against the UK. “We are currently preparing it and it would be really something coming to our table very soon. The most precise term I can give you is really very soon,” he said. His warning came after Boris Johnson had sought to play down the dispute, saying the government was simply taking some “temporary and technical measures” to ensure that trade kept flowing. “I’m sure with a bit of goodwill and common sense all these technical problems are eminently solvable,” he said on Thursday.

Read more …

Where is that money?

Michael Brown’s Father, Ferguson Activists Demand $20M From BLM (NYP)

The father of Michael Brown and other activists from Ferguson, Missouri, are demanding financial support from Black Lives Matter after the organization revealed it raised over $90 million last year. Michael Brown Sr., whose son was fatally shot by a white police officer in August 2014, along with the other activists who helped propel the movement, want $20 million from the group to help their community. “Where is all that money going?” Brown Sr. asked in a Tuesday press release from the International Black Freedom Alliance. “How could you leave the families who are helping the community without any funding?”


The police shooting of Michael Brown sparked months of unrest in Ferguson and helped solidify the national Black Lives Matter movement. “We’re not asking for a handout, but for the funding to keep the movement strong where it began,” said Tory Russell, a Ferguson activist and co-founder of the International Black Freedom Alliance. The funds in Ferguson would be used in part to build a community center in honor of Michael Brown, the press release said. Last month the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation shared its funding numbers in an impact report first provided to the Associated Press.

Read more …

Alhambra’s Jeffrey Snider says deflation.

Almost A Full Year of Tomorrows (Snider)

The ISM reported its manufacturing index at highs on Monday, then today releases its non-manufacturing headline falling sharply. The result is an odd appendage to post-2008 history where these sentiment indicators are concerned; they are upside down to the usual configuration when it’s been more likely manufacturing suffers while services are to a greater extent immune to each successive suppressing downturn influence. The most notable aspect of the non-manufacturing index has to be the specific segments most responsible for the sharp decline. The overall number had been relatively flat/sideways stuck around 57 or 58 going back to last June; and had bumped up slightly to 58.7 for January 2021 as government money hit the stores. The February reading instead comes back to 55.3, the lowest since the earliest days of reopening.

Not only that, around 55 places the number into the same context as mid-2019 (or early 2016) when the US economy, like the rest of the world, was facing increasingly serious downturn pressures. Its employment subcomponent had indicated a contrary bump up in hiring of late (when compared to the more austere rebound in payroll estimates for these same few months) that likewise fell back in February. The subindex had reached 55.2 in January, the highest since late 2019 (so, not that impressive) only to decline to 52.7 last month.

New Orders, these apparently plummeted for reasons that aren’t well explained at the moment. Not only have COVID restrictions increasingly been removed, vaccines plus two full months of that $600 helicopter drop should’ve (if you believe in these things) produced more than a single January effect (as in retail sales). As for the ISM, forward-indicated orders in the service sector crashed by very nearly an even ten points (-9.9). As of this February figure, the New Orders index stands at just 51.9, which, outside of last April and May, isn’t close to anything since 2016’s Euro$ #3 bottoming out.

This is made all the more unsettling given the similar direction and intensity in Chinese sentiment of late. As if determined to further corroborate this interpretation, private payroll processing firm ADP reports also today another serious shortfall in the employment rebound. First, the series had undergone benchmark revisions which stripped a few hundred thousand jobs from the series (meaning they probably never happened) and then reported that for the month of February private payrolls gained just 117,000 last month (compared to revised +195,000 in January and Economist expectations for about the same). Around one hundred thousand would have been considered an alarmingly weak month before 2020; in this situation with the labor market struggling to gain any momentum, it’s yet another contrary signal (deflation, rather than the other one).

Read more …

“..grasping the awful truth: we all, eventually, run out of patches…”

The Appalling Death Of An Extremely Strange Genius (Taibbi)

I turned fifty-one this week. Terror of age is becoming a key comic subtext of my life. The first line of a novel I tried to write recently read, He looked in the mirror and shrieked. There’s a scene in Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat where the hero, a dim and nervous clerk named Akaky Akakievich, goes to the tailor to try to patch up his ancient greatcoat. It’s coming apart at the seams, the victim of St. Petersburg’s relentless winters and too many years of service. Akaky asks for one last repair job, but the merciless tailor Petrovich, having laid the coat out on a table, quickly pronounces the patient dead. “No, it can’t be repaired, the wretched garment,” he snaps. Akaky, in denial, tries to protest: it’s just a bit worn on the shoulders! Petrovich cuts him off. “The stuff is rotten, if you put a needle in it, it would give way.” “Let it give way, but you must patch it,” counters Akaky. “There is nothing to put a patch on,” Petrovich says, and Akaky recoils in horror, grasping the awful truth: we all, eventually, run out of patches.


Gogol, my childhood hero, died 169 years ago today, on March 4, 1852. Fitting for him, it might have been the most preposterously horrific act of self-destruction in literary history.Gogol was a genius, but a peculiar and probably very unpleasant kind. If Mozart came out of the womb hearing symphonies, the baby born in Sorochintsy, Ukraine in 1809 had a different fate. It was as if God whacked him with a shovel, locking his brain in the moment of hearing the funniest joke ever told. That may sound wonderful, but there’s a reason we eventually have to stop laughing — it hurts. The line between hilarity and terror is a thin one, as people who drop acid find out all the time. Gogol was a depressive who cheered himself up by imagining the funniest situations possible, but his gift in that area was so prodigious that he ultimately scared himself to death.

Read more …

“The cow is very sacred for us, but no-one cares for their life.”

71kg of Waste Found In Stray Indian Cow’s Stomach (Y!)

Indian vets have extracted 71 kilograms (156.5 pounds) of plastic, nails and other garbage from a pregnant cow, but both the animal and her baby died. The case has highlighted the country’s twin problems of pollution and stray cattle. An estimated five million cows roam India’s cities, with many gorging on the vast amounts of plastic litter on the streets. This cow was rescued after a road accident in late February by the People For Animals Trust Faridabad. A vet soon noticed the pregnant bovine was struggling. In a four-hour operation on February 21, vets found nails, plastic, marbles and other garbage in its stomach, said trust president Ravi Dubay.


They also attempted a premature delivery. “The baby did not have enough space to grow in her mother’s belly so she died,” Dubay told AFP. Three days later, the cow also died. “In my 13 years of experience, this is the most garbage we have taken from a cow… we had to use muscle power to get it all out,” Dubay said. Previous surgeries done by the organisation based in the northern Indian state of Haryana have found up to 50 kilograms of waste in cows’ stomachs. “The cow is very sacred for us, but no-one cares for their life. In every corner in every city they eat the waste,” Dubay added.

Read more …

The horror!

Estimated 9 Billion Already Dead From Texas Mask Mandate Reversal (BBee)

We were warned. Only one day after Texas succumbed to neanderthal thinking and reversed the mask mandate, experts reported an estimated 9 billion people around the world have already died as a direct result of this foolish action. “We estimate there are now negative 1.3 billion people alive,” said one expert solemnly. “We’ve never had a negative number like that before. Shucks– I’m not even alive anymore, come to think of it. Sad.” Scientists have followed the science very scientifically to determine this catastrophic end to all human life on Earth immediately began after Governor Greg Abbott called his press conference, announcing his plan to literally murder everyone by not making them wear t-shirt fabric on their faces.


“Too bad, humanity had a good run,” said another expert, who is also dead now. “That’s what we get for electing Republicans. Hopefully, humanity learned its lesson.” The expert, who was literally dead from the Texas mask mandate reversal, then joined his friends at the local bar for some beers.

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 5 2021

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #70612

    Vincent van Gogh Landscape with House and Ploughman 1889   • Covid Vaccine Ads Aim To Influence Without Alienating People (G.) • Does Social Soli
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 5 2021]

    #70613
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Vincent van Gogh Landscape with House and Ploughman 1889

    Not at the top of his form, IMO, but…
    Very nice, I like it….

    #70614
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    @JohnDay from yesterday: “If a tree falls in a forest and there is nobody there to hear it, does the tree or the forest “exist”?
    What is “existence”, do you think?”

    I don’t believe a human needs to be present to experience something in order for that something to exist. Yes, the tree fell and it knows it (as does everything around it) and the forest knows it exists as well. All living matter has consciousness. Just because the way in which a tree (or any plant) “thinks and feels” is not apparent to humans does not mean that plants don’t think and feel. They do, which makes being a vegetarian somewhat, er … well, that’s a question for another time. 😉

    I’m not entirely certain what existence is, nor how to adequately describe my thoughts on it. Perhaps, to be brief, I’d say that existence is [a] physical being manifested by a life force or energy that continually interacts with all other life force/energy around it.

    I agree with @Susmarie108, we should work on our own self-awareness and be as kind and caring as we possibly can. That does have a positive effect on everything around us and every little bit helps. But it takes a very long time to effect a “mass” change in consciousness that results in changes in the “physical” world. And humans, in general, are not evolving into some higher form that is kinder, more caring, more aware than we were in the past. It isn’t happening, no matter how much we fool ourselves that it is. If anything, we seem to be “devolving.” So I find it arrogant to think humans have the power to improve much of anything. Mostly we seem to do the exact opposite.

    I remember when I first started gardening. I fussed and fussed at everything, always trying to “improve” things (whatever that meant in my little human brain). Then one night when I couldn’t sleep I was out sitting on my patio at 2:00 in the morning. Just sitting quietly … and I suddenly “felt” that every living thing in the garden had its own existence, outside of me and my plans for it. And that I needed to leave them alone, aside from basic care, because what they were doing as part of their existence was none of my business.

    Ok, done. Way too much thinking for my second cup of coffee this morning.

    #70615
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks Upstate NYer: On the path. Any perception counts as perception, not just “human” perception. Perhaps a cuttlefish was there awaiting a fresh shrimp when the tree fell.
    Druids know the great trees, right.

    #70617
    John Day
    Participant
    #70619
    John Day
    Participant

    More, from last November, about that open source Finnish Nasal Spray Vaccine for COVID, that can’t seem to get to people, even though​ it was ready for human trials last May. It won’t make powerful persons in the machine richer and more powerful… so, IMPOSSIBLE.
    https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/18270-finnish-covid-19-vaccine-yielding-promising-results-but-lacks-funding.html

    #70620
    John Day
    Participant

    Russia has a new vaccine, a completely conventional “killed-virus” vaccine, with “no side effects”. Since it is a whole virus vaccine, it should be more effective against strains like the South African variant, which has differences in the spike protein, which most vaccines “target”. Thx Jeremy.
    ​ ​The third Covid-19 vaccine registered in Russia is based on a “perfectly conventional” platform, and those who have been injected experienced no side effects, the head of the Chumakov Scientific Center, which created it, told RT.
    ​ ​“Globally, almost 100% of vaccines contain either deactivated or live pathogens,” he said, adding that the one developed by his center contains an ‘inactivated’ (dead) coronavirus. This type of vaccine simulates a natural infection process, introducing the immune system to the virus and “teaching” the body to fight the pathogen without the risk of it spreading through the body and causing disease, he explained.
    ​ ​“Since we are talking about a whole-virion vaccine, the deviations in the genetic sequence – something one is calling different strains or different variants – are insignificant and amount to less than one percent. So… it would be weird to think that a whole-virion vaccine might fail to work against new strains, considering how small the differences are,” he said.
    ​ ​“The most important thing is that at this point we have a vaccine that definitely has no side effects,” he said, adding that, out of 300 volunteers, none reported any symptoms except for occasional soreness around the injection site.
    https://www.rt.com/russia/517024-russia-third-vaccine-dead-virus/

    #70621
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Covid Vaccine Ads Aim to Influence without Alienating People (G.)”

    Covid advertisements advertise, they do not not advertise. Sad panda is sad.

    Why does nobody but AWFLs who sucked 90% of the money out of 90% of the counties and killed 6 million brown people overseas trust Big Daddy Government and slave-harvesting MNCs?

    ” WHO Inspectors ‘To Scrap Interim Report’ on Probe of COVID Origin (AlJ)”

    A year later and they still don’t even have a PROBE. While the U.N. bioweapons treaty scientist said it was manmade in weeks. Ban! We NON-scientists, NON-doctors at Google and Facebook make all the medical and scientific conclusions on behalf of the doctors. The ones we know they really MEANT to say, comrade, except they are black White Supremacists and Nazi Russian bots. (Do I have to add here that Russians and Nazis are ALSO as opposite as Black White supremacists? Apparently yes.)

    “If you lined up all the economists end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion”

    Apparently the same is true of every chemical and biological weapons accusation investigator. 10 years now since Syria, and they only thing they found UN OPCW is nothing. Bellingcat’s still going though, still supported by BBC/Reuters/MI6 merger, and Biden/Raytheon/Exxon merger starting new bombing and blowing up 3 regional Nobel treaties.

    “Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown (SN)”

    Simply shows that humans are adaptable and try to make the best of any situation.

    “Capitol Police Requests National Guard Past March 12 (F.)”

    That’s odd. Pelosi said she didn’t WANT 10,000 guard members there only last month. Racist Wall that don’t work isn’t who we are. But if it costs money and doesn’t work, we’re the government and we’re all over it. The only possible add is that it destroys all human rights, so, lock.

    Speaking of what won’t work:
    “White House Weighs Minimum Wage Negotiations with Republicans (Pol.)”

    The US$ has lost 99% of its value since 1913, and we wonder why wages should rise? Who makes money when money is printed? Is that somehow related to how financiers have the largest wealth gap in the history of the world? Hey: let’s do MORE! Moar government! Moar helping! There are still a few workers and children left alive somewhere, but we can fix that.

    Bonus: Powell says there is inflation. Rates come unhinged on cue, giving him a crisis he can use to grab more power and profit, make more poor folks.

    “Even if Democrats were to eliminate the filibuster, they would still need Manchin’s stamp of approval for virtually all legislation,”

    Whiskey Tango? Or any of the other 49 Senators. Wtf is Manchin? Compromise like Congress has for 240 years, Parliament did for 400 years before that, and you’ve got no problem at all. Is everyone literally this illiterate and illogical? What they’re saying is that they’re ramming through enormously unpopular legislation on half the country, legislation so bad that not only can they not only not get a single opposing members to sign, but not even their own people. That’s Democracy, quite literally. 51% trampling the 49%. We passed a law saying we could rape your daughters, 51%-49% Now it’s law! There are no protected rights for the minority like in a Republic. Because we’re against minorities! Democracies also reverse daily as the winds blow, as we see here. Today’s Wheel of Fauci? Two masks in California, except I see all their own officials wear only one, if any. Tomorrow, anyone’s guess. We’ll vote on what reality is then.

    “Where is all that money going?”

    BLM’s website said it was going to destroy America, install communism, and to erase the heteronormative family. I mean, doesn’t anybody read anymore? 1. Click. 2. Page appears with words on it. 3. Read words into brain. 4. Question answered. They were also bailing out arsonists and pedophiles and being the fundraising arm of anti-Progressive known racists like Biden, who is on camera saying “we don’t need to n—-r mayors,” and just recently, that Black folks are too stupid to use a computer.

    Offensive? You bet they are. So I hope you are. This is what they said about voting rights. Just another day in the land of Love. You didn’t think they were going to give that money to police violence did you? No, you misunderstand it was FOR police violence, like Kamala rounding up innocent black children, imprisoning them, and telling the judge she’d never let them out even with a court order ‘cause corporations merged with the state needed them to fight deadly forest fires at $1/hour. THAT’S what BLM stand for. Mission Accomplished. 1. Click. 2. Page appears with words on it. 3. Read words into brain. 4. Question answered. Oh I forgot: 5. Deny every word you read and say it isn’t true. #RealityOptional

    Meme:
    “Top song of 2020: Wet A– P—y” On public radio, Good for kids!
    Dr. Seuss 2020? Banned. Even private copies and private sales.”

    Must have been that rousing approval by Black President Obama that did it. Every candidate he endorsed was immediately defeated.

    Again, when was the last time the people banning and burning books, rounding people up and deplatforming them, ending all human rights and disarming them were the good guys?

    Humanity is almost certainly improving. We don’t have to have Leviticus warnings at this point, “Don’t kill your infant daughters by burying them alive in the sand,” etc. However, the improvement is a cycle, a spiral. Since we are against all laws, all rules, all restraint, and all truth everywhere, it’s little wonder our present experience is poor. It will improve, but a lot slower than most of us can stand. My problem isn’t that they bear improvement or are slow. My problem is that they cannot, will not leave me alone. No matter where I go, what I do, what I say, they will chase me down and start “helping”. Helping me to be a Borg-cube clone of conformity like them. Ignorance is Strength. Resistance is Futile. Exterminate.

    #70622

    upstateNYer, I looked up what Paypal takes, after our talk about it yesterday:

    From a $2 donation, $1.59 is left. And then:
    $5 becomes $4.43
    $10 – $9.16
    $25 – $23.35
    $50 – $47

    Yeah, you can say Send Money to a Friend, better, but I’m not sure if I can encourage people to do that.

    And it doesn’t stop there: because most donations are in USD (80% of readers are American), and I’m in Europe, the exchange rate comes in. 1€ right now is $1.19, and Paypal’s rate is $1.24.

    Patreon is harder to oversee, because it involves a total amount over a whole month. IIRC they take 5% of that total.

    Yes, they take large amounts of money, they even do that with the donations for the Monastiraki kitchen, but it’s what they do, and they’re a near monopoly, so I long ago decided to worry about other things.

    #70624
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    I recall first associating TAE with its concern and grief for young chiuldren suffering in places like Lesbos. Reading us bemoaning and ranting here, I think of the children coming on line.

    Song for a Future Generation

    #70625
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Raul: It seems sending a check is the best way to keep the money in your pocket instead of benefiting the skimmers. 5% is a lot off the top just to funnel the money from donors to recipients, although part of that goes to the credit card companies. Too many layers of skimming.

    #70626
    zerosum
    Participant

    domestic terrorism – opposition – losers – consumers – them –
    ——-
    • WHO Inspectors ‘To Scrap Interim Report’ On Probe Of COVID Origin (AlJ)
    Herd Immunity in China
    Where is covid19 hiding?
    ———–
    a 93% increase in threats to democracy lawmakers this year
    ———-
    Lawmakers working for the needy
    higher minimum wage to millions of Americans – tomorrow – not now – not retro
    $1,400 instead of the $2,000 people were promised — will likely now go to 17 million fewer people
    Soft population control – genocide
    ———–
    Life – requires replicating/reproducing/cloning/growth
    To be or not to be a vegetarian – still feeding off life
    ——–
    a vaccine that definitely has no side effects – if it replicates, its alive
    ———-
    How to become wealthy – many layers of skimming – capitalism – don’t tell (the truth)

    #70627
    absolute galore
    Participant

    Dr D wrote: “Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown (SN)”

    Simply shows that humans are adaptable and try to make the best of any situation.

    Or could it be that those WFH realized how crappy were their commutes, how toxic the workplace vibe, how mindless their tasks? And for those that still had jobs they had to show up for–less traffic, less jerks at the deli counter at lunch! And most of the people that have jobs that actually involve making something, or picking something to eat, don’t live in England. So yeah, I guess many are “making the best of it” and still getting paid or still on the dole, for now anyway.

    The carbonara sauce pasta violence twitter joke went over my head. I must have missed a news cycle. Or maybe this was a twitterverse thing, of which I am not a member.

    #70628
    zerosum
    Participant

    Canada approves J&J’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine,
    Looking forward to approval of nose spray, and Cuban vaccines.

    #70629
    zerosum
    Participant

    Charity – tipping – subsidizing capitalism – guilt trip
    Tipping is expected, and is meant to keep encouraging good service. A gratuity of between 15% and 20% of the bill before tax, depending on the level of service. Tip 15% for normal service, 20% for exceptional service. You can tip below 15% (say 10%) if you aren’t particularly satisfied, or you thought the service was just ‘ok’.

    #70630

    Raul: It seems sending a check is the best way to keep the money in your pocket instead of benefiting the skimmers. 5% is a lot off the top just to funnel the money from donors to recipients, although part of that goes to the credit card companies. Too many layers of skimming.

    You might think so, but I can’t do anything with American checks in Europe, so my buddy and techie Danny in NY is the address for those, and he sends me the proceeds through… Paypal, because that’s easiest. Elon Musk has a good business model. Sort of surprised major banks haven’t stepped into that field.

    #70631
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    @upstateNYer: a beautiful contribution this morning.

    “Just sitting quietly … and I suddenly “felt” that every living thing in the garden had its own existence, outside of me and my plans for it. And that I needed to leave them alone, aside from basic care, because what they were doing as part of their existence was none of my business.”

    The process of arriving…at knowing, as shared above – is the inner work at work in the world. Am certain that your garden is responding well to your shift in awareness.

    We’re just going to have to disagree on “But it takes a very long time to effect a “mass” change in consciousness that results in changes in the “physical” world.” How many do we need to “flip the script” to achieve “mass”? Does it matter? Why worry? Just sit quietly and find out.

    A collective shift is not bound by time. Every act of positivity, of LOVE matters – and rolls into the mighty flow. On the Path with you, Sister.

    #70632
    Noirette
    Participant

    French medical staff are quite reluctant to have the vaccine, if keener than the general public. Before their arrival, in Nov. 2020:

    53% French public was opposed to the covid vaccine(s).

    Amongst libéral (non-gvmt) medical personnel:

    Docs and pharmacists, 80% said would accept it for themselves, and 85% would recommend it to their patients.

    Midwives and physiotherapists: 60%, and 80% would reco. to their patients.

    Nurses: 50% … 80%.

    —link 1

    Dec. 2020. Med. staff (including ‘aides soignants’ – nurse helpers) working in old ppls homes. 76% are opposed to corona vaccines, and 5% ‘don’t know.’

    —link 2

    As for general attitude to vaccines, here the % vaccinated against flu for season 19-20

    Docs 67%
    Midwives 48%
    Nurses 36%
    ‘aides-soignants’ 21%

    —link 3

    These numbers are explained by social stratification. Med personnel (see 1) consider themselves socially above their patients (as younger, better educated, in better shape, more attractive, maybe in many cases ‘richer’, etc.) I do find the no. of those who won’t accept a dodgy product for themselves but who will recommend it for their patients quite alarming, but *there ya go* – social superiority, bis.

    Those working in old-ppls homes (see 2) are way down the social ladder as compared to independents and public hospital employees. Much of elder-home care in France is privatised, and are pure profit-making machines.. salaries in the pits.. work conditions disgusting..

    As for actually being vaccinated (for flu), the % (see 3) speak for themselves. (In F, midwives have higher status than nurses, which is why they are treated as a category apart.)

    As the vaccines are being produced and promulgated by the top power echelons (Corporations, aka Big Pharma, Gvmts. and rotten NGOs in web of alliance, be it uneasy) higher-placed followers or hangers-on adhere through self-interest, fancifully assumed or aspriring group-belonging —> approval sinks steadily lower down the social scale.

    It follows that the corona vaccines are being advertised and boosted (sic) by primitive prop methods. (There are no ‘scientific’ arguments to be made, invented ones might contravene some still existing laws / conventions.)

    E.g. famous ppl being jabbed on TV, some proudly announcing their vax status, etc. as if a vaccine is akin to some fashion move, like a super symbol artsy tattoo or wearing X highest-end shoes, a visible sign of belonging to the in-crowd. This also ties up with the ‘vax-status pass’ issue, which will certify not only that ‘you’ are a good, moral person (protecting everyone and all grannies) but admire your betters and imitate them, i.e., submit to them — or not.

    links in next post

    #70634
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ Noirette

    You said:
    (Expressions that you used that encapsulate our society/path to success)
    “… higher-placed followers or hangers-on adhere through self-interest, fancifully assumed or aspriring group-belonging
    a visible sign of belonging to the in-crowd.
    admire your betters and imitate them”

    #70635
    Noirette
    Participant

    links, all thru a link shortener, bitly, and didn’t stick. all originals in french so prob not much read anyway, can do better if requested

    #70638
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    “The Guardian recently published an article saying “People won’t get ‘tired’ of social distancing – and it’s unscientific to suggest otherwise”. “Behavioural fatigue” the piece said, “has no basis in science”.”

    People won’t get ‘tired’ of social distancing – the government is wrong to suggest otherwise

    Now that The Guardian has officially denied the existence of behavorioral fatigue (BF), BF is now free to come forth and create more public resistence to covid (alleged) prevention measures.

    I predict that naked restaurant dining will be in come Xmas.

    #70639
    madamski cafone
    Participant
    #70640
    Polder Dweller
    Participant

    Yesterday’s Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant had an eye-catching headline saying that the much ballyhooed wonder substance ivermectin doesn’t work against Covid-19, (In Dutch, behind paywall). It said that there was a positive effect, but that it wasn’t statistically significant. The article was based on another article in the journal JAMA:

    Effect of Ivermectin on Time to Resolution of Symptoms Among Adults With Mild COVID-19
    A Randomized Clinical Trial

    Question What is the effect of ivermectin on duration of symptoms in adults with mild COVID-19?

    Findings In this randomized clinical trial that included 476 patients, the duration of symptoms was not significantly different for patients who received a 5-day course of ivermectin compared with placebo (median time to resolution of symptoms, 10 vs 12 days; hazard ratio for resolution of symptoms, 1.07).

    Meaning The findings do not support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand effects on other clinically relevant outcomes.

    Abstract
    Importance Ivermectin is widely prescribed as a potential treatment for COVID-19 despite uncertainty about its clinical benefit.

    Objective To determine whether ivermectin is an efficacious treatment for mild COVID-19.

    Design, Setting, and Participants Double-blind, randomized trial conducted at a single site in Cali, Colombia. Potential study participants were identified by simple random sampling from the state’s health department electronic database of patients with symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 during the study period. A total of 476 adult patients with mild disease and symptoms for 7 days or fewer (at home or hospitalized) were enrolled between July 15 and November 30, 2020, and followed up through December 21, 2020.

    Intervention Patients were randomized to receive ivermectin, 300 μg/kg of body weight per day for 5 days (n = 200) or placebo (n = 200).

    Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcome was time to resolution of symptoms within a 21-day follow-up period. Solicited adverse events and serious adverse events were also collected.

    Results Among 400 patients who were randomized in the primary analysis population (median age, 37 years [interquartile range {IQR}, 29-48]; 231 women [58%]), 398 (99.5%) completed the trial. The median time to resolution of symptoms was 10 days (IQR, 9-13) in the ivermectin group compared with 12 days (IQR, 9-13) in the placebo group (hazard ratio for resolution of symptoms, 1.07 [95% CI, 0.87 to 1.32]; P = .53 by log-rank test). By day 21, 82% in the ivermectin group and 79% in the placebo group had resolved symptoms. The most common solicited adverse event was headache, reported by 104 patients (52%) given ivermectin and 111 (56%) who received placebo. The most common serious adverse event was multiorgan failure, occurring in 4 patients (2 in each group).

    Conclusion and Relevance Among adults with mild COVID-19, a 5-day course of ivermectin, compared with placebo, did not significantly improve the time to resolution of symptoms. The findings do not support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand the effects of ivermectin on other clinically relevant outcomes.

    The dosage used was higher than suggested by John Day – a 90kg (200 lb) person would be given 27mg per day for five days, compared to 18mg on days 1, 2, 4, 6 following JD’s regime. However, there was no vitamin D, zinc, doxycycline or anything else given, just ivermectin. What got me though, was that they gave it to people with mild covid whereas with HCQ they gave it to people who were on death’s door. So, it suggests to me that it was just a study to “prove” that ivermectin is ineffective.

    No links because they won’t post.

    #70641
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    Also, regarding the allegedly missing flu:

    “One study looked at airline passengers’ missed flights during the 2009 outbreak – given that flying with a bunch of people in an enclosed space is likely to spread flu. There was a massive spike of missed flights at the beginning of the pandemic but this quickly dropped off as the infection rate climbed, although later, missed flights did begin to track infection rates more closely.”

    We’ve stopped flying, car-pooling is surely dead, and we generally spend much less time indoors except for at home. Not that we seem to spend much time outdoors. I reckon people read blogs like TAE. 😉 Anyway, the missing flu makes sense: influenza is well optimized to homo saps and our habits. Alter those habits in crucial ways, and flu populations decline radically.

    I see so many people assume that the decline in flu stats is a statistical error related to generally inane incompetence and corruption in such things these days. But the events that might cause such an anomaly could also create a genuine anomaly in real life: reduce that much flu habitat, you remove an awful lot of flu.

    Because when things change, things change, and when things change they change things. Whatever is true or not regarding covid itself and our stat models for tracking it, it is glaringly obvious that we’ve radically altered the human/microbe shared environment that the 20th Century produced.

    Meanwhile, I read elsewhere:

    “The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all coronaviruses is estimated to have existed as recently as 8000 BCE, although some models place the common ancestor as far back as 55 million years or more, implying long term coevolution with bat and avian species.[73] The most recent common ancestor of the alphacoronavirus line has been placed at about 2400 BCE, of the betacoronavirus line at 3300 BCE, of the gammacoronavirus line at 2800 BCE, and of the deltacoronavirus line at about 3000 BCE. Bats and birds, as warm-blooded flying vertebrates, are an ideal natural reservoir for the coronavirus gene pool (with bats the reservoir for alphacoronaviruses and betacoronavirus – and birds the reservoir for gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses). The large number and global range of bat and avian species that host viruses has enabled extensive evolution and dissemination of coronaviruses.[74]

    “Many human coronaviruses have their origin in bats.[75] The human coronavirus NL63 shared a common ancestor with a bat coronavirus (ARCoV.2) between 1190 and 1449 CE.[76] The human coronavirus 229E shared a common ancestor with a bat coronavirus (GhanaGrp1 Bt CoV) between 1686 and 1800 CE.[77] More recently, alpaca coronavirus and human coronavirus 229E diverged sometime before 1960.[78] MERS-CoV emerged in humans from bats through the intermediate host of camels.[79] MERS-CoV, although related to several bat coronavirus species, appears to have diverged from these several centuries ago.[80] The most closely related bat coronavirus and SARS-CoV diverged in 1986.[81] The ancestors of SARS-CoV first infected leaf-nose bats of the genus Hipposideridae; subsequently, they spread to horseshoe bats in the species Rhinolophidae, then to Asian palm civets, and finally to humans.[82][83]”

    Yeah, well the clap comes from sheep, but getting the clap doesn’t mean you have sex with sheep…. just that long long ago, some human did. Which reminds me:

    Accurate Flintstones

    #70642
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    @Susmarie108: thank you. 🙂

    “We’re just going to have to disagree on “But it takes a very long time to effect a “mass” change in consciousness that results in changes in the “physical” world.””

    Perhaps I’ve become too cynical, but [for example] I’ve watched the US and its allies bomb other countries for no good reason, indiscriminately killing civilians of all ages, and no amount of loving feelings toward others has slowed that down one iota. I do hope you’re right, that all the loving feelings will suddenly shift how humans treat one another and every other living thing in the world. Yes, I do hope you’re right.

    #70643
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Madam: holy smokes that’s crazy! The poster child of we-said-it-so-it’s-true insanity.

    Yeah, I’m sure these same scientists, who say we’re all mindless victims of evolution and our Neanderthal heritage, now say in 90 days humans no longer need touching, society, interaction. Nope, nope, nope! They’ve intermediated and monetized work, child rearing, trading, thining, knowing, talking, clubs, and now friendship, and all communication whatsoever. Talk about lack of collateral for hypothecation of an exponential function! I’d say I’ll be sure to tell my kids but they’d already rather text than speak to me.

    And now on to the REAL news, what’s happening in the bond market that will move every other action on earth, and post haste.

    UST 30-year is over 3%, UST10 is over 1.6% and yet shorting liquidity is negative 4%. No, for a change I don’t claim to understand this. But the bond market sets the price for money which sets the price for everything. Next thing to keep in mind is, if the markets rock, which seems likely, even for Powell to take another crack at Bailout: Infinitity, then the US$ will STRENGTHEN sharply and kill every emerging market on earth, harvest them, and also hammer cryptos and stocks. The core currency falls LAST. These appear to be the stresses that are slipping right now.

    This will eclipse covid or even war. But it will put you in mind to get food from Mr. Gates as inflation suddenly begins.

    #70644
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    “Oh sure, let’s pretend that Manchin keeps Biden from keeping his promises.”

    But it doesn’t say that. It hypothesizes Manchin as a tool by which to leverage Biden. How sound that hypothesis is, I don’t know, but it doesn’t pretend that Manchin is the goal-keeper.

    #70645
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    “UST 30-year is over 3%, UST10 is over 1.6% and yet shorting liquidity is negative 4%. No, for a change I don’t claim to understand this. But the bond market sets the price for money which sets the price for everything. ”

    I don’t either, but it reminds me of how a sudden drop in petroleum sales made it necessary to pay people, sometimes heftily, to take oil off some trader’s hands. Perhaps shorting liquidity 4% is similar. Who wants to borrow money now while defaulting on loans they made to cover the past 3 imminent defaults.

    Inflation measured in the ratio between demand for goods and the amount of money chasing them is one thing. Inflation measured in the demand for borrowable money is another. Methinks that banking is entering one helluva financially deflationary state where you have to pay people to borrow money (a mirror image of negative interest rates?) from you: “You want me to borrow $100 from you? OK. I’ll give you$100 for a loan of $200.”

    &*$

    ““We’re just going to have to disagree on “But it takes a very long time to effect a “mass” change in consciousness that results in changes in the “physical” world.””

    First we should decide whether the hypothesis (sane nondestructivre human progress) is even possible. (fwiw, my vote is No.)

    #70646
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    An amazing thing about Van Gogh is how he could use such dense saturated colors but still have light come through them.

    #70647
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    @madamski: “I predict that naked restaurant dining will be in come Xmas.”

    I predict that is followed by weight loss in the dining out population. This will be based on loss of appetite – think about how the majority of Americans look with their clothes ON at this point.

    #70648
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    The greedy fools who own most of the world simply can’t comprehend that the thing they manipulate so well for their gain could otherwise fail through their management. It is wise to remember that empathy is a necessary component of human psychology. Those lacking empathy are literally incapable of running a society anyewhere but to the ground via their bank accounts.

    Meanwhile, the rest of the populace is conditioned to follow orders, period.

    Oh, come on: it’ll be fun, y’all.

    #70649
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    “I predict that is followed by weight loss in the dining out population. This will be based on loss of appetite – think about how the majority of Americans look with their clothes ON at this point.”

    We’ll wear blinders to go along with our masks.

    #70650
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    “You want me to borrow $100 from you? OK. I’ll give you$100 for a loan of $200.”

    I phrased that poorly. I meant to imply that if you loan me $100, you need to give me $200 so I can use half of it to pay you back and keep the rest.

    #70651
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    A problem with mandatory vaccines is that placing people in jail begs infection? We’re not a totalitarian society. China can do this stuff with little resistance. USA, while mostly a nation of obedient toddlers, also possesses that tantrum power that 3-year olds can muster when they feel sufficiently wronged.

    If somehow we attain that level of control, we will have back-flipped over China into NK reality.

    Times are weird enough: I susspose it could happen. But I doubt it. We’ll just clusterfuck into a mass collapse and then fight each other until we’ve had enough.

    #70652
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    • Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown

    One aspect of the British lockdown:
    Alcohol deaths rise sharply in England and Wales (BMJ, 05 March 2021)

    January-March, a 9.7% increase compared with 2019.
    April-June, a 17.7% increase compared with 2019.
    July-September, a 22.6% increase compared with 2019.

    The alcohol-specific death rate reached its highest peak since the data time series began in 2001

    Alcohol-specific deaths only include those health conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol misuse (that is, wholly attributable causes such as alcoholic liver disease).

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/quarterlyalcoholspecificdeathsinenglandandwales/2001to2019registrationsandquarter1jantomartoquarter3julytosept2020provisionalregistrations

    #70653
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Updated stats on excess deaths in Europe were published yesterday.

    The most recent weekly excess deaths (from all causes) are not only below the corresponding data from 2019, they are below the baseline (less than zero) for every age grouping.

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

    #70654
    Germ
    Participant

    Somebody in Australia is calling it out for what is really going on:

    “Probably, like most people, you’ve trusted the near-universal media narrative that the pandemic is real, that masks and lockdowns are necessary and that vaccines are the only solution. By the time you realise otherwise it may well be too late to stop the unfolding disaster.”

    “This has been decades in the planning by a technocratic, billionaire elite, some of whose names you will have heard of but many of whom remain in the shadows. Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum’s ‘Great Reset’ is part of this; so too is the United Nation’s Agenda 2030. It’s almost impossible to believe that our governments, our media, our judiciary – all the various institutions and checks and balances which should have protected us – are instead playing along with this terrifying takeover. But under cover of our innocence and ignorance they are.”

    The Covid Macguffin

    #70655
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @upstateNYer

    @susmarie108

    I was in the woods today cutting trees to feed our wood stove next winter so we don’t freeze to death.

    I feel your comments.

    Living life can be such a joy

    #70656
    WES
    Participant

    Michael Reid:

    I guess you and I are guilty of hurting some trees’ feelings!

    #70657
    WES
    Participant

    When it comes to keeping troops on Capital Hill, I have concluded the powers to be need them to stay there, so they can contnue their narrative that the capital is under constant threats of domestic terrorism.

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