Apr 252021
 
 April 25, 2021  Posted by at 8:40 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Sophia Loren seated by the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis during filming for ‘Boy on a Dolphin’, 1957

 

To Friends in the US: Facilitate Global Vaccine Manufacturing (CarnegieIndia)
US Defends Restrictions On Export Of Covid-19 Vaccine Raw Materials (Hindu)
The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea (AIER)
Covid-19 Indoors Infection Risk As Great At 60 Feet As At 6 Feet – MIT (CNBC)
Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide (Pol.)
Putin Rewrites The Law Of The Geopolitical Jungle (Escobar)
Collective West Is Living In Grim Fantasy Land – Zakharova (RT)
Russian Embassy Trolls Baltic States Over Expulsion Of Diplomats (RT)
Ukraine Says Russian Troop Draw Down Is “Not Enough” (ZH)
Is America Led Today By Anti-Americans? (Buchanan)
Fmr Police Officer Blasts Dems For “Riding The Wave Of Dead Black People” (ZH)
Nassim Taleb Says Bitcoin Is An Open Ponzi Scheme And A Failed Currency (BI)

 

 

Biden’s proposal for top marginal income rate is 39.6%. Here’s what it was in the past:
Now: 37%
2017: 39.6%
1993-2000: 39.6%
1982-1986: 50%
1981: 69.3%
1971-1980: 70%
1954-1963: 91%

 

 

This is doing so much damage to the US. It will reverberate long and deep, and not just in India.

To Friends in the US: Facilitate Global Vaccine Manufacturing (CarnegieIndia)

The current public health crisis in India is devastating. On April 22, 2021, India recorded over 330,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,000 fatalities. It is unlikely that the second wave of the pandemic will level out anytime soon. The desperate need for oxygen, medical supplies, and hospital beds has overwhelmed public and private health facilities. Clearly, the state machinery will need to be mobilized in this war against the fast-spreading disease that appears to mutate in different ways and forms at a shattering speed. To arrest this crisis, there is an equally urgent need to accelerate India’s vaccine drive. India, as is well known, is one of the world’s largest producers of COVID-19 vaccines. “Made-in-India” vaccines have been delivered—by way of aid and under commercial contract—to ninety-five countries across the globe.

From Argentina to Bangladesh and El Salvador to Sierra Leone, India has distributed 66.2 million vaccines to date. However, India is currently facing an acute vaccine shortage at home. On April 19, the Indian government announced that Indians above the age of eighteen will be eligible to get their shots. Making sure that the tens of millions of Indians are able to access vaccines is the only way in which a country as geographically challenging as India will be able to turn the tables on this fast-moving disease. Yet, without the support of Joe Biden’s administration in Washington, this ambition—of delivering vaccines across India—is at risk of remaining just that, an ambition. In April 2020, then U.S. president Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA), a law that grants the U.S. president significant emergency authority to direct domestic industries.

As Trump made clear, the order was meant to “save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators.” In February 2021, Biden announced a set of plans to hasten inoculations. In March 2021, Biden vowed that vaccines will be available for “every adult in America by the end of May.” On the first two working days of the Biden administration, on January 20 and 21, 2021, the president signed Executive Orders 13987 and 14001. The aim of these measures was to ensure “a sustainable public health supply chain.” In effect, this meant that manufacturers in the United States, and those registered in the United States but based in Europe and other parts of the world, needed to prioritize supplies for the domestic market within the United States.

Given the globally connected nature of supply chains, Biden’s vow has had other anticipated effects. It means that products like bags and filters, cell culture medias, single-use tubing assemblies, and other raw materials crucial for the production of vaccines in other parts of the world, and especially in India, may face imminent supply constraints. In practice, this has meant that the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world—the Serum Institute of India—is today hamstrung in its efforts to produce vaccines for both the Indian and global markets. It is crucial to keep in mind that without these ingredients, it is increasingly unlikely that the Serum Institute will be able to prioritize vaccine production under contract—through global vaccine alliances such as Gavi—for countries across the world.


IMHE – Estimated peak 14.1 million infections per day.

Read more …

And then the Biden admin is tonedeaf and colorblind enough to try and justify it.

US Defends Restrictions On Export Of Covid-19 Vaccine Raw Materials (Hindu)

Defending U.S.’ restrictions on the export of key raw materials for the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine that threatens to slow India’s vaccination drive, a senior State Department official has said the Biden administration’s first obligation is to take care of the requirements of the American people. When asked when the Biden administration would decide on India’s request to lift a ban on the export of vaccine raw materials, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “…the United States first and foremost is engaged in an ambitious and effective and, so far, successful effort to vaccinate the American people.” “That campaign is well underway, and we’re doing that for a couple of reasons. Number one, we have a special responsibility to the American people.

Number two, the American people, this country has been hit harder than any other country around the world – more than 550,000 deaths, tens of millions of infections in this country alone,” he said on Thursday. It is not only in the U.S. interest to see Americans vaccinated; but it is in the interests of the rest of the world to see Americans vaccinated, he said. “The point the Secretary (of State Antony Blinken) has made repeatedly is that as long as the virus is spreading anywhere, it is a threat to people everywhere. So as long as the virus is spreading uncontrolled in this country, it can mutate and it can travel beyond our borders. That, in turn, poses a threat well beyond the United States,” Mr. Price said in responses to questions.

As for the rest of the world, “We will, of course, always do as much as we can, consistent with our first obligation,” he said. India is currently facing a horrible surge in coronavirus infections. The country on Friday added a record over 3.32 lakh new coronavirus cases in a single day taking the country’s tally to 1,62,63,695, while active cases crossed the 24-lakh mark. The Biden administration recently conveyed to New Delhi that it understands India’s pharmaceutical requirements and promised to give the matter due consideration. It observed that the current difficulty in the export of critical raw materials needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines is mainly due to an Act that forces American companies to prioritise domestic consumption.

President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump had invoked the war-time Defence Production Act (DPA) that leaves U.S. companies with no option but to give priority to the production of COVID-19 vaccines and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for domestic production to combat the deadly pandemic in America, the worst-hit nation. The U.S. has ramped up the production of COVID-19 vaccines mostly by Pfizer and Moderna to meet the goal of vaccinating its entire population by July 4. The suppliers of its raw materials, which is in high demand globally and sought after by major Indian manufacturers, are being forced to provide it only for domestic manufacturers in the U.S. The Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest producer of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Read more …

From May 2020. We have a 14 year old girl’s high school “science” project to thank for the lockdowns.

The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea (AIER)

How that idea — born out of a request by President George W. Bush to ensure the nation was better prepared for the next contagious disease outbreak — became the heart of the national playbook for responding to a pandemic is one of the untold stories of the coronavirus crisis. It required the key proponents — Dr. Mecher, a Department of Veterans Affairs physician, and Dr. Hatchett, an oncologist turned White House adviser — to overcome intense initial opposition. It brought their work together with that of a Defense Department team assigned to a similar task. And it had some unexpected detours, including a deep dive into the history of the 1918 Spanish flu and an important discovery kicked off by a high school research project pursued by the daughter of a scientist at the Sandia National Laboratories.

The concept of social distancing is now intimately familiar to almost everyone. But as it first made its way through the federal bureaucracy in 2006 and 2007, it was viewed as impractical, unnecessary and politically infeasible. Notice that in the course of this planning, neither legal nor economic experts were brought in to consult and advise. Instead it fell to Mecher (formerly of Chicago and an intensive care doctor with no previous expertise in pandemics) and the oncologist Hatchett. But what is this mention of the high-school daughter of 14? Her name is Laura M. Glass, and she recently declined to be interviewed when the Albuquerque Journal did a deep dive of this history. Laura, with some guidance from her dad, devised a computer simulation that showed how people – family members, co-workers, students in schools, people in social situations – interact.

What she discovered was that school kids come in contact with about 140 people a day, more than any other group. Based on that finding, her program showed that in a hypothetical town of 10,000 people, 5,000 would be infected during a pandemic if no measures were taken, but only 500 would be infected if the schools were closed. Laura’s name appears on the foundational paper arguing for lockdowns and forced human separation. That paper is Targeted Social Distancing Designs for Pandemic Influenza (2006). It set out a model for forced separation and applied it with good results backwards in time to 1957. They conclude with a chilling call for what amounts to a totalitarian lockdown, all stated very matter-of-factly.

[..] In other words, it was a high-school science experiment that eventually became law of the land, and through a circuitous route propelled not by science but politics. The primary author of this paper was Robert J. Glass, a complex-systems analyst with Sandia National Laboratories. He had no medical training, much less an expertise in immunology or epidemiology. That explains why Dr. D.A. Henderson, “who had been the leader of the international effort to eradicate smallpox,” completely rejected the whole scheme. Dr. Henderson was convinced that it made no sense to force schools to close or public gatherings to stop. Teenagers would escape their homes to hang out at the mall. School lunch programs would close, and impoverished children would not have enough to eat. Hospital staffs would have a hard time going to work if their children were at home.

The measures embraced by Drs. Mecher and Hatchett would “result in significant disruption of the social functioning of communities and result in possibly serious economic problems,” Dr. Henderson wrote in his own academic paper responding to their ideas. The answer, he insisted, was to tough it out: Let the pandemic spread, treat people who get sick and work quickly to develop a vaccine to prevent it from coming back.

Read more …

Wonder what the response to this will be from the “science” religion.

Covid-19 Indoors Infection Risk As Great At 60 Feet As At 6 Feet – MIT (CNBC)

The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 indoors is as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet — even when wearing a mask, according to a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who challenge social distancing guidelines adopted across the world. MIT professors Martin Z. Bazant, who teaches chemical engineering and applied mathematics, and John W.M. Bush, who teaches applied mathematics, developed a method of calculating exposure risk to Covid-19 in an indoor setting that factors in a variety of issues that could affect transmission, including the amount of time spent inside, air filtration and circulation, immunization, variant strains, mask use, and even respiratory activity such as breathing, eating, speaking or singing.

Bazant and Bush question long-held Covid-19 guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization in a peer-reviewed study published earlier this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America. “We argue there really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks,” Bazant said in an interview. “It really has no physical basis because the air a person is breathing while wearing a mask tends to rise and comes down elsewhere in the room so you’re more exposed to the average background than you are to a person at a distance.” The important variable the CDC and the WHO have overlooked is the amount of time spent indoors, Bazant said.

The longer someone is inside with an infected person, the greater the chance of transmission, he said. Opening windows or installing new fans to keep the air moving could also be just as effective or more effective than spending large amounts of money on a new filtration system, he said. Bazant also says that guidelines enforcing indoor occupancy caps are flawed. He said 20 people gathered inside for 1 minute is probably fine, but not over the course of several hours, he said.

Read more …

Biden was in the Senate since 1972. Please point out where and when he spoke out about the Armenian genocide during that whole time.

Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide (Pol.)

President Joe Biden on Saturday recognized the Armenian genocide, fulfilling a campaign promise and taking a step that his recent predecessors have avoided while in office. Biden’s designation, which coincided with Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, signals the president’s desire to prioritize human rights despite potential fallout in the U.S. relationship with Turkey. It comes 106 years after the beginning of the mass deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, which led to the deaths of up to 1.5 million people. “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide,” Biden said in a statement Saturday.

“Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.” Over decades, lawmakers in Congress have been willing to recognize the genocide but sitting presidents historically have not. In a statement to mark the day of remembrance last year, Biden said he was “proud” of his role in the Senate to recognize the Armenian genocide and his endorsement of 2019 resolutions in both chambers of Congress that did the same.

The United States is now part of a group of 30 countries that have recognized the Armenian genocide, according to the Armenian National Institute. Although Turkey acknowledges the “tragic experience” of Armenians, it maintains the number of those who died between 1915 and 1923 is inflated and denies the characterization of the events as genocide. Turkey’s foreign ministry quickly denounced Biden’s statement Saturday, saying it doesn’t have “a scholarly or legal basis.” “The US President’s statement will not yield any results other than polarizing the nations and hindering peace and stability in our region,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Read more …

“Putin remarked how to “attack Russia” has become “a sport, a new sport, who makes the loudest statements.”

Putin Rewrites The Law Of The Geopolitical Jungle (Escobar)

First, the essentials. Russia’s policy “is to ensure peace and security for the well-being of our citizens and for the stable development of our country.” Yet if “someone does not want to…engage in dialogue, but chooses an egoistic and arrogant tone, Russia will always find a way to stand up for its position.” He singled out “the practice of politically motivated, illegal economic sanctions” to connect it to “something much more dangerous”, and actually rendered invisible in the Western narrative: “the recent attempt to organize a coup d’etat in Belarus and the assassination of that country’s president.” Putin made sure to stress, “all boundaries have been crossed”. The plot to kill Lukashenko was unveiled by Russian and Belarusian intel – which detained several actors backed, who else, US intel. The US State Department predictably denied any involvement.

Putin: “It is worth pointing to the confessions of the detained participants in the conspiracy that a blockade of Minsk was being prepared, including its city infrastructure and communications, the complete shutdown of the entire power grid of the Belarusian capital. This, incidentally means preparations for a massive cyber-attack.” And that leads to a very uncomfortable truth: “Apparently, it’s not for no reason that our Western colleagues have stubbornly rejected numerous proposals by the Russian side to establish an international dialogue in the field of information and cyber-security.” Putin remarked how to “attack Russia” has become “a sport, a new sport, who makes the loudest statements.” And then he went full Kipling:

“Russia is attacked here and there for no reason. And of course, all sorts of petty Tabaquis [jackals] are running around like Tabaqui ran around Shere Khan [the tiger] – everything is like in Kipling’s book – howling along and ready to serve their sovereign. Kipling was a great writer”. The – layered – metaphor is even more startling as it echoes the late 19th century geopolitical Great Game between the British and Russian empires, of which Kipling was a protagonist. Once again Putin had to stress that “we really don’t want to burn any bridges. But if someone perceives our good intentions as indifference or weakness and intends to burn those bridges completely or even blow them up, he should know that Russia’s response will be asymmetric, swift and harsh”.

So here’s the new law of the geopolitical jungle – backed by Mr. Iskander, Mr. Kalibr, Mr. Avangard, Mr. Peresvet, Mr. Khinzal, Mr. Sarmat, Mr. Zircon and other well-respected gentlemen, hypersonic and otherwise, later complimented on the record. Those who poke the Bear to the point of threatening “the fundamental interests of our security will regret what has been done, as they have regretted nothing for a very long time.”

Read more …

“And it turns out that leaders who call themselves leaders of the world aren’t really leaders. They are just chest-puffers.”

Collective West Is Living In Grim Fantasy Land – Zakharova (RT)

Western countries are living in a grim “fantasy land” they’ve created through years of anti-Russian propaganda, the outspoken Maria Zakharova told RT DE, with any initiative by Moscow – even on Covid-19 – becoming politicised. Such behavior on the West’s part is hardly surprising, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman explained to Thomas Fasbender in an exclusive interview, given the efforts that Western counties have put into painting Moscow as an “aggressor” over the years. The consistently cold relations between the West and Russia have been heightened by a series of major scandals recently, she outlined, despite these being based on imaginary grounds.

For instance, military drills in Russia’s southeast have prompted hysteria in multiple NATO countries and a fresh wave of doomsday predictions regarding an impending war between Russia and Ukraine – which, again, did not happen. “It seems to me that our Western partners have let their imaginations run wild. They seem to be seeing things when there’s nothing there, and not seeing the obvious. It’s an amazing thing, really, to be able to live in fantasy land,” she said. If you spend years communicating an idea to your own people and to the world at large, using mass media, issuing reports and making alarmist publications that depict Russia as a warmonger nation that’s about to strike – then, sure, even run-of-the-mill military drills would get people scared out of their senses.

The years-long Western campaign to paint Russia as an “aggressor” state has also affected the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, Zakharova believes. Instead of cooperating with Russia and buying its Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine, the first in the world to be registered, too much effort has been put into trying to deny its very existence and otherwise tarnish its reputation. “There was a major campaign against our vaccine, against what we had to offer the world. We handled it. Unfortunately, many countries, including EU states, wasted time,” Zakharova said. “Many states received this vaccine, some on a trial basis. Many of them began to buy it right away. Unfortunately, the EU is punishing itself again, just as Prague did with our diplomats.”

The ongoing coronavirus crisis has “highlighted massive problems in the EU and the West as a whole,” as they had all the resources to lead the global fight against the disease, but failed to do so. “And it turns out that leaders who call themselves leaders of the world aren’t really leaders. They are just chest-puffers.” A similar lack of ability to act as an independent entity has been demonstrated during another ongoing scandal – the spy affair launched by Prague. The Czech Republic has accused Russian military intelligence of blowing up its ammunition depot back in 2014. While no solid proof of Russia’s alleged involvement has been presented, Prague launched a diplomatic broadside, opting to expel Russian diplomats.

Read more …

“There’s no definition of “smalldipenergy” in the dictionary, but it is most likely derived from “small diplomatic energy.”

Russian Embassy Trolls Baltic States Over Expulsion Of Diplomats (RT)

Russia’s embassy in Belarus has asked Twitter users to choose between two hashtags to describe the three Baltic nations expelling up to two Russian diplomats in “solidarity” with the Czechs. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania issued a joined statement on Friday, announcing that they will ask several Russian embassy staff to leave their countries in a display of solidarity with the Czech Republic. Riga and Tallinn said they’ll expel one diplomat each, while Vilnius declared two Russians personae non gratae. The move was met with a mocking response by the Russian embassy in Belarus – the country that borders Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. “#smalldipenergy or #smalldickenergy — the choice is yours,” the embassy wrote in a tweet, attaching an earlier Twitter post by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

In a post announcing the joint move by the Baltic nations, Landsbergis claimed that the Russian embassy staff were being expelled for “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status.” The phrase “smalldickenergy” is explained in the Urban Dictionary as “cockiness without skill. It is the sexual equivalent of writing a check of $10k to show off knowing you don’t have it in the bank account.” There’s no definition of “smalldipenergy” in the dictionary, but it is most likely derived from “small diplomatic energy.” The move, with which the Russian embassy in Belarus was left unimpressed, is a follow-up to a diplomatic row between Moscow and Prague. A week ago, the Czech Republic announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats over claims that Kremlin intelligence officers were involved in a local munitions depot blast back in 2014.

Read more …

You lost. Shut up.

Ukraine Says Russian Troop Draw Down Is “Not Enough” (ZH)

Not satisfied with Russia’s confirmed troop draw down from its southern region which has stoked tensions over the past few weeks, leaders in Kiev on Friday demanded that more must be done to de-escalate tensions and conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba “welcomed” the Kremlin’s ordering troops that had been engaged in major Crimean and Black Sea military exercises back to the regular bases, but said the violence in the east has continued. Kiev blames Russia for encouraging and supporting an uptick in hostilities with the pro-Russian separatists, which have sought to carve out independent enclaves going back to 2014 and 2015. “If Russia really pulls back from the border with Ukraine the enormous military force it has deployed there, this will already ease tensions.


“But we need to remember that this step would not put an end neither to the current escalation, nor to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in general,” Kuleba said. The top Ukrainian diplomat also says Moscow still owes “an explanation” for its largest troop build-up on the border since 2014. “Russia still owes an explanation to Ukraine… and international community of why it really needed to bring such numerous forces equipped with some offensive weapons at the border with Ukraine in such excessive number of troops,” he said. In a Thursday statement posted to Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to confirm that the Russian draw down was indeed in progress. “The reduction of troops on our border proportionally reduces tension. Ukraine is always vigilant, yet welcomes any steps to decrease the military presence & deescalate the situation in Donbas,” he wrote.

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“Implication: Floyd died to redeem America of her original sin of racism.”

Is America Led Today By Anti-Americans? (Buchanan)

How can America unite again to do great things if we are led by people who believe America suffers from a great sickness of the soul, an original sin that dates back to her birth as a nation? Consider. After his long night of prayer for “the right verdict” to be pronounced — Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three counts — Joe Biden stepped before the White House cameras to tell us what it all meant. George Floyd’s death, said Biden, “was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism… that is a stain on our nation’s soul — the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans.” Astonishing. Biden is saying that when Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd for nine minutes as the life drained out of him, the world, for once, was getting a good, close look at the diseased soul of America.

What Chauvin was doing to Floyd, said the president of the United States, is a reflection of the kind of justice America delivers to Black Americans. This is no aberration, Biden was saying. This is the routine reality. Biden was introduced by Kamala Harris, who said much the same: “America has a long history of systemic racism. Black Americans and Black men in particular have been treated throughout the course of our history as less than human.” At Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered what The Wall Street Journal called, “a recitation of America’s sins (that) could have come from China’s Global Times.” Said Thomas-Greenfield: “I have… seen for myself how the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles. … Racism is the problem of the racist. And it is the problem of the society that produces the racist.”

What our diplomat to the world is saying is that our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights are interwoven with white supremacy and that America, to this day, continues to breed racists. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at a Congressional Black Caucus event after the verdict, turned her eyes heavenward in gratitude: “Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice….For being there to call out to your mom — how heartbreaking was that … And because of you … your name will always be synonymous with justice.” Implication: Floyd died to redeem America of her original sin of racism.

Read more …

“Yes, President Biden is an idiot in my personal opinion, and he’s just talkin’ because he’s a politician.”

Fmr Police Officer Blasts Dems For “Riding The Wave Of Dead Black People” (ZH)

Former Arizona police officer-turned conservative political commentator Brandon Tatum unloaded on President Biden and the press for politicizing the Derek Chauvin trial, and insists that so-called ‘systemic racism’ is simply manufactured by politicians and the media to earn votes and make money. “I think we’re living in the twilight zone,” Tatum said of the Chauvin trial. “This conviction, in my personal opinion, did nothing for our country. People are living a lie. I mean this is one police officer, one person in the community, they found him guilty, this was the swiftest justice I’ve ever seen in my life. The day after the film came out he was arrested. He was tried. 10 hours of deliberation, he was convicted. I’m not really sure why people are acting like this is monumental.

“Also, he did not get a fair trial in my personal opinion. There was a lot of obstruction that happened. They paid the family out $27 million before the jury could be selected. I mean, they’re going to have a case in appeal. I don’t know why people are celebrating and I don’t know why this is such a big focal point other than – people are making money off of the pain of people in our country.” The BBC host then asked Tatum if he was upset over this “landmark” case? “This is not a landmark case, this is a political agenda,” Tatum shot back. They’re pushing laws in our country. Policing in America is not inherently racist. We don’t live in a racist country. This was an interaction between a police officer that I thought did the wrong thing, and a black man who was on drugs high, resisting arrest, and ended up being killed by that police officer. That’s as simple as it can be.

The President of the United States got out and made a fool of himself trying to promote racism in a simple police encounter that the officer got convicted on. “So you reject President Biden’s comment about systemic racism and it being a stain on the whole nation?” the host replied. “Yes, President Biden is an idiot in my personal opinion, and he’s just talkin’ because he’s a politician. Systemic racism – I mean if you look at Joe Biden himself, he spoke at a Klu Klux Klan-member’s funeral and did the eulogy of Robert Byrd … We don’t have a problem with racism in our country, we have a problem with people not following the law. We also have a problem with politicians making up things so they can get re-elected. And that’s exactly what has been happening. That’s why you never see anything change. They’re lying to us.

Read more …

Making friends.

Nassim Taleb Says Bitcoin Is An Open Ponzi Scheme And A Failed Currency (BI)

The “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb doubled down on his view that bitcoin is an open Ponzi scheme and a failed currency in a CNBC interview on Friday. “There’s no connection between inflation and bitcoin,” Taleb told CNBC, adding that everyone knows bitcoin is “a Ponzi.” Some analysts view the cryptocurrency, often referred to as digital gold, as a hedge against inflation, highlighting its similarities with the precious metal. “If you want to hedge against inflation, buy a piece of land,” Taleb said. “The best strategy for investors is to own things that produce yields in the future. In other words, you can fall back on real dollars coming out of the company.” He also said bitcoin had failed in its supposed role as a replacement for government-backed money, mainly because of its volatility.


The author said he’d been “fooled” into thinking it could be a viable alternative to fiat currency but realized that a currency not backed by a government is “just speculation” and a “game.” “I was told it was going to be a currency,” he said, but “you don’t replace the currency with something that’s so volatile that you can’t really commit to a transaction in it.” Bitcoin’s price has swung wildly recently. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization inched near $65,000 ahead of Coinbase’s listing on April 14. Less than 10 days later, bitcoin slid below the critical $50,000 level, extending losses for the seventh day in a row. The decline below $50,000 has bitcoin testing a new technical support level that could signal continued weakness, especially after its 50-day moving average failed to hold as support. The broader crypto market has come under pressure after reports said this week that US President Joe Biden would look to double the capital-gains tax rate for wealthy investors.

Read more …

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 25 2021

Viewing 36 posts - 1 through 36 (of 36 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #73839

    Sophia Loren seated by the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis during filming for ‘Boy on a Dolphin’, 1957   • To Friends in the US: Facilitate G
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 25 2021]

    #73840
    Dimitri
    Participant

    Maybe it’s time for the USA to recognize the genocide of the Native Americans

    #73841
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Maybe it’s time for the USA to recognize the genocide of the Native Americans

    Ah! Now you’ve done it…gone a bridge too far…………….

    #73844

    Talking about genocides, how about Australia?

    Oz

    #73845
    Germ
    Participant

    Hello from London!

    #73846
    Germ
    Participant

    Sticks and Stones DO break bones!

    #73847
    Germ
    Participant

    UK has gone bonkers.

    “Pregnant women should be fast-tracked for Covid vaccines”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9508315/Pregnant-women-fast-tracked-Covid-vaccines-leading-expert-says-surprise-U-turn.html

    Oxford University and Gates Foundation:
    Hand in Glove.

    https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=University%20of%20Oxford

    #73849
    Germ
    Participant
    #73850
    Germ
    Participant

    And on the complete other end of the spectrum:

    #73851
    Dr. D
    Participant

    If Putin is subsidizing free sex I need to move to Russia right away.

    “Biden’s proposal for top marginal income rate is 39.6%.”

    Yes, but neither those people nor corporations pay any taxes, regardless of the rate. I can tax moon-people too, but I’ll have a hard time collecting.

    What was that chart with taxes? Tax rates vs revenue over time? Regardless of the rate or the attempt, you collect no more than 30%? 40%? We’re already way into that. Topped out. Redline. And the planet too for that matter. Besides, the taxes are FROM Pa’s Hardware, paid TO Amazon by the multi-billion$$$ contracts. It’s a lot of Pa’s Diners to pay for that. 150% more than exist, in fact. Or is it 200%?

    None of this matters. Amazon pays no taxes, and Bezos takes no income. However, he DOES shutdown the entire U.S. economy to spike unemployment, desperation, suicide, and keep profits up, and murder all competition, both corporately and physically.

    I guess I’m saying taxes would matter in a capitalist society. Which we’re not and haven’t been in years. In Fauciist state, it’s only insiders and party members. We make and enforce the rules only for them. The rest of you will die, so go do it quickly.

    India: 2,000 fatalities. Really? Really, people? India has +1,000,000,000 people. The virus seems to spike and drop instead of running steadily throughout the year. What I’m hearing – aside from people being bad at math – is that the U.S. has recovered so they can’t milk any senseless fear out of us and have had to move on to NEW lies.

    Making sure that the tens of millions of Indians are able to access vaccines is the only way in which a country as geographically challenging as India will be able to turn the tables on this fast-moving disease.”

    Against all present evidence. Everywhere the vaccine is, cases have risen. Why is hard to understand, but that makes this statement false. …Because they printed it. That means they didn’t look at anything or ask any questions. They just make up whatever they WANT to be real, and print it, like any deranged psycho.

    …Oh and no comments on natural immunity either. Clearly the physics that allowed that to be the cure for the last 100,000 years don’t work anymore. Gravity is suspended. Along with reason.

    And time. If you HAD the vaccine, you HAD the supply chain, that chart says you STILL couldn’t deliver enough doses to beat the curve that is happening anyway. It just takes too long with too many people needing to get up and stand around too many tables.

    Let’s see: 1B people, 15min/shot = 250,000,000 man-hours. Twice. Or 4x a year, Pharma execs say, safe in their Caribbean resorts. I detect a problem that journalists can’t identify since they’re English Majors from Columbia and can’t add single digits like we did in primary school in 1801.

    So look on the bright side: nothing they do will have any effect anyway, so don’t worry about who has the masks and vaccines that don’t work.

    “only 500 would be infected if the schools were closed

    Not only that, after they proved kids don’t get it, “Science”, “Medicine” refused to update this single parameter in the high-school kid’s volcano project. Proving they are dumber and less scientific than any High Schooler in America. …Or corrupt and up to something, maybe?

    Yes, IF the disease distribution was even — which it’s not – that might make sense. But it isn’t, we’ve know that all along, and they refuse to do anything about it because then Ontario can’t torture your kids and lock them in closets. Then where would the fun be?

    Yes, they’re going to notice, when this comes out, they’re going to be aware their parents and every adult betrayed and abused them. For no reason at all. That’s worse than sexual abuse, because at least then, you can understand it. At least then somebody wanted something real.

    Also, among the MANY reasons we knew this was false, no one did the slightest study on “six feet” and in fact chose different random distances worldwide. 60 feet now, I guess. Bring up that there’s no science and no logic and you’re anti-science. Asking for science is anti-science now.

    Note: MIT appears to be a computer model. That is: it’s totally, laughably false. These are the same models that always fail with “25M dead” “no ice by 2000” and “LTCM will never fail”. False, false, false. However, they ARE a highly profitable scam, so that’s good if you’re a scammer.

    Please point out where and when he spoke out about the Armenian genocide during that whole time.”

    Or the systemic, institutional racism apparently he was supporting. But what do you want from a guy who said, “We don’t need no n—-r mayors” on camera in the 80s.

    I’m glad we can admit the genocide, since it’s true. However, I can’t understand how NATO will continue to exist, and Russia won’t take the Black Sea and China their Silk Road right to Athens now. Maybe I lack imagination and everybody wants to do what the post popular President in world history tells them to.

    DipEnergy: funny joke, but why is everyone talking in English? Is it a show for our benefit? I say that every day there’s a “protest” and all the placards worldwide are English. Don’t worry: it’s obvious, so no one else does.

    “Ukraine is always vigilant, yet welcomes any steps to deescalate the situation in Donbas”

    …Like following the Minsk accord? That signed nations are sworn and legally entitled to enforce? Guess what: Russia can invade you to enforce the contract you signed. They don’t because that “isn’t done”, but maybe you can shut your pie hole.

    “Implication: Floyd died to redeem America of her original sin of racism.”

    …Of a 3x overdose of Chinese Fentynal. The best example here is the Floyd Autonomous Zone, which like CHAZ, now has segregation, different rules for white and black, no police, and (shock) overwhelming crime, AGAINST BLACKS, while they shoot off a banana clip of automatic fire every night. …Hey, are those guns illegal? And is shooting them into neighborhoods illegal? And they’re not following the law? Huh. Funny. Criminals not following the law and being attracted to commit crimes in places there’s no law. Who knew? We need less police and more Floyd autonomous zones. Clearly that’s safer.

    NYC is also erasing law enforcement to insure the same thing there. They withdrew all legal protection from officers. And rapes were up 300%, shootings 100%, and murder 50% BEFORE DeBlasio and his pal Cuomo got started. Not enough people getting killed in NY I guess now that they shut down his nursing home racket. Man’s gotta do something to keep those blue murders sky-high! Guns and murders blue city exclusive! No red county comes close.

    Wonder why we have trouble? We have two paradigms running side by side, 50 year test cycle. Which of the two paradigms is working? By murder, equality, racism, happiness, ecology, any metric you want. …We choose the #Opposite.

    …So says Tatum, but also a lot of others, who are purged from any public forum. Like that annoying Supreme Court Justice, darn him, that he’s been there generations, just doesn’t fit the we’ll-never-let-you-win narrative (i.e. ‘lie’) does it? Next we’re going to have to remove the segregated drinking fountains. You can look at Jericho Green too, if you like paint-peeling language. Or the Black Conservative. Or Candice Owens, or…

    But they’re real, so we deny them. When Black people don’t do as I say, they’re White. No joke, that’s been said all over this month. By white people. Telling Black people who they are. Irony is dead if ya hadn’t noticed. And a lot of black people in a lot of black neighborhoods that have been burned by people “helping” them with that arson thing. Look: if you’re not going to burn down your own cities, we’re just going to have to take major corporate funding, hire some people to bus in and burn it for you. That Fed-funded urban renewal isn’t going to move that real estate to Biden-invested white hedge funds on its own, you know. Get to it. I got $5M houses to buy. At sea level. Like Obama. Pelosi said she doesn’t understand why people aren’t rising up and killing each other more. What will it take? How many checks have we got to write? How many juries to tamper? We’re getting tired over here.

    Biden’s got more KKK papers and eulogies to write. HRC wrote the most glowing one for Grand Wizard Byrd we’d ever seen.

    Nassim Taleb Says Bitcoin Is An Open Ponzi Scheme And A Failed Currency (BI)”

    Weird. How is Bitcoin a ponzi? Digging up useless rock in one hole to go bury it in another is a ponzi, and we’ve been doing that for 5,000 years.

    The volatility is important, but “Bitcoin’s price has swung wildly recently.” Yes. Completely upward. No one cares about your volatility if your value has doubled at the end of the year, and Taleb knows it. That may make it not a currency, true. But printing $4T a quarter compounding ALSO makes you not a currency. Their lies, fraud, and failure is the only reason BTC goes up. Since they can’t stop lying, cheating, and stealing, and won’t, BTC is a sure bet. That’s not Bitcoin’s fault.

    #73852
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    @Germ: What I saw in that video was both police and demonstrators being pretty militant, and the militance of the police seemed more defensive in nature (even if they were just a little to bit too eager to whack people with those batons of theirs). If those would have been US cops, then you would have seen some real police violence, I’m pretty sure!

    #73853
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Some perspective about India:

    A quick look at Our World In Data shows that India’s daily new Covid cases (per million people) are still below the new cases in Germany and France (for example). In France, it’s more than 3 times higher than India.

    A similar picture for daily new Covid deaths (per million people), with Germany having almost twice as many as India, and France having almost three times as many.

    Cases
    Deaths

    #73854
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Edit attempt failed on my comment above.
    Daily new cases per million in France are about 2 times higher than India.

    #73856
    zerosum
    Participant

    Do you see the ancient social/economic patterns?

    genocide ( removal of the undesirable)
    birth control ( removal of the undesirable)
    taxes ( removal of the undesirable; people pay taxes, corporations do not pay any taxes, regardless of the rate. )
    covid ( removal of the undesirable; new Covid deaths (per million people), with Germany having almost twice as many as India; more is better)
    natural immunity ( removal of the undesirable)
    war ( removal of the undesirable)

    Peace ( do as you’re told; Keeps the desirable; extinction)

    #73857
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    @DocR: Thanks for the 411. India is certainly having a worse time because as a poorer country than the UK or any Eurozone country, their healthcare system is much harder-pressed to handle the stress of this public-health crisis.

    #73858
    Noirette
    Participant

    On previous: Save Earth Get Rich.

    Yes, all this fantasy of converting to ‘renewables’ and so on is just to befuddle ppl and keep them going along / to make money, green washing as jsutification, advertising for ‘new’ biz which has to be subsidised, forced, propagandised, other… / to look caring / to keep other endeavours, industries, like personal cars, chugging (sic) along… It is all BS, though some true believers no doubt exist.

    One of my favorite low- / small- scale examples is glass recycling.

    Glass was invented and made to be durable and washable, i.e. to last for centuries, specially if protected from shocks by a surround of rush or other (e.g. classical Chianti bottle.) A wonderful material. The glass biz. has exploded (West), so as to make citizens feel good and participate in “saving their environment” they now bring their glass to a recycling point. A long-serving container is deliberately smashed after just one use (jam jar, wine bottle, etc.) and has to be deposited, lifted, trucked to a special plant, where it is sorted (other materials), treated in multiple ways, then melted down, which requires 1400-1600°C (nat gas, coal..), to then be …Argh words fail me.

    Showing the complexity of glass bottle manufacturing. Think of the energy used!

    4 mins. https://bit.ly/3dOZMch

    One ex. that takes for granted the fact that as much glass as possible MUST be recycled.

    How better glass recycling was needed in Kansas and how this was super!!

    Deffenbaugh Industries is the exclusive hauler of Ripple Glass in the Kansas City area. We are proud to the large purple roll off containers as well as operate multiple bar and restaurant routes to make sure as much glass as possible gets recycled. Take a tour of the Ripple Glass plant with us to see what happens to your glass.

    4 mins. https://bit.ly/3dN88Rt

    Totally nuts… part II to follow.

    #73859
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Some additional perspective:

    Hospital beds per 1,000 people
    Japan 13
    Russia 8
    Germany 8
    France 6
    China 4
    Greece 4
    Italy 3
    Israel 3
    US, UK, Canada, Sweden 2-3
    India 0.5

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_hospital_beds

    #73860
    Noirette
    Participant

    Part II. Before Glass, I wanted to get to:

    Some “Green” Pol parties are not ‘Green’ and are using the label as a masquerade for a certain brand of US-supporting Foreign Policy. *Most likely* linked to Biden’s illusory ‘green’ agenda, a propaganda effort, a signal.

    Politico (23.04) for ex:

    A recent feature in the New York Times celebrated the Greens as a “pragmatic party promising an assertive stance abroad,” committed to “Germany’s membership in NATO and its strong alliance with the United States.” Another analyst argues that a coalition of Greens and the conservative Christian Democrats “could finally create a coherent defense policy.” 

    https://www.politico.eu/article/german-greens-reality-check/

    > The German “Greens” support humanitarian rights .. are against authoritarian powers, i.e. China, Russia….

    from the DW website:

    In broad strokes, the Green Party has a voter base of urban, well-educated, high-income earners. It abandoned its strict pacifist stance when it was junior coalition partner in an SPD-led government: In 1999, Green Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer got the party to back Germany’s participation in the NATO bombing of Kosovo. The Greens pushed through a nuclear power phase-out and enacted laws easing immigration and same-sex civil partnerships.

    ….The Greens oppose the gas pipeline project, which critics say will weaken Europe and Germany’s energy security. 

    https://www.dw.com/en/green-party/t-17365878

    They oppose Nord Stream 2, without one word about how German industry (not to mention freezing pensioners) are to make up the ‘loss’ or ‘pay extra’ (as it is usually viewed) to buy US NLG, which in any case, no matter the price, can’t happen, there isn’t the infrastructure.

    #73861
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    There’s something wrong with this picture:

    pic

    %^&

    @ Doc Robinson: you’ve become really good at this statistical comparison thing. Any complaints that I’ve made in that regard, please attribute to geriatric PMS or the ghosts of menopause.

    @ Noirette

    Sounds like a good time to learn pottery and tin-smithing.

    Reminds me of an obscure Stanislaw Lem novel I never got until now: it describes space explorers reaching a planet with a foreign civilization they cannot make any sense of. t seems that the occupants are gone and their machinery survives, but the machinery is as organic as it is mineral or metallic, and is constantly busy. They depart as clueless as when they arrived albeit with vast amounts of data in their computers.

    I realize now it’s a metaphor for modern human civilization?

    Modern Times

    Charlie Chaplin shows what factory work did to people’s bodies in this old classic. Today, the same thing is done to our minds.

    #73862
    Noirette
    Participant

    I didn’t see this posted, if it was, apologies – so once more…:

    Database of all HCQ COVID-19 studies. 285 studies, 213 peer reviewed, 236 comparing treatment and control groups.

    https://c19ivermectin.com

    (other info > other meds / preventatives at site)

    #73864
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    I’m not sure how to interpret the number of hospital beds per capita. It seems quite
    a mixed bag of countries at the low end, with Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and New Zealand all at around 2-3.

    #73865
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    What stands out (to me) is that Canada (for example) and India have roughly the same number of new daily Covid cases and deaths (per million), but Canada has about 5 times the number of hospital beds (per million).

    #73866
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Fascism and irrationality:

    I added the following comment to the video: A sound and substantial video, but I would like to add two caveats: 1) The popularly cited studies “disproving” the effectiveness of HCQ against Covid have been either jury-rigged to fail or even deliberately constructed lies. https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2021/04/24/covid19-taking-stock/ 2) Hillary Clinton’s partisans proved themselves more than a little bit capable of some very real irrationality in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. (“RussiaRussiaRussia!”) It took a great deal of equanimity not to be thoroughly disgusted throughout most of 2017.

    #73867
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    I’m still kind of on the fence about face-masking. You see, I work in a grocery store, and a lot of medically vulnerable people shop there, including senior citizens. Even if universal masking of customers and employees only helps a little teeny-tiny smidgeon, then perhaps that smidgeon is worthwhile. Also, as a 54-year-old type-2 diabetic who works there full time, I am technically one of those medically vulnerable people! Same with stores such as Walmart and CVS where prescription drugs are dispensed.

    #73868

    Protein S deficiency is a blood clotting problem that often goes unnoticed.

    Protein S prevents clotting too much, so if we make antibodies to it, we will clot, right? Surprise!

    I dreamt about the S protein last night- also included was the idea that the Chinese computer model of the virus and spiked [S] protein we based the vaxxes on was a Trojan horse.

    In full disclosure, I don’t really know what I’m talking about, but I think I’m on to something, so I’m hip as can be. ; )

    #73869
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Glass is easy to reuse. And, it is dishwasher safe. When properly closed, it protects food from rodents, insects, and moisture. With some care it can be used in the freezer. Mason jars can be used to store perishable food for years. But then, I reuse most of the glass bottles that food I purchase comes in. I recognize that my habit of doing this is unusual. But it seems so pointless to go out and purchase new containers to put things in when so much of the food I buy comes in serviceable glass containers. The only downside to glass is that it breaks easily when falling from a height onto my tile floor. (But…there are more jars where that broken one came from, so no need to get upset about it.)

    #73870
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    And plus tempered glass is really, really durable. (I like my lineoleum-tile kitchen floor. Stuff I drop on it very rarely breaks thanks to its shock-absorbing qualities.)

    #73871
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    @ Mister Roboto

    Whether it’s related to masks or not, Japan’s increases in daily new Covid cases have not been so “explosive” as in other countries like the US and the UK.


    Our World in Data

    #73872
    a kullervo
    Participant

    Too many (wannabe) Lazarus.

    [I wonder what happened to the prototype… Is he still around? Leading the revolt against the Christ (the one who denied him eternal rest), perhaps? Can anyone die twice?]

    #73874
    Topcat
    Participant

    Glass ‘recycling ‘is a hustle.

    Glass is very heavy, about 150lb per cubic foot, somewhat lighter than granite.

    Broken glass has no value, it’s only valuable as a shape, i.e. – window – bottle etc

    A large truck of broken ‘recycle’ glass uses a lot of fossil fuel to physically move it from A to B.

    At present fuel prices, and the present cost of broken ‘recycle’ glass, trucking broken ‘recycle’ glass more than 25-35 miles costs more in fuel than it is worth to a remelting facility.

    The bottom line is that remelting- refabricating plants for broken ‘recycle’ glass have to be located 25-35 miles a across the country to even have a shot at breaking even.

    And they are Not.

    Which is why if you talk to people in the ‘recycle’ racket, they will tell you the vast majority of broken ‘recycle’ glass, which the public has dutifully separated for ‘recycling’, (virtue signaling) is quietly buried, yes, BURIED in land fills.

    Sometimes the location is kept in the off chance that a remelt – refabricate facility Might be built nearby in the future, but usually NOT.

    So the Sheeple have separated their glass for NOTHING and have had smoke blown up their ass as usual.

    Asphalt plants have experimented substituting broken recycle glass for crushed stone in making asphalt for road paving but oddly enough, the sharp edges of the glass wear out tire tread much fasting than crushed stone.

    Think of dumping your Harley on a road that is essential a cheese grater made with bits of broken glass and you will understand how broken glass in a road surface it’s a great idea. Polishing the glass before adding to the asphalt costs fossil fuel and cancels the savings of using glass instead of crushed stone!

    The End

    The End

    #73875
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ a kullervo

    Once, the alleged Grand Delusion was that we could live forever… in some afterlives or reincarnational afterlives or… now the grand delusion is that we can live, if not forever, longer than the previous generation, and that postponing death is souniversally and absolutely good we still deny most doctors the right to put a patient out of their misery at the patient’s request.

    I believe you cited the crabs/bucket effect. I wonder if there isn’t a subconscious version of this effect happening amid all this? Like: NO ONE GETS OUT OF HERE DEAD OR ALIVE.

    #73879
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Another thing to keep in mind about India, though, is because it is so poor, there are very likely many Covid deaths that happen in silence in remote places and so don’t get counted. Right now, the worst variant currently present in the USA is the Brazilian one (though the British one is currently dominant). I’m probably going to be more than a little bit concerned if the Indian variant (yes, they have their own variant) ever arrives on our shores at some point.

    #73885
    zerosum
    Participant

    If you are not an essential worker, do you know if you have been designated as scheduled caste for removal as an undesirable

    #73887
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ my-parents-said-know

    I have had a few experiences like you are describing: my assessment is that I was becoming ungrounded and I had to give up this site for a while and reconnect with nature. I feel the life we are living will not be recognizable in a number of years. I have often wondered what it was like prior to and entering the Great Depression. Is that what is happening or is it even worse?

    #73891
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Michael Reid
    @ my-parents-said-know

    I have had a few experiences like you are describing: my assessment is that I was becoming ungrounded and I had to give up this site for a while and reconnect with nature. I feel the life we are living will not be recognizable in a number of years. I have often wondered what it was like prior to and entering the Great Depression. Is that what is happening or is it even worse?

    Very nice comment. … and I can relate to the grounding issues…
    It’s why I like to walk barefoot on dirt; to ground my being directly to the earth…
    Very difficult times; we’ll get better with a little help from our friends in keeping in the present…

    #73913
    Noirette
    Participant

    madamski, pottery, absolutely, I love pottery! Ha Ha 🙂 phoenix voice, I keep glass containers too, Roboto, yes, but of course the recycling of glass will continue, it provides jobs for hundreds of ppl (where I live.)

    Topcat gives a great example above, yes.. What happens to the glass actually varies a lot from place to place, there are opaque financial circuits. As in all treatment of ‘garbage’ (often in Europe,run by the Mafia), as a 13-year-old explained to me, “Garbage is dirty and people don’t want to talk about it.”

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