May 132021
 
 May 13, 2021  Posted by at 8:57 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Daniel Garber The quarry 1917

 

Public Health and the Triumph of Irrationality (CP)
Your Immune System Evolves to Fight Coronavirus Variants (SciAm)
Covid Pandemic Was Preventable, Says WHO-commissioned Report (G.)
Covid Surges In 4 Of 5 Most Vaccinated Countries (F.)
Ivermectin Tablets To Be Distributed Among Uttarakhand Residents (OneIndia)
Could Indian Variant Jeopardise UK Unlocking Plan? (DM)
Merriam-Webster: ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Now Includes Those Who Oppose Forced Jabs (RT)
124 Retired Generals And Admirals Question Biden’s Mental Health (Hill)
Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin As Payment Due To Fossil Fuel Use (JTN)
Man Who Alleges He Created Bitcoin Takes £4bn Claim To London High Court (R.)
France Aims To Shut British Firms Out Of EU Financial System (ZH)

 

 

I put this chart here to start a discussion on Covid and different blood types. Shoot.

 

 

 

Does anyone still realize how short we’ve become on science and rationality in the Covid response? And how we claim the exact opposite?

Public Health and the Triumph of Irrationality (CP)

It’s been inspiring to see how the nation has pulled together to stop the spread of COVID-19. It’s also been puzzling, however, in that it’s so out of character with the attitude Americans have otherwise taken to issues of public health. According to a recent article in the New York Times, cancer killed almost twice as many Americans in 2020 as COVID, and heart disease killed more than twice as many. That is, heart disease was the leading cause of death in the U.S. even during the most lethal period of the COVID epidemic, and cancer was second. Twenty-one percent of the deaths in the U.S. in 2020 were from heart disease and 18% from cancer, as opposed to only 10% from COVID. My point here is not that we should have been less concerned about COVID than we were. My point is that if we care so much about public health, why are we doing next to nothing to reduce the death toll of these two far more lethal threats?

Take heart disease. Not only do we know what causes it and how to prevent it, prevention is far easier than is the prevention of COVID. The causes of heart disease are things such as obesity, poor diet, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, stress, and lack of exercise. It would be relatively easy to tackle these problems. We could outlaw the sales of jumbo-sized sugary drinks, limit legal amounts of sugar and fats in processed foods, outlaw smoking, establish legal limits on the sales on alcohol, and mandate short supervised exercise periods in workplaces.

Americans are generally hesitant to impose what many have traditionally taken to be excessive legislative measures to protect public health. There was enormous support, however, for the legally-mandated extended lockdown measures and mask requirements to protect people from COVID, so why is there so little support for more moderate legislative measures to protect Americans from these greater threats to their health? The attempted ban on jumbo-sized sugary drinks was so short-lived that most people no longer even remember it. We’ve done a great deal to limit smoking in the U.S., but even with those measures it continues to be a huge threat to public health. If we can shut down businesses to protect people from COVID, why can’t we shut down the tobacco industry to protect people from the ravages of smoking (which affects not only smokers, but everyone in close proximity to them, not to mention imposing enormous costs on the healthcare system)? Bars and restaurants can, in theory, be held legally liable for serving alcohol to obviously inebriated customers, but in practice that law is seldom enforced and we have no legal limits whatever on the sales of alcohol in retail outlets.

Obesity makes people more vulnerable to death not merely from heart disease, but also from COVID, but while we are going to unprecedented links to protect people from dying of COVID, we’re doing nothing to protect them from becoming obese. In fact, we are arguably encouraging obesity by our quiescence relative to the amounts of sugar and fat typically found in processed foods and grotesquely exaggerated restaurant portion sizes.

Read more …

Most people can have faith in their immune systems. But less so when they’re “vaccinated”.

Your Immune System Evolves to Fight Coronavirus Variants (SciAm)

A lot of worry has been triggered by discoveries that variants of the pandemic-causing coronavirus can be more infectious than the original. But now scientists are starting to find some signs of hope on the human side of this microbe-host interaction. By studying the blood of COVID survivors and people who have been vaccinated, immunologists are learning that some of our immune system cells—which remember past infections and react to them—might have their own abilities to change, countering mutations in the virus. What this means, scientists think, is that the immune system might have evolved its own way of dealing with variants.

“Essentially, the immune system is trying to get ahead of the virus,” says Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at the Rockefeller University, who conducted some recent studies that tracked this phenomenon. The emerging idea is that the body maintains reserve armies of antibody-producing cells in addition to the original cells that responded to the initial invasion by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Over time some reserve cells mutate and produce antibodies that are better able to recognize new viral versions. “It’s really elegant mechanism that that we’ve evolved, basically, to be able to handle things like variants,” says Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington, who was not involved in Nussenzweig’s research. Whether there are enough of these cells, and their antibodies, to confer protection against a shape-shifting SARS-CoV-2 is still being figured out.

Last April, when the pandemic was reaching its first peak in New York City, Nussenzweig and his colleagues sprang into action and began collecting the blood of COVID survivors. There were disturbing early reports of reinfection and waning antibodies, and the scientists wanted to understand how long the immune system could sustain its ability to respond to the novel threat. They took blood samples from people who had been hit by SARS-CoV-2 one month after the infection and then again six months later. What the scientists found was somewhat encouraging. Blood collected at the later date did have lower levels of circulating antibodies, but that made sense because the infection had cleared. And levels of the cells that make antibodies, called memory B cells, remained constant or even increased in some people over time. After an infection, these cells hang around in the body’s lymph nodes and maintain the ability to recognize the virus. If a person gets infected a second time, memory B cells activate, quickly produce antibodies and block the virus from creating a second serious infection.

Read more …

But then we put the WHO in charge…

Covid Pandemic Was Preventable, Says WHO-commissioned Report (G.)

The Covid pandemic was a preventable disaster that need not have cost millions of lives if the world had reacted more quickly, according to an independent high-level panel, which castigates global leaders and calls for major changes to bring it to an end and ensure it cannot happen again. The report of the panel, chaired by the former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former president of Liberia, found “weak links at every point in the chain”. It said preparation was inconsistent and underfunded, the alert system too slow and too meek, while the World Health Organization was underpowered. It concluded the response had exacerbated inequalities. “Global political leadership was absent,” the report said. Clark described February 2020 as “a month of lost opportunity to avert a pandemic, as so many countries chose to wait and see”.

“For some, it wasn’t until hospital ICU beds began to fill that more action was taken,” she said. “And by then it was too late to avert the pandemic impact. What followed then was a winner takes all scramble for PPE and therapeutics. Globally, health workers were tested to their limits and the rates of infection, illness and death soared and continue to soar.” Sirleaf said: “The situation we find ourselves in today could have been prevented. An outbreak of a new pathogen, Sars CoV-2 became a catastrophic pandemic that has now killed more than 3.25 million people, and continues to threaten lives and livelihoods all over the world. It is due to a myriad of failures, gaps and delays in preparedness and response. This was partly due to failure to learn from the past.”

Urgent action must be taken, she said. “There are many reviews of previous health crises that include sensible recommendations. Yet, they sit gathering dust in UN basements and on government shelves … Our report shows that most countries of the world were simply not prepared for a pandemic.” The report was commissioned by the WHO director general at the instigation of member states, who called at the World Health Assembly in May last year for an impartial review of what happened and what could be learned from the pandemic. The panel calls for radical changes to bring heads of state together to oversee pandemic preparations, ensuring the finance and tools the world needs are in place. They want a faster-moving, better-resourced WHO. And they want a commitment now from leaders of affluent countries to supply vaccines for the rest of the world.

Read more …

If the Chinese vaccines don’t work, that leaves us with a lot of questions. Presumably, they wouldn’t work in China, either, for one thing.

Covid Surges In 4 Of 5 Most Vaccinated Countries (F.)

Countries with the world’s highest vaccination rates—including four of the top five most vaccinated—are fighting to contain coronavirus outbreaks that are, on a per-capita basis, higher than the surge devastating India, a trend that has experts questioning the efficacy of some vaccines (especially China’s Sinopharm) and the wisdom of easing restrictions even with most of the population vaccinated. Of the Seychelles, Israel, the UAE, Chile and Bahrain—respectively the world’s five most vaccinated countries—only Israel is not fighting to contain a dangerous surge in Covid-19 infections. Controlling for population, the Seychelles and Bahrain, alongside other highly vaccinated countries like the Maldives and Uruguay, recorded the highest number of daily coronavirus cases worldwide.

The Seychelles, a small island nation with almost double the U.S.’ vaccination rate, recorded 328 cases per 100,000 people, a far higher incidence than India (28) when population is accounted for. The outbreaks in vaccinated countries have sparked concern over how effective some of the Chinese vaccines are versus the western vaccines Israel used, including the Sinopharm vaccine the World Health Organization endorsed Friday that makes up a large part of the countries’ immunization programs. A relaxation of pandemic restrictions and mixed messaging from governments are also touted as potential explanations—tourism-reliant Seychelles and Maldives both (still) welcome tourists, Dubai exited lockdown rapidly and Chile loosened its restrictions and allowed domestic travel.

In many wealthy countries, vaccines have often been framed as the ultimate exit strategy from lockdown. Cases have declined in some countries executing successful and rapid campaigns, including the U.S., the U.K. and Israel, though experts point to places like Chile as a frightening example of what can happen if things are eased too quickly and warn a vaccine on its own is likely not enough. The efficacy of particular vaccines is likely to become a prominent concern as more countries begin to ramp up inoculation campaigns and there are concerns that some, like China’s Sinopharm vaccine, are far less effective at controlling the disease than those produced by the likes of Moderna and Pfizer. World leaders, including the head of the World Health Organization, issue frequent reminders that nobody is “safe until everyone is safe,” an issue underscored by the vast vaccine inequity between nations.

New, potentially more dangerous, variants are emerging across the globe, some of which could potentially evade existing vaccines. The WHO classified the B.1.617 variant tearing through India as a variant of concern Tuesday, noting it may be more infectious. 45%. All five of the world’s most vaccinated countries have at least this proportion of their population partially vaccinated. Data is available for Bahrain (47%), Chile (45%), Israel (60%) and the Seychelles (69%), with the UAE claiming third place thanks to its high number of doses given per capita (which is around 115,000 per 100,000 people; the UAE does not declare more granular data). The Seychelles (61%) and Israel (56%) also have the highest proportion of their population fully vaccinated, followed by Chile (38%) and Bahrain (35%). The U.S., where vaccination rates are declining in all but four states, sits just behind Chile and Bahrain, with 35% of its population now fully vaccinated and 46% partially.

Read more …

Pretty high doses recommended.

Ivermectin Tablets To Be Distributed Among Uttarakhand Residents (OneIndia)

The Uttarakhand government will be distributing Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, among the residents of the state as a preventive medicine against the spread of COVID-19, a senior official said. The Uttarakhand government’s announcement comes after Goa and Karnataka issued similar directions. The decision was taken on the recommendation of the state-level clinical technical committee, an order issued by Chief Secretary Om Prakash to all district magistrates said. The panel has recommended the Ivermectin tablet as “mass chemoprophylaxis” to effectively control the surge of COVID-19 infection apart from the vaccination drive, the order said. The 12 mg tablets of the drug will be distributed in a kit to all families through the health department and district magistrates, the order said.


Usually, Ivermectin tablets have to be taken by adults and those above 15 years twice daily for three days after breakfast and dinner. One person will thus need six tablets and a family of four will need 24 tablets. Hence, each kit will contain two dozen tablets, the order said. Children between 10-15 years will take only one tablet daily whereas those aged between 2 to 10 years can be administered the drug only after doctor’s advice. The tablet cannot be given to children below two years, pregnant women and those suffering from liver diseases, it said. The kit will come with directions on how to consume the medicine and dosage for different age groups. Information related to the daily distribution of the kits should be sent to the state nodal officer, the order said. Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had on Monday said all people above 18 years will be given Ivermectin drug irrespective of their coronavirus status to bring down the number of deaths due to the viral disease.

Read more …

Sure.

Could Indian Variant Jeopardise UK Unlocking Plan? (DM)

India’s Covid variant is now dominant in four local authorities in England and its rapid spread could jeopardise plans to ease lockdown, experts fear. Analysis by one of the UK’s biggest variant trackers warns the strain is focused in hotspots Bolton and neighbour Blackburn with Darwen, where outbreaks have grown by 93 and 86 per cent in a week, respectively, with more than half of lab-checked cases proven to be the Indian strain. The mutant B.1.617.2 virus is also thought to be behind half of all Covid infections in London, Bedford and South Northamptonshire, although outbreaks in these areas are still small. Boris Johnson said in a statement to Parliament today that the variant was ‘of increasing concern’, warning that a strain that could slip past vaccines would have ‘potential to cause even greater suffering than we endured in January’.

No10’s top scientists fear it may be more transmissible than the currently dominant Kent variant (B.1.1.7) – with one Belgian scientist suggesting it could be 60 per cent faster-spreading – and that it could be behind a gradually rising infection rate in Britain. The UK today confirmed another 2,284 positive tests, up seven per cent on last Wednesday’s figure, along with 11 more deaths. Another 485,260 vaccines were given out yesterday, of which 350,000 were second doses. Early lab trials suggest the current vaccines will still protect against the Indian variants but there are concerns that a faster rate of spread could lead to a bigger outbreak, giving more opportunities for people to get reinfected. AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine appears to be protecting people from the Indian variant of the virus, reports suggest.

And Pfizer said in a report there was ‘no evidence’ its shot would need to be updated to fight off the current variants. Environment Secretary George Eustice has refused to rule out local lockdowns from next month when the national restrictions are expected to end, adding that officials were ‘closely monitoring’ several outbreaks that had cropped up in recent weeks. But the Prime Minister stayed optimistic about ending lockdown, saying he expects to scrap advice for people to work from home in June and adding that he anticipates town and city centres will be ‘full of bustle again’ soon.

Read more …

“Welcome to ‘1984.’ This is the Ministry of Truth..”

Merriam-Webster: ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Now Includes Those Who Oppose Forced Jabs (RT)

Merriam-Webster is again redefining language to fit a narrative, this time framing its definition of “anti-vaxxer” to include not only people who oppose vaccination, but also those who are against inoculation mandates. The definition on Merriam-Webster’s website says “anti-vaxxer” means “a person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination.” It’s not clear when it was written to include opposition to forced jabs, but many observers noticed for the first time on Wednesday. “Welcome to ‘1984.’ This is the Ministry of Truth,” rapper and podcaster Zuby said on Twitter, referring to George Orwell’s dystopian novel.


Other reactions were similar, with many commenters noting that they now fit the dictionary definition of “anti-vaxxer,” even though they believe in the benefits of vaccinations and choose to receive the shots themselves. Merriam-Webster’s definition appears to dismiss the concept of favoring a product personally but being opposed, on principle, to forcing others to use it. Today, I begin my new life as an anti-vaxxer,” podcast host Matt Walsh said. The conservative Young America’s Foundation added that “when the Left control the language, they control the narrative.”

Read more …

ha ha ha

124 Retired Generals And Admirals Question Biden’s Mental Health (Hill)

A group of retired U.S. military admirals and generals signed a letter released Tuesday questioning President Biden’s fitness for office and seemingly challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The letter, signed by 124 former military leaders and posted by Flag Officers 4 America, said the “Constitutional Republic is lost” without “fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the ‘will of the people.’” “The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020,” the letter added. Former Attorney General William Barr said in December the Justice Department uncovered no evidence of voter fraud that could have affected the outcome of the 2020 election, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

The signatories also questioned the “mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief,” adding that national security issues require quick and “accurate” decisions “involving life and limb.” “Recent Democrat leadership’s inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge,” the letter said. “We must always have an unquestionable chain of command.” While in office, former President Trump periodically questioned Biden’s mental capacity and age during the campaign season, at times referring to him as “sleepy Joe.”

Kevin O’Connor, the president’s doctor, released a report earlier this month maintaining that Biden is a “healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” Business Insider reported. The signatories additionally compared potential challenges to ideological battles not seen since America’s founding. “We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776,” they said. “The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.” A statement on the Flag Officers 4 America website, says that although its members are no longer engaged in active military service, they are “bound by that oath to do what we can, in our capacity today, to protect our nation from the threats to her freedom.”

Read more …

Weeks after Musk says they will be accepted. Some PR.

Is Tesla going to take this policy to China?

Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin As Payment Due To Fossil Fuel Use (JTN)

Tesla’s Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that the electric vehicle company will no longer accept Bitcoin cryptocurrency as a payment method for automobiles due to the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining. “Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk posted. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.”


However, the business magnate noted that Tesla will not sell off its substantial Bitcoin holdings and plans to resume accepting the cryptocurrency in the future when mining shifts to more sustainable energy. “Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”

Read more …

Still a curious case.

Man Who Alleges He Created Bitcoin Takes £4bn Claim To London High Court (R.)

An Australian computer scientist who alleges he created bitcoin has launched a London high court lawsuit against 16 software developers in an effort to secure bitcoin worth around £4bn pounds (A$5.7bn) he says he owns. In a case that was promptly labelled “bogus” by one defendant, Craig Wright is demanding that developers allow him to retrieve about 111,000 bitcoins held at two digital addresses that he does not have private keys for. In his second London lawsuit in three weeks, Wright alleges he lost the encrypted keys when his home computer network was hacked in February 2020. Police are investigating.

Wright, who is bringing the case through his Seychelles-based Tulip Trading firm, concedes he is a controversial figure since alleging in 2016 that he wrote the bitcoin white paper – which first outlined the technology behind the digital assets – under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The claim is hotly disputed. The Australian, who is autistic and lives in Britain with his wife and two of his three children, alleges in his latest lawsuit that developers have breached their duties to act in the best interests of the rightful owner of globally-traded assets.

“Our client has always maintained that he created bitcoin to operate within existing laws and that in the event of loss or theft, where legitimate ownership can be proven, the developers have a duty to ensure recovery,” said Paul Ferguson, a partner at law firm Ontier, which is representing Wright. The case is being brought against the developers of four networks – Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), Bitcoin Core (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Cash ABC (ABC) – at addresses in continental Europe, the US, New Zealand, Australia and Japan, a court filing seen by Reuters showed.

Read more …

It’s highly fashionable to try and ban countries from international financial systems.

France Aims To Shut British Firms Out Of EU Financial System (ZH)

As the spat between the UK and France over access to British fishing waters – a contentious issue that nearly scuppered the post-Brexit trade deal – worsens, France has apparently decided to go for the jugular. Last week, French officials threatened to cut off electricity to the UK-dominated island of Jersey while a “protest” staged by French fishermen nearly prompted a confrontation between British and French naval ships. Now, France is threatening to do everything in its power to scupper a EU deal that would broaden access to European markets for British financial firms.

In keeping with threats made by a French diplomat last week, Bloomberg reports that French diplomats are working to stall an agreement that would help restore some of the access British financial firms once enjoyed to European markets, which was lost when Brexit officially came into effect following the end of the transition and the start of 2021. Though it wouldn’t have much practical effect in the near term, reaching a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and the EU about plans to re-integrate their financial systems is seen by the UK as a critical first step to restoring the level of access they once enjoyed. Negotiations in Brussels later this month will bring EU leaders together to further the discuss a potential deal on market access. To be sure, the EU has said that it’s in no rush to restore the reciprocity rules that would restore trading rights for British financial firms.

Here’s more from BBG: “At the end of March, Britain and the EU had agreed on a forum regarding cross-border financial market access. While granting so-called equivalences that would allow U.K. financial firms to do business in Europe remains a separate and unilateral process, the MoU would help speed up the process. Since Brexit took effect at the beginning of 2021, London-based financial firms have been largely unable to operate in the bloc, forcing banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to move billions of dollars in assets and thousands of staff to the continent.”

Read more …

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle May 13 2021

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)
  • Author
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  • #75158

    Daniel Garber The quarry 1917   • Public Health and the Triumph of Irrationality (CP) • Your Immune System Evolves to Fight Coronavirus Variants
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 13 2021]

    #75159
    Germ
    Participant

    “However, influence of the blood groups on COVID-19 infection and its outcome remains to be confirmed”

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32496734/

    #75160
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Daniel Garber The quarry 1917

    Another Garber; I like The Quarry very much; Garber’s style is very appealing to my esthetic…

    The Scream/Lego cartoon is very funny…

    #75162
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    I haven’t seen the RT piece yet, but if it’s true that “anti-vaxxer” is now anyone who opposes mandatory Covid jabs, that’s really a very foolish move. A lot of us are actually almost militantly pro-vaccine when it comes to conventional, well-tested, tried-and-true vaccines (which is not to say all conventional vaccine procedures are necessarily perfect). Forcing us into the anti-vaxxer camp (because our opposition is unlikely to be deterred by being painted with that particular broad brush) will only help the cause of the actual anti-vaxxers. Way to freaking go, authoritarian bozos!

    The official count of Covid cases continues to decline in Wisconsin. We’re now down to a seven-day-average of 600 cases a day, which is only twice that of our summertime 2020 low of 300 a day. I expect it to continue to fall. {/knock on simulated wood}

    #75163
    Basseterre Kitona
    Participant

    Does anyone still realize how short we’ve become on science and rationality in the Covid response? And how we claim the exact opposite?

    I’ve been complaining about that for a year now. It has nothing to do with public health and everything to do with public tyranny. Forget the heart disease and cancer, what about mosquitos ?! Mosquito borne illness kills almost 3 million people every year…so why aren’t we harassing people in public that wear shorts and sandals? They should be covered head-to-toe. Don’t they know how dangerous their behavior is to other people?

    #75164
    Germ
    Participant

    OK folks – now it’s become really serious:

    “COVID-19 can infect penis tissue and could lead to erectile dysfunction – study.”
    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-can-infect-penis-tissue-and-could-lead-to-erectile-dysfunction-study-12304902

    The absurdity will never end.
    Please make it stop!
    :-)) :-)) :-))

    #75165
    Dr. D
    Participant

    the Illogic meant to make us despair of life and it’s working. “Hell is the absence of reason.”

    “But now scientists are starting to find some signs of hope on the human side of this microbe-host interaction.”

    You mean besides that you’re 99.997% likely to live if you’re below the average age of death? That kind of hope? Gosh, don’t oversell it.

    Oh and guess what? If you 99.997% survived it, you have immunity for decades. If you vaccine, you have immunity for weeks. …After enduring the side effects. So it’s like giving yourself Covid every 12 weeks for sport. So of course we choose the latter. Who makes money when you live? No one, that’s who. Just an extension of the war complex. Peace doesn’t pay, or pays the wrong people.

    outbreaks have grown by 93 and 86 per cent in a week”

    What does this mean? Like last time, they had 20 people and now have 40? Also, outbreaks where no one goes to the hospital and no one dies? Now why am I suspicious like that? Is it because I know if 300 people a week died in these areas, they’d lead with that number instead? So if they’re not saying, it’s not happening. At all, guaranteed. Just like they could only find a single crank who says it’s 60% worse, and all 6,000 other doctors said it wasn’t?

    “Merriam-Webster: ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Now Includes Those Who Oppose Forced Jabs (RT)”

    You’re an anti-vaxxer if you support Nuremberg and UN Human rights. Oh and the Constitution. But we knew that.

    But don’t worry: since their sole enemy is logic and truth, tomorrow it will change again. What other use is authority other than to abuse it? It doesn’t pay if you use it honestly. See war, above.

    Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin As Payment Due To Fossil Fuel Use (JTN)”

    Sure, they called him on the phone and said they’d write a check if he’d do this and trade off some coins they could use to attack the market. That is, illegally rig, manipulate, and collude to commit securities fraud. Musk, since his company runs on fraud, stock-rigging, and extortion, happily agreed. That’s why he bought BTC and Doge in the first place: because he makes no money on the few cars he sells (and burns) and this is a way to squirm the ponzi a little longer. Everyone agrees and applauds.

    “Man Who Alleges He Created Bitcoin Takes £4bn Claim to London High Court (R.)”

    Laymen are missing the point: all he has to do to prove he created it is to produce the private keys. That is, the one thing he can’t and isn’t capable of. Lucky him, since he’d promptly be murdered. He was already SWATted (illegally) in Australia for the same thing.

    “It’s highly fashionable to try and ban countries from international financial systems.”

    Yes, and that is a boycott, embargo, or by its old name, a blockade. That is a well-defined act of war. But what is more fashionable is to attack someone else and claim you’re the poor wittle wictim, never did nuffin’. A narcissistic sociopath specialty.

    ““When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is…in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.” –Dalrymple

    #75166
    Germ
    Participant

    Well articulated pro-ivermectin article from Slovenia:

    “Ivermectin successfully prevents infection with the sars-cov-2 virus, doctors from many countries report. Why is it not allowed?”
    https://www.delo.si/sobotna-priloga/prepovedano-zdravilo/

    Why indeed!

    #75167
    Germ
    Participant

    Peter Hotez sounds a terrifying and dangerous creature.

    They’re coming for the kids under the guise of ‘herd immunity’ – as if an experimental vaccine was the only way for it to occur.
    It’s almost criminal, yet certainly profitable.

    #75169
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Yesterday, Germ posted an interview with Dr. Sebastian Rushworth, author of Covid: Why Most Of What You Know Is Wrong. It may be of interest to note that Amazon initially refused to offer its customers Dr. Rushworth’s book, but they relented a week later after enough people, presumably regular Amazon customers, protested this attempt at censorship.

    WRT the Counterpunch.org article, I have to say that I have always been and remain very dubious about legislating the nutritional content of food. Warning labels? Sure. But if you recall the misguided anti-saturated fat/ anti-cholesterol craze of the nineteen-eighties, legislating the nutritional content of food would involve one school of thought or another informing any such legislation.

    #75170
    Germ
    Participant

    So often, what appears to initially be crackpot Conspiracy Theory turns out to actually be Conspiracy Fact!

    We show here that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genome of the infected cell and be expressed as chimeric transcripts fusing viral with cellular sequences. Importantly, such chimeric transcripts are detected in patient-derived tissues.

    https://www.pnas.org/content/118/21/e2105968118

    #75171
    Django
    Participant

    If you want to poison rats you must do it slowly. Rats can’t vomit so they are very cautious about what they eat. They wait to see if a younger or sillier ot hungrier rat takes the bait or if a mouse does. Then they wait to see if it dies. If it doesn’t then they will eat the poison which apparently smells appetising to them.

    It’s sad I have to teach my kids to behave like rats but that’s modern life.

    #75172
    Django
    Participant

    I’m with you on that one Germ. I will entertain any conspiracy theory these days up to and including the Queen being a lizard.

    #75173
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    WRT the Covid vaccines imparting herd immunity: I don’t really have an in-depth understanding of immunology, but if the only thing the Covid vaccines can promise is a significantly reduced likelihood of experiencing severe Covid symptoms, I’m at a loss to understand how this would lead to herd immunity. Might the virus be more transmissive when one is experiencing severe illness from it? The problem with that, though, is that when someone is that ill, they are generally in the hospital or at least self-quarantining.

    #75174
    Germ
    Participant

    My Queen is not a lizard – Dammit!!

    #75175
    absolute galore
    Participant

    @Mister Roboto wrote: “…if the only thing the Covid vaccines can promise is a significantly reduced likelihood of experiencing severe Covid symptoms, I’m at a loss to understand how this would lead to herd immunity.”

    No need to understand, since it is not happening. NY Yankees, with over 85% vaccinated, have “clubhouse immunity” yet now report 7 covid cases among coaching and staff (tested multiple times presumably with the current lower cycle PCR so probably legit). It would seem that transmission by those vaccinated, since most often asymptomatic, would be more damaging than spread by those who are unvaccinated, who will typically stay home when they get symptoms. Some details:

    …It was also confirmed by Boone that pitching coach Matt Blake has joined third base Phil Nevin and first base coach Reggie Willits as members of the coaching staff testing positive for the virus. A couple additional staff members had positive tests confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total there to four.

    Six of the seven are asymptomatic. All are fully vaccinated.

    “We’re seeing the vaccinations also kind of blunt the effects of the virus,” Boone said. “We’re also learning as we go and getting informed as what we need to do exactly and just try to do as best we can to be able to make quick adjustments on the fly. Just doing the best we can with it all.”

    The Yankees on April 30 were able to relax MLB protocols after reaching an 85 percent vaccination rate among players and staff such as managers, coaches and athletic trainers.

    Full article here

    #75178
    zerosum
    Participant

    ‘herd immunity’
    memory B cells activate, quickly produce antibodies and block the virus from creating a second serious infection.
    our immune system cells—which remember past infections and react to them—might have their own abilities to change, countering mutations in the virus. What this means, scientists think, is that the immune system might have evolved its own way of dealing with variants.

    • Covid Surges In 4 Of 5 Most Vaccinated Countries (F.)
    India’s Covid variant, (mutant B.1.617.2 virus)

    covid pandemic preparations required a lot of money and stock pilling inventory
    (preparation was inconsistent and underfunded)

    ivermectin, which is intended for the treatment of parasitic infections, successfully prevents sars-cov-2 infection and significantly alleviates the course of the disease in infected people.

    Where is ‘herd immunity’?
    85 percent vaccination rate
    7 Yanks coaches, staff have virus

    #75179
    Django
    Participant

    Germ you are comparatively lucky only to have one Queen.In Spain we have two. I dont know if they are lizards but they are certainly thieves

    #75180
    John Day
    Participant

    John Ward thinks the Queen did not wear her crown as she read “The Queen’s Speech”, as a protest of the contents of that speech.
    ET IMPERATOR BORIS, A QUEEN’S SPEECH & OUR POLITICISED JUDICIARY

    #75181
    John Day
    Participant

    Germ Appreciation:
    First, thanks for seeing if India can send some calcifediol.
    Second, here is an excerpted summary of a link posted yesterday:

    Ed Curtain puts a face on perspective, as the Wars Against Terror come home to turn terrorized Americans against each other. (Let’s don’t, ok?) Thanks Jeremy.  The executive director of the U.S. cover story – the fictional 9/11 Commission Report – was Philip Zelikow, who controlled and shaped the report from start to finish.
      It is even less well known that Zelikow, a professor at the University of Virginia, was closely associated with Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush, Dickey Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Brent Scowcroft, et al. and had served in various key intelligence positions in both the George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations. In 2011 President Obama named him to his President’s Intelligence Advisory Board as befits bi-partisan elite rule and coverup compensation across political parties.
      Perhaps it’s unknown or just forgotten that The Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission repeatedly called for Zelikow’s removal, claiming that his appointment made a farce of the claim that the Commission was independent.
      Zelikow said that for the Commission to consider alternative theories to the government’s claims about Osama bin Laden was akin to whacking moles.  This is the man, who at the request of his colleague Condoleezza Rice, became the primary author of (NSS 2002) The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, that declared that the U.S. would no longer abide by international law but was adopting a policy of preemptive war, as declared by George W. Bush at West Point in June 2002…….The Biden administration has directed its resources inward toward domestic “terrorists”: that is, anyone who disagrees with its policies.  This is especially aimed at those who question the COVID-19 story.   Now Zelikow has been named to head a COVID Commission Planning Group based at the University of Virginia that is said to prepare the way for a National COVID Commission…. Zelikow, a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program Advisory Panel, will lead the group that will work in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health… Zelikow’s involvement, among other things, suggests we are in the second phase of a long war of terror waged with two weapons – military and medical – whose propaganda messaging is carried out by the corporate mainstream media in the pursuit of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset…  Please do not recall The Nuremberg Code.  Especially number 7: “Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability or death.” (my emphasis)
    “Now is the time to just do what you are told,” as Anthony Fauci so benevolently declared…  We are now in a long war with two faces.  As with the one justified by the mass murders of September 11, 2001, this viral one isn’t going away.
    http://edwardcurtin.com/second-stage-terror-wars/

    #75182
    John Day
    Participant

    Any “vaccine” will be 100% effective in preventing something that never happens, right?
    What about the side effects of having spike protein in your bloodstream?

    #75183
    Noirette
    Participant

    I skimmed thru the WHO report on cov19 Origins (download at link 1.) I read 2 summaries, one by a virologist. Of interest as well, a long interview of Brice Perrier (a scribbler, not a doc / scientist, acceptable, imho) who has written a book about cov19 origins which I intend to read, link 3, in French.

    Btw, why aren’t there a whole slew of books published about cov-19, how to resist it, save your marriage from it, feed your kiddos the proper foods, adapt to the new normal, etc. etc.…? 🙂 (Because only the vaxx affords salvation, protection, safety, love..)

    N.B. the report is a joint WHO-China Study. 17 experts from WHO, and 17 Chinese experts.

    N.B. Tedros has stated that more investigation is needed (link 2).

    Bowlderized summary. (Many details of interest in the report, other story.)

    Most Likely. A zoonotic origin. /From bat —> / to cat, rabbit, mink, other. The pangolin is not favored.

    Possible. Direct transmission from bats possible! (Here the 96% identity with the RaTG13 virus that infected the miners cleaning up in the mine in 2012 and which killed 3 of them is mentioned.)

    Very unlikely, or downright odd. Transmission by frozen food to China in 2019 originating in some animal reservoir (not in China.)

    Extremely improbable but can’t be excluded. Escape from a a lab.

    https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus/origins-of-the-virus

    link > WHO: https://bit.ly/3tMzN9Y

    #75184
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    The vaccination roll-out is causing big disruptions in interpersonal friendships among folks I know. Masks and lockdowns are one thing but vaccination seems to take it to another level. The reactions of people to the vaccine choice (to vaccinate or not) does not seem to be predictable based on knowing a person’s overall perspective -I am continually shocked. The stakes are very high and conversation gets heated very quickly. I find myself side by side with alt-right folks with whom I usually share nothing in terms of what is best in the rest of society.

    #75185
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    A farewell note. A proselytization, if you will.

    Many here know what a systempunkt is. A catalyst that precipitates the collapse of a vulnerable system. It is normally associated with negative consequences.

    I have come to believe in a kind of systempunkt that creates positive consequences, a catalyst that precipitates not the collapse of evil but the advance of good, the thing that evil cannot withstand.
    I quote from a book that has been powerfully and positively transformative for me: “…the most powerful tool we have in the world to save the world is Baumhertzig. Do you know this word?”

    “Mercy, isn’t it?”

    “Not quite. It is a small act of compassion. A small act of compassion, particularly when it is done with no desire for recognition and fame or praise, creates an explosion in the spiritual world. It is a mighty artillery. There is nothing more powerful and therefore every day you must look for Baumhertzig, even if it is picking up a worm from the street. And when you do it in secret, it is a thousand times more powerful. This is why in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus referred to this so many times, in prayer, in giving, in doing good deeds, in helping your adversary. It is all Baumhertzig.”
    <end>

    I like how Baumhertzig looks like the good twin to its evil brother, blitzkrieg. May we all find our way to personal peace that can be shared. Yowzah, amen, & selah,

    madamski

    Sell Me a Diamond

    #75186
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    P.S. Something to occupy your rational consciousness while your irrational consciousness (the vastly greater part of human awareness) struggles to fins hope, peace, love and understanding:

    Pragmatic Proof of God

    #75187
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    • Merriam-Webster: ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Now Includes Those Who Oppose Forced Jabs (RT)

    I don’t agree with that definition, but it’s been that way since the Internet Archive first recorded Merriam-Webster’s definition of “anti-vaxxer” in 2018.

    Definition of anti-vaxxer
    : a person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination

    https://web.archive.org/web/20181125060933/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-vaxxer

    #75188
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    What’s up with all those job openings and no one available to fill them?

    The folks who believe that an army of lazy, PJ wearing peeps are sitting at home partying on UE benefits – will fiercely defend the idea that there is zero incentive to work. Including the idea that covid down time has re-wired our desires. There’s some truth to that.

    Then there are those who see an even bigger picture. Like CHS who continues show us how and why we are here – and to post a favorite chart: Shares of gross domestic income. The “take this job and shove it” mentality has a place in the discussion.

    Here’s the CHS post: https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-take-this-job-and-shove-it-recession.html?m=0

    And for other POV, Ticker Guy with this: https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=242369

    I find the contrast interesting.

    #75189
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Ahhh madamski!

    You have arrived. You are in a beautiful place of your own unveiling.

    “And when you do it in secret, it is a thousand times more powerful. ”

    Thank you for sharing your understanding – and translation of the potentiality in -> COMPASSION IS LOVE.

    Hari Om Tat Sat.
    Om Shanti.
    LOVE,
    Susan

    #75190
    Germ
    Participant

    Calcifediol is not available from Kachhela.
    Better start taking 4,000 – 8,000 IU Vit D3 daily at the end of summer.

    #75191
    Germ
    Participant

    @ Sumac – same here.

    My very Dem US in-laws are extremely concerned that my wife, son and I are not going to get jabbed. No way.
    Normally we fly over for Xmas – maybe not this year!
    And, he’s a well respected Dr.
    It’s becoming a very divisive issue.

    I am shocked that he would expect our 17-year old to ‘take the shot’.
    Just nuts.

    They recently refused to allow a poker friend to rejoin their card group as he wasn’t getting jabbed.

    I never thought I would want to move to Florida or Texas!!

    #75192
    Germ
    Participant

    Here it is! Bingo !!

    “Don’t mention Ivermectin; it’ll upset the vaccine rollout”

    https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2021/05/12/mailbox-ivermectin

    #75193
    Germ
    Participant

    #75194
    Django
    Participant

    Where are the sawbones when you need them? Vaccinating their patients? Flogging apple flavoured vermifuges to them under the counter?

    Ilargi wants a discussion on blood groups.

    #75195
    Germ
    Participant

    That monster Peter Hotez’s institute has received tens of millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation within the last decade.

    That man is highly biased and everything but objective.
    The pandemic will maintain as long as such people are given a platform.

    https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=Sabin%20vaccine%20institute%20#jump-nav-anchor0

    #75196
    Germ
    Participant

    Rand Paul is gonna get whacked!

    #75197
    WES
    Participant

    This morning I had an interesting phone conversation with my doctor. Most of our time was spent on my Wife’s medical issues. At the end I said to the doctor I would make another appointment to discuss covid and ivermectin. He said he would not prescribe ivermectin. He follows the science.

    Then when updating my wife’s prescriptions with the pharmacist, I asked her if any doctors had prescribed ivermectin and she replied she couldn’t remember. Interesting choice of words.

    I would say they are deliberately pretending to not know something because their livelihood depends upon not knowing certain things.

    So back to square zero obtaining ivermectin!

    #75198
    Germ
    Participant

    Senator Bob Hall, Texas, speaks at the Senate Committee on State Affairs. It’s worth listening to the whole 45 mins. I can only imagine in horror what hell we might end up in without the fortitude of Texas and Florida.

    Doctors Testify Before Texas State Senate to Oppose Mandatory COVID Shots

    #75199
    Germ
    Participant

    America is a funny place.
    The mighty dollar – or one million of them!

    #75200
    Germ
    Participant

    Brand new French study: even mild infection from over 6 months ago provides better neutralization against most variants than the Pfizer vaccine .

    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.11.21256578v1

    #75201
    WES
    Participant

    Germ:

    Clearly a Dem who took bribes and wants others to drink the kool-aid!

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