Jan 222022
 
 January 22, 2022  Posted by at 9:49 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Gerard Dou A woman playing a clavichord 1665

 

The Very Concerning Data From Scotland (Horowitz)
Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments: We Must Have Raw Data, Now (BMJ)
Omicron Might Be The Worst Covid Gets When It Comes To Transmissibility (CNBC)
Breakthrough Infections With Omicron Despite mRNA Vaccine Booster Dose (Lancet)
Why You Don’t Say…. (Denninger)
Win-Win, Lose-Lose (Kunstler)
More Than 2/3 of Adverse COVID-19 Vaccine Events Due to Placebo Effect (STD)
CDC Admits Natural Immunity Superior to Vaccinated Immunity (BN)
The CDC Officially Moves the Goalposts on COVID-19 Vaccination (RS)
NHS Panic As Mortuaries Fill With Thousands Of Non-Covid Deaths (Exp.)
Bill Gates, Indian Gov’t Targeted in Lawsuit Alleging Vaccine Killed Man (CHD)
Democrats Fuel Doubts Over the Legitimacy of the Coming Elections (Turley)
Is The Plan To Bankrupt Russia Working? (RT)

 

 

 

 

Lying scumbags

 

 

 

 

Jan 23: March To Defeat Mandates, DC.

Jan 24: Decision due Monday 10.45am GMT on whether to permit Julian Assange to appeal the US extradition decision to UK Supreme Court “on points of law of general public importance”.

Jan 24: Ron Johnson Senate hearing with Kory, McCullough etc.

 

 

“What is clearly evident both from the hospitalizations and deaths is that the double-vaccinated are now worse off per capita even against critical illness, and that pattern appears to be accelerating.”

The Very Concerning Data From Scotland (Horowitz)

“The vaccines are incredibly safe. They protect us against Omicron; they protect us against Delta; they protect us against COVID.” Those were the words of fully vaccinated CDC Director Rochelle Walensky while testifying before the Senate Health Committee with two masks on her face on Jan. 11. Scottish data shows that the COVID-19 age-standardized case rate is highest among the two-dose vaccinated and lowest among unvaccinated! It further shows this trend of negative efficacy for the double-vaccinated persisting for hospitalizations and deaths. Something is very wrong here, and together with other data points, it raises concerning questions about the negative effect of waning antibodies, constant boosting, and the consequences of a leaky vaccine with narrow-spectrum suboptimal antibodies against an ever-evolving virus.


Every Wednesday, Public Health Scotland (PHS) has been publishing a weekly report on COVID data juxtaposed to vaccination rates. Table 14 of this week’s “Public Health Scotland COVID-19 & Winter Statistical Report” lays bare in plain English (and math) a rate of negative efficacy for the vaccine:

As you can see, while the overall Omicron wave seems to be receding in Scotland, age-standardized case rates per 100,000 people were the lowest in the unvaccinated cohort every week for the past four weeks. Thus, it’s not just the fact that the unvaccinated accounted for only 11.5% of cases the past two weeks, but even adjusted for age-stratified vaccination rates (PHS already does the math for you) the unvaccinated had the lowest infection rate out of the four cohorts – especially during the peak of Omicron. Furthermore, we see that even the triple-vaccinated clearly have no efficacy against infection, although they have some degree less negative efficacy than the double-vaccinated. Here is a linear presentation of the depth of the Omicron wave by vaccination status, where you can see that the unvaccinated had the shallowest wave:

This also coincides with the latest data from the U.K. Health Security Agency of the entire United Kingdom. This data now shows higher rates of infection among the triple-vaccinated in all but the youngest people.

Full stop right here. Any public policy measure – from vaccine passports to discrimination – cannot be justified under the science, even if one’s conscience is OK with apartheid. In fact, clearly this shows that, especially with Omicron, the vaccinated are the super-spreaders. Before we get to hospitalizations and deaths, the notion that the unvaccinated are somehow responsible for the continued spread of this virus is completely contradicted by the data. Some might suggest without evidence that the unvaccinated possibly have a higher rate of prior infection; however, Omicron seems to attack even those who already had previous versions of SARS-CoV-2.


[..] let’s take a look at tables 15 and 16 – the acute COVID hospitalization and death rates, respectively:

What is clearly evident both from the hospitalizations and deaths is that the double-vaccinated are now worse off per capita even against critical illness, and that pattern appears to be accelerating. Again, this evidently shows a pattern of negative efficacy even against critical illness over time as the shots wear off, increasingly quickly with Omicron. Why is there no desire to study the source of this negative efficacy and whether the fact that the vaccine is non-sterilizing, wanes quickly with sub-optimal antibodies, is narrow-spectrum, and is increasingly out of synch with the changing virus is going to make the pandemic worse in the long run?

Read more …

And you ask that after a whole year?

“Big pharma is the least trusted industry.”

Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments: We Must Have Raw Data, Now (BMJ)

As well as access to the underlying data, transparent decision making is essential. Regulators and public health bodies could release details27 such as why vaccine trials were not designed to test efficacy against infection and spread of SARS-CoV-2.28 Had regulators insisted on this outcome, countries would have learnt sooner about the effect of vaccines on transmission and been able to plan accordingly.29

Big pharma is the least trusted industry.30 At least three of the many companies making covid-19 vaccines have past criminal and civil settlements costing them billions of dollars.31 One pleaded guilty to fraud.31 Other companies have no pre-covid track record. Now the covid pandemic has minted many new pharma billionaires, and vaccine manufacturers have reported tens of billions in revenue.32

The BMJ supports vaccination policies based on sound evidence. As the global vaccine rollout continues, it cannot be justifiable or in the best interests of patients and the public that we are left to just trust “in the system,” with the distant hope that the underlying data may become available for independent scrutiny at some point in the future. The same applies to treatments for covid-19. Transparency is the key to building trust and an important route to answering people’s legitimate questions about the efficacy and safety of vaccines and treatments and the clinical and public health policies established for their use.

Twelve years ago we called for the immediate release of raw data from clinical trials.1 We reiterate that call now. Data must be available when trial results are announced, published, or used to justify regulatory decisions. There is no place for wholesale exemptions from good practice during a pandemic. The public has paid for covid-19 vaccines through vast public funding of research, and it is the public that takes on the balance of benefits and harms that accompany vaccination. The public, therefore, has a right and entitlement to those data, as well as to the interrogation of those data by experts.

Pharmaceutical companies are reaping vast profits without adequate independent scrutiny of their scientific claims.33 The purpose of regulators is not to dance to the tune of rich global corporations and enrich them further; it is to protect the health of their populations. We need complete data transparency for all studies, we need it in the public interest, and we need it now.

Read more …

“If delta is replaced, then omicron has no ‘biological need’ to increase transmission efficiency..”

Omicron Might Be The Worst Covid Gets When It Comes To Transmissibility (CNBC)

It’s too soon to know if Covid’s omicron variant will hasten the end of the nearly two-year-long Covid-19 pandemic. But some experts say that when it comes to contagiousness, omicron could be the “most transmissible the virus can get.” The reason: Due to “evolutionary constraints” on how many mutations and changes the virus can make, omicron could be “the ultimate version of this virus,” Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells CNBC Make It. Studies show that omicron is more than four times as transmissible as Covid’s delta variant, and that it evades immunity better than delta.

As long as the virus keeps spreading, Moss says, it’ll continue to mutate going forward, creating more variants down the road. But those mutations will probably be like “sons of omicron,” he says — not so different that the virus can escape immunity from vaccines or previous omicron infections. For Covid to stop spreading, a significant portion of a population needs to maintain some level of simultaneous immunity — a challenge, since so-called “natural immunity” provides inconsistent levels of protection for unpredictable amounts of time. It’s estimated that 94% of the population must carry some form of immunity to interrupt the chain of transmission, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Moss’ theory is “my own kind of gut feeling, and I know other people don’t agree with this,” he admits. Other experts say his theory could be accurate, but it’s simply too soon to tell. “By the looks and behavior, my guess is for SARS-CoV-2, this is probably as high as it will/need climb” in terms of transmissibility, says Dr. T. Jacob John, a retired professor and head of departments of clinical virology and microbiology at CMC Vellore. But it’s a waiting game to see if omicron will displace delta as fully as delta displaced variants like alpha, beta, and gamma, John says. That matters: “If delta is replaced, then omicron has no ‘biological need’ to increase transmission efficiency,” John says.

Read more …

Didn’t we ditch the term Breakthrough Infections?

Breakthrough Infections With Omicron Despite mRNA Vaccine Booster Dose (Lancet)

A group of German visitors who had received three doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, including at least two doses of an mRNA vaccine, experienced breakthrough infections with omicron between late November and early December, 2021, while in Cape Town, South Africa. The group consisted of five White women and two White men) with an average age of 27·7 years (range 25–39) and a mean body-mass index of 22·2 kg/m2 (range 17·9–29·4), with no relevant medical history. Four of the individuals were participating in clinical elective training at different hospitals in Cape Town, whereas the others were on vacation. The individuals were members of two unlinked social groups and participated in regular social life in Cape Town, in compliance with applicable COVID-19 protocols.

Upon arrival during the first half of November, 2021, each individual tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR and provided records of complete vaccination, including booster or third, doses administered via intramuscular injection using homologous (n=5) and heterologous (n=2) vaccination courses.. Six individuals were fully vaccinated with BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer–BioNTech, Mainz, Germany), five of whom received a third (booster) dose of BNT162b2 in October or early November, 2021. One individual had received a full dose of CX-024414 (Spikevax, Moderna, Cambridge, MA, USA) in early October, 2021; this was not in line with the European Medicines Agency recommendations at that time, which suggested a half dose to boost healthy individuals.5 The seventh individual received an initial dose of ChAdOx1-S (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK), followed by a dose of BNT162b2 for completion of primary immunisation, and a booster dose of the same vaccine.

[..] All seven individuals were infected with omicron (PANGO lineage B.1.1.529, Nextstrain clade 21K) [..] These were the first documented breakthrough infections with the omicron variant in fully vaccinated individuals after receipt of booster vaccine doses. Some of these individuals had received heterologous vaccine doses, in line with emerging global practice. Booster doses were administered 21–37 weeks after the second vaccine doses, and breakthrough infections occurred 22–59 days thereafter.

Read more …

“You got statistically nothing out of that jab of value but you took risk — maybe very serious risk and permanent harm. This isn’t my claim or data this is the CDC’s data.”

Why You Don’t Say…. (Denninger)

By early October, compared with unvaccinated people who didn’t have a prior infection, case rates were:
“— 6-fold lower in California and 4.5-fold lower in New York in those who were vaccinated but not previously infected.

— 29-fold lower in California and 15-fold lower in New York in those who had been infected but never vaccinated.

— 32.5-fold lower in California and 20-fold lower in New York in those who had been infected and vaccinated.”

So being infected and recovered was anywhere from three to nearly five times as protective as being “vaccinated.” There was no statistically-significant improvement if “vaccinated” after infection. I put “vaccinated” in quotes because from this data it is clear that these are not *******s at all; they do not induce immunity, sterilizing or otherwise, at anything approaching that which occurs if you get infected. By any rational set of analytical standards they are defective products and grossly unfit for purpose.

What’s even worse for the jabs is that when Delta hit there were no jabs more than six months old, approximately, yet there were many infections that occurred more than a year prior. Therefore being infected was not only three to five times as protective it was protective over a much longer period as well! So if you were infected and then talked into or even coerced or forced into taking the jabs you were conned. You got statistically nothing out of that jab of value but you took risk — maybe very serious risk and permanent harm. This isn’t my claim or data this is the CDC’s data.

Read more …

“The Science personified by Dr. Anthony Fauci is not medical science after all but rather political science.”

Win-Win, Lose-Lose (Kunstler)

Isn’t it refreshing to not have to lede with Covid-19? It looks like “Joe Biden’s” effort to change the channel is working. Even so, there is some interesting Covid-19 news, like: the whole endless, heartbreaking, demoralizing episode is winding down. Whoa! That’s a shock! What will Western Civ do without it? In the UK, Boris Johnson put a stop to all restrictions, mask mandates, and vaxx passports, just like that (snap) on Wednesday. Then France announced it would lift most Covid-19 restrictions in February, which is a little more than a week from now, for those of you who haven’t mastered the new maff. Then, on Thursday, Austria’s parliament voted to approve mandatory vaccinations for everybody in the country — say, what? — leading the casual observer to wonder whether half of everybody in that country is maybe super pissed-off at their government, seeing how France and the UK are going the opposite way.

Let’s be honest: it’s getting laughable to seriously advocate vaxxing up a whole goshdarn population when it’s perfectly obvious now that the vaxxes don’t work and are making a lot of people sick with everything that can go wrong in a human body, plus Covid-19. Are nations such as Austria and Germany not looking plumb insane now? Can the European Union endure such wildly contradictory policy among its member states, and not make itself ridiculous? Let’s just say, the situation in Europe is in flux and events are moving fast.

Here in our exceptional nation, it is lately discovered — to the chagrin of the elite managerial classes — that The Science personified by Dr. Anthony Fauci is not medical science after all but rather political science. Ah! I see now why so much confusion has been sown over Dr. Fauci’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic. If he actually represented medical science, he might not have killed several hundred thousand people in this country by withholding and suppressing effective treatments and promoting deadly vaccines. He might not have disgraced the entire medical establishment and half-wrecked the system it works in. But, to paraphrase another eminent political scientist of yore, Josef Stalin, while one death is a tragedy, a half-million is a mere statistic. There’s science anyone can understand!

Read more …

Someone asked me to include this. Fine, though I think the premise is flimsy. This is about headaches and fatigues, not heart inflammation.

More Than 2/3 of Adverse COVID-19 Vaccine Events Due to Placebo Effect (STD)

In a new meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trials, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) compared the rates of adverse events reported by participants who received the vaccines to the rates of adverse events reported by those who received a placebo injection containing no vaccine. While the scientists found significantly more trial participants who received the vaccine reported adverse events, nearly a third of participants who received the placebo also reported at least one adverse event, with headache and fatigue being the most common. The team’s findings are published in JAMA Network Open.

“Adverse events after placebo treatment are common in randomized controlled trials,” said lead author Julia W. Haas, PhD, an investigator in the Program in Placebo Studies at BIDMC. “Collecting systematic evidence regarding these nocebo responses in vaccine trials is important for COVID-19 vaccination worldwide, especially because concern about side effects is reported to be a reason for vaccine hesitancy.” Haas and colleagues analyzed data from 12 clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines. The 12 trials included adverse effects reports from 22,578 placebo recipients and 22,802 vaccine recipients. After the first injection, more than 35 percent of placebo recipients experienced systemic adverse events – symptoms affecting the entire body, such as fever – with headache and fatigue most common at 19.6 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.

Sixteen percent of placebo recipients reported at least one local event, such as pain at site of injection, redness, or swelling. In comparison after the first injection, 46 percent of vaccine recipients experienced at least one systemic adverse event and two-thirds of them reported at least one local event. While this group received a pharmacologically active treatment, at least some of their adverse events are attributable to the placebo – or in this case, nocebo – effect, as well given that many of these effects also occurred in the placebo group. Haas and colleagues’ analysis suggested that nocebo accounted for 76 percent of all adverse events in the vaccine group and nearly a quarter of all local effects reported.

Read more …

Why is this still being discussed? Just to slow down the real discussion?

CDC Admits Natural Immunity Superior to Vaccinated Immunity (BN)

Dr. Andrew Bostom, an epidemiologist, delved into the data and provided the statistical breakdown that helps us fully understand what is going on: There was ~6X lower risk of covid-19 hospitalization and ~28X lower risk of covid-19 death, comparing those with natural immunity to covid-19, regardless of vaccination status, to those fully vaccinated… Rhode Island raw data on covid-19 infections by vaccination and prior infection status, December, 2021

If you take these base numbers, which come from the Rhode Island Department of Health’s website, you come to some startling conclusions. After verifying the data and the epidemiologist’s methodology (Dr. Bostom changes some of the Rhode Island Health Department’s terms and does some simple math before running the statistics), you can see that cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all greatly reduced by natural immunity. The strongest takeaway is regarding deaths. Even when correcting for scale, survival of a prior infection was by far the greatest predictor of surviving another Covid infection. However, if one did not have a prior infection (or does not know if one had a prior infection), the argument can be made that vaccination appears to provide the best strategy of surviving one. (It is important to note that the vaccinated community in Rhode Island is much larger than the unvaccinated community; it is about twice as large, therefore the incidence rate for unvaccinated deaths is about three times as high).


Yet, even as the CDC estimated that as of September there were 146.6 million Americans with prior infections, the state-by-state breakdown, including Rhode Island, proves to be substantially higher after the Omicron surge, as Becker News had earlier predicted would be the case. Rhode Island’s percent of prior infections: 92 percent. [..] For perspective, the Mayo Clinic once considered 200 million Americans with vaccinated or natural immunity to be sufficient to claim “herd immunity.” The latest Omicron numbers, based on CDC’s Covid burden estimates, lead us to assess there may be as many as 250 million Americans with prior infections. (Cases, however, may be counted more than once.)

Read more …

Number 4 before you know it.

The CDC Officially Moves the Goalposts on COVID-19 Vaccination (RS)

The CDC has officially moved the goalposts on what it means to be vaccinated from COVID-19. We all knew this day was coming, even as an onslaught of “fact-checkers” assured us it was “misinformation” to assert such a change was coming publicly. But first, let’s talk about the details. CDC Dir. Rochelle Walensky appeared on CBS News and shared the news that the two-dose regiment will no longer suffice to be considered “fully vaccinated.” Instead, you will need a booster jab in order to be classified as “up to date.” That comes as part of a “pivot” in language by the government, one that many were maligned for predicting. I could have just headlined this story “Ron DeSantis was right again,” but I figured that gets a bit repetitive after a while.

The Florida governor, just a few months ago, predicted the government would make this shift. In response, the media trashed him for supposedly spreading misinformation. Well, who’s spreading misinformation now? But past the politics of this, let’s talk about how deep unnecessary it is. For example, are boosters helping quell the spread of COVID-19, which would be the primary justification for mandates? The answer is a resounding no. And if you want proof, look no further than Israel, which is already giving four shots of the vaccine to some populations. The small, isolated nation (which makes it perfect as a real-world case study) now leads the entire world in COVID-19 case rate.

Now, if the booster shots aren’t actually stopping the spread of COVID-19, and to be sure, they appear to be having no effect whatsoever on that front, are they at least preventing hospitalization and death at a dramatically different rate than two doses or natural immunity? The answer to that question also appears to be no, at least when talking about a major statistical difference. Yes, a three-dose regime cuts hospitalization down by a significant percentage compared to two doses (at least per the CDC’s claims), but the overall numbers aren’t that different because the hospitalization rate with two doses was already extremely low. When you keep chopping up a tiny fraction, you aren’t left with much change in absolute numbers.

Read more …

From November 2021, but very relevant. Where is the research?

NHS Panic As Mortuaries Fill With Thousands Of Non-Covid Deaths (Exp.)

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that over the last four months, England and Wales registered 20,823 more deaths than the five-year average in the past 18 weeks. Only 11,531 deaths involved Covid. It means that around 45 percent of recent deaths were related to other causes. Experts called for an urgent inquiry into whether the deaths were preventable. Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford, said: “I’m calling for an urgent investigation.” He continued: “If you look at where the excess is happening, it’s in conditions like ischemic heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes, all of which are potentially reversible.”

Worried that this is not just a natural occurrence, he said: “This goes beyond just looking at the raw numbers and death certificates. We need to go back and find if these deaths have any preventable causes.” With the NHS suffering huge patient backlogs, the professor told the Telegraph: “This could be the fallout from the lack of preventable care during the pandemic, and what happens downstream of that.” Calling for action to be taken, Profesor Heneghan said: “We urgently need to understand what’s going wrong and an investigation of the root causes to determine those actions that can prevent further unnecessary deaths.” Weekly figures for the week ending November 5 showed that there were 1,659 more deaths than would normally be expected at this time of year.

Of those, 700 were not caused by Covid. The excess is likely to grow as more deaths are registered in the coming weeks. Data from the UK Health Security Agency show there have been thousands of more deaths than the five-year average in heart failure, heart disease, circulatory conditions and diabetes since the summer. The number of deaths in private homes is also 40.9 percent above the five-year average, with 964 excess deaths recorded in the most recent week, which runs up to November 5.

Read more …

Worth the read.

“Yadav’s 265-page complaint stands out for the extensive legal precedent it draws upon, from Indian and common law, calling into question the legality of mandatory vaccination and other compelled medical acts.”

Bill Gates, Indian Gov’t Targeted in Lawsuit Alleging Vaccine Killed Man (CHD)

In what may be the first legal case of its kind globally, a petitioner in India is seeking to prosecute Bill Gates, Indian vaccine czar Adar Poonawalla, and Indian government and public health officials over the death of a 23-year-old man who died after receiving AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine. Kiran Yadav late last year filed a criminal writ petition for murder, Smt. Kiran Yadav v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (herein referred to as Yadav v. Maharashtra), with the Bombay High Court of Judicature, on behalf of her deceased son, Shri Hitesh Kadve. Her son was vaccinated on Sept. 29, 2021. According to the complaint, he died that same day due to side effects brought on by the vaccine.

The complaint alleges Kadve died “due to [an] act of willful commission and omission attributable to some public servants who are misusing their position to bring policies to help the pharma mafia and thereby [are] responsible [for] mass murders.” The complaint further states Yadav’s son was “unwillingly” compelled to get vaccinated based on the “false narrative” that the vaccine was entirely safe, and because the State of Maharashtra prohibited the non-vaccinated from riding on railroads or entering retail spaces such as shopping malls. The complaint alleges Maharashtra’s restrictions “are against the Central Government’s policy that, there cannot be any discrimination between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.”

Other defendants in the case include the commissioner and director-general of the Maharashtra State Police, the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation and the principal secretary of the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The complaint also brings charges against Bill Gates and Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold. The Serum Institute produces the Covishield vaccine, as well as over half of the world’s vaccines that are administered to babies. In all, Yadav is requesting 1,000 crores (10 billion rupees, or $134 million USD) in compensation, including 100 crores ($13.4 million USD) in interim compensation. She is seeking lie detector and narcoanalysis tests from Gates, Poonawalla and others.

Read more …

Prepare to hear the term “Big Lie” a lot this year.

Democrats Fuel Doubts Over the Legitimacy of the Coming Elections (Turley)

This month, President Biden pivoted away from the false claim of preventing people from voting to the more Trumpian claim of questioning whether ballots would be counted: “not as to who can vote but who gets to count the vote, count the vote, count the vote — it’s about election subversion, not just whether or not people get to vote.” Any vote miscount allegation can be (as it was with the Trump litigation) reviewed by the courts. Indeed, many of the provisions alluded to by Democrats have been reviewed and — at least temporarily — upheld. Requiring voter identification has been repeatedly cited as clear evidence of an effort to steal the election. However, 80 percent of the public supports voter identification rules.

The courts have overwhelmingly upheld these rules as constitutional. Nevertheless, the drumbeat of the Democrats’ “Big Lie” continues. This month, Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman heralded Biden for confronting the “Big Lie” of Trump, but claimed that elections were still being stolen: “That dagger is still held at democracy’s throat. The lie about 2020 justifies and enables all the things Republicans are doing now to establish the means and the willingness to overturn the next election.” Once again, Waldman does not actually state how the elections are being stolen. They just are, he says.

What is most interesting is how this claim is being amplified by Biden and others despite every indication that the public isn’t buying it, with election reforms barely registering on some polls as a major concern for voters. That is the problem with big lies. If the lies are not accepted by the public, they may just reduce faith in you rather than the election. Friedrich Nietzsche observed, “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” Biden seems to be facing such a Nietzsche moment. With polls showing the president plunging and voters turning toward the GOP, there is clearly doubt over whether there really is a “dagger at democracy’s throat.”

Read more …

“..the country’s debt in relation to GDP is one of the lowest in the world..”

Is The Plan To Bankrupt Russia Working? (RT)

Economic coercion is the West’s favourite tool to influence Russian behaviour. But with oil prices rising, Russia’s economy growing, and the West backing off from pledges to exclude Russia from SWIFT, this policy seems to have reached a dead-end. In 2014, the Russian economy was struck by a double-whammy. First, the oil price collapsed. And second, Western states imposed a series of sanctions in response to events in Ukraine. The immediate impact on Russia’s economy was dire, sending GDP plummeting. Economists had problems determining which was more responsible for Russia’s problems – the oil price or the sanctions – but most came down in favour of the former. Cheaper oil translated into a less valuable ruble, which increased the price of imports and created inflationary pressures. To this end, the Central Bank responded with higher interest rates, depressing demand and thereby GDP.

The economic crisis of 2014 created hopes in the West that Russia could be brought to its knees. Pundits predicted that cheap oil was here to stay. Beyond that, the introduction of so-called ‘sectoral sanctions’, targeting Russia’s energy, financial, and military industries, was meant to strangle what were seen as the most vital sectors of the Russian economy. It would not be long before Russia would be bankrupt, some claimed. Speaking in Ottawa in November 2014, former Russian Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated that within two years, Russia would have used up all its financial reserves and would have to severely cut government spending. The Russian people would then turn away from the government en masse. In the face of cheap oil and sanctions, the ‘Putin regime’ was doomed.

It didn’t turn out that way. Sanctions had a rather marginal impact on the Russian economy. The government responded effectively by important substitution, providing financial aid to threatened sectors, and finding new sources of much-needed technologies (most notably China). This came at a price, but Russia weathered the sanctions storm quite well. Rather than declining, Russian oil and gas production has remained steady. Moreover, the price of hydrocarbons has rebounded. This week, Goldman Sachs issued a prediction that oil would reach $100 a barrel by the end of the year, as the world economy recovers from the Covid-induced recession, and demand for oil and plastics increases.

Suddenly, the picture is looking very different from what it did in 2014. In fact, the Russian government is flush with cash. Russia’s international currency reserves hit a record high of $600 billion last year. Meanwhile, the country’s debt in relation to GDP is one of the lowest in the world – especially given that, much like other former Soviet states, much of its GDP is uncounted, off the books in the black and grey economies. This compares very favourably to Western states, who have borrowed on a massive scale during the Covid pandemic and are afloat in a sea of debt. It’s the West that is looking bankrupt, not Russia.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle January 22 2022

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  • #98688

    Gerard Dou A woman playing a clavichord 1665   • The Very Concerning Data From Scotland (Horowitz) • Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments: We Must Ha
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 22 2022]

    #98689

    #98690

    #98691
    expatkiwi
    Participant

    I have a question for the kiwi(s) on this forum. I have a generous job offer that would allow me to return to New Zealand from Europe. However I am worried about the vax mandates. The job offer doesn’t require one, but I would like to get your opinion on where you see things going right now in NZ with respect to mandates . Thanx and cheers

    #98692
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    expatkiwi
    Participant

    I wouldn’t venture a suggestion on what to do….
    But what I would suggest; you dive into your critical thinking skills and answer your own question…
    Best to you…

    #98693
    a kullervo
    Participant

    Earth is in fact an alien ant farm*, but the aliens in charge got sloppy and almost ruined the whole shebang by letting us, the ‘ants’, breed like mad and thus clogging up the joint with countless adulterated ‘ant’ strains. Now the aliens are trying to clean up the mess: enter the great reset. (By the way, Tony Fauci is one of their moles, in charge of demographic control issues.)

    * Tip of the hat to the rock band of the same name for their vision.

    The alien ant farm hypothesis would also provide an answer to the Fermi paradox and explain some mysteries such as the okapi, the platypus and the disappearance of a certain Mr. Epstein.

    Lighten up: it’s the weekend.

    #98694
    kolya
    Participant

    expatkiwi, I guess you’re not a nurse or a teacher then. apartheid is distributed unevenly here in Australia. if you can work from home and are happy with takeaway you’re fine.
    because omicron, kids have to mask when they go back to school, and they’ll be very safe because the teachers are all double jabbed. so that sucks, my son won’t have any free thinking role models at school.
    there was a good turnout at the freedom march today, people organising and being seen and heard. there is nowhere to hide, we just need to stand strong and let them know we won’t put up with this crap.

    #98695
    those darned kids
    Participant

    we really need to label these “vaccines” as “smoothies”. maybe that would get the governments attention:

    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/evie-smoothie-recalled-cyanide-poisoning-1.6324156

    Evive Nutrition Inc. is recalling its Immunity Super Functional Smoothie due to the presence of raw elderberries, which contain cyanogenic glycosides, a natural toxin that releases cyanide when eaten. (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)

    The agency says the recall was triggered by consumer complaints and reported illnesses after drinking the smoothie.

    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••

    this goes waaaaaaaay beyond being ironic.

    #98696
    Polder Dweller
    Participant

    Let’s not beat about the bush, get this MacWrong:

    https://twitter.com/Based_Croatia/status/1484426702344359937?s=20

    #98697
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Over at The Saker, a bird’s eye view of the Vineyard

    A Short-Term Geopolitical Forecast

    by Dmitry Orlov

    A most excellent over view in deed.

    A Short-Term Geopolitical Forecast

    “…After February 20th, however, we should expect some new and interesting domestic distraction. It could have to do with Western financial house of cards/pyramid scheme finally pancaking, or it could be a fun new virus, or natural gas running out and causing a huge humanitarian emergency. Or it could be a combination of these: the virus can be blamed on China, the gas emergency on Russia, and the financial collapse on both. While everyone is distracted, an aircraft carrier or two might go missing, the Aegis Ashore installation in Poland might get totaled by freak swamp gas explosion and so on and so forth. But then nobody would take notice…..”

    From the comment section at the Saker

    “….America has a President who is essentially a shit-stain in the seat of his expensive blue suit. So at least publicly, America is being governed by a shit-stain. America is just going to collapse. Not that this would be a bad thing. America is devolving into an open rancid sewer along all the dimensions that constitute a Society….”

    #98698
    chooch
    Participant

    Sweet macaroon!

    Mandatory vaccinations represent death penalty and its execution for many citizens. That has to remain a choice for every citizen. Murder is murder. Those who don’t know and haven’t educated themselves, take a look at the official data.

    #98699
    John Day
    Participant

    Yom Luongo figures the DNC is gunning for Tulsi Gabbard, after she called out the robbing Bernie, then shot down the Kamala in the debates. They figure she’s some kind of a threat to their votes this November and in 2024. I wish her the very best. She has integrity. Luongo grudgingly concedes the same.

    How Scared of November Are the Democrats? They Fear Populist Tulsi Gabbard

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HQKgVpUu1b0/Xl3iHHuyWVI/AAAAAAAAJ5U/TtfglRsrhfU_5rxegkn5BC6-If0XtgbFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20200302_202806.jpg

    #98700
    chooch
    Participant

    #98701
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    @tdk: Elderberries have to be cooked in a certain way prior to ingesting in order to neutralize the naturally-occurring toxin in them. The makers of this smoothie-formula clearly didn’t do that.

    #98702
    chooch
    Participant
    #98703
    Oroboros
    Participant

    #98704
    Oroboros
    Participant
    #98705
    Oroboros
    Participant

    #98706
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Californicate is a third world wanna-be

    #98707

    This is terrible. Who would like this? Are there enough dementia patients in the US to win elections?

    #98708
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    From the Tom Luongo piece:

    Ace Clinton [strategist] Paul Begala is now, right on cue, blaming Democrat voters, because it’s hard to do any self-reflection when you don’t cast one in a mirror.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    #98709
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Gruesome Newsom is hemorrhaging red ink in Californicate. The wealthier most productive citizens are leaving and taking their state taxes with them, leaving a third world welfare dump state with no visible means of support, hence DOUBLING the state tax.

    How batshit crazy is that?

    That’s how Libtards roll these days.

    Does Gruesom think Xiden Biden poop pants is gonna bail him out?

    hahahaha

    Gavin Newsom Accidentally Stands In Street Poop While Stressing Need For National Health Standards

    Gavin Newsom Accidentally Stands In Street Poop While Stressing Need For National Health Standards

    https://thegloriousamerican.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Gavin-Newsom-on-poop-1170×630.jpg

    .

    “On Monday, California Governor, Gavin Newsom tried to raise his national profile by insisting the rest of the country maintain ultra-high sanitary standards like his home state. Unfortunately, Newsom accidentally delivered the speech while standing ankle-deep in world-famous San Francisco street poop.

    But when the governor attempted to step towards his large sign reading “Be Safe, Be Sanitary,” Newsom’s feet were securely stuck.

    “Oh.” He said looking down. “It appears I’ve become consumed by California quicksand, I believe.”

    “THAT’S NOT QUICKSAND—IT’S POOP!” yelled one of the cameramen standing over forty feet from the governor. “WHY DO YOU THINK WE’RE STANDING THIS FAR AWAY FROM YOU?!”

    “I thought you were social distancing!” Newsom yelled back as panic began to sink in.

    Trying to salvage the PSA and not throw up, Newsom focused all his energy on the message he still believed America needed to hear.

    “Would you look at what Donald Trump has done now?” he said looking down at his feet. “San Franciscans have become so worried about their health and safety, it appears they’ve all evacuate their bowels in some type of brave, beautiful protest.”

    As the horrid stench began to make his eyes water, the ever-politically savvy governor delivered the perfect line as tears began streaming down his face.

    “It’s piles like this that make me so proud to be a liberal progressive.”

    #98710
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    One of the more confusing attack strategies waged by the so-called “woke” mobsters in their war against humanity has been their flamboyantly wacky attack upon gender and all things which differentiate between male and female. What’s with all of that nonsense, anyway?

    I just didn’t get it. It seemed pointless. I was not able to come up with a satisfactory explanation of WHY they were investing so much energy in such an apparently idiotic campaign.

    I was discussing this mystery yesterday with my family when my daughter just sort of casually dropped the answer into the middle of the conversation like an illuminating star shell flare that lit up the landscape like daylight.

    “They’re trying to erase from the minds of all reproduction age people their innate sense of natural sex differentiation and gender BECAUSE MACHINES DON’T HAVE GENDER. Being aware of one’s identity as a man or woman is a step toward being aware that one is not a machine. Obviously the materialists can’t have that sort of realization in people’s thinking. People who know themselves as male or female aren’t going to buy into the idea that they’re just another disposable piece of machinery, who aren’t even necessary for reproduction because genetic engineering and fetus development is better done in the laboratory anyway.”

    Wowser. It’s a good thing my daughter inherited her looks AND her brains from her mother’s side of the family. Her observation was such a goodie that I just had to share it with y’all.

    #98711
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Black Pigeon Speaks

    Clown World Clews

    Not News, Clews

    A brand new coined term.

    https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.MjYwx5Z8q__vODXdDPuCPwHaD4%26pid%3DApi&f=1

    .

    CLEWS | Ep. 01: A Glimpse Into the ABYSS

    #98712
    absolute galore
    Participant

    There would have to be a hell of a lot of raw elderberry in those smoothies to be even mildly toxic. Maybe super sensitive might get a tummy ache. Big to do about nothing, due to the “newsworthy irony.” They should just switch to an extracted cooked juice form to get rid of the mild toxicity.

    I’ve had personal experience with this. Last year my son and I watched this Monty Python clip:
    <iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSo0duY7-9s&#8221; title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

    https://youtu.be/QSo0duY7-9s

    Shortly after that, I was at the bulk spice section of my local natural market and I saw elderberries. I bought a few handfuls and took them home. After dinner I asked my son if he could guess what they were. I gave him some funny hints. Anyway, we then proceeded to eat some. I ate a bunch more than he did, as he thought they tasted bad. At some point I decided to google how you are supposed to use them.

    I started to panic a bit when the results showed the berries to be poisonous when eaten raw. But eventually, way down in the results, I found out you really would have to try hard to make yourself nauseous and would need to consume an amount well beyond a reasonable serving, especially in a commercial smoothie where presumably cost of ingredients is a big consideration. Went to bed reassured but nevertheless prepared to wake up to throw up. The night passed uneventfully. If it’s on the internet, it must be true. Only problem is, which version?

    #98713
    absolute galore
    Participant

    Did I already tell this story?^^ If so, apologies!

    #98714
    those darned kids
    Participant

    mister roboto: i know that about elderberries. i posted the link because it is ridiculous that a product gets pulled because of complaints about headaches while these injectable products are forced upon us even after thousands of deaths.

    #98715
    Oroboros
    Participant

    @D Benton Smith

    Response to Elon Musk’s tweet leads to synthetic womb suggestion

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-01-19/response-elon-musks-tweet-leads-synthetic-womb-suggestion

    https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2022-01-19.jpg?itok=DyN4Ptth

    .

    “..Perhaps the primary reason the conversation about synthetic wombs is attracting attention is because it was kicked off by a tweet from Tesla CEO and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. He tweeted a concern that we should be worried about population collapse, sharing an article from the BBC about a “jaw-dropping” crash in the global fertility rate.

    The BBC reported that plunging fertility rates mean almost every nation could see their populations start to shrink by the end of the century. It added that 23 countries are expected to see their populations cut in half by 2100…”

    #98716
    absolute galore
    Participant

    That Tom Hanks Biden promo is disgusting. Especially the end, when Biden comes on and says we can do anything, as long as we do it together. Vax mandates, war-mongering, trying to circumvent the Constitution, etc. etc. All together now.

    Tulsi Gabbard as far as I have seen is definitely the most sane politician I have heard in a long time. Her going on Tucker Carlson a bunch, her not being afraid to mention God, not being afraid to be anti-war–these I believe are all very smart moves. Her peeps should call Joe Rogan when the time is right. I would relish the opportunity to vote for her.

    #98717
    those darned kids
    Participant

    forrest schlump

    #98718
    chris_gee
    Participant

    expatkiwi
    General mandates were avoided by heavy promotion of vaccinations and negative incentives, like vaccine passports for restaurants bars etc
    As to the future betting the farm on vaccinations is likely to be seen as futile. As against that the low rates in NZ and that it lags 2-3 months behind other countries means that they want to keep it that way. So you have a combination of conservative medical zealots, naiive politicians and media as flagwavers with questioning suppressed.
    At the moment re-entry is stopped by the suspension of miq availability from March. Quarantine and isolation periods have just been extended.
    In short I would expect a conservative authoritarian approach stopping short of mandates.
    How they habdle a major outbreak and facing the ineffectiveness of vaccines will be interesting. Given parochialism I doubt that they will be quick to adapt,

    #98719
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Dark Side Of Metaverse Exposed: Why Your Kids Need To Stay Away From VRChat

    https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/dark-side-metaverse-exposed-why-your-kids-need-stay-away-vrchat

    Mark Fuckerburg and the Pedo-verse

    #98720

    Artificial wombs: that means that Epstein (wherever he is) or Musk, or [favorite megalomaniac’s name here] will get his wish to be the father of the entire next generation!
    /s, sort of.

    Seems pertinent- it’s popped into my head countless times as we head for technocracy:
    “and I will multiply your descendants [via Isaac] as the stars of heaven and the sand which is on the seashore…”
    (Hmm. I had forgotten that God also told Abram that Ishmael would multiply exceedingly and be the father of 12 princes. Sounds like a set up for future wars.)
    I always thought the Greatest Secret of the Ancient Learned Ones was that men had a part in pregnancy.
    Now they want to cut out the middle[wo]man.

    I hope it makes God mad.

    #98721
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Well, well, … so this pathetic pathogen just caught up with me, … I think. My son got his positive test about last Tuesday (he is double-vaxxed), and now me, an only nonconformist in my household.

    No help from the local health system, … just a PFO advise, a *.pdf file:

    Think you may have Omicron? Here are things you can do
    https://www.cbc.ca/radio/the-dose/think-you-may-have-omicron-here-are-things-you-can-do-1.6306454

    I have been unable to see my family doctor – in person – since, well , few months from before March 2020 complete system shutdown, … other than a chat-type consultation on couple of occasion – both just a lecture to get a jab, pronto.

    Oh, well. Time will reveal what’s next, … watching up for blue lips, in a meantime.

    … fwiw

    F.S.

    #98722
    those darned kids
    Participant

    figmund: sunshine, vitamin d, cbd, ivermectin from the horse store (that’s where we got ours), sunshine, vitamin c, pepsid, sunshine, zinc, fresh air, soup, quercetin, low dose aspirin, lecithin, and a few days worth of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor like fluvoxamine if you have something like that in the house. did i mention sunshine?

    i’m sure doc day can fix that up for me as i’m not a physician*.

    *however, i am still alive.

    oh, and NO ELDERBERRIES!¡!

    #98723

    It’s funny, ironic, how some sports stars appear to be smarter than just about anyone who’s supposed to be smart, and getting quoted for that. We saw Djokovic, and now Aaron Rodgers comes in. What does that tell us?

    Aaron Rodgers: “When in the course of human history has the side that’s doing the censoring and trying to shut people up and make them show papers and marginalize a part of the community ever been [the correct side]?”

    #98724
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Between Artificial Wombs, fertility crash from spike protein sterilization, and the Fuckerburg’s Meta-Pedo-Verse, it sounds like a low rent ripoff of the Matrix.

    And Califorinate’s Big Tech Dicks are wading through dirty needles and evacuated bowels on the Streets of San Francisco waiting their turn to steal $950 of bling from their favorite yuppie shopping venue.

    The Golden State has this covered, come on man, it’s that thing, you know, that Thing!

    California’s Government Has Turned Homelessness Into Big Business

    “homeless industrial complex.”

    California’s Government Has Turned Homelessness Into Big Business

    “California is home to the technology Industry, the entertainment Industry and the Homeless Industry. Fully 50% of all the nations homeless live in California—a State with 14% of the nation’s population.”

    https://medicaregranny.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5accf56f97724_HomelessPhoto.jpeg
    .

    #98725
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Somali Pirates vs Californicate

    A different strategy for coping

    Somali pirates vs Russian Navy

    #98726
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    their flamboyantly wacky attack upon gender and all which differentiate between male and female. What’s with all of that nonsense, anyway?

    I believe it is all part of the destruction of our civilization; couples, family, friends, community, culture, traditional organization of all these things that left us grounded in nature and belonging to life in the place we live. Things were organized the way they were because they worked in general. The madness of the last 100 years has been our undoing; and they call it progress.

    #98727
    Mr. House
    Participant

    ““They’re trying to erase from the minds of all reproduction age people their innate sense of natural sex differentiation and gender BECAUSE MACHINES DON’T HAVE GENDER. Being aware of one’s identity as a man or woman is a step toward being aware that one is not a machine. Obviously the materialists can’t have that sort of realization in people’s thinking. People who know themselves as male or female aren’t going to buy into the idea that they’re just another disposable piece of machinery, who aren’t even necessary for reproduction because genetic engineering and fetus development is better done in the laboratory anyway.””

    How old is your daughter? That is some wisdom and along the lines of my own thinking. Would be nice to meet a woman like that around my parts! 😉

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