May 042022
 


Albert Gleizes The football players 1912-13

 

Medvedev Thinks That Zelensky Does Not Need ‘Any Peace Treaty’ (Tass)
Delegation Of Doom: Pelosi Visits Zelensky With Warhawk Dems (Celente)
Pope Admits NATO Likely Provoked Putin’s Invasion (ZH)
Good vs Evil (Yuri Podolyaka)
EU Plans For Russian Oil Ban: ‘We Want Ukraine To Win This War’ (BBC)
Russia Captures Commander of Canadian Army at Azovstal (APA)
Russian Oligarch With Close Ties To Putin Met With Hunter Biden In Moscow (DM)
Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Sues Schiff, CNN, Politico, Daily Beast (NYP)
Russia Is Returning To The Gold Standard And China Is Going To Be Next (QTR)
Leaked Draft Opinion Rocks the Court and Washington (Turley)
The Irrational, Misguided Discourse On SCOTUS Controversies (Greenwald)
Study Into mRNA Vaccine Death Rates Sends ‘Danger Signals’ (Bhattacharya)
Face Mask Usage Correlates With Higher Death Rates (INN)
‘Brands Should Force Twitter To Uphold Content Policies Under Musk’ (CNN)

 

 

 

 

Donetsk

 

 

Eva K Bartlett: According to Western media, now copy-paste reporting the same claims, Russian forces apparently secretly buried *up to 9,000 Mariupol civilians* in “mass graves” in a town just west of the city.

 

 

“Not an inch of #NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.”
—Memorandum of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow, Feb 9 1990

 

 

“..using unfortunate citizens as expendable material while posing unshaved before cameras and talk nonsense with eyes shining from stimulators.”

Gonzalo Lira: “Remember, Medvedev is considered dovish and pro-Western—so imagine what the hawkish anti-Westerners in Moscow are like.”

Medvedev Thinks That Zelensky Does Not Need ‘Any Peace Treaty’ (Tass)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky does not need any peaceful settlement, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev asserted. “Zelensky does not need any peace treaty. For him, peace is the end,” he said on his Telegram channel. According to him, this end would be “either a quick one – from the Nazis who will hang him for a deal with Russians, or a slower one, from his competition who will attain his dismissal as the president who lost a war.” He pointed out that Zelensky’s retinue confirms this saying that “there will be no peace treaty.” “That is why Zelensky in the future will keep begging the West for money and weapons, trying to prove he is still in the game, that he is the hope of the liberal world, that he is the last stronghold of European democracy which a bear in a cotton-padded jacket wants to tear apart,” Medvedev said.


He added that at the same time, Zelensky would “imitate concern for Ukrainians, periodically positioning them as a human shield against the Bandera followers.” Additionally, according to the deputy chairman, the Ukrainian president will continue “to send hired killers to Russian journalists, positioning himself as a tough exterminator, spawn criminal fake news about Russia’s military operation using unfortunate citizens as expendable material while posing unshaved before cameras and talk nonsense with eyes shining from stimulators.” “There is no other way for Zelensky to remain in office. That is, if the office itself remains,” Medvedev concluded.

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Delusional on all levels.

Delegation Of Doom: Pelosi Visits Zelensky With Warhawk Dems (Celente)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrat lawmakers arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit with President Volodymyr Zelensky and did just what the script said: they praised the comedian for his courage and promised more weapons to keep the killing going. It is not truly U.S. support unless it comes with a trigger. Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to make the journey to Kyiv for a photo-op, promised Zelensky that more weapons were coming and Washington would continue to fund its proxy war against Moscow. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., was part of the delegation that genuflected at the Altar of Zelensky, and told reporters afterwards that there were three areas of focus: “weapons, weapons, and weapons.” He also posted a photo on his Twitter page promising Kyiv that the U.S. “is in this to win in and we will stand with Ukraine until victory is won.”

He did not clarify exactly what the U.S. was “in,” but the Biden administration has not announced publicly that the country is at war with Russia. Pelosi’s freak-show – which included Rep. Adam Schiff – was there to send an “unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine.” “We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom, that we are on a frontier of freedom and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done,” she said. Schiff, who looked like a school boy meeting his hero when waiting to shake Zelensky’s hand, also got the memo and, after the visit, said one thing is clear: “We must continue to give military aid to Ukraine, and humanitarian assistance to those seeking refuge at home and in neighboring countries like Poland.”

Schiff said he was in “awe of the courage of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people. In the face of extreme Russian brutality, Zelenskyy has inspired his people, and freedom-loving individuals across the world.” U.S. officials have been bolder in recent weeks because the propaganda campaign has been so effective. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who once sat on Raytheon’s board, said at the news conference last week that the U.S. wants to see Russia “weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.” He continued, “So it has already lost a lot of military capability. And a lot of its troops, quite frankly. And we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.” Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also told reporters that the U.S. wants “a free and independent Ukraine,” and “that is going to involve a weakened Russia, a strengthened NATO.”

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If we can ban a President, we certainly can censor a Pope…

Pope Admits NATO Likely Provoked Putin’s Invasion (ZH)

Pope Francis has said that he’s ready to meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in hopes of brokering an end to the war in Ukraine, according to the Vatican news agencies. He said in an interview published Tuesday by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, “I am not going to Kyiv for now; I feel that I must not go. First I must go to Moscow. First I must meet Putin. But I am also a priest, what can I do? I do what I can. If Putin would only open the door…”. The Roman Catholic leader’s criticisms of Russia’s actions in Ukraine were made clear throughout the interview, but among the more interesting and surprising lines came when he addressed the roots of the invasion and war which started on Feb 24. He told the newspaper that “the barking of NATO at the gates of Russia” is likely what motivated Putin to attack Ukraine.

Below is the relevant section of the interview, according to a machine translation from the Italian: “Pope Francis’ concern is that Putin, for the moment, will not stop . He also tries to think about the roots of this behavior, about the reasons that push him to such a brutal war. Perhaps the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” prompted the head of the Kremlin to react badly and unleash the conflict. “An anger that I don’t know if it was provoked – he wonders – but perhaps eased, yes”. Also interesting is that Francis came close to condemning the international weapons transfers now pouring into Ukraine, led by the US which has lately authorized an unprecedented billions in military aid to Ukraine’s government.

“And now those who care about peace are faced with the great question of the supply of weapons by Western nations to the Ukrainian resistance,” the Pope began with his thoughts on this question. He admitted the question is controversial even within the Catholic world. “I can’t answer, I’m too far away, to the question of whether it is right to supply the Ukrainians,” he said, before taking a swipe at the weapons industry. “The clear thing is that weapons are being tested in that land. The Russians now know that tanks are of little use and are thinking of other things. Wars are fought for this: to test the weapons we have produced.”

“This was the case in the Spanish Civil War before the Second World War. The arms trade is a scandal, few oppose it.” He then invoked the case of the years’-long Saudi-US war on Yemen, describing that “Two or three years ago a ship loaded with weapons arrived in Genoa which had to be transferred to a large freighter to transport them to Yemen. The port workers did not want to do it. They said: let’s think of the children of Yemen. It’s a small thing, but a nice gesture. There should be so many like that.”

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Saker: “Yuri Podolyaka is an analyst who recently had his channel terminated on YouTube..”

“..They know how the Russian prisoners are treated in Ukraine – they are beaten, tortured, sometimes even killed. Ukrainians are surprised that they are not even beaten…”

Good vs Evil (Yuri Podolyaka)

Ukraine is one of the fronts of the battle of Good against Evil, it is not the battle of countries or even ideas. Today is May 3rd and today I want to talk about what we’re all fighting against. It’s not even about what happens in Ukraine, but about what happens in the world in general. A Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, told us about how he was brought back to Russia . He was being transferred in manacles and they were removed only after US representative made absolutely sure the US exchange prisoner was aboard the Russian plane. Before that, for almost 24 hours, Konstantin couldn’t even drink water properly because of the manacles – he physically couldn’t take a bottle of water, so he had to ask the guard to pour water into his mouth.

That’s how Americans treat the prisoner who was already pardoned and was to be exchanged. The American prisoner was treated entirely differently, in humane conditions. And here I remembered the first thing that amazes the Ukrainian prisoners when they are taken captive – they don’t expect the decent treatment they get. They know how the Russian prisoners are treated in Ukraine – they are beaten, tortured, sometimes even killed. Ukrainians are surprised that they are not even beaten. This is a huge difference that can’t be ignored. This goes for journalism as well – the Russian journalists, like me, get regular death threats and are in real danger. There is not a single case of someone threatening a Ukrainian journalist that takes official Kiev position.

If someone makes calls to do something about them, it is about lawful actions. On another level – social networks – the situation is similar. Take note at how hateful the messaging is from Kiev-aligned posters – they call to kill children and women etc, while there’s not a single call for such things from our side. There’s like a Satanist hatred coming from their side, with constant lies – how during the first couple of weeks they called on regular Ukrainian citizens to make phone calls to their friends in Russia and lie “for the sake of Ukrainian victory”. We can see this “lying for the greater good” on all levels.

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“We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion..”

What if Russia says no?

EU Plans For Russian Oil Ban: ‘We Want Ukraine To Win This War’ (BBC)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been giving details to the European Parliament of a sixth package of sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, its military and propaganda. She said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin wanted to wipe Ukraine from the map and would not succeed and it was his own country that was sinking. “We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion,” she said. “So in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and at the same time be very careful that we minimise the impact on the global market.” Von der Leyen said crude oil imports would be phased out over six months and refined products by the end of 2022.


Although she made no mention of any exemptions, two countries that are most reliant on Russian oil, Slovakia and Hungary, are expected to be given longer to find alternative sources. “Thus we maximise pressure on Russia while at the same time we minimise the collateral damage on us and our partners around the globe. We have to ensure that our economy remains strong.” She went on to give details of a package of relief and reconstruction for Ukraine: “We want to Ukraine to win this war,” she said. Von der Leyen said Ukraine’s economic output was set to fall by 35%-50% in 2022 and it would need €5bn a month just to keep going. “We have to do our share too.”

Pipeline

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From Azerbaijan press.

What does a Canadian general do in Azovstal? You know, this time of year…

Russia Captures Commander of Canadian Army at Azovstal (APA)

General Trevor Cadieu (Trevor John Cadieu), captured by Russian troops while trying to escape from the cellars of Azovstal, was the commander of the Canadian Ground Forces, APA reports citing Mailbd. Seated in the catacombs under the Mariupol steel plant “Azovstal” nationalists staged a provocation, trying to hide the Canadian general’s attempt to escape. After the capture of a high-ranking foreign soldier by units of the RF Armed Forces, it became clear why so many efforts were made to save him.


A high-ranking mercenary tried to break out of the encirclement at Azovstal several times. It was for this that the West insisted on humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians: among them, foreign specialists had to leave the catacombs. According to media reports, the general’s name is Trevor Kadieu. Seven months ago, he was appointed to the post of commander of the Canadian Army, but before the inauguration, he was involved in a sex scandal. In the harassment that occurred back in 1994, he was accused by a former colleague. The general called the accusations false, but in April 2022 he retired from military service.

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Hunter sure was busy. Did the crack keep him going?

Russian Oligarch With Close Ties To Putin Met With Hunter Biden In Moscow (DM)

Hunter Biden flew to Moscow for a meeting with a now-sanctioned Russian oligarch with reportedly close ties to Vladimir Putin, laptop files reveal. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, 73, owned a company which reportedly supplied Putin’s forces with drones used for deadly bombing raids in Ukraine and until last year owned key Russian defense contractor RTI. But while he was added to the UK and Australian sanctions lists this month but remains one of a handful of oligarchs unsanctioned by the Biden administration. Hunter’s multiple meetings and apparent business deals with him are the latest in a troubling web of his connections to Putin-linked mega-rich individuals which has emerged from his abandoned laptop.

Emails show the president’s son and his business partners were courting Yevtushenkov for an investment in their real estate company in 2012 and 2013. Rosemont Realty was founded in 2008 by Hunter’s Yale schoolmates: Devon Archer and former secretary of state John Kerry’s stepson Chris Heinz. Hunter joined the firm’s advisory board in 2010 and was a part owner, earning him hundreds of thousands. Emails show that in 2011, his now-jailed business partner Archer was traveling to Russia, staying in luxury hotels and dining on bear meat, laying the foundations for future real estate deals that he believed could be lucrative for the firm. In November that year Archer wrote to an associate: ‘Moscow is going great… It does look like I will be back quite a bit based on our initial response to the real estate fund pitch.’

Three months later Hunter got involved, scheduling a trip to the Russian capital for a dinner with Yevtushenkov at the headquarters of his company Sistema on February 16, 2012, according to emails and calendar entries on his laptop. Documents published this week by journalist Vicky Ward on her blog suggest the Russian billionaire then took a trip to the US for meetings with Hunter and his Rosemont Realty business partners. A Sistema itinerary translated from Russian, which Ward reported was leaked to her from a source close to Yevtushenkov’s company, lists a March 14, 2012 ‘breakfast with Hunter Biden’ at the Ritz-Carlton in New York.

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“..Mac Isaac now has well-heeled backers at non-profit The America Project.. [retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn]..”

Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Sues Schiff, CNN, Politico, Daily Beast (NYP)

The Delaware computer repairman who blew the whistle on Hunter Biden’s laptop — filed a multi-million-dollar defamation suit Tuesday against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, CNN, The Daily Beast and Politico, saying they falsely accused him of peddling Russian disinformation. The former shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, decided to fight back after losing his business and being harassed for 18 months by Big Tech, the media and Delaware locals in President Biden’s home state. “After fighting to reveal the truth, all I want now is for the rest of the country to know that there was a collective and orchestrated effort by social and mainstream media to block a real story with real consequences for the nation,” the 45-year-old Mac Isaac told The Post.

“This was collusion led by 51 former pillars in the intelligence community and backed by words and actions of a politically motivated DOJ and FBI,” he continued. “I want this lawsuit to reveal that collusion and more importantly, who gave the marching orders.” Mac Isaac came to legally own the laptop after Biden’s son Hunter dropped it off at his store for repairs in April 2019 and never came back. The material on the laptop has raised serious questions about what Biden knew of his son’s overseas business deals, during which he and the president’s brother, Jim Biden, often invoked his powerful name. After handing over a copy of the laptop’s hard drive to the FBI in December 2019, eight months later Mac Isaac alerted then-President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who provided a copy of the hard drive to The Post.

When The Post’s first story broke in October 2020 — just three weeks before the presidential election — Twitter and Facebook moved to censor it. Then Schiff and 51 former intelligence officials labeled the laptop Russian disinformation. In the aftermath, Mac Isaac says his business and reputation was ruined. “Twitter initially labeled my action hacking, so for the first day after my information was leaked, I was bombarded with hate mail and death threats revolving around the idea that I was a hacker, a thief and a criminal,” Mac Isaac said. Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, “has some explaining” to do, Mac Isaac insisted. “Without any intel, the head of the intel committee decided to share with CNN and its viewers a complete and utter lie,” Mac Isaac said. “A lie issued in the protection of a preferred presidential candidate.”

Mac Isaac said he’s since endured false accusations of being a Russian spy and a “stooge” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The fight to get to the bottom of who told everyone this was Russian disinformation is far more important for the nation than me clearing my name,” Mac Isaac said. In the suit, which was filed in Montgomery County, Md., Mac Isaac claims Schiff defamed him in an interview on CNN two days after The Post began publishing revelations from the laptop. In the interview with Wolf Blitzer, Schiff told the CNN host — without citing evidence — that he believed “the Kremlin” was behind a smear of Joe and Hunter Biden.

Mac Isaac tried unsuccessfully to sue Twitter for defamation last year and was lumbered with the tech giant’s legal bills — an amount he says is roughly $175,000. But Mac Isaac now has well-heeled backers at non-profit The America Project, which was founded by Trump loyalists retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, brother Joe Flynn and businessman Pat Byrne. “[We are] honored to sponsor John Paul Mac Isaac in his fight against the injustice that has been done to him when the political elite coordinated with the leftist news media claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation – which was a blatant lie,” Flynn said.

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“..the west and our allies, with our “infinite” fiat, under the tutelage of rocket surgeon Neel Kashkari..”

Russia Is Returning To The Gold Standard And China Is Going To Be Next (QTR)

No sooner was it that I wrote an article talking about how Russia was going to back the ruble with gold than “one of the Russia’s most powerful security/intelligence officers and a close ally of Putin” has admitted the country’s intentions to do just that. And I’m predicting that no sooner will the gravity of this decision finally sink in with the West that China will follow closely in Russia’s footsteps and do the same. Russia backing its currency with gold represents one of the most drastic changes to the foreign currency market in decades. As of 2022, precisely zero countries still adhere to a gold standard, though many countries still hold gold in reserve.

The new global monetary system is likely going to look like Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries with commodity-backed, sound money on one side – and the west and our allies, with our “infinite” fiat, under the tutelage of rocket surgeon Neel Kashkari, on the other. Despite the enormity of the situation, the news hasn’t really been digested by global markets yet. The FX market has been relatively calm, but for the ruble strengthening, and gold prices have crashed so far this week, with front month futures falling nearly $50/oz. on Monday, back down to about $1,860/oz. Aside from the FX market, the news also hasn’t been digested by US politicians or financial “thought leaders” yet.

However, there are underground rumblings starting to catch the ears of those who are actively listening. Ronan Manly wrote for BullionStar.com last week: “On Tuesday 26 April in an interview with newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG), the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that Russian experts are working on a project to back the Russian ruble with gold and other commodities.” Manly was kind enough to translate the interview with RG, which stated Russia’s intentions to back the ruble with gold in crystal clear fashion:

RG Question: And what do we need to do to ensure the ruble’s sovereignty? Nikolai Patrushev: “For any national financial system to be sovereignized, its means of payment must have intrinsic value and price stability, without being pegged to the dollar. Now experts are working on a project proposed by the scientific community to create a two-circuit monetary and financial system. In particular, it is proposed to determine the value of the ruble, which should be backed by both gold and a group of goods that are currency values, and to put the ruble exchange rate in line with the real purchasing power parity.” Manly concludes, matter-of-factly: “So there you have it. The Russian Government is actively working on creating a gold and commodity backed Russian ruble with intrinsic value which is outside the orbit of the US dollar.”


The ECB can’t hike or the euro is done

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“..the culprit will have to make a decision today of whether to radically increase the potential costs of this act..”

Leaked Draft Opinion Rocks the Court and Washington (Turley)

The leaking of a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has rocked the Court and Washington. The 98-page draft opinion is dated Feb. 10, 2022 and authored by Associate Justice Samuel Alito. I have two columns (in USA Today and The Hill) today on the opinion and the disgraceful leak from within the Court. The opinion is joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. It declares that “Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” The opinion can change but the damage done to the Court as an institution will likely be lasting. This shattered a long tradition of the Court of strict secrecy and integrity in the handling of drafts.

The leak is the greatest crisis faced by Chief Justice John Roberts and the greatest security breach in the history of the Court. While leaks have appeared periodically on internal strife or issues on the Court, I cannot recall anything of this scale. Roe itself was the subject of leaks. The Washington Post did run some leaks the court’s internal deliberations. Then there was a premature disclosure of information hours before the formal release of the opinions. A few hours before the release, word got out on the holding of the Court. However, that all pales in comparison to the release of a draft opinion months in advance of the expected release. Chief Justice Roberts has confirmed the legitimacy of the draft and the launching of an investigation. The question is how the Court will proceed in the investigation. Anyone taking this deeply unethical act is likely to have taken steps to hide their tracks.

I would be surprised if there were a paper trail or email record. However, anyone who would take such a reckless act may have been equally reckless in the means used to violate the Court’s rules. If the culprit is a lawyer, disbarment would seem a virtual certainty. This person may be a hero in the eyes of some, but will remain a pariah in the eyes of any ethical lawyer. Yet, disbarment could be the least of the problems. If a suspect lies to the FBI, there could be prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001. Thus, the culprit will have to make a decision today of whether to radically increase the potential costs of this act. There are a relatively small number of individuals with access to these drafts. It is likely that the culprit will be contacted quickly with others by investigators. That will prove a critical moment that could transform an unethical into a criminal act.

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“Like the U.S. Constitution itself, the Court is designed to be an anti-majoritarian check against the excesses of majoritarian sentiment.”

The Irrational, Misguided Discourse On SCOTUS Controversies (Greenwald)

Alito’s draft is written as a majority opinion, suggesting that at least five of the Court’s justices — a majority — voted after oral argument in Dobbs to overrule Roe on the ground that it was “egregiously wrong from the start” and “deeply damaging.” In an extremely rare event for the Court, an unknown person with unknown motives leaked the draft opinion to Politico, which justifiably published it. A subsequent leak to CNN on Monday night claimed that the five justices in favor of overruling Roe were Bush 43 appointee Alito, Bush 41 appointee Clarence Thomas, and three Trump appointees (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett), while Chief Justice Roberts, appointed by Bush 43, is prepared to uphold the constitutionality of Mississippi’s abortion law without overruling Roe.

Draft rulings and even justices’ votes sometimes change in the period between the initial vote after oral argument and the issuance of the final decision. Depending on whom you choose to believe, this leak is either the work of a liberal justice or clerk designed to engender political pressure on the justices so that at least one abandons their intention to overrule Roe, or it came from a conservative justice or clerk, designed to make it very difficult for one of the justices in the majority to switch sides. Whatever the leaker’s motives, a decision to overrule this 49-year-old precedent, one of the most controversial in the Court’s history, would be one of the most significant judicial decisions issued in decades. The reaction to this leak — like the reaction to the initial ruling in Roe back in 1973 — was intense and strident, and will likely only escalate once the ruling is formally issued.

Every time there is a controversy regarding a Supreme Court ruling, the same set of radical fallacies emerges regarding the role of the Court, the Constitution and how the American republic is designed to function. Each time the Court invalidates a democratically elected law on the ground that it violates a constitutional guarantee — as happened in Roe — those who favor the invalidated law proclaim that something “undemocratic” has transpired, that it is a form of “judicial tyranny” for “five unelected judges” to overturn the will of the majority. Conversely, when the Court refuses to invalidate a democratically elected law, those who regard that law as pernicious, as an attack on fundamental rights, accuse the Court of failing to protect vulnerable individuals.

This by-now-reflexive discourse about the Supreme Court ignores its core function. Like the U.S. Constitution itself, the Court is designed to be an anti-majoritarian check against the excesses of majoritarian sentiment. The Founders wanted to establish a democracy that empowered majorities of citizens to choose their leaders, but also feared that majorities would be inclined to coalesce around unjust laws that would deprive basic rights, and thus sought to impose limits on the power of majorities as well.

Tucker Roe

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Not Bhattacharya’s best. There was never any reason to use untested vaccines, be they adenovector-based or mRNA.

Study Into mRNA Vaccine Death Rates Sends ‘Danger Signals’ (Bhattacharya)

Do the covid vaccines save lives? That is the question on many people’s minds, that has led to heated discussions across the world. A bombshell new study by a distinguished team of Danish researchers led by Prof. Christine Stabell-Benn suggests a surprisingly nuanced answer. In the randomized trials of the covid vaccines, the adenovector-based vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, reduced all-cause mortality of study participants relative to people randomly assigned a placebo. Indeed, the reduction in mortality is larger than expected from the Covid effect and may suggest additional beneficial “non-specific effects” from those vaccines against other health threats.

On the other hand, Stabell-Benn and her colleagues found no statistically meaningful evidence in the trial data that the mRNA vaccines reduced all-cause mortality. The numbers of deaths from other causes including cardiovascular deaths appear to be increased in this group, compensating for the beneficial effect of the vaccines on Covid. Stabell-Benn is keen to stress that the sample is relatively small and is calling for further investigation, and also that the study took place during very low levels of Covid, so the relative advantage of protection against Covid would have been smaller at that time compared to at other points in the pandemic.

However, these preliminary results stand in sharp contrast to the unambiguous message from public health agencies and governments worldwide, which granted emergency authorization to the vaccines based on evidence from the trials that the vaccines reduce the likelihood of getting symptomatic covid. From a purely scientific perspective, preventing symptomatic covid is an interesting outcome to study. From a public health perspective, prevention of covid symptoms is not as important as prevention of death or disease transmission, which the randomized trials did not study. Dr. Stabell Benn and her colleagues have now looked at overall mortality for the first time.

At the very least, the plain implication (since both sets of vaccines are available) is that public health authorities should have recommended the cheaper adenovector vaccines over the mRNA vaccines all along for most patients. In other words, the international move to de-authorise the AstraZeneca vaccine across Europe and elsewhere looks like it may have been a mistake, and that AZ was actually a better option than the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. It offers a potential contributory explanation for the better overall mortality outcomes in the UK (which overwhelmingly used the AZ vaccine) than much of continental Europe (which phased out the AZ vaccine) after the vaccine programme in the second half of 2021.

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“..the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant..”

Face Mask Usage Correlates With Higher Death Rates (INN)

A new peer-reviewed study entitled: “Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe” has demonstrated that use of face masks, even widespread, did not correlate with better outcomes during the COVID epidemic, based on data from 35 European countries with populations of over one million people each, encompassing a total of 602 million people. The study noted that the average proportion of mask usage in the period investigated (October 2020 until March 2021) was 60.9% ± 19.9%. Governments and advisory bodies have recommended and often mandated the wearing of face masks in public spaces and in many areas mandates or recommendations remain in place, despite the fact, the study notes, that randomized controlled trials from prior to and during the epidemic have failed to show a benefit to the wearing of such masks with regard to COVID transmission.

“Positive correlation between mask usage and cases was not statistically significant,” the study also found, “while the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant (rho = 0.351, p = 0.039).” That is to say, more mask usage correlated with a higher death rate. The study used a variety of statistical methods to study correlation but “none of these tests provided negative correlations between mask usage and cases/deaths … Surprisingly, weak positive correlations were observed when mask compliance was plotted against morbidity (cases/million) or mortality (deaths/million) in each country.”

The study also noted that the public may have gained the impression that masks could be helpful due to the fact that mandates were usually implemented after the first peak of COVID cases had passed. However, it became evident that masks were not in fact helpful later that same year, when widespread mask usage does not appear to have mitigated the severity of the COVID wave of winter 2020. “Moreover,” the study concludes, “the moderate positive correlation between mask usage and deaths in Western Europe also suggests that the universal use of masks may have had harmful unintended consequences.”

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‘Brands Should Force Twitter To Uphold Content Policies Under Musk’ (CNN)

Some of the nation’s biggest brands including Coca-Cola, Disney and Kraft are facing calls to boycott Twitter if the company’s soon-to-be owner, billionaire Elon Musk, rolls back content moderation policies limiting hate speech and election misinformation. In a letter sent to brands Tuesday ahead of the 2022 NewFronts digital advertising conference, more than two dozen civil society groups said marketers should secure commitments from Twitter to retain its most critical policies, including on civic integrity and hateful conduct, and threaten to withdraw funding if Twitter does not comply. “As top advertisers on Twitter, your brand risks association with a platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists,” the letter said, adding: “Your ad dollars can either fund Musk’s vanity project or hold him to account.”

In an investor filing Monday, Twitter told advertisers “we have no planned changes to our commitment to brand safety” but that the company “cannot speculate on changes Elon Musk may make post closing.” The letter, first reported by CNN, urges advertisers to make their next ad deals with Twitter contingent on changes to platform policy under Musk. It offers the latest example of how some advocacy groups have leaned on the immense power of corporate speech — and specifically digital advertising, the lifeblood of many tech platforms — in attempts to shape tech companies’ behavior. It leverages years of growing realizations by the ad industry that brands can face reputational damage if their ads appear next to white supremacist content or other harmful material.

Tuesday’s initiative bears echoes of a far-reaching advertising boycott in 2020 that saw companies ranging from Adidas to Starbucks pulling their ads from Facebook over what they said were its failures to keep hate speech from spreading. But unlike that campaign, the groups behind Tuesday’s letter said advertisers have a chance to be more proactive and strategic this time, because Musk has already telegraphed what he plans to do with Twitter. (The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder has pledged to restore “free speech” to the platform by, among other things, easing up on content removals and account bans. He also wants to “authenticate all real humans” on Twitter.)

As advertisers prepare to negotiate forward-looking contracts with Twitter this week during the NewFronts conference, they can preemptively protect themselves from any damage to their brands resulting from Musk’s eventual takeover, said Angelo Carusone, CEO of Media Matters for America, one of the organizations behind the letter. “If Elon Musk comes in and gets rid of all the brand safety protections, I think Coca-Cola should be able to cancel their contract,” Carusone said. “It would be very revealing if Twitter refuses to or does not sign or does not give those cancellation options.” Tuesday’s letter targeted other big-name advertisers, as well, including Apple, Best Buy and HBO — the last of which is owned by WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle May 4 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 56 total)
  • Author
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  • #107277

    Albert Gleizes The football players 1912-13   • Medvedev Thinks That Zelensky Does Not Need ‘Any Peace Treaty’ (Tass) • Delegation Of Doom: Pelos
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 4 2022]

    #107282
    Red
    Participant

    Yesterday DBSmith “If you want to save money and turn bigger profits with less work then the nearly perfect three-for-one operation is famine.”
    Would this do the trick: https://www.globalresearch.ca/big-pharma-set-control-entire-food-supply/5779182

    “Monsanto is creating specially-tailored genetically-cut seeds for these vertical farms and the University of California is developing a plant-based mRNA vaxxine that farms can grow in heads of lettuce, which happens to be the main crop of these new farms.”

    #107283
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Fed day. Powell raises rates by 20% in one day to get ahead of the curve! The markets go wild! Screaming, shouting, REALLY wild. Yes, 20% increase TODAY would only get him in CONTROL of the rates, and at the modest, correct level. Anyone see us getting to average rates today?

    If I can get this picture right, Money Printer Go Un-Brrrrrrr.
    ReverseRepo

    Reduce money: disinflation, deflation, default, then dollar strong. The Fed whose product is nothing but “The Dollar” lives to ride another day. Europe + planet however, are executed in the streets.

    “Pelosi: Russia’s War Requires “Strongest Military Response”

    Okay, so we’re going to nuke them then. Tomorrow. Unless you’re a liar and that’s NOT the “strongest military response.” Sheesh. So are you a liar, and idiot, or both? Words have meanings. You use words for a living. Try not to be a total failure about it. Does anyone actually believe they are visiting Kiev? Or that Zelensky is not in Poland?

    Poland is going to stop buying Russian gas. Excellent! What’s the plan? The plan is, they don’t have to because they have 75 days in storage. Ba-da-dum. Cue the Polish jokes. Except…

    Germany’s plan to not buy Russian gas. Great! You have a magic golden egg oil 97 million bbl per day comes from? Oh no — that would almost make sense. …They are going to nationalize the industry. Yes, that’s right, steal it all. Because someone forgot to tell them they are stealing the PIPELINES, but not the SOURCE: the oil wells. Details, details. I let the little people take care of the details for me, I’m much too important to bother.

    So not ONLY will they have an oil, gas, chemical, and fertilizer shortage, but ALSO an economic collapse as people flee Europe, a continent with no law and no property rights. Well, I guess if nobody’s left in Europe because they fled to find freedom in Columbia and Chile, they won’t have as much to worry about.

    P.S. YOU’LL own nothing. THEY will own everything. Starting with the ENTIRE INDUSTRY, soup to nuts. All your base are belong to us.

    Musk’s PayPal joins the plan. They banned naughty journalists (read: anybody we want, who doesn’t Do What They’re Told when told to by a corporation). Okay. But the specific terms say “You cannot de-link your credit card from our service” what? And “We are going to steal all your money for 180 days”. Are you going to pay be 20% interest for 6 months for the use of my money? No? Sounds like theft and no property rights in America then either. Least surprising ever. What caused the cancellation? Who knows? They didn’t say. They won’t say. BECAUSE WE SAID SO!!! The 1st line of response of all narcissistic sociopaths. Now don’t make me have to hit you again, woman! This is all your fault.

    All estimations are because Consortium News and these reporters don’t want to bomb and kill women and children with adequate enthusiasm. Blood gore and guts and veins in my teeth and all that. Is what they reported false? Who knows? Nobody cares. It’s not part of the process to even ask. Now do what you’re told.

    From my perspective, PayPal and Co cut off funds to WikiLeaks starting 12 years ago. For the love of God are you slow learners or something? Stop enriching your enemies and pick another processor. Was 12 years not enough time to find one?

    Who is the Irish Representative talking with?

    And of course because: Peace, everyone in parliament boycotted her statements and went home? Like the UN and G20?

    I was thinking about how to communicate the problem with famine. To get people to believe the obvious. Then I realized: this is just the Irish Famine the English used. Death of the nation, control of schools, language, culture, stealing land, wonderful high profits. Lords in Greenwich eating at fine tables all that lovely, imported food. Worked absolutely wonderfully. The Anglos truly learn well and don’t even hide it.

    #107284
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Edits not allowed: Germany uses 2.3M bbl/day. The world at large uses 97M. Same point, however.

    #107285
    Red
    Participant

    “According to media reports, the general’s name is Trevor Kadieu. Seven months ago, he was appointed to the post of commander of the Canadian Army, but before the inauguration, he was involved in a sex scandal. In the harassment that occurred back in 1994, he was accused by a former colleague. The general called the accusations false, but in April 2022 he retired from military service.”

    April of 2022? So he was in Avozstal while being employed as a Canadian Forces commander? Or did he sneak in after he retired?

    #107286

    Yeah, Red, Cadieu is a weird story. George Webb in a Twitter video connected him to biolabs. Wait, here:

    Update:

    #107287
    Basseterre Kitona
    Participant

    That Nato map needs a minor correction because France was not a member of NATO in 1990.

    Charles De Gaulle wanted an independent and sovereign and decided to pull the country out of the alliance as he saw that the US & Britain were setting up to dominate it. This is why the NATO headquarters is in Brussels after being effectively kicked out of France. And it wasn’t until recently (Sarkozy era) that France rejoined the alliance.

    #107288
    Red
    Participant

    Retired General Trevol Kadier has been arrested by Russian Forces. He was in charge of a Ukrainian based US-sponsored Biolab.

    Sure he was. Not saying that there weren’t any under him just that, that is an awfully high rank for looking after a lab, but then he probably has a Phd. in biology or maybe chemistry.

    #107289
    Red
    Participant

    The tools of psychology are dangerous in the hands of the wrong men. Modern educational methods can be applied in therapy to streamline man’s brain and change his opinions so that his thinking conforms with certain ideological systems. — Joost A. M. Meerloo, The Rape Of The Mind, 1956.
    ***
    Since the declaration of the Covid-19 Pandemic in March, 2020, the phenomenon of “mass formation psychosis”, essentially hypnosis at population level, has become a major subject for discussion, due largely to interviews of psychiatrist Mattias Desmet. Becoming aware of it, one begins to recognize the effects of the cultivation of anxiety and mental confusion, of the steady diet of terrifying data, of constantly changing and conflicting information, of enforced compliance to shifting policies demanding physical and visual isolation.
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/campaign-against-critical-thinking/5779313

    #107290
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Greenwald’s reasoning about Roe is quite correct. I think the Ninth Amendment that grants rights not specifically enumerated elsewhere in the Bill of Rights is a good one, but using that as a basis for Roe always seemed kind of sketchy. The Ninth Amendment is useful for anti-discrimination laws (this is why the “state’s rights” trope is frequently associated with racist segregationists) and protecting negative rights (“bodily autonomy means the government can’t coerce you into getting a medical treatment you don’t want”), but I’m not so sure about using as a basis for granting new positive rights (“bodily autonomy means you have a right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy resulting from consensual sexual intercourse”).

    Personally, I’m pro-choice for the first trimester of pregnancy as far as making laws is concerned, even though I think abortion in all but the most extreme cases including rape is a very serious spiritual error. Yet, I am not able to equate aborting a 12-week-old fetus with smothering a newborn baby in its crib the way conservatives do. From a legal perspective, such an equation seems an invitation to opening a Pandora’s Box of all kinds of crazy patriarchal legislation concerning fetuses in the womb. And besides, it just seems counterintuitive to any scientifically valid way of looking at the matter.

    #107291
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    One thing is for sure, though, the militant pro-choicers are going to be very surprised and dismayed at how thoroughly they cratered their credibility where bodily autonomy is concerned by getting behind the attempt to force experimental gene-therapy on everybody!

    #107292
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    NATO expansion towards east.
    (memorandum of conversation between M. Gorbachev and J. Baker)

    Inches? Who’s talking about inches?
    The memorandum holds true: not an inch – NATO expanded for miles and miles.

    #107293
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • Russia Is Returning To The Gold Standard And China Is Going To Be Next

    In the Empire of Grotesque Big Lies, my guess is that Fort Knox is EMPTY

    Has been for decades.

    All stolen and Rehypothecated by the Pathocrats to fund Endless War. and prop up the Ponzi Dollar®.

    Maybe a few Tungsten bars lying around for that Potemkin Head Fake® (PHF) for the Sheeple who will buy absolutely any cart load of bullshit.

    For all you Fiat Dollar Fanboys and girls, the Dollar has no backing at all, no commodities, no gold, just the Empire of Lies “word” that it’s backed by “the full Faith and Credit of the US taxpayer” and a loser military industrial mafia that hasn’t ‘won’ a war since WWII.

    The latest Empire of Grotesque Big Lies Loser war, Afghanistan, dragged on for 20 years before the Empire of Lies turned tail and left tens of billions in weapons behind.

    Hey, couldn’t the abandoned Afgan weapons be shipped to Ukraine for Russia target practice?

    The Russians are destroying the West’s flunky junky ‘weapons’ as fast as they arrive.

    The madness continues til someone with some balls steps up to the plate, don’t hold your breath.

    It’s not just Supreme Clown judges and prosecutors who are morally and literally chickenshit.

    Why are Most People Cowards?

    #107294
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    #107295
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    #107296
    zerosum
    Participant

    Respect mother nature way of doing things.
    Respect all life. Don’t be a snob.
    Ukraine and Russian are also lives.
    War is killing, just like abortion is killing within the first 9 months.
    Anti-abortion will lead to over population, famine and slow painful death.

    #107297
    zerosum
    Participant

    Conspiracy
    If we can ban a President, we certainly can censor a Pope…

    • Pope Admits NATO Likely Provoked Putin’s Invasion (ZH)

    ————-
    • Good vs Evil (Yuri Podolyaka)

    ———
    What if Russia says no?
    What if Russia says, “no more gas?”

    “Let’s be blunt. Every day, Russian gas runs through Ukrainian pipelines. Every day, Russian gas is served to Ukraine. So Ukraine did also not switch off”
    ——–
    an economic collapse means a famine
    ———–

    #107298
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    That Cadieu story is probably a poorly formulated fake of some sort, … for some reason.

    Cadieu, as Canadian Army senior leader (Lt.-Gen.) was almost ready to take command of the Canadian Army. He retired from the military, however, earlier – I clearly recall April 5th, per MSM reporting – as an investigation into his sexual misconduct allegations against him continued. It was an on-going saga.

    After retiring, he reportedly travelled to Ukraine as a volunteer fighter. OK! … How so? That implies he travelled after April 5th.

    Mariupol and Azov Battalion, at that point, was very much under siege by Russian forces. It does not make any sense, therefore, that Cadieu would be found in Mariupol at Azovstal steel plant.

    … just sayin’

    F.S.

    #107299

    Hush little baby, won’t you die?
    Momma’s overspent and it makes her cry.
    If her crying can’t be stopped,
    Momma’s other babies will be forgot.
    (1990?)

    It is the woman’s decision. Laws be damned.

    #107300
    zerosum
    Participant

    Money disappear
    Inventory goes to Ukraine
    semiconductor chips delivered to favoured clients

    https://www.zerohedge.com/military/russia-again-warns-any-nato-vehicle-entering-ukraine-weapons-will-be-destroyed
    I can confirm that any transport from the North Atlantic alliance that arrives in the country with weapons or materiel for the Ukrainian armed forces will be considered by us as a legitimate target for destruction,” Shoigu said according to state sources.
    The warning comes after the US has led the way in pumping billions in military aid to Kiev, also after this week the UK approved a fresh $375 million package. Germany has also lately approved sending heavier weaponry, though Berlin has also said its own military stockpiles are depleted and running low.

    Meanwhile, on Tuesday Russia launched a large number of cruise missiles apparently targeting railway and electrical infrastructure in various regions of Ukraine, including in the Western city of Lviv, knocking out power to large swathes of the city for hours overnight.

    During his trip to Troy, Biden highlighted the fact that the industry has been impacted by the ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips. He noted that each Javelin missile includes about 200 semiconductors.

    Some weapons can be ramped up quickly, but other weapons, like the Stinger surface-to-air missiles — the U.S. has sent over 1,400 to Ukraine — are not in production as the Army had been moving to retire the weapon.
    Speaking in Troy, Biden urged Congress to pass the supplemental bill so that the U.S. and allies can replenish their stocks of weapons.

    #107301
    John Day
    Participant
    #107302
    Oroboros
    Participant

    NH Senate committee favors expanded dispensing of anti-parasite medication

    https://news.yahoo.com/nh-senate-committee-favors-expanded-183400035.html

    What rich about this is that it’s been done with a conservative Republican Senate in “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire and that the only doctor on the committee, a DEMTARD named Tom Sherman, says,

    “He said he was shocked that members of the panel supported the legislation and said voting for it would be tantamount to medical malpractice.

    “We are putting the health of the people of New Hampshire at risk when we know better,” he told the committee Wednesday….”

    Hahahahaha

    The mass formation, mass murdering medical mafia member thinks using Ivermectin is ‘ tantamount to medical malpractice’

    Senator/doctor Tom Sherman of NH is himself a walking talking example of medical malpractice murder.

    Glad he lost, aware informed people of New England will be able to drive over to NH and get some IVM without a prescription or interference from the State.

    Gotta be some major butt-hurt for the Don’t Run with Scissors crowd.

    .

    #107303
    John Day
    Participant

    BasseterreKitona said:
    “That Nato map needs a minor correction because France was not a member of NATO in 1990.”

    France was still a NATO member, but withdrew French troops from the combined command, so they would only be commanded by French officers.

    #107304
    John Day
    Participant

    Did Hitler “have Jewish blood”? Sergei Lavrov has referred to that rumor as part of an argument that Ukraine can have Nazi rule with a Jewish president..
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/angry-diplomatic-row-between-israel-russia-over-hitlers-jewish-blood-remarks

    In his 1953 memoir In the Face of the Gallows (published after his execution in 1946), Hitler’s lawyer Hans Frank claimed that Hitler had told him to investigate rumors of him having Jewish ancestry. Frank said Hitler showed him a letter from a nephew who threatened to reveal he had Jewish blood. Frank wrote that he found evidence that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish and that Alois’ mother, Maria Schicklgruber, worked as a cook in the home of a wealthy Jewish family named Frankenreiter in Graz. Austria, was impregnated by a member of the family – possibly their 19-year-old son – when she was 42.
    https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/was-hitler-jewish

    #107305
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Oh, … ,just to continue that Andy Worhol binge:

    40 years of BMW M1 | BMW Art Car Andy Warhol

    F.S.

    #107306
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Our conversations regarding abortion need to be updated as conditions CHANGE. Like everything else, we are bombarded by extreme stories from the folks on the extremes. There is middle ground – if we would agree that reducing/eliminating the need for abortion is a worthy goal while making it safe, accessible, and private for the very few who need it. It’s not one or the other it can be both.

    The facts: abortion rates in the US are steadily declining. The article linked here provides good perspective. Note: Emergency contraception appears to be the game changer. It is now readily available over the counter (most retail locations, box stores), no questions asked, priced from $10 to $49 per dose. Emergency contraception is 87% effective if taken within 5 days or less. Since 2016, availability, accessibility, and price have aligned to make this option very relevant. The impact is starting to register in the numbers – so you should expect to see even more decline in abortion rates. Traditional contraception (the pill) seems to be in the dark ages (my opinion) as there should be more choices on this front. Notice how the most effective options for preventing pregnancy place the burden of responsibility on women?

    There will always be exceptions, abortion should be available as an option of last resort. Do not underestimate the mighty weight of an unplanned pregnancy – and the agony of choosing.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/14/upshot/who-gets-abortions-in-america.html

    #107307
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Fwiw, … here is via thesaker.is:

    Sergey Glazyev: For those who still don’t understand

    … ending paragraph first:

    Anti-Russian sanctions did not strengthen, but, on the contrary, undermined the global dominance of the United States and the EU, which the rest of the world began to treat with distrust and apprehension. They dramatically accelerated the transition to a new world economic order and the shift of the center of the world economy to Southeast Asia. Russia needs to stand up to the United States and NATO in its confrontation, bringing IT to its logical conclusion, so as not to be torn between them and China, which is irrevocably becoming the leader of the world economy.

    … rest:

    https://thesaker.is/sergey-glazyev-for-those-who-still-dont-understand/

    F.S.

    #107308
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    @ Dr. John Day post #107304 – Did Hitler “have Jewish blood”?
    —————-

    b chimes in on the same topic:

    On Lavrov’s Spat With Israel – Who Is Right?
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/on-lavrovs-spat-with-israel-who-is-right.html#more

    Best,

    F.S.

    #107309
    John Day
    Participant

    Picture of Jenny with fresh-pulled carrots in the garden https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/thought-for-food?s=w

    Economist, Michael Hudson (who accidentally wrote the cookbook for the petro-dollar, “Super Imperialism”, just in time for Nixon and Kissinger to use it) has a new interview out, about…
    ​MICHAEL HUDSON… So, basically the oil companies and the US are going to let the third-world countries go into a crisis. If they default on their bonds, then the United States and the bondholders get to treat Latin America like they treated Argentina or Venezuela and grab whatever assets they have outside of their country. Like Venezuela had investments in the United States and gold that it left in the Bank of England that were grabbed.
    ​ ​There’s going to be a huge asset grab. That is supposed to be how this unfolds, and the most obvious assets to the grabbed are going to be in Latin America and Africa. Maybe some Asian deficit countries. So, this is the weakest link, and that’s why there’s this fight within the IMF at the upcoming meetings, to create these special drawing rights to give them money on the condition that there is a class war.
    ​ ​So, what we’re seeing, really, isn’t a war between NATO and Russia. It’s a class war of the neoliberals against labor across the world to establish the power of finance over labor.
    AARON MATÉ: And so, do you think that there’s a threat of an even worse hunger crisis in this world, one that we’re not talking about and should be preparing for it?
    MICHAEL HUDSON: A threat? That’s the objective! Yes, of course. That’s what they’re aiming at. If you read what Klaus Schwab says at the World Economic Forum, he said there are 20 percent too many people in the world, especially in the Global South. This is what all the big foundations are for.

    Michael Hudson Talks with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté About the Broader Ramifications of the US/NATO Conflict with Russia

    ​ What we are seeing in the world now is a global shock to oil prices, fertilizer prices and food staple prices, as Professor Hudson points out. ​Countries in “the global south” will not be able to feed their citizens and also make debt-payments, so they will be forced into default and the $US empire will set about to take their assets, whether owned by the countries or their wealthy elites.
    Professor Hudson projects that the IMF will give out SDRs (special drawing rights), IMF-money to compliant regimes, which will be required to carry out “class warfare”, to strip their citizens of the food they need to live,and their nationalized industries, like Venezuela’s oil industry.
    Those countries which do not comply will be in default, and will be subject to the direct predation of the $US empire.
    That appears to be the plan. It has worked before, but this deflationary-asset-grabhas not really been run since the Asian Economic Crisis.
    The world is “Multipolar” now.
    What we already see from Russia and China, as well as other major countries like India, Iran, Brazil and likely Turkey and South Africa, is the preparation to formalize a parallel global trade system, which will allow countries to repudiate $US debts to the IMF and western banking, and to militarily resist assaults and invasions upon national assets, like oil fields.
    Russia and China will not hold default on $US loans against countries in this new arrangement, and will recognize their ownership of their nationalized assets, like Peru’s lithium mines. It appears that the critical mass exists to create this parallel global trade regime outside of the $US wealth-extraction-system.
    If this system is able to persist, after being tried in some asset-wars, where the western empire attempts to grab things like oil-wells and mines, then the $US empire will be forced into collapse. This is not in the distant future, but in the next few years.
    History shows that when people do not have enough food, they are much more warlike as populations. Rulers have typically turned hungry populations to war against other hungry populations, which protects the (winning side) rulers from their hungry subjects.
    It seems likely that some of this will be tested in America and other western countries, to get more emotional fervor for the WAR! narrative, which is already being pumped. We should find ways to avoid becoming desperately hungry. It will help us to think more clearly and have more freedom to make our own choices.
    Personally, I think it is time for massive global debt-forgiveness at all levels and a fresh economic start, without widespread debt slavery. We need to fashion an efficient economy to meet the needs of real people everywhere, or a lot of smaller systems which can trade fairly with each other.
    This will be bad for all “assets” which pay out interest and dividends, bad for retirement plans, but mostly bad for global financial elites.

    Sergey Glazyev, a Russian economist, tasked to roll-out the global financial alternative system has this:
    For those who still don’t understand​
    ​This (western) plan also provides for the following tasks:
    ​ C​onsolidation of US control over the European Union and NATO countries;
    ​ U​se of the armed forces of Poland, Romania and the Baltic states, as well as mercenaries from the West, the Middle East and the Middle East in combat operations against Russia;
    ​ T​he destruction of the male population and the actual enslavement of women and children of Ukraine for the subsequent development of this territory in the interests of the power and financial elite of the United States, Britain and Israel.
    The implementation of this plan, in fact, is aimed at destroying the Russian world, followed by the American “deep state” plans to destroy Iran and block China.
    ​ ​Due to the objective laws of global economic development, this plan is doomed to failure. The United States will not be able to win the global hybrid war it has unleashed to maintain its global hegemony. They are irrevocably losing it to China, which is rapidly strengthening as a result of anti-Russian sanctions.
    https://thesaker.is/sergey-glazyev-for-those-who-still-dont-understand/

    #107310
    John Day
    Participant

    10 EU countries quietly buying gas with rubles, Hungary says
    European leaders won’t admit they’re going along with Russia’s deal
    https://www.rt.com/business/554827-hungary-eu-gas-rubles/

    The European economy is dependent upon imported oil and gas. High ​fuel ​prices are​ ​a multiplier of all costs of living and manufacture in europe. Cessation of supply would reasonably cause death​s​ and industrial shut-down.
    ​European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for a phased ban on all Russian oil by the end of the year.
    Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament this would be “a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined.”
    “We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimises the impact on global markets,” she said.
    “This is why we will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/eu-proposes-ban-russian-oil-imports

    ​ Pepe Escobar explains the historic differences between Byzantium (Constantinople) and Rome.
    Some high points are the differences in relation to the organized Church.
    In Roman Catholicism, the Church hierarchy intercedes between man and God.
    In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, individual Christians are guided by God through the Holy Spirit, not subject to commands from a Pope/Patriarch.
    The Orthodox clergy are facilitators of worship. ​
    Importantly, Crusaders sacked Constantinople, “showing their true colors”.
    Constantinople was “the Second Rome”. There is also a “Third Rome” in this tradition.
    Clash of Christianities: Why Europe cannot understand Russia
    https://thesaker.is/clash-of-christianities-why-europe-cannot-understand-russia/

    Russia captures ​(recent former, disgraced) ​Commander of Canadian Army at Azovstal
    ​ ​General Trevor Cadieu (Trevor John Cadieu), captured by Russian troops while trying to escape from the cellars of Azovstal, was​ (recently) the commander of the Canadian Ground Forces, APA reports citing Mailbd.
    ​ ​Seated in the catacombs under the Mariupol steel plant “Azovstal” nationalists staged a provocation, trying to hide the Canadian general’s attempt to escape. After the capture of a high-ranking foreign soldier by units of the RF Armed Forces, it became clear why so many efforts were made to save him.
    ​ ​A high-ranking mercenary tried to break out of the encirclement at Azovstal several times. It was for this that the West insisted on humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians: among them, foreign specialists had to leave the catacombs.
    https://apa.az/en/america/russia-captures-commander-of-canadian-army-at-azovstal-375055

    #107311
    John Day
    Participant

    Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D) suggested that former President Barack Obama is behind the Biden administration’s creation of the Disinformation Governance Board.
    “Biden is just a front man. Obama, April 21: social media censors ‘don’t go far enough,’ so the government needs to step in to do the job. Six days later, Homeland Security rolls out the ‘Ministry of Truth’ (aka Disinformation Governance Board),” Gabbard tweeted.

    Tulsi Gabbard: Obama Behind ‘Ministry of Truth,’ Biden Just a ‘Front Man’

    ​ It is an excellent case, and now with serious legal funding. They ruined this honest man, who rightfully owned Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, turned it over to the FBI and waited most of a year before sharing it with Team Trump and the New York Post (which was also defamed).​ Not “Russian hacking”…
    Repairman who revealed Hunter Biden laptop sues Schiff, CNN, Politico and the Daily Beast
    ​ ​“After fighting to reveal the truth, all I want now is for the rest of the country to know that there was a collective and orchestrated effort by social and mainstream media to block a real story with real consequences for the nation,” the 45-year-old Mac Isaac told The Post.
    https://nypost.com/2022/05/03/repairman-who-revealed-hunter-biden-laptop-sues-schiff-cnn-politico-beast/

    ​ Personally, I have always supported women, my friends, patients and relatives in their right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy.
    My medical practice has always reflected this. I have gone to lengths to protect individual women from individual threats to their choice. (Boyfriend telling a patient, “If you kill my baby, I’ll kill you”, comes to mind. We had to keep her pregnancy secret.)​

    ​SCOTUS leak increases Democrat’s odds of controlling House/Senate after midterms​
    ​ ​On Tuesday, President Biden reacted immediately to the leaked draft and said:
    ​ ​”I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.​ ​”And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.”
    ​ ​The Democrats now have a compelling message, something they lacked this year as the highest inflation in four decades crushes working poor Americans who struggle with record-high gas and food prices moved to the right side of the political aisle. Now, there’s a chance that some middle of the fence voters could be swayed to vote Democrat based on a potential ruling by the Supreme Court.​ ​https://www.zerohedge.com/political/scotus-leak-sparks-surge-democrats-odds-controlling-senate-after-midterms

    ​Glenn Greenwald points out that the constitutional role of the Supreme Court is widely misunderstood. It does not make laws, but interprets constitutional meaning and intent, as they relate to laws or rights of American citizens, when questions arise. This protects the rights of citizens who are in the minority.
    The Irrational, Misguided Discourse Surrounding Supreme Court Controversies Such as Roe v. Wade
    ​ ​Politico on Monday night published what certainly appears to be a genuine draft decision by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn the Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Alito’s draft ruling would decide the pending case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which concerns the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy except in the case of medical emergency or severe fetal abnormalities. Given existing Supreme Court precedent that abortion can only be restricted after fetal viability, Mississippi’s ban on abortions after the 15th week — at a point when the fetus is not yet deemed viable — is constitutionally dubious. To uphold Mississippi’s law — as six of the nine Justices reportedly wish to do — the Court must either find that the law is consistent with existing abortion precedent, or acknowledge that it conflicts with existing precedent and then overrule that precedent on the ground that it was wrongly decided.​..

    ​..​Draft rulings and even justices’ votes sometimes change in the period between the initial vote after oral argument and the issuance of the final decision. Depending on whom you choose to believe, this leak is either the work of a liberal justice or clerk designed to engender political pressure on the justices so that at least one abandons their intention to overrule Roe, or it came from a conservative justice or clerk, designed to make it very difficult for one of the justices in the majority to switch sides.​..

    ​..One of the primary concerns in designing the new American republic, if not the chief concern, was how to balance the need to establish rule by the majority (democracy) with the equally compelling need to restrain majorities from veering into impassioned, self-interested attacks on the rights of minorities (republican government).​.. ​The point of the Constitution, and ultimately the Supreme Court, was to establish a republic, not a pure democracy, that would place limits on the power of majorities.​.. ​Thus, in the U.S., it does not matter if 80% or 90% of Americans support a law to restrict free speech, or ban the free exercise of a particular religion, or imprison someone without due process, or subject a particularly despised criminal to cruel and unusual punishment. Such laws can never be validly enacted.

    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-irrational-misguided-discourse?s=r

    #107312
    John Day
    Participant

    51 times more likely to die in one age group…

    Children’s Risk of Death Increases by 5100% Following COVID-19 Vaccination Compared to Unvaccinated Children According to Official ONS Data

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/children-risk-death-increases-5100-following-covid-19-vaccination-compared-unvaccinated-children-according-official-ons-data/5779075

    ​Vitamin-D is protective against contacting COVID and saves lives. Why was this not released sooner? (July to December 2020 study)​​
    Efficacy and Safety of Vitamin D Supplementation to Prevent COVID-19 in Frontline Healthcare Workers. A Randomized Clinical Trial​

    ​Results
    Of 321 recruited subjects, 94 VDG and 98 PG completed follow-up. SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was lower in VDG than in PG (6.4 vs. 24.5%, p <0.001). The risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection was lower in the VDG than in the PG (RR: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.09–0.55) and was associated with an increment in serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.82–0.93), independently of VD deficiency. No significant adverse events were identified.
    Conclusions
    Our results suggest that VD-supplementation in highly exposed individuals prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection without serious AEs and regardless of VD status​ ​https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0188440922000455

    #107313
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    On a lighter note, with some new world enflaming crisis hitting the Head Lines every day or so, right about now would be an excellent opportunity to get out in front of the story on any skeletons currently stuffed way back in the closet. No matter how gruesomely horribly bad the facts might be the story will be instantly shoved out of the News Cycle by tomorrow’s fresh outrage. My sense of humor is maybe a shade too dark.

    #107314
    teri
    Participant

    52 years ago today. That was back when we used to think they couldn’t kill us all, nor would they even try. How little we knew.

    “Ohio”, CSNY

    #107315

    If the State can force you to have a baby, it can force you to not have a baby.
    The post sex pill was indeed a game changer where and when it’s available.
    For those who don’t want to leave the future of the species in the hands of women, the WEF has a plan involving incubators.

    #107316
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #107317
    John Day
    Participant

    @Figmund Sreud: Thanks for the Moon of Alabama investigation of Sergey Lavrov’s apparently offhand remark :
    ” I may be mistaken but Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood, too. This means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews. “Every family has its black sheep” …

    How many skins hath this onion?
    ..Mr. Lapid said that Mr. Lavrov’s comments were “both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error.”
    “Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust,” he added. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.” …

    ..It seems to me that Lavrov has that one right. It really seems that Adolf Hitler had some Jewish ancestors who even paid for the upbringing of his father.

    Now onto the other issue, Lavrov’s claim that:

    .. the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews. “Every family has its black sheep,” as we say.
    Yair Lapid does not agree with that. Well, his father didn’t either until, to his embarrassment, some new facts proved him wrong. There is for example the well known case of Rudolf Kasztner in which Lapid’s father was involved.

    #107318
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ Mr. House

    The market ticker link did not work for me.

    Astounding, I Tell You… article

    “the United States is a failed nation and the Constitution is, in fact, toilet paper”

    #107319
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Link to the article instead of the pdf:

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=245779

    #107320
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    At this point I suspect most nations in the western world are failed nations and the masses have not realized it yet

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