Jun 232022
 
 June 23, 2022  Posted by at 8:28 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Georges Seurat Study for “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” 1884

 

Why Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky Won’t Say Ukraine Is Winning the War (NW)
Jay Powell: Not Russia That Created U.S. Inflation, It Is Joe Biden Policy (CTH)
Exile on Main Street: The Sound of the Unipolar World Fading Away (Escobar)
Russia Says West Is Spreading Lies About Causes of World’s Food Crisis (R.)
Letter from Faina Savenkova (Saker)
Covid Vaccines More Likely to Put You in Hospital Than Keep You Out (DS)
We Must Never Forget (Siglaugsson)
The Neocon’s Dream – Decolonize Russia, Re-colonize China (MoA)
China’s Ties to Russia Looms Large at NATO’s Madrid Meeting (Celente)
Sri Lanka Economy Has ‘Completely Collapsed’ – PM (Sky)
Ghislaine Maxwell: US Prosecutors Urge 30-Year Minimum Prison Sentence (G.)
Extraditing Assange Would Be a “Legalized” Rendition to US Torture (Kanji)
Assange Put on Suicide Watch After Patel Decision (Lauria)

 

 

My initial take was slightly different: Get your photo taken with Ben Stiller, and you’ll be taken down shortly afterward…

 

 

Bottom Gun

 

 

 

 

“Germany shuts down nuclear reactors.
Then buys gas from Russia.
Then Russia cuts gas supply.
Then Germany reopens coal plants.
The coal is bought from Russia.”

 

 

Dore Tucker

 

 

 

 

 

 

Priceless. Newsweek outperforms itself.

Why Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky Won’t Say Ukraine Is Winning the War (NW)

Russia had lots of guns and materiel but it proved to be a hulking monster on the ground: poorly led, badly trained. Seventy-two hours became a week, then another, then the week after, then right after the next victory, then next month, and now, in the words of NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, “years.” Yet despite the setbacks, somehow the widespread notion has remained that mighty Russia will inevitably prevail over a weaker Ukraine. It won’t. At some turning point, after those 72 hours, after the bogged-down convoy, after the valiant and heartbreaking defense of Mariupol, after the failure to establish air superiority, after running low on precision weapons, after the withdrawal from the north, after more and more friends entered the fight on Ukraine’s side—Javelin, Stinger, Switchblade, M777—after deaths and injuries in the thousands, after desertions and refusals to fight, after failure upon failure on the battlefield, after one month, after two, after 100 days, the tide turned.

Yet scarcely anyone wants to say that Russia has lost. Ukrainian President Zelensky, desperate for external support and more guns, motivator of the people and rouser of the troops, has to keep the tension high and the prospects dire, lest all of the urgency and attention dissipate. President Biden and his fellow Western leaders speak of the defense of freedom and democracy, of the heightened threat to Europe and the free world, of the inevitability of China following Putin’s path, all to feed the military beast, excite the public, keep “national security” at the top of everyone’s agenda. And Putin obviously can’t admit it, determined equally to stay in power and to avoid the humiliation and danger of defeat. Putin doesn’t motivate the troops—he sends them. For weeks, Ukraine has been releasing snippets of intercepted conversations between these lowly soldiers and their parents, wives and girlfriends back home.

The soldiers complain that there is no information and no support. They are confused about the point of the war and its objectives. They are not allowed to take a break from fighting. They are poorly equipped and supplied. There is not enough medicine or doctors. “Our command has left,” one soldier told his wife, referring to platoon and company commanders who were deserting their units and the battlefield. “Well, they didn’t leave– they dropped their weapons.” It’s a myth, the soldier says, that “Russians do not let Russians down.” They’ve been let down and they all know it. Morale is so bad, British intelligence says, that there have been armed standoffs between political enforcers and individuals and even units on the battlefield that have refused to follow their orders. Russia is suffering “very heavy casualties, combat stress, continued poor logistics, and problems with pay,” the U.K. reported.

“Morale problems in the Russian force are likely so significant that they are limiting Russia’s ability to achieve operational objectives.” Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of the British Armed Forces was more blunt. “Russia will never take control of Ukraine,” he said. “Ukraine has shown how courageous it really is. Russia has vulnerabilities because it’s running out of people, it’s running out of hi-tech missiles,” Radakin said. “Any notion that this is a success for Russia is nonsense. Russia is failing. It might be getting some tactical successes over the last few weeks. And those might continue for the next few weeks. But Russia is losing.”

Read more …

Under the bus.

Jay Powell: Not Russia That Created U.S. Inflation, It Is Joe Biden Policy (CTH)

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell admitted the obvious in his senate testimony today when asked about U.S. inflation. However, his testimony directly contradicts the White House claims. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), member of the Senate Banking Committee, walked through the inflation timeline and asked Chairman Powell about the cause of the escalated inflation in 2021. Powell admitted the massive rise in inflation had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Jay Powell

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“The rupture with the West is irreversible and definitive. No pressure from the West will change it..”

Exile on Main Street: The Sound of the Unipolar World Fading Away (Escobar)

The era of the unipolar world is over. The rupture with the West is irreversible and definitive. No pressure from the West will change it. Russia has renewed with its sovereignty. Reinforcement of political and economic sovereignty is an absolute priority. The EU has completely lost its political sovereignty. The current crisis shows the EU is not ready to play the role of an independent, sovereign actor. It’s just en ensemble of American vassals deprived of any politico-military sovereignty. Sovereignty cannot be partial. Either you’re a sovereign or a colony. Hunger in the poorest nations will be on the conscience of the West and euro-democracy. Russia will supply grains to the poorer nations in Africa and the Middle East. Russia will invest in internal economic development and reorientation of trade towards nations independent of the U.S.

The future world order, already in progress, will be formed by strong sovereign states. The ship has sailed. There’s no turning back. How does it feel, for the collective West, to be caught in such a crossfire hurricane? Well, it gets more devastating when we add to the new roadmap the latest on the energy front. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, in St. Petersburg, stressed that the global economic crisis is gaining momentum not because of sanctions, but exacerbated by them; Europe “commits energy suicide” by sanctioning Russia; sanctions against Russia have done away with the much lauded “green transition”, as that is no longer needed to manipulate markets; and Russia, with its vast energy potential, “is the Noah’s Ark of the world economy.”

For his part Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller could not be more scathing on the sharp decline in the gas flow to the EU due to Siemens’ refusal and/or incapacity to repair the Nord Stream 1 pumping engine: “Well, of course, Gazprom was forced to reduce the volume of gas supplies to Europe by 20%+. But you know, prices have increased not by 20%+, but by several times! Therefore, I’m sorry if I say that we don’t feel offended by anyone, we are not particularly concerned by this situation.” If this pain dial overdrive was not enough to hurl the collective West – or NATOstan – into Terminal Hysteria, then Putin’s sharp comment on possibly allowing Mr. Sarmat to present his business card to “decision-making centers in Kiev”, those that are ordering the current shelling and killing of civilians in Donetsk, definitely did the trick:

“As for the red lines, let me keep them to myself, because this will mean quite tough actions on the decision-making centers. But this is an area that shouldn’t be disclosed to people outside the military-political leadership of the country. Those who deserve appropriate actions on our part should draw a conclusion for themselves – what they may face if they cross the line.”

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“..disrupting payment systems, shipping, insurance which had prevented many Russian exports of food and fertiliser..”

Russia Says West Is Spreading Lies About Causes of World’s Food Crisis (R.)

Russia on Wednesday said the West was spreading lies about the causes of the global food crisis which Moscow said was being stoked by the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and European Union due to the invasion of Ukraine.[..] Western sanctions, Zakharova said, had tipped agricultural markets towards the edge of the abyss by disrupting payment systems, shipping, insurance which had prevented many Russian exports of food and fertiliser. “It is illogical – on the one hand the European Union… says a threat to global food security is being created but at the same time they block the delivery routes of goods to themselves on their own continent,” Zakharova said. President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials do not use the words “war” or “invasion”. They cast the action as a “special military operation” aimed at preventing the persecution of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.


Putin also casts the war as a revolt against the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by pushing for the enlargement of the NATO military alliance westwards. Ukraine says it is fighting for its survival against a land grab by Russia and that it will fight to the end to free its territory from Russian control. Kyiv dismisses claims that Russian-speakers have been persecuted. Eritrea, Armenia, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Somalia, Belarus, Turkey, Madagascar, Lebanon, Egypt and Pakistan depend on Russia or Ukraine for more than 70% of their wheat imports in 2021, according to United Nations data. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Serbia, Honduras and Ghana rely on Russia for 50% or more of their fertiliser imports in 2021, according to the data.

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“If there is chaos around, there must be people who can show the way out to the others..”

Letter from Faina Savenkova (Saker)

Truth is the way out of chaos. To Journalist Tucker Carlson. Hello, Tucker. I am 13 years old and I live in Lugansk. I think many people from the American authorities do not even know where it is, but they continue to supply weapons to Ukraine for the war with Russia. For a week now, Ukrainian artillery has been mercilessly shelling Donetsk, killing civilians in the Donbass. It’s one thing to fight with the army, and another to just shoot guns at schools, kindergartens and sleeping residents. Many will say that this is deception and propaganda, but it is not so. I was born and live in Lugansk. I spent the entire war – since 2014 – in my hometown. Living in a war for 8 years is very hard. It’s very scary when your childhood is spent in such conditions. 8 years of hope for peace, which never came. But it didn’t break me. I keep telling the truth about what’s going on here.

And I know that you do the same thing when you talk about America. I do not consider you a friend of Russia, but the fact that you are telling the truth and do not want a war with Russia pleases me. After all, if there is a nuclear war, there will be no winners in it. I’ve had to turn to world leaders a lot. I’ve been trying to stop the war for three years, but they, like musicians and politicians, are deaf and dumb. Perhaps someone wants to calmly meet old age, someone is afraid of change, and someone simply does not understand what war is. After all, it is not next to them. Last year, Ukrainian nationalists entered my personal data on the “myrotvorets.center” (english: “Peacemaker”) website, posting them in open access. After that, I started receiving threats. You may ask, “What is a myrotvorets.center?” Indeed, many in the US do not know what it is.

If we compare, imagine if the Ku Klux Klan in the USA created its own website and posted there the addresses, bank accounts and other personal data of all politicians, actors and musicians who disagree with them. And the authorities would help them at the same time. This is what is happening in Ukraine now. A lot of my friends from Ukraine faced the same problem: “myrotvorets.center ” published their personal data, including address and phone number. Can you imagine such a thing in the USA? No. It’s hard for me to say what will happen to me tomorrow. After all, I live in a war where shells arrive every day. But I believe that the war will end, just like the confrontation between Russia and the United States. And personally, Tucker, I want to wish you good luck. Thank you for trying to tell the truth, because someone has to do it. If there is chaos around, there must be people who can show the way out to the others.

Faina Savenkova, playwright and writer, 13-year-old girl, Lugansk

Read more …

“… BMJ Editor’s Analysis of Pfizer and Moderna Trial Data Finds..”

Whatever mistakes BMJ Editor Dr. Peter Doshi may have made, this is still significant.

Covid Vaccines More Likely to Put You in Hospital Than Keep You Out (DS)

A new paper by BMJ Editor Dr. Peter Doshi and colleagues has analysed data from the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccine trials and found that the vaccines are more likely to put you in hospital with a serious adverse event than keep you out by protecting you from Covid. The pre-print (not yet peer-reviewed) focuses on serious adverse events highlighted in a WHO-endorsed “priority list of potential adverse events relevant to COVID-19 vaccines”. The authors evaluated these serious adverse events of special interest as observed in “phase III randomised trials of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines”. A serious adverse event was defined as per the trial protocols as an adverse event that results in any of the following conditions:

• death; • life-threatening at the time of the event; • inpatient hospitalisation or prolongation of existing hospitalisation; • persistent or significant disability/incapacity; • a congenital anomaly/birth defect; • medically important event, based on medical judgement. Dr. Doshi and colleagues found that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were associated with an increased risk of serious adverse events of special interest of 10.1 events per 10,000 vaccinated for Pfizer and 15.1 events per 10,000 for Moderna (95% CI -0.4 to 20.6 and -3.6 to 33.8, respectively). When combined, the mRNA vaccines were associated with a risk increase of serious adverse events of special interest of 12.5 per 10,000 vaccinated (95% CI 2.1 to 22.9).

The authors note that this level of increased risk post-vaccine is greater than the risk reduction for COVID-19 hospitalisation in both Pfizer and Moderna trials, which was 2.3 per 10,000 participants for Pfizer and 6.4 per 10,000 for Moderna. This means that on this measure, the Pfizer vaccine results in a net increase in serious adverse events of 7.8 per 10,000 vaccinated and the Moderna vaccine of 8.7 per 10,000 vaccinated. Addressing the difference between their findings and those of the FDA when it approved the vaccines, the authors note that the FDA’s analysis of serious adverse events “included thousands of additional participants with very little follow-up, of which the large majority had only received one dose”.

The FDA also counted ‘people affected’ rather than individual events, despite there being twice as many individuals in the vaccine group than the placebo group who experienced multiple serious adverse events. The authors wonder where the U.S. Government’s own studies of adverse events are. They note that in July 2021, the FDA reported detecting four potential adverse events of interest following Pfizer vaccination – pulmonary embolism, acute myocardial infarction, immune thrombocytopenia and disseminated intravascular coagulation – and stated it would further investigate the findings. However, no update has yet appeared. They also note that “while CDC published a protocol in early 2021 for using proportional reporting ratios for signal detection in the VAERS database, the agency has not yet reported such a study”.

Read more …

“There will be a scramble for alternative truths once the narrative starts crumbling..”

We Must Never Forget (Siglaugsson)

Recently the Icelandic chief epidemiologist said in an interview the lockdowns hadn‘t been stringent enough. And he blamed those few politicians who voiced their doubts and worried about the well-being of society as a whole, for undermining the solidarity behind the measures. As if he were the emperor, the politicians only his servants. And he is not alone. Many of those people will continue pushing the narrative even as it crumbles around them. They will be the first targets of people‘s anger. Then it will be the politicians, pharmaceuticals, media and big tech. There will of course be strong pushback. There will be a scramble for alternative truths once the narrative starts crumbling; for something to keep the veil on the lies and atrocities. The push for continued masking, lockdowns, vaccine mandates will continue for a while.

And we shouldn‘t forget there are huge interests at stake here, to certain very big business sectors, lockdowns are a godsend; human interaction is a threat to them. The censorship will be ramped up even further. But despite all the power, money and technology, the facts will emerge, the truth will prevail in the end. It always does. Some might say I‘m too optimistic, that we are already under the control of conspiring media, big-tech and corrupt officials, with no way out. But is it really so? Recently a US attempt at handing unprecedented powers over to the WHO was averted, thanks mostly to African leaders and strong public opposition. The vaccine mandates are disappearing and what will eventually come of the still existing plans for health passes is unclear. But of course the danger is still there.

What really matters is how we react as the narrative crumbles. Will we just shrug and move on with our daily lives, not caring about the threat to our freedom and humanity? Or will we face the consequences of our failure to think critically, of our gullibility, our lack of moral integrity, as the German people were forced to do after World War II, as the Icelanders had to do after 2008? Will we bring those responsible to court? Will we learn, once again the hard way, how the only thing that can prevent such catastrophes in the future is taking responsibility as thinking, doubting individuals?

And will we finally understand the true meaning of Hannah Arendt‘s conclusion in The Origins of Totaliarianism, that flawed as it may be, it is only a sovereign nation state of free people, governed by elected representatives who take their responsibility seriously; as they did in the tiny Faroe Islands during the pandemic; and not unelected officials, supranational organizations or huge corporations; that only the nation state is really able to protect universal human rights? We have to move on. We have to rebuild our societies, reestablish our moral values and our rights, rebuild trust in science and trust within our communities. But to truly move on, we must face, understand and act on the roots of the catastrophe, and take full responsibility for the part each of us played. This is why we must not forget. We must never forget.

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“Russia sells its oil to China and India where it gets refined. The resulting gasoline and diesel is then exported to the U.S.. That is good for India and China as they buy the oil with a rebate and sell the end products with a substantial margin..”

The Neocon’s Dream – Decolonize Russia, Re-colonize China (MoA)

The neo-conservatives are back using a new narrative to push their old agenda. Russian officials will love such talk: “Today’s panel is a further step forward in that it tells ordinary Russians that even regime change and democracy is not good enough for them. They require the partition of their country into smaller (more easily controlled) polities, so that they can be free. Needless to say, this is a propaganda coup for Putin and the Kremlin as it allows them to paint the conflict in Ukraine as an existential fight.” The Kremlin has no need to ‘paint’ the conflict as an existential fight. The Russians know that it is such a fight. Biden’s haplessness continues to tank the Democrats chances to keep house majority. In a meager attempt to tackle the high fuel price he will today call on Congress to suspend the tax on fuel for three month. It is just a gimmick which would have little effect at the pump and has no chance to pass Congress:

“GOP lawmakers have been hammering Biden and Democrats on the campaign trail over inflation and fuel prices. They argue that such measures are political theater that will do little to make long-term dents in oil prices. The best way to reduce oil prices, they say, is to loosen regulations and increase U.S. oil production. … California had the highest average gas price of any state at $6.398 per gallon. The gas tax suspension would reduce the cost of a gallon of diesel fuel by 24 cents.” The real reason for high fuel prices is Biden’s misguided foreign policy. Three of the biggest oil producers on the globe, Venezuela, Iran and Russia, are under U.S. sanctions that limit their oil exports:

The sanctions have made it more difficult for Russia to sell its oil. Biden has also banned the import of Russian oil, and last month Europe announced it was imposing a partial embargo on it. As of 2020, Russia was the world’s third-largest producer of petroleum, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As the New York Times correctly headlines: “Western Move to Choke Russia’s Oil Exports Boomerangs, for Now”. That move will continue to boomerang. Russia sells it oil to China and India where it gets refined. The resulting gasoline and diesel is then exported to the U.S.. That is good for India and China as they buy the oil with a rebate and sell the end products with a substantial margin. It is a ‘win’ ‘win’ ‘win’ for Russia, India and China with the sole loser being the ‘west’. Whatever NYT hope of sanction success is expressed in its ‘for now’ addition to the headline is not going to change that.

Meanwhile Russia is announcing the next target of its campaign to counter ‘western’ misbehavior – the reserve status of the U.S. dollar and the Euro: “MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. The issue of creating an international reserve currency based on currencies of BRICS member-states is under consideration, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday in the welcome address to BRICS Business Forum participants. “The matter of creating the international reserve currency based on the basket of currencies of our countries is under review,” the Russian leader said. BRICS currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Together those countries represent 3.2 billion people and a third of the world’s purchase power GDP. The new international reserve currency would therefore have a much larger backing than the U.S. dollar or the Euro.

Read more …

Still longing for total control.

China’s Ties to Russia Looms Large at NATO’s Madrid Meeting (Celente)

Less than a month after President Joe Biden was sworn into office, he took a 10-minute drive from the White House to the Pentagon to meet with his top military leaders, including Lloyd Austin, his new defense secretary. Biden was there for one reason: China. Biden told workers there that he was briefed about a Defense Department-wide task force headed by Austin that would look at “operational concepts, technology, and force posture,” to counter the growing competition from Beijing. Biden said the U.S. will “meet the China challenge” by taking a “whole-of-government effort, bipartisan cooperation in Congress, and strong alliances and partnerships.” No presidency is ever without surprises, but even with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seems that it’s China that keeps Washington awake at night.

Need proof? About a month before Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, Biden announced that U.S. troops will not fight Russians in Ukraine, which was not protected by NATO’s Article 5. But he said twice -in roughly the same time frame – that U.S. would defend Taiwan against China. (The White House on both occasions corrected the record and said Washington’s position of strategic ambiguity has not changed, but the sentiment was there.) China has recognized Russia’s security concern over an expanding NATO while calling an end to the conflict. Hua Chunying, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the invasion of Ukraine was not what Beijing hoped to see. “China has taken a responsible attitude and persuaded all parties not to escalate tensions or incite war,” she said.

“Those who follow the U.S.’s lead in fanning up flame and then shifting the blame onto others are truly irresponsible.” Beijing has lashed out at the U.S. over its interference over Taiwan. It is widely believed that Putin informed his Chinese counterpart about his intention to invade Ukraine during their meeting at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. “The Chinese side stands ready to work with the Russian side to push for steady and long-term development of practical bilateral cooperation,” President Xi JinPing said, after a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Xi said trade with Russia over the first half of this year has been [in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars] and we “can expect new records in upcoming months, which is a testament to the great cooperation between our two nations.”

Read more …

Test case?!

Sri Lanka Economy Has ‘Completely Collapsed’ – PM (Sky)

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said the country’s economy has “completely collapsed”, leaving it unable to pay for essentials such as oil imports. It follows months of shortages of food, fuel, and electricity, and the realisation that even the credit lines from neighbouring India that have sustained the country so far will not be enough. Mr Wickremesinghe told Sri Lanka’s parliament: “We are now facing a far more serious situation beyond the mere shortages of fuel, gas, electricity and food. “Our economy has completely collapsed – that is the most serious issue before us today.” Mr Wickremesinghe said that the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is $700m (£572m) in debt, adding: “As a result, no country or organisation in the world is willing to provide fuel to us.

“They are even reluctant to provide fuel for cash.” Sri Lanka has been struggling under the weight of its debt, combined with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, including a loss of tourism revenue and the rising cost of commodities. In April, it suspended payment on the equivalent of £9.8bn in foreign debt. Mr Wickremesinghe said that efforts to turn the situation around had failed, adding: “If steps had at least been taken to slow down the collapse of the economy at the beginning, we would not be facing this difficult situation today. “But we lost out on this opportunity. “We are now seeing signs of a possible fall to rock bottom.” Previous prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned in May after months of protests and clashes between government supporters and those demanding a change in leadership.

This brought veteran Mr Wickremesinghe to the role for a sixth time, in a move that opposition politicians said was aimed at protecting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family from protesters’ anger. A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Colombo earlier this week and talks with them have made progress, Mr Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday, adding that an agreement was likely by the end of this month. “We have discussed multiple points including fiscal policy, debt restructuring and direct cash transfers,” he said. “Parallel to this, we have also started talks on a debt restructuring framework, which we hope will be completed in July.”

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“She will be sentenced on 28 June..” How about her clients?

Ghislaine Maxwell: US Prosecutors Urge 30-Year Minimum Prison Sentence (G.)

Ghislaine Maxwell should get at least 30 years’ imprisonment for sex trafficking when she is sentenced next week for her role in facilitating the abuse of teenage girls by Jeffrey Epstein, New York federal prosecutors have said in court filings. “Ghislaine Maxwell sexually exploited young girls for years. It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of her crimes and the harm she caused. Her crimes demand justice,” they said in a court filing on Wednesday. “The government urges the court to impose a sentence within the applicable guidelines range of 360 to 660 months’ imprisonment.” The prosecution’s filing comes one week after Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she should receive “well below” the 20-year sentence recommended by sentencing officials.


Although Maxwell’s defense attorneys and prosecutors each make their arguments for an appropriate sentence, the decision ultimately rests with Alison Nathan, the judge. “Maxwell’s conduct was shockingly predatory,” prosecutors said in arguing for a lengthy sentence. “She was a calculating, sophisticated, and dangerous criminal who preyed on vulnerable young girls and groomed them for sexual abuse. “Not only did her conduct exhibit a callous disregard for other human beings, but her practice of targeting vulnerable victims reflects her view that struggling young girls could be treated like disposable objects.” Maxwell was convicted on 29 December for her role in the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls, some as young as 14, who she brought into his orbit. She will be sentenced on 28 June. She maintains her innocence.

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Very good angle.

Extraditing Assange Would Be a “Legalized” Rendition to US Torture (Kanji)

As the British government moves ever closer to extraditing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, the pantomime of “justice” cloaking his persecution in the regalia of the “rule of law” continues to unfold: a torture rendition by another name, inching forward as the world watches in real time. On June 17, the U.K.’s Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition of Assange to the United States, following the magistrate court’s order that the transfer should proceed. In this fundamentally skewed process, Assange’s capacity to meaningfully defend himself has been systematically assaulted by government smear campaigns; surveillance of his lawyers; and stultifying, arbitrary rules and restrictions obstructing him from participating in his own case — as documented in detail by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer in his recent book, The Trial of Julian Assange.

Previously, U.S. officials discussed “options” for kidnapping Assange and assassinating him by poison — tactics ultimately dismissed as “something we’d do in Afghanistan,” Egypt or Pakistan, but not the U.K. Therefore, they’ve opted for the more “civilized” alternative. Instead of kidnapping, extradition. And instead of assassination, entombment in the torturous U.S. carceral system, where Assange faces a death-in-prison sentence of 175 years for exposing U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. How is this, in essence and effect, anything but the “legal” equivalent of an extraordinary rendition — defined by the American Civil Liberties Union as “the practice of capturing people and sending them to countries that use torture or abuse in interrogations”?

While the U.S.’s infamous extraordinary rendition program has (now) been officially condemned and supposedly ceased, rendition to torture via legalized means is enduringly embraced. In “extraordinary” rendition, hundreds of “war on terror” detainees were secretly imprisoned and brutalized in CIA black sites around the world. In “legalized” rendition, the torture chambers are not foreign black sites but prisons transformed into “Guantánamo Norths” within the U.S. itself. In “extraordinary” rendition, victims were seized off the streets extrajudicially by the CIA. In the “legalized” version, the condemned are delivered into U.S. hands through judicially sanctioned means such as extradition — abusive processes accorded an aura of legal legitimacy.

U.S. courts have upheld transfers into U.S. custody even when the targets have been abducted at gunpoint, severely beaten, burned, kept in secret offshore captivity for weeks or months (an increasingly popular practice with U.S. law enforcement), and electrocuted in their feet and genitals: acts of violence for which the courts have refused to provide any legal redress because they occurred outside the U.S. In “legalized” rendition, as in “extraordinary” rendition, detainees have been subjected to intensive solitary confinement, forced nudity, sexual humiliation, sensory deprivation, extreme light and temperature exposure, and other mechanisms of deliberate “psychic demolition”; although the degree of isolation and control achieved in domestic U.S. prisons under regimes such as “special administrative measures” is in many ways even more totalizing than at Guantánamo Bay.

Dail Assange

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Sweet Jesus….

Assange Put on Suicide Watch After Patel Decision (Lauria)

After British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed Julian Assange’s extradition order on Friday the authorities in Belmarsh prison stripped Julian Assange and threw him into a completely empty cell in an attempt to prevent his suicide, Assange’s father has said. It was just one more instance in which the prison humiliated his son, Shipton told a rally on Tuesday night at the offices of the junge Welt newspaper in Berlin. About 300 people attended, with an overflow crowd watching on close circuit TV in the courtyard. Testimony was heard from expert defense witnesses during Assange’s extradition hearing that he might try to end his life in prison once he learned he was going to the United States.

It is not the end of the road for Assange legally, however. His lawyers have until July 1 to file for an appeal of Patel’s decision to the High Court. They also intend to apply for a cross appeal of issues such as the political nature of the charges, the threat to free speech and the reported C.I.A. plot to kidnap or kill Assange before his arrest. Shipton and Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, are in Berlin to lobby the German government to put pressure on the United States to drop the case against Assange. On Monday, the Shiptons met with Tobias Lindner, the minister of state, at the German foreign ministry. “It was a practical and appropriate step for Tobias to take, to welcome Julian Assange’s father and bother into the foreign ministry,” John Shipton said.

“The invitation in itself and the meeting in the foreign ministry indicates that the German government is sincere in bringing about the freedom of Julian Assange.” But Shipton said he would like to hear a public statement from Germany in support of his son. “We’d like Tobias to confirm what he’s said.” A German government spokesman on Monday said however that Germany was unlikely to intervene with either the U.K. or the U.S. “This is a legal process that is already in motion, so I would be a little wary of political intervention,” he said, the French Press Agency (AFP) reported.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine the collapse of this…..

 

 

Mike Lynch

 

 

Cave of El Castillo, Spain. Hands and a Bison. Some of the hand stencils, mostly near the front and middle sections of the cave, were painted more than 37,000 years ago, but some of the more recent hand stencils are 24,000 years old.

 

 

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    Georges Seurat Study for “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” 1884   • Why Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky Won’t Say Ukraine Is Winning the War (NW) •
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 23 2022]

    #110214
    Red
    Participant

    History ended in 1991. That, at least, was the myth put about by a certain triumphalist brand of neoliberal. The West had won the cold war. The communist beast had been slayed. And the looming twenty-first century would be an American one. From that point on, there would be just one globalised system in which states traded and played according to the values and rules of the USA and its western vassals. This was, if you will, the New World Order 1.0 – the new American century and the economic Great Moderation.

    There were detractors of course. The late Immanuel Wallerstein pointed out that peak America happened in 1945 not 1991, while the late Chalmers Johnson argued that the true meaning of 1991 was that the USSR had merely collapsed first, and that the USA would surely follow suit – not least as the consequences of its – often violent – attempt to dictate the global rules came home to roost. Although broadly correct, the detractors tended to mistake inevitability for imminence, and were disappointed by the two decades of western, debt-based economic growth which followed. Indeed, even the unravelling – following the peak of conventional oil production in 2005 and the resulting banking and financial crash in 2008 – has also proceeded at a snail’s pace. Nevertheless, the 2008 crash and the ensuing depression spurred the western elites to re-imagine their New World Order.

    The New, New, New World Order

    #110215
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Probability of Global Recession Nearing 50%: Citigroup Economists”

    You get either yield curve inversion, or gas going up (+50%?) and you have a 100% recession. We have both, with the gas 3x-4x, not 1/2x. CitiGroup, you’re fired. Remove your money, they have no idea what they’re talking about and are bad at business.

    “’Inflation Was High Before Ukraine’: Powell Tosses Biden Back Under The Bus”

    “New Orleans Grill Becomes First Business Allowed By Court to Recover Damages for COVID-19 Lockdown Losses”

    If with precedent – and it should be – then this will bankrupt all government if short order. Not only was it WRONG, not only did it NOT WORK, No law was ever passed.

    Ray Dalio: “They also take buying power away by raising interest rates, which increases the amount of money that has to go toward paying interest and decreases the amount of money that goes toward spending.”

    That is, it transfers money FROM the public and businesses and TO the bankers. In an overwhelming way. A bank carpet bombing, if you will.

    “it takes buying power away. It just shifts some of the squeezing of people via inflation to squeezing them via giving them less buying power.
    The only way to raise living standards over the long term is to raise productivity and central banks don’t do that.”

    No. YOU do that. With work. Central Banks TAKE work. And waste it, mostly on pet projects and their friends.

    “More specifically, central banks inject doses of stimulation into the system via injecting credit and money into the system, which produces increases in demand for goods, services, and investment assets that are followed by periods of paying back and withdrawals of the stimulations, which produce lows in demand that are depressing. Whenever these depressing periods of paying back become too depressing, central banks typically provide another and even bigger dose of stimulation. They produce the short-term debt cycles (also known as the business cycle), which typically last for about seven years give or take a few.”

    Seven Years. Which THEY cause. Pulling first the “Inflation” then the “Deflation” lever, which we all agree they do. Didn’t mean to quote this article so much, but…

    These short-term debt cycles add up to the long-term debt cycles that typically last about 75 years”

    Kondratieff. The 4th Turning. The big war to end all wars. Which destroys one half’s debt, and resets the system to over-print and over-debt again. Who cares which side?
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reducing-inflation-come-great-cost-stagflation-ray-dalio/

    “TPTB just need a big enough war to always be a big enough emergency for whatever emergency measures they need”

    MSNBC guest: “There is a great deal of Americans where it is uncomfortable that they’re spending more, but they are not gonna go under. You’ve got to stop complaining … you still have your job … so I’m gonna need you to calm down and back off.”

    Was that the job where wages haven’t risen since 1993 and now does the work of 5 people, with 24/7 coverage even on vacation? Because I got sick and lost that job with no health care.

    Back off, have a margarita. Buy yourself a new Tesla and forget about it. Know your place.

    “Come together, right now, over me.”

    We did catch that Russia is more or less immediately supporting F-Stan, now that the U.S. utterly failed to win with their trillion dollar military budget against AK’s. (Cue how we don’t need weapons here because no one can beat the Army)

    But what does that mean? It means the war and bad blood are over, and longtime former enemies have united…Against the United States. This represents many nations, the “Global South”, that I suspect are doing the same thing. Stopping all squabbles for now to face the existential threat of the modern Napoleon, the Spirit of Antichrist (as Nostradamus would say) roaming the earth right now. Count what Christ stood for, then name the #Opposite. That’s them.

    There was a lot of coverage on Dore/Tucker this time, I don’t entirely know why. I think most are surprised since blinded by Right/Left as if somehow we can’t figure that to be entirely fake by now. Dore commented on it as 1) Tucker will platform far-Leftists, far to the Left of Bernie and MSNBC won’t 2) Isn’t it odd that to look for populists, anti-war, anti-billionaire, anti-monopoly, reporting on free speech, Assange, anything outside the establishment narrative™ you now have to look to the RIGHT? (Not really. It was all just made up that that was true, but it gets it into headlines)

    To me seemed like the same things we keep saying, but said snappily.

    LA Times: “There’s no Inflation”. “Inflation is Transitory”. “It’s not transitory but it’s good for you”. So as above, sit down, shut up, and know your place: You’re the cannon fodder required if I’m going to have 5 beach houses and a private jet.

    “Somehow the widespread notion has remained that mighty Russia will inevitably prevail over a weaker Ukraine. It won’t.”

    Holy Moly! I just read similar from Gatestone. Any communication whatsoever is “Appeasement”. The Russians don’t exist and therefore have no legitimate concerns and we will defeat them using more “signaling”. Russia must be utterly defeated, of course, and we can and will do that with no tanks and no men. How long will this psychosis persist? Apparently over 20 years, but these things come to crisis.

    “Yet scarcely anyone wants to say that Russia has lost.”

    Jawdropping. EVERYONE wants to say this, sir. Although it’s also false. So Rus owns 1/3 of the nation, Ze has no remaining equipment and fighting men, meaning the whole army is erased and Rus can now roam at will, and Russia…Lost? What is the purpose of this lie, Baghdad Bob?

    Before and After: “We were never at war with Estasia. We were always at war with Eurasia.” Winston makes sure, just go fact-check for yourself: the headlines clearly prove we were never at war with Estasia, you nut. Google and Facebook and the adulterer plagiarist who left his wife for a prostitute say so.

    I’m lost as to why this Newsweek article was written, since I don’t have a sense it’s because they are plotting a chemical attack or something because “Russia is desperate and losing.” Maybe they can’t think of anything else? If so, they usually start ANOTHER war and get distracted: Squirrel! Johnny Depp!

    Powell: so the story here is that someone was able to make someone tell the truth for once? I’ll admit: that is news. Low bar.

    “Russia, with its vast energy potential, “is the Noah’s Ark”

    But I thought Peak Oil: There was no oil left on earth? Therefore there is no oil in Russia, Iran, Libya, and East Africa. Wait: there actually IS still enough oil for another whole generation to use?

    “imagine if the Ku Klux Klan in the USA created its own website and posted there the addresses, bank accounts and other personal data of all politicians, actors and musicians who disagree with them. And the authorities would help them at the same time. This is what is happening in Ukraine now.”

    We don’t have to imagine, that’s happening here too. To Senators and Supreme Court Justices. And Presidents.

    “The vaccine mandates are disappearing”

    It’s just classic torture/control technique: people get accustomed to pressure, so you you must release the pressure, give them hope, then kill the hope in front of them with more violence. Until you utterly annihilate these guys, the torturers, you cannot be truly safe. As they have both committed mass crimes, and are deeply mentally ill, it shouldn’t be too hard to legally remove them. Point being: so long as you remain exclusively defensive, they are safe but you are not. You must mount an offensive to remove their power. But that wouldn’t be “nice”.

    ““Russia sells its oil to China and India where it gets refined. The resulting gasoline and diesel is then exported to the U.S..”

    All steps for a year are strengthening Russia and other nations, and are undermining Globalism. Are you sure that’s just a big accident? Sure is odd for Joe to make 100% of all moves that help Russia, including INCREASING all Russian imports to the ‘States while claiming to do the opposite. Europe is the only one collapsing here.

    “The gas tax suspension would reduce the cost of a gallon of diesel fuel by 24 cents.”

    Why bother? I mean, really. You need to knock $1-2 dollars off it to make a dent.

    “Biden was there for one reason: China.”

    We have exactly zero chance against China. For about a thousand reasons, but let’s just say it’s too far away with no possible bases. And we would, what? Declare war? Hahahahaha. We never follow the law. So we’re going to somehow I dunno, take over all Malaysia, all the Philippines, Vietnam more or less permanently to contain them? No we are not. Stay home. If we’re attacked, we can embargo/nuke them then. The U.S. can’t even defeat goatherders and ceded $6B in weapons when we unconditionally surrendered. And they say two Billy-bobs can’t defeat the U.S. with a pickup truck of AR’s. That’s not what our ACTUAL war record says. One of the Billy-Bobs would be a soldier in the first place.

    “[Biden] said twice -in roughly the same time frame – that U.S. would defend Taiwan against China.”

    Just like he said F-Stan was stable and we’re not leaving. Somebody’s staging this so the exact opposite always happens immediately after. However, the whole nation is in mass psychosis and never notices, even when gas is $8 and all their neighbors are dying. If China takes Taiwan, we’re going to watch and do nothing. Like Ukraine, we have no equipment, tanks, artillery or men anywhere in the theatre. We’re utterly helpless before a little detail called “Reality.” And Biden will take the fall. You didn’t think Trump was going to sit there when we cede Taiwan to China on a quid pro quo, did you?

    “Sri Lanka Economy Has ‘Completely Collapsed’ – PM (Sky)”

    If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t this a case of going to Socialism and trying to transition energy and food too fast? Yes, that sounds like a Beta test. Will Russia provide like so many places? They did recently, but how much? To me the metaphor and caution to us is that they have plenty of fish to sell but without the upfront diesel for the boats, they can’t go catch it for sale. That’s how the whole system works right now. We don’t have sailing ships or backup systems at scale to bootstrap right now, so it takes credit or flow. Don’t let the engine stall, it’s possible but it’s too hard to re-start it.

    This is what they said about the West starting a war but refusing to be serious about it, in ration cards, re-allocation to priority. It’s certain defeat. Which is the point. They’re trying to run the Russian Revolution model from 1917.

    “[Maxwell] was a calculating, sophisticated, and dangerous criminal who preyed on vulnerable young girls and groomed them for sexual abuse.”

    So were her clients. Where are they?

    “Extraditing Assange Would Be a “Legalized” Rendition to US Torture (Kanji)”

    Yeah we just pirate, steal, and kidnap stuff now. That’s what “exceptional” “Indispensable” “Moral” nations do.

    “The communist beast had been slayed.”

    Actually, the NeoCons/NeoLibs ARE the communists. That’s how the “Neo-Con” name was coined: they were ultra, forever-revolution Trotskyists on the Left who popped up like Gophers on the “far Right”. “Neo-Con” was a tongue-in-cheek joke because they were as far from “Right” or Conservative as is possible to be. Not that they weren’t also Socialists in their representation on the Left, since they are not Kennedy/Union Democrats – clearly – but centralized Authoritarians against free speech, free assembly, and gun rights for Democratic Party, union-member hunters. That is, they are all against everything the 70-year Democrats from FDR and JFK stood for. NAFTA. That sucking sound. Of sucking all union power out of the U.S., supported by the DNC for CEO bosses for 30 years.

    It’s actually the “Same Old S—t” order, the oldest failure in history, recycling failure, re-creating stupid. There’s nothing “New” about them at all. It’s prostitution, murder, Feudalism, Eugenics, piracy, brigandry. The guys are Boring. Boring as h—l. They just have a great PR team that makes you think they matter. They’re useless, inbred, trust-fund kids that without a broad system of bribery and murder fail even running a baseball team like “W”.

    That last Consciousness of Sheep (CoS) was good, so I’m trying to warm up to them.

    #110216
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Fourth Law of Themodynamics

    4th Pay in Rubles

    “….then Germany reopens coal plants.
    The coal is bought from Russia.”

    IEA: Europe Should Prepare For Complete Russian Gas Shutdown

    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/iea-europe-should-prepare-complete-russian-gas-shutdown

    .

    #110217
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Weather Forecast from Eurotardistan with Greta

    #110218
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Greta Thunberg sails away on hot air balloon powered by her own fiery breath

    .

    #110219
    zerosum
    Participant

    Ancient history.
    Its been tried and done before.
    Nothing new. We heard it before
    Its only, a summary for the regular posters at TAE
    Read more … keep reading TAE
    —————-
    Pensioners have already survived the worst inflation of 40 years ago
    Its going to get better.
    Inflation may go back down to 2% but it will be on the back of the all the high prices.
    ———–
    President Zelensky is guilty of war atrocities every time he speaks
    When President Biden and his fellow Western leaders speak, of the defense of freedom and democracy, they are lying.

    Read more … from Newsweek (don’t laugh too loud)

    https://www.newsweek.com/why-joe-biden-volodymyr-zelensky-wont-say-ukraine-winning-war-1717463
    Why Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky Won’t Say Ukraine Is Winning the War
    BY WILLIAM M. ARKIN ON 6/22/22
    262 Comments
    ——–
    The real reason for high fuel prices …. supply shortage and extortion

    Three of the biggest oil producers on the globe, Venezuela, Iran and Russia, are under U.S. sanctions that limit their oil exports:
    Russia sells it oil to China and India where it gets refined. The resulting gasoline and diesel is then exported to the U.S.. That is good for India and China as they buy the oil with a rebate and sell the end products with a substantial margin. It is a ‘win’ ‘win’ ‘win’ for Russia, India and China with the sole loser being the ‘west’.
    ———–

    #110221

    This compilation of obits and stories is a tearjerker. And I don’t know much about this website, but the headline is disturbing.
    If anyone out there is on Mark Crispin Miller’s site, maybe you could send him these two offerings.

    #110222
    John Day
    Participant

    Continuing a theme from last night: Aluminum smelting being shut down by high global electricity prices:
    Aluminum smelting/extraction used (2010) 3% of global electricity, typically the cheap and steady stufflike rural hydroelectric. http://wordpress.mrreid.org/2011/07/15/electricity-consumption-in-the-production-of-aluminium/#:~:text=To%20put%20that%20in%20perspective,went%20to%20extraction%20of%20aluminium.
    Bitcoin uses 0.5% of global electricity, typically cheap, steady rural electricity, but is far more mobile and able to move into an area quickly and move out again. (90% of Bitcoins have been “mined”.)
    https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-more-than-google-2021-9#:~:text=Bitcoin%20mining%20consumes%20roughly%200.5,per%20year%2C%20the%20report%20said.
    Make a 5 year plan… 10 year plan … etc.

    #110223
    Autonomous Unit
    Participant

    But I thought Peak Oil: There was no oil left on earth?

    That is not what peak oil means. You should know this. And enough for one more generation? Twenty years more? That’s rather soon in my opinion.

    #110224
    zerosum
    Participant

    With Impunity.
    Your EU leader can go south for the winter.

    https://www.rt.com/business/557691-russian-pipeline-repair-panic-germany/
    Nord Stream pipeline to be switched off for 10 days
    Planned annual maintenance will take place from July 11 to July 21

    According to the paper, last week’s 60% reduction of gas flow by Gazprom due to a technical issue with parts adds to fears that the supply may be shut down completely. This comes as Europe is trying to top up its gas reserves ahead of the winter season.

    #110225
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Here we go:

    “Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the six-justice conservative majority on the court, held that Americans have a right to carry “commonly used” firearms in public for personal defence.”

    Supreme Court ruling expands US gun rights
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61915237

    … like I said above, here we go: … Sodom and Gomorrah: … The Gunfighter (Best Short Film Ever):

    F.S.

    #110226
    Sam Birch
    Participant

    @MPSK

    I am on MCM’s site and I posted the links that you shared. Thank you for your efforts to assist in this grim undertaking. Mark has been posting worldly obituaries weekly and it makes for sobering reading.

    Seeing a comprehensive list of healthy young athletes that have died over the year since the shots were rolled out adds a certain amount of undeniable gravity to the tragedy we are currently in.

    #110227
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    This is absolute idiocy! Why would North Stream I rotating parts be shipped to Canada, … for servicing? Yet, … yet that’s what happened!

    Sanctions on Russia make it impossible for German equipment supplier Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) to receive the pipeline part, the company said last week.

    Canada seeking pathway to enable German gas flow amid Russian sanctions -Bloomberg
    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/canada-seeking-pathway-enable-german-gas-flow-amid-russian-sanctions-bloomberg-2022-06-21/

    German equipment supplier [ the manufacturer of the North Stream I equipment ] sends the equipment to Canada for servicing? Really? Since when? Since when Canada is a specialist in rebuilding rotating equipment? [ … just asking, being a rotating equipment specialist (ret.) ]

    F.S.

    #110228
    John Day
    Participant

    Former President Donald Trump has praised the Texas GOP for adopting a platform on June 18 that rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election…

    The former president’s comments came days after Texas Republicans passed a resolution stating that President Joe Biden was “not legitimately elected,” and that “substantial” election fraud in key metropolitan areas influenced the results of the 2020 presidential election in favor of Biden.

    “We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the US Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020,” states the GOP’s resolution passed on June 18, the last day of a three-day biennial Texas Republican convention held in Houston, Texas.

    “We believe that substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/such-courage-trump-praises-texas-gop-disavowing-result-2020-presidential-election

    #110229
    zerosum
    Participant

    ….. elected by the people of the United States.
    Tell me again, who elects the President
    https://www.lwv.org/blog/who-will-elect-president-electoral-college-system
    “Every four years, the Electoral College, a little known feature of our Constitution, enjoys a fleeting movement of fame. About six weeks after the long grind of the presidential election is over, the 538 members of the college meet in their respective states to perform their sole constitutional function: to elect the President and Vice-President of the United States.”

    #110230

    Thanks, Sam. It is grim, indeed.
    I just woke up from a dream-filled nap (ah, the privileges of old age!) where there was a tiger in the house. Thanks, Calvin.
    Cool, Texas.

    #110231
    Rototillerman
    Participant

    Pardon me if this is a re-post, but I don’t think this paper has been mentioned on TAE yet:

    Serious Adverse Events of Special Interest Following mRNA Vaccination in Randomized Trials

    The money shot is right in the abstract:

    Combined, the mRNA vaccines were associated with an absolute risk increase of serious adverse events of special interest of 12.5 per 10,000 (95% CI 2.1 to 22.9). The excess risk of serious adverse events of special interest surpassed the risk reduction for COVID-19 hospitalization relative to the placebo group in both Pfizer and Moderna trials (2.3 and 6.4 per 10,000 participants, respectively).

    Not yet peer-reviewed, probably unlikely to pass peer-review, due it being Very Damaging To The Safe And Effective(tm) Narrative. I picked this up from The Last American Vagabond, by the way.

    #110232
    John Day
    Participant

    @Rototillerman: Yes, “Serious Adverse Events” … The dam(n) just broke on hiding study data from the public.

    #110233
    John Day
    Participant

    Competing Paradigms, with yet another pic of me doggedly reinforcing the tail-end of 13 kitchen cabinets before installation. https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/competing-paradigms

    Another perspective on WEF’s “Great Reset”: “It’s not a Turndown”. It’s a Takedown”, Catherine Austin Fitts​
    ​ ​High food and fuel prices along with crushing interest rates are no accident. CAF explains, “To me, this is part of the ‘going direct reset.’ …”
    ​ ​“There is an official narrative, and the official narrative is they’ve got to stop inflation… Let’s look very simply at what happened. They voted on the direct reset. Then they injected $5 trillion into the economy that went to the insiders. Then they used Covid to shut down the economy run by the outsiders. Now, the outsiders want to open another business, and they are going to radically raise the cost of capital to the outsiders. What’s going to happen is that $5 trillion is going to buy more assets more cheaply. To me, this is part of centralizing the control of the economy. They are asserting very significant central control. This is not a turndown–this is a takedown.”
    ​ ​CAF’s view of the economy is simple and tangible. CAF says, “This is a world where people are trying to get into real assets that can generate a yield…”
    ​ ​”Let me tell you what the problem is. Doing things that create value on assets requires the rule of law. We are watching a very significant financial coup d’état. We have talked about this for years. That financial coup d’état is turning into a coup, and you are seeing a fundamental breakdown of law and order in many places. It is related to people trying to pick up assets. We see cities where crime is off the charts, and speculators are out having a field day picking up assets with that $5 trillion.”
    ​ ​CAF says, “At some point, you have to realize we are in a war…”
    “We have an enemy. We have the power to win, but we are going to have to fight. If you look at our ancestors in the last 10,000 years, I dare say we have it in us. Let’s get out of fear and get into fighting mode. There are two roads. We can preserve, rebuild and protect the human civilization, or we can become slaves. If you look at what these guys are up to, death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Do not fear death. Fear slavery in a transhuman society.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-not-turndownits-takedown-austin-fitts

    Michael Every of Rabobank thinks BRICS initiatives are likely to be ineffectual (but he’s not completely certain) [I think 3, then 2, then 1 happen in that order)
    ​ ​A BRICS alternative is that global shadow banking, actual banking, and real trade flows should all start to accept credit based on a new digital FX with commodities as collateral instead. Which also implies people won’t be able to repay their Eurodollar commitments.
    ​ ​There are lots of ways the West can respond to this.
    1)​ ​Hedge fund billionaires and Wall Street can say ‘We want in!’, which is possible given Western financial systems operate like mercenaries rather than an army (which is why there are no countries around today that operate their national defence on that basis.) If that happens, some rich Westerners get richer, but the West loses its global pre-eminence and the geopolitical power to act on issues like Ukraine and Taiwan.
    2)​ ​Or the Fed can say anyone using a BRICS currency loses access to the US financial system. That would bifurcate the world. As we already see with sanctions against Russia, it would also mean the West, and third parties, doesn’t get the commodities (or industrial goods) that the BRICS produce. That means massive inflation in some places, deflation in others, and global depression, not recession. I wouldn’t rule it out, but the end-game is clear.
    3)​ ​Or the Fed can keep raising rates to force commodity prices down, raising the collateral attractiveness of the US$ and reducing that of its new rival. That would mean recession – and it already does. It would imply a massive blow-up for those leveraged long commodities – as with crypto. It would also make getting hold of US$ even harder – but that’s what Fed swap-lines, for friends, would be for. This is obviously not what the markets think will happen, and I understand why. (“Because markets.”) However, it’s not cartoonish. It’s just taking monetary policy into the geopolitical dimension, where it always sits, and most so when potential monetary rivals appear.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/powell-greyskull

    (Brief excerpt, please excuse)
    Pepe Escobar: Exile on Main Street: The Sound of the Unipolar World Fading Away
    .. An expanded BRICS with a parallel G8 configuration is bound to easily overtake the Western-centric one in importance as well as GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP).
    ​ ​BRICS in 2021 already added Bangladesh, Egypt, the UAE and Uruguay to its New Development Bank (NDB). In May, at Foreign Ministry-level debates, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Thailand were added to the 5 BRICS members. Leaders of some of these nations will be connected to the Beijing summit.
    ​ ​BRICS plays a completely different game from the G20. They aim for the grassroots, and it’s all about slowly “building trust” – a very Chinese concept. They are creating an independent Credit Rating Agency – away from the Anglo-American racket – and deepening a Currency Reserves Arrangement. The NDB – including its regional offices in India and South Africa – has been involved in hundreds of projects. Time will tell: one day the NDB will make the World Bank superfluous.

    Exile on Main Street: The Sound of the Unipolar World Fading Away

    #110235
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ No contracted pump turbine repair leads to severe reduction in Nordstream pipeline gas flows.
    German company Siemens shipped the turbines to Canadian maintenance site, which won’t return them to Germany, for return to pumping duty.
    Canada is sorry that Germany is hurt, but hands-are-tied. Germany is sorry that France, Austria and the Czech Republic are getting hurt, but hands-are-tied.
    Canada working to return Russian gas turbines
    Ottawa intends to stick to anti-Russia sanctions, but does not want them to harm Germany
    ​ ​Canada is exploring ways to return crucial parts for Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, which are currently stuck in the country due to sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday citing Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson.​..
    ..​The parts fall under Canada’s penalties against Russia, and Ottawa says it cannot return them without breaching these restrictions.
    ​ ​“We want to respect the sanctions because the sanctions were put into place for a reason. That being said, the intent of the sanctions was never to cause significant pain to Germany, which is one of our closest friends and allies. So, we are very seized with this issue,” Wilkinson told the news outlet.
    ​ ​“We are talking to Germany, trying to find a pathway through which we can actually enable the flow of gas. There may be different options that we can look at,” he stated, adding that Ottawa is negotiating with Berlin on ways to return the equipment.
    ​ ​According to the German Federal Grid Agency, the reduction in gas flow affected the supply of Russian gas from Germany to other European countries, including France, Austria and the Czech Republic.
    https://www.rt.com/business/557618-canada-nord-stream-turbines/

    The President of Mexico has now again offered full asylum to Julian Assange.
    “Mexico opens the doors to Assange,” the president declared.
    It is good to remember that AMLO spoke to Trump and offered asylum and he is now promising to speak to Biden, to again offer asylum.
    AMLO’s briefing to journalists included playing the ‘collateral murder’ clip.

    AMLO yet again blows the whistle on Julian Assange, educating his journalists

    #110236
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ ​Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that banks from BRICS nations can freely connect to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), Russia’s alternative to SWIFT.
    ​ ​While addressing a BRICS business forum, Putin said that together with its BRICS partners – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – Russia is developing reliable alternatives for international payments.
    ​ ​“The Russian system for transmitting financial messages is open to connecting banks from the five countries,” he said, adding: “The geography of the use of the Russian payment system Mir is expanding.”
    https://www.rt.com/business/557620-russian-financial-messenger-brics/

    ‘Golden Ruble’: Russian Think-Tank Proposes Stablecoin To Overcome Western Sanctions
    ..The measure is supposed to protect the golden ruble from US-led attempts to undermine its trading properties and value.
    While it is not clear if the proposed coin will be convertible to the precious metal – a practice long abandoned by most fiat monies -, the VEB.RF noted that the golden ruble would be specifically designed for international trade and not intra-state use.
    Furthermore, it should be tradable by third countries without Russian involvement.
    https://sputniknews.com/20220622/golden-ruble-russian-think-tank-proposes-stablecoin-to-overcome-western-sanctions–1096572076.html

    China Approves $2.3 Billion Loan for Crisis-Hit Pakistan Ahead of Potential IMF Deal
    https://sputniknews.com/20220622/china-approves-23-billion-loan-for-crisis-hit-pakistan-ahead-of-potential-imf-deal-1096566535.html

    Sri Lanka Pins Hope on India, Russia as Fuel Supplies Run Out, Triggering Violence and Shutdowns
    ​(Prime Minister)​ Wickremesinghe has lauded the role of New Delhi in the ongoing crisis, underlining that it is the only nation to have assisted Colombo. India has provided Sri Lanka with around $3 billion in economic assistance since the crisis broke out this year.
    ​ ​Wickremesinghe also began talks on Monday with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is visiting Colombo for the first time since the south Asian nation requested a bailout package of nearly $3 billion.​ (How can Sri Lanka pay back the IMF? Impose “austerity”?)​
    ​https://sputniknews.com/20220621/sri-lanka-pins-hope-on-india-russia-as-fuel-supplies-run-out-triggering-violence-and-shutdowns-1096511237.html

    #110237
    John Day
    Participant

    So , so much COVID (bad) cat out of the bag news here:
    https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/competing-paradigms

    #110238
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Finally a sane decision from the Supremes, of course Thomas led the pack…

    Hopefully this will help stem the tide of criminally insane predation upon the innocent public, but more stringent controls MUST be enacted to prevent the felonious thugs & mentally unstable from access to ANY firearm from the start.

    Also, in cases of negligent firearm owners that take inadequate precautions to prevent theft, there should be consequences if the gun is used in a crime.

    Thousands of prison inmates were surveyed across the United States with specific questions on how they obtained firearms. The results showed less than 2 percent of the prisoners surveyed obtained a firearm from a retail source.

    So where did they get the guns? The answer is simple. They got them from people who had legally purchased them but didn’t secure them.

    Most of the firearms used by prisoners during the commission of their crimes were stolen, either by the crook themselves or bought from someone else who had stolen it.

    It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem. Too many gun owners are not securing their firearms. How bad is the problem?

    Well, the numbers aren’t exact but in the last decade over 2 million guns were reported stolen. Estimates range anywhere from 237,000 to 380,000 firearms are stolen every year from gun owners. Gun theft is also believed to be significantly under reported. Most states don’t require gun owners to report when their guns have been stolen.

    Firearms aren’t just being stolen from homes but from vehicles as well. Whenever a thief finds a firearm, they’ve hit the jackpot.

    Guns are easy to sell on the underground market. If you hang around the right WRONG places and with the right WRONG people, it’s easy to get a hold of a gun.

    New survey confirms majority of guns used by criminals are taken from people’s homes and cars

    #110239
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Poll: 92 Percent Say Rising Gas Prices a ‘Serious’ Problem in Biden’s America

    It appears, however, that the American people are not buying the administration’s narrative, as just 11 percent blame Putin for higher gas prices.

    One in five Democrats blame Putin, but just nine percent of independents and four percent of Republicans feel the same way, per the survey.

    Across the board, a majority — 52 percent — blame Biden for higher gas prices. Eighty percent of Republicans, 54 percent of independents, and 24 percent of Democrats hold those same sentiments. Another 29 percent blame major oil companies.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/06/22/poll-92-percent-say-rising-gas-prices-serious-problem-bidens-america/

    #110240
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave

    .

    #110241
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    @ D Benton Smith – What would happen if a human fell in love with a robot ?
    __________________

    … or vice versa: another short flick on the same subject:

    Sci-Fi Short Film “The Masseuse” | DUST

    F.S.

    #110242
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    If I ever see or hear of you shooting at a man in a parachute, I will shoot you myself ~ Gustav Rödel

    #110243
    WES
    Participant

    Joe isn’t too worried about the November 2022 mid-term elections.
    The federal government has taken active control of all state election commissions.
    In November Americans will find this out.
    But it will be too late to do anything about it.

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