Jun 292022
 
 June 29, 2022  Posted by at 9:09 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Keith Haring Untitled 1984

 

The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH)
Trump White House Attorney Disputes Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony (ABC)
Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats In The Midterms (Juan Williams)
NATO Tells Ukraine ‘We Do Not Want You’ – Zelensky Aide (Celente)
Behind the Tin Curtain: BRICS+ vs NATO/G7 (Escobar)
CIA Ops, Commandos In Ukraine: Can We Just Admit We Are Fighting This War? (RS)
Lavrov Compares European Union And NATO To Hitler’s Old Axis (Wilbert)
Russia Promises Nuclear Weapons on Finland, Sweden’s ‘Doorstep’ (Celente)
Johnson Warns Macron Not To Attempt Ukraine Settlement Now (Pol.eu)
Omicron BA.5 Prefers Hypervaccinated Masking West Germans (Eugyp)
Docs Show Pfizer Made Its Vaccine Appear More Effective Than It Was (Harper)
“Deceleration” and “Tipping Point” of the Raging Mania (WS)
South Africa Moving Towards A Total Blackout (Enca)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenwald: Sonia Sotomayor has worked closely with Clarence Thomas for 13 years — since she joined the Court in 2009 — and her description of Thomas from this month is the exact opposite of the ugly-trope-and-stereotype-heavy depiction Hillary Clinton spewed:

 

 

Clarence Thomas WaPo doc

 

 

 

 

She was 23 at the time, and had already worked for multiple Republican politicians?! All she said was based on hearsay. But there is no cross examination allowed. Still, she may well have committed perjury.

“He told me, that she heard from him, that she heard, from another guy, that she said he told her that she heard, that Trump may have said something, which was overheard, by her, about something, to the best of my knowledge.” -Cassidy Hutchinson

“BREAKING: Jan 6 Committee Video Shows President Trump was in an SUV after the rally, not the Beast.”

The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH)

Either J6 committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson is currently working for Donald Trump in a weird effort to make the J6 committee look absolutely silly, or Cassidy Hutchinson is the latest Jussie Smollett or Christine Blasey-Ford. Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony was so outlandish only the most intellectually deficient left-wing loons could or would believe it. Ms. Hutchinson claimed she heard a story from some unknown person that President Trump was so insistent on traveling to the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, that he assaulted his secret service detail and grabbed the steering wheel on the presidential limousine. She heard it from someone, who heard it from someone, and so Ms. Hutchinson was pushed in front of the J6 cameras to proclaim it. The claim is so silly, it was impossible to believe. Yet the congressional committee media ran with it, and the media promoted the story, because Trump.

Within minutes of Cassidy Hutchinson’s unsubstantiated claims, the secret service was refuting it. Even NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander was forced to refute it. “A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted, and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.” he tweeted. Whoops. Ms. Hutchinson also completely fabricated a story when she claimed she wrote a note with dictation from Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. ABC reported, “At Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney displayed a handwritten note which Hutchinson testified she wrote after Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation.” Only there’s a problem, she never wrote it.

ABC News –” Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann is claiming that a handwritten note regarding a potential statement for then-President Donald Trump to release during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was written by him during a meeting at the White House that afternoon, and not by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.” As John Cardillo noted on Twitter, “Junior nobody Hutchinson testified under oath that Tony Ornato told her that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo. Ornato, a 23-year veteran of the USSS is stating unequivocally that it never happened. Ornato is currently the Asst. Director of Training for the United States Secret Service.”

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They liked Herschmann’s testimony when it suited them…

Still, “we understand that she and Mr. Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note”? It’s handwritten, easy to find out…

Trump White House Attorney Disputes Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony (ABC)

Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann is claiming that a handwritten note regarding a potential statement for then-President Donald Trump to release during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was written by him during a meeting at the White House that afternoon, and not by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. At Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney displayed a handwritten note which Hutchinson testified she wrote after Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation. Sources familiar with the matter said that Herschmann had previously told the committee that he had penned the note.

“The handwritten note that Cassidy Hutchinson testified was written by her was in fact written by Eric Herschmann on January 6, 2021,” a spokesperson for Herschmann told ABC News Tuesday evening. “All sources with direct knowledge and law enforcement have and will confirm that it was written by Mr. Herschmann,” the spokesperson said. At Tuesday’s hearing, Hutchinson, testifying about the note, said, “That’s a note that I wrote at the direction of the chief of staff on Jan. 6, likely around 3 o’clock.” “And it’s written on the chief of staff note card, but that’s your handwriting, Ms. Hutchinson?” Rep. Cheney asked. “That’s my handwriting,” Hutchinson replied. Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, said that Meadows handed her the note card and a pen and started dictating a potential statement for Trump to release amid the Capitol riot.

Hutchinson also said that Herschmann had suggested changing the statement and to “put ‘without legal authority.'” In response to Herschmann’s claim, a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee said, “The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms. Hutchinson’s account of this matter credible. While we understand that she and Mr. Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note, what’s ultimately important is that both White House officials believed that the President should have immediately instructed his supporters to leave the Capitol building.” “The note memorialized this,” the committee spokesperson said. “But Mr. Trump did not take that action at the time.”

The Jan. 6 committee has repeatedly relied on Herschmann’s candid and sometimes vulgar testimony throughout the hearings in June, including when the former White House lawyer testified that he shot down former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark’s plan to overturn the 2020 election. Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer, also defended former President Trump during Trump’s first impeachment trial and worked in the West Wing as a senior adviser.

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Some savior.

Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats In The Midterms (Juan Williams)

Democrats need a strong voice ready to fight to restore women’s rights, now that the Supreme Court has struck down Roe v. Wade. There’s only one Hillary Clinton. Right-wingers on the Supreme Court rescinding the constitutional right to abortion is incredibly dangerous and it is not just about a woman s right to choose. It is about much more than that, Clinton told CBS News back in May, when a draft version of Friday s decision emerged. Any American who says, Look, I m not a woman, this doesn t affect me. I m not Black, that doesn t affect me. I m not gay, that doesn t affect me once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold, you have no idea who they will come for next, she said. Go, Hillary.

Unlike most Democrats at a loss for a midterms message, Clinton knows how to deal with the far right’s bullying. The GOP’s media echo chamber long ago demonized her. She still beat Donald Trump in the popular vote in 2016. Now it is her turn to lash the GOP extremists for ending nationwide abortion rights, putting more guns on the streets, punishing corporations for supporting gay rights and dismissing history lessons on race as upsetting to white children. Clinton is exactly the right person to put steel in the Democrats’ spine and bring attention to the reality that “ultra-MAGA” Republicans, as President Biden calls them, are tearing apart the nation. The Supreme Court justices last week acted as political enforcers for extremist views that are far out of line with public opinion on abortion and gun safety.

They opened the door to women losing control over their lives without the right to have an abortion. They also gave a pass to more violent shootings on the streets by striking down a New York safeguard that required people who want to carry a firearm in public to demonstrate a specific need. These decisions amount to a political powerplay by former President Trump’s three nominees. Biden measures his words about the far right out of fear of being charged with further polarizing the country. So let Hillary roar her message to suburban white women who will be key to deciding the outcome of the midterms.

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Clear enough.

NATO Tells Ukraine ‘We Do Not Want You’ – Zelensky Aide (Celente)

Ihor Zhovkva, the deputy chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in an interview Tuesday that Kyiv was told by NATO that it is “not a member because we do not want you.” Zhovkva made the comment shortly after the Alliance announced that Turkey agreed to allow Finland and Sweden to join. “NATO is telling us we are not giving you anything,” he said in an interview with a local news outlet in Kyiv, according to Bloomberg. Finland and Sweden announced that they would seek membership shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and were greeted with open arms by Alliance leadership. They were even told that they would benefit from security guarantees during the waiting period.


But Ukraine has not benefited from its “partner” status in the Alliance. Sure, the country received billions in aid and weapons, but Kyiv has been forced to stand up to Russia on its own. Some could argue that Ukraine was the victim misleading public statements from the U.S. and NATO prior to the invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow would be met with a“forceful” response if there was an invasion. Blinken went further and said the U.S. has a “sacred obligation” to defend its allies. [..] Under Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, NATO has the right to invite any willing European country into the fold. But Stoltenberg made it clear, before the invasion, that there is a distinction between a NATO partner and ally. Kyiv is a partner. NATO is compelled to only defend allies. NATO countries never embraced Ukraine as an ally because it meant certain war with Russia.

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“..by 2030, a quarter of the planet’s oil demand will come from China and India, with Russia as the major supplier.”

Behind the Tin Curtain: BRICS+ vs NATO/G7 (Escobar)

[..] there now exists what should be called a Tin Curtain, fabricated by the fearful, clueless, collective west, via G7 and NATO: this time, to essentially contain the integration of the Global South. The most recent and significant example of this integration has been the coming out of BRICS+ at last week’s online summit hosted by Beijing. This went far beyond establishing the lineaments of a ‘new G8,’ let alone an alternative to the G7. Just look at the interlocutors of the five historical BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): we find a microcosm of the Global South, encompassing Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Africa and South America – truly putting the “Global” in the Global South. Revealingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s clear messages during the Beijing summit, in sharp contrast to G7 propaganda, were actually addressed to the whole Global South:

– Russia will fulfill its obligations to supply energy and fertilizers. – Russia expects a good grain harvest – and to supply up to 50 million tons to world markets. – Russia will ensure passage of grain ships into international waters even as Kiev mined Ukrainian ports. – The negative situation on Ukrainian grain is artificially inflated. – The sharp increase in inflation around the world is the result of the irresponsibility of G7 countries, not Operation Z in Ukraine. – The imbalance of world relations has been brewing for a long time and has become an inevitable result of the erosion of international law. Putin also directly addressed one of the key themes that the BRICS have been discussing in depth since the 2000s — the design and implementation of an international reserve currency.

“The Russian Financial Messaging System is open for connection with banks of the BRICS countries.” “The Russian MIR payment system is expanding its presence. We are exploring the possibility of creating an international reserve currency based on the basket of BRICS currencies,” the Russian leader said. This is inevitable after the hysterical western sanctions post-Operation Z; the total de-dollarization imposed upon Moscow; and increasing trade between BRICS nations. For instance, by 2030, a quarter of the planet’s oil demand will come from China and India, with Russia as the major supplier. The “RIC” in BRICS simply cannot risk being locked out of a G7-dominated financial system. Even tightrope-walking India is starting to catch the drift.

At its current stage, BRICS represent 40 percent of world population, 25 percent of the global economy, 18 percent of world trade, and contribute over 50 percent for world economic growth. All indicators are on the way up. Sergey Storchak, CEO of Russian bank VEG, framed it quite diplomatically: “If the voices of emerging markets are not being heard in the coming years, we need to think very seriously about setting up a parallel regional system, or maybe a global system.” A “parallel regional system” is already being actively discussed between the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and China, coordinated by Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics Sergey Glazyev, who has recently authored a stunning manifesto amplifying his ideas about world economic sovereignty.

Read more …

“The Russians may not see the distinction and consider this news as further evidence that their war is more with Washington and NATO than with Ukraine.”

CIA Ops, Commandos In Ukraine: Can We Just Admit We Are Fighting This War? (RS)

The Central Intelligence Agency is operating in Kyiv and has been for some time, according to new reporting by the New York Times. So, while Biden has insisted on “no U.S. boots on the ground” in Ukraine, there are soft-soled operatives, otherwise known as American spies, providing intelligence and other tactical assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Sounds like Americans are in this war, like it or not. The news, based on sourcing from current and former U.S. government officials, is part of a broader report about a “stealthy network” of U.S. and European commandos and spies in “cells” run by the Pentagon’s European Command “to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.” Much of this is operating from military bases in France and Germany and elsewhere. But as the NYT points out, there are European commandos and CIA agents working on the inside.

The commandos are not on the front lines with Ukrainian troops and instead advise from headquarters in other parts of the country or remotely by encrypted communications, according to American and other Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. But the signs of their stealthy logistics, training and intelligence support are tangible on the battlefield. Several lower-level Ukrainian commanders recently expressed appreciation to the United States for intelligence gleaned from satellite imagery, which they can call up on tablet computers provided by the allies. The tablets run a battlefield mapping app that the Ukrainians use to target and attack Russian troops.

As usual it appears that the administration wants to have it both ways: assure the American people that it is being “restrained” and that we are not “at war” with the Russians, but doing everything but planting a U.S. soldier and a flag inside Ukraine. The CIA, as you will recall, has increasingly had an operational combat focus since 9/11, running elaborate secret prisons overseas, engaging in enhanced interrogations (torture) and manhunting with armed drones and commando teams over the last 20 years. There may be a sliver of daylight between the CIA operatives there today and the U.S. special forces that left Ukraine after Russia invaded, but given the circumstances, is it a meaningful one? Is it all about who is pulling the trigger? The Russians may not see the distinction and consider this news as further evidence that their war is more with Washington and NATO than with Ukraine.

Gonzalo Sitzkrieg

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“They are creating a new coalition for fighting, that is, for war with Russia. We will follow this very closely..”

Lavrov Compares European Union And NATO To Hitler’s Old Axis (Wilbert)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on 06/24/2022 that the European Union and NATO appear to be carrying out a military coalition for a war against Russia. The statement was given in Baku in Azerbaijan during an interview. “They are creating a new coalition for fighting, that is, for war with Russia. We will follow this very closely,” the Minister rightly declared, because that is what has been happening anyway. But first let’s go to the archetypes of the entities mentioned. The European Union, in its initial design, may have come up with good proposals for the integration of Europeans, with some Balkan countries, for example, applying to be part of the economic and diplomatic bloc, but it so happens that few people pay attention to history, especially during World War II.

Hitler wanted a union of the European countries, what he called a “Pan-European Union”, a form of closer integration between countries that would naturally be against the Soviet Union and communism in general. No wonder Hitler set up puppet governments in some European countries such as Denmark, for example, which was under the tutelage of Nazi Germany during the period August 1943 until May 1945, after the success of Operation Weserübung. As for NATO for example, it is seen as a super aggressive military alliance that causes barbarism in various parts of the world, especially in the former Yugoslavia, which had its territory balkanized after an intervention in the country in 1999 where some war crimes were committed because those bombs would hit civilian buildings, such as the famous bombing of Serbian TV, which was not a legitimate military target, but turned out to be a Yugoslav “propaganda broadcast” (obviously) at the time.

So it didn’t take much effort on the part of some “non-aligned diplomats” (which is the case of Lavrov) to understand that the European Union and NATO act together to stand up to the former Soviet Union, now Russia. NATO even characterized the country as an “enemy” several times, emphasized by Vladimir Putin in his speeches. After NATO’s expansions into Eastern European countries, even after a verbal agreement made between Soviet and American diplomats at the time that they would not move “an inch east” in the early 2000s, the opposite was seen and this was stated several times before the start of Operation Z, and was characterized in various ways by Kremlin spokespersons that Ukraine’s entry into NATO was a criminal act. And it was.

And like any criminal act, the police power, even if governed by a country’s Armed Forces, needed to come into effect because after the NATO vs. Russia diplomatic rounds no documentary agreement of truth properly bound by international law was reached. And to make matters worse, Zelensky would state on 02/19/2022 in a speech at the European Security Conference in Munich (just 5 days before the start of Operation Z) that he would no longer ratify the Budapest Memorandum, which is a treaty that denuclearizes Ukraine since 1994.

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Before Turkey gave in.

Russia Promises Nuclear Weapons on Finland, Sweden’s ‘Doorstep’ (Celente)

Just hours before NATO’s General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey now supports Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the Alliance, Russia issued a stark warning for the countries. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Moscow will have to strengthen its borders. “The Baltic region’s nonnuclear status will become a thing of the past, the group of land and naval forces in the northern sector will be seriously increased,” he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “No one is happy with this, not the citizens of these two NATO candidate countries.” It’s not the best prospect for them to have our Iskanders, hypersonic missiles, warships with nuclear weapons on their doorstep,” he continued.

Shortly after Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden announced that they will begin the process of seeking NATO. Polls in both countries showed a palpable shift in public opinion about the two Nordic nations about joining the alliance. Finland has a formidable military although it only has a population of 5.5 million. The country has about the same number of reservists as Germany with a population of 83 million. Finland also shares an expansive, 830-mile border with Russia and was invaded by its neighbor during WWII, which resulted in a brutal confrontation that ultimately resulted in Helsinki and Moscow signing a peace treaty in 1948, which included Finland’s assurances that it will not join NATO. Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, said the security environment in the country has “dramatically changed.”

Haavisto told The Guardian that Russia has become “more unpredictable” and seems ready to take bolder risks than Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014. He called those “calculated risks.” Stoltenberg said he is “confident” that Finland and Sweden will be able to join the Alliance after the agreement with Turkey. Ankara was seen as a roadblock in the effort by these countries to join NATO. Turkey accused the countries of harboring terrorists tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and it also sought to have an arms embargo lifted due to its incursions into Syria, DW.com reported. Turkey said in a statement that it “got what it wanted,” and “made significant gains in the fight against terrorist organizations.”

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Boris likes the war. Better than his own country.

Johnson Warns Macron Not To Attempt Ukraine Settlement Now (Pol.eu)

Boris Johnson warned Emmanuel Macron that to settle the conflict in Ukraine now would only cause “enduring instability,” according to the U.K. government. In a British account of the pair’s Sunday encounter at the G7 summit — disputed by the Elysée — Downing Street said Johnson had told Macron such a move would “give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin license to manipulate both sovereign countries and international markets in perpetuity.” In the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the French president was one of the few Western leaders who maintained dialogue with Vladimir Putin, and has regularly spoken to the Russian president since the conflict begun. Macron has also warned that Russia should not be “humiliated” over Putin’s “historic and fundamental mistake.”


An Elysée official said Macron and the British prime minister had “reaffirmed their strong determination to support Ukraine in the defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to prepare the reconstruction of the country.” But the French side disputed Downing Street’s version of events. “No, the prime minister [Johnson] did not warn the president [Macron],” the official said. “They had a discussion about Ukraine, during which the president strongly reaffirmed his determination to support Ukraine.” Downing Street said Johnson and Macron had agreed now is a “critical moment for the course of the conflict” and that there is an “opportunity to turn the tide in the war.”

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“Vaccine failure in one map..”

Omicron BA.5 Prefers Hypervaccinated Masking West Germans (Eugyp)

This is the Omicron BA.5 wave in central Europe, and it is attended by a curious phenomenon: Every day, you can see more clearly the borders of the old DDR in the district-level data. I’ve traced these in green just to make the phenomenon clearer. Yes yes, there are systematic demographic differences between East and West Germans, and there are probably some differences in testing rates, but above all, there is an important difference in vaccine uptake. [..] East Germans have direct experience with government propaganda, and have proven more resistent to the vaccination campaign than Westerners. Their reward, after being much maligned by state media, is now higher levels of natural immunity and lower rates of BA.5 infection, which appears to prefer vaccinated populations. As the effects of vaccine failure grow clearer, you have to wonder how long the pandemicists will be able to publish even simple infection statistics, without raising extremely awkward questions.

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“No results from the trial have yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

It was true. The Phase 3 trials of the vaccine were still ongoing, but the vaccine was now approved for use in the UK.”

Docs Show Pfizer Made Its Vaccine Appear More Effective Than It Was (Harper)

On May 24th, the anonymous Twitter account JikkyLeaks claimed that data contained inside the massive Pfizer Documents release shows their vaccine had close to zero efficacy even when it launched. There is some correcting of the raw data required to reach this conclusion, but the raw data alone hints at an efficacy of 53%. The data contradicts Pfizer’s published claims the vaccine was 95% effective, a claim still published on gov.uk domains. The original data and specifically the “95% efficacy” claim was key to getting the vaccines onto global markets around the world. If Pfizer reached this conclusion dishonourably, there could be sizable implications. At least one other researcher has publicly reached the same results using data contained in the court-ordered Pfizer documents. I have already verified that the data exists, and using very simple public code, that the numbers add up to what Josh and Jikky claim.

[..] In November 2020, Pfizer started to make its successes with the vaccine known to the media. Towards the end of the month, they published a press release stating their vaccine was 95% effective. In the release, they said they planned “to submit within days to the FDA [and other regulators] for Emergency Use Authorisation.” With their guard down, the media didn’t hold these claims to account. Instead, and perhaps understandably, they choose to jump for joy. The regulators were pleased too; just two weeks after Pfizer’s press release, the UK regulator announced it had approved the Pfizer vaccine and that rollout would start within a week. Reporting the announcement, the British Medical Journal made note of something quite remarkable: “No results from the trial have yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

It was true. The Phase 3 trials of the vaccine were still ongoing, but the vaccine was now approved for use in the UK. The trials are still ongoing according to the registered protocol, which says they’re not scheduled to be complete until February 8, 2024. So how did the vaccine come to be approved before the full completion of Phase 3 trials? According to an FOI request, and a public article, the UK regulator addressed the question and said it had used a ‘rolling review’ process to approve the Pfizer vaccine. The review was done “as the packages of data become available from ongoing studies”. Whatever that regulatory process was, it wasn’t exactly public. To make matters worse, the trial had problems with impartiality and data sharing, which, two years later, is something that still frustrates Peter Doshi at the British Medical Journal.

Read more …

Wait a few months.

“Deceleration” and “Tipping Point” of the Raging Mania (WS)

The first “deceleration” and “signs of a tipping point” cropped up in the S&P CoreLogic Home Price Index, which was released today. But today’s data for “April” consists of the three-month average of closed home sales that were entered into public records in February, March, and April, representing deals that were made a few weeks earlier, roughly in January, February, and March, funded with mortgage rates prevalent at that time and earlier for home buyers with pre-approved mortgages with rate locks when they were pre-approved, so roughly based on the mortgage rates prevalent in December through March, ranging from 3.2% to 4.7% (green box):

Other indicators of the housing market that don’t lag as far behind have shown more advanced shifts in the underlying dynamics, including sagging sales amid a surge in supply in May, a sharp drop in mortgage applications in May and into June, and a surge in active listings in May. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index will gradually begin to reflect those dynamics over the next few months. Today’s release for “April,” looking back at a period earlier this year, when mortgage rates were a lot lower, still reflects the mad scramble to buy a home and lock in the mortgage rates at the time before they rise even further.


The National Case-Shiller Index still jumped by 2.1% in April from March, but that was down from the 2.6% spike in March. Year-over-year, the index spiked by 20.4%, but that was down from the 20.6% spike in the prior month. This suggests “further deceleration ahead,” said CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a note this morning. “In particular, there is a buildup in overall active inventory as fewer buyers are rushing to make offers, resulting in an increase in the share of homes that have reduced their prices from the original list price,” Hepp said. “Also, there is a notable deceleration of monthly gains in the Western markets where a rush to lock in favorable mortgage rates pushed home price growth higher in prior months,” Hepp said.

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“Once we get to that level it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand.”

South Africa Moving Towards A Total Blackout (Enca)

Energy analyst Sampson Mamphweli warns that South Africa is heading towards a total blackout. Earlier, Eskom warned of the possibility of Stage 6 power cuts. In a briefing earlier, the power utility explained it had suffered significant losses overnight. It adds the current strike by employees also poses a serious challenge. “The strike itself came at the wrong time because it came at a time when the system is heavily constrained with more than 40 megawatts that’s not available due to a number of factors like breakdowns,” Mamphweli said. “So, it is quite difficult. The coal fleet isn’t performing. They gave details in terms of the backlog and the maintenance. “We are moving towards a blackout. Stage 6 is one stage away from total blackout. “Once we get to that level it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand.”

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 29 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 59 total)
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  • #110605

    Keith Haring Untitled 1984   • The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH) • Trump White House Attorney Disputes C
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 29 2022]

    #110607
    Red
    Participant

    Does the war and global financial situation share a common goal? After all Putin is a WEF grad. Is this just a changing of the guard? Will the east become the new west? Would this be good for the owners? A depopulated west for them to play in, out of reach of most of the global population? It is a long game! Just musing. @aspnaz very good points NATO, Russia, China add in the owners have already traded teams and it is likely they don’t see the west as viable anymore.

    #110608
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    “Be a vax hero”…fuckall, we’re sick, sick, sick……..and it ain’t the fucking covid

    #110609
    those darned kids
    Participant

    wow, that cnn photo of ms. clinton is so photoshopped she actually looks like a real woman.

    #110610
    those darned kids
    Participant

    #110611
    EoinW
    Participant

    The Khmer Rouge’s greatest achievement was in brainwashing children to be killers. Yet they never had the technological advantages our society has for conditioning people.

    We aren’t turning children into killers but we are killing their quality of life. I see so many young people still choosing to wear masks. They’ve already lost. They can never have a life as good as I had because their decision making process is now ruled by fear(when the government gives them a choice).

    Negative motivation leads to negative results. That’s two generations whose lives we have spoiled, simply becomes we adults have the mentality of five year olds! It’s tragic

    #110612
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Thank you for writing the piece ‘The entire world has changed’ Raul. Very good analysis.

    There are so many chaotic components bouncing against the glass and mirrored walls of our earthly existence that I think the Oligarchs and Shwabs of the world are in for shock and disappointment. Control is difficult without a rising energy base – see Roman Empire. The centre of such systems is so far away from the crumbling or shifting edges that it is preoccupied with itself and doesn’t recognise the changing environment.

    A little like most human cells kicking around not understanding the changing DNA from smRNA.
    As Brett Weinstein asks – “if a fibreglass tree falls in the forest…”

    In seeing the emerging loss and carnage coming in – particularly with babies and children having the rising rates of viral infection my anger is passing a little and a sadness and lack of judgement are beginning to make their presence felt.

    God Bless you all

    #110613
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Yeah, Clinton changes age by 20 years every other week. Right now she’s about 50. Funny since wiki says she’s 73. So I often ask: Which Hillary? Explain, anyone?

    “G7 industrialized nations issued their final communique at the close of the summit in Bavaria which condemned Russia’s “attack” on global food security and pledged an additional $4.5 billion to combat food insecurity.”

    What the actual heck? The food insecurity is mostly inflation. So you’re going to print money to stop inflation? Newsflash: money is not food. Food is food. Money is money. Food and money come from different places.

    Newsome is also printing money to stop inflation in California. Everyone cheers. But CA is just a state. Yes, a state that’s the 5th largest country.

    I’m lost – because I’m lost all the time now – why on earth would Trump lunge at anything? Do all these guys just think they’re out for a drunk drive with their friends? That’s for us chumps. Trump would merely say, “Take me to the Capitol” and, as President, they would go. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT ORDERS MEAN. It doesn’t matter if he shouldn’t. If he would be assassinated, even. If he says go, they say “We do not recommend” he says “I don’t care, that’s an order” and off they go. Trump keeps his hands free to eat a burger. That’s what “Power” means. …Unless the Secret Service are the true rulers of the country? I don’t think that’s what they mean here. What’s an “assault”? I bumped you and spilled your coffee? IT’S WHEN YOU PRESS CHARGES. Not when some third outsider SAYS so. They don’t – and can’t – take umbrage on my behalf. STFU.

    So. Stupid. Clearly fabricated by people who have no experience with power, or are sold to people who believe anything.

    So a person wrote a note? This is insane. I wrote a note. A note where I wrote “Trump told me to bomb a McDonalds because they gave him small fries.” See? There’s the proof! It was on “Stationary”? Stop the presses that D.C. stationary was never, ever lifted anywhere although it’s not secured at all, not dated, and not watermarked. It could have been lifted in the Nixon Administration to be written on here. JHC. No wonder nobody’s covering this clown show.

    So I guess if I can counterfeit WH stationary, I’m the President now? I’m sure glad the Russians never thought of that. This is like Amber Heard saying “Didn’t you see the emails I sent my family? They’re proof it happened!” Amber darling: YOU sent the emails of which you speak. They’re proof of nothing. Maybe you don’t know the difference between “You” and “Everyone else” and think they’re the same?

    “Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats in the Midterms (Juan Williams)”

    So much around this. So, background: the DNC is using YOUR donations for Leftist causes to fund the campaigns of the most Far-Right GOP candidates. What? Yes, Jan 6 is an insurrection, the Far-Right are White Supremacists, AND THE DNC IS FUNDING THEM. With YOUR money. Therefore the DNC is Far-Right White Supremacist Insurrectionists, I guess? If I read that right? If they’re J6 Terrorists as they claim, and the DNC is funding them, then the DNC is likewise a rebel-terrorist organization. Am I missing logic here?

    Back to HRC, so we know for a fact from Wikileaks, this was HER strategy, Podesta’s strategy, called the “Pied Piper”: to make/pretend the GOP was so far-right extreme they were unelectable to the Center. We also learned from that same leak that 1) Hillary personally gave Trump some $6B in free advertising, media coverage, which is de-facto illegal campaign donation, and 2) The majority of all American Media, by the fact of obeying her, are not journalists but merely the publicity arm of the Democratic Party. “Don’t let them know I’m a hack” –NY Times/Buzzfeed reporter

    Why? Well, They’re doing it again. They lost on this exact plan in 2016 – their greatest loss in living memory, outdoing Mondale by orders of magnitude — and they want to do it AGAIN. Only this time worse: 1) They already know it didn’t work and handed them a record failure 2) They are not de facto paying the candidates with influence, they are ACTUALLY paying, with checks, out of their sorely-depleted DNC Party bank account 3) Unlike 2016, the GOP candidate doesn’t have Bill Clinton’s platform, being a moderate or even center LEFT candidate like Trump was, they are ACTUAL (middle) Right people, Q followers and so on. 4) They are doing this at a time they are almost certain to lose. People are voting for gas prices, and voting AGAINST the DNC, not FOR the GOP. That means whoever you primary, the people will likely install to Congress. Therefore, a loss would mean YOU installed a Congress made of investigating, Hillary/Comey arresting Q followers and not Clinton-Platform gay-marriage-supporting GOP moderates.

    All done with blue money, from blue people who are almost certainly Progressives, as Bernie showed the Party was 15:1 for Bernie and policies, and 15:1 AGAINST Corporate war-mongering NeoLibs. (The 2016 DNC Primaries, where despite HRC losing 15:1, the delegates voted 11:1 AGAINST Bernie. And vote-tampered CA, legal fact.) So they’re using Progressive money to fund Q. Nice going! And I should vote for you why? Donate why?

    This is happening for Roe right now too. They may have thought this would come down and rally the troops for Roe, but it’s the opposite. Having screwed around and lost, the Base is pissed that they promised every election for 50 years to make Roe the 1st act of business. 50 years later, still not done. Whose fault is that? Not Republicans. It’s beginning to bite, which is why, since Obama bailed Wall St and stopped Health Care, no minimum wage, they were headed for Bernie in the first place. Why elect Democrats if they will never, ever keep their promises even with a 3-branch supermajority? Screwed up and thus got not one but TWO conservative Supreme Court Justices installed? …Which is why Bernie, and past him that same faction is now leaning 3rd Party.

    So…in that context…Hillary for President? Because she’ll use every power at her disposal to support Trump? I don’t think the whispers are real, but that anyone could whisper it – the media being 99% Blue – shows how stunningly dense they are. Thank God.

    “Ukraine has not benefited from its “partner” status in the Alliance. Sure, the country received billions in aid and weapons, but Kyiv has been forced to stand up to Russia on its own.”

    Huh? Count the contradictions here. Except for the $40B in 40 days you sent, you haven’t helped at all. Also has to explain that words and treaties have meanings? Because that’s not a thing now?

    P.S. there’s a thing called “Gravity” too. Let me explain it to you since you may not be aware of it…

    “Hitler wanted a … European Union”

    And he/they wanted it for what? TO CONQUER RUSSIA. That’s why we, Ford, IBM, Bush, armed and funded them for years. Because the Anglos took Russia in 1917 and Russia escaped under Stalin. So they needed to RE-conquer Russia and steal their resources. Sound familiar?

    Now the same: Pan-Euro superstate run by Germany. Minute that’s plausible, barely installed, turn around and attack Russia. On behalf of England: “Johnson Warns Macron Not To Attempt Ukraine Settlement Now (Pol.eu)

    It’s a great war when somebody else fights it. I can keep this up all day! Fight Russia to the last German.

    30-year mortgage rate: Volcker raised rates 5% at a pop. However, let’s try also to be fair. Powell raised rates. By TRIPLING rates in short order. The weirdness of Zero-bound numbers. So yeah, it barely rose a percent. But the 1% percent = a 30% increase in interest.

    From Blinken yesterday, he’s going to stop Russia because highest value and purpose of the Russian People is consumerist shopping and can’t get Gucci handbags and that extra ketchup in Moscow. You go with that.

    Then goes on about Yemen (!!Wow!!) Neglecting to mention the whole war is done with U.S. weapons, U.S. warplanes, U.S. intel, and U.S. support. And the U.N. by the way, who can’t get enough of it. But wow, he’s tough on Saudi Arabia in Yemen boy howdy! If MBS keeps this up we might have to reduce the number of illegal mines and illegal civilian cluster bombs we sell them.

    Again: only point that matters anymore, the U.S. has zero industrial capacity. We cannot manufacture shells to fight a war anymore than Iran can. Any war we’re in would be over in six weeks Unless you bring the factories back, and the oil to run them. Sounds like the urgent, national-security platform of a President I know. Failing that, why bother? You’re a nobody. Come back when you can back up your big yap.

    #110614
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Roe warning:

    From Naomi, “understandably, frightened and angry young women are protesting; screaming”

    Well I don’t understand it. Not just because it gives them MORE abortion, not less. That’s just being dumb, incurious, and unread. It’s the second part: what exactly are you doing in your life that you expect very definitely to be in the situation that you need an immediate, no-questions abortion? It is your body, your choice, now did you make a bad choice with large consequences last Saturday night? And did he? Because unlike you, he can’t avoid his responsibility.

    I’ve followed this a while, but the reaction is even far stranger and less attached to any reality than I expected. Link: https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/on-losing-roe

    Also Naomi, “The DNC chairperson called the Supreme Court “Illegitimate.” Sold! We will follow not any rulings from it then, erase “W”’s inauguration, and including and thereby supporting Dobbs and erasing Roe. Can I have “Coherency” for $500, Alex? If SCOTUS is no more, everything devolves to the states: gun rights, abortion, health care, speech maybe gay and race rights who knows? I hear Blue states now support segregation and oppress people on basis of orientation. Devolution. Devolution has a tendency to be a Conservative lean because you leave people alone. Authoritarians and fascists MUST all power concentrated in the central state. Central Authoritarians are the opposite of (American) Conservatives.

    So the DNC Chair is now…far-right Conservative? Looks like.

    “in no way, hard as I have tried, can I see how women can have basic equality or self-determination in any society if they cannot choose to terminate a pregnancy within the first trimester.”

    That depends. Is it murder to terminate a viable human? Let’s say my son is in the hospital. He’s on life support but there’s a 99% chance he will survive in perfect health if only we can sustain life support for six months and have a relatively minor surgery at the end. But we pull the plug on him instead. SIX MONTHS IS JUST TOO LONG! It’s too inconvenient. People will find out! I know I wanted the child, took vigorous, sweaty actions to have him, but I changed my mind. He and the hospital are expensive and keeping me up sick at night.

    If that were the case, could you see how terminating your child’s life 6 months short of saving him might not be just some abstract equality of self, self-determination? More than a choice only YOU are having? (Without the father, but of course.) I don’t quite understand it. But go on.

    Women were “hard-hearted and soulless if a fetus was merely “a clump of cells”, if abortion was spiritually meaningless, and if abortions were nothing more bloody or catastrophic than “personal choices. …At what point does a “right” become a murder?”

    “the National Abortion Federation writes, “By the time they turn 20, about 40% of American women have been pregnant at least once.” What does that say about abortion-as-contraception stats? Or the “My body, my choice” (the choice to take vigorous actions to definitely cause pregnancy) stats? I mean, you were there. You participated. Both of you, not just the man.

    Naomi then discusses having a possibly serious medical operation where the doctor cannot inform the parents. So you’re a parent, your daughter is 13, has a major, life-changing operation, and you’ll never know. Never know why things suddenly changed in June, 2022, she reversed behavior, shut you out, moved to another state, started drugs, joined a cult, whatever. You’re FULLY responsible as a parent, can be arrested, sued, imprisoned, yet you are allowed NO INFORMATION that would help you navigate and avoid failing, being sued, arrested, imprisoned, getting a call that your daughter committed suicide. O Rly? Go on, tell me about your “rights” and “choices”. Parents get that s—t sandwich, they didn’t get any “choices”. Is it legal to have all responsibility yet no rights? That sounds like human slavery.

    “Just about two babies out of twelve are aborted.”

    Uh, those are not birth defects of necessity. They are not rape. “Doesn’t this mean that a generation of women in their 20s, year by year — are alone without support; ill-informed about contraception, or can’t afford it; feel desperate in relationship to their choices, and are in a traumatizing state of crisis, with something awful having happened in their formative years?

    Isn’t that a national issue that should primarily concern us?”

    “What does it do to women that two of ten of them, by the time they are 30, felt that they had to, and did, choose abortions?” –Naomi

    What does it do? Just this: They feel that it HAD TO BE RIGHT. It just HAS to be. Because if it wasn’t Right, the right and only thing to do, they can’t live with themselves. Therefore, just like that street bum you all killed to join the Crips, you have total solidarity, total buy-in, total support, and belief. …And yet… And yet why doth the lady protest too loudly? Because I didn’t tell you anything, you told ME I’m judging you, sitting here eating a sandwich. Why would you think that of me when you have a clear and perfect conscience? You’d ignore me and go on your life. Don’t need me or my opinions in it. If I told you you were responsible for the dinosaur extinction you’d ignore me, why not this?

    Yes, that tells me most do NOT have a clean conscience about it. They feel bad. And I feel bad for them. They feel bad and guilty, and if so they are probably correct in their own assessment: only they would know, after all. They feel guilty, and the neuroses to assuage the guilt are harming them. BUT: they are also easily channeled by a Fix-it-up Chappie with a political Star to sell. Ka-ching! I’d say this is like Catholic Guilt, being born bad, to control masses and make whole nations insane, but it’s so far beyond that hook and control it’s almost incomparable.

    Women feel they cannot “afford to bring a healthy child to term. Surely, if you wanted fewer young women to feel driven to the choice of abortion, you’d want safe, engaging day care centers and nurseries”

    More than 20 such places have been firebombed by the same people this week, and many more doxxed with hope for more deadly attacks. Now WHY, if I’m not correct, would they feel the overwhelming need to do that? “Food…to…women…must…be…stopped…!”

    “we do not. We propose and embrace rather a culture of death, of disposable humans, and increasingly, of flat-out eugenics. …we ask our young women to numb themselves, sexualize themselves, and get on with fitting into that death culture — one in which their potential for maternality has zero sanctity; zero value;” –Naomi.

    She then rightly points out it’s not old white men passing laws. We have USSC women disagreeing with each other in the court ruling. We have front-line women disagreeing in competing protests. We have top female politicians disagreeing in Legislatures. Patriarchy? Never was, but now far more obviously fabricated than ever before, not that anyone cares.

    Now that’s the biggest switch I’ve seen in years to admit that, the deeply obvious truth. You are not a victim. You DID choose. You have the power and always did. Stop being a child and become a full woman by taking your power and responsibility.

    What is up with all that?

    #110615
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Brother Alasdair has hit another one out of the park:


    War – even a war of choice – always reveals the fragility of complex systems. An article in the Atlantic recently noted that if “you, as a typical urban professional Millennial, woke up on a Casper mattress, worked out with a Peloton, Ubered to a WeWork, ordered on DoorDash for lunch, took a Lyft home, and ordered dinner through Postmates only to realize your partner had already started on a Blue Apron meal, your household had, in one day, interacted with eight unprofitable companies that collectively lost about $15 billion in one year”.

    It has been a Millennial lifestyle subsidy that may vanish in the twinkling of an eye (or in one hike of an interest rate). It is a mirage. One that reflects the absurdities of the ‘cult of tech’ in a zero-interest rate era. It will soon be gone.

    War Makes for Clarity

    #110616
    Neal
    Participant

    Is it just the US that has zero industrial capacity? I get the impression that loss of manufacturing capacity affects the whole western world. Australia shut its last car manufacturing plant 4 years ago. Germany might need to shut the worlds largest chemical plant ( lack of gas and what they get is very expensive). Just about everyone is having supply constraints (don’t you love Just In Time manufacturing) and yet somehow NATO thinks it can ramp up munitions and weapons production (using raw materials that Russia mines and is sanctioned).
    We are deep in clown world (and not the happy clown but the fat serial killer one).

    #110618
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    As indicators of stress related systems failures continue their rise, Americans brace for rolling shit storms.

    #110619
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Greg Hunter on USAWatchdog.com as he interviews Dr. David Martin

    Martin thinks there will be 700 million deaths but for different reasons than Geert Vanden Bossche and his interview with Clas Sivertsen

    Martin also thinks the Clotshot for murdering infants is being pushed because Big Pharma Mafia wants it on the official mandatory schedule of vaxs for kids. Once the Clotshot Killshot is on that list it has permanent immunity from liability.

    Sweet.

    The current schedule of profit vaxes for kids is up to 78 different shots now.

    Cha-ching!

    I think as a kid I had three.

    Oh, how times have changed.

    Don’t run with scissors has become a mass formation psychosis thing.

    .

    #110620
    Mr. House
    Participant

    When actions do not have consequences then “choices” do not matter.

    #110621
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Greg Hunter on USAWatchdog.com as he interviews Dr. David Martin,

    https://rumble.com/v1acoaa-up-to-100-million-will-die-from-cv19-vax-by-2028-dr-david-martin.html

    #110622
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Sitzkrieg We’re In

    Lira always has a nice catchy word for things.

    Word of the day: Sitzkrieg

    #110624
    zerosum
    Participant

    Things have changed
    Power rest in someone’s finger tip.

    Manipulation/pictures/words/sound are no longer believable/trustworthy
    With social media, (bloggers), the path to Resurrection, could be Rejection

    free advertising – Having your name used by the news media does not equate success.
    ———–
    • The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH)

    Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats In The Midterms (Juan Williams)
    ————-
    Ukraine –
    Windows are still being broken.
    Who will prepare the reconstruction of the country?
    The people are already asking/complaining that their gov. is spending money on Ukraine that is needed in their country.
    ———–
    Hide the truth by not naming it a bad flue
    Omicron vs. covid-19
    natural immunity and lower rates of BA.5 infection, which appears to prefer vaccinated populations.
    ———–
    systems failures
    Depopulation has been decided.
    Discussion/negotiation is about who will give up the biggest percentage and by which mechanism.
    ————

    #110625
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I sure hope that saving ourselves doesn’t kill everybody.

    #110626
    zerosum
    Participant

    Look at some signs of systems failures
    1. airports travel problems
    2. Passport line ups of Canadians wanting to escape to other countries
    3. Inventory/supply line delays
    4. attitude – problems not my responsibility. Not getting paid to get into trouble for mentioning a problem
    5. competence, poor training

    #110627

    Tony Ornato is denying that he told Cassidy Hutchinson Trump grabbed the steering wheel in presidential vehicle on 1/6 or lunged at a fellow agent, a USSS official tells
    @joshscampbell
    . CNN confirms that Ornato & Enger are prepared to testify that neither incident occurred.

    #110628
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    BABIES ‘R’ US

    I don’t know why more media isn’t shouting this from the rooftops (shock, maybe?) , but quite aside from the purely abstract matters like headlines, ethics and political foofaraw there is just one other “little” side effect from the cessation of Federally Subsidized Industrial Scale Baby Murder . . . . . . BABIES ! LOT’s of them. . . . . and every single one of ’em alive, hungry, and poopy.

    Talk about Baby Boom ! I mean, like we ain’t never seen before.

    ATTENTION INVESTORS, POLITICIANS AND OTHER COLD-EYED-HEARTLESS-REALISTS :

    Good time to go long on nappies, baby food, Day Care Centers, new voting demographics . . . . and cheap tranquilizers.

    Finally, a “problem” that is actually WORTH having. New Humans. Heads up, kids. You’re going to find this place VERY interesting, and that’s putting it mildly.

    #110629
    zerosum
    Participant

    Your leader are too smart to fall for a protection racket scam
    https://www.rt.com/russia/558071-zelensky-ukraine-nato-aid/
    “Financial aid for Ukraine has no less significance than arms deliveries,” Zelensky said. “We need some $5 billon every month, you know that. And this is a fundamental thing, needed for defense and protection.”

    #110630
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Dear Lord,

    Give us a sign that you’re watching this S$(% show and haven’t grown tired of us yet. Take your “faithful” servant Mr. Fauci! 😉

    https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/fauci-suffers-much-worse-covid-symptoms-after-paxlovid-rebound

    #110631
    zerosum
    Participant

    If the drug,  Paxlovid, ​​​​​​​is for standard-risk COVID-19 patients, and he got Omicron, then the drug won’t help him.

    #110632
    zerosum
    Participant

    Democracies are those that agree with us.
    NATO and allies are all democratic and had elections that we support and agree.
    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropping his veto over Finland and Sweden’s application for membership.

    #110633
    willem
    Participant

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/06/29/you-are-not-alone-2/

    “To all my friends out there who know what’s really going on… To all my conspiracy theorist friends… Yes, sometimes it’s a curse and not always a blessing to be awake. Awakening is the most liberating, alienating, excruciating, empowering, lonely, confusing, freeing, frightening, expansive journey. If you find yourself struggling as you try to process all this insanity, you are not alone. No one talks about the darkness that accompanies awakening, or the GRIEF.

    “Not only grieving the life and illusions you once had but the realization that almost everything you thought you once knew, is a LIE. The beliefs you’ve held, people you’ve trusted, principles you were taught- ALL LIES. Shattering illusions is RARELY an enjoyable experience. There is a considerable amount of discomfort that comes with growth and the grieving process doesn’t stop there.

    “With these newfound realizations, you then find yourself grieving all over again. Grieving the loss of many relationships with people who just don’t “get it”. Feeling alone; being ridiculed and shamed, not only by the masses but for many of you, your very own family and friends too. Feeling like you no longer have much in common with the people you are surrounded by.

    “Struggling with carrying on bullshit, shallow conversations that lack substance with those who are still fast asleep. Even feeling disconnected from your entire support system because they can’t see what you see. Some even grieve the loss of their ignorance- because “ignorance is bliss” and reality is harsh. Awakening can be a lonely road and you will often find yourself journeying alone.

    “There is no way to sugarcoat it- Awakening to the realities of this world is brutal. It will have you running through the entire gamut of human emotions. You have to master the art of diving down the darkest of rabbit holes only to come out and still function in daily life, and that’s a skill people don’t talk about enough. Some of you are struggling with feeling disconnected from family and friends, it’s as though they exist in another world.

    “Please know you are not alone, and not only are you not alone, you have an entire tribe standing with you. We may be separated by miles, but we are DEEPLY connected; in purpose and in spirit.”

    #110634
    John Day
    Participant

    Yesterday I wondered:
    “I was wondering where those guys were working. They look to me like they do this kind of work for a living. Burma? Philippines? It could be part of India, too. They are working in sandstone.
    … It looks like South China and a lot of SE Asia has sandstone. Look at those guysfaces and movements. They are not typical Indian, nor typical SE Asian.”

    Doc Robinson researched further and found a story about the videos that this group made on a few acres near Siem Riep, Cambodia, which fits with their having a mixed look between Indan and Southeast Asian. (“Siem Riep” means “Siam/Thailand Defeated”, which was a big deal for the Cambodians at that loacation, which includes Angkor Wat, also made largely of sandstone).

    The site made about 20 of this kind of dugout domocile, and left them, apparently making good money on all of the views. Don’t fall in! The purchaser says it sort of ruined the forest area, which will take time to regrow…
    Bayonne temple

    #110635
    zerosum
    Participant


    Thank You

    @ willem
    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/06/29/you-are-not-alone-2/

    Via Chris MacIntosh from an Anonymous source

    #110636
    zerosum
    Participant

    Lets use an old proven effective solution that has been done around the world

    A Travelling Health Service Trailer/RV Convoy

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-house-forced-dismiss-idea-abortion-tents-national-parks
    White House Forced To Dismiss Idea Of Abortion Tents In National Parks

    #110637
    zerosum
    Participant

    Good news
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-travels-friendly-central-asian-countries-1st-trip-abroad-war-began
    Vladimir Putin plans to attend the G20 summit in Indonesia in November, an aide to the Russian president said Monday.

    #110638
    zerosum
    Participant

    Main stream media propagandist are still pushing the story that there were 1,000 civilians in the shopping center.
    Meanwhile
    https://www.rt.com/news/558094-russia-ukraine-kraken-unit/
    Russian forces have reportedly conducted a series of precision artillery strikes on several military targets in eastern Ukraine, including the base of the Kraken nationalist battalion, according to the latest daily report published by Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

    Over one hundred Kraken fighters near the city of Kharkov were neutralized as a result of artillery strikes on Wednesday, according to the report, as well as 10 armored vehicles. The ministry added that high-precision missile strikes also took out a number of command bases in the region, including a foreign mercenary training center, as well as ammunition depots and repair bases.

    The ministry noted that, after suffering significant casualties, leaders of the Kraken unit ordered its forces to abandon their positions and retreat to the city of Kharkov.

    The Kraken unit is considered by Russia’s Defense Ministry to be a nationalist fighting force and an offshoot of the notorious Azov regiment, which recently suffered a crushing defeat in the city of Mariupol. Kraken designates itself as a special reconnaissance and sabotage unit under the Ministry of Defense, operating separately from the Armed forces of Ukraine.

    While there is no official information on exactly how many fighters are part of this battalion, some sources believe that the unit has about 1,800 soldiers and primarily consists of Azov veterans and volunteers, many of whom come from ultranationalist and far-right backgrounds.

    #110639
    John Day
    Participant

    Dr. D said:
    ” ‘Hitler wanted a … European Union’
    And he/they wanted it for what? TO CONQUER RUSSIA. That’s why we, Ford, IBM, Bush, armed and funded them for years. Because the Anglos took Russia in 1917 and Russia escaped under Stalin. So they needed to RE-conquer Russia and steal their resources. Sound familiar?”

    Pretty good brief-summation,Sir!

    #110640
    zerosum
    Participant

    Approved/no opposition, New increased invasion by USA
    Who is paying, who is receiving the money.
    We need Trump back in Office to get out of NATO.
    https://www.rt.com/news/558088-biden-troop-deployments-nato-europe/
    Biden announces new troop deployments in Europe
    The US Army will set up a permanent headquarters in Poland
    The military bloc’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Monday that the alliance will increase its rapid-response force from 40,000 to 300,000 troops.

    #110641
    John Day
    Participant

    On elective abortion choices:
    I have dealt with manyhumans going through this decision process since the late 1970s.
    I was a non-progenator guy that girls would sometimes ask to go to the clinic with them when they had an abortion. I was just sort of ok, helpful and non-judgemental.
    Then I became a medical doctor, and did deliveries and GYN surgery, and not termination procedures, but the equivalent of a chemical abortion for tubal pregnancies and non-viable pregnancies sometimes.

    This is not easy for most people. A few women do use abortion as “birth control”. They are of a different sort of mind, I think, intellectually distanced from it, somehow.

    There is not a better option in my medical opinion, which is the same as my human-experience opinion, than readily available contraception, morning after-pills and first trimester abortion, on demand, no questions asked, but there have to be more questions after that. Society starts voting after that.

    Women are at a disadvantage to tricky or brutal men who impregnate them dishonorably, unless they have this early option to terminate.
    Young women live and learn, as immature young men also live and learn about things.

    Young women impregnated by “good” men may also feel that they need more time before they can decide to become mothers. Sometimes they need a little more time to be sure the man is actually good. They may need more time to know themselves, too.
    Reproductive maturity comes at least 5 years before cognitive/emotional maturity (sometimes 10).
    Most 15 year olds do really well physically giving birth…

    #110642
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but lately after reading Raul’s notations each morning including the first batch of comments, there’s almost nothing left to say. Everyone has been so spot-on, hitting their targets dead center, eating the lunch of all the establishment narrative spinners while slapping them silly, that anything I would attempt to add would only muddy the water.

    @Boogaloo wrote: “Brother Alastair [Crooke] has hit another one out of the park:” regarding his recent article, War Makes for Clarity.

    Yes, read it yesterday. One of his best. Worth the time. On a related note, I could’ve sworn that Tom Luongo from Gold Goats ‘N Guns said that he had a podcast in the tank with Alastair Crooke for podcast #111, which he has not yet posted. I’m really looking forward to hearing both of them converse on the current happenings.

    #110643
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    The last that I read, Nato’s rapid response force never even reached 5,000!
    I don’t think Nato could even field a 300,000 strong army!
    So Nato’s 300,000 rapid response force must be just a virtual force!

    #110644
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    @willem posted the link: YOU ARE NOT ALONE

    A wonderfully short article describing a very complex, emotion infested process that is often difficult to put into words. It’s great to be on the other side of this process with a little experience under your belt. However, it’s bloody hell going through it. Lots of arm waving, raging, sadness, and depression. And lots of blank stares, defensiveness, and rejection when you try to share it with those that you love.

    #110645
    zerosum
    Participant

    ….. must be just a virtual force!
    with virtual money going into bank accounts
    Hahahaha

    #110646
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Via MoA commentariat section, translation of the following interview with the Polish general, … long but quite revealing:

    https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,28631163,gen-mieczyslaw-gocul-szczyt-nato-ma-nas-przekonac-ze-wygramy.html#s=BoxOpMT/

    Gen. Mieczysław Gocuł: the NATO summit is to convince us that we will win the war with Russia if, or rather when, it breaks out
    I am very concerned that the NATO summit in Madrid is going in the wrong direction. Instead of looking for ways to win peace, because this is the essence of the problem of the eastern flank, the summit is to convince us that we will win the future war if, or rather when, it happens – says Gen. Mieczysław Gocuł, former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army.

    First of all: NATO at the 2014 summit in Newport, by creating the Readiness Action Plan, increased the Response Force to 40,000. soldiers – including land, sea, air, space and cyber components. Now, in 2021-22 (because the Russians mobilized their forces for this war in October last year) we have a war. And what happened on NATO’s eastern flank? US troops arrived, but importantly, the NATO Response Force did not arrive. And yet, if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine close to our borders did not cause a reaction by the NATO Response Force, then it is necessary to ask the head of NATO whether the Alliance’s crisis response procedures have been launched at all.

    If the Pact triggered them, after the initiating phase (conflict detection), it would be necessary to move on to the next phase: strategic assessment by the commander of the combined NATO forces in Europe. Such an assessment should be presented by the commander at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC – NATO’s most important decision-making body). After all, this assessment would be simple: Russia brought out over 150,000. soldiers and launched an invasion of Ukraine. It was therefore to be expected that the NAC would share the commander’s assessment. The next step in NATO’s crisis response should be to use Response Options Development. But nothing like that happened. We in Poland and the Baltic states understand the threat, but the approach of other NATO states is diametrically different.

    Unfortunately, even those US troops now on the eastern flank have never been placed under NATO command. Thus, the Alliance’s nerve, or command structure, has not been mobilized to coordinate the actions of the NATO Response Force, which also has not been deployed. So what if we have 40,000 in NATO? The Response Forces if they haven’t moved?

    And have you heard that the famous NATO Spearhead (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force – VJTF) appears in Poland or in the Baltic States? Also not. And yet it was created in 2014 – after Russia’s war in the Donbas and the annexation of Crimea – and was supposed to react within 72 hours.

    Since 40 thousand. did not move, it’s 300,000 it won’t move either. Since even the spearhead has not moved with the current state of leadership in the member states and NATO itself?

    Yes. It is not a question of the number of declared forces, but of the lack of a decision. It is similar with our army – the key is not whether we have 100 or 300 thousand. soldiers, but what capabilities the military has and whether it has the ability to stop the Russian invasion. Let’s forget about numbers. When humans flew with stone spears, the actual number was decisive. But not now.

    You complain, and Jens Stoltenberg announces: “The NATO summit in Madrid will be groundbreaking. With a new strategic concept, we will make a fundamental change in NATO’s deterrence and defense.”

    Before the NATO summit in Warsaw (2016), at the Pact’s military committee, I asked Stoltenberg: what will be the guarantees for the eastern flank? He replied with a question: what else does Poland expect? I said straight: security and prosperity, which is what the rest of the sitting at table wants.

    Just like then, I hear the same slogans today, such as “do more with less”, and there are also other nice-sounding calls, but these are only political slogans calculated for a positive social perception and minimizing costs – but they do not really bring any political and military solutions.

    No breakthrough in NATO, even if there is a real risk of a war with Russia?

    If Stoltenberg says it will be a turning point, it is probably just for him. Because it will be the last summit with him as the head of the Pact. The summit will definitely not be a breakthrough, because – first of all – NATO does not want to take a big step forward.

    What should happen for a breakthrough to become a reality?

    Let’s be honest: if there is to be a breakthrough, we should have 360 ​​degrees of security for the Alliance – on each of its borders. And let’s also honestly answer the question: is the eastern flank safe – are Poland and the Baltic states safe? Well, we are not safe – NATO does not give us security now and the current summit in Madrid will not change that. And yet such slogans – of complete security – had already been spoken at the previous summits of the Pact in Brussels, Warsaw and Newport. It always ended up with security slogans. This time it will also be like that.

    Now the tension between Russia and Lithuania is growing, because the sanctions are blocking the Kaliningrad Oblast more and more. Could this be a hotspot?

    If Putin wanted to start the war further and decided to cut a corridor through the Balts to the Kaliningrad District at the Suwałki Isthmus, what forces could stop him? Could the forces of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland stop Putin? Well not. Putin will not be stopped by the Americans, who are present on the eastern flank only in small numbers. I repeat, Russia talks and counts only with strong countries and organizations. And NATO in our region is weak.

    NATO is not strong on the eastern flank, but does it have enormous potential, which it does not want to transfer to our region?

    NATO has military potential, but does not have the political potential to use it to build real security in our part of Europe. European leaders are not equal to the task. I don’t want to criticize individual leaders, but the role of statesmen is to make difficult but necessary decisions.

    These leaders do not seem to understand that the war in Ukraine has already caused hundreds of billions of euros in damage, and will still bring trillions of damage to the entire global world. It will also bring hunger and the millions of victims of hunger that Russia is blackmailing the world with. If the leaders thought seriously, they would very quickly make decisions about the forward and enhanced presence of NATO on the eastern flank, so that it could carry out specific operational tasks, which we are able to precisely define to ensure security. However, for this to be possible, a NATO division should be stationed in Poland.

    After the NATO summit in Warsaw (2016), we formally created an international division in Poland – it should be linked to the chain of command and be subordinate to the Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin, which is a rapid reaction corps. And this corps should be subordinate to the Allied Command of NATO’s Joint Forces in Brunssum, so that NATO would be responsible for the security of the eastern flank.

    And what would result from this?

    And the fact that the allied troops arriving on the eastern flank would be tied to the NATO chain of command. Today, after all, the battalion battle groups present in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as a result of the NATO summit in Warsaw are not even commanded by NATO, but by individual member states. Everything should be tense, but it isn’t.

    The Estonian prime minister says: “Estonia (in the event of an attack by Russia) would be wiped off the map of Europe and its capital razed to the ground”, and NATO’s strategy follows the principle of “lose and then liberate”. And this is what it would be like in the event of the Russian invasion of the Baltic states?

    This, unfortunately, is true.

    But let’s start with the basic thing: what is the definition of security? It is the freedom to choose the path of development of the country. After all, what we have today on the eastern flank – in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia – is a contradiction of security. There is no free development, there are a lot of restrictions, there is a huge pressure to increase defense spending. And if there is no security, it means that NATO is not meeting the goals set out in the Washington Treaty, so NATO is not a strategic concept today.

    The gradation in the validity of the documents is clear: the Washington Treaty, NATO’s strategic concept and MC400 (Military Implementation of the Alliance’s Strategic Concept), i.e. the military implementation of the Alliance’s strategic concept.

    And in your opinion today is it fiction?

    If Stoltengerg is reading correctly the Treaty and the Charter of the United Nations, to which the preamble to the Treaty refers, then he should be aware: NATO was not created to reflect NATO territory. And today it would be forced to do so, because it is not able to defend the territory of not only Estonia, but also Poland. It must be emphasized that NATO was created to defend NATO territory – to prevent the conflict from escalating and, as a result, from taking over at least part of NATO territory by the enemy.

    However, there was already a lot of declarations that NATO would defend every scrap of the territory of a member state. In fact, it is impossible?

    Today, NATO is actually saying that we will not give up any land to Russia. However, this is a story of fairy tales, and Putin probably laughs at it. Because what did NATO – apart from rhetoric and many Stoltenberg conferences – do about the war in Ukraine? NATO has a spearhead – did not send. NATO has a Response Force of 40,000. soldiers – they didn’t move. NATO has a command system – it has not moved. And if NATO wants to increase its Response Force to 300,000 and whoever thinks it will be OK, it sounds like a joke, because 300,000 wouldn’t move either.

    One should also pay attention to the condition of our army, which would also have trouble moving. The operational units are stripped by the territorial defense forces, we have a shortage of officer cadres, problems with mobilization, and a broken crisis response system. We have announcements of huge purchases of weapons and the propaganda creation of a new division, but I dare to suspect that we are not able to deploy as many highly completed units as we declare for the NATO table of forces.

    You paint a dramatic picture of the lack of determination and strength of NATO and the Polish army.

    And the direction in which the NATO summit in Madrid is going will absolutely not ensure the security of the eastern flank. Even if there will be 300 thousand. Declared Response Forces, with 30-day supplies, ready to go to operational on the eastern flank, they will continue to be stationed where they are now stationed.

    Is Poland and the Baltic states today – in a threatening situation – satisfied with the fact that somewhere in Spain or Italy there are units that are to arrive when Putin starts the war and enters our territories? After all, our waiting will be at least two weeks before the Forces take off, another two weeks before they sail or come, a week before they integrate. By then, it will be swept away, NATO will recapture the ruins and uncover the crimes of the Russians.

    At the plenary session of the NATO military committee – before the summit in Warsaw – I argued to the Americans: if you want a NATO Response Force in Spain, they will sleep in their shoes and with rifles in their hands, and they will come to Poland too late anyway. I proposed: the forward presence of these troops on the eastern flanks is needed, so that the soldiers sleep in their pajamas, train and relax, but if there is a threat, they will get dressed in one day, have time to eat, get their equipment and go to the front.

    It took Putin over a year to collect 150,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine – maybe this is the time to transfer NATO troops from Spain or Italy to the eastern flank?

    I will answer, without violating the official secrecy. There used to be an incident in the Baltic Sea: over 30 Russian ships suddenly appeared on it. Total surprise. And yet ships at sea are not a tank that can be hidden in the forest. If more than 30 such ships went to sea and NATO knew nothing about it, will NATO be able to react quickly enough when Putin really wants to attack?

    There were also the Zapad 2013 exercises. The Russians declared 12.5 soldiers, and gathered 140,000 soldiers. – the entire industrial and defense complex of Russia. Out of nowhere. What was the Alliance’s response? In 2013, NATO organized exercises on the eastern flank – how many NATO soldiers exercised? 1.3 thousand soldiers from the French Rapid Reaction Corps from Lille trained in Drawsko.

    So are NATO guarantees mostly on paper and little response capacity?

    If anyone says that by increasing the declared number of soldiers of the NATO Response Force to 300,000 and also that we want to increase the size of our own army to 300,000, we will ensure our own safety, says nonsense. If someone says that the Polish army will be so strong that it will win the war with Russia, that is also gibberish. Well, with the same NATO forces on the eastern flank and our army, the Russians will demolish the country.

    I am very concerned that the NATO summit in Madrid is going in the wrong direction. Instead of looking for ways to win peace, because this is the crux of the eastern flank problem, the summit is to convince us that we will win the future war if, or rather when, it occurs. This rhetoric ended as we see it in Ukraine.

    However, it is to increase support for the eastern flank.

    But it will only cement the status quo. And the status quo is that NATO has done nothing to prevent a future war between Russia and NATO on the eastern flank.

    … fwiw,

    F.S.

    #110647
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Markets-Could-Face-A-Doomsday-Scenario-This-Week.html
    Oil Markets Could Face A Doomsday Scenario This Week
    By Cyril Widdershoven – Jun 28, 2022
    Highlights

    spare capacity of more than 3-4 million bpd,
    are unable to supply adequate volumes to the market.

    There is ,however, no real evidence to suggest that OPEC has increased production capacity in place in the short term.
    OPEC’s future is at stake if spare production capacity really has run out.

    Western sanctions on Russia, combined with existing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, will hurt markets for years to come.

    Without new oil production hitting markets soon, OPEC leaders MBZ and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman need to try to maintain the illusion of spare capacity. If spare production capacity is revealed to be under 1.5-2 million bpd, the future of both OPEC and oil markets would be bleak.

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