Aug 242022
 
 August 24, 2022  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Edouard Vuillard The flowered dress 1891

 

Ukraine Will Seize Crimea ‘By Any Means Necessary’ – Zelensky (RT)
No-Fly Zone (Schryver)
Evidence Of Ukrainian Shelling Of Zaporozhye Provided To UN
In Memoriam: Daria Dugina (Batiushka)
German Military Stock At Its Limit After Supplying Ukraine – Der Spiegel (RT)
World in the Process of Bankrupting – Bill Holter (USAW)
China’s Growth Sacrifice (Stephen S. Roach)
Biden’s War On Natural Gas Will Kill (Shellenberger)
Norway Wants Facebook Fined For Illegal Data Transfers (Pol.eu)
Rand Paul Lays Groundwork For Potential Fauci Probe (RT)
Twitter Whistleblower: Company Hid “Extreme, Egregious, Deficiencies” (ZH)
Trudeau Building Huge New Facility For Ministry of Climate Change (TCS)
Study Links Genetic Code of Covids Spike Protein To Moderna Patent
More Than 70% Of Pubs Do Not Expect To Survive Winter As Energy Costs Soar (G.)

 

 

 

 

White House Lied
https://twitter.com/i/status/1562189675791466498

 

 

Tucker Atlas

 

 

 

 

Yeah, Russia’s going to give up its warmwater port after 95% of Crimeans voted to join them. Zelensky, too, wants to fight until the last Ukrainian.

Ukraine Will Seize Crimea ‘By Any Means Necessary’ – Zelensky (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced on Tuesday that Ukraine will take the Russian territory of Crimea, by military force if necessary and without consulting any country, including Kiev’s Western backers. The Ukrainian military’s strikes on the peninsula have thus far been limited. Speaking at the so-called ‘Crimea Platform’, a Ukrainian-organized gathering of 60 nations and international organizations that back Kiev’s claim of sovereignty over Crimea, Zelensky said that “Ukraine is strong and powerful enough” to make the idea of a “Ukrainian Crimea” a reality. “We will return Crimea by any means that we consider correct, without consulting with other countries,” Zelensky said, according to Strana.ua, a Ukrainian news outlet.

“I know that Crimea is with Ukraine, [and] is waiting for us to return. We need to win the fight against Russian aggression. Therefore, we need to free Crimea from occupation.” Considered Russian land since imperial times, Crimea was an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union until it was appended to the Ukrainian SSR by Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev in 1954 for logistical reasons. The peninsula remained in Ukrainian hands after the fall of the USSR, until its people voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in 2014, after the Kiev government rejected a number of plebiscites during the 1990s aiming at re-establishing Crimea as an independent republic. The US-led NATO alliance considers Crimea to be “illegally annexed” Ukrainian territory, and has demanded that Moscow return the region to Ukrainian control.

A US official told Politico last week that Washington has given Ukraine its blessing to strike targets of its choosing in Crimea. Kiev’s military has carried out a number of these strikes in recent weeks, including a drone attackon the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on Saturday. Explosions at military sites on the peninsula have been blamed by Russia on Ukrainian “sabotage,” but Kiev has neither officially confirmed nor denied responsibility. With its forces tied up fighting Russian and allied troops in Donbass, Ukraine has relied on drones to carry out its sporadic attacks on Crimea. The aim of these attacks is “not military, but psychological,” Crimean official Oleg Kryuchkov stated after Saturday’s strike, adding that owing to their small payload of explosives, drones are unable to inflict extensive damage.

Zelensky ruled out the prospect of a ceasefire on Tuesday, telling the summit that Ukraine would not freeze the current front line to “calm down Russia.” Moscow has repeatedly blamed Kiev for the breakdown of peace talks earlier this year, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accusing Western governments of “keeping Ukraine from any constructive steps”toward a peace settlement.

Roger Waters Ukraine

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Sounds impressive.

No-Fly Zone (Schryver)

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the fact that western military analysts – even among those not burdened with the epidemic strain of virulent antipathy towards Russia – have not spoken much (if at all) about what I consider to be quite arguably the most impressive revelation of the war in Ukraine. In addition to imposing a virtual “you fly, you die” rule against the Ukrainian Air Force and the various drones they employ, the Russians are, with a formidable array of air defense systems of varying capacities, routinely shooting down: ballistic missiles, MLRS rockets, HARMS anti-radiation missiles, and even artillery shells. They are also effectively employing a variety of electronic counter measures to: block signals to GPS-equipped ordnance; spoof the targeting radars of both satellites and radar-equipped missiles, and otherwise confuse the variety of targeting technologies employed in both older Soviet and American weapons being fielded by Ukrainian forces.

This is an absolutely unprecedented achievement on the battlefield. Neither Israeli nor American systems have ever demonstrated the capability to routinely shoot down advanced missiles or rockets of any type. Iraqi Scud missiles defeated the American Patriot missile defense system, as have much cruder missiles fielded by the Houthis in Yemen against Saudi targets ostensibly protected by American-provided US air defense systems. More relevantly, Iranian missiles have proven to be much more formidable than was previously believed. And although it remains uncertain (or purposely unacknowledged) that US air defense systems were in the vicinity at the time, Iran dropped a couple dozen of their home-made ballistic missiles with 1000 lb. warheads within 5-meter circles at the US air base at Ayn al-Asad in Iraq during their “Vengeance for Soleimani” strike in January 2020.

This is particularly embarrassing for the US, because they had prior warning, hours in advance, that a missile strike would be launched against Ayn al-Asad. Even in strictly controlled tests against advanced ballistic missiles, the successful interception rate for US Patriot and THAAD (TerminalHigh Altitude Air Defense) systems falls far short of impressive. And yet, after a handful of successful early strikes by Ukrainian forces, the Russians have now shot down the overwhelming majority of the Soviet-era Tochka-U ground-to-ground missiles Ukraine has fired over the course of the past six months. The Tochka-U is a reasonably formidable weapon. Mach 5.3; 150 meter accuracy; variable warhead. But other than a single ammo dump strike, there have been no successful Tochka-U hits on Russian targets since the third week of March 2022. Dozens have been shot down.

By comparison, the US ATACMS missile is almost twice as large as the Tochka-U, with a longer range, but considerably slower speed (Mach 3+). There is little reason to suppose the ATACMS can succeed where the Tochka-U has failed – at least if it is used against targets covered by Russian air defenses. But, of course, it’s not just the ballistic missiles Russia is shooting down. They have been shooting down Ukrainian artillery rockets from the beginning of the war. And most recently, they are shooting down an impressive percentage of the HIMARS GPS-guided GMLRS rockets when they challenge air defense coverage areas. And just in the past week, as yet unconfirmed evidence has emerged of a US HARMS (high-velocity anti-radar missile system) missile shot down by Russian air defenses. I suspect we’ll see additional evidences of that capability in weeks to come.

But what must be understood is that no military on the planet had, previous to the war in Ukraine, consistently demonstrated the capability to do what Russia has been doing routinely for the past six months: imposing from the ground what amounts to a reasonable facsimile of a no-fly zone over those areas of the battlefield where it has chosen to mass its air defenses.

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“..Moscow had given assent to the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Zaporozhye NPP back in June, before the Ukrainian drone, artillery and rocket attacks began.”

Evidence Of Ukrainian Shelling Of Zaporozhye Provided To UN

Russia has submitted photographic evidence of Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Tuesday. He also briefed the Security Council on the most recent attacks, some of which involved NATO-supplied weapons, and insisted that Russia does not use the site as a military base. “Despite the false statements of the Kiev regime and its backers, Russia has not placed heavy weapons on the territory of the ZNPP and does not use the station for military purposes,”Nebenzia said during the council’s emergency session on Tuesday afternoon. “The Russian Ministry of Defense is ready to provide the IAEA with high-resolution images, which show that weapons, especially heavy ones, are not placed on the territory of the station,” he added.

In addition to the photographic evidence of Ukrainian shelling of the plant, Nebenzia entered into the record a timeline of strikes, named the Ukrainian artillery unit involved, and specified which strikes featured M777 howitzers given to Ukraine by the Pentagon. “It seems that our colleagues exist in some kind of their own parallel reality, in which the Russian military shells the NPP it is protecting, using American systems at that,” Nebenzia said. Contrary to insinuations by Kiev and its Western backers, Nebenzia noted, Moscow had given assent to the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Zaporozhye NPP back in June, before the Ukrainian drone, artillery and rocket attacks began.

Nebenzia blamed the US and its allies for tolerating “criminal” behavior by Ukraine – from the shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP to the car bomb that killed Russian journalist Darya Dugina in Moscow over the weekend, and was cheered by some NATO officials he mentioned by name. The Zaporozhye plant is located in Energodar, a city in southern Ukraine under the control of Russian troops since March. The plant’s civilian staff continued operations unhindered until the artillery attacks began in July. Kiev has denied responsibility for the attacks and accused Russia of shelling the nuclear site to discredit Ukraine, but also of placing troops and heavy weapons inside the NPP’s perimeter and thus making it a legitimate target.

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Both Dugin and Dugina are being renounced in the western press as “ultra-nationalists”. Strange term. Sort of like “America First”.

In Memoriam: Daria Dugina (Batiushka)

The news of the Western-sponsored terrorist murder of Alexander Dugin’s daughter, Daria, has shocked us all. Of course, in one sense it is no different from all the other brutal murders carried out by drone by the Obama regime, or the CIA’s disposal of countless human-beings under their puppet regimes from the Philippines to Vietnam, from Italy to Latin America, from Greece to Africa, and in many other countries over the last three generations. Nevertheless, it concerns me more personally, as I know her father. I first met the Russian Eurasianist philosopher Alexander Dugin in London in 2005. He and I were two of the four speakers at an International Conference on the European Tradition.

My approach was spiritual and so politically neutral, his approach was that of a right-wing academic. But regardless of that, we were heading in the same direction and, all the more as I was the only Orthodox priest present, we sympathised. I was able to speak to him between talks and we had a photograph taken together. Alexander went on to become quite well-known on the academic and political philosophy circuits internationally. His influence on President Putin has been much exaggerated by the ignorant and hate-filled Western media which has decided (or rather been ordered) to cast him as ‘Putin’s adviser’, but that is another story. In fact, Alexander was a theoretician. However, as such his books, articles and talks were always stimulating and thought-provoking and will continue to be so.

It is my hope and prayer that the sacrifice of his daughter, Daria, which leaves him heart-broken, as it would any father, will not make him bitter. Rather it will inspire him to purify and refine his thought further, so that his influence through her will be ever greater. Below I attach the talk I gave that day, seventeen eventful years ago. I dedicate it to Daria.

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“The capability profile of the Bundeswehr (German military) can and should temporarily take a back seat to the sustainability of Ukraine in the current critical situation. Because Ukraine’s survival is in Germany’s security policy interest..”

German Military Stock At Its Limit After Supplying Ukraine – Der Spiegel (RT)

Germany cannot deliver more weapons to Ukraine without depleting its own stocks, its defense ministry has said. Despite the military reaching the “acceptable limit” of what it can send, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under intense pressure to keep the arms flowing to Kiev. “We went to the acceptable limit when selling Bundeswehr stocks,” a spokesman for Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told Der Spiegelon Monday, a day after the German news outlet published a guest article from lawmakers Kristian Klinck, Sara Nanni, and Alexander Mueller calling for Germany to up its weapons deliveries to Ukraine. “The capability profile of the Bundeswehr (German military) can and should temporarily take a back seat to the sustainability of Ukraine in the current critical situation. Because Ukraine’s survival is in Germany’s security policy interest,” the trio, who represent the three parties in Germany’s coalition government, wrote.

Since the beginning of Russia’s military operation in February, Chancellor Scholz has come under persistent criticism for his apparent reluctance to gift Ukraine with the weapons it has requested. While Berlin has sent artillery pieces, shoulder-fired rockets, and anti-aircraft tanks, Ukraine has asked for more air-defense systems and an artillery radar system, both of which have not yet been shipped. Germany’s military was in a severely depleted state long before February, with a 2019 report revealing that fewer than 20% of the country’s 68 Tiger combat helicopters and fewer than 30% of its 136 Eurofighter jets were operational. The report also found that ammunition stocks were low and soldiers were missing essential gear, including boots, clothing, and bedding.

Despite Scholz announcing an ambitious program of rearmament in March, and despite the fact that the Bundeswehr’s budget has increased from €37 billion ($36 billion) in 2017 to €50 billion ($49 billion) this year, the military has not yet remedied these deficiencies. As far back as March, Lambrecht was describing the Bundeswehr’s stocks as “exhausted,” and Scholz has also had to balance his stated desire to support Ukraine’s forces with his insistence that Germany shouldn’t send equipment powerful enough to escalate the conflict. The situation is further compounded by Germany’s promises to replenish the stocks of its allies, who are sending their own stocks of heavy weapons to Ukraine in exchange for replacement equipment from Germany.

Despite these limitations, Scholz recently insisted that Berlin supplies “a lot of weapons”to Kiev, and will continue to give Ukraine “what it needs for its defense.” Scholz made these comments after retired Bundeswehr general Klaus Wittmann accused him of a lack of “leadership” and of appearing “intimidated” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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“All you have to do is wake up in the morning and read the news, and you know it has gotten worse than the day before. That’s day after day.”

World in the Process of Bankrupting – Bill Holter (USAW)

Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter says, “nothing is getting better” and points out the proof is everywhere that we are clearly headed for a financial calamity, the likes of which we have never seen before. Holter, who is also a precious metals broker, is seeing a big pick-up in business because big money is looking for a place to hide in the physical world. Holter explains, “We are getting more orders and larger orders. I think this is natural because I think people know something is wrong, and when something is wrong, you want to get defensive. I think people are finally making the connection the world is in the process of bankrupting, and you want your capital in something that cannot bankrupt. By definition, that is gold and silver.”

Holter says evil is trying to take over everywhere. Holter contends, “The consensus is the fact that we have a 2nd Amendment and we still have guns here is the only reason they have not snapped the trap shut yet. The United States is ‘the last bastion.’ Just look at Australia. Look at New Zealand. Look at Canada. Look at Britain. Can you have guns there? No, they have taken them away. What did they do? They forced the population into lockdown. They forced the population to get the jab. The result is you are going to see the West vastly depopulated and degraded in the next 1, 2 or 5 years. They have total control over their population. Whereas, that is not the case yet in the U.S.”

Holter has long said when the overloaded debt system breaks, it will break “fast and ugly.” “Credit will dry up overnight,” and “The world runs on credit,” according to Holter. His math shows a dark time ahead even for the prepared. Holter explains, “All you have to do is wake up in the morning and read the news, and you know it has gotten worse than the day before. That’s day after day. I have talked about ‘Mad Max’ for several years. When I first started talking about it, I got all kinds of grief, and they called me a nut case. It is certainly looking more and more now as the likely scenario. It just goes back to the West and, including China, it is not in the West, but it too is extremely levered (or indebted). When you over-lever a financial system, you over-lever an economy. At some point, the only thing that can happen is something bad. It’s either default or hyperinflation of the currency to pay the debt back. As far as timing, I would be shocked if we make it through the end of this year and people would still consider the system normal.”

When the system does break, that’s when it turns “ugly.” Holter explains, “As far as how are things going to work when this thing goes down? My question would be is anything going to work? Will your bank be open? Will your broker be open? Will there be a store open or a restaurant or any place to buy goods? That gets back to Jim Sinclair’s ‘Get out of the System’ (GOTS). Become your own central banker. Stock up on the things you think you are going to need. Is it going to last two weeks or two years? It could last two years. One thing for sure, our life in the United States is going to be drastically changed to a lower standard of living. . . . You are watching the breakdown in real time.”

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“Xi’s focus on ideology speaks much more to the resurrection of Mao’s legacy than to continuity with the Deng era.”

China’s Growth Sacrifice (Stephen S. Roach)

Since the days of Deng Xiaoping, economic growth has mattered more than anything for China’s leaders. The 10% annualized hyper-growth from 1980 to 2010 was widely seen as the antidote to the relative stasis of the Mao era, when the economy grew by only about 6%. But under President Xi Jinping, the pendulum has swung back, with 6.6% average growth from 2013 to 2021 much closer to the trajectory under Mao than under Deng. Some of the slowdown was inevitable, partly reflecting the law of large numbers: Small economies are better able to sustain rapid growth rates. As China’s economy grew – from 2% of world GDP in 1980 at the time of the Deng takeoff to 15% when Xi assumed power in 2012 – an arithmetic slowdown became only a matter of time. The surprise was that it took so long to occur.

It is possible to quantify the foregone Chinese output from the slowdown. Had annual real GDP growth remained on the 10% trajectory under Xi, rather than slowing by nearly 3.5 percentage points since 2012, the Chinese economy today would be a little more than 40% larger than it is. Yet the China slowdown is far more than an arithmetic event. Three powerful forces are also at work – a structural transformation of the economy, payback for past excesses, and a profound shift in the ideological underpinnings of Chinese governance. The structural explanation puts an optimistic spin on the slowdown by framing it as the byproduct of a strategy aimed to improve the quality of economic growth. By staying the course of hyper-growth for too long, China became increasingly afflicted with the “four uns” of former Premier Wen Jiabao – an economy that was unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated, and (ultimately) unsustainable. Rebalancing was the only way out – especially if it led to greener, consumer-led, and services-intensive growth that addressed the twin goals of balance and sustainability. If slower growth was the price, it was well worth paying it.

[..] My biggest mistake was to minimize the consequences of Xi Jinping Thought. Xi’s focus on ideology speaks much more to the resurrection of Mao’s legacy than to continuity with the Deng era. Under Xi, China’s new era is more about the supremacy of the Party, with an associated emphasis on power, control, and ideological constraints on the economy. Unlike the China of Mao, when there wasn’t much growth to sacrifice, there is far more at stake today for the world’s second-largest economy. With the upcoming 20th Party Congress likely to usher in an unprecedented third five-year term for Xi, there is good reason to believe that China’s growth sacrifice has only just begun.

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‘Wait. These are 20-year investments and Biden is saying that in 5 to 10 years these investments will go bad. So what should we do?’”

Biden’s War On Natural Gas Will Kill (Shellenberger)

Over the next several years, millions of people will die from hunger-related diseases, cold temperatures, and air pollution as a direct result of natural gas shortages. All of those deaths have been going down over the last several decades. But shortages of natural gas, gas-derived fertilizers, and electricity shortages will result a reversal of those trends. And the higher-than-normal death toll will continue so long as the world fails to produce sufficient natural gas to meet global demand. President Joe Biden could prevent a significant number of those deaths but his policies restricting natural gas production and exports will increase them. The U.S. is already the largest natural gas exporter in the world and it could produce and export far more.

The problem is that the Biden administration is refusing to grant permits for production, pipelines, and export terminals. And it is working through federal agencies to discourage private sector investment in natural gas. Biden administration officials point to rising liquified natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, provisions in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that tie renewable energy production to oil and gas production, and a permitting reform proposal proposed by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), which may pass Congress and be signed by Biden at the end of September, as proof that Biden increasing natural gas supplies.

But rising LNG exports are mostly the result of policies put in place before Biden took office, IRA increased the cost of natural gas leases on federal lands without requiring a significant expansion of them, and Manchin’s permitting reform proposal currently under consideration does not amend or update any of the statutes the Biden administration has put in place, which restrict natural gas production, transport, and export. A high-level Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist for the oil and gas industry told me that, as a direct result of Biden administration policies, private sector investment in LNG is being throttled. “The LNG industry is going to investors to invest in these facilities but investors are saying, ‘Wait. These are 20-year investments and Biden is saying that in 5 to 10 years these investments will go bad. So what should we do?’”

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“Meta could also still appeal a finalized Irish decision, which would again delay the need to trigger a Facebook and Instagram blackout in Europe.”

Norway Wants Facebook Fined For Illegal Data Transfers (Pol.eu)

Facebook owner Meta Platforms should be fined for continuing to shuttle Europeans’ personal information to the United States in violation of a landmark EU court ruling, Norway’s data protection authority has told its peer regulators. “There would be little or no incentive to act in accordance” with EU data transfer laws if regulators don’t impose a fine on the U.S. tech giant, Norway’s authority Datatilsynet said in a partially redacted document obtained by POLITICO under freedom of information laws. The authority is one of a handful of European regulators responding to the Irish Data Protection Commission’s draft decision from July that orders Meta’s to cease its use of a legal instrument called standard contractual clauses (SCCs) to transfer data across the Atlantic — everything from family pictures to payroll information.

The Irish draft decision implemented a 2020 court ruling in which the European Court of Justice nixed an EU-U.S. data transfer deal called Privacy Shield and tightened requirements to use other data transfer mechanisms like SCCs because they would expose Europeans to intrusive U.S. surveillance. “Based on the facts of the case, we do not see how [Meta] could have continued its personal data transfers following the Schrems II judgment had it acted in accordance with the GDPR,” the Norwegian objection reads. It said it thought Meta’s violation of EU data transfer rules is “particularly serious.” The Norwegian document suggests that the regulator wants to go further than the Irish Data Protection Commission, which in July decided to block Meta’s EU-U.S. data transfers but made no mention of a fine for the violations.

“While orders, limitations and bans generally seek to ensure that future data processing of personal data takes place in line with the GDPR, sanctions such as administrative fines are directed towards violations in the past and carry a punitive element,” it reads. Meta has repeatedly said that a decision blocking its transfers would force it to shutter its Facebook and Instagram offerings in Europe, but a final decision is months away. The Irish regulator is required to feed other European regulators’ comments, including Norway’s, into its decision, and may have to a trigger formal dispute resolution mechanism if it can’t resolve the objections, which would delay the process by at least another month. Meta could also still appeal a finalized Irish decision, which would again delay the need to trigger a Facebook and Instagram blackout in Europe.

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“The American people deserve transparency and accountability from the NIH regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of Dr. Fauci’s future employment plans..”

Rand Paul Lays Groundwork For Potential Fauci Probe (RT)

Fresh from vowing to investigate chief White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci for his role in the Covid-19 pandemic, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has demanded that President Joe Biden’s administration preserve documents and messages that could become evidence in the potential probe. Paul, who has sparred with Fauci in Senate hearings over government funding of potentially dangerous virus research, sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Tuesday, calling for the Covid-19 czar’s documents and communications to be saved. The demand came one day after Fauci announced that, effective in December, he would step down as Biden’s chief medical advisor and as director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Navarro Fauci

“Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic,” Paul said after the doctor’s announcement on Monday. That will include testimony under oath concerning discussions about the possible leak of Covid-19 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he said. The senator previously accused Fauci of directing public funding to gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and lying about it under oath in congressional testimony. “Dr. Fauci misled the American people on public health guidance throughout the pandemic, lied to Congress under oath, and funneled tax dollars to fund dangerous research in communist China,” Paul told the Daily Caller on Tuesday.

However, Republicans will need to win back control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections to force such an investigation. Paul said in February that he would subpoena Fauci’s records if Republicans retake the Senate. In a CNN interview last month, Fauci said there was no reason for such a probe. “But if they want to, go ahead. My records are an open book.” Paul requested in Tuesday’s letter that the NIH preserve all documents, data and messages created by or shared with Fauci relating to Covid-19, including NIAID-funded research. “The American people deserve transparency and accountability from the NIH regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of Dr. Fauci’s future employment plans,” he said.

Other Republican lawmakers accused Fauci of timing his exit to just before a potentially GOP-controlled Congress starts work next January. “Dr. Fauci is conveniently resigning from his position in December, before House Republicans have an opportunity to hold him accountable for destroying our country over these past three years,” Representative Andy Biggs (R-Arizona) said on Monday. “This guy is a coward.” He added that Fauci will be held accountable whether or not he remains in public office.

Sen. John Kennedy Fauci

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“..rewarded executives cash bonuses up to $10 million to increase the number of daily users..”

Twitter Whistleblower: Company Hid “Extreme, Egregious, Deficiencies” (ZH)

Following the Washington Post’s story on the Twitter whistleblower complaint, Elon Musk’s legal team said they want to interview the former head of security Peiter Zatko. CNN’s Donnie O’Sullivan tweeted moments ago that Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro wants to speak with the Twitter whistleblower: “We have already issued a subpoena for Mr. Zatko, and we found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding.” One day after Elon Musk’s legal team subpoenaed former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as part of an ongoing effort to fight a lawsuit by the social media company to force the billionaire to move forward with the $44 billion acquisition deal.

The Washington Post released a new report alleging executives deceived federal regulators and the company’s board about “extreme, egregious deficiencies” to combat hackers. WaPo cited a whistleblower complaint from the former head of security Peiter Zatko who said some of the company’s servers are running out-of-date software, and executives withheld critical information about data breaches. Bezo’s news outlet interviewed more than a dozen current and former employees about past deficiencies. The complaint was filed last month with the SEC, DoJ, and FTC. It said thousands of employees had access to core company software, which led to data breaches and hacks of high-profile users.

WaPo said the whistleblower document alleges executives prioritized user growth over reducing spam and rewarded executives cash bonuses up to $10 million to increase the number of daily users. The complaint noted Chief Executive Parag Agrawal was “lying” when he said in May the company was “strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can.” In a WaPo interview, Zatko said his decision to reveal Twitter’s failures to the public is an extension of his previous work exposing security flaws within the company.

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WEF crown prince.

Trudeau Building Huge New Facility For Ministry of Climate Change (TCS)

The Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is building a new facility in Winnipeg that will be home to a firearms armoury, interrogation rooms, biological labs, media relations offices, “controlled quiet rooms,” and intelligence facilities. The plans, which were drawn up by a firm in Winnipeg, open a window into Trudeau’s future plans for Climate Enforcement. Down the hall from the proposed “Firearms Storage” rooms are several evidence rooms, interrogation suites, and adjacent recording rooms.According to a recently posted Indeed.com ad, the Ministry is searching to recruit a battalion of Climate “Pollution” Officers, a unit within the coldly named “Environmental Enforcement Directorate.”

If you emit too much carbon or use too much fertilizer, you may just be on the Climate Communists’ hit list. The entire facility that was leaked to The Counter Signal is sketched to be over 50,000 square feet, will house hundreds of ECCC staff, and will also be home to weather forecasting staff. The Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which was quietly passed in the final days of Trudeau’s majority government, grants sweeping power to Ministerial “Enforcement Officers.” But, until now, little has been explained about where and how Climate Police will be deployed. The IAA empowers agents of the Ministry of Climate Change to enter premises without a warrant to “verify compliance or prevent non-compliance with [the Act].


Trudeau’s Climate Police may enter any project location that affects the environment to take photographs, access computer systems and communication devices, and “direct any person to put any machinery, vehicle or equipment in the place into operation or to cease operating it.” Climate Police may also prohibit access to the location entirely. It seems to be no coincidence that this Climate Police armoury was placed in the heartland of agricultural production in Canada. This information comes just days after agents dispatched by ECCC were accused of trespassing on private land in Saskatchewan to collect Nitrogen samples, the newest target of Trudeau’s climate change agenda.

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A one in 3 trillion chance, but still contested.

Study Links Genetic Code of Covids Spike Protein To Moderna Patent

• Genetic match discovered in Covid’s unique furin cleavage site on spike protein • Matched genetic sequence patented by Moderna for cancer research purposes • Researchers say one in 3 trillion chance Covid developed the code naturally • Critics of the study are sceptical of its author’s conclusions, suggesting that the sequence match is not as rare as has been claimed.


Fresh suspicion that Covid may have been tinkered with in a lab emerged today after scientists found genetic material owned by Moderna in the virus’s spike protein. They identified a tiny snippet of code that is identical to part of a gene patented by the vaccine maker three years before the pandemic. It was discovered in SARS-CoV-2’s unique furin cleavage site, the part that makes it so good at infecting people and separates it from other coronaviruses. The structure has been one of the focal points of debate about the virus’s origin, with some scientists claiming it could not have been acquired naturally. The international team of researchers suggest the virus may have mutated to have a furin cleavage site during experiments on human cells in a lab.

They claim there is a one-in-three-trillion chance Moderna’s sequence randomly appeared through natural evolution. But there is some debate about whether the match is as rare as the study claims, with other experts describing it as a ‘quirky’ coincidence rather than a ‘smoking gun’. In the latest study, published in Frontiers in Virology, researchers compared Covid’s makeup to millions of sequenced proteins on an online database. The virus is made up of 30,000 letters of genetic code that carry the information it needs to spread, known as nucleotides. It is the only coronavirus of its type to carry 12 unique letters that allow its spike protein to be activated by a common enzyme called furin, allowing it to spread between human cells with ease.


Analysis of the original Covid genome found the virus shares a sequence of 19 specific letters with a genetic section owned by Moderna, which has a total of 3,300 nucleotides. The US-based pharmaceutical firm filed the patent in February 2016 as part of its cancer research division, records show. The patented sequence is part of a gene called MSH3 that is known to affect how damaged cells repair themselves in the body.

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“One operator said they had been quoted a cost for their energy that was nearly six times higher than on their current contract..”

More Than 70% Of Pubs Do Not Expect To Survive Winter As Energy Costs Soar (G.)

Britain’s independent brewers have urged ministers to step in to save the sector, as research revealed more than 70% of pubs do not expect to survive the winter if nothing is done to ease energy costs. In a letter to the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, independent brewers on Tuesday called for immediate government intervention, warning a once thriving cottage industry was now facing “grave uncertainty”. They said the impact of surging energy bills was being compounded by a fall in sales as households seek to save money, shortages of equipment such as kegs, cans and CO2 gas, and a poor hop harvest pushing up prices. “We have entered one of the most challenging times for the brewing sector,” the Society of Independent Brewers said, in a letter also signed by the chair of the Campaign for Real Ale.


“Small brewers are reporting that their energy bills are doubling or trebling, putting their future ability to brew at risk”. The warning came as pub operators reported similar rises in energy costs, with reports that some suppliers are refusing to offer new contracts to the sector because they fear pubs may not be able to pay their bills. More than 35% of operators said they had seen their utility costs double, while 30% said their costs had tripled, according to a survey for the trade publication the Morning Advertiser. One operator said they had been quoted a cost for their energy that was nearly six times higher than on their current contract – with the price per unit shooting up from 14p to 83p. Almost three-quarters of respondents said they would not be able to afford the increases.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 24 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 67 total)
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  • #114099

    Edouard Vuillard The flowered dress 1891   • Ukraine Will Seize Crimea ‘By Any Means Necessary’ – Zelensky (RT) • No-Fly Zone (Schryver) • Eviden
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 24 2022]

    #114100
    Germ
    Participant

    Some very hard truths from Dr. Blaylock.
    This entire fiasco is so NOT over.

    https://rumble.com/v1g3s9n-advocacy-lifeline-episode-39-follow-up-interview-with-dr.-russell-blaylock.html

    ☠️☠️☠️

    #114101
    praecursator
    Participant

    UpstateNYer – yesterday’s Post 114053:
    . . . What solvent easily removes tar without exposing a person to unhealthy toxins?

    Assuming you’re talking about actual tar (as opposed to metaphorical badminton with Dr. Day) –
    kerosene – probably the best general clean-up solvent – fast, safe and effective! . . . (oops)
    No, truly it is – particularly for tar. Low flashpoint, with a long history as a home remedy & cure-all, too!

    #114102
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Edouard Vuillard The flowered dress 1891

    Hmmm…can’t say I like it…
    But it doesn’t matter, in the end, what I think………….
    The sun will rise, life may go on…or not…
    I assume it will…doesn’t everybody??

    #114103
    aspnaz
    Participant

    V. Arnold said

    The sun will rise, life may go on…or not…
    I assume it will…doesn’t everybody??

    We are all dreading your demise, we all know it ends when you pop your clogs. Stop being grumpy 🙂

    #114104
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “ECB Says Cash “Not Fit” for Digital Economy, Dismisses CBDC Privacy Concerns”

    Well here is the mark, with the social credit score. Shutting off food to anyone who is good and not a fascist. Fascist? Yes, merger of corporation, state, society into one thing, ruled by a small cadre at the top of the Collective.

    Time has run out on the debt-compounding system, it needs a reset, but Russia won’t start the WWIII like they’re told so Davos can cover up the collapse. …You know, like Western finance locking up in late 2019.

    So, here we go with forcing it all on you openly. Theft, murder, control, all the same size as a WWIII, but with no logical premise. Nothing’s broken except our leaders’ brains and the institutions they run.

    “‘Weary’ Europeans Must ‘Bear Consequences’ “ EU says.

    “UK Knife Crime Is Soaring”

    If only they had registered the knives. All the criminals would line up to get licensed.

    They have a cure for the economic pressure, while adding a 100k city at a pop of desperately poor, war-inured immigrants to the problem: “Green Party Official Tells Germans to Use Washcloths instead of Taking Showers”

    I’m sure that’ll settle everything down. Why didn’t I think of that before? Thanks so much!!! I tell you, there’s nothing I like more than a lower standard of living. And they already said “Eet Ze Bugs!” so the food problem is covered.

    “BREAKING: White House Lied”

    This is news? I am glad they got the receipts though. Even though nobody cares and nobody will act. Really, it SEEMS like things are happening, but the feeling here is noting is happening. Nor may ever again.

    Ukraine Will Seize Crimea ‘By Any Means Necessary’ – Zelensky (RT)”

    I wondered why anyone listens to anything he says, but actually, the article is worth referencing as a study in lunacy and denial. ““I know that Crimea is with Ukraine, [and] is waiting for us.” “Ukraine would not freeze the current front line to “calm down Russia.” Uh-huh.

    “No-Fly Zone (Schryver)”

    First war we’ve fought without air superiority in 100 years. I can see why they thought they would bleed the Russians and make it unpopular at home: imagine if ¾ of this stuff got through.

    This is particularly embarrassing for the US, because they had prior warning, hours in advance, that a missile strike would be launched against Ayn al-Asad.”

    The U.S. is clearly incapable of embarrassment. Or adjustment. And they don’t mention Lira’s March attack on the Polish border where they shot their best, expensive missiles from Russia, crossed the whole of a nation the size of France, and took out the NATO training base. Without NATO seeing anything, on any radar or defense. Without warning. Just firing at will, hitting anything they feel like. Unopposed. So they own the air offensively as well as defensively. Too bad we won’t see their I dunno, 8th generation jets shoot down all the helpless Penguins, though. Our other top jets are from 1976.

    “renounced in the western press as “ultra-nationalists”

    As in, they are patriotic? We already know that’s a capital crime, here as well as there.

    “Germany’s military was in a severely depleted state long before February, with a 2019 report revealing that fewer than 20% of the country’s 68 Tiger combat helicopters and fewer than 30% of its 136 Eurofighter jets were operational. The report also found that ammunition stocks were low and soldiers were missing essential gear, including boots, clothing, and bedding.”

    This is what I’ve been mocking them for, and also what Trump told them. Like: “you plan on fighting Russia, you tell me Russia is your immediate threat and enemy, we spend a trillion defending against, yet you have zero army and you get 80% of your oxygen – I mean gas – from them? Explain.”

    “Ah Trump, you so stoopid. All the schmartz people know…” Now it’s proven and he’s still stupid and Germany is still smart and right. Maybe it’s not stupidity that is infinite in the universe, it’s denial.

    Anyway, we already know THEY CAN’T fix and repair the military: there are no tank factories, no shell factories, no food factories, and all the gas and coal you would build one with is in Russia. Likewise, the U.S. has no shell factories, no tank factories, no steel mills… But we’ll give ’em what for: “Words are Violence” don’t you know?

    “Scholz recently insisted that Berlin supplies “a lot of weapons”to Kiev,”

    Denial. Notice they carefully avoid naming them, Facts = Hate. Truth = Enemy. Because then it would be obvious it was only 6 trucks and a box of rifles. That is, not only is he lying (duh) but Germany is completely helpless and undefended in any way. The only reason they exist is that Russia doesn’t want them.

    The world runs on credit,”

    Although it seems Inflationary now, this is Deflationary. Prices drop 90% without credit. The problem is timing, as if you miss the timing you can be destroyed either way, both ways, or just missing the day of the turn. That’s not good. As Charles Hugh Smith has said, you can’t erase risk from a system. It is merely transferred, or in this case, ignored. If risk = profit, our risk has never been higher. We’re in a Great Depression with a Dow 33,000. Oh and the US$:Euro is at par. 1:1. From 80 just last year. Europe is being clubbed like a baby seal. That’s okay. Enjoy the washcloths. BTW great idea just to holiday in the South this winter. I hadn’t thought of that, simple and practical.

    “China’s new era is more about the supremacy of the Party, with an associated emphasis on power, control, and ideological constraints on the economy.”

    They are a very authoritarian, bureaucratic state and always have been. That is why they are different from us, different from the West, and you can’t use 1:1 history with Western economics anymore than you could for the !Kung people. Authoritarian is not for me, but naturally: I’m an American. Russia is halfway, as they too like authoritarian structure, but in their own alien way Europe doesn’t understand. It works for them, so it’s none of my business. However my Evergrande bonds will fail and China will lock all Gaijin from getting their money out, isn’t that right Mr. Soros?

    Biden’s War on Natural Gas Will Kill (Shellenberger)”

    We certainly can and should convert to minimize its use, but that’s not what they’re doing. They are running an intentional genocide, a religious fatwa against humans. How would we do it? Well geez, it’s real hard now! You already built a tens of million houses that are as un-ecological as is possible to be. You already paved every acre you could find. You already destroyed all the systems and infrastructure that would let you replace chemical fertilizer with manure. You already created hyper-cities that are too large for the surrounding farms and water systems, and already built them so there is no way to utilize them without massive car use. And against every outcry and warning. So as Kunster would say, “The greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the universe.” So…go undo all that, every stick, go back to distributed systems, small farms, small workshops, small cities, small travel like 1950, and we can cut your gas use. They won’t. We are going to hit the wall at 100mph. But we will. We the people will have to, so we the people will do it. While fighting them off with a shield in the other hand like Nehemiah 4:17. Except they are the vikings, criminals and scoundrels murdering us.

    “Facebook owner Meta Platforms should be fined for continuing to shuttle Europeans’ personal information to the United States”

    Really? It’s this and not being the worldwide hub for child grooming and trafficking? Okay then, glad you have priorities. Oh and ISIS is still on, not censored.

    “Republicans will need to win back control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections to force such an investigation.”

    They are going to shut down the election to prevent this. Using a few dozen different methods at once, the election will be made unclear and impossible to verify, adding a new layer in their attempts to cause civil war. So don’t worry about “The Election”. In essence there won’t be one. The resignation does imply that he believes Republicans will take Congress, but he is 80. Young for our current dottering dinosaur class.

    Twitter is a public-private partnership with the security state. (Fascism. Also totally illegal under 1A) Yes, duh. But also reported that FOREIGN intel is everywhere in it. Duh. If you were Israel or England or China wouldn’t you place some employees to pull some levers? Of course you would. Zatko said “They have no internal controls”. Which I’ve heard before elsewhere. USAToday for instance. You can post anything, any time. No editor no review, no consequences. But this is IT and Data, so of course there is no security and no internal controls. Duh. Have none of you ever used the internet before? How many times do they have to lose your whole password list and every credit card to “hackers”? (Actually us, an inside job.) You know, like that East Pipeline company that was going bankrupt then was hacked and paid themselves off with their own hacking insurance?

    Is everyone named “Pollyanna” these days? You’d think when raised from birth inside a violent criminal enterprise of universal con artists, we’d be more up to speed.

    The Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is building a new facility in Winnipeg that will be home to a firearms armoury, interrogation rooms,”

    Behold the Green Horse. The rider of the apocalypse that kills more people than war and famine. Look upon me, Green Agenda, and despair. Just as the IRS, their clear intent is to kill people, or they wouldn’t have an armory and interrogation room. It’s in the job description: Shoot Citizens. Is that crazy? That’s the SAME AS NOW. What would be crazy is if they changed it.

    A few hikes in Europe? No, that will MAKE IT WORSE. Economics is so backward, and has stayed that way for so many decades of insider profit that they forgot Stagflation completely disproved Keynesianism in the 70s. High prices cannot exist in a bad economy, they said. Here we are 50 years later, thinking Keynesianism’s only cure to high prices, raising rates, isn’t the OPPOSITE of what’s needed, AFTER the whole school was already discredited as garbage claptrap a lifetime ago. Dottering Dinosaurs of Despair.

    In reality, they know. And it’s just all profitable lies. Everything that’s said is a lie, because the only enemy is the Truth. Europe has no choice but to raise since the Fed raised. If the Fed raised, it will suck worldwide capital flows off the moon as they say. The only way for Europe not to become a crater is to also raise rates to complete, hoping to survive one more week. But as this article implies, that will crater Europe with a double-whammy in paying higher costs AND higher interest: a higher “tax” on activity. Oh, and actual higher taxes too. Triple tax. With more “IRS” revenue agents as they go broke. Quadruple taxes. And starvation.

    Europe is just trying to start a war so they can reset the debt clock. Kill all the citizens so there won’t be shortages, and maintain power using Soviet bureaucracy, a police state that shoots French women in the eye, and a social credit score digital currency that murders dissidents. They are trying to get America to murder themselves in order to survive, but the U.S. is returning the favor. And we’re winning handily: Europe has ALREADY murdered themselves on our behalf. Thanks! You shouldn’t have.

    Going back to the first article, “ECB Says Cash “Not Fit” for Digital Economy,” they are reversing digital currency and returning to cash, almost worldwide. Why not when ATMs are failing, Justin is stealing your bank account, and you’re going blackmarket to survive.

    #114105
    EoinW
    Participant

    2016: Lock her up! 2022: Lock him up!

    The only way I see Republicans winning in November is if they’ve jumped on the Destroy USA bandwagon and will keep the Build Back Better going. Even if that was the case, I still can’t see the Democrats willingly giving up power.

    Did they fix the 2020 election and Georgia run off just to give it all back two years later? I don’t think so. The best the GOP can hope for is a contested election. The Dems will never peacefully give up power ever again.

    #114106
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    V. Arnold said

    The sun will rise, life may go on…or not…
    I assume it will…doesn’t everybody??

    Stop being grumpy 🙂

    Stop being grumpy?
    Good heavens; it’s one of the privileges us old folks enjoy; we’ve earned it…

    #114107
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Roger Waters: “NATO doesn’t want the war in Ukraine to end. There’s huge fortunes to be made. They will fight until the last Ukrainian.”

    Roger Waters said that international recognition of Taiwan as part of China means that NATO should not be supporting Taiwan. This immediately raises the questions of the Palestinians and the international recognition of Paestine as owned by the Jews of Israel. What is your position on that Roger? If he could not work out the implications of his statement, why are we listening to him? If he did know what he was saying, when will he reveal his view of the Palestinians? Musicians play music, it takes many hours of practice every day, as a result they are, without exception, total morons when it comes to politics. The best evidence was Live Aid, the money going to buy guns, not food …. sad.

    #114108
    aspnaz
    Participant

    With the upcoming 20th Party Congress likely to usher in an unprecedented third five-year term for Xi, there is good reason to believe that China’s growth sacrifice has only just begun.

    Xi will destroy China, preventing its “great leap forward” in order to further his own power ambitions – to become the Mao of the 21st century. He will destroy all the potential of the Chinese people by insisting that the party have total control over everybody, which they already have and obviously plan to use to further some power ambitions of the future. Their problem will be innovation: at the moment they steal innovation from the USA and Europe, what will they do when the USA and Europe are not sending their designs to China for manufacture any more? At the moment they have the money to pay western engineers to design cars, western engineers to provide the machine tools, to support their car companies, but what happens to those companies when the western engineers and project managers no-longer go to China? Isolation is not going to give China prosperity.

    #114109
    aspnaz
    Participant

    The entire facility that was leaked to The Counter Signal is sketched to be over 50,000 square feet, will house hundreds of ECCC staff, and will also be home to weather forecasting staff.

    What would stop local residents to completely eliminate these employees within a week? Other than mental weakness – subservience in fear – there is no reason why the entire facility would ever function, if the Canadians were willing to save their country, their towns, their families, their children …. but they are not.

    #114110
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Everyone wants the sovereignty to do whatever they want when they want until something BAD turns out to be entirely their own (sovereignly chosen) bad deed. Then all of sudden they want it to be somebody else’s responsibility. Nobody wants sovereignty when that means that it’s their fault.

    #114111
    aspnaz
    Participant

    People need to stop focusing on the enemy’s leaders and start focusing on the enemy’s foot soldiers. You cannot win a war by just killing the leader, you have to win a war by killing the foot soldiers until there are no foot soldiers left. If that were not the case, Putin would have killed Zelensky and it would all be over, but we know that is not reality, you have to kill his foot soldiers so that his replacement has no power. Trudeau will get his reward, but first the people need to remove his foot soldiers, they need to remove his power.

    #114112
    aspnaz
    Participant

    In a letter to the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, independent brewers on Tuesday called for immediate government intervention, warning a once thriving cottage industry was now facing “grave uncertainty”.

    An Islamic British-Iranian is going to decide whether pubs should stay open ….. ummm. Why would anyone return to the UK to live if they are currently in a sane country abroad, one that allows them to criticise Jews and drink beer? That country is so finished, but it is only the peoples’ fault because they sat back and did nothing, like they are doing now. The oligarchs have promoted the most unlikely people into positions of power, they have obviously been pushed there in order to destroy the sense of British Culture. Add to that the child abuse gangs and the epidemic of knife crime, both powered by immigrants and you can see that this is a controlled destruction. But, if the people won’t fight for their country – and I didn’t, I saw the writing on the wall, so I left because I couldn’t stand the people – then let it die.

    #114113
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    All war is Mind War. All. War is won by changing your enemy’s mind. Methods vary.

    #114114
    aspnaz
    Participant

    “Green Party Official Tells Germans to Use Washcloths instead of Taking Showers”

    And this guy is still alive? When will the Germans start to take this crisis seriously.

    #114115
    oxymoron
    Participant

    aspnaz – they will take it seriously when they use “outside” as a refrigerator and the furniture as the “heater” – about 3 – 4 months time.
    Time to stock up, as fascist as it is right now the command economy just may meet the remains of the day in a market crash as liquidity becomes solid like a turd.

    I’m thinking food, soap, kerosene, baking soda and an NFT for the memories of 2019

    #114116
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Also I am cutting firewood like a beast right now – yes it’s true when alot of the world is hot and dry other parts of the world are cold and wet – like where I am. Top of 9 C today and windy and wet.

    Which reminds me of the wolves in the national park twitter video from a little way back. When you put the apex back in the mix the natural environment thrives. Does that mean Black fellas get their land back so we can avoid the horrendous bushfires in Oz? No obviously it’s – you guessed it – Climate Change.

    #114117
    John Day
    Participant

    Yesterday Farmer McGregor mused that he “might read Marx”.

    Just try to read Marx, Man! I really tried. I could read smaller bits bu Marx.
    I made it 58 pages into Das Kapital.
    A friend laughed and said, “Nobody reads Das Kapital, Man, you’re just supposed to carry it around and look revolutionary”.

    #114118
    John Day
    Participant

    @Upstate NYer: Removing tar? “Non-toxic”? Kerosene came first to mind, but I looked it up and mayonnaise and peanut butter also work, or olive oil…
    🙂

    #114119
    John Day
    Participant

    @Aspnaz: Consider that “winning a war” might be largely about getting all the middle managers to side with you.
    Revolutions succeed when the cops change sides, and the captains, majors and colonels, and the teachers, and businessmen…

    #114120
    WES
    Participant

    Europe:

    If electricity in Europe is equal to $1,000 per barrel of oil, then I would just buy the oil and burn it to run my own generator. In other words if the TPTB’s power system is that corruptly expensive, I would just replace it with my own private system. But then taking a long vacation down south might be more enjoyable.

    Aspnaz:

    Sorry to disappoint you but China’s engineers already are designing today’s cars. GM’s Cadillacs are completely designed and built in China!

    Dr. D:

    If you are Germany, completely controlled and occupied by the US, then it makes perfect sense to ensure your own military is hopelessly weak, so it can’t be used by the US as cannon fodder like the Ukraine.

    #114121
    Henry
    Participant

    @praecursator thank you for the cleaning solution insight! I remember my grandfather using it. Wow what a flash back. Thanks again.

    #114122
    Clueless Honky
    Participant

    “What solvent easily removes tar without exposing a person to unhealthy toxins?”

    I’m not sure how this question wound up on TAE comment thread, but I definitely want to say here that you should first try vegetable oil.
    I first wash my hands with soap and water to get other dirt off. This, of course, doesn’t touch the tar. But after fully drying your hands, pour a couple of capfuls of vegie oil on your hands and rub into the tar deeply. The tar will rather quickly dissolve into the veggie oil as you deeply rub it in. When all of the tar is dissolved, then wash your hands again with soap and hot water to get the veggie oil (and dissolved tar) off.
    You’re done. Super easy. Quick. Non-toxic.
    This works with both natural tars (pine tar) and petroleum based tars. Yup

    #114123
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The ultimate “victory” of acquiring total power is pretty hollow, because there will be no one else remaining for the victor to share the triumph with, because the winner will have defeated them all. In other words: the winner is alone. But not because others have forced them to leave. How could they do that since they lack the power to do so. No, the “winner” has taken THEMSELF off of the playing field by not allowing anyone else to play. As they say in the business, “Game Over”.

    And it’s not only a Grand Scale emergent phenomenon, either. We see it played out all around us every day. We see it on the micro-scale as a day-to-day commonality so pervasive that it seems Standard Operating Procedure for living on Earth. Example: A seller cheats a buyer by selling an item for more than it is actually worth and then INSISTS that the buyer and everyone else AGREE that such a deed is good and moral and fair as a perfectly acceptable business practice.

    Alright. Let them have it their own way. The way they insist upon us accepting, too. Let’s hypothetically accept “profit” as a perfectly acceptable business practice. For how long can the makers of things be stolen from until they have nothing left to steal? That’s an easy question to answer, and the answer is : until it kills them. When the poorest of the poor starve to death then they can no longer pay more for a thing than it is worth.

    There are plenty of other ways to die before starvation drops the curtain, however, and they are all also intrinsically related in various ways to the theft of the basic necessities of life from those who actually made those necessities, and the attendant chaos that surrounds such skullduggery. When there is nothing left to steal because there are no people left to steal from then the stealers starve too, a no-brainer level of consequence that apparently escapes their capacity for understanding. They don’t understand things very well because their specialty is stealing, not understanding. They’ve always been able to just buy such services as “understanding” and “technology” (and even stealing !!) from experts, using the heaps of goods and money that they’ve stolen. Tidy package. Until there is no package at all.

    Most of this stuff has already been well covered in childrens rhymes, fables and fairy tales (The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg in this case), but it never hurts to review notes before a big exam.

    #114124
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Greta Thunberg. What a remarkably annoying child. And what marketing genius to package and sell such a peculiar and basically unpleasant “skill set”. Huge bribes were involved in her “media success” of course, but she still had to be “sold” as a useful item to her elite WEF associated patrons. Whoever did that sales job get’s top marks for bottom feeding. They truly understood the needs and wants of their target market, and that targeted market was the elites themselves. There must be some kind of Official Award for that level of expertise, even if it was evil..

    #114125
    zerosum
    Participant

    Energy needs

    1. 2,000 to 5,000 BTU ( A surplus for tomorrows activities)
    2. Oil for my mechanical slaves that reduce the consumption of my calories

    Hope that “MOTHER EARTH” did not break any windows during the night
    ——-

    #114126
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    War and avarice describe today’s government pretty well. Vid:

    So, bring it on big government! Push us too far and come hell, we will take our freedoms back from you, … the lyrics herald, …

    … but the chicken says:

    https://www.backyardchickens.com/attachments/55349_285419_249532715058647_100000057615535_1058088_5298572_n-png.555952/

    Doomed, …

    F.S.

    #114127
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    We use some cosmetics – soap, perfume – to conceal our natural odors; likewise, we use culture to conceal our natural ferocity.
    A cosmetics shortage is coming – the savage scent returning.

    #114128

    Formerly T-Bear (from yesterday)
    What?
    I was pointing out the date when corporate personhood put its toe in the supreme court’s waters, via a note made by a clerk in the 1886 decision.

    I’m waiting for the “metaphysical” execution of Pfizer.

    Old people get grumpy. Young people get testy. And children have tantrums.

    #114129
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    “Profit” on an item can be justified when it is just compensation for the time, effort, and cost of procuring said item.
    Case in point:
    I run a small IT company. A few times a year I run into a client in need of a computer. I can search for an appropriate one, but I happen to see it as a boring chore. My spouse absolutely loves shopping online for computer systems. He gets excited by doing the research to find the most suitable processor at the best price and then scours eBay, Amazon, Newegg, etc., for the best price, taking into consideration parameters such as how quickly the client needs the computer. This can take him anywhere from one to 3 hours, or more. Sometimes, his first offering is rejected and he must restart the process. So…he does the research, I send the quote, increasing my purchase price by $100 “profit.” If the client doesn’t purchase, he is not compensated. If the client purchases the system, I pay my spouse the $100, and I install and set up the computer, charging for my labor. This has been working well for five years now. I don’t believe anyone is being “exploited.” Everyone is happy with the results. My clients never would have found comparable systems on their own at that price. Labor deserves to be compensated.

    #114130
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #114131
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    My Parents Said Know at 114128

    Due respect for reply, You pointed out the date a meme is attached, a meme in support of legal ignorance mostly but useful in spreading economic ignorance as well. I would suggest finding Sir Henry Sumner Maine’s Ancient Law to begin informing yourself of the origins of Roman Law, the development of legal fictions, as well as the creation of corporate law; all from the origins of Western jurisprudence to current times. My point was, from memory of reading the decision that corporations from their very nature were no different than a person, that the meme was useless, and allowed ignorance to spread. Your use of that information was just a cut and paste amplifying ignorance. I shall not respond further to the extraneous blather. Be well.

    #114134
    Dimitri
    Participant

    @ John Day

    Dear John, if you want to read some Marx I would suggest “ The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte”.

    Easy reading and fascinating too 🙂

    #114135
    John Day
    Participant

    @Boscohorowitz: Thanks for the Earnest P. Worrell “Your Life As I See It” clips.
    An Oracle Speaks to Us
    The actor plays all parts, and is properly Jim Varnay, who died at 50 of lung cancer in Y2k: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Varney

    @Formerly T-Bear: Which character do you most identify with in that link from Boscohorowitz?

    @Dr.D: i didn’t say anything last time you did this, but aspnaz is going to call you on this at some point. “Gaijin” (outside-person) is a Japanese term. Japanese is a nice, phonetic language that adopted Chinese characters late in life after being invaded. Chinese is much more complicated, tonal, with rising and falling tones, not pronounced like Spanish at all, so the term for “foreigner” needs this thing where you listen to a computer say the word: wai guo ren https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=wai+guo+ren

    #114136
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I’m reading Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals right now. My spouse has a copy from college and gave it to me to read years ago; more recently Dr D here slammed the book and author…which served to pique my curiosity, lol. I’m in chapter 4, Education of a Radical under the “an organized personality” heading. Alinsky is going on about how the people in a given locale are all going to have their pet issues that are the biggest deal for their own lives, and how the individuals need to realize that if they support each other in these disparate issues, then they stand a chance to get what they each want. I was reminded of a few years ago when spouse and I attended a couple of meetings of the nascent Arizona People’s Party. We realized that the formers were essentially Bernie Sander’s supporters disillusioned by Bernie losing the nomination – twice. There was at that time no formal platform. The originators of the AZ PP wanted to adopt Bernie’s presidential platform once they realized that the national PP was at that time in disarray and had no adoptable platform. Spouse and I were disgusted. We pointed out that if this is the “People’s Party” why not create a task force to interface one on one with people, find out what was motivating individuals to join the meeting, create a proposed list of platform contents, and then put it up for a vote? Originators thought this type of project “too difficult” and preferred to put pressure on the Biden administration to accomplish facets of his campaign platform in the first 100 days. They were amenable to an online poll of possible platform items — but that meant that the items would be limited by the imaginations of the person putting together the survey. Both of these efforts appeared absolutely pointless to spouse and myself — at that point we lost faith in the AZ PP and didn’t bother with further meetings.

    I suppose that I could call them “lip-service liberals” — espousing a slim variety of liberal-ish ideas, but unwilling to do the legwork required to actually have democratic input. I understand the challenge of demanding consensus…but if groups cannot even be bothered to have conversations and learn from those conversations, let alone risk voting when others might not vote for their pet issues…then we are not worthy of democracy, direct or the Republican form.

    #114137
    John Day
    Participant

    Dimitri said: “if you want to read some Marx I would suggest “ The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte”.’

    Thanks, and that explains why there was such a good Marxian analysis of “Capitalism” and the French Revolution that I read recently, really going into how the energy of the revolution could only e realized if it was directed into something like imperial wars. I had not seen anything like that, but it “explained” nicely, whether completely correct, or not, why only Bonaparte had been able to coalesce the French social factions successfully in the post-revolution.
    I presume the writer had read Marx’s original analysis. Digging a little, I find that I have that in Karl Marx, Selected Writings, on page 187. I read some of these, slowly, long ago. then I read Capitalism For Beginners, and Economics Explained, then Freakonomics. that was all in the last millennium. I forgot most of it. It’s all models.
    I see that The Communist Manifesto is on pages 157-186. It looks pretty spicy at the end. Maybe I should read it. A previous owner of the book underlined a lot in black and red with a straight-edge in that section.

    #114138
    John Day
    Participant

    @PhonixVoice: The Arizona People’s Party might also read some Marx, but won’t. What I hear from you is that Sanders idealists had formed a community, which had become crestfallen, and as a community, they decided to take something like an autonomous position, as a group, to make demands. That was the extent of their capability. Their group did not have some critical mass of intellectuals with the energy and rigor to do the necessary work.
    Me neither…

    #114140

    I went and read Citizens United v FEC. I did not see “corporations are people” but I did find corporations referred to as “the speaker” (eg: “the speaker is an association with a corporate form”; “government may not suppress political speech based on the speaker’s corporate identity”.) Whereas the makers of the Hillary film likely all agreed, all shareholders in many corporations do not. So “the speaker” is a puzzle to me.

    Now, for your entertainment, here is a an interesting bit from CU v FEC:
    “…this Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.”

    #114141
    John Day
    Participant

    Biden is about to announce $10k per head in student debt transfer payments from all-y’all to them, pitting those receiving against those (it’s better) giving, or being debited somehow.
    The real point of jubilee is when the government declares that debts no longer exist.
    That would be eliminating the government coercion to pay these student loans, and declaring that there is no penalty for non-payment. That alternative would gut the top 1% of the financial class, instead of mostly benefitting the top 10% “of wage earners” (not asset-holders) over the other wage-earners.
    Indeed, the top-10%-of-wage-earners and their parents vote a lot. this is a bribe from all-y’all to them and especially the top1% of asset-holders, who are invisible-and-bulletproof.

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