Aug 252022
 
 August 25, 2022  Posted by at 8:30 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Felix Vallotton On the beach 1899

 

Geopolitical Tectonic Plates Shifting, Six Months On (Escobar)
Putin Bets Winter Gas Chokehold Will Yield Ukraine Peace – On His Terms (R.)
Nord Stream 2 ‘Only Sensible’ Solution To Gas Crisis – German MP
Belgian PM: “Next 5-10 Winters Will Be Difficult” As Energy Crisis Worsens (ZH)
Exploding Prices Will Impact Trade Balance More Than 1970s Oil Shocks (K.)
The Electricity Subsidy Shock (K.)
‘Weary’ Europeans Must ‘Bear Consequences’ Of Ukraine War: EU’s Borrell (ZH)
Macron Warns Of ‘End Of Abundance’ (RT)
‘Months Or Years’ Before US Arms Reach Ukraine – Media (RT)
FBI Mar-a-Lago Warrant Had ‘No Legal Basis’: Constitutional Lawyers (ET)
Biden White House Facilitated FBI Mar-A-Lago Raid (JTN)
FBI Brass Warned Agents Off Hunter Biden Laptop Due To 2020 Election (NYP)
DeSantis Says ‘Little Elf’ Fauci Should Be ‘Chucked Across The Potomac’ (RT)

 

 

Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, estimated at $300-$400 billion, has nothing for those who didn’t want that kind of debt. Or for those who did, and worked 2-3 jobs to pay it off ASAP. Or anyone else who’s in dire straits. But the colleges are sure sitting pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenn Beck

 

 


Slaughterhouse. Günther, where’s your mask? Mr. Butcher, Günther’s not wearing a mask!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The advances along the enormous 1,800-mile front are relentless, highly systematic and inserted in a Greater Strategic Picture.”

Geopolitical Tectonic Plates Shifting, Six Months On (Escobar)

Russia broke the spell. But Moscow’s strategy is way more sophisticated than leveling Kiev with hypersonic business cards, something that could have been done at any moment starting six months ago, in a flash. What Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the whole Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership. And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85% of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the FIRE Mafia from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks.

On the ground in soon-to-be rump Ukraine, Khinzal hypersonic business cards – launched from Tu-22M3 bombers or Mig-31 interceptors – will continue to be distributed. Piles of HIMARS will continue to be captured. TOS 1A Heavy Flamethrowers will keep sending invitations to the Gates of Hell. Crimean Air Defense will continue to intercept all sorts of small drones with IEDs attached: terrorism by local SBU cells, which will be eventually smashed. Using essentially a phenomenal artillery barrage – cheap and mass-produced – Russia will annex the full, very valuable Donbass, in terms of land, natural resources and industrial power. And then on to Nikolaev, Odessa, and Kharkov.

Geoeconomically, Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India. Cost of extraction reaches a maximum of $15 per barrel, with a national budget based on $40-45 for a barrel of Urals. A new Russian benchmark is imminent, as well as oil in rubles following the wildly successful gas for rubles. The assassination of Darya Dugina provoked endless speculation on the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense finally breaking their discipline. That’s not going to happen. The advances along the enormous 1,800-mile front are relentless, highly systematic and inserted in a Greater Strategic Picture.

Read more …

What happens when you get it all backwards.

Putin Bets Winter Gas Chokehold Will Yield Ukraine Peace – On His Terms (R.)

Cold winters helped Moscow defeat Napoleon and Hitler. President Vladimir Putin is now betting that sky-rocketing energy prices and possible shortages this winter will persuade Europe to strong arm Ukraine into a truce — on Russia’s terms. That, say two Russian sources familiar with Kremlin thinking, is the only path to peace that Moscow sees, given Kyiv says it will not negotiate until Russia leaves all of Ukraine “We have time, we can wait,” said one source close to the Russian authorities, who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media. “It’s going to be a difficult winter for Europeans. We could see protests, unrest. Some European leaders might think twice about continuing to support Ukraine and think it’s time for a deal.”

A second source close to the Kremlin said Moscow thought it could already detect faltering European unity and expected that process to accelerate amid winter hardship. “It will be really tough if it (the war) drags into the autumn and winter. So there’s hope they (the Ukrainians) will ask for peace,” said the source. There was no immediate response from the Kremlin, which denies Russia uses energy as a political weapon, to a request for comment. Ukraine and its staunchest Western backers say they have no plans to fold and U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they so far see no signs of support for Ukraine wavering. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a tweet to Ukrainians on their national day, said: “The EU has been with you in this fight from the very beginning. And we will be for as long as it takes.”

Backed by billions in U.S. and other Western military aid, training and shared intelligence, and with a series of morale-boosting attacks on high-profile Russian targets behind it, Kyiv thinks it has a chance of changing the facts on the ground.”In order for negotiations with Russia to become possible, it is necessary to change the status quo at the front in favour of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, told Reuters. “It is necessary that the Russian army suffer significant tactical defeats.” Ukrainian forces thwarted Russian attempts to capture the capital Kyiv and the second city Kharkiv; have regularly destroyed and disrupted Russian supply lines, and sank the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, as well as inflicting major damage on a Russian air base in annexed Crimea.

Kyiv has also long been talking about a major counter-offensive to retake the south, though Russia has been busy building up its own forces there, and it’s unclear if and when that will materialise. The geopolitical standoff has sent energy prices to record highs. The European Union banned Russian coal and approved a partial ban on Russian crude oil imports to punish Moscow for the “special military operation” it launched exactly six months ago on Feb. 24. And Russia struck its own blow, sharply cutting gas exports to Europe. European governments have sought to increase resilience to energy pressures this winter by seeking alternative supplies and pushing through energy saving measures, but few energy specialists believe they will be able to cover all their needs.

Read more …

There are even people who want to see it dismantled.

Nord Stream 2 ‘Only Sensible’ Solution To Gas Crisis – German MP

The launch of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline could help solve the growing energy crisis in Europe, Bundestag MP Steffen Kotre told the TASS news agency on Wednesday. “Even if the gas storage facilities are full, there will be enough for about three months this winter. And then what? Ideology has to give way to a real fact-oriented policy… The only sensible solution is to launch Nord Stream 2,” Kotre, who is a member of the German parliamentary committee on energy and climate protection, believes. In recent weeks the German government has insisted that there are no plans to launch the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was completed last year but never went into operation due to Berlin’s reluctance to grant it certification.


However, many politicians have been urging the Bundestag to change its stance and make use of the pipeline, which has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters, to help Germany cope with energy shortages stemming from reduced gas flows from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Supply through the pipeline recently dropped to 20% of total capacity due to technical setbacks and sanctions.

Read more …

2032.

Belgian PM: “Next 5-10 Winters Will Be Difficult” As Energy Crisis Worsens (ZH)

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo might have spilled the beans about the duration of Europe’s energy crisis. He told reporters Monday, “the next 5 to 10 winters will be difficult.” “The development of the situation is very difficult throughout Europe,” De Croo told Belgium broadcaster VRT. “In a number of sectors, it is really difficult to deal with those high energy prices. We are monitoring this closely, but we must be transparent: the coming months will be difficult, the coming winters will be difficult,” he said. The prime minister’s comments suggest replacing Russian natural gas imports could take years, exerting further economic doom on the region’s economy in the form of energy hyperinflation.


Europe faces a historic energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine (and Western sanctions that have backfired). The continent heavily relies on Russia for its energy needs, importing about 40% of NatGas. At just 20% capacity with risks of going to zero next month, Russian supplies via Gazprom’s Nord Stream 1 have sent NatGas and power prices to record highs this week. European NatGas prices soared to a record high of 277 euros per megawatt-hour on Monday, about 15 times the average summertime price. Leon Izbicki, a commodity analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd., told Bloomberg if NS1 flows come to a halt in September, prices could rise to 400 euros per megawatt-hour.

Read more …

Hollowing out.

Exploding Prices Will Impact Trade Balance More Than 1970s Oil Shocks (K.)

The impact of high natural gas prices on Greece’s trade balance will be more severe than the 1974 and 1979 oil shocks and the trade deficit will grow by at least 4.3% of GDP, making Greece one of the most vulnerable European Union countries, according to a study by London-based research firm Capital Economics.Other EU members will also be heavily impacted, says the report, noting that both oil shocks in the 1970s were followed by a recession. National gas futures (also known as TTF for Title Transfer Facility) in Europe have skyrocketed from 20 euros per megawatt-hour before the Covid-19 pandemic to €280/MWh currently, a 14-fold increase. By comparison, the price of Brent crude oil tripled during the first oil shock and doubled during the second.

To determine the size of the natural gas shock on each country’s trade balance, the research firm took account of the fuel mix – oil and gas – used by the countries under study and the fact that some are producers, not importers, of one and/or the other. It also based its scenario on an average gas price of €200/MWh for 2022. The research focused on seven eurozone countries – Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain – adding Canada, the UK and the US. It concludes that Greece and Italy will face the steepest impact on their trade balances, much bigger than during the two oil shocks. Among the countries under study, the impact of the oil shocks on trade balance ranged from 1.6%-2.8% of GDP.

The impact of the rising gas prices will range from 1.9% in France to 4.4% in Italy, putting Greece in second place among the most vulnerable economies. Only France and the Netherlands will manage to contain the damage at levels better than during the 1970s, and that’s assuming the study’s gas price estimate is correct. The first oil shock had increased Greece’s trade deficit by almost 2% of GDP and the second by 2.5%. Capital Economics warns that the final impact could be even higher, as gas price rises have exceeded all assumptions. At present levels, and assuming no further rise, the impact would be 25% higher.

Read more …

So as the trade balance worsens, subsidies soar. Sounds like a long term plan.

The Electricity Subsidy Shock (K.)

A significant rise in the price of electricity announced by state-controlled Public Power Corporation (PPC) for September forced the government to raise its electricity subsidy for September to 1.9 billion euros, from €1.1 billion in August. The subsidy level inevitably follows the PPC’s pricing policy, since it is the dominant player in the market, with 63% of consumers choosing it. While PPC had the lowest price of all electricity providers in August (€0.48 per kilowatt-hour) it raised its September price to €0.788 for those consuming up to 500kWh per month and €0.80 for heavier consumers. In order to stick to its commitment for an actual charge to consumers between €0.14-0.17 per kWh the government had to adjust its subsidy level accordingly, raising it by over 72%.

A positive effect of this policy is that, for some lucky consumers, bills this month may come very low, even negative, just for the power consumption part, before other charges are factored in. Critics of the government’s calculation of the subsidy say that it puts a heavy burden on the budget and, therefore, on taxpayers, gives a wrong impression to consumers about the real cost of electricity and does not provide enough of an incentive to providers to cut prices or, at least, contain them. Among the consumers set to benefit the most are those who signed up with electricity provided Heron’s generous pricing program. At €0.75 per kilowatt-hour, it also provides, like some of its competitors, a 20% discount to those who pay their bills on time, thus lowering for them the price to €0.60/kWh.

When the state subsidy kicks in, customers will pay just €0.111/kWh and the really good payers will be charged a negative rate (-€0.039/kWh). The discount will be credited in the bill after the one in September.After deducting the subsidy, customers of provider Fysiko Aerio will pay €0.04/kWh and half that if they pay on time. Elpedison’s rate falls to €0.044/kWh, Zenith’s to €0.048/kWh, Elin’s to €0.06 and NRG’s to €0.109. PPC, as we have mentioned, has the highest net rate, at €0.149 and €0.161 for heavy consumers, followed by Watt+Volt (€0.145) and Protergia (€0.131).

Read more …

Marie Antoinette.

‘Weary’ Europeans Must ‘Bear Consequences’ Of Ukraine War: EU’s Borrell (ZH)

EU high representative and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gave a surprisingly blunt assessment of the Ukraine war and Europe’s precarious position in an AFP interview published Tuesday, admitting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting on fracturing a united EU response amid the current crisis situation of soaring prices and energy extreme uncertainty headed into a long winter. Borrell’s words seemed to come close to admitting that Putin’s tactic is working on some level, or at least will indeed chip away at European resolve in the short and long run, given he chose words like EU populations having to “endure” the deep economic pain and severe energy crunch. He cited the “weariness” of Europeans while calling on leadership as well as the common people to “bear the consequences” with continued resolve.

Borrell explained to AFP that Putin sees “the weariness of the Europeans and the reluctance of their citizens to bear the consequences of support for Ukraine.” But Borrell suggested that Europe will not back down no matter the leverage Moscow might have, particularly when it comes to ‘weaponization of energy’ – and called on citizens to continue to shoulder the cost. Who will blink first? …appears to be the subtext here. He urged: “We will have to endure, spread the costs within the EU,” Borrell told AFP, warning that keeping the 27 member states together was a task to be carried out “day by day.”

And yet, as some like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán have consistently argued since near the start of the Feb.24 invasion, it is inevitable that some will be forced to bear the “costs” much more than others. Already this is being seen with initiatives out of Brussels like rationing gas consumption, which has further led to scenarios like German towns and even residences being mandated to switch off lights or resources for designated periods at night. “More cold showers” – many are also being told. As we round the corner of fall and enter the more frigid months, we are likely to only see more headlines like this: “German cities impose cold showers and turn off lights amid Russian gas crisis.”

Read more …

“..avoid “demagogy..”

Macron Warns Of ‘End Of Abundance’ (RT)

France is headed toward the “end of abundance” and “sacrifices” have to be made during what is a time of great upheaval, President Emmanuel Macron told his cabinet on Wednesday upon returning from summer break. The country has faced multiple challenges lately, ranging from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine to the unprecedented drought that has battered the whole European continent this summer. Yet, Macron believes that the crisis is actually of a much bigger scale and that structural changes are imminent.“Some could see our destiny as being to constantly manage crises or emergencies. I believe that we are living through a tipping point or great upheaval. Firstly, because we are living through… what could seem like the end of abundance,” he said.


The country and its citizens must be ready to make “sacrifices” to meet and overcome the challenges they are facing, he continued. “Our system based on freedom in which we have become used to living, when we need to defend it sometimes that can entail making sacrifices,”Macron added. “Faced with this, we have duties, the first of which is to speak frankly and very clearly without doom-mongering,” Macron stressed. The president called upon his cabinet to show unity, be “serious” and “credible” and urged ministers to avoid “demagogy.” “It’s easy to promise anything and everything, sometimes to say anything and everything. Do not give in to these temptations, it is demagoguery,” the president said, adding that such an approach “flourishes” today “in all democracies in a complex and frightening world.”

Read more …

“Washington expects Ukrainian forces “to fight for years to come..”

Timeline is eerily similar to the energy crisis one.

How many Ukrainians will be left when they’re done?

‘Months Or Years’ Before US Arms Reach Ukraine – Media (RT)

Years could pass before some of the weapons in the upcoming “largest ever” package of US military assistance to Kiev actually reach Ukraine, according to Western media reports. On Tuesday, a number of mainstream media outlets cited anonymous US officials as describing the impending announcement of a $3 billion package of military aid to Ukraine. If confirmed, it would be the largest of its kind so far. Washington is by far the biggest supplier of military hardware to Ukraine as it fights against Russia. However, some of the promised equipment “will not be in the hands of Ukrainian fighters for months or years,” according to NBC News, one of the outlets that reported the upcoming package. Included in the package are advanced weapons that are still in the development phase, it explained.


The same caveat was cited by the Associated Press, which said that it may take “a year or two” for the arms to reach the battlefield, according to its sources. Washington expects Ukrainian forces “to fight for years to come,” US officials told the AP. The AeroVironment Switchblade 600 drone is an example of a weapon system that was promised to Ukraine months ago but has yet to be delivered. Defense News said this week that the Pentagon plans to sign the contract necessary for sending 10 of the so-called “kamikaze drones” within a month. Last month, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov called on foreign suppliers of arms to use his country as a testing ground for new weapons. He pledged to provide detailed reports about the experiences of Ukrainian soldiers with the prototypes provided to them.

Read more …

“Thank you. You did not need to show us the storage room, but we appreciate it. Now it all makes sense..”

FBI Mar-a-Lago Warrant Had ‘No Legal Basis’: Constitutional Lawyers (ET)

Two constitutional lawyers who worked in the Bush and Reagan administrations say that the warrant used to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence had no legal basis. A former president’s right under the Presidential Records Act supersedes the statutes the Department of Justice and FBI used to carry out the raid earlier this month, wrote David Rivkin Jr. and Lee Casey, who both served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. “The judge who issued the warrant for Mar-a-Lago has signaled that he is likely to release a redacted version of the affidavit supporting it. But the warrant itself suggests the answer is likely no—the FBI had no legally valid cause for the raid,” they wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart unsealed the warrant and property receipt, showing that it allowed FBI agents to obtain all “physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§793, 2071, or 1519.” And the materials that could be seized are “any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021,” which encompasses all of Trump’s presidential term. As a result, the two scholars said that “virtually all the materials at Mar-a-Lago are likely to fall within this category” but “federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them.”

“His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful, regardless of the statutes the FBI cites in its warrant,” Rivkin and Casey wrote. “Those statutes are general in their text and application. But Mr. Trump’s documents are covered by a specific statute, the Presidential Records Act of 1978,” they said, adding that a Supreme Court decision in 1974 affirms their argument. “The former president’s rights under the [Presidential Records Act] trump any application of the laws the FBI warrant cites.”

[..] The former president, in a legal complaint filed earlier this week, wrote that agents visited his home in early June—about two months before the raid—and appeared to approve the installation of another lock. After one FBI agent saw the storage room, they told Trump’s team: “Thank you. You did not need to show us the storage room, but we appreciate it. Now it all makes sense,” according to the filing. “Counsel for President Trump then closed the interaction and advised the Government officials that they should contact him with any further needs on the matter,” it added.

Read more …

“Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege..”

Unbelievable.

Biden White House Facilitated FBI Mar-A-Lago Raid (JTN)

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News. The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

By May, Su conveyed to the Archives that President Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege, a decision that opened the door for DOJ to get a grand jury to issue a subpoena compelling Trump to turn over any remaining materials he possessed from his presidency. The machinations are summarized in several memos and emails exchanged between the various agencies in spring 2022, months before the FBI took the added unprecedented step of raiding Trump’s Florida compound with a court-issued search warrant. The most complete summary was contained in a lengthy letter dated May 10 that acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall sent Trump’s lawyers summarizing the White House’s involvement.

“On April 11, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office — affirming a request from the Department of Justice supported by an FBI letterhead memorandum — formally transmitted a request that NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 boxes for its review within seven days, with the possibility that the FBI might request copies of specific documents following its review of the boxes,” Wall wrote Trump defense attorney Evan Corcoran. That letter revealed Biden empowered the National Archives and Records Administration to waive any claims to executive privilege that Trump might assert to block DOJ from gaining access to the documents. “The Counsel to the President has informed me that, in light of the particular circumstances presented here, President Biden defers to my determination, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, regarding whether or not I should uphold the former President’s purported ‘protective assertion of executive privilege,'” Wall wrote. “… I have therefore decided not to honor the former President’s ‘protective’ claim of privilege.”

Read more …

How can the FBI work with Trump II after January 2025?

FBI Brass Warned Agents Off Hunter Biden Laptop Due To 2020 Election (NYP)

FBI officials told agents not to investigate first son Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop for months — vowing that the bureau was “not going to change the outcome of the election again,” according to whistleblower claims made public Wednesday by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) “These new allegations provide even more evidence of FBI corruption and renew calls for you to take immediate steps to investigate the FBI’s actions regarding the laptop,” Johnson wrote in a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. According to the senator, “individuals with knowledge” had told his office that “local FBI leadership” had slow-walked the laptop investigation after the computer was recovered from a Wilmington, Del. repair shop in December 2019.

Johnson quoted FBI management as telling employees “You will not look at that Hunter Biden laptop” and promising the bureau would not alter the 2020 election outcome — a reference to the FBI reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server days before the 2016 election. “Further, these whistleblowers allege that the FBI did not begin to examine the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop until after the 2020 presidential election,” the Republican added. sJohnson said the new whistleblower claims should be enough to prompt the inspector general to take prompt action. “While I understand your hesitation to investigate a matter that may be related to an ongoing investigation, it is clear to me based on numerous credible whistleblower disclosures that the FBI cannot be trusted with the handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Johnson wrote.

He added that Horowitz should start “by obtaining the history of the investigative actions taken by the FBI on Hunter Biden’s laptop which should be available on the FBI’s case management system, Sentinel.” Johnson’s letter comes after “highly credible whistleblowers” accused the FBI and Justice Department last month of burying dirt on President Biden’s son by incorrectly dismissing the intelligence as “disinformation,” according to Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Read more …

Fauci will use this to play the victim.

DeSantis Says ‘Little Elf’ Fauci Should Be ‘Chucked Across The Potomac’ (RT)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has responded after senior health official Anthony Fauci said he would leave his post at the end of the year, calling the White House adviser a “little elf”while suggesting somebody should toss him into DC’s Potomac River. Speaking at a ‘Keep Florida Free’ event on Wednesday as he campaigns for reelection, DeSantis tore into the outgoing Covid czar, saying he’s “just sick of seeing him.” “I know he says he’s going to retire. Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac,” the Republican governor said, drawing loud cheers from the crowd. Fauci, who has long served as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has taken prominent positions in both the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations, effectively becoming the face of the White House’s Covid response.


On Monday, however, the official said he would resign his post at NIAID and leave the Biden administration in December, though noted he would not be “retiring,” but rather “moving on”from his current positions. Fauci has drawn heated criticism from Republicans and conservative critics throughout the pandemic, with many slamming his policy advice for officials, while others have pointed to potentially dangerous coronavirus research funded by Fauci’s agency before the global Covid outbreak. Though the official has insisted all funding was vetted and approved through the proper channels, GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has vowed to probe NIAID and Fauci in particular, calling for a “full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic”earlier this week.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Taiwan

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Pyramids of Giza. Photo: Karim Amr

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 25 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 63 total)
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  • #114208

    Felix Vallotton On the beach 1899   • Geopolitical Tectonic Plates Shifting, Six Months On (Escobar) • Putin Bets Winter Gas Chokehold Will Yield
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 25 2022]

    #114210
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Felix Vallotton On the beach 1899

    While the art does portray, a moment in time (beach attire); it fails (IMHO) elsewhere in portraying anything resembling a beach by the ocean…

    #114211

    He seems to have made the water green, and the sky beige -presuming the blue thing is a cloud-. Big question remains: what’s the red thing in the middle, and what is hiding underneath it?

    #114213
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    LoL…art .inc
    Isn’t that the reality in todays “art scene”?
    Art Expert??? How is that even possible? I posit it isn’t possible to be an art “expert”…
    Art being an emotional endeavor is never the same thing twice…is it?
    Artists (the real ones[the phoneys also]) put out, from an inward experince that directs them; either to genuine revalations or to contrived visions of fakery (it doesn’t matter which)…the point being; who could possibly, in all good concience, “know” which is which, or who is the charletan?
    I love art, not all of it, but, I try to be open to new things………
    Cheers and happy arting to all,,,

    #114215
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Big question remains: what’s the red thing in the middle, and what is hiding underneath it?

    I do not see the red thing in the middle…

    #114217
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Again, I want to repeat: Inflation is too much money and not enough goods.

    To cure inflation we need less money and to make more goods. Are we doing that, anywhere?

    “4.9 Million Illegal Aliens Crossed US Border in 18 Months Since Biden Took Office: Report”

    As usual, I’m too optimistic by a half. Which considering how optimistic I’m not, is chilling. Okay, now America just needs to build 10 new megacities and create 5-7 million jobs. Plus food. No problem!

    Article quote: “Secret police. Secret courts. Secret government agencies. Surveillance. Censorship. Intimidation. Harassment. Torture. Brutality. Widespread corruption. Entrapment. Indoctrination. Indefinite detention.” Yes, I guess when you put it that way, we’ve checked every box for Stalinism and the Declaration of Independence. Was just thinking how they pile up and does anybody notice.

    And in Canada, as the organizer for the Truckers was in prison, no charges, no interest in creating any. And not taking this from King George? But some halfwit son in blackface? It’s like those comedy movies with the Nazis all in leather drag.

    And this too: “California DA Admits 70% of Suspects Released on $0 Bail Committed New Crimes”

    The Left blew a gasket at The (far left) Young Turks when they brought this (spec. no-bail releases as reform) up as not a good idea that allows violent people to…continue violence. I think one guy in NYC hit the record being arrested 23 times. He said “Well you keep letting me go!” See you tomorrow!

    Pelosi was right, Biden does not have legal authority to do this, as a money matter it would have to be arranged by Congress. But who cares about the law when there’s an election going on? We break ALL the Laws! And this is a gift to the most reckless of the top 2/3s richest households, the PMCs, zero for the poor, a direct Bank Bailout. Actually, we saw the same for the latest round in Ukraine. Congress (or somebody, as we never follow the law anymore) have a new $4B. Buuuuut not to Ukraine. Direct transfer to the Arms Manufacturers, Raytheon, Halliburton on behalf of Ukraine. But like all the other weapons probably won’t ever get there. Money come in: go to weapons billionaires. Money come in: go to bank billionaires.

    …Actually, money no come in, they just print $3T a year now on their way to infinity. But for a change some rounding error of $20k went to the kids as an election bribe and payout, so better than usual. Like Electric vehicles after the $8,000 bonus, College prices will rise exactly $20,000. The kids will learn to always get into reckless debt because daddy will pay. The poor who were responsible and thought college was a scam at these prices get screwed white. No reform. No repair. Trust and rules and word means nothing. Corruption and bad ideas To Infinity, and Beyond!!!

    “Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India.”

    There is plenty of oil. You’re not getting any. On purpose. And they tell you this is a real crisis of physics, not politics.

    “There are even people who want to see [NordStream2] it dismantled.”

    Yes. The Anglos. After 150 years of non-stop war with Russia, having killed 200 million? 500 million? In that time rather than picking a cooperative future of alliances that they could have.

    “Belgian PM: “Next 5-10 Winters Will Be Difficult”

    Translation: Never. This will NEVER end until you come up the Brussels and MAKE US. Okay then! Thanks for freedom of speech!

    “the trade deficit will grow by at least 4.3% of GDP, making Greece one of the most vulnerable European Union countries,

    Did I not just read that British GDP dropped by 8%? Eight Percent? Pretty sure that’s worse than the ‘29 Crash, the Great Depression, and the worst since 1707.

    “Macron Warns of ‘End of Abundance’ (RT)”

    Again, we have enough food for everyone. Enough oil and gas for everyone. We did last year, and the year before, and yields are hardly down from then if we’re careful. We have a DISTRIBUTION problem, and a WASTE problem, where $40B went to weapons manufactures, $1 Trillion to Afghanistan, $23 Trillion in bank bailouts. …And Zero to homelessness. Zero to schools. Zero to water. We went NEGATIVE on food, granaries, and rail to carry them.

    There’s your priority: When it comes to killing humans, no price is too high. When it comes to saving them, no money is available. Hmmm. This means something, but I can’t quite figure it out….

    “FBI Mar-a-Lago Warrant Had ‘No Legal Basis’: Constitutional Lawyers (ET)”

    Remember, Trump punk’d them into it to kick off his 2024 campaign. This is arranged, enticed, goaded into grabbing these records. Which already declassified docs are now in the Federal Register as State’s Evidence, and in the front page news as an advertisement. Not that the play doesn’t matter here, or it isn’t “Real”, but you have to keep that timeline in mind.

    “ FBI Brass Warned Agents Off Hunter Biden Laptop Due To 2020 Election (NYP)”

    Still at it. Nothing’s happened. Here’s the upshot: THEY ARE EXPOSED. And they lose ruling legitimacy. Double with the new IRS. But unlike other nations, the U.S. is supposed to be this way. Where the Feds only run the Navy and the Post Office. All laws, jails, enforcement, taxes, are run by the states. So if you erase the entire FBI: WHO CARES? They were never relevant except as a political rigging organization anyway. As TRUMAN said. See Federal shutdowns? Nothing happens. Because the Feds don’t DO anything except extract money for $40B-at-a-pop Weapons Manufacturers. Their pals, in a record run of Bezos-Yachts.

    If they vanished no one would notice because the States do that.

    Back to lowering inflation by doing work. We’re into harvest now and a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

    #114218
    oxymoron
    Participant

    The – ‘There’s plenty of Oil’ thing is a little thin.
    Yes Oil remains but where? Not flying 2km into the air under pressure in Pennsylvania. Not surging from Ghawar either as I here it is now under extreme pressure from salt water pumping. Texas crude – you’re joking right?
    My understanding of humanity and our relationship with oil is that it comes with a drunk feeling of ‘there’s plenty of oil’ so it gets used profligately and then runs out.
    The oil in Russia is in VERY hard to get places which is why it was developed late in the piece and why huge tech and giant pipelines very craftily engineered are necessary. Also Siberia is a shit show and people will do a clean up of that place before it goes back to performing adequate environmental service to accomodate life forms.

    Yes there is oil now but not enough for party-time and never enough for the military and the gov which will do as the banks tell them and take it all, use it all and move on.

    And on the Anglos – I believe after watching Antiques Roadshow and seeing Putin’s embarrassing gold-encrusted pretence-machines called board rooms, that not a great deal separates the deeper mind of the ‘progress’ types. Hence no Siberian indigenous left anymore. Just pipes, soot, toxins and black snow.

    My house is hand rendered in mud from the ground where it was built by me. Violence is weak. Strength comes from not giving a shit about what someone else thinks you have. Rulers and elites demonstrate continuously and egotistical desire to keep up with the Joneses.

    #114219
    zerosum
    Participant

    Biden’s student debt cancellation plan,
    Follow the money trail… from the gov. …. to the lenders …..
    —————–

    The future, of not enough energy, is here
    There is not enough energy, at a price that you can afford, to feed yourself and to feed your mechanical slaves

    European NatGas prices soared to a record high of 277 euros per megawatt-hour on Monday, about 15 times the average summertime price f NS1 flows come to a halt in September, prices could rise to 400 euros per megawatt-hour..
    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/belgian-pm-warns-next-5-10-winters-will-be-difficult-energy-crisis-worsens
    • Belgian PM: “Next 5-10 Winters Will Be Difficult” As Energy Crisis Worsens (ZH)

    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/uk-energy-execs-tell-mps-fuel-poverty-crush-households-debt
    UK Energy Execs Tell MPs That “Fuel Poverty” Will Crush Households Into Debt
    According to the Resolution Foundation, the average family will be paying 1,100 pounds more over the next 12 months to satisfy their energy needs. This will break the bank for lower-income households that will go into debt.
    “The size and scale of this is beyond what I can deal with, beyond what I think the industry can deal with. It needs a massive shift, significant shift in the government’s approach to this,” Anderson said.

    • Exploding Prices Will Impact Trade Balance More Than 1970s Oil Shocks (K.)

    In the1970s, as a dumb newlywed, I found a way of successfully raising my family and surviving.
    Now, as a senior, I know, that I’ve seen worst and that I will survive.

    • The Electricity Subsidy Shock (K.)

    The subsidies monies, (follow the money trail), are going to help the energy companies survive.

    ‘weaponization of energy’
    • ‘Weary’ Europeans Must ‘Bear Consequences’ Of Ukraine War: EU’s Borrell (ZH)

    …… some will be forced to bear the “costs” much more than others……
    ……. some will be forced to take a winter holiday in hotter climates.

    • Macron Warns Of ‘End Of Abundance’ (RT)

    France is headed toward the “end of abundance” and “sacrifices” have to be made during what is a time of great upheaval, President Emmanuel Macron told his cabinet on Wednesday upon returning from summer break.
    …. the many crises are actually of a much bigger scale and that structural changes are imminent.
    ———–
    If you need more word to explain “follow the money”, then read Dr D’s comments.

    #114221

    ‘I do not see the red thing in the middle’

    What does one say to that? Get your eyes checked, grumpy?!

    #114224
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Still the government can just print money out of thin air, WHY PAY TAXES

    The government can just print ‘tax money’

    No, the reason Sheeple are forced to pay taxes is Ritual Humliation

    It’s a tool to terrorize with.

    The Deepdipshit State and the Military Industrial Mafia are thugs and gangsters.

    FUD is their Special Friend

    Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

    The Real Fudd

    #114226
    zerosum
    Participant

    Color Blindness …… ‘I do not see the red thing in the middle’
    Sheep Blindness …. ‘I do not see the red thing in the middle’
    Energy Blindness …. ‘I do not see the red thing in the middle’
    Perpetual Growth Blindness …. ‘I do not see the red thing in the middle’
    TAE …. ‘I see the red thing in the middle’

    #114227
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D:
    But unlike other nations, the U.S. is supposed to be this way. Where the Feds only run the Navy and the Post Office. All laws, jails, enforcement, taxes, are run by the states.
    And in this, Dr D, you and I are complete agreement. Even in the areas where the feds are sourcing programs that tackle real-life problems that need addressing: I.e. Medicaid, SNAP, etc., in most cases the programs are already being administered by the states, and if the tax money were going to the states rather than the feds the programs could also be funded by the states. And the states would also likely restructure the programs, which is also okay. The feds should be there as a resource to turn to when a state violates the Constitution and Bill of Rights. (Which will happen.)

    #114228
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I think that the “red thing” is a hat on a head, a red beret.

    #114229

    A detail that had escaped me so far. Moderna is a major sponsor of the US Open. Djokovic never had a chance.

    MODERNA’S NEW US OPEN SPONSORSHIP EXTENDS MARKETING PUSH BEYOND COVID VACCINE

    Moderna is upping its marketing game with a new US Open sponsorship as the biotech company seeks to raise awareness about the mRNA science that powers its COVID vaccine. The goal of the sponsorship—and a new broader marketing push—is to educate people about how the company is using mRNA for other potential medical breakthroughs that could be used to treat people with cancer, metabolic diseases and other afflictions.

    Although Moderna has done other sports deals—including sponsoring a “Shot of the Game” promotion with the NBA and NHL to promote COVID booster shots —the US Open pact marks its most extensive sponsorship to date, according to Moderna Chief Brand Officer Kate Cronin. She declined to disclose financial terms but said the deal was signed for one year.

    “We want to establish Moderna as a modern leader changing medicine and pioneering mRNA,” she said. And while that means moving the conversation beyond COVID, she said the timing of the US Open—right before the fall season when many people will be getting a COVID booster vaccine—marked the right time to push the broader message.

    The sponsorship comes as Moderna leverages a new endorsement from Billie Jean King. A new video starring the tennis great pays tribute to “Change Makers,” while referencing her pioneering feats, including changing the way women get paid. The approach ties into Moderna’s tagline “This changes everything.” The video will run as an ad during ESPN’s coverage of the US Open. It was put together by TBWA, Moderna’s lead agency.

    #114231
    hugho
    Participant

    Thank god for TAE and Raul and some commenters. His is the only site I have ever paypaled. I wonder why almost nobody comments upon our annual high security convocation of banksters and elites here in Jackson(Hole). Davos gets coverage. Here is what is happening this week. For no explained reason we have had F-16’s flying in formation day after day at low altitude in front of the Tetons. This never happens. I can only guess that there has been a credible threat to disrupt? Did some Stingers go missing or get smuggled in from Ukraine? Our sleep has been disturbed by jets all night long. Commercial flights stop by 9 pm but the other night between 2 and 4 am there was a steady roar over at the airport as Gulfstreams came and went carrying banksters, Bezos elites and Davos hangers on. If the sheeple ever wanted to upset and unhinge the system and engage in protest, this would be the place to start with its minimal corridors surrounded by a vast wilderness but year after year nary a peep.The local MSM rag regards the whole affair as good for bidness and tourism which is the only business here any more. I guess even urban monied elites need to escape their conference rooms and breathe fresh air in nature and gaze upon that famous fault block range once and a while. WEF cabals and money printing can wait for a week.

    #114232
    willem
    Participant

    @Dr. D: “Like Electric vehicles after the $8,000 bonus, College prices will rise exactly $20,000.”

    The prices for virtually everything someone can con the government into paying for are pitched to the size of the benefit. Back in the 80s I went back to finish college using my GI bill educational benefit. The university I attended was private, set up for working adults to attend classes on nights and weekends. The tuition? Exactly, to the dollar, the size of my monthly GI bill benefit.

    Could they have done it for less? Most assuredly–the California community college I attended a few years earlier was much cheaper and the classes were good ones. But why should any private provider price its goods/services at a price lower than the government has indicated it is willing to pay?

    #114233
    willem
    Participant

    @zerosum: In the1970s, as a dumb newlywed, I found a way of successfully raising my family and surviving.

    Me, too, despite the sky-high interest rates in the late 70s, managed somehow to jump on that real estate train and hang on until things got better.

    Now, as a senior, I know, that I’ve seen worst and that I will survive.

    I’m not so sure we’ve seen the worst, nonetheless.

    The bad news about being old is the knowledge that your ability to earn back what has been taken from you is greatly diminished.

    The good news about being old is that you just might not be around long enough to have to worry about it….

    #114234
    willem
    Participant

    After reading claims from one blogger after another that the covid narrative is falling apart/crumbling/about to fall apart, I finally saw this yesterday, perhaps a good sign:

    https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/house-sub-committee-attacks-trump

    Even if you’re a Trump supporter, there is great news here. And that news is that you know this baby is going down SO HARD because they actually want to now try hanging it on Trump.

    I guess the bad news for Trump supporters is that he still won’t disavow the jab, despite a few pieces I have seen recently urging him to do that. Given the above, it will be interesting to see if this will finally be enough to make him actually apologize for something for what is perhaps the first time in his public life.

    #114235
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Unbelievable.

    Now there’s as good of a word for the situation as any I have seen so far.

    Facts trickle out (despite draconian censorship that is itself on a scale that’s a crime against humanity) about big serious real crimes of vital importance to their very lives and people find those facts to be: “unbelievable.”

    It’s a tough slog going forward when patently obvious truth is considered by so many to be . . . . unbelievable.

    Well, I’ve got a message for unbelievers : ya better start believing some true stuff pretty soon or you’re not gonna believe how bad the consequences shall be for you personally and collectively as a nation. Believe you me.

    #114236
    John Day
    Participant

    I was going to write an essay to go with all of the links on my blog today, but there are so many, with comments, and it paints the picture that way. I’m trying to omit what has been posted here.
    If It Keeps Happening https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/publish/post/70318800

    “The purpose of a thing is what it does”, so what are we to think about creating depression, food crisis and fuel crisis in Europe?

    Documents reveal Twitter’s back channel communications with CDC to coordinate COVID censorship, as CEO testified that there was “no censorship office”.
    ​https://jonathanturley.org/2022/08/24/twitters-tricky-timing-problem-lawsuit-reveals-back-cdc-channel-to-coordinate-censorship/

    Google censored one of my first Ukraine-War posts by taking down my blog and disappearing our email. they were eventually reinstated. Google has taken down (and kept down) 2 posts since then, but Substack does not censor. My 2 blogs are just mirrors on most days, when Google doesn’t censor me. drjohnsblog.substack.com and http://www.johndayblog.com .

    A tutorial for YouTube’s content moderators that emerged on social media on Tuesday shows that the Google-owned platform has labeled a number of critical positions on the conflict in Ukraine “hateful” or “extreme” and can censor or demonetize creators on those grounds. While the parent company Alphabet has not confirmed or denied the screenshots’ authenticity, a Polish contractor who shared them has reportedly been fired.

    Leaked slides detail YouTube’s Ukraine censorship – journalist

    ​The very few, the unwaveringly proud Marine refusniks:
    ​ U.S. District Court of Florida Judge Steven Merryday issued an injunction this week against the Department of Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps, allowing US Marines with religious objections to refuse covid vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden Administration.
    ​ ​Liberty Council, a Christian religious rights law firm, sued Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and pursued class action relief on behalf of all U.S. Marines who were denied religious accommodations from the COVID shots. https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/federal-judge-protects-religious-right-marines-refuse-covid-vaccine

    #114237
    John Day
    Participant

    I keep having to post this same story. Why is nothing being done to change the advice given to pregnant women? It’s almost like genocide, isn’t it?
    Massive Miscarriage Rates Among Vaccinated Pregnant Women Found Buried In The Pfizer Documents​ , Pierre Kory MD​
    The pharmaceutical industry has committed crimes for decades, paying $30 billion in civil and criminal fines since 2000.
    The Pfizer documents reveal their latest criminal assault on our health.
    https://pierrekory.substack.com/p/massive-miscarriage-rates-among-vaccinated?

    ​This also seems almost like genocide, but at least the people in the DC area who can afford it, put their kids in private schools​…
    My Op-Ed In The Washington Times On D.C’s Latest Insane Public Health Policy Decision​ , Pierre Kory MD​
    The District of Columbia just mandated highly toxic and increasingly lethal COVID-19 “vaccines” for all students over the age of 12 to attend public school.
    We are living inside of a horror movie.
    https://pierrekory.substack.com/p/my-op-ed-in-the-washington-times?

    ​ Somebody first said to me around April 2021 that “the vaccine is the bioweapon”, and it struck me as odd, because the virus was clearly weaponized, but the remark stayed with me.​
    Houston, We Have a Problem (Part 1 of 3)​ , ​The Ethical Skeptic
    ​ ​Seven of the major eleven International Classification of Diseases codes tracked by the US National Center for Health Statistics exhibit stark increase trends beginning in the first week of April 2021 – featuring exceptional growth more robust than during even the Covid-19 pandemic time frame. This date of inception is no coincidence, in that it also happens to coincide with a key inflection point regarding a specific body-system intervention in most of the US population. These seven pronounced increases in mortality alarmingly persist even now.
    ​ ​The following work is the result of thousands of hours of dynamic data tracking and research on the part of its author.​..
    ..​On March 21st 2021, a longtime mentor, friend, and business partner of mine, an otherwise healthy 68 year old male, unexpectedly suffered an autoimmune cascade which ended up shutting down his pancreas, liver, kidneys, and finally heart. He had just received his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on that Thursday prior. Carl quickly descended into a coma, and then died on March 26th.​..
    ..The reader should note that there are few fancy academic heuristic tricks employed inside the models presented in this article. Rather, I’ve elected to employ good old-fashioned persistence, curiosity, hard work, logical deduction, and an experienced nose for strategy, systems, and problem-solving. Within my models, I seek to derive this inference through comparing the dynamic (not static statistics) patterns of change across a large set of differentially-compared data points and critical interval in elapsed time, in order to drive this article’s process of deduction. This is what I do professionally inside markets and for corporations and nations after all. I identify, and develop strategy to address exceptional challenges. My motivation in writing this article however is simple. I do not seek income, subscribers, power, office, notoriety, a political victory, book sales, nor a new career. I am simply compelled to stand in the gap for those who have no voice – they who lay victim to the present political hubris and its long shadow of darkness….
    ..Nonetheless, by the end of 2021 it had become abundantly clear that US citizens were not just dying of Covid-19 to the excess, they were also now dying of something else, and at a rate which eventually became higher than that of Covid itself…
    ​..As of the publishing of this article, 9,290 death records posted in the June 2nd MMWR update showed as redacted four weeks later and still remain missing from the data. Another 13,245 deaths were re-categorized by the CDC from primarily cancer and heart death, to other codes such as Alzheimer, kidney, or respiratory deaths, as can be seen in part inside this chart. It is hard to envision a scenario explaining this 52,000-record data tampering across the most at-risk weeks (MMWR Weeks 4 through 20) of 2022, as not constituting malicious obfuscation of US citizen mortality data. As a former intelligence officer and strategist for nations facing some pretty tough corruption challenges, I am a skeptic of power… Keep in mind that the charts in this article do not even reflect addition of the CDC-shorted death records redacted for MMWR Weeks 4 through 20 of 2022.​..
    ​..​Cancers and lymphomas have risen to a 9+ sigma level since MMWR Week 14 2021. This condition did not exist during the 2020 Covid pandemic period. In order to alleviate risk in terms of lag uncertainty I have chosen a lag function which purposely deflates the last 3 weeks of this death category rise. Yet even this conservancy yields a terrifyingly steep trend line…
    ​..​This defacto concealment of 21,400 death records (inside the R00-R99 code group), is independent of the 22,535 records which were removed from the June 2nd 2022 death data and have either yet to be placed back into the database or were reassigned to non-threatening ICD codes.
    ​ ​That makes for a total of 43,935 potential myocarditis, cancer, pericarditis, conductive, nephrosis, liver, and/or lymphoma deaths which still have not even yet posted into the data over which this article is sounding the alarm.
    ​ ​That is 7% of the total deaths for the period in question, and possibly 15 to 25% of these highly concerning death ICD-10 groups’ trend data – missing.​..
    ..​Accordingly, and without a shadow of a doubt, we have established that right now there exists a problem in terms of US citizen health and mortality. One which is differentiated from Covid-19 itself, and began in earnest MMWR Week 14 of 2021. Our next task, and what will be outlaid in Parts 2 and 3 of this article series, is to employ these and other observed arrival distributions to winnow out the causal mechanism(s) behind this concerning trend in US mortality.

    Houston, We Have a Problem (Part 1 of 3)

    ​ Dr Syed on lab origins of COVID-19, posted last December. Luc Montagnier called this a lab virus in March 2020. this is not new. Lab creation is the only possible explanation for all of the cut-and-pasted functional segments, not random, which weaponized the original wuhan 2019 virus. A group of 4 co-functional segements, which work in concert, were lifter=d from HIV, and the weaponizing “Furin Cleavage Site” which no other Beta-coronavirus has ever had, and which appears intact as a Moderna-patented feature.
    ​ I’ve been meaning to write this blog for ever. Well, at least since Prashant Pradhan (a wonderful, honest and brave genomics scientist) raised the possibility back in February 2020 that the SARS-Cov2 virus was man made. And we have seen multiple confirmatory pieces that the virus was made in a lab.
    https://arkmedic.substack.com/p/how-to-blast-your-way-to-the-truth?s=r

    #114239
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Car and health insurance companies are starting to insert language in their new policies that say they don’t have to pay out if the policy holder has taking an ‘experimental drug or therapy.’

    Most people don’t or can’t read and/or understand tiny boiler plate terms in a contract.

    The fact that car insurance is picking up on the up tick in accidents over and beyond the historical baseline stats is really a good indication that the corpse in the closet is beginning to stink.

    Actuarial are a very meticulous lot. Small trends in baseline stats are spotted very quickly.

    The House Never Looses is their motto, and it’s all by the probability of events.

    Imagine getting in a serious car accident and finding out that because you got the ClotShot, they don’t have to legally cover damages or injury to you because of the vax.

    Surprise!

    From your lips to God’s ears!

    .

    #114240
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The vaccine was the bioweapon, of course, and not the Covid-19 disease itself. The hyped up and largely fake “pandemic” (infection fatality rate WAY below one half of 1 %) was merely a means of driving the intended targets into the kill zone where the mRNA spike protein vax could take them out. All while making enormous sums of money on each and every step and aspect of both the disease and the “handling” of the disease. Masterful long range planning by those in the world domination and democide Biz.

    #114241
    Mr. House
    Participant

    This was kinda rich:

    “Ilargi posits that this deranged elite behavior is the result of their disconnect from the lower orders. That might be true of the Davos crowd. But European officials read newspapers. They have to field questions at press conferences. They see data, particularly of spiking energy prices. They take meeting from members of important and presumably unhappy power blocs. So how can they keep convincing themselves, in the face of mounting evidence, that their present course is sound, when any objective observer would nominate them for a Wall of Shame of the worst leaders evah?”

    Ummmm the newspapers they read tell the truth? What we got here, is a failure to communicate……….

    #114242
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Look at the leader in Finland lately, is she even a leader? What 36 year old woman with a child goes out partying until the wee hours of the morn? Does that not reak of detached? Perhaps she has a nanny raise her child and thus can party until the wee hours of the morn? Look at Macrons latest op ed where we all have to suck it in because reasons. Doesn’t he get it that the people have been sucking it in the last 12 years or perhaps 22 of depression? Just because it slowly gets worse year after year and more people fall off the bus as each year passes, that doesn’t lead to the yellowvests or anything like that. YVES SMITH is just as clueless as those she criticizes because she is one of them. Sadly most of her readers haven’t figured that out yet.

    #114244
    WES
    Participant

    Biden in the finest of democratic party tradition, has just bailed out his banker friends by empty the public treasury to the tune of $400 billion, disguised as student loan forgiveness. Colleges are happily raising their fees by the same amount. Everybody wins except the taxpayers.

    #114246
    willem
    Participant

    I believe that the EU ‘leaders’ are not clueless in exactly the way some suggest. The real goal is to propagandize their populations into a permanent acceptance of a lower standard of living. The cluelessness is in the way they go about this; the way in which they talk and act makes it obvious that they consider their ‘electorates’ stupid, and are completely disconnected from that way of life.

    #114247
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “the way in which they talk and act makes it obvious that they consider their ‘electorates’ stupid, and are completely disconnected from that way of life.”

    Well yeah we have that in America also. Look at Hillary Clinton calling half the country deplorable because they don’t agree with her, then stealing the primary from a much more popular candidate, then “forcing” that candidate to corral his voters for her, and then lose the election only to claim it was rigged by Russians. How stupid do you have to be to believe that?

    #114249
    Bill7
    Participant

    From the dept of not-presently-tilting-at windmills, a couple of beautiful guitar soundhole rosettes:

    Woon Sun Lee, 2013:https://www.guitarsalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/efdd011f621f3d89cf2aa06a7c70645a-1362174508-large.jpg

    Jerome Casanova 2014, after Vicente Arias 1893:http://guitars.vincentx.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/18-jerome-casanova-2014.jpg

    #114250
    aspnaz
    Participant

    V. Arnold said

    While the art does portray, a moment in time (beach attire); it fails (IMHO) elsewhere in portraying anything resembling a beach by the ocean…

    Does this look to you as though the artist may have been colour blind?

    #114251
    aspnaz
    Participant

    RIM said

    Big question remains: what’s the red thing in the middle, and what is hiding underneath it?

    Grandma’s hat … oh dear, it looks like they are trying to discretely bury grandma on the beech!

    #114252
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    Yes. The Anglos. After 150 years of non-stop war with Russia, having killed 200 million? 500 million? In that time rather than picking a cooperative future of alliances that they could have.

    For me this is the really puzzling thing about the Anglos, what is this hatred for Russia all about? I was born in the UK and I was educated in Britain, but even at school I was not taught to hate the Russians but to understand that the USSR were our enemies, the people were not free and therefore USSR bad. I do not remember hatred coming into it. Of course, the implication was that the Russians are backward because their economy was not as advanced as that of the UK, but to British public schools everybody who is not white anglo saxon British is backward, even the Scots are considered just a touch backward. So what is the cause of this one-sided enmity for the Russians?

    #114253
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Haven’t read all of today’s comments. Probably this is not a repeat based on history here … but the US Democratic party has gone from shooting itself in the foot to shooting itself in the head. It’s an interesting play. Very curious about the game plan. Waiting to see how that works out.

    #114254
    Oroboros
    Participant

    After his speech, Macron and the “End of the Age of Abundance” in France

    .

    #114255
    zerosum
    Participant

    Biden will pay, my lender, $10,000 off my student loan.
    Student: Where is the paperwork for my parents to fill in and collect the 10,000?

    #114256
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Classic Arnold.
    Produces an “Art-fart” and leaves the room.

    #114257
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Zerosum said

    The future, of not enough energy, is here
    There is not enough energy, at a price that you can afford, to feed yourself and to feed your mechanical slaves

    I am looking forward to the demise of the west, running out of energy while I sit here in the mountains of beautiful Taiwan with plenty of energy, petrol costing the same as it did last year as does electricity. The western left wing will be celebrating their “we were right” intellectual dishonesty about how we have run out of energy while the rest of the world and the billionaires will be using fossil fuels like it is the 20th century.

    Sometimes you just can’t help people, the left wing loonies are just itching to team up with the corrupt, thieving billionaires to bring about energy starvation for the west. The left wing loonies will enjoy watching all their fellow citizens – especially the ones more successful than they are – suffer because it means they were “right” – they spouted the billionaires’ narrative and now they are right. Of course, this is the usual left wing loony thinking, they are right in their own minds but not in reality, the reality being that they were suckered into being dupes for the billionaires, which seems to have been the role of left wing loonies for a long, long time, maybe for ever …. humanity continues with the leaders and the led. Meanwhile the rest of us have to put up with their lies, dodging the shit being flung from the ape cage.

    #114258
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I don’t know what to say about Russian oil. There it is. They’re pulling it out at $17/bbl. You can buy all you want.

    So what about Euro or American prices is relevant here? There’s plenty of oil; you can’t have any. ‘Cause: Reasons. Russia and China can, because they’re not being d—ks. That’s not a physics problem. And when they pay $50, and you pay $150, they are going to clean your clock in no time.

    Sure it will run out someday, and we sure use it for stupid things. I’m against that and work to change it. But they said the exact same thing in 1974 and it was a lie then. “We’re out of oil.” “There’s an oil shortage.” No we weren’t we pumped more than ever in an ever-increasing curve and never yet run out yet in 2020. What happened was the currency collapsed and they didn’t want to admit it. What can I say about that? I’m not looking at the curve, but we’re pumping it 3x(?) faster per day than back when they said it was gone?

    Buy a tanker, buy the world’s largest fleet of tankers, and Russia will fill them, you can send them to your house. Iran hasn’t even gotten started. They both have 40 years and there are other countries. So reports of oil’s death have been greatly exaggerated. I don’t know if I’m happy or sad about it, but that’s the fact that will help me make decisions, and I can’t lie about it to please Macron and Biden. 40 Years is my life, so it’s hard to calculate what “Apres le deluge.” Doing so makes a fool of most men.

    Worse than ritual humiliation, which wouldn’t be cost effective, the tax code is meant to insure rich insiders do NOT pay taxes, while poor productive people do. So the point is to SELL the IRS as a political favor, harass your enemies, help your friends, all in support of the Oligarchy. If there were no tax code, some flat tax or something, what would we sell? To lobbyists and millionaires, our donor class? We CREATE the product we protect you from. That’s the definition of “Extortion.”

    Like other extortions, it just raises friction, it raises prices, and is a straight drain on the economy and all of us. Oh, and that’s the same business model as the FBI. As Truman said. But has been broadly illustrated these last 6 years. Possibly the point of the entire Federal Government, I haven’t gone to all departments.

    ““the vaccine is the bioweapon”,

    They did say this as far back as the 90s. Maybe the 70s and 80s, who knows? I think there were some shows and video games that used it, it was so well-known, and well known because like the “Illuminati” MTG card game, it had been published already.
    Card
    https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article21677791.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Coronavirus.jpg
    Wasn’t there a TV show with that as the premise at the exact same time in 2020? Well not everything is true, but at least we can watch when somebody says “On October 21, the Raiders will win by 10, on a fumble in the 3rd quarter” and ask serious questions.

    The U.N. chemical and biological weapons director said it was a lab-created bioweapon almost immediately. He’s a doctor. In the U.N. Who was public. No one cared. ‘Cause Gates and Jill Biden, who are not doctors, said it wasn’t, and Chad at Twitter agrees.

    I think if we re-state-ized the support, we would also remove another administrative layer and save money. –Not that anyone cares about that. For instance, right now 60% of Welfare is spent on administration. That’s right, we could DOUBLE EVERY CHECK. When they merely have a EBT credit card. The credit card is straight Bank Welfare for JP Morgan to issue it, millions a year, with no risk to them. Maybe they’re all 60% of the overhead, who knows?? I don’t think that would fly in Vermont, where Vermont voters are paying. But then how would we extort the States? Or the people?

    #114259
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    This comment will go nowhere on TAE’s board and I’m ok with that. I’m going to post it anyhow.

    What is up with you people? I see a bunch of folks laying down, giving up, and then blathering on because there are “too many layers, too many powerful people, what can anyone do? Nothing!!!”

    Seriously??

    What the flip, you guys? I’m barely able to function anymore due to physical health, and my emotional bedrock is suddenly and unexpectedly gone, so my support system dropped to the depths of hell for the past four months.

    I keep trying … and you can’t?

    Shove your pessimistic shit up your ass. I’m with Dr D. It stops when WE say it stops. Commenters can trash Dr D all they want, but that’s all he’s been saying for years on end.

    For god’s sake, quit wallowing around, pull up your fucking big boy pants, and do more than talk.

    PS … Hi Archie.

    #114260
    zerosum
    Participant

    ….. do more than talk.
    Doing nothing is doing something …. work to rule ….. quiet quitting …. see a problem, don’t say anything

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