M.C. Escher Fluorescent sea 1933
RFK jr
https://twitter.com/i/status/1610033806005657601
Tucker Carlson’s Recommendations For A Flailing Kevin McCarthy
-Release The January 6th Files
-Put @RepThomasMassie In Charge Of A New Frank Church Committee Designed To Discover What The FBI & Intel Agencies Have Been Doing To Control Domestic Politics
“Kevin McCarthy is NOT especially conservative. He’s ideologically agnostic.
His real constituency is the lobbying community in Washington, D.C.” –@TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/tlzlZ07kRY
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 4, 2023
The man needs help.
McLuhan
In 1977, media prophet Marshall McLuhan discussed CIA and FBI surveillance, and then turned it into one of the most mind-bending riffs on identity in the digital age I've ever heard. pic.twitter.com/Uz5RbHkREO
— Benjamin Carlson (@bfcarlson) January 2, 2023
Musk Barra
@POTUS @UAW completely ignore the most American company. They’ve made it clear they only want union companies making EVs pic.twitter.com/aDbELTIAIY
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 3, 2023
The Reuters headline continues “… For Ukraine War”. But the widows talk about “the coming war”.
“The coming war will require completely different resources: human, psychological, economic,” she told Reuters. “Protecting the Motherland is a duty.”
• Soldiers’ Widows Group Calls On Putin To Order Major Mobilisation (R.)
A little known patriotic group which supports the widows of Russian soldiers has called on President Vladimir Putin to order a large-scale mobilisation of millions of men and to close the borders to ensure victory in Ukraine. Putin, Russia’s 70-year-old paramount leader, is under intense pressure to deliver victory in Ukraine more than 10 months since he sent troops as part of an operation he says was intended to defend Russians in eastern Ukraine. “We ask our President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, to allow the Russian Army to carry out a large-scale mobilisation,” the Soldiers’ Widows of Russia group said in a post on Telegram. “We ask our President, our Supreme Commander-in-Chief, to prohibit the departure of men of military age from Russia. And we have a full moral right to do this: our husbands died protecting these men, but who will protect us if they run away?”
After ordering what he cast as a “partial mobilisation” on Sept. 21, Russia’s first since World War Two, around 300,000 additional men were drafted, though several hundred thousand more Russian men fled abroad to avoid being called up. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appeal from the widows’ group. Putin said last month that there was no need for an additional mobilisation. A representative of the widows’ group told Reuters that all fit Russian men should be mobilised to defend the Motherland. “The coming war will require completely different resources: human, psychological, economic,” she told Reuters. “Protecting the Motherland is a duty.”
Putin has for months been casting the war as part of a much wider historical struggle between Russia and the West which the Kremlin chief says wants to carve up and destroy Russia. Western powers deny they aim to destroy Russia. In a grim New Year’s Eve message, Putin said that defending the Motherland was the sacred duty of all Russians and promised victory in Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. The widows group began work about two months ago to assist the wives of soldiers killed in Ukraine and has contacts with the Kremlin administration, its representative said. “We are in constant contact with the presidential administration, and if necessary, we transmit requests to it in order to receive this or that support,” the representative said.
Invoking Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the group said that now was the time for tough measures to defend against the evil forces coalescing around Russia’s borders. “Today, all the world’s evil has united against Russia – the entire Western world has turned against us,” the group said. “It’s either us or them, there is no other choice.” Stalin in 1942 issued Order No. 227 which became known as the “Not a step back” order. It was an attempt to establish discipline within the Red Army though thousands of Soviet troops were shot by their own side for alleged cowardice. Stalin “did not think about ratings or dissatisfaction among dissidents: he thought only of victory,” the group said. “Now is not the time to be cowardly.”
“..the main reason for what happened [in the attack] was the turning on and mass use mobile phones by personnel – contrary to the ban – within the range of enemy weapons.”
• Putin: West ‘Lied About Peace’ While Planning for War (Celente)
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressed the public during his annual New Year’s speech and warned them of a prolonged conflict in Ukraine and blamed the West for tricking the Kremlin that it was seeking peace in the region, while helping Kyiv prepare for war. “The West lied about peace while preparing for aggression. They are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia,” Putin said. Putin’s comment came weeks after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel slipped and said the Minsk agreements were an effective ruse to give Ukraine time to “get stronger” for its next conflict with Russia. She said Ukraine used the ceasefire after the two peace deals as a time to get stronger, “as you can see today.”
“The Ukraine of 2014/15 is not the Ukraine of today. As you saw in the battle for Debaltseve in early 2015, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin could easily have overrun them at the time. And I very much doubt that the NATO countries could have done as much then as they do now to help Ukraine,” she said. The ruse was well-known among the political elite in the region, even before Merkel’s comments. In 2015, Pyotr Poroshenko, the U.S.-backed stooge who became president of Ukraine after the 2014 US-backed coup, told an audience that the Minsk deal was a ruse to buy time for a military build-up. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said Merkel’s comments “horrifyingly” reveal that the West uses “forgery as a method of action,” RT reported. She accused the West of employing “machinations, manipulation, and all kinds of distortions of truth, law, and rights imaginable.”
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that about 90 Russian troops were killed when a Ukrainian missile detonated at a building in the city of Makeyevka in Donetsk People’s Republic just after midnight on 1 January, RT.com, the Russian news outlet, reported. Lt. Gen. Sergey Sevryukov told reporters it is “already obvious that the main reason for what happened was the turning on and mass use mobile phones by personnel – contrary to the ban – within the range of enemy weapons.” The RT report said the missiles in the attack were launched by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket system, which was destroyed in a retaliatory strike.
“I fully concur with those who, like Macgregor, have been announcing a major combined arms offensive this Spring, but it will happen when Putin decides it, not when NATO wants it.”
• Making Sense Of NATO Strikes Against Russia (Saker)
[..] we need to mention a deep cultural difference between the Russian society and the western one: most Russians have a much better understanding of war than the folks in the West. This is true for civilians all the way through the generals. There are many reasons for that, but just to name a few: • Many Russians have military training (basic or more advanced) • Almost every Russian has lost family members during WWII and, therefore, know how ugly war is. Russian culture, from books to movies, is chock full of war stories, and not of the Tom Clancy type, but the real thing. • Wars in Chechnia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Georgia, Syria, Armenia and many more conflicts have “educated” the Russian society about the painful realities of war. Unlike the hallucinations of the (fake) “friends of Russia” in the West, the “Strelkovites” and other assorted “allislosters” in Russia have very little traction or credibility with the Russian general public.
Simply put – Russians trust Surovikin (and Putin!) much, much, more than these hysterical FUDers because they instinctively feel that what is needed is not anger, but focus. [..] NATO is trying really hard to force the Russians into a “NATO schedule” and out of their planned schedule. An added beneficial side-effect from such “for optics only” strikes is to give the morons in Congress a rationale to put even more money into the US MIC. As for forcing Russia to attack in suboptimal conditions, that won’t happen. Neither Putin, nor Shoigu, nor Gerasimov nor Surovikin are the types who will respond to hysterics with “for optics only” actions (just look at their faces, I mean it!). And this also goes for the entire General Staff. I fully concur with those who, like Macgregor, have been announcing a major combined arms offensive this Spring, but it will happen when Putin decides it, not when NATO wants it.
Right now, the Russian meat grinder is inflicting such losses on the Ukraine that it really makes no sense for the Russians to stop it. But, sooner or later, even this will eventually yield diminishing marginal returns and, by then, the Russian forces (there are three of them around the Ukraine) will be fully ready, trained, equipped and poised to attack. The big unknown (to us, the Russians probably already know) is what NATO will do when this offensive happens. You can be sure that the “best” minds (relatively speaking) in the US are working on the following task: how to trigger a continental war without directly and officially involving the United States? I don’t have an answer to this, your guess is as good as mine 🙂 Any suggestions? Andrei
But we do not?!
• Japan Starts Official Investigation Into Millions of COVID Vaccine Deaths (NP)
According to reports, Japanese researchers have been instructed to investgate the mechanisms by which experimental mRNA jabs could be causing deaths and severe adverse reactions. Hiroshima University School of Medicine Prof. Masataka Nagao highlighted how the bodies of vaccinated persons he performed autopsies on were abnormally warm, with upwards of 100 degree F body temperatures. “The first concern was that the body temperatures of the corpses were very high when the police performed the autopsy,” Nagao declared. “The body temperatures were unusually high, such as 33 or 34 degrees celsius (91-93ºF).” Infowars.com reports: In other bodies, Nagao says “temperatures were very high at the time of death. Their body temperatures were above the normal temperature, more like over 40 degrees celsius (104ºF).”
Graphing the data, Nagao’s research team found there were significant changes to the genetic makeup of vaccinated autopsied patients’ immune systems. The research has led Nagao to conclude the vaccine causes immune system abnormalities that prompt inflammation throughout the body, which is likely the cause of the high body temperatures at the time of autopsy. “Based on the data and the circumstances alone, it is not possible to conclude that the vaccine was the cause of the deaths,” Prof. Nagao said, adding, “However, it is impossible to say that the vaccine was not the cause. We can only say that it is doubtful, but we believe that vaccination was sufficiently related to the immune abnormalities.”
In another report, dermatology expert Prof. Shigetoshi Sano of the Kochi University School of Medicine discussed discovering spike proteins at the site of skin lesions and other skin problems on patients who were vaccinated. “The spike protein derived from the vaccine was found in the skin,” Sano explained, highlighting a slide showing a bright green region on a lesion made visible by a special dye. “Spike proteins are locally suppressing the immune system,” Sano told reporters. “As a result, the spike proteins facilitate in reactivation of the herpesvirus.” The process of the spike proteins degrading in the immune system prompts inflammation throughout the body that also leads to blood clots, Sano concluded. “The function of the spike proteins to produce adverse reactions is formation of blood clots,” Sano explained. “And even worse, spike proteins can also locally induce inflammation.”
He was boostervaxxed Dec 26.
• The Wellness Company Requests Damar Hamlin Vaccine Status be Revealed (TWC)
Last night, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest, during his game in Cincinnati. Hamlin required CPR to restore his heart beat and was rushed to UC Medical Center in Cincinnati where he is listed in critical condition. As a result of this shocking injury, the remainder of the Bills-Bengals game was suspended. This morning, much of the sports and medical world is wondering what exactly happened on the field to Damar Hamlin. While the mainstream media has been quick to write off any concern with Hamlin’s vaccination status as a “conspiracy theory,” leading medical experts believe that Hamlin’s vaccination status is certainly relevant and could have played a contributing or even primary factor in his cardiac arrest.
Dr. Peter McCullough, one of the world’s leading cardiologists, and the Chief Scientific Officer for The Wellness Company said, “I watched the play live both as a fan and a cardiologist and I saw blunt neck and chest trauma, a brief recovery after the tackle and then a classic cardiac arrest. I have communicated to one of the most experienced trainers in the world and we agree that it was a cardiac arrest in the setting of a big surge of adrenalin. If Damar Hamlin indeed took one of the COVID-19 vaccines, then subclinical vaccine-induced myocarditis must be considered in the differential diagnosis.” Dr. Paul Alexander, a Senior Advisor to The Wellness Company, and one of the leading scholars on COVID-19 and the vaccines, wrote in his substack that this, “form of on-field cardiac arrest with exertion, is consistently following COVID gene injection vaccine administration in similarly young athletes.
We await more information yet until I see otherwise, this was vaccine. Was this a rhythm disturbance due to silent myocarditis (that his heart was damaged and not functioning optimally prior to the shot) that the body shot made worse and caused the cardiac arrest? A 24-year old strong young fit athlete like this does not suffer cardiac arrest like this. This was not due to the hit, IMO and I base this on the landscape that has accumulated since February 2021. No matter how many times you look at this on tape. If he took COVID gene mRNA/DNA injection vaccine and near 100% he did (the NFL league mandated it), then this is likely a result of the COVID gene injection (cannot be ruled out and has some role).”
“.. the state’s Medical Board would categorize dispensing information – such as the effectiveness of Ivermectin, or the Covid-19 vaccine’s rapidly waning efficacy, as unprofessional conduct..”
• California Bill To Punish Doctors For ‘False’ Covid-19 Information (ZH)
A bill which allows the state of California to punish doctors over ‘false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments’ went into effect on January 1st. Under the new law (AB 2098) which took effect Jan.1, the state’s Medical Board would categorize dispensing information – such as the effectiveness of Ivermectin, or the Covid-19 vaccine’s rapidly waning efficacy, as unprofessional conduct. The law was challenged in court by two California doctors, who said that it would restrict their free speech in violation of the first amendment, and that it was “vague” under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. However on December 28th, Biden Nominee Judge Fred Slaughter refused to halt the law, ruling that the law trumps free speech claims, and that it falls “within the longstanding tradition of regulations on the practice of medical treatments.”
Another lawsuit, brought by Physicians for Informed Consent, was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California in early December. The plaintiffs, physician LeTrinh Hoang and Children’s Health Defense, are being represented by Rick Jaffe, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Mary Holland, and argues that the state of California has weaponized the vague phrase “misinformation,” and thereby has illegally targeted physicians who disagree with the government’s public stance on Covid-19.”Expert cardiologist and PIC member Sanjay Verma, M.D., has been tracking and cataloging CDC errors in real time. For the case, he has provided what he calls “a detailed declaration exposing the government’s scientific errors and the constitutional dangers of censoring dissent”:
“To demonstrate these points of vagueness and the general unsuitability of using ‘contemporary scientific consensus’ as a disciplinary criterion, I have prepared a detailed overview of public health response to the pandemic broken down into categories such as Masks and Vaccines (transmission, safety, efficacy of natural immunity). I have also included evidence of what [I testify] would be considered misinformation promulgated by the CDC as well as its withholding of information which led to the then ‘contemporary scientific consensus’ eventually being proven wrong.” -KRON4 “
“..two years and nine months in prison..”
• German Doctor Jailed For Illegally Issuing Mask Exemptions (AP)
A German doctor was sentenced late Monday to two years and nine months in prison for illegally issuing more than 4,000 people with exemptions from wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic. A regional court in the southwestern town of Weinheim confirmed Tuesday that the doctor was convicted of “issuing incorrect health certificates” to people from across Germany, most of whom she had never met or examined. In addition to the prison sentence she was handed a three-year work ban and ordered to pay 28,000 euros ($29,550), the sum she had received for issuing the medical certificates. Her office assistant was fined 2,700 euros.
“The process is more reminiscent of a sale of certificates than a medical procedure,” the court said in a statement. It noted that she was not faulted for providing certificates to her existing patients. During the trial the defendant had argued that wearing masks was harmful to people’s health. The doctor’s lawyer intends to appeal the verdict, public broadcaster SWR reported. Dozens of supporters gathered outside the court in Weinheim, north of Heidelberg, to protest against the verdict and Germany’s pandemic restrictions. Germany ended requirements to wear masks in many indoor settings last year, though they are still compulsory on long-distance trains, in doctors’ practices, hospitals, nursing homes and on some regional public transport.
“..mandatory social media communication retraining..”
• College of Psychologists Attempt to Strip Jordan Peterson of his License (BJD)
Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson could be stripped of his license to practice clinical psychology over his sharing of political posts on social media. The College of Psychologists of Ontario which regulates the profession in his home province has disciplined Peterson over the sharing of political posts on Twitter. Peterson says he got in hot water with the College because he retweeted posts about PM Justin Trudeau, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Trudeau advisor, Gerald Butts, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and others. The College has ordered Peterson to undergo mandatory social media communication retraining to “modify his objectionable behavior.” It’s unclear what it is about the Tweets or the sharing of them that may violate the College’s Code of Ethics. Either way, Peterson says he will not comply.
“I have absolutely refused to do so,” said Peterson. The next step for the College is to demand he submit to an ‘in-person’ disciplinary hearing. If Peterson does not satisfy the College and commit to changing his behavior, it could strip him of his license to practice. “Canada has been given over to the commissars,” Peterson said, “something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.” He says he’ll make the issue public in the days ahead. Some of the posts that may be drawing the ire of the College include one on December 24th in which Peterson tweeted out a link to Conrad Black’s column in the National Post: A moral imperative for Trudeau Liberals to resign. Then on December 27th, he tweeted, I learned to watch for people’s psychological age during my years doing intensive clinical work. @JustinTrudeau appears to me to be perpetually 14 yrs old.
Even the German socialists have figure this out. Are you watching, @JustinTrudeau — the man who claimed there was “no business case” for supplying our German allies, in the face of the Russian war, with LNG? Every year that our marionette PM stays in power is a “tough year” for Canadians @JustinTrudeau @theJagmeetSingh (and the latter props him up and complains about doing so constantly) Has Jordan Peterson become The government of Canada’s latest political target for holding the wrong opinion?
To clarify: it's been decided: I either submit to social media communication retraining or face a disciplinary hearing and possible suspension of my clinical license and the right to represent myself as a psychologist @elonmusk @CPOntario https://t.co/qmsje8flyN
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 3, 2023
The formatting is still not great. To read Taibbi’s latest you must scroll through endless Twitter threads or subscribe to his Substack. I don’t want to. Keep it easily accessible, Elon!
• Documents Reveal How ‘Russiagate’ Was Used For Twitter Censorship (RT)
Internal documents from Twitter made public on Tuesday show how the social media platform was pressured to follow the US intelligence community’s lead on censorship back in 2017. Key Democrats in the US Congress, a British university and two media outlets – Politico and BuzzFeed – played a major role in the process, which revolved around the ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy theory, according to research by Matt Taibbi. In a pattern established in just six weeks, from August to October 2017, Twitter went from being on nobody’s radar to agreeing to take orders from US spies as to whom to censor, Taibbi wrote on Substack. “Threats from Congress came first, then a rush of bad headlines (inspired by leaks from congressional committees), and finally a series of moderation demands coming from the outside,” he added.
In a 30-tweet thread, Taibbi showed emails and other internal documents he obtained, thanks to Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk. Democrats had accused Russia of helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. Their claim that Trump had ties with Moscow was a “dossier” fabricated by a British spy. From there, they insinuated that WikiLeaks publishing internal DNC documents and personal emails of Clinton’s campaign had something to do with Moscow, while “Russian bots and trolls” posted “misinformation” on social media that somehow undermined the elections. By August 2017, Facebook was purging accounts accused of being “linked to Russia.” Unconcerned, Twitter sent over a list of 22 “possible” Russian accounts to the Senate Intelligence Committee, only to be denounced by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat.
By the end of September, Twitter VP for Public Policy Colin Crowell was warning that “Warner has political incentive to keep this issue at top of the news, maintain pressure on us and [the] rest of industry to keep producing material for them.” Crowell also noted the Democrats were “taking cues from Hillary Clinton,” and that only Warner and his House counterpart Congressman Adam Schiff were seeking any comments from social media companies. Meanwhile, as Taibbi put it, “a torrent of stories sourced to the [committee] poured into the news,” while several Senators – including Warner but also John McCain, an anti-Trump Arizona Republican – proposed bills that would have cracked down on social media.
A “Russia Task Force” set up by Twitter on October 2 found “no evidence of a coordinated approach” by October 13. The final report on October 23 found “32 suspicious accounts and only 17 of those are connected with Russia.” Of those, only two spent anything close to $10,000 on advertising – and one of them was RT. Policy Director Carlos Monje admits in an October 18 memo that “our ads policy and product changes are an effort to anticipate congressional oversight.” One of these changes was the October 26 ban on advertising by RT and Sputnik. A November 22 internal email accuses the Senate Intelligence Committee of leaking Twitter’s internal report to the media. A Politico story accusing Twitter of deleting files is followed by a BuzzFeed article alleging a German-language bot network with “signs of being connected to Russia.” The committee demands a report based on the story, which Twitter’s Yoel Roth dutifully writes up.
“You can see how the Russian cyber-threat was essentially conjured into being, with political and media pressure serving as the engine inflating something Twitter believed was negligible and uncoordinated to massive dimensions,” Taibbi wrote. All of this results in the internal instructions to ban anything “identified by the US intelligence community as a state-sponsored entity conducting cyber-operations.” It was the first step in the process that would eventually lead to the FBI and the Biden White House telling Twitter exactly whom to censor.
“George, please slide into my DMs!”
• Elon Musk Calls for Investigation Into George Soros (TPN)
Twitter CEO Elon Musk is calling for an investigation into billionaire George Soros for controlling information. George Soros has been a topic of discussion recently, as various liberal organizations have written a letter urging major American corporations such as Coca-Cola, Disney, and Kraft Foods to boycott Twitter. Interestingly, some of these same groups are financially supported by Soros himself. In light of this, Elon Musk tweeted about the need for a thorough investigation into these organizations. “Who funds these organizations that want to control your access to information? Let’s investigate …” Musk initially tweeted. He then followed up: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” “Interesting. I wonder if those funding these organizations are fully aware of what the organizations are doing,” Musk added.
The Twitter CEO also unleashed on the Open Society Foundations, an organization funded by Soros himself. “George, please slide into my DMs!” Musk has been exposing liberal elites left and right. Last week, the Twitter CEO exposed Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife Christine Grady’s corrupt working relationship. The comments from Musk came in a series of tweets where he unleashed on Fauci for his questionable past relating to his so-called “gain-of-function” research. “Fauci bypassed the moratorium on gain-of-function research to fund dangerous projects like EcoHealth Alliance’s work in Wuhan,” said an account on Twitter. “He then worked internally to changed NIH’s definition of GoF to evade culpability. In 2022, he awarded more $ to Peter Daszak for more GoF research.”
““Gain-of-function” should be called “bioweapon” research, as the function referred is death! What was the name changed to this time?” Musk replied. ““Gain-of-function” in this context is just another way of saying “bioweapon”. Some good nuggets in article. Important to note that Fauci authored 2012 paper arguing for gain-of-function research! Obama wisely put this on pause, but Fauci restarted it,” Musk tweeted as he attached an article from Yahoo News. Musk continued, “Despite these glaring issues, Twitter nonetheless had an internal Slack channel unironically called “Fauci Fan Club””
“align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets”
• Twitter Announces Decision On Political Ads (RT)
Twitter is set to relax its ban on political advertising, saying the policy change would take effect in the coming weeks. The announcement follows reports of an exodus of advertisers from the website after Musk’s multi-billion dollar takeover last year. The platform’s Twitter Safety account highlighted the decision on Tuesday, noting that it would soon “align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets” regarding political material. “Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks,” it said, adding “We believe cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics.”
Twitter initially banned some forms of political ads back in 2019 – prior to Musk’s acquisition of the company last October – breaking ranks with other major sites such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. At the time, Twitter argued that political influence should not be purchased, but earned through sincere public interest. However, as the site’s new owner, Musk has pushed to scale back content restrictions, vowing to make Twitter a refuge for free speech while ushering in a range of policy changes.
The decision to resume political ads could be part of efforts to gin up new business, as Twitter has reportedly lost around half of its top 100 advertisers and a handful of smaller ones since Musk took over. It is unclear whether those companies will return, as a number of businesses said they would pause their ads temporarily, some citing concerns over the alleged growth in hate speech on the platform under Musk’s leadership. While the exact details of the upcoming rule change remain unclear, Twitter said it would “first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people” before any alterations are made, adding that it would reveal more about the move in the coming weeks.
Crime writer John Leake works with Dr. Peter McCullough.
• The Film Scene that Foretold Our Current Moral Catastrophe (Leake)
It’s one of the most memorable scenes in all of cinematic history, and it’s the scene that inspired me to become a true crime author. In 2001 I lived in Vienna, around the corner from the Burgkino (Burg Cinema) which still played the 1949 film noir classic The Third Man on its big screen every weekend. I spent many a dreary winter Sunday afternoon watching the film. Based on the novella and screenplay by Graham Greene, The Third Man is a crime story about Harry Lime—an American running a medical charity in Vienna, who makes a killing selling penicillin on the bombed out, impoverished city’s black market. To increase his profits, he cuts the drug with other substances, thereby destroying its efficacy and causing the patients (including children) to die horribly from their infections.
In the film’s most iconic scene, the good guy (played by Joseph Cotton) meets his old friend Harry Lime (played by Orson Welles) on the Giant Ferris wheel in the Vienna Prater amusement park and tries to appeal to his conscience. At the wheel’s apex, the charismatic Harry opens the door, points down to people walking on the ground below, and says: Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax. … Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don’t, why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat; I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It’s the same thing. They have their five-year plans, and so have I.
I sensed that Graham Greene might have based the story on something he’d witnessed or heard about. Doing some research, I learned that Harry Lime was probably based on the British spy Harold “Kim” Philby, with whom Greene worked in British intelligence during World War II. Greene, it seems, discovered that Philby was a Soviet double agent long before he was exposed as such in 1963. Instead of ratting out his friend, he kept it to himself and left the intelligence service in 1944. Several pieces of evidence suggest that when he wrote The Third Man a few years later, he based it on his conflicted friendship with Philby. John le Carré was also fascinated by Graham Greene and Kim Philby, and his thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy—one of my all-time favorites—was inspired by the Philby story.
His novel The Constant Gardener was published in 2001, and I read it with great interest. The story wasn’t set in Cold War Europe, but in Kenya, where a British diplomat’s wife is brutally raped and murdered. Upon closer examination, the diplomat realizes that she was about to reveal a horrifying crime committed by a pharmaceutical company, which murdered her in order to prevent the exposure. The novel’s plot was reminiscent of a controversial drug trial performed by Pfizer in Kano, Nigeria in 1996 during a meningococcal outbreak. For the trial of its new antibiotic, trovafloxacin, Pfizer gave 100 children this new drug. The control group of 100 other children received the standard anti-meningitis treatment at the time—a drug called ceftriaxone. However, for the control group, Pfizer administered a substantially lower dose of ceftriaxone than the drug’s FDA-approved standard.
When the reduced dosing in the control group was discovered, it raised the suspicion that Pfizer did this in order to skew the trial in favor of its new drug. Five of the children who received trovafloxacin died, while six who received the reduced dose of ceftriaxone died. Other children apparently suffered grave injuries from the administration of the experimental antibiotic without their informed consent. The investigation and litigation that ensued was the stuff of a thriller, involving private investigators, bribery, blackmail attempts, and disappearing records. Thirteen years later, in 2009, Pfizer settled out of court with the plaintiffs. In his author’s note, le Carré claimed that nobody and no corporation in the novel was based on an actual person or corporation in the real world. But I can tell you this. As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard.
Bolsonaro is in the US.
• Lula Halts Privatization Of Brazil’s State Companies (RT)
Brazil’s newly returned President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has scrapped plans to sell off eight state-run corporate giants, including the oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, Brazilian news website G1 reported on Monday. Lula, who was at the helm from 2003 through 2010, was sworn in as Brazil’s president on January 1. Imprisoned for graft in 2018, Lula’s convictions were overturned in 2019, allowing him to defeat Jair Bolsonaro in October’s election. The decision to remove state corporations from the list of state asset sales was one of the first official acts by the left-wing politician. Aside from Petrobras, the order includes Pre-Sal Petroleo, the state firm responsible for the supervision and sale of the government’s share of oil and gas from production-sharing contracts, along with the postal service Correios, and the Empresa Brasil de Comunicacaooperator, which manages the federal government’s broadcast network.
The Brazilian social welfare system’s IT services enterprise Dataprev, state-owned nuclear company Nuclep, IT services corporation Serpro, and the Agriculture Ministry’s National Supply Company are also off the privatization list. The returning president has called for “ensuring a rigorous analysis of the impacts of privatization on the public service or on the market,” adding that state banks and major oil companies such as Petrobras would play a “key role” in the new economic cycle. On Monday, the Sao Paulo stock index shed 3.24%, while Petrobras shares dropped around 6% as Lula’s inauguration speech sparked investor fears of interventionist government policies. The national currency – the real – saw its value slide by 1.5%. Lula’s predecessor, the populist far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, led an administration mired in controversies ranging from corruption to environmental devastation. Lula’s own government was brought down by massive corruption in Petrobras, which led to the impeachment of his hand-picked successor in 2016.
How silly should I feel for not understanding the sudden push for 3, 4, 5, 26 genders?
• Switzerland Rejects Gender Ideology, Rules Sex Is Binary (Slay)
In a landmark move, Switzerland’s government has rejected gender ideology by ruling that sex is binary and people must be referred to as either male or female, with no exceptions. The Swiss government rejected a proposal to introduce a “third gender” or “no gender” option for official records. The nation ruled against the “gender identity” ideology that other European countries have succumbed to. Swiss residents will continue to be entered into the nation’s civil registry as male or female, with no other options. “The binary gender model is still strongly anchored in Swiss society,” the Swiss Federal Council said in response to two proposals from parliament, according to the Associated Press. “The social preconditions for the introduction of a third gender or for a general waiver of the gender entry in the civil registry currently are not there,” it added.
The Associated Press noted that the Federal Council had said that including alternative options for gender markers would require “numerous” changes to the Swiss Constitution and to laws both at the national and state (canton) levels. The process of revising the country’s Constitution is complicated. According to the Swiss Parliament, a partial or complete revision of the Constitution needs to be approved by both a majority of the voters and also a majority of the nation’s 26 cantons. Switzerland’s political system includes four parties whose views range from left to right and frequent referendums are held on a variety of issues. Switzerland’s neighboring countries, Germany and Austria, as well as other Western European countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, have all modified their civil registries to include “third gender” or “no gender” options.
Max 2006
https://twitter.com/i/status/1610339471269978114
Over a decade ago the polymathic @maxkeiser decoded the financial market in a easy to understand manner. This same video can be used to help understand the recent issues with the crypto markets.
5 minutes worth your time.
Brilliantly consistent insights. pic.twitter.com/HhYxaOZqBb
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) January 3, 2023
SBF pandemic
White House spokesperson says meetings with SBF were focussed on pandemic prevention pic.twitter.com/uDcvMQMN1E
— db (@tier10k) January 3, 2023
Fanta
2 honeybees, Apis mellifera, have learnt to generate the necessary torque to undo a bottle top pic.twitter.com/WEycuwEmzP
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 3, 2023
Bubble nets
Humpback whales create ‘bubble nets’ to snare their prey, sometimes with Fibonacci spiral patterns as showed in this clip by Richard Sidey. Researchers think the spiral patterns have advantages over circular ones
[full paper: https://t.co/sFocP898oq]pic.twitter.com/Qv0vThj3U9
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 3, 2023
Artificial reef
Artificial reefs proved to be an effective way to sustainably improve fisheries’ productivity. This is how one built in Little Abaco is full of white grunts, lobster, and more after 6 months
[learn more: https://t.co/7tbLm0HPma]pic.twitter.com/aFQqIdKjNI
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 3, 2023
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