Feb 192022
 


Jan van Eijk The Arnolfini portrait 1434

 

The Unmasking (Jim Kunstler)
Police Horses Trample Demonstrators At Freedom Convoy Protest In Ottawa (TSun)
Canada Parliament Axes Friday Plans To Meet Over Emergencies Act (GN)
Canadian Clergy Rebuke Trudeau For Invoking Emergencies Act (Fox)
The Democracy Disconnect in Canada (CTH)
RCMP Orders Blacklist Of 34 Crypto Wallets (CS)
Ottawa Freedom Convoy Tears Down Illusion of Democracy in North America (Ehret)
Where Is The Uprising? (Denninger)
Bill Gates: Natural Infection Doing “A Better Job” Of Bolstering Immunity (ZH)
Biden Says He’s Convinced Putin Has Decided to Invade (Lauria)
Putin To Personally Oversee Massive Nuclear Drill On Saturday (ZH)
Putin Warned The West, But The West Didn’t Listen (RT)

 

 

 

 

Scott Atlas

 

 

 

 

“The unmasked are unmasking their masked antagonists.”

The Unmasking (Jim Kunstler)

A “People’s Convoy” is assembling around Barstow, California (the capital of the Mojave Desert, where there’s plenty of room to assemble), with a launch date of February 23, next Wednesday, destination: Washington DC. Won’t that be… interesting? What will the government of “Joe Biden” do? Likewise invoke some sort of emergency powers? Declare yet another “insurrection” as with January 6, 2021? Mess with the truckers’ bank accounts, and those of the people who support them? Do they want to inspire a run on US banks at a juncture where the extreme fragility of the global banking system threatens to blow up financial markets? Standing by on that.

The US government, like Canada’s, has likewise been at war with its citizens. At least half the country has awakened to this unappetizing reality — even while somewhat less than half the country still catatonically follows whatever idiotic diktat the despotic bureaucracy spews out. Why, for instance, do so many still go about in face masks even where local regulations are lifted? (And especially in light of the overwhelming evidence that masks don’t work?) Answer: to signify that they are still against Trump, the evil leviathan said to be responsible for all the woes and injustices in the world and who threatens their ”safety”— meaning, their status as oppressed victims of “white supremacy,” including the guilty-and-penitent self-oppressed white people of the Left themselves. Yeah, it’s just that simple because we are in an epic episode of human social hysteria.

[..] The companies who produced the “vaccines’ are even on the run. Pfizer withdrew its application for an emergency use authorization in India, where the public health agency insisted on seeing the safety records Pfizer was obliged to furnish — and refused to. India is a big market for pharmaceuticals, some 1.39 billion. Pfizer’s stock has crashed nearly 10 percent the past two weeks. By the way, some of the states of India are notable for having battled Covid-19 with the mass distribution of early treatment kits containing cheap anti-virals such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, Vitamin D, etc. The program was famously successful in reducing deaths there. The CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, has sold off $400-million of his own stock in the company and deleted his Twitter account on rumors that all-causes deaths reported by US life insurance companies show a shocking and mysterious rise in mortality that just may be attributed to the “vaccines” causing strokes, heart attacks, cancer cases, and immune system failures. (Moderna’s stock is also sinking.)

Neither the mainstream news media nor the US public health agencies are making any effort to investigate this now well-documented occurrence. We’re in the midst of a tremendous shift of public opinion. Winter is not over but the truth is budding now in a thousand places. The people are done kneeling docilly to be silenced and killed. They will not let this country, and many other nations in the Western Civ club, be destroyed without a fight. The unmasked are unmasking their masked antagonists. Stand by, now, to find out who has been behind all this deadly mischief. We will rip off their masks and the rule of law will be restored.

Read more …

“..instead of violence there were bouncy castles, hot tubs, pancake breakfasts, pig roasts, road hockey games, dancing and fireworks displays.”

Police Horses Trample Demonstrators At Freedom Convoy Protest In Ottawa (TSun)

Turns out the lasting image of the Freedom Convoy protest at Parliament Hill will not be bouncy castles but that of a woman with a walker being trampled by a police horse. The violence the Prime Minister has expressed concern about during the three-week protest in Ottawa didn’t unfold until Justin Trudeau’s Emergencies Act police army was sent in to disperse the crowd. The three major incidents Friday, under a form of martial law, were grotesque. Video of Toronto Police Mounted Unit officers charging into the crowd and at least one horse trampling multiple people — including an elderly woman with a walker — was disturbing. But that was not the only troubling incident.

Another saw a protester behind a police line repeatedly being smashed with an officer’s rifle. And convoy organizer Benjamin Dichter also told the Toronto Sun “one of drivers had his truck windows smashed by Ottawa Police (with) guns drawn and (he was) dragged out of his vehicle by force.” It’s ironic when you think back to three weeks ago. “Of course I’m concerned,” Trudeau told The Canadian Press on Jan. 28. “A number of people are there without wanting to incite violence, but there are going to be, as we’ve heard, a small group of people in there who are posing a threat to themselves, to each other, to Canadians.” But instead of violence there were bouncy castles, hot tubs, pancake breakfasts, pig roasts, road hockey games, dancing and fireworks displays.


While Trudeau tried to pin the online postings of a Swastika and Confederate flag on the truckers, they brought in a crane to rise the Canadian flag and sang O Canada every day. They definitely wore out their welcome while clogging up the parliamentary district of Ottawa, not wearing masks and excessively honking their horns. But they didn’t cause violence. So why the heavy hand in their mission to win back the city? That’s the question Ottawa Police, the Prime Minister, Premier Doug Ford and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson need to answer.

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Upcoming police action prevents House from discussing the legality of……police action.

Canada Parliament Axes Friday Plans To Meet Over Emergencies Act (GN)

Friday meetings of the House of Commons and the Senate over the invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the so-called “freedom convoy” demonstrations were cancelled due to safety concerns. Government House Leader Mark Holland later confirmed that the debate will resume on Saturday, with Speaker Anthony Rota adding the House will sit from 7 a.m. to midnight Eastern. Debate is still expected to continue Sunday and Monday. Holland said the final vote on the measure will be held Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern. “I am looking forward to the historic and fulsome debate that lies ahead,” he said on Twitter. A note from Speaker Anthony Rota noted Friday’s cancellation is spurred on by an impending police operation set to take place by Parliament Hill and around Ottawa’s downtown core.

“The #HoC will not sit today, Friday, February 18. A police operation is expected in the downtown core of Ottawa. Given these exceptional circumstances, and following discussion with all recognized party leadership, the sitting today is cancelled,” wrote Anthony Rota, speaker of the House, in a tweet on Friday. NDP House Leader Peter Julian confirmed the cancellation on Twitter. “Around 4:30 AM this morning all four of us — the House Leaders in the House of Commons — agreed to cancel today’s House of Commons session that was scheduled to start at 7 AM. It is everyone’s hope that the Convoy will peacefully leave #Ottawa & will end their #OttawaOccupation,” Julian tweeted.

Rota cited concerns from the Parliamentary Police Service (PPS) and noted that all House Leaders were in agreement on the cancellation. “Given these exceptional circumstances, and following discussion with all recognized party leadership, the sitting today is cancelled,” Rota wrote in a letter Friday.

Crackdown
https://twitter.com/i/status/1494890874819551234

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“..in response to their singing, praying, dancing, candy floss, bouncy castles, speeches about the Constitution and outpourings of patriotic love for the country, your government has not only refused to meet with these citizens to hear their concerns, you have insulted, denigrated and lied about them..”

Canadian Clergy Rebuke Trudeau For Invoking Emergencies Act (Fox)

A group of Canadian clergy sent an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week rebuking him for invoking the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy and for other actions they described as “tyrannical.” “We are writing to you as representative pastors of Christian congregations from across the nation and as law-abiding citizens who respect the God-defined role of civil government and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the highest law of our land, which recognizes the supremacy of God over all human legislation,” read the letter, which was signed by 29 clergymen and remains open for other Canadians to sign.

Explaining their repeated, earnest attempts to prayerfully redress their grievances with all levels of government regarding “indefinite suspension of civil liberties, coercive mandates and perpetual state interference in the life, freedom and worship of the church,” the pastors denounced Trudeau for cracking down on the Freedom Convoy instead of hearing them out. They emphasized that members of the clergy are a part of the convoy. “The Ottawa protest has presented your government with a wonderful opportunity to meet with and speak to ordinary Canadians lawfully and peaceably requiring the restoration of their constitutional rights,” they wrote.

“However, in response to their singing, praying, dancing, candy floss, bouncy castles, speeches about the Constitution and outpourings of patriotic love for the country, your government has not only refused to meet with these citizens to hear their concerns, you have insulted, denigrated and lied about them, further dividing a hurting and broken nation.” The pastors went on to rebuke Trudeau and his government for seemingly believing that they have the authority to bestow and remove fundamental rights at will. “Your government does not grant people the right to their bodily integrity, the right to work or earn a living, the right to decide for their children or to be with their families or dying loved ones, the right to gather to worship and obey God, the right to travel in their own land or enter and leave. Civil government exists to protect these pre-political and fundamental freedoms, not bestow and remove them as if it can function in the place of God.”

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“The Ministry of Peace is established to create war; the Ministry of Truth is established to create lies and propaganda; the Ministry of Love established to justify torture and beatings; and the Ministry of Plenty to control food production leading to starvation.”

The Democracy Disconnect in Canada (CTH)

When the terms “freedom and liberty” are allowed to be defined as extremist sentiment, what you end up with are Canadian federal police beating people in the streets and arresting citizens who petition their government for freedom. Meanwhile, the ever fearful and politically correct conservatives in Parliament grasp their pearls while simultaneously cowering to avoid labels. Somewhere there is a radical called Saul Alinsky, the trainer of modern revolutionary communists and political leftists – who dedicated his training manual to Lucifer, smiling as he watches the results of his teachings. Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the worst of what is to come from this.


Allow me to highlight the point with two easily referenced examples from Canadian media (infiltrated with ideological stenographers) and contemplate the larger message against government saying we must “defend our democracy” while removing political protest. Notice the evolution of the collective narrative in just a few days. The word “freedom” is extremist (Feb 13) … Conservatives are “extremist” (Feb 18)

When “freedom and liberty” are defined as extremism, conservatives become defined as extremists. See how that works? Yes, linguistic judo and ideological training provided by Saul Alinsky, in his rules for radicals. In essence, Alinsky taught the budding communists to define the opposition, isolate them, ridicule them and marginalize them. Now, if you find yourself having a mental reference to a race of persons as defined during World War II, before Alinsky’s book was even written, your reference point is solid. Whenever we allow any entity, group, or collective echo-chamber to change the terminology, we are making a big mistake.


Orwell wrote about the outcome in his book 1984, where The Ministry of Peace is established to create war; the Ministry of Truth is established to create lies and propaganda; the Ministry of Love established to justify torture and beatings; and the Ministry of Plenty to control food production leading to starvation. These are not simply contradictions in words and terms, these are an earlier version of what David Mamet later described as necessary tools for modern leftists. In order to advance severe ideological positions, they must pretend not to know things. Ignoring contradictions is a feature of modern leftism, not a flaw.

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“..cryptocurrency donations being collected in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act..”

RCMP Orders Blacklist Of 34 Crypto Wallets (CS)

The Counter Signal has exclusively obtained an order sent by Trudeau’s federal police force, which demands that all FINTRAC regulated companies in Canada cease transacting with 34 cryptocurrency wallets. The wallets are alleged to be associated with the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. The Counter Signal has confirmed at least one wallet which had contained over $1 million worth of Bitcoin as being a part of the HonkHonkHodl campaign to support truckers via cryptocurrency. Whether this demand from police will hamper access to the funds is still unclear. The police order comes via Trudeau’s extraordinary and self-prescribed emergency powers, and affects over 25 Bitcoin, worth approximately $1.4 million dollars.


“The Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police are currently investigating cryptocurrency donations being collected in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act,” the RCMP order begins. “Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order, under subsection 19(1) of the Emergencies Act, there is a duty to cease facilitating any transactions pertaining to the following cryptocurrency address(es).” Trudeau’s officers list 29 Bitcoin addresses, 2 Ethereum, and 1 wallet each of Cardano, Monero, and Litecoin. [..] “Any information about a transaction or proposed transaction in respect of these address(es), is to be disclosed immediately to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at [email protected],” the RCMP pleaded.

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Mark Carney ready to replace Justin?

Ottawa Freedom Convoy Tears Down Illusion of Democracy in North America (Ehret)

Who would have thought that Canada would ever be a spark plug for a freedom movement against tyranny? As the editor of a Canadian geopolitical magazine for over 10 years and author of four books on Canadian History, I am a bit embarrassed to say that I certainly didn’t think that Canadians had this in them. The “monarchy of the north” certainly isn’t something that exudes revolutionary sentiment- having been founded on such non-revolutionary principles as “Peace, Order and Good Governance” which have stood in stark contrast to the significantly more inspiring “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” enshrined in the founding documents of our southern cousins.

Even our founding 1867 document (drafted over a champagne fueled month of hedonism in 1864) explicitly calls out the purpose of confederation not as a means of “supporting the general welfare” as was the case of the USA’s constitution in 1787, but rather “to promote the interests of the British Empire”. But here it is.

Countless thousands of patriots have driven across the country to bunker down in Ottawa in peace and high festive spirits which I had to see with my own eyes to believe demanding something so simple and un-tainted by ideology: freedom to work, provide for families and a respect for basic rights as laid out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (a 1982 upgrade to the embarrassingly oligarchical British North America Act of 1867). Mainstream media and political hacks have been working overtime to paint the Freedom convoy that converged on Ottawa on January 29 as an “insurrectionist movement” full of “white supremacists”, “Russian stooges”, and “Nazis” out to “overthrow the government”.

Even the Bank of England’s former governor (and World Economic Forum Trustee) Mark Carney chimed in on February 7 stating that “this is sedition” and that “those who are still helping to extend this occupation must be identified and punished to the full force of the law”. Carney, the perennial financial darling of Goldman Sachs and the City of London (and Prime Ministerial hopeful) called for a targeting of all those who donated money to this domestic terror operation. Faced with an organic civil rights movement of blue-collar truckers, farmers and tens of thousands of supporters who have convened on Canada’s capital to demand a restoration of their basic freedoms, the current Liberal government has failed to show even an ounce of humanity or capacity to negotiate.

This shouldn’t be a surprise for those who have seen the hypocrisy of neo-liberal “rules-based” order ideologues in action over the past few years who are quick to celebrate the “liberty” of citizens of Ukraine, Hong Kong, or Xinjiang when the outcome benefits the geopolitical aims of detached technocrats hungry for global hegemony.

Schwab WEF

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“According to the montage, skills are for special, gifted people only. They are learned by those special people quickly and easily. If someone isn’t an expert instantly, they never will be.”

Where Is The Uprising? (Denninger)

Let’s take a moment and give props to the Canadian truckers who got their government’s and fellow Canadians’ attention. Good for them. They did something, along with those who walked fuel and food to them to keep the protest going. Great use of logistics and tactics, my hat is off to you! Truckers are pureblood allies. There is no argument that the truckers’ actions had an effect on the war. They arrived and fought on the battlefield. The government announced a crack down, so we’ll see how it plays out over the next few days. Contrast with the US: no widespread parking lots, everyone is still in trudge along to get along mode. There’s low level disruptions (keep vacationing in place!) in daily life, most notably in the supply chain. Even fat bitch Karens are noticing higher grocery prices and holes in shelves. But so far, pretty quiet.

Boston, New York City, and Minneapolis allowed vaxports. Vaxports are the equivalent of sucking government cock after it ****s you in the ass. Enjoy the taste of your own ****. The pure bloods haven’t burned the cities to the ground in a mostly peaceful protest. Why is that? What will it take to set things off? I don’t know. There’s two ways this ends: either 1% decides they’ve had enough, or we will be slowly boiled until we are grateful daddy government allowed us to exist in our own homes without a mask on Tuesdays. No, that’s not impossible. Over the past two years, as a people, we’ve demonstrated we will trade our humanity for safety. Tard Karen believes a magic filthy rag wards off a deadly plague. Others wear one for work so they have a place to live. Still others won’t rock the boat to remain part of their group.

[..] The plan isn’t perfect. The leader, the goals, or the tactics don’t align perfectly with yours. Oh no, but if it was, boy howdy, would you get off the couch and join them. This line of thought requires ignoring that the un-pure army produces desired results. One day, when the right allies appear, you’ll join them. One day… They aren’t doing it right. Sadly, an army already on the field is unlikely to recognize you as their Five Star General. If their actions work, support their efforts or shut the **** up and stay on the couch. Don’t derail a functioning battle plan. Those who disrupt working tactics have a special name: traitors. Another set of excuses is due to mindset. Mindset determines success or failure as much as tactics and logistics. Mindset is the result of life experience and it will not change overnight, if at all.

However, we deserve some leniency for not developing a killer, win-or-die mindset. Life hasn’t been trying to actively kill us for long enough soybois and girldicks require a safe space when someone uses the wrong pronoun. On the other hand, peace and ease allowed modern Western Civilization to flourish. But there is one item from pop culture that has destroyed mindset development so much, some evil mastermind is kicking himself for not inventing it: the montage. Yes, the montage. What does a montage imply? It only takes 3:30 to go from zero to hero. Any skill can be mastered in the time it takes to listen to the movie’s hit song. No failure, no missteps, no tangents where a single slice of the skill is drilled and drilled until practice is complete hell. None of that. According to the montage, skills are for special, gifted people only. They are learned by those special people quickly and easily. If someone isn’t an expert instantly, they never will be.

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Who cares what Bill Gates says?

Bill Gates: Natural Infection Doing “A Better Job” Of Bolstering Immunity (ZH)

Speaking on Friday during the Munich Security Conference, Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder and chairman, discussed how the threat posed by the COVID pandemic had “dramatically lowered”…while making a startling admission: that natural infection and spread was more effective at bolstering human immunity than vaccines. Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble during the annual conference in Germany, Gates, the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told the audience that a potential new pandemic would likely stem from a different pathogen than that belonging to the coronavirus family (maybe Ebola, perhaps?). But he added that advances in medical technology should help the world do a better job of fighting it – if investments are made now.

Girardot Seychelles
https://twitter.com/GirardotMarc/status/1494676665292795909

“We’ll have another pandemic. It will be a different pathogen next time,” Gates said. Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Gates said the worst effects have faded as huge swathes of the global population have gained some level of immunity. Its severity has also waned with the latest omicron variant. Amazingly, after years of denial, Gates seemed to acknowledge – albeit in a roundabout way – that the infectiousness of the omicron variant had played the key role in boosting human immunity to SARS-CoV-2.


According to Gates, it’s already “too late” to reach the WHO’s goal to vaccinate 70% of the global population by mid-2022. Currently 61.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine) but that’s okay, however, Gates said, as in many places, the virus itself, which creates a level of immunity, and has “done a better job of getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines.” “The chance of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection exposure,” he said.

Malone mortality/cancer

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“Or maybe you are like some Ukrainians, including your president, who thinks this invasion is a figment of Biden’s imagination.”

Biden Says He’s Convinced Putin Has Decided to Invade (Lauria)

President Joe Biden said Friday he’s convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine in the coming days and that Russia would fail to create a new system in Europe that takes its security into account. “As of this moment I’m convinced he has made the decision” to invade, Biden told a reporter in response to a question at a White House press briefing. Asked how he knows this, Biden said, “We have a significant intelligence capability.” Biden also flatly asserted that the capital, Kiev, would be attacked: “Russian troops currently have Ukraine surrounded. We have reason to believe Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days. We believe they will target the capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”

If such a horrific scenario were true, wouldn’t Washington have sent its military to defend its ally? That the U.S. hasn’t, undercuts the credibility of U.S. intelligence. “We also will not send troops in to fight in Ukraine, but we will continue to support the Ukrainian people,” he said, apparently as they are being slaughtered in their beds by Russian bombs — the only conclusion that can be drawn. For Biden, supporting the Ukrainian people translates into $650 million spent by the U.S. in the past year to “bolster Ukraine’s defenses,” and U.S. arms manufacturers’ profits. Even with all this hardware, the Ukrainian military is no match for Russia’s, as the U.S. would be.

“The United States and its allies and partners will support the Ukrainian people,” Biden said. “We will hold Russia accountable for its actions. … The entire free world is united” against Russia and sanctions will be imposed once this invasion happens. If you were Ukrainian, living in Kiev, how would you feel if the president of the United States just said he’s convinced your city will be bombed by a major military power in days and all he’ll do for you is punish your attackers by hitting their finances? Or maybe you are like some Ukrainians, including your president, who thinks this invasion is a figment of Biden’s imagination.

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Planned.

Putin To Personally Oversee Massive Nuclear Drill On Saturday (ZH)

The Russian military confirmed on Friday that it will move up nuclear weapons exercises which had been previously scheduled to take place later the year, as a warning to the West as the Ukraine crisis grows hotter. Typically the drills take place in the fall, but will now be part of the current climate of ‘muscle flexing’ as the region remains on the brink. The massive drills of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces will take place Saturday, and President Putin will directly oversee it, according to the defense ministry. There were signs earlier in February that the drills would be moved up in time, as the FT wrote: “Russia generally holds its annual nuclear exercises — which involve testing intercontinental ballistic missiles from land, sea and air — in the fall. But the US believes Putin has decided to hold them earlier this year as a show of strength.”

Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov notified allies as well as Western countries about the Saturday drills in a Friday statement, saying it should be no cause for concern. Likely the maneuvers will center on the Black Sea Fleet out of the Crimean Peninsula, which will be taken by Ukraine and NATO to be highly provocative. A senior Biden administration official responded to the announcement that it was definitely “escalatory”. “Practice launches of ballistic missiles are part of regular training,” Peskov said. “They are preceded by a series of notices to other nations via different channels.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has issued an open invitation for Russia to host deployable nukes on Belarusian soil amid the Ukraine standoff, has been personally invited to watch the nuclear drills with Putin. According to Congressional testimony from last week by Joint Chiefs chairman General Mark Milley and director of national intelligence Avril Haines, the Pentagon believes the exercises are a “show of force” aimed at both Ukraine and its Western backers in NATO. Analyst Rebeccah Heinrichs with the hawkish D.C. think tank Hudson Institute described that given Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, “It would be an extremely provocative and harbinger of messages if they did it concurrently with an invasion.”

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“As for the West, looking back at its self-destructive errors in recent years, one might consider Putin something of a prophet.”

Putin Warned The West, But The West Didn’t Listen (RT)

[..] it’s worth noting what a Russian invasion of Ukraine would actually mean. For the past 15 years, ever since the Munich speech, Russian officials have been arguing against the unilateral use of force and demanding a UN-centered security system founded on international law. Were we to wake up one day and find that Russian tanks were rolling towards Kiev without any kind of excuse, it would amount to a complete abandonment of 15 years of argumentation as well as a negation of the entire legal/moral position built up by the Russian Federation in that period, a position reinforced just this month in the Putin/Xi statement. It would also be very odd. For you can hardly achieve the objective of a multipolar world based on the principles of UN supremacy and international law by means of a massive breach of those very same principles.


It would be extraordinarily self-defeating. A certain skepticism about the allegedly “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine is therefore due. It’s not impossible, but one has to wonder why, after so many years of consistency, Putin would suddenly change his position in such a drastic way. As for the West, looking back at its self-destructive errors in recent years, one might consider Putin something of a prophet. But if so, it’s a prophet in the guise of the Trojan princess Cassandra who was fated to be always right but never believed. Rather than taking heed of Putin’s warning, Western leaders have bludgeoned onwards, toppling Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, aiding rebels in Syria, attempting (and failing at) regime change in Venezuela, fighting and losing against the Taliban, sanctioning Iran, supporting revolution in Ukraine, and so on. It has not turned out well. We can’t say we weren’t warned.

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THE BIG LIE
https://twitter.com/i/status/1494720463595003905

 

 

Agenda 21
https://twitter.com/i/status/1494714977684439041

 

 

2/22/22 will be a once-in-a 248 year event.

Pluto is going to conjunct (return to) the United States.

The Last time this happened was on July 4th 1776, the exact founding day of America.

Astrologically, Pluto brings Destruction and Rebirth.

Rome fell when Pluto Returned.

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

Feb 182022
 


Pablo Picasso Portrait de femme au col d’hermine (Olga) 1923

 

Civil Liberties Group Files Court Action Against Use of Emergencies Act (CP)
Ottawa May Euthanize Truckers’ Pets As Punishment (Bexte)
Unvaccinated Truckers Delivering Vaccines, Covid Devices Exempt From Rules (TS)
Canada Reveals the Core Conflict of Our Age (McGrogan)
American Truckers to Drive From California to DC in ‘The People’s Convoy’ (ET)
‘Russiagate’ Is Indeed Worse Than Watergate (Malic)
Australia Starts Vaccine Injury Payouts (RT)
Kulldorff: ‘Science and Public Health Are Broken’ (ET)
RFK, Jr.’s ‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ Is a Record-Smashing Bestseller (CHD)
Ukraine Invasion Scheduled for Wednesday Canceled (McGovern)
Harris Flies To Europe To Help Secure Ukraine Border, Biden Stays Behind (NYP)
German Central Bank Doesn’t Rule Out Gold Revaluation (GO)

 

 

 

 

Edward Dowd

 

 

 

 

Bank accounts have already been frozen and people have been arrested, under the Emergencies Act. Which the House of Commons and the Senate must vote on first. If they vote it down, it’s null and void. But then the damage will have been done.

Civil Liberties Group Files Court Action Against Use of Emergencies Act (CP)

The federal government faced a constitutional challenge Thursday over its historic invocation of the Emergencies Act, as police began to move on protesters with large trucks paralyzing the heart of the national capital. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said using the emergencies law was a measure of last resort to bring an end to the illegal and undemocratic blockades that had harmed Canadians for nearly three weeks. He made the remarks during debate in the House of Commons over his government’s decision to use the law for the first time since its introduction in 1988. The Conservatives accused the prime minister of failing to try to de-escalate the conflict before turning to emergency powers. Trudeau said using the act was not the first, second or even third choice of the government.

“We did it to protect families and small businesses, to protect jobs and the economy,” the prime minister said. “We did it because the situation could not be dealt with under any other law in Canada.” Hours later, the federal government was told it would face court action over its decision, as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association announced it was seeking a judicial review of the government’s invocation of the act. The group said at a Toronto news conference it did not want to minimize the effects of the protests across the country, but added it was unclear that the demonstrations endanger the lives, health or safety of Canadians so seriously that they constitute a national emergency.

“The government has brought in an extreme measure that should be reserved for national emergencies, a legal standard that has not been met. Emergency powers cannot and must not be normalized,” said Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the civil liberties association’s executive director. Police deal with complex law-enforcement issues every day and have cleared multiple border blockades across the country without emergency powers, the association said. The group’s criminal justice director, Abby Deshman, said the Emergencies Act orders do not apply only in Ottawa and actually affect the rights of every Canadian. The group believes the measures are clearly unconstitutional and it will be asking the courts to step in to defend the rule of law and the constitutional rights of all people across the country, she said.

“Local police across this country have cleared several highly disruptive border blockades and are successfully managing numerous other protesters in communities across the country, all without emergency powers,” Deshman said. Through the Emergencies Act, new powers have been granted to freeze bank accounts of protest participants and bar people from assembling in specific places or joining protests that threaten trade, critical infrastructure, individuals or property. It is also now illegal to bring children to within 500 metres of the blockades or provide supplies or property to participants. The new powers took effect earlier this week but the House of Commons and the Senate must both vote to confirm use of the emergencies law. The House debate will continue through the weekend and Monday with a vote planned for 8 p.m. ET that day. If the motion fails, the act will be suspended immediately.

[..] Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a news conference bank accounts had already been frozen and more will be put on hold in the coming days. But she refused to say how many, or even declare if accounts could be frozen for people who aren’t participating in the blockade but who donated to the convoy’s various online fundraisers.

Tow truck
https://twitter.com/Resist_05/status/1494497012234219523

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Not even surprising anymore.

Ottawa May Euthanize Truckers’ Pets As Punishment (Bexte)

The same day that videos emerged of Ottawa and Quebec police gearing up to go after peaceful Convoy supporters in the capital, the Ottawa government has warned protesters that their pets may be confiscated following their arrest. Moreover, position statements issued by the Ottawa Humane Society reveal that they may unilaterally euthanize any animal that they deem to be “not suitable for adoption.” Arbitrary behavioral and health tests would be used to make the call. These decisions about the life of a trucker’s pet would, thus, be made without their consent or knowledge while they are imprisoned for indefinite periods of time via the Emergency Powers of the Trudeau regime.

“Attention animal owners at [the] demonstration,” Ottawa By-law writes in a Tweet. “If you are unable to care for your animal as a result of enforcement actions, your animal will [be] placed into protective care for 8 days, at your cost. After 8 days, if arrangements are not made, your animal will be considered relinquished.” As anyone with experience in pet care or animal shelters will know, “relinquishment” means that ownership of pets will be handed over to animal shelters, where the pets will be housed while awaiting a prospective owner to adopt them or to be euthanized. As Adopt-a-Pet explains, “When shelters run out of kennel space, sometimes even healthy adoptable dogs are put to sleep.


Some shelters simply don’t have the manpower to spend time with each dog, so they spend most of their time alone in a small cage… What is true at every shelter is that when you surrender a dog, what happens to him is completely out of your hands.” It isn’t clear what length of time Convoy supporters may face if arrested for peacefully protesting, but the government has been clear that it could be up to one year in prison, in addition to a possible $100,000 fine.

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“..this exemption requires a ministerial invitation and had been “rarely used.”

Unvaccinated Truckers Delivering Vaccines, Covid Devices Exempt From Rules (TS)

Unvaccinated truckers bringing COVID-19 vaccines and medical devices into Canada to combat the pandemic are exempt from testing and quarantine requirements at the border, a government order says. The exemption is due to the “urgent public health necessity” of the supplies they are transporting, Health Canada states. The government has given exemptions from testing and quarantine rules for certain people crossing the border into Canada to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. They include unvaccinated and vaccinated people invited by the health minister to help with the COVID-19 “response.”

A spokeswoman for Health Canada said in a statement that this exemption requires a ministerial invitation and had been “rarely used.” She said it had been used, for example, to help with the supply of ventilators. The exemption is one of a number set out in an order-in-council published last month that outlines decisions made by cabinet, such as regulations or appointments. Drivers dropping off students on either side of the U.S.-Canada border at a college, school or university are also exempt from quarantine and testing requirements, the order says.

The order makes clear that unvaccinated truckers are not exempt from the testing and quarantine requirement in other circumstances. They must obtain a pre-arrival COVID-19 test, quarantine and undergo COVID-19 molecular testing in Canada. The restrictions on unvaccinated cross-border truckers have caused much political debate in Canada and are ostensibly a major sticking point for the protesters camped outside Parliament Hill. But the order reveals that unvaccinated truckers can avoid the border requirements if they are transporting medical supplies, including products with a drug identification number, such as medications and vaccines authorized for use in Canada.

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“It is only the state’s power that saves and secures. And since only the state can save, it is the only legitimate source of authority..”

Canada Reveals the Core Conflict of Our Age (McGrogan)

Justin Trudeau’s confrontation with the Canadian truckers may be the single most significant event of the Covid pandemic – not because of its eventual outcome, whatever that may be, but because of what it symbolises. It captures, in perfect microcosm, the tensions between the competing imperatives of the age: freedom versus security; the rule of law versus flexible ‘responsive’ governance; the priorities of the workers versus those of the Zooming bourgeoisie; the need for real-world human interaction and belonging versus the promises of splendid online isolation; the experiences of the common man, who knows where it hurts, versus those of the professional expert class, who know nothing that cannot be expressed as a formula.

More than all of that, though, it gives us a lens through which to view a much deeper, much older conflict of much larger scope – one which underlies not just the struggles of the Covid age, but of modernity itself. On the one hand, the state, which seeks to make all of society transparent to its power. On the other, alternative sources of authority – the family, the church, the community, the firm, the farm, and the human individual herself. For centuries, the state has waged a quiet war against those competitors, and bent them to its will. It has done this not through conspiracy or deliberate strategy but merely through the single-minded pursuit, across generation after generation of political leaders, of one goal: legitimacy. Governments and other state organs derive their legitimacy, and therefore their positions of rulership, from convincing the population that they are necessary.

They do this by suggesting that without their intervention, things will go badly; left to their own devices, ordinary people will suffer. The family, the church, the community, the firm, the farm, the human individual – these are inadequate to the task of securing human well-being. That task, only the state is equipped to achieve, for only the state can keep the population educated, healthy, safe, prosperous and satisfied. Since this is the case, only the state is fit to deploy power – and only those who govern the state are fit to rule. The logic of this argument is writ large, of course, in the Covid response across the developed world. What will keep us ‘safe?’

Certainly not traditional sources of succour, such as the church or the family. Certainly not individual people, who cannot be trusted to behave responsibly or assess risks for themselves. No – it is only the state, first with its lockdowns, then with its social distancing, its mask mandates, its vaccine programs, and lately its vaccine mandates and ‘passports.’ It is only the state’s power that saves and secures. And since only the state can save, it is the only legitimate source of authority – along, of course, with its leaders.

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“I think that the truckers, when they hit the Capitol, may well wake up a large number of our representatives and senators that are kind of a little bit asleep right now,” Malone said.

American Truckers to Drive From California to DC in ‘The People’s Convoy’ (ET)

California truckers fed up with the federal government’s endless emergency powers mandating masks and vaccines are gearing up for what they hope will become a Canadian-style “freedom convoy” to Washington, D.C., and are set to roll on Interstate 40 heading east from Barstow on Feb. 23. A national group, called The People’s Convoy, is organizing the truckers who will hit the road for the nation’s capital city to demand the Emergency Powers Act be lifted, ending the mandates, according to Chris Marston, chairman of the American Foundation for Civil Liberties, a non-profit that advocates for civil liberties issues and is helping coordinate the trucker’s protest. Though previous news reports stated the convoy wouldn’t depart California until March 7, organizers now say the convoy will leave earlier than planned.

“Freedoms can’t wait,” Marston told The Epoch Times. The group said it is calling on the American people to join the “call to freedom” in the spirit of “our brave and courageous neighbors to the north—our Canadian brothers and sisters who led the charge.” The Freedom Convoy in Canada has captured international attention the last handful of weeks as hundreds of truckers have parked in protest outside Parliament in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, demanding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation and an end to mask and vaccine mandates. A map of the convoy’s expected route will be posted to the group’s website, Maureen Steele, a The People’s Convoy organizer, said Feb. 16 on “War Room,” a streaming political talk show and podcast hosted by former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

To ensure donations for the truckers won’t be frozen or routed to other causes—a problem the Canadian truckers encountered with the crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe—The People’s Convoy is taking donations directly on their website. Peter Navarro, Trump’s former economic adviser—and a regular on Bannon’s show—praised Canadian truckers for leading the charge against what he called government tyranny. “They are like the Boston Tea Party. They’re the fountainhead of a worldwide movement, which is basically on the right side of both science and economics. And we have to thank those Canadian truckers,” Navarro said. Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist, immunologist, and inventor of mRNA vaccines, who has been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s handling of the pandemic and mandates, also suggested on the show that Washington may soon see a new kind of “woke”—that supporters have called an “awakening.”

“I think that the truckers, when they hit the Capitol, may well wake up a large number of our representatives and senators that are kind of a little bit asleep right now,” Malone said.

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“..Trump-hater John Brennan actually briefed President Barack Obama in July 2016 that Clinton had signed off on a proposal to vilify Trump by “stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

‘Russiagate’ Is Indeed Worse Than Watergate (Malic)

On Friday, Durham filed an innocuously-titled Motion to Inquire into Potential Conflicts of Interest in the Sussmann case. The 13-page document pointed out that the legal firm representing Sussmann – Latham & Watkins LLP – previously represented his firm of Perkins Coie, its former partner Marc Elias, and the Clinton campaign, all in dealings with the Durham investigation. So far, so boring – except that the filing also lays out the role of a tech company that exploited access to Trump Tower, another Trump-owned building, a “healthcare provider,” and even “the Executive Office of the President of the United States” (EOP) in order to “mine Internet data to establish ‘an inference’ and ‘narrative’ tying then-candidate Trump to Russia.”

While the Durham documents do not name the company or the executive, they have since been identified by the New York Times as Neustar and Rodney Joffe, respectively. Durham says Neustar was hired by the Obama administration to “access and maintain dedicated servers for the EOP as part of a sensitive arrangement whereby it provided DNS resolution services,” and had access to these servers since at least 2014. Recall that Sussmann was accused of “coordinating” the tech company’s work with the Clinton campaign, including feeding the Alfa Bank story to the FBI. He allegedly also leaked the story to the press, which then ran multiple articles about the FBI investigation – which were promoted by Clinton herself as well as her aide Jake Sullivan, now President Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

According to Durham, Sussmann also packaged the false Alfa Bank story with another claim that came from Joffe and Neustar – that Trump and his aides used “Russian-made wireless phones” at the White House – and fed it to the CIA, on February 9, 2017, almost three weeks into Trump’s presidency. Durham “identified no support for these allegations” by Joffe. Now, the FBI is not supposed to spy on Americans without a warrant, while the CIA is not supposed to spy on US soil at all. So how did these two agencies respond to these attempts to weaponize them for political purposes? Well, we know that the FBI was instrumental in the ploy to pressure Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn to resign over allegedly lying about his perfectly legitimate conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US.

As for the CIA, its then-director and confirmed Trump-hater John Brennan actually briefed President Barack Obama in July 2016 that Clinton had signed off on a proposal to vilify Trump by “stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” Three days later, the FBI opened a probe dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane” – targeting not Clinton, but Trump.

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Same MO as the adverse effects registration sites:

“..very complicated and very hard to navigate, particularly if you’re suffering an adverse health effect..”

Australia Starts Vaccine Injury Payouts (RT)

Australians who experienced adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines have started receiving compensation, local media reported on Wednesday, though the number of people applying to the scheme is far lower than expected. Figures from Australia’s Health Department show that less than 10% of the more than 10,000 people who registered their interest in the government scheme before December have submitted claims. The no-fault indemnity scheme grants people a one-off payment ranging from AU$1,000 (US$720) to AU$20,000 (US$14,400) for lost wages or other expenses if they suffered bad reactions to Covid-19 vaccines. The conditions for application include having spent at least one night in hospital and having suffered at least AU$1,000 (US$720) in economic losses.

Services Australia has received 861 applications – including death claims – as of February 9, a Health Department spokesman told news.com.au. One case has been paid but 11 have already been withdrawn, they added. The authorities have requested further information from 225 claimants. A total of 849 “remain under consideration.” “With the indemnity scheme having only been opened for a short period of time, information on eligible claims and payment amounts is still being assessed,” the spokesman said. Shine Lawyers’ head of medical negligence, Clare Eves, said the number of claimants was “disappointing” and attributed some blame to the complex nature of the scheme’s application process.

The website the government had set up was “very complicated and very hard to navigate, particularly if you’re suffering an adverse health effect,” she said. As of February 6, Australia’s medicines regulator had registered a total of 108,000 total reports of adverse reactions, most of which were minor, believed to be as a result of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. Nearly 51.2 million total doses have been administered.

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Canceled.

Kulldorff: ‘Science and Public Health Are Broken’ (ET)

Dr. Martin Kulldorff is one of the most qualified public health pandemic experts in the United States. To the narrative-shapers, he’s a pariah. As a prominent epidemiologist and statistician, Kulldorff has worked on detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks for two decades. His methods are widely used around the world and by almost every state health department in the United States, as well as by hundreds of people at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kulldorff has also worked on vaccine safety for decades, developing globally used methods for monitoring adverse reactions in new vaccines. His résumé on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website is 45 pages long and includes a list of 201 peer-reviewed published journal papers. His work has been cited more than 27,000 times.

Since 2003, Kulldorff worked at Harvard Medical School, first as an associate professor of population medicine and later as a professor of medicine. In November, Harvard and Kulldorff abruptly parted ways. Kulldorff prefers to keep the reasons private, but it’s hard to ignore that he placed himself in the crosshairs of the pandemic narrative early on in the “15 days to slow the spread” lockdown and has since paid the price. It’s quite something for a public health scientist at the top of his game to admit that “both science and public health are broken.” “For some reason, a public official narrative was established, and you weren’t allowed to question it—which, of course, is very detrimental, both to the pandemic and how to deal with the pandemic, because you have to have a vibrant discussion to figure out how best to deal with these things,” he told The Epoch Times.

The Swedish native said he tried to point out in March 2020 that there was a very steep age gradient on mortality for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Kulldorff said he attempted to publish a paper both in U.S. medical journals and mainstream newspapers stating that while anyone could contract the virus, the focus should be on protecting the elderly and those at high risk. His paper was knocked back from all directions.

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…But Mainstream Media Pretends It Doesn’t Exist

RFK, Jr.’s ‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ Is a Record-Smashing Bestseller (CHD)

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s record-smashing bestseller, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” demolishes the public images — piously promoted by corporate media — of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates. Unfortunately, however, you won’t be able to read a review of Kennedy’s book in major media. That’s because the corporate establishment has circled the wagons to censor it — by pretending it doesn’t exist. But it does exist. The book surged to #1 on Amazon.com even before it hit the bookstores, and it swept the bestseller lists of the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly — none of which will even mention that the book was published, let alone review it.


It seems we are witnessing a mind-boggling first in U.S. book publishing history — when the hottest runaway bestseller of the season can’t even get its name mentioned in any major newspaper, TV or cable news program anywhere in the 50 states. Say hello to a new kind of suppression: censorship by oblivion — brazen, vicious, ugly and cowardly. This type of censorship subverts your right to make up your own mind after hearing both sides of a controversy. Instead, it simply labels the side it doesn’t like as “misinformation” and keeps you from hearing it at all. Astonishingly, given how much establishment firepower was lined up to crush this book, it is not working. Against all odds, the disturbing portrait Kennedy paints in “The Real Anthony Fauci” led the book to sell a record-breaking 110,000 copies in its first week. Through word of mouth, sales have reached more than 900,000 copies.

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“Biden made this commitment to Putin during the telephone call of Dec. 3..”

Ukraine Invasion Scheduled for Wednesday Canceled (McGovern)

At yesterday’s press conference, Chancellor Scholz at times played straight man for Putin, calling the announcement of the Russian troop pullback a “good signal” and agreeing that diplomatic options are “far from exhausted”, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had reported to Putin on Monday. Here’s what’s important (and was given appropriate prominence in AP’s reporting). Putin at the presser with Scholz: “… as [Lavrov] reported yesterday, the [US and NATO] responses still contain a number of considerations that we are not only ready to discuss but that we have actually suggested to our partners over the years. I am referring to our proposals on European security, certain weapons systems, notably, intermediate and shorter-range missiles, and military transparency. We are ready to continue this joint work. …


So far, the NYT has omitted that statement by Putin, which, coming yesterday together with the troop pullback, is highly significant. That the Times “forgot” to include it is yet another sign that even the most sensible, rudimentary negotiations on key matters of concern to Russia will be resisted tooth and nail by the MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-MEDIA-Academia-Think-Tank) complex in which the NYT is right there in the middle, the fulcrum – the key “M.” Still, some Times editor apparently insisted on slipping in the important acknowledgment by Mr. Biden today that: “Neither the US or NATO have missiles in Ukraine. We do not, do not have plans to put them there as well.” [Emphasis added.] Biden made this commitment to Putin during the telephone call of Dec. 30 that Putin had urgently requested. It amounts to a major concession and enabled Moscow to conclude that at least one or two of Biden’s retinue – or Biden himself – have their heads screwed on right.

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Try not to laugh..

Harris Flies To Europe To Help Secure Ukraine Border, Biden Stays Behind (NYP)

Vice President Kamala Harris set off Thursday on a peace mission to Europe as Russia appeared to accelerate preparations for an invasion of Ukraine — undeterred by her failure to resolve the ongoing US-Mexico border crisis as President Biden’s point person on illegal immigration. About two hours after Harris departed DC to attend the Munich Security Conference, Biden emerged from the White House and said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch an invasion of Ukraine “within the next several days.” As Harris flew east to Germany, Biden traveled west to Lorain, Ohio, to talk about fixing Great Lakes pollution through his three-month-old bipartisan infrastructure law — prompting his aides to insist the jaunt wouldn’t distract him from the potential outbreak of the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

“I doubt [Putin’s] sitting back at the Kremlin right now shaking because Kamala Harris is over there,” Rep Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview with Newsmax TV Wednesday. “She couldn’t pour something out of a boot if there were instructions written on the heel,” Burchett added. “She can’t even find our southern border, much less the Ukrainian border. This is a joke, this is a travesty.” Biden tapped Harris in March to stem illegal immigration across the southern border, but the crisis only got worse, with a record-breaking 1.9 million arrests in 2021. Critics blame lax Biden administration enforcement policies, but Harris defended her work last month in Honduras, saying addressing the “root causes” of illegal immigration wouldn’t have an effect “overnight.”

The vice president’s performance on the US border crisis received bipartisan blowback, including from Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who said in December, “She was tasked with that job, [but] it doesn’t look like she’s very interested in this.”

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“[Banca D’Italia] can also continue to absorb debt, say, an additional €500 billion euros, and then revalue gold times ten.”

German Central Bank Doesn’t Rule Out Gold Revaluation (GO)

When the gold price rises the value of the gold on the asset side of a central bank’s balance sheet increases. At the same time, on the liability side of the balance sheet an equal increase will be recorded in what is referred to as a “revaluation account.” A gold revaluation account, which effectively has no limit, registers the unrealized gains on gold. An example: the German central bank owns 3,359 tonnes of gold, which was purchased for €8 billion euros. Currently the gold is worth €173 billion euros, creating a gold revaluation account of €165 billion euros (173 – 8).*

While researching this subject I asked the German central bank (the Bundesbank, or “BuBa” in short) if it’s possible to use gold’s revaluation account to write off bad debt. I tend to aim such questions at the Bundesbank because they always respond very quickly. I’m aware that Italy’s government debt is the elephant in the room, but these countries are part of the same monetary union and Germany is the main guarantor of the E.U. Recovery Fund (Next Generation EU). BuBa replied that according to the prevailing accounting rules any unrealized gains in gold can only be used for unrealized losses in gold, not for losses in assets such as U.S. dollars or European bonds.

[..] They could have just said no, but they didn’t. They replied that, “at this stage, we prefer not to speculate” about changing the accounting rules and revalue gold to write off bad debt. Meaning, they don’t rule out this possibility. Also note, BuBa writes that “in general” the accounting rules are set “by the ECB Governing council in accordance with the limits set by the European Treaties.” Implying that there are exceptions. Why did BuBa write this to me? Possibly, this was a signal for the market to revalue gold, saving BuBa the hassle of doing it themselves (printing money to buy gold). As a reminder, former Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann wrote in 2018 that gold is “the bedrock of stability for the international monetary system.” A comment that is anything but discouraging investors from buying gold and driving up its price.

Weidmann added that gold is a “major anchor underpinning confidence in the intrinsic value of the Bundesbank’s balance sheet.” If gold is underpinning confidence in BuBa’s balance sheet, why wouldn’t it underpin confidence in investors’ balance sheets? It’s impossible to furnish the Italian government substantial debt relief without revaluing gold. Italy’s government debt is €2.7 trillion euros, of which is €600 billion euros is held by the Italian central bank (Banca D’Italia, or BDI). BDI’s gold revaluation account is currently over €100 billion euros, so the gold price has to be multiplied by approximately five for BDI to be able to write off its domestic government bonds. Though, BDI can also continue to absorb debt, say, an additional €500 billion euros, and then revalue gold times ten.

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Jon Stewart Inflation

 

 

It used to be that everything gives you cancer. Now, everything gives you blood clots.

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

Feb 152022
 


René Magritte Morning star 1938

 

We’ve Known How To Cure Covid Since March Of 2020: Dr. Robert Malone (JTN)
Canada Invokes Emergency Powers To Deal With Trucker Protest (RT)
Multiple Canadian Premiers Oppose Trudeau Invoking Emergencies Act (Rebel)
Trudeau Authorizes Bank Accounts Frozen for Social Media Posts (CTH)
Freedom Convoy Organizers Say They’re Not Deterred by Emergencies Act (ET)
Trudeau Has Gone Too Far (Toronto Sun Ed.)
Canada In A Sad State; Plenty Of Blame To Go Around (Lilley)
Twitter Won’t Censor Tweets Linking To Hacked Freedom Convoy Donor List (DC)
Speed Wobble (Jim Kunstler)
Go Ahead, Defend It Now (Denninger)
GOP Lawmakers Demand Answers From Fauci (RT)
‘False Crisis’ Regarding Russia Hurts Relations Between US And Ukraine (JTN)
State Dep. Tells US Citizens To Leave Belarus And Transnistria ‘Immediately’ (JTN)
How We Became What We Despised (Ugo Bardi)

 

 

 

 

John Ioannidis

 

 

New data reveals how effective booster shots are against Omicron

 

 

 

 

“And please note that neither Dr. Fauci nor Dr. Collins nor Dr. Lane have any formal training in epidemiology..”

We’ve Known How To Cure Covid Since March Of 2020: Dr. Robert Malone (JTN)

COVID-19 mask mandates were never necessary, says Dr. Robert Malone. “We’ve known how to cure COVID since about March of 2020,” the mRNA-vaccine-pioneer-turned-critic told “Just the News, Not Noise” TV show cohosts John Solomon and Amanda Head. The sudden scramble two years later by democratic governors to lift mask mandates “is a clear pivot consequent to their horrible polling numbers,” Malone said. “It’s exactly what I predicted when people were asking me, ‘How will we know when this thing is over?’ I’ve said, ‘Well, you’ll know it because they’ll all start giving awards to each other and claiming that they’re the ones that are responsible for curing it.'”

Malone also discussed explosive new data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) regarding possible COVID vaccine side effects, which three military medical whistleblowers recently came forward with when they saw a significant increase in common vaccine injuries during 2021. “DMED was something that Lt. Col. Theresa Long and some of her colleagues queried when they were busy doing diligence to try to understand what they were seeing with their own warfighter communities that they were sworn to protect as physicians,” Malone explained.

“And they were seeing signals that were unusual, and so they consulted the DMED database and were shocked to find enormous increases in 2021, when the vaccine mandates were implemented to the military, compared to 2020 in a wide variety of diseases, including cancers, things related to reproduction and female reproductive health.” Malone was asked about recently released emails exposing a plan by three top federal public health officials to discredit the anti-lockdown epidemiologists behind the Great Barrington Declaration. The exchange showed the three — then-National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and NIAID Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects Dr. Clifford Lane — coordinating “a quick and devastating takedown” of the premises of the declaration, which espouses “focused protection,” a mitigation strategy prioritizing the most vulnerable populations.

“[T]hey slandered and defamed those three as ‘fringe’ epidemiologists, but they happen to be full professors at the obscure universities Oxford, Stanford and Harvard, I believe,” Malone said sarcastically, referring to Sunetra Gupta, Ph.D., Jay Bhattacharya, MD, Ph.D., and Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., respectively. “And please note that neither Dr. Fauci nor Dr. Collins nor Dr. Lane have any formal training in epidemiology,” Malone added.

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Justin is at 16% in the polls.

#Mooselini

Canada Invokes Emergency Powers To Deal With Trucker Protest (RT)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history on Monday, citing the threat of “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests in Ottawa and several border crossings in the US. “This is not a peaceful protest,” Trudeau said in a speech on Monday afternoon, adding that “illegal blockades” have been “disrupting the lives of too many Canadians.” After consulting premiers, government and opposition, “the federal government has invoked the Emergencies Act,” Trudeau said, confirming media reports from earlier in the day that he would do so. The measures will be “time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address,” the PM said. It does not involve calling in the military, or suspending fundamental rights and freedoms.

“This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions,” he said. “We are reinforcing the principles, values and institutions that keep all Canadians free.” Trudeau noted that it was the first time a Canadian government has invoked the Emergencies Act, which was passed in 1988 to replace the War Measures Act of 1914. The WMA was used during both world wars to intern Canadians of German and Japanese origin and impose restrictions on the economy, among other things. It was most recently invoked in 1970 by Trudeau’s father Pierre to crack down on Quebec separatists who had kidnapped a lawmaker. Close to 500 people had been arrested on that occasion.

Thousands of Canadian truck drivers and their sympathizers have taken part in nationwide protests since January 22, with a “Freedom Convoy” driving across the country to picket the parliament in Ottawa starting on January 29. The protesters demand an end to Covid-19 vaccine and mask mandates. Trudeau has denounced the truckers as a “fringe minority with unacceptable views” and accused them of bigotry, racism, Nazism and violence, refusing to meet with them. Though several Canadian provinces have announced the end of pandemic restrictions, Trudeau is still refusing to lift the federal mandates.

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Federal Emergency Act so far rejected by New Brunswick, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Multiple Canadian Premiers Oppose Trudeau Invoking Emergencies Act (Rebel)

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has been making headlines recently, first for standing in support of the truckers convoy, then for being the first premier in Canada to announce an end to vaccine passports in their province. A few other Canadian premiers followed shortly after, with Progressive Conservative Premier Heather Stefanson announcing the planned loosening of restrictions in Manitoba as well. Now, both premiers, followed perhaps somewhat surprisingly by Quebec Premier Francois Legault, are taking a strong stance on the recent news that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is likely to invoke the Emergencies Act as a response to the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa and supportive protests happening across the country along the Canada-U.S. border. Others premiers are rumoured to follow suit.

First, in a statement on Twitter, Premier Moe said: “The illegal blockades must end, but police already have sufficient tools to enforce the law and clear the blockades, as they did over the weekend in Windsor. Therefore, Saskatchewan does not support the Trudeau government invoking the Emergencies Act. If the federal government does proceed with this measure, I would hope it would only be invoked in provinces that request it, as the legislation allows.” The relatively new Conservative premier of Manitoba, Heather Stefanson, also put out an official statement this afternoon, sharing it on Twitter with the caption: “I am proud of Manitoba’s law enforcement officials and have full confidence in them to protect our communities. The proposal from the federal government to use the Emergencies Act is not helpful to the situation at the Emerson Border.”

Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who has been much more strict on COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, also spoke up, stating “We don’t want it in Quebec territory.” Later in the day, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney also announced his opposition to the use of the Emergencies Act. “This morning I told Prime Minister Trudeau that Alberta’s government is opposed to the invocation of the federal Emergencies Act,” Kenney wrote on Twitter. “We have all of the legal tools and operational resources required to maintain order. The Act would add no relevant additional powers or resources.”

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“Not only are people subject to get their bank accounts frozen, but the decision also to freeze the accounts is entirely up to the reviewer, and the reviewer is protected by the government from civil liability for their decision.”

Trudeau Authorizes Bank Accounts Frozen for Social Media Posts (CTH)

The triggering of an official invocation of the Canadian Emergency Measures Act to eliminate protests is stunning. Using the Emergency Act to target individual citizens in Canada, and their bank accounts, is yet again another level of astonishing. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has announced their opposition to the government declaration:

I am carefully reviewing the details of the authorization because according to the public statements by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, they have authorized banks, financial institutions and insurance carriers to suspend the accounts of Canadian citizens based on their social media postings. Yes, you read that correctly. Support of “blockades and/or occupations” are specifically noted. Anyone in Canada (individual or business) who supports or “furthers” the Freedom Convoy or Freedom Protest on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other social media platform, is a target to have their bank accounts frozen and insurance policies nullified. But wait, it gets worse.

Not only are people subject to get their bank accounts frozen, but the decision also to freeze the accounts is entirely up to the reviewer, and the reviewer is protected by the government from civil liability for their decision. “Support” and “affiliated with” are loosely defined, and as a result a guy delivering pizzas to an Ottawa “occupation” truckdriver is also running the risk of seeing his bank account frozen simply for providing the food. I can see why the Canadian Civil Liberties Assocation would take issue with this declaration. A banking employee who does not like the politics of a customer as revealed by a review of their social media postings, and merely “suspects” the account holder of supporting or furthering the action, can -without any liability- block the bank accounts of any customer or account holder; and they do not need to provide an explanation.

Freeland: “As of today, a bank or other financial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account of an individual or business affiliated with these illegal blockades without a court order. In doing so, they will be protected against civil liability. Federal government institutions will have a new broad authority to share relevant information with banks and other financial service providers to ensure that we can all work together to put a stop to the funding of these illegal blockades.”

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“..how can you justify going to a measure like an emergency, measures where a lot of powers can be imposed upon the citizens, when you have not even yourself taken any action to engage.”

Freedom Convoy Organizers Say They’re Not Deterred by Emergencies Act (ET)

Freedom Convoy organizers say they will continue to protest on Parliament Hill despite the federal government’s declaration of a state of emergency. “We are not afraid. In fact, every time the government decides to further suspend our civil liberties, our resolve strengthens and the importance of our mission becomes clearer,” organizer Tamara Lich said on Feb. 14 in anticipation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act over the protests demanding an end to COVID-19 mandates. “We will remain peaceful, but planted on Parliament Hill until the mandates are decisively ended. We recognize that there is a democratic process within which change occurs. We have never stepped outside of that process, nor do we intend to.”

Trudeau is the first prime minister to use the Emergencies Act. The act replaces the War Measures Act, which was last used by Trudeau’s father, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, in 1970 during the October Crisis when Quebec separatists kidnapped and killed Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte. The act gives the state additional powers to deal with the protests and blockades, such as providing legal tools to cut funding to protesters, as well as freezing the corporate accounts of companies whose trucks are used in any blockades and removing their insurance. The province of Ontario and the city of Ottawa have also declared states of emergency over the protests.

[..] Brian Peckford, former premier of Newfoundland who is acting as a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy, said this is “a very, very strange moment in our history.” “This is again government overreach. We don’t do these kinds of things in Canada. We engage in dialogue,” Peckford said. “It’s my understanding that the government of Canada has not reached out once to the truckers since they have arrived in this capital city. I find that very hard to understand, because how can you justify going to a measure like an emergency, measures where a lot of powers can be imposed upon the citizens, when you have not even yourself taken any action to engage.”

Ron Johnson

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“..it was his incompetence that made such an extreme measure necessary..”

Trudeau Has Gone Too Far (Toronto Sun Ed.)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unjustified invoking of the Emergencies Act is deeply problematic and will have long-lasting consequences for the country. Ever since the freedom convoy first touched base in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago, the PM has gone out of his way to increase the tensions. The Liberal government appeared to be hoping for some sort of Jan. 6 style event as happened in the United States last year. All of their rhetoric indicated they were keen to see such an event go down. It never did. The convoy has been peaceful throughout. The only real violence so far has been a vehicular ramming conducted against protesters, which sent four people to hospital. You don’t hear much about that though. Trudeau never condemned it.

Instead, Trudeau has called protesters every name in the book even though they are a diverse crowd in every sense of the word. Now he is giving himself extraordinary powers to deal with these protests. One of the most disturbing parts is how they can now dictate that banks freeze people’s accounts without a court order. People like Canadian hero Kevin Vickers — the Sargeant-at-Arms who personally thwarted the 2014 terrorist attack on Parliament Hill — have called for calm and dialogue. Trudeau doesn’t want that though. He just wants division and more hostility. It appears to be in this spirit that the PM has decided to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history. At least four Premiers opposed him.

“We have all of the legal tools and operational resources required to maintain order,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney wrote, in explaining his opposition. “The Act would add no relevant additional powers of resources.” Kenney added that this decision may only “escalate a tense situation” and that Trudeau needs to “end the cross border trucker vaccine mandate, as it serves no useful public health purpose.” The controversial blockade of the Ambassador Bridge was already resolved. The grounds for invoking this act are, according to Joanna Baron of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, “extremely thin”. The protests may be a nuisance and many people may disagree with them, but that doesn’t justify this decision. The only thing that can be said in defence of Trudeau’s invoking of the Emergencies Act is that it was his incompetence that made such an extreme measure necessary.

War Face
https://twitter.com/WeAreTheMSM/status/1493373657061670913

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Trudeau, Freeland etc. are among the WEF’s Young Global Leaders.

Canada In A Sad State; Plenty Of Blame To Go Around (Lilley)

One question kept going through my mind as I watched the events of the last several days. How did we get here? How did we get to the point where both the Ontario and federal governments had to invoke emergency legislation to deal with what started as a political protest? How did we end up at the point where a good portion of the nation’s capital can’t be said to be under any government control or that several border crossings have been shut down? There’s plenty of blame to go around. On the most basic level, there are the actions of the protesters who descended upon Ottawa, and more detrimental to the country, the border crossings. The protest in Ottawa turned into an occupation that annoyed locals while amusing many other Canadians, who hate the capital almost as much as they hate Toronto.

Eventually though, the bemusement across the country gave way to discomfort, and now we’re at the point where 72% of Canadians told the Angus Reid Institute that the protesters need to go home. The frolicking has worn out its welcome, the blocking of border crossings in Windsor, Coutts, Surrey and Emerson has annoyed the nation. We can’t forget the city administration in Ottawa, including its police service, when doling out blame. Somehow city and police leadership in Ottawa missed what everyone else heard ad nauseam before the convoy got to Parliament — they were coming to stay until all their demands were met. Police chief Peter Sloly said he expected them to leave town after the first Sunday. A quick scan of the news would have shown him otherwise. Local handling of the protest since the arrival has been missing in action to put it mildly.

Blame must also go to Trudeau and his government. While much has been said regarding Conservative MPs welcoming the protesters in Ottawa — leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre even saying he is proud of them and stands with them — the Conservatives are not in government. This protest started in opposition to Trudeau’s decision to impose a requirement that truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border be fully vaccinated. But it has grown into so much more, a mass protest against COVID-19 measures in general. Like he has done so many times, Trudeau attacked those opposed to him in the harshest terms. He called them a “small fringe minority” and said they had “unacceptable views.” He’d previously described those opposed to his COVID policies as racist and misogynistic.

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“Twitter’s “distribution of hacked materials” policy bans “the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking by the people or groups associated with a hack.”

Twitter Won’t Censor Tweets Linking To Hacked Freedom Convoy Donor List (DC)

Twitter is allowing posts to remain on its platform containing the private information of Freedom Convoy donors reportedly obtained through hacking, according to a review of Twitter’s platform by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Crowdfunding service GiveSendGo was reportedly hacked late Sunday and the personal information of donors to the Freedom Convoy, a group of truckers and individuals protesting Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions, was given to leak-hosting site Distributed Denial of Secrets, the organization said on its website. GiveSendGo has yet to publicly confirm the hack[..]. Twitter’s “distribution of hacked materials” policy bans “the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking by the people or groups associated with a hack.”


This includes “posting Tweets which include links to hacked content hosted on other websites” as well as “posting hacked content on Twitter (e.g., in the text of a Tweet, or in an image).” A review of Twitter’s platform by the DCNF found several tweets appearing to contain screenshots of the hacked donor list or links to files containing what appeared to be the hacked materials. The donor list contains personally identifying information including full names, zip codes, email handles and IP addresses, as well as donation messages, according to a review of the hacked materials by the DCNF. Twitter previously censored a tweet from the New York Post in October 2020, one month before the 2020 presidential election, linking to a story allegedly containing emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop. The social media company cited its hacked materials policy as the reason for its actions.

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“Joe Biden” has so far failed to deliver that war with Russia over Ukraine he promised us..”

Speed Wobble (Jim Kunstler)

Things are turning, indeed, out there… out in the truck stops and the households fending off repossession and the small businesses struggling desperately for survivial — even in the degenerate halls of government, state-by-state. The armature of Covid-19 tyranny is getting rapidly dismantled by politicians close to running for their very lives. The home-folks have had enough of their insolence and they’re sharpening the tines of their pitchforks. Events also conspire to put the schnitz on the alleged Globalists dream of digital tyranny — if there even is such a cabal of Globalists, which I’m not sure about, or just a coterie of feckless hacks swept along by a malefic zeitgeist, Canada’s Justin Trudeau being the poster-boy for that breed. The timing has gone all awry on them. The Covid-19 hysteria draws to a close against their wishes to drag it on forever.

Even the triple-vaccinated are sick of it — and not a few of them are sick because of it. Governments and the corrupt medical establishment won’t touch this info with a stick, but the morticians and insurance execs are hopping up and down about what looks like a supernatural die-off of folks between 18 and 60 generally not susceptible to early death. Kind of worrisome, a little bit. Anybody with half-a-brain left is declining the offer of yet another booster — though Dr. Fauci was still tirelessly selling them last week. Mainly, though, the window-of-opportunity has closed, in the USA, anyway, for anymore vaccine passport nonsense, and with that goes the dream of roping every last citizen into a corral of total social control, including central bank digital currencies that would turn everyone into a yo-yo to be jerked-around by government.

“Joe Biden” has so far failed to deliver that war with Russia over Ukraine he promised us — which would be like two Craig’s List customers fighting over a twenty-year-old Jeep Wrangler up on blocks with the engine missing. Ukraine president Zelensky is a professional comedian, of course, so one must admire his gag of inviting “Joe Biden” to visit his country, the Gem of Eurasia, “in the coming days,” Mr. Zelenski said, “which will be a powerful signal and contribute to de-escalation.” Plus, all the pierogi and cabbage the US president can eat. All this made National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gnash his teeth for the trouble he has gone to in prepping the sore-beset American people for World War Three.

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“Pick one. Masks, social distancing, kids in schools/not in schools, swabs-up-nose, etc. It’s all bull****, and you saw it on display last night.”

Go Ahead, Defend It Now (Denninger)

Pick one. Masks, social distancing, kids in schools/not in schools, swabs-up-nose, etc. It’s all bull****, and you saw it on display last night. A packed-full stadium with exactly nobody distancing anything and zero mask enforcement of any sort. They didn’t even try to fake it. If you send your kid to school and let him or her put up with this crap today for one more minute you’re a monster. If you put up with it anywhere for another 15 minutes yourself then you’re stupid. I mock your stupidity. I will openly point and laugh at your ragged face wherever and whenever I see it. You had the “most-serious” game of sportball all year with wild defiance of any such crap in your face, in the city and state with the most-restrictive mandates of all, and exactly nobody gave a wet crap so long as they were cheering on their team after declaring themselves “above it all” simply by buying tickets and, in some cases, paying a thousand bucks to park their car besides.


Save me the bull**** about “vax passports” while you’re at it. You know ******ned well the jabs don’t stop you from getting or transmitting the virus and tens of thousands of bare-faced screaming people packed literally shoulder-to-shoulder expelled whatever they had in their throat and lungs onto everyone within 20′ of them for more than two hours. If the bug was in there, and know damn well it was, the love was spread. Today you burn your mask — or you’re stupid. Today you refuse to allow your children to be abused for one more minute — or you’re a ****ing monster who deserves every evil thing that can possibly happen to you and when it does I will cheer your demise. And today you tell your government to shove its vax passport and all other mandates up its ass sideways and warn them that if they ever try this bull**** again you’re going to remove them and you don’t care how or you’re so far beyond stupid you deserve to be smote.

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“..when viewed in light of other publicly available information, demonstrate an apparent effort by you and Dr. Collins not only to cover up the concerns those virologists raised, but to suppress scientific debate about the origins of Covid-19..”

GOP Lawmakers Demand Answers From Fauci (RT)

US Republican lawmakers have sent a letter pressing chief White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci for answers about his alleged silencing of concerns that the Covid-19 virus originally came from a Chinese lab. The letter, sent on Monday by three US House members, cited emails suggesting that Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, then director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tried in early 2020 to quash speculation among scientists that the virus may have originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Instead of alerting national security officials to the pandemic’s potentially unnatural origin, Fauci and Collins sought to shut down the debate, the GOP lawmakers said.

The emails, which were obtained by media outlets under Freedom of Information Act requests, reportedly showed that some virology experts saw reason to believe that the virus was lab-created. Some of the messages made reference to a February 2020 conference call in which many scientists leaned toward the lab-leak theory. For instance, Tulane Medical School professor Robert Garry said he could see no “plausible natural scenario” for some aspects of Covid-19 otherwise. “However, those same email communications, particularly when viewed in light of other publicly available information, demonstrate an apparent effort by you and Dr. Collins not only to cover up the concerns those virologists raised, but to suppress scientific debate about the origins of Covid-19,” the letter said.

Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington), Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) and Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia) signed the letter. They demanded that Fauci provide details on how those conversations with scientists were initiated and who consulted him and Collins on Covid-19’s likely origins. The lawmakers also requested information on any communications by Fauci and Collins with Chinese scientists, as well as documents related to US funding of the research in Wuhan.

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“I have to speak with our people as President, and I say the truth to people, and the truth is that we have different information.”

‘False Crisis’ Regarding Russia Hurts Relations Between US And Ukraine (JTN)

The situation in Ukraine is a “false crisis” that has hurt relations between Washington and Kyiv, as the Biden Administration increasingly claims to know the date and method of a Russian incursion against its neighbor, experts told Just the News. The experts made their comments Monday while appearing on the John Solomon Reports podcast. “It’s a false crisis,” said international relations expert Kiron Skinner, who served as an adviser at the State Department under Donald Trump. She made that assessment, she noted, because “there’s been a war of attrition going on between Kyiv and Moscow for eight years.”

International tension has spiked recently as Russia maintains an estimated 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and has issued ominous statements about “the start of a countdown” and claims that Moscow is being “provoked.” The U.S. has repeatedly announced that Moscow plans to stage a “false flag” provocation in order to justify an attack on Ukraine, and has said that the attack is “imminent,” and could occur this week. The State Department on Monday shuttered its main embassy in Kyiv, and moved the operations to the western city of Lviv. The announcements and predictions strike a sour note in government circles in Kyiv, according to Dan Hoffman, a former station chief for the CIA in Moscow.

“The relationship between the United States and Ukraine is strained right now, to say the least, because Russia has got 130,000 troops on the border,” Hoffman told Just the News. “President Zelenskyy, rightly so, is questioning, well, where’s the intelligence?” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said that he had not seen the intelligence assessments regarding an invasion, and that the warnings were stoking panic. “I think there is too much information out there today about a deep full scale war on Russia’s part,” Zelenskyy said. “There is even talk of appropriate dates. We understand all the risks. We understand that the risks are there. If anyone has any additional information about a 100% chance of an invasion, they should give it to us.”

Alternating between English and Ukrainian, Zelenskyy continued: “I have to speak with our people as President, and I say the truth to people, and the truth is that we have different information.”

https://twitter.com/Veracious311/status/1493317362778578945

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Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, is an unrecognised breakaway state located in the narrow strip of land between the river Dniester and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border that is internationally recognised as part of Moldova. Its capital and largest city is Tiraspol.

State Dep. Tells US Citizens To Leave Belarus And Transnistria ‘Immediately’ (JTN)

The State Department on Monday told U.S. citizens in Belarus and Moldova’s unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria to “depart immediately via commercial or private means.” Both countries are at travel advisory Level 4, the highest possible. The State Department warns U.S. citizens to not travel to Belarus due to “arbitrary enforcement of laws, the risk of detention, unusual and concerning Russian military buildup along Belarus’ border with Ukraine, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions.” Americans are warned to not travel to Moldova due to “COVID-19, the unusual and concerning Russian military activity around Ukraine, and the unresolved conflict between the breakaway region of Transnistria and the central government.”


Transnistria is on the southwest border of Ukraine. The region has been described as where the Soviet Union and Communism “never died.” Late last month, the State Department ordered the evacuation of family members of U.S. diplomats from the embassy in Minsk. The department on Monday also announced plans to relocate the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine. The State Department last week urged U.S. citizens in Ukraine “to depart now,” warning that the U.S. government would be unable to evacuate American citizens in the event of Russian military action.

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“..rationing seems to be a silly idea but it was done during WW2 and, if there is a serious economic crash — as it is perfectly possible — it can return.”

How We Became What We Despised (Ugo Bardi)

The combination of abundant resources and relatively low military expenses made it possible for the American citizens (most of them, at least) to enjoy an extravagant lifestyle, unthinkable elsewhere in the world. They lived in suburban houses, had two cars in every garage, could go wherever they wanted, had overseas vacations every year, could buy whatever they wanted without standing in line. The US citizens could even afford a certain degree of variety in the information they received. The state control on the media was enacted in subtle ways, giving citizens the illusion that they were not exposed to propaganda. It was the kind of lifestyle that president Bush said was “not up for negotiation” — except that when you deal with Nature, everything is up to negotiation.

The current problem is that the resources that made the West so rich and so powerful, mainly crude oil and other fossil fuels, are not infinite. They are being depleted, and production costs increase with depletion. And that’s not the only problem: something else is choking the Western economic system: it is the enormous cost of the health care system. In 2018, the US spent $3.6 trillion in health costs, nearly 18% of its GDP. Today, it is probably more than that. Yes, health costs in the US are ten times larger than military costs. It is probably not a coincidence that troubles started to appear when these costs reached the same level, about 20%, of the military expenses for the Soviet Union.

Someone has to pay for those costs and, as always, they fall on the middle class, which becomes poorer and poorer. On one extreme of the wealth distribution curve, former middle class citizens are losing everything they had and they are being gradually squeezed out of the market. And here is the problem: those who have no money to spend can’t buy their sweet buns. They become “non-people,” aka “deplorables.” What is to be done with them? A possible solution (that I am sure some elites are contemplating), is just to let them die and cease to be a problem (it is the zombie scenario). But we are not there, yet. The elites themselves don’t want the chaos that would result from starving a large fraction of the citizens. How to avoid that?

The solution is well known from ancient times: it is rationing. The Romans had already developed a system called “Annona” that distributed food to the poor. During WW2, the US had ration books, ration stamps, food stamps, and the like. The Soviets used a kind of funny money called “ruble.” In the West, rationing seems to be a silly idea but it was done during WW2 and, if there is a serious economic crash — as it is perfectly possible — it can return. It must return because without rationing we’ll have the zombie apocalypse all over simply because there is no mechanism in place to limit those who still have money from hoarding all they can, when they can.

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Tucker Lee Smith

 

 

 

 

Jon Stewart – Hoenig

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Owl__Kitty/status/1492783828704055297

 

 

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