Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
February 24, 2019

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2019-11

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

Acting President John Bolton convinced his puppet that it should leave the U.S. troops in Syria. Elijah Magnier explores what that means: US forces will stay in Syria: Negotiations with the Kurds will be complicated, as Syria prepares for an Idlib offensive

The neocons are struggling to decide which country will be the next one to invade. Venezuela, Iran, Nicaragua, Cuba, North Korea, ... So many good choices but so little time ...

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Meet Bill Browder: The Man Behind the Magnitsky Myth. Videos of Browder disposition in the United States in which he contradicts all his public tales about the Russian fraud case against him, and ofthe fate of his accountant Sergei Magnitsky - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Use as open thread ...

Posted by b on February 24, 2019 at 17:00 UTC | Permalink

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Colombia's Duque can't help himself...

"While Colombia’s president Ivan Duque was leading efforts to get US aid into Venezuela, leaders from the west were crying out for help after the region was hit by a flood.

According to local priest Juan Carlos Palacios, torrential rains came down on Friday and caused water levels of the San Juan river in the south of the Choco province to rise."

Information on human rights in Colombia here.

Posted by: Maracatu | Feb 24 2019 17:58 utc | 1

thanks for all your hard work b! i look forward to watching what appears like a relatively new movie on bill browder... very interesting to see!

Posted by: james | Feb 24 2019 18:00 utc | 2

Better watch the videos quickly. They get taken down quite quickly and once you’ve watched the video you will understand why.

Posted by: Jl | Feb 24 2019 18:08 utc | 3

I'm watching CGTN ... Huawei are telling the Yanks that they can live without the USA market and will NOT allow back doors in their phones; adding that banning Huawei in the US will hurt US Huawei dealers more than it will hurt Huawei. The report also included an Advertorial for the new Huawei folding smart phone. It looks like a 7" tablet when open and folds down the centre with the screen on the OUTSIDE of the closed phone. It can download a 1 Gb movie in 3 (three) seconds and will cost $2600-00, making it the most expensive smartphone on the market.
Sounds like a great big FU AmeriKKKa to me.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 24 2019 18:29 utc | 4

Keeping tabs on Browder:
https://www.thekomisarscoop.com

Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2019 19:42 utc | 5

Al Jazeera are reporting that Brazil, whilst willing to support the movement of aid into Venezuela, will continue to respect Venezuela's sovereignty; apparently in part because the region of Brazil adjacent to Venezuela is connected to Venezuela's electricity grid, not Brazil's.
Oops? .
I wonder when The Swamp will be ready to admit that this half-baked Yankee plot is shaping up to be messier than a dog's breakfast and twice as unpalatable?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 24 2019 19:52 utc | 6

Imagine if Trump was as evasive in a deposition with Mueller as Broder was in the videos. It just reinforces my view that Americans have no problem at all with hypocrisy, probably to do with exceptionalism.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 24 2019 20:21 utc | 7

Been listening to the 'Wall' album this weekend with a re-found respect for Roger Waters. The music suited the mood thinking about how the Venezuelan people who struggled against persistent sabotage to build a truly remarkable society and from what I have learned lately, one that I would feel privileged to be a citizen of. To witness in real time this weekend these blatantly hypocritical attempts to steal it from them and murder their hope put a shadow over everything. Thanks to MOA and other truth oriented sites for the learning and the sanity.

Posted by: Mandrau | Feb 24 2019 22:00 utc | 8

Scholar says in interview for Brazilian newspaper that the Catholic Church needs a "cultural revolution":

Igreja precisa revolução cultural para resolver questão de abusos, diz especialista

Did somebody say "cultural revolution"? I would be happy to help with the corpses!

Posted by: vk | Feb 24 2019 22:26 utc | 10

It's a bit early to be certain but it's beginning to look as though this Venezuela plot began with Zio-Washington and Zio-London, using their illegal 'sanctions' ploy as cover, decided to indulge in some creative theft of Venezuela's offshore assets - the noisy half-baked coup plot intended mainly as a distraction from their larceny.

Maduro should focus all of his whingeing on the fact that the theft preceded the vacuous Regime Change threats and nattering. Brazil is clearly a lot more worried about NATO bombing the crap out of Venezuela's infrastructure, upon which Brazil is partly reliant, than about having a Dictator, that the un-Christian Christians hate, ruling Venezuela for Venezuelans.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 24 2019 22:33 utc | 11


There is a video of the Branson concert different than what's on Youtube. If you have Usenet, look for this NZB:

"[ TrollHD ] - [ 000/264 ] - "Venezuela Aid Live (2019) 1080i HDTV Backhaul FLAC 5.0 H.264-TrollHD.nzb" yEnc"

53.6 GB.

Seems to have in-close - not overhead/expansive shots of crowd from what I've seen, and consistent with what B found via Twitter.


Posted by: daffyDuct | Feb 24 2019 22:42 utc | 12

MSNBC's Mariana Atencio reporting Branson's concert attended by "350,000 people, approximately". I suppose if you're going to lie anyway, tell a big one.

Posted by: kabobyak | Feb 24 2019 23:05 utc | 13

The FT drops more propaganda.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 24 2019 23:09 utc | 14

The linked article in the comment by Never Mind The Bollocks @ 1 is important enough to warrant a post to itself here at MoA.

Thanks to NMTB for posting the link.

Posted by: Jen | Feb 25 2019 0:14 utc | 15

This sentence may be true or false, but strives to be lexically correct:

Broder, being of mendacious disposition, was very economical with truth in his deposition, solemn oaths notwithstanding.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 25 2019 0:24 utc | 16

Thank you Hoarsewhisperer, I will take your post as a cue to share a peculiar and most likely completely and utterly unimportant thing I found in Brazil very close to the border with Venezuela but in the middle of nowhere of the jungle in the part of Brazil between Venezuela and Guyana. It is so extremely suspicious it would be somewhat surprising if there was actually anything important there :D (I assume Venezuela knows exactly what is or isn't there but this makes it even more curious). The tepui (meaning mesa) named Uei-tepui isn't far away nor is a larger dirt airfield that looks distinctly military.

Wiki link to Uei-tepui:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uei-tepui

Here's the link to a very peculiar "forest" in the jungle where the pixels stretch:
https://goo.gl/maps/AZ5ncjuzWW62
or if you prefer the actual url:
https://www.google.com/maps/@5.041632,-60.6093021,936m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

Zoom out as needed to see the full extent of the striped "camouflaged" area and then continue zooming if you still don't see the border.

I'm guessing it's sensible to assume that the stripe of "obfuscated" tan pixels is a 200 meter short dirt runway but it is curious since there's a much bigger airstrip about 15 kilometers to the north. A completely unobfuscated one.

Uei-tepui is towards the south and a little bit westwards. Zoom out as appropriate to see the sharp bend in the border and go (click and drag) to the South-South-South-West and you'll spot a green pointer thing which one can click. It has 4.3 stars out of five and three reviews but I haven't read those :D

Maybe the reviews reveal why that spot over the border in Brazil has been "camouflaged" as stripes? :P

In the other direction at least twice as far in the North-North-North-East direction one can find the nice big kilometer long dirt airstrip. This looks far more capable and increasingly military the more one studies it. There are no attempts at "camouflage" here but if one explores the roads and "shadows" of roads through canopy (thin lines almost the same as the ones rivers form when entirely below a canopy, but much more even) one finds what looks like classic placements/clearings for air defense batteries and perhaps (to the east) also a few "ordinarily camouflaged" vehicles or vehicle bays (they're green but very square and small in the middle of one of the less recent and thus green clearings to the east). The most obvious earth-colored clearings are both to the east and west along and somewhat offset from the axis of the landing strip but there are also some perpendicular these to the north along the river. Look for any areas that are slightly trapezoidal and nearly square or clearings with hints of such a shape inside itself. The big airstrip itself is roughly 7 kilometers from the border with Venezuela. Quite close to a border for being out in the middle of nowhere.

However it is still in the middle of nowhere with no infrastructure to speak of and only a tiny tributary which disappears after heading north-eastwards for a bit. According to the pictures they're not getting anything through that jungle unless it can walk or be carried. Airfields like these can be used for military (rugged) transport planes and smaller "bush"-capable aircraft but not for most fighter jets (only some Russian ones and Harriers or VTOL craft) nor the vast majority of large commercial airplanes.

If one wants to see examples of similar airstrips that do not seem to be military in nature one can explore down to the south-east in Brazil to find several examples grouped fairly close together. I believe those are throwaway airstrips for flying in industrial equipment for mining.

So here's the (useless) mystery of the hour: why "camouflage" that tiny one? It makes no sense and while that is a "valid" answer in our world where the reason could be as mundane as a single bored person in the chain of events from satellite snapping a picture to Google displaying maps I don't think it's the actual answer in this case.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 25 2019 0:25 utc | 17

I forgot to write that I meant Hoarsewhisperers first post, I took me that long to finish shrinking my post to a moderate length.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 25 2019 0:30 utc | 18

The following was written by Thoreau (On the Duty of Civil Disobedience) in 1849 during a period in American history when America was in the process of 'appropriating' various territories from Mexico while also struggling with the slavery question. Today in America, 170 years later, it seems Americans have learned nothing. I picked a few choice paragraphs but there is much more in the paper, (it is a short, approx 20min read) that is pertinent today.


(tldr: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...)


"How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also."

"All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now. But such was the case, they think, in the Revolution of ’75. If one were to tell me that this was a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not make an ado about it, for I can do without them: all machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer. In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact, that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army."

"But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases can not be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?—in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at any time what I think right."

"The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, &c. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw, or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the State with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated by it as enemies. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be “clay,” and “stop a hole to keep the wind away,” but leave that office to his dust at least:

“I am too high-born to be propertied,
To be a secondary at control,
Or useful serving-man and instrument
To any sovereign state throughout the world.”

"There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade, and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both. What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them."


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Posted by: b4real | Feb 25 2019 0:33 utc | 19

Many seem aware of a conspiracy among the global elites against the little people. Everyone knows about Eisenhauers warning about the MIC . Most seem aware of the elites control of MSM and are wise enough to be skeptical of any position they take on political , war and economic matters.

However most everyone seems to throw their skepticism of MSM reporting out the window when it comes to their coverage of Government Supported Science.
They don’t seem to remember that in Eisenhauers MIC speech he also warned about governments involvement in science and the dangers of a scientific technocratic elite

MSM such as the NYT and CNN constantly push Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change and Vaccines Are Safe on us and ridicule the skeptics , some of whom are Scientists or Doctors. They seem oblivious to 5G safety concerns raised by some Doctors and Scientists . Yet many who see through their lies on politics, war, economics are totally on board with them when it comes to these issues.


AGW proponents cite the correlations between the rise of CO2 and temperature increases . Pro-vaxxers argue that the increase in chronic diseases and neurodevelopment disorders with increasing vaccinations is coincidental and that correlation is not causation. Not very consistent.

Lack of definitive proof that a technology or drug is harmful does not mean the technology is safe, yet Big Wireless and Big Pharma has succeeded in selling this logical fallacy to the world

Industry controls the FCC , CDC, FDA through a soup-to-nuts stranglehold that extends from its well-placed campaign spending in Congress - giving it control of these agencies congressional oversight committees -and its persistent agency lobbying. Then there is the revolving-door syndrome that characterizes so many industries and federal agencies and reinforces the close relationship between the wireless industry and the FCC, vaccine industry and CDC/FDA

Just as Tom Wheeler went from running the CTIA (1992– 2004) to chairing the FCC (2013–2017), Meredith Atwell Baker went from FCC commissioner (2009–2011) to the presidency of the CTIA .

People who worked at very high levels in the CDC end up working for Big Pharma. The question is whether the CDC has been compromised. Its mandate is to be responsible for establishing a safe childhood vaccine schedule.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, who was the director of the CDC from 2001 until 2008, took a very lucrative position as the head of the vaccine division in Merck in 2009. She was given stock options in the millions. Rewarded for her efforts at CDC no doubt.

In these fields government and private funding is mostly directed to those scientists seeking to support the “consensus” theory and scientists who try to show evidence against these theories find difficulty in getting funding and publishing their findings. Those who do manage to hurdle these obstacles then are attacked on other fronts

Supporters of CAGW and vaccines/5G safety theories , which include MSM claim the science is settled and refuse to engage in debates without resorting to attacks, despite the fact there are numerous studies showing the science is not settled.

No insurance company is willing to sell a product-liability policy that covers cell-phone radiation. There are more than two dozen lawsuits outstanding against wireless companies, demanding a total of $1.9 billion in damages.

As a result of numerous law suits against Vaccine Manufacturers had some threatening to pull out of the business Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in 1986. The Act gave all the vaccine producers total legal immunity from financial liability as part of a broad health bill favoring business concerns over children’s health concerns. The vaccine regimen changed dramatically after the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act became law. The shots increased from 10 in 1986 to 69 today.


Current law does not classify vaccines as drugs. Hence, vaccines have a streamlined process of approval with little scrutiny for safety or quality control. Typically, FDA requires drug companies seeking approval for a new drug to observe health outcomes in both the placebo and study groups for 4-5 years. Vaccine manufacturers take advantage of FDA regulatory loopholes that allow fast-tracking of vaccines and cut that period down to a few weeks or even a few days.


FCC and FDA has decided not to require testing on 5G to update standards from 1996 based on 2G technology , despite many Doctors and Scientists expressing concern based on numerous studied showing adverse biological effects

Curiously, despite the enormous carbon footprint required to roll out and operate 5G the greenies behind CAGW are silent. No wonder, they are backed by the same elites.

Its not like Government or Industry Backed Science has never been proven wrong before. Tobacco, Eugenics, Asbestos, Lead, DDT, Child Labor, etc were all declared safe or necessary as the case may be.

Posted by: Pft | Feb 25 2019 1:24 utc | 20

@ 18,, However it is still in the middle of nowhere with no infrastructure to speak of and only a tiny tributary which disappears after heading north-eastwards for a bit.

Could "middle of nowhere" images of disturbed forest be caves made by nuclear driven laser tunneling technology? I don't know much about tunneling, but I am told nuclear driven laser machines can tunnel miles/ day and make very large and wide solid highly polished, very stable, rock wall, roof and floor tunnels? Is that an area where gold is mined?

Posted by: snake | Feb 25 2019 2:12 utc | 21

@20 5G Stupidest idea in the world:

http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=31453

Posted by: evilempire | Feb 25 2019 2:23 utc | 22

@ Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 24, 2019 7:25:44 PM | 18

I'm not worried about this particular location, this is indeed in the middle of nowhere, no chance to move a serious amount of equipment undetected by Venezuelan authorities - Guyana is considered to be part of Venezuela by the government - they refer to Guyana as 'Zona en Reclamaciòn', so they're having a close eye on that speck of land at all times anyway. Besides, the terrain there isn't favorable for transportation either.
In my book they need to meticulously watch boat traffic crossing from the Rio Negro system in to the Orinoco system via the Casiquiare channel. This area is remote but allows for smuggling of quite large cargo by boat from Brazil/Columbia to Venezuela.

Posted by: Hmpf | Feb 25 2019 2:57 utc | 24

Sunny Runny Burger @ 18:

"... However [the pixellated strip of land] is still in the middle of nowhere with no infrastructure to speak of and only a tiny tributary which disappears after heading north-eastwards for a bit ..."

Does the tributary disappear because you have followed it to its source or does it disappear because the geology might be limestone? If the area is made up of karst, there will be sinkholes, disappearing streams and underground cave systems. I tried Googling "Venezuela", "limestone" and "karst" (not all together) but didn't find anything much. As far as I can tell, the geology of the area seems to be quartz sandstone.

Posted by: Jen | Feb 25 2019 3:22 utc | 25

#18
Seems to be a very steep hillside with deep ravines?
Check earlier google earth pictures.
Error in picture prosessing maybe?

Posted by: karik | Feb 25 2019 3:37 utc | 26

the videos on browder - 4 parts - focus on him being questioned in 2015...you could skip to the last one near the end, but vid 3 and 4 are both pretty good and gaining an insight into browder.. i am sure most here don't need any more insight into browder then they already have... the data in the video is organized by some canucks back east in quebec i suppose..

53 million in aid from canada to the border of venezuala, mostly in columbia and some in brazil.. that is more then twice the amount coming from the usa... interesting video discussing this here.. i am sure crystia freeland had a direct hand in this.. maybe she can get a date with brandscum...

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2019 3:48 utc | 27


Search ICH

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Investigating Venezuela’s Hunger Crisis: Max Blumenthal Tours a Supermarket in Caracas

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51150.htm

Posted by: ben | Feb 25 2019 3:57 utc | 28

I've seen various comments across the media mocking Maduro because he's a former bus driver.

Here's a short clip he posted on his Twitter. It's less than a minute, taken with him at the wheel of a car showing how Caracas is peaceful and people are getting on with life. Check it out:
https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro/status/1099463768218701824

I find myself increasingly fond of this very ordinary man, with his very ordinary, human strength. He drives his country safe and steady. I feel pretty good about his being at the wheel.

Now I've started to remember that all my life since a young child, bus drivers were the good people that we all always counted on and respected.

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 25 2019 4:00 utc | 29

James? WTF - You used to be such nice, quiet people up there. When did Canada go all ISIS over Venezuela?

Canada’s Ugly Role in the US-led Coup in Venezuela
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/canada-us-coup-venezuela

Posted by: PavewayIV | Feb 25 2019 4:07 utc | 30

@30 paveway...lol! we are just like our friends to the south... our masters rule and we still have the internut to say a few things in contrast to them! i think part of the switch was the role of this witch - freeland - getting into the halls of power.. whether she is some soros stooge, or not - i am not clear.. but it is clear she is making mud of canada's rep internationally.. that much is clear..

the article is written by the same guy that i linked in the video who is being interviewed -Yves Engler... fortunately some canucks are speaking out against all this craziness...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Engler - i see he is supportive of the bds movement as well.. that will get him in trouble.. good thing he doesn't live in france now.. only a matter of time and canada will be adopting the law against saying anything about zionism and etc. etc... i sure crystia freeland is working on it as we speak..

meanwhile, in visiting the cbc news channel - that is our national outlet - it is very depressing the lopsided coverage.. it defies logic...

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2019 4:21 utc | 31

@20 pft

Thank you for the post. I have gotten into Dr. Suzanne Humphries book 'Dissolving Illusions' and must say that I am very impressed. Her tracing of urban poverty and squalor at the outset of the industrial revolution, through the resulting slums that were populated by the urban poor, and which bred the conditions for horrific disease really brings to light the therapeutic and eradicating effect of proper sanitation, diet, and hygiene.

And her chapters on early compulsory vaccination programs which aimed to eliminate smallpox were hopeful as well. Communities fought these mandates even with punishment of fines or jail time handed out to dissenters. I imagine, unfortunately, that the time of compulsory vaccination will increase in intensity today and will result in even worse reactionary violence then was shown back then as we are a much angrier people, now, since the age of Public Man has waned into obsolescence.

I do want to comment again on the current outbreak of measles in Washington state, especially as it relates to the Phillipines and their much larger outbreak. Is not the high number of mortalities there in the Phillipines evidence of the incredible effect of proper sanitation, hygiene, and diet befitting on disease mortality and disease in general? Here in Washington State, no mention of mortality from this outbreak nor even emergency hospital stays as a result of the symptoms.

If I were in the Phillipines, perhaps the question of vaccination would be more of an issue in my thinking, but moreso would have to be imploring my gov't to improve sanitation, hygiene, and providing information as to better methods in dealing with disease other than fixation on vaccination.

Besides, the recent Filipino reluctance to vaccinate and their decreasing community uptake was the direct result of a prior gov't vaccination program for dengue that saw damage and susceptibility to serious disease in the long-term future as a result of the vaccine.

Just as Dr. Humphries retold in her book, there is a result to instances of vaccine damage and it is precisely why we should not be surprised and should even be encouraging of skepticism especially with regards to forcing vaccinations.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 25 2019 4:22 utc | 32

@ Paveway IV with his jumping on james for Canadian perfidy....LOL!!!
james, are you folks trying to out immoral the US or something?

The cancer we of the 99% face knows only the boundaries of global private finance.....Its the Borg!

But, have hope. We are at the place where Data puts the Borg to sleep and its starts imploding so everything is cool.......

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2019 4:24 utc | 33

@33 pscyhohistorian... hey - we are doing a pretty good job of out immoralizing your folks!!!

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2019 4:31 utc | 34

Calling a spade a spade......
"
TEHRAN, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the West has turned the Middle East into a "powder keg" through arms sales to the Arab countries in the region, Press TV reported.

Over the past year alone, the West sold weapons worth 100 billion U.S. dollars to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said Zarif.

"The weapons did not bring security to anyone," he added.

The Iranian minister made the remarks in a foreign policy speech at the University of Tehran.

Since the United States withdrew from the 2015 landmark Iranian nuclear deal last May, Iran has been under unprecedented sanctions from Washington.

Iran has also repeatedly denied the West's criticism of its alleged "interfering" policies in the region.
"

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2019 4:58 utc | 35

The link below is from Xinhuanet about finance in China according to Xi

Xi stresses role of finance in serving real economy

I think it is important to analyze these statements to determine the future of China finance relative to the West and their private way. The article is an interesting read.

The take away quote
"
Xi pointed out that finance is a core competitiveness of a country, financial security is an important part of national security, and the financial system is a major fundamental system in the process of economic and social development.
"

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2019 5:06 utc | 36

Grieved @ 29:

Now watch NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (then Norwegian Prime Minister) think he can get away with driving a taxi part-time and not be recognised by his passengers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq7LTnwS7Bs

Posted by: Jen | Feb 25 2019 5:06 utc | 37

@karlof1

I stopped by to thank you for the link to Greg Grandin you offered in the last thread. I just finished reading it, and it's a gem of historical storytelling, weaving great themes of law in a superbly easy read. The concept of national sovereignty originated for the world in the Latin American colonies, and over time the US embraced it as international law, only to discard it later, from about the Nixon era on.

What’s at Stake in Venezuela? - Greg Grandin

So Bolton and the like are actually acting within a current Washington school of thought. And how well the concept of interventionism has been captured by neoliberalism. The concept of individual sovereignty was used to dissolve the borders of national sovereignty, but it wasn't the individual who won. As Grandin states towards the end:

"Economic globalisation promised a prosperous, borderless world, even as its promoters signed a raft of treaties that freed capital but effectively criminalised labour mobility."

This matter of the mobility of capital and the demise of the individual is something shown clearly in that other excellent piece you linked a couple of weeks back:

Capitalism Has Failed—What Next? - John Bellamy Foster

I've wanted to come here to comment on it but the task seemed daunting. Foster's magisterial article traces the history of neoliberalism - almost 100 years old - and shows how the mobility of capital was always what it aimed towards. And this financially borderless world is what we live in now - how ironic that the US can enforce imperial borders through financial sanctions.

~~

So the stories told by Grandin and Foster seem to intertwine. The rich desire a borderless world to move capital freely. This has killed the prosperity of the working classes because of the ease of offshoring industry - the ultimate threat against the worker. And you can no longer restore equity to a society simply by taxing wealth, because it's too easy for wealth to flee to other havens. The only thing you can do is nationalize it, to force it to stay in-country.

I've seen this point made well in this essay on the Gilets Jaunes in France: The Yellow Vests, the Crisis of the Welfare State and Socialism by Michèle Brand. Michael Hudson also reinforced this same point in that interview on Venezuela with Saker that you linked to.

Indeed, Venezuela is the enemy of the US on both of these crucial fronts: it insists on the national sovereignty of its resources and it insists on sharing that wealth with its workers. It becomes ever more clear that the struggle for true national sovereignty can only come with the empowerment of the sovereign people, through fair law and fair distribution of national wealth.

But to do all this, in an era of borderless capitalism, takes socialism.

And this is the crucial aspect of the time we live in. Justice Holmes I think said that he paid taxes as the price for civilization. But moving forward the only way we can pay for civilization now is through socialism. This is the dynamic that all the roads lead to, inexorably.

You see what trouble you stir up when you share links?

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 25 2019 5:40 utc | 38

@karlof1

I wrote a long comment for you but it had several links and got held up (I copied it before posting), so check back around this number in the comments later, when it gets freed out of moderation.

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 25 2019 5:44 utc | 39

>>>> Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 24, 2019 7:25:44 PM | 18
>>>> snake | Feb 24, 2019 9:12:59 PM | 22

Switch to 2D in Google Maps and take another look. Those striations are just a way of filling in the image so 2D is consistent with 3D and I know of no aircraft that can take off from or land on such a steep runway.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 9:50 utc | 41

Pft @21 Excellent comment. The lies and deceit in search of profit seem endless.

Posted by: Rancid | Feb 25 2019 10:59 utc | 42

@Pft | Feb 24, 2019 8:24:20 PM | 21

"Its not like Government or Industry Backed Science has never been proven wrong before. Tobacco, Eugenics, Asbestos, Lead, DDT, Child Labor, etc were all declared safe or necessary as the case may be."

I remember in the early 1970s watching an edition of BBC's flagship science programme "Horizon" entitled "Snowball Earth?" In which scientists told us that we were on the verge of, or were already in, a new ice age. This hour long programme showed the evidence supporting this notion, and even discussed the possibility that the ice sheet might spread over the whole surface of the earth. (For anyone born recently, that didn't happen btw).

I also remember the fallout from the thalidomide tragedy, where thousands of children were born with horrendous malformations as a result of this drug marketed to combat morning sickness in pregnant women. You don't hear much about them today of course, clearly 'the wrong sort of message'. I also recall how the pharmaceutical companies fought tooth and nail to limit their liability, batteries of lawyers doing everything they could for years to prevent harming the profits of the mega-corps by providing sufficient compensation to fund the victims' various therapies and adaptations.

Posted by: Ross | Feb 25 2019 11:19 utc | 43

Dear Mr President,

While many of us disagree on ideology and values, we agree on practical things like obeying the constitution and not letting big corporations and the wealthy run everything.

Your 35-day government shutdown was a senseless abuse of power. So too your “national emergency” to build your wall with money Congress refused to appropriate.

When you passed your tax bill you promised our paychecks would rise by an average of $4,000 but we never got the raise. Our employers used the tax savings to buy back their shares of stock and give themselves raises instead.

Then you fooled us into thinking we were getting a cut by lowering the amounts withheld from our 2018 paychecks. We know that now because we’re getting smaller tax refunds.

At the same time, many big corporations aren’t paying a dime in taxes. Worse yet, they’re getting refunds.

For example, GM is paying zilch and claiming a $104m refund on $11.8bn of profits. Amazon is paying no taxes and claiming a $129m refund on profits of $11.2bn. (This is after New York offered it $3bn to put its second headquarters there.)

They aren’t breaking any tax laws or regulations. That’s because they made the tax laws and regulations. You gave them a free hand.

You’re supposed to be working for us, not for giant corporations. But they’re doing better than ever, as are their top executives and biggest investors. Yet nothing has trickled down. We’re getting shafted.

Which is why more than 75% of us (including 45% who call ourselves Republicans) support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed 70% tax on dollars earned in excess of $10m a year.

And over 60% of us support Elizabeth Warren’s proposed 2% annual tax on households with a new worth of $50m or more.

You’ve also shown you don’t have a clue about healthcare. You promised us something better than the Affordable Care Act but all you’ve done is whittle it back.

A big reason we gave Democrats control of the House last November was your threat to eliminate protection for people with pre-existing conditions.

Are you even aware that 70% of us now favor Medicare for all?

Most of us don’t pay much attention to national policy but we pay a lot of attention to home economics. You’ve made our own home economics worse.

We’ll give you official notice you’re fired on 3 November 2020, if not before. Until then, you can keep the house and perks, but you’re toast.

Respectfully,

[Robert Reich]

Posted by: donkeytale | Feb 25 2019 12:56 utc | 44

Does anyone else have trouble accessing the Browder videos? I first tried downloading part 4, and my downloader program repeatedly crashed immediately on initiating the download. I then tried part 3, and my internet connection was mysteriously repeatedly reset, making the downloader repeatedly start again from the beginning.

Maybe someone who has successfully downloaded all 4 parts could be kind enough to upload backups to a few safer locations on the web than that dusgusting company Y**T**E.

Posted by: BM | Feb 25 2019 12:59 utc | 45

Long post, feel free to scroll by, maybe read the last paragraph or two, and I'm answering stuff (too) thoroughly.

I don't blame people for not looking at Google maps which is why I'm explaining and describing a lot.

to Snake: no they are very typical single lane dirt roads but in a jungle the trees will branch over and cover any such road and often leave a kind of "foliage scar"; a very faint line of shadow where the trees meet right above the road. The roads are either quite straight or evenly curved compared to any stream or small river so the "shadow"/"scar" is similarly straight and even or at least enough so that one can pick it out (including when the road branches into two beneath the tree leaves) at least if one has enough supporting visual cues like the direction of the road when heading from a cleared area and beneath the foliage. This is all amateur/old-fashioned stuff since armies and archeologists (and I'm neither) would be flying over the area using LIDAR to digitally reconstruct the ground and see things including ruins, roads, and even trails that way. Anyway the dirt roads aren't too hard to create as long as the ground is reasonably level (it's mostly clearing tropic underbrush and filling in holes in that case) and there's enough space around each tree if they're old enough (and thus tall enough and have wide enough branches) that one often doesn't have to cut down and remove all that many large trees to make the road. After doing this the branches of the trees on each side of the road quickly grow back in to fill any new access to the open sky (it is only these that make a "scar" but remaining untouched trees often meet over roughly the same middle part of their stretch of road thus adding to the impression) and since they're randomly equally likely to be as close to the road on either side they're also as likely to be more or less as close to the gap above and so they roughly meet along the middle. Not precisely but enough to be noticeable when the pictures are good enough because the tree don't make "square" 90 degrees angles when they meet but dip down towards each other/stop growing outwards when outcompeted by each other for the light above and create a slight furrow in the canopy (none of this helps if they're palms, it has to be trees that create reasonably smooth canopies).

to Hmpft: I agree it's unlikely to be a cause for worry, it is a curiosity I found while wasting time looking at parts of the border because it has been years since I allowed Google maps to connect to me and run the javascript they require to function (I'm not a fan of theirs). I posted on the off chance that someone might know anything about it or recognized anything.

to Jen: It is to its sources. That's probably answer enough but the river is the Rio Contigo and part of it starts at the base of the mesa called Tepui Wei-Assipu (where the river is very narrow) inside Brazil but right at the border to Guyana. A second start is nearby to the west of that tepui/mesa below Monte Roraima from several extremely faint streams running off it. There are more sources in the vicinity off to the east of Tepui Wei-Assipu. All of it is within Brazil.

It looks like there are a few very small pools along the way (I doubt those are sinkholes or cenotes or similar). Rio Contigo travels quite a bit and slowly grows before swinging by north of the unobfuscated larger airfield (not the "striped" censored small one). If one looks closely enough (zooming in) in the right spot off to the east of the large airfield one can see the "engulfed" dirt road going from a spot on the south riverbank and eventually connecting to the airstrip (it goes by some buildings that belong to the airfield). The river does not look navigable at the time the picture was taken (likely dry season) with shallow enough water to see what looks like wet but partially exposed riverbed (a very small and light boat like a kayak would probably have to be carried over a lot of the river).

to Ghost Ship: I am in 2D all the time, if you haven't please have a close look at it in 2D (50 meter scale?) and tell me what you think. 2D is the source image and I'm guessing Google might stretch that image over a 3D frame as a texture but 3D is not available to me, read on for the reply to Karik for more detail on the image manipulation.

To me it looks somewhat level following the height contour but that could easily be wrong. It doesn't look like any sort of runoff area or narrow landslide to me for the same reason and again could be wrong. It might not even be a linear feature at all in which case it's not either of those. Another problem is that the 3D data (the frame model) can be wrong or imprecise without it being easy to tell unless it's a place one is very familiar with.

to Karik: no it's not, it is unmistakeable censoring of the picture consisting of overlapping squares of non-uniformly stretched pixels (using what I believe it is called the "Smudge tool" in Photoshop, perhaps the same name in GIMP or Krita) so it is not at all any kind of error or natural feature. The effect gives the impression of being stripes but they're not uniform stripes but vary according to the source material which was the original pixels of the picture. The pressure, speed, and direction of the smudging stretches it in various ways and in some of the selected squares more than once, this is then used with a mask or in any other manner as filling for the selected square areas and since each square is made in turn one can try to discern where and how they overlap and whether some where made before or after others. This took a human working in an image editing program to do, and most likely using a pressure-sensitive stylus/pen of the kind that digital artists often use. Especially in the first square it is easy to see the path the pen took since the smudging is stronger and more pronounced closer to the path and less so elsewhere.

I hope this is all fairly convincing that the picture is manually censored, it really ought to be, anyone can use the same tools on some random picture and find out that it works this way (and there's bound to people who have videos about using these tools one could search for and simply watch) :D

It doesn't take a lot of time and it seems the person started with the northernmost square and worked their way downwards as each square seem to overlap the square(s) north of it. Could be done in less than 30 seconds.

I think most such censoring is usually solid blocks of black or grey (since that's easy and fast) and which is equally unmistakeable as censoring but in the past I've seen a third fancier method where terrain is "copy-pasted" by cloning ("Clone tool" in Photoshop or similar) over the image. In that case there were both several identical small round lakes in one area and almost entire mountains in another area close by: perfect but partial duplicates and very easy not to notice since they match the terrain, colors, and direction of shadows perfectly and one has to look very closely to notice that they are the same. Cloning can be as partial as one likes so it's usually not a full copy but only a partial one. It helped that other satellite imagery providers had censored some of the same places using only black squares.

And if anyone recognizes that place by the description I've given (it's somewhere on the other side of the globe) I would be interested if you have anything about it from the last five years or so, or know of any place where people still try to figure it out, unless you have to kill me lol then I'll pass :D

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 25 2019 13:11 utc | 46

Can we please stop spouting the garbage about vaccine-manufacturers having no liability. It really is a load of bollocks. What do you think the Vaccine Court is for?

Can Parents Still Sue Vaccine Manufacturers?
Have you heard the myth that vaccine manufacturers have no liability and that you can no longer sue them

Of course, it isn’t true.

After all, isn’t there a class action lawsuit against Merck about the mumps vaccine?

Can Parents Still Sue Vaccine Manufacturers?
The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about the liability of vaccine manufacturers.
The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about the liability of vaccine manufacturers.
Vaccines are safe, but they are not without some risks, so what happens if a child does suffer a vaccine injury? Hopefully, even if it is a rare life-threatening condition, they can get treated and improve, avoiding that particular vaccine in the future.

They can also file a petition with the Vaccine Court and if the reaction is determined to be caused by a vaccine, they can be compensated.

So parents don’t usually sue vaccine manufacturers directly – they go through Vaccine Court.

But that isn’t there only option…

Parents can still sue vaccine manufacturers:

if the claim is not related to vaccine injury
in state court for vaccine injury, as long as the claim is not of design defect, and as long as they have already gone through Vaccine Court
So it certainly isn’t true that “under no circumstance may you sue a vaccine manufacturer.”

What’s the benefit of going through Vaccine Court, “a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions?”

For one thing, the majority of compensated claims in Vaccine Court are settled claims, in which “cannot be characterized as a decision by HHS or by the Court that the vaccine caused an injury.”

It is likely that at least some of those claims wouldn’t win if they weren’t in Vaccine Court, where:

causation is presumed (you automatically win) if you are claiming a table injury
the rules for evidence are relaxed and expert testimony does not necessarily have to meet the strict requirements of the Daubert standard
petitioners must meet a fairly lenient standard to win, the regular standard of proof for a civil trial (more likely than not), but only have to provide a plausible theory for vaccine injury. Instead of providing scientific evidence or proving causation, they simply have to provide a theory that “is ‘logical’ and legally probable, not medically or scientifically certain.”
you don’t have to show that the vaccine was defective to make your case
Another benefit of Vaccine Court? All lawyer fees are paid, whether you win or lose, and lawyers do not get part of the award if you win. In traditional court, lawyers might get up to thirty-three percent of your award.

What to Know About Vaccine Manufacturer Liability and Vaccine Court
Although they must usually go through Vaccine Court first, folks can still sue vaccine manufacturers in some cases.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 13:20 utc | 47

@pft

I too find it curious that people who understand that the establishment media lies about nearly everything are so willing to swallow the man-made global warming story. I am not going to try to change anyone's position, but I very much encourage people to look beyond the media fluff and try to find reliable evidence that carbon dioxide can actually destroy the planet, as we are told a thousand times a day.

The Watts Up With That dot com website has some interesting stuff to read, if one can stomach the odious comments. Many posts are written by actual published scientists. Even if the skeptics are wrong, it is immediately apparent that the "97% of scientists agree the Sky Is Falling" story is typical media rubbish.

As for vaccines, there may be serious problems with the "adjuvants" added to vaccines in order to make them more effective. ASIA, Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants, is a very controversial concept whose existence is denied by drug companies and their government lackeys.

Good luck to anyone trying to reach rational conclusions about any of this stuff. The scientific knowledge base is so polluted with poor research, scientific misconduct, and outright fraud that it is nearly impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Uggh. I guess instead of playing on the internets I better put on boots and coat and go plow the latest batch of snow caused by global warming. We are up to about 12 feet so far this winter, with at least six more weeks of winter to go. A few days ago I spent an hour just shoveling out the mail box, and it is completely buried again. Sigh.

Posted by: Trailer Trash | Feb 25 2019 14:13 utc | 48

I'm too tired, my explanation to Snake is really poor and confusing.

What I tried to say was this:
- you cut down some trees in a jungle to make the dirt road. It is not palm trees.
- two things happen with the trees that are left behind:
1. Where the trees already have branches meeting each other across the road they are likely to meet roughly in the middle on average.
2. Where there is new open space (to the sky) above the road the same trees grow and continue to meet on average roughly above the middle of the road.
- this creates a pattern one can see if there is high enough detail and a helpful angle of the sun creating shadows.
- the pattern follows the road below.
- if the road is straight or smooth the pattern is also relatively straight and smooth, much more so than natural features.

I shall take a break from posting now, I apologize for being too eager.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 25 2019 14:27 utc | 49

MoA is famous yet again, cited by RT in a story this morning about how the Washington Post has quietly edited its number of attendees at the Branson concert, without of course informing its readers. The original Wurlitzer lies of course still exist in caches and screenshots.

200,000 or 10,000? WaPo deletes inflated Venezuela Aid Live attendance figure from its website

"Using the few available aerial shots taken throughout the day, and some standard crowd calculations for the occasion, alternative news site Moon of Alabama estimated an attendance of about 18,000."


Posted by: Grieved | Feb 25 2019 14:57 utc | 50

It may be possible to partly unravel the Skripal affair, after all.

I first thought the Skripals were food poisoned, or were somehow accidentally ‘contaminated.’ I changed my mind when Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were ‘poisoned’ - I will explain why much later on.

Two assumptions are taken on board for now.

— The photo of the perfume package published by the Met on the internet is of an object found in the Rowley home, or said to be so, by the Met. / Scotland Yard / anti-terror force / PTB.

— The photo of the bottle + dispenser is that of objects truly or allegedly found in the Rowley home, or a fair facsimile. (The original bottle and dispenser, if they exist, are evidence, might be contaminated, etc.)

Imho the box package counterfeit is quite, even startingly, convincing. The surface, color, sheen, graphics, organisation, text, font, closely resemble the box of Eau de Parfum *Premier Jour* by Nina Ricci, 50ml. With one glaring difference.

The quantity on the true box (boxes, these vary some with year, country..) is

50ml - 1.7 FL OZ

or

e50ml - 1.7 FL. OZ. (e is a certification)

The Rowley box sports

5.5 ml - 17FL OZ

The forger is telling us that there is about a teaspoon of XXX in the package. Conversion to fluid ounces isn’t made - the creator can’t be bothered, so just removed the decimal point, making nonsense of that. The introduction of the decimal point, a different number, an extra space, to conventionally signal that quantity, cannot be ignorant, careless copy errors… such as LFOZ or 500 mL might be. Particularly in view of the great care taken with the rest.

Premier Jour bottles of 50ml or more are of special style and shape and never come with a separate dispenser / vaporiser / nozzle to attach so as to be able to spray. No high-end perfumes or fragrances do, as the containers and spray mechanisms (if any) are an integral part of the object, certifying the brand, its ‘look’, etc. as well as its working order. (Fakes often have non-functioning sprays.)

Smaller quantities of Premier Jour such as 33ml exist, the box is completely different. The bottles are longish thin vials with a spray mechanism attached to the top, always such for small quantities of designer fragrances - made to be carried in handbags.

Great care was taken to produce a convincing or in-your-face box, sealed correctly with cellophane. Inside it a bottle that might pass for genuine via cursory inspection, as it is inscribed *Premier Jour - Nina Ricci* in the same (correct) fonts as on the box. Plus a dispenser, ensuring that its first use would be a deliberate act, and possibly to ensure a tight seal.

No scammer hawking fake perfumes would ever produce this.

links in sep post

In Part II we examine its alleged handling by Dawn and Charlie and trace it back in time.


Posted by: Noirette | Feb 25 2019 15:10 utc | 51

many of my friends where at the branson concert they said it was one of the best ever peter gabriel missed his connection flights but lord branson gave a bracing speech full of fire passion anger and verve.
like many of the chosen fallen his role is to inform and gather consent from the goyim via emoting feelings nothing more than feelings trying to forget about facts feelings of love as the saying goes.
if sir dick was not already lorded or knighted i would given him a dameship already

Posted by: daniel morloch | Feb 25 2019 15:14 utc | 53

Addition: Imho the Rowley box is smaller than the real one(s). The text / letters etc. are too large, take up too much space, I can’t measure it at present, don’t have a real box to hand.

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 25 2019 15:17 utc | 54

@23
MAI noted on Twitter that one of the reasons for the US coup in Venezuela is to seize mining minerals there in order to create AI tech and 5G on a mass scale (for war against China I presume?)

Posted by: Blooming Barricade | Feb 25 2019 15:19 utc | 55

A curiosity:

Microsoft employees petition against Hololens contract with US Army

Posted by: vk | Feb 25 2019 15:55 utc | 56

@46 BM - i was able to watch them, no probs... i didn't try downloading them though...

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2019 15:58 utc | 57

Bizarre stopped clock moment for regime change propaganda machine VICE, going after Tinge Group for ties to neoconservative group the Henry Jackson Society. I'm sure that investigating themselves and their allies the Daily Beast would generate a far bigger story on this however....
https://www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/qvywqw/a-spin-doctor-helping-the-independent-group-worked-for-a-hawkish-right-wing-think-tank?__twitter_impression=true

On a related note here's a video unearthed from 2011 when, unbelievably, Syrian regime change troll Michael Weiss and his alt-right HJ pal Douglas Murray were already engaged in the smearing of Jeremy Corbyn. He's been on their radar for a while apparently. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iO93RTIl83M

Posted by: Blooming Barricade | Feb 25 2019 16:25 utc | 58

Trailer Trash, I think your post is worth commenting upon. We are having similar weather, if milder, here in Northern New Mexico. Now, what I see is the immediate effect of polar ice melting swiftly - that is, that more moisture is being lifted into the atmosphere and pushed across the oceans to come down as snow or rain. So, it's climate change, we can agree on that. The poles are warmer. And it's a closed system, so some of the melt indeed is in the ocean, but a lot is in the atmosphere.

What happens next, so they say, is that because the oceans are now warmer, so will the land eventually be. What is happening now is that the atmosphere is going mostly to chill (for us) and a wee bit to warm as solar minimum is keeping the sun moderate. Well, our winter has gone that way with February much colder than either January or December. But the trigger is what we all see happening at the poles.

So, I'm not going by any of the prognostications - I'm like you. What I see is what is happening. And it is extreme climate change that is increasingly worrisome. And it is caused by melting, polar melting due to atmospheric pollution. It's an enormous event, and it could well persist longer as the pendulum swings and the earth tries to come to some sort of equilibrium. I don't think we are going to fry any time soon, but I really don't know what other things are going to happen. I don't think the computers have all the answers; I will agree with you on that.

Posted by: juliania | Feb 25 2019 16:26 utc | 59

@ Posted by: Trailer Trash | Feb 25, 2019 9:13:36 AM | 49

We must separate what the scientists say to what is in the public arena.

There's no doubt our planet will warm up: we're still, technically, in an ice age, and all ice ages end.

What is being debated is if human activity is accelerating or not the process (the so-called anthropogenesis hypothesis). All evidence we can gather points to the validity of anthropogenesis.

The thing is: if the world warms up too fast, we will not have time to adapt. If it takes more, say, 350,000 years to warm up, we may have a chance to plan for a warmer planet (or we may not, who knows). It's all about increasing humanity chances of survival in the long term.

Now, of course, there are a lot of people who wants to earn a few political points or money over this, but one thing is certain: the integrity of the scientists behind climate monitoring is beyond doubt.

Posted by: vk | Feb 25 2019 16:43 utc | 60

i love how they must line up all these '''managed events''' in a row to sync with events...

pence and freeland leading another lima group meeting in columbia to yammer on about the same bullshit... totally predictable..

cbc - new water carrier for regime change article is here.. the canuck federal election in oct 2019 can't come soon enough.. no way freeland will be in power after that..

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2019 16:47 utc | 61

Sunny Burger 18
Had a look at it on Google Maps, and then on Google Earth. Was a bit weird that the pixellized part wasn't along the dirt track's path but perpendicular to it. Then, I had already seen once or twice that kind of weird shit artefact on Google Maps messing up some areas for no discernible reason.
As others said, it doesn't make much sense to have some outpost there, specially if it's supposed to be some hidden path to invade or infiltrate agents. The whole area isn't exactly flat or friendly. Unless Brazil would be as efficient as 1950 China building whole roads to invade Tibet, that's unlikely. My guess is that they'd just go through the 174/10 roads.

Then I had a look at Google Earth and closed up to have some (not very well done, but that's better than nothing) 3D look. I correctly assumed that the forested part West of the pixels is a flat area. It's actually the Northern top of the bloody tepui. On the other hand, I was deadly wrong for what I assumed would be a track or (more probably) river that goes South-North, just South of it, on the Brazilian Eastern side of the border. That's actually the high rocky escarpment of the tepui... Which means the "dirt track" actually is located on the side of said tepui. So, looks like some kind of ravine. That pic might possibly be of the general area (Northern tip of Uei Tepui), and that "track" should be on the right side of the picture:
https://plus.google.com/photos/photo/100852354923520644519/6636405424949907330
Going back in time on Google Earth, that dirty strip seems quite recent, 2015 more or less. Might be some landslide happened there recently during a nasty rainy time?
Since there is a tributary going NE from there (which then joins another river and goes further NE, though I haven't followed them to the ocean or even the border), it's quite definitely a ravine on the very steep side of the tepui - I mean, the unpixellated Western end of the dirt strip seems to basically be the source of that river.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Feb 25 2019 17:13 utc | 62

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 25, 2019 8:11:36 AM | 47

Sorry, that should have been in 3-D instead of 2-D.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 17:17 utc | 63

reply to Noirette 52
re differences in the photos of the bottle's labels.
Have you considered photoshop? This is MI5 and possibly MI6 we are dealing with here after all.....

Posted by: frances | Feb 25 2019 17:18 utc | 64

>>>> Trailer Trash | Feb 25, 2019 9:13:36 AM | 49

It's now called global climate change because some places will become warmer and others colder.

As for scientists being unsure, that is part of the scientific method:

The steps to the Scientific Method are:

1) Pose a Testable Question.
2) Conduct Background Research.
3) State your Hypothesis.
4) Design Experiment.
5) Perform your Experiment.
6) Collect Data.
7) Draw Conclusions.
8) Publish Findings.
9) Others Review your Findings.
10) Start again at the beginning (step 1).
So, subsequent scientific research can prove that some parts or all of the hypothesis are wrong but it gets us closer to the truth with each iteration. The average anti-scientist says part of that hypothesis is wrong so all of the hypothesis is wrong and i'll ignore all the subsequent work done on improving the hypothesis.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 17:35 utc | 65

The Venezuelan exile community is deeply demoralized after Saturday. They fully expected mass desertions and an uprising in Venezuela itself.

Posted by: Cesare | Feb 25 2019 17:47 utc | 66

vk @60
Now, of course, there are a lot of people who wants to earn a few political points or money over this, but one thing is certain: the integrity of the scientists behind climate monitoring is beyond doubt.

Anyone who has followed the 'debate' knows exactly how that integrity works. I have followed it for more than 10 years and it is the best integrity that money can buy.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 25 2019 17:49 utc | 67

The National Guardsmen who crossed the bridge in Tachira and “surrendered themselves" to Colombian immigration were heard saying “Somos nosotros!”, meaning, “It’s us!.”

These "desertions" were staged like all else courtesy of Potemkin Nation USA.

Posted by: Allen | Feb 25 2019 17:57 utc | 68

The USA ‘lost’ in Syria, the opposing coalition incl. Iran and Russia couldn't be faced off successfully.

Destroying Afgh., Iraq, Lybia, - all ‘failures’ in the sense of not garnering ‘advantage’ for the USA as a territory, a Federated Nation, its citizens, its trade, boosting hopeful expansion, etc. One aim rarely mentioned is keeping allies on board, e.g. Sarkozy’s France, to invade Lybia. In France many say it was Sark I who did DE-ss-troy! Lybia.

The word *failure* is based on the acceptance of a stated aim reminiscent of old-style-colonialim: grab ressources, exploit super-cheap labor, control the natives, mine, exploit, shunt the goods / profits to home base.

If the aim is to stop rivals breathing, blast them back to the Stone Age, the success is good but relative. (see Iraq.) Private GloboCorps (e.g. Glencore.. ) are in charge behind the curtain, many Gvmts are just stooges for them in the sense of unawoved partnerships, the one feeding into the other, in a kind of desperado death spiral.

I have always been struck by the fact that Oil Projects / Management in Iraq, even wiki gives lists that shows major movers and profiteers are not USA oil cos. / interests, but China, Malaysia, many others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Iraq

So, after multiple failures in one region, time to turn closer to home, the backyard, S. America...

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 25 2019 18:03 utc | 69

https://www.rt.com/news/452372-sas-military-syria-isis/
The king is really naked

Posted by: Mina | Feb 25 2019 18:08 utc | 70

>>>> Grieved | Feb 25, 2019 12:40:46 AM | 39

The United States has for more than a hundred years, two reasons to interfere in the Soviet Union/Russia. One was ideological with the United States wanting to focus its wealth in the hands of the one percent it could not allow communism to succeed as it was too great a threat to capitalism. The other is that it wants unobstructed access to the Soviet Union/Russian mineral wealth in the east, i.e., it wants to "own" Siberia.
With a successful Soviet Union/Russia, it was possible that revolution would spread through Europe and even to the United States. End of capitalism. Prior to the Second World War, the Soviet economy was doing well Then the Second World War came along and although militarily the Soviet Union was the victor it was at the price of its industrial base being severely damaged, so to make capitalism more attractive the United States poured wealth into Western Europe in the Marshall Plan and allowed European parties such as the British Labour Party, a nominally socialist party but a supporter of capitalism, to introduce the Welfare State to calm down the restless natives. With the ossification of the Soviet leadership and the eventual collapse of the USSR, the United States saw that there was no effective competition with capitalism so it pushed the world away from the Welfare State and towards neo-liberalism and austerity. The only problem is that the natives are getting restless again but with largely right-wing politicians in charge. Since most of those right-wing politicians are ardent capitalist, they're not prepared to make the jump to socialism of any type. When the right-wing politicians fail, then perhaps you'll see a massive shift to the left as people start to understand that capitalism, particularly the unregulated kind so beloved in the United States can't meet their needs.

BTW, it's not difficult to imagine what the MSM would make of a country that was socialist and nationalist, just look at the hatred directed at the SSNP.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 18:23 utc | 71

Grieved @39&40--

Many thanks for the kudos and review! It would be great if the commenting software counted and displayed the number of times a link gets clicked; comment software used at Common Dreams does that, so I know it exists. Yes, my commenting there was combined with links to articles that often gainsaid the CommonDreams article being commented upon, which is likely the main reason I was exiled from commenting there for 187 years--often there were more clicks on the links provided than comments on the article in question. Myself and an entire cadre of Truth Tellers were exiled by Convention Time in 2016, lest we further drive people away from HRC and further spread Wikileaks Scoops.

Yes, as you note, we have more than enough evidence as to what and why policies are made and for whose benefit/loss--and how many of them are actually counter to already existing legislation that was never overturned: 1946's Full Employment Act is a big case in point as is the UN Charter and US Constitution's Supremacy Clause. Just taking the latter into consideration renders every US national government since 1945 illegitimate as in constant violation of THE NATION'S FUNDAMENTAL LAW and the utter lack of any Congressperson to do their duty and impeach all those in violation. Indeed, IMO 1947's National Security Act is unconstitutional as it conflicts with the essence of the UN Charter. And there's oh so much more. But when you look around, is it only me, an intellectual of little consequence, who can see this great criminal act ongoing for over 73+ years!?!? Where's Chomsky's great pronouncement, or Zinn's or Gareth Porter's, or Chris Hedges's, or Jesse Jackson's, or ….?!?! IMO, the message of the movie Silence of the Lambs takes on a whole different meaning. Also, the long series of what are known as the Spaghetti Westerns involving Clint Eastwood culminating in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly sent its own veiled message of warning as to the gestation of the Outlaw US Empire--as we see with Venezuela, it's always for A Few Dollars More. Eastwood as the Man With No Name is proxy for whoever's POTUS. I'll leave it to your imagination who the characters Tuco, Angel Eyes and Blondie represent in that amazing finale from 1966. At the time, the entire world was being told about the genuine nature of the Outlaw US Empire but few had eyes to see what the screen writers and directors could. The entire Star Wars saga was another attempt to open peoples eyes that also failed. Lucas tried; he even told Bill Moyers so in an interview soon after it opened in 1977, and after the first trilogy he got more specific with 1999's Phantom Menace, which together with The Matrix did begin to get a few to rub the sand from their eyes.

The most propagandized people on Earth are also the most affluent and irresponsible--a allows p to culminate in i, or so it appears. When real Class Struggle existed during the 1930s and early 1950s, people seemed more responsible, aware, and activist, as One-Third of a Nation and The Four Freedoms still resonated, but are now all but forgotten, just like Wilson's 14 Points. It's easy to see why the GI Bill wasn't extended despite its being one of the best policies ever enacted by the US Government--it's far better for Elites that the general populace remain unenlightened. And that's where you, I, MoA and its barflies come in, and those doing the same elsewhere--All of us constitute the growing posse that must arrest the Outlaw US Empire and facilitate the rise of the new Polycentric World (Lavrov's new term for Multipolar). The Valdai Club has convened a special session in Hanoi to correspond with the Kim-Trump meet with its usual program of speakers and pertinent essays, which is where Lavrov is today.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2019 18:29 utc | 72

climatology is not a media plot. if it were, there would be considerable pushback in countries that aren't "served" by rupert murdoch. nice guilt by association, like it with industry backed science like ddt, but not convincing to anybody that can think. anybody that looks into the subject will be able to distinguish between monsanto, for example, and the royal society.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 25 2019 18:32 utc | 73

oh, and it's called both climate change and global warming. not because some parts of the planet are warming and some cooling; it's not a uniform process, but overall it's getting hotter.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 25 2019 18:33 utc | 74

@ Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 25, 2019 12:49:12 PM | 67

The debate is much older than 10 years in the scientific circles.

Posted by: vk | Feb 25 2019 18:34 utc | 75

Re: Global Warming,

a lot has been said about the levels of methane and CO2 in the air and their contribution
to global warming. But it doesn't seem that we take into account the zillions of vehicular
engines belching hot exhaust gas into the air. Isn't that a source of heat?

What about the nuclear plants that need cooling and send this hot water into a river and
henceforth to the Oceans?

What about the hundreds of thousands of ships spewing out hot exhaust gases and transferring
to the sea an amount of calories equivalent to their BHP output?

We are talking about quintillions of calories not brought in by the sun but abosutely man generated.

Posted by: CarlD | Feb 25 2019 18:45 utc | 76

Ghost Ship, you're really backing the wrong horse wrt the vaccine issue. Vaccine injury is vastly underreported, so the figleaf the government has set up to silence those with the worst, most obviously iatrogenic cases is not a valid factor in the debate. Even the CDC et al admit that only a small % of cases are reported, and we know that most that are aren't compensated. And in the first place, one who files must be keen enough to go past their own pediatricians who will always steer the conversation away from vaccine injury. So the parent must be a scientist themselves. The average parent never gets to the level of even questioning their doctor. Anyway I am skeptical that you're open to any new information, given the specific industry talking points you're always pushing. Not saying you're a shill, but something, is keeping you from looking into this in a studious way.

Posted by: sejomoje | Feb 25 2019 19:24 utc | 77

>It's now called global climate change because
>some places will become warmer and others colder.
>
>The average anti-scientist says part of that
>hypothesis is wrong so all of the hypothesis is
>wrong and i'll ignore all the subsequent work done
>on improving the hypothesis.
>
>Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25, 2019 12:35:10 PM | 65

Man-made global warming is now called "climate change" because their predictions that CO2 drives global temperature have failed, as your response implies somewhat sideways. I'm thinking about "The Pause" - the recent approx 15 year period where CO2 went up but the earth's average temperature did not. (Assuming for the moment that "earth's average temperature" is actually a valid, meaningful concept.)

I dare say Albert Einstein would be surprised to know he was anti-scientist:

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."

That's the thing about the man-made global warming theory - it can never be proved wrong, since it causes everything everywhere at any time. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too windy, too calm - they are all caused by the magic molecule. This isn't science - it's religion. What if the weather is "just right" - is that caused by the magic molecule too?

I had a long career in computer programming; I still remember punched cards (not fondly). Every business application I wrote was a model of the business. Funny thing was that my models actually had to work. If stuff wasn't in stock like the computer said, or invoices were wrong, the company would soon be out of business.

Climate models are completely different. Their predictions are always well into the future. It doesn't matter if they work or not; no one can tell until the future arrives. The climate modellers get paid either way, so it's all good. Except for poor people who can't afford $4 a gallon heating oil caused by "carbon taxes".

The models can't ever work because their resolution is too large to model weather phenomena like clouds and thunderstorms. Whoops. So the models make lots of assumptions instead. The biggest green house gas by far is water vapor, and it is left out of the equations. Whoops again.

People have been convinced that model output is "data", but it isn't; the output is a prediction that has to be compared to future observations. Promoters claim that one can average the output of a hundred models, all of which are wrong, and come up with the right answer. Garbage In is always Garbage Out, no matter how the data is tortured and how many decimal places are added to "the answer".

The idea that anyone can ever predict, or even measure, the "earth's temperature" to .01 degrees is ludicrous. Have the climate scientists truly never heard of "margin of error" or "false precision"? These are high school level concepts - no PhD required.

The same people have been making predictions since 1970s when we were all supposed to be afraid of Global Cooling. None of their predictions have come true so far. Wake me if that changes.

Posted by: Trailer Trash | Feb 25 2019 20:08 utc | 78

>>>> sejomoje | Feb 25, 2019 2:24:26 PM | 78

No it's you you is not open to any information at all. If someone really thought "vaccine injury is vastly underreported", somebody somewhere, perhaps an American law firm hoping to make millions from a class action, would have done a statistical survey to see if there was any truth to this. Just because some parents believe their children are autistic because of vaccination doesn't make it true. Can you prove that there is vast underreporting relying on any source that isn't run by anti-vaxxers? Are you even aware that the HHS has systems for people to report that they've had an adverse reaction to a vaccine?

Online reporting is strongly encouraged. Please report clinically important adverse events that occur after vaccination of adults and children, even if you are not sure whether the vaccine caused the adverse event.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) accepts all reports, including reports of vaccination errors. Guidance on reporting vaccination errors is available if you have additional questions.

Knowingly filing a false VAERS report is a violation of Federal law (18 U.S. Code § 1001) punishable by fine and imprisonment.

So, do you accept the NemesisCalling was being economical with the truth when he claimed that the vaccine manufacturers had managed to make them selves not liable for any vaccine damage because that is patently untrue. If the vaccine court doesn't work as people want that is another matter entirely.

BTW, I looked into this in a detailed enough way to know there is no reliable scientific evidence to support the anti-vaxxer's claims.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 20:10 utc | 79

Nice to see Trailer Trash is living up to its moniker. Michael Mann destroys what you present as an argument in his book Climate Wars. And his science and that of Climate Change/Global Warming as a whole was vindicated in his lawsuit against climate denialists like yourself.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2019 20:29 utc | 80

re vaccines
"Almost 50% of American adults are living with a chronic illness, and 25% of children. 1% of population now has autism while 40 years ago that was 0.01%. Today 1 in 50 newborns will acquire autism by the age of 8. According to a CBS report more infants day in the US in their first day of life than other developed nations combined, this is the same day they are given their first vaccines for STD’s (Hep B and HPV) . By the time they are sexually mature these shots will have lost their effectiveness. 50 years after declaring War on Cancer, cancer rates are 10% higher. Mortality rates are down and they live longer, which is a boon for Big Pharma. Trump now wanting to push to eradicate HIV with more testing. Sounds like Big Pharma needs more customers."

Posted by: frances | Feb 25 2019 20:52 utc | 81

@ ghost ship 80

You must be seeing red wrt my moniker, because it wasn't me that mentioned the vaccine compensating act by congress in 1986. Pft referenced it in his comment.

But on the subject, and because you are well read on it subject, you must be aware that there is usually a cap with regards to monetary liability that congress awards to victims. This is essentially government hush money that may or may not be paltry; I imagine those that suffer permanent neurological damage or death might scoff at the initial rate 250k for a deceased loved one. And keep in mind that there's are probably non disclosure agreements as there are in any court settled suit and so it is probably correct that the picture we have of statistical data wrt vaccine damage is at best incomplete and at worst woefully inadequate. Not to mention that here in the states, differing from Canada andthe Aussies, there is no requirement for mandatory reporting in the congressional act.


Posted by: Nemesiscalling | Feb 25 2019 21:23 utc | 82

Yavad Zarif, Iran´s FM resigns....

I will miss his excellent sense of humour...We are not in abundance of smiles...

Posted by: Sasha | Feb 25 2019 21:27 utc | 83

>>>> frances | Feb 25, 2019 3:52:15 PM | 82

What is the sources for your "quote"? Can't find anything with Google.

As far as I can see:

Hep B vaccine is given within 12 hours of birth to infants with Hep B infected mothers only.

HPV vaccine is given to children aged 9 years or more.

As for the rest they seem irrelevant to the vaccine issue.

It's worth pointing out that the United States spends 3 to 1.5 times more on health care than other developed countries but with worse outcomes. Good argument of a single-payer system but it's nothing to do with vaccines.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 21:50 utc | 84

>>>> Nemesiscalling | Feb 25, 2019 4:23:22 PM | 83

You must be seeing red wrt my moniker

Nah, not at all. Can't be bothered and even then I console my self with the thought that natural selection will sort out the anti-vaxxers. You'd be surprised at how short a time frame it can work in.


because it wasn't me that mentioned the vaccine compensating act by congress in 1986.

That you didn't mention it is the problem

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 21:57 utc | 85

climate denialists like yourself.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25, 2019 3:29:35 PM | 81

Why do otherwise intelligent people insist on such a brain-dead label as "climate denialist"? Who came up with and promoted this label? What does this phrase mean, that I deny there is climate? I don't deny there is climate. I just spent a few hours outdoors in the climate. It was cloudy, cold, and windy. Just like February usually is where I live. Does it mean I deny that the earth's climate ever changes? I don't deny that where I live was under a thick layer of ice a long time ago, and that it is now much warmer than during the ice age.

Of course I am being obtuse. It is obvious that "climate denialist" means I don't accept the approved dogma, and I should be excluded because of that. And it's true. I don't accept *anybodys* dogma, on any subject. There's an old labor song that goes "You ain't done nuthin if you ain't been called a Red". Well I've been called a "Red" plenty of times, and now I'm a "Climate Denialist" as well. So what. It's water off a duck's back.

An exchange of insults might be gratifying (or not) but I don't think that will influence anyone's position. If the intent is to persuade me to stop posting, well that could work. I really should save my limited strength for the next round of global warming, currently predicted for next Sunday.

I'm sorry to see people here resorting to personal attacks instead of using logic and evidence. If I want to read comments with stupid labels I can find plenty at WattsUpWithThat. I was hoping it might be different here.

p.s. somebody mentioned Mann's lawsuit. Here is an interesting headline:

Mann’s media buddies leave him high and dry – oppose his lawsuit

Posted by: Trailer Trash | Feb 25 2019 22:08 utc | 86

@ ghost ship

Did you read my post? You would find plenty of reasons why mentioning it would help my case by casting suspicion on the rather incestuous relationship between our law givers and vaccine makers.

But oh well. Wasted on you I see.

Posted by: Nemesiscalling | Feb 25 2019 22:08 utc | 87

reply to Ghost Ship 85

I put the info in quotes in my post as it came from an article I saved on the Italian government ousting it's entire vaccine board and the new people appointed to that board's lab testing of a 6 in 1 childhood vaccine over Christmas 2018 and their results.
They discovered it had NONE of the antigens for the diseases it was supposed to prevent, and NONE of the listed ingredients.
I just tried to find my source on google but it is not coming up:( Will keep looking.

Posted by: frances | Feb 25 2019 22:20 utc | 88

The cost of the anti-vaccine charlatans.

Unvaccinated French Child Suspected of Having Brought Measles to Costa Rica
An unvaccinated child is suspected of bringing measles to Costa Rica, a country which has not seen a single case of the disease since 2014.

According to a statement by Costa Rica's Ministry of Health, the five-year-old child arrived with his parents for a vacation on February 18. Soon after, he was brought to see a doctor in Costa Rica after developing measles-likes symptoms. The child's mother confirmed that there have been several cases of measles at her son's school in France and that her child is not vaccinated against the disease.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 25 2019 22:58 utc | 89

>>>>> frances | Feb 25, 2019 5:20:42 PM | 89

The Italian government has already changed its mind:

Italy's populist coalition renounces anti-vaccination stance amid measles 'emergency'

Italy’s populist coalition has called for nearly a million children and young people to be given vaccinations against measles amid an “emergency” over the rising number of cases.

The Five Star Movement and The League, which make up the populist government that came to power in June, have previously peddled conspiracy theories about the supposed risks of having vaccinations.

But they now seem to have renounced their scepticism, with the health ministry calling for 800,000 infants, children and young adults to receive vaccinations against measles.

"Given that there is a measles emergency, we will uphold the obligation for children up to the age of 16 (to be vaccinated)," said Vittorio Demicheli, a member of a ministerial commission of experts.

Adolescents and young adults aged up to 30 would also be urged to have the jabs if they have not already done so, he said.

Teachers and health professionals will also be required to have the jabs, the ministry said.

An Italian doctor checks a syringe before vaccinating a child in Rome
An Italian doctor checks a syringe before vaccinating a child in Rome CREDIT: ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/AP
Both Five Star and The League have previously questioned the need for vaccinations, with Matteo Salvini, the interior minister and also deputy prime minister, calling them “useless and in many cases dangerous,” playing on discredited claims that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab can cause autism.

Those theories have been widely disseminated on social media, with the result that there has been a sharp rise in the number of measles cases in Italy, from around 850 in 2016 to 5,000 cases last year.

Four people died of measles last year, none of whom had been vaccinated.

Italy accounted for nearly a quarter of all measles cases in Europe last year.

The measles inoculation rate in Italy dropped to 91% last year, well short of the 95% that the World Health Organisation says is necessary to avoid outbreaks.

Over the summer the populist coalition was accused by health experts of sending Italy “back to the Middle Ages” after announcing plans to roll back compulsory vaccination laws.

The government was criticised by many regional authorities who were in favour of the jabs.

“Halting compulsory vaccinations to surrender to the no-vaccination lobby sends us right back to the Middle Ages,” said Stefano Bonaccini, the governor of the northern region of Emilia Romagna.

In the face of relentless criticism, the coalition performed an embarrassing U-turn in September, scrapping its proposed reforms.

But with measles cases still rising, the government has come in for harsh criticism from health experts, teachers and opposition parties.

“They’re crazy,” former centre-Left prime minister Matteo Renzi wrote on Twitter this week after another eight cases emerged in Bari, in the southern Puglia region.

“They need to renounce their ‘no-vax’ stance. Science is right, they are wrong.

A midwife working at a hospital in central Italy was sacked this week after refusing to undergo vaccinations.

The decision to dismiss her was backed by Dr Roberto Burioni, a leading vaccinations expert.

“A health professional who refuses vaccinations is not just an inexcusable ignoramus, but also close to criminal.

“The presence of an unvaccinated person in a ward where pregnant women give birth is like lighting a match in a petrol depot.”

In Britain, there has been a similar debate on the need for vaccinations, with the proportion of children having the MMR immunisation falling for the fourth year in a row.

The proportion of children under two receiving the MMR jab is now down to 91.2%.

That has led to a measles outbreak in England, with nearly 900 cases confirmed this year – triple the number detected the year before.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 26 2019 0:05 utc | 90

Ghost ship 90
And then there is this:
https://springfieldvt.blogspot.com/p/vaccinations.html
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-12-23-triplets-all-become-autistic-within-hours-of-vaccination-see-shocking-video.html

From the second article:
TRIPLETS all become autistic within hours of vaccination.

Image: TRIPLETS all become autistic within hours of vaccination… see shocking video that has the vaccine industry doubling down on lies and disinformation.

As the video shows below, healthy triplets all became autistic within hours of vaccination, once again demonstrating that vaccines cause autism. The parents, the McDowell family in Detroit, Michigan, have spoken out publicly against the horrific medical violence being committed against children every day across America through toxic vaccines.

The names of their three children, pictured above, are Richie, Robbie and Claire. All three children were vaccinated on the same day, and within hours, they all become severely autistic.

In their own words:

On June 25th, 2007, we brought them in for the [vaccine] shot… we went in at 10 am. All three. My daughter still has the mark on her leg from the shot… we did the boys as well. By noon, Claire shut completely off. It was as if she was blind, and deaf, and complete failure to thrive, from super super happy, smiley girl to… she had full blown eye contact, and she shut right down. All she did was stare at the ceiling.

At 2:00 we watched Richie shut off. All his mama, dadda, and the furniture walking and everything just shut of. All the giggles, all the smiles, again failure to thrive. They lost all their reflexes… they stopped blinking, yawning, coughing, sneezing, they lost their startle reflex… that was 2:00.

The worst was when we saw the final one shut down. We lost Robbie, he looked like he was hit by a bus. He had a stunned look on his face… he acted deaf, he lost his happiness. They were no longer engaged in anything or anyone. They lost their smiles. They never held hands again, never looked at each other again.

Vaccine injury is real. We were told is was genetic, then we were told there was no way three children were shut off on the same day… it was statistically impossible. We were told we could not sue anyone. No vaccine manufacturers could be sued. We found out [later] there was a vaccine injury court. They then told us we were too late, [we] only had three years to apply."

The science is not settled, the injuries and death are real. The extraordinary profit motive, the absence of testing requirements, the deferred liability, all create a business and health environment ripe for disaster IMO.

Posted by: frances | Feb 26 2019 0:06 utc | 91

>>>> frances | Feb 25, 2019 7:06:45 PM | 92

You are joking. NaturalNews is not exactly a scientific journal. And you would have thought they would have reported it straight after the event to their healthcare provider. Except for idiots like you and NemesisCalling, the science is settled.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Feb 26 2019 0:20 utc | 92

I've been in a bit of a daze today after seeing what the piece of filth Marco Rubio did. The man is at least as vicious as Hillary, and a person must deduce he is even dumber than Pence.

My searches showed limited Big Media coverage of the little twit's activity. One major site opined that his 'tweeting' amounted to a propaganda coup for the Venezuelans. Well, duh...

The search results were so skimpy I clicked on a rightwingnut site among them to see what it was saying about the situation.

Did Rubio's tweet strike fear in the heart of Maduro or give him a propaganda tool that will help him to keep the military on his side? It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming weeks as Venezualans become more restless and opposition leaders ramp up their protests. One thing we do know: Rubio has been a tireless champion for people suffering under the regimes of brutal dictators in both Venezuela and Cuba. For that, he deserves an enormous amount of credit.
Since I hate to credit even dead-end Trumpies as being this debased and stupid, I checked to see what else "pj media" was publishing. IMO a single headline will tell the tale:

"The Hoax of the Palestinians" by Robert Spencer August 15, 2018

My guess is that it's now another small propaganda outlet for the apartheid Jewish state. Encouraging Trump's conversion to 'Hillaryism' would be a prime goal for the thieving and murderous Zionists of the little outhouse nation.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Feb 26 2019 0:20 utc | 93

reply to Ghost ship 91
Looks like they went for one vaccine for measles, not sure that is a reversal more like an exception?

Posted by: frances | Feb 26 2019 0:23 utc | 94

reply to Ghost Ship 93
"Except for idiots like you and NemesisCalling, the science is settled."

Right; when the facts fail go with insults.

Its not like Government or Industry Backed Science has never been proven wrong before; Tobacco, Eugenics, Asbestos, Lead, DDT, Child Labor, Cocaine, Heron, etc., were all declared safe or necessary in their time.

Good luck to you Ghost.

Posted by: frances | Feb 26 2019 0:44 utc | 95

Do any but me see the Venezuela antics as somewhat posturing for the Xi trade meeting and Kim Korea unification meeting with Trump?

Trump has to make it look like he is coming from a place of power and control over the fringes of empire

The job for Xi and Kim is to just play to Trump's ego and the Western world is theirs
That or call BS on the pack of lies contained in any empire offered agreement and lets live in a multi-polar world as empire collapses under its hubris

I personally hope the trade situation with China blows up big time and that Korea reunites and tells the US to go home.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 26 2019 2:13 utc | 96

@97 psychohistorian - "The job for Xi and Kim is to just play to Trump's ego and the Western world is theirs"

Thanks for this concept!

I was already impressed with North Korea's mastery of the English language and the western dynamic, but when they reintroduced "dotard" back into common parlance, my respect increased by an order of magnitude. Since then, I don't worry about these Asians figuring out the west and its ways, and knowing how to handle them ;)

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2019 4:28 utc | 97

@96 frances

Wow. I hate to see you being attacked, especially after all of the valuable observations you've made here over the years. In case you'd like a word of support at this time, I offer you my long-standing gratitude, and much respect.

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2019 4:42 utc | 98

So Trump is about to be exonerated by Mueller. Rosenstein confirmed this in other words today. See, I told you all, Trump is protected by the Zionist one-percenters. Next week we'll find out that Trump is the chosen President when Mueller drops a nothing burger in his report. Mueller chased down Russian collusion and came up with lots of Zionist breadcrumbs, tens of millions leading back to Israel, influence leading to Israel so now Mueller won'have anything to deliver but an empty blank page. Tump can go back and keep his job pleasing the Zionist elite that installed him. This too shall be be as I have predicted. Trump is protected and the fix is in.

Posted by: Circe | Feb 26 2019 6:00 utc | 99

@96 frances.. not following the conversation here, but i agree with @99 grieved... thanks for your ongoing input at moa..

Posted by: james | Feb 26 2019 6:30 utc | 100

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