Really? #102
You evaded 98% of the question. Let me restate it:
The NSDAP (nazi party) supported an extensive welfare state. It included free higher education, family and child support, pensions, health insurance and an array of publically supported entertainment and vacation options.
Source?
Hiking trips and limited vacations for Nazi party members ≠ ≠ “extensive welfare state” or any of the rest except for “vacation options”….for a decent rundown by an actual historian, I recommend this article.
Posted by: Mister Wiggles | Feb 6 2020 7:17 utc | 153
+++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks so much for your sniping!
The query was not directed at me, but at Nick.
I was only trying to help the hapless, always-pedantic, self-important know-it-all Vk, who asks for “Sources?” on a point of history that is well known.
I stated: To help you ***get started.***
I meant, getting your own sources, Dumbo.
If you know better, why didn’t you help VK out yourself?

Posted by: Really?? | Feb 6 2020 14:43 utc | 204

The Iowa Caucuses debacle:
Aside from App failure, math skills in Iowa came in short which is not surprising. It’s the Sums. What is 10% of $10.50?
‘Problematic’ Math Leads To Iowa Caucus Counting Confusion
ZH link

After an app created by a Democratic digital firm botched the Iowa caucus results, the 1,678 precincts across the state resorted to awarding delegates using a “Caucus Math Worksheet,” causing significant delays in reporting.
The worksheet requires caucus workers perform basic multiplication and division, and then round the results up or down.
Unfortunately, Iowa Democrats are apparently terrible at math and rounding, as journalist and co-founder of Smart Elections, Lulu Friesdat, reveals that 30% of the worksheets she examined contained errors.
The #RoundingErrors could lead to a significant number of delegates. They were in 30% of the precincts we examined. If 30% of 1678 precincts have an extra delegate assigned this way, it could be approximately 500 delegates. Buttigieg is currently leading Sanders[.]
The kicker, “If 30% of 1678 precincts have an extra delegate assigned this way, it could be approximately 500 delegates. Buttigieg is currently leading Sanders by 18 delegates.”
[Article was updated]:
Update: Friesdat has provided an update and deleted the below tweets on rounding errors, after it was pointed out that the Iowa Democratic Party rules call for a delegate to be awarded to the candidate ‘with the highest decimal below .5’ for the number of delegates per candidate.
Friesdat says that the math is still ‘problematic,’ as “Extra delegates are there because you’re dividing by total caucus members, not final voters.”]

What difference does it make. a fraction or two? Surprise, surprise, Not. a. pips. from. Bernie. (sheep is a quiet animal). Everyone is on the campaign trail in snowy New Hampshire – weather forecast, up to 24″ of snow over the next 12 hours. Got snow shovel?

Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 6 2020 14:44 utc | 206

All:
I was a long-time lurker who recently started posting a few little tidbits. I’ve noticed that the Whiskey Bar is full of strange names and faces now. For a more efficient way to read the comments from commenters I appreciate, I go to the bottom of each comment page and scroll up, initially skipping the unfamiliar names and focusing on those whose opinions and merit I trust, but eventually going back and reading for replies to the more interesting sub-threads.
Mr. Wiggles
$$
Posted by: Mister Wiggles | Feb 6 2020 7:28 utc | 158
++++++++++++++
I doubt anyone cares about your lurking or reading habits.
Maybe you need a therapist to tell this to.
I expect you are an avatar of Jackrabbit, with your silly $$.

Posted by: Really?? | Feb 6 2020 14:50 utc | 208

That Good Man, Dear Jeffery has arisen from the dead?
Jeffrey Epstein’s Mystery Bank Came Alive After His Death (NYT)
(also a link at cryptogon dot com)
If so, he must know somebody really important, eh?
It seems that the money’s “funny” and evaporating ex post mortis.
Jeff’s left a note>
ex vita discedo, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo

Posted by: Walter | Feb 6 2020 14:56 utc | 210

vk 198
“If you read the Chinese MSM (in Mandarin, not the English version), you’ll quickly see the the most harsh critics of the situation is the Chinese government itself. ”
+++++++++++++++
Since you read Mandarin, please supply the rest of us with a translation.

Posted by: Really?? | Feb 6 2020 15:11 utc | 212

@ Posted by: Really?? | Feb 6 2020 15:11 utc | 213
Caixin
A simple machine translation suffices. You’re not reading Chinese literature.

Posted by: vk | Feb 6 2020 15:18 utc | 214

Question for those trying to cast Sanders as being a willful tool of the establishment deliberately guiding stragglers on the left back into the Democrat fold: Before the 2016 election was it possible to ever hear the word “socialism” in American corporate mass media except where it was being scornfully denigrated?
No, prior to Sanders last run at the Presidency the corporate mass media had successfully restricted ALL (as in 100%, never letting even a single positive word through) discussion referring to socialism to the narrative that it was evil, had as a goal causing everyone to starve, and would take away your pickup truck and kill your dog. Those who imagine I am exaggerating here have tragically short memories, as this was political canon only a few short years ago. Socialism was far outside the scope of polite discourse.
It has been deliberate policy of capitalist mass media for generations to program this idea of what socialism is into the heads of all Americans. After the close call of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent wave of socialist revolutions worldwide leaving the US as effectively the last bastion of capitalism, and with capitalism barely holding on even there, big business launched desperate efforts to slander and vilify the ideas of socialism and purge those ideas from the consciousness of the American public.
After many, many hundreds of $billions in brainwashing marketing (both overt and embedded in entertainment and infotainment programming) and many more hundreds of $billions in bribes and payoffs to select segments of the workforce, the efforts to tar socialism as the work of Satan largely paid off. Class consciousness was almost entirely eradicated from the America public, and the population was innoculated against the ideas, even reacting violently to anyone merely uttering the word.
To say that the investment of effort and resources to get to this point was a massive undertaking that dwarfed even the Apollo Moon rocket program is a dramatic understatement. Securing a population that can be used as a power base to safeguard capitalism and its empire has been the #1 priority of the elites since the Second World War. This is vitally important to the empire’s 0.1%
Sanders’ presidential campaigns in 2016 and right now have in only a few years time done severe damage to the firewall that the business elites have painstakingly built between he American public and the ideas that are the only real threat to those elites’ power.
Who is so naive as to think the Establishment would deliberately inflict this kind of damage to themselves just to herd a few elderly and dissipated radicals into supporting one of their sham parties? It isn’t like there was any real threat of a legitimate political organization forming outside of the DimCRats/Repugs tag team farce back before Sanders launched his campaign in 2015, so why would the elites deliberately execute plans that significantly raise the risk?
No, Sanders is not part of the elites’ plans. On the contrary, Sanders’ campaign is another example of the elites’ plans falling apart at the seams and events spinning out of their control.
This isn’t to say that Sanders is our Savior who will fix everything. He’s not really even a socialist. While he definitely believes in what he says, he has no ideology to back it up. Assuming he gets elected President, the corporate elites will send their best quants, armed with elaborate PowerPoint presentations and videos and glossy color printouts, to carefully and patiently explain why what Sanders wants cannot happen without wrecking capitalism. Wrecking capitalism is not a step Sanders is prepared to take because he cannot see anything beyond capitalism, so Sanders will abandon his promises exactly as he would have done if he never intended to fullfill them in the first place.
So Sanders cannot save us, but his campaign has openned eyes, and will continue to open eyes. The elites will try desperately to put the masses back to sleep, but that will be impossible so long as Sanders is continuing his fight.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 6 2020 15:25 utc | 216

Democrats don’t have voting rights. They bend over and take whatever the corrupt and totalitarian DNC wants to shove up there.

Posted by: librul | Feb 6 2020 15:39 utc | 218

Last night I posted these latest returns from Iowa with 96% precincts reporting and Sanders behind only .1%.
Buttigieg 26.2
Sanders 26.1
SANDERS LEADS BY 2500 IN THE POPULAR VOTE
▪▪▪▪▪
Why the hell haven’t they come out with the remaining 4% yet??? How damn long does it take to count 4 effing percent⁉️

Posted by: Circe | Feb 6 2020 15:44 utc | 220

If Americans are having trouble counting the votes in this ‘election’, why don’t they ask the Chinese to do it?
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/how-dumb-have-we-become-chinese-students-are-4-grade-levels-ahead-us-students-math
Not that the result matters.
The only mathematics that matters for the US, is the mathematics of compounding debt, which is only bearable at artificially low interest rates, which however have the side-effect of further crucifying pensions.
http://www.pensiontsunami.com

Posted by: clickkid | Feb 6 2020 16:35 utc | 222

Ohhh…shit! I just got my answer to my question @221!:

The results released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday were riddled with inconsistencies and other flaws. According to a New York Times analysis, more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses.
In some cases, vote tallies do not add up. In others, precincts are shown allotting the wrong number of delegates to certain candidates. And in at least a few cases, the Iowa Democratic Party’s reported results do not match those reported by the precincts.
Some of these inconsistencies may prove to be innocuous, and the irregularities do not indicate an intentional effort to compromise or rig the result. There is no apparent bias in favor of the leaders Pete Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders, meaning the overall effect on the winner’s margin may be small.
Latest count of the Iowa caucus results »
But not all of the errors are minor, and they raise questions about whether the public will ever get a completely precise account of the Iowa results. With Sanders closing to within 0.1 percentage points with 97% of 1,765 precincts reporting, the race could easily grow close enough for even the most minor errors to delay a final projection or raise doubts about a declared winner. [DU-UH🙄 There is no doubt who won, anymore, you moron press!]
The errors suggest that many Iowa caucus leaders struggled to follow the rules of their party’s caucuses, or to adopt the additional reporting requirements introduced since 2016. They show that the Iowa Democratic Party, despite the long delays, failed to validate all of the results fully before releasing them to the public.
Mandy McClure, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Democratic Party, said the party reported the data as provided to it by the precinct caucuses.
“The caucus math work sheet is the official report on caucus night to the IDP, and the IDP reports the results as delivered by the precinct chair,” she said, using the initials for the Iowa Democratic Party. “This form must be signed by the caucus chair, the caucus secretary and representatives from each campaign in the room who attest to its accuracy. Under the rules of the delegate selection process, delegates are awarded based off the record of results as provided by each precinct caucus chair.”
Just about every election night includes reporting errors. They can be difficult to identify, but can often be corrected during a recount or a postelection canvass. This year’s Iowa caucuses are the reverse: Errors are now easy to identify, and hard to correct.
The errors are detectable because of changes to the way the Iowa Democratic Party reports its results, put in place after the Sanders campaign criticized the caucus results in 2016. This cycle, and for the first time, the party released three sets of results corresponding to different steps in the caucus process. The rules are complex and thorough, and they create conditions in which the results can be obviously inaccurate or inconsistent within a precinct.
First, caucusgoers express their preference for a candidate upon arrival, and these votes are recorded in a “first alignment.” Then, candidates with limited support at a precinct, usually less than 15%, are deemed not viable; their supporters get a chance to realign to support a viable candidate. The preference at this point is recorded as well, and it’s called the final alignment.
Viable candidates can’t lose support on realignment, but there were more than 10 cases where a viable candidate lost vote share in the final alignment, even though that is precluded by the caucus rules.
[…]
[You can read the shit in between where I put ellipses straight from the article if you like. My comments are in these type of brackets.]
The Times is continuing to report the Iowa Democratic caucus results as released by the party and has alerted the party to an extensive list of precinct errors.
There is no reason to believe that Sanders or Buttigieg did materially better in the contaminated precincts than they did elsewhere, [really??? NO SHIT! NO DOUBT SANDERS DID, THAT’S WHY THEY STOPPED COUNTING AT .1 DIFFERENCE, YES???] either overall or controlling for their demographic characteristics. But the tabulated result could be close enough for the remaining ambiguity to preclude a projection of a winner. [You don’t saaaay?…HOW CONVENIENT!]
Even if the appropriate candidate is deemed the winner, the irregularities in the results are likely to do little to restore public confidence in the Iowa caucuses.
c.2020 The New York Times Company
iowa caucus results errors
THEY CAN ALL FCK OFF!
Okay I’m SO ANGRY I had a hard time completing this comment!!!
Here’s what they should do: Sanders was .1 % from passing Buttigieg, yes PASSING BECAUSE HE IS 2500 AHEAD IN THE POULAR VOTE SO THERE IS NO TIE HEEEERE!!!
BERNIE MUST BE DECLARED THE WINNER, PERIOD. ENOUGH WITH THIS SHIT ALREADY!

Posted by: Circe | Feb 6 2020 16:53 utc | 224

@ juliania | Feb 6 2020 14:48 utc | 208
The Democrats did not lose in 2000 because Green Party members voted for their own candidate, Nader. They lost because 700,000 registered Democrats voted for Bush.
If you bring that up to Demo party dead-enders you will get nothing but silence in response. They simply will not deal with that fact.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Feb 6 2020 17:01 utc | 226

Boeing 737’s and falling apart….somebody suggested No Highway, for whatever reason. Wally proposes >An airplane flick to beat all.
Flug in Gefahr, Die Mutter aller Flugzeugkatastrophenfilme, mit Hanns Lothar, kompletter Film (YT)
Enjoy. Where’s ma beer…

Posted by: Walter | Feb 6 2020 17:11 utc | 228

With Respect to Russian, China and the Corona virus
Let us look at the Corona virus situation logically.
First of all, let us look at what we know the US War Department has done with respect to Russia. We know that the US has established biowarfare labs in countries along Russia’s borders. We know that the US has issued public requests for samples of DNA from ethnic Russians. So we know what the US War Department has in mind for at least one of the USA’s designated enemies.
Now, with respect to China; we know that the Corona virus did not pop up in some backwater village. It appeared in Wuhan, a major economic center and a major crossing point for national, commercial transportation systems like air and rail.
Additionally, we know that the virus targets specific receptors inside a specific type of cell that is found only in the lungs of Asian males.
It seems to me that there are only two logical conclusions; based on the things that we know, either
a) the US War Department is testing a biowarfare agent that it intends to use against China, or
b) the US War Department is putting China on notice that the US can destroy China’s economy any time that it wants to.
Or both.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Feb 6 2020 17:25 utc | 230

So apparently, its about 30 days to die.
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/original-china-virus-whistleblower-doctor-dies
So death toll lags illness by about 30 days.
B said reported cases were leveling, but this was preceeded by impressive spike.
The problem would be that epidemic tends to be under reported because of lag and because it represents something like failure by government.
So it will always be worse than what is reported, I suspect.

Posted by: jared | Feb 6 2020 17:38 utc | 232

I hope this becomes more than a trickle. Assange needs a flood of support:
Former German Ministers Launch Appeal for Assange’s Release
LINK

BERLIN (Sputnik) – A petition published on assange-helfen.de has been signed by ex-foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, former interior chief Gerhard Baum and former justice minister Katarina Barley. The number of signatories neared 400 at the time of writing.
Over 130 German ex-ministers, lawmakers, journalists and cultural figures launched a campaign on Thursday to pressure the United Kingdom into freeing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“We urge the United Kingdom… to release Julian Assange from custody immediately so that he can recover under expert medical supervision and exercise his fundamental rights without hindrance”, it reads.
Baum said during a press conference held in Berlin to announce the petition that it had been signed by socialists, greens, liberals and the left-wing but only one member from the ruling conservative party. An appeal was also made for the German government to join the pressure campaign.

Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 6 2020 18:26 utc | 234

In Turkey | Feb 6 2020 17:58 utc | 234
Thanks! Nice to see assumptions verified. This is the original sound track of Turkish alt right! Thanks in addition that you could manage it this time without “the Jews”. The education failure of the Turkish alt right makes it possible to forget that quite some “Turks” are Jews. ;-)No necessity to repeat the links you dropped here yesterday. And why this hatred against the CIA, the big friend of the Turkish right since long?

Posted by: Hausmeister | Feb 6 2020 18:33 utc | 236

Wally imagined that the US bio cops shop made a Chinese spy- and let him swipe the CV
And sent a fella to open the jar just outside the BSL4 gate in China about 10 minutes after the Chinese spy brought the swag.
Posted by: Walter | Feb 6 2020 17:47 utc | 233
The 2019-nCoV seems to hit men, asian people harder:
https://theprepared.com/blog/new-study-suggests-2019-ncov-may-hit-men-asian-people-harder/
May be Wally is not dead wrong

Posted by: DFC | Feb 6 2020 18:49 utc | 238

Medical question of the day:
BBC
Newborn becomes youngest person diagnosed with coronavirus

A Chinese newborn has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus just 30 hours after birth, the youngest case recorded so far, state media said.
The baby was born on 2 February in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.
The baby’s mother tested positive before she gave birth. It is unclear how the disease was transmitted – in the womb, or after birth.
Only a handful of children have come down with the virus, which has killed 565 people and infected 28,018.
All but one of the deaths were in China.[.]

Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 6 2020 18:54 utc | 240

@ vk
>> You can be middle class; just don’t be a sucker by acting like a cheap ideologue/priest on the internet.
You *ruined* my plan for this evening. 😉

Posted by: oglalla | Feb 6 2020 18:56 utc | 242

@ DFC > sapiens es, Dude!
In crooked game is fundamental that the mark blames himself, otherwise it gets nasty.
One long summer spent on a travelin’ show, not kidding, Wobblies and all. Long ago and gone to dust, but I smell a con in the CV affair. Those old carnie taught Wally some stuff. Nice people, without illusions about class and circumstance, kind, and tough. No wonder they’re thought dangerous. They are (or were), alas.

Posted by: Walter | Feb 6 2020 19:21 utc | 244

@DFC #239
The “new” study is a reanalysis of the “old” study which has exactly 1 deceased Asian man (out of 5 total).
That study is interesting but utterly worthless because the sample size is so tiny.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 6 2020 19:53 utc | 246

So now, because they don’t like the Iowa results, they are going to launch a do over.
What does this tell one about the power and control at work here? This is a good educational opportunity for the younger generations…..follow the money.
Socialism is being portrayed as bad when it is the definition of government that is not the dictatorship we currently live under with global private finance running the debt control show. The big lie keeps working to not have society discuss the social contract dictatorship of finance they are born into and never talk about directly….where does the “faith” come from to make it work that way? I have always assumed it was a carry over of monotheism.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 6 2020 21:09 utc | 248

They launch a recount just as Sanders is about to pass Buttigieg in the count.

Posted by: lysias | Feb 6 2020 21:55 utc | 250

 vk | Feb 6 2020 12:02 utc | 177

I noticed most commenters here in this blog a are middle classers from First World countries. Here’s my advice for you: ideology is a fabrication of the middle class. The rich don’t need it because they can do whatever they please; the poor don’t need it because they have nothing to lose.
You can be middle class; just don’t be a sucker by acting like a cheap ideologue/priest on the internet.

Yes. You are no doubt right. It is almost inevitable, because the working poor have very little time for surfing the internet and the people in second and third world countries have probably less money for computers and less fluency in English. As to your statement that the “The rich don’t need it because they can do whatever they please;” I have had very limited personal experience of the very rich but those I have met never struck me as lacking ideology! & certainly, Trump, Soros, Michael O’Leary, Lord Levy, the Clintons, the Koch Bros are hardly anaideological!

Posted by: foolisholdman | Feb 6 2020 22:10 utc | 252

donkeytale | Feb 6 2020 12:38 utc | 181
V.I. Lenin “Left-wing Communism, an infantile Disorder.” You object that
VK, VR and karlof1 (perhaps to a lesser extent but maybe not) present a hagiographical reductionist form of Marx’s historical dialectical process of the stages of capitalism giving way to socialism in some future China.
What they fail to connect from Marx and Lenin is the role of class struggle by the working classes to achieve ultimate supremacy over the bourgeois.
Here they present a dreamworldly China marching surehandedly to the socialist phase through a bloodless, classless construct of a benevolent communist hierarchy. Class struggle, what class struggle?
Maybe they don’t think they need to add to the chorus of voices slagging off China? Certain it is that there is class struggle going on in China, not much reported on, it’s true but quite fierce at times. Presumably you would rather the CCP just abandoned its leading role and left thing to work themselves out? No doubt, the creatures in Washington would like that too!

Posted by: foolisholdman | Feb 6 2020 22:35 utc | 254

Posted by: James McCumiskey | Feb 5 2020 17:00 utc | 5

research Dr Lanka and Dr Hamer.

I’m not sure about this. I researched the work of Dr. Hamer, and in my view he is one of the most relevant physicians to date. There was a thriving movement around his discovery, but it somehow stopped around 2010. In the event of the ‘new coronavirus’ I tried to revisit the bookmarks I saved when I was into that movement myself, but I see that they are all gone or out of date. I remember discussions about SARS in New Medicine forums, but they didn’t provide much useful explanations. Then I quit that scene.
While Dr. Hamer revealed the nature of how an illness takes place, the different phases (impact/conflict, healing phase/pain, and recovery), which is of course only a very short abstract of his research, there is not so much to find about explanations of epidemic and pandemic phenomenon. One can find a rather short explanation about the Spanish flu. I suspect, that after the recent outbreaks of diseases, the New Medicine scene stopped proposing their ideas because they felt that they can’t explain things properly. For a scientist this means, back to the laboratory, to research further.
Concerning the genius of medicine, Dr. Hamer, I don’t expect much more from him. He has done his work. He will be lauded in future like a Galileo Galilei, the one who was too advanced for the world to understand. Unfortunately, Dr. Hamer appears to have gone mad, for various reasons I won’t get into here. But despite this sad fate, his research is probably the most precious revelation in medicine we know (or don’t). Well, the knowledge is available. Recommended for all who want to know more about the real nature of illnesses and disease. But it is just that. More knowledge about disease. Not more knowledge about curing diseases. This is a different topic, but knowledge about the root of the problem is a good starting point. All else is just a fight against symptoms.
But back to the viruses. A bacteria is a definition we have determined. A fungus is a definition we have determined. A virus is a definition we have determined. What do we really know about microbial life and purpose, its function? Here shines the work of Dr. Hamer, as he relates every microbe to its special purpose, biologically and evolutionary. In other words, every organ in our body has evolved in time, and every microbe has evolved in time accordingly. Everything fits together. And when there’s a conflict, they all work together, organs and microbes. In animals there are only rarely cancers. In humans there are more cancers. Because humans tend to repeat their programmed fears, while animals more easily let go. In confinement, animals express more often cancer, in confinement they live in constant fear of survival.
It is very much worthwhile to spend a week or month to study the works of Dr. Hamer. He was the first to continue the works of Paracelsus and Pasteur. There is a legend, that Pasteur himself said, that it is the environment, not the bacteria.
So what is first? The bacteria, or the environment? The virus, or the environment? What use is it for the virus to kill the host when it can’t replicate for long time? I think these are questions we have to ask. Of course, we won’t get quick answers, as this is something mankind has been asking for a very long time. We won’t get the answer, but we should be asking the right question, instead of just believing.
Asking the right question is a good way. It is the way for the right answer.

Posted by: Phil | Feb 6 2020 23:10 utc | 256

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 6 2020 6:53 utc | 147
I’m not surprised that they are corrupting “false flag” to make it something innocuous. They are doing the same to “Deep State”, which obviously means a permanent, hidden and powerful group that essentially runs the govt, sets its goals, etc. They are now using “Deep State” to mean merely high-level federal employees who are holdovers from previous administrations.
Regards.

Posted by: Penelope | Feb 6 2020 23:13 utc | 258

Meanwhile…Today, in “This in Germany does not happen …”…

Ernest Urtasun
@ernesturtasun
Very serious! For the first time in Germany the sanitary cord is broken against the extreme right. In Turíngia the red-green government falls because <>CDU and liberals have accepted the votes of the AFD to place a new liberal prime minister in the Land.

https://twitter.com/ernesturtasun/status/1225068796651552769

@juan_reboso
The far right is advancing dangerously under the protection of the right

https://twitter.com/juan_reboso/status/1225079760272994307

Posted by: Sasha | Feb 6 2020 23:18 utc | 260

one more thing about viruses:
in nature, there is mostly symbiotic life. Every life form adapts to the environment. It can be a host, a living organism, but it cannot kill the host. Otherwise it cannot reproduce. This applies to every life form, including the so-called viruses.
It is therefore a false assumption that there are ‘viruses’ that kill without sense, without purpose. The very idea of viruses originate from our fears and lack of knowledge. Similar to bacteria. Before we knew of microbes, we didn’t care. When we learned about bacteria, we were afraid. Bad bacteria. Then we learned that our digestive system was full of bacteria, that the soil we plant our food is full of bacteria. We never really recovered from this first shock, and reluctantly learned that bacteria are alright. Then we got the so-called viruses. Which we never were able to exactly determine. But they are there in our consciousness. They are entirely evil. They just kill without purpose. Without sense. Because it will kill themselves.
But, of course, there are regulatory processes in nature. When something is old, dead, it will be consumed and deteriorated. So when something like that happens, we must ask: what has triggered this deterioration process?

Posted by: Phil | Feb 6 2020 23:40 utc | 262

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Feb 6 2020 11:18 utc | 171
The military games you mention were one day after
“While many alt-media outlets have fingered Event 201 as the replica “drill” that so often coincides with a false flag event, few are aware that on the day after that simulation, the 2019 Military World Games kicked off in Wuhan, bringing 300 US military personnel to the city.”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/all-sectors-us-establishment-lock-step-deep-states-latest-bio-war/5702773

Posted by: Penelope | Feb 7 2020 0:00 utc | 264

Posted by: Pft | Feb 6 2020 12:08 utc | 178
Thanks for an intelligent comment. Green fascism, yes. There’s a wonderful Senate report documenting how a group of billionaires run the environmental orgs from the top.
https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2014/7/post-53280dcb-9f2c-2e3a-7092-10cf6d8d08df
If only people wd take just one of the “facts” in support of the global warming hoax, and look for the other side’s refutation of the “fact”. But mostly people become emotional, defensive, and unable to consider counter-arguments.
It’s considered a great virtue to “stick to your convictions” (conclusions). The real virtue is in the rigor with which you examine the data that lead to those convictions.
When were you in China & what were you doing? Were you a philosophy major? Haven’t heard anyone speak of the Hegelian Dialectic (and synthesis) in years.

Posted by: Penelope | Feb 7 2020 0:03 utc | 266

Is anyone aware of any development in Iraq since the US indicated its refusal to leave quietly?
Strange that this situation seems completely off the radar.

Posted by: augrr | Feb 7 2020 0:58 utc | 268

reply to uncle tungsten 269
Thank you, I wasn’t aware of that.

Posted by: frances | Feb 7 2020 1:42 utc | 270

vk #186
“China wasn’t given on a silver plate to the Communists. They had to fight for it.”
Using Soviet Weapons made possible with US aid during WWII while the US cut off aid to the KMT.
And lets not forget, the Chinese Communists fought against Chinese, much like the Bolsheviks fought and killed many Russians to assume power during a time the country was at war. Neither were popular revolutions
Both the FSU and China depended on Western technology and trade. FDR was kind enough to recognize Uncle Joe and then make him a war time ally after he invaded Poland and Finland, despite the millions of deaths his policies caused in the Ukraine. Wall St money funded Lenin and Tolstoy. China and Mao were bailed out by Nixon, and then continuous MFN allowed China to build its economy. No sanctions for China unlike Cuba and other developing socialist economies. Sanctions against the FSU occurred only after their industrialization was completed, and even then loopholes and agents within government and industry covertly assisted their continued technological development as Sutton exposed
I consider the FSU and PRC were testing grounds for the Western Elite. Communism fell out of favor though, although totalitarian control did not. State owned capitalism has simply been replaced by controllers of state owned capitalism(by corporate or party elite), which is another word for neoliberalism.

Posted by: Pft | Feb 7 2020 2:12 utc | 272

shit, I forget archive links doesnt work.

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2020 2:46 utc | 274

I see Mr. Lavrov has kicked someone’s 1823 Monroe Doctrine ball quite hard today.

Posted by: UnionHorse | Feb 7 2020 3:04 utc | 276

@273/275:
You guys left out the “i” as in iFUKUS. I’m sure everyone here knows what the “i” represent.

Posted by: Ian2 | Feb 7 2020 3:48 utc | 278

Ian2 278
[Deb is dead] used FUKUS in his post years ago, I liked it instantly and have been
plagiarizing it ever since.
Its very intuitive,
fuck uk, us cuz these are the ring leaders.
Its also very versatile, in LIbya,
its a FUKUS [fuck FRANCE, UK, US] joint op,
In Asia, its
FUKUSI[ndia],
FUKUSA[ustralia],
in ME, ITS FUKUSI[srael]..
etc etc…

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2020 4:11 utc | 280

Foolisholdman @ 254
You mistake my criticism of these posters’ blithe promotion of capitalist/imperialist China as a criticism of China. It is nothing of the sort. I believe the people and cultures of China adds much to our world. However, lets face the truth and lets especially not pin our hopes for own western salvation where that hope is entirely misplaced.
The solution to the growing extreme wealth inequality and growing fascism existent in all of the US, Europe, South America (including Brazil where VK sits and types her daily odes!) cannot be understood much less redressed by merely choosing sides and cheering one versus the other, especially as the same conditions of growing wealth inequality and fascism exist in present day China too.
Especially when the fact is that far from being enemies (Pompeo and Trump are aberrations playing political games for their electoral base not seriously threatening China), the ruling bourgeois elites of China and the US and Europe are precisely the problem which requires redress…and are interwined in growing their share of the world’s wealth ever more heinously. And I’m not even going into the environmental destruction wrought by relentless neoliberalism

Posted by: donkeytale | Feb 7 2020 5:35 utc | 282

the israelis overseeing these actions are completely insane… it is like a lunatic running their military branch…
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus suburbs put at risk civilian flight with 172 passengers on board – Russian MoD

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2020 6:31 utc | 284

pogohere @ 283
Thank you for that link, although it leaves one guessing which way things are evolving.

Posted by: augrr | Feb 7 2020 7:35 utc | 286

To recap…
A timeline,
===================
1997
William Cohen warned about ‘OTHERS using race specific bioweapons’ against the ‘free’ world.
PNAC highlighted in its ‘to do list’,
‘Race specific bioweapon which can transform it from the arena of terrorism into a useful political tool’
2001-2003
Many top microbiologists specialising in ‘gene manipulation and DNA sequecing’ were suicided or murdered
2003
SARS hit mainland China, HK, Singapore, TW, SEA Chinese communities, worldwide casualties exclusively Chinese !!!
Chinese lawyer Tong Zeng recalled FUKUS and Jp collecting large samples of Chinese DNA during the 90’s, ostensibly for research.
==================
2011
NIH sponsored scientist Ron Fouchier wanna publicize how to DIY weaponising H5N1
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alarm-as-dutch-lab-creates-highly-contagious-killer-flu-6279474.html
2011
Hillary warned about ‘danger of genetic bioweapons attack from AQ’ [SIC]
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/advances-in-genetics-could-create-deadly-biological-weapons-clinton-warns-531347.html
2012,
CDC insiders predicted a pandemic crisis in the next year,

‘Gerstein made an alarming prediction during his presentation, stating that “we expect a pandemic by the end of 2013.” One must wonder how Gerstein could possibly pinpoint a timeline for a pandemic, which is generally seen to be the result of unpredictable microscopic events. Unless, perhaps, he has a hand in creating one.’

https://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/dancing-apocalypso-with-microbial.html
2013
China hit by H5N1 bird flu,
https://www.activistpost.com/2013/05/united-states-accused-of-planting-avian.html
==================
2014
NIH sponsored scientist Ron Fouchier publicised enhanced method of weaponising H5N1
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/04/10/301432633/scientists-publish-recipe-for-making-bird-flu-more-contagious
===============
Jun 2017
murkkan Scientists publicized their research on …
weaponising H7N9
How To Kill A Whole Lot Of People: Scripps Scientists Publish How They Made H7N9 Virus More Transmissible
https://csglobe.com/scientists-made-h7n9-virus-transmissible/

The scientists themselves who were conducting the specific research on how they made H7N9 virus increase its rate of human transmissions are already publicizing it.
More than that, they are also studying specific strains from different locations on Earth, so that a gene, or race, specific attack can be made possible.
The viruses being experimented upon “have been collected in at least 28 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.”

https://eclinik.net/heres-the-proof-flu-virus-was-deliberately-weaponized-for-widest-transmission/
2018
China hit by H7N9
almost wiping off its poultry industry.
=======================
2019
China hit by swine flu,
Pig farms nation wide were sprayed with swine flu virus by armies of professionally modified drones. !
China forced to buy pork from US again !
==============================
2020 jAN
Bill Gates warned about ‘global pandemic’.
2020 Feb,
China hit by SARS2, AND H5N1

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2020 10:09 utc | 288

Two top Sadrist commanders killed in 24 hours in Iraq
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/07/618081/Iraq-sadr-commanders-assassinated-maysan-basra-asaib
Rest assure it is Israel/US behnd these killings, but the iraqi PM want to work with the americans that are kept inside Iraq.
Israelis are laughing good at the iraqi naivety.

Posted by: Zanon | Feb 7 2020 12:14 utc | 290

Thanks for the comments. However, you present zero verified science where it matters to support your rhetoric and your rhetoric is generally skewed…false to the point of delusionality inmost respects.
Far from being at loggerheads verging on war there is ongoing and abundant evidence that the US and China’s elites form a vast connection through capitalist financial markets and consumerist ties.
Here is some fresh “scientific evidence” from today.

In a string of tweets Friday morning, Trump described Xi as “strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack” against the virus and predicted the outcome would be “very successful.”
“He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but … he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone,” Trump tweeted. “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!”

Far from being a socialist country China is in almost no respect different from the usual suspect neoliberal countries of the West.
Far from being a rising socialist vanguard, the Chinese people are a rising consumerist, middle class nation keen on acquisition of capitalist growth maintained through surging levels of government-induced debt.
I won’t belabor your ongoing fairy tale but it is worth calling it out for what it is to counteract your nonsense.

Posted by: donkeytale | Feb 7 2020 13:54 utc | 292

@ denk | Feb 7 2020 2:44 utc | 273
You are quite the ignorant fuckup shit. Go away.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Feb 7 2020 15:20 utc | 294

@Phil #262
You are attempting to ascribe motive to random, natural activity.
Equally, you are failing to understand the full implications of how evolution really works.
Evolution is purely about survival. If a virus can replicate, then it has successfully survived. Death of the host cell doesn’t matter any more than death of a fawn by wolf bite.
Sickle cell anemia is an excellent example. It is a 1 base pair genetic defect – the mutation causes a protein to not fold correctly; this aberrant protein in turn causes red blood cells to deform into the sickle shape.
One copy of this defective gene confers significant resistance to malaria – slightly deformed red blood cells are apparently not tasty to the malaria parasite. 2 copies of this gene kills the bearer in youth.
But overall, the sickle cell mutation is extremely successful because malaria’s impact on the population is far worse than the 2 copy sickle cell deaths.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 7 2020 15:39 utc | 296

Reading a review of matters in the old DDR by Comrade Brother Victor. Neat guy. “Victor Grossman’s Berlin Bulletin”…swam the river an’ all of that.
His latest essay has such a jolly title too> “A FASCIST COUP”, well tell the truth an’ shame th’ devil!
a fragment>For the very first time, a state government – in Thuringia
“almost unknown Thomas Kemmerich, 54, local head of the FDP, which had only barely crossed the necessary 5% hurdle to get seated at all. (It got about 5.0005 % – with a plus of 71 votes, many from his own family with its six sons and daughters plus in-laws). But in that secret ballot he not only got his own five-man caucus votes but those of all AfD members as well, who had obviously made a deal to drop their own hopeless candidate. Even together the two had only 26 delegates, however. It was the secret support by the CDU delegates which, defying all their party’s pledges, joined the AfD to give Kemmerich the needed success: 45 to 44.
Ramelow was out! And, like a thunderbolt from Hades, was the fact that the AfD, while probably not opfficially in the new government, would have veto …”

Posted by: Walter | Feb 7 2020 16:15 utc | 298

sorry farmer ecologist@211
To express your dissent you have to vote for a party that doesn’t have the least chance. Obviously. Not “To express your dissent you gotta vote for either” or?

Posted by: Vig | Feb 7 2020 16:25 utc | 300