The MoA Week In Review - Open Thread 2020-33
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
- Apr 21 - Negative Prices Mark The End Of U.S. Shale
Related:
Since last week the Baker Hughes rig count is down by 64 to now 465. Those are 526 less active drill rigs in the U.S. than last year.
Coast Guard video of oil tankers at anchor near southern California - DVID
- Apr 21 - U.S. Media Fall For Kim Jong Un Rumor From U.S. Government Financed Propaganda Outlet
Related:
Kim Jong Un Mystery Grows With Reports of Trains, Medical Teams - MSN/Bloomberg
Best guess: Kim is trolling 'western' media which continue to speculated about his health.
- Apr 24 - Exceptionalistic Claptrap
Related:
Coronavirus shakes the conceit of ‘American exceptionalism’ - Associated Press
- Apr 25 - On The Coronavirus And Smoking, Infection Fatality Rates And More
Related:
Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19 - NEJM
---
Other issues:
Syria:
Turkey is finally starting to clear the M4 highway as it was supposed to do for the last two years:
Tension on M4 evolves to fierce clashes between Turkish forces and protesters leaving four dead - SOHR:
> These developments comes in the wake of the escalating tension between Turkish forces on one hand and fighters of jihadi factions led by Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham.
SOHR sources have confirmed that exchange of fire with heavy machineguns erupted between both sides, along with shells hitting Turkish posts nearby Al-Nayrab. Meanwhile, Turkish reconnaissance drones were monitored flying over the area. <
Yemen:
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) confirms its coup against the government of #Yemen by announcing its autonomy and right of self-government over the South. Riyadh agreement, came to an official end.
Week 2 of #Yemen ceasefire: @YemenData recorded at least 34 air raids with up to 164 individual airstrikes - up by almost a third on ceasefire week 1. Air raids in Marib governorate reached a near three-year high.
Hong Kong:
Cleaning up the U.S. sponsored inciters of riots:
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai among 14 from Hong Kong opposition camp arrested over unlawful protests - SCMP
Use as open thread ...
Posted by b on April 26, 2020 at 14:19 UTC | Permalink
next page »The oil tanker barrels are largely due to Saudi Arabia - and are a slow-moving aftereffect of the Saudi "shock and awe" oil price campaign as well as partly due to supply chain disruption from the lockdown induced demand shock.
In particular, there are a bunch of oil tankers sitting offshore in California - not much fracking in CA but a lot of oil imports due to lack of pipelines for Texas/Canadian oil.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 26 2020 15:26 utc | 3
@1 nothing says Americans should not start producing own oil and gas from America.. Oil is all over the nation.. and if Americans need to feed the oil and gas Americans need they can produce it in America.
Americans should insist that the USA make importing gas or oil from, or exporting any gas and oil produced in American on American soil anywhere into or out of the America a criminal offense and remove from all locations any requirement that an America lil producer has to get a license to produce. In less than a year, Americans will show the USA just how to produce oil and gas from Americans need .
Same with farming, Americans should insist that the USA stop paying American farmers not to produce food stuffs on their farms. and make import or export to/from America of food stuffs illegal. within a growing season Americans will be feeding themselves.
And with copyright and patents, Americans should insist that the USA remove its laws that create monopolies (patents and copyrights and government contracts) , because these monopolies are anti competitive, within months the big corporations will be out of business and little company Americans will be producing better products than any giant ever made.
And with drugs and pharmaceuticals, Americans should insist that the prohibition on, and laws that regulate D&Ps be removed, leave the policing to tort law, so that there is no profit in any D or P that is not earned by competition.
Americans should insist that the USA act as a government and perform its duties as a government, instead of privatizing or contracting out for services, products, and needs that are duties to be perform by the USA. If the USA needs it, the USA should hire the employees, and build the factory to make it.
In my opinion this would return America to Americans, and make the bill of rights the guardian of human rights it was designed to be.
Posted by: snake | Apr 26 2020 15:28 utc | 4
I noticed many people here still have the hope the USA can reindustrialize.
Here's the reality: it doesn't even have USD 4 billion to absorb Embraer:
Boeing used ‘FALSE CLAIMS’ to ditch $4 billion deal, Brazil’s Embraer says
This is also a huge blow to the Brazilian right-wing, which, since 1958, degenerated to a pro-USA cult and, after 1989, found its ritual in the form of unconditional privatizations to American capitalists.
--//--
Meanwhile, China carries on:
A pandemic is, by definition, a black swan event. There are always a lot of unknown unknowns. Quarantine is the only 100% guaranteed remedy to it.
The West will lose a lot of time and precious resources (human and material) with silver bullets (miracle drugs, scientific extrapolations, "immunity certificates", "social distancing", philosophical masturbation etc. etc.) while China quickly reactivates its economy.
--//--
China learns from its mistakes:
China's top legislature reviews draft laws on animal epidemic prevention for first time
--//--
Japan continues its march to collapse:
Japan scenario projects ICU bed shortage in most prefectures during pandemic's peak
--//--
Sergey Lavrov sees right through the Westerner's bullshit:
Lavrov: Attacks on WHO aim to justify inadequate COVID-19 response
I’ve been looking into data released in daily statements by government (in this example the Ontario, Canada provincial government) and I've noticed that their ‘change from previous report’ data which is stated as a % increase. This % does not seem to take into account ‘resolved’ cases and ‘deceased’ cases, simple taking the new positive cases and dividing by the total cases.
Isn’t the value in seeing the % increase vs. in currently active cases?
New cases / (Total cases - resolved cases - deceased cases)
In the Ontario data if you calculate the way I’m suggesting above it changes their stated 3.1% increase to a 7.8% increase.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus#section-0
When you include cases where three weeks have passed and the person is ‘better’ aren’t you deliberately misrepresenting how infectious COVID-19 really is? I mean people that are no longer infectious or dead aren’t actively spreading the virus anymore so why include them in the calculation?
Posted by: WG | Apr 26 2020 15:41 utc | 6
Dr. Dan Erickson of Accelerated Health Care talks about the impact of the coronavirus on Kern County, California (Bakersfield is 113 miles north of LA)
The hospitals and ICUs are not full of people sick with COVID, although the models that predicted the healthcare system would be overwhelmed by now. The doctors don't feel the shutdown is justified by what they are seeing.
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 26 2020 15:54 utc | 7
It may be useful for readers to remember that it was already policy in China to be moving up the "value added chain" as part of 'Made in China 2025'. It was always the intention of this project to move lower levels of the value added chain out of China and into the economies of the "Belt and Road Initiative" participants. This helps those participants become larger consumers of China's exports, and raises living standards across the B&RI in a sustainable and continuous fashion. Final assembly of products tends to be relatively low skill and low on the value added chain, and so long as the components, sub-assemblies, and materials are coming from China then it is in their expressed interest to move those parts of the process elsewhere... Vietnam, for instance.
In other words, American businesses sourcing finished products from Vietnam rather than directly from China is precisely in line with China's intentions. The apparent switch to sourcing from countries other than China is not nearly so significant an issue for China as some Sinophobes would like to imagine.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 26 2020 16:08 utc | 8
Perimetr @Apr26 15:54
The doctors don't feel the shutdown is justified by what they are seeing.
The lock-downs (not "shutdown") were done as to prevent the overwhelming of the healthcare system.
It's deceptive to use the success of the lock-downs to argue against lock-downs.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26 2020 16:18 utc | 9
Here's the reality: it doesn't even have USD 4 billion to absorb Embraer: VK @ 6,, <===Americans don't need so much money, if they are not dealing with don't farm don't compete (because of monopoly laws such as patents, copyrights, etc) and don't work unless you have a license.. laws. Since 1949 . we have been dealing with these don'ts. its time to empower Americans to do their thing again.
Posted by: snake | Apr 26 2020 16:27 utc | 10
Glad to see news items like Syria, Yemen, Hong Kong are back!
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 26 2020 16:28 utc | 11
"Russia Sends Flowers to Still-Absent Kim Jong Un While U.S. and South Korea Hold Air Drills"
Posted by: arby | Apr 26 2020 16:42 utc | 12
"The Trump administration recently moved $342m belonging to the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) from a frozen Citibank account to an account at the New York Federal Reserve. The Guaido-led opposition reportedly “approved” the measure, which the BCV called “plunder.”
Posted by: arby | Apr 26 2020 16:48 utc | 13
@vk #6
Embraer was always about maintaining monopsony in airplane production.
Now that air travel in general seems due to a long, profitless period - much less clear that the Embraer acquisition is worth it.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 26 2020 16:50 utc | 14
Author worth reading?
Jacobin review of Steve Fraser
Fraser insists that “two labor questions existed side by side: one concerned itself with the vanishing of the independent producer . . . the other with the fate of the newly born propertyless wage slave.” He extends this analysis to the Global South in the twentieth century and after. Only capital accumulation from that region allowed the United States to overcome its own collateralized debt obligations, toxic loans, and financial derivatives at the end of the last century.He calls the result “autocannibalism,” capitalism swallowing itself. This is a nice word to characterize our ecologically destructive consumer culture. Limousine liberalism, the logic of the gentility, faces off against “country and Western Marxism,” as William F. Buckley once described the ideology of George Wallace. Then, with only a few more twists and turns, Trumpian populism.
Fraser has sought to give us an understanding of how existing economic relations work to the benefit of the powerful.
Indeed, I do wonder how much of the lockdowns are "the logic of the gentility" - those least affected by the economic disruption of abrupt cessation of the majority of the service economy, of hourly wage workers vs. the salaried elite or independently wealthy.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 26 2020 16:53 utc | 15
vk @6
A quibble: NN Taleb has been unequivocal about this - COVID-19 is NOT a Black Swan. Have a look at his tweets on this topic from Mar 30 or the youtube video "Nassim Taleb Says 'White Swan' Coronavirus Pandemic Was Preventable."
Posted by: spudski | Apr 26 2020 16:57 utc | 16
Snippets;
The Akademik Chersky, pipe line laying ship is heading back to where it came from. (Sputnick), and not docking at Aberdeen as planned. Why bother to bring more gas "on line" at the moment, when prices will probably fall still more? (Join a pipeline laying ship and see the world?)
The Turkish army are now on bad terms with the terrrorists in the Idlib area, as b says.
Question; Why are there no reports about terrorists getting Covid-19? Is it because they were already masked?
On 19 March two cruise ships with COVID19 infected passengers and crew were evacuated, one in Havana and the other in Sydney. The first evacuation, of the Braemar, was so successful and uneventful that it barely raised a ripple in the world media. The second, of the Ruby Princess, led to at least 21 deaths, 700 infections and a criminal investigation.
Why was there such a big difference and what can we learn from this contrast?(Herald tribune). Even the MSM are starting to question the "official" responses to the Covid-19.
https://ahtribune.com/world/americas/4109-two-cruise-ships-cuba.html
I reckon that the Powers-that-be are really scared of civil unrest, or even worse from their point of view, civil "exclusion" of authority. There is a vid of some poor guy standing against a wall in France and one cop tries to set his police dog on him (Which the dog refuses !!) after which the cops throw the guy on the road and proceed to beat the living daylights out of him, next day someone photo'ed the blood on the walls and pavement. Police brutality is still there.
But people I talk to are really wondering why we should pay taxes and "obey" for.. brutality, incompetence, corruption.....etc.
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 26 2020 17:07 utc | 17
RE: Jackrabbit | Apr 26 2020 16:18 utc | 9
"The lock-downs (not "shutdown") were done as to prevent the overwhelming of the healthcare system.
It's deceptive to use the success of the lock-downs to argue against lock-doTHe wns."
The US came in with shutdowns well after the point where the hospitals should have been overwhelmed, according to intial projections. But it isn't happening. I find it rather amazing that there is essentially no reporting on the census in US hospitals.
One story in Boston says the numbers are tracked. LOL since when does the US not track data, especially something so simple to track? It is not being reported because the numbers don't conform to the narrative.
I did find one story that documents the fact that even in NY, the system is NOT overwhelmed. Officials had estimated that 140,000 hospital beds might be needed to treat coronavirus patients. Only about 18,500 were in use by week’s end.
Let me restate that, 140,000 predicted and only 18,500 beds in use in NYC, the epicenter of COVID in the US. Yes, the lockdown did flatten the curve . . . but the shutdown did not happen early enough, especially in NYC, to lead to this discrepancy in the data. COVID-19 has not turned out to be nearly as lethal as initially predicted. The deaths that are occurring all mostly involve comorbidity.
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 26 2020 17:17 utc | 18
apologies for misspelling "lockdowns" in above quote . . . always fighting with my shitty Lenovo computer
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 26 2020 17:19 utc | 19
As Pompeo chides the leaders of Hong Kong for not abiding with “universal values of freedom of expression, association”, we learn how these values apply in Iraq:
“Washington blatantly dictated its demands to the Iraqi officials: to rescind all signed agreements with China, disband the PMF by fragmenting its brigades, and integrate these into the existing security apparatus (Ministry of Defence and Interior Ministry). The US wanted its harsh sanctions to be applied on Iran … Finally, Washington wanted the Iraqi parliament to overturn its previous decision to withdraw US forces from the country…”
Rescind all signed agreements with China - that’s a new one.
Posted by: jayc | Apr 26 2020 18:26 utc | 20
When the idea ‘lungs affected by’ ‘pneumonia’ plus ‘smoking’ plus ‘Chinese men bigly smokers (women not)’ came up, I posted, this is junk!
Smoking reduces ACE2 receptors, these being (reportedly ..) ‘the’ or ‘one of the’ entry avenues for cov-19 virus.
That social media was, is, filled with such rubbish is understandable, as smoking has become in many places a marker of low status, smokers are disgusting ppl, druggies, polluters, child killers, gutter filth.
Note the difference with cocaine users who tend to be quite well off - at least in EU - and get a pass, nobody is screaming your doc is mad high and will cut in the wrong place, or X leader is coked up talking BS...(Macron?)
Yet, that supposedly serious authorative organisms like the CDC in the US (and all the MSM following) blithely announce being a smoker as a condition that is co-morbid is worrisome. I checked just now and today the CDC has removed ‘smoking’ as part of the list of conditions that make ppl vulnerable.
What about the other conditions, characteristics? They are all correlated with older age, being in a ‘rich’ country, aka more elderly living taking a pile of pills everyday.
So … is having gray hair (correlates with age), is losing 2 cms in height (correlates with age), taking X meds, eating junk food, or more, leading to cov-19 deaths? What really makes older ppl more susceptible to death by nov-19?
None of this informs us about the cellular (or more general) mechanisms of the virus, its attack, success in function of x y z factors or whatever. All very shoddy check boxes (with no solid support) parading as ‘Your Gvmt top info.’
Plus, the few stand out group-differences that could lead to some insight, such as death of men, much higher vs. women, are not considered seriously (or only so in a few publications, etc.)
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 26 2020 18:27 utc | 21
The king donkey rear has no idea what Marxism is, despite all of its efforts to study the articles in Wikipedia on the subject to improve its performance for its employer, David Brock. It's obvious adherence to marching orders from the DemocRat party to demonize China are not sufficiently subtle for this forum, however.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 26 2020 18:51 utc | 22
Stonebird@17
The French military just received a big order of chloroquine phosphate for the national military police and CRS (created in 1943 by the Vichy puppet regime). This will allow the COVID-19 safe continued repression by these "forces of order" on those who oppose Macron's dictatorship.
Posted by: krollchem | Apr 26 2020 18:56 utc | 23
Not really news, but good information nuggets about the Second Cold War front:
China boosts oil imports from Russia, while slashing purchases from Saudi Arabia
China no longer the world's garbage dump as it plans to cut waste imports to zero this year
krollchem | Apr 26 2020 18:56 utc | 24
It figures. The citizens are told that Chloroquinine is "no good" or "doesn't work" or even "is dangerous". Taking Chloro will mean the CRS/military police are "fighting fit" when ordinary people come to their senses.
I wonder what will happen in the "no go for police" areas that exist in some countries, when liberty is restored. Could it be that they become the new norm as a counter-party to "gated" self isolated areas for the rich? The breakdown of national territorial unity?
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 26 2020 20:03 utc | 25
Snake nbr 4:
What a simplified world view, I hope you never have children, it would be a waste.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 26 2020 20:11 utc | 26
Stonebird | Apr 26 2020 17:07 utc | 17
The Akademik Chersky, pipe line laying ship is heading back to where it came from. (Sputnick), and not docking at Aberdeen as planned. Why bother to bring more gas "on line" at the moment, when prices will probably fall still more? (Join a pipeline laying ship and see the world?)
Totally untrue. She is indeed still heading for her new task, pipe laying in the Baltic. She is currently heading north at 11knts, which is the quickest she been, off Cherborg heading north. She should be in the Baltic Monday/Tuesday.
Re Syria
Looks like another nasty spat between the Turks and their proxy fighters. It looks like 5 terrorists dead and 2 Turks injured, one serious. It is clear that opening the M4 peacefully is a distant dream.
One day, probably soon, the Syrians and the Russians will have had enough and will go in with force. But this time they will have a bigger problem with the Turkish Army, there is a lot more of them and there are more Observation Points (used ti support the terrorists). Whilst at the same time Russia has been quietly boosting its number in Syria. It could get a bit fraught this time. If the Turks bring in their airforce and attack Russians they might that the Russians come at them from other sites than their Syrian airbase.
Re Embraer
Boeing have cancelled their proposed civil aircraft deal but it looks like the separate joint venture between Boeing and Embraer for marketing and supporting the C-390 Millennium military aircraft remains intact.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 26 2020 20:32 utc | 27
JC | Apr 26 2020 15:10 utc | 2
With the oil industry having to shut down a large part of itself - probably in a few weeks, not months, I think that SA is going to be very vulnerable. I saw a tweet somewhere mentioning that they had 800 dissidents/executions, either this year (since january) or in a whole year (12 months). I can't be more explicit as I don't remember which is the correct time. Big amount anyway. Plus now Mecca is shut. Plus a war. They are going to need an income renewal fairly soon.
So it makes sense for the Chinese to make sure of their supply lines.
The US army has sent the "elite" units of the SDF to guard the oil fields in the North-east of Syria, and it has made a lot of unreasonable demands on the New Iraqi PM. (To screw up Iran as well). War as usual for the US?
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 26 2020 20:40 utc | 28
JohninMK | Apr 26 2020 20:32 utc | 29
The Akademik Chersky
Curious that. I went back to Sputnick to link the article and it has already been removed. You are probably correct. Someone blundered?
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 26 2020 20:46 utc | 29
Stonebird 31: "Someone blundered?"
Perhaps Sputnik is trolling westerners, fishing to see if slimy outfits like Washington Bezos Post would publish a moronically gleeful article reveling in Russia's hardships without even checking a ship tracking site to verify it.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 26 2020 20:54 utc | 30
Howie Hawkins -- Peace and Freedom Party 2020
I am a retired Teamster in Syracuse, New York, who joined the civil rights, antiwar, and environmental movements as a teenager in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s. In 1984, I co-founded the Green Party. In 2010, I was the first U.S. candidate to campaign for a Green New Deal in the first of three campaigns for New York governor that won Green Party ballot lines.
To end the climate crisis, I have detailed an Ecosocialist Green New Deal to create 38 million new jobs, 100% clean energy, and zero carbon emissions by 2030.
To end poverty and economic insecurity, I propose an Economic Bill of Rights: job guarantee, guaranteed minimum income, affordable housing, improved Medicare for all, tuition-free public education pre–K to college, and secure retirement by doubling Social Security.
To end endless wars, I support 75% military spending cuts, U.S. troops home, diplomacy, international law, human rights, and a Global Green New Deal.
To end the new nuclear arms race, I favor no first use, minimum credible deterrent, and ratification of the new Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.
I support unions, $20 minimum wage, worker co-ops, public banks, public energy, public railroads, progressive taxation, net neutrality, internet privacy, ending mass surveillance, no nukes, no fracking, abortion rights, student and medical debt relief, decriminalizing drugs, ending mass incarceration, police under community control, immigrant amnesty, African-American reparations, Indian and Mexican-American treaty rights, whistleblower and political prisoner pardons, and presidential elections by National Popular Vote using Ranked-Choice Voting. [Ranked Choice Voting is a huge fraud -- which many well-meaning people fall for]
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So --
HowieHawkins20 -- Account suspended -- Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules
You catching on yet?
Thanks for posting, blues @ 34. What rules did Howie violate?
Posted by: juliania | Apr 26 2020 21:40 utc | 32
Two links
One about the UK
https://skwawkbox.org/2020/04/26/senior-medic-lifting-lock-down-before-mass-test-and-trace-is-in-place-will-cost-thousands-more-needless-deaths/#comments
The second Dilip Hiro on the contrast between the Chinese and US responses to the crisis:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176693/tomgram%3A_dilip_hiro%2C_the_coronavirus_chronology_from_hell/#more
Am I alone in finding that it is unusually difficult to get through to the Comments today?
It looks as if there have been 36 comments in more than seven hours. Is that not unusual?
Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2020 21:53 utc | 33
Stonebird and William Gruff
I've been tracking her since Singapore. She is a very important ship to the Russians and Germans. Basically she has to get to the Baltic at all costs. Without her NordStream 2 can't be completed and the Germans really need it with their move from nuclear/coal power to gas. The Russian gas will be much cheaper via that pipeline as opposed to trekking across eastern Europe paying transit charges on the way. Hence those Eastern Europe countries doing everything the can, with US help, to stop it. Mind you with fracking going down the tubes the US won't have any LPG to sell the EU anyway. Best laid plans and all that.
Back to the AC, down the Pacific and onto Sri Lanka she had the Russian cruiser Admiral Vinogradov as escort. The Russians must have decided the Suez route was too risky so sent her the long way round the Cape of Good Hope. At Sri Lanka she picked up a Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudrii (out of the Red Sea)as escort (AIS destination Maputu Mozambique). Then at Capetown she met up with a Russian Slava class cruiser. The Russians are clearly very concerned. I would speculate that she also has a Russian attack submarine under her. But we don't know if she has one or two escorts now as naval ships don't activate their AIS transponders often.
Since then she has chugged up the coast of Africa (AIS destination Las Palmas) at a steady 8 knts. Once past Las Palmas her AIS destination changed to Port Said but she went straight past the entrance to the Med and next AIS changed to Aberdeen! Then it changed to Nakhodka in the Pacific. Meanwhile whilst traveling up the Portuguese she didn't join the northbound line of ships, she trekked well out of the way about 50 miles offshore. She is now in the regulation northbound Channel stream, next to the French coast.
I am hoping to find out if she does indeed have a cruiser/frigate with her by the normal Royal Navy 'defend the UK' action to rush out and escort them evil Ruskie ships. Then we get photos in the Daily Mail. Failing that the Dutch Navy usually gets some good pictures. Unfortunately she is passing through the Straits of Dover in the dark.
I suspect she will end up in Kaliningrad or St Petersberg. She is certainly in no hurry. Then start pipe laying, after the crew has had a break (travelling since Feb 9th), in June.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 26 2020 21:58 utc | 34
William Gruff #23
It's obvious adherence to marching orders from the DemocRat party to demonize China are not sufficiently subtle for this forum, however.
Good times are here. Finally the Moa delivers a superb cutting retort at post 23.
Well said William Gruff.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 26 2020 22:39 utc | 35
blues #34
You catching on yet?
I notice that the alt left and progressive youtubers are still frantically talking about Biden, Bernie and Trump and busy interviewing people like Nina Turner and so busy talking about the election in 2024! All that oxygen for the losers - the 1% and no talking about who is the third party President running NOW for the 99%. Who are the new people defying the 2 party lockdown?? Interview them??? NAH. Keep on looking backwards, No one walking forwards.
Jimmy Dore, Useful Idiots, Rational National, etc etc.... NOT ONE WORD to support the changemaker in THIS 2020 election. WTF
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 26 2020 22:51 utc | 36
The gloves are now off as China has called out Pompeo quite correctly saying, "Pompeo an enemy to world peace"--and we ought to expect more disruptions here at MoA. Here's just one of several slaps in Pompeo's face:
"The former top intelligence official is steering the US Department of State into becoming the Central Intelligence Agency. He is playing with fire, making the 21st century an era of major power confrontation and undermining the foundations for peace. Despite being the chief diplomat of the US, he totally betrayed the basic responsibility with which he is entrusted to promote international understanding. He has become the enemy of world peace."
What's most unfortunate is few seem to consult Global Times, as I was rather surprised this major editorial wasn't already linked. Here's yet another slap:
"Geopolitics cannot dominate the world anymore. Pompeo and his like are desperately pulling the world backwards. They are unable to handle a diverse and complicated new century and so they attempt to resume the Cold War. They can only 'realize their ambition' in polarized confrontation."
And that clearly wasn't enough as yet another slap's delivered in the closing two sentences:
"Lies may fulfill Pompeo's personal ambition, but they will never accomplish the US dreams to be "great again." Pompeo is not only a figure harmful to world peace, but also should be listed as the worst US secretary of state in its history."
Hmm... Don't know if he qualifies as "worst" yet as he must still top Ms. Clinton, but she certainly didn't treat China as has Pompeo.
b re Yemen link at beginning. NFG. not configured.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 26 2020 23:04 utc | 38
Further details on the case were shared by the Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashenko on his Facebook page. The ring involved the head of the clinic, her son, as well as two other Ukrainian and three Chinese nationals. They were charged with human trafficking that may lead to 12 years in prison with property confiscation.
The majority of the clinic’s clients were single Chinese males of “certain orientation,” as Gerashenko put it. While the exact number of trafficked babies remains unknown, at least 140 more Chinese nationals are under investigation, the official added.
Anton Gerashenko is the person that put early (in the first few hours) MH17 propaganda on social media. The so called intercepted radio calls between rebels and also photograph supposedly of BUK launch.
Looks like Gerashenko is doing his bit for the China decoupling.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 26 2020 23:24 utc | 39
Definately an engineered virus is a paraphrase of what the linked article is about and more. The item's peppered with links to support its content. Here's the main premise:
"The key fact that the Covid-19 virus is a laboratory product and therefore man-made was authoritatively established by French Prof. Luc Montagnier who recently disclosed the results of his laboratory analysis of the virus genome. He found it to be laced with spliced-in HIV sequences, which effectively excludes the possibility of its being the product of a natural process. (Prof. Montaigner put it extremely delicately: 'in fact, part of the virus, not the whole, has been manipulated'.) Was it manipulated by bats in some Chinese caves? Prof. Montaigner, incidentally, is eminently qualified to speak on the subject as he was in 2008 a recipient of the Nobel Prize in medicine for identifying the HIV virus. The fact that as soon as he let the cat out of the bag he became subjected to harsh denunciation (here and here) by all the right circles lends powerful support to the credibility of his findings."
Very few arguments have been posted saying the virus is manmade. Perhaps b has already investigated the same sources but arrived at a different conclusion, although most of us have yet to say with 100% certainty natural or man made.
to arby 26/04/20 16:48 thanks for that link. They not only admit that they're stealing - they brag about it. Unbelievable but true. So it seems that murka is not paying just the venezuelan apposition - it's paying the "parallel apposition" to the apposition. Nice work if you can get it. And the murkan Con=gress once again proves, by sliding that bit of thievery into an unrelated funding bill, that Mark Twain is right: "There is no native american criminal class - excepting Congress."
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 26 2020 23:27 utc | 41
@32 Or perhaps referring to Aberdeen as a destination is an example of Russian humour?
Posted by: dh | Apr 26 2020 23:38 utc | 42
Messing up the page. Please Do. Not. Ignore the helpful instructions:
Use the Allowed HTML tags found over the field for writing your text. Insert LINK instead of a Headline. Safer that way.
========
Not to be missed; we are in the Silly Season. The nutcases said to work in D.C. are out China bashing. And it is orchestrated:
"China should pay a big price for COVID-19."
There will be a big Price but it won't be paid by China.
Lead illiterates are Pompeo and Graham:
Pompous, SoS [he needs to be saved] has promised:
US Will ‘Make Sure’ Countries Understand Coronavirus Came From China
The United States is working with International partners to ensure they understand that the Coronavirus originated in China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.Appearing on the Ben Shapiro Show, Secretary Pompeo made clear that it is the position of the US that Beijing should explain to the rest of the world where the Coronavirus came from and that it should have to make reparations for the economic fallout of the pandemic.
“We need to hold accountable the parties responsible for the deaths here in the United States and the enormous economic costs that have been posed on the US,” said Secretary Pompeo.[.]
and
Sen. Lindsay Graham has proposed that the U.S. should default on $1 Trillion-plus U.S. debt to China because the Stimulus packages to rescue the economy will be in excess of $1 Trillion.
LINK
Graham is also proposing economic suicide; a nano-second collapse of the USD.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared Thursday night on Fox News’ Hannity and proposed a stark measure against the Chinese government: refusing to pay U.S. national debt held by China “because they should be paying us” instead as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Graham’s proposal, if congressional Republicans and the Trump administration actually tried to carry it out, would seriously damage America’s standing in international finance — and potentially the entire world economy — and it’s arguably unconstitutional, too.[.]
Why Not?
We have weaponized the dollar, why not a virus? Oh wait.
Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 26 2020 23:47 utc | 43
Maybe Marx was Right Afterall is the title of this short think piece. There's theory and there's practice. I also don't think Marx contemplated a planet with 8 Billion people, with more always coming onboard.
The stock markets and banks have been made whole again with public funds, which will allow the 1% will rejoice and start buying the little people's distressed assets for pennies on the dollar. A real virus, a pathetic response in the west, and a delayed re-opening will insure maximum economic damage. Think of it as taking advantage of an an unknown unknown to pull off another control demolition at a much larger scale.
Posted by: sad canuck | Apr 26 2020 23:51 utc | 45
to blues 26/04 21:26 as I read the beginning of your post, I thought oh great, at last a real candidate. Then I came to the bitter end, if we may so call it. Business as usual. Until the money gets out of politics, there will be no change - so there will be no change. Think of it: the Three Bs - Buffy, Bezos and Billious, have amongst them nearly One Trillion Dollars. To say that murkan voters are ant people is to exaggerate their size. Meanwhile - many of the rabid Dump haters are lining behind - Biden???!!!!!*&^%$#@ I'll just echo Uncle Tungsten WTF???? Murkans truly are stupid..... masochists - ??? Remember Dennis Kuchinich? Had some great ideas and some hands on successes. Go buried by the 'Bomber Dims machine. It happens again and again.
Do they like being fucked?
to Johnin MK thanks for the update on Academic Chersky. That particular tinderbox has been out of the news lately.
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 26 2020 23:51 utc | 46
I'd like to give a shout out to Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman from Georgia. She was the ONLY person who questioned the election theft by
Bushboy and co. The entire array of them... Governor Jeb. Fixit man Backer and Daddy pulling strings. The Dims party knuckled right under, except
Cynthia. There are a precious few, but they get crushed by the machine.
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 26 2020 23:57 utc | 47
karlof1
b banned links to the Montagnier stuff.
I looked into it at the time when commenters were linking to that stuff. The Genome work was done by another person
and posted to research gate which is simply a social media site for researchers rather than a place where peer reviewed papers are published.
He was pushing the HIV bullshit because HIV attacks T cells. The MERS coronavirus does the same though so no need to place a section of HIV in a coronavirus as it already has that capability.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 26 2020 23:58 utc | 48
pardon - should read Baker - the NATO will not move an inch guy.
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 27 2020 0:02 utc | 49
I had posted this comment at the 'coronavirus and smoking' thread, but it looks like it may be a major advance on understanding COVID-19 and how it affects the body so will post it here as well.
http://www.en.usz.ch/media/press-releases/pages/covid-19-endotheliitis.aspx
Varga has been able to use an electron microscope to verify for the first time that SARS-CoV-2 is present and causes cell necrosis in endothelial tissue.
Endothelial tissue is a cell layer that acts as a protective shield in blood vessels and regulates and balances out various processes in the microvessels. The disruption of this regulatory process can, for example, cause circulatory disorders in organs and body tissue, resulting in cellular necrosis and thus to the death of these organs or tissue...... This means that the virus not only triggers the inflammation of the lungs, which then causes further complications, but is also directly responsible for systemic endotheliitis, an inflammation of all endothelial tissue in the body which affects all vessel beds – in heart, brain, lung and renal vessels as well as vessels in the intestinal tract....
...The endothelial tissue of younger patients is usually capable of coping well with the attacks launched by the virus. The situation is different for patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes, heart failure or coronary heart diseases, all of which have one thing in common – their endothelial function is markedly impaired. If patients such as these become infected with SARS-COV-2, they will be particularly at risk, as their already weakened endothelial function will diminish even further, especially during the phase in which the virus reproduces the most.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 27 2020 0:05 utc | 50
@ karlof1
>> he was in 2008 a recipient of the Nobel Prize in medicine for identifying the HIV virus.
After noticing the Nobel committee’s political corruption, I no longer see this as a positive.
Posted by: oglalla | Apr 27 2020 0:07 utc | 51
thanks b... i appreciate being able to read interesting articles like this one you posted above from nejm- Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19
bevin.. sundays are usually slower days..
i agree with oglalla.. being civil goes a long ways... it is hard when others are pushing our buttons, i'll admit!!
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2020 0:25 utc | 52
Some will know who Hyman Minsky was, some won't. Hudson gives him the primary credit for providing the foundation for Modern Monetary Theory, and he gets praise from Keen, Wolfe and many others too. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, here's a long essay that seeks the following:
"But the question still stands: Was Minsky in fact a communist? Of course not. But, a century after his birth, it is useful to clarify often neglected aspects of his intellectual biography."
Since Minsky's referenced so often by Hudson particularly, I think this piece will be helpful for those of us following the serious economic issues now in play. I'd reserve an hour for a critical read.
Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UBI) is an interesting idea.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4783265/
It was actually quite a thing in the 1940’s and 1950’s for diseases like septicemia, pneumonia, tuberculosis, arthritis, asthma and even poliomyelitis.
Low and mild doses of UV kill microorganisms by damaging the DNA, while any DNA damage in host cells can be rapidly repaired by DNA repair enzymes.
Having done a bit of reading on porphyrins of late and seeing a NY doctor mentioning that covid-19 patients have hypoxia w/o pneumonia and good lung function got me thinking. This may be due to the porphyrin heme is unable to transport oxygen , perhaps because the virus somehow has displaced iron from the porphyrin (heme) , and makes me wonder if UV light can help in this regard .
Porphyrins are highly pigmented (heme gives blood its red color) fluorescent molecules . Strong pigments are always efficient energy absorbers, and if they are also fluorescent like porphyrins, they are also good energy transmitters.
Porphyrins are more efficient energy transmitters than any other of life’s components. In technical terms, their ionization potential is low, and their electron affinity high. They are therefore capable of transmitting large amounts of energy rapidly in small steps, one low-energy electron at a time. They can even transmit energy electronically from oxygen to other molecules, instead of dissipating that energy as heat and burning up. That’s why breathing is possible.
The word porphyrin is derived from the Greek porphura meaning purple. The pandemic exercise last year was named Crimson Contagion. Crimson is a strong, red color, inclining to purple like heme. Coincidence?
Could it be that whatever is causing COVID-19 , and we dont know for sure because kochs postulate was not fulfilled on the virus China said they isolated, that it is infecting or altering a porphyrin like heme?
Completely out of my depth here of course. Food for thought though.
Posted by: Pft | Apr 27 2020 0:40 utc | 54
Peter AU 1 @52--
Thanks for your reply! I thought I'd read something to that effect; and since the publication of the Chinese genome work I linked to last week and the WHO's latest appraisal, I didn't give much credence to the author's assertions. Rather, I shared it because Strategic Culture gave it space. Pompeo and Trump behavior however do continue to provide fuel for the idea that the virus was used to attack China and that events from mid-February onwards were unanticipated Blowback.
At this point, I think this an excellent question: Does Pompeo seek a general war with China, not the hybrid affair we already have, but a real live bullets, bombs, etc., WAR? IMO, he does.
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 26 2020 15:54 utc | 7
It is a must watch. Part 2 got a bit "political" /g
Btw, this NYC overrun news is news to this Brooklynite. The nearest hospital, 10 minutes away, is tranquil on the outside and very little ambulance activity occurs. It is good to remember that NYC is the city where steel skyscrapers collapse on their own footprint and the steel rubble is dispatched post-haste to China. I would not be shocked if they were lying.
Dr. Erikson's briefing also occasions the question as to "why did China quarentine healthy people? Why close an entire city?" if the medical practice to date ("since biblical times") has been to isolate the sick?
Interesting to note that the narrative most of us dumbed-down get handed is ala films such as 'Contagion' wherein healthy too are indeed quarentined.
This is very interesting axis: CCP, WHO, CDC, Bill Gates Foundation, Hollywood, and what passes for journalism these days.
Posted by: concerned | Apr 27 2020 0:49 utc | 56
james @59--
I have no trouble scrolling past derelicts and their diarrhea. I meant what I said earlier and will employ my lawyer if needed. I'm sure he'd like some business too!
we all have to do what we have to do... i liked the quote arby left on another thread - never wrestle with a pig as you get dirty and the pig likes it!!!
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2020 1:22 utc | 58
@ Miss Lacy | Apr 26 2020 23:51 utc | 50
=/ to blues 26/04 21:26 as I read the beginning of your post, I thought oh great, at last a real candidate. Then I came to the bitter end, if we may so call it. Business as usual. Until the money gets out of politics, there will be no change - so there will be no change. /=
I never speak in vain!
I am not at all like the rest of you.
Follow my website and very soon the answer will be revealed to you. I promise. It will be astoundingly easy! Just keep watching!
Ranked Choice Voting Is A Fraud
The population bears no responsibility. Simply let them become truly responsible. That is the real answer. When the people become truly responsible, they are no longer a 'mob'.
@karlof1 #43
The problem with Luc Montagnier is that he's possibly lost his shit.
This isn't based on speculation - he published a paper which drove all the homeopath advocates into a tizzy, then most recently started talking about electromagnetic waves from DNA - which is possibly where the Iranian radio detectors for coronavirus came from.
What is certain is that he's gone far, far afield and that none of his work from the last 2 decades is either notable or even possibly sane. The Nobel prize was for work done in the 80s and 90s...
I'd particularly note the irony of relying on a person who is known for his work in the 1990s - well before any modern gene-typing techniques either biological or computer - for analysis of how nCOV is engineered.
Has Montagnier ever engineered anything using CRISPR or older techniques?
If he hasn't - then why again is he credible?
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2020 1:45 utc | 60
@Noirette #22
You said
Smoking reduces ACE2 receptors, these being (reportedly ..) ‘the’ or ‘one of the’ entry avenues for cov-19 virus.
Sorry, but there are many papers documenting the exact opposite: ACE2 expression is higher in smokers vs. non-smokers:
University of South Carolina study
That some other factor offsets the higher ACE2 expression is very possible, but it is not the case that smoking reduces ACE2.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2020 2:02 utc | 61
@ Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 26 2020 23:50 utc | 48
According to Marx's theory, the concept of (human) superpopulation is subjective by default. 600,000 in a city is nothing by industrial capitalist society, but is superpopulation for, e.g. a feudal society. 100 people can already be superpopulation for a hunter-gatherer society, but even for remote villages of out times is very few people.
Absolute superpopulation is very hard to happen in the real world because the ecosystem already regulates how much a given species can grow before it collapses.
The myth of superpopulation arose with the theory of Thomas Malthus, who analyzed the cycle of land prices and wage prices in medieval Europe. He theorized that humans grew on a faster rate than food production. Therefore, when human population surpassed a certain critical mass, wage prices dropped below subsistence levels, thus starving a large part of said population to death. This would generate a subpopulation, which would make land prices fall, rising wage prices again, thus initiating another process of human population growth and so on.
There is evidence of such cycles in medieval Europe (e.g. 11th-12th Centuries England). However, it is important to highlight that pre-modern societies didn't see the world in terms of economic theory, but in natural terms (of politics between humans, and the relation of humans to the gods). It is very unlikely that macroeconomic data were never invented, let alone gathered, before the rise of capitalism. So we don't have (and never will) reliable macroeconomic data for the likes of the Roman Empire, the Carolingian Empire, the Mongol Empire, Chinese Empire etc. etc. etc. Some procapitalist historians like to extrapolate data from merchant letters found in desert areas like Egypt, the Levant and the Samarkand ("Silk Route") - but those are clearly fantastical extrapolations with an evident hidden agenda behind them (many of those "Economic Historians" are from outside the field of History, and end up getting a job in History Departments in universities and colleges; some of them are sponsored by interest groups).
It's also important to have in mind that Malthus was an ardent conservative, who was still with the French Revolution (1789) fresh in his mind when he published his most famous works. The French Revolution, it is worth remembering, was triggered not by idealism, but by an epic famine that desolated France at the time (as we can infer by the historically high prices of bread), in a time capitalism really couldn't feed everybody in absolute terms, and absolute scarcity was still a real threat. The event certainly traumatized Malthus, but that's another story for another time.
Cleaning up the U.S. sponsored inciters of riots:
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai among 14 from Hong Kong opposition camp arrested over unlawful protests - SCMP
These scum should be arrested for terrorism and high treason, not for "unauthorised protests". Magistrates and judges should be warned that lax responses would be punished by sacking and cancellation of all their qualifications. Actually, the magistrates extreme lax responses is tantamount to conspiracy to support terrorism, and should be treated accordingly. All Hong Kong magistrates and judges need to be sent for 5 years mandatory retraining in ethics and law on the mainland. In the meantime magistrates from the mainland can stand in for them.
Posted by: BM | Apr 27 2020 2:37 utc | 63
Disabuseer @ 58 said "How is this blog any more credible than ZH, except in the use of more flowery diplomatic language?"
Well the lack of drooling MAGA racists within the readership gives it a bit of a head start :)
Posted by: sad canuck | Apr 27 2020 3:29 utc | 64
"
CAIRO (Reuters) - Syrian air defences early on Monday intercepted “hostile targets” over the capital of Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported.
SANA added that the air defense system had intercepted “Israeli aggression” coming from Lebanese airspace, and had downed some rockets before reaching their targets.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 27 2020 3:36 utc | 65
karlof1 #43
Very few arguments have been posted saying the virus is manmade. Perhaps b has already investigated the same sources but arrived at a different conclusion, although most of us have yet to say with 100% certainty natural or man made.
There is a video of a Swedish epidemiologist (maybe over at SPRS?) where she is adamant that the genome appears to be badly hacked. Something to the effect that it is engineered with lots of mess littered about in the genome. If I can retrieve that I will post the link. But she certainly supported the 'engineered' hypothesis.
Time will tell.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 4:02 utc | 66
Re Syria. I guess once Turkish army has jetted all the jihadis to Libya and the combined patrols by Turkey and Russia opened up the M4 highway then the Russian Military Police will step up patrols with the Syrian Military or civilian Police.
Certainly there is no role for Turkey in the Idlib or Latakia regions of Syria in the near future.
Ultimately ejecting Turkey from the Syrian region will be a fascinating game to watch given that they seem to be invading with considerable army resources.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 4:42 utc | 67
james #65
we all have to do what we have to do... i liked the quote arby left on another thread - never wrestle with a pig as you get dirty and the pig likes it!!!
Caution feral animal eradication program.
Beats wresting with them any day.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 4:49 utc | 68
@ karlof1 with the Use and Abuse of MMT with Michael Hudson , Steve Keen and others..thanks
What I don't see spoken often in relation to MMT is how China is an example of an evolving implementation of such. China's policy goal of maximizing employment and social welfare fits with MMT policy goals while bailing out and maximizing value for the FIRE sector is not the intention, even though that is what is happening now under the guise of saving the world from the coranoravirus.
Here is a brainwashing check. How many MoA barflies believe that the coronavirus caused the economic crash we are seeing on Wall St? I have to write that I am seeing that assumption being made by folks I expect better of. It seems quite possible/probable, aside from the virus being human made/distributed, that the virus is being used (enhanced response) by the puppets for empire leadership as the blame child for the economic lockup waiting for a letting go reason.......Yes, there are going to be serious supply chain dislocations because of the coronavirus but perhaps the mental health of the West is not fit for stay-at-homes where abuse is running rampant and the long term mental health implications have not been considered, in the sickly profit motivated Western world.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 27 2020 4:53 utc | 69
As I didn't get an answer to my question above @ 35, I would guess that Blues posted without really intending to elucidate - I've found more on the subject of the Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, his run in with Twitter, at the following:
https://cafe-babylon.net/2020/04/18/demexit-greenenter/#more-16411
He apparently still has an account in his name, but I was confused by the link Blues posted as that seemed to suggest a different party from the Greens. Oh well, as things go, it's only one more confusion on top of many.
Back to my garden.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 27 2020 5:28 utc | 70
JohninMK | Apr 26 2020 21:58 utc | 37
I should have said you are certainly right - not probably!
The armed escort makes sense, and even citing Aberdeen as "destination" could point to a regular use of disinformation by the Russians. Maybe they have caught on to the technique.
It is true that Pompeo and the US military underground think they have the ability/right to attack others without reprisal, (similar to Israel attacks on Syria) but I also think that that tactic has just about run its term.
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 27 2020 6:33 utc | 71
Whitney Webb is doing a great job on revealing the malign antics of the security state and its scabrous minions:
look here at her twitter feed and she now is writing for TLAvagabond.
See also her interview on the Jimmy Dore Show.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 6:59 utc | 72
Australia has launched a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with coronavirus patients despite privacy concerns that authorities insisted Sunday were unwarranted
Posted by: JC | Apr 27 2020 7:20 utc | 73
The fact that so much outdoor work is going on (as I see with my own eyes in NJ) seems surprising given the generally depressed condition of the economy. I assume the "innocuous" parts are being funded with corporate bailout money.
Beyond that I get the sense that various actors are seizing the opportunity to barrel ahead with lots of what would normally be controversial projects, since at least for now almost all of the people, including those who up until a few weeks ago defined themselves as politically active, have abdicated all political thought and responsibility. That's part of the general regression to an infantile state which I think many of these people, at least the ones without immediate financial or social worries, are enjoying.
One thing is crystal clear: For as long as people believe in and conform to the mass terror campaign it's the absolute end of ALL politics, and the system's fake democracy will proceed in a purely scripted manner. That's probably part of the attraction lockdown holds for so many: Being tired of democratic responsibility and (with some justice, under US conditions) loathing the thought of even a modicum of political participation, people embrace the "escape from freedom" and the mass mindset which historically has been the best habitat for fascism, especially where felt by a middle class which feels itself to be plummeting fast economically.
How ironic that the lockdownists like to portray their submission as the exercise of "responsibility" when it's the radical opposite, an abdication of public citizen responsibility. Just one of their many Orwellian inversions of language and thought.
JC #83
Australia has launched a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with coronavirus patients despite privacy concerns that authorities insisted Sunday were unwarranted
They are simply training people to leave their phones at home. Odd how you really don't NEED that thing on every journey. Soon you might be able to pay a small Uber fee for someone to take you smartphone for a ride while you get down to business.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 9:06 utc | 75
The problem with Luc Montagnier is that he's possibly lost his shit.This isn't based on speculation - he published a paper which drove all the homeopath advocates into a tizzy, then most recently started talking about electromagnetic waves from DNA - which is possibly where the Iranian radio detectors for coronavirus came from.
What is certain is that he's gone far, far afield and that none of his work from the last 2 decades is either notable or even possibly sane. The Nobel prize was for work done in the 80s and 90s...
I'd particularly note the irony of relying on a person who is known for his work in the 1990s - well before any modern gene-typing techniques either biological or computer - for analysis of how nCOV is engineered.
Has Montagnier ever engineered anything using CRISPR or older techniques?
If he hasn't - then why again is he credible?Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2020 1:45 utc | 67
Posted by: Avid Lurker | Apr 27 2020 9:11 utc | 76
I have been strongly in favor of the so-called 'lock-down' simply because we have been confronted with an unknown threat, which actually could have been far, far more disastrous.
However, we are quickly learning how to deal with Cov19, and it is beginning to look less catastrophic, at least for most people.
Therefor, I suspect that the so-called 'lock-down' will soon be deemed excessively expensive in many respects. Hopefully it will be mostly rescinded soon.
blues #87
However, we are quickly learning how to deal with Cov19, and it is beginning to look less catastrophic, at least for most people.Therefor, I suspect that the so-called 'lock-down' will soon be deemed excessively expensive in many respects. Hopefully it will be mostly rescinded soon.
Great news but will you quickly learn how to deal with the extraordinary powers now in the hands of the police under direction of the public health emergency bureaucrats?
For example the lockdown is not the end, it is the preliminary first move after which comes the mandatory quarantine or house arrest for all those people who came close to a known covid carrier. This is revealed by their smartphone being traced as 'too close' to the known carrier who is also being traced. So if an asymptomatic person (known to the health authorities) goes to a supermarket at the same time as you and passes you in the aisle: bingo you are then under house arrest for a fortnight or two. Thanks smart phone.
Considering approx 80% of people are asymptomatic and in the next six to twelve months will all likely contact the virus and not even know it then we have a large problem reliant on a test that is somewhere near the order of 50% false results.
Happy times ahead for all.
Rule number one: leave the smartphone at home.
Rule number two: wear a good size mask when out.
Rule number three: pay cash.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2020 11:00 utc | 78
Historians have speculated that if Britain had remained neutral in 1939 after Germany overran Poland, France, nor the U.S. would have not declared war on Germany, and the war would have been over in 1940 with the West aiding Germany in destroying the USSR and the hated communists. by: krypton @110 and edit #110 and 113: <==Propagandist often act as Speculating historians. Two non speculative books one written just before the war and the other just after the war, present documents and make clear that beginning in 1897, just after the first Zionist Congress in Switcherland, France signed a deal with Russia to get Germany , and the next year the USA agreed to help France and England destroy independent Germany, so it could not share in the oil under the Ottoman Empire. These two agreements were designed to contain German progress and to reserve for the private oil interest, the Ottoman oil, until Germany could be taken out of the competition for the oil beneath the Ottoman Empire, according to the both authors these agreements rendered German diplomacy unable to negotiate anything.
CoV19 fuels pocket picking wealth concentrating (PPWC) machine American small businesses and unemployed still waiting for USA promised emergency loans
Posted by: snake | Apr 27 2020 11:30 utc | 79
BM@70
Something like 80% of the HK judiciary is not HK Chinese. Basic Law, no change for 50 years etc. Judicial reform is high on the wish list of many who would like to eliminate colonial relics and their wigs from the government of HK.
Posted by: TDeL | Apr 27 2020 11:39 utc | 80
Despite stereotypes, low-tech Japan faces challenge in working from home
This is another myth about Japan that we must debunk. Japan is not a "high-tech" country. It's labor productivity rate is lower than the USA's (and, if memory doesn't fail me, even than some European countries).
--//--
@Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 27 2020 4:53 utc | 79
No. China is the polar opposite of MMT.
The Chinese government owns the means of production. When it bails out businesses, it is bailing out itself. When it grants tax cuts for businesses, it is granting tax cuts for itself.
Besides, China is a relatively low debt-to-GDP ratio country, which definitely doesn't fit the MMT ideal-type pattern. Yes, China's debt rose sharply this last decade - but that was collateral effect of its new "reform and opening up" doctrine, which states that China should also be a financial superpower if it wants to survive geopolitically.
--//--
Germany switches to Apple/Google anonymity for COVID-19 tracer app
See, kids? It's not mass surveilance when a rich Western nation does it!
Nice (Orwellian) touch on the "decentralized software architecture", by the way. Those German politicians are really catching up.
Here's a good piece compiling more studies which reinforce the fact that outdoor transmission risks are negligible. That's against the backdrop of the long established science on the health benefits of outdoor recreation, including and especially for the immune system.
Park closures never had one iota of scientific rationale and always went completely against all known science. At best such closures were driven by official panic and cover-your-ass motives. They never had any connection whatsoever to protecting public health. Even the rationale touted by some state regimes, that some park-goers weren't observing the right amount of spacing, has no scientific basis since there's no evidence that constant rigorous spacing is necessary outdoors.
By now all this is clear, and keeping such closures in place is no longer a mistake but a malign act which casts doubt on the entire motivation for all lockdown measures.
https://alethonews.com/2020/04/27/why-outside-air-is-safe-and-park-closures-should-end/
I want a question answered. What's missing?
Suppose there was a hoax, and it failed. Examples abound. Oswald. Magic airplanes, coincidences. Obviously the real thing would not fail. If a hoax is big enough it's not a hoax - but it functions precisely the same way, if one prepares the ground with proper exploitation. Takes the effort to write the "patriotic laws" well in advance, games the not-hoax well in advance, and so forth. Basic stuff.
Reader may consider two literary truisms here, one from Tolstoy, another from Emily Dickinson.
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
and
"In quiet and untroubled times, it seems to every administrator that it is only by his efforts that the whole population under his rule is kept going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable every administrator finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts. While the sea of history remains calm the ruler-administrator in his frail bark, holding it with a boat hook to the ship of the people and himself moving, naturally imagines that his efforts move the ship he is holding on to. But as soon as a storm arises and the sea begins to heave and the ship to move, such a delusion is no longer possible. The ship moves independently with its own enormous motion, the boat hook no longer reaches the moving vessel, and suddenly the administrator, instead of appearing a ruler and a source of power, becomes an insignificant, feeble man."
(Tolstoy)
Ok, question Time. In what way is Tolstoy telling truth slant?
What's missing?
Tolstoy left out the fighting. In the beginning of the "play" he failed to place a gun on the wall.
In Political matters, there is always a gun on the wall. And there are no coincidences.
.................
Meantime the good burghers of Anoxia voted, they say, unanimously, to end the quarantine protocol, more or less.
The Sheriff pretty much let everybody he could out.
The spinster schoolteachers bought a gun.
Nobody knows anybody that's sick with "it".
At the Anoxia Hardware and Feed, Wally was the only fella in a crowded country store wearing a mask.
Later on he'll stop at the Dewdrop Inn for a bracer and interviews...
.........................
"All churches are illuminated by gaslight..." (it's a trick statement, quiz Friday, or write an essay in lieu.
Posted by: Walter | Apr 27 2020 12:38 utc | 83
It's time to buy a few Lockheed shares !
https://www.stripes.com/news/us-still-world-s-biggest-military-spender-as-global-expenditures-approach-2-trillion-1.627517
http://www.kxan36news.com/russia-entered-the-top-five-countries-with-highest-defense-spending
https://bnn-news.com/germany-spent-10-more-on-its-military-in-2019-212767
Posted by: Mina | Apr 27 2020 13:03 utc | 84
Mina | Apr 27 2020 13:03 utc | 96 Lockheed is misspelled as "Luckup" in a true movie "Deal of the Century".
Idiotic, yes, but fun too.
Doing garden stuff to-day, and runnin' screwpipe for air. But jus' maybe there's time for a pain expeller down at the Dock Holiday.
Stars an' Stripes is a nifty source. They cannot properly hide the a-priori assumptions, which are also bald in the flick.
Posted by: Walter | Apr 27 2020 13:30 utc | 85
Japan authorizes its central bank to buy unlimited amounts of bonds:
Great comments upstream by Russ at 85 and 94.
Can someone get a story out on how the "alt/media" fell for the Corona Swindle and aided and abetted a narrative that is terrorizing and damaging young people around this country.
No coverage of how Covid is a business model even as it is obvious given Wall St. is walking away with $6 trillion under the guise of "Covid package?"
Posted by: Allen | Apr 27 2020 13:33 utc | 87
to psychohistorian... I think you are correct. Certainly the virus lockdown has accelerated the crash especially in oil, but warning signs were in abundance in the fall of 2019. I will again highly recommend the website wallstreetonparade for details. The authors, to my mind, are on a par with our excellent B in their dedication and knowledge. The mechanics of our current crash have been analyzed by many, ej The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. It seems to me
that the cracks were there and the wall streeters gleefully applied the virus sledge hammer.
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 27 2020 13:50 utc | 88
Allen | Apr 27 2020 13:33 utc | 99 It's The Old Army Game, a game of skill, and science. Biggest theft in History. And That Is Not A Hoax.
Meantime, CN Live has a good discussion (consortiumnews)
Posted by: Walter | Apr 27 2020 13:50 utc | 89
Allen @Apr27 13:33 No coverage of how Covid is a business model ...
Yeah, the business of Empire:
The Empire Games Covid-19
Oh, and don't miss this nasty "business":
Covid-19 Trumped-up CRISIS! Allows Government-assisted Profiteering: Chloroquine vs. Remdesivir
<> <> <> <> <> <> <>
I provided the links above multiple times at moa weeks before the libertarians mob showed up to complain about the lockdowns. Most of the libertarian mob didn't have anything to say about the stealth bailouts of Wall Street, Boeing, etc. They just want their "freedom" to be wage slaves restored - just as the doctor establishment ordered.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2020 13:55 utc | 90
Here's another article, this time by a left-leaning analyst, talking about lockdowns Nic Lewis on lockdowns
the lockdown is merely a holding strategy, which offers no long term solution to the COVID-19 problem. The eventual total number of deaths for COVID-19 are not reduced relative to any less restrictive policy that likewise avoided the health system being overwhelmed. Deaths are merely spread over a longer period, assuming that eventually restrictions are lifted and people’s lives return to normal.Vaccinating the population against COVID-19 is unlikely to be achieved for 15-18 months at best. A repurposed existing drug might be found to work on a shorter timescale, but a sensible strategy cannot rely on that hope. Developing and testing a successful new drug would likely take longer. Worse, there is no guarantee that a vaccine or drug effective against COVID-19 will be found in the foreseeable future.
This is the problem: the lockdowns are economically unsustainable nor do they "fix" the nCOV mortality issue.
Nic Lewis later goes on to say that a strategy to quarantine/lockdown the most vulnerable segments of the population makes far more sense than locking everyone down.
He also notes that Sweden's # of new nCOV cases has plateaued since March despite no lockdown. A look at the Willis Eschenbach's graphs (using John Hopkins data) shows Sweden performing comparably or better than the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy despite no lockdown: WuWT COVID graph
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2020 13:57 utc | 91
As to the Hòngkóng story, The South China Morning Post (an anloistic HK daily rag) telles us that the demonstrators are "democracy activists" and that the police denies "acting on the orders og the Hinese regime in Bêijing". Likewise character assasinations against the Peaple's Republic of China central authorities are ablase everywhere in Atlantisist media. No-one amongst these news sources and suchalike point out that the arrested activists' ideal is to return to the Anglosphere, and whether they aim for as being colonies or plutocratic millionaire republics à la the US or richman's playgrounds as Britain is for the Ciy of London, that info now still eludes us.
Posted by: Oū Sī / 區司/ Usman | Apr 27 2020 15:53 utc | 92
@ 71 uncle t... the pigs in that video are on the other end of the gun! sorry, but that is how i see that..
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2020 15:59 utc | 93
Pft@62
UVC light has been proposed as a means to sterilize indoor areas to prevent COVID-19 infections in crowded areas such as shops.
https://news.columbia.edu/ultraviolet-technology-virus-covid-19-UV-light
Interesting comment about crimson contegion. The attack on hemogloblin was reported a few weeks ago but has since disappeared. Do not know if it was true. Perhaps UVC in conjunction with ECMO which involves shunting blood outside the body and then back again may be a means to kill the virus, thus suppressing the disease progression.
Posted by: krollchem | Apr 27 2020 16:04 utc | 94
Thank you for the links, c1ue. In essence the article, (blessedly short) agrees with the Chinese fact finding report that found only one instance of transmission of the virus in the out of doors. That study concluded that most transmissions are 'in house' as far as the volatility of the virus is concerned. Thus, homes in which the elderly or infirm are quarantined just because they are susceptible, ought to be on lockdown. Mine has been ever since the scare was formalized in my area, with younger members of the family doing the necessary grocery shopping for me. I have no idea whether or not I have already contacted the virus and could be a transmitter, but that doesn't matter - I'm staying in my home environment, though I do feel free to walk about the immediate area. Were I ever to enter a closed environment, I would wear a mask. So far I haven't had to do that.
"Nic Lewis later goes on to say that a strategy to quarantine/lockdown the most vulnerable segments of the population makes far more sense than locking everyone down.
He also notes that Sweden's # of new nCOV cases has plateaued since March despite no lockdown. A look at the Willis Eschenbach's graphs (using John Hopkins data) shows Sweden performing comparably or better than the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy despite no lockdown: WuWT COVID graph
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2020 13:57 utc | 94"
I also am of psychohistorian's view that the US government has seized upon the virus attack to foist measures upon the public that allow for a second 2008 theft of public resources by the oligarchy. This was coming, virus or not. They may, however, have bitten off more than they can chew. I don't actually mind if severe measures continue, because they are bringing folk back to the sense of what is truly important, and the overwhelming consensus will be 'better safe than sorry.' Plus there will be interesting impulses in terms of solidarity and a recognition of the dasastardly and oppressive regime we have all suffered up to now. In a sense, the virus has freed us to discover this. A heightened awareness is not what the despots want. A new respect for nature's imbalance is not what they want.
But it is what we need.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 27 2020 16:27 utc | 95
@ Russ 77
While I do enjoy reading your comments, Russ, I can't help but detect a level of disgust with the lockdown. (/sarc)
It has only been a handful or so of weeks, sir, and soon the economy will be humming again. I already notice the freeways are filling up again and I even had to tap the breaks heading home the other day, the first time in quite a while.
Is this what you are lamenting? Or merely that parks are not open? (Although in my area sunbathers are indeed out in droves and the public parks (perhaps not the state and national ones) are getting more use than before, with the exception of organized sporting events.
But the fact remains that this has indeed annoyed many people, some for reasons such as from yourself and others because they want to work and fail to trust the warnings for the nature of the virus.
I can only say that the gov't will not be allowed another dry run of quarantine lockdowns, presuming of course that covid-19 was nothing to worry about in the first place, without a different disease epidemic where one can draw back their curtains and see the dead in the street.
Indeed, "they" blew their wad on this one.
If it was an opportunity for them to further loot the public treasury, I see nothing out of the ordinary here. And your insistence that this is an excuse for the everyman to hide from the responsibility of liberty I think is an exaggeration. This apathy is nothing out of the ordinary in my view for us Americans.
And so I am not ready to admit that ceasing work for a few weeks and spending time with family, especially with the opportunity to assist a spouse who is taking on the role of schoolmaster for their children, is a poor use of time. I believe a collective breath given to one is useful where they are able to step outside the normal flow of anxiety from the average day in America where they consistently devote themselves to the slavish pursuit of money, position, power, and yet more comfort to stave off any threat to their general sense of wellbeing and where they are convinced of their own power to be able to indeed head off any struggle of life or faith that would blow its way into their lives.
You want them to get back to work. Why? So we can forget about the whole thing?
You think we are shutting down as citizens and forfeiting that which is most valuable. I am not ready to say this.
When my daughter was born, I took three months leave under FEMLA, all of which was paid using accrued sick time. It was a marvelous stint and I was busy assisting my wife who was recovering from a c-section and getting to know my daughter. The time also gave me room to think about my current job from a different perspective, that of being outside it, and where, upon returning to it, I decided to seek other employment elsewhere and where the whole experience of it endowed me with a sense of confidence where I was not only able to accept my role as interchangeable in any position at any job but also as free to leave if only given the proper time to think about my situation with a current employer.
In other words, my friend, you seem to view this downtime as an abdication of responsibility whereas the work of the spirit is often stunted during the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. This time could mean the opposite as it fills one up with a sense of responsibility for their own life.
But like I said above, we'll be back to our desk jobs or our labor jobs soon and again under the thumb of those who equate time with money.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 27 2020 16:32 utc | 96
I should have said, "Were I ever to enter a closed environment other than my own home... "
Posted by: juliania | Apr 27 2020 16:35 utc | 97
@96 nemesis calling.. good ruminations my friend... lets hope you don't catch trouble for saying all that!
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2020 16:45 utc | 98
Walter @ 83, thank you exceedingly for your two literary excerpts! And for your added but cryptic reference to the gun on the wall, which compels me to add my own one - there's more to it, but in the chapter under the main heading 'Farewell to the Old', Boris Pasternak in "Dr. Zhivago, gives the riveting example of Commissar Gints on the water barrel:
"...In the course of the past months his feeling for a courageous exploit or a heart-felt speech had unconsciously become associated with stages, speakers' platforms, or just chairs onto which you jumped to fling an appeal or ardent call to the crowds.
At the very doors of the station, under the station bell, there stood a water butt for use in case of fire. It was tightly covered. Gints jumped up on the lid and addressed the approaching soldiers with an incoherent but gripping speech. His unnatural voice and the insane boldness of his gesture, two steps from the door where he could so easily have taken shelter, amazed them and stopped them in their tracks. They lowered their rifles.
But Gints, who was standing on the edge of the lid, suddenly pushed it in..."
I'm in for a glorious re-read of some classics. Thanks again!
Posted by: juliania | Apr 27 2020 17:02 utc | 99
Another excellent Alastair Crooke essay digging into the complexities of the situation using historical and current observations. My initial presumption that the pandemic was the needle piercing the bubble is akin to Crooke's grain of sand in that it's unleashed a cascade of broken complexities that impact other complexities within our very complex society, which led me at the outset to invoke Tainter's hypothesis about the collapse of complex societies. IMO, the essay needs to be read slowly while enjoying some tea or coffee for there's much within it to unpack. It also comes at a point in the crisis where the Outlaw US Empire is trying to blame China for the entire affair, unjustly of course, but we also see similar behavior from the past Crooke documents.
One ought to read today's Global Times editorial and compare it with yesterday's I linked upthread--softer in tone but equally full of resolve.
Much to contemplate, but at least the bouncer has done its work!
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Nothing quite says "Shale oil is dead" so expressively as all of those millions of bbls of oil sitting off the coast waiting for somewhere to go.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 26 2020 14:39 utc | 1