yes, and as former president Lula da Silva said ‘ there is no wealth without labor and there is no labor without the active presence of workers’.

Posted by: augusto | May 10 2020 15:14 utc | 4

…
The question is: when dozens of people are sticking to a certain story they don’t believe in, is this a kind of spontaneous coordination?
Yes. Completely $pontaneou$.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 10 2020 15:39 utc | 6

there is a poem getting attention from all the right people
and platforms
and if you want to believe Covid is a gift
that poem is for you.
if your head is not up their ass looking for morsels on which
to subsist, I have a poem that may be more to your
liking
THE GREAT DIVIDE
by William Skink
build back better
your betters say
creative destruction
hooray! hooray!
you never would have
gone along
so we sang
the pandemic song
you dirty hordes
make the planet sick
with fertile wombs
and dumb fuck sticks
with you inside
the earth rebounds
culling is kindness
up is down
I sense confusion
your furrowed brow
your sovereign delusion
you’re not our cow
at the appointed time
go bang your pans
or loudly howl
or clap your hands
those who question
are not your tribe
ignore their protests
the great divide
is our greatest tool
since the cross
to win the mind
some hearts get tossed

Posted by: lizard | May 10 2020 15:58 utc | 8

thanks for all the work and these links b… much appreciated..
i lost track of kraftwerk a long time ago.. i continue to listen to andre mehmaris work – brazilian pianist who is doing great music.. here is a recording that improvises on milton nascimento, lo borges and other brazilian artists that i admire.. –Clube da Esquina No. 1

Posted by: james | May 10 2020 16:41 utc | 10

@1: CO2 levels are not falling, check Mauna Loa data. We are in a warm up period between two ice-ages and physics reduces CO2 solubility in sea-water. Anthropogenic emissions are not really decisive.

Posted by: E | May 10 2020 16:42 utc | 12

Norwegian @ May10 14:22

Russiagate has been an obvious coup attempt from the beginning

jinn @ May 10 15:20

That is not at all obvious… you have to be extremely gullible to believe any of it is real.

IMO Russiagate was about initiating a new McCarthyism.
And Trump’s Deep State selection was about re-igniting nationalism in response to the Russia-China alliance which was recognized as a threat to the Empire in 2013-2014 with Russia’s blocking of US action in Syria and Ukraine.
I’ve been saying this for years.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 10 2020 16:52 utc | 14

bevin @ May 10 16:41
It was a transparently false narrative designed, by the most incompetent election campaign team in history …
Occam’s razor says Hillary threw the election. No seasoned politician would make the mistakes that she made – especially when they yearn to make history (as the first woman president) and the entire establishment (left and right) is counting on them to win.
Believing what is evidently incredible has long been a test of loyalty …
And you prove your loyalty with the belief that Hillary lost because of an “incompetent election campaign”.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 10 2020 17:01 utc | 16

@ ProfK 9
Whether or not General Flynn is loathed or liked, there is Supreme Court decisions setting precedence for dropping a case when found to be wrapped in prosecutorial misdeeds:
As for the first ‘black’ president out from the shadows;
Obama, the petit constitutional law scholar, signed the NDAA National Defence Authorization Act which allows imprisonment of Americans forever has no standing to claim the “rule of law is at risk” and he may want to call Eric Holder.
Certified Hypocrite.
Now why is Obama against General Flynn? Hmmm. Good question.
Did the FBI target Michael Flynn to protect Obama’s policies, not national security?
LINK

Posted by: Likklemore | May 10 2020 17:08 utc | 18

There is a typo in the title of the Billboard article that b linked to. They misspelled his surname.
Ah well. Errare humanum est.

Posted by: hopehely | May 10 2020 17:34 utc | 20

@ Jackrabbit 19
Thanks for that additional link. And that’s why Obama could not standby with Flynn in the NSA role. Recall Hillary’s on Trump-“if he is elected we’ll hang” (paraphrased)
In 2008 I posted at another blog this: “Obama is a fraud and my view does not hang on the controversial birther movement. ” From whence he came? He made a speech at the Democratic National Convention; 3 years in the Senate, then runs to occupy the White House. The media puff pieces. “Hope and Change, Yes, We Can” Watch for the broken promises.”
Fast Forward to 2011 he signs NDAA.
“How Obama disappointed the world.” Der Spiegel had such an article 9 Aug.2011. But he was re-(S)-elected.

Posted by: Likklemore | May 10 2020 18:11 utc | 22

Obama didn’t disappoint the world, he betrayed it.

Posted by: Perimetr | May 10 2020 19:17 utc | 24

Next up could be a “Venezuelagate” because it surely looks more like an internal US intelligence (propaganda, media) operation for some kind of political gain to attack opponents with than anything else.
It could have been instigated by anyone, just as Russiagate could have been, and could easily follow a blueprint of “do something incredibly stupid, let the noise and accusations commence, and play the long game/backlash for ‘profit'”.
Just another possibility among many. Could be wrong, could be right.
In case I’m being difficult to understand what I’m trying to point out is that there’s nothing to limit shenanigans to a simple “A then B” logic or for that matter an almost equally simple “A then B then C” logic.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 10 2020 19:31 utc | 26

@ 26 sunny runny burger regarding usa creating a scene in venezuala… on the one hand we are dealing with a fully confirmed liar and on the other a clear target of this same liar… that is the only clear picture to me…
@ 25 noirette… yes… it is interesting how this is largely impacting the west! total cases in the usa as of today from the same site you link – 1,357,076…
regarding obama.. those apples that look so good on the outside are not all worth buying or biting into.. obama is one of them.. the rot’s beneath the surface.. with trump it is a lot more clear what one is getting on the outside..

Posted by: james | May 10 2020 19:40 utc | 28

Interesting colonization of virus bill 6666 (no kidding!)
see “bill 6666” tinyurl[dot]com/y74hgz4u
Read the details…
Ventura County is supposed to be the locus of the “rollout”…wanna bet about the plan?
Read the detail.

Posted by: Walter | May 10 2020 20:13 utc | 30

Dear B,
You may not know this news but back in March this year, another significant musician in the development of German pop and rock music died. This was Gabi Delgado Lopez who is a former member of the band Deutsche-Amerikanische Freundschaft aka DAF to us non-German-speakers. Gabi was 61 years old when he died.
DAF was one of the leading bands in Die Neue Deutsche Welle (The German New Wave) and was one of the first bands in the then West Germany to sing in German at a time when every pop and rock band around the planet, including Japan, sang in English. DAF started out as a punk band, quickly became an electropunk duo performing on synthesisers with synthesised percussion and beats, and later moved into electronic body music. The duo paved the way for other European electronic dance acts like Front 242 and Technotronic.
The band’s name DAF was always intended to be sardonic and its most famous song is probably “Der Mussolini”.

Posted by: Jen | May 10 2020 20:42 utc | 32

Trailer Trash @27
Compare the tone of the article about the pandemic in Venezuela with the CIA-pedia article about it in Colombia. It is laughable how obvious the anti-Venezuela jingoism is. It is even too pitiful to laugh at how the authors of the article about the pandemic in Venezuela try to give the Random Guaido glowing praise for delivering a few dozen masks to a couple hospitals.
Really sad how desperate the propaganda is.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 10 2020 20:55 utc | 34

Research by Vanessa Beeley shows the extent of the links between UK government, UK medical charities / foundations, UK univerity medical research departments, Big Pharma and Bill Gates.
In short: a prolonged lockdown with induced fear is an essential part of the plan to implement very lucrative compulsory vaccination. In the past, Big Pharma outfits developing vaccines without proper prolonged research were indemnified by the UK government (ie the taxpayers) after they had to pay out big time for vaccines that killed children. The current play book provides them, along with associated medics, legal immunity up front. What Could Possibly Go Wrong for those standing to make out big time?
https://off-guardian.org/2020/05/09/who-controls-the-british-government-response-to-covid-19/
https://off-guardian.org/2020/05/10/covid19-the-big-pharma-players-behind-uk-government-lockdown/

Posted by: Ken Garoo | May 10 2020 21:19 utc | 36

“Occam’s razor says Hillary threw the election. No seasoned politician would make the mistakes that she made – especially when they yearn to make history (as the first woman president) and the entire establishment (left and right) is counting on them to win.” @16
Don’t drag William of Occam into this nonsensical assault on reasoning. Your theory contradicts itself.
The truth is that Hillary was not a seasoned politician, she won one election-handed to her on a silver platter- in New York. She was a rotten campaigner. She simply didn’t like the voters. It is almost possible to isolate the errors-which followed many other errors- that led to her losing critical states in the mid-west, where she refused to expose herself, and her unpopularity, by campaigning.
Does anyone else believe that Hillary threw the election? Does anyone believe that that is anywhere close to being the simplest explanation of the 2016 loss?

Posted by: bevin | May 10 2020 21:35 utc | 38

Two days ago the White House tweeted, “On May 8, 1945, America and Great Britain had victory over the Nazis! America’s spirit will always win. In the end, that’s what happens.”
Many posts here have exposed what the White House chooses to forget: until D-Day the Red Army faced the Wehrmacht virtually alone, over 200 German divisions as against no more than 10 faced by the Western Allies, and broke that force such that by the time of the Normandy landings the Westwall defenders were shredded remnants, almost half of them not even German. The Soviets won the war effectively single-handedly; the US and UK only swept in at the end to keep the Red Army from liberating all Europe from the Nazis.
There were many factors that allowed the USSR, only a generation earlier emerging from feudal underdevelopment and devastated by war and civil war, to turn the tide against the far more powerful Germany and its several allies. But this spirit thing…
There were countless heroes and sacrifices, but I can’t help always remembering Lydia Litvyak. At age 14 she joined a young pilots club and had her first solo flight at 15. She graduated from the Kherson military flying school and became a flight instructor; by the time of the Nazi invasion she’d already trained 45 pilots.
(It’s laughable to think this could have happened under Tsarism or some Provisional Government-descended capitalism. None of this would’ve been possible were it not for the October Revolution three years before she was born.)
She joined the all-women 586th Fighter Regiment, flying biplanes pressed into service in the first days of the war. They were dubbed Night Witches by the Nazis as they rained bombs down on German positions after dark, gliding to their targets to achieve surprise before re-engaging their engines to fly back to base. Her distinction here—her commander called her “a born fighter pilot”—earned her a transfer to another regiment where her skills could be put to different use, against the Luftwaffe over the Battle of Stalingrad.
In one encounter she shot down a German fighter on the tail of her squadron commander, saving her life. The Luftwaffe pilot, an 11-victory ace himself, was captured after parachuting from his plane and asked to meet the flyer who had shot him down. When he was taken to Litvyak he first thought he was being made the butt of a Soviet joke, but as she calmly described each maneuver and counter-maneuver of their combat he knew he’d been shot down by this woman.
Litvyak was promoted to lieutenant and selected to become one of the “free hunters” (okhotniki)—ace pilots who flew in pairs searching for targets on their own initiative. Wounded twice in battle, the second time taking her plane down safely making a belly landing, she refused medical leave, demanding to return to her unit. Her Yakovlev-1 fighter, its side emblazoned with a bright “32”, were known and cheered by Soviet ground troops defending Stalingrad in street-to-street combat below.
Another of her victories was against a Wehrmacht observation balloon guiding the accuracy of German artillery fire—notoriously dangerous targets as they were very heavily guarded. Several Soviet airmen had already failed to take it out, driven away by dense anti-aircraft fire. Litvyak flew alone in a wide circle over enemy-held territory, approaching from the rear to detonate the hydrogen-filled balloon with tracer rounds. After this kill she was promoted to command her own squadron in the 73rd Guards Fighter Regiment (the Guards distinction only awarded to the most heroic units).
In her last mission during the Battle of Kursk—her fourth sortie of August 1st, 1943—she attacked a large group of Luftwaffe bombers, not seeing their fighter escort high above. Recognizing her aircraft the escort dove to attack. Another pilot in her regiment, Ivan Borisenko, from another part of the dogfight recalled seeing her turn to meet them; soon all disappeared behind cloud cover. He saw her once more through a gap in the clouds, her plane pouring smoke while pursued by as many as eight German fighters—after the war captured records showed two to have been piloted by Nazi aces who were given credit for killing her. With a mortal head wound she still managed to ram her fighter into the plane of one of the aces, taking his life along with her own. She was 21 years old. She was one of millions.
Here you go, White House—the spirit that defeated the Nazis.

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 10 2020 22:00 utc | 40

After reading this news item, if you’re a citizen residing within the Outlaw US Empire I expect you to be livid regardless your stance on opening the economy. “‘Criminal Negligence’: Trump Officials Ignored Company’s Offer to Make 7 Million N95 Masks Per Month in Early Days of Pandemic. [My Emphasis]
“The Washington Post reported that federal scientist Rick Bright, who filed a whistleblower complaint last week over his demotion following his criticism of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic, detailed communications with Prestige Ameritech in January in which HHS ignored the medical supply company’s offer to produce masks.
“The head of the Ft. Worth-based company, Michael Bowen, wrote to HHS on January 23, two days after the U.S. confirmed its first case of Covid-19.
“Bowen offered to use four dormant production lines to produce as many as seven million N95 masks per month, but was told by Laura Wolf, director of the Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection at HHS, ‘I don’t believe we as a government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet.’
“‘We are the last major domestic mask company,’ replied Bowen, who at the time was fulfilling orders for masks from all over the world. ‘My phones are ringing now, so I don’t ‘need’ government business. I’m just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things ever get really bad.'”
There’s more and it must be read, but what this provides is yet more evidence that not responding was policy made at the top. I think there’s an excellent case for Negligent Murder by the executive branch of the federal government. The Intercept also has a more in-depth article detailing the affair. The following excerpt points to deliberate policy to do nothing:
“Though officially tasked with quickly mobilizing a national response to public health crises, [Robert] Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response and formerly Bright’s boss, is described in the report as a petty tyrant who ignored, mocked, and thwarted Bright’s repeated efforts to address the imminent shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment in January and February, as the virus began spreading across the country.
“In a lengthy, detailed account that reads like a script from a horror movie and will likely earn Kadlec the lasting enmity of everyone who has lost a front-line worker to the virus, Bright lays out a series of unsuccessful and increasingly desperate attempts to push Kadlec and HHS Secretary Alex Azar to recognize and address the looming shortage of personal protective equipment. The attempts to call attention to the crisis began in mid-January, when Bright, a virologist who has spent decades in government preparing for public health emergencies, called for a senior-level meeting to coordinate the response to the coming pandemic.”
The following behavior is what we’ve seen from TrumpCo: Throw $$Trillions are the already filthy rich and God Damn the little people, give them a bit of sand but make sure those tiny grains take forever to get to their recipient such that the sand’s essentially useless when it arrives.
And you think Circe is the #1 Trump hater here. Well, think again.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 10 2020 22:16 utc | 42

bevin @ May10 21:35
The truth is that Hillary was not a seasoned politician …
This is absurd. She previously ran for Senate and President. She is married to Bill who is has considered one of the best political strategists for 30 years. She had the money and connections needed to get whatever advice or help she needed. Her prominance as a politician is underscored by the fact that everyone in America and much of the rest of the world know who she is with just one word: “Hillary”.
She was a rotten campaigner.
The establishment tells us that Sanders was a ‘real’ candidate despite his deference to Hillary and the Democratic Party and that Hillary was a ‘real candidate’ despite her deliberate, nonsensical alienation of progressives, blacks, and white “deplorables”.
She simply didn’t like the voters.
LMFAO.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
Once again, you pass the loyalty test that you described @May10 16:41:

Believing what is evidently incredible has long been a test of loyalty …

But you’re not just believing such a narrative, you’re defending it.
Which is not surprising to me or any other moa reader that is familiar with positions you’ve taken in other matters.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 10 2020 22:24 utc | 44

David Blanchflower in the NY Review of Books on youth unemployment
“…Adding those 7.5 million to the 22.5 million actually reported, to get a total of 30 million jobless, and then dividing by a labor force of 155.8 million results in a true unemployment rate of 19.3 percent.
“Such a number is unprecedented in most people’s lifetimes. In the crash of 2007–2008, it took nearly two years for the unemployment rate to double from 5 percent in December 2007 to 10 percent in October 2009. This time, the rate has quintupled in eight weeks. The only comparable numbers were in the Great Depression, but even then, the increase took much longer. The annual unemployment rate in the US was 3 percent in 1929, 9 percent in 1930, 16 percent in 1931, 24 percent in 1932, and 25 percent in 1933. By 1941, just before the US entered World War II, it stood at 10 percent. So we may be facing a very long haul out of this abyss.
“The concern is that the most vulnerable are the worst affected—much as they are in terms of the death rates from the Covid-19 virus—and this is indeed what we are seeing. The unemployment rate of those with less than a high-school diploma jumped from 6.8 percent on the month to 21.2 percent; and for high-school graduates, it went from 4.4 percent to 17.3 percent. For those with some college education, the numbers rose from 3.7 percent to 15 percent; and for college graduates, from 2.5 percent to 8.4 percent. The Hispanic unemployment rate rose particularly steeply, from 6 percent to 18.9 percent.
“There is a special concern about young people, who are going to struggle to make the transition from school to work. We know that a long spell of unemployment when you are young creates a permanent scar—reducing earnings for decades and increasing the risk of adverse life events. Even for those with college education, the graduating class of 2020 from universities is going to have a tough time. But minority youngsters with less education are going to be especially hard-hit. For many, in the past, one response to a bad labor market is to go back to school—but that doesn’t look that attractive right now.”
An interview with “Swiss professor, deputy and writer Jean Ziegler … Special Rapporteur to the United Nations for the right to food from 2000 to 2008, he is now Vice-President of the Human Rights Advisory Committee to the United Nations – functions which made him witness to poverty, misery and inequality around the world.” It is in French but translates well.
“…So what’s going to happen? The virus will cause the rupture of the alienated consciousness and in one way or another, popular movements will be born and will destroy this cannibalistic system of capitalism …
“Well, we cannot decide on the path that the people will take, but the fact that there will be an insurrection, that is certain.”
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/le-choc-de-cette-crise-va-provoquer-la-revolution-entretien-avec-jean-ziegler-lhomme-qui-veut-en-finir-avec-le-capitalisme/
You are just a troll @45.Yawn.

Posted by: bevin | May 10 2020 22:36 utc | 46

Der Spiegel suffers an epic pratfall at the hands of “German intelligence”.
“On January 21, China’s leader Xi Jinping asked WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to hold back information about a human-to-human transmission and to delay a pandemic warning.”
The putdown from WHO was brutally succinct:
“Dr Tedros and President Xi did not speak on 21 January and they have never spoken by telephone.”
Oh, and just to put the knee to the groin:
“To note: China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 January.”
Ouch! That’s gotta hurt.
I’m going to say that those are errors so amateurish that the BND must have received their “intel” directly from the office of Fat Mike Pompeo. Nothing else could explain the bald-faced, utterly shameless lying that went into it.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | May 10 2020 22:37 utc | 48

Addendum:
@ Jackrabbit 19; Perimetr 24
Oh my. !!!! SHTF. This is a damning, devastating, Bombshell …..delivered on TV in an interview this morning:-
Flynn’s Attorney Claims Obama in on Plot to ‘Frame’ Ex-National Security Adviser
LINK

On Friday, former US President Barack Obama torched a Justice Department decision to drop the criminal case against Trump’s former national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, reportedly stating that “rule of law is at risk” in the United States.
The Lead attorney for former US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, during an interview on ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ on Fox News network, accused former US President Barack Obama of being involved in a plot allegedly orchestrated by top officials to frame the retired general.[.]

“These agents specifically schemed and planned with each other how to not tip him off, that he was even the person being investigated,” Powell said, pointing out that FBI officials did not inform Flynn that he was under investigation during the their conversations with him. “So they kept him relaxed and unguarded deliberately as part of their effort to set him up and frame him”.
Recently released testimony suggests that Obama told then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and then-FBI Director James Comey that he knew about Flynn’s phone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak weeks before FBI agents interviewed him, according to Fox News.
“The whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, [former Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper, [Former CIA Director John] Brennan, and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama,” the attorney continued.
In response to a question on whether she believes that Flynn was a victim in a plot in which the former president was involved, the lawyer said, “Absolutely”.[.]

Leave it there. An incredible accusation. Wait for the four to lawyering up. Big bucks litigation.
What price a ticket at the Bar?

Posted by: Likklemore | May 10 2020 22:55 utc | 50

Bevin wrote:
The truth is that Hillary was not a seasoned politician, she won one election-handed to her on a silver platter- in New York. She was a rotten campaigner. She simply didn’t like the voters.
__________________________________________________
Yeah that sure does seem it is the way it looks, but looks can be deceiving.
_____________________________________________________
Does anyone else believe that Hillary threw the election?
____________________________________________________
Well it certainly has crossed my mind. I don’t have any clear evidence she threw the election but I suspect she benefited enormously by losing. Its not like it would ever be possible for Hillary to give herself that kind of huge tax cut if she had been elected. Do you have any idea how much money losing has made the Clinton’s?
______________________________________________

Posted by: jinn | May 10 2020 22:59 utc | 52

Karlofi @ 50
Yes to all that !
Here in the U.K. bozo Boris is relaxing the stay at home, for a phased back to work. But at what cost to human life ? What will be an acceptable level of increased deaths ? Will enyone here like to answer that ! It’s the cold hearted calculated exceptence that shocks me !
But then psychopaths have no empathy.

Posted by: Mark2 | May 10 2020 23:05 utc | 54

Vintage red, 41
I have watched a Russian production titled the “Night Swallows” which describes the actions of these courageous Soviet pilots.
It is on Youtube with English subtitles.
The courage and spirit of patriotism in these women are astounding.
here is a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFK9wAOatGE&t=89s

Posted by: CarlD | May 10 2020 23:25 utc | 56

Vintage Red | May 10 2020 22:00 utc | 41
Thanks Vintage Red. Great story, great writing.

Posted by: fairleft | May 11 2020 0:32 utc | 58

bevin #39

Does anyone else believe that Hillary threw the election? Does anyone believe that that is anywhere close to being the simplest explanation of the 2016 loss?

Thank you bevin. I will hazard this response: There once were two neo-liberal private finance stool pigeons campaigning for an election. One made a better deal with the permanent state than the other and so Trump won in 2016. Trump then chose the late 2019 period of market demands and distractions and poured $Trillions into the permanent state’s pockets. In 2020 Trump continues to pour $Trillions into their pockets.
Meanwhile the losing stool pigeon continues to rake in $millions through her corrupt foundation.
In 2020 many neo-liberal private finance stool pigeons are campaigning for an election…
Is that close enough to reality 😉

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 11 2020 1:53 utc | 60

Giant Sequoia ” I know that Putin has done some positive things (annexing Crimea, saving Assad, modernizing the Nuclear arsenal, etc.), but all of his accomplishments look like a complete joke compared to the Soviet Union,”
Soviet Union never gained the military tech supremacy over the US that Russia now has.
Soviet Union was never self sufficient in grain and able to export food as Russia now does.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2020 3:12 utc | 62

Jackrabbit at #16
Why would the Hildabeast (or anyone for that matter) throw an election for POTUS? It is the ultimate political jewel in the US, that would have been the crowning pinnacle of the Hildabeast’s career. Her glory would have been heightened by being the first female president. What could possibly motivate her to deliberately throw all this away?
No, I think Occam’s Razor points to a supreme overconfidence. Ever since the Hildabeast and Trump became the nominees, no one thought Trump had an iceberg’s chance in Hell. Virtually all the polls in the months before the election showed Trump with single percentages in odds of winning, and the Hildabeast with over 90% chance of victory. These same odds persisted right through election day and until the first polls closed and results started trickling in. So entrenched was this belief that it seemed that the outcome was preordained, that it was metaphysically impossible for Trump to win, and that the election was a mere formality of counting the votes.
Since this was the near unanimous view of the political chatterati, it seems likely that this was the sense of the Hildabeast and her campaign minions. Her primary mistake was failing to spend any time campaigning in the swing states. But this wasn’t because she wanted to throw the election. She failed to do this because she saw no need to; she felt that she had already won.
Antoinetta III

Posted by: Antoinetta III | May 11 2020 3:20 utc | 64

Jeff @1
“Fossil fuel burning for transportation has dropped to a fraction of what it was and CO2 is falling with it.”
NOAA Weekly Trend CO2

Posted by: guidoamm | May 11 2020 3:32 utc | 66

Two very interesting reports from Vanessa Beeley:-
Who controls the British Government response to Covid–19?
COVID19: The Big Pharma players behind UK Government lockdown
The Corbett Report:-
Bill Gates’ Plan to Vaccinate the World

Posted by: ted01 | May 11 2020 4:03 utc | 68

I’ve just posted three comments on the political thread, thinking folk could perhaps access those through the righthand column here, but I see that even my earliest one hasn’t registered, so I will post the link here – it is an hour’s discussion between two of the Green Party Candidates on policy and on what they are doing with respect to ballot access. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oGwH6rPG7M&feature=youtu.be
Yes, the link looks strange, but it works.

Posted by: juliania | May 11 2020 4:37 utc | 70

@ Karlof1
@ Walter
I posted some replies to our conversation in the last open thread here

Posted by: BM | May 11 2020 6:16 utc | 72

BM | May 11 2020 6:16 utc | 75 @ (@Walter, can you give a link to the global research article on the CEOs resigning, I can’t find it. Or at least the proper article title.
And what was all that about George Blake being sprung and Korea? That was lost on me.”
//////////////
Ok, Thanks. I’ll see…
Ok. The “CEO Resign” was at the Duran, but originally seems to have been here> tinyurl[dot]com/rwfmhyc (Why Did Hundreds Of CEOs Resign Just Before The World Started Going Absolutely Crazy?
March 24, 2020 by Michael Snyder)
George Blake was/is a spy. His wiki is fair, I think. Here’s an interview.
( tinyurl[dot]com/ycw656x3 ) Brother Comrade Blake is 97, a retired KGB officer and something of an icon in his circle, ahemm.
Brother Comrade Blake, you will see from the interview, changed sides. His motivation being cumulative but also, since he was a prisoner of North Korea, the “UN” (American) Bombing… here:
George Blake: “Well, the bombing took place continually, and they happened all the time. I had seen the devastation in Germany after the war, but it was nothing, absolutely nothing, I could assure you, compared with the devastation in North Korea. That act, that feeling of shame, together with all the other things, which I have already spoken about, and the other stages of my development made me decide — made me feel that I was fighting on the wrong side, because I wasn’t a neutral person. I was engaged in intelligence work against the Communist world, against the Socialist world. I was engaged I was committed, and I felt I was committed on the wrong side. And that’s what made me decide to — to change sides. I felt that it would be better for humanity if the Communist system prevailed, that it would put an end to war, to wars. I didn’t go too much into the rights and wrongs of the beginning of the Korean War. It was very difficult from the position I was in to decide exactly what started it, but now I realise that it was the North who started it. Still it was the experience of that war, which acted as a catalyst, and made me decide to join the other side.”
The reason I moot George is to illustrate a particularly pregnant form of the indirect method in Strategy, a Principle, which is “The secondary (et sec) unintended after-effect of violence cannot be predicted and in Time may entirely erase any momentary gain.” (more or less.)
The germwar and bombing in Korea achieved? Well, for starters, the Berlin Spy Tunnel Project was blown from the start… And many, most, all (?) of the MI6 fellas in USSR had bad outcomes… Some achievement, eh?
Blake got 42 years in “da joint”, and escaped with the help of a highly interesting “criminal” Sean Bourke…escaped to USSR! The book is “The Springing of George Blake”, Sean Bourke.
It was an affair everyone knew about, and a scandal.
All because of the Truman fascists and their cruel stupid war.
…..
Not to imply that the present situation would create “George Blakes” – oh! No! That was Then!
Bet me.
Every US bomb creates “George Blakes”. That’s the point I was implying. I am therefore quite sure that the Russian and Chinese intelligence fellas have a rich and growing field of cooperative and morally motivated “sources”. The Imperial Army must be filled with disgusted soldiers willing to “turn” towards the good, or at least what they see as good.
Later Old Man…

Posted by: Walter | May 11 2020 7:22 utc | 74

Trump may in fact lose the election because of the way he mishandled the pandemic and the fact that his tariffs together with the pandemic are bleeding farmers dry. The truly sad part of this is that Democrats failed with their own dirty tricks to provide an honorable candidate to replace Trump, and this moment begs for decent leadership.
Now, the summer is the time to send children back to school and reopen parts of the economy and partially reopen other businesses while imposing even stricter guidelines on social distancing and gatherings and issuing measures protecting seniors and nursing homes.
If this is not done now, then in the Fall it will be too late to salvage much and there will be catastrophic effects both on the economy and public health.
This summer people must be disciplined and sober. This is not a time to break out, gather and party like there’s no tomorrow. This is a time to put one’s nose to the grindstone while exercising caution and compassion.
It’s high time people start behaving responsibly going forward, especially at the top! Everything has changed, so quit acting like it’s all going to fall into place like a miracle from heaven without everyone putting in their part for the long haul.
Think more than ever: No pain; no gain i.e. Sacrifice. That’s what we’re embarking on. Individual and collective responsibility will get the world through this. It’s time for XYZ to grow up!

Posted by: Circe | May 11 2020 8:12 utc | 76

@ Jackrabbit | May 11 2020 3:55 utc | 69
Add to that list that they are all good friends of Jeffrey Epstein.
Actually, when Trump first showed up on the political stage, this is what I immediately pointed out to friends and family, how both Trump and Clinton were intimate friends of Epstein. “Epstein who?” They said.
Still almost nobody discusses the real rotting corpse in Trump’s closet, Roy Cohn. Websearching for Roy Cohn together with added search terms such as +”ben rose” +”edwin wilson”, well even “dutroux” yields plenty reading material for an extended lockdown. Whitney Webb summarized the less controversial bits in the wake of the Epstein brouhaha. “Epstein who?”, “Roy Cohn who!”

Posted by: Lurk | May 11 2020 9:48 utc | 78

Re:77 Circe,
I’m not sure how things are in the US, but here in Ontario, Canada the school year is already a write-off, the current return date is June 1/20 but everyone expects that to be moved again (the letter even mentioned that it is likely to be changed). There’s virtually no chance of any school operating in the summer for the full number of students for numerous reasons (i.e. there’s no labour agreement with the teacher & janitor unions to provide staff for the buildings during the summer beyond the normal summer school needs, which is only for 100 or so schools, not the almost 5000 schools operating during the regular school term).

Posted by: Kadath | May 11 2020 10:29 utc | 80

the Night Witches of the Soviet Union. One thing that impressed me was that many of the planes the women flew were literally made of wood and sometimes even cardboard with string.
Posted by: Jen | May 11 2020 1:37 utc | 61
All the early planes were made of solid wooden frames and covered with laquered paper, or sometimes laquered fabric (silk, I think). Some parts of the frame would be laminated (structural) wood i.e. not plywood. All the spars would be solid timber. Cardboard would be too heavy. Some parts of the structure would be reinforced with wire, especially the biplanes, probably twisted steel wire. It is possible they might have used silk string in place of wire in some cases. All the wing surfaces would be laquered paper (or laquered very thin fabric).

Posted by: BM | May 11 2020 12:05 utc | 82

@ Walter,
Yes, I’d forgotten that Blake was in Korea, and that he was sprung. Interesting point about the “every US bomb creates George Blakes” and the probable wealth of sources for Russia and China – I am sure you are right. There is no question that both have especially good intelligence networks – Iran also, though I think the foreign assets are only one component of a broadly balanced mix, with technical intelligence but especially extremely high quality humint. They have the human skills that on the US/UK side are virtually zero or even negative. Exceptionalism is an excellent handicap for real humint skills!

Posted by: BM | May 11 2020 12:15 utc | 84

@ Miss Lacy 56
I don’t know where else the Leningrad food bank story may have been covered, but the latest season of Cosmos, with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, actually dedicated an entire episode to it. The Red bashing was kept to a minimum, and I thought it was a quite well done story. Season 3 of Cosmos, sorry I don’t know which episode number.

Posted by: J Swift | May 11 2020 12:49 utc | 86

14 more mercenaries captured in Venezuela yesterday:
Autoridades venezolanas capturan a 14 mercenarios durante las últimas 24 horas
As more and more mercenaries continue to be found out, and as Guaidó denies it was behind the contract with the mercenaries (as if that mattered – Guaidó receives funds from the USG, so everything he does he’s doing for the USA) and as the captured mercenaries continue to open their mouths, it is becoming clearer this was indeed a “mini Bay of Pigs” directly sponsored and coordinated by the Americans, and not a CIA asset gone rogue.

Posted by: vk | May 11 2020 13:18 utc | 88

Is South Korea really in control of the pandemic?
Gov’t struggles to trace Itaewon clubbers

The central government and municipal administrations are going all out to locate people who went clubbing in Itaewon between April 24 and May 6, as the number of COVID-19 cases linked to five nightclubs and bars in Seoul’s popular nightlife spot jumped to 86 Monday, six days after the first case was reported.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 14 more COVID-19 infections linked to the clubs were confirmed as of 12 p.m., bringing the total number of related cases to 86.
Of the 86 patients, 63 visited the clubs, and 23 others were either their family members or acquaintances.

A very strong “keep up with the Joneses” culture may be helping South Korea in social distancing. But the government is certainly unwilling to lockdown Seul, for obvious reasons. I don’t know, something is rotten.

Posted by: vk | May 11 2020 13:36 utc | 90

: vk | May 11 2020 13:51 utc | 92 (unpopular)
Well, I do not find your opinion about the “internal contradictions” (as I would say it, in Iran) to be in the slightest degree unpopular, or wrong…I agree with it.
Religion simply is, as Caesar said, men believe what they will. But obviously the present State is, as all, somewhat transient and provisional…so Religion in Iran may, probably must, significantly decline in the political realm. I simply expect that to take place after the war, not just as it come upon them.
However the implied assumption that the war between Empire and Iran will be resolved by “defeat” of Empire by Iran, or defeat of Iran by Empire does not seem to take into account dynamic internal fissures and contradictions within Empire, such that Iran by temporizing and delaying open direct major conflict…and each day Empie’s internal diseases of greed, crime, moral bankruptcy bring the possibility of resolution without a full-on conflict somewhat closer.
It does seem to me that there is a necessity for Iran to re-structure, but this may happen when the war with Empire is resolved by Imperial Retreat, in the backwash of war, the intrigues and latent political forces withing Iran then being freed of the war-time necessities…
…….
I agree with respect to zionish… Zionizers treat their Jewish Brothers like chit, unless they cough up the money and spout the tripe. They treat them as pawns…and did so in concert with the nazis…their shared ideologies make this part of their Policy.

Posted by: Walter | May 11 2020 14:14 utc | 92

Neoliberals in charge-UK
“..After millions forced back to work this morning, govt only releases guidance at 2pm – then says changes not meant to take place yet. This is murder
“Chaos and confusion as weapons against working-class people
“Millions poured back to work this morning after Johnson’s chaotic message. How many will die in the inevitable new spike?
“…Last night, Johnson told workers that they must return to work this morning unless they can work from home – ending the lock-down in all but the most peripheral sense and condemning millions of mostly low-paid people to run the gauntlet of infection on public transport and in workplaces. His exhortation to walk or cycle instead is utterly meaningless for the vast majority.
“To rub salt into the wound of his gross mockery, the so-called guidance the government promised on the ‘safe’ use of public transport was issued at 2pm today, hours after people were forced to flood back into the streets, trains and buses – terrifyingly shown on Transport for London CCTV footage.
“And the government has now said that its instruction to return to work was not meant to be implemented immediately, but rather on Wednesday. Maybe.
“60,000 people have died so far because of this virus, perhaps many more – and the hands of Johnson and his helpers are stained with their blood. There will now be another ‘spike’ in a couple of weeks and thousands more will die – along with hundreds more health workers, teachers, transport and other front-line staff.
“Using chaos, lies and misdirection as a weapon, the Tories are murdering people and using the media to cover their arses.” The SKWAWKBOX
This from Philip Roddis’ blog suggests a strategy to fight back
http://steelcityscribblings.uk/wp/2020/05/11/a-nation-wide-peoples-hq-for-covid-19/
No unsafe return to work!
Stay at home!
Unite across the UK to save lives and to work for a socially just reconstruction!

Posted by: bevin | May 11 2020 14:25 utc | 94

“Early Lockdown Lifting will prolong the Greater Depression”
We are told by the Bureau of Lying Stats (BLS) that the April unemployment rate is 14.7%; however they missed 7.5 million unaccounted.
The real rate is already north of the 32% projected by the St. Louis Fed.
Shadowstats, the go-to reliable analytics, has the more realistic Corrected Numbers at 39.6%.
See Commentary No: 1435.
Many businesses will not reopen which will cement the Greatest Depression in over 100 +years of recording. It will be a long climb out.
==========
With China bashing, this is a head scratcher.
Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor and one of 4 largest meat processing plant, is owned by a China Group. Smithfield, along with Cargill, JBS, and Tyson was closed due C-19 infected workers. Trump invoked the 1950 Defense Production Act to keep plants open.
Costco, Kroger, et al are limiting per consumer purchases to 3 packs.
As U.S. meat workers fall sick and supplies dwindle, exports to China soar

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ordered meat processing plants to stay open to protect the nation’s food supply even as workers got sick and died. Yet the plants have increasingly been exporting to China while U.S. consumers face shortages, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.
Trump, who is in an acrimonious public dispute with Beijing over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, invoked the 1950 Defense Production Act on April 28 to keep plants open. Now he is facing criticism from some lawmakers, consumers and plant employees for putting workers at risk in part to help ensure China’s meat supply.[.]

==========
Will the Supremes deliver a decision on the “faithless” Electors before November 3rd?
As 2020 presidential contest looms, U.S. Supreme Court mulls power of ‘electors’

[…] in the complicated Electoral College process set out in the U.S. Constitution to determine the winner of presidential elections. Chiafalo was one of 538 electors who cast their votes in the aftermath of the November election, ultimately designating the Republican Trump as the winner over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
In most states, electors – typically party loyalists – must pledge to vote for their party’s candidate if that person wins state’s popular vote. Chiafalo, desperate to thwart Trump, had other intentions and voted for someone else.[.]
Chiafalo is now at the heart of one of two closely watched cases being argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that will determine whether electors have the constitutional right to exercise independence and defy the will of the voters – a question touching upon the integrity of American democracy.[.]

the integrity of American democracy !!?
A democracy or A republic governed by cronies? The usual hats – GS, BR, CG, JP – the Trillions.
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and Blackrock – Is there a conflict of interest?
You’d think there would be a regulation for his shares to be placed in a Blind Trust. But rules for thee, not for me.
It’s a small Club and we ain’t invited.

Posted by: Likklemore | May 11 2020 14:37 utc | 96

The twiiterfeed of Redfish provides an example of one of the several internal contradictions and fissures…
Evidently about 1000 very motivated “black” bikers and others, armed, have given the esteemed Governor of lil’ol Georgia fits…
Nixxerz wid gunz.. Oh wait, I saw this movie afore…
Unintended secondary after-effect…the basis of all Strategy is to anticipate these after-effects correctly, while your “partner” fails to do so.
twitter[dot]/redfishstream

Posted by: Walter | May 11 2020 14:40 utc | 98

Posted by: Jen | May 11 2020 1:37 utc | 61
Posted by: BM | May 11 2020 12:05 utc | 83
“All the early planes were made of solid wooden frames and covered with laquered paper, or sometimes laquered fabric (silk, I think)…with wire, especially the biplanes, probably twisted steel wire. It is possible they might have used silk string in place of wire in some cases. All the wing surfaces would be laquered paper (or laquered very thin fabric).”
I know a fair bit of aircrafts, certified FAA and UK – A&P Licensed worked and trained on many prewar and postwar airplanes: Stinson, De Havilland Tiger Moth, Auster (UK) DC3 or Dakota, Piper including Boeing 747, Douglas DC9’s, 10’s and career changed in 70s.
Woods not any woods but only the best Sitka Spruce from Pacific NorthWest with fabrics such as Dacron or Nylon glue and finished with butyrate/Nitrate dope.

Posted by: JC | May 11 2020 15:36 utc | 100