Open Thread 2020-44
News & views ...
Posted by b on June 4, 2020 at 15:04 UTC | Permalink
next page »Re: Covid19 - leaked German report on 'global false alarm'
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/29/german-official-leaks-report-denouncing-corona-as-global-false-alarm/
Guardian article and many more crying 'lies' re: Surgisphere 'study' - WHO resumes HCQ early-use study. I want to know who paid Surgisphere for the report. Plus there is a long letter listing the study's 'holes', signed by ... a hundred medical folks.
Posted by: Nancy | Jun 4 2020 15:30 utc | 2
Looks like there's some top tier level trolling going on at Twitter:
"Trump Must Go": Novelty Accounts on Twitter Represent U.S. "Moderate Opposition"
Posted by: One Too Many | Jun 4 2020 15:40 utc | 3
That's why you enforce a proper lockdown:
David P. Goldman is a big time liberal and a declared nationalist (pro-USA). And even he admits China is recovering fast, towards a quick V-shaped recovery.
A lesson for the American petite-bourgeoisie: you're not the center of the universe. Next time, listen to the scientists and to your government before throwing your workers to the death row.
A lesson for the Japanese factories in China: next time, think twice before accepting your government's taxpayer money to relocate to some shithole in SE-Asia. You're not only hurting the Japanese people, but also your own profit rate.
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In a parallel universe where Suez never happened, the tories still feed their illusions of grandeur.
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Xi says China ready to work with Germany, EU to create more global certainty
Humiliating blow to Germany.
The week after Borrell's virulent declaration, Xi declares the EU (i.e. Germany) is not a geopolitical threat.
I think that, when all this EU experiment is over, historians will look back and determine that Greece's collapse was the death of Germany's third (and last) imperial attempt. If the EU was completely integrated at that time, Germany would've certainly collapse a la USA 2008. That impelled the Northern 4 (Germany, Finland, Austria and the Netherlands) to immediately stop any progress towards federalization and begin to reverse any already existing initiative in this direction.
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Chinese SMEs seeks opportunities through digital transformation
According to calculation, digitalization can cut 17.2 percent of cost and increase 22.6 percent of revenue for manufacturing enterprises, and the figures stand at 34.2 percent and 33.6 percent in logistics industry, and 7.8 percent and 33.3 percent in retail sector.However, statistics indicate that only 25 percent of Chinese enterprises have started digital transformation.
A program was recently launched by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in cooperation with other government departments, leading enterprises, financial institutions, research institutes, and industrial associations, to provide online services for SMEs to help them be more digitally savvy. An initiative was released at the inauguration ceremony of the program, and over 500 service measures tailored for SMEs were rolled out to help them lower cost, reduce transformation period, and improve the success rate of transformation.
This is the difference between a Marxist State (socialist) and a capitalist State.
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Japan softens re-entry ban that left foreign residents stranded
But, reading Western newspapers, I had the impression only China did that...
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The radical and ever combative Trotskyists are calling the American working class... to defend "democracy in America"!
A call to the working class! Stop Trump’s coup d’état!
You really couldn't make this up.
The hypothesis that WSWS is infested with CIA/FBI agents - or even that it is an entirely CIA/FBI façade - is growing on me.
@ 1 mina... i get pop ups in french when i try to open the link.. i am unable to see what you've shared..
swiss propaganda research on covid 19 updated to may.
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Posted by: james | Jun 4 2020 15:46 utc | 5
OK... more scientists, studies, clinical observations, latest on the latest Big Pharma desperation-study (says something for the effectiveness early-use HCQ)
https://www.medicineuncensored.com/
Posted by: Nancy | Jun 4 2020 15:53 utc | 6
"And one other idea is these so-called immunity passports for people who have been proven to have had the disease: they could then carry a wristband or something, and they would then be allowed back into jobs and in full society."
This implies that people should be holding Covid parties where everyone seeks to become infected. And a spreader becomes a good samaritan. When you have a society which requires money, and therefore a "job", in order to function at all, if getting or holding a job now will require a Stalinist-style "passport" then almost everyone will feel their only prospect is to seek to become infected.
What a bizarre, convoluted, extremely inefficient, and evil way to seek the herd immunity which was inevitable in the first place and could have been attained by simply letting nature run its course without all the restrictive measures. Once again we see the proof that the terror-lockdown campaign never for a moment was about public health but always had totalitarian motivations.
Once again we see how grotesquely inefficient capitalism is, and how flat out stupid the whole lockdown concept always was.
Good piece by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson summing up the case for the bug having escaped from a bioweapons lab. Of course everything possible about the Chinese lab is equally possible of a US lab.
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/the-case-is-building-that-covid-19-had-a-lab-origin/
Many want this to be the subject of an investigation, but there exists no legitimate authority which could be trusted to do so:
"If the Shi lab has anything to hide, it is not only the Chinese Government that will be reluctant to see an impartial investigation proceed. Much of the work was funded by the US taxpayer, channeled there by Peter Daszak and the EcoHealth Alliance. Virtually every credible international organisation that might in principle carry out such an investigation, the WHO, the US CDC, the FAO, the US NIH, including the Gates Foundation, is either an advisor to, or a partner of, the EcoHealth Alliance. If the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak originated from the bat coronavirus work at the WIV then just about every major institution in the global public health community is implicated."
Clearly we cannot trust anyone who's part of or connected with the US government, the Chinese government, or any global "public health" or "philanthropic" entity. They're all in it up to their necks. All are involved in biowarfare research, at the Wuhan lab and at similar labs around the world.
If I'm reading this article correctly, there's nothing getting in the way of the stock market continuing to explode with enthusiasm to pre-COVID and beyond levels. DOW 35K by EOY2020.
Americans are flush with cash and pent up demand is boiling over.
While it hasn’t always come out smoothly, the massive amounts of money the federal government has pumped into the U.S. economy due to the pandemic has forestalled an even more severe downturn.For example, U.S. households pulled down more income in April than they did before the pandemic started, housing markets are in a V-shaped recovery and a majority of small businesses are up and running again, many with the assistance of federal loans.
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/06/04/federal-financial-support-economic-loss-pandemic/
So apparently just about everything is hunky-dory and with just a few nips and tucks here and there the US economy is set to rocket to new heights.
Posted by: snow_watcher | Jun 4 2020 16:01 utc | 9
James, Sorry! try this one
https://twitter.com/abde49/status/1266127987793170432
Posted by: Mina | Jun 4 2020 16:03 utc | 10
On the issue of low flying helicopters used to disperse crowds, i suspects that there are some secret protocols and procedures about it.
Apparently this is how it is done: crowd disperion in Tunisia by low flying US made helicopter
https://twitter.com/SameralAtrush/status/1248895474549108736
Posted by: Passer by | Jun 4 2020 16:04 utc | 11
@ Posted by: Russ | Jun 4 2020 15:58 utc | 7
So, an ex-MI6 agent comes out of nowhere to revive this long debunked story and, all of a sudden, the CCP's credibility is eroded?
You westerners must decide if your governments can be trusted or not. This is getting confusing.
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@ Posted by: Nancy | Jun 4 2020 15:30 utc | 2
If a random German official told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?
Again: either western governments can be trusted or they can't. You can't play Schrodinger with geopolitics.
The Strategic Culture is not a newspaper. They don't do investigative journalism. They are a publishing journal for analysts and experts, who publish in their areas of expertise. They have room to speculate, but that doesn't mean they should be taken immediately as a primary source or a scientific peer reviewed journal.
@ 9 mina.. thanks... seems to be a popular technique for holding people - knee on neck... a friend sent me one of a chinese police officer doing the same..
Posted by: james | Jun 4 2020 16:12 utc | 13
@vk re Nancy’s comment.
Here is the leaked report in German. I don’t know if this is fake or not but here it is
https://www.ichbinanderermeinung.de/Dokument93.pdf
Posted by: DG | Jun 4 2020 16:15 utc | 14
@vk 11
"You westerners must decide if your governments can be trusted or not. This is getting confusing."
I explicitly said I trust none of them. But I understand how confused you are, still trusting and reposing religious faith in any modern establishment power structure the way you do in the case of the CCP.
You simply can't make this shit up. They have no credibility. None. Whatsoever. Rape is bad when it's not one of their own. Rape is fine when it's one of their own. When white nationalists protest and ignore the fact there is a pandemic, that's bad and selfish and inconsiderate but when whites and blacks and people of any and all colors protest and gather in large numbers bumping up against one another for hours on end, it's not bad and it's not selfish. Look at the experts chosen to speak about this. Some randomly plucked physicians. All physicians are not created equal. Remember Trump's physician before he became POTUS — the one who gave him a clean bill of health?
Is It Safe To Protest During A Pandemic? Experts Answer Our Questions
Georges Benjamin, physician: There are many people who feel strongly that racism and police violence has gotten to the point that the risk calculation has changed. And so that they have to at least go out and let the public and the police know that it’s unacceptable. I’m African American, and so to me, the risk of being shot and killed by a police officer may, in some communities, be much higher than the risk of getting Covid-19 and dying.The public health perspective is all about risk. And I think it’s a false trade-off. I mean, it is true that if you go back out there, we’re going to see spikes of disease. But at the end of the day, we’re still seeing an epidemic of police violence that just doesn’t seem to end.
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 4 2020 16:36 utc | 16
Yeah, right, you have to weigh the risks and since we're told repeatedly COVID-19 is decimating the black community at a much more substantial rate than any other community, it makes total sense to double and triple that rate so George Floyd didn't die in vain.
Corrosive Effects of Tear Gas Could Intensify Coronavirus Pandemic
In research conducted by the U.S. Army, examiners looked at the impacts of exposure that thousands of Army recruits had to the common riot-control agent known as CS gas or tear gas. The study conducted in the summer of 2012 found that the personnel in a basic training cohort had a substantially high risk of being found to have an acute respiratory illness in the days after exposure than the days before.
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 4 2020 16:42 utc | 17
@ Posted by: Russ | Jun 4 2020 15:58 utc | 7
So, an ex-MI6 agent comes out of nowhere to revive this long debunked story and, all of a sudden, the CCP's credibility is eroded?
--//--
@ Posted by: Nancy | Jun 4 2020 15:30 utc | 2
If a random German official told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?
Posted by: vk | Jun 4 2020 16:05 utc | 11
Ah, thanks for the tip vk, if you attack both articles they must be very worthwhile. I'll read them both!
Posted by: BM | Jun 4 2020 16:45 utc | 18
@ Posted by: DG | Jun 4 2020 16:15 utc | 13
It's not a matter of the document being a forgery or not, but of critical thinking.
How can the German Government know better than anybody else. Put yourself in the point of view of the leaker, imagine a situation where the BND can, with the means at its disposal, uncover some sinister worldwide conspiracy that unites disparate governments - from China to the UK. You quickly realize that this situation is absurd: there is no possible scenario where the BND or other parts of the German "deep State" is in a favorable position to make such judgement.
When you access the document, the narrative is eroded further, as one of its first lines already mention it is just an analysis. An analysis is just that: a very educated guess made by an expert or a group of experts (or alleged experts). And not only the document is only an analysis - it is an analysis of crisis management, not the pandemic itself. The data it puts up are not revolutionary - they could well be a powerpoint presentation to a big corporation.
The only reason one should take such documents seriously is if one believes in a godlike capacity of intelligence services or the State. That way, you can posit intelligence services as a Deus ex Machina.
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@ Posted by: Russ | Jun 4 2020 16:18 utc | 14
I believe in facts.
And the facts tell me China has already reopened and is already well placed for a quick and sharp V-shaped recovery. The rest of the world? Not so much.
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@ Posted by: BM | Jun 4 2020 16:45 utc | 17
Fell free to read them. Your loss.
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 4 2020 16:36 utc | 15
Georges Benjamin, physician: "The public health perspective is all about risk. And I think it’s a false trade-off. I mean, it is true that if you go back out there, we’re going to see spikes of disease. But at the end of the day, we’re still seeing an epidemic of police violence that just doesn’t seem to end."
He's exactly right (except for being so certain about the spikes of disease). From the first moment it was broached the entire terror-lockdown campaign has been about nothing but value judgements, though it's part of the government-technocratic religious assault to deny they're driven by the self-serving value judgements they made and anti-democratically imposed on a psychologically ill population.
All these government officials, media scribblers, NGO cadres, every last one of them would agree with the proposition: "Sometimes it's necessary to send millions to war and have many thousands die for the sake of...[fill in the blank]". For all of them the [blank] would include things like freedom, the pursuit of happiness, our human way of life. In theory many would say the same about political protest, the value of being willing to risk oppression, violence and death for the sake of trying to live a human life without oppression.
Yet today and for months now almost all those same persons are saying that we MUST NOT be willing to risk "thousands of lives" in order to live the very things for which we're supposed to be willing to go to war or to run the risks of protest against a violent state.
That's yet another proof that the whole thing is a Big Lie.
It's also proof how much all government officials, everyone in the media, all system NGOs etc. and all other lockdown supporters love war and hate the human way of life. Their credo is, "Any and all risk and sacrifice (of others) for war, no risk allowed at all for the sake of living."
Canadian police are still killing civilians:
Woman killed by Edmundston police after force says she threatened officer during wellness check
There's no video yet, so no protests or riots. The cops are so afraid of everyone who is not "LEO" (Law Enforcement Officer) that they are unable to disarm a young woman with a knife. If firefighters were as afraid of fire as law enforcement are of people, no fires bigger than a dumpster would ever be suppressed.
"Wellness Check" usually means someone in extreme emotional distress, perhaps mentally ill. A very high percentage of people killed by cops started as a "Wellness Check", like my next-door neighbor's brother who was killed by cops in his own home. No protests after his death either.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Jun 4 2020 16:59 utc | 21
@vk ... 18
This analysis reports that ”The state has proven itself to be one of the largest fake news producers in the corona crisis.”
I don’t know if that is true. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.
Posted by: DG | Jun 4 2020 16:59 utc | 22
Hydroxychloroquine preventative study: no apparent benefit from using HCQ to prevent nCOV infection
U of Minnesota study showing HCQ not working to prevent nCOV
The study does have a large study group and is architected well (double blind placebo), but has weaknesses also.
It was strong because it recruited family members of people who are known to have nCOV and performed testing.
Weaknesses, however, include that the monitoring of HCQ intake was basically on the honor system and supervision was solely online (unsurprising).
Posted by: c1ue | Jun 4 2020 17:00 utc | 23
>since we're told repeatedly COVID-19 is decimating the black
>community at a much more substantial rate than any other community,
...then it is probably propaganda (with a bit of truth sprinkled on top).
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Jun 4 2020 17:09 utc | 24
@Everyone : I apologize, I'm in a hurry and therefore, I could not read a word of the previous posts. Having Said That, I see this @MoonOfAlabama OT as an opportunity to formulate to the participants in this Forum a Simple Question : Are we witnessing now the Empire DownFall ? Yes ? No ? Not Yet ? That question seems to me a really productive one. Again. My excuses If someone already posed the question. But If not, It seems like a nice chance to ask. Thx
Posted by: ColombiaA | Jun 4 2020 17:12 utc | 25
OK... is this what has Big Pharm (& Fauci & Gilead & Gates et al) petrified into the panic-driven Surgisphere fiasco? Who needs a vaccine when this virus is easily and effectively treated on contraction..except, perhaps the small % of most vulnerable, who should quarantine etc). (Also, how many people may have died, even by intubation!, by being denied early treatment with HCQ etc..) (The tragedy is that it will vindicate Trump.)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O6Cls-Oz2ZAgJuyDbnICEGjMvQPEyM-aaXARUomR9Ww/edit
Please, tell me again why egregious (and deliberate?) 'mistakes' haven't been made, from day one?
Posted by: Nancy | Jun 4 2020 17:16 utc | 26
Situation looks bleak for the European Union: after a 3.8% fall in GDP Q1 2020, another fall of 13% is predicted to follow. In my opinion, this is too optimistic - unless China (again) comes to the rescue and grows above expectations.
This is bad news most and foremost to Germany. As the Southern members get poorer and poorer, its consume (imports) of German goods and machinery will fall sharply, which will put even more stress to the German financial system.
The Deutsche better start moving some pieces in the Bundestag and the European Parliament, while there's time.
From "The Last Castle" by Jack Vance (1965).
"The contrite waited in the classic posture of expiation - on their knees, heads bowed - and so perished, so they believed, by a process in which the Meks were symbols and human sin the reality. In the end, all were dead: gentlemen, ladies, Phanes in the pavilions, Peasants in the stables. Of those who inhabited Janeil, only the Birds survived, creatures awkward, gauche and raucous, oblivious to pride and faith, more concerned with the wholeness of their hides than the dignity of their castle. As the Meks swarmed down over the parapets, the Birds departed their cotes and, screaming strident insults, flapped east toward Hagedorn, now the last Castle of Earth."
Speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Posted by: carl | Jun 4 2020 17:27 utc | 28
Posted by: vk | Jun 4 2020 16:49 utc | 18
I believe in facts. And the facts tell me China has already reopened and is already well placed for a quick and sharp V-shaped recovery. The rest of the world? Not so much.
I see how fixated you tankie capitalists are on regular capitalist metrics of cancer, aka "growth". That's the main reason I decided "the left" was offering no alternative to total ecocide including collective suicide, and gave up on them.
But if you lockdownists are right that more waves of the Corona bug will keep coming, then it'll be cycling back to globalist China as well, and its own reopening schedule will turn out to have been as reckless (from your point of view) as that of any MAGA hairdresser in the US.
Almost two months ago I said we shouldn't support the push for granting emergency quarantine powers to Western governments because the Western governments are completely corrupt and utterly incompetent whereas Russia and China (whatever your opinions on personal/political freedoms) are much more competent. Look where we are now, the media has forgotten about the Covid pandemic and is now pushing how popular protest and widescale riots are a necessary tool for social justice. A month ago police in the US were arresting people for going for haircuts, now they stand aside as rioters burn down police stations. The systemic corruption of the US is driving it into chaos and eventual breakup
Posted by: Kadath | Jun 4 2020 17:39 utc | 30
Humvees, helicopters, National Guard as far away as Nashville all arriving in Washington DC. Trump even built a wall. Is the Tyrant planning something for this weekend?
We need to be on alert. Hopefully Trump won't recruit enough looters to make it worth his while.
Posted by: Randa | Jun 4 2020 17:46 utc | 31
The Kentucky Miner Who Scammed Americans by Claiming He Was Hitler and Plotting a ‘Revolt’ With ‘Spaceships’
From 1946-1956, many Americans mailed money to a man alleging he was a still-alive Hitler, plotting a revolution with “invisible spaceships.” He signed his letters “Furrier No. 1.”
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 17:50 utc | 32
Posted by: Randa Jazairi | Jun 4 2020 17:50 utc | 33
A good article at The Tyee. Ann interview with virologist William Haseltine.
Among much else of interest he suggests that a vaccine will be of little use, that treatment with drugs (and I would add, proper care of the nursing variety) will. That wearing masks should probably be normal behaviour in crowded situations and that 'herd immunity' from coronavirus is a nonsense.
In sum he suggests that we organise ourselves, in future, to deal with new viruses on a regular basis.
He doesn't say it-he might not even agree- but his conclusions lead us to put an end to neo-liberalism, before it puts an end to us, to reorder our social priorities (Trident is bought at the cost of thousands of ICU beds; the Special Forces come at the cost of trained nurses) and, in a word, grow the fuck up.
It is all very simple, and the only reason that, as a species we don't look after our common interests is that we are too cowardly to rid ourselves of the parasites, feeding off us.
I hope this link works-if it doesn't search for The Tyee and Andrew Nikiforuk
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/06/03/Vaccine-Will-Not-Erase-Pandemic/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=040620
Posted by: bevin | Jun 4 2020 17:52 utc | 34
Another day in the US, land of the free and the brave, the shining light on the hill..
https://twitter.com/MuradGazdiev/status/1268206979723546625
Posted by: Ric G | Jun 4 2020 17:54 utc | 35
George Orwell
Looking back on the Spanish War
I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’.
https://orwell.ru/library/essays/Spanish_War/english/esw_1
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 17:56 utc | 36
Recruiting future drones for their plutocratic panopticon. Veterans of the UK military’s cyber warfare unit are teaching school children how to launch cyber attacks. It seems militarization of british society is moving apace without effective countervailing opposition. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-06-04-revealed-veterans-of-the-uk-militarys-cyber-warfare-unit-are-teaching-school-children-how-to-launch-cyber-attacks/
Posted by: Sol Invictus | Jun 4 2020 17:59 utc | 37
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that the Trump administration will be releasing a series of announcements against the International Criminal Court (ICC) “in the coming days”, reported The Times of Israel.
“I think that the ICC and the world will see that we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC,” he told a podcast hosted by the right-wing American Enterprise Institute think tank.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the announcements we’re going to make in the coming days but I think you’ll see,” he said.
The ICC in the Hague is currently weighing whether to open separate criminal investigations into the “situation in Afghanistan”, which could see UK and US troops tried for war crimes.
In December, the ICC’s office of the prosecutor concluded a five-year preliminary examination of the “situation in the state of Palestine”, concluding there were reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes have been, or are being, committed in the occupied West Bank.
However, Pompeo has long fought the ICC’s efforts to pursue investigations into cases where Americans or Israelis are involved.
Last month, Pompeo slammed the ICC insisting that it is not qualified to probe possible Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Pompeo insisted that Palestine is not a sovereign state, so it is not qualified to file a complaint to the ICC against continuous violations and crimes, saying that the ICC’s possible investigation into Israeli crimes is “illegitimate”.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200602-pompeo-us-to-target-icc-to-stop-war-crime-investigations/
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 18:01 utc | 38
President Xi Jinping: "From newborns to centenarians, we never leave out any infected person and never give up on any patient. We make sure that no one has to worry about treatment expenses."
http://english.scio.gov.cn/topnews/2020-06/03/content_76120808.htm
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 18:08 utc | 39
From a link up-thread
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/the-case-is-building-that-covid-19-had-a-lab-origin/
"The most famous such experiment was conducted in the lab of Dutch researcher Ron Fouchier. Fouchier took an avian influenza virus (H5N1) that did not infect ferrets (or other mammals) and serially passaged it in ferrets."
And now that
https://www.dailysabah.com/life/science/could-minks-be-the-missing-link-in-coronavirus-jump-from-bats-to-humans-the-case-of-dutch-farmers
https://www.wionews.com/world/dutch-to-slaughter-around-10000-mink-after-coronavirus-outbreak-on-farms-303412
Posted by: Mina | Jun 4 2020 18:13 utc | 40
I wonder why no one goes after Duterte and Bolsonaro at the ICC.
Posted by: Mina | Jun 4 2020 18:16 utc | 41
Rania Khalek @RaniaKhalek
Elites from both parties have blamed Russia, China, Iran, even Zimbabwe for the unrest. They blame to avoid responsibility for the brutal and unequal system that murdered George Floyd. How long did they think people would suffer in silence?
[video]
https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1268181427633471489
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 18:16 utc | 42
That Minnesota study only investigated whether people who did or did not take HCQ were infected by the coronavirus. The strongest case for HCQ is the claim that it prevents infection cases from progressing to the dangerous form of the disease. That, the study did not investigate, I suspect because Big Pharma wanted a study that did not promote use of HCQ, from which it cannot profit.
Posted by: lysias | Jun 4 2020 18:18 utc | 43
Zimbabwe summoned the U.S. ambassador in Harare on Monday after a senior White House official said the country was among “foreign adversaries” using the unrest over the death of George Floyd to interfere in U.S. affairs.
Protests demanding justice for Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, have spread across the United States and turned violent.
Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, told ABC news in an interview on Sunday that countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Zimbabwe were adversaries that were using the unrest to stoke tensions in the United States.
Washington has frequently criticised Zimbabwe’s human rights record in the past, including crackdowns on opposition protests.
In a statement, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said O’Brien’s accusations were “false and deeply damaging to a relationship already complicated due to years of prescriptive megaphone diplomacy and punitive economic sanctions”.
“We take due note of the measures deployed by the U.S. authorities to deal with the challenges currently confronting them. At the same time, we recall the harsh U.S. criticism and condemnation of our own response to multiple instances of illegal, violent civil unrest,” said Moyo.
In a statement in response, Nichols, the U.S. ambassador, said the United States would continue to speak out against injustices at home and abroad.
https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN23914X-OZATP
Posted by: Mao | Jun 4 2020 18:20 utc | 44
The comments are sometimes very interesting, but I do get a little tired of he same old crap. A lot of people with their own pet theories and arcane references. Are the demonstrations and disturbances we are seeing now likely to change anything? No. These things happen every five years or so. It is street violence, and the State has a monopoly on violence. It has more people, mot guns, the legal system, more power - as Chuck Schummer said ¨they have seven ways from Sunday to get you¨. Street violence will get you nowhere. To effect actual change people have to take a lesson from the people who have been kicking the ass of the US military all over the world. If there is going to be a war, let it be what they call an asymmetrical war. Do you think the Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers are inconvenienced by street violence? Probably not. Neither are the big money political campaign contributors who finance the hate mongering, the defense contractors who make the weapons to be used on those poor bastards overseas (and us too if we get out of hand), the generals who need wars in order to get promoted, slimy lobbyists and corrupt media mouthpieces, the list could go on. For change to happen those people have to be inconvenienced. They have to be more than inconvenienced. Around the world political change is often the result of violence. The US State is an expert in the use of violence to control political events - drone strikes, car bombs, plane crashes, straight up military coups. Will people finally be pushed to the point where that is the only option. Of course it usually ends badly, but it has been ending badly for ordinary people for a long time anyway. What goes around may come around. The chickens may come home to roost some day.
Posted by: c | Jun 4 2020 18:22 utc | 45
A Sino-American-French joint?
https://www.rt.com/news/490714-mi6-china-lab-coronavirus/
Posted by: Mina | Jun 4 2020 18:24 utc | 46
@ 33 bevin... thanks for the article... it's a good read.. i would be curious for others feedback on it..
@ 34 ric g... that is messed up!
Posted by: james | Jun 4 2020 18:31 utc | 47
ColombiaA @24--
Many Empires have risen and fallen, and we've witnessed the demise of a few since the end of WW2. One might say that when an Empire is formed, its decay commences based on the internal contradictions developed during its formation. Currently, there are several Empires in that condition.
c @44--
Several months ago I proposed barflies post there own Revolutionary Manifesto as a way to sort out their thinking on the things you mentioned in your comment. I also suggest you do the same and present it here so its merits can be debated.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 18:42 utc | 48
Ridiculous op-piece by some random American journalist at the RT:
I don't doubt those guy from Surgisphere are a bunch of corrupt sell-offs. This isn't the problem with the piece.
The problem is the journalist quickly and incorrectly assumes hydroxycloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid-19 - a claim for which there's no scientific evidence whatsoever.
The same argument she used to trash Surgisphere could be used to dr. Didier Raoult - he could be a sell-off for Sanofi, one of the biggest producers of the drug in France. He only used anecdotal data from his clinic (some 86 people), which is also scientifically flawed as a data gathering and as a scientific experiment. Exactly same line of argument she uses against Surgisphere.
Another problem with her article is a factual contradiction: yes, Trump was one of the original hydroxycloroquine cheerleaders - but he was also one of the first Remdesivir cheerleaders, too, when it "came out". Once he saw that Big Pharma could profit even more with Remdesivir, he threw hydroxycloroquine away like an used condom. Therefore, the line of argument that the drug was "trashed" to hurt Trump is a fallacy.
The third problem with her article comes purely from economic ignorance. It's false that, just because a drug has no current patent, it is not profitable. You still have to produce the drug. You still have to own the means of its production. You still have to distribute it. You still have to sell it. In a pandemic, I'm sure that demand for hydroxycloroquine would be over 100% the existing supply. That would create a monopoly scenario either way for the companies who own the lines of production for the drug, patent or no patent. It is the exact same scenario with the N95 masks, which were being intercepted at sea and outbid three-fold by the USA, so they could be redirected to American territory instead of the likes of France, Germany, Brazil, Mexico etc.
Overall, awful piece by Helen Buyniski. And I'm noticing a general deterioration of RT's journalism.
Consortium News has published two articles about Russia and its relations with the Outlaw US Empire. The first is a review by Ray McGovern that covers various events going back to the Obama Era that was prompted by this interview of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov: "'We Have No Trust, No Confidence Whatsoever' in America," and how that arose. The second is excerpted from a new book examining the lack of effect of sanctions upon Russia and references a recent book by University of Birmingham professor Richard Connolly, Russia’s Response to Sanctions: How Western Economic Statecraft is [Positively] Reshaping Political Economy in Russia, the irony of the title being there having the opposite outcome of the initial intentions, thus my corrective addition to the title.
Both articles and their references help keep Russia Watchers in tune with perceptions from both sides. There are a number of points I'm tempted to copy/paste from the Ryabkov interview, but the bit within the title will serve well enough as the entire interview ought to be read. The comment I made to the sanctions article centered on Russia's lack of a predatory, parasitic financial sector and the resulting health that provides Russia while the Outlaw US Empire suffers from its greatly.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 19:13 utc | 50
Fresh off the assembly line, America has just announced its newest clone of Juan Guaido--for China!
His name is Miles Kwok, a fugitive billionaire who fled China and now is promoting something called the "New Federal States of China"-- backed and supported by Steve Bannon!
Meet Juan Guaidó #2: Trump's far-right ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon is working with a corrupt Chinese billionaire (who fled criminal charges) to try overthrow China's govt
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1268613578648547328
The USA churns out pro-American stooges ... my bad, "democratic leaders" ... for other countries like they are Stepford Wives.
Posted by: ak74 | Jun 4 2020 19:15 utc | 51
karlof1 @ 47, indeed this is a far better place to sort out our thinking - and I'm assuming you wouldn't have seen my response to your response back in the post before last as events were moving quickly. So, here's the first one, and I'll bring the second one shortly:
karlof1 @ 180, Antispin @181, thank you for referring me to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and of course at first I took a quick look through Orthodox wiki, (that being my faith), then was pleasantly informed to see a manuscript called "Jubilees" listed there, and apparently dated 160-150 BC. The caves wherein the scrolls were found is approximately one mile west of the Dead Sea. And most of the scrolls seem to be of Old Hebraic texts, I think one in Aramaic. They all seem older from my admittedly quick look than the Christian era, and in fact, the closest Christian writers were mentioned to hold "Jubilees" in high esteem, they being described as 'early Christian writers' and listing in wikipedia as Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, some of whom knew some of the disciples of Christ.
My church uses, by the way, the Septaguint, which is the Greek version of the Old Testament compiled by Alexandrian Jews in the second century BC. Jesus quotes from that version fairly often, and also gives his own translations at times.
You are both welcome to adhere to your sources; I will adhere to mine. I saw no mention of a 'Christ figure' but admittedly wiki is not always a complete source of information. In general though, the texts predate the Christian era, and early Christians knew of some of them which had since disappeared from the canon. I will enjoy further exploration - I know there was some controversy about the translations that were being proffered early on, and early Christian history is an area I enjoy exploring, especially the writings of those who knew such as Saint John, who lived a long life. I have to admit he's my favorite, as he was Dostoievski's also.
(Jesus, by the way, grew up in Nazareth, which is to the north. Tiny country, though, to have so much interesting history!)
Posted by: juliania | Jun 4 2020 19:22 utc | 52
It used to be I would read avidly all the posts by the commentariat, occasionally skipping a few handles, but now I look for a few handles and skip the rest. Oh well..
Posted by: Lozion | Jun 4 2020 19:28 utc | 53
Yet another article announcing Billionaire gains during pandemic--a $$79 Billion w/w gain or $4.1 Trillion on a yearly basis. How such numbers ought to be seen is as a negative to the overall economy as measured by GDP--the overall economy shrank last week by almost $80 Billion.
The highly provocative NY Times op/ed by Cotton provoked a sickout strike and job-risking pushback via Twitter by staffers.
At least one faction of the DNC is trying to do something positive:
"urging presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to commit to spending up to $16 trillion over the next decade to combat the climate crisis and put the U.S. on track for near-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040."
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 19:31 utc | 54
Posted by: vk | Jun 4 2020 18:53 utc | 48
Usual crap from vk. The anti-hydroxycloroquine study has been discredited, as it should have been.
hydroxycloroquine is not a miracle drug to cure COVID, as he suggests. It is rather a drug that reduces the virus load in the period when it is multiplying, but is useless when the disease becomes serious , and pneumonia and death is imminent, when the virus disappears from the body. All the American studies have been of the latter stage.
No, hydroxycloroquine is not profitable, as out of patent.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 4 2020 19:32 utc | 55
Here is my second comment on the thread before last, in reply to previous statements from karlof1 and Antispin on the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls with respect to the mission of Jesus as described by Professor Michael Hudson:
Just briefly, but it does relate to Professor Hudson's scholarly involvement - I found this link particularly on the "Book of Jubilees":
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/wholecounsel/2019/10/30/the-book-of-jubilees/
I've bookmarked it, as it provides a wealth of information I hadn't known - thank you so much, karlof1! I'll just give a short quote from the summation:
...the Book of Jubilees, regardless of canonical status, is a critically important witness to the interpretation and religious significance of Genesis and Exodus in the first century AD. It is invaluable as background to the apostles and New Testament writers in understanding their world view and experience. The texts which make up the Christian Scriptures are not timeless texts. They were produced by real men in real times and places...
The linked article gives pertinent examples quoting 'Jubilee' within the New Testament itself - fascinating!
Posted by: juliania | Jun 4 2020 0:47 utc | 199
I will repeat that I do appreciate the emphasis on a 'jubilee year' which is present in the Gospel account of Jesus' first sermon. I am only saying that was not his primary mission, though useful to underline the connection between God's forgiveness of our debts and our forgiveness of the debts of others, right there in the most important prayer Christians can say, as given by Christ himself to his disciples. And that it all relates back to the Jewish tradition of the Jubilee year is without doubt extremely important. We are in Professor Hudson's debt that he has pointed that out.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 4 2020 19:36 utc | 56
I've been watching Max Blumenthal's live Twitter feed for a few nights now as he strolls along with fellow protesters in DC and shares his impressions on the protests and insight on the Elite's shenanigans in he US and the "Global South". The guys is pretty clued in, imo..
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal
Posted by: Lozion | Jun 4 2020 19:38 utc | 57
Sorry, in the above, the quotation from the link ends at 'real times and places...' The next sentence is my own. I missed correcting the truncation when I transferred the post here.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 4 2020 19:40 utc | 58
vk | Jun 4 2020 18:53 utc
Reconciling different articles, it seems that both HXC and remdesivir may confer an advantage to a person who is diagnosed with COVID-19 with no symptoms or mild symptoms -- decreasing the percentage of cases reaching cytokine storm when we can supply oxygen (in a better or worse manner) and pray. Reliable stats are hard to obtain because of very different susceptibility between various groups. It could well be the case that in the mild cases placebo effect, manipulating the patient t o be optimistic rather than panicking, is sufficiently beneficial (to increase the percentage of recovery). For example, low mortality of infections in Belorus could be explain by the optimistic and trusting nature of inhabitants (they enjoy such reputation). Mainline Chinese also tend to believe that the country leader wish them well and are competent, so once they see energetic measures, mortality drops.
But the British are a grumpy lot, muttering about "bloody government", not to mention that Tories botched the show of being energetic and well meaning. The authorities of Belgium were particularly dis-trusted because of hellish squabbles, freakish scandals etc, pessimistic Belgians were dropping like flies.
In any case, placebo, e.g. aspirin plus a cheap "anti-biotic, just in case", cured untold millions of common cold sufferers, so a "special treatment" for mild cases, zinc (surely helpful), and anti-biotic (just in case) and something else (HXC, remdesivir or a mix of beneficial herbs in a country like Poland where the natives believe in herbs) could nurse big majority to a happy recovery.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 4 2020 19:41 utc | 59
If there is a third to the one-two of rony and riots the timeline might get relatively short but the general rule of history is that empires do not fall quickly.
Wrt WSWS, their core problem is just the classic disconnect of woke middle class. Really frustrating because it provides a rare almost-msm-but-anti-msm perspective that often makes some good points before jumping off the deep end.
Posted by: Rae | Jun 4 2020 19:46 utc | 60
Posted by: juliania | Jun 4 2020 19:36 utc | 55
The Desert Scrolls are all BC, so not relevant to what Jesus had to say. If Jesus was the son of God, then what he had to say should bear no relationship to what was said before.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 4 2020 19:53 utc | 61
I'm watching DW News reporting from a city in AmeriKKKa. The reporter says that most protests in the US are now peaceful and free of violence and vandalism. Is it possible that Trump's "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" persuaded the ratbag element that 'the price (of vandalism/looting) wasn't worth it'?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 4 2020 20:04 utc | 62
Randa @ 30
I think you are right about more trouble this weekend, bareing in mind that this beyond doubt has been carefully choreographed/planned by trump for several years.
He infiltrated his kkk white supremacy followers into the police force (a lot were there already) ditto his politians /aids.
Courts. Media you name it their in there.
So far since George’s deliberate murder by trumps cop thugs, we have seen ‘a battle’ bare in mind this is ‘a war’
As to this week end I’ll give you and all here a small exsample of the psycpathic confusion being spread by trump and his sick thug cops /kkk.
https://twitter.com/freeyourmindkid/status/1266620489612615681
Ther will be similar s**t going all other US.
And yes we will all be paranoid and confused that’s their objective !!
Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 4 2020 20:20 utc | 63
I keep hearing about how Israeli F-35 jets have been attacking targets inside Syria and that Russian anti-aircraft weapons have been unable to stop them. What is really going on? Are the Syrian army trying to bring down the planes, do they have the latest Russian S-400 rockets, etc?
Posted by: Rob | Jun 4 2020 20:21 utc | 64
Potential attempting at exporting the crisis ? In front of Liberty Statue Steve Bannon declares a New Federal State of China Declaration. Basically it's an outfit put together by neo-confederates around Trump and deep state actors to set up future looting and balkanization of China operations. Hypocrites promising chinese people health care and right to education, coming from depraved bunch fighting tooth and nail to prevent everyday americans access to same basic economic right ! All this playing out while Trump and his minions are suppressing peaceful protest across CONUS. Interesting times... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPU0DBp0suE
Posted by: Sol Invictus | Jun 4 2020 20:22 utc | 65
Is it possible that Trump's "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" persuaded the ratbag element that 'the price (of vandalism/looting) wasn't worth it'?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 4 2020 20:04 utc | 61
More likely the calming elsewhere has led to the decline, not Trump's efforts to incite violence.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 4 2020 20:23 utc | 66
Posted by: Rob | Jun 4 2020 20:21 utc | 63
The Israeli airforce only dares fire from within Lebanese airspace. They're scared of actual intervention. Do their missiles hit? Who knows? But missiles are more difficult to shoot down than airplanes. Quite a big success rate, even so.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 4 2020 20:29 utc | 67
@Rob
"F-35 jets have been attacking targets inside Syria and that Russian anti-aircraft weapons have been unable to stop them"
HAHAHAHAA!!!! The F-35 has a hard enough time attacking it's own pilots. Shoot real targets?
Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Jun 4 2020 20:30 utc | 68
@ Passer By 10
I dont think that is feasible option in an urban setting. Too many obstacles and they cant really get too close to cause any dispersement as was demonstrated a few days ago in DC. Plus, if this thing escalates and becomes violent, anyone knows that once you disable the tail rotor by any means, it’s over and then you will see a real catastrophe.
I don’t think the officials would stand for those tactics in streets of US. Although, Trump is crazy enough to order it.
Posted by: Alpi | Jun 4 2020 20:36 utc | 69
@61 Hoarsewhisperer
Trump couldn't persuade a skunk crossing his path not to pee on him.
Trump in front of Saint-John's Church. Here's a bible, that doesn't belong to me and I never read, but just to show you what a stand-up guy I am, I gassed a few hundred people so's I could share my Choseness with my bootlicking, whitewashing, punch-drunk base; Hoarsewhisperer, being one of those faithful suckers I can always count on.
Posted by: Circe | Jun 4 2020 20:41 utc | 70
Hoarsewhimper @ 61
The ratbag element ? That beyound doubt would be the cops and republic kkk party !
So how’s Trump being president working out fa yall ?
Are you sorry yet.
No justice no peace ! ‘Now what part of that ‘ Don’t you understand ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 4 2020 20:48 utc | 71
@ Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 4 2020 19:32 utc | 54
So, there's already a peer reviewed study explaining the exact biochemical reaction that makes hydroxycloroquine to reduce the (SARS-CoV-2) virus load at a given critical mass in the human body? Does it also explains why it doesn't reduce the virus load after a certain threshold?
Give me the link, then.
And you did know there are other studies proving hydroxycloroquine is a glorified placebo at best, didn't you?
laguerre I second your remark #54, if that's the right way to put it. I've been trying to say the same for some weeks - to no avail apparently. cheers
Posted by: miss lacy | Jun 4 2020 21:03 utc | 73
https://academic.oup.com/aje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aje/kwaa093/5847586?searchresult=1
" Hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin has been widely misrepresented in both clinical reports and public media, and outpatient trials results are not expected until September. Early outpatient illness is very different than later hospitalized florid disease and the treatments differ. Evidence about use of hydroxychloroquine alone, or of hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin in inpatients, is irrelevant concerning efficacy of the pair in early high-risk outpatient disease. Five studies, including two controlled clinical trials, have demonstrated significant major outpatient treatment efficacy. Hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin has been used as standard-of-care in more than 300,000 older adults with multicomorbidities, with estimated proportion diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmias attributable to the medications 47/100,000 users, of which estimated mortality is <20%, 9/100,000 users, compared to the 10,000 Americans now dying each week. These medications need to be widely available and promoted immediately for physicians to prescribe."
Posted by: Roger | Jun 4 2020 21:04 utc | 74
Re the unmarked military units guarding buildings in Washington...
Who Are They? Unmarked Security Forces in DC Spark Fear
Turns out they are Bureau of Prisons SWAT guys.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:11 utc | 75
@61 It's possible that Trump's threats scared them off. Maybe legitimate protesters got fed up with them. Or maybe they've run out of easy Targets
Posted by: dh | Jun 4 2020 21:12 utc | 76
Trump backs down...
Trump: 'I don't think we'll have to' send military to cities
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:13 utc | 77
...
Hoarsewhisperer, being one of those faithful suckers I can always count on.
Posted by: Circe | Jun 4 2020 20:41 utc | 69
Yep. You got that right.
As soon as Trump declared himself to be the Drain The Swamp POTUS, I was 100% certain that I wasn't going to like the tactics necessary to get the job done. It's amusing to hear people complaining that Trump's not acting like Tinkerbell on a Unicorn - considering the depths of evil festering within The Swamp.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 4 2020 21:13 utc | 78
Trump now covers his butt over his "bunker-hiding"...
Trump says he went to White House bunker for 'inspection,' not because of protests
A narcissist can't afford to look like a coward...
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:15 utc | 79
Minn cops trained by Israeli police, who often use knee-on-neck restraint
As expected...
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:17 utc | 80
More on the war of the police against journalists during the riots...
Police shove, make AP journalists stop covering protest
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:20 utc | 81
Posted by: ak74 | Jun 4 2020 19:15 utc | 50
Thanks ak74, interesting and with thanks. Let me expand and share what I know (4th and final attempt).
"Fresh off the assembly line, America has just announced its newest clone of Juan Guaido--for China! ....His name is Miles Kwok (or Guo Wengui, Guo Wen Gui, Guo Haoyun, and Miles Kwok), is a Chinese billionaire), a fugitive billionaire who fled China and now is promoting something called the "New Federal States of China"-- backed and supported by Steve Bannon!"
Been watching Guo Wengui, Gordon Chang and Jennifer Zeng closely in ZeoHedge and South China Post (SCMP) follows their move. They are diehard (mind bogging) Chinas' bashers. There are two China bashers, still under wraps similar to Jeff Bezos (Amazon). Pierre Morad Omidyar (intercept and Ebay), Keith Rupert Murdoch (Sky News and Walls Street Journal, previously SCMP).
Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai or simply Joe Tsai (Alibaba executive vice chairman, Brooklyn Nets) and puppet Gary Liu (CEO of SCMP). I am in SCMP website every day and well researched, in depth coverage but extremely bias, mixing and confusing points of views. They have correspondents’ worldwide, China (Beijing, Shenzhen and more), Singapore, UK, USA, Hong Kong, Malaysia and elsewhere. Usually a story two or more writers. To protect the writers and hid and protect their sources, they ensure it's not base in China or Singapore but elsewhere... Singapore political systems similar to China.... free to voice your opinions and publish but you're be bankrupt or jailed. Ask Leslie Fong he was the Strait Times Editor during Lee Kuan Yew regime.
Eng not my mother tongue, don't articulate as I wish more forgetfull. Watch two videos than decide if I'm correct. The title or subjects matter are not important, listen carefully the replied and watch how Gary Liu behave alone and with his boss Joe Tsai in 2ns video. There are more videos, but I'm ain't gonna confuse you do yr own searches in You Tube ...
Artificial Intelligence at Heart of Alibaba Ecosystem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIh2-S2jXls
What the world can learn from China’s response to the coronavirus | Gary Liu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGcD8CTlDEc
Posted by: JC | Jun 4 2020 21:22 utc | 82
Posted by: ak74 | Jun 4 2020 19:15 utc | 50
Thanks ak74, interesting and with thanks. Let me expand and share what I know (4th and final attempt).
"Fresh off the assembly line, America has just announced its newest clone of Juan Guaido--for China! ....His name is Miles Kwok (or Guo Wengui, Guo Wen Gui, Guo Haoyun, and Miles Kwok), is a Chinese billionaire), a fugitive billionaire who fled China and now is promoting something called the "New Federal States of China"-- backed and supported by Steve Bannon!"
Been watching Guo Wengui, Gordon Chang and Jennifer Zeng closely in ZeoHedge and South China Post (SCMP) follows their move. They are diehard (mind bogging) Chinas' bashers. There are two China bashers, still under wraps similar to Jeff Bezos (Amazon). Pierre Morad Omidyar (intercept and Ebay), Keith Rupert Murdoch (Sky News and Walls Street Journal, previously SCMP).
Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai or simply Joe Tsai (Alibaba executive vice chairman, Brooklyn Nets) and puppet Gary Liu (CEO of SCMP). I am in SCMP website every day and well researched, in depth coverage but extremely bias, mixing and confusing points of views. They have correspondents’ worldwide, China (Beijing, Shenzhen and more), Singapore, UK, USA, Hong Kong, Malaysia and elsewhere. Usually a story two or more writers. To protect the writers and hid and protect their sources, they ensure it's not base in China or Singapore but elsewhere... Singapore political systems similar to China.... free to voice your opinions and publish but you're be bankrupt or jailed. Ask Leslie Fong he was the Strait Times Editor during Lee Kuan Yew regime.
Eng not my mother tongue, don't articulate as I wish more forgetfull. Watch two videos than decide if I'm correct. The title or subjects matter are not important, listen carefully the replied and watch how Gary Liu behave alone and with his boss Joe Tsai in 2ns video. There are more videos, but I'm ain't gonna confuse you do yr own searches in You Tube ...
Artificial Intelligence at Heart of Alibaba Ecosystem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIh2-S2jXls
What the world can learn from China’s response to the coronavirus | Gary Liu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGcD8CTlDEc
Posted by: JC | Jun 4 2020 21:22 utc | 83
No surprise here...Now they're covering by saying he was recently graduated from the academy... Which only goes to prove, as Jimmy Dore said, that this is the kind of person who goes into police work.
'Let’s start a riot': Denver cop fired for inflammatory Instagram post
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 21:22 utc | 84
You can rely on The Onion for honest reporting:
"'Look, we all have the right to protest, but that doesn’t mean you can just rush in and destroy any business without gathering a group of clandestine investors to purchase it at a severely reduced price and slowly bleed it to death,' said Facebook commenter Amy Mulrain, echoing the sentiments of detractors nationwide who blasted the demonstrators for not hiring a consultant group to take stock of a struggling company’s assets before plundering."
Hat tip to Max and Stacy from today's Keiser Report. I do recall Trump threatening such looters about a year ago by saying he'd make it impossible for them to conduct business within the Outlaw US Empire, which turned out to be all hot air and bluster as usual.
Jesting aside, here are two charts that tell an interesting tale, Long-term M2 Money Supply and Velocity of M2 Money Supply. If you can get them minimized so that you can view them side/side, you'll see that stagnation of the Outlaw US Empire's economy began about 1996-7 and has been on a continuous downward slide ever since despite the money supply remaining mostly steady. Then there's the massive spike upward with unlimited QE yet velocity's dropping down to zero, which really helps depict what the problem is and where it lies. The decreasing velocity of money reveals it's being hoarded by the .1% offshore or in bank accounts as it's no longer circulating--contributing to overall velocity. This is clear evidence that Trickle-down is a complete failure for the overall economy as money that ought to be returning to the economy isn't, thus no productive investment such that Industrial Capitalism can't function as designed and a perpetual recession is perpetuated thanks to the real looters of the economy.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 21:36 utc | 85
Heiko Maas, one more "German official" with miraculous sources:
Germany’s Heiko Maas says has evidence of Russian involvement in cyberattack on Bundestag
"There is concrete and indisputable evidence that a Russian national, together with other people, conducted a hacker attack on the Germany’s Bundestag in spring 2015 for the Russian intelligence," the minister claimed.[...]
Russia repeatedly denied allegations of involvement in the attack. No German security agency ever provided any evidence to support the media’s version of the cybercriminals’ ties to Moscow.
"urging presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to commit to spending up to $16 trillion over the next decade to combat the climate crisis and put the U.S. on track for near-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040."
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 19:31 utc | 53
Before climate crisis, it is the hunger crisis, home crisis, job crisis, education crisis, and health crisis, do not you, and Joe Biden, think?
It is obvious for the attentive spectator that this crisis of Covid-19 is being used to insert with a spoon forced on us, what Greta Thunberg could not with scolding us and absence from school on Fridays during a whole year.
This people care for climate the same I care for the confederate statues of Pat Lang in the classy South of the US ( where he, btw, does not belong, but a Canadian emigree, wanabe high class, but the son of a sargeant in the end...)...
What they pretend with this Green New Deal is to take another nibble to the public treasure.
This is the kind of measures they are thinking about. In Spain, purchase of an electric car will be subsidized by the state with around 2000euro. Taking into account an electric car does not cost less than 25.000 euro, this is a new bailout of the rich´s luxuries and caprices, since no working class peer would be able to buy any of those "green" cars unless he spends the savings of half working life, and that in case he saves anything at all, quite difficult for an unemployed or anemployee of the working poor class.
Yeah, I know, for the working class what is left is going everywhere by bycicle...You should watch how all the roads in the cities, where before only went cars ( since bycicles had already their especial lines )have been painted with bycicle lanes in the middle, and how you must now drive lower than 30km/h throughout the whole city to go behind these people in byke with the alibi of the pandemic....They continue touching us the balls without rest, and then they aske themselves why we protest...
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jun 4 2020 22:05 utc | 87
@Posted by: Sol Invictus | Jun 4 2020 20:22 utc | 64
I saw clearly since the first minute that Bannon was behind all this...It´s his style all the way. The more taking into account that some protests by his far-right outlets had started and started almost simultaneously of few days before those in the US.
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jun 4 2020 22:12 utc | 88
@Posted by: H.Schmatz | June 04, 2020 at 22:12
Far-right protest which had started simultaneously in several Suth Euroepan countries and which we all know Bannon is behind of.
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jun 4 2020 22:13 utc | 89
Tom at ICH has done us all a favor by republishing the excellent 2.5 year-old 2017 National Geographic article dealing with the pseudo-science of race and how all humans are one genetic species;
"It's been used to define and separate people for millennia. But the concept of race is not grounded in genetics. - DNA reveals what skin color obscures: We all have African ancestors."
The author is Elizabeth Kolbert, who recently published The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.
Back when I taught Physical Anthropology, I'd always have at least one Creationist in class ready to challenge the course goal of getting students to know that the Theory of Evolution is a Fact, the root of the problem being that Fact wasn't taught in Grade School by the 3rd level then further taught about in subsequent levels as the science taught became more complex.
When it comes to the science on human evolution, those proclaiming themselves to be Racists of any stripe are merely telling us they're uneducated ideologue buffoons who never should have been allowed to graduate from High School.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 22:16 utc | 90
Given that this article is from a pro-gun Web site, it's remarkably critical of the cops involved in the incident...correctly so, in my opinion, even given the "not all cops" attitude which in my view is not correct. But as I've said before, although I agree with Jimmy Dore's comments on cops, I do recognize that there are *some* cops who want to be professional. They just don't last long.
An Ex-Cop on Police-Involved Shootings and the ‘Warrior Mindset’
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 22:17 utc | 91
Now this is interesting - if it isn't BS from one politician trying to make points...
Minneapolis City Council Looking At Disbanding Entire Police Department
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 4 2020 22:21 utc | 92
@Posted by: Sol Invictus | Jun 4 2020 20:22 utc | 64
Have you noticed that a whole fleet of OVNIs is pasing behind these two morons?
The Chinese has the same face of mafiosi and imbecile Bannon has, thus no wonder he is going to be the next Chinese Guaido.
But, these people, who they believe is going ti support them unless criminals, when everybody is watching around the world what happens in the US, how they manage eveything they touch and how economy goes. And Bannon, with that same disrty aspect of intern of psychitric warden as his ordas of white supremacists...
This is the people who should be put in jail, and not the protesters, oe guess the two morons are having a good time in that boat while the country bleeds in its working neighorhoods.
Asco dan!
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jun 4 2020 22:25 utc | 93
Vk@48
“- a claim for which there's no scientific evidence whatsoever.”
Thats just wrong. Now perhaps the evidence is not great because we have yet to see a large scale well designed trial like we saw for Gileads drug (funded by Faucis NSIAID and fast tracked) and which has orphan drug status and thus monopoly pricing power. Those trials are expensive and do generally don't get done unless there is a profits motive. HCQ is off patent. Gilead failed its trial so they had to change the end point from mortality rate to faster recovery (2-3 days). It did not affect mortality. Its also super expensive (1000 times more so than HCQ) with far more side effects than HCQ.
My mother at 88 has taken HCQ for 20 years for Lupus. No side effects. She also was COVID free despite attending a senior day care center in Boston right up until it closed due to lockdown
Heck even China used HCQ since their experience with SARS showed it helped.
There are some really fine Doctors recommending this treatment with no obvious financial interests unlike the anti HCQ crowd.
Although not proof we do know New York refused to make its enormous stockpile of HCQ available outside a clinical trial. Governor Andrew Cuomo banned the clinical use of HCQ in the entire state of New York on March 6. Over 40% of NY’s many deaths were in nursing homes. Florida by contrast, where many of NY rich elderly go for the winter has done remarkably well in this crisis, as the state dispersed, and promoted HCQ for its residents.
HCQ is also being used successfully as a prophylaxis in other countries like India, to protect medical workers, first responders, household contacts, and other persons at risk of exposure. The COVID-19 mortality rate in India is only one per million in population, compared with more than 300 per million in the U.S. (or 3 per 10,000)
The Virology Journal – the official publication of Dr. Fauci’s National Institutes of Health – published article on August 22, 2005, under the heading – “Chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection...We report…that chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells. These inhibitory effects are observed when the cells are treated with the drug either before or after exposure to the virus, suggesting both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage.”
Said Dr. Fauci’s NIH in 2005, “concentrations of 10 μM completely abolished SARS-CoV infection.”
Dr. Didier Raoult, said way back on February 25 that “it’s game over” for coronavirus. He and a team of researchers reported that the use of HCQ administered with both azithromycin and zinc cured 79 of 80 patients with only “rare and minor” adverse events. These researchers concluded “we confirm the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine associated with azithromycin in the treatment of COVID-19 and its potential effectiveness in the early impairment of contagiousness.”
The highly-publicized VA study that purported to show HCQ was ineffective showed nothing of the sort since it was conducted on patients Already seriously ill plus HCQ was administered without azithromycin and zinc, which form the cocktail that makes it supremely effective.
On March 23, Dr. Vladimir Zelenko reported that he had treated around 500 coronavirus patients with HCQ in NY and had seen an astonishing 100% success rate . The treatment costs about $20 .
Other Studies on HCQ are here (I broke some links with a space to prevent page break)
Combined Treatment Effective
Triple-drug combo of anti-malaria pill hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ZINC improved coronavirus patients’ chances of being discharged and cut death risk by almost 50%, study finds
Highlight: “Results showed that patients receiving the triple-drug combination had a 1.5 times greater likelihood of recovering enough to be discharged.”
Study link: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/
10.1101/2020.05.02.20080036v1
Highlight: “…an increased frequency of being discharged home (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.09) reduction in mortality or transfer to hospice (was) significant (OR 0.449, 95% CI 0.271-0.744)”
Study link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8309337/Zinc-
hydroxychloroquine-effective-COVID-19-patients-study.html
Hydroxychloroquine Phosphate
Gautret et al., linical and microbiological effect of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in 80 COVID-19 patients with at least a six-day follow up: A pilot observational study.Travel Med Infect Disease 2020 Mar-Apr 24: 101663: doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101663. Epub 2020 Apr 11.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32289548
Highlight: “All patients improved clinically except one 86 year-old patient who died, and one 74 year-old patient still in intensive care. A rapid fall of nasopharyngeal viral load was noted, with 83% negative at Day7, and 93% at Day8. Virus cultures from patient respiratory samples were negative in 97.5% of patients at Day5. Consequently patients were able to be rapidly discharged from IDU with a mean length of stay of five days.”
Gautret P LJ, Parola P, et al.: Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: preliminary results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2020, Pre-Print. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.16.20037135
Highlight.Twenty cases were treated in this study and showed a significant reduction of the viral carriage at D-6 compared to controls, and much lower than reported average carrying duration of untreated patients in the literature. Azithromycin added to Hydroxychloroquine was significantly more efficient for virus elimination.
Chen et al., 2020. Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: results of a randomized clinical trial MedRxiv https://www.medrxiv.org/content/
10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758v3
Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial.. Intl J Antimicrobial Agents Online March 20, 2020, 105949 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/
article/pii/S0924857920300996
Studies against HCQ are flawed
pilot study of hydroxychloroquine in treatment of patients with moderate COVID-19
CHEN Jun, LIU Danping,etc
Department of Infection and Immunity, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai
Patients in HCQ group were given HCQ 400 mg per day for 5 days plus conventional treatments, while those in the control group were given conventional treatment only. Tells us nothing since conventional treatment includes antivirals, interferon and other expensive treatments
Another no benefit study
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1849
Both groups received Concomitant treatments, including antiviral agents, antibiotics, and systemic glucocorticoid therapy similar. Again, tells us nothing .
Another negative (no benefit) study
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1844
No benefit in severely ill patients. Dr Rauolt already warned it must be given early in disease as seriously ill have extensive lung damage and there is little virus left to fight.
So is HCQ a magic cure? No, but its cheap, relatively safe and should have been used far more often than it was.
Posted by: Kay Fabe | Jun 4 2020 22:26 utc | 94
Herr Schmatz @85--
IMO, the most important act for a POTUS to perform is to cut the connection between the Financial Parasites and Economies everywhere by declaring the unenforced fraud they commit daily to no longer go unenforced and arrest all of them while nationalizing every penny of their assets. That done, then monies could be directed and redistributed in an equitable manner to begin dealing with the many crises we now face that you list and more. Now clearly, Biden isn't me; he's beholden to those who own him, so I very much doubt he'll do much of what actually requires doing. If you haven't, I do suggest reading the Ray McGovern article and Ryabkov interview I linked above @49 so you can learn how and why a POTUS can no longer control his own--or even make his own--policies.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2020 22:28 utc | 95
Hypocrites promising chinese people health care and right to education, coming from depraved bunch fighting tooth and nail to prevent everyday americans access to same basic economic right!
Posted by: Sol Invictus | Jun 4 2020 20:22 utc | 64
Perhaps they are patriots who want to convince Chinese to ruin their (Chinese) economy, loose freedom to state-provided healthcare and suffer for those reasons. Oh, they are hypocrites either way. BTW, they also say that "Israel shares our values", but somehow it does not include universal health care and gays in the military.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 4 2020 22:34 utc | 96
ak74 #50
Fresh off the assembly line, America has just announced its newest clone of Juan Guaido--for China!His name is Miles Kwok, a fugitive billionaire who fled China and now is promoting something called the "New Federal States of China"-- backed and supported by Steve Bannon!
OK so all the USA people need to do is get behind their favorite third party nominee: Nina Turner, Jesse Ventura, Chris Hedges, Krystal Ball - and declare them President NOW.
Maybe a committee of 13 'serious people' could announce themselves the 2020 Electoral College and make the declaration.
I would like to see how that played out.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 4 2020 22:41 utc | 97
Kay Fabe | Jun 4 2020 22:26 utc
I am not sure if it applies, but drug testing has elements of "dark science". First one collects preliminary data to figure out the difference between patients that respond well to the medication (therapeutic effects, no or few side effects) and those who do not. Then you collect a "cohort of subjects" that will give you statistics closer to what you want. This approach has legitimate uses, since people differ, you want to have medications that cover those differences. Illegitimate uses involve bad-mouthing the competing drugs and skimpy disclosure about patient characteristics that suggest that the drug will not help.
When you make a hostile test of a combination of drugs, you can manipulate by using a wrong dose for some of them.
So the tested cohorts could be legit or not. But it gives you a perspective why a brilliant man like Rault may disparage "double blind drug tests". The principle is sound, but they are necessarily slower and not as objective as they seem to be.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 4 2020 22:46 utc | 98
Oh my god those blacks are lootin everything !
Hoarsewhimper was right after all !
https://twitter.com/wyatt7777777/status/1268537061159710720
Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 4 2020 22:49 utc | 99
Kay Fabe #92
So is HCQ a magic cure? No, but its cheap, relatively safe and should have been used far more often than it was.
Thank you ++. The frantic exercise to discredit this simple cheap prophylatic speaks for itself. The constant stream of faulted studies kept in perpetual motion by big pharma and its blog weasels speaks for itself.
If a harmless cheap pharmaceutical can ward off a cold then its use should be encouraged not blocked at every turn. Next thing the big pharma and its weasels will ban garlic and oranges and arrest people for sitting in the sun.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 4 2020 22:50 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Paris a week ago
https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/paris_75056/videos-arrestation-polemique-d-un-homme-maintenu-par-le-genou-d-un-policier-sur-sa-gorge-a-paris_34006894.html
Posted by: Mina | Jun 4 2020 15:10 utc | 1