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June 14, 2020
The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-47

Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:

> Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the trends of the pandemic. This protective measure significantly reduces the number of infections. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public. <

—
Other issues:

Economy:

A Crash in the Dollar Is Coming – Stephen Roach / Bloomberg
"The Stock Market Is Deluding Itself" – Nouriel Roubini / Spiegel

Censorship:

Narrative Control Operations Escalate As America Burns – Caitlin Johnstone

PayPal have banned the words “Syria”, “Iran” and “Palestine” in all transaction messages. Payments fall ‘under review’.

Today Twitter announced the takedown of 7,340 accounts linked to the youth wing of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey’s ruling party 🇹🇷. My SIO team, w/ @akis_alp, @makrevis, @JoshAGoldstein, and Katie Jonsson, analyzed the network

Twitter partnered with ASPI—a think tank funded by the US military—to ban 170k accounts run by real Chinese people for writing in Chinese, praising China's COVID response, or criticizing the HK protests.
This is the "free speech" & "democracy" that the US wants to export abroad.

This is incredibly alarming. Twitter says the accounts were "spreading geopolitical narratives favorable to the Communist Party of China", such as praising China's response to COVID-19, along with "antagonizing" the US and Hong Kong's protests. Only anti-China views allowed!

The censors at @Facebook are systematically erasing the accounts of Palestinian journalists and photographers: electronicintifada.net/content/facebo…
Facebook should be nationalized then immediately shut down, IMO. Far too much power.

Fun:

Suggested Slogans for the Biden Campaign – New Yorker

Use as open thread …

Posted by b on June 14, 2020 at 13:00 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Suggested Slogan:
Biden – Rest Peace

Posted by: librul | Jun 14 2020 13:21 utc | 1

“A crash in the dollar is comming”
“The stock market is deluding itself”
I would theorize that “stock market” cannot delude itself, as it is a part of a wider financial market. On that wider market, where do you keep money? Movable goods, like commodities, non-movable goods, and shares of common stock are one of the forms of ownership, and “money”, loans, deposits etc. Concerning property, commodities are somewhat attractive, as they crashed, but not too much, stock market is the fastest method of increasing property investments (faster does not mean better, but time is important).
Concerning the dollar, the “fundamentals” of Euro and dollar are similar, I do not see how one can crash against the other. Ruble went back to its pre-COVID-19 level, that could be just a rebound in the oil prices — to a level that still causes losses for a wide swath of high-cost oil producers, like Canada and a big part of shale. Upper 30-ties and lower 40-ties are where low-cost producers would want the price to be.
So how the dollar can “plunge” apart from stock market rising? Chinese currency? Other currency represent a smallish market, even in the aggregate.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 14 2020 13:25 utc | 2

Trump’s a drug addict, no doubt about it. Probably cocaine and no doubt the secret service has become his supplier now that they’re in charge of his “protection.” Did you see him yesterday at West Point? Sniffing like a cocaine addict. Slurring his words. Couldn’t put a glass of water to his mouth without the use of two hands. Could hardly walk down a benign ramp. He was having a cocaine-induced stroke, clearly. Trump is a perfect reflection of what America is today. America is a Potemkin Nation for all intents and purposes. It’s hollowed out and has been sold off to the highest bidders. The only thing left is the faltering facade and Trump perfectly reflects that. The way he satnds, tilted forward, is likened to the statues being pulled down. One more tug and down it crashes. Then it’s game over.

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 14 2020 13:35 utc | 3

Everyone here know very well the role played by FB and Twitter in the so-called Arab spring, especially in Egypt (where lots of ppl indeed were using FB) and in Libya and Syria (where very few ppl were using them, but used for propaganda and intl djihadists recruitment until just 1-2 years ago.
Alternatives exist.
Many young ppl I know don’t use an email anymore. Just FB. Their whole world “is” on FB.
French gov is actually supporting these companies by giving them free advertising on its gov-controled media, where each radio show asks the audience to “visit their FB page”, “share this or that”, “follow them of Twitter”, “watch the live on their FB page”… instead of having proper individual pages for the shows.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 14 2020 14:07 utc | 4

UK on its knees:
The U.K. economy shrank a record 20.4% in April
The -20.4% came on top of a -5.8% on March.
And inequality rose, i.e. it wasn’t just “imaginary money” that disappeared:
A new study shows that the UK is even more unequal in incomes than previously thought.
What a spectacular failure of Brexit Britain. A devastating blow to the localist-nationalist right-wing ideology all around the world. Trumpists, beware with your “decouple” nonsense.
It’s time for the localist far-righter and the SJW woke leftist to look each other at the eye and say in unison: “you’re me”. Two idiots fighting for capitalism’s rotten corpse; two sides of the same coin.
–//–
US Navy’s deployment of 3 aircraft carriers to Pacific a mere show of vanity
–//–
Putin agrees with me: 2020 is not 1968
Putin says US riots show deep crisis in the country
Funny how, when he describes – and defends – the stability of the Russian system (Russia is a multi-ethnic nation), he describes ipsis literis the system that already existed in the Soviet Union.
This gives reason to István Mészáros’ hypothesis, which stated Russia became capitalist but mainly retained the old Soviet administrative structure.
–//–
‘Slow-moving train wreck’: Hong Kong’s rich preparing for worst-case scenario

One Hong Kong businessman moved $10 million to Singapore and plans to transfer more. Another is eyeing London property, worried that prices in Hong Kong are too high. Well-to-do families across the city are opening offshore bank accounts and applying for alternative passports.

–//–
EU won’t ally with US against China, foreign policy chief says before Pompeo meeting
Looks like the EU will go with “make China capitalist from within” strategy.
Although this is not surprising, as 1) the EU doesn’t have the power to trade blows with China either way, 2) the social-democrats already believe China is “neoliberal” and 3) the EU’s ideology assumes European greatest geopolitical feature is its soft power.
–//–
India will get into a recession (unless, of course, it cooks the books again):
India looks facing its first annual GDP contraction in 40 years
IMF’s last forecast predicted India would grow 2.1% in 2020 – exactly the same as China.
Here’s an idea to those geniuses at the IMF: stop copying and paste China’s successful numbers to India just because you need an anti-China counterweight and start doing your fucking jobs.
–//–
Surprise, surprise… the IMF was too optimistic!
It’s even worse than we thought, says the IMF chief economist
Oh, really, Gita?!
Or is it the classical case you and your cronies at the IMF manipulated the methodology again under a mystic-religious assumption the institution should never “spook the markets” (the “confidence fairy thesis”)?

Posted by: vk | Jun 14 2020 14:55 utc | 5

It’s always good to read Caitlin Johnstone. She didn’t mention it in the above linked article, but her articles are currently featured on the American Herald Tribune which has been attacked as a foreign-based (OMG) slanted news source (as opposed to domestic ones).
The AHT was attacked by rival CNN last January.

American Herald Tribune bills itself as a “genuinely independent online media outlet.” Set up in 2015, it publishes in English and pays Americans to write articles. But multiple investigations by American tech companies, details [actually unfounded charges] of which have not previously been reported, point to the site originating in Iran. A Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business that company staff who looked into the website’s Facebook page say it was linked to Iranian state media.. . .
The articles posted to American Herald Tribune are largely in line with the views of Iran’s ruling establishment. It publishes stories criticizing American foreign policy and attacking President Donald Trump and Israel. Often the criticism is not unlike viewpoints expressed on authentic US-based independent websites, especially ones with an anti-establishment perspective.. . . here

See, US-based propaganda machines are “authentic” and foreign ones, if they exist, are not, even if the two don’t differ. A principal authentic disinformation source is CNN which sprang the “Steele Dossier” on the public in January 2017, just after Trump’s election. CNN’s breathless exposure of this killer document was done on TV after Obama’s farewell speech to get maximum exposure. Then when the other channels were critiquing Obama, CNN was pushing the later discredited Steele by “attacking President Donald Trump” which CNN does every day, and twice on Sunday.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 14 2020 15:27 utc | 6

We should never give up believing in people power.
US IMPERIALISM MEANS I CAN’T BREATHE !

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul last week asked local police if there was any way to block rallies held under the guise of press conferences in front of the embassy, according to a police source.
The People’s Democracy Party, a Korean progressive group, has held anti-American rallies in front of the embassy in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, for the past three years. The political party, established in 2016, has advocated for workers, farmers and small business owners while calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 14 2020 15:44 utc | 7

i’m studying US medical slang with a young ESL student in China. guns, cars and food are all you need to know about this thoroughly diseased society. hey mr advice giver for the world, have you factored into your observations about the US that we don’t eat food here? no? then shut your fucking mouth. yes, medical doctors, that means you. you are part of the problem, so shut the hell up.
in the Pacific NW, Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks coach, supposedly is a font of wisdom, about BLM, etc, etc. We are in Delillo’s “Endzone”. Of course he spouts nothing but banalities, and his “regret” about the past, not supporting or hiring Kaepernick e.g., changes nothing about anything today, except we can have “uncomfortable conversations,” in which we fawn on his insight.
nobody notes that everyone of these lying walking shit golems is contractually obligated to say or do nothing that reflects negatively on their workplace. or brand. hey Lebron, thanks for your interest in voting. now kindly go fuck off w/your advice until you tell people not to go to NBA games.
as is every goddam enslaved little sheep headed swiftly to the abattoir here in Garbageville. we can’t say a word, or we’ll lose our jobs. the rest of the world can’t even respond to secondary effects of covid b/c of all the antibiotics in the country’s (gag, successfully rebranded) KFC. (again, the medical system is just one more piece of the capitalist nightmare. or are antibiotics placebos, right, candy for children?)
“there’s fire in that gold, sun worshipper. Count on it.”-Melville. 100% of everything in this society is animated by money. thus 100% of officialdom, without exception, is forcing everyone to go Against Medical Advice. back to work. back to church. back to school. back to the BBQ and MLB. if only money actually existed.

Posted by: jason | Jun 14 2020 15:46 utc | 8

One more slogan for Joe:
M E G A
Make Establishment Great Again!

Posted by: librul | Jun 14 2020 15:51 utc | 9

and twitter? the world doesn’t give a shit about the US brand. it’s the US guns they follow. only NPR listeners and Joe Biden buy that “russian interference” nonsense. or care about US “moral authority”. oh no! we can no longer so casually bash China over its Wiggers (sic) or appeal to our morals to bomb Syria. what will Nicholas Kristoff and Tom Friedman do? what will they ever do? how many Nobels will Krugglesmith Werdmeister earn for his understanding of the corona virus?
when the whole thing is built upon a gigantic steaming pile of self-congratulatory horseshit, what else is there to do but look around for a foreigner to blame? anyone and everyone who is “successful” in the US can do nothing but lie, 99% of the time not even knowing they’re doing it, b/c their success is built upon learning how to mouth reflexively the lying bs of the institution(s) they are part of. any individual moral agency has been totally subsumed within some institution or bureaucracy, whose imperatives are obeyed and affirmed at all times. Dostoevski’s Underground Man, all of us, born in a retort, an alchemical test tube.

Posted by: jason | Jun 14 2020 16:10 utc | 10

My niece downunder sent me “Perspectives on the pandemic episode nine”. Elmhurst hospital NY took her off last patient died, she was sure the young man gonna to lived and Erin Marie Olszewski (nurse) cried after they found she was recording the events while in Elmhurst. Erin a veteran in Iraq from Florida. Please share with others if you believe and wanna help… Thanks.
Perspectives on the Pandemic | The (Undercover) Epicenter Nurse | Episode Nine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXx8g0wFgMY

Posted by: JC | Jun 14 2020 16:10 utc | 11

CHEW ON THIS
it’s Chaz Simone’s autonomous zone
after the cops pulled out
a six block space for his home-base
’cause an AK still has clout
why retreat and give the streets
to the riff-raff of Capitol Hill?
the media won’t ask as the public laughs
and as good intentions kill
righteous rage yanked fast away
and directed toward ActBlue
O how they milk fresh white guilt
into hollow, sterile tubes
its Raz Simone and other bones
the’ll toss into your cage
chew on this and drink our piss
and pray for better days

Posted by: lizard | Jun 14 2020 16:19 utc | 12

NPR told me that they are right to broadcast pro-Zionist
propaganda because it works.
—
NPR asked me for a donation
I said, “they were too pro-Zionist.”
NPR responded that “polls say that they were fair and balanced, that according to their polls
half of their listenership thinks that NPR is not pro-Zionist enough
and half thinks it is too Zionist.”
So I responded to NPR, “you are saying that you were right to broadcast pro-Zionist
propaganda because it works.”
NPR, “rrrr, what do you mean?”
I said, “If you, NPR, were honest about the State of Israel, only 20% of your listenership
would continue to be pro-Zionist. But because you broadcast propaganda that
20% is instead 50%. Your propaganda works so you claim that proves that you were right to do it.”

Posted by: librul | Jun 14 2020 16:48 utc | 13

thanks b for all you do!
@ 2 piotr….. i share your view… i can’t see it myself…
@ 4 mina… fb and twitter, as pathetic as they are, are promoted to such an extent, it is obvious there is an agenda to get everyone on the shit…
@ 12 lizard… it’s fun when these colour revolutions take place in the usa on the country that likes exporting them… i hope it expands to other cities..

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 17:07 utc | 14

npr – definite propaganda outlet… amy goodman is a case in point..

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 17:09 utc | 15

The killing of another black man in Atlanta demolishes the establishment’s false narratives (which Caitlin Johnstone exposes so well):

  • that black deaths at the hand of police are not racial but merely an issue of police training;
  • that extremists like Antifa are the real problem;
  • that Russia and/or “foreign enemies” are stirring the pot;
  • that the protests are just another attempt by the Democratic Party and/or Deep State to unseat Trump.

The police didn’t have to pursue and kill this father of 3. They already had his car and license plate. They could have impounded his car and arrested him the next day.
And we can well ask if the officers would have treated a white driver that fell asleep in the Wendy’s take-out lane differently. Would they have simply asked a white driver to pull to the side? Would have simply asked a white driver to call a friend to pick them up or use a ride-share service?
<> <> <> <>
There’s a couple of other false narrative that are being pushed (unrelated to the Atlanta killing):

  • that Black Lives Matter means only black lives matter.
    This is meant to depict BLM as black supremacists. There is no evidence of that. BLM was founded simply to protect blacks from institutional racism.
  • that BLM is only interested in black lives when whites take them.

    • BLM was not founded to save black lives in all instances, only to change how the police treat black people. So to say that they don’t care about things like black-on-black violence is just propaganda – that’s simply not part of their mission as an organization!

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 14 2020 17:15 utc | 16

“…What a spectacular failure of Brexit Britain. A devastating blow to the localist-nationalist right-wing ideology all around the world.” vk@5
You are distorting facts simply to make a cheap political point. The problem in Britain is neo-liberal capitalism. That is the source of the growing inequality and the failures to deal with public health matters. Both, in turn, are causes of the contraction of the economy.
Leaving the EU is not the problem. The problem is that the government is intent on making the UK even more unequal and continuing the EU’s programme of privatising public services and shrinking the public sector.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 14 2020 17:16 utc | 17

@ 16 jr… has the cia-fbi managed to morph blm into the next black panther party, or a black supremacist group yet?? what is taking them so long??

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 17:24 utc | 18

my friend says they have antifa to use as their psyop…

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 17:28 utc | 19

@jackrabbit 16
training and procedure are definitely issues.
once I was travelling in USA and pulled over for speeding I didn’t know any better and opened the door. I shat my pants when they pulled their guns on me.
they function as if they are in a war zone. everyone is a lethal enemy until they have you in cuffs or overpowered.
I’m guessing a significant number of war veterans joining the ranks of law enforcement probably doesn’t help either.

Posted by: A.L. | Jun 14 2020 17:30 utc | 20

So let me get this straight. Drunk driving is okay? Is rape okay too? Murder? Anything goes as a form of reparations? Really?
Let’s assume there are no cops. What does anyone do in that situation to handle the matter of this drunk guy passed out causing a traffic jam. Do you let the overworked and underpaid fast food workers try to handle this drunk guy? He resisted the police so surely he would resist the fast food workers. What if he goes off on the fast food workers and pulls a gun and blows them away? Oh well? Unless you have a plan in place on how to handle these matters without police, you can’t clamor for no police. That’s irresponsible and inconsiderate. It’s especially inconsiderate to the most vulnerable because the predators and bullies will exploit the power vacuum and when the time comes, those who clamored for no police will not be there to help defend you when the time comes.
I saw an excellent segment the other day, an interview with a black woman involved in some civil rights organization, and she spoke about how the #BlackLivesMatter movement is male centric and mostly ignores black women’s lives. Imagine that.
The guy in Atlanta didn’t have to die. They had his car and keys. Let him run. You know who he is and you can track him down without escalating the matter further. He can’t run and hide forever. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit here and let someone condone driving drunk without consequence when caught and then resisting arrest once he’s been determined to be drunk. No doubt some cops let some people off the hook on occasion, but most arrest you, black white brown red or yellow, when you are determined to be drunk. Just because you’re black doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply. The black guy was an idiot to resist being cuffed. The fool was so drunk he passed out for Christ’s sake. He could have killed someone driving drunk.

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 14 2020 17:36 utc | 21

A.L. @ 20
In the circumstance you describe shitting your pants is a good strategy. So is pissing them. The cops do not want your stink in their car. They get a kick out of what they made you do. You demonstrated the kind of fear and respect they enjoy. Shitting and pissing is excellent survival strategy.
The other side is there is no possible way to demonstrate sufficiently perfect compliance once the cops get started. It was an error to open the door but anything else you did would be an error too if they wanted it to be.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 14 2020 17:39 utc | 22

@lizard #12
“righteous rage yanked fast away
and directed toward ActBlue
O how they milk fresh white guilt
into hollow, sterile tubes”
spot.on.that.
actually the entire lyric is…
essential!

Posted by: urblintz | Jun 14 2020 17:43 utc | 23

@ Posted by: bevin | Jun 14 2020 17:16 utc | 17
Who said neoliberalism is incompatible with localist far-right?
Neoliberalism merely states the world should be divided among international productive chains. It never stated such division couldn’t and shouldn’t be non-hierarchical.
You can still have global productive chains that both satisfies, at the same time, the localists and the neoliberals: you just have to revive the old colonial system. The white/christian/caucasian countries would dominate by brute force the other countries, forcing them to keep exporting cheap commodities to them in order to produce manufacturing goods and new technology. Progress would them be restricted to the white/christian countries, and we would still have global productive chains (international division of labor).
Indeed, that’s exactly what Boris Johnson promised: the UK would reestablish its supremacy over the rest of the world outside the EU, renegotiating – under British favorable terms – all the bilateral deals it already had, as well as creating others under the same conditions.
When the localist far-right state their nations should by autarky, they mean their nation as the whole world, under their absolute domination. They certainly aren’t taking about some ecologist self-sufficient tribalism that many apocalyptic Greens refer to.

Posted by: vk | Jun 14 2020 17:57 utc | 24

@ oldhippy 22
lol it is isn’t it….
on the whole I totally support the need of a police and they have a hard gig.
some just takes it way too far in enjoying treating the people are supposed to serve as prey like a over zealous hall monitor with guns.
this is very true and I’ve seen with my own eyes in US, UK, Australia and Canada. hang on, that’s pretty much the 5 eyes!
take Australia for example where I’ve spent an extended amount of time. in the past they wore shirts and pants. Now, especially the young ones, all opt for fatigues, combat boots and leg holsters even for general duties. This militarization of police in the western world is astounding. And when you think you’re in a war zone, enemy are all you will see.

Posted by: A.L. | Jun 14 2020 18:01 utc | 25

@2 Piotr Berman,
You argue along the lines of numerous skeptics regarding the fate of Dollar-TINA, There Is No Alternative. Well, there doesn’t have to be an alternative in such a crash. A loss of confidence in all ‘paper money’ doesn’t mean the absence of consequences. Pricing of goods and services becomes chaotic; functioning of economies becomes nebulous; pursuit of a ‘better’ life becomes aimless. Just look at how much economic activities today are denominated in Bitcoin and you see how a ‘nebulous’ currency would carry an economy. Hallelujah! Money appears miraculously, money disappears sporadically! How fun? But it does impact what we do, and what we produce. When the net production of goods (the more urgent aspect) and services decreases, our collective living standard decreases. It may not mean much to some people, but it means hell to me. And this hell comes insidiously.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jun 14 2020 18:15 utc | 26

@1, librul,
I have another slogan for Biden. Biden,VP-Vanish Please!

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jun 14 2020 18:17 utc | 27

mina @4
most younger folks I know barely use facebook… they think it is for sending pictures to their grandparents..

Posted by: dp | Jun 14 2020 18:21 utc | 28

Interesting bit on the twit takedowns:
“Another group of accounts was tied to a network of news sites aimed at several Russian cities: Ufa, Voronezh, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Arkhangelsk. This network is owned and operated by the media conglomerate Hearst Shkulev Media; while some of the affiliated Twitter accounts for sites in this network were included in the takedown, others were not, and the connection between Hearst Shkulev Media and the actors behind Current Policy is presently unclear.”
https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/june-2020-twitter-takedown
Hearst Shkulev Media is a subsidiary of The US company Hearst Communications.

Posted by: Keith McClary | Jun 14 2020 18:29 utc | 29

(mina thx for the link, old hippie for status rep on prev thread)
A study that concludes ‘for’ masks, taking Wuhan, Italy, and New York as examples. I’m not super keen on any of these studies, there are many factors …this one seems better than most:
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/10/2009637117
One very interesting study properly done (from voluminous published data in France, and you can’t beat F math/stat ppl, though the authors are political scientists..)
https://www.revuepolitique.fr/covid-19-premier-bilan-de-lepidemie/
their tentative conclusion, ‘it very much looks like…’ the F strict confinement did not affect the spread of the epidemic – or only did so a little, the virus ‘has its own dynamic.’ There are difficulties as usual, one of which they point to is the lack of break down for different hospitals. (These nos are tallied but not published, they are kept secret.)
also a general ‘status’ report
https://www.revuepolitique.fr/covid-19-ce-que-nous-apprennent-les-statistiques-hospitalieres/
Nobody will read these, as in F, but passing it on worthwhile, at least it shows there are some ppl who are genuinely looking for answers. History and all that.
From other data, it is clear that F practised an age triage, which accounts for (one supposes) ppl over 80 dying en masse. Nos. from Berruyer. Again, hospital and care-home policies affect age-of-death sharply (aka not only the ‘immune system’ ..)
% of patients sent to ‘réa’ – re-animation – ICU. (Some will have been ‘vented’ others not, the data doesn’t say. It is known that F ran out of ICU beds, as some patients were transported to Germany and CH.)
16% of those hospitalised aged 30s
22% 40s
28% 50s
31% 60s
25% 70s
05% (half of a percent) 80s and over

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 14 2020 18:47 utc | 30

A.L. Jun14 17:30 #20
The Atlanta killing comes in the midst of outrage about police brutality and esp. police treatment of blacks. No doubt every police dept nationwide – and especially in a major city like Atlanta – have put their police on notice (as if any notice was required) to be careful about not acting in a way that would increase tensions. In fact, many police departments were lenient on looters so as to not to further inflame racial tensions and were criticized for doing so (Note: Trump proudly announced how he would treat looters, saying: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”).
So to have this unjustified killing of a black suspect by a white officer just shows that this officer was influenced by some basic instinct that overrode good sense, good policing, and good will toward fellow man. This is essentially confirmed by the resignation of Atlanta’s chief of police (a white woman). This unnecessary killing provided stark evidence of her inability reign-in the racist attitudes of fellow white Atlanta officers.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 14 2020 19:27 utc | 31

i thought this article from yesterday was quite good.. shows one how corrupt uk royalty is, to the point of completely disregarding democracy and a whole lot more…
The Sacking of Gough Whitlam and the Royal Intention Behind the Five Eyes

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 19:34 utc | 32

Here’s an excellent analysis from Benjamin Studebaker on why these protests will fail. I agree with pretty much all of it and he has some highly intelligent, cogent insights.
I hate these yuppie bourgeois professionals with every fiber of my being. They are the devil himself.
A Left Critique of the Current Protests

The people who are best organized and most capable of taking advantage of the protests are the yuppie, bourgeois professionals. Many of these people have bachelors degrees in various social science and humanities disciplines, and their primary objective is to create jobs for themselves. They use the deaths of African-Americans as a business opportunity, demanding that companies employ them to run diversity training programs or hire them to diversify an endless series of government and corporate boards, commissions, and panels. These “woke neoliberals” always succeed in co-opting these protests, because they went to the same universities and speak the same language as the people who work for governments and corporations. They claim to offer diversity, but they succeed in getting positions because they are just like the people they aim to replace in every way that matters.
Frantz Fanon called them the “black bourgeoisie”, but today they come in many colors. They attack capitalism not because they want to do away with it but because they want to run it themselves. They deceive poor and working people into supporting them, and once they acquire power they run the system the same way the “white” bourgeoisie ran it. They don’t care about funding social programs that work–they just want to get paid.
As long as the yuppies are in charge, these protests won’t address the root causes of police violence–the alienation that drives citizens to commit violent crimes and the armaments which make violent crimes so easy to commit. As long as the root causes go unaddressed, frightened police officers will demand ever more elaborately lethal counter-armaments, and they’ll fire those weapons all over the place. We can replace them with private para-military groups, but that will just make a bad situation worse.

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 14 2020 19:36 utc | 33

re #30 @Noirette, where do your numbers for age distribution of hospitalisations come from? I can’t find them in the links.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 14 2020 19:37 utc | 34

another good and cynical article from today –
U.S. Police: Why Nothing Will Change

Posted by: james | Jun 14 2020 19:40 utc | 35

I get the feeling that Europe – i.e. Germany and France – are visibly distancing themselves from Trump, and at the same time showing not only impatience but visible contempt towards the British government. They talk as if they regard Johnson, similarly to Washington, as “incapable of keeping agreements”. Johnson has been waving hard Brexit at them, and it is perfectly possible that this is genuinely what he and his Desperate Dan look alike advisor want. If so, I suspect that Barnier is equally ready to give it to them.

Posted by: Montreal | Jun 14 2020 20:20 utc | 36

Jackrabbit: or there is a much simpler explanation which would be that they were told to outrageously murder another one to keep everything going.
Isn’t it very apparent that this is the case?
Isn’t that why there’s now a “serial hangman” as well? Two hanged so far.
They need more people to take the bait so they pile on. They’re short of both BLMs, “anti-racists”, and “supremacists” and are only catching rubbish in their nets. They’re as bad at recruiting as if it was for a US military branch and do the only thing they can think of.
My current opinion anyway.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 14 2020 20:22 utc | 37

What we know so far about the killing of Rayshard Brooks

GBI [Georgia Bureau of Investigations] initially reported that Brooks was shot in the struggle over the Taser.
However, cellphone video circulating widely on social media, allegedly from the scene, appears to show a struggle between Brooks and police, the Taser deployment, and Brooks running away as an officer deploys a Taser on him. Then, gunshots are heard, and Brooks is seen on the ground.

[Note: We might not have known what really happened if not for the cell phone video from bystanders at the scene.]

. . .
[The attorney for Rayshard Brooks’ family] … said that witnesses claimed officers “put on plastic gloves and picked up their shell casings after they killed [Brooks] before rending aid.” And in watching video of the incident, he said the legal team “counted 2 minutes and 16 seconds before [officers] even checked [Brooks’s] pulse.” He also said he was told by witnesses some details that contradict the GBI’s official statement.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 14 2020 20:27 utc | 38

@noirette nevermind, I thought you listed age distribution of hospitalizations but it is age of people forwarded to intensive care.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 14 2020 20:31 utc | 39

Continuing @38
They had to pick up their shell casings asap because the story they intended to tell was that that Rayshard was killed in the struggle for a gun/taser, not that he was killed running away. In fact, this was the version of events that GBI initially provided to the press.
The officers probably thought that bystanders didn’t film the incident because it happened so quickly.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 14 2020 20:39 utc | 40

Poor internet, can’t really be censored, but 99% think that google and facebook are the internet and you can sure as shit censor them…

Posted by: Rae | Jun 14 2020 20:43 utc | 41

[The attorney for Rayshard Brooks’ family] … said that witnesses claimed officers “put on plastic gloves and picked up their shell casings after they killed [Brooks] before rending aid.” And in watching video of the incident, he said the legal team “counted 2 minutes and 16 seconds before [officers] even checked [Brooks’s] pulse.” He also said he was told by witnesses some details that contradict the GBI’s official statement.

If this is true, this is, once again, truly fucked up. Is there video of the entire ordeal from start to finish? I saw part of a video per CNN or MSNBC this morning. It showed all the way until he evades officers when they are trying to cuff him. Was he shot in the back?

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 14 2020 20:46 utc | 42

I wonder if German and Farsi are linguistically related. The terms denkmal and mahnmal bring to mind two Farsi terms.
Goh-mal (kekeh-mal in Isfahan :)) literally meaning, wiping poop all over it — a poorly done job.
And Must/mast-mal literally meaning wiping yogurt all over it — White washed, Shoddily done job.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 14 2020 20:54 utc | 43

oldhippie | Jun 14 2020 17:39 utc @ 22

It was an error to open the door but anything else you did would be an error too if they wanted it to be.

And of course SOP is: Never make a statement to the police and do not consent to searches.

Posted by: p | Jun 14 2020 21:02 utc | 44

450.org @Jun14 20:46 #42
If this is true, this is, once again, truly fucked up.
Yup. That’s why the officer that killed Rayshard has been fired. His partner has been suspended. And the Atlanta police chief has resigned (forced to, I would guess).
Rayshard had four young kids (3 are his, one is a step-child). He had celebrated the birthday of one of them on the day he was killed.
=
Is there video of the entire ordeal
Yes. A combination of police body cams, bystander mobile phone, and Wendy’s cctv.
=
Was he shot in the back?
Yes.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 14 2020 21:15 utc | 45

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 14 2020 13:35 utc | 3
“Trump’s a drug addict, no doubt about it…” Don’t give a shit if he is drug addict or not? I’m more interested he win and win big the whole world collapse under the present pandemic. god bless American. Hey man Dem or Rep they’re still the same.
I watched this clip many times earlier, hopping he tip and falls to spare us more pains and countless deaths!

Posted by: JC | Jun 14 2020 22:05 utc | 46

I get the feeling that Europe – i.e. Germany and France – are visibly distancing themselves from Trump, and at the same time showing not only impatience but visible contempt towards the British government. They talk as if they regard Johnson, similarly to Washington, as “incapable of keeping agreements”. Johnson has been waving hard Brexit at them, and it is perfectly possible that this is genuinely what he and his Desperate Dan look alike advisor want. If so, I suspect that Barnier is equally ready to give it to them.
Posted by: Montreal | Jun 14 2020 20:20 utc | 36
I lost hope concerning those fakers from Germany and France. Recall how they protested when Trump exited the agreement on the nuclear program in Iran and imposed escalating sanctions. They did not seem to “show impatience” but outright protested and promised to neutralize application of sanctions to European companies etc. Fat nothing happened, with a lot of faked activity. They joined very cruel sanctions on Syria, although UK Tories blinked on outright piracy, they started but they did not finish. On Venezuela and Bolivia, they support the coups, on Ukraine they conduct a weird triangulation, Germany tries to keep North Stream expansion from happening, it is really their core economic interest, but with careful doing as little as possible.
France also has core economic interest divergent from USA, namely collecting enough revenue to satisfy citizens (who are hard to satisfy). Internet tax seems a good step, but American have conniptions and “no country had begun to collect digital taxes, with France agreeing to a delay to 2021 while the OECD’s project continues. But with many countries’ digital services taxes now enacted, the balance in the negotiations may have shifted.” May have shifted or not.
To summarize, as long as USA is whacking other countries, France and Germany do nothing or, more often, they help, and when USA wants to reduce them to colonial status economically, they timidly try to do something their way. Very timidly.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 14 2020 22:13 utc | 47

@37, yes, it does have that feel. Like a symphony. Tension and release. Wash, rinse, repeat. It’s almost like someone plans this stuff, and we’re all being played.

Posted by: Shadow | Jun 14 2020 22:41 utc | 48

So Facebook and Twitter are censoring anyone who does not tow the US narrative, but really Paypal!! Now I know the US is mad, well at least within the government and media. When I speak with family in the US, the word I here most from them concerning social media and MSM censorship is REDICULOUS! The media in the US is committing suicide. The US needs some clever biochemist to develop a miracle drug that will
instill basic common sense in everyone, especially in government and the media.
Governments that attempt to suppress the truth never succeed forever. The Truth will always rise as the lies and propaganda ultimately rot away. Without diversity of opinion we all will live in the dark.

Posted by: Dick | Jun 14 2020 23:14 utc | 49

“Facebook should be nationalized then immediately shut down, IMO. Far too much power.”
I suggest a law should be passed regarding social media companies:
1) They cannot be held accountable for anything their users post, except those things already criminalized (kiddie porn, etc.)
2) They cannot censor anything their users post.
This is free speech.
OTOH, both Google and Facebook have ties to the CIA. Both were created to do the sort of social monitoring and control that the CIA is not allowed to do legally. Therefore, any and all connections between those companies and the CIA (or any other law enforcement, with the sole exception of cooperating in cases where criminal actions are being pursued (again, kiddie porn, etc.) should be terminated.
These steps would at least mitigate some of these companies’ abuses.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:17 utc | 50

These San Francisco doctors flew to New York to fight the coronavirus — and they have a warning for us

“I’ve worked in a lot of settings,” said Dr. Michael Peters, a pulmonary critical care doctor, was assigned to a hospital in Queens overwhelmed with Covid-19 cases. “These patients were very sick, and they had a disease that we didn’t know how to take care of yet.”
All of the UCSF doctors said they saw patients in their forties and fifties, who didn’t meet the “typical” profile for Covid-19 because they were otherwise healthy. In the Queens hospital, where Peters worked, many of the patients were Black or Hispanic. Data shows that the virus has hit racial and ethnic minorities worse, and studies are underway to better understand why.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:20 utc | 51

San Francisco bans tear gas, says police will no longer respond to non-criminal calls

The mayor’s plan forces the San Francisco Police Department to get rid of now-banned weapons, including tear gas, by the end of 2021.
Additionally, the city’s police with no longer respond to calls that are non-violent in nature, with the city promising to develop a better system to deal with these kind of calls over the next year.

My take: Improvements. But in the end, it won’t work.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:23 utc | 52

Twitter Reinstates Zero Hedge’s Account, Admits Fault

In the article titled “Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?” the Zero Hedge author that goes by the moniker Tyler Durden posted a photo of the researcher from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and encouraged his readers to pay him “a visit” to ask about the origins of coronavirus.

That was idiotic. But Twitter is right to reinstate the account and wrong to have banned it.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:27 utc | 53

Washington state sounds alarm over rising coronavirus cases

Washington, the state that suffered the first confirmed coronavirus case back in January, is now beginning to reopen its economy. In a statement Saturday, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said the new report was cause for concern.
“The report estimates cases and deaths will soon increase substantially if COVID-19 continues to spread at current levels,” Inslee said. “This data will force us to look for some creative solutions and strengthen our strong local – state partnerships to address the disease activity.”
He asked Washingtonians to wear masks more vigilantly and to continue practicing social distancing.
“This is not the time to give up on efforts to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. We are still in the middle of a pandemic that is continuing to infect and kill Washingtonians,” Inslee said.
In a statement, Kathy Lofy, Washington state’s health officer, said the increased number of cases was likely a result of Memorial Day weekend festivities about three weeks ago. That stretch of time would give people a sufficient period in which to get sick, develop symptoms and progress to a state in which they seek treatment for their illness.

You re-open too soon, you get screwed. It’s that simple.
Nationally, we’ll be back in lockdown – whatever Trump thinks he wants – by end of summer. The one advantage is that everyone at Trump’s rallies will get sick and with luck a lot of his supporters will die. It will be interesting to see if *he* wants to shake hands with any of his supporters at those things.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:33 utc | 54

New York Times briefing on coronavirus cases in various countries.

Officials closed a market that handles 90 percent of the capital’s fresh fruit and vegetables after dozens of people tested positive. It was China’s highest number of new infections in two months…
Florida reported 2,581 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a record-high number for the third consecutive day, according to a Health Department dashboard…To support its economic reopening, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has selectively picked data to show a lower percentage of people testing positive for the virus, Ms. Jones said. Her dashboard uses a more straightforward calculation and clearly shows that the rate is increasing.
Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak passed a grim landmark on Saturday, recording the second-highest death toll in the world after the United States’, according to a New York Times tally.
As of Saturday morning, Brazil had acknowledged 41,828 virus deaths, 166 more than Britain’s total. The figure for the United States was 115,136. Brazil’s daily death toll is now the highest in the world, bucking the downward trend that is allowing many other major economies to reopen.
Meanwhile, India has overtaken Britain as the nation with the fourth-highest number of cases worldwide after it experienced the most new cases in a single day on Friday, according to the Times tally…
The number of deaths tied to the coronavirus has continued to decline in New York, even as much of the state marches toward fully reopening the economy, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Saturday… Mr. Cuomo expressed concern that New York’s progress was not being replicated across the nation. More than 20 states, he noted, have had their number of coronavirus cases rise. California, Florida and Texas are reporting thousands of new cases a day…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released forecasts on Friday suggesting that the United States was likely to reach 124,000 to 140,000 Covid-19 deaths by July 4.
The agency said that its forecasts suggested that more virus-related deaths were likely over the next four weeks in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah and Vermont than those states had reported over the past four weeks…
Of the United States’ most populous states where cases are on the rise, Florida reported its highest daily total of new cases on Friday, reaching 1,902 new cases. Texas hit its new daily high this week, while California, the nation’s most populous state, reported its highest daily total last week — although the state almost surpassed that record on Friday.
Several Southern states, most of which began easing social-distancing restrictions and reopening some businesses in late April or early May, are also seeing increasing cases. North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas all reported record highs in new cases on Friday, while Tennessee reported 20 new deaths, the state’s highest toll for one day.

Right on track: re-open and more people die. By September, it will be close to 200,000 dead. Not even remotely close to “normal flu”, as the morons keep saying.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:48 utc | 55

Why Are Scientists Still Studying Hydroxychloroquine?

Patel says there’s a reason to continue ongoing hydroxychloroquine studies because some unanswered questions remain. Topol also agrees with this. Whether new trials of the drug are necessary is another question, and with data so far suggesting the drug is not entirely safe for Covid-19 treatment or that it’s effective, it’s hard to see that happening.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:52 utc | 56

@8 Jason
“If only money actually existed”
Right on. The money form is the scam, co-opting a theological fiction and binding people to it in perpetuity. To ‘monetize’ is nothing more than this, the conversion of something into the money form, the ledger of indebtedness and dependence. The true revolutionary character of Christ is disclosed here (quickly suppressed in the late 1st century by the Pauline church): debt is a fiction imposed by a web of belief (Nietzsche, Antichrist and Genealogy of Morals). The messiah is the one who unconceals the emptiness of power (Heidegger suggests art also achieves this). The hegemony of money is not imposed by money but one’s total belief in its theological substance. We are complicit in our own oppression and dependence.

Posted by: Patroklos | Jun 14 2020 23:55 utc | 57

Keep Those Masks On
A new study claims that the novel coronavirus is airborne, and mask mandates may have saved over 100,000 lives

It’s difficult to identify which measure made the biggest difference in Wuhan because they were all initiated at roughly the same time, but in Italy and New York City the recommendation to use masks came about four weeks after stay-at-home orders were issued. The researchers say that the initial recommendations for social distancing and hand hygiene didn’t make much of an impact on infection rates, but case numbers started to drop significantly after masks were required. According to their projections, between April and May, masks were responsible for reducing the number of infections by over 78,000 in Italy and over 66,000 in New York City.
The authors also say that mandatory masking explains the difference between how New York City is currently faring, with a daily decrease in cases of approximately 3%, compared to the rest of the United States, which is seeing a 0.3% increase in infections every day.

Now I suppose the trolls opposing mask use – just as they opposed the lockdown – will come running in here. There have been tons of studies done on transmission of viruses and the ability of various levels of masks to inhibit infection. A simple Google search finds them. But the trolls can’t be bothered because they have an agenda. And then they scream self-righteously when their agenda is exposed.
Scumbags, the lot.
And I hope they don’t like it.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 14 2020 23:57 utc | 58

Don’t Call It a Second Wave
The first one hasn’t ended

Debating the use of the term “second wave” isn’t just an issue of semantics. It’s dangerous to bandy that term about right now because it incorrectly suggests the U.S. had a level of control over the coronavirus pandemic that would have allowed it to end the first wave. Unfortunately, that has never been the case.

The media manipulation will continue to suggest that “everything is under control” – when it isn’t. This will be done for political reasons. Both political parties need their supporters on the street in rallies for their campaigns. It doesn’t matter to them how bad the virus situation will get or how many people die as a result.
And then we have Trump saying he won’t do another lockdown even if there is a second wave. Another worthless statement, but he has the same reason: his political campaign. He needs to manipulate the public’s perception that he handled the virus correctly. Otherwise people will connect the economic crisis to his poor handling of the virus crisis – and then he’s toast. He may be an idiot, but he’s smart enough to understand that. And if he isn’t, his advisers will tell him. So expect a flood of “good news” about how “everything is perfect” and “the crisis is over.”
And the idiots will fall in line, as they have all along.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 0:06 utc | 59

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 14 2020 20:54 utc | 43
“I wonder if German and Farsi are linguistically related…”
They are both Indo-European languages——modern German from the Germanic branch of I-E (including Old High German, Low German (Frisian etc), Old Norse and Old English > Modern English) and Farsi from Iranian sub-branch (which includes Old Persian, Avestan, etc) of the Indo-Iranian group (the oldest of which is Vedic Sanskrit). The break between those branches is very early (c.2500 BCE), but ultimately they are daughter languages whose ancestor can be (and is) theoretically reconstructed by comparative linguists: Proto-Indo-European.

Posted by: Patroklos | Jun 15 2020 0:06 utc | 60

Study: 100% face mask use could crush second, third COVID-19 wave

The modeling indicated that when lockdown periods are combined with 100% face mask use, disease spread is vastly diminished, preventing resurgence for 18 months, the time frame that has frequently been cited for developing a vaccine. It also demonstrated that if people wear masks in public, it is twice as effective at reducing the R number than if face coverings are only worn after symptoms appear.

Good luck with that. They’ll never get 100% – as the trolls here have proven just by their existence.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 0:20 utc | 61

RSH@58
“There have been tons of studies done on transmission of viruses and the ability of various levels of masks to inhibit infection.”
Show me your top 3 big boy

Posted by: Kay Fabe | Jun 15 2020 2:10 utc | 62

Lindsey Graham praised Biden’s ad
this is a sure sign the israeli who blackmailed Lady G now leaving trump and cast their hope to biden’s side
biden sure victory no matter how disgusting he is , just like how many ppl hold their nose when they gambled and voted trump , now they will hold their nose and vote biden because trump revealed as a no action talk only clown. The centrist will vote biden and hope for improvement..
look for israeli agent of change in US to side with biden , bad news for trump as the parasite left him to fend off on his own..
post presidency will be a disaster for trump and his family

Posted by: milomilo | Jun 15 2020 2:26 utc | 63

15 hours ago – MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will soon be in a position to counter hypersonic arms deployed by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 15 2020 3:02 utc | 64

Do Palestinian Lives Matter?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 15 2020 3:10 utc | 65

I dunno if anyone has noticed but the sunday night doco, an old englander tradition, dating back to the early days of BBC TV, is a ‘documentary’ on the Skripal fit up.
I grabbed a copy of episode 1 This is a multi-part ‘documentary’ – all the better to indoctrinate the credulous with plenty of arcane, if false details.
But I have not watched it and I doubt I will after seeing that the graun’s Lucy Mangan, a critic whose approval of a TV show is entirely dependent on its adherence to the zionist agenda, with extra big ticks given to those which are produced by englander jews & 5 stars for those that feature frequently incompetent, Jewish actors*.
So if Lucy likes this docudrama, it is inconceivable that it asks any tough questions about the circumstances of the Skripals’ illness much less mentions their having been held incommunicado for years since.
The POS is all over the net today, so maybe someone with a stronger stomach for the hideous propaganda that is consistently foisted upon decent humans will take a shufti & tell us how bad it is.
*I do not intend this remark in a racist way, there are some really good actors who are jews, but there are also a number of actors who are jews getting great gigs, who couldn’t carry a bucket of water much less a character, and since the old public funding of actor’s training in England has ceased, consequently greatly reducing the numbers of new young actors from among the hoi polloi, sons and daughters of the wealthy have come to dominate acting.
Just as with Hollywood ‘stars’, jewish actors with connections are featuring a lot more than previously, even when their skills cannot justify their standing. The other part of this is the increase in mummers who are old etonians eg eddie redmayne, Dominic West and Damian Lewis are but three of many.

Posted by: A User | Jun 15 2020 3:16 utc | 66

Posted by: Montreal | Jun 14 2020 20:20 utc | 36
As Malaysia and Aus recently found out through their infinite widsom: Money talks and bullshit walks. Fellating American cock only gives a bad aftertaste while Chinese gold has always been there on the table.

Posted by: JW | Jun 15 2020 3:26 utc | 67

@JW
funny how malaysia’s mahatir mohammed tried to scam the chinese who invested massively in malaysia , an old anti china racist who dont care about malay’s future..
as for australia , see how far they will get by when their prosperity is tied to china and their govt kept mouthing off insults to china..

Posted by: milomilo | Jun 15 2020 3:30 utc | 68

@ Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 0:20 utc | 61
The trolls you speak of are the same ones who spent years trying to get millions of people to commit suicide by refusing vaccinations, until that enormous Danish study (650,000 children tracked over a ten-year period) showed no connection whatsoever between vaccinations and autism, thus shutting down that fiendish onslaught once and for all.
Now, for whatever sick and twisted purposes may be crawling through the muck and mire inside their heads, they’re switching to the support of the Covid19 virus, importuning their fellow ghouls to refuse the simple techniques that have saved, and will save millions, so that they will spread the virus and cause millions more to to die.
If the day ever comes that this plague has been conquered, let us hope that these minions, called up and driven to their demonic task by Satan’s mother-in-law, will face the executioner’s axe at last.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Jun 15 2020 3:31 utc | 69

@ 68 milo.. there is a reason malaysia’s mahatir mohammed is the longest running pm in malaysias history… the guy can see bullshit and he calls it bullshit too when he sees it.. i have a huge amount of admiration for this man… clearly many people in malaysia do too..

Posted by: james | Jun 15 2020 4:22 utc | 70

I think and sort of hope that very few old people expect any young people of any generation to listen to anything XD (and taking that into account a lot of or perhaps most youth do well or much better than previous youths).
[As an aside here is the solution to the real “Grandparents paradox” about why grandparents are so forgiving and kind when parents are so strict or mean: parents are too fresh to understand, grandparents are too expired not to]
It’s not young people who set the policy, free/create/magic the funds, get the factories running to produce the PPE/masks, and set the new hygiene standards; it’s mostly old stubborn idiots who don’t and should (and would) know much better than not doing any of it if they had ever truly cared about anything including themselves beyond instant self-gratification.
The finger doesn’t point at the young 🙂
And if it gets very bad it’s the youth that will suffer while trying to survive. If most above 40 along with most health care workers (since they’re extremely exposed) are knocked out of being able to perform any function to any significant degree (ie. essentially 100% disabled as chronic illness often does unavoidably) then a lot of what the young knew as the(ir) world will be gone like a puff of purple magic smoke escaping a fried motherboard.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 15 2020 4:49 utc | 71

re donkeytale | Jun 15 2020 4:16 utc | 71
There appears to be huge reticence by those who normally find a globalist conspiracy in every action, to critique the deal done late last year between Turkey & Russia, at Syria & Libya’s expense.
Those who are frequently correct when they posit some untoward arrangement which at the time of their alert is entirely unsupported by provable facts, have said virtually nothing since Turkey & Russia sat down at the end of 2019 and made a deal ostensibly about Idlib.
Yet Syria’s legitimate government hasn’t re-acquired any of that territory since, that area which so many have referred to as ‘headchopper-land’.
Since that sitdown Russia has pulled back from support for the murderous self styled ‘Field Marshal’ Khalifa Haftar, who it seems was encouraged by both Russia & egypt’s al-Sisi to drop by Cairo for a bit of a chin-wag & who was placed under house arrest in Cairo as soon as he did ‘drop by’.
Were any other empire to behave as Russia has, the theories about what really happened at the Turkey/Russia sit down would be flying thick & fast at MoA, probably on a daily basis.
Now I have no idea of the nuts and bolts of any agreement, but it is worth noticing the comparative value of Syria’s resources with Libya’s is orders and orders of magnitude different.
Getting a large chunk of Libya’s plundered resources is worth a helluva lot more than what could be wrung out of Syria and the differences with Occupied Palestine’s zionists could be settled with negotiation rather than the certainty of war that is the only way that Syria can regain the land which zionists stole.
This way russia can cop a big earner with little risk of upsetting Russia’s zionist oligarchs.

Posted by: A User | Jun 15 2020 5:11 utc | 72

I watched the entire Rayshard Brooks encounter with Atlanta police as shown on body cam video. It’s on Youtube and about 40 min long.
Rayshard appears to be intoxicated (he’s confused about where he is and admits to having had 1 or 1 1/2 drinks earlier) but the police don’t appear to have cause to arrest him. They don’t have evidence of him operating the vehicle while intoxicated except in the Wendy’s parking lot. And that evidence is not exactly solid.
Rayshard’s story is that he was dropped off at the Wendys by a friend. Rayshard admits that he may have moved the car from a parking space to the drive-thru line but he doesn’t appear to recall doing so and Rayshard also drove the car from the drive-thru line to a parking space as ordered by the police (the only operation of the vehicle witnessed by the police was under their order to move the car).
Rayshard appears to pass a sobriety test (which seems to take a long time to conduct) then the office asks if Rayshard would consent to a breathalyzer test (because Rayshard had passed the physical test?) and after that test the officer doesn’t say “you failed”, he just says “I don’t think you’re sober enough to operate a vehicle” – then asks Rayshard to put his hands behind his back. The officer attempts to arrest Rayshad, a person that the officer already knows to be confused, without warning/preparation of any kind and having ignored Rayshard’s offer offer to walk from the Wendy’s to the place that he’s staying nearby.
Rayshard had cooperated with every request until the officer attempted to place him under arrest.
Rayshard resisted arrest – but it’s not at all clear that the arrest is warranted. And he stole a taser – but that didn’t justify deadly force. No one watching that encounter would think that Rayshard is violent or looking to harm anyone. The officers spent enough time with Rayshard to have some understanding of his character. And the officers have Rayshard’s drivers license. They didn’t have to chase him on foot. They could’ve easily arrested him later.
Rayshad was shot twice in the back. The Atlanta coroner has ruled it a homicide. The officer that shot him has been fired and the Georgia DA is contemplating a murder charge against the officer.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 15 2020 5:47 utc | 73

Interesting how some uncivilized countries have rules for police and military, when it comes to shooting assumed criminals:
1) never shoot at the person moving away from you
2) you shoot only if they are coming in close proximity to you and attacking
3) when you shoot, do not shoot to kill, shot below the waist
Rule 1) would have saved many lives, black or white, like this guy in Atlanta, drunk or not. Many mentally ill people, waving scissors or a stapler, 50 feet away from cops would have been alive.
In Toronto, cops killed mentally ill kid (Armenian, white) standing at the door of empty streetcar, waving a pocket knife. He got 10+ bullets. The cop got convinced of attempted murder, because of bullets fired after the one that killed the kid. It was OK to kill the kid, but not OK to keep shooting. Attempted murder of already dead person? The cop was 200 pounds, 50 feet from the street car, accompanied by at least 6-7 cops with their hands in their pockets, literally. The cop defended himself as being scared for his life. Sure, 16 year old kid is so skilled in throwing pocket knifes 50 feet far to Armour protected cop.The cop was out on 5,000 dollars bail tomorrow, eventually got 10 years, which is now being reduced to 5, parole or something. My son (white) was 18 years old, first time psychotic episode, arrested by police few hours after he sent not threatening but annoying e-mail (“do not contact me or I call the police..”). He was out on bail – same as killer cop, 5,000 dollars. I guess, for similar crime, similar bail, eh?
Fortunately for us, we managed to get treatment for our son, almost full year at the hospital, treatment ever since, injections every 3 months. Last week he graduated engineering on University of Toronto. Took him 10 years, but he is alive, and thanks to lawyers with criminal charged expunged from his record. See, victims are various, not just black, but the cops are the same.
While in hospital, a black guy escaped from the same ward. Shot by cops, from 20 meters (60 feet), they were scared for their lives – he was waving a pair od scissors and god knows what he was hiding under the hospital gown.
Why shoot to kill?
Rule 2) is the same as rule 1), just stated differently
Rule 3) is easy to implement – train them to shot below the waist, instead head or torso

Posted by: What If | Jun 15 2020 6:29 utc | 74

Posted by: Kay Fabe | Jun 15 2020 2:10 utc | 62 Show me your top 3 big boy
Can Masks Capture Coronavirus Particles?
Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review
Lab study supports use of N95 respirators for flu protection This one is from back in 2012, for ordinary flu.
Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic?
The Science and Politics of Masks in the Covid-19 Pandemic
6 feet enough for social distancing? MIT researcher says droplets carrying coronavirus can travel up to 27 feet
And for your edification, a video:
Visual simulations show why we all need to wear masks now
And the report:
HKUST Co-led Study Suggests Universal Face Mask Wearing is Urgent Against Second Wave of COVID-19 Outbreak as Social Distancing Lifts

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 6:57 utc | 75

Posted by: What If | Jun 15 2020 6:29 utc | 79 3) when you shoot, do not shoot to kill, shot below the waist
No one here will confuse me with someone who likes cops, right? How many times have I said, “The only good cop is a dead cop.”
That advice is simply not workable. And that’s based on advice from people who train combat firearms for a living.
The rule is not to draw a firearm you’re not prepared to use – and by use, we mean kill something or someone – and not to fire a firearm unless it is to *stop* – *not kill*, stop – the attacker.
You don’t “brandish” a firearm, you don’t fire “warning shots”, you shoot solely to stop someone (you or someone else) being injured or killed by the perp.
And when you shoot to stop, that means one of two places: center of mass, or the head.
Nothing else. First, because such shots won’t necessarily stop an attacker, and second, because under stress you are very likely to miss any limbs, which means your shots will be ineffective and the victim of the attacker could suffer as a result. The head itself is hard enough to hit, which is why first shots are directed to center of mass.
The goal is *not* to kill the attacker, but as it happens the only reliable way to stop someone is to shoot them in location which are likely to result in death. People shot in other locations can remain in the fight an amazing number of times. I read in a police textbook that one guy was shot *33 times* with 9mm rounds and managed to run 100 yards before finally collapsing.
You don’t have time to screw around in a case where deadly force is required.
Now apparently in this case – and many others where more-or-less non-violent criminals have been shot – there was no actual need to shoot. That’s where the problem is: failure of police to adhere to the rules, either because of poor training, lack of training – or deliberate ignoring of training.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 7:17 utc | 76

Oh, and as to “2) you shoot only if they are coming in close proximity to you and attacking”
The problem here is what is “close proximity”. Someone with a knife is dangerous within thirty feet if 1) they have their knife out (whether or not it is in view, which it might not be), and 2) whether the officer has his gun out of his holster. This has been proven in tests with police officers and martial artists. You can close and slash someone from a distance of at least 21 feet in the 1.5-2 seconds it takes a trained police officer to draw his firearm and fire two shots.
Needless to say, I hope, if the perp is armed with a firearm, you can’t even give him that much distance, even if, as is likely, he can’t hit the broad side of a barn past 3 feet.
Things in combat are never as simple as Hollywood makes them out to be.
But shooting a drunk driver in the back, even one that took a swing at you and then took off running – that’s a no-no. I’d do it, but I’m not a cop. 🙂

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 7:25 utc | 77

another fiscally sound reason for killing versus wounding is there will be no lawsuits for maiming and such. You can sue for wrongful death and try to get some money that way but a jury is likely to award damages to someone who can no longer walk or has some serious disability as the result of getting shot for sleeping in your car at Wendy’s

Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 15 2020 7:52 utc | 78

I always heard it described as the 21 foot rule, i guess 30 feet is a practical distance. There was no legitimate reason to shoot this guy in the back, or facing him if he were backing away.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 15 2020 7:55 utc | 79

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 15 2020 7:55 utc | 84 I always heard it described as the 21 foot rule, i guess 30 feet is a practical distance.
Yes, it’s called “The Tueller Rule” or “The Tueller Drill”, after the cop who invented it.
Haven’t watched this Youtube video yet, but it looks interesting:
21-Foot Principle Clarified by Dennis Tueller and Ken Wallentine
30 feet is considered to be better than 21, because some martial artists can beat that 21-foot limit. You can find videos on Youtube demonstrating that, like this one featuring Doug Marcaida, a Kali expert.
Elite”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fjMpn7JCJ0″>Elite Knife Fighter vs Elite Gun Fighter – RAW, UNCUT, NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE
“There was no legitimate reason to shoot this guy in the back, or facing him if he were backing away.”
Correct. I haven’t watched the video, but I assume the description given here was accurate. If so, it’s a completely illegitimate shooting.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 8:08 utc | 80

Biden is a creep and a fraud and a menace so here is my slogan suggestion:
Biden
finger f#ing Joe

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 15 2020 8:18 utc | 81

Richard Steven Hack #80
On face masks. Thank you for that comprehensive post. I get roused on often for insisting on wearing masks in high risk encounters and I really don’t care any more. I am confident they will assist and I am happy to a healthy and slightly ridiculed idiot instead of a cov-idiot. Besides I don’t want any flu from anyone and so I have adopted my new squeaky clean lifestyle with glee. When out I have no phone and I wear my sunnies and a mask and my fedora. Eat your heart out blues bros.
I see the off-grauniad is running the opposite line to some of those excellent links you gave us. I thought there was other news.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 15 2020 9:05 utc | 82

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 15 2020 5:47 utc | 76
That man was sleeping and doing no harm..he probably would have slept till he was ok to go home..but the pigs had to spread again frustration for their miserable life..Imagine being there woke up in the car,being kind to the cops questions and then finish arrested and one minute later shot dead in the back ..how to describe this if not a COWARDLY ACT followed by an execution.Do you remember Isiah Golding murder?It’s always the same system that killed a lot of innocent people most of which will remain unknown to us forever.

Posted by: LuBa | Jun 15 2020 9:57 utc | 83

So, Richard Steven Hack, if I understand correctly if there are ten instances where a jogger runs past a person trained by you then in one of 10 cases you can blame that person for not training well enough and killing the jogger.
The actual problem is treating everything as a potentially lethal situation. The correct approach is treating most situations as not lethal , taking the risk that you get it wrong, and training for minimizing the damage in those cases. A cop who is not willing to take that risk should not be a cop. And I would extend that to military situations as well.
If a cop stops a car for speeding and treats the driver as a potential killer who might pull a gun in a split second, then you have a bad cop. I don’t care about the training.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 15 2020 10:49 utc | 84

After the load of horse hockey in #81, #82, #85 yes we have identified a poster who is absolutely madly in love with the police. Cops are not fighting magical Hollywood ninjas. Snipers can kill at 1500 meters, this is not a reason for cops (or anyone else) to feel unsafe unless the perimeter is empty to 1500 meters. When Chicago cops unholster their guns and shoot they have a 50/50 chance of hitting target with one bullet only if target is within three feet. At ten feet the gun is primarily a noisemaker. Does not matter who can hit vital zone at target range every time. Real life shooting is not a target range.
Rules in posts 81 82 85 are rules for killing. Shooting every possible potential ninja knife thrower within thirty feet would mean guns blazing 24/7.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 15 2020 11:10 utc | 85

“Facebook should be nationalized then immediately shut down, IMO. Far too much power.”
I suggest a law should be passed regarding social media companies:
1) They cannot be held accountable for anything their users post,
except those things already criminalized (kiddie porn, etc.)
2) They cannot censor anything their users post.
This is free speech.
OTOH, both Google and Facebook have ties to the CIA. Both were created to do
the sort of social monitoring and control that the CIA is not allowed to do
legally. Therefore, any and all connections between those companies and the
CIA (or any other law enforcement, with the sole exception of cooperating
in cases where criminal actions are being pursued (again, kiddie porn, etc.)
should be terminated.
These steps would at least mitigate some of these companies’ abuses.
by: Richard Steven Hack @ 50
finally someone recogized the mafia. but let me remind you that there are
at least three constitutional provisions in the BORA (bill of rights amendments) which should
save the day, problem is, those charged to enforce the law, are the mafia..
1st amendment is that Congress will make no law abridging the freedom of speech, and
3rd amendment says No soldier shall be quartered in any house, without
the consent of the Owner <=and if what you say is true, anyone working for the CIA or doing its bidding are Soldiers. and finally we fourth amendment that says The right of the peole to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searchs and seizures, sahll not be violated.. but when these people track inside your home are they not doing just that.. I believe no revolution is needed, all the America people need do is make the elected no counts do what their own constitution promises.

Posted by: snake | Jun 15 2020 11:16 utc | 86

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 15 2020 10:49 utc | 89 So, Richard Steven Hack, if I understand correctly if there are ten instances where a jogger runs past a person trained by you then in one of 10 cases you can blame that person for not training well enough and killing the jogger.
I have no idea how you got that from anything I wrote. So I assume you’re either incapable of reading English or you simply are so busy trying to find a reason to complain that you didn’t bother.
“The actual problem is treating everything as a potentially lethal situation.”
Everything *is* a potentially lethal situation – and that applies to everyone everywhere at all times.
“I don’t care about the training.”
That’s obvious. But it is training that enables one to determine whether a situation is indeed a lethal situation.
My point is that training is what *should* enable a cop to not *have* to shoot someone when it is not appropriate to do so.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 11:17 utc | 87

No training can fix a war veteran because they view everything through the lense of potential danger. When a driver reaches for his driver license then the war veteran knows ‘if that is a gun he’s reaching for I’m dead unless I react now’. Then you can get a lot of procedures to handle that situation, to avoid wrong movements and so on. The actual lesson is: this is a citizen and will be treated as a citizen unless there are very good reasons to take extra precautions. That means, if the citizen plans to kill me then I’m dead and that is a risk I have to take.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 15 2020 11:39 utc | 88

Posted by: snake | Jun 15 2020 11:16 utc | 91 I believe no revolution is needed, all the America people need do is make the elected no counts do what their own constitution promises.
Good luck with that. The Constitution is a piece of paper honored in the breach rather than the observance – and that’s been true since before it was even implemented.
And most of the US population doesn’t even know what’s in it. In fact, IIRC, there was a poll taken once in which the Bill of Rights was read to the persons being polled – and most of them thought it was “Commie propaganda.” I just looked that up:
42 Percent of Americans Attribute Communist Slogan to America’s Founding Documents (PDF)
And here:
CONSTITUTION CONFUSES MOST AMERICANS

The poll of 1,004 Americans found that only a bare majority knew the purpose of the 200-year-old document was to create a federal government and define its powers; that 59 percent were unaware that the Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution; and that nearly half believed the Constitution contains the Marxist declaration, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
The survey, conducted by the Hearst Corp. to mark the Constitution’s bicentennial, also found that nearly half those polled incorrectly believed that the president can suspend constitutional protections in time of war or national emergency, that 60 percent thought the president, acting alone, can appoint a justice to the Supreme Court, and that 64 percent believed the framers established English as the national language.

From an article in The Hill:

Polling conducted by the Annenberg Foundation and Xavier University has revealed, for example, that nearly half of adult Americans cannot pass the basic test — the test passed by more than 90 percent of immigrants — given to aspiring citizens. Worse, American citizens seem to demonstrate their greatest ignorance about the basics of the American political system. Eighty-five percent have no idea what the “rule of law” is. Well OK, you might say, that concept seems to confuse even our president.
But it gets worse. Some two-thirds do not know there are three branches of government. And 71 percent of American adult citizens do not know that our Constitution is the source of supreme law in the United States.

So good luck getting the US electorate to hold the US government to account. And one might also show how they would actually do that, given that they don’t have the money and lobbying power that the corporations and oligarchs and banks do.
So getting the US electorate to hold the US government to account *would* in fact *be* a “revolution.”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 11:58 utc | 89

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 15 2020 11:39 utc | 93 “No training can fix a war veteran”
Which is why we shouldn’t allow military veterans to be police officers.
“The actual lesson is: this is a citizen and will be treated as a citizen unless there are very good reasons to take extra precautions. That means, if the citizen plans to kill me then I’m dead and that is a risk I have to take.”
I agree. But that isn’t going to happen unless the officer is *trained* that way.
You could simply require all cops to be disarmed – like British police used to be. But Britain has stricter gun laws than the US does and more importantly does not have a cultural history of being heavily armed – so cops were always at much less risk of being shot than US cops. You’d never get anyone to be a US cop if they are unarmed. The fact is that the risk is much higher in the US, especially places like Chicago, so cops have to be armed. And if they’re armed, they have to be trained. But the training is useless if the attitude is wrong to begin with.
As an aside, it’s impossible to do gun control in the US. 80-100 million people own 400 million firearms. There’s no way to reduce the number of firearms in criminal hands, and reducing those in the hands of ordinary citizens merely prevents the 18-20 million who carry concealed to be at risk from the criminals. So cops in the US will remain at risk of being shot, and therefore will have to carry firearms. No one is going to risk being shot by being unarmed because the US is not Britain.
It’s primarily an issue of cop culture. The *system* is corrupt. It attracts and keeps the wrong sort of person. And it’s likely that can’t be repaired without a wholesale re-evaluation of what “policing” in this country means.
And since TPTB want an “occupying force” – an “army of occupation for the poor” as someone once said – that’s not going to happen.
There’s what we would like to be – and what is. An unarmed police force isn’t going to happen, and a police force which is not corrupt isn’t going to happen.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 12:16 utc | 90

@54 “The one advantage is that everyone at Trump’s rallies will get sick and with luck a lot of his supporters will die.”
You’re one sick SOB

Posted by: bluekayak | Jun 15 2020 13:02 utc | 91

The fact is that the risk is much higher in the US
Being a pig in the US is not that dangerous.
15 moat dangerous:
Logging workers
Fishers and related fishing workers
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
Roofers
Refuse and recyclable material collectors
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers
Structural iron and steel workers
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers
First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service and groundskeeping workers
Electrical power-line installers and repairers
Grounds maintenance workers
Miscellaneous agricultural workers
Helpers, construction trades
First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers and repairers

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Jun 15 2020 14:15 utc | 92

Do Palestinian Lives Matter?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 15 2020 3:10 utc | 65
It hasn’t for last 7+ decades. Why do you ask?
They’ve been ‘mowing the lawn’ every few years and the whole world watches without a peep.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 15 2020 14:24 utc | 93

Biden

finger f#ing Joe
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 15 2020 8:18 utc | 86
Brilliant. I get the meaning intended, and also, that he may be abusing his own fingers, thus, being a Jerk Off? 🙂

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 15 2020 14:26 utc | 94

There was a running joke a few years back, re Martial Law. Here is how went.
Two policemen are enforcing a curfew. A man passes them by, trying to get home. He’s in much hurry to beat the curfew. He’s also carrying a bag of groceries, huffing, and puffing.
Policeman number one takes out his gun and shoots the man in the back.
When policeman number two objects, policeman number one says: “ I knew that guy. He’d never make it home by curfew time.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 15 2020 14:32 utc | 95

@ Posted by: donkeytale | Jun 15 2020 5:53 utc | 77
Excuse me, but where’s your source that claims the Renminbi is “undervalued” against the USD? The only one I can find is Trump and his administration.
The Renminbi is just seven to the USD. This is a pretty much strong currency by international standards. Sure, not as strong as the likes of the Euro, Pound Sterling et al, but, for example, much stronger than the Yen (which hovers at around 100-110 to the USD). It is almost as strong as the BRL (5 to the USD). And even the 7:1 ratio was only reached recently, amid the world economic crisis; before that, it fluctuated more at the 4-5 per USD.
Even then, undervalued currencies don’t attract value: it’s just a monetary policy that a government can make in order to stop bleeding value when a rival government devalues or props up its exports sector. If it did, Zimbabwe would be a superpower by now. The adage that undervalued currencies automatically prop up exports is cheap middle class western journalism economic theory.
Don’t fall for the neoliberal myth that China has a “fixed currency” while the rest of the world adopts a “fluctuating currency”. Every government in the world intervenes in their own currencies to fit their own interests – it just happens that the CCP is open about it.

Posted by: vk | Jun 15 2020 14:35 utc | 96

Posted by: donkeytale | Jun 15 2020 5:53 utc | 77
Russia does not “work hard” to support the USD, what kind of retardation is that?
One of the few countries to liquidate almost all treasuries and dedolarise their economy. To create alternative on SWIFT. With Putin openly calling the US “a parasite on the world economy” ..
Are you sure you are not paid troll trying to sow confusion?

Posted by: Passer by | Jun 15 2020 14:48 utc | 97

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 15 2020 6:57 utc | 80
Something to add to your list
https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7
“SIX ERRORS: 1) missing the compounding effects of masks, 2) missing the nonlinearity of the probability of infection to viral exposures, 3) missing absence of evidence (of benefits of mask wearing) for evidence of absence (of benefits of mask wearing), 4) missing the point that people do not need governments to produce facial covering: they can make their own, 5) missing the compounding effects of statistical signals, 6) ignoring the Non-Aggression Principle by pseudolibertarians (masks are also to protect others from you; it’s a multiplicative process: every person you infect will infect others).”

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jun 15 2020 14:50 utc | 98

Protestors topple Thomas Jefferson monument in Portland
This is the first time a statue of a founding father is toppled. Let’s see what happens next.
Andrew Banks jailed for urinating next to PC Keith Palmer’s memorial
But I thought jailing people for attacking symbols was just a communist thing, wasn’t it?

Posted by: vk | Jun 15 2020 14:55 utc | 99

Posted by: vk | Jun 15 2020 14:35 utc | 101
Also, fake “economists” aka neolib propagandists love to demonize the saving rates of ~50% in China, because the Chinese having piles of cash for rainy days while not engaging in wasteful hyperconsumerism is oh-so-definitely is a bad thing…To the Western looters who has always been salivating to bleed China dry.

Posted by: JW | Jun 15 2020 14:59 utc | 100

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