Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
December 29, 2020
Open Thread 2020-103

News & views …

Comments

vk #200
The nice part about the #forcethevote strategy is that the astroturf lefties are exposed as shills and apologists for the do nothing Dimratss that they are. Perhaps nobody thought the ‘revolution’ (as Bernie put it) could never slip out of their control. Well I am glad to say that this could be a possibility.
The Dimratss threats and dirty tricks and cell phone monitoring will be working overtime right now to frustrate anyone in the squad pushing #forcethevote. It is going to be a great opening week for 2021. I guess the leaked emails will start soon.
I note that the Dem scibblers and shills here are franticly filling the air with every possible distraction but, to no avail. The large crowd of onlookers can see the game unfolding regardless of the cheerleaders fancy moves.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 1 2021 5:46 utc | 201

Posted by: vk | Dec 31 2020 23:29 utc | 181
The conflict about a Lenin statue is about the Yakimanka neighborhood in Moscow, a very well to do area in the center of the megalopolis. And it is about the biggest and last statue erected in Lenin’s honor by no other that Gorbachev himself back in 1985. It is a complex monument, of truly artistic value, it’s removal was put up for a referendum by the local authorities, unsuccessfully.
Lenin statues are all over Russia, some of them in small places are in disrepair but most of them are very well kept, especially the big ones in mid sized cities. But surprise surprise, some places are erecting statues to Stalin, so it is very doubtful that history will be erased.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/6151348.html
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/6147617.html

Posted by: Paco | Jan 1 2021 7:57 utc | 202

Some posts on #forcethevote and the building momentum for the big day rally January 2 and 3.
Katie Halper hosts four hours of a mighty good analysis with Briahna Joy Grey, Cornel West, Nick Brana, Jimmy Dore, Steph and many more coming into the yarnup all through 4 hours.
Then there is Left Bitches 8 host Rania Kalek yarning with Jimmy Dore. for 2:40.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 1 2021 8:51 utc | 203

Prof Wolff flogs the capitalist & government failures in 2020 in a great rant at Status Coup with host Jordan Chariton
Prof Richard Wolff examines the failed USA economic and callous private and public sector. A detailed and incisive analysis over 30 minutes.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 1 2021 9:32 utc | 204

John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the shop that worked on the Hunter Biden laptops, tells the story of his and his father’s interactions with the FBI after the Mac Isaacs initiated contact at a Alburquerque FBI field office in 2019.
https://youtu.be/Q14tUY1D29A (5 min)

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 11:22 utc | 205

What is the motivation behind the Nashville explosion?
https://youtu.be/C_iI4kVGM00 (20 min)
Video is produced by a source that is opposed to the current Mainland China govmt, and allied with Trump interests.

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 12:11 utc | 206

@ Crazy Uncle
I note that the Dem scibblers and shills here are franticly filling the air with every possible distraction.
Nope the biggest shill here is YOU. Methinks you doth protest too much for all the wrong reasons. You’re just like hasbara; always ready to whip out the links from a list that someone else researches.
You’re gonna have a real hard time brainwashing 81 million people that voted for Biden. If Dems voted M4A; you’d ignore that and move on to the next issue you can poison them with, cause you’re goal is not for the people. You’re goal is to shit disturb everything left of centre so they fold their arms, give up on everything and let another demagogue fascist to Putin or Netanyahoo’s liking posing as a populist in the door of the White House again.
I got your number.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 1 2021 12:38 utc | 207

So Pashinian seems to have gotten the message:
Armenian PM Prioritizes Closer Ties With Russia
And Putin is very pleased with progress on all fronts with Turkey. If I’m not mistaken, Assad will get more or all of Syria back. Win-Win.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 1 2021 12:50 utc | 208

Copied link from Lambert at Naked Capitalism:
Assholes

If you consider (ridiculous, but consider it generously for the sake of discussion) the “risk” of doing just a little bit “too much” for poor and middle class people (a check that phases out starting at $75K is that), versus the risk of doing too little or, quite soon, absolutely nothing more, and consider how people are lining up on that choice… Well, they would prefer plunging the economy into a deeper recession and the misery of millions of people on the off chance people might realize government is actually capable of doing things for them.
The people complaining about a $2000 check (and, I know, this was likely never going to happen, but the people complaining about it are so frightened of the possibility that they won’t even let it be used as a rhetorical club) are going to be responsible for what is coming, as is everyone who puts up even minor roadblocks to the few options that are available.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 1 2021 13:32 utc | 209

THIS is on Trump!
WAR CRIME
When Zionists are worried about the position Biden intends to take with Saudi Arabia; I think that tells me it’s absolutely the right reversal.
From The Jerusalem Post:

Biden, already during his campaign, made clear that he is interested in reassessing Washington’s ties with the Saudis, saying at one point that the kingdom should have the pariah status it deserves and that it should no longer get passes for its human-rights abuses.
“I would end US support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen and order a reassessment of our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations in 2019. “It is past time to restore a sense of balance, perspective and fidelity to our values in our relationships in the Middle East. President Trump has issued Saudi Arabia a dangerous blank check.”
And during a Democratic primary debate in November of 2019, he said he “would make it very clear” that the US would not sell weapons to the Saudis, which would make them “the pariah that they are.”

The irony is that this is the same Biden who wants to reengage with the Iranians and reenter the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal essentially opened the door for Iran to reenter the family of nations, even as it was working to gobble up nation after nation in the Middle East, from Iraq to Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.
It would not only be an irony but an error to give Saudi Arabia “pariah status” while removing that status – via reentering the JCPOA and lifting sanctions – from Iran.

Biden must give Zionists the deaf ear on these priorities that are fundamental for peace and a more righteous humanity, and put actions to his words from the moment he becomes President. This is a moral imperative that supercedes all else with the exception of saving lives from the pandemic. However, one major priority should not exclude or delay another.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 1 2021 15:42 utc | 211

Circe
If the statement came fom “November of 2019”, chances are that Biden has already forgotten about it. Business is money. (The 3’000 bombs that Trump has sold to the Saudis have already been delivered.)
Actually, if you look closely. the US is being sidelined in the world in spite of the election. It’s not much better in other countries either. One wonders about Netanyahu and the disappearing Likud? If Biden becomes Pres, what is his attitude to Israel? (Will he do as he says or will he suddenly become a second Trump vis-a-vis giving Israel all it wants?)
Just asking….

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 1 2021 16:14 utc | 212

Posted by: james | Jan 1 2021 4:20 utc | 201

bemildrid and arch bungle… i would imagine that is the work of the uae who don’t want to see ksa succeed, but it will be blamed on yemen…

That is VERY plausible.
And a happy new year to you too!

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 1 2021 16:45 utc | 213

More *Sad Truth* to ponder, looking ahead to what will be rushing toward the US/World in 2021 and beyond…
I fear George Orwell[1984] will be proven, within this generation if not even fewer years time, and right before our eyes, to have been the foremost Great Prophet and visionary in human history.
-from the Tom Luongo piece linked above @gm | Jan 1 2021 3:04 utc | 197

Worse, most people in America can’t even be bothered to care about such things. And if you were to confront them with the evidence there must be some good reason why that ‘just can’t be true.’
The FBI, which couldn’t find any issues with Hunter Biden’s laptop for months nor ever do anythitowardng substantial with Anthony Weiner’s laptop in FOUR YEARS somehow solved the case of the Nashville bomber in less than 48 hours conclusively.
And that conclusion was the same as every other major terrorist event in this country’s recent history – a lone crackpot blew himself up to make a half-formed political statement. At least this time they had the good sense to vaguely tie the patsy to the political left versus turn him into a mouth-breathing MAGAtard with a Q-complex.
And somehow no one seems to care. Nor does anyone care about the lack of conclusion about the shooting in Las Vegas a few years back.
Notice the trend? Major stories that are supposed to matter are dropped the moment they get anything close to uncomfortable for those in power who are chosen to remain in power.
I’ve always thought Donald Trump’s biggest flaw was that he was an incurious man, but compared to the so-called journalists of our corporate media Trump is the second coming of Sherlock Holmes for pity’s sake.
There are voter irregularities of a type and kind which demand real coverage, even if it turns out to be easy to cast doubt on them. And yet, after haranguing Americans TO CARE about voter fraud in places like Belarus, Crimea, Venezuela, Iran, Serbia, Georgia we’re supposed to swallow the lie this was the ‘most secure election in this country’s history’ without even a bottle of ketchup?
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, nor who your Twitter spirit guide is, all of these things should disturb you.
And yet, it doesn’t seem to. It is not CNN’s nor Fox’s decision to not report on them because they don’t want to engage in searching out the truth.
The hearings in the Georgia State Senate going on as I write this are hair-raising, painting a picture of corruption so detailed you’d think it was a Mandelbrot set.
Every rabbit hole you go down forks into a deeper one, revealing even more information about how truly corrupt and inhuman our political systems are and yet our media stands there like a thousand monkeys banging away on their iPhone keyboards trying to convince us what they are producing is Shakespeare and not auto-corrected Engrish.
If we’ve reached this level of whitewashing of the news and the truth to this point, I’m having to wonder why it is North Korea is so hated? I’m at a loss to come up with anything more accurate than competitive envy at fiction writing.
Hundreds of millions of people’s lives are being actively destroyed by overzealous governors and heads of state issuing draconian lockdown orders over a virus with multiple vaccines that are less effective than our own immune systems. A compromised WHO and CDC issue conflicting recommendations weekly and Dr. Mengele Fauci openly admits to lying to us.If we’ve reached this level of whitewashing of the news and the truth to this point, I’m having to wonder why it is North Korea is so hated? I’m at a loss to come up with anything more accurate than competitive envy at fiction writing.
Hundreds of millions of people’s lives are being actively destroyed by overzealous governors and heads of state issuing draconian lockdown orders over a virus with multiple vaccines that are less effective than our own immune systems. A compromised WHO and CDC issue conflicting recommendations weekly and *Dr. Mengele Fauci* openly admits to lying to us.
They all do this without any sense of shame, shedding crocodile tears so unconvincing they could be runner-ups at a Miss America pageant. But we’re supposed to think we’re saved because Congress decided to give us a $600 advance to pay our 2020 income taxes with?
And I haven’t even scratched the surface here. We know why they are doing this — to support to open hostile takeover of what’s left of private capital markets and property in support of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset.
Yet here I sit watching otherwise reasonable and naturally skeptical people still live within their normalcy bias to refuse the obvious propaganda and blame the victims.

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 16:57 utc | 214

Here are just two more concrete examples of the fake news as Luongo sees it :

“our media stands there like a thousand monkeys banging away on their iPhone keyboards trying to convince us what they are producing is Shakespeare and not auto-corrected Engrish.”

Mockingbird media blithly ignores the fact that US alone has probably thrown $1-2 Trillion down the the “counter-intelligence/terrorism’ rat-hole since 2001, and then shoves this obscene FIB propaganda in our faces:
“Nashville bombing is a ‘wake-up call’ to how vulnerable U.S. infrastructure is and the attack might inspire copycats, ex-FBI counterintelligence chief warns [ie, Give us FBI more money to burn]”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9093957/Nashville-bombing-wake-call-ex-FBI-counterintelligence-chief-warns.html
And more breaking News from the Evil Idiocracy:
Nashville bomber Anthony Q. Warner told his neighbor ‘the world is never going to forget me’ before Christmas Day blast in which it’s feared he may have blown his dogs up with him inside his bomb-rigged RV as FBI release new photo
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9092073/After-naming-bombing-suspect-focus-turns-motive.html

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 17:37 utc | 215

gm @Jan1 16:57 #216
Luongo is not a reliable source. Much of what he writes is simply right-wing Kool-Aid (propaganda) that exaggerates and points fingers at strawmen. Some examples:

  • Hundreds of millions of people’s lives are being actively destroyed by overzealous governors and heads of state issuing draconian lockdown orders over a virus with multiple vaccines that are less effective than our own immune systems.
    Here Luongo exaggerates economic hardship with “lives .. destroyed” so as to place that hardship on the same level as Covid deaths; exaggerates lockdowns into “draconian” edicts issued by “overzealous” governors; and exaggerates the ability of humane immune systems to fight the virus.
    But the failure of Western governments to take effective action against the virus (like Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and others) is ignored.
  • … *Dr. Mengele Fauci* openly admits to lying to us.
    Yet no rebuke for Trump, who also openly lied to us?
  • We know why they are doing this — to support to open hostile takeover of what’s left of private capital markets and property in support of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset.
    A socialist take-over is just scare-mongering that aligns with anti-China propaganda. Capitalism is alive and well in the West – especially in USA.
    The pretense of a socialist-driven “Great Reset” is meant to subvert the notion of an inevitable “reset” that is driven by capitalist excess.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 17:49 utc | 216

Posted by: Circe | Jan 1 2021 15:42 utc | 213
Tsirtseya, is it naiveté or plain bad faith? What kind of deaf ear is this guy able to give? Listen to him and what he has to say:
https://youtu.be/dbn4i7_CFIM
Nothing good will come from that team for not calling them gang, you’ll be disappointed if your statement is sincere.
Best wishes for the new year.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 1 2021 18:51 utc | 217

Pretty soon we could have a lot of cases here:
Coronavirus: US passes 20 million COVID-19 cases, says Johns Hopkins University

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 1 2021 19:00 utc | 218

Fairly decent and intelligent [minimal BS]discussion of the constraints limiting DIY bomb-makers to certain types of devices.
Propane bombs are tricky to engineer and require a lot of trial and error experimentation that take into consideration the wind/air draft conditions at time/place of use.
The retired FBI bomb expert Bob Williams consulted for the story has *never* encountered any homemade propane (ie. a gaseous hydrocarbon fuel-air explosive) bomb successfully used in *any* amateur’s IEDs cases in his 35 yrs of experience.
Nashville’s Big Bomb Was a Very Rare Device, Experts Think
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nashville-big-bomb-very-rare-173704563.html

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 19:14 utc | 219

@ Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 17:49 utc | 218
I beg to differ. I think how Luongo describes the situation is fair and within the bounds of literary license.
For instance, in the medium size traditionally low-crime city in ‘Fly-Over’ country where I live, non-self defense/non-accidental homicides and non-fatal shootings, measured in October have increased by ~40% year over year from 2019.
Economy- and mental stress-related suicides and family violence here in my city has also gone way up in the Year of Covid.
And You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet…

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 19:48 utc | 220

Once again, the Global Times editor lays out the truth for the Outlaw US Empire if it’s to compete with the EU and all other nations geoeconomically. Towards his conclusion, the editor writes this phrase: “The US government needs to restore its normal mindset in the face of a rapidly growing China…,” [My Emphasis] begging what IMO is a very important question: Just what is the Outlaw US Empire’s “normal mindset”? It’s #1 policy goal of attaining Full Spectrum Domination has yet to be repudiated, but it’s clearly a crippled giant that is incapable of attaining that goal; and it hasn’t had any sort of sustained, positive, genuine GDP growth for 40 years. IMO, Hudson and others that see policy aimed at enriching the top tier at the expense of all others–Parasitic Neoliberalism–are correct in saying that’s the genuine, “normal mindset.” And if we’re correct, there’s no way the Empire can compete with the rising multilateral, multipolar world that’s based on cooperation, not tooth and talon competition–the Empire’s teeth being broken and its talons greatly dulled.
IMO, the USA’s public ought to view the onset of 2021 with as much trepidation as 1933 but with one major difference–Congress and the incoming FDR team pledged to do its utmost to help the populace, but what we just witnessed Congress enact tells us its behavior is the exact opposite, that aside from a few, nobody in the Federal City is focused on helping the vast majority, caring only for the Donor Class.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 1 2021 20:18 utc | 221

@ Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 17:49 utc | 218
And Luongo’s *Dr. Mengele Fauci* allusion was obviously (to me at least) a clever reference to Fauci’s NIH branch, the NIAID, being the agancy routing the “above-ground” funding to labs doing the “gain of function” virus research.

Posted by: gm | Jan 1 2021 20:28 utc | 222

@Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 17:49 utc | 218
The Great Reset is socialist-driven but not to tthe benfit of the masse, but of the corporations.
BlackRock has achieved, apart from the huge transfer of money Trump made to them at the first moments of the pandemic, uncalculable benefits out of being major shareholder at Pfizer, on a millinaire selling of s product insuficiently tested of which it holds no responsability, thus we pay for the alleged “vaccines” ( who are really genetic modified drugs..), and also for the possibel sever sed efects.
Main state aid at the first moments of the pandemic went to Musk and Bezos, rising both this way to the podium as rechest people in the world….

Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jan 1 2021 20:50 utc | 223

gm @Jan1 20:28 #224
I have no love for Fauci or the US medical establishment. As I see it, for the most part, they have also failed us by not standing up to the politicians that think that half-measures and Big Pharma’s experimental vaccines are sufficient.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 21:06 utc | 224

gm @Jan1 19:48 #222

… within the bounds of literary license.

LOL.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 1 2021 21:11 utc | 225

James @201
Cheers. I knew there was a book but the movie publicity seemed to make no mention of it. The book sounded better. But its all in the distant past now: none of the snowbirds around here seems to be going south this winter and their equivalents, from the once prosperous rust belt towns are pretty well gone now.
Here’s a song for them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YZVRvy4O6I

Posted by: bevin | Jan 1 2021 23:50 utc | 226

@ 227 bevin……. thanks…. that’s a nice song you shared! i am almost finished up on the alan lomax book by john szwed.. it is very good.. of course alan was friends with pete seegers parents and did a lot of work with the whole family… i was just listening to a eubie blake track.. do you know who that is?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxQLn-p0w84
so that movie – nomadland – that @ 140 debs gives a download link to – i just watched it.. it is quite melancholic but very good… read an overview here..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadland_(film)
thank you debsisdead! – i appreciate your kindness! happy new year to you and all here – james

Posted by: james | Jan 1 2021 23:57 utc | 227

Q&A time.
Chinahand asked a question on Twitter today:

w/ covid & brexit i’m sort of drifting into a shock doctrine state of mind. capitalism thrives on exploiting catastrophes so why not enable them i/o preventing them? when trouble’s on the horizon, focus on constructing the narrative that “we’ve got this”, prep the profit plan,…and when the problem gets too big to handwave around, roll out the panic-overload megabux response

This is good question. When do we know the capitalist class is conspiring or simply scrambling to save the system?
The answer is kinda simple: you have to observe for two factors – the profit rates and the state-of-the-art of technological innovation (Kondratiev Cycle).
For Brexit, we’re sure the UK’s profit rates have been falling – by a lot – both since Brexit and even more now with the pandemic. Here are the numbers (see the 8th graph of the article; return on capital used as the bourgeois approximation).
Besides, we can deduce from circumstantial historical evidence that Brexit’s victory on the referendum was not expected by the British elite. See David Cameron crying while resigning, the desperate nomination of Theresa May as his successor and Labour desperately and providentially sabotaging and purging its socialist faction, led by Jeremy Corbyn; see also the British MSM going bonkers over Brexit, etc. etc. In sum, the context of the British History from 2016 to 2020 all point to the direction to the British capitalist class trying to sabotage and ultimately aborting Brexit, not the opposite.
It’s harder to demonstrate the same for the USA, because it is the HQ of capitalism and, as such, it has a lot more devices to counter its capitalist decline. But the numbers are there:
USA’s corporate profit would’ve seen a fall of -39% if it wasn’t for the trillionaire stimuli by the Congress; grew +14% instead at Q3 2020

“subsidies flowed in from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress in March to support companies…..This meant an average increase in subsidy of over $600bn in each quarter. When added to profits, it boosted profits beyond their peak in 2014. … Without this subsidy profits would have fallen by 39% instead of rising by 14%.”

In other words, the USA’s profit rate should’ve fallen on the scale of 40% if it wasn’t for the USG’s mammoth bailouts, which made even Obama’s one in 2009 look like a tip to a gas station waiter. Instead – because it is the frickin’ USA, capitalism’s HQ – it managed to grow its profit rate by 14% thanks to the Dollar Standard.
But even the USA’s money printing power has its limits: every “excess” USD printed and given to an American corporation or citizen is one USD less in a random country. This happens because the rest of the world is obligated to sustain the Dollar’s convertibility in order to keep trading between themselves. As a result of the Congress’ multitrillionaire bailouts, the profit rate of the entire capitalist world has fallen:
GRAPH: The V-shaped recovery is wilting badly. [First World only, in GDP terms]
The last factor is technological revolution. For this one I don’t have a single source, as there is none that is centralized enough to fit in here. There are a lot of indicator we must combine to deduce the existence or not of an incoming technological revolution (fourth industrial revolution). I’ll just simplify and tell right away that there isn’t any big technological revolution that is strong enough to revive capitalism on the scale of post-WWII period.
In the post-WWII period, the technology that rose capitalism from the dead was electronics, which would later give birth to Toyotism/Taylorism/Ohnism. But already at the “internet era” (1990-), profit rates from these technologies already were showing clear signs of stagnation (high organic composition of capital). Nowadays, there are seven technologies the capitalists claim will save the system, therefore triggering the fourth industrial revolution, of which only one – quantum computing – has any chance of becoming reality in the foreseeable future (let alone being mass-produced for profit). There is no end in sight for this economic depression for capitalism.
Some modernization is definitely happening – with the extermination of the petite-bourgeoise in the USA, for example, Amazon is quickly centralizing all the logistics in the nation, adopting more technologically and efficient tools and infrastructure in the process (use of drones for delivery, more automated warehouses etc.). But this is happening with already old technology, not new one. All of the alleged “AI” being used by the American big tech on the tv commercials are not true AI, but just more sophisticated algorithms.
This crisis, therefore, is unintentional. The capitalist classes of the world didn’t see it coming at all, and are mostly eating themselves in order to just survive. Yes, some very few capitalist will emerge even bigger and stronger than ever – e.g. Bezos, Zückerberg, Bill Gates – but the vast, 99.999% of the capitalists will either be extinct (most of the petite-bourgeoisie, for example) or emerge weaker and smaller than ever. Even disaster capitalism has its material limits; capitalism is more likely than not on survival mode.

Posted by: vk | Jan 2 2021 0:04 utc | 228

I see the NYT, an eager beaver for big Pharama has pushed out a story which appears implicitly designed to protect pfizer’s profits.
The story concerns england’s frantic mid winter response to covid. NYT criticises the englander government for ‘mixing & matching’ Covid vaccines but makes no real effort to a) explain the englander govts’ real motive, or b) to provide a sensible & objective critique of this issue.
As I understand it right now in the UK the national health service has taken possession of 40 million doses of the pfizer vaccine with england being given close to 90% of them. These doses have a use by date and pfizer has many committments to other nations (esp amerika) and may be unsure of when it will next be able to resupply the englanders although this quote from the NYT article indicates the next pfizer batch is at least 3 months away:

“In a controversial move, the British government this week also decided to frontload its vaccine rollout, delivering as many first doses to people as possible — a move that could delay second shots up to 12 weeks.”

Covid has become so rampant throughout england, everyone pols especially seem to be on the verge of hysteria, so are ‘dosing’ as many as possible as soon as possible with the first dose. That may well mean up to 40 million first doses of Pfizer (although if you know england, you know that at least a few million will be held so that the usual suspects (aristos etc.) will be given a pfizer second dose at the correct date for it.
The point for the hoi polloi will be to mollify them as much as possible with that first dose, even if the prophylactic effect is greatly lessened from the alleged 90% efficacy pfizer claim (although never proven by a complete peer reviewed & published trial result).
That way the risk of violent insurrection is somewhat lessened and more importantly the wage fodder can be duped back into servitude so that corporate profits can recover quicker.
The pfizer doses were paid for back in mid 2020, likely at pfizer’s retail rate of $60 a dose.
Astra-Zeneca’s vaccine has also been given emergency approval although production of that vaccine is behind pfizer’s but it is about 20 times cheaper at $3 per dose.
There is no mention at all of the combination astra zeneca have mooted, a first dose of A-Z’s vaccine and a second dose of Sputnik V, which is crazy as it can be argued those to vaccines complement each other, the astra zeneca one uses chimpanzee adenovirus technology and Sputnik uses human adenovirus tech.
The pfizer tech is based on mRNA tech and whilst I cannot support this NYT nonsense “While Pfizer’s vaccine relies on a molecule called messenger RNA, or mRNA, packaged into greasy bubbles, AstraZeneca’s shots are designed around a virus shell that delivers DNA, a cousin of mRNA.”
RNA is a cousin of DNA what tripe is that, if one were to (incorrectly) treat DNA & RNA as being part of a family it would be RNA mother/father to DNA mother/father to RNA mother/father to RNA blah blah. That would be equally meaningless but it would be a little more accurate. It is enough to say RNA and DNA share some similarity but they are different in form & function than to whack in some bullshit metaphor.
The thing is though and it is an area which the NYT totally fails to deal with and that is mixing an inadequate dose of mRNA with an inadequate dose of DNA could be catastrophic for a different reason.
Many of us are familiar with the problems with antibiotics created by quacks handing out antibiotics to someone with a cold and that someone stops taking the antibiotic when the cold (a viral infection unaffected by antibiotics) has been cured by their body. However whatever bacteria they were carrying which weren’t destroyed by the antibiotic because someone didn’t take the complete course will develop an increased resistance to the particular antibiotic.
When multiplied by the millions of instances that quacks have acted out this stupidity (no that isn’t new knowledge, back in the 1970’s we were cautioned against prescribing antibiotics for colds or flus unless there was a known secondary bacterial infection) the so called ‘superbugs’ bacteria immune to antibiotics came into being.
Now I’m not going to equate the action of an antibiotic on bacteria with the way a vaccine can boost a human’s immune system to assist it to resist a virus, but I do believe that only giving a human two half assed vaccines instead of one complete vaccine does run the risk of speeding up virus evolution.
How much Who teh F… knows? No one! None of this has been trialled, but it doesn’t take an einstein to wonder if a bunch of pols looking to save their own arses and a big mob of money which they prefer to sluice to their ‘donors’ will even consider that possibility & if they did, if they would care.
However this mix & match does turn out the effect will be further down the road than the 4 weeks of poll results politicians stress over. In other words, the pols believe “If the shit does hit the fan we’ll find another diversion”.
As I understand it A-Z & Sputnik are currently running a trial whose results will be published, certainly if a A-Z/Sputnik regimen is mooted, yet wasshisname – johnson & tightarse to the citizens, sunak, do not want to wait for that.
Personally I don’t have a great deal of concern about a mob of dingbats who have displayed a preference for johnson’s crafty humbug over corbyn’s naive honesty, but they are humans so we should care about that.
The other point is more important and that is even though there has been no conclusive proof that the strain of covid in england is more infectious than other strains, I am concerned about the effect of a novel coronavirus becoming immune to the antibodies that the two main antiviral technologies mRNA and adenovirus use a lot quicker than the 5 years which virologists believe it should take.
We would all be well f#cked by then because it is difficult to conceive the same resources and effort about the globe getting put into a new type of vaccine if the billions of dollars and person hours put into the older vaccines had failed.
That is especially given the fact if that horror did occur, then johnson & his gang of murdoch, bankers n sharpies would deny that ‘mix n match’ was the cause and as we all know, many would choose to believe them.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Jan 2 2021 2:32 utc | 229

sad but true debs… thanks…. well said.. the whole thing smells fishy..

Posted by: james | Jan 2 2021 2:59 utc | 230

Any opinions on whether Iran has successfully spoilt the current/latest US false flag attempt?
Should one take it for granted that it was the Iranians who made the Iraqis aware of the limpet mine now reportedly being defused and removed?

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 2 2021 4:18 utc | 231

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 2 2021 4:18 utc | 233
I don’t expect the war party will give up. Nice day though for the people on the ships who got out of there. It would seem more time would be needed now, so maybe that will be it.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 2 2021 10:33 utc | 232

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 1 2021 20:18 utc | 223
You might find this article interesting, concerning forecasts for ’21. Do autotranslation since I doubt it will be published in english.
Wasserman’s forecast

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 10:38 utc | 233

Sorry,this is the correct link:
Wasserman’s forecast right one

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 10:41 utc | 234

And this photo published by Rozhin, dedicated to tovarisch VK:
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 10:52 utc | 235

@219 Paco
Why should I give serious thought to someone who shills for Russia as obviously as you do? At least you don’t try to hide it like Uncle T.; I’ll give you credit for that. But your idol Putin is very chummy with MBS. So who are you to preach?
I’ll believe Biden’s verbal reversal on Saudi Arabia policy until he proves me wrong. He didn’t refer to SA as a pariah for nothing. As far as Iran is concerned, I know Biden will reinstate the JCPOA, unless Trump triggers war at the 11th hour as he’s been sending the Nimitz and war ships to the Gulf and now B52 bombers to threaten Iran at the end of his Presidency.
Trump had every intention to attack Iran in his second term. That’s why on January 6th, 140 Trumplicans so far will vote against the Electoral College votes in an effort to stage a coup. Ziofascist Trump and co. want war by any means.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 2 2021 11:17 utc | 236

Posted by: Circe | Jan 2 2021 11:17 utc | 239
Dear Circe, I’m not a shill for anyone but my language, Spanish, and since my language is occupied and soiled everyday, and the countries that speak it are occupied militarily, economically and culturally by a failing empire, I’ll try to put my little grain of sand in the clock that is measuring that empire’s end.
Every weekend I go to the cemetery where my parents are buried, I spend a couple of minutes and touch the tombstone since it faces south and even in winter it is warm, that comforts me, then I watch the beautiful Sierra and for an instant I get to see the Aegis Radar in the highest point, and I feel ashamed, I pray to see the day it is demolished, and the occupiers are gone.
On the other hand Russia does not have any military base in my country, it is not arming our most probable military enemy, Morocco, to whom Pompedo just gave something that does not belong to him, the Spanish Sahara, just like he did with East Jerusalem, the Russian embassy won’t phone local governments menacing them for trying to prohibit soft drink machines in our schools, they want us fat and lazy when we with our Mediterranean diet have been always thin and fit, Russia does not poison our youth with violent video games or garbage from Hollywood, Russia does not encourage our country to go against our Latin American brothers, giving refuge in our embassy to Venezuelan coup plotters…. and I’ll end it here ’cause the list is so long that this would have no end, and unfortunately I’m not able to type as fast in English as I would do in Spanish.
If you truly believe what you write in this bar/blog you’ll be deeply disappointed, the new gang will only speed up the decay.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 12:22 utc | 237

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 2 2021 4:18 utc | 233

Any opinions on whether Iran has successfully spoilt the current/latest US false flag attempt?
Should one take it for granted that it was the Iranians who made the Iraqis aware of the limpet mine now reportedly being defused and removed?

To begin with, I struggle to see this as a classic false flag, particularly one in the American or Israeli style.
Reason being that the target and the potential results if the mine had detonated would yield little in the way of political fuel that a false flag requires. It could be attributed to anyone and the impact would be minor in the greater political scheme of things.
So if it’s not a false flag, what is it?
Garden variety sabotage, probably carried out by ISIL.
Alternatively, what you’re seeing is the OPEC oil pricing mechanism in progress…

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 2 2021 13:23 utc | 238

US postpones production of F-35 fighter aircraft indefinitely
And no, it wasn’t because of COVID-19:

The reason for this decision is the failed tests of the combat vehicle, which were supposed to take place back in December. At the same time, consent to launch a production worth $ 398 billion must be given no later than March 2021.

Posted by: vk | Jan 2 2021 14:01 utc | 239

@240 Paco
Uh, not so sure Spanish is your first language. You were heavily biased in the discussion of Russia stuff that seems to matter a lot to you. That’s why I was prompted to ask you more than once if you were Russian. Besides, your English is too good for a pure bred Spaniard.
Anyway, you’re dreaming of a collapse and fail of the U.S. that’s never going to happen. Zionism is rampant geopolitically and piggybacks on U.S. militarily and Zionists will ensure the U.S. will never fail economically.
You’re dreaming of an end that will never come. That’s tin foil stuff; like standing on a street corner and shouting: Repent! The end of the world is near!
Also, Trump was not going to accelerate that fictitious decline. Trump was merely tightening the screws of fascism and driving us into war. He was sealing an airtight financial and military domination and cementing depraved hubris into a system of justice and politics that was already corrupt enough. He did all this and more until Covid got in his way. Now, there’s a chance to chip away again at a corrupt system that created the freak fascist demagogue faking as a populist, Trump.
If Biden is ready to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah state, stop funding weapons for its war on Yemen, re-engage in the JCPOA and steer away from war, and pre-empt Cold War with China, I’m for all that!
These are issues Biden has addressed. Hey, I wish he’d defund Israel too, but I won’t hold my breath. I’ll definitely push and challenge for a just and humane policy for Palestinians and excoriate the Biden administration for anything less or a sham peace process while Israelis occupy Palestinian land and continue their land grab.
I’m just glad a lot of the damage Trump has done can still be reversed. For now, that’s all that matters. For now, realistic expectations.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 2 2021 14:21 utc | 240

Posted by: vk | Jan 2 2021 14:01 utc | 242
I wonder if this is also in part due to the fact that Chinese companies are integrated into the F35 supply chain in unexpected and critical ways:

“We are not aware of any other Chinese-owned F-35 suppliers at this time,” Lockheed Martin said after the U.K.’s Sky News reported that “a Chinese-owned company is making circuit boards for the top-secret next-generation F-35 warplanes flown by Britain and the United States.” British MP Bob Seely, who sits on both the Foreign Affairs and Arms Export Controls Committees described the news as “breath-taking,” warning that “it’s not a question of is this bad, but how bad is it?” This was echoed by Sir Gerald Howarth, a former U.K. defense minister, who warned that “we have been completely and utterly naive about the role of China and it is only now that people are beginning to wake up.”
In truth, though, this revelation has been hiding in plain sight. The U.K. company, Exception PCB, was acquired by Shenzhen Fastprint in 2013, “a company based in China and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.” Exception openly heralds its global parent: “The Fastprint Group of Companies provides manufacturing sites in the U.K., U.S. and Asia, trading companies in the U.K., U.S., Israel, China and main EU Countries,” as well as “truly global support… for all sectors including Aerospace.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/06/15/chinese-owned-company-supplies-electronics-on-u-s-and-u-k-f-35-fighter-jets/?sh=d0aab6625c05

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 2 2021 14:25 utc | 241

Sunny Runny Burger @Jan2 4:18 #233

Any opinions on whether Iran has successfully spoilt the current/latest US false flag attempt?

I’m not sure that anything has been spoiled. If anything the limpet mine discovery is very suspicious as I imagine that it’s very difficult to find them unless one is told where to look.
The “false flag” could simply be this: a mine is placed; Iraq’s are tipped-off; Iran is blamed.
=
Bemildred @Jan2 10:33 #235

Nice day though for the people on the ships who got out of there.

Well, in earlier discussions moa commenters have said that a carrier would be a sitting duck in the Persian Gulf so the exit of the carrier group may not be the positive signal that some think it is.
=
Arch Bungle @Jan2 13:23 #241

… I struggle to see this as a classic false flag …
Reason being that the target and the potential results if the mine had detonated would yield little in the way of political fuel that a false flag requires…
Garden variety sabotage, probably carried out by ISIL.

Even so, it’s being tied to previous attacks so that this incident is elevated to campaign of sabotage. And that will be further expanded into Iran as a terrorist nation that can’t be allowed to have a nuclear bomb.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 2 2021 14:36 utc | 242

Posted by: Circe | Jan 2 2021 14:21 utc | 243
That is what carbonated drinks do to young innocent brains, dull them flat. I read and watch Russian media daily, just like media in English too. With the tools available now most people, if free from repetitive industrial type of work and free from daily struggles just to survive could study and learn five or six or maybe even more languages. Time, tools and study, plus curiosity and love, that makes it.
If by collapse of the empire you understand destruction and suffering in the USA you’re completely wrong, even though karma is a *itch and USians have caused a lot of pain and havoc all around. By collapse of the empire I understand pick up your gear and go home, as simple as that, adiós gringo, vaya Ud. con Dios… very simple.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 14:46 utc | 243

This is hilarious:
Kelly Loeffler, in her TV ads, interviews etc. etc.: I’m running against the most liberal, most socialist candidate this country has ever seen.
WaPo propagandist, today: How Raphael Warnock’s identity as a Black preacher has shaped his Senate campaign in Georgia
And then the alt-right has the audacity to call Woke Leftism “Cultural Marxism”, when the reality is very clear: woke leftism is an infiltrated movement within the left in order to sabotage it. Woke Leftism is the left version of anti-Marxism in contemporary America.
–//–
@ Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 2 2021 14:25 utc | 244
I don’t see why would the Pentagon prefer test failure to China embargo. At least in the latter case you could blame someone else.

Posted by: vk | Jan 2 2021 14:50 utc | 244

We can assume that there will be inspections of other tankers in the Gulf. What if limpet mines are found on multiple tankers?
Limpet mines appear just as Iran plans 20% uranium enrichment ‘as soon as possible’

Iran’s decision to begin enriching to 20% a decade ago nearly brought an Israeli strike targeting its nuclear facilities, tensions that only abated with the 2015 atomic deal.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 2 2021 14:53 utc | 245

@JackRabbit:
Bemildred @Jan2 10:33 #235
Nice day though for the people on the ships who got out of there.
Well, in earlier discussions moa commenters have said that a carrier would be a sitting duck in the Persian Gulf so the exit of the carrier group may not be the positive signal that some think it is.

Yeah, I’m aware of that, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here, might get something happening over towards the Med yet.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 2 2021 15:35 utc | 246

Re: “Wasserman’s forecast right one”
-Paco | Jan 2 2021 10:41 utc | 237
Thanks. I liked that piece.
Looks like Putin [Eurasia] has been on the MRGA train, already further down the tracks than Trumps MAGA train has been able to move.
But it now appears almost certain the parasitic Overlords of Oceania, through their large dark cloud of ‘Flying Monkey’ agents, assets and corrupt tools, have succeeded in derailing and blowing up the MAGA train, and are now salivating and sharpening their knives to cannibalize the remains, and all who still stand in Oceania’s clear path to collapse and destructive chaos.
Meanwhile, China [Eastasia] who has observed and quietly pondered the downward trajectory of Oceania since before the Reagan era, has bided their time constructively, and has been working on their own, if more inscrutable, MCGA-PLUS version of MAGA, to protect, strengthen, and advance the interests of Eastasia in the coming Great Showdown.

Posted by: gm | Jan 2 2021 15:50 utc | 247

@vk | Jan 2 2021 14:01 utc | 242
“US postpones production of F-35 fighter aircraft indefinitely”
“Indefinitely” in this context meaning of course: until AFTER such time as the white-hot public outrage over corrupt Uniparty tools Mcconnell and Pelosi blocking a measly $2K and M4A (in middle of a raging lethal and economically devastating pandemic) as being *fiscally irresponsible*,
can subside or finally be ‘soporific-ified’ and tamped down thru the efforts of our *’don’t worry be happy’* deepstate propaganda media.
It may take a long…long time for that to happen.
And if the seething fury continues to grow here in the US as it now is happening, well before then Turtle the Tool McConnell and Crone Pelosi could conceivably find themselves sharing the same lamp-pole that Mussolini and his Mistress did.

Posted by: gm | Jan 2 2021 16:49 utc | 248

Posted by: Circe | Jan 2 2021 14:21 utc | 243
How much do I love you? I’ll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?

To reconquest the world what the US needs is music like that, I’ve listening to a few interpreters, but I started from a very high mark, Coltrane, then I realized it was a song with lyrics, not just instrumental, and what a variety, Chet Baker was fine too, Ella Fitzgerald, and other celebrities with lighter styles.
How far would I travel
Just to be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?

I can appreciate in the verse the USA’s big expanses and those impressive highways of yore when the world rode donkeys, but no more. Yes uncle Sam, let us board a train in Portugal and do the Marco Polo trip, we will bring back silk and pasta.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 2 2021 19:31 utc | 249

@ Paco | Jan 2 2021 19:31 utc | 252 & 246
Now I know the well from which George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia was drawn. Felice año!

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jan 2 2021 22:23 utc | 250

It seems that the FBI evidence “sifters” and narrative writers in the Nashville Christmas explosion case have another tough job on there plate to explain, in addition to the alleged bomber’s lack of plausible motive and the still MIA forensic composition analysis results [based on combing the crime scene for the past week] of the “homemade IED that was powerful enough to take out a Homeland Security-hardened AT&T/NSA communications backbone node *AND* destabilize/destroyed 10 buildings *AND* 1200 employees out of work and 400 residents out of their housing along 2nd Ave N.
The new hot potato for FBI to juggle and tweek the narrative to generate a plausible explanation for has to do with the alleged bomber’s alleged girlfriend, who almost 1.5 years ago in August 2019, had originally made a complaint to local/state police that her then-boyfriend was building bombs in the RV in his yard.
Nashville PD and TBI got in touch with FBI and they apparently all went out the boyfriend[Warner]’s place and somehow(?) contacted Warner’s lawyer, but so the story is told, never saw or spoke or met with Warner himself directly.
The long and short of their visit is they did *no*t do a search of *either* the house or the RV where girlfriend said Warner was making bombs, but instead hauled off the girlfriend for a psych evaluation. End of Story.
*Until*… after the devastating Christmas morning bombing took place and shocked Nashville city and tourism business leaders so much that the very same day (Dec 25) they quickly raised and publicized a $300,000 reward for information leading to the identification/apprehension of person(s) involved in the massive horrific explosion.
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/its-still-unclear-who-will-receive-the-300-000-in-the-christmas-day-bomb-reward-money
Now one must read a bit between the lines of this story, but it is highly likely that the former girlfriend immediately came forward as soon as the reward was announced publicly, and (re)told her August 2019 story to authorities (the same authorities who had tossed her into a psych ward after telling them it a year and a half earlier!!)
Perhaps the girlfriend’s coming forward so quickly helped [read: ‘rushed’] Fed investigators to zero in on Warner within the next day (ie. in record time given that the RV had no tags (ie. license plates) showing on it according to testimony of the MNPD officer who had inspected the suspect vehicle a few minutes before it (along with part of a city block) was shredded by the blast, and long before investigators combing the blast site reported finding a fragment of the RV with a partial VIN stamped on it, that could be traced back to Warner).
Needless to say the former girlfriend is STILL unidentified and possibly being held incommunicado in an undisclosed location. [Another loose end possibly…?]
Regarding the still undisbursed $300K reward money, the article goes on to say:

One potential recipient could be the bomber’s girlfriend. NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered, she actually reached out to Metro Nashville Police last year to report that Anthony Warner was making bombs inside his home. Metro Police Chief John Drake told reporters that they tried to reach out to Warner, but never sought a warrant or pursued the tip further.
Spyridon says he’s waiting to hear back from investigators about where the money should go. spokespeople said since their agency didn’t raise the money for the reward, they wouldn’t play a role in determining who should receive it.
Spyridon says he’s still looking into it, including another option for where the money goes.
“If the FBI or police do not direct us to somebody, then we will take the money that was raised and we will donate it to victims that were directly impacted,” he said.

Posted by: gm | Jan 2 2021 23:55 utc | 251

@ Paco – Oralé guey! Soy aqui en Califas. No pierda su tiempo con esa circe. Los Russos son buenagente. Esa “c” sufre de TDR y no sé lo que mas. Es mejor ignorarla. También quiero yo ir de Lisboa a Vladivostok. Es un gran sueño mío.

Posted by: lex talionis | Jan 2 2021 23:57 utc | 252

Paco @237–
Thanks for sharing that item. The POV is interesting, but much is missing so the assessment isn’t as complete as it might become. He expects action in Donbass before the thaw whereas I’m pessimistic about that possibility. IMO, his geoeconomic outlook lacks depth, so quite a bit suffers. But it was good to read another POV. Thanks again!!

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 3 2021 0:04 utc | 253

Happy New Year @all.
Can anyone help me find a post from an open thread this fall (Oct?) about an alledged member of the Liberal Party of Canada resigning some commission about Covid management with rumors of internment camps and so forth? Tried the search engine to no avail.. James? John Gilberts?
Txs!

Posted by: Lozion | Jan 3 2021 0:59 utc | 254

Never mind, found this:
https://freenorth.news/2020/10/14/canadas-global-reset-plan-leaked/
Dont know the validity of the source but if you look at what happened since its posting mid-Oct,
Its striking..

Posted by: Lozion | Jan 3 2021 1:21 utc | 255

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 3 2021 0:04 utc | 256
Paco @237–
Thanks for sharing that item. The POV is interesting…

Oh please! It’s crackers as in wacky …Russian crackers.
I was right about Paco: Russian tool.
I’m so tired of Putin is a demi-god and what Russia wants!
I can’t wait for normal again when we don’t have to read Russia this and Putin that every second day!
If I want to be that immersed in all things Russian and crazy conspiracy like Trump really won the election; I’ll go hang out at Saker’s.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 3 2021 6:58 utc | 256

Circe @259–
What you fail to understand is the total lack of “normal” here within the Outlaw US Empire. Once you gain that understanding, you’ll be in a better frame of mind. Did you watch The Hunger Games? We have that sort of situation if you’ll look around. That why nations that see their citizenry as their most important asset are of greater interest as that’s the precise reason they’re hated by the West’s Parasites.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 3 2021 7:28 utc | 257

This made me chuckle: https://www.stalkerzone.org/my-letter-to-the-cia/
Its a letter to the CIA about a recent edit of their ‘World Factbook’ whereby they updated the ranking tables of countries with fake data. Reality, reality, reality…

Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 3 2021 9:06 utc | 258

Jimmy Dore does a masterful job of showing AOC be total fake lip service politician on M4A.
https://youtu.be/w7WDyWpyeKM

Posted by: gm | Jan 3 2021 9:32 utc | 259

@Robert Lindsay | Jan 3 2021 7:27 utc | 260
Interesting analysis of the the above water line limpet mine tanker in the Gulf incident.
I’m assuming you are refering to that event that happened 1-2 of years back with the Japanese(?) flagged tanker and not some new incident?

Posted by: gm | Jan 3 2021 10:20 utc | 260

Posted by: Circe | Jan 3 2021 6:58 utc | 259
Listening to Coltrane or Davis playing, or Fitzgerald singing “How Deep is The Ocean” makes me a US tool?
With the same pleasure and without thinking about origin or nationality I’m able to enjoy Visotsky’s songs or Kino soviet pop or, besides not being a fan of military music like the great french bard Brassens used to sing: military marches do not give me a hard on, but I truly get emotional when I listen to the Slavianka Farewell march, I can discern between different versions, like this one from a film of the very first order and which I recommend you to watch, to try to understand what Russia is all about:
https://youtu.be/quz5XWqvqz4
Compare that version with this one:
https://youtu.be/luSnOiYD-oE
And then compare that with this song in english by a canadian:
https://youtu.be/_Mrr3tkNPPo
If you do not get it after this, well I’m sorry, expand your horizons that’s all I can recommend to you.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 3 2021 11:12 utc | 261

@261 karlof1
I just want to know one thing from you: Do you honestly believe Trump won the Election?
And then explain why Republicans have no problem with the results down the ballot?
It’s okay to clamor and protest for more social justice, but what is not okay is to overturn a process where people actually exercised their will and in numbers historically unprecedented.
If you destroy fact with fiction and eliminate the will of 81,000,000 people; 7 Million more than Trump got, then does anything else matter?
Don’t skirt the question: Do you believe Trump won the election?
Depending on your answer; I’ll know whether to ever respect you again no matter how knowledgeable you are or how well-intentioned.
Right now there’s an elephant in the room that many here are ignoring, including you, and it’s morally wrong to avoid it, so I don’t care what else people say or write that sounds correct until they come clean on their position on this glaring obstacle.
As a matter of fact, I think we should have a thread solely on this question: Do you honestly believe Trump won the 2020 Election?
I’m waiting. YES OR NO WILL SUFFICE. I want Paco, Uncle T., and basically everyone here to come clean on this before bitching and complaining about all else.
I wanna see YES OR NO, only. I don’t give a damn for spin and claptrap. I won’t even give any it the time of day, if you can’t answer with yes or no first.
Recently I wrote that I can no longer respect the Saker. Everything he writes from his view of the Election forward is tainted now, but at least he came clean on his view.
I’m asking everyone to reply HONESTLY. Do you believe Trump won the 2020 Election?

Posted by: Circe | Jan 3 2021 14:34 utc | 262

Another Devastating Jimmy Dore takedown/exposure:
This time of Dr.’Lying Tony’ “gain-of function” Fauci:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uENyOGnUH8c (17 min)

Posted by: gm | Jan 3 2021 16:21 utc | 263

@ Circe | Jan 3 2021 14:34 utc | 267
Dearest Circe,
You seem to have lost all rationality in your commentary, being subsumed with overwhelming emotional political attachments. You do not allow others their political choices, just as a precocious kindergartener just learning social behaviour.
The answer you demand does not require support of your favourite evil to be answered. What answers your demand is: Has the election been conducted in a fair and legal manner? With numerous sworn affidavits as well as certified malfunction of vote counting from programming on a widely used voting machine provider requiring a close and complete audit everywhere that machine and program were used to establish veracity of the recorded vote in those districts and states. Until these are done, no result can effectively be certified. Don’t make a fool of yourself further by insisting on your narrow demands of supporting one candidate over your preferred emotional choice. You do need professional help for a TDS recovery program.
Yours is a symptom of a generation who have lost the necessary skills and ability to enter into functional communication, the ability to negotiate and ultimately enter into agreement with others; it is based on moral absolutes, non-negotiable, imperatives. Such cost the generations coming of age in the 1960’s and ’70’s their claims for revision of national policies. Your path will not prevail any more than that of antiwar hippies did against ‘law and order’ and ‘moral majority’. Don’t continue coding yourself otherwise. Please grow up before your numbered days – you just might enjoy the views of adults.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jan 3 2021 16:38 utc | 264

YES 1 Formerly T-Bear
NO 1 Circe
I’m waiting, people. Come clean, already.
To FTB. A simple YES would have sufficed, thank you. I clearly stated: no claptrap.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 3 2021 17:51 utc | 265

A late reply but thank you to all for sharing your thoughts, all of them sensible. I don’t really have much to add except that not much more is known (to me) so it’s safe to assume any removal of explosives was successful.
I did read that the initial Iraqi “bomb squad”/explosives experts/”deminers” had to call in more experienced people (still Iraqi) because the mine was said to be very complicated. I have no idea if that is true or not.
I also misunderstood something about the initial news: I though this was happening in some harbor but instead it happened somewhere off the coast at an at-sea transfer point (this kind of thing has a proper technical or maritime name but I can’t remember it right now). This of course makes things even more curious and also harder to make sense of without more information.
For me at least this ends up being another news item to add to the “strange reports” pile of things to notice but not use too much time on.
Thank you all 🙂

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 7 2021 8:12 utc | 266