Boiling Frogs
Anyone else remember when Dims were in a furor to impeach Cheney/Bush (and rightly so)?
2006 Dim-poles: “We don’t have the votes, we need more votes in Congress to impeach”
Voter-Dims get out the vote Big Time in 2006 and got the needed votes.
Immediately…Immediately!…after the successful 2006 elections Nancy Pelosi
stuck the Voter-Dims in the back:
“Impeachment is off the table”.
Cheney and Bush weren’t alone in leading this country into an Illegal invasion of Iraq (2003)
a certain Senator was a leader in Congress and Chairman of the Foreign Relations committee –
the one that held the hearings on the bill to give Cheney/Bush the authority to invade.
He stacked the witnesses testifying before his committee – almost all were pro-invasion.
But he did more than that, he was a leader in Congress and marshaled support for the bill
to invade.
We invaded and it was Illegal, immoral, a Disaster and based on a fraudulent pretext.
Voter-Dims were rightly incensed and wanted accountability. None was coming.
Fast forward to today and the Voter-Dims are cheering because the guy that marshaled Democratic
support for the invasion and was also chairman of the Foreign Relations committee
was just anointed President by the Deep State.
Yea!
Boiling Frogs, how hot can you make it?

Posted by: librul | Dec 17 2020 15:32 utc | 4

SECOND health worker in Alaska suffers allergic reaction after getting Pfizer Covid-19 jab
One case was mild but the other was very severe (s/he’s still hospitalized). The reaction occurred mere ten minutes after the injection.
When will Pfizer publish the full results of its trials?

Posted by: vk | Dec 17 2020 15:44 utc | 6

@vk | Dec 17 2020 15:44 utc | 6

SECOND health worker in Alaska suffers allergic reaction after getting Pfizer Covid-19 jab

The hunt for profit and power has now resulted in people being used as live test animals for a “vaccine” that is totally unnecessary. This stuff is criminal to the extreme.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 17 2020 15:52 utc | 8

“UK Supreme Court Accepts Guaido’s Appeal For Control Over BoE’s Seizure Of Venezuelan Gold”
“”“There are concerns that Mr. Maduro may seize the gold, which is owned by the state, and sell it for personal gain,” the newspaper said.””

Posted by: arby | Dec 17 2020 15:56 utc | 10

re: Civil war becomes inevitable in the USA
by Thierry Meyssan: https://www.voltairenet.org/article211845.html
– Ringo | Dec 17 2020 14:59 utc | 3
I’m intrigued by that Texas secession ploy/maneuver T.M, writes about near the close of the piece:

Donald Trump, meanwhile, announced that he will appear before the Texas court that will rule on local election fraud. Texas is one of two states that formed an independent republic before joining the United States. But when it joined, it retained a right to opt out. In 2009, then Governor Rick Perry threatened to secede. This idea is still going strong. Today, the local Congress is expected to decide on Representative Kyle Biedermann’s proposal for an independence referendum.
The process of dissolution of the United States could be faster than that of the USSR. It was studied at the time in Moscow by Professor Igor Panarin. Demographics have changed since then and have been analyzed by Colin Woodard. The country would then be split into 11 separate states on a cultural basis.

It might provide the incentive for the SCOTUS to finally find some courage and take up the question of election fraud.

Posted by: gm | Dec 17 2020 16:29 utc | 12

I just archived the following webpage at http://web.archive.org/
before the censors find it.
https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/vaccine-development-testing-and-regulation

Vaccine development is a long, complex process, often lasting 10-15 years and involving a combination of public and private involvement.
…
Exploratory Stage
This stage involves basic laboratory research and often lasts 2-4 years.
…
Pre-Clinical Stage
Many candidate vaccines never progress beyond this stage because they fail to produce the desired immune response. The pre-clinical stages often lasts 1-2 years and usually involves researchers in private industry.
…
Phase I Vaccine Trials
…
Phase II Vaccine Trials
…
Phase III Vaccine Trials
…
Post-Licensure Monitoring of Vaccines
…
Vaccine development is a long, complex process, often lasting 10-15 years and involving a combination of public and private involvement.

I happen to have scheduled an appointment with my primary care doctor early in January.
This is my first meeting with this particular doctor (my previous doctor recently moved elsewhere).
I wonder how pushy this new doctor will be about my taking the vaccine right away.
My first question will be about *which* vaccine.
I just found this quote somewhere:

Indeed, NIH chief Francis Collins, MD, PhD, when asked during a press briefing last week whether people will be able to choose their vaccine, said there won’t be enough doses in December for the whole country and “people who get offered one should feel quite happy about that.”

Note to self: “feel quite happy about that”.
Maybe there is actually something to the good doctor’s advice
as how many happy corpses have you seen?
Smile, don’t be a corpse.

Posted by: librul | Dec 17 2020 16:33 utc | 14

Americans are generally such sheep it is hard to imagine us Americans taking up rebellion.
However, if one remembers the consequences and history of certain electricity blackouts
one should realize how thin the veneer of civility is in this country.
Things can change direction on a dime
even sheep.

Posted by: librul | Dec 17 2020 16:59 utc | 16

@ Librul 16
Yes indeed. Complacent until they are not. You would be amazed at how quickly this can happen, it’s an anumal survival instinct. Let’s wander back a thousand years or more when marauding hordes are advancing across the steppe. Complacency tended not get handed down the gene pool, just sayin.
Yes I live in rural USA, in an old depopulated state full of rednecks most of whom live in poverty. While not being the most worldly of folk, they certainly would not hestitate to defend their right to eke out a living. Basically the GloboCap Wizard of Oz is hoping that the Great Unwashed will fold when confronted with the Mirage of Tyranny. I’m betting they wont.

Posted by: Chevrus | Dec 17 2020 17:09 utc | 18

I always wondered why all the interest in the increased villiianization of Russia and Iran. A serious move toward a non green hydrogen economy may be a clue. It appears HyET out of the Netherlands has developed a membrane for extracting hydrogen from methane.
Given Russia, Iran, and Qatar have the largest known methane deposits in the planet, it makes economic sense to overthrow these countries.
It also appears the oil companies are going big for hydrogen as they will have fewer stranded assets, as we are weaned off of oil. The next logical question is, “how much platinum will they need?”
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/12/20201217-socalgas.html

Posted by: Michael | Dec 17 2020 17:32 utc | 20

@ vk | Dec 17 2020 15:54 utc | 9
” Russia banned from using its name, flag at next two Olympics”
“Russia will not be able to use its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years after a ruling Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
It’s all about NordStream 2. Same as Skripals, Navalny, Hacking U.S. Treasury and other agencies, Interfering in U.S.elections. If NS2 comes on line Germany will have a source of clean energy and will receive income as a hub for pipelines to other European countries. Gazprom will be paid in Euros, not USD inviting others to follow suit. If that happens the U.S. is in serious trouble that is why it must stop NS2 at all costs.

Posted by: LM | Dec 17 2020 17:45 utc | 22

Fun with graphs:
How the Economy Is Actually Doing, in 9 Charts

Posted by: vk | Dec 17 2020 17:47 utc | 24

It’s like they get everyone revved up and then when they open the gates for the masses to head down the chute, nobody goes….

Posted by: Chevrus | Dec 17 2020 18:10 utc | 26

@ Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 17 2020 18:15 utc | 27

This same methodology can be seen in Putin’s governance and also glaringly absent from all Neoliberal driven nations, which partially explains their problems.

Except for the fact that, in Russia’s case, it is not working:
Unemployment in Russia up to 6.3%, says Putin
People here have to begin to accept the Russian Federation is a failed project. It didn’t turn out to be the marvelous project to bury the USSR everyone thought it would be.

Posted by: vk | Dec 17 2020 18:35 utc | 28

It’s a falsehood often said and spread by Western politicos and media that Russia isn’t or lacks democracy. At the “traditional” year ending presser, Putin sinks that lie bigtime:
“Today we are holding the traditional news conference to wind up this year’s results. Since COVID-19 prevented us from holding the Direct Line live, my colleagues have tried to merge these two events into a single one by introducing elements inspired by the Direct Line format into this news conference so that I can interact directly with people, hear what they have to say, what is going on in the country, and listen to their proposals on what more can be done in order to address matters in the best possible way and find effective solutions to the issues we face and deliver on our objectives.
“Allow me to mention that over the past years it has become a good tradition for us to ensure that all the questions we get, and there are hundreds of thousands of them, are answered in one way or another. For that, I would like to thank my colleagues from the Presidential Executive Office, the Government, but first and foremost from non-governmental organisations: the Civic Chamber and the Russian Popular Front, the volunteers who contacted the people who took part in previous Direct Lines, talked to them, discussed the challenges pinpointed by these people, and quite often succeeded in resolving various matters that people were concerned with, and which probably remain relevant to this day.” [My Emphasis]
IMO, what Putin initiated and does as no other head-of-state does is the best way to retain and grow a nation’s cohesiveness. Even if your question/comment doesn’t get addressed during the live portion of the program, that it does get attended to and you receive a response is far beyond what happens in the so-called democratic West. The confidence that stems from having your president say to you that your issue will be looked into–and that actually happens–has got to be very uplifting: I must speculate on that because we here within the Outlaw US Empire have never had a similar opportunity. We as citizens are looked down upon on those rare occasions when we’re even looked at, whereas in Russia you are looked at as an equal human having the same worth as the president–where Comrade means exactly that.
There’s lots of content as always, perhaps Putin’s announcement of Russia’s economic diversification and related reduction of the national debt is the most important:
“Our national debt had been at its lowest at $70 billion, in dollar terms. It shrank by another 10 billion since. We borrow less in foreign markets, while regularly servicing all our loan obligations. Our international reserves have grown. At the beginning of this year, they amounted to 554.4 billion; now, as of December 4, they are already about 587.7 billion. The same holds true for the National Wealth Fund. In ruble terms, it was 7.7 trillion, now it is almost 13.5 trillion. This is significant growth.
“There is something I need to draw your attention to. What is an obviously positive part of our economic growth? As much as 70 percent of the Russian federal budget comes from non-oil and gas revenues now. This means, well, we are not entirely off the so-called oil and gas needle, but we are starting to get away from it. Even if someone still likes to think of Russia as a petrol station, they no longer have real grounds for that. Even though the dependence is still strong enough, and we have to bear this in mind.” [My Emphasis]
Other indicators will show the pandemic caused Russia to have a negative economic outcome, which puts the almost doubling of the wealth fund into even greater perspective along with the fact that it was also used to help the nation’s people deal with the pandemic’s economic harshness.
More than ever, Putin’s presser acts as an indicator of the Outlaw US Empire’s economic decline and the lies produced to cover that fact. In Russia, that the ideal is the goal is acknowledged as are the shortcomings in its accomplishment and the asking of input from the nation to help those tasked with governing in striving to attain the goal. IMHO, that’s how a democratic political-economy is supposed to act. Oh and do note that Putin doesn’t hold just one of these forums annually but several, and he moves around his vast nation to show everyone in every region counts, not just those in the urban metropolises of Moscow and St. Petersburg–if Putin golfed, he wouldn’t just go to Florida.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 17 2020 19:06 utc | 30

From Charles Hugh Smith blog:
~500 counties won by Joe Biden generated 70 percent of GDP
~2400 counties won by Donald Trump generated 29 percent of GDP
From this:
1) Democrats claim they’re justified in dominating policy
2) Republicans claim they’re justified feeling that financialized exploitive capitalism is sucking them dry
https://bit.ly/3amWcEH
https://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html

Posted by: davenitup | Dec 17 2020 19:10 utc | 32

Fighting endless wars overseas and blatant corruption at home is how empires end. Here is the canary in the coal mine:
https://johnmenadue.com/disillusioned-aussie-youth-diss-democracy/
NZ comes out best of the five eyes Anglo Saxon countries because its MMP political system is more credible than the winner takes all system of the others. Reclaiming national sovereignty from the lobbyists would be a good starting point for a meaningful reset.

Posted by: Paul | Dec 17 2020 19:21 utc | 34

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 17 2020 19:06 utc | 31
A very friendly way of addressing any Vladimir is Vova, not Vovo, it goes from Vladímir to Volodya to Vova, and each step indicates closer relationship.
If all the judgement of a government is based on a single issue, in your case the legalization of cannabis, what can I say, there are lots of more important matters. But do not forget that drug trafficking has been historically part and parcel of the anglo empires, that is something that would alert any sovereign nation that aspires to continue being so. I do not agree with that position, natural drugs should be legalized, chemical drugs should be regulated.
But I think there is another side to that matter. It is an spartan way of looking at things, when you feel constantly under pressure and the threat of destruction there is no time to relax, call it a militant view, let us relax when the fight is over. Maybe the fact that Vova does not drink or smoke is what makes him give a five hour press conference without blinking, at sixty seven. I do not see uncle Joe performing coherently for half an hour.

Posted by: Paco | Dec 17 2020 20:14 utc | 36

An interesting 15-minute video from Canadian youtuber numuves showing the pattern of how the US ensures technological dominance:
How the US dominates Tech | Untold Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgzB4_Zw3RE
An Abby Martin 10-minute video on Biden’s roster, another redux, as has also been pointed out by b and commenters:
Biden’s Scary Foreign Policy Picks: A Blast From War Crimes Past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wfnB1UMAc

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Dec 17 2020 21:00 utc | 38

Rae @39–
So, Brandon Smith would also have “a hard-on” for Jesus and any other social force advocating equitability. Oh, and you can’t be anything “hippie” without such advocation.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 17 2020 21:12 utc | 40

@12 gm – “…when [Texas] joined, it retained a right to opt out”
I’ve jumped ahead and only glanced at the comments, so apologies if redundant – but this myth that Texas retained the right to secede from the Union is only a myth. It is NOT correct – it is ONLY a myth.
This article from the Texas tribune that I found at random seems to explain the situation:
Texplainer: If Brexit Can Happen, Can Texit?

“If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”— Antonin Scalia, late Supreme Court Justice

Apparently, Texas joined the Union with a state resolution that allowed it to split into smaller states – but not that it could withdraw from the Union. No such power to secede exists within the Constitution. When you join, it’s forever, unless you can amend the Constitution to allow you to leave.
Repeat: amending the Constitution to allow one or many states to leave, or even to dissolve the entire Union, would be lawful, and is possible. But without such an amendment, no such ability has been brought into being, no such ability exists, or has ever existed.
~~
One day I may try to find the opinion by the Supreme Court finding on this very matter, in litigation arising after the attempted secession by Texas during the Civil War. It was very clear that Texas was only in trouble (with this lawsuit) because it had left the Union without any ability to leave – and thus had never left.
I read this years ago as a law student, and in my view the early opinions from the Court stood as peers among the high reasoning of the world, and informed the very fabric of the American polity. It seemed to me then that if you love reason, those early opinions are like songs, perhaps even hymns. So it struck me at the time. I haven’t been back in a long time.
~~
IN SUM: There is no right of secession that exists in the Constitution, not for any member. You have to amend it by agreement, or breach it, and hold that breach, by force.

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 17 2020 22:53 utc | 42

-Grieved | Dec 17 2020 22:53 utc | 43
Thanks. I appreciate your analysis.

Posted by: gm | Dec 17 2020 23:28 utc | 44

Walter #46

He said “no phuckin way”. So did the entire clinic.

Thank you. I am with you 100%.
The Pfizer jab is a bad look and thankfully there are more conventional forms emerging every week.
In three months the entire picture will have transformed IMO.
Stay well and happy Walter.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 0:00 utc | 46

I am experiencing what I believe to be routing table failures with ZH, Reuters, and some smaller stuff. The latest trying to get to ZH gave me a blank page call Untitled.
The civilization war continues and the techie parts are mostly under the public radar so far but the latest voting machine fandango is still gathering momentum, IMO and then there is the FireEye and SolarWinds intrusion into potentially 18,000 customers systems. Whoever got into the US Treasury systems might have gotten quite the documentation of backroom financial perfidy….one can only hope it becomes public..
Still no ZH….time for dinner

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 18 2020 1:11 utc | 48

This Book Turns Everything You Thought You Knew About North Korea Upside Down
By Jeremy Kuzmarov – December 17, 2020
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2020/12/17/this-book-turns-everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-north-korea-upside-down/
A good article, now try and find a copy of the book: there are kindle and kobo versions available but the paper version seems to be sold out. It is the sort of title that the CIA buys up in bulk.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 18 2020 1:34 utc | 50

ZH TEST link for psychohistorian:
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/who-wants-be-guinea-pig-health-workers-balk-vaccine-40-staff-one-chicago-hospital-refuse

Posted by: gm | Dec 18 2020 1:37 utc | 52

Below is a link from The Register about the latest regarding SoalrWinds et al
SolarWinds’ shares drop 22 per cent. But what’s this? $286m in stock sales just before hack announced?
I especially liked part of one of the comments by FlamingDeath “…Welcome to the world of dumb fuckery where money is the SOLE driving factor in human activities”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 18 2020 2:27 utc | 54

@54 uncle tungsten – and your other Jimmy Dore posts too
Jimmy Dore is on a roll and I didn’t know it – thank you so much for keeping us in the loop with this.
The issue is Medicare for All (M4A), and it could be pushed to a floor vote where Democrats would at least have to show publicly if they will support this policy, or if they will come out and vote against it – in the middle of a pandemic.
It could actually pass if anyone would move it to the floor – but no one will.
And AOC – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – is right now caught in the cross-hairs by people like Jimmy Dore and NFL player Justin Jackson for going back on her campaign rhetoric and now siding with arch-thief Nancy Pelosi and obstructing the movement for M4A. She’s acting against the 72% of the Democratic base that wants it, while attempting to gaslight everyone into thinking she’s still real. And she is revealing herself on Twitter and YouTube as a complete phony – and Dore is in the thick of it.
~~
uncle tungsten, I never had time to watch your links on YT but I downloaded them. I just watched the latest episode with the forensic replay of tweets and interview clips as Jimmy Dore exposes the gaslighting and obstructionism of David Sirota and seems actually to have forced him to step on board with clarity – amazing event:
DEBUNKED Distraction Tactics Against Forcing Medicare 4 All Vote!
So then I went back to the previous show before with Justin Jackson – whom AOC had corresponded with on Twitter – and the revelation there how AOC had actually campaigned on M4A and was now walking it back in full gaslight contrast. This is the story of how a pivotal politician, in a pivotal position in a pivotal moment in the country’s history is being called by regular people from the street…and what comes next we don’t really know:
AOC Schooled By NFL’s Justin Jackson On Forcing Medicare4All Vote Now!
So the thing that’s going on is larger than the politicians playing in the thing can measure up to – because the benchmark is being set by the measurements of real people.
It’s the current story of US politics and slavery, being played out in real time. I highly recommend watching Jimmy Dore at least through this story – and thanks to uncle tungsten for all this so far, and please continue to keep us in the loop.
~~
“I don’t always get excited about politics, but when I do, it’s usually on YouTube – stay hungry my friends” 😉

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 18 2020 3:37 utc | 56

Meanwhile the Indian General Strike continues.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 3:57 utc | 58

The confining of the pirate UASi empire within its borders has to start with Mexico as they have been hounded by the northern rabid dog for too long.
Having watched that incredible video earlier that Canadian Cents #38 posted, I can see the need to construct legal barriers to the private finance empire ASAP.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 4:05 utc | 60

More on Dore
I’m still catching up to this pivotal moment in US politics with the call for Medicare For All and the pressure on politicians to reveal their true shape.
I’ve never watched Krystal Ball and her co-host Saagar, but I was very impressed with this show as a highly professional analysis and recap of the situation thus far:
Krystal Ball Breaks Down The AOC VS Jimmy Dore M4A Debate
So, welcome me to the Rising news show. I’m greatly pleased to have found such quality reportage – the MSM better watch out for its rising competitors because this is the present for some people and the future for all, pretty soon.
~~
Even as the lame propaganda and the lame censorship on the established platforms are happening, the rise of better alternatives is faster than the take downs. So the equation is pretty simple, and it solves as a WIN for truth and the people.
Not easy, but a win nevertheless.
I often recall a wonderful phrase from Ayn Rand of all people, in Atlas Shrugged of all sources, when she disclosed the terror that can be induced from the “abler competitor”. We are seeing the arrival of these better people, these more able competitors. And they will replace the old hack material that is beyond its shelf life.
I often think of Atlas shrugging in these days but the personas have changed somewhat. The “captains of industry” as she saw them are now the oligarchs as we see them, and they are not the heroes but the leeches. And it is the mass of people and the forces of goodness that are Atlas, who holds up the world on his shoulders. And each year, with every new burden, we shrug a little more.
And the story is, as always, that they better watch their ass, if it’s balanced on our shoulders.

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 18 2020 4:29 utc | 62

USAi aviation regulator dumps on Boeing. Again-747 and again-777 and again-787.
Latest software updates were less effective than thought!

The special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB) continued: “Several in-service reports have been received from operators that the auto-throttle remained engaged in the IDLE mode when the flight crew advanced the thrust levers to conduct a balked landing. Once airborne, the thrust levers moved back to idle.”
This is comparable to your car engine falling back to idle while you’re joining motorway traffic. The consequences of a power loss during a go-around were vividly illustrated in 2018, when a British Army Watchkeeper drone crashed after its operators cut power to idle and failed to realise what they’d done: it was destroyed.

Boeing – technology to die for.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 5:37 utc | 64

@bevin | Dec 17 2020 19:21 utc | 33

“…when applying real scientific method and rational thinking, it is clear that the risk of covid is negligible, while the risk of the “vaccine” is huge….” Norwegian@21
Read that again and explain, to yourself, how that can possibly be.
The great bulk of these anti-Covid posters are merely market fundamentalists-extreme neo-liberals- pretending to be revolutionaries.

You respond with hatred and irrational venom to my appeal to reason and scientific method. Hillariously, you even invoke Hitler and Mussolini and thus fail according to Godwin’s law. I see your accusation of fascism as the usual projection.
The natural concusion that follows from available fact and logical analysis is that “covid” as a physical disease does not represent a threat any more than the ordinary flu. The artificial threat is used as the basis for pumping out “vaccines” at record “warp” speed to make the pharmaceutical companies rich, and god knows what else is motivating them. The fact is that in a rational world, vaccines take at least 5 to 10 years to develop and test before they can be accepted as reasonably safe. These rules have been totally abandoned in the case of “covid” where there is no testing or safety net at all, even ignoring the fact that there is no danger in the first place. We know nothing about what the effect of inoculating millions, but we know that those who push this dangerous scheme have made some rather shocking statements regarding their intentions towards the world populations. The risk of letting these people have their way cannot be overstated.
You also pretend to read my mind and call me “market fundamentalists-extreme neo-liberals- pretending to be revolutionaries”. You have no basis for this, you are in the “not even wrong” category here. This is not analysis, but simply raging madness with meaningless strawman labels as substitute for the rational arguments you don’t have.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 18 2020 6:14 utc | 66

Falun Gong gets mapped and ripped by Nathan Rich. Barflies with an interest in how Falun Gong is used to attack China will appreciate this 40 minute video. Nathan Rich is a solid friend and resident of China and has a few haters out in the unreal capitalist west. He is a prolific publisher and well worth peeking about in the gallery.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 6:29 utc | 68

uncle tungsten @63, glad you liked that video too! After I stumbled across it today, I had to share it here.
It illustrates well the US culture of plunder and mafia gangsterism (karlof1’s characterization of “Outlaw US Empire” comes to mind, too.)
Thanks for your link on Mexico asserting its sovereignty under AMLO. We could use a leader that stands up for Canadian sovereignty, but instead we have Freeland-Trudeau who obsequiously serve the outlaw empire’s thuggery.
vk @1, thanks for the article on Sri Lanka and the other links. Good to read that Sri Lanka is also standing up for its sovereignty despite relentless US pressure and coercion. Sounds like it wasn’t just about the US not having the money (or at least money that isn’t being massively devalued) but also that the American offer “was unable to get approval from parliament, evoking widespread resistance among people who believed it compromised the nation’s sovereignty and national security.”
That news also puts to the lie the US/Western narrative of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port being an example of China’s alleged “Debt Trap”. If it were that, why would the US have to be forcing Sri Lanka to choose between the US and China? The debt trap accusations are clearly yet another case of the US/West projecting their own predatory behaviours onto others.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Dec 18 2020 7:20 utc | 70

@Posted by: librul | Dec 17 2020 16:33 utc | 14
Don’t forget this United States Code Mandate, which has, since it was adopted, been actually done just once, in 1988, I believe:

42 U.S. Code § 300aa–27 – Mandate for safer childhood vaccines
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-27

(a)General rule
In the administration of this part and other pertinent laws under the jurisdiction of the Secretary, the Secretary shall—
(1)promote the development of childhood vaccines that result in fewer and less serious adverse reactions than those vaccines on the market on December 22, 1987, and promote the refinement of such vaccines, and
(2)make or assure improvements in, and otherwise use the authorities of the Secretary with respect to, the licensing, manufacturing, processing, testing, labeling, warning, use instructions, distribution, storage, administration, field surveillance, adverse reaction reporting, and recall of reactogenic lots or batches, of vaccines, and research on vaccines, in order to reduce the risks of adverse reactions to vaccines.
(b)Task force
(1)The Secretary shall establish a task force on safer childhood vaccines which shall consist of the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control.
(2)The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall serve as chairman of the task force.
(3)In consultation with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, the task force shall prepare recommendations to the Secretary concerning implementation of the requirements of subsection (a).
(c)Report
Within 2 years after December 22, 1987, and periodically thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and transmit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate a report describing the actions taken pursuant to subsection (a) during the preceding 2-year period.
(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title XXI, § 2127, as added Pub. L. 99–660, title III, § 311(a), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3777; amended Pub. L. 100–203, title IV, § 4302(b)(1), Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1330–221; Pub. L. 101–239, title VI, § 6601(q), Dec. 19, 1989, 103 Stat. 2292.)

How do we know this mandate hasn’t been followed?
See: the court order filed 7-9-18, @
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/168629
Case 1:18-cv-03215-JMF Document 18 Filed 07/09/18 Page 1 of 3
07/09/2018
Case 1:18-cv-03215-JMF Document 18 Filed 07/09/18 Page 2 of 3
Case 1:18-cv-03215-JMF Document 18 Filed 07/09/18 Page 3 of 3
described in the press release below, wherein the US Dept of Health and Human Services stipulates there are no such reports:

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2018
US District Court Judge signs order granting Plaintiff, Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) and counsel, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the relief sought in a lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
On Monday, June 9th, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York signed an order granting Plaintiff, the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), the relief it sought against the Defendant, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, HHS. ICAN was represented by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
In May 2017, ICAN Founder, Del Bigtree, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.. and a handful of other individuals concerned about vaccine safety were selected by the White House to participate in a seminal meeting with the Counselor to the Secretary of HHS, the heads of the National Institute of Health, NIH, the Center for Disease Control, CDC, and Food and the Drug Administration, FDA. Del Bigtree and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suspected that HHS was not fulfilling its critical vaccine safety obligations as required by Congress in The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
The 1986 Act granted unprecedented, economic immunity to pharmaceutical companies for injuries caused by their products and eviscerated economic incentive for them to manufacture safe vaccine products or improve the safety of existing vaccine products. Congress therefore charged the Secretary of HHS with the explicit responsibility to assure vaccine safety.
Hence, since 1986, HHS has had the primary and virtually sole responsibility to make and assure improvements in the licensing, manufacturing, adverse reaction reporting, research, safety and efficacy testing of vaccines in order to reduce the risk of adverse vaccine reactions. In order to assure HHS meets its vaccine safety obligations, Congress required as part of the 1986 Act that the Secretary of HHS submit a biennial reports to Congress detailing the improvements in vaccine safety made by HHS in the preceding two years.
ICAN therefore filed a Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, request on August 25th, 2017 to HHS seeking copies of the biennial reports that HHS was supposed to submit to Congress, starting in 1988, detailing the improvements it made every two years to vaccine safety. HHS stonewalled ICAN for eight months refusing to provide any substantive response to this request.
ICAN was therefore forced to file a lawsuit to force HHS to either provide copies of its biennial vaccine safety reports to Congress or admit it never filed these reports. The result of the lawsuit is that HHS had to finally and shockingly admit that it never, not even once, submitted a single biennial report to Congress detailing the improvements in vaccine safety. This speaks volumes to the seriousness by which vaccine safety is treated at HHS and heightens the concern that HHS doesn’t have a clue as to the actual safety profile of the now 29 doses, and growing, of vaccines given by one year of age.
In contrast, HHS takes the other portions of the 1986 Act, which require promoting vaccine uptake, very seriously, spending billions annually and generating a steady stream of reports on how to improve vaccine uptake. Regrettably, HHS has chosen to focus on its obligation to increase vaccine uptake and defend against any claim vaccines cause harm in the National Injury Vaccine Compensation Program (aka, the Vaccine Court) to such a degree that it has abandoned its vaccine safety responsibilities. If HHS is not, as confirmed in Court this week, even fulfilling the simple task of filing a biennial report on vaccine safety improvements, there is little hope that HHS is actually tackling the much harder job of actually improving vaccine safety.
For additional information or interviews please contact: Catharine Layton, COO, ICAN cat@icandecide.org (512) 522-8739

Posted by: pogohere | Dec 18 2020 7:43 utc | 72

So who gets the profits from the largely publicly funded vaccines, and who gets the intellectual property rights reserved to them, making the poorer countries pay.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/12/17/covid-19-intellectual-property-monopolies-block-vaccine-access/
Well, I suppose these countries can turn to Russia and China.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 18 2020 8:06 utc | 74

Minority Report – there must be somewhere a thinktank full of swimming Horselover Fat dicks.
Life is becoming curiouser and curiouser at breakneck speed.
I remember to be dumbfounded by alt-Right people calling current state of affairs and global corporations marxist. They went on and on about Cultural Marxism and its long march through the institutions.
These ideas are now being validated by people from the opposite side. Should I be surprised by those who really seem to see something of Lenin or Trotsky in the likes of Gates and Zuckerberg? See Pfizer and Moderna as agents for Great Socialist Revolution?
Entertaining idea, to say the least. Communists and Catholic Church ruling the world. All hail Fulton Statler Harms, Chief prelate of the Christian-Islamic Church (C.I.C), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. All hail Nicholas Bulkowsky, Communist Party Chairman, Procurator maximus of the Scientific Legate.

Posted by: js | Dec 18 2020 8:49 utc | 76

gm #70
That nurse fainting Pfizer fizzer trick is totally gone an hour later, gatewaypundit has pulled it and so too twitter. Maybe fake but it was a goodie.
Keeping up the confidence in modern meds 😉

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 18 2020 8:56 utc | 78

During their livestream of the vaccinations at CHI Memorial, Nurse Manager Tiffany Dover while speaking to the media about receiving the vaccine mentioned she started feeling dizzy. She fainted, but thankfully one of the doctors behind her caught her.
Dover soon recovered, and minutes later was able to get up and speak with us on camera again. The doctors there at CHI Memorial said this is not related to the ingredients in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the CDC, fainting can happen after many types of vaccinations and medical procedures. The CDC says although fainting has a variety of possible causes, it is usually triggered by pain or anxiety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cs7nwfKKg4

Posted by: Mao | Dec 18 2020 9:56 utc | 80

Important
New tape recording——-
Julian Assange warning US govenment about imminent realease of leaked documents by ex employee of wikileaks
https://mobile.twitter.com/project_veritas
Julian Assange is inocent beyound doubt by solid irrefutable evedence here.
Scroll down the tape is in several places.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 18 2020 10:38 utc | 82

Further to my Mark2 @ 83
Zero Hedge and James O’keefe are also covering this both hare interesting posts worth reading.
This needs to be taken seriously.
It’s out there !!
Ther is a secound tape equly interesting.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 18 2020 10:56 utc | 84

Here are two separate non-msm, clearly presented pro-Trump alt-news platforms’ Thursday night round-ups fovusing mainly on the impending election fraud coup of Trump, and their takes on what Trump is/should be doing to keep the election theft from succeeding.
The first is from a source (Taiwan? Hong Kong? Falun Gong affiliated?) who is opposed to the current Mainland China govmt, and whose interests are allied with Trump’s:
David Zhang, beyond the noise
Ratcliffe: DNI Report Must Expose Chinese Interference;Trump Must Make The Next Move (22 min)
https://youtu.be/cVZjnq3vD70
The bottom line take-home indications from Zhang and BCP:
The coming fight boils down to two sides:
Side 1. A de facto alliance of corrupted clubby mainline Uniparty politians, corrupted deep state (CIA, FBI Clinton/Bush/Obama holdovers) actors and their media/big tech assets, and *China* (not Russia or Iran. Side 1. points to them as a distraction to hide what their side is doing).
Side 2. Trump, some of the military,some of intel some of NSA & cybersecurity, some of the ‘Tea partiers and paleocon repugs..
., AND ~75 million pissed off, motivated(?) people who voted for Trump.
Black Conservative Patriot News 12/17
MITCH & SWAMP WORK TO BLOCK TED CRUZ & TRUMP’S JAN 6 PLAN/ (36 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS-KPjmpXrU

Posted by: gm | Dec 18 2020 11:43 utc | 86

From what I can see America has got a big big problem brewing.!! Bigger than anything seen in recent history.
The US is about to be torn apart by violent conflict.
I’m keeping a close eye on both sides of the devide.
Anybody cheering for trump and his violent thugs (in uniform or out) needs to reconsider their position.
Here’s why ——-
https://xlauren-mx.medium.com/the-fascists-marching-on-washington-arent-looking-for-calm-f51220a427b
How can anyone be loyal to America and support fascism?

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 18 2020 12:28 utc | 88

Well. everybody knows that it is only Russia that has the right to carry out war crimes because the Guardian Newspaper, the NY Times and the Washington Post are opposed to them. For this, you don’t need a brain. All you have to do is put a plus where the State Department, et al, put a minus. The role of Grayzone and this sorry blog is to be a sounding board for RT.com so there’s no worry about them ever being called out for channeling state-propaganda. Maybe there’s even some rubles coming out of it, as Blumenthal learned after going to the RT bash. He turned 180 degrees on his pre-bash writings on Syria but it was worth it to get connected to the mother lode.

Posted by: LOUIS PROYECT | Dec 18 2020 14:34 utc | 90

Black Agenda Report on the awkwardness of having power and not wanting to use it:
When Austerity’s Chickens Came Home to Roost in the U.S., Bernie and “the Squad” were Unprepared
Trump Xmas tree ornaments, ony $35:
HAVE YOU ACCEPTED DONALD TRUMP INTO YOUR HEART?

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 18 2020 14:48 utc | 92

@94 vk
That hypothetical collapse would have precipitated a reorganization based on mutually advantageous policy amongst us in the states.
Instead, our elite bought some time, lined their pockets, and escaped our pitchforks and the Chinese elite were game to accept it.
It smells bad. It looks bad. It is and was bad.
Just be honest, vk. There has to be some humanity left in your shriveled husk.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 18 2020 15:44 utc | 94

NemesisCalling @92: “…we would be much better without trading so much in SE Asia…”
And the morbidly obese couch potato with severe heart disease and diabetes and a number of other lifestyle-related ailments would do much better to get up and get some exercise. Unfortunately a point exists beyond which efforts to reverse the atrophy of the body’s systems become deadly and restoring health a near impossible task. America passed that point many years ago.

…has our trading relationship with China brought anything good to the people of the U.S.? (Beyond the obvious cheap consumer products which we all know only benefit the elite in this arrangement)

Many, if not most, Americans would not even be able to afford clothes if they were not cheap stuff made in China or Bangladesh. I would say those products being cheap certainly benefited those people who want to remain clothed.
“America is showing decline due in large part to our outsourcing”
You have that backwards. America outsourced because of the decline in profitability of domestic manufacturing. Capitalism did exactly what it was supposed to do and investors sought out better returns on their investments, which meant moving production elsewhere.
From a strictly pragmatic perspective, how would you propose to prevent market forces from directing investment to parts of the world where manufacturing is more profitable? Would you un-free the market and dictate to investors what they are to invest in?
If you look at all of the decisions between the late 1960s and the present that impacted outsourcing you will find that they are all quite understandable and very pro-capitalist. Particularly far-sighted people might have noted that the day of reckoning was just being delayed and the can kicked down the road, but kicking that can almost half a century down the road made a lot of sense back then. After all, that gave America decades to come up with a Plan B. It only became a problem after we had gotten down the road to where the can ended up only to discover that someone else had taken the can.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 18 2020 16:43 utc | 96

LOUIS PROYECT@91
You are simply repeating the canards that the DNC developed in the wake of their, self induced, defeat in 2016.
You have, of course, every right to do so, as has Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel, Hilary Clinton and all the rest of your allies in promoting imperialist attacks on Libya and Syria as humanitarian intervention.
But is it really necessary to drag the innocent remnants of Karl Marx’s corpse into these politics?
It is remarkable how many, who once operated under the principle that “Neither Moscow nor Washington” was worthy of support, found it much more comfortable to side, in the end, with Washington. Chris Hitchens was one such. You are another. As to motives?
Your explanation @21, seems to be a classic piece of ‘projection’: the rubles that you suggest Blumenthal is collecting aren’t convincing but the dollars available for treachery are notoriously easy for renegade Trotskyists to get.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 18 2020 17:16 utc | 98

Read yesterday that a reputed mathemathician who predicted how the Covid-19 pandemic will behave, thinks that the only way to get rid of the coronavirus is a harsh massive lockdown of an other year long till the SARSCov-2 dies by itself, otherwise we will be dealing with it for ever….
https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1338844194350227458
Then, read an interview with a Spanish epidemiologue veterinarian made this past summer on the pandemic his experinece with Coronavirus and vaccines, where he states they have been dealing with Coronavirus ( which are viruses very common in animals which cause serious infections in catle…)and eventhough, nobody has asked them for advice…
He says that vaccines against Coronavirus achieved so far are shit, as an effective vaccine should carry attenuated virus, not death virus. Due the difficulty and scarce success with Coronavirus vaccines, he states it would be much more productive centering research on effective treatments than in vaccines, but, of course, that implies higuer costs in research and longer time to be able to grab profits…
He says they have had to eliminate whole flocks of pigs, in the hundreds of thousands of heads, which also means huge economic loses to those affected, to get rid of a certain epidemic, but, of course, this can not be made with humans…
He is forecasting the virus will stay at least two years amongst us till it dies by itself…
He undestands the rush with the vaccines as a way to cover the huge negligence in managing the pandemic by governments, which could be sued on the grounds of the astronomic, social, economic and human loses, and thus need to be seem doing something, eventhough useless…
He highlights the astounding case of Moderna, a recently created pharma company, with no other product in the market ( and thus no earned prestige, nor credibility whatsoever…)being able to place a difficult to achieve, even in 10-15 years research, vaccine againt Coronavirus in record time but without having to respond to any claim on side effects or probable inneffectivness, as guaranteed by the governments… He thinks they will make a round business, some people will become billionaires in a shot ( never better said, btw… )and nobody wants to lose this opportunity. Only the EU is going to spend 2500 millions euros in its shipment, eventhough in the end the vaccine achieves little to none beneffit with resepct the Covid-19 infection, while involving quite too much risks for people who otherwise may even not suffer the infection…
https://noticiasayr.blogspot.com/2020/12/vacunas-mito-y-realidad-entrevista.html

Explain to me what is happening.
Veterinarians have known many of these things for 90 years, because we have coronavirus in animals. The main problem for hens and chickens has been a coronavirus, avian infectious bronchitis, since 1930. We have been working with coronavirus for decades. We know perfectly what the transmission routes are, the seasonal behaviors, that antibodies last from six to twelve months in the best of cases, we know perfectly well that vaccines are crap and are extremely complex.
Are you saying that vaccines are not efficient?
– Coronaviruses in animals are the same as in humans. We know that these diseases, when they appear for the first time in a population, produce a super strong epidemic peak, regardless of the season of the year; and then an equilibrium is reached, herd immunity, and there are peaks due to the loss of immunity. We even know that vaccines in some cases have been counterproductive. In dogs, those that had been registered for coronavirus have all been withdrawn from the market.
Why?
“Because they don’t protect”. We are talking about vaccines that are super tested and do not work. And the best vaccines out there for coronavirus are those that induce a good response against many different antigens, both with antibodies and with a cellular response. And that, for now, is only achieved by vaccines that are attenuated, which take years to develop; and not vaccines that are inactive, like many of those that are being developed. Immunology is super complex.
Among the vaccines that are being considered, are there none of the ones that you call “good”?
–The inactivated ones are easier, the virus is caught and inactivated, but they hardly activate the cellular response, with which we are only activating half of the immune system. It is like having the weapons against an antigen, but not the police. The vaccines par excellence are the attenuated ones, catching this virus and making it forget that it behaves aggressively. This vaccine has all the weapons, and also activates the cellular response, but there are currently none in development. And by the time a live vaccine is on the market, this disease will no longer be of interest.
Wouldn’t it be easier, then, to focus on effective treatments rather than the vaccine?
—You are putting the finger in the wound. Pharmaceutical companies want something that hits and sells fast. The inactivated ones are fast, but we know that they will work little and badly. Of course, in a very short time you have a vaccine model: it is the Oxford model, that of the Russians, Italians and several Chinese. Then there are the recombined ones and there are other more modern ones, those of a genetic type, which are Moderna’s vaccine in the US or BioNTech’s, which will be marketed by Pfizer in Germany. It looks great on paper, but there is still no vaccine registered with that technology in animals or humans.
So our hope is in an experiment?
-In a coronavirus, with the complexities that we know it has, expecting that it will turn out well the first time, I don’t know if this is very realistic. And we are talking about the fact that the European Union was going to buy Moderna 80 million doses. Multiply it by 35 euros that each one is worth … We are talking about 2,500 million euros. A six-year-old company that doesn’t have any products on the market; and in Europe alone it sells 2,500 million of a product that does not exist. It is incredible, so that later Anthony Fauci (immunologist from the United States) says that maybe it is only 50% or 60% effective, with that you do not even reach herd immunity. In veterinary medicine they demand 75% to market something.
So?
– Returning to your question, There is not interest in a treatment that can dismantle such a business. I want to say that there are many molecules that can be candidates to be an effective treatment, but that it is not interesting to finance because they do not have as much profitability as a vaccine or the famous Remdesivir, which is 3,000 euros for the treatment and the improvement it has is what it is : It is only used for severely intubated patients, where it is possible to lower the lethality only from 18% to 12%.

Thus, it will be interesting to investigate who the stakeholders of Moderna are, to know who is going to beneffit from public money without taking any risk, as we seem to be being take for a ride ( the same way we were with the Tamiflu and Avian Flu…) so that some people become rich and some governments achieve being displaced from focus on their disastrous management, while in the end getting without any beneffit and spending way too much money which would be necessary to fund the loses produced.
BTW, take advantage to post this right now since Twitter is warning that starting next week it will censor any comment critical with Covid-19 vaccines…
https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1339323938674003971

Posted by: H.Schmatz | Dec 18 2020 17:45 utc | 100