“It’s the height of hypocrisy for people who claim to be the champions of rights for women to deny the very biological existence of women,” former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who just might be the last Democrat in DC with a functioning brain, told Tucker Carlson. “Instead of doing something that could actually help save people’s lives, they are choosing instead to say ‘You can’t say mother or father.'”

I would ask for an ‘Amen!’ at this point, but, thanks to the clown work of lawmaker Emanuel Cleaver, who ended his congressional prayer opening of the very unsexy 117th Congress with the words “amen and awoman,” even that simple gender-free term (which simply means ‘so be it’) is now tainted with foul political intrigue.

With these sort of unforgivable stunts under the belt, the Democrats should be very grateful they have perfected the art of ‘winning’ elections, otherwise they would probably vanish from the political landscape simply out of lack of doing anything positive for the nation. Indeed, the term ‘Democrat’ may be on the way out faster than that of ‘male’ and ‘female.’

Posted by: Down South | Jan 10 2021 14:43 utc | 1

Edwards makes his feelings clear on who ultimately was to blame for the global tidal wave in food inflation back in 2011: "Despite Ben Bernanke's denials that the Fed's QE policies caused rampant food price inflation in 2011 (link), many economists such as myself believe that was absolutely the case."

Edwards summarizes his concerns best with the following statement: "even in the richest country in the world, food poverty has become a real problem during this pandemic."

This leaves us with the next imminent food inflation crisis as central banks are mindlessly injecting a record $1.4 billion in liquidity into capital markets every hour.

Soaring food inflation may result in social-destabilization; the question is where will it start?

Posted by: Down South | Jan 10 2021 14:53 utc | 2

Voice of America CEO Accused Of Fraud, Misuse Of Office All In One Week

Fresh crises and fresh challenges confront the Trump-appointed CEO of the parent of Voice of America, even with less than two weeks left of the Trump presidency.

To start, the Attorney General of the District of Columbia this week accused U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack of illegally funneling more than $4 million to his private documentary company through a not-for-profit that he also controls.

Then, five recent chiefs of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - appointed under Democratic and Republican administrations - jointly warned President-elect Joe Biden that Pack poses "a long-term threat to the credibility and professionalism of the five networks" he oversees.

And now Pack is now being accused of trying to propagandize the Voice of America by a group of whistleblowers. They take exception to a planned appearance by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at VOA's Washington headquarters on Monday, just nine days before the Biden administration begins.

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/08/953999556/voice-of-america-ceo-accused-of-fraud-misuse-of-office-all-in-one-week

Posted by: Mao | Jan 10 2021 14:55 utc | 3

So, what happened this week that was so important? The Saudis unilaterally offered to cut production by 1 million barrels per day. While, at the same time, OPEC+ accepted that both Russia and Kazakhstan would increase their production at their January meeting. It doesn’t matter that it was a paltry 75,000 barrels per day.

What matters is the message.

Saudi Arabia is no longer the price setter through massive market share in oil. Period. They surrendered to the Russians.

Posted by: Down South | Jan 10 2021 15:04 utc | 4

Rania Khalek @RaniaKhalek - 10:33 UTC · Jan 10, 2021
Entrusting Silicon Valley oligarchs to police speech on the social media platforms that dominate the exchange of information is gonna turn out great for the left for sure. No concerns here

-----

There are several types of dangerous fanatics. The mob visited upon Capitol was potentially dangerous, matches that can lit a serious fire in the hands of a child with no knowledge (or will?) to use them "properly". But fanatical centrists, while lacking deeper wisdom, are quite dangerous, Silicon oligarchs (and other oligarchs) have a mutual relationship.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jan 10 2021 15:06 utc | 5

Remember your history?

What would JFK think about today's political hatreds & crusades and Julian Assange?

Listen carefully to his words on secrecy, the importance of a free press and government mistakes.

Prophetic words from history indeed!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ra_0BKk4nI&feature=emb_logo

Posted by: James Cook | Jan 10 2021 15:25 utc | 6

Pardons for all the kayfabe/psyop political operatives?

Will Trump pardon himself?

If he does, who else will he pardon? Guiliani? The Capitol Hill trespassers?

And who will he NOT pardon? Snowden? The Capitol Hill trespassers?

<> <> <> <> <>

Will Trump pardons clear the way for Biden pardons?

Biden himself? Hunter? Comey? Russiagate operatives like Struck? Hillary?

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 10 2021 15:47 utc | 7

Precedent is a bitch

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Jan 10 2021 16:10 utc | 8

The EU no longer recognises Guiado as President of Venezuela. But the UK still does.
The British Foreign Secretary, a jerk among jerks, claims that the December elections were not free or fair! Of course the High Court still has to decide whether Venezuela gets its gold reserves back or Guiado gets them to spend on terrorism and bribes.
No news of Canada's position so it can be presumed to be unchanged- still a stalking horse for Uncle Sam's regime changers.

Posted by: bevin | Jan 10 2021 16:19 utc | 9

The left is always being censored, directly or indirectly, online, including Twitter.
The issue with Trump is whether an elite, one of the ruling class, can be "censored." Given that Trump can get a press conference televised whenever he wants, he is not being censored at all, not in the usual sense of the word. Trump has no right to a medium where he can't be questioned, which is what this hysteria is about. Hysteria about the privileges of the wealthy and powerful is servile, not shrewd.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Jan 10 2021 16:20 utc | 10

Maybe they should publish a Republican Media Green Book, like the one for black travelers in the 50’s and 60’s, that lists sites where Republicans can still engage in Free Discourse…

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Jan 10 2021 16:46 utc | 11

I remember Judge Dredd comics in which a future dystopic America was eating bugs and he was told not to interfere. What does the future hold?

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/worlds-largest-insect-farm-be-built-illinois-amid-signs-soaring-food-inflation

Posted by: Eighthman | Jan 10 2021 16:54 utc | 12

Experiencing chaos at VAMS, the CDC website.
I tried to get an appointment for vaccination, and was required to fill out form, but form fails to upload.
I had to enter my date of birth by cliking thru every month since i was born, which is over 1000 times.
Has anyone else been thru this process?

Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 10 2021 16:55 utc | 13

Joke of the Week:

The American Abyss

The joke is in this paragraph:

One historical big lie discussed by Arendt is Joseph Stalin’s explanation of starvation in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-33. The state had collectivized agriculture, then applied a series of punitive measures to Ukraine that ensured millions would die. Yet the official line was that the starving were provocateurs, agents of Western powers who hated socialism so much they were killing themselves. A still grander fiction, in Arendt’s account, is Hitlerian anti-Semitism: the claims that Jews ran the world, Jews were responsible for ideas that poisoned German minds, Jews stabbed Germany in the back during the First World War. Intriguingly, Arendt thought big lies work only in lonely minds; their coherence substitutes for experience and companionship.

The guy spend the whole article talking about the necessity to use facts, only to resort to a Cold Warrior notable for not using appropriate sources (if any at all) to claim Stalin intentionally starved millions of Ukrainians to death in 1932-33.

It is consensus that what caused the 1932-33 famine was a new variety of rust/lice, against which they already used crops could not resist. Yes, there was local resistance by some richer peasants (kulaks) against forced collectivization, for obvious reasons, but, overall, the overwhelming majority (a bigger one than Biden received this elections, for sure) was in favor of the forced collectivization efforts. Indeed, Gorbachev's family was from this region and it suffered from the 1932-33 famine, and he clearly recollects his grandfather never lost faith in the collectivization. There's no evidence of overall loss of morale in the black soil regions after the collectivization.

Stalin recognized the first years of collectivization were very hard - indeed, liberal historians use his memoirs as alleged evidence he "confessed" he committed a "genocide". Let's count the neoliberal genocides then, by that logic.

Peasants frequently suffer from tax in kind (instead of tax in money) when crops are bad - but that's a feature of agrarian economies in general, not of socialist agriculture in particular. Chiang Kaishek starved much more to death when he shifted to tax in kind over the poorer peasants (while preserving the privileges of the old landlord class) during the Japanese Invasion of 1937-1945, and nobody talks about it - maybe because liberal famines are not considered famines by Americans?

Even when Arendt makes a technically correct affirmation, she's wrong. Antisemitic propaganda is not a Nazi innovation: it was a liberal staple since at least Burke, at the end of the 18th Century. The narrative was the same: the Jews controlled the urban areas and finance, so every revolution and revolt that happened was automatically a Jewish conspiracy against the rural slaveowners. By the time the Nazis rose to power in Germany, they already were the "paleoconservatives" of their time, as they essentially recycled the pre-French Revolution liberal - which continued to be developed in Southern USA (Confederacy) until well after the War of Secession. Lothrop Stoddard was widely popular in 20th Century Germany and certainly inspired Hitler.

Posted by: vk | Jan 10 2021 17:06 utc | 14

@9 If Biden softens the US position on Venezuela, and he has suggested he might, Canada will change course fast enough.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/biden-to-seek-talks-with-maduro-regime-in-reversal-of-trump-plan

Posted by: dh | Jan 10 2021 17:07 utc | 15

Miami Beach OB-Gyn doctor’s death 18 days after Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine under investigation

https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/2021/01/08/miami-beach-doctors-death-after-covid-19-vaccine-under-investigation/

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Questions remain in the death of a 56-year-old Miami Beach doctor who died Sunday, just a little over two weeks after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, our sister station WPLG-TV in Miami reported.

Gregory Michael, M.D., whose website states he was in private practice in obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, received the vaccine at the hospital where he was affiliated on Dec. 18.

It is not clear, however, if the 56-year-old doctor’s death is related to the shot, but an investigation is underway.

A Facebook post by Michael’s wife described him as “very healthy.” His website said he was an avid tournament and big game fisherman and also a rescue certified scuba diver.

His wife said that three days after getting the shot, Michael noticed severe broken blood vessels on his feet and hands, prompting him to go the emergency room.

There, he was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia*, which prevents blood from clotting. After two weeks of treatment, she writes on the Facebook post, Michael had a hemorrhagic stroke caused by the lack of platelets, which took his life in a matter of minutes, she said.

She said her husband was an advocate of the vaccine.

A spokesperson from Mount Sinai, who cited patient privacy restrictions, said in a statement:

“To the extent that we are aware of an incident involving any patient, the appropriate agencies are contacted immediately and have our full cooperation.”

Florida’s Department of Health confirmed that they referred the case to the Centers for Disease Control for investigation. A CDC spokesperson told Local 10 News that “they will evaluate the situation as more information becomes available and provide timely updates on what is known and any necessary actions.”

* When immune system attacks/destroys platelet cells in the blood

More Here:
https://www.the-sun.com/news/2105759/dr-gregory-michael-miami-coroanvirus-vaccine-dead/

Posted by: gm | Jan 10 2021 17:16 utc | 16

First, the funniest comment I have seen for a long while (Elijah Magnier)

https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1347926280864473088/photo/1

------
Two things I would like information or opinion on are as follows;

In France, those that are about be vaccinated by Pfizer must sign a legal form that is 56 pages long (not a joke ! - Including by seniors with pre or declared-alzheimers), which, I presume, covers all possible forms of immunity for Pfizer, and unwanted side effects, expected or not. BUT does this "form" have hidden traps? One possible trap is that the French Government have signed one of the secret "accords" that give big Pharma the "right" (ability) to sue the French or other Governments if for any reason they do not make the profit they "expected or wanted" to make.

The Governments concerned will have to make up any shortfall. even if due to popular pressures on the Gov. The "settlement" was to be overseen by an ISDN (arbitration) tribunal. Whose three members were taken from 15 US law firms specializing in Company (Corporate) law, even if one nominally was supposed to represent the Government. No input from "other interested parties" was to be allowed, and deliberations and names of "Lawyers" were also to be kept secret.

This was one part of the Trade "agreement" on services. The one which was to be kept secret for five years and those signing it to remain anonymous. Was it in fact signed? Was it in fact signed by other Governments as well. This would go a long way to explain the obsessions by some Ministers to force vaccinations against common sense. (on children etc)
-----
The second is more extreme; As the "vaccinated+" human body has been modified by an injection by either Pfizer or Modena, will these companies have any "rights" on the living result. (I'm thinking of Monsanto/Beyer and their attempts to Patent the living.) Normally this would be a long-shot idea, but these days I don't trust them.

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 10 2021 17:23 utc | 17

Mr. vk

Yet, it is a fact that since 1967 at least, USA has been advancing the religious cause of (Zionist) Jews against Christian, Druze, Alevi, Yazidi, and Muslim natives of the Middle East - under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Mr. Trump, indeed, had tried to destroy Iran: exhibiting visceral hatred for that country as well as for Shia Islam. Did that have anything to do with his Jewish son-in-law or his daughter's conversation to Judaism?

Posted by: Fyi | Jan 10 2021 17:27 utc | 18

From the "Great Reset" dept: [You WILL eat bugs, and you WILL be happy]

World’s Largest Soylent Green Insect Farm To Be Built In Illinois Amid Signs Of Soaring Food Inflation

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/worlds-largest-insect-farm-be-built-illinois-amid-signs-soaring-food-inflation

ADM and InnovaFeed will grow and harvest billion and billions of insects called black soldier fly, whose larvae are scavengers and thrive on decomposing organic matter and convert it into a nutrient-rich protein that can be transformed into animal feed.

Posted by: gm | Jan 10 2021 17:53 utc | 19

thanks b! lots to ponder...

bevin and dh on venezuala.... i doubt very much there will be any change... maybe biden will skip the guaido batting ram, but it is will be business ( oil ) as usual..

@ steven t johnson | Jan 10 2021 16:20 utc | 10.. they are different mediums... a quote from you "Trump has no right to a medium where he can't be questioned".. fine... do you think the mediums can be questioned? how about the printed medium? nyt - wapo, wsj?? or the the usa on the world stage?? can we question that and if so who the fuck listens?? so, while it might sound good on paper - trump has no right to a medium where he can't be questioned, this is the format for all insidious power which is on display today with the media, social media included, as well as with gov'ts that bully other lesser countries around the globe...

Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 18:01 utc | 20

I have what I suppose to be a foolish question about the Pfizer vaccine, which in order to remain viable has to be kept in an extreme frozen condition until being used. The question is, what happens to the vaccine as it is brought to human body temperature, (which is, I assume, what must be done before it can be safely injected)? There are already unknowns because of the formulation of the vaccine, but I haven't seen an explanation of how, given its ultra frozen condition in storage, it is acceptable as an injection.

Posted by: juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:03 utc | 21

Oh right, the Pandemic, knew it was out there somewhere killing folks by the thousands with a new spooky strain that gets you infected by just thinking about it. Thank the Gods the vaccine has already been proven safe and effective against whatever spooky variant emerges. Boo! Get the jab!

Perhaps one good thing to come from the 'attack of the Deplorables!' is that Trump has now been effectively removed from Office without Impeachment or a banana peel. He's stripped of his pulpit (very dangerous over reach by the Establishment who want to make insurrection out of a mole hill) and I've no doubt the Pentagon will ignore any last ditch 'nuke Tehran' orders from the Netanyahu/Pompeo/Kushner Axis of Supremacy.

Now that the crazy President has been neutralized by his own petard, America can get back to its shiny, happy fascism beloved by the aristocracy of incompetence.

Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 10 2021 18:03 utc | 22

The Iran related article by Hedwig Kuijpers b posted on this thread, is one of the best factual realistic articles on Iran’geo strategic postures by a westerner that I have read in long time to understand Iran’s basic geo strategies I recommend reading it by those interested.

Posted by: kooshy | Jan 10 2021 18:04 utc | 23

thanks kooshy... i will check that out..

Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 18:08 utc | 24

Berlin police clash with left-wing protesters during rally marking murder of communist icons Luxemburg & Liebknecht (VIDEOS)

These protests are related to what is proably the biggest taboo in modern Germany: the 1918 Revolution.

The modern KPD (Communist Party of Germany) wants the German State to recognize it murdered Luxemburg and Liebknecht. The German State denies it. The reason for that has nothing to do with reparations of any kind, but with ideology: Modern Germany wants to wipe out the 1918 Revolution from its history.

The official narrative today states that the KPD - at the time, a minuscule, almost symbolic organization - tried to stage an extremist coup/terrorist attack on Germany in 1919, an event also known as the Spartacist Revolution. They use this episode - which was completely irrelevant, involved some dozens of people maximum, and had no chance whatsoever of being successful - to justify the alliance the SPD (in power at the time, in the hands of infamous Friedrich Ebert) with what would essentially be the future NSDAP. The rationale is that the fears both the social-democrats and the proto-Nazis (Freikorps and their leaders) of a "Bolshevik conspiracy" was justified - so justified that the Spartacist Revolution happened next year.

The problem with this narrative is that it inverts cause and consequence: the Spartacist Movement was only born because the left of the SPD was exterminated. It was a purely defensive, last and desperate attempt to survive, not to do a revolution. The Spartacist Revolution was anything but a revolution, and we know now that the Bolshevik Party never had any kind of presence in Germany in 1918-1919. There was no Bolshevik infiltration: the revolts in Kiel and elsewhere were genuine, German in flesh and soul.

By putting not only 1919, but also, by default, 1918, on the backs of the KPD, the modern German establishment kills three birds with one stone: 1) it eliminates the idea that Germany has any revolutionary potential, 2) it cleans the sheet of the SPD and 3) it cleans the sheet of the German State (right-wing).

The SPD still refuses to admit responsibility for the deaths of Luxemburg and Liebknecht.

Posted by: vk | Jan 10 2021 18:08 utc | 25

Thanks to b and to Consortium News for reposting the discussion between Pepe and Michael Hudson which I originally saw discussed at nakedcapitalism.com (now unfortunately without a comments forum). The article is definitely a must read:

"...if you read what the business schools in the late 19th century taught like Simon Patten at the Wharton School, it’s very much like socialism. In fact, it’s very much like what China is doing. And in fact, China is following in the last 30 or 40 years pretty much the same way of getting rich that America followed..."

Prof. Hudson doesn't think the US could upgrade its train system, since it no longer has the open land around its tracks that China can use. But even so, it seems to me it could do so using the current tracks as it does with interstate highways, by creating underpasses for the road traffic and walling off the sides of the tracks so that crossings are eliminated, or in open areas overpasses for foot traffic and/or wildlife.

People need jobs. Those are waiting to be on offer, and out of doors so not covid compromised!

Posted by: juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:17 utc | 26

Just like Germany likes to overlook the anti-Fascist resistance during WW2 because so much of it was conducted by Communists and Leftists.

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Jan 10 2021 18:18 utc | 27

There is also the opportunity to interweave the current slower train travel with faster trains. I live in New Mexico, and when we were able to use the local Railrunner service, that simply shunted aside when the Amtrak was due, for the few minutes it took for the faster train to whisk by. Due to covid it is not currently in operation, but wouldn't this be a time to upgrade?

Jobs,jobs, jobs. FDR,anyone?

Posted by: juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:24 utc | 28

The best critique of Hudson's financialization thesis is provided by Michael Roberts, a retired Marxist economist:

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2021/01/08/assa-2021-part-two-the-radical-answers/

Posted by: Tichard | Jan 10 2021 18:25 utc | 29

Facebook share value on the stock market - it will be interesting to watch how it will perform.

Posted by: bystander04 | Jan 10 2021 18:29 utc | 30

@ 12
a future dystopic America was eating bugs

Don't knock it before you try it. Its popular in most countries outside the West. I've tried Bacon & Cheese flavoured crickets before and they probably tastier than most potato chips sold in the US.

Just an interesting snack.

Posted by: Gonzolegend | Jan 10 2021 18:29 utc | 31

US House Democrats to introduce Trump impeachment article on Monday

Posted by: arby | Jan 10 2021 18:40 utc | 32

Now this is amusing from Israel Shamir
https://www.unz.com/ishamir/trumps-last-stand/

"The city of Detroit gave 95 per cent of its vote to Biden/Kamala, a number that Mr Kim Jong-un would view with slight envy, while Mr Lukashenko would murmur, “How can it be done?” It is highly likely this mind-boggling result was achieved in the following way.

Detroit Dems outsourced ballot harvesting to local drug lords, offering them as a prize – recreational marijuana business licenses. These licences are the best thing since a licence to print money. Having such licenses is like having your own ATM. Here you can read about their profitability and the lengths criminals will go to obtain them. Detroit Dems had changed local laws allowing the sale of marijuana in their fine city (it was forbidden until November 2020). They changed local laws prescribing the issuing of marijuana licences to drug dealers with previous convictions for drug dealing. They let drug lords out of jail. They changed local laws to allow ballot harvesting; that is, collecting postal votes and assisting with the filling in of ballots. After that, the drug dealers went around collecting postal ballots and filling them in immediately, if they were conscientious, or just filling them in at their leisure, if feeling lazy. They had a judge at their disposal, Cynthia Stephens, who single-handedly changed Michigan election laws, and then rejected Trump’s claims of fraud."

Posted by: Bluedotterel | Jan 10 2021 18:47 utc | 33

@ Posted by: juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:17 utc | 26

And in fact, China is following in the last 30 or 40 years pretty much the same way of getting rich that America followed..."

This was prof. Hudson in his "American exceptionalism" moment.

China's socialist development is completely different from the American capitalist development. There's simply no comparison.

Posted by: vk | Jan 10 2021 19:00 utc | 34

LordHendyQC @JohnHendyQC
https://twitter.com/JohnHendyQC/status/1347502155159252993

Over 3,700 Cuban health workers have volunteered in 39 countries to help fight COVID-19 in 2020.

I think they deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for their selfless humanitarianism saving lives and promoting cooperation between nations. If you agree, sign here

https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/nobel-peace-prize/

Posted by: Mao | Jan 10 2021 19:05 utc | 35

Georgi Dimitrov. The Fascist Offensive and the Tasks of the Communist International in the Struggle of the Working Class against Fascism

Comrades, fascism in power was correctly described by the Thirteenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International as the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.
...
Fascism is not a form of state power "standing above both classes -- the proletariat and the bourgeoisie," as Otto Bauer, for instance, has asserted. It is not "the revolt of the petty bourgeoisie which has captured the machinery of the state," as the British Socialist Brailsford declares. No, fascism is not a power standing above class, nor government of the petty bourgeoisie or the lumpen-proletariat over finance capital. Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. It is the organization of terrorist vengeance against the working class and the revolutionary section of the peasantry and intelligentsia. In foreign policy, fascism is jingoism in its most brutal form, fomenting bestial hatred of other nations.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/08_02.htm

Posted by: Francis | Jan 10 2021 19:21 utc | 36

NowThis @nowthisnews

A fight nearly broke out on the House floor after Republican objectors refused to hear the truth from Rep. Conor Lamb

[VIDEO]

https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1347675197101514752

Posted by: Mao | Jan 10 2021 19:24 utc | 37

Re: "I have what I suppose to be a foolish question about the Pfizer vaccine, which in order to remain viable has to be kept in an extreme frozen condition until being used. The question is, what happens to the vaccine as it is brought to human body temperature, (which is, I assume, what must be done before it can be safely injected)?"

-juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:03 utc | 21

Not a foolish question at all--and not one that I have yet heard any of the Holy Annointed Vessels of Covid Science TRUTH (ie Dr. 'Gain of Function' Fauci, Bill Gates et al) give an understandable explanation for.

Speaking purely from the perspective of someone with technical background in the chemistry/medical fields and having no direct insider info about the Pfizer mRNA vaccine specifically,

the vaccine's Spike protein coding mRNA 'payload' must be packaged inside a protective "liposome" a synthetic lipid bi-layer vesicle.

The liposome protects the mRNA payload from being chewed up/destroyed while it is still in the extracellular space (blood plasma, lymph etc) by plasma nucleases before the spike mRNA is able reach and enter the body's cells where it is then replicated and translated into (antigenic [immune system recognizing/inducing]) viral spike proteins.

The RNA-liposome vesicles have a limited stability at room temperature in aqueous saline conditions, and an even shorter half-life in the blood stream at body temperature. They are most stable when keptvery cold in deep freeze <~70 degree C) with some physiologically compatible "antifreeze" (eg polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, or syrupy sugar-like mixtures) that keep liposome-disrupting ice crystals from forming during the deep freeze storage temps.

Now to address your question, my guess is the reconstitution procedure is to bring the antifreeze-stablized -70C vaccine vials to >0 degrees C, and then add physiological saline, and then inject within the protocol-defined stability-safe time range.

Posted by: gm | Jan 10 2021 19:27 utc | 38

Take Spain: Spain's economy is heavily dependent upon tourism, and tourism has come to a standstill. 40% youth unemployment. 90% of youngsters do not earn enough to leave their parents' home. And the European Union subsidizes giving jobs to refugees. (European Refugees Integration Action Scheme - ERIAS). This is a witches brew.

Posted by: passerby | Jan 10 2021 19:30 utc | 39

vk #14
Wow, I didn't know you were so brain-dead.
Well enjoy your Stalinist methods, coming up right now!

Posted by: michael | Jan 10 2021 19:59 utc | 40

james@20 asks a direct question, sort of "...do you think the mediums can be questioned? how about the printed medium? nyt - wapo, wsj?? or the the usa on the world stage??" The New York Times is questioned repeatedly by other newspapers like the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. And by mass media like Fox News, Bloomberg, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, online mass media like Breitbart and Newsmax. Since I don't personally read the NYT or WaPo or WSJ, but headline news from MSN and BBC plus online socialist papers for more in-depth articles, I have never been so foolish as to think the mass media cannot be questioned. I have found they generally lie by omission instead of directly falsifying facts about current event; by repeating the government statements (which included Trump's until he lost, as you know); by starting with huge historical myths instead of honest history; by using double standards (just like Trumpers, just partisan hack job on another target,); by artificial hysteria (also used by Trumpers, possibly even more.) It is the "question" about who listens when the mass media is questioned. This is more a complaint that different agendas than the Trumpers is being presented, the indignation that anyone dare to disagree publicly. The right wing mass media is not one bit more honest than the supposedly left-wing mass media. Personally I have enough questions for World Socialist Web Site (they've shadow banned me!) nobody is guaranteed an audience except for the government, because conservatives are naturally servile to authority. (It is always astounding to see so many people with so little dignity they openly confess to being politically conservative!)

Strictly speaking, Timothy Snyder is citing Hannah Arendt partly from modesty, as Snyder, along with Anne Applebaum is one of the scholars who have allegedly refurbished the old Robert Conquest school of hysterical "Stalin is worse than Hitler" apologia. I haven't read the the books in question partly because the likelihood they are honest as opposed to scholarly is pretty much zero, plus I have too many books to read already. But other sources, like Mark Tauger and J. Arch Getty indicate the strong Holodomor thesis, that Stalin deliberately genocided Ukrainians is straightforward fascist propaganda. Still scholarly I'm sure, but sound scholarship also proved the black people in Reconstruction tyrannized the South and were a disgrace to civilization. Scholarship is basically grammar, footnotes and bibliography. In the long run you can't have progress in learning without these things but it's like statistics: Figures don't lie...but liars can figure. The white supremacy theorists falsify the anticommunist impulse in the insurrection (and other such fascist forays, in Kentucky's capital today as I understand it.) So a Snyder and an Applebaum feel compelled to write about the human impulse to unfreedom some sort of threat from the rabble. The anticommunist mythology both peddle is a huge part of what is wrong with the Trumpers. So a Snyder or an Applebaum are being sort of preemptive in trying to redbait their followers. Only a fool really thinks Trumpers are like Stalinists but that's why his moronic essay starts with Stalin. Trying to be a huge demagogic liar but still keep some credibility as a democrat. Anticommunism is right-wing, always, never centrist and it's the kind of democracy that was compatible slavery in the day, and Jim Crow in another day, and Trumpism today.

The remark about Chiang is not quite correct, as there was a movie called "Back to 1942" specifically about the Henan famine in of course 1942. The similar Bengal famine during WWII in a colony that wasn't even invaded gets very little notice too. Howard Fast tried to give it a shot in his memoirs as i understand it.

Of course historically speaking the twentieth century famine was nothing to the Great Bengal Famine cause by the East India Company before the American Revolution (something to remember when assholes try rant about how the American Revolution was about creating slavery, by the way.) Fortunately for the Irish in the 1840s there were boats to take them to America or even more would have died while their English landlords exported food from Ireland. There wasn't even a real famine in Ireland, just a potato blight. But there were so many poor Irish that pretty much lived only on potatoes (and a little kelp?)that they died by the millions anyhow, while good liberal Englishmen cherished the free market and the rights of property, the defining trait of humanity in their eyes.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Jan 10 2021 20:08 utc | 41

Can't see the Biden administration acting on any militaristic impulses in the near term, as the massive backlog of domestic problems requires immediate attention. This is Biden speaking Friday on the need for massive investments in infrastructure (including health and education sectors):

"Every major economist thinks we should be investing in deficit spending in order to generate economic growth…in the trillions of dollars…If we don't act now things will get much worse and harder to get out of the hole later. So we have to invest now…There's a dire, dire need to act now."

In foreign policy, the designated officials have spoke of a priority in resetting relations with allies to form coalitions to respond to challenges as a bloc. Hegemony has been downplayed, and Trump initiatives such as rejecting agreements (JCPOA, Climate,etc)
or concepts such as "the Quad" will likely be reversed. A period of retrenchment.

Canada continues to reject Marduro and support Guaido through statements released by Lima Group.

Posted by: jayc | Jan 10 2021 20:09 utc | 42

Mr. Bluedotterel

African-American voters in Detroit used to vote for whoever their religious leaders in their churches said.

I do not know if the legalization of marijuana, the highway to heroine, has substantially changed that.

I personally would doubt it, dope-heads have no convictions.

Posted by: Fyi | Jan 10 2021 20:15 utc | 43

'It's got nothing to do with gender': Democrat Emanuel Cleaver is slammed for ending his 'woke' Congress prayer by saying 'Amen and a woman'

Emanuel Cleaver delivered a prayer on Sunday to open the 117th Congress. In his message, he referenced Hindu God Brahma and said 'amen and a woman'. Many criticized the 'woke' prayer, saying 'amen' is Latin for 'so be it. A committee has proposed changes in house rules to 'honor gender identities'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9110665/Democrat-congressman-ends-prayer-saying-Amen-woman-bid-gender-neutral.html

Posted by: Francis | Jan 10 2021 20:16 utc | 44

"Can't see the Biden administration acting on any militaristic impulses in the near term, as the massive backlog of domestic problems requires immediate attention."

Meh. There's no better reason for a little victorious military adventure than massive backlog of domestic problems.

Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 10 2021 20:22 utc | 45

I am going to enjoy reading in the news about how creating a monopoly for expression on the Internet is somehow not equal to restricting freedom of speech, and how "hate" and "propaganda" must be stopped at all costs.
The concept of the constant enemy switch in Orwell's 1984 comes to mind: "We've always been at war with Eastasia!"

So take note kids, when a Russian company is paying for a few ads on Facebook, this is propaganda and Facebook should be punished. When the NY Times, WAPost, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, Apple and Amazon say you're doing "hateful things" and must be cut off the Internet, this is not propaganda and they're just private companies exercising their right not to host you.

When RT publishes a video on Youtube, you have the dreaded sticker "RT is fully or partially funded by the Russian government" appearing. Due to a bug, the sticker "BBC is fully or partially funded by the British government" is not visible. Oh(r) well.

I am definitely not a libertarian by any stretch of the mind, but this double-think irks me. The same people crying "I am Charlie Hebdo" a few months before now say there are things you should not say on social media.
I guess this is what happens when you let cartels of corporations control most of your infrastructure and means of expression. Weak government does not mean freedom of speech.

Posted by: Lemming | Jan 10 2021 20:35 utc | 46

For those who care, here's a decent review of Applebaum’s "Red Famine", from a few years ago.

Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 10 2021 20:35 utc | 47

@ 25 vk
This is only partly correct. The SPD underwent at the end of World War I a series of scisms with at first the USPD splitting (they later re-merged) and a bit later the communist KPD. So the extreme Left of the SPD wasn`t "exterminated", they ceded on their own! Later elections during the Weimar Republic reveiled that the KPD had only limited support in the population.

The revolt in Kiel in November 1918 was indeed genuine German. However, a loosely organized group called Revolutionäre Obmänner (Revolutionary Chairmen) played a central role in it, they later mostly joined the KPD. So there was some kind of communist infiltration, just not from abroad, and it`s exact influence is debateable.

The Spartacist uprising in January 1919 was also genuine German, the Soviet embassy in Berlin however supported the uprising financially and with propaganda material (leaflets etc.).

In regards of Anti-Semitic conspirancy theories:

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the British Empire was what the USA is still today and what China is about to become, what today would be called a "superpower". Not uncontestet and allmighty, but still pretty much on top of the food chain and certainly more powerful than most other greater powers. In November 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration. In April 1920 at the San Remo conference the content of the Balfour Declaration became internationally binding law. So what in 1917 was de jure just a legally non-binding unilateral decleration had de facto been a binding treaty.

With whom did the British government sign that treaty? Why did the mighty British Empire consider it advantageous to issue such a decleration? What did the British government get in return?

You know, Anti-Semitic conspirancies is really a field where it is most difficult to seperate facts from fiction. But their is certainly in some of them at least some kind of facts. With the Balfour Declaration you have it - black on white.

Posted by: m | Jan 10 2021 20:39 utc | 48

17 @Stonebird,

Would you have a source for that were people have to sign a 56 page contract with Pfizer to take the vaccine? I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's true, just wondering though.

Posted by: unimperator | Jan 10 2021 20:56 utc | 49

A decent review of Applebaum’s "Red Famine":

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169438

Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 10 2021 21:29 utc | 50

I have long thought that the decline of the U.S. could be thought of as the 'Indianization' of American Society.

In this spirit, I offer the following:

The American Caste System
A sub-system of the Anglo-American Caste System

I. The Elites

1. The Old-Moneyed Elite (Anglo-American)
These are the small number of families whose money dates back to the 19th century and Colonial Britain. They are the ultimate power that rule the Global (i.e. Western) industrial, financial and political systems, like Mafia Dons.

2. The New-Moneyed Elite (American)
These are the relatively small number of people who have become fabulously wealthy running the Old-Moneyed Elite's legal and illegal economic activities.

3. The Power Brokers (American)
These are the small number of people who run the non-financial systems (i.e. Government, Military, etc.) on behalf of the Old-Moneyed Elite. They have also become extraordinarily wealthy through the opportunities for graft offered by their roles as power brokers.

4. The Stars (American)
These are the elites of the sports and entertainment industries. This relatively small caste has two purposes, to distract the lower castes from their miserable existence and to show that the 'American Dream' is available to everyone. These people are also paid unimaginably high salaries for their services.

II. The Professional and Managerial Caste
These are the people who manage the economic and political systems on a day to day basis, and carry out the high level professional activities. Their loyalty is ensured by generous economic and social benefits, and by the threat of they and their families being shunned, broken and sent to the lower castes should they be disloyal.

III. The Servant Caste
These are the people who labor in the service and government sectors (85% of economy). These people are generally paid only survival wages, or preferably as gig workers, with token access to education and health care and no economic security. Identifiable minorities (black, gay, Latino, etc.) are the preferred members of this caste as all of their grievances can be blamed on their minority status, i.e. the mirage of systemic discrimination, and they can be mobilized to support the Elite narratives by empty promises to address this mirage.

IV. The Deplorables
The Deplorables are what used to be called the 'Middle Class'. When the U.S. was an industrial power, and still had some semblance of democracy, i.e. BR (Before Reagan) these people were the largest group of American Society. Producing goods of value, they enjoyed well paying, secure jobs, with enough money to provide a comfortable life, a secure future for themselves and an education for their children, They also enjoyed political power, based on their numbers, and the ability to make the political and economic system work for them.

However AR (After Reagan), with the transformation of their democracy into an oligarchy and the transfer of industry to Asia, the 'Middle Class' lost both its economic well-being and its political power. The few jobs that are left to actually produce something of value (now less than 15% of the economy), are far too few for the number of people who need them, and are subject to competition with low wage Developing Nations. Thus the old 'Middle Class' became the 'Deplorables', lamenting the both the loss of 'American Greatness' and their own personal loss of wealth, security and hope.

V. The Dregs
The Dregs are fastest growing caste in the American Caste System. They include the homeless, the addicted, the inhabitants of ghettos, etc. These people are pushed to the margins of society with little or no income, no protection, and no services. They live off of crime and charity (which is a very important component of 'Virtue Signalling' for the upper castes). The life expectancy of the Dregs is very short.
People are pushed into the Dregs Caste when they are of no more economic value to the 'Elite Caste', when their assets have been exhausted, having been 'strip-mined' by the Elite's financialization schemes, or when they are disobedient and question in any way the Elite's narratives or the American Caste System itself.

In general movement between castes is only allowed in one direction: down. In rare cases, people of exceptional talent can be promoted to a higher caste on the conditions that their talent is of value to the Elites and that they pledge fealty to the Elites and the 'American Caste System'.

Posted by: dh-mtl | Jan 10 2021 21:39 utc | 51

@steven t johnson | Jan 10 2021 20:08 utc | 41... steven.. thanks... my comment was a bit tongue and cheek.. of course these mediums can be questioned and challenged... i do believe trump has been questioned and continues to be challenged here as well, in spite of the corporations that are indeed silencing him..in fact i would argue that it is these large corporations - social media and new media whether print, tv and etc - that increasingly appear at the service of the intel agencies... and not to forget many former intel people are populating these mediums as well... just what this means might be hard to define, but overall it seems to me that the intel agencies are getting more and more leverage in mediums that used to be thought of as transparent and serving to inform as opposed to propagandize... it is almost like the msm is increasingly looking like the old version i was made aware of many years ago - pravada - basically a propaganda dispenser platform...

so, who gets to speak out on this?? i think the term 'fake news' is a good one.. just how it gets applied might be more complicated, but i think there is increasingly a lot of 'fake news' being spread in the msm, social media and etc... in fact it seems like the gov't is more and more beholden to these private corporations and there is a volatile merger of these corporations with the intel agencies... i am seeing this sort of thing in canada with the cbc.. cbc is getting the wire services reuters, associated press and etc and offering up stories that seem to come straight from the intel agencies... i wish it wasn't the case, but it is how i am seeing it... typically the articles are not open to comment either... we are allowed to comment endlessly on articles involving trump, but there can be no commenting on other sensitive issues, like assange, venezuala, iran, russia and etc. etc... i believe i am noticing a pattern of what is easy access, or no access, depending on the topic...

i am vaguely familar with annie applebaum - who i like to refer to as annie applepants... and timothy synder - same deal... i am reminded of a friend where i live here would is married to a university prof who seems to gobble up the viewpoints offered by synder, while ignoring any other take on the history of ukraine and etc.. people are very sensitive about what they believe they know for a fact when you offer alternative viewpoints... usually they are completely unreceptive to different or contrasting viewpoints!

so i suppose i believe there are a lot of viewpoints on trump or ukraine, or whatever the example might be and it is a very polarized!!! there doesn't seem to be much effort at finding a neutral ground in any of these issues either... i tend to find the black and white analysis of these topics sorely lacking... i am sure they are much more nuanced then how they are portrayed often times, but there would be as much outrage and indignity on the part of many if they were given a more nuanced viewpoint... thus, the media increasingly competes for eyeballs and readership and relies heavily on sensationalism to a strong degree.. or they rely on a very skewed viewpoint that is missing much... this is the sorry state of the media in 2021... one of the last refuges is moa as i see it... there are other places too, but generally it is harder and harder to find a more objective viewpoint on some topics - usa politics in particular... cheers james

Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 21:43 utc | 52

#44 - "There's no better reason for a little victorious military adventure than massive backlog of domestic problems."

Yes, but there aren't really any "little" military adventures available right now i.e. Grenada or Panama. Biden's use of the word "dire" matches that of many analysts, and suggests problems which are not amenable to or easily dealt with by creating distractions.

Posted by: jayc | Jan 10 2021 21:46 utc | 53

@ 49 dh-mtl... not a bad start! - the 'Indianization' of American Society... i thought that was the uk imposing its system onto india? it is funny but for all the posturing of differences between the uk and the usa - increasingly it seems the usa is becoming much of what it tried to get away from - a certain hierarchy that sucks basically..

Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 21:46 utc | 54

Posted by: michael | Jan 10 2021 19:59 utc | 40

FYI, nobody gives a shit about your posts. You already polluted the last thread with your filth. So why don't you just fuck off?!

Posted by: v | Jan 10 2021 21:52 utc | 55

Here is an update on the situation with Venezuela.

The Lima Group still insists Maduro rigged the Dec 6th. election but Guaido is no longer the parallel president or whatever he called himself. He now heads an opposition group called the 'Board of Directors'. Presumably they will try to prevent Biden doing anything to relax sanctions.

The Canadian position re Venezuela is unclear.....but it always was. It was Ms. Freeland who got Canada involved and she isn't saying much since her demotion.

https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2174557-eu-lima-group-sour-on-venezuelas-guaido

Posted by: dh | Jan 10 2021 21:55 utc | 56

The op/ed at RT Circe tries to trash is by Fyodor Lukyanov, a man so intellectually superior it makes Circe's the words of a loon. I see his conclusion as very uncontroversial:

"We can conclude that the world will not really benefit from the new presidency, even if respected foreign policy professionals return to the White House now that Trump is leaving. It might stabilize America’s frenzy in international affairs that we are all used to by now, but a new wave of ideology will neutralize the potential advantage (if it even existed, which is debatable).

"America’s resolve to prove to the world that it’s not like others will encounter the large-scale ‘material resistance’, which will make a dangerous situation even worse. At least with Trump we knew that he didn’t like wars, and he didn’t start any new ones. Biden’s credit history is very different."

Lukyanov does make some errors, however. He fails to understand the actual nature of who/what's running the Outlaw US Empire--a consortium of Neoliberal Kleptocrats melded with the few remaining Old Money interests that control what amounts to a political Duopoly, which is a dictatorship of sorts--Inverted Totalitarianism or Friendly Fascism are the best two terms proven by very reputable academics. IMO, he also underestimates the degree of economic damage done over the past 40 years, particularly if he only looks at USG provided figures which are a trail of falsification going back just as long. The economy will continue to shrink as long as Wall Street and the 10% receive whatever stimulus is provided--even $3000 checks to the entire bottom 90% (about One Trillion) won't be enough as at least 5x that much is the minimum required (and then, that will still fall short, which illustrates the depth of damage). There are excellent reasons why many expect Great Depression II to deepen, which will certainly promote American Exceptionalism since it's the only nation experiencing such a phenomenon.

Massive Capital Flight has already occurred and is ongoing. What we've yet to see is a large increase in emigration, which IMO reflects the inability of the vast majority to think outside the box combined with a genuine fear of the unknown. Those at the DC Demo were mostly older folk not yet reduced to economic refugees. But emigrating during a pandemic isn't at all easy. And internal migration is also very difficult when the economy's shrinking and the previous ways to move about the nation are far more difficult or no longer exist--Bus lines, hitch-hiking and easy to hop freight trains.

Towards the end of the last century an economic/jobs maxim arose: Get employed on the needs/must have side of the economy like health care and steer clear of all jobs reliant on discretionary spending, like retail. We are now seeing that being authenticated. The degree to which Dimitri Orlov is proven correct depends on how the dollar crisis gets resolved, which is an issue that wasn't discussed by Lukyanov at all.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 10 2021 22:30 utc | 57

It will be difficult for many here, I believe, to square their belief that China has the moral highground to the U.S. with China's eager willingness to engage in a Post-Trump America, which at the outset, looks like the most unGodly version of the U.S. yet.

I want to take the opportunity to again say that China is nationalist. They are looking out for numero uno, perhaps even to the detriment of conservative Americans. This is a legitimate point which should not be avoided or glossed over.

China legitimately wants the U.S. to fail. In the interim, however, they just want to keep getting rich.

As gruff has confirmed, they are playing the capitalist game even better than us!

But we should not take our eye off the ball. In a resurgent, Nationalist U.S., our trading relationship with SE Asia will be far different.

I will do my part to not implore my fellows to NOT seek revenge against the Chinese for wanting what's best for them over some deplorable American worlds-away. Not knowing the western mind has its blindspots, amd perhaps they think that conservatives will bend the knee. I doubt this. Our sole aim should be our own betraying globalist class here in the states.

But we should not forget, at the same time, who cheered on a nation in an ongoing war against its own people.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 10 2021 22:33 utc | 58

@ 55 karlof1

Salient post. Orlov is prescient ( or maybe he recognizes all the signs ), and when it comes to talk of collapse, he knows of what he speaks.

Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 10 2021 22:42 utc | 59

v @53

I wonder if michael and Mark2's desks are actually located on the right and left sides of their shared 77th Brigade cubicle...

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Jan 10 2021 22:48 utc | 60

Posted by: Circe | Jan 10 2021 21:22 utc | 48

On Biden, i heard he wants to stay in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and wants to reverse troop withdrawal from Europe, so i'm really not impressed.

His views are that "we need to work together with allies to prop up the US Empire better", that is, he accused Trump of being a dumb imperialist (not working with allies to create US led coalitions) as opposed to him big a smart imperialist - creating coalitions with allies and being a NATO supporter.

The US behaves well only when it is weak. Biden will behave well only if the US is weak. Which it is, now.

But if someone accuses Trump of being a dumb imperialist as opposed to him being a smart imperialist - no thanks.

Posted by: Passer by | Jan 10 2021 22:56 utc | 61

At Asia Times, MK Bhadrakumar has a new article, "The Day American Democracy Died," a hyperbolistic title since such a thing as American Democracy never existed. However, Bhadrakumar does raise a few points:

"Without doubt, the US has been fundamentally weakened on the international stage.

"It has become a hopeless task to try to restore American deterrence and prestige. Rival powers will see new vulnerability in the US. Even the US’ firmest allies in Europe are wondering why they should place trust in the trans-Atlantic alliance with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at its center when American politics has become so febrile....

"But the amazing part is the passivity of the security forces deployed at Capitol Hill, which stands in sharp contrast with the massive show of force characteristic of the police’s confrontation with protesters who agitate peacefully against racial injustice, war, and repression in America....

"The fault lines have become too deep to be papered over and there is growing likelihood that the Republican and Democratic parties might split in a conceivable future, ending the [Duopolistic] system itself. The US has become that dreaded divided republic that George Washington and his successor John Adams warned about....

"The answer lies in multiparty democracy. But there is a vicious cycle, what with the elections clause of the constitution, which leaves states to decide their own rules, and reserves to Congress the power to intervene, a power that Congress has used over the years to keep the two-party system in place and ensure that elections largely remain uncompetitive.

"How could there be modern mass democracy without political parties? [There is; look at China!!] Most advanced democracies have moved to proportional representation, supporting multiparty democracies, whereas the US electoral system and voting rules that were imported from Britain without debate in the 19th century remain frozen in time."

Again, much is overlooked and Biden is too highly regarded by the writer. The nature of the Outlaw US Empire's political-economy and those running it are completely ignored. I've yet to read a proper holistic report on the reality within the Empire. And there's no questioning as to how with its dire economic issues the Outlaw US Empire can continue to support its Empire of Bases and numerous occupations that no longer have any rational purpose.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 10 2021 22:59 utc | 62

@ dh | Jan 10 2021 21:55 utc | 54... freeland was given the finance minister position.. she is in way over here head - although i am sure blackrock will be providing plenty of support in the form of disaster capitalism for her... so, she isn't preoccupied with the lima group in any way at the moment as i understand it...

@ nemisis calling... i highly recommend you read the link b shared "The Consequences of Moving from Industrial to Financial Capitalism" to understand the differences between the usa system and the chinese system... i think you'll learn something from reading it... cheers...

Posted by: james | Jan 10 2021 23:10 utc | 63

Meanwhile flying well under the radar thanks to the DC Demo aftermath is the attempt by Pompeo to start a war with China over Taiwan:

"On Saturday (local time), just 11 days before the end of US President Donald Trump's tenure, Pompeo announced he was lifting restrictions on contacts between the US' and Taiwan island's officials. Pompeo said the US State Department had imposed the complex internal restrictions on itself in an attempt to appease Beijing.

"Going forward, executive branch agencies should consider all "contact guidelines" concerning relations with Taiwan previously issued by the US State Department to be null and void, Pompeo said."

One Chinese expert, Diao Daming, associate professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said:

"As the clock runs out, the Trump administration is more likely to be in a state of uncontrolled chaos, while Pompeo maximizes his power to make "loud noise" in China-US relations so he can continue to use China issues as his biggest capital in his future political career and add value for himself in the US conservative camp, Diao noted."

But Diao also tempered that view:

"Diao said that Pompeo ending the limits on Taiwan relations is hanging a sword over China-US ties and the Biden administration will find it hard to repair the bilateral ties that have been under constant strain.

"The Biden administration would prefer to hype issues on ideological differences against the Chinese mainland and brag about the so-called democracy on Taiwan island as the model for the mainland, Diao noted."

While other experts had differing views. Considering Pompeo's many links to the Duopoly, he appears to be setting the stage for an escalation in the attempted Cold War against China. Biden's position is outlined in the article, but it's very wishy-washy and could easily follow Pompeo's lead given the huge domestic issues within the Empire.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 10 2021 23:19 utc | 64

Posted by: Circe | Jan 10 2021 23:07 utc | 61

There you go

Top adviser signals Biden would keep troops in Syria as leverage

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/05/biden-blinken-syria-oil-obama-red-line-kurds-assad.html#ixzz6jBp9f4aY

Joe Biden hits the president over Syria troop withdrawal in Iowa speech

https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/10/16/joe-biden-donald-trump-syria-troop-withdrawal-turkey-kurds-foreign-policy-iowa-caucuses-2020/4002281002/

Biden Says Would Keep Small U.S. Troops Presence In Afghanistan, Iraq

https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/biden-says-would-keep-small-u-s-troops-presence-in-afghanistan-iraq-/30833114.html

Posted by: Passer by | Jan 10 2021 23:21 utc | 65

Anyone that doesn't already think that Biden and his crew intend to escalate each and every conflict the US is currently involved in, is a very dumb fucker indeed

Posted by: Triden | Jan 10 2021 23:28 utc | 66

@62

Thanks james. It seems somebody in Ottawa is still issuing statements and declarations.

Posted by: dh | Jan 10 2021 23:29 utc | 67

Quite a gem by Global Times:

"The US election has ended. Not only should the Republican Party admit its defeat, but also Trump and his hardcore fans. Trump's social media accounts have accumulated enormous political vigor. His attitude in refusing to admit his defeat will pose potential risks to the US system, and blocking his accounts is a way of rectification. As a political resource in the US, freedom of speech will not be allowed to oppose the US system and the victors in the system. That's why Trump's freedom of speech was ruthlessly deprived.

"The US has been mired in chaos recently. The fight among different forces exposed the true nature of the US system. All the principles - democracy, freedom and human rights - are placed aside in the midst of domestic political tensions, and so is the high moral ground of the US system." [My Emphasis]

The situation could easily be reversed. Imagine Pro-Gore forces in 2000 not allowing the Judicial Coup, and particularly the precedent set for 2024. Would Gabbard's takedown of Harris in the debate be allowed given what appear to be newly minted criteria? Will the exposure of corruption and other crimes get Assanged?

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 10 2021 23:42 utc | 68

@juliania, 21, Jan10 18:03 and @gm, 38, 19:27

I had read about PEG (polyethylene glycol) in the petition of Dr Wolfgang Wodarg and Dr Michael Yeadon to the European Medicines Agency (see quote below) about not approving the introduction of the vaccine because of lack of information. I did not understand why PEG was in the vaccine so thank you Juliania (21) for a good question and gm (38) for an informative answer.

In the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine candidate, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is found in the fatty lipid nanoparticle coating around the mRNA. Seventy percent of people make antibodies to PEG and most do not know it, creating a concerning situation where many could have allergic, potentially deadly, reactions to a PEG-containing vaccine. PEG antibodies may also reduce vaccine effectiveness. Pfizer/BioNTech is also inserting an ingredient derived from a marine invertebrate, mNeonGreen, into its vaccine. The ingredient has bioluminescent qualities, making it attractive for medical imaging purposes, but it is unclear why an injected vaccine would need to have that quality. mNeonGreen has unknown antigenicity.

Posted by: cirsium | Jan 11 2021 0:00 utc | 69

from the link given by b on Venezuela
https://news.yahoo.com/eu-no-longer-acknowledges-venezuelas-170729025.html

"....The two EU diplomats said Guaido remained one of the most important pro-democracy figures in Venezuela, where the EU, the United States, Britain and Latin America want to mediate to organise free and fair elections...".

remember, folks, these elections are only recognized and considered "free and fair" by the Imperial Hegemon USA and the Neo-colonial Powers like the EU, when the outcome suits them - in other words, a 'pro-business' elitist, with massive foreign backing, who wants to privatize everything that has been socialized for the benefit of the poor and working classes, etc etc.

And please try to hold your gag reflex when when you peruse the bit about Guaido being a 'pro-democracy' figure, who just happens to be involved in bribery and corruption and was involved in some real coup d'etat attempts (not the fake mainstream media DC Capitol type, by the way) against the democratically elected government of Venezuela

AND
for some Good news from Latin America and Ecuador, where leftie Arauz has 43% support
https://twitter.com/Ecuador_On_Q/status/1346531016245182465

A new poll by @PerfilesOpinion shows that leftist candidate Andrés Arauz is well on his way to a first round victory.
A candidate can win in the 1st round if they obtain over half of all votes, or if they win over 40% of votes while holding a 10% lead from the first runner up.

the Bad news from Ecuador is
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1348314490325131270

In his final days in office, Ecuador's right-wing US puppet President Lenín Moreno is trying to privatize the central bank, subsidizing capital flight, helping rich elites stash billions in offshore accounts, & boosting foreign debt

Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 11 2021 0:00 utc | 70

@62 james

You have thoroughly established yourself as anti-American.

And you obviously lack the reading skills to realize that we don't need China to tell us what is wrong with our system. What is wrong with our system is our elite's ability to sell us deolorables down the road to China.

To hell with you.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 11 2021 0:05 utc | 71

US to designate Yemen's Houthi movement as foreign terror group as soon as Monday: Sources

Posted by: DeQuincey | Jan 11 2021 0:28 utc | 72

Posted by: michaelj72

Wow, that Moreno is quite the piece of work.

I find it a bit strange that Correa didn't see through him.

Posted by: arby | Jan 11 2021 0:36 utc | 73

Passer by #64

Triden

Thank you both for pointing out that the king dandruff snorting idiot and his coterie are without clothes.

Trump and his morons may have jumped off the clown cart but I see the survivors at the capitol building have hopped aboard. It is going in the same direction so we are all inclined to think it will end the same way.

Has anyone sighted Medicare for All or has the #FraudSquad made off with that treasure?

When does Bernie get elected to chair of the Senate Budget Committee? And why is that a done deal as every other 'progressive' has been isolated or tamed. The way the little dandruff snorter has dumped every 'lefty' to date would seem to indicate that Bernie is of limited use. All the more so when one or two Repugnants are eager to assist (for a price of course). See what Pelosi did to AOC - shoved her head up her rs before refusing to appoint her anywhere.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 0:38 utc | 74

Stephen Karganovich--No More City on the Hill Is quite a read, opening with Edward Bernays's "generous concession to the common man, 'People are entitled to the choices we give them:'"

"The indoctrinated nation that over two centuries was meekly contented, in Bernays’ terms, to settle for the choices it was given, has now fully realized the systemic scandal of that cynical arrangement, and it no longer feels comfortable with it. Still not all, but certainly a good half, and then some. Their overwhelming electoral preference for the 'losing' Presidential candidate, regardless of the ruinous economic and health situation of unparalleled severity, is a telling sign. Since, as all pundits know, Americans always 'vote their pocketbook,' even if the incompetent incumbent’s opponent happens to be an impaired dotard, such electoral behaviour is a game changer that the Bernays-inspired ruling elite disregard at their peril....

"But more fundamentally, beyond mere discontent, and in spite of the greatest coordinated news blackout ever seen, the unhappy masses, some intuitively and some empirically, through the still unrepressed alternative sources, have now grasped the shocking magnitude of the fraud played on them. One of the basic props of the engineered consent upon which public order and social stability have rested for decades, the naïve belief in the democratic essence of the system, was foolishly overturned on November 3rd, and it was done precisely by those who should have been the most interested in keeping it intact. The schism that shattered faith will engender is bound to have incalculable consequences." [My Emphasis]

Wow! He's letting it all out, but wait and read what comes next:

"But the sacrilegious mob incursion into the hallowed precincts of the Congress definitely was not one of those consequences, the carefully contrived appearances notwithstanding. It was a classical false flag operation, an American adaptation of the standard color revolution playbook that previously had been successfully applied elsewhere in numerous regime change situations. The incessantly battered and largely demoralized regime, headed by a political illiterate whose grasp and cunning do not go far beyond routine prevarications required for New York real estate deals, apparently was thoroughly infiltrated as well, exactly like its third world homologues. Violent Antifa shock troops, now the elite’s Brown Shirts, were bussed into Washington in white vans, under police escort. Capitol Hill guards facilitated the storming of the Congress by removing barricades and letting the mob through. Nor did the choreographers forget to make sure that there would also be the obligatory sacrificial victim. From an operational standpoint, Gene Sharp would have been pleased, though it is unlikely that in his day the domestic application of his technology had actually been envisaged".... [Four links at original]

"The curious fact that in the end establishment figures of both parties and from all major institutions of formal and informal governance were aligned on the same page, certifying a totally implausible electoral outcome, is perhaps the ultimate proof of attorney Lin Wood’s otherwise shocking explanation of how the system works.

"Personalizing the issues underlying this crisis, as many outside the United States are wont to do, is mistaken. Both principals are strawmen devoid of substance. In his whimsical quest for the Presidency four years ago, engaged in as a rich man’s ego trip rather than with a serious intention of winning, probably accidentally the incumbent articulated the brooding masses’ deepest concerns and frustrations. They, in turn, projected their exasperation, bitterness, and illusions back onto him, turning him by default into their standard-bearer. The fact that after four years in office their symbolic champion has nothing to show, yet in the midst of economic collapse he was still able to garner about eighty million votes, is a huge sign. It is a sobering warning to the ruling elite that blatant electoral manipulation and ruthless information censorship may serve as Band-Aid solutions, but are losing their effectiveness." [My Emphasis]

Sorry to reproduce so much, but then it stands far better without my analytical interruptions. Do read it all since I did omit some points and linkages.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 11 2021 0:42 utc | 75

@ 66 dh... the last official statement from canada on that link you provide is december 6th... but they are also publishing the lima group and Multilateral organization statements... canada is essentially rubber stamping these statements by having them on the official gov't site, but they appear to be less directly involved at this point, perhaps due the zealot freeland relocating to the finance chair... thanks..

NemesisCalling | Jan 11 2021 0:05 utc | 70.. it's too bad you are not a good judge of character ( my own) and on top of that don't take kindly to acts of kindness.. i am sorry i tried to engage you... the link clearly lays out the differences between the 2 systems and in a way you can see more clearly the work that has to be done in the usa to get it back on track, or as the trump followers like to say - maga... cheers..

Posted by: james | Jan 11 2021 0:47 utc | 76

michaelj72 #69

for some Good news from Latin America and Ecuador, where leftie Arauz has 43% support
https://twitter.com/Ecuador_On_Q/status/1346531016245182465

A new poll by @PerfilesOpinion shows that leftist candidate Andrés Arauz is well on his way to a first round victory.
A candidate can win in the 1st round if they obtain over half of all votes, or if they win over 40% of votes while holding a 10% lead from the first runner up.

the Bad news from Ecuador is
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1348314490325131270

In his final days in office, Ecuador's right-wing US puppet President Lenín Moreno is trying to privatize the central bank, subsidizing capital flight, helping rich elites stash billions in offshore accounts, & boosting foreign debt

Thank you michaelj72. The sad news about Ecuador is that there many USAians refuging there from the debt slavery they have experienced in their homeland. The yootoob is full of 'my life in Ecuador' advice guides and sad tales of people busted by health debts living cheap in Ecuador and just paying minimums back home to their predator insurers to keep them away.

The evil Dimratss are sure to foment a color revolution there and claim the same BS as they did in Grenada all those years ago - 'our citizens are in danger from murderous mobs' - then send in the troops or whatever. Given the mob invasion of their capitol building (House of the Rising Sun as the song goes) the Dimratss will have an easy time whipping up a patriotic frenzy to cover their murderous mendacity.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 0:53 utc | 77

karlof1 #67

Will the exposure of corruption and other crimes get Assanged?

You can bet on it karlof1. Will the Joe Biden Foundation for Homeless Dandruff Flakes be the equivalent of the Clinton Foundation or has that clever Obummer evolved a better model. I must admit that the Hillary Clinton deal re Uranium One was a real cute heist. Perhaps USAi has no productive uranium mines left to sell.

Vaccines were a chance there for a moment but those clever people throughout the rest of the world invented multiple harmless vaccines. That left the Biden Foundation gouger team out in the cold.

What to do?

Maybe if the USA just grabs Bolivia, they could sell lithium mines to the Russians?

When the Pfizer vaccine finally fails to impress or kill the opposition they could retrofit all those liquid nitrogen freezer transporters and sell 'fresh' milk to the Chinese. Might work, if only they can get all those DuPont chemical residues out. I can see it now Biden Bovine Foundation Inc.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 1:14 utc | 78

@ Posted by: juliania | Jan 10 2021 18:03 utc | 21

Here is the technical information being supplied to UK medical people. The directions for the correct administration may be a bit challenging for some areas.

———-

Storage

The Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 should be stored in a freezer at -80°C to -60°C (-90oC to -60 oC in the thermal container). Shelf life is 6 months at -80°C to -60°C. Frozen vials should be transferred to 2°C to 8°C to thaw; a 195 vial pack may take 3 hours to thaw. Alternatively, frozen vials may also be thawed for 30 minutes at temperatures up to 25°C for immediate use.

After thawing, stability data have demonstrated that undiluted vaccine can be stored for up to 5 days at 2°C to 8°C. Once thawed, the vaccine cannot be re-frozen.

The AstraZeneca vaccine should be stored at +2oC to +8oC and has a shelf life of 6 months. The vaccine does not contain any preservative. After first opening the vial, it should be used within 6 hours The vaccine may be stored between 2 ̊C and 25 ̊C during this period. After this time, the vial must be discarded.

Presentation

Each pack of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 contains 195 vials with a minimum of 5 doses per vial (975 doses per pack). It is supplied with 0.9% sodium chloride diluent for injection in plastic ampoules. After dilution, the vaccine should be kept at 2°C to 25°C and used within 6 hours. Any unused vaccine should be discarded.

The Green Book

—————

Method of administration
Administer the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 vaccine intramuscularly in the deltoid muscle after dilution.
Do not inject the vaccine intravascularly, subcutaneously or intradermally.

Preparation: The multidose vial is stored frozen and must be thawed prior to dilution.
Frozen vials should be transferred to 2 °C to 8 °C to thaw.

Alternatively, frozen vials may also be thawed and kept at temperatures up to 25 °C for a maximum of two hours in preparation for dilution for use.

When removed from the freezer, the undiluted vaccine has a maximum shelf life of up to
5 days (120 hours) at 2 °C to 8 °C and an additional 2 hours at temperatures up to 25 °C in preparation for dilution.

When the thawed vial is at room temperature gently invert 10 times prior to dilution. Do not shake.

Prior to dilution, the thawed dispersion may contain white to off-white opaque amorphous particles.

The thawed vaccine must be diluted in its original vial with 1.8 mL sodium chloride
9 mg/mL (0.9%) solution for injection, using a 21 gauge or narrower needle and aseptic techniques.

Warning: Unpreserved sodium chloride
9 mg/mL (0.9%) solution for injection is the only diluent that should be used. This diluent is not provided in the vaccine carton.

REG 174 INFORMATION FOR UK HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Posted by: suzan | Jan 11 2021 1:32 utc | 79

Juliania @ 21, GM @ 38:

Thanks to Juliania for raising the question of how the vaccine might react when injected into a human body at 37 degrees Celsius when it has been stored at -70 degrees C and to GM for mentioning polyethanol glycol as the adjuvant.

Also thanks to Cirsium @ 68 for mentioning the jellyfish-derived ingredient mNeonGreen that Pfizer / BioNTech is also inserting into the vaccines. This surely must be for tracking the vaccine. Perhaps the reason is for Pfizer / BioNTech's benefit in case of lawsuits against the companies should vaccinated people suffer side effects and want compensation. Lawyers for both the prosecution and the defence would want to know what the vaccine targets and tracing a luminescent green trail would help.

The other possibility is that the bioluminescent gene addition would be useful as a vaccine passport in itself. Unvaccinated people would be easy to identify if technology could scan a person's hand to detect the presence of the vaccine by searching for and highlighting the fluorescent green pigment.

Posted by: Jen | Jan 11 2021 1:47 utc | 80

@75 Ottawa will change its position soon enough if Biden decides to let Maduro off the hook. That is the big unknown and Biden will be under pressure from the Lima Group and various Venezuelan (anti-Cuban) exiles.

Not sure where Chevron stands at the moment. They would probably be happy to make some kind of deal with Maduro.

Posted by: dh | Jan 11 2021 1:51 utc | 81

Thank you b for the Escobar/Hudson link. This proposition is interesting:

All of this [junk mortgage debt] was left on the books, foreclosed and sold to a private capital companies like Blackstone. And the result is that home ownership in America declined from 68 percent of the population down to about 61 percent. Well, right where the Obama administration left off, you’re about to have the Biden administration begin in January with an estimated 5 million Americans losing their homes. They’re going to be evicted because they’ve been unemployed during the pandemic. They’ve been working in restaurants or gyms or other industries that have been shut down because of the pandemic. They’re going to be evicted and many homeowners and, low-income homeowners have been unable to pay their mortgages.

There’s going to be a wave of foreclosures. The question is, who’s going to bear the cost? Should it be 15 million American families who lose their homes just so the banks won’t lose money? Or should we let the banks that have made all of the growth since 2008? Ninety five percent of American GDP of the population has seen its wealth go down. All the wealth has been accumulating for the 5 percent in statistics. Now the question is should this 5 percent that’s got all the wealth lose or should the 95 percent lose?

The Biden administration says the 95 percent should lose basically. And you’re going to see a wave of closures so that the question in China should be that, these intermediate banks (they’re not really banks they are sort of like payday loan lenders), should they come in and, bear the loss or should Chinese localities and the people bear the loss? Somebody has to lose when you’re charging, you’re collecting the land’s rent that was paid to the creditors, and either the creditors have to lose or, the tax collector loses and that’s the conflict that exists in every society of the world today.

Xerxes Biden and his pickpocket clown cart may part with a few $2000 dollar relief payments to slow the mighty mortgage foreclosure/eviction rush. Will the clown cart maintain that $2000 periodic payment for two years to get the Dimratss through the next election?

I doubt it but it would be good to see the people of the USA get a break.

Xerxes and team clown cart would have to rein in the military spend :) but that too could be detrimental to them winning the mid term elections in two years. So I see Xerxes Biden facing his very own waterloo here. For this lad to be suddenly jammed between a rock and a hard place that he himself created by all his years of snuggling up to Repugnant legislation and banksters and Obummers thieving manipulations, is a mighty fine view.

Biden will sell you out and the people will be destitute and the banksters will be laughing - still. Time will tell.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 2:50 utc | 82

Mao @35

Good of you to nominate the Cuban health care workers for the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize for medicine might be more appropriate but it doesn't matter because Nobel prizes are never presented to people from communist countries. Nobel prizes are only for capitalists.

Posted by: Chas | Jan 11 2021 2:57 utc | 83

Cranking the Wurlitzer up to 11 we have Taiwan responding to Pompeo saying the 1 country/2 systems doesn't hold any more

"
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Monday that relations with the United States have been elevated to a global partnership, describing the U.S. lifting of restrictions on interactions between officials from both sides as a “big thing”.

Speaking to reporters, Wu said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, would meet President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday during a visit to Taipei to discuss how to promote Taiwan’s international participation.
"

Which circus ring of this shit show to follow? The next 10 days may be interesting in a cursed sort of way

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 11 2021 3:15 utc | 84

@ Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 11 2021 0:42 utc | 74

In this opinion piece the author, citing a twitter feed from January 4 from a bystander, falsely states,

"Violent Antifa shock troops, now the elite’s Brown Shirts, were bussed into Washington in white vans, under police escort."

This canard was promulgated widely by reactionaries and conservatives on social media on and after Jan 6th, and then widely debunked but not before the fictional antifa boogyman story sped round the world hundreds of times.

Also, somewhat ironic, the author eruditely recites Bernay's legacy but then proceeds to dismiss the idea that a contemporary, social-media Bannonite, version is in full-fledged operation,

"The fact that after four years in office their symbolic champion has nothing to show, yet in the midst of economic collapse he was still able to garner about eighty million votes, is a huge sign. It is a sobering warning to the ruling elite that blatant electoral manipulation and ruthless information censorship may serve as Band-Aid solutions, but are losing their effectiveness."

In other words, some ruling elites may prefer a fascist counter revolution to the alternative lurking on the horizon. The politicos work for the donor class, not the people, as you often say. They fight each other using us as pawns.

Posted by: suzan | Jan 11 2021 3:28 utc | 85

At this time of crisis we need to heed the advice of the US President:

'Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!'

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Posted by: Sigil | Jan 11 2021 3:28 utc | 86

Question about Linux. People here talk about how it's resistant to vulnerabilities because the source code is open for review. But, I notice no one talks about the compiler which turns that code into machine language. AFAIK, compilers removes useless code such as remarks. If code can be removed then unwanted code can be inserted. Someone malicious (and it doesn't have to be from some ass-end of the internet) could post a tainted compiler, along with a checksum to make it look authentic. Is there any way for the uninitiated to verify the compiler is legit?

Posted by: Ian2 | Jan 11 2021 4:29 utc | 87

Where's Trump?

Posted by: Nick | Jan 11 2021 6:15 utc | 88

RE: mNeonGreen (reporter gene: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporter_gene)

"The other possibility is that the bioluminescent gene addition would be useful as a vaccine passport in itself. Unvaccinated people would be easy to identify if technology could scan a person's hand to detect the presence of the vaccine by searching for and highlighting the fluorescent green pigment.

Posted by: Jen | Jan 11 2021 1:47 utc | 79 and Circium /68.

It looks like what Pfizer added in their mRNA vaccine is not the mNeonGreen fluorescnt protein itself, but a so-called *reporter gene* that instructs vaccine-'infected' cells to make the mNeonGreen fluorescent protein, along side with making the nCov2 spike protein antigen.

Why did Pfizer/Biontech stitch the mNeonGreen gene into their mRNA payload? Maybe to be able to easily tell/fluorescently tag which cells in the body that the vaccine payload reached (infected) and was replicated/translated [ie. expressed] within, into antigenic proteins, thus being used as a classical reporter gene tool during the early stages of vaccine development?

Did Pfizer/Biontech then get sloppy and leave the mNeonGreen reporter gene in their final vaccine product in order to rush it onto the market first? Did they demonstrate evidence of the lack of antigenicity of the mNeonGreen gene expressed protein in their vaccine product when making submissions to regulatory agencies for human use approval?

Whatever the reason, it looks like Pfizer (and Regeneron too by the way) are now facing patent infringement lawsuits from a San Diego company "Allele Biotechnology" that patented its mNeonGreen tecnology in 2019.

mNeonGreen protein is considered the world's brightest monomeric fluorescent protein, and the technology behind that protein was patented in 2019. Prominent scientific journals have touted the use of mNeonGreen as the “gold standard” for use in assays testing neutralizing antibody and vaccine candidates.

Pfizer & Regeneron Face Infringement Suits Over COVID-19 Vaccine Technology

https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/insights/pfizer-regeneron-face-infringement-suits-over-covid-19-vaccine-technology/

and

Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Files Two Lawsuits for Patent Infringement for the Unauthorized Use of mNeonGreen in Development and Testing of COVID Vaccines and Therapeutics

Posted by: gm | Jan 11 2021 6:44 utc | 89

Sigil #88

'Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!'

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Thank you Sigil, I am glad you spotted that as I see that the ol' terrorist comforter Xerxes Biden has been promoting a number of Dimratss terrorists to his cabinet these last weeks. Lets look at a few now and some more later - small doses will minimise puking.

Cookie Clown Nuland, is sure to get a logie for truly wrecking Ukraine for Joe and Hunter to do a little 'pocket lining' liberation of the national wealth. The swastica faction in the far west are happy and msnbc reports that there is not one voice of dissent in the entire province of Chernobyl.

'Libya' Antony Blinken. A francophone globalist, Blinken as former President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state, delivered the same old death and destruction that goes with increasing US bases in everyone else's country. He would make good fodder an international tribunal on human rights abuses and criminal disregard of the UN principles.

Janet Yellen never met a banker she didn't like. Classical economics is for the fairies in her universe she does janet good vibes for the Wall Street boys. Business (meaning THEFT) as usual. An advocate of free trade and expert in labour markets, she understands the perfectly what the transfer of technology and manufacturing to other countries has done to working Americans. Bound to do comply with 'nothing will change Xerxes Biden's inner mantra.

Alejandro Mayorkas, a Cuban-born immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security. After his nomination, Mayorkas spoke of his desire "to advance our proud history as a country of welcome". ho ho ho, tell that to Libyan, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Africa, Bolivia. So I guess the cages will be done away with and a more humane evil will be inflicted. Something Obummer might feel good about perhaps.

Ron Klain, recently announced as Biden’s chief of staff, once said "LBJ might not have been the wokest, coolest, hippest Democrat, but he’s the person who got the most actual progressive social justice legislation done since FDR […] he knew how to make the Senate work."

So USAians will hope Ron Klain is right and that the Senate does not block the program of this promising new cabinet and its soon to be revealed volume of greater progressive legislation than even LBJ rammed through.

Not one iota of an excuse if nothing manifests eh Joe and Ron? No excuses left Joe & Ron, you have a majority in both Houses. Did I just hear Joe reach out to get consensus first with all his Republican good friends BEFORE he puts his legislation forward. Aw shucks what a fine collegiate politician. (something about healing divisions, good will between the leaders, bringing america together again, health insurance will have to do for now...)

Ron Klain will reveal his inner saint as soon as he demands that the bill that Pelosi has her great fat rs on gets up before the Congress. Show us all what you are made of Ron, get that gal up and singing that M4A tune.

Bring on the clown cart hauled along by the #FraudSquad in gay harness.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 7:07 utc | 90

Re: Where's Trump?

-Nick | Jan 11 2021 6:15 utc | 95

I'm wondering the same.

He has not been heard from since the his [deep fake?] recorded statement on the 7th(?) shortly before the Borg choked off all his communications platforms on social media, and those of his close supporters and spokespeople.

Could the Borg also have ordered their secret police wet boys to choke Trump off *literally* then too?

It would be shocking, but not that surprising...given how the Borg and mobbed-up Pelosi like to make examples of their designated uppity "Hitlers" (eg: Saddam and sons, Gaddhafi and sons, etc) who stand up and resist them.

Posted by: gm | Jan 11 2021 7:13 utc | 91

@Ian2 | Jan 11 2021 4:29 utc | 94

Question about Linux. People here talk about how it's resistant to vulnerabilities because the source code is open for review. But, I notice no one talks about the compiler which turns that code into machine language. AFAIK, compilers removes useless code such as remarks. If code can be removed then unwanted code can be inserted. Someone malicious (and it doesn't have to be from some ass-end of the internet) could post a tainted compiler, along with a checksum to make it look authentic. Is there any way for the uninitiated to verify the compiler is legit?

The linux compilers are all open source too. The most common is gcc (Gnu Compiler Collection), you can find it at https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 11 2021 7:18 utc | 92

Posted by: Circe | Jan 11 2021 7:39 utc | 101

There must be accountability for the level of depravity and dereliction of duty he has demonstrated to the point of criminal.

Do you mean the destruction of the richest republic in the former USSR, Ukraine? The guy is on tape boasting about firing an attorney general in a foreign country, using US taxpayers money as ransom, and pay money to his private banker, someone by the name of Hunter. Plus, the cookie dispenser during the Maidan nazi coup is back, Victoria will keep on fucking the EU and dispensing not cookies this time but government posts, in an occupied country. That reminds me of the words of another lying clown, “You break it you own it”© C.Powell

Biden's Presidency will be assailed from all directions

You mean like four years of RussiaGate? well deserved. Let us see what kind of fairy tale they come up with, like troll farms, Putin’s Chef, Guccifer, or maybe this time it should be Pradademon of Tommymamon. Instead of a pee tape will be entertained with dandruff tapes.

Only serious action that breaks Trump's ego will be effective and ensure he will not return with a vengeance seeking vindication.

Like prosecuting the criminal gang that destroyed Haiti, Honduras, Ecuador, Syria, Libya, Yemen….. we came, we saw, he died… oh classical stuff, so the smelly deplorables do not understand, therefore we kill and laugh about it.

You sound fair and balanced dear.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 11 2021 8:03 utc | 93

@ Posted by: Ian2 | Jan 11 2021 4:29 utc | 94:

There's no easy way of verifying whether the compiler (or any other software for that matter) you use is tainted or not. See "Stage III" of https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358198.358210 (but do read the whole text if you have the time; it's not very long but very interesting). You can hide malicious actions without any indications in source code. At that point you have to disassemble and reverse-engineer the compiled binaries, which is a whole new can of worms on its own.

The compiler used to compile Linux is gcc (https://gcc.gnu.org/), which is open-source and can thus be scrutinized in the same ways Linux can; but with compilers you have the chicken-and-egg problem of needing some other compiler to build your new compiler with, which can of course already be "tainted". You can write a new compiler from scratch (a daunting task, but not impossible) and then start worrying about what backdoors are lurking in your hardware...

This sounds more damning than it really is, though. If you don't trust your computer there are ways of restricting what the computer might be able to do (things like not connecting to the Internet directly and using a restrictive external firewall inbetween your computer and the net instead). It comes down to what you want to protect yourself against.

Posted by: pachinko | Jan 11 2021 8:20 utc | 94

Damn purge is already beginning and Biden isn't even Pres yet, fucking LOL

Posted by: Smith | Jan 11 2021 9:22 utc | 95

I was perceiving Obama as "willing (cooperative) puppet" and Trump as "unwilling (uncooperative) puppet". Thus strings: "Russian collusion", etc. were needed to control his actions in a favourable way. Now, pre-emptively, strings are being attached to Biden - "stolen elections" in case he ever decided to not cooperate. As if he did not generate enough strings on himself already. I can bet stolen election proofs will surface as soon as Biden is considering anything against will of powers that be.

Posted by: pppp | Jan 11 2021 10:23 utc | 96

Posted by: pachinko | Jan 11 2021 8:20 utc | 94

One hopes ones cpu and ram can be trusted too.

One can never tell what the CPU microcode is really doing to binary instruction in mid-compute.

Or the BIOS before the O.S has loaded.

Or the NIC controller as it feeds packets onto the wire ...

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 11 2021 10:23 utc | 97

The Iranian position is really stupid.

Biden will be a weak president who will most of his time be busy with domestic issues. He would probably like to lift the sanctions and re-join the JCPOA but if he does so without getting something face-saving in return hs domestic enemies will use this in order to let him appear weak. Keeping the sanctions in place, on the other hand, hurts neither the USA nor Biden, even if it doesn't make any sense politically.

So this is what is going to happen. The USA will remain in the dead end of their Iran policy - but since they have other problems they won't care to much - and Iran will get the satisfying feeling of standing up to the USA and no lifting of the sanctions.

Posted by: m | Jan 11 2021 10:35 utc | 98

Janet Yellen is the obfuscating freak that Biden appointed and here she is in 2015 evasive and covering for her corruption in the past.

And then there is all this at at Wall Street on Parade on Janet Yellen's watch as well.

Hint, at the Wall Street on Parade page type 'yellen' in the search bar and just feast your eyes on this dirty little thief minding shop for her mates. This is the style of pick that gives snot a bad name.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 11 2021 10:48 utc | 99

unimperator | Jan 10 2021 20:56 utc | 49

Sorry, My source is my neighbour. Not the internet.
My wife is in an EHPAD in France so I have more than a passing interest. They are trying to roll out the Pfizer vaccine here. This link might interest you though.
I also looked up figures generally admitted but those numbers have been "stationary" for several days. From Ron Paul Institute; Reality !

Nursing home deaths

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 11 2021 11:09 utc | 100