Now comes the cover up…
AP: Biden did answer questions from House Democrats at virtual event
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-afs:Content:9988483554

CLAIM: The White House cut President Joe Biden’s feed at a virtual event with top House Democrats because they did not have confidence in him answering questions.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Biden did take questions after his introductory remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Virtual Issues Conference on Wednesday but the event was closed to the press after the initial comments, so the video feed was cut.
THE FACTS: Posts online are suggesting that the video proves that the White House is limiting the president’s talking time.

Posted by: librul | Mar 5 2021 15:33 utc | 3

Biden and the forever wars:
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was committed to working with Congress to “ensure that the authorizations for the use of military force currently on the books are replaced with a narrow and specific framework that will ensure we can protect Americans from terrorist threats while ending the forever wars.”
Biden Administration Refuses To Say Middle East Militias Are Iran-Backed
I have a sense that things are moving there now, we’ll see how far they get. That picture at the second one is worth a look. You can just feel the frustration.
@1 James joseph
Iranian bookstores offer “The Golem” by Harry Collins, Trevor Pinch
An interesting take from Iran. I think it is more a matter of not trusting the “owners” of the new tech, rather than the tech itself. Although of course less informed people may not make that distinction.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 5 2021 16:02 utc | 5

@1 James joseph | Mar 5 2021 14:55 utc
My totally non-scientific opinion is that it will be dependent upon the culture created by the millennials. Being a fan of EO Wilson, I view humans as a super organism with a spectrum of greed/altruistic individuals populating the planet. Given the exaltation of greed since the advocacy of neo liberalism, IMHO the western “civilization” is based upon that dysfunction. The Far East, at least on the surface appears to have evolved away from the greed culture, perhaps due to its much longer history. I take the sense of community, displayed by quicker apron to mask wearing, and lower Covid-19 infection rates as indicators.
Due to the prevalence of the dysfunctional assumption that “Greed is good”, it will take the replacement of current elites to achieve any semi-permanent progress. Given the short term prospects of the planet, we do not have enough time for this replacement to evolve naturally. I suspect we’re scr*wed.

Posted by: Michael | Mar 5 2021 16:12 utc | 7

Some good news. There seems to be an ongoing trend for countries around the globe to take greater control of their own natural resources.
A report published Thursday by risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft indicated that over the course of 2020, 34 countries had seen a “significant increase” in resource nationalism, with the pandemic exacerbating an existing trend toward government intervention.. Analysts indicated that “Issues around income distribution, poverty, access to education and healthcare — to name but a few — can trigger socio-political processes that demand more from the state”. Imagine that, countries like Bolivia using their natural resources to improve the lot of the average citizen.
This trend towards nationalizing resources, however, could spell danger for commodities and decrease profits of the resource extraction industry.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of folks, if you ask me.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 5 2021 16:33 utc | 9

Below is a quote from a ZH posting about the US Treasuries market that barflies might find interesting
”
And while had hoped that the Treasury announcement that $38BN in 10Ys would be auctioned off in next week’s reopening would restore some normality to the repo market, that has failed to materialize as of Friday morning, when according to ICAP, the cost to borrow 10-year Treasuries in the repo market opened below the -3% penalty rate Friday, with the repo rate for 10-year Treasuries posted at -3.10%.
As we have repeatedly explained, and as Bloomberg comments this morning, when the interest rate on overnight cash loans backed by the newest 10-year note goes below -3%, it’s cheaper to pay the regulatory fine for failing to return the collateral on time than it is to renew the loan – a sign that short selling is intense.
This is hardly news considering the relentless move higher in yields which we now know has been facilitated by wave after wave of new shorts, to the point that the 10Y may now be the most actively shorted future of all major liquid instruments.
Regardless of the cause, unless the repo stabilizes in the coming days ahead of next week’s 10Y auction – which may be the most important market event of the quarter if last week’s catastrophic 7Y is any indication – then people will have a major problem on his hands, because after failing to admit that there is a major repo problem during yesterday’s WSJ Q&A the Fed chair will lose even more credibility as he now is forced to scramble to restore order, something which he may only be able to do with an emergency announcement ahead of the March 17 FOMC.
”
Hey clue1, show us more of your ignorance. Between your projected ignorance and VK spewing ideological garbage here it makes the MoA bar look bad.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 5 2021 16:37 utc | 11

Adding to my comment at #11 folks need to understand that short selling at this time is one of the only ways to determine price/value of things because all fundamentals of the past have been thrown out the window.
What we are seeing here is finance eating its own and those that end up surviving at the end should be rounded up and made examples of the sickness of greed.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 5 2021 16:42 utc | 13

Why Europe keeps sending warships to South China Sea?
Corroborates with my previous analysis. Europe is essentially walking slowly in the dark of these uncertain times, speculating over what next strategy it should adopt. The only certainty they have is they don’t want to be a periphery to the Chinese, i.e. they want to keep their superiority in life standards (welfare state) and “culture”, which, of course, is essential for the EU’s legitimacy.
–//–
Reposting:
Fed lures banks to buy unwanted US Treasuries: US deficit hasn’t been this big since World War II and China and Japan are demurring from buying more US debt
As I mentioned previously, 2020 is different from 2008 in the sense that the USD is now weakening (in opposition to 2008, when the USD actually got stronger).
The Fed is now literally having to print money in order to buy US Treasury bonds, and even then the USD continues to weaken.
The Dollar Standard is strong, but not indestructible.
–//–
The liberation of Hong Kong, from the British/capitalist point of view:
‘Hong Kong is crumbling’: seven days that crushed city’s last resistance
I love some capitalist tears.

Posted by: vk | Mar 5 2021 16:48 utc | 15

Thinking for oneself cannot but be a step forward. Scary at first, not being used to striking out on one’s own, but as long as the restrictions on free thought are not draconian, it is far better to reason for oneself about the realities we face than to take on what someone else is trying to persuade one is the case. Far better for a population at large if it reserves judgment (and energy) while treating its wouldbe leadership with skepticism. Fear maybe enters in when one takes the first step, but believe me, that’s what we were made for.
We are better off not trusting the media than we were when we did.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 5 2021 17:09 utc | 17

75% Of All Jobs Added In February Were Waiters And Bartenders
https://indeki.com/75-of-all-jobs-added-in-february-were-waiters-and-bartenders.html
The Cult of Cancel is After Us
Eliminating the speech before eliminating the speaker.
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/the-cult-of-cancel-is-after-us
Biden Labor Board Blocks Construction Workers From Union Exodus … Workers unanimously opted out of carpenters’ union
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-labor-board-blocks-construction-workers-from-union-exodus/

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Mar 5 2021 17:22 utc | 19

Just gimme the frikkin warp drive already! In GOLD!!

Posted by: Chevrus | Mar 5 2021 18:02 utc | 21

if elon musk is any indication, i am not confident… everything i read about the guy screams creepy…

Posted by: james | Mar 5 2021 18:06 utc | 23

psychohistorian @11&13–
Thanks for posting that info as it backs what Max said on his show yesterday. The spinning Repo Plate has developed a very bad wobble signaling the “correction” will be coming soon. If I could, I’d buy Yuan and Ruble denominated bonds as getting physical gold is close to impossible. Check out the current melt value of the mostly copper penny versus the dime! It’s very telling that the current dollar coin’s melt value is now under 7 cents, meaning the mostly copper penny is closing in on half its value.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 5 2021 18:18 utc | 25

News about Governor Cuomo and 10,000 nursing home deaths that never happened keeps dripping out. Three obvious questions.
Why is he not yet arrested and charged?
How could this happen in the media capital of the universe? Every investigative reporter, every media outlet is deaf dumb and blind?
Why would any of us believe one word reported to us by same media?

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 5 2021 18:32 utc | 27

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 5 2021 18:32 utc | 27 [should someone be charged in connection to causing and hiding the deaths in the nursing homes in NY state in the early stage of COVID-19]
33. IMMUNITY OF GOVERNMENT OFFICERS SUED AS INDIVIDUALS FOR OFFICIAL ACTS
The general rule at common law was that in order for a government official to be protected by absolute immunity for common law torts, not only did the official have to be acting within the outer perimeter of his/her official duties, but the conduct at issue also had to be discretionary in nature.
——
It seems if the torturability of Gov. Cuomo (the potential of subjecting him to torts, i.e. letting him stand in the largest square of Albany, NY while citizens lob at him torts or other gooey pastries) depends on the determination if issuing correct instructions to hospitals, nursing home and similar facilities is a part of his regular duties, and the same about public reporting of the results of those instructions. If this was merely an optional activity, then he seems totally immune. This hinges on my belief that “discretionally in nature” is something that you can do or not.
For example, you may make a gesture prompting a policeman to kill you. Because this was done as an allowed but not necessary part if his duties, he is immune. Now, even if a vegetable could figure it out that killing you does not improve public order in any way, the policeman is not immune, being more intelligent than a vegetable is a regular, non-optional part of of his duties. But if an average hot-headed stupid human could think that killing you improves public order, then the immunity holds.
By analogy, if Cuomo revealed more intelligence and honesty than a rotting carrot on a compost heap, he seems to be safe from the law.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 5 2021 18:52 utc | 29

No surprise, but a widely shared photograph of a Xinjiang “concentration camp” turns out to have been a deliberately misconstrued image. I’m sure the Canadian and Dutch parliaments will rescind their “genocide” declarations.
https://twitter.com/RadenovicAlyse/status/1367612679112839169
Similarly, it started with Teresa May alleging a “chemical weapons attack” on European soil (re: the Skripals) and now has morphed into an alleged active Russian Chemical Weapons/WMD program requiring sanctions and public outrage (re: Navalny).
The decline of the West can be measured by the level of constant BS.

Posted by: jayc | Mar 5 2021 19:03 utc | 31

@ oldhippie | Mar 5 2021 18:32 utc | 27

Why would any of us believe one word reported to us by same media?

Ask the covidiots here, they must have the answer.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 5 2021 19:34 utc | 33

#1 Using science against the people? Very easy, with the stats governments are getting now (thanks to online deliveries), they will be able to adjust the precise need of the sheeps and ascribe them exactly what they need in “universal income”, which soon will be equivalent to “democracy” in their public speeches. The panopticon is triumphant, thanks to the so-called pandemy.

Posted by: Mina | Mar 5 2021 20:00 utc | 35

Mr. Michael
You be wrong about the Far Easterners. They have not evolved in the moral sense to which you allude.
They are in the age of Jahilyya – Age of Darkness – bereft of the Light of the Revelations.
In China, for centuries, there was a form of Humanism that exercised a mild form of restraint on the malfeasance of the governing strata – not any more, it died together with the Chinese Civilization.

Posted by: fyi | Mar 5 2021 21:19 utc | 37

Piotr Berman
Henry VI, part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
How many repeat performances with known end would be required and how many acts to conceal the crime, er, tort, before a lawyer stands up and says that pile of dead bodies was put there by a perp?
How many dead bodies before a journalist decides there is a story?
How many times will public be fooled before wising up? Well, that one I know the answer.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 5 2021 21:35 utc | 39

psychohistorian #11
Some complementary factors that we can consider:
The new, 34-year old Democratic Senator from Georgia, Jon Ossoff, let a very big cat out of the bag at yesterday’s Senate Banking hearing. For at least a year, from September 17, 2019 through at least September 30, 2020, the New York Fed, acting as an agent for the Federal Reserve, doled out a cumulative $9 trillion or more in repo loans. The Fed would say only that the money was going to some of its 24 Primary Dealers on Wall Street, without naming any specific bank receiving the money. In June of 2020, the New York Fed abruptly stopped reporting the dollar amounts it was pumping out each day.
and from the same source:
Pull up a chair and get comfy. You’re about to watch the first act in what is likely to be a long-running show called “The Great Tech Wreck of Zero-Dividend Stocks.” The show’s sponsor is rising yields on U.S. Treasury notes which make tech stocks that have ballooned in price (as the Fed held interest rates artificially low) and pay no cash dividends to compete with the rising yields, particularly unattractive.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 5 2021 22:08 utc | 41

Piotr Berman | 28
lol! That sounds like a line right out of “Yes, Minister” the TV show. Congrats, much appreciated!

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Mar 5 2021 22:37 utc | 43

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 5 2021 22:08 utc | 41
Re Wallstreet on Parade link, that was great, Bezos lost 15% since September. It is a new day!

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 5 2021 22:48 utc | 45

@Scotch Bingeington: Any relation to Buzz Killington?

Posted by: Chevrus | Mar 5 2021 22:59 utc | 47

I’m just waiting for the chinese to release their own GPU, which might solve the current GPU drought.

Posted by: Smith | Mar 5 2021 23:28 utc | 49

I ask because his comment at 37 is one of the most racist things I have seen.
Posted by: Michael Weddington | Mar 5 2021 23:25 utc | 48
Yep, it is, I’ll give you that, although it’s nothing like the worst.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 5 2021 23:42 utc | 51

@ Michael Weddington | Mar 5 2021 23:25 utc | 48…i dunno michael.. maybe i cut people too much slack by first off acknowledging that english isn’t there first language and that they come from a completely different culture then mine…. so, i suppose i am not so quick judge or dismiss others viewpoints… this might make me appear like one of the duller blades in the drawer.. so be it… fyis comments @37 are steeped in mystery to me… i know nothing about the “age of Jahilyya” or islamists views on these matters… it arouses my curiousity more then anything else and i don’t immediately dismiss it.. to each there own i guess..

Posted by: james | Mar 5 2021 23:59 utc | 53

unlike some on the moa board, i don’t have this utopian, or idealistic view on present day china… maybe it has to do with experiencing an aspect of chinese culture far removed from china, but reaching the area i live for the past number of years that mostly appears as a materialistic, acquisitive culture steeped in a type of obsession over status and financial gain… i have often thought the reason the new arrivals from hong kong in the 90’s prior to the 97 transition might taint my viewpoint… i grew up in vancouver and studied tai chi beginning at age 20 – over 40 years ago… i have high regard for certain aspects of chinese culture, taosim in particular.. i am not sure how far removed present day china is from my deep appreciation of lao tzus writings, not to mention other amazing aspects of chinese culture… i just don’t view them in the same rosy manner that my friends here at moa – karlof1 and grieved, seem to view them… so maybe this feeds into my viewpoint on all this.. i am sure it has to be factored in.. thank god it is an open forum… i was worried i was ranting on the wrong channel, lol…

Posted by: james | Mar 6 2021 0:08 utc | 55

“US announces sanctions on top Ukrainian oligarch & Zelensky ally Kolomoisky for ‘undermining democratic processes‘ in country.” [My Emphasis] Here.
Okay, so when will the Democratic National Committee and its Republican counterpart be sanctioned for doing the same within the USA?

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 6 2021 0:11 utc | 57

Bemildred #44

I get the feeling “Biden” is trying to get back into the Iran deal. I get the feeling not everybody is happy, so maybe Tungsten’s concerns (provocations) are valid. Lots of things moving around in the bushes right now.

Thank you for linking that statement by Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations, including the IAEA, in Vienna who is reported as follows:

According to the diplomat, it has become possible to focus on the diplomatic track. He estimated chances for negotiation as very high.
“We are witnessing a unique situation when there is unity of purpose, since both Iran and the United States want to come back to full implementation of the JCPoA,” he said. “Now, the sequence of steps and their content should be negotiated. It is a solvable task with a common strategic goal,” the diplomat added.

He is perfectly correct of course (in a diplomatic and practical sense) and in a sane world Russia could offer the mediation to bring the contending sides into private discussion. Unfortunately the USA has been idiot enough to have fallen into the trap of having no acceptable partner to broker as an intermediary.
The USA has been used and fooled into hating Russia, China, etc and then either distrusting the UN or being identified as a UN manipulator to the extent of now finding itself cast as ‘not agreement capable’.
To start talks the situation requires, as Mikhail Ulyanov says, step by step moves on both sides to the point where a modicum of mutual confidence is restored. The Blinken Biden Harris team inspire zero confidence for that to manifest. They are captive to their macho self image, the manipulations of many other Iran haters in the region, and the predatory demands of Global private finance capitalism.
We see how ideologically rigid is the Dimratss mindset, they will short change their own people, deny them a $15 minimum wage when that is the ideal initial stimulus in these times, deny them medicare for all in the times of a deadly national pandemic tragedy, and pour trillions of dollars into a predatory bankster mafia.
These are not normal people in charge. They have lost their minds.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 6 2021 0:20 utc | 59

james @55–
I see you qualify your comment by specifying Hong Kong Chinese. They most certainly are not Mainlanders and have a culture polluted by British Imperialism that’s closer to the Gangsterism of Chiang Kai-shek than Mao’s Collectivism. You may recall the book and video Affluenza that does a good job of explaining how traditional conservative mores are assaulted and trampled by affluent modernity. Such outcomes aren’t restricted to North America but are global thanks to human similarity. If one were to develop a moral equivalency chart evaluating all global cultures and major sub-cultures, you’d see a majestic hodge-podge with very little uniformity, which also relates to the very uneven state of human development in all its facets. The great task of humanity over the next several centuries is to peacefully level out those disparities. But as I wrote on the Shia thread, the remaining Imperialist nations are a very large impediment in attaining that goal and need to be removed so humanity can evolve.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 6 2021 0:27 utc | 61

UT @41
Those are two very good links. Interesting that the senator Jon Ossoff seems to be quite intelligent asking questions that I would guess to be out of bounds.

Posted by: arby | Mar 6 2021 0:43 utc | 63

@ 58 smith… that is interesting what you say.. thanks.. i mostly see the book of lao tzus as a type of enlightenment, but i can see how easily it could be pushed to the side and trampled upon by others to.. i am not sure about the rebranding of it… i am a byproduct of the hippie generation which was into a lot of alternative kinds of culture and this was my exposure.. i don’t know that they were trying to rebrand anything… maybe some of that is happening now though.. i don’t know…
@ 60 bemildred… yes, all this can swing a number of ways, but it is best to stay positive!
@ 61 karlof1… it is true i focused on the hong kong arrivals, but in the past 10-15 years, there have been many arrivals from mainland china too.. all of them with a lot of money… it is based on the requirements for entry and immigration to canada it seems.. they don’t strike me any different then the previous folks from hong kong in fact… but i think my impression is skewed because we only see the moneyed people here trying to branch out into real estate and ownership in canada as an alternative or option given their wealth… i often think my viewpoint would be less skewed if we invited ordinary people from china here, instead of only the wealthy… and just to add to this – it is essentially the same deal with the many hard working people from india too… they may be spiritual and all that, but they are very materialistic and acquisitive too.. perhaps it comes from living in different cultures where there are no free rides and everyone has to work very hard for what they get… i don’t know.. my comments can be treated as very subjective in nature as i am speaking from my first hand experience and it will be naturally skewed.. i try to imagine how it might be like outside of my bubble.. i have never been to china, but i have been to india.. it is very different their, but the dog eat dog vibe was very real too as i saw it…
but i appreciate your viewpoint and focus on rising above all of this to find a way where people on the planet can work together in peace and harmony.. i want to believe this is possible and work towards it in my day to day life as best i can.. i do agree with @ 64 carl d… something has to give in the financial pyramid thing that is presently going on in the world.. michael hudson gets at this some.. thank you and everyone else here again for the perspective and insights…

Posted by: james | Mar 6 2021 1:09 utc | 65

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 6 2021 0:20 utc | 59
Thank you for your comments. It is not all one-sided. There are conflicting narrratives being pumped because there are divergent audiences to be pacified. I thought the TASS article was very ineresting too, The Russians don’t run their mouths in public that way for nothing. I see concessions being made here and there, on both sides, a little dance right now. Some Iranian money to be freed, not calling the Iraqi militias “Iran-backed” now, some other sematic fiddling, and no more fucking with them. There are other parties too, the Pope is not there just to visit, there is talk of the “Abrahamic Religion” uniting Christians, Muslims, and Jews, etc. And as Kooshy says they seem to be getting along really well.
That strike in the Iraq-Syria border seems to have been a big mistake.
I quite agree that they are grabbing at straws now.
No idea what is really going on yet, but it is interesting to watch.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 6 2021 1:22 utc | 67

@ james
Yes, the western hippie generation is very fueled by drugs and new age philosophies. But note that these rebranded exotic religions do not resemble the native ones.
For example in Asia proper, you have actual deities to worship in Taoism, and it’s not just a philosophy waxing about the Dao like in the west.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daode_Tianzun
And Taoist priests are still an actual thing, and you can hire them to check Feng Shui and even exorcism.
Still, it’s superstitions and money making schemes, and I wouldn’t put much trust in them.

Posted by: Smith | Mar 6 2021 1:32 utc | 69

james @ 55, it does really depend on who you know. My one personal contact is my son-in-law, whom I am proud to call my son as he is a lovely person who cares about people. His parents were engineers, both of them, and they put him into a Tibetan monastery to be raised as they went about their engineering. I met his mother once; she was a very fine, humble person.
My daughter met him and fell in love when she was studying in China, so they married there, then came to the US during the ‘good’ Clinton years. He adapted amazingly well, cheerfully and happily, and in that same happy spirit finally returned to China. I miss him, but I respect his decision.
From what I read and see of Xi, he is the same kind of thoughtful person.
You would like my son-in-law, james!

Posted by: juliania | Mar 6 2021 1:44 utc | 71

Classic.
Never read western hippie generation in concert with taoist priest in a retort…man love this site… keeps me thinking

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Mar 6 2021 1:58 utc | 73

Bemildred #67
Agreed there is movement. It bring increased opportunity for peace and Judaic backed sabotage. Time will tell.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 6 2021 2:59 utc | 75

James @ 55:
Hong Kong culture is very different from the culture of Mainland China, thanks in no small part to HK having once been a link between China and the rest of the world for a long time and becoming very wealthy as a manufacturing and financial services centre as a result. HK people are very materialistic and status-conscious, and look down on other Chinese (to say nothing of what they think of other Asians and other non-white people) who do not speak HK Cantonese. The only people HK people respect are English-speaking white British and Americans.
My parents visited HK back in the 1990s and my mother tried speaking Taishanese (our native language: it is related to Cantonese and is spoken just west of the Pearl River delta not far from Macau, in Guangdong province) to shop assistants. They ignored her and it was only when she switched to English that their attitude changed dramatically and fell over one another to help.
Before the 1980s, huge numbers of Cantonese people living in English-speaking countries were actually Taishanese speakers. My parents visited San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1988 and nearly everyone they came across spoke Taishanese. It was the dominant language there.

Posted by: Jen | Mar 6 2021 4:15 utc | 77

Posted by: migueljose | Mar 6 2021 3:42 utc | 76
Thanks for the Norton article, which stems from an earlier piece that he wrote.
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/06/yaku-perez-pachakutik-ecuador-us-coup/
After Lenin Moreno, you would think that Ecuadorians would be on the lookout for another Washington-associated trojan horse. Hopefully progressives who voted for Perez will transfer their support to Correa protégé Andrés Arauz in the runoff election in April.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 6 2021 4:26 utc | 79

@66
Sounds like projection. You have nicely described my experience in the USA! Aside from my union jobs, it has been kiss up and kick down…even self-employed.
“A certain fragrance of superstition and sentimentality also is always present, at various degrees.” Growing up in a small, conservative religious town, this is a great description of my experience.
I will say, the general American population isn’t docile, but are herded about like cattle none the less. I’d also say the Chinese aren’t so much docile as they are subtle, which I believe is far more effective than rowdy but dumb.

Posted by: Jason | Mar 6 2021 5:52 utc | 81

I know of a similar experience as Jason’s at 86.. Chinese people are proving themselves to be a good lot.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/05/hong-kong-is-crumbling-seven-days-that-crushed-citys-last-resistance
Since the imposition of the national security law, the authorities have stoked pressure on the judiciary, media, schools and Universities and the civil society at large, including churches and NGOs, as Beijing-backed media increasingly lashed out on judges, professors, school teachers and church pastors seen as pro-democracy.
News tonight announced one state <=governing Americans in the USA, think it was Alabama passed a law, making statements about the possible risks, composition or adverse consequences of the so called vaccine (RNA script) which c\n be supported (like if you don't shut up, we will bankrupt you with an expensive trial) is to be made unlawful.. Could such a law be an infringement against the 1st amendment? "Congress shall make no law ..abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." What about applying the same logic to news outlets, that promote false flag ops, suppress real news, promote lies, favor for access to mass media, those that speak the untruth, and condone presenting testimony without support, as fact? Resistance of the governed to nation state hegemony over mankind seems to be growing in every nation state in the world. A possible logic for the lock down (conspiracy theory) is that it was designed to keep the governed of the different nation states from talking with each other. <=debate please. Those who govern are becoming concerned: conditions have ripen for the bottom to change the balance of power at the top or even to reduce oligarchs and political leadership to equivalent or less than deplorable level. No wonder CCP locks up those thinking non conformist in HK and the USA and its states are mandating laws and using government agencies to promote, the sale and use of private party biological products. The beginning of the war between the non-conforming governed and those that wield the power of the nation states seems to be marked by the nation state system's globally coordinated declaration that the flu is a Pandemic; the propaganda allowed to be presented over the privately owned media and viewed as prime time content by the mass audience projects powerful media support for the nation state leaders and reals in billions of corporate tax deductible advertising $s to support the media effort to make what the politicians want to come true. The response of the governed to support of private party products by the political leadership of the various nation states in the name of a questionable pandemic has shown that resistance by those who are the governed is not only possible but highly effective, much more effective than ever I thought possible. Judging from the flu is a pandemic scenario, I expect to see the bottom up resistance worldwide to continue to grow..and as yet unknown dark underground networks to grow. Interesting times seem to be ahead.

Posted by: snake | Mar 6 2021 6:03 utc | 83

Look out, here comes the trojan mule.
“YEREVAN, March 6. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that Washington would continue its efforts to help resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Pashinyan’s office said on Friday.
“The prime minister’s office said in a statement that the sides touched upon the post-war situation and emphasized the necessity to restore the peace process within the OSCE Minsk Group format.
“The Armenian Premier called his interlocutor’s attention to the need for Azerbaijan to immediately return the prisoners of war, hostages and people held in captivity. In this context, the US side highlighted the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ activities and voiced readiness to continue its role in resolving the conflict,” the statement says.”
The Armenian Army could help out too.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 6 2021 6:58 utc | 85

The USAi has lost control of its occupying army. Xerxes had the same problems in his ancient chain of command.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 6 2021 6:02 utc | 82
Yes. I think it has always been that way with a couple of historical exceptions. So it’s what I look for, and why when things happen, I don’t assume that “Biden” necessarily knew about it beforehand. All that stuff about civilian control is “exaggerated”, that corporate trough is mighty tasty. It’s common in a lot of places, almost a norm. The CIA is very fond of taking its own advice too.
If you want to read “Catch-22” by Joe Heller, he’s not kidding about all that.
Regarding that particular incident I ran into a piece yesterday that framed it just like that, and attempt to get an unconsidered response by some officer with ideas. But they hit the wrong people.
The Russians and/or Syrians seem to be tearing it up in Norther Aleppo. The Russian military, on the other hand, seems to have its shit unusually well put together these days. I don’t think there is anybody else I can say that about. They do much with little.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 6 2021 7:46 utc | 87

@snake | Mar 6 2021 6:03 utc | 83

Judging from the flu is a pandemic scenario, I expect to see the bottom up resistance worldwide to continue to grow..and as yet unknown dark underground networks to grow. Interesting times seem to be ahead.

Thank you for this optimistic perspective, I believe you are right. It must be so.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 6 2021 8:10 utc | 89

What fyi writes in 37 is just the common Muslim view. Polytheists live in the Age of Ignorance and are on the lowest level of morality. Monotheists (“People of the Book”), are somewhat less inferior. Muslims are morally on the top by definition.
Conflicts between different cultural, religious or ethnic groups happen all over the world, but Muslims habe a tendency to never go along well with others, be it Westerners, Russians (Chechens)), Chinese (Uighurs), Indians (Kashmir) or Africans (Nigeria etc.). That’s the reason why.
The notion of Muslim superiority is also the reason for the backwardness of most Muslim societies since it discourages them from learning from other, more evolved, non-Muslim societies (in the past chiefly the West but now increasingly East Asia as well). Worldly science is often perceived as un-Islamic and morally corrupting.
Fyi is polite and has good manners, though.

Posted by: m | Mar 6 2021 10:06 utc | 91

Posted by: Bluedotterel | Mar 6 2021 10:47 utc | 92
I agree, I don’t think Erdogan is that stupid. He is a smart politician, and Putin does not want to alienate Turkey, so they play games. The NK situation look unstable, so …
But I don’t think Erdogan is dumb enough to try to plant jihadis there now. This Aliyev fellow looks like a shifty person though, crooked and ambitious. I see hints that both Russia & Iran are annoyed about what happened there.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 6 2021 13:56 utc | 93

Mr. Smith
Interesting observations about the emperors and their spiritual orientation on state security.
I must disagree, however, on the influence of Legalistic ideas on the emperors you mentioned. I think the central tenant of Legalists, which, to my knowledge, was that even the emperor is not above the law, was never adopted widely and consistently across Chinese territory.
I think that Legalistic Thought was the last best hope of China for the creation and maintenance of a dispensation in which the Chinese people could feel secure in their Person, Family, and Property.
Three thousand years and still the battle ment endures.

Posted by: Fyi | Mar 6 2021 15:22 utc | 95

Just an observation (via Jiddu Krishnamurti); “You cannot just brush the surface of a culture, and pretend that you have found an answer. We must turn inward, to the deepest depths of our own roots to find the very best of who we are.”
Further note: the preceding is also used to great effect as a sample by Thievery Corporation.

Posted by: robjira | Mar 6 2021 15:48 utc | 97

With regards to ANY religion; No one sect can have a lock on “receiving messages from God”. Any one searching for spiritualty can claim that.
Inform yourself, shop around, then make up your own beliefs on religion. Why? Because they did….
To coin a phrase; “Religion is, as Religion does”

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 6 2021 17:19 utc | 99