Shootout at Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan border involving military from both countries:
tass.com/world/1284811

Posted by: C Khosta y Alzamendi | Apr 29 2021 13:56 utc | 3

Research:
misfolded prion
Can take 8 years till it gets you, and will present as anything but from the Rona-jab

Posted by: Carl D | Apr 29 2021 14:40 utc | 5

Anvisa’s (Brazil’s CDC) case against Sputnik V folded quickly:
Anvisa não testou a presença de replicantes virais na vacina Sputnik [Anvisa didn’t test for viral replicants in the Sputnik vaccine]

No entanto, a Anvisa não realizou nenhum teste de RCAs. Consultada pela Super, a agência confirmou ter se baseado, exclusivamente, em documentação fornecida pelos russos.

[However, Anvisa didn’t do any test for RCAs. Consulted by Superinteressante (n.t. – a Brazilian magazine), the agency said it based its conclusions exclusively on the documents given by the Russians]
We know that the documentation given by Gamaleya to Anvisa at 26 March 2021 told the polar opposite: that no batch ever tested of the Sputnik V had ever detected any viral replicants.
Anvisa is doubly lying: lying about its alleged due diligence, and outright lying about what’s objectively written in the documents given by Gamaleya itself. This lie is on par with Germany on the Navalny case.
–//–
Food for thought:
Federal Reserve isn’t fooling anybody on inflation
I don’t share David P. Goldman’s ideology and convictions. They are almost the polar opposite of mine’s.
But he has something I don’t have, something that only a bourgeois specialist can give: insider information.
I once hypothesized here that, if the USA were to collapse suddenly (which I don’t think it ever will, but if it do happen), then it would surely involve an uncontrolled growing spiral of inflation/hyperinflation. That’s the logical conclusion of an hypothetical collapse of the USD standard.
So far, I can only see a mild rise in inflation. I don’t think the USA will ever experience hyperinflation (four-digit) or even true high inflation (two-digit). Goldman is a rabid neoliberal, and anything above 2% is hyperinflation for him, so we should take these kind of analyses with a grain of salt.
–//–
Sugar rush:
US real GDP rose 6.4 per cent on an annualised basis in the first quarter

Fed Chair Jay Powell said that the Fed was not going to tighten monetary policy any time soon. So the US stock market hit yet another all-time high.

–//–
More Blinken bullshit to lighten up your day:
US Threatens Allies With More Sanctions Over Purchase of Russian Weapons
–//–
Imbecilization:
Crisis in American expertise: Washington has a dangerous & destructive pattern of willful ignorance on Russia in post-Soviet era
–//–
Huawei Crashes Out of Global Top Five Smartphone-Makers
Well, this is a victory for the West. No way to sugarcoat it. It was somewhat expected, since Apple is an absolute red line for the USG, therefore its hysterical reaction to the rise of Huawei in the smartphone sector came as no surprise.
War is not a race. You win some battles, you lose others. What matters is who will win the last one.
–//–
European Parliament suggests halting gas purchases from Russia in case of war with Ukraine
This is a symbolic resolution. Russia will never invade Ukraine and the EU will never cut itself from oil and gas from Russia. It was probably drafted to please the USA, so it can claim another PR win at home.
–//–
And just like that, the Russian Federation throws itself to the backseat of History:
A nation no longer divided? How Russians are increasingly remembering, rather than erasing, the country’s bloody Civil War history
As a historian, I call this Sevastopol monument a grotesque falsification of History. The White Army was wholly funded by the imperialist powers (Japan, USA, France and the UK). They terrorized the peasant masses (White Terror) in order to fill their ranks. They never cared about Russia, but merely wanted to restore the Monarchy and all the privileges it entailed to their nobility (from which its high officers all came from).
This whole thing sounds even more bizarre because Sevastopol was chosen explicitly because it was the last White stronghold. Those were the armies of general Wrangel. Wrangel was only able to muster those armies because he sold himself to France and the UK. His last stronghold was Sevastopol precisely because Sevastopol is a port in the Black Sea, from which he fled thanks to the Western European navies. The son-of-a-bitch literally fled on a Western European warship. And people still call the Whites nationalists!
Conservative Russians like to accuse the Bolsheviks of being internationalists. But they forget the Whites were the capitalist international.
And the religious persecution argument is a bold lie. Most of the land was owned by the Orthodox Church and, in order to do the land reform – the reforms the peasants so much wanted! – the Bolsheviks had to expropriate the Church. The Orthodox Church was a real political institution with real political powers during Tsarism; it wasn’t this fell-good, self help, PR-prolific institution it is today: the peasant who disobeyed or bothered the Orthodox Church felt God’s wrath directly in the flesh. Any kind of what you could call “religious persecution” ended in 1921, and we know that because it is documented. Conservative Russians should learn how to read before speaking bullshit on the streets.
Russia is diminishing itself. That’s a normal historical process. The sad thing is that this may be the first ever voluntary case.
–//–
US needs a correct mindset to compete with China: Global Times editorial

It must be emphasized that it’s the sacred right of all 1.4 billion Chinese people to have a better living standard through the country’s development. The US elites fear and try to contain China’s development, and turn the normal competition between the two countries into a zero-sum game. This is immoral and runs counter to human rights that they trumpet. Washington cannot say one thing but do another. Blocking the economic and technological progress of developing countries is the biggest sin of the 21st century. They need to bear in mind that it’s not the privilege of the Americans and Westerners to live a decent life.

–//–
Best for last:
Save the Planet or End Poverty? How to Escape the Extractivist Dilemma.
Ah, finally. The liberal middle classes come out of the closet.
You see, you either end poverty or you save the environment. You can’t do both. Capitalism is saving the world by keeping most of humanity piss poor.
Or, translating from middle-classish: “I want to end poverty, but, on the other side, I also need my cheap Starbucks and my iPhone”.

Posted by: vk | Apr 29 2021 15:19 utc | 7

the nation article is pretty good…
thanks for the links everyone.. oldhippie, your link only gives page 1 of what appears to be a longer pdf file..

Posted by: james | Apr 29 2021 15:47 utc | 9

@james With all due respect, just because you “can’t keep on top of all the threads going,” that doesn’t mean that b is “doing too many posts right now.” May I remind you that you are not the only reader of this website. b should write as often as he wants to.

Posted by: S | Apr 29 2021 16:30 utc | 11

Looks like someone found the right combo of drugs to keep Faux-Prezzz Biden temporarily lucid
for his recent speech. (I didn’t watch it myself, I have just read damage reports.)

Posted by: librul | Apr 29 2021 16:51 utc | 13

Peak China by someone NOT named Gordon Chang
Is there a basement somewhere in DC where they clone these hacks? They all sound the same.
What gets me about these writings, interviews, papers, etc. is how they polish the turd. They actually do dome out and say that the U.S is enforcing ‘Primacy’ but we have no choice. It’s self-defense. Don’t you get it, we are just responding to China’s quest for primacy. It’s friggin’ insufferable.

“the United States is now in a position of unprecedented strategic opportunity. This would not be a situation like 1940. … the American foreign policy establishment had come to believe that the only way to ensure U.S. security in a world of primacy-seeking rivals was to forcibly establish its own primacy. The fundamental fear of that establishment was that, absent American armed supremacy, other powers — first the Nazis and then the Soviets — would eventually squeeze the United States into an increasingly smaller corner of the globe. … In such conditions, and given the American strategic culture of the time, it was perhaps inevitable that the United States would attempt to construct a postwar order that was liberal, rule-governed, truly global, and backed by unmatched American military might.”

He talks about balancing as some type of alternative to primacy but my splitting headache and his lack of explanation does not clarify what he means. Suffice it to say that we need an enemy to rally the people just as badly a METH addict needs his next fix.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Apr 29 2021 16:53 utc | 15

s – thanks for your feedback.. some of us are not as talented with words as we would like to be…

Posted by: james | Apr 29 2021 17:10 utc | 17

James @ 9
When I click the link as posted here all 25 pages appear. ????
Glad anybody tried. It is mostly very dry, very technical, blows everything we have been doing with covid right out of the water.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 29 2021 17:44 utc | 19

Another “Arria formula” meeting concerning OPCW’s doctored investigation of alleged “chemical attacks” in Douma has been held at the UN on April 16, 2021. Aaron Maté was present again and has delivered what is, in my opinion, the best overview of the story so far‍—detailed, yet succinct, eloquent and accessible.
The 27-minute video consists of three parts:
1. An introduction for those unfamiliar with the story, which is so good that I’ve decided to type it out here (0:04–5:35):

I’m very honored to be here once again. I really appreciate the opportunity.
So it has been three years since the alleged chemical attack in Douma and nearly two years since the cover-up of the OPCW investigation into Douma was exposed, but yet, all this time later, nothing has been done to address the serious flaws in this investigation. So what I want to do today is go through some of the few arguments that have been made by the OPCW and other state parties in trying to justify why they refused to meet with the inspectors—the original inspectors who challenged the cover-up of their probe—and why they refuse to investigate any of the scientific fraud that was alleged.
So, again, what are the basic details of this incident?
April 7, 2018, something horrible happens in Douma, dead bodies are filmed inside of a building, the U.S., Britain and France a few days later bomb Syria, accusing it of committing a chemical attack in Douma. Shortly after that, the OPCW gets a team on the ground—for the first time actually having a fact-finding mission reaching the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria. They investigate, about a year later, in March 2019, a final report comes out, and that report claims that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a chlorine attack occurred in Douma, and the inference of the report is that Syria was guilty, so it aligns with the narrative put out by the countries that bombed Syria.
But then we get a pretty extraordinary series of leaks that exposes a major deception, and these leaks show that the actual inspectors who went to Douma did not reach the conclusion that was put out by the OPCW, and they actually found that there was no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma. They did not speculate as to what actually happened, but what they said is that there was no evidence of a chemical attack.
We saw that because one of the leaks we got was the original report from the Douma team—they wrote a report that was never released to the public until it was leaked. That report was peer-reviewed by the team, it was set for publication, but then something very strange happened: the author of that original report, the chief author, who’s been identified by the OPCW as inspector B, he discovered that someone above him had actually been trying to rush out a bogus report, taking the original report, removing all the key scientific findings, and adding unsupported conclusions including speculating that chlorine gas was likely used and falsely claiming that there were high concentrations of that chemical. So inspector B thwarted the publication of this bogus report, because he sent an email of protest that was sent out to all the Douma team members and some officials. That led to the publication of the interim report in early July 2018. The interim report removed the bogus claims of the doctored bogus report, but it also removed some of the key claims of the original report—so, sort of a compromise.
And around that time something else very curious happened: a U.S. delegation visited the Douma team and tried to lobby them into reaching the conclusion that there was a chlorine attack. Now, it’s very common, as we know, for state parties to share information, share views, share intelligence, but a one-on-one briefing in which the inspectors, who are supposed to be protected, come face-to-face with the U.S. delegation is very unusual. The first Director-General of the OPCW José Bustani told me at The Grayzone that he would never have allowed such a meeting to take place.
Something else happens around then, too. The original team, including inspector B, who was the chief author of the original report, they are all sidelined, they’re taken off the Douma investigation, and they’re replaced by a so-called “Core team”, and this is comprised mostly of people who never set foot in Syria, and that is the team that produced the final report.
So then we get these leaks showing all this happening, and then what happens, well, the OPCW refuses to meet with the inspectors, they refuse to investigate the doctoring of the original report. When José Bustani, the first Director-General of the OPCW, tries to speak at the UN Security Council when he was invited, certain member states block him from speaking. And what’s interesting about that is José Bustani, being the first Director-General, helped design the protocols used for inspection missions like Douma, he also worked with the key dissenting inspectors—because these two inspectors, they’re so experienced at the OPCW that their tenure coincides with the organization’s first leader—and also he has experienced what we’re talking about today, which is putting pressure on the OPCW, because when he was the chief, he was forced out by the U.S., because he was standing in the way of the Iraq War. He was trying to bring Iraq into the Chemical Weapons Convention, and he was even physically threatened, as he has talked about publicly.
And meanwhile also some deceptive claims are put out in the media about the inspectors, they are disseminated through state-funded outlets, including the BBC, funded by the U.K., and also a website called Bellingcat, which is funded by the U.S., making false claims about the inspectors and the investigation.

2. A detailed explanation, accompanied by slides, of what was altered in the final OPCW report and why OPCW’s claims of the bulk of analysis having been carried out after inspectors A and B had left the organization are a lie (5:36–21:29).
3. Closing comments and a question to U.S. and U.K. ambassadors, who for some strange reason have left the meeting by that time (21:30–27:22).

Posted by: S | Apr 29 2021 18:05 utc | 21

@ ptb

Direct pipelines add to Germany’s power within the EU, which is a genuine source of concern for everyone else in the intra-EU politics.

Yes, Germany’s power in EU depends on its access to reliable and cheap energy since G. is an industrial power.
The “source of concern” is all about malign influence from foreign policy. Yankee’s narrative delightful swallowed by french “élite” “éternels perdants et collaborateurs”

Posted by: Bernard F | Apr 29 2021 18:42 utc | 23

@ Vk and Ptb
Xiaomi is The New Huawei
How to dodge Orange man on consumer’s market?

Xiaomi revealed its financial results for Q3 2020 this week, reporting that shipments spiked by a massive 45% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Counterpoint Research previously reported that Huawei saw a 24% drop in shipments year-on-year during the same quarter. It also noted that it had 14% market share compared to Xiaomi’s 13% at the time
https://www.androidauthority.com/xiaomi-vs-huawei-1180573/

The quarterback’s primary duty is either passing (throwing) the ball or handing the ball to a running back (“RB”) who carries the ball down field. (Wikipedia)

Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 29 2021 19:32 utc | 25

Hi james @ 17, I’m glad you liked the Bridal Hall music – I agree, very meditative, and actually the words I posted apply to the last segment where the high soprano comes in. In that respect it is quite close to other eastern faiths, while actually having a Christian setting.
You will like the following, I think, and it is appropriate, being the Orthodox setting for the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father…” Plus it is accompanied by peaceful surrounds – I love the magnificent tree trunks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3iYnHx8P0s
Thursday night of Holy Week is when twelve Gospel passages, starting at the Last Supper and leading up to the Crucifixion are read – the bell being rung after each, (one stroke for one, two for the second and so on). That takes the service pretty late, and as a rule we’d come out under a canopy of stars on a clear and peaceful night.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 29 2021 19:51 utc | 27

oldhippie @ 19
I get the full pdf.

Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Apr 29 2021 21:03 utc | 29

Putin knows how those regulatory agencies work in the West:
Putin discusses attitude to Sputnik V with French entrepreneurs

“This was certainly discussed because Sanofi was among participants. I believe it will be no secret that the president urged Russian-French investors to also influence the existing European regulatory mechanisms and services so that they ensure Russian developments and goods the same loyal attitude as the French in particular and foreigners at large receive in Russia,” Shinsky said.

Posted by: vk | Apr 29 2021 21:12 utc | 31

Anyone know what this is all about: German Green Party contender wants tougher stance on China, Russia:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/german-contender-wants-tougher-stance-on-china-russia/ar-BB1g2hlb
The Greens of my youth are probably rolling over in their graves …

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 29 2021 22:07 utc | 33

Caliman @ 31
You are asking one of the right questions. The linked paper addresses it. Although I have to admit it is just a lot to read.
They are suggesting there is a lot of cross immunity from common cold viruses. One way or other they identified widespread immunity in general population. Past that…..
One factor is that respiratory infections are really easy to get. Virus/bacteria contacts epithelial cell wall in lung directly. There is no blood, no lymph, minimal mucus on interior of lung. By the time you are coughing up mucus the infection is well established. So you are sick by the time immune system is in high gear. When there is a big heavy viral load is when the heavy weapons in bloodstream come into play.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 29 2021 22:20 utc | 35

librul #13

Looks like someone found the right combo of drugs to keep Faux-Prezzz Biden temporarily lucid
for his recent speech. (I didn’t watch it myself, I have just read damage reports.)

He has been sniffing into Hunter’s stash.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 29 2021 22:39 utc | 37

Dr Michael Yeadon on Planet Lockdown (26th April 2021)
Dr Mike Yeadon (former Vice President and Chief Science Officer of Pfizer, where he worked for 16 years) explains the lies the government has told about Covid-19 and the vaccine and the grim (very near) future that we have in store.
Mike Yeadon has been doing a lot of interviews recently with the same message. It amounts to a last ditch despairing effort to persuade people they have been lied to.
If you believe in the pandemic and the vaccine then it is still worth watching to see a defeated and despairing man. That, of course, is my manipulative way to induce you to watch, but, even if you are not open to persuasion, you will find it interesting (but perhaps uncomfortable?) to listen to his explanation of how and why his message (which he firmly believes in) has been defeated.

Posted by: ADKC | Apr 29 2021 23:20 utc | 39

@migueljose #39
Love your and Maracatu’s news updates from Latin America. Keep ’em coming!

Posted by: S | Apr 29 2021 23:43 utc | 41

VK @ 7:
From the website of the President of Russia:

Monument to fallen heroes of 1917–1922 Civil War unveiled in Sevastopol
Presidential Aide and Chairman of the Russian Military Historical Society Vladimir Medinsky took part in the ceremony to unveil a Civil War monument on Karantynnaya Bay.
In his remarks, Vladimir Medinsky noted that the new monument was the first such memorial in the former Soviet Union and called on people today to learn from the tragic events of Russian history.
During the ceremony, the Guard of Honour lit the Eternal Flame, an element of which was taken from the St Vladimir Cathedral in Chersonesos. Black Sea Navy ships were lined up in the roadstead on Karantinnaya Bay. The rite of consecration was conducted by Bishop Kallinikos of Bakhchisarai, vicar of the Simferopol and Crimean dioceses.
The sculptural composition is dominated by a female figure, the image of Russia, a mother calling for the reconciliation of her sons. These are brothers divided by the Civil War; the elder is a lieutenant in the White Army and the younger is a Red Army officer. The composition includes two stelas dedicated to the last days of the Civil War and the broken lives of millions of people. On three sides at the foot of the column, poems by Maximilian Voloshin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Nikolai Turoverov, and also Mikhail Sholokhov dedicated to the Civil War are engraved: “Sweet, bright Motherland, All our boundless love is for you, all our thoughts are with you.”
The project was sponsored by the Russian Military Historical Society and the Sevastopol government under the President’s instructions and at the initiative of the International Council of Russian Compatriots. The monument was designed by sculptor Andrei Kovalchuk, chair of the Russian Union of Artists.
Taking part in the ceremony were Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea Mikhail Nazarov, Deputy Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District Kirill Stepanov, Commander of the Black Sea Navy Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, Deputy State Duma Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin, Chair of the State Duma Committee on Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov, and member of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots Pavel Shperov.

The monument is dedicated to the ordinary people who fought in the Russian Civil War and to the millions of Russians, military and civilian alike, who died in that war. The message behind the monument is reconciliation among Russian people themselves.
As the post in President of Russia’s website suggests, this is the first such major monument commemorating the 1917 – 1922 Russian Civil War and it is intended to encourage Russians to learn more about this period in their history and why the country was nearly torn apart. If Russians learn from this monument and from investigating what it represents that the Soviet Union and Russia itself were nearly torn apart because of foreign involvement and funding of the White forces, will that not achieve what you are arguing for? And once that is achieved, what next are Russians supposed to do?
With reconciliation, Russians can decide what direction, what progress they want to make.
I find reading Paul Robinson’s writing on Russian history rather unsatisfactory; there is not very much analysis and the article he wrote for RT on the Civil War monument in Sevastopol seems not to give Russian people much credit for being able to see what the monument represents and to be able to interpret what it means for them over time.

Posted by: Jen | Apr 30 2021 0:27 utc | 43

@ 19 oldhippie.. it didn’t load for me, but it sounds like it did for others…
@ 26 juliania… it is a large choir! i liked the other one better, but this is also cool for different reasons… they seem to have a type of focus on music i am unfamiliar with which i am guessing is the eastern orthodox influence! they seem to be using vocals like a classical composer would use the string section, but the range is fairly narrow and tight.. they are not making big jumps in the melody or anything like that… it is a very lush sound with all those voices.. i see there is a lot of this music on youtube… thanks for sharing!
@ 42 jen.. interesting comments on paul robinson.. have you brought it up with him on his site? you ought to.. i am sure he’d be receptive to your feedback..

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 1:31 utc | 45

Thank you, Jen @ 42 for that excerpt and the clarification you bring. Well said. My thought is that it would behoove the leaders of the US to have a similar attitude towards that half of the American people whose ancestors were on the losing side in the earlier civil war here – instead what most shocked me about Biden’s speech was his antagonism towards his predecessor and the mean, over the top comments he was making – I could not watch past the first few pompous paragraphs but I did read the transcript.
This is a real failing on the part of the Democrats, who have strong-armed their way into power. In closing, Biden used the word ‘autocrat’; it is he that is the autocrat; not, for all his failings, Trump. The latter was indeed, in a shaky electoral process, primaried and then elected fairly. Not so Biden. It does not give me a good feeling about the future, much as I hope that it will at least be peaceful.
That statue does. Well done, Russia.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2021 3:31 utc | 47

James @ 45, yes, the last was probably a cathedral choir in either Russia or France (Russian emigre population)- if Russia, it would have been USSR time I think, so probably Moscow. The melodies are ancient chants, but church composers move on from those much as classical composers use folk tunes. The choir is eight voices,first and second bass, tenor, alto, soprano. Very difficult music to sing, or to conduct. There was an American conductor who did it beautifully, though. Senior me, can’t recall his name – it will come to me… Ah! Robert Shaw! (The brain just has to take its time!)

Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2021 3:54 utc | 49

@ Vk #30
Thanks for the link.
Not a single word on french internet!
I will search but first, I will study the full version on Kremlin site
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/65469
Putin, Lavrov and al. are making impressive progress on information war.

Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 30 2021 4:35 utc | 51

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 1:42 utc | 46
I am glad you like ‘The Gun and The Olive Branch’ I wouldn’t lead you astray.
Years ago I found there was not one copy in the Australian Parliamentary Library. No wonder they are so ignorant or is that just studied stupidity?
https://johnmenadue.com/why-is-australia-prioritising-trade-with-israel/
We can see where the above mindset comes from.
Now the Australian army is having second thoughts about buying a multi million battlefield system from Ebit Systems. Dealing with the bandit state damages the countries reputation.

Posted by: Paul | Apr 30 2021 5:30 utc | 53

Bernard F. | Apr 30 2021 4:19 utc | 50
Cohn-Bendt has been on my list of absolute dislikes for a long time. Ever since his attempt to “take over” the leadership in May ’68. Talks too much, and is not honest, as he will use anything for his personal gain or political advantage. Including being a “turn-coat” on policy.

Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 30 2021 8:06 utc | 55

ADKC #38
Thank you for a great link to Michael Yeadon. Clarity and I notice that no one has dumped on you for the audacity to inquire after truth. Well done comrade. I shall shout you a drink.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 30 2021 9:29 utc | 57

Psychohistorian @ 53
I have met a fair number of mirrors with my hip and with shoulder, never took one to the head. That one must have hurt. About 450,000 lifetime miles at this point so a few incidents are to be expected. Lifetime police beatdowns would be one in prison, two at anti war demonstrations, six for crime of riding a bicycle. Two of the bicycle beatdowns were life threatening. Tally does not include the hit and run. Police do this all day and laugh about it.
What was the original subject? Oh yes, a commenter was going on about resisting arrest and race. Resisting arrest basically means being within 100 yards of a cop. The highly privileged can get face to face with Officer Friendly and discuss police training methods. Most of us try to arrange our days so as to never be within 100 yards of a cop.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 30 2021 10:12 utc | 59

@60 migueljose
Your last two paragraphs get the point. A pandemic is a global phenomenom. This means it is all over the world, in many countries – not only one’s own particular country – and one can compare and get information independent from this or that country/regime/media etc.
One of the more blatent examples: Both Iran and Israel seem to agree on pretty much everything Corona-related: the seriousness if the disease, the efficiency of lock-downs, the usefulness of vaccines etc. When did the two countries the last time agree on something else?
In order to dismiss Covid-19 as hoax and reconcile this theory with all known and publicly available facts one has to fabricate some kind of MSM-deep state-China-Iran-Zionist-North Korea-Italy-Japanese-WHO-Italy etc. etc. conspirancy theory.

Posted by: m | Apr 30 2021 12:07 utc | 61

Posted by: ADKC | Apr 29 2021 23:20 utc | 38
Dr Mike Yeaden around 22 minutes critiques academia and details his interactions with academic friends, says they agree with him but are afraid to defend him publicly because they don’t want to lose their job/funding sources. spot on, IMO.
26 min. he gives a good explanation of the difference between antibodies (attack bacteria) and T cells (killer cells, kill viral infected cells) and highlights misinformation re: covid.
valuable lesson and supports my strong belief in foraging, eating mushrooms and wild plants daily.

Posted by: migueljose | Apr 30 2021 12:09 utc | 63

Bruce Lee Marvin Gay @Apr30 0:42 #43

Nearly all of them are whites. Those are the ones you’ll never hear about

So black resistance against police brutality mainly benefits whites.
Thanks, that’s good to know. So sad that whites have become so meek, isn’t it?/sarc
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 30 2021 12:48 utc | 65

Today UK claim no dead from covid. Well, that may simply shows that a strict prolonged lockdown since december with real quarantines works in diminishing the epidemy (while many other countries with open-close-open-close policies and open borders let it roam also for their neighbours).
It also shows that the 90 percent ppl who were dying of it and were +70 or with co-morbidities and got vaccinated got benefit from the enhanced immunity they got from the AZ shot. Good also that the staff working with the elderly was also offered the shot, since it seems they carry it, and spread it, less.
The only little problem with all that is that it is still entirely experimental and that the outcome cannot be predicted.
Several countries, like France, want people to keep wearing masks and keep distances after the full vaccination of the country! As long as it keeps the Yellow Jackets home…

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 13:14 utc | 67

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 12:08 utc | 62
I ve tried to listen to Yeadon and gave up after 40 minutes. The guy his fishy.
_________________________________________
I quit after about 10 minutes when the number of obvious false statements he had made reached three.
One of his basic premises is that people with covid don’t walk around in public – they are sick and stay home. Studies have shown this claim to be wrong. This guy just makes up facts to support his theory.
According to research by John Hopkins asymptomatic spreaders may account for as much as 50% of all infections and even those who do have symptoms can spread the disease for days before they become aware of being sick.

Posted by: jinn | Apr 30 2021 13:25 utc | 69

Another more annoying issue (especially for the EU finances, but it seems the EU has decided to become the new third world where the US will delocalize some BS jobs “in a clean, environmental-friendly ally”) is that… some of the “vaccines” do not work, i.e. they boost immunity but do not spread contagion.
See Singapore today:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/24-new-covid-19-cases-in-singapore-including-9-in-the-community-and-15-imported
“24 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at Friday noon (April 30)… Among them are nine from the community. Of the nine, eight are linked to previous cases, including four who are linked to the cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which now has 13 cases. Friday’s new cases also include 15 imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore… On Thursday, a fully vaccinated woman who was working as a cleaner at a community care facility in Tuas South was the sole unlinked case out of the 16 community cases announced by MOH.
The 39-year-old Vietnamese national dons full personal protective equipment while at work – including an N95 mask, face shield, gown and gloves. She also periodically helps out at a food stall at The Summit located at the National University of Singapore’s Bukit Timah campus.
She received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Jan 27, and the second dose on Feb 19, MOH said on Thursday…It added that while the Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority of those vaccinated, it is possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected.
The woman had been asymptomatic, but her case was picked up when she was tested on Monday as part of rostered routine testing, MOH said….Her earlier tests from the routine screening – the last being on April 14 – were all negative for Covid-19 infection, the ministry added….The other 15 community cases announced by MOH on Thursday are linked to existing clusters.
Eight of them – two staff and six patients – are linked to the nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) who was working at Ward 9D, a general ward.
These cases had mainly been detected by MOH’s proactive testing of patients and staff in the affected ward….Measures have been put in place at the hospital to prevent further transmission, including barring visitors from entering the hospital except for critically ill patients. The other seven community cases are family members of a prior Covid-19 case – a 38-year-old Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer – that MOH had announced on Wednesday.The ministry said that the man and his family had gathered for a meal on Sunday, when the transmission was likely to have taken place. MOH also reported 19 imported cases on Thursday, including two Singaporeans and nine permanent residents.”
I have paster the most important points in case some people get paywalled.

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 13:53 utc | 71

Fact: Immediately at the onset of the “pandemic”, global media used the same precise terminology, including “lockdown”, “case”, etc.
Fact: Every country relies on the same PCR testing regiment, and absurdly labels a “positive PRC test” as a “Covid infection case”. Those “cases” you hear the global media scream about in a daily manner are NOT sick individuals. It is not even clear if they are even actually “infected”. But ALL media globally use the same standard.
____________________________________________________
So what? Those may be facts but they aren’t very interesting facts
Countries use the same test because its effective. If you test negative you can be fairly certain you don’t have it. There are other diseases where some people don’t have symptoms even though they test positive and carry the disease without developing signs of illness. There are people who live the rest of their lives with a case of TB or Lyme disease without appearing sick from it.
The objection to the use of the word “case” is really stupid and cynical. If only the people who were sick enough to be hospitalized were referred to as cases then the case fatality rate would be very much higher and these same people would be claiming that is a conspiracy to fool the public into believing the disease is nmore dangerous than it is…

Posted by: jinn | Apr 30 2021 14:06 utc | 73

thorsday @ 68
If occult simply means hidden I am completely with you. Keep posting. If it means supernatural, oh well.
It should have been clear to anyone from the start of the pandemic that affairs were being coordinated across all the nominal barriers. No one even seems curious about that. On this thread you can see those who will back off entirely from curiosity if they would have to accept that our masters would intentionally harm us. Most will be like that and thus most will never know much at all.
migueljose @ 66, others
Yeadon has been completely open about his professional career and personal life. He is and has been sufficiently prominent that it is all available anyway. He has had a very comfortable and normal life as a boffin. He is not a good actor. When he appears to be genuinely distressed by what his colleagues and peers are doing perhaps you might consider he really is in distress.
Doctor’s first rule is do no harm. What else would the third shot be? Talking to doctors I know some seem hypnotized, all want to go along and get along, even the dimmest bulbs are nervous about the role they have been given in this play.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 30 2021 14:19 utc | 75

I had to backtrack to find this piece, so apologies for being late with it. This is from nakedcapitalism.com a few days back, a comment at the watercooler:

flora
April 29, 2021 at 10:02 am
PCR tests don’t distinguish between infectious and non-infectious virus particle detections. From the Swedish Public Health Agency.
The Swedish Public Health Agency has developed national criteria for assessing freedom from infection in covid-19.
The PCR technology used in tests to detect viruses cannot distinguish between viruses capable of infecting cells and viruses that have been neutralized by the immune system and therefore these tests cannot be used to determine whether someone is contagious or not. RNA from the virus can often be detected for weeks (sometimes months) after the illness but does not mean that you are still contagious. …
(translated from Swedish by translate.google)
“>https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/publicerat-material/publikationsarkiv/v/vagledning-om-kriterier-for-bedomning-av-smittfrihet-vid-covid-19/
[My bolds] Maybe this has already been discussed here; it nagged at me though, so I felt I should post it.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2021 14:44 utc | 77

Oldhippie,
I ve listen to some of his talks were he was more convincing. Here when he says that lockdowns and quarantines have never been used and do not work for epidemies, he seems to be advocating the “full open economy” meme.

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 15:02 utc | 79

Indian expert drowns himself into a sea of delusions of grandeur:
India’s Covid crisis set to derail world economy

Given all these issues, and the humanitarian crisis unfolding, it has become imperative for the world to act quickly to help India – whether such help is requested or not.
We are seeing signs of this coming through, albeit after a short delay, from the UK (oxygen concentrators, ventilators); the US (vaccine raw materials, drugs, rapid tests and ventilators); and Germany (oxygen and medical aid).
Whatever is provided is likely to be a drop in the ocean of India’s requirements, but at least it demonstrates a recognition that we are in this together. The Indian government may have been ineffective in the current crisis, but failing to recognize how it will affect the world would amount to an equivalent level of complacency.
If the leading powers fail to do everything they can to help out, India’s crisis will become a world crisis in short order, not only for health but also for the economy.

Sure, buddy. Whatever makes you sleep better at night.
–//–
European expert drowns himself into a sea of snobbery:
Europe’s economy shrank by 0.6 percent in first quarter.

But Europe also began the crisis with far more comprehensive social safety net programs. While the United States directed cash to those set back by the pandemic, Europe limited a surge in unemployment.
“Europe has more insurance schemes,” said Kjersti Haugland, chief economist at DNB Markets, an investment bank in Oslo. “You don’t fall as hard, but you don’t rebound that sharply either.”

This one deserves a more complete refutation.
It is a fallacy capitalism has to choose between economic growth and “safety net”. The Welfare State in Western Europe was entirely built over the bombastic economic growth of the post-war period. In fact, the contrary is true: safety nets are only possible in capitalism when economic growth is extraordinary; the recent decades of stagnation of Western Europe witnessed the inverse process: the degeneration of the Welfare State, not its preservation (let alone its expansion).
If the EU could grow 10% per year, you bet your soul it would. It is pure dishonesty for a capitalist to tell you he would chose safety net instead of economic growth.
Concomitantly, if the EU could print the money to keep its economy afloat like the USA, it also would’ve done so. Only the USA can print money at will. It has nothing to do with philosophical differences between the Europeans and the Americans, but with objective, scientifically observable factors.

Posted by: vk | Apr 30 2021 15:15 utc | 81

Eighthman @80
North Korean defectors all have a limited choice in gigs. They can wash dishes at a restaurant or sell tall tales about how terrible North Korea is to neolibs eager to promote capitalism to their wage slaves. One track is a minimum wage grind and the other catapults you to upper middle class with an income source where the only part of you that you have to get dirty is your soul/conscience.
The incredibly cute girl is just telling people what her paymasters want the public to hear. You can count on it being complete bullshit.

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 30 2021 15:24 utc | 83

Thanks Paco, about San Marino, it was interesting to see that in a purely statistic study supposedly showing hidden mortality in almost every country in the world that was posted here a few days ago, San Marino appeared as having hidden at least one or two times the number of dead (can’t recall exactly, sorry). For a country that has 33, 000 people on 61 km2.
Possibly the authors decided to “evaluate the hidden mortality” because they saw the name of the country in every “top 10” covid mortality, where the results are multiplied to get the “number per 100,000”.
In fact, San Marino had 90 deaths until now.

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 15:48 utc | 85

@ 49 juliania… thanks for those additional notes.. yes – those types of songs would be very difficult to sing given the tight range of the melody.. it is a particular style of music i am not familiar with… that is cool the origins of the melodies – ancient chants! makes sense… i have some modern chants, but have never tried arranging them for a vocal group… i have a close friend who does this kind of work, but i have never done it.. i am mostly just a lowly drummer, lol… here is the friend of mine playing piano on this track with 80 odd singers… the song i would like to share with you hasn’t been published yet, but this one sounds nice as well..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqwsYLNTmE
@ 52 jen… thanks jen.. give it another try… i post there from time to time and have never had a problem…
@ 53 paul.. the book is a very good presentation.. i am about 150 pages in.. thanks for pointing it out to me and thanks for your ongoing posts here.. i think australia’s position is very similar to canada’s with regard to israel…. there seems to be a tacit agreement among the 5 eye countries on the topic of israel.. it seems to me as usa-uks role on the world stage wanes, israel is going to have to adept to a different reality… so much of what israel has become is a combination of fanaticism with world power protection.. none of this is in anyone’s interest…
@ 84 john… it seems the dynamic in india is just ramping up… why are they resorting to using parks to cremate the dead? it seems odd if this is just a minor blip..

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 16:16 utc | 87

thanks john…. that crystal ball could come in handy down the road! don’t get rid of it..

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 16:48 utc | 89

for those of us who like transcripts rather then videos, here is one on the topic of michael yeadon… it’s from april 8, 2021
UPDATED: Michael Yeadon: ‘Convergent Opportunism’ Or Conspiracy?

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 16:58 utc | 91

Yeadon seems to me to be right on the diagnostic but not in the way he describes the evidence. And why not supporting other physicians who have talked about the scandal of the sanitary (non-)measures? He would get credibility by finding some allies. Kory and Raoult have always managed to quote papers written by prominent specialists in support of their theories.

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 17:28 utc | 93

A poem by Wislawa Szymborska
We are children of our age,
it’s a political age.
All day long, all through the night,
all affairs—yours, ours, theirs—
are political affairs.
Whether you like it or not,
your genes have a political past,
your skin, a political cast,
your eyes, a political slant.
Whatever you say reverberates,
whatever you don’t say speaks for itself.
So either way you’re talking politics.
Even when you take to the woods,
you’re taking political steps
on political grounds.
(…)

Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2021 17:42 utc | 95

@ 92 john… thanks john! i had heard a version of that story before – the sushi and drum reading bit… it is a hard skill to acquire – sight reading… i came late to reading music, but i think some people are better at it then others… it is a huge asset if you are doing studio work which vinnie has done a ton of.. my reading chops are okay, but no where near on the same level as cats like this.. the session i did last saturday was with written music, but it was like painting by numbers compared to what zappa music demands! i think it might have been steve vai who did the book ‘shut up and play yer guitar’ songbook which has a lot of the drum figures in it.. i used to have the book, but i never worked out the parts.. the problem is you need to be in a situation working with others who are into this sort of thing, to discipline yourself to doing this material.. i am content to play along or jam some of the hot rats tunes, but some of the more daunting stuff of franks – i have never been motivated enough to dig into. regarding crazy good drummers – there are many of them out their – one of my favourite, although he looks awkward when he plays, is ari hoenig.. he has gotten better with his body form over the past 10 years… here is one video of him… it is a completely different style then what vinnie does.. this is another one of the challenges for a musician – what direction do they want to go in creatively?? it’s an ongoing question! my readings okay, but like i say – it would be hard to compete on this level with someone like vinnie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfwlW_a99Jw – jazz standard billies bounce..

Posted by: james | Apr 30 2021 18:36 utc | 97

librul @ 96
You have never met the police. No opportunity for variations in demeanor or tactics when they come at you three or six to one and the first thing they say is said with a stick.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 30 2021 19:16 utc | 99