Chuba @30
Gain of function is an exotic way to force pathogens that aren’t infectious to humans to become infectious to humans. This is what they are doing. Is it necessary is the larger question. To answer that you also have to look at the state of the art regarding the traditional top 10 select agent bioweapons. We have vaccines and treatment for exactly 2 of them. This is smallpox and anthrax. We have had effective vaccines for both since the 1950’s. Despite massive injections into the Biodefense research programs, we aren’t even close to having vaccines to the remaining 8 top (meaning potential for weaponization) agents. When I completed my PhD I visited USAMRIID to interview for a position there and after the dog and pony show, I was mostly interested in researching emerging infectious diseases and had assumed that would be where things were (this was back in the early 90’s). The colonel walking me around told me “I clearly didn’t understand. We don’t have treatments or vaccines for the agents already in nature much less predicted man-made organisms. We are not anywhere near solving even these diseases and we have been working on them for over 100 years.”
We are still at that same point. Yes, a lot has been accomplished regarding the understanding of these diseases but no vaccines are even close to being available despite $Billions. So, with this perspective what on earth were they thinking? Gain of function research for an imaginary disease seems very far-fetched to me for a research area that still hasn’t solved the worst of the worst such as plague. That is a far more likely problem than trying to solve something that doesn’t exist in nature. The only reasons could be amazingly stupid research oligarchs with nutty ideas and a lot of money with little to no oversight or nefarious intentions or worse both at the same time.

Posted by: Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 5:29 utc | 104

Chuba @9 Wuhan Institute of Virology and Gain of function research
They were funded through Eco Health Alliance from an NIAID grant (Fauci is the Director of NIAID) AND published Gain of function work in the open literature. This is not to say the virus came out of WIV but they were doing this type of work. However, they are certainly not alone in this regard as other Coronavirus GoF work was performed at UNC-CH and others as well. It seems more likely to have originated somewhere else as there are antibody results in Northern Italy (near the US Army Installation in Vicenza) that predate the outbreak in Wuhan by several weeks. There is no evidence of a patient zero in Wuhan. In order for it to have been in Italy as early as it was, it was already circulating in the population. Personally, I believe it is a lab-developed strain just because no near neighbors exist and there is no rational way to explain the furin cleavage site. However, many researchers were doing this work in the US and it predates the outbreak a very long time. A natural strain would have an evolutionary chain and there is zero evidence for that. It is my belief it was created in the US and escaped there. The only way to determine this is to go back and look at antibody data AND in situ hybridization of autopsy tissue blocks for all deaths due to pneumonia in the United States from August to October 2019. Paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from pathological samples are required to be stored for 10 years and are readily available. Blood bank transfusion bag segments “pigtails” are also required to be stored for several years and are also available. But, no one has suggested doing this important investigatory work. Not doing such obvious investigations smacks of conspiracy and is proof enough for me of culpability.
There is a lot of unregulated work funded by the CIA going on in labs around the country and we know they have a history of doing stupid things. There are so many underfunded researchers it is easy enough to convince them with money to do sketchy research for “National Security”. We call this research prostitution in the business and it happens when your lab loses its funding because of the whims of US government funding agencies. With psychopathological idiots like Pompeo and Bolton in the Trump administration, it is easy enough to envision funding and executing a biological warfare attack on China using just such an agent so as to blame nature and fits well with what they say and do. Unfortunately for them, China had developed a national response plan following the SARS outbreak for thwarting just such a biological warfare attack as they recognized their vulnerability. The measures they implemented are exactly what you do in the case of an attack on a civilian population and it worked well. It easy to believe the US would try just such an attack using an agent for which they didn’t have a vaccine or treatment in place. It wouldn’t be the first time they did this. So, if true the blowback is ironic.

Posted by: Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 6:54 utc | 106

The U.S. Army released “The Calling,” a new animated film series that profiles the deeply emotional and diverse origin stories of five Soldiers as they make the most important decision of their lives: answering the call to serve.
EMMA | THE CALLING | GOARMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIYGFSONKbk
https://www.goarmy.com/the-calling.html

Posted by: Mao | May 13 2021 7:38 utc | 108

Israel and Palestinians
This is a huge tar baby and is the continuation of a problem that has existed since the creation of Israel. On a personal level, I am a self-bathing (according to Israelis) jew as I do not support the necessity of creating a Zionist state. I am a Reform Jew, which Israel very reluctantly accepts due to the enormous amount of funding from American Jewish organizations. Over 80% of American Jews are either Conservative or Reform and these two arms of Judaism are not recognized in Israel as being Jewish enough but they like our money so make some few allowances. My son moved to Israel and had to convert to Orthodox in order to qualify for citizenship. Ironically, if anything, he is Buddhist but is mostly agnostic. I have other family living there too, as well as my wife who has several relatives including a sister who lives there in Jerusalem. As such we are forced to visit fairly often. Both of us hate going there. My brother has a sister living in Jerusalem (as does my wife’s sister and her children/grandchildren) but my brother is Christian (sort of as a Christian Scientist beats me why). He is shocked how much Israelis hate Christians almost as much as Muslims. They are a country bathed in hatred and it is seething out at every possible place. They hate Jews that aren’t Jewish enough, they hate all Americans just because, they hate Russia but not Russian Jews apparently even though none of them are practicing Jews at all, but make up 20% of the Jewish population. They hate Palestinians both the legal ones living inside Israel and the “illegal terrorists” living in Palestinian territories. They also hate Beduins who cause no trouble at all (other than being backward) but are also continuously harassed. They hate the other Muslim countries around them unless it serves their purpose such as funding, arming, and supporting ISIS to screw with Syria. They hate Turkey and Azerbaijan yet they seem to love the Kurds but only because they are fighting the Turks. They even hate the religious Jews the Haredi, who sponge off the government and don’t work at all or serve in the IDF. In short, Israel is a super FUBAR place. I cannot describe just how much I hate going there every year.
One side note, I began to notice very few Israeli Jews actually work. Most workers you run into are Russian immigrants. The Israeli Jews are a snarly and rude bunch but the Russian immigrants are actually pleasant so the contrast is pretty obvious. Another note, I also notice that as far as high tech goes Israel who I had assumed would be at the forefront is really behind the times by a lot. My niece’s, husband works as an official Hebrew language censor and is part of a committee to accept western words and derive some kind of Hebrew equivalent. Sometimes it doesn’t work too well. My son’s Moroccan Jew (Sephardic) lawyer girlfriend is named “light bulb” in Hebrew but it is supposed to mean bright shining light. There is no word for computer either.
But, I digressed again. This is not to say the Palestinians are much better. I was stationed in Germany during the Munich Olympics and I have no love for Palestinians either and certainly not much respect after what they did there. They could have acknowledged Israel early and become part of the country as equals (maybe) and their birth rate would have made them the majority by now. But, they have resisted and still resist today. I understand their resistance but it probably would have gone a lot better should they have taken the path of least resistance.
I see no solution to the problem. It is just too bad. Every Israeli believes the only good Palestinian is a dead one and I am pretty sure the reverse is true as well. There is no way to get past this. So, one or the other group has to go either through Genocide or voluntarily. It is just too far gone for any other solution and that is a sad state of affairs. Israel is trying their best to kill them all without actually killing them directly. I think this is going to change for the worse and anything is possible.
I recall the Israelis were in partnership with South Africa when they co-developed nuclear weapons. As part of that deal the South Africans agreed to research genetic bioweapons designed to kill ethnic populations (specifically negroes) but they were also trying to find a bioweapon that was specific for Palestinians. It is an impossible task as genetically Palestinians and Israelis are identical. This is how insane Israel is. They have not signed a single treaty and are a completely rogue state and anything is possible and always supported by the US no matter how awful.
Every war they had, except one, was started by them as a defense against an assumed attack. A concept argued to be valid by the US as well (Right to Protect). So, we now have 3 countries that are rogue states and “agreement incapable”. These are the US, UK, and Israel. Watch how they vote in the UN and it is so obvious. Also, look at the “Rules-Based Order” idea being promulgated by the US and UK which basically means they no longer support international law and are imposing their own rules (that they are not adherent to themselves) which is a violation of the UN charter.
On the last note, Stalin created the Jewish Autonomous Region (Oblast)in the Far East as a future home for the Jews. That was obviously ignored but could have been a far better solution than giving them Palestine. Maybe they can go there? Maybe the Palestinians can go instead? No other country in the ME wants them as they are pariahs. They were already there and sent back.
These are just my thoughts and observations and I rambled on about it. It is FUBAR and until this problem is solved the Middle East is going to remain in chaos forever. Of course, this begs the question of Sunni/Shiite issues which are equally unsolvable. Maybe we should get the hell out of Dodge and leave these maniacs to figure this out for themselves one way or another.

Posted by: Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 7:58 utc | 110

really good video, explanations are much clearer than everything i’ve seen before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrNQ8hkxHw8

Posted by: Mina | May 13 2021 8:10 utc | 112

“They could have acknowledged Israel early and become part of the country as equals (maybe) and their birth rate would have made them the majority by now. ”
Posted by: Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 7:58 utc | 111
You haven’t read the history. It was always the Zionist leadership’s plan, from 1936 onwards, to dispossess the Palestinians (Shlaim, the Iron Wall). The present situation is the inevitable consequence of long-running Israeli policies. One war after another was manoeuvred, except 1973. That’s not to say that the results have been exactly what was planned. The lynch mobs today show that government policy is actually driven by popular extremist feeling, but not as far back as 1936. Unauthorised raids on Arab settlements started right after the armistice, in 1949.

Posted by: Laguerre | May 13 2021 8:19 utc | 114

Old Microbiologist, I agree with your description of the Israelis but I would not be so sure of your impression of the Palestinians (from back in the 70s, where people could find it normal to support Pol Pot, to give one example). In general, the Palestinians I met were very open and they understood sharply that the problem was not one of pseudo-ethnicities but one of wars using religion as a cover. The real problem they have is the division between Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims, which all sort of players have managed to make wider than it was in the past, when mixed weddings were possible. Ultra-Sunnism and Gulf dollars have added their poison, under the complacent eyes of the US and elsewhere zionists (both pseudo-jewish zionists and christian zionists).

Posted by: Mina | May 13 2021 9:08 utc | 116

@Mina | May 13 2021 7:13 utc | 108
Thank you for bringing up a very serious issue. The apartheid regime that the pandemic brought to a lot of countries is really scary.
Here in Greece a scientist, a member of the committee advising the government on the handling of the pandemic, talking to a tv news show proposed that the ppl who decide to not have the vaccine should pay a very hefty fine in order to be coerced in having the said vaccine.
A few weeks ago the gov passed a law giving immunity to all members of all committees dealing with the pandemic. The are exempt even from testifying about their advices. So you see a lot of Greeks are thinking: no liability, no trust.
I’m afraid that sooner or later this will have a detrimental effect on the trust that ppl have in science, medical establishment etc.
From tomorrow on Greece is “opening up” for business aka tourism. In order to travel to an island we will be obliged to have a vaccination certificate, or a pcr test the last 72 hours, or a rapid test the last 24 hours. This is a grave violation of the freedom of movement.
Unfortunately the fear mongering campaign that we all have been subjected to came both from the MSM and the alternative sites, so everyone who questions the narrative is either demonized or being called a freak, or censored or canceled.
I’m really appalled by the easiness with which many ppl accept the elimination of our fundamental rights and freedoms, all in the name of protecting public health, while ignoring the very sinister agenda playing out in the background.
What really worries me at this time is our gov’s plan to go ahead with the vaccination of children which I find really disturbing and it’s the reason I was off topic in the previous post.
I’m not very familiar with the rules here so I’m sorry if that was out of line.

Posted by: DG | May 13 2021 9:36 utc | 118

Thanks a lot DG. The blackmail where I live is that the vaccine is free but tests are not (vs what WHO has been recommending, but more tests mean more ‘cases’ and that could scare potential tourists). However, as vaccines have not be offered to the ‘not at risks’ or to the ppl under 60, we are now getting to a lot of anger, and that will materialize in the streets. The support offered by EU MSM to the criminal Jewish supremacists in Israel seems to be directly intended at provoking some riots in the suburbs (conveniently announced by Bannon-type guys who signed the letters in France and the US warning of impending civil war in the West because it is too “lenient”.. with what?? their tax heavens?)
The wealthy have been able to move between their properties in Europe without too much problem. Fines were about 130 euros if you did not have a pcr test. There was hardly any road control.

Posted by: Mina | May 13 2021 10:06 utc | 120

Max | May 12 2021 19:39 utc | 28
The point is surely, that the privatization of the central banks is real and the “nationalization” is, for the most part, fraudulent. As a British subject, I have tried and failed to find out who owns the Bank of England. You can ask Companies House about it but you don’t get much information from them.
Were it not so, the debt of the UK government to the BoE would be like a debt owed by my wallet to my inside pocket-book.

Posted by: foolisholdman | May 13 2021 10:16 utc | 122

@Mina | May 13 2021 10:06 utc | 121
In Greece a PCR test costs 60 euros, a rapid test 20 euros. The fine for not following the rules is 300 euros.
Tests are free in the public hospitals but the situation there is so chaotic that ppl who can afford it go to the private sector.
Vaccines are free
Since November we were not allowed to travel from municipality to municipality. My family has a home in western Greece. We were notified by the neighbors that there was a burglary but the police would not allow us to go there and inspect the damage.
@ snake | May 13 2021 10:11 utc | 122
I know what you mean. Here about 45% of the medical personnel have refused so far to have the vaccine but they are under immense pressure to do so, threatened that they will lose their job.
My niece is a student in a medical university in Crete. The last two years of the school they are working/studying in university hospitals. They told her that she must have the vaccine. She is 23 years old. I’m really disturbed by this since young ppl are not in grave danger from the virus. She is really preferring to have a rapid test every day. I don’t know if they will accept it.

Posted by: DG | May 13 2021 10:28 utc | 124

@DG | May 13 2021 10:28 utc | 125
I consider the horrific stories you tell to be crimes against humanity. Thank you for sharing however painful it is to read it. I am extremely worried myself. This is tyranny.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 13 2021 10:37 utc | 126

One thing that will make the Palestinian-Israeli war different form earlier ones is – exposure. Visual exposure. If a bomb drops, someone films it, if there is a lynching it is filmed, if a multistory building collapses, then you can see it in real time, and understand more of what the recipients are feeling.
(You can even compare some Israelis coming out in the morning to take coffee on the terrace of a bistro after a “worrying” night, and those who have had to hide in a bunker in Gaza with terrified children. Who are you going to feel empathy for?)
The phrase by Uncle Tungsten; “annihilated their legitimacy“ now applies to Israel. Madness is becoming more visible by the minute. Netanyahu will not be able to avoid the reputation loss he is getting internationally. (Nor Gantz).
Perhaps this is also due to their continual bombing of targets in other countries, (Syria et al) the attacks on shipping and the continual threats on others. In spite of “Fart checkers” and MSM suppression efforts – the news gets out. It is legitimised by being “forbidden”. Just as the C+++d dissimulations are feeding the realisation of the extent of corruption in “Public figures and Governments”.
Perhaps this is also due to the continual bombing of targets in other countries, the attacks on shipping and the continual threats on others, which has “Annihilated their legitimacy”.
**
Thanks to Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 7:58 utc | 111 for opening up a new way of looking at the situation for me.
Not for or against, as there are “Jews” (nationals?) who are also demonstrating against the blood feud. (NY; Chicago) Heartening news – in spite of the violence we can see. If this keeps up there may be some way out of their mess after all.
I gather from elsewhere that the number of “Jews” who are becoming less religious, is rising. (Those that are in the US anyway). The Haredi and the inclusion of religion into the army (IDF) is mainly or partially responsible for the change to a religious enforcement entity. If it can be resolved for once to separate religion from ethnic antecedents, then clearly this would be preferable and enable us to separate the “wheat from the chaff”.

Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 10:54 utc | 128

james | May 12 2021 20:18 utc | 43

it seems some folks here don’t give a fuck what the content of the thread is about

There could be a reason for that: Isn’this an Open Thread? Isn’t this its heading?

Open Thread 2021-036
News & views …
Posted by b on May 12, 2021 at 15:42 UTC |

Posted by: foolisholdman | May 13 2021 11:05 utc | 130

@ Norwegian | May 13 2021 10:37 utc | 127
“This is tyranny”
I’m totally with you here.

Posted by: DG | May 13 2021 11:23 utc | 132

Tales of woe from a victim of aggressive Russian vaccine diplomacy. San Marino did not join EU and did not benefit from the joint vaccine procurement. So the tiny republic got Sputnik from Russia, and they became the first severely affected country that reduced COVID mortality to zero, and now offer the surplus of vaccine to promote tourism.
Shortsighted, for sure. For now, they gained, but their lost their freedom.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 13 2021 11:30 utc | 134

Paul | May 12 2021 21:32 utc | 57
https://electronicintifada.net/content/traces-poison/4588
That is unspeakable! That makes them a good candidate for genocide! Who is safe with that sort of person around?

Posted by: foolisholdman | May 13 2021 12:02 utc | 136

Is this posting by Escobar a joke (found on Z/H)?
http://thesaker.is/pictures-of-a-ukrainian-dream/
Is he needing to dial-back his opium drip or is this for real – I missed the disclaimer.

Posted by: jared | May 13 2021 12:21 utc | 138

You have me at a disadvantage sir…on two points!
What the heck is a barfly? This has to be the internet blogger’s worse nightmare – not knowing if one has been insulted or complimented.
And I’m not sure what your point is on the blood test/oxygen business. Pro-mask or anti mask? In this now divisive society, I’d like to know if you’re friend or foe.
Regarding your advice: I do not need to do tests for anything. Isn’t testing the way forward for our medical/scientific tyranny? I’ll continue to be old fashioned and trust my own instincts and common sense.

Posted by: EoinW | May 13 2021 12:36 utc | 140

“They could have acknowledged Israel early and become part of the country as equals (maybe) and their birth rate would have made them the majority by now. But, they have resisted and still resist today. I understand their resistance but it probably would have gone a lot better should they have taken the path of least resistance.”
Thanks for clarifying that there’s no reason to pay attention to any of your posts in future. You have it, strangely and conveniently enough, exactly backwards. But you knew that.

Posted by: mena | May 13 2021 12:49 utc | 142

Jared @140
No, it is serious and backed more or less by statements from the US Dept of State and the Ukrainian office of the Presidency. Alex Mercouris has a good analysis here that says more or less the same thing but without using information a leak and only diplomatic sources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWYMj4c3vn0
Alex, so far, has a good record regarding Ukrainian analysis. He was correct about the Ukraiains not attacking the Donbass. Although Zelensky may have to in order to get out of the nasty predicament he is in. He is caught between three masters, The US ordering him to confiscate oligarch assets and to not fight either the Crimea or the Donbass, the Ukrainian oligarchy that got him elected in the first place and will have him killed if he goes after them, and the ultranationalists (nazi’s) who will have him killed if he backs away from attacking the Donbass and Crimea. In my opinion, his best option for survival is to cut and run to the US and hide although the US government is filled with children from escaped Ukrainian Banderists. His only other option is to go all-in on attacking the Donass and get his military slaughtered and Russia takes back Ukraine. This is not in the cards for the Biden administration that wants to plunder the last dollar out of Ukraine and then Russia can have it. It will be disastrously expensive to clean up the mess they created including the once again smoldering Chernobyl. That will please the US to no end and provide months if not years, of anti-Russian propaganda.

Posted by: Old Microbiologist | May 13 2021 13:15 utc | 144

Is twitter down for anybody else in U.S.?

Posted by: WJ | May 13 2021 13:52 utc | 146

Posted by: jared | May 13 2021 12:21 utc | 140
The “leak” described in the linked article could be the reconstruction of the Blinken’s message based on common knowledge. Under dictat, Ukraine was and is filling many lucrative positions with people recommended by the “West”. Thus instead of corrupt Ukrainians, the state companies and private companies that desperately need to be in good graces (that was the case of Burisma) have to offer these lucrative positions with equally corrupt Poles, Lithuanians plus actual “Westerners” like Hunter Biden who was a good guy there, simply getting high style living with no work, but without getting any additional loot.
The “leaked demands” are common knowledge. But Ukrainian oligarchs have big proportion of parliamentary deputies under their strings and control mass media, so they are not easy picks. Why they bother Americans so much, it is hard to know, one can speculate.
What is common knowledge is that Americans do not want violent provocations that could spawn a “glorious little war”, but Zelensky threatened exactly that, somewhat suicidally, but this is the logic of MAD, if you press me too much, I loose but I can make sure that you loose too. Another reason is the internal pressure from Nazi-like crazies that help the government to intimidate “pro-Russian” opposition but who are not vegetarian, need fresh red meat from time to time. They seem to be on the list of sacred cows too, like pro-American flunkies.
I do not want to write more detailed speculations, but I think that Blinken represents a fairly decadent stage of Empire, beset by a web off petty little interests that are divergent here and there and aligning them is the main pre-occupation. This is the best explanation for a persistent “Western” demand for “judicial reform” in Ukraine. Say that USA gains an overlord who gets impatient with unpredictable and corrupt SCOTUS, and issues an ultimatum that no foreign bond sales will be allowed unless SCOTUS is reformed, you can pack it, dissolve it, do whatever you want, but get rid of that garbage.
Garbage it is, but getting rid of it is complicated! Trying can even backfire. Luckily, bond market does not listen to the overlord too tightly and we can manage without trading venues controlled by the overlord. And we placate/blackmail it by making a big show of putting everything in place to invade Venezuela etc.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 13 2021 13:57 utc | 148

Grieved @ 82 and uncle t @ 99
The whistleblower Ellsberg, referring to people who designed the USG military SIOP (single integrated operational plan) that was in place for decades and, if implemented, would kill indiscriminately en masse, quipped in his 2017 book confessions of a nuclear war planner, paraphrasing, “Those people should be institutionalised. Wait, oh blimey, they already are.”
Similarly today, those lower than a black snake’s belly are institutionalized and they control the mass media messaging to glorify their virtues while casting people articulating dissenting or opposing views as (immoral) aggressors.
An inverted world without mechanisms in place with power to right itself at the moment.
I hope Murray’s remote testimony is not made difficult to access.

Posted by: suzan | May 13 2021 14:35 utc | 150

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 13 2021 14:26 utc | 150
RE: Pepe’s tale: while I think you make a good point about “Why would he bother?” and “Why is Pepe telling me this?”, I have to say that Pepe’s story sounds like the Joe Biden I remember.
On the question of the Intersectional CIA, it makes perfect sense really, they need spooks that don’t look “American” because all this “cyber-intel” is not doing the job. Hiding the needle you want in a great big data haystack does not actually help you find it.

Posted by: Bemildred | May 13 2021 15:08 utc | 152

Will both Julian Assange and Craig Murray die in a British prison?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/05/my-medical-records/

Posted by: librul | May 13 2021 15:21 utc | 154

I thought the “crumbling infrastructure” was just an internet joke or a lobby thing (American Society of Civil Engineers sounds like a the name of a DC lobby firm). Never thought it was de facto happening in USA.
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a prestigious organization.
It has been lobbying for the USG to budget for needed repairs to USA infrastructure….
Highways, bridges…. water supply…. sewage treatment..railways…. power plants… electricity distribution networks… pipelines..
For years.
USG spends it’s $$ on weapons…. much of USA critical infrastructure is well past EOL. Was built after WWII. Similarly USAF frontline fighters are F-15 F-16 F-18 all designed and built just after end of Vietnam War… 1970s. They are > 40 years old. Only reliable USAF bomber is the B-52 which was designed in 50s… last ones built in 60s… B-1s recently grounded only a handful of B-2s flying.
Abrams tank 70s… Helos more modern but not by much…
USA will collapse due to failure of a critical piece of infrastructure… like the Capitol pipeline or the bridge near Memphis…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W. Oprisk | May 13 2021 15:23 utc | 156

The job of the music teacher/conductor is to make difficult stuff easy to understand. No, I do not consider 15/8 or 7/4 odd time signatures. They are permutations of 2 and 3. And by the way, time signatures are not fractions. So, 15 8, hmm 15 beats to the bar, eighth note gets the beat. What the fuck does that even mean? Grades 6-12 cannot understand such a stupid definition. It means that the value of a beat is equal to one eighth note, or even simpler, if you put an eighth note into a bath tub full of water, all the water would come out. And there are 15 bath tubs in a bar. So, 15 8 how do I get the Grade 12’s to understand? Well 3 sets of 5 basically. Let’s count and clap: 12345,12345,12345. Then they get it. Nothing odd at all. Next period, Grade One’s. Still got the Rite of Spring or whatever, in my head. Lets listen to it and dance around the room. Instead of counting, we’ll chant blueberry pumpkin 3 times. Or alligator pie. And we’re gonna stomp our foot when we say blue and now we’re gonna stomp on blue but just think in our heads for berry pie. There, Grade 1 has just done a supposedly “odd” and difficult time signature. They chanted blueberry (beats in sets of 3) and pumpkin (beats in sets of 2)

Posted by: Absurdio | May 13 2021 15:50 utc | 158

German humor…
The new ENA are busy doing FONOPS in SCS.
fROM Germany,
SCS here we come, first call at Shanghai !
I heard fukus aint too pleased about it.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/05/germanys-indo-pacific-frigate-may-send-unclear-message

Posted by: denk | May 13 2021 15:56 utc | 160

the french gov asks for the interdiction of the demonstration in favour of Palestine tomorrow…bedtst recipe to see the suburbs explose and implement (even) stricter control

Posted by: Mina | May 13 2021 16:03 utc | 162

In regard to 37 and the letter from US generals:
At some point, don’t the Neo-Cons and warmongers realize that the US empire is done, finished if the nation keeps going down the politically correct, snowflake road? New missiles and global strategies won’t matter when Navy Seals go gender neutral and social justice warriors call the tune nationally.
Are they setting up a narrative for an eventual coup? There is no alternative here. They would have to seize the whole nation, not just win an election. The situation tends to be all or nothing.

Posted by: Eighthman | May 13 2021 16:47 utc | 164

Piotr Berman @May13 15:14 #154
As I wrote, the demands made publicly do not differ a lot from the “leak”.
Link?
<> <> <> <>
PS Continuing from my calling “bullshit”: Israel needs a distraction right about now.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 13 2021 16:54 utc | 166

Posted by: Dr. George W. Oprisk | May 13 2021 15:23 utc | 157
“The American Society of Civil Engineers is a prestigious organization.
It has been lobbying for the USG to budget for needed repairs to USA infrastructure….
Highways, bridges…. water supply…. sewage treatment..railways…. power plants… electricity distribution networks… pipelines..
USA will collapse due to failure of a critical piece of infrastructure… like the Capitol pipeline or the bridge near Memphis…”
I look at the infrastructure you identify here and see that most are “publicly” (as opposed to “privately”)owned. I wonder if we are “watching” (not necessarily “seeing”) a not so covert move to privatize public infrastructure by the American oligarchs. Spend all the money on weapons and empire, but allow the infrastructure to decay until “saved” by the magnanimous elites who will be more than happy to up the fees, rates, charges, and tolls on their complacent subjects/sheep once they have taken control.

Posted by: naiverealist | May 13 2021 17:02 utc | 168

DG @May13 16:53 #166

Btw I’m not a covid fanatic … I don’t like the idea that ppl are censored, scorned or vilified just because they express a different opinion

The Covid “fanatics” that we have seen at moa attack the left for accepting the meager steps taken to slow the spread of the virus.
They ignore deeper questions like why the government took half-measures that caused suffering while not actually being effective. These half-measures virtually guaranteed that the virus would continue to spread while boosting Big Pharma profits and proving the military funded mRNA tech.
This apparent blindness is complemented by a strange stubborness: ‘Covid fanatics’ repeat the same arguments over and over. This has irritated many readers (not just james).
See Old Microbiologist @May13 13:32 #146 for more.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 13 2021 17:10 utc | 170

jared @May13 17:05 #170

Escobar cites Andrei Martyanov as his source for the supposed/so-called leak.

AFAICT Martyanov only said that Blinken told Zelensky to “dial it down”.
All the other supposed demands are rumors/made up by Escobar’s anonymous source.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 13 2021 17:26 utc | 172

Over at RT, someone in the comments suggested to establish a scientific control group of people not being vaccinated, to test the hypothesis that such inoculations actually had an effect, and volunteered to be in the control group.
This is simply following the scientific method and should be in the interest of all parties, but apparently this violates RTs policy: https://postimg.cc/CZKjY14M
I guess everybody here is perfectly OK with this? No need to worry?

Posted by: Norwegian | May 13 2021 17:33 utc | 174

What’s the point of people complaining about people complaining?
Wait did I complain about people complaining about people complaining?
Anyway stop ganging up on James if you don’t want to look like bullies. He had a gripe (and you don’t share it while I do), so what, don’t we have better things to say?
– – – – – – –
In that spirit…
From DG:

“no liability, no trust”

It seems reasonable but my personal experience is that even if given “liability” one should still not trust.
Look at this way: see all the acrimony and heated feelings provoked by the mutual inability to convincingly decide upon many of the topics surrounding the pandemic (including if there is one).
Now imagine trying to prove any jab you got was the reason you got some rare disease that might not even be accepted as real by many.
Zero change of success unless you have some magic connections.
This was already true long before Covid.
– – – – –
Mina: what are they going to do about the people who can’t or shouldn’t take the jab? Pretend to be one of those unless you already are or otherwise avoid any of it. Forced “vaccination” is plain dystopia. Personally I would rather wear a mask (and gloves and glasses) in public for the rest of my life than take any of the western jabs.
The San Marino deal sounds tempting (but in my case I doubt I can make use of it).
Separately I think you’re very wrong about what’s going on (and has been for years if not decades) within the French military: a lot of people want a new republic. France has not been able to neuter the old guard to the same extent as in most other NATO countries due to French history. People like Bannon and the US in general don’t have a say and wouldn’t have a say even if they learnt french. Imo the spirit of the Parisian commune and the French revolution survives on the right in France.
– – – –
Old Microbiologist: thank you for your points of view.
I can’t decide whether what you suggest concerning Covid is feasible, I’m assuming I missed it at the beginning when this all started so is there any debate or counterarguments anywhere or any serious discussion concerning your suggestions?
It sounds both “simple” and cheap enough that even now places like for example Cuba would love to make it work. Are they missing any required capabilities? Of course China, Iran, Africa, and most of the Americas should also be interested.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 13 2021 17:42 utc | 176

Where is Xi?
Xi inspects China’s mega water diversion project
The very first obligation of a Head of State is with his/her own people.
And people still say China is an empire…

Posted by: vk | May 13 2021 17:50 utc | 178

foolisholdman | May 13 2021 10:16 utc | 123
I once followed a group trying to trace the ownership of the Fed reserve. They found a (deliberate) web of interlinked companies. The six major US Banks were involved somehow. They did not succeeed in digging out the origins.
However, the Fed, as all the “Central Banks”, is subservient to the BIS in Basel Switzerland. Which is itself owned by the Rothschilds.
(BIS; Bank of International Settlements)

Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 18:09 utc | 180

The IDF are reported to be shelling all the border with Gaza at the moment.
The Zionists attacked a Jewish reporter and stole his camera.
etc.
**
Colombia. The police have been filmed executing a protestor after surrounding him.
* Who would have thought that “our” civilisation was so shallow? I must admit to being naive, (I always was I think), and thought that people would “naturally” choose to be peaceful. Some are, but they are the ones that get screwed.
****
vetinLA | May 13 2021 16:58 utc | 16
That is an excellent link. thanks a lot.
Maybe it is time we went back to basics and started to question the role the UK played from before the WWII (Jaffa), in the installation of “Israel” for colonists.
****

Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 18:29 utc | 182

The reports here about covid rules and regulations sound like sci-fi dystopia. It is not like that yet here in Chicago. Last week I had reason to spend some time in Hyde Park/University of Chicago area. Highly privileged and highly connected people down there. U of C has always been an elite institution, recent years more and more a haven for masters of the universe.
They are completely crazy. Appear on the street without a mask, they will look at you like you are an alien invader. Ready to make a call to the Men in Black. Hyde Park used to be a little like NYC, street life, pedestrians. Lots of Jewish. Now the street is near empty. They are still in abject terror. Granting someone six feet of clearance on a sidewalk is not enough. They want twenty. Unmasked they will flee across the street. The fear is palpable. If that is what being well indoctrinated looks like I want to be far away. These people are in charge in many ways, they are self-referential to a fault. Many of them will be wearing masks the remainder of their lives. They want you to be the same. They are not giving up their fear. Given half a chance they will legislate their fear on you.
Really don’t care how this post gets graded. One of the personas here has a new operator who should’ve broken in slower.

Posted by: oldhippie | May 13 2021 18:32 utc | 184

@ 166 dg…. feel free to read my comment to you @ 45 and for my quick definition of freak @ 43…. i don’t recall saying you were a covid fanatic…point that out to me where i did.. thanks.. i am sorry dg, but the way i see it, i have nothing to apologize for.. i used to use the term freak when i was in my teens.. it was mostly a fun term for someone who did something out of the ordinary or normal… it doesn’t have this horrible definition that some here want to read into it.. my point remains valid @ 9….

Posted by: james | May 13 2021 18:41 utc | 186

Stonebird | May 13 2021 18:09 utc | 181
Any additional info to back the BIS ownership assertion. The Fed has an interesting structure.
According to a CFR member, Philippa Malmgren:
“How lucky I am that my mother studied with JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis and WH Auden and that she passed on to me a command of language that permits me to “tell the story” of the world economy in plain English. She would have been delighted that I managed to show that the evil Gollum from Tolkien’s tales lives above the doorway in the Oval Office, which he certainly does. I saw him there myself. He may have found a new perch over at The Federal Reserve Bank as well.”
– Excerpt From, Signals: The Breakdown of the Social Contract and the Rise of Geopolitics by Dr Philippa Malmgren
“The Lord of the Rings,” is a great allegory! According to Tolkien, the media and high finance are inimical to democracy’s success. Individuals without conscience are Orcs (dark souls). They’re the troublemakers. Our world won’t have PEACE until the challenge of Orcs, Saruman and Sauron is addressed.
Please define the “Ring of Power.” What & where is Mordor?

Posted by: Max | May 13 2021 18:44 utc | 188

@ 123 foolishman… the poster debs shared a link to a video on the city of london that sheds some light on the question of who owns the BOE… it is in general terms though…it is appropriately titled ‘the spiders web’… it is a very opaque structure that is in place and that is of course intentional… it is the same with the federal reserve as i see it… many years ago i read the book ‘ the creature from jekyll island’ which is also worth a read for getting more understanding of the opaque nature of the FED as well… the spiders web.. here is an interview on youtube with the guy who wrote the book i mention – The Creature From Jekyll Island | G. Edward Griffin

Posted by: james | May 13 2021 18:56 utc | 190

@Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 18:29 utc | 184

thought that people would “naturally” choose to be peaceful

Close.
People choose to be *good*.
All people believe that they are good
and therefore
if they are doing it – whatever –
it *is* good.
ISIS believes they are good
Al Qaeda believes that they are good
Google believes that they are good
Zionists believe that they are good

Posted by: librul | May 13 2021 19:02 utc | 192

@Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 18:29 utc | 184

vetinLA | May 13 2021 16:58 utc | 16
That is an excellent link. thanks a lot.

Just curious, what was the link? The post @16 has been deleted and thus the link with it as well.

Posted by: librul | May 13 2021 19:10 utc | 194

@Posted by: librul | May 13 2021 19:10 utc | 196
Found it. My bad. You meant @168 and not @16.

Posted by: librul | May 13 2021 19:19 utc | 196

librul | May 13 2021 19:10 utc | 196
My bad, the link is/was at 168, but I lost the last figure
A complete run down of the early situation in Palestine with photo record of it and supplemental material going way way back.
Jews and Palestinians lived pretty much in harmony until the Zionists arrived, (That’s the way I read it). Seems very well researched.
Part of;
For instance, in the first decade of the 1st Century, the Roman poet Ovid mentioned Palestine in both his famed mythological poem Metamorphoses and his erotic elegy The Art of Love. He also wroteof “the waters of Palestine” in his calendrical poem Fasti. Around the same time, another Latin poet Tibullus wroteof “the crowded cities of Palestine” in a section “Messalla’s Triumph” in his poem Delia.
***
Now I have to find out what was in @16 !

Posted by: Stonebird | May 13 2021 19:31 utc | 198

From the WSJ
“ Prominent scientists are calling for a deeper investigation into the origin of Covid-19, including the possibility that a laboratory accident released the new coronavirus that caused the pandemic.
In a letter published Thursday in the journal Science, an international group of 18 biologists, immunologists and other scientists criticized the findings of a report released in March by a World Health Organization-led team into the pandemic’s origin and called for a more extensive evaluation of the two leading hypotheses: that the pandemic virus entered the human population and began spreading after escaping from a lab or after jumping to humans from infected animals.
The WHO-led team, which included scientists from China and several other countries, reported no definitive proof of either hypothesis. Yet, the scientists wrote, the team nevertheless concluded that an animal origin for the pandemic was the likelier scenario and devoted only four out of the report’s 313 pages to the possibility of a lab accident.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/scientists-call-for-deeper-investigation-into-covid-19-origin-11620928801
The lab accident theory is getting traction. A few months ago it was being debunked as a conspiracy theory. Will we ever know the truth? I don’t know. Does it matter? I think it does.

Posted by: DG | May 13 2021 19:59 utc | 200