Get well soon.

Posted by: Dominic Tweedie | Dec 10 2021 12:45 utc | 4

Good to hear you’re on the healing track. Take your time to rest and get better… Have a walk in the forest or so.

Posted by: phiw13 | Dec 10 2021 12:57 utc | 6

Heal up and feel better soon!

Posted by: 4 Corners Bill | Dec 10 2021 13:26 utc | 8

Best wishes for a speedy recovery B.
I’m sure with the Democracy Summit being a democracy summit, we plebs will have the opportunity to raise the Assange issue with our leaders?

Posted by: bobzibub | Dec 10 2021 13:30 utc | 10

Thanks for the good news and take all the time you need.

Posted by: jo6pac | Dec 10 2021 13:38 utc | 12

BTW, with restrictions back, I was wondering: does a niqab satisfies masking requirements? And how about “100% Cotton Keffiyeh Scarf Wrap “, which is unisex and ” Protects Your Head, Face And Neck From Sun, Wind, Dust And Sand Efficiently When Outdoor Activities.” and “Is Perfect Used For Missions, Desert, Camping, Cycling, Fishing, Jungle, Mountaineering, Traveling, Working, Daily And So On”, perhaps even for clubbing — a choice of colors!

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 10 2021 13:44 utc | 14

Piotr Berman | Dec 10 2021 13:44 utc | 14
Incidentally, Niqabs have become de rigeur wear for Saudis fleeing Houthi rebels after certain outdoor activities. One does not know whether they were riding “botoxed camels”, but the pouty red Pelosi lips (of the camels) and pink “thobes” (of the saudis) must have been just too mismatched, when shown to unwoken and seriously unshaven rebels.
**
PS: The clubbing instinct is just a throwback to the Neanderthal instinct to grab a buch of hair, and club the rest of the electorate into submission.

Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 10 2021 14:03 utc | 16

“..You know the ‘forgetful’ Colonial Christian perpetrators of the Opium Wars have lost the plot when they have to resort to imagining that the CPC’s attitude to the Human Rights of Chinese citizens is worse than their own.”
Hoarsewhisperer@15
No, that is quite consistent. Imperialists have always bombed villages to save them. They exterminated the indigenous, ‘for their own good’; they emptied Palestine’s villages in order to produce ‘flowers in the desert’. There was always a laughably transparent Christian excuse for every evil thing they ever did: they enclosed the commons in England in order to produce more food-it was all for the good of their victims. They hanged poachers to preserve the poor rabbits.
And now the full majesty of the be-wigged Justice system in England has decided, after much deliberation and considering mountains of common law precedent and the most delicate principles of equity, sold Julian Assange to the highest bidder, with the biggest prison system and the current lead in torture techniques and punishment without trial.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 10 2021 14:27 utc | 18

Yes, wait til you’re feeling 100%, b. I’ve yet to experience the Biopsy Blues and, fingers crossed, hope I never do.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 10 2021 14:47 utc | 20

@librul | Dec 10 2021 14:53 utc | 21

Is there a Dead Man’s Switch that gets triggered when Julian Assanage is extradited?

I don’t know, but I hope Johnson and Biden drop dead in shame because of what they have done.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 10 2021 15:14 utc | 22

November inflation data about to come out – anyone think it is going to show inflation getting tamed?
More importantly, the St. Louis Fed shows CPI change at 16.26%:
St Louis Fed CPI change via Confounded Interest
I referenced disco many times before – it is now official: inflation is at rates not seen since Jimmy Carter.
Ah Ah Ah Ah Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Alive!

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 15:56 utc | 24

We all need to pee more:
Surging urea prices idle trucks in South Korea and make farmers in India desperate – NY Times
Urea is made from ammonia, which in turn is made from coal or natural gas via the Haber-Tropsch process. I have posted numerous articles talking about how ammonia prices have surged literally 10x in the past year.
Fun fact: Urea is used to suppress NOx output from diesel engines. They’re why some diesel cars are called “green”.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 16:14 utc | 26

Pandemic of the Vaccinated via The Atlantic
When the Atlantic starts admitting vaccinated get COVID – get ready for lockdowns.
Will the idiots in the CDC, blue states and Federal government admit their blunders? Hah.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 16:28 utc | 28

b, do please keep a backup of your self just in case something happens to the original copy!

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 10 2021 16:37 utc | 30

b, take good care. Best wishes for a good recovery.

Posted by: Tiger Lily | Dec 10 2021 16:47 utc | 32

Re: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 16:14 utc | 26
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//
Australia is just weeks away from a major crisis
— which could see tens of thousands of vehicles pulled off the road and supplies of key items dwindle.
From: Nationwide News Pty Ltd (News Com AU) —
Urea shortage puts supply chain under ‘extreme pressure’ with supplies at risk and prices to soar
[….]
A major factor in the supply disruption is the fact China – which previously supplied 80 per cent of Australia’s urea supplies — has recently banned the export of the product, in order to lower fertiliser prices domestically
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The simple nitrogen-loaded chemical ‘urea’ {CO(NH2)2} is absolutely vital for everything from diesel trucks to plant fertilizer The Aussies are looking at potential severe hunger within a month or two. But so is everybody else!
The Big China has begun to do just what I always predicted.

Posted by: blues | Dec 10 2021 17:04 utc | 34

Thanks to c1ue @ 28 for the Atlantic article on omicron, and to Republicofscotland @ 31 for the article about South Africa’s response. First up in the Atlantic article comes an assertion that the virus is ‘evading immunity’. No discussion on what that might mean, other than if you encounter the virus you suffer its effects.
The second article by RoS is encouraging.
Take it slow, b. After even only a few days hospitalization, as I have discovered, muscular atrophy is very evident. Walking, a bit at a time, was the very best therapy for me. And it was hard at first, but a necessary routine helped — if I didn’t walk I didn’t eat!

Posted by: juliania | Dec 10 2021 17:05 utc | 36

republicofscotland
The outrage grinders stir the pot
with lies and obfuscation
the purpose of this psyop
is to manipulate the nation
The manufacture of consent
for plunders foreign and domestic
the media serve the one percent
they keep in line or get arrested
They enrage so you’ll engage
pick a side, it’s good for hating
god forbid you disengage
this dissent is good for ratings
The fourth estate is dead and gone
it rots in Belmarsh with Assange
the Hegemon has grown too strong
they sing the Uniparty’s song-

Posted by: ld | Dec 10 2021 17:09 utc | 38

I’m humbled that Pepe Escobar posted my article “Putin Agrees it’s Genocide in Donbass” to his VK Wall where it will reach a much wider readership. Given BigLie Media refuses to report anything regarding RFK Jr’s book, I very much doubt it will have any comment about Putin agreeing that Genocide is occurring in Donbass. The English transcript of the Meeting of Council for Civil Society and Human Rights is still incomplete, so one must visit the Russian language transcript where the testimony and Putin’s agreement with it is at about the midway point.
Indeed, this meeting covers a very wide number of topics given the vastness of the Council’s oversight and contains a great load of information about Russia and some of the problems it faces. IMO, just reading the entire transcript is an education in itself. Putin though so highly of the importance of the discourse that he apologized for the need to excuse himself to perform a protocol appearance before returning so the discussion could continue. And today the topic shifts for the Meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and Putin’s speech to that body.
I see that what ought to be headline news–Genocide in Donbass–is obscured by the infamous decision to extradite Assange:
“The decision of the High Court in London to allow the extradition of the journalist Julian Assange to the US is ‘shameful,’ Moscow said on Friday.
“Writing on her Telegram channel, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova blasted the judgement, noting that it happened on International Human Rights Day.
“‘This shameful verdict in this political case against a journalist and public figure is another manifestation of the cannibalistic worldview of the Anglo-Saxon tandem,’ she said.” [Emphasis Original]
Yes indeed, cannibalistic Anti-Human Neoliberal Genocidal maniacs.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 17:22 utc | 40

This is an interesting development, just as the US does its ‘democracy’ stunt, Nicaragua flips to China:
Nicaragua Ends Diplomatic Relations With Taiwan, Recognizes ‘There Is Only One China’

“The government of the Republic of Nicaragua declares that it recognizes there is only one China existing in the world,” Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said on Thursday.
“The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government, which represents all of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” he added. “Today, the government of the Republic of Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan and will cease all official contact or relations.”

So maybe they will now build the Nicaragua canal and make the Panama canal obsolete?

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 10 2021 17:48 utc | 42

all the best b…
same bullshit from the uk with regard to assange… one dying empire teaching another dying empire how to do empire… quite sick really…

Posted by: james | Dec 10 2021 17:51 utc | 44

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 17:22 utc | 40
I just watched the part where the film maker Sakurov talks about Russia feeding Belarus, Abkhazia and Osetia, plus the youth in the Caucasus republics supposedly alienated from the Federation. It was a long address by a film maker that IMO over estimates himself, true that he has done some innovative work like the one shot film “The Russian Ark” in the Hermitage Museum in Piter, but his proposal of letting go from the Federation anyone who wishes to do so was truly a disturbing suggestion and after the approval of the new constitution illegal, thus Putin’s response was strong, reminding the illustrious film maker about the fall of the Soviet Union and its consequences. Putin talked about two thousand posible pieces into which the Federation could be taken apart, a Yugoslavia on steroids. There are better Russian language films than Sakurov’s that’s for sure, I’ll go for Balabanov anytime and he was very critical but true and most of all Russian, Sakurov comes across like an aspiring western indy style film maker, he was harshly reprimanded for suggesting that Belarus is fed by Russia and Putin asked him to apologize before the Belarus people.

Posted by: Paco | Dec 10 2021 17:56 utc | 46

Pretty interesting and balanced article concerning social media. advertising and supposed influence on the public
Bad News – via Harpers
Net net:
There is a lot of bullshit floating around regarding the efficacy of social media and online advertising. This directly benefits the social media companies.
Take this basic lie and combine with ongoing discrediting (largely self made) of American institutions ranging from universities to NGOs to MSM – voila! Disinformation research.
Bullshit piled on top of bullshit.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 18:00 utc | 48

@ Perimetr | Dec 10 2021 17:04 utc |
Sequencing is now the only way to determine the presence of Omicron 2 since it does not have the S-gene deletion which Omicron 1 had which was interpreted as a signal (through absence) of the new VOC in existing PCR tests which search for and identify three gene targets, the S-gene being one.
Some countries do diligent and expansive genomic testing, like Danmark. Others are negligent but I assume some genomic testing is being done in those places as well. Then extrapolations are made to approximate the prevalence in a given population.
Re virulence:
That the new VOC so far seems to be less virulent may be attributable to several causes. It may not be attributable solely to the properties of the mutational configuration of Omicron itself.
…the severity profile of Omicron cases must be interpreted along with an understanding of its capacity to re-infect (and infect the vaccinated). I haven’t talked about vaccines, but the relationships are similar. We expect a rise in milder cases in the vaccinated…
[Here is] a sketch to explain how a new variant may appear milder even with no change in underlying virulence. This can occur because, when calculating the fraction of cases that are severe, the denominator now includes many re-infections that had previously been averted.
https://twitter.com/nataliexdean

Posted by: suzan | Dec 10 2021 18:08 utc | 50

8 things US pandemic communicators got wrong

1. Overconfidence and failure to proclaim uncertainty
It is not easy to communicate uncertainty. The public doesn’t want to hear it, so to truly get it across, you have to proclaim it, not just acknowledge it.
Doing so goes against the grain for most public health agency spokespersons. They rightly think the public prefers confident-sounding officials.
But the public can tolerate official uncertainty, if it’s confidently and matter-of-factly stated: “We’re building our boat and sailing it at the same time.” Among the many benefits: The damage done when you turn out wrong is a lot lower.
Officials’ overconfidence re COVID has been too obvious to belabor. Among the early mistakes confidently asserted: There’s no reason to think the virus is spreading significantly in the US; masks are useless; the most important thing you can do is wash your hands; it’s not airborne; etc. I had dinner recently with a friend who told me, “I just don’t trust what they say anymore. They’ve been so sure and so wrong so often.”
…
2. Failure to do anticipatory guidance
Anticipatory guidance is the risk communication term-of-art for telling people what to expect. It is a linchpin of crisis communication. Knowing what to expect helps people prepare, emotionally as well as logistically. It also inoculates them against false rumors.
I realize that it’s hard to do anticipatory guidance about novel pathogens. You don’t know what to expect. At least you can help people expect that! One of my favorite good examples is from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Jeff Koplan in the early days of the 2001 anthrax attacks: “We will learn things in the coming weeks that we will then wish we had known when we started.” That’s an elegant way of saying, “We expect to make mistakes, find out about them, tell you about them, and correct them.”
You can also help people know what to expect by offering them algorithms. “If the test positivity rate goes up to X, we will probably reinstate our mask mandate.” That not only tells them what to expect if X happens. It tells them that you don’t know whether X will happen. It tells them that you’re preparing for X in case it happens. It tells them that your algorithm is tentative, not a promise (that’s why you said “probably”). And it tells them that if they don’t like wearing masks, they should do what they can to keep X from happening.
I think such algorithms are good risk management as well as good risk communication. Before you remove your mask mandate, figure out under what circumstances you’re likely to want to reinstate it. And tell us your algorithm when you remove the mandate, rather than belatedly trying to explain why you’re making people put their masks back on after having given the impression that mask wearing is over forever.
Worst-case scenarios are a particularly important and particularly neglected type of anticipatory guidance. It’s an axiom of risk communication that any scenario that’s likely enough to be worth planning for is also likely enough that you ought to tell the public about it (so the rest of us can plan for it too—or at least prepare emotionally for it).
…
3. Fake consensus
Like most professions, public health is a guild, and guild members are deterred from deviating publicly from mainstream guild opinion. It can sometimes work like this: A 20% minority of the experts believe something. The 80% prevail. Most of the 20% go silent. The 2% who speak up look like cranks. And journalists and other non-experts (even non-experts within public health) get a misimpression of expert consensus.
In highly uncertain crisis situations like the COVID pandemic, fake consensus can be very harmful. Policymakers are deterred from giving the minority position the consideration it deserves. Researchers are deterred from studying the minority position; granting agencies are deterred from funding research that explores it; journals are deterred from publishing evidence that supports it. In the worst cases, the majority position becomes reified not just as the expert consensus but as inviolate scientific truth that only an anti-science denialist would dare to question.
Under these conditions, discovering that the majority position is mistaken, if it is, takes much longer. And when the news finally reaches the public that the (former) majority position was mistaken, not inviolate scientific truth after all, the loss in trust can be deep and long-lasting.
…
4. Prioritizing health over other values
The vaccination mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is fundamentally about health versus liberty. CDC’s eviction moratorium was fundamentally about health versus property rights. School closures were fundamentally about health versus education. Lockdowns were fundamentally about health versus economics and psychological wellbeing.
In each instance public health officials are entitled to make their case that health should prevail. But they’re not entitled to pretend that there is nothing of value on the other side of the debate.
Acknowledging that there is something of value on the other side of the debate is what I call “even-though risk communication.” Here’s a hypothetical example:
Even though mandatory vaccination is a real infringement on people’s liberty and bodily integrity, we have come sadly and reluctantly to the conclusion that voluntary compliance isn’t enough against Delta, and that mandates are the irreplaceable key to finally putting this pandemic behind us.
…
Fauci was for decades a genuine public health hero. His contributions to our country and our world are undeniable. Sadly, his contributions to the deadly polarization of COVID precautions and widespread mistrust of public health messaging are also undeniable.
I have argued for decades that prioritizing health over truth risked undermining the credibility of the entire public health enterprise. I didn’t have a lot of examples. (In recent years the Dengvaxia vaccine rollout in the Philippines was one.) Even when my public health clients reluctantly conceded that, yes, they do sometimes say not-quite-honest things in order to save lives, they invariably pointed out that their dishonesty did indeed save lives, lives they could document, whereas I had little evidence for my claim that they were eroding trust in the process.
Sadly, COVID has given me a lot of new ammunition.
6. Failure to own your mistakes
When the World Health Organization (WHO) was developing its Outbreak Communication Guidelines after SARS-1, it hired my wife and colleague Jody Lanard to produce a rationale and a draft. Jody submitted six overarching guidelines. WHO adopted five of them. The one it couldn’t stomach: “Admit and apologize for errors.”
…
7. Failure to address misinformation credibly and empathetically
The topic of how to tell people they’re wrong about something is even more complicated than some of the other points I’ve been making today. I want to focus on just two aspects: credibility and empathy.
Vis-à-vis credibility: It’s virtually impossible to address other people’s misinformation to an audience that fervently believes (often accurately, in my judgment) that you yourself are guilty of misinformation. I similarly used to urge my corporate clients to stop calling out activists on their lies when the company itself was widely thought to be lying. It’s a long-term project to earn a reputation for trustworthiness. In the meantime it is self-deceptive to imagine that your own credibility problems aren’t at the core of your difficulty rebutting the misinformation promulgated by others.
One step in the right direction: Distinguish three different kinds of content. Public health professionals understandably (even rightly) hate all three, and tend to call all three misinformation. But only one truly is:
Demonstrable falsehoods. That’s the one that really is misinformation.
Opinions you disagree with—even if most of the data and most of the experts are on your side. I’m tempted to stick with an example that most public health professionals would acknowledge (however reluctantly) is at least debatable. Example: Masks on schoolchildren do more harm than good. But I also want to include here opinions so far-fetched that you’re sorely tempted to consider them flat-out falsehoods. Example: Ivermectin works.
Factoids that are technically true but literally misleading—that is, they are likely to lead people to mismanage their own health. Example one: COVID vaccines were granted Emergency Use Authorizations even though the phase 3 trials failed to yield any statistically significant evidence that they reduced the COVID death rate. (Studies big enough and long-lasting enough to yield enough deaths in the placebo groups would have delayed the vaccine rollouts unconscionably.) Example two, an oldie: Not every vaccine dose recommended by the CDC is necessary or even useful. (The CDC states that “one dose of vaccine confers long-term, probably lifelong, protection against rubella.” The second rubella dose is administered only because it’s part of the MMR [measles, mumps, and rubella] combo shot.)
…
8. Politicization
The politicization of COVID is one of the main reasons for the pandemic’s horrific death toll in America. Public health professionals usually blame it on former President Donald Trump and his allies. Trump deserves a good deal of the blame. But so does public health, I think.

The author (Peter Sandman) is one of the most reasonable people in the PMC medical establishment. Note that even so, he largely overlooks the discomfort and unquantified risks associated with mRNA technology.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 18:12 utc | 52

More interesting stuff:
Right to Nullification – this article speaks to it in terms of state National Guard troops being deployed abroad but talks about the same usage against federal gun control, federal cannabis criminalization, etc etc.
Congress Won’t End The War, So States Must
I definitely need to look deeper into this subject. I have stated many times that if California can ignore federal immigration and cannabis laws, Texas and Florida can equally ignore federal COVID mandates, but I never looked in detail into the constitutional basis.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 18:19 utc | 54

Paco @46–
Thanks for your reply and addition! In that discussion, Putin again alluded to the CIA’s running Russia during the Yeltsin era. So, it’s really little surprise that Ms. Zakharova correctly called the Anglos “cannibals” as IMO many Russians would agree. One thing we don’t discuss much is the amount of enmity being built within China and Russian civil society aimed at the Outlaw US Empire in response to its aggressive acts aimed at their nations, particularly Russia. Generally, most Chinese and Russians understand the Outlaw US Empire is an autocratic state where the people have little sway over anything of importance; but such patience and understanding won’t last forever, and IMO is already waning. I await RT or Global Times and native language media to begin running articles asking why the USA’s citizenry is so cowardly and meek in the face of such obvious violations of their rights. There ought to be many articles linking the Assange Crusade to the farcical democracy summit given the attack being made on one of the so-called values it endlessly touts. I have a title for a longish essay–Uncle Sam’s Hidden Fascism–covering the 1900-present time period I’d like to write someday.
Norwegian @42–
Thanks for providing that item! Here’s another by RT’s China Watcher Tom Fowdy, “Beware: China’s taking the gloves off over Taiwan”:
“Beijing’s had enough of Taipei’s posturing and the stream of support being drummed up for Taiwan across the West. Military action’s unlikely, but it will use its economic and diplomatic muscle to punish the island’s supporters.
“It’s been another busy week on China-related matters. Unsurprisingly, in line to manufacture consent for America’s and the Anglosphere world’s diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, there’s been a coordinated frontloading of anti-China content from various US affiliated groups and organizations. In addition, the US Congress has sought to advance a number of anti-China bills and resolutions.
“Most seriously, tensions over Taiwan are ratcheting up yet again. Just as President Joe Biden undertakes his self-proclaimed “democracy summit,” which Taipei has been invited to, Beijing has been making its furious opposition known, not just in words, but with actions, too.”
As Fowdy details, Lithuania is the first nation to be subjected to China’s escalated wrath.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 18:32 utc | 56

It is may be not an ideal day for levity, although I personally don’t believe Julian Assange’s cause is lost and I wish him well with his appeal to the Supreme Court. The aim seems to keep him out of circulation for the time being.
I saw with some amusement that my post in the last open thread about music and poetry had so provoked a reader that he wrote to complain about MoA being taken over by hippies – what next, chakras and beads? But on reflection, it seems to me that this poster may well be an official of 77th Brigade, posted to keep an eye on MoA, his eyes swivelling with boredom at having to wade through the new flood of Covid posts, and was maybe just seeking distraction. In which case – nice one.

Posted by: Montreal | Dec 10 2021 18:44 utc | 58

Assange decision today merely another confirmation the Anglo countries are ruled by the very worst most mediocre people. This will be a decision which will later serve as a historic marker for the normalization of a perverse repudiation of anything just or noble. That it occur in conjunction with an absurd “democracy” public relations ritual and the
announcement of public funding initiatives for state-sponsored “independent journalism” highlights an utter lack of self-awareness and a ridiculous confidence that any outrage can be neatly laundered to the public.

Posted by: jayc | Dec 10 2021 18:46 utc | 60

Paco @59–
Thanks for your reply! You ask, “from now on who is going to dare telling the truth to power?” That’s one of the main reasons I rely on Russian and Chinese Media as they have far more credibility as does their leadership than anything in the West. Although, in relation to Biden’s propaganda summit, this item by Medea Benjamin is useful, “10 Contradictions That Plague Biden’s Democracy Summit”:
“A broad global ranking of countries by various measures of democracy puts the U.S. at # 33, while the U.S. government-funded Freedom House ranks the United States a miserable # 61 in the world for political freedom and civil liberties, on a par with Mongolia, Panama and Romania.”
And that’s merely one aspect of the first main contradiction.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 18:56 utc | 62

Perimetr @61–
Thanks for your reply and your detailing the resons behind the utter folly of Trump’s Trade War and attempts to disconnect from China–the irrationality is stunning! The tariffs alone are one of the main causes for our domestic inflation going through the roof that myself and others predicted at the time. As Diesen has proven, the Outlaw US Empire is now geoeconomically dependent on China and that condition will continue until the USA restores its manufacturing base, so China needn’t nationalize any of the foreign owned factories operating there; although, truthfully there aren’t that many as most have majority Chinese ownership. However, even if the manufacturing base was to be rebuilt, the USA would still need to enact a major series of economic reforms that aid the working class and thus make it competitive globally–reforms the Financial Parasites will fight tooth and nail. In other words, the reality is for the USA to return to anything like its former self in the domestic economic realm of the 1950-60s, a major revolution would be required that utterly ousts all the Neoliberals and negates/neuters the power of Wall Street. And that means trampling the Duopoly under foot so it never again arises.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 19:11 utc | 64

a. With the first injection and with every subsequent booster (of a never ending series), the subject’s immune system is eventually degraded to the point that even minor illnesses become fatal.
b. With the first injection, a microchip is inserted into the subject that, with the use of 5G technology, the subject’s identity, location, and vital signs are tracked in real time.
Posted by: Karl Schulze | Dec 10 2021 18:20 utc | 55
I am not aware of good arguments for either of the two statements.
The second statement may be inspired by ultra-small passive tags that could be read by an active reader from a small distance. E.g. tagged book can be detected and identified as you cross the library door. That precludes “use of 5G” technology. However, the energy needed to read the tag may be too large to be applied without health risks, and if the tag is that minute, 22 micron, it can be simply excreted: if it can flow in body fluids, it can get out. Lastly, they are still experimental.
Ordinary small passive takes are larger than syringe needle cross section.
Concerning the second statement, a vaccination mimics an infection. Exposure to infection is normally a boost for the immune system. Among the explanation of small incidence of COVID-19 is that sub-Saharan Africans have a huge exposure to infections, as a cradle of humanity and home of many primate species, Africa has a much larger variety of pathogens that thrive on humans, plus mostly rural population have huge exposure. (Other explanation were outdoor lifestyle with hot weather and no air-conditioning, exposure to intense light that is deadly to viruses.)
Antibiotics clear infections, including innocent bacteria, that can de-mobilize the immune system. There are medications that interfere with hormonal balance and thus which immunity. Are vaccine blamed “by association”?

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 10 2021 19:18 utc | 66

Posted by: c1ue @ 48
Who wrote:
“Pretty interesting and balanced article concerning social media. advertising and supposed influence on the public. Bad News – via Harpers There is a lot of bullshit floating around regarding the efficacy of social media and online advertising. This directly benefits the social media companies.”
Here is some more on that, Radio NZ interviewed filmmaker David Carroll in 2019 on ‘Cambridge Analytica and ‘The Great Hack’. Sorry, I cant make the link work: RNZ Audio Player.webarchive
(707K) [good interview]
Here is some more on that:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/07/the-great-hack-facebook-cambridge-analytica/
A good reason to get rid of Fakebook. I eschew any group that uses it as naive, unreliable and unaware. Why give out your data to the enemy?

Posted by: Paul | Dec 10 2021 19:38 utc | 68

Posted by: Paul | Dec 10 2021 19:38 utc | 68
“The Great Hack” only furthers the bullshit Russia-did-it narrative. I had the displeasure of watching it when it came out in 2019. There were a few interesting tidbits revealed, but otherwise it was fully on board with the Putin-as-evil-mastermind story.
That said, yes, fuck Facebook. They are the enemy no matter what your political persuasion or economic status (unless you’re a majority shareholder I guess).

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 10 2021 19:42 utc | 70

@perimetr 35 et al.
Interesting question, which seems rather nebulous from the very beginning. A tiny virus of some 120 nm size isn’t easy to pick up. Things would be much easier if one could cultivate it to make a larger amount of only one of it’s kind (among others, to fulfil Koch’s rules). Which, as far as I see, hasn’t been done. Usually you will have a sample with a number of different microbes, including several well known out of the corona family. The procedure to get a full sequencing is anything but straight forward. Including a lot of black box operations and educated guesses. With PCR and markers/primers for known segments one can get certain areas. And then other areas. And then try to create a full RNA out of these segments.
I see here a lot of “The imperor’s new clothes” – wow, they have sequenced that stuff, so should do we, at least claim so … Typical stuff of reproducibility crisis.
Another strange thing. Whenever you find in biology a new species – “new” means “not described until now”. No one would claim it is “new” as in “don’t have existed bevor”, except it’s a newly created variety of apple or rose. There is no checklist of all existing “viruses in the world”, where one looks and find out, o, this virus is a new one.
Finally, by accident I found a new species of funga in my court. Confirmed by macroscopic and microscopic property. To make it a well rounded publication, we asked a laboraty with experience with this genus for sequencing. No result so far. Despite the fact that the sample is a big (70 mm ~ 3″) and healthy one, the relevant, very small part of te DNA can’t be obtained …
Regards
und gute Besserung an b

Posted by: BG13 | Dec 10 2021 19:49 utc | 72

re. Assange:
I am stunned at the reality of it.
Let the record show, that revealing facts is punishable in the free world. Whatever the US and its allies may be, they do not respect to any priciples of liberty.
re. Ukraine:
Appears Biden is blinken. But does that really fix anything? Seems a hollow victory.

Posted by: jared | Dec 10 2021 20:06 utc | 74

Real, live happening now nullification issue happening in Oroville, California, as reported by VICE News, “Pentagon Blames Biden, Newsom for US Inaction in Breakaway Republic Crisis”. It sure does sound like The Onion, but it’s genuine:
“UNITED STATES—As the escalating crisis over the Constitutional Republic City of Oroville enters its second month, U.S. military leaders have refused to rule out an invasion, telling Motherboard that civilian leaders are responsible for inaction to date. For their part, those leaders have articulated no plans to protect both the territorial integrity and the people of their once-proud nation—but have also pointedly refused to deny that military force remains an option.”
Other examples of nullification are cited in the article’s text. I believe Oroville is where PavewayIV is located, and Walter also lives not too far away.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 20:16 utc | 76

All the best from the Antipodes, wishing you a speedy recovery. This blog is certainly the best researched and least hysterical when compared to others. It’s nice to see rational analyses with attributions, without the all religious conservativism and anti-semitism of The Saker…and his attendant coterie of Trump supporters… 🙂

Posted by: AndyT | Dec 10 2021 20:54 utc | 78

Posted by: librul | Dec 10 2021 14:53 utc | 21
… Is there a Dead Man’s Switch that gets triggered when Julian Assanage is extradited?
Yes! A DMS is an automatic action meant to handle a threat to safety. Might be workable in this manner:
Everyone announces they will do something if Julian Assange is not released… for his actions of speaking truth to power. Just announce you will do something WITHOUT saying what. I.e., let ’em guess!
Like give up sugar for a week. Or lose 5 pounds. Or ANYTHING…and really intend to do it…just not say what the act will be.
Tyrants will automatically worry on what might happen but have no clue to the mystery. They will be stuck in an endless loop. Consider that 50 million citizens speak of protesting but NOT say how. Interesting!

Posted by: chu teh | Dec 10 2021 21:06 utc | 80

Julian should be a trigger but most of the people he suffers for do not even respect him.
The jabbing of kids has triggered some people i know irl.

Posted by: Rae | Dec 10 2021 21:23 utc | 82

Be well b, hope the health system you exist in, works better than here in the U$A.

Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 10 2021 22:01 utc | 84

@ Paul | Dec 10 2021 22:09 utc | 85 with the personal stories about the Covid experience
Thanks for sharing what many of us here experience ourselves with US zombies.
I trust you have an Ivermectin protocol handy if the Covid virus does make it through your strategy of defense. I had a flu last week and seem to almost be over it and will go get tested tomorrow and see if it comes up negative for Covid again…..and I am back on prophylaxis dose of Ivermectin again and until the Covid experience is under control.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 10 2021 22:20 utc | 86

Below is a quote of the last line in a ZH piece about the latest empire propaganda about Iran…..don’t want to provide link and make everyone sick….grin
”
A Biden admin official was cited this week as saying: “We’re in this pickle because Iran’s nuclear program is advancing to a point beyond which it has any conventional rationale,” which echoes Israeli’s position.
”
Its always someone else’s perceived aggression. Never their own….its called projection.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 10 2021 22:53 utc | 88

@ karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 22:56 utc | 89 with the link to Max and Hudson
I am watching them spin from yelling at Yellen calling the American public the problem for inflation to them call 250 million of American’s Saudi type prince and princes because we are lazy, don’t work and live off printing money…WRONG.
Max links communism/socialism with China and what as seen as the failure of socialism in America….WRONG
I will do another on the Michael Hudson part

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 10 2021 23:17 utc | 90

B: Hope you recover soon.

Posted by: Almayer | Dec 10 2021 23:25 utc | 92

More on Max Kaiser interview of Michael Hudson about Bitcoin and money/debt
Gold is path of least resistance for global investment of savings….Michael
Empire wants all to hold US paper which is nothing
Super Imperialism as a How To book
Michael says Bitcoin doesn’t scale but not addressed
Bitcoin is the colonial acceptable of savings for empire underlings but gold is not.
Max is delusional about the BS around Bitcoin and keeps saying it will solve the world’s problem….and is a threat because it is being used to get around the US dollar.
Folks need to separate what Bitcoin is doing in its current state to destabalize the US dollar from its ability to replace the US dollar as some sort of “neutral” money source which is ecologically sound in its design and underpinnings.
Bitcoin doesn’t scale and never will
Someone owns the base bitcoin and that is not a sovereign nation to the best of my knowledge so we would be replacing a private global money source with another private global money source.
Permissionless crypto currencies will never work because they do not scale and are not an ecological solution to our public/private finance/money problems.
Max is trying to play Michael and I expect Michael to have both barrels loaded for the next installment….don’t fuck with Michael….grin

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 10 2021 23:38 utc | 94

@psychohistorian #94
The issues with the bitcoin scaling have nothing to do with “ownership of the base bitcoin”.
They include: massive power consumption, inherent slowness of network, opacity of ownership, inability to be reversed should crime or mistakes occur, etc etc
A base bitcoin is no more owned by anyone than the base dollar from which various cents are derived is owned by anyone.
Max is confused too about the legal nature of money. Outside of El Salvador, bitcoin is not legal tender anywhere.
Nor am I particularly impressed with the utterly erroneous notion that bitcoin challenges the dollar. New York City and Miami mayors are both pushing bitcoin/cryptocurrency hard – how is that challenging banisters, much less the dollar standard?

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 10 2021 23:49 utc | 96

psychohistorian @94–
The bitcoin discussion was only during the first half. Max often gets his lines confused, which was the case in the first half regrading the ratio of princes to deplorables within the Outlaw US Empire. I’ll need to ask Hudson for further clarification through his Patreon portal about the ability of El Salvador to use bitcoin to escape its dollar capture since it does seem hypothetically possible.
The really big fact people need to get from Dr. Hudson is the era known as Dollar Diplomacy that began before WW1 and lasted until the Great Depression was the dress rehearsal for the mechanisms used in Super Imperialism. Smedley Butler admits he was then the enforcer for the Banksters just as the CIA and Outlaw US Empire’s military is today. And that’s THE clue as to when neoliberalism’s US methods were first introduced to the world. What ought to be examined next is when the UK/British Empire began using such methods so we can further pinpoint when Neoliberalism began.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2021 23:57 utc | 98

Has there been conservation of CD4 and CD8T cell epitopes in SarsCov2 viral evolution so far? Apparently yes. Good news.
Antibodies aren’t the whole story.
There has been a lot of anticipation about Omicron and T cell responses. T cells epitopes are largely conserved and this suggest that most of the T cell response might still be on hand to fight the virus…
In general the vast majority of T cell epitopes are totally conserved and is not different when we consider the early (alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon), or late variants (kappa, eta, lambda, iota, Mu etc…) such as delta.
T cell epitopes in natural infection? The analysis of the full proteome ( see diagram ) here show that on average 98% of CD8 and 95% of CD4 epitopes are totally conserved.
When we get to Omicron presumably because of the higher number of mutations, the fraction of CD8 epitopes that are 100% conserved drops significantly to 95% for CD8 and 88% for CD4 whole proteome. Still very high conservation.
For spike and Omicron the fraction of conserved epitopes is 86% for CD8 and 72% for CD4. Still a majority of epitopes are conserved. Bear in mind that a mutation in an epitope does not preclude cross reactive recognition, so these are conservative estimates.
Bottom line; the fraction of 100% conserved epitopes drops in omicron compared to other variants BUT still the majority of the epitopes are conserved.
An important caveat is that we do not know what level of conservation is likely to preserve functional T cell responses, but from the data available it seems likely that T cell activity will be far less impacted that neutralizing antibody responses.
Alessandro Sette
https://twitter.com/SetteLab

Posted by: suzan | Dec 11 2021 0:24 utc | 100