dan of steele | Feb 10 2022 8:46 utc | 146
at the same time, there is no end to this kind of bs. just from a random goog of “vaxes as commie plot against the USM”. the only true statement in this whole segment is the opening one: “Now let me say, I am vaccinated.” (At least he’s more honest than Robert Kennedy Jr.) all this is paid for by the same folks whose Senators voted 100-0 for last 50 US military budgets and every war you can name. but the virus and the vax, all invented by the jackasses who’ve hated America for 250 years, aided by their Manchurian coolies cooking their yellow bugs in a Faucian Wuhan bat cave. did you know it’s your Christian duty not to submit to Biden’s commie plot against our purity of essence? now you do. if gays can be in the ranks, why not the unvaxxed? (what is and isn’t contagious in a shower? hahahahaha.) it’s because we are too “woke” and not focused enough on warfighting that we even talk about things like vax mandates.
meanwhile, in the House, we just had 168 congressers issue a statement in support of the Jan 6 putsch, in which the 1st point is that Biden is promoting socialism. how much has the wealth of each of these 168 members (and/or their spouses) increased just under the Biden admin? while Biden goes on and on about how great friends he and Mitch are. well, comity and communism, what can one say. of course pinkos want us all to get along.
one doesn’t have to peek far under the bed of America’s fevered nightmares to see the Bircherism behind the anti-vaxxers. more than a few will heed the calls to save Amerikkka from stabby commies with needles being coordinated out of the white house, calls issued by the Sackler family. if we don’t protect the (made in China) fabric of America’s moral roughage, who will?
isn’t it funny that the donkeys said the exact same “he’s gone red”, “Putin’s puppet” baseless slander about Pompeo, Rexxon, ed privatizeer Devos, etc., etc., and esp casino mogul president dumpster fire? per Schiff, HRC, Maddow, etc., etc., the most active commie cell in the US was composed of the soviet comrades in the Trump cabinet.
how the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 10 2022 18:43 utc | 203

The western press, over the last few days, has been addressing the Minsk agreements in context of their renewed relevance in terms of diplomatic negotiations seeking to resolve at least the tensions within Ukraine itself. The central disagreement with the “meaning” of the Minsk document is over the agency of the population within the Donetsk / Lugansk regions, and correspondingly the legitimacy of their position as negotiated. Essentially, the Ukrainian position – or at least that endorsed by the west – is that the breakaway regions are controlled entirely by Russia and that granting political representation to the regions is the equivalent of allowing a hostile foreign entity gain influence in the country’s parliament. This position also insists all the trouble started with the “invasion” and “annexation” of Crimea, and that the previous “popular uprising” enjoyed universal support within the country at large. This position also seems to reflect merely the relatively extreme views of a minority within the country at large – outsized in influence due to support from competing foreign interests (opposed to Russia). Their simplistic and counter-factual narrative is what needs to be overcome.

Posted by: jayc | Feb 10 2022 19:13 utc | 205

Stonebird @166 I think the big difference is the lack of an EU governing structure in Canada. Not that their aren’t enough powerful interests from elsewhere represented here, but what is being seen with this Maple Leaf Revolution (per Martyanov) or Freedom Convoy is that the central government can be weakened. Presumably, this may be with the intent to elevate a pre-selected chosen few to power.
However – in Canada, it is far more complicated than that. We see this already with the Green Party and NDP each trying to lay claim to the environmental/ climate change political points on the table, which the Liberal party isn’t strong enough to keep a grip on. And in Quebec – you need a bunch of Quebec if you’re going to govern this country – the back-and-forth is beginning, with discussions over the number of seats in Parliament for the province and the regional agricultural industry. Not to mention whatever is happening on all the other regions, like Alberta which you mentioned. In brief — without a military powerful enough to defend the homeland, there could be no (mostly)unified nation here. That’s another complicated discussion.
Back to the bridge. Forget Liz Truss. I’m waiting for the Beaverton to skewer Michigan governess, Gretchen Wilmer. Then I’ll post it.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 10 2022 19:30 utc | 207

Per my post @207, Gretchen Whitmer as leader of Michigan… my apologies, and also it’s Elizabeth May from the Green Party who was speaking in Parliament in that 2-minute video I linked to not Canadian figure skater from the ‘88 Olympics, Elizabeth Manley. Sorry, walking, chewing gum.
Since I had to post the correction, here’s another brief recent video of Elizabeth May, presenting a private members bill defending Via Rail Canada:
https://youtu.be/MwsQ8Y6i9yc

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 10 2022 19:41 utc | 209

The Canadian Convoy is the most important protest action in decades; obviously inspired by, but far more significant than, the gilets jaunes in France! I am stunned that this movement has arisen in Canada and even more amazed at how organised and disciplined the truckers and their supporters are.
It is worth noting that Ben Norton has been shameful in his opposition to the Canadian truckers.
It is apparent that Trudeau is aiming to clamp down on the protestors because he basically hasn’t given himself any other option. Everywhere in the world is dropping the restrictions, mandates and passports so it is insane for the Canadian government to continue down this path.
The Duran has provided a really good analysis of the path that Trudeau is following:
Trudeau under pressure to crackdown on truckers
In the video, Alexander Mercouris identifies “parallel structures” as the reason why the truckers protest is so resilient. If the fake-pandemic and its restrictions are maintained then creating “parallel structures” will be the way to defeat our authoritarian governments.

Posted by: ADKC | Feb 10 2022 19:54 utc | 211

@ c1ue | Feb 10 2022 18:22 utc | 199… thanks for the free matt taibbi article on the truckers.. as for trudeau having covid and having to isolate which has been reported by the canuck msm, i have little doubt that is true, regardless of the appearance of him running away and hiding – which is also what he is doing here… the 5 day quarentine thing is already pasted as i understand it, but he will not be meeting the truckers regardless of covid, or no covid..
@ Jen | Feb 10 2022 19:34 utc | 208… thanks.. yes, and no… i am supportive of the truckers, and i don’t believe i am part of a fringe group! otherwise all you articulate is pretty accurate.. thanks..
@ ADKC | Feb 10 2022 19:54 utc | 211… thanks.. will take a look at the link now…
to repeat – i am fully supportive of the truckers here… and i think they are more organized then many realize… we’ll see how this unfolds.. it is a big deal as i see it..

Posted by: james | Feb 10 2022 20:09 utc | 213

Per my ill wishes for Gretchen Whitmer… I should know better than to try to influence the editorial policy of the Beaverton. To both: I’m sorry.
Oil and gas companies team up to fight climate change by eliminating “Warmest Regards”
https://thebeaverton.com/2022/02/oil-and-gas-companies-team-up-to-fight-climate-change-by-eliminating-warmest-regards/
For vitriol, I’ll pass the torch to Flavio Volpe and zip it.
https://twitter.com/FlavioVolpe1/status/1491761210211147781?s=20&t=8y8wuRfIUkdcQLpOX910Sw

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 10 2022 21:03 utc | 215

Thank you @uncle tungsten | Feb 9 2022 23:42 utc | 74
for the Michael Hudson link. It’s excellent throughout but what made me LOL was, when speaking of the US insistence that Western Europe and East Asia belong in the US orbit:
“US diplomats have actually looked for some legal basis for this and they have some archeologists and anthropologists who found an old map of Gondwanaland a few hundred million years ago. The United St—, the whole world used to be part of one continent all together before they began to separate. What the US diplomats found was that Europe was really right next to Latin America, right next to the Caribbean. And so what they come up with is a thought that the Monroe Doctrine really includes Europe if you look at the long big picture. And actually Japan and China were very close to the West Coast, it was all one conglomeration. And the US has said, taking the big picture they have always been part of our sphere of influence.”
Mackinder, meet Continental Drift—All your World-Island is belong to US!

Posted by: Vintage Red | Feb 10 2022 21:10 utc | 217

Everyone can watch live right now (1:30 pm PST) Feb 10 on YouTube of Ukraine getting another 200 million dollars of weapons from the USA.
Reuters live feed

Posted by: lex talionis | Feb 10 2022 21:32 utc | 219

Thank You so Much to all who watched the Convoy Team
Here is their statement released today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKMAOFCpVfQ

Posted by: ld | Feb 10 2022 21:43 utc | 221

Vintage Red #217

Mackinder, meet Continental Drift—All your World-Island is belong to US!

Thank you and, yes that was a mighty good line for a laugh.
Given that the opposite is equally ‘valid’ then we are all part of the greater Easter Island empire’s influence and should be out there making moai as fast as possible. Those images do echo the USA world view in a bleak way.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 10 2022 22:01 utc | 223

rjb1.5 #many
Your comments are appreciated and incisive. Thank you.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 10 2022 22:03 utc | 225

@ rjb1.5 | Feb 10 2022 21:33 utc | 220… here are some words from an epidemiologist… what do you think?
“Well, I do have a major in theoretical Biophysics, got a publication in international immunology while studying (I do not currently work in the field) and do, generally speaking, believe that I can speak with a certain degree of authoritativeness on the topic of vaccine mandates.
They are, with mRNA vaccines vs. Covid, an idea that is about as bad as invading Iraq, and has the potential to get more people killed.
Here is the reasoning:
–Covid is a single stranded RNA virus. Virusses can be single or double stranded, and either DNA or RNA, in all permutations. Of all of these, single stranded RNA virusses mutate fastest, generally speaking. Mutation speed is very important when deciding if you try to beat an epidemic by vaccing or not.
–Covid is a virus infecting the upper respiratory tract. This is not an area that is all that easily accessable to the specific immune system.
–In military terms, trying to fight Covid, essentially exclusively with a vaccine (that is of course leaky on top of that) is akin to trying to fight the first guards tank army with light infantry, on the plains of central Ukraine. It is simply an obviously dumb idea. It is, perhaps permissable, if you have nothing else on hand. But:
–Pretty clear evidence exists that Covid, particularly in its early phase, is quite treatable by pretty cheap and available medicine.
–There is fairly limited risk from Covid to people who are not above 80 years of age.
–And there is the possibility of a Marek like Catastrophe regarding the interaction between leaky vaccines and Covid.
Sidebar: Mareks disease in chickens.
On the heels of great vaccination success vs small pox, in the 1970s, an attempt was made to eradicate Mareks disease, a cancer and paralyisis causing illness, typically with a CFR (case fatality rate) between 2-5%, in chicken. The vaccine for this was one and done, but did not cause sterile immunity, meaning it did not prevent transmission, but mostly made the chickens immunized highly unlikely to die or even be negatively affected from Mareks disease, assuming the immuniziation worked in the chick in question. As such, the vaccines used vs. Mareks were actually better then the mRNA vaccines used vs. Covid.
So, what happened? Well, the currently dominant strains of Marek kill any unvacced chicken in 5-6 days. Chickens have to be vaccinated in ovo, meaning in the egg, to have any chance of survival. Incidence of Mareks disease in vaccinated chickens is still pretty high. Millions of chicken have died. So yes, Vaccines, even vaccines that work fairly well, can horribly backfire!
Personally, I view vaccinations as being solidly in the top 10 of mankinds inventions, along with the wheel or firemaking. That vaccinations, wheels or fire are a really great inventions does not mean that I am in favor of being set on fire, run over by a wheel, or be force vaccinated against a single stranded RNA virus that has, against people with my physical characteristics, a 0.01% CFR rate.
Secondary sidebar: The other problem in mRNA vaccines:
Normally, whenever you take a medicine, you can find out exactly how much of the medicine you took, what is in it etc.
This is not the case with mRNA. Nobody can accurately tell me how much spike protein my body will produce after a vaccination. Every first semester medicine student knows that the difference between poison and medicine is just dosage and location, and these 2 things are essentially put into the hands of randomness and fate with mRNA vaccines. It is however completely permissable to use mRNA-interference techniques to treat very hard to treat otherwise patients.
The amount of spike protein produced and then exposed is:
X (number of mRNA-lipids containers) *p1 (probability of hitting a cell and entering it) * p2 (probability of mRNA getting to a Ribosome before being degraded) *p3 (probability of the ribosomal complex being willing or able to process this mRNA) * m1 (number of times the mRNA gets translated into protein) * (p4-p5) (combination of probabilities for diffusion back to the outer cellwall, p4 minus the probability to get stuck in the nuclear membrane, which happens to be right next to to the Ribosomes) *p6 (probability to transition out of the cell)
p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6 are between 0 and 1, m1 is probably 1, but can be higher then that in some cases. X, in Moderna, is simply 4 times higher then X in Biontech.
Meanwhile, with a Protein vaccine, you have Covid like looking Spike protein parts, carefully dose them, and directly expose the immune system to them. Oh, did I mention that Spike proteins, in an actually productive Covid infection, are subject to considerable degrees of post translational modification governened by other Covid Genes (which the mRNA vaccine does not include)? And that a mRNA vaccine generated Spike Protein may very well look quite different to a real spike protein? Or that we are still vaccinating against the Wuhan wild type, which no longer exists outside of labs?
There is also another thing: Nobody vaccinated twice without some time spent between each vaccination, and for very good reasons (doing so massively increases side effect probability). Well, Covid is a disease that can be asymptomatic in, with Omicron, as many as 7 out of 8 patients.
Someone who had an asymptomatic infection, and then gets vaccinated on top of that with a short time span between infection and vaccination, is highly likely to get serious side effects, while not actually getting much of an immune system improvement.
It is sheer lunacy to force mRNA vaccines on healthy individuals, especially given that more secure alternatives like attenuated vaccines or protein vaccines exist, and that covid can probably be effectively treated.
It is thus unsurprising, that the number of suspected adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines is higher then the combined number of all suspected adverse reaction to all vaccines, taken together, since 1970.
I studied epidemiology. The consensus position, prior to 2019, was that one simply does not vaccinate into an ongoing Pandemic, unless there is absolutly nothing else one could possibly do. This position has clearly proven its merit, as is evidenced by the craptacular performance of the vaccination program.”
taken from the poster A.I.S.
FEBRUARY 5, 2022 AT 4:00 AM
FASCISTS IN OTTAWA. NONE IN KIEV!

Posted by: james | Feb 10 2022 22:12 utc | 227

Rae it’s nothing to worry about but I’m wondering if perhaps you’re replying to another commenter concerning COVID? Otherwise I’m missing something (but then again I’m more tired than usual right now lol).

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 10 2022 22:16 utc | 229

Fargin Hilarious
Russell Brand for all the folks on or off board with the trucuckers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PghoRUr-wo
anyhoo makin my way to Ortawar this weekend

Posted by: ld | Feb 10 2022 22:23 utc | 231

@ 229 sunny runny burger.. it might have been off the first page post of yours @ Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 9 2022 22:24 utc | 57… thanks for your commentary!

Posted by: james | Feb 10 2022 22:28 utc | 233

@uncle tungsten | Feb 10 2022 22:01 utc | 223
If humanity doesn’t make it through our little thicket of extinction level challenges, and alien archeologists happen upon our remains, on this continent I can imagine them finding such giant stone monuments with the faces of our billionaires, neocons, three letter agency types, military brass and other talking heads.
Hopefully we will instead survive, and even thrive.

Posted by: @uncle tungsten | Fe | Feb 10 2022 22:31 utc | 235

Ma Laoshi #170
Thank you. I am equally interested in reading any German commentary, ideological or geopolitical analysis by German political scientists. Do they have a blog?? that I can machine translate perhaps.
b can you assist us barflies with a brief post on the German world view sources?
I loved the Mercouris piece. Strange silence from smooiex12 as I thought he would absolutely feast on it but he has jumped from Macron to Truss giving Sholz a miss. Maybe he is recovering from a small bout of apoplexy.
Mercouris reports today that China has expressed an opinion on the USA warmongering in Ukraine. Worth the 30 minutes.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 10 2022 22:33 utc | 237

james #227
Thank you and that link was sobering. Many other virologists and scientists working in vaccine technology would fully support that position.
The naked greed based suborning of public health and pharmacology remains disgusting.
In a strange way Trudeau is the current lightening rod for public anger and awareness of the blunder. If the Canadian Teamsters Union had any independence or care for its members it would host a membership debate on this controversial science and facilitate an informed public. The silence of organised labor has left the field to be occupied by other forces.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 10 2022 23:18 utc | 239

@ uncle tungsten… thanks… i agree with you in all that @ 238.. we’ll see how it goes for trudeau here forward.. i suspect a rocky month of february for him..

Posted by: james | Feb 10 2022 23:52 utc | 241

More anti-mandate protesters and more police arrive at the NZ parliament precinct:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/461291/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-anti-mandate-protest-enters-fourth-day-at-parliament
This will not end well.
Meanwhile NZ has reached new virus case and vaxx records.

Posted by: Paul | Feb 11 2022 0:34 utc | 243

Whether dissent is astroturfed by insidious forces or not, the challenge for us ordinary people is how to come together to establish peace and justice for all despite our callous overseerers.
Events projected loudly by whichever well-funded media representatives, super minorities which control or strive to influence the functioning of big business and government, does not imply ordinary people regardless of conventional labels and descriptions have not the inherent ability and good intentions to create peaceable, just solutions to our current challenges.
We need to forge a way together across media-created divides to triumph over the incompetence and corruption of ruling parties and their media funder overseer schemers.
Imagine that a handful of actors without authorization released the covid lab thingy as an economic (not personal) bioweapon against China, intending to cause economic disruption without causing high fatality rates. But China responded with agility, skill, intelligence and wisdom with its zero covid policy, unexpectedly creating conditions for blow back because the releasor nation was unprepared.
In this scenario the blowback to the entire ‘developed world’ caused by the small cohort of unauthorized instigators in the west magnified the incompetence and illegality of the aggressor host state which we are facing today.
~~~
So, a handful of unauthorized actors may have caused up to now over ~ 20 million global deaths and unimaginable suffering, ongoing.
How and when will we see justice if this scenario is true?
Meanwhile the results unsettles the stability of peoples suffering the consequences, ordinary people, unlike the wealthy who have profited from this suffering. The harmed clamor for justice although they know not what that entails, understandable. Some will opportunistically profit from this angst.
~~~
Where is the acountability for the EAU vaccines which trial data we have not had access to? When did the trials really begin? Is that a problematic question for the authorities? I don’t know. Releasing the trial data if there is nothing to hide shouldn’t be problematic.
~~~
We are on our own to carpenter solutions to challenges which are not left right but top bottom. Disavow legitimacy to those who strive to divide us against one another despite our common interests.
Where I live, in a rural ag county USA, this oppressive divisiveness manifests daily on talk radio. The major agricultural radio outlet here broadcasts for ~two hours at midday, covering current agricultural topics which everybody wants to hear. The rest of the programming on the channel, the other 22 hours is mostly divisive hate radio, talkers hating on their political opponents supported by the Koch bro’s.
I don’t watch tv. Is there is a similarity there as well re divisiveness over constructive engagement?

Posted by: suzan | Feb 11 2022 2:01 utc | 245

@ suzan | Feb 11 2022 2:01 utc | 244… the divisiveness here in canada might be similar… i pick some of it up on cbc in the comments section… people are generally divided over covid and the mandates and etc. etc… the trucker convoy is testimony to this i suppose.. and i do think the politicians seem to thrive on taking advantage of these types of divisions among ordinary people.. sometimes in fact, the language politicians use is very unhelpful.. this is a criticism that has been leveled at trudeau over everything happening now too…
how do we come together with those who hold diametrically opposite views? there has to be some gentleness in our actions with each other, as i think goodness is the underlying nature of all people, in spite of peoples attachment to a particular viewpoint or opinion..

Posted by: james | Feb 11 2022 2:41 utc | 247

@ vetinLA | Feb 11 2022 2:37 utc | 245 did you watch the video Id linked to earlier?? give it a try and tell me what you think.. thanks..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D3sYDMNiD4

Posted by: james | Feb 11 2022 2:44 utc | 249

James @ 248; Yep, I watched it. Big organized $ is funding this new astroturf group aka “the truckers”
Spread enough $ around, and you can get people to convince others that water isn’t wet.
Remember the “tea party”? same crap.

Posted by: vetinLA | Feb 11 2022 3:34 utc | 251

@james #227
Thank you for re-posting that comment. I didn’t know about Marek’s disease.

Posted by: S | Feb 11 2022 3:56 utc | 253

@ vetinLA | Feb 11 2022 3:34 utc | 250… thanks for taking a look and replying to me…. i respectfully disagree and see this differently.. cheers..
@ S | Feb 11 2022 3:56 utc | 252… thanks.. i appreciate the many posts you make here at moa and have learned from you..

Posted by: james | Feb 11 2022 4:26 utc | 255

@c1ue #184
You’ve moved the goalposts. You wrote in #56
“However, China openly dissenting against the sanctions on Russia would be an example of clear support for an alliance partner.
Oh, but then that would interfere with China’s nice profitable trade with the EU and the US…”
I provided counterexamples to your claims in #152.

Posted by: TN | Feb 11 2022 5:51 utc | 257

Ah, Wellington, and they have turned on the sprinklers so there’s flooding, very muddy…another Waterloo perhaps? Must be my kiwi blood, or it’s just past my bedtime…courage, chaps; courage, police trainees!
Campervans? Now, there’s a thought.

Posted by: juliania | Feb 11 2022 6:27 utc | 259

@TN #256
I wrote, from the very beginning, actions rather than words.
China issuing a press statement that nobody in the West sees – is not an action.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 11 2022 10:36 utc | 261

Does this mean Pfizrael has had a split?
Israel signs with Novavax for 5M doses

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 11 2022 10:37 utc | 263

Posted by: Paul | Feb 11 2022 9:37 utc | 259
Further to the above comment the Wellington protesters have finally found a real talent to sing the NZ national anthem, ‘God Defend New Zealand.’ The words actually have meaning in either Te Reo Maori or English.
Some of the TV commentary only makes sense to those who have some knowledge of Te Reo Maori.
It’s interesting to watch.
Calll me a limosine liberal if you like, but I am sure the nearby Rydges Hotel i booked out.

Posted by: Paul | Feb 11 2022 11:46 utc | 265

@uncle tungsten #133
ToivoS posted a notice about a discussion on Consortium News between Joe Luria, Scott Ritter and Mercouris.
I didn’t catch the specific name, but I believe Mercouris noted that the understudy to Scholz stated that negotiating a mutually acceptable agreement with Russia makes sense, and that this person was very likely to be the next prime minister of Germany.
Mercouris did say that it is inconceivable that Macron’s present shuttle diplomacy has not been discussed with “the Germans, the Italians” etc.
And again, Germany has been notably quiet regarding Ukraine.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 11 2022 12:29 utc | 267

Sorry here’s the letter —
https://twitter.com/NFUcanada/status/1489227406779072514?s=20&t=MMq4VLwhLAPgr73cQIEvtA

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 11 2022 12:44 utc | 269

Pleasebeleafme@269
Omnicron may be the antidote, a two day sickness that gives lasting immunity to CV19. We had covid in the house two years ago, all sick, one died. My wife, exposed at work was sick at Xmas, heavy upper resp. cough, every bone in body ached, after 48 hrs began to feel better, three weeks now she appears none the worse.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Feb 11 2022 13:21 utc | 271

@Posted by: PleaseBeleafMe | Feb 11 2022 12:58 utc | 269
Yes, scientifically, the unvaccinated represent a fearsome control group.

Posted by: librul | Feb 11 2022 13:30 utc | 273

Hubert Horan continues his excellent series on the ongoing grift that is ride sharing:
Can Uber Ever Deliver Part 29 on nakedcapitalism.com

Cumulative losses from Uber’s ongoing operation since 2014 now exceed $31 billion, while Uber’s published numbers were inflated by $8.7 billion in unrealized gains in the securities of unrelated businesses.
…
Lyft’s operations remain cash negative, burning $100 million in 2021. This was almost identical to its operating cash burn in 2019 but a huge improvement over the $1.3 billion burned in 2020. Lyft has burned through 55% of the cash it had at the end of 2018 and would have burned through 65% but for its ability to convert some of its failed AV assets into cash.
…
The addendum at the conclusion of this article, based the analysis using data collected by the city of Chicago, presents some of the critical data about the ridesharing market that is completely missing from these financial reports and press articles.
The meteoric growth of ridesharing in Chicago prior to the pandemic was driven by fares 45% lower than what traditional taxis offered, and by enormous capacity growth, over 400% in terms of trips and probably 700% in terms of trip-miles. The ridesharing companies were not seeking to merely supplant traditional taxis, but to totally dominate a dramatically expanded car service market.
…
The average fare per rideshare trip in Chicago was $26.96 in July 2021, 66% higher than the same rideshare trip in July 2019, and 72% higher than the comparable taxi trip in July 2013, before the rideshare companies dominated the market. This Chicago data is consistent with multiple press reports about dramatically higher 2021 rideshare fares. [The wife has noticed this and isn’t happy, especially since I’ve been telling her this was coming…]
…
The city of Chicago has established publicly accessible databases that provide urban planners who want to better understand car services in Chicago with a wealth of hard data. They include trip level origin/destination, time, mileage and fare data for taxis going back to 2013 and rideshare services since November 2018.
…
Consumer expenditures on urban car services in Chicago (taxi plus rideshare) increased by 375% between 2014 and 2019, with the ridesharing companies capturing 85% of the overall market prior to the pandemic. Taxi revenues began declining in 2014 but did not collapse until the pandemic.
Two thirds of rideshare growth in Chicago between 2016 and 2019 was share shift away from existing providers. Media coverage has focused exclusively on business captured from traditional taxis but this only explains 17% of rideshare growth. Another 45-50% of the growth in rideshare trips tracks with declines in Chicago Transit Authority ridership.

So to summarize:
Ride share is an enormously unprofitable business which technology has failed to turn profitable.
Ride share takes away business not just from taxis, but more so from mass transit.
The 2 leaders of ride share in the US in ride share have lost nearly $40B since inception and are still heavily unprofitable.
I will further add that – both from my own experience and from Seattle city data – that ride sharing is inherently less efficient than either taxi or mass transit services. Ride share drivers have to drive to the customer, unpaid. In theory, this distance is minimized but in reality, the difficulty of matching supply with demand is such that drivers typically spend half of their driving miles unpaid/going to pick up riders.
Since the service is better – the matching up of a specific rider with a specific driver, the service should be charging more, and a lot more at that.
Ride share instead chose a path of economic warfare vs. its alternatives of traditional taxis and mass transit; but with the demise of taxis (due to COVID) and major fare increases, the ride share companies continue to lose huge amounts of money (i.e. highly unprofitable).

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 11 2022 13:40 utc | 275

librul | 200
”Trump was recruited by the DNC/HRC crew.
Wikileaks is the source.
He was to be the “pied piper” candidate.
He was deemed by DNC cleverdicks as being so abhorrent people who hated Hillary would hate trump more.
At some point in the campaign he realised he could win.
Being the NYC showman and grifter, … he betrayed her.
He told the story of the woman rescuing the snake, only to have it fatally bite her.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 11 2022 11:51 utc | 265′
hey Meleuaca,
that’s an interesting Australian plant. Are you Australian?
librul @200 asks
“Why?” She cries as she dies….snake: “you knew I was a snake, it’s my nature”.
Trumps rally crowd had no idea why he told this story every time.
HRC on election night…… her rage equalling seven demons from hell….. not on,y had she lost and would not be the first female president….. he had cheated, lied and stolen the crown from her.
DNC absolutely believed she would win.
They left nothing to chance in 2019-20.
He cannot possibly win in 2024.
He’s yesterday’s news. He will be lucky if he’s not in jail by then.”
The answer is social media in the form of Fakebook and Cambridge Anylitica, they were THE REAL RUSSIANS. The rest of the story were sour grapes by the DNC. We was robbed, etc.
HRC was exposed by Yoko ONO long ago, search.
A friend of mine knows Yoko and has enjoyed her hospitality. I now know about HRC.
Tump is now unelectable IMHO.

Posted by: Paul | Feb 11 2022 14:29 utc | 277

The loud and persistent call from the Wellington NZ protesters is “Kia Kaha”, this can not be adequately translated, say, ‘stay strong.’

Posted by: Paul | Feb 11 2022 15:07 utc | 279

I apologize for so many questions, but could someone explain the rabid hate being displayed for the unvaxxed? I mean, if you are vaxxed then you are immune and safe and blessed by whatever deity you adhere to, and the unvaxxed are all just going to die anyway, so why the insane rage? Just kick back and revel in your own exceptional awesomeness instead of raging and driving your blood pressure through the roof.
I am wondering if the Trump years have made so many Americans so addicted to insane outraged hate that they need a substitute for “Trumpists” to vent their daily buildup of bile at.
Disclaimer: I am vaxxed with the stuff produced by the outfit (Moderna) that was associated with the gang who created the “novel” coronavirus in the first place. My figuring is that the ones who created the disease might be best positioned for creating the cure.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 11 2022 15:15 utc | 281

“..As for donkeyrear (with a new alias! See if you can spot him in this thread!), ..” Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 11 2022 13:43 utc | 275
How about giving us a c1ue?
.
.
John Cleary, thanks for replying to my query the other day. It seems like https://pedoempire.org/chapter-33-the-british-royal-family-pedophilia-and-the-end-of-a-1200-year-parasitic-monarchy/ is one place to get an accurate take on “our rulers”!

Posted by: tucenz | Feb 11 2022 15:34 utc | 283

@William Gruff #277:

Lots of claims in this thread about the Canadian truckers being Nazi fascist terrorist racist homophobe misogynists. Since I don’t consume corporate mass media would someone be so kind as to link any evidence that is being used to support this claim?

Sure. Here’s irrefutable evidence that the truckers are being directed personally by Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Bluebeard: video 1, video 2. I hope you have the decency to apologize to the bar for trying to whitewash the violent white men shown in these videos.

Posted by: S | Feb 11 2022 15:50 utc | 285

Comments posted here about recent events in Ottawa and Wellington only show that none here are paying attention. If the only information you have is what legacy media present be assured that everything you know is false. That is what information operations are supposed to achieve. On this page it is plain the info ops have succeeded.
Of course many posters here are part of the op.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 11 2022 15:54 utc | 287

Gruff @ 280
So you put a DARPA product in your body and you expect a good result? Additional financing by Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein. This will end well.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 11 2022 15:58 utc | 289

S @285
I knew it was something like that! The failure of the truckers to do anything racist is actually coded racism! Damn these clever Nazi drivers!

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 11 2022 16:13 utc | 291

Posted by: S | Feb 11 2022 15:50 utc | 285
I laughed out loud at the second video link you posted. If you look in the background, they’re playing street hockey. Only in Canada!!!

Posted by: Wook | Feb 11 2022 16:19 utc | 293

Concerning China’s social credit system – CSC
Comment reply:
I do think you have no real clue how the CSC actually works, and how transparent the whole system has been set-up, and also being under constant public scrutiny which leads to necessary changes and
improvents.
Besides, the overall data security is far better than in the USA, there’re websites, offices, Weibo-accounts to get in touch with to clear possible moot points and other issues or problems. Will there be a trial the local goverment must cover those costs, the lawyer is your choice.
Go there to get an impression by an American who’s for more than 15 years in CHN
https://metallicman.com/chinas-social-scoring-system-as-used-to-control-coronavirus-outbreaks-a-first-hand-account/
You can comment and ask some questions or for some links for a better understanding.
Also, go to WEIBO, use your browser’s translation funktion, search for CSC and read what those netiziens experienced.
Meanwhile in the USA:
Mass (“bulk”) surveillance has been carried out “entirely outside the statutory framework, and without any judicial, congressional or even executive branch oversight. The nature and full extent was withheld even from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.”
Tweet zitieren
ACLU
@ACLU
· 13 Std.
BREAKING: Newly declassified documents reveal that the CIA has been secretly conducting massive surveillance programs that capture Americans’ private information.
And they’re not alone!!
NSA, Google, Twitter, FaceBook, all credit card corporations, your social
security number system, all insurance companies, the health care system, all goverments, local or federal, 17 intelligence organisations, including their secretive stuff of over 26,000 agents, the FBI and so on and forth… they all share some interests in your personal data.
And they get it according to certain scandals and Mr. Snowden.
I think Stasi-USA isn’t any fantasy any longer.

Posted by: MD | Feb 11 2022 16:39 utc | 295

Okay, I’ll bite. William Gruff @ 180 – a compilation of what you are seeking in the below Tweet.
https://twitter.com/AnneYMous1/status/1492165951818809350?s=20&t=R9hPwhrzJ55JiDHfhHnUSQ

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 11 2022 16:57 utc | 297

@ MD | Feb 11 2022 16:39 utc | 295 who wrote
”
I think Stasi-USA isn’t any fantasy any longer.
”
In 2004, a person with a valid CIA email address called my 800 number and purchased one of my bike saddles. At the end of the conversation he told me I shouldn’t be making disparaging remarks about the then president in international phone calls.
I don’t hide behind my moniker. It takes you directly to me. I have been a techie since 1969 and know how computers and networks operate……Stasi-West has been real for quite some time.
And yeah, I roll my eyes at those saying China’s very public social scoring system is BAD!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 11 2022 17:04 utc | 299