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February 20, 2022
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2022-015

> What Biden and Blinken fail to understand is that Russia is in total control of the narrative and timeline of the current crisis. <

—
Other issues:

Use as open thread …

Posted by b on February 20, 2022 at 14:46 UTC | Permalink
Comments

re: Patroklos | Feb 21 2022 18:06 utc | 275 etc
There must be by now a significant percentage of Australians who are descended from non-english speakers.
Any glorious ANZAC spirit was rubbished by the Oz and NZ SAS activities in Afghanistan (bumboys for Nato/US – just like all NZ and Oz military are).

Posted by: tucenz | Feb 21 2022 20:41 utc | 301

@Spinworthy #300
Legislation evolving over months is not anywhere near the same thing as multiple different people, all over the world, responding to situations in a sub-24 hour time span with an eerie repetition of words and tone.
You have a frankly unrealistic understanding of how bureaucracies function – which intel agencies absolutely have bureaucracy.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 21 2022 20:56 utc | 302

Astonishing. Well over two hours from my post @ 282 and no one seems to have the big news of the day. Malchik Ralf does at least mention one of the points in Putin’s speech. It is a short speech and is widely available in English. Read it now.
On a very different and infinitely less important point. No one here seems to have ever known a competitive athlete. They put anything, anything, into their mouths. If it requires a needle that’s no big thing. Over 99% of supposed testing is for show, pee in a jar, laboratory submits an invoice, done. A few really smart athletes and coaches compete clean. In many branches of sport no one competes clean, it is not possible. At least not if you hope to win.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 21 2022 21:17 utc | 303

Posted by: tucenz | Feb 21 2022 20:41 utc | 301
No argument from me there. But we must be careful not to let the troops take the fall for the criminality of the PTB.

Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 21 2022 21:30 utc | 304

@waynorinorway #257
Re use of inhalers; yes, Norwegians have always been gd with Winter sports – that much is true. However, there are several other countries whose athletes have been catching up, and then some. In this olympics alone, in ski and biathlon races for example, where a Norwegian ultimately woon, the results were extremely close.
IOW, as the performance gals are pushed ever upward and the competition levels become super challenging, even Norwegians need a little “Help” now and then.
And from personal experience, as one who has suffered from a very common condition, known as ‘exercise induced asthma” I assure you that inhalers ARE performance enhancing. As for that condition, it is increasingly common as the exercise involved becomes more taxing. Ergo, Norwegians NEED the inhalers to breath easier when they are at their peak. AS do many others, no doubt. Which is likely the reason they are NOT prohibited.
Now lets talk about the common condition in the US – ADHD (diagnosed in about a third of kids – why not?). That requires certain drugs too, the majority of which will be experienced as stimulants, whether prohibited or not.

Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 21 2022 21:36 utc | 305

The war is over and you all missed it. Russian troops are entering Donetsk. The shelling from Ukraine has stopped. Without a shot being fired. Mercenaries heading for Poland. Erdogan sent in a few regiments of jihadis just last week and is telling them all to come home.
Russian troops will now serve as peacekeepers. Donetsk and Lugansk will expand to the full oblast border. In Putin’s speech he did say Odessa will be free. Next week or next month?

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 21 2022 21:57 utc | 306

Things seem to have settled down in Ottawa after some arrests. Trucks are being towed away, supporters bank accounts are being frozen. I guess minorities (gays, refugees, natives etc.) will be pleased. Ukrainians will also be happy with Ms. Freeland in control. I’m curious to know how all this sits with traditional Canadian Liberal voters. Will Trudeau get re-elected?

Posted by: dh | Feb 21 2022 22:01 utc | 307

@Merlin2 #305
Interesting – thank you for bringing “exercise induced asthma” up.
Definitely something I was not aware of.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 21 2022 22:14 utc | 308

C1ue @ 221, 224, 298, Norwegian, V, Waynorinorway and any interested others:
My understanding is that athletes competing at Winter Olympics Games events who use asthma medication require Therapeutic Use Exemption certificates. This means that there may be something in the asthma education that could possibly enhance athletic performance and therefore is a banned substance. As far as I know (I don’t suffer from asthma myself), asthma inhalers do contain small amounts of steroids though I have no idea if the small amounts make any difference to athletic performance.
Also note that in my original comment, both Norway and Finland sent teams of almost equal size (Finland about 309, Norway probably 309 or 310; these numbers probably included officials as well) to the 2018 Winter Olympics Games in South Korea yet the Norwegian team brought along 10 times as many asthma medication doses (6,000 doses) as Finland did (600 doses).
This year at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Norway sent a team of 84 competitors competing in nine sports and Finland sent a team of 94 competitors competing in nine sports. The sports both countries compete in more or less overlap, the major difference being that Finland competed in the men and women’s ice hockey tournaments, and Norway sent competitors to compete in curling. Finland had no competitors in curling and Norway had no teams in the ice hockey tournaments.
Finland won eight medals in total (including one gold medal in the men’s ice hockey) and Norway won 37 medals (including 18 golds).
Both nations have similar-sized populations (Finland: 5.5 million, Norway: nearly 5.4 million) and apart from the ice hockey and curling events the winter sports popular in those two countries (enough that Finns and Norwegians compete in them regularly at world and Olympic championship levels) seem much the same. We might assume that training regimens for athletes in both countries would be similar. So how is it that the results that Finland and Norway gained at the 2022 Winter Olympics are so different?

Posted by: Jen | Feb 21 2022 22:34 utc | 309

I just read the latest substack posting from Glenn Greenwald titled/sub titled
The Neoliberal War on Dissent in the West/
Those who most flamboyantly proclaim that they are fighting fascists continue to embrace and wield the defining weapons of despotism.
He is on fire with this and I encourage retiredmecheng to read it for sure.
We in the West are living in the belly of the beast that is at war with the dissent of China/Russia……given how I see the morals of the two sides, I hope the China side prevails and am happy to have lived long enough to see the challenge to empire rise up as it is.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 22 2022 0:57 utc | 310

Virtual Poland claims that American Embassy moved from Lviv to Poland. ???

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 22 2022 1:03 utc | 311

Re: Olympics and doping
I’ll bet ten to one that almost 100% of Team America tested positive for steroids, but they all had “doctor’s notes” and like Serena Williams they are all supposedly perpetually “recovering from injuries”. Heck, even in the more competitive high school sports in the US it is hard to find anyone who isn’t “recovering from injuries” and loaded up with steroids. That is part of the whole “sports experience” in America.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 22 2022 2:13 utc | 312

Interesting article from Responsible Statecraft. Too bad they don’t have the info to eval the S-500.

Posted by: Rodrigo | Feb 22 2022 3:10 utc | 313

“So how is it that the results that Finland and Norway gained at the 2022 Winter Olympics are so different?”
Posted by: Jen | Feb 21 2022 22:34 utc | 309
Thanks Jen. That question is legitimate imho. But I don’t think the case has been made that it’s because the norskies took
a significant amount of asthma meds to the games.
I competed in sporting competitions some 50 years ago and had enough success to experience strange reactions from others.
When you win you separate yourself from your peers. Some truly commend you for your success but some try to tear you down
with attitudes that you got lucky or you somehow won unfairly. It’s life. Some try to improve themselves, some try to tear
down others to improve their relative position.
I’ve spent a couple hours this morning reading and searching about the asthma meds for my own satisfaction.
There’s a lot of research. Here are just a few results, fwiw.
inhalers
“In a study performed by Koehle’s team, cyclists were given either salbutamol or a placebo inhaler before performing two 10-kilometer time trials. Though lung function did improve in the salbutamol group, it did not have any effect on time trial performance.”
That study: study
“Conclusions: The inhalation of salbutamol induced a significant increase in resting lung function in EVH+ and EVH- athletes but this improvement in lung function did not translate to improved exercise performance. Salbutamol had no discernible effect on key ventilatory and exercise parameters regardless of EVH challenge outcome.”
A review of 26 studies on asthma inhalers found that the medications did not improve “endurance, strength or sprint performance in healthy athletes. That review:review
“In conclusion, no significant effects were detected for inhaled β₂-agonists on endurance, strength or sprint performance in healthy athletes. There is some evidence indicating that systemic β₂-agonists may have a positive effect on physical performance in healthy subjects, but the evidence base is weak.”
17/19 rct
“In 17 of 19 randomised placebo-controlled trials in non-asthmatic competitive athletes, performance-enhancing effects of the inhaled beta(2)-agonists formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol and terbutaline could not be proved.”
formoterol
“In conclusion, inhaled formoterol did not improve endurance performance compared to placebo.”
There’s a well known saying in card rooms – “Losers bitch, winners say ‘deal’.”

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 22 2022 7:49 utc | 314

Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 21 2022 11:42 utc | 195
Thanks. Good post!
There was a strong push about 14 years ago to bring either the ’18 or ’22 O Games here to Tromsø. Thank gawd we defeated those charlatans. The environmental damage they would have caused was stunning. The arrogance of the Olympic Committee was beyondbelief. They wanted us to build new roads just for their private use in commuting to the venues. Really! Everywhere the Games have been disaster for the local community has been the result.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 22 2022 7:51 utc | 315

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 22 2022 2:13 utc | 312
“Re: Olympics and doping
I’ll bet ten to one that almost 100% of Team America tested positive for steroids,” …
That’s a sucker’s bet Mr. Gruff. You gotta give a lot better odds than that to get some action!

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 22 2022 7:54 utc | 316

So let’s stick to discussing Olympic doping, nothing else of interest happening in the world.
(And the Ukraine is just a historical fiction, a puppet-state no-man’s-land ruled by Zionist Nazis, Banderites and baby killers, all owned by the Biden Family Mafia.)

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Feb 22 2022 8:37 utc | 317

Standard Ashtma meds, if taken before exercise, expand the lungs to enable a greater volume. This is to increase the oxygen intake. Can’t be bad. You need the extra oxygen not (just) the volume.
However, taking sprays when trying to “catch up” after exercise, means that air has to be expelled first, before inhaling anything. (to make the space available) This is not easy as it is contra-indicative to what your body desperately wants to do. This expulsion is difficult, and in a critical situation can lead to growing panic that will “demand” more “intake” rather than expulsion.! The lack of oxygen leads to lack of oxygen to the brain as well. You have to learn how to use the diaphragm rather than the rib cage to breath correctly. (Mind over body)
Sure, asthma sprays have an effect on performance, but I presume this is primarily because of increased oxygen intake, and not “muscle or steriod” enhancing.
*
Full disclosure, been there, done that, but not the super-athletic bit.
**
Added note; Ventilators should have been changed for oxygen bottles in treating covid cases. Ventilators are just forced breathing WITHOUT increasing efficiency. Probably increases panic levels as well. When your lungs are filled with muck, even lying on your back is not exactly fun.
****
Malchik Ralf | Feb 22 2022 8:37 utc | 316
Consider this topic as R&R from war.

Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 22 2022 9:16 utc | 318

Posted by: Jen | Feb 21 2022 22:34 utc | 309
Thanks Jen. I did respond but I guess it didn’t go thru.
Maybe if things get quieter… .
Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 22 2022 9:16 utc | 317
Thanks for that. I agree about the ventilators.
And yeah, R&R is good. I took mine from Vietnam in Sydney in 1970.
Malchik Ralf | Feb 22 2022 8:37 utc | 316
This is an Open Thread.
6 war threads in past 7 days with 1275 (and counting) comments.
Again, R&R is good. Consider one.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 22 2022 10:05 utc | 319

Some sort of very minor incident occurred in Australia EEZ between one or tow Chinese naval vessels and an Australian surveillance aircraft. I had noticed in the news but had not bothered looking at any of the articles. My sister asked me about it today so I had a look at the Chinese ministry of defence site and the Australian ministry of defence site. The Australian one ended with this
“Australia does not engage in the spread of misinformation or disinformation.” I had to laugh at that piece of ‘disinformation’.
https://news.defence.gov.au/media/on-the-record/chinese-ship-lasing-p-8a-poseidon-17-february-2022

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 22 2022 11:21 utc | 320

waynorinorway | Feb 22 2022 10:05 utc | 318
“And yeah, R&R is good. I took mine from Vietnam in Sydney in 1970.”
I got married the year before in 1969. No R&R for that.

Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 22 2022 11:39 utc | 321

A couple of weeks ago a poster enquired as to whether there was some written story of all of the things that had happened to me. I told him there was not, but there was a large portfolio of letters ready and waiting for deployment.
Those letters from 1999 to 2004 are, for the most part, online. The reason I have not referred to them is that they are untidy: the casual reader is put off by the formatting. But on the other hand, the motivated reader will find everything there – they just have to do a little work to clean it up
So I will pass on the links. There are two. The first is
http://rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=8553
This contains the following.
1) To the Prince of Wales 1 November 1999*
2) To Lady Mary Archer 1 February 2000
3) To William Archer and James Archer 3 April 2000
4) To Janet Reno 17 April 2000
5) To Janet Reno 29 May 2000
6) My First affidavit sworn 24 July 2000
7) My Second affidavit sworn 1 October 2000
8) To Prince William of Wales 4 January 2002
9) To Slobodan Milosevic 19 February 2002
10) Patrick Cox MEP 17 March 2002
11) Patrick Cox MEP 6 April 2002
12) Patrick Cox MEP 17 April 2002
13) Robin Cook MP 5 June 2002
14) Romano Prodi 5 June 2002
15) Patricia Hewitt MP 30 June 2002
16) John Ashcroft 24 July 2002
17) Kofi Annan 26 August 2002
* It was this that forced Lord Archer to stand down after I circulated 200 copies to key persons and institutions throughout the UK. But if you read the official history it was because Archer was “caught” making admissions on a telephone call. A staged telephone call.
Incidentally, anybody noticed the number of royals, including the queen bee herself, who have made themselves unavailable?

Posted by: John Cleary | Feb 22 2022 15:29 utc | 322

This is interesting: a what happened the him – article on Giorgio Agamben on Slate
For those who don’t follow the social sciences – Agamben is one of the most cited intellectuals across the entire social science spectrum. However, with COVID he started talking about what everyone would recognize as “anti-vax” sentiment.
To me, the explanation is much simpler: Agamben was popular with the PMCs/limousine liberals when his views against authoritarianism were contrasted by Dubya Bush. Now that his views against authoritarianism are turned against COVID lockdowns and vax mandates, they are unhappy.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 16:26 utc | 323

California bullet train: going nowhere, fast.
No Plan Yet For Bullet Train and its Soaring Price Tag

Fourteen years ago, largely due to enthusiastic support from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue for a statewide bullet train system.
The initial plan said the project would cost $33 billion, limited service would begin by 2025, and the system would be complete by 2030, whisking passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2½ hours.
Never mind.
The High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest “business plan,” released this month, projects that a complete system could cost more than $100 billion, not counting future inflation. Moreover, the agency has not yet pinned down the $25 billion that it needs just to build the 171-mile starter line between Merced and Bakersfield.

Let’s compare with China: China now has over 18000 miles of high speed rail China high speed rail – wiki
How much has China spent? High Speed rail in China overview – wiki

In all, the state planned to spend $300 billion to build a 25,000 km (16,000 mi) HSR network by 2020

Now, I don’t know how accurate the $300 billion number is – but I am 100% confident China high speed rails costs are a tiny fraction of what this California boondoggle is costing.
$300 billion for 16000 miles is roughly 13% of the estimated per mile cost for the as-yet-unbuilt first 171 miles of the proposed California high speed rail.
This is a perfect example of American infrastructure fail.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 16:41 utc | 324

California bullet train: going nowhere, fast.
No Plan Yet For Bullet Train and its Soaring Price Tag

Fourteen years ago, largely due to enthusiastic support from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue for a statewide bullet train system.
The initial plan said the project would cost $33 billion, limited service would begin by 2025, and the system would be complete by 2030, whisking passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2½ hours.
Never mind.
The High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest “business plan,” released this month, projects that a complete system could cost more than $100 billion, not counting future inflation. Moreover, the agency has not yet pinned down the $25 billion that it needs just to build the 171-mile starter line between Merced and Bakersfield.

Let’s compare with China: China now has over 18000 miles of high speed rail China high speed rail – wiki
How much has China spent? High Speed rail in China overview – wiki

In all, the state planned to spend $300 billion to build a 25,000 km (16,000 mi) HSR network by 2020

Now, I don’t know how accurate the $300 billion number is – but I am 100% confident China high speed rails costs are a tiny fraction of what this California boondoggle is costing.
$300 billion for 16000 miles is roughly 13% of the estimated per mile cost for the as-yet-unbuilt first 171 miles of the proposed California high speed rail.
This is a perfect example of American infrastructure fail.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 16:41 utc | 325

@324 High speed rail doesn’t strike me as suitable for California…or anywhere else in the US. Too vulnerable to vandalism, activists, protesters etc.

Posted by: dh | Feb 22 2022 16:57 utc | 326

Russia 1990s – slow motion re-enactment in the US
The Mystery of the Declining US Birth Rate – Econofact
There’s no mystery.
People have kids when they have stable lifestyles and hope for the future.
If they’re not 1%/10%/PMC – Americans are less likely to have either than ever before.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 16:58 utc | 327

Another excellent installment from “Walking America”
Walking America – Jacksonville

That’s the optimistic me, when I have only had one or two beer and am feeling a little buzzed and high from finishing a fifteen mile walk me. If I drink more, and the post walk high fades, then cynical me re-emerges and I realize what I am seeing in places like Pepe’s is the physical manifestation of the Front Rows, “Oops we broke the working class, lets import another!” mentality.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 17:15 utc | 328

@dh #325
That won’t be a problem for the first stage of the proposed California high speed rail.
It goes from Merced (pop. 82662) to Bakersfield (pop. 377917). The largest city in the San Joaquin valley is along the way (Fresno pop. 525010) but otherwise the track will mostly be going through farm fields.
I was riding the Amtrak from SF to Fresno pretty much every weekend for a couple months past – the trains were generally 10% to 20% capacity with the sole exception of the Monday after College classes ended last fall – so I doubt there will be much ridership if/when this rail ever gets built. Note that even that train – which was doubled up because the previous train hit a person, wasn’t quite 100%.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 17:20 utc | 329

@waynorinorway #314
You clearly didn’t read the studies you posted.
The first link

Though lung function did improve in the salbutamol group, it did not have any effect on time trial performance.

Lung function improvement is thus documented; the failure to show impact on time trials can be for many reasons – including a failure of said athletes to understand their improved lung function and take advantage of it.
In particular, athletes aren’t just going all-out, all the time. Even in all but the shortest sprints, there is a specific pace based on previous training which athletes believe will yield the best outcome without overstressing to0 early (and burning out) or understressing and failing to maximize outcome.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 19:06 utc | 330

I hope this isn’t missed in light of the much more grave and important goings on in Ukraine, but I work indirectly with people inside of the US MIC. Just today a colleague w/ another company forwarded this to me:
https://sam.gov/opp/8f81a124cb7f415f99f44249449e5509/view

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Transatlantic Expeditionary Division (TAE) anticipates a requirement for a Design-Build Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) for a full range of construction projects that may be required by the U.S. Government within the country of Syria.
The contractor shall provide all management, tools, equipment, transportation, supervision and labor necessary for construction projects in Syria. It is noted that the majority of work may be performed in Eastern Syria; however, the contractor shall have the capabilities to perform within other regions of the country. The contractor shall provide all resources to include management, labor, materials, equipment, and supervision to accomplish a broad range of design, construction, and facility renovation for more than one military site within the country of Syria. The contractor shall execute contract requirements to include a full range of planning, engineering, design in conjunction with renovation, restoration, and new construction. Projects may include but are not limited to the following: new construction, site adapt-construction (SAC), renovations and repairs, reconfiguration of existing facilities including vertical and horizontal construction, general building renovations, facility renovation, facility repairs/alterations, command and control facilities, training facilities, medical facilities, fuel distribution and storage systems, power plants, road construction, and airfields. In addition, the work includes new infrastructure construction, conversion, additions to buildings, facilities demolition, building debris type removal, structural repairs, site work, utility installation/replacement, paving, industrial repairs, equipment upgrades, geotechnical work, instrumentation, security systems, and design associated with all the various aforementioned tasks. Projects may range from those where the Government provides full design documents (Design-Bid-Build) to those with limited design and functional specifications that will require the contractor to complete the design and construct the project (Design-Build). The contractor may be required to provide a variety of design and construction support services including but not limited to the following: environmental work, force protection work, new construction, and facility renovation.
The types of projects that this MATOC may cover includes, but is not limited to the following:
Housing/barracks (RLBs, PEBs, concrete-frame with CMU infill buildings)
Dining facility
Equipment/vehicle maintenance facility
Operations facility
Administrative/headquarters facility
Command and control facility
Communications centers
Fire station
Waste management complex
Training facility
Medical facility (clinic/hospital)
Fuel storage facility
Fuel distribution and storage system
Power plant/electrical generation
Electrical distribution
Utilities infrastructure
Entry/access control points
Cargo handling areas
Perimeter fence and guard towers
Force protection measures (bunkers, t-walls, Hescos, hydraulic barriers, etc.)
Road construction (gravel, asphalt, and concrete)
Airfields (runways/taxiways/aprons/ramps)
Airfield support facilities (hangars/control towers/navigation aids/etc.)
Covered parking areas/canopies/sunshades
Passenger/cargo terminals
Drainage system projects
Water distribution systems (incl. disinfection and commissioning)
Well installation, development, and commissioning
ROWPU systems including commissioning
Sewage systems (gravity and lift stations/force mains)
Various civil works
Retaining walls
Land survey, design, and geotechnical services
Fan and HVAC replacement

WTF is going on? The US is building BASES in Syria?! I don’t recall this coming up in any recent news items or here at MoA. Does anyone have any further info on what might be going on? My buddy just gets these alerts automatically and has nothing else to offer in terms of context.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 22 2022 21:26 utc | 331

Maybe it’s something else but…
Al Tanf (also called Al Waleed) in south Syria near westernmost Iraq and northeastern Jordan and also an area in the northeastern parts of Syria have had US bases or “bases” or whatever required for a lasting constant US presence for a long time now.
It seems that the US “request for procurement” or whatever they call these things (I forgot their name, read a few NASA ones long ago) first and foremost concerns the latter one(s) since it says “eastern”.
Also makes sense since Al Tanf doesn’t receive the same level of “degradation”, so far 😉
US military convoys to the northern/eastern stuff are regularly attacked, maybe the previous contractors simply got fed up with the job or wanted a lot more money to renew.
While they’re far apart both/all illegal US presences in Syria have been primarily supplied from through Iraq.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 22 2022 22:10 utc | 332

Daniel Dumbrill video on how dishonest Canada’s state broadcaster is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjDPYBRFA2w

Posted by: spudski | Feb 22 2022 22:19 utc | 333

This is a perfect example of American infrastructure fail.
Posted by: c1ue | Feb 22 2022 16:41 utc | 324
Or to put it another way, another example of how allowing parasitical finance-capitalism to subsume government has failed the American people.
That said, I do wonder what the average cost per km of high speed rail is in various European and other Asian countries.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 22 2022 22:43 utc | 334

World Bank data on relative high speed rail costs:
Cost of high speed rail in china one third lower than in other countries

China’s high speed rail with a maximum speed of 350 km/h has a typical infrastructure unit cost of about US$ 17-21m per km, with a high ratio of viaducts and tunnels, as compared with US$25-39 m per km in Europe and as high as US$ 56m per km currently estimated in California.

The above article is from 2014, however.
The wiki data example translates out to $11.7M/km while the present estimate for Merced-Bakersfield high speed rail is $91M/km! ($25B/[171 miles * 1.6 km/mile])

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 23 2022 1:37 utc | 335

A very interesting hypothesis from Maajid Nawaz.
Mr. Nawaz is a Muslim, joined and became a leader in a political Islamist movement (talk, not bombs) as a teenager and spent 4 years in an Egyptian prison as a “terrorist”.
The entire interview with Joe Rogan is interesting, but one hypothesis Mr. Nawaz talks to is that what we’re seeing today is a revolution caused by the internet.
He says that the disaggregation of power in media, in currency and in government/social control – caused by the internet – is comparable to what led to Martin Luther’s Edict of Worms creating Protestantism, which in turn directly led to the 30 years’ war.
How? Mr. Nawaz’ proposition is that Protestantism arose due to Gutenberg: the massive decrease in the cost of books because of printing led to both a massive increase in literacy and to widespread direct reading of the Bible, which in turn led to an enormous increase in examination and critique of existing Church structures and practices. Church power was directly linked to temporal power in Europe at that time – Divine Right of Kings etc so the weakening of Church power would directly affect Catholic feudal lords.
In other words, when mostly only priests and rich/powerful people could read – the narrative of religious orthodoxy was set by those people regardless of what the Bible actually says.
In other words: the increasing shrillness of mainstream media, the increase of PMC/government desire to control, the methods of woke activism, etc etc are “the empire striking back”.
He talks about a number of examples in the UK: the Chancellor of the Treasury pushing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), including an outright comment about how the CBDCs can be used for social control and an ex-77th Brigade officer (UK digital agitprop military unit) becoming the head of the UK Twitter organization, etc.
An interesting idea.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 23 2022 13:09 utc | 336

Democrat retirements at 30 year high: now 30 declared they won’t run for re-election
Democrats 30 year high for House Retirements

Rep. Kathleen Rice’s (D-N.Y.) announcement this week that she won’t run again made her the 30th House Democrat to call it quits. That’s the most for the party since 1992, when 41 House Democrats decided to retire even as voters were sending their presidential nominee, Bill Clinton, to the White House.
It marks just the third time since 1978 that either party has seen at least 30 retirements in a single cycle, according to figures tallied by the non-partisan Brookings Institution. The last instance was just four years ago, in the 2018 midterms, when 34 House Republicans made for the exits. It was a grim sign of things to come: The GOP went on to lose 41 seats — and the House majority — in a Democratic wave widely viewed as a referendum on then-President Trump.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 23 2022 16:20 utc | 337

Trudeau Revokes Emergency Powers Act
https://twitter.com/stephanie_ha/status/1496594263773224972

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 23 2022 21:52 utc | 338

Below is a quote from a ZH posting about German health insurance provider BKK
”
Germany has a population of around 83 million people.
Schöfbeck called the data an “alarm signal,” adding “The numbers determined are significant and urgently need to be checked for plausibility.”
“The data available to our company gives us reason to believe that there is a very considerable under-recording of suspected cases of vaccination side-effects after they received the [COVID-19] vaccine.”
“If these figures are applied to the year as a whole and to” the entire population of Germany, Schöfbeck estimated, then “probably 2.5-3 million people in Germany been under medical treatment because of vaccination side effects after [COVID-19] vaccination.”
As Jack Phillips of The Epoch Times notes:
Schöfbeck concluded that based on their data, “there is a significant underreporting of vaccination side-effects” in Germany.
Another letter that was sent out by BKK (pdf) suggested that vaccination side effects reported across Germany are at least 10 times more common than what was reported by the Paul-Ehrlich Institute, reported the Nordkurier newspaper on Wednesday.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 24 2022 7:30 utc | 339

There’s a lot of smoke, if there’s no fire – Moderna and Pfizer stock prices are in free fall, and it may be because of fraud negating their liability shields
Bankruptcy for Moderna, definitely Pfizer

Dowd foresees an avalanche of lawsuits coming as the insurance industry continues to uncover the legions of mounting deaths coming from the complications of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Dowd teamed up with an insurance industry analyst and researched the life insurance claims. They found that since OneAmerica shocked the world by announcing a 40% rise in non-COVID deaths in younger working-class employees, multiple other insurance companies worldwide have seen the same thing – massive rises in non-COVID deaths. And the evidence inescapably points to the vaccines as the cause.
…
Other insurance companies have reported the same or worse death numbers as OneAmerica. For example, “Unum Insurance is up 36%, Lincoln National plus 57%, Prudential plus 41%, Reinsurance Group of America plus 21%, Hartford plus 32%, Met Life plus 24%, and Aegon – which is a Dutch insurer – saw in their US arm plus 57% in the 4th quarter – in the 3rd quarter they saw a 258% increase in death claims.”

Net net: if fraud is proven – then the liability shields presented enjoyed by Moderna and Pfizer go away. And that opens the door for Asbestos level class action lawsuits.
We’re not talking a bunch of internet conspiracy theorists here – we’re talking insurance companies out for blood.
A very different kettle of fish.
How do you all feel about mRNA vaccines now?

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 24 2022 20:12 utc | 340

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 24 2022 20:12 utc | 340
I first read about this last month here: Pfizer-gate
It’s in German but here’s the sub-title paragraph: “Rumors are circulating on the financial markets that are suitable for the black swan for the stock exchanges: PFIZER-GATE. Accusation: fraud. Studies were doctored, the effectiveness of the “vaccine” exaggerated, side effects downplayed. The first hedge funds are speculating on the demise of Pfizer.”
There a link there to a British Med Journal article (in English) dating to Nov. 2, 2021, which details some of the fraud concerns:
– Participants placed in a hallway after injection and not being monitored by clinical staff
– Lack of timely follow-up of patients who experienced adverse events
– Protocol deviations not being reported
– Vaccines not being stored at proper temperatures
– Mislabelled laboratory specimens, and
– Targeting of Ventavia staff for reporting these types of problems.
Could be ‘Who let the dogs out’ time!

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 24 2022 21:14 utc | 341

@waynorinorway #341
There have been complaints about both vaccine side effects and the lack of access to the raw vaccine trial data for some time.
However, the difference is insurance company data. 7 different insurance companies are reported 24% to 57% increases in death claims in Q3 and/or Q4 2021 in working age adults. If this in fact due to vaccines, this is a very different deal than dueling over relative rates of myocarditis or what not.
Fraud is a mechanism to remove the liability shield, but the Sword of Damocles would be wrongful death suits. Given the number of vaccinations administered – even very small additional deaths due to vaccine would make the asbestos class action look like small claims court.
Plus: given the mortality rates for “working age” – i.e. 20-54 years – being low to start with, this could really get ugly.
It really wouldn’t need to be a lot of deaths for vaccine death risk to be greater than COVID death risk for say, 20-35.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 24 2022 23:26 utc | 342

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