May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-) Skepticism and critical thinking is not panacea, but can help to understand the world better
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense,
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed.” President Dwight Eisenhower,
“Chance for Peace” speechApril 1953,
COVID-19 provided an interesting way for the USA population to pay the price for the militarism of its elite.
We can already can state the the US government reaction was subpar:
Both the federal and state governments (especially is the most densely populated areas such as NY metropolitan area failed to
act swiftly despite the expectation that the new virus would become a pandemic.
Both the federal and the USA government failed to adapt and change measures and their strategy as technology to fight the virus
as new facts became available. Failure to protect medical personnel is one of the most blatant blunders. The same is true about
protection of nursing homes, which became hotspots of infection.
The the federal government failed to properly provide for the poor and working poor. These people are forced to demand a lifting
of lock-downs in order to survive financially. Now it is clear that the epidemic disproportionally hit old and poor.
As of April 25, 2020 the COVID-19 epidemic in the USA is over the peak and is on decline. Period of exponential growth ended around
March 22, 2020 and since then the acceleration is stably negative and now is around 8% a day ( 5 days average). This is a huge, four
times drop from around 32% a day during the exponential phase.
Fearmongering graphs with absolute numbers is just a smoke screen over the fact that statistically COVID-19 did not exceeded the
lethality a common seasonal flu (nobody is denying that virus pneumonia caused by COVID-19 is much worse then bacterial pneumonia
-- a common complication of ordinary seasonal flu). Fearmongering using absolute numbers is pretty effective and a very nasty trick
( please note that average mortality in the USA is 8K a day (240K a month) and average number of infected by seasonal flu in tens of
millions; 0.8 million is just minuscule number in comparison), Emphasizing number of positive case helps to create drama, but the only
interesting figure is the number of hospitalization which Hopkins disinformators conveniently omit. And inside the number of hospitalizations
the number of severe cases (patients moved to ISU is also pretty informative; none is provided )Also the default in right bottom square
should be "daily cases" because "confirmed" is not only uninformative, but represent pure fearmongering.
Unfortunately this silly, alarmist
and incompetently constructed web site became the reference site for the epidemic. It just scream: give me money poor Pinocchio.
Below is the simple spreadsheet that I constructed and that provide a little bit more clear picture of what is happing since the beginning
of the epidemic. From it is is clear that we are past peak and that the virus retreats in all metrics (daily positive cases, daily death,
daily hospitalization, daily ICU cases (ICU cases stabilized at around 14K total and change very little from day today now), etc)
The USA handing of the coronarovirus epidemic is interesting by its unique mix of effects of neoliberalism and incompetence
of Trump administration (which was distracted in December and January by impeachment farce, thanks to Pelosi and friends). Effects of
neoliberalism with its offshoring on manufacturing, outsourcing of essential functions, and long transcontinental "just-in-time" supply
chains was especially drastic. The country with one trillion military budget had found itself without masks without sanitizers and even
without special goans. Navy leadership was caught without pants, and
Captain Crozier who raises alarm about
the epidemic on USS Theodor Roosevelt paid the price for reveling this sad fact.
Some idiotic race for ventilators also unfolded despite the fact that it was not clear if they are proper tool for treating severe
cases of COVID-19. Unconfirmed information exists that this is more like high altitude sickness due to depletion of hemoglobin for which
ventilator is useless, than malfunction of chest muscles or breathing regulation. In the latter case ( the case of ARDS ) ventilator
does help some small percentage of patients; most die anyway iether while on ventilator or soon after due to mechanical damage to the
lungs). Idiotic statement of governor Cuomo about NY need of 40K ventilators can be viewed as the pinnacle of this "ventilator
hoarding" epidemic.
As you would expect the performance of the neoliberal state during epidemic can be anything but competent because "greed is good"
and depreciation of solidarity does NOT fare well at such times. Add to immanent to neoliberalism (aka casino capitalism) existence
of largely parasitic class of financial intermediaries (FIRE sector) which like intestinal worms weaken the social organism.
Another factor is the level of degeneration of neoliberal elite. The incompetence on many levels during this epidemic is a symptom
of a morally-degenerate managerial class (in especially its most parasitic forms represented by equity sharks such as Romney,
the gallery of "banksters" like Goldman Sachs "financial hackers", and vulture funds "titans" such as Paul Singer. Regulate corporate
management (such as in IBM or Boeing) also is perverted by MBS types and mostly concerted with self-enrichment by offshoring,
outsourcing, cutting the head count and using this instruments pushing up stock prices and getting outsized bonuses. People infected
with neoliberal ideas have no sense of responsibility to anyone other than themselves.
The bank bailout in 2008 buried neoliberal ideology (the preachers of the neoliberal agenda suddenly found themselves without an
audience) but also exposed the level of hijacking of the state by financial oligarchy. It is hard to distinguish between
incompetence and fraud. Much that looks incompetent conceals fraud (stock buybacks, Boeing fiasco, etc). And note that Boeing
moved its headquarters to Chicago “to be more like GE”. Well they’ve destroyed the company to be more like the looters and liars and
cheats. Along with GE there are some other notable poster-children of how private enterprise has committed suicide through the wanton
bloodletting of its skilled employees (Boeing being a recent case-in-point).
The same phenomena can be found in universities, colleges where faculties are no longer bolstered by a strong bench of tenured
staff, contract and non-tenured hire-and-fire disposable staff are now the norm. No matter how many “systems” and “quality functions”
they put in place, experience matters.
The story of the USA reaction on the emerging
coronavirus pandemic can also be viewed as the case study of bureaucratic incompetence, when conflicting institutions and agenda
paralyze any efforts. Fauci slept completely the first two months and then start running from one news outlet to another crying Wolf!
Wolf!. Trump incompetence is only the tip of the iceberg. The whole Deep State proved to be too rigid to properly react to the epidemic,
because each measure looked too drastic and too damaging to neoliberal globalization, until it was late to implement it. And then it
was implemented anyway. One effect of any large bureaucracy is that any rare oasis of reliable and timely information
that exist is to be suppressed. And this is not Trump fault, although his incompetence exaggerated the effect. This is iron logic
of any large bureaucracy.
What is interesting is that the epidemic is localized in few hot spots with the largest being New York metropolitan areas. So governments
could took measures immediately even without federal government prompting them. And that would be much better that nationwide shutdown.
And FBI and CIA have the local governments in pocket anyway (this is a national security state, not something else after all). So where
was the CIA boss when we needed her ? Or she is just capable of running Russiagate gaslighting operation type of operations? CIA
honchos used to have audacity to launch the efforts to depose Trump. Can we believe that they can't bypass Trump when they need to?
One of the problems is that financialization and securitization of everything revealed during this epidemic is that has effectively
separated the managerial class in both private and public sector from knowledge and experience of actual logistics and execution. Transferring
securities with the push of a button is not the same as getting an industrial plant or phone center built, trained, and running efficiently.
Companies and organizations with a history of doing this well manage to lost that capability in only a couple of years after financial
shark CEO was installed (e.g. IBM, CDC, FEMA, numerous companies taken over by private equity ). They know the price of everything
and the value of nothing
The rise of the FIRE sectors as a percentage of GDP has been obvious for a long time. And now the USA economy is over-financialized.
All this has done is with layer after layers of debt and interest payments to the detriment of the real economy. Financialization
creates a positive feedback loop. Every system with positive feedback loop will crash, sooner or later. Neoliberals worked really hard
to remove not just the negative feedback, but any traces of the negative feedback on financial sector. That makes COVID-19
recession more serious then in other circumstances and requiring much large bailout of FIRE sector.
The idea that “never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence” (Hanlon's
razor - Wikipedia ) is not longer true. The neoliberal America has a lot of corruption. Some obviously stupid actions are explainable
for short term greed motives. That explains much of what we are seeing now.
CDC botched testing program during COVID-19 epidemic became a textbook example of bureaucratic incompetence. They do not do
competence in Washington. You need to start holding people responsible and that's impossible with the new neoliberal aristocracy (financial
oligarchy), which inherited all vices of the old but none of its virtues.
The virus epidemic which started in the USA in full force only in March (two month after the start of epidemic in China) will probably
follow Chinese pattern. Which means the time to the peak will be around two-three months (which means approximately in late April
ot early May the epidemics might start subsiding.). The worst pandemic going on in the US and around the world in not Covit-19,
it is opioid pandemic, 53,000 died last year in the US from opioids abuse alone. And this is not just in the US it is a world wide problem.
The aggravating factors for the USA include amazing lack of discipline (especially for teenagers), ignorance, petty greed, incompetence
of the elite, and paradoxically widespread nutty religiousness (allowing religious services while keeping everybody on quarantines is
pretty strange to me.)
Extremes meet: Orthodox Jews and Christian conservatives behavior patterns during this epidemic were very similar to Muslims: the
funniest irony of it all is that while Iran has exacerbated coronavirus spread due to religious ignorance of population, similar incidents
happened in the US too. Add to this the "American exceptionalism" which in reality is primitive nationalism, and neoliberalism with
its deification of "free markets" which prevent some necessary measures, and "Huston we have a problem"
IMHO any elite who is detached from the actual production process and engaged primarily in parasitic activities (finance), is decadent.
Any elite who is detached from the actual production process and engaged primarily in parasitic activities (finance), is
decadent. In other words financialization of the economy means decadence of the elite
Pretty drastic measures taken by some states like NY, NJ, California and Washington (Currently New York Metropolital are is the epicenter
of the epidemics with around 50% of all positive test for coronavirus ) were compromised by religious nuttiness and "covidiots" a sizable
faction of younger population and students which went to Florida and other resorts during spring break despite warnings and then, because
universities were closed, brought infection to their communities. Some people considered losing a couple of thousand dollar which
they paid for cruise ship trip more valuable then their health and went to cruise ship tripe even after the incident with Diamond Princess
(the first bad news about passengers on the Diamond Princess came on Feb 4, 2020).
Till March 2e we saw typical for initial stages of any flu epidemic exponential increase of cases, with the number of patient
doubling in approx. three days but a very low number of critical cases and hospitalizations. Later the speed of epidemics start
slowing down and in April dropped to less then 10% a day.
The peak of the USA elidemic might happen somewere in late April, early May. Number of infections among medical personnel, another
important metric, are unavailable (worldometers.info)
It took the USA eight days to get from 100 cases to 1000 and another eight days to get from 1K to 10K. Some of the dynamics
can be explained the low availability of test kits -- this was the area where CDC royally screwed the US population
Unfortunately, the current atmosphere increasingly exhibits the characteristics of a collective panic—and that is always a poor basis
for intelligent policy decisions.
The neoliberal society with its twisted guiding philosophy of radical individualism and competition combined with a supremacist “that
could never happen here” attitude quickly falls into panicked chaos when reality kicks in and reveals the society’s underlying vulnerabilities.
Countries with weak social safety nets and an ideological opposition to social responsibility are extremely vulnerable to systemic breakdown
when their societies are hit with unexpected stress. That is what we see in the USA. This virus is revealing just how ineffective the
neoliberal social Darwinism (“every man for himself”) ethic (aka "neoliberal rationality") is and how deeply in denial and out
of touch with reality these societies are. Including first of all neoliberal politicians.
The for-profit health system in the USA is certainly is very efficient in raking in cash for insurance companies and big pharma.
But health care outcomes are mediocre at best and other countries do a far better job for far less money. The most basic needs of patients
and health care workers are often unmet. Health care workers complain they haven’t received proper training putting them in danger of
infection and do not have supplies to protect themselves even as they treat COVID-19 patients. And that's in richest country in the
world.
...system can’t provide enough hand sanitizer the governor of New York came up with a solution. Andrew Cuomo announced that
the state will produce hand sanitizer made by
prison labor .
We already are No.1. NYC is now world capital of coronavirus infections. The fact that the country with one trillion
military budget and 17 intelligence agencies was caught without pants for this epidemics is incredible. No plan for dealing with epidemic.
States improvise as epidemics unfold, often overreacting with disastrous for the economy results.
We definitely have "Coronavirus recession" now as the second stage of 2008 recession/stagnation. All neoliberal transformation of
the USA economy now had blow into our faces. Silicon Valley is partially guilty as the staunch promoter of neoliberalism and globalization
in the USA. I would jail a couple to "tech titans" just as a useful scapegoats, but only after banksters (especially NYC faction of
private equity sharks who destroyed the US healthcare). Renovation of Alcatraz for this purpose would be a very worthwhile project :-)
The USA might fare worse then China in this epidemic as there are a lot of overweight, deeply unhealthy people in the USA.
Many overweigh people are diabetic. Especially among African Americans, I sometimes watch with amazement and horror how many barely
walk and have difficulties getting out of the car. Especially all those 300+ pound women and men.
For a country with one trillion military budget not having enough masks and ventilators and accepting help from China and Russia
is very humiliating. Level of bureaucratic incompetence demonstrated in this particular case is just staggering.
Now it is clear the healthcare system has military importance. What is worse is that as the USA is considered now "not capable to
adhere to signed treaties" there might be a new round of armed race in this particular area.
And in the USA healthcare is almost completely broken and taken over by private equity sharks. Only people with a good insurance
are OK in this environment (let's say top 20% or so). Most of the population are screwed up. Ambulance ride can cost you neat $5K even
if you have insurance, as most ambulances are conveniently "out of network" and are owned by Wall Street scum. Doctors here are not
always trustworthy. For example, dozens of cardiac surgeons landed in jail performing unnecessary operations of healthy patients. And
for one caught, probably tens exist that were not caught. Horrible stores abound. Inserting stents into healthy patients became a national
hobby. Such a money sucking insects in white gowns.
Many people are afraid to go to the hospital even in case of real emergencies, as they do not have health insurance. That includes
most of contractors. Because hospitals now are also owned by Wall Street scum. Financialization, as it is called. AKA Casino Capitalism.
Selling stocks, buying stocks, getting bonuses. Most readers probably know the game and participated in this game (as marks ;).
That means that those people will propagate virus and make the epidemic worse and much longer. In NJ not 100% of front
line staff of shops that still open still wearing masks (and almost nobody wear masks before March 20 or so). What is the value of quarantine
is such situation is very unclear to me. Also not all shops force visitors to disinfect hands on entry. This is another big no-no.
Some shops that enforce two meter policy inside create lines of hundred of people outside which probably serve better for the propagation
of the virus then presence inside the shop as the period of close infection is longer.
Frontline staff of still opened shops who do not wear masks will propagate virus and make the epidemic worse and much longer.
In NJ (No.2 state in the USA, as for the number of tested positive) not 100% of front line staff of shops that still open
still wearing masks (and almost nobody wear masks before March 20 or so).
What is the value of quarantine is such situation
is very unclear to me.
It is quite possible that the virus originated from the USA. There was so called "vaping pneumonia" epidemic int he USA in august
2019. Google "vaping pneumonia" -- it looks very similar to the COVID-19 virus pneumonia. Just a different category of affected:
mostly smokers of some nasty staff. And for some reason nobody made genomic analysis of this the pathogen in this illness, which raises
an important question: Is it different from COVID-19 or not?
I would like to state it again: the fact that the country with one trillion military budget was caught without pants for this epidemics
is incredible. And this is for a country with laboratories which store anthrax and other nasty staff. IMHO a large part of Pentagon
brass, all those "Pentagon perfumed princes" need to be replaced after this incident.
Not enough stockpiled masks (even regular surgical mask, to say nothing about N95 masks), no ventilators (or more correctly not enough),
no reserve production capacities to produce them, no plan how to deal with epidemics, some ad-hoc improvisations on state level. In
other words this country does not have ability to produce N95 masks in quantities needed even for hospital staff (and you be be
sure that in case of epidemic international supplies will not difficult to get.) Just a bunch of expensive and semi-useless F35 and
aircraft carriers to feed military industrial complex. BTW aircraft careers and submarines proved to be perfect places for the propagation
of this virus. Warships (like cruise ships) are for this virus like mosquitoes for malaria.
To add insult to injury this court jester Dr. Fauci, since 1984 the director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) slept over all January and woke up only in late February, crying Wolf,
Wolf. He should not only be dismissed but prosecuted for criminal negligence. This old hat should travel to China or Korea in Jan and
access the situation immediately because close ties between China and the USA in globalized economy. You do not need to have Ph.D to
understand the NYC and LA will be next after Wuhan.
On the positive side epidemic is slowing down in the USA from average increase of positive probes 34% a day to 24% a day. I calculated
some statistics and it is clear the danger is overblown and just enforcing wearing of masks in public places would do the job in this
particular case.
There are only slightly above 30K hospitalizations (read cases of virus pneumonia) in the USA so far. Statistically this is just
noise in comparison with seasonal flu (810K hospitalizations) but the virus pneumonia itself is very nasty (with fibrosis of lungs of
various degree as a common outcome), so this is not apple-to apple comparison. Flu mainly causes bacterial pneumonia.
The original reaction in the United States government to the corona outbreak was surprisingly casual. It is unclear what information
multiple intelligence agencies have had, because now they were engaged in efforts to save face and blame Trump administration and China
(U.S.
intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic ).
One of the most regrettable blunders was that the administration did not close access to senior care centers for visitors and some
of them which became the local centers of infection. As well as religious congregations. Some orthodox congregations and evangelical
congregations became hot spots for propagating infection. Is it so difficult to worship your God in masks ? Hand disinfection
was also not implemented.
Trump administration did absolutly nothing in January and February to rump up local production of masks and other clothing necessary
for medical personnel to fight infection. Medics, who are in most danger among all population groups, were not systematically
trained by Koreans (the USA has two month to do so). Proper protocols were not established. This was the major blunder of
Trump administration and the case of bureaucratic incompetence what will be studying in textbooks.
In the absence of data, prepare-for-the-worst reasoning leads to extreme measures of social distancing and lockdowns. Unfortunately,
we do not know if these measures
work. School closures, for example, may reduce transmission rates. But they may also backfire if children socialize anyhow, if school
closure leads children to spend more time with susceptible elderly family members, if children at home disrupt their parents ability
to work, and more. School closures may also diminish the chances of developing herd immunity in an age group that is spared serious
disease.
The USA government behaviour drastically changed in March 11 with Trump's surprise announcement of cancelling air travel from
EU countries for 30 days. Initially GB and Ireland were excluded, which provide for strangled travelers a "window" of escape. Later
they were added. Still all this was badly planned and caused major panic with ticket prices for the last flights from EU to the
USA skyrocketing to ten thousand dollars.
CDC blunders is another parts of the story of bureaucratic incompetence. CDC did not launch the training of medical personnel in
January to use protective gear, despite that the fact that the virus severely affected medical personnel in Wuhan.
There was no efforts to create "reasonable" safeguards in US airports, despite that fact that both are known centers of infections.
There were only very limited attempt to establish the screening and mandatory quarantine of passengers in airports, arriving from international
flights.
Looks like the USA government completely wasted the whole January February and met flaring up of infections in March unprepared.
And what is most important CDC botched the production and distribution of virus tests leaving the country without them till late March,
when testing can change nothing. Gin was out of the bottle.
It seems the CDC, NIH and the USA privatized health care system in general was caught flat-footed and didn't have any plan to execute.
Currently CDC does not even provide the information about how this particular virus spreads Look at this pitiful document (Transmission
of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) CDC)
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.
Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
Spread from contact with infected surfaces or objects
It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching
their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
And this is from organization with several billion dollars budget and specialized labs which theoretically should be able to establish
precisely how virus replicates in short order. And what are possible health effects for those who get severe and critical cases but
did not die.
At the same time Trump attempted to fight panic spread by neoliberal MSM as for mortality and that's probably the only positive
part of the government response (
Trump disputes World Health Organization death rate )
Asked about WHO's coronavirus fatality rate findings during an interview Wednesday, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity: "Well,
I think the 3.4% is really a false number."
He added, "now, this is just my hunch ... based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of
people will have this, and it's very mild."
Trump later put the number at less than 1%.
Later events proved that he was right.
While some problems that the USA now experiencing with coronavirus are the direct or indirect result of blunders (like CDC blunder
with test kits; of overcrowding of returning passengers in airports on arrival from Europe after the fight ban), some are not.
Many things are rooted deeply in neoliberal globalization and perverted neoliberal rationality. Both make proper reaction to dangerous
epidemic almost impossible. So by-and-large the USA current problems were unavoidable.
Also in epidemics like in war mistakes are to be made. At the same time repeating Chinese mistakes was pain vanilla incompetence.
Classic bureaucratic incompetence, if you wish. While there are no perfect responses in the current environment (the availability of
a vaccine would change everything), the earlier government reacted, the slower the virus would spread.
But under neoliberal globalization any reaction like closing international travel and mandatory 14 days quarantine for arraval entails
severe economic disruption, and that means that the measures were postponed till it's to late for them to be affective while providing
the same level of economic disruption. Meanwhile large sectors of the economy, here and abroad, are nearly collapsing because
of fears about COVID-19 epidemics that are not entirely justified.
Watch the interviews below. Dr. Anthony Fauci who is the
head of the head of the
National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) This high level "medical diplomat" in his March interviews carefully avoid mentioning
that fact that CDC completely botched producing and distributing test kits and the government did nothing substantial to combat the
virus the whole February. And that he spept all january and February doing tnothing to prepere the county to the epidemic.
As the result the USA goverment was not able to provide adequate quantities of masks even to medical workers. Frontline personnel
in grocery shops, Wall Mart, etc still working the first half of March without masks. That makes a joke the fact that the USA was viewed
as a country best prepared to facing the pandemic:
Ever since the West African Ebola epidemic of 2014, which the Global Health Security Index calls
"a wake-up call," projects like this have been created to put better mechanisms in place for
future pandemics of all kinds; be they naturally occurring viruses or genetically engineered bioweapons.
The tests the Index was based on concerns whether countries have "functional, tested, proven capabilities
for stopping outbreaks at the source" which are then "regularly tested and shown to be functional
in exercises or real-world events." Pretty serious stuff, then.
Countries were assessed based on six criteria: “Prevention, Detection and Reporting, Rapid Response,
Health System, Compliance with International Norms, and Risk Environment.” Of those six, the US topped
the field in four, even scoring an almost perfect 98.2 in “Early Detection & Reporting.” (So
much for that.)
Overall, the US put the rest of the world to shame, scoring 83.5 out of a possible 100. In second place
was the United Kingdom, followed by the Netherlands, Australia and Canada. Italy is in 31st place overall,
and China is in 51st place. Most of the lowest scoring countries are small islands or African countries,
and Equatorial Guinea gets the wooden spoon. The full list and report can be viewed
here.
A comedy of errors
Being one of the richest countries in the world at the cutting edge of scientific innovation and medicine
should have gone some way towards making America pandemic-proof. So why, then, are they in such big trouble
now? The answer lies in their government’s poor decision-making from the very beginning, which has sent
them on the most dangerous of all possible paths.
They were
too slow to begin testing suspected cases, and when they did, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
bungled the rollout. Their cases really began to spike around mid-March, but now that they have taken
the lead in confirmed cases outside of China, one feels that they will not look back. Just how bad the
situation could deteriorate in the US remains to be seen.
Most airports did not perform even elementary screening of arriving passengers. And the operation of returning the US citizens
from Europe after travel with EU countries was banned was also completely botched. All February the administration essentially was allowing
the flow infected passengers from Italy and France without screening and quarantine (two severely hit by COVID-19 countries with
large tourists flows from the USA) to spread the disease in the USA:
But there is some progress. With national emergency declared on Feb 13, FEMA's USD 50 billion is unlocked to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEMA is one of the few federal institutions which still works and works well.
Arrival of warm weather on Eastern Coast may significantly change the dynamic of epidemics, slow down infections and help NYC, which
is the most severe affected on this coast and the most densely populated area.
Measures for self-isolation of seniors that state like NY, NJ and California tries now, with all their shortcomings, is of
vital importance and it should have been done much earlier, because the USA has advantage of Chinese experience with this epidemic (which
it by-and-large ignored). This was not done. There should also be the prohibition of air trips and remove vacations (including cruise
ships) for this category of people. Violators they put their own life and lives of other people especially medical personnel in unnecessary
danger. Seniors are the major factor is overcrowding of intensive care beds in the hospitals. Trying to protect them from this
virus is probably the most important part of "flattening the curve" efforts.
The USA has a lower population density than other affected countries so outside of large cities like New York it is in much better
position to suppress the epidemics. Large parts of the country such as Texas already have warm weather which typically helps
to suppress such epidemics.
Globally COVID-19 is spreading more slowly then in the USA slowly: 69K cases on Feb 15 vs. 162K cases on March 15: in other words
the number of cases approx. doubled in one month period. Assuming that the next month will be same and then epidemic start to
subside replicating the shape of the curve before the peak, we will have globally around 162+324+162K=648K or something like half-million
cases total for this virus
The delay between the shutdown in Wuhan and a fall in new daily cases
was 12 days . That suggests that in two weeks from now (April 2) we will probably see a drop in the number of new cases
in the US. But that is not guaranteed.
The priority is to slow down the spread of the disease to lessen overcrowding of hospital beds with severe
cases.
At the same time there are multiple cases of selfish, reckless behaviour of a part of the population. Some young people from
closed schools and universities engage in travel as tickets and hotels are dirt cheap now. Those who carry the virus are spreading the
infection with them. Some people who are at risk are not wearing mask and engage in reckless behaviour disrespecting community
interests such as shopping using public transport or other encounters with large number of people. Years of neoliberalism brainwashing
("Greed is good", "shareholder value" mantra, glorification of unlimited predatory competition as in Latin saying "homo
homini lupus est") converted a large part of the US population into greedy and selfish animals, and while
such people concentrate in FIRE sector, other segment of population are also severely affected. The situation is especially
bad in NYC.
Years of neoliberalism brainwashing converted some part of the US population into greedy and selfish animals and this epidemic
and while such people concentrate in FIRE sector, other segment of population are also severely affected. Epidemic of hoarding
also had shown the ugly face of neoliberal rationality
in full grace. The situation is especially bad in NYC.
So far infections are clustered within families and friends of initially infected persons. For example, if wife is infected, the
husband and children typically became infected too. Common spreading centers are religious gatherings and conferences. The same danger
represents travelling with the infected person in public transport if he/she is not wearing a mask, or any other close and prolonged
contact. Most of initial US patients had recently visited Wuhan or attended meeting/conference were at least one infected person
was present. "Community spread" cases, where person was infected in transport or public places like grocery shops like on this
early state of epidemic are relatively rare.
The lower you are in the USA "wealth pyramid" the worse it is for you. Particularly for the elderly underclass.
Is the Chinese Government using the Corona outbreak as a cover for some other purpose?
Definitely. Iranian too. Related to trade war/sanctions I feel. The bottom line, everybody on top wins, in this game. Say….up
to 20 %. The rest are designated losers. Lower in the pyramid worse it is. The elderly underclass in particular. Good
gig…for some. So far works like charm.
Critique of the "flattening the curve" approach adopted by the USA
Yet if the health system does become overwhelmed, the majority of the extra deaths may not be due to coronavirus but to other common
diseases and conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, etc that are not adequately treated. If the level of the epidemic does overwhelm
the health system and extreme measures have only modest effectiveness, then flattening the curve may make things worse: Instead of being
overwhelmed during a short, acute phase, the health system will remain overwhelmed for a more protracted period. That’s another reason
we need data about the exact level of the epidemic activity.
One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long ockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy and society.
Hyping the threat by MSM already produced harding epidemic in the USA. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including
financial crisis.
At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.
In the most pessimistic scenario, which I do not espouse, if the new coronavirus infects 60% of the global population and 1% of the
infected people die, that will translate into more than 40 million deaths globally, matching the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The vast majority of this hecatomb would be people with limited life expectancies. That’s in contrast to 1918, when many young people
died.
We can discuss whether CODID-19 represents a pandemic or not, but hoarding epidemics in the USA is very real.
It also feels like a scam: there is no shortage of snake oil sellers who hope stoking such fears will make people buy more supplies.
The reality is that there is little point “preparing“ for the most catastrophic scenarios some of these people envision. As a species,
we live and die by our social world and infrastructure — and outside some minimal stocks (say two weeks supply of food in areas
affected by infection and which might be subject to quarantine (which are currently only two cities in the US.) Moreover,
it is difficult to predict what will be needed in the face of total catastrophe (Preparing
for Coronavirus to Strike the U.S. - Scientific American Blog Network ). You can't drink sanitizer and you need minimal amount of
it when you are outside of home. In all other cases regular soap is more effective against this virus, so hoarding sanitizer is
far from the best move you can make:
American Association for the Advancement of Science By Derek Lowe 4 March, 2020
Since this is going to be a post about the coronavirus, let's start off with this PSA: wash your hands. These viruses have
a lipid envelope that is crucial to their structure and function, and soaps and detergents are thus very effective at inactivating
them. It's fast, it's simple, and it's one of the more useful things that any individual can do under these conditions.
The real crisis scenarios we’re likely to encounter require cooperation and, crucially, “flattening the curve” of the crisis
which includes sharing not hoarding, so the more vulnerable (older folks) can fare better and our social world and the infrastructure
will be less stressed. For those who can do it that way that means switching to work from home and avoiding unnecessary travel
and meetings. Most think those days can be done via phone of via teleconferencing.
We do not need to contribute to the panic, and to panic buying isopropyl alcohol and hand sanitizers as if there no tomorrow.
From state to state, shelves at grocery stores are being emptied. Community after community is stocking up on essential goods as they
anticipate a very remote (or non-existent in many areas of the country ) possibility our of fears of forced China style
self-quarantine. In reality only retired persons in areas with active cases of infection need to self-quarantine as they are the
most vulnerable and can overwhelm hospitals. They generally should stay home, avoid direct contact with relatives and friends
(which are rare those days, anyway, so no big deal) , and do only rare shopping which should exclude all shopping for clothing, etc.
They need a lot of exposure to sun, vitamins, flesh air to boost the immune system. Abandoning bad habits like smoking would be
nice too. No or minimal visits to restaurants, entertainment centers like casino, or God forbid cruise ships or international
travel. For the sake of everyone else, they should prepare to stay home for a few weeks, while epidemic burns out in their neighborhood
and try their best not to be infected. This way they will reduce their own risks, but most importantly, they will reduce the burden
on health care and delivery infrastructure and allow frontline workers to reach and help the most vulnerable.
What does “flattening the curve” mean for the current COVID-19 threat facing us: the emerging pandemic of this human coronavirus?
Epidemiologists often talk about two important numbers: R0 or how infectious a disease might be, expressed as the number
of people that are infected by each person who’s been infected; and the case fatality ratio (CFR): the number of people
who die as a result of being infected. For example, an R0 of two means each infected person infects two people on average,
while a number less than one means the disease is likely dying out in the population. Some diseases are deadlier than others: the
average case fatality ratio for Ebola has been around 50 percent, for example, while the common cold is rarely deadly for otherwise
healthy individuals.
The infectiousness of a virus, for example, depends on how much we encounter one another; how well we quarantine individuals
who are ill; how often we wash our hands; whether those treating the ill have proper protective equipment; how healthy we are to
begin with—and such factors are all under our control. After active measures were implemented, the R0 for the 2003 SARS epidemic,
for example, went from around three, meaning each person infected three others, to 0.04. It was our response to SARS in 2003 that
made sure the disease died out from earth, with less than a thousand victims globally.
... ... ..
All of this means that the only path to flattening the curve for COVID-19 is community-wide isolation: the more people stay home,
the fewer people will catch the disease. The fewer people who catch the disease, the better hospitals can help those who do. Crowding
at hospitals doesn’t just threaten those with COVID-19; if emergency rooms are overwhelmed, more flu patients, too, will die because
of lack of treatment, for example.
But what we see in the USA is primitive and destructive hoarding epidemic. Toilet paper, sanitary wipes and sanitizers are in short
supply as stocks are being exhausted. As of March 3, 2020 a 250 ml (8 ounces) bottle of hand sanitizer on Amazon was $60 or so (while
its regular price is $2 or so ;-). This is not only ridiculous but it beats "socialist back market" prices.
Ana
I know someone who is the head of security in the SF Bay for a large big box membership store that all of us in the States
are familiar with. Their stores in the SF Bay area have been selling out of water, hand sanitizers, gloves, masks and other
similar cleaning supplies, along with boxed mac and cheese and similar long shelf life foods.
Their regional supply center that brings replacement supply in over night by semi trucks has not been able to refill it’s own
pallets from suppliers. He just texted me pics of local big box stores in the Bay with empty shelves and no back stock is available.
I can’t find info on sales of things like generators. I don’t care what soothing nonsense the TV and feds blather at us. People
are trying to get what they think they need to cope with serious disruption.
Ana in Sacramento.
P.S. By the way, I was one of the paper pushers who designed emergency response and business resumption plans for the State
of California. This event was never considered or planned for. I’m retired so it may have been added after I left.
The dynamic of the USA panic can be watched via Amazon prices for those items and as of March 7 the panic is still in full swing
(you can buy the same 250 ml(8 ounces) bottle for mere $35 ;-) . And they used to say that such hoarding behaviour is typical
only for socialism ;-).
And despite chaotic and botched containment of epidemic (CDC botched development and production of test kits so badly that the officials
responsible probably should be tried for criminal negligence ) the USA government managed already take several measures to slow down
the spread of the virus (please note that time is working against the virus -- warm weather in East cost will come in May or even earlier).
For example, starting Sunday, Feb. 2, the US citizens, permanent residents and immediate family who have visited China's Hubei province
undergo a mandatory 14 days quarantine. On Mar 11, Trump administration prohibited all flights from Europe firs exampling UK and
Ireland and later adding them.
On Mar 13 Trump has declared the coronavirus a US national emergency and offered $50 billion for support of state and local governments
to fight the virus with FEMA.
At the same time the US Fed has increased its public support of the global private banking system in amounts looking to total in
the trillions of dollars and our Congress Critters are setting up to re-authorize the Patriot Act suppression of human rights.
On March 15 CDC recommended that all gatherings of more than 50 people within the United States be canceled for the next 8 weeks.
The same day California ordered all bars and nightclubs to shut their doors, restaurants to cut the number of tables in half and
for millions of seniors and people with chronic health conditions to immediately “self-isolate” at home
(mercurynews.com)
As the coronavirus continues its rapid spread, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday afternoon issued an urgent call for all California,
restaurants to cut the number of tables in half and for millions of seniors and people with chronic health conditions to immediately
“self-isolate” at home.
Newsom’s unprecedented call for action is designed to slow the infection rate, especially among the most vulnerable. The governor
stopped short of asking eating establishments to shut their doors, saying the need for food service during the pandemic remained
vital.
“We need to prioritize our focus,” Newsom said during an hour-long press conference in Sacramento. “We are looking at this from
a very holistic perspective.”
It was unclear how long the self-quarantine for seniors should continue.
NYC closed all schools staring Monday, March 16, 2020. NJ followed the suit. Both states resorted to pretty drastic measures.
All schools, entertainment outlets such as bars, nightclubs and non-essential shops are closed in NY and NJ. Meetings over
50 people prohibited. Malls are also closes in some counties.
The CDC stunning failure to provide the coronavirus testing kits needed to control the spread of the outbreak is a national outrage.
Their incompetence threatens to increase the scope and prolong the duration of epidemics and contributes to troubles that now
the USA economy experience.
It is unlearn why the CDC failed to make mass production of test kits its top priority and who is responsible. But it is clear that
heads should roll (The Mercury News editorial,
South Korea is testing 20,000 people every day, thanks to a biotech firm that anticipated the threat in January. South Korea is
providing free tests for anyone a doctor deems necessary at more than 100 facilities across the nation. The result is that South
Korea is now seeing more recoveries than new cases.
Contrast that with the state of California, which has only 10 million fewer people than South Korea. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday
that the state has been provided with 8,227 testing kits from the CDC. But some of those kits did not contain all the chemicals needed
to administer them to Californians — a glaring failure given that it’s been nearly two months since the coronavirus outbreak began
in China.
Newsom compared it to “going to the store and purchasing a printer, but forgetting to purchase the ink. You need multiple components.”
All told, as of Friday [Mar13, 2020], California had conducted a total of only 1,573 tests at its 18 state test labs.
The problem stems from the CDC’s botched first effort to mass produce test kits, followed by delays in sending promised replacement
kits for several weeks.
“The incompetence has really exceeded what anyone would expect with the CDC,” Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard University,
told the New York Times. “This is not a difficult problem to solve in the world of viruses.”
Testing is crucial to slowing the spread of the disease because it allows those who are infected to be quarantined. Health officials
can then trace who they may have been in contact with and test and possibly quarantine those people.
It’s essential that Congress investigate what went wrong and take steps to prevent it from happening during the next inevitable infectious
disease threat. But that’s for another day. The focus now must be on taking steps to minimize further spread of coronavirus and its
impact on people and the economy.
The state is turning to its major hospitals and private labs for additional help. It’s possible that their testing sites could be
up and running in the next week. President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on Friday could also eliminate red tape and
speed the testing process.
Once upon a time, the United States was the global leader in fighting infectious diseases and serving as the provider for testing
kits to the world. Those days are long gone. The CDC must act to make up for its incompetence and take whatever steps necessary to
protect Americans against current and future outbreaks.
The CDC must also give clear direction on how hospitals can treat patients during this national emergency. It is not done. China
recommended three drugs that can help some patients. CDC does not provided any recommendations at all.
Abrupt announcement caused panic and airports on arrival became so overcrowded that they became epicenter of spreading the decease:
they manage to replicate the situation that was far worse that exists on cruise ships with many thousand of people.
Air conditioners are also known to circulate air-borne diseases such as Legionairre’s Disease, a potentially fatal infectious disease
that produces high fever and pneumonia. For efficiency air-conditioned on cruise ships, bases and airplanes mix fresh air with the already
circulated air and this is a concern. For example, some experts think that
in Diamond Princess cruise ship epidemic AC might help to spread the virus to all cabin
Currently there is no strong evidence to support the claim that the virus can be transmitted through the air conditioner recirculation.
It is believed to be spread mainly through droplets on close contact with infected person (less then 2m). In this case the mucus or
saliva of an infected person who sneezes or coughs can be inhaled and infect the person. This virus is likely to die when the
droplets dry up (Can
the coronavirus be spread through the air, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits Times):
Experts say if the virus could really survive even after the droplets carrying it have dried up, it would have spread through
the air as dust particles and potentially infected 10 times more people, which is not the case.
Last week, a Shanghai official, Mr Zeng Qun, said the virus could spread through aerosol transmission, or the mixing of the virus
with airborne liquid droplets.
This would allow the virus to linger in the air and infect those who inhale it, he said. Diseases that are known to spread
this way include tuberculosis, chicken pox and measles.
But an infectious diseases expert at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr Feng Luzhao, refuted this on Sunday,
stating that the droplets carrying the virus travel only about 1m to 2m and
do not stay suspended in the air. This is why you are unlikely to catch the virus through transient (or short-term) contact
such as on public transport.
Ultraviolet rays and heat from the sun can kill the virus as virus does not last long on fresh air in a sunny day. This is
true for all viruses. The likelihood of viral persistence outdoors is lower, as most studies indicate that viruses do not survive in
hot and humid environments. This refers to a temperature of over 30C and a humidity level of over 80 per cent.
Using humidifier at home and maintaining 50% humidity might help to protect you and family members.
Trump is a neoliberal to the core so he postponed invocation of the Defense Production Act (DPA). That did not stop him from threatening
toinvoke it, but people at the top understand that those threats are toothless. Trump has a chance to prove that his is not
complete stooge of Wall Street and financial oligarchy.
On March 28, 2020 he threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to force General Motors to ramp up production of
ventilators. He did did not actually invoked it due to the big business lobbying (including powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce) against
the use of the emergency powers (Trump, Biden
and the Defense Production Act - FactCheck.org):
Five days later, on March 18, Trump
invoked the Defense Production Act “just
in case we need it.” But Trump stopped short of implementing the act to force production of certain goods. Later that day, Trump
tweeted, “I only signed the Defense Production Act to
combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need.”
... ... ...
In the following days, Trump said that he was reluctant to use the Defense Production Act to force corporations to make products,
likening such a move to “nationalizing
our businesses.”
This sucker does not even understand that nationalizing can be a temporary measure:
Trump, March 22: We’re a country not based on nationalizing our business. Call a person over in Venezuela; ask
them how did nationalization of their businesses work out. Not too well. The concept of nationalizing our business is not a good
concept.
Trump, March 26: For the most part, the companies … We say, “We need this,” and they say, “Don’t bother. We’re
going to do it.” I mean, we — we’re dealing with Ford, General Motors, 3M. We’re dealing with great companies. They want to do this.
They want to do this. They’re doing things that — that frankly, they don’t need somebody to walk over there with a — with a hammer
and say, “Do it.” They are getting it done.
“Our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal
course,” Trump said in a statement. “GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that
will save American lives.”
Trump also said the country “will be making over 100,000 pretty quickly.” States have warned of a dangerous shortage of the breathing
machines.
Trump also tapped White House aide Peter Navarro to coordinate policies enacted under the Korean War-era law that gives the president
broad authority to increase the manufacturing output of critical items in times of national emergency, including public health crises.
“My order establishes that Peter will serve as national Defense Production Act policy coordinator for the federal government,”
Trump said Friday during a White House briefing. “That's a very important position. More important probably than it's almost ever
been in our country.”
All he did is a little bit ruffle GM brass feathers:
TheHill
“As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” Trump tweeted. “They said they were going to give us
40,000 much needed Ventilators, “very quickly”. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar.
Always a mess with Mary B. Invoke ‘P.’ ”
On Friday, before Trump invoked the DPA, Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, told The
Hill that the move would be unnecessary.
Because companies had already stepped up to address the country’s needs, Bradley said, the call for more DPA authority is like
a solution in search of a problem, adding, “Should we do something that won’t produce any positive effect just because we can say
we did it?”
On Friday, the Chamber also launched a tool that showcased corporate America’s robust contribution to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“When the issue of DPA comes up, it’s a question of would that allow us to do something that we couldn’t otherwise do?” Bradley
said Friday afternoon. “Or [would it] help us meet the needs, at least with respect to increasing production itself? The answer is
no.”
But by Friday evening, Trump signed a presidential memorandum placing at least some of GM’s production lines in the hands of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump’s order directed his administration to use “any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act to require
General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators.”
Companies are required to accept and prioritize contracts from the government and to prioritize “materials, services, and
facilities to promote the national defense or to maximize domestic energy supplies.” While this provision has historically been used
to ramp up military production, in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic the act will be used for medical supplies.
The second provision in the act provides financial measures, such as loans, loan guarantees, purchases, and purchase commitments,
to speed up the production of materials “needed to support national defense and homeland security procurement requirements.”
The act also addresses voluntary agreements – or what the government says is “an association of private interests, approved by
the Government to plan and coordinate actions in support of the national defense.” The proviso permits business competitors to work
together to plan and coordinate measures to increase the supply of materials.
Along with the three main provisions, the act also provides the government with the authority to obtain information from businesses,
authorizes establishment of the National Defense Executive Reserve, and a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States –
which works on the effects on national security of certain mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers related to foreign investment in
the U.S.
When the act is invoked it requires the administration to file an annual report to Congress on the impact of offsets on the defense
preparedness, industrial competitiveness, employment, and trade from the act.
That's too broad of a headline. The real question is under which conditions masks help and
under which they do not or can be harmful. For example in public transport I think they are
definitely useful as they prevent spreading of virus from an infected person to others. The same
is probably true for shops and other closed spaces.
But outside they are harmful and can be increase your chances of getting an infection.
One of the biggest questions in the world right now is whether the use of masks is
beneficial in preventing contracting the China coronavirus. A study attempted to do just that
but publishers will not take it on and are preventing it from being published. A large mask
study out of Denmark is complete but being delayed in publishing. Although the size of the
study and the study's design are well within the parameters of a solid study, publishers will
not take it on:
The purpose of the study was once and for all to try to clarify the extent to which the
use of masks in public space provides protection against the corona infection.
Advertisement - story continues below
One of the authors of the study is upset the study has not been published for peer review.
The world needs to know the results of the study and should be provided a chance to challenge
it and determine its viability:
Advertisement - story continues below
Alex Berenson shared that the study should be released – we need to know if wearing
masks is harmful:
We can guess right now why the study is not being published – because masks don't work
in preventing the spread of the China coronavirus and likely are harmful to your health.
After Dr. Anthony
Fauci gave an interview in which he claimed the White House was controlling his media
appearances, the president lashed out at him, even taking to comparing how each of them throws
a baseball.
"Dr.Tony Fauci says we don't allow him to do television, and yet I saw him last night on
@60Minutes," Trump tweeted on Monday, referencing the interview where Fauci made his claims
about being limited in who he can talk to.
"He seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope," the
president added, referencing the late comedian known for his near-constant rotation on
television while he was alive.
Trump said he wants Fauci to "make better decisions" and claimed the original
strategy to defeat the pandemic suggested by Fauci was "no masks & let China
in."
... ... ...
In the campaign call, Trump reportedly called Fauci a "disaster" and said people are
tired of coronavirus and hearing from "Fauci and all these idiots."
While Fauci has been frequently criticized by conservatives for his support of lockdowns to
battle Covid-19, his popularity with Democrats has been growing. Presidential candidate Joe
Biden has said he would give Fauci the opportunity to continue working with the White House on
the pandemic if he won the election.
Thus, Democrats have not taken Trump's latest criticisms of the doctor all that well with
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and others targeting the president on social media.
"After deceptively using Dr. Fauci's words in a TV ad last week, now Trump is attacking
him as a 'disaster.' For what? For telling the truth. We all know who the disaster is here, Mr.
President. You," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) tweeted .
Biden also released a statement condemning Trump's Fauci comments and claiming he is waving
the "white flag" on the pandemic.
garyo550 1 hour ago Some time ago-this year-Fauci
was outed as having endorsed, 15 years ago, Hydroxychlorquine as a drug that would kill AIDS,
Ebola, SARS and a legion of other bugs. What has changed? Filthy lucre is one reason touted.
During a conference call with campaign staff that White House reporters were bizarrely
allowed to listen in on, President Trump complained that "there's a bomb" every time Dr.
Anthony Fauci goes on television, which is most days.
This is far from the first time President Trump has complained about the good doctor. But it
might be the first time he's offered some direct commentary on exactly why he won't fire Dr.
Fauci, even as Trump seems to have moved on with a new COVID-19 advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, who has
faced persecution by Big Tech for his views on how to approach COVID-19.
Though he conceded that the good doctor is "a nice guy" who has "been around for 500 years",
Trump said the problem with Dr. Fauci is that every time he goes on TV "there's a bomb", yet if
you fire him, "there's an even bigger bomb".
"People are saying whatever...just leave us alone. People are tired of COVID... People are
tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong...every time he goes
on television there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy's a
disaster."
With less than 3 weeks to go before election day, Trump also asserted that the American people
are moving on from COVID-19 as cases rebound, while hospitalizations are also starting to creep
higher. However, so far at least, deaths have been mostly subdued.
Confirming that he was speaking mostly off the cuff, Trump added after that if there was a
reporter on the call (he didn't seem to realize that multiple WH reporters were apparently
listening) they could report it "just how I said it."
"If there's a reporter on you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less,"
Trump said.
The NYT also brought up an interview with Dr. Fauci on '60 Minutes' last night where the
doctor refuted Trump's claims that the end of the outbreak is just around the corner.
Trump also reportedly called an NYT article claiming Trump was becoming increasingly
dissatisfied with some of his aides - which followed Trump hinting that he might not bring back
AG Bill Barr if elected for a second term due to his inability to charge any of the FBI officials
involved with Operation Crossfire Hurricane despite the mountain of evidence suggesting some
skulduggery was afoot as the FBI tried to put together an "insurance policy" to protect the
nation from Trump.
"I love Mark Meadows," Trump reportedly said (the NYT report focused on frictions between the
president and his chief of staff).
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Finally, Trump also told staff that the Wall Street Journal - which is controlled by Rupert
Murdoch, who also owns and controls the New York Post, the paper the published the string of
damning reports about Hunter Biden's influence-peddling abroad - is working on "an important
story".
artvandalai , 5 hours ago
....If there's a reporter on you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less,"
Trump said.
And that, my friends, is why Trump won the first time and will win again.
He was APPOINTED to lead Trump's Corona virus task force.
spqrusa , 3 hours ago
Trump did not appoint Fauci - Fauci is a permanent fixture in government protected from
firing by your know... "laws"
What a crock - the President HAS the Authority under the Constitution to FIRE ANYONE under
his command.
Les D , 3 hours ago
Yup, sure did, and too many others.
Wray, Barr, Bolton, Kelly, McMaster, Sessions, Tillerson, Cohn, Mattis, Kelly, Mooch,
Kiersten and her successor McAleenan; CIA Brennan lap dancer Haspel; promoted Rosenstein to 1st
Asst who then took over; Minarosa or whatever her name was.
Add who I'm forgetting. The worst performance of any president, brings in one snake after
another. Gorsuch will be the next one that becomes obvious. His first majority opinion sounded
the alarm. PT, Gorsuch said publicly Justice Kennedy, a 100% traitor turncoat, who he clerked
for and swore him in, was his Judicial Idol. Donald, duh?
Inept, inattentive, betrayed, too trusting--choose your analysis but his people decisions,
his favorite word: "A disaster".
BaNNeD oN THe RuN , 3 hours ago
@spqrusa
Correct, ultimately Dr. Fauci reports to the Director of the Department of Health &
Human Services and Trump could insist that he be fired.
"... and that sumbytch got fired."
Pig Circus , 4 hours ago
Love him or hate him The Trumpster tells it like it is. Most transparent President in
history.
My wife is in a bad way, is still on a ventilator and an IV drip, but her condition is
slowly improving. Her temperature is now normal.
Yesterday, a man from the Moscow health authority paid us a visit. He was dressed all in
white in hazmat gear from head to toe, wearing goggles and a proper medical hazard mask, not
a waste-of-time piece of paper "surgical mask.
He was here a long time. A very decent type of bloke he was. He spent ages filling out
medical forms for me, Vova, Lena and Sasha. He checked out our state medical insurance
policies and my passport and right of residence permit here as a foreign citizen. Having done
all of this paperwork, which business took over an hour -- we left him alone at my elder
daughter's writing desk in her room: I felt sorry for the poor bugger, for I thought he must
be sweating like a pig inside all that safety gear -- he then, having first taken all our
temperatures and pulse rates, stuck a swab on the end of a long stick up each of our
nostrils, and did a swab of our throats.
We then each had to sign 5 times our copious documents that he had completed for us.
We have to go to our local state polyclinic, which happens to be right next door to our
housing block, in a couple of days for the results.
Vova asked him if it was true that you can have covid yet show no symptoms: he said it was
and that's why we were being checked out because their mum was in hospital with covid.
I feel like crap: head aching all the time and my lungs have started wheezing. My
temperature is normal, however.
My lungs are partly buggered up in any case, as I have already long ago long described on
here, the result of chronic bronchitis, which is endemic in that place where I was raised,
and my previous occupation.
I went down with pneumonia here around 2001, I think, and the doctors here found a shadow
on one of the lobes of my lungs, which the bastards in the UK never thought worth mentioning
to me the last time I had a compulsory mineworker's lung X-ray in 1983.
My wife's friend Oksana has it as well; all the people I actually know who have it are in
Russia. Oksana (who lives in Dalnegorsk) said that she felt weak all the time, and lost her
sense of smell, which they tell me is a fairly common symptom. I think she is doing okay and
we are confident she will recover fully as most non-compromised people do. I'm rooting for
you and your family; take care of yourself.
Goodness, you don't sound too good and yet here you are posting impressive news every day.
I am in awe.
I have heard the same, that initial COVID-19 symptoms include loss of senses of smell and
taste, along with dry cough, fatigue and fever. Nausea and diarrhoea may be present.
Paraesthesia (pins and needles sensations in skin) and chilblains sensations in fingers and
toes have been reported as well.
Wishing your wife a comfortable and speedy recovery. Take care of yourselves and I wish
you all well.
I fear I have contracted coronavirus. I have just spent a night in semi-delirium. I am
cold. My limb extremities are very cold. I cannot keep warm in bed. I am shaking and feel
very weak. I have had to put on a sweater whilst in bed and a lambswool shawl. My head is
aching all the time and I nearly fall over when I try to get up and walk around. However, I
do not think I have a high temperature.
I expect you have, considering a family member with whom you have been in close contact
has it. You should probably notify the hospital if you have not already done so, as you may
have to be admitted. You are, by your own description, in a high-risk group, although even
people who are getting on a bit are at relatively low risk if they are otherwise in good
health. You walk everywhere and do not smoke or drink. Your immune system should be
relatively solid and maneuvering to do battle.
Your symptoms sound very much like a conventional fever, which surely you have had before.
It's no fun, but you have shaken it off in the past. That's not intended to downplay the
necessity to notify medical authorities.
I was almost certain I had already had it as well, but it would have been back in late
November/early December, long before there were any cases here. Still, for a transportation
worker who comes in contact daily with travelers from far-flung corners, it's possible. It
was the worst chest cold I have ever had; coughing hurt so badly that I would breathe in tiny
sips of air so as not to trigger a coughing response, which seemed to happen every time I
drew a deep breath. No fever, though, or headache.
Since there was no coronavirus panic then, I did not take any special precautions; the
Mate on the same ship also had it, and probably I either gave it to him or got it from him.
No other crew members were affected that I know of. No family members caught it. The Mate was
away from work for a day or two – in my case, the only day I was too sick to go to work
happened to be a day off, so I did not miss any work; the next day I felt well enough to
answer the call of duty, although still a bit ropy. After that, I recovered quickly and
completely.
It may not have been coronavirus, but it may have been. However, different regions
experience different mutations of the virus, and mine might be nothing like yours. Of course
I cannot give you advice as I am not a medical professional, but it seems to me you are doing
all you can do, and the correct measures you can take on your own against what sounds like a
fever minus the sweating, which you usually do not see until it is getting near breaking
anyway. Courage, and keep up your nourishment.
headache
warm forehead
chills
aching muscles
general feeling of weakness
sore eyes
loss of appetite
dehydration
swollen lymph nodes
Sounds like you have a fever – your body fights infection and ends up becoming too
cold. Try taking a hot shower / bath and Parecetomol to help your temperature normalise
It's also about the time you are supposed to get your winter flu jabs too. Normally I wear
a scarf and hat indoors to try and keep my temperature constants.
Like you lot, I think I've also had COVID-19 as I felt bad for a couple of weeks back in
March which is way, way longer than the usual two to three days.
Best wishes for a quick recovery to ME and Da Missus.
Eh, I cannot write properly today. This might be because the dog cat ikes fighting me. I
meant to write that When I have the flu or whatever I wrap up indoors. And have a very hot
curry.
Pneumonia is no fun, but it's not COVID. It will take more than pneumonia to kill an old
bastard like you. Drink a cup of cinnamon tea, and do 50 jumping jacks as penance.
Lemon, ginger and honey tea is good too if cinnamon tea is not to your taste. You need to
have lots of hot tea drinks and wafting the steam to your nose (but don't burn your hand or
your face) will help clear your nasal passages and make breathing easier.
Keep well and I hope the rest of the family is staying well too.
I woke up in the night feeling bad but by 6 a.m. my temperature was normal. I've been
taking the medication. Seems to be working. In the end, I conceded to my wife, after her
continuously nagging that I go to hospital. I told her I would cure myself at home, but she
doesn't want a 71-year-old geriatric with pneumonia in the flat with her children.
I was about to get ready to set off, when the local clinic phone with the results of the
coronavirus test that Vova, Lena, Sasha and I had undergone a few days ago.
Apart from Vova, we all have coronavirus. The clinic said we must not leave the flat and
that a doctor would visit us later today. As regards being hospitalized because of pneumonia,
the doctor who is going to visit us will decide.
Coronavirus does cause pneumonia as there are such things as viral pneumonia, or it can
weaken the lungs for bacteria to cause bacterial pneumonia. Please get some rest as there is
not much that can be done to cure a viral infection except rest (although in Russian and many
American hospitals they now give a steroid which lowers the immune system overresponse and
seems to work really well).
I highly doubt you are in a 'real' risk group, since you are too young, and also don't
drink and are not overweight, but please take it easy nonetheless. Coronavirus symptoms can
come and go and it can drastically increase the heart rate all of a sudden (because it can
get into the blood stream), so it's best to just lie in bed as much as possible to lower the
risk of cardiac problems and wait until your immune system makes antibodies.
Sobyanin has urged elderly Muscovites to stay at home because of coronavirus
12:28 25.09.2020
MOSCOW, September 25 – RIA Novosti. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has called on
elderly Muscovites and people with chronic diseases to change over to remote work or take a
vacation owing to to the coronavirus situation. The new rules will take effect on 28
September.
"Muscovites over 65 and younger citizens suffering from chronic diseases should not
leave the house or leave their garden plot without a special need for doing so. Please
temporarily refuse making contact with relatives and friends who live separately. Walking and
physical exercise in the fresh air is restricted", says the personal blog of the
mayor.
Yeah, well I'm not a Muscovite -- so bugger off!
They've told me and my 3 children to stay put in our flat.
The doctor has still not come though. When he does, I 'm sure he'll say there's no need to
go to hospital. My temperature is now normal .
In my CT analysis that I have now finally read from top to bottom, it says that
observations of my scan "may correspond to the manifestations of viral pneumonia".
It was, and she wasn't the least interested in me and told me so. I proffered her my CT
analysis and she said that she needed nothing off me, that she was a paediatrician and was
only interested in my children's health. So I said to her: "I'm a big kid really!"
She may not have understood me because because I said that to her in English.
And she thought I was their ancient grandpa as well, which always pisses me off.
She wasn't aware that Vova was getting ready to bugger off to the dacha for the weekend
with the delightful Anastasia, albeit he is supposedly confined to barracks as well. As soon
as she had left, he was away to the country with his girlfriend.
By the way, Vova is the only one in my family who has not been registered as
corona-positive. That must be because when he was in the Crimea for the first 11 days in
August, 3 days before he was due to return here, he fell ill and his temperature rocketed. he
had breathing difficulties and they took him to a coronavirus clinic in Sevastopol, from
where they sent him to a lung hospital in Balaclava. They gave him a CT scan there and said
he he had pneumonia and he needn't go into isolation and could fly back to Moscow. So he must
have immunity now.
Thousands of Britons who suffer heart attacks and strokes are dying at home instead of
seeking medical treatment, a new study has found, as new government figures show 75,000 are
projected to die as a result of lockdown measures.
Stay-at-home orders prompted countless people suffering from serious medical conditions to
avoid hospitals, according to the study's findings, which were published in the Heart medical
journal and first reported by the Daily Mail. The paper noted that deaths from heart disease in
private homes surged by 35 percent from March to July, resulting in 2,279 more fatalities on
average over the past six years. However, heart and stroke deaths in hospitals dropped by
around 1,400 during the same period, suggesting that some who chose to stay home would have
died anyway even if they had been hospitalized. The researchers calculated that in total, there
were 2,085 excess deaths in England and Wales that could be linked to heart attack and stroke
sufferers who refused to seek out medical treatment. This means that between March 2 and June
30, every day 17 people died needlessly from heart attacks.
Protests potentially nullified all potential positive effects from lookdown in large cities
like NYC, if such exist. So all economic damage was in vain and lockdown was just a capricious
and arbitrary move by ambitious and power hungry Dem politicians. And that fact alone make the
major on NYC and the governor on NY state look like completely politicized idiots.
If the crowd is dense, as often is the case in riots at places of confrontation with the
police cordon, it does not matter much if people are indoor or outdoor, what matters if the
length of the contact. Add to this that looting happens indoors.
...On Wednesday, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh called out CNN's
hypocrisy on this matter, noting that "if people can protest in the streets by the tens of
thousands, if people can riot, if people can gamble in casinos, then certainly they can gather
peaceably under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States."
Butthurt from this exchange, CNN Newsroom drafted in "medical analyst" Leana Wen , who
happens to be a former Planned Parenthood president, to explain why science means COVID doesn't
affect BLM protests as much as Trump rallies.
"It does not care why it is that people are gathering but it does care about the conditions
under which they're gathering," Wen argued, adding "outdoors much safer than indoors and
wearing masks obviously much safer than not wearing masks."
"I would also in this case would distinguish between the behavior of the participants while
at protests versus rallies," she continued, arguing that BLM protesters are more "aware" of the
risks than Trump supporters.
"At protests many people are aware of the risks and doing everything they can to reduce that
risk versus at many of the rallies we are seeing people going in defiance," Wen claimed.
Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday morning, CDC Director Robert
Redfield entered further into quack doctor territory, claiming that wearing a mask protects the
wearer against the novel coronavirus, even more so than a high-efficacy vaccine.
"These facemasks are the important, powerful public health tool we have," Redfield said,
while touching both sides of his mask and unconsciously contaminating it with his hands. "I
might even go so far as to say that this facemask is more guaranteed to protect me against
COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine," he added.
This appears to be another "scientific" evolution on masks from the "public health expert"
class. At first, we were advised not to wear masks. Then, the "my mask protects you. Your mask
protects me" mantra became the widely disseminated narrative. Now, masks apparently have the
incredible power of protecting the mask wearer from the virus.
In the February hearing, Redfield told Americans not to buy medical-grade
masks , saying there's "no role for these masks in the community."
There remains zero evidence that cloth masks or the earloop masks displayed by Redfield
helps to slow the spread of COVID-19 or protect the wearer from infection. No country in the
world has proven a link in slowing or stopping the spread due to mask wearing mandates, which
are in effect in countless nations.
Given the lack of demonstrated evidence supporting it, mask-wearing has become a cult-like religious
movement in the United States , one that relies on complete subservience to total
mysticism. Members of the mask movement frequently target Americans who engage in
non-compliance, likening these individuals to evil, plague-carrying menaces. Redfield's
testimony will only add fuel to the mask mania that is sowing discord in America.
In his testimony, Redfield added that a COVID vaccine probably won't be available to the
general public until
at least the second or third quarter of 2021.
"If you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public, so
we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we're
probably looking at third, late second quarter, third quarter 2021," he testified, adding
that first responders may have access to the vaccine before the end of the year.
Like many institutional bureaucracies in the federal government, the CDC has become plagued
with corruption and "woke" politics. A whistleblower recently revealed that the CDC was forcing
its staff to undergo "critical race theory" training.
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Under Redfield's leadership, the CDC dropped the ball on preparing Americans for the U.S.
coronavirus outbreak, as shown through
internal emails displaying the bureaucracy as an organizational mess.
* * *
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Illusion, my newsletter for people concerned about our "new normal."
American Thinker has run several articles like
this one about Dr. Anthony Fauci's political bias (which is his right). But the Miami
Herald published an article that was aimed at undermining President Trump , which actually
contains compelling evidence that Fauci's bias or ignorance is affecting what he is telling the
American people about Covid-19. In the article,
Dr. Fauci: 'I have to disagree' with Trump on coronavirus , the author writes:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, disagreed on Friday with
President Donald Trump's assertion that the country is "rounding the corner" on the
coronavirus pandemic.
"I really do believe we're rounding the corner," Trump said
during a White House briefing on Thursday. He added that newweekly cases have gone down
by 44% since July.
"I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with that because if you look at the thing that you
just mentioned, the statistics, Andrea, they're disturbing,"
Fauci told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Friday.
"We're plateauing at around 40,000 cases a day and the deaths are around 1,000.
From his interview with Andrea Mitchell Friday, the Herald quotes Fauci as stating, "We're
plateauing at around 40,000 cases a day and the deaths are around 1,000."
In fact, he is very wrong : the average daily new cases for the past two weeks have been
31,411, dramatically less than Fauci's 40,000 number; and the average daily deaths for the past
two-weeks have been 697, a full 30% less than Fauci's 1,000.
More significant, do these graphs of weekly average new cases (blue graph) and deaths (red
graph) from Bloomberg look like we're "plateauing?"
Source: Bloomberg
Fauci has a right and obligation to express his views about the current situation and the
future risks, but he should not mislead the public about the facts.
"We've been through this before," he said. "Don't ever, ever underestimate the potential
of the pandemic. And don't try and look at the rosy side of things."
"I keep looking at that curve, and I get more depressed and more depressed about the fact
that we never really get down to the baseline that I'd like," he said.
EmmittFitzhume , 59 minutes ago
Deep State Fauci has to go. Perhaps to prison
GoldenDebt , 58 minutes ago
Dr FRAUDci is non stop lying and flip-flopping
SMSpiff , 42 minutes ago
It's safe to come out of your basement now, Joe.
Pope Innocent III , 37 minutes ago
The nature of the Fauci scam is the total intentional destruction of induction and
deduction.
Jerky Miester , 32 minutes ago
You've been ****ting up this board for 3 years 7 months, you little phaqqot. Time to get
out of the basement and earn an honest living....unless you make your bread and beer money
being a pro troll. KYS now.
NotAGenius , 39 minutes ago
This is the legal argument to indict Fauci on mass murder charges, justified but justice
no longer exists in the USA, written by a legal writer. These comments and Fauci's crimes
would convict Fauci of mass murder and sentence him to prison for life:
Zeroes want Fauci's head on a stick...but decry liberals who interfere with the free
speech rights of conservatives on college campuses.
Free speech or no free speech - which is it, Zeroes?
knopperz , 55 minutes ago
The flu vaccination is now 78 years around.
The flu is still there.
Next Stop --> 78 Years wearing a diaper in your face.
Get used to it suckers.
All those people pushing the Corona Narrative should be hanged by the Balls.
CheapBastard , 53 minutes ago
We are obviously rounding the corner with fewer cases and fewer deaths. Most businesses
trying to reopen. Fauci is political hack and was from the start. he's also totally
incompetent or a liar giving Americans completely wrong advice from the start. The MSM loves
him because he's anti-Trump.
2hangmen , 54 minutes ago
Fauci has been wrong since day 1 on Covid. He's done multiple 180s on policies, and the
fact this is NOT a deadly virus in comparison to all other virus outbreaks. He's still
playing politics and he's still making millions from Big Pharma and the Deep State. Fauci,
please say good bye, and ride off into the sunset with your ill gotten gains.
NotAGenius , 44 minutes ago
Trump can't fire Fauci. He is a career government employee. Trump gave him a platform in
the beginning. Trump has been right about Fauci now and mostly about this cold virus too,
advocating the best medicine possible for it - hcq - while Fauci prevented Americans from
getting this cheap commercial safe and effective medical treatment. Fauci has committed mass
murder by withholding a life-saving medicine from Americans. The FDA is criminal too, same
reason. FDA has also been paying hospitals $39,000 for every patient they kill with the fatal
ventilators, killing more than saving according to records. But the government wants more
deaths for bigger numbers. The American medical system is actually a genocidal organization
now, trying to kill as many Americans as possible in many different ways, many associated
with this medical fraud. Fauci should be imprisoned for life were any justice to exist in
America. At best, Trump can minimize and ignore him and arrange for him to have no venue to
spout b.s. and lies publicly. That's what we basically need: Fauci minimized if not
disappeared.
blueapples Staff , 33 minutes ago
Why would he ever fire the fall guy? If he fired him, you'd still have the push for
lockdowns, the policies based on flawed statistical models, and all the other nonsense.
Except then without a guy like Fauci to place blame on, the administrations role in this
becomes much more apparent.
It makes more sense to have a guy like Fauci on board to deflect to, especially given his
career as a government employee, so that it looks like there's some nefarious underlying
force that is working against the administration when the reality is that that nefarious
underlying force is working in tandem with it.
JaWS , 49 minutes ago
Damn the cases. I know about 10 people that have tested positive for covid19. Most cases
are not much more than a cold. Some not even that bad. Look at the deaths. That's where the
narrative should go. They are significantly down from the peak.
"Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert ..."
I have to disagree with this.
SummerSausage , 36 minutes ago
If they left off the word "expert" it would be an accurate statement.
Bollixed , 6 minutes ago
Fauci is an expert. An 'ex' is a has-been and a 'spert' is a drip under pressure. He fits
the bill perfectly.
curtisw , 9 minutes ago
"Because I have a vaccine to peddle."
-- A. Fauci
scottyji , 19 minutes ago
FAUCI BELONGS IN PRISON.
Fauci's narcissisticly obsessed with his "expert image" and his lucrative role as pimp for
Big Pharma = total Napoleon Complex, two-faced, stinkin' bureaucrat of the Deep State.
Ergo I.C. , 28 minutes ago
Because Fauci and his buddy Bill Gates are trying peddle vaccines worth billions of
dollars.
adr , 39 minutes ago
Since Fauchi is supposedly an expert, maybe he can tell us why people suffering from hay
fever are being told they have Covid.
In our systematic review, we identified 10 RCTs that reported estimates of the
effectiveness of face masks in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infections in
the community from literature published during 1946–July 27, 2018. In pooled analysis,
we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks (RR
0.78, 95% CI 0.51–1.20; I 2 = 30%, p = 0.25)
Of the 29 studies analyzed by the Lancet meta-study, seven studies are unpublished and
non-peer-reviewed observational studies that should not be used to guide clinical practice
according to the medRxiv disclaimer (references 3, 4, 31, 36, 37, 40 and 70; see table
above).
Of the 29 studies considered by the meta-study, only four are about the SARS-CoV-2
virus ; the other 25 studies are about the SARS-1 virus or the MERS virus, both of which
have very different transmission characteristics: they were transmitted almost exclusively
by severely ill hospitalized patients and not by community transmission.
Of the four studies relating to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, two were misinterpreted by the
Lancet meta-study authors ( refs. 44 and 70 ), one is
inconclusive ( ref. 37 ),
and one is about N95 (FFP2) respirators and not about medical masks or cloth masks (see
detailed analysis below).
The Lancet meta-study is used to guide global facemask policy for the general
population. However, of the 29 studies considered by the meta-study, only three are
classified as relating to a non-health-care (i.e. community) setting . Of these three
studies, one is misclassified ( ref. 50 , relating to a
hospital environment), one showed no benefit of facemasks (
ref. 69 ), and one is a poorly designed retrospective study about SARS-1 in Beijing
based on telephone interviews ( ref. 74 ). None of these
studies refer to SARS-CoV-2.
The authors of the Lancet meta-study acknowledge that the certainty of the evidence
regarding facemasks is "low" as all of the studies are observational and none is a
randomized controlled trial (RCT). The WHO itself admitted that its updated facemask policy
guidelines were based not on new evidence but on "political lobbying" .
In view of these shortcomings, University of Toronto epidemiology professor Peter Jueni
called
the WHO study "methodologically flawed" and "essentially useless".
In the US state of Kansas , the 90 counties without mask mandates had lower coronavirus
infection rates than the 15 counties with mask mandates. To hide this fact, the Kansas
health department tried to
manipulate the official statistics and data presentation.
Consuelo , 36 minutes ago
Fauci has been torpedoed here --- even without his lying numbers (of cases & deaths).
With the actual non-LYING numbers, he should be stripped of his medical license and
prosecuted for gross negligence, even gross-er Incompetence, and for potential Criminal $Gain
off his rather cozy relationship with Big Pharma and Bill Gates...
This whole thing was a $SCAM of the highest order.
aelfheld , 34 minutes ago
Fauci's a bureaucrat.
Bureaucrats have unqualified immunity.
Everybodys All American , 43 minutes ago
During the Spanish Flu of 1918 no one as I can tell was advocating for everyone to be
vaccinated either for or against their will. That tells you everything about this Dr. Fauci
imo. He should be removed from the planet.
drstrangelove73 , 6 minutes ago
I've posted about Tony several times this year.I spent an academic quarter as a medical
student on his service at the NIH,then saw him again many times in the 80's when I returned
as a fellow.He is a lifelong democrat,and card carrying member of the deep state who has
played politics with the management of viral infections for 40 years.Let that sink in.He has
been the director of the same NIH institute for 40 years.No one else in the history of the institute has been a director
for half that long.You think he doesn't know
how to play the game? _arrow
asteroids , 14 minutes ago
How does Fauci explane Sweden? The number of new cases is very low. Their death rate is
almost zero. Sweden now has herd immunity without a vaccine.
Hyzer , 9 minutes ago
He pretends it doesn't exist, just like the MSM.
TannyDanner , 3 minutes ago
He's trusting the plebs won't do their own research. I'm looking at the data almost daily
and am beyond thankful that Sweden had the balls to go about it the way they did and not bow
down to the bullies.
legalize , 18 minutes ago
Fauci himself has said that asymptomatic cases are "not the driver of infection"
We keep measuring "cases" instead of symptomatic cases
Therefore, I could give **** all about "case numbers"; I want to know about number of
people who are infectious/symptomatic
Useful_Idiot714 , 35 minutes ago
700 mostly old people with other diseases are dying from this each day in a country of
325,000,000. Sounds like we need mail in voting so that the frightened commies can vote early
and often to save us by electing a senile racist rapist pedophile.
SummerSausage , 46 minutes ago
Panic is Fauci's objective.
Democrats love big government which means more power for Fauci, more taxes and less
freedom for you.
Robert Paulson , 30 minutes ago
Panic is too unpredictable, and disruptive.
The "hope" is for respectful, solemn acceptance that Big Brother/Sister can save "us" from
ill health, poverty and international "enemies."
I mean **** was broken across most institutions throughout Western Civilization before the
flu was weaponized into a means of control. But the whole theater has become absurd.
The casedemic is pure and blatant FUD targeted towards Trump and Americans.
JamcaicanMeAfraid , 27 minutes ago
I predict on November 4th and if Dementia Joe is elected Fauci and his super ego will
stand before any microphone put in fromt of him and say "Joe Biden has put a stop to covid,
he has conquered the virus."
aelfheld , 44 minutes ago
Fauci sees the statistics as disturbing because they indicate an endpoint to his
prominence.
JaWS , 51 minutes ago
There are 4 men in my county that were tested positive within about 3 days of each other
and they had to quarantine for 14 days. About a week into it they started meeting everyday
down at the local fishing hole to fish while no one else was around. One of these men is 80
years old. The other 3 are in their 70s. Does this sound like something to shut the entire
country down?
GoldenDebt , 1 hour ago
Dont be a moron
Dr Fraudci is all politics and he's LYING. Dr FRAUDci also never condemned the protests as
being potential SUPER-SPREADER events
He's a criminal
moneybots , 13 minutes ago
"I really do believe we're rounding the corner," Trump said
during a White House briefing on Thursday. He added that newweekly cases have gone down
by 44% since July.
"I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with that because if you look at the thing that you
just mentioned, the statistics, Andrea, they're disturbing," Fauci told Andrea Mitchell on
Friday.
The statistics say Trump is right, according to the chart. Why is Fauci lying to the
American people?
Thalamus , 45 minutes ago
Fauci's worst case prediction of 1.7 million deaths from Covid-19 kind of came up short at
only 10K; but at least he didn't yell fire in a crowded theater .
Zerogenous_Zone , 48 minutes ago
which statistics?
to quote the great Mark Twain (now classified by the leftists as a rassiss)...
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics ."
the one statistic that is relevant, is the decrease in mortality...
and I for one, would like to know how they created a Covid-19 specific test...wait...what
was that?
THEY HAVEN'T?! it is an antigen test...that is, if you have any residual from your LAST
flu shot (they inject you with lysed virus to build up your antibody count...antigens!) you
could test positive...
and probably a majority of the tests are at issue since the test is highly
inaccurate...
but who cares? the virus is out of the box and here to stay...so you have either already
been exposed, or you will soon be exposed...and NO vaccine will be sufficient (since viral
strains mutate almost immediately)...especially the comment cold (news flash!! the 'common
cold' is a CORONAVIRUS!!)
At what point does the man on the street realize that he has been had? It took me about 2
weeks, 6 months ago to realize what Fauci and his cronies were saying was nonsense. Smart
people that I know, took months to reach the same conclusion but many people are still buying
the disinfo.
Choomwagon Roof Hits , 3 hours ago
Once I started getting into the influenza-like-illness data and realized this was
spreading exponentially worldwide since at least November - there were probably millions or
tens of millions of people infected and recovered in the US by the time the first cases were
identified.
fackbankz , 3 hours ago
The scam just gets bigger and more absurd every week.
Wait until cold and flu season when people freak out over every little case of the
sniffles. Many will have forgotten completely that one year ago it was normal for people to
catch cold, and nobody worried about it.
Just when the fear starts to subside, and growing public skepticism seems to push governors
into opening, something predictable happens . The entire apparatus of mass media hops on some
new, super-scary headline designed to instill more Coronaphobia and extend the lockdowns yet
again.
It's a cycle that never stops. It comes back again and again.
A great example occurred this weekend. A poll appeared on Friday from the Kaiser Family
Foundation. It showed
that confidence in Anthony Fauci is evaporating along with support for lockdowns and mandatory
Covid vaccines.
The news barely made the headlines, and very quickly this was overshadowed by a scary new
claim: restaurants will give you Covid!
It's tailor-made for the mainstream press. The study is from the
CDC, which means: credible. And the thesis is easily digestible: those who test positive
for Covid are twice as likely as those who tested negative to have eaten at a restaurant.
"Eating and drinking on-site at locations that offer such options might be important risk
factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection," the study says.
Very scary!
Thus the implied conclusion: don't allow indoor dining! Otherwise Covid will spread like
wildfire!
After six months of this Corona Kabuki dance, driven by alarmist media and imposed by wacko,
power-abusing governors and mayors, I've become rather cynical about the whole enterprise, so I
mostly ignore the latest nonsense.
In this case, however, I decided to take a closer look simply because so many millions of
owners, workers, and customers have been treated so brutally in the "War on Restaurants."
It turns out, of course, that this is not what the study said. What's more interesting is to
consider exactly what's going on here. The study was based on interviews with 314 people who
had been tested of their own volition. It included 154 patients with positive test results and
160 control participants with negative test results.
The interviews took place two weeks following the tests, and they concerned life activities
two weeks prior to getting the test.
Before we go on here, remember that what alarmed people about Covid was the prospect of
dying. The study says nothing about this subject, nor about hospitalization. It's a fair
assumption that the positive cases being interviewed here got it (presumably, if the tests are
accurate, which they are not )
and got over it.
This alone is interesting simply because it reveals how much the whole subject has been
changed: the pandemic has become a casedemic.
Now, to the question of life activities. In the study, based on answers to a survey, the
following were not correlated in any significant degree with positive cases of Covid:
Wearing a mask or not wearing a mask
Going to church
Riding on public transportation
Attending large house parties
Going to the gym
Going to the office
Going to the hair salon
Going shopping
Now one might suppose, if you think the study has any merit, that this would be the
headline.
The massive power of the state has been deployed all over the United States and the world to
force the closure of churches, gyms, offices, salons, and malls. This all happened and is still
happening. Also mask mandates became the new normal. The public has been invited by health
authorities to jeer at, denounce, and turn in anyone who doesn't have a cloth strapped to his
or her face.
All of this happened in complete contradiction to every commercial right, property right, or
normal human freedoms. We threw it all away in the name of virus control. Our lives have been
completely upended and our assumptions about our rights and liberties have been overturned.
And yet here is a study that is unable to document any correlation between these life
activities and catching the disease.
That's an amazing conclusion that could have generated headlines like:
Salons Won't Get You Sick, CDC Reports
You Won't Catch Covid at the Gym, CDC Shows
No, Your Hairstylist Doesn't Spread the Coronavirus
Scared to Go Shopping? Don't Be, Says the CDC
Your Mask Is Pointless, New Study Says
Church Goers Shouldn't Fear Sickness, Scientists Reveal
Study: Your House Party Didn't Spread the Virus
And so on. But none of this was to be. Not one single story in the mainstream press said
anything like this, even though this was all implied by the CDC study.
The one place that the study revealed a positive correlation between positive cases and life
activities was going to restaurants.
So that's what got the alarmist headlines. Yes, these are all real.
And so on for thousands of times in every mainstream venue. They are all competing for
clicks in the great agenda of extending lockdowns and feeding public fear as much as possible.
So the worst-possible spin on this slightly sketchy study gets all the headlines.
Thus is it burned into many people's minds that restaurants are really disease-spreading
venues. Go out to eat and you might die!
And here is what makes this even stranger. The interviewers never asked the people in the
survey whether they were eating indoors or outdoors, as incredible as that seems. The authors
admit this:
"Of note, the question assessing dining at a restaurant did not distinguish between indoor
and outdoor options."
Why not? Did they just forget to ask? What's going on here?
Which is to say that even if the results are meaningful – and there's so much about
this study that is murky and error prone – they are practically useless for knowing what
to do about it. If there is no distinction between indoor and outdoor, all speculation about
ventilation or crowds or the presence of food and so on, is utterly pointless.
Without knowing that, we are at a loss to figure out any answer to the question of why and
what to do. Instead, the message comes down to: don't go out to eat.
Here is how bad the science has become. In the discussion, the authors write the
following:
"Direction, ventilation, and intensity of airflow might affect virus transmission, even if
social distancing measures and mask use are implemented according to current guidance. Masks
cannot be effectively worn while eating and drinking, whereas shopping and numerous other
indoor activities do not preclude mask use."
Here is what is weird: the study itself supports none of that paragraph.
The survey never asked about ventilation because the people who made the survey somehow
forgot to make a query concerning indoor vs. outdoor dining . As for masks, the study did in
fact ask respondents about mask wearing and the results showed no correlation between the
sickness and whether and to what extent people were wearing masks!
In other words, that paragraph in the discussion is contradicted in two places by the
authors' own study.
In addition, the authors themselves point to an intriguing issue: the people in the survey
might have biased their answers based on their personal knowledge of the test results.
Think about it this way. The people who had a positive Covid test are more likely to ask
themselves the great question: how did I get this? Going to restaurants is such a rare activity
these days that it stands out in one's mind. When the survey asked people if they had gone out
to eat, it is possible that the memory of the Covid positive person might be more likely to
blame the restaurant, whereas the Covid negative person might be more likely to have forgotten
the locale of every meal in the last 30 days.
In other words, the real result of the study might be: Covid patients are more likely to
scapegoat restaurants than gyms, churches, and salons.
Alas, none of these interesting considerations appear in the media-rendered version of this
study: panic and keep the lockdowns in place!
Lockdowns have become a conclusion in a desperate search for evidence. Imagine if you
undertook a study of C-positive vs. C-negative cases and asked the people if they mostly wear
lace-up or slip-on shoes. If you come up with some positive correlation, the CDC will publish
you and a media panic will ensue.
This is precisely where we've been for six solid months now. The media has become the
handmaiden of lockdown tyranny, blasting out simplistic versions of sketchy studies to keep the
panic going as long as possible. And the public, which is far too trusting of the media and its
capacity for rational and accurate reporting, eats it up.
For now. Once the dust settles on all of this, it seems highly likely that media science
reporting will lose credibility for a generation. It certainly deserves that fate.
"Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 offer little protection
against wildfire smoke. They do not catch small particles found in wildfire smoke that
can harm your health."
Just checking if that's the same CDC.
LA_Goldbug , 3 hours ago
Wow !!!!!
Nice find :-)
honest injun , 3 hours ago
At what point does the man on the street realize that he has been had? It took me about
2 weeks, 6 months ago to realize what Fauci and his cronies were saying was nonsense. Smart
people that I know, took months to reach the same conclusion but many people are still
buying the disinfo.
Be it Resolved, the scientific community has overreacted to the threat of COVID-19 and the
data prove it...
Six months into a global pandemic and 63,000 scientific papers later, scientists and
medical researchers continue to be perplexed by COVID-19. There are many unknowns with the
virus, and one of the most controversial is how deadly it really is. Since the beginning of
the pandemic, leading health institutions such as the World Health Organization and the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have warned that COVID-19 is much more
dangerous than the seasonal flu and that, without expansive public health measures, millions
of people around the world could die from the virus.
But there are some in the scientific community who disagree. And they say they have the
data to prove it. Antibody testing of large population groups indicates that we could be
grossly underestimating the number of people who have been infected by the virus –
which means we are dramatically overestimating the death rate. Given these findings, they
question whether sweeping public health controls are the way to approach a possible second
wave of COVID-19 this autumn.
GUESTS
To understand the true prevalence of COVID-19 infections in the United States, Jay
Bhattacharya has recently undertaken several seroprevalence studies (the study of antibodies in
a population). You can read about his study of Santa Clara County in California
here and his study of 5,600 Major League Baseball employees
here .
Sten Vermund has published numerous scholarly studies on infectious diseases, which you can
view here
.
During the debate both Jay and Sten speak about COVID-19's "infection fatality rate" (IFR).
IFR is one of the most important characteristics of an infectious disease in determining its
severity. It is basically the ultimate measure of a disease's ability to cause death. You can
learn more about IFR and how it is estimated here
. In the debate, both Jay and Sten agree that the current estimates of the COVID-19 infection
fatality rates are overestimated and therefore misleading. To learn more, read Jay's Wall Street
Journal op ed.
During the debate, Sten points out that between March and May of 2020 there was a 19 per
cent excess death rate in the United States. Excess death rates refer to
the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time period and expected
number of deaths in the same time period. According to Sten, the excess rates are probably 28
per cent higher than the official deaths tally of COVID-19 because so many cases are not
reported. This
Nature.com article supports this view.
Jay argues that part of the science community's overreaction to COVID-19 has been censorship
of unpopular scientific views . Jay refers to an op ed in the New York Times by
Michael Eisen that expresses concern about how scientific study pre-prints are being
released before they are peer reviewed, and calling for the establishment of a scientific
"rapid review" service for pre-prints.
One of the scientists Jay identifies as having an unorthodox view on COVID-19 is Gabriela
Gomez, She speaks about her research on herd immunity occurring when as little as ten percent
of the population has been infected with the virus here
and you can read her research article
here .
Sten and Jay disagree with each other about the feasibility of isolating the most vulnerable
members of society, particularly the elderly, while letting the rest of the population continue
to live normally . Sten refers to a
New York Times article by David Katz which supports the strategy of "vertical
interdiction", where those over 60 are "preferentially protected."
Jay refers to the recent release of findings from a
Public Health England study that found negligible spread among one million students who
returned to school in June.
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From comments: "Article is poorly written by someone who does not know medical science. There
are no viral "cells" so the headline is a put off right away. The comment about "sensitivity" is
misplaced as PCR tests are too sensitive: ergo false positives. I believe "specificity" is the
word the author was searching for. If a test lumps true positives with false positives, then it
lacks specificity."
That's because new research from the University of Oxford's Center for Evidence-Based
Medicine and the University of the West of England has found that the swab-based technique used
for most COVID-19 testing is at risk of returning "false positives" since copies of the virus's
RNA detected by the tests might simply be dead, inactive material from a weeks-old infection.
Although patients infected with COVID-19 are typically only infectious for a week or less,
tests can be triggered by virus genetic material left over from a weeks-old infection.
The team's research involved analyzing 25 studies on the widely used polymerase chain
reaction test. PCR tests use material collected with a swab - the most common type of test
around the world, and especially in the US - then utilize a "genetic photocopying" technique
that allows scientists to magnify the small sample of genetic material collected, which they
can then analyze for signs of viral RNA.
What the researchers here have effectively found is that these PCR tests just aren't
sensitive enough to distinguish if the viral material is active and infectious, or dead and
inert.
For those who desire a more comprehensive understanding of how these tests work, the chart
below can be helpful.
Professor Carl Heneghan, one of the authors of the study, said there was a risk that a surge
in testing across the UK was increasing the risk of this sample contamination occurring and it
may explain why the number of Covid-19 cases is rising but the number of deaths is static.
"Evidence is mounting that a good proportion of 'new' mild cases and people re-testing
positives after quarantine or discharge from hospital are not infectious, but are simply
clearing harmless virus particles which their immune system has efficiently dealt with," he
told the Spectator.
Professor Heneghan added that international scrutiny might be required to avoid "the dangers
of isolating non-infectious people or whole communities." ZKnight 14 minutes ago
Fake science. How about purify the virus first and establish a gold standard for testing
first. No, of course not because the CDC has a patent for Covid-19 and nobody is allowed to try
find it to see if it exists. play_arrow LogicFusion 27 minutes ago
Everybody is a Covid-19 / Coronavirus expert now!
Read about the failed coin dealer and convicted felon's performance. It's hilarious!
Covid -19 has been so politicized that I don't believe a word of any publication for or
against testing, existence of the Virus, or anything that provokes testing or issues opinions
about locking down communities. Just like the riots, Covid news is just plain boring.
play_arrow ominous 3 hours ago
"Give me control of a nation's money, and I care not who makes the laws" - Mayer Amschel
Rothschild. play_arrow play_arrow tangent 4 hours ago remove link
People who recommend a vaccine for an entirely cured virus should lose their license to
practice medicine. 99.9% cure rate applying to people who take it before being hospitalized is
one of the biggest success stories in the history of medicine for HCQ. Not only that, but there
are multiple other likely cures that simply have not been studied well. You'd think people
would appreciate the fact that the common cold has been cured, but instead they just whine that
big pharma isn't getting those bucko bucks.
I honestly expected a ticker tape parade like in the movies when that first cure study came
out. But instead they took a massive **** on the study and on the doctor... ****ty world we
live in. ay_arrow Pair Of Dimes Shift 2 hours ago
An exec (55+) at my company is gung ho about the vaccine.
Unfortunately, I just had to give him a "wait and see" response although I know vaccines for
coronaviruses are impossible. play_arrow 2 play_arrow ThanksIwillHaveAnother 4 hours ago
(Edited)
Viruses are not full cells. They are DNA/RNA wrapped with a protein the clings to a cell
then the cell imports the DNA/RNA to start making its proteins. So what is inactive? If that
person sneezes on another person depending on immune system status that other person could get
a bad infection. y_arrow 4 CrabbyR 3 hours ago
viruses utilizes CELL structures and host DNA to replicate dna or rna according to the
viruses genetic code, the protein jacket is the final product to
disguise the virus from detection and to bind on another cell after the compromised cell
RUPTURES, there's more to it but if it cannot copy itself effectively it can become nonviable
and unable to infect another cell. It replicates DNA inside a host cell, It is not a complete
organism and cannot replicate unless it can inject its DNA into a host cell. Antibodies cling
to viruses and destroy this ability to bind to a target cell. A non viable virus has a damaged
coat or DNA RNA that has to many Dimers (damage or code breaks) Bacteria is more in line with
what you think a virus is y_arrow onewayticket2 4 hours ago (Edited) remove link
they lost me when they changed the definition of "death" to include "presumed, untested"
cases (while bI@#$% ing at me that we needed to "follow the science")....and even got busted
for the laughable motorcycle accident being classified as a covid death and the Labs that were
sending in 100% positive results. (until they were caught) play_arrow OutaTime43 4 hours ago
remove link
The test detects RNA. Not necessarily viable virus. Also, it will detect RNA presence in an
individual who may already have antibodies and may be immune. We are bombarded daily by viruses
of which we already have immunity. play_arrow sun tzu 10 hours ago
Shocking news that the South Koreans already discovered and published back in May. Western
big pharma driven medicine is garbage 😂😂😂
Interesting play_arrow play_arrow Jack Mehoff 1 more time 9 hours ago
Business as usual play_arrow play_arrow Argon1 7 hours ago
Preparation for agenda 2021 in 2017. play_arrow 1 play_arrow CrabbyR 4 hours ago
WOW.......ties a few strands from other sources together into a real ugly picture play_arrow
play_arrow Welsh Bard 10 hours ago
The professor who won the Nobel prize for work in this field, said that the way this test is
being operated with over forty cycles, means that any results are entirely meaningless.
In Britain, having spent over £15 billion setting up PCR testing systems and a shaky
test and trace apparatus on top of that, it appears that 90% of positive results now appear to
be false. This is compounded by the fact that when a hot spot develops, more testing is done to
show a rapid increase in more false positive results, meaning further new lockdowns and even
more testing to prove yet more false positive results ad infinitum.
Now whether this is by design or ineptitude, people must decide for themselves but the
outcome is utter chaos.
For those countries who have not followed the Swedish model especially countries like
Australia and New Zealand who have set up complete isolation, now face a future perpetually cut
off from the rest of the world.
Okay, new techniques will and are coming along to treat the disease like HCQ when used
correctly maybe as a prophylactic and a vaccine that will need to be constantly upgraded like
the Flu vaccine, means that the whole world has painted itself into a corner unless drastic
revision is now made to the whole sorry mess.
In the meantime, we will now be stuck with digital currency and the introduction of ID
Health Cards that will limit people in how they travel where they work and access to a whole
heap of things like government services.
Welcome to the new world order! play_arrow 1 KuriousKat 11 hours ago (Edited) remove
link
Don't tell the Shameless Aussie gov that after arresting hundreds for simply voicing doubt
on need to lockdown entire city...Next time it will be thousands and not a damn thing they can
do to stop it..These people are trickling us the truth how worthless the tests are when pretty
much everyone knows. play_arrow espirit 12 hours ago remove link
Lessee.
WHO
Imperial College
John Hopkins
CDC
Line all those peeps up against the wall, and the first one to rat gets to live.
I'll provide my own ammo... ay_arrow Sick Monkey 6 hours ago
Not everyone working in these agencies are dishonest but like you and I we have to work and
eat.
Most of them are trapped in this mess with bills to pay threatened by NDA.
play_arrow 1 Urban Roman 12 hours ago
Not particularly new news. Been talked about since April at least -- it's an RNA virus, it
has its own polymerase, and it leaves lots of RNA fragments in its wake.
The Corona family of viruses make 5 or 6 strands with partial copies of their RNA molecule.
negative copies are made first, and then copied again into positive copies. Finally the one big
RNA is made with the entire genome on it.
So about a dozen RNA molecules are made for each finished virus particle that is produced.
And finally, a variety of different primers are used for the PCR tests, some are matched to the
small partial RNA copies and others are matched to various features on the large whole-virus
RNA. They can give different results for the same sample.
So, someone who registers on a PCR test has probably been exposed to the virus, but the test
gives no clue as to whether it is an active infection, or the person is contagious, or they are
just coming down with it, or they got over it six months ago. play_arrow 4 play_arrow 1
10 play_arrow gordo 12 hours ago remove link
Sweden, no masks, no lock downs, ALL SCHOOLS OPEN, herd immunity, no second wave.
Still think your masks and lock downs are working muppets?
1 play_arrow The 3rd Dimentia 13 hours ago
https://youtu.be/sjYvitCeMPc
SARS-CoV2 and the Rise of Medical Technocracy. Lee Merritt, M.D. play_arrow 3 play_arrow
hugin-o-munin 13 hours ago
I'm glad to see that many are starting to counter the official narrative.
We've been asleep for too long and allowed these agendas to fester to the point we're at now
where a college dropout software salesman and a former 3rd world communist terrorist (neither
of whom have any medical degree) are dictating to the world how everyone needs to get a DNA
altering vaccine and a medical ID. It's completely nuts and bonkers yet more or less the entire
planet's governments follow in 'lockstep' with ever more draconian laws and regulations
incarcerating people in their own homes, making them wear masks causing oxygen deprivation and
shutting down the entire world economy.
lay_arrow Warthog777 , 13 hours ago
Article is poorly written by someone who does not know medical science. There are no viral
"cells" so the headline is a put off right away. The comment about "sensitivity" is misplaced
as PCR tests are too sensitive: ergo false positives. I believe "specificity" is the word the
author was searching for. If a test lumps true positives with false positives, then it lacks
specificity.
Anyone who would use the term "virus cells", has no clue what they're talking about and
should be completely disregarded. Viruses are not cells. PCR tests are searching for
something your body produces in response to a virus as well. They are not produced
specifically for a singular virus either. The entire concept of PCR testing is garbage. This
**** was a scam from the get-go.
hugin-o-munin , 13 hours ago
Yes it is evident now that this entire pandemic is false and political. The goal seems to
be to vaccinate entire populations and the question people need to ask is - why? what for?
Aside from the obvious economic motives there are some more sinister plans that most people
will have a hard time accepting but these need to be looked at. Several years ago there were
a group of doctors and researchers that died of suspicious suicides who were collaborating
and studying vaccines and the link to autism.
The effort was led by Dr.Jeffrey Bradstreet who was researching the natural substance
GcMAF and how this could boost the immune system. What he discovered was that many vaccines
had a compound/substance called Nagalase in them that is unnatural and has a detrimental
effect on the immune system and function of GcMAF (which is produced by our own bodies) and
has no business at all being in vaccines. Just before he was able to blow the whistle on this
he also died of a suspicious 'suicide' and today most of the clinics and research groups
working on GcMAF have been destroyed and ruined. Draw your own conclusions.
snblitz , 14 hours ago
Dr. Kary Mullis invented the PCR test. He said it was ineffective for this purpose.
Though he was addressing its use in a prior virus hoax unleashed upon the world.
I bet you didn't know this scam has been used before.
That is why I was able to call out the scam right from the start. The second I saw them
using the PCR again, I knew it was from the same playbook.
snblitz , 14 hours ago
So many lies.
Viruses are not alive. They have no metabolic functions. They cannot move.
Don't believe me? Get a degree is virology or microbiology or just a read a book on the
subject. Or capture a wuhan-virus yourself and watch it under a microscope. It won't move. It
won't consume anything. It will just sit there inert.
The problem is that you are being lied to at a scale you cannot imagine.
I know, off to the fema re-education camp for me for spreading false information about the
wuhan-virus.
Though I am not the one spreading fear and hysteria.
aldousd , 13 hours ago
There article is confused, but the work of the doctor is not. Viruses use your cells to
reproduce. When your immune system targets the virus it actually kills your own cell which
has become host to the virus. The virus particles and markers, and the DNA of the virus can
be detected in these dead cells, but dead cells cannot serve as a factory for more viruses.
So it's effectively a dead virus infected cell. Not a dead virus cell.
So while the transcription of the idea here was done by an idiot, it's not an idiotic
idea. The tests cannot tell if the virus came in a living cell that is actively producing
more viruses or a dead host cell that has been assassinated by your immune system. That's
what they're talking about here.
mstyle , 11 hours ago
what about the chromosome 8 stuff that has been mentioned lately?
(since you appear to be rather intelligent)
hugin-o-munin , 11 hours ago
Thanks. Well the chromosome 8 discovery in the PCR test specifications/details is strange
and worrying because it makes you wonder why it's part of this at all. Some believe it's to
get more false positive results while others believe it is what the mRNA vaccines are
intended to target and if that's right then it's really sinister. What exactly is the plan?
To make all of us get Downs Syndrome? I don't know but judging by all their other lies and
schemes it wouldn't surprise me.
IRC162 , 14 hours ago
Fuggin progressives and their pandemic political prop. But really this reaction is the
same as their reaction to 'racial injustice'. They focus on feelings before the facts are
known in order to achieve their end, and then do their best to bury/ignore the facts when
they are gathered later.
94% COVID deaths with multiple comorbidities.
10 unarmed blacks killed by police in 2019 (6 were in self-defense).
adr , 15 hours ago
Why didn't you mention that nearly all labs are running 35-40 cycles which guarantees a
positive test, simply from noise.
The inventor of the test said if you don't find anything after 15 cycles, it probably
isn't there. After 20 cycles the noise starts to be greater than any real information. By 30,
the test is mostly noise. More than 35, the test is completely worthless.
Of course I've been saying this for five months, but most people didn't listen. After the
NYT article came out, people I know started saying, "How did you know?"
I said, "Because I have critical thinking skills. Why didn't you believe me? Name a time
I've steered you wrong."
Antiduck , 14 hours ago
333 labs in florida had 100% positivity. (stupid word.)
ZenStick , 12 hours ago
Exactly correct.
Nobody will touch this line of reasoning in public or on media.
Bastages.
Identify as Ferengi , 15 hours ago
See above, Born2Bwired.
The PCR test is not useful for what they are using it for apparently. This has been
known since the beginning. Here is quote regarding AIDS:
"Kary Mullis, who won the Nobel Prize in Science for inventing the PCR, is thoroughly
convinced that HIV is not the cause of "AIDS". With regard to the viral load tests, which
attempt to use PCR for counting viruses, Mullis has stated: "Quantitative PCR is an
oxymoron." PCR is intended to identify substances qualitatively, but by its very nature is
unsuited for estimating numbers. Although there is a common misimpression that the viral
load tests actually count the number of viruses in the blood, these tests cannot detect
free, infectious viruses at all; they can only detect proteins that are believed, in some
cases wrongly, to be unique to HIV. The tests can detect genetic sequences of viruses, but
not viruses themselves.
What PCR does is to select a genetic sequence and then amplify it enormously. It can
accomplish the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack; it can amplify that needle
into a haystack. Like an electronically amplified antenna, PCR greatly amplifies the
signal, but it also greatly amplifies the noise. Since the amplification is exponential,
the slightest error in measurement, the slightest contamination, can result in errors of
many orders of magnitude."
In six or twelve months a majority of people will start to get that they were had. It will
be too late.
afronaut , 15 hours ago
Doubt it. Unless the media or government says it
palmereldritch , 14 hours ago
There will be mask wearing long before then for totally different reasons.
mstyle , 11 hours ago
There's a rather large percentage of the US population that's going to die with a mask on
their face, a BLM sign in their yard, and a Lemon on their screen.
Sad :-(
_wayfarer , 9 hours ago
They were had with 9/11, never got it.
Salisarsims , 5 hours ago
Most of the United States where had by 9/11, and still are.
BlueGreen , 15 hours ago
End lockdowns around the world now! Lockdowns kill. Never again. Sweden's death rate is
lower than US, and many other countries.
Gaedamfukn democrap virus. Botox face carcinogenic hair dyed fossilized demented nasty
wicked witch of the west ... and her army of flying monkey stooge guvners and mayors keeping
their states shut down to oust Orange Julius and they could give two diarrhea schitz about
you and your family All these terds care about is power
NoDebt , 15 hours ago
It's not just that the (government) response to this virus has ****** a lot of people
royally, it's the absolute certainty that they will do it again in exactly the same manner,
pretty much every damned year moving forward forever.
MaF , 15 hours ago
In many blue states they can do it until 2022 when they are voted out...unless the people
rise up.
drendebe10 , 15 hours ago
Sheeple rise up? Phat phukn chance
PaulDF , 15 hours ago
Hey, some people think that as long as Trump is gone ~ it doesn't matter what it takes.
Nothing is too extreme.
palmereldritch , 14 hours ago
The MS-DOS virus subscription model.
Sound familiar? lay_arrow
Implied Violins , 15 hours ago
The Nobel Prize winner, Kary Mullis, who developed the PCR test called out Fraudci for his
******** during the AIDS crisis on Nightline back in 1994:
Even then that ******* was practicing fraud in order to garner more tax dollars. His
"test" ruined hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives.
Fraudci deserves to be EXECUTED for his BS.
EuroPox , 16 hours ago
Who cares how many 'cases' there are? The virus is not lethal except for a tiny number of
people, who already have other problems. Quarantine them and let the rest of us get on with
it.
"... Meanwhile, as politicians forced lockdowns, the city's restaurants and shops went dark, along with theaters, museums, stadiums, and the other organisms that made up the city's rich ecosystem of daily life. ..."
"... The prospect of midtown perhaps permanently abandoned by office workers made an eventual return to normality even less plausible. After four months of virus, the June riots and looting that followed the horrific death of George Floyd sealed the deal, with the luxury stores on Fifth Avenue smashed up and burgled. Who would reopen such a business when riots and looting could break out over a fresh pretext at any time? ..."
"... All of that completely changed the business model for the owners of skyscrapers -- whole floors going empty and now the ground-floor businesses shut down, too. These buildings, with their massive maintenance costs, no longer produced enough revenue to operate them. ..."
"... The situation also harmed the condominium model for residential towers. Without the ground-floor rents, the homeowner's associations would have to steeply raise the monthly maintenance fees for each apartment owner, while significantly lowering each unit's resale value if the owner had to move out. All of this would thunder through the banks and REITs (real estate investment trusts) which owned and managed many of these properties, and ultimately through the city's dwindling treasury coffers. ..."
"... Many like to believe that office towers can be easily converted to apartments. That's just not true. Apart from purely physical issues, like the layout of plumbing stacks, the coming scarcity of capital will obviate these ventures, and, anyway, tower apartments only exist because they're companions to office towers, which may now be permanently obsolete. ..."
"... The pre-virus 21st century New York was a grandiose product of the financialization of the economy, including the global money-laundering orgy that incentivized the luxury condo tower building boom. That's over too. With so many other legacy economic activities flickering out, Wall Street was all that remained. All that held up Wall Street's stock and bond markets was "liquidity" (i.e. money in figment form) prestidigitated by the Federal Reserve. And now even Wall Street had little incentive for maintaining its headquarters on Wall Street, with its wealthy denizens trading and finagling via the Internet from comfortable perches in the Hamptons and the Connecticut hinterlands. ..."
"... For the moment, a lot of former city people are seeking refuge in the suburbs. That will prove to be a bad choice. The suburbs, too, are headed for trouble -- and I'll take that up in next month's commentary. ..."
"... Wow, there's like no facts in this article. Dense living is actually cheaper than sprawl. You need significantly less infrastructure to supporter tall buildings than you do for the same square footage spread out over acres. ..."
"... Less heating and cooling is needed as well since the building have smaller surface areas (1 roof and 1 ground touching floor compared to 50 roofs and floors for a 50 story building). The writer works in a low margin, low innovation industry. Major cities dominate the high innovation industries, that will continue. ..."
"... Higher population density means there are more people to tax to pay for infrastructure maintenance. I've read about suburbs that are struggling to pay for essential maintenance. ..."
"... These are awfully big conclusions to be drawing from not quite six months of crisis: NYC is making progress on reopening, helped considerably by widespread (though not perfect) adoption of the basic public prevention methods. Restaurants have taken a hit, but the survivors are investing in outdoor spaces, which are being enthusiastically patronized. Museums are reopening (Met this week, others in the next four or five weeks). People are starting to see their friends in person again. ..."
"... Cities make it effective for industries that thrive on collaboration AND competition. I work for a software company that works with other software companies (and competes with). Apple and Google both collaborate with hundreds of companies near them. Really thousands. ..."
"... What makes cities disappear is the breakdown and disintergration of the state-order. For example, many cities went into a major decline after the fall of the Western half of the Roman empire. ..."
"... Depending on the definition of "mega-city", I'm not sure its age ever arrived. A town only needs a population of five thousand to qualify as "urban" - when I was growing up, it was half that - which means much of the urban population consists of small towns. ..."
Urban life has always been about the concentration of life and work, but it doesn't have to
be at the colossal scale.
In just a few months, New York City became the poster-child for what's shaping up to be a
staggering transformation of the American urban scene. Our giant metroplex cities are set to
contract and go broke in the years ahead. The trend was already clear before Covid-19 came on
the scene, but the virus accelerated the complex dynamics behind it. Of course, most of our
cities occupy important geographic sites, so something will remain; but they will be smaller
and increasingly troubled places as the agonizing process plays out. And eventually, they may
be better places, in a different way.
The short version of the story is that our biggest cities have exceeded the viable scale of
their operation as we enter an era of resource and capital scarcities that will inescapably
shrink economies. Their infrastructure is too complex and costly to maintain. The skyscrapers
and megastructures that were built to accommodate a particular way of organizing work have very
suddenly gone obsolete. The cities face default on their ruinous debt obligations and pension
promises. Social and ethnic conflict has turned ugly, and both life and property are at risk as
public order founders.
By May 2020, The New York Times reported that 420,000 residents had fled America's
largest city, not a few of them permanently (my literary agent among them, whose pre-virus life
revolved around eating lunch with editors every day). The wealthiest neighborhoods were the
biggest losers -- and they were the city's leading taxpayers. Of course, the initial impetus
for flight was fear of catching Covid-19 in an environment densely packed with people. But as
corporate offices shuttered, many of these refugees performed their work duties at home over
the Internet, and it dawned on the corporations that perhaps it was a waste to lease expensive,
high-status headquarters in Manhattan. The iconic Time-Life Building at 1271 Sixth Avenue had
accommodated 8,000 workers before Covid-19. In mid-summer 2020, 500 people were showing up
there.
Meanwhile, as politicians forced lockdowns, the city's restaurants and shops went dark,
along with theaters, museums, stadiums, and the other organisms that made up the city's rich
ecosystem of daily life.
The prospect of midtown perhaps permanently abandoned by office workers made an eventual
return to normality even less plausible. After four months of virus, the June riots and looting
that followed the horrific death of George Floyd sealed the deal, with the luxury stores on
Fifth Avenue smashed up and burgled. Who would reopen such a business when riots and looting
could break out over a fresh pretext at any time?
All of that completely changed the business model for the owners of skyscrapers -- whole
floors going empty and now the ground-floor businesses shut down, too. These buildings, with
their massive maintenance costs, no longer produced enough revenue to operate them.
Overnight, they were transformed from assets to liabilities.
The situation also harmed the condominium model for residential towers. Without the
ground-floor rents, the homeowner's associations would have to steeply raise the monthly
maintenance fees for each apartment owner, while significantly lowering each unit's resale
value if the owner had to move out. All of this would thunder through the banks and REITs (real
estate investment trusts) which owned and managed many of these properties, and ultimately
through the city's dwindling treasury coffers.
Many like to believe that office towers can be easily converted to apartments. That's
just not true. Apart from purely physical issues, like the layout of plumbing stacks, the
coming scarcity of capital will obviate these ventures, and, anyway, tower apartments only
exist because they're companions to office towers, which may now be permanently obsolete.
The age of giantism is over. Cities are certainly about the concentration of life and work, but
it doesn't have to be at the colossal scale. For many centuries it wasn't.
The pre-virus 21st century New York was a grandiose product of the financialization of
the economy, including the global money-laundering orgy that incentivized the luxury condo
tower building boom. That's over too. With so many other legacy economic activities flickering
out, Wall Street was all that remained. All that held up Wall Street's stock and bond markets
was "liquidity" (i.e. money in figment form) prestidigitated by the Federal Reserve. And now
even Wall Street had little incentive for maintaining its headquarters on Wall Street,
with its wealthy denizens trading and finagling via the Internet from comfortable perches in
the Hamptons and the Connecticut hinterlands.
All American cities are not the same, of course, and they will get to downscaling in their
own special way, subject to different combinations of forces. For instance, Sunbelt cities like
Atlanta, Miami, and Dallas are mostly composed of low-rise buildings. But they owe their
stupendous growth since 1950 to the phenomenon of universal air-conditioning and mass motoring,
both of which will prove to be extraordinary short-lived luxuries of the cheap fossil fuel age.
Los Angeles will be challenged by ethnic friction, water problems, and its extreme car
dependency (and you can forget about solving that with electric cars). All the cities will be
plagued by an epic loss of tax revenue and the failure of government to maintain essential
services.
The foregoing suggests epic demographic shifts. People will be on the move -- they already
are -- as the cities decant. If the current political mood is any index of things to come,
those movements will occur against the background of considerable disorder. That has already
begun, too, in the summer of 2020 as looting, burning, and anarchy spread from one place to
another. For the moment, a lot of former city people are seeking refuge in the suburbs.
That will prove to be a bad choice. The suburbs, too, are headed for trouble -- and I'll take
that up in next month's commentary.
About 15 years ago, I started telecommuting several days a week. Our employer, the National
Institutes of Health, even provided PCs and subsidized our ISP fees. That started me wondering
why businesses kept building office buildings when it would be less costly to work from home.
NIH likely got more work out of me because I did not have to drive to lunch, and time
telecommuting was often spent working. Even before telecommuting, Skype meetings were at least
a weekly occurrence as we had projects in foreign countries, and professional activities
included collaboration with overseas colleagues across the US.
The best answer I could come up with I derived from my years of organizational surveys for
FAA and the White House. Most supervisors opposed telework because they had no metrics to
ensure people were not slacking off. This struck me as odd, because slacking off would be
readily apparent in a drop off in productivity, or increasing customer complaints, or even
co-worker complaints. Those are crappy metrics, but they are better than nothing - yet bosses
wanted to visually count noses.
Of course, there were other signs that office buildings were going obsolete. For example,
Chicago started renaming the iconic John Hancock building and the Sears Tower. Something was
not right. The pandemic merely hastened the wake-up call that nobody needed a headquarters
anymore. Cities turned deserted factories into lofts. I wonder what they will used empty
skyscrapers for.
It's an interesting view, and may come to pass. Do you think this will be the case in
Chinese cities which dwarf most US cities, but are centrally controlled? Or in European cities
which have been on a drive for space & livability instead of high-rise, and public
transport or biking instead of cars?
Wow, there's like no facts in this article. Dense living is actually cheaper than
sprawl. You need significantly less infrastructure to supporter tall buildings than you do for
the same square footage spread out over acres.
Less heating and cooling is needed as well since the building have smaller surface areas
(1 roof and 1 ground touching floor compared to 50 roofs and floors for a 50 story building).
The writer works in a low margin, low innovation industry. Major cities dominate the high
innovation industries, that will continue.
Also what is he talking about an era where we lack capital? We have tons of capital. We are
the reserve currency. If he's talking about social security and can print out own money and
haven't seen inflation still. We have massive room to raise taxes too. We're at the highest
level of inequality seen in a century and far outstrip other developed countries on this
metric.
Yes and no. From a high-level perspective, cities should be cheaper to provision
infrastructure for. In practice, at least in the US, infrastructure projects are immensely
expensive in big cities.
It gets even worse when you look at the provisioning of public goods like K-12 schools and
policing.
Regardless of what you think about the cost of infrastructure projects, they are expensive
where wherever you do them. Rural areas are the most expensive areas to do infrastructure in
America.
you are correct. There is a reason broadband in rural America either lousy, expensive, or
both. Low densities make it problematic on a per capita basis. Hence why Congress appropriated
$20b for rural broadband - no provider wants to build where they can't turn a proft
Higher population density means there are more people to tax to pay for infrastructure
maintenance. I've read about suburbs that are struggling to pay for essential
maintenance.
"Major cities dominate the high innovation industries, that will continue."
I would substitute "major metropolitan centers" for "major cities" (see examples below):
Google--Menlo Park,CA
Facebook--As above
IBM--Armonk, NY
Microsoft--Redmond, WA
Apple--Cupertino, CA
Google, FB and Apple are located in the SanFran-Oakland metro area, with IBM and Microsoft
located in suburban New York City and Seattle respectively. There are many tech companies in
Boston strewn along both the outer I-495 and inner I-95 belts, both of which wrap around Boston
(Raytheon is based in Waltham, MA, just east of I-95). as well as the famous Raleigh-Durham
Research Triangle. Tech companies need space-"campuses" as they are called-in order to do their
work. Such space is limited in big cities, especially older cities.
The vast majority of the high tech stuff in Boston is within Cambridge, not those old rt 128
buildings. Almost the entire biotech/pharma industry is within a few miles in Cambridge. Google
has a location in Cambridge. The IBM Watson lab is in Cambridge. All that biotech requires lab
space. There is a ton of it within the city.
Rte 128 had a good shot until Ken Olsen came to the conclusion that nobody would ever want
to have a computer in their home.
The proximity to world class Universities and Colleges will ensure that the Boston/Cambridge
metro area will remain attractive.
The majority of those jobs have moved into the city now. There are still huge amounts of
high tech jobs being produced in Boston. I work in Pharma in business development. You HAVE to
have a presence in Boston if you're going to be on the cutting edge of biological research. The
universities are spinning off companies left and right. California is leading in computer based
tech for sure but Boston is leading in biotechnology.
Google has a massive three-city-block facility in NYC, with plans to expand, Twitter has a
good-sized building a few blocks away (the one Laura Loomer chained herself to briefly). Disney
has leveled a full city block a bit to the south of that and is currently building a new
massive structure on the site.
Tech is an area where competition for top workers is ferocious. Possible that it's easier to
recruit people to live in Chelsea than in Armonk?
"And that to Congress' recent expansion of H1B visas these cities will soon resemble
Bombay."
That's got to change. Unemployment is the worst in almost a hundred years, tens of millions
of Americans. H1B and all the other foreign worker visa program should have been abolished long
ago, at the very latest after the pandemic started, but our corrupt politicians keeps letting
them come.
There should be no foreigners or foreign workers here now. None. Americans need every job in
America, the law should state and enforce that, and American executives who evade it with
outsourcing tricks and falsified visa affidavits should be in prison.
Long ago, when the unemployment rate was the best in a long time? It'd perhaps be good to
have mechanisms that tie visas to unemployment in some impartial way, that sentiment I can
agree with as a practical matter, but the rest of your statements about foreigners are
ridiculous. Moderated immigration of talented, ambitious people is a big net gain. I grew up
around people like this and you better be on your toes and push yourself because they leave you
in the dust otherwise. Agribusiness, tech, media, ie America's biggest cash cows are all
heavily reliant on immigrants.
Extreme positions like 'no foreigners!' play right in to the uncoordinated duct taped system
we have now. You need to realize that everyone has a seat at the table, and consensus is needed
for action.
Just so you know, Raleigh-Durham isn't a huge tech leader at least as measured by VC
funding. It only constitutes .5% of all VC spending. Atlanta is a bigger deal as far as VC
spending than the research triangle.
Google, FB and Apple are located in the SanFran-Oakland metro area,
They are located in the outskirts of what grew from Sand Hill Road. Silicon Valley has San
Francisco as an amenity, not the other way around.
This supports your point, though.
IBM and Microsoft located in suburban New York City and Seattle respectively.
I didn't think of Armonk as a suburb before, but you're right. I suppose you'd probably
drive to White Plains and then take the train, or something like that.
IBM has a very distributed workforce, though, including a highrise in NYC's midtown, so
there may be an element of confirmation bias at work here.
Tech companies need space-"campuses" as they are called-in order to do their work. Such space
is limited in big cities, especially older cities.
This might be wrong. Google owns the Port Authority building in NYC. It's a full city block
and 20 floors, which competes in terms of raw space with their campuses.
In Mountain View their hiring consolidation combined with NIMBYism has sent housing prices
through the roof. In NYC Google's hiring doesn't make a dent because they're spread over a
large city with companies and people coming and going all the time. The housing bubble and low
quality of life in Mountain View is an international joke.
The "campus" model is good for a stable company that will exist for multiple generations
without changing size so housing can be built for the workers of that company and not peak or
crater in value. When the company implodes the town is destroyed. People's accumulated home
wealth is destroyed with it so the individual people are not more mobile than the homes they
live in. I think this happens too often, and somewhat by design. Our laws around companies make
them easy to start and easy to fold up. I don't think a company stable enough to warrant a
company-town campus, like Armonk was and is or like Mountain View has recently become, exists.
This concept was also a bubble that had a culty appeal in that brief span between when it was
invented and when the first company-town companies started to implode.
We don't want towns to become dependent on any one company, and the companies are becoming
huge. That means the convenient and sustainable commuting radius of the town needs to be huge
in terms of number of people, not miles. It could be a dense place with bad trains like NYC or
a sprawling place with good trains like Washington DC.
I look forward to seeing the "new urbs" take on this arrangement. Will we work and live in
the same town? If not, how will we get around?
Interesting. I've heard that about Mountain View, by the way. Also, I understand that
apartment rentals in San Francisco have gone through the roof with the influx of high paid
tekkies who commute to/ from Silicone and who can't afford to buy.
People who work in high tech industries are disproportionately likely to be married to
spouses with similar levels of education and income these days. Usually they don't work at the
same company. They need to live near other areas with high end job opportunities for their
spouses. It's known as the two body problem.
JHK has written multiple books on the topic of sprawl, cities, and urban development. His
writing is informed by plenty of facts. I suspect that he has read, thought, and written more
about the topic than you have.
Yes the guy who had been wrong about everything forever pens another just so story boldly
stating fictions and making predictions about the future without a date in sight. Capital
scarcity? Resource scarcity? Any evidence for either with both interest rates and commodity
prices in the dump? No, who needs evidence when there's a story to tell.
These are awfully big conclusions to be drawing from not quite six months of crisis: NYC
is making progress on reopening, helped considerably by widespread (though not perfect)
adoption of the basic public prevention methods. Restaurants have taken a hit, but the
survivors are investing in outdoor spaces, which are being enthusiastically patronized. Museums
are reopening (Met this week, others in the next four or five weeks). People are starting to
see their friends in person again.
We're still a long way from the full menu - live performances, for example are still a long
way off - but the things that draw people to the city and keep them here are coming back
online.
No one thinks the old normal is going to be the new one, but I'm more optimistic about the
city's future than I was back in April.
In the long run, fossil fuels are likely to go up and up in price, as they get more
expensive to extract. Even if we disregard the effect on the environment, do you really doubt
that a great many of the conveniences we now take for granted may be far more expensive in the
future? This is barring our finding some effective substitute(s) for coal, natural gas, and
petroleum, of course. Can't be ruled out, but we are taking our chances by continuing to live
our current lifestyles, I'd say.
I've gamed out the possibilities a bit, it's an interesting topic to me.
Anything hard to transition off of 100% petroleum I think will have a hard time first. Air
travel and international shipping. Perhaps alternatives will develop, but they won't be nearly
as efficient as before. Economies will localize again.
Electricity is the most able to replace generation fuels but as others decline that's going
to place huge reliance on just one key system for almost everything. Even if we did get solar
and wind and backup power reserves roaring at a decent price, which I think we can, everything
is riding on that one basket and the increasingly complex delivery. Hydro is a gold mine if
you're lucky enough to have it (US really does not in most parts).
Also there's the mining angle, eventually some resources are just going to be economically
exhausted. Solar panels can't be made of wood...yet.
Considering the lack of facts in this article and assuming lots of 'trends' over the last 6
months, this does very little to convince people.
1) Since 2000, we have heard endless articles about the end of mega-cities and it never
happens.
2) Looking at the population growth of Texas cities and suburbs the last 20 years, seems like
cities/urban areas continue to grow even if New York's population is flat.
3) What the heck is 'the challenged by ethnic friction?' What if it does not happen? This just
like Trumpian good Housewife talk.
4) Mega-cities have not only grown in the US, but they have grown in all developed nations.
I think the writer fails to mention or understand that cities have gone thru changes in the
last decade or so.
For example the economies in the Bay Area California grew and changed so much to pull into
the regions around it.
They call it a super region that connects Sacramento, San José, etc. New York has
something similar. I know folks who commute from Sacramento to San Francisco for work and vice
Cerda.
Cities make it effective for industries that thrive on collaboration AND competition. I
work for a software company that works with other software companies (and competes with). Apple
and Google both collaborate with hundreds of companies near them. Really thousands.
As long as industries keep hiring (and paying decently) these regions and industries will
continues to drive markets.
If anything cities are becoming effective at catering to certain industries.
What I hope to see is more allowance and leeway with remote work. So people can work from
places where they can afford a home.
My company used to avoid having too many workers working remotely. But we are struggling to
find talent that now we look remotely. COVID added to that push now as well.
I wouldn't trust this swan song on metropolitan demise. In the long run, plagues are
momentary disturbances - they are frequently over in a year or less despite horrific loss of
life in between. The same goes for aerial bombardment of European cities during WW2. Once war
was over, the cities rebuilt fast. Only few were arguing it was too dangerous to live in a city
anymore.
What makes cities disappear is the breakdown and disintergration of the state-order. For
example, many cities went into a major decline after the fall of the Western half of the Roman
empire.
Yes and the experience of the Roman Empire simply isn't relevant today. At the time of Rome,
the vast majority of the population was illiterate. The people who were knowledgeable and were
pushing the empire forward technologically were a very very small constituency in the
population. The knowledge that they had was all contained in analogue format so a fire burning
down a library really could destroy hundreds of years of work. This isn't a possibility today.
We now have hundreds of thousands of scientists and engineers capable interpreting the
innovative science we produce and knowledge is distributed around the world and is much easier
to reconstitute.
Still waiting for Detroit and Gary, Indiana to reconstitute, as you put it. In NY, shootings
are getting out of control. In Chicago, over the past 18 months, shootings, muggings, and
assaults have skyrocketed in the 1st and 18th Police Districts (where the fancy people live).
Folks are afraid to walk at night. I live in Chicago near the lake.
On any typical night within a quarter mile of my home there will be police reports of "man
with a gun," "woman assaulted," "woman with knife," "man using bottle as weapon," or "group
fighting." Not the stuff you want to hear if you want to take a 9:00 PM jog through Grant Park
or along the lake.
I good friend of mine had her cell phone grabbed out of her hand during the middle of the
day in the skate board park at the South End of Grant Park. Crime of this sort is what drives
people out of cities. The promise of downtown Chicago was you could walk or rely on public
transportation. You cannot do either when people are mugged every day on public transportation
or along the main city streets in downtown.
To your credit, maybe a big City like Houston can survive. Reality is, however, Houston is
more a sprawl than any kind of connected city. Major employers in Houston actually have rules
against walked to work (because of the heat).
Well yes, breakdown of the state-order is an important factor. As the proverbs state: "pray
for the welfare of the government: if not for the fear it inspires, man would swallow his
neighbor alive."
Depending on the definition of "mega-city", I'm not sure its age ever arrived. A town
only needs a population of five thousand to qualify as "urban" - when I was growing up, it was
half that - which means much of the urban population consists of small towns.
For significantly larger cities, it has long been the case that the population of the
suburbs and exurbs tends to be at least half of the total metropolitan area. Jacksonville and
Albuquerque may be exceptions to this rule, but they are in the minority, and anyway I doubt
that James Kunstler has them in mind when he writes of mega-cities. I seriously doubt that
there was ever a time in America when the megalopolis dweller was in the majority, or even the
plurality.
Did Fauci and Birx knew something about origin or the virus that we do not know and that's why they panicked?
Notable quotes:
"... When you are over 75 years old, you are going to succumb to serious underlying conditions covid or no covid. Those who's deaths are being attributed to covid are primarily in that age group. It is disingenuous to create a panic over a virus that almost exclusively contributes (at most) to the deaths of the elderly with underlying serious conditions. Many of those who have died, succumbed to the underlying condition, but incidentally had covid. ..."
"... Actually, Laura, when you are over 75 years old, the risk of dying increases, period. Once you're into the 85 year old and over bucket, which many covid deaths are, you were probably going to die regardless; unless you're a vampire or some other inhuman death defying creature. Is this really news to anyone? ..."
"... CDC has an annual budget of $12 billion. Then there are public health budgets at NIH and other federal, state and counties. ..."
"... How come there was no agreed upon pandemic response plan? If there was, why wasn't it executed? Do public health authorities have a plan now that can be executed? ..."
"... It would appear to me this was a failure across all segments of society. The public because they so easily succumbed to fear. The media for fanning the flames of hysteria. Private healthcare for not providing realistic and alternative views. The government for not executing a coordinated response. ..."
"... dan of Steele - a contributory factor in the death toll in Italy might be the mandatory influenza vaccine. In the autumn/winter 2019, a super influenza vaccine (4 strains in one dose) was administered to old people and health care workers in Italy. Research suggests that influenza vaccine derived virus interference is significantly associated with coronavirus. ..."
"... For some reason, the authorities want COVID-19 to be recognized as The New Black Death. Rising numbers of 'cases' substitute for deaths in order to keep the fear factor high (as far as I can make out) when higher case numbers are an unsurprising consequence of ramped-up testing. There are allegedly high numbers of false positives, and many if not most of the cases uncovered by testing are in people who are asymptomatic or not very sick, certainly not in danger of dying or even having to be hospitalized. ..."
"So get this straight – based on the recommendation of doctors Fauci and Birx the
US shut down the entire economy based on 9,000 American deaths to the China coronavirus." The
Gateway Pundit."
"... the coronavirus fatality rate reported by the liberal mainstream media was completely
inaccurate and the actual rate more like a typical seasonal flu – the media was lying
again.
Doctors Fauci and Birx were next to push ridiculous and highly exaggerated mortality rates
related to the coronavirus:
Dr. Tony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx used the Imperial College Model to persuade President
Trump to lock down the ENTIRE US ECONOMY.
The fraudulent model predicted 2.2 million American deaths from the coronavirus
pandemic.
The authors of the Imperial College Model shared their findings with the White House
Coronavirus task force in early March
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx then met with President Trump privately and urged him to shut down
the US economy and destroy the record Trump economy based on this model
But the Imperial College model Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx pushed was garbage and they
recommended the destruction of the US economy using this model." Gateway Pundit
----------
Hmmm ... The Fauci is a god crowd will heap scorn on this but, thing about it. pl
Yes, Col Lang., as you know, this is what I've been saying for months. It is what the good
data and analysis (not that CDC garbage) reveals. However, no one wants to believe the evil
capitalist private insurance companies. They think government is far more trustworthy and
competent. More of that conditioning of attitude and perception by the powers that be in the
plan to implement a big global govt.
The govt could have worked with the insurance companies to understand this thing. Seems
like the logical move if you have poor quality data and insurance has good data, and you
really believe there is a lethal pandemic on the loose.
When you are over 75 years old, you are going to succumb to serious underlying conditions
covid or no covid. Those who's deaths are being attributed to covid are primarily in that age
group. It is disingenuous to create a panic over a virus that almost exclusively contributes
(at most) to the deaths of the elderly with underlying serious conditions. Many of those who
have died, succumbed to the underlying condition, but incidentally had covid.
Another new report has come out that shows a significant proportion of covid positive
tests are showing positive for minuscule viral loads in the system; not enough to cause
illness (or serious illness). How many of those elderly that died of underlying conditions
fall into that category? Many of the tests show false positives.
This whole thing has been one big scam - and I believe deliberately.
Actually, Laura, when you are over 75 years old, the risk of dying increases, period. Once
you're into the 85 year old and over bucket, which many covid deaths are, you were probably
going to die regardless; unless you're a vampire or some other inhuman death defying
creature. Is this really news to anyone?
We must look at years of expected life lost, not raw body counts. That approach reveals
covid to not be a threat to society.
The numbers are consistent because the strategy has been carefully worked out to have
consistent documents. There will not be 20 million COVID cases requiring hospitalization
because a high percentage do not get sick. In re the IO, been there done that myself. My
question is, which group or constellation of groups is running the op.
"Here in old Europe it seems we are on the verge of a new outbreak. Some people have gone
on vacation and the number of daily new cases is on the rise."
The number of daily new cases in Germany has recently doubled because the number of daily
tests has also roughly doubled. The share of positive tests among all tests has remained
constant at around 1% for 3 months now.
Must be a very strange "new outbreak". The number of Covid patients in the ICUs of German
hospitals have been stagnating at a very low level (around 250 patients in the whole country)
for several weeks.
What has intrigued me about the Wuhan virus is the panicked, off-the-cuff response. A
pandemic is not new. We've had several in the recent past. SARS, H1N1, H2N2.
CDC has an annual budget of $12 billion. Then there are public health budgets at NIH and
other federal, state and counties.
How come there was no agreed upon pandemic response plan? If there was, why wasn't it
executed? Do public health authorities have a plan now that can be executed?
It would appear to me this was a failure across all segments of society. The public
because they so easily succumbed to fear. The media for fanning the flames of hysteria.
Private healthcare for not providing realistic and alternative views. The government for not
executing a coordinated response.
Money is never the issue in the USA. No one spends like us on healthcare, education,
national security. Outcomes are a different matter altogether. Value for money is poor since
there's a high "corruption" factor.
We've had many "wars". War on Poverty. War on Drugs. War on Terror. We've spent huge
amounts on each. They've all been failures!
Laura, When you get to a certain age, everyday you wake up to most of obituaries being for
people younger than yourself. It is a landmark point in one's life.
Before they were all so old. Now they are all so young. And no, they did not die "of
covid". The died. Fate played out their final hand. And you ask not for whom the bells toll
............. you just praise every single blessed day that is still yours to enjoy.
182,000 did not die "of covid" in the US. CDC played games with the numbers from day one.
The only mystery is why? And why did we let them do this. Because we did - Brix admitted up
front on TV they tossed anyone suspected of "covid" into the covid basket.
Any screw up were not facing covid, but overkilling "covid". The leftist cabal made sure
no other points of view were allowed. If a covid report did not include or imply
OrangemanBad, it never reached the airwaves. Please don't have selective memory problems
about any of this. Or else you have come to the wrong place to push them.
So now tell us where the new CDC data is flawed (9K deaths), and why that is justification
for believing their prior data is not flawed. (182K deaths)
I don't have a dog in this fight. I do hope that one day we will find out what is really going on with this covid-19. I
merely look at worldofmeters corona virus page and watch the numbers of new cases, serious cases, and deaths. Those numbers
were horrible for Italy for a long time and after months of being locked down hard, the numbers got better.
15 August is a very famous Italian holiday with everyone going to the beach, having picnics, and so on. Oddly enough a week
to 10 days later the numbers of new cases went up...quite a bit. Happily the deaths have not gone back to the 1000 a day from
the early days but I am holding my breath. In our little village we have 4 active cases and 21 in quarantine. They were
infected by people who had gone on vacation somewhere else.
as for Germany, my son lives near Hamburg and he is mostly teleworking and overall they are quite good at implementing good
pandemic control measures. Testing was free but I believe they are starting to charge for it again. My brother in law went to
Cyprus on his vacation this year and upon return he and his family were all tested.
believe me, I don't want this crap to go on any more than you do. It does not affect me all that much as I am finally
retired and have a single family home with a yard. being somewhat of a recluse anyway didn't make it worse.
"New outbreaks" that lead to herd immunity are a good thing; when the death rate remains
static or declines. Which is what is happening right now.
As long as every passing day adds more very elderly with 3.5 co-morbidities to the body
count, one can assume this flu is taking its normal course through this population
demographics.
As it does every single year, since the flu was always previously known as "the old man's
friend". Sad, of course. Any death is sad. Very sad.
For reflection on eternal life however, take a look at the Czech opera "The Makropolus
Case". The diva lives for 300 years, and when it comes time to take the magic potion again
that keeps her eternally alive, she muses about the trials, tribulations and practical
burdens of her eternal life.......... and she finally decides to .......?????
Always hate it when media reports a percentage increase - "twice as many cases" -- but
never mentions the numbers. 2 case is twice as many as one case. Zut alors! We need new cases
to finally reach herd immunity.
Cases are okay. In fact, it is relief we are finally existing outside of this artificial
bubble, and at a time we now know a lot more about treatment and to stop killing people with
forced ventilator abuse.
Original game plan - flatten the curve - end up with the same numbers of cases, but over a
longer period time to ensure health care delivery would not be overwhelmed should they all
happen at once. That was the bargain - flatten the curve, but not change the numbers
infected.
When did "someone" demand we flat-line the numbers of infections, until they reach
absolute zero? Who, what, where, when, how or why did that change?
Will anti-Trump riots after Trump's 2020 re-election push "covid" off the front pages?
How many of the 500,000 attendees at Bike Week died of this, it's been three weeks
already? How about all those 'mostly peaceful' protests? (Not counting than the two who died
of the AR15 virus in Kenosha)
dan of Steele - a contributory factor in the death toll in Italy might be the mandatory
influenza vaccine. In the autumn/winter 2019, a super influenza vaccine (4 strains in one
dose) was administered to old people and health care workers in Italy. Research suggests that
influenza vaccine derived virus interference is significantly associated with
coronavirus.
For some reason, the authorities want COVID-19 to be recognized as The New Black Death.
Rising numbers of 'cases' substitute for deaths in order to keep the fear factor high (as far
as I can make out) when higher case numbers are an unsurprising consequence of ramped-up
testing. There are allegedly high numbers of false positives, and many if not most of the
cases uncovered by testing are in people who are asymptomatic or not very sick, certainly not
in danger of dying or even having to be hospitalized.
The WHO admitted publicly that the chief reason it declared a pandemic was that too many
countries were - in its opinion - not taking the threat seriously enough. Therefore, even the
declaration of a pandemic was for scare value. When COVID-19 was at its peak for infections
and deaths, the WHO (Dr. Fauci himself, actually) claimed that medical-grade masks were not
necessary for the public, because the WHO deemed it necessary to reserve the supply of masks
for medical use. I don't think anyone would disagree that non-medical cloth masks have much
less filtration capability. But then Fauci reversed himself, and now a plethora of 'experts'
claim it is proven that non-medical cloth masks work to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and
there is growing and relentless pressure from the busybody sector to make them mandatory wear
in all public settings. Now, when the death rate is steadily dropping. No clinical trials
have ever achieved results which demonstrate that cloth masks do anything to stop the spread
of an airborne virus - not masks and only masks. Trials in which the subjects regularly
washed their hands, avoided touching their faces after touching other surfaces AND wore a
mask demonstrated a somewhat reduced infection rate. Tests in which only masks were used
showed either a statistically insignificant difference or no difference at all, but were not
proper clinical trials as the sample size was comparatively small and the masked group
contained a significant number who admitted they did not wear it all the time. But forcing
everyone to wear a mask has become a test of will for public authorities against a public in
which many do not want to wear them and are afraid compulsory wear will become the norm. Once
again, there is NO PROOF that they work, as the theory has never been properly tested, I
don't care what 'expert' is telling you the results are in, and masks work.
For those 'COVID warriors' who label all dissenters 'maskholes' and 'Covidiots', cite me a
proper clinical trial that establishes masks on their own significantly reduced the infection
rate of an airborne virus. That means show me how uninfected people wore a mask and did not
take other precautions, in the presence of an infected person (without touching them or
handling objects infected people handled) and remained uninfected. While you're at it, find
me where the '6-foot rule' came from. Nobody seems to know how that number was arrived upon,
the WHO says it did not come from them, and how does it account for different environments
such as the presence or absence of wind? People have to stand six feet apart outside while
waiting to be allowed in to the grocery store. How does that protect you from an airborne
virus that theoretically can only travel six feet in still air?
I am always willing to have my mind changed by actual science. But so far I am not seeing
it. Just a lot of politics.
"... It's time to stop fetishizing scientific methods. We have to accept that there are many elements of Covid-19 that science may never understand and if we wait for it to do so, we will never again be able to live a normal life. ..."
"... Science, if it is working properly, will not come to a conclusion that is wholly wrong. But not everything that is true can be established by a randomized control trial followed by peer review. Take the theory, popularized by Dr John Lee's work in the Spectator , that Covid has become less deadly as it spreads, and is now basically inert. ..."
"... People need to accept this about Covid (and hopefully later, much else) and stop fetishizing the scientific method at times when a bit of common sense would do the job. ..."
"... Consider this article , written by three scientific minds. It is a measured and 'data driven' analysis of whether Covid is becoming less deadly. But is blinkered by an assumption that only official data, no matter how muddled, can be relied upon. All you really need to do is ask doctors whether they are seeing people come in with Covid, or if they are dying of Covid when they do. Instead it focuses on case numbers, which are not worth the paper they are written on. ..."
"... So many people have been so frightened – understandably – by exaggerated accounts of the threat posed by Covid-19, and it will take a lot to persuade them that they have been sold a pup. But they need to be persuaded, so that can get their old lives back. The present regime will never take on this responsibility because it would center on an admission of massive guilt on their part. ..."
"... What is needed now from all sensible people is calm but insistent argument, with friends, relations and authorities alike, for the total abolition of all coronavirus-related restrictions. We saw some of that in London and Berlin over the weekend, and it was fantastic to see such well organized and clear minded dissent against the sinister 'new normal'. ..."
By Peter Andrews , Irish science journalist and writer based in London. He has a
background in the life sciences, and graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in
genetics
It's time to stop fetishizing scientific methods. We have to accept that there are
many elements of Covid-19 that science may never understand and if we wait for it to do so, we
will never again be able to live a normal life.
The Covid-19 outbreak is largely over, and man's attempts to slow, stop or understand the
virus have failed. Science will eventually discover more about the pandemic but it is a slow
process.
Science, if it is working properly, will not come to a conclusion that is wholly wrong. But
not everything that is true can be established by a randomized control trial followed by peer
review. Take the theory, popularized by Dr John Lee's work in the
Spectator , that Covid has become less deadly as it spreads, and is now basically
inert.
This would perfectly explain why so many people died of Covid-19 in a short period of time,
and why deaths have basically flat-lined since April. It fits with many Covid studies
confirming fast
evolution , different strains and reinfection .
Furthermore, a change to the virus itself could explain why the same patterns in deaths have
been seen everywhere, irrespective of lockdowns, demographics, contact tracing or any other
scheme.
In fact, with each passing day it is increasingly probable that the virus has mutated to a
milder form. The trouble is it would be nigh on impossible to establish this with the
instruments of science, now or any time soon. The vagaries of individual human bodies and
microscopic particles are just beyond the scope of exact science.
People need to accept this about Covid (and hopefully later, much else) and stop fetishizing
the scientific method at times when a bit of common sense would do the job. We are paralysed by
a need for the World Health Organization or Public Health England to conjure up some
peer-reviewed study or other confirming to 99.9 percent likelihood that we can go back to
normal now. That will never happen, but we have to get back to normal.
Consider this
article , written by three scientific minds. It is a measured and 'data driven' analysis of
whether Covid is becoming less deadly. But is blinkered by an assumption that only official
data, no matter how muddled, can be relied upon. All you really need to do is ask doctors
whether they are seeing people come in with Covid, or if they are dying of Covid when they do.
Instead it focuses on case numbers, which are not worth the paper they are written on.
Here is another paper ,
co-authored by the brilliant Professor Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford's Center for
Evidence-Based Medicine. He has been tireless in his questioning of the government's
interpretation of coronavirus statistics, although it has taken far too long for him to be
given any kind of
platform from which to address the public.
The study, while no doubt accurate and valuable for establishing fine points of detail,
seeks to answer whether the infection fatality ratio has been falling in the UK. A
comprehensive review of the limited data suggests that it has, but so what? What does that mean
to the average Joe, confused as to whether they should send their child to school in the
morning, or whether it would be irresponsible to give their elderly parents a
hug?
So many people have been so frightened – understandably – by exaggerated
accounts of the threat posed by Covid-19, and it will take a lot to persuade them that they
have been sold a pup. But they need to be persuaded, so that can get their old lives back. The
present regime will never take on this responsibility because it would center on an admission
of massive guilt on their part.
What is needed now from all sensible people is calm but insistent argument, with friends,
relations and authorities alike, for the total abolition of all coronavirus-related
restrictions. We saw some of that in London and Berlin over
the weekend, and it was fantastic to see such well organized and clear minded dissent against
the sinister 'new normal'.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
he US Justice Department is mulling civil rights investigations of four Democrat-run
states whose governors forced elder care homes to take in Covid-19 patients, potentially
contributing to thousands of deaths.
The governments of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have been ordered
to turn over Covid-19 data to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division as the agency
weighs whether to pursue the probes, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
Investigations would be launched under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
(CRIPA), a law meant to protect the rights of those living in state-run nursing
homes.
Likely the responses will be "We didn't know " or "How could anyone accuse us
compassionate/all-caring/liberty-affirming of doing nothing but good ".
Now, there is a campaign weapon the Trump team should wield like a sledge hammer. It will
be high quality protein for the us conspiracy-theory folks as well.
Worth quoting from the above: All four states' Democratic governors infamously required care homes to admit patients
from hospitals without testing them for Covid-19, despite knowing that the virus could
– in the now-immortal words of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – spread through
the facilities "like fire through dry grass."
As public outcry grew with awareness of the NY governor's order, Cuomo tried to blame
virus-stricken care homes for not disobeying him and refusing Covid-19-positive patients. The
order itself was even stealthily deleted from the New York healthcare website amid the
outrage.
While Cuomo has tried to defend his policies by arguing New York actually had a lower
percentage of deaths in nursing homes than other states, recently-released federal statistics
suggest the state dramatically undercounted its care home fatalities by omitting residents
who died in hospitals from the totals. While the official tally of 6,600 care home deaths is
already the highest in the nation, an AP report earlier this month suggested the real number
may be as much as 65 percent higher.
Per the internet, total Covid deaths in New York State is currently about 35,000. Per the
above, nearly 11,000 were killed in nursing homes or in hospitals after being infected in
nursing homes. Most of those were apparently in the early stages of the pandemic thus perhaps
accounting for a majority of the deaths.
Per the internet, over 40% of all fatalities were related to nursing homes
nation-wide.
I have to say, the behavior of governments in the COVID 'crisis' has been appalling.
Formerly polite and reserved Canada is no more, and I would say it is just like America if
America had not reached for new levels of bizarre that still just barely edge it out –
let's settle for saying Canada is just like America was just before the
COVID/BLM/pre-election frenzy of hyperbole. Check this out;
"But Ball went too far. He responded with amendments to the province's Public Health
Protection and Promotion Act that looked more like something from a police state than a
democracy. The new law suggested inspectors could pull people over, scroll through their
cellphones, copy their private information and forcibly perform COVID-19 tests. The law made
clear that if two ministers decided that a person had contravened the act, he or she could be
imprisoned or expelled from the province without a hearing. The province also began barring
non-Newfoundlanders from entering, contrary to the division of powers set out in the
Constitution Act, 1867, and without any regard to the interprovincial mobility rights set out
under Section 6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This unconstitutional order meant that
a woman who lived in Nova Scotia -- which was nearly COVID-free -- couldn't attend her
mother's funeral."
The 'crisis' has encouraged people who could not be trusted to look after your cat while
you're in Little Rock to assume limitless powers, to the point where jumped-up jackass
'ministers' have the power to expel you from your province if they determine you have
contravened some 'Act' they just made up. If they don't look out, they'll have an armed
insurrection on their hands, just like our neighbours – threatening to 'deport' people
because they are suspected of spreading a virus that most people have a better than 99%
chance of surviving and which global medics are trying to kill by suppression, by denying it
victims. Everyone has lost their minds.
There is at the present time not a single soul in the Canadian political stable who is
worth the effort of casting a ballot. Democracy is just another word for nothing left to
lose. Political parties everywhere should be starved to death the way they are trying to
starve the coronavirus – by waking up to find the entire electorate stayed home and not
a single vote was cast. It'll never happen, because too many people are sheep and buy that
'change is coming' bullshit that accompanies every election the way flies swarm on dung. But
'democracy' has descended too deep into farce to be saved.
It has happened so fast! One must assume that there is a renewing reservoir of people with
a propensity to become petty tyrants when it was safe and the opportunity was there to do so.
What a profoundly sick society!
However, I will vote and vote for Trump. Heck, I might even put a Trump in 2020, 2024 and
2028 sign in my yard (although we live at the end of a dead end street so hardy anyone will
see it). Why? If this country is heading for a civil war, lets get it on.
All of this happens just days after WSJ published a lengthy piece of "analysis" examining
dissenting views on
the efficacy of lockdowns?
The problem with "science" is it's often in flux, and such is the situation right now with
SARS-CoV-2, a mysterious virus that continues to confound even seasoned epidemiologists and
virologists.
But now, Dr. Fauci - in his latest attempt at playing mediator - is saying he believes the
CDC guidelines are being misinterpreted. Though he also told CNN that the decision was made
without his direct involvement, because he was in surgery.
"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion
or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations," Fauci told CNN's Dr. Sanjay
Gupta.
He reiterated that asymptomatic spread is of "great concern", and that people shouldn't get
the wrong message just because the guidelines on testing have changed slightly.
"I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give
people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact, it
is," the doctor added.
We suspect this will be an even bigger deal tomorrow.
One thing that is definitely Not Happening is the psychopaths in both parties, the media,
the medical mafia, Wall Street, and corporations taking responsibility for their crime spree
and fraud.
Now the medical community has been fully exposed to be less legitimate than crack dealers,
because at least crack dealers are not pretending to cure people like the medical mafia is
all based on blatant scientific fraud!
Now that these evil fraudulent psychopaths have totally destroyed the lives of hundreds of
millions locking the country down resulting in people losing their businesses, jobs, homes,
and apartments let Nuremburg 2 trials begin!
"... the government is owned by finance people. I guess we can't really stop them from using the money to pay for military stuff but the idea that any of this has any relationship to what's good or bad for "Americans" has been proven to be a complete crock of bull. ..."
"... We are all basically squatters in the parking lot of a shopping mall living in RVs and eating whatever food they sell at the nearest convenience store. That's all America is for me these days. ..."
One thing that is definitely Not Happening is the psychopaths in both parties, the media,
the medical mafia, Wall Street, and corporations taking responsibility for their crime spree
and fraud.
Now the medical community has been fully exposed to be less legitimate than crack dealers,
because at least crack dealers are not pretending to cure people like the medical mafia is
all based on blatant scientific fraud!
@No Friend Of The Devil ree-for-all for cash where you don't even have to be a US citizen
to get benefits anymore What exactly is the point of having a military other than it's just
another way to spend loads of cash. I definitely wouldn't support any kind of war on behalf
of "American Interests" now.
We have been swamped by illegal immigrants and the government is
owned by finance people. I guess we can't really stop them from using the money to pay for
military stuff but the idea that any of this has any relationship to what's good or bad for
"Americans" has been proven to be a complete crock of bull.
We are all basically squatters in
the parking lot of a shopping mall living in RVs and eating whatever food they sell at the
nearest convenience store. That's all America is for me these days.
Nobel-laureate Dr. Michael Levitt (Chemistry and structural biology at Stanford) has made
another prediction on July 25, 2020:
"US COVID19 will be done in 4 weeks [Aug 25] with total reported deaths below 170,000. How
will we know it is over? Like for Europe, when all cause excess deaths are at normal level
for week. Reported COVID19 deaths may continue after 25 Aug. & reported cases will, but
it will be over."
Yes this is the same person who on May 04, 2020 said:
"If Sweden stops at about 5,000 or 6,000 deaths, we will know that they've reached herd
immunity, and we didn't need to do any kind of lockdown."
Contrary to claims by the media and the ego maniac Dr. Fauci about a tidal wave of Covid
infections, I have first hand, albeit anecdotal evidence, that there is a lot of bullshit
surrounding reports of people who have "tested" positive for Covid.
Some 260 cases of the coronavirus have been tied to attendees and staff at a North Georgia
YMCA children's camp in June, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, one of the largest known superspreading events in the state.
The report details how COVID-19 spread rapidly among children and teens within the camp and
raises questions about the effectiveness of safety protocols as school districts and colleges
contemplate reopening for in-person instruction this fall.
YMCA Camp High Harbour, identified in the report as Camp A, suffered an outbreak at its Lake
Burton location in late June. As of July 10,
about 85 cases of the virus had been linked to the camp, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
previously reported, a figure that has since tripled. Explore Complete coverage of COVID-19 in Georgia
The CDC study of 597 campers and staff from Georgia found the camp did not follow its
guidance to require campers wear masks, though staff did.
Three-quarters of the 344 attendees and staff for whom the CDC was able to obtain test
results tested positive for the virus.
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The CDC said the overall attack rate of the virus was 44%, though the agency acknowledged
that's an undercount because it includes more than 250 for whom they had no results.
"This investigation adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that children of all ages are
susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports might play an important role
in transmission," the report said.
Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, a Maryland nonprofit that assists public
health agencies and a former epidemiologist in Georgia, said the report is a warning for local
school districts and others about the potential for spread in congregant settings.
"This should show you how actively kids can transmit it," he said. "If you have a low
prevalence in your community, you can start to do things. If you have rampant and rapid
community spread, then there is no opening school, there is no opening colleges. It is not
going to work."
Ga. OK'd camps with restrictions
Gov. Brian Kemp initially allowed
day camps to open for the summer as part of the state's broader reopening plan. An
executive order in May later allowed overnight camps to operate, but outlined health and
hygiene guidelines, including temperature checks and a requirement for campers and staff to
have a negative COVID-19 test within 12 days of the start of camp.
Though many camps opted not to open, some, including High Harbour, did.
Spokespeople for Kemp did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
"This investigation adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that children of all ages are
susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports might play an important role
in transmission."
- New CDC report
Dr. Harry J. Heiman, clinical associate professor at the Georgia State University School of
Public Health, said spread of the virus was growing in June, presenting a high likelihood the
virus would spread in a camp setting.
"We know that congregate settings, particularly indoor congregant settings, are among the
highest risks," he said.
High Harbour followed the governor's executive order, the federal report said, but the camp
did not follow CDC recommendations for universal masking of campers or for increased
ventilation in buildings. Staff were required to wear masks, the report said.
"Relatively large cohorts sleeping in the same cabin and engaging in regular singing and
cheering likely contributed to transmission," the CDC said. "Use of cloth masks, which has been
shown to reduce the risk for infection, was not universal."
The CDC said its investigation is ongoing and will attempt to identify specific sources of
exposure, the course of the illness and "any secondary transmission to household members."
"Physical distancing and consistent and correct use of cloth masks should be emphasized as
important strategies for mitigating transmission in congregate settings," the report said.
Statement of regret
The YMCA did not make anyone available for an interview. In a written statement, Parrish
Underwood, chief advancement officer for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, said the organization now
regretted holding the camp.
"We made every effort to adhere to best practices outlined by the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) and the American Camp Association," and the governor, Underwood said.
"Attending Camp High Harbour is a tradition numerous generations of Y families look forward
to every summer," Underwood's statement said. "Many of these individuals reached out to our
staff to express their desire for us to open our residential camps in an effort to create
normalcy in their children's lives due to the detrimental impact of COVID-19. This weighed
heavily in our decision to open, a decision in retrospect we regret."
The YMCA said it notified parents that a counselor tested positive for COVID-19 on June 24.
The camp told parents they could pick up their children early. The YMCA closed its Lake Burton
and Lake Allatoona locations.
The YMCA said the counselor passed required health screenings, as did all other campers and
staff.
Parents who have spoken to the AJC have said they did not think the YMCA showed enough
urgency. The camp was not immediately closed. Parents were given the option of picking up their
children over a period of a few days before the camp closed for the season.
Fever, headaches and sore throat
The CDC study offered some caveats to the infection rates. Georgia suffered high rates of
spread at the end of June, and some of the infections might have occurred prior to or after the
camp.
Information about the conditions of infected campers and staff also was limited, and the
report did not detail the severity of infections.
But the report said of the 136 cases with symptom data, about a quarter reported no
symptoms. Of the three-quarters reporting symptoms, fever, headache and sore throat were the
most common.
The median age of campers was 12 and staffers was 17. There were seven staffers between the
ages of 22 and 59.
Fifty-one kids, or roughly half, of the children aged 6 to 10 tested positive. About 44% of
children aged 11 to 17 tested positive and a third of the remaining people from 18 to 59 tested
positive, the report said.
Cases of COVID-19 tend to be milder for children and young adults than for the elderly, but
the disease isn't without risk.
There have been 12,290 confirmed cases among children 5 to 17 in Georgia, with 165
hospitalizations and one death, an analysis of state data shows.
To date, 186,352 people in Georgia have tested positive for the coronavirus, including about
4,000 announced Friday. There have been 3,752 deaths, including 81 reported on Friday.
Georgia in the 'red zone'
Knowledge of transmission between children and adults is not well understood, but health
experts have told the AJC they fear infections in children and adults can easily spread to more
vulnerable people.
Though people over 60 make up the largest cohorts of hospitalizations and deaths, a recent
Emory University
study said children and adults under 60 are much more likely than the elderly to spread the
disease to others.
Some schools are pushing forward with August opening plans, while allowing home instruction
or blended in-person and distance learning.
Other systems, including Atlanta Public Schools, announced plans to
delay the start of the school year and to begin instruction online amid substantial
community spread of the virus.
On July 24, the CDC published guidance endorsing the full reopening of schools, citing risks
to children's health and education that could be inflicted by not having schools open for
in-person instruction. That guidance came after pressure from President Trump, who has called
for full reopening of schools.
The CDC guidance called for keeping students in small groups, staffed by a single teacher
and to use outdoor spaces for learning. The guidance includes recommendations for masking and
other hygiene protocols and plans for when a student contracts the virus.
But many independent public health experts, while acknowledging the importance of in-school
instruction, have been critical of the new CDC guidance.
Heiman, the Georgia State professor, said schools often have poor ventilation. Reopening for
in-person instruction endangers students and their family members and school staff.
Georgia is one of 21 states outlined in a White House task force report in the "red zone"
for coronavirus spread. That report has recommended the state mandate masks and close bars,
nightclubs, entertainment venues and put stricter limits on indoor dining and groups.
Kemp has so far decided not to mandate masks, though he has encouraged face coverings. He
also has balked at new restrictions on the movement of business and people.
A group of more than 2,000 medical professionals have called on Kemp to implement the White
House task force's recommendations and to allow local jurisdictions to enact stricter
measures.
"Many of us have said all along that unless we can get the level of COVID-19 down in
communities, it is not safe to open schools and colleges," Heiman said. "This (report)
certainly reinforces that."
WASHINGTON -- An investigation released Friday by House Democrats says President Donald
Trump's administration overpaid by up to $500 million on
ventilators as the
coronavirus pandemic first struck the United States.
Click to expand 00:00 00:47 Fauci
optimistic on COVID-19 vaccine availability
In a review of thousands of pages of internal administration documents, Democrats on the
House Oversight Committee said Phillips North America was contracted to deliver 43,000
ventilators to the federal government for a significantly higher price than it did under
previous contracts for functionally identical ventilator models delivered under contracts
dating to President Barack Obama's administration.
"The American people got ripped off, and Donald Trump and his team got taken to the
cleaners," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., whose subcommittee led the investigation.
"The Trump Administration's mishandling of ventilator procurement for the nation's stockpile
cost the American people dearly during the worst public health crisis of our generation."
Phillips denied the report's findings, saying the company did not raise prices in relation
to the pandemic, and argued the increased price of the ventilators actually represented a
"discount."
Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, said in a statement the company did "not recognize
the conclusions in the subcommittee's report, and we believe that not all the information that
we provided has been reflected in the report."
"I would like to make clear that at no occasion has Philips raised prices to benefit from
the crisis situation," van Houten said.
According to Phillips, the list price of the ventilator ordered under the contract is
$21,000 and was supplied to the Trump administration for $15,000, which the company called a
"discount" given the rushed production schedule.
The report, however, disagreed with Phillips' claim. A functionally identical ventilator was
delivered to the Obama administration under a 2014 contract for $3,280. Based on the report's
review of purchases between December 2019 and May 2020, other small purchasers, even those that
purchased only one ventilator of the same model, secured them for as low as $9,327.
"No American purchaser paid more than the U.S. government," the report said.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere told USA TODAY in a statement the report was
"misleading and inaccurate."
"Because of the President's leadership, the United States leads the world in the production
and acquisition of ventilators. No American who needed a ventilator was denied one, and no
American who needs a ventilator in the future will be denied one."
Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Ryan Murphy said the Trump
administration's efforts ensured the "federal government procured enough equipment to care for
all hospitalized patients in the United States who needed a ventilator for respiratory support
related to COVID-19 infections."
Some of the ventilators ordered under the contract were already in use to treat COVID-19
patients, he added.
Murphy declined to comment on an ongoing contract, but said HHS follows "all Federal
Acquisition Regulations for Strategic National Stockpile contracting efforts."
The Trump administration has frequently touted the production of ventilators as evidence of
its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"When you look at the United States response, you look at the fact that we were supposed to
have a ventilator shortage. In fact, we had a ventilator surplus," White House Press Secretary
Kayleigh McEnany said at a Friday briefing.
Phillips had first signed a contract with the Obama administration to deliver 100,000
ventilators in the event of a pandemic by June 2019, but the delivery date was pushed back,
eventually to June 2021, as the company missed deadlines, the report said. Phillips approached
the Trump administration about moving up the delivery date in January 2020, when the first
coronavirus cases were reported in the United States, but the Trump administration ignored the
offer, according to the report.
Then, in March 2020, the Trump administration agreed to extend the ventilator delivery
deadline to September 2022, but did not ask Phillips to produce more ventilators or move up
delivery times. Instead, in April 2020, the Trump administration negotiated a new contract with
Phillips to deliver 43,000 ventilators at a price of $15,000 per ventilator.
According to the report's review of documents, "the Administration accepted Philips' first
offer without even trying to negotiate a lower price."
According to emails released by the committee, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who
served as the lead negotiator with Phillips, offered to prepay half of the total cost, or over
$323 million, to Phillips before a single ventilator was even delivered. Department of Health
and Human Services staff later reduced the amount prepaid to 10% of the total cost of the
contract, or about $65 million.
N95 Masks DO WORK, and the Proof is Available All Over the Net!
There has been so much oh-so-earnest and so much oh-so-authoritarian nonsense bruited
about on this site about the non-effectiveness of the N95 masks that it's getting really,
really disgusting. It also calls into question either the honesty (trolls?) or the
intelligence of those who could so easily have just looked up the information from, and
about, the inventor of the N95, Dr. Peter Tsai.
If they had done just that little bit of research, they would have discovered that the N95
works because of an inner layer of plastic fiber that carries an electro-static charge that
attracts and destroys the virus, and that can be cleansed and sterilized for re-use by a
number of different techniques.
Please do not believe any of the contra-factual and sometimes dangerous nonsense being
spewed about by people who don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Oh, and N95 masks are not all "vented to breathe straight out without filtration." Not
those intended for medical use, for certain. There are some vented N95 masks that are
intended for firefighters and other non-medical usages, and not for protection against
viruses. And as you can see below, the electric charge attracts even sub-micron particles, so
the idea that the mask cannot trap viruses because they're too small is simply more nonsense
from uninformed and/or deviously motivated individuals.
//
Here's just a small sample of information that's easily found all over the net:
Brief bio: Peter Tsai, Ph.D.
Employment: Research faculty, Joint Institute of Advanced Materials, The University of
Tennessee, Knoxville
Expertise: Development of meltblowing (MB) systems and the electrostatic charging (EC) of
materials for making air filter electrets. The MB and the EC developed by Tsai have been used
in the industries worldwide making tens of billions of pieces of N95 respirators or face
masks. He has received three prestigious awards from UT in recognition of his contribution to
technology innovation. Tsai is a Fellow Member of American Filtration and Separation Society
and a member of Electrostatic Society of America.
https://utrf.tennessee.edu/information-faqs-charged-filtration-material-performance-after-various-sterilization-techniques/
//
Peter Tsai and the Electrostatic Filter Mask
https://engineeringethicsblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/peter-tsai-and-electrostatic-filter-mask.html
"Prof. Tsai's innovation was to find a way to take a cold pre-fabricated mat of non-woven
material and subject it to two electric discharges of opposite polarity, one after the other.
Under the right conditions, this process embedded quasi-permanent electric charges into the
plastic fibers and made them very attractive to even sub-micron particles, like the
100-nanometer-diameter SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The charge is durable and will
persist even if the masks are sterilized with steam, according to a new article that Prof.
Tsai just put up on a University of Tennessee website.'
//
The retired inventor of N95 masks is back at work, mostly for free, to fight covid-19 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/07/07/peter-tsai-n95-mask-covid/
//
More technical information for those curious enough: https://aim.autm.net/public/project/53844/
//
Finally, let's dispense with a couple of other oh-so-popular misconceptions:
"Q: Do face masks cause oxygen deficiency?
"A: The prolonged use of medical masks when properly worn, does not cause oxygen deficiency
nor CO2 intoxication, according to WHO. Make sure your face covering fits properly and that
it is tight enough to allow you to breathe normally.
" 'This is a common misconception being perpetuated that has no evidence behind it,' said
Krutika Kuppalli, a Palo Alto infectious disease doctor and a biosecurity fellow with the
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
"Q: Does wearing a face covering put you at risk for carbon dioxide poisoning?
"A: No. CO2 molecules diffuse easily through everything from bandannas to medical masks to
N95 respirators, allowing for normal breathing." Aidin Vaziri. San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks b. The mask - a simple and elegant precaution in high risk environments. But so
much foaming hysteria and opposition from pumped up nay sayers its just like the response to
the early motor car or the mandatory seat belt. Extraordinary, hyperventilated nonsense and
inflamed debating points.
I assume this noise is to distract from calling it by its proper name - Fort Detrick
Flu.
Mr Gohmert then wondered if his mask was to blame for contracting COVID-19.
"But I can't help but wonder if my keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, that if I
might have put some germs or some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in -- I don't
know. But I got it, we'll see what happens from here, but the reports of my demise are very
premature," he said."
about a decade ago there was outbreak of TB in Seattle I was a nurse at the time. We were
told by infection disease at the time if we were to see TB patients we had to wear an
individually fitted respirator... every nurse was fitted and red pepper was sprayed around
the masks to test the fit. I couldn't wear one ... and was told I could wear a surgical mask
but that it would only provide about 30 min of protection and then I would need a new mask...
Now tell me why me way a fashion mask, a bandanna or scarf can protect me or another from a
virus (which is much smaller than a TB bacteria?
I just drove from coast to coast across the US. I avoided large cities and felt perfectly
comfortable with social distancing. I was in two states that never had a "true" lock down and
no mask mandates,,,, and you know what people weren't dropping like flies, people weren't
afraid... they were just acting respectful to one another"s personal space.
Let's see now... we have an aerosolized pathogen; shades of the discussion in 2001
regarding weaponized Antrax! We have, seemingly, a very low number of mutations; it's either
been out there or cultured for some time. No one has any 100% accurate test; the test
criteria of Koch's Postulates seem to have
been forgotten or ignored. In the dearth of trustworthy data, the deluge of untrustworthy
data, and the general level of greed-generated-mistrust towards all western societal
organizations, no one in the general public has the proper knowledge to make life-or-death
decisions concerning themselves or their families. Perhaps, rather than the "Trump flu" that
the partisan-oriented commenter proposed previously, if a large group of people called it
instead the "Fort Detrick Flu," western governments might be persuaded to seek and/or
spread truthful data.
The purpose of the mask is to stop (asymptomatic) carriers of the disease from spreading
it, or at least dramatically reduce the spreading. The mask limits outgoing aerosols,
not incoming ones.
Moreover, rural areas where people spend a lot of time outdoors and generally meet only a
limited amount of different people are much less likely to be affected by the initial phase
of a pandemic than densely populated cities where most people spend most of their days
closely packed with numerous other random people in badly ventilated indoor places such as
offices, factories, subways.
This new disposition of things, which we are quite unprepared for, will demand a revival of
the building wisdom of the ages. It will be a vast improvement over the anxious, neurotic
exercises that can now be plainly described as yesterday's tomorrow . The necessary
return to traditional modes and materials will yield a revived architecture of grace notes,
humility, and decorum. Wait for it!
TAC seems to publish an article deriding modern architecture on a monthly basis. Like
jazz or cilantro, modern architecture is something you either love or hate. Waste of space
to argue about it.
There's actually a specific group of olfactory genes (OR6A2) that people have or don't
have, that changes the taste of cilantro and causes this whole differentiation.
The thing I find about modernist architecture is that some of it is quite beautiful such
as the early BauHau and Art Deco design aesthetic. If you compare lets say a band or an
entertainers early work which is smart, crisp, new, innovative to their later works which
often arent good. They look like copies of earlier successes (resting on ones laurels so to
speak). In modernist architecture which was truly innovative at the time incorporating
large plate glass windows (from floor to ceiling) integrated the outdoor environment with
the indoor environment. It created rooms with lots of natural light and unobstructed views
which made older buildings which were gorgeous on the exterior with architectural
embellishments and gorgeous moldings, wallpapers, paint colors, fabrics moldings, etc
adorning the interior, look like windowless caves or coffins. Modern and Contemporary
Architecture (form, fit, function) was innovative because it deconstructed all architecture
down to the skeletal structure and windows but then comes the problem. A design can only be
deconstructed so much before its sterile, bland, dead. Its why some of the great modern and
contemporary architecture is surrounded by older buildings that have more embellishments
which magnify the clean lines of the structure. Its hard to achieve urban density with
modern buildings because the clean lines and large windows require some open space between
the buildings. As with most art and design movements, the best of the prior movements will
be incorporated into something new....but instead of deconstructing...a new architectural
movement will be adding rather than subtracting
Salingaros published ATOA in 2006, and has published several books since. Not
that his writing isn't timeless, but there are no details in this piece to tease out what
is new.
Easy to overlook is the role of building designers in pushing their idea of
..whatever... and the role of developers especially in wanting things built as quickly and
cheaply as possible. The latter are primarily responsible for strip malls, which are truly
awful, but utilitarian..
I'll be reading both these books, but the key failures of contemporary design and
planning aren't really about style, its about building codes, land use laws, transportation
and the way development is financed. Why does the strip look like the strip? Because its
the preferred mode of planning commissions, tax collectors and, most of all, banks who are
lending the money.
I agree with the author that modern architecture is ugly, but this is not some isolated,
mysterious ailement. Architecture is a form of art, and modern art is every bit as ugly,
inhuman and soul killing as modern architecture. I recently spent a seven month stretch
working inside many very expensive homes in Aspen Colorado. These multi-million dollar
homes are full of the most ugly and repugnant examples of modern art you could ever
imagine. There are paintings that sell for over a million which literally look like someone
vomited on the canvas. I don't have to tell that today's music is mostly garbage. All of
this reflects perfectly the modern world view. Namely, there is no God, there is no Truth,
there is no beauty. Humans are just accidental, meaningless beings, living pointless lives
in a pointless universe. As long as modern society clings to these awful lies, art in it's
many forms has no chance of making a comeback. When we earnestly return to God and
reverence for the eternal beauty of his creation, we will again seek to honor God and our
fellow humans with works of love and beauty. It's not complicated really.
The taste of the rich does not stand separate from their relations with the rest of us.
In acknowledging the turning point about a hundred years ago, Kunstler overemphasizes WWI
and under-emphasizes the 1917 Communist revolution in Russia. Before that year, Marxism was
a fringe movement that had never held power anywhere. Given that atheism was part of its
philosophical foundation, people of faith could not believe it would ever be anything else.
After that year, the elite realized that God was not protecting their supremacy and began
to fear the common people. Therefore the old aesthetic which allowed the elite to have the
same taste as everyone else but just express it more expensively was supplanted by a new
aesthetic that upheld tastes acquired and formed through an expensive education. The point
was not to impress the common people but to confuse them. It was part of the Cult of the
Expert. Its purpose was to convince the common people that they could not understand what
was going on at the elite levels and therefore they were not fit to rule. I remember some
British writer who called sunsets "sentimental", which puzzled me until I figured out that
this writer was part of (or was mocking) a movement to narrow the definition of beauty to
that sort of beauty that only people of refined (i.e., elite) taste could appreciate, while
beauty that could be appreciated by everyone was downgraded by renaming it
"sentimentality". After the decline of the Soviet Union became obvious in the 1980s,
ornament and detail were allowed to return, but only in an ironic or whimsical way. There's
still an element of confusion there, of calculated incomprehensibility.
At a time like this one, beauty is still being produced but on the fringes. Surrealism
lives on in the works of artists like Jesse Allen and Susan Seddon Boulet, who don't rate
Wikipedia pages but whose paintings are easily googled. Michael Reynolds builds Earthships
(conservationist architectural fantasies in the mode of Antoni Gaudí) out of literal
trash. (It's no accident that Reynolds, like Christopher Alexander and many other
architectural innovators, went to the Southwest, where snobbery-informed building codes
have historically been lax or non-existent. Traditional musicians from around the world
connect with each other and cross-fertilize to produce the genre known as world music. If
you don't care what the elite like, it's actually a glorious time for the arts.
Modern architecture neglects the person and substitutes visual ideas as its mission for
providing places to foster human well-being, delight and comfort.
The whole game is given away by an exchange with one of my design tutors while studying
architecture: we gave our presentations of our displayed projects (that is, pretend
buildings) and the tutor remarked that none of us talked about people. We had all tried to
mimic the journals (picture books usually) that we read and pretended to be abstract
sculpture artists. Crap, of course.
But being cheeky, I piped up and said "its because you guys never talk about people!"
We had been taught that buildings are 'walk-in scupltures' where as they are places for
meaningful personal purpose.
During an in-depth interview that will air Tuesday night on ABC News as part of a primetime
special, "American Catastrophe: How Did We Get Here?," Fauci was pressed to explain why, months
after COVID-19 first reached U.S. soil, the U.S. government is still struggling to provide
adequate testing for Americans and sufficient personal protective gear for essential
workers.
"We keep hearing when we go to these task force meetings that these [issues] are being
corrected," Fauci said. "But yet when you go into the trenches, you still hear about that."
Fauci said he does not have a "good answer" and "cannot explain" the discrepancy, especially
since those matters are not part of his "day-by-day" responsibilities, but part of the problem
stems from the fact that "many of the things that we needed were not produced in the United
States."
The U.S. government ended up competing for those materials with other nations stricken by
the pandemic, and the White House ultimately had to invoke emergency powers to push U.S.
companies to help.
Those challenges were exacerbated by what Fauci admitted were early missteps on testing by
the Centers for Disease Control, which developed tests that "didn't work" initially because
– it turned out – their results were based on potentially contaminated samples.
That forced the federal government to further rely private companies.
Asked about any missteps he may have made himself – including initially telling the
public that the average American didn't need to wear a mask – he said such decisions were
"based on the information at the moment."
In a segment due to air this
weekend, 'America This Week' host Eric Bolling sat down with Dr Judy Mikovits, a disgraced scientist who believes that the
coronavirus pandemic was orchestrated by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr Anthony Fauci and Bill
Gates to push vaccines on the population – a theory she set out in the documentary film 'Plandemic,' which has been effectively
censored off the internet.
Bolling called Mikovits' claims "hefty," and brought on medical contributor Dr Nicole Saphier to refute them, but CNN
claimed
the
host didn't push back hard enough against Mikovits' "baseless conspiracy theory," and hammered Bolling for allowing Mikovits to
"continue to make her case."
As CNN's article circulated
on Twitter on Saturday morning, the network's liberal audience called for a boycott of Sinclair. The broadcaster initially stood
by its decision to run the segment, declaring that
"at no juncture are we aligning with or
endorsing the viewpoints of Dr Mikovits."
However, within an hour,
Sinclair bent the knee and pulled the episode from the air until additional content could be added to counter Mikovits.
"All
stations have been notified not to air this and will instead be re-airing last week's episode in its place,"
Sinclair
tweeted. For good measure, the company added
"we valiantly support Dr Fauci and the work he
and his team are doing to further prevent the spread of Covid-19."
Sinclair is an incredibly
powerful organization to have been swayed by an online outrage campaign. The company and its partner organizations own nearly 300
local TV stations around the country, and reach 40 percent of American households.
Proponents of the boycott
celebrated their victory on Twitter, declaring that
"we shamed them into doing the right
thing."
Amid a recent upsurge in
'cancel culture,' few campaigns have brought a company to its knees as fast as Saturday's blitz by CNN. Similar campaigns have
been mounted against Fox News'
Tucker
Carlson
– with an advertiser boycott and attempts by journalists to doxx his family among the most recent moves, but Carlson
remains on the air and unapologetic.
For Bolling and his
colleagues at Sinclair on the other hand, it's back to the studio to reshoot their offending segment at CNN's behest.
I'd be interested on peoples views on this important link.
One hour long. A whistle blower nurse in a hospital in New York ! I have watched 10 mins and
am already shocked, disgusted and sickened. I'll get back to it when I'v calmed down.
The real problem is masks that don't measure up.
This article says half of the masks manufactured in China don't actually capture 95% of
particles. Since all of my masks are from China, that is concerning to me. However, even if a
mask only does 50%, that's still better than most non-respirator masks.
Mask-wearing obligatory in confined public spaces in France from today .Initially
announced by Macron in his july 14th speech for the first of August,but over the weekend
Health minister said it is in application from this monday 2 july.Fine is 135 euros.This will
lead to more gigs cancelled,unless they are in the street.How can one sing masked?
Well,I tried wearing one saturday,but it is a sloppy experience and I don't think I will wear
one correctly,it hangs down from my nose,it is to escape french fines.Before people start
insulting me for that,i have to tell you that I see practically nobody,apart from going to
supermarket once a week....
I pointed out that cloth masks were ineffective relative to N95 months ago here. The
hierarchy is N100, N99, N95, surgical masks, then anything else. There is a reduction of
maybe 25% in effectiveness per level (except for the N masks.) T-shirts are almost useless,
having an effectiveness of maybe 10-15%.
*Doesn't mean they shouldn't be worn.*
People don't seem to understand that avoiding infection is a game of probabilities. It's
not a binary either-or situation. Anything you can do to impede the progress of a viral load
from the environment to your vulnerable surfaces is worth doing if it's practical. Wearing a
mask is practical.
Minor repeated reductions in oxygen or increases in carbon dioxide is not going to kill
you and is unlikely to have long-term physical effects. And there's a good chance that
eventually we'll stop wearing them once the virus has been reduced in the environment.
Asians have been wearing masks frequently for a long time. Health workers wear masks
frequently for extended periods. Cite a study where that has had long-term negative health
effects.
"But there is a graph here that if I explain this properly, it'll make sense to you. This is
from the Centers for Disease Control. And it is death counts attributable to COVID-19 through
July 11th. The week ending July 11th, which is the most recent date for data. They run about,
you know, a week to two weeks behind here.
So throw the chart up. This is by age. All sexes by age. So if you look at the top line, the
red line, the very top, that is the week ending April 11th. You can't see this on the chart. Go
ahead and put the chart up there, Brian, switch it over. The top line is red. You can't even
probably tell that. But, trust me. The top-most line is red, and it occurs on April the 11th.
That is the peak death rate, and it's probably about 6,000 . I don't know in what interval that
this thing is reporting.
Probably Eh, it's in a week. The key is to go all the way over to the right side. You see
the peak of death rates was April the 11th. It isn't now. The peak death rate was April 11.
That red line is people 85 years and older. The line under it is people 75 to 84. That's the
yellow line. The blue line underneath that is people 65 to 74. We're under 4,000 now in a week.
So the top line is people 85 and older.
If you go to the This is where I'm not gonna There are two reds, but you can't tell the
difference in them. Just trust me. Let's move to the far-right side of the chart. That's July
11th, and you'll see that the death rate is not even 500, right now, per week -- CDC -- in all
ages, in all demographics, says the CDC. We're not at peak death rate. The peak death rate was
April the 11th to April the 18th." Limbaugh
I see now we are being encouraged to ignore "death rate" as unimportant. What we are told to
panic about is a higher incidence of "positives" among population under 40 years of age. This
population apparently doesn't have as bad an outcome (hospitalization/death) and that's "bad"
because they don't get contact traced and thus have "community spread".
I just love how AP/NYT and local journos all quote seemingly random "experts" with no
discussion of just what their "expertise" consists of, other than perhaps a credential (and the
relevance of the credential to the "expert statement" (more correctly opinion) is never
provided).
Sir, Yes. You are thinking right about Cuomo murdering the elderly that cost the state so much money
- many having the homes and medical treatment paid for by Medicaid (Medicare only pays for 30
days). Only it wasn't just Cuomo it was also Witmer in Michigan and Murphy in New Jersey. They
killed off the costly elderly and got the bonus of more deaths to raise the fear of the virus
and gain subsequent control over the lives of citizens + via twisted logic, try to give Trump a
black eye. Those govs are are morally sick people. It is a no brainer, if you care about the
elderly, to not place people with what you believe is a deadly highly contagious virus in homes
full of elderly infirm people. I mean what is there to even consider or weigh about that
decision?
Had those murderers handled the nursing homes correctly (like Florida did) the virus would
have been a lot less deadly.
Btw, with regard to schools re-opening, note that the line of the graph for school and
college age people is basically synonymous with the X-axis; meaning they didn't die from the
virus even at its peak lethality.
To know what Fauci [don't wear a mask it don't help; wear a mask it helps] would say, let's
look at how Aristotle would help us elucidate this answer.
Q: What can one conclude from [the mouth of] the liar [Fauci]?
A: Answer: nothing Absolutely Nothing. +++++++++++++++ And on this basis, from his mouth, our national "pandemic" "strategy" was thus formulated, from
Mr. Nothing aka Fauci.
And onto more black humor, and the wearing a mask as virtue signalling -- since they can
only slow down by at most ten minutes any disease transmission of the novel coronvirus, there
is this "gem" spoken by someone who apparently believes the mask kool aid? I D K . . . --and
for me at least, his essay, Attorney Jonathan Turley, was funny to read, irrespective of
whether that was his intent:
[[There is a new form of protests sweeping across the country as individuals put on
anti-Mask masks to defy mandatory mask rules. The anti-masks are made of thin material, mesh or
even crochet and are advertised as having no protective qualities for Covid-19. The question is
whether they are legal. They appear to be so.]]
Whether you like it or not, the world is going for "herd immunity." Unfortunately, there is
no other viable option; there will be no vaccine, there will be no miracle cure and besides,
the virus isn't even all that dangerous if you are young and healthy. Simply put, COVID-19
won't flame out until 50 to 80 percent of us get it (the precise number is open to debate).
For the past century, most people have accepted that from time to time they'll get a cold or
flu. It was considered a fact of life and an inconvenience. Somehow, in this age of fake news
and social media, a disease that's a bit worse than the annual flu, has taken on a persona
that's terrifying. I understand why that's happened; the media and various "influencers" sell
fear and astute politicians harness this fear for votes. Meanwhile, anyone with a dissenting
voice is marginalized. Along the way, data has been tampered with and facts have become
bastardized. Is anyone else disturbed that the Democrats and Republicans each support different
miracle cures? Basic science hasn't been this politicized since Galileo opined about celestial
bodies.
... ... ...
Now, I don't intend this post to be political; you can twist most data to prove almost any
spectrum of facts. Rather, let me throw out a strawman; let's assume COVID-19 led to almost
certain death, do we have the ability to stop it? We could quarantine all of humanity for
years, but COVID-19 would still be out there; it wouldn't die out -- there would always be new
flare-ups as people got sloppy or ignored the rules. We tried an aggressive quarantine in
America and did little more than "flatten the curve." Unlike smallpox or polio, there will
never be a vaccine (there has never been a COVID vaccine for a variety of reasons) --
therefore, as soon as quarantine ends, we'd all begin to spread it again, as there will always
be infected humans. Countries that hermetically sealed their borders would not be immune either
-- they've simply deferred infection. Eventually, there would be an accident -- one single
pathogen would undo years of work. You can quarantine a village in Africa and stop a disease
like Ebola that strikes fast and often kills the host. You cannot stop the spread of something
that tens of millions of global citizens unknowingly have, while lying dormant for up to three
weeks.
I think it should be obvious that you cannot stop COVID from spreading, at best, you can
slow it down so that hospitals do not become overwhelmed. Instead, governments are passing
draconian and arbitrary laws that do little to slow the spread, yet destroy businesses and
communities. If anything, this takes a biological crisis and turns it into an economic one.
The the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was actually on sidelines and
did not yet contribute anything signigicat in understadning this coronavirus
The level of subservience of Fauci to Big Pharma is open for review
WASHINGTON -- Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's
recent criticism of him in which he called the infectious disease expert an "alarmist."
... Fauci warned last week that the coronavirus pandemic could be as bad as the
1918 flu pandemic, which is estimated to have killed at least 50 million people worldwide. He
also warned late last month that the number of
COVID-19 cases could top 100,000 a day.
And this Big Pharma stooge was right: in open spaces unless you are inthe dence coud there is no reason to wear any mask
Notable quotes:
"... No – for a solid hour, I heard the following: that COVID19 – in reality, at most, a moderately serious flu virus – is the worst medical threat the United States has ever faced. ..."
For anyone who has forgotten, Fauci told 60 Minutes that:
There's no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you're in the middle of an
outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little better and it might even block a
droplet, but it's not providing the perfect protection that people think it is. And often
there are unintended consequences – people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep
touching their face."
But he does make an astute point:
"Recently I had the poor judgment to turn on National Public Radio for about an hour, under the impression that I was
going to learn something about the day’s news.
... No – for a solid hour, I heard the following: that COVID19 – in reality, at most, a moderately serious flu virus – is
the worst medical threat the United States has ever faced.
...
But the real theme of the hour was masks, masks, masks: how to make them, how to wear them, their different types, who
doesn’t seem to have enough of them, and why muffling our faces (even though no such thing was ever demanded of us during
dozens of past viral outbreaks) is absolutely, positively good for us all."
When it comes to the topic of clown cars, we'd say Dr. Fauci gets a limo version all to himself...
Yesterday he uttered the following incoherent babble, saying the recent surge in new cases is because the Virus Patrol didn't
go far enough in throwing 50 million Americans out of work:
'We did not shut down entirely,' Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. 'We need
to draw back a few yards and say, "OK, we can't stay shut down forever." You've got to shut down but then you've got to gradually
open.'
Got that?
What does this pretentious old windbag think - that the blooming, buzzing mass of a $21 trillion economy can be calibrated up
and down by the week via some magical dimmer switch?
Never mind because he was then on to this preposterous comparison:
Fauci also said he expects the public to compare the Covid-19 pandemic to the 1918 pandemic flu, which killed around 50 million
people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Well, it so happens that the US death rate from the Spanish Flu was 655 per 100,000 persons (675,000 deaths in a population of
103 million). That's obviously orders of magnitude larger than the 39 per 100,000 deaths to date from the Covid.
In fact, the impact of the Spanish Flu was not only 17X greater in terms of the overall mortality rate, but it was also a true
Grim Reaper in the sense that it struck across the entire age spectrum of the population (dark blue bars).
It actually started in the giant domestic military training compounds stood up by Woodrow Wilson to join a European war that was
none of America's business, but the virus did kill tens of thousands of 18-30 year-old draftees in their own barracks long before
they got to the killing fields of France.
By contrast, as we now surely understand, and you would think Fauci would, too, the Covid (light blue bars) is primarily a harvester
of elderly persons already struggling with life-threatening respiratory, heart, vascular, renal and diabetic illnesses.
Accordingly, among the 191 million Americans under the age of 45 years, there have been only 1.5 WITH-Covid deaths per 100,000,
while for the elderly, the opposite is true. Nearly 70,000 or more than 60 percent of all WITH-Covid death have been among the 75
years and older population, resulting in mortality rates as follows:
85 years & Over: 581 per 100,000 persons;
75-84 years: 200 per 100,000 persons;
Now, you don't need to take a single class in epidemiology to understand a core truth: That is, when nearly 60 percent of the
population under 45 years accounts for only 2.5 percent of the reported WITH-Covid deaths and has a rounding error mortality rate,
while the 6.5 percent of the population 75 years and older accounts for 60 percent of the deaths -- you don't fight the disease with
a one-size-fits all strategy of generic lockdowns, quarantines, and social regimentation.
And surely you don't shutdown the schools, gyms, bars, restaurants, movies, ball games, concerts, beaches, theme parks etc. because
the vulnerable elderly don't patronize these venues in appreciable numbers anyway, and could easily be warned to stay strictly away.
The key point, however, is that this whole unspeakable Lockdown Folly does not remotely stem from the "science", as the MSM supporters
of Fauci claim.
It's just a hair-brained experiment in social control that happened because the Donald was too weak, ill-informed, distracted,
and innumerate to send Fauci and his camarilla of doctors and vaccine-peddlers packing when the mid-March guidelines were first issued
by the CDC.
Yes, the Donald's political enemies in the ranks of big city mayors and Blue State governors have feasted upon the chum Fauci
& Co have persistently tossed into the fetid waters of national politics, but that doesn't let Trump off the hook.
If the truth be told, this is the Trump Lockdown Folly and ranks among the greatest blunders ever committed by a US President.
That's because even at this late date nearly four months into the resulting economic disaster:
there is no evidence that asymptomatic persons are transmitters of the virus,
there is powerful statistical evidence that 95 percent of the population can cope with the disease and recover if they do become
infected.
Yet, the twin pillars of Fauci's hare-brained social regimentation scheme assumes they very opposite: Namely, that healthy Americans
must be put under house arrest because they are silent spreaders and killers of their fellow citizens; and that the disease is so
virulent that its #1 enemy -- the powerful immune system of every healthy American -- cannot be trusted to do its job if the virus
is permitted to follow its natural course of contagion and eventual herd immunity.
As to the silent spreaders trope, here is how the very head of WHO's COVID-19 Task Force, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, recently explained
that transmission of the virus from asymptomatic patients appears to be very rare:
It still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual."
For crying out loud. That knocks the very rationale for stay-at-home orders to hundreds of millions of healthy citizens into a
cocked hat.
In a constitutional democracy, where the liberties and properties of citizens are protected by law, you need overwhelming proof
of an existential threat to society before ordering mass house arrests. But in this instance, the head of the WHO task force–the
agency that fomented the whole coronavirus hysteria in the first place–has said quite unequivocally: No cigar!
In a word, Dr. Fauci is peddling dangerous humbug under the banner of pseudo-science, and should have been shut-up and forced
into retirement long ago. The unfortunate truth, however, is that the Donald is too chicken to use the Fake "your fired" tool that
made him a short-lived TV star, if not a successful businessman.
His defenders, of course, mumble that his hands are tied because Fauci is a member of the legally protected Senior Executive Service
(SES). That's Jimmy Carter's gift to insubordinate bureaucracy, which your editor happily voted against back in the day -- but the
excuse is poppycock.
Under Federal law, Fauci can be fired if he is found to have engaged in --
misconduct, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or failure to accept a direct reassignment or to accompany a position in a transfer
of function", is or to be "less than successful [in his] executive performance.
If not "malfeasance", what would you call the absolute savaging of the livelihoods and life's work of tens of millions of American
workers and small businessmen for no good reason of state, which have resulted from Fauci's idiotic pronouncements and guidelines?
The thing is, after four months Fauci's blatherings and instructions to state and local authorities have fomented an outright
public Hysteria of biblical proportions.
It is not just that officialdom has closed restaurants and gyms via unconstitutional "takings" of their owners' properties. By
now, Fauci's Virus Patrol and its megaphones and misanthropes in the MSM have rendered large portions of the American public fearful
about leaving their own homes.
And, needless to say, they have also given the Donald's legions of rabid political enemies license to stage malign theatrics in
the name of Covid-fighting that would be unthinkable under any other circumstances.
For instance, it has now been announced that the school districts of Los Angeles and San Diego, which collectively serve nearly
one million students, will not have in-person teaching to start the school year.
But if you are conversant with any facts at all, you can only sputter: WTF!
There are nine million school age children in California, and not a single WITH-Covid death has occurred among them.
That's right. There have been 27,400 positive tests among these nine million kids, but all of them, positively all of them, have
been either asymptomatic or mildly ill -- as children are wont to become -- and have recovered.
Yet here is where America's growing fleet of clown cars comes in. It seems that the politicization has gone so far off the deep
end that the LA teachers union–35,000 strong -- is now taking the schools hostage for their own parochial ends.
They recently proclaimed that no schools should open in LA until there is a Charter School freeze; the police are defunded; Medicare-for-all
is adopted by the US Congress; new state taxes on the wealthy are enacted; and there is a Federal bailout of the LA school district.
You can't make this stuff up. And while they were taking the children hostage in the name of Covid-fighting, they also insisted
that the already dysfunctional schools of LA become completely pointless:
The union outlined numerous major provisions it says will be necessary to reopen schools again, including sequestering students
in small groups throughout the school day, providing students with masks and other forms of protective equipment, and re-designing
school layouts in order to facilitate 'social distancing.'
Of course, the latest outbursts of this kind of mindless social destruction has been fueled by the absolute mendacity of the Virus
Patrol and its MSM megaphones with respect to the so-called outbreak of new cases in the Sun Belt states.
But the whole brouhaha is a crock. There is no public health crisis in the so-called hot spots, as the up-to-date chart below
makes abundantly clear.
Yes, the 42-day trend of "new cases" has risen sharply in tandem with far more testing, and repeat testing of the same individuals
-- outcomes that were inherent in re-opening plans, which required employers to have their employees tested as a condition of operating.
But, alas, the death count trend in these 50 counties has not risen at all - except for the last few days when a lot of "catch-up"
data for earlier fatalities was thrown into the data hoppers by some of the counties involved.
That hasn't stopped the Covid-Howlers from proclaiming a phony medical crisis in Texas and elsewhere, with the same old tropes
about overflowing hospitals and strained ICU capacity in places like Houston.
But as the eagle-eyed maven of the corona-data, Alex Berenson, tweeted this AM, it's just a big fat lie. While CNN may have managed
to find one or two crowded facilities in the whole of the Houston-Harris county region of some 5 million souls, there are actually
still more than 2,500 empty hospital beds in the area.
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Here's the thing. The Virus Patrol has switched from the death count to the "case" count because the latter is not at the 3,000
per day predicted by the CDC in early May, and ballyhooed by the NYT and MSM as the leading edge of a horrid "second wave" coming
down the pike.
In fact, during July to date (thru the 14th), the daily WITH-Covid death count has averaged 613, or only one-fifth of the projected
June-July-August surge; and even that level is suspect, given the growing evidence that many local jurisdictions are doing retrospective
death audits to pad their case counts.
In any event, the readily available state-by-state data tells you all you need to know. This so-called Sun Belt wave of cases
is, indeed, the equivalent of the normal flu.
In the case of Florida, for instance, during the first 14 days of July, there have been 139,195 new cases reported, but only 4,322
new hospitalizations. So that means only 3.1 percent of this ballyhooed surge of cases was sick enough to even require hospitalization.
Needless to say, that's not a crisis; it's just one more part of the indictment against Fauci and his gang of malpracticing doctors.
They have put the anti-Trump press into a rabid feeding frenzy, and that coverage, in turn, has caused the American public to head
back into their Covid holes.
As it happened, three of the nation's largest banks reported their totally confected earnings for Q2 this AM, but the one thing
that stood out as meaningful was a collective $28 billion provision for future loan losses. That is, they see the massive wave of
defaults set in motion by Fauci's misbegotten Lockdown Nation strategy, and are getting prepared for the worst.
Meanwhile, the Fed's lunatic $3 trillion injection of liquidity into the canyons of Wall Street since the Lockdown Nation incepted
in mid-March continues to do its mischief, fueling a stock market bubble that gets more ludicrous (and dangerous) by the day.
We noted yesterday that during the Monday's great reversal on the stock market that Tesla had gained a "GM" ($38 billion) in the
morning spike, but lost a "BMW" ($42 billion) in the afternoon.
A timely piece by Bloomberg this AM helps explain how this kind of madness actually happened:
Almost 40,000 Robinhood accounts added shares of the automaker during a single fourhour span on Monday, according to website
Robintrack.net, which compiles data on the investing platform that's much beloved by day trading millennials.
The frenzy in interest means that as of the end of Monday's trading session, there are now roughly 457,000 users on the Robinhood
app that hold shares of the company in some form. That makes it the 10th-most popular stock on the platform, ahead of even Amazon.com
Inc., which is held by 358,000 users.
The one-day return may not have turned out so well. Tesla was up as much as 16 percent at one point before paring gains through
the day and finishing 3 percent lower. It was a rare losing day for the high flying stock, which has surged 56 percent over the
past 10 days.
So how did these mindless gamblers reason about a company that has never, ever made a four-quarter profit, and which reported
Q2 volumes well below last year, in coming to a peak valuation of $325 billion Monday morning?
Well, a sell-side analyst explained both that question, and the large fleet of clown cars now cruising up and down Wall Street
about as well as could be expected. Said this master of the crystal ball:
'At the current price, Tesla's stock reflects an expectation of 2030 volume of 5 million units, which is more than ten times
what the company appears on track to achieve this year,' Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said.
Why, you don't say!
Then again, projecting EV car sales in the year 2030 is probably as good a use for Wall Street's clown car riders as any other.
Certainly, it would not dawn on them to ask whether a stock market held up by the Terrific Ten, and especially the FAANGs and
Microsoft, has anything at all to do with the dire state of the US economy.
It seems these trading sardines make up a quarter of the S&P 500 index by value, but just 8 percent of its composite revenues
and a mere 1 percent of jobs in the American workforce.
So, yes, the Acela Corridor has the clown cars coming and going - even as the stock bubble which will take down this whole fantasy
reaches its historic asymptote, as we will essay further in Part 3.
Nearly 71,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year...
Soaring overdose deaths in the US have helped drag down average life expectancy for 3
straight years, and by the looks of it, No. 4 might be right around the corner.
play_arrow
sbin , 1 hour ago
St Floyd died of an overdose.
2 years of drug overdose killed as many Americans as plandemic.
Work for funeral homes many more overdose and suicide deaths 20 to 40 year olds than covid
+70 and most were already dead but still breathing and making nursing home money.
Lucius Quinctius , 1 hour ago
The Chinese have a legitimate grievance ,(actually several), with regards to the
deliberate introduction of opium into their country by the British, in the 1800 s,as a means
to repatriate sterling used to pay for tea .Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank,(HSBC),very central
to funding this traffic as well as a Jewish-British banking family, the Sassoons, originally
from Baghdad ,directly involved.The immiseration of millions of Chinese in opium addiction as
well as the failed Chinese attempt To free themselves from this in the Opium Wars has left
them bitter,rightfully.
So, introducing fentanyl to the west is payback. Two years ago I looked up on Alibaba ,out
of curiosity ,the cost , quantity and availability of a common antibiotic, Vancomycin. It was
amazing, at least 30 responses, producing in quantity, hundreds of kilograms, cheap ....,,you
want it when? The Chinese pharmaceutical production capacity is enormous. Fentanyl is no
problem to produce in huge quantity for these folks. They, in their minds, have reason to
send it our way. We are at war.
MerLynn , 1 hour ago
yes its a Bio Chemical War.... and all Bio Weapons come from the Barrel of a Needle
Sid Davis , 1 hour ago
If you are free, that means you can make good choices for yourself and bad ones, too.
When you are a slave on the big government run plantation we call the USA, pain from being
subjugated encourages escape, and since the underground market in drugs is one of the few
remaining free markets, you still have the freedom there to make bad choices.
It isn't much solace to those you leave behind that you managed to permanently escape your
pain.
Off topic, but yesterday on Newsmax network in the US the guest COMPLETELY ripped into
Gates and Fauci. Newsmax is a major conservative media outlet that has both a TV network and
website with millions of viewers/readers. You can watch it here: https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/1283315374025515008
"And when Fauci was telling the White House Coronavirus Task Force that there was only
anecdotal evidence in support of hydroxychloroquine to fight the virus, I confronted him with
scientific studies providing evidence of safety and efficacy. A recent Detroit hospital study
showed a 50% reduction in the mortality rate when
the medicine is used in early treatment.
Now Fauci says a falling
mortality rate doesn't matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide
the pace of our economic reopening. The lower the mortality rate, the faster and more we can
open." Navarro in USA Today
-------------
"Laputa's population consists mainly of an educated elite, who are fond of mathematics,
astronomy , music and
technology, but fail to make practical use of their knowledge. Servants make up the rest of the
population.
The Laputans have mastered magnetic levitation. They also are very fond of astronomy, and
discovered two moons of Mars. (This is 151 years earlier than the
recognized
discovery of the two moons of Mars by Asaph Hall in 1877.) However, they are unable to
construct well-designed clothing or buildings, as they despise practical geometry as "vulgar
and mechanick". The houses are ill-built, lacking any right angles, [6] and
the clothes of Laputans, which are decorated with astrological symbols and musical figures, do
not fit, as they take measurements with instruments such as quadrants and a compass rather than with tape measures . [7] They
spend their time listening to the music of the spheres. They believe in astrology and worry
constantly that the sun will go out." wiki on Gullivers Travels.
--------------
Ah, I see it now! Dr. Fauci is a Laputan seer! He is devoid of any real comprehension or
respect for the ordinary humans trying to deal with actual pandemic problems rather than "the
music of the spheres."
Is he a Democratic Party operative? I doubt it. He is simply "out of it." pl
Fauci doesn't matter. Over the weekend the WH tried to strongarm parents to get on board
with school reopening. They are fucking with the wrong interest group.
There is a better, albeit a more difficult way to undermine Fauci. Educate the people that
this issue has vast economic consequences and we must factor in those consequences when
crafting an over-all policy. Fauci, I expect, will openly admit he is approaching the topic
from a purely medical perspective...which is exactly what he's supposed to be doing.
As is, Trump is leaves himself wide open to the obvious counter: Neither he nor his
economic adviser have any medical expertise.
"Tony Fauci has many, many vaccine patents and there's one vaccine patent that he has that
is a way of packaging a coronavirus with some other vaccine in a protein sheet and then
delivering it through a vaccine he somehow ended up owning that patent Tony Fauci will be
able to cash in . So Fauci's agency will collect half the royalties for that vaccine [related
to the coronavirus]."
"Sunderland co-founded the VC firm, known for making ambitious investments, after having
led program-related investments for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided
financial support to Moderna while she was there. Since 2010, Moderna has been working on
developing messenger RNA (mRNA) that allows the body's cells to act like reprogrammed
biological factories, producing antibodies needed to battle diseases, including viruses.
"The nice thing about big bets is that they play out over time. ... We made an investment
five years ago in Moderna, and mRNA was a big bet, and you see it playing out in terms of
their ability to get a rapid vaccine for Covid. ... You have to take those big bets,"
Sunderland said."
"The other thing that is amazing in its evolution is the amount that we've learned about
HIV pathogenesis, the reservoir, the potential for controlling the virus, either in the
absence of antiretroviral [treatment] or in a modified regimen that takes away the need to
have a single pill or multiple pills every single day. The thing that remains the holy grail
of unaccomplished goals is the development of a highly effective, safe vaccine. And that is
something that's not surprising because of the very special situation with HIV, that the body
-- as much as we study pathogenesis and understand it so incredibly well -- the body does not
make an adequate immune response against HIV, which is the reason why no one has yet
spontaneously cleared the virus by their immune system. And so what we need to do, and where
we're combination putting a lot of effort into, but also struggling with, is the issue of the
development of a vaccine that would be effective enough to be able to be deployed.
We have one situation that took place, well after that meeting in San Francisco, where a
trial of a candidate vaccine -- in a trial named RV 144 that took place in Thailand -- showed
a 31% efficacy, which gave us some great hints of correlates of immunity and are the basis
for a number of subsequent trials, but still was not good enough to deploy. So we have a
number of very large vaccine trials, going on now throughout the world, including a heavy
concentration in southern Africa. But we also are pursuing another line of vaccine research,
which is the attempt to present to the body, in the proper conformation with sequential
immunizations, the capability of making broadly neutralizing antibodies. And if we're
successful in that, then I think we have a really good chance of developing a vaccine that
would have an efficacy and safety profile good enough to actually deploy it."
I think over time mrna "vaccines" will change medicine. Are we opening Pandora's box?
Possibly.
Navarro wrote in the
op-ed for USA TODAY Tuesday that "Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he
has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."
...
The White House's deputy chief of staff for communications, Dan Scavino, who has been by the
president's side since the 2016 campaign, on Sunday posted a cartoon on Facebook depicting
Fauci as a running faucet washing the U.S. economy down the drain.
"Sorry, Dr. Faucet! At least you know if I'm going to disagree with a colleague, such as
yourself, it's done publicly -- and not cowardly, behind journalists with leaks. See you
tomorrow!" Scavino wrote in a caption accompanying the cartoon.
"... The cash must be Russian sourced , per the NYT, because a couple of low level Taliban types, who were likely tortured by the Afghan police, have said that it is so. ..."
There is particular danger at the moment that powerful political alignments in the United
States are pushing strongly to exacerbate the developing crisis with Russia. The New York
Times, which broke the story that the Kremlin had been paying the Afghan Taliban bounties to
kill American soldiers, has been particularly assiduous in promoting the tale of perfidious
Moscow. Initial Times coverage, which claimed that the activity had been confirmed by both
intelligence sources and money tracking, was supplemented by
delusional nonsense from former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who asks "Why
does Trump put Russia first?" before calling for a "swift and significant U.S. response." Rice,
who is being mentioned as a possible Biden choice for Vice President, certainly knows about
swift and significant as she was one of the architects of the destruction of Libya and the
escalation of U.S. military and intelligence operations directed against a non-threatening
Syria.
The Times is also titillating
with the tale of a low level drug smuggling Pashto businessman who seemed to have a lot of
cash in dollars lying around, ignoring the fact that Afghanistan is awash with dollars and has
been for years. Many of the dollars come from drug deals, as Afghanistan is now the world's
number one producer of opium and its byproducts.
The cash must be
Russian sourced , per the NYT, because a couple of low level Taliban types, who were likely
tortured by the Afghan police, have said that it is so. The Times also cites anonymous
sources which allege that there were money transfers from an account managed by the Kremlin's
GRU military intelligence to an account opened by the Taliban. Note the "alleged" and consider
for a minute that it would be stupid for any intelligence agency to make bank-to-bank
transfers, which could be identified and tracked by the clever lads at the U.S. Treasury and
NSA. Also try to recall how not so long ago we heard fabricated tales about threatening WMDs to
justify war. Perhaps the story would be more convincing if a chain of custody could be
established that included checks drawn on the Moscow-Narodny Bank and there just might be a
crafty neocon hidden somewhere in the U.S. intelligence community who is right now faking up
that sort of evidence.
Other reliably Democratic Party leaning news outlets, to include CNN, MSNBC and The
Washington Post all jumped on the bounty story, adding details from their presumably
inexhaustible supply of anonymous sources. As Scott Horton
observed the media was reporting a "fact" that there was a rumor.
Inevitably the Democratic Party leadership abandoned its Ghanaian kente cloth scarves, got
up off their knees, and hopped immediately on to their favorite horse, which is to claim loudly
and in unison that when in doubt Russia did it. Joe Biden in particular is "disgusted" by a
"betrayal" of American troops due to Trump's insistence on maintaining "an embarrassing
campaign of deferring and debasing himself before Putin."
Credible reporting in incredible times.![Donald Trump wearing a suit and tie: President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House.]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB17jamr.img?h=746&w=1119&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=2395&y=851"},"dpi":1.4,"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB17jamr.img?h=584&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=2395&y=851"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB17jamr.img?h=584&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=2395&y=851"}})
© Evan Vucci, AP Images President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the
White House.
