top of the heap to third world status in one generation

[Gry]

EcoHealth Alliance Orchestrated Key Scientists’ Statement on “natural origin” of SARS-CoV-2


Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know show that a statement in The Lancet authored by 27 prominent public health scientists condemning “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin” was organized by employees of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit group that has received millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer funding to genetically manipulate coronaviruses with scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

https://www.independentsciencenews....ts-statement-on-natural-origin-of-sars-cov-2/

 

[Gry]

Messengers of Gates’ Agenda: How the Cornell Alliance for Science Spreads Disinformation on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

https://www.independentsciencenews.o.. .es-foundation/

 

[Gry]

The grim fate that could be ‘worse than extinction’
What would it take for a global totalitarian government to rise to power indefinitely? This nightmare scenario may be closer than first appears.

What would totalitarian governments of the past have looked like if they were never defeated? The Nazis operated with 20th Century technology and it still took a world war to stop them. How much more powerful – and permanent – could the Nazis have been if they had beat the US to the atomic bomb? Controlling the most advanced technology of the time could have solidified Nazi power and changed the course of history.

When we think of existential risks, events like nuclear war or asteroid impacts often come to mind. Yet there’s one future threat that is less well known – and while it doesn’t involve the extinction of our species, it could be just as bad.

It’s called the “world in chains” scenario, where, like the preceding thought experiment, a global totalitarian government uses a novel technology to lock a majority of the world into perpetual suffering. If it sounds grim, you’d be right. But is it likely? Researchers and philosophers are beginning to ponder how it might come about – and, more importantly, what we can do to avoid it.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201014-totalitarian-world-in-chains-artificial-intelligence

 

[Gry]

Opinion: Liz Cheney: The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us.



Opinion by Liz Cheney

In public statements again this week, former president Donald Trump has repeated his claims that the 2020 election was a fraud and was stolen. His message: I am still the rightful president, and President Biden is illegitimate. Trump repeats these words now with full knowledge that exactly this type of language provoked violence on Jan. 6. And, as the Justice Department and multiple federal judges have suggested, there is good reason to believe that Trump’s language can provoke violence again. Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this.

The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution. In the immediate wake of the violence of Jan. 6, almost all of us knew the gravity and the cause of what had just happened — we had witnessed it firsthand.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) left no doubt in his public remarks. On the floor of the House on Jan. 13, McCarthy said: “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.” Now, McCarthy has changed his story.

I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative values is reverence for the rule of law. Each of us swears an oath before God to uphold our Constitution. The electoral college has spoken. More than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple Trump-appointed judges, have rejected the former president’s arguments, and refused to overturn election results. That is the rule of law; that is our constitutional system for resolving claims of election fraud.

The question before us now is whether we will join Trump’s crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election, with all the consequences that might have. I have worked overseas in nations where changes in leadership come only with violence, where democracy takes hold only until the next violent upheaval. America is exceptional because our constitutional system guards against that. At the heart of our republic is a commitment to the peaceful transfer of power among political rivals in accordance with law. President Ronald Reagan described this as our American “miracle.”

While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country. Trump has never expressed remorse or regret for the attack of Jan. 6 and now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people. This is immensely harmful, especially as we now compete on the world stage against Communist China and its claims that democracy is a failed system.

For Republicans, the path forward is clear.

First, support the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigations of the Jan. 6 attack. Those investigations must be comprehensive and objective; neither the White House nor any member of Congress should interfere.

Second, we must support a parallel bipartisan review by a commission with subpoena power to seek and find facts; it will describe for all Americans what happened. This is critical to defeat the misinformation and nonsense circulating in the press and on social media. No currently serving member of Congress — with an eye to the upcoming election cycle — should participate. We should appoint former officials, members of the judiciary and other prominent Americans who can be objective, just as we did after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The commission should be focused on the Jan. 6 attacks. The Black Lives Matter and antifa violence of last summer was illegal and reprehensible, but it is a different problem with a different solution.

Finally, we Republicans need to stand for genuinely conservative principles, and steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality. In our hearts, we are devoted to the American miracle. We believe in the rule of law, in limited government, in a strong national defense, and in prosperity and opportunity brought by low taxes and fiscally conservative policies.

There is much at stake now, including the ridiculous wokeness of our political rivals, the irrational policies at the border and runaway spending that threatens a return to the catastrophic inflation of the 1970s. Reagan formed a broad coalition from across the political spectrum to return America to sanity, and we need to do the same now. We know how. But this will not happen if Republicans choose to abandon the rule of law and join Trump’s crusade to undermine the foundation of our democracy and reverse the legal outcome of the last election.


History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...turning-point

 

[Gry]

John M. Barry is the author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” and distinguished scholar at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

More than a year into the pandemic, the situation is chaotic. Lacking vaccines, lacking resources or lacking good policies, India, Turkey, much of South America and elsewhere are seeing the virus rage as never before. Europe is finally improving after an extraordinarily difficult few months, while in the United States, the pandemic’s end may be in sight.
Are there any lessons that can be extracted from this landscape? And does the course of the 1918 pandemic hold any lessons for today?

To answer the last question first, the 1918 pandemic began in the spring with an intermittent first wave no deadlier than ordinary influenza, then seemed to disappear. A more contagious and more lethal variant caused the deadly second wave, and then it also seemed to disappear. In March 1919, another variant sparked a third wave much less deadly than the second wave but more lethal than seasonal influenza. First wave illness protected against the second wave, but neither first nor second wave infection protected against the third wave variant.Further mutations, combined with an improved ability of the immune system to respond, helped turn the virus into an ordinary seasonal influenza — until it was replaced by the 1957 pandemic influenza virus.

Covid-19 was never going to disappear, but there is a reasonable chance that it will follow the 1918 precedent and become an endemic influenza-like illness that kills — serious enough, to be sure — and will require vaccine updates but will not require shutdowns. That would be the best case.

In terms of social, cultural and economic impacts, however, 1918 is not a precedent. The first wave, especially in the United States, was so mild it passed without notice, and no city took any public health action. During the second wave, most cities closed schools, theaters and saloons, and some required masks. But one of the biggest differences between the 1918 pandemic and this one is duration. The 1918 disease usually affected a given community for about six to eight weeks, and restrictions generally lasted only three to five weeks — too short a period for any permanent impact on behavior.
Since the disease disappeared abruptly, society returned to pre-pandemic normal quickly. The third wave hit many cities — though, not all — but no one knew it was coming, so it didn’t affect behaviors, and few places reinstituted restrictions for it.

By contrast, more than a year of covid-19 has already altered our working and living habits. Zoom is here to stay. Fewer office workers will be at their posts this fall simultaneously, affecting everything from commercial real estate to traffic, mass transit use, after-work happy hours and the economics of lunch counters. Architecture will change — windows will open again.
Will the pandemic, as many assume, be followed by a boom? Probably, but those who connect the 1918 pandemic to the Roaring Twenties ignore the far greater cultural impact of World War I’s 20 million dead and events of 1919, 1920 and 1921. One of the most difficult years in American history, 1919 saw a Red Scare, beatings and lynchings of returning Black soldiers, a race riot in Chicago and related unrest in 25 other cities, the collapse of agricultural prices, an attempted assassination on the U.S. attorney general, violent strikes that paralyzed coal mines and steel factories, a police strike in Boston (Calvin Coolidge’s response earned him the vice presidential nomination), and a general strike in Seattle. Then came a serious recession in 1920 and 1921. Only after all this did the 1920s roar.

This time around, we have already had our share of convulsions. And we have already seen recession. Pent-up demand and stimulus spending should produce an expanding economy.
As to covid-19, we are winning the race between vaccination rates and the spread of variants, though it is not over yet. The heat and humidity of summer will help limit the virus’s ability to spread. Last year, I predicted that summer would provide little relief because the vast majority of the population was still susceptible to infection. Now, with at least half the U.S. population vaccinated or about to be, summer should help. But it’s been summer in Brazil and India; as they demonstrate, it’s no panacea.
And if the United States has good reasons to expect full football stadiums this fall, that expectation comes with two caveats. First, variants able to escape vaccines and natural immunity could emerge. The vaccines have kept up so far with the mutations, but that could change.

Second, hubris is not our friend. India’s desperate situation is largely a result of a government thinking it had triumphed over the virus and ignoring scientific advice by reopening fully too soon without widespread vaccination. Our vaccination rates are falling nationally, but several Southern states already lag far behind that national rate, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) just issued an order canceling all restrictions by local governments, an action that might be emulated by other states. These are not good signs, and all could lead to a resurgence of infections.

For much of the world, unfortunately, the situation remains bleak. And even in the United States, we have a ways to go before we can sing that anthem of the 1920s, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...end-covid-yet/

 

[Gry]

The Mind-Boggling Artistry of China’s Ivory Puzzle Balls

This traditional art from Guangzhou can never be produced legally again.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/t...=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

That Time Hitler’s Girlfriend Visited Iceland and the British Invaded

The location of this small island nation, along with its people and economy, played an unexpected and crucial role in the outcome of the Second World War.

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/featu...the-british-invaded/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Music is not for ears

We never just hear music. Our experience of it is saturated in cultural expectations, personal memory and the need to move

https://aeon.co/essays/music-is-in-your-brain-and-your-body-and-your-life

Joshua Bell is a star violinist who plays at the world’s great concert halls. People regularly pay more than $100 per ticket to hear him perform. Everything about the setting of a typical concert implies how worthy the music is of a listener’s full attention: the grand spaces with far-away ceilings, the hush among the thousand attendees, the elevation of the stage itself. In 2007, a reporter from theWashington Post had an idea for a social experiment: what would happen if this world-renowned violinist performed incognito in the city’s subway? Surely the exquisiteness of his sound would lure morning commuters out of their morning routine and into a rhapsodic listening experience.

Instead, across the 35 minutes that he performed the music of Bach, only seven people stopped for any length of time. Passers-by left a total of $32 and, after the last note sounded, there was no applause – only the continued rustle of people hurrying to their trains. Commentators have interpreted this anecdote as emblematic of many things: the time pressures faced by urban commuters, the daily grind’s power to overshadow potentially meaningful moments, or the preciousness of childhood (several children stopped to listen, only to be pulled away by their parents). But just as significantly, it could suggest that the immense power of Bell’s violin-playing does not lie exclusively in the sounds that he’s producing. Without overt or covert signalling that prepared them to have a significant aesthetic experience, listeners did not activate the filters necessary to absorb the aspects of his sound that, in other circumstances, might lead to rhapsodic experiences. Even musicianship of the highest level is susceptible to these framing effects. The sound just isn’t enough.

 

[Gry]

Liz Cheney Is Removed From GOP Leadership for Telling the Truth

House Republicans could no longer countenance her defense of democracy.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/liz-cheney-donald-trump-republican-conference/

 

[Gry]

Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century



On a leaked conference call, leaders of dark-money groups and an aide to Mitch McConnell expressed frustration with the popularity of the legislation—even among Republican voters. This article has audio and may also be listened to

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...half-a-century

 

[Gry]

Inside Pictet, the Secretive Swiss Bank for the World’s Richest People


A 215-year-old firm rooted firmly in the past finds tension adapting to the modern world.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...d-money-and-new-risk?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

This Ancient Mnemonic Technique Builds a Palace of Memory

If you’re seeking better memory, this could be the secret.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...s-a-palace-of-memory?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses

Medieval scribes protected their work by threatening death, or worse.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...medieval-book-curses?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Book of Lost Books Discovered in Danish Archive

The index is part of the Libro de los Epítomes, an effort by Christopher Columbus’ illegitimate son to create a searchable index of the world’s knowledge.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/book-of-lost-books-discovered-in-danish-archive

 

[Gry]

Ivermectin and Remdesivir. Looking forward to learning more of the political shitfuckery as to the hows and whys of this one.
Reprehensible wouldn't even start to cover a description of the amorality involved.

 

[Gry]

Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places

An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7 million to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/ppp-farms?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Meet the Master River Pilot Who Conquers the Mississippi Every Day

When a 900-foot oil tanker needs to squeeze through one of the most perilous and crowded waterways in the world, Captain Jared Austin is the only thing standing between safe passage and utter disaster.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...ississippi-every-day?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[St. Phatty]

Ivermectin and Remdesivir. Looking forward to learning more of the political shitfuckery as to the hows and whys of this one.
Reprehensible wouldn't even start to cover a description of the amorality involved.

The medical science community has known about the effectiveness of Ivermectin & Vitamin D, in both prevention & treatment of Covid19, since about March 2020.

Yet the US gov. stuck to the story line that "no nutritional supplements are helpful in preventing Covid19" into 2021.


As for WHY the politics, I think Katherine Austin Fitts' hypothesis is the most accurate.

Trump staying in office was not desirable. Trump would have won re-election, if he had done a pass-able job with Covid19.

Obviously they handed a HUGE $$ windfall to the American medical industry.

How many of those patients were hospitalized ?

Most of those revenues & cases would not have happened if the US did like some other countries, handing out Ivermectin & Vitamin D door to door.

 

[Gry]

The medical science community has known about the effectiveness of Ivermectin & Vitamin D, in both prevention & treatment of Covid19, since about March 2020.

Yet the US gov. stuck to the story line that "no nutritional supplements are helpful in preventing Covid19" into 2021.


As for WHY the politics, I think Katherine Austin Fitts' hypothesis is the most accurate.

Trump staying in office was not desirable. Trump would have won re-election, if he had done a pass-able job with Covid19.

Obviously they handed a HUGE $$ windfall to the American medical industry.

How many of those patients were hospitalized ?

Most of those revenues & cases would not have happened if the US did like some other countries, handing out Ivermectin & Vitamin D door to door.

The story I had in mind started long before March of 2020, and it involved Dark Dick Cheney and financing by the Bush clan.
There were several areas where Ivermectin had been used to prevent river blindness that had a fraction of the rates of infection of covid.


Antiviral Research

Volume 178, June 2020, 104787

The FDA-approved drug ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro


Highlights

•Ivermectin is an inhibitor of the COVID-19 causative virus (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro.
•A single treatment able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in virus at 48 h in cell culture.
•Ivermectin is FDA-approved for parasitic infections, and therefore has a potential for repurposing.
•Ivermectin is widely available, due to its inclusion on the WHO model list of essential medicines.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...66354220302011

“THE IVERMECTIN STORY” by Norbert Szolnoky, Toyama, Japan. (in 2 parts)

Part one: https://vimeo.com/513325468
part two:vimeo.com/513325894
Part one runs just over 11 minutes, and part 2 just over 14 minutes.

Would invite anyone reading this to spend the time to watch the content.

 

[dramamine]

Obviously they handed a HUGE $$ windfall to the American medical industry.

How many of those patients were hospitalized ?

Most of those revenues & cases would not have happened if the US did like some other countries, handing out Ivermectin & Vitamin D door to door.

Yeah, and the vaccine has brought in something like 22 billion so far, and future vaccine waves prices set to be much higher. Well worth mentioning that Fauci is half owner of the patent.