• Mar, 2024
  • Mar 22, 2024
  • Russians vote in election without viable opposition candidates - YouTube

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls on SEC to investigate Tesla - YouTube


  • Mar, 2024
  • Mar 15, 2024
  • Frustrated Oakland business owners threaten to stop paying taxes - YouTube
    The one thing citizens can do against government, many thinkers have said, and which I don't think I've ever seen happen.
    Elevated taxes and not providing safety.

    Shoppers Drug Mart says it doesn't have medication review targets. Records show it does - YouTube
    Apparently, pharmacists have quotas or targets for getting customers to agree to pay for medication reviews. Many actual pharmacists contacted CBC to say this is the case. Pay goes to government, pharmacy, and corporation.
    This started when the Covid vaccine business started to wane after the Canadian pandemic measures.



  • Mar, 2024
  • Mar 11, 2024
  • Haitian gang leader threatens civil war if PM doesn't resign - YouTube

    Campaigns using each other's weaknesses to be key in U.S. election: Trubowitz - YouTube

    USA has two different countries right now.


  • Mar, 2024
  • Mar 05, 2024
  • SNC BOMBSHELL: Trudeau obstructed criminal investigation into HIMSELF says RCMP - YouTube (the opposition)

    ‘Fair food prices for all’: Group calls for federal intervention on grocery prices - YouTube

    EU regulators fining Apple €1.8 billion over Apple Music - YouTube
    #EU

    California’s Budget Deficit Jumps From $58 Billion to $73 Billion As Tax Revenue Declines - YouTube
    High earners went to Florida and Texas.
    A couple years ago Cali had a $100b surplus, which was spent on one-time projects and ‘no one can tell me where it went.’
    Suppressive of small business with regulations. Zero emissions by 2035.
    Cali still has a strong economy, but it's just not bringing in as much money.

    Frank Luntz on 2024 race: Whichever candidate steps aside, that's the party that wins the election - YouTube


  • Mar, 2024
  • Mar 01, 2024





  • Suspended public servants say they're being scapegoated over ArriveCan app - YouTube

    'Who elected George Soros to dictate laws?': El Salvador President Bukele blasts global elites - YouTube

    84% voted for Bukele, and 54 seats out of 60, in the recent election. Salvador has gone from one of the most dangerous, criminal countries to one of the safest in the Western Hemisphere.
    'Who elected George Soros to dictate laws?': El Salvador President Bukele blasts global elites - YouTube

    Matt Taibbi: Intel Blob COOKED THE BOOKS In 2016 Probe; Russians Wanted HILLARY, Not Trump - YouTube
    Intelligence agencies favor and put a finger on the scales for Democrats, the Hill thinks.

    LIVE: Shocking documents reveal Trudeau covered up massive PRC infiltration of his government’s t… - YouTube (the opposition)
  • Feb, 2024
  • Feb 22, 2024

  • Super yachts, mansions and gross wealth profited from government contracts | 60 Minutes Australia - YouTube

    RFK Jr.: I’m Creating A New Political Party - YouTube
    The current law protects the party system. Hard to get on the ballot as an independent. Cali requires 219k signatures to put an independent on the ballot. New party requires 75k party registrations.
    He wants to call his party ‘We the People’. That will be confusing.

    Auditor general releases report that ArriveCAN app cost taxpayers $60m - YouTube

    US Senator Welch votes against sending money to Israel to support Gaza bombing campaign - YouTube
    Biden delivers remarks on Senate passage of the bipartisan supplemental agreement - 2/13/24 - YouTube

    Biden blasts Trump for “un-American” NATO remarks, highlights urgency of $95B aid bill - YouTube

    ArriveCAN: Reporters who exposed COVID-19 app discuss controversy | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos - YouTube
    4 person team. $250m in contracts since 2015.
    ‘Two guys, the work from home. They have no office.’ ‘Neither of them do any IT work at all.’

    Trump "hush money" case to be 1st criminal trial of a former U.S. president - YouTube

    Javier Milei delivers Argentina's first monthly budget surplus in 12 years - YouTube

    CBC News - YouTube
    #Immigration
  • Feb, 2024
  • Feb 13, 2024
  • Tokyo gets US CDC office as Japan strengthens own responsesーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS - YouTube

    Biden campaign joins TikTok - YouTube

    Cost of ArriveCan unknown due to 'glaring disregard' of record-keeping, AG finds - YouTube
    15 years ago people couldn't get accurate immigration stats because the government (Harper at that time I think) changed how they classified people, obscuring the demographics beyond usefulness.

    Total cost of ArriveCan app 'impossible to determine,' AG finds - YouTube



  • Feb, 2024
  • Feb 05, 2024
  • Ex-spymasters warn of “over-protection” in Canada's security culture - YouTube
    Most of what they've found remains hidden from public.

    Russia knows how to set up a puppet government, and knows how to tell a puppet government what to do. Dunetsk, Luhansk. They for many years considered themselves independent countries, now folded into Russia. Essentially be traitors in the eyes of other Ukrainians and just basically run the country.


  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 31, 2024
  • Texas governor going against Biden and saying Texas is being invaded (border crossing from Mexico) (and Biden has not fulfiled Article 4.4 to protect the states and has triggered Article 1.10.3 and Texas as a state has a right of self defense. Public by a huge majority wants this (what Abbot wants), but Gov Abbot may lose in court (to a solicitor general sent by Biden to go against him). So Abbot might ‘become a national hero’ and what would the effect be on opinion of courts? ‘Biden ‘actively fighting Texas on this when Texas just seems to be trying to reinstate a border.’ ‘From failing to do his duty to actual sabotage’ (cutting wires). Sacks.
    #Texas #Constitution

    Will this move already, but more so if it goes further, cause Texans and other states to in law and in politics be bolder in independent views rather than playing along with the Federal program?

    New immigrants vote Democrat. Undocumented immigrants said to be (Tucker) 22m, not the reported 11m. Dems want to give them voting rights.

    Republicans are neocons and ‘want to go to war’ but Trump and RFK are against illegal immigration and against foreign wars, and they're crushing it in the polls, because Americans also don't want illegal immigration or to be in foreign wars, in the majority.

    LILLEY UNLEASHED: UNRWA part of the problem in Gaza - YouTube

    Farmer protests: Armoured police vehicles block highway as tractors push to reach Paris - YouTube

    ‘Demand An Answer’: Amid Mass Firefighter Resignation, Stanley Town Officials Say Little - YouTube

    FBI issues dramatic public warning: Chinese hackers are preparing to 'wreak havoc' on the US - YouTube (CNN)

    'Throw 'em in jail': Ford calls for changes to criminal code - YouTube
    He wants us to believe people are flying in for 2 weeks to steal cars?

    Dr. Jordan Peterson: I've been sentenced to re-education and I'll fight back - YouTube (Fox)

    DARPA a government agency that pays for itself - Samo
    Possibly you could have gotten the same technologies out of other institutions without DARPA.
    DOD used to be much better at declassifying technologies. Turning it over to their contractors.
    As soon as you demonstrate the viability of a technology, others will reverse engineer it and make generic or competitors.
    DARPA has limited terms for program managers. With a few bil, 220 people, an institution that doesn't really owe anyone that much. You might as well do something great with it. If it was a permanent post, you would probably build a small beurocratic empire with the money. ‘Term limits.’
    Match and tailor the appropriate amount of funding. Overfunding can be as detrimental as underfunding. Encourage a situation where you're not producing a patronage network. A reaccuring budget is worse than one-off funding. Demonstrations of viabilities. Autonomy and ability to liase between departments. Can fix vaious communication gaps that naturally exist.
    The pay at DARPA is much lower than private sector, so the people who will go there don't necesarily want just to make money. Maybe they want to advance technology. The reputation of excellence. A tour of duty at DARPA. A positive credential to say they worked at DARPA. Opposite of saying they worked at MIT or Google.
    Politically precarious. Growing restrictions on it for decades. Political and military leaders may fail to understand why it works at all. Or they might understand only that it works but not why, and may form it in ways that blunt it, to serve their own priorities.
    NASA and military have a stake with factories etc in every state. You have to talk to them to reduce funding.
    Is DARPA ‘the last tree standing in the forest'? - Samo.
    Because it built reputation, people were actually proud of it.
    DARPA is enabling the big budgets of other organizations to continue.
    The profit motive, you must always inflate costs to justify more funding, if you work for the government.
    Governments can't fire their employees easily.
    Come into government, and complete a competing body that does the same thing as a big body but cheaper. There's a political cost but you have to overcome that with a political benefit. ‘We don’t need (old) agency. I'm going to cut (old) agency.' Especially if it's staffed with political enemies.
    We've come to view job creation as an end in iteself, and this is fairly destructive.
    Government officials tend to try to make themselves unfireable.
    We could have a higher quality civil service. Can fire half the civil servants and pay the other half double, and it'd be more efficient.
    Government could create more options of agencies to use. Between two options we'll usually chose the best.
    Reduce the budget for medicaid and instead let the consumer spend that amount (20k or 50k) on what they want. Because then the consumer thing would work.
    Retire large defense conglomerates.
    NASA spending incubated SpaceX.
  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 30, 2024


  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 26, 2024
  • If you look at the point in the past 50 years where America had the most challenges, the weakest leadership, 2024 might be one of China's strike points.

    "It's An INVASION" - Immigation Is Officially The #1 Issue For Voters - YouTube
    About 15 or 20 years after it because the obvious issue to the substantial minority of thinkers.

    Arizona GOP chairman Jeff DeWit resigns amid bribe allegations involving Kari Lake - YouTube

    'These [Five Eyes, or US Canada Aus NZ UK) are not separate governments. They are one government.' - Tucker. What defines the boundaries of a government?

    China may in the future be ruled by lawyers (like the US now) instead of peasants fairly ruthless politicians plus some educated engineers, because of where virtued classes are coming from (it's valued as virtue siganalling coming from Harvard or MIT). Samo. Educated in universities rather than political circles.
    Both China and US are gerontocratic. A generation war aspect. But China is homogenous.
    If you have econ conditions where a college degree is most valuable, and women do better at college, and the default idiology of the college is somewhat feminist, you can have diverging politics then between men and women. Samo. So if China had woke, it would probably be gender-focussed rather than race. ‘The rise of Chinese feminism’. ‘Actually low fertility rates are the fault of patriarchy because they violated the autonomy of womens bodies by forcing abortions on them during the one-child policy’ could be a 10 years from now slogan. ‘As a result there are not enough of us women.’ China doesn't have many women top government officials or CEOs. They do have, like Iran has, many women in STEM, women do well in hard sciences. Lots are educated as engineers.
    Along pathological lines like in SKorea, could happen in China?
    #China

    Might see greater respect for laywers in China. Maybe even for journalists, who also work with words.
    Shift from tech founders (who are bootstrap peasants) to more educated people, a possible negative for the country.
    Chinese Harvard will dominate. When universities as such are empowered.
    The difference between the American student and the Chinese student won't be so great. Chinese universities prestige is currently rising. Less of the brightest students will go to USA.
    China's schools may also then degrade, hardening into disfunction, where credentials are divorced from real competance, and the government will become incompetent.
    #China
  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 22, 2024
  • ‘95% Sure’ Bitcoin ETF to Trade On Thursday: Valkyrie CEO - YouTube
    Is this because Bitcoin was invested in by large banking/401/whatever firms, which means politicians themselves are invested in it and will make money if it's approved and lose money if it's not?

    Florida Surgeon General calls for halt to COVID-19 vaccine, citing possible cancer risks - YouTube (FOX)

    Red Sea Latest: US Redesignates Houthis as Terrorists - YouTube
    A few other nations designated unliked groups terrorists this week, too. I think an asian nation of Iran or something.

    Dimon had some nice things to say publicly about Trump at Davos. Does this reflect the now visible probability Trump will win primaries and then the general election? Trump won I think Iowa the other day.

    What the DeepState fears, Jones said, is (if there was allowed an action by citizens etc to carry out something like border security) a coalition of good governors, good AGs giving them the good findings that they could indeed do that, and then declaring emergencies in the states and then a coalition among some states to do that, and then orders to police and everyone else not do sanctuary cities.

    Texas is now sort of purple with the influx from Cali. Jones. Decline of mom and pops. Illegal refugees everywhere.

    2 Polish politicians arrested.
    The president had pardoned people who were not yet sentences (so how do you pardon them?).

    Haier Attacks Home Assistant, Destroys Open Source Project: NEVER Buy Their Air Conditioners! - YouTube (Rossmann)
  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 08, 2024
  • SBF's Political Donation Charges DROPPED: Is This a “Cover-Up”?? Second Trial Canceled - YouTube

    New York City looks to amend 'right to shelter' rule as it struggles to house migrants - YouTube

    Can America depart from the 2-party system this year? Former/current party supporters who no longer want to support their party, how many people do you know like this?

    US's Biden visited UAE to try to talk them into sellng oil in USD not Yuan and not use Chinese tech (US will help SA develop a nuclear program in return and protect them). Putin recently visited and got a warm welcome and a parade or something. US trying to turn Putin into global pariah not working (said Sacks) because of hows he's defeating the Collective West in Ukraine. He's gotten cache in other places. How tired is the world of US influence?

    Koch's biggest spender in Republican party, maybe.

    Chicago leaders demand help from White House to deal with surge of migrants in city - YouTube

    McDonald's CEO warns of hit from boycotts | BBC News - YouTube
    Middle East.

    Doctors unionize as healthcare services are consolidated into corporate systems - YouTube
    71% of Americans currently approve of unions, highest number since the 60s.


  • Jan, 2024
  • Jan 02, 2024
  • Lots of 3rd party candidates. RFK left Dems, running indy, most popular candidate at the moment. Vivek.

    Lots of Americans interested in a 3rd party. The left and right so far to their ends, rooted in identity politics. A third party lacks a good name.
  • Dec, 2023
  • Dec 29, 2023
  • JUST IN: Matt Gaetz Asks DEA Chief Point Blank Why Marijuana Is Still Classified A Schedule 1 Drug - YouTube

    New drink container tax - YouTube


  • Dec, 2023
  • Dec 19, 2023
  • ARGENTINA | Anuncian medidas económicas de emergencia | EL PAÍS - YouTube
    A government telling the truth, strange? ‘When I was young there were always candidates who tried to explain this, but they never received more than 5 ot 6% of the vote.’ #Argentina

    The government has always been one of the main focuses of corruption and ‘...con nosotros eso se termina.’

    It seems it's often been said that the Latin countries yes sometimes have these politicians who come along and they seem so revolutionary for something that strikes many as better, but for whatever reason the Latin countries never succeed in this. Or perhaps that's false, and the Latin countries with their occasional standout politicians will lead everyone else in politics.

    No protection against death - YouTube
    The fourth dose caused a 3-month reduction (like 20%) in infections, but after that period that group had more infections (ie could we say the vaccine causes more infections?).

    Argentina's new government reverses decision to join BRICS - YouTube
    #BRICS
  • Dec, 2023
  • Dec 12, 2023
  • American Fascism And The Groomer Panic - YouTube
    Trans women. Florida. ‘Anti-trans laws’? Tracking rhetoric.

    Jan5, those charges were 87% were not in an organized militant group. Many were there with friends and family. 2/3 were over 35 years old. 14% of those charged were business owners. 30% were white collar workers.

    Over half of Republicans believe voter fraud claims, reportedly. (Forbes though)

    1/4 of Republicans sympathize with Qanon (NYT).

    The replacement of native Americans with more obediente foreigners. ‘Great Replacement theory’.

    Great Replacement was most significant trigger in converting people who already believed the election was stolen into people that believe they should do insurrectionist violence to reinstate Trump, reportedly.

    Failures of the neoliberal era.

    JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon blasts crypto, tells Senate he would ‘close it down’: CNBC Crypto World - YouTube

    Growing evidence of Hamas’ sexual crimes against women during attack, Israeli investigators say - YouTube

    Why Is There So Much Right-Wing Media? - YouTube

    Milei declara el fin de la "decadencia" argentina y promete un duro camino a la recuperación - YouTube
  • Nov, 2023
  • Nov 30, 2023

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S3X_Bzlczk

    In a recall election, they voted out the entire council and the guy who raised the question was like, ‘"I didn’t understant this at all, so I'm gonna run. I'M gonna run. If not me, who?' And he ran. And he's up there now. So that's one of the greatest examples of democracy in action." - Lehto

    Adams Township, Michigan.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gyHc6nzL2M

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHWzltnZ00Y

    Wants dolarization. And to close their Central Bank.

    Surprise win.

    Binance, largest crypto exchange, still operating, but charges and guilty pleas for top brass for disguising information, including payments that had something to do with Hamas. So current Israel-Palestine action being employed here in banking controls.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNokHZGBkc

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F69EoY8Wk5w

  • Nov, 2023
  • Nov 04, 2023
  • NO ONE wants the COVID19 Booster | CDC reports 3% Uptake | CDC and FDA have failed America - YouTube 
  • Oct, 2023
  • Oct 17, 2023

  • Musk went to visit Eagle Pass, Texas, the site of thousands of mostly Venezuelan young male migrants entering the US. Among the most frequent comments were about him doing so before either the President or Vice President. He said he wanted to see for himself what was going on there.

    ‘Government by crisis.’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwHXExbii0k

    Is that an appropriate characterization?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPqhVoL_dc

  • Sep, 2023
  • Sep 25, 2023

  • #Ideas

    "Actually, offering direct cash assistance is extremely effective in getting children (adolescents) to react to the support measures. It even reaches in the blind spots.


    ... because the de facto officials in Niger ‘no longer want to fight terrorism' France said.

    ?Perhaps admitting it can't put the democratically elected pres France likes into power, and has lost its influence in the region, and can't alter the politics in the region?

    #France #Africa #Colonialism

  • Sep, 2023
  • Sep 18, 2023
  • Elon Musk's Starlink cutoff controversy | Quick Take | GZERO Media - YouTube 

    ‘Great politicians say what they need to win. And then, once they’re elected, all bets are off. The goal of running for president is ... just to win.' - Shkreli


    UAW withholds their endorsement for Biden amid historic strikes - YouTube 
  • Sep, 2023
  • Sep 04, 2023

  • First US president to be charged with a crime. Now not just Israel and African countries, but US also does this.

    Rico-style case. Racketeering, a crime often charged against mobsters, against 19 defendants including Giuliani (who as a prosecuter also did Rico-cases, sometimes against lawyers). They're

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhDkKWCUBRk

    being fingerprinted and mugshotted (photos that will make news around the world) and will be put into this big prison house where 6 people have died last year.

    The aggreived party is the state of Georgia. Interfering in how a state conducts itself in its elections. 2020.


    Trump called it ‘election interference.'



    Less than a day and clothing designers started using the mug shot. When your president's are treated as criminals, do people as strongly avoid the possibllity that they could become criminals? (Speaking of the moral condemnation side of criminalizing, not the deprivation/suffering side.)


    Pfizer claims no one was forced to get the Jab - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2023
  • Aug 21, 2023
  • Argentina’s leading presidential candidate Javier Milei pledges to close the country's central bank - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2023
  • Aug 14, 2023
  • Ecuador: Presidential candidate shot dead at campaign event | DW News - YouTube 
  • Jul, 2023
  • Jul 03, 2023
  • China's Xi Vows to Protect Foreign Investors’ Interests - YouTube 
  • Jun, 2023
  • Jun 17, 2023
  • Charm offensive against China? "CEOs serving as diplomats."

    But “no replacement for government to government relations and official diplomacy"?
  • Presidente de China promete apoyo firme a Honduras, que rompió vínculos con Taiwán | AFP - YouTube 
  • Alien Threats A Facade to Justify Spending Bonanza warns Edward Dowd - YouTube 
  • “Prime minister Modi's effort to dismantle India's democracy and install a racist Hindu ethnocracy in its place.” - Chompsky, on the head of the opposition party in India being thrown in jail.

  • Jun, 2023
  • Jun 01, 2023

  • Alberta election. People say the NDP candidate will do whatever Trudeau says, and she's also said she'll raise taxes on job creators almost 40%. Trudeau's government is not popular for a lot of reasons (currently it seems a Chinese scandal for ‘foreign’ interference).
  • May, 2023
  • May 18, 2023
  • "The no pay for Congress during debt default Act," joked about on Bloomberg. ... "Who's the sponsor?"
     
    Oh wait, that was real
    New bipartisan House bill would block pay for members of Congress if U.S. defaults - YouTube 
  • May, 2023
  • May 15, 2023



  • First of its kind bill, passed in the state.

    “to protect individuals from government surveillance in their personal finances through a CBDC." ... “the efforts to impose a central bank digital currency, which would shift purchasing power from consumers to the government.”

    “weaponization of the financial system through a CBDC.”

  • May, 2023
  • May 07, 2023
  • Loneliness has become an epidemic in U.S., Surgeon General says - YouTube 
  • May, 2023
  • May 04, 2023
  • Lawmakers dump First Republic shares amid banking crisis - YouTube 
  • May, 2023
  • May 03, 2023
  • Patrick Bet-David Offers Tucker Carlson $100 Million To Join Valuetainment - YouTube 
  • Coinbase sets up overseas exchange.

    Was in US. Still is. But now also in Bermuda.
     
  • May, 2023
  • May 02, 2023
  • Central Bank of UK said that wages for labor were going to be less than the rising price of things people are buying, so people just have to get used to it and everyone has to 'take their fair share' ie accept that the standard of living was going to decline

    Controversial for someone in such a position to say so. Question of for what then are these institutions?
     
    Did Pill mean cyclically, that we'd have a few down quarters and then continue upward? or did he mean that a peak has been reached? How does decreasing population and decreasing globalization factor in?
  • Branches of US government doing their own thing?

    Experts seem to be thinking that Powell/Fed are concerned only with their own issue ie inflation. They don't care about banks, or about the economy, or about the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a purely political issue, and must be settled by Congress, is how the attitude was framed by Jim Bianco.

    Does this organization (government departments pursuing their own mission while ignoring other parts of the overall system) contribute to healthier results? or to a fractured overall government which is less efficient?
    Powell in his department looks at inflation. 57% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and couldn't raise $1000. Prices can't be allowed to raise beyond their ability to pay. So if a bunch of rich people need to suffer to decrease inflation we'll do that. The S&P value doesn't matter. (How Bianco framed it.)

    The 57% versus stockholders. But a lot more people are stockholders nowadays than before (everyone created a retail trading app account over the past few years). Might be interesting to contrast 2008 'The 1%' or the 10%, versus the current stockholders versus non-stockholders.
     
  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 25, 2023

  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 06, 2023

  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 04, 2023

  • Zeihan vlogged yesterday predicting the next election would go to Biden, after a race between him and Trump. (nothing to do with the arraignment).


  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 28, 2023

  • Better competitors, more competition, better issues get used by them. DeSantis. 
     
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 27, 2023
  • REPLAY: Humza Yousaf wins race to replace Sturgeon as Scotland's next leader • FRANCE 24 English - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 01, 2023

  • Feb, 2023
  • Feb 19, 2023

  • Feb, 2023
  • Feb 05, 2023
  • Excess deaths, MP calls for urgent and thorough investigation - YouTube Go to 6:40 for the start of Christine Anderson's speech

    "All these people blindly trusted their governments" "A big lie" "It was never about public health. ... It was always about breaking people."

    You are a disgrace! Canada PM Trudeau savaged by German MEP at EU Parliament - YouTube (Anderson a few months ago criticizing Trudeau's unconstitutional government violation of citizen's rights)


    "When members of the EU Parliament asked Pfizer for copies of the contract that Pfizer apparently entered into with the European Parliament, The European Union, this is the level of transparency that they got back." (100 blanked out pages were apparently supplied, said Campbell.


     

     
  • Jan, 2023
  • Jan 25, 2023
  • Global money saturates the globe's leading regulators - title in BMJ


    In UK 86% of the regulators' money comes from industry. US 65%. Canada 50% (so a lower amount maybe doesn't mean all that much).

     
  • Jan, 2023
  • Jan 21, 2023

  • Jan, 2023
  • Jan 18, 2023

  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 02, 2022
  • Politics are becoming a politics of grievance - Jon Alterman

    And how can you have a healthy society built on that?

    A constant rallying point, US, Israel, Middle East. Partially driven by social media and by PEOPLE'S ABILITY TO CHOSE individually what they like (they chose what gives them an emotional response).
    "It's strange that the places we see it most effective (the move away from politics of grievance) is authoritarian states that try not to have politics.

    #government
     
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 27, 2022

  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 21, 2022
  • Trump announced he would run in 2024 last week

    He gave a long announcement speech. Some commented he seemed more tired than last time.

     
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 15, 2022
  • Democrats did better than expected (past few months expectation)

    People thought Republicans would take maybe both houses, because of taxes and Biden things, but now people think that because of the Republican pro-life thing, people went out and voted Democrat.

    Also bad candidates hurt the Republicans.

    Biden maybe 'caused global inflation', but 'people still have their jobs.' And they vote how they feel.


  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 14, 2022
  • Sam Bankman-Fried's political connections. Take this video with a grain of salt. This YouTuber just came across my feed, so I don't know how reliable he is. Later though, I saw quite a lot of YouTubers covering this, including MSM.

     
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 12, 2022
  • US midterm elections

    Summers said he thought it was a step away from extremes toward a stable center holding. People not fighting over the results, losing candidates conceding.
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 09, 2022


  • Oct, 2022
  • Oct 30, 2022
  • Will ISI's revelations bring down public support for Imran Khan? | International News | WION - YouTube 
  • Oct, 2022
  • Oct 24, 2022

  • 5PMs in 6 years for UK. Each one so impressive!

  • How many meetings, over what time frame, is average for a significantly solid peace, in this region and in other regions?
  • Oct, 2022
  • Oct 17, 2022
  • Kanye buying Parler Social Media platform?

    "Nashville-based Parler, which has raised about $56 million till date, said it expects the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2022. It did not give a deal value." - Reuters

    Kanye has been blocked from his Insta etc accounts in the past.

     
  • Sep, 2022
  • Sep 28, 2022
  • Over the past weeks there have been big protests in Iran, and dozens of people have died


  • Sep, 2022
  • Sep 23, 2022
  • Health uber alles - Dennis Prager

    "In the name of health, you can do ANYTHING. Anything. You can lie, you can suppress, you can be cruel, you can distort, you can get rid of doctors who dissent, in the name of health."

     
  • Sep, 2022
  • Sep 18, 2022
  • Trump's ideas are now sort of the orthodoxy - Victor Davis Hanson

    "He could say, I gave you this agenda. That everybody seems to agree that we have to restore the industrial capacity of America. We've gotta be tough on China. We've gotta have a border that's secure. We have to have a different foreign policy. We have to have responsible monetary policy. We've gotta pump oil and gas. And people were not talking about it like I was. And now we're all on the same page."

    Versus the Left's 'Lassaz-faire creative destruction 'They should have learned code' (Left turned on its base who didn't succeed like they had) we need cheap labor from other countries for corporate America so we need an open border.' They substituted White for class. Not just black people, but everybody has grievances (even rich ones) against Whites.

    Hanson says Trump has to not dwell on himself though, if he wants to be current. Or that he could step aside, allowing his ideas to continue for the party but with someone who won't incite the NeverTrumpers. More easy to focus on the issues.

    The Left has the money, the influence, the reach, in this new globalized economy. The Right has the middle classes.

    A Versailles Left that dresses up and plays like peasants, moralistic. A Jacobin Left that doesn't believe people are able to make better decisions than they as government can for everyone. A Maoist Left.
     
  • Sep, 2022
  • Sep 01, 2022

  • Aug, 2022
  • Aug 29, 2022
  • Texas sends more than 9,000 migrants to NYC and DC - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2022
  • Aug 22, 2022
  • Dr. Fauci announces he's stepping down - YouTube 
  • Jul, 2022
  • Jul 02, 2022

  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 18, 2022

  • Is it that there wasn't allowed video before? This release of video has been a headline.

    A few hundred people entered the Capitol building 2 years ago.

    In the event, one woman died from being shot. During the event, 3 other people had medical emergencies which they died from.
  • Biden's approval lowest right now since Carter in 1978

  • He's talking about July 4, one of the 3 holidays where Americans spend a ton of money. They buy lots of food and gas. We'll see if they can afford to do it this year like past years.

    Difference from 2008. 2008 it affected roughly 60% of the population. Today, with inflation, no matter who you are, where you live, how much you make, it will affect you.

    Trump misidentified the stock market as the thing Americans look to to decide whether things are good or bad. Biden misidentified jobs.

    33% of Americans blame the war in Ukraine. 25% blame corporations for charging too much (Biden is trying to blame Exxon etc for the reason why gas prices are so high).

    "The key is not who they blame. The fundamental key is who they think is trying to solve it. And this is where the administration comes up short."

    "The Biden administration is afraid of the political impact so they're downplaying the personal impact. And the truth is they should be candid."

     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 10, 2022
  • US and Canada removed COVID travel restrictions for tourists
  • Belgian king expresses regret for what happened in Congo decades ago (post-1880 labor camp)

    Some want Belgium to apologize, not just express regret, but he didn't do this during his speech during his visit.

     
  • NASA has decided to do a probe into UFO sightings

    Cost is $100k. 9 month study starting this year.
     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 09, 2022
  • US pres Biden invokes Defense Protection Act to get US producers to make more parts for clean energy

    They also lifted tariffs on solar powers from (not China but) Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand.

    US is investigating if some Chinese companies are circumventing US customs duties by assembling parts in poor countries.

    The same Defense Production Act that Biden used to force more baby food production: Baby formula shortage in USA big plant (Abbot in Michigan) was put on pause by the FDA. After some

  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 06, 2022
  • Gravitas: India hits back at US after religious freedoms report - YouTube 
  • May, 2022
  • May 31, 2022


  • May, 2022
  • May 22, 2022
  • US is going to take 'drastic new steps' flying in baby formula with military jets from other countries

    The FDA commissioner was grilled today by Congress about why it's taken months to investigate the Abbot lab. He said they could have done better.

    One of the bills passed by congress was to increase funding for the FDA, partially so they can do more oversight.

    BIden invoked the Defense Protection Act, a wartime tool, to force manufacturers who produce baby formula to prioritize baby food.
  • May, 2022
  • May 05, 2022
  • Denmark suspends vaccinations - YouTube 
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 21, 2022
  • "Africans do not want to be part of your (EU) foreign policy. We want to be free to determine for ourselves whether to condemn or not to condemn Russia." - Halifa Sallah

    Speech - YouTube 
  • Disney expected to lose self-governing status

    It's had this status since it opened in the 1960s, so it can do it's own utilities and emergency services and things no the ground it occupies. It made this arrangement with Florida back then.

    But recently CEOs for Disney there spoke out against a bill (the bill would ban the teaching of gender issues to children kindergarden - grade 3) and said they'd try to have it appealed.

    Florida politicians didn't like that such a big company can try to effect lawmaking in this way.

    The bill to take away Disney's self-governing status is making it's way through legal channels very quickly. But Disney has some months before it would take effect anyway, so the matter isn't settled for sure.

    50m people visit Disney each year.

     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 20, 2022


  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 16, 2022
  • Germany is increasing defense spending by $2b

    "We're seeing an incredible, very interesting shift in German politics not only when it comes to supplying these weapons [to Ukraine] but also on this discourse on this discussion What it means to be a pacifist. And it's just standing by from the sidelines and seeing how Russia continues to attack Ukraine. ... Many are saying that if you want to support peace and you want to actually support Ukraine they need more than just solidarity on social media. They need either this oil and gas embargo or they need delivery of the heavy weapons the Ukrainian president has repeatedly requested." People saying you can still be a pacifist while calling for and supplying these weapons for Ukraine.

    This activist movement in Germany is reportedly a changed movement, the same movement that in the 60s and 80s called for disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament.

    Another thing Germans are saying is that one of the reasons this war occurred is because of NATO expansion.

    In Germany the main activists protesting are Germans, Ukrainians and Syrians.

     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 15, 2022
  • UK making headlines for plan to send refugees to Rwanda

    PM Boris Johnson also made headlines this week for making an apology for violating mask mandate (and something about a fine).
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 12, 2022
  • Democrats try for new gun legislation, citing 'ghost guns'

    Guns that can be ordered as a kit and assembled (from 3 or 4 large parts or blocks of parts, it looks like).
  • France election coming up, and people wondering if Le Pen (nationalist) is France's Trump

    Macron still expected to keep his position, though.

    #France
  • India and Russian energy

    India has appeared somewhat in Western news over recent weeks with a sort of insinuation that it shouldn't buy Russian oil. However, today an Indian politician noted that India's monthly purchase of Russian oil is less than Europe's daily purchase.
     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 11, 2022
  • Iran could teach Russia how to evade sanctions and 'money launder', according to an opinion piece in the WSJ (Dubowitz and Zweig)

    Of Tehran could serve as Russia's broker, taking a cut of the "illicit" trade it facilitates on Russia's behalf.

    Iran has a 'money laundering' architecture, a system they could make available to others.

    US/West kicked Iran of Swift, reduced their oil sales from 2.5b barrels to a few hundred thousand. So Iran has dealt with harsher sanctions than Russia (which still sells gas to Europe and has some institutions on Swift reportedly).


     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 01, 2022
  • Gravitas: Hong Kong separates 2,000 Covid-positive children from parents - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 24, 2022

  • ... the commenter said Z couldn't ban those ones.

  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 11, 2022
  • "Ivermectin use was associated with decreased mortality in patients compared with Remdesevir," according to a newly published paper. But that paper has been withdrawn.

    AP published an article saying the research article was 'flawed.'


    Long list of side effects to look out for - YouTube  
  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 01, 2022
  • "Among the 248 armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions in the world from 1945 to 2001, 201 were initiated by the US, accounting for 81% of the total number" - Chinese embassy in Russia

    They posted a list on their website.

    Victor Gao of Soochow U said China believes Ukraine has been used by the US and Western countries. He said what the US and Europe were doing with sanctions were destabilizing for the region.

    He said US benefits because they want to sell L&G to Europe without competition from Russia, whose LNG is cheaper and more sustainable.

     
  • "Basically, the US regime creates crises, lives off of crises and feeds on various crises in the world. Ukraine is another victim of this policy." - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

  • US wanted to turn Ukraine into anti-Russia, as the meaning of their existence - Sergei Lavrov
     
  • "Since 2014 the Kiev regime has been fighting its own people." - Lavrov (Russian FM to UN Council)

    "The ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis who seized power in Kiev after a revolution supported by the West unleashed real terror.

    "It is impossible to remember the terrible tragedy in Odessa on May 2, 2014 without shuddering.... The criminals who committed this crime were known by name. They posed in front of cameras ...

    "Attempts to draw the attention of the UN human rights council to the atrocities that have been going on for 8 years ran into their indifference." etc. Speech in YouTube link below outlines Russias position.

     
  • Perhaps EU wants to prove its relevance in the situation - Russian EU delegate

  • FIFA banned Russia from participating in World Cup

    FIFA refused to suspend teams located in Israeli settlements in Israeli occupied lands, which violate FIFA's own rules (teams can't play in the territory of another country), according to Ali Abunimah.


     
  • Lots of talk among commentators about promises made by the West in order to have the Soviet Union disbanded

    ... in like 1990 (but over several years, and under several US presidents making having talks). The idea was that in the talks, there was nothing in writing, but it was made clear to Moscow that if the SU allowed the reunification of Germany that NATO would not be expanded. That NATO troops would not be able to enter into the eastern part of Germany (only to West Germany).

    It wasn't a treaty, but it was (people are saying) the agreement that was made.

     
  • John Meashiemer 2015 said in a lecture,

    "But I actually think that what's going on here is that the West is leading Ukraine down the primrose path, and the end result is that Ukraine is going to get wrecked. And I believe that the policy [of] neutralizing Ukraine, building it up economically, getting it out of the competition between Russia on one side and NATO on the other is the best thing that could happen to the Ukrainians.

    "What we're doing is encouraging the Ukrainians to play tough with the Russians. We're encouraging the Ukrainians to think that they will ultimately become part of the West, because we will ultimately defeat Putin and we will ultimately get our way. Time is on our side. And of course the Ukrainians are playing along with this and ... almost completely unwilling to compromise with the Russians, and instead wanna pursue a hardline policy.

    "... it would make much more sense for us to work to create a neutral Ukraine."

    A year after the US-sponsored coup in Ukraine when far-right elements were weaponized by the US to overthrow the government and install what the US thought would be a more pliable one (how Ali Abunimah put it).


     
  • Some draw a parallel between Russia's current invasion and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq

    US government entered after saying Iran had weapons of mass destruction, and held up that little prop vial on TV.

    Ideas of Ali Abunimah talking to BreakThrough News:

    "After 9/11, there was this atmosphere of jingoism, of war fever, of vengefulness, that was directed at other countries and very quickly towards Afghanistan and also toward Iraq. We know how that played out. But also it was internally directed because if you were Muslim, Sikhs, people of color generally lived in terror in this country at that time. ... There was pervasive fear not just of vigilante attacks but of government, monitoring and deportations. ... If you said, "Why did this happen? How did this happen? What led to this point? What are the policies of the US that could have created the conditions for this to happen, you were accused of justifying it. You were accused of justifying it, you were treated as an enemy. You were treated as a traitor. Nothing would be allowed to interfere with the headlong rush into war.

    "The 9/11 attacks happened in September. By late October the US was invading Afghanistan. Then ... in 2003 they started the march to the war in Iraq based on lies. One of the lies was that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. There was absolutely no evidence of that but it was a story they put out. polls ... the majority of Americans believed [that] ... in addition to the question of weapons of mass destruction."

    "I would ask a lot of people who naively supported the invasion of Afghanistan back then, 'If you knew what you know now back then, would you support it again?' Same with Iraq. Forget about people who say this is immoral, this is illegal, this is a war crime."

    "People would say, 'But we were attacked.'"

    "That's a fact we can't change. Is the response to escalate more war or is it to seek a different approach?"

    "I get the same responses today. When you say, 'How did we get here?' you're accused of justifying what Putin did. You're taking the side of Russia. "

    "One of the grievances Putin has is the expansion of NATO."

      
  • Zelenskyy repeats request for Ukraine to become part of EU
     
  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 28, 2022
  • Norway's said it will unwind its $3b worth of Russian holdings from its sovereign wealth fund

  • Zelenskyy wasn't popular among many European nations before, but now he's seen as a kind of folk hero, an underdog fighting for his nation

    ... some say. He didn't accept the US invitation for him to come to the States. He reportedly hasn't been avoiding battles, joining the soldiers where the fighting is. And he has demonstrated he can work 24 hours a day.

     
  • Video being reported on where a Ukrainian is dipping bullets in pig fat, to use against Chechen Muslim
  • Russia-Ukraine peace talks on 5th day of war

    In Belarus, on the Ukraine-Belarus border. Delegations from each country which don't include the two leaders.

  • Belarus constitutional referendum: They voted in favor of hosting nuclear weapons and allow leader to extend his rule (possibly an additional 10 years) and give him immunity to prosecution once he leaves office

    The West said they wouldn't recognize the referendum results, which happened while Russia was invading Ukraine and while Belarus was serving as a launchpad for some of the invading Russian troops.

  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 27, 2022
  • CDC isn't publishing most of the info it has been collecting about Covid patients (referring to boosters)

    They left out 18-49 year-olds, basically skewing the data to sell booster efficacy, according to Breaking Points. Apparently they also had data about breakthrough infections and didn't publish it.



  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 21, 2022
  • Feds are buying data about people from a company that gets it from several apps

    If you are an app developer, and you sell your app data to some company, it can be used this way.

    Some of these apps are for things like gay dating (Bro) and religious prayer and study (Muslim Pro, an app that notifies people 5 times per day it's time for them to pray) (Full Quran, an audio book of the Quran), as well as one where people upload their faces and do virtual makeup on it (Perfect365).

     
  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 18, 2022
  • "Never in my 56 years have I ever experienced a country so divided, so full of hatred towards friends and neighbors. They may have opinions that differ from theirs, but they're so willing to publicly shame and humiliate and spew forth angry vitriol. We have been called 'terrorists.' For the first 36 we were inundated with hatred with threats of violence. People threatened our team on the phone, telling them "We're coming to get you." "We're going to throw bricks through your window." "You'll pay for this you nazi supporter." I personally have been called a disgusting pig of a woman and that I shall rot in hell." Our rural shop out in Meritville, Ontario, someone draped a large bedsheet over our sign ... and the sign read, "Tammy supports terrorists." - Tammy, the woman who was doxed after donating $250 of her own money to the Canadian trucker protest.

    "Late yesterday messages of support and encouragement started to arrive, and people from coast to coast to coast throughout Canada and the US, they've been buying gift cards online and calling themselves 'guardian angels.'"

    "Our kids arrived today and there were heart-shaped balloons hanging from the door handle and the window was covered with little sticky notes and they were all these inspiration notes of encouragement.

     
  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 09, 2022
  • MSM and politicians are calling trucker protest in Canada an 'insurrection'

  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 03, 2022
  • "Hundreds of thousands of people who died in the US did not have to die" - John Nichols, author of Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profeteers

    "Globally, it's in the millions."

    He said a study published in Lancet suggests roughly 40% of deaths in the first year were unnecessary.

    The Pfizer vaccine now accounts for 25% of the company's profits.

    The People's Vaccine Project estimates the 3 vaccine makers make about $65k a minute from the vaccines (that would mean $93m per day).

    In 2021 the vaccines created 9 new billionaires, according to Oxfam (months ago though so could be more).

    The vaccines were developed with taxpayer money (Moderna). The president and Congress have not really done much to try to have them pay taxes on excess profits in this type of moment.

    His book is about people who took advantage or made profits from the pandemic, such as Bezos.

     
  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 22, 2022
  • Video of police hauling off old woman due to vaccine mandate

    ... in Australia. It's the image of it. (I haven't watched it.)

    But an example of what happens when not everyone quietly does what the government says or avoids things, but instead goes about their civilian life which causes a confrontation.

  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 21, 2022
  • Austria became the first country to make vaccines mandatory

    A lockdown solely for the unvaccinated. Tyranny? It was a Christmas without being allowed to go out. Only out for "essential reasons" like shopping at the supermarket.

    In a couple weeks there will be vaccine mandate, meaning there will no longer be a choice to not get the vaccine (except a few medical exceptions). Those not vaccinated will have to pay 200 Euros per person per month. If you refuse, you will be fined a further 3600 Euros. Then they will start confiscating your property and then send people to jail, at least according to some.

    Protests of even over 100k people (country has 8.5m people).
    A general strike is currently being organized, and is seen as the most effective way to fight back against the government.

    Regarding data protection (which is a serious thing in Europe), does this introduce an unlawful dragnet search?


    The vlogger says she doesn't see an effortless end to this, but rather actions and courageousness to fight the government.

      
  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 20, 2022
  • US hospitals reimbursed for hospitalizations for Covid, but not for other things

    Some claim the economic incentive causes bad data and perhaps less than great practice.

    Tax funded.

  • FOI act info in UK and Covid numbers

    In 2020 Q1, the total deaths of people from ONLY Covid (no other underlying conditions), was 9400. Average age 81. That was when the pandemic started, and there were not yet any vaccines.

    (UK has 68m people.)

    2021 Q1, total deaths 6500. Average age around the same.

    Q2 total deaths 350.

    Q3 total deaths 1150.

    In the first 3 quarters of 2021, 17,500 people died of Covid without having other underlying conditions. The average age was 82 years (higher than average life expectancy 79 for men 83 for women).

    This is not what MSM in the UK has been leading people to believe. Official government data says 137k people have died as of Sep 30 2021. This includes all deaths where the person tested positive for Covid, no matter how they died. Seven times higher than the data they have not reported.

    Relatedly,

    A former WHO authority (did he resign?) Karol Sikora (U of Buckingham prof now) said about 50k more people have died from cancer over past 18 months, due to failure to report early, difficulty in seeing a GP, fear of hospital admissions, missed chemo or radio.

    There are 6m people waiting for NHS treatment right now.

     
  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 18, 2022
  • Macron referred to the 5m French who are unvaccinated as 'non-citizens'

    ... and said, "I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do so, to the bitter end. That's the strategy." More protests in the streets followed this. "Liberte" was among the chants.

    Recently Biden also said something like he was 'losing patience' with Americans who didn't agree with universal mandatory vaccination in this case, as though he were not the their civil servant but rather their patriarch?




  • Three strategies recommended in a German government paper: 1. Fear of death by suffocation; 2. Fear of although you get better it can kill you some time later; 3. Having children believe their grandparents can die for their fault.

    UK government has been the number one customer for advertising in media in UK since start of pandemic.

    All the news, especially in a crisis, comes from the government. You need a good contact. If you act as a media broadcaster for the government, you get special benefits.

    If you don't comply with the rules, you are ostracized and a nazi.

    Pharma, big tech, and government, cooperating with the government, make this mass hysteria possible.

    Ways to reduce stress from mass hysteria: exercise and socializing, seeing the faces of other people, smiling. Having fun. Going out to drink, do sports. Forbidden under 'lockdown.'

    Isolation, more vulnerable to messaging (also to 'brainwashing'). Constant bombardment with the same message.

    Decline of religion and church (functions in community, support), more vulnerable to mass hysteria, psychological problems in general.

    "Constitutions are to protect the citizens against the government, but they did not fulfill this role. If this was their role, they totally failed. So constitutions are not the way to go. I think the size of the government has to be reduced. So the connections to the media, the connections to the government should be totally separated, for Big Tech also, for pharmacy, there should be no influence.' - Phillip Bagus.

    'If there is just one voice, if he talks out of this halls of Congress, that normal people cannot walk into, from there he says "There's this killer virus," then you believe. If government would not be responsible for that, if it would be private, there would be many independent specialists about public health, about health issues, which would compete with each other and one would say "This is a killer virus," another would say "No, don't freak out, don't panic, act normal more or less, take some measures." But when you have all this power to the government, then this message of fear can really overwhelm you and lead to the panic.'

    Government controls education, the media.

    'However, a huge part of the population in this crisis has stopped to believe in government. They have become more skeptical, From all political backgrounds. Because the lies of government, what they told about the vaccine, about the threat, and the harm they actually did to people, that people can actually feel it. Many people want their liberty back.'

    'Governments have an incentive to increase threats and use them to increase their power.'

    Also, 'With the State, the politicians have very bad incentives with the mass hysteria, because they face asymmetric payoffs. When they underestimate the threat, that is very bad. They will be ousted. They are responsible. If they overestimate threat. There might also be deaths, but they are not as directly connected with the threat (suicides, bad health, economic). Not connected to the politician decisions. In any case they have the media to protect them. ... The result is to overreact. To do a lockdown. The costs the politician does not assume. He will get his salary, but the people who lose their jobs, their savings, the business they built, they lose. People who get depressions they lose. The politician does not face these. He can externalize them.'

     
  • Chief medical officer should be replaced by Supreme Court style panel, suggested by Valuetainment

    Because Fauci is the constant between the Trump and Biden admins, Fauci's position on (I don't know what it was but it's in a popular book called the Truth about Fauci) AIDS in the 80s.

    "I don't think that position, moving forward, I'm comfortable being one person. I think it's a Supreme Court model [that would be better]. ... On one side, you got somebody that's part of the Peter McCollaugh camp, somebody that's part of a Malone camp ... on the other side, you got a Fauci, you got any of these guys. Sit down, hash it out, let us, let Congress people, question both of you. But right now the only person's argument you're allowed to hear is Tony's.


  • Thousands of UK medical professionals being fired for refusing vaccine mandate against will

    1 in 10 NHS professionals are not vaccinated. They will be fired pretty soon upon a mandated deadline.


  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 18, 2021
  • Gaza battery buildup

    20,000 tonnes of waste batteries have built up in the Gaza Strip (leaking pollutants), because export of batteries is still banned by Israel (13 years now for the ban).
     
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 17, 2021
  • Cluster: Ultra-right, anti-vaccine-mandate, political organization

    MSM is tying vaccine mandate opposition to 'nazis,' it seems.

    But there might be two things here: first, that protesting vaccine mandates (which would include people of all political affiliations) could be a basis for political organization and activity; and radical political extremes in political limitations on those in the chairs.


     
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 12, 2021
  • UK forcasts between 175k and 500k hospitalizations from Omicron

    ... and between 25k and 75k deaths. London School of Medicine. They recommend more vaccinations. They didn't recommend vitamins D or Zinc or the treatment measures discussed in non-mainstream medicine.

    Inconsistent with real-world experience of South Africa, where in a population of 60m 5500 people have been hospitalized so far.

     
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 21, 2021
  • Britain on the cusp of considering officially the entire Hamas as a 'terrorist organization'

    Because it can't tell which parts are political and which militant. Hamas does have a 'political wing,' though.

    US, Canada and EU already designate Hamas a terrorist group.

    The new Israel leadership has been pushing against 'terrorism' and closing NGOs under this justification.

    "I think it's actually a fallacy to consider military and political separate. The political wing is integral in helping the military wing in terrorist organizations." - Anne Herzberg

    Included in the political move, if it passes (and Boris is considered to be pro-Israel) is criminal liability including jail punishment for people who support Hamas (as a 'terrorist organization'). This will affect all groups doing fundraising, meetings, media coverage. A Cambridge University professor commented that it affects teachers and how they teach, and that there has already been challenges to them and their freedom of expression, and the Hamas classification would add to that. She said England's Palestinian community of about 5000 would not any longer be able to speak freely about this issue.

     
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 23, 2021
  • Trust in gov linked to vaccination levels

    Russia, despite having a vaccine earlier, has only 33% vaccination.

    Or does it have something to do with public information about the nationalist approach to a vaccine.

    Reportedly, you can buy a vaccine passport in Russia online for 70Euros, and it doesn't matter if you got the vaccine for real.

    In the US, govt decisions about medicines is being framed in light of incentives. For example, the new Merck Molnupiravir costs $17 to produce and the US is paying $700 a course for it. Expected revenue for Merck this year is $7b.

    The Bill and Melinda gates foundation gave BBC Media Action $1.6m this year. Why?

    In India, the Indian Bar is taking a head of the WHO to court, alleging the WHO give false medical info.

    Another question in the US/West. Early in the Pandemic, the government made decisions based on input from their scientists. The govt thereby thought they were following the science, but was the science correct? Did the chief science officers get it wrong? or what happened there? (Note that even as a layman, during the first week or two of the Pandemic in late Feb 2019, there was data available showing where the virus came from, how it spread, etc., which the government's positions seemed to disagree with, and my guess at the time was that if govt officials were actually motivated to public welfare, they understood from data they had and I didn't but could guess at, that even if they told their populations to treat it seriously and restrict contagion risks, their population wouldn't have obeyed).
     
  • Fed still saying inflation is transitory

    ... despite, many say, many indicators like rising house prices, rents, wages.

    "Yes, you need to fight the Fed," Komal Sri Kumar said this week, which is the opposite of what most stock investors say and have been saying since the Pandemic. "Because the Fed cannot win at all times.

    "We have had times in history when the Fed goes to extremes, it doesn't anticipate what is going to happen, and then the whole thing fails.

    "One example was effort to keep interest rates, bond yields under control during the 1940s, early 50s, and it just collapsed.

    "2008, Fed did not foresee the crisis."

    Many countries have been hiking rates but not in the developed world.

     
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 22, 2021
  • Biden's approval rating down

    Around 35%. Particularly low among independents and women, who were both part of how he got elected.
  • US citizens increasingly think 'democracy' under threat

    Over 70% of Republicans and 35% of Democrats think 'democracy' is serious under threat.
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 19, 2021
  • Colin Powell, 'first black Secretary of State' who worked for Bush White House, died

    ... just a few months after Rumsfeld. Powell was 84.

    According to people commenting on posts about him, he'll be most remembered for lying the US into its war against Iraq, and for 'regime change.' People called him war criminal.

    Here is a piece about him:

    Colin Powell, creator of the viral anti-war meme featuring himself holding a stage prop while lying to the United Nations about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, has died at the age of 84.

    Over the years Powell’s meme has been an invaluable asset for opponents of western military interventionism and critics of U.S. propaganda narratives about empire-targeted nations, serving as a single-image debunk of any assertion that it is sensible to trust the claims U.S. officials make about any government that Washington doesn’t like.

    Note that as effective as visual propaganda is in its message, it is also very effective the other way once it's meaning has been redefined.

     
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 08, 2021
  • China's risk in thinking about conquering Taiwan

    Fairly risk averse gov. Potential of losing is quite deterrent.

    Not much war experience, even to take on the Taiwanese.

    US and Japan are close. India and US are closer than before, increasingly seen as an ally. Aukus and Quad alliances. China increasingly isolated. What diplomatic options?

    Xi's foreign policy is not considered a success over the past 10 years.

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 27, 2021
  • Nicaragua elections, US interference?

    According to Jill Clark-Gollub (Activist with Friends of Latin America), Ortega, who was elected in 2006 after 16 years of the kind of government the US wanted, will easily win the upcoming election in Nicaragua since he has 2 to 1 support, so the US actions there, according to leaks from the US embassy in Managua, is another coup attempt. Since Ortega is the democratically popular leader, the US will try to delegitimize the election, she said.

    US is conducting economic warfare as part of its democracy promotion/meddling/regime change, according to Clark-Gollub. The Nica Act had the US veto projects and loans from multi-lat institutions and aid since 2018. However, the US did send aid during the pandemic (although less than Nica's neighbors). The US sanctions target the whole of government, so how can the minister of health import medicines? The sanctions also target the police and army and the entire Sandanista political party FSLN (2.1 card carrying members of Nicaragua's 6.5m people, although their families would also be affected more or less directly by the sanctions).

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 20, 2021
  • US, UK, Aus form new military pact

    Basically in preparation for a possible war with China, and we might suppose the MIC.

    There has been 'increased tension' between Aus and China recently.

    France quite upset and vocal about being left out. China made the usual critical statements.

    Aus will get a nuclear capable submarine fleet with US/UK tech.

    NATO is maybe not as popular an idea as it once was (if ever), with members making further pacts among themselves and competing in military business matters.

     
  • France recalls ambassadors from Aus and US over submarine deal

    They also cancelled a gala to celebrate France-US relations, and is now reportedly trying to convince other EU countries to pull out of talks with Aus over a proposed free trade agreement.

    The original 2016 deal for 12 French subs was to be estimated $25b, which grew incrementally, finally to $90b, and was behind schedule. $300b would have been the total cost including maintenance for subs not ready till between 2035 - 2050, and there are questions how outdated they might be then.

    Something about China stepping up aggression in the oceans, and Aus looking at buying from the US/UK.

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 14, 2021
  • Trump interview, talks about 'surviving' in role of president

    He was asked in an interview with FoxNews this month what was hard about being pres. He said:

    "Well, I had 2 forms of presidency. Number 1 I had to run the country, work on the world, and do things. In the other one I had to survive. The survival was much tougher, because I had fake Muller people coming after me, I had 19 really haters after me. I had every form of law enforcement after me. It started from the day I came down the escalator. It never stops. I had every prosecutor after me. They're looking at deals I did years and years ago. I forgot about them. ... But if you don't survive, you can't do a good job in terms of running."

    "... with Pelosi and Schumer and all of them. That was probably the toughest. Far tougher than a lot of world leaders."
     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 11, 2021
  • Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to step down

    ... after just a year in office, after the resignation of Abe.

    People said it was just simple politics, that he doesn't have political backup and is stepping down to avoid more infighting which might cause his party (LDP) to lose more seats. Suga's ratings are low.

  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 06, 2021
  • Guinea pres. removed in coup

    Critics say President Alpha Conde didn't deliver on the promises he made that put him in government, Last year he changed the constitution to allow himself a third term.

    The main points are ethnic reconciliation and economic improvement. Critics say that although he said he would work towards ethnic unification, he later politicked and used ethnic divisions to advantage.

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 01, 2021
  • FDA’s former acting chief scientist: “FDA is losing two giants who helped bring us many safe and effective vaccines over decades of public service.”

    Office of Vaccines Research and Review Director Marion Gruber, Ph.D. and Deputy Director Phillip Krause, M.D.


  • Chinese govt erases rich actress from internet

    Zhao Wei fled to France.

    From News.au:

    On Friday, Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration agency issued a set of instructions to social media and internet operators aimed at “rectifying issues” with fan communities.

    The purpose was to ensure “political and ideological safety in the cyberspace as well as creating a clean internet”.

    Celebrities can no longer be ranked in order of popularity.

    Talent agencies must submit themselves to Communist Party oversight.

    Fan clubs must be licenced and officially authorised.

    Any disagreement between fans of different high-profile personalities must immediately be censored.

    The regulatory crackdown follows the publication of a policy guideline, Implementation Outline for the Establishment of a Rule of Law-Based Society, which mandates the establishment of “moral norms” as “legal norms”.

    China is reportedly banning stars who are considered immoral. Zhao has been in various scandals over the years. She has also been in conflict with the CCP for her friendly relations with Taiwan and Japan, it seems.

    She was accused of tax evasion Friday. If she pays the $A63m fine, she might be able to return to normal life in China.

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/china-erases-billionaire-actress-zhao-wei-from-history/news-story/94100f6569377078cfeee411f5fc3538
     
  • Aug, 2021
  • Aug 23, 2021
  • Future political change in US, taking apart Big Tech - Stoller's guess

    (Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project)

    'The pace setters of our ideology right now, of these dominant centers of power, and ignoring that power to just sort of focus on other questions that matter but that don't touch power directly, that don't touch concentrated commercial power. This is big tech. It's Amazon, it's Facebook, it's Google, it's Apple, it's Microsoft. These are the pace setters of our economic order. And I think that we're going to be taking those apart. And as we take those apart, because they are too powerful, and the Right and Left have both kind of come to that conclusion, there are going to be so many other consequences of that choice.

    'To take apart the most powerful firms in your economy means that you're really restructuring how you think about political philosophy and political economy, and that's going to have lots of consequences in every industry across the board, and you're already kind of seeing it.'

     
  • Aug, 2021
  • Aug 22, 2021
  • Taliban's future plans and update from them

    Abdul Qahar Balkhi, from the Taliban’s Cultural Commission, in the Taliban’s first official interview since it took control of Kabul a week ago (talking to AJ):

    On government formation

    "The consultations are ongoing, and of course it is going to be an inclusive system.

    "The talks include whether the capital will remain in Kabul or move to [the group’s birthplace] Kandahar.

    On the chaos at Kabul airport

    Balkhi: We are in talks and we have a relationship, a working relationship, with the Americans about the security arrangement.

    The outside checkposts are in our control, and inside is under the control of the US forces, and we are in constant contact with one another.

    On the lack of trust between people in Kabul and the Taliban

    Balkhi: It is very unfortunate for people to be rushing to the airport the way they are at the moment.

    Because we have announced a general amnesty for everyone in the security forces from the senior to the junior level… this fear, this hysteria that has taken place is unfounded.

    On the swift takeover of Kabul

    Balkhi: The developments were so fast that all people were taken by surprise.

    When we entered Kabul, and it was not planned because we announced initially that we do not want to enter Kabul, and we want to reach a political solution before entering Kabul and making a joint and inclusive government. But what happened was that the security forces left, abandoned their places, and we were forced to ask our forces to enter and take over security.

    On governance and women’s rights

    Balkhi: The point of intra-Afghan talks was precisely that we come to an agreement about what those rights actually entail.

    Islamic law is known to everyone and there are no ambiguities about the rights of women, the rights of men, not only women but also the rights of men and children. And right now we’re in a situation that hopefully during the consultations there will be clarifications about what those rights are.

    On the reported targeted killings and harassment of government and civil society figures

    Balkhi: O    On the chaos at Kabul airportur foremost priority is the discipline in our own ranks, and not enforcing laws on others but enforcing it on ourselves first and then giving it an example for the rest of society to follow suit. So we’re the first ones and our members, if they are involved in such things, [they] will be the first to be prosecuted.
    On the group being labelled ‘terrorists’

    Balkhi: I don’t think people believe we are terrorists. I think it’s just “the war on terror”, it was just a term coined by the United States and anyone [who did] not fall in line were labelled terrorists.

    ...

    What a difference it makes to hear a non-aggressive man speak English. It's the first time I've heard anything other than Taliban elders speaking with subtitles underneath. While they may have sounded a bit rough or stern, perhaps part of that was simply a rougher, sterner way of just speaking normally there.

    Although some wondered if it was just a charm offensive, not representative of the Taliban.

    AJ English on YT: Taliban official reveals more about the group’s vision for the future
     
  • Women, girls and minorities

    This seems to be the mantra used by mass media, voicing the US gov side of the Afghan issue.

    The Taliban has said their government won't be like a Western democracy but will protect everyone's rights, but critics doubt this given the Taliban's record for ...

    Is this because Western govs can't really say they protect rights anymore? and really just have a few things they really hold up (some say unfairly positively prejudice in favor of)? Those three things.
  • Some US National Guards seeking to limit their deployment unless a state of war is actually declared by Congress

    'The mission for the National Guard has to be changed,' said one vet.

    Traditionally, the National Guard is activated by the states to deal with domestic emergencies (natural disasters, civil disturbances, pandemics). And support and backup for overseas military operations. Lots served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    They were a strategic reserve, and are now 'a combat operationally-focused reserve capability,' according to some.

    States are obligated to make them available in 'national security threats.' The issue is 'What is a national security threat?' The 2001 War on Terror resolution has allowed the last 4 presidents to use them for their wars, and they all have done so. Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Some, like Congresswoman Idaho Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin, believe undeclared wars (all American wars since WWII) are not included, according to Article 1 of the Constitution. Article 1, for allowing Federal use of the state's militia, is for executing the laws of the nation, suppressing insurrection, and repelling invasions.

    'Defend the Guard' is the name of one of the groups doing this.

    However, the states might not be able to limit Federal control of the Guard after it 'has been mobilized for Federal service in the context of any law, or mobilized for Federal training as a reserve of the army or air force, the states have no control over what the president or the DoD does with those units once they're in that status.' (Brig. Gen. David McGinnis (Red.))

    One thing the Fed can do is limit funding for the Guard if they don't come when called on. Hundreds of millions per year.

    Some say the Guard, as a result of it's militarization and combat deployments, is better trained, equipped, and more integrated with the active military.

    But is that a good type of better for doing state domestic emergencies?


    WIkipedia: Article One of the United States Constitution
     
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 23, 2021
  • China announces sanctions on seven Americans, including HRW's Sophie Richardson

    China's foreign ministry spokesperson also referred to American 'preaching' and 'arrogance.'

  • France lower house approved a bill to give the government more powers to combat things tied to 'religion' (Islamist separatism)

    Powers to enable the government to do things with religious organizations and places of worship, foreign funding, home schooling, wearing religious symbols and certain clothing, and 'online abuse.'
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 22, 2021
  • Merkel at last press conference says 'we' did not do enough for global warming goal (keeping it under 2 degrees)

    ... and that this is why 'we need to step up our efforts.' She was in power 16 years.

  • Assassinations of political leaders, or at least reports of them

    Most recent in Madagascar for a plot.

    In previous weeks Haiti's president was killed by a squad of gunmen, and Mali's interim leader said he was victim to an attempt.

     
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 07, 2021
  • Haitian president assassinated at home

    At 1am armed men, some speaking French, some English, entered his residence and shot him and his wife (who died later). His son escaped.

    We don't know what group the assassins belong to, or how they get past security, or how they knew anything about the interior of the residence.

    President Jovenel Moise won (with 8% of the vote) in 2017. Due to violence in the country, he assumed office without continuing to Haiti's second round of the election, so many considered him illegitimate in the role. When called to step down, he didn't, and some said he was increasingly authoritarian.

    Haiti has a lot of violence. Most of the population lives on a few dollars a day, and parts of the country are not regularly accessible because they are controlled by armed groups and bandits.

    Now there's a shuffle ongoing to put in a new leader, as the VP died months ago of Covid-19.

    The PM announced that day a 'state of emergency.'

     
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 02, 2021
  • Historical 'revisionism' in China, CCP anniversary

    China's Communist Party marked it's 100th anniversary, and Xi made a big speech, using quite marshal language and stating China wouldn't be pushed around by foreign powers.

    China is practicing 'historical nihilism,' according to China Centre (Oxford U) Director Rana Mitter, revisionism in which the communist political movement started with a handful of guys in the 1920's, and then some stuff happened which was necessary or inevitable, and then they are where they are now.

    The take is that before Communism, China was being buffeted by various foreign factors like Western imperialism and the 'Century of Humiliation,' Opium Wars, Japanese invasion in the 1920s; and the CCP is the final vehicle of destiny that allowed China to stand up for itself.

    He said that in China you can't mention the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s (where 10's of millions died), and that the Cultural Revolution, although more complex, can be talked about in China but you have to be careful which parts you talk about.

  • Jun, 2021
  • Jun 27, 2021
  • Palestinian protesters want Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to resign following death of one of his critics in custody

    The man's family said the autopsy report showed he had been beaten.

    'What Nizar faced was planned and organized crime,' said a protester.

    The protesters who assembled in Ramallah had other complaints, including corruption, cronyism, disregard for legitimate process, and not protecting the rights of Palestinians. Abbas recently postponed Palestinian elections indefinitely.
  • 5 years since Brexit referendum (June 23, 2016)

    A panelist back then: 'The spell of the European Union not being questioned has been broken.'

    The vote result was kind of a surprise.

    A recent poll has it that 48% of Britons think it was the wrong decision to have made, and 40% the right decision.

     
  • Jun, 2021
  • Jun 26, 2021
  • Trump held his first rally since leaving office

    He left office Jan 20. He hasn't done anything really public except a few interviews since then.

    He doesn't have options for speaking to the public he used to have, since Twitter and Facebook banned him earlier this year.

     
  • Jun, 2021
  • Jun 14, 2021
  • Israeli PM Netanyahu voted out after 10 years

     
  • Jun, 2021
  • Jun 13, 2021
  • Macron slapped

    ... by a man behind a regular barricade when the French pres walked up to talk to people. The man nearest him grabbed the presidents arm, yelled 'Down with Macronism,' and slapped his face.

     
  • US Republicans very much enjoying Kamala Harris' not visiting the US/Mexico border

    They're counting the days (now about 80) since she's held a news conference on the immigration issue.

    She's been down in Guatemala, tasked with addressing the root cause of the immigration crisis.

    According to Ted Cruz in a recent criticism of the Biden government, the US is seeing the highest rate of illegal immigration in 20 years.

     

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