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Today: 80 articles and 343 comments as of 9:39.
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First Etihad passenger plane lands in Israel
Today's Headlines
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2 20:51 Thravilet White5344 [1] 
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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18 20:00 Zebulon Spoluger1912 [1]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Crime Pays: Goldman Strikes $2BN Deal With DoJ To Avoid All Charges Tied To 1MDB

[via ZH (BBG requires sub)] Goldman Sachs is reportedly on the cusp of settling one of the biggest criminal cases involving a Wall Street bank since the financial crisis: According to a Bloomberg News report published late Monday evening, the Vampire Squid has reached a tentative agreement with the DoJ to pay more than $2 billion in penalties - a figure that BBG noted is "broadly in line with analysts expectations" - and - here's the key bit - allows the bank to avoid all criminal penalties.

That last bit is especially important, because, as we've chronicled over the past few years, many of the bank's top executives appeared to have been personally involved with the deal, which was initially brought in by Tim Leissner, formerly the bank's top man in Southeast Asia, before he was suspended over the deal, before agreeing to cooperate with the Feds against his former employer (where he reportedly told authorities about the endemic "culture of corruption" at play within the bank).

Though we can't be certain, we suspect that the timing of former Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein's departure was influenced by the unfurling scandal; he suddenly left the bank right around the time that Leissner flipped. Word on the street was that Goldman would be made to admit guilt as part of the deal. Indeed, a leak about an 'imminent' deal published nearly 1 year ago claimed that the bank had reluctantly agreed to the plea. Apparently, the bank's legal team was able to avert this, amid whispers that connections between Goldman's representatives and the current leaders of the DoJ might create conflicts of interest (a negotiating tactic that the bank appears to have leveraged to its advantage; note the deal is reportedly coming just weeks before a close American presidential election).

The deal comes just months after Goldman agreed to pay $3.9 billion in "reparations" to the government of Malaysia for its role in raising the $6.5 billion that seeded the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, which was supposed to be used to finance public projects, but was instead drained by cronies of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been convicted in Malaysia for his role in the region's largest-ever financial fraud.

That settlement included $2.5 billion in cash payments from Goldman to the Malaysian government.

But the fraud's true ringleader was a mysterious financier named Jho Low, who allegedly orchestrated the siphoning off of money from the fund, which was disbursed to bank accounts controlled by Razak, and others controlled by Low and presumably other cronies. Low went on to spend the money on a seemingly endless stream of luxury goods - jewels, fine art, yachts - Low even used some of the money to finance the film "the Wolf of Wall Street", and to make illegal campaign contributions to the campaign of former President Barack Obama (this, after Razak was once criticized for his "golf diplomacy" with the former president while his country struggled with historic floods).

The DoJ has seized billions of dollars of these ill-gotten gains, and even returned some of the stolen money to Malaysia.

Goldman has struck deals with prosecutors in at least three countries over its role in 1MDB: in Singapore, the bank could face serious criminal penalties if it is caught violating its settlement agreement. All told, the bank will pay $5 billion in cash penalties tied to 1MDB, an amount that's roughly in line with expectations.

Goldman pays $2 Bn in 1MBD corruption probe, avoids criminal conviction.

That's how the legal system really works
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 20, 2020

In return, the bank and its top executives will simply walk away, while Leissner (who pleaded guilty two years ago per his plea deal) and another banker who was arrested in connection with the investigation are left to face the music.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 08:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Goldman pays $2 Bn in 1MBD corruption probe, avoids criminal conviction.

Could have knocked me over with a feather on that one. I hope they can still afford to pay Hillary $200k for a 30-minute talk.

It wasn't all that long ago when GS was private. Now, common stock holders assume the risk.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 9:02 Comments || Top||


#3  good, now we have aroad map for enacting new laws to avoid this kind of illegal sh-t
Posted by: 746 || 10/20/2020 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I expect that the DoJ got info from GoldSac that will lead toward other criminal or civil action.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 10/20/2020 20:49 Comments || Top||


Ghislaine Maxwell's 'extremely personal' 418-page deposition about her secret sex life must be made PUBLIC, court rules
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • A federal appeal court ruled Monday that a 418-page deposition where Ghislaine Maxwell is interrogated about her sex life must be made public

  • The Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in New York found that the British socialite's argument against its release was 'meritless'

  • The ruling means that the document could be made public within days

  • This comes after Maxwell's attorneys fought tooth and nail to keep it private

  • Maxwell's lawyers have previously said the deposition concerns attempts to 'compel Ms Maxwell to answer intrusive questions about her sex life'

  • They have called the questioning 'extremely personal, confidential and subject to considerable abuse by the media'
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She was a huge moderator on reddit. /r/worldnews and several others. Posted pro pedophilia comments and suddenly ceased posting the day she went to jail.
Posted by: Elmung Hatrack5948 || 10/20/2020 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  A bombshell book and soon to be cast, direct to video movie.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 8:18 Comments || Top||

#3  not sure I want to watch that movie (ick)
Posted by: Shavitch Bucket3905 || 10/20/2020 16:54 Comments || Top||


Historians will excavate a cemetery in the search for victims of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in which an estimated 300 black people were killed and buried in unknown locations
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I collect OLD Federal and GA. Legal Code editions.
I have some dating back to the 1890's

Recently I purchased a 1933 GA. Legal Code at an estate sale. In this Democrat party Written Legal Code manual, one quickly and overwhelmingly notices law after law written by Democrats addressing person of Color. Like Felonies for mix marriages.

The Democrats law makers were extremely clear time and time again in their pre-1975 laws. If it ain't White its colored. (Asian, Black, Hispanic etc..)

Yet! just 40 years later (1976), after the Democrat law makers that wrote those racist 1933 laws, the black community was already voting 98%+ Democrat?

I failed to understand why, until I read the Soviet leader Josef Stalin chicken example.

Stalin vs the Chicken
Posted by: NN2N1 || 10/20/2020 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Please find under Fred's 'inconvenient truths' section. Far end of he hall, to the left.
It's frequently visited, we keep the door unlocked.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Tragic, but coming up on 100 years ago.

During my lifetime, every race riot has been by blacks against whites, Asians, Hispanics, and Jews.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 10/20/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||


#5  ^ firebrand
So Detroit Red would burn them too? Wouldn't surprise anyone
Posted by: Vespasian Slaise2755 || 10/20/2020 9:54 Comments || Top||

#6  So, just as "what if" - what if they find nada?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 15:05 Comments || Top||

#7  then they'll stage another riot. Never let a riot oppty go to waste
Posted by: Theting Sleregum8134 || 10/20/2020 15:48 Comments || Top||

#8  If actually located, I see no reason why they could not vote.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 16:04 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Jeff Bridges reveals Lymphoma diagnosis
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:23 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Dude abides...
Posted by: Warthog || 10/20/2020 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Lymphoma is in fact a big familia of cancers. Big enough there are doctors specializing in them specifically and not on cancers in general. And some forms of them are curable
Posted by: JFM || 10/20/2020 11:55 Comments || Top||


Rush Limbaugh, 69, gives grim update on his lung cancer fight and tells listeners he can no longer deny 'he is under a death sentence' after recent scan showed signs the disease has 'progressed'
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

So long my friend. Excellence in broadcasting indeed!

Posted by: Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 || 10/20/2020 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Our prayers are with you.

Your monologues, comments and reporting of FACTS have awaken America.

Thank you for Keeping America abreast of the REAL ISSUES hidden by too many in DC. By doing so you have fought and stalled Socialism & Liberalism advancement by 40 years.

You have given my children and grandchildren the knowledge and means to defend themselves and our country.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 10/20/2020 6:38 Comments || Top||

#3  One more thing for the Proggie, Socialist, Democrats to celebrate.

2020 has been a bad year.
Posted by: AlanC || 10/20/2020 7:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Been fortunate to be able to listen to Rush in the past few weeks. He is as good - if not better - than ever. His time may be limited (as is all of ours), but he is not letting this define him. Grace in the face of adversity.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 10/20/2020 10:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Rush is an institution.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:27 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ Absolutely. He is Mr. Talk Radio.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 10:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Thank God and Cape Girardeau for loaning him to us for such a time as this.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 10:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Just noticed he is only 69. What a raw deal.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 13:48 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
The National Museum of the US Army near Fort Belvoir, VA Finally Has an Opening Date
[Mil.Con] The story of the American soldier will finally have a home for the telling when the National Museum of the United States Army opens on Veterans Day.

Exhibits will include Gen. Douglas MacArthur's famous cap; the "tinpot" helmet worn by World War I Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Alvin York; and a WWII Sherman tank called the "Cobra King," which was the first to break through German lines to help besieged troops at Bastogne.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 08:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  The Infantry Museum at Benning has some interesting stuff, and the Artillery Museum at Sill has a neat outdoor walk with Napoleons, 75's, 88's, a 105 and a 155, and one of the two atomic cannons
Posted by: ed in texas || 10/20/2020 18:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Took the Sill walk at son's graduation from basic
Posted by: Frank G || 10/20/2020 19:56 Comments || Top||


Florida wildlife investigators uncover flying squirrel trafficking ring: officials
[FOX] At least seven people have been charged in an "elaborate" flying squirrel trafficking scheme in which poachers in Florida caught thousands of the rodents before selling them to buyers in Asia, officials said on Monday.

Poachers are accused of illegally catching more than 3,500 flying squirrels, a protected species in Florida, over a three-year period, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

They allegedly set up to 10,000 traps in trees around the rural area of Marion County, Fla., located about 80 miles northwest of Orlando, before the rodents were sold to a wildlife dealer in Bushnell -- who resold them as captive-bred pets -- not wildlife.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 08:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't there something years ago about poaching and selling moose bile to China?

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme".__ S.L. Clemens
Posted by: Mercutio || 10/20/2020 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  setting cookie
Posted by: Mercutio || 10/20/2020 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, but did they come with that cute little flying helment?
(I want to know how Rocky got from central Florida to Frostbite Falls, MN in the first place...)
Posted by: ed in texas || 10/20/2020 13:14 Comments || Top||

#4  (I want to know how Rocky got from central Florida to Frostbite Falls, MN in the first place...)

Duh, he's a flying squirrel!
Also, I think Bullwinkle can drive.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/20/2020 13:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Funny to see Whitmer sitting next to Boris Badenov.

Now we know for sure (tho we always suspected that btch was a Commie)
Posted by: Glelet the Wide1488 || 10/20/2020 13:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I want to know how Rocky got from central Florida to Frostbite Falls, MN in the first place

"The animals were then driven in rental cars to Chicago..."
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 16:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Funny to see Whitmer sitting next to Boris Badenov.

My younger self found Natasha Fatale totally hot. It was the accent. And maybe the evil.

Gretchen is evil, but she has too much of the Bruce Jenner thing going on. Besides, she talks like she's from Michigan.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/20/2020 22:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Funny to see Whitmer sitting next to Boris Badenov.

Itvs trew.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 23:17 Comments || Top||


Jeffrey Toobin suspended by The New Yorker after exposing himself on Zoom call
Ick.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] New Yorker contributor and CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended by The New Yorker after he showed his penis on a Zoom call with his co-workers. WNYC were also on the call.

Shortly after news spread about Toobin's suspension "Zoom Dick" began trending on Twitter.



A spokesperson for The New Yorker said "Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter."

Toobin spoke to Vice and said "I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers."

Toobin, who graduated from Harvard, rose to fame after covering the OJ Simpson trial. A notorious never-Trump voice, Toobin often appears on CNN to discuss matters such as impeachment and the upcoming election.
Posted by: Fred || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


#2  Why suspend him?
Isn't this what our media narcissists do for a living?

^This comment deserves "Snark-O-the-Day" - 3dc
Posted by: Enver Flailing8454 || 10/20/2020 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  And the media all tied up trying to cover for Plugz and Hoover. No juice let to spin Toobs' problems...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 8:35 Comments || Top||

#4  I mean, come on, are these MSM'ers/Lefties sickos or what?
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 8:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Can we start calling him Jeffrey Two Inch now?
Posted by: Raj || 10/20/2020 9:17 Comments || Top||

#6  According to VICE (haha), this Zoom call was for "an election simulation" in which the New Yorker uh staff er members were playing different roles - one playing Biden, another Trump, another Pelosi, another "the military" etc. Toobin was invited to play the "role" of "the Supreme Court."

Leaving aside the matter of these assholes' sick and weird power fantasies - why do they play stupid games where they imagine themselves destroying our democracy? - you have to wonder why Toobin got so hot n bothered..

Tell us Jeff, what it was that got your rocks off in this New Yorker "simulation exercise": fantasies of Elena Kagan? Imagining yourself in the role of the Wise Latina? Or being dominated by ACB?
Posted by: Angusong Darling of the Trolls3033 || 10/20/2020 9:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Give a warm Zoom greeting to Tiny Toob.
Posted by: Waldemar Flomonter9347 || 10/20/2020 9:50 Comments || Top||


#9  "Good afternoon everyone. Just a reminder, you will role-play your assigned casting quarter, and this is member's only...Mr. Toobin, that is NOT what I meant."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#10  "I thought you said 'erection stimulation'!"

Leaving aside the matter of these assholes' sick and weird power fantasies - why do they play stupid games where they imagine themselves destroying our democracy?

It's the ruling class version of an MMORPG.
Posted by: charger || 10/20/2020 12:40 Comments || Top||

#11  While we are on the subject here are the people he was talking to that made him want to fap.
Posted by: Waldemar Flomonter9347 || 10/20/2020 13:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Henceforth to be known as Jeffrey Toobout.
Posted by: gorb || 10/20/2020 15:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Thought that was Gene Simmons for a second.

I'm going to go with, "Second Monitor, Netflix and Child."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 15:55 Comments || Top||

#14  Toobsteak Toobin.
Posted by: Thor Thomoth4371 || 10/20/2020 21:12 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Cyclops baby albino shark shocks fishermen after they find it inside the gut of an adult
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somehow I thought this was related to Florida Man
Posted by: Cholugum Gravitch5517 || 10/20/2020 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  From aft, a hysterical squeal.
"He's shocked? How the f--- do we feel?"
The mutant shark said,
As the fishermen fled,
To his meal, the electrical eel.
Posted by: Large Whinese2442 || 10/20/2020 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  But no laser...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 8:37 Comments || Top||

#4  I saw Cyclops Baby Albino Shark at The Empty Bottle just last year.
Posted by: charger || 10/20/2020 13:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Better this little guy than that Exalted Cyclops, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WVA).
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 14:11 Comments || Top||


-War on Police-
NYPD Sees Nearly 90% Rise in Retirements
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 12:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There has been a lot of commentary about cops leaving the job early, but no one is talking about how to replace them. The first problem is throughput - the recruitment/training/graduation process is sized to meet the current retirement rate. Cutting budgets is not going to make this better.

The second problem is what do you replace the retirees with? Let us say, for the sake of argument, there are two reasons to become a cop: 1) You want to make the world better or 2) You want to push people around. Anyone in Group 1 will find greener pastures than your big Progressive city, either small town departments or another profession entirely. For Group 2, this is a gold mine. Departments will be desperate for bodies, standards and testing be damned.

tl;dr: The current Progressive city fuckedupedness will result in smaller and worser police forces.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/20/2020 19:48 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ vicious circle.
Or, How Republics Die
Posted by: Thravilet White5344 || 10/20/2020 20:51 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
US Extending Canada, Mexico Border Travel Restrictions Until Nov. 21, DHS Says
[EpochTimes] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Oct. 19 that U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada will remain closed to all nonessential travel until Nov. 21 as a measure to contain the spread of the CCP virus.

"We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to identify safe criteria to ease the restrictions in the future & support our border communities," acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said on Twitter.

Land borders were shut in March in response to the outbreak and have been repeatedly extended since then, with the most recent closure extension scheduled to lapse on Oct. 21. The closure doesn’t affect air travel or apply to people providing essential services.

"Supply chains, including trucking, will not be impacted by this new measure. Americans and Canadians also cross the land border every day to do essential work or for other urgent or essential reasons, and that travel will not be impacted," DHS said on its website.

"The U.S. and Mexican governments further recognize critical services such as food, fuel, healthcare and life-saving medicines must reach people on both sides of the border every day. Essential travel must therefore continue unimpeded during this time."

Canada’s public safety minister said that the earliest the border will reopen is now Nov. 21.

"We are extending non-essential travel restrictions with the United States until November 21, 2020. Our decisions will continue to be based on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe," Canadian Emergency Minister Bill Blair said in a tweet on Oct. 19.

The land border closure extension comes as parts of the United States experience surges in CCP virus cases. On Oct. 16, health officials reported more than 70,000 new infections, making it the highest single-day increase in the United States since late July.

According to Worldometers tallies, there are nearly 8.4 million infections and just over 224,000 deaths due to the virus in the United States, over 851,000 cases and 86,000 deaths in Mexico, while Canada has recorded nearly 200,000 infections and just over 9,700 deaths.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/20/2020 01:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Then how can they vote in the presidential election? Oh, that's right, they can vote by mail.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/20/2020 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Not restricted enough.

Border Patrol finds 27 illegal immigrants trapped inside train cars in Texas
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||

#3  trains planes and automobiles cardboard boxes in trucks
Posted by: Lemuel Black1690 || 10/20/2020 13:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Tunnels. Don't forget the tunnels...
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/20/2020 19:41 Comments || Top||

#5  ...and Pangas on the beach...
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/20/2020 19:42 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ ICE/Coast Guard are pretty good at tracking/stopping those lately, it seems
Posted by: Frank G || 10/20/2020 20:00 Comments || Top||

#7  +Implement "coast watchers"...lol.
yep true, they have busted many more..
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/20/2020 22:49 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt licenses 100 churches, service buildings: Cabinet
[AlAhram] This brings the total number of churches and service buildings legalised by the committee to 1,738 since 2017

A cabinet committee in charge of licensing churches operating without a permit has legalised the status of 45 churches and 55 service buildings since May, the cabinet’s front man, Nader Saad, said.

This brings the total number of churches and related service buildings legalised by the committee since its establishment in 2017 to 1,738, Saad added.

The announcement came during a meeting headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and attended by a number of state officials, including Minister of Justice Omar Marwan and Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy.

The officials have reviewed the status of churches and related buildings which have submitted requests for legalisation since the committee’s last meeting on 18 May, Saad said.

In 2016, Egypt’s parliament approved a long-awaited law regulating the building and renovation of churches. In 2017, the committee was established by the prime minister.

The 10-member committee comprises one Christian representative, six government officials from several ministries, representatives from the national security apparatus, the intelligence apparatus, and the administrative control body.

Egypt's Copts make up about 10-14 percent of the country's 100 million-plus population, according to unofficial statistics, with the vast majority of Christians in Egypt belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/20/2020 00:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Change.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/20/2020 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Crazy.

Imagine where everyone would be without Sissi.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 23:19 Comments || Top||


Britain
Non-Coronavirus deaths fall for FIFTH week in a row in England and Wales, make up only 95.6% of all fatalities
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Coronavirus deaths rise for FIFTH week in a row in England and Wales with 36% rise to 438 in early October and now make up 4.4% of all fatalities
  • Office for National Statistics report shows deaths rising continuously since September 11

  • Fatalities in England and Wales had fallen for 19 straight weeks until second wave bit at the end of summer

  • Covid-19 now accounts for around one in every 23 deaths, up from 3.2 per cent a week earlier

Although the number of deaths rising is a concern, the current numbers still don't compare to those in the peak of the first wave, when more than 1,000 people died each day. In the worst week on record, between April 11 and 17, the deaths of a staggering 8,758 coronavirus patients were recorded. The most recent week is just five per cent of that number.
The graphs are fascinating.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 05:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BTW week 30 of the 2 week lockdown to "save the NHS" although
a) it's supposed to save us
b) it was never overwhelmed.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Nor was the Javits Center overwhelmed...nor that USN hospital ship sent to Nueva York...nor ___________.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Ross Clark
The growing evidence on lockdown deaths


According to the ONS, an extra 25,472 people have died at home than would otherwise be expected from the average past five years — some of them, no doubt, would have died even if they had reached hospital, but not all. Meanwhile, the NSPCC has reported that calls to its helpline averaged 8,287 in May compared with 5,593 in early March, as children were shut away at home with their abusers.

These are just a few of the effects of lockdown, and of the poor messaging that led to many people failing to seek medical attention. These numbers will eventually have to be balanced against the lives potentially saved by the lockdown.


These lives killed by lockdown are a lot YOUNGER than those above the above average lifespan (82.4) who died of COVID and thus the impact of the lockdown cultists on man years of life has been horrendous.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 13:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting factoid - flu deaths each year are calculated based on the difference between actual deaths and a baseline. No one actually tests for flu. It's just an estimate. This year flu deaths are down 95%. Anyone want to guess why?
Posted by: Iblis || 10/20/2020 13:57 Comments || Top||

#5  USA WEEKLY DEATH FIGURES CDC
These are 7 day figures.

Period....Deaths....Infections
9/5/2020 .... 4,601 ....56,251
9/12/2020.... 4,164 ....54,963
9/19/2020.... 3,707.... 53,915
9/26/2020.... 3,521.... 52,528
10/3/2020.... 2,910.... 47,411
10/10/2020.... 1,741.... 35,708
10/17/2020.......251.... 10,882

Deaths & Infections are steadily DECLINING & so has the death to Infection ratio .

FIGURES are from the CDC's own website.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

You'll note the PEAK WEEK was APRIL 18th about 6 months ago.

4/18/2020 17,076 76,598
Posted by: NN2N1 || 10/20/2020 19:09 Comments || Top||

#6  @5: From CDC

DEATHS: COVID ALL
9/19/2020 3,707 53,915
9/26/2020 3,521 52,528
10/3/2020 2,910 47,411
10/10/2020 1,741 35,708
10/17/2020 251 10,882

The data for the last three weeks are incomplete and should be ignored. The "all" deaths for those weeks will rise to the 50,000 level when all the data is in.
Posted by: KBK || 10/20/2020 19:41 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Evo Morales signals intention to return to Bolivia after his leftist heir Luis Arce's sweeping presidential election victory
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
In December 2019, Morales moved from Mexico to Argentina, where he was also granted political asylum. Later that month, an arrest warrant was issued for Morales by Bolivian prosecutors for alleged sedition and terrorism. The interim government alleged that Morales promoted violent clashes in the country before and after he left office. In February 2020, Morales announced that he would run for a seat in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly in the 2020 Bolivian general election. On February 20, however, the national electoral tribunal ruled that Morales was ineligible to run for Senate

Posted by: Fred || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Venezuela 2.0
Posted by: European Conservative || 10/20/2020 14:14 Comments || Top||

#2  2-null? Gegen welche Mannschaft? :-)
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Venezuela doesn't play much football and Bolivia tends to win all home matches because of the altitude.

But seriously, this i8s a match made in heaven. Bolivia produces the coca and Venezuela sells it.
Posted by: European Conservative || 10/20/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Bolivia produces the coca and Venezuela sells it.

And Hunter buys and smokes it (while the Big Guy takes 50% of the profits)
Posted by: Ebbavitch Glomons1491 || 10/20/2020 15:32 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US Charges 6 Russian GRU Officers in Global Hacking Operation
[EpochNews] The Justice Department has charged six Russian military hackers with engaging in a series of intrusions against other countries’ infrastructure, elections, or businesses, in what has been described as the "most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group."
Good to know. Are any of them within reach so that they can be arrested, or is this just a bit of long distance harrassment?
The accused, who are agents of a Russian military intelligence agency known as GRU, allegedly used various cyber tactics, including deploying destructive malware with the purpose of furthering the Russian government’s interest to destabilize and interfere with the political and economic systems of other countries, the Justice Department (DOJ) said.

The GRU is the same agency that was allegedly involved in hacking efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Among those targeted includes Ukraine’s electric power grid, Ministry of Finance, and State Treasury Service; French President Emmanuel Macron’s political party and French politicians; hosts, participants, partners, attendees, and the IT systems of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics; organizations and entities investigating the nerve agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal; Georgian companies and government entities; and businesses and medical facilities in the United States.

"No country has weaponized its cyber capabilities as maliciously and irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented collateral damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said during a presser on Oct. 19 announcing the charges.

According to the indictment, the hackers deployed "some of the world’s most destructive malware to date"—such as KillDisk, Industroyer, and NotPetya—which caused widespread damage, including blackouts in Ukraine and disruption to thousands of computers used to support the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The men have been charged with conspiracy to conduct computer fraud and abuse, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, damaging protected computers, and aggravated identity theft. Each defendant is charged in every count in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh.

The department said several of the men were previously charged for their roles in allegedly interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Demers said the allegations should be evidence into why the United States shouldn’t accept President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
’s offer for a cyber "reset" between the two countries. The agreement would require both counties to provide guarantees not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other’s elections.

The DOJ said the attacks caused nearly $1 billion in losses to three U.S. victims, including the Heritage Valley Health System in Pennsylvania. The men allegedly deployed the NotPetya malware, which caused "the unavailability of patient lists, patient history, physical examination files, and laboratory records."

"Heritage Valley lost access to its mission-critical computer systems (such as those relating to cardiology, nuclear medicine, radiology, and surgery) for approximately one week and administrative computer systems for almost one month, thereby causing a threat to public health and safety," according to a department statement.

Other U.S. targets included TNT Express B.V., which is a FedEx Corp. subsidiary, and a large pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/20/2020 01:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  GRU is Russian military intelligence. Unless these guys were hacking on their own time, they were on the job and any beef is with Russia itself. Unless this is just vain posturing and an attempt to keep the RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA hysteria going.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/20/2020 13:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Pay no attention to the little crack addict's father behind the curtain!
Posted by: The Wizard of Basement7621 || 10/20/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Zookeeper dies after being mauled by a group of black bears in front of horrified visitors at a Chinese wild animal park
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They'll be hungry again in an hour.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/19/2020 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Confucius say, "Bear who eat you
Be hungry in hour, it's true...
But panda don't knock,
Say, 'Hold onto your clock
And call doc for four hour bamboo.'"
Posted by: Large Whinese2442 || 10/20/2020 1:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Best comment so far, Skid.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/20/2020 4:49 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: gorb || 10/20/2020 5:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe its like those disney movies, and the bears were protecting Brother Dog at the 1:01 mark.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 14:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Proving at this point nobody-thing likes chinese.
Posted by: Woodrow || 10/20/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||


Europe
Bulgaria protests reach 101 days
[Twitter]
Okay.. who is protesting what? why? for 101 days?

Posted by: 3dc || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's "Protests 101"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Yes, it's a pre-requisite.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||


Italy between a rock and a hard place.
[Twitter]



Posted by: 3dc || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  Sadly, China under Emperor Xi is exactly what it used to be.
Posted by: Cesare || 10/20/2020 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Er they simply need, less rent-seeking, work harder and retire later like everyone else.
A bit of leaving the EURO to stop it wrecking their economy with the wrong interest rates wouldn't hurt either.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  less rent-seeking, work harder and retire later

That, and having more children. With a birth rate of 1.47, well below replacement even with the help of the Third World colonists they’ve welcomed, a median age of 46.5, and a birth rate of almost 2.5/1000 less than the death rate, the population is heading toward Japanese territory.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/20/2020 11:14 Comments || Top||

#4  If the Woke Revolution succeeds in America, the trend might reverse. Italian-Americans (and other Americans of European descent) will get their EU passports and leave WokeAmrika for Campagna, County Cork, the Rhineland etc
Posted by: Mad Eye Clunk4299 || 10/20/2020 11:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Mad Eye, I was under the impression Europe was more advanced on the Woke front. they are just less in your face about it than our SJW.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/20/2020 18:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
NY Dem Congressional Candidate Running As A Sterling Former Army Officer Was Actually Relieved Of Duty
Daily caller via Instapundit
New York Democratic congressional candidate Jackie Gordon’s military records show she was subject to two investigations during her time in the U.S. Army, resulting in two separate recommendations that she be relieved of command, one of which was acted upon in Afghanistan, according to two Department of Defense sources with direct knowledge of the investigations.

The Daily Caller obtained an unredacted Department of Defense document from a source with direct knowledge of an investigation into Gordon’s behavior as a lieutenant colonel from December 2011, as well as a redacted Department of Defense document (described as "interim findings") that shows Gordon was again under investigation in Afghanistan and was subsequently relieved of duty.

One of the reports outlines how Gordon purportedly left her battalion without permission to campaign for local office in 2012, saying she posed a "significant threat to the Battalion’s ability to perform an incredibly stressful and sensitive wartime mission."
Didn't they use to shoot people for staff like this?

Two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed the authenticity of the documents outlining the investigations into Gordon to the Daily Caller. The first investigation started after Gordon made a complaint about "four horsemen" when she was serving as a battalion commander. She alleged the four white men under her command were causing trouble, however, the investigation says there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by the four and that others on the base had never heard of the "four horsemen."
Are you surprised? I am.
The report then concluded Gordon should be relieved of duty.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 12:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alcee Hastings, disbarred US federal judge, also a Democrat.
Posted by: magpie || 10/20/2020 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not a rap sheet, it's street cred...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 17:48 Comments || Top||


'I don't care Trump doesn't like black people': 50 Cent endorses president after rejecting Joe Biden's 60 percent-plus tax plans for anyone earning over $400K in some states
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Rapper 50 Cent, 45, has endorsed Donald Trump for president, and blasted rival Joe Biden's tax polices which will impact those who make $400K or more a year

  • He said, 'I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people 62% are you out of ya f***ing mind'

  • The high tax rates would not apply to people who make less than $400,000 annually, which makes for about 98.2 percent of Americans

  • The current top U.S. statutory tax rate is 37 percent with the average earner in the highest tax bracket paying 26.8 percent after help from their accountants

  • Feedback was varied to the rapper's stated political decision
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/20/2020 09:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's the demographic the Buy'em campaign just spent time, money, and clout advertising for.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Then add sales and property taxes. Serfdom took 1/8th of production and is looking good by comparison.
Posted by: Waldemar Flomonter9347 || 10/20/2020 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Before lockdown, black men were finally getting jobs and making decent money thanks to Trump. They know it. More and more of them are aware that they're screwed under the pre-Trump economic policies and will go back to thate if Biden's elected ... "put in chains," y''ugh this say.

More and more black men are voting their pocketbook. If Trump's re-elected it will largely be due to his winning an unprecedented share of the black male vote

Posted by: Hupimble tse Tung4661 || 10/20/2020 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  I have seen ZERO evidence Trump "doesn't like black people" and plenty of evidence to the contrary, but you go on...
Posted by: Frank G || 10/20/2020 10:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Democrats' policies don't like black people.
Trump's policies like black people.
Posted by: Blossom Wheremp2349 || 10/20/2020 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  That's my jack, Jack...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 12:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Pulled Snoop Dogg off the couch to go tell the youngsters to get out the vote. Guess it beats selling chips and beer.

Not sure about his rastafari mullet thing.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 14:40 Comments || Top||

#8  I have seen ZERO evidence Trump "doesn't like black people" and plenty of evidence to the contrary, but you go on...

It is one of the standard knocks against the Prez, but if you go back before he became History's 2nd Greatest Monster*, you'll find all sorts of pictures of Trump with black politicians, black entertainers, and even black Civil Rights grifters. Everyone is smiling.

Scott Adams has maintained that people will eventually come around to a position where they are somewhat appalled by Trump but like what he is doing. Sounds like what is happening here.

* Jimmy Carter is still officially History's Greatest Monster
Posted by: SteveS || 10/20/2020 20:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Hey, they didn't like John the Baptist either. Stank. Loud mouthed, a ranter. Atrocious taste in clothes.

But he was right.
Posted by: Kofi Grundy2311 || 10/20/2020 20:53 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Thousands of boys are kept in chains, tortured and abused in Islamic schools across Sudan - with younger children raped by older students, investigation reveals
  • Boys as young as five are routinely shackled and beaten by teachers in 'khalwas'

  • There are nearly 30,000 of the religious schools across the whole of Sudan

  • There have been reports of older pupils raping and sexually assaulting others

  • An 18-month investigation by BBC News Arabic uncovered extent of the abuses
The News Arabic investigation The Schools that Chain Boys, which airs today on the channel, found malnourished boys living in squalid conditions and forced to sleep on the floor in the extreme heat.

Undercover news hound and former khalwa student Fateh al-Rahman al-Hamdani made the discoveries after secretly filming inside 23 khalwas over a period of 18 months.

Reports of torture inside khalwas are . In recent years, reports have been made of abuse of boys at religious schools in Nigeria, Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
and Pakistain.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Teachers Union in America takes notes.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/20/2020 9:08 Comments || Top||

#2  ...for dealing with white male youths during their woke indoctrination.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/20/2020 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Anybody who ever taught school can't help but sympathize.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Anybody who ever taught school can't help but sympathize.

?? ...sympathize with people who rape little children? Is that it?

Tell us where he hurt you..show us on the doll
Posted by: Maggie Thomose1594 || 10/20/2020 10:31 Comments || Top||

#5  ^With chains & whips, dear Nag.
That's for high schoolers - for college students, I frequently dreamt of having a heavy machine gun.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:50 Comments || Top||

#6  PIslam. Founded by a pedophile.
Posted by: Woodrow || 10/20/2020 14:51 Comments || Top||

#7  No catchy sh*ttah tag from the wookie, though...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 17:53 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Starship just successfully had a 3 engine static fire. Wow!
Posted by: 3dc || 10/20/2020 04:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:




#4  Nokia still exists?
Posted by: Angusomp Clusosh5099 || 10/20/2020 10:26 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ All Nokia sold to Microsoft was their handset business. The network equipment company still exists. The Nokia name as it applies to handsets is now with HMD.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 11:51 Comments || Top||


20% of verified coronavirus patients did not develop immunity
[JPost] - Only 80% of people who tested positive for coronavirus had antibodies to the virus, according to a report published Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Health Ministry and the Gertner Institute.

The results mean that a percentage of people who develop asymptomatic or even mild cases of the virus could contract it again.

The report was based on a serological survey conducted between June and August in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community of Bnei Brak. The city has had some of the highest rates of infection in the country.

The survey also found that the number of people who tested positive for antibodies increased with the number of sick patients, thought not proportionally.

In June, 2% of the Bnei Brak population tested positive and 6.3% had antibodies. In July 4.1% tested positive and 6.4% had antibodies, and in August 5.6% tested positive and 13.8% had antibodies. On average, at the time that the research concluded, some 9% of the Bnei Brak population were thought to have immunity to coronavirus.

"The infection rate is not nearly enough to assume herd immunity," said Dr. Boaz Lev, the ombudsman of the medical professions at the Health Ministry. Speaking at a briefing on Monday, he said that the results show that even in communities where the infection rate was high, social distancing and wearing masks continues to be important.
The idea of herd immunity was advanced, through WHO by the Chinese - to lessen the World backlash against their virus release. And it was eagerly grasped by all kinds of people for their personal reasons: masks are uncomfortable, lockdowns harm businesses, a$$holes must trumpet their "individuality".
The researchers said that Bnei Brak likely has a higher level of immunity today, but they could not say how high.
Moreover, the available - pre pandemic - professional literature on coronoviruses shows that even these who acquire immunity shouldn't expect it to last more than a few months.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 02:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh jeez more herd immunity denial from the lockdown cultust.
20% of people asymptomatically had the virus but didn't develop immunity means the virus could NOT infect their body full stop.

It does not mean they could get it again.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||


#3  Oh jeez more herd immunity denial from the lockdown cultust.

It's impossible to argue with a true believer. Facts that don't fit the party line/revealed truth are sabotage/attempts-to-corrupt-innocent-souls by deviationists/Devil's minions. IMO, you live in the wrong time and place BP.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 On 30 September, the Dutch government urged citizens to wear face masks in public spaces.

Despite the government u-turn, the Dutch are still unwilling to wear masks

Could there be a connection? Neh, we were told masks don't work by the best authorities, the very best authorities!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Grom it sounds like you need to take your own "medicine" there...

Must delay herd-immunity through lockdown until we can push a vaccine out, do you work in pharma by any chance?

95% of people dying are not dying of COVID. Most are dying because of lockdown.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Stick to rent-seeking, BP. Leave real word to real people.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Rent-seeking is when you make the government give you an income...

All I can see from the lockdown shakedown is rent-seeking.

"You're WITH the government and you're here to help" just stay in your house for 2 weeks or the sky will fall..


SARS-CoV-2 antibodies provide lasting immunity
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 11:08 Comments || Top||

#8  ^Something* tells me this paper is going to be redacted in a couple of months - when other groups will fail to replicate the results.


*We conclude that neutralizing antibodies are stably produced for at least 5-7 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The dumb sh*ts [$] didn't realize that - because hospitals use plasma from recovered patients as treatment - there are dozens of papers (just type "SARS-CoV-2 antibody recovered" in Google Scholar) that show that antibody production declines to zilch in couple of months. Just as it does in any other resolved viral disease.
$ Possibly they are not cheats - just lousy experiment designers.

So, I repeat, go back to rent-seeking diatribes BP.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 11:38 Comments || Top||

#9  It must hurt to be a pharma rent-seeker AND a lockdown cultist.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/20/2020 13:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Sod off swampy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 14:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Doesn't a vaccine work on the same sort of antibodies? Doesn't this suggest waiting for a vaccine is foolish?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/20/2020 14:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Oh no, a world where, gasp, people won't be SAFE. It's almost like a world where people didn't die of disease before they were 40 was an abnormality and decades of eroding the sciences has consequences.

Consequences that shouldn't f***ing include locking everybody down in the vain hope of containing a genie that is very much out of the bottle.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 10/20/2020 14:28 Comments || Top||

#13  Doesn't a vaccine work on the same sort of antibodies?

Not really. Vaccine is supposed to create a set of long lived, antigen bearing Antigen Presenting Cells which restimulate lymphocytes (B & T cells) with appropriate (anti-antigen) receptor to proliferate - lymphocytes are short lived. That's how a large population of antigen-specific lymphocytes is maintained for a long time. And if there is a new infection, it yields a more rapid and stronger response - secondary response (there are nice figures in wikipedia). In particular, there is no antibody production between antigenic challenges because such antibody serves no useful purpose.

Doesn't this suggest waiting for a vaccine is foolish?

Have to remember two things.
(a) Sometimes vaccines work better than the original infecting organism.
(2) Even if active vaccination won't work, passive vaccination - which uses anti-viral antibodies produced in laboratory/industrial setup cures. That's that cured Trump. So, once where enough for everybody: you get covid (test + symptoms) you get a shot from a nurse - no need to involve a doctor. You're healthy. Repeat as needed.

p.s. Today they have a test where they shove a stick that looks exactly like pregnancy test stick up your nose, and have an answer in 15 min. Betcha they'll be selling them without prescription in a few months.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||

#14  8 million Americans slipped into poverty amid coronavirus pandemic, new study says

Researchers looked at the devastating financial effect the pandemic has had on Americans, with Blacks, Latinos and children faring the worst.


What’s coming after this lockdown will be worse.

I’m with that Irish lady-we’re all going to die. Then she coughed.
Posted by: Cluper and Company4908 || 10/20/2020 15:04 Comments || Top||

#15  Shoving a pregnancy test stick up the nose brings this scenario to mind
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 21:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Foook Mahn, dey sayn I culd uv 'ad it three times now?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 23:14 Comments || Top||


-PC Follies
San Diego School District Does Away With Traditional Grading To Combat Racism
[HotAir] The San Diego school district released data showing that minority students receive far more D and F grades than their white counterparts.
During the first semester of last year, 30% of all D or F grades were given to English learners. One in four, 25%, of failing marks went to students with disabilities.By ethnicity, 23% went to Native Americans. Another 23% of failing grades went to Hispanics. And 20% of D or F grades went to Black students.

By comparison, just 7% of failing marks went to White students.

It actually makes a lot of sense that English learners, i.e. people who don’t speak English as a first language, have far more D and F grades than people who grew up speaking English. I’m not sure why that comes as a surprise to anyone. If students can’t understand what they’re being taught in class, it makes it harder for them to keep up.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 01:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So they admit a certain group, or groups, is inferior and can not compete on a level playing field with all other groups? Who are the real racists (you know the ones that lump Asians in with whites)? If you quit reporting by race (which you live and breath by) what would be the problem?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/20/2020 6:37 Comments || Top||

#2  So, a high school diploma is strictly an attendance participation trophy now. That should keep HR hoppin'...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/20/2020 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  How One Kenyan Tribe Produces The World's Best Runners - NPR 1 Nov 2013

Asking that question almost convinced Epstein to back out of his book contract. He realized he'd have to address sensitive questions of ethnic and racial differences. Academics told him they had evidence of genetic advantage but wouldn't share their research with him for fear they'd lose their jobs. "And these were professors with tenure," he says.

But some scientists did talk to him; and they explained one aspect of innate biology that clearly helps Kalenjin: the shape of their bodies.

Kalenjin have particularly thin ankles and calves, a body build common to Nilotic tribes who grow up near the equator. Epstein says this is particularly important in running because your leg is like a pendulum. The more weight you have farther away from your center of gravity, the more difficult it is to swing.


Which could indicate the existence of a....disadvantage.

Emphasis added
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/20/2020 7:51 Comments || Top||

#4  China/CCP must be just laughing themselves silly. This all fits into China becoming the next economic power as the US commits social, political, and economic suicide. These dumbed-down dolts will possibly enter a dumbed-down university, and the US will be one big Potemkin village of worthless sheep skins. How ironic if there is a brain drain from the US some day.
Posted by: Clem || 10/20/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Back in the 50's early 60's it was known in California that a "C" grade was a "F" grade in Rhode Island.
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/20/2020 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Why bother pretending?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 10:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Assuming that certain whites and Asians continue to succeed academically while the rest of our educational system goes to hell, we'll just have to separate into two societies.

The first one will be served by intelligent, competent, well-trained White and Asian doctors, engineers, accountants etc. Patients and clients will simply look at the race of the professional, plus the usual credentials, before retaining him.

The other America will be served by semiliterate incompetent black and brown pseudo-professionals who were promoted through the system because of their race. For this America the medical malpractice rate will skyrocket, bridges will collapse, funds will be lost or stolen, and social life generally will resemble what prevails in the shithole countries.

Maybe it really is time for this nation to split in two.

Posted by: Flanter Schwarzeneggar3730 || 10/20/2020 10:18 Comments || Top||

#8  And four years later nobody from San Diego County was accepted into a major University that didn't know who might qualify or not.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/20/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Jerry Pournelle to the white courtesy phone.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/20/2020 14:55 Comments || Top||

#10  Congratulations on making your High School diploma into toilet paper. You will need an independent GED Certificate, probably not from California, to be taken seriously.
Posted by: magpie || 10/20/2020 16:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Learning is no longer the objective of public schools. Participation trophies for everyone. Also note that nearly everyone at Ivy League colleges get A’s so there is no way of distinguishing performance.
Posted by: Airandee || 10/20/2020 16:48 Comments || Top||

#12  I suggest having the children wear body suits that go from head to toe that don't reveal skin color. Then, let everyone without exception go from grade to grade. No racism or exceptionalism. Anyone that shows exceptional abilities, give them full dosage of tranquilizers, so the others won't have their feelings damaged.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 10/20/2020 18:45 Comments || Top||

#13  What was that story, set in the near future, where people of ability had to have certain physical handicaps assigned to them so everyone was the same level of awful?

The main character had random shocks to break his concentration, and was watching a show where two rebels removed their restrictions and put on a phenomenal dance performance.

The dancers ended up getting murdered or something, while the main character received additional shocks so he couldn't quite remember the performance?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 21:49 Comments || Top||

#14  Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/20/2020 21:51 Comments || Top||

#15  Thank you Rambler. I read that in passing and two days later, was still thinking about it, and couldn't re-trace my steps.

The one which really bothers me is the guy ordering a pizza "In the near future" and the call lady goes through his medical history, purchase history, so forth.



Look at that age; kept waiting for Clippy to show up. Change the HIV Positive? to COVID Vaccination? add Firearms? and whoa doggies.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 22:32 Comments || Top||

#16  "Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

From the story Harrison Bergeron, get someone to read it for the first time; re-read it if it has been a while.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 22:43 Comments || Top||

#17  There have been several movie versions of Harrison Bergeron as well. Check out the Wikipedia entry.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/20/2020 22:52 Comments || Top||

#18  Thank you Rambler, will do.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/20/2020 22:56 Comments || Top||



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Tue 2020-10-20
  First Etihad passenger plane lands in Israel
Mon 2020-10-19
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Sun 2020-10-18
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