BLUF:
[RedState] In other words, we are required to take these tapes at face value, assume they are true, and proceed accordingly.
What would the next step look like?
Well, with an ordinary American, like Donald Trump, we’d unleash the Intelligence Community and the FBI. We’d get FISA warrants on his kid...they could sell the recordings on PornHub and help write down part of the Wuhan stimulus package. We’d run undercover operatives against members of his campaign. We’d set up stings to entrap senior staffers. We’d leak lies to the press to discredit Biden. But Biden isn’t an ordinary American. He’s Democrat royalty. So we can’t really have a Justice Department and FBI controlled by President Trump investigate Biden. It would be gauche and unseemly. But we do have a solution. A special counsel. Department of Justice regulations say this about the appointment of a special counsel:
Even though the tapes must be presumed true, we would be remiss in not giving Biden the benefit of the doubt and there is no better person to do that than a special counsel.
#4
I told those Democratic Morons that the Ukraine thing would turn around and bite them on the ass. But did they listen? "This time we've finally got him" The wall are closing in" "Orange Man Bad" /eye-roll
I wouldn't trust these mooks to run a day care. Especially if kids were involved.
#7
Ukraine channeling Chinese money to the Biden network
Skidmark, here is a search of our archives going back to 2016 using the terms BHR Partners,Chris Heinz,Rosemont Seneca to recall to memory while we await new revelations: Link
#8
I've been guessing money laundering all along. Paying that much money to a junkie has to be money laundering, blackmail, bribery, influence peddling and/or a combination of all four. Who knows where the money came from? China would have to be among the suspects.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/20/2020 16:03 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Who knows where the money came from? China would have to be among the suspects.
#10
Ref #8: I've been guessing money laundering all along.
And you're were probably guessing correctly. Anything be done about it? Hell no! Same as the Clinton Foundation, Epstein, etc. Likely backstopped by you know who.
[Mil.com] An advocacy group is preparing to go to court unless the Department of Veterans Affairs swiftly removes Nazi symbols and references to Adolf Hitler from the headstones of three German prisoners of war from World War II buried in national veterans cemeteries.
The symbols and the inscriptions "must be eradicated and eradicated now," he said Tuesday. "This is completely and totally wrong."
Weinstein, a former Air Force captain and graduate of the Air Force Academy, said MRFF is prepared to go to federal court if the VA refuses to remove the headstones. He also called on Congress to take action.
#2
WTF does this have to do with religious freedom?
Those men served in the German army under Hitler. If their descendants wanted the tombstones changed, that's one thing -- but the inscriptions were put on there by men who were putting their lives on the line against the Nazis.
Veterans need to treat this guy to a soap party, because once he establishes that an "offensive" tombstone can be rewritten, he's going to be expanding what's "offensive".
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/20/2020 9:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
We. called them blanket party back in the day at MCRD. Most effective for a guy with hygiene deficiencies.
#4
This is just the Left screeching "nazi" at anything it can get its teeth into. Just imagine how much they had to examine to find this tiny bit. But now it's national news.
#5
As they died prisoners of war, messing with their graves might actually be a war crime. God knows they screamed loud enough about dead jihadi's getting pissed on.
[FOX] May. 20, 2020 - 5:01 - Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, says media opposition to institution's reopening was 'totally political.'
#1
Over 30 states' flagship universities so far have said they'll open this fall.
Only the Ivy League schools, with the exception of Brown of all places, and two states' schools have said they will NOT open. Care to guess which states?
Yep: Pomade Boy and Gov. Whitless strike again....
#2
The California Plan for Creating an "Enduring Democratic Majority":
1. Import millions of illegals and give them protection from from law enforcement
2. Destroy all oil and gas exploration & production in the state and ruin light manufacturing, small businesses with extreme regulation
3. Flood the schools with semi-literate or illiterate Mexican spawn and drive down the quality of the University of California so that even those few high-achieving Californians who can gain admittance prefer to leave the state for their college education
4. Watch as 200,000 middle-class Californians permanently leave the state every year for neighboring states
[Science Times] A study conducted by researchers from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, have found that the amygdala in mice's brain can significantly control their sense of pain.
According to Fan Wang, the lead author of the study and the Morris N. Broad Distinguished Professor of neurobiology in the School of Medicine, recent studies have determined parts of the brain that could 'turn on' pain signals, but this was the first time they were able to pinpoint where pain could be 'turned off.'
The researchers also discovered that general anesthesia also stimulates a specific subgroup of inhibitory neurons in the central amygdala called the CeAga neurons. Although mice have a comparably bigger central amygdala than humans, Wang says she doesn't think there would be any difference in the two brain systems from controlling pain.
The mice were initially given a pain stimulus, and the researchers mapped out the brain's pain-activated regions. They then uncovered that about 16 brain centers that could process the sensory or emotional aspects of pain were receiving inhibitory pain input from the CeAga.
When the scientists diminished the activity of these CeAga neurons, the mice responded and displayed behavior indicating intense pain. They also determined that low-dose ketamine activated the CeAga center and wouldn't function without it.
The team's next step is to search for drugs that can activate only these specific cells to suppress pain. According to Wang, they could potentially develop pain killers in the future using their discoveries from the study.
SPIN, STRANGENESS, AND CHARM via Instapundit
[The Spectator] - he argument that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to more severe cases of Covid is gaining ground. It is now reaching the point where it is surprising that we are not hearing from leading medical officials and politicians that people should consider taking supplements to ensure they have sufficient vitamin D.
This is not the same as arguing that vitamin D is a magic bullet that will cure the disease. Vitamins are not medication, the taking of which will have positive effects on everybody. They are top-ups: things that hurt you when you don’t have enough of them in your system but do no extra good when you have enough. Indeed, with many vitamins, including D, taking too much can be toxic.
However, it is true that many people are deficient in vitamin D, especially at the end of winter. That is because, uniquely, vitamin D is a substance manufactured by ultraviolet light falling on your skin. You can get some from fish and other foods, but not usually enough. So most people’s vitamin D levels fall to a low point in February or March when the sun has been weak and its UV output especially so. Public health bodies have long advised people to supplement vitamin D in winter anyway.
...Vitamin D deficiency has long been known to coincide with a greater frequency or severity of upper-respiratory tract infections, or colds. That this is a causal effect is supported by some studies showing that vitamin D supplements do reduce the risk of such infections. These studies are not without their statistical flaws, so cannot yet be regarded as certain, but they are not quackery like a lot of the stuff coming out of the supplements industry: they come from reputable medical scientists.
...A new article by a long list of medical experts in the BMJ cautiously agrees, confirming that many people in northern latitudes have poor vitamin D status, especially in winter or if confined indoors, and that low vitamin D status 'may be exacerbated during this COVID-19 crisis by indoor living and reduced sun exposure'.
It adds that very high intakes or 'mega supplements' will not help and may cause harm, and it is this that probably explains the reluctance of the authorities to spread the message. Another factor may be the lack of lobbying. Vitamin supplements are cheap and unpatented, so there is no great incentive for big companies to push them. All the more reason for government to do so.
toxicity result in vomiting and excess urination and then dehydration
probably some long term effects but not known
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/20/2020 9:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Poison is always in the dose.
Regarding vitamin D in general, there are lots of studies showing a correlation between normal vitamin D levels and a number of health markers but *no* study showing those same health markers after supplementing vitamin D. Current thinking is that the healthy outcomes are associated with healthy levels of sun exposure which also happens to raise vitamin D. In other words, vitamin D does not improve health, being outside does, and also happens to raise vitamin D.
#5
Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, hyperhydration, overhydration, or water toxemia, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by excessive water intake.
SPIN, STRANGENESS, AND CHARM via instapundit
[Telegraph] - A small number of so-called "superspreading" events appear to be responsible for the great majority of coronavirus cases, raising the prospect of the virus being controlled if those events can be reliably pinned down.
Many infectious diseases follow an "20/80" rule, whereby the majority of cases are caused by a small number of infectious individuals. These include pathogens such as HIV, measles and Ebola, as well as the coronaviruses Mers and Sars.
As the journal Nature noted recently, "population estimates of R0 can obscure considerable individual variation in infectiousness".
This is now thought to be the case with Covid-19.
An analysis by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Alan Turing Institute strongly suggests there is a "high degree of individual-level variation" in the transmission of Covid-19.
By applying a mathematical model to reported outbreaks of the disease outside China, they estimated that 80 per cent of all secondary transmissions were caused by a small fraction of infected individuals - around 10 percent.
"Our finding of a highly-overdispersed offspring distribution highlights a potential benefit to focusing intervention efforts on superspreading", the study concluded.
"As most infected individuals do not contribute to the expansion of an epidemic, the effective reproduction number could be drastically reduced by preventing relatively rare superspreading events".
The race is now on to pinpoint and characterise these "superspreader" events. If we know where the trouble lies we can let the rest of society open up again.
Tempting though it may be, most experts say we should not look for individuals. Superspreading events are determined by a complex mix of behavioural and environmental factors. That's a relief - given the means that some individuals here advocated for ending HIV
Even sexually transmitted viruses like HIV tend to be "superspread" more by things like needle sharing and prostitution than individuals. Funerals were a major problem in the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
With Sars-Cov-2, it seems likely any infected individual could become a superspreader. Who we are is likely to be less important than where we go and what we do when we are there.
Already, many superspreading venues are known. Hospitals, nursing homes, large dormitories, food processing plans and food markets have all been associated with major outbreaks of Covid-19.
Indoor gyms and exercise studios also appear to lend themselves to superspreading events. A new South Korean study found that 112 people were infected over 24 days after attending "dance classes set to Latin rhythms" at 12 indoor sports facilities.
"Intense physical exercise in densely populated sports facilities could increase risk for infection", said the authors. "Vigorous exercise in confined spaces should be minimised during outbreaks". Fitness is bad for you!
...In Washington State on the west coast of America, a church choir went ahead with its weekly rehearsal in early March even as Covid-19 was sweeping through Seattle, an hour to the south. Dozens of its members went on to catch the virus and two died. Just people exercising their constitutional rights
...One of the biggest superspreading events in Europe came in the February half term holidays when thousands of people gathered in alpine ski resorts.
Hundreds of infections in Germany, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Britain have been traced back to the resort of Ischgl in the Tyrolean Alps. Many had visited the Kitzloch, a bar known for its après-ski parties.
The bar is tightly packed and famous for "beer pong" — a drinking game in which revellers take turns to spit the same ping-pong ball into a beer glass.
...In London, cases of coronavirus have dropped dramatically since the lockdown. The superspreading events that were once spreading the virus so widely have now stopped.
long piece in New Yorker; Great Mullah is old and sick, power struggle already underway
The Twilight of the Iranian Revolution
For decades, Ayatollah Khamenei has professed enmity with America. Now his regime is threatened from within the country.
...Isolated and dysfunctional, the Islamic Republic had reached a dead end, she said: "The regime has lost all popular support, and yet it is incapable of change. The result is that the Iranian people have lost hope. We are hopeless now."...
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/20/2020 12:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[NBC] Like many people in quarantine, every day I find some time to hide from my children and hop on to my Peloton, the stationary exercise bike with built-in internet-enabled spin classes that has become a must-have for some people during this time away from, well, everything.
I love my Peloton, which (despite the hefty price tag) has more than paid for itself in burned calories and much-needed zen. And I am clearly not alone.
Peloton isn't the problem: What holiday outrage over a stationary bike says about American society
Indeed, despite a very wobbly IPO back in September, Peloton's stock has surged to record highs during the pandemic — almost doubling its price — valuing the company at more than $10 billion. (Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal, is a shareholder.) And whereas Peloton was losing luster before the COVID-19 crisis, it now reports both a backlog of bike orders and 2.6 million members logging on to their classes each month. The bike is so coveted, wrote The New York Times this month, that even as millions lose their jobs, thousands of others are "panic buying" Peloton bikes to keep in shape while gyms remain closed.
But the more I use my Peloton bicycle, the more I don’t feel so good about the company behind it. Because just as their now-infamous holiday-season ad last year convinced many people that the company had an unacknowledged gender problem, their video and music programming suggests to me — as an African American — that they also have an unrecognized race problem.
#2
Since I f'd my knee decades ago, I've use the Nordictrack (much cheaper before inflation). Hook up a small tv and old dvd player and kill a half an hour. In today's PC world, I guess 'Nordic' makes it racist.
#6
Dear black people -- if using stuff created by whites makes you uncomfortable, then stop using our stuff.
You know, like the ballot box, indoor plumbing, electric power, phones, computers, gas, diesel or electric-powered transportation, streaming, social media, etc.
Instead, simply use the sub-Saharan African equivalents of those things.
We just signed a new trade deal with Wakanda, right?
#7
I had an indoor trainer a while ago. I used it to rehab my knee for two weeks, and it's been sitting in a corner ever since. Like eighteen years ago. I simply cannot get on a bike and remain indoors.
[The Blaze] In this episode of "The Rubin Report," BlazeTV host Dave Rubin was joined by "Dirty Jobs" star Mike Rowe to talk about the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns and how they might permanently change many aspects of our lives.
Mike explained why he believes the pandemic has revealed college and higher education to be an overpriced luxury, and said he hopes that this will cause us to rethink how we structure education in the US.
"I think when the dust settles, higher education is going to be revealed as the luxury brand that it truly is," he told Dave. "And when you take away all of the stuff that has nothing to do with learning or connecting, you're gonna be left with a breathtakingly overpriced product."
Watch the video below to catch more of the conversation:
#1
As long has HR (private and government) defaults to college credentialing, there will be a demand for paper mills. Guess who is over represented in HR?
h/t HotAir
[Yahoo] ...A video accusing Gates of wanting "to eliminate 15 percent of the population" through vaccination and electronic microchips has racked up nearly two million views on YouTube.
Similar allegations "exploded" between January and April, Smith told AFP.
- EXPLOITING THE CRISIS -
Since the start of the crisis, AFP Fact Check has debunked dozens of anti-Gates rumours circulating on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in languages including English, French, Spanish, Polish and Czech.
A number of accusations, including posts claiming that the FBI arrested Gates for biological terrorism or that he supports a Western plot to poison Africans, share a common thread.
They accuse the tycoon of exploiting the crisis, whether it is to "control people" or make money from selling vaccines.
"These conspiracies are powerful enough to drive down institutional trust around health organisations, and as a result, possibly drive down vaccination rates, which is worrying," Smith said.
Gates' vocal criticism of US President Donald Trump and support for vaccine development made him "the perfect scapegoat for a crisis that emerges on the intersection of technology and (medical) science," Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius, a social sciences researcher at Finland's University of Helsinki, wrote in a university blog post.
It is not the first time Gates has found himself at the mercy of conspiracy theorists. When Zika virus broke out in 2015 in Brazil, he was one of several powerful Western figures blamed for the disease.
Gates -- whose eponymous foundation has spent billions of dollars improving healthcare in developing countries over the past 20 years -- has become "a kind of abstract boogeyman", said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor at New York's Syracuse University, where she teaches digital ethics.
A social science researcher, a professor of digital ethics, and an eponymous blogger log-into a virtual bar....
#3
Gates -- whose eponymous foundation has spent billions of dollars improving healthcare in developing countries
Dron66046 talked a bit about how the Gates Foundation has been kept on a very tight leash in India after engaging in unacceptable antics.... So abstract boogeyman is should perhaps be corrected to concrete boogeyman...
#4
A number of accusations, including posts claiming that the FBI arrested Gates for biological terrorism or that he supports a Western plot to poison Africans, share a common thread.
Reckless comments such as the one above do not help honest debate. But just because there are some nut cases out there does not mean Gates is a knight in shining armor. Who made him vaccine king anyway?
Sure it is, if schools exist for teachers and not students (h/t Jerry Pournelle). The reason middle class students are doing better is because their parents shell out for private tutors.
...or just personally supervise their homework and provide enriching experiences...
[TownHall] - Black politicians, civil rights leaders and their white liberal advocates have little or no interest in doing anything effective to deal with what's no less than an education crisis among black students. In city after city with large black populations, such as Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., less than 10% of students test proficient in reading and math. For example, in 2016, in 13 Baltimore high schools, not a single student tested proficient in math. In six other high schools, only 1% tested proficient in math. Citywide, only 15% of Baltimore students passed the state's English test. Despite these academic deficiencies, about 70% of the students graduate and are conferred a high school diploma.
...Examples of academic underachievement can be seen at predominantly black public schools across the nation, but that's only part of the story. The strangest part of this is that poor academic performance is accepted and tolerated by black politicians, civil rights organizations and white liberals. Poor performance is often blamed on finances; however, the poorest performing schools have the highest per pupil spending. New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore rank among the nation's highest in per pupil educational spending.
The underachievement story is compounded by the gross dishonesty of colleges that admit many of these students. I cannot imagine that students who are not proficient in reading and math can do real college work. In a futile attempt to make up for 12 years of rotten education, colleges put these students in remedial courses. They also design courses with little or no true academic content. Colleges have their own agendas. They want the money that comes from admitting these students. Also, they want to make their diversity and multiculturalism administrators happy. If you see higher education as, solely, a way to earn more money - such things are inevitable.
#9
The underachievement story is compounded by the gross dishonesty of colleges that admit many of these students. "
"Compounded" even further by gummint mandated EEOC hiring and promotion practices. Dumb as a rock and still promoted through the ranks, yes, I've seen many times. Spit, spit!
Yes, I avoided it most of it, and survived. Taking the assignments no one else wants has it's rewards.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Mil.com] An advocacy group is preparing to go to court unless the Department of Veterans Affairs swiftly removes Nazi symbols and references to Adolf Hitler from the headstones of three German prisoners of war from World War II buried in national veterans cemeteries.
