#3
Also titled Let's one more time milk the last thing we did that anybody cared about...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2020 13:33 Comments ||
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#4
Isn't that basically how they ended the series, with a peace agreement or something? Not since Highlander 2 has a sequel so destroyed the credibility of the original.
[FOX] Dr. Marc Siegel on whether coronavirus lockdowns actually saved lives.
Data from Europe's COVID-19 outbreak shows the strictness of lockdowns had little to do with mortality rates; insight from Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.
#3
@ #1 - That is the twisted logic of the year. Let's mandated quarantines (of HEALTHY people as well), but here we already have a perfect quarantine setting, in this case prison, so what do the lamebrain politicians do? Well, let them out, of course. I wonder if any of them ran into Pritziker's wife at the airport on her way to Florida.
[WION] There is ongoing censorship, even in the scientific literature, to restrict publication of information contrary to the accepted narrative that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring.
What follows is not an analysis of motivations or an indictment meant to assign blame, but a history of scientific investigation that eventually led to COVID-19.
A recent news article published in the scientific journal Nature noted, that while it is important to find the origin of COVID-19 to prevent reinfection, it has been difficult pinpointing the source.
"It is quite possible we won’t find it. In fact, it would be exceptionally lucky if we land on something," said Lucy van Dorp, a geneticist from University College London.
It may indeed be impossible to identify a natural source, if COVID-19 was the product of bioengineering.
Although there are hundreds of scientific publications on coronavirus, a few relevant to the present discussion will be highlighted.
Coronavirus research did not begin with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS, SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1) epidemic of 2002-2004, but it was certainly accelerated by it.
Additional impetus for studying coronaviruses arose after the 2012 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS or MERS-CoV).
Much of the scientific inquiry related to those two diseases has centered on a particular component of coronaviruses called the spike glycoprotein, which carries the ability for the virus to attach itself to a human cell and gain entry.
Obviously, understanding and interfering with the processes initiated by the spike glycoprotein could have prophylactic or therapeutic value.
Most of that research effort focused on the cascade of events regulated by the protein part of the spike glycoprotein, or S-protein, which has two sections, S1, primarily responsible for binding to the human cell and S2, driving fusion with the cell membrane and entry.
The S1 section contains a sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, called the receptor binding domain (RBD), which defines the coronavirus’ ability to bind to specific receptors, whether they be human or animal.
#1
The fact that no natural source of COVID-19 has been identified, that scientific evidence exists suggesting bioengineering and the clear ability to do so, all demand an expanded investigation as to its origin.
I don't expect 'investigative' answers anytime soon.
#3
If you hear hoof beats, think horses - not zebras.
I suppose a virus can jump from bats to pangolins to ... to humans. But in the neighborhood of China major virology & molecular biology research institute?
#6
Occam's razor. It was first detected in Wuhan, so thats the place to look. There is a zoological virus lab there, so thats a reasonable place to start.
Given that its probably not lucrative working for Xinnie the Pooh, I bet some exotic bats found their way to the local "special" market on the side by the lower hired help. Do that often enough and eventually the virus will hit the lottery with a mutation that lets it jump, and the right host to spread it.
Doesn't need to be engineered - mother nature is pretty damned clever, especially around stupid humans who tempt fate.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
05/21/2020 23:07 Comments ||
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[NYP] Even after the Justice Department filed papers earlier this month to withdraw its deeply compromised case against Gen. Michael Flynn for making false statements to the FBI, the fate of President Trump’s first national security adviser is still unresolved. Presiding Judge Emmitt Sullivan disagrees so strongly with the government’s decision that he appointed a former jurist to find avenues by which Flynn might still be prosecuted.
It’s the latest reversal for the 33-year combat veteran and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn joined the Trump campaign in 2016 and became one of the president’s closest advisers — which is why former Obama administration officials had their knives out. Forced out of the White House in February 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty after Robert Mueller’s special counsel prosecutors threatened to bring phony charges against his son.
All the time, Flynn’s large Irish Catholic family, which was raised in Newport, RI, had stood by him.
"The ocean was our backyard," says one of Flynn’s older sisters, Barbara. They weren’t from the wealthiest parts of the famous New England resort town. "We grew up nine kids in a 1,200-foot square house with one bathroom," she says.
Their father had also been in the Army, serving in World War II and Korea. Their mother was a lawyer with a strong sense of duty and patriotism.
"She had a special bond with Mike," says Barbara. "In the summers, there were lifeguard competitions, college swimmers, and here’s this wiry high-school kid who beats them all. And then after he won, he coached and cheered on the rest of us. If ever you followed someone into war, it’d be Mike. You know he would survive, he would win, and he’d do the right thing. We called him ’Iron Mike.’"
The Flynns knew something was rotten when the press started to smear him after Trump’s victory.
"All of the allegations about him ’colluding’ with Russia were so preposterous that we knew it was corrupt," says Joe Flynn, one of the retired general’s younger brothers. "He was being targeted and that galvanized us."
The Flynns started a legal-defense fund for their brother.
"At first, Mike was against it because he didn’t want it to look like he was pandering," says Joe. "Also, he figured it would be over soon."
In a December 2018 hearing, Flynn was prepared to plead his guilt when the judge began accusing him of treason. During a recess, Flynn’s wife, Lori, called attention to the gravity of the situation.
[France24] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of people could be pushed into extreme poverty in Africa due to the coronavirus pandemic and called for "global solidarity" with the continent.
"The pandemic threatens African progress. It will aggravate long-standing inequalities and heighten hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability to disease," Guterres said in a statement accompanying a UN study with recommendations for the African continent.
While he congratulated Africa for responding swiftly to the pandemic, which has claimed more than 2,500 lives across the continent, Guterres noted that "as of now, reported cases are lower than feared."
"African countries should also have quick, equal and affordable access to any eventual vaccine and treatment, that must be considered global public goods," he said in his statement. "and free high speed internet...and a pony"
Since the pandemic is still in its "early days" in Africa, Guterres stressed that "disruption could escalate quickly."
"Global solidarity with Africa is an imperative — now and for recovering better," he said.
#8
/\ The Chinese face the same impediments to progress as others who have gone before them, the tribal citizenry. Perhaps science will provide the Chinese a 'way ahead.'
#10
How CV mostly skipped Black Africa is such an interest to me. Looking at the numbers, it's Europeanized S.Africa and Morocco, and Arabized Nigeria and Sudan that have the most CV deaths.
What's the outlier? The spike in deaths in anglo-ized and arabized countries, or the lull in deaths in Black Africa. I always considered black africa as a petri dish in seeing how contagions spread and how fatal they are. And I always thought any disease would ravage Africa at least three times the rate of Westernized countries. CV has flipped my model upside down.
As for the UN chief's comments, I thought we had long standing understanding that Africa was nothing but poverty and hunger. CV cant make the continent any more of a crap hole than it already is.
[Newsweek] In international politics, few things are certain during these uncertain times. But I can predict one: the relationship between America and Hong Kong is in the throes of major change.
On May 22, China's leaders will convene for their annual People's Congress, during which they will discuss the status of Hong Kong and whether to push forward with their rebuffed attempts to impose upon that special jurisdiction the laws and circumscribed rights of mainland China. If they do so, America and Britain will push back—with lasting consequence.
Hong Kong has become ground zero for the ideological clash between democracy and heavy-handed Chinese communism. This tug-of-war was on global display last summer, when over two million Hong Kongers—26 percent of the entire population—peacefully took to the streets of Hong Kong, in sweltering 100-degree heat, to protest Beijing's overreach with a proposed extradition bill that would impose China's laws on Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong have completely lost faith in their embattled leader, Carrie Lam, and their police force. Peaceful protestors have been brutalized, pro-democracy figures have been illegally arrested and the Hong Kong Legislative Council's day-to-day operations have been tampered with by the Chinese government. During the most recent attempt to conduct a Legislative Council meeting in Hong Kong, in a scene that is reminiscent of an event that might take place in a failed state, fist fights broke out between the pro-China members and the pro-democracy members.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Democracy? Uh...if you think Hong Kong had democracy under the British, you've got another think coming. They ruled it with an iron fist and did exactly the same as the current rulers: used the police to suppress pro-democracy protests and called out the Triads as muscle. Where do you think the commies got the idea?
#2
^ Possibly. I have no direct knowledge, so tell you what: Let's let the HK-ers vote as to whether they want the CCP oppressing them or the Brits..... Oh, that's right, the Commies would never allow such an election.
[Bearing Arms] With little fanfare and almost no national attention, Virginians headed to the polls in local elections on Tuesday, and there was a stunning upset in one city that’s been dominated by Democrats in recent elections. Control of the Staunton City Council flipped from blue to red after a surge in turnout among Republican voters, and at least one local pundit believes that Gov. Ralph Northam’s anti-gun efforts are to blame for the massive increase in voter turnout that propelled conservatives to victory.
May elections have traditional been a hard nut to crack. Turnout is usually, frustratingly, in the 20 percent or less range, and it can be seductive to look at the relatively low vote totals of the winners and tell yourself, next cycle, man, all we’ve gotta do is get our side to come out, and we can steal this thing!
The tailwind for the Rs, dating back to the winter, was the tumult locally over gun-control legislation being advanced in the General Assembly by Democrats, who had run on gun control as a key issue in the 2019 legislative races that gave them control of the House of Delegates for the first time in more than two decades.
The political payback to Northern Virginia for flipping the House seemed poised to take out the pockets of D control in central, south and western parts of the state, as we all remember, in what seems like distant past now, the Second Amendment sanctuary movement, which was at its height in December and January.
As the Augusta Free Press’s Chris Graham notes, Staunton voters backed Barack Obama twice as well as Hillary Clinton in 2016. Voters in the Shenandoah Valley city also backed Democrat governors Terry McAuliffe in 2013 and Ralph Northam in 2017, but this year gun owners and Second Amendment supporters were energized by the gun control bills approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature and signed by Northam just a few weeks ago.
Graham says not only did Republicans take control of the city council in Staunton, they also flipped the city council in nearby Waynesboro as well.
#3
As the Augusta Free Press‘s Chris Graham notes, Staunton voters backed Barack Obama twice as well as Hillary Clinton in 2016. Voters in the Shenandoah Valley city also backed Democrat governors Terry McAuliffe in 2013 and Ralph Northam in 2017
I'd question the honesty of that vote since these two were involved.
#5
Just a couple weeks ago stories were out that about how the special election in CA and Wisconsin(?) could be a sign of a blue wave. Then the GOP won both by a landslide, but that doesn't suggest a possible RED wave, nope, not at all.
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA—CNN has praised Governor Andrew Cuomo's "brilliant" nursing home strategy as it ended in the deaths of thousands of senior citizens, who skew conservative and Republican.
The station's hosts said that forcing nursing home residents to admit COVID-19 patients was a "stroke of genius" that all other state governors really should start looking into.
"A genius move, brother," said Chris Cuomo as he interviewed Andrew Cuomo, which is not weird or biased at all. "Really inspired. How do you come up with it? You're so great."
"Aw, shucks," said Andrew Cuomo. "Stop it!"
"No, you stop it."
"You stop it!"
This went on for some time before the brothers argued at length over who would hang up first.
At publishing time, the station had also recognized another element of just how genius this move was, since those killed by COVID-19 are now voting Democrat.
#1
Had me for a second -- Cuomo is actually very likely to be guilty of manslaughter against scores of elderly nursing home residents -- but ultimately guessed Bee.
It's Kurt
So, Donald Trump, Jr., retweeted a mean tweet about Grandpa Badfinger and the usual suspects went through their collective panty wetting again. "Civility is important," we barbarians are duly informed, because of course it is. But we have noticed, over time, that in reality it only seems to be important when we are the ones breaching it. For us, it is open season. We have a big target on our collective back for the vilest slanders and the most ridiculous lies, but apparently that’s OK. "Civility" apparently only raises it’s well-coiffed, Romney-esque head when we breach it.
...It’s almost like "civility" is just a way to shut us up and ensure that we have no means to fight back against our opponents, who will then be free to pummel us into submission.
#1
Currently I am being monitored for posting a contrary CON virus post on Facebook. Using fact check as their weapon of choice. I now have a PRO CON virus main heading on my left top page that cannot be removed. Liberal dogma rules. Appears it will only get worse. I understand I can leave but I have not found a good alternative sight to visit.
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.
[NYP] Even after the Justice Department filed papers earlier this month to withdraw its deeply compromised case against Gen. Michael Flynn for making false statements to the FBI, the fate of President Trump’s first national security adviser is still unresolved. Presiding Judge Emmitt Sullivan disagrees so strongly with the government’s decision that he appointed a former jurist to find avenues by which Flynn might still be prosecuted.
[Bearing Arms] With little fanfare and almost no national attention, Virginians headed to the polls in local elections on Tuesday, and there was a stunning upset in one city that’s been dominated by Democrats in recent elections. Control of the Staunton City Council flipped from blue to red after a surge in turnout among Republican voters, and at least one local pundit believes that Gov. Ralph Northam’s anti-gun efforts are to blame for the massive increase in voter turnout that propelled conservatives to victory.
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA—CNN has praised Governor Andrew Cuomo's "brilliant" nursing home strategy as it ended in the deaths of thousands of senior citizens, who skew conservative and Republican.
