Open Thread - 24 January 2021

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Comments

[Deap]

Dr Jordan Peterson addresses the myth of "White Privilege" as well as other critical topics now in both controversy and political contradiction. Getting a grasp on "post-modernism" was worth the price of admission.

An intense and densely packed presentation, but a very valuable hour well spent listening to his keen analysis of contemporary issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfH8IG7Awk0

It felt like a life raft of rational thought, in our currently very rough and emotionally charged seas. We are entering the Brave New World of Democrat language control, so it is good to go into this fray forewarned and forearmed.

What are the hot button words than one can now deflect and dance around after spending time listening to Dr Peterson?

[Fred]

NPR, not to be confused with national propaganda radio, has new reports of the Healing Power of Democrat: In only three days:
Jan 19: Deaths from the disease are up 22% from two weeks ago.
Jan 20: Joe BIden Sworn in as 46th President.
Jan 21: Daily numbers of new corona cases are finally starting to wane.

It's the first miracle of 2021! https://gunfreezone.net/biden-performs-its-first-miracle/
I'm sure nobody will notice. Elsewhere on Twitter "The Owner of the Washington Post has officially stated that mail-in ballot elections have serious systemic flaws" is being censored. I wonder why?
https://twitter.com/AviAbelow/status/1353428684934434817/photo/1

[Nil Desperandum]

What will be the Biden State of the Union address? Will it be based on any reality?

[Deap]

Hot mic capture: https://nationalfile.com/hot-mic-biden-says-i-dont-know-what-im-signing-signs-executive-order-anyway/

-- Biden allegedly says he does not know what he is signing, but gets a pen pushed to sign his stack of EO's. Think of what this could mean for this country. (Trust, but verify)

[Deap]

Fred, even more curious was one of the very first EO's Biden signed was to fire the lead NLRB attorney, and put in "his own" picks. Then the very next day on Jan 21, Bezos files his NLRB complaint demanding no mail-in balloting in the union organization action at Amazon.

Coincidence, or happenstance? NLRB firing and Bezos action

My gut says this is going to be the most corrupt, insider administration we have ever seen, and Biden does not have the competency to even know what is being done in his name or even with his signature.

And the corruption will take place right before out own eyes, and no one on the inside or media will do anything about it.

Shall be interesting to see how this Amazon case turns out because unions love Biden and mail-in balloting; but Bezos also loves Biden, but does not want mail-in balloting.

This could be the belweather decision for the rest of the Biden administration. Will it ultimately be pro-high tech oligarchs. or pro-union. It cannot be both - unions are anathema for high-tech libertarians. And unions are the gal that brung Biden.

Unions vs Biden 0:1 so far. (Keystone Pipeline)

[Deap]

Many people apparently learned to love covid-porn and living in fear.

Reports now they don't want to give it up, even though Democrats now (post-election) claim everything is under control and it is time to reopen society.

Just like Albert Camus "The Plague" written in the 1950's - life suddenly had no meaning, when there was no longer the plague. And the protagonist commits suicide. He apparently loved living under the threat of dying, rather than living life.

https://noqreport.com/2021/01/24/can-democrats-deprogram-the-pre-election-covid-fear-they-instilled-in-the-masses/

[longarch]

Sir:

1) Lin Wood claims this whistleblower is telling thew truth about numerous serious crimes by Pence and Justice Roberts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgzUQKTAnM8

2)

A former U.S. government agent has admitted participating in the illegal government surveillance on then-CBS New investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson. The insider has identified former U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein as the person responsible for the project.

https://sharylattkisson.com/2020/02/former-govt-agent-admits-illegally-spying-on-sharyl-attkisson/

3)

Lawmakers are taking matters into their own hands to prevent white supremacists and other extremists from joining and remaining in the military.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/535503-lawmakers-move-to-oust-extremists-from-military

4) A new bill proposes numerous unConstitutional measures restricting the 2nd Amendment.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717

[English Outsider]

Fred - I think the picture may have changed on Covid.

Until recently the incidence of the disease was going down quite nicely. That in the States, Ireland, England, and in some continental European countries.

Now there are these new variants. If these get a hold in the US then the position may be quite different.

If the Colonel permits, I'll repost a link I submitted to the thread "Joe, Joe ..." only recently. The video does show that there is now a possibility of the new variants spreading in the US and altering the downward trend in cases. For some reason the video starts part way through so needs winding back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMSeiNqOfjg&t=143s

(There is incidentally a seeming anomaly in the graphs shown. In Ireland (now more new variant, B117) they show that the incidence was brought down by control measures. But in Denmark they fear that the new variant will lead to an increase in cases even though they already have control measures in place.

I put this anomaly to a Danish worker in the field who's close to the data. His explanation was that it could be that the Danish control measures were not that comprehensive. But like a lot of things to do with Covid, that's not entirely clear yet.)

[JohninMK]

How this is still up is a puzzle.

Who funded the developments that made Covid19 possible? Yes, you the US taxpayers. Stunning stuff.

Watch it while you can.

Who is going to take these guys to task for sidestepping Obama’s orders? Is the rest of the World going to sue them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOA3ppL9snY&feature=emb_logo

[Brad Hamilton]

Deap — The narrator, Dr. Rieux, doesn’t commit suicide in ‘The Plague’; his wife dies at the sanitarium.

You do get the novel is an “antifa” allegory, right?

[Fred]

English,

Just in time to further the destruction of financial independence of small business owners, Covid2021 appears. Do not worry though as elites are immune to restriction requirements.

"But like a lot of things to do with Covid, that's not entirely clear yet."

It's pretty clear we've been fed Bulls*** from day 1. This kills the old, the sick, the fat. Nine months of PT and sunshine would have been much more beneficial to actual citizens, but then the Orange one would not have been driven from office had we done that. How are all those professionals from Imperial college doing. Anyone fired and driven into poverty do their their errors? No?

I belive they are having riots over on the continent as a result of month 9 of 15 days to slow the spread so their government run health care systems don't get overwhelmed by OK Boomers getting sick.
https://twitter.com/Thunderace4/status/1353464936807206912

Even Europeans are tired of being oppressed by their betters, for their own good.

[Leith]

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of peddling "demonstrably false” allegations that resulted in harassment and death threats for employees.

[Artemesia]

English Outsider, shouldn't you be quarantining your keyboard? At least put an impermeable mask on it and socially distance it from any forms of transmission. Disease-laden words have as much power to sicken the masses as do invisible microbes, and your past several comments had all the marks of a superspreader.

---
On another front: Is the 'impeachment' of Trump the horse's head in Biden's bed, by which Schumer & Pelosi et al will keep the old man in check and on script?

---
One more thought:
Nil Desperandum -- your handle made me think of a Yale online course on New Testament
In the course of the second lecture, students were instructed to memorize,
de omnibus dubitandum, Doubt Everything, including what I, your professor, say to you.
The videos were posted back in the good old days, 2009, when critical thinking was the standard.
In Prof. Perliger's comments on C Span the other day, he stated that his students are taught to criticize everything. This Culture of Critique is a hallmark of the so-called Frankfurt school.

(Demented Dems --most frighteningly, its young adult disciples, check every box noted in this semi-useful overview of the Frankfurt School, origin of Cultural Marxism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9KEtbsFvA&feature=emb_logo
Would have been better without all the Boomer bashing.)

[Deap]

Coincidence?

With recall petition signatures reaching 1.2 million of the 1.5 million required, Gov Gavin Newsom suddenly re-opens the entire state for outdoor dining, barbers and hair salons.

A grateful state sings his praises for these small favors he bestowed in our humble midst. Quite curious however in light of this new round of new covid porn.

[Deap]

Fauci's dirty little fingerprints emerge yet again.

Sara Carter provide links between Fauci approved funding of research for "enhanced function" viruses, that led to the Wuhan lab experiments with the corona virus: https://saraacarter.com/steve-hilton-reveals-explosive-evidence-on-covid-19-origins-and-the-fauci-connection/

[jerseycityjoan]

I am surprised the Zheng/Zhang surrogacy story hasn't sparked any discussion even though outlets like CNN covered it.

The well known Chinese movie actress (Zheng) and producer (Zhang) hired two Americans to carry their biological children. Surrogacy is illegal in China. Then they broke up before the children were born and the wife is denying the children and refusing to sign the necessary paperwork so the children can go home to China. The husband has been taking care of the children here but his visa runs out shortly.

The wife and her family are supposedly on tape complaining that the surrogates can't be forced to have abortions at seven months and talking about simply leaving the children here or putting them up for adoption. All completely heartless stuff.

If this case doesn't prove we shouldn't allow Americans to serve as surrogates for foreigners, I don't know what will. A lot of the draw of course is that by being born here the children get American citizenship. But why should we allow this? It is nuts.

Congress should outlaw international surrogacy here as soon as possible.

[jerseycityjoan]

Sorry, here's the link to the CNN Chinese surrogacy story:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/22/china/china-celebrity-surrogacy-scandal-dst-intl-hnk/index.html

[English Outsider]

Fred - I hope it doesn't flare up in the US the way Dr Campbell fears but wrote in to say that the new variants change all the old arguments. They really do, as Ireland found out unfortunately. I set this out previously -

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2021/01/httpswwwfoxnewscompoliticsbiden-nothing-we-can-do-to-change-coronavirus-pandemic-trajectory-in-coming-.html

In my previous comment on the same theme I mentioned prophylactics. I suppose that's why I wrote in in the first place. The EVMS recommendations are strongly backed by many other medical professionals including the one linked to above.

Most people know about vitamins C and D and about zinc. It does seem that Covid is less dangerous for people who've been taking them. So what I wanted to say is that even if the new variant in the US is a false alarm, it's well worth while getting them and taking them in the amounts recommended, if only just in case.

Artemesia - will take the precautions mentioned. In addition, some reputable authorities say whisky helps ward off evil spirits as well as errant viruses and I shall be diligently pursuing that line of research later this evening.

[mcohen]

The banks at play in the fields of the people and covid 19.The real reason behind covid 19 and trumps loss

https://off-guardian.org/2021/01/22/the-old-lady-who-swallowed-a-fly/

https://www.cadtm.org/Another-look-at-the-Federal-Reserve-s-panic-in-September-2019-and-solutions-to

A paragraph that caught my eye

"Liberating the banking sector from the hold of private capital through socialization is an unavoidable condition for the implementation of an economic programme that breaks away from capitalism and its logic."

[mcohen]

Deap.fauci the faucet

[smoke]

A provocative report and analysis by Martin Gurri about how the internet has been changing journalism at NYT over the past decade, and esp past 5 years:
"Slouching toward Post-Journalism"
https://www.city-journal.org/journalism-advocacy-over-reporting

In essence, Gurri applies his own media theory regarding the alteration in revenue streams needed to make newspapers viable, as well as Andrey Mir's concept of post-journalism.

Mir proposes that commercial motives have driven media from reporting news to provoking anger, fear,and division, as being more profitable. A sort of bare bones outline of Mir's ideas is here:
https://human-as-media.com/2021/01/17/the-news-media-manufacturing-anger-not-consent-herman-chomskys-propaganda-model-revised-2/

The overlapping theories strike me as incomplete, at best (just as Chomsky-Herman was before them),and in Gurri's case, maybe disingenuous, too. Nor am I comfortable with accepting the "facts" of Gurri's account of the NYT, without corroboration.

However, the combined theories do seem useful as a beginning point for attempting to conceptualize how the internet and changing media are changing the structure and dynamics of "news" and information.

Gurri is reported to be a hot topic in Silicon Valley.

[Fred]

English,

"Dr. Campbell ... WHO MAY BE WRONG BUT.... ..... CHANGE ALL THE OLD ARGUMENTS. " (empasis mine)

This is the statement about "Dr. Campbell" from his youtube channel "--- My PhD focused on the development of open learning resources for nurses nationally and internationally" and better still "Disclaimer;..... No media-based material on this channel is suitable for using as professional medical advice."

I'm very happy the teacher has a youtube channel. Thanks for the breathless propaganda piece.

[English Outsider]

Fred - Dr Campbell. Knows his onions but I wouldn't have cared to put up just one man on a link to submit to Colonel Lang's site unless there was more than that.

He gives a broad overview of the current state of play with the pandemic. Only came across him recently but what he says is very much in line with a lot of American and English sources I'd been following. I think I mentioned the EVMS as one such important source but there are plenty others.

But as stressed, all the previous discussion is about yesterday. When infection rates were dropping in the US and in Europe. The main point is that here in England, also in Ireland, circumstances are now different. B117 is considerably more transmissible and possibly less survivable. May cause trouble if it gets a hold in the US.

And the prophylactics I mentioned may sound a bit crank, but although there's nothing much in the way of true clinical trials to back them up I believe the weight of medical opinion now in favour of them justifies my writing in to the Colonel's site and saying, whatever your view of the pandemic do take them. They aren't harmful in the doses recommended and do seem to improve your chances should you catch the disease.

[Barbara Ann]

EO

Talking of prophylactics, I see people in UK are literally being told to go f*ck themselves:

'Your best sexual partner is yourself'

The Terrence Higgins Trust published advice in August suggesting people avoid kissing, wear a face covering and choose positions that aren't face-to-face during sex

Reality transcends Monty Python. No wonder growing numbers in Europe and elsewhere are starting to suggest that their governments do likewise.

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53736087

[Fred]

English,

EVMS, earned value managerment systesm? Or some minor university somewhere?
Yet again you leave out which elites have been harmed by any of their failed policies. Though thanks for the repeated warning of May causes harm! May be less survivable! Definitely sounds like more reasons for authoritarian government, which for your sake I hope you are an employee of, otherwise you might bear the consequences of what they will impose.