lewrockwell--2020-12-28--Engineering Contagion: UPMC, Corona-Thrax, and ‘The Darkest Winter’

Researchers at a BSL-3 lab tied to the organizers of the 2001 Dark Winter simulation , DARPA , and the post-9/11 biodefense industrial complex are genetically modifying anthrax to express Covid-19 components , according to FOIA documents .
Soon after having been fired from his post as secretary of the treasury in December 2002 , after a policy clash with the president , Paul O ’ Neill became a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center .
Despite having just worked under and clashed with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney , it wasn ’ t until O ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Romoff as a member of the Center ’ s board that he chose to publicly denounce a superior as “ evil.
” “ He wants to destroy competition .
He wants to be the only game in town , ” O ’ Neill would later state of Romoff , adding that “ after 18 months I quit [ the UPMC board ] in disgust ” due to Romoff ’ s “ absolute control ” over the board ’ s actions .
O ’ Neill subsequently noted that UPMC “ board members who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are not willing to take this guy on.
” When pressed by a local reporter , O ’ Neill further elaborated that he had been told by other board members that they were “ afraid ” of Romoff because Romoff might “ harm them in some way.
” Extraordinary Dogs : St ... Schlimm , John Best Price : $ 4.96 Buy New $ 15.50 O ’ Neill ’ s criticisms of Romoff are hardly an outlier , as local community activists and even a state attorney general have noted that UPMC ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pleases .
Jeffrey Romoff has ruled UPMC with an iron fist since his predecessor , Thomas Detre , had a heart attack in 1992 .
As a result of the Center ’ s massive wealth accumulation , at first spurred by his magic touch for receiving National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) grants , Detre was able to use the financial power afforded to him to consolidate control over enough of the University of Pittsburgh to create his “ own personal fiefdom , ” which is now the stand-alone corporation known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the Center ’ s reins , he made his intentions clear to faculty and staff , stating at one 1995 UPMC meeting that his “ vision ” for the future of American health care was “ the conversion of health care from social good to a commodity.
” Motivated by profit above all else , Romoff aggressively expanded UPMC , gobbling up community hospitals , surgery centers , and private practices to create a “ health-care network ” that has expanded throughout much of Pennsylvania and even abroad to other countries , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has also expanded into the health-insurance business , with 40 percent of the medical claims it pays out going straight back into places of care that are owned by UPMC—meaning UPMC is essentially paying itself .
In addition , since UPMC is officially a “ charitable nonprofit corporation , ” it is exempt from property taxes and has special access to the tax-exempt municipal bond market .
UPMC can also solicit tax-deductible grants from private individuals and organizations , as well as governments .
These grants totaled over $ 1 billion dollars between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being officially justified because of UPMC ’ s “ charitable institution ” status , the UPMC board , with Romoff at the top , have seen their own multimillion-dollar-per-year salaries continue to climb .
Perhaps this perk also comes from UPMC being a nonprofit corporation , as there are no stockholders to whom Romoff and the board must explain their increasingly exorbitant salaries .
For instance , Romoff made $ 8.97 million last year as UPMC ’ s CEO , a marked increase over the $ 6.12 million he had raked in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chicanery is so out of control that even Pennsylvania ’ s attorney general has taken action against it , suing UPMC in February 2019 for violations of the state ’ s charity laws based on their “ unjust enrichment ” and engaging in “ unfair , fraudulent or deceptive acts or practices.
” Though UPMC decided to settle out of court , the Center and Romoff came out of the affair relatively unscathed .
Now , thanks to the crisis caused by Covid-19 , UPMC is once again on the path toward growing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Romoff ’ s ultimate goal , which is , in his own words , to make UPMC the “ Amazon of health care.
” The Last Stand of the ... James D. Hornfischer Best Price : $ 8.56 Buy New $ 16.00 In this fourth installment of the The Last American Vagabond series “ Engineering Contagion : Amerithrax , Coronavirus and the Rise of the Biotech-Industrial Complex ” , the “ nonprofit ” health-care behemoth that is UPMC is squarely placed at the intersection of post-9/11 “ biodefense ” public-private partnerships ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behalf of their private-sector benefactors ; and risky research on dangerous pathogens that threatens to unleash the very “ bioterror ” that these institutions claim to guard against .
In January 2020 , when much of the world remained blissfully unaware of the coming global pandemic , UPMC was already at work developing a vaccine to protect against the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 , known as SARS-CoV-2 .
That month , before the state of Pennsylvania had a single case of Covid-19 , UPMC formed a “ coronavirus task force , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) to obtain samples of live SARS-CoV-2 for research purposes .
That research was to be conducted at the Biosafety Level 3 ( BSL-3 ) Regional Biocontainment Laboratory ( RBL ) housed within UPMC ’ s Center for Vaccine Research .
A day after the director of UPMC ’ s Center for Vaccine Research , W. Paul Duprex , revealed UPMC ’ s efforts to access the SARS-CoV-2 virus , he announced that the virus samples , containing an estimated 50 to 60 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the university .
At the time , UPMC was one of only a handful of institutions on the CDC ’ s short list to receive live SARS-CoV-2 samples .
UPMC later stated that they began work on a vaccine for Covid-19 on January 21st , weeks before the February 14th announcement that the virus was on its way to the university .
That original vaccine candidate used the published genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 , released in early January 2020 by Chinese researchers , to synthetically produce SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins that would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is commonly used in a variety of vaccines .
The vaccine candidate was nicknamed PittCoVacc , short for Pittsburgh Coronavirus Vaccine .
A little over a month after the live SARS-CoV-2 samples were received by UPMC ’ s Center for Vaccine Research , UPMC received a $ 5 million grant from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations ( CEPI ) , an international organization founded in 2017 by the governments of Norway and India along with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation .
The grant was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partnership ” that the Center for Vaccine Research had recently formed with the Institut Pasteur in France and Austrian vaccine manufacturer Themis .
Soon after , in May , Themis was acquired by vaccine giant Merck , which began recruiting volunteers for human trials earlier this month on September 11 .
Merck has incredibly close ties with UPMC , particularly its commercialization arm known as UPMC Enterprises .
The CEPI grant seems to have drastically altered the Center for Vaccine Research ’ s interest in the original adenovirus-vector vaccine candidate , PittCoVacc , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at funding a different vaccine candidate that instead uses the measles virus as a vector .
The measles virus and the genetic manipulation of measles for use in the measles vaccine is , notably , the principal research interest and expertise of Center for Vaccine Research director Paul Duprex .
Top Dog : The Story of ... Goodavage , Maria Best Price : $ 1.76 Buy New $ 9.99 This measles-based vaccine candidate has been described as “ a modified [ genetically altered ] measles virus that delivers bits of the new coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well as an “ attenuated [ genetically modified yet weakened ] measles virus as a vector with which to introduce genetic material from SARS- [ CoV- ] 2 to the immune system.
” The combination of this weakened measles virus and SARS-CoV-2 , per Duprex , will produce a “ more benign version of coronavirus [ that ] will acquaint a person ’ s immune system ” with SARS-CoV-2 .
No vaccine using this modality has ever been licensed .
On April 2nd , less than a week after the CEPI award @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who had developed the original vaccine candidate using the more traditional adenovirus-vector approach published a study in EBioMedicine ( a publication of the medical journal Lancet ) that reported promising results of their vaccine candidate in animal studies .
The news that a US institution was among the first in the world to develop a Covid-19 vaccine candidate with promising results from an animal study was heavily amplified by mainstream US media outlets , with those reports noting that UMPC was requesting government permission to quickly move onto human trials .
This original @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dropped from subsequent reports and statements from UPMC regarding its Covid-19 vaccine efforts .
Indeed , in recent months , Duprex ’ s statements on the center ’ s Covid-19 vaccine candidates no longer mention the once-promising PittCoVacc at all .
Instead , new reports , citing Duprex , claim that the only UPMC vaccine candidates are the CEPI-funded measles-vaccine candidate and another , more mysterious vaccine candidate , whose nature has only been recently revealed by documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request .
Equally odd is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine candidate have stopped mentioning UPMC at all , instead citing only Themis , its new owner Merck , and France ’ s Institut Pasteur .
There are no reports indicating a break-up of the original “ academic-industry partnership ” that had received the CEPI grant .
It seems that this is what may have come to pass , as Duprex stated that the UPMC measles-vector vaccine candidate had partnered with the Serum Institute of India for mass production , first for trials and then for public use , depending on how the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In contrast , Themis/Merck have stated that their vaccine is being produced in France .
It remains unclear what the relation is between these two , and apparently analogous , vaccine candidates .
Though Duprex has been relatively forthcoming about the nature of the first UPMC vaccine candidate ( i. e. , the CEPI-funded measles-vector vaccine ) , he has been much more tight-lipped about its second vaccine candidate .
In late August , he told the Pittsburgh Business Times that the second vaccine candidate that UPMC was developing “ works by delivering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead of the entire weakened or killed virus as is standard in other vaccines.
” Yet Duprex declined to state what vector will be used to deliver the genetic material into human cells .
Recent FOIA revelations , nevertheless , have revealed that UPMC ’ s second vaccine candidate involves genetically engineering a combination of SARS-Cov-2 and anthrax , a substance better known for its potential use as a bioweapon .

Researchers at a BSL-3 lab tied to the organizers of the 2001 Dark Winter simulation, DARPA, and the post-9/11 biodefense industrial complex are genetically modifying anthrax to express Covid-19 components, according to FOIA documents.
Soon after having been fired from his post as secretary of the treasury in December 2002, after a policy clash with the president, Paul O’Neill became a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Despite having just worked under and clashed with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, it wasn’t until O’Neill began answering to UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff as a member of the Center’s board that he chose to publicly denounce a superior as “evil.”
“He wants to destroy competition. He wants to be the only game in town,” O’Neill would later state of Romoff, adding that “after 18 months I quit [the UPMC board] in disgust” due to Romoff’s “absolute control” over the board’s actions. O’Neill subsequently noted that UPMC “board members who have wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars are not willing to take this guy on.” When pressed by a local reporter, O’Neill further elaborated that he had been told by other board members that they were “afraid” of Romoff because Romoff might “harm them in some way.” Extraordinary Dogs: St... Schlimm, John Best Price: $2.96 Buy New $7.05 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
O’Neill’s criticisms of Romoff are hardly an outlier, as local community activists and even a state attorney general have noted that UPMC’s board lets Romoff do as he pleases.
Jeffrey Romoff has ruled UPMC with an iron fist since his predecessor, Thomas Detre, had a heart attack in 1992. As a result of the Center’s massive wealth accumulation, at first spurred by his magic touch for receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, Detre was able to use the financial power afforded to him to consolidate control over enough of the University of Pittsburgh to create his “own personal fiefdom,” which is now the stand-alone corporation known as UPMC.
Not long after Romoff took over the Center’s reins, he made his intentions clear to faculty and staff, stating at one 1995 UPMC meeting that his “vision” for the future of American health care was “the conversion of health care from social good to a commodity.” Motivated by profit above all else, Romoff aggressively expanded UPMC, gobbling up community hospitals, surgery centers, and private practices to create a “health-care network” that has expanded throughout much of Pennsylvania and even abroad to other countries, including China. Under Romoff, UPMC has also expanded into the health-insurance business, with 40 percent of the medical claims it pays out going straight back into places of care that are owned by UPMC—meaning UPMC is essentially paying itself.
In addition, since UPMC is officially a “charitable nonprofit corporation,” it is exempt from property taxes and has special access to the tax-exempt municipal bond market. UPMC can also solicit tax-deductible grants from private individuals and organizations, as well as governments. These grants totaled over $1 billion dollars between 2005 and 2017.
Despite these perks being officially justified because of UPMC’s “charitable institution” status, the UPMC board, with Romoff at the top, have seen their own multimillion-dollar-per-year salaries continue to climb. Perhaps this perk also comes from UPMC being a nonprofit corporation, as there are no stockholders to whom Romoff and the board must explain their increasingly exorbitant salaries. For instance, Romoff made $8.97 million last year as UPMC’s CEO, a marked increase over the $6.12 million he had raked in the prior year.
UPMC’s financial chicanery is so out of control that even Pennsylvania’s attorney general has taken action against it, suing UPMC in February 2019 for violations of the state’s charity laws based on their “unjust enrichment” and engaging in “unfair, fraudulent or deceptive acts or practices.” Though UPMC decided to settle out of court, the Center and Romoff came out of the affair relatively unscathed.
Now, thanks to the crisis caused by Covid-19, UPMC is once again on the path toward growing even larger and more powerful in pursuit of Romoff’s ultimate goal, which is, in his own words, to make UPMC the “Amazon of health care.” The Last Stand of the ... James D. Hornfischer Best Price: $3.59 Buy New $10.00 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
In this fourth installment of the The Last American Vagabond series “Engineering Contagion: Amerithrax, Coronavirus and the Rise of the Biotech-Industrial Complex”, the “nonprofit” health-care behemoth that is UPMC is squarely placed at the intersection of post-9/11 “biodefense” public-private partnerships; corporate-funded academics who shape public policy on behalf of their private-sector benefactors; and risky research on dangerous pathogens that threatens to unleash the very “bioterror” that these institutions claim to guard against.
The Odd Trajectory of UPMC’s Covid-19 Vaccine Efforts
In January 2020, when much of the world remained blissfully unaware of the coming global pandemic, UPMC was already at work developing a vaccine to protect against the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, known as SARS-CoV-2. That month, before the state of Pennsylvania had a single case of Covid-19, UPMC formed a “coronavirus task force,” which was initially focused on lobbying the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to obtain samples of live SARS-CoV-2 for research purposes. That research was to be conducted at the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL) housed within UPMC’s Center for Vaccine Research. A day after the director of UPMC’s Center for Vaccine Research, W. Paul Duprex, revealed UPMC’s efforts to access the SARS-CoV-2 virus, he announced that the virus samples, containing an estimated 50 to 60 million coronavirus particles, were already en route to the university. At the time, UPMC was one of only a handful of institutions on the CDC’s short list to receive live SARS-CoV-2 samples.
UPMC later stated that they began work on a vaccine for Covid-19 on January 21st, weeks before the February 14th announcement that the virus was on its way to the university. That original vaccine candidate used the published genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, released in early January 2020 by Chinese researchers, to synthetically produce SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins that would be transported into cells by an adenoviral vector, which is commonly used in a variety of vaccines. The vaccine candidate was nicknamed PittCoVacc, short for Pittsburgh Coronavirus Vaccine.
A little over a month after the live SARS-CoV-2 samples were received by UPMC’s Center for Vaccine Research, UPMC received a $5 million grant from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international organization founded in 2017 by the governments of Norway and India along with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant was officially awarded to “an international academic-industry partnership” that the Center for Vaccine Research had recently formed with the Institut Pasteur in France and Austrian vaccine manufacturer Themis. Soon after, in May, Themis was acquired by vaccine giant Merck, which began recruiting volunteers for human trials earlier this month on September 11. Merck has incredibly close ties with UPMC, particularly its commercialization arm known as UPMC Enterprises.
The CEPI grant seems to have drastically altered the Center for Vaccine Research’s interest in the original adenovirus-vector vaccine candidate, PittCoVacc, as the CEPI grant was specifically aimed at funding a different vaccine candidate that instead uses the measles virus as a vector. The measles virus and the genetic manipulation of measles for use in the measles vaccine is, notably, the principal research interest and expertise of Center for Vaccine Research director Paul Duprex. Top Dog: The Story of ... Goodavage, Maria Best Price: $4.00 Buy New $12.49 (as of 09:52 UTC - Details)
This measles-based vaccine candidate has been described as “a modified [genetically altered] measles virus that delivers bits of the new coronavirus into the body to prevent Covid-19” as well as an “attenuated [genetically modified yet weakened] measles virus as a vector with which to introduce genetic material from SARS-[CoV-]2 to the immune system.” The combination of this weakened measles virus and SARS-CoV-2, per Duprex, will produce a “more benign version of coronavirus [that] will acquaint a person’s immune system” with SARS-CoV-2. No vaccine using this modality has ever been licensed.
On April 2nd, less than a week after the CEPI award had been announced, the UPMC researchers who had developed the original vaccine candidate using the more traditional adenovirus-vector approach published a study in EBioMedicine (a publication of the medical journal Lancet) that reported promising results of their vaccine candidate in animal studies. The news that a US institution was among the first in the world to develop a Covid-19 vaccine candidate with promising results from an animal study was heavily amplified by mainstream US media outlets, with those reports noting that UMPC was requesting government permission to quickly move onto human trials.
This original vaccine candidate, however, was mysteriously dropped from subsequent reports and statements from UPMC regarding its Covid-19 vaccine efforts. Indeed, in recent months, Duprex’s statements on the center’s Covid-19 vaccine candidates no longer mention the once-promising PittCoVacc at all. Instead, new reports, citing Duprex, claim that the only UPMC vaccine candidates are the CEPI-funded measles-vaccine candidate and another, more mysterious vaccine candidate, whose nature has only been recently revealed by documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Equally odd is that recent media reports on the original vaccine candidate have stopped mentioning UPMC at all, instead citing only Themis, its new owner Merck, and France’s Institut Pasteur. There are no reports indicating a break-up of the original “academic-industry partnership” that had received the CEPI grant. It seems that this is what may have come to pass, as Duprex stated that the UPMC measles-vector vaccine candidate had partnered with the Serum Institute of India for mass production, first for trials and then for public use, depending on how the vaccine advances through the regulatory process. In contrast, Themis/Merck have stated that their vaccine is being produced in France. It remains unclear what the relation is between these two, and apparently analogous, vaccine candidates.
Though Duprex has been relatively forthcoming about the nature of the first UPMC vaccine candidate (i. e., the CEPI-funded measles-vector vaccine), he has been much more tight-lipped about its second vaccine candidate. In late August, he told the Pittsburgh Business Times that the second vaccine candidate that UPMC was developing “works by delivering genetic material coding for a viral protein instead of the entire weakened or killed virus as is standard in other vaccines.” Yet Duprex declined to state what vector will be used to deliver the genetic material into human cells. Recent FOIA revelations, nevertheless, have revealed that UPMC’s second vaccine candidate involves genetically engineering a combination of SARS-Cov-2 and anthrax, a substance better known for its potential use as a bioweapon.
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lewrockwell--2020-12-28--The Wokies: Top 10 corporate panderers who plumbed new depths in 2020

Corporations went headlong into performative wokeness this year , falling over themselves to embody the spirit of diversity and inclusion .
They mostly succeeded in alienating customers and bringing down torrents of mockery instead .
While some companies deliberately set out to become woke standard-bearers , donating conspicuous sums to Black Lives Matter or delivering pompous press releases about their new direction , others were pushed into the PC pit unexpectedly – whether through guilt by association or because a publicity-hungry customer was able to bend the ear of a story-hungry tabloid .
Adrift : Seventy-six Da ... Callahan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New $ 9.96 Perhaps attempting to distract from the revelation that management knew about the shortcomings in the 737 MAX ’ s onboard computer that killed hundreds of passengers in two crashes within six months , Boeing was quick to embark on an internal witch hunt as Black Lives Matter took over the sociopolitical discourse this summer , wielding the big stick of cancel culture against its own employees .
Communications chief Niel Golightly resigned after just six months with the company over a 33-year-old article he ’ d written arguing against women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claimed the piece no longer reflected his views , it was nevertheless “ embarrassingly wrong and offensive , ” Golightly said – to applause from the CEO , who boasted about the company ’ s “ unrelenting commitment to diversity and inclusion in all its dimensions.
” Boeing ’ s planes may still be horrifically unsafe , but at least doomed passengers can die content that the airplane manufacturer has “ zero tolerance for bigotry of any kind.
” Not to be outdone by the Americans , top Scandinavian airline SAS let its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is truly Scandinavian.
” Releasing a commercial claiming that cultural touchstones from Norway , Sweden and Denmark had actually come from elsewhere and declaring those countries ’ residents were “ no better than our Viking ancestors ” in terms of ( metaphorical ) pillaging , the company seemed surprised when Scandinavians didn ’ t take kindly to being told they had no culture of their own .
SAS ultimately removed the spot – though not before blaming the backlash on “ right-wingers ” and “ hate groups.
” Publishing giant Penguin Random House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to celebrate Black History Month in February by changing the races of iconic literary characters for 12 re-released editions of young adult classics – confusing those they were trying to pander to ( who asked why the publisher hadn ’ t just featured works written by actual black authors ) and alienating others with the cheap stunt .
At the eleventh hour , the “ culturally diverse ” book launch was shelved .
Butter maker Land o ’ Lakes quietly removed the illustrated Native American woman “ Mia ” from its logo in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Native academics and politicians that the demure image was somehow playing into “ sexualized depictions of Indigenous women.
” But far from getting the plaudits it expected for the woke gesture , the company was deluged with bad reviews by customers who resented its kowtowing to political correctness .
Short Nights of the Sh ... Egan , Timothy Best Price : $ 2.55 Buy New $ 10.79 The son of the Native artist behind the most recent depictions of “ Mia ” even penned an op-ed for the Washington Post skewering the brand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in true American fashion had “ got [ ten ] rid of the Indian and kept the land.
” Ouch .
Following Quaker Foods ’ decision to dump its “ Aunt Jemima ” syrup mascot in June , citing the character ’ s racist origins in the “ mammy ” stereotype of black women , other companies whose packaging prominently featured black characters rushed to dispose of them in what some observed was an ironic blow against minority representation .
Mars ’ “ Uncle Ben ” and the nameless black chef gracing B @ @ @ @ @ @ @ packages were unceremoniously ushered out the door in Jemima ’ s wake .
Indeed , the frenzy to dispose of potentially problematic brand emblems reached such a peak that ConAgra Foods opted to discontinue its Mrs. Butterworth syrup – even though the eponymous Butterworth , represented in the product ’ s “ distinctive motherly-shaped bottle , ” was merely intended to “ evoke the images of a loving grandmother ” and has no race at all .
5 .
Hansens ( and other ex-purveyors of “ eskimo ” desserts ) Dessert maker Hansens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” line of chocolate-covered ice cream pops in July after a Danish politician complained the term “ Eskimo ” means “ eater of raw meat ” and “ has a pejorative meaning for many Greenlanders.
” They weren ’ t the first to drop the supposedly offensive term – Dreyer ’ s Grand Ice Cream , which had been selling chocolate-covered ice cream “ Eskimo Pies ” for nearly a century , vowed in June to rename the product and change its marketing campaign , which had featured a little boy dressed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ backdrop .
Hansens was lambasted for bending to political correctness , with tens of thousands of “ angry ” Facebook reactions to the news .
But competitor Premier , which makes a similar product called “ Kaempe Eskimo ” ( Giant Eskimo ) , opted to keep its name – and presumably a larger share of the chocolate-covered ice-cream pop market .
Corporate groveling reached something of a nadir with UK department store chain Marks & Spencer caving to a single bullying customer upset over the names of the colors it offered for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ S was naming darker-colored bra shades less favorably than lighter-colored ones – the dark color was called “ tobacco ” while lighter colors sported names like “ cinnamon ” and “ fudge.
” Initially ignored by M & S , shopper Kusi Kimani went to the UK tabloids , at which point the chain began apologizing profusely and promised to solve this most first-world of first-world problems .
The Last Place on Eart ... Huntford , Roland Best Price : $ 2.02 Buy New $ 14.77 In a year where small businesses , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keep their doors open , crowdsourced business-rating platform Yelp opted to empower the worst impulses of petty wokesters with a new “ business accused of racist behavior alert.
” The feature was quickly embraced by Antifa , which reportedly asked its members to begin reporting “ any company that ’ s hanging blue lives [ matter ] garbage in their store or anything else that ’ s anti the [ Black Lives Matter ] movement ” in the hope of driving such benighted establishments out of business .
The racism-alert feature wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into performative wokeness for 2020 – that honor goes to its collaboration with “ Open to All , ” a company that makes virtue-signaling window decals marking an establishment as a bastion of tolerance and diversity-training kits for businesses that can ’ t afford the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to hire a corporate-credentialed “ diversity consultant.
” When it comes to instilling woke virtues , the dominant thinking is that you can never start kids too young , and Nickelodeon quickly caught on to the power they wielded regarding control @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The cartoon-dominated network ran nearly nine minutes of a black screen flashing “ I can ’ t breathe ” in time with the contradictory sound of breathing ( with a countdown at the top of the screen , in case anyone wasn ’ t aware that this was going on for as long as some of the channel ’ s actual shows ) .
While it ’ s not clear if they expected their pint-size viewers to be familiar with slain Minneapolis man George Floyd or the amount of time he ’ d @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knee , they presumably assumed the unusually quiet nine minutes would drive children to ask their parents what had happened to their usual brightly-colored entertainment – at which point the parents would presumably choose between explaining Floyd ’ s death to their formerly innocent kids or shelling out some kind of donation to woke standard-bearers Color of Change to change the subject .
Stock exchange Nasdaq announced last month that companies hoping to remain listed on its authoritative index had better start diversifying their boards of directors , meritocracy be damned .
Submitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Commission that would require companies to include at least one director “ who self-identifies as female ” and another “ who self-identifies as either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+ , ” the exchange raised eyebrows across the financial sector .
Nasdaq isn ’ t the first to prioritize skin-deep diversity over talent or business acumen , either – investment bank Goldman Sachs also declared earlier this year that it would no longer take companies public that didn ’ t have at least one “ diverse ” board member , and Credit Suisse recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” to encourage investment in companies considered LGBT-friendly places to work .
Given the disastrous recession many of the world ’ s economies have plunged into thanks to government-mandated shutdowns triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic , it ’ s hard to tell which companies have fallen victim to the longstanding rule of “ get woke , go broke.
” However , it ’ s clear many of those with purchasing power are sick of the pandering – and eager to spend their hard-earned cash elsewhere .
But with those who set the economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entire ESG ( environmental , social and governance ) financial virtue-signaling apparatus – having embraced the program of all-woke , all the time , it ’ s not clear if dissatisfied consumers will have any alternatives in the near future .
After all , most small businesses are facing certain death at the hands of coronavirus-crazy governments who ’ d rather “ kill ‘ em all and let God sort them out ” than allow citizens to make their own decisions .

Corporations went headlong into performative wokeness this year, falling over themselves to embody the spirit of diversity and inclusion. They mostly succeeded in alienating customers and bringing down torrents of mockery instead.
While some companies deliberately set out to become woke standard-bearers, donating conspicuous sums to Black Lives Matter or delivering pompous press releases about their new direction, others were pushed into the PC pit unexpectedly – whether through guilt by association or because a publicity-hungry customer was able to bend the ear of a story-hungry tabloid.
10. Boeing
Adrift: Seventy-six Da... Callahan, Steven Best Price: $2.24 Buy New $6.43 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details) Perhaps attempting to distract from the revelation that management knew about the shortcomings in the 737 MAX’s onboard computer that killed hundreds of passengers in two crashes within six months, Boeing was quick to embark on an internal witch hunt as Black Lives Matter took over the sociopolitical discourse this summer, wielding the big stick of cancel culture against its own employees. Communications chief Niel Golightly resigned after just six months with the company over a 33-year-old article he’d written arguing against women serving in the military. While he claimed the piece no longer reflected his views, it was nevertheless “embarrassingly wrong and offensive,” Golightly said – to applause from the CEO, who boasted about the company’s “unrelenting commitment to diversity and inclusion in all its dimensions.”
Boeing’s planes may still be horrifically unsafe, but at least doomed passengers can die content that the airplane manufacturer has “zero tolerance for bigotry of any kind.”
9. SAS
Not to be outdone by the Americans, top Scandinavian airline SAS let its customers know in February that “nothing is truly Scandinavian.” Releasing a commercial claiming that cultural touchstones from Norway, Sweden and Denmark had actually come from elsewhere and declaring those countries’ residents were “no better than our Viking ancestors” in terms of (metaphorical) pillaging, the company seemed surprised when Scandinavians didn’t take kindly to being told they had no culture of their own. SAS ultimately removed the spot – though not before blaming the backlash on “right-wingers” and “hate groups.”
8. Penguin Random House
Publishing giant Penguin Random House in partnership with Barnes & Noble planned to celebrate Black History Month in February by changing the races of iconic literary characters for 12 re-released editions of young adult classics – confusing those they were trying to pander to (who asked why the publisher hadn’t just featured works written by actual black authors) and alienating others with the cheap stunt. At the eleventh hour, the “culturally diverse” book launch was shelved.
7. Land o’ Lakes
Butter maker Land o’ Lakes quietly removed the illustrated Native American woman “Mia” from its logo in February following a handful of complaints from Native academics and politicians that the demure image was somehow playing into “sexualized depictions of Indigenous women.” But far from getting the plaudits it expected for the woke gesture, the company was deluged with bad reviews by customers who resented its kowtowing to political correctness. Short Nights of the Sh... Egan, Timothy Best Price: $1.49 Buy New $7.23 (as of 09:30 UTC - Details)
The son of the Native artist behind the most recent depictions of “Mia” even penned an op-ed for the Washington Post skewering the brand, noting that Land o’ Lakes in true American fashion had “got[ten] rid of the Indian and kept the land.” Ouch.
6. Quaker Foods and fellow ‘black chef’ food
Following Quaker Foods’ decision to dump its “Aunt Jemima” syrup mascot in June, citing the character’s racist origins in the “mammy” stereotype of black women, other companies whose packaging prominently featured black characters rushed to dispose of them in what some observed was an ironic blow against minority representation. Mars’ “Uncle Ben” and the nameless black chef gracing B&G’s Cream of Wheat packages were unceremoniously ushered out the door in Jemima’s wake. Indeed, the frenzy to dispose of potentially problematic brand emblems reached such a peak that ConAgra Foods opted to discontinue its Mrs. Butterworth syrup – even though the eponymous Butterworth, represented in the product’s “distinctive motherly-shaped bottle,” was merely intended to “evoke the images of a loving grandmother” and has no race at all.
5. Hansens (and other ex-purveyors of “eskimo” desserts)
Dessert maker Hansens opted to rename its popular “Eskimo” line of chocolate-covered ice cream pops in July after a Danish politician complained the term “Eskimo” means “eater of raw meat” and “has a pejorative meaning for many Greenlanders.” They weren’t the first to drop the supposedly offensive term – Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, which had been selling chocolate-covered ice cream “Eskimo Pies” for nearly a century, vowed in June to rename the product and change its marketing campaign, which had featured a little boy dressed in ‘Eskimo’ garb against a snowy backdrop.
Hansens was lambasted for bending to political correctness, with tens of thousands of “angry” Facebook reactions to the news. But competitor Premier, which makes a similar product called “Kaempe Eskimo” (Giant Eskimo), opted to keep its name – and presumably a larger share of the chocolate-covered ice-cream pop market.
4. Marks & Spencer
Corporate groveling reached something of a nadir with UK department store chain Marks & Spencer caving to a single bullying customer upset over the names of the colors it offered for bras. The individual complained M&S was naming darker-colored bra shades less favorably than lighter-colored ones – the dark color was called “tobacco” while lighter colors sported names like “cinnamon” and “fudge.” Initially ignored by M&S, shopper Kusi Kimani went to the UK tabloids, at which point the chain began apologizing profusely and promised to solve this most first-world of first-world problems. The Last Place on Eart... Huntford, Roland Best Price: $1.95 Buy New $13.33 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
3. Yelp
In a year where small businesses, especially restaurants, are struggling to merely keep their doors open, crowdsourced business-rating platform Yelp opted to empower the worst impulses of petty wokesters with a new “business accused of racist behavior alert.” The feature was quickly embraced by Antifa, which reportedly asked its members to begin reporting “any company that’s hanging blue lives [matter] garbage in their store or anything else that’s anti the [Black Lives Matter] movement” in the hope of driving such benighted establishments out of business.
The racism-alert feature wasn’t even Yelp’s first foray into performative wokeness for 2020 – that honor goes to its collaboration with “Open to All,” a company that makes virtue-signaling window decals marking an establishment as a bastion of tolerance and diversity-training kits for businesses that can’t afford the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to hire a corporate-credentialed “diversity consultant.”
2. Nickelodeon
When it comes to instilling woke virtues, the dominant thinking is that you can never start kids too young, and Nickelodeon quickly caught on to the power they wielded regarding control of young children’s worldviews. The cartoon-dominated network ran nearly nine minutes of a black screen flashing “I can’t breathe” in time with the contradictory sound of breathing (with a countdown at the top of the screen, in case anyone wasn’t aware that this was going on for as long as some of the channel’s actual shows). While it’s not clear if they expected their pint-size viewers to be familiar with slain Minneapolis man George Floyd or the amount of time he’d spent under a smirking cop’s knee, they presumably assumed the unusually quiet nine minutes would drive children to ask their parents what had happened to their usual brightly-colored entertainment – at which point the parents would presumably choose between explaining Floyd’s death to their formerly innocent kids or shelling out some kind of donation to woke standard-bearers Color of Change to change the subject.
1. NASDAQ
Stock exchange Nasdaq announced last month that companies hoping to remain listed on its authoritative index had better start diversifying their boards of directors, meritocracy be damned. Submitting a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require companies to include at least one director “who self-identifies as female” and another “who self-identifies as either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+,” the exchange raised eyebrows across the financial sector.
Nasdaq isn’t the first to prioritize skin-deep diversity over talent or business acumen, either – investment bank Goldman Sachs also declared earlier this year that it would no longer take companies public that didn’t have at least one “diverse” board member, and Credit Suisse recently debuted a new index called “LGBT-350” to encourage investment in companies considered LGBT-friendly places to work.
Given the disastrous recession many of the world’s economies have plunged into thanks to government-mandated shutdowns triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s hard to tell which companies have fallen victim to the longstanding rule of “get woke, go broke.” However, it’s clear many of those with purchasing power are sick of the pandering – and eager to spend their hard-earned cash elsewhere.
But with those who set the economic rules – not just Nasdaq, but the entire ESG (environmental, social and governance) financial virtue-signaling apparatus – having embraced the program of all-woke, all the time, it’s not clear if dissatisfied consumers will have any alternatives in the near future. After all, most small businesses are facing certain death at the hands of coronavirus-crazy governments who’d rather “kill ‘em all and let God sort them out” than allow citizens to make their own decisions.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-12-28--It’s for Mike Pence To Judge Whether a Presidential Election Was Held at All

On January 6 , a joint session of Congress will open with Vice President Pence presiding as president of the Senate .
His power will be plenary and unappealable .
You heard that right .
As president of the Senate , every objection comes directly to him , and he can rule any objection “ out of order ” or “ denied.
” His task will be to fulfill his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and to ensure that the laws be faithfully executed .
This is a high standard of performance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two choices .
He can roll over on “ certified ” electors , or he can uphold the law .
Article II , Section 1 of the Constitution gives state legislatures “ plenary authority ” as enunciated in Bush v. Gore .
This is key , since the counting of votes is discussed in Article II , the 12th Amendment , and 3 USC 15 .
To this we must add the history of counting and objections recounted by Alexander Macris ( here and here ) .
Put bluntly , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the fact that the contested states of Arizona , Georgia , Michigan , New Mexico , Nevada , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin have sent dueling slates of electors to D.C .
This means that the V.P .
has to decide how he will handle the situation when two sealed envelopes are handed to him from any of those states .
No Surrender : A Father ... Century , Douglas Best Price : $ 6.94 Buy New $ 10.45 Macris points out that in 1800 , even with constitutional deficiencies in Georgia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Georgia , effectively voting himself into the presidency .
This demonstrates that the president of the Senate is the final authority on any motions or objections during the vote-counting .
There is no appeal .
That doesn ’ t mean there won ’ t be any outrage .
Whatever Pence does , people will be angry .
But what does the law demand ?
Seven contested states clearly violated their own laws .
Rather than list the facts , which have been detailed in multiple articles , we must consider the following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counting votes for candidates .
Only valid , lawful votes may be counted .
A valid lawful vote is : • Cast by an eligible , properly registered elector as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature .
• Cast in a timely manner , as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature .
• Cast in a proper form as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature .
Chicken Soup for the S ... Newmark , Amy Best Price : $ 1.71 Buy New $ 7.96 Any process that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an election .
Anything that proceeds from it can not be regarded as having any lawful import .
Most commentators suggest that a process of collecting pieces of paper with marks on them is an election regardless of errors , omissions , and even deliberate malfeasance .
This is a mistake .
Imagine a golf tournament where every bad shot by one player gets a do-over , but the competing player has to follow USGA rules in detail .
One player gets to drop freely out of hazards , but the other has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lies .
The result is a travesty .
The same thing applies to elections .
If there are a handful of improper votes , we can suggest that there was in fact an election , perhaps tainted , but the election wasn ’ t materially harmed .
But when the people charged with managing the election decide to ignore the law , whatever process they supervise is not the process defined by the law .
Therefore , it is not an election .

On January 6, a joint session of Congress will open with Vice President Pence presiding as president of the Senate. His power will be plenary and unappealable. You heard that right. As president of the Senate, every objection comes directly to him, and he can rule any objection “out of order” or “denied.” His task will be to fulfill his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and to ensure that the laws be faithfully executed. This is a high standard of performance, and V.P. Pence will have two choices. He can roll over on “certified” electors, or he can uphold the law.
Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution gives state legislatures “plenary authority” as enunciated in Bush v. Gore. This is key, since the counting of votes is discussed in Article II, the 12th Amendment, and 3 USC 15. To this we must add the history of counting and objections recounted by Alexander Macris (here and here). Put bluntly, it’s as clear as mud. Add to that the fact that the contested states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have sent dueling slates of electors to D.C. This means that the V.P. has to decide how he will handle the situation when two sealed envelopes are handed to him from any of those states. No Surrender: A Father... Century, Douglas Best Price: $1.46 Buy New $10.32 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
Macris points out that in 1800, even with constitutional deficiencies in Georgia, Thomas Jefferson blithely counted defective electoral votes from Georgia, effectively voting himself into the presidency. This demonstrates that the president of the Senate is the final authority on any motions or objections during the vote-counting. There is no appeal. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any outrage. Whatever Pence does, people will be angry. But what does the law demand?
Seven contested states clearly violated their own laws. Rather than list the facts, which have been detailed in multiple articles, we must consider the following:
An election is a process of counting votes for candidates. Only valid, lawful votes may be counted. A valid lawful vote is:
Cast by an eligible, properly registered elector as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.
Cast in a timely manner, as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.
Cast in a proper form as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.
Chicken Soup for the S... Newmark, Amy Best Price: $1.18 Buy New $9.99 (as of 09:52 UTC - Details) Any process that does not follow these rules is not an election. Anything that proceeds from it cannot be regarded as having any lawful import.
Most commentators suggest that a process of collecting pieces of paper with marks on them is an election regardless of errors, omissions, and even deliberate malfeasance. This is a mistake. Imagine a golf tournament where every bad shot by one player gets a do-over, but the competing player has to follow USGA rules in detail. One player gets to drop freely out of hazards, but the other has to tackle every embedded ball as it lies. The result is a travesty.
The same thing applies to elections. If there are a handful of improper votes, we can suggest that there was in fact an election, perhaps tainted, but the election wasn’t materially harmed. But when the people charged with managing the election decide to ignore the law, whatever process they supervise is not the process defined by the law. Therefore, it is not an election.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-12-28--The-Bill Gates Multi-Billion-dollar Briberies of Academia, Big Vaccine, Big Pharma, WHO, the NIH/CDC

The-Bill Gates Multi-Billion-dollar Briberies of Academia, Big Vaccine, Big Pharma, WHO, the NIH/CDC/Fauci, and the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset

Thanks to Dr Betty Martini for the great chart below that illustrates just a part of Bill Gates ’ unjust economic influence over the global over-vaccination agendas of so many government agencies , academic institutions , and Big Pharma for the past several decades .
( Dr Martini , D .
Hum.
, is one of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world that understands the dangerous toxicities of Aspartame , that ubiquitous artificial sweetener ( Diet Coke , et.ad ) that has a multitude of toxic adverse effects .
Dr Martini is also a reliable source of information concerning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vaccine corporations that are guaranteed to make a killing on the various deeply flawed , experimental , genetically-engineered Covid vaccines that have not been actually approved by the FDA – only given Emergency Use Authorization ( EUA ) from that deeply flawed government regulatory agency that receives a large portion of its annual income from Big Pharma corporations !
Dr Martini ’ s website is at : www.mpwhi.com .
GGK Some may wonder why we call it the Fauci-Gates NWO Virus : The Found Dogs : The Fa ... Gorant , Jim Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10.99 Heroic Dogs Volume 2 * ... Jefferson , Lou Best Price : $ 6.91 Buy New $ 6.99 Full Battle Rattle : My ... Pezzullo , Ralph Best Price : $ 3.51 Buy New $ 10.40 Soldier , Sailor , Frogm ... Milton , Giles Best Price : $ 2.97 Buy New $ 9.83 The Best of Gary G. Kohls , MD

Thanks to Dr Betty Martini for the great chart below that illustrates just a part of Bill Gates’ unjust economic influence over the global over-vaccination agendas of so many government agencies, academic institutions, and Big Pharma for the past several decades. (Dr Martini, D. Hum., is one of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world that understands the dangerous toxicities of Aspartame, that ubiquitous artificial sweetener (Diet Coke, et.ad) that has a multitude of toxic adverse effects. Dr Martini is also a reliable source of information concerning the pseudoscience revolving around the sociopathic Big Vaccine corporations that are guaranteed to make a killing on the various deeply flawed, experimental, genetically-engineered Covid vaccines that have not been actually approved by the FDA – only given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from that deeply flawed government regulatory agency that receives a large portion of its annual income from Big Pharma corporations! Dr Martini’s website is at: www.mpwhi.com. GGK
Some may wonder why we call it the Fauci-Gates NWO Virus:
The Found Dogs: The Fa... Gorant, Jim Best Price: $6.54 Buy New $8.96 (as of 09:52 UTC - Details) Heroic Dogs Volume 2 *... Jefferson, Lou Best Price: $5.00 Buy New $8.14 (as of 09:14 UTC - Details) Full Battle Rattle: My... Pezzullo, Ralph Best Price: $1.80 Buy New $33.39 (as of 10:47 UTC - Details) Soldier, Sailor, Frogm... Milton, Giles Best Price: $1.56 Buy New $4.64 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
The Best of Gary G. Kohls, MD


lewrockwell--2020-12-28--Lockdown: A Deadly, Failed Experiment

Lockdown: A Deadly, Failed Experiment

The country this year which has been most ravaged by Covid-19 – losing a shocking 1,600 people in every million to the virus at the time of writing – is Belgium .
That might come as something of a surprise .
You could be forgiven for thinking it was America , thanks to Trump ’ s alleged ignorance of science .
Or what about Britain , which locked down ‘ too late ’ because of its government ’ s short-lived but foolish belief in freedom ?
Or Brazil , whose right-wing leader complained that lockdowns and masks were for ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then surely Sweden , where there has famously been no hard lockdown at all ?
But no , it ’ s Belgium .
There ’ s nothing particularly unusual about Belgium ’ s response .
Nothing that diverged significantly from the consensus .
It did the same thing as everyone else around the same time as everyone else .
It even garnered praise for its testing capacity .
There ’ s one caveat : Belgium ’ s unparalleled death rate might be down to how the deaths are counted .
Some say Belgium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country – while others have accused officials of overcounting and including all kinds of deaths not caused by Covid .
But go down the list of deaths per million and you find more places you might not expect .
Hard-hit Italy is in second place , but it was the first to get hit in the West so we should let them off .
Then there ’ s Slovenia , which was relatively unscathed in the spring .
After that , it ’ s Peru .
Peru announced one of the earliest lockdowns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also the first in Latin America .
The restrictions were some of the most stringent on the planet , enforced by the military .
Masks were made mandatory in public .
But by May , two months in , cases began to jump considerably .
This was despite the country doing ‘ everything right ’ and ‘ right on time ’ .
There was some easing of the lockdown from June onwards .
But social gatherings were still illegal in August , by which point 200 people were still dying per day .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lenora Buy New $ 12.99 Elsewhere in Latin America , Argentina experienced a similar mid-lockdown explosion in cases and deaths .
Its lockdown began on 20 March and was supposed to be short and sharp .
It ended up becoming the longest continuous lockdown in the world .
In June , Time magazine hailed Argentina ’ s success in containing the virus .
But not long after , cases began to surge .
The deadliest day of its pandemic was on day 145 of lockdown .
Lockdowns have become central to any discussion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the only way to prevent Covid deaths has become embedded in mainstream thinking .
Apparently , the only permitted questions are if we are locking down early enough , hard enough or for long enough .
Lockdown has similarly become the default response to rises in cases ( though sometimes these now take local rather than national form ) .
But the conventional wisdom that more lockdown means fewer deaths simply does not hold true in the real world .
There is globally no association , let alone causation , between lockdowns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harms of the policy are extreme .
Developed countries have this year experienced record drops in economic output .
Britain , for instance , has experienced its worst recession in 300 years ( since the Great Frost of 1709 , if you were wondering ) .
The burden of this has fallen overwhelmingly on the poorest in society , while billionaires have watched their wealth multiply .
In the developing world , the World Bank estimates that an additional 150million people will fall into ‘ extreme poverty ’ .
Children have born a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ though children face very minor risks from Covid and school closures are not associated with reduced transmission .
Nevertheless , an estimated 1.5 billion children – 87 per cent – have been affected by school closures around the world .
There is now an obscene gulf in access to education between rich and poor , between the privately and state educated , and between those with access to home learning via the internet and those without .

The country this year which has been most ravaged by Covid-19 – losing a shocking 1,600 people in every million to the virus at the time of writing – is Belgium.
That might come as something of a surprise. You could be forgiven for thinking it was America, thanks to Trump’s alleged ignorance of science. Or what about Britain, which locked down ‘too late’ because of its government’s short-lived but foolish belief in freedom? Or Brazil, whose right-wing leader complained that lockdowns and masks were for ‘fags’? If not those, then surely Sweden, where there has famously been no hard lockdown at all?
But no, it’s Belgium. There’s nothing particularly unusual about Belgium’s response. Nothing that diverged significantly from the consensus. It did the same thing as everyone else around the same time as everyone else. It even garnered praise for its testing capacity.
There’s one caveat: Belgium’s unparalleled death rate might be down to how the deaths are counted. Some say Belgium is merely the ‘most honest’ country – while others have accused officials of overcounting and including all kinds of deaths not caused by Covid.
But go down the list of deaths per million and you find more places you might not expect. Hard-hit Italy is in second place, but it was the first to get hit in the West so we should let them off. Then there’s Slovenia, which was relatively unscathed in the spring. After that, it’s Peru. Peru announced one of the earliest lockdowns in the world on 16 March – also the first in Latin America. The restrictions were some of the most stringent on the planet, enforced by the military. Masks were made mandatory in public. But by May, two months in, cases began to jump considerably. This was despite the country doing ‘everything right’ and ‘right on time’. There was some easing of the lockdown from June onwards. But social gatherings were still illegal in August, by which point 200 people were still dying per day. Classified K-9 Unit Se... Worth, Lenora Buy New $9.99 (as of 09:30 UTC - Details)
Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina experienced a similar mid-lockdown explosion in cases and deaths. Its lockdown began on 20 March and was supposed to be short and sharp. It ended up becoming the longest continuous lockdown in the world. In June, Time magazine hailed Argentina’s success in containing the virus. But not long after, cases began to surge. The deadliest day of its pandemic was on day 145 of lockdown.
Lockdowns have become central to any discussion of Covid-19. The assumption that lockdown is the only way to prevent Covid deaths has become embedded in mainstream thinking. Apparently, the only permitted questions are if we are locking down early enough, hard enough or for long enough. Lockdown has similarly become the default response to rises in cases (though sometimes these now take local rather than national form). But the conventional wisdom that more lockdown means fewer deaths simply does not hold true in the real world. There is globally no association, let alone causation, between lockdowns and Covid deaths.
And yet the harms of the policy are extreme. Developed countries have this year experienced record drops in economic output. Britain, for instance, has experienced its worst recession in 300 years (since the Great Frost of 1709, if you were wondering). The burden of this has fallen overwhelmingly on the poorest in society, while billionaires have watched their wealth multiply. In the developing world, the World Bank estimates that an additional 150million people will fall into ‘extreme poverty’.
Children have born a disproportionate brunt of the lockdowns – even though children face very minor risks from Covid and school closures are not associated with reduced transmission. Nevertheless, an estimated 1.5 billion children – 87 per cent – have been affected by school closures around the world. There is now an obscene gulf in access to education between rich and poor, between the privately and state educated, and between those with access to home learning via the internet and those without.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-12-28--Mass Media Propaganda Is Enemy #1

Mass Media Propaganda Is Enemy #1

The most Orwellian tool of our rulers which does the most damage and affects the most lives is not surveillance , nor police militarization , nor government secrecy , but domestic mass media propaganda .
It ’ s also the most overlooked .
It ’ s good to protest the other mechanisms of authoritarian control , but propaganda is enemy number one .
You don ’ t need the ability to spy on dissident groups if you can control public thought enough to prevent those groups from forming in the first place .
You don ’ t need the ability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ propagandize people away from rising up at all .
And they can .
And they do .
The ability of the plutocratic class to manipulate public thought at mass scale is the single most overlooked and under-appreciated aspect of our society .
It warps the entirety of our political spectrum , all our thinking , all our discourse , and what we perceive as normal .
And you just don ’ t see people fighting it .
The ACLU isn ’ t protecting people ’ s mental sovereignty from the manipulations of sociopathic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking the media-owning class to the Supreme Court for brazen election interference .
People aren ’ t taking to the streets protesting it .
But they could .
Bring Out the Dog : Sto ... Mackin , Will Best Price : $ 1.50 Buy New $ 10.19 In terms of the effect it has on society , no control tool comes remotely close to advancing as many interests of the powerful against the interests of the people as domestic plutocrat-sponsored propaganda .
Nothing will change until people start noticing and resisting this .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more control over the population tend to greatly underestimate how much control they already have .
Wanting the US government to have a “ competent leader ” is like wanting a serial killer to be skilled at evading detection .
A new report says China will overtake the US as the world ’ s biggest economy by 2028 .
This is the real reason they need you to hate China right now .
Mentally replace all their carefully manufactured narratives with this .
The Democratic Party ’ s inability to seize on this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give you money and they don ’ t ” into an election-winning platform would be odd… if the Democratic Party ’ s primary function was to win elections .
But it isn ’ t .
The Democratic Party ’ s primary function is to kill all leftward movement in the United States to ensure Americans remain too poor and powerless to interfere in the operation of the empire .
The Democratic Party is what leftism would look like if you stripped it of every single thing that could possibly inconvenience plutocrats , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in any way .
It ’ s not just that Democrats will ignore all the evil things Biden is going to do , it ’ s that they ignored all the most evil things Trump did while in office as well .
It ’ s not merely a partisan thing : they really do just see murdering foreigners as normal American presidential stuff .
A lot of Biden criticism is going to consist of “ If Trump had done this Democrats would be screaming !
” And it will just be false ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it advanced the interests of oligarchs , war profiteers , or sociopathic intelligence agencies .
We know this because they didn ’ t .
As things heat up with Iran again please remember that there is never , ever any reason to treat unproven US claims about aggressions by an unaligned nation with anything other than derision and dismissal .
First show me verifiable proof that the accused nation did what the US government says .
Then show me proof that what was done wasn ’ t a valid response to what the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proof that interventionism would help .
Then fuck you , because you won ’ t do any of the above .
Service Tails Collins , Ace Best Price : $ 1.52 Buy New $ 5.08 People who say the world is controlled by space reptilians have more credibility than reporters from high-profile news outlets who uncritically repeat unproven government claims about aggressions by unaligned nations .
It will never not infuriate me that when the time came for women to start claiming a human-sized amount of space in our society , the solution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to start acting more like men .
Which was the exact opposite of what the world needs .
“ We want equality , so let ’ s jump into the capitalism game men invented and the political game men invented and the war games men invented and prove we can be just as insane and destructive as any man.
” Cynical closet shitlibs can make anything sound woke .
Regime change in Syria .
Cold war escalations against Russia and China .
Assange smears .
Attacks on Glenn Greenwald ’ s marriage .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and suddenly it can be leftist to support the CIA .
When humans first showed up it was the strong brutes who led the tribe .
Later on it became the clever manipulators who led , because they could manipulate the strong brutes into doing their bidding .
Now the manipulators are working on making even their brute armies obsolete via technology , so it will just be clever manipulators at the top and everyone else at the bottom .
This is the real revenge of the nerds .
The way to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jumping down inner rabbit holes of self-exploration , learning what makes you tick , clearing your illusions and healing your psychological wounds .
Also , you ’ ll wind up wanting completely different things from when you started .
Thanks for reading !
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack , which will get you an email notification for everything I publish .
My work is entirely reader-supported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ please consider sharing it around , liking me on Facebook , following my antics on Twitter , throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal , purchasing some of my sweet merchandise , buying my new book Poems For Rebels or my old book Woke : A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers .
For more info on who I am , where I stand , and what I ’ m trying to do with this platform , click here .
Everyone , racist platforms excluded , has my permission to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this work ( or anything else I ’ ve written ) in any way they like free of charge .

The most Orwellian tool of our rulers which does the most damage and affects the most lives is not surveillance, nor police militarization, nor government secrecy, but domestic mass media propaganda. It’s also the most overlooked. It’s good to protest the other mechanisms of authoritarian control, but propaganda is enemy number one.
You don’t need the ability to spy on dissident groups if you can control public thought enough to prevent those groups from forming in the first place. You don’t need the ability to quash public uprisings if you can propagandize people away from rising up at all. And they can. And they do.
The ability of the plutocratic class to manipulate public thought at mass scale is the single most overlooked and under-appreciated aspect of our society. It warps the entirety of our political spectrum, all our thinking, all our discourse, and what we perceive as normal. And you just don’t see people fighting it. The ACLU isn’t protecting people’s mental sovereignty from the manipulations of sociopathic government-aligned oligarchs. People aren’t taking the media-owning class to the Supreme Court for brazen election interference. People aren’t taking to the streets protesting it. But they could. Bring Out the Dog: Sto... Mackin, Will Best Price: $1.49 Buy New $5.04 (as of 10:02 UTC - Details)
In terms of the effect it has on society, no control tool comes remotely close to advancing as many interests of the powerful against the interests of the people as domestic plutocrat-sponsored propaganda. Nothing will change until people start noticing and resisting this.
❖
Theories about elite conspiracies to shore up more control over the population tend to greatly underestimate how much control they already have.
❖
Wanting the US government to have a “competent leader” is like wanting a serial killer to be skilled at evading detection.
❖
A new report says China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy by 2028. This is the real reason they need you to hate China right now. Mentally replace all their carefully manufactured narratives with this.
❖
The Democratic Party’s inability to seize on this obvious opportunity and turn “We want to give you money and they don’t” into an election-winning platform would be odd… if the Democratic Party’s primary function was to win elections. But it isn’t. The Democratic Party’s primary function is to kill all leftward movement in the United States to ensure Americans remain too poor and powerless to interfere in the operation of the empire.
❖
The Democratic Party is what leftism would look like if you stripped it of every single thing that could possibly inconvenience plutocrats, intelligence agencies, or the military-industrial complex in any way.
❖
It’s not just that Democrats will ignore all the evil things Biden is going to do, it’s that they ignored all the most evil things Trump did while in office as well. It’s not merely a partisan thing: they really do just see murdering foreigners as normal American presidential stuff.
A lot of Biden criticism is going to consist of “If Trump had done this Democrats would be screaming!” And it will just be false; they wouldn’t. Not if it advanced the interests of oligarchs, war profiteers, or sociopathic intelligence agencies. We know this because they didn’t.
❖
As things heat up with Iran again please remember that there is never, ever any reason to treat unproven US claims about aggressions by an unaligned nation with anything other than derision and dismissal.
❖
First show me verifiable proof that the accused nation did what the US government says. Then show me proof that what was done wasn’t a valid response to what the US is doing. Then show me proof that interventionism would help. Then fuck you, because you won’t do any of the above. Service Tails: More St... Collins, Ace Best Price: $1.18 Buy New $9.99 (as of 09:47 UTC - Details)
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People who say the world is controlled by space reptilians have more credibility than reporters from high-profile news outlets who uncritically repeat unproven government claims about aggressions by unaligned nations.
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It will never not infuriate me that when the time came for women to start claiming a human-sized amount of space in our society, the solution we came up with was for us to start acting more like men. Which was the exact opposite of what the world needs.
“We want equality, so let’s jump into the capitalism game men invented and the political game men invented and the war games men invented and prove we can be just as insane and destructive as any man.”
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Cynical closet shitlibs can make anything sound woke. Regime change in Syria. Cold war escalations against Russia and China. Assange smears. Attacks on Glenn Greenwald’s marriage. Anything. A little cleverly-diddled lefty jargon and suddenly it can be leftist to support the CIA.
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When humans first showed up it was the strong brutes who led the tribe. Later on it became the clever manipulators who led, because they could manipulate the strong brutes into doing their bidding. Now the manipulators are working on making even their brute armies obsolete via technology, so it will just be clever manipulators at the top and everyone else at the bottom. This is the real revenge of the nerds.
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The way to get what you want is to keep courageously jumping down inner rabbit holes of self-exploration, learning what makes you tick, clearing your illusions and healing your psychological wounds. Also, you’ll wind up wanting completely different things from when you started.
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