nationalreview | I approach science news cautiously. I was blessed to have, in my own
college-level science class, a professor who enjoyed showing us examples
of how labs and the scientific press conspired together to keep federal
and private funding going on research they viewed as important.
But I’m sort of astonished that in the last month or so the medical
field seems to be abandoning the regnant theories of depression and
Alzheimer’s.
Our comprehensive review of the major strands of research
on serotonin shows there is no convincing evidence that depression is
associated with, or caused by, lower serotonin concentrations or
activity. Most studies found no evidence of reduced serotonin activity
in people with depression compared to people without, and methods to
reduce serotonin availability using tryptophan depletion do not
consistently lower mood in volunteers. High quality, well-powered
genetic studies effectively exclude an association between genotypes
related to the serotonin system and depression, including a proposed
interaction with stress. Weak evidence from some studies of serotonin
5-HT1A receptors and levels of SERT points towards a possible
association between increased serotonin activity and depression.
However, these results are likely to be influenced by prior use of
antidepressants and its effects on the serotonin system [30, 31].
The effects of tryptophan depletion in some cross-over studies
involving people with depression may also be mediated by
antidepressants, although these are not consistently found [63].
The chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals [17], and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades [14].
The general public widely believes that depression has been
convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other
chemical abnormalities [15, 16],
and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a
pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative
expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood [64,65,66].
The idea that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance also
influences decisions about whether to take or continue antidepressant
medication and may discourage people from discontinuing treatment,
potentially leading to lifelong dependence on these drugs [67, 68].
amidwesterndoctor |This is a supplemental addition to my previous piece.
I would strongly encourage you to read that article before reading this
one as this one goes into more tangential and complex points that
supplement the original, but many of you may find very insightful. Many
of the concepts here also appear to apply to the COVID immunizations,
however for length considerations, I will omit most of those connections
and leave you to draw your own conclusions. All of the books I cited
here can be easily found on Amazon and often as PDFs, but I avoided
linking to them here and supporting Amazon. Lastly, as I did not want to
further delay publication, a significant number of minor edits will
occur in the next few days.
I did not expect to attract the viewership the original article received, or the follow-up by larger media outlets (Steve Kirsch’s newsletter, the Kate Daley show and mercola.com)
and am sincerely grateful for your support, and those parties in
particular in spreading this message. As I now have many readers, I
will try to produce quality content as my time permits (with work and
all), as I want it to be worth your time to read what I produce. For
the time being I will focus on interesting bits of medical history (the
next piece will be interesting lessons from the 1918 influenza I applied
to my treatment of COVID).
Additionally, since my last publication a reader notified me of a short book written in 1889 and viewable online which concisely provides evidence for many of the points covered in Dissolving Illusions,
such as the lack of efficacy from the vaccination, the diseases
associated with its administration, the distortion of data used by
government officials to claim benefit rather than harm, and false claim
it reduced death in hospitals.
To be complete and
illustrate the observed effects of the smallpox vaccines, this article
is a bit longer than the previous. I could have cited significantly
more resources, but I aimed to cover one text that was representative
from each major school of thought at the time. Its sections are as
follows:
-Introduction -General Smallpox Observations -Allopathy -Naturopathy -Homeopathy -Osteopathy -Traditional Chinese Medicine -Modern Research
igorchudov |Now, for June-July, we see that more boosters mean MORE deaths and that the association between booster rates and Covid deaths is highly statistically significant!
This is the Best “Apples-to-Apples” Comparison
Let’s
summarize. We looked at the same set of countries in Europe during
three different periods of time. During the first period, booster rates
were associated with statistically significant reductions in Covid deaths. During the second period, booster rates had no effect on Covid death rates. And during the last, third period, booster rates CONTRIBUTED to greater deaths!
The
fact that all three periods involved the same countries (except a
couple who did not report booster rates during the first period), means
that this outcome is NOT due to population-wide age or other demographic
differences. The difference between outcomes in these periods is due to
the passage of time, and changes in the interaction of boosted immune
systems with the evolving virus.
Note that my data shows something much worse than “boosters stopping to work”. Instead of merely becoming useless, like in the second period, boosters became harmful and promoted deaths in the third period.
Immune Tolerance due to Boosters
Why
is this happening? Boosters and vaccines worsening Covid outcomes is
really a topic for another article to explore possible answers.
There are certainly MANY REASONS why boosters do not work anymore. Let me touch upon just one such reason. Remember that other reasons are also important!
Jan Ashton describes the “immune phenomenon known as tolerance”.
What “tolerance” means is that repeated antigen injections end up
working like allergy shots, increasing tolerance to the antigen, which
is in this case spike protein.
Tolerance towards allergens,
like tree pollen, is a good thing. (I had allergy shots myself).
However, tolerance toward a replicating virus that damages our
cardiovascular system and immune system, is a bad thing! Tolerance also
turns affected people into walking Covid superspreaders.
Instead
of seeing the viral antigen as a sign to start a battle against the
virus, the immune system says “oh well, another spike protein injection”
and ignores it. That allows the virus to multiply unchecked and cause
immense damage by killing various cells and hurting our cardiovascular
systems and more. The infected person feels less fever and less
disturbance than they would feel from a robust immune reaction, so the
illness feels “milder”, but this is actually a bad thing because the
virus multiplies unopposed.
consentfactory | The masses are like actors being forced to emotionally invest in the
“reality” of an absurdist stage play. The more they repeat the
performance, the more convincing the fictional “reality” becomes,
regardless of how patently absurd it is … and it is becoming more and
more absurd.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Health was forced to publish
a limited hangout regarding “vaccination” injuries and deaths. They did
it classic Goebbelsian fashion.
Tens of thousands in Germany seriously injured by a "vaccination" they did not need, but that they were coerced into taking by government lies, gaslighting, intimidation, segregation, etc. You would think this might be a story that investigative journalists would want to cover. pic.twitter.com/WCJRBkfYHa
Apparently, they didn’t like the actual data on the number of serious
adverse effects, so they decided to just lie about them on Twitter.
(Serious adverse effects were reported in roughly 1 in 5,000 doses,
not 1 in 5,000 “vaccinated” people. Approximately 184,000,000 doses
have been administered to people in Germany and … well, you can do the
math.) Naturally,
the Twitter Corporation has been slapping its fake “misleading” warning
on retweets pointing out the Ministry of Health’s lie, because the truth is whatever the Corporatocracy says it is, and everything else is “disinformation.”
If you think I’m being harsh or hyperbolic in characterizing the
Ministry’s lie as a lie, keep in mind that the German Minister of
Health, Karl Lauterbach, has been lying, repeatedly, to the German
public for over two years now. Here he is lying about the
“side-effects-free vaccines” in August 2021, right around the time he
ordered the segregation of “the Unvaccinated” and fomented hatred of
anyone who refused to conform to New Normal ideology …
For the record, here's @Karl_Lauterbach, the Minister of Health of New Normal Germany, lying to the public about a "side-effect-free vaccination" shortly before he ordered the segregation of "the Unvaccinated" and fomented hatred of anyone who refused to mindlessly follow orders. pic.twitter.com/hLCiqnCDSV
And now, tens of thousands of people in Germany — at minimum, as
vaccine adverse-effects have always been significantly under-reported —
have been seriously injured or … you know, killed, because Karl and his
fascistic New Normal cronies lied to everyone, over and over, and the
German media repeated those lies, and the New Normal masses repeated
those lies, and the government and global corporations censored,
deplatformed, and demonized those of us who challenged those lies as
“far-right extremists,” “science deniers,” “anti-vaxxers,” and so on.
And these are just a few recent examples. I don’t think I need to
provide an exhaustive list. At this point, you are either well aware and
capable of facing what’s happening, or you’re not, in which case you
are telling yourself whatever you need to tell yourself in order to
pretend that what is happening isn’t happening.
Your betters are simply letting Nature take its course, with a little encouragement.
There’s a problem with human overpopulation.
Why not let it self correct
when there’s so much money to be made and power to be had doing so?
Look who it’s killing (so far), the old and the weak.
Eliminating the useless and unfit, putting Social Security on a sound financial basis.
Real benefits for society!
As long as the virus doesn’t mutate into something really nasty, and as
long as it doesn’t inconvenience too many people that matter,
everything will be just fine....,
expose | UK Government confirms the Triple / Quadruple Vaccinated account for 91% of all COVID Deaths since the beginning of 2022
In January, the vaccinated accounted for 85% of
Covid-19 deaths, whilst the unvaccinated accounted for 15%. By March,
the vaccinated accounted for 93% of Covid-19 deaths, whilst the
vaccinated accounted for just 7%. And by May, the vaccinated accounted
for 94% of Covid-19 deaths, whilst the vaccinated accounted for just 6%.
Many people may believe that this is simply because, according to
data published by the UK Health Security Agency, 50% of the population
of England refused the third jab, and those vaccinated deaths are among
the double vaccinated and partly vaccinated. But unfortunately, those
people are wrong.
Overall, there were 15,113 Covid-19 deaths by 31st May 2022, and a
shocking 13,666 of those deaths were among the vaccinated population.
But what’s even more shocking than this is that 12,442 of those deaths
were among the triple/quadruple vaccinated population.
This means the triple/quadruple vaccinated population have
accounted for a frightening 91% of all Covid-19 deaths among the
vaccinated since the beginning of 2022.
mate' |Citing interviews with the White House, the Washington Post reports
that Biden "officials have described the stakes of ensuring Russia
cannot swallow up Ukraine — an outcome officials believe could embolden
Putin to invade other neighbors or even strike out at NATO members —as
so high that the administration is willing to countenance even a global recession and mounting hunger." (emphasis added)
CNN: "What do you say to those families that say, 'listen, we can't afford to pay $4.85 a gallon for months, if not years?’"
BIDEN ADVISOR BRIAN DEESE: "This is about the future of the Liberal World Order and we have to stand firm." pic.twitter.com/LWilWSo72S
Left
unquestioned is why a group of officials in Washington have arrogated
themselves the right to "countenance" a global recession and mounting
hunger – including pushing millions toward famine -- on behalf of the
rest of the planet.
Because the Biden administration is willing to countenance hunger, Africa is now being pushed into what a recent New York Times article
describes as a major "dilemma." African countries who seek to accept
Russian grain imports, the Times notes, "potentially face a hard choice
between, on one hand, benefiting from possible war crimes and
displeasing a powerful Western ally, and on the other, refusing cheap
food at a time when wheat prices are soaring and hundreds of thousands
of people are starving."
Under policies set by Washington,
it is apparently a "dilemma" for Africa to have to choose between
feeding hundreds of thousands of people or risk "displeasing" its
"powerful Western ally," — which would presumably prefer that they
starve.
European states are also facing the impact of
pleasing their powerful ally in Washington. "Western Europe as a result
of the war," the Wall Street Journal reports, "now faces surging energy and food prices that look set to worsen as winter approaches."
The crisis is particularly acute in Germany, "the largest and most important economy on the continent." Germany's top union official, Yasmin Fahimi, has warned
that "entire industries are in danger of permanently collapsing" as a
result of the reduction in Russian natural gas supplies effectively
imposed by the US. "Such a collapse would have massive consequences for
the entire economy and jobs in Germany," Fahimi said.
On
top of the economic toll of severing Russia from the continent, Europe
is also grappling with the consequences of flooding Ukraine with
billions of dollars in weapons that are impossible to trace. Europol,
the European Union's top law enforcement agency, recently warned
that "weapons trafficking from Ukraine into the [EU] bloc to supply
organised crime groups had begun and was a potential threat to EU
security." A western official told the Financial Times
that once NATO weapons shipments cross over into Ukraine from Poland,
"from that moment we go blank on their location and we have no idea
where they go, where they are used or even if they stay in the country."
The
entire planet must also grapple with the growing nuclear threats. After
Russia's invasion in February, the US and Moscow suspended talks on the
future of New START, the last remaining treaty that limits the nuclear
weapons stockpiles of both countries. A senior administration official told the New York Times
that "right now it’s almost impossible to imagine" that the talks might
resume before the treaty expires in early 2026. "I can’t predict when
it would be appropriate to resume that dialogue," Adam Scheinman,
Biden's envoy for nuclear nonproliferation recently told Arms Control Today, "but we'll certainly consider doing so when it best serves U.S. interests."
Returning
to the Washington Post's rendering of guiding US strategy, the
administration's stated rationale for countenancing global hunger and
other calamities is based on a false premise. Russia has no intention of
moving on "to invade other neighbors or even strike out at NATO
members." Bogged down in Ukraine -- a nation on its borders and where it
already has an allied rebel military force in the Donbas -- Russia is
in no position to invade elsewhere, even if it were crazy enough to want
to.
nakedcapitalism | For its part, Washington is growing increasingly concerned about the
growing influence of Russia and China in its own direct neighborhood and
is very quickly pivoting back to Latin America. As I said in my last
article, the Pentagon appears to be leading the way, which is not a good
sign. Speaking
this week at the Aspen Security Forum, the Commander of US Southern
Command, General Laura Richardson, had the following to say about Latin
America:
This region is so rich in resources. It’s off the chart
rich. And they have a lot to be proud of and our competitors and
adversaries also know how rich in resources this region is. Sixty
percent of the world’s lithium is in the region, you have heavy crude,
you have light sweet crude, you have rare earth elements, you have the
Amazon, which is called the lungs of the world. You have 31% of the
world’s fresh water in this region.
And there our adversaries are taking advantage of this region every
single day, right in our neighborhood. And I just look at what happens
in this region in terms of security [and it] impacts our security and
national security in the homeland and the United States.
Moves are also being made on the Hill. In the past few days U.S.
Senators Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., both descendants
of Cuban immigrants, were also able to get their bill to bolster
“bilateral and multilateral security cooperation in Latin America and
the Caribbean” as well as “disrupt and counter illicit narcotics
trafficking” through the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rubio introduced the “Western Hemisphere Security Strategy Act” with
Menendez, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
as a co-sponsor in February. The bill seeks to counter what the senators
perceive as the “harmful and malign influence” in Latin America of
China and Russia, contending that the “destabilizing” role of
authoritarian governments in Beijing and Moscow represent unique threats
to U.S. national security interests as well as the region’s welfare.
“It is imperative for the United States to be strategic and proactive
in strengthening security partnerships with democracies throughout the
Americas,” Menendez added. “This bill recognizes the geopolitical
significance of Latin America.”
As AP reported
in February, the bill, if approved, “would require the Secretaries of
State and Defense to jointly submit within 180 days a strategy to
enhance diplomatic engagement and security assistance in the Western
Hemisphere on issues ranging from drug trafficking to transnational
crime. Concrete steps would include increasing military training
exercises with partner nations and efforts to improve their capacity to
conduct disaster relief operations.”
At the same time, Russia, China and Iran, together with 10 other allied countries, are preparing to participate
in a series of war games this August in Venezuela, a country that is
currently negotiating reestablishing economic ties with Washington after
five years of brutal sanctions. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s ties with fellow
US-sanctioned Russia, Iran and Cuba have never been closer.
In a recent report the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), a
Washington-based think tank, described the military exercises as “a
strategic movement that seeks to preposition military assets deployed in
Latin America and the Caribbean.” The text features an apt quote from
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the end of the unipolar world,
saying that in Washington they have not yet realized that “new powerful
centers have formed and are making themselves known more and more
loudly.”
moonofalabama | Over the last months the British MI-6 disinformation service had fun
with strewing rumors over Vladimir Putin's health, mostly via British
tabloids. It used its usual tools - a former MI-6 chief, 'former' MI-6
spies and the ever available 'anonymous' Russian oligarch who lives in
London. Like its other propaganda claims these were obvious nonsense but
found a reliably echo in the gossip media.
CIA Director William Burns finally had enough of it. Getting asked
and having to answer stupid questions about Putin's health is a waste of
time. Official media picked up on it. The narrative is thereby dead.
mid.ru | On the eve of my visits to several African countries, I would like to
share my reflections on the prospects for Russia-Africa relations in
the current geopolitical context with esteemed readers.
Today, African
states play an increasingly important role in the global politics and
economy, take an active part in solving key modern-day problems. Their
solidarity voice sounds more and more harmoniously in world affairs.
Russia has
consistently advocated Africa’s strengthened position in the multipolar
architecture of a world order which should be based on the principles of
the UN Charter and take the world’s cultural and civilizational
diversity into account. In this context, we welcome the successful
development of such integration structures as, for example, the African
Union, East African Community, Southern African Development Community,
Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West
African States and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
We consider the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area as an
important step towards the true economic independence of the continent,
its final liberation from any manifestations of discrimination and
coercion.
Russia-Africa
ties are based on the time-tested bonds of friendship and cooperation.
Our country who has not stained itself with the bloody crimes of
colonialism, has always sincerely supported Africans in their struggle
for liberation from colonial oppression, provided practical and often
gratuitous assistance to the peoples of the continent in the formation
of their statehood, creation of the foundations of national economies,
defense capabilities build up, and training of qualified personnel.
Today we stand in solidarity with the African demands to complete the
process of decolonization and support relevant initiatives on the UN
platform.
The development
of a comprehensive partnership with African countries remains among the
top priorities of Russia's foreign policy. We are willing to contribute
to its further growth - in line with the strategic decisions taken in
late October 2019 at the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi.
At the same
time, I would specially emphasize: our country does not impose anything
on anyone or tells others how to live. We treat with great respect the
sovereignty of the States of Africa, and their inalienable right to
determine the path of their development for themselves. We are firmly
committed to the "African solutions to African problems" principle. Such
an approach to developing inter-State ties dramatically differs from
the "master – slave" logic imposed by former metropolitan countries,
which reproduces the obsolete colonial model.
We know that
the African colleagues does not approve of the undisguised attempts of
the US and their European satellites to gain the upper hand, and to
impose a unipolar world order to the international community. We
appreciate the considered African position as to the situation in and
around Ukraine. Although unprecedented by its scale the pressure from
beyond has not brought our friends to join the anti-Russian sanctions.
Such an independent path deserves deep respect.
For sure, the
current geopolitical situation requires certain adjustment of the
mechanisms of our interaction: first of all, there is a question of
ensuring seamless logistic and tuning the system of financial
settlements to make them secure from the outer interference. In
cooperation with its partners, Russia takes steps to enhance the use of
national currencies and payment systems. We are working to gradually
reduce the share of dollar and euro in mutual trade. We stand generally
for establishing an efficient financial system that is proof against the
potential impact from the unfriendly States.
The task of
bringing Russian and African economic operators to each other’s markets
and encouraging them to participate in large-scale infrastructure
projects also comes to the fore. We assume that, as conducted, the
second Africa - Russia summit will facilitate settling those and other
tasks. Together with our African friends, we have got down to working
through its content.
Food security
issues are currently high on the international agenda. We are well
aware of the importance of Russian supplies of socially important
commodities, including food, to many countries around the world. We are
mindful that these supplies play an important role in preserving social
stability as well as in achieving the benchmarks of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
I would like
to emphasize that the speculations of Western and Ukrainian propaganda
that Russia allegedly "exports hunger" are completely unfounded. In
fact, these are yet another attempt to shift the blame to others. It is
well known that already during the time of "coronacrisis" the collective
West, using the mechanism of currency issuance, "absorbed" commodity
and food flows, worsening the situation in the developing countries
dependent on food imports. That is when the grave situation on the food
market began to take shape. Western sanctions imposed on Russia in
recent months have further exacerbated negative trends.
It is
essential that all our African friends understand that Russia will
continue to fulfill in good faith its obligations under international
contracts with regard to exports of food, fertilizers, energy and other
goods vital for Africa. Russia is taking all measures to this end.
Moscow will
continue to pursue a peace-loving foreign policy and play a balancing
role in international affairs. We are in favor of broad interstate
cooperation based on the provisions of the UN Charter, first of all the
principle of the sovereign equality of states. We will continue to
strengthen productive interaction with foreign partners who in their
turn are willing to cooperate with us.
In this
context, we assume that relations between Russia and Africa, whether
political, humanitarian or trade and investment, are of an intrinsic
value and do not depend on fluctuations in the international
environment. It is good to see that our African friends have a similar
understanding. Together we will be even stronger.
southcom.mil | General Laura J. Richardson is a native of Northglenn, Colorado and a
graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado. She was
commissioned into the U.S. Army and trained as an Army Aviator. She
holds a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the
National Defense University’s Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National
Security and Resource Strategy.
U.S. SOUTHCOM Commander:"This region is so rich in resources.. it's off the charts rich."
"60% of the world's lithium is in the region; you have heavy crude, you have light sweet crude, you have rare earth elements, you have the Amazon.." pic.twitter.com/33dQ6EXKAo
General Richardson previously served as the Commanding General of
U.S. Army North (Fifth Army) at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, which is the
Army Service Component Command for U.S. Northern Command. Other
assignments as a General Officer include Deputy Commanding General of
U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Chief of Army
Legislative Liaison to the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C.; Deputy
Chief of Staff for Communications at Headquarters International Security
Assistance Force in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Kabul,
Afghanistan; Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division at
Fort Hood, Texas; and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Operational
Test Command at Fort Hood, Texas.
Over her career General Richardson has commanded from the Company to
Theater Army level. She commanded an Assault Helicopter Battalion in
combat in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), deploying her unit
from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to Iraq 2003-04, in support of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. She has also served in numerous staff assignments at a
myriad of locations, including Military Aide to the Vice President at
the White House in Washington, D.C., the Army’s Legislative Liaison to
Congress at the U.S. Capitol, and at the Pentagon as an Army Campaign
Planner.
General Richardson’s awards and decorations include the Defense
Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf
Cluster), Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Legion
of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious
Service Medal (with four Oak Leaf Clusters), and the Air Medal (with
Numeral 7). She also has various unit, service and campaign awards, and
numerous badges, including the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge,
Air Assault Badge, Senior Army Aviator Badge, Vice-Presidential Service
Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.
She is married to Lieutenant General Jim Richardson and they have one daughter and a grandchild.
euronews | The director of the CIA has dismissed persistent rumours that Russian
President Vladimir Putin is gravely ill, perhaps suffering from cancer,
by saying Putin is "entirely too healthy."
Speaking at the Aspen
Security Forum in Colorado, William Burns stressed that this was "not a
formal intelligence assessment," but given his expertise with Russia -
Burns served as America's ambassador in Moscow from 2005 to 2008 - it
will certainly give pause to those Putin opponents who hoped for signs
that he could soon die from an undisclosed disease.
"There's lots
of rumours about President Putin's health and as far as we can tell
he's entirely too healthy," adding "that's not a formal intelligence
judgment."
Burns said that Putin's own views about Ukraine, and especially the
will of the Ukrainian people to resist the Russian invasion, were based
on "some profoundly flawed assumptions."
"Putin
really does believe his rhetoric, and I've heard him say this privately
over the years, that Ukraine is not a real country. He believes that
it's his entitlement, Russia's entitlement, to dominate Ukraine."
Giving an update on Russian casualty figures, the CIA director said
that around 15,000 Russian troops had been killed so far, with roughly
45,000 wounded and described them as "quite significant" losses.
"The Ukrainians have suffered as well, probably a little less than that, but significant casualties."
Director
Burns said that the Russian military has adapted after significant
tactical failures at the start of the invasion and that one Ukrainian
contact had told him "the dumb Russians are all dead", meaning the
Russians on the ground who made battlefield errors had paid the ultimate
price, and the Russian military had since learned to adapt.
Russian
forces had been concentrating on the eastern Donbas region over the
last 90 days, said Burns, advancing between six and 10 miles in that
time.
"But it's come at great cost, and it's been very painful to both sides," he added.
whitehouse | This morning, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is fully
vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms. He
has begun taking Paxlovid. Consistent with CDC guidelines, he will
isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his
duties fully during that time. He has been in contact with members of
the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his
planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom
from the residence.
Consistent with White House protocol for
positive COVID cases, which goes above and beyond CDC guidance, he will
continue to work in isolation until he tests negative. Once he tests
negative, he will return to in-person work.
Out of an abundance
of transparency, the White House will provide a daily update on the
President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the
office while in isolation.
Per standard protocol for any positive
case at the White House, the White House Medical Unit will inform all
close contacts of the President during the day today, including any
Members of Congress and any members of the press who interacted with the
President during yesterday’s travel. The President’s last previous
test for COVID was Tuesday, when he had a negative test result.
ria.novosti |If
Ukraine receives long-range weapons from Western countries, then the
geographical tasks of the special operation of the Russian troops will
change, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and the Rossiya Segodnya
media group.
"The President said very clearly, as you quoted him, -
denazification, demilitarization in the sense that there are no threats
to our security, military threats from the territory of
Ukraine , this task remains," the minister stressed.
At the same time, he recalled that during the meeting of
the negotiators in Istanbul at the end of March, the situation on this
issue was significantly different.
"Now the geography is different. It is far from being only the DPR
and LPR, it is also the Kherson region, the Zaporozhye region and a
number of other territories, and this process continues, and continues
consistently and persistently," the head of Russian diplomacy added.
He pointed out that as the West, in impotent rage or in a desire to
make the situation as bad as possible, pumps more and more long-range
weapons into Ukraine, for example, HIMARS, the geographical objectives
of the special operation will move even further from the current line.
“Because we cannot allow the part of Ukraine that Zelensky will
control or whoever replaces him to have weapons that will pose a direct
threat to our territory and the territory of those republics that have
declared their independence, those who want their future decide for
yourself," he concluded.
Note to Washington: If you deliver HIMARS missile to Ukraine with an
extended (300km instead of 80km) range, Russia will have to move further
into Ukraine to secure its own and the Donbas republics borders.
This comes after calls in Ukraine to hit the bridge over the Kerch
street that connects Crimea with Russia with extended range HIMARS
missiles. The nearest point of the area which the Ukraine still holds is
some 260 kilometer away from the bridge.
indianpunchline | If the metaphor of the “Great Game” can be applied to the Ukrainian
crisis, with the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
(NATO) at it core, it has begun causing reverberations across the entire
Eurasian space. The great game lurking in the shade in the Caucasus and
Central Asian regions in recent years is visibly accelerating.
The
edge of the game is above everything else the targeting of Russia and
China by the United States. This unfolding game cannot be
underestimated, as its outcome may impact the shaping of a new model of
the world order.
Starting
with the Caspian Summit in Ashgabat on June 29, the inter-connected
templates of the great game in the Caucasus began surfacing. The fact
that the summit was scheduled at all despite the raging conflict in
Ukraine — and that Russian President Vladimir Putin took time out to
attend it — testified to the high importance of the event.
Basically,
the presidents of the 5 littoral states — Kazakhstan, Iran,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Russia — synchronised their watches, based
on the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea — the Constitution of the Caspian Sea — that was signed at their last summit in 2018. While doing so,they considered the current international situation and geopolitical processes worldwide.
The Caspian Summit was held just 5 weeks after Russian forcesgained
control of Mariupol port city (May 21), which established its total
supremacy over the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait in eastern Crimea.
Kerch Strait has a strategic role in Russian policies, being the narrow
maritime gateway (5 kms in length and 4.5 km. wide at the narrowest
point) which links the Black Sea via the Sea of Azov to Russia’s major
waterways including the Don and the Volga.
In
effect, it is yet to sink in that in the geopolitics of the entire
Eurasian landmass, the liberation of Mariupol by Russian forceswas
a pivotal event in the great game, since the Kerch Strait ensures
maritime transit from the Black Sea all the way to Moscow and St
Petersburg, not to mention the strategic maritime route between the
Caspian Sea (via the Volga-Don Canal) to the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean.
United Deep Waterway System of European Russia linking Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea to Baltic Sea and the Northern Sea Route
Now,
to get the “big picture” here, factor in that Volga River also links
the Caspian Sea to the Baltic Sea as well as the Northern Sea Route (via
the Volga–Baltic Waterway). Suffice to say, Russia has gained control
of an integrated system of waterways, which connects the Black Sea and
the Caspian Sea to the Baltic and the Northern Sea Route (which is a
4800 km long shipping lane that connects the Atlantic with the Pacific
Ocean, passing along the Russian coasts of Siberia and the Far East.)
No
doubt, it is a stupendous consolidation of the so-called “heartland” —
per Sir Halford Mackinder’s theory (1904) that whoever controls Eastern
Europe controls the Heartland and controls the “world island.”
Looking
back, therefore, there is no question that the reunion of Crimea with
the Russian Federation in 2014 was a major setback for the US and NATO.
Putin caught Washington and its allies by total surprise. It complicated
their objective to integrate Ukraine into the NATO.
Today a gay patient in his 30s showed up in the office. He is healthy and very athletic. He is a “boy” to another older gay man.
They travel the world and are into serious gay fetish play. Spanking, bondage, discipline etc.
Patient has had fever and chills and horrible headache for 3 days. A
reticulonodular rash has developed but no vesicles yet. They have been
playing in clubs, parties, and orgies in 4 major cities the past 2
weeks.
There are so many things in that diagnostic differential but of course monkeypox is right up there.
And of course NO TESTING IS AVAILABLE. I called all levels of health
department and even CDC today. The CDC is voice mail hell. Never talked
to a human. It took several hours for a health dept human but by then
the patient was already gone potentially spreading the wealth
everywhere. They are acting as if I was talking about the Martian Flu.
Again, we have known about this two months now, and it was like I was
asking for the Holy Grail. Testing? “I need to call so and so……not
sure…..but I’ll get right back to you……..”. And don’t get me started
about their handling of the quarantine.
I have no idea if he is really a case. Multiple tests are pending.
But not monkeypox. There is apparently no blood test for that. You have
to swab the vesicles. But what if we do not have vesicles yet? Or if a
patient may be past the vesicular stage? Crickets.
I would like to think there is a baseline competence. But that is too much an ask right now.
Again two months all over the news and this is what we have.
We are a completely unserious nation.
Remember that IM Doc is in a wealthy destination in Flyover.
Apparently the local public health officials not only think that
monkeypox is exclusively a gay STD, but also that they can’t have it
locally because there are no gay men in their part of the world. Did
they miss Brokeback Mountain? Or the private jet landing schedule?
On top of that, the local public health officials appear unable to
use a search engine. In fact, there are monkeypox tests, but as IM Doc
did correctly infer, they can’t be used before the vesicles stage, which
is 2-4+ days after lesions start forming. Oh, and monkeypox patients
are contagious as soon as they start having lesions and potentially also
during the prodome period, before rash starts.
nakedcapitalism | The Military Summary channel has observed that once Russia secures
Donbass, there are no major lines of defense to the west until the
Dnieper. That may also explain the claim he made in his latest report (at 12:50),
that Zelensky told the troops in Donass that the US told him if they
lose the so-called Zaluzny defense line (Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are on
this line) that it would be considered to be the total collapse of
Ukraine forces and no more Western support would be forthcoming. I doubt
that politically that the US can totally abandon Ukraine but they can
certainly send only eyewash, and more importantly, stop funding the
Ukraine government, which has become a money pit.
tThe remaining major troop concentration is around Kiev. The question is what Russia does next.
My belief is still that Russia will give priority to taking Odessa
unless there are logistical considerations that argue against that. The
Ukraine military is so close to collapse that Russian forces going to
Odessa sooner rather than later is a real possibility. It’s the
psychologically most important target for the Russian people, and
economically more valuable than Kiev. The West would recognize that
Russia getting control of what was Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coast as
an enormous loss.
I suspect what Russia decides to do with or about Ukraine to the west
of the Dnieper is event dependent. However, the West has decided to tie
itself even more tightly to the Ukraine albatross. I had said to
Lambert that it was not impossible for Russia to have decisively won (as
in taken Odessa) by sometime in October, but even with the Western
forces clearly unable to rout Russia, that Europe and the US would keep
its citizens cold and hungry this winter just to spite Russia.
The EU will not withdraw the sanctions, imposed on Russia
over the situation in Ukraine, if Moscow and Kiev sign peace treaty on
Russia’s terms, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in his article for
the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagzeitung, published Sunday.
“The part of the new reality is that the EU has also consolidated. It
has reacted to the Russian aggression quite unanimously and imposed
unprecedentedly harsh sanctions,” Scholz said. “We knew it from the
start that we will potentially have to keep these sanctions for a long
time.”
“And it is also clear that not a single one of these sanctions will
be withdrawn in case of peace, dictated by Russia,” he continued. “There
is no other path for an agreement with Ukraine for Russia than the one
that could be accepted by the Ukrainians.”
It does not seem to occur to Sholtz that even Ukrainians who are not
that keen about Russia would choose having Russian or Russian-lite rule
over the West’s plan of fighting to the last Ukrainian. It also seems
likely that Russia will hold referendums, again to legitimate its
actions in the court of non-collective-West opinion. But of course those
will be deemed to be bogus even if the most reputable independent
observers say otherwise.
So this is not going to end well for the West. But you knew that already if you were paying attention.
foreignaffairs |As the world looks on while Ukrainians fight
for their lives and their freedom, many feel a burning desire to do more
to support them. The problem is not a lack of forces or resources—it is
fear of provoking a wider, perhaps nuclear, war with Russia. That fear
is why U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders have consistently
made clear that they will not intervene directly in the conflict,
instead limiting their help to weapons, money, intelligence, and
sanctions. As devastating as events in Ukraine are today, a nuclear war
with Russia could kill more people than Ukraine’s entire population of
roughly 44 million.
NATO
leaders understand that they must walk this fine line between aiding
Ukraine and risking war with Russia, but they have no theory of how to
do it. The German and French governments hem and haw about whether to
provide Ukraine with tanks. When Poland proposed a plan to transfer
MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine, the United States refused. U.S.
Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby warned that it “raises
serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance” and therefore was not
“tenable.” Yet the United States was already shipping Javelin antitank
missiles and Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Soon after, it began
sending other weapons, including M777 howitzers and now HIMARS
multiple-rocket launchers. What is the difference? Those weapons do more
to strengthen Ukraine’s combat power than MiG-29s, so the theory cannot
be that Russia reacts more strongly to policies that do more harm to
its interests. Why, then, missiles and artillery but not planes? The
answer is that there is no answer. It is simply arbitrary.
NATO needs a strategy predicated on a theory of what it can do to aid Ukraine
without widening the war to a direct conflict between it and Russia.
Lessons from past crises point to the principles that should guide such a
strategy. History shows that NATO would recklessly risk war only by
crossing two Russian redlines: openly firing on Russian forces or
deploying organized combat units under NATO-member flags into Ukraine.
As long as NATO stops short of unmistakably crossing those lines, it can do more to help Ukraine at an acceptable risk of war.
Arms transfers and sanctions are both wholly
consistent with this approach, so it is tempting to conclude that NATO
members are doing all they can. They are not. They should build on
current policies by dispensing with arbitrary limits on the types of
conventional weapons they are providing Ukraine and expanding sanctions.
Moreover, there is a third way to support Ukraine besides arms and
sanctions—one that NATO is neglecting. It is time for NATO to encourage,
organize, and equip its soldiers to volunteer to fight for Ukraine.
amgreatness | Rep. Adam Schiff tucked an amendment into the National Defense Authorization Act
that would prohibit any evidence collected in violation of the Posse
Comitatus Act from being used in investigations. Why?
But if the military engaged in any
civilian law enforcement activity, including surveillance or
intelligence collection, before or during January 6, it would represent
an egregious violation of the military’s code of conduct and federal
law. Under the Posse Comitatus Act,
military personnel cannot be used as local cops or investigators:
“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized
by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the
Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a
posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under
this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” (Certain
exclusions, such as the president’s invocation of the Insurrection Act
and any use of the National Guard, apply.)
The law is both vague and specific at
the same time—which brings us to Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Irrefutably the least trustworthy member of Congress, Schiff tucked an amendment
into the massive National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit
any evidence collected in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act from
being used in a number of proceedings, including criminal trials and
congressional investigations.
The amendment’s timing, like everything else related to the infamous Russian collusion huckster, evidence forger, and nude photo seeker
(to name a few of Schiff’s special talents), is highly suspect. Why
would Schiff need to outlaw evidence collected unlawfully? Why is Schiff
relying on this relatively arcane statute passed during Reconstruction
that is rarely, if ever, enforced?
“No one has ever been convicted of violating PCA to my knowledge,” Dr. Jeffrey Addicott, a 20-year member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and director of the Warrior Defense Project at St. Mary’s College, told American Greatness last week.
What is Adam Schiff, on behalf of the
Biden regime and Trump foes in the U.S. military, including Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, trying to hide?
It is not a coincidence that Schiff
introduced the amendment just a few months before a predicted Republican
landslide in November, which will give control of Congress back to the
GOP. House Minority Leader and presumptive Speaker of the House Kevin
McCarthy is planning to conduct multiple investigations into the Biden
regime next year including of the deadly and distrasrous withdrawal from
Afghanistan; the Daily Caller reported
this week that Republican lawmakers are “flooding the Biden
administration with ‘hundreds of preservation notices’ asking that
relevant documents be preserved.”
But one can easily see how Schiff’s
amendment could be used as legislative cover to prevent production of
any materials from Biden’s Department of Defense. After all, according
to a 2018 congressional analysis
of Posse Comitatus, “compliance [of the act] is ordinarily the result
of military self-restraint.” So, too, is enforcement: “The act is a
criminal statute under which there has been but a handful of known
prosecutions,” the same report explained.
theconservativetreehouse | The FISA court identified and quantified
tens-of-thousands of search queries of the NSA/FBI database using the
FISA-702(16)(17) system. The database was repeatedly used by persons
with contractor access who unlawfully searched and extracted the raw
results without redacting the information and shared it with an unknown
number of entities.
The outlined process certainly points toward a political spying and
surveillance operation. When the DOJ use of the IRS for political
information on their opposition became problematic, the Obama
administration needed another tool. It was in 2012 when they switched
to using the FBI databases for targeted search queries.
This information from Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz had the potential to
be extremely explosive. However, the absence of any follow-up
reporting, or even debunking from the traditional guardians of the DC
swamp is weird. What’s going on?
I wrote about these suspicions in depth throughout 2017, 2018 and eventually summarized in 2019:
theconservativetreehouse |I am going to explain how the Intelligence Branch works: (1) to
control every other branch of government; (2) how it functions as an
entirely independent branch of government with no oversight; (3) how and
why it was created to be independent from oversight; (4) what is the
current mission of the IC Branch, and most importantly (5) who operates
it.
The Intelligence Branch is an independent functioning branch of
government, it is no longer a subsidiary set of agencies within the
Executive Branch as most would think. To understand the Intelligence
Branch, we need to drop the elementary school civics class lessons about
three coequal branches of government and replace that outlook with the
modern system that created itself.
The Intelligence Branch functions much like the State Dept, through a
unique set of public-private partnerships that support it. Big Tech
industry collaboration with intelligence operatives is part of that
functioning, almost like an NGO. However, the process is much more
important than most think. In this problematic perspective of a corrupt
system of government, the process is the flaw – not the outcome.
There are people making decisions inside this little known,
unregulated and out-of-control branch of government that impact every
facet of our lives.
None of the people operating deep inside the Intelligence Branch were
elected; and our elected representative House members genuinely do not
know how the system works. I assert this position affirmatively because I
have talked to House and Senate staffers, including the chiefs of staff
for multiple House & Senate committee seats. They are not malicious
people; however, they are genuinely clueless of things that happen
outside their silo. That is part of the purpose of me explaining it,
with examples, in full detail with sunlight.
msn | Sen. Josh Hawley predicts the overturning of Roe v. Wade
will cause a 'major sorting out across the country' and allow the GOP to
'extend their strength in the Electoral College'
Sen. Josh Hawley predicted that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will help Republicans in the long run.
He argued the decision would polarize the country in a way that benefits Republicans in the Electoral College.
He also said the alliance between big business and social conservatives that underpins the GOP is now "over."
"I
really do think that this is going to be a watershed moment in American
politics," he said on a call with reporters on Friday. "The first
decision — the 1973 Roe decision — fundamentally reshaped American
politics, it ushered in the rise of the Christian conservative movement,
it led to the forming of what became the Reagan coalition in 1980."
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sciencemag | This spring, after days of flulike symptoms and fever, a man
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