Post-Trump ‘RATINGS DIP’ blamed for advent of ‘irresponsible’ COVID-19 news coverage that the White House wants to shut down

As the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on mask-wearing and reports of numerous “breakthrough” cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant made headlines in American media, one unnamed Biden administration official called the media’s coverage “hyperbolic and, frankly, irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy.”

Speaking to CNN on Friday, they claimed that, though people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can still spread the variant and fall ill from it, “the biggest problem we have is unvaccinated people getting and spreading the virus.”

On Saturday, another unnamed source also complained about the media’s coverage, in a statement to Mediaite, blaming fear-mongering headlines and reports on a desire for views in a post-Trump world.

“News outlets experiencing a quantifiable ratings dip from Trump being gone are being irresponsible for eyeballs, in ways that could diminish the scientifically indisputable case for vaccinations,” the source declared.

Mediaite also confirmed that President Joe Biden’s administration has been reaching out to news outlets in an effort to get them to change their tone on the Delta variant.

After the New York Times reported on an internal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) document on Friday and warned that the Delta variant “may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated,” White House COVID-19 Response Team member Ben Wakana publicly called out the newspaper.

“Vaccinated people do not transmit the virus at the same rate as unvaccinated people and, if you fail to include that context, you’re doing it wrong,” he responded in capital letters.

Wakana also publicly dressed down the Washington Post on Friday, calling the newspaper’s report, that “vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected” in a Massachusetts COVID-19 outbreak, “completely irresponsible.”

“Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated,” Wakana claimed, adding that it was “unreal” for the Washington Post “to not put that in context.”

Cable news ratings and online news traffic suffered a massive drop following Trump’s departure from office and the inauguration of Biden.

According to cable news ratings for the first half of 2021, CNN was down by 45% when compared to the previous year, during which Trump was president.

Fox News’ ratings fell by 39% without Trump in the White House, while MSNBC’s ratings were down 30%.

Source: RT

Note:

… the increasing number of people realizing the US government is part of the problem, not part of the solution. [?]

Humans and Lemmings

Lemmings are small rodents, about 15 centimeters long, that live in the tundras of northern Europe and Asia.

This species has the particularity of suddenly undertaking collective migrations for no apparent reason that end with a mass suicide in the waters of the sea.

The enigma that this behavior posed to zoologists is so singular that they, after trying to provide explanations that proved insufficient, preferred to remove it. But one of the most lucid minds of the twentieth century, Primo Levi questioned the phenomenon and provided a convincing interpretation of it.

We take it for granted that all living beings wish to continue living: in the lemmings for some reason this will has failed and the instinct that drove them to live has turned into a death instinct.

I believe that something similar is happening today to another species of living beings, what we call Homo sapiens.

Collective suicide occurs here – as befits a species that has replaced instinct with language and an endosomatic impulse with a series of devices external to the body – in an artificial and complicated way, but the result could be the same.

Human beings cannot live if they do not give themselves reasons and justifications for their lives, which in every age have taken the form of religions, myths, political beliefs, philosophies and ideals of all kinds.

These justifications seem to have fallen today – at least in the richest and most technologized part of humanity – and the humans find themselves perhaps for the first time, reduced to their pure biological survival, which, it seems, prove unable to accept.

This alone can explain, why, instead of assuming the simple, lovable fact of living side by side, we felt the need to instill an implacable sanitary terror, in which life without any more ideal justifications, is threatened and punished at every moment by disease and death. And this alone can explain that, although the industries that produce them, have stated that it is not possible to predict the effects of vaccines in the long term, because it has not been possible to comply with the foreseen procedures and the tests on genotoxicity and carcinogenicity will only end in October 2022; during which millions of people were subjected to an unprecedented mass vaccination.

It is perfectly possible – even if it is by no means certain – that in a few years the behavior of humans will be similar to that of lemmings and the humans will be on the verge of extinction.

July 28, 2021

Source: Giorgio Agamben – QUODLIBET

  • Translated

Watch: Thousands march across France as nationwide opposition to domestic COVID-ID shows no signs of fizzling out

Huge crowds turned out in Paris on Saturday as riot police attempted to corral the seemingly endless columns of protesters filling the capital’s main thoroughfares.

Drumming, chanting and exploding firecrackers could be heard in a Ruptly livestream of the massive demonstration. The protesters could be heard shouting “Liberty!” as they snaked their way through the city’s streets.

At one point, scuffles broke out and police deployed tear gas as law enforcement found themselves nearly surrounded by mobs of Parisians.

Dozens of other events were reportedly held in other parts of the country.

Social media filled up with footage allegedly taken in the small city of Pau, located in southwestern France. Despite the city’s modest size, its streets were swarmed by demonstrators who turned out to express their disapproval with President Emmanuel Macron’s so-called “Green Pass.”

Other large turnouts were reported in cities and towns across the country, including in France’s overseas territories.

Starting from August 9, French citizens will need a government-issued digital health pass in order to go inside a cafe or use certain forms of public transport.

Individuals will need the ID to show that they are fully vaccinated, have tested negative for COVID-19, or have recovered from the virus.

The controversial legislation also makes vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers.

Since July 21, the COVID pass has been obligatory in order to visit museums, cinemas and other cultural venues with a capacity of more than 50 individuals.

Following large-scale protests earlier this month, the French government made several concessions to the draconian rules, including lowering fines for violating the ID regime and pushing back when the policy would come into force at shopping malls.

Last week, Macron seemed to dismiss those who opposed the coercive measures as irresponsible and selfish, arguing that refusing to be vaccinated with the experimental jab would end up killing people.

Source: RT

“Mexico won’t be ‘hostage’ to Big Pharma”, president says, as internet predicts trouble after country rejects COVID jabs for kids

In remarks made earlier this week, the Mexican leader said his government was still waiting for the scientific community to demonstrate the benefits of vaccinating minors.

Until conclusive evidence was provided, Mexico would refuse to purchase jabs for children, Obrador announced, adding that pharmaceutical firms seemed to be focused more on making profits than on ensuring medical necessity as they rake in record sales from COVID-19 vaccines.

“Mexico will not be held hostage by pharmaceutical companies that only want to do business and scare children with the idea that it is necessary to vaccinate against COVID-19.”

He was similarly critical of plans by drugs companies to introduce third- or even fourth-dose booster shots, opining that the jabs could be “superfluous.”

Speaking on the same topic, Undersecretary for Health Hugo López-Gatell claimed there was “no scientific evidence” showing the jab was “essential” for minors, given the high rate of inoculation among the adult population, Excélsior, Mexico City’s second-oldest daily, reported.

Mexico has approved a range of COVID vaccines for emergency use, including shots developed by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Sinovac, as well as Russia’s Sputnik V.

The country’s Health Ministry recently revealed that a minimum of 48% of Mexicans have received at least one vaccine dose.

Like many other countries, Mexico rolled out its inoculation program in phases, giving high-risk groups first priority. Currently, those under 18 are not included in the vaccine drive.

Largely ignored by international media, Obrador’s provocative remarks went viral after an English-subtitled video of his speech was shared across social media.

Several comments hailed the Mexican president’s “cajones” for calling out Big Pharma greed.

Pfizer, for example, has boasted record profits and recently raised full-year sales estimates for its vaccine to $45 billion.

Others shared more conspiratorial reactions to Obrador’s comments. Numerous observers theorized that the Mexican president was exposing himself to potential harm or an “accident” by criticizing Big Pharma firms in such a blunt and direct manner.

While Mexico doesn’t feel comfortable administering the shot to youngsters, many other countries have begun to offer the vaccine to minors, both in clinical trials and as part of inoculation drives. According to the Mayo Clinic, around 14% of Americans under 18 have received at least one COVID shot.

Source: RT

Whiny American athletes & bitter US media should learn to lose gracefully without blaming Russia

The latest US athlete to cut the effortlessly grating figure of the wronged runner-up was swimmer Ryan Murphy, who, endlessly irked at losing twice in a week to Russian counterpart Evgeny Rylov at Tokyo 2020, launched a mini-monologue of microaggressions drenched in melodrama during his post-swim presser.

“It is what it is. I try not to get caught up in that. It is a huge mental drain on me to go throughout the year, that I am swimming in a race that’s probably not clean and that is what it is,” defending champion Murphy declared after finishing second in the 200m backstroke final.

Unsurprisingly, Murphy’s mumblings featured empty platitudes aplenty and read like a bingo card of cliched phrases used by any US athlete bleating about unfair treatment and mental health when forced to face their own failings.

Imply all Russian athletes are unclean. Check! State you don’t want to get involved in controversy but in the next breath make a controversial statement? Check! Complain about the toll it takes on your mental health? Full house!

Sure, if you can’t attain attention by finishing atop the podium, achieve it by attempting to knock the winner off their perch with a bolo punch of passive-aggression in one fell swoop of disparagement, discrediting and degrading comments, especially if they are a country whose name no one is legally allowed to utter, to make sure everyone talks about only you.

Millionaire Murphy’s nauseating melodrama and frankly nonsensical sense of martyrdom at winning silver in Tokyo seems to be motivated by a narcissism that runs deep through not only the US national team but the country’s media too.

The historic moment Russia’s gymnasts claimed gold in the men’s artistic team all-around final on Monday was bittersweet.

Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) quartet David Belyavskiy, Denis Abliazin, Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy finished a fraction ahead of Japan, having overcome broken legs and ruptured Achilles tendons within the squad in the last 18 months. A classic triumph over adversity.

You’d be forgiven for wondering where the bitterness comes into the picture. Enter Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports columnist, joy police superintendent and virtue-signaller extraordinaire.

Tears of joy from the ROC team as they stood upon the podium wasn’t the only saltiness evident that day, as a sea of surly dissatisfaction soon began to flow from serial wet blanket Wetzel.

Seemingly not content with Russia’s banishment from Tokyo 2020, the proscription of the country’s national flag, and the outlawing of everything from the gentlest whisper of the word ‘Russia’ to the belting out of its national anthem, dour Dan took issue that the ROC’s athlete’s didn’t show enough shame for being Russian.

“The IOC’s entire plan [to ban Russia from Tokyo 2020] completely backfired,” Wetzel whined. “It certainly didn’t shame Russia, where Putin has used the ban to pump up nationalistic pride.”

The foursome’s heinous crime?

As whingeing Wetzel puts it, being “a bunch of Russians, dressed like Russian flags, climbing a podium to listen to a famed Russian composer and accept medals they will bring back to Russia.”

Cry me a river, Dan.

Of course, all of this was a simple collection of observations, and couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Team USA finishing in a lowly fifth place from eight teams in the final at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre… Not even the most cynical of conspiracy theorists would never make such a ludicrous leap.

Another poor soldier of America’s aggrieved army of athletes was US rower Megan Kalmoe, who couldn’t hide her discontent at Russian pair Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Oriabinskaia winning silver in the women’s rowing, taking to Twitter to voice her discontent.

“Seeing a crew who shouldn’t even be here walk away with a silver is a nasty feeling,” Kalmoe cried. “Really disappointing overall and I feel for the other athletes.”

That, of course, would have nothing to with herself and USA teammate Tracy Eisser contesting a semifinal against Russian pair on Wednesday, in which they finished fifth while the ROC athletes placed second.

Then again, are we surprised at the cops and robbers pantomime from a country whose media machine lauded Simone Biles’ quitting and abandoning her teammates for simply having an off day as some sort of heroism?

We’ve only just recovered from Biles’ dying swan performance at the all-around team final on Tuesday, which would have been more worthy of a Golden Globe rather than Olympic gold.

That particular honour went to, you guessed it, ROC athletes, who had their own historic victory – achieving their first Olympic title since 1992 – overshadowed by more excruciatingly ostentatious sentimentality by an American athlete, this time in the form of Biles’ preaching to quit when the going gets tough, even when it means shattering the dreams of your teammates because you’re having a bad day.

This is, after all, the same Simone Biles most who was deified by the same US media for showing the mental toughness to cockily embroider the image of a goat to her leotard to let everyone know she has no qualms with media attention and pressure, as long as it’s in the shape of American journalists falling over themselves to call her the ‘greatest of all time’.

It seems that when the going gets tough, the toughest talkers can’t walk the walk, and instead whine and waffle on about imagined miscarriages of justice and blaming clean athletes for their losses because of different dirty athletes from a country whose name is forbidden to utter, rather than simply accepting defeat and blaming themselves for their failings.

While the winners, well, they do the talking in the arena and the let the medals speak for themselves. US athletes and the US media should try it sometime.

Source: Danny Armstrong – RT

Header: ROC quartet of David Belyavskiy, Denis Abliazin, Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy tearfully celebrate their gold medal at Tokyo 2020 – Reuters

Mask-free Sweden nears ZERO daily COVID deaths as chief epidemiologist warns against ‘far-reaching conclusions’ about Delta strain

Anders Tegnell said on Friday that there was “a lot we do not know” about Delta and cautioned against drawing “far-reaching conclusions” about the coronavirus strain. He noted that the variant had been circulating in Sweden “for quite some time” with little effect, particularly in high-risk settings such as nursing homes.

His comments were made in response to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting the Delta strain is more transmissible and could potentially cause more severe illness. The New York Times and other media outlets ran stories reporting that the CDC now believes the Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox – but this comparison didn’t seem to impress Tegnell.

“It is difficult to say how contagious Delta is, [as] when it comes to chickenpox, we have been able to follow the disease for several years. The infectivity [of Delta] seems to be very uneven – in some cases, one person infects a hundred people, then we have other occasions when an infected person does not infect anyone at all,” he told Sweden’s Aftonbladet.

In separate remarks, he pointed to the fact that one-third of the country’s municipalities reported zero new COVID cases over the past week. At the same time, there was an uptick in cases among young people in Stockholm and other large cities.

And while US health authorities are pressing Americans in “high transmission” areas to mask up, Sweden dropped its last remaining mask recommendation – related to public transport – on July 1.

While Sweden’s public health agency has supported measures such as social distancing and remote working, it has no recommendations for the use of face coverings in public spaces.

Reviled by the media for refusing to impose harsh lockdowns, Sweden’s less draconian approach to the health crisis appears to be paying off:

The Scandinavian nation has recorded a total of eight COVID-linked deaths so far this month, an average of 0.25 deaths per day. While it’s possible this number will increase due to reporting lags, deaths have undoubtedly plummeted over the past several months.

On June 4, Sweden reported 13 deaths – more than the entire month of July.

Daily hospitalizations have also hovered near zero in July:

On most days this month, the country saw between 0-2 COVID-cases requiring hospital treatment. At the same time, daily cases have fallen sharply since April.

Despite the promising developments, Tegnell warned against getting too comfortable. He stressed on Friday that Sweden was still in a pandemic and urged his countrymen, especially those in younger age groups, to get vaccinated.

Source: RT

Olympic Gold… is Silver

Have you been watching the Olympics? I’ve always loved the Olympic Games. There’s always so much drama as the best athletes in the world compete for gold.

But did you know they are mostly competing for silver?

True story. There is very little gold in an Olympic gold medal.

Gold medals are primarily made out of silver.

They are silver medals covered with about 6 grams of gold plating.

So, gold medal winners – for all practical purposes – you’re getting a silver medal.

Sorry about your luck.

The value of the metal in a 556-gram Olympic medal is a little over $800.

That’s nothing to sneeze at. But if it was made completely from gold, it would be valued at over $35,000 (calculated with gold at $1,800). This probably explains why the medals aren’t solid gold.

As it is, each gold medal has about $360 worth of gold in it.

By the way, the medals are about 30 grams lighter than those handed out at the Winter Olympics in 2018. It’s interesting to note that the 6 grams of gold in a 2018 medal were only worth about $250. This, my friends, is why you buy gold.

According to Olympic records, the only time gold medals were purely made of gold was during the St. Louis games in 1904 and the London games in 1908.

The medals were much smaller. And the average price of gold in 1904 was a mere $18.96 per ounce.

Oh – here’s another thing – the medals being handed out at the Tokyo Olympics are junk.

I mean – literally junk.

The folks planning for the 2020 (now 2021) Olympics collected enough silver, gold and bronze (copper and tin) from e-waste to make all of the medals for the games.

The Olympic Planning Committee collected 9,000 pounds of silver, 67 pounds of gold and 6,000 pounds of bronze.

That’s a pretty impressive haul considering they basically just got people to donate their broken-down electronic devices. The Olympic planning committee put collection boxes in over 2,400 NTT Docomo phone stores as well as other locations throughout Japan. It took them about two years to collect the 5 million busted-up pieces of junk. But as it turns out, broken phones contain a payday – about $3 million worth of metal.

According to the Silver Institute, the typical mobile phone contains 90 mg of silver, 36 mg of gold, 0.7 grams of tin and 6 grams of copper.

Of course, the fact that they were able to recycle gold and silver from broken cell phones reveals an important characteristic of these precious metals. They are immutable. That’s a fancy-pants way of saying you can’t destroy it. After the medal-making folks in Japan finished processing the silver and gold e-waste, it was as pure as the day it was originally extracted from the ore.

So, what about the bronze medal winners? They might as well not even bother. Those medals are formed of about 90% copper and 10% zinc. They weigh just under 500 grams each. The bronze medal is pretty much the penny of Olympic medals. But hey – what do you expect to get when you’re the second loser?

Source: SCHIFFGOLD

Header: London 1908 – medal

On the obverse, two female figures placing a laurel crown on the head of a young victorious athlete, with, in the bottom half, the inscription: “OLYMPIC GAMES LONDON 1908″.

On the reverse, the figure of St. George, patron saint of England. Legend says that he was a fighting saint who slew a dragon to free a princess.

Designer: Bertram Mackennal

Composition: 1st Place (Gold), 2nd Place (Silver), 3rd Place (Bronze)

Diameter: 33mm

Mint: Vaughton & Sons

K2 Winter: How Snorri, Sadpara and Mohr died

With the arrival of the first mountaineers at the Base Camp they reached the summit of K2 on July 26, finding the bodies of Mohr, Snorri and Sadpara along the ascent route, we begin to have a clearer picture of what could have happened that tragic 5 February, 2021 to the three climbers .

To give some more details, is the Ukrainian mountaineer Valentyn Sypavin, who was joined by the questions of Elena Laletina, of Russianclimb.

Sypavin explains that the first to be found was Mohr, about 20 minutes from Camp4.

  • Remember that this winter the highest camp on the mountain was Camp3.

“Ali and John were attached by jumars to fixed ropes. They were both without oxygen masks or O2 bottles…The Chilean [JP Mohr] lay just 20 minutes from C4. He was the first downhill [… I. He walked quickly and maybe went first. I think he just froze on the slope. Maybe he was waiting for [the other] two…”

Higher up, as seen in the photo, Muhammad Ali Sapdara and John Snorri, both still attached to the fixed ropes one with a descender, the other with a sliding carabiner.

This can only mean that they were going down and not going up.

Another detail is that no one wore oxygen masks and cylinders.

That they were turning back after reaching the Summit cannot be said, they may have given up higher.

It is hoped, however, to be able to find out soon since Elia Saikaly, climbing partner of Sajid Sadpara, announced that he had found Snorri’s GoPro and GPS.

As already mentioned, the three bodies were moved from the normal route by Sajid Sadpara and placed in safety. The recovery or not will be evaluated later with the priority not to expose any mountaineers who try to risk too high.

What may have happened

Given the position in which they were found, falling or other external factors, such as a collapse of ice, can be ruled out.

It was the cold and the tiredness that gave them no escape.

The fact that Snorri and Sadpara, who we know for sure were going up with oxygen, were found without cylinders suggests that at some point they ran out and that the two climbers got rid of them.

With the acclimatization they had, fatigue and especially the extreme conditions of winter K2, it was not possible to survive.

Source: Francesca Cortinovis – Montagna TV

  • Translated

Note:

Valentine Sipavin, K2 summiteer (UKR):

“I was first who found JP [Mohr], dug him [out] from the snow. Ali & John were attached to fixed rope by jumars, they both without oxygen masks and oxy bottles … The Chilean was lying 20 minutes from C4, he walked quickly and could go first. I think he just froze already on the slope. Maybe he was waiting for two … “

UPDATE: They were attached to the fixed rope not by jumars! One by descender, other by sliding carabiner.

“The three climbers were retreating, with or without a summit, and not climbing.”

Source: Elena Laletina

Now, with this new news, we can infer that the bodies were located very close to where they were last seen.

FBI probe: Chemicals that caused Beirut blast ONLY A FIFTH of original shipment

The amount of ammonium nitrate that exploded at Beirut’s port last year in a massive blast was just one-fifth of the original shipment that arrived at the Lebanese capital in 2013, according to an FBI investigation whose findings were published Friday by Reuters.

The probe added to suspicions that most of the stockpile of the chemical, used to make either fertilizer or bombs, went missing or was diverted before the August 2020 blast that rocked Berut and killed more than 200 people.

The FBI probe from last October found that while 2,754 tons of ammonium nitrate had arrived in Lebanon seven years before the blast, only 552 tons went up in flames on the day of the explosion, Reuters reported.

The probe did not provide an explanation for the discrepancy or explain where the rest of the ammonium nitrate may have gone.

The news agency reached out to a senior Lebanese official for comment, and he agreed with the FBI’s findings regarding the quantity of chemicals that exploded.

Many officials in Beirut say privately that much of the shipment was stolen, Reuters said, adding that another theory heard is that not all of the cargo detonated.

The 2013 shipment was being transferred from Georgia to Mozambique on a Russian-leased cargo ship when the captain says he was instructed to make an unscheduled stop in Beirut, Reuters said, adding that the shipment never ended up leaving from there and the cargo docked at the Lebanese port.

According to an unsourced assessment publicized on Israel’s Channel 13 news last August, Hezbollah may have planned to use the ammonium nitrate stockpile against Israel in a “Third Lebanon War,”

Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has denied that his group stored any weapons or explosives at Beirut’s port.

Ammonium nitrate is used in the manufacture of explosives and is also an ingredient in making fertilizer. It has been blamed for massive industrial accidents in the past, and was also a main ingredient in a bomb that destroyed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. In 2019 reports in Israel claimed that the Mossad had tipped off European intelligence agencies about Hezbollah storing caches of ammonium nitrate for use in bombs in London, Cyprus and elsewhere.

The Channel 13 report noted that “the material that exploded in the port is not new to Nasrallah and Hezbollah.”

It detailed Hezbollah’s previous connections to ammonium nitrate, including incidents in Germany and the UK, both widely reported at the time, in which its agents were reportedly found with substantial quantities of the material.

In London in 2015, following a Mossad tip-off, British intelligence found four Hezbollah operatives with 3 tons of ammonium nitrate held in flour sacks, the TV report said, citing foreign reports.

A similar process led to the discovery in Germany of Hezbollah operatives with enough ammonium nitrate “to blow up a city,” the report said. Germany subsequently banned Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Source: TOI

Header: A general view shows the damaged grain silos of Beirut’s harbour and its surroundings on August 5, 2020, one day after a powerful twin explosion tore through Lebanon’s capital, resulting from the ignition of a huge depot of ammonium nitrate at the city’s main port. – Rescuers searched for survivors in Beirut after a cataclysmic explosion at the port sowed devastation across entire neighbourhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and plunging Lebanon deeper into crisis. The blast, which appeared to have been caused by a fire igniting 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left unsecured in a warehouse, was felt as far away as Cyprus, some 150 miles (240 kilometres) to the northwest. (Photo by STR / AFP)

US ‘condemns attack on UN compound in Afghanistan’ by militants

The United States condemned the attack in Afghanistan on a UN compound in the western province of Herat on Friday, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said, calling for an immediate end to ongoing violence in the country.

“The United States condemns the attack on the UN compound in Herat by anti-government militants … We continue to call for an immediate end to this ongoing violence in Afghanistan,” State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said at a regular news briefing.

UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that at least one security guard was killed by “anti-government elements.”

The attack, involving rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, happened hours after Taliban fighters penetrated deep into Herat city, and there were heavy clashes with Afghan security forces near the UNAMA provincial headquarters, officials said.

It also came as US-led foreign forces near a complete withdrawal of troops and Afghan security forces struggle to hold back Taliban fighters in three major provincial capitals.

In a statement following the attack, the United Nations said it was urgently seeking to establish a full picture of the assault and was in contact with the relevant parties.

It was not immediately clear who attacked the compound, but a western security official told Reuters all diplomatic compounds in the city were put on high alert.

UNAMA said the attack was against the entrances of the compound that were clearly marked as a UN facility.

“This attack against the United Nations is deplorable, and we condemn it in the strongest terms,” said Deborah Lyons, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.

UNAMA said no UN personnel were hurt.

The Taliban put the incident down to possible crossfire.

“It is possible that guards could have sustained harm in crossfire due to close proximity of the office to the fighting,” the insurgents’ spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter.

He added that Taliban fighters had “arrived at the scene” and that the compound was “not under any threat”.

The Taliban have already captured swaths of the province of Herat, which borders Iran, before entering the capital.

A high-ranking foreign security official told Reuters Iranian border guards were on high alert as they fear many could flee across the border in coming days.

Foreign staff in all embassy offices in the city had been advised to observe a strict lockdown, the official added.

Lashkargah clashes

Heart city is the second provincial capital the Taliban have entered in the last 24 hours. Insurgents entered Lashkargah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand, a day earlier, and clashes were under way there. Civilians rushed to evacuate the city.

The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster, have made swift territorial gains over the last two months but have not yet captured any provincial capitals.

“Since Thursday morning, the Taliban have launched attacks from several directions on Lashkargah city,” a government official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

The official said government forces had thus far held back the Taliban with the help of airstrikes, but operations were hampered by the presence of civilians in the area.

“Hundreds of families have left the area,” Hafiz Ahmad, a resident of Lashkargah, told Reuters.

He said those unable to move had locked themselves in their homes, and the city wore a deserted look as gun and artillery fire reverberated through neighborhoods.

A UN report this week said civilian casualties had been surging in recent weeks, with as many killed in May and June as in the previous four months. The report did not cover casualties in July, when fighting intensified further.

Kandahar battles

Earlier on Friday, UNAMA expressed deep concern at the escalating violence in and around the southern city of Kandahar and warned of grave consequences for civilians.

It said more than 230 civilians had been wounded, and there were reports that scores had been killed, over the last two weeks.

A senior government official in Kandahar told Reuters that fighting between the Taliban and government forces had reached the central parts of the city, and residents feared insurgents could take over.

Airstrikes targeted Taliban positions to ensure security forces’ supply lines remained open in the besieged city, known as the birthplace of the Taliban.

The United States’ top regional military commander has said the US Air Force had increased airstrikes to support Afghan forces – but declined to say whether this would continue after their military mission ends on August 31.

Source: Reuters via HAARETZ

‘Fast and furious’: Israel seeks to give 3rd dose to 1.5m seniors in 8 days

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett notified healthcare executives on Friday that the government’s goal is to distribute the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to 1.5 million Israelis above the age of 60 in the next eight days.

In a meeting with the heads of health maintenance organizations on the day that Israel officially made the third dose available to older Israelis, Bennett said the government will provide HMOs with additional manpower via the Home Front Command as well as state funding, Ynet reported.

“This is not a long operation, it will be fast and furious,” the Meuhedet HMO’s chief executive officer Sigal Rosenberg told the news site, explaining that another goal of the vaccine drive is to relieve hospitals of pressure in the coming weeks and prevent them from being overrun with elderly coronavirus patients.

“We will open dedicated vaccination distribution complexes, proactively inviting the relevant populations while expanding the manpower as needed,” she said.

Also on Friday, Bennett tweeted that he’d discussed the world-trailblazing vaccine rollout with Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden.

“Had great discussion with Dr Fauci about dealing with the Delta [variant] pandemic. We’ll be sharing data and methods on booster shot and course of action. The only way to face COVID is by working together!” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

Bennett reached out to Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut and Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy on Friday, asking them to get vaccinated as well to serve as an example for the public.

Among the first Israelis to receive a third dose were President Isaac Herzog, 60, his wife Michal, opposition chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, 71 and his wife Sara, 60.

Bennett himself is only 49 years old and thus not eligible to receive a third dose at this time.

Israel’s decision to begin administering third doses comes amid a struggle to contain a recent wave of coronavirus infections that has seen “case” numbers rocket, from just dozens a day a month ago to an average daily caseload of over 2,000 this week.

Also receiving his third dose Friday was Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, who told Channel 12 that he felt “great” post-inoculation.

Backing the decision to move ahead with distribution of the third dose before the US Food and Drug Association granted its approval, Ash said “it would have been impossible to wait a few more months.”

“We already have enough vaccines and the arrival of more doses is expected in the coming weeks in order to effectively implement this third dose vaccination drive,” he said.

Ash said that no additional COVID-19 restrictions were slated to be implemented in the immediate future.

For now, he said, “the vaccine is our solution to make it out of the pandemic, so it is important that everyone who can goes and gets vaccinated.”

He urged government ministers to assist in the effort of urging the older public to go and receive the third dose.

Ash also assured viewers that the vaccine was safe for children and urged those above the age of 12 to get inoculated.

“We do not force people to get vaccinated, but it is important to make the vaccines accessible so that those who are able to,” Ash said, hinting at his support for using schools as distribution centers, something that Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton has come out adamantly against.

Separately on Thursday, the countries of Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Georgia were added to the government’s no-fly list and those caught violating the rule will be fined NIS 5,000 ($1,500).

Health officials have recommended that the countries of Greece, Bulgaria, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates be added to the list as well.

Channel 12 reported that health officials are beginning to recommend that all arrivals from abroad be required to quarantine, as opposed to only those who return from a compiled list of countries where COVID-19 rates are high.

The health officials argue that there is no point in updating the list of so-called red states every week, thereby confusing the public, when a uniform rule would be simpler.

Under the new proposal currently being weighed by health officials, even those vaccinated or recovered from the virus would have to isolate for a full week upon returning from abroad, the network said.

In the more immediate future, the Health Ministry is slated to recommend that all Israelis returning from so-called green countries where virus numbers are low be required to isolate for 24 hours.

The government’s coronavirus cabinet is expected to decide on the matter in its next meeting.

Health Ministry figures on Friday showed 2,140 new COVID-19 “cases” diagnosed the day before, the fourth day in a row that the number was above 2,000, a daily caseload not seen since March.

There were 167 patients in serious condition, an increase of 25 since midnight.

Of the over 91,202 tests performed Saturday, 2.37 percent came back positive — a rate similar to that seen in recent days.

There were 16,162 active virus “cases” in the country, Health Ministry data showed. Two months ago that figure was at around 200.

The death toll stood at 6,466, with two new fatalities recorded Thursday, according to the ministry.

Source: TOI

CDC releases study showing 3/4 Delta cases are among the vaccinated, says ‘masks are the answer’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its masking guidelines on Tuesday, urging all Americans in areas with high COVID-19 transmission to mask up when indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

Mask mandates in companies, government departments, and certain local jurisdictions followed, as CDC Director Rochelle Walensky insisted the decision was made on the back of fresh scientific evidence.

The CDC released that evidence on Friday. In a study of 469 cases of COVID-19 that broke out in the resort town of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, earlier this month, 74% occurred in “fully vaccinated persons.”

Four out of five patients hospitalized were fully vaccinated, and on average the inoculated had completed their two rounds of doses only 86 days before infection.

The cases studied occurred in people vaccinated primarily with Pfizer and Moderna shots, with a smaller number having received Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose jab.

No one vaccine was singled out as providing better or worse protection, and none appeared to prevent symptoms from developing.

Some 79% of vaccinated patients were symptomatic, the study noted.

Lab testing revealed that 90% of all the Cape Cod infections involved the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The report lends weight to the argument that the current crop of vaccines aren’t as effective against the Delta variant, although the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) both insist that vaccination is effective against “severe disease and death” from the virus, to quote WHO technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove in a briefing earlier on Friday.

However, the CDC study noted that similarly high viral loads were found in vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Walensky stated on Friday that “high viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission” and raised concern that “vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus.” The study itself is less alarmist, stating that “microbiological studies are required to confirm these findings.”

Walensky said that the Cape Cod study was “pivotal” in informing the CDC’s decision to recommend indoor masking. Previously, the agency drew flak from Republicans for using an extremely limited Indian study on viral loads and potential transmission to back up the mask guidance, as was revealed by documents leaked to the Washington Post on Thursday.

The study appears to NEGATE the argument by top health officials that unvaccinated Americans are responsible for the fourfold rise in COVID-19 cases in the US since June:

“This is an issue predominantly among the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we’re out there, practically pleading with the unvaccinated people to go out and get vaccinated,” White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday, adding that the US is currently moving “in the wrong direction” with regard to stamping out COVID-19.

Whether mask mandates will slow the spread of the Delta variant will be borne out with time. Beyond requiring masks and pressuring Americans to get vaccinated, the White House is running out of options.

A national vaccine requirement is “not under consideration at this time,” Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday. Jean-Pierre also stated that “we are not going to head towards a lockdown.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the White House COVID-19 team Ben Wakana lashed out at the New York Times and the Washington Post, berating the papers for “doing it wrong” and being “completely irresponsible” for quoting the CDC documents without “important context” about vaccinations.

Source: RT

Delta COVID-19 variant shed by vaccinated people, ‘spreads like chickenpox’, CDC document suggests

The transmissibility of the Delta variant is almost as high as chickenpox, with each infected person, on average, infecting eight or nine others, according to the document.

Fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus as well as unvaccinated people, it also said. Vaccination, however, provides substantial protection against the virus, the document added.

The disease control centre called for universal mask requirements and vaccination as the best tool against the Delta variant.

The United States is now experiencing a spike in COVID-19 “cases”, with the Delta strain accounting for over 80% of new infections as of July 20th.

Some 70% of US adults, or 178 million, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 60%, or 155 million, are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Source: SPUTNIK NEWS

‘Doesn’t change our GAME PLAN’: WHO says no evidence ‘faster & fitter’ Delta variant has higher mortality or vax resistance

The Delta variant of the coronavirus may be more transmissible than previous variants, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) doesn’t know how or why, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, told a briefing on Friday. Van Kerkhove noted that “a few countries” were seeing a rise in hospitalizations, but that this rise, and the rise in cases, “has not translated into increased mortality.”

Van Kerkhove’s claim is borne out in real life.

Daily new “cases” of COVID-19 have quadrupled in the US since June, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, daily deaths have halved since April.

Likewise in the UK, over a million “cases” were recorded last month, nearly reaching the record 1.3 million reported in January, but only 1,400 deaths were recorded, less than a twentieth of January’s death toll, per data from Johns Hopkins University.

Van Kerkhove insisted that vaccines remain effective at preventing severe disease and death, and although the vaccinated can still become infected and transmit the virus, “the likelihood of this is much reduced if you are vaccinated.”

Nevertheless, the threat of infection and transmission even among the vaccinated prompted the CDC this week to reverse its earlier guidance and recommend that everyone, vaccinated or not, wear face masks indoors in areas with increased transmission.

This recommendation was embraced by the administration of US President Joe Biden (which mandated masks on Thursday for all federal workers), by employers, and by local officials in Democrat-run cities and states.

The CDC’s guidance was based in part on a study that found high viral loads in the airways of vaccinated people, drew a link between these loads and increased transmission, and recommended continued restrictions even after mass vaccination. However, the study has not passed peer review and was conducted in India on a small number of subjects using a vaccine not authorized for use in America, and it being used to back up the new mask guidance has caused ructions in the US. Calling the preliminary Indian research flimsy, Republicans have accused the CDC of using it to “control Americans.”

WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan told Friday’s briefing that research on “the dynamics of how and why [the Delta variant] is more transmissible is still underway.” However, Ryan struck a similar tone as the CDC, arguing that although the virus “has gotten fitter [and] gotten faster…it doesn’t change our game plan.”

That plan, he explained, is to continue to administer vaccines and continue with social distancing, masking, and restrictions on gatherings.

Source: RT

COVID Riots

The Russian people have successfully managed to foil the latest attempt by the Global COVID Party to enforce its most current list of restrictions and vaccinations.

The COVID restrictions were unleashed June 16, while Putin was away at the Geneva summit.

Moscow Mayor Sobyanin announced that QR codes would be required to enter all cafés and restaurants, and followed this up with demands for mandatory vaccination. But Russians continue to refuse to comply; by now they have found many ways to beat the system, the simplest solution being to avoid (and thus bankrupt) collaborating restaurants. The Mandatory Vaxx Regime brings new conspirators (like Alexei Navalny, the Russian Guaido presently in jail for swindling) and old school Kremlin propagandists into a rare (and suspicious) agreement. Now they all excrete New York mainstream media.

Many loyal Putinists were disappointed and aggrieved by the actions of Moscow’s Mayor; they spoke of treason and of abject surrender to US Dems. The people began to grumble that they would be voting Communist in the upcoming (September 19, 2021) Parliamentary elections.

President Putin tried his best to stay above the fray, but recognizing that the COVID Party is actively arranging his political demise, he took steps to rescue his loyalists.

Putin publicly called for the mayor to drop the restrictions, and then behind the scenes he had them removed.

The QR codes have dried up, and peace has returned to Russian society only one month after the restrictions were announced. The vaccination effort goes on, but it is voluntary.

Barring unexpected developments, Russia has passed through the pandemic trial with flying colours, in typically Russian style (“Give a candle to God and a poker to Satan”).

People fell ill and died, as always, but there were no disturbances, no riots, and Putin continues to outperform his challengers, in word and in deed.

Not every leader manages to escape intact from these orchestrated confrontations with global Covidians.

President of Haiti Jovenel Moïse was reluctant to push for the vaxx in his poor country; he didn’t drop everything and immediately reorganise his state’s government around the new vaccination regime. He then flatly refused AstraZeneca, saying the stuff is dangerous for your health. Little did he know that refusing Big Pharma is perilous to the health of even the elected leader of a sovereign state. Sadly, he has been assassinated by a gang of Colombian mercenaries claiming to be DEA (the US Drug Enforcement Administration) and some of them actually serving with the DEA. The killing was organised by a Florida-based security firm. The killers were trained by the US Army. As soon as the President of Haiti was murdered, the US called in the Marines and half a million doses of vaccine. Thus, this small rebellion against the COVID empire has been squashed.

Moise was bravely following in the footsteps of four African leaders who also tried to resist Covid rule. Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, a cheeky man, adroitly tested some papaya, a goat, and a sample of engine oil for COVID using WHO-supplied tests, and they all turned out positive. He rejected testing and declared Tanzania COVID-free. Immediately afterwards the London Guardian newspaper (in a section funded by Bill Gates) called for regime change. The US Council on Foreign Relations seconded the call, and presto! The man is dead. It has been persuasively argued that Tanzania was untouched by COVID because the population regularly used an easily available and inexpensive anti-malaria drug and thus the dreaded coronavirus could not sicken them.

Magufuli was preceded by the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, who did not allow WHO envoys into his country and refused to lock down and succumb to mass testing. He promptly died of a heart attack, just like Magufuli. The man who took his place immediately invited the WHO into the country and followed their instructions. Hamed Bakayoko, the Prime Minister of Ivory Coast and Ambrose Dlamini, who was prime minister of Eswatini (Swaziland) also died in suspicious circumstances. The suspicious circumstances around the assassinations are currently being covered up by Reuters fact checkers, who are claiming that “there is no evidence that leaders of Tanzania, Ivory Coast, eSwatini and Burundi were killed for refusing to vaccinate their countries against COVID-19.” I wonder whether if these fact checkers were so cautious about accepting evidence when Reuters was accusing Trump of being a Russian agent or when they claimed that that Putin poisoned Navalny with Novichok.

There is also a COVID component in the recent jailing of former South African President Jacob Zuma. While we are aware of tribal differences in South Africa, and even of Zuma crossing the ‘red line’ by attacking Oppenheimer of de Biers, his record on COVID was not widely publicized. A little research by Paul Bennett reveals the following vignette:

On 05 July 2021, former president Jacob Zuma on Sunday dismissed questions about his supporters gathered outside his home in KwaZulu-Natal without observing COVID-19 regulations. Zuma‚ who has not received a COVID-19 vaccination‚ addressed media personnel at his KwaDakwadunuse home in Nkandla on Sunday night and said he was not responsible for what his supporters did even if their actions were against lockdown regulations. According to Zuma‚ lockdown regulations were no different to the rules imposed on people during the mid-1980s state of emergency enforced by the apartheid regime. “We have a level 4 lockdown with all the hallmarks of a state of emergency and the curfews of the 1980s‚” said Zuma. “The only difference is that we use different levels‚ like contempt of court instead of detention without trial‚ but the substance is exactly the same. Being jailed without trial is no different from detention without trial.” Zuma revealed he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 despite his age group qualifying for jabs. In what could be viewed as his first sign of disregarding lockdown regulations‚ the former president went out with Amabutho (Zulu regiments) on Saturday to greet supporters while not wearing a mask.

Bear in mind extremely strict anti-COVID measures in South Africa, and you will understand their riots as a natural response to lockdown oppression, just like BLM in the US. You are free to reach your own conclusions about the coincidences in the case of Zuma, as with all the other recent regime changes connected to COVID activism.

The mask is a ‘masonic’ sign of support for the COVID Masters.

Good guys like Biden wear the mask even when alone, while bad guys like Trump are usually maskless. Lukashenko and Putin are maskless, while the Belarus opposition and Navalny supporters wear masks. In Chile recently, the Left held primaries to pick a united candidate for presidency. The favourite was Daniel Jadua, a grandchild of Palestinian immigrants known for his fierce opposition to Israel. Worse, he fought for affordable medicines and pioneered ‘people’s pharmacies’. In his photos, he does not wear the mask. He was vociferously attacked by Chilean Jews who condemned his (yes!) anti-Semitism. Jadua was defeated, and the happy victors immediately presented their masked faces to the media so that we all might know who is good and who is bad. On some occasions, politicians do both, to err on the safe side. Russian and Iranian foreign ministers obliged mask fans by posing for pictures fully masked with elbows touching, then re-posed themselves for photos that will please ordinary folk, without masks and with a healthy handshake.

The mask has evolved into a public declaration that we accept the COVID narrative, in the same way Christians cross their hearts.

The recent riots in Cuba were described as a ‘COVID Uprising’ by WSJ. Cuba indeed has an unusually high number of reported cases, hospitalisation and deaths – for a country with an excellent and free health system. It is rather low for Latin America; Communist Cuba manages very well compared to America’s best ally, anti-Communist Colombia.

Cuba’s problems have not changed since 1960; it is the US sanctions that continue to strangulate this island and its 12-million-strong people. Since 1991, there is no more USSR to relieve its loneliness, to buy its sugar and sell it oil. Putin’s Russia is friendly, but is not willing to quarrel with Washington for Havana’s sake. Venezuela would help, but it is also under US sanctions. Iran would provide it with oil, but the US Navy stops its vessels and steals the oil. Biden, as Trump before him, wants to prove Communism does not work; all they actually prove is that it is very hard for a small country to survive if the US is determined to crush it.

Cuban leaders are neither COVID dissidents nor anti-vaxers. Cuba had already developed its own vaccine and begun to vaccinate people. It was not an easy enterprise, for even the needles needed for injection are under US sanctions. Worse, Cuban efforts to save themselves incited the fury of the US vax party: they want everybody vaxed with US vaccines, and any kind of competition drives them mad. Cubans, as vaccine producers themselves, took COVID very seriously and they laid many restrictions upon the people; the standard new rules we are all now familiar with: lockdowns, masks, social distance. We manage with these impositions by stocking up our pantries and filling up our refrigerators and freezers. The shops are well stocked so we eat well and simply spend more time at home. In Cuba, the houses are small; the people don’t have the means to horde quantities of food. Store shelves are empty; food is scarce as a result of sanctions. In addition, tourism is almost dead now, and this was a major source of income in Cuba. The combination of COVID restrictions and scarce food under sanctions has laid the foundation for some highly publicized riots: encouraged, promoted, directed and managed by the US State Department.

Every second Cuban has a relative in Miami; and red state Florida has no lockdowns and masks. This made Cubans even more upset. The riots were dealt with deftly; the government simply overwhelmed the US funded crowds with its own supporters, converting the anti-COVID demos into pro-Cuban demos. Apparently, the Communist authorities are still sufficiently popular to field great quantities of volunteers. None of this has prevented the global mainstream media from distorting the source of Cuban unhappiness, nor prevents Washington from further interference, but all’s well that ends well, and we remain hopeful.

Phillip Knightley tells us in The First Casualty that between November 1917 and November 1919 the New York Times reported no fewer than ninety one times that the Bolsheviks were about to fall or indeed had already fallen. “Lenin losing control”, “Lenin and Trotsky fled the country”, “The Bolsheviks must fall”. Four times Lenin and Trotsky were reportedly planning flight; three times they had already fled; once Lenin had been killed, and three times he was in prison. Now the New York Times and Wall Street Journal announce daily that the fall of the Havana Communists is imminent.

There is a funny déjà vu. In 1917, a photograph showing Russian troops packed on the roofs of railway carriages on their way home was published under the heading Russian troops hasten to the front.

In 2021, a photo of a huge demo in Havana in support of the Cuban Revolution was published under the heading Cubans rebel against Communist regime. A few days later the heading was quietly corrected.

The fall of Cuba is not imminent; but the government is caught in a double bind. If they ignore COVID and avoid lockdowns, they won’t be able to sell their vaccine abroad. They won’t be able to receive foreign tourists. If Cuba has even one more death that can be traced to COVID, Washington will claim that the Communists have doomed all Cubans to a horrible death.

If Cuba rejects the international COVID cabal, the blockade will only tighten further, for Canada, Spain and France (the countries that send the most tourists to Cuba) are heavy on COVID restrictions. Sweden tried in 2020 to avoid COVID measures and for a while it was almost locked out of Europe.

Cuba cannot afford to cut itself off from the global community. Yet if the Cuban government locks its people down to please the COVID regime, they are likely to cause great dissatisfaction, perhaps leading to more riots. This is exactly what the COVID Masters want, global unrest.

Chaos means opportunity, at least for some us. The strain of dealing with the virus is too great for ‘failed or failing states, from Cuba and South Africa to Iran and North Korea’ wrote the Daily Telegraph: “COVID could topple the world’s worst regimes”.

Many states now find themselves in a precarious situation, among them, the UK, where they plan to introduce a vaxx pass to visit nightclubs and a new tax on salt and sugar, but we are still nowhere near the grim predictions of Contagion, the 2011 movie, a hysterical COVID dress rehearsal scripted by the Rockefeller Foundation. In the movie, people die like flies, riot like the BLM in Seattle and eagerly wait for the one and only vaccine to save them. Reality is not that dramatic.

The vaccines are not deadly (despite Luc Montagnier’s claims) nor can they save us.

In heavily vaccinated Israel the relentless spread of COVID has not been halted. People get sick and die, some vaccinated, some not. Old people used to die from the flu, now they die of COVID. The “Clot Shot” may be killing us, but it is too early to judge. In a year, we shall know more.

A way to answer it lies in applying the same criteria for the vaccine as for any other disease.

People who died within 28 days of having a positive PCR test were declared official Victims of COVID. Let’s say that the Victims of the Vaxx are everyone who died within 28 days of being vaccinated. You will get a lot of casualties by this method.

In Scotland, 6000 persons died within 28 days of vaccination, by official statistics. According the the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), over twenty-six thousand people either died, had a life-threatening injury, or were permanently disabled within 30 days of receiving a COVID vaccine:

PFIZER-BIONTECH (1200) 17,421 66.97%

MODERNA (1201)   7,375 28.35%

JANSSEN (1203)   1,398   5.37%

We might at the same time cast doubt on the lethality of COVID itself, since nearly all who died were already suffering from “co-morbidities”. We all know this, and yet the single-minded drive for mass vaccination takes place now all over the world; the prominent people who object, they die in a hail of bullets like Haiti’s President, and not from COVID. The rest of us have no choice but to struggle along under the oppression and legalized discriminations of the global COVID machine.

And now we ‘circle back’ to the point of origin.

How does the orchestrated global COVID campaign (formulated by Hollywood and coordinated by ‘exercises’ like Event 201) dovetail with the most popular hypotheses of origin, whether natural or bioweapon, accident or blowback? It does not.

For instance, consider Ron Unz’s theory of COVID being a US bioweapon used to attack China (and Iran) by rogue Deep State agents. It is an excellent theory. It is hugely popular all over the world: even Russian ministers send it to each other.

It explains the timing of the MSM’s switch from the natural bat bite narrative to the Fauci-funded lab leak: it only occurred once Iran’s deadly attack was forgotten. But it has one deficiency. Obviously these ‘rogue Deep State agents’ have full access to the mass media, to medical institutions, to armed mercenaries. If they wanted to attack China and Iran, why do they keep bothering people all over the world enforcing vaxx? Aren’t there better ways to wage war?

Whatever theory we consider, all of them presume that COVID is an unprecedented single event, like the Big Bang. Probably it is an aberration caused by theological stress on the act of Creation. God indeed created the World, but He didn’t wash His hands and went home to rest. He keeps the World running. The Big Bang theory is misleading for it presumes that it was enough to jumpstart the world and now it will run under its own power. The world we live in is different. God attends to our world on day-to-day basis, still allowing us free will. So do the evil forces. They keep working, too. Let’s not forget that COVID was preceded by Avian flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and Zika, and that Fauci was intimately involved in the AIDS debacle.

We might ‘follow the money’. The people who funded ‘gain of function’ research, meddling with viruses, tweaking diseases to cross the human-animal barrier and apparently spreading them from Wuhan to Qom, these same people are profiting from the corresponding medicines; these same global corporations are benefiting from the mandatory lockdowns and vaccinations. This is now a proven business plan. If they did it once, they can do it again.

New varieties of virus will no doubt appear whenever people are no longer afraid of the old stuff.

What was an attack on China has become an attack on all humanity, and it stands to reason it was intended that way from the start.

Only a conspiracy denier would refuse the force of logic: Wuhan was just the beginning.

So what can we do about it? Try and beat the anxiety. There are forces that want us to be continuously afraid and stressed. They invent or create endless reasons for it. The pandemic is still going on strong, but the media (never at rest like a shark) is already proposing new dangers.

‘Wobbling’ Moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030s, NASA warns. Coastal cities under threat from ‘rapidly increasing high tide floods’, which could occur in clusters lasting a month or more, say scientists – so claim English media. Wobbling occurs every 18 years; it is a well-known phenomenon, but it does not stop the doomsayers.

And here is even greater news. According to the media, just a few days ago the Earth just missed getting fried by a solar flare that would’ve wiped out civilization, as we know it. After lockdown it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, right? So, let’s hope for the best. Maybe the next one will do the job that misanthropes have been counting on, from Bill Gates to Greta Thunberg. I do hope that will make the control freaks and technocrats finally happy!

When will people realize that these dire predictions of disaster are not only specious but clearly manipulative?

Not only are the official threats (esp. Global Thermonuclear War, Global Jihad, Third World War, and now the endless Global COVID Pandemic) hysterically hyped, but also the “unofficial” threats promoted by NASA, the US military and their astroturf armies (Nibiru, Aliens, Moon Wobble, Comets, Asteroids, etc).

End of the World Prognostication is a reliable way to whip up and direct popular opinion. It has been shown time and time again that if a distraction is needed, a good world-ending yarn is compelling water-cooler talk. Our collective memory is short enough so we maintain our sense of impending disaster without noticing the Gaslighting pattern.

“We are goldfish in a bowl continuously imprinted with flickering, phantasmal fears,” says Paul Bennett.

And yet, far away from the media din we are surrounded by a beautiful world, full of grace and compassion. We deserve it. Our women could seduce the angels; our men defeated dragons. Our wise old folk argued with Socrates and prayed with Apostles. Every green valley, every river stream, every flower is a gift of God. Enjoy it, and ignore the busy termites who are well paid to keep us hanging on tenterhooks. Death is unavoidable; it is part and parcel of life. The best we can do is to avoid anxiety and enjoy life while it lasts. Let Fauci vaxx Bezos aboard their phallic spaceship. Just let them all fly away never to be seen again.

  • Written in cooperation with Paul Bennett.

Source: Israel Shamir – The Unz Review

COVID Vaccines: The ‘LEAKED’ Pfizer Contract

An allegedly leaked vaccine supply contract between Pfizer and the government of Albania has sent some shockwaves through social media over the last few days.

It doesn’t contain any really groundbreaking information but, if it’s genuine, it certainly confirms the worst suspicions many of us had about the terms of the vaccine supply agreements.

The document was first published by the Albanian independent media outlet Gogo.al back in January, but came to prominence in the Anglosphere three days ago, when Twitter user Ehden posted a long thread breaking down its contents.

His account has since been “limited” (we’ve all been there), but you can read his blog here.

In the interests of open discussion, and without endorsing its authenticity, we present the whole document below. We recommend anyone interested download it, just in case it disappears from the net, as potentially embarrassing documents tend to do.

So, is the document genuine?

That’s hard to say. It certainly wouldn’t be unprecedented for it to be a “honey trap” leak. A document that makes outlandish claims, which many in the alternate media run with, only for it to be debunked and discredit all those who reported it. It happens. It’s why you should always approach any “leak” with supreme caution.

But one argument for the contract’s authenticity is its lack of any “huge groundbreaking admission” that would be the hallmark of a fake leak.

Since it was posted by Ehden, other “contracts” have leaked, which contain similar language and clauses. But, as these aren’t 100% proven genuine either, it would be wrong to use them to corroborate each other.

Stronger evidence can be found on the website of the Israeli Ministry of Health, where they have a (heavily redacted) copy of their “REAL-WORLD EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE COLLABORATION AGREEMENT” with Pfizer (we downloaded a copy of that too, just in case.)

These two documents do have some strong similarities.

Under “definitions” for example, both use the same word-for-word phrasing for the definitions of “product” and “affiliate(s)”. “Intellectual Property” is very similar too. As is a lot of the language under “Term and Termination”.

That is evidence that the document could be real…OR its evidence that good sources of Pfizer’s boilerplate legal contracts are available on the internet, as a useful resource for fakers. It cuts both ways.

There’s circumstantial evidence for the document’s authenticity, of course. The fact the Twitter account discussing it was “limited” almost immediately, for example. The fact it has been on the internet for nearly seven months and hasn’t been the subject of a single official denial by either party OR a “fact check” from one of those famous “independent fact-checkers”. These are all points in its favour.

As yet, it’s hard to be certain either way. But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it’s real.

What does it say?

A lot of the talk so far has been about the awful financial terms, but that’s not at all unusual in state contracts with private firms. The government agrees to terrible terms for the taxpayer, whilst accepting a back-hander here or there or a cushy job in the future. It’s the way the world works.

No, really,

… in the fifty-two pages, there are two key paragraphs that people should focus on.

First, under section 5.5 “Purchaser Agreements” [our emphasis]:

Purchaser acknowledges that the Vaccine and materials related to the Vaccine, and their components and constituent materials are being rapidly developed due to the emergency circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be studied after provision of the Vaccine to Purchaser under this Agreement. Purchaser further acknowledges that the long-term effects and efficacy of the Vaccine are not currently known and that there may be adverse effects of the Vaccine that are not currently known. Further, to the extent applicable, Purchaser acknowledges that the Product shall not be serialized.

This is simply logically irrefutable. Chemicals that have existed for less than year, by definition, have unknown long-term effects. (Which, incidentally, is what we got banned from Twitter for saying yesterday).

Second, under section 8.1 “Indemnification by the Purchaser” [again, our emphasis]

Purchaser hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Pfizer, BioNTech, each of their Affiliates, contractors, sub-contractors, licensors, licensees, sub-licensees, distributors, contract manufacturers, services providers, clinical trial researchers, third parties to whom Pfizer or BioNTech or any of their respective Affiliates may directly or indirectly owe an indemnity based on the research, development, manufacture, distribution, commercialization or use of the Vaccine, and each of the officers, directors, employees and other agents and representatives, and the respective predecessors, successors and assigns of any of the foregoing (“Indemnitees”), from and against any and all suits, claims, actions, demands, losses, damages, liabilities, settlements, penalties, fines, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and other expenses of an investigation or litigation), whether sounding in contract, tort, intellectual property, or any other theory, and whether legal, statutory, equitable or otherwise (collectively, “Losses”) arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the Vaccine, including but not limited to any stage of design, development, investigation, formulation, testing, clinical testing, manufacture, labeling, packaging, transport, storage, distribution, marketing, promotion, sale, purchase, licensing, donation, dispensing, prescribing, administration, provision, or use of the Vaccine.

Essentially Pfizer is totally protected from any legal liability in the event their vaccine actually does have any of those aforementioned “adverse effects that are not currently known”.

A later paragraph even says that the government must pay Pfizer’s legal fees in the event they get sued.

And there’s no reason, at all, to think this would be just an Albania thing. Clearly, if they included it in this contract, they included it in every contract.

In South Africa, for example, it is known Pfizer demanded sovereign assets as be used collateral for their legal indemnity.

To sum up, if the document is real, Pfizer’s vaccine distribution contracts:

  • Acknowledge their product may not work.
  • Admit it might have unknown harmful effects.
  • Recognisess they are likely to be sued if that’s the case.
  • Ensures legal protection of their huge profits.

We knew all that already. But it’s always good to get it in writing.

Source: Kit Knightly – Off-Guardian