Open Thread WE 22 SEP 21 ~ Autumn

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 5:00am

.
Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.
-- Marilyn Monroe

Welcome folks, to your open thread space, where off the wall and far from any tangent is encouraged. You just never know where the thread might go. Today I celebrate the beginning of a new season. It is still summer green here in New England, but there is a refreshing cool seeping down thru the trees.

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
-- John Donne

[video:https://youtu.be/GnpxTS0E4Gs]

Open thread so pull up a chair and enjoy the autumnal air. Tree top table optional.

Credits -

Charlie Baker sculpture NY
https://www.bakerstructures.com/portfolio

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 6:05am

On this day in history

1862 --
President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

1971 --
OPEC directs members to negotiate price increases to offset the devaluation of the US dollar.

1985 --
French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius appears on TV to confess "Agents of the DGSE sank this boat [Rainbow Warrior]. They acted on orders.” (In Aukland Harbor)

cheers!

—

question everything

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:12am

G'morning QMS - minor detail:

@QMS

1985 --
French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius appears on TV to confess "Agents of the DGSE sank this boat [Rainbow Warrior]. MURDERING a photographer in the process. They acted on orders.” (In Aukland Harbor)

Italicized material added.

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 7:58am

U.S. House approves bill to fund government as deadlines near

A Democratic bill to fund the U.S. government through December 3 and suspend the nation's borrowing limit until the end of 2022 passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, heading to the Senate where Republicans vow to block it.

The House vote was 220-211 along party lines. All Democrats voted for it and all Republicans opposed it.

If Republicans stick by their refusal to support the measure in the Senate, Democrats will have to come up with a new strategy or quickly face the twin problems of a government in partial shutdown that is unable to pay its bills and the risk of a default for the first time in modern history.

Congress faces a September 30 deadline to approve stopgap funding that would avert partial government shutdowns with the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.

The Treasury Department will some time in October exhaust its borrowing authority unless the debt limit is raised.

The bill would suspend the limit on government borrowing through December 2022.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will meet with their fellow Democrat, President Joe Biden, at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, Reuters reported citing a source familiar with the planning.

The meeting comes as Washington grapples with the twin deadlines of funding the government and raising the debt limit, as well as a Democratic push to pass Biden's mammoth $3.5 trillion domestic agenda, using the reconciliation maneuver.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-09-22/U-S-House-passes-bill-to-fund-gove...

—

question everything

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:09am

essential services...

@QMS @QMS

...like the military will NOT be impacted. However all gov't services that benefit people, NPS, and so on, will be shut. That's the way I remember the last shutdown.

EDIT to add:
if the US military aggression was halted by this, doncha bet the congress critters would all increase the debt ceiling?

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:01am

good morning...

What a cool tree house!

For off the wall...there's some new leaked documents pointing to Sars-CoV-2 lab origins with US funding.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfoZHX-BJzQ]
... for any COVID nerds out there. (its 40 min)
https://drasticresearch.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/defuse-project-drast...
More links under Chris clip.

We like to build a fire on the equinox, but it is supposed to be windy today as a cool front comes through. Temps in the high 40's tomorrow AM. However we had a pretty good rain already today - 0.6" in about an hour. due to clear this PM.

So we'll play having a fire by ear depending on the wind.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the OT!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 12:04pm

So why did Fauci fund

@Lookout
gain-of-function for SARS-CoV-2?

"The NIH under Fauci funded it, after completely skirting institutional review processes for such proposals. Because... we don't know why."

Maybe the answer can be found in the C99% diary I published on July 15, 2021?

Nothing about the "novel" coronavirus is new:

"So SARS-CoV-2 is indeed man-made, along with the entire infrastructure of 'testing for cases' and 'vaccines to fix the problem' - concocted by unscrupulous predators who thought nothing of terrorizing the whole world in order to profit from the crisis they made and to control people's lives down to their thoughts and daily behaviors."

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:05pm

but, you're always ahead of the curve

@CB

This has been obvious for awhile. What I've wondered about is the connection with the U.S. Army biological laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland as China suggests. Wouldn't surprise me.

All the best!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by wokkamile on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:36pm

A little confusing to me

@CB the non-scientist. Afaik, Fauci encouraged, helped fund GoF research in China it would appear, but it was research to tweak already existing pre-Sars-Cov-2 viruses. Contract started 2014-15 and renewed just before Sars-2 was discovered/made public.

So, as I understand, the issue is was there any connection between Fauci's funded GoF research and the creation and release/escape of Sars-2.

Submitted by ovals49 on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:28pm

Even simply the association with GoF research

@wokkamile
is a scandal. I don’t yet see a causal relationship, but it would not surprise me in the least.

—

“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”

The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963

Submitted by wokkamile on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:47pm

Certainly the timing

@ovals49 --GoF research, then both Says outbreaks -- does not look good. If I were Biden, I'd find a way to ease him out or even get him out of the country, perhaps an ambassadorial posting in Tasmania, or Easter Island, someplace remote and quiet where he can talk to the statues.

Submitted by Blue Republic on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 11:11pm

Not Tasmania, mate!

@wokkamile

I'm just waiting for them to secede from Australia so I can try and emigrate...

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:36pm

We have circumstantial evidence

@wokkamile @wokkamile
especially with Fauci's previous work with SARS to deliver his failed HIV vaccine that dates back to 1999. When SARS-CoV-1 broke out in 2002-2004 infecting 8,000 people from 29 different countries and territories resulting in at least 774 deaths worldwide he apparently changed his focus from a vaccine for HIV to a pan-vaccine for influenza and other viruses that infect lung tissues like its cousin SARS.

From my C99% diary:

Anthony Fauci and NIAID found malleability of coronavirus to be a potential candidate for HIV vaccines

SARS is not a natural progression of a zoonetic modification of coronavirus. In 1999, Anthony Fauci funded research at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From patent application filed April 19, 2002, the NIAID built an infectious replication-defective coronavirus targeted for the human lung epithelium. In other words, we made SARS and we patented it before there was ever an alleged outbreak in Asia, which followed that by several months. This US patent 7279327 clearly lays out in very specific gene sequencing that we knew of the ACE receptor, the ACE-2 binding domain, the S1 spike protein and other elements of Covid-19

This was engineered and could be synthetically modified in a laboratory using gene sequencing technologies, taking computer code and turning it into a pathogen, or an intermediate of the pathogen

In the early days, this technology was funded exclusively as a means by which we could harness the coronavirus as a vector to distribute HIV vaccine
...
New normal:

The script for this was written first January 6, 2004, by Merck, at a conference called "SARS and bioterrorism"

Merck introduced the notion of what they called "the new normal", which became a branded campaign adopted by the WHO, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, which was the board upon which the Chinese director of (their?) center for disease control, Dr. Elias of the Gates Foundation, and Anthony Fauci sat together. The first introduction of the "new normal" campaign, which was about getting people to accept a universal pan-influenza, pan-coronavirus vaccine, was adopted January 6, 2004.
...
From 2016 until 2019, at every one of NIAID advisory council board meetings, Anthony Fauci lamented that he could not find a way to get people to accept the universal influenza vaccine, which was his favorite target to get the population to engage in this process

By March of 2019, in the amended patent filings of Moderna, we see there's an epiphany that says "What if there was an accidental or intentional release of a respiratory pathogen?" The phrase is exactly recited in the book A World at Risk, which is the scenario put together by the WHO in September 2019 – months before there was an alleged pathogen – which says "We need a coordinated global experience of a respiratory pathogen release, which by September 2020 must put in place a universal capacity for public relations management, crowd control and the acceptance of a universal vaccine mandate." The language of an intentional release of a respiratory pathogen was written into the scenario that "must be completed by September 2020."
...
From 2016 until 2019, at every one of NIAID advisory council board meetings, Anthony Fauci lamented that he could not find a way to get people to accept the universal influenza vaccine, which was his favorite target to get the population to engage in this process
...
When Anthony Fauci tried desperately to get some of his "synthetic RNA" vaccines published, he had his own patents rejected by the Patent Office. Quote from the Patent Office: "These arguments are persuasive to the extent that an antigenic peptide stimulates an immune response that may produce antibodies that bind to a specific peptide or protein, but it is not persuasive in regards to a vaccine. The immune response produced by a vaccine must be more than merely some immune response, but must also be protective. As noted in the previous office action, the art recognizes the term "vaccine" to be a compound which prevents infection. Applicant has not demonstrated that the instantly claimed vaccine meets even the lower standards set forth in the specification, let alone the standard art definition for being operative in regards. Therefore, claims 5, 7 and 9 are not operative as the anti-HIV vaccine [which is what he was working on] is not patentable utility."

Anthony Fauci himself was told by the Patent Office themselves that what he was proposing as a vaccine does not meet the patentable standard, the legal standard or the clinical standard.
...

BTW, Keep in the that the drug companies had designed a vaccine for a "novel" virus in less than 2 months and barely tested them for 6/8 months before rolling them out.

What we need is access to Fauci's redacted emails for starters. I wonder if they have been 'misplaced'.

Submitted by ovals49 on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:03pm

“Hopefully unintentional”

@Lookout
That video, and the referenced DRASTIC report, is going to be Kryptonite for Fauci, NIH and Eco Health Alliance, assuming the MSM goes there.

Watch for a giant rabid Chinese squirrel, coming soon to your favorite nightly news show. “Good Night and Good Luck.”

—

“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”

The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:20am

Hey Lookout -

I like the idea of an equinox bonfire. Have the pit loaded from the last storm de-branching.
Had a brief shower passing thru last night, so it may be a bit smokey to burn.

Think your recall is correct on all the damn brinkmanship congress plays. War machine expense and congressional salaries are off the table. Had to laugh at our pseudo preznit to UNGA. "For the first time in 20 years we are not at war" Ha! So let's slash the pentagon budget by a trillion or two $$.
That should balance the budget!

—

question everything

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:53am

The only times the US has NOT been at war

@QMS
was when it was making preparations for the next one.

I fear the war mongers are herding the American sheeple for an upcoming conflict with China. Obomba's Pivot to China is now undergoing a full blown dress rehearsal with a war alliance predicated on lies.

AUKUS vs China: Inching Toward War
20.09.2021

Australia, the UK and the US announced the formation of “AUKUS,” an amalgamation of the three nation’s initials, as a tripartite “defense alliance.”
...
The Guardian in its article, “Alliance with Australia and US a ‘downpayment on global Britain’,” would explicitly state:

Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy is taking shape, and the early moves are hardly very surprising: a tripartite defence alliance with the US and Australia – handily compressed to Aukus – clearly designed to send a message to Beijing.

Chinese state media, Global Times, would make it abundantly clear that China understood this with a headline reading, “AUKUS another hostile signal to China, worsens Asia-Pacific security.”
...
Toward War with China

These flashpoints are cultivated specifically to rally nations against China, to isolate and contain the rising nation, and to grant the US an extension to what it itself calls its “primacy” over Asia.

However, they may also serve as impetus for a limited US-initiated war with China, a war the US would prefer to fight sooner rather than later.

In a 2016 RAND Corporation paper (PDF) commissioned by the US Army and titled, “War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable,” a compelling argument is made for the preservation of American hegemony through a limited war predicted to remain conventional and confined to East Asia.

The paper notes:

We postulate that a war would be regional and conventional. It would be waged mainly by ships on and beneath the sea, by aircraft and missiles of many sorts, and in space (against satellites) and cyberspace (against computer systems). We assume that fighting would start and remain in East Asia, where potential Sino-US flash points and nearly all Chinese forces are located.
...

This conflict would not remain in East Asia. The Chinese will not back away and it will make certain the US will pay a dear price in the end. China has come too far at great personal cost to develop their nation to let it be torn asunder. One only has to look at the preceding 100 years to understand this fact.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 11:24am

Oh, so this is only a defensive maneuver

@CB

I somehow get the feeling the think tanks sterile view of limited warfare is as stupid as all of the other US ops since WW2. Nothing to gain and too much to lose. Again.

#4
was when it was making preparations for the next one.

I fear the war mongers are herding the American sheeple for an upcoming conflict with China. Obomba's Pivot to China is now undergoing a full blown dress rehearsal with a war alliance predicated on lies.

AUKUS vs China: Inching Toward War
20.09.2021

Australia, the UK and the US announced the formation of “AUKUS,” an amalgamation of the three nation’s initials, as a tripartite “defense alliance.”
...
The Guardian in its article, “Alliance with Australia and US a ‘downpayment on global Britain’,” would explicitly state:

Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy is taking shape, and the early moves are hardly very surprising: a tripartite defence alliance with the US and Australia – handily compressed to Aukus – clearly designed to send a message to Beijing.

Chinese state media, Global Times, would make it abundantly clear that China understood this with a headline reading, “AUKUS another hostile signal to China, worsens Asia-Pacific security.”
...
Toward War with China

These flashpoints are cultivated specifically to rally nations against China, to isolate and contain the rising nation, and to grant the US an extension to what it itself calls its “primacy” over Asia.

However, they may also serve as impetus for a limited US-initiated war with China, a war the US would prefer to fight sooner rather than later.

In a 2016 RAND Corporation paper (PDF) commissioned by the US Army and titled, “War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable,” a compelling argument is made for the preservation of American hegemony through a limited war predicted to remain conventional and confined to East Asia.

The paper notes:

We postulate that a war would be regional and conventional. It would be waged mainly by ships on and beneath the sea, by aircraft and missiles of many sorts, and in space (against satellites) and cyberspace (against computer systems). We assume that fighting would start and remain in East Asia, where potential Sino-US flash points and nearly all Chinese forces are located.
...

This conflict would not remain in East Asia. The Chinese will not back away and it will make certain the US will pay a dear price in the end. China has come too far at great personal cost to develop their nation to let it be torn asunder. One only has to look at the preceding 100 years to understand this fact.

—

question everything

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 2:33pm

"Bashar al Assad

@CB @CB has to go," declared Obama. That did not exactly work out well for him or us. Nobody should pay attention to his mumblings/musings on China.

I have pretty much refrained from commenting on China because you, CB, and other members here are way better informed.

But I do understand this country, our USA, fairly well and I'm pretty certain that whatever China has in mind to deal with us will be significantly more mature and well thought out than our ridiculous stances, pronouncements and capabilities.

China is unlikely to indulge our fantasies about a brief limited war after which the USA will declare Mission Accomplished. Laughable, isn't it.....

Looks to me like the US/China War has been unfolding in slow motion for a long time and we continue to lose ground. The clogged up ports, and empty shelves are starting to get some attention, maybe too little and too late.

So are the Just-In-Time practices that industries rely on to keep making products. This business practice works for a country that produces enough on its own to keep going, not our idiotic greedy country that outsourced everything and now is so dependent.

The War with China has been fought and lost, imho. By the time the media reports on what is happening, if they ever do, there will be nobody left who believes them.

#4
was when it was making preparations for the next one.

I fear the war mongers are herding the American sheeple for an upcoming conflict with China. Obomba's Pivot to China is now undergoing a full blown dress rehearsal with a war alliance predicated on lies.

AUKUS vs China: Inching Toward War
20.09.2021

Australia, the UK and the US announced the formation of “AUKUS,” an amalgamation of the three nation’s initials, as a tripartite “defense alliance.”
...
The Guardian in its article, “Alliance with Australia and US a ‘downpayment on global Britain’,” would explicitly state:

Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy is taking shape, and the early moves are hardly very surprising: a tripartite defence alliance with the US and Australia – handily compressed to Aukus – clearly designed to send a message to Beijing.

Chinese state media, Global Times, would make it abundantly clear that China understood this with a headline reading, “AUKUS another hostile signal to China, worsens Asia-Pacific security.”
...
Toward War with China

These flashpoints are cultivated specifically to rally nations against China, to isolate and contain the rising nation, and to grant the US an extension to what it itself calls its “primacy” over Asia.

However, they may also serve as impetus for a limited US-initiated war with China, a war the US would prefer to fight sooner rather than later.

In a 2016 RAND Corporation paper (PDF) commissioned by the US Army and titled, “War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable,” a compelling argument is made for the preservation of American hegemony through a limited war predicted to remain conventional and confined to East Asia.

The paper notes:

We postulate that a war would be regional and conventional. It would be waged mainly by ships on and beneath the sea, by aircraft and missiles of many sorts, and in space (against satellites) and cyberspace (against computer systems). We assume that fighting would start and remain in East Asia, where potential Sino-US flash points and nearly all Chinese forces are located.
...

This conflict would not remain in East Asia. The Chinese will not back away and it will make certain the US will pay a dear price in the end. China has come too far at great personal cost to develop their nation to let it be torn asunder. One only has to look at the preceding 100 years to understand this fact.

—

NYCVG

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:14pm

Yeah, just another cake walk, like Iraq

@NYCVG

Wasn't it Rumsfeld that promised us the Iraqis would be throwing flowers at our feet, celebrating their new found liberties? And the excursion would practically pay for itself in no time? Hmm.

This time with China, it will just be a couple planes, a few boats, maybe a little computer stuff. No problem. (Don't mention bombs!)

And the good people in Asia will be so happy to share their rice and stuff with us. Piece of cake.
I wonder how these military planners think they will pull the rice paper over our eyes this time?

No need to frighten the sheep. Or is it going to be a dirty nuke trick on the homeland. Seems the Wu flu thing is already shot full of holes. Keep trying. Find something else to blame on the enemy du jour.

Sad

—

question everything

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:16pm

I bet the Chinese PTB are familiar with the Foundation Trilogy

@NYCVG

particularly the section where the Foundation wins a war by...doing absolutely nothing. (They had made the opposition totally dependent on Foundation goods and technology, so when that was cut off by the war....)

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:50pm

There are rumours that the inscrutable

@TheOtherMaven
Chinese ghost wrote the book.
The Foundation - dedicated to art, science, and technology.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S1N8_RT8Ew]

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 6:01pm

wow!

@TheOtherMaven I read The Foundation trilogy so long ago I barely remember it. Time for a re-read.

—

NYCVG

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:37am

On my mind this morning, QMS:

1) Joe Biden is Losing on the Optics

and---2) Real People are the ones we should be concerned about, as Lookout mentions on this thread

First- The nation watched in horror as desperate people clung to an airplane's wheels as it left the ground and thousands swarmed Kabul airport as the USA pulled out of Afghanistan.

This week we see Border Patrol using ropes, whips, whatever they were, on helpless Haitians.

Yesterday, a bellowing belligerent POTUS shouted nonsense to the UNGA.

Biden is not benefiting from media coverage.

---------------------------------

Meanwhile----the Will they or Won't they extend the Debt Ceiling Charade goes on in DC.

What maddens me is that this theater event focuses on things like "agenda" and "legacy" and fails to mention that if the Federal Money stops then ordinary families will be without their paychecks.

We should not have a single elected representatiive in the US Government who thinks that this decision is about them and their personal ambition.

And, yet, that describes pretty much all of them.

I expect it to be a longtime, if ever, that I tune in to "news' on TV. I can barely manage to read about these days.

—

NYCVG

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:55am

Can agree about tuning out of US news

@NYCVG

I read the news from Russia and China to get some better understanding of world events, even on domestic issues. Call me an old FART (free and rational thinker). Just makes more sense.

—

question everything

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:30am

I should be

@QMS embarassed, but I am not, I read ZeroHedge for perspective and 3 Israeli news sites, pus Al Jazeera and France 24 again for perspective and info.

—

NYCVG

Submitted by ggersh on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:16am

Caitlin had this on her site today

@NYCVG All the news is is manufacturing consent for the elites, nothing more nothing less

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/22/we-wont-be-free-until-our-minds-...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPazn1XNDQI&t=489s]

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by wokkamile on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:35pm

Biden is losing on the optics

@NYCVG and more the substance of his vaccine mandates, apparently, according to this poll of the Black community (N=1000), including drop In Biden support among unvaccinated Black folks. https://news.yahoo.com/biden-approval-rating-among-black-163238567.html

I said in a previous post that Biden is in danger of losing many in his base -- also union workers -- if he goes too hard an v-mandates. The way out, obvious to me, is with the Treatment route, including correcting the official record by public officials about IVM. Slim chance though. But what if March comes along, in an election year, and the vaccines continue not to work, as is likely. Keep on doing the same thing? Or will Merck have its IVM knockoff ready then.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:42am

Compare China's Xi statement to the UNGA against Biden's babble

"We should safeguard and improve peoples livelihoods, protect and promote human rights through development, make sure that development is for the people and by the people, that its' fruits are shared among the people. We should continue our work so that the people will have a greater sense of happiness, benefit and security, and achieve well rounded development."

Which leader sounds better grounded in reality? Aggressive diplomacy or let's work together ..

—

question everything

Submitted by Blue Republic on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 12:12am

Just because XI is smarter and better grounded

@QMS

in reality than Biden (not exactly a high bar) doesn't mean he isn't lying through his teeth.

"We should safeguard and improve peoples livelihoods, protect and promote human rights through development, make sure that development is for the people and by the people, that its' fruits are shared among the people. We should continue our work so that the people will have a greater sense of happiness, benefit and security, and achieve well rounded development."

"Protect and promote human rights"? With social credit scores and all-pervading surveillance?
I wonder how the Tibetans feel about their human rights being 'protected'. Compare what an American dramatizing the assassination of the current leader or displaying their mock severed head has in the way of consequences compared to a Chinese citizen's remarking that President Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh. The former (as long as the target is Trump) gets you status as a social media influencer - the latter serious unpleasantness from authorities and quite likely prison.

And while development-wise, China is claiming to be (and to some extent is) moving toward sustainable development for *itself*, the impact on other countries is not always so benign:

Take China's logging bans and restrictions covering its own forests. Nominally, it extends protections to most or all of its remaining natural forests.

For other places, like France or West Africa, not so much...

China’s Massive Import of Timber Raises Alarm on Global Forest Industry
Sawmill industry in mortal danger: French wood manufacturers

The Tree That Bleeds
Rosewood export trade Senegal and Gambia - but similar situations in many other African countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe...
(BBC Africa Eye documentary 2020)

Submitted by janis b on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 2:50am

I don't know if it’s still true,

@Blue Republic

but I remember reading long ago that Japan had the largest area of native forest of any country because they imported timber from other country’s eradication. Is that still true?

Submitted by Blue Republic on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 5:57am

Most of Japan

@janis b

is forested mountains. Most of that forest, though, is plantation-like monoculture and not that great for wildlife diversity or maintaining watersheds. With rural areas depopulating there are labor shortages and work like thinning out stands is not happening in a lot of cases.

Japan for a long time back in the 60's, 70's, 80's was importing a lot of old-growth logs from the US and Canada and keeping local small sawmills supplied - as maybe China is intending to do now with their log imports. Japan is still a significant importers of tropical hardwood products and pulp.

A lot of the logging of old growth in Western Tasmania was going to pulp for export to Japan...
Here's an old, but comprehensive report on that from Rainforest Action Network.

Lately, though - China seems to be a main customer, not necessarily openly... (Source)
Tassie pulp to China.jpg

Submitted by Blue Republic on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 6:42am

To clarify...

@janis b

Japan logged off - clearcut and converted to monoculture planted stands - a big whack of their forests in the post-WWII period to rebuild from massive destruction.

So, prior to these planted areas being harvestable there was a considerable period where domestic supplies were limited and there were large imports of raw logs - from N. America, the Philippines and elsewhere, most often coming from virgin old-growth forests.

Now, there is a lot of harvestable timber in Japan, but production costs are high, labor is scarce and imports still cheap enough that it is difficult for domestic producers to compete. There is a certain amount of logging and processing of domestic lumber going on, but imports are still generally cheaper (many coming from areas where illegal logging is rampant).

The importers are:

Largest Wood Products Importers (Percentage of global Imports 2018)
Industrial roundwood:

China (43%); Austria (7%); Sweden (7%); Germany (6%); Finland (5%); Canada (3%); India (3%); Republic of Korea (3%); Belgium (3%).

Wood pellets:

United Kingdom (32%); Denmark (17%); Republic of Korea (16%); Italy (10%); Belgium (5%); Japan (5%).

Sawnwood:

China (25%); United States of America (18%); United Kingdom (5%); Japan (4%); Germany (4%); Italy (3%); Egypt (3%).

Veneer sheets:

China (21%); India (9%); United States of America (8%); Japan (8%); Malaysia (4%); Italy (4%); Spain (3%); Viet Nam (3%).

Wood-based panels:

United States of America (18%); Germany (7%); Japan (4%); Poland (4%); United Kingdom (4%); Republic of Korea (3%); Canada (3%); Italy (3%); France (3%).

Pulp for paper:

China (35%); United States of America (9%); Germany (7%); Italy (6%); Republic of Korea (4%); France (3%); Japan (3%).

Source

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 09/24/2021 - 1:58am

Thank you for the background Blue Republic

@Blue Republic

The amount of old-growth forest destroyed in Tasmania is inconceivable, and even more so that it is still happening. The appetite for their wood is insatiable, and so is the greed of the government.

I did some further reading and came across this piece which I think you might enjoy. It brings to light the soul and substance that has been extracted from this primordial land, and the beauty that still remains, and hopefully will continue to.

https://www.patagonia.com.au/blogs/roaring-journals/dispatches-from-the-...

Submitted by ggersh on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 9:26am

While the WEF elites fly on private jets, have supersized yachts

we the sheep must obey a carbon credit card limit. Another SHTF moment is on the horizon.

Doconomy is a new credit card endorsed by WEF.

It tracks the environmental impact of everything you buy (including food) and cuts you off when you reach a carbon emmision threshold.

Covid restrictions are just prepping YOU for permanent “climate change” restrictions. pic.twitter.com/fWJdQvCDcg

— George Gammon (@GeorgeGammon) September 21, 2021

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:18am

Rhode Island showing the way?

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:41am

Yes

@gjohnsit

RI Political Cooperative is leading the charge with ..

It’s hard to believe that just one month ago Geena Pham launched her campaign for RI State Senate District 3. In that time, her campaign has sent out hundreds of volunteers, knocked on thousands of doors, and talked to thousands of voters. But we need one BIG push to send us into the final week of the campaign in a great position.

This Saturday, September 25th, join Co-op electeds & candidates, Sunrise Providence, Sunrise Youth RI, and BLM RI PAC for a celebration, speakers, food trucks, and a BIG canvass. We will meet at the George Araujo Playground: 210 Ives St. Providence RI.

Come at 11:00 am for coffee & training before we hit the doors at 11:30. Lunch will be back at the launch site at 1:30.

They had some success last year working at the state level. Working for change in the entrenched establishment.

—

question everything

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:47am

Hola todos. On any given day there are

usually a crapload of "holidays" often including thinly disguised promotions and ads like national cheese whiz day and such. Among them one of ten finds the US oddly out of step with things like (Fictitious Examples Only Here) - "National Warfighters Day" and "Global day of peace and respect for all" or "National choco-puffs and marshmallows day" and "Global day of solemn remembrance of something or other"

So, some of today's more interesting juxtapositions are:

National Elephant Appreciation Day
but
World Rhino Day

National Centenarian's Day AND National Falls Prevention Awareness Day
coinkydink??

International Day of Radiant Peace and Chainmail Day (necessary adjuncts??)

oddly related: Should Falls Prevention Day fall on the First Day of Fall, really?

A leaf is falling ...
alas alas another
and another
falls

ransetsu

WHAT USE NOW ARE TWIGS
BUT TO SWEEP UP
A LITTER
OF FALLEN PETALS?
BUSON

If I overcook
rolled oats, can I have
them on tortillas?

anon

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:30pm

Another example of Capitalism doing what it does best.

And the benefits aren't for you or me!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-20/white-striping-hits-9...

White Striping Disease Hits 99% of U.S. Supermarket Chicken, Study Finds

Ten years ago, the poultry muscle disease known as white striping was almost nonexistent. Now, the fat-boosting ailment shows up in 99% of U.S. store-brand chickens, according to a Humane League study to be released Monday.

The animal-welfare nonprofit conducted an investigation in 29 states that found the affliction in virtually all grocery-store-brand chickens sampled. The illness is driven by the extreme conditions of factory farming, which turbocharges the raising process to a matter of weeks and puts undue physical stress on the animals, the Humane League said.

The disease’s name comes from its visible side effect: thin white stripes that appear on the meat’s surface. With the chickens unable to bear the weight of their own bodies, the disease causes the birds to replace some of their muscle tissue with fat.

As a result, chickens with white striping have fat content that is 224% higher than those without the affliction. The illness also decreases the meat’s protein content by 9%. Affected meat doesn’t taste any different than normal chicken, however.

Of the 16 major supermarket chains surveyed, Walmart Inc., BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. and Meijer Inc. were found to carry chicken products with the most severe levels of white striping. Chicken producers have wrangled with the adverse effects of fattening up their chickens before. In 2016, the birds were plagued with a “woody” texture. Since then, despite pledges to seek lower average weights, little has changed on the fattening front.

“Consumers just really don’t have a choice right now, which is frustrating,” said Michael Windsor, the corporate projects lead at the Humane League. “If you wanted to avoid white-striped chicken, they’re just not offering it.”

This is what we get from factory farms and greed.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:44pm

Yuch

@humphrey

chicken tenders .. gag me with a spoon mommy

lucky to have local sources for our fowl

wonder what is the effect on humans?

FDA has no clue, no doubt.

And the benefits aren't for you or me! https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-20/white-striping-hits-9... White Striping Disease Hits 99% of U.S. Supermarket Chicken, Study Finds Ten years ago, the poultry muscle disease known as white striping was almost nonexistent. Now, the fat-boosting ailment shows up in 99% of U.S. store-brand chickens, according to a Humane League study to be released Monday. The animal-welfare nonprofit conducted an investigation in 29 states that found the affliction in virtually all grocery-store-brand chickens sampled. The illness is driven by the extreme conditions of factory farming, which turbocharges the raising process to a matter of weeks and puts undue physical stress on the animals, the Humane League said. The disease’s name comes from its visible side effect: thin white stripes that appear on the meat’s surface. With the chickens unable to bear the weight of their own bodies, the disease causes the birds to replace some of their muscle tissue with fat. As a result, chickens with white striping have fat content that is 224% higher than those without the affliction. The illness also decreases the meat’s protein content by 9%. Affected meat doesn’t taste any different than normal chicken, however. Of the 16 major supermarket chains surveyed, Walmart Inc., BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. and Meijer Inc. were found to carry chicken products with the most severe levels of white striping. Chicken producers have wrangled with the adverse effects of fattening up their chickens before. In 2016, the birds were plagued with a “woody” texture. Since then, despite pledges to seek lower average weights, little has changed on the fattening front. “Consumers just really don’t have a choice right now, which is frustrating,” said Michael Windsor, the corporate projects lead at the Humane League. “If you wanted to avoid white-striped chicken, they’re just not offering it.” This is what we get from factory farms and greed.

—

question everything

Submitted by JtC on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 4:54pm

A song for you Captain...

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 5:17pm

Thanks man

@JtC

I love Lovett. Saw him live with Bonnie Raitt on some hill near Boston. Good player.
Good team too.

—

question everything

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 6:41pm

Happy to announce Uttar Pradesh is COVID-19 Free

HUGE: Uttar Pradesh, India Announces State Is COVID-19 Free Proving the Effectiveness of “Deworming Drug” IVERMECTIN
By Jim Hoft Published September 15, 2021
...
The 33 districts in Uttar Pradesh, India have now become free from COVID-19 government informed on Friday. The recovery rate has increased up to 98.7% proving the effectiveness of IVERMECTIN as part of the “Uttar Pradesh Covid Control Model.” Of course, the media won’t mention that Ivermectin is being used for the treatment of COVID-19.
...

There are more details at the above site.

I had posted a comment in C99% The situation in the US shows much, much worse than in India on 08/25/2021 about Uttar Pradesh using ivermectin throughout the state of 240,000,000. It proved to be a valid treatment for COVID-19.

Keep in mind that India is the original source of the Delta variant that is creating havoc with US vaccination program due to increasing breakthroughs and hospitalizations.

Aug 25, 2021
United States health care $10,948 per capita - population 333,225,477
- New cases 152,054 - Total cases 117,427/mil - Deaths 1,949/mil

India health care $257 per capita - population 1,395,531,433
- New cases 46,397 - Total cases 23,330/mil - Deaths 313/mil

Sept 22, 2021
United States health care $10,948 per capita - population 333,225,477
- New cases 119,639 - Total cases 130,157/mil - Deaths 2,099/mil

India health care $257 per capita - population 1,395,531,433
- New cases 31,957 - Total cases 24,032/mil - Deaths 319/mil

Submitted by wokkamile on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 7:18pm

Also this very interesting fact

@CB @CB Uttar Pradesh has only a 4.9% vaccination rate. https://www.thedesertreview.com/opinion/columnists/indias-ivermectin-bla...

FLCCC talked about Uttar Pradesh in today's weekly Zoom going on now. They've also added a page on problems with pharmacies here declining to fill valid IVM scrips. Page includes updated info on where to get IVM in this country. https://covid19criticalcare.com/pharmacies/

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 8:33pm

John covered it today too...

@CB @wokkamile

He is about as mild mannered as you can get, but calling the facts as best he can. (20 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9cjy3Rydc]
all the links under the clip.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by ovals49 on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 9:16pm

He had me laughing, the way he was careful not to

@Lookout
push any buttons that might cause his video to be disappeared. Masterfully highlighting India’s recent remarkable successes using home treatment kits, contact tracing, and follow up to make sure those who had tested positive were taking their Ivermectin, Vitamins and monitoring their pulse ox levels (free pulse ox meter included in treatment kit). Way to go India!

John ended with the suggestion that he was no one to draw any conclusions, but thought their remarkable success deserved to be studied by officials so they could explain the marvelous successes so we might enjoy the same.

—

“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”

The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963

Submitted by CB on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:35pm

The current situation US vs India

@ovals49
covid-vaccinations-vs-covid-death-rate(2).png

The 'correlation' I see in that graph is that the vaccine does not work well and/or causes deaths compared to ivermectin.

I'm beginning to think that may be a combination of both - especially with the death rate also rising in Israel as they are starting on the 3rd jab "booster". BTW, Israel (like the US) are blaming the problem on the fact that it is the 'nasty' Delta variant from India.

Have vaccines caused about 200,000 deaths out of the US total of 700,000?