I have a theory

The stay-in-place/lockdowns aren't about saving lives.
They're actually about control.

Allow me to explain.
Just how believable is it that our government would take the never before, unprecedented measure of completely shutting down the economy, and thus losing trillions of dollars, just to save some lives of regular people?
Remember this is the same government that likes to start pointless wars that kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
This is the same government that has no problem with tens of thousands of Americans dying each year for the crime of being too poor to afford health insurance.
This is the same government that sanctions countries to reject Cuban doctors during a pandemic, intentionally allowing people to die.

Losing money just to save the lives of regular people is out of character for the ruling class.
So why now?

Think about what was happening before the virus.
The Fed had been bailing out the markets to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars for months before the virus hit.
The oil markets were going to crash anyway.
The global asset bubble was going to pop this year, virus or no virus.
The banks needed a bailout that could be blamed on something other than themselves.
The virus was a convenient excuse.

Even more important is what was going on in the streets.
From Lebanon and Algeria, to France, to Chile and Colombia, people all over the globe were out protesting and rejecting neoliberalism.
In Iraq and Haiti people were demanding real reforms.
In the U.S. labor unions were stirring, while socialism was no longer taboo.
Even the global populist right was rejecting globalism.
And this was happening before the global financial crisis hit.

Something had to be done to protect the status quo for the ruling elites.
That meant getting people out of the streets, stop working people from organizing, and giving security forces new tools to monitor the public and quash popular dissent.
The lockdown accomplishes all of those things.
The virus was a convenient excuse.

Normally a total market crash and unemployment crisis would usher in a period of militant labor activity, strikes, walk-outs and community-labor campaigns. We’ve seen some of this already. But the ‘medical state of emergency’ we are in, has effectively worked like a ‘lock-out’. The elites have effectively flipped-the-script.

Think about the last time the ruling class "cared" about the lives of average Americans.
9/11.
And how did they respond? By taking away your liberties in a permanent state of emergency.
Why should we expect them to act differently this time?

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Comments

but can anyone here disprove it?

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16 users have voted.

@gjohnsit

Oopsie, must have been the Chinese that left the barn door open on their level 4 lab. Actually it was our own bio lab that propped a door open last September, thereby causing it to be shut down altogether. Unfortunately, that also shutdown the tracking of samples that had been coming and going to other labs.

Fort Detrick , for your reading pleasure horror.

Those who actually run the world need to be able to keep the rest of us frightened and obedient. I wish this was snark. All too plausible, I’m afraid.

Nixon supposedly shut down our bioweapons development in 1969. I’m not so sure it wasn’t simply moved off-shore. In any event, there is no such thing as a “defensive” bioweapon in my opinion, but we worked on them for decades regardless. Whether intentional or accidental, I don’t believe for a moment that this pandemic is unrelated to human tinkering.

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18 users have voted.

“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

gulfgal98's picture

@ovals49 I firmly believe that COVID-19 is definitely a bio-weapon concocted in a government lab, most likely in the US. Whether or not it got into the general public on purpose or by accident is debatable, but it sure spread world wide very rapidly which has to make you wonder.

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14 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 I have read in numerous places our biolab at Ft. Detrick was the most likely origin.
Nobody wants to be called a conspiracy theorist.
Just remember, that term was coined by the CIA to shame people into conformity with what the government told them was true, when their truth was spectacularly a "convenient truth", at best.
I do not think that fully explains the worldwide spread, but nobody, not even the murderous experts, could determine with precision and accuracy how it would work, until they tried it, no?

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

mimi's picture

@gulfgal98
provable facts? Or just an assumption? I only ask because if you were right, it would be a horrendous accusation, so I wonder how you came to this? Any sources you could link to which would be the basis for your beliefs? Of course I had similar thoughts myself, but didn't allow myself to dwell on them, as I have no proofs. Did I miss something?

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9 users have voted.

@mimi @mimi Proof that Oswald didn't act alone?

Or proof that he did?

We don't have either, but we have people who say he didn't act alone are called conspiracy theorists and those saying he did are not required to produce evidence.

So why do you need proof and of what?

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mimi's picture

@Battle of Blair Mountain
made the statement and not me. I am out of this discussion. What is conspiracy and what is not is beyond my paygrade and I do not want to participate in its discussion or be related to it.

I can't handle this. You talk among yourself. Thanks for your understanding.

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@mimi about how this virus was probably created along with several who've pointed out that the proteins needed for a virus to jump species are not naturally occurring as just one aspect that makes this very likely man made, not mother nature. Also there is DNA from both SARS and HIV in it. I cannot remember all the authors but I've seen those on globalresearch.com. As gjohn has pointed out the very good reasons our owners might do this the timing at the very least should rightly arouse suspicion. As he points out, it is hardly a first for these sickos to sacrifice Americans. There are articles about prior experiments done on Americans as well. While those were in the past and are public knowledge now, what would make us think they'd stop doing It? Add in some virulent China bashing, precursor to war type propaganda tactics straight from our past, it's perfect for many agendas.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

mimi's picture

@lizzyh7
it anymore. It makes me sick. I am determined to fight my sickness.
I am done reading.

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gulfgal98's picture

@lizzyh7 I did not see this question in a timely manner, but your answer has the information that I have read or heard from multiple sources.

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5 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
Is referenced in this relatively short video from George Webb. Viewer discretion is advised.

[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVmtjLqPSCc]

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“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

@ovals49 but will watch it again.
Thanks for posting the video.

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4 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Roy Blakeley's picture

@ovals49 lab is no secret. There is little of substance in this video, but there is enough to allow one to conclude with confidence that he is a complete pseud that knows nothing about molecular biology.

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@ovals49 and the fact that Wuhan held military Olympic games in Oct. 2019 hosting US soldiers among other soldiers from Iran, Italy, S Korea and elsewhere. I don't have links but this info is readily available without much searching. Coincidence maybe maybe not, I don't know what to think anymore but I'm leaning towards this is an at least semi controlled event.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@gjohnsit It's an hypothesis.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

@The Liberal Moonbat If that.

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Lookout's picture

@gjohnsit

He has several links supporting his idea
https://www.corbettreport.com/was-there-foreknowledge-of-the-plandemic-q...
The video is 44 min. He discusses the links above...
From Event 201 to the intelligence "failures" to CEO resignations, QE4, and bioweapon research, James explores the many lines of evidence pointing to the fact that this pandemic was planned in advance.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD0NR_NZlNc&feature=emb_title]

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

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@Lookout You have to admit, this is a very far-fetched thesis, especially in a world where it's hard enough to get people to accept when election fraud is committed.

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0 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

mimi's picture

Once you have gained power and control, you want to keep it as much as you can. So, of course, this lockdown has everything to do with control and power and the virology part of the virus spread for them is a tool and a pretext to keep the control.

The only little thingie they might not have anticipated is that the virus doesn't care either, who it infects and who it kills. So, at some point the powerful get a little nervous and restless... and very dangerous. It is a war and this time it might be one, even the powerful might lose.

They can release the restrictions, but when the infections and death won't decline, the powerful will be made responsible for that. They can try to keep the restrictions tight, and when the decline of infections doesn't drop to almost zero, the people will revolt against their loss of freedoms.

So, whatever they will do, it is a lose-lose situation for them. And if you have then - on top of it - a guy who talks like a self-loving, arrogant schoolbully, who can't read, and do it as a leader to the whole world with provcative twitter posts, expect one day the people will give him a good beating behind the shacks, so to speak Imo he deserves it. Lately, as the virus has hit people close to the president, he gets a little bit more mellow.

I think your theory is just what many, many people feel in their guts. At least over here they get the smell. So far the population is accepting the restriction from our own government, but not for long anymore. People want to work and go to school. Let them do that.

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mimi's picture

@mimi
lost the link. Here is the link European Coronavirus Lockdowns Expected to Last Into May: Live Coverage

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@mimi full economic effects -- half the small businesses aren't going to reopen, particularly the smallest. The unemployment rate will remain at 1931 levels for at least the rest of this year and could worsen next. The medical effects may be long past, but the political and economic disruption will last for years to come. TPTB know this, and frankly, once people get back into the street in crowds, this is going to be a very dangerous time for the elites. All the prerequisites for a real social revolution will be in place, everywhere, at the same time.

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mimi's picture

@leveymg
it is beyond my imagination and capabilities to understand the economic specifics. So far it looks like the utmost equalizer for the majority of the working population, combined with drive into the financial hell for most individuals and small business owners.

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@mimi reach the point of intolerable choices. The $1200 checks won't change that. Self employed and gig workers won't receive SBA loans. That money is already gone. Like in 2008, the political burden of this crisis will shift to the Democrats, and I see no signs they will do much of anything to help those most in need of bailouts. This time, the hopey dopey ropeadope strategy won't work effectively as it did with Obama. Nobody's going to buy it twice in one decade.

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mimi's picture

@leveymg
who gets into these intolerable financial situations (have one example close to me to undestand that) will still care if the situation is caused be Republicans or Democrats. The crisis as I see it developing is beyond party politics. And I rather believe (and hope) that those who suffer the most, will understand that it is not one or the other party is 'saving them'.

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@mimi That's always been a lie. There's only us vs the Elites.

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@leveymg “Chan... {pause} changing hope! That’s the thing... like we have to do, maybe.” The masses will swoon.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@jim p ...Chapo???

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1 user has voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

snoopydawg's picture

The response to the epidemic was never about saving lives. If government had wanted to actually save people from dying they would have given us single payer health care like most other civilized countries have. They would address the 24 per day and rising numbers of veterans who kill themselves. They would have addressed the outrageous price gouging of old medicines like Insulin, the one for chronic hepatitis and numerous others. In fact when the progressives in the house were trying to reign in big pharma Nancy threw her body in front of the bill. She only wanted to address 20 drugs per year and IIRC Insulin wasn't on her list.

The Off Guardian has been warning people of the upcoming draconian police state measures since this started. They noted as you and I have been that the country didn't go into lockdown in 2003 when SARS was creeping across the globe, nor in 2009 when the H1N1 was.

During neither pandemic did congress give corporations the biggest transfer of wealth in history even though some said they didn't need it. Nor did they means test them or make them sell the stocks that they have been buying back for years after the last transfer of wealth with the Trump tax cuts.

Here are two article from the OG.

I read this one and followed the links in it to WSWS and NewsWeek who both covered the upcoming martial law. NewsWeek talks about Continuity of Government that the rules for were passed just recently. I highly recommend reading all 3 articles.

Standing on the Precipice of Martial Law

As in 1933, today’s financial collapse threatens to rip the social and economic fabric of America to shreds, and just as in 1963 a powerful military industrial complex and private banking system manages a web of power which is devoted to overturning the 2016 election (and 1776 revolution) by any means. The biggest difference today is that a global coronavirus pandemic threatens to be the catalyzer used to justify military dictatorship in America and broader nuclear confrontation with Russia and China.

Instead of names like “Dulles”, or “Lemnitzer”, today’s coup directors feature such names as “Pompeo” and “O’Shaughnessy”… both Deep State assets highly positioned in 3rd and 4th place to take over the Presidency at the drop of a hat.

Welcome to the Corona World Order.

Some are suggesting that the current crisis is the end of globalization, or that it will wipe out the New World Order altogether…but they are wrong. In fact, this crisis is the globalists’ dream, and what we are witnessing is the birth of a totalitarian control grid the likes of which could scarcely have been imagined before this pandemic panic kicked off. Welcome to the Corona World Order.

This bailout was a global corporate coup and boy are we going to be waking up to a new world soon. Hang on tight because this ain't going to be pretty. Or any fun.

Has anyone been paying attention to the EARN act making its way through congress now? It has something to do with the internet. I'll post if I find it.

Great point on this response shutting down global protests. And a new OWS can't form now either. But I am looking forward to see what happens when they lift the lock down.
But that is exactly why so many bills have been passed to address it.

Uno Mas

Why are some respected alt-media embracing a police state?

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Roy Blakeley's picture

@snoopydawg With no containment 2-3 million Americans will die in less than a year. Awful decisions will have to be made. Who gets the ventilators and who doesn't? The populace will be angry. There will be unrest of a magnitude that we have not seen since the Great Depression. The economic system will be destablized. This would not work out well for the oligarchy. Containment is about keeping people alive. It is mostly controlled by state and local officials, not federal officials. When it has been applied early, it has worked.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Roy Blakeley

I don't see where I have been talking about letting people die. My comments addressed the upcoming police state and the more draconian measures we are going to see in the future. The laws for it have been written during the last few decades just waiting to get put into effect. The excerpts I posted gives some clues. The whole article tells even more and how we got here.

The unrest is going to come from millions of people who can't feed or shelter their families while congress dithers and farmers keep dumping food.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

left off the excuse to attack a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Enthusiastically, and they got away with it, still getting away with it. Gotta keep that military at %110.

I can't tell if it's a plot, or just taking advantage of a crisis to grab power. In the end, what's the difference? Where we sit it's hard to tell the difference between neglect or malice. Maybe both.

I do think that they need us. I mean, who's going to pay the taxes? Amazon? GE?

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snoopydawg's picture

@Snode

that is on the horizon and will need to be defeated? The cold war ended just before Clinton took power and since the current boogeyman had been defeated the MICC need a new one to continue transferring wealth to defense industry. Just imagine if he had chosen peace instead of another damn enemy that we had to first prop up before we could defeat them. At this rate we never will.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

@snoopydawg use the crisis to expand power. Some Saudis in Afghanistan conduct a terrorist attack on the US. Go after Iraq, that had nothing to do with it. Keep repeating some lies until the man in the street tells you Saddam Hussein attacked the World Trade Center. Create Dept. of Homeland Surveillance. Besides Iraq has oil. And Israel needs an ally occupying the other side of the border from Iran.

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@Snode

I can't tell if it's a plot, or just taking advantage of a crisis to grab power. In the end, what's the difference? Where we sit it's hard to tell the difference between neglect or malice. Maybe both.

Killing innocent people in war, or causing a financial crisis when you deregulate your financial system are both inevitable.

It's like closing your eyes when driving 60mph on the freeway.
It's only a matter of time before you hit and kill someone.
But they can still claim that it wasn't "intentional".

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@gjohnsit only you have it backwards...I'm not driving. I'm the pedestrian. When I get run down, dead is dead...won't matter if it was negligence or malice, at least from where I'm sitting. or laying across the yellow line.

Not trying to be flippant. I have nothing but fear and anger for a government that has as it's core a need to exploit citizens for the benefit of corporations.

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snoopydawg's picture

This was written April 1, 2020 and it is a great tale of biological warfare simulations including one on the Corona virus last October. After that the power elite met at Davos in January. Coincidence I am sure. You?

All Roads Lead to Dark Winter

Dark Winter further discusses the suppression and removal of civil liberties, such as the possibility of the President to invoke “The Insurrection Act”, which would allow the military to act as law enforcement upon request by a State governor, as well as the possibility of “martial rule.” The Dark Winter script also discusses how options for martial rule “include, but are not limited to, prohibition of free assembly, national travel ban, quarantine of certain areas, suspension of the writ of habeas corpus [i.e. arrest without due process], and/or military trials in the event that the court system becomes dysfunctional.

Barr might ask congress to implement that any day now. Of course it has to get through the house controlled by democrats. lol why people include that is beyond me. Hello? They just re upped the effing Patriot Act for pity's sake. But yeah believe that they will stand firm on revoking our civil liberties. Still chuckling.

I just read this you know where:

America would be in far better shape if the Republycans believed in the US Constitution rather than the Confederate states constitution or their favorite - the Articles of Confederation.

But to some Americans it’s the Democrats who are obstinate for being true to America rather than giving more to billionaire alpha sociopaths. Go figure.

Go figure indeed. Seriously are people not paying attention?

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19 users have voted.

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

wendy davis's picture

thinking on facebook.

a do i in community content.

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wendy davis's picture

@wendy davis

'yup' to not just about social/economic control, but definitely a welcome by-product for the PTB.

not only are the national guard on alert, avaialble in almost every state to 'help', but the amerikan military is gearing up for action. (if you press me, i can find the link on one of the infernal Word documents.)

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Cassiodorus's picture

feel the need to go to such extraordinary measures to control the American public?

(The European public is a different issue, especially in France.)

It's already in the bag, and especially now that Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign.

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@Cassiodorus
So the question is "why is this happening?", not "why bother?"
Because the latter question is already moot.

The only answers for that question that I can see is my answer above, or because they care about you.
Which do you think is more likely?

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Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit and because doing nothing about the virus, which is clearly Donald Trump's first and last desire, becomes an untenable political option.

Why would you need any extra explanation?

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@Cassiodorus
and I don't believe that the ruling elite care if you and I live.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit And they can print a lot of money and give it to rich people anyway. Obama did that at the beginning of his tenure. It's not as if anyone is contesting the predators' control over all branches of government.

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

CS in AZ's picture

@gjohnsit

To me that’s the problem with this idea. You said in the essay:

Something had to be done to protect the status quo for the ruling elites.

But everything is not status quo. Everywhere is under lockdowns, not just in the United States but around the world. Whole industries are being destroyed. This situation is not protecting the status quo for them. This is the farthest thing from status quo imaginable... ok well maybe not. I can imagine many worse dystopian outcomes yet to manifest. But the point is, the lockdowns around the world are not what they want.

According to multiple reports, Trump is being pressured by corporate powers, ‘business leaders’ and his economic advisors to “open the country back up’ and get back to business.

It is the public health officials who are insisting the lock downs are necessary in order to avert having waiting lines in the hospital parking lots, and more scenes like in New York with lines of semi trucks waiting to be filled with dead bodies as they come out the back doors, like it’s an assembly line.

I’m certain you are right that the worst sociopaths at the top of the ruling class do not care about our individual lives. That’s one reason they are pressuring trump to call off the lockdowns. It looks likely he’s going to go that way too.

I think the public health faction of the ‘ruling elite’ like Dr. Fauci are entirely legit and they do care about saving lives. He’s been involved in pandemic response and research for his career. He does not want to see scenes like Italy and New York happening in more and more places. He knows there are economic costs but he seems to focus on keeping the body count as low as possible among first in his considerations.

At any rate, it appears Trump is leaning toward putting business interests first, naturally. So his priority is getting the money flowing again, and he isn’t going to let a death toll of whatever size get in the way of that.

Last thoughts...

We just watched a documentary this past weekend on the 1918 flu pandemic, which was made well before this current situation. In this film you see the piles of bodies in the streets of Philadelphia. You see the difference in the death toll between Philly, that held its parade, and St. Louis, which cancelled theirs. The difference in outcomes is clear and stunning.

People who spend their professional lives doing pandemic research and looking at various response policies are not interested in the ‘ruling elite’ and what they want. Which is always to ignore the problem and keep the money flow on high. Shutting things down is never what they want.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@CS in AZ So I'm still unsure how having a pandemic is in anyone's financial interests.

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@Cassiodorus
The FED is shoveling Trillions of dollars into the stock market. Yjat surely is in the interest of the banks and Trust funds.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Cassiodorus's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness I would direct you to the writings of Nomi Prins on this matter.

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@Cassiodorus

I'm still unsure how having a pandemic is in anyone's financial interests.
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Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit Having a pandemic is in nobody's financial interests.

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10 users have voted.

“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@CS in AZ

I think the public health faction of the ‘ruling elite’ like Dr. Fauci are entirely legit and they do care about saving lives.

I don't believe that's a thing.
The word "public" gives it away.

But everything is not status quo. Everywhere is under lockdowns, not just in the United States but around the world. Whole industries are being destroyed. This situation is not protecting the status quo for them. This is the farthest thing from status quo imaginable...

Are you sure? Who is being destroyed?
The overwhelming majority of the victims are the working class and small businesses.
aka Not the ruling class.

I’m certain you are right that the worst sociopaths at the top of the ruling class do not care about our individual lives.

But that's the thing. The entire ruling class are sociopaths.
Do you really think that the government would have done this without the OK from their owners?

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CS in AZ's picture

@gjohnsit

1. The entire world travel and tourism industry, including airlines, major hotel chains, massive companies like Disney. And so on.

2. The food chain. I just read yesterday about a major pork processing company shutting down, no longer taking in 35,000 pigs per day to slaughter. Those pigs will be killed and mass buried, instead of sold as meat. This company is not the first and won’t be the last. Same thing has been happening with dairy. And large industrialized produce farms. Millions upon millions of dollars are going to waste because the entire restaurant industry is on its knees. This is damaging profits for big farms, argobusiness, who want to sell those pigs and eggs and milk and onions.

3. Entertainment. Movies, plays, concerts, sporting events, all losing millions in sales. Actors, musicians, producers, major studios. All not making a dime.

4. All businesses that rely on travel. This one is why I will probably soon be out of a job. Because my company, which has been in business and successful for 60 years, cannot make any revenue without our teams traveling to various sites around the world. They have already warned us that unless at least some business can resume, including safe travel and on-site visits, they will fold by end of summer. Pay cuts and loss of benefits will come sooner, by end of June, in order to stave off complete collapse for a few more months.

So, yeah. I’m sure that businesses are getting destroyed, and this is not benefitting anyone.

As I said, I don’t believe that any powers that be wanted the pandemic or want everything shut down.

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@CS in AZ
The choices aren't a) strong economy, or b) pandemic economy.

The choices are a) pandemic economy, or b) economic depression due to reckless financial speculation

As I said, I don’t believe that any powers that be wanted the pandemic

Did I say that TPTB wanted the pandemic?
Or did I say that the virus was a convenient excuse?

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@Cassiodorus "They" had no trouble electing/re-electing neoliberalcons in the US, UK, France, and Germany. (2016 gave them a bit of a scare with Sanders, but they subsequently easily vanquished both Sanders and Corbyn.)

Americans (aka USians) now get to choose between an incompetent bozo and a dead man walking; either of whom works just fine for them. Although the bozo might be better because he has the unhinged gun nuts on his side.

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12 users have voted.

@Marie

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

boriscleto's picture

@Marie @Marie Anti-Corbyn Labour officials worked to lose general election to oust leader, leaked dossier finds

No surprise. The response was to not deny anything but to fall back on their version of Russia, Russia, Russia!, BUT ANTI-SEMITISM!!!!

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

@boriscleto "DNC successfully sets up Joe Duhmentia Biden to be the pretend opponent against Trump. Champagne corks are popping in Democratic meetings in celebration as they exclaim 'We can't win!'".

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Cassiodorus's picture

@tle who made the phone calls which made this possible.

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9 users have voted.

“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

@Cassiodorus did not make much effort to control the AIDS epidemic once they figured out who was going to die from AIDS. Originally this coronavirus epidemic looked like something that could "reduce the surplus population" of poor and/or elderly folks.

The PTB have waited to send people out of prisons until there is a high risk that they are infected. Now the released prisoners can go home to their underprivileged families or their old, poor neighborhoods. (Rich people can make bail and then get a good lawyer who is likely to get them off they they are innocent or there is not much evidence.) Prisoners who are awaiting trial or are nearing parole could have been moved into empty school buildings with uninfected guards last month.

People should have been wearing cloth or paper masks a month ago. Paper-goods companies could be making profits selling disposable paper masks. People working in food service should be provided masks by their employers.

The hotels here in Florida should have been closed to vacationers a month earlier. The beaches themselves are safe if people keep a reasonable distance from each other.

Air pollution is known to make COVID-19 outcomes worse so the EPA . . .

I agree that the PTB needed an excuse to have a recession to bail out the bankers and their buddies in the financial sector.

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16 users have voted.

@ScienceTeacher

Air pollution is known to make COVID-19 outcomes worse

Mostly located in the most polluted areas of Chicago. Yes, there are suburban and rural blacks in Illinois, but they are more heavily urban than other groups, including Hispanics.

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8 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

gulfgal98's picture

@Cassiodorus that was let loose on the world, it could be a great tool for depopulation which a lot of the global elites have been wanting for some time. In the United States, the virus became the tool by which Congress and the current administration have successfully engineered the transfer of trillions of dollars to the large corporations and the richest individuals among us. It also has enabled the escalation of the police state.

When this is over which I believe will exceed more than one year before it is over, the United States will be far different than it was before the corona virus.

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18 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
might not even need the Catfood Commissio0n.

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8 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@gulfgal98 the inadequate medical response, the prevention of the poor to get help, the failure to count persons dying in their homes and only hospital deaths are posted on the cable tv screen.
They are managing to keep the deaths from public damn knowledge!
They are hiding what they are doing and have already done to us.

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18 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Raggedy Ann's picture

The universe has locked us down so that we can shift into the new consciousness. Pleasantry

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18 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

CB's picture

They were also highly effective in not only saving lives but also minimizing damage to the economy. Leaders of Asian countries realize that the wealth of the nation derives from their citizens and they treated them as a valuable resource to be protected. This was very different from the western nations which consider financial institutes the source of their wealth to be protected.

Fortunately, the methods East Asian countries took was not anathema to their populations.

Confucius is winning the Covid-19 war
April 13, 2020

By Pepe Escobar

Compare hundreds of millions of Asians’ serene response to the coroavirus crisis with the West’s fear, panic and hysteria

As the Raging Twenties unleash a radical reconfiguration of the planet, coronavirus (literally “crowned poison”) has for all practical purposes served a poisoned chalice of fear and panic to myriad, mostly Western, latitudes.
...
Enter the triad

I offer, as a working hypothesis, that the Asia triad of Confucius, Buddha and Lao Tzu has been absolutely essential in shaping the perception and serene response of hundreds of millions of people across various Asian nations to Covid-19. Compare this with the prevalent fear, panic and hysteria mostly fed by the corporate media across the West.
...
We can easily imagine them clinging to a few pearls of wisdom, such as: “Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.” Or “he who learns, but does not think, is lost. He who thinks, but does not learn, is in great danger.”

Most of all, in an hour of extreme turbulence, it brings comfort to know that, “the strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.”

And in terms of fighting a dangerous and invisible enemy on the ground, it helps to know this rule of thumb: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

So what would be the ultimate insight a serene East can offer to the West in such hard times? It’s so simple, and it’s all in the Tao: “From caring comes courage.”

The end result? Satellite pictures and heat maps show China is now getting back to work.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y732ZUippZU]

and they intend to keep the coronavirus at bay.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcTZ52MfH_8]

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16 users have voted.

@CB
Or did you think that Syngman Rhee was really a small d democrat?

EDIT:
Did you know that Douglas MacArthur engineered the fusion of the three most Right wing parties in Japan into the Liberal Democratic Party?

EDIT2:
Won't even BEGIN to talk about South Vietnam.

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6 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

CB's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness
Korea of 1948 is not comparable to Korea of 2020.

Douglas MacArthur would also have dropped the atomic bomb on N. Korea and widened the war into China if he had his way, killing thousands more American soldiers and untold millions of "Orientals" in the process.

Won't even BEGIN to talk about South Vietnam.

Why not? Lots of interesting history there - especially in 1946 when they drew up their new constitution after tossing out the French.

Things are in flux now. Global changes are coming fast. Unfortunately, the US seems to be still stuck in a post WWII McCarthy era dead end.

What do you think America will be like after another 4 year term under Trump's "brain"?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FoXolEFins]

I'm embarrassed. Are you?

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15 users have voted.

@CB
Didn't vote for him. Nor W

Will you be embarrassed by Biden?

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5 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

CB's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

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11 users have voted.

You point out extremely well the why for the lockdown. While far too many Americans already still believe this government cares about them, I see the signs of awakening just like our owners do. While the U.S. is still mostly asleep it's important for our owners to let us all know that any ideas we may have about reform can be, and will be, crushed by their power. Just look what they can do to the plebes on a seconds notice should we get any ideas of even thinking about revolt. And they'll buy up all those distressed assets on the cheap. They may need to unwind some ugly derivative bets before that can happen and uncle Sam's Fed is obliging them as we speak.

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20 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@lizzyh7
Because the (R) party is the party of "individual freedom". Except for abortion, non-missionary sex, drugs, ...
But that's their pitch to the masses. "Libruls want to control you, we want you to be free as rugged individualists"

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6 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

disrael's picture

Just how believable is it that our government would take the never before, unprecedented measure of completely shutting down the economy, and thus losing trillions of dollars, just to save some lives of regular people?

What government are you referring to? The lock downs mostly started at local levels where officials needed to CYA. They then went up to the state level and then only very belatedly were encouraged at Fed level.

So either we have DKos censorship or Causus99 paranoia? Can't someone manage the Goldilocks balance here?

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7 users have voted.
Unabashed Liberal's picture

several states have already loosened their "open carry" permits/laws.

For the most part, the Feds are resisting a complete nationwide lockdown. Mostly, it's Governors in states that have the worse outbreaks (hotspots) that are demanding that Everyone be placed under what is close to being house arrest--whether they've suffered a severe outbreak of CV, or not.

IOW, Democrats. The same folks who are pushing the hardest for social media censure.

(As for me and mine--we are quite content to comply with self-isolation, and would do so, regardless of what any Governor says. In the states we reside in, both Governors were among the last to issue 'shelter-in-place' orders. Having said that, they are not states that have a proportionately huge number of cases, much less deaths.)

Mollie

THANK YOU America's Physicians & Nurses, All Medical Personnel, First Responders, To Include Medical (EMT/Paramedics/Ambulance), Pharmacy Personnel, Fire Depts, Police Depts, Retailers/Grocers--Especially, To Marginally-Paid Frontline Retail Cashiers & Clerks.

Last, but not least,

THANKS to America's Truckers/Delivery Persons, Especially, To Over-The-Road/Long Haul Truckers Who Obviously Have The Capacity To Shut Down The Entire Country, If They Were To Choose To Sit Out The Current Public Health Crisis, In Order To Protect Their Own.

You are all truly heroes.

Godspeed. Give rose

FYI

From the website Concierge Medicine Today,

Concierge Care for Congress: Attending Physician of the United States Congress

July 15, 2014

OAP provides members of Congress with physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. When specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.[4]

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, as of 2009, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care is paid for by federal funding, from the U.S. Navy budget. The annual fee has not changed significantly since 1992.[4]

and,

Yearly Fee

One aspect of the office’s operations which remains unclear is just how the annual $503 fee is determined.

Until 1992, OAP services were free to members of Congress. But after former Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania angered members by introducing a bill to make Congress members pay market rate prices for using the OAP, a compromise was reached.

Instead of charging for each service, Wofford said, members of the House and Senate agreed to hire independent consultants to determine the average value of the services offered and to use that amount to determine an annual fee.
“We thought of the pricing much like an HMO,” Wofford said of the compromise pricing model. “The attending physician at the time told me he had no interest in handling insurance or billing for each service available.”

But Wofford said the House and Senate committees tasked with determining the fee each insisted on hiring their own consultants, leading to a split pricing system. According to press accounts from 1992, the Senate set the fee at $520; the House fee was set at $263 for the same care. At some point, sources say, the separate rates were scrapped and replaced with the single fee, now set at $503.

The Office of the Attending Physician refused to comment on the fee or why it has not changed significantly in 17 years, despite rampant inflation in all other areas of health care costs.

Anderson refused repeated requests for the Committee on House Administration to provide details of how the rate is determined or who determines it.

“Members pay an annual fee determined by an independent actuary for use of the OAP services,” Anderson responded each time he was asked about the pricing model.

Gotta put an end to this Congressional Perk, if we hope to ever have a decent healthcare program.

IOW, our lawmakers' current excellent OAP healthcare program allows them to be exempt from any austerity/managed care tools that they seek to impose on the masses, as evidenced by several Dem Party MFA/public option proposals.

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7 users have voted.

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

travelerxxx's picture

My musings, until I see evidence otherwise:

1) Virus happened.
2) Virus appears to afflict all from powerful to pauper.
3) Some countries reacted admirably; some despicably. Most did somewhere in between.
4) Cutthroat Free Market Capitalism does not work well during a pandemic situation.
5) The US big banks, already being bailed out to the tune of trillions of dollars before the pandemic, move quickly to cash in. As is normal behavior for amoral greedsters.
6) Immunity after exposure to corona virus is not yet known.
7) Likelihood of additional virus-infection "waves" is unknown.
8) There is likely no vaccine or "cure" available to anyone, anywhere. (Note that even Trump is requiring all seeing him in person to have tested negative – in other words, no cure or vaccine, even for Trump.)
9) Propaganda is most effective when people are afraid.

Good things that have occured:

1) Various war games are canceled.
2) Free Market Capitalism is widely, and rightly, questioned.
3) Trump is shown to be even more stupid than we thought.

What we'll probably never know:

1) Virus was man-made. (Personally, I doubt it. [See #2 in first list.] Shit happens, especially when people are crammed up alongside, and sometimes eating, various wildlife.)

Things that make go "hmmm....":

1) If Bill Gates is such a genius, how does one explain Windows Me, Windows Vista, or Windows 8?
2) People with the education and intellect needed to produce a virus capable of worldwide infection would do so? All of them?

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10 users have voted.
Bisbonian's picture

@travelerxxx
2) Can you name one powerful person who has died of this?
8) In 1991 I was given an Anthrax vaccine Because the PTB knew that Saddam might use Anthrax against US troops. Where did Saddam get the Anthrax, why did our military have exactly the right antidote, and why was it entered into my shot records as a "flue shot"? Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Edwards_Ivins

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12 users have voted.

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

snoopydawg's picture

@Bisbonian

The first part of it talks about the anthrax attacks and what happened after 9/11 and so much more.

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8 users have voted.

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

travelerxxx's picture

@Bisbonian

Powerful? Dunno, but I don't pay as much attention as some might. Nevertheless...

It's a good question, though. It prompted me to do a quick and dirty search, which found quite a few political types, biz types, etc., who had tested positive. Didn't notice any pillars of civilization who had kicked the bucket, so maybe you have a point. Lots and lots of celeb types. Of course, many celeb types tend to mingle and the powerful tend to hide in their compounds. Heh.

I was actually pretty familiar with early 90s anthrax business. Seemed there was plenty of antidote available for military, but when civilians inquired, it was "What? We don't have enough! Go away!"

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@travelerxxx

IMG_4196.JPG

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9 users have voted.

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

travelerxxx's picture

@snoopydawg

Please change the "Me" to "You and Me."

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9 users have voted.
Bisbonian's picture

@travelerxxx

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9 users have voted.

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

@Bisbonian a fourth.

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7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

travelerxxx's picture

@on the cusp

I'll bring the masks!

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8 users have voted.

@travelerxxx a bottle of booze!

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5 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@travelerxxx

There is lots room in my pool.

I got this from this article.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/illusions-are-exhausted-what-...

Yes it's from zero hedges who posted it from another blog. This is why I read the site. They cross post many good articles.

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8 users have voted.

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
I too keep an eye on zero.
But never, ever go to comments. Sick puppies would look cute compared to the comment section.

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5 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

@Pricknick

I read comments only on articles that are really controversial just to see where people stand on the issue. Other than that they are a cesspool.

lol edited for clarity. Twice.

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5 users have voted.

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

@travelerxxx

This statement needs some unpacking. While sounding reassuringly simple, this two word declaration very much suggests that a natural evolution of a natural pathogen simply “happened”. I am not reassured that this is so. I am not reassured by public health officials who have spent their careers working on, and modifying, pathogens in government labs suggesting that this pandemic just “happened”. I want to see evidence and full transparency concerning the question of whether it is Mother Nature or level four bio labs we have to thank for this pandemic.

The first of your musings is rightly in first position on your list. It deserves more than a passing glance as a question, and more than evidence free assurance from government experts who may themselves have a clear conflict of interest coloring their reassuring pronouncements.

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6 users have voted.

“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

travelerxxx's picture

@ovals49

Yes, I am not in any position to know "how" it happened ... just that it did. For now, and possibly ever, I don't know. Since the whole thing has now been weaponized, I have doubts that we'll know the truth even if it is out there at some point. This whole pandemic is practically taylor-made for the wildest CT possible. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't turn into a cottage industry. Maybe it already has.

And, yes, our government has had labs working on these types of things for decades. In fact, a new multi-billion dollar government bio lab has been under construction in my hometown for a couple of years now. Rather than isolated to an island offshore of New York, it will now be smack-dab in the middle of the nation. Great.

What I am certain of is that the various propaganda mills are running at full tilt. Sadly, there are few in our government that I trust to speak the truth. In fact, there may not be any. This is true whether Trump is in office or not.

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2 users have voted.