Yesterday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden is going to Israel(source: US News) tomorrow to show solidarity with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has the dubious distinction of being less popular with Israelis than Biden is with Americans(
Sounds like he actually went to Israel. I love his style--straight to the point that Israel is a disgrace for Jews. He's not alone. A coalition of Jewish groups rallied in front of the White House demanding a ceasefire.
For me, the greatest shock was coronavirus statements and response from the US government. I don't recall the US government lying so egregiously about healthcare before - the cause, risk, and the cure.
I bought in to it, but it has destroyed my trust in government statements on healthcare issues, and I suspect I am not alone.
We certainly need one who will heed George Washington's warning about foreign entanglements. I certainly don't want to be entangled with any of these wars my government keeps spending my money on.
Can anyone here.....can any of you, my old chums, answer this one thing for me: Did the vaccines do ANYTHING positive against the pandemic? Did they even mitigate the harsher symptoms ... at all?
I wish I knew. I know that hospital beds were full, that I had two shots and a booster before a trip to Ukraine, and didn't get confirmed coronavirus - at least until last February when I had a miserable case and a positive mini test. Don't know anything else - coronavirus testing was over, and no place to report it or confirm it.
Still so many conflicting studies - SFFH would hate it, but it feels like a highly profitable scam now. I paid $175 and had to drive 25 miles to get 3 day results to fly; on return, it was $40 and 24 hour results in Odessa, Ukraine. On my last trip, it was $30 or so and one hour results in the Istanbul airport.
Two relatives, mother and full grown daughter had 2 different results.
Both were fully vaxed and boosted.
Daughter is an adult in her mid-late 30s swears that she never caught covid.
Her mother is also vaxed and fully boosted.
While she does not recall getting Covid she had a headache and later a loss of smell. She ended up testing positive for Covid-19!
Many months later and her senses of taste and smell are both gone!
I on the other hand was never vaxed nor boosted but I tested positive for Covid 19, 2 out of 3 times.
The first time laid me up in bed pretty good. The second time I tested positive, I wasn't sure if I had anything but my sense of smell and taste had become dramatically altered.
For instance I could not smell a rose or any flowers for that matter but many of the foods I would normally like smelled utterly wretched. (Citrus fruits and drinks smelled like chlorox for instance.)
Because what I could eat became seriously limited, I dropped from 165 lbs, (waiste size 38 jeans) to 130 lbs, (waiste size 29 jeans)
Three different cases from the same family with 3 different results.
Frankly, as I am not a doctor of Epidemiology, nor am I a statistician with access to the data, I do not know what, if any, were the positive effects of the Covid-19 vaccines!
I know my question here was off-topic O.B., so thank you for allowing it and responding.
JBNW, like you, I saw, (on tv) the hospital beds filled with Covid-19 patients.
I also saw on TV, the refrigerator trucks full of those who we were told died from the pandemic
A chum tells me that a high percentage of those deaths were due to a lack of and/or misuse of the ventilators which enabled them to breathe.
Again, that's a chums theory only, he is no more a doctor than I am.
One thing I can report from Tacoma Washington: Our state set up M.A.S.H. style ER tents in the Tacoma Dome parking lot expecting an excess wave of Covid patients.
That excess wave of Covid 19 patients didn't occur. So the tents never stayed up for as long as expected.
I hope that you lost no friends or loved ones due to U.S. led NATO'S insanity over in Eastern Europe.
Share this U.S. citizens strongest condolences to that family for their loss.
Like many of my fellows here in the U.S., I do not support what has happened to Ukraine....
...but I also strongly believe that their country's suffering is due to U.S. led NATO expansionist policy after we broke our promise to Priemier Gorhechev during the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Had the U.S. kept their end of that treaty, all those senseless deaths in Ukraine should have been prevented.
JB, as an aside between you and I, (and OB of course), I would like to offer up a difficult resolution to this insanity in Ukraine.
First and definitely the hardest part, the Ukranian citizenry need to overthrow their current government.
Zelinsky and his staff must be protected and kept safe during this overthrow but he and his administration are to be confined. (Jailed if needsbe but I could see them confined to separate nicer homes.)
Next a provisional government must be installed which calls for an immediate ceasefire against the Russians.
They are to use what is left of their military to round up the NAZI’s that are spread throughout Ukraine's military.
These NAZI’s are to be placed in safe custody, again jail them if needsbe.
During this process, the next step is for the Provisional Goverment to demand that NATO withdraw from Ukraine.
I wouldn't even allow NATO to take it's toys from Ukraine, just get the hell out and stop meddling with Ukranian affairs.
If the U.S. government wants to send money, it will only be used for rebuilding infrastructure.
That money will NOT be used to enrich corrupt government officials nor will it be used in a fight against Russia.
The next step is to turn to Putin and declare that from the Ukranian point of view, the war is now over-that they want no more fighting.
There has been FAR too much killing and wounding to both Ukranians and Russians.
Ukraine will cease "defending" its Eastern borders, Ukraine hopes that Russia will cease any attacks against those same shared borders.
I suspect that Putin will cautiously go along with this request. (Under these new circumstances he would look like a warmonger if he chose otherwise, imo).
Lastly, the Provisional government, overeen by neutral countries would step down for a new government elected by the citizenry of Ukraine.
Included in this election would be the Ukranian refugees from all around the world.
IMO, these refugees deserve a vote on the affairs of Ukraine's future. It should give them cautious incentive to return home.
I think I would leave the Provinces out of that election who have joined Russia.
Those citizens made their request to Russia for protection while under duress from Ukranian shelling, I get that but they were primarily Russian speaking citizens for the most part anyway.
Should the citizens of the Donbass for instance choose to reunite with Ukraine, that is between them, Russia and Ukraine.
It is certainly not anyone else's business and especially not the U.S.s business.
As to Zelensky and his Nazi chums, they would see trial in a neutral country.
Thank you very much. The wounded soldier also died; that's two from just our building, and my wife will extend your condolences for Mark and Anton's families.
I like your ideas, and I especially like that you're thinking of a solution! It's challenging - as you've likely heard, it's now against Ukrainian law to negotiate with Russia while Putin is President. As for Russian language in Ukraine, my wife says almost everyone in Ukraine understands Russian, and many speak it. Remember it was part of the Soviet Union, and part of the Russian empire before that. My wife, for example, speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English, as does our daughter.
I don't know what will happen. We'd like to see the war end, but I doubt Biden will allow it - we're going to listen to what he says in a few minutes, if we can tolerate it. It may only end on the battlefield with a Ukrainian surrender.
Personally, I'd like every oblast (region) be able to have a referendum as to re-join Russian or remain a part of Ukraine. I suspect that there will be few who want to remain part of Ukraine - at this point Ukraine has been destroyed for decades. And yes, those who are refugees, like my wife, should be able to vote!!
I have never seen any evidence that they did. In fact, the statistics suggest those who got multiple jabs were MORE likely to catch another variant of Covid, but that could easily be that those of us who never took or stopped taking jabs also never took or stopped taking Covid tests.
Hey can you help me understand wtf is going on with Richard Wolff?? Am I naive to think he's on our side?
When I first dumped the Dems, Wolff was a voice of sanity. But I'm really confused about the last couple months of his shows. He keeps saying these labor contracts are "good" when they're so bad it's disgusting. He just said the writers won a good contract with 12% wage increase OVER 5 YEARS. Wtf is that?!
I can't figure out if he's walking back his prior stuff to keep his job, or if he never had revolutionary thought, or maybe he's trying to keep people excited about labor by lying about losses? I'm sorry to put the question here, if I could ask you more personally I would have. I'm so f'in confused and it seems like every time I find a good voice they end up saying bullshit. 12% in 5 years is "good"? My ass. When inflation was 8% in 2022. Why is he doing this???? I've also emailed twice and the first time his assistant said he'd write a more thorough response later but never did. My second email was completely ignored. Please help me understand whose side this dude is on.
Good question. I haven't seen these recent comments of his you mention. I own some of his books, and as far as I know he's a real Marxist economist. I'm a big fan of his democracy in the workplace position. Perhaps he is thinking in relative terms, as in the 12% raise was better than anything the writers could have dreamed of just five years ago.
He is 81 years old, though, so that might be a factor. He also lives comfortably, and inflation did not impact his lifestyle much if at all. That makes people more likely to underestimate its effects.
I'm with you. For anyone else who wants to explain this to those Americans walking around in a fog, I'll share this - https://x.com/pvsunset/status/1713710046620606576?s=20
Sounds like he actually went to Israel. I love his style--straight to the point that Israel is a disgrace for Jews. He's not alone. A coalition of Jewish groups rallied in front of the White House demanding a ceasefire.
Very good to see.
Add to the list of lies- Russiagate and Biden only has a "stutter".
For me, the greatest shock was coronavirus statements and response from the US government. I don't recall the US government lying so egregiously about healthcare before - the cause, risk, and the cure.
I bought in to it, but it has destroyed my trust in government statements on healthcare issues, and I suspect I am not alone.
We obviously need a leader who ends all our foreign commitments.
We certainly need one who will heed George Washington's warning about foreign entanglements. I certainly don't want to be entangled with any of these wars my government keeps spending my money on.
I agree entirely.
Can anyone here.....can any of you, my old chums, answer this one thing for me: Did the vaccines do ANYTHING positive against the pandemic? Did they even mitigate the harsher symptoms ... at all?
I wish I knew. I know that hospital beds were full, that I had two shots and a booster before a trip to Ukraine, and didn't get confirmed coronavirus - at least until last February when I had a miserable case and a positive mini test. Don't know anything else - coronavirus testing was over, and no place to report it or confirm it.
Still so many conflicting studies - SFFH would hate it, but it feels like a highly profitable scam now. I paid $175 and had to drive 25 miles to get 3 day results to fly; on return, it was $40 and 24 hour results in Odessa, Ukraine. On my last trip, it was $30 or so and one hour results in the Istanbul airport.
Two relatives, mother and full grown daughter had 2 different results.
Both were fully vaxed and boosted.
Daughter is an adult in her mid-late 30s swears that she never caught covid.
Her mother is also vaxed and fully boosted.
While she does not recall getting Covid she had a headache and later a loss of smell. She ended up testing positive for Covid-19!
Many months later and her senses of taste and smell are both gone!
I on the other hand was never vaxed nor boosted but I tested positive for Covid 19, 2 out of 3 times.
The first time laid me up in bed pretty good. The second time I tested positive, I wasn't sure if I had anything but my sense of smell and taste had become dramatically altered.
For instance I could not smell a rose or any flowers for that matter but many of the foods I would normally like smelled utterly wretched. (Citrus fruits and drinks smelled like chlorox for instance.)
Because what I could eat became seriously limited, I dropped from 165 lbs, (waiste size 38 jeans) to 130 lbs, (waiste size 29 jeans)
Three different cases from the same family with 3 different results.
Frankly, as I am not a doctor of Epidemiology, nor am I a statistician with access to the data, I do not know what, if any, were the positive effects of the Covid-19 vaccines!
I know my question here was off-topic O.B., so thank you for allowing it and responding.
JBNW, like you, I saw, (on tv) the hospital beds filled with Covid-19 patients.
I also saw on TV, the refrigerator trucks full of those who we were told died from the pandemic
A chum tells me that a high percentage of those deaths were due to a lack of and/or misuse of the ventilators which enabled them to breathe.
Again, that's a chums theory only, he is no more a doctor than I am.
One thing I can report from Tacoma Washington: Our state set up M.A.S.H. style ER tents in the Tacoma Dome parking lot expecting an excess wave of Covid patients.
That excess wave of Covid 19 patients didn't occur. So the tents never stayed up for as long as expected.
I hope that you lost no friends or loved ones due to U.S. led NATO'S insanity over in Eastern Europe.
Thank you; so far, just wounded acquaintances in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, need to add another one - just heard tonight that a neighbor's son was killed in Ukraine.
Share this U.S. citizens strongest condolences to that family for their loss.
Like many of my fellows here in the U.S., I do not support what has happened to Ukraine....
...but I also strongly believe that their country's suffering is due to U.S. led NATO expansionist policy after we broke our promise to Priemier Gorhechev during the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Had the U.S. kept their end of that treaty, all those senseless deaths in Ukraine should have been prevented.
JB, as an aside between you and I, (and OB of course), I would like to offer up a difficult resolution to this insanity in Ukraine.
First and definitely the hardest part, the Ukranian citizenry need to overthrow their current government.
Zelinsky and his staff must be protected and kept safe during this overthrow but he and his administration are to be confined. (Jailed if needsbe but I could see them confined to separate nicer homes.)
Next a provisional government must be installed which calls for an immediate ceasefire against the Russians.
They are to use what is left of their military to round up the NAZI’s that are spread throughout Ukraine's military.
These NAZI’s are to be placed in safe custody, again jail them if needsbe.
During this process, the next step is for the Provisional Goverment to demand that NATO withdraw from Ukraine.
I wouldn't even allow NATO to take it's toys from Ukraine, just get the hell out and stop meddling with Ukranian affairs.
If the U.S. government wants to send money, it will only be used for rebuilding infrastructure.
That money will NOT be used to enrich corrupt government officials nor will it be used in a fight against Russia.
The next step is to turn to Putin and declare that from the Ukranian point of view, the war is now over-that they want no more fighting.
There has been FAR too much killing and wounding to both Ukranians and Russians.
Ukraine will cease "defending" its Eastern borders, Ukraine hopes that Russia will cease any attacks against those same shared borders.
I suspect that Putin will cautiously go along with this request. (Under these new circumstances he would look like a warmonger if he chose otherwise, imo).
Lastly, the Provisional government, overeen by neutral countries would step down for a new government elected by the citizenry of Ukraine.
Included in this election would be the Ukranian refugees from all around the world.
IMO, these refugees deserve a vote on the affairs of Ukraine's future. It should give them cautious incentive to return home.
I think I would leave the Provinces out of that election who have joined Russia.
Those citizens made their request to Russia for protection while under duress from Ukranian shelling, I get that but they were primarily Russian speaking citizens for the most part anyway.
Should the citizens of the Donbass for instance choose to reunite with Ukraine, that is between them, Russia and Ukraine.
It is certainly not anyone else's business and especially not the U.S.s business.
As to Zelensky and his Nazi chums, they would see trial in a neutral country.
Thoughts?
Thank you very much. The wounded soldier also died; that's two from just our building, and my wife will extend your condolences for Mark and Anton's families.
I like your ideas, and I especially like that you're thinking of a solution! It's challenging - as you've likely heard, it's now against Ukrainian law to negotiate with Russia while Putin is President. As for Russian language in Ukraine, my wife says almost everyone in Ukraine understands Russian, and many speak it. Remember it was part of the Soviet Union, and part of the Russian empire before that. My wife, for example, speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English, as does our daughter.
I don't know what will happen. We'd like to see the war end, but I doubt Biden will allow it - we're going to listen to what he says in a few minutes, if we can tolerate it. It may only end on the battlefield with a Ukrainian surrender.
Personally, I'd like every oblast (region) be able to have a referendum as to re-join Russian or remain a part of Ukraine. I suspect that there will be few who want to remain part of Ukraine - at this point Ukraine has been destroyed for decades. And yes, those who are refugees, like my wife, should be able to vote!!
Thank you again for your consideration!
I have never seen any evidence that they did. In fact, the statistics suggest those who got multiple jabs were MORE likely to catch another variant of Covid, but that could easily be that those of us who never took or stopped taking jabs also never took or stopped taking Covid tests.
Random off-topic thought: at this rate, weather forecasts are soon going to be the most trustworthy content in media.
Even the weather forecasting models are wrong. They're based on statistical averages going back decades, and often no longer work.
In Cleveland, the forecast more than two days out is USUALLY wrong, and even the daily forecasts are off more than they used to be.
That's still a better accuracy rate than the federal government or corporate news, though.
PREACH IT
Hey can you help me understand wtf is going on with Richard Wolff?? Am I naive to think he's on our side?
When I first dumped the Dems, Wolff was a voice of sanity. But I'm really confused about the last couple months of his shows. He keeps saying these labor contracts are "good" when they're so bad it's disgusting. He just said the writers won a good contract with 12% wage increase OVER 5 YEARS. Wtf is that?!
I can't figure out if he's walking back his prior stuff to keep his job, or if he never had revolutionary thought, or maybe he's trying to keep people excited about labor by lying about losses? I'm sorry to put the question here, if I could ask you more personally I would have. I'm so f'in confused and it seems like every time I find a good voice they end up saying bullshit. 12% in 5 years is "good"? My ass. When inflation was 8% in 2022. Why is he doing this???? I've also emailed twice and the first time his assistant said he'd write a more thorough response later but never did. My second email was completely ignored. Please help me understand whose side this dude is on.
Good question. I haven't seen these recent comments of his you mention. I own some of his books, and as far as I know he's a real Marxist economist. I'm a big fan of his democracy in the workplace position. Perhaps he is thinking in relative terms, as in the 12% raise was better than anything the writers could have dreamed of just five years ago.
He is 81 years old, though, so that might be a factor. He also lives comfortably, and inflation did not impact his lifestyle much if at all. That makes people more likely to underestimate its effects.
I guess it's possible... but I think improbable that he doesn't realize this. Probably got plata or plomo option like EVERYONE else. Sigh.