1,587 thoughts on “General Discussion – 2

  1. Ben,

    Had my first jab on Thursday (AstraZeneca). So far, disappointingly, I haven’t sprouted 5G antennae or been forced “upgraded” by Bill Gates.

    No side effects of any kind really so far anyway.

  2. – UK COVIDeniers

    – The following UK-based individuals and groups have historically focused on denying or downplaying the risk of man-made global warming. In 2020, they have turned their attention to the COVID-19 pandemic, downplaying the severity of the coronavirus outbreak and sowing distrust in the response efforts of governments, scientists, and the medical community.

    https://www.desmogblog.com/uk-covideniers

    Ann Widdecombe, Arron Banks, Daniel Hannan, Global Warming Policy Foundation (55 Tufton St), Harry Wilkinson, Free Market Conservatives, Benny Peiser, Godfrey Bloom, Guido Fawkes, James Delingpole, Breitbart, the Spectator, Jeremy Clarkson, the Times, Katie Hopkins, New Culture Forum (55 Tufton St), Peter Whittle, Nigel Farage, Peter Hitchens, the Daily Mail, Piers Corbyn, the Telegraph, the Telegraph, the Telegraph…

  3. It’s important to know the exact numbers and not downplay them Clark. It took a FOI request to get them.

    https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/release-of-covid-numbers-for-caithness-a-victory-for-transp-231647/

    One statistic not there is my friend’s daughter who died of a drug overdose. She was addicted to valium and should have been in rehab, a judge had instructed she go into rehab six months before she died but because of the terrible risk of people dying from covid they stopped taking people into rehab.

    A sweet girl, just 21 years old, you met her brother once when I gave him a lift back from Raigmore.

  4. I’m surprised you haven’t bothered getting the vaccine if you were offered it, Clark. It’s the responsible thing to do, frankly – I would love to get it. Can’t see that happening here for months.

    It’s more than annoying to hear these virtue-signalling executives heading charities demand that we give a supposed surplus of vaccine to the third world “immediately”. Never mind that our death rate is higher than that of almost any other country. Who, exactly, should be denied vaccine in this country in order to give it away?

    When everyone who wants a vaccine has one – and all that’s left are conspiracy nuts and vaccine martyrs – fine, let’s give it away. We have already made a huge contribution by inventing a vaccine and providing it at cost.

    The misses pointed out that these executives are paid to come up with this sort of thing, but all the same – I wonder if it puts peoples backs up so much, it has a negative effect on their organisations. They know precisely how much notice the government will actually take of these demands, so the only thing they achieve is bad publicity.

  5. Fred, I’m very sorry to hear that. I do remember the trips to the hospital in Inverness.

    Most governments’ responses to covid have been inept and authoritarian; your friend’s daughter should not have been excluded from rehab. Most of the mass media’s coverage has been useless at best, and some of it criminal. Confusion and conflict have reigned when understanding and unity were essential.

    More people that I was personally connected to have died of covid than in the first wave in the whole Caithness.

  6. Glenn, I gather and cut my own firewood by hand – it’s my primary heating, and a chainsaw would disturb the neighbours (and I’d probably cut my own leg off) – and since May I have had no car, so I shop by pedal cycle, town being five miles away, and uphill nearly all the way back unfortunately. I’ve been completely knackered. I was offered the vaccine only two weeks ago. I was very low on both wood and groceries after the cold weather and wanted to be well stocked up in case I was among the unlucky few suffering bad side effects. I’m hoping to get around to it this coming week.

    But me delaying will likely help rather than hinder. The vaccines arrive at the same rate whether I get mine or not – someone else will get that dose, and they probably live among higher population density and have more social contact than me, and are quite likely less cautious too.

  7. Brian: Thanks for thinking of me but I’m starting to believe citizens of the UK are Stalinist victims of suppressed speech and in spite of US Neanderthals, deserve more pity.

    AA: is Astra Zeneca the only vaccine available?

    I was waiting for J&J but am settling for Moderna as choice seems far away. Also, it’s not obvious to me why you or Craig could be liabilities under the thumb of English Law. We’re supposedly ahead of the Magna Carta curve. Instead we’re behind the 8 ball

  8. Labs must be totally calibrated for COVID and I understand delays on elective surgery like facelifts and such but why do biopsies take 8 weeks? Just took some more divots for skin cancer and theoretically I could be dead before treatment.

    How many deaths can be attributed?

  9. Ben – “Just took some more divots for skin cancer and theoretically I could be dead before treatment.”

    Grief. Best wishes.

    As a precaution, maybe give up dairy for a while if you haven’t already? As natural infant growth formula it contains natural growth hormones that stimulate cell division and suppress programmed natural cell death.

    Fred’s link works for me, so maybe it doesn’t reach the USA. Try here:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20210328151921/https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/release-of-covid-numbers-for-caithness-a-victory-for-transp-231647/

  10. Thanks Clark.

    I probably should not partake in dairy for many reasons but I console myself with organic which, at least does not have added hormones.

    THC oil, anecdotally, makes cancer literally jump out of your skin making eruptions in the dermis and naturally poorly understood by dermatologists.

    Last September we put down our Ridgeback, Ginger due to cancer.

    We found a golf ball-size mass on X-ray . A month later it was throughout in spite of my oil and she had several eruptions but the growth was catastrophic. So little is known about dosage and effectiveness. Pain relief was very obvious however.

  11. Ben, milk’s a funny one. Well over a decade ago I spent a month visiting a friend who had totally given up dairy. At first I found that tea with soya milk seemed sort of powdery. I got used to it after a few days…

    On my way home I was looking forward to having a ‘proper’ cup of tea, and I bought cows’ milk for that purpose. I made my cuppa, sat down feeling satisfied, but urgh! Sour, horrible flavour! I had to go out again and buy soya.

    I’d gone off milk, lost the taste for it. I’d never have guessed at the time, but upon reflection I suspect that this was the natural process of weaning, delayed by forty years or so of cows’ milk. I can now stand a minimal quantity of milk in my tea if it’s all that’s available, and coffee is bitter enough to cover the weird sourness, but I’ve never regained my taste for animal milk and now really enjoy the stuff derived from plants.

  12. Haven’t had cow’s milk in a great many years – seems a damned perverted thing to do, if you ask me. Since taking up residence in Holland, I’ve been drinking Redbush tea – Rooibos in Dutch (“Roy-boss”) – and it’s my regular beverage now. Requires no milk or any other additive. You can get it in pretty much any supermarket here these days, happily enough. Cheap, too.

  13. The Chauvin murder coverage on HLN is outstanding

    “Underlying Assault” seems understood as the officer ‘shimmied’ his knee to exacerbate the blood choke on Floyd making it 1st degree murder.

    As to HLN, they are the only gavel-to-gavel coverage but they do an excellent job . Few commercial breaks but they pause testimony during.

  14. Thanks for the Shuttle Video Clark Amazing…. I begin to wonder how much pollution Ellon will use up .

    seems the tech needs to take a step back.

    Hi to you Sqounk

  15. I’ve lost something; something seems to have disappeared from the Internet.

    I remember reading of two projects that launched vast numbers of dipole antennas into Earth orbit. This is the second one I discovered:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford

    – [In 1961 and 1963] “…a ring of 480,000,000 copper dipole antennas (needles which were 0.70 inch long and 1.00 thou [1961] or 0.70 thou [1963] in diameter) were placed in orbit to facilitate global radio communication. “

    But if I remember rightly, I found that page from the “See Also” section of another Wikipedia page about a similar project; a vast number of 5cm aluminium dipoles. I remember seeing a picture of one.

    I can no longer find any mention of this project.

  16. Brian, I too am worried about some of Elon Musk’s projects. Starlink aims to put tens of thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. They have approval for 12,000 and are applying for another 30,000. Over 1,300 are already up.

    “Warning – this operation cannot be undone.”

    To put that in perspective, as of October 2019, the US Space Surveillance Network reported nearly 20,000 artificial objects in orbit above the Earth, including 2,218 operational satellites. However, these are just the objects large enough to be tracked. As of January 2019, more than 128 million pieces of debris smaller than 1 cm, about 900,000 pieces of debris 1–10 cm, and around 34,000 of pieces larger than 10 cm were estimated to be in orbit around the Earth.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

  17. Indeed Clark..it was exciting at one time..but…Blind to Pollution How Many Billionaires can get in on this game … Branson Ect

    Then Asteroid Deflection . I worry .

    .It’s amazing to watch the curvature of satellite’s..It’s gonna hit Capella…No the Triplets…No Aldebereran… Amazing.. to watch.

  18. Had the Oxford/AZ shot on Tuesday. Felt a bit rough all day yesterday – mild headaches, bit dizzy and very tired all day. Only symptom today is a bit of fatigue and a sore arm.

    Fair play to them – I didn’t expect under 50s to get anything for at least another month or so.

  19. Glenn, congrats.

    I’ve been thinking about what you said about me not having been vaccinated yet. There’s been a lot of the “be responsible; get vaccinated” meme, but surely, so long as demand exceeds supply, it can’t make any reliable difference which individuals get vaccinated and which don’t, can it?

  20. I suppose there’s some point in that those undecided will waver, and more will get vaccinated over time if there’s pressure. It won’t make any difference overall until supply exceeds demand, but by increasing demand it would extend the time until that occurs.

  21. CNN)Top US national security officials have spoken with their Ukrainian counterparts, and America’s top general held a call Wednesday with his Russian opposite number amid concern over Russian military activity in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, including what the US deemed a violation of a ceasefire by Moscow that led to the deaths of four Ukrainian soldiers last week.

    “Russia’s destabilizing actions undermine the de-escalation intentions that had been achieved through [last year’s agreement],” chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “Additionally, we are aware of Ukrainian military reports concerning Russian troop movements on Ukraine’s borders.”

    Secretary of State Tony Blinken reaffirmed the “unwavering support” of the United States for Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the face of “Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea,” according to a readout of his call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Wednesday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley also spoke to the top Ukrainian general Wednesday, while national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart at the beginning of the week.

  22. Tickling the tail of the dragon is inherently dangerous

    “ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered a trio of seemingly contradictory dismissals regarding the sudden movement of Russian forces and equipment along its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, as well as a mortar attack last week by Russian-backed troops that killed four Ukrainian soldiers for which Kiev blames Russia.

    “The Russian Federation moves its armed forces within its territory at its own discretion. This should not bother anyone, it poses no threat to anyone,” Peskov told reporters on Thursday morning, according to a translation of his remarks. He also said that Russia feels threatened by what it considers “increased activity of the armed forces of NATO countries” and others that “obliges us to be on the alert.”

    Putin is testing the US as he believes, thanks to Bumpkins, that Biden is weak

  23. Ben, no one wants the blog shut down again.

    As a European living several thousand miles closer than you to the geopolitical flashpoint of Ukraine, the “gas tap of Europe”, I do not regard the US as a neutral party.

    During the Ukrainian coup, US military command issued three Skyking EAMs – Emergency Action Messages, orders to US strategic nuclear forces. At the time, the Skyking call was the highest alert; before that, no more than one had ever been issued in connection with any given incident. That night, we were closer to nuclear war than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis.

    Living as I do on Oceania’s Airstrip One, I’d rather not get incinerated and irradiated just because the US wishes to control the supply of hydrocarbons. I object to US global domination, its interference in the OPCW, its domination of the UN and NATO, its support for the Gulf Monarchies and exploitation of Wahhabism, its drone execution programme, its military support for Israel, its repeated wars in the Middle East and interference in South America including its current devastating sanctions against Venezuela, and its enforcement of neoliberal corporatism which is rapidly degrading the biosphere.

    https://www.medialens.org/2021/propaganda-by-omission-libya-syria-venezuela-and-the-uk/

    But as I oppose global conflict and support the principles of international law, I regard it as the responsibility of the citizens of the US to regain control of their government, while we in the UK attempt to do likewise to Westminster. That’s why I’ll be in London tomorrow, protesting for the right to protest.

  24. That was excellent non-denial, denial Clark

    Are you suggesting the subject could cause the blog to shut down again, or are you implying something else that escapes my attention?

    I truly am mystified what ball-gags interfere with your free expression.

    Please…someone educate me

  25. Google Translate:

    – In accordance with Article 107 of the Constitution of Ukraine, I decree:

    – 1. To put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of March 11, 2021 “On the Strategy of deoccupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol” (attached).

    – 2. To approve the Strategy of deoccupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (attached).

    – 3. Control over the implementation of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, enacted by this Decree, shall be vested in the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

    – 4. This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.

    – President of Ukraine V.ZELENSKY

    – March 24, 2021

  26. He’s off protesting for the right to civil disobedience Ben.

    Before covid a group of people decided the right to protest included the right to bring London traffic to a standstill just as everyone was trying to get to work or the right to prevent a newspaper from being published. As a direct result of this the British government is now able to introduce a frightening new law to further limit our freedoms and give unprecedented new powers to the home secretary.

    This chain of events was so entirely predictable it’s hard to believe it wasn’t intended.

  27. I’m still befuddled Clark .

    Fred: Is it legal to talk about the Home Secretary’s additional power to tell you to STFU?

  28. From what little I see on innertoobs I’m understanding Fred’s anger over masks . You shouldn’t have allowed your firearms to be confiscated.

    AA: feel free to delete my comment if it places you in peril

  29. The battle over guns still rages in the US

    There are enough gun nutz with a grievance to give the progressive spin on legitimate, sane gun owners making them seem unreasonable.

    Plenty of Scottish massacres here, like there in 1996 to push the narrative.

  30. One of the first acts of the 3rd Reich and Stalinism was to eliminate armed opposition

  31. Associate professor of criminal justice M Dyan McGuire wrote in her 2011 book: “It is frequently argued that these laws, which resulted in the confiscation of weapons not belonging to supporters of the Nazis, rendered the Jews and other disfavored groups like the Gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, and their potential allies defenseless and set the stage for the slaughter of the Holocaust that followed.”[14]

    The Nazi gun control argument has been used as a “security against tyranny” argument in U.S. gun politics.[15][16]

    Legal scholar and historian Robert Cottrol has argued that other authoritarian regimes such as the Khmer Rouge could have been inhibited by more private gun ownership.[16]

    A 2011 open letter from Dovid Bendory, who was the rabbinic director of JPFO, to then New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, asked: “Are you aware that the Nazis disarmed Jews prior to Kristallnacht and that those same Nazi gun laws are the foundation of the U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968?”[17][18]

    In October 2015, U.S. Republican Presidential Primaries candidate Ben Carson said that Hitler’s mass murder of Jews “would have been greatly diminished” if Germans had not been disarmed by the Nazis.[19]

    In February 2018, U.S. Republican Representative Don Young, proposed the question “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”[20]

  32. On December 12, 1924, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR promulgated its degree “On the procedure of production, trade, storage, use, keeping and carrying firearms, firearm ammunition, explosive projectiles and explosives”, all weapons were classified and divided into categories. Now the weapons permitted for personal possession by ordinary citizens could only be smoothbore hunting shotguns. The other category of weapons were only possessed by those who were put on duty by the Soviet state; for all others, access to these weapons was restricted to within state regulated shooting ranges. Illegal gun possession was severely punished. Since March 1933 the manufacture, possession, purchase, sale of firearms (except for smoothbore) hunting weapons without proper authorization was punishable by up to five years in prison

  33. Ben – “I’m still befuddled Clark .”

    On March 24, the Ukrainian government declared its intention to retake Crimea from Russian control, specifically mentioning the city of Sevastopol, home to the Russian naval base on the Black Sea.

    This was not mentioned in the statement by “top US national security officials” that you cited from CNN, but obviously it would explain the sudden increase in Russian military forces on the Ukrainian border.

    It looks to me like a highly dangerous escalation.

  34. “Before covid a group of people decided the right to protest included the right to bring London traffic to a standstill just as everyone was trying to get to work or the right to prevent a newspaper from being published.”

    No we didn’t Fred; everyone who participated knew they had no such rights. We don’t evade arrest. We take the legal consequences of our actions, and we have training so that participants understand those consequences. Around a thousand XR members have been prosecuted.

  35. Ben, I didn’t know of the Ukrainian government’s Decree No. 117/2021 when I replied to you that “I do not regard the US as a neutral party”; my previous observations of US foreign policy and corporate propaganda suggested that the quote you cited probably omitted crucial context. I looked deeper when you questioned my reply, and I found that my assumption was confirmed.

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