Sometimes very active discussions about peripheral issues overwhelm a thread, so this is a permanent home for those conversations.
I’ve opened a new “Sandbox” thread as a post as the new “ignore commenter” plug-in only works on threads started as posts.
Alan Fox,
Conspiracy theorists of course think they are citing facts. And if not, then they are “just asking a question”. I see the same behaviour in petrushka.
This post is very illustrative: He does not cite a single specific example of an NGO laundering money, but for his theory to work, most NGOs need to be laundering money.
I happen to know about this topic and I can easily tell that petrushka does not know (a) why NGOs exist and what they are, (b) what the relationship of USAID is with NGOs, and (c) what money laundering is.
By the end of his post, without citing evidence, he claims to have sorted it all out (or somebody else has sorted it out to his satisfaction) by means of AI, while it is clear from earlier discussions that he does not know what AI is capable of and what it is not capable of. He knows literally nothing, he spews absolute nonsense, but nobody is stopping him.
Of course, I do not expect the situation to improve, because USA is right now run by total lunatics. It is clear that Elon Musk does not know the first thing about accounting and data analysis, but he has been given a position where he is allegedly doing an audit of the government agencies. Nobody is stopping him either.
I thought Macron married his father. I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
I repeat. Please verify facts before posting and include facts when posting
https://www-sciencesetavenir-fr.translate.goog/sante/origine-du-covid-19-un-quasi-consensus-en-faveur-de-la-sortie-de-laboratoire_185031?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
petrushka,
What did you conclude from that paper?
I haven’t concluded anything yet. I’m not familiar with the source and was curious whether it was tabloid journalism, or a representative sample of French scientific opinion.
I tend to think the origin of covid is a forensic problem rather than a scientific one. It has been difficult to figure out which witnesses are truthful.
Well, there seem to be three hypotheses for Sars viruses causing epidemics among humans:
1. Cross-species transmission. Plenty of examples of this having happened.
2. Artificial synthesis of pathogens as bioweapons. No credible evidence of this ever happening.
3. Research labs studying pathogens (source 1) mess up and allow such pathogens to escape. Nobody has owned up to this.
The French study suggests a research facility at Wuhan was guilty of 3. Maybe DNA_Jock could weigh in on the plausibility if he happens by.
I have not been able to access the underlying report, but I have not tried very hard yet. I am interested in their take, but I am worried that there is quite the self-selecting sample effect here. That is, researchers agonizing over whether it was a lab leak (of an unengineered virus: the evidence that the virus was NOT engineered is strong and has not changed) vs zoonosis really need to get out more — they are coming across as racist. Some of the sound-bites offered up by Ms. Gaubert are of the “engineered, therefore lab-leak” variety, so OBVIOUSLY wrong. Others, like the statement that the research at Wuhan was performed at BSL2, are quite frightening: I have no reason to doubt this statement, and if true it is HORRENDOUS.
If pathogens can’t be modified, the whole industry of biological warfare is dead… No? How much money and jobs would that involve Jock?
Would yours?
Pathogens such as Yersinia pestis have already been used in biological warfare.
The specific issue here is whether the RNA sequences in coronaviruses that translate into changes in the spike protein that make it suitable as a biological weapon can be artificially modified in the lab and whether this was happening in Wuhan.
Seems more likely to me, if that was someone’s goal, that selective breeding would get you there more quickly and more simply.
Regarding DNA-Jock’s concern about lax lab procedures, and what we know of authoritarian regimes, it is unlikely we will ever know if that is what happened at Wuhan.
Might I point out that many people in the mainstream asserted they knew what was going on and what was not going on.
Some of us were derided for pointing out that the Chinese destroyed all the potential evidence. And tried to hide digital evidence.
I mentioned that a multi-billion dollar corporation, Enron, was dismantled for the crime of destroying emails. Destroying evidence is in itself a crime.
Regardless of the exact origin of the virus, we do know that the Chinese knew something dangerous was loose, and they did the opposite of containing it. They blocked flights from Wuhan to the rest of China, but allowed international flights.
Not a good look, in my opinion.
I remember a news report about Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm and was told to be quiet.
Nobody in the right frame of mind denies that bacteria can be modified… what it means is the issue… I modify my microbiome bacteria each time I eat fast food. But if I get Coca Cola or Pepsi, they kill everything…
We’ve tested it many times even over the last few days… I wonder if ear infection can be treated with colas.. no joke..
He was told with extreme prejudice.
By all means, pump that shit in your empty skull to your heart’s content, but don’t try it on your kids, you blithering idiot.
I just heard that Harvard University get $50 billion of federal funding… I’m sure nothing goes to waste there but Donny the Great thinks it might be too much… as if he had never worked with mafia before… this time the mafiosos claim to be intellectuals… big deal… lol
I’ve heard some news that MMR “vaccines” against some dead viruses could be s…y. They could cause Autism. So BigPharma says it is a genetic disorder and they will have proof by September by RFK JR… which is nice because they have alway been on the side of health and not corporate profits…
So, we have received a very strange contract to review file of identical twins who didn’t receive their MMR vaccine at the same time or never…
Can anyone guess what the date says?
I guess not.
Is it because we are so prey to fake news these days that I find myself wondering if that was the real Melania at the Pope’s funeral?
The joy of conspiracy theorizing.
Gain of Function or Gain of Fiction?
I have been killing some time latterly reading some classified files from Ralph Baric the apparent mastermind behind the SARS Cov-2 gain of function research…
I’m not sure if anybody has read it but Ralph pretty much admits that unless billions are invested into biowarfare and bioweapons research, if Trump gets re-elected, pathogens will disappear… or they will devolve as per copulation genetics …lol
I wonder how many morons still have been getting boosters …
Jock, are you up to s..t?
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/another-ralph-baric-lecture?utm_campaign=post_embed
What the hell just happened in the UK elections? For fucks sake, it’s all going from bad to worse.
People get fed a non-stop diet of populist b*llsh*t. They are told that all the problems are caused by migrants, that the mainstream political parties are unwilling and/or unable to improve things, and that there are simple and easy solutions that people like Farage & co. will put in place if they only get the chance.
Far too many people fall for this, with the results that we have just seen. I think it will get worse before it will get better. The populists probably need to have their turn at the wheel, so that everyone can finally see that they too can’t solve the problems, because these are in fact global, long-term and quite intractable.
No idea what will happen at that point, though. Looking at history, there may be wars…
On the other hand, this also just happened:
https://nltimes.nl/2025/05/03/public-raises-eu100000-government-halts-theme-park-trip-asylum-youth
faded_Glory,
I won’t call them populists, because I don’t think they are. They’re fascists, and their goal is to make sure there’s no way back from them, no democracy left to oust them once people realize they’ve made a huge mistake. Just look at what Trump is doing in the US. It’s terrifying to be honest.
Hi dazz and Faded_Glory, you know anyone who has a point to make is welcome to start a thread with an OP. The posting
facility gives more options than comments, including pictures, and we don’t care if things go off-topic here.
For the lurkers:
Don’t be shy! 😉
dazz,
Two conclusions:
1, first-past-the-post is a poor system to transform votes into representation.
2, more people are bigots than is discovered from just talking to them.
What did you expect to happen? What did the polls predict?
My personal stance is I want to understand how the world works. I do not have any power to change it, but I have to live in it. So I have to adjust my expectations according to how things work.
This is the nominal theme of the tariff thread, but I question whether the discussion is productive.
In Florida medical experts have a different idea about the supposed mRNA whatever claimed to be vaccines:
https://kirschsubstack.com/p/new-florida-brand-differential-study
It means more Brits will move into your country and screw up your rent rates… entiende?
Heh, I didn’t know that news reached people abroad. Yes, our minister for asylum and migration Marjolein Faber is as malicious as she is incompetent and she is resented by a large portion of the Dutch populace. However, a lot of people also support her, which confirms my suspicion that the success of the radical right party for a large part is driven by racism and ressentiment.
I sympathisize with your sentiment, but do not agree. The current crop of far-right and nativist parties undoubtedly share several characteristics with early 20th century fascists. However, early fascists were militarist and resorted to violence, for example through paramiltary forces such as the infamous Sturmabteilung, whereas their modern counterparts do not parade around in military uniforms and (mostly) seek political influence through democratic and parliamentary means. I count that as progress.
ETA: fix awkward phrasing
Of course there are differences, but I don’t think those are relevant. They haven’t resorted to violence… yet.
We’ve had some discussions here about animal intelligence, so I thought I would share this impressive video:
My Service Dog, Bailey, just alerted me of a fainting episode before I even knew…
Oh, but those differences are very relevant. Fascists were supportive of violent suppression of political opponents and were openly totalitarian. Quite creepy. Compared to that, radical-right parties in Europe play relatively nice.
Politicologists differentiate between radical right, right-wing extremists and fascists. In some countries there are also legal consequences if a party is deemed right extremist, such as recently for the AfD in Germany.
Like you, I am quite concerned about the ascent of right-wing parties, because I question their commitment to democratic values and the rule of law. That is exactly why it is important to understand where these people stand on various matters, and to apply the correct labels.
Notably Trumpism in USA is distinctly violent and lawless. Jan 6, 2021, was a genuine violent coup attempt with organised hit gangs like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. And on the very first day of his second term, Trump pardoned all of them, all of the insurrectionists. They are part of the scare tactics and intimidation framework that keeps Republicans in line. USA is an openly fascist regime now.
In Europe the only current country leader with fascist pedigree, Giorgia Meloni, has kept the governance strictly constitutional. There were governments in Europe who have not respected constitutional separation of powers, such as Prawo i Sprawiedliwość in Poland and Orban in Hungary, but they are more properly nationalist, not fascist.
Steve Kirsch is on it again,
“Every honest doctor in the world should be calling for the Pfizer shots to be immediately halted”
The critics have been unable to attack the Levi paper showing a 36% ACM increased caused by the Pfizer shots. That’s a train wreck. Vaccines are NEVER supposed to increase ACM even by a little.
https://kirschsubstack.com/p/every-honest-doctor-in-the-world?publication_id=548354&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=r7spm&utm_medium=email
People who were jabbed against a computer generated dead virus have two options:
If they considered themselves to be experts, they must to reconsider.
Those who have had some serious side effects after failed gene therapies, they should sue …
This aged well. 🙂
I was correct that Biden wouldn’t run, and I had good reasons.
I also had good reasons to think Trump wouldn’t survive the legal gauntlet. It still looks remarkable.
No?
I’m kind of eccentric. I think it is generally better to assess probabilities and expect the most probable. I am comfortable with uncertainty.
Testing:
Enclose in double dollar signs and the LaTeX displays on a separate line
Preview would be handy though.
I think that was both Biden’s fault and to his credit. Trying to be fair and being seen to be fair Ah well, water under the bridge, now.
Historian Ian Kershaw said that “trying to define fascism is like trying to nail jelly to the wall”. The Capital attack was a pretty appalling event, but I am still missing certain characteristics like the militarism and I don’t think the Proud Boys are affiliated with the Republican party. Of course, I am not a historian nor a politologist so once the experts start calling the Trump administration a fascist regime I will gladly follow suit. I will concede that with Trumps hostility towards journalists and the judicial system he is bordering on the extremist side.
“Every honest doctor in the world should be calling for the Pfizer shots to be immediately halted”
The critics have been unable to attack the Levi paper showing a 36% ACM increased caused by the Pfizer shots. That’s a train wreck. Vaccines are NEVER supposed to increase ACM even by a little.
Simply put 750k Americans may have died due to Pfizer “vaccine” vs Moderna.
https://kirschsubstack.com/p/every-honest-doctor-in-the-world?publication_id=548354&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=r7spm&utm_medium=email
BTW: Steve oven believes that genetic combinations assembled by computers to be viruses can kill you…
Is there anyone here who has the guts to admit he/she/them regret receiving the so called mRNA/DNA “vaccines” that were apparently not even designed to prevent infection of dead viruses?
Friend’s son didn’t wake up few weeks ago. Nobody knows what caused the rare blood clot in his lungs as he had no symptoms of this coming…
The interesting thing is that doctors absolutely don’t know what cause this unusual blood clot, but they also absolutely know it was not caused by the mRNA/DnA so called failed gene therapies… This kind of scientific evidence makes one wonder what science stands for: Money or $?
I had three shots and don’t regret it. Excess all cause mortality declined after the shots became available. I posted the numbers here several times.
I have doubts about many aspects of the pandemic, but no regrets about the vaccine.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Mike Gene and Sal discuss Genesis:
https://shadowtolight.wordpress.com/