[NYTimes] At least 53 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since attending The Gridiron Club and Foundation’s annual dinner last Saturday in Washington, the group’s president confirmed on Friday.
The Gridiron Club dinner, an annual white-tie roast between journalists and presidential administrations, was held at the Renaissance Hotel. But a night of good-natured ribbing has devolved into an outbreak of cases among Washington’s elite, including members of Congress, members of the president’s cabinet and journalists.
About 700 people were at the event, including the 628 guests seated in the ballroom, Gridiron organizers said. Attendees were required to show proof of vaccination but not a negative test result, and face masks were not required during the program.
Among those who have publicly announced being infected with the virus after attending the dinner are Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; Attorney General Merrick B. Garland; Valerie Biden Owens, the president’s sister; and Representative Adam B. Schiff of California.
President Biden did not attend the dinner.
On Wednesday, cases appeared to be contained to just a couple of the tables, but they have since popped up at additional tables. So far, there are no reports of any symptoms more serious than a sore throat or mild fever, said Tom DeFrank, a contributing editor for National Journal and president of the Gridiron Club.
Tch. Simply dreadful.
Members have been coming forward since Sunday to notify the club of positive cases, and the club has been informing anyone who sat next to, across from or in proximity to an infected guest, Mr. DeFrank said. “That is what we have done from the start and continue to do,” he added.
This year’s event was the Gridiron dinner’s return after a two-year, pandemic-related absence. In 2020, the organization canceled the event just days before it was set to take place. That year, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, had accepted an invitation but later declined less than two weeks before the event at the start of the pandemic, Mr. DeFrank said. This year, Dr. Fauci was the first guest to accept the invitation, Mr. DeFrank added. “That gave us some optimism,” Mr. DeFrank said, adding that if Dr. Fauci had declined, “that would have told us something.” Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was also at the dinner.
The number of new reported cases among those who attended the dinner has been decreasing since at least Wednesday, Mr. DeFrank said.
“We are hopeful that the downward trend will continue,” he said.
Posted by: Huperong Angavimp9677 ||
04/09/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[16 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Found this the other day. Sites block searches and posts more than ever.
#3
Go to substack dot com. (To find someone using a search engine just type in a name + "substack.com"; then click "Let me read it first" to peruse without paying for a subscription.)
These substack writers offer the best COVID reporting, analysis and not least, ironic / sarcastic humor in the face of global COVID follies:
Dr Robert W Malone: rwmalonemd.substack.com
Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch: Stevekirsch.substack.com
Florida litigation attorney Jeff Childers: Coffeeandcovid.substack.com
Former NYT journalist Alex Betenson: Alexberenson.substack.com
An anonymous but scientifically-expert East Coast medical researcher: boriquagato.substack.com
from Austria, another scientifically-literate anonymous professor: fackel.substack.com
from Germany, an anonymous doctor: eugyppius.substack.com
#4
Dr. Fauci was the first guest to accept the invitation, Mr. DeFrank added. “That gave us some optimism,
That, simply out of principle, should have been enough to cancel one's attendance. Since many of the attendees are unprincipled, they have now become ill.
#9
What exactly does "tested positive" mean here?
An active case of COVID?
Evidence of antibodies in the blood, meaning they have been exposed but never sick, or sick and recovered?
Or another example of the PCR test, which was never meant for this purpose, being cranked up to high?
#10
What exactly does "tested positive" mean here?
It means that polling shows people are more concerned about the economy and the potential for war than they are of the Holy Virus. So the elites want to crank the skeer up to 12.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2022 8:41 Comments ||
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#11
François Bonivard, Chronicles of Geneva, second volume, pages 395 – 402
“When the bubonic plague struck Geneva in 1530, everything was ready. They even opened a whole hospital for the plague victims. With doctors, paramedics and nurses. The traders contributed, the magistrate gave grants every month. The patients always gave money, and if one of them died alone, all the goods went to the hospital.
But then a disaster happened: the plague was dying out, while the subsidies depended on the number of patients. There was no question of right and wrong for the Geneva hospital staff in 1530. If the plague produces money, then the plague is good.
And then the doctors got organized. At first, they just poisoned patients to raise the mortality statistics, but they quickly realized that the statistics didn’t have to be just about mortality, but about mortality from plague. So they began to cut the boils from the bodies of the dead, dry them, grind them in a mortar and give them to other patients as medicine. Then they started dusting clothes, handkerchiefs and garters. But somehow the plague continued to abate. Apparently, the dried buboes didn’t work well. Doctors went into town and spread bubonic powder on door handles at night, selecting those homes where they could then profit. As an eyewitness wrote of these events, “this remained hidden for some time, but the devil is more concerned with increasing the number of sins than with hiding them.”
In short, one of the doctors became so impudent and lazy that he decided not to wander the city at night, but simply threw a bundle of dust into the crowd during the day. The stench rose to the sky and one of the girls, who by a lucky chance had recently come out of that hospital, discovered what that smell was.
The doctor was tied up and placed in the good hands of competent “craftsmen.” They tried to get as much information from him as possible. However, the execution lasted several days. The ingenious hypocrites were tied to poles on wagons and carried around the city. At each intersection the executioners used red-hot tongs to tear off pieces of meat. They were then taken to the public square, beheaded and quartered, and the pieces were taken to all the districts of Geneva.
The only exception was the hospital director’s son, who did not take part in the trial but blurted out that he knew how to make potions and how to prepare the powder without fear of contamination. He was simply beheaded “to prevent the spread of evil”.
#15
Are the Dems prepping for another stolen election, i.e. the 2022 elections. Create and hype another pandemic scare, push mail-in voting, stuff ballot boxes, bring out the dead voters and multiple-voting voters, rig voting machines, insert fake ballots, steal critical elections.
For crying out loud, can we not arrest these people and or divorce ourselves from Washington corruption?
#16
^#14 - Johns Hopkins University says ... about 570,000 people in the United States have died of coronavirus-related reasons.
But this morning, the Johns Hopkins site put the death toll over 800k. Worldometers has it over one million.
Some inconsistency observed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2022 12:35 Comments ||
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#17
JOHNQC, national politicians live in their home states. Why do politicians from Wyoming live in DC. With the internet and communication devices most of their work, besides once or twice a year ceremonial duties could be performed from their home states. The current procedure is about as sensible as day light savings time.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
04/09/2022 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#19
#11 But then a disaster happened: the plague was dying out, while the subsidies depended on the number of patients. There was no question of right and wrong for the Geneva hospital staff in 1530. If the plague produces money, then the plague is good
Same as it ever was.
We could use some hot tongs for our own plague-mongers
#22
@11 François Bonivard, Chronicles of Geneva, second volume
This looked dubious to me, so I DDG'd it, and it looked even more dubious, given the sites re-posting it. So, I spent some time looking for the original. Here it is:
My French is very limited, but with the help of Google and DeepL I produced this:
==============
This year also the plague reigns in Geneva, and was not enough of that God sent to men, to punish him for their sins, but human malice also wanted to help him.
You must know that, in Geneva, there was a pestilential Hospital, to sequester the infected there in times of plague, and there was a Hospitaller who was a surgeon, a Prebster and other servants, all well paid because of the danger where they sat; and even women, who were called curesses, who truly believe, for they had good wages and stole just as valiantly: And the Hospitaller and the Prebest shared in their booty.
It happened that, by the grace of God, the plague subsided little by little, which made my gallants were not very happy, because people who make their profit from evil, do not willingly wish the good and would always have willingly maintained the evil.
It happened at this point that there was a kid in Geneva, of quite a good House, but addicted to all sorts of deceptions, who took the name of villain in praise, provided that his subtle wickedness was reputed. His name was Michel Caddo. In spite of his refinement, he fell into such poverty that he did not scrape up enough to live on, and he faked being a plague patient.
Immediately he was sent to the Lhospital, where he was treated promptly with julep wine or syrup, and seeing that this party could only last forty days, he decided to prolong it, for which reason he conspired with Lhospitalier, and they decided that all those that brought to Lhospital, instead of curing them, if they did not die quickly, they would kill them, by poison or otherwise.
After they were dead, they took the plague from the carbuncle that had been on the body and made it into powder, mixed with other drugs, from which they gave to drink to those stricken with the plague, pretending that it was a drink of healing. Not satisfied with that, after Caddo had finished his term at Lhospital, they powdered with this poison fine handkerchiefs, well worked, fine garters and the like, then they went through the town at night, dropping them hither and thither, and principally in front of the houses where there was something to bite for them, and for the curers and curesses: And not content with that rubbed the bolts of the doors.
This remained hidden for a space of time, but the Devil does not care so much to help himself to hide the sins of his minions, as to make them commit them. When Caddo had taken enough care of the night, he could not refrain from doing it during the day, except on a Lenten day, in the year 1530, he dropped a cone of his ointment in the middle of the rue de Coutance, thinking that no one noticed it, but someone saw it and carefully unfolded it, when the greatest stink in the world came out of it. A poor woman, fresh out of hospital, said: No mistake, gentlemen, this is done with the carbuncle of the plague. And each marveled and went to warn the Sindicas, who seized Caddo and interrogated him, giving him a strappado.
Immediately they sent to seize his accomplices, who were confronted and tortured. They all spoke as if through a pipe [i.e. gave the straight skinny], and didn't allow them to die, not all at once, not in a day. They were put on a cart, all around the city, tied to a column, naked to the waist: And to have the executioner, above the cart, fire blazing, where he warmed up his pincers, then when they were all feasting red, gave them, at each crossroads, a pinch, which lifted a piece of flesh from them.
Afterwards they were taken to Molard, where on a scaffold they had their heads cut off, then were quartered, and quarters with the heads were carried and tied to various places, except to the son of Lhospitalier, who because of his youth was allowed to keep his head. But he then confessed that he knew how to compose the paternal mixture well, and for this, as much for fear of the evil to come as by revenge for the past, he also lost his life.
[Estrapade: Kind of torture which consisted in being suspended, the feet and the hands tied to a cord, and suddenly precipitated a few feet from the ground, which exposed the patient to sharp pains by the weight of the body and to the danger of being crippled, if, not answering the questions of the judge, the latter prolonged or renewed the torture.]
========================
N.B. The commentator was very interested in this story. He points out that, at the time, there were numerous plague hospitals that were reimbursed based on the number of patients. He provides additional sources, but I ran out of steam. Those here who have French might enjoy the rest.
So the original text circulating on the net is a modernized paraphrase of the original. There are a number of errors - the chief one is mistaking the criminal Caddo to be a doctor. But, surprisingly, it's "truthy".
[PJMedia] Four economists at the Federal Reserve say the high rate of inflation in the United States compared to the rest of the world is due to the COVID-19 stimulus checks given to Americans during the pandemic. The direct payments to American citizens enlarged the money supply enormously and overheated the economy.
Larry Summers, the Harvard economist and former Treasury Secretary, has been warning about this almost since Joe Biden took his oath of office. Summers believes that massive government pandemic spending — including stimulus checks — has put too much cash into circulation while the pent-up demand from the pandemic isn’t catching up to supply.
Supply chain bottlenecks don’t help. But how bad would they have been if far more modest and targeted pandemic relief had been proposed?
Now we have the war in Ukraine effectively shutting off one-quarter of the world’s supply of grain. Food prices are going to skyrocket, and it’s going to hurt everyone.
But why is it so much worse here?
"Inflation rates in the United States and other developed economies have closely tracked each other historically," the economists write in an analysis published this week. "However, since the first half of 2021, U.S. inflation has increasingly outpaced inflation in other developed countries. Estimates suggest that fiscal support measures designed to counteract the severity of the pandemic’s economic effect may have contributed to this divergence."
Inflation in the U.S. hit an annualized rate of 7.9 percent in February (data for March will be released by the Bureau for Labor Statistics next week), a 40-year high. Meanwhile, inflation in similar countries like France (3.6 percent), Germany (5.1 percent), and the United Kingdom (5.5 percent) is significantly lower, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a consortium of 38 rich-world governments. (Across the OECD as a whole, the average annual inflation rate is about the same as the U.S., but that’s due to the influence of outliers like Argentina—where prices are up over 52 percent in the past 12 months.)
Prices in the Unites States are rising faster than almost anywhere else. "Throughout 2020 and 2021, U.S. households experienced significantly higher increases in their disposable income relative to their OECD peers," the economists write.
In fact, the U.S. inflation rate climbed by 3.58 percentage points — a larger change from the third quarter in 2019 to the third quarter of 2020 than in all but two of the 46 nations included in the study. More money chasing a limited supply of items, who could have seen such a spike?
Gary McCoy was accused of 'just making up random numbers' by a the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... Department of Health official
McCoy helps run the now-notorious Tenderloin Linkage Center, an open-air site intended to help homeless addicts that's instead become a squalid drug den
McCoy works for HealthRIGHT 360, a non-profit given tens of millions by the City of San Francisco to run some of the city's health facilities
Earlier this week, DailyMail.com revealed that just 18 of the 23,369 people who'd visited the center since January were given meaningful help
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2022 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
"Meaningful Interactions" is a metric chosen because it is totally subjective, the exact opposite of meaningful. Subjective metrics are most useful if the goal of the metric is to avoid accountability. Conversely,"18 visitors were referred to rehab" is an objective statement which, I think, is indicative of a subjectively terrible performance. To brand it an objectively terrible performance, I recommend discovering another objective statistic: the count of visitors who were hauled out of the linkage center on a gurney. I bet that number is higher than 18 during the same time period. It is probably high enough to objectively declare the whole project a meaningfully bad idea.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/09/2022 21:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A statement that ought to be calligraphied and framed. :-)
More on this story from yesterday.
[NATIONALREVIEW] A jury acquitted two men accused by the FBI of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer ...Her Excellency, the dictator of Michigan, 2020 Dem VP contender... and could not reach verdicts on two other men involved in the alleged plot.
Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Harris was also found not guilty of other weapons charges pertaining to the case.
The jury said they could not agree on verdicts for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who were also charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the alleged plot. As a result, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker declared a mistrial for Fox and Croft.
Defense attorneys claimed that the accused were tricked or goaded into conspiring to kidnap the governor by undercover FBI agents and informants. Federal prosecutors ended up indicting one of their own informants on a gun charge,
...that’d be Dan Chappel...
while one of the FBI agents who testified in the case, Richard Trask, was subsequently fired after being accused of beating his wife in an argument following an orgy.
Fox, Croft and Harris also face additional charges. Two of the most serious charges, kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use explosives, can carry life sentences.
The verdict was read in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Three of the four defendants hail from the state, one is from Delaware.
Seven other men allegedly involved in the case are to be tried in state court.
Prosecutors were also aided by two co-defendants, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, who agreed to work with prosecutors. Garbin is serving six years for his role whereas Franks is awaiting sentencing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2022 00:00 ||
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[16 views]
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#1
FBI/DOJ credibility: SHOT
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2022 7:12 Comments ||
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#2
Their credibility was shot IMO along time ago.
Posted by: Chris ||
04/09/2022 8:16 Comments ||
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#3
IMO the biggest story never told is the 8 years of Obama corrupting and politicizing the senior career civil service in DC. FBI, IRS, DoJ, DoD, HHS, DHS, CIA, NSA, EPA, FDA, NIH, the list goes on. In each case think about the news stories under Trump and Biden that show agencies at odds with decades of policy and precedent, and always moving to the left, globalist, Chinese, gay, Islamic. racist viewpoints. The salting of the civil service at the DoJ or DHS are stunning examples of malfeasance in failing to prosecute or enforce existing laws.
Take a look:
https://ourpublicservice.org/blog/a-revealing-look-at-racial-diversity-in-the-federal-government/
In reality, Whitmer was never in actual danger; "Big Dan," the ringleader of the alleged plot, contacted law enforcement early on, and the FBI paid him $54,000 to conduct six months of surveillance on a loose network of militia members who were upset with Whitmer's aggressive COVID-19 lockdown policies. When the group staked out Whitmer's house, it was Big Dan leading the effort—with the FBI's foreknowledge and encouragement.
At the same time, Big Dan's FBI handler, a man named Jayson Chambers, was attempting to start a side business as a security consultant; he thus had every incentive to construct a major domestic terrorism bust that he could take credit for foiling.
#6
And notice I didn't assign the critter a gender as I'm not a biologist. Sadly as a geologist, all I can do is hit something with a rock hammer and tell you if it's a rock (Doesn't scream and spray blood everywhere) or not a rock (Screams, cries and has the red red krovvy inside).
[JustTheNews] Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff at the National Security Council, made his comments following a report that the U.S. released unverified information in order to stop Russia from invading Ukraine.
#1
Fucking liars. Making up shit to "try to keep Putin off balance" - WTF? Who's the genius who came up with this strategy?
"It was an attention-grabbing assertion that made headlines around the world: U.S. officials said they had indications suggesting Russia might be preparing to use chemical agents in Ukraine.
President Biden later said it publicly. But three U.S. officials told NBC News this week there is no evidence Russia has brought any chemical weapons near Ukraine. They said the U.S. released the information to deter Russia from using the banned munitions."
[THEFEDERALIST] Republicans are turning against the corporations that are telling the country what to do on everything from election security to education. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been exemplary in his response to Disney trying to bully the state over a new law that, among other things, restricts classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity for young children. DeSantis has not only pushed back rhetorically, but has also suggested eliminating some of the special treatment Disney gets from the state.
As Biden continues to fail, Republicans will lambast Democrats for caring more about pushing culture war radicalism (e.g., transitioning kids without telling their parents) than addressing crime and inflation. Big Business could easily become another Republican target as class war and culture war merge. It was, after all, the fight over the Florida law that really pushed Disney’s efforts to "queer children" out into the open. And there are plenty of other targets, such as the Big Tech companies that censor the news, ban conservatives, and prey on children.
As conservatives wonder why they should protect corporations that hate them and their values, the corporate alliance with the Left is still tenuous. The Bernie Bros may not be done with the Democrats just yet.
Although many on the left have been satisfied by Big Business joining their side of the culture war, there are still constituencies on the left for anti-corporate politics. Indebted, left-leaning college graduates who can’t get good jobs may decide that woke capital is still too capitalist. Workers may not be quiet just because they are now oppressed by an LGBT CEO or having their salaries and benefits squeezed by a racially diverse corporate board.
Furthermore, a corporation that is woke enough to satisfy the internal mob will tend to creep normal people out, as Disney’s entry into the Florida fight shows. Disney isn’t going to go broke anytime soon, but leaked videos of Disney leadership discussing how they promote LGBT ideology and identities to children are going to cost it some customers.
This sort of radicalism may also alienate workers, especially given the propensity of woke ideology to induce bloat and incompetence. Just look at universities, where an ever-expanding array of diversity staffers rake in cash while actual teaching is mostly done by underpaid adjuncts and graduate assistants. Businesses have followed suit — diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting is worth billions of dollars a year, and even sympathetic coverage cannot hide that it is mostly a racket.
Thus, although corporate wokeness is rarely immediate suicide, it may still be toxic in the long run, alienating non-woke customers and employees. And as Republicans adjust to having Big Business as a foil, rather than an ally, corporate activism may lose its potency.
There are concerns on the left that Democrats have become too reliant on corporate power to win in the culture war. Republicans around the country could win a lot of political victories, and enact a lot of popular conservative policies, while left-wing salaried workers in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, protest and demand that their employers do something about what is happening in, say, Florida.
The allure of going woke was obvious; it placates left-wing employees, plays well in the social class that business leaders belong to, and buys political goodwill from Democrats. It allows CEOs, investment bankers, and the professional-managerial class that serves them to pose as the good guys even while being ruthlessly greedy. It seemed, in short, like it was all for the best — so long as Republicans remained quiescent.
But conservatives may be less subservient to business interests than expected. That miscalculation could end up costing woke capital dearly, with Wall Street and Big Business taking fire from all sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2022 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let's start by going back to the original copyright period of 14 years with an extension of another 14 years by application of the individual original artist. To hell with 'international' conventions, be American.
#2
Slap some more tariffs on the plastic crap produced by slave labor in China that some of these companies import.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2022 13:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
DeSantis is a populist where Mitch McConnell is a corporatist except he is more of a kleptocrat. The big difference is the level of corruption as well as which master you serve: the people or special interest.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/09/2022 15:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Yup, thoroughly matches what I thought about business interests, and attempts by businesses to dominate Conservatives. We conservatives should make every effort to whip the likes of woke businesses - Disney - Big Tech - and their ilk back into shape.
I think all the Conservative Single Ladies, Mothers and Grandmothers should dress for the occasion (not unlike what the "pu--y girls" did against Trump) and lead the charge against the woke companies. As a shareholder (it only takes 1 share) they have the right to petition against the direction the publicly traded company is on, and the potential jeopardy and financial injury to the stockholders the company's polices may make to the bottom line.
(the graphic is but a suggestion, the less than subservient ladies might wear)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[PJMedia] Four economists at the Federal Reserve say the high rate of inflation in the United States compared to the rest of the world is due to the COVID-19 stimulus checks given to Americans during the pandemic. The direct payments to American citizens enlarged the money supply enormously and overheated the economy.
[ZeroHedge] Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have blocked a Republican-backed subpoena to compel Hunter Biden to testify as a witness.
...Her Excellency, the dictator of Michigan, 2020 Dem VP contender...
