Best of the Web:


Che Guevara

Best of the Web: The Reaction of the Left to Lockdown

Darren Allen
expressiveegg.org
Wed, 12 Aug 2020 12:03 UTC
In April I wrote a postscript to my critique of the 'unofficial left' (David Graeber, Noam Chomsky, Media Lens, etc.), criticising their non-response to the already highly suspicious coronavirus narrative. Things have moved on — now into the past tense — so here is the same summary, now updated and revised.
protest covid-19 germany
Solidarity with the international working class is 'on hold' for the duration of 'the Covid-19 Pandemic'. In fact, anyone from said working class questioning the basis for lockdown measures is a tinfoil hat-wearing flat-earther agent for Big Capitalism.
A deadly pandemic, we are told, swept across the planet, forcing governments to massively enhance state and police power, lock everyone up in their homes and bork the economy. National governments, transnational institutions and all media outlets were of one voice. Panic. We just had to put millions and millions of people out of work then shut them up in a heavily policed panic room. Anyone unable to perceive the foundations of the unofficial left might imagine that they would have interrogated this extraordinary situation, that they would have critically appraised official accounts of the severity of the 'pandemic', that they would have asked themselves what the likely effects might be of putting so many people out of work; or that it would have been the perfect time for 'radicals' to seriously question the functioning of the system, to explore wider questions about its stability and to critically investigate vested interests; perhaps also take a look at the universal denial of death and how easily people can be manipulated by playing on their fears, or even explore the possibilities for genuine revolt as the economy contracted. They would have been disappointed.

What was the response of the unofficial socialists mentioned in the original article? Did they criticise the official story? Did they ask if anything else might have been motivating their leaders than altruistic concern for human life? Did they question the extraordinarily repressive measures governments have taken to contain the problem? Did they question official figures (or even looked at them — many were surprisingly frank)? Did they take a second look at other epidemics and pandemics (such as the flu pandemics of 57 and 68: each of which were twice as deadly as C-19), or at deaths from influenza under normal conditions (around half a million a year — about the same as C-19), or at deaths from other similar illnesses, like pneumonia? Did they sound any alarm bells about rather suspicious proposed solutions such as an express vaccine, contact-tracing and so forth? Did any of these people ask any seriously critical, or even very interesting, questions? The answer to all of these questions was an almost entirely predictable no. Every man jack of them fell straight into line. Jonathan Cook peeped his head about the parapet for a split-second, spiritual astronaut Caitlin Johnstone asked one or two questions on peripheral matters before concluding that she finds 'the whole thing ultimately irrelevant and boring', XR started rubbing their hands, Afshin Rattansi vaguely gestured towards a few sceptical RT pieces and Paul Kingsnorth sat in a barley field and stared majestically into the sunset. But that was pretty much it.

Comment: What surprised us more was the lack of questions being asked on ostensibly 'non-aligned', 'alternative media', 'conspiracy theory' websites. Natural News, InfoWars, Zero Hedge, The Unz Review... they all just ate up everything the govt fed them, not a firing neuron between them.

Read More...
Black Magic

Best of the Web: Professor of Bioethics: 'Induce compliance from Covid-19 defectors by subjecting them to moral enhancement via water supply'

Parker Crutchfield
The Conversation
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 10:37 UTC
protest covid-19 usa
COVID-19 is a collective risk. It threatens everyone, and we all must cooperate to lower the chance that the coronavirus harms any one individual. Among other things, that means keeping safe social distances and wearing masks. But many people choose not to do these things, making spread of infection more likely.


Comment: Social distancing and wearing facemasks have no proven impact on the reduction of viral transmission, particularly for coronaviruses and other highly contagious viruses that cause the common cold and influenza-like illnesses.


When someone chooses not to follow public health guidelines around the coronavirus, they're defecting from the public good. It's the moral equivalent of the tragedy of the commons: If everyone shares the same pasture for their individual flocks, some people are going to graze their animals longer, or let them eat more than their fair share, ruining the commons in the process. Selfish and self-defeating behavior undermines the pursuit of something from which everyone can benefit.


Comment: Indeed, and what could be more selfish and self-defeating than trashing people's lives to pursue an aim that is impossible to achieve?


Democratically enacted enforceable rules - mandating things like mask wearing and social distancing - might work, if defectors could be coerced into adhering to them. But not all states have opted to pass them or to enforce the rules that are in place.


Comment: Not a single 'rule', 'law' or 'recommendation' on Covid-19 was democratically enacted. All of it is constitutionally illegal.


My research in bioethics focuses on questions like how to induce those who are noncooperative to get on board with doing what's best for the public good. To me, it seems the problem of coronavirus defectors could be solved by moral enhancement: like receiving a vaccine to beef up your immune system, people could take a substance to boost their cooperative, pro-social behavior. Could a psychoactive pill be the solution to the pandemic?


Comment: Ironically, that's most likely what the 'gain-of-function' SARS-Cov-2 virus was meant to be; a virus that would 'improve' the population's DNA by making people more compliant. But it apparently backfired, causing the system managers to freak out and irrationally 'lock it all down'.


It's a far-out proposal that's bound to be controversial, but one I believe is worth at least considering, given the importance of social cooperation in the struggle to get COVID-19 under control.

Comment: And there you have it. This 'top thinker' from among their 'side' or 'type' just articulated exactly what is going on here. His genius plan may not literally be in effect ('morality pills'), but elements of it certainly are, and, in toto, it is metaphorically or energetically in effect - and has been for some time, i.e. since pre-Covid-19. One thing that comes to mind is the fluoridation of the water supply, something that has been implemented globally, to varying degrees, since WW2.

How does someone in his position - someone who we have no reason to doubt ostensibly lives 'a normal life' and who 'means well' - come up with such a psychopathic, anti-human scheme?

Our best guess is that, like the scientists working for the secret consortium who took a coronavirus and genetically tweaked it to 'improve human DNA' then introduced it to the general population by using US soldiers as guinea pigs, his own DNA is 'antenna-aligned' to the same or similar 'sources of inspiration' in the Information Field. He's able to conceive 'solutions' like he proposes above because that's the sort of thing 'like-minded' people are actively conceiving and doing all the time.

At each stage, when things backfire, they double-down and intensify their efforts to 'make better people, for a better world', completely oblivious to their role in producing increasing numbers of brain-disordered and character-disturbed people.

Read More...
Attention

Best of the Web: Putin and Russia face a very serious crisis in Belarus

The Saker
The Unz Review
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:19 UTC
belarus flag Lukashenko
© Unz Review
Some of my longtime readers might have noticed that I rarely (if ever!) wrote about Belarus or President Lukashenko. As always with the blog, there is a reason for why I do mention something and no less a reason why I do not mention something. In the case of Belarus or Lukashenko, my reason for not writing about them was the exactly why I never wrote about the Ukraine before 2013: I was both uninspired and mostly disgusted with what I saw taking place there. And I did not feel strongly enough to write about it. That changed for the Ukraine with the Euromaidan.

Now the events in Belarus force me to address this very unpleasant topic: Belarus is facing a complex and dangerous situation which might well result in a major crisis inside Belarus and even a loss of sovereignty. But first, before we look into what just happened, let me begin with a quick "mini-primer" about Belarus. Here is what I think everybody ought to know about this country:

Comment: And yet, for all his failings, Lukashenko refused to sell his country down the Covid-hoax river:

Alexandr Lukashenko, a president with scruples
While Russian deaths started rising to US, UK elevations, its near neighbour Belarus was containing COVID-19 in the way I was expecting Russia to have done, the way South Korea was still doing. The most likely reason for the Russian policy change has only come to light within the last week or two. Tyler Durden posted an article in GreatGameIndia.com which showed that the Belarus president, Alexandr Lukashenko, had been offered a bribe to adopt the same measures Italy had adopted - that is lockdown, curfews, masks and other severe restrictions.

In an act of integrity rarely found in world leaders Lukashenko refused the bribe.

Africa, which has had a very low infection and death-rate from COVID-19, has likewise had several of its countries targeted by multi-billion cash-cows - WHO and Bill Gates - which pretty well amounts to Bill Gates since he is one of the biggest donors to WHO. African countries which have been offered bribes include Tanzania, Burundi and Madagascar. It can hardly be assumed they are alone.

Meanwhile in Belarus life has gone on as normal. Football spectators have continued to go to matches and the season is in full swing with cup matches currently being played. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council a few companies have encouraged employees to work from home.


Read More...
Handcuffs

Flashback Best of the Web: Kamala Harris is an oligarch's wet dream

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:09 UTC
kamala harris
California Senator Kamala Harris won the Democratic presidential debate last night. It was not a close contest. She will win every debate she enters during this election cycle. If she becomes the nominee, she will win every debate with Trump.

Night two of the debates was just as vapid and ridiculous as night one. Candidates interrupted and talked over each other a lot, questions about foreign policy were avoided like the plague to prevent NBC viewers from thinking critically about the mechanics of empire, and Eric Swalwell kept talking despite everyone in the universe desperately wanting him not to. Buttigieg and Gillibrand did alright, Bernie played the same note he's been playing for decades, and everyone was reminded how bad Joe Biden is at talking and thinking.

Biden has been treated kindly by polls and regarded as a "frontrunner" in this race exclusively because for the last decade he hasn't had to do anything other than be associated with Barack Obama. Now that he's had to step out of that insulated role and interact with reality again, everyone's seeing the same old garbage right-wing Democrat who sucks at making himself look appealing just as badly as he did in his last two presidential campaigns. By the end of the night, even Michael Bennet was slapping him around.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Cross

Best of the Web: What we can learn from the Swedish paradox

Freddie Sayers
UnHerd
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 20:54 UTC
stockholm
© Getty ImagesThe summer houses of the Stockholm archipelago offer a vision of the Good Life, Swedish style
I am writing this from the water's edge on one of the 24,000 islands of the Stockholm archipelago. It's a lovely summers day, boats are coming in and out of the little harbour and the restaurant is doing a busy trade. Across the sound, the rocks slope straight into the sea and are dotted with summer houses.

The homes are not divided by fences, but sit at a respectful distance from each other, never in a row but each positioned in a particular spot of the owner's choosing; there's a harmony of style which still leaves room for individuation — some houses are yellow, some red, some slightly more modern, some slightly more traditional, but each adorned with a well-kept garden, a boat-house and pier, and of course a Swedish flag. It's a vision of the Good Life, Swedish-style.

Since its lockdown-free response to Covid-19, Sweden has suddenly found itself the pin-up nation for libertarians worldwide, who see in its more laissez-faire response a defence of individual freedom and self-governance above all else. But Sweden is not a libertarian society — far from it; in reality, they are sticklers for the rules. Try putting decking on the seaside edge of your garden, or buying alcohol from anywhere other than the state monopoly — you will be met with restrictions that would be unthinkable in either Britain or the United States.

Comment: Interesting essay, and a good effort by the author to explain why Sweden didn't 'go Nazi' over Covid-19.

It falls short, in our view, because the usual categories of language and philosophy cannot account for it.

Sweden is culturally similar to the other Nordic countries, yet those underwent lockdowns. So the answer is more likely to be found by assessing the degree to which a country's elite class is 'ponerized' (overcome with pathological ideological material and/or actual psychopaths and other character-disturbed people). It's known why Denmark, for example, went into lockdown. The prime minister there received 'advice' (probably understood by her as 'orders') from an unknown consortium or group not connected to her own national government, and she followed this 'advice' to the letter - against the recommendations of her own health department.

For whatever reasons, and assuming it received a similar or the same 'memo-from-the-top', the Swedish government rejected most of that same 'advice'.

Sweden, despite sounding like it was 'libtard left' all these years, turns out to be one of the few western countries still - for the most part - 'ruled by normal people and common sense'. That's fundamentally why there is harmony between the rulers and the ruled in Sweden, with respect to Covid-19 anyway.

That the author had to resort to citing a mix of both 'true liberal-left spirit' and Christian socio-cultural underpinnings to account for Sweden's freedom only underpins the fact that that country is apparently not (yet) 'as psychopathic as' other western countries, where the 'true liberal-left spirit' is implacably opposed to anything smacking of 'traditional Christian values'...

Read More...
Pirates

Best of the Web: Blacks go on the rampage in Chicago, looting hundreds of stores to 'avenge' gangster who shot at police

David Krayden
Daily Caller
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:29 UTC
officer outside of looted Best Buy store
© Scott Olson/Getty ImagesA Police officer inspects a damaged Best Buy store after parts of the city had widespread looting and vandalism, on August 10, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. Police made several arrests during the night of unrest and recovered at least one firearm.
Many rioters and looters took to the streets of Chicago early Monday, according to multiple reports, breaking into upscale stores after a man was reportedly hit during a shootout with Chicago police.

The police remain on the scene Monday morning after rioters smashed windows and burned vehicles, according to Newsweek.

Many on social media captured imagery of the mayhem as violence again exploded in Chicago following an incident with police and an assailant.

Reporter Ian Miles Cheong shared video of the apparent looting.

Comment: That's the mayor of Chicago saying that! No wonder 'her people' are completely out-of-control.



Lightfoot dragged her feet when it came to addressing one of if not the most pressing issue facing her city over the weekend, but she was Johnny-on-the-spot to call out beach-goers for daring to do something as harmless as going to the beach and not 'social distance' themselves:
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been excoriated for the city's belated response to an outbreak of looting, shooting and chaos that followed a police-involved shooting. The city was quick to shut down beach access, however.

Lightfoot belatedly condemned the looters during a press conference on Monday, urging prosecutors to "put their best people" on the task of rounding up those behind the violence that left 13 police officers injured over the course of a single night.

"There is no justification for criminal behavior ever," Lightfoot said, adding, "You have no right to take and destroy the property of others."

However, she made a point of distinguishing between "the righteous uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd" in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Memorial Day - an event that also triggered outbreaks of violence and looting in cities across the US, including Chicago - and the weekend's violence, which she called "abject criminal behavior."

Lightfoot also lambasted judges and prosecutors who allow criminals to "cycle through the system," a longstanding problem she seems to have only now discovered.
We can't allow...people to believe there is no accountability in our criminal justice system.
Some 100 people were arrested for looting, which reportedly began in the downtown Loop area before spreading to neighborhoods from Lincoln Park to the Gold Coast. There were a total of 31 shootings and three murders over the course of the weekend, according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, who also spoke at the presser.

"Criminals took to the streets with the confidence that there would be no consequence for their actions," Brown lamented, pledging that a special team of detectives had been assigned the task of implementing a "multi-layered plan" to crack down on the violence "which will be based on lessons we've learned from earlier this summer."

Chicago residents were quick to point out that Lightfoot and the city government had wasted no time shutting down access to beaches and lakes earlier that weekend and condemning the "reckless behavior" of locals trying to enjoy the water peacefully.





Read More...
Star of David

Flashback Best of the Web: Why an Israeli newspaper wanted to 'flatten' a city of millions - Beirut

Asa Winstanley
Global Research
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Moshe Yaalon
© ReutersFormer Israeli DM Moshe Yaalon
Earlier this month Haaretz, Israel's influential liberal daily, published a blood-curdling article. It openly argued for war crimes on a massive scale against the civilian population of a neighbouring Arab state.

"Should Israel Flatten Beirut to Destroy Hezbollah's Missiles?" the article's headline mused. It was written by Amitai Etzioni, a professor of international relations at George Washington University. He was also a member of the Palmach, a unit in one pre-state Zionist terrorist group, a forerunner of the Israeli military. He participated in the Nakba (or Catastrophe), Israel's 1948 ethnic cleansing of some 750,000 Palestinians.

After criticism by the journalist Belén Fernández, Etzioni later got Haaretz to edit the online version of the story, so that it now has a slightly less aggressive headline (but not before copies of the original were made).

But the substance of the article is still the same: this esteemed professor advocates the use of a weapon that "flattens all buildings within a considerable range" on Beirut, a city of some 2 million people. "There are going to be civilian casualties," he threatens;

Comment: Yaalon was brash enough to spread his venom, but at the end of the day, Israel is prepared to do all he said...and more.

Read More...
Caesar

Best of the Web: Alexandr Lukashenko, a president with scruples

John Goss
OffGuardian
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Alexandr Lukashenko
© picture-alliance/dpa/BelTA/N. PetrovBelarus President Alexandr Lukashenko
One day at the beginning of April this year I had an awakening. It dawned on me that Russia had been leaned upon to change its policy regarding COVID-19. By that time the virus had spread through the UK like wildfire and was reaching its peak whereas in Russia there had been few infections and very few deaths.

It disturbed me that Russia Today (RT), a favoured TV channel, had changed course. It had always been a safe harbour in which to dock alternative viewpoints and seek solace from the lies and dogma of our own major news broadcasters. With the exception of events of 9/11 Russia Today seemed to offer a refreshing and often incisively critical insight into world affairs, throwing new light on the Skripal affair and the alleged chemical attacks in Syria, among other worthy reporting.

When the viral spread of SARS-COV-2 hit the west, forcing lockdowns and facial masks, RT was praising Russia's efforts in controlling the spread and keeping deaths to a minimum. By all measures it looked like Russia had bucked the trend and everything was under control. Suddenly all that changed. News readers, regular anchors and reporters were pushing a totally different message. In essence the coronavirus rhetoric had gone east. Accompanying footage suddenly contained repetitive images of people wearing masks and RT's UK viewers were being advised to follow the guidelines on lockdown for our own safety and the safety of others. I might just as well have been watching the BBC.

Comment: It did appear that Russia changed Covid horses in mid-stream and questions arose regarding its abrupt turn. With its a-typical response to Covid-19 indoctrination and protocols, Belarus increased our understanding of the 'pandemic' along with the nature and agenda of the forces behind it.

See also:

Read More...
Fire

Best of the Web: The Long, Hot Summer of 1967: A Forgotten Season of Riots and Urban Unrest Across America

Sam Jacobs
Ammo.com
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 03:29 UTC
new jersey riots newark 1968 national guard
The NJ National Guard, with bayonets fixed on guns sent to quell riots in Newark
A forgotten season of riots and urban unrest across America

The Book of Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun. And while many have spoken of the "unprecedented" nature of the rioting in the early summer of 2020, it is actually quite precedented.

The Long, Hot Summer of 1967 was the peak of urban unrest and rioting in the United States in the lead up to the 1968 election. While there are certainly a number of key differences, there are also a number of striking parallels that make the topic worthy of discussion and examination.

The long-term impact of the urban unrest of the summer of 2020 is unclear, but the long-term impact of the Long, Hot Summer of 1967 and related urban rioting was a victory for Richard Nixon in 1968, and a landslide re-election in 1972. One must resist the temptation to make mechanistic comparisons between the two, and we will refrain from doing so here. But the reader is encouraged to look for connections between these events and more recent ones.
Read More...
Vader

Best of the Web: EXPOSED: World Bank coronavirus aid comes with conditions for imposing extreme lockdown, reveals Belarus president


greatgameindia.com
Mon, 27 Jul 2020 04:30 UTC
Aleksandr Lukashenko
Aleksandr Lukashenko
Huge foreign loans are given to sovereign nations by the World Bank, IMF and the likes. But the conditions that come attached to these loans are seldom told by governments to their citizens. A recent case in Belarus has exposed the conditions laid by these agencies for loans being provided for COVID-19. The President of Belarus has exposed that the World Bank coronavirus aid comes with conditions for imposing extreme lockdown measures, to model their coronavirus response on that of Italy and even changes in the economic policies which he refused as being "unacceptable".

Additional conditions which do not apply to the financial part are unacceptable for Belarus, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said when speaking about external lending during a meeting to discuss support measures for the real economic sector on the part of the banking system, reported Belarusian Telegraph Agency, BelTA.
Read More...