Society's ChildS


Attention

Has the West lost Russia? 'European' identity is collapsing in the continent's largest country, with the youth leading the charge

Glenn Diesen
RT
Thu, 25 Mar 2021 09:53 UTC
Fireworks Spasskaya Tower
© SputnikFILE PHOTO. Fireworks illuminate the sky over the Spasskaya Tower during the New Year celebration in Moscow, Russia.
Russians have come to realise that the 'Europe' they earnestly sought to integrate with after the Soviet collapse no longer exists. The final 'divorce' between Moscow and the rest of the continent needs to be managed carefully.

It has been common to predict that Russia's post-Soviet generation would feel a closer affinity to the West and embrace a shared identity with Europe. All the West had to do was to wait out Vladimir Putin's period in power and the gravitational pull of the European identity would result in a more compliant Russia. However, polls demonstrate that Russians are rapidly shedding the European identity of their country, with youngsters leading the trend.

A generational shift towards a less European Russia

A recent poll by the Levada Center, a research group branded a 'foreign agent' by Moscow, revealed that only 29 percent of Russians consider Russia to be a European country, which represents a drastic decline from 52 percent in 2008. A generational shift is underway, as younger Russians lead the way in dismissing the European identity of their country, with those aged 18 to 24 polling at only 23 percent.
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NPC

The dubious origins of 'Long Covid' or post-Covid syndrome

Jeremy Devine
Wall Street Journal
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 18:36 UTC
Covid graphic
Echoes of chronic fatigue in the effort to blame the coronavirus for a host of questionable symptoms.

"Long Covid," or post-Covid syndrome, is an emerging condition that has attracted great media attention — and now federal funding. The National Institutes of Health last month announced a $115 billion initiative to research the "prolonged health consequences" of Covid-19 infection.

The topic deserves serious study. Some patients, particularly older ones with co-morbidities, do experience symptoms that outlast a coronavirus infection. But such symptoms can also be psychologically generated or caused by a physical illness unrelated to the prior infection. Long Covid is largely an invention of vocal patient activist groups. Legitimizing it with generous funding risks worsening the symptoms the NIH is hoping to treat.

The concept of long Covid has a highly unorthodox origin: online surveys produced by Body Politic, which launched in 2018 and describes itself atop its website's homepage as "a queer feminist wellness collective merging the personal and the political." In March 2020, the group's co-founders created the Body Politic Covid-19 Support Group, and as part of their mission of "cultivating patient led research," the organization coordinated a series of online surveys on persistent symptoms. Based on the results of these, Body Politic produced the first report on long Covid in May.

Comment: So a broad spectrum of symptoms alleged to exist in even non-verified cases of individuals with Covid-19 - called 'long covid' - is being promulgated by a self-described "queer feminist wellness collective"? This would seem to be taking the cult of victimhood to a whole other level.

This is unfortunate because it may not only help justify and conflate an ideology with a hystericized illness, but it is capable of misdirecting the growing numbers of individuals who legitimately suffer from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome - which has an entirely different set of causes.

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Bulb

A defense of the Great Barrington Declaration from its powerful critics

George Dance
Lockdown Sceptics
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00 UTC
Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya
Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya
The Great Barrington Declaration (GBD),1 under which thousands of scientists and medical practitioners have called for a end to lockdown policies, was drawn up last October 1st-4th, was announced on October 5th, and was already being denounced on October 6th. Over the next month, the GBD and its message were virtually buried beneath an "avalanche of scathing criticism condemning it as 'very dangerous, unscientific, unethical, total nonsense, dangerously flawed, conspiratorial and grotesque'. Among the critics were prominent role-players such as World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, British chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, and US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci".2 Defenders of the lockdown consensus released a counter-manifesto, the John Snow Memorandum,3 ironically named for epidemiology's most famous dissenter from a scientific consensus.

At the time I read everything I could on the topic and made copious notes, hoping to write my own perspective on the GBD. Long before I was in a position to do that, though, the debate had moved on, and I never had an opportunity to revisit the subject.

Comment: See also:

A contagion of hatred and hysteria: Oxford epidemiologist Prof. Sunetra Gupta tells how she's been intimidated and shamed for addressing lockdown with Great Barrington Declaration

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Blue Pill

Evanston, Illinois becomes first US city to pay reparations to black residents

Gabe Kaminsky
The Federalist
Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00 UTC
Evanston, Illinois
The Evanston, Illinois City Council on Monday approved funding for reparations to be given to the city's black residents over discrimination against their ancestors.

The plan was approved 8 to 1 and will distribute $400,000 to eligible black residents. In order to qualify, residents must provide proof that they have an ancestor who lived in Evanston between the years 1919 and 1969 who was discriminated against because of city ordinances, policies, or practices. Qualifying households will receive up to $25,000 to be put toward home repairs or property down payments.

The Evanston program was first proposed by Alderman Rue Simmons, the architect of the Evanston Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program and Program Budget. Simmons noted that the city is prepared for any legal challenges that might transpire.

"[We are] ready to provide pro bono legal defense to us in the event that we should have some sort of situation in court," Simmons noted after the meeting, aware of the controversial precedent his city is setting across the country.

Mayor Steve Hagerty says families will receive the reparations this summer, with potentially more funding as the years continue.

Comment: The reparations described above seem to be a cynical and deeply manipulative attempt to maneuver left-leaning states towards more dependence upon centralized control at the federal level. Don't miss:

Mass federalization: How Washington is bailing out failed states, decapitating competitive ones and ending America as you knew it

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Boat

Ice Age Farmer Report: Suez Canal Blocked: A "Worst Case Scenario for Global Trade"


Ice Age Farmer
Thu, 25 Mar 2021 19:55 UTC
container
The Suez Canal's blockage by a ship run aground is emblematic of the cascading failures in the global economy: a controlled demolition of all human activity is leading us into The Great Reset.


Sources
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Propaganda

Police must avoid cracking heads because of scrutiny from RT, top Scottish law official says in explosive new report on brutality


RT
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 08:44 UTC
Police officers in George Square in central Glasgow
© AFP / ANDY BUCHANANPolice officers staff a cordon as Rangers football fans celebrate in George Square in central Glasgow on March 7, 2021 after their first Scottish Premiership title for 10 years was confirmed.
Russia's meddling media is standing in the way of protesters getting truncheoned and tasered by officers, a new report from Scotland's police watchdog has said, warning that RT routinely reports on heavy handed crowd control.

John Scott QC, chairman of the independent advisory group on law enforcement during the coronavirus crisis, ruled that a decision by Police Scotland earlier this month to avoid confrontation with football fans flouting pandemic rules was proportionate and within the law. The force had come under fire from some politicians for standing on the sidelines while supporters of Rangers FC ignored social distancing measures and destroyed property.

Scott defended the tactics, citing evidence that "heavy handed policing can actually provoke crowd conflict," and warning that scenes of tough crackdowns by authorities could inflame tensions online and across society.

Comment: They probably want to cover the increased police brutality and general people's dissatisfaction from the imposed tyrannical measures with their favorite culprit - Russia. If something is not going as it should, just blame Russia.

Many other newspapers and TV stations have reported the same thing as RT. Similar articles appeared in France24, The Guardian, Aljazeera, and many other media, but nobody is criticizing them about their reporting.

See also:

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Biohazard

Ukrainian soldier dies after receiving Indian-made AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, as army warns against drawing 'premature conclusions'


RT
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 08:06 UTC
Ukrainian soldier and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
© Reuters / BENOIT TESSIER(L) Ukrainian soldier Inna Narozhnaya ️ Facebook ; (R) A vial of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Military medics in Ukraine have announced the death of a servicewoman who reportedly received a dose of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, which has been the subject of a fierce row over claims it may be linked to blood clots.

In a statement released on Tuesday night, the country's armed forces medical command issued a statement on Facebook claiming that an off-duty officer serving in a military unit in Odessa, in the south of the country, had received emergency care after losing consciousness.
"Military and civilian doctors carried out resuscitation measures at the scene," it stated, "but this was unfortunately unsuccessful." According to the statement, the soldier - named by local media on Wednesday as Inna Narozhnaya - had been serving in an anti-aircraft missile regiment on the Black Sea coast.

"In line with all protocols," the military doctors said, "the soldier received vaccination against Covid-19 by a mobile health team from the Odessa Health Department." According to local health service chiefs, the woman had no health complaints other than a history of hypertension. An autopsy will now take place, and the army officials warned public officials and the media "not to make premature conclusions about the circumstances of the soldier's death."
Reuters reported that this marks the first apparent inoculation-related death since Ukraine began its nationwide immunization campaign, having received 500,000 doses of Covishield, an Indian-made version of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Comment: The real data and real science tell us that the Covid-19 virus has a death rate not bigger than the regular seasonal flu. On the other side, the vaccines that should protect us from this virus are far more dangerous and lethal than the virus itself. The PTB is doing everything to force anyone to get these shots.

Some of the vaccines that are created with mRNA technology including the Astra Zeneca vaccine, cannot even be legally categorized as vaccines. They are just experimental gene therapy.

See also:

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Mr. Potato

Honk! Mexican researchers roll out nose-only COVID-19 mask to be worn while eating or talking

Brek Dumas
The Blaze
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 18:44 UTC
Mexico nose mask
Mexican scientist Gustavo Acosta Altamirano shows his new innovation, a nasal mask that goes under your regular COVID mask.
Researchers in Mexico have debuted a nose mask for people to wear in place of a full mask while consuming food or talking while around others, which they say reduces the risk of infection of COVID-19.

What are the details?

CBS News posted a video showing the masks being worn by a man and woman sharing a meal. The couple is seen removing masks that cover both their noses and mouths to reveal their nose-only masks underneath.

The pair proceed to eat food, take drinks, and chat with one another as they display the new product.


Apparently, the Mexican researchers weren't the first to come up with the idea. A year ago, Chinese medical workers were reportedly using a similar nose mask during meals due to the pandemic.
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Bulb

A film censor's role is to police art, NOT to tell parents and children what they should think on trans issues

Frank Furedi
RT
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 18:32 UTC
A Kid Like Jake
© IMDBClaire Danes, Jim Parsons, and Leo James Davis in A Kid Like Jake (2018)
The British Board of Film Classification has stepped into the trans debate by highlighting five films for families to watch and discuss. But it's not the job of an official censor to promote films that advocate certain ideologies.

Who would have imagined that, one day, that dreaded puritanical institution, the official censor, would assume the role of an educator?

Recently, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the body tasked with censoring and classifying the films released in the UK, announced that it has decided to get involved in educating parents on how to deal with one of the most controversial issues they face.

It has compiled a list of five movies that "explore transgender experiences" which it believes are fit for family discussions. It hopes that as a result of this initiative, it can prompt discussion on this sensitive topic between parents and their children. Although on its website the BBFC presents the initiative as an educational one, its real aim, however, is not so much to educate as to advocate.
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Stock Up

Defining inequality in the US so it can't be fixed - why more taxes aren't the solution

John H. Cochrane
johnhcochrane.blogspot.com
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 17:52 UTC
usa gini
© Phil Gramm and John Early in the Wall Street Journal
In one of their series of excellent WSJ essays, Phil Gramm and John Early notice that conventional income inequality numbers report the distribution of income before taxes and transfers. After taxes and transfers, income inequality is flat or decreasing, depending on your starting point.

If your game is to argue for more taxes and transfers to fix income inequality, that is a dandy subterfuge as no amount of taxing and transferring can ever improve the measured problem!

Now facts are facts, and this one has a good progressive interpretation: But for our sharply progressive tax system and benefits, untrammeled capitalism would have led to sharply increased inequality. The numbers don't argue for more redistribution, but they are consistent with a narrative that only our current large redistribution saved us from the top two lines.

Gramm and Early offer a sentence on this worth pausing to think about:
As government transfer payments to low-income households exploded, their labor-force participation collapsed and the percentage of income in the bottom quintile coming from government payments rose above 90%.
A major force behind the pre-tax and pre-transfer numbers is the fall in labor force participation among people experiencing low income. It is not entirely impossible that some causality runs from larger means-tested benefits -- earn a dollar lose a dollar worth of benefits -- to withdrawing from the workforce, rather than the other way around.

The second clause is enlightening. People experiencing income in the bottom fifth of the US population get 90% of their income from the government.
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