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The New Neo Posted on by

Here we go again:

(1) Israel lets Iran know that it is able to toy with its nuclear program – at least for now. Israel realizes that Joe Biden and company are not going to protect it but are instead more inclined to continue Obama’s previous efforts to enable Iran, and so Israel took matters into its own hands and damaged Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz and in particular some new centrifuges Iran had proudly unveiled in a ceremony about a day before.

The attack seems to have been of the cyber variety, apparently causing a fire or minor explosion that did the damage. However, reporting is murky – and of course that AP article I just linked is all worried that Israel’s action will hurt the Biden administration’s talks with Iran. Apparently there was an attack of some sort at the same facility back in July. It seems that there are some Israeli confederates working there. Or some advanced hacking into the computers that operate the place. Or both.

(2) Rush Limbaugh’s longtime sidekick Bo Snerdley (real name: James Golden) has started a PAC called New Journey. Here’s what he’s trying to do: “Our purpose is the realignment of the Black American vote with candidates and issues that support conservative values and by consequence, help the black community.” Golden is black, by the way.

(3) A black man is shot by police in a town near Minneapolis. His family tells one story (he was stopped because of air fresheners in his car) and the police another (he had an outstanding warrant, resisted arrest, and sped away, endangering others in the process), and riots ensue. I am going to go out on a limb and say that if there’s a videocam for the incident, it most likely won’t back up the family’s story.

UPDATE 10:40 PM: The police bodycam shows that the dead man, Duante Wright, was indeed wanted for illegal gun possession and resisting arrest when a female police officer intending to tase him pulled out her gun instead by mistake and shot him. Terrible situation, but seems to be negligence on her part rather than anything else.

(4) The people who make Clorox wipes probably won’t like this, although they’ve certainly had a good run. It may be the finale for COVID surface hygiene theater:

The principal mode by which people are infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is through exposure to respiratory droplets carrying infectious virus. It is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low.

But because the CDC never, never ever ever, wants us to relax, it hedges:

However, it is not clear what proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections are acquired through surface transmission. There have been few reports of COVID-19 cases potentially attributed to fomite transmission. Infections can often be attributed to multiple transmission pathways. Fomite transmission is difficult to prove definitively, in part because respiratory transmission from asymptomatic people cannot be ruled out. Case reports indicate that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted between people by touching surfaces an ill person has recently coughed or sneezed on, and then directly touching the mouth, nose, or eyes. Hand hygiene is a barrier to fomite transmission and has been associated with lower risk of infection.

Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) studies have been conducted to understand and characterize the relative risk of SARS-CoV-2 fomite transmission and evaluate the need for and effectiveness of prevention measures to reduce risk. Findings of these studies suggest that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection via the fomite transmission route is low, and generally less than 1 in 10,000, which means that each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection

Etc. etc. at the link.

Comments

Roundup — 34 Comments

  1. Not believing it. There are places you put your hand in public areas which are there for people’s hands. Door handles, stair rails. Your Stuff from your mask is on your hands when you adjust your mask and then refreshed by warm, moist exhalations. And the next person comes along in maybe three minutes.

    Nope. But without wiping surfaces, case counts will go up, thus cutting the assumed effectiveness of masks.

  2. Well, waddyaknow, there is body-cam video of that flustercuck up near Minneapolis, (what is with those people anyway, do they specialize in botched arrests of dusky-hued suspects?) and it establishes that the perp, er, I mean the deceased suspect was being arrested on an outstanding warrant for… wait for it… RESISTING ARREST/UNLAWFUL FLIGHT AND ILLEGAL GUN POSSESSION! But just as he was getting cuffed and stuffed, he took advantage of the complete and total lapse of professionalism on the part of the FEMALE arresting officer, and was scuttling back behind the wheel of his car to flee arrest again when… and here is the real kicker… the female cop shot him with the gun she was holding in her left hand instead of the taser she “thought” she had pulled on him (at least, that’s her story and she’s stickin’ to it, so far.)

  3. Benjamin Netanyahu is the Winston Churchill of our time without Churchill’s military incompetence.

  4. Israel lets Iran know that it is able to toy with its nuclear program – at least for now. Israel realizes that Joe Biden and company are not going to protect it but are instead more inclined to continue Obama’s previous efforts to enable Iran,

    The Biden Administration will condemn Israel’s damage to Iran’s supposedly nonexistent nuclear arms program.

    One thing for sure, Biden’s kowtowing to Iran won’t enhance any US attempts at stopping Israeli action against Iran. The American veto has no effect when an American administration enables Israel’s enemies. IIRC, I had read that Bush on occasion did veto some proposed Israeli actions.

  5. I actively dread reading the news these days. I can’t really remember when there was any truly good news. More sensless riots. More and more idiotic behavoir from our rulers. More and more hatred of normal people by the elites. More restricitions and less and less freedom every day. Everything is awful and only getting worse.

  6. In the coverage of riots there’s an obligatory shot of a guy, shirt off, arms raised, standing on top of a cop car. Do the photographers arrange this, or is it always the same guy? Could this be a modeling career for somebody?

  7. Nonapod,

    Yep, I’m with you as we wait to hear from our King today on whether our county gets moved back because of ‘cases, cases, cases’ it’s so tiring and demoralizing.

    I will say that a couple of left wing radio hosts in Seattle have begun criticizing the King for his threats to move some counties back closer to lockdown again which is interesting.

  8. Yes Steve, I just watched the video. A confusing scene. I wonder why the big Black Officer did not complete the handcuffing action he was taking.
    Narrative is out – innocent Black man killed by White officer while he was doing no wrong.

  9. AP article I just linked is all worried that Israel’s action will hurt the Biden administration’s talks with Iran.

    That is the entire point of the attack.. AP is clueless.

  10. Masks aren’t effective, lockdowns don’t work, and surface transmission is not a real risk. Vaccination does work and those that have had the virus are immune.

    Why aren’t all the government mandated and recommended restrictions rescinded?

    Powerline headlines its coverage of the issue in MN: “Shit! I shot him!”. Says it was the female officer, doesn’t identify her race.

  11. “…hurt…”

    Nothing will hurt the “Biden” administration’s talks with Iran.

    Simply because there is nothing to talk about. They’re all on the same page

    Simply because the “Biden” administration has already made up its mind (in 2008, actually) and is dead set on implementing its “plan”.

    Oh, they’ll “talk” all right, but it’ll be pure theater. The only question is how theatrical the “talks” will be and at what point implementation begins. (Hint: It’s already begun.)

    IOW how many “talks” will take place and for how long (it’s all smoke and mirrors, anyway), and how “recalcitrant” Iran will be (as “recalcitrant” as the last time, no dobt), so that in the interest of Middle East Peace(TM) and World Peace(TM), “we’ll just have to give them what they want” (AKA—sotto voce—“what we agreed to give them in any event”).

    AND IF YOU DON’T AGREE—IF YOU HAVE ANY MISGIVINGS—YOU’RE A WARMONGER!!

    (Gosh, now that rings a bell, yes it does….)

    File under: “This administration is involved in tough, complex and delicate negotiations with Iran because we MUST go—we will ALWAYS go—that extra mile for peace, yadda, yadda… And we will talk for as long as it takes, yadda, yadda, yadda…. But then you know that…of course…”

  12. @steve 3:18pm: Thanks for that summary. Makes me wonder … why did anyone ever think it was acceptable for a female officer to handcuff anyone, much less a 20-year-old male?

    Strength, strong legs and core, height, all of these are huge advantages in such a situation, and the vast majority of females do not possess them. Nor do they pretend to. It’s the people who set them up for failure in these situations who apparently believe physical reality is suspended when a female puts on a police uniform.

    People who implement idiotic policies ought to be accountable for them. But large segments of our culture would rather pretend this policy is reasonable, and not dangerous to both the officer and the subject.

    This is insanity.

  13. And our idiot governor punishes three counties by pushing us back for three weeks. There are currently something like 60 people hospitalized in a county of 800,000 people. This will never end in blue states.

  14. Immediately after Neo’s quoted section from the CDC we have,

    Some studies estimated exposure risks primarily using outdoor environmental SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantification data. They noted that their QMRA estimates are subject to uncertainty that can be reduced with additional data to improve the accuracy and precision of information that is entered into the models.[??] Concentrations of infectious SARS-CoV-2 on outdoor surfaces could be expected to be lower than indoor surfaces because of air dilution and movement, as well as harsher environmental conditions, such as sunlight. One QMRA study also evaluated the effectiveness of prevention measures that reduce the risk of fomite transmission and found that hand hygiene could substantially reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from contaminated surfaces, while surface disinfection once- or twice-per-day had little impact on reducing estimated risks.

    Well, we knew that all outdoor transmission is very low, excluding mosh pits at a rave, or mostly peaceful demonstrations with BLM and Antifa. So why focus on outdoors, when the known action is indoors?

    Then we have this:

    Surface disinfection has been shown to be effective for preventing secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between an infected person and other people within households. However, there is little scientific support for routine use of disinfectants in community settings, whether indoor or outdoor, to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission from fomites.

    Because an infected person sitting in a dentist’s waiting room is so radically different than an infected person sitting in your home??
    In conclusion:

    In most situations, cleaning surfaces using soap or detergent, and not disinfecting, is enough to reduce risk. Disinfection is recommended in indoor community settings where there has been a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 within the last 24 hours.

    It strikes me that there may have been a few different people with differing agendas writing that document.

  16. Steve,

    Dusky-hued people aren’t the only ones they shoot in Minneapolis. I don’t know if you’re familiar with what happened to Justine Damond a few years ago, but it was a Minneapolis cop that shot and killed her.

    Of course, no one was trying to arrest her at the time, and she was in fact the person who called the cops in the first place.

  17. Justine Damons (RIP) was shot by a dusky-hued person, a Somali-American, as was Ashli Babbitt (RIP). Riots didn’t follow Justine’s death for some reason or another, it’s a profound mystery. But Ashli was executed during an insurrection or so I’ve been told.

  18. in re (1) yeah, that’s what Israel does best, even when distracted with truly zany elections.

    IMO, the entire JCPOA pretense should have been shredded when Israel heisted the Iranian nuclear program archive in April 2018, showing that they never stopped, never intended to stop, and never will stop, regardless of any “agreement” (which they never even signed in 2015).
    https://www.businessinsider.com/how-did-mossad-steal-thousands-of-nuclear-documents-from-iran-2018-5?op=1

    Netanyahu said that stash was made up of 55,000 pages of documents and another 55,000 files stored on 183 CDs. He said the haul collectively weighed half a ton.

    Netanyahu didn’t confirm how Mossad, known for its stealthy missions, obtained the material, but did say they had been stored in “a dilapidated warehouse.”

    “Few Iranians knew where it was — very few,” Netanyahu said.

    And now more details on the Iran mission have since emerged. A senior Israeli official told The New York Times that Mossad first discovered the unnamed warehouse in Tehran in February 2016, and began its surveillance from there.

    The official also claimed that Mossad agents broke into the building one night this past January, took the 110,000 documents, and returned them to Israel that same night.

    Senior Israeli sources told Israel’s Channel 10 News that Iran chose the nondescript warehouse because it was trying to conceal over a decade of evidence of its nuclear activity from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

    Over 100 people were reportedly involved in the planning and execution of the operation. Officials said they could not physically take the entire archive of documents from the warehouse because they were “heavy.”

    FWIW, my search results for that incident showed that most of the top stories at the time, from Democrat outlets, headlined the key words “Israel says” or “Israel claims” along with my favorite from a blogger named Gareth Porter: “With apparently fabricated nuclear documents, Netanyahu …”
    https://thegrayzone.com/2020/04/29/fabricated-nuclear-documents-netanyahu-war-iran/
    “This investigation found multiple indications that the story of Mossad’s heist of 50,000 pages of secret nuclear files from Tehran was very likely an elaborate fiction and that the documents were fabricated by the Mossad itself. ”

    I’m not saying we have to accept Israel’s word for everything, but the “questions” Porter raises are primarily speculation about what Mossad would or wouldn’t do, claims about inconsistencies of the document markings with Iran’s normal bureaucratic procedures, or complaints about Israel not turning over the originals for examination by IAEA, just copies.

    (Hmm, nobody on the Democrat side thinks that last position is at all suspicious when applied to contested ballots – in the which case, the images would not at all address the claims about the original ballots being unfolded and machine-marked.)

    Which isn’t necessarily to say Porter is wrong, but all conspiracies & counter-conspiracies look alike to those of us on the outside.

    Additionally, the doubts that even Mossad could pull off something like that should have been trashed by the operation they unquestionably did successfully complete, which took out the guy who figured heavily in the heisted docs:

    https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/israeli-spies-killed-iranian-scientist-with-1-ton-weapon-report/

    Iran’s chief nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated by a team of Israeli spies who used a 1-ton, remote-controlled machine gun that had been smuggled into the country in pieces, according to a new report.

    The team of over 20 Mossad agents, some of whom were Iranian nationals, spent eight months gathering surveillance and planning the hit before the weapon pumped 13 bullets into Fakhrizadeh on Nov. 27 as he was driven from Tehran to his residence, London’s Jewish Chronicle reported.

    The Mossad national intelligence agency is Israel’s feared counterpart of the CIA.

    The gun was so accurate that neither the 59-year-old’s wife nor any of his 12 bodyguards were hurt in the attack in Absard, according to the outlet, which reported that the weapon was fired remotely from a Nissan pickup.

    The heavy gun also included a bomb, which destroyed the evidence after the strike, according to the Chronicle, which reported that the assassination was carried out by Israel alone with US involvement.

    This is a good write-up on the documents themselves.
    https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/iran-s-nuclear-archive

    And this is the Current Events hook.
    https://www.israel365news.com/189010/israel-reveals-it-has-the-ability-to-completely-destroy-irans-nuclear-plan/

  19. Are we tired of living a lie yet??? I most certainly am. Time for major pushback!

  20. Nonapod,

    A lot to be depressed about, but for me, the worst is the heavy, political hammer so many major corporations are now wielding. We have Presidential elections every four years. Where do I go to elect a new soft drink or airline? Especially if all my options are in lockstep?

  21. Where do I go to elect a new soft drink or airline?

    Of course the only thing we can do is not buy the products or services. That takes determination and I do try.

    But think of it. When you vote you get “one” vote. If we don’t buy “one product it works the same kinda.

    And like voting it has to be done in mass. Politicians will give you lip service but I do believe corporations will change if you get DEEP enough in the bottom line.

  22. Where do I go to elect a new soft drink or airline?

    I can’t recall the last time I purchased a Coke. In looking at the brands that Coca-Cola sells, I likewise don’t believe I have purchased any. As I am already boycotting Coca-Cola, for flavor and value reasons, my boycott of Coca-Cola for political reasons would have no effect on Coca-Cola’s bottom line.

    I used to be in charge of food and drinks for a monthly meeting, but I purchased Dr Pepper or supermarket brand drinks. Flavor, not politics.

    I hardly ever fly, though I did take Delta five years ago.

  23. In re (1)
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/04/israel-conducts-successful-cyber-attack-on-iranian-nuclear-facility.php

    Democratic administrations, and even an occasional Republican one, tend to view Israel as an obstacle to whatever they are trying to accomplish at the moment. Typically, they want Israel to stand quietly on the sidelines while America, posing as the adult, makes all manner of concessions.

    The attack on the Natanz facility shows that, at least as long as Netanyahu is in charge, Israel will not be sidelined, regardless of how eloquently Biden’s officials pledge to take care of their ally. Rather, Israel will continue to thwart, as best it can, Iran’s nuclear designs.

  25. “Where do I go to elect a new soft drink or airline? Especially if all my options are in lockstep?” – Rufus
    Rufus & Gringo – looks like we can add to the list of companies to boycott.

    https://notthebee.com/article/over-100-woke-corporate-execs-held-a-meeting-this-weekend-to-keep-conservative-politicians-from-getting-donations-if-they-support-voter-id-laws

    “Could you imagine if companies actually took a stand like this against China, Iran, or any other despotic regime?

    They’re all hypocrites, but as long as they stay powerful and rich, what do they care?
    …
    While they’re planning to go woke and go broke, you might want to put on your thinking cap.

    There may soon be tens of millions of new customers looking for soft drink companies, airlines, and banks that don’t hate their guts.”

  26. In re-ish (4) “because the CDC never, never ever ever, wants us to relax”
    https://notthebee.com/article/what-would-dr-fauci-do-now-that-hes-fully-vaccinated–as-it-turns-out-not-much-not-much-at-all

    But Dr. Fauci doesn’t see being vaccinated as a green light to resume the myriad of activities he and the rest of us have been deprived of.

    …
    Masked, socially distanced, fully vaccinated.

    Still concerned.

    We’ve put a neurotic in charge of infectious diseases.
    …
    Millions of unvaccinated people have been going to bars and restaurants including me since last year.

    But not the fully vaccinated Dr. Fauci. He’s going to wait just a little bit forever.
    …
    When is it all over for Anthony Fauci? We flattened the curve, as he instructed, a long time ago. Does the curve need to start going in the opposite direction? Do people have to start uncatching Covid to satisfy him?
    …
    I’ve seen the terror in the eyes of people he’s turned into complete neurotics. It’s frightening.

    And then there is this POV
    https://notthebee.com/article/watch-jordan-peterson-explain-in-2-minutes-why-youre-taking-risks-by-not-taking-risks
    “One of the things that’s really freeing to understand is that you’re screwed no matter what you do. There’s no secure path forward — give it up. There’s risk everywhere.”

  27. For soft fizzy drinks, try SodaStream…. It’s a kind of updated DIY carbonated water device that uses larger CO2 cartridges and durable plastic bottles.

    It comes in several different models, and they also sell a wide range of flavors (as syrups), but of course you can make/invent your own, which is fun for kids (peanut butter and jelly soda?) or adults (black pepper and rosemary?). One’s tastes may vary…

    (Regarding airlines, though, as far as I know, SodaStream isn’t flying…yet.)

  28. Back to (3) in a general way.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/10-easy-ways-to-end-racism-forever

    7. Steal some Nikes. – Racism will crumble as you bash the window of the Nike store and leave with some sweet kicks.

    8. Start an organization to fight racism and use the proceeds to buy multiple mansions. – Every time you buy a big house, forty million racists drop dead.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/buttigieg-proposes-separate-highway-lanes-for-each-race

    “Each race will be asked to stay in their lane,” Buttigieg said. “The fastest lanes, of course, will go to the most oppressed races, who can’t accomplish anything without the white man’s help.”

    Lanes for persons of color will be luxurious wide lanes with no speed limits and no cops, since cops are racist. Lanes for white people will be packed with traffic and terribly maintained, so basically just what they are now in Democrat cities. In fact, Buttigieg says, any roads for white people that are currently in good condition will have cracks, potholes, and other imperfections added to them to ensure equality across the board.

    “Everyone will have equal roads,” Buttigieg said. “But some are more equal than others — separate but equal.”

    At publishing time, Buttigieg had confirmed there would be a special lane for the unvaccinated as well.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/good-samaritan-sees-man-being-oppressed-by-police-and-goes-to-loot-a-target

    Prior to Paulson helping the man by looting the Target store, two others had passed by. The first man, a Republican, had said “let’s wait for the facts to come out” and continued walking. The second man, a libertarian, told the black man to keep shouting “Am I being detained!?” and the cop would get so annoyed he’d just let him go, and then he kept on walking, crossing to the other side of the street.

    But finally, the good Samaritan arrived, and the oppressed man knew he was saved, since Paulson got some cool Legos, a washing machine, a PS5, and some expensive new Nikes.

  30. And even though Neo doesn’t have a (5) – you should look at this one, because everything going on now is related.

    NTB comments on this story, but all the snark is in their own post.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/amazons-twitch-says-it-will-now-punish-users-for-certain-harmful-offline-behavior.html?recirc=taboolainternal

    Twitch, the Amazon-owned video streaming platform popular with gamers, announced a new policy Wednesday empowering the company to take action against users who display certain harmful behaviors entirely offline.
    The policy represents a unique approach among social media peers at a time when the industry has been put under escalating pressure to institute strong and consistent content moderation policies.
    Under the new policy, Twitch can suspend users for up to an indefinite period of time after a third-party investigator determines there is strong evidence the person has engaged in certain offline behaviors.

    https://notthebee.com/article/big-tech-is-preparing-to-punish-social-media-users-for-their-behavior-offline

    Their “initial” list of unacceptable offline behavior you can’t possibly oppose without being accused of being a terrorist/hater/bigot/misogynist, etc. is below. It comes from a document the title of which perfectly captures that chilling corporate-noir antiseptic ambiance we have all come to know and love:

    “Off-Service Conduct Policy.”

    You need to conduct your life in a manner Twitch finds agreeable if you want to use their platform:

    Prohibited actions (for now):
    …
    Even this initial list is problematic. Take “known hate groups.” Who gets to determine that?
    …
    More in a moment on how they plan to “verify” what you’re doing when you’re not on their platform which is totally their business now because that’s what they’ve decided.

    The notion of Big Tech booting people off their platforms for their real-life behavior is not entirely new, but the Twitch approach is something new.
    …
    In fact, Twitch is basically hiring its own police force the better to verify behavior they find distasteful.
    …
    And just to put the totalitarian cherry on top, there is of course the snitch line.
    …
    How can they get away with this?

    They’re private companies. They own the assets and you have no right to use their property if you don’t abide by their terms.

    It’s a reasonable argument that makes sense in reasonable times.

    These are not reasonable times.

    What has changed is that the corporations’ interests have aligned with one political party including corporate media interests. Taken together, they have the power to control the political conversation. They might be “private” but given their ideological collusion and power, they are far more.

    Just this past weekend you had over 100 CEOs gather to discuss how to use their power in a coordinated action to further the political interests of one political party over another.

    Amazon knows everything about you, more than the government does.
    Except it makes what it knows available to the government; at least, when it’s run by the “right kind of people” wink wink.

  32. One man, not exactly enamored of Joe Biden and his ilk, telling it like it is (though many will refuse to hear)…
    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/the_mendacity_of_joe_biden_and_the_ruling_elites.html
    H/T Instapundit

    Key grafs:
    “…Thus, [Biden] is not an absent-minded grandfatherly and politically moderate occupant of the White House but the most dishonest, deceitful and mendacious person in a position of power in American history and, along with his influencers in the radicalized Democrat party, an empirical threat to the future of the country…
    “The ruling elites in their headfirst dash to transform the culture have aligned themselves with the radical left whose sole objective is to centralize all governmental and economic power in a hybrid socialist federal government with themselves, and not the current ruling class, in permanent control….
    “The three-headed monster of radical leftism, a duplicitous Joe Biden and a credulous ruling elite has unleashed upon the nation the onslaught of identity politics and cancel culture, unconstrained illegal immigration, unfettered money creation and spending, manipulated and unfair elections, racial demagoguery and the near-permanent abrogation of freedoms under the guise of fighting a pandemic.
    “It is imperative that the American people become more involved in the nation’s governance by actively participating in a patriotic resistance against the tyranny of a central government dominated by the left… [T]he primary solution to this descent into potential anarchy lies in forcing an awakening by and a transformation of the elites and related institutions, thus recapturing the culture. As that is the key to permanently defeating the militant left.
    “This will require political turmoil. The people must force and endure dramatic, painful, institutional battles outside of the federal government: in universities, non-profits, media, arts, and the array of institutions that constitute the sinews of a self-ruling people. Meanwhile, the American people, and in particular the nation’s elites, must reject the false characterization of Joe Biden and recognize the mendacious man he is and the self-obsession that motivates him. Thus, making it imperative that he and his administration be thwarted at every turn by state governors and legislatures, the Congress and the Courts.”

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