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Roundup — 56 Comments

  1. Schools should have reopened fully in person in September of 2020 with no mandatory restrictions. Period.

    If teachers wanted to wear masks go for it or if they wanted to quit then so long.

    Of course, that was true for everything with maybe the exceptions of hospitals and nursing homes.

    P.S.- And Los Angeles is hinting at bringing back the countywide mask mandate.

  2. The events in Holland are receiving very little attention in the MSM, despite the importance of these protests (rather similar to the actions of the Canadian truckers some months ago). There is a remarkable young Dutch woman (a legal scholar who happens to be engaged to Prager U’s Will Witt) who has appeared several times on Tucker’s show to discuss events in her homeland. Eva Vlaardingerbroek is exceptionally bright and charismatic, and she deserves to be much better known as a leading voice in rational and sensible Euro-conservatism.

  3. Sri Lanka has almost the exact population as Florida (around 22 million).

    This is affecting a large amount of people.

  4. I don’t know either but I suspect that either way, Musk wins.

    From linked article: “none of the globalists who used Sri Lanka as a testbed for their green fantasies are coming to help.”

    The globalists who used Sri Lanka as a testbed for their green fantasies must be arrested, charged with crimes against humanity,
    given a fair trial and upon conviction, executed.

    Starting with Fauci, those responsible for the scamdemic must be arrested, charged with crimes against humanity and mass murder,
    given a fair trial and upon conviction, executed.

    Netherland police have in at least one instance, fired upon protesting farmers.

  5. That’s what is so interesting about Geoffrey’s judgements; how well they track with reality.

  6. I find that the story about Sri Lanka is terribly parsed, and it’s difficult to get an understanding of the basis of their troubles. But internationally-held debt, in no small part default on “Belt and Road” debt for new infrastructure built by China, seems to be part of it. I found this info-graphic to be a very helpful reference before reading through these various stories:

    https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2022-07-03_12-39-19.jpg?itok=XL_440V9

  7. The thing about the schools closing was how unbelievably fast it all happened. Should have set off all kinds of alarm bells.

    Here in our school district anyway they had a week to go before spring break so they first announced they were taking the week before break off then coming back after spring break. Then the next day they announced they were off until early May and then about two days later they cancelled the rest of the school year and started their half assed remote school stuff which didn’t really kick in until September.

    And of course ‘remote’ school is not school.

    Criminal.

  8. Make that long long long after. That data about children emerged extremely early. It seems to have been the teacher’s unions that kept pushing for the closings to continue, at least in the US.

    As I remember it Facebook censored a post from Trump pointing out that children were far less likely to get serious ill from covid and far less likely to spread it for medical misinformation even though at the time it was known what he said was actually true. But hey, they had an election to “fortify”.(It worked didn’t it?)

  9. From reading about this over a period of several months, it appears that Sri Lanka went full climate crisis, requiring “organic” farming only and prohibiting non-organic fertilizers or other non-organic methods. Result: drastically reduced agricultural yields. A country whose diet includes lots of rice had to start importing it. Exports fell with output, and when the energy crisis hit, Sri Lanka had no cash to buy fuel. This was “climate change” idiocy carried to its idiotic extreme.

    The Netherlands has instituted extreme limits on fertilizer, which will devastate its agricultural output. Farmers are understandably outraged.

  10. From The Economist- “New data suggest that the damage has been worse than almost anyone expected. Locking kids out of school has prevented many of them from learning how to read properly. Before the pandemic 57% of ten-year-olds in low and middle-income countries could not read a simple story, says the World Bank. That figure may have risen to 70%, it now estimates. The share of ten-year-olds who cannot read in Latin America, probably the worst-affected region, could rocket from around 50% to 80%.”

    Studies are now showing the permanent and enormously harmful mask wearing has had on our young children.

    I just returned from a medical mission trip to Honduras, and the kids there are still being made to wear masks. Someone should eventually be held responsible for the harm being done.

  11. It is an absolute lock that masks will return in schools in blue cities and states this fall. In fact they will probably be there for many years to come. Will probably also have the testing and the random shifts to remote learning this winter also just like last winter.

  12. om,

    I’d hoped that the reader would infer the difference between should and could.

    The former is what should happen, the latter what may happen.

    Personally, given the dynamics at play I think the fair trial unlikely.

    Though it is impossible to speak so clearly as not to be misunderstood, some people out of pettiness go out of their way to mischaracterize. Sad.

  13. Elon Musk may want Twitter to sue him. If they do, their board members, officers and employees will be subject to civil “discovery.” His lawyers can subject them to long depositions under oath and demand access to documents to show whether they really were truthful about the number of robot spam sites and their banning practices. In other words, it could drive the value and reputation of the company even further down. Faced with that the Twitter folks may decide to just grin and bear it.

  14. Geoffrey:

    Would have, should have, could have won’t save you from yourself. In what world do Geoffrey “should be”s exist? Not the real one.

  15. Griffin: “The thing about the schools closing was how unbelievably fast it all happened. Should have set off all kinds of alarm bells.”

    Yes.
    They schlonged Trump with Covid. Deaths? Lives ruined? Worth it. To them.

  16. To our European friends: cultivate sweaters and desperation…
    Biden’s sanctions unintentionally pushed tottering Sri Lanka over the edge. Stronger economies may yet follow?

    Germany’s largest landlord, Vonovia, had taken the unprecedented step of restrictring heating at night, a terrifying preview of what lies in stock for the “most advanced” European nation this winter. Alas, it’s going to get worse, much worse. According to the FT, Germany is now rationing hot water, dimming its street lights and shutting down swimming pools as the impact of its energy crunch begins to spread like the proverbial Ice-Nine wave, from industry to offices, leisure centers and residential homes.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/social-peace-great-danger-germany-quietly-shutting-down-energy-crunch-paralyzes-economy

  17. Kate at 7:22 pm: “it appears that Sri Lanka went full climate crisis, requiring “organic” farming only and prohibiting non-organic fertilizers or other non-organic methods.”

    Yes, but: Why?. It appears they were struggling to put together foreign currency reserves, because one of their principal sources of foreign revenue, their tourism industry, was devastated by COVID shutdowns in 2020. Come 2021, no money left – hence, ‘use manure’. All of their problems seem to stem, over a 5-year period, from building excessive foreign indebtedness, severely diminished cash flows, and the first round of real consequences arising from those two conditions. But of the two, the debt is the real problem. It seems always to be the debt, and the defaults associated with over-reach.

  18. Re: Sri Lanka

    It’s worth noting that the lack of fertilizer was, at least in part, a reaction to lack of foreign currency to buy the fertilizer with. My understanding is that the ‘green’ was making a ‘virtue’ out of necessity.

    There’s also stories floating around about corruption in the government, but the only concrete thing there was nepotism; the now-former PM appointed his brother to a high office.

  19. To me it seems obvious Musk walking away is just a tactic. He’ll end up owning Twitter and will pay far less than $44 billion.

  20. Gotta put those elephants to work, and fast…
    (Super spreaders?)

    Ganesh, SAVE US! (Or the equivalent…)

  21. Gosh, someone had better tell Liz Cheney REAL QUICK.
    I don’t care how INCONVENIENT it might be….
    ON THE DOUBLE!
    (Her GOP side-kick, too, while we’re at it…. After all, they’re intent on getting at the TRUTH—they told us so, themselves!!)
    “Former Federal ‘Informant’ Warned Of Antifa, BLM Infiltrators At Capitol On Jan. 6”—
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-federal-informant-warned-antifa-blm-infiltrators-capitol-jan-6

    File under: ON THE DOUBLE…standard…

  22. Nothing to see here…move right along….
    “New Mexico woman allegedly stole car with kids inside, mother climbs on hood”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/07/10/new-mexico-woman-regina-castillo-allegedly-stole-car-with-kids-inside-mother-climbs-on-hood/
    Key grafs:

    “…After the incident, Castillo was charged with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, two counts of child abuse, resisting/evading or obstructing an officer, and three counts of failure to appear.
    “Castillo has previously been charged with battery against a household member, two charges of resisting/evading or obstructing an officer, two charges of shoplifting, forgery, four charges of failure to appear, and one charge of concealing identity.”

    She seems to believe she’s living in NYC (or SF)….
    P.S. Not sure why she wasn’t charged with two counts of kidnapping.

  23. JK Rowling in the news again…doing courageous battle with the usual gang of misogynist psychos…
    “JK Rowling slams ‘gender activist’ doctor for calling disabled women ‘psychotic'”—
    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jk-rowling-slams-gender-activist-doctor-calling-disabled-women-psychotic
    Opening graf:
    ‘J.K. Rowling slammed a pair of doctors for arguing that it is “psychotic” and “disgusting” for disabled women to demand female doctors for their intimate healthcare Sunday….’

  24. Trudeau is often ahead of the “Biden” curve; if that’s the case, here’s what Americans can expect in the coming months (i.e., unless “Biden” decides it may be more politically sound to wait until after November):
    “After Oil Production, Trudeau Works To Decimate Canadian Farm Industry”—
    https://blazingcatfur.ca/2022/07/10/after-oil-production-trudeau-works-to-decimate-canadian-farm-industry/

    Merely doing to Canada’s farmers what the Netherlands is doing to its… Hey, what could go wrong?….

  25. I just want to get this hot take out there: Sri Lanka failed because of the Putin Tax, so if the local gas stations would quit bilking the customers, everything will be fine.

    And if the VP is sent to visit: We see before us what was avoidable yet we were told to expect before we came to view it.

  26. To whatever extent the crisis in Sri Lanka is due to following the “woke” enviro diktats of the world’s elites ( you know, the DAVOS bunch – the ones that urge all of us peons to eat vege “meat,” while they dine on real meat filet mignon while there, and for that matter, everywhere else they go in their private planes or large SUVs) , rest assured they could not give a flying F**K about the hardships the citizens there are enduring.
    Fundamental to the elite world view is their profound hatred for the common person and thus their desire to control every aspect of their lives (while they, the elites, live high on the hog).

  27. (while they, the elites, live high on the hog).

    I don’t bother about people who have built productive businesses (and whoever they elect to put on their patronage as long as their clients are not public officials) living high on the hog, so long as they’re not subsidized via public policy and the public treasury. When you have people on public sector salaries taking advantage with their expense accounts and people who made their pile via rent-seeking, it is rather galling (and socially injurious).

  28. Re: Making a virtue out of necessity in using manure rather than chemical fertilizers. Isn’t this what Samantha Powers, our USAID director, has prescribed? And just see how well that’s working in Sri Lanka!

  29. “Knives Out: WaPo, NYT Go For Biden Blood In Scathing Moment Of Honesty”—
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/knives-out-wapo-nyt-go-biden-blood-scathing-moment-honesty
    Guess they just can’t lie for “Biden” any more, the poor dears.
    Can’t cover up for him any more.
    Can’t help him destroy the country any more (a bit late for that, fellas).
    Have FINALLY realized that they have no credibility left.
    Have FINALLY understood that they’re pathetic scoundrels.
    Co-conspirators.
    Colluders.
    Fellow arsonists.
    Eager saboteurs.
    Earnest demolistionists.
    Of the country.
    OTOH, don’t they know what LOYALTY is?
    Don’t they know they have to die on their swords.
    (Actually, they have already, several hundreds of times(!)…which means that the question should be, “Don’t they know they’ve already died on their swords several times already and that they have NOT A SHRED of credibility left?”)
    Pathetic liars, peddling myths and fairy tales.
    As they help “Biden” (and Hillary) et al. tear the country apart…rip it to shreds, slice it to ribbons.
    All for the best of reasons, certainly…in the best liberal, messianic tradition…

  30. “Guess they just can’t lie for “Biden” any more, the poor dears.”

    It’s both hilarious and terrifying how dumb they are. For better or worse, this cake is baked. The only Machiavellian thing to do now is batten down the hatches and lie, cheat, and steal as much as possible to minimize the mid-term losses.

    AFTER that, and that means literally the moment it’s confirmed the Democrats have lost the House and Senate, THAT’S when you go for Biden’s head. Making a fuss now not only accomplishes nothing, it’s actively damaging to their own side.

    Mike

  31. The Sri Lanka and Netherlands debacles are coming for us if Bill Gates has anything to do with it. See this. Why does he own 270,000 acres of prime farmland? The more I see of his crazy thinking, the more I think Paul Allan built Microsoft.

  32. Withdrawal will be extremely difficult.
    I’m not sure they could tell the truth if they wanted to.
    The lie is their drug of choice.
    Covering up for Democrats is their addiction.
    Disseminating false narratives and assassinating the characters of the Democrats’ opponents (i.e., more than half the country) is the adrenalin flowing through their morally sclerotic veins.
    No, I doubt there’ll be much of a change.
    They’ll just keep lying and covering up the cover-ups of the cover-ups of the cover-up, “ad infinitum”.
    The alternative is just too…ideologically impossible…entirely incoherent…to paraphrase a common bromide, they’re “too compromised to fail”.
    IOW for them, the Russians will NEVER, EVER arrive at the Gates of Berlin….
    Such a thing is simply inconceivable.
    And so they will continue to do their best to make this impossibility stretch on for ever and ever. They will have to….
    (It’s what happens when an institution—or individual—is unalterably corrupted, perennially perverted, rotten to the core.)
    – – – – – – – –
    Related:
    Just a blast from the past, August 2020 to be exact:
    “Sultan Knish: The Media’s Political Suicide
    “—
    https://lowervalleyassembly.us/2020/08/06/sultan-knish-the-medias-political-suicide/
    …which raises the question: How can the media commit suicide day-in, day-out, for years and years and years?

  33. Very much related, alas, to the corrupt media’s role in the Wizard-of-Oz real-time INTENTIONAL FIASCO that is the “Biden” administration…:
    “Biden’s Mental Decay”—
    https://technofog.substack.com/p/bidens-mental-decay
    H/T Powerline blog
    INTENTIONAL FIASCO because what better way is there to destroy a country and its institutions?
    We can actually call it a name now! We can call it “The Sri Lanka Gambit”, soon to be called the “EU Gambit” (if the first name is a bit too racist from some preciously sensitive souls), soon to be called the “US of A Gambit”, which should have all the right people feeling really good about themselves…. Stay tuned…since there are very fine people who DO want to save the country. But will they be able to?—Remember, DeSantis is a FASCIST, TRUMPIST, AUTHORITARIAN TYRANT!!! Which is why everyone’s flocking to his state, I guess…)

  34. “Their addiction”??
    Should have said, “their religion”…
    (Er, make that “their cargo-cult”…)

  35. The Nit-Twitterverse of automatons who identity as… simulate people… persons.

  36. WRT the phrase, “As California goes, so goes the country” (which I suppose could also be expressed as, “California leads the way…and the rest of the country follows”)…
    …we have the following description of the Democratic Leadership of that state believing their lies over the past several decades and then doubling and tripling down to the extent that the state is essentially no longer be viable…(cue the USSR)…
    …which lovely scenario seems to be the script Democratic Party governance at all levels—Federal as well some other prominent Democratic-Party-governed states, not to mention Democratic-Party-governed cities—seems to espouse, and rather enthusiastically at that.

    Indeed there does seem to be a clear pattern….

    And so they’ll ram “Sri Lanka”—soon to be a verb, no doubt—down the country’s throats while finding every clever reason to blame the GOP, or Putin, or Global Warming, or racism…or a confluence of all the above…declaiming, if a bit choppily, from the teleprompter that we are living in very extraordinary times.
    And so, prepare to be Sri Lanka-ed:
    “The Façade Of California’s Economy Is About To Crumble”—-https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/facade-californias-economy-about-crumble

  37. Jordan Peterson’s latest: “Russia VS Ukraine Or Civil War in the West?”
    https://youtu.be/JxdHm2dmvKE

    In my view of extreme relevance to what is going on in Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and Canada’s proposed bills of which Peterson warns in another youtube segment.

  38. Similarly, one could say that the Democratic Party, with Soros and his exotic harem of perverse District Attorneys, are acting to Sri Lanka the US.
    “Shoplifters hitting NYC supermarkets with increasingly brazen heists”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/07/10/shoplifters-hit-supermarkets-with-increasingly-brazen-heists/

    …or that the EU has plans to Sri Lanka Europe.

    …or that Trudeau is working hard to Sri Lanka Canada.

    Societal breakdown. Constant crisis. Rampant physical insecurity. Desperation. Fear. Anger. Panic. Orwellian levels of dishonesty. Sabotage the rule of law. Destroy the family. Pervert education. Erode citizens’ financial stability. Lie constantly. Intimidate and threaten consistently. Make everyone go insane.
    All that and much, much more!
    Yep, that’s the ticket.

  39. …as liberal voters beg the Democratic party to please destroy—please Sri Lanka—their city, state…and country.

    And the Democratic party believes that it has no choice but to oblige them…
    “‘Professional booster’ notches 100th shoplifting bust — and is released again”—
    https://nypost.com/2022/06/26/professional-booster-notches-100th-shoplifting-bust-and-is-released-without-bail-again/

    Think of the above as “reparations”…and it’s all morally OK….
    (Then multiply the above by 1000 or 10,000 or a million or 10 million or more and more….)

    This is how one makes the law of the jungle the very essence of morality (or at least the reality).
    This is how one makes “…nasty, brutish and short…” a feature of one’s culture rather than a bug.
    This is how a culture dies.

    But since killing America and the West is a thing to be desired, then all of this is Good.

    And if white privilege (of any color) objects, then it’s because whites (of any color) are fragile; because whites (of any color) are racist; because whites (of any color) deserve everything they get.

    (…and as you ponder all this, don’t forget to vote for “Biden” to “Build Back Better”…)

  40. Hi, Griffin and Aggie. Those were very interesting reads – thanks. They also fit together nicely in that their topics happen to overlap at the interface of agriculture and the macro energy economy.

  41. “Biden” is getting ready to unleash the Grand Betrayal (to augment those other grand betrayals that have already been perpetrated against “his” country, its citizens and its laws; against “his” supposed allies…and against the Truth).

    Compare and contrast:
    1.
    “US leaks of Israeli covert ops against Iran eroding trust, security ahead of Biden visit to region;
    “Many observers believe leaking this information is tied to the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.”—
    https://justthenews.com/government/security/ahead-bidens-mideast-trip-us-leaks-outing-israel-alleged-covert-ops-remain
    Well, this should come as no surprise: it’s merely a rehashing of Obama’s betrayals of “America’s #1 in the Middle East”…and so perfectly appropriate—and expected.
    Key grafs (from someone who OBVIOUSLY doesn’t understand what’s going on, i.e., what “Biden” is up to:
    ‘ “It’s a sign of extraordinary incompetence and unprofessionalism from Biden and his foreign policy team,” said Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who also served as a senior staffer on both the House Intelligence Committee and the National Security Council. ‘ “It’s outrageous they would leak this kind of information.”…’
    2.
    “State Dept. undermines Afghan freedom fighters, condemning their fight against Taliban”—
    https://justthenews.com/world/foreign-desk/exclusive-state-dept-undermines-afghan-freedom-fighters-condemning-their-fight
    Well, betrayers gotta betray….

    And to lighten up the appalling optics and loathsome atmospherics a bit, we present the following gem:
    “Herzog to honor Biden with Presidential Medal of Honor next week;
    “US leader set to become first recipient of award since 2014, for his ‘uncompromising decades-long commitment to Israel’s security,’ says president’s office”—
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/herzog-to-honor-biden-with-presidential-medal-of-honor-next-week/

    + another really special Bonus in the form of
    mre incomprehensible stupidity from people who are supposed to be smart (to be fair, it must be noted this is a left-of-center news source):
    “Forced to abandon idealistic path, a pragmatic Biden set to meet MBS in Saudi Arabia
    “After promising to make Riyadh’s rulers into pariahs and slash fossil fuels, POTUS to ask for more oil, re-engage in region; Israel’s leaders make similar about-face on natural gas”—
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/forced-to-abandon-idealistic-path-a-pragmatic-biden-set-to-meet-mbs-in-saudi-arabia/
    That’s right!
    “…idealistic path…”!!
    “…pragmatic Biden…”!!

    No, it doesn’t get much better than this (actually, there are some other articles and opinion pieces on this site that do get better(!)…since we are talking about a hyuge disconnect from reality….)

    OTOH, I suppose that one big advantage of being so “smart” is that one is able to come up with grotesque rationalizations with astonishing skill! (And/or quite deftly choose which “reality” one prefers to see.)
    Fortunately for them, when things go south, they can always blame the Trump/Bibi relationship…

    But I think the general attitude on the part of the current Israeli leadership, such as it is—and this may be surprising to some—is “Turn the other cheek” (IOW, We’re NOT Bibi, so you can hit us again and again and again…make utter fools of us and even try to make us disappear; but who knows? maybe we’ll give you another medal of recognition, slavish devotion and obsequious respect!)

    File under: Betray Back Better…

  42. Here’s someone—a real bright guy, actually—who for some reason is wondering why he’s being targeted by the “Biden” administration…
    Yep, for some reason….:
    “Bombshell new documentary seeks to expose Joe and Hunter Biden’s secret Chinese business dealings;
    “The deals allegedly went on to benefit the Chinese military”—
    https://www.theblaze.com/news/bombshell-documentary-biden-chinese-secrets#toggle-gdpr
    H/T Blazingcatfur blog

    And payback from the always-classy “Biden”? Quelle SURPRISE!!
    “…Peter Schiff Defends His Puerto Rican Bank After Regulators Shut It Down”—
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/facts-should-still-matter-peter-schiff-defends-his-puerto-rican-bank-after-regulators-shut

  43. Farmers all over Europe and Canadian truckers. Brexit and Trump. Tea Party protests of the financial bailouts over a decade ago.

    The lack of self-awareness among establishment “elites” is breathtaking. Perhaps exceeded only by their hubris.

    VDH — https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/10/our-new-antoinettes/

    ” the worries of the Antoinette liberal elite—climate change, abortion on demand, transgenderism, strict gun-control—are not those that terrify the middle and lower classes. The latter, for some reason, first want to survive one more day with enough affordable food and energy and to be safe from criminals.

    Why Democrats are currently unpopular transcends even Joe Biden’s daily, dangerous, and tragic loss of cognition. Their low ratings arise more from the implementation of an array of disastrous policies dreamed up at left-wing university departments and think tanks. ”

    Their fundamental problem is not their abandonment of real science, their rejection of truth, or their prioritizing of feelings over facts and logic. It is a fundamental failure of basic morality.

  44. Neo, have you ever written about or considered the nihilism inherent in the Left?

    Why are they so willing to destroy anything and everything?

  45. }}} In the last several hours, the presidential palace was taken over by a sea of people, angry at the government for putting them in such a precarious position.

    Clearly, the GREATEST THREAT TO DEMOCRACY SRI LANKA HAS EVER EXPERIENCED!!

  46. }}} Isn’t that part of the Great Reset, though?

    Certainly is a great way to reduce everyone to penury and peonage.

    But… “Isn’t that part of the Great Reset, though? ” ??

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