With RFK Jr in charge of the US health offices, the coverup of the vaccine problems are now coming out into the open. But the coverup is not limited to the US, or the UK:
.....
This was used in Indonesia early on, but it didn't stop the epidemic there.
it was given by China illegally to our citizens here, and then Duterte admitted some got it, but declined to stop the practice.
we gave it to our younger staff, mainly because the AZ was known to cause bloodclots in younger men, and the mRNA wasn't available for quite awhile because the Phil DofH refused to sign a non liability paper.
one of the problems with all the statistics is that there was pressure not to report problems, not just in the USA and England but in other countries. In China, the coverup and lies are so routine you can't rely on any reports.
Recently in Tokyo an AI-driven robot leaned over a man lying on his back and gently put a hand on his knee and another on a shoulder and rolled him onto his side -- a maneuver used to change diapers or prevent bedsores in the elderly.
The 150-kg (330 lb) artificial intelligence-driven humanoid robot called AIREC is a prototype future “caregiver” for Japan’s rapidly ageing population and chronic shortage of aged-care workers.
Its “baby boomer” generation, a bulging cohort created by a spike in post-war child births from 1947 to 1949, all turned at least 75 by the end of 2024, exacerbating the severe shortage of aged care workers.
this is despite 57 thousand overseas caregivers.
here in the Philippines, the extended family still cares for the elderly. But the economy pushes a lot of the healthy younger adults to work overseas . Often Grandparents care for grandkids, but what comes when the grandkid go overseas and no one is left at home?
Until recently, the population here was still increasing, but in a recent article I read that even here the average number of children is approaching replacement level.
we have attended the flower parade in Baguio, the city in the mountains of Luzon, but this year we skipped it because my son is visiting next week so we will go with him to see the sites.
Baguio is high altitude, so it tends ot be cool. We have extended family there, and Lolo actually bought a large plot to build a summer home, but never got around to building it. Squatters are a problem, so we rent it to neighbors, and they grow roses or fruits (strawberries) on the plot and keep the squatters from putting a hut on the land.
becaise of the cool climate, a lot of Japanese students take classes there, especially to learn English. So you see signs in Japanese all over.
Usually we fly visitors to the beaches of Boracay (where a relative owns a guest house) but since my son lives in southern Florida, he wants to see mountains and wants to learn about our organic farms, so a trip to the mountain province is in order.
What sparked the COVID pandemic? Mounting evidence points to raccoon dogs
More than five years on, studies suggest the animal is the most likely culprit, but other candidates haven’t been ruled out.
this is not the only article this magazine published saying that covid was natural so ignore the conspiracy theories.. they have been doing this for years.
so who do you believe? Medical journals that lied about this, or Joe Rogan.
(Rogan continues to discuss the problem: This is from last week: first part of this interview discusses this from a few days ago... they then get into crzy stuff, which is one of the problems of getting your information from JR)?
I have been posting about Covid and Dengue etc, on my medical blog. Mostly no conclusions, only links to article for my own education. Here are a few recent ones on covid:
Discussing this video and links to several articles about auto immune reactions. This problem is being denied and/or ignored. (sound familiar? we saw the same thing with Gulf War syndrome).
anyway, Dr. Campbell discusses this in a recent video:
when Covid started, I watched a lot of news conferences with this lady, and Trump often was there and if he dared suggest an alternative e.g. treatment, he was dissed openly by the experts. But guess who was lying?
Deborah Birx from her memoir, explaining how "two weeks to flatten the curve" was just marketing for harsh, months-long lockdowns that she was really planning:
"On Monday and Tuesday [March 9th and 10th, 2020] … we worked simultaneously to develop the flatten-the-curve guidance…
"On Monday and Tuesday [March 9th and 10th, 2020] … we worked simultaneously to develop the flatten-the-curve guidance I hoped to present to the vice president at week’s end. Getting buy-in on the simple mitigation measures every American could take was just the first step leading to longer and more aggressive interventions. We had to make these palatable to the administration by avoiding the obvious appearance of a full Italian lockdown. … No sooner had we convinced the Trump administration to implement our version of a two-week shutdown than I was trying to figure out how to extend it. Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread was a start, but I knew it would be just that. I didn’t have the numbers in front of me yet to make the case for extending it longer, but I had two weeks to get them."
12 November 2015 Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research
scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in China. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells — proving that the surface protein of SHC014 has the necessary structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect them.
Last week I posted about five Thai hostages released by Hamas. For follow up, this is a video from last year about these workers.
this shows Hamas was not only making war on Israel but merely terrorizing people who live nearby.
And they are not the only foreigners in Israel, as I posted in an earlier post, there are equal numbers of Filipinos and Chinese. One Filipino caregiver was murdered because her patient could not evacuate, and she stayed with her. this 2023 article notes:
Thais also made up the largest single group of foreign dead and missing, with 24 confirmed killed and 21 unaccounted for....
five Nepalese hostages... There was also one Chinese hostage, one Sri Lankan, two from Tanzania and two from the Philippines.,
the joke in the USA is that immigrants/migrant workers do the work that Yanks don't want to do. In Israel, many of these jobs could of course be done by local Palestinians who are better educated than people from many Arab countries. But the threat of terror incidents make locals no longer want to hire them and of course, since some local Palestinian farm workers from Gaza directed the attack on these civilians, this source of jobs and income is less likely to improve.
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has launched a drone-assisted medicine delivery in Southeast Asia.
The Philippine News Agency says DICT launched this service in Barangay Niogan, Pililia town in Rizal province.
It’s part of the SMART Villages and SMART Islands (SVSI) framework that uses drone delivery to address “geographic barriers, limited transportation and logistical issues.”
yes I know: This has been around for years, but it would be a godsend not just for isolated towns, but when the roads are blocked and bridges are down after earthquakes.
there was an article in the Phil Inquirer where local docs were asking why the dept of health wouldn't approve of a newer Dengue vaccine.
A previous flawed dengue vaccine killed a few kids here in the Philippines and caused a big scandal here.
now Dengue is important to me: we have lots of cases, including a few kids who died of it in our area. And I had a complicated case 15 months ago and still haven't recovered my strength.
So would a vaccine have protected me? And what about the new vaccines? they seem to have a fairly good protection rate (80 percent in some) but what about complications: either at the time of the immunization or if you do manage to get an infection with Dengue (with the Dengvaxia vaccine, if the kid got dengue he got a complicated case)
and today I got a popup saying the latest Grok was open for questions.
So I asked about does the attenuated Dengue vaccine induce immunological problems
the answer:
Key Points
Yes, the attenuated dengue vaccine can cause immunological problems, especially antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in some people.
ADE can make dengue more severe if the person gets infected after vaccination and wasn't previously exposed to dengue.
This risk is mainly with vaccines like Dengvaxia, but may vary by vaccine type.
Overview
The attenuated dengue vaccine, such as Dengvaxia, is designed to protect against dengue by using a weakened form of the virus. However, it can lead to immunological issues, particularly in people who haven't had dengue before. This is due to a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), where the vaccine might make a future dengue infection worse instead of better. This is surprising because vaccines are typically expected to only protect, not potentially harm in certain cases.
It's important to know your dengue exposure history before getting vaccinated, as it affects the safety and effectiveness.
Details for Consideration
Who Is Affected?
The risk of ADE is higher in individuals who were not previously infected with dengue and receive the vaccine, then later get infected. For those already exposed to dengue, the vaccine is generally safe and effective.
What Is ADE? ADE happens when antibodies from the vaccine help the virus enter cells more easily, potentially leading to more severe disease if the person gets dengue later. This is a known concern with live attenuated dengue vaccines.
Other Vaccines: Another attenuated vaccine, TAK-003, shows promise with fewer ADE issues, but more research is needed to confirm this.
The specific vaccine matters for safety.
Comprehensive Analysis of Attenuated Dengue Vaccine and Immunological Impacts
This section provides a detailed examination of the attenuated dengue vaccine, focusing on its potential to induce immunological problems, with a particular emphasis on antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and other related concerns. The analysis is grounded in extensive web-based research, including clinical trial data, regulatory approvals, and scientific literature, to ensure a thorough understanding for healthcare professionals, researchers, and informed laypersons.
Background on Attenuated Dengue Vaccines
Attenuated dengue vaccines use live, weakened forms of the dengue virus to stimulate an immune response without causing the full disease. Notable examples include Dengvaxia (CYD-TDV) by Sanofi Pasteur and TAK-003 by Takeda. Dengvaxia, a live recombinant tetravalent vaccine, was the first licensed dengue vaccine, approved in various countries since 2015, while TAK-003, also live-attenuated, received approval in the European Union in 2022 and other regions like Indonesia (Takeda's QDENGA Approval). These vaccines aim to protect against all four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4), which is crucial given the global burden of dengue, affecting an estimated 390 million people annually (Dengue Vaccines Update).
Immunological Problems:
Focus on Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE)
One significant immunological problem associated with attenuated dengue vaccines is ADE, a phenomenon where non-neutralizing or sub-neutralizing antibodies facilitate viral entry into cells via Fcγ receptors, potentially increasing viral replication and disease severity. This is particularly noted with Dengvaxia. Research indicates that Dengvaxia can sensitize dengue-naïve recipients to severe dengue upon subsequent natural infection, leading to restricted FDA approval in 2019 for use only in individuals with prior laboratory-confirmed dengue infection (FDA Dengvaxia Approval). This restriction arose from concerns that vaccination without prior exposure could worsen outcomes, as seen in the Philippines in 2017, where over 733,000 children were vaccinated regardless of serostatus, leading to controversy due to increased severe dengue cases (Dengue Vaccine Wikipedia).
ADE is linked to the vaccine eliciting cross-reactive antibodies against the pre-membrane (prM) and fusion loop epitope (FLE) of DENV, which are not fully neutralizing and can enhance infection in later exposures (Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Challenge). This risk is higher in baseline seronegative individuals, with studies showing increased hospitalization rates for dengue type 3 among vaccinated seronegative participants in some trials (New Dengue Vaccine Efficacy).
Comparative Analysis: Dengvaxia vs. TAK-003
While Dengvaxia has clear ADE concerns, TAK-003 appears to have a different safety profile. Clinical trials, such as the phase 3 efficacy study (NCT02747927), suggest TAK-003 is efficacious against symptomatic dengue over three years, with no significant ADE issues reported in the literature reviewed (Three-Year Efficacy TAK-003). However, the general concern about ADE with live attenuated vaccines remains, and long-term data are still being evaluated.
TAK-003's approval in Indonesia without pre-vaccination testing suggests a broader application, but U.S. approval was withdrawn in 2023 due to data collection disagreements with the FDA, indicating ongoing scrutiny (Takeda Withdrawal BLA).
Other Potential Immunological Issues
Beyond ADE,
the survey of side effects for Dengvaxia includes common reactions like headache, injection site pain, and fever, with rare severe allergic reactions reported (Dengvaxia Side Effects). There is no strong evidence from the searches linking attenuated dengue vaccines directly to autoimmune disorders, despite dengue infection itself being associated with autoimmune features in case reports (Autoimmune Features Dengue).
General vaccine safety literature suggests that while vaccines can theoretically trigger autoimmune diseases, epidemiological studies do not support this for systemic autoimmune diseases, and no specific cases were found for dengue vaccines (Vaccinations and Autoimmune Diseases).
Clinical Implications and Recommendations
The immunological problems, particularly ADE, necessitate careful screening for prior dengue exposure before vaccination with vaccines like Dengvaxia. The CDC recommends Dengvaxia for children aged 9–16 years with laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection living in endemic areas, highlighting the importance of serostatus (CDC Dengue Vaccine). For TAK-003, while initial data suggest fewer ADE concerns, ongoing surveillance is crucial, especially given its recent approvals and the need for long-term efficacy and safety data.
Summary Table of Vaccine Characteristics and ADE Risk
Vaccine
Type
Approval Status
ADE Risk in Seronegative
Common Side Effects
Dengvaxia
Live Recombinant Tetravalent
Approved in US, EU, etc.
High
Headache, injection site pain, fever
TAK-003
Live-Attenuated Tetravalent
Approved in EU, Indonesia
Low (Preliminary Data)
Viral upper respiratory infection, etc.
This table summarizes key attributes, aiding in understanding the differential immunological risks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, attenuated dengue vaccines, particularly Dengvaxia, can induce immunological problems, with ADE being the most significant, especially in dengue-naïve individuals. This risk underscores the importance of pre-vaccination screening. TAK-003 shows promise with potentially lower ADE risks, but further research is needed. Healthcare providers should consider individual serostatus and vaccine type to mitigate these immunological challenges.
Key Citations
Dengvaxia European Medicines Agency
Takeda's QDENGA Approval
Dengue Vaccines Update
FDA Dengvaxia Approval
Dengue Vaccine Wikipedia
New Dengue Vaccine Efficacy
Three-Year Efficacy TAK-003
Takeda Withdrawal BLA
Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Challenge
Dengvaxia Side Effects
Autoimmune Features Dengue
Vaccinations and Autoimmune Diseases
CDC Dengue Vaccine
my impression: Grok found the articles and summaries that took me four hours of reading and research. If I have time, I will compare it's conclusions to my own conclusions.
And it shows value for research, and is so easy that even great grandmoms can use it.
The infamous durian – regarded the king of fruit in much of south-east Asia – is best known for its pungent smell, variously compared to sewage, rotting flesh or, at best, ripe cheese. The green, spiky durian is an awkward travel companion: it is banned on Singapore's rail network, as well as many in airports and hotels in south-east Asia. Durians polarise people. Fans say if you can get past the stink, the flesh has an ambrosial taste.
I am not following this conflict. One African based human rights newsletter that I receive says that the M23 rebels are the good guys from Rwanda, protecting the Tutsi minority (many of whom fled that country and live in the area), but most of the western press sees them as the bad guys.
Now Uganda is entering the fray.
This video from DDIndia has a good summary about the conflict (first part of the video).
The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern DRC’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth, critical in the production of much of the world’s technology.
Notice the accusations of killing children, but the article admits a lot of these "Children" were carrying weapons, and that both sides were recruiting child soldiers.
because sometimes you just want a nice movie that isn't about serial killers, CIA spies, or beautiful rich single girls i.e. the typical Hallmark movies.
we have Netflix for new films, but right now we are also watching old stuff on youtube.
we have already gone through a lot of older films/tv shows there, although they have removed old series we loved such as Murder she wrote or Colombo, you tube still has the various BBC series of Miss Marple and Poirot. Newer series on youtube from Canada like Hudson and Rex or Murdoch mysteries are also on line.
China’s regime is deliberately killing Americans with fentanyl. This is murder. Unfortunately, no U.S. president has been willing to acknowledge the CCP’s direct role and take appropriate action. See: https://t.co/sf1UzH4oTV.
that is not the only place China is quietly threatening other countries of course. We are in the line of fire, alas.
PCIJ article discusses the problem of northern Luzon:
Explanation: you see, poor people whose ability to make a living is threatened by China and corruption (e.g. fishing when China blocks fishermen and overfishes the area), the question is if Americans will be allowed into Phil Military bases in the area.
and of course, there is the question of what happens if China grabs Taiwan which means blocking the Bashi channel. (The sea between Taiwan and the northern Philippines).
That last part, combined with the Chinese military bases in the West Philippine sea, means that China could completely block the busy sea lane from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, meaning a longer detour for these ships.
also discussed: how Chinese investments, and legalized gambling, which hires a lot of Chinese citizens, opens the areas to spying and corruption.
the article discusses the Chinese spy mayor, the POGO connection, and asks why all those Chinese students suddenly decided to study English in the area.
and with elections coming up, there is a danger that the money will speak louder than the citizens;
Note: Vote buying is common here, since people figure they are all crooks and their vote doesn't make a difference. But when things are important, vote buying doesn't work, which is why Duterte got elected to clean up the place, over the CIA approved of candidates.
the PCIJ article continues:
Distrust in China is high among Filipinos nationwide. A Pulse Asia survey in October 2024 showed that seven out of 10 Filipinos would not support a candidate who is “pro-China at present or in the past.”
“Many Filipinos feel that China’s actions, particularly in the West Philippine Sea, directly challenge our sovereignty and undermine our nation’s interests,” Dindo Manhit, founder and CEO of Stratbase Group that commissioned the survey, said then.
Retired Navy Rear Adm. Rommel Jude Ong, now a professor at the Ateneo School of Government, is concerned that China may attempt to influence local government officials instead.
translation: since the people can't be bought, the Chinese will try to buy the crooked politicians.
Canadian essayist David Warren has a sardonic essay observing the kerfuffle going on in the USA, and I noticed this sentence:
The reader who has made himself aware of only the USAID payments will understand what may, or rather will, be revealed as the Musketeers survey the remaining ninety-nine-one-hundredths of the U.S. government
Musketeers? Hmm: that is the second time I have read that term used.
it is a reference of course to the novels and later the many films about the Three Musketeers .
Wikipedia writes: It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight for justice.
The original Musketeers of course were called that because they shot muskets, an early form of a rifle. Again, Wikipedia notes
...the Musketeers were open to the lower classes of French nobility or younger sons from noble families whose oldest sons served in the more prestigious Garde du Corps and Chevau-legers (Light Horse). The Musketeers, many of them still teenagers, soon gained a reputation for fighting spirit and unruly behaviour
...................................
trivia note: the novel was written by Alexander Dumas. His father was born a black slave in what is now Haiti, and was later taken by his white father to France where he became a general in Napoleon's army, and he was partly the inspiration for the novel the Count of Monte Cristo.
China taking Darien Gap — one tree at a time. When the trees are gone, indigenous people are finished — along with some of the finest jungle in the world. pic.twitter.com/YOufpF4cNP
— Michael Yon: Callsign BIG HONEY 6 (@Michael_Yon) February 11, 2025
One wag here in the Philippines once described how things work in the Philippines: They take bribes under the table, over the table and with the table.
According to the 2007 study, the Office of the Ombudsman had, in 1999, pegged losses arising from corruption at P100 million daily, (note: equivalent to 9.7 million dollars US) whereas the World Bank estimates the losses at one-fifth of the national government budget.
well third world corruption is alas common. But what is astonishing is that a lot of money is being diverted in the USA: going to questionable foreign aid, but also going through NGOs in several layers, all of which take part of the money, and maybe what is worse: Using tax money to subvert the political process. I mean, having the ladies of BLM buy two expensive mansions in Los Angeles is one thing: Paying them to riot and destabilize the US during an election year is much more dangerous.
That is what it sounds like when DOGE opens the books.
no wonder the usual suspects whose bank accounts somehow soared while working for the government are upset.
So should we believe the media, especially when there are reports that USAID money subsidized them?
Do you listen to the hysteria, or to Joe Rogan?
The information is out there, but before X who learned about this? Yes it was there, but didn't get a lot of coverage.
A new investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Devex can reveal major failings in the largest ever project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The $9.5 bn initiative, led by US contractor Chemonics International, launched in 2016 with the aim of transforming the way life-saving medicines and other health supplies were bought and delivered to millions of people in poorer countries. But interviews with insiders, as well as exclusive data analysis, can reveal that the project’s inefficiencies have alarmed both senior project staff and high-ranking US government officials. In some cases it has taken almost two years to deliver key supplies.
The Global Fund’s OIG also alleged in 2021 that it had uncovered a multimillion-dollar fraud committed by a Chemonics subcontractor in Nigeria. A Global Fund report found that “Chemonics’ controls were poorly implemented by negligent staff who missed key red flags” and that an unnamed senior project director was “living substantially beyond their Chemonics salary”. USAID’s own watchdog is now investigating....
then you have the WHO monopoly:
this would be seen as good, except for the fact that these same folks got a lot of stuff wrong with Covid, and looted a lot of money while they were doing it. And now they plan a health treaty where this would give them power over every country.
The World Health Organization charges manufacturing companies a lot of money to have their products “prequalified.”
WHO prequalification activities were long funded by international donors through short-term grants.
In January 2017 therefore introduced a new fee model for medicines — finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) — and vaccines, and later for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), in August 2018.
this of course needs to be done, to check for fraud, inferior medical products, overpricing etc. The problem? Who watches the watchers?
In 2023, the WHO’s “Fee for Services Fund” made a profit of $14.8 million on the $27.8 million in fees that they collected.
Ortel: The simple answer is that billions of dollars in “aid” supposedly were raised to help the desperately poor people of Haiti, yet Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation refuse to account, in granular and verified fashion, for any of this aid. If Haiti (before the latest storm) had obviously been better off, perhaps this controversy would not now be swirling with hurricane force winds. But accounts from multiple parties suggest that Haiti has little to show in the parts of the nation that were devastated in January 2010.
then for the conspiracy minded there is the suicide of a whistle blower on how the Haiti funds were used:
Dr. Dr. Dean Lorich, an orthopedic surgeon who volunteered in Haiti and exposed Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice on the island, has been found dead in New York. He was 54....
hmm... a knife in his chest. That is a hard way to commit suicide, because you have to thrust it in hard which is quite painful, and if you miss the heart, you end up living. It's easier to cut your femoral or carotid artery, or just overdose on medicine. But never mind...
Haiti of course is so corrupt that it has it's own Wikipedia page on that subject.
I wrote in an earlier blogpost about PEPFAR money via USAID being subverted from HIV treatment into population control and the gender agenda.
I did a report in Nov 2023 on my medical blog on how the Biden administration subverted PEPFAR to push population control etc.
By diverting the funding to birth control and pushing sexual policies to limit population, the danger is that people will no longer trust these caregivers:
(Africans) might see them as part of the evil west trying to stop Africans from having babies because of racism.
and of course, such ideas won't just be pushed by locals who remember colonialist racism, but will be believed by religious leaders (Bishops and Muslim leaders).
And of course, China will quietly push this idea. Already the Biden administration and the EU is pushing their sexual agenda (gay rights, encourage teenage sex by sex education), and pushing countries to change their local laws.
finally, I understand why the Pope and the Catholic bishops are defending helping economic migrants to come to the USA, but the CIA/NWO conspiracy theories are thick here too.
but you know, few are true refugees (except maybe the Haitians): They had homes and often had jobs, but were enticed to go with promises of jobs etc. I understand that they might want to work overseas to get a better life, but this could be done legally of course (if the Philippines manages to help the ten percent of the population to work overseas , the US could manage this too. )
But instead the Bishops are helping the dangerous criminal elements to do this, and in a way that endangers the migrants. By doing so they are not just ignoring the criminal gangs and drugs coming in with these non emergency migrations, but ignores that these people will take the jobs of working class Yanks and/or live off of the money taken from their paychecks.
Anthony Esolen satirizes their snobbish bossing of the average working class Yank here.
And using US Taxpayer money to do so, meaning that this entangles the Catholic church with secular authorities on many levels.
it is only time until the rumors that the NWO/CIA/bad guys were behind the coup to put Pope Francis in place move from the crazies to the front page.
Cardinal Vigano, call your office. Windswept house is coming true....
Wikipedia has a post about the entire musical score of the Enigma variations, and the people who inspired each section.
Variation IX (Adagio) "Nimrod"
The name of the variation refers to Augustus J. Jaeger, who was employed as a music editor by the London publisher Novello & Co. ... Nimrod is described in the Old Testament as "a mighty hunter before the Lord", Jäger (which can also be spelt Jaeger) being German for hunter....
Once, when Elgar had been very depressed and was about to give it all up and write no more music, Jaeger had visited him and encouraged him to continue composing. He referred to Ludwig van Beethoven, who had a lot of worries, but wrote more and more beautiful music. "And that is what you must do" ....
This variation has become popular in its own right and is sometimes used at British funerals, memorial services, and other solemn occasions. It is always played at the Cenotaph, Whitehall in London at the National Service of Remembrance. A version was also played during the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997, at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and during the 2022 BBC Proms after the season was cut short due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. ...An adaptation of the piece appears at the ending of the 2017 film Dunkirk in the score by Hans Zimmer.
I had read about people receiving seeds in the mail from unknown sources, but didn't know what it was about.
Well, it is Chinese warfare against American agriculture.
One Temu customer said they ordered a dog toy but received a package of seeds instead, according to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
HOUSTON — Two days after a state official urged Texans to be cautious with unsolicited packages from China, he said they're getting new reports from people who say they've also received the mystery seeds.
On Wednesday, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller put out an alert after someone in the Brazoria County town of Clute received an unsolicited package containing seeds and a container of liquid... Invasive plants can damage native species and "substantially harm the Texas agriculture industry" by destroying crops, introducing disease to native plants and possibly harming livestock, Miller explained.
“These packages should never have gotten through customs,” Miller said. “Without the proper documentation and consent, the shipment did not meet the entry conditions for the United States. We need to close this loophole in our biosecurity protections. It’s a vulnerability to national security."
Ironically I could not find a recent report about this on You tube, but here is the Newsweek report from 2020, and there are some videos about how the same thing happened in 2020:
Old video about it:
the Chinese seeds are not all invasive species, but some are. And then you have the danger of insects and fungi inside the seed packets.
In 2023, there was a total of 108,357 foreign workers in Israel. Some 19,000 of foreign migrants with a work permit were from India. They were closely followed by The Philippines and Thailand with 17,634 and 17,174 workers, respectively. In addition, there were 16,263 Chinese nationals working in the country.
The irony? The Palestinians could do this work but due to terrorist attacks many prefer to hire foreigners to work on their farms etc.
the fact that the attack on civilians that started the war included several who had worked in the area who could have given information where to attack.
and of course, the Philippines sends caregivers all over the place: not just the Middle East but the US and UK hire nurses and caregivers and nannies.
the point of the Top Gun remake was to emphasize that they needed jets and hot shot pilots for the next war.
But the Drone revolution in the Ukraine (where nerds are taking drones and militarizing them) has sort of been ignored because drones won't make a lot of money.
there are several shorter versions of this discussion on youtube
but the full interview for later watching: AI and Drone are the future of warfare.
StrategyPage article on drone warfare in the Ukraine.
In the three year old Ukraine War, the unexpected development was the emergence of cheap, armed drones as a decisive weapon that replaced most air and artillery support while also causing over 90 percent of the casualties...Most FPV drones carry half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone. ...Larger, fixed wing drones are used for long range operations against targets over a thousand kilometers inside Russia.
Read the whole thing for an easy to read summary.they also have an article on the use of AI in times of war and peace (hacking banks and businesses for fun and profit)
the article on drones points out that one of the bottlenecks in using drones is that you have to train someone to direct them.
BusinessInsider has a discussion if gamers might be the hidden resource for this new technology.
Hmm... sort of like WWII when Yanks had an advantage because most of the guys already knew how to drive a car/truck/jeep.
update: StrategyPage: Chinese sub launched drones.
February 13, 2025: China has reportedly developed a drone that can operate under water, on the surface and in the air. Propulsion is via a propeller in the rear of the drone. The Chinese drone uses wings that can automatically fold into the drone body when not needed. The drone operations control system incorporates a lot of Artificial Intelligence, or AI technology, and this drone technology can be adapted for use in other weapons like torpedoes, guided bombs, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
the serious minded types who never had a teenage son were upset at some of the jokes posted on the internet by one of the nerds finding misuse of millions of dollars at USAID.
So the press is pouncing on his sardonic comments and nickname.
The balls in the lyrics were dance parties, but actually was a satire of rich folk, and of course full of double entendres
double entendre
Defintion: A phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.
.......................................
Update: The guy with the nickname Big Balls is not the same nerd who posted sardonic jokes interpreted as racist. But the news stories were not clear.
Anyway, here is the Vance telling a Congresswoman to calm down:
For the sake of both of our kids? Grow up.
Racist trolls on the internet, while offensive, don't threaten my kids. You know what does? A culture that denies grace to people who make mistakes. A culture that encourages congressmen to act like whiny children. https://t.co/xpLjhfk6Bz
Instapundit has a lot of links, and the NewNeo has a list but the Instalache has caused the webpage to crash from too many requests
I am reminded about the quip: they came to do good, and they made out very well.
but the propaganda is big: Protests but all crying fascist, evil etc. but not discussing what is going on.
And the propaganda is strong: I ran across a foreign paper where they were complaining that the shutdown of aid led a hospital in Myamar for refugees to not have medicines. Uh, the aid was shut down a few days ago and you already ran out of medicine? Sorry, I worked overseas in mission hospitals and know several things: One, storing medicine means you have it for a few days. So why did they run out so quickly? Two: That a lot of supplies supposed to go to third world hospitals are stolen every step of the way, and three: the article admits other hospitals in the area were open to take the patients.
I am upset that PEPFAR might lose their HIV medicines, but as I pointed out, in recent years their aim has not been getting medicine to HIV patients but pushing population control, sex ed and the gender agenda, and removing laws that ban gay activity, laws that are used mainly to go after sexual predators and discourage sex tourism.
Remember all that M Pox kerfuffle? It came from sex tourism in Africa, then spread to gay raves with orgies in Europe and the USA. But no one wants to admit that gay tourism (both gay and hetero) exists, that poor young men and women (and street kids) are the victims because often they are poor and easy to exploit.
well, anyway, the HIV medicine scandal with Pepfar has been known for years; The Clintons were lauded for changing to a generic brand to save money, but the medicines were inferior.
IBDaily in 2016 has an article here about the corruption, and the link with donations to Hillary. POlifact tries to pooh pooh the story, but years back the medical journals showed that the medicines were inferior but insisted that these didn't harm the patients.
When Musk took over Twitter, he got some honest leftie journalists to check what was going on, and it was found a lot of the censorship about covid was just that: not the truth but censorship.
This upset me as a doc, since honesty is needed to figure out what works to help our patients. And to make things worse modern docs are pressured to follow guidelines to get paid (in the olden days, we had discretion on how to treat).
Well, anyway: Fast forward to DOGE.
Hmm...
anyway, the story that money was being used to get Trumpieboy into jail was well known by anyone with a brain, but the extent of corruption where an independent (sic) US government agency was pushing one political party was a bit of an eye opener.
Yes, I know: A long rant. But I try to limit my writing to things I actually know about from personal observation.
You mean that the US was promoting revolutions in other countries (and yes, by the way, trying to do the same thing in the USA? )
Well, we here in the Philippines know this: The US via the Omidyar network funded Rappler to take down Duterte, and our lovely ex-president Gloria was got out of jail via human rights organizations led by George Clooney's wife and a trial where there was a lack of evidence against her. Just don't ask how her bank account improved, and just ignore the ZTE scandal where the backstory is that this was how China tried to legally get permission to steal the petroleum under the West Philippine sea... and of course just ignore Hello Garci and the Manguindanao scandals.
this conservative Catholic commentator lists how this has corrupted the Catholic church on many levels.
At ten minutes he mentions the Anti Catholic push in Ireland: I can confirm this: My friend who lives there told me thirty years ago the plan was to get rid of the church which they saw as being in the way of their modern agenda.
Well,
He goes into more aspects of how the bureaucracy funded the Catholic social outreach. Well, the Bishop's organization has long been infiltrated with extreme lefties: Back in the 1970s the Bishops proposed unilateral nuclear disarmament. WTF? And the release of a pro gay document got lots of publicity without anyone mentioning that it was never approved by the bishops, but only by their office workers.
Oh well: No one in the US respects the bishops, with a few exceptions. I mean, it took 30 years to figure out McCarrick was corrupt, and they replaced him with Wuerl, who was in charge of Pittsburgh when everyone knew about the gay infiltration of the seminaries in several western PA diocese: indeed, anyone with gay friends knew about how a lot of priests openly cruised the gay bar scene in Pittsburgh.
I see nothing... nothing.
He is now replaced, but still influences the church. Sigh.
as for USAID: the infiltration means that the money instead of helping people is pushing an agenda, including abortion, gay rights, mass migration, and looking the other way at the drug smugglers.
the good things done are still being done, but often they are infiltrated by the agenda:
fast forward to 20 minutes to how PREPFAR is being subverted to push gay rights and birth control instead of just treating those with HIV who can't afford the expensive medicine.
Canceling USAID might stop this program that is life saving for many, and there is a lot of worry in African countries that it will cancel the program causing HIV patients not to get treatment.
here is the program in Zimbabwe. notice the part about non judgemental approach? Don't use shame to limit behavior. And often this is combined with sex education that normalizes premarital sex in high school girls: not premarriage sex, but promiscuity.
4. Made significant gains toward tackling societal challenges that impede progress in achieving
the global 10-10-102
targets, including reducing the number of countries with punitive laws
that target key populations; reducing stigma and discrimination that undermine effective
responses; and fighting gender-based inequalities and gender-based violence that put
adolescent girls and young women at increased risk for HIV.
italics mine.
translation: don't use shame and negative feed back to those whose behavior threatens the family oriented culture of their country. In other words, impose the gay rights and gender agenda (e.g. in sex education in schools, or promoting birth control in high schools).
Notice they mix the good (decrease gender based inequalities) with this. But of course the details are left out.
5. Developed benchmarks supporting an HIV response that ensures enabling policies are
adopted and implemented, and that countries and communities can lead with the capacity to
deliver prevention and treatment services through domestic systems.
which policies? Hence the push for gay rights and promoting anti family policies, (billboards, social media. sex education in schools) that push the idea that children are a burden and marriage is bad.
when you read about the Gates programs, which push life saving vaccines and treatments, just remember that Melinda Gates decided to make birth control a priority for their money.
And this taints the life saving part of the Gates Foundation: Mixing evil with good allows it to continue since good people don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. But it also leads to locals distrusting the program: hence the distrust of vaccines, which are being seen as a way for evil westerners to stop you from having children, or as a way to kill your children.
So Trumpieboy has a problem: the good things done by USAID is being used to cover using USAID to push political agenda of the international elites (and their lackies who now run the Democratic party in the USA and who have infiltrated a lot of the churches, including the Catholic church)
quick note: I worked with a lot of this when I worked in Africa, including pushing the spacing of children so that the moms could continue breast feeding for two years. Child spacing is consistent with African traditions. Teaching teenage girls with sex education in high school to use birth control and that promiscuity is okay goes against African tradition.
But I should also note that I am retired and not involved with this here in the Philippines.
Cultural note: here, gays and trans are accepted as just part of the extended family. And like second wives, they are tolerated as long as they keep their indiscretions quiet. This by the way is not true of the aggressive gay community (where a lot of foreigners cruise) in Makati. You see, the culture there is the US pushed modern gay agenda: is to flaunt it, ignore the health effects of gross promiscuity, push it as normal and insist no one tell them that certain actions are sins. (and note this agenda is not just about gays but pushing promiscuous sex as normal, never mind that many poor girls are pushed into it out of need to feed their families).
The Catholic church and most people here in the Philippines tended to look the other way at sexual sin, since the sins of corruption are a lot worse than a quiet gay having a friend or a man with a second wife who quietly pays for the upkeep of his children or a girl working as a hooker in a bar for tourists who does it to support her family.., or even when our city has a "Miss Gay Gapan" contest every year.
But things are getting worse: There is now an epidemic of children being sexually abused, especially the epidemic of on line sexual abuse by foreigners, is getting publicity too.
But what is changing this easy going approach is not just a quiet revulsion against the US pushing their gender agenda, but the huge increase in people joining Protestant churches.
----------------
update: EdwardPentin post on Professor Fonana's essay on globalism and the present day Catholic church,
The stuff going on in Washington is making me dizzy and on most of it I have no expertise.
Punishing Mexico and Canada with a huge tariff? Well, they started it. Fenanyl and people smuggling by the cartels who run Mexico, and the huge tariffs in Canada on American goods. That last part could hint that tariffs on the EU will come next, since they too put huge tariffs on Yankee goods.
How dare Trumpie boy push back.
But what is the smaller tariff on China about? It isn't big enough to harm them, so what's the deal.
Answer: this is about taxing small packages. E commerce. Both direct sales from China to the US and also when they send parts in small packages to get around the usual taxes.
Trump’s executive orders directing 25% levies on Canada and Mexico — plus a 10% duty on China — specify that the “de minimis” exemption for small packages no longer applies. Under the exemption, products below that dollar amount are able to enter the US without tariffs — a boon for China’s e-commerce retailers who ship often cheaper wares directly to consumers in the US....the impact of the change threatens to fall most squarely on China, affecting retailers including Alibaba, JD.com Inc., PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu and fashion-focused Shein. American shoppers and companies imported about $48 billion worth of shipments from the world under that loophole in the first nine months of last year, according to US Customs and Border Protection estimates.
China dumping cheap goods on third world countries undermines local businesses, both manufacturing stuff and now the retail stores. I wonder if this works if more countries will do the same.
I mainly shop locally, except I have to buy my clothes in the used clothing outlets to find clothing to fit me.
But I see the staff here always buying cheap stuff on line and getting it delivered here. Yes, they could probably find it locally, but that would take time to find where they could get it and the prices would be higher than e commerce.
