Friday 27 August 2021

 Watch out Country, the Government is itching to lock you down again! So how effective was mass 'vaccination then?

It appears the South West is being 'softened up' for 'further re-escalation' - whatever that may mean.  I assume it means the reintroduction of measures, which by every reliable yardstick, have proved ineffective. 

There is not a grain of evidence to indicate that any aspect of past 'lock-downs' - a term borrowed from gaol culture - has worked. 

Staying home, social distancing, masks, even the much heralded 'vaccination' policy, has been proved to be a complete waste of time. Indeed all the evidence suggests it has caused untold harm, knocking the dangers of Covid into a cocked hat.

Policies emanating from government, have undoubtedly caused thousands of excess deaths at home and in institutional settings, from lack of care, delayed medical and surgical interventions, drug and alcohol abuse, loneliness and despair. The nation has literally been 'worried sick'. It is insane protocol and interventions that have killed people rather than an errant bug. Yet the government is signalling - for that is what they are good at - more of the same deadly 'medicine'.

The nation has been failed by politicians, government and all its myriad 'nudging', assessing and influencing bodies. All the highly paid 'experts' have scared people to death, throwing both common sense and science aside, to introduce medieval measures everyone knew were flawed and useless. 

Perhaps most surprising of all, despite all the emotional propaganda, the nation has been failed by doctors and the National Health Service itself.  One would have expected the medically and nursing qualified to have responded responsibly and rationally. Instead they have been willing evangelists of the covid nonsense, amplifying the notional danger and actually preventing access to consultation and treatment. 

From early on it was clear, the bug was neither as infectious or dangerous as was being promulgated, particularly to those not otherwise old, infirm or suffering from other fatal diseases. They lost sight of all human and ethical principles, denying dying patients and their relatives human contact on the spurious grounds of 'risk'. Risk to whom? 

It helped to usher in a new GP protocol that effectively means it is impossible to see him or her face to face. The appointment system is a shambles that is designed to fail and make people give up in despair. Many surgeries won't allow people to wait inside whatever the weather and the madness of it all is summed up by one notice stating "If you are feeling ill, do not come in."!

Nothing in the theory, from the causation, transmission and protection from the alleged virus has been proved scientifically, either in a laboratory or epidemiologically. Where is the evidence that masks had any effect or not wearing them? It just doesn't exist, yet the people were coerced by fines and draconian measures to conform. An imaginary risk was superceded by the real one of an authoritarian police state, which on the basis of the following article, is being threatened again.

MPs, as we see from the following article, are spineless 'Yes Men and Women', concerned only with their own careers and pushing the party line.  Where is the challenge to the underlying rationale. On what is the claim based there is a " high prevalence of the virus in the area" and that "Cornwall had the highest infection rate". On what factual and reliable evidence is that based? If it is based on the discredited 'PCR' test or 'track and trace', both of which have cost the nation billions to what purpose, then the claimed 'evidence' can be regarded as misleading myth. It is certainly no basis to introduce policy adversely affecting millions of people.

Only the diagnosis of disease should be used to dictate policy so what is the evidence of that?  Normally diagnosis is left to doctors but doctors - GPs at least - are refusing to see patients, so it is hard to see how this is informing the claim.  Hospitals don't appear to be overly filled, not from Covid-type symptoms at least, although the covid disruption has caused never higher waiting lists for other interventions.

We know that younger people can be infected without serious consequences. We also know that the jab itself causes all the same symptoms as the disease it is claimed to prevent, including death itself. So who is asking to what extent the vaccination programme is actually causing this apparent rise in cases?

The government, and through it the health professions and general population has been seized by a mass and irrational hysteria. The nation, even the intelligent, highly specialised part of it, has suspended its reason and humanity for the sake of a fabricated and dangerous illusion, not unlike the threat posed by ISIS that dominated  the last decade or more. Rather incredibly it seems, both threats are to become again the justification for interference in and control of, people's lives. Funny that.


Devon and Cornwall set for 'enhanced response measures' as Covid rates soar

While no extra restrictions now, there is the potential for the 'further re-escalation' of Covid measures, should the short-term measures prove ineffective.

From: https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/devon-cornwall-set-enhanced-response-5841949?utm_source=cornwall_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=breaking_news_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

Enhanced response measures are set to be put in place across the South West due to high rates of Covid-19.

As the August Bank Holiday - one of the South West's busiest times - gets underway, due to high prevalence of the virus in the area, Devon and Cornwall are to receive 'an enhanced response package' - subject to sign-off by Number 10.

While no extra restrictions will be put in place, from Friday, measures will be rolled out which will help with support measures for education settings and increased national communications support, clearly outlining the continued risks of Covid-19 and the need to take personal action, such as the wearing of face masks and social distancing.

Read more: Devon and Cornwall Covid rates still highest in England - but starting to fall

The response will last for five weeks - but a review will be conducted at week four to determine whether the automatic roll off at week five is appropriate, or if there is a case for re-escalation of further measures.

A letter written by Nadine Dorries and sent to the regions MPs states that following discussions with officials in the relevant South West local authorities they will be identifying the appropriate interventions and will start deploying the enhanced response area measures.

And it states that while the Prime Minister has said we want the whole country to move out of and remain out of these restrictions together, they are trusting people to be responsible and to act with caution and common sense, as they have done throughout this pandemic, and to make decisions about how best to protect themselves and their loved ones, informed by the risks - with a warning that if it doesn't happen, measures could be 're-escalated'.

For the week ending August 22, Cornwall has the highest infection rate in England, with West Devon 3rd, Teignbridge 4th, Torbay 5th, Mid Devon 6th, Torridge 7th, East Devon 9th, Exeter 10th, South Hams 11th, North Devon 12th and Plymouth 13th. Only Sedgemoor (2nd) and Mansfield (8th) are not in Devon and Cornwall.

Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: "What this basically means is our rates are the highest in the country, and as a result they are kicking in new measures, which is basically a response to those high rates of infection.

"It also allows more communications, community testing, and a bigger push on some the advice such as wearing face masks in schools for instance."

He added: "This affects all of the South West, but especially the peninsula, because the peninsula has the highest rates. So that's Devon and Cornwall, Plymouth, South Hams and all the districts.

"It's partly a reflection on the fact that we're a tourist destination, partly a reflection on the fact that we didn't have high levels of Covid during the main outbreak, because we had lower levels, and so there's less natural immunity built up by people having Covid.

"We do have a good take up of people having the vaccine, so three quarters of the population are fully vaccinate, and despite there being challenges about vaccinating young people, there's still lots of capacity for young people to come forward and have their vaccine.

"This happens at the point of Bank Holiday weekend, so one of our most important tourist seasons, and I think many tourist businesses will be concerned about this announcement. From my point of view, I want to see everyone follow the guidance and look after themselves.

"Our rate is too high at the moment, and what we mustn't do is allow the virus to continue to spread at this level, because that puts pressure on our NHS and we've already seen at Derriford how we're effectively on Black Alert.

"It might not feel like the peaks of the pandemic previously, but that doesn't mean our NHS professionals aren't being worked into the ground at this moment, and I think it's a good reminder to say to people 'please keep yourself safe, please keep others safe, please make sure you're testing yourself twice a week, make sure you're getting the vaccine'."

Kevin Foster, MP for Torbay, added: “Over recent weeks cases have increased in our bay and region, although thanks to the high levels of vaccination across our region the impact is being mitigated. These latest measures are a proportionate response to the situation, including their reminders of what we can all do to help protect our neighbours.”

Full letter from Nadine Dorries

A letter written by Nadine Dorries, and seen by Reach's titles in Devon and Cornwall, reads: "I am writing to you to inform you of plans, to be announced today, to add all the following South West local authorities to a list of areas receiving an enhanced response package due to high prevalence of COVID -19 in the area: Torbay Council, Plymouth City Council, Devon County Council, East Devon District Council, Exeter City Council, Mid Devon District Council, North Devon District Council, South Hams District Council, Teignbridge District Council, Torridge District Council, West Devon Borough Council, Cornwall Council, Council of the Isles of Scilly.

"In response to Delta now being the dominant strain and the move to Step 4 of the Roadmap, we have reviewed our approach to enhanced response areas, with simplified short-term support to areas where case rates and wider indicators suggest we will see the greatest pressure on the NHS.

"These modifications to enhanced response packages took effect from the 19 July. Guidance regarding extra support deployed in areas receiving an enhanced response to Covid-19 can be found on gov.uk.

As of 18 August, case rates for all ages in the South West were 441 per 100,000 which is above the national case rate of 324 per 100,000. Case rates are increasing across the whole of the South West region with case rates in the 11-16 and 17-21 years age ranges seeing the greatest increases.

"As of 18 August, case rates in the South West for those aged 17-21 was the highest across the country at 1,878 per 100,000 and almost double the national figure of 878 per 100,000. With regards to vaccination, 76% of the total population has been fully vaccinated, receiving two doses.

"As a region, the South West has the highest case rates nationally, with only a handful of areas below the national average. The proposed UTLAs of Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay and Isles of Scilly have some of the highest case rates rises above the national average.

"The 7-day case rate per 100,000 population increases for West Devon is 157%, for South Hams it is 122% and for Isles of Scilly it is 400%.

"The enhanced response area package will help with support measures for education settings and increased national communications support, clearly outlining the continued risks of Covid-19 and the need to take personal action, such as the wearing of face masks and social distancing.

"Additionally, prioritised access to Wastewater testing, sequencing, national contact tracing capacity and national support with messaging will also be supported. I recognise the excellent work that Local Authorities have been doing, for a sustained period of time to manage the pandemic in their area. The enhanced response package is a short-term measure.

"Areas designated as enhanced response will automatically roll off after five weeks of receiving the enhanced support, a review will be conducted at week four to determine whether the automatic roll off at week five is appropriate, or if there is a case for re-escalation.

"Following discussions with officials in the relevant South West local authorities we will be identifying the appropriate interventions and will start deploying the enhanced response area measures from Friday 27 August 2021.

"As the Prime Minister has said we want the whole country to move out of and remain out of these restrictions together. We are trusting people to be responsible and to act with caution and common sense, as they have done throughout this pandemic, and to make decisions about how best to protect themselves and their loved ones, informed by the risks.

"I’m sure you will continue to reinforce that message locally and would like to again thank you and the efforts of residents locally.

"Thank you for your support in stopping the spread of COVID-19 – including concerning variants – to protect the NHS, and save lives."

Wednesday 25 August 2021

 READING LIST:

Picked up three excellent books from the charity shop.
Anthony Trollope - The Prime Minister
John Betjeman - Letters 1951 -1984
Mark Twain -The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Every book - and how clever are the people who write them - brings with them associations and memories.


Millais, John Everett (1861), "Julians on Harrow Hill, Trollope's boyhood home", Orley Farm (drawing) (1st ed.), frontispiece.


Anthony Trollope (1815 - 82) was a great writer of Victorian institutions and characters. He is accredited with introducing the post box and spent the larger part of his life in Ireland and England working for the Post Office in a senior position. He paid many visits to the United States and established contacts with literary figures there, including Mark Twain. His two years travelling in the Westcountry he said was the happiest time of his life. In 1871 he even travelled to Melbourne, Australia on the SS Great Britain - another Westcountry connection. He is remembered for his Barchester Chronicles, loosely based on Salisbury. This political novel was written in 1876, and amply illustrates the dictum that "all political careers end in failure". I look forward to reading it.




John Betjeman OM (1906 - 1984) was and is a 'national treasure'. Reading this exhaustive compilation of his correspondence by his daughter, is an insight into a packed social life, full of friends and events. One cannot help but be envious of the man and the life, or of his ability to write amusing and affecting prose and verse. His mother, who he visited frequently in her last days, was buried at Trebetherick, in Cornwall, as is he, close to his holiday home, Church and golf course. The church was famously excavated from the sand and his moving plain memorial stone is in black Delabole slate. I feel an insignificant empathy with his life-long campaign against modern civic and architectural barbarism.





Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884 was published some eight years after Twain's first great writing success, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, based loosely on his own experiences as a child. Ernest Hemingway wrote : "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." Amazingly this is the first time I have read this classic tale of a boy on the Mississippi but I always felt an affinity with those two characters based on my own experiences on the river and land. (How is one to compare that majestic water highway with the humble Chew, but such is the human imagination and the power of the story teller?) Of course the mind of the child is portrayed with the mind and experience of the adult and is deeply satirical and challenging to the accepted social norms and moral code. Huckleberry Finn quickly learns to survive on his wits and moderate his words accordingly. I called my best and closest friend 'Huck' - an abbreviation of his surname - not without an allusion to that classic literary relationship, rooted in the legendary 'wild west' of an emerging super power.


Photo: Daily Mail.


Childhood in '50's Britain was dominated - at least in my case and leaving aside Christianity for a moment - with two cultural themes: the American Western and the war with Germany that inspired our play and imaginary world. Both promulgated the notion that shooting people was necessary in the battle between good and evil, order and chaos. Of course it ignored all the contradictory ethical principles. It was a subtle, or not so subtle, psychological and political conditioning, that has its modern parallels. Time sweeps on but it is the written word that provides the mileposts and road map to understanding where we have come from and possibly where we are going.

Monday 23 August 2021

 

Secret gag order hides Israel’s espionage & theft of US nuclear technology

Secret gag order hides Israel’s espionage & theft of US nuclear technology

A classified 2012 gag order issued under Obama prohibits all governmental officials, including Congress members, from mentioning Israel’s nuclear arsenal…

Israel has been allowed to get away with massive espionage directed against the US and the theft of material and technology – while also being engaged in a conspiracy that distorts America’s foreign policy, largely done to keep getting the billions of dollars that it is not entitled to receive under existing American law

This might be construed as treason…

By Philip Giraldi, reposted from Strategic Culture (images and annotations added by IAK)

Few Americans are aware of the fact that no U.S. government official, to include congressmen, can in any way mention or discuss Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which is estimated by some observers to consist of as many as 200 tactical nuclear weapons which can be delivered on target by air, land or sea.

The prohibition is spelled out in a Department of Energy “classification bulletin” graded Secret, which was issued on September 6, 2012 and bears the file number WPN-136. The subject line reads “Guidance on Release of information Relating to the Potential for an Israeli Nuclear Capability.” It would be interesting to learn exactly how the text of the memo reads, but in spite of repeated attempts to obtain a copy under the Freedom of Information Act, the entire body of the document is completely blacked out.

What is known in that the memo is basically a gag order, presumably issued by the Barack Obama Administration to block any official from making a comment that might be interpreted to mean that the federal government recognizes that Israel has nuclear weapons. The silence over the Israeli arsenal dates back to an agreement made by President Richard Nixon with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. In its most recent manifestation, President Barack Obama, when asked if he knew of “any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons,” responded “I don’t want to speculate.” He was, of course, lying.

The bulletin’s first known victim was Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear policy specialist James Doyle who in 2013 wrote a sentence suggesting that Israel had a nuclear arsenal. It appeared in an article entitled “Why Eliminate Nuclear Weapons?” which had been security cleared by Los Alamos and appeared in the journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. An unknown congressional staffer demanded a review and Doyle had his home computer searched before being fired. [This article has been removed from the IISS website, but is archived here.]

Israel defies Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. JFK told Israel to terminate its nuclear program but was killed before any steps were taken to end the project. (Ha'aretz)

Israel, as is so often the case, gets a free pass on what is for others criminal behavior. Its nuclear program was created by stealing American uranium and weapons technology. Preventing nuclear proliferation was in fact a major objective of the U.S. government when in the early 1960s President John F. Kennedy learned that Tel Aviv was developing a nuclear weapon from a CIA report. He told the Israelis to terminate their program or risk losing American political and economic support but was killed before any steps were taken to end the project.

Lowenthal and Shapiro (of Zionist Organization of America) funneled enriched uranium to Israel

Israel accelerated its nuclear program after the death of President Kennedy. By 1965, it had obtained the raw material for a bomb consisting of U.S. government owned highly enriched weapons grade uranium obtained from a company in Pennsylvania called NUMEC, which was founded in 1956 and owned by Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, head of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Zionist Organization of America. NUMEC was a supplier of enriched uranium for government projects but it was also from the start a front for the Israeli nuclear program, with its chief funder David Lowenthal, a leading Zionist, traveling to Israel at least once a month where he would meet with an old friend Meir Amit, who headed Israeli intelligence. NUMEC covered the shipment of enriched uranium to Israel by claiming the metal was “lost,” losses that totaled nearly six hundred pounds, enough to produce dozens of weapons. Such was the importance of the operation that in 1968 NUMEC even received a private incognito visit from a top Israeli spymaster Rafi Eitan who later ran the spy Jonathan Pollard.

Also there was physical evidence relating to the diversion of the uranium. Refined uranium has a technical signature that permit identification of its source. Traces of uranium from NUMEC were identified by Department of Energy inspectors in Israel in 1978. The Central Intelligence Agency has also looked into the diversion of enriched uranium from the NUMEC plant and concluded that it was part of a broader program to obtain the technology and raw materials for a nuclear device for Israel.

Israel steals US nuclear technology

Milchan with News Corp. President/Chief operating officer Peter Chernin and Co-Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman at the premiere of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” on June 7, 2005. Both Chernin and Rothman are Israel partisans. In 2008 Chernin presented Milchan with a lifetime achievement award at an event honoring Israel, and during Israel’s 2014 onslaught against Gazans, Rothman signed a pro-Israel letter.

With the uranium in hand, the stealing of the advanced technology needed to make a nuclear weapon, which is where Hollywood movie producer Arnon Milchan comes into the story. Milchan was born in Israel but moved to the United States and eventually wound up as the founder-owner of New Regency Films. In a November 25, 2013 interview on Israeli television Milchan admitted that he had spent his many years in Hollywood as an agent for Israeli intelligence, helping obtain embargoed technologies and materials that enabled Israel to develop a nuclear weapon. He worked for Israel’s Bureau of Science and Liaison acquisition division of Mossad, referred to as the LAKAM spy agency.

Milchan admitted in the interview that “I did it for my country and I’m proud of it.” He was not referring to the United States. He also said that “other big Hollywood names were connected to [his] covert affairs.” Among other successes, he obtained through his company Heli Trading 800 krytons, the sophisticated triggers for nuclear weapons. The devices were acquired from the California top secret defense contractor MILCO International. Milchan personally recruited MILCO’s president Richard Kelly Smyth as an agent before turning him over to another Heli Trading employee, future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for handling. Smyth was eventually arrested in 1985 but insofar as is known neither Milchan nor Netanyahu has ever been questioned by the FBI regarding the thefts.

Israel’s nukes are now in the news because of an Op-Ed that surprisingly appeared in the New York Times on August 11th written by Peter Beinart entitled “America Needs to Start Telling the Truth About Israel’s Nukes.” Beinart wrote that “Israel already has nuclear weapons. You’d just never know it from America’s leaders, who have spent the last half-century feigning ignorance. This deceit undercuts America’s supposed commitment to nuclear nonproliferation, and it distorts the American debate over Iran. It’s time for the Biden administration to tell the truth.”

Beinart points out that the American public can hardly make an informed judgement regarding what should be done in the Middle East if it is uncertain whether Israel is a nuclear power or not, but one issue he does not discuss is the issue of money.

US aid to Israel illegal under US law

IRMEP’s Grant Smith, who has been challenging the secrecy surrounding the Israeli arsenal, recently observed that “The Symington & Glenn provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (22 USC §2799aa-1: Nuclear reprocessing transfers, illegal exports for nuclear explosive devices, transfers of nuclear explosive devices, and nuclear detonations) forbid U.S. foreign aid to countries with nuclear weapons programs that are not signatories to the Treaty on the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, absent required special procedures… But no member of Congress has taken up this issue — or even mentioned Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal.”

Progressive Congress members abiding by gag order?

Smith is frustrated by the reluctance of progressives in Congress, who have opposed recent additional $735 million in military aid to Israel permitting it to rearm after its assault on the Gazans, to ignore the gag order and raise the issue of the nuclear arsenal.

He writes “It seems as though even these members of Congress, as well as the rest of the U.S. government, are abiding by this secret gag order when they could take action which would challenge the administration’s refusal to acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons and possibly stop $3.8 billion in taxpayer money from going to Israel.”

That the Energy Department document exists at all is recognition of the astonishing power of the Israeli Lobby over the U.S. government at all levels, particularly as it is intended to ignore or even negate other legislation passed by congress to combat nuclear proliferation. And the denial of what everyone knows to be true, i.e. that Israel has a nuclear arsenal, appears to all come down to the ability of the United States government to continue to reward a wealthy Israel with billions of dollars of taxpayer money every year.

To suggest that the arrangement is nefarious would be to put it mildly, but it is more that that. It is criminal. Israel has been allowed to get away with massive espionage directed against the United States and the theft of material and technology while also since the 1970s being engaged in a conspiracy with the U.S. government that distorts America’s foreign policy, largely done to keep getting the billions of dollars that it is not entitled to receive under existing American law. It is shameful. Beyond that, it might be construed as treason.


[Because of the influence of the pro-Israel lobby, US politicians from both parties consistently vote to give Israel over $10 million per day of Americans’ tax money. To tell Congress to stop sending this money to Israel, go here.]


Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer who served nineteen years overseas in Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Giraldi was awarded an MA and PhD from the University of London in European History and holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Chicago. He speaks Spanish, Italian, German, and Turkish. He is currently executive director of the Council for the National Interest, which seeks to promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values and interests.

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