The Thunderbolt 211208 — Business as Usual Continued
Dana Walker
The Thunderbolt
News — Commentary — Calendar of Activist Events — Dumb Jokes
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1) FYI Section:
1A) $1 Trillion for Free
1B) Oly FOR Calendar of Activist Events
1C) Glen’s Parallax Perspectives for December: Understanding Environmental Water Quality Problems and Solutions
2) Afghanistan: Lessons Learned and Unlearned
3) Bonus Tip of the Day
A detailed description of all events is located after the News and Commentary section
To go directly to an event description just type the index entry above into a search box
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Business as Usual Continued
211208
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Business as Usual
Hey, People!
Even as the Republicans are trashing the Democrats for social spending, all of them are totally bipartisan when it comes to the Pentagon: The House just passed a $768 Billion Defense Policy Bill with a vote of 363-to-70.
This bill would increase the Pentagon’s budget by even more than what Joe Biden requested and includes continued weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in spite of Biden’s ‘promises’ to cut them off and in spite of efforts by Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul to block those sales.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/us/politics/defense-budget-democrats-biden.html
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Business As Usual Continued
Screwing Africans seems to simply be the default position for Western powers. It is like a knee-jerk reaction or something that they just can’t seem to help.
For example: Since South Africa has been a pandemic central for decades now, they have invested in advanced tech for detecting and studying pathogenic critters. Therefore, South Africa was the first to detect the new Omicron variant, whereupon they did the right thing and immediately let the world know about its existence and they shared the genome with the world so everyone could get to work studying it.
In return for their honesty and transparency, South Africa got slapped with a travel ban.
This actually made perfect sense since the only places the Omicron variant had been detected at that point were Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Israel, Hong Kong, and southern Africa — but evidently they were only worried about African viruses.
(Who knew that viruses were racist?)
And this is all happening because the rich countries hoarded the vaccines while the poor countries got doodly squat. In Burundi, they have vaccinated a grand total of 1,592 people out of a population of 11.8 million. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is doing somewhat better; they have vaccinated 186,749 out of a total population of 92.4 million.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/health/global-covid-vaccinations/
Since, as mentioned, screwing Africans seems to be embedded in their very DNA, then this may seem like nothing more than business as usual — but in this particular case it would seem that they’re cutting off their own noses to spite their own faces in that the totally predictable result of that policy was that all those busy little Covid buggies have had this vast rich reservoir in which they were able to just float around and reproduce and mutate at will and thus start producing all kinds of bizarre new ‘variants’ some of which were bound to become even more infectious.
Experts have been predicting exactly this outcome to that policy for a long time now.
However, if you think this is merely another example of political or economic idiocy, consider first the Thunderbolt maxim that any time anything happens then look to who is profiting by that thing happening and you will thus almost invariably also find who is making that thing happen — then consider that Big Pharma has absolutely no concern with ethics or morals or human lives and that Big Pharma focuses solely and exclusively upon shareholder profits for the next quarter — and then consider the fact that every time one of these new ‘variants’ pops up then the cash registers at Big Pharma begin overflowing yet once again as tens of billions more public $$$ begin rolling in like a tidal wave…
After you’ve considered all of that, then consider that at a time when everyone everywhere is saying they don’t yet know anything about anything concerning the new Omicron variant — including whether the current vaccines will be effective or not — the exception to that rule seems to be Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, who said there's a good chance that the current vaccines won't, in fact, hold up as well against the Omicron variant.
Then, Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge the same thing.
Moderna's chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, saw fit to add that it would take three months for Moderna to produce a vaccine specifically for Omicron.
Dr. Burton did not mention what the price tag for those three months would be.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-omicron-variant-vaccine-effectiveness/
Since no one else — including the world’s supposed leading experts — seems to know anything about any of that, how is it that these people seem to know everything about all of that?
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Yes, correlation is not necessarily causation — but in this case I really don’t think that anyone can definitively state that correlation is not causation either…
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It’s time to get to work…
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FYI Section:
1A) $1 Trillion for Free
This timely message was forwarded to me from Glen:
How to cut $1 trillion from the Pentagon
A CBO report requested by Bernie Sanders lays out three options for a modest Pentagon trim over the next decade. Can we pull it off?
https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/11/12/how-to-cut-1-trillion-from-the-pentagon/
"The freedom of which we boast is not lost in shattered Dunkirks and blazing Pearl Harbours, ... such events call forth the utmost resistance. Freedom is lost little by little in noiseless theft, a fragment of concession to expediency here, a morsel of 'what does it matter?' there. Then, shockingly, we find that freedom has disappeared in the regimentation of not only our daily doings but our eternal ambitions."
-- The Royal Bank of Canada Monthly Letter, January 1966
Glen Anderson (360) 491-9093 glenan...@integra.net
See information about many kinds of issues at my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.net
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1B) Oly FOR Calendar of Activist Events
Glen and Oly FOR have also put an activist calendar together that you can download:
The end of 2021 is upon us, ready or not. Here are some occurrences you will want to know about and be present for if at all possible for you and yours:
The City of Olympia will begin evacuating the large encampment along Deschutes Parkway next Wednesday, Dec 8. The entire press release is attached to this message. As you will see, there will not be much of a safety net for the folks being evicted from this long-standing squat town beside Capitol Lake. Olympia Mutual Aid Partners [https://olymap.org/ ] have been supporting residents of this and several other large camps with materials and counsel. Both the city and OLYMAP are opening avenues to donate to and physically assist the evacuated campers.
Thurston County FOR folks will hold our annual Peace vigil and gathering (limited by COVID restrictions) Saturday, Dec 11, from eleven am til noon along West 4th Avenue (south side of Percival Landing and north of Heritage Fountain). We are invited to Traditions Cafe for hot drinks and other goodies. If you wish to lunch at Traditions, the outside dining areas will be available.
Death has claimed a stalwart worker for justice: Jolene Unsoeld died after being cared for at home by her family for many months. As soon as we hear details of a memorial and suggestions for contributions to causes she supported, you will hear from OlyFoR steering committee. Regon is her son, as most of you know.
There is a notice (PDF attached) for a concert sponsored by Tacoma FOR to be attended via Zoom on Sunday, December 12. Tom Rawson will entertain in his inimitable style and dedicate the proceeds to Afghan refugee relief efforts here. Please read the flyer and respond as directed to be admitted to the concert.
Our thanks to Glen Anderson for compiling the attached late-year calendar for everything y'all might want to participate in in service of peace and justice.
Enjoy the holidays and be with some people you care about.
Olympia FoR Steering Committee
Calendar of events:
Afgan Benefit with Tom Rawson:
Deschutes Parkway Camp Sweep:
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1C) Glen’s Parallax Perspectives for December: Understanding Environmental Water Quality Problems and Solutions
I got this message from Glen:
The December 2021 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series very clearly explains problems – and proposes solutions – for the serious problems in the water quality of Puget Sound and the streams and rivers that flow into it. I interview Harry Branch, an exceptionally well informed and articulate local expert.
I’ve already posted it to my blog. (See below.)
People in Thurston County WA with cable TV can watch it 14 times throughout December 2021 on channel 22 (every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm).
Also, people EVERYWHERE can watch it at ANY TIME starting now – and available forever – through my blog. Please USE THE LINK BELOW to WATCH THE VIDEO on your computer or phone – AND/OR READ THE THOROUGH SUMMARY that I typed up about what we said during the interview plus some additional information:
https://parallaxperspectives.org/understanding-environmental-water-quality-problems-and-solutions
Questions? Contact Glen Anderson (producer and host) at (360) 491-9093 or glenan...@integra.net
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2) Afghanistan: Lessons Learned and Unlearned
Tuesday December 14th
7 pm on Zoom
I got this message from Janet:
AFGHANISTAN: LESSONS LEARNED AND UNLEARNED
Tuesday, December 14, 7 PM
Sponsored by the South Sound Green Party
Presented by Dr.Steven Niva at Evergreen (international politics, MidEast affairs), and Dr. David Price at St Martin's (anthropology). Both have studied the settings of our unending wars for many years and have insights to share.
This event will explain how and why the US finally ended its twenty-year war in Afghanistan and what this means for US global power and future military interventions. The Afghanistan war cost the US over $3 Trillion, with much of that money either stolen or handed out to the largest defense contractors, while the US establishment continually lied to the public that success was always around the corner, but it never was. The event will finish by cautioning that the end of yet another failed war may not signal the end of US military interventionism and huge military budgets, as new enemies continue to be found.
Come with your questions!
For questions about the event, call Janet Jordan at 360-232-6165.
Link for Registration:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0odOuhpzosGdOYNrDjRGgmXFWQi3Pev1Uu
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3) Bonus Tip of the Day:
Put people before profits.
Peace.
Dana
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https://dana98501.wordpress.com/2021/12/08/tb-211208-business-as-usual-continued/
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