The Sickness Among Us

​Personally Susceptible,

​  Assange ‘too ill’ to attend last chance UK appeal against US extradition
Washington wants the WikiLeaks publisher on its soil where he could face a prison sentence of up to 175 years ​  “The outrageous part of the UK’s years-long ‘trial’ to condemn Julian Assange to die in an American dungeon is that the victim of his ‘crime’ (journalism) is a state rather than a person–the definition of a political offense, which the US-UK extradition treaty explicitly forbid,” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said on X (formerly Twitter).
​  Activists outside the court chanted “US, UK, hands off Assange” and “There is only one decision – no extradition,” among other slogans.   This week’s hearing will decide whether Assange will be allowed to appeal the 2022 decision by the UK government to extradite him to the US. His attorneys have argued that the extradition would amount to punishment for political opinions and violate the European Convention on Human Rights. https://swentr.site/news/592777-julian-assange-london-hearing/

​  Tessa Lena interviews financial analyst and former (successful in 2008) hedge fund manager, Alex Krainer, whose articles have always been insightful and intelligent. ​  Is Putin Evil? A Conversation with Alex Krainer   Alex says Putin is exceptionally honest, as exemplified by his never accepting bribes when he worked as a St. Petersburg bureaucrat. I have seen this reported before. What I had never seen reported before is Krainer's explanation of how Russia's COVID vaccine response with Sputnik-V, the first to market, broke what was intended to be a global (Hi Bill Gates) monopoly of western vaccines and electronic digital passports, transitioning into electronic-only banking and transactions, with social controls on spending and travel, as already seen in China. The Russian early release, at low cost, of Sputnik-V made the WEF cabal choose between including Russia in the plan as a "partner" or shunning Russia, creating parallel arrangements. They shunned Russian cooperation. The monopoly-based digital-vaccine-passport-and-wallet plan failed to progress for lack of monopoly power. This explanation takes a few minutes and starts at 1:19 on the timeline. I like his closing statements in the last 5 minutes, also.

Is Putin Evil? A Conversation with Alex Krainer

  ​Tom Luongo, Why War Bonds Are Returning in Europe ​  But this is a far more complex and nuanced issue than just making sure the West fights Russia to the last Ukrainian. This is ultimately about shoring up the EU’s fundamental weakness. It is an economic bloc with a common currency whose political authority is mostly powerless to control the value of that currency.
​  For this reason the EU leadership, nominally Davosian in their agenda, has been working their political machine towards giving the EU Commission that power through bond issuance and a centralized taxing mechanism.​.. ​..To folks like Macron, Michel, Ursula Von der Leyen and their bosses, European bourgeoisie and proletariats alike are just tax cattle. No wonder they are so against them eating beef.
​  So, let’s connect another couple of dots. Because now it should be obvious that this is why they threatened Hungary’s Viktor Orban with economic devastation for holding up their $50 billion aid package for Ukraine.
​  They need to keep Ukraine going to justify now spending another $100+ billion to launder into failing French and German banks sitting on massive losses from all the debt they bought during the NIRP (Negative Interest Rate Policy) period.
​  This is just the beginning of their plans for transferring sovereignty out of the hands of the member states and handing it to Brussels. But to sell this to global investors they have to prove to the world they have all the wayward voices under control.
​  Sovereign debt is secured through taxation and the productive capacity of the population. At this point the EU has neither. https://tomluongo.me/2024/02/20/why-war-bonds-are-making-their-return-in-europe/

​  Kiev has right to demand return of draft dodgers – UN​ , Top Ukrainian officials have been urging European countries to extradite men of fighting age

​  Ukraine has the right to demand the return of male refugees who are evading the draft, UN official Philippe Leclerc has argued. He added that military mobilization in Ukraine does not constitute persecution, meaning legal protection for draftees can theoretically be reviewed. https://www.rt.com/news/592776-un-ukraine-has-right-mobilize-refugees-abroad/

​  The United States Vetoes Yet Another UN Humanitarian Ceasefire Over Gaza​ , Is a rival resolution from Washington another trick to protect Israel?   The media were informed that Washington would be presenting its own rival Security Council draft resolution that would call for a temporary ceasefire and which also would advise Israel against launching a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza over Ramadan, which starts on March 10th, due to the fact that more than a million Gazans are trapped in the region with, quite probably, nowhere to go. The resolution calls for a “viable plan” for protecting civilians in Rafah, whatever that is supposed to mean, which Israel will presumably ignore, and it includes no sanctions if Israel refuses to comply. The US indicated that its draft document would be discussed in the UN over the next several weeks or more and might be subject to considerable editing, but it set no time table for initiating the temporary ceasefire apart from “as soon as practicable,” which is where a warning flag went up for me and others.
​  The resolution gives Israel considerable freedom of action without any bothersome timetable to worry about and “temporary” means it can resume military action when it wishes to do so and there is no threat of possible punishment if Israel does decide to invade Rafah and kills another 30,000 Palestinians while doing so.
​  It is well known in Washington circles that follow foreign policy and Biden’s wars that the US doesn’t make any moves on the Middle East without complete prior consultation with the Israelis. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has even participated in Israeli War Cabinet meetings. Against those weak but positive moves spelled out in the resolution, there is the fact that Netanyahu and his political allies, long opposed to a two-state solution, have recently repeatedly rejected proposals for any Palestinian sovereign entity which means that the intention is to destroy and/or annex Gaza. Israel is in fact using its formidable lobby and international press/narrative control to work assiduously to isolate the Palestinians by blocking any recognition by individual countries or as a full member at the UN. The greatest effort is inevitably being directed at working to keep the United States under control.​.. ..The United States and some Europeans are recognizing that a Palestinian state with what amounts to full sovereignty will not be allowed due to Israeli resistance and willingness to militarily destroy any such entity, but some leaders are nevertheless hoping to create some sort of “semi-sovereign” disarmed Palestinian government that will be entirely subservient to Israel in every way that matters...
​  Biden’s impending Gaza proposal also has a domestic political aspect. With Israel’s slaughter of Gazans still continuing, a situation that is enabled by Washington’s unflinching support of Israeli behavior, serious problems as the US is an active participant in a genocide are beginning to surface as the war spreads throughout the Middle East. One presumes that Blinken has finally decided that something must be done to salvage the international reputation of the United States while also undoing damage to Joe Biden’s electoral prospects as American voters increasingly are disgusted by the images of dead and tortured Palestinians that flash on national television screens nightly.
​  Aware that Netanyahu wants the war to continue until total victory to include opposition to the development of any Palestinian government entity, Blinken has reportedly asked the State Department to conduct a review and “present policy options on possible US and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza”... https://www.globalresearch.ca/united-states-vetoes-another-un-humanitarian-ceasefire-gaza/5850155

​  Government Media Office: Over 700,000 Palestinians are facing starvation in northern Gaza   The government media office urgently demanded a ceasefire and end to the genocidal war against civilians, children, and women.
“We demand the lifting of the siege and the entry of 10,000 aid trucks within the next two days in an urgent manner, especially into the Gaza and North Gaza governorates, before a human catastrophe occurs.” https://en.ypagency.net/319510

​  'Israel' hindering rescue missions to Gaza's Nasser hospital, WHO says
Since taking over the hospital last week, the IOF has barred access to the complex.
According to the WHO, there are still an estimated 130 sick and injured patients, as well as at least 15 physicians and nurses, within the institution, and the conditions inside are conducive to disease transmission.​.. ..The hospital in Khan Younis, one of the few operational hospitals in the entire region, is now in an "indescribable" state.
The statement described that with the lack of water and electricity, the hospital's garbage and medical waste are creating the conditions for a "breeding ground for disease."​... .."The Nasser medical complex is the backbone of healthcare in the southern Gaza Strip. Its ceasing to function is a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian displaced people in Khan Younis and Rafah," he added.​.. ..The statement further mentioned that the military has transformed the hospital into a "military base" and arrested a significant number of medical personnel following a raid on the compound on Thursday. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--hindering-rescue-missions-to-gaza-s-nasser-hospital

Day 2 at ICJ hearing: Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s actions in Palestinian Territories as ‘legally indefensible’ https://www.arabnews.com/node/2463186/middle-east

​ Really?  UK Warns It Could Restrict Arms Sales To Israel If Rafah Offensive Proceeds   Fresh headlines Wednesday say the United Kingdom is mulling restricting arms sales to Israel if it goes ahead with its planned major offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is packed with over a million Palestinian refugees who've been forcibly relocated from other parts of the Strip.​.. ​..Not only has London's High Court recently dealt with petitions from legal advocacy groups alleging British arms sent to Israel are being used to commit war crimes (petitions which thus far have been rejected), but the UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has just issued a letter to Netanyahu's office calling for Israel to "stop and think seriously about the repercussions of a military offensive" on Rafah. [Losing a regional war, despite nuclear weapons?] ​  Earlier this week Israeli defense officials for the first time said that the offensive would likely be launched by Ramadan, which begins on March 10 this year. The military has said Hamas can avoid this by releasing all of the hostages. At the UN Security Council, the UK abstained from a Tuesday vote on a resolution calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It failed due to veto from the United States. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uk-warns-it-could-restrict-arms-sales-israel-if-rafah-offensive-proceeds

​  Cuban President backs Lula's comments on Gaza genocide​   Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed his solidarity with Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva after he was classified as persona non grata by "Israel for his sincere condemnation of the extermination of the Palestinian population in Gaza."
​  Diaz-Canel hailed Lula's courage, adding "You will always be on the right side of history."
​  This comes after the Brazilian President said during an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, "What's happening in the Gaza Strip isn't a war, it's a genocide," detailing that Israeli troops were not fighting "soldiers against soldiers," but rather a highly prepared army against "women and children." https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/cuban-president-backs-lula-s-comments-on-gaza-genocide

​  Gideon Levy (paywalled) opinion piece from Haaretz:   The World Must Force Peace on Israel Now is the time for the United States, and in its wake the international community, to make a decision: Will the endless cycle of violence between Israel and the Palestinians continue, or are we going to try to put a stop to it? Will the United States continue to arm Israel and then bemoan the excessive use of these armaments, or is it finally prepared to take real steps, for the first time in its history, to change reality? And above all, will the cruelest Israeli attack on Gaza become the most pointless of all? https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-02-18/ty-article-opinion/.premium/now-peace-by-force/0000018d-b862-dd5e-a59d-fdf2034d0000

​  Cuba interested in expanding ties with BRICS, Lavrov says
​  HAVANA, February 19. /TASS/. Havana is interested in expanding ties with BRICS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.​ "We took note of our Cuban friends’ ongoing and even increasing interest in cooperating with BRICS. As the group’s current chair, Russia will support this attitude. I am confident that other member states will react positively to Cuba’s application for [partner] status in BRICS," Lavrov pointed out. https://tass.com/politics/1748725

​  Meryl Nass MD, with transcript:  We CAN Stop the WHO Pandemic Treaty , Part III of Our Interview with Whistleblower Dr. Meryl Nass. ​  "The number one thing we must do is get the information out there. If the WHO gets its way, it will silence us. We will not be able to push back in the (limited) way we did with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the time is now to act. While we still can, we must wake up the public. We must spread the word that this is real and it’s happening now."

We CAN Stop the WHO Pandemic Treaty

Another wonderful WHO Cartoon

​William Makis MD, Turbo Brain Cancer Due to University COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in the United States , Three tragic cases “I believe this tumor is a direct result of the Covid vaccine, which I never wanted and immediately stopped getting shots of after I was no longer mandated to have it anymore by the school and would not have to worry about facing any consequences such as not being able to set foot on campus anymore if I didn’t have it. If the vaccine wasn’t the cause, I still believe that it may have significantly contributed to what happened.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/turbo-brain-cancer-due-university-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-united-states/5849675

​  Celia Farber, FOX 23 Airs 18 Minute Segment Reporting On 18 Year Old Who Died 12 Days After Second Pfizer Shot: "Trista Was A Beautiful, Beautiful Girl, More Full of Life and Joy Than Anybody I've Ever Known."   Trista Was 18, And Got The Shots Unbeknownst To Her Parents

FOX 23 Airs 18 Minute Segment Reporting On 18 Year Old Who Died 12 Days After Second Pfizer Shot: "Trista Was A Beautiful, Beautiful Girl, More Full of Life and Joy Than Anybody I've Ever Known."

  Walter M. Chesnut, An Explanation for Observed SARS-CoV-2 Seizures and why Antibodies Post Exposure May be Severely Damaging the Brain

Blood Brain Barrier disruption and IgG leakage may be a major driving force of COVID neurological pathology.

An Explanation for Observed SARS-CoV-2 Seizures and why Antibodies Post Exposure May be Severely Damaging the Brain

  ​Charles Hugh Smith investigates the new "broken", as you may also have done recently.  Digital Service Dumpster Fires and Shadow Work

One wonders what we're paying for via taxes, products and services, when we end up having to do so much of the work ourselves for nothing.

​  All the work that once was performed by agencies and companies has been offloaded onto the customer. This is called shadow work: work we perform that isn't paid or even counted as "work," though it eats up our time and energy, leaving us less leisure and more frayed.
​  The ever heavier burdens of shadow work are a major reason modern life is increasingly stressful and harried: what was once done for customers as part of the service being paid for is now the customer's responsibility.
​  I just spent--or shall we be honest and say "I wasted"-- significant time navigating AI chatbots and a smartphone app which is touted as an AI assistant.​..

..After wasting a frustratingly large amount of time fiddling with the app on my end, I give up and ask to get a callback from the chatbot. A polite rep (based in the Philippines) calls me back, and after hearing my description of the issue, he reports that he sees the source of the problem right away: an update to the gateway's software did not load properly, and so no amount of restarting would get it to work properly.
​  One would think the AI app's troubleshooting script would include a check on whether the gateway's software was actually functioning or not, but you would be wrong. The app said everything was nominal even when it didn't work.

Digital Service Dumpster Fires and Shadow Work

​Operating Manually (pictured planting sweet corn amongst freeze-withered banana plants)