COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Mark Rippetoe]

I said that they would be unable to motivate themselves to get back in the booth, which means they will not be voting for anyone. Would you consider turning down the cuddliness, maybe just half a notch?

New guy: Cuddliness is a feature of this board. There are other places for you to type.

[Matt Jackson]

I agree with David A. Rowe that this particular civil unrest, and coming election result, isn't going to plunge into SHTF chaos overnight, but it is just the latest symptom of this trend of decreasing law and order. A future with more more civil unrest, more racial and political violence, less certainty.

Some interesting reading (or listening) for anyone who thinks the Western Empire, Pax Americana, is indeed on the way out, and what we're experiencing is a slow, grinding, inevitable decline towards a cyclical civilisational collapse:

Sir John Glubb - THE FATE OF EMPIRES and SEARCH FOR SURVIVAL (1976)

I would be really interested to hear what others think about his analysis of the great empires from history. It's short.

Text: http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb.pdf

Audio: The Fate of Empires - Sir John Glubb - YouTube

[ltomo]

China is not as stable as the CCP portrays in its propaganda. If unfair trade and theft is ended, China's economy will collapse and there is a high chance the people will depose the communist Xi to instate something new. Confucian ideals are very popular with the younger generations in China.

That's an interesting thought. The Cold War was before my time, but wasn't that the case with the USSR, especially in the early stages? My dad tells me stories about how everyone was terrified of the Soviets, but after the Berlin Wall fell and they were able to assess the situation, they realized the Reds were years behind the US in pretty much everything.

[David A. Rowe]

Because they know the majority of draft-eligible people in this country will be useless to the military. Between mental illness, personality disorders, and an abysmal lack of physical fitness of any sort, most will be more liability than asset in the field. Basic training won't turn that around enough.

Their stance has been that way since just after the Vietnam War. The military doesn't want people who don't want to be in the military.

You are correct, though. Neither the Army or Marines are having a good time right now recruiting combat arms MOSs. The Army has been offering $38k enlistment bonuses for infantry.

Joe Rogan - Americans Are Too Fat For the Military - YouTube

[George Christiansen]

"The Chinese want to buy up our West End theatre" should be re-worded, "our government won't prevent the Chinese from buying up our West End theatre".

This isn't the 19th century anymore. The West has massive investments in China. This is the principle reason there won't be a war with China. And that's why there can't be an embargo on Chinese manufactured goods. Many of those goods are produced for Western companies whose production facilities are located in China. What did the US do to prevent it's companies from outsourcing decades back? It encouraged them. That's what caused China's rise. Many stated not only at the time, but loooong before that (as early as the 1930s) that as soon as the Chinese got a hold of Western-made production technology, their ability to satisfy markets would far outstrip that of the West in a very short time, simply because of the giant resource of manpower the Chinese possess. But, corporate greed, the desire for profit over national wellbeing, won the day. And now a massive amount of the goods you buy are poor quality 'made in China'/'made in PRC' products.

Chinese power is a Western creation. Just as in the Soviet Union, Chinese industrial and manufacturing might originated in the West. They gained Western investments, western technology and western support. The Chinese were a borderline Third World nation until the British Empire convinced them to accept Western investment.

Yup. Thanks, Nixon! Sure glad I got to own cheap DVDs and t-shirts! Wasn't using national independence for anything anyway.

Look at how all the UK Football teams are already owned by oil rich Arabs. China already owns tons of real estate in the US and Canada too.

Screw seeing Trump's tax returns. I want to see Congress' and Parliament's stock portfolios.

China is not as stable as the CCP portrays in its propaganda. If unfair trade and theft is ended, China's economy will collapse and there is a high chance the people will depose the communist Xi to instate something new. Confucian ideals are very popular with the younger generations in China.

I think this is one of the reasons that they have upped their game. Their version of capitalism has created dissent and wealth for enough people there that they are looking West. It is in the CCP's interest for them to see a shitshow....which is going well for them.

[CommanderFun]

I watched Vice News last night (a show don't agree with much), they had a segment on the Wall of Moms in Portland Oregon. Sure seems the country has fine to pot.

I looked up "useful idiot" and just got a photo of that "wall of moms". Weird, right?

[Mark Rippetoe]

The Media are the footsoldiers in this conflict. For your examination:

Even mild coronavirus cases can cause lasting cardiovascular damage, study shows

The study published Monday in JAMA Cardiology details the results of cardiac MRI exams of 100 recovered coronavirus patients. Twenty-eight of them required oxygen supplementation while fighting the virus, while just two were on ventilators. But 78 of them still had cardiovascular abnormalities after recovery, with 60 of them showing "ongoing myocardial inflammation," the study shows. These conditions appeared to be independent of case severity and pre-existing conditions, though JAMA researchers note these findings need a larger study.

How your HEIGHT could double your risk of catching coronavirus, scientists discover

"The more hypothesis tests you do the more likely you are to flag up associations that have only arisen by chance. This is a further problem when subgroups are analysed.

“In my view this analysis does not even provide convincing evidence that tall people are protected from the infection never mind whether this means that there is aerosol transmission.”

Such crystalline clarity.

[Ayrsson]

Yup. Thanks, Nixon! Sure glad I got to own cheap DVDs and t-shirts! Wasn't using national independence for anything anyway.

Look at how all the UK Football teams are already owned by oil rich Arabs. China already owns tons of real estate in the US and Canada too.

Screw seeing Trump's tax returns. I want to see Congress' and Parliament's stock portfolios.

The Bank of England has thousands of stockholders. But their identity is forbidden to be publicised. I'll bet there are some names there that would raise a few eyebrows.

'Scottish' North Sea Oil is largely a Chinese concern these days. The pea-brained Maoists at the SNP were quite happy to 'open up to Chinese investment'. How that was supposed to benefit us i don't think they considered. I sometimes wonder if some of these 'elected' retards viewed it as close to 'reversing colonialism'.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The pea-brained Maoists at the SNP were quite happy to 'open up to Chinese investment'. How that was supposed to benefit us i don't think they considered. I sometimes wonder if some of these 'elected' retards viewed it as close to 'reversing colonialism'.

Yeah.

[Gerald Boggs]

My dad tells me stories about how everyone was terrified of the Soviets, but after the Berlin Wall fell and they were able to assess the situation, they realized the Reds were years behind the US in pretty much everything.

Not everyone. Back in the late 70's, as a young soldier, I quickly came to understand that the Soviets were not our enemy. The military-industrial complex just filled the masses with fear much in the same way the virus fear mongers are doing today.
I've long held the opinion that the Russians like us and if given the chance, would be one of our greatest allies.