It's Politics

[merh]

Jan 4, 2022 5:37:25 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 4, 2022 3:13:14 GMT merh said:

Dude, misinformation is old as time.

Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.

Our original politicians raked muck with the best of them.

This is a whole new level of financed Black ops

Y'know..........that whole 'Deep State' you guys laughed at.

Alex P. Schmid said that fifth-generation warfare is typified by its "omnipresent battlefield", and the fact that people engaged in it do not necessarily use military force, instead employing a mixture of kinetic and non-kinetic force.[7] In the 1999 book Unrestricted Warfare, by colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the People's Liberation Army, they noted that in the years since the 1991 Gulf War, conventional military violence had decreased, which correlated to an increase in "political, economic, and technological violence", which they argued could be more devastating than a conventional war.[8] On the contrary, Thomas P. M. Barnett believes that the effectiveness of fifth-generational warfare is exaggerated, as terrorism conducted by individuals, such as Timothy McVeigh or Ted Kaczynski, lacks the support of more organized movements. This was seconded by George Michael, who noted that in the United States, gang violence was responsible for far more deaths than lone wolf terrorist attacks.[9]

L.C. Rees described the nature of fifth generation warfare as difficult to define in itself, alluding to the third law of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke – "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Mmmm
Like that Russian hoax?
Trashing Hillary/pushing Trump in 2016?

Can't have it both ways, dude.

[abbey1227]

Jan 6, 2022 0:06:08 GMT merh said:

Jan 4, 2022 5:37:25 GMT abbey1227 said:

This is a whole new level of financed Black ops

Y'know..........that whole 'Deep State' you guys laughed at.

Alex P. Schmid said that fifth-generation warfare is typified by its "omnipresent battlefield", and the fact that people engaged in it do not necessarily use military force, instead employing a mixture of kinetic and non-kinetic force.[7] In the 1999 book Unrestricted Warfare, by colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the People's Liberation Army, they noted that in the years since the 1991 Gulf War, conventional military violence had decreased, which correlated to an increase in "political, economic, and technological violence", which they argued could be more devastating than a conventional war.[8] On the contrary, Thomas P. M. Barnett believes that the effectiveness of fifth-generational warfare is exaggerated, as terrorism conducted by individuals, such as Timothy McVeigh or Ted Kaczynski, lacks the support of more organized movements. This was seconded by George Michael, who noted that in the United States, gang violence was responsible for far more deaths than lone wolf terrorist attacks.[9]

L.C. Rees described the nature of fifth generation warfare as difficult to define in itself, alluding to the third law of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke – "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Mmmm
Like that Russian hoax?
Trashing Hillary/pushing Trump in 2016?

Can't have it both ways, dude.

I can have it both ways if the truth eventually leaks out.

It was a hoax and you know it. Schiff still hasn't provided his proof. He and his buddy Swallowswell are too bust selling out to China and others.

Just the fact that you're so unwilling to believe that Trump actually won fair and square is telling. It had to have been a cheat? Like George Bush before? How many elections do you guys get to claim were illegitimate? All while any claims of over fraud by your side is dismissed as extreme conspiracy theories? Whose having it both ways?

How about just the fact that bureaucracy continues to go in the direction it wishes no matter who is in office? Not enough proof for you?

[merh]

Jan 6, 2022 2:55:14 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 6, 2022 0:06:08 GMT merh said:

Mmmm
Like that Russian hoax?
Trashing Hillary/pushing Trump in 2016?

Can't have it both ways, dude.

I can have it both ways if the truth eventually leaks out.

It was a hoax and you know it. Schiff still hasn't provided his proof. He and his buddy Swallowswell are too bust selling out to China and others.

Just the fact that you're so unwilling to believe that Trump actually won fair and square is telling. It had to have been a cheat? Like George Bush before? How many elections do you guys get to claim were illegitimate? All while any claims of over fraud by your side is dismissed as extreme conspiracy theories? Whose having it both ways?

How about just the fact that bureaucracy continues to go in the direction it wishes no matter who is in office? Not enough proof for you?

I accept Trump won in 2016.
I just believe people bought into Facebook memes to influence their votes.

were-misunderstanding-what-caused-jan-6/

"They’re interested in political reform and not in the fact that people are pissed.”

That’s something University of Michigan political science professor Christian Davenport told me in the days after Jan. 6, as Amelia and I tried to understand how some Americans’ political dissatisfaction had turned into violence against their political enemies. And now, a year later, I keep thinking about that quote.

Davenport was trying to get me to understand that while the riot at the Capitol was inherently political, the divisions fueling it were not. Right and left, Democrat and Republican: Those splits exist in society, but they weren’t the cause of what happened. Income inequality, racial resentment, declining trust in institutions — those were the really dangerous things, Davenport said. We tend to think of those divisions as partisan because that’s the divide our polling data is set up to track. But in quantifying and graphing the tree counts, we miss the fact that we are in a forest.

Davenport is not the only political scientist who thinks important trends are going unnoticed because our polls and graphs are stuck paying attention to partisan politics. Even the very polling that tells us Americans don’t like people on the opposite side of the political spectrum contains hints that this division is not as clear-cut as it appears on the surface, said Anne Wilson, a professor of psychology who studies self identity at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada.

For example, studies have shown that Americans assume more partisan polarization exists than really does, and political partisans often really dislike the other side for reasons that have nothing to do with who those people are or what they believe in. In one 2018 poll, for instance, more than 75 percent of Republicans said racism still exists in America, but Democrats thought that about half of Republicans felt that way. Republicans, meanwhile, assumed the vast majority of Democrats wanted completely open borders; a little more than a quarter agreed with that idea.

Other research has found that, even as Americans are more polarized from each another, more and more of us are identifying as political “independents” — as high as 45 percent in the weeks preceding the Jan. 6 riots. “Some of the things really activating people aren’t things that are really about partisan ideology,” Wilson said.

Rather, the way Americans feel about the political and social establishment may be far more telling. That is, instead of looking at public opinion along a left-right political axis, we could look at how Americans are divided along the lines of anti-establishment ideology.

A team of researchers found in a 2021 paper that an anti-establishment dimension would explain some of the more worrying extremes in American politics — things like support for conspiracy theories, endorsement of anti-expertise opinions and seeing politics as a battle between good and evil — better than the left-right dimension of our politics. One of those researchers, University of Miami political science professor Joseph Uscinski, found no difference in the prevalence of anti-establishment beliefs between Democrats and Republicans, using survey data collected in October 2020. What’s more, Uscinski found that anti-establishment ideologies better predicted belief in the conspiracies of QAnon and Trump’s claims of voter fraud than did left-right orientations.

What happened on Jan. 6 aimed to put a Republican president back in power — but Republican ideology might not be the best way to understand where the fear and anger on display at the Capitol came from.

So what do we lose if our polling and research analyses aren’t set up to see that?

Plenty, according to Wilson. Political parties benefit from stoking and promoting partisan polarization because it sparks more activism on their behalf. And an academia and a media that buy into that division as a primary explanation for American political violence risk creating the sort of false partisan polarization that leads us to believe the other side wants things they don’t really want.

But even more concerning is the fact that anti-establishment ideologies don’t vanish or become irrelevant when we don’t look at them. The beliefs are there, waiting for someone to pick up and use. A politician could come along and harness anti-establishment ideologues into his or her political caucus. That politician could then convince those Americans that they are the only trustworthy part of the political world. And that politician could convince Americans with an anti-establishment ideology to fight for him or her. You could argue this is exactly what Trump did, and the Republican Party has more politicians who have gone this route — but it’s an option open to either party. Ignoring anti-establishment ideologies means ignoring how political partisans might turn them into weapons, just as they did on the steps of the Capitol.

[abbey1227]

Jan 7, 2022 1:28:10 GMT merh said:

I accept Trump won in 2016.
I just believe people bought into Facebook memes to influence their votes.

were-misunderstanding-what-caused-jan-6/

"They’re interested in political reform and not in the fact that people are pissed.”

That's a good start. To realizing that shockingly.........enough people had simply had enough of career politicians.

I'll even accept that...........cuz it's no different than any other Ad campaign. You either buy into the general themes/ideas or you don't. So what does it matter where it came from one way or the other?

THAT seems to be the big hang up of late. After seeing all the ACTUAL rioting and violence, to call January 6th an insurrection that was anywhere near close to those previous events? Sorry, just ain't seeing it that way.

If it had been an actual attempt to overthrow the sitting Govt, there'd have been tons of actual weapons, a coordinated swarm attack and many, many, many public servants swinging from the scaffolding, imo.

As it sits, it simply looks like a buncha older people idiotically walking around the capitol and taking selfies. The only coordination seems to be on the side of Pelosi & Co for limiting security, allowing it to occur, and then labeling it something far more dangerous than it actually was.

[merh]

I don't think the general public understands the dire situation happening in the healthcare system right now. Some of these problems are new and some are cracks that are just now being exposed.

1.We all know that hospitals are at capacity every time there is a COVID spike. It is no secret: we've seen crisis mode happen in Seattle, NYC, Jackson MS, etc etc. during bad spikes. Now it is becoming more widespread and less dependent on COVID spikes. Entire cities with full hospitals before this spike started, hospitals being so understaffed that they can't use all their beds, difficulty getting patients out of the hospital because rehab facilities can't take more patients. The problems go on. Now COVID is spiking again and these hospitals that are already near capacity are going to break. protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-utilization Just go click around your local location and see how bad it is. Make sure to focus on larger cities in your state where your trauma centers are; that tells the real picture. A lot of hospital systems have gone to a Hub and spoke model, which means the sickest patients get shipped to the bigger cities ON TOP OF them serving their own population. States with 1-2 large cities see the effects of this more

2.We have a severe nursing shortage. So many hospitals cannot run at 100% bed capacity because they simply don't have the nurses. This is multifactorial but it can be summed up by saying that bedside nurses are underappreciated and underpaid. For the past 10-20 years it has been more profitable for people to earn their NP degree and leave bedside nursing. There have also been a lot of paths into nursing administration and education that didn't exist before which also takes from bedside nursing. The merit of having more NPs, educators, and administrators is a *hotly* debated issue and I won't dive into it here as it is outside the scope of this post. Regardless, it means there are less bedside nurses to run hospitals at full capacity.

3.Because of this nursing shortage, travel nursing has taken off. The *only* good thing about travel nursing is that nurses are getting their bag. They deserve the money after working frontline during COVID. The problem with this is that it's only temporary. Hospitals have decided it will cost them less money to pay outrageous rates for travel nursing in the short term than to just give raises across the board to retain their own employees. Seriously, they would rather pay travelers 5k a week (sometimes up to 10k during surge pricing!) + whatever they pay the travel agencies instead of giving a $5-10/hour raise across the board to retain their own nurses! They are expecting things to go back to normal and it just isn't. Not to mention travel nursing likely provides worse care as you are constantly cycling people into your hospital that has to learn your protocols and system + they have abbreviated training periods. Also who wants to train someone making 3x what they make?? It is madness.

4.Resident physicians are being more abused than ever. For this to make sense you need a little background. The amount of residency positions (which doctors have to complete before they can practice independently in this country) is paid for by Medicare, so congress more or less controls the number of available spots. The end of 2020 added 1k spots which was the first time they've expanded spots in 25 years. So the physician shortage is more or less manufactured, and their unwillingness to expand spots even moderately every 5-10 years put us in a horrible position. To add to this, residents are exempt from anti-trust laws which gives us little to no power over our situation. We HAVE to complete residency and we have little control over how it happens unless you are an absolute rock star medical student at a top school.

5.Residents are locked into residencies, making a set 50-60k a year with no bonuses or hazard pay during this time. COVID has not only interrupted education, but many programs (not all, there are some programs that really defend their residents) have used their residents as a COVID workforce to keep their hospitals running. When it was all hands on deck at the beginning of 2020, every specialty (including surgery, psychiatrists, etc.) were pulled to the hospital floors to care for COVID patients. I think most people were happy to help temporarily. Some programs have never stopped this and pull people off electives or from other specialties any time there is a spike. Residents make hospitals *a lot of money*, and some hospital systems can't even function without them. Case in point, the University of New Mexico neurosurgery program lost accreditation and had to hire a few doctors and 19 NP/PAs (several million in yearly salaries) to replace their ~10 residents. Now that they have COVID as an excuse, residents and fellows are being used wherever the hospital needs them and there's nothing residents can do as we have to finish residency, so you play by the rules.

6.Now that Omicron is super infectious, all these shortages are being amplified as people have to miss work for quarantine. Even before the CDC announced 5 day quarantine + 5 day masking, it was recommended that healthcare workers could return after 7 days. A large healthcare outbreak amongst workers could be the final straw for some hospitals. Other hospitals are already broken. Healthcare will never be the same after this pandemic. So many flaws have been exposed in our healthcare infrastructure but profit remains the most important thing. Just remember, insurance companies have had record profits during the pandemic. I am deeply concerned about the state of healthcare in this country and you should be too, as we ALL rely on a functioning healthcare system for our health needs.

Edit: sorry to all the PT, OT, pharmacy staff, EMS, healthcare IT, custodial staff, lab technicians, and every one else I didn’t include. I only spoke to what I knew but knew I couldn’t be comprehensive. There are some AWESOME comments explaining how every corner of healthcare is hurting right now. Keep up the good work everyone

[merh]

Jan 7, 2022 3:33:00 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 7, 2022 1:28:10 GMT merh said:

I accept Trump won in 2016.
I just believe people bought into Facebook memes to influence their votes.

were-misunderstanding-what-caused-jan-6/

That's a good start. To realizing that shockingly.........enough people had simply had enough of career politicians.

I'll even accept that...........cuz it's no different than any other Ad campaign. You either buy into the general themes/ideas or you don't. So what does it matter where it came from one way or the other?

THAT seems to be the big hang up of late. After seeing all the ACTUAL rioting and violence, to call January 6th an insurrection that was anywhere near close to those previous events? Sorry, just ain't seeing it that way.

If it had been an actual attempt to overthrow the sitting Govt, there'd have been tons of actual weapons, a coordinated swarm attack and many, many, many public servants swinging from the scaffolding, imo.

As it sits, it simply looks like a buncha older people idiotically walking around the capitol and taking selfies. The only coordination seems to be on the side of Pelosi & Co for limiting security, allowing it to occur, and then labeling it something far more dangerous than it actually was.

But my frustration is one has to go past just some meme. There has to be more to it.

But the whole Facebook meme crap doesn't do that. 
It's just the short blurb with no depth or meat on the bone.

Haven't you seen Navarro's comments?

thehill.com/homenews/588312-navarro-rioters-on-jan-6-hurt-plan-to-challenge-election-result

.January 05, 2022 - 09:30 AM EST
Trump adviser Navarro: Rioters on Jan. 6 hurt plan to challenge election result

BY DOMINICK MASTRANGELO

A top adviser to former President Trump is expressing frustration that a plan hatched by lawyers and political strategists in Trump's orbit to challenge the result of the 2020 presidential election was hindered when violence broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Peter Navarro, Trump's former top aide on trade, said Tuesday during an interview on MSNBC that Trump's allies believed there was legal basis for the plan, which would have involved Republican members of Congress rejecting the election's result and kicking the votes back to state legislatures, something he referred to as the "Green Bay sweep."

"The plan was simply this: We had over 100 congressmen and senators on Capitol Hill ready to implement the sweep. The sweep was simply that. We were gonna challenge the results of the election in the six battleground states," Navarro said.


"And basically these were the places where we believed that if the votes were sent back those battleground states and looked at again, that there would be enough concern amongst the legislatures that most or all of those states would decertify the election," he added.

Earlier in the interview, Navarro falsely stated that "the election was in all likelihood stolen through fraud and election irregularities."

No evidence has been presented to support claims that widespread voter fraud led to Trump's loss.

"All this required was peace and calm on Capitol Hill," Navarro continued, before praising Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other GOP members of Congress for "beautifully" objecting to the certification of the results of the Electoral College.

During a separate interview with Rolling Stone this week, Navarro said he primarily worked with former White House top strategist Stephen Bannon on the plan to whip votes and drum up support for a plan to stop the election certification on Jan. 6. Bannon was indicted by the federal government late last year for defying a congressional subpoena in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"He was the strategist involved. He was the guy who was coordinating the whipping of the votes, right? There were over 100 congressmen — both the House of Representatives and senators — that were lined up to execute that plan," Navarro said. "And it started flawlessly, but the violence overtook that event. The rest, as they say, is history."

Sadly, the drama is what Trump wanted. He needs the cheering. 

[abbey1227]

Jan 8, 2022 5:23:22 GMT merh said:

Jan 7, 2022 3:33:00 GMT abbey1227 said:

But my frustration is one has to go past just some meme. There has to be more to it.

But the whole Facebook meme crap doesn't do that. 
It's just the short blurb with no depth or meat on the bone.

Haven't you seen Navarro's comments?

thehill.com/homenews/588312-navarro-rioters-on-jan-6-hurt-plan-to-challenge-election-result

.January 05, 2022 - 09:30 AM EST
Trump adviser Navarro: Rioters on Jan. 6 hurt plan to challenge election result

BY DOMINICK MASTRANGELO

A top adviser to former President Trump is expressing frustration that a plan hatched by lawyers and political strategists in Trump's orbit to challenge the result of the 2020 presidential election was hindered when violence broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.


Earlier in the interview, Navarro falsely stated that "the election was in all likelihood stolen through fraud and election irregularities."
No evidence has been presented to support claims that widespread voter fraud led to Trump's loss.

Sadly, the drama is what Trump wanted. He needs the cheering. 

I love how that piece states so assertively that the case was ever looked into ...........much less disproven.

And whomever organized the Jan 6th violence could very well have been hoping to scuttle any feeble legal challenges he may have attempted. Sounds like something Pelosi & Co would set up to me......maybe the FBI? Who knows........it's not like we'll ever get anything from this Govt. but smoke & mirrors. Heck, they're busy right now trying to topple Putin with 'uprisings' in neighboring countries.

[merh]

Jan 8, 2022 13:51:35 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 8, 2022 5:23:22 GMT merh said:

But my frustration is one has to go past just some meme. There has to be more to it.

But the whole Facebook meme crap doesn't do that. 
It's just the short blurb with no depth or meat on the bone.

Haven't you seen Navarro's comments?

thehill.com/homenews/588312-navarro-rioters-on-jan-6-hurt-plan-to-challenge-election-result


Sadly, the drama is what Trump wanted. He needs the cheering. 

I love how that piece states so assertively that the case was ever looked into ...........much less disproven.

Arizona found more votes for Biden than Trump.
Did you see what's happened to Cyber Ninjas?

January 07, 2022 - 08:07 AM EST

Cyber Ninjas shutting down after judge fines Arizona audit company $50K a day


Cyber Ninjas, a firm hired by the Arizona state Senate to conduct a review of Maricopa County’s election results, on Thursday announced that it is shutting down after a county government report slammed the firm and a judge ordered it to pay $50,000 a day in fines.

Sam Levine, a reporter for The Guardian, first reported the news of Cyber Ninjas closing down on Thursday, tweeting that CEO “Doug Logan and the rest of the employees have been let go and Cyber Ninjas is being shut down.”

The news followed a Thursday order that Cyber Ninjas turn over public records to The Arizona Republic, including emails and text messages, to comply with an August ruling — or face $50,000 in fines per day.

The firm was hired to conduct an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County following former President Trump's claims the election was stolen from him. Arizona was a swing state that Biden won narrowly.

Cyber Ninjas, which says it recounted 2.1 million ballots, confirmed Biden beat Trump in the state but claimed in its September draft report that thousands of ballots had issues, including duplicate ballots, voters who cast ballots multiple times and unregistered voters participating in the election.

Maricopa County released a report this month, arguing Cyber Ninjas made 22 misleading claims, 41 inaccurate claims and 13 claims that were false.

The county said Cyber Ninjas "made faulty and inaccurate conclusions about more than 53,000 ballots in 22 different categories."

"An empty piñata is a pretty accurate description of the 'audit' as a whole," the county tweeted Thursday.

thehill.com/regulation/cybersecurity/588703-cyber-ninjas-shutting-down-after-judges-fines-arizona-audit-company

And whomever organized the Jan 6th violence could very well have been hoping to scuttle any feeble legal challenges he may have attempted. Sounds like something Pelosi & Co would set up to me......maybe the FBI? Who knows........it's not like we'll ever get anything from this Govt. but smoke & mirrors. Heck, they're busy right now trying to topple Putin with 'uprisings' in neighboring countries.

WHOEVER?

During a separate interview with Rolling Stone this week, Navarro said he primarily worked with former White House top strategist Stephen Bannon on the plan to whip votes and drum up support for a plan to stop the election certification on Jan. 6. Bannon was indicted by the federal government late last year for defying a congressional subpoena in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"He was the strategist involved. He was the guy who was coordinating the whipping of the votes, right? There were over 100 congressmen — both the House of Representatives and senators — that were lined up to execute that plan," Navarro said. "And it started flawlessly, but the violence overtook that event. The rest, as they say, is history."

Was Bannon not with Breitbart before Trump was elected?

Think he doesn't have friends over on the Proud Boys side?

Roger Stone does. 


Politicidal posted this on V2 on what I think you are referring to

Jan 5, 2022 16:19:17 GMT @politicidal said:

State of emergency has been declared. The president's house was set on fire by protesters. The government resigned.

TEXT:

MOSCOW — Thousands of people returned to the streets across Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a fourth straight day of demonstrations driven by outrage over surging gas prices, in the biggest wave of protests to sweep the oil-rich country for decades.

Protesters stormed government buildings and captured police vehicles despite a strict state of emergency and government attempts to concede to their demands, including by dismissing the cabinet and announcing the possible dissolution of Parliament, which would result in new elections. Kazakhtelecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company, shut off internet access throughout the country on Wednesday afternoon.

Anger has been building since Sunday, when Kazakhs began protesting after the government lifted price caps for liquefied petroleum gas — frequently referred to by its initials, L.P.G. — and the cost of the fuel doubled.

Many people in the country of 19 million found the price increase particularly infuriating because Kazakhstan is an exporter of oil and gas. It added to the economic misery in a country where the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated severe income inequality.

In the days since, demonstrators have demanded the ouster of the authoritarian political forces that have ruled the country without any substantial opposition since it achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The developments have plunged Kazakhstan, which had been regarded as politically and economically stable and is at the heart of what President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sees as the Kremlin’s sphere of influence, into chaos and upheaval.

The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, announced on Wednesday that he was dismissing the prime minister and his entire cabinet, and imposing a strict two-week state of emergency in much of the country.

After these measures failed to appease the protesters, Mr. Tokayev made another televised address, announcing his decision to assume all formal levers of power and promising to “act with maximum toughness.”

Mr. Tokayev said that he now led the country’s Security Council, a role previously occupied by Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s longtime leader, who handpicked Mr. Tokayev as his successor.

Mr. Nazarbayev is formally recognized as “leader of the nation,” and the country’s capital was renamed in his honor in 2019 to “Nur Sultan.” He has been regarded by many as the shadow leader of Kazakhstan despite a formal transition of power to Mr. Tokayev.

On Tuesday, Mr. Tokayev dismissed Samat Abish, Mr. Nazarbayev’s nephew, from the position of first deputy head of the country’s national security service.

Speaking about the unrest, Mr. Tokayev said the protests were “highly organized” as part of a “meticulously thought-out plan of conspirators, who were motivated financially.” He said that people had been “killed and wounded” and that “crowds of bandit elements beat and mocked servicemen, took them naked through the streets, abused women, and robbed shops.”

On Tuesday he imposed a state of emergency including an overnight curfew; restrictions on movement, including curbs on entering and leaving Almaty, the country’s biggest city; and a ban on mass gatherings.

The government blocked social networking sites and chat apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and, for the first time, the Chinese app WeChat. All public protests without a permit were already illegal.

In spite of the government’s attempts to quell the protests, footage posted online on Wednesday showed thousands of people storming the main government building in Almaty.

Smoke billowed from City Hall as the crowd began to disperse. The regional branch of the Nur Otan party, which is without opposition in Parliament, was also set on fire, according to local news media reports, as was the former presidential residence.

News services reported renewed clashes between protesters and the police, who used stun grenades and tear gas to quell the crowd. Protesters also set fire to the prosecutor’s office in Almaty and then headed to the president’s residence.

According to the Almaty police, more than 500 civilians were beaten and protesters burned 120 cars, including 33 police vehicles, and damaged about 400 businesses. More than 200 have been detained.

The protests began on Sunday in the southwestern oil town of Zhanaozen, where at least 16 oil workers striking for improved working conditions were killed by the police in 2011. The public displays of anger quickly spread across the country.

In Aktau, a city on the Caspian Sea which serves as the country’s main oil and gas processing hub, protesters stormed the Akimat, the local government building. Local activists tried to control the crowd and prevent violence, according to Mukhtar Umbetov, a rights activist who took part in the protest.

The gas price increase was a spark that ignited long-simmering discontent over the past few years over income disparities in the resource-rich country, Mr. Umbetov said.

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequality, with rapidly rising prices hitting the poor the hardest, he said. The main problem, however, was more fundamental: The Kazakh government, he said, “has removed all legal ways to participate in politics.”

“People don’t have any political intermediaries who would solve problems that exist in the country,” he said in a phone interview from Aktau. “Kazakhstan is rich, but its natural resources are not working in the interests of all — they work in the interests of a small group of people.”

The income disparity was particularly stinging during the holiday season, he said. Although some Kazakhs went on vacation in Dubai, he said, most had to figure out how to survive on meager salaries.

The average salary in Kazakhstan is the equivalent of $570 a month, according to the local statistics authority. Most people earn only a fraction of that amount, according to Mr. Umbetov, with the average skewed in favor of oil industry workers.

As the protests have unfolded, the demands of the demonstrators have expanded to include a broader political liberalization. Among the changes they seek is the direct election of Kazakhstan’s regional leaders by voters; in the current system, they are directly appointed by the president.

For almost 30 years, Kazakhstan was ruled by Mr. Nazarbayev, a former Communist Party boss, who is now 81. 

The ascension of Mr. Tokayev created two centers of power. Mr. Nazarbayev and his family enjoy wide authority, while the new president, even though he is loyal to his predecessor, is trying to carve out a stronger role for himself, disorienting Kazakhstan’s bureaucracy and elites. This divide has contributed to the government’s slow reaction to the protesters’ demands, according to Arkady Dubnov, a Central Asia expert in Moscow.

“The government has been slow because it is divided and has no idea what young people in Kazakhstan really want,” Mr. Dubnov said. “On the other hand, the protesters don’t have a leader who would articulate it clearly.”

The countries of the former Soviet Union are watching the protests closely. For Russia, the events represent another possible challenge to autocratic power in a neighboring country.

Russia intervened militarily in Ukraine in 2014 after pro-democracy protests erupted there, and the Kremlin offered support to the Belarusian dictator Aleksandr G. Lukashenko as he violently crushed peaceful protests against his autocratic rule in 2020.

The protests in Kazakhstan represent a warning signal for the Kremlin, Mr. Dubnov said, describing the government in Kazakhstan as “a reduced replica of the Russian one.”

“There is no doubt that the Kremlin would not want to see an example of such a regime beginning to talk to the opposition and conceding to their demands,” he added.

Mr. Putin has been in power for 20 years, and though a 2020 referendum gave him the right to rule until 2036, observers are watching for signs of a managed transition out of power.

Pro-Kremlin media have portrayed the events in Kazakhstan as an organized plot against Russia. Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-government tabloid, referred to the protests as a “dirty trick played on Moscow” ahead of “crucial talks between Russia and the U.S. and NATO” next week. Those discussions will be focused on the crisis in Ukraine, where there are fears of a renewed Russian invasion.

www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/world/europe/kazakhstan-protests-gas-prices.html

www.wsj.com/articles/kazakhstans-government-resigns-amid-unrest-over-fuel-prices-11641386544

apnews.com/article/business-kazakhstan-almaty-9da42330ca51c36fe9fd88f9ef35ff4e

[abbey1227]

Jan 8, 2022 14:37:31 GMT merh said:

I notice the people in charge of our Govt currently called this stuff 'protesting'............ just like they did when many cities were ablaze here in 2020.

That's why I suspect they're behind it all.......... thye didn't leave all those weapons behind in Afghanistan for nothing

[merh]

Jan 8, 2022 14:43:16 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 8, 2022 14:37:31 GMT merh said:

I notice the people in charge of our Govt currently called this stuff 'protesting'............ just like they did when many cities were ablaze here in 2020.

That's why I suspect they're behind it all.......... thye didn't leave all those weapons behind in Afghanistan for nothing

Which stuff?

January 6th?

Or Kazakhstan?

Why do you care about Putin so much?

Like Cruz & several Republicans called Jan 6th an act of terrorism immediately afterwards?

[abbey1227]

Jan 8, 2022 18:23:54 GMT merh said:

Which stuff?

January 6th?

Or Kazakhstan?

Why do you care about Putin so much?

Like Cruz & several Republicans called Jan 6th an act of terrorism immediately afterwards?

hmmmm, why do I care that despite the wishes of the people in general, that the US finds itself in an almost continuous state of war overseas?

I guess Cruz and others will never get my vote. Cuz they're part of the problem in DC, not the solution.

[merh]

Jan 9, 2022 3:22:38 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 8, 2022 18:23:54 GMT merh said:

Which stuff?

January 6th?

Or Kazakhstan?

Why do you care about Putin so much?

Like Cruz & several Republicans called Jan 6th an act of terrorism immediately afterwards?

hmmmm, why do I care that despite the wishes of the people in general, that the US finds itself in an almost continuous state of war overseas?

I guess Cruz and others will never get my vote. Cuz they're part of the problem in DC, not the solution.

So we're fighting in Kazakhstan?

Right now you can't vote for Cruz or Pelosi & neither can I.

We aren't in their voter districts 

[merh]

Internet medical advice.
Dontcha love it?

[abbey1227]

Jan 9, 2022 4:14:23 GMT merh said:

Jan 9, 2022 3:22:38 GMT abbey1227 said:

hmmmm, why do I care that despite the wishes of the people in general, that the US finds itself in an almost continuous state of war overseas?

I guess Cruz and others will never get my vote. Cuz they're part of the problem in DC, not the solution.

So we're fighting in Kazakhstan?

Right now you can't vote for Cruz or Pelosi & neither can I.

We aren't in their voter districts 

No, dear..........we're FUNDING/Supplying yet another rebellion. Think of Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. You think Putin, or anyone else, should stand for the US meddling in their backyard like this?

Pelosi shoulda died during this horrible and deadly covid thing........but Cruz still has presidential aspirations. He can forget about it now

[merh]

Jan 9, 2022 13:37:55 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 9, 2022 4:14:23 GMT merh said:

So we're fighting in Kazakhstan?

Right now you can't vote for Cruz or Pelosi & neither can I.

We aren't in their voter districts 

No, dear..........we're FUNDING/Supplying yet another rebellion. Think of Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. You think Putin, or anyone else, should stand for the US meddling in their backyard like this?

Pelosi shoulda died during this horrible and deadly covid thing........but Cruz still has presidential aspirations. He can forget about it now

What have we done there?
I see we have removed staff from our embassy because of the unrest.

[abbey1227]

Jan 9, 2022 19:35:29 GMT merh said:

Jan 9, 2022 13:37:55 GMT abbey1227 said:

No, dear..........we're FUNDING/Supplying yet another rebellion. Think of Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. You think Putin, or anyone else, should stand for the US meddling in their backyard like this?

Pelosi shoulda died during this horrible and deadly covid thing........but Cruz still has presidential aspirations. He can forget about it now

What have we done there?
I see we have removed staff from our embassy because of the unrest.

Time to eliminate our State Dept as it clearly is a useless and overly expensive part of the Govt.

We have left weapons over in that region of the world in order to arm others..........and we're likely funding them directly, too

[merh]

People can drink their own pee to protect against coronavirus
Breanna Robinson
15 hours ago

Anti-vaxxer Christopher Key has added to the list of bizarre suggestions for people to attempt to combat coronavirus - and now says that drinking urine could be protective.

Key is the leader of the “Vaccine Police,” which is an organisation that rails against the Covid-19 vaccine.

In a video published over the weekend to his Telegram account, Key spoke on his urine therapy findings.


“This [urine therapy] has been around for centuries. We’ve got research after research, documented, peer-reviewed published papers on urine! We do, we have this,” Key said in the video, which was published after his release from jail from a trespassing charge.

According to The Daily Beast, Key received a third-degree criminal trespassing charge after getting arrested at Whole Foods in April.

Key went on to say in the video that the Covid vaccine is one of “the worst bioweapon” he’s ever seen.

He also admitted that he is not a medical doctor and isn’t necessarily advising anyone to drink their urine, but he drinks his.

“I’ve been drinking my own urine for the past 23 years, and I’m, still alive,” he continued.

When The Daily Beast reached out to Key for comment, the outlet said he reiterated his sentiments about the “urine therapy” and went against people he deemed “foolish” who took the vaccine. The vaccine has been proven to be effective and safe for people.


In an August report from Insider, Key reportedly visited a Missouri Walmart and told store pharmacists that they would be “executed” if they kept administering vaccines.

And this month, as reported by The Independent, he went on a “road trip” across the US to try and arrest Louisiana Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, presumably over his enforcement of vaccines.

Indy100 reached out to Key for comment.

www.indy100.com/news/christopher-key-anti-vaxxer-drink-urine-b1990069?amp

If you don't like that source


www.al.com/news/2022/01/urine-cures-covid-christopher-key-recently-arrested-alabama-anti-vaxxer-falsely-claims.html

23 yrs?
Good grief.

[merh]

Jan 9, 2022 23:07:22 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 9, 2022 19:35:29 GMT merh said:

What have we done there?
I see we have removed staff from our embassy because of the unrest.

Time to eliminate our State Dept as it clearly is a useless and overly expensive part of the Govt.

We have left weapons over in that region of the world in order to arm others..........and we're likely funding them directly, too

Established in 1789 as the first administrative arm of the U.S. executive branch, the State Department is considered among the most powerful and prestigious executive agencies. It is led by the secretary of state, a member of the Cabinet who is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Analogous to a foreign minister, the secretary of state serves as the federal government's chief diplomat and representative abroad, and is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession.

So no foreign relations?

[abbey1227]

Jan 11, 2022 9:00:38 GMT merh said:

Jan 9, 2022 23:07:22 GMT abbey1227 said:

Time to eliminate our State Dept as it clearly is a useless and overly expensive part of the Govt.

We have left weapons over in that region of the world in order to arm others..........and we're likely funding them directly, too

Established in 1789 as the first administrative arm of the U.S. executive branch, the State Department is considered among the most powerful and prestigious executive agencies. It is led by the secretary of state, a member of the Cabinet who is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Analogous to a foreign minister, the secretary of state serves as the federal government's chief diplomat and representative abroad, and is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession.

So no foreign relations?

It's possible to have relations/do business with others..........without employing the services of a middleman/pimp

Though most of these diplomats are more like whores, imo

[merh]

Jan 11, 2022 16:44:53 GMT abbey1227 said:

Jan 11, 2022 9:00:38 GMT merh said:

So no foreign relations?

It's possible to have relations/do business with others..........without employing the services of a middleman/pimp

Though most of these diplomats are more like whores, imo

Benjamin Franklin & Thomas Jefferson?

Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1706] – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States postmaster general. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation

During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia in the Continental Congress that adopted the Declaration of Independence. As a Virginia legislator, he drafted a state law for religious freedom. He served as the second Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. In 1785, Jefferson was appointed the United States Minister to France, and subsequently, the nation's first Secretary of State under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793

Or is it just Hillary you hate?