90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, November 11, 2021

No vaccines, no epidemic.

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia collectively have 2 billion people... and essentially no access to advanced Covid vaccines.

They are among the world’s most densely populated and poorest countries - fertile ground for Sars-Cov-2.

So the epidemic must be out of control from Karachi to Jakata, right?

Let’s take a look.

India:

Pakistan:

Bangladesh:

Indonesia:

It’s almost as if Covid-19 infection waves have a predictable natural course over a two- to three-month period - a sharp rise and nearly equally sharp decline.

It’s almost as if the virus then disappears as many, many people gain natural immunity - including many younger people who never knew they were infected at all because the coronavirus is barely dangerous to them.

It’s almost as if an English epidemiologist named William Farr noted the way epidemics waxed and waned more than 150 years ago.

Speaking of England, let’s take a look at the United Kingdom, which vaccinated more of its citizens with advanced vaccines against Sars-Cov-2 more quickly than any other big Western country.

The epidemic must be done there, right?

Well. This is weird.

Britain’s post-vaccination wave just doesn’t seem to want to end. New cases have been stuck at a very high level for five months. And deaths - although lower than they were at the peak of the winter wave - have not gone away and in fact are now rising.

It’s almost as if mass vaccinations of powerful but imperfect vaccines have made the epidemic worse in the United Kingdom (and across Europe and the United States) by interfering with the natural course of the epidemic and the development of natural immunity.

Almost.

I’m sure Pfizer and Moderna and the public health gurus have a better...

Kerry Lobbying Against Legislation To Ban Import of Chinese Goods Produced by Slave Labor

Climate czar John Kerry is lobbying House lawmakers to oppose legislation that would ban the import of all Chinese-made goods that are produced using Uyghur slave labor, a move aimed at buying goodwill with Beijing as the United States seeks a new climate deal, according to congressional sources and foreign policy insiders familiar with the matter.

Kerry and a faction of State Department officials oppose legislation meant to curtail Chinese imports made using slave labor, sources said, due to concerns that the restrictive measures will agitate Beijing. The legislation, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in July passed the Senate by voice vote but is stalled in the House. It would target China's construction of solar panels and other equipment the United States needs to migrate the country to green energy sources.

related: Customs and Border Protection Seizes Imports From Chinese Company Backed By Kerry Investments

The Biden administration's internal strife over China points to a tug-of-war between the White House, which supports this type of measure, and the State Department, which is pushing a softer China policy in the hopes of securing a climate deal with Beijing—an effort that Kerry is spearheading in his role as presidential envoy for climate change. Kerry has been under fire in recent weeks for owning stakes in an investment group that funds companies that are linked to forced labor and have been blacklisted for human rights abuses, as the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Reports issued during the past several weeks indicate that Kerry, who operates out of the State Department, is the principal opponent of increased sanctions on China and its use of Uyghur slave labor. During remarks Wednesday at the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow, Kerry told reporters that the United States and China have made progress on reducing carbon emissions, which is fueling speculation that any action on Uyghur slave labor will take a backseat to these ongoing negotiations.

Kerry was reported to have engaged in a "forceful debate with other administration officials on the matter before his most recent China trip," according to the Associated Press, a claim that jibes with information provided by congressional and foreign policy community sources to the Free Beacon. One veteran foreign policy hand told the Free Beacon that there "is a lot of chatter about" Kerry's opposition to the legislation swirling "in the China policy circle."

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Sobolik, a fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told the Free Beacon he sees evidence of an "ongoing turf war within the Biden administration over China policy—specifically, how will the president square his climate goals with his insistence that human rights is at the center of...

11 Quotes On Courage.. For Veterans Day...

Remember: Memorial Day is the day to remember those men and women who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces, whereas Veterans Day is a day to celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Today we celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Thank You For Your Service.

Pelosi, Clinton Finance Director Becomes Lobbyist For Chinese Chamber Of Commerce.

Jonathan Mantz – Hillary Clinton’s former Finance Director who’s “raised nearly half a billion dollars over his career for Democratic campaigns” – is now a lobbyist for the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, which seeks to craft policies favorable to American companies doing business in China and routinely partners with the Chinese Communist Party to do so.

Jonathan Mantz, a Principal at BGR Group, “leads the firm’s Democratic outreach efforts,” according to his professional bio and serves as a member of the Finance Committee of the Democratic Governors Association.

“Over the past three decades, Jonathan has held senior positions to elect Democrats to the White House, Senate, House of Representatives and governorships. A leading political strategist, he has raised nearly half a billion dollars over his career for Democratic campaigns,” the summary adds, including positions such as the National Finance Director for then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign.

Mantz has also served as the Finance Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) under Nancy Pelosi.

Following his long stint in Democratic politics, Mantz is now lobbying on behalf of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China. Lobbying registration documents reveal Mantz is lobbying the National Security Council (NSC) and providing “strategic counsel on bilateral issues.”

The chamber counts its primary objective as “promot[ing] the development of trade, commerce, and investment between the United States and the People’s Republic of China” and includes over 2,000 corporations as members. “Through engaging in dialogue with our more than 2,300 members, we formulate policy objectives that represent the immediate interests of the Chamber as a whole, and then pursue them at the local, regional and national levels in the United States and the People’s Republic of China,” asserts the group.
To do so, however, the group routinely partners with the Chinese Communist Party on events and conferences.

The upcoming China (Shanxi)–U.S. Symposium on Investments is sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China in partnership with Chinese Communist Party officials from Shanxi province. The group has also organized events in support of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which the U.S. State Department has warned that Beijing “to expand foreign markets for Chinese companies and as a means of drawing nations, particularly their political and economic elites, into Beijing’s...