World Sofa Report – Episode 12 – You can’t stop the signal

Audio version: http://s.go.ro/q6d5cnkq

You can censor, obfuscate, impede, frustrate and bury it in ignorance – but ultimately you can’t stop the signal. And you can’t stop ideas whose time has come.

11 months ago we were in the tiny minority contesting the “expert consensus” on almost all Wuhan Cough-related stuff and also discussing the economic implications of the monumental fuck-up. As well as the further disruption permitted by global health disruptors such as Bill Gates. For months, that was either ignored or (intentionally) lumped in with intentional disinformation. But that can only go so far. At some point, the signal does come out and becomes impossible to ignore.

So, now it’s halal to mock and attack Bill Gates (conspiracy theory 7 months ago), it’s halal to talk about pre-existent immunity (conspiracy theory 10 months ago), it’s halal to talk about Andrew Cuomo’s murderous conduct (far-right Trumpist conspiracy theory 9 months ago), it’s halal to talk about the math and graphs simply not adding up (Putinist/extremist/far-right conspiracy theory until a month ago) and on and on like that it goes. And we’ll go through all of it because that’s why you support us – to tell the truth before it becomes okay to talk about it.

Besides panicard lunacy, of course we also review geopolitics. The CCP continues to pressure around in the South China Sea triggering a new set of discussions about upping the ante on preparedness on the Japanese side of the cold war. Canada wants further restrictions on gun ownership in line with a promise made by the Trudeau cabinet in the campaign. China overtakes the US as EU’s main trading partner and Iran threatens to tighten restrictions when it comes to the access it provides to the United Nations atomic agency inspectors, unless the Robinette administration lifts the sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, Robinette appeared to suggest that China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang is just a different cultural norm, in a rambling response to a friendly CNN townhall. And, finally, Google cuts a deal with the Australian government in the issue of payment to the news media, while Faceberg blocks the global access to Australian media in a dispute that will soon follow in Europe as well.

Links:

News #1 – https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56091682

News #2 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-11/manhattan-landlords-offer-record-perks-to-fill-empty-apartments

News #3 – https://thehill.com/homenews/news/538991-bill-gates-rich-nations-should-move-to-100-percent-synthetic-beef

News #4 – https://www.foxnews.com/politics/canada-to-introduce-weapons-bill-that-would-allow-cities-to-ban-guns

News #5 – https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-florida-similar-trends-covid-19-different-approaches

News #6 – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/feb/11/we-are-desperate-for-human-contact-the-people-breaking-lockdown-to-have-sex

News #7 – https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-spain-debt/update-1-spains-government-debt-rose-to-117-1-of-gdp-in-2020-idUSL8N2KN2RH

Mallorca caught in mass tourism trap as poverty rises – https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-mallorca-caught-in-mass-tourism-trap-as-poverty-rises/a-56592640

Spanish riot police clash with protesters after rapper arrested – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/17/spanish-riot-police-clash-with-protesters-after-rapper-arrested

News #8 – https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/blatny-meni-strategii-uz-zadne-dalsi-restrikce-ted-uz-je-to-na-kazdem-z-nas-40351294

News #9 – https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56093378

News #10 – https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-to-tightly-restrict-inspectors-access-if-u-s-sanctions-not-lifted-11613510521

News #11 – https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56084575

News #12 – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/10/national/china-coast-guard-law-japan/

Stakhanovite movement – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakhanovite_movement

News #13 – https://apnews.com/article/india-dramatic-fall-coronavirus-cases-199585f8d5cb023abe241c4c463d88ce

News #14 – https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/joe-biden-suggests-chinas-uighur-genocide-is-part-of-different-cultural-norms/news-story/86a85d79ca830f6b7601a3638798c5ab

News #15 – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/15/asia-pacific/australia-google-facebook-news-deal/

News #16 – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/436605/covid-19-heightens-racism-against-maori-chinese-research

Working from home could lead to more prejudice, report warns – https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54937713

The Sofa
The Sofa is the virtual representation of the editorial board of the Network