1/12/2021

COVID-19: While UK Is Learning From Earlier Mistakes, Singapore Loves Making More Mistakes

 

1984 George Orwell said...

COVID-19: While UK Is Learning From Earlier Mistakes, Singapore Loves Making More Mistakes

While the UK leaders are very worried, Singapore leaders are taking it easy, earnestly, relentlessly and happily keep importing new Covid-19 cases everyday as if there will be no tomorrow.

"Flexing the coronavirus lockdown rules could be fatal," the UK Health Secretary warned his people and government, as UK hospital admissions soar.

Matt Hancock did not rule out strengthening current restrictions and told the BBC's Andrew Marr the NHS was under "very serious pressure".

It comes after almost 60,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the UK on Saturday and the number of deaths after a positive test passed 80,000.

Scientist Prof Peter Horby warned that the UK was in "the eye of the storm".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the rules were tough but "may not be tough enough" and called for the government to hold daily press conferences to avoid "mixed messages".

The UK recorded another 563 deaths on Sunday and 1,065 deaths on Saturday.

And Singapore's stupidly has no cure, gangho and ostrich mentality, happy-go-lucky millionaire ministers are happily relaxing the restrictions and asking for troubles before troubles come a-troubling.

Sunday's 42 new cases are all imported - the highest in 9 months, since March 2020. And no ministers or opposition leaders bother to voice any concern.

Everyone only worried about the economy. Economy no good. So import more new Coronavirus diseased people from India and Europe means good for the economy? What type of logic is that?

The 4G leadership is really out of this world, with out of this world happy-go-lucky, "gagi-buta" salary and bonuses.

Sad. More sad than USA Riots At Capitol Hill.

Covid19 - Chinese scientists and vaccines save the world

Chinese scientist’s spike protein research paves way for Covid-19 vaccine 

Wang Nianshuang, who designed the synthetic spike protein used in many Covid-19 vaccines. Photo: Handout

  • Wang Nianshuang’s work on spike proteins was largely unknown until the new coronavirus emerged
  • Thanks to Wang’s years as a researcher in an obscure field, vaccines were available in record time



The rapid development and delivery of a vaccine against the new coronavirus seems like a medical miracle, but not to the scientists who spent years pushing boundaries to solve the unsolvable. 

Among them is Wang Nianshuang, a former research associate with the University of Texas at Austin, who studied coronaviruses for eight years before his continuous hard work was rewarded with the pivotal design of a synthetic spike protein....

Wang’s design is at the heart of the mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, as well as two others under development by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax. It was available so quickly because of his previous research, which went largely unnoticed at the time....

After more than 100 painstaking attempts, Wang was finally able to engineer the Mers spike protein into a stabilised state by making small genetic mutations to its encoding gene sequence. “It is like putting a steel splint on the spike protein to stabilise it in the pre-fusion configuration,” he said.

Wang was also confident the technique could be applied to different coronaviruses – “including new coronaviruses” – which all have very similar spike proteins. But, after completing his work in 2016, Wang’s paper was rejected five times by major science journals.

It was finally published in 2017 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and it would take a further three years – and the emergence of a new coronavirus – before the value of Wang’s work was fully appreciated by the vaccine industry....

 
Above article is from SCMP. 
 
China not only produced conventionally tested and proven vaccines for Covid19. The mRNA vaccine is also developed by a Chinese scientist, Wang Nanshuang in University of Austin. The success of his work did not come easy as his earlier papers were rejected several times and only surfaced again when Covid19 became a pandemic. His work became very important and finally recognised as a new method for developing vaccine that could be produced quickly to fight this pandemic. 

In other words, all the vaccines currently being used around the world, those in the USA, in UK and in China, were developed by Chinese scientists. Can't imagine this a few decades ago to think that the Chinese could produce the talents to solve this international health crisis, that the world would have to rely on Chinese scientists and Chinese technology in a major crisis like this pandemic.

Would the West want to acknowledge the contribution of the Chinese scientists or would clown Trump and liar Pompeo still insist that the Chinese scientists stole the formula from the West? By the way, did Trump or Pompeo know about this? Think they would not want to be injected with a vaccine invented by Chinese scientists. Maybe Trump already knew and thus refused to be vaccinated, refused to be saved be a Chinese developed vaccine.

1/11/2021

The cries of Singaporeans, ... not new Singaporeans, continue

This is a real case which I recently talked to someone in a fortune 500 MNC operating a manufacturing plant in Singapore. The company hired more than 60% foreigners and of course we can’t fought that the operators are mainly from China, Malaysia and India. The management more than 50% are foreigners, namely from Europe and India, Singaporeans become a minority here. So I asked for more details about why. This is what I found out, he told me the head of the operations is an Indian VP, he is not located in Singapore but all the management under him were all Indians, not from Singapore. Whenever the Indian below him leaves, he would hire another Indian. So I asked if he hired Indian irregardless he is from Singapore or India, he told me he only hired Indian bornt India, yes he hired two Indian bornt but new citizens. So the whole team of operations management are made in India. Same for the other division led by another European, they hired their clique and all of them received expat benefits in Singapore.

So next I asked how about the quality of work since PAPPY said foreigners speak better English, more skillful and harder striving than local PMETs. He told me, they are mostly lazy, can’t even understand the accent some of them have and also their third world habits are very obvious at work where quality is sacrificed as quality is not valued in their country. To an extent, they hired an Indian FT contractor to do their outsourced IT and security and after many years discovered, he was playing punk at their manufacturing and overcharging many contracts. The day after the outsourced Indian FT left, the whole company was hacked and global locations all down.

Then I asked about Singaporean management in the company, he told me the Singaporean management is a Pro PAPPY voter, hired a Pinoy and Indian instead of Singaporean....

Dumb 61%

Above is part of an article posted in TRE by this Dumb 61%.

This is another one of the numerous cries of Singaporeans that appeared in the social media, definitely would not deserve a place in the main media. The same painful stories are repeated over and over again by a minority of original Singaporeans that felt disgusted and brave enough to cry out loud, hoping that some imbeciles would listen and do something to stop this scourge that is destroying their lives while making many foreigners happy, rich and arrogant and starting to despise Singaporeans while stealing their lunch.

Apparently no one cares other than paying lip service and even calling for more fake talents to be brought in. The undisputed mantra that has been in vogue among the MIWs is that foreigners are talents and Singaporeans are daft. Every wildlife brought in here deserves a permanent good paying jobs while the daft should be content to be PHV drivers or food deliverers or security guards. The females can be cashiers in supermarkets or checking people entering shopping centres, a highly sophisticated and demanding job that foreigners could not do. Think of the thousands of fake talents with fake and funny degrees now carrying titles of CEOs, senior managers, assistant managers and getting rid of Singaporeans under them to replace them with their own kind is outrageous to the core. A betrayal to all Singaporeans.

Can original Singaporeans do anything about this sad story, doing something for themselves or their children or grandchildren before this island, their home, is taken over by foreigners completely? Do they want to do something or already resigned in defeat, home lost, and given up recovering it?

There are so many things that can be done to right this wrong against the original Singaporeans that built this island, or their parents or grand parents that built this island in the difficult days of the 50s and 60s. They planted the trees hoping that their descendants could benefit from them but did not know that their descendants are being kicked aside while foreigners are here to enjoy the low hanging fruits. 

This is so pathetic. And their poor descendants, being called daft so often that they have lost confidence in themselves. Now the funny wildlife that have been allowed in to steal their lunches are calling them daft as well. And nobody that matters care to do anything about it.

Probably only when the imbeciles are kicked out of their million dollar jobs before they would bother to do anything. But then it would be too late to rewind the clock. It would be game over for the descendants of the original Singaporeans.

This is the new normal. Do not be despair, just be happy to be PHV drivers, food deliverers or security guards or cashiers or checking people going in and out of shopping centres. And let the foreigners be in charge, now in the corporate world, not too long they will take over Parliament and replace the imbeciles with their own kinds.

There is no point in crying. No one is listening. Everyone is happy with their millions, counting their millions and have no time to listen or to do anything meaningful. The die has been cast, and original Singaporeans would be history. Some historians in the future would write about the extinct Singaporeans and how they allowed themselves be led to the slaughter house, sheepishly, without a fight, without a sound of protest.

1/10/2021

Terrorist attack on Capitol Hill - Michael Moore: The Terrorist Attack Is NOT Over.

 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQCsVVVknzQ

 Michael Moore: The Terrorist Attack Is NOT Over. | Rumble with Michael Moore podcast | EP. 153

Watch this podcast by Michael Moore revealing the complicity and conspiracy of the plotters of this invasion of Capitol Hill, who were complicit, who were the people that let the mobs in....

The revelation exposed a lot of people were involved in this attempt to steal the ballot boxes and destroy them.

It is indeed sad that the Americans, the white Americans were the terrorists against their own country, against the democracy they were so proud of.

It was so lucky that the senators and house representatives were safe and not was killed. They could be killed on that day. The planning and attack were an inside job.

Watch it!  This is a very serious podcast. Listen the Mike Moore's message in the last 10 minutes. The white supremacists are planning to strike across the whole of America 3 days before Biden's inauguration. A civil war is about to start. But before that, some may be killed, assassinated. Mike Moore could be on the hit list. Biden is definitely there.

When Trump told his white supremacists to take back America, he is saying taking back America for the whites, a white America.

Who would be lynched? Nancy Pelosi?

Trump pardoned butchers of innocent Iraqi civilians

 

 


Face of an unrepentent American butcher of Iraqi civilians. Photo credit to Al Jazeera


In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press news agency, his first since being released from the prison, Evan Shawn Liberty said “I feel like I acted correctly” during the deadly shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square.

Liberty and three other former Blackwater employees – Nicholas Slatten, Paul Alvin Slough, and Dustin Laurent Heard – were convicted for their roles in the massacre after a protracted, years-long legal process in the US.

“I regret any innocent loss of life, but I’m just confident in how I acted and I can basically feel peace with that,” Liberty told AP.

The case sparked renewed criticism of the use of US contractors in conflict zones and Trump’s December 22 pardon of the four men has drawn widespread criticism from human rights advocates, lawyers and others in the US and Iraq.

US prosecutors have long maintained that the Blackwater employees, who were contracted by the US State Department in Iraq, launched an unprovoked attack on civilians involving sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers.

In a New York Times letter to the editor published on Friday, John Patarinithe, the FBI agent who led the investigation into the incident, said he “spent many hours with the innocent Iraqi victims who are permanently maimed and crippled because of the actions of these Blackwater guards, and the heartbroken family members of those killed”.

“I am embarrassed for our country,” he wrote. “I believe we will pay a heavy price in our relationships with other countries as a result of these pardons.”

For their part, the convicted contractors have said they were acting in self-defence and their lawyers have said the shooting began only after a white sedan broke from traffic and approached the convoy in what appeared to be a threatening way.

The sedan actually held a medical student and his mother. 

Prosecutors have said one of the former contractors, Slatten, “was the first to fire, without provocation”. He was sentenced in 2019 to life in prison without parole for the murder of Ahmed Haithem Ahmed al-Rubia’y, the medical student who was driving his mother to an appointment.  Al Jazeera

4 hired American killers, conveniently called contractors, contract to kill, gunned down innocent Iraqi civilians and lying in court that they were killing them in self defence. Can anyone believe in this white lie?

Think of how many levels of command were involved in making this order to kill Iraqi civilians. Was Trump involved in the decision making that he had to pardon these murderers of Arabs? And to think that these hired killers got the cheek to claim that they fired in self defence and feeling good about it, not a trace or remorse and repentence, and the racist American President Trump pardoned them. And this is the evil country that shout for human rights and freedom! 

Do the Iraqi civilians have any human rights, and freedom to move around freely in the streets of Baghdad and not be killed in broad daylight by American hired killers? Or to theAmericans the Iraqis/Arabs are subhuman beans, free to be killed at will by the white Americans, and no crime committed when the white American President set them free?

How evil can the white Americans be? Look at the face of the murderer, butcher above? His face said he did not care a damn about the innocent lives he took. He could sleep peacefully, no sense of guilt, no wrongs?

And no condemnation from the supposedly 'morally high' western media and the worshipers and believers of the white evil American Empire.

1/09/2021

White men expect China to be hammered down, not to stand up against their dominance and bullying

 

 

Many of you would have played this game before in the arcade or expo. The game is very fun when you are holding a hammer to hammer any head that pops up. No head is supposed to be up unless it wants to be hammered. This is what the West expect China to be. Keep your head down or be hammered. This is what the world is all about under the American Empire. The rest of the world are the heads kept under the board. The one holding the hammer is the USA.

For the last few centuries the West came out of Europe to conquer the world, ie to invade, kill and plunder the world, oppress the natives of the world, stole their land and their assets and their pride as human beans.  The natives of the world are supposed to be subhuman beans and the white men should rule over them. Their land and everything belonged to the white men.

As a result, the whole of Europe became rich from the stolen wealth of the rest of the world, obtained by the means of guns and genocides. As the West grew rich, they became more 'civilised' or generous, while the rest of the world became poor and looked stupid and pathetic, unable to fight back and were relegated to poverty, to manual labour, slaves to the white men. This is what the white men expect the rest of the world to be, including China. Know your place, do not stand up or be hammered down.

Today, China is one of the few oppressed countries of the world that have found their lost confidence by rebuilding itself and its national pride as a people and nation, not to be subjugated and oppressed by the West anymore. China would want to stand equal to the West or better and is proving itself to be as good, without the use of guns, wars and killings. 

The West could not take it. Instead of fighting the Chinese on an equal footing to be more productive and innovating and more hard working, the West started a war on China by demonising everything Chinese, spreading the lie that the Chinese are aggressive and out to conquer the world. The truth, the aggressors and oppressors are the West. They had conquered the world and expect the rest of the world to continue to be ruled by them. They are the superior beans and the rest of the world must accept their superiority. Any non western country that wants to challenge the supremacy of the West must be hammered down.

They had hammered the Arabs and Muslims to Stone Age, never to rise to challenge them.  They have contained and oppressed the Latin Americans to keep them poor, never to excel over the West. They have kept Asia and Africa poor for centuries.  They flattered India for being a big but poor democracy. Never mind about economic development and prosperity for the Indians, be happy with democracy. The Indians loved it.

Japan tried to surpass the West but got hammered into its proper place, never allowed to challenge the West again and would slowly withered in its present state, neither rich nor poor. China is different. When the Chinese found itself and its confidence to be the best, they worked for it. The West would keep on lying to the world, spreading ills and hate against the Chinese, try their best to hammer down the Chinese like they did to Japan and the Soviet Union. China would resist and would not accept the fate it was put in in the last hundred years. China will stand up and rise above the West.

The West can try to continue to hammer China down like the above game. China would not abide and would want to play the same game one day, holding the hammer to hammer the West down when they try to pop up. It is time to switch places. China is showing the rest of the world that they should replace the bully holding the hammer to whack them to place, not allow them to stand up. The rest of the world must work together, rise together to remove the bullying rogue, take away his hammer for good. If better, put them under the board, to be hammered when they pop up.

The old world order of the Whites hammering the rest of the world needs to change. The aggressive and oppressive western gangsters must be put in their right place, not be allowed to hammer the rest of the world, not be allowed to conduct wars to kill the rest of the world. China will lead the rest of the world to a better life, not to be oppressed and hammered by the West forever. The rest of the world must stand up and hammer the oppressors of the world.

PS. I happened to watch the last 10 minutes of Insight in CNA on the topic, Opportunities, threats and challenges in 2021. As usual, the whites and bananas could only parrot the western lies, North Korea is a threat, China is getting too aggressive, despite Kishore telling them to throw out the rubbish thoughts in their heads. The one that is aggressive and bullying the rest of the world is the USA. North Korea, Iran and many other countries are just victims of American oppression and aggression, not allowed to pop up their heads.

China is standing up and refuses to be hammered into place. And this is called aggressive by the West. Jump off your high horses, silly western fake academics that cannot think and accepted the present western dominance, the West holding the hammer as the accepted order of things. The West, particularly the Americans, not aggressive, peace loving, not a threat to world peace? 

1/08/2021

Americans dying like flies, hospitals cannot cope, clown Trump spends time banning apps...and more

 

'In Los Angeles, where packed hospitals have been turning away ambulances, medics were Monday instructed not to transport adult cardiac arrest patients if they cannot be resuscitated in the field.

The county's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agency also issued a directive for ambulance crews to save oxygen supplies by only administering to patients with severely low levels.

Local EMS agency head Marianne Gausche-Hill told CBS that medics were "not abandoning resuscitation" in the field, but that transporting patients with "very poor outcomes" who cannot be resuscitated could "impact our hospitals."....

"Many hospitals have reached a point of crisis, and are having to make very tough decisions about patient care," said Los Angeles County director of health services Christina Ghaly.

Firefighters trained as paramedics have been temporarily called up to assist hospital staff, while army engineers were drafted in to bolster straining oxygen delivery systems at six hospitals.

"We're likely to experience the worst conditions in January that we've faced in the entire pandemic -- and that's hard to imagine," Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer said Monday.' Yahoo News

American hospitals in crisis because of mounting hospitalisation and death due to Covid19. Hospitals running out of beds, running out of oxygen. Trump does not care. He is busy telling lies to his supporters that Biden cheated and stole the election from him, without any proof, claiming all kinds of rumours as justifications that he won the election. Not only that he is busily encouraging his daft supporters to rebel, he spends his time banning apps and Chinese business in America. 

Trump is totally oblivious of the Covid19 crisis and the death of Americans. He would not lift a finger to do anything. Americans die are their own business. He has not time or interest to care about them.

This is the kind of president the daft Americans voted into the White House. The Americans deserve to have him and dying because of him.

Not only that, he staged a coup, an insurrection to stop Biden from becoming the President, ending in the lost of 4 American lives and the ransacking Capitol Building, forcing the senators and people's representatives to run for their lives. 

The biggest worry for Americans and the world is a false flag incident by staging an attack on American forces and using it to launch a war with Iran.  Americans and the people of the world must be wary of this unscrupulous gangster and his equally bad Pompeo, to start World War 3 in the next 12 days of his Presidency. 

No country in the world, including Iran or North Korea, would be mad to want to attack the evil Empire to invite their own destruction.  Any such attacks in the next few days are pre planned by Trump and his evil men and equally evil allies to commit war crimes. 

Would the Americans be able to stop this from happening? Would they be able to remove this clown from the White House before he starts World War 3?

MAGA  Make Americans Grieve Again!

Covid-19: Safety Is Of Paramount Importance For The New Pfizer Experimental Mass Vaccination Program - Part 1/2

 

SSO said...

Covid-19: Safety Is Of Paramount Importance For The New Pfizer Experimental Mass Vaccination Program - Part 1/2

Let us all be very clear in our heads. This Pfizer vaccine is new, very new. It is a new technology. No one has the sufficient knowledge to become an "Expert" in the application of the vaccine, yet. So, please don't pretend to be or make use of the word "Experts" to convince us that this new Pfizer vaccine has been determined to be safe for everybody. The fact is, it is not.

To those who called themselves "Experts", have you even taken this particular vaccination yourself, applied it to your loved ones and waited for at least six months to see the side-effects? If no, then you are no "Experts".

This Pfizer new-technology vaccine, no matter how you can put it, is a new experimentation on human life. It is about trying out something that has never been tried before on human beings. There are unknown consequences due to unknown responses by different human body-makeups and conditions. Therefore, there are unknown risks that even the researchers themselves do not know at this early stage of the mass experimentation.

In any experiment, there should be a very high degree of caution. Nothing should be left to chance. Nothing should be thrown to the wind by quoting standard replies from the textbook. This vaccination thing is about human life and death. It is about losing one life is one too many. There can be no careless mistakes to be covered up later with whatever excuses one might have already thought out of one's clever brain, irrespective of scientist, businessman or politician.

These days, the media is filled with the term "Experts" being thrown about to mesmerize the unaware and the unwary. How can there be any expert in this particular new Pfizer experimental vaccine, to start with? Common sense tells us that nobody has ever tried it out long enough (3 to 4 years) to ascertain the long-term side-effects. Its efficacy for the Covid-19 corona-virus may be said to be 80 to 95% by the manufacturers. However, what are its side-effects in the long-run? Will our future generations be affected by this manipulated mRNA thing? How will this mRNA interact with our DNA in the long-run? These questions have to be answered before anyone can call himself an "Expert" in this particular new-technology experimental vaccine.

Even Pfizer does not dare to take the risk of having to shoulder the full responsibility if something goes wrong with this experiment.

I was heartened by what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said when he introduced the mass vaccination scheme:

"I have personal confidence in our experts. My cabinet colleagues and I, including the older ones, will be getting ourselves vaccinated early. This is to show you, especially seniors like me, that we believe the vaccines are safe."

However, in reply to a question asked in Parliament about whether ministers taking the lead to have the vaccination first, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong shrewdly replied (contradicting the PM's intention),

"Ministers, senior civil servants and politicians do not want to be seen jumping the queue ahead of others in Singapore."

What is Minister Gan trying to convey to us? In the first place, he is in no position to speak on behalf of all the ministers, all the senior civil servants and all the politicians. Moreover, we are very anxious about the safety aspect of this vaccine. We would like to be re-assured by our leaders' deeds, not mere clever-sounding words.

We are not interested in how magnanimous our ministers want to appear to us. We are not concerned whether the ministers, senior civil servants or politicians jumping the queue or not. In fact, they should be the first on the list, to lead the way in this new experiment. Unless, they are also having apprehensions just like all of us, they should gladly be the first to take the plunge. Not using cleverness to side-step the real safety issue.

SSO - 7 Jan 2021

continues tomorrow...

1/07/2021

USA - What a beautiful sight!

 

Trump supporters clash with police in Washington. Photo credit Reuters

WASHINGTON: Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday (Jan 6) in a bid to overturn his election defeat, forcing Congress to postpone a session that would have certified President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

With drawn guns and tear gas, police evacuated lawmakers and sought to clear the Capitol Building of protesters, who surged through the halls of Congress in shocking scenes broadcast across the globe.

One protester occupied the Senate dais and yelled: "Trump won that election".

Protesters overturned barricades and clashed with police as thousands descended on the Capitol grounds.

Police declared the Capitol building secure shortly after 5.30pm (6.30am Singapore time), more than three hours after it was breached.

Video showed the Trump supporters breaking windows and police deploying tear gas inside the building. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said members of the crowd used chemical irritants to attack police and several had been injured. One civilian died after being shot during the mayhem, local media said. The FBI said it had disarmed two suspected explosive devices....

The former vice president said that for demonstrators to storm the Capitol, smash windows, occupy offices, invade Congress and threaten the safety of duly elected officials: "It's not a protest, it's insurrection".


 Congress under siege with Trump supporters breaking into Capitol Building. 

Rioters hit by tear gas
Rioters facing police inside Capitol Hill Building
Rioters inside Capitol Hill Building gallery
All photo credits to Reuters

The above Reuters article and photos were published in CNA.  A nation of lies and gangsters showing their best violence to the world.  America needs more domestic violence to keep them busy from exporting their violence to the world and killing other innocent people.  Let them kill themselves and burn their own America. American Democrazy at work.

Trump was reported to be scheming to fabricate a false flag incident with Israel attacking American forces and putting the blame on Iran to start a war.  The generals in the Pentagon are in a state of horror, not knowing what to do, to take orders from this deranged President to fight a war for fake reasons and to keep the mad President in the White House or to disobey him, a sort of mutiny. They have been notified of this horrific scheme and are at odds with themselves and the coming crimes against Iranian people and the people of America as many would die in due cause from this tragedy in the making.

The world has been given notice on this evil scheme of Trump.

Trump is desperately trying to steal the election from Biden but accusing Biden of stealing the election from him. This is classic sick American tactic practised all over the world for decades, now being applied in their home ground.


Bilahari Kausikan - Live streaming of Parliamentary session is not 'genuine transparency'

 

Singapore — Barely minutes into the first livestream of a Parliamentary session on Monday (Jan 4), a former Singapore diplomat criticized the move, calling it “a mistake”.

In a Facebook post on his own page, Bilahari Kausikan wrote that the move “is a mistake. It will undoubtedly be hailed as a step in the direction of ‘transparency’. But the real effect will not be genuine transparency”....

 In his post, Mr Kausikan said that the immediate effect of having the sessions livestreamed “will be to promote playing to the gallery”.

“To think that playing to the gallery will be recognised as such by the general public, is to expect far too much of human nature. In the long run, it will change the political dynamic in such a way as to incentivise a certain sort of personality to enter politics and not the kind who ought to be a political leader”, he added.

The above is reported in theindependent. 

Why is live streaming of Parliamentary session not 'genuine transparency'? According to Bilahari, the MPs would be playing to the gallery, meaning they would become actors and actresses in Parliament, trying to put up a fake picture of themselves? This is the assumption of Bilahari, that MPs, including ministers, would think playing to the gallery is more important than presenting what is real, what is the truth?

I think there is another way to look at this. The MPs and ministers would be more conscious and would want to put up their best front, to prove that they are good by being more thorough in their presentations. There would be no room to make mistakes or talk nonsense, as the public would be looking at them and judging them. Would not this for the better than to assume that they would fake to look good?

To simply make an assumption that MPs and ministers would play to the gallery is being too simplistic and a weak argument to claim that this would make Parliamentary session not genuine, not transparent.

Then what is genuine transparency? Have closed sessions like before then edit the parts that are good to be shown to the public? Speaking not in full view of the public would lead to genuine transparency?

I think putting the MPs and ministers under the spotlight is a much better way to ensure that they put on their best and behave in the best way they could and also would impose on them to be accurate and telling the truth.

What do you think?

1/06/2021

Here Comes China - snippets

 

Ten Predictions for 2021
  1. GDP expands 10%. Western experts predict GDP will expand by 8% and, since they are always 25% low, expect 10%–a $2.4 trillion addition to the economy and the fastest growth ever. Bonus Predictions: Wages  rise 12%, the EU signs the Investment Agreement, the EEU merges with the RCEP.
  2. Most Fortune 500 companies are Chinese. More than 140 Chinese companies and fewer than 120 US companies will make the Fortune list. 80% of the Chinese companies will be State Owned Enterprises.
  3. Five new billionaires created weekly, following four a week in 2020. .
  4. Extreme poverty, homelessness vanish. There will be more drug addicts, suicides and executions, more homeless, poor, hungry and imprisoned people in America than in China by this time next year. 99% of the bottom half of Chinese society will own a home and have an income, plenty of food and clothes, safe streets, health insurance, a pension, and old age care.
  5. Gini gap narrows. Inequality has been Xi’s pet project since 2012 and will become a priority through 2035. The gap is already narrower than Europe’s: Luxembourgeois are 50 times richer than Moldavans, while Beijingers are 5-6 times richer than folks in Gansu, and Gansu is richer than Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova.
  6. Urban life revolutionized. China has constructed the equivalent of San Francisco’s entire housing stock every month since 1950 and Xiong'An New Area, south of Beijing, embodies everything they have learned. Most of it will be woods and wetlands, the loudest sound will birds twittering, and it will be fully automated, with infrastructure underground. Increased productivity will repay its capital cost in 30 years.
  7. The first exascale computer. Top supercomputers  nowsolve problems at the petascale—a quadrillion calculations/second. Exascale computers, at a quintillion calculations/second, will more realistically simulate the processes involved in precision medicine, regional climate, additive manufacturing, the physics in materials discovery and design, the fundamental forces of the universe, and more.
  8. Another quantum surprise to match its recent boson sampling achievement. China outspends the US 4:1 in R&D and its Taoist worldview accommodates quantum physics’ ‘both-and’ paradigm better than the Western ‘either-or’ tradition.
  9. Chinese outlive Americans. US deaths will rise 15% 3.2 million and life expectancy will fall by three years. China’s life expectancy was on track to match America’s by 2028, but thanks to Healthy China 2030, it may maintain its 2021 lead permanently. 
  10. Chinese vaccines protect the world. Sixty percent of the world's people will be protected by Chinese vaccines (and The WHO will reveal India as the source of the Covid-19 virus.

Opposition MP Meet The People Session - Showcase of a third world country

 

Above photo of WP MP Raeesah Khan meeting residents at the void deck of HDB flats in their Meet The People Session. Picture credit to theindependent.sg/

This is the most pathetic and shameful sight in Singapore politics. What would the world be saying looking at our opposition MPs in such a ridiculous position while trying to do their jobs to help their residents.

All MPs, whether they are opposition party MPs or ruling party MPs, are the people's elected representatives and must be treated with equal respect and decorum. And they must be provided with decent facilities to conduct their meetings with the people, to solve the people's problems in proper office space, not haphazard void decks or some street corners.

The govt should set aside funds for such purposes so that all MPs should be accorded due respect as the people's elected representatives and can perform their roles as MPs in proper offices. This is not just about respecting the MPs, opposition or ruling, but also the people, the residents. 

When I look at the above picture, it reminds me of third world countries in Africa or some corners of Asia, not in super rich Singapore.

This unsightly policy must be stopped and changed for the better. Every govt officer and the lowest level officers are provided with decent office space to perform their work, why not an MP. An opposition MP is not an enemy, not an outcast, not a beggar. An opposition MP is also part of the govt, sits in the Parliament to discuss national issues and participate in law making. Why can't they be given a little respect and provide with decent office space to serve the people? These are important works of every MP. The British treated David Marshall in the same way in the past, a table in the corridor of Parliament House.

So much money have been spent on dogs and cats, on foreigners and their children, why not provide a decent office for the opposition MPs and ruling party MPs as well? Unless meeting the people to help solving their problems is not important, unnecessary work, not worth doing, not an MP's job? What is the priority?  To me this is unacceptable practice. A total disrespect to the office of a Member of Parliament.

21st Century, 55 years post independence, can opposition MPs be treated more decently?

1/05/2021

Trump's stupidity continues to bankrupt Americans

 

The NYSE on Thursday said it would delist China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd following President Donald Trump's move in November to bar U.S. investment in 31 firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. Yahoo News

Trump thought he was very smart to delist Chinese companies in NYSE. He does not know what he is doing, only cares about image, that he is tough with his anti China antics to show the daft Americans that America can kick China at will. America is more powerful than China! America can bully China!

Trump does not care about the monies, the dollars the ordinary American investors and funds paid for these shares. The 3 Chinese companies have already collected the money from the American investors. They would be most happy to let these shares become worthless to the American investors. They could now walk away with money in their pockets and tell the Americans that lost money from the delisting to go ask Trump for it.  They can ask Trump, 'Where's My Money?'

Singapore also had many bad experience like this when Mahathir practically delisted Malaysia stocks from CLOB. The result was that the shares became worthless in many cases and Singapore investors lost their pants. Similarly when red chips got delisted, many investors again lost their pants. But in Singapore's case, the cause was external if we do not take into consideration the decision to let foreign stocks listed here and scooted.

In America's case, they allowed the Chinese stocks to be listed, allowed Americans to pour in their savings into them, then delist the stocks and throw the water and baby out.

This is simply 'genius' Trump. Making Americans Grieve Again! the Americans do not need any enemies with Trump as president.

Well done Trump.

PS.

The New York Stock Exchange said it no longer plans to delist three Chinese telecommunications giants. (4 Jan 21)

In a late Monday statement, the NYSE said it dropped the plans after “further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities in connection with Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

Political Struggles (Groupings) In Singapore At Present

 SSO said... Political Struggles (Groupings) In Singapore At Present


There are four races (ethnic groups) vying for control of Singapore at the present moment. They are:

1. The Pro-Western Group - that controls Singapore with dwindling power, and being challenged by the Pro-India Group.

2. The Pro-India Group - with very strong leadership and closing-in the grip on power tighter and tighter.

3. The Pro-Malaysia Group - with weak leadersheep now in hibernation and easily put into cold storage. However, when the time is ripe, this group can be a force to be reckoned with.

4. The Chinese Group - devoid of a true central leadership, very loosely linked. This is the biggest gtouping, yet pathetically disintegrated and disinterested in the struggle for power in a more coordinated and serious way. They are busy making money and do not have the time nor the appetite for political power.

Suffice for me to stop here. Going further may step on somebody's toes and things may become unpredictable and dangerous for me.

SSO

PS. I may add that the Pro India Group is leading and will likely take over control of Singapore's future. Without Hsien Loong, the Pro Western Group is like a bunch of boy scouts and girl guides, waiting to be brushed aside. 

The Pro Malaysia Group is becoming inconsequential.

The Chinese Group will end up like the Chinese in Malaysia.

These are my observations.

Redbean

Ponding management in this piece of rock, an unsolvable problem?

Photo credit to theindependent

More than 36 hours of non stop rain to start the new year 2021. In a way this is blessing in disguise, to stop people from merry making and congregating in large numbers when the Covid19 virus is in the air. Staying at home is the safest place, warm and cosy, when temperature in certain parts of the island fell to 21.1C. And we have the infamous ponding in many parts of the island.

Despite the advancement in town and estate planning, with new knowledge and technology, these predictable occurrence of rainfall is still a pain in the ass in this so called smart island, infested with super talents, home grown and the best from the third world countries. All the monies spent to buy all the talents, many being paid in the millions, could not put the island together again in terms of ponding. 

Why is there hardly any improvements in the way rain water is being managed, distributed and discharged into the canals, reservoirs and the sea? Cannot be planned, too difficult to plan, or 'misplanned'?

The island is so small, finite, the drains and canals and their capacity, and the capacity of rainfall, are all calculable numbers, not rocket science. Why is it so difficult to manage the rainfall and water flow?

What kinds of talents are we using to plan our drainage and flood control or ponding? Local talents or funny third world talents? Do these foreign funny talents really have flood management experience or came with funny degrees and funny resumes but no real knowledge or experience in flood management?

Our local talents have done a superb job in building enough reservoirs for our need. This project of building more reservoirs were executed before the flood of 'foreign talents', so I am presuming that the main idea was local in origin. What about the ideas in flood management, with clever 'foreign talents' rope rising in the air tricks or native talents that could not tame the ponding in this small piece of rock? The scale of the problem is in no way near the scale of the Ganges or Huang He or Chang Jiang.

So, will Singapore find the real talents to solve this ponding problem once and for all? Cannot, no way?

Depends on who is in charge?