Coronavirus

Political discussion here. Any reasonable opinion is welcome, but due to the sensitive nature of the topic area, please be nice and respectful to others. No flaming or trolling, please. And please keep political commentary out of the other board areas and confine it to this area. Thanks!
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Superbone
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Superbone »

The Arizona Republic | Page A15Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Tragic or not, virus shows it can fix stupid

Cruel as this may sound, I’m having a hard time cringing at the internet trolls now going after noisy right-wingers who propagandized against the coronavirus vaccine and then succumbed to the deadly disease.

One was Nick Bledsoe, a car mechanic in Opelika, Alabama. Bledsoe achieved minor celebrity opposing public efforts to contain COVID-19. He petitioned against school mask mandates and turned refusal to get shots into a political statement, negatively linking them to President Joe Biden. Bledsoe died of COVID at age 41, leaving a wife and four children.

His Facebook page then became a clearinghouse for attacks by vaccine supporters. Some insulted and mocked him. Others left heartfelt sermons on the insanity of risking one’s life in return for partisan hugs.

Let the record show that I disapprove of any dancing on this man’s grave. After all, Bledsoe walked the walk of his ignorance. Unlike some media personalities who dismissed the shots while securing one for themselves – or former President Donald Trump, who quietly put himself and loved ones at the front of the line when the vaccine became available – Bledsoe played the game of COVID-19 chance with his own life.

On the other hand, the lies and conspiracy theories he and others advanced could well be responsible for thousands of other deaths. There is blood on their hands and, as is being noted, most may be coming from fellow travelers on the right.

COVID-19 now takes its biggest toll in the red, vaccine-resistant parts of the country. Health care analyst Charles Gaba found that since the end of June, the virus has killed about 47 of every 100,000 people in counties where Trump got 70% or more of the vote. In counties where Trump won less than 32%, only about 10 out of 100,000 people have died from COVID-19.

There is a rule on the right fringes that no one ever has to take responsibility for their own behavior. On Breitbart, John Nolte tests the bounds of idiocy by blaming Howard Stern (and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci) for Trump supporters’ hostility toward vaccination. By making fun of those who didn’t get the shots, he writes, Stern is causing even more resistance to the shots. (Oh, to be retweeted, eh, Nolte?)

It’s time the right wing understood that the opposition can also troll, and very effectively. “Suicide by COVID” has become a popular heading for commentary on the pathetic loss of life among Trump cultists.

Heartless? Perhaps. But earlier in the pandemic, when the blue cities were hardest hit, people spent hours online trying to get an appointment for a shot. Yours truly was among them. When I finally nailed a date, I traveled three hours to a dingy high school gymnasium where I joined lines of Americans scrambling for protection and a return to normality.

Now that shots are being waved, it seems, on every street corner, sympathy for those who refuse them – and then get gruesomely sick – is not commanding much emotional space. When there was less anyone could do to avoid a COVID-19 death or prolonged illness, things were different.

Some of my right-leaning correspondents like to sign off their notes with the words, “You can’t fix stupid,” possibly referring to me. I will concede that progressives can be stupid on some things, but not on this one.

When writing back to the truly delusional, I now attach a clever meme that has been making the rounds. It shows a woman saying, “You can’t fix stupid.” Under her, a cartoon virus covered in spikes adds, “I can fix stupid.”
"Be Legendary."

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AmareIsGod
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by AmareIsGod »

Superbone wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:26 pm
The Arizona Republic | Page A15Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Tragic or not, virus shows it can fix stupid

Cruel as this may sound, I’m having a hard time cringing at the internet trolls now going after noisy right-wingers who propagandized against the coronavirus vaccine and then succumbed to the deadly disease.

One was Nick Bledsoe, a car mechanic in Opelika, Alabama. Bledsoe achieved minor celebrity opposing public efforts to contain COVID-19. He petitioned against school mask mandates and turned refusal to get shots into a political statement, negatively linking them to President Joe Biden. Bledsoe died of COVID at age 41, leaving a wife and four children.

His Facebook page then became a clearinghouse for attacks by vaccine supporters. Some insulted and mocked him. Others left heartfelt sermons on the insanity of risking one’s life in return for partisan hugs.

Let the record show that I disapprove of any dancing on this man’s grave. After all, Bledsoe walked the walk of his ignorance. Unlike some media personalities who dismissed the shots while securing one for themselves – or former President Donald Trump, who quietly put himself and loved ones at the front of the line when the vaccine became available – Bledsoe played the game of COVID-19 chance with his own life.

On the other hand, the lies and conspiracy theories he and others advanced could well be responsible for thousands of other deaths. There is blood on their hands and, as is being noted, most may be coming from fellow travelers on the right.

COVID-19 now takes its biggest toll in the red, vaccine-resistant parts of the country. Health care analyst Charles Gaba found that since the end of June, the virus has killed about 47 of every 100,000 people in counties where Trump got 70% or more of the vote. In counties where Trump won less than 32%, only about 10 out of 100,000 people have died from COVID-19.

There is a rule on the right fringes that no one ever has to take responsibility for their own behavior. On Breitbart, John Nolte tests the bounds of idiocy by blaming Howard Stern (and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci) for Trump supporters’ hostility toward vaccination. By making fun of those who didn’t get the shots, he writes, Stern is causing even more resistance to the shots. (Oh, to be retweeted, eh, Nolte?)

It’s time the right wing understood that the opposition can also troll, and very effectively. “Suicide by COVID” has become a popular heading for commentary on the pathetic loss of life among Trump cultists.

Heartless? Perhaps. But earlier in the pandemic, when the blue cities were hardest hit, people spent hours online trying to get an appointment for a shot. Yours truly was among them. When I finally nailed a date, I traveled three hours to a dingy high school gymnasium where I joined lines of Americans scrambling for protection and a return to normality.

Now that shots are being waved, it seems, on every street corner, sympathy for those who refuse them – and then get gruesomely sick – is not commanding much emotional space. When there was less anyone could do to avoid a COVID-19 death or prolonged illness, things were different.

Some of my right-leaning correspondents like to sign off their notes with the words, “You can’t fix stupid,” possibly referring to me. I will concede that progressives can be stupid on some things, but not on this one.

When writing back to the truly delusional, I now attach a clever meme that has been making the rounds. It shows a woman saying, “You can’t fix stupid.” Under her, a cartoon virus covered in spikes adds, “I can fix stupid.”
Wow. Arizona Republic totally stole this article!

https://www.commercial-news.com/opinion ... 574b1.html
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Superbone
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Superbone »

They didn't steal it from her. It was credited to her. My bad for leaving that out.
"Be Legendary."

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Nodack
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Nodack »

Red States Are Now Paying Unemployment Benefits to Anti-Vaxxers Who Quit Their Jobs
Republican governors have decided to coddle vaccine refusers, even as they cut benefits for everyone else.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... -jobs.html
It’s not a left-wing policy of money for everyone or a right-wing policy of money for no one. It’s a policy of pernicious hypocrisy: welfare for vaccine refusers, tough love for everyone else.

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Indy
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Indy »

The general sense now is that if COVID is still a big part of our lives, the GOP will win in the mid-terms and the White House. Usually domestic unrest results in a change in president, and global unrest results in staying put.

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Mori Chu
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Mori Chu »

Omicron variant has reached the US:


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Flagrant Fowl
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Flagrant Fowl »

Indy wrote:
Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:37 pm
The general sense now is that if COVID is still a big part of our lives, the GOP will win in the mid-terms and the White House. Usually domestic unrest results in a change in president, and global unrest results in staying put.
The Dems couldn't even eradicate a deadly virus off of the planet? Psh, then bring on the fascist sympathizers.
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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:45 pm
Indy wrote:
Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:37 pm
The general sense now is that if COVID is still a big part of our lives, the GOP will win in the mid-terms and the White House. Usually domestic unrest results in a change in president, and global unrest results in staying put.
The Dems couldn't even eradicate a deadly virus off of the planet? Psh, then bring on the fascist sympathizers.
The fascists of the 30's in Europe did a lot of horrible things. We are kind of putting both the Mussolini and Hitler regimes together and what they did, right?
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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Who is the poster that lives in South Korea? I just saw this, and was curious if this was both true and what the feelings are in the country.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Mori Chu
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Mori Chu »

Them vaccines must not work, then! Sure am glad to be a "pure blood" who didn't done take 'em!

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Indy
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Indy »

There are still like 10-15M people there unvaccinated.

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Flagrant Fowl
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Flagrant Fowl »

I don't get too into the minutia of it all, but there are some things I think are significant factors to the large uptick in recent infections. These are all observational anecdotes. I don't have the patience to weed through this stuff in Korean.

1. Vaccinations didn't really begin until late Spring 2021, and those were reserved for the elderly. They were also limited to just the AstraZeneca vaccine because it was the only version the government obtained at the time. So given the low efficacy of the AZ vaccine, and most recipients of it getting double jabbed around May, it's not unreasonable to expect that group being at risk of infection now. I was among the first groups of people in Korea to receive a double dose of a non-AZ/J&J vaccine, and that was in this past August when I received the Pfizer version. The government also recently announced that they advise booster shots 5 months, moved up from 6 months, after receiving a second dose, but this literally started yesterday on December 1st. It's yet to be determined how many doses they have or how long it'll take to make them available to everyone.

2. The national government only lifted restrictions on the size of gatherings and operating hours for restaurants and nightlife business about a month ago. From Spring 2020 to this past Halloween, all of those businesses had to close at 9pm or 10pm and groups could not exceed 2 or 4 people depending on the "level" set by the government. (Keep in mind all of that was when the national daily infection rate was in the low hundreds.) This also included the closure of very popular establishments like bath houses and singing rooms. For someone who's never been to Korea, those restrictions were significant burdens on the daily lives of Koreans as they are a very communal group of people who very frequently eat and drink out well past midnight several times a week. Since the government started their "With Corona" plan (they're terrible at branding in English) at the start of November, everything has basically gone back to pre-COVID times with the exception of people wearing face masks everywhere and checking-in via apps or phone numbers at public indoor spaces.

3. International travel has been picking up from all regions recently with direct flights to nearby countries like Guam and Taiwan re-starting at my local airport. Although, I don't think a ton of infected people are coming in on planes with all the hoops one has to jump through to travel into Korea.

4. I might be underselling this point, but I really don't know because I simply don't care enough to dig into it. 2022 is an election year in Korea and the current administration has long said that people who are fully vaccinated (2 doses) can more or less go back to their normal life activities (reference point 2). I think the government has been weary of backtracking on that claim as it would empower their political opponents. Their most recent statement came this past Monday when they simply said they're just pausing the easing of restrictions in the next phase of "With Corona", so basically everything is open and people are not pushing for the government to go back to previous restrictions (so far).

It's worth noting the population density in Korea is unlike pretty much anywhere in the US. For example, my "district" called Haeundae has a population of about 425,000 people in an area of 20 square miles. It's much more crowded in Seoul where the vast majority of infections are being reported.
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Mori Chu
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Mori Chu »

Anti-vaxxers jump for joy when they see the slightest news hinting that a vaccine might be imperfect. As if the vaccine itself were the danger, the public health problem. Ridiculous.

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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Tell that to those loved ones that lost a family member or friend to a vaccine death. Ridiculous.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Indy
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Indy »

Mori Chu wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:42 am
Anti-vaxxers jump for joy when they see the slightest news hinting that a vaccine might be imperfect. As if the vaccine itself were the danger, the public health problem. Ridiculous.
The number of people i see that say "it isn't a vaccine... it it was why do people still get it!" is mind boggling. Like flu shots or chicken pox or dozens of others, there are always break through infections. Until COVID, I never heard anyone say "why do they call it a chicken pox vaccine if 1-2% of kids still get it!?!"

The NBA data they just released was really interesting on this stuff, by the way.

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Split T
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Split T »

In2ition wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:05 am
Tell that to those loved ones that lost a family member or friend to a vaccine death. Ridiculous.
It’s awful anytime someone loses their life unexpectedly but you have to look at the bigger picture. We are having 1000’s of people die daily from the covid virus. Even if you take an extreme stance, I don’t think anyone is saying the vaccine is killing people by the 1000’s each day. It’s incredibly small numbers of people. Yes those deaths are tragic and it’s incredibly sad, but you shouldn’t make decisions based on them. It’s like hearing a story about a guy who died in a car wreck because they got strangled by their seat belt and deciding to never wear a seat belt again.

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Indy
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by Indy »

Split T wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:27 am
In2ition wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:05 am
Tell that to those loved ones that lost a family member or friend to a vaccine death. Ridiculous.
It’s awful anytime someone loses their life unexpectedly but you have to look at the bigger picture. We are having 1000’s of people die daily from the covid virus. Even if you take an extreme stance, I don’t think anyone is saying the vaccine is killing people by the 1000’s each day. It’s incredibly small numbers of people. Yes those deaths are tragic and it’s incredibly sad, but you shouldn’t make decisions based on them. It’s like hearing a story about a guy who died in a car wreck because they got strangled by their seat belt and deciding to never wear a seat belt again.
Isn't the number in the US <10 people that have died due to complications from the vaccine? All from J&J and blood clots?

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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Indy wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:25 am
Mori Chu wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:42 am
Anti-vaxxers jump for joy when they see the slightest news hinting that a vaccine might be imperfect. As if the vaccine itself were the danger, the public health problem. Ridiculous.
The number of people i see that say "it isn't a vaccine... it it was why do people still get it!" is mind boggling. Like flu shots or chicken pox or dozens of others, there are always break through infections. Until COVID, I never heard anyone say "why do they call it a chicken pox vaccine if 1-2% of kids still get it!?!"

The NBA data they just released was really interesting on this stuff, by the way.
That's not why they say that. It's because vaccines have always been over the years, a dead version of the virus that is injected to induce the bodies natural creation of anti-bodies to fight this foreign infiltrator. These "vaccines" aren't created with dead viruses.

I agree that the NBA data is interesting on this.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Split T wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:27 am
In2ition wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:05 am
Tell that to those loved ones that lost a family member or friend to a vaccine death. Ridiculous.
It’s awful anytime someone loses their life unexpectedly but you have to look at the bigger picture. We are having 1000’s of people die daily from the covid virus. Even if you take an extreme stance, I don’t think anyone is saying the vaccine is killing people by the 1000’s each day. It’s incredibly small numbers of people. Yes those deaths are tragic and it’s incredibly sad, but you shouldn’t make decisions based on them. It’s like hearing a story about a guy who died in a car wreck because they got strangled by their seat belt and deciding to never wear a seat belt again.
It's not as incredibly small as you guys think. I know more people in my sphere that have suffered and even died of the vaccine than of the virus. I know it's anecdotal, but didn't we just have a story posted by AIG from azcentral that was anecdotal? How come you didn't say something then?
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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In2ition
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Re: Coronavirus

Post by In2ition »

Indy wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:31 am
Split T wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:27 am
In2ition wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:05 am
Tell that to those loved ones that lost a family member or friend to a vaccine death. Ridiculous.
It’s awful anytime someone loses their life unexpectedly but you have to look at the bigger picture. We are having 1000’s of people die daily from the covid virus. Even if you take an extreme stance, I don’t think anyone is saying the vaccine is killing people by the 1000’s each day. It’s incredibly small numbers of people. Yes those deaths are tragic and it’s incredibly sad, but you shouldn’t make decisions based on them. It’s like hearing a story about a guy who died in a car wreck because they got strangled by their seat belt and deciding to never wear a seat belt again.
Isn't the number in the US <10 people that have died due to complications from the vaccine? All from J&J and blood clots?
According to VAERS and other reporting agencies even in the EU, it's in the 1000s. I know we've been over this, and your response is that it's only reporting and anyone can report something even if it didn't happen. My counter to that is that it requires a signed affidavit and proof of identification, so that it isn't filled with people doing this nefariously. Also, it's shown that only between 1-10% of all adverse effects are even reported, according to studies on it, so just guess it's much much higher than what's showing. And, you would expect if you were right and it is less than 10, like you think, it makes no sense to the numbers of past vaccines over the yrs. Where there have been far more reported on these vaccines than all other vaccines over the last 40 yrs across the globe combined. You would think that number would be jarring, but alas.

Why do we know the names, Hank Gathers or Reggie Lewis? Because they were rare cases. I posted a complication video of athletes around the world collapsing on the fields and almost all of them dying quickly right afterwards, but it was poo pooed by you Indy, as it happens all the time. Well, not at this level of numbers, and you know it.

Now, why haven't they been reported more prominently in the MSM. Here could be one reason:


And for those like Mori, that is worried about clicking on a link, as to be unclean. Here are some of the links from which the article was put together with to make these claims.
https://thenationalpulse.com/news/confl ... rd-member/
https://investors.pfizer.com/corporate- ... 91ec25bcea
https://www.pfizer.com/people/leadershi ... ames_smith
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-relea ... _directors
https://www.reuters.com/search/news?sor ... lob=pfizer
https://www.reuters.com/search/news?sor ... ob=moderna
https://www.reuters.com/search/news?blo ... eRange=all
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/jim-smith
https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/ ... e/10163688
https://www.refinitiv.com/en/about-us


CONFLICT: Reuters Chairman is Pfizer Investor and Board Member.
by Kay Smythe
December 1, 2021


The chairman and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Reuters news agency – James C. Smith – is a top investor and board member for pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer. He was elected to the board in 2014, as well as joining Pfizer’s Corporate Governance and Science and Technology Committees. The news raises serious conflict of interest concerns as corporate media outlets such as Reuters continue to promote Pfizer products, defend pharmaceuticals companies from criticism, and move to silence skeptics.

Smith is currently the Chairman of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the London-based charity known for providing news and information to billions of readers. He was also the President, Chief Executive Officer, and on the Board of Director of Reuters from 2012 until his retirement in 2020.

He has worked with the organization since 1987, when they were known as the Thomson Newspaper group. He has also served as the CEO of the professional division, overseeing legal, tax and accounting, and intellectual property and science businesses. Later, he went on to lead the North America operations for the news organization.

In an official statement at the time, Ian Read, Pfizer’s chairman and CEO said: “We are pleased to have Jim Smith join Pfizer’s Board of Directors. He brings leadership and operational and international business experience to Pfizer’s Board, and will be an excellent asset to the company. The addition of Jim to our Board helps ensure that Pfizer will continue to benefit from a breadth and variety of experience.”

In the last year alone, Reuters has published more than 22,000 articles mentioning Pfizer. The company has only published 8,191 articles related to Moderna, and 18,000 related to Johnson & Johnson. Many of the articles about Johnson & Johnson were negative in sentiment, unlike their Pfizer reporting.

Smith is also linked to the World Economic Forum (WEF), where he serves on the board of Partnering Against Corruption Initiative. He’s also a member of WEF’s International Business Advisory Boards of British American Business and the Atlantic Council.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Smith also holds the position of President & CEO of Refinitiv Transaction Services, Ltd, who boasted $6.25 billion in revenue with more than 40,000 customers and 400,000 end users across 190 countries. Refinitiv was a member of the Thomson Reuters Group until 2018.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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