They feed people lies because it’s effective. Tell people what they want to hear, and do it over and over. Not two days ago, my well-educated, Fauci-lovin’ sister told me very solemnly that the virus definitely came from a wet market.
The people don't trust public health officials because public health officials don't trust the people. They decide how they want to people to act, and then they decide what to tell them to create the desired action. Truth and trust are irrelevant.
The CDC has been even worse in the past six months with at least three active major lies they've perpetuated in that time frame. One of their web pages states that kids aren't actually at lower risk of hospitalization above a data table that clearly shows they are, and the false statement is referenced and linked to by dozens of MSM news stories. But when your goal is vaccinating kids whether or not they need it, the end justifies the means.
Not that I agree they should be managed, but truth be told, the mass of the American public are profoundly stupid, as evidenced by our election results for the last sixty years.
Who in the world are "Elites?" What are their names? What do they look like? Tossing around terms like "Elites" is precisely the sort of sloppy thinking that Matt's been railing against all these years. Perhaps, just for a moment, could we discard all the fulminating emotions and political invective and talk about clarity of thought?
Schwab, fauci, weingarten, wolenski, Biden, Zuckerberg,zucker, Pichai, Murdoch, gates , bezos the Davos gang, Frazer, Schwarzman , Cook, Agrawal. They look like people. You know the folks who run stuff that sign the paychecks for the people who shape and influence society at scale. That’s who I would classify as “elite”.
'Members of the World Economic Forum, the CCP, EU and DC Bureaucrats, Career Politicians, Internet and Banking multi-billionaires, Academics quoted in Legacy Media' is unwieldy. I prefer 'Elites'.
The problem with shorthand designations is that we soon forget exactly to whom those designations are referring. "Elites" quickly becomes a rallying cry, and not a description at all.
My point is about clarity of thought - which is something that we don't get much of these days, and which Matt (it seems to me) has been fighting against for years.
I'm extremely concerned with the ecomomic changes in the American economy over the past several decades. Billionaires wield so much economic power in this country today that they have the potential to be an existential threat to our society.
Need an example? Look up the "Carried Interest" tax loophole, which benefits just a tiny number of Americans. Progressives have been trying to abolish it for years, but without success. I suppose we could call these people "Elites," but it seems to me far more accurate to call them what they are: billionaires.
There's really no justification for a tax system which doesn't have a 90% marginal tax rate on incomes over $10,000,000 annually, just as there's no reason to have caps on Social Security and Medicare taxes. But just try getting that through Congress.
Or, as Mafia associate told me in my prosecuting days, "Kid, money talks and bullshit walks."
Read up on the WHO's involvement in this debacle; read about how they stifled anything that ran counter to their supported group think. Read about how they used their far reaching power to sideline, prevent and otherwise completely shut off any alternative treatments for COVID other than those proposed by the pharmaceutical companies.
The ultimate decision makers, Bill Gates, Mark Zuccerberg, Jeff Bezos, Nancy Pelosi, Biden. You really don't need to vote because you're too stupid to know what's good for you:
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications (Biden's FREE advertisers) whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years… (censorship)
…It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government.
The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination, VOTING, practiced in past centuries.”
David Rockefeller
Bilderberg Group - Occult World
Bilderberg-group
The prestigious and influential secret society known as the Bilderbergers has a membership composed of six hundred very wealthy and very powerful individuals, drawn from the highest executive levels of international business, politics, education, finance, and the media.
Then why didn't you list those names rather than using a vague and inflammatory term such as "The Elites?" I'm too stupid? Well, one thing I learned in fortysome years of the practice of law is that when someone resorts to insults and ad hominem arguments, it really means they're responding out of a deep sense of inferiority.
One final thing: those are extremely inflammatory claims you're making - do you have any factual support (other than vague and unintelligible Facebook and Twitter postings) for them, or are "stupid" persons such as myself expected to accept meekly your ravings?
The ultimate decision makers, Bill Gates, Mark Zuccerberg, Jeff Bezos, Nancy Pelosi, Biden.
SEARCH: Bilderberg-group
What inflammatory claims have I made? Do you really think Congress is reflecting the concerns of the General Public? Look at the polls then look at what Congressmen are running on.
The lie is the lab-leak bullshit. It's weird how when it suits people who otherwise hate Fauci, they love what he says when it agrees with something they like on principle. This got resuscitated by Biden because it helps him get people on board with his "let's destroy China!" crap.
Yeah, dumbass, you have been conned by THAT guy. Deal with it.
Of course you are right! It is just pure coincidence that Wuhan is a city that just happens to have a Biosafety level 4 lab that had a history of security problems and which just happened to be doing gain of function research on corona viruses that was partially funded by Fauci´s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases! Like you, I´m going with the The Bats Did It theory.
I know, right? We outsourced so much of our knowledge, production, and research to anyone who promised to do it cheap. Then we're shocked, shocked it came back to bite us in the ass. I'm sick to death (so to speak) of outsourcing; all that work should be brought back home.
Consider that we may have outsourced work to any number of sloppy labs on any number of pathogens. If the Wuhan lab is the source, it could be the tip of an ugly iceberg. You needn't be a conspiracy nut to worry about the next pandemic.
Absolutely this, Cold Turkey. We should never have outsourced this work; it's so dangerous that it should all be done by our own people in domestic, state-of-the-art biocontainment centers. Anyone who thought it would be good to let the Chinese--or anyone else--in on the action is insane.
LOL,, and let's not forget the famous Lancet letter that was signed by scientists on the direction of Peter Daszak from Eco Health which was awarded $$ by NIH (Fauci) to give to the Wuhan Lab to study...wait for it....gain of function in coronovirus.
Ecohealth is Peter DASZAK. But yes, otherwise correct. In fact, they concealed Daszak's role in the letter, since too many people knew of his conflict of interest. Including the editors at Lancet, who later had to print a disclaimer.
Daszak, is a conservation biologist, head of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research group based in New York City that aims to prevent new infectious diseases from emerging.
The grant did not go to China, but to EcoHealth. NIH just renewed the award; $3.7 million over 5 years to find and study bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV, (SARS), which nearly triggered a pandemic in 2003. During the first 5 years of the grant, EcoHealth sent roughly 16% of the funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Why? Because that's where the viruses live. In China and SE Asia. China has state of the art facilities.
Daszak warned about the risk of a coronavirus pandemic for more than 15 years. He's THE GUY in this science.
2004, Chinese researcher Shi Zhengli, a virologist at WIV asked for Daszak's help finding Nipah virus in China. They didn’t find Nipah but stumbled on coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV, leading to a widely cited Science paper that first tied bats to SARS.
Daszak decided to organize a statement of support for colleagues in China, which The Lancet published a few weeks later. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” 27 signatories from nine countries.
The letter was a statement of support, NOT a scientific study, and the link was never intentionally concealed. The link was obvious from the many papers Daszak and Shi co-authored. Daszak wanted to show support for scientists who have been threatened because of the idea that they’d designed, bioengineered, and released a weaponized virus. That was the conspiracy theory at the time and that clearly has been shown to be false.
This letter of support was signed by more than 20,000 people.
Many scientists criticized NIH for cutting a grant that peer reviewers deemed a high priority; 77 Nobel laureates wrote a letter in protest. NIH offered to reinstate the grant 5 months later, but attached conditions that EcoHealth said it can’t possibly meet.
Yes. We need that in order to understand these viruses. You want to stick your head in the sand. Nooooooooooooooooo!! Don't look! Not there!!!! It might be dangerous in there!!!
We all know what Gain of Function is for. In 2014 under the Obama Admin Federally funded GOF research was put on pause to assess risk specifically the threat of accidental lab release or bioterror threats. So then in 2017 that pause was lifted by the NIH (Fauci). Kinda of a sneaky move in my opinion taking advantage of a new Administration. Then when the pandemic hit in 2020 Fauci goes on record claiming he was not involved in GOF. You can't make this shit up. So before you decide to get all sanctimonious you might want to consider context.
Barry, most of us that read Matt are the choir. I love to sing, but no one hears me. Singing in the shower or forest is not satisfying. Do we form a choral group and roam the halls of congress and sing what they prefer not to hear?
Got any ideas that move us down the field? I know I'm mixing metaphors but most of have read enough and fed-up enough but not sure the action that should be taken.
The possibility of moving us down the field is long gone. The polar opposites are running the entire offense in their respective ideological veins. They control all the mechanisms of mass communication, and can easily silence those who wish to look at issues critically, devoid of any hint of partisan hype.
Anyone who desires a place from which to discuss something with logic and reason would be better off finding and buying some isolated property. They should then move to that property and retreat fully from the world.
It's the reason I found my own isolated retreat deep in a national forest, where only a scattering of people live. I've merely a few more years of work to snag my second retirement (hopefully the republic lasts that long) before I ensconce myself within my barned wire sanctuary. You should do the same.
This darn machine won't allow me to "like" and you deserve a like. Too bad there's no online betting available on this. I think it fair to say that neither of us would bet on the bats.
If this came from their biosecurity level 4 lab, then the release was intentional.
The problem was that they were studying bat coronavirus, potentially dangerous pathogens to begin with, in a biosecurity level 2 lab, hence the leak. Not merely studying, but doing gain-of-function experiments, as shown by the funding trail back to Fauci's pot of money and the coding for one of the amino acids in the spike protein of the original SarsCov-2 virus is that found in the human genome but found in no wild coronavirus.
For a couple reasons, I would suspect unintentional Primarily, I'll observe that working in a level 4 lab is onerous, all that care and caution takes up valuable time. We'll never know but once online betting is permitted, I'm betting on sloppy as opposed to nefarious.
You are using China as a straw man. The lab leak theory is not only plausible, but highly probable, given the evidence that has been obtained. You can make it about geopolitics all you want but it doesn’t, and won’t, change the facts.
According to Bayes, the first COVID-19 cases popping up right next to the Wuhan Institute for Virology is evidence for WIV being the source.
Another piece of evidence is the fact that WIV was researching these types of virus. China covering its tracks and hiding the lab records is also compatible with guilt. Where is the evidence supporting natural origin?
Here's a post I wrote on R0 and how completely misleading it is. Real disease transmission works nothing like the cute R0 picture. It helps to understand how it really spreads.
Where is the evidence? All the sequences for collected viruses are the evidence. Nothing at the WIV matches the viruses collected from humans. Unless the sequencing matches well enough, the lab leak theory is impossible. Plus, there is a case identified from November 17 of 2019 that was a long way away in Hubei province. That may be as close to "patient zero" as we can get. But in the real world of mutating viruses, there isn't really any "patient zero". There is an initial crossover event, and then there is mutation in humans until you get a jump in contagion like we have seen with Delta and Omicron.
How a virus breaks out depends on conditions, and the way the virus mutates. The Wuhan market was probably the first big super-spreader event. In the SARS1 epidemic there were individual people who spread SARS to over 100 others.
If it’s absolutely not a lab leak, then why all the global obfuscation? Why all the deflecting and politicalization? Why all the draconian measures? Why not just tell the effing truth? Explain “ sequences, Dr. Fauci”…. Elon Musk is not a lizard overlord and we are not Golden Retrievers…. We can handle the truth and who are “They” do decide that…..
I am old enough to remember Fauci’s lies about AIDS being the next scourge thst would sweep through the hetero population - because he felt that research money wouldn’t be forthcoming for a “gay disease”.
His comment that he is science really says it all about his thinking. It’s all about HIM. He tells what he thinks are noble lies and does so intentionally. This time, he’s actually even admitted it pretty early - the stuff about how masks didn’t work (so he can save them for people he felt needed them most), his moving target of what constitutes herd immunity.
His behavior in the Senate is particularly egregious and itself worthy of firing - I’ve never seen a government employee, subject to congressional oversight, so abjectly disrespectful even under tough questioning. But it speaks to his self image as beyond reproach and the ultimate authority.
I dislike him whatever he says - whether he lies or tells the truth, whether I agree or disagree with him.
He is clearly both a prima donna as well as a partisan. He has no business being in the position he’s in.
Looking at your posts further down the thread, I find it odd that you deny the lab release theory based on lack of evidence but accept the wet market theory which is equally devoid of evidence.
Makes it almost seem that you aren't as objectively based as you purport and certainly puts the basis of your articles in your posted links in question.
Perhaps your need to shut THAT guy down compromised your objectivity?
The wet market theory holds water because the first cluster of cases had that market in common. The sequences of viruses from those cases match, and became the basis of identifying COIVD-19. The wet market fits the expectations of a super-spreader event. What was not found at the wet market is food animals that were contaminated with the virus.
And yet, despite the Chinese government literally sampling tens of thousands of bats in every wet market in China and looking for a natural origin, a find that they have every incentive to find to absolve them and their research lab, they and others have not found anything. But we DO have internal emails and even published papers documenting that gain-of-function research was occurring where these corona virus were being manipulated to infect human lung epithelial cells. Now whose being naive?
On Sept. 12, 2019, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s database of viral sequences was taken offline. The deleted database, which has never been publicly recovered, contained more than 22,000 unpublished samples and sequences of bat and rodent viruses.
Notably, the database contains crucial data and may hold the key to determining whether the lab in Wuhan, China, had COVID-19 or a progenitor virus in its possession.
The importance of having access to virus sequence data was illustrated earlier this year, when sequences from early COVID-19 cases were recovered from another dataset that had been deleted in June 2020 from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) database at the behest of a Chinese researcher. That data confirmed that the pandemic didn’t start at the Huanan Seafood Market as Chinese authorities had claimed.
In February, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent an investigative team to Wuhan. The team’s report states that as part of their analysis they “reviewed data collected through the China National Centre for Bioinformation integrated database on all available coronaviruses sequences.”
But the team failed to request an examination of the database of viruses collected, maintained, and later deleted by the WIV. The WHO’s failure to pursue what could have been its most promising investigative lead is notable as the Wuhan Institute of Virology is widely regarded as perhaps the most likely source of a viral lab leak.
he Harvard study appears to have been validated through the observations of the U.S. consul general in Wuhan, Russell Westergard, who is on record as stating that by mid-October 2019, the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan “knew that the city had been struck by what was thought to be an unusually vicious flu season.”
Westergard would later note that “the disease worsened in November.”
Westergard also stated that when Wuhan city officials began to close public schools in mid-December 2019 to control the spread of the disease, his team passed the information to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing while they continued to monitor the situation.
Around the same time that Westergard was raising his warnings, likely at some point in early November 2019, three WIV lab workers were reportedly hospitalized with COVID-like symptoms.
More than likely COVID was around back in 2019 and of course China hid it all. Here's the link if you want to read it in it's entirety
A significant number of the early cases hadn’t been near the market. There were no bats or pangolins at that market (but plenty at WIV). In May 2020 China said the outbreak did not come from the market. How does it “hold water”?
All that demonstrates is that the wet market is a possible source. Seems like the nearby lab, which works with the very thing that caused the pandemic, would fit the bill also. Seems like too many people ant to believe one or the other (dismissing one as bullshit) based not on evidence, but on politics.
Does it ever occur to you that you were told it was the wet market? BTW, China has literally thousands of wet markets all with bats, and you are just taking on faith that it was this one, and only one, wet market that just happened to be a few blocks from the only research lab in China where bat viruses are manipulated? Good grief man, how incurious and acceptance of establishment and government narrative can one be?
I’ve mentioned this in comments when Glenn Greenwald covered this topic a few weeks ago, but I’ll repeat it here. It is this: in an asymmetry of power, the burden of evidence is on the powerful. It’s one reason citizens are presumed innocent. In this case, it’s rational to presume that China and the NIH are guilty until they provide evidence otherwise. As Taibbi mentioned, it is relatively straightforward to send a team of independent scientists to the WIV to interview the scientists there and examine the evidence of what they have been up to. And you’ve got your answer. Yet it hasn’t been done. Ergo, you must assume the virus was a joint Chinese and American creation until they provide some evidence otherwise.
That is quite insane. No, it is NOT straightforward at all to "send a team of independent scientists to WIV". Turn this around. China accuses the USA of releasing a virus from, say, Galveston BSL-4. China has been attacking the USA in the press for years, has put up punitive sanctions on the USA, and China has been providing clandestine support to "rebels" in Mexico. China insists that ONLY a joint Chinese-Russian team of "independent scientists" to visit and investigate those facilities is acceptable. Would you call that a straightforward matter? No. You would have to assume that those "independent scientists" were anything but.
In the real world, there is solid science that fits what we see with MERS, with SARS-1, with Ebola, etc.. Here is a paper on that for COVID-19.
Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic
You are confusing what is politically feasible with what is technically feasible. I was talking about the latter. If sending such a team is not politically feasible, then the NIH should come out and say it. If not, having funded gain of function research at the WIV, then they are effectively complicit. And by that I do not mean that no serious inquiry at the WIV = China and the NIH created the virus. I mean that anyone is free to assume so given the burden of evidence is on China and the NIH. It could be that the virus has a natural origin as that article you linked to implies. But showing so in a convincing manner is again the responsibility of China and the NIH.
Natural origin, and a pandemic igniting in the most densely populated nation on the planet. But natural origin -- Just like SARS1. Just like MERS. Just like Ebola. Shall I go on?
The lab leak has not been proved just as much as the natural origin hasn't. Just because you say so doesn't make it so. Both are still just theories however what we do know points more towards lab leak unless they have found that bat? Lab leaks happen and we do know that he Wuhan Lab had a history of problems. We do know that gain of function was going on. We do know that the lab was just a few miles from the wet market. W do know that Dr. Kristian Anderson wrote an email to Fauci on 2/1/20 on virus possibly being engineered (see below). We do know that the "bat lady" is still MIA. We do know that China refused cooperation into the investigation. We do know that Fauci lied to Congress via the FIA about his role in funding. The list goes on about what we DO know. Now, please list what you know about the Natural origin of COVID other than "it's just like MERS....." i'll wait until you get your head out of the sand.
VIROLOGIST WHO TOLD DR. FAUCI CORONAVIRUS WAS LIKELY ENGINEERED AND GOT PAID AFTER BACKTRACKING ON CLAIMS – JUST DELETED 5,000 TWEETS — THEN DELETED ENTIRE ACCOUNT
I am open to either one being the cause. I just wish someone or somebody would tell us the damn truth. Accidents and leaks happen, always have and always will.
If Covid escaped a lab, then the U.S. and Chinese governments and lab directors need to just say that. There will be a shitstorm, not because of the leak, but because of two years of coverup. As Nixon found out, the coverup is always worse than the crime.
But I don't know if it's from a lab or from Mother Nature.
I will wait for you to pull your head out and realize that you don't have the foggiest clue about anything you are talking about. I'm qualified in this crap. You are not.
And you explain the coding of the arginine doublet in the furin-cleavage site of the spike protein by CGG-CGG how?
CGG is the most common codon for arginine in the human genome, but CGG-CGG does not occur as the coding for an arginine doublet in of the any viruses in the database (https://www.genscript.com/tools/codon-frequency-table alas, behind a paywall) reviewed by Romeu and Ollé here: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202106.0121/v1/download, essentially ruling out a natural recombination event, and suggesting either genetic engineering or serial passage through humanized mice as a more likely cause.
If a totalitarian government with some self-serving interest in the Higgs boson not being found had been controlling the only labs with powerful enough accelerators to look for it, we wouldn't have found it either.
This is the FIRST government attempt to find the origin. They BLACKED OUT all other alternative possibilities. because they already knew it was man made.
'Fake news' no longer: Facebook lifts ban on suggesting COVID-19 was man-made after Biden orders intel agencies to probe whether coronavirus leaked from Wuhan lab.
Chinese scientists who worked on it. contracted it as early as November 2019. They are considered ground ZERO!
"U.S. intel report identified 3 Wuhan lab researchers who fell ill in November 2019
The details add to circumstantial evidence supporting a theory Covid-19 spread to humans after escaping from a lab."
China was perfecting Zoonotic Transmission. How to prepare a human cell to accept an animal virus. Coronavirus virus originated from zoonotic transmission: China’s National Health Commission
It shouldn’t be forgotten. During modernity, every major outbreak has been traced back. And that’s with the kind of science where leeching and bloodletting was considered brilliance.
like Jon Stewart declared, Bat Virus coming from Wehan Lab is similar to “an outbreak of chocolatey goodness near Hershey, Pennsylvania” you can safely assume “it’s the fucking chocolate factory,”
Sorry. Wuhan was studying Zoonontic Transmission, how to prepare A human cell to be infected by a virus from an animal.
"In January 2020, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified as the cause of an outbreak of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China. The disease, later named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), subsequently spread globally. In the first three months after COVID-19 emerged, nearly 1 million people were infected and 50,000 died. "
It isn't the first time China has released a plague:
China was influenced by all the five pandemics, and three of them (1957 "Asian flu" , 1968 "Hong Kong flu" and 1977 "Russian flu" ) were originated from China.
So, I take it you think those nefarious Chines have been engineering pandemics on purpose for centuries? I'll add to your list. Hubei province was the source for the Black Death. In Hubei its mortality rate was around 90% by historical records. The Black Death that hit Europe was an attenuated, kinder and gentler version.
Influenza pandemics. Yep. We have them worldwide most years. We know that flu viruses come from birds, but the exact pathway into humans? The viruses that hit humans come from east Asia. Why is this? It's because of 2 billion plus people living closely with pigs and birds (ducks, and chickens) and capturing and eating of wild birds. Wild birds mix with domestic. Domestic birds mix with pigs and humans. It's an odds game. With over 1 billion people living in poverty with these animals and living and working in bird, pig, and human feces, all of which are used for fertilizer, means that very low frequency evolution events are going to happen.
If you want this to change, then China needs to continue to build itself into a highly developed nation.
truth and lies are merely different tools in the toolbox of the elite. they have no commitment to truth. their only commitment is to amass more power for themselves.
They don't care about truth. Ratings, money and pushing their adopted party's agenda is their sole interest. They are no longer interested in informing the public which was on their agenda at one time, a long time ago, now it's all about making money, and truth be damned.
They would get better ratings if they published the truth. But it's worth it to the establishment to subsidize the money-losing media outlets. There's billions, yea trillions more to be made in the business of covering up the truth.
In this day and age people want to here what they want to here. The democrats really polarized politics with the total complicity of the media. I think the general scientific consensus is that the the virus crossed over into humans from bats. Even though I have a background in science, do I trust them either in this atmosphere? No. Science involves people and they too have an agenda, or can be pressured into having one.
I think only some MSM are smart enough to know they are being dishonest. They are used to reading a teleprompter, not defending their claims like a lawyer or scientist. Consequently, most are just too dumb to apply logic and language.
For example, they can't use words consistently and can't tell the difference between a "hypothesis," a "theory," and a "fact." They also don't know the difference between "evidence," "proof," "probability" and "truth." And they certainly can't understand "burden of proof."
So a disfavored claim (like the lab leak theory) is deemed "debunked" by simply putting the whole burden of proof on the proponent and then saying there is "no evidence" (which really means no proof of a 100% probability). Hence, fact check = "false."
By contrast, the mere statement of the natural origin assertion by Fauci's cronies is cited as all the "evidence" needed for its truth. Hence, fact check = "true."
the world would be a much better place if people would stick to what is known, which isn't much compared what isn't known. human beings undoubtedly know less than 1% of everything their is to know, yet still, there are deranged that carry on like wannabe Gods
For sure we still don't know (or at least have not published) much about Natural Immunity (the usual way out of a Pandemic) and how that interacts with the "leaky" vaccines which may PROLONG the pandemic since they don't block infection and spread of Covid. Which after two years is the more important question than the Origin.
However, when you have bureaucrats in China and NIH funding circles intentionally destroying data and having meetings to obfuscate WHAT IS KNOWN, and to attack any dissenting views as of Public Health experts Bhattacharya, Gupta and Kulldorff and their Barrington Declaration-- "There needs to be a quick and devastating published take-down of its premises"-- you are avoiding responsibilty and accountability, destroying the science.
I would argue they intended to control (and facile lies helped) the situations and swell in importance. American virologists are dominated by AIDS virologists. Being a coronavirus expert might be good for a career in certain agricultural areas, but not in the US (until maybe now!) an exception is Germany's Christian Drosten, who with others first sequenced SARS in 2003 (and also infamously signed the "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin" Lancet letter).
The problem with Fauci, Redfield and Birx as AIDS experts is that their knowledge means nothing, or possibly worse, with a contagious respiratory virus. AIDS is (almost) non-infectious with access to condoms and clean needles. Their first major error (which they still refuse to admit) is that Western countries, notably Italy, the UK and particularly the US, did not shut down/ control entry of Covid infected people, which EVERY Southeastern Asian country did (and it has nothing to do with racism. For example, Singapore is 70% ethnic Chinese, but no one was allowed in from China, and health was cursorily checked at the border. This made it much easier to track the trickle of infected that passed the Cordon sanitaire and contain the virus. ) In the West the virus was already "community spread" and essentially uncontainable BEFORE travel restrictions were imposed (and thus pointless). The AIDS experts all emphasize that the virus will get in regardless; and it did, but strict border control bought those Southeastern Asian countries over a year and the vaccines were available by then (but they have since over-reacted to Western Covid death tolls, figuring the RICH West must have better policies).
The results speak clearly. The US is at 2747 Covid deaths per million; Singapore is at 145, Japan at 151, Taiwan is at 36, South Korea is at 133, Thailand is at 317, Vietnam is at 383, Cambodia is at 176, Myanmar is at 351. The "funny" part is that many of these countries adopted US Public Health protocols over 60 years ago as their basic Public Health training, with many modifications since, yet the US (and Europe) seem incapable of managing a respiratory virus pandemic, because they use their AIDS methodology.
Am a boomer that went to a high powered college and thought for nearly an entire lifetime that I could tell who is expert, and whether to trust them. The last two years have shattered that so badly I can't even guess what will happen next, and not just for me. For example, at my annual physical I told my long-time PCP I trust no authority on anything...and that includes him. I had asked him, "under what circumstances would he prescribe me HCQ?" His answer was "absolutely none" which signaled to me he had surrendered to group think. I have NO IDEA whether HCQ would ever be appropriate for me, but I also know his certainty in his answer meant exactly what Orfalea's videos show. Where can the average guy go to find expertise now?
Good call…people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus take HCQ every day in higher doses than that recommended for Covid. People in countries plagued with malaria take it daily as a preventative… I took Plaquinel ( HCQ) combined with an antibiotic 25 years ago for Lyme. The Lancet Study documenting coronary damage offered up initially by the NEJM, was completely discredited and retracted. You are right to question your doctor’s judgment…
The manner with which they have demonized very safe medications like HCQ and Ivermectin was unbelievably well done. After Trump started praising HCQ, we started hearing about how it could cause heart problems. Ivermectin became horse paste. Ivermectin won a Nobel prize in 2015, and the media went full-court press on the fact that people were being poisoned with worse de-wormer.
dont forget the WHO also changed the definition of herd immunity to basically say natural immunity plays no part - herd immunity is only achieved through vaccination.
check out Jimmy Dore's interview w/ Dr Jay Bhattacharya & Dr Martin Kuldorf. (it would have been good if they had Dr Sunerta Gupta too, but she was part of this interview)
and didnt webster change anti-vax to mean against vaccine mandates...not being against vaccination?
Yes, Merriam Webster now serves the "establishment." When I want accuracy in definitions, I no longer go to Webster. There are still plenty of honest dictionaries out there.
Hang onto good ole fashioned hard copies. I bust em out all the time with my kids to show how language evolves over time. But it shouldn’t change between breakfast and lunch based on news cycles.
You can win a Nobel Prize for giving Invermectin in large quantities to Africans-but upper class white liberals in California or Massachusetts-the horror!!!!!!
Right, and how I like to point out…livestock are given antibiotics just like us…but an anti parasite med is strictly for horses…and you’re a certified loon if you take Ivermectin in human or horse form…..
Half of Western Africa takes it prophylactically to prevent river blindness. It is safe, prescribed by doctors and very effective. Just look at Uttar Pradesh.
Ivermectin is known to have anti-viral properties in vitro. It makes perfect sense to study it, but Dr. McCullough on JRE said that studies in the US had to be stopped because supplies were denied. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32251768/
Interesting, makes total sense. My point is we are “all” mammals so why people are AGHAST that we take common medicines for infections is idiotic. Thanks!
You just learned something very important. Who spends the most time in school? Well, physician's are right up there. Education is primarily indoctrination and more education equals more indoctrination to where it becomes impossible to have a truly open mind. Who controls physician's education, why, could it be BIG pharmaceutical, Hmm, do they have an agenda, Hmm. Never be afraid to think unless death is staring you in the face, then you can react as you were designed to. Otherwise, think.
Meanwhile, those of us who were Lit majors—who learned how to think and read critically—have endured lifetimes of scorn (not to mention lower pay and status).
The liberal arts education that taught students how to tell shit from Shinola is now all but eradicated, replaced by STEM, which teaches problem solving instead of critical thinking.
I would suggest STEM is a plot to make people more defenseless against propaganda and mass formation, but, of course, we all know that's just conspiracy theory.
There are peer-reviewed studies showing the efficacy of HCQ on coronaviruses on NIH's own website. The qualifiers are that it must be taken early and in combination with other meds.
How have the experts of the last two years been any worse than those of previous decades who told us free trade was a win win, that deregulating WS was a no brainer, that the subprime loan meltdown would not touch the larger economy, that granting PNTR to the PRC would bring our countries closer together and resolve differences, that Iraq had WMD's, that Hussein and Bin Laden were allies, that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq, that the war would last a few months and cost practically nothing, that "Mission was Accomplished" in May of 2003, that Assad was doomed, that Libya would not turn into a terrorist haven when Kadaffi was overthrown, that we were turning the corner in Afghanistan etc. etc. etc.
Let me know when these over educated, socially and culturally inbred incompetent narcissists are right, should that ever happen.
That's why they soften you up with absurdities when you're young. Things like the invisible man in the sky, you'll never die story. Money, an even bigger fraud that you're not allowed to ask questions about. Things like, where does it come from? Did you know that when you get your 30 year mortgage that the Bank is loaning you money they don't have. Not a conspiracy theory, fractional reserve banking. Rule of law, haaa, who do you think makes the laws and who do they primarily benefit? The ruling classes and on and on. We live on stories and most are fantastical if you think about them but you are conditioned not to think. They don't burn you at the stake anymore, they just socially ostracise you and perhaps make you unemployable.
Bingo! Money is just as fantastical as the invisible man in the sky and believed by even more. When you tell someone that the bankster just put you in debt for 30 year's with money conjured up from nothing they look at you as if you have two heads but it's the basis of how fractional reserve banking work's. It's hiding in plain sight. That's why China has control over banking where, in the west, the banksters are in control. That's what the Wizard of Oz was really about.
That’s my takeaway after the past two years. When the media becomes a chorus mass formation psychosis is underway so run for the hills. I’m humbled and embarrassed I fell for the war on drugs , the war on Terror , Iraq WMD’s , Hope and Change and God knows what else.
Don't be ashamed; Homo sapiens are genetically programmed to believe stories and the ruling classes have had Millenia to perfect the art of indoctrination. Understanding that is the first step to armoring yourself against them.
Goering and Goebbels learned it from the American, Edward Bernays but Pharoah could have told you too. Now, the best brain's and best Teck, think fMRI and social sciences and media are aligned to control your mind. At least, the Pharoah forgave debts from time to time, no more, I guess that's progress.
Very valid point, but I can say for myself that it is the first time I saw (or more likely noticed) that they completely fabricated things and outright lied. I used to believe in the benevolence of the CDC, NIH, WHO etc. in that I believed they made "mistakes" but now I see/believe they are actually malevolent.
When govt. and large, multinational corporate interests are so enmeshed, when the revolving door between them is always spinning, policies that are actually of benefit to the people are pure happenstance.
And then, of course, we have plain, old fashioned incompetence, never to be overlooked with our inbreed elite, who continually fail upward.
In the US, authority and responsibility are inversely proportional.
I am also a boomer, I agree, but it seemed obvious to me, and hopeless... lies, lies, lies...by the time I was twenty with Vietnam, then with Reagan, With Clinton and then the lies of Bush and Biden and everyone else with the WMD's. It has been my whole lifetime. and today it is much worse, because there is no longer a New York Times on the side of right, or principle, and we have no trusted source, no Walter Cronkite. As for information, I look everywhere and sift, with my bullshit meter always running, no matter the source.
But his reporting was center and always responsible and factually correct. Today we don't have a Walter, though fortunately Matt is cut from the same cloth.
If his reporting was nonpartisan and professional, who cares what his personal beliefs are? Don't we subscribe to Matt and Bari because we are tolerant and still believe in pluralism?
I think we need new ways of establishing trust. If I trust X and Y, and both trust Z, I should also have some trust in Z. Computers can help build trust networks.
I'm a physician and I agree with your position. This type of response is of a piece with the "settled science" argument for other issues, especially climate change. The history of science and medicine is littered with those who were persecuted and denounced for (rightly) questioning the established scientific positions of the day. One of the things that I find most off-putting about leftists (mostly Democrats these days) is their eagerness to suppress opposing views. This is bad enough in politics, but when this mindset infects science and medicine we are in real trouble. I don't care how crazy someone's ideas sound, I want to be able to hear those ideas because you can't always tell the crazies from the visionaries.
Good for you. Unfortunately the fantastical stories seem to be increasing in number. I have no problem with anyone "believing" they are the gender they physically are not. I do have a problem when it's demanded of me that I believe it, by those in power yet which is where we are now. It's religion all over wearing a different mask. The Russian federation is going to attack the Ukraine, really and I'm expected to believe that, I don't think so and on and on. The humanities have gone mad in their ivory tower isolation from reality with the fantastical stories they are indoctrinated with and it's moving into Stem. I totally agree with giving everyone a fair hearing for the simple reason, I might learn something new or better yet, I might be corrected where I'm wrong and that's even better.
Some 30 years ago, my Pediatrician gifted me with this lasting wisdom .. “ in the history of medicine, those labeled the “lunatic fringe” have proven to be more right than wrong.” I appreciated that Dr. Rusty listened and did not dismiss anecdotal stories from “us” in the field…..
Yep. The first doctors, Scottish if I recall correctly, that promoted the practice of washing hands/cleaning before performing surgeries were mocked, called quacks and worse by the British medical establishment.
Ditto for me on your first two sentences. Actually though I think that this experience has been a good thing. Folks like us, good little members of the upper middle class, always believed in the respectable authorities and thought that alternative sources of information were just the misguided or stupid. New York Times good; New York Post bad (or, worse, down market).
Now we are aware that the narrative is the main lie and that those in media, and more generally in many institutions, are just rent seeking liars. And with that in mind, one can go back and look at a lot of things with a new perspective. 911, anyone?
Ah yes, "rent seeking"; to bad more people aren't familiar with the term which drives western society. Rent seeking, the entire FIRE financial, insurance, real estate sector is essentially parasitic. It produces no useful products, performs no useful service and is by far, the best compensated. You have to admire the indoctrination we all recieved, it's about 99% effective and getting better.
If your Dr. is going to stick to CDC guidelines, you don't need a Dr. You just need to read the CDC guidelines. (which would get you the exact same results....)
You have to rely on yourself and those you really trust. My experience with the medical system began in earnest 20 years ago when a relative was diagnosed with a serious brain disorder. Some doctors are curious, conscientious and truly put their patients first. A few are halfway to Mengele and most are either lazy and/or captured by safe groupthink. How do we identify the better docs? Its not easy but ask yourself how you feel after talking to them. Do you know more and feel more in control? Or do you feel mystified, confused, dumb or offended? Do they speak with certainty or acknowledge the limits of what they know? A good doctor should be able to admit the limits of their field. Use the internet and don't discount anecdotes and things written by people with firsthand experience. And most importantly, don't submit to systems and procedures you have serious doubts about.
I know we've lived in a bubble of techno-utopian babble for decades now but the fact is there are limits to what we can understand. I don't know if we are headed for climate catastrophe (I am more concerned about environmental pollution) but I do know that the scientific method is not fit for the purpose of predicting the future states of complex systems and serial modeling failures in economics and epidemiology don't bode well. Once again, climate scientists whose pronouncements are sanctified as truth are just people with all sorts of interests that don't necessarily run parallel to seeking truth: herd mentality/groupthink, its greatest ally careerism and the all too human desire to not feel like you are groping in the dark. And that's before the media idiots get their hands on any of it. Its a dangerous world. Stay frosty.
Nullius in verba! Angela Merkel, an actual scientist, upon seeing Fukushima made a decision, extremely irrational in my view, no, not in my view, it was irrational to shut down all the German nuclear power plants and burn lignite, the most polluting fuel known. She also after rejecting mass refugees sees one Syrian kid lying dead on a beach decides to take in a million Syrian refugees. This would be like four million in the US. Totally irrational decisions from a scientist by trade with an IQ likely north of 150. Your first sentence is very good advice, I suggest that you take it.
Keep relying on your own critical thinking skills. It just takes so much longer. I asked my new PCP a very similar question. (New for a good reason) his reply was” I treat every patient differently, so I really can’t answer you the way you maybe want.” I was satisfied with that.
My useful filter is - what does this person stand to lose for being wrong.
If there are no consequences to them for giving me bad advice, I disregard what they have to say. This is the big problem we have with every level of 'expertise' - there is zero accountability if they are wrong, and really very little reward if they are right. Nice gig if you can get it.
Agree wholeheartedly, and in particular, when applied to the people who are letting lawlessness reign, for ideological reasons, when they have little risk of being subjected to the consequences.
And they said masks work, until they didn't. They said the test work, until they didn't. They said lockdowns work, until they didn't. Wonder what they will admit to next?
i know this isn't especially unique, but my real turning point was the BLM protests in 2020. After taking pay cuts and having my method of providing for my family deemed 'non-essential' and everything being closed down and wiping my ass with my fucking hand because there was no toilet paper and seeing everything blanketed with forboding signs and playgrounds being roped off and my kids having birthdays alone and every single community gathering shut down, all of a sudden "the science" decided people could throng together in big dense groups to protest because 'racism is a bigger public health crisis'?????? Fuck the hell right off shitheads
I hear you- I think it was the breaking point for a lot of people.
I can understand a little how the media felt- they didn't know how to scold black protestors for violating Covid protocol and not seem racist or like they were missing the point.
I was never bothered much by it because:
1) my daughter worked through the pandemic at a deli and the owner hooked me up with toilet paper. Using my hand would make me feel like I was a rock bottom, 100%.
2) I didn't have to take a pay cut or lose my job ( I support my family solely on my salary so that would have been catastrophic for me)
3) My kids are all teenagers or young adults and we all got to hang together and it was fun ( for the first three months, anyway)
4) the protests were outdoors, and most wore masks.
5) The woods I go to were roped off but I ignored it and hiked there every day any way.
I totally get your anger; I would have been really pissed too.
The media needs to grow a pair and call out hypocrisy from people of all colors. Of course the grievance industrial complex knows this, and knows they won’t, b/c your average media lib is more afraid of getting unfollowed on Twitter than anything else in this world.
Sorry, masses of people packed together even outdoors is a bad idea. During WWI the health authorities in Philadelphia argued against a planned war bond parade during the "Spanish" influenza pandemic. It didn't turn out well.
A fit tested respirator protects the wearer. The other masks offer some protection to others if the wearer is the source. Mask wearing could be viewed as a common courtesy, something that typically isn't mandated by government. I'm OK with businesses making the decision. They already require shoes and shirts in some cases.
When the CDC came out in early 2020 and said what they did about not necessarily needing masks, it was obvious that they were telling people that they weren't crucial because they didn't want everyone to buy up N95's, leaving nothing for the health care workers. I knew why they were saying it- it was a veiled way of saying "Everybody be cool and leave these for the hospital workers". I knew it that would come back to bite them on the rear.
We have known for awhile that masks do work somewhat, but during the pandemic we have had great opportunities to get studies done on how well they work ( or don't work). I just don't see nefarious intent everywhere.
The intent is not nefarious. But the method (lying to achieve a desired behaviour, in this case “not panic buying masks“) kind of is — or at least, is wildly counterproductive in the long term. Imagine if they had actually said what they meant — I can’t put out any better than you did; “everybody be cool and leave these for the healthcare workers.” In my neck of the woods, I’m convinced people works have absolutely *loved* not buying masks, they’d have simply basked in the warm glow of self-sacrifice and helping the doctors and nurses (I’m from the UK, where the NHS is our national religion)… and trust would have been retained going forward. But this manipulative, disingenuous style is now becoming the norm; I fear it will get worse before it gets better.
Yes. That's the real problem with not being upfront with people all the time--when you're caught in even "noble lies" too often, we won't believe you when it matters. Government should never lie to us, ever.
I've been following public affairs as closely as I could for about 60 years - since high school. From all of that, one lesson stands out:
The authorities are lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. Unfortunately, these days that even includes scientific and medical authorities, because they've been so politicized. This post of Taibbi's is a perfect example., besides the ones mentioned in comments.
So I regard all pronouncements with suspicion. I'm actually more inclined to trust those who buck the system, if they make sense to me at all, because they generally pay a price for their courage.
Especially after we FOIA their emails and realize they've had all the information they needed to make the correct decision this whole time. They simply ignore what doesn't advance the narrative.
I took Microbio longer ago than I care to admit, and will cop to a slight OCD about hand washing, mostly because I know I’ll stick one of my paws in my eyes, nose, or mouth at some point. I can hear the Prof in my head every time I do - saying “Don’t let this class turn you into an obsessive hand washer”. I’ve been gently mocked for it from co-workers over the years.
Lately, they’ve all admitted I’ve just been ahead of the curve.
Super simplistic take, and mostly wrong. Also- it's a new freaking virus! Of course our take on things changes as we find out more about it. We've had the measles around for over a thousand years- give us a minute to figure this virus out.
Seems like you are arguing against a stance no one is taking. Everyone understands that novel diseases take time to understand.
What people take issue with is health officials, government, media, etc. pretending they do have all the answers. To the point that anyone who disagrees with them should be silenced and shunned by polite society.
I agree with you 100%. What I get irritated by is when infection control guidance changes and people pounce and say the previous guidance was a lie. I hear it every day.
A lot of it was a lie, though. Some of it was well-intentioned, but all the mask theatre was an obvious lie. No masks, one mask, then Fauci said it's good common sense to wear two masks. Now, maybe N95 masks. They knew in early 2020 the virus was aerosolized, but still spread the lies that it was widely spread by the saliva of asymptomatic carriers. They knew long ago that there was a good chance it escaped from a lab, but went back to the old standby of "misinformation". If we ever get a true accounting of this mess, we'll probably all be mortified.
Like NickO says, it depends. Good faith mistakes that are proven wrong with more information? I agree with you.
But it’s looking more and more likely that these “mistakes” were either self-serving lies (lab leak) or widely embellished far beyond what the science would support (science behind masks, social distancing, etc.).
The lab leak thing is interesting. I think it boils down a couple things: a knee jerk response to disbelieving everything Trump says, and the people in power realizing that a lot of people were going to look bad if the lab leak theory was investigated. the podcast "Lean Out" did a great podcast explaining all the players in the USA and Canada and China.
Bottom line is that China fucked up, millions are dead, economies have been ruined, and children's lives upended and harmed. Oh, and Americans can't stop screaming at each other for five minutes.
I don't listen to NPR anymore, ever since I heard one of the hosts of Morning Edition call the lab leak theory racist in 2020. So it's less "racist" for us all to hate Chinese people for eating weird stuff and having no hygiene standards? It never made any sense.
LOL!!thank you… when Covid first started and the wet market theory emerged , I said “ for starters, let’s take Bat off the menu”…. One of my SJW nieces said “ Auntie, that is so racist of you.. “
I am so sorry you have to deal with that but please be patient. We have been openly lied to and most people are aware the heavy censorship is taking place which takes the trust level even lower. So now even average people assume lies versus emerging data. Can you blame them? I know you didn't make this problem but are on the receiving end of people's frustration with the crap we've been fed for 2 years.
How about infection control guidance, all of which follows "the science", that is different country to country, region to region, state to state, rich economies to poor economies.
How we knew they knew it was a lie at the jump was discovering a number of world leaders and local leaders NOT following the rules they put into place when they thought no one was looking. Grappling to discover what to do is understandable, but their duplicitous behavior spoke volumes.
And let's shut down the world's economy and ruin childrens' development and cancel everyone's scheduled cancer screenings and further divide all Americans while we spit out non truths in an effort to cover our @sses.. Sounds reasonable
Assuming you are a nurse, you know the risk analysis of a mask during a surgical procedure looks nothing like the risk analysis for a 3rd grader sitting in class.
And you also know the primary purpose of masks in surgery is not to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.
I'm not talking about WHY surgeons wear masks, I'm suggesting that if you believe masks cause cognitive impairment why the hell would you want someone with their hands in your body cavity to be wearing one?
"It has never been shown that wearing surgical face masks decreases postoperative wound infections. On the contrary, a 50% decrease has been reported after omitting face masks. The present study was designed to reveal any 30% or greater difference in general surgery wound infection rates by using face masks or not. During 115 weeks, a total of 3,088 patients were included in the study. Weeks were denoted as "masked" or "unmasked" according to a random list. After 1,537 operations performed with face masks, 73 (4.7%) wound infections were recorded and, after 1,551 operations performed without face masks, 55 (3.5%) infections occurred. This difference was not statistically significant (p greater than 0.05) and the bacterial species cultured from the wound infections did not differ in any way, which would have supported the fact tha the numerical difference was a statistically "missed" difference. These results indicated that the use of face masks might be reconsidered. Masks may be used to protect the operating team from drops of infected blood and from airborne infections, but have not been proven to protect the patient operated by a healthy operating team."
C’mon now… you know that surgical masks and caps in ORs are worn to prevent brow sweat and saliva ( surgeons talk a lot during procedures) from entering the open site… my Surgeon who performed my bilateral hip replacement confirmed this to me six months ago when I literally bumped into him at the grocery and asked his opinions on Covid. He is now retired but told me that doctors are being policed like he has never seen.
Everything we needed to know, we knew by April 2020. By summer 2020 it was obvious that the virus was following Hope-Simpson and was seasonal. That's how us 'seasonality theorists' have been predicting virus activity ever since. It's how we knew the 2021 summer spike was coming, and were warning about it even when Fauci said he didn't know why cases were dropping in Texas during spring. It's how we knew the winter wave would wash over the country while the 'experts' were caught flat-footed without tests available. And all the while, the 'experts' said The Science was settled, while also changing The Science and saying it was because of new info. But now, once again, The Science was settled and we couldn't question it.
At some point maybe we should start listening to the people who are correct instead of those who are wrong but say you can't question them.
And now the Political Science demands the censorship of those who don’t follow the narrative. Data in the real world is on our side, and the only way they can continue the farce is if nobody can see it. Thus, we are being attacked.
So far, Substack has stood strong. I think this is likely because there are no advertisers to go after, only writers and readers who pay for their subscriptions. But this is also the reason that it’s time to stand up for our convictions and prove that free speech not only has a place in modern society, it’s the lynchpin holding it all together.
It seems to be random to me - I liked one of his post but not another. Moreover, I will be able to like multiple posts for a while and then none for a while.
An additional rule of thumb might be "don't trust 'facts' that are universally pushed by the entire MSM and backed up by threats against any who dare question them."
While, having read a few more of your posts, I think we would agree on more things than not, I also have to say that you are the one being over simplistic and mostly wrong in this post.
Regarding masks, anyone with access to virtually any online academic research site (and, frankly, most people who did not want to pay for the site but wanted to find out more on their own) would have found that there were randomized control studies about the flu available at the earliest point in the COVID spread.
Flu viruses are roughly the same size range as COVID (80-120 and 40-140 respectively) and the results of the studies were essentially that surgical masks made no significant difference in transmission (meaning cloth masks were even more useless) and N95s had very modest positive effect IN A MEDICAL SETTING. That means, properly fitted and changed regularly - something that would not happen outside of that environment.
Moreover, "in a medical setting" also means that it was in a high risk environment. Shift long exposure to patients known to have flu, treating them in close proximity. The value of that N95 drops in proportion to the decrease in exposure to the virus. In short, anyone looking at the literature 2 years ago would have plenty of information contrary to population wide masking.
While "new freaking virus" is an excuse for mistakes like the overuse of intubation or a delay in coming up with a vaccination (if you can apply that concept to a vaccine that was produced VERY quickly), it is not an excuse to ignore what we definitely knew about viruses and contagious diseases. Quarantine and Isolation protocols were well established as effective long before COVID and there were prominent medical minds telling us that the bizarre and utterly untested concept of trying to seclude and veil the entire population was an inferior idea.
The nation's public health "leaders" were grossly incompetent in their first reactions and grossly unethical in their ongoing resistance to recognizing the failure of those reactions. What is the old saying? "First, do no harm..."
"Unlike the US, Sweden does not recommend the vaccine for 5-11 year-olds. "
The CDC panel that voted to approve the EUA for children in the US even stated clearly that their approval should not be taken as an endorsement of mandates or even strong recommendaiton for use in children, rather that it was to make it available to those at risk
Exactly. I've seen people claim that this is obviously safe because it's been given to 1+ billion people. That may be true, but sheer quantity does nothing to answer questions of time.
"We've had the measles around for over a thousand years- give us a minute to figure this virus out."
Sure, but that would mean give people a minute to accept new treatments, etc. as well, no? And it also suggests that the experts should show a little bit of humility and less abject certainty while they figure it out.
HCQ. Perfectly safe, decades long FDA approved and used daily around the world for RA, Lupus, Malaria, Lyme, other vector borne infections ….rxd by GPs, Rheumatologists and ID Doctors with no objection until Covid emerged….. so, there should be an evidence based study before HCQ can be used but it’s okay to repeatedly inject healthy people with a vaccine that does not have full FDA approval and has reported side effects such as cardio myopathy, blood clots (me) and Bell’s Palsy for starters?? Too much dismissal of opposing science and outright rejection of disturbing anecdotal evidence . IMO.
Yup, does make one wonder when HCQ and Amoxicillin are very $ low cost. I just returned from Mexico with a supply of HCQ and abx manufactured in Mexico and supplied to US Pharma…and I bought it OTC at the nearest Pharmacia….and dosing guidelines are on line through many “respected” medical associations.
But here’s the weird thing with that. There’s virtually no treatments that have peer reviewed studies showing proven efficacy. Yet, some treatments are still accepted as OK to try (Z-packs for instance) while others (ivermectin being the most obvious) are not. Just strange and hard to conclude this is solely about “the science.”
But they are - 70+ studies, in the case of IVM. The opposition is almost purely political.
Footnote: the FLCCC now has found that ivermectin is less effective on Omicron, which developed in its presence (in Africa), and added other medicines to their cocktail.
The right to spend time "figuring this virus out" was squandered by a bunch of inept, corrupt, power-hungry politicians and "public health experts". The public should have been skeptical from the beginning, but not nearly enough of us were. You can spend all the time you want "figuring it out", but none of us owe you a minute, or even a second to do it. In the meantime, no more public policies, no more mandates, and definitely don't mandate vaccines on kids at no risk so you can profess to be doing something.
Didn't we have a longstanding government sector headed by the finest minds, specialists in the field, heading up a department with $$$$$ with its sole mission to protect us from this very danger? In fact, they are really just a bunch of egos who created the disaster and whose specialty it turns out is covering up their monstrous mistake by any means. It is incomprehensible to anyone with any sense that they wouldn't have been prepared to "get to the bottom of it." In fact, their very purpose was to PREVENT this. Less than a waste.
Today according to a Johns Hopkins report, the lock downs were ineffective. And if you consider all of the elderly who were basically jailed to die alone without final contact with family or friends, it truly is despicable.
Seriously. The media should never be trusted again.
Corporate media now includes the evil empires of Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. It's being reported that truckers organizing a trip to DC 'a la the Canadians have been removed from social media. Information today is not just what reporters report and publishers publish. This social media was supposed to give us voice? The infomasters today remove voices they don't approve of, and if you are not somebody powerful, you're just a goner.
In 1979 I was in London in Hyde Park and went to Speaker's' Corner, as probably many tourists do. That day somebody was speaking on the rights of Palestinians. He was carrying on, people were standing around listening. All these years later I don't remember much except --- I remember his topic and passion, and it appeared we were all there for speech. Is there any such thing as a digital Speaker's Corner? If the Listeners don't approve, not only are you silenced that day, you are "de-voiced" by the Social Giants. Very intimidating.
Okay, fine, it is a novel virus and they are responding as they go along, constantly learning new things in the process. So why come down hard on anyone and everyone that challenges the narrative de jur, even in the most casual and non-threatening way?
Could it be that the virus, the pandemic, the masks, the lockdowns, the mandates, the punishments for the "hesitant," the conflation of "died OF covid" with "died WITH covid," the threats of internment camps, the lack of accurate data on covid infections within various age groups, and the growing intolerance for rational discussion -- that all this was done intentionally for some larger purpose known only to Bill Gates and similarly wise billionaire planners? Or this just more conspiracy theorizing by some who should shut up and do as they're told?
Help me understand something. According to data at cdc.gov, twice as many kids age 0-17 years, have died from pneumonia as have died from COVID-19 during the 2020-2022 period. Pneumonia was identified over 140-years ago. We know how to prevent, mitigate and treat pneumonia. Why are more kids dying from pneumonia than a novel coronavirus?
Actually I have used the word 'from', it in fact should be involved. These are deaths that "involve" COVID-19 and pneumonia. Sorry for the poor wording.
I haven't studied this but want to note that we now have highly effective vaccines against invasive bacteria seen in babies & toddlers. If our healthcare system is incapable of doing two things at once, routine vaccinations for babies and toddlers may have fallen off. If that were the case you would have expected our public health leaders to have addressed this deficiency. So it couldn't be our system has failed these babies and toddlers?
They have been working on mRNA vaccines for years. They already had the technology and were focused on possible application. It's an amazing achievement that has been decades in the making. Here is a good explainer: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-long-history-of-mrna-vaccines
I don't speak for anyone, but it seems kind of obvious to me that Covid strain specific vaccines would be a bit useless. By the time you would have one vax developed and produced, another variant would have already come along and replaced it.
What they are probably trying to do is make a universal vaccine like they are working on for the Flu.
So Fauci's aim is to guide us all into mRNA land in the future. We all know that traditional vaccines of attenuated viruses, though slower to scale and more costly, are much more effective than these new viral particle type vaccines, and certainly these mRNA "vaccines." No Thanks
Yeah they had that first vaccine ready after days, but couldn't quite manage to get anything out for Delta and it's taking months for Omi. Super weird.
I love the fact that Trump was obviously lying about it being ready by the end of 2020, but 6 days after the election, it was 3 weeks into a 6 week waiting period for the EUA.
Without Trump, there would be no mandates because the left would reflexively revolt against them. By waiting until after the election, Big Pharma got their boy into the big chair.
I never bought the media narratives of how bad Trump was, but it's amazing how good he was in hindsight. The rantings he had against the deep state and media have obviously been proven correct in his absence.
Not surprising you’ve embarrassed yourself so badly here. We didn’t find out anything “new” about masks. Most of the studies are pre covid and all showed the same thing. Fauci simply lied about them repeatedly depending on what he wanted people to do. PCR tests were deemed inappropriate for clinical diagnosis by their inventor. We knew lockdowns were failures from the start. Like most healthcare workers today, you’re either ignorant or a liar. I’m spending this year eliminating most of my prescription medications. You’re just salespeople.
I would agree, but for a new virus that is yet to be fully figured out, the draconian measures, arcane media involvement , politics and endless didactics has created warranted skepticism in many. And now, without full FDA approval, four month old infants should receive this series of shots and boosters? That seems downright reckless to me…leaving me to ask, what are we NOT being told? “ Better safe than sorry” works both ways.
Reckless? That seems rather understated. How about criminal? Given the stats on how mild COVID is for the vast preponderance of children (ten and under), parents who vaccinate their kids must be utterly hypnotized by the narrative.
You’re right and at 70, I truly do not understand this blind acceptance … “ According to the CDC…” ..and as a DES baby, don’t get me started on the FDA ….
yeah- I think every parent has to make the decision for themselves. And I do not begrudge them that at all. My kids all have the vax- but they are teenagers. If I had a baby, I might wait a bit. But it's so hard because I wouldn't want the virus in their bodies either. Some viruses get in us and stay for decades, wreaking havoc.
I just freaking hate Covid. It's made my job super hard and I get yelled at all the time and I irrationally loathe freaking Wuhan, which is probably a lovely place.
The FDA is being asked to approve a 2 dose vaccine for 2-5 year olds that even the manufacturer admits is ineffective! They’re “hoping” 3 doses will do it but are asking for approval for 2. That’s insane.
My adopted daughter is from Wuhan and I've been there many times. It is indeed by and large a lovely place. We were there just before the outbreak. She worries about her foster mother, who is in her eighties.
Fauci here says PCR tests can't determine if you're sick. Of course, he also said this in July 2020 but nobody wanted to mention that until it was politically convenient (in this case to change testing rules)
I'm not sure what percentage of censorship belongs to stupidity, party loyalty, evil, ineptness, and subservience, but the last 2 years have been terrible for Freedom of Speech. Without Freedom of Speech, all of our rights are severely diminished. The Republicans are crooks, warmongers, and plenty of other bad things, but one party has attempted to crush dissent the last two years, while the other has at least tried to allow an honest discussion.
In hindsight, nearly all of the "misinformation" that has been censored has turned out to be true. Rather than admit it, they want to censor harder. It's only being done by private companies that have their own special liability protections written into law.
That's why TPTB are cracking down on internet platforms that allow dissenting voices to be heard (e.g. Spotify, Parler). They don't want any facts that could disprove their official narrative.
"In hindsight, nearly all of the "misinformation" that has been censored has turned out to be true." Now that you acknowledge this point, you might want to reconsider your thoughts about Republicans.
I am a Paulista-Ron and Rand-but beneath the libertarian philosophy, they are both like Mr. Smith gone to Washington-flailing in shocked horror at the machine. They play the game straight-and get mocked for it.
Just curious, whats your estimation that Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Roy Blunt, John Barrasso etc will step up to the plate and call a spade a spade? Are the ones I've listed Mitt Romneys?
This goes beyond mere party affiliation. Although it is true that in this case, the Democratic Party and their "liberal" adherents have been the biggest pushers of censorship and mandates. But conservatives are now joined by what might be called the true left (Jimmy Dore, Max Blumenthal,, The Convo Couch, Glenn Greenwald, Matt, Ben Norton, Kim Iversen, Whitney Webb, Hard Lens Media, Chris Hedges, etc.) in rejecting the official lies.
The political left is a cancer. For all the faults of the right, the intentions at least seem fairly genuine. The party of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation are the ones out there decrying that Republicans want black people back in chains, and want to suppress their votes.
of course, the first amendment prevents them from doing it themselves. going through private companies rids them of that pesky constitutional amendment.
Is it the Orwell or the Huxley dystopia toward which we're currently careening? Or a delightful melange of both? The incuriosity and credulity of our media establishment, as well as that of the bulk and majority of our elected officials, is anathema to our Country, and it now falls to the Taibbi's and Orfalea's to elucidate, not only the issues, but what our so-called elite are doing or not doing relative to them.
It also falls to the individual citizen to seek out a diversity of perspectives and sources of information to remain informed. Historically, people have demonstrated their tendencies toward laziness and uninterest in current events or, at least, investing much time and effort to ferret out the details, instead relying on the corporate media to spoon feed them the relevant facts. Regrettably, as Matt pointed out in his magnificent article titled "The American Press is Destroying Itself," the corporate media is far more interested in partisanship and fostering a narrative than informing their customers.
So, the days of citizens sitting on our keisters and being credulous about the information the MSM crams down our throats are over, and I am immeasurably grateful to Matt and his peers for their exceptional and tireless service, and I am likewise grateful to Substack for giving them a forum to help inform the American people.
"The concept of telling the public you’re this certain of something when you quite obviously are not is at least somewhat new, both in politics and in media."
As usual Matt will make the case for some type of institutional breakdowns in media and/or government agencies. When it is patently obvious the narratives were managed from above across the western democracies. By whom and to what ends are the questions we should be asking. The evidence of manufacture of the virus is scientifically indisputable, the markers were left in place. The actual question is, unintentional leak, or intentional?
And the idiots in government and media who confidently assert that “ we must be granted access to the Wuhan lab to determine what happened”… there’s some steroidal naïveté and or stupidity….
I do not know how to vote but I think on this issue alone Chinese Olympic Games starting this week have to be boycotted. No one can be sure if we will get something else after all the athletes come back to their home countries.
Notice that when the MSM screams MISINFORMATION about Rogan's two podcasts, they never say exactly what the MISINFORMATION was. Because the Wuhan lab leak was misinformation except to anyone using their brain could pretty well surmise that it didn't come from the wet market next door but through the door of the lab.
My frustration has mounted over the last few years with what is termed the “mainstream media” that I relied on for years as somewhat objective and responsible media outlets. These publications cost real money. They deliver no value. They are not investigative. They are mouthpieces for our government (first the deep state trying to unseat Trump and now the besieged collection of Biden administration incompetents). So I stopped donating to NPR, which was once a permanent soundtrack to my life but now sounds like an interminable Bolshevik infomercial that is worse than the pledge drive. Then I unsubscribed to The NY Times, when they hired a clearly racist person to their editorial board to signal maximum wokeness (was it Sarah Jeong? Seems so long ago). Then ditched the Economist, that venerable rag, when it published that Joe Rogan was taking horse dewormer. And this week I finally discarded the WSJ after an article again attacking Joe Rogan. I estimate I have saved over $1000 annually. My feeling is that journalistic credibility, once lost, will never return. So I have vowed never to subscribe to these publications again. We will see…
Why would late night comedians engage in such dreadful and obvious partisanship? It is nightmarish to see the consistency of their droning. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel must be in some network purgatory, telling these sad, rancid, mean jokes.
The lab leak debacle is horrific. I cannot imagine why investigative journalists wouldn’t pursue this story to the fullest. This is one of the largest questions needing an answer right now. The way this has been handled demonstrates that these outlets have lost sight of their essential mission. And over time I have sought sources that searched more vigorously for truth and allowed for better, fuller exchange of ideas. Substack, Matt Taibi, Glenn Greenwald, Bari Weiss, Brett Weinstein. The forum that brought these voices to me amid the dearth of true exchange has been the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
People deserve so much better than this. I am firmly committed to providing some portion of my financial resources to media that works. This is not a fight that we can afford to lose.
I used to read NYT, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, but quit in 2015. Even if a small portion of it is good, they’ve lost me. I’d rather read freaking Brietbart given the choice.
When I was a public official Mother Jones trashed me. My household was a subscriber so I wrote the publisher. I told her that no one from her magazine made any attempt to talk with me before condemning me to infamy. I was informed by return post that all of their articles are of unblemished quality. She didn't choose to address whether or not anyone tried to speak to me. Nothing like a kick in the groin to open your eyes.
"I cannot imagine why investigative journalists wouldn’t pursue this story to the fullest. This is one of the largest questions needing an answer right now."
Like you, I have also severed any and all relationships to the legacy media, and like you I am also perplexed and infuriated about our journalist class abdicating its duty en masse, and instead suddenly deciding to parrot a Big Lie in unison.
As I am not a conspiracist, my only guess is that the intense social pressure for anyone on the left (which basically includes anyone not explicitly a conservative) to be a loyal unquestioning member of The Resistance (TM), plus the enforcement mechanism of social media (the crowd-sourced panopticon and lynch mob in your pocket) has made it just too dangerous and difficult for most people to dissent in the slightest.
One misplaced tweet, one uncomfortable question, one quote taken out of context on Twitter, and you could go to bed rich and famous and wake up a social pariah with all your perks taken away never to return. (I think this is also why there has been a mass viral outbreak of cowardice among college admins, publishing and other cultural execs, etc)
Maybe someone like Jon Stewart has the cash and cachet to dissent (he is probably uncancellable), but for most everyone else, going along with the mob is the safe move.
Rogan can, and should. He has a bigger bully pulpit than our feckless leader. The more he pisses of the mainstream media, the more following he will glean.
There are also a significant number actually on the left who dissent - for one thing, we've always been suspicious of Big Pharma; this shit is just about what we'd expect. The sudden outbreak of gullibility is probably the result of panic.
If you want to keep a toe in the cesspool, the NYT will send you a newsletter six days per week for free. I continue to enjoy reading biased, poorly sourced items followed by a plea that I subscribe. They just don't get how bad they are as a source of information. They honestly think that they're enticing me with the rubbish they produce. I know it's wicked but I can't help myself. The 4th Estate is dead. Long live Substack.
It's your time, but I don't see the point. Would I learn anything? Its not like it costs the NYT anything to include another email address on a broadcast spam.
If you are mainstream msm or an “elite” and wrong , double down or memory hole that info and blame Randos on Facebook or Joe Rogan. Apply , rinse, repeat.
"27 scientists in The Lancet put it this way in mid-2020: 'We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.'”
Did you also know that that letter was secretly coordinated by Peter Daszak, a major proponent of gain-of-function research, close friend and colleague of “bat lady” Zhengli, and the guy responsible for funnelling US funds to the Wuhan lab?
Well, we know it is illegal to do gain-of-function research in America. We know Anthony Fauci funneled money through EcoHealth to pay for research in China on the Corona Virus, where it is not illegal to do gain-of-function research. We know that the first cases of SARS CoV-2 were literally in the neighborhood.
We also know that Fauci intervened with political pressure and research funding to prevent well known researchers from saying the virus was tinkered with. We know that Fauci conspired to ruin doctors questioning lockdowns. We know he conspired with the FDA and CDC to eliminate any off-label treatments for Covid. We know that the FDA and Phizer have colluded to keep the trial data from the public. We know the trials were flawed in significant ways.
We know researchers have been tinkering with the virus for decades. We know that technocrats were playing roll games for a Covid outbreak before the pandemic. We know that Big Pharma presented a very leaky but super profitable vaccine almost immediately. We know mandates guarantee those profits, and make life much more difficult for people who are anti-authoritarian.
But to say any of this through the major media would get you fired, tarred (misinformation) and feathered (anti-vaxxer!).
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. Yeah, like any war, it will remain opaque forever. Facts is, messing with viruses like that, sooner or later, accidents happen, and men figure out how to manipulate them for their own ends.
As a new first time Grandma to the *cutest baby ever*, I have officially lost my sense of humor. Pfizer now seeking FDA approval for Emergency Use of the covid vaccine on babies over 4 months old!!! Operative Word: Emergency …. There is NO EMERGENCY in children. NONE. So the origin, transmission, cases, severity, etc every aspect of this “pandemic” has been politicized and fueled by a maniacal media …and now, parents will be guilted and shamed into jabbing their babies. “ The Matt’s” continue to expose the endless deceit and yet, here we go again….This is madness!! Something really really needs to give ..STAT.
You obviously are missing the point that the vaccine (and potential side effects) will reduce that 4 month old's risk from Covid to about .0004% - or about the same as they would be without the vaccine.
I remember taking my two young boys waaaaay down mountain trails to fish small streams.
At the time, (laws have since changed) it was illegal to carry a firearm on these state gamelands. I always carried a .44 magnum with me, just in case we ran into an aggressive bear. I just couldn't fathom coming home with only one child and telling my wife "well, a bear got Jr., but at least I was obeying the law." So, regardless of what the authorities say.... I BLAME THE PARENTS.
Be on the lookout for a childcare mandate from Nanny. You are right on with the "madness" of this. Pfizer is hoping to get approval for the kids > 2 on the basis that a third shot just might help produce some immunity! We may need to consider developing an underground network of childcare so parents won't have to choose between needlessly shooting up their baby or returning to work. I for one envy new grandparents!
I remember when Jon Stewart appeared on the Stephen Colbert show back in June, 2021 and dared to suggest that Sars Covi2 came from a lab. "We owe a debt of gratitude to science. Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science". Of course, Colbert feigned shock and concern that his friend would make such a suggestion, but I'm sure the exchange was set up in advance. After all, the establishment left is all about signaling. They can't broach an idea without someone else's say-so. And what better person to convey that it was now okay to entertain the idea of a lab leak than Jon Stewart.
That's an interesting question. For what it's worth, Rogan has said on many occasions that he did not think it was set up in advance because Colbert kept stepping all over it. His take, as a professional comedian, was there's no way Colbert would have kept interrupting the flow of Stewart's bit if this had been pre-planned. Throwing off people's train of thought and timing is basically the cardinal sin among comedians. Found that to be an interesting perspective.
PS: Always remember – Biden was the governor of Ukraine after Obama’s successful coup in Ukraine in 2014; Biden was selecting and removing heads of industry and Ukraine’s puppet government, dismissing the federal judge investigating Burisma – a judge that State Dept. lauded for integrity only weeks before… The immense corruption of Biden family still needs to be investigated – Hunter’s Burisma was used to ‘wash” US dirty money. Thanks heavens that recent “colored revolution” coups in Belarus and Kazakhstan were not successful.
WHO will be the first current or former Democrat Congresswoman/man or Senator to publicly acknowledge and confirm the brazen scam of the century – DNC’s + CIA/FBI security complex (St. Obama/Biden/Hillary/Pelosi/Schumer, Jammie Raskin, etc. + Brennan, Clapper, Hayden, etc.) Russia-gate hoax and subsequent conspiracies, including 1/6 “armed insurrection”?
War party is currently in power and war-monger vampires must be stopped. Military-industrial complex must be defunded – US main “products” and exports are now weapons, coups and immense and all-encompassing corruption.
China is far more capitalist than the US, Russia has not been Communist for 30+ years, while the US is a corporate socialism (a more polite term for -- fascism)
I’ve thought it was a bioweapon from Day 1 with a psyop response to make $$ and concentrate technocratic power. Call it a conspiracy theory, but it makes more sense than Coincidence Theory.
100% agree in nearly all cases, but it’s too much incompetence and is serving the corporatist agenda just a little too perfectly. Not acknowledging natural immunity, suppressing and demonizing cheap early treatment, shuttering small biz while allowing big business to operate and on and on seems intentional, not blundering
Gotcha. Absolutely that could be incompetence or just intentionally poor lab safety protocols to create plausible deniability. “Ah shucks. The Wuhan lab should have done a better job with safety. So sorry. We’ll do better next time.” Obviously, I can’t prove anything, but I’m highly, highly suspicious and I never want this to happen again.
Beyond ass-coverage: these are, presumably, mostly sincere people whose life’s work has been to prevent exactly what they have now unleashed. I’d say at least some of them are literally unable to admit the truth, or even its possibility, to themselves.
"The crucial problem shown in this reel is the complete absence of humility about the possibility of error."
They didn't make an error. For those who aren't anything more than paid copyreaders, they intended to lie.
Elites think the hoi-polloi masses need to be managed. They see nothing wrong with feeding them lies that serve their ends..
They feed people lies because it’s effective. Tell people what they want to hear, and do it over and over. Not two days ago, my well-educated, Fauci-lovin’ sister told me very solemnly that the virus definitely came from a wet market.
The people don't trust public health officials because public health officials don't trust the people. They decide how they want to people to act, and then they decide what to tell them to create the desired action. Truth and trust are irrelevant.
The CDC has been even worse in the past six months with at least three active major lies they've perpetuated in that time frame. One of their web pages states that kids aren't actually at lower risk of hospitalization above a data table that clearly shows they are, and the false statement is referenced and linked to by dozens of MSM news stories. But when your goal is vaccinating kids whether or not they need it, the end justifies the means.
Not that I agree they should be managed, but truth be told, the mass of the American public are profoundly stupid, as evidenced by our election results for the last sixty years.
Who in the world are "Elites?" What are their names? What do they look like? Tossing around terms like "Elites" is precisely the sort of sloppy thinking that Matt's been railing against all these years. Perhaps, just for a moment, could we discard all the fulminating emotions and political invective and talk about clarity of thought?
Schwab, fauci, weingarten, wolenski, Biden, Zuckerberg,zucker, Pichai, Murdoch, gates , bezos the Davos gang, Frazer, Schwarzman , Cook, Agrawal. They look like people. You know the folks who run stuff that sign the paychecks for the people who shape and influence society at scale. That’s who I would classify as “elite”.
nice start to a hit list. the world should be made into a very dangerous place for these.
'Members of the World Economic Forum, the CCP, EU and DC Bureaucrats, Career Politicians, Internet and Banking multi-billionaires, Academics quoted in Legacy Media' is unwieldy. I prefer 'Elites'.
The problem with shorthand designations is that we soon forget exactly to whom those designations are referring. "Elites" quickly becomes a rallying cry, and not a description at all.
My point is about clarity of thought - which is something that we don't get much of these days, and which Matt (it seems to me) has been fighting against for years.
I'm extremely concerned with the ecomomic changes in the American economy over the past several decades. Billionaires wield so much economic power in this country today that they have the potential to be an existential threat to our society.
Need an example? Look up the "Carried Interest" tax loophole, which benefits just a tiny number of Americans. Progressives have been trying to abolish it for years, but without success. I suppose we could call these people "Elites," but it seems to me far more accurate to call them what they are: billionaires.
There's really no justification for a tax system which doesn't have a 90% marginal tax rate on incomes over $10,000,000 annually, just as there's no reason to have caps on Social Security and Medicare taxes. But just try getting that through Congress.
Or, as Mafia associate told me in my prosecuting days, "Kid, money talks and bullshit walks."
Read up on the WHO's involvement in this debacle; read about how they stifled anything that ran counter to their supported group think. Read about how they used their far reaching power to sideline, prevent and otherwise completely shut off any alternative treatments for COVID other than those proposed by the pharmaceutical companies.
They should be elite enough for you.
I simply don't know enough about worldwide public health programs to judges, and you probably don't, either.
Or, you could read about it, same as I did. This stuff is out there, you just have to find it.
You certainly don’t if you won’t try.
The ultimate decision makers, Bill Gates, Mark Zuccerberg, Jeff Bezos, Nancy Pelosi, Biden. You really don't need to vote because you're too stupid to know what's good for you:
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications (Biden's FREE advertisers) whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years… (censorship)
…It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government.
The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination, VOTING, practiced in past centuries.”
David Rockefeller
Bilderberg Group - Occult World
Bilderberg-group
The prestigious and influential secret society known as the Bilderbergers has a membership composed of six hundred very wealthy and very powerful individuals, drawn from the highest executive levels of international business, politics, education, finance, and the media.
"Bilderberg Group - Occult World?" Say what?
Exactly.
Then why didn't you list those names rather than using a vague and inflammatory term such as "The Elites?" I'm too stupid? Well, one thing I learned in fortysome years of the practice of law is that when someone resorts to insults and ad hominem arguments, it really means they're responding out of a deep sense of inferiority.
One final thing: those are extremely inflammatory claims you're making - do you have any factual support (other than vague and unintelligible Facebook and Twitter postings) for them, or are "stupid" persons such as myself expected to accept meekly your ravings?
The ultimate decision makers, Bill Gates, Mark Zuccerberg, Jeff Bezos, Nancy Pelosi, Biden.
SEARCH: Bilderberg-group
What inflammatory claims have I made? Do you really think Congress is reflecting the concerns of the General Public? Look at the polls then look at what Congressmen are running on.
Don't accept it!
You don't like "elites"? How about "professional managerial class" instead?
The PMC are not elite. White collar, yes. They legitimize the top classes.
Matt recently interviewed Martin Gurri, author of "The Revolt of the Public". Elite is who they are revolting against, and the word is mentioned 12 times in the interview. Read and learn. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/interview-with-martin-gurri-a-short
The lie is the lab-leak bullshit. It's weird how when it suits people who otherwise hate Fauci, they love what he says when it agrees with something they like on principle. This got resuscitated by Biden because it helps him get people on board with his "let's destroy China!" crap.
Yeah, dumbass, you have been conned by THAT guy. Deal with it.
Of course you are right! It is just pure coincidence that Wuhan is a city that just happens to have a Biosafety level 4 lab that had a history of security problems and which just happened to be doing gain of function research on corona viruses that was partially funded by Fauci´s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases! Like you, I´m going with the The Bats Did It theory.
Glad we are funding bio weapons. With our chief international enemy. Where is the robust discussion on that??
I know, right? We outsourced so much of our knowledge, production, and research to anyone who promised to do it cheap. Then we're shocked, shocked it came back to bite us in the ass. I'm sick to death (so to speak) of outsourcing; all that work should be brought back home.
Consider that we may have outsourced work to any number of sloppy labs on any number of pathogens. If the Wuhan lab is the source, it could be the tip of an ugly iceberg. You needn't be a conspiracy nut to worry about the next pandemic.
Absolutely this, Cold Turkey. We should never have outsourced this work; it's so dangerous that it should all be done by our own people in domestic, state-of-the-art biocontainment centers. Anyone who thought it would be good to let the Chinese--or anyone else--in on the action is insane.
Absolutely right!!
Great article here by Paul Thacker (whom Matt interviewed this week) on this exact issue. Daszak & Fauci have been caught in their own lies:
https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/leaked-department-of-defense-documents
LOL,, and let's not forget the famous Lancet letter that was signed by scientists on the direction of Peter Daszak from Eco Health which was awarded $$ by NIH (Fauci) to give to the Wuhan Lab to study...wait for it....gain of function in coronovirus.
Ecohealth is Peter DASZAK. But yes, otherwise correct. In fact, they concealed Daszak's role in the letter, since too many people knew of his conflict of interest. Including the editors at Lancet, who later had to print a disclaimer.
The question is did DASZAK know STRZOK? And did they have an affair?
Daszak, is a conservation biologist, head of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research group based in New York City that aims to prevent new infectious diseases from emerging.
The grant did not go to China, but to EcoHealth. NIH just renewed the award; $3.7 million over 5 years to find and study bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV, (SARS), which nearly triggered a pandemic in 2003. During the first 5 years of the grant, EcoHealth sent roughly 16% of the funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Why? Because that's where the viruses live. In China and SE Asia. China has state of the art facilities.
Daszak warned about the risk of a coronavirus pandemic for more than 15 years. He's THE GUY in this science.
2004, Chinese researcher Shi Zhengli, a virologist at WIV asked for Daszak's help finding Nipah virus in China. They didn’t find Nipah but stumbled on coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV, leading to a widely cited Science paper that first tied bats to SARS.
Daszak decided to organize a statement of support for colleagues in China, which The Lancet published a few weeks later. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” 27 signatories from nine countries.
The letter was a statement of support, NOT a scientific study, and the link was never intentionally concealed. The link was obvious from the many papers Daszak and Shi co-authored. Daszak wanted to show support for scientists who have been threatened because of the idea that they’d designed, bioengineered, and released a weaponized virus. That was the conspiracy theory at the time and that clearly has been shown to be false.
This letter of support was signed by more than 20,000 people.
Many scientists criticized NIH for cutting a grant that peer reviewers deemed a high priority; 77 Nobel laureates wrote a letter in protest. NIH offered to reinstate the grant 5 months later, but attached conditions that EcoHealth said it can’t possibly meet.
Yes, thank you. Not sure why i put down Strock.
Yes. We need that in order to understand these viruses. You want to stick your head in the sand. Nooooooooooooooooo!! Don't look! Not there!!!! It might be dangerous in there!!!
We all know what Gain of Function is for. In 2014 under the Obama Admin Federally funded GOF research was put on pause to assess risk specifically the threat of accidental lab release or bioterror threats. So then in 2017 that pause was lifted by the NIH (Fauci). Kinda of a sneaky move in my opinion taking advantage of a new Administration. Then when the pandemic hit in 2020 Fauci goes on record claiming he was not involved in GOF. You can't make this shit up. So before you decide to get all sanctimonious you might want to consider context.
Assuming you're defending gain-of-function research (and your own career?), yes, it certainly IS dangerous in there - as we just discovered.
We have plenty of dangerous diseases; we don't need more.
Barry, most of us that read Matt are the choir. I love to sing, but no one hears me. Singing in the shower or forest is not satisfying. Do we form a choral group and roam the halls of congress and sing what they prefer not to hear?
Got any ideas that move us down the field? I know I'm mixing metaphors but most of have read enough and fed-up enough but not sure the action that should be taken.
Clearly voting has been a farce…. I agree with you.,it’s just nice to have a forum where common sense is still matters.
The possibility of moving us down the field is long gone. The polar opposites are running the entire offense in their respective ideological veins. They control all the mechanisms of mass communication, and can easily silence those who wish to look at issues critically, devoid of any hint of partisan hype.
Anyone who desires a place from which to discuss something with logic and reason would be better off finding and buying some isolated property. They should then move to that property and retreat fully from the world.
It's the reason I found my own isolated retreat deep in a national forest, where only a scattering of people live. I've merely a few more years of work to snag my second retirement (hopefully the republic lasts that long) before I ensconce myself within my barned wire sanctuary. You should do the same.
Not possible with the deck of cards I'm playing with to go remote. Hopefully will find enough like-minded people to weather the storm that's coming.
Not sure what the epitaph will be.
This darn machine won't allow me to "like" and you deserve a like. Too bad there's no online betting available on this. I think it fair to say that neither of us would bet on the bats.
you are absolutely right! Where´s the 1000 dollar betting window!?
It was wonky today… delayed. I experienced the same thing.
If this came from their biosecurity level 4 lab, then the release was intentional.
The problem was that they were studying bat coronavirus, potentially dangerous pathogens to begin with, in a biosecurity level 2 lab, hence the leak. Not merely studying, but doing gain-of-function experiments, as shown by the funding trail back to Fauci's pot of money and the coding for one of the amino acids in the spike protein of the original SarsCov-2 virus is that found in the human genome but found in no wild coronavirus.
For a couple reasons, I would suspect unintentional Primarily, I'll observe that working in a level 4 lab is onerous, all that care and caution takes up valuable time. We'll never know but once online betting is permitted, I'm betting on sloppy as opposed to nefarious.
You are using China as a straw man. The lab leak theory is not only plausible, but highly probable, given the evidence that has been obtained. You can make it about geopolitics all you want but it doesn’t, and won’t, change the facts.
The lab leak idea is plausible like Elon Musk is a lizard overlord is plausible. There is no evidence of it. Sequences are it. Period.
Dr. Fauci - is that you?
Please, call me Dr. Science, my son. :-)
According to Bayes, the first COVID-19 cases popping up right next to the Wuhan Institute for Virology is evidence for WIV being the source.
Another piece of evidence is the fact that WIV was researching these types of virus. China covering its tracks and hiding the lab records is also compatible with guilt. Where is the evidence supporting natural origin?
Here's a post I wrote on R0 and how completely misleading it is. Real disease transmission works nothing like the cute R0 picture. It helps to understand how it really spreads.
https://brianhanley.medium.com/r0-basic-reproduction-number-for-a-disease-is-a-fiction-it-does-not-exist-2b389a0478a8
Where is the evidence? All the sequences for collected viruses are the evidence. Nothing at the WIV matches the viruses collected from humans. Unless the sequencing matches well enough, the lab leak theory is impossible. Plus, there is a case identified from November 17 of 2019 that was a long way away in Hubei province. That may be as close to "patient zero" as we can get. But in the real world of mutating viruses, there isn't really any "patient zero". There is an initial crossover event, and then there is mutation in humans until you get a jump in contagion like we have seen with Delta and Omicron.
How a virus breaks out depends on conditions, and the way the virus mutates. The Wuhan market was probably the first big super-spreader event. In the SARS1 epidemic there were individual people who spread SARS to over 100 others.
https://www.sciencealert.com/chinese-cdc-now-says-the-wuhan-wet-market-was-the-site-of-a-super-spreader-event
If it’s absolutely not a lab leak, then why all the global obfuscation? Why all the deflecting and politicalization? Why all the draconian measures? Why not just tell the effing truth? Explain “ sequences, Dr. Fauci”…. Elon Musk is not a lizard overlord and we are not Golden Retrievers…. We can handle the truth and who are “They” do decide that…..
A slew of epidemiologists and virologists disagree with you, Brian. The fact is -you have to admit this - we don’t know.
I am old enough to remember Fauci’s lies about AIDS being the next scourge thst would sweep through the hetero population - because he felt that research money wouldn’t be forthcoming for a “gay disease”.
His comment that he is science really says it all about his thinking. It’s all about HIM. He tells what he thinks are noble lies and does so intentionally. This time, he’s actually even admitted it pretty early - the stuff about how masks didn’t work (so he can save them for people he felt needed them most), his moving target of what constitutes herd immunity.
His behavior in the Senate is particularly egregious and itself worthy of firing - I’ve never seen a government employee, subject to congressional oversight, so abjectly disrespectful even under tough questioning. But it speaks to his self image as beyond reproach and the ultimate authority.
I dislike him whatever he says - whether he lies or tells the truth, whether I agree or disagree with him.
He is clearly both a prima donna as well as a partisan. He has no business being in the position he’s in.
Looking at your posts further down the thread, I find it odd that you deny the lab release theory based on lack of evidence but accept the wet market theory which is equally devoid of evidence.
Makes it almost seem that you aren't as objectively based as you purport and certainly puts the basis of your articles in your posted links in question.
Perhaps your need to shut THAT guy down compromised your objectivity?
The wet market theory holds water because the first cluster of cases had that market in common. The sequences of viruses from those cases match, and became the basis of identifying COIVD-19. The wet market fits the expectations of a super-spreader event. What was not found at the wet market is food animals that were contaminated with the virus.
And yet, despite the Chinese government literally sampling tens of thousands of bats in every wet market in China and looking for a natural origin, a find that they have every incentive to find to absolve them and their research lab, they and others have not found anything. But we DO have internal emails and even published papers documenting that gain-of-function research was occurring where these corona virus were being manipulated to infect human lung epithelial cells. Now whose being naive?
I think you might be if you think you’re arguing with an organic post. Sorry.
From the Epoch Times:
On Sept. 12, 2019, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s database of viral sequences was taken offline. The deleted database, which has never been publicly recovered, contained more than 22,000 unpublished samples and sequences of bat and rodent viruses.
Notably, the database contains crucial data and may hold the key to determining whether the lab in Wuhan, China, had COVID-19 or a progenitor virus in its possession.
The importance of having access to virus sequence data was illustrated earlier this year, when sequences from early COVID-19 cases were recovered from another dataset that had been deleted in June 2020 from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) database at the behest of a Chinese researcher. That data confirmed that the pandemic didn’t start at the Huanan Seafood Market as Chinese authorities had claimed.
In February, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent an investigative team to Wuhan. The team’s report states that as part of their analysis they “reviewed data collected through the China National Centre for Bioinformation integrated database on all available coronaviruses sequences.”
But the team failed to request an examination of the database of viruses collected, maintained, and later deleted by the WIV. The WHO’s failure to pursue what could have been its most promising investigative lead is notable as the Wuhan Institute of Virology is widely regarded as perhaps the most likely source of a viral lab leak.
he Harvard study appears to have been validated through the observations of the U.S. consul general in Wuhan, Russell Westergard, who is on record as stating that by mid-October 2019, the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan “knew that the city had been struck by what was thought to be an unusually vicious flu season.”
Westergard would later note that “the disease worsened in November.”
Westergard also stated that when Wuhan city officials began to close public schools in mid-December 2019 to control the spread of the disease, his team passed the information to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing while they continued to monitor the situation.
Around the same time that Westergard was raising his warnings, likely at some point in early November 2019, three WIV lab workers were reportedly hospitalized with COVID-like symptoms.
More than likely COVID was around back in 2019 and of course China hid it all. Here's the link if you want to read it in it's entirety
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/who-failed-to-investigate-deleted-virology-database-and-evidence-indicating-earlier-start-of-pandemic_3999742.html?utm_source=appan2028170?v=ul
A significant number of the early cases hadn’t been near the market. There were no bats or pangolins at that market (but plenty at WIV). In May 2020 China said the outbreak did not come from the market. How does it “hold water”?
All that demonstrates is that the wet market is a possible source. Seems like the nearby lab, which works with the very thing that caused the pandemic, would fit the bill also. Seems like too many people ant to believe one or the other (dismissing one as bullshit) based not on evidence, but on politics.
And that's how they know it was engineered!
Does it ever occur to you that you were told it was the wet market? BTW, China has literally thousands of wet markets all with bats, and you are just taking on faith that it was this one, and only one, wet market that just happened to be a few blocks from the only research lab in China where bat viruses are manipulated? Good grief man, how incurious and acceptance of establishment and government narrative can one be?
They do not sell bats in any of the Wet Markets. Testing has not yet found any wild animals or livestock in China with SARS-CoV-2.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/new-study-bats-and-pangolins-werent-sold-in-wuhans-wet-markets-but-other-mammals-were/
You’re clearly a paid poster and you don’t even have publicly available facts remotely correct. Do better.
I’ve mentioned this in comments when Glenn Greenwald covered this topic a few weeks ago, but I’ll repeat it here. It is this: in an asymmetry of power, the burden of evidence is on the powerful. It’s one reason citizens are presumed innocent. In this case, it’s rational to presume that China and the NIH are guilty until they provide evidence otherwise. As Taibbi mentioned, it is relatively straightforward to send a team of independent scientists to the WIV to interview the scientists there and examine the evidence of what they have been up to. And you’ve got your answer. Yet it hasn’t been done. Ergo, you must assume the virus was a joint Chinese and American creation until they provide some evidence otherwise.
I suspect there are also Americans in the know. Maybe Representatives in 2023 can hold hearings and earn their salary.
That is quite insane. No, it is NOT straightforward at all to "send a team of independent scientists to WIV". Turn this around. China accuses the USA of releasing a virus from, say, Galveston BSL-4. China has been attacking the USA in the press for years, has put up punitive sanctions on the USA, and China has been providing clandestine support to "rebels" in Mexico. China insists that ONLY a joint Chinese-Russian team of "independent scientists" to visit and investigate those facilities is acceptable. Would you call that a straightforward matter? No. You would have to assume that those "independent scientists" were anything but.
In the real world, there is solid science that fits what we see with MERS, with SARS-1, with Ebola, etc.. Here is a paper on that for COVID-19.
Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0771-4
You are confusing what is politically feasible with what is technically feasible. I was talking about the latter. If sending such a team is not politically feasible, then the NIH should come out and say it. If not, having funded gain of function research at the WIV, then they are effectively complicit. And by that I do not mean that no serious inquiry at the WIV = China and the NIH created the virus. I mean that anyone is free to assume so given the burden of evidence is on China and the NIH. It could be that the virus has a natural origin as that article you linked to implies. But showing so in a convincing manner is again the responsibility of China and the NIH.
You are saying, "Oh, my god! This might be scary!! Nooooo!!! Don't look over there!!!"
After review, the WIV work was judged not to be GOF.
If the lab leak is the lie then what's the truth other than people who hate Fauci?
Natural origin, and a pandemic igniting in the most densely populated nation on the planet. But natural origin -- Just like SARS1. Just like MERS. Just like Ebola. Shall I go on?
The lab leak has not been proved just as much as the natural origin hasn't. Just because you say so doesn't make it so. Both are still just theories however what we do know points more towards lab leak unless they have found that bat? Lab leaks happen and we do know that he Wuhan Lab had a history of problems. We do know that gain of function was going on. We do know that the lab was just a few miles from the wet market. W do know that Dr. Kristian Anderson wrote an email to Fauci on 2/1/20 on virus possibly being engineered (see below). We do know that the "bat lady" is still MIA. We do know that China refused cooperation into the investigation. We do know that Fauci lied to Congress via the FIA about his role in funding. The list goes on about what we DO know. Now, please list what you know about the Natural origin of COVID other than "it's just like MERS....." i'll wait until you get your head out of the sand.
VIROLOGIST WHO TOLD DR. FAUCI CORONAVIRUS WAS LIKELY ENGINEERED AND GOT PAID AFTER BACKTRACKING ON CLAIMS – JUST DELETED 5,000 TWEETS — THEN DELETED ENTIRE ACCOUNT
They don't sell bats at the Wet Market.
I am open to either one being the cause. I just wish someone or somebody would tell us the damn truth. Accidents and leaks happen, always have and always will.
If Covid escaped a lab, then the U.S. and Chinese governments and lab directors need to just say that. There will be a shitstorm, not because of the leak, but because of two years of coverup. As Nixon found out, the coverup is always worse than the crime.
But I don't know if it's from a lab or from Mother Nature.
Boni, et al. (2020) Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0771-4
This is your proof. Now, deal with it.
I will wait for you to pull your head out and realize that you don't have the foggiest clue about anything you are talking about. I'm qualified in this crap. You are not.
And you explain the coding of the arginine doublet in the furin-cleavage site of the spike protein by CGG-CGG how?
CGG is the most common codon for arginine in the human genome, but CGG-CGG does not occur as the coding for an arginine doublet in of the any viruses in the database (https://www.genscript.com/tools/codon-frequency-table alas, behind a paywall) reviewed by Romeu and Ollé here: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202106.0121/v1/download, essentially ruling out a natural recombination event, and suggesting either genetic engineering or serial passage through humanized mice as a more likely cause.
Let’s see…we can find the God particle but not the source of this virus?
If a totalitarian government with some self-serving interest in the Higgs boson not being found had been controlling the only labs with powerful enough accelerators to look for it, we wouldn't have found it either.
Yes, go on. Where’s the natural origin after 2 years? If I recall correctly MERS took what, a couple of days?
A potty mouth with a crystal ball, wow! My kid also went through that stage.
What potty mouth? I don't see any here.
I wrote "bullshit" and "dumbass".
You did? Let me find my fainting couch, eeeeeeek :-)
This is the FIRST government attempt to find the origin. They BLACKED OUT all other alternative possibilities. because they already knew it was man made.
'Fake news' no longer: Facebook lifts ban on suggesting COVID-19 was man-made after Biden orders intel agencies to probe whether coronavirus leaked from Wuhan lab.
Chinese scientists who worked on it. contracted it as early as November 2019. They are considered ground ZERO!
"U.S. intel report identified 3 Wuhan lab researchers who fell ill in November 2019
The details add to circumstantial evidence supporting a theory Covid-19 spread to humans after escaping from a lab."
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-intel-report-identified-3-wuhan-lab-researchers-who-n1268327
China was perfecting Zoonotic Transmission. How to prepare a human cell to accept an animal virus. Coronavirus virus originated from zoonotic transmission: China’s National Health Commission
https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/coronavirus-virus-originated-from-zoonotic-transmission-chinas-national-health-commission/
We may never know, but information very near the start of the Pandemic indicates the lab-leak theory is credible. Horseshoe bat, the most likely vector, is not found in Wuhan wet market but definitely used in the Wuhan lab. This paper, withdrawn but never debunked lays it out. https://web.archive.org/web/20200214144447/https:/www.researchgate.net/publication/339070128_The_possible_origins_of_2019-nCoV_coronavirus
It shouldn’t be forgotten. During modernity, every major outbreak has been traced back. And that’s with the kind of science where leeching and bloodletting was considered brilliance.
like Jon Stewart declared, Bat Virus coming from Wehan Lab is similar to “an outbreak of chocolatey goodness near Hershey, Pennsylvania” you can safely assume “it’s the fucking chocolate factory,”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0771-4 This is the origin.
Jon Stewart is not a virologist. He is not an epidemiologist, nor anything like one. In this case, Jon, much as I like him, is an ass.
https://brianhanley.medium.com/the-covid-19-sars2-lab-origin-story-zombies-back-from-the-dead-c6d987344cee
You do know that was a JOKE! But COVID was no where else in the WORLD at that time, but in China.
Yes we are developing the Triquarter with SMART DUST nanotechnology.
https://www.nanowerk.com/smartdust.php
https://www.chaione.com/blog/smart-dust-communication-systems-and-future
Sorry. Wuhan was studying Zoonontic Transmission, how to prepare A human cell to be infected by a virus from an animal.
"In January 2020, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified as the cause of an outbreak of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China. The disease, later named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), subsequently spread globally. In the first three months after COVID-19 emerged, nearly 1 million people were infected and 50,000 died. "
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/covid-19
It isn't the first time China has released a plague:
China was influenced by all the five pandemics, and three of them (1957 "Asian flu" , 1968 "Hong Kong flu" and 1977 "Russian flu" ) were originated from China.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30180422/
1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed 50 Million Originated in China, Historians Say
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140123-spanish-flu-1918-china-origins-pandemic-science-health
So, I take it you think those nefarious Chines have been engineering pandemics on purpose for centuries? I'll add to your list. Hubei province was the source for the Black Death. In Hubei its mortality rate was around 90% by historical records. The Black Death that hit Europe was an attenuated, kinder and gentler version.
Influenza pandemics. Yep. We have them worldwide most years. We know that flu viruses come from birds, but the exact pathway into humans? The viruses that hit humans come from east Asia. Why is this? It's because of 2 billion plus people living closely with pigs and birds (ducks, and chickens) and capturing and eating of wild birds. Wild birds mix with domestic. Domestic birds mix with pigs and humans. It's an odds game. With over 1 billion people living in poverty with these animals and living and working in bird, pig, and human feces, all of which are used for fertilizer, means that very low frequency evolution events are going to happen.
If you want this to change, then China needs to continue to build itself into a highly developed nation.
Oh, dear. the smart dust thing. That first came up around 2004 as a proposal. Still in roughly the same stage of development.
Furin cleavage site.
truth and lies are merely different tools in the toolbox of the elite. they have no commitment to truth. their only commitment is to amass more power for themselves.
They don't care about truth. Ratings, money and pushing their adopted party's agenda is their sole interest. They are no longer interested in informing the public which was on their agenda at one time, a long time ago, now it's all about making money, and truth be damned.
They would get better ratings if they published the truth. But it's worth it to the establishment to subsidize the money-losing media outlets. There's billions, yea trillions more to be made in the business of covering up the truth.
In this day and age people want to here what they want to here. The democrats really polarized politics with the total complicity of the media. I think the general scientific consensus is that the the virus crossed over into humans from bats. Even though I have a background in science, do I trust them either in this atmosphere? No. Science involves people and they too have an agenda, or can be pressured into having one.
I think only some MSM are smart enough to know they are being dishonest. They are used to reading a teleprompter, not defending their claims like a lawyer or scientist. Consequently, most are just too dumb to apply logic and language.
For example, they can't use words consistently and can't tell the difference between a "hypothesis," a "theory," and a "fact." They also don't know the difference between "evidence," "proof," "probability" and "truth." And they certainly can't understand "burden of proof."
So a disfavored claim (like the lab leak theory) is deemed "debunked" by simply putting the whole burden of proof on the proponent and then saying there is "no evidence" (which really means no proof of a 100% probability). Hence, fact check = "false."
By contrast, the mere statement of the natural origin assertion by Fauci's cronies is cited as all the "evidence" needed for its truth. Hence, fact check = "true."
Total morons.
Fauci organized the lies and the smear, destruction, and bribery efforts. He is a criminal
Which is why you love him when Fauci, the political animal, bows to Biden's anti-China policy and points where the wind blows.
the world would be a much better place if people would stick to what is known, which isn't much compared what isn't known. human beings undoubtedly know less than 1% of everything their is to know, yet still, there are deranged that carry on like wannabe Gods
For sure we still don't know (or at least have not published) much about Natural Immunity (the usual way out of a Pandemic) and how that interacts with the "leaky" vaccines which may PROLONG the pandemic since they don't block infection and spread of Covid. Which after two years is the more important question than the Origin.
Nicholas Wade has popularized the lab-leak hypothesis: https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/ Nicholson Baker was earlier: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html
There are a number of scxientists, many unfortunately anonymous (they cannot afford to put their careers at risk) who have published nice arguments in favor of the lab leak hypothesis, for example Yuri Deigin: https://yurideigin.medium.com/lab-made-cov2-genealogy-through-the-lens-of-gain-of-function-research-f96dd7413748
However, when you have bureaucrats in China and NIH funding circles intentionally destroying data and having meetings to obfuscate WHAT IS KNOWN, and to attack any dissenting views as of Public Health experts Bhattacharya, Gupta and Kulldorff and their Barrington Declaration-- "There needs to be a quick and devastating published take-down of its premises"-- you are avoiding responsibilty and accountability, destroying the science.
I would argue they intended to control (and facile lies helped) the situations and swell in importance. American virologists are dominated by AIDS virologists. Being a coronavirus expert might be good for a career in certain agricultural areas, but not in the US (until maybe now!) an exception is Germany's Christian Drosten, who with others first sequenced SARS in 2003 (and also infamously signed the "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin" Lancet letter).
The problem with Fauci, Redfield and Birx as AIDS experts is that their knowledge means nothing, or possibly worse, with a contagious respiratory virus. AIDS is (almost) non-infectious with access to condoms and clean needles. Their first major error (which they still refuse to admit) is that Western countries, notably Italy, the UK and particularly the US, did not shut down/ control entry of Covid infected people, which EVERY Southeastern Asian country did (and it has nothing to do with racism. For example, Singapore is 70% ethnic Chinese, but no one was allowed in from China, and health was cursorily checked at the border. This made it much easier to track the trickle of infected that passed the Cordon sanitaire and contain the virus. ) In the West the virus was already "community spread" and essentially uncontainable BEFORE travel restrictions were imposed (and thus pointless). The AIDS experts all emphasize that the virus will get in regardless; and it did, but strict border control bought those Southeastern Asian countries over a year and the vaccines were available by then (but they have since over-reacted to Western Covid death tolls, figuring the RICH West must have better policies).
The results speak clearly. The US is at 2747 Covid deaths per million; Singapore is at 145, Japan at 151, Taiwan is at 36, South Korea is at 133, Thailand is at 317, Vietnam is at 383, Cambodia is at 176, Myanmar is at 351. The "funny" part is that many of these countries adopted US Public Health protocols over 60 years ago as their basic Public Health training, with many modifications since, yet the US (and Europe) seem incapable of managing a respiratory virus pandemic, because they use their AIDS methodology.
You have to start thinking this after a while.
Am a boomer that went to a high powered college and thought for nearly an entire lifetime that I could tell who is expert, and whether to trust them. The last two years have shattered that so badly I can't even guess what will happen next, and not just for me. For example, at my annual physical I told my long-time PCP I trust no authority on anything...and that includes him. I had asked him, "under what circumstances would he prescribe me HCQ?" His answer was "absolutely none" which signaled to me he had surrendered to group think. I have NO IDEA whether HCQ would ever be appropriate for me, but I also know his certainty in his answer meant exactly what Orfalea's videos show. Where can the average guy go to find expertise now?
Good call…people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus take HCQ every day in higher doses than that recommended for Covid. People in countries plagued with malaria take it daily as a preventative… I took Plaquinel ( HCQ) combined with an antibiotic 25 years ago for Lyme. The Lancet Study documenting coronary damage offered up initially by the NEJM, was completely discredited and retracted. You are right to question your doctor’s judgment…
The manner with which they have demonized very safe medications like HCQ and Ivermectin was unbelievably well done. After Trump started praising HCQ, we started hearing about how it could cause heart problems. Ivermectin became horse paste. Ivermectin won a Nobel prize in 2015, and the media went full-court press on the fact that people were being poisoned with worse de-wormer.
dont forget the WHO also changed the definition of herd immunity to basically say natural immunity plays no part - herd immunity is only achieved through vaccination.
check out Jimmy Dore's interview w/ Dr Jay Bhattacharya & Dr Martin Kuldorf. (it would have been good if they had Dr Sunerta Gupta too, but she was part of this interview)
and didnt webster change anti-vax to mean against vaccine mandates...not being against vaccination?
Yes, Merriam Webster now serves the "establishment." When I want accuracy in definitions, I no longer go to Webster. There are still plenty of honest dictionaries out there.
Hang onto good ole fashioned hard copies. I bust em out all the time with my kids to show how language evolves over time. But it shouldn’t change between breakfast and lunch based on news cycles.
No, did they? I’m surprised that I’m surprised at this point. But I am surprised. Even the lexicographers!
False. We have always been at war with anti vaxxers.
Excellent interview by two individuals I'd like to see Brian debate.
You can win a Nobel Prize for giving Invermectin in large quantities to Africans-but upper class white liberals in California or Massachusetts-the horror!!!!!!
Yes, extremely racist!
Right, and how I like to point out…livestock are given antibiotics just like us…but an anti parasite med is strictly for horses…and you’re a certified loon if you take Ivermectin in human or horse form…..
Half of Western Africa takes it prophylactically to prevent river blindness. It is safe, prescribed by doctors and very effective. Just look at Uttar Pradesh.
Yup, Ivermectin is the go to for any intestinal parasite, like tape worm…. But thanks media for ridiculing it and the people who have taken it.
Ivermectin is known to have anti-viral properties in vitro. It makes perfect sense to study it, but Dr. McCullough on JRE said that studies in the US had to be stopped because supplies were denied. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32251768/
Ivermectin is not just for horses. It's used all around the world as a anti parasitic. I give it to the squirrels around here for mange.
Interesting, makes total sense. My point is we are “all” mammals so why people are AGHAST that we take common medicines for infections is idiotic. Thanks!
Yep.
Ivermectin--it's what's for dinner :-)
You just learned something very important. Who spends the most time in school? Well, physician's are right up there. Education is primarily indoctrination and more education equals more indoctrination to where it becomes impossible to have a truly open mind. Who controls physician's education, why, could it be BIG pharmaceutical, Hmm, do they have an agenda, Hmm. Never be afraid to think unless death is staring you in the face, then you can react as you were designed to. Otherwise, think.
I am a surgeon. Most of my “education” was memorization and regurgitation. I have had to learn to read critically and THINK on my own
Meanwhile, those of us who were Lit majors—who learned how to think and read critically—have endured lifetimes of scorn (not to mention lower pay and status).
The liberal arts education that taught students how to tell shit from Shinola is now all but eradicated, replaced by STEM, which teaches problem solving instead of critical thinking.
I would suggest STEM is a plot to make people more defenseless against propaganda and mass formation, but, of course, we all know that's just conspiracy theory.
Good for you, we need more like you.
Used to think that’s what college was for…learn how to learn, learn how to think, and learn how to problem solve.
I’m an engineer, yet seldom use much of the classroom lessons. But boy howdy I use that problem solving a bunch
There are peer-reviewed studies showing the efficacy of HCQ on coronaviruses on NIH's own website. The qualifiers are that it must be taken early and in combination with other meds.
The last two years?
How have the experts of the last two years been any worse than those of previous decades who told us free trade was a win win, that deregulating WS was a no brainer, that the subprime loan meltdown would not touch the larger economy, that granting PNTR to the PRC would bring our countries closer together and resolve differences, that Iraq had WMD's, that Hussein and Bin Laden were allies, that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq, that the war would last a few months and cost practically nothing, that "Mission was Accomplished" in May of 2003, that Assad was doomed, that Libya would not turn into a terrorist haven when Kadaffi was overthrown, that we were turning the corner in Afghanistan etc. etc. etc.
Let me know when these over educated, socially and culturally inbred incompetent narcissists are right, should that ever happen.
That's why they soften you up with absurdities when you're young. Things like the invisible man in the sky, you'll never die story. Money, an even bigger fraud that you're not allowed to ask questions about. Things like, where does it come from? Did you know that when you get your 30 year mortgage that the Bank is loaning you money they don't have. Not a conspiracy theory, fractional reserve banking. Rule of law, haaa, who do you think makes the laws and who do they primarily benefit? The ruling classes and on and on. We live on stories and most are fantastical if you think about them but you are conditioned not to think. They don't burn you at the stake anymore, they just socially ostracise you and perhaps make you unemployable.
It's amazing that something that is so wanted by nearly all, money, is understood by nearly no one. And that's not a coincidence.
Bingo! Money is just as fantastical as the invisible man in the sky and believed by even more. When you tell someone that the bankster just put you in debt for 30 year's with money conjured up from nothing they look at you as if you have two heads but it's the basis of how fractional reserve banking work's. It's hiding in plain sight. That's why China has control over banking where, in the west, the banksters are in control. That's what the Wizard of Oz was really about.
That’s my takeaway after the past two years. When the media becomes a chorus mass formation psychosis is underway so run for the hills. I’m humbled and embarrassed I fell for the war on drugs , the war on Terror , Iraq WMD’s , Hope and Change and God knows what else.
Don't be ashamed; Homo sapiens are genetically programmed to believe stories and the ruling classes have had Millenia to perfect the art of indoctrination. Understanding that is the first step to armoring yourself against them.
People with power lie to people without, and have since Og got more powerful than Nog in their caveman community. It's sad.
Herman Goering, once captured by the Americans, gave a very good explanation of how easy it is to manipulate the masses.
Goering and Goebbels learned it from the American, Edward Bernays but Pharoah could have told you too. Now, the best brain's and best Teck, think fMRI and social sciences and media are aligned to control your mind. At least, the Pharoah forgave debts from time to time, no more, I guess that's progress.
Very valid point, but I can say for myself that it is the first time I saw (or more likely noticed) that they completely fabricated things and outright lied. I used to believe in the benevolence of the CDC, NIH, WHO etc. in that I believed they made "mistakes" but now I see/believe they are actually malevolent.
When govt. and large, multinational corporate interests are so enmeshed, when the revolving door between them is always spinning, policies that are actually of benefit to the people are pure happenstance.
And then, of course, we have plain, old fashioned incompetence, never to be overlooked with our inbreed elite, who continually fail upward.
In the US, authority and responsibility are inversely proportional.
“Experts say” and “confidential sources” are two of the biggest red flags these days.
Especially if “gubmint” is mixed in there somewhere
Go to the "conspiracy theorists". They're the ones you're told are 'crazy', yet their track record is fantastic.
They’re going to have to change the term “conspiracy theory” to “spoiler alert”.
A perfect example of truth in humor. Good job.
I am also a boomer, I agree, but it seemed obvious to me, and hopeless... lies, lies, lies...by the time I was twenty with Vietnam, then with Reagan, With Clinton and then the lies of Bush and Biden and everyone else with the WMD's. It has been my whole lifetime. and today it is much worse, because there is no longer a New York Times on the side of right, or principle, and we have no trusted source, no Walter Cronkite. As for information, I look everywhere and sift, with my bullshit meter always running, no matter the source.
Walter was a leftist liar. He just hid it better.
FACT. My buddy was captain of his sailboat, the Wentje. He said Walter was left of left.
But his reporting was center and always responsible and factually correct. Today we don't have a Walter, though fortunately Matt is cut from the same cloth.
If his reporting was nonpartisan and professional, who cares what his personal beliefs are? Don't we subscribe to Matt and Bari because we are tolerant and still believe in pluralism?
With the internet perhaps the age of the expert is over. We need to find our own trusted voices. That’s why I subscribe to this guy and a few others
I think we need new ways of establishing trust. If I trust X and Y, and both trust Z, I should also have some trust in Z. Computers can help build trust networks.
I'm a physician and I agree with your position. This type of response is of a piece with the "settled science" argument for other issues, especially climate change. The history of science and medicine is littered with those who were persecuted and denounced for (rightly) questioning the established scientific positions of the day. One of the things that I find most off-putting about leftists (mostly Democrats these days) is their eagerness to suppress opposing views. This is bad enough in politics, but when this mindset infects science and medicine we are in real trouble. I don't care how crazy someone's ideas sound, I want to be able to hear those ideas because you can't always tell the crazies from the visionaries.
Good for you. Unfortunately the fantastical stories seem to be increasing in number. I have no problem with anyone "believing" they are the gender they physically are not. I do have a problem when it's demanded of me that I believe it, by those in power yet which is where we are now. It's religion all over wearing a different mask. The Russian federation is going to attack the Ukraine, really and I'm expected to believe that, I don't think so and on and on. The humanities have gone mad in their ivory tower isolation from reality with the fantastical stories they are indoctrinated with and it's moving into Stem. I totally agree with giving everyone a fair hearing for the simple reason, I might learn something new or better yet, I might be corrected where I'm wrong and that's even better.
Some 30 years ago, my Pediatrician gifted me with this lasting wisdom .. “ in the history of medicine, those labeled the “lunatic fringe” have proven to be more right than wrong.” I appreciated that Dr. Rusty listened and did not dismiss anecdotal stories from “us” in the field…..
Yep. The first doctors, Scottish if I recall correctly, that promoted the practice of washing hands/cleaning before performing surgeries were mocked, called quacks and worse by the British medical establishment.
Ditto for me on your first two sentences. Actually though I think that this experience has been a good thing. Folks like us, good little members of the upper middle class, always believed in the respectable authorities and thought that alternative sources of information were just the misguided or stupid. New York Times good; New York Post bad (or, worse, down market).
Now we are aware that the narrative is the main lie and that those in media, and more generally in many institutions, are just rent seeking liars. And with that in mind, one can go back and look at a lot of things with a new perspective. 911, anyone?
Ah yes, "rent seeking"; to bad more people aren't familiar with the term which drives western society. Rent seeking, the entire FIRE financial, insurance, real estate sector is essentially parasitic. It produces no useful products, performs no useful service and is by far, the best compensated. You have to admire the indoctrination we all recieved, it's about 99% effective and getting better.
If your Dr. is going to stick to CDC guidelines, you don't need a Dr. You just need to read the CDC guidelines. (which would get you the exact same results....)
You have to rely on yourself and those you really trust. My experience with the medical system began in earnest 20 years ago when a relative was diagnosed with a serious brain disorder. Some doctors are curious, conscientious and truly put their patients first. A few are halfway to Mengele and most are either lazy and/or captured by safe groupthink. How do we identify the better docs? Its not easy but ask yourself how you feel after talking to them. Do you know more and feel more in control? Or do you feel mystified, confused, dumb or offended? Do they speak with certainty or acknowledge the limits of what they know? A good doctor should be able to admit the limits of their field. Use the internet and don't discount anecdotes and things written by people with firsthand experience. And most importantly, don't submit to systems and procedures you have serious doubts about.
I know we've lived in a bubble of techno-utopian babble for decades now but the fact is there are limits to what we can understand. I don't know if we are headed for climate catastrophe (I am more concerned about environmental pollution) but I do know that the scientific method is not fit for the purpose of predicting the future states of complex systems and serial modeling failures in economics and epidemiology don't bode well. Once again, climate scientists whose pronouncements are sanctified as truth are just people with all sorts of interests that don't necessarily run parallel to seeking truth: herd mentality/groupthink, its greatest ally careerism and the all too human desire to not feel like you are groping in the dark. And that's before the media idiots get their hands on any of it. Its a dangerous world. Stay frosty.
Nullius in verba! Angela Merkel, an actual scientist, upon seeing Fukushima made a decision, extremely irrational in my view, no, not in my view, it was irrational to shut down all the German nuclear power plants and burn lignite, the most polluting fuel known. She also after rejecting mass refugees sees one Syrian kid lying dead on a beach decides to take in a million Syrian refugees. This would be like four million in the US. Totally irrational decisions from a scientist by trade with an IQ likely north of 150. Your first sentence is very good advice, I suggest that you take it.
Post of the day right here.
Life's truths were never so certain. Embrace it as an adventure. The web certainly helps find other points of view, and Substack is a good example.
Keep relying on your own critical thinking skills. It just takes so much longer. I asked my new PCP a very similar question. (New for a good reason) his reply was” I treat every patient differently, so I really can’t answer you the way you maybe want.” I was satisfied with that.
My useful filter is - what does this person stand to lose for being wrong.
If there are no consequences to them for giving me bad advice, I disregard what they have to say. This is the big problem we have with every level of 'expertise' - there is zero accountability if they are wrong, and really very little reward if they are right. Nice gig if you can get it.
Agree wholeheartedly, and in particular, when applied to the people who are letting lawlessness reign, for ideological reasons, when they have little risk of being subjected to the consequences.
Have you considered Dr. Oz? :+)
Ugh
The videos in this piece are awesome
Breaking points. https://youtu.be/PQY7a0z7JqI
And they said masks work, until they didn't. They said the test work, until they didn't. They said lockdowns work, until they didn't. Wonder what they will admit to next?
i know this isn't especially unique, but my real turning point was the BLM protests in 2020. After taking pay cuts and having my method of providing for my family deemed 'non-essential' and everything being closed down and wiping my ass with my fucking hand because there was no toilet paper and seeing everything blanketed with forboding signs and playgrounds being roped off and my kids having birthdays alone and every single community gathering shut down, all of a sudden "the science" decided people could throng together in big dense groups to protest because 'racism is a bigger public health crisis'?????? Fuck the hell right off shitheads
You're far from alone. Many people figured that if covid was over for protestors, it was over for everybody.
And if it was never "on" for anyone walking across the southern border . . .
I hear you- I think it was the breaking point for a lot of people.
I can understand a little how the media felt- they didn't know how to scold black protestors for violating Covid protocol and not seem racist or like they were missing the point.
I was never bothered much by it because:
1) my daughter worked through the pandemic at a deli and the owner hooked me up with toilet paper. Using my hand would make me feel like I was a rock bottom, 100%.
2) I didn't have to take a pay cut or lose my job ( I support my family solely on my salary so that would have been catastrophic for me)
3) My kids are all teenagers or young adults and we all got to hang together and it was fun ( for the first three months, anyway)
4) the protests were outdoors, and most wore masks.
5) The woods I go to were roped off but I ignored it and hiked there every day any way.
I totally get your anger; I would have been really pissed too.
The media needs to grow a pair and call out hypocrisy from people of all colors. Of course the grievance industrial complex knows this, and knows they won’t, b/c your average media lib is more afraid of getting unfollowed on Twitter than anything else in this world.
You are right that protestors wore masks which is never talked about.
They wore masks so they couldn’t be identified as they burned, looted and killed.. They didn’t generally wear protective masks
Masks don’t work. Especially useless outside
Sorry, masses of people packed together even outdoors is a bad idea. During WWI the health authorities in Philadelphia argued against a planned war bond parade during the "Spanish" influenza pandemic. It didn't turn out well.
Putting in a bidet helped me with that. But damn does that cold winter tap water numb the Pretties :-)
So, you never got the memo about the newly "privileged"?
Remember first, they said that Masks don't work, or rather that you didn't need one, then they work and now, they don't.
A fit tested respirator protects the wearer. The other masks offer some protection to others if the wearer is the source. Mask wearing could be viewed as a common courtesy, something that typically isn't mandated by government. I'm OK with businesses making the decision. They already require shoes and shirts in some cases.
If you're sick or at risk, mask up. Otherwise, mind your own damn business.
When the CDC came out in early 2020 and said what they did about not necessarily needing masks, it was obvious that they were telling people that they weren't crucial because they didn't want everyone to buy up N95's, leaving nothing for the health care workers. I knew why they were saying it- it was a veiled way of saying "Everybody be cool and leave these for the hospital workers". I knew it that would come back to bite them on the rear.
We have known for awhile that masks do work somewhat, but during the pandemic we have had great opportunities to get studies done on how well they work ( or don't work). I just don't see nefarious intent everywhere.
The intent is not nefarious. But the method (lying to achieve a desired behaviour, in this case “not panic buying masks“) kind of is — or at least, is wildly counterproductive in the long term. Imagine if they had actually said what they meant — I can’t put out any better than you did; “everybody be cool and leave these for the healthcare workers.” In my neck of the woods, I’m convinced people works have absolutely *loved* not buying masks, they’d have simply basked in the warm glow of self-sacrifice and helping the doctors and nurses (I’m from the UK, where the NHS is our national religion)… and trust would have been retained going forward. But this manipulative, disingenuous style is now becoming the norm; I fear it will get worse before it gets better.
Yes. That's the real problem with not being upfront with people all the time--when you're caught in even "noble lies" too often, we won't believe you when it matters. Government should never lie to us, ever.
Getting back to the subject of the lab-leak theory: In what world is it a "noble lie" to say the lab-leak theory has been debunked?
Sigh. Maybe NHS. My take on "trust":
I've been following public affairs as closely as I could for about 60 years - since high school. From all of that, one lesson stands out:
The authorities are lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide. Unfortunately, these days that even includes scientific and medical authorities, because they've been so politicized. This post of Taibbi's is a perfect example., besides the ones mentioned in comments.
So I regard all pronouncements with suspicion. I'm actually more inclined to trust those who buck the system, if they make sense to me at all, because they generally pay a price for their courage.
Yes. At that time, trust in these Scientists was crucial and they spent it because they didn't people not to act with panic.
There was no short supply of old t-shirts to cut up, which still count as face coverings.
When the basic premise of what they were telling us was predicated on a lie, it's common sense to look for "nefarious intent" everywhere.
Especially after we FOIA their emails and realize they've had all the information they needed to make the correct decision this whole time. They simply ignore what doesn't advance the narrative.
It called a noble lie.
In this instance "noble lie" is an oxymoron.
Exactly.
Never have. Social distancing bullshit. Plexiglass is hilarious. Hand washing is good.
I took Microbio longer ago than I care to admit, and will cop to a slight OCD about hand washing, mostly because I know I’ll stick one of my paws in my eyes, nose, or mouth at some point. I can hear the Prof in my head every time I do - saying “Don’t let this class turn you into an obsessive hand washer”. I’ve been gently mocked for it from co-workers over the years.
Lately, they’ve all admitted I’ve just been ahead of the curve.
Super simplistic take, and mostly wrong. Also- it's a new freaking virus! Of course our take on things changes as we find out more about it. We've had the measles around for over a thousand years- give us a minute to figure this virus out.
Seems like you are arguing against a stance no one is taking. Everyone understands that novel diseases take time to understand.
What people take issue with is health officials, government, media, etc. pretending they do have all the answers. To the point that anyone who disagrees with them should be silenced and shunned by polite society.
I agree with you 100%. What I get irritated by is when infection control guidance changes and people pounce and say the previous guidance was a lie. I hear it every day.
A lot of it was a lie, though. Some of it was well-intentioned, but all the mask theatre was an obvious lie. No masks, one mask, then Fauci said it's good common sense to wear two masks. Now, maybe N95 masks. They knew in early 2020 the virus was aerosolized, but still spread the lies that it was widely spread by the saliva of asymptomatic carriers. They knew long ago that there was a good chance it escaped from a lab, but went back to the old standby of "misinformation". If we ever get a true accounting of this mess, we'll probably all be mortified.
Actually, on the topic of masks, Fauci admitted he lied
“Admitted” implies some semblance of contrition. The way I heard it, it was more like he bragged.
I think you're ignoring the role that previous guidance being provided with such certainty has in that formulation.
Like NickO says, it depends. Good faith mistakes that are proven wrong with more information? I agree with you.
But it’s looking more and more likely that these “mistakes” were either self-serving lies (lab leak) or widely embellished far beyond what the science would support (science behind masks, social distancing, etc.).
The lab leak thing is interesting. I think it boils down a couple things: a knee jerk response to disbelieving everything Trump says, and the people in power realizing that a lot of people were going to look bad if the lab leak theory was investigated. the podcast "Lean Out" did a great podcast explaining all the players in the USA and Canada and China.
Bottom line is that China fucked up, millions are dead, economies have been ruined, and children's lives upended and harmed. Oh, and Americans can't stop screaming at each other for five minutes.
I don't listen to NPR anymore, ever since I heard one of the hosts of Morning Edition call the lab leak theory racist in 2020. So it's less "racist" for us all to hate Chinese people for eating weird stuff and having no hygiene standards? It never made any sense.
China fucked up and the U.S. taxpayer helped pay for it.
LOL!!thank you… when Covid first started and the wet market theory emerged , I said “ for starters, let’s take Bat off the menu”…. One of my SJW nieces said “ Auntie, that is so racist of you.. “
No argument from me on any of that.
I am so sorry you have to deal with that but please be patient. We have been openly lied to and most people are aware the heavy censorship is taking place which takes the trust level even lower. So now even average people assume lies versus emerging data. Can you blame them? I know you didn't make this problem but are on the receiving end of people's frustration with the crap we've been fed for 2 years.
How about infection control guidance, all of which follows "the science", that is different country to country, region to region, state to state, rich economies to poor economies.
How we knew they knew it was a lie at the jump was discovering a number of world leaders and local leaders NOT following the rules they put into place when they thought no one was looking. Grappling to discover what to do is understandable, but their duplicitous behavior spoke volumes.
That doesn't proove anything. They might have all been suicidal :)
And let's shut down the world's economy and ruin childrens' development and cancel everyone's scheduled cancer screenings and further divide all Americans while we spit out non truths in an effort to cover our @sses.. Sounds reasonable
... and when they finally come back to school, make the kids wear masks where they breathe 10,000 ppm CO2, even though 1,000 ppm reduce cognition. https://norstadt.substack.com/p/face-masks-co2-and-cognitive-impairment
Next time you need surgery please tell the doctors and nurses to remain unmasked during the procedure since you don't want their cognition impaired.
Assuming you are a nurse, you know the risk analysis of a mask during a surgical procedure looks nothing like the risk analysis for a 3rd grader sitting in class.
And you also know the primary purpose of masks in surgery is not to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.
Yep. Stops spit. That’s it.
Not that you need any support, but let me share this from Drs. Krug and Prasad https://unherd.com/2022/02/should-we-let-children-catch-omicron/ - which goes on to say, "Restrictions in schools must never return"
I'm not talking about WHY surgeons wear masks, I'm suggesting that if you believe masks cause cognitive impairment why the hell would you want someone with their hands in your body cavity to be wearing one?
First thing I'll do is make sure a toddler is not performing my surgery.
"It has never been shown that wearing surgical face masks decreases postoperative wound infections. On the contrary, a 50% decrease has been reported after omitting face masks. The present study was designed to reveal any 30% or greater difference in general surgery wound infection rates by using face masks or not. During 115 weeks, a total of 3,088 patients were included in the study. Weeks were denoted as "masked" or "unmasked" according to a random list. After 1,537 operations performed with face masks, 73 (4.7%) wound infections were recorded and, after 1,551 operations performed without face masks, 55 (3.5%) infections occurred. This difference was not statistically significant (p greater than 0.05) and the bacterial species cultured from the wound infections did not differ in any way, which would have supported the fact tha the numerical difference was a statistically "missed" difference. These results indicated that the use of face masks might be reconsidered. Masks may be used to protect the operating team from drops of infected blood and from airborne infections, but have not been proven to protect the patient operated by a healthy operating team."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1853618/
Thanks. I think it protects me more then them
C’mon now… you know that surgical masks and caps in ORs are worn to prevent brow sweat and saliva ( surgeons talk a lot during procedures) from entering the open site… my Surgeon who performed my bilateral hip replacement confirmed this to me six months ago when I literally bumped into him at the grocery and asked his opinions on Covid. He is now retired but told me that doctors are being policed like he has never seen.
The incredible inability to appreciate basic respiratory physiology is alarming.
Everything we needed to know, we knew by April 2020. By summer 2020 it was obvious that the virus was following Hope-Simpson and was seasonal. That's how us 'seasonality theorists' have been predicting virus activity ever since. It's how we knew the 2021 summer spike was coming, and were warning about it even when Fauci said he didn't know why cases were dropping in Texas during spring. It's how we knew the winter wave would wash over the country while the 'experts' were caught flat-footed without tests available. And all the while, the 'experts' said The Science was settled, while also changing The Science and saying it was because of new info. But now, once again, The Science was settled and we couldn't question it.
At some point maybe we should start listening to the people who are correct instead of those who are wrong but say you can't question them.
From my experience, most people who can't be questioned are wrong.
Yep! When reality is against you, you must keep people from seeing reality.
---------------
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/censors-gonna-censor
And now the Political Science demands the censorship of those who don’t follow the narrative. Data in the real world is on our side, and the only way they can continue the farce is if nobody can see it. Thus, we are being attacked.
So far, Substack has stood strong. I think this is likely because there are no advertisers to go after, only writers and readers who pay for their subscriptions. But this is also the reason that it’s time to stand up for our convictions and prove that free speech not only has a place in modern society, it’s the lynchpin holding it all together.
As usual the system won't let me give your spot-on comment the "like" it deserves.
I've been having a lot of troubles with that as well. I'm liking them in my heart, where it counts, though! :)
It seems to be random to me - I liked one of his post but not another. Moreover, I will be able to like multiple posts for a while and then none for a while.
Hope someone in IT is reading this.
Me, either. I wondered about that.
An additional rule of thumb might be "don't trust 'facts' that are universally pushed by the entire MSM and backed up by threats against any who dare question them."
Perish the thought, what would become of the emergency cash cow?
While, having read a few more of your posts, I think we would agree on more things than not, I also have to say that you are the one being over simplistic and mostly wrong in this post.
Regarding masks, anyone with access to virtually any online academic research site (and, frankly, most people who did not want to pay for the site but wanted to find out more on their own) would have found that there were randomized control studies about the flu available at the earliest point in the COVID spread.
Flu viruses are roughly the same size range as COVID (80-120 and 40-140 respectively) and the results of the studies were essentially that surgical masks made no significant difference in transmission (meaning cloth masks were even more useless) and N95s had very modest positive effect IN A MEDICAL SETTING. That means, properly fitted and changed regularly - something that would not happen outside of that environment.
Moreover, "in a medical setting" also means that it was in a high risk environment. Shift long exposure to patients known to have flu, treating them in close proximity. The value of that N95 drops in proportion to the decrease in exposure to the virus. In short, anyone looking at the literature 2 years ago would have plenty of information contrary to population wide masking.
While "new freaking virus" is an excuse for mistakes like the overuse of intubation or a delay in coming up with a vaccination (if you can apply that concept to a vaccine that was produced VERY quickly), it is not an excuse to ignore what we definitely knew about viruses and contagious diseases. Quarantine and Isolation protocols were well established as effective long before COVID and there were prominent medical minds telling us that the bizarre and utterly untested concept of trying to seclude and veil the entire population was an inferior idea.
The nation's public health "leaders" were grossly incompetent in their first reactions and grossly unethical in their ongoing resistance to recognizing the failure of those reactions. What is the old saying? "First, do no harm..."
Thank you for this.
"our take on things changes"
I guess that means people who are cautious about the vaccine have a good reason. What is recommended today could be harmful tomorrow. Unlike the US, Sweden does not recommend the vaccine for 5-11 year-olds. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-decides-against-recommending-covid-vaccines-kids-aged-5-12-2022-01-27/
"Unlike the US, Sweden does not recommend the vaccine for 5-11 year-olds. "
The CDC panel that voted to approve the EUA for children in the US even stated clearly that their approval should not be taken as an endorsement of mandates or even strong recommendaiton for use in children, rather that it was to make it available to those at risk
Thalidomide
Exactly. I've seen people claim that this is obviously safe because it's been given to 1+ billion people. That may be true, but sheer quantity does nothing to answer questions of time.
"We've had the measles around for over a thousand years- give us a minute to figure this virus out."
Sure, but that would mean give people a minute to accept new treatments, etc. as well, no? And it also suggests that the experts should show a little bit of humility and less abject certainty while they figure it out.
What new treatments are you referring to specifically? I have only heard objections to treatments being touted that are not evidenced based.
HCQ. Perfectly safe, decades long FDA approved and used daily around the world for RA, Lupus, Malaria, Lyme, other vector borne infections ….rxd by GPs, Rheumatologists and ID Doctors with no objection until Covid emerged….. so, there should be an evidence based study before HCQ can be used but it’s okay to repeatedly inject healthy people with a vaccine that does not have full FDA approval and has reported side effects such as cardio myopathy, blood clots (me) and Bell’s Palsy for starters?? Too much dismissal of opposing science and outright rejection of disturbing anecdotal evidence . IMO.
Had a wise man tell me “Follow the money”
Pfizer execs can’t make no boat payments off HCQ
Yup, does make one wonder when HCQ and Amoxicillin are very $ low cost. I just returned from Mexico with a supply of HCQ and abx manufactured in Mexico and supplied to US Pharma…and I bought it OTC at the nearest Pharmacia….and dosing guidelines are on line through many “respected” medical associations.
But here’s the weird thing with that. There’s virtually no treatments that have peer reviewed studies showing proven efficacy. Yet, some treatments are still accepted as OK to try (Z-packs for instance) while others (ivermectin being the most obvious) are not. Just strange and hard to conclude this is solely about “the science.”
But they are - 70+ studies, in the case of IVM. The opposition is almost purely political.
Footnote: the FLCCC now has found that ivermectin is less effective on Omicron, which developed in its presence (in Africa), and added other medicines to their cocktail.
mRNA vaccines are new; COVID-19 is new, so by definition any vaccine for it is new
You're marinated in their narrative. Where's the Comirnaty?
You don't know me at all.
The right to spend time "figuring this virus out" was squandered by a bunch of inept, corrupt, power-hungry politicians and "public health experts". The public should have been skeptical from the beginning, but not nearly enough of us were. You can spend all the time you want "figuring it out", but none of us owe you a minute, or even a second to do it. In the meantime, no more public policies, no more mandates, and definitely don't mandate vaccines on kids at no risk so you can profess to be doing something.
Didn't we have a longstanding government sector headed by the finest minds, specialists in the field, heading up a department with $$$$$ with its sole mission to protect us from this very danger? In fact, they are really just a bunch of egos who created the disaster and whose specialty it turns out is covering up their monstrous mistake by any means. It is incomprehensible to anyone with any sense that they wouldn't have been prepared to "get to the bottom of it." In fact, their very purpose was to PREVENT this. Less than a waste.
Today according to a Johns Hopkins report, the lock downs were ineffective. And if you consider all of the elderly who were basically jailed to die alone without final contact with family or friends, it truly is despicable.
Seriously. The media should never be trusted again.
Corporate media can not be trusted
I’m shocked you would think that.
All the fine work churned out by the NYT, WaPo, CNN, et al is obviously unimpeachable
Ok, had to stop, had a little puke in my mouth
Corporate media now includes the evil empires of Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. It's being reported that truckers organizing a trip to DC 'a la the Canadians have been removed from social media. Information today is not just what reporters report and publishers publish. This social media was supposed to give us voice? The infomasters today remove voices they don't approve of, and if you are not somebody powerful, you're just a goner.
In 1979 I was in London in Hyde Park and went to Speaker's' Corner, as probably many tourists do. That day somebody was speaking on the rights of Palestinians. He was carrying on, people were standing around listening. All these years later I don't remember much except --- I remember his topic and passion, and it appeared we were all there for speech. Is there any such thing as a digital Speaker's Corner? If the Listeners don't approve, not only are you silenced that day, you are "de-voiced" by the Social Giants. Very intimidating.
Okay, fine, it is a novel virus and they are responding as they go along, constantly learning new things in the process. So why come down hard on anyone and everyone that challenges the narrative de jur, even in the most casual and non-threatening way?
Could it be that the virus, the pandemic, the masks, the lockdowns, the mandates, the punishments for the "hesitant," the conflation of "died OF covid" with "died WITH covid," the threats of internment camps, the lack of accurate data on covid infections within various age groups, and the growing intolerance for rational discussion -- that all this was done intentionally for some larger purpose known only to Bill Gates and similarly wise billionaire planners? Or this just more conspiracy theorizing by some who should shut up and do as they're told?
Help me understand something. According to data at cdc.gov, twice as many kids age 0-17 years, have died from pneumonia as have died from COVID-19 during the 2020-2022 period. Pneumonia was identified over 140-years ago. We know how to prevent, mitigate and treat pneumonia. Why are more kids dying from pneumonia than a novel coronavirus?
Actually I have used the word 'from', it in fact should be involved. These are deaths that "involve" COVID-19 and pneumonia. Sorry for the poor wording.
With so much discussion of the risk of antibiotic resistance due to overtreatment, why is the risk of undertreatment never mentioned?
I haven't studied this but want to note that we now have highly effective vaccines against invasive bacteria seen in babies & toddlers. If our healthcare system is incapable of doing two things at once, routine vaccinations for babies and toddlers may have fallen off. If that were the case you would have expected our public health leaders to have addressed this deficiency. So it couldn't be our system has failed these babies and toddlers?
Well, seems to me they had an mRNA gene therapy figured out within days. Hmmmm.
They have been working on mRNA vaccines for years. They already had the technology and were focused on possible application. It's an amazing achievement that has been decades in the making. Here is a good explainer: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-long-history-of-mrna-vaccines
So why didn't they have one for Delta and Omi just as quickly?
I don't speak for anyone, but it seems kind of obvious to me that Covid strain specific vaccines would be a bit useless. By the time you would have one vax developed and produced, another variant would have already come along and replaced it.
What they are probably trying to do is make a universal vaccine like they are working on for the Flu.
Would this have been obvious, say, before we started mandating that everybody get vaccinated? Like....around 2020 maybe?
So Fauci's aim is to guide us all into mRNA land in the future. We all know that traditional vaccines of attenuated viruses, though slower to scale and more costly, are much more effective than these new viral particle type vaccines, and certainly these mRNA "vaccines." No Thanks
Yeah they had that first vaccine ready after days, but couldn't quite manage to get anything out for Delta and it's taking months for Omi. Super weird.
I love the fact that Trump was obviously lying about it being ready by the end of 2020, but 6 days after the election, it was 3 weeks into a 6 week waiting period for the EUA.
Without Trump, there would be no mandates because the left would reflexively revolt against them. By waiting until after the election, Big Pharma got their boy into the big chair.
I never bought the media narratives of how bad Trump was, but it's amazing how good he was in hindsight. The rantings he had against the deep state and media have obviously been proven correct in his absence.
Not surprising you’ve embarrassed yourself so badly here. We didn’t find out anything “new” about masks. Most of the studies are pre covid and all showed the same thing. Fauci simply lied about them repeatedly depending on what he wanted people to do. PCR tests were deemed inappropriate for clinical diagnosis by their inventor. We knew lockdowns were failures from the start. Like most healthcare workers today, you’re either ignorant or a liar. I’m spending this year eliminating most of my prescription medications. You’re just salespeople.
And with that said, I am not surprised by the ease with which Fauci lies. He fits the classic definition of a sociopath.
I would agree, but for a new virus that is yet to be fully figured out, the draconian measures, arcane media involvement , politics and endless didactics has created warranted skepticism in many. And now, without full FDA approval, four month old infants should receive this series of shots and boosters? That seems downright reckless to me…leaving me to ask, what are we NOT being told? “ Better safe than sorry” works both ways.
Reckless? That seems rather understated. How about criminal? Given the stats on how mild COVID is for the vast preponderance of children (ten and under), parents who vaccinate their kids must be utterly hypnotized by the narrative.
You’re right and at 70, I truly do not understand this blind acceptance … “ According to the CDC…” ..and as a DES baby, don’t get me started on the FDA ….
yeah- I think every parent has to make the decision for themselves. And I do not begrudge them that at all. My kids all have the vax- but they are teenagers. If I had a baby, I might wait a bit. But it's so hard because I wouldn't want the virus in their bodies either. Some viruses get in us and stay for decades, wreaking havoc.
I just freaking hate Covid. It's made my job super hard and I get yelled at all the time and I irrationally loathe freaking Wuhan, which is probably a lovely place.
The FDA is being asked to approve a 2 dose vaccine for 2-5 year olds that even the manufacturer admits is ineffective! They’re “hoping” 3 doses will do it but are asking for approval for 2. That’s insane.
For healthy young people I am not sure it is warranted at all
My adopted daughter is from Wuhan and I've been there many times. It is indeed by and large a lovely place. We were there just before the outbreak. She worries about her foster mother, who is in her eighties.
Good point… maybe the medical community will start giving EBV and CFS more “ respect.”
How can it be new if it evolved in sequence
They will admit to secretly watching Joe Rogan and loving every second of it.
The thing is, is they didn't admit anything.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/falling-down-the-rabbit-hole
Fauci here says PCR tests can't determine if you're sick. Of course, he also said this in July 2020 but nobody wanted to mention that until it was politically convenient (in this case to change testing rules)
I'm not sure what percentage of censorship belongs to stupidity, party loyalty, evil, ineptness, and subservience, but the last 2 years have been terrible for Freedom of Speech. Without Freedom of Speech, all of our rights are severely diminished. The Republicans are crooks, warmongers, and plenty of other bad things, but one party has attempted to crush dissent the last two years, while the other has at least tried to allow an honest discussion.
In hindsight, nearly all of the "misinformation" that has been censored has turned out to be true. Rather than admit it, they want to censor harder. It's only being done by private companies that have their own special liability protections written into law.
And to start repeating myself, Pfizer is requesting approval to start vaccinating 4 month olds…..
$$
they NEED to censor harder lest their lies become too obvious.
What happens now that their lies have become too obvious? It feels like I meet more and more people skeptical of the official line every day.
Drone strikes.
CNN starts to fall apart!?!?
That's why TPTB are cracking down on internet platforms that allow dissenting voices to be heard (e.g. Spotify, Parler). They don't want any facts that could disprove their official narrative.
And Substack's refusal to censor pisses them off. They haven't figured out how to shut Matt down. It's those damn subscribers who are to blame!
True. We're doing our part to resist censorship.
"In hindsight, nearly all of the "misinformation" that has been censored has turned out to be true." Now that you acknowledge this point, you might want to reconsider your thoughts about Republicans.
Not going to go that far. I lean way more towards them than the democrats, but for every Rand Paul, there are 25 Mitt Romneys.
Yup, I could not vote for him. Such a neocon….
Sad but true. I am hoping that all the RINOs will get thrown out in the next couple of elections.
I am a Paulista-Ron and Rand-but beneath the libertarian philosophy, they are both like Mr. Smith gone to Washington-flailing in shocked horror at the machine. They play the game straight-and get mocked for it.
Just curious, whats your estimation that Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Roy Blunt, John Barrasso etc will step up to the plate and call a spade a spade? Are the ones I've listed Mitt Romneys?
Yes. I've met Roy Blunt, and he's a straight fucking weasel. Cruz is the most trustworthy of the bunch, hence the media hate.
Yes, everyone you listed are go along to get along types.
This goes beyond mere party affiliation. Although it is true that in this case, the Democratic Party and their "liberal" adherents have been the biggest pushers of censorship and mandates. But conservatives are now joined by what might be called the true left (Jimmy Dore, Max Blumenthal,, The Convo Couch, Glenn Greenwald, Matt, Ben Norton, Kim Iversen, Whitney Webb, Hard Lens Media, Chris Hedges, etc.) in rejecting the official lies.
Both sides are crooks. We are trying to boot the warmongers out- Liz Cheney et.Al.
Her daddy is now a hero to the left…never been so shocked
The political left is a cancer. For all the faults of the right, the intentions at least seem fairly genuine. The party of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation are the ones out there decrying that Republicans want black people back in chains, and want to suppress their votes.
🤣🤑🤣🤑
The corporatists even want the government to out-source it’s censorship!
of course, the first amendment prevents them from doing it themselves. going through private companies rids them of that pesky constitutional amendment.
Is it the Orwell or the Huxley dystopia toward which we're currently careening? Or a delightful melange of both? The incuriosity and credulity of our media establishment, as well as that of the bulk and majority of our elected officials, is anathema to our Country, and it now falls to the Taibbi's and Orfalea's to elucidate, not only the issues, but what our so-called elite are doing or not doing relative to them.
It also falls to the individual citizen to seek out a diversity of perspectives and sources of information to remain informed. Historically, people have demonstrated their tendencies toward laziness and uninterest in current events or, at least, investing much time and effort to ferret out the details, instead relying on the corporate media to spoon feed them the relevant facts. Regrettably, as Matt pointed out in his magnificent article titled "The American Press is Destroying Itself," the corporate media is far more interested in partisanship and fostering a narrative than informing their customers.
So, the days of citizens sitting on our keisters and being credulous about the information the MSM crams down our throats are over, and I am immeasurably grateful to Matt and his peers for their exceptional and tireless service, and I am likewise grateful to Substack for giving them a forum to help inform the American people.
Could not have said it better...
Thank you very much for the kind words!
Yes, and Thrice yes.
"The concept of telling the public you’re this certain of something when you quite obviously are not is at least somewhat new, both in politics and in media."
This.
it is not new for those who remember Iraq's WMD debacle.
As usual Matt will make the case for some type of institutional breakdowns in media and/or government agencies. When it is patently obvious the narratives were managed from above across the western democracies. By whom and to what ends are the questions we should be asking. The evidence of manufacture of the virus is scientifically indisputable, the markers were left in place. The actual question is, unintentional leak, or intentional?
I vote for INTENTIONAL.
And the idiots in government and media who confidently assert that “ we must be granted access to the Wuhan lab to determine what happened”… there’s some steroidal naïveté and or stupidity….
I do not know how to vote but I think on this issue alone Chinese Olympic Games starting this week have to be boycotted. No one can be sure if we will get something else after all the athletes come back to their home countries.
Notice that when the MSM screams MISINFORMATION about Rogan's two podcasts, they never say exactly what the MISINFORMATION was. Because the Wuhan lab leak was misinformation except to anyone using their brain could pretty well surmise that it didn't come from the wet market next door but through the door of the lab.
Superb synopsis of the lab leak catastrophe!
My frustration has mounted over the last few years with what is termed the “mainstream media” that I relied on for years as somewhat objective and responsible media outlets. These publications cost real money. They deliver no value. They are not investigative. They are mouthpieces for our government (first the deep state trying to unseat Trump and now the besieged collection of Biden administration incompetents). So I stopped donating to NPR, which was once a permanent soundtrack to my life but now sounds like an interminable Bolshevik infomercial that is worse than the pledge drive. Then I unsubscribed to The NY Times, when they hired a clearly racist person to their editorial board to signal maximum wokeness (was it Sarah Jeong? Seems so long ago). Then ditched the Economist, that venerable rag, when it published that Joe Rogan was taking horse dewormer. And this week I finally discarded the WSJ after an article again attacking Joe Rogan. I estimate I have saved over $1000 annually. My feeling is that journalistic credibility, once lost, will never return. So I have vowed never to subscribe to these publications again. We will see…
Why would late night comedians engage in such dreadful and obvious partisanship? It is nightmarish to see the consistency of their droning. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel must be in some network purgatory, telling these sad, rancid, mean jokes.
The lab leak debacle is horrific. I cannot imagine why investigative journalists wouldn’t pursue this story to the fullest. This is one of the largest questions needing an answer right now. The way this has been handled demonstrates that these outlets have lost sight of their essential mission. And over time I have sought sources that searched more vigorously for truth and allowed for better, fuller exchange of ideas. Substack, Matt Taibi, Glenn Greenwald, Bari Weiss, Brett Weinstein. The forum that brought these voices to me amid the dearth of true exchange has been the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
People deserve so much better than this. I am firmly committed to providing some portion of my financial resources to media that works. This is not a fight that we can afford to lose.
I used to read NYT, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, but quit in 2015. Even if a small portion of it is good, they’ve lost me. I’d rather read freaking Brietbart given the choice.
When I was a public official Mother Jones trashed me. My household was a subscriber so I wrote the publisher. I told her that no one from her magazine made any attempt to talk with me before condemning me to infamy. I was informed by return post that all of their articles are of unblemished quality. She didn't choose to address whether or not anyone tried to speak to me. Nothing like a kick in the groin to open your eyes.
"I cannot imagine why investigative journalists wouldn’t pursue this story to the fullest. This is one of the largest questions needing an answer right now."
Like you, I have also severed any and all relationships to the legacy media, and like you I am also perplexed and infuriated about our journalist class abdicating its duty en masse, and instead suddenly deciding to parrot a Big Lie in unison.
As I am not a conspiracist, my only guess is that the intense social pressure for anyone on the left (which basically includes anyone not explicitly a conservative) to be a loyal unquestioning member of The Resistance (TM), plus the enforcement mechanism of social media (the crowd-sourced panopticon and lynch mob in your pocket) has made it just too dangerous and difficult for most people to dissent in the slightest.
One misplaced tweet, one uncomfortable question, one quote taken out of context on Twitter, and you could go to bed rich and famous and wake up a social pariah with all your perks taken away never to return. (I think this is also why there has been a mass viral outbreak of cowardice among college admins, publishing and other cultural execs, etc)
Maybe someone like Jon Stewart has the cash and cachet to dissent (he is probably uncancellable), but for most everyone else, going along with the mob is the safe move.
Rogan can, and should. He has a bigger bully pulpit than our feckless leader. The more he pisses of the mainstream media, the more following he will glean.
Afterthought: Stewart is rich and retired, hence, yes, uncancellable.
There are also a significant number actually on the left who dissent - for one thing, we've always been suspicious of Big Pharma; this shit is just about what we'd expect. The sudden outbreak of gullibility is probably the result of panic.
If you want to keep a toe in the cesspool, the NYT will send you a newsletter six days per week for free. I continue to enjoy reading biased, poorly sourced items followed by a plea that I subscribe. They just don't get how bad they are as a source of information. They honestly think that they're enticing me with the rubbish they produce. I know it's wicked but I can't help myself. The 4th Estate is dead. Long live Substack.
It's your time, but I don't see the point. Would I learn anything? Its not like it costs the NYT anything to include another email address on a broadcast spam.
that's brilliant advice I will consider that, thanks!
If you are mainstream msm or an “elite” and wrong , double down or memory hole that info and blame Randos on Facebook or Joe Rogan. Apply , rinse, repeat.
"27 scientists in The Lancet put it this way in mid-2020: 'We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.'”
I can't overstate how furious this makes me.
Did you also know that that letter was secretly coordinated by Peter Daszak, a major proponent of gain-of-function research, close friend and colleague of “bat lady” Zhengli, and the guy responsible for funnelling US funds to the Wuhan lab?
You couldn’t make this shit up.
Criminal
Oh yes. Too me this is the biggest episode of MSM malfeasance since the Iraq War.
Tells you a lot about those Scientists though doesn’t it?? And they are the “eminent” ones. Question everything. Challenge everything
Well, we know it is illegal to do gain-of-function research in America. We know Anthony Fauci funneled money through EcoHealth to pay for research in China on the Corona Virus, where it is not illegal to do gain-of-function research. We know that the first cases of SARS CoV-2 were literally in the neighborhood.
We also know that Fauci intervened with political pressure and research funding to prevent well known researchers from saying the virus was tinkered with. We know that Fauci conspired to ruin doctors questioning lockdowns. We know he conspired with the FDA and CDC to eliminate any off-label treatments for Covid. We know that the FDA and Phizer have colluded to keep the trial data from the public. We know the trials were flawed in significant ways.
We know researchers have been tinkering with the virus for decades. We know that technocrats were playing roll games for a Covid outbreak before the pandemic. We know that Big Pharma presented a very leaky but super profitable vaccine almost immediately. We know mandates guarantee those profits, and make life much more difficult for people who are anti-authoritarian.
But to say any of this through the major media would get you fired, tarred (misinformation) and feathered (anti-vaxxer!).
If anything of what RFK wrote is untrue, it is definitely libelous. So why doesn't Fauci file a lawsuit against him?
I wonder why that might be....
We can also assume Fauci thinks himself invincible, with so much media power ready to destroy anyone who suggests he is anything but a Saint.
And a homophobic, racist, white supremacist.
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. Yeah, like any war, it will remain opaque forever. Facts is, messing with viruses like that, sooner or later, accidents happen, and men figure out how to manipulate them for their own ends.
As a new first time Grandma to the *cutest baby ever*, I have officially lost my sense of humor. Pfizer now seeking FDA approval for Emergency Use of the covid vaccine on babies over 4 months old!!! Operative Word: Emergency …. There is NO EMERGENCY in children. NONE. So the origin, transmission, cases, severity, etc every aspect of this “pandemic” has been politicized and fueled by a maniacal media …and now, parents will be guilted and shamed into jabbing their babies. “ The Matt’s” continue to expose the endless deceit and yet, here we go again….This is madness!! Something really really needs to give ..STAT.
You obviously are missing the point that the vaccine (and potential side effects) will reduce that 4 month old's risk from Covid to about .0004% - or about the same as they would be without the vaccine.
Math is hard
And racist.
I remember taking my two young boys waaaaay down mountain trails to fish small streams.
At the time, (laws have since changed) it was illegal to carry a firearm on these state gamelands. I always carried a .44 magnum with me, just in case we ran into an aggressive bear. I just couldn't fathom coming home with only one child and telling my wife "well, a bear got Jr., but at least I was obeying the law." So, regardless of what the authorities say.... I BLAME THE PARENTS.
Be on the lookout for a childcare mandate from Nanny. You are right on with the "madness" of this. Pfizer is hoping to get approval for the kids > 2 on the basis that a third shot just might help produce some immunity! We may need to consider developing an underground network of childcare so parents won't have to choose between needlessly shooting up their baby or returning to work. I for one envy new grandparents!
I remember when Jon Stewart appeared on the Stephen Colbert show back in June, 2021 and dared to suggest that Sars Covi2 came from a lab. "We owe a debt of gratitude to science. Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science". Of course, Colbert feigned shock and concern that his friend would make such a suggestion, but I'm sure the exchange was set up in advance. After all, the establishment left is all about signaling. They can't broach an idea without someone else's say-so. And what better person to convey that it was now okay to entertain the idea of a lab leak than Jon Stewart.
That's an interesting question. For what it's worth, Rogan has said on many occasions that he did not think it was set up in advance because Colbert kept stepping all over it. His take, as a professional comedian, was there's no way Colbert would have kept interrupting the flow of Stewart's bit if this had been pre-planned. Throwing off people's train of thought and timing is basically the cardinal sin among comedians. Found that to be an interesting perspective.
PS: Always remember – Biden was the governor of Ukraine after Obama’s successful coup in Ukraine in 2014; Biden was selecting and removing heads of industry and Ukraine’s puppet government, dismissing the federal judge investigating Burisma – a judge that State Dept. lauded for integrity only weeks before… The immense corruption of Biden family still needs to be investigated – Hunter’s Burisma was used to ‘wash” US dirty money. Thanks heavens that recent “colored revolution” coups in Belarus and Kazakhstan were not successful.
WHO will be the first current or former Democrat Congresswoman/man or Senator to publicly acknowledge and confirm the brazen scam of the century – DNC’s + CIA/FBI security complex (St. Obama/Biden/Hillary/Pelosi/Schumer, Jammie Raskin, etc. + Brennan, Clapper, Hayden, etc.) Russia-gate hoax and subsequent conspiracies, including 1/6 “armed insurrection”?
War party is currently in power and war-monger vampires must be stopped. Military-industrial complex must be defunded – US main “products” and exports are now weapons, coups and immense and all-encompassing corruption.
China is far more capitalist than the US, Russia has not been Communist for 30+ years, while the US is a corporate socialism (a more polite term for -- fascism)
Right, but we've seen this a few times before and it's off-topic. Please stop spamming the board.
Education is very important. My apology for offending your delicate feelings about Russia-gate hoaxters
I’ve thought it was a bioweapon from Day 1 with a psyop response to make $$ and concentrate technocratic power. Call it a conspiracy theory, but it makes more sense than Coincidence Theory.
Here's another datum. Fauci serves on "biodefense" committees. Interpret it as you wish.
100% agree in nearly all cases, but it’s too much incompetence and is serving the corporatist agenda just a little too perfectly. Not acknowledging natural immunity, suppressing and demonizing cheap early treatment, shuttering small biz while allowing big business to operate and on and on seems intentional, not blundering
Gotcha. Absolutely that could be incompetence or just intentionally poor lab safety protocols to create plausible deniability. “Ah shucks. The Wuhan lab should have done a better job with safety. So sorry. We’ll do better next time.” Obviously, I can’t prove anything, but I’m highly, highly suspicious and I never want this to happen again.
Beyond ass-coverage: these are, presumably, mostly sincere people whose life’s work has been to prevent exactly what they have now unleashed. I’d say at least some of them are literally unable to admit the truth, or even its possibility, to themselves.
... unless there's a large pay-out for being incompetent.)))