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Federal Court Rules Against FDA Over Anti-Ivermectin PostsBy Zachary Stieber
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) likely overstepped its authority when it told Americans to “stop” using ivermectin against COVID-19, a federal court ruled on Sept. 1.
“FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine,” U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the ruling.
The FDA has authority under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to convey information to consumers. The FDA during the COVID-19 pandemic has issued multiple statements discouraging people from taking ivermectin against COVID-19.
Accompanied by a picture of a horse and a link to an FDA webpage on ivermectin, the agency wrote in one social media post: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The page it linked to is titled, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.”
Three doctors sued the FDA over its statements on ivermectin, arguing the agency cannot advise doctors on which drugs to prescribe.
Ivermectin is approved by the agency as an antiparasitic drug for both humans and animals. Federal law gives the government immunity against legal actions, with some exceptions. One exception, known as ultra vires, is when an official acts outside their authority. Plaintiffs challenging the acts must show that the official was “acting ‘without any authority whatever,’ or without any ‘colorable basis for the exercise of authority,'” according to an earlier court ruling.
The FDA does have the authority to share data and facts, the parties agree. But they diverge on whether the FDA can issue recommendations on medical matters, such as treatments.
The FDA has claimed that the posts do not contain advice, stating in one brief that they were “informational statements” that “do not ‘direct’ consumers, or anyone else, to do or refrain from doing anything.” At the same time, the FDA acknowledged that the statements “provided recommendations” and “advise[d] consumers.”
“Despite these concessions, FDA never points to any authority that allows it to issue recommendations or give medical advice,” Judge Willett wrote.
“Rather, FDA argues that some posts included a hyperlink that leads to the update. The update, in turn, directs consumers to “[t]alk to your health care provider.” But not all of the social-media posts included such a link. And even for those posts that did include a link, the posts themselves offer advice, not mere information.”
The update itself is problematic because of its title, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19,” the judge said. Even though it later says that people can take ivermectin if prescribed by a health care provider, “the trailing qualifier does not lessen the opening instruction’s imperative character,” he said. Exposing the FDA’s Orwellian Lie About Ivermectin | CLIP | Facts MatterU.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled against the doctors in 2022, finding that doctors had not proven an exception to sovereign immunity and that there was no indication the FDA acted outside of the authority conferred by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Judge Brown erred on the second point as well, according to the new ruling. “Nothing in the Act’s plain text authorizes FDA to issue medical advice or recommendations,” Judge Willett said. The judge, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Edith Brown Clement and Jennifer Walker Elrod.
Judges Willett and Brown were appointed under President Donald Trump. Judges Clement and Elrod were appointed under President George W. Bush.
The appeals court panel remanded the case back to Judge Brown to decide on whether the doctors have standing. The ruling followed oral arguments before the panel.
Dr. Robert Apter, one of the plaintiffs, called the ruling “a big win for doctors and for patients!” “This case has broad implications for protecting the practice of medicine from unlawful interference by the FDA,” added Jared Kelson, a lawyer at Boyden Gray who is representing the plaintiffs. “It’s about ensuring that federal agencies act only within their statutory authority. The FDA crossed a bright line here.” The U.S. government has not yet reacted to the ruling.
Zachary Stieber Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. |
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Doctor: Pharmacists Continuing to Refuse Ivermectin Prescriptions, Raising Ethical ConcernsCOVID Treatments & Remedies
The continued refusal of pharmacists nationwide to fill prescriptions for controversial COVID medications has raised questions over medical autonomy and who ultimately has control over patient care, according to a prominent doctor.
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a practitioner and founder of Coalition of Health Freedom, told The Epoch Times that many pharmacists nationwide are still refusing to fill prescriptions issued for ivermectin issued to patients for the treatment of COVID, despite statements from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affirming that right to doctors.
“This needs to come to an end. In telling my patients what medicines they can and cannot have access to, we effectively have a large group of pharmacists practicing medicine without a license,” said Dr. Bowden. “They have no accountability for this yet they are allowed to dictate patient care.”
“I see it every single day. Enough is enough,” Dr. Bowden added. Ivermectin has been around for decades but became the center of controversy in 2020 after medical opinion became divided over its effectiveness as a treatment for COVID. In the aftermath, many pharmacists refused to fill prescriptions for the medication.
By 2023, the issue had made its way into a courtroom when on Aug. 8 a lawyer representing the FDA confirmed that doctors were free to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID.
“FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID,” Ashley Cheung Honold, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the FDA, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
The government lawyer made the statement in defense of the FDA’s repeated calls for people to not take ivermectin for COVID. The FDA on Aug. 21, 2021, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
On Aug. 17, the FDA issued clarification, this time stating that while it had approved ivermectin for certain uses in humans and animals, it had not issued any statement affirming the safety or effectiveness of the drug for treating COVID. However, the agency again affirmed that it would be left to individual doctors whether or not to prescribe the medication for the treatment of COVID.
“Health care professionals generally may choose to prescribe an approved human drug for an unapproved use when they judge that the unapproved use is medically appropriate for an individual patient,” the FDA said.
The National Institutes of Health COVID-19 treatment guidelines recommend against using ivermectin for COVID treatment, citing a purported lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. Other studies have found ivermectin to be effective.
Dr. Bowden, who is one of three plaintiffs in the case, had hoped the FDA’s acknowledgment would have put an end to the objections at the pharmacist counter. However, earlier this week another one of her patients who she had been treating was refused service. Complicating the situation, the patient was elderly and couldn’t easily access other options and in the time it took to find a pharmacy that would honor the prescription the patient’s health began to deteriorate, according to Dr. Bowden.
“It’s hard to believe, but pharmacists are still blocking these potentially life-saving medications,” said Dr. Bowden. “The pharmacist didn’t talk to the patient and won’t know if the patient lives or dies yet had control of his care.”
Dr. Bowden believes that in most cases individual pharmacists aren’t the ones to blame, and are often carrying out orders from corporate leadership. However, claims to have seen examples where pharmacists prevented her patients from getting their medication as a result of their own “personal agenda.”
“It’s an outrage. I would have thought we were beyond this but it continues to happen,” said Dr. Bowden. If this newfound power isn’t checked, it could lead down a slippery slope that diminishes patient’s rights, according to Dr. Bowden.
“Prior to COVID, I never had a pharmacist refuse a prescription. This is a new phenomenon and it needs to come to an end. This is going beyond their role and it’s a dangerous trend,” said Dr. Bowden.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), believes that the widespread denial of ivermectin could have resulted in untold COVID deaths. “The doctors I’ve been dealing with and talking to for years now, they believe that probably hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their lives because they were denied early treatment and they were denied because the FDA sabotaged, for example, ivermectin,” Mr. Johnson told FOX News on Aug. 11.
“We are going down a very dangerous path, but it’s a path that is being laid out and planned by an elite group of people that want to take total control over our lives, and that’s what they’re doing bit by bit,” he added. |
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‘FDA Is Not a Physician’: Appeals Court Sides With Doctors on Ivermectin for COVID-19COVID Treatments & Remedies
A federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled on Friday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had overstepped its authority in their ruling that three doctors will be able to move forward with their lawsuit over the use of ivermectin off-label to treat COVID-19.
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, one of three doctors who initially filed the petition, trumpeted the ruling as a victory for not only the truth, but patient rights.
“The FDA misled the public into thinking it has more authority than it does,” Dr. Bowden, a practitioner and founder of Coalition of Health Freedom, told The Epoch Times. “This decision confirms that the FDA is not your doctor and has no authority to tell doctors how to practice medicine.”
Judge Don Willett wrote for the three person panel that also included Jennifer Walker Elrod and Edith Brown Clement. “The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to.”
“FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise—but not to endorse, denounce, or advise. The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to. As such, the Doctors can use the APA to assert their ultra vires claims against the Agencies and the Officials.”
The anti-ivermectin messaging put out by FDA officials also drew the ire of Judge Willett, who wrote that “Left unmentioned in most of that messaging: ivermectin also comes in a human version. And while the human version of ivermectin is not FDA-approved to treat the coronavirus, some people were using it off-label for that purpose.”
In the ruling social media posts made by the agency were cited as evidence, citing that “Even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond FDA’s statutory authority,” he wrote.
The FDA on Aug. 21, 2021, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The National Institutes of Health COVID treatment guidelines recommend against using ivermectin for COVID treatment, citing a purported lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. Other studies have found ivermectin to be effective.
The lawsuit was initially filed in June 2022 by Dr. Bowden, Drs. Robert L. Apter, and Paul E. Marik for interfering with both their authority to prescribe an approved medication and the doctor-patient relationship. All three alleged their reputations were harmed by the FDA campaign. Dr. Bowden lost admitting privileges at a Texas hospital while Dr. Marik alleged he lost his jobs at a medical school and at a hospital for promoting the use of ivermectin.
The ruling comes as a blow to the FDA. The agency had argued that the case should not be allowed to move forward, claiming that the complaints didn’t overcome the FDA’s “sovereign immunity,” which protects government entities from many civil lawsuits regarding their responsibilities.
The FDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The refusal of pharmacists nationwide to fill prescriptions for ivermectin has become a hot-button issue, raising questions over medical autonomy and who ultimately has control over patient care.
Ivermectin has been around for decades but became the center of controversy in 2020 after medical opinion became divided over its effectiveness as a treatment for COVID. In the aftermath, many pharmacists refused to fill prescriptions for the medication.
On Aug. 8 a lawyer representing the FDA confirmed that doctors were allowed to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID. “FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID,” Ashley Cheung Honold, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the FDA, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
FDA Detects Serious Safety Signal for Covid Vaccine Among KidsDr. Bowden claims that despite the endorsement from the FDA, the practice of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for ivermectin continues.
“This needs to come to an end. In telling my patients what medicines they can and cannot have access to, we effectively have a large group of pharmacists practicing medicine without a license,” said Dr. Bowden told the Epoch Times on Friday. “They have no accountability for this yet they are allowed to dictate patient care.”
“I see it every single day. Enough is enough,” Dr. Bowden added.
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FDA loses its war on ivermectin and agrees to remove all social media posts and consumer directives
This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship. Thank you @BoydenGrayPLLC for your excellent counsel. @drpaulmarik1 @RobertApter1 @Covid19Critical
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FDA Has ‘Gone Rogue’ in Its Approval of New COVID-19 Boosters: Dr. Robert MaloneDr. Malone accused the FDA of flouting its own rules and “going rogue” by green-lighting updated COVID-19 vaccines with limited clinical trial data.By Tom Ozimek and Joshua Philipp The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has “gone rogue,” according to virologist Dr. Robert Malone, who accused the federal agency of sacrificing its own rules and regulations with its decision to recommend the latest batch of COVID-19 boosters, which only have limited clinical trial data attesting to their efficacy and safety.
Dr. Malone made the remarks in an interview with EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program on Sept. 11, the day that the FDA cleared new COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to counter the waning effectiveness of the currently available shots.
“It’s difficult to conclude anything other than the FDA is no longer feeling bound by their own rules and regulations,” Dr. Malone said. “The term is—they’ve gone rogue.”
Dr. Malone said the lack of human clinical trial data demonstrating effectiveness and safety of the updated vaccines should have precluded their approval by the FDA.
He said that, essentially, the FDA authorized the new vaccines on the premise that “neutralizing antibodies as detected in mice and their cross-reactivity are correlative protection,” which he said “is a lie, there are no established correlates of protection for SARS-CoV-2.” FDA officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The agency cleared Moderna’s and Pfizer’s newest mRNA vaccines on Sept. 11 without analyzing data from any human trials.
In a statement announcing its approval, the FDA said that the decision was supported by its evaluation of “manufacturing data” from vaccine producers and “non-clinical immune response data on the updated formulations including the XBB.1.5 component.”
The benefit-risk profile of earlier versions of the vaccines is “well understood,” the FDA claimed, adding that the similar manufacturing process for the updated vaccines “suggests that the vaccines are a good match for protecting against the currently circulating COVID-19 variants.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) followed with its own recommendation on Sept. 12, urging nearly all Americans to get the new vaccines. The shots will be available to children as young as 6 months old this month. Dr. Robert Malone: The Coordinated Propaganda Narrative Around COVID-19 | CLIP
The new vaccines target XBB.1.5, a sub-type of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease COVID-19. However, the XBB.1.5. subvariant has already largely been displaced by newer strains of the quickly evolving virus, including EG.5, according to the CDC.
While FDA documents show the agency did not include any trial data in its review of the new shots, data from a Moderna trial was considered by the CDC before it issued its recommendation. The trial featured just 50 people receiving a new shot, and found the vaccine induced levels of neutralizing antibodies that authorities said would protect against COVID-19. One of the 50 people suffered a vaccine-related adverse reaction.
‘Lot of Red Flags’“There’s essentially no data,” Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo said at a recent news conference, where he suggested that people might be better off passing on the new round of shots.
“Not only that, but there are a lot of red flags,” Dr. Ladapo added, while pointing to studies finding that the effectiveness of the vaccines turns negative over time.
“There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people, there’s been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people.”
He also noted that studies have linked previous versions of the COVID-19 vaccine to cardiac problems such as heart inflammation.
“It’s truly irresponsible for FDA, CDC, and others to be championing something … when we don’t know the implications of it,” Dr. Ladapo said.
Asked to comment on Dr. Ladopo’s remarks, Dr. Malone pointed to a growing body of studies that show negative vaccine effectiveness, which he said suggests that, in the risk-benefit analysis, “there’s no discernible benefit, or there’s negative benefit, but there’s clearly risk.” ‘Most Americans Take Them’While acknowledging the current vaccines’ waning effectiveness, CDC Director Mandy Cohen penned an op-ed in The New York Times on Sept. 13, in which she called the updated COVID-19 vaccines “one of the most effective tools in combating the virus.”
“Covid-19 vaccines are the best way to give the body the ability to keep the virus from causing significant harm. Extensive studies and real-world experience have shown that they are safe and they work,” she wrote. “And most Americans take them.”
Dr. Cohen said the vaccines were put through extensive clinical trials before they were introduced in 2021 and “since then, their safety has been intensely monitored.”
She didn’t address criticism, such as the little trial data that’s been made available.
That FDA and CDC moves have been questioned by a number of doctors. Dr. Paul Offit, an FDA adviser, suggested to the UK’s Daily Mail that younger, healthy people who have already been vaccinated don’t need one of the new doses.
“We are best served by targeting these booster doses to those who are most at risk of severe disease,” such as people older than 75, Dr. Offit said. “Boosting otherwise healthy young people is a low-risk, low-reward strategy.”
In his remarks at the news conference, Dr. Ladapo asked people to make decisions based on their “resonance of truth” rather than depending on “very educated people telling you what you should think.”
“When they try to convince you to be comfortable and agree with things that don’t feel comfortable and don’t feel like things you should agree with, that’s a sign … And I encourage you and certainly beg and hope that you do listen to it, because it will serve you right,” he said.
A January–July 2023 study that analyzed data from 33 California state prisons found that individuals who received new COVID-19 booster shots were more likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who didn’t receive the jabs.
The infection rate among the group that received the bivalent booster shots came in at 3.2 percent—higher than the 2.7 percent among the unvaccinated.
Late last month, the CDC conceded that the new BA.2.86 strain can cause infection even among people who have previously been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The large number of mutations in this variant raises concerns of greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections compared with other recent variants,” the agency said in its assessment.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
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British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment Against Her Willby Tyler Durden, 04September2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/british-court-rules-competent-conscious-patient-can-be-denied-life-sustaining-treatment In my torts class, I often compare the different approaches and doctrines in the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the most pronounced is the position and authority of physicians on issues like consent and malpractice. This week produced a particularly striking example.
British doctors are seeking to take a 19-year-old critically ill female patient off the intensive care despite her objections and those of her parents.
Unlike most such cases, the woman known only as “ST” is conscious and communicative. Yet, the doctors argue that she is not being realistic about her chances of survival from a rare disorder. Now a British court has agreed and ordered that she can be placed on end-of-life care against her will. ST is suffering from a rare genetic mitochondrial disease that is progressively degenerative. The case has similarities to that of Charlie Gard, an infant who was removed from life support at the insistence of doctors despite objections from the parents. The Gard family was seeking to take Charlie to the United States for experimental treatment.
ST has been in the ICU for the past year, requiring a ventilator and a feeding tube. She also requires regular dialysis due to chronic kidney damage from her disease. She wants to be allowed to travel to Canada for an experimental treatment but the doctors oppose the plan and say that she is not accepting the realities of her terminal illness. They say that she is “actively dying” without any hope of resuming life outside of intensive care. Her deeply religious family have spent their entire life savings on her care and has complained that a “transparency order” requested by the hospital barred their ability to give details on the case to help raise public funds.
What is so remarkable about this case is that it is not an infant or a comatose patient. The court found that ST “is able to communicate reasonably well with her doctors with assistance from her mother and, on occasion, speech therapists.”
Moreover, two psychiatrists testified that she is mentally competent to make decisions about her own care.
Nevertheless, the judge found that she is mentally incapable of making decisions for herself because “she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors.”
The court appears to reject her ability to make this decision because she is making the wrong decision:
Accordingly, the court ruled that decisions about ST’s further care should be determined by the Court of Protection based on an assessment of her best interests. Her “best interest,” according to the doctors, is to die. Thus, the courts have declared that ST cannot choose to continue life-extending treatment and can be forced into palliative care against her will. The logic of the decision is chilling.The court is told that ST has cognitive and communicative abilities to make such decisions. However, because the court disagrees with her desire to continue to fight to live, she is treated as effectively incompetent. It seems like the judicial version of Henry Ford’s promise that customers could pick any color car so long as it is black. Here is the opinion: In the Matter of ST Click to Download opinion A NHS Trust v ST & Ors – ewcop_2023_40
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Higher Incidence of COVID-19 Found Among Consistent Mask-Wearers: StudySome mask wearers were found to have up to 40 percent higher incidence of infection, contradicting earlier studies and opposing the narrative of mask mandates.By Naveen Athrappully 27November2023 Updated: 29November2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/study-finds-higher-incidence-of-covid-19-among-consistent-mask-wearers-5536488
People who wore protective masks were found to be more likely to contract COVID-19 infections than those who didn’t, according to a recent Norwegian study.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection on Nov. 13, analyzed mask use among 3,209 individuals from Norway. Researchers followed them for 17 days, and then asked the participants about their use of masks. The team found that there was a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 among people who used masks more frequently.
Among individuals who “never or almost never” wore masks, 8.6 percent tested positive. That rose to 15 percent among participants who “sometimes” used masks, and to 15.1 percent among those who “almost always or always” wore them.
Adjusting for factors such as vaccination status, the study determined that individuals who sometimes or often wore masks had a 33 percent higher incidence of COVID-19, compared to those who never or almost never wore masks. This jumped to 40 percent among people who almost always or always wore them.
However, adjusting for “differences in baseline risk over time,” the risk of wearing masks turned out to be “less pronounced,” with only a 4 percent higher incidence of infection among mask-wearers.
“The results contradict earlier randomized and non-randomized studies of the effectiveness of mask-wearing on the risk of infection,” the researchers wrote.
“Most of these studies reported that wearing a face mask reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection. Some observational studies have reported manyfold reductions while one community-based randomized trial failed to demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in infection risk and one cluster randomized community trial found only a modest reduction.”
The researchers pointed out a major limitation of their study: Individuals who used masks may have done so to protect others from their own infection. This could explain the “positive association between risk of infection and mask usage.”
Behavioral differences and the fact that the survey was based on self-reporting could also contribute to bias, it stated. There’s also a possibility that mask wearers felt safe while wearing masks and thus didn’t follow other regulations such as social distancing, which raised their risk of contracting COVID-19, the study said.
“Our findings suggest that wearing a face mask may be associated with an increased risk of infection. However, it is important to note that this association may be due to unobservable and non-adjustable differences between those wearing and not wearing a mask,” the researchers stated.
“Therefore, caution is imperative when interpreting the results from this and other observational studies on the relationship between mask-wearing and infection risk. Recommendations to wear face masks in the community are largely informed by low certainty evidence from observational studies.”
Researchers called for more trials and studies to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of wearing masks against transmission of respiratory pathogens.
The study was fully funded by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. It reported no conflicts of interest. Masking MandatesThe new study comes at a time when some regions in North America are reinstating mask mandates amid a reported increase in COVID-19 cases.
At the beginning of November, many regions in the Bay Area issued masking rules in health care settings ahead of the respiratory disease season, when infections such as COVID-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus are expected to spread. In the state of California, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, and Solano issued masking mandates, with the rules remaining in effect until next March or April.
While in some places only staff and workers of a health care facility are required to wear masks, others require patients and visitors to wear masks as well. Rosemary Hills School in Maryland announced in September that it distributed KN95 masks to students and teachers while mandating masking for at least 10 days after three students from a classroom tested positive for COVID-19.
A month earlier, school officials with the Kinterbish Junior High School in Cuba, Alabama, asked students, employees, and visitors to wear masks “due to the slow rise of COVID cases in the area.”
Seven hospitals in Canada reinstated mask mandates last month to “help prevent transmission of COVID-19.”
In British Columbia, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry announced that health care workers, volunteers, and visitors would be required to wear “medical” masks in all public health care facilities starting on Oct. 3.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing masks to counter COVID-19. “Masking is a critical public health tool and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask,” it said in an August 2021 update.
Certain states have already made it clear that mask mandates wouldn’t be allowed. In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an X post that there would be “NO mask mandates in Texas.” Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo highlighted the issue of the ineffectiveness of masking policies.
“What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don’t call it sanity,” he said in a post on X. “These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate.”
Several studies have questioned the use of masks to prevent viral transmission. A review published in late January at the Cochrane Library that analyzed 78 randomized controlled trials found that they didn’t show “a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks.”
In an interview with the Brownstone Institute in February, Tom Jefferson, a senior associate tutor at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, pointed out that there hasn’t been a “proper trial” of masks whereby a huge, randomized study was done to check their effectiveness. Instead, some experts overnight began to perpetuate a “fear-demic.”
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What Some Call “Anti-Science” Is Just Anti-Authoritarianismby Tyler Durden, 20october2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-some-call-anti-science-just-anti-authoritarianism Authored by Alex Washburne via The Brownstone Institute,
Sometimes it feels as if we’re living in a dizzying house of narrative mirrors and anyone sincerely interested in walking the true path through the world risks being unable to see the true path as they get trapped in our horrific hall of insincere reflections.
The truth of any given matter, the objective facts and consilient theories, seems to matter less than the ability of an idea or narrative to reflect back to people what they wish to see. Our marketplace of ideas incentivizes manufacturing narrative mirrors that provide epistemological narcissists an opportunity to view themselves in a favorable light and secure a foothold in media outlets that have devolved from curators of our frontal lobe to antagonists of our amygdala.
Speaking of epistemological narcissists and narrative mirrors, let’s talk about Peter Hotez and his narrative of a growing “Anti-Science” movement.
Peter Hotez self-identifies as a scientist and appears to spend most of his time running around predominately liberal media outlets, using his stature as “The Scientist” to misrepresent, demean, and cry “disinformation” on information, worldviews, and even scientific theories that differ from his own. Any scientist who disagrees with Dr. Hotez and his outrageous, inhuman, insensitive, and irrational proclamations is blocked and ridiculed. While truth may bounce off Hotez like bullets off of Thanos, it appears our disagreements have successfully penetrated the armor of Dr. Hotez’s ego and a new ego-defense is materializing.
Now, Dr. Hotez claims that there is “an Anti-Science movement,” a cultural and political boogeyman that is out to undermine science and target scientists. I have little doubt he would love to snap his fingers and make what he views as “Anti-Science” people, beliefs, and institutions disappear in an act of anti-heroic benevolence for the world.
The whole notion of “Anti-Science,” however, is a narrative. It is not a physical object like “anti-matter” or “antigen” nor is it a process like “antibody maturation” nor an objective and diagnosable clinical condition like “antisocial personality disorder.” “Anti-Science” is nothing but an attempt to name a thing that Hotez sees, but he views our political world from a far-off silo and lives in a hall of mirrors of his own design. As a consequence of Hotez’ distance from the people and patterns he’s labeling “Anti-Science,” the thing he sees is not a thing that exists in our shared, objective universe.
To understand what Hotez sees, why he sees it, and why it’s not a thing in our universe, we have to provide, to the best of our ability, a minimal and objective set of historical facts that can reproduce what he sees. I hypothesize one can synthesize Hotez’ toxic worldview by following the 7-step recipe below:
If these seven criteria are met, I believe someone like Peter Hotez will be a nearly inevitable social consequence. The simple explanation is that the criteria above polarized scientists (1) without them knowing they are polarized (2), gave them an opportunity (3) to exercise somewhat unchecked State power (4), and gave them media power (5) to suppress dissent by calling it “disinformation” (6).
The first six steps of this recipe create an authoritarian ethos in scientists – Trust the Science, Follow the Science – and compel them to act on these politically ethnocentric and authoritarian impulses with few checks and balances except for popular discontent. Inevitably, the siloed and politically biased composition of scientists will result in policies that sow massive discontent (lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates). When we add the 7th ingredient of the recipe, people exposed to an authoritarian bunch of scientists brushing aside their humanity, their political rights, and their distinct value systems will express their discontent. The people expressing discontent will correctly identify the scientists as the people and groups of scientists as the syndicate that corrupted the public policy process through unfair, undemocratic, and intolerant tactics, and the people will speak their minds at these scientists – like Hotez – in public fora.
The Hotez’s will need to be fermented in this social and media concoction of authoritarianism within grasp hindered by legitimate public criticism for some time. Eventually, they will need a narrative to brush away that public resistance so they will create an ego-defensive narrative that positions them as heroes, Scientists as Saviors (scientific saviorism). Hotez and others have somewhat of a manic pixie dream scientist view of themselves – the scientists who are apolitical heroes of infinite cultural latitude exist only in their imaginations to serve their fantasies of grandiosity and benevolence. They sincerely believe that if science says X is effective at reducing one disease then all of society ought to Follow the Science to adopt X, mandate X, do whatever it takes to make X ubiquitous and thank scientists for X. Of course, the tricky thing about society is that it is comprised of humans, a vast anthropological mosaic of beliefs and value systems, and there are other beliefs and value systems that believe we ought to do Y.
Science has become a central pillar of the Saviors’ self-identity and so they don’t distinguish between science (the objective and often messy process of fairly evaluating many competing ideas) and the authoritarian actions of scientists. As the Toxic Hotez nears completion from cooking in a vat of legitimate public criticism for their scientific ethnocentrism, they will conceive a global conspiracy targeting science and scientists, a monstrous “Anti-Science” that demands even more power and legal protection of scientists, even stronger measures to police disinformation. As they look at the restored image of Scientists as Saviors in this narrative mirror, they will descend even further into madness.
Indeed, it is madness because what Hotez views as “Anti-Science” does not exist, it is not a good reflection of reality but rather a story told from pride and ego-defense. Hotez, a set of scientists closely connected with the heads of the NIH, NIAID, and other global health science funders (none of them democratically elected), and even the funders themselves ate the forbidden fruit of authoritarianism. Many before Hotez have tasted authoritarianism, and the results are predictable. The Scientists who grabbed the reigns of society during the pandemic and steered it with insensitive ambition are experiencing not a novel monstrosity but an age-old and dignified human response called “Anti-Authoritarianism.” Some – not all – scientists acted like authoritarians during the COVID-19 pandemic.Some – not all – scientists rallied around models from the most powerful and well-funded scientific groups at the start of the pandemic, even if their models were clearly wrong. When some scientists like John Ioannidis spoke up about the shortcomings of models that were guiding policy, the politically siloed scientists reacted with vitriol and social power that could crush careers in scientific institutions. The informal social control of scientists suppressed diverse views and resulted in science not shared.
So some – not all – scientists became very vocal in advocating for lockdowns despite the policy being inhumane and a clear violation of civil liberties, such as when fellow scientists Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Sunetra Gupta wrote the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) arguing that lockdowns were likely to cause harm and that all-cause mortality and morbidity could be reduced by focusing our protection and helping those with high risk of severe outcomes receive the best preventative support and treatment we could muster. The GBD was an alternative policy proposal that was also grounded in science and it differed in its moral calculus and focus on all-cause mortality. The GBD was assisted by a group whose beliefs aligned with the policies and ideas therein – the American Institute for Economic Research. That group was said to be a libertarian think tank.
There was just two problems with the Great Barrington Declaration: it was supposedly aligned with a group whose political preferences are anathema to many liberal scientists and it conflicted with the policies preferred by major science funders. A difference of political opinion also grounded in science and reason shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but for some reason it was. Major science funders, most of all the head of NIAID Dr. Anthony Fauci and the head of NIH Francis Collins, strongly believed that a better policy was to contain the virus – not mitigate its impacts – and hold off infections until vaccines arrived. The cost-benefit analysis of Fauci et al. differed from the GBD in that it prioritized only COVID mortality; costs were ignored and benefits assumed. Science, however, can’t decide which policy is better. The choice of what we ought to do is a problem as old as humanity, it is ethics and politics, religion, and morality. Thankfully, that’s why our system of government has a constitution and system of laws that provide us procedures for choosing policies even when equally good people disagree. Constitutions and procedures be damned.Drs. Fauci and Collins, both unelected and consequently not able to be unseated in an election, demanded a “devastating take-down” of the Great Barrington Declaration. They used their positions of immense scientific power to prod and poke and goad scientists who depend on Fauci and Collins for funding into action, generating a flurry of articles and media appearances calling the Great Barrington Declaration “fringe” and thereby imposing even stronger informal social control on scientists than that displayed during Ioannidis’ chapter of this saga. If you agreed with the GBD, you too were considered “fringe,” you were considered a “far-right Trump-supporting Libertarian.” That shouldn’t be a dis-qualifier in a sane scientific society, but such an accusation carries significant career costs in our politically siloed body of scientists.
After lockdowns, there were mask mandates and vaccine mandates. If you spoke up against vaccine mandates, whether your reasoning was scientific, religious, or political-philosophical, many scientists believed your speech should be labelled “disinformation.” Scientists, with the immense narrative power granted to them during this emergency, succeeded in labelling a great deal of information as “disinformation,” including scientific information such as early findings that immunity to COVID – including vaccine-induced immunity – may wane.
So some – not all – scientists did indeed fight too hard in our democratic society and their insensitive need to have everything their way risked tearing the delicate fabric of our society. They tried to force policies on people that conflicted with people’s beliefs, values, or even constitutional rights. Many people are predictably not happy about that. People spoke up and advocated for their beliefs as they are free to do in our society.
Some scientists tried to push back harder by saying that masks, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures were what The Science demanded. People, including many scientists like myself, then focused their criticism at this small band of authoritarians calling themselves The Science and interfering with our country’s representative and more inclusive policy process.
As people revolted to these Scientists’ undemocratic policies, our elected officials took note. Our democratic republic of states was a checkerboard of policies where not everyone Followed the Science, exactly as our laboratory of democracy was intended to be, but many scientists share the political belief that states’ departures from One Policy was immoral and unscientific (one and the same, in the ethical doctrine of The Science) and that the federal government should decide most things. Incidentally, the federal government is also a hub of scientific power with science-led agencies like the CDC, NIH/NIAID, and so concentrating power in the federal government would benefit scientists whereas letting states chose policies would put the decisions about public health closer to the people and their local elected representatives..
There was tension between the people, our local representatives, our federal representatives, and the Scientists. There was litigation challenging scientists’ suppression of speech, including Missouri v. Biden where plaintiffs include GBD authors were claiming Drs. Fauci and Collins infringed upon their freedom of speech by censoring these scientists and their sincerely held scientific and science-policy beliefs. There were court cases about masks on a plane that challenged the federal government’s deference of public health policy authority to unelected scientists. There were arguments aplenty, and scientists like Drs. Fauci or Hotez who felt they were lionized during the pandemic, who underwent an apotheosis to scientific authoritarianism in their pursuit of scientific saviorism, are now being bombarded by criticism from people, counties, states, elected representatives, and even scientists.
To make matters worse, one of the most consequential conflicts of interest in human history lurked beneath the surface. The virus that triggered the emergency was most likely a laboratory accident from a laboratory that received funding from these same heads of health science funding, Drs. Fauci and Collins. In fact, Peter Hotez himself subcontracted work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It’s within the realm of possibility the NIAID money Hotez sent to Wuhan could’ve bought the exact pipette or restriction enzymes that caused the pandemic. That’s a conflict of interest when it comes to deciding policies to mitigate the harms of this likely research-related accident.
Even without knowing the virus emerged from a lab, the mere fear they could be responsible for a global pandemic causing millions of deaths could reasonably be sufficient to cause scientists like Fauci and Hotez to exert undue influence on science and public health policy. Fears of a lab origin could explain why lab origin theories were branded as “conspiracy theories” with support from Drs. Hotez, Fauci and other health-science funders and the scientists close to them (Andersen, Holmes, Garry, etc).
Fears of a lab origin could explain why this syndicate of scientists prioritized reducing COVID mortality through extreme measures like lockdowns instead of drawing on decades of public health science by acknowledging competing risks, encouraging participation from anthropologically diverse people whose policies are being decided, and managing the more conventional all-cause mortality and morbidity instead of implementing a myopic focus on COVID.
The latter policy, incidentally, was that proposed by the GBD, none of whose authors were engaged in risky virological work in Wuhan and all of which had clear heads and sound arguments. Fears of a lab origin could plausibly lead scientists, concerned of their moral failings in possibly causing a pandemic, to desperately need a scientific saviorism success story like vaccines to balance the scales saving as many millions of lives as the millions of deaths they may have caused, leading them to label scientists’ divergent views on costs and benefits of vaccines as “disinformation.” The Wuhan COI could easily affect the observed irrational need to censor opposing views.
When we look at the pandemic history and our post-pandemic society from a more objective, less conflicted lens closer to the bodies of us innocent and diverse people Hotez labels “Anti-Science” from his siloed distance, we don’t see anything like “Anti-Science.” Instead, we see scientific authoritarianism and a predictable bipartisan anti-authoritarian response that even many scientists (including liberals like myself) support. Drs. Hotez and Fauci were authoritarians and now they are being challenged by the indomitable public that is reminding everyone who is in charge. As these authoritarians amongst us are being unseated from power, they create all manners of conspiracy theories and alternative narratives in a desperate effort to find purchase. If they can’t secure their newfound power, at least they may protect their reputations by casting their opponents as evil.
“Anti-Science” is thus not a real thing, nor is it sufficiently widely observed to warrant the dignity of being called a social construct. Anti-Science is an ego-defensive figment of Dr. Hotez’s authoritarian imagination, it is an effort to recenter The Science – the syndicate of scientists who attempted to center their own scientific paradigms and their own policy perspectives as if they were universally true and not merely political beliefs or value statements, possibly heavily conflicted ones – as deserving of power, sympathy, defense, and trust. Dr. Hotez is staring at the narrative mirrors the public uses to show him the monster he’s become, he is seeing a horrific – and true – reflection of scientists like him during the pandemic, and he is desperately trying to restore the image of himself from the current fallen general of an epistemological banana republic, back to the lionized Science and the Scientific Saviors we Followed. Hotez uses Anti-Science as an armor and an excuse to bypass a critical self-examination of the possible insensitivity and undemocratic behavior of he and his scientific savior colleagues during the pandemic.
The best way to assess whether a thing is objective or subjective is to ask different people if they see the same thing. That’s science. Of course, for things that hurt people like micro aggressions and the likes, it may help to ask the victims if it exists as they should experience the concentrated effects of the thing. I am a scientist, I was involved in both science and public policy during COVID, and yet I don’t see any horror of “Anti-Science” along my path in this narrative house of horrors.
Sure, I’ve seen disagreements in the public melee. I remember the history of disinformation on climate science, tobacco, and even Russian disinformation on all things, but that is not the thing Hotez describes and there isn’t generality other than institutions protecting their self-interests not because they are “Anti” anything but because they are “Pro” self and sometimes science reveals information that hurts a business’s bottom line. I’ve also seen companies act the same way when competitors enter the market, so past conflicts have nothing to do with science specifically. I’ve even been attacked, and even attacked for my science, but mostly I’ve been attacked by other scientists (including Hotez) who disliked the political implications of my findings. The Scientists who attacked me all form a relatively small, insular network of people closely connected with NIAID, NIH, or EcoHealth Alliance. While I was a researcher in the same wildlife virology community as EcoHealth Alliance, I didn’t conduct gain-of-function research, I didn’t subcontract work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and I have maintained objectivity by critically evaluating the facts of the matter even where they inconveniently point to scientists’ mismanagement of risks. I’ve found flaws in Science papers and used my expertise to uncover evidence consistent with SARS-CoV-2 being a research product of EcoHealth Alliance’s pre-COVID research proposals.
I critically examined early case data, found evidence of large pools of unascertained cases consistent with a lower-severity pandemic and was told that my science risked “upsetting public health policy.” I argued otherwise, helped in part by my brilliant wife who has a PhD in public health policy. I argued that the only way sincere science and rigorous analyses could “upset public health policy” would be if public health policy were unscientific, if scientists were usurping the public’s seats in the policy process, centering Scientists, their belief systems, their value systems, and their institutions at the expense of decentering a larger, more diverse public. I found evidence that corroborated the Great Barrington Declaration’s cost-benefit analysis, and I shared that evidence privately with policymakers without grabbing the reigns and forcing them to choose any one policy.
As a scientist who maintained independence, who presented evidence without invading the deliberative jury or the policy process, I see scientists who became intolerant, petulant authoritarians; I don’t see “Anti-Science” as anything other than a reflection of Hotez grappling with the legitimate criticisms of his and his colleagues’ improper authoritarian scientific conduct before, during, and after the pandemic.
Far from being “anti-scientific,” the anti-authoritarianism unseating Hotez as one of the hallmarks of a true scientist and it is a hallmark of the people our republic. You don’t have to be an expert historian or anthropologist to recall that Americans went to war with the British because my ancestors despised authoritarians ruling without representation.
Throughout the pandemic, many members of the public have been better scientists than many prominent scientists. Members of the public and independent scientists have resisted convenient explanations when the data did not support them, such as the claim that lockdowns are indisputably wise policies when the public knew that lockdowns carried costs that were not being considered by scientists like Hotez on MSNBC.
Members of the public and independent scientists have rightfully questioned the efficacy of masks, and only years later are their hunches about the low efficacy or possible inefficacy of masks as a public health policy becoming known by scientists.
Members of the public and independent scientists questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines, especially at reducing the risk of infection in the long term, and slowly, only after being labelled as “disinformation,” we are obtaining evidence of myocarditis, vaccine evasion in Provincetown, and more. Our citizenry has proven brilliant and remarkably agile, and predictably anti-authoritarian.
Hotez calls anyone – even scientists – assessing possible costs and estimating the true benefits of vaccines as “anti-vax.” It’s not “anti-vaccine” to err on the side of caution, to help doctors maintain their Hippocratic oath by ensuring benefits of a treatment or vaccine exceed the risks on a case-by-case basis (in science, we call this “individualized medicine”).
On the contrary, supporting systems that shake down and test hypotheses of vaccine safety and efficacy is one of the most pro-vaccine things we can do as it will inspire trust in vaccines that survive the gauntlet of scientific cross-examination. It is both pro-vax and pro-science to question the safety and efficacy of treatments, even those that have passed clinical trials, because that process of shaking down the answers gives us more confidence in the treatments we use and the science we’ve settled on. How many treatments have passed clinical trials only to be later discovered to have intolerable side effects? Would Hotez prefer “science” not uncover such later-discoverable complications?
Similarly, it is not “Anti-Science” to question the policies recommended by scientists or to investigate the possibility that scientists caused a pandemic. What Hotez calls “Anti-Science” is the core of science itself: an independence of mind, a diversity of perspectives, and an anti-authoritarian proclivity that conflicts with the interests of authoritarians masquerading as scientists. It is this independence and anti-authoritarianism that inspires confidence in science as well as democratic society, not the toxic ramblings of a scientific authoritarian as he’s unseated from power. Republished from the author’s Substack Alex Washburne is a mathematical biologist and the founder and chief scientist at Selva Analytics. He studies competition in ecological, epidemiological, and economic systems research, with research on covid epidemiology, the economic impacts of pandemic policy, and stock market response to epidemiological news. |
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Malice Aforethought on the COVID-19 Pandemic: “This is a global coup d’etat and intentional mass murder.” Dr. Mike YeadonBy Dr. Mike Yeadon
*** A message written to a trusted campaigning friend, who is struggling to accept that what is happening is intentional. It is indeed a big step to move from justifiable criticism of presumed incompetent politicians and industrialists to putting the pieces together in such a way that they can point only to intentionality. See what you think. * Dear X, I find that attempting to put all the information together in such a way as to allow for the whole even to be benign or at least not wholly malevolent is impossible.
That’s because, as you’ve no doubt heard me say, I believe it is malevolent! I too struggled early on, arguing “surely they must have known this!?” Etc. Once I allowed for the possibility that all the bad things were intentional, I find all the rest falls into place. Obviously that alone doesn’t prove that it was intentional.
Some early clues to intentionality are the coordinated responses of scores of governments to the alleged pandemic: lockdowns, masking, mass testing of the well, the misapplication of PCR-based techniques to bulk testing of clinical samples, selective business & school closures, border restrictions etc.
Not a single country had any of this as a core part of their own pandemic preparedness plan. Even the WHO’s scientific evaluation of NPIs concluded none of them worked & the only changes worth a dime were asking those with symptoms to remain at home until recovered & to increase the frequency of hand washing (because the route of transmission wouldn’t initially be known for sure).
I argued at the time that the only way all the countries could have adopted all these useless yet damaging & costly NPIs is if there was supranational coordination.
Whether that from WHO, WEF, etc., I don’t know. But illegitimate in any case. We now know that they knew that imposing these restrictions would save nobody, yet the negative consequences would be devastating, even lethal for some, who would no longer have access to the medical care they needed. Additionally, the use of furlough was obviously going to be enormously damaging to sovereigns who were already borrowed to the hilt.
I note the widespread adoption of an American term, furlough, into public discourse. In U.K. we never previously used the term. Nobody remarked on its arrival, which telegraphed the leading role played by Americans.
Then we have the imposition of radically altered medical protocols. Because of my long exposure to matters respiratory, I knew immediately they began panicking about needed 30,000 mechanical ventilators that something truly demonic was at hand. It’s never appropriate, in a patient with an unobstructed airway & an intact chest wall to sedate, intubate and ventilate them. Mechanical ventilation is certainly a marvellous, life-saving thing, but it comes with serious risks to the frail patient, in the form of ventilator acquired pneumonia, lung injury from use of pressure to inflate the lungs and more. The appropriate treatment would be an oxygen mask, single, low dose benzo, a cup of tea and a biscuit and a caring hand upon an arm.
In the USA as well many, once in this vulnerable state, were given remdesivir & not given total, intravenous nutrition. In most cases it was just a matter of time before they died.
In care homes, there was indiscriminate use of inappropriately high doses of midazolam and morphine. Not only high doses but repeatedly given to their elderly charges. They’d been told to do it by the highest medical authorities in the land and so few questioned it.
My PhD by coincidence was in this area, the effect of opiates on respiratory function. The discovery of multiple opiate receptors raised the possibility that it might be possible to invent receptor selective ligands that would relieve pain with reduced respiratory depression. Unfortunately, both are mediated primarily by mu opiate receptors, both centrally and in the periphery.
The combination of opiate agonists and benzodiazepines is contraindicated in patients unless close monitoring (for signs of respiratory depression) was in place.
It isn’t & cannot be in a care home. They too were murdered in large numbers. Finally, in the community, the family doctors were cautioned not to prescribe antibiotics in cases of covid “because antibiotics cannot treat viral illnesses”. It’s well known that what is usually termed secondary bacterial infection is generally what actually leads to death in this situation. However, the records show that prescriptions for antibiotics for suspected bacterial infection of the lungs fell by 50% & large numbers of people died avoidable deaths (and rather horrible deaths, too).
It’s not possible to regard all of this evidence without concluding that malice aforethought was at work here. It’s literally diabolical, what they did.
How it was done with so little pushback still confuses me. I do know that from the late-1990s right through late-2019, there was a sequence of tabletop simulations of global pandemic scenarios & bioterrorism scenarios, which allowed the perpetrators to hone their craft in the responses & control measures imposed. I believe some of these were translated onto the ground, giving emergency response team a chance to form & to rehearse what most of them thought were appropriate, given the fictional set up, though this is speculative.
Then we come to the “vaccines”. Given a career in pharma and biotech, I knew that it was impossible to create a vaccine in under 5-6 years if they were going to demonstrate clinical safety and hone manufacturing to yield the customarily high quality manufacturing necessary to produce tightly defined final drug product. If the latter if not done, it’s pointless doing the former, because what would otherwise be injected wouldn’t be what had been used in the clinical trials.
In other words, if there was a need for a new vaccine, you would never even contemplate running such a program, because no pandemic in history lasts a fraction of the minimum time necessary to create a safe and effective new vaccine.
Yet they went ahead. This too is malevolent, let alone the extraordinary lying, censorship & smearing of dissenters. Given my entire career used “rational drug design” principles to design and test molecules, I was able to put myself in the shoes of the designers of the jabs.
There are several, completely obvious safety issues built into these products. One is the axiomatic induction of “autoimmune” responses, regardless of which antigen was selected. The next was choice of antigen, where no one would pick spike protein, because it was highly likely to be directly toxic, it’s subject to the most rapid mutation (so a vaccine might lose efficacy) & also it’s the least different from human proteins (and so might trigger bystander attacks on even somewhat similar self proteins).
Yet all four leading players chose this antigen. What a coincidence! I’d have called up my peers in the other companies to endure we didn’t do that. That’s because it would be highly undesirable to have common risks to all programs.
On formulation, the mRNA-based products both selected LNPs to encapsulate their message. Yet there was industry knowledge that these not only travel all over the body including into the brain but that they accumulate in the ovaries.
Yet, knowing this, the companies & regulators went ahead and then others compounded the toxicity risk by recommending these injections in pregnant women and children.
I was still slow to piece together all this evidence of carefully thought out harms. But eventually I got there and have been speaking in what many regard as extreme terms ever since.
I’m afraid there’s no hiding from the reality that this is a global coup d’etat and intentional mass murder. Worse, we see the encroachment of surveillance technology and legal powers to introduce digital ID & CBDC as well as to eliminate cash.
It’s not difficult to come up with scenarios where presentation of digital ID will become mandatory. * Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles. Dr. Michael Yeadon, PhD, was Formerly Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer Allergy & Respiratory at Pfizer Global R&D. He holds Joint Honours in Biochemistry and Toxicology and a PhD in Respiratory Pharmacology. He is an Independent Consultant and Co-founder & CEO of Ziarco Pharma Ltd.
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The Great Demoralization26September2023 Updated: 26September2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-great-demoralization-5498920
Commentary On March 6, 2020, the mayor of Austin, Texas, canceled the biggest tech and arts trade show in the world, South-by-Southwest, only a week before hundreds of thousands were to gather in the city.
In an instant, with the stroke of a pen, it was all gone: hotel reservations, flight plans, performances, exhibitors, and all the hopes and dreams of thousands of merchants in the town. Economic impact: a loss $335 million in revenue at least. And that was just to the city alone, to say nothing of the broader impact.
It was the beginning of U.S. lockdowns. It wasn’t entirely clear at the time—my own sense was that this was a calamity that would lead to decades of successful lawsuits against the Austin mayor—but it turned out that Austin was the test case and template for the entire nation and then the world.
The reason was of course COVID but the pathogen wasn’t even there. The idea was to keep it out of the city, an incredible and sudden fallback to a medieval practice that has nothing to do with modern public health understanding of how a respiratory virus should be handled.
“In six months,” I wrote at the time, “if we are in a recession, unemployment is up, financial markets are wrecked, and people are locked in their homes, we’ll wonder why the heck governments chose disease ‘containment’ over disease mitigation. Then the conspiracy theorists get to work.”
I was right about the conspiracy theorists but I had not anticipated that they would turn out to be right about nearly everything. We were being groomed for extended national and global lockdowns.
At this point in the trajectory, we already knew the gradient of risk. It was not medically significant for healthy working-age adults (which still to this day the CDCs does not admit). So the shutdown likely protected very few if anyone.
The extraordinary edict—worthy of a tin-pot dictator of a dark age—completely overrode the wishes of millions, all on the decision of one man, whose name is Steven Adler.
“Was the consideration between maintaining that money, effectively rolling the dice, and doing what you did?” asked Texas Monthly of the mayor.
His answer: “No.” Clarifying: “We made a decision based on what was in the best health interest for the city. And that is not an easy choice.”
After the shocking cancellation, which overrode property rights and free will, the mayor urged all residents to go out and eat at restaurants and gather and spend money to support the local economy. In this later interview, he explained that he had no problem keeping the city open. He just didn’t want people from hither and yon—the dirty people, so to speak—to bring a virus with them.
He was here playing the role of Prince Prospero in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” He was turning the capital city of Texas into a castle in which the elite could hide from the virus, an action that also became a foreshadowing of what was to come: the division of the entire country into clean and dirty populations.
The mayor further added a strange comment: “I think the spread of the disease here is inevitable. I don’t think that closing down South Bay was intended to stop the disease from getting here because it is coming. The assessment of our public health professionals was that we were risking it coming here more quickly, or in a greater way with a greater impact. And the longer we could put that off, the better this city is.”
And there we have the “flatten the curve” thinking at work. Kick the can down the road. Postpone. Delay herd immunity as long as possible. Yes, everyone will get the bug but it is always better that it happens later rather than sooner. But why? We were never told. Flatten the curve was really just prolong the pain, keep our overlords in charge as long as possible, put normal life on hold, and stay safe as long as you can.
Prolonging the pain might also have served another surreptitious agenda: let the working classes—the dirty people—get the bug and bear the burden of herd immunity so that the elites can stay clean and hopefully it will die out before it gets to the highest echelons. There was indeed a hierarchy of infection.
In all these months, no one ever explained to the American public why prolonging the period of non-exposure was always better than meeting the virus sooner, gaining immunity, and getting over it. The hospitals around the country were not strained. Indeed, with the inexplicable shutdown of medical services for diagnostics and elective surgeries, hospitals in Texas were empty for months. Health care spending collapsed.
This was the onset of the great demoralization. The message was: your property is not your own. Your events are not yours. Your decisions are subject to our will. We know better than you. You cannot take risks with your own free will. Our judgment is always better than yours. We will override anything about your bodily autonomy and choices that are inconsistent with our perceptions of the common good. There is no restraint on us and every restraint on you.
This messaging and this practice is inconsistent with a flourishing human life, which requires the freedom of choice above all else. It also requires the security of property and contracts. It presumes that if we make plans, those plans cannot be arbitrarily canceled by force by a power outside of our control. Those are bare minimum presumptions of a civilized society. Anything else leads to barbarism and that is exactly where the Austin decision took us.
We still don’t know precisely who was involved in this rash judgment or on what basis they made it. There was a growing sense in the country at the time that something was going to happen. There had been sporadic use of lockdown powers in the past. Think of the closure of Boston after the bombing in 2013. A year later, the state of Connecticut quarantined two travelers who might have been exposed to Ebola in Africa. These were the precedents.
“The coronavirus is driving Americans into unexplored territory, in this case understanding and accepting the loss of freedom associated with a quarantine,” wrote the New York Times on March 19, 2020, three days after the Trump press conference that announced two weeks to flatten the curve.
The experience on a nationwide basis fundamentally undermined the civil liberties and rights that Americans had long taken for granted. It was a shock to everyone but to young people still in school, it was utter trauma and a moment of mental reprogramming. They learned all the wrong lessons: they are not in charge of their lives; someone else is. The only way to be is to figure out the system and play along.
We now see epic learning loss, psychological shock, population-wide obesity and substance abuse, a fall in investor confidence, a shrinkage of savings reflecting less interest in the future, and a dramatic decline in public participation in what used to be normal life events: church, theater, museums, libraries, fairs, symphonies, ballets, theme parks, and so on. Attendance in general is down by half and this is starving these venues of money. Most of the big institutions in large cities like New York, such as Broadway and the Met, are on life support. The symphony halls have a third empty seats despite lowering prices.
It seems remarkable that this three-and-a-half year-long war against basic liberty for nearly everyone has come to this. And yet it should not be a surprise. All ideology aside, you simply cannot maintain much less cultivate a civilized life when governments, in combination with the commanding heights of media and large corporations, treat their citizens like lab rats in a science experiment. You only end in sucking away the essence and vibrancy of the human spirit, as well as the will to build a good life.
In the name of public health, they sapped the will to health. And if you object, they shut you up. This is still going on daily.
The ruling class that did this to the country has yet to speak honestly about what transpired. It was their actions that created the current cultural, economic, and social crisis. Their experiment left the country and our lives in shambles. We’ve yet to hear apologies or even basic honesty about any of it. Instead, all we get is more misleading propaganda about how we need yet another shot that doesn’t work.
History provides many cases of a beaten down, demoralized, and increasingly poor and censored majority population being ruled over by an imperious, inhumane, sadistic, privileged, and yet tiny ruling class. We just never believed we would become one of those cases. The truth of this is so grim and glaring, and the likely explanation of what happened so shocking, that the entire subject is regarded as something of a taboo in public life.
There will be no fixing this, no crawling out from under the rubble, until we get something from our rulers other than public preening about a job well done, in ads sponsored by Pfizer and Moderna. From the Brownstone Institute Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Jeffrey A. Tucker |
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Steve Kirsch’s newsletterUS Nursing home data shows clearly that the COVID vaccines were a disaster for the elderly; they increased the risk of dying from COVIDI’m going to drill into more detail on this analysis of the CDC “gold standard” database which shows that the vaccines were a huge failure. There is no way to put a positive spin on this.Steve Kirsch
Executive summaryThe US Nursing Home data is the “gold-standard“ record level data for what happened in nursing homes after the COVID vaccine rolled out.
The signal from this data is clear and unambiguous: both the primary series and booster COVID vaccines increased the risk of death from COVID. The bivalent vaccines did absolutely nothing for the elderly (at least it didn’t make things worse, but it didn’t make things better).
The two things that reduced the infection fatality rate (IFR) were:
We can see both effects very clearly in the data shown in Figure 1 above. This is why the CDC isn’t touting this database as proof that the vaccines work. Neither is anyone on the pro-vax side of the narrative despite the fact that this data has been in public view for 2 years now.
So since nobody from their side wanted to analyze the data, I thought it would be a good idea if someone from our side took a look.
The reason why they never wrote about this to prove their case is that it shows the opposite. The so-called “misinformation spreaders” have been right all along: the vaccine clearly significantly increased the risk of an elderly person getting COVID for around 4 months. This is a huge problem because this was the time when the vaccine was supposed to be most effective (since we now know from FOIA requests that the FDA knew that the vaccine protection waned after 4 months).
Health officials claimed the vaccine could reduce risk of death by 10x. It’s right here in this tweet from an Australian government health authority NSW Health on August 17, 2021: The data they never told us about (the US Nursing Home data) shows a completely different story: it did the opposite and increased the risk of death by as much as 1.6 times higher odds of dying.
The attempts to attack my analysis, to date, are addressed here. They are weak hand-waving arguments with no evidentiary support. At no time did anyone ever justify their arguments with any numbers derived from the data. None of the attackers will publish their “correct” analysis of this data or their investigations showing anomalies.
The fact is that this is “gold standard” data. It doesn’t get any “closer to the source” than this. There were over 2M records to analyze from over 15,000 elderly care facilities in the US. These are large numbers and the effect size was huge.
The Fisher exact p-value for the 1.7 OR peak on 2/28/21 is 2.6e-109 and the Z-score for the odds ratio is 23.53. In other words, this difference didn’t happen because I cherry picked a result or it happened by chance. It was caused by something. If it wasn’t the vaccine, what caused this statistically significant difference in the rate of death from the virus (it was the same variant as before the vaccines rolled out).
Equally important is that Apple Valley Village had a 0% death rate from COVID prior to the vaccine rollout: 26 infections and not a single death. Just 3 weeks after the week of the shots, they had 90 COVID infections which resulted in 28 deaths from COVID. My hypothesis can easily explain that. Theirs cannot. So you can throw all the FUD you want at the Nursing Home data, but the bottom line is that this one anecdote is very powerful because it is verifiable in the database and with employees, but it cannot be explained how the death rate in this nursing home suddenly got at least 9X worse after the shots rolled out that should have made the death rate 10X better. That is a 70X swing. This is why Professor Morris simply ignores this because he cannot explain it. In science, you can’t ignore data you don’t like. You have to be able to explain it or admit you cannot. Morris does neither.
Don’t you find it strange that this data has been publicly available for two years now and not a single pro-vaccine advocate has analyzed it and is touting it as “proof” the vaccines work? At this point, the medical community has a choice: embrace the data and admit you were wrong or try to fight it. History will not look kindly on attempts to dismiss this data. The first rule of holes: if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. They are in a big hole. What will they do now? Data availabilityCode: You can find everything in my github repo here. Nursing home data: You can download the data from my repo or directly from CMS. Now, where are the repos of others who have analyzed this data? They do not exist as far as I know. How is that possible? Why can’t we see their work? Key documentsPreparing for COVID-19 in Nursing Homes shows that the policy in effect on November 20, 2020 and beyond was to test all new admissions into nursing homes and anyone who is symptomatic. I verified this practice was followed by talking to people who work in the nursing care homes. So the claim that people who transferred into nursing homes didn’t get tested is without evidentiary support.
Boosters were rolled out starting on September 20, 2021. See: Nursing homes charging ahead to administer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots The bivalent booster was first available in the United States nearly one year later on September 1, 2022. Nursing homes site of 40% of US COVID-19 deaths shows that nursing homes are ground zero for the vaccine. If it doesn’t work there, it is a failure. What I foundEverything is summarized in the Executive Summary at the start. The key point is that, in aggregate, when compared to pre-vax infection fatality rates, the odds of death climbed for months after the vaccines were delivered when they were “supposed to” have fallen like a rock. In particular the odds of death ( deaths from covid:survivors from COVID) increased post-vaccine. So did the absolute risk reduction; it went south which means the vaccines increased your risk of death. In short, the vaccine made things worse. The reference point chosen (the week prior to vaccine rollout) is immaterial; the slopes all went the wrong way. There is no doubt about this. This is a huge failure of the vaccine.
In addition, the virus has mutated to Omicron which isn’t killing anyone. Boosters are silly. They should be ashamed of themselves for pushing this when there clearly isn’t a problem.
Could this analysis be wrong? Could the vaccine have saved lives?No. Anecdotes like Apple Valley Village (mentioned above) are unexplainable. The Pfizer Phase 3 clinical trial had more all-cause deaths in the treatment group than the placebo group, but the numbers were too small to be statistically significant. So the trials provide no visibility into the death “benefit.”
There are many others who have pointed out issues with the vaccines including this amazing video by John Beaudoin and the 1,200 articles I’ve written on my Substack. Why did this happen?Is there a biological basis for how the vaccine can make things worse? Yes! The vaccine damages your immune system. See this article by Igor Chudov for a clinical trial done on kids with healthy immune systems. Previous articlesSee:
The attempts to discredit the data and/or analysisHere are the attempts to discredit my analysis of this data. At no point do any of these people point to the “correct” analysis showing that the data shows the vaccines reduced the death rate. Nor do any of the attacks actually have any numbers. They are all hand-waving attacks with no evidentiary support. The attack is in bold, the responses follow.
If you want to read Professor Morris’s critique in his own words, you can find it here. Here are the quick answers to each item.
I found his arguments lacking in any data or numbers to back them up. And he completely failed to explain AVV; he wouldn’t even attempt it.
I also invited him to submit to me his anecdote of a success case where the IFR in the nursing home dropped by 9X or more. I’d love to see it. After all, there should be hundreds of such homes. Can he name one? The NSW government promised the OR would drop like a lead balloonAs noted above, the NSW Health authority claimed that risk of death drops by 10X. I’d love to see how the OR of death goes to .1 after the vaccine. Where is the data? Where is their analysis of the CMS Medicare data?This is gold standard data. They should be touting it. It’s been up for 2 years. Nothing. Not a peep. Nobody touched it. It’s basically a third rail for the narrative.
40% of the COVID deaths were in US nursing homes, so this is the #1 demographic to examine. The data was there. Why did they ignore it? If there is a mortality benefit, where is the benefit curve post-vax and why is this kept hidden?Where is their curve of the odds ratio of death from COVID post vaccine? I haven’t seen it anywhere. I asked Professor Morris for the correct IFR since he claims mine is wrong. He could not provide it. If he doesn’t know the correct numbers, how can he know my numbers are wrong? For more infoSee my previous article where it talks about the only paper published referencing this data See also my Twitter post:
SummaryThe vaccines made things worse for the very population that it was supposed to help.
That’s why nobody ever published a favorable analysis of the US Nursing Home Data even though it has been out for 2 years.
The vaccines shouldn’t be used by anyone, especially those with a compromised immune system. It damages your immune system. People with a damaged immune system will be left with an even more damaged immune system.
When will the medical community acknowledge they made a huge mistake?
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Some COVID Vaccines Produce ‘Unintended Immune Response’ in Recipients: StudyThe COVID vaccines were fundamentally faulty, revealed researchers, as they reworked the synthetic mRNAs to prevent further harmful responses.By Naveen Athrappully
Researchers in a landmark new study have discovered a sequence within the Pfizer mRNA vaccine that produces an “unintended immune response” in the body, which experts are calling a massive “developmental and regulatory failure.”
Synthetic Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA), such as that used in Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, enables the body to create a specific spike protein mimicking SARS-CoV-2. The body reacts to the foreign protein and generates protective immunity, which theoretically neutralizes the real virus when it enters the body.
“Researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit have discovered that the cellular machinery that ‘reads’ mRNAs ‘slips’ when confronted with repeats of a chemical modification commonly found in mRNA therapeutics. In addition to the target protein, these slips lead to the production of ‘off-target’ proteins triggering an unintended immune response,” said a press release for the study published in Nature on Dec. 6.
The MRC team redesigned the mRNA vaccine to prevent further harmful immune responses from the spike proteins. “The researchers identified that bases with a chemical modification called N1-methylpseudouridine—which are currently contained in mRNA therapies—are responsible for the ‘slips’ along the mRNA sequence.”
When the MRC team collaborated with researchers from the Universities of Kent, Oxford, and Liverpool, they found an unintended immune response occurred in one-third of the 21 patients in the study who were inoculated with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. Re-Engineering mRNA
The team reengineered the error-prone genetic sequences in the synthetic mRNA to avoid these unintended and “off-target” effects.
“We can remove the error-prone code from the mRNA in vaccines so the body will make the proteins we want for an immune response without inadvertently making other proteins as well. The safety concern for future mRNA medicines is that misdirected immunity has huge potential to be harmful, so off-target immune responses should always be avoided,” said Dr. James Thaventhiran from the MRC team, who is also a practicing clinician at Addenbrooke’s hospital.
Biochemist Professor and MRC team member Anne Willis said that the redesigning work presents “both a concern and a solution for this new type of medicine.”
Ribosomes in cells produce proteins from natural and synthetic mRNAs, and a precise positioning of the ribosome on the mRNA is needed to make the right proteins. The ribosome ‘reads’ the mRNA sequence three bases at a time, and any tiny deviation that happens here “massively distorts the code and the resulting protein,” said the Cambridge press release.
When the ribosome misreads the mRNA and ends up with unintended amino acids, the mutation is known as a frameshift. “When the ribosome is confronted with a string of these modified bases called N1-methylpseudouridine in the mRNA, it slips around 10% of the time, causing the mRNA to be misread and unintended proteins to be produced—enough to trigger an immune response. Removing these runs of N1-methylpseudouridine from the mRNAs prevents ‘off-target’ protein production.”
This research was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome LEAP R3 program, and supported by the NIHR Cambridge BRC. As for competing interests, two of the authors in the study are inventors on a pending patent application (2305297.0) related to mRNA technology. Fundamental FailureAlthough the MRC team insisted that the unintended immune responses were found to have no ill effects, expert responses to the study claimed the safety concern revealed a more fundamental failure of the scientific and regulatory communities in approving the COVID mRNA vaccines.
“The formation of these off-target proteins is not disclosed in the package insert for COMIRNATY,” said a commentary on the study published in ResearchGate. “The finding that unintended proteins may be produced as a result of vaccination is sufficient cause for regulators to conduct full risk assessments of past or future harms that may have ensued.”
Authors said that according to WHO guidelines for mRNA vaccines, “manufacturers should provide details of ‘unexpected ORFs’ (Open Reading Frames),” referring to cellular modification on a DNA level.
“Given that this study was conducted under the auspices of the United Kingdom Government, we must assume UK regulators, manufacturers, and international regulatory agencies, including FDA, were apprised of the data many months ago.
“We await their account of what steps they have taken to investigate why the formation of off-target proteins was not discovered sooner, what toxic effects they may have caused, and what steps they are taken to prevent harm in the future and to inform the public of these findings.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Pfizer, Moderna, the FDA, and the CDC for comment. Social Responses
In a Dec. 6 post on X, Dr. Jonathan Engler said: “This is devastating. A design flaw in the mRNA injections results in them making random proteins which will be massively pro-inflammatory. Because the product is distributed throughout the body, this happens everywhere. This likely explains the huge variety of immune disorders reported in association with these products.”
Supporters of the study claimed that critics were making an issue unnecessarily. “Frameshifts are uncommon but naturally occurring events in, for example, viral infections,” said Edward Nirenberg, a medical publisher. “These give rise to protein products that can also be targeted by the immune system.”
“Coronaviruses have evolved to require frameshifting as part of their replication cycle to make their proteins.”
Immunologist Marc Veldhoen said in an X Post: “Some well-known anti-vaxers are making claims that the ribosome slip/frameshift causes a stop codon to be missed and an own mitochondrial protein to be made, risking autoimmunity. It´s important to know that the mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines do not contain other protein codes.”
Emergency Physician Kashif Pirzada MD said in an X post: “This is a big deal. Novavax produces much milder reactions in people compared to the mRNA shots, and also presents a more conventional protein-based vaccine option in our polarized information environment. I usually get floored by the mRNA shots, not so with Novavax.”
Novavax is “probably” the safest COVID-19 vaccine compared to other brands, according to cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, who added that he still would not recommend the shot due to high cardiac risks posed by COVID vaccines.
The three major classes of COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA, vector, and protein subunit vaccines. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines use mRNA technology, while AstraZeneca and Janssen come under the vector category. Novavax is a protein subunit vaccine.
There are multiple studies pointing to people suffering from adverse events after being vaccinated.
An October study suggested that COVID-19 vaccines could trigger rheumatic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases that involve inflammation manifesting in the joints, tendons, bones, and muscles due to an unknown cause. This includes conditions like arthritis, vasculitis, lupus, and adult-onset Still’s disease.
Research has shown that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines can reduce a beneficial gut bacteria called Bifidobacteria, the presence of which is associated with higher immunity against pathogens and cancer.
In a recent interview with the “American Thought Leaders” program, clinical pathologist Dr. Ryan Cole said that DNA contamination in some of the mRNA vaccines could be linked to a rising incidence of cancers, micro-clotting, and autoimmune diseases.
Naveen Athrappully
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Study Finds Signs of Heart Injury in Vaccinated People Without Chest PainThe study results ‘suggest that mild asymptomatic myocardial inflammation could be more common than we ever expected,’ one doctor said.27September2023 Updated: 28September2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/study-finds-signs-of-heart-injury-in-asymptomatic-vaccinated-people-5498717 People who received a COVID-19 vaccine had higher levels of a glucose analogue than unvaccinated people, suggesting heart inflammation, according to a new study.
Researchers in Japan compared 700 vaccinated people with 303 unvaccinated people. None experienced cardiac symptoms. Researchers analyzed results from positron emission tomography and computerized tomography (PET/CT) scans that analyzed the uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose F18 (FDG), a glucose analogue and marker of inflammation, in the body.
Researchers found that people vaccinated with a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine had higher levels of FDG in the heart, liver, and spleen than unvaccinated people.
The higher levels of heart FDG remained when stratifying the patients by various factors, such as age, except for people who were tested more than 180 days after vaccination.
The higher FDG levels represent heart inflammation, Dr. Takehiro Nakahara of the Keio University School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology and co-authors wrote. The levels could just indicate minor inflammation, they said, pointing to a cardiac MRI study that found that post-vaccination heart problems were less severe than those experienced after COVID-19.
“Even though vaccinated patients in this study showed elevated myocardial FDG uptake on PET/CT up to 180 days after vaccination, this could result from relatively minor inflammation and may not represent severe myocardial abnormalities,” they said.
The study was published by the Radiological Society of North America. Some authors disclosed grants from pharmaceutical companies, including Nihon Medi-Physics. The authors said they received no funding for the retrospective study.
Moderna and Pfizer didn’t respond to requests for comment. FDA Detects Serious Safety Signal for Covid Vaccine Among Kids
EditorialIn an editorial also published by Radiology, Dr. David Bluemke said the results of the study were compelling. He noted that researchers examined some potential confounders and the results held up. However, researchers didn’t test heart function.
“Unfortunately, no myocardial enzyme analysis was available, and cardiac function was not available. In addition, the authors did not scrutinize the oncologic histories and treatments of their patient groups,” wrote Dr. Bluemke, professor of radiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and editor emeritus of the journal.
He also noted that retrospective studies are more prone to bias, with unknown factors, including why some patients receive a vaccine and some don’t. “The results are intriguing but unfortunately incomplete,” Dr. Bluemke said.
Heart inflammation is a known side effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. It can be deadly. The most common symptom is chest pain.
None of the patients analyzed in the study reported chest pain, although some reported noncardiac symptoms such as fever and a sore arm.
The study results “suggest that mild asymptomatic myocardial inflammation could be more common than we ever expected,” according to Dr. Bluemke. He said vaccine manufacturers may look to change their vaccines or delivery systems with the aim of reducing the inflammation. Others Weigh InDr. Sanjay Verma, an American cardiologist who wasn’t involved in the research, told The Epoch Times in an email that the increased FDG in vaccinated patients tested before and after receiving a vaccine “does suggest that vaccination rather than underlying inflammation alone is playing a causal role in the increased FDG uptake after vaccination.” He said the study adds to other research and his own experience with patients, showing the need for doctors to understand that heart problems after COVID-19 vaccination can result in symptoms other than chest pain, including fatigue and shortness of breath.
“It is imperative that medical professionals broaden their scope of what symptoms they identify as potentially related to heart damage after COVID-19 vaccination,” Dr. Verma said. Early detection means earlier treatment, which can lead to quicker recovery, according to the doctor.
Both Dr. Verma and Dr. Andrew Bostom, a U.S. heart expert who also reviewed the paper, said the findings were preliminary because there were no signs that the FDG levels resulted in health issues.
“If the investigators can show the PET findings predict hospitalizations for heart failure or cardiac arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death, upon prospective follow-up, that would [be] much more interesting,” Dr. Bostom told The Epoch Times via email. Retrospective studies examine medical records, while prospective studies track patients for a period of time.
The study went over scans performed in adult patients between November 2020 and March 2022. The population before exclusions was about 9,400. Researchers excluded many of the patients, including patients who received more than two doses of a vaccine, patients with a history of COVID-19, and patients who underwent cardiac surgery.
Dr. Nakahara didn’t respond to a request for comment. The researchers said one limitation of the study is that it was retrospective. “A prospective study would be needed to validate the findings of this study including comparisons with cardiac enzyme, cardiac functions and non-mRNA vaccination,” they wrote.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology.
A prospective study of 54 participants, published in Radiology earlier this year, found increased FDG uptake in two COVID-vaccinated people who suffered acute myocarditis but normal levels in vaccinated people who didn’t. The study duration was only two months. FDG TestingThe FDG testing has, for years, been used to detect cardiac sarcoidosis, an inflammatory heart disease. It has increasingly been used to detect myocarditis and a related condition, pericarditis, in lieu of or with cardiac MRIs.
Some research has found that F-FDG testing produced results similar to the MRIs, although other papers have concluded that the testing was inferior.
The testing involves injecting a tracer, or a drug, and imaging with the PET scan to measure levels of fluorodeoxyglucose. CT scans are sometimes done to supplement the PET scans.
The testing can detect problems overlooked or unclear in other scans. It’s “much more sensitive than other imaging modalities like echocardiogram and cardiac MRI in identifying myocardial ischemia or injury,” Dr. Verma said.
The testing has been used in the past to detect heart inflammation in people who had COVID-19, in addition to the vaccinated people.
Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at zack.stieber@epochtimes.com
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They Suffered Myocarditis After COVID-19 Vaccination. Years Later, Some Still Haven’t Recovered.By Zachary Stieber, Lia Onely | 20September2023 Updated: 21September2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/they-suffered-myocarditis-after-covid-19-vaccination-years-later-some-still-havent-recovered-5478652
Under pressure from the military and his mother, Jacob Cohen was feeling increasingly cornered.
Mr. Cohen did not want to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. He knew the shots had not been available for long. He was worried about their safety.
While Mr. Cohen initially resisted receiving a shot, he faced restrictions such as being forced to remain on base while vaccinated soldiers left. He was also pressured by military commanders, who scheduled a vaccination appointment for him and contacted his mother as part of a multipronged campaign.
“They told me, ‘Come on. It’s your mother. She’s crying. She’s worried. What wouldn’t you do for her?'” Mr. Cohen, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym because of concern about repercussions for going public, told The Epoch Times.
“I didn’t want to take the vaccine. I didn’t believe in it,” he said. But he wanted to appease his mother. “I would do anything for her.”
Mr. Cohen received his first shot, manufactured by Pfizer, on Sept. 22, 2021. He was 21.
Two weeks later, he was awakened by a sharp pain at 3 a.m.
“I felt like my heart was trying to get out of my chest,” Mr. Cohen said.
The soldier has felt pain before. “I never felt something like this,” he said.
Mr. Cohen went with a friend to the hospital, where he was placed in quarantine because he wasn’t fully vaccinated. Thirty minutes ticked by.
“I felt like it was the first time in my life I actually started seeing flashbacks of things that I did in my life—I felt like I was truly dying,” Mr. Cohen said.
Doctors finally came in and ran tests. They diagnosed Mr. Cohen with perimyocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle and the tissue around the heart.
They said Mr. Cohen was lucky. If he had come just a little later, he would have needed open heart surgery.
He spent three days in the hospital, taking medication and pills. When he was discharged, he was told not to engage in any physical activity for at least six months. He also needed to report for regular checkups and take a pill every day.
Six months after leaving the hospital, Mr. Cohen’s cardiac MRI showed concerning results. His heart still hadn’t recovered.
Doctors gave him more pills.
“They told me maybe I will need them for the rest of my life,” Mr. Cohen said.
The military marked him as unable to serve for the rest of his life, and released him.
To this day, he suffers.
“I’ve been feeling, I’m not sure if it’s trauma or something, but it feels sometimes like a sting there, a short sharp pain,” Mr. Cohen said. He’s also unable to do all he used to do before.
“I was training. I was playing soccer. I did a lot of physical things, which now I can’t afford … to do anymore,” Mr. Cohen said. ‘Continued Pain’Dr. Adam Hirschfeld was among the first people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States
The orthopedic surgeon was motivated by a desire to prevent his patients from becoming sick.
“I didn’t want to put any of my patients at risk,” Dr. Hirschfeld told The Epoch Times.
He received a Moderna primary series, composed of two doses, in January 2021. He was 36.
Three days after the second shot, Dr. Hirschfeld felt discomfort in his chest and numbness in his left arm.
A cardiac MRI confirmed evidence of heart inflammation. Dr. Hirschfeld was prescribed medicine and discharged two days later.
Dr. Hirschfeld has since undergone about a dozen electrocardiograms, another half a dozen echocardiograms, and a follow-up cardiac MRI.
“I went from being completely healthy—no issues, no medications—to seeing 10 different doctors in the blink of an eye,” Dr. Hirschfeld said.
The follow-up MRI, conducted about 18 months after the vaccinations, showed normal cardiac function. But Dr. Hirschfeld still experiences pain.
“I have continued chest pain on the right side, and then I have neuropathic type pains in my neck and shoulder areas,” he told The Epoch Times. “I have it when I wake up, and it’s there when I go to sleep.”
The suffering affects the doctor physically and mentally.
“Having chest pain every day for two and a half years is very disconcerting,” he said.
Pfizer and Moderna didn’t respond to requests for comment. Shots Cleared; Cases AppearMr. Cohen lives in Israel. Dr. Hirschfeld lives in the United States.
The first myocarditis cases after COVID-19 vaccination were reported in those countries in January 2021. Only a few weeks had elapsed since authorities cleared and recommended the shots for large portions of the population, including many young, healthy people.
At first, authorities hid reports of myocarditis from the public. Israel first acknowledged there was a likely link between the shots and the inflammation. The United States finally followed in June 2021, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was a “likely association.”
Even after the association was made public, officials and many experts claimed that the myocarditis cases were mild. Most patients were hospitalized, authorities acknowledged, but they said patients could expect to recover without treatment and with rest.
The myocarditis is “rare but mild,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director at the time, said on “Good Morning America” on June 24, 2021.
Dr. Walensky said the cases were “self-limited,” or didn’t require treatment to resolve.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today and a teacher at Harvard Medical School, on Twitter two days later described the cases as “self-limited troponinemia,” or elevated troponin levels that would resolve on their own. Troponin is a protein in the heart that’s a marker of heart injury.
Those claims were already wrong at the time, based on case reports alone.
A previously healthy 24-year-old man in Massachusetts, for example, experienced chest pain so serious that he went to an emergency department, doctors reported on May 18, 2021. He was eventually discharged with a prescription for a beta-blocker and anti-inflammatory drugs and told not to engage in strenuous activity for three months.
Another early case involved a previously healthy 16-year-old boy in California who experienced “stabbing chest pain” and went to the emergency department for help. He described the pain as 6 to 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. The symptoms prompted doctors to admit him to intensive care. He spent six days in the hospital before being discharged.
Like many early case reports, no follow-up data were reported, making it impossible to say that the cases had fully resolved.
“Unless you’ve experienced it individually, you can’t tell somebody that their case was mild,” Dr. Hirschfeld said. “If you have elevated troponin, that’s your cardiac muscle breaking down.
“That’s something that’s permanent. And so to tell me that my cardiac muscle breaking down is mild is pretty insulting.” Signs of persistent symptoms appeared in the literature before long. U.S. military researchers, for instance, stated on June 29, 2021, that seven of 23 patients continued to have chest discomfort weeks or even months later. Dire outcomes were known even earlier. Two deaths were reported to U.S. authorities in February 2021, while another two were reported in Israel in the spring. Both of the Israelis who died were previously young and healthy. Professional Biker AffectedKyle Warner was a professional mountain bike racer when he received his first COVID-19 vaccine in May 2021. He completed a primary series the following month.
Mr. Warner, who lives in the western United States, teaches older people and wanted to protect them from COVID-19. The CDC and others promoted the idea that the vaccines curbed or even prevented transmission based on observational data.
“The sentiment was these are safe and effective. If you get them, you don’t need to wear a mask anymore, and you can’t transmit COVID or catch COVID,” Mr. Warner told The Epoch Times. “I spend quite a bit of time around older people and help them learn.
“I wasn’t necessarily afraid of COVID myself. Not that I did respect it, but I wasn’t worried it was going to kill me,” he added. “But I was worried about getting someone else sick, especially when I’m with our older clients.”
Mr. Warner was diagnosed with myopericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination and was hospitalized.
After being discharged, Mr. Warner was bedridden for weeks.
“There’s points where I was unable to even get up out of bed without passing out or blacking out,” Mr. Warner told The Epoch Times. “It was really eye-opening. I felt like I went from being 28 years old to being 88 years old.”
Mr. Warner was diagnosed with myopericarditis and two other conditions—postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and mast cell activation syndrome—that others have also been diagnosed with following COVID-19 vaccination. Hyperbaric oxygen, which has relieved some of Dr. Hirschfeld’s pain, helped bring Mr. Warner’s energy levels back up.
But the cyclist, who didn’t ride again until February 2022, still struggles with pain, especially when he exercises in the summer.
Mr. Warner utilizes a heart rate monitor, which he became familiar with in his racing career.
During a recent ride, Mr. Warner pushed himself, trying his hardest for four minutes. That sent his heart rate up to 189 beats per minute—the highest since the injury.
“I did OK, but then the next few weeks, I had a kind of a lingering chest pain and tightness. And about four days after, it was pretty significant where I was having a hard time sleeping and my heart felt like it was palpitating every once in a while, and then—even more than a week later—I still had a little bit of chest tightness and pain,” Mr. Warner said.
“It kind of scared me because it’s been well over a year since my last treatment with hyperbaric and I’m still dealing with it. And when I do try to push myself harder, then I have to pay for the next few days to a week.
“Back in the day, I would be able to do that with no problem at all.”
Doctors who have spoken to Mr. Warner have told him that when his heart becomes stressed, it signals his immune system to attack and inflame it.
He tries to keep his heart rate under 160 beats per minute.
14-Year-Old Rushed to HospitalAiden Ekanayake woke up in the middle of the night.
“Every breath deeper in was like knives in my chest,” Aiden, who is from Georgia, said during a podcast appearance.
It was June 12, 2021, two days after Aiden received a second shot of Pfizer’s vaccine. He was 14.
Aiden was able to fall asleep through shallow breathing, but was soon awakened. He went to his mother, who rushed him to the hospital. Tests revealed abnormalities. Aiden was taken to the acute cardiac unit, where more tests confirmed that the vaccine was the cause.
Aiden spent four days in the hospital. After being discharged, he was inactive for more than four months.
“I don’t know where they get this ‘two days and you’re done, you’re good.’ That’s a crock of [expletive],” Emily Ekanayake, Aiden’s mother, told The Epoch Times.
Ms. Ekanayake had read early studies from Israel that found an elevated risk for myocarditis among young males who had received the Pfizer vaccine, but concluded with her son that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
“I was really scared of COVID,” Ms. Ekanayake said.
Aiden said he wanted to get vaccinated to help protect himself and his brother, both of whom have asthma.
Aiden’s doctor also recommended the shot. Shortly before Aiden was vaccinated, the CDC director said the agency found no safety signal for myocarditis. U.S. officials cleared and recommended the vaccine to virtually all children aged 12 to 15, after initially only making it available to those 16 and older.
Aiden eventually resumed exercise after being cleared by a cardiopulmonary stress test.
The result of the test was “probably more like that of an old man,” Ms. Ekanayake said. “His CO2 was low. He wasn’t able to run much. He’s got a lot of work in that way to go still. But he does like walking.
“I still worry about strenuous activity. I can’t help it. I don’t know that that will ever go away.” ‘Half a Human Being’Alon was a competitive swimmer who trained every single day before he received his Pfizer vaccine.
But in addition to the round trip to get to the pool, the Israeli boy needed to stand in line to take a test for COVID-19.
School also was an issue. Fellow students would often get sick, triggering a quarantine of those who weren’t vaccinated. “There was no chance to arrive to school and not be informed the next day that someone is sick and you [need to] be in quarantine,” Alon’s mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of professional repercussions, told The Epoch Times. “It’s impossible. It’s like putting a child in prison for doing no wrong.”
Alon’s mother saw vaccinated people become sick despite the vaccine, erasing her belief that the shot protected people. But she heard little about possible side effects and decided that the benefits, including keeping her son in school, meant he should receive the shot.
“He was tired of the quarantines and tests,” she said.
The first shot was injected on Dec. 3, 2021; the second shot was on Dec. 24, 2021. Alon was 9.
A few days later, Alon fell into a deep sleep.
“It was scary,” Alon’s mother said.
Doctors ran tests, including checking his heart. They couldn’t discern what was awry.
“The child is not functioning,” Alon’s mother said. “He was like half a human for the whole month.”
The breakthrough came when Alon said, “My heart hurts.” Fresh testing revealed myocarditis. It was induced by the vaccination, doctors concluded.
Alon spent the night at the hospital before being discharged. He returned a week later with chest pain. Tests showed normalization.
Alon suffered from other problems over the months that followed. He lost his sight. His leg swelled. His lymph nodes became enlarged.
Follow-up visits found no heart problems. The other symptoms eventually resolved and Alon was cleared to resume sports. He plays for hours each day. But nearly two years later, he still suffers.
“He has periods when his heart hurts,” Alon’s mother said. “Sometimes for a few months, everything is fine. And then suddenly, it comes back.”
She has opted to take her son to the doctor only when emergencies arise. Any time he sees a doctor, he becomes sick. And he refuses to take any more blood tests.
“Maybe it is a sore muscle there. The heart is normal and suddenly, it is very tight for a few seconds,” Alon’s mother said. “It goes away. We avoid tests of any sort. If I don’t feel it’s life and death, I don’t take him to the doctor.” Worst Pain in His LifeBen Cutler loved to go to the gym. He worked out five days a week.
Because he didn’t want to become infected by the new Omicron variant, Mr. Cutler received a Moderna booster shot on Dec. 14, 2021. He was 26.
The next day, Mr. Cutler began to experience symptoms such as fatigue. He went to sleep early, but at 2:30 a.m., he was startled awake.
“I woke up and have never felt so terrible in my life,” Mr. Cutler wrote in a summary of his experience.
After several days of trying to sleep the pain away, a family member convinced the Massachusetts resident to go to the hospital.
Doctors ran tests and found troponin-T levels almost 90 times the normal maximum levels.
Mr. Cutler was diagnosed with myopericarditis. He was eventually discharged, but his ordeal wasn’t over.
“It was good that I could work from home. And I could start working at 7 or 8 a.m. and then work until like 2ish and then just lay on my couch for like seven hours,” Mr. Cutler told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Cutler estimated he spent hundreds of hours in pain on his couch. His pain was often 5 on a scale of 5. He lost 25 pounds.
A 10-minute walk to the grocery store, Mr. Cutler said, would have been the only exercise he could manage in a day. He described having to “budget” his energy.
After about two months, his condition started to improve. The pain dropped to 3s on some days. Then 2s. Then zeros.
By the end of April 2022, Mr. Cutler was able to begin lifting weights again. A follow-up cardiac MRI revealed a small fibrosis, or scar, but he feels he has recovered.
“I haven’t been having any major issues,” he said. “Everything’s pretty good.” Evidence BuildsThe stories bolster the growing body of evidence that has found a significant portion of people who suffer vaccine-induced myocarditis are affected for months or years, if they survive.
U.S. researchers who followed up with 15 children hospitalized with myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination revealed on Aug. 10, 2021, that four of the patients had “persistent symptoms.” Other U.S. researchers announced on Nov. 1, 2021, that seven of 54 young patients who suffered myocarditis after vaccination still experienced symptoms, including chest pain.
Nearly half of myocarditis patients who responded to a U.S. government survey said that months after COVID-19 vaccination, they continued to experience symptoms, including chest pain, government researchers said on Sept. 21, 2022. Meanwhile, 35 percent of 28 young myocarditis patients followed up with at least 61 days after COVID-19 vaccination reported continued symptoms such as shortness of breath, Hong Kong researchers said on Sept. 23, 2022.
“Although post-COVID-19 vaccination myocarditis has a favorable prognosis and is considered curable, it may leave abnormalities in the myocardium, as observed in this case; it may therefore be premature to declare it as a complication with a good prognosis,” Japanese researchers said in 2022.
More recent data have shown that some patients still haven’t recovered.
That includes 23 percent of 60 people who told the CDC that at least one year after being diagnosed with myocarditis, they were still experiencing chest pain.
Other papers have found that even when symptoms abate, follow-up testing reveals abnormalities.
Heart scars were detected in cardiac MRIs conducted seven to eight months after the myocarditis diagnoses, Israeli researchers said on March 23, 2022. U.S. researchers described similar results in a study published around the same time. Other U.S. researchers who imaged 15 adolescents at least 76 days after they were discharged from a hospital found persistent late gadolinium enhancement in 80 percent of the patients.
Researchers often use abnormal levels of late gadolinium enhancement as an indication of heart scarring.
In myocarditis cases before the pandemic, the enhancement was often a sign of poor outcomes such as heart transplantation or death.
“It’s going to be a small percentage of the people that recovered from myocarditis, but some of them could be in for longer-term problems and morbidity, and some of them may develop actual disability,” Dr. Andrew Bostom, a U.S. heart expert, told The Epoch Times.
While most patients experienced “mild myocarditis, which is mostly gone, it’s true that scars can remain, because it’s an inflammation of the heart muscle,” Dr. Yehuda Adler, a member of the Israeli Ministry of Health’s National Council for Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases, told The Epoch Times. “I’m definitely following these people even today, two years later, and I’ll continue to follow them.”
Not all patients have persistent symptoms or abnormalities. Some have seen a full resolution of their symptoms, combined with no abnormal signs in follow-up testing.
Dr. Rabea Asleh, director of the heart failure unit and the cardiovascular research center at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, said his team is also following patients to make sure they’re OK.
He told The Epoch Times that all but one of his patients have stopped experiencing symptoms.
“If this has any clinical significance regarding the flare-up of the disease later on or the deterioration in function after a few years, we do not know,” Dr. Asleh said, “but deterioration in function after a few years is unlikely.”
Dr. Bostom said he wasn’t so sure. “One thing that I’m certain of is that the jury is out,” he said. “We need to collect a lot more information and see how people are really doing long term, particularly the young people.” Questionable PressureMany young people received COVID-19 vaccines under pressure, such as Mr. Cohen.
Israeli military authorities punished the unvaccinated with actions ranging from taking away their leave to making them wear a special vest and isolate in their quarters.
“This is a population of young and healthy soldiers, in whom COVID is mild and transient, and there is no justified reason to vaccinate them,” Dr. Yoav Yehezkelli, a specialist in internal medicine and medical management, said on Facebook. “Vaccinating the soldiers was not only folly but a lack of professionalism and a violation of medical ethics.”
Others, like Alon, faced repeated interruptions to their daily lives if they didn’t receive a vaccine, despite evidence suggesting that post-infection immunity is broad and superior to that from vaccination.
CDC studies later found that the immunity that develops following recovery, known as natural immunity, was better than vaccination against the Delta and Omicron virus variants.
Top U.S. officials made false claims about vaccine effectiveness, such as claiming vaccinated people couldn’t become sick or transmit the virus, in their bid to convince fence-sitters to get vaccinated.
“You can’t make that logical leap even in December of 2020. And yet, they made that logical leap,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of health policy at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders.”
“They premised their policy recommendations—the vaccine passports, the mandates, the coercion, and also the gaslighting of people who are actually vaccine-injured, on this idea that we have to get a sufficient fraction of the population vaccinated for the disease to go away.”
The hype around the vaccines led to a number of U.S. universities to mandate them, even after researchers concluded that booster mandates were unethical, in part because they were associated with more serious adverse events than hospitalizations caused. The federal government also imposed mandates on the military, workers, contractors, and private health care facilities.
The White House has defended the mandates.
“Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” it said in a recent statement. Common Symptoms and TreatmentsNearly all people who develop myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination suffer from chest pain, doctors have found.
A meta-analysis of reports describing 200 cases, for instance, found that 98 percent of patients presented with chest pain. Fever and difficulty breathing were also common symptoms.
Patients often suffer symptoms within a week of vaccination, according to case reports, surveillance databases, and patients.
Early detection and treatment can be critical to prevent further deterioration. Exercise restrictions are imposed on most patients until they pass a cardiac stress test.
The point of the test is to detect lingering problems in a controlled setting, in which the patient exercises at less than maximum capacity, Dr. Anish Koka, a U.S. cardiologist, told The Epoch Times. Problems detected on the test may preclude participation in competitive sports and may require invasive therapies such as defibrillator placement.
Some health officials and doctors have said the myocarditis resolves without treatment, but many patients have received drugs.
Colchicine, typically used to treat gout, has been favored by many doctors.
Mr. Cohen was initially prescribed colchicine. He was directed later to daily take Tritace, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor that’s meant to treat hypertension following serious problems such as heart failure.
Mr. Cutler took aspirin for two weeks. He replaced colchicine with ibuprofen after experiencing back pain.
Other treatments include intravenous immunoglobulin, a pooled antibody; beta-blockers; anti-inflammatory medications such as methylprednisolone; and rampiril, another angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor.
‘Ignored’Several common themes link the myocarditis patients who are speaking out. That includes the feeling that they were tricked into receiving the shots.
“You start to realize that basically the authorities, first of all, they knew about these possible side effects. They just chose not to disclose it, or disclose it only in the few websites in the small letters,” Mr. Cohen said.
Mr. Warner recounted growing up on welfare and coming to see the government as being there to help him. He now views parts of the government as corrupted by financial incentives, including the kickbacks it allegedly received from Moderna.
Patients also feel abandoned. “A lot of us are still dealing with significant issues that I think are being ignored,” Dr. Hirschfeld said.
It hasn’t helped that U.S. authorities, who have aggressively promoted the vaccines, have refused to provide compensation to many sufferers or otherwise assist them.
Just three people who suffered post-vaccination myocarditis have been compensated by U.S. authorities, who are responsible for compensation because the vaccine manufacturers are shielded from liability. The highest payout was just $3,957.66.
Both Ms. Ekanayake and Mr. Cutler applied for compensation, but still haven’t heard back. While the bulk of Aiden’s medical bills were covered by insurance, his parents have still had to pay close to $10,000 out of pocket. Mr. Cutler paid about $5,000 due to high deductibles.
An enormous backlog of applications remains, and some who have been diagnosed with vaccine injuries have been denied.
The myocarditis patients largely spoke about receiving the support of family and friends as they recovered. But not all.
“I was disowned by many of my friends for speaking out about this early on,” Mr. Warner said. “It’s been interesting to see so many of them come back around and apologize to me.”
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Nearly 1 in 3 COVID-19 Vaccine Recipients Suffered Neurological Side Effects: StudyThe people included in the study suffered from headaches, tremors, muscle spasms, insomnia, sleepiness, vertigo, and difficulty in concentration.By Naveen Athrappully
Almost a third of individuals who received a COVID-19 vaccine suffered from neurological complications including tremors, insomnia, and muscle spasms, according to a recent study published in the journal Vaccines.
study analyzed 19,096 people who received COVID-19 vaccines in Italy in July 2021, out of which 15,368 had taken the Pfizer vaccine, 2,077 had taken the Moderna version, and 1,651 took the AstraZeneca version.
While both Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines, AstraZeneca, being an adenovirus vaccine, uses a different mechanism to trigger the immune response.
The study found that about 31.2 percent of vaccinated individuals developed post-vaccination neurological complications, particularly among those injected with the AstraZeneca jab. Different vaccines had a different “neurological risk profile.”
The neurological risk profile of the AstraZeneca vaccine included headaches, tremors, muscle spasms, insomnia, and tinnitus, while the risk profile of the Moderna vaccine included sleepiness, vertigo, diplopia (double vision), paresthesia (a feeling of numbness or itching on the skin), taste and smell alterations, and dysphonia (hoarseness or loss of normal voice). None of the subjects were hospitalized or died.
As to Pfizer vaccines, researchers found “an increased risk” of cognitive fog or difficulty in concentration. AstraZeneca RisksMore than 53 percent of individuals who took an AstraZeneca shot suffered from headaches, which usually lasted for one day. Over 13 percent developed tremors, which typically reverted after a day as well.
Insomnia was reported among 5.8 percent of AstraZeneca recipients. However, the study notes that researchers were unsure whether the individuals actually developed insomnia or had a “misperception of their sleep quality due to vaccination stress.”
Tinnitus was reported by 2.7 percent of the people who took AstraZeneca shots. Tinnitus is a condition in which an individual hears ringing or other noises which are not caused by an external sound.
All these health complications had a higher risk of occurring after taking the first dose of the vaccine. The study speculated that complications related to the AstraZeneca vaccine are attributable to two factors. “Firstly, the nature of the vaccine, which is a modified adenovirus vector that results in significant and persistent systemic immune activation; secondly, individual vulnerability related to a predisposing biology.”
Delve into the Untold Stories Surrounding COVID-19 Vaccines | CrossroadsModerna and Pfizer RisksSleepiness was found in 39.7 percent of those who took Moderna jabs, with the condition usually lasting for a week. It suggested that there “could be a strict relationship between the development of sleepiness and immune responses to vaccine/infection.”
The study cited a “fascinating hypothesis” which suggests that influenza vaccines may lead to “the selective immune-mediated destruction of orexin-producing neurons, which is T-cell-mediated neuronal damage, thus triggering narcolepsy.”
Narcolepsy is a condition in which the brain is unable to control the ability to sleep or stay awake.
“Considering that the same can occur for COVID-19 vaccines, future investigations monitoring the new-onset hypersomnia findings in vulnerable individuals are urgently needed.”
Hypersomnia is the inability to stay awake and alert during the daytime, even though the person may have had plenty of sleep during the night.
About 15.9 percent of people who received Moderna shots had vertigo, a sensation which makes the individual feel that they or their surrounding environment is moving or spinning. It typically lasted for a day.
Paresthesia—a feeling of numbness or itching on the skin for no apparent reason—was reported in 14.5 percent of Moderna vaccine recipients, which went away after a day.
Among the people who received a Moderna jab, 2.7 percent reported diplopia, also known as double vision, which also lasted for about a day. “Symptomatic people showed an increased risk to develop diplopia after the second dose, as if a reactivation of the immune response was necessary to trigger diplopia.”
Meanwhile, about 6.4 percent of Pfizer vaccine recipients reported suffering from cognitive fog, with the condition usually reversing in a week.
“Brain fog is a type of cognitive impairment that presents as a ‘foggy brain state’, including a lack of intellectual clarity, difficulty with concentration, mental fatigue and anxiety,” the study said.
“Hypotheses including systemic inflammation crossing the blood–brain barrier, neuroinflammation after viral infection leads and microglial activation are emerging as explanations of this phenomenon in COVID-19 patients. An alternative speculation is that symptomatic people may have a subclinical cognitive dysfunction before vaccination, and that vaccination is a trigger.” Females Highly AffectedThe study found that females faced an “increased risk of developing neurological complications” following COVID-19 vaccination. “Our findings are in line with those of a recent study that revealed that several factors, including the female sex, were associated with greater odds of adverse effects,” it said.
The researchers suggested that greater female susceptibility to the vaccines’ neurological complications may be due to “genetic and hormonal factors.”
Females have two X chromosomes while males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. As the X chromosome “contains the most prominent immune-related genes in the human genome,” it can also cause “stronger inflammatory immune responses,” the study said.
Moreover, a primary female sex steroid called estradiol triggers a specific immunity process to produce “antibodies against infections.”
The study also raised concerns about comorbidities. In medical parlance, comorbidity describes the existence of more than one disease or condition in a body at the same time, which may or may not interact with one another.
“The evidence that immune system dysfunctions (allergies/immunodeficiency disorders) are frequently reported in our symptomatic group is more than a chance occurrence,” researchers said.
Comorbidities were present in 47.6 percent of the AstraZeneca vaccine recipients, 38.8 percent of those who took Moderna jabs, and 41.5 percent of individuals who received Pfizer shots, the study said.
In the AstraZeneca group, both allergies and non-neurological diseases were reported. “A history of antitumoral and anticoagulant drugs was more frequent in this population,” the study said.
Among Moderna and Pfizer recipients, allergies were “more frequently” observed. While some people who took Moderna had a prior history of neurological diseases and transfusions as well as previous COVID-19 infection, those who received Pfizer vaccines had a history of immunodeficiency disorders.
Even though the study detailed neurological complications arising from COVID-19 vaccination, it admitted to certain limitations.
“Firstly, our results should be interpreted with caution because of a possible overestimation of neurological events resulting from the self-reported symptoms,” it said.
“Secondly, we evaluated the risks associated with the first and second doses of the vaccine; however, the data concerning the second dose were limited, thus representing a potential bias in the study.”
While admitting its limitations, the study concluded that “clinicians should be aware that several neurological complications may commonly occur after COVID-19 vaccines.”
“Caution should be used when administering COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable people, such as to those who suffer from allergies,” the study stated. “We strongly believe that our findings are relevant for public health regarding the safety of vaccines in a large cohort.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca for comment. Additional Neurological FindingsCardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough wrote about the study discussing neurological effects following COVID shots in an article on Substack.
“A shocking 31.2 percent of respondents to this large dataset sustained neurologic injury after two injections with verified data in health registries,” he wrote. “Most of the risk estimates indicate the safety profile is unacceptable. It is alarming that all neurological societies to date still recommend COVID-19 vaccines and none have issued safety warnings on the products.”
Dr. McCullough explained that an excess risk of 20 percent or greater is considered “clinically important.” Multiple other studies have found evidence of COVID-19 vaccines being linked to neurological complications. Back in October 2021, a study published in the Neurological Sciences journal stated that the “most devastating neurological post-vaccination complication is cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).”
CVST occurs when a blood clot develops in the venous sinuses of the brain. This blocks the blood from draining out of the brain, eventually resulting in the blood leaking into brain tissues and forming a hemorrhage, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
The study found that CVST was “frequently reported in females of childbearing age,” generally among those who took an adenovector vaccine. Individuals who received mRNA vaccination were reported to have Bell’s palsy, in which facial muscles weaken or enter into paralysis.
A November 2022 study in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports made similar findings, stating that there is “a greater than expected occurrence of severe neurological adverse events.”
Dr. McCullough cited this study in an article the following month. “Because the vaccines contain lipid nanoparticles loaded with genetic material that code for the damaging Spike protein, each patient faces a Russian Roulette of whether or not the nervous system will be hemodynamically showered with the damaging vaccine particles,” he wrote.
Despite studies suggesting the risk of medical complications, some experts continue to advise people to get COVID-19 jabs. According to John Hopkins Medicine, both Pfizer and Moderna are “highly effective in preventing serious disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.”
It recommended people to get a COVID-19 shot as “we believe that their benefits outweigh their risks,” Johns Hopkins Medicine said.
According to a position statement from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) issued in 2021, the organization recommended COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care employees and supported vaccinations for children under the age of 12.
Naveen Athrappully |
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Young adults who took 4 COVID vaccines are 256% more likely to die, especially from TURBO CANCERS03December2023 // Lance D Johnson // https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-12-03-young-adults-four-vaccines-256-percent-die.html The Office for National Statistics (ONS), the official reporting department of the United Kingdom, quietly published a data set that shows appalling mortality rates in young adults who took four Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. The ONS data tracks deaths by vaccination status from April 1, 2021, to May 31, 2023. From January to May 2023, young adults aged 18 to 39 who were vaccinated four times up until that point were 256 percent more likely to die compared to their unvaccinated peers. In February 2023, the quadruple vaccinated were 318 percent more likely to die of any cause compared to unvaccinated people.
Cancer deaths skyrocket in young adults across the UK since COVID jab rolloutOne of the most alarming trends is skyrocketing cancer rates among young people. Fatal cancer rates exploded among U.K. teenagers and young adults who were vaccinated with spike protein mRNA. The 2022 ONS data shows a sudden rise in cancer deaths for the 15 to 44 age group. These cancer rates are well above the norms established from 2010-2019. They include:
Dr. Harvey Risch, a professor emeritus of epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Medicine has noticed the alarming trend. He said that the number of “turbo cancers” is skyrocketing ever since the launch of Operation Warp Speed.
“What clinicians have been seeing is very strange things,” said Risch during an interview for EpochTV. “For example, 25-year-olds with colon cancer, who don’t have family histories of the disease – that’s basically impossible along the known paradigm for how colon cancer works – and other long-latency cancers that they’re seeing in very young people.”
Risch and his colleagues are seeing young people suffer through re-manifestation of cancers that usually take many years to form after they had been surgically removed.
“Those are the initial signals that we’ve been seeing, and because these cancers have been occurring to people who were too young to get them, basically, compared to the normal way it works, they’ve been designated as turbo cancers,” Risch explained.
Mortality rates skyrocket for young people who took 4 COVID jabsIn January 2023, the mortality rate per 100,000 person-years was 31.1 for the unvaccinated cohort. For individuals who took one COVID jab, mortality rates were much higher – 53.3 per 100,000 person-years. For the quadruple vaccinated, the rate was a shocking 106 per 100,000 person-years.
The average mortality rate per 100,000 person years from January to May was 26.56 for unvaccinated young adults and 94.58 per 100,000 person years for quadruple vaccinated young adults – a stark contrast.
A similar pattern was observed for adults aged 40 to 49. For every single month since the beginning of 2023, adults in this age group who were vaccinated with one or four doses were significantly more likely to die than their unvaccinated peers. January 2023 mortality rates were the worst for individuals who received either one or four COVID jabs, with a mortality rate per 100,000 of 411.3 and 258.5, respectively. In contrast, the unvaccinated saw a mortality rate of just 144.5 per 100,000.
The unvaccinated, having withstood aggressive coercion, abuse, and threats to their lives and livelihoods, are faring the best over the long haul, even after putting up with the stress, the lies, and abuse for the past three years.
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Amish Paradise?The Amish have discovered the fountain of youthDoc Anarchy
Turns out, the Amish are healthy people. For some reason, this made national headlines, despite everyone with a functioning brain knowing this to be true.
The reason this story blew up is Steve Kirsch’s testimony to the Pennsylvania State Senate a few weeks back. In his testimony, he argued that the Amish were an excellent control group for the vaccinated vs unvaccinated populations. We’ll cover that later in the article.
That same testimony is what I have repeatedly found as the source of the claim that the Amish have zero autism, very little chronic disease, and very little cancer.
Let me start by saying, I haven’t been able to find the actual study. I searched for quite a while and the only thing I could find was this article by The Vigilant Fox . If you aren’t reading Fox’s work, you should. Amish HealthcareEveryone knows the Amish have some peculiar lifestyle traits. They follow strict rules as to what they can and cannot do, live far away from modern civilization, and have a tight-knit community.
Turns out, healthcare isn’t something they are forbidden from accepting. They are welcome, and in some cases encouraged, to seek medical care when needed.
The difference between the Amish and the average American is the Amish seek medical care when they actually need it. Before going to the doctor they seek guidance from elders and other experienced people in the community. They prefer to try natural remedies or home remedies before medicine. They give the body time to heal whatever ails it first.
If the body cannot heal itself and the natural remedies don’t work, they seek medical care from modern healthcare practitioners.
Compare this to the average American who goes to the hospital every time they stub their toe, blasted with X-rays, put on antibiotics, and then transferred to Hospice.
Yes, that’s an exaggeration. But the healthcare utilization rate in most of America is off the charts. Simply staying away from modern healthcare is a good way to extend your life. That means fewer unnecessary tests, a healthier environment, and less risk of medical error.
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1 to 2 Cups of Coffee May Inhibit COVID Infection: StudyThat morning cup of Joe may do more than perk you up for the day; it could protect against infection from different COVID variants.By George Citroner
Your coffee habit may be doing double duty: jumpstarting your mornings and providing COVID-19 protection, according to a recent study.
New research reveals that coffee, enjoyed worldwide for its signature fragrance and flavor, may fend off illness by preventing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from attaching to cells. Coffee—Regardless of Brew—Lowers RiskPrevious research shows that a diet rich in polyphenols (compounds in plants with antioxidant properties) may boost immune function and reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms. A recent study published in Cell & Bioscience went further and examined whether drinking coffee, which contains polyphenols, could also reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Researchers conducted lab testing of human cells and a trial with 64 participants infected with a SARS-CoV-2 pseudo-virus. The lab tests found that coffee inhibited multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants by preventing viral binding to the ACE2 receptor on cells and reducing the activity of proteins linked to severe illness.
“Put simply, it kept the virus from getting the foothold needed to cause infection,” Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, a board-certified internist, author, and director of the Practitioners Alliance Network, and not associated with the study, told The Epoch Times.
In the human trial, one to two cups of coffee daily inhibited infection across variants, including delta and omicron. The effect was consistent for various coffee types, including ground, instant, caffeinated, and decaffeinated.
The authors suggested coffee could be an effective dietary strategy to prevent COVID-19. Coffee Tied to Reduced Risk in Prior Large StudyThe new study had human participants but adds to evidence from a much larger 2021 Northwestern University study. Researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database, entailing the dietary behaviors of almost 38,000 people between 2006 and 2010 to determine if their past diet impacted their COVID-19 infection risk in 2020.
They found that drinking at least one cup of coffee per day was linked to a 10 percent lower risk of COVID-19 infection compared to lower daily coffee consumption.
Additionally, the study found that eating vegetables was also associated with lower infection risk; about ¾ cup of non-potato vegetables daily appeared protective. However, researchers also discovered that less than half a daily serving of processed meat (but not red meat) increased the risk of COVID infection. Coffee’s Other Health BenefitsThe following are three significant health benefits already associated with drinking coffee:
“So this is more of the data that supports enjoying your coffee,” Dr. Teitelbaum said. Easy but Powerful Ways to Boost ImmunityThough coffee may offer protection, there are more powerful ways to prevent COVID-19, according to Dr. Teitelbaum.
In households where somebody gets the disease, only 1 in 6 other members will also catch it on average, though that rate was 2 in 5 for the higher for the more infectious omicron variant. Dr. Teitelbaum said low transmission rates in households show that immunity is far more important than viral exposure. In other words, it’s not the disease that matters so much as the health of the person exposed to it.
Three effective ways to easily boost the immune system include the following:
1. Take VitaminsDeficiencies in immunity-influencing vitamins A, C, D, and E and zinc can increase susceptibility to infections. Dr. Teitelbaum recommends a multivitamin plus elderberry and zinc supplements. “These dramatically improved immunity,” he said.
2. Stay Hydrated“The part of the immune system that initially fights COVID is like our Navy,” Dr. Teitelbaum said. “It works poorly in dry dock.”<
Research shows dehydration can reduce disease-fighting capability. But don’t reach for sugar-sweetened drinks. “The amount of sugar in one can of soda or orange juice can decrease immune function by 30 percent for three hours,” Dr. Teitelbaum said.
3. Get Enough SleepInadequate sleep substantially reduces our ability to fight illness. The optimal sleep duration is seven to eight hours nightly for most adults, nine to 10 for teenagers, and 10 or more for school-aged children.
While offering potential benefits, excessive coffee intake (over four cups a day) can cause adverse effects like insomnia, rapid heartbeat, and tremors. It’s important to moderate coffee consumption and avoid adding excessive sugar, as this increases obesity and diabetes risks.
George Citroner
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Florida Doctor Reinstated After Losing Board Certification for Criticizing COVID-19 VaccinesWith money raised for legal fees, physician plans to help medical students under pressure to submit to ‘woke’ ideologyBy Natasha Holt
A Florida physician known for being outspoken about COVID-related topics has regained his board certification that was stripped because he publicly criticized COVID vaccines.
Now, Dr. John Littell is moving forward from the experience with plans to help future physicians defend themselves when disciplined for voicing viewpoints that are not in the majority, he told The Epoch Times.
Dr. Littell, a longtime family physician in Ocala and a medical school professor, began posting videos sharing his thoughts about COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines early in the pandemic. He was frustrated to find his content often was pulled down from his YouTube channel.
But he fought against what he saw as censorship by moving the content to other platforms, such as Rumble, he said. Then, in January 2022 and again five months later, he received warning letters from the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), the organization that issued his certification for his medical specialty.
The letter stated that his videos on YouTube and Rumble spread “medical misinformation” and could put his board certification in jeopardy, he said.
The ABFM declined to comment on the matter because the board’s “policy indicates we are unable to comment about professionalism cases,” an unidentified spokesperson said in an email to The Epoch Times.
The ABFM is the third largest of the 24 boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties. More than 100,000 family medicine doctors are certified by the board, according to its website. To keep their certification, physicians must uphold the board’s ethical standards and “guidelines for professionalism, licensure, and personal conduct,” the website states.
In letters from the board, Dr. Littell was told his public statements violated those guidelines. Dr. Littell responded to the letters and continued to speak publicly and post videos about the subjects, he said.
Months later, when he didn’t hear back, he said he thought the threat was gone. “I was very happily under the radar,” he said.
Exposing the FDA’s Orwellian Lie About Ivermectin | CLIP | Facts MatterOutrage Over Ivermectin
That changed after he was escorted out of a Sarasota Memorial Hospital board meeting in February for approaching a board member behind the dais. He wanted to thank the board member, he said, for letting him speak at the meeting. He didn’t realize that move would be seen as inappropriate, he said.
Though he’s cared for many patients in hospitals, he’d never attended a hospital board meeting, let alone a contentious one, he said.
That day, medical freedom activists filled the boardroom to speak against the public hospital’s policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many were angry their loved ones were denied the opportunity to try ivermectin, an antiparasitic for humans and animals widely used by some in treating COVID-19, and other treatments.
Dr. Littell spoke cordially to board members from the podium, an Epoch Times reporter confirmed. He told board members how treating patients with ivermectin had been his key to success in helping them recover. And he praised hospital personnel for their work during the pandemic.
Shortly after that, security guards escorted him outside. A video of Dr. Littell’s removal from the meeting by security guards was posted to social media and received millions of views and media coverage. And that thrust him back in the spotlight as a doctor vocal about COVID-19 policies. He questioned whether someone else would have been removed for the same reason.
Many doctors have faced consequences for questioning the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines and for advocating for the use of medicines such as ivermectin in the treatment of the disease.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote in one social media post about ivermectin: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” It linked to a page entitled “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.”
Three doctors sued the FDA over the statements, saying it had no power to tell doctors which drugs to prescribe. On Sept. 1, a federal court ruled that the agency likely overstepped its authority when it told Americans to “stop” using ivermectin against COVID-19. The FDA can inform, but has “no authority” to recommend consumers “stop” taking medicine, U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the ruling. Accused of ‘Spreading False’ InformationThe month after Dr. Littell spoke in Sarasota, the board sent a letter saying he’d been de-certified for “spreading false, inaccurate, and misleading materials about COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, and treatment and mitigation of the virus,” The Epoch Times confirmed.
A letter reviewed by The Epoch Times stated that if Dr. Littell appealed the decision within 20 days, he would continue to be represented by the board, pending a review of his case by the professionalism committee of the ABFM board of directors.
The reason for the decision to review his record was because of his past suggestions the COVID-19 vaccine was a product of genetic engineering, causing deaths in children and causing the rise of the Delta variant, the letter indicated. It also referenced “false” statements made by Drs. Ryan Cole and Robert Malone, who spoke at a medical freedom conference Dr. Littell organized in October 2022.
In the letter, the board also criticized Dr. Littell for “offering to provide medical exemptions from vaccination” to patients across the country and “publicly comparing the U.S. public health system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to Nazi Germany.”
After receiving the troubling letter, Dr. Littell sought the help of attorney Jeff Childers, a business attorney in Gainesville, Florida. Since the COVID-19 lockdowns began, Mr. Childers has become active in lawsuits around the country related to medical freedom. He authors a daily blog called Coffee and Covid, which started by chronicling COVID-19 issues and now tracks other social and political issues, as well.
Mr. Childers crafted a 64-page appeal to the board, dissecting every accusation made against Dr. Littell, an Epoch Times reporter confirmed. And as word of the threat to Dr. Littell’s board certification spread—a move that would prevent him from practicing medicine—medical freedom activists rose up to take his side. A GiveSendGo.com campaign was started to collect donations to fund his legal fees. More than 6,400 people donated almost $255,000. And more than 1,900 pledged to pray for Dr. Littell.
The Global Covid Summit, an international group of doctors focused on medical freedom in COVID-19 treatment, sent a letter signed by 169 doctors to the ABFM in support of Dr. Littell. In the letter, they argued that the board was false in every accusation made against Dr. Littell.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo also voiced support for Dr. Littell. “What they’re doing is being a bully,” he said in an interview with The Floridian. “It’s not going to age well. “I read the letter from the Board, and it’s dripping with political animosity.” Both Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Dr. Littell’s congresswoman, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) sent letters in his defense to the board, Dr. Littell said.
“I’ve got to believe it’s not in the dozens, but probably in the hundreds of people who called and sent letters to the American Board of Family Medicine,” Dr. Littell said. “I never asked them to, but that is what was happening.”
In July, Dr. Littell received word that the board had reviewed his case and retroactively de-certified him for three months, from March 16 to June 16. He never stopped seeing patients.
“It’s like a slap on the wrist so they’d feel good about it, but wouldn’t, presumably, have to face any legal action,” he said. His attorney agreed. “They did it in a very face-saving way,” Mr. Childers said. But ultimately, he’s pleased with the decision. “We were really surprised and gratified that we were able to achieve that result,” Mr. Childers said. Dr. Littell credits it to being “a God thing” that he was able to keep caring for patients and face a decertification period only retroactively.
“If they had said I was decertified, I would not have been able to do what I was doing. I mean, especially with the hospital care patients. I could have gotten into big trouble.”
He still may face consequences for having the blemish on his record, he said. He’ll have to report it to the hospitals at which he works and explain what happened, he said.
“Every time I go up for privileges with a hospital or any other institution, they’re going to say, ‘Well, has your license ever been suspended or revoked, and has your board certification ever been revoked?’ So, it’s still an issue. It’s not like you can just forget about it.”
He’s been advised by some other doctors, such as cardiologist Peter McCullough, to pursue legal action for the disciplinary measure they feel was wrong, he said. Continuing to Speak OutDr. Littell continues to speak out about the same topics. So he suspects he’ll face retribution again, he said. “The way I read the letter, it’s sort of like a warning,” Dr. Littell said. The board, he said, seemed to be sending the warning, “If you act up again, we know it’s a privilege to have this board certification, and it can be removed at any time.” And the next time, the punishment is likely to escalate. “The implication is that if it happens again, it’s going to be more than just three months,” Mr. Childers said. Around the country, a slew of doctors had board certifications removed and licensure threatened for sharing their COVID-related opinions.
“Most people would probably be surprised to find out there’s a lot of this going on, now that the pandemic is over,” Mr. Childers said. “From what I’ve heard, there’s probably more challenges to doctor licensing right now than at any other time.”
But because most doctors aren’t vocal about receiving discipline, it’s hard to know exactly how often it’s occurring, he said. Doctors who have been active on social media seem to be targeted more often by medical authorities, he said. Doctors who were not actively posting their thoughts about COVID-19 on social media “should feel very confident that if they follow a similar approach to what Dr. Littell did, they could hope for a good result at this point,” he said.
Obtaining good legal advice is key, he said. It also helps to spread the word. “All too often doctors either ignore these kinds of letters until it’s too late because they’re embarrassed, or they try to handle it on their own,” he said.
“It’s important that people know when this happens. And if they’ll let folks know, they’ll find that they get a lot of support.” Dr. Littell has no plans to keep quiet about what he feels went wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic “I’m not letting up,” he said. He’s organizing his third annual medical freedom summit in November called “Food, Family & Medical Freedom” in Ocala, Florida at the World Equestrian Center. Helping Future DoctorsHe intends to use the remaining money donated to his legal fund to help others respond to similar licensure problems, especially threats faced by medical students, he said.
He’s trying “to come up with a legal, legislative, and public relations strategy that helps future physicians,” he said. When they see practicing doctors disciplined and “raked over the coals” for speaking out about medical freedom issues, it deters good people from pursuing a degree in medicine, he said.
“I would like the medical freedom fighters, as I’m calling them, to create a sanctuary for pre-med, especially, and medical school students.”
“Early on, even in the colleges, they weed out the physicians who dare to question the narrative or challenge it,” he said, of those who insist that doctors decrees made by federal health agencies.
But asking questions and challenging prevailing thought is important to the goal of continually improving medical treatments, he said.
“And that intellectual curiosity is what we’re so desperately lacking now in medicine, and in most professions.” He also envisions the network expanding to help connect like-minded educators in colleges, universities, and medical schools to share their ideas without fear of being in opposition to “woke” ideology, he said.
He hopes to see that network push back against “lockstep mentality” and help students who are suffering because of it. Medical students taught by Dr. Littell often tell him how difficult it is to be entering the field of medicine at this time, he said.
One student told him that his second-year class was forced to be vaccinated for COVID-19, he said. Classmates were told by their university they’d be “thrown out” of medical school in two weeks if they didn’t comply, Dr. Littell said. The student told him that, although more than half the class didn’t want the vaccine, they felt they had no other option, Dr. Littell said. Weeks later, the mandate was lifted. But it was too late—many students already had submitted to getting the shot they didn’t want.
“It’s like they [university officials] were playing games,” he said. “And the students didn’t know any better. “They just don’t have enough support,” Dr. Littell lamented. “They want to say things, but they’re afraid they’re going to get disciplined if they speak out.”
He sees bringing people together to unite in their pushback against prevailing opinions as a revolutionary concept. “It’s really no different than what our Founding Fathers did,” Dr. Littell said. “They realized that they were victims of repression. But there also were people comfortable with the status quo. That’s what is in our medical schools right now and is what we all need to fight against.
“People should be allowed to question and use their God-given intellect, and not be censored or disciplined for doing so.” Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. Natasha Holt |
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People Rarely Transmit COVID-19 Before Experiencing Symptoms: Lancet Studyby Tyler Durden, 06September2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/people-rarely-transmit-covid-19-experiencing-symptoms-lancet-study
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
In a blow to the COVID-19 “silent spreader” narrative that has been used to push for universal masking, including controversially among schoolchildren, a recent study published in The Lancet suggests that people who are non-symptomatic rarely have the ability to infect others.
Silent transmission is the idea that those who are infected with COVID-19 but show no symptoms can still spread the virus to other people.
While all relevant studies show that presymptomatic and asymptomatic “silent spreaders” account for some proportion of infections in other people, the degree of silent transmission is less clear.
A number of early studies—in some cases affected by limitations that may have led to their proportion of presymptomatic transmission to be “artifactually inflated”—suggested that silent transmission accounted for around half of secondary infections, or even more.
The early studies led public health authorities to argue that everyone should wear a mask at all times when out in public or crowded places. This, in turn, helped drive draconian universal masking policies, including in schools, in a bid to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
For instance, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), initially discouraged universal mask-wearing early in the pandemic but later did a U-turn.
Initially, “we didn’t realize the extent of asymptotic spread,” Dr. Fauci said in July 2020, adding that later, “we fully realized that there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic who are spreading infection.”
“So it became clear that we absolutely should be wearing masks consistently,” Dr. Fauci said at the time. But new research calls into question the significance of the threat of silent transmission, which comes as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in America, driving what some are calling a renewed pandemic “hysteria” and calls for a fresh round of restrictions, including mask mandates. ‘Very Few Emissions’ Before Symptom OnsetThe new study, published in the August issue of The Lancet’s Microbe journal, shows that people who are sick with COVID-19 but don’t show any symptoms have a limited ability to spread the virus to other people.
Participants in the British study, which was carried out by researchers at Imperial College London, were unvaccinated healthy adults aged 18-30 who were intentionally infected with COVID-19.
The subjects were monitored under controlled circumstances while self-reporting symptoms three times per day, and researchers collected nose and throat swabs from them daily, checking for the presence of the virus.
The researchers also tested the inside of masks worn by the participants, checked their hands, and examined the air and surfaces of rooms that the subjects were kept in for a minimum of 14 days. Ultimately, the researchers found that less than 10 percent of the viral emissions from infected participants took place before the first symptoms emerged.
“Very few emissions occurred before the first reported symptom (7%) and hardly any before the first positive lateral flow antigen test (2%),” the authors of the study wrote.
The new study—which takes the form of a rigorous, controlled “challenge study” rather than the earlier modeling studies that relied on subjective inputs and assumptions of researchers—contradicts earlier research that set the tone for much of the prevailing narrative. That early research appears to have inflated the perceived threat of presymptomatic spread.
The latest study, suggesting that silent transmission is far less significant, comes amid a growing drumbeat of alarm as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise—along with calls in some circles for renewed restrictions.
By contrast, many are calling for cool heads to prevail—or are urging civil disobedience if lockdowns or other mandates are reimposed. ‘Artifactually Inflated’?Some early studies, such as one published in August 2020 called “Temporal Dynamics In Viral Shedding and Transmissibility of COVID-19,” suggested that people who were presymptomatic or asymptomatic accounted for a large proportion of secondary infections.
This particular study estimated that 44 percent of secondary cases were infected during the presymptomatic stage, while concluding that “disease control measures should be adjusted to account for probably substantial presymptomatic transmission.”
The authors of the study admitted that it had several limitations, however, including potential “recall bias” that may have tended towards a delay in recognizing first symptoms.
“The incubation period would have been overestimated, and thus the proportion of presymptomatic transmission artifactually inflated,” meaning that the study may have exaggerated the proportion of people who spread the virus before showing symptoms, they said.
Another study from July 2020 called “The Implications of Silent Transmission for the Control of COVID-19 Outbreaks” went even further, suggesting that people were most infectious during the presymptomatic phase and concluding that silent transmission was the “primary driver of COVID-19 outbreaks and underscore the need for mitigation strategies, such as contact tracing, that detect and isolate infectious individuals prior to the onset of symptoms.”
That study relied on a range of assumptions and models, with different presymptomatic, asymptomatic, and symptomatic transmission rates calculated based on a complex mathematical model from another study.
Findings from earlier studies like the ones cited above led public health officials to argue that silent spreaders were a big factor in COVID-19 transmission and so to recommend that everyone should mask up. |
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COVID-19 Vaccines Revealed as ‘Neither Safe, Nor Effective’: WatchdogThe vaccines were hastily approved through an ‘interim order’ that enabled pharma companies to bypass approved procedures.By Naveen Athrappully
COVID-19 vaccines were authorized in Canada during 2020 and 2021 without being subjected to the country’s safety tests as required under established drug regulations, an accountability watchdog revealed.
An investigation into COVID-19 vaccines found that they were “neither safe nor effective,” according to the nonprofit organization National Citizens Inquiry (NCI). The organization published a report on Sept. 14 detailing the flawed mechanism through which the vaccines were granted “approval” in Canada.
“It is important to understand that the COVID-19 vaccines were never approved under the traditional approval process for drugs in Canada,” the report states (pdf). Instead, Health Canada, the federal agency responsible for national health policy, approved the vaccines through an alternative authorization process—an interim order.
“Under the alternative authorization process, the necessity to establish the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines through an objective manner appears to have been set aside,” the report states.
Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations require that a drug can only be approved in the country after its safety and effectiveness are demonstrated to the minister of health. Then, the minister considers whether the benefits outweigh the risks, following which, approval is granted.
Instead of following regulations, the minister of health sanctioned an interim order on Sept. 16, 2021, which exempted all COVID-19 vaccines from normal review and approval. This provision usually allows the minister to override normal regulations in situations of “significant risk” to health, safety, or the environment.
In Canada, four COVID-19 vaccines were authorized by the health agency under an interim order—Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen, and AstraZeneca.
The report notes that under the order, vaccines were authorized under a “subjective test.” In this situation, authorization is granted by simply proving that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.
“This cannot be an appropriate standard for approving a drug that the Government intends to administer to the entire population. It is difficult to conceive of a less-scientific test for drug authorization than that found in the Interim Order,” the report states. Moreover, the order made sure that the vaccine authorizations couldn’t be revoked even under evidence that they were unsafe and ineffective. Once an interim order is issued, the typical Food and Drug Regulations don’t apply.
The order thus exempted manufacturers from having to effectively demonstrate “objective evidence of safety and effectiveness” of their COVID-19 vaccines.
“The result was that while chief medical officers across the country repeatedly assured Canadians that the COVID-19 vaccines were ‘safe and effective’—the general Canadian population had no understanding that their authorization process had not required objective proof of safety nor efficacy,” the report states. ‘Not Safe for Human Use’The NCI report was supported by cardiologist Dr. Peter A. McCullough. “Excellent work @Inquiry_Canada with exhaustive testimony and evidence review. Conclusion: all COVID-19 vaccines unsafe for human use and must be removed from the Canadian market immediately to protect the public,” he wrote in a Sept. 16 post on X. Dr. McCullough recently asked European lawmakers to take COVID-19 vaccines off the market due to concerns about illnesses such as heart inflammation, blood clots, and neurological diseases.
“COVID-19 vaccines and all of their progeny and future boosters are not safe for human use. I implore you, as a governing body, European Medicines Agency, to apply all pressure and due urgency to remove the COVID-19 vaccines from market,” Dr. McCullough said in Sept. 13 testimony to the European Parliament.
The NCI report comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved new COVID vaccines on Sept. 11 for children as young as 6 months old.
“Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” Dr. Peter Marks, a top FDA official, said in a statement.
However, many experts have questioned the push for new vaccines. Earlier this month, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo criticized the updated vaccines.
“We all know there’s a new vaccine that’s coming around the corner, [a] new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. And there’s essentially no evidence for it,” he said during a press conference.
“There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people, there’s been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people. And not only that, but then there are a lot of red flags.”
Dr. Ladapo said that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have “caused cardiac injury in many people.” Not Actually ‘Interim’Canada’s interim order for COVID-19 vaccines “has become permanent,” according to the NCI report. An interim order typically only lasts for one year. In March 2022, the order was replaced with permanent regulations, which codified the “subjective authorization” of the vaccine.
“Thus, under the permanent test, Health Canada no longer has to be swayed by urgency, but simply by the public health need related to COVID-19. In this way, it seems that so long as COVID-19 is a circulating virus, Health Canada must authorize any vaccine for which there is an argument to support the conclusion that its benefits outweigh its risks,” the report states.
“In effect, we fear that there will never be a need for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to prove [the] safety or efficacy of their products.”
NCI also alleged there was a “conflict of interests” while approving the COVID-19 vaccines, with the government being involved.
The Epoch Times reached out to Health Canada for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time. Political Interests, Letter to TrudeauCanada usually doesn’t allow drugs to be imported into the country unless approved by Health Canada. However, the interim order allowed the unapproved COVID-19 vaccines to be imported “as long as the Canadian Government was the purchaser,” according to the report.
This pre-purchasing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines were done to make sure that they were available for dissemination as soon as they were authorized.
“This created a tremendous conflict of interest,” the report states. “Once the vaccines were purchased, imported and ready for distribution, the Government of Canada would have suffered significant political blowback if it was unable to authorize them. Thus, it needed to authorize the COVID-19 vaccines, and it needed to do it quickly.
“The Government of Canada ordered the vaccines, imported them, created new regulations to authorize them, and then took significant measures to convince and coerce every Canadian to take multiple doses. The political stakes were high, and the federal government had every motivation to get the vaccines authorized, regardless of their actual efficacy or safety.”
On Sept. 14, the NCI sent a letter (pdf) to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighting the issue of COVID-19 vaccine approval.
“Canadians are relying on representations as to the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines,” which Health Canada has never determined, the letter said. “Some might draw the conclusion that the misrepresentation to Canadians of proven safety is intentional, made while knowing it to be false and intending it to be relied upon.
“As a matter of common sense, the objective falsity of the ‘proven safe’ claim brings into question the basis for informed consent to the administration of the injections, creating potentially enormous liabilities.”
In the current context, the organization pointed out that the population immunity has increased along with the latest variants being “milder.”
“In the face of your government’s reported intention to promote booster injections in coming months, the urgency now lies in telling the truth to Canadians and taking corrective action,” the letter reads.
The NCI asked the prime minister to withdraw COVID-19 vaccines “until the normal rigorous evaluation can be completed” and to reinstate the traditional objective test for safety.
Naveen Athrappully
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Pfizer-Funded Study Shows Poor Effectiveness for COVID-19 Vaccine in Young ChildrenThree doses of the Pfizer vaccine provided little protection against emergency room visits, urgent care encounters, or outpatient visits.By Zachary Stieber
A new study funded by Pfizer found the company’s COVID-19 vaccine did not perform well in children under 5.
Children aged 6 months to 4 years are supposed to receive three shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The number was increased from two when early testing showed little effectiveness.
Three doses of the Pfizer vaccine provided little protection against emergency room visits, urgent care encounters, or outpatient visits, according to the new study.
Researchers with and funded by Pfizer analyzed records from Kaiser Permanente Southern California. They included patients who tested for COVID-19 at an emergency department, urgent care, or outpatient setting along with being diagnosed with acute respiratory infection. The date range was July 23, 2022 through May 19, 2023.
Positive cases were those with a positive test result. Controls tested negative and had no evidence of prior infection in the past 90 days. Children were only counted as vaccinated if they received a second or third shot two or more weeks before being exposed to COVID-19. Children were excluded if they only received one dose, received any doses from a different company, or did not follow the recommended dosing schedule.
After adjusting for factors such as age and sex, researchers estimated just 12 percent effectiveness against medically-attended encounters for children who completed the three-dose primary series.
Confidence intervals crossed well over one, indicating that the effectiveness might actually be worse or even negative.
The effectiveness was estimated to be higher, or 44 percent, for children who received two doses of the regimen
Researchers speculated that the difference stemmed from more immune-evasive virus variants becoming dominant in the United States by the time children received a third dose.
“Updated vaccines will likely be needed to maintain protection against contemporary Omicron strains in young children,” they wrote.
The study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Sara Tartof, the study’s corresponding author and an employee of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, did not answer questions, including why researchers included those with two doses but not those with one dose.
Pfizer did not return a request for comment. Key Problems
FDA Detects Serious Safety Signal for Covid Vaccine Among Kids
Among the key problems with the research were only including children who were diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI), Dr. Robert Malone, who was not involved in the research, said.
That “may predispose to young children that lack a primary care physician/pediatrician,” Dr. Malone, who helped invent the mRNA technology Pfizer’s vaccine utilizes, told The Epoch Times via email.
“Likewise, the control group of non-vaccinated with ARI will also have selection bias. These intrinsic study biases make the relevance of the measured outcome to the general population quite problematic.”
Another issue is using positive results on polymerase chain reaction testing as the metric for having COVID-19, given the false positives the testing brings, Dr. Malone said. Some patients who tested positive may actually have another virus, such as influenza, he said. Need a TrialPfizer’s vaccine was authorized for children despite unreliable efficacy estimates against infection, and no efficacy estimates against severe disease.
The newly reported results are based on a test-negative design, which is inappropriate for measuring effectiveness, said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of health policy at Stanford University.
“The design starts with children who are already seeing a doctor and then makes strong and unsupportable statistical assumptions to derive the probability of seeing a doctor for vaccinated and unvaccinated children,” Dr. Bhattacharya, who was not involved in the research, told The Epoch Times via email.
“What is needed to answer this question without bias is a randomized control trial. I am shocked that the FDA has not asked Pfizer and Moderna to conduct such a study,” he added.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Pfizer’s shot on the basis of immunobridging, or comparing antibody levels in children after vaccination with levels in adults after vaccination.
Antibodies are believed to protect people against COVID-19.
The authorization has been the subject of protests, including a complaint that said the FDA violated its own standards with the clearance.
The FDA this month cleared new vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for children. The only trial data was from 50 people aged 12 or older who received Moderna’s shot. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the shots to all people aged 6 months and older. CDC DataCDC data presented on Sept. 12 showed that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines failed to provide much protection to young children.
One dose of Pfizer’s vaccine provided just 8 percent protection against emergency room and urgent care visits beyond 13 days, while two doses provided a peak of 44 percent protection, according to the data (pdf).
A third dose provided 71 percent protection between 14 and 59 days, but the shielding plunged to 16 percent after two months.
A two-shot primary series of Moderna’s shot initially provided 46 percent protection. That shielding dropped even lower, to 24 percent, beyond 60 days.
The World Health Organization considers 50 percent as adequate effectiveness for vaccines.
A single dose of a bivalent shot, introduced in the fall of 2022, boosted protection to 61 percent, but no estimates were available over time and the estimate was based on just eight vaccinated patients who tested positive.
“This imprecision indicates that the actual [effectiveness] could be substantially different,” the CDC said.
Zachary Stieber
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Undeniable Severe Injuries After HPV VaccinationThe HPV Vaccine: A Golden Shield or a Double-Edged Sword? (Part 2)A collection of documented evidence is presented for serious injuries associated with Gardasil. Their existence is undeniable. By Yuhong Dong
Dear Readers, I would like to sincerely apologize for not being able to continue this series for about two months due to being called for another urgent and important assignment. Now I am back to this series. Dr. Yuhong Dong In this series, “The HPV Vaccine: A Double-Edged Sword?” we will provide a collection of documented evidence of death and serious injuries associated with Gardasil. Their existence is undeniable. We will also analyze the potential mechanisms for serious adverse events and disclose important facts about the vaccine. We will conclude with a discussion about the underlying root causes for the phenomena behind the HPV vaccines and will provide recommendations for key stakeholders.
Previously, in Part 1 of this series, we presented documented evidence of death cases in young girls or boys with undeniable association with Gardasil.
In Part 2, we present documented evidence of non-fatal but severe injuries in children who were healthy and lost their ability to live normally after receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine—believed to be one of the most effective vaccines developed to date. Gardasil was launched in the United States, Germany, and Denmark in 2006 and in Australia in 2007.
The following cases were documented by doctors, medical papers, and filmmakers. Their diligent work allows us to be able to put them together and systematically analyze the mechanisms of injury associated with the HPV vaccines. ‘Our Paula Is Gone’Paula Aldea was a normal, healthy young girl. Since taking the HPV vaccine, she can no longer walk and now relies on a wheelchair. “Our Paula is gone,” her father said.
According to The Epoch Times documentary “Under the Skin,” on May 26, 2022, Paula received her first HPV vaccination. On June 25, she called her father at 10:25 a.m., crying at a bus stop and needing him to quickly come to get her—she could no longer feel her legs.
The pain in her back became unbearable, and then her back went numb. Paula and her father went straight to the emergency room and after some chiropractic exercises, she was told she’d be fine in a few hours and was sent home. At 3:00 p.m. her mother called her father and said, “Come home immediately. Paula doesn’t feel anything from her body anymore.”
“There was this pain. I think it was the worst pain I’ve ever had. And then this numbness—you just don’t realize it. You can’t walk, but you don’t think about it: What will the future be like? What will it be like now? Even when they said I had to stay in the hospital, I thought why?” said Paula.
Paula’s mother recalls, “When Paula was lying in her bed, the senior physician came and asked if she had had an infection recently. And we could deny that. She had neither a stomach bug nor a flu-like infection. Paula was always very healthy.”
“The next question was whether she had been vaccinated. And there it clicked—yes, she has been vaccinated. Everywhere we went to doctors, the second or third question was, ‘Did you have a vaccination recently?’” her mother said.
The damage has been officially recognized by authorities as caused by the HPV vaccine. Paula receives a monthly payment from welfare. Her inability to walk is likely caused by the severe attack of immune cells on the myelin layer of the spinal cord, which is an autoimmune response.
Paula is not a single case—she may even be the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous cases of disabilities, including an inability to walk or to see, following Gardasil injection. A 16-Year-Old American Girl Now BlindIn 2010, Dr. Frances DiMario Jr. from the pediatrics department at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, along with Drs. Mirna Hajjar and Thomas Ciesielski from the neurology department at Hartford Hospital, reported a case with a similar level of severity after HPV vaccination, in the Journal of Child Neurology.
Yuhong Dong Author (M.D., Ph.D.)
Yuhong Dong, M.D., Ph.D., is a senior medical columnist for The Epoch Times. She is a former senior medical scientific expert and pharmacovigilance leader at Novartis Headquarters in Switzerland, and was a Novartis award winner for four years. She has preclinical research experience in virology, immunology, oncology, neurology, and ophthalmology, and also has clinical experience in infectious disease and internal medicine. She earned her M.D. and a doctorate in infectious diseases at Beijing University in China.
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FDA, CDC Hid Data on Spike in COVID Cases Among the Vaccinated: DocumentsBy Zachary Stieber
COVID-19 cases among vaccinated seniors soared in 2021, according to newly disclosed data that was acquired by U.S. health agencies but not presented to the public.
Humetrix Cloud Services was contracted by the U.S. military to analyze vaccine data. The company performed a fresh analysis as authorities considered in 2021 whether COVID-19 vaccine boosters were necessary amid studies finding waning vaccine effectiveness.
Humetrix researchers found that the proportion of total COVID-19 cases among the seniors was increasingly comprised of vaccinated people, according to the newly disclosed documents.
For the week ending on July 31, 2021, post-vaccination COVID-19 cases represented 73 percent of the cases among people 65 and older, the company found. The elderly were 80 percent fully vaccinated at the time.
Breakthrough infection rates were higher among those who were vaccinated early, the researchers found. They estimated that the rates were twice as high in those who had been vaccinated five to six months prior, when compared to people vaccinated three to four months before.
The breakthrough cases started in January 2021, according to the data.
Protection against hospitalization was also fading, researchers discovered. In the week ending on July 31, 2021, 63 percent of the COVID-19 hospitalizations in seniors were among the fully vaccinated, according to the documents. The same pattern of weaker protection among people who were vaccinated early was found.
It’s Really Happening: Vaccine and Mask Mandates, Contact-Tracing RETURN
Researchers calculated that the vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection was just 33 percent while the effectiveness against hospitalization had dropped to 57 percent.
Seniors who previously had COVID-19 and recovered were more likely to avoid hospitalization, the researchers also found. Risk factors included serious underlying conditions such as obesity and being in the oldest age group, or older than 85.
The cohort analysis was completed on 20 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 5.6 million seniors who received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Our observational study VE findings show a very significant decrease in VE against infection and hospitalization in the Delta phase of the pandemic for individuals vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for those 5–6 months post vaccination vs. those 3–4 months post vaccination,” Dr. Bettina Experton, Humetrix’s president and CEO, said in a Sept. 15, 2021, email to top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials.
Humetrix also found that among the beneficiaries, there had been 133,000 cases, 27,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 intensive care admissions among the fully vaccinated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Experton disclosed that Humetrix shared the data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in August 2021.
“It would have been nice to know [the military] was conducting this prior to now. Also might have been nice for CDC to share the data,” Dr. Peter Marks, one of the FDA officials, told colleagues in response.
“This is more worrisome than the other data we have in my opinion,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA’s acting commissioner at the time, said in reply.
The presentation and emails were obtained by the Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit that seeks to provide transparency around medical issues, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“It is hard to see this as anything other than a failure of our health authorities to assess, share, make public, and act upon valuable, real-world data in the midst of a so-called pandemic,” Del Bigtree, founder of the network, told The Epoch Times via email. “And without FOIA, the public likely would never be made aware of these failures which, of course, allows them to be perpetrated again and again.”
The FDA and CDC declined to comment. Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health at the time, wrote in a separate email obtained through FOIA that the results of the study provided “pretty compelling evidence that VE is falling 5–6 months post vaccination for both infection and hospitalization for those over 65.”
He added, “Even for those 3–4 months out there is a trend toward worsening VE.” The CDC, FDA, and National Institutes of Health did not share the data with the public as they considered whether to clear and recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
The CDC held a meeting with its vaccine advisers on Aug. 30, 2021. During the meeting, CDC officials went over emerging data on waning vaccine effectiveness. But the military study was not included.
The FDA held a similar meeting on Sept. 17, 2021. The CDC participated. The Humetrix analysis was also not presented during that meeting.
Both agencies have aggressively promoted COVID-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic, including hyping them as strongly protective against severe disease even after their own data have suggested that is not the case.
The CDC did present (pdf) data from COVID-NET, one of its systems, that showed effectiveness against COVID-19-associated hospitalization was falling among the elderly since the emergence of the Delta variant but that data still showed 80 percent effectiveness. Click to Download the data from COVID-NET CDC-Framework for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines-30August2021 The presentation also included data from outside researchers and Israel that estimated the protection during the Delta era against infection ranged from 39 percent to 84 percent and that the effectiveness against hospitalization ranged from 75 to 95 percent.
The FDA ended up clearing a Pfizer booster for many Americans. The CDC advised most people to receive it. The agencies later expanded booster clearance and recommendations to virtually all Americans aged 5 and older, with Moderna’s shot as another option. Authorities have since replaced the old shots due to their lack of durability, and are preparing to roll out another slate of shots this fall.
Zachary Stieber Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. |
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Forensic Analysis of Deaths in Pfizer’s Early mRNA Vaccine Trial Found Significant InconsistenciesResearchers are calling into question Pfizer’s early trial data on its original COVID-19 vaccine after a forensic analysis revealed significant problems.By Megan Redshaw
A group of researchers are calling into question Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s early trial data on its original COVID-19 vaccine after a forensic analysis revealed significant inconsistencies between data in the companies’ six-month interim report and publications authored by Pfizer/BioNTech trial site administrators.
The preprint, published on Sept. 4, showed trial subjects vaccinated with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine experienced a 3.7 times increase in cardiovascular deaths compared to placebo controls—a “significant adverse event signal” not disclosed by Pfizer when the vaccine was authorized for emergency use. In addition, the analysis found numerous instances where Pfizer/BioNTech attributed potential vaccine-associated deaths to other causes and undermined vaccine safety data. Clinical Trial ‘Cause of Death’ Unsupported by DocumentationResearchers from the DailyClout Pfizer/BioNTech Documents Investigations Team assessed data from Pfizer’s original phase two/three clinical trial involving 44,060 subjects equally divided into two groups. One group received a dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, and the other received a placebo. As part of their analysis, researchers reviewed the cause of death forms (CRFs) of 38 trial subjects who died during the study period from July 27, 2020, to March 13, 2021, the end date of the clinical trial.
They found that 14 of the 38 deaths—more than one-third of deaths—resulted from cardiovascular events, accounting for the difference between the 21 deaths in the vaccination arm compared to the 17 deaths in the placebo arm. In numerous cases, researchers found that documentation did not support the cause of death diagnosis or allow one to rule out the possibility of a cardiovascular event with an autopsy.
“In general, our review of the CRFs found them to be lacking in detail and extremely difficult to interpret and develop a good timeline of events,” researchers wrote. “Often, a subject’s pre-trial clinical history was absent. Absent also were results of the extensive array of medical testing carried out at the pre-trial screening and at other regularly scheduled visits.”
Absent test results included complete blood counts, metabolic tests, pregnancy tests, COVID-19 tests, a comprehensive list of active medications, and other tests that would have provided clarity on a subject’s overall health. Although more detailed clinical data on the trial subjects exists, the researchers said it is being withheld. Given the limitations of what Pfizer provided, the researchers said the information in the CRFs was often insufficient to support the investigator’s conclusions regarding the cause of death.
The researchers also noted frequent communications between Pfizer/BioNTech physicians and trial site medical staff about the CRFs, some of which were over 400 to 900 pages. Pfizer Used Earlier Data Cutoff and Unblinded Control GroupAccording to the analysis, Pfizer excluded the 38 deaths from information provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during its December 2020 meeting where its vaccine advisory panel was considering whether to authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use.
When Pfizer/BioNTech submitted its application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on Nov. 20, 2020, to the FDA, the application described clinical trial results using a cutoff date of November 14, 2020, even though the end date of the trial was March 13, 2021. Researchers said the earlier cutoff date concealed mortality data from the clinical trial.
“Both Pfizer presenters and the FDA committee failed to ask for and review deaths that occurred in the clinical trial participants after the data cutoff. As a result, they missed a more than three-fold increased risk of cardiovascular death with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough told The Epoch Times in an email.
“If the FDA presentation with core slides had been presented with accurate, updated data, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine should not have been approved because of safety concerns,” he added.
Twenty weeks into the clinical trial on Dec. 11, 2020, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine received EUA from the FDA, and the agency allowed Pfizer to unblind its control group. Unblinding occurs when study participants are told whether they received a vaccine or a placebo, and placebo subjects are permitted to get vaccinated. All but a few chose to receive the vaccine.
All subjects continued to be followed for 24 months and deaths were reported to Pfizer/BioNTech. Pfizer called the period from Dec. 11, 2020, to Jan. 24, 2021, the “open-label follow-up period” without explanation, and the period from Jan. 25, 2021, to the end date of the trial, March 13, 2021, as the cutoff date for the six-month interim report. According to the analysis, this made it easier to conceal deaths potentially linked to the vaccine.
A comparison of the number of deaths during the 33-week study period found no considerable difference between the deaths in the vaccinated versus the placebo groups for the first 20 weeks. After week 20, when participants in the placebo group were unblinded and vaccinated, deaths among the remaining unvaccinated cohort of this group slowed and then plateaued, while deaths in vaccinated subjects continued at the same rate. These inconsistencies were not explained by Pfizer/BioNTech or reported to the FDA, according to the analysis. Vaccinated Placebo Group Death Cases Used to Obscure Trial DataDocuments obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that 462 subjects (pdf) in the placebo group received a dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, with deaths reported attributed to the unvaccinated control group, and the analysis identified numerous instances where Pfizer/BioNTech undermined potential vaccine-related deaths or used complex terms to obscure trial data.
For example, a 65-year-old male with a medical history of pulmonary fibrosis and hypertension was in the trial’s placebo arm. He received doses 1 and 2 of the placebo on Sept. 30, 2020, and Oct. 21, 2020, respectively. After Pfizer/BioNTech unblinded the trial, he received his first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 23, 2020. Five days later, on Dec. 31, 2021, he reported symptoms of COVID-19 and was admitted to the hospital.
While hospitalized, he became hypoxic and was intubated. Efforts to treat him failed, and he died on Jan. 11, 2021. Pfizer’s six-month interim report lists the subject as a “discontinued subject” and classified the death as a placebo death with COVID-19 as the secondary cause of death. The researchers said the subject should have been discontinued from the clinical trial entirely because he received a “non-study COVID-19 vaccine.”
Another trial subject, a 53-year-old male with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and “stress-related myocardial infarction,” died suddenly from “cardiopulmonary arrest” less than two months after receiving his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. According to the analysis, the trial site’s medical monitor listed the cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest related to myocardial infarction.” Days later, Pfizer/BioNTech told the trial site that multiple causes of death could not be entered on the CRF and requested that “related to myocardial infarction” be deleted.
When the medical monitor wouldn’t alter the entry’s wording, Pfizer/BioNTech overrode the trial site and changed the cause of death to “cardiopulmonary arrest,” omitting “myocardial infarction” as a secondary cause of death. Pfizer/BioNTech did not explain why a specific diagnosis of a serious adverse event was later changed to something undefined.
Another vaccine subject died within three days of receiving his first Pfizer vaccine dose. The medical examiner attributed the death to the progression of atherosclerotic disease, and Pfizer listed the cause of death in its six-month interim report as “atherosclerosis.”
However, atherosclerosis was not documented in the subject’s CRF as a comorbidity of the patient, nor did the subject’s CRF include the pre-screening portion of comorbidities that would have shown whether the subject had a history of atherosclerosis. Furthermore, an autopsy would have confirmed whether the subject died from atherosclerosis, but autopsy results were unavailable. The subject’s death was attributed to an underlying disease, yet the researchers said there is “no basis for ascribing the subject’s death to advanced atherosclerosis or concluding that the death was unrelated to the vaccine” when the subject died “within a day or two” of vaccination.
Another subject died 76 days after receiving the first placebo dose. The primary cause of death was first listed as diabetes mellitus based on the subject’s medical history. Yet the diagnosis was revised several times, despite the “presence of very high blood glucose levels,” until COVID-19 pneumonia was listed as the secondary cause of death. In addition, the subject was HIV positive with an HIV RNA load over the acceptable limit for inclusion in the trial.
“The FDA should review these data immediately in addition to the mounting safety data and peer-reviewed manuscripts on vaccine injuries, disabilities, and deaths and move swiftly to remove all COVID-19 vaccines from the market,” Dr. McCullough said. FDA and Pfizer Attempted to Hide Health Outcomes of Trial Participants: Preprint ResearchersWhen Pfizer/BioNTech filed its EUA in November 2020, the FDA didn’t make the application containing clinical data available on its website for the general public or the medical community to evaluate until Dec. 11, 2020. Although an article was published on Dec. 10, 2020, in The New England Journal of Medicine disclosing the interim results of the trial, it was authored by the trial site administrators who were “intimately aware of the trial’s findings,” researchers said.
The following year, in September 2021—after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had received EUA—the same trial site administrators published another paper in The New England Journal of Medicine on the safety and efficacy of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine through six months.
With the “knowledge and approval” of the FDA, the preprint researchers said Pfizer and the FDA had no plans to disclose the clinical trial data that formed the basis of EUA for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for 75 years, including the health outcomes of the 44,060 subjects who participated in the original trial. It wasn’t until the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency filed a FOIA lawsuit to obtain the original clinical trial data involved in the licensing of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine that data was made available and the problems with the initial clinical trial were revealed.
Release of the data to the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency site began early in June 2022 and was projected to take eight months to complete. They have taken much longer than estimated and documents continue to be downloaded.
“Had it not been for the successful court case brought by the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, no one outside of the Pfizer and BioNTech corporations would have had the opportunity to investigate the original data generated by this clinical trial and none of the discrepancies reported here would have been revealed,” they added.
The researchers said their analysis provides evidence the decision to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as a safe and effective means of controlling the pandemic was not an “informed decision based on an unbiased, thorough, and transparent evaluation of the evidence.”
Despite early warning signals and other reported adverse events in the post-marketing of mRNA vaccines, the Pfizer vaccine has not been removed from the market and has been approved for the nation’s youngest children. At the very least, the researchers said they hope their analysis will inform physicians and other medical professionals of the dangers of the mRNA vaccines so that they can better advise their patients on the personal risks compared with the benefits of getting vaccinated. “This would return healthcare decisions back to individuals and their medical providers where it belongs.”
The Epoch Times has contacted both Pfizer and the FDA for comment and has not yet received a response. Author (J.D.) Megan Redshaw is an attorney and investigative journalist with a background in political science. She is also a traditional naturopath with additional certifications in nutrition and exercise science. |
Medical Examiner’s Office source: Only 1 to 2 percent of ‘COVID deaths’ were really COVIDBy Selwyn Duke
“Only one to two percent” of deaths officially labeled as caused by COVID actually were induced by the disease. The rest were labeled as COVID but actually had other causes.
So said an individual I spoke to recently, who I’ll keep anonymous, about the deceased people processed by this individual’s medical examiner’s office. I won’t reveal much about this person, who I’ll call “ME,” except to say that ME is highly trained and qualified and works at a major medical examiner’s office in New York State.
ME’s information is not revelatory. We’ve heard from many sources that COVID numbers have been inflated. Personally speaking, I also talked a couple of years ago to an employee at a NY hospital who told me, casually and as a matter of course, “They’re lumping all the flu cases in with COVID.” But it’s especially noteworthy and newsworthy when the information comes from someone such as ME, who’s highly trained, in a position to know and who reveals such striking numbers.
I pressed ME on his (I’ll use the masculine pronoun generically here; this doesn’t imply that ME is male or not so) claim. “You’re not exaggerating?” I asked. ME confidently reiterated his assertion: Many deaths his office evaluated were attributed to COVID — but “only one to two percent” actually were.
What were the real causes? ME mentioned ischemia, myocardial infarction (heart attack) and complications from diabetes as major culprits. He also said that there were a large number of suicides — presumably another negative secondary effect of the lockdowns and other irrational COVID policies — though these were not labeled as COVID deaths at his office.
ME did state, however, that sometimes a person will have died from something wholly unrelated to COVID — he mentioned a motorcycle accident case as an example — and his office will list the decedent as having been “COVID positive” (not a COVID death, though), even though he wasn’t, because this would enable the deceased’s family to receive financial aid for the funeral.
Related to this, ME mentioned how not only were hospitals getting more money from the government if a patient was labeled COVID-positive, but that he believed funeral homes were also receiving funds for processing COVID-positive decedents, though he was unsure on this point.
Obviously, however, the monetary carrot will always corrupt a system: As is said, what you fund, you get more of.
ME doesn’t approve of the dishonesty at his office, of the gross manipulation of COVID numbers. But ME also mentioned that his role isn’t to sign the death certificates; it’s to provide the office itself with accurate information derived from his evaluation of decedents. As for the people who run things at this medical examiner’s office, ME wasn’t very impressed, describing them as fools (though ME used a different but synonymous term).
Lastly, ME mentioned something I’ve long pointed out: While with the flu, for example, the mortality counter is reset every year, this isn’t done with COVID. Rather, authorities keep a running count, continually adding on to the previous years’ numbers, so that the disease’s mortality appears especially frightening.
So what are America’s actual COVID numbers? Can ME’s one-to-two-percent estimate be extrapolated to our whole country? We don’t know. What’s for certain is that COVID has been grossly mismanaged and mischaracterized by people who would sententiously scold “Follow the science!” but were themselves following money and politics. In the process, this medical/scientific establishment has perhaps permanently discredited itself — and never was reputational destruction more richly deserved.
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They control you by Fear Porn Propagandaby Tyler Durden, 01October2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/climate-fear Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times, The medical, media, and political elites’ focus has shifted from facts to fomenting and magnifying fear. In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in 1933, the new president told a nation in the depths of the Great Depression that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Those words were true and rightfully spoken at that time. Roosevelt knew that fear is a powerful emotion that limits our ability to reason, act wisely, and work together. It’s also an emotion that’s contagious and not easily diminished or dissipated.
The Power of Fear to Fragment SocietyUnfortunately, Roosevelt’s words are even more applicable today. On a personal level, decisions made under the emotional duress of fear are rarely the best ones and often the worst. Fear can bring out the best in us, but can often bring out the worst. That’s more likely to occur the more fragmented a society becomes. Fear among different groups of people creates an us-versus-them context in the minds of individuals, or even an “every-man-for-himself” attitude, which pits one group against another or even each of us against each other.
Now elevate that sense of fear to the level of the national electorate. A people or a nation that’s paralyzed with fear makes rash decisions based on their fears of what could happen, not necessarily what the current situation truly is. When that happens, a society can quickly degenerate, where our base instincts determine our behavior in a law-of-the-jungle social environment.
Roosevelt knew this, as do our leaders today. The difference is that today, rather than seeking to dispel fear, our political and media elites create it, expand it, and revel in it. Rather than promote hope and strength of character in us, in a Roosevelt- or even a Reagan-like fashion, they traffic in fear and its fellow traveler social division in order to fragment our society.
It’s the old but effective divide-and-conquer strategy, and sadly, it works far too well. The mechanism for divide and conquer is the constant drumbeat of the Big Lie, which is also a tried and true method for controlling society. It was first practiced and perfected by Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany using the mass media, but has been successfully used by the USSR and every other communist and dictatorial regime in the world since the 1930s. Social Media Is Magnitudes More Powerful Than Legacy MediaThe difference today is the massive and pervasive presence of social media. Its reach and social saturation throughout society are magnitudes greater than have ever been possible before. What’s more, our political and media elites create and exaggerate fear without even mentioning the word. “Fear” is driven into our collective psyches under the guise of our government keeping us “safe,” while demonizing anyone who challenges that narrative.
The repetition by the media and the pharmaceutical industry of how to stay safe from COVID-19 always involves more drugs and less freedom. That’s by design. The elites that run society know that once enough of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others with whom we interact become more fearful than rational, they’re easily manipulated and divided into confrontational groups.
Does that sound like a conspiracy theory? Yes, it probably does, but it’s also how the Stasi, the East German security agency, turned virtually every neighbor into an informant. The result was that people were fearful of doing anything that could be construed as being against the communist East German government. In light of what we’ve been through the last three years—and what looks to be on the horizon—the conspiracy theory accusation has lost its sting. From Conspiracy Theory to FactRecall, for example, how those who received the COVID-19 vaccine turned against those who remained unvaccinated. The contrast and social division couldn’t have been clearer or more deliberate. Vaccinated people were characterized by the media and government agency spokespeople as selfless, smarter, and better human beings than those who refused the vaccine.
On the flip side, the “anti-vaxxers,” as they came to be called, were publicly derided by the medical, pharmaceutical, media, and government elites. They were accused of being low-intelligence conspiracy theory nuts who wouldn’t or couldn’t “follow the science,” even when they followed the science from experts such as Robert Malone, one of the inventors of the mRNA technology, and other medical doctors in Europe and Asia, including former Pfizer Vice President Dr. Michael Yeadon, all of whom were de-platformed from mainstream media and social media.
In fact, any “alternative” remedy to the experimental and highly dangerous mRNA vaccines, such as ivermectin, was summarily dismissed, even though nations that used ivermectin had the lowest mortality rates. As noted above, many media personalities and even medical experts with contrary opinions were silenced, shamed, and shunted into professional oblivion, being substituted by compliant replacements. That practice continues to this day, with Russell Brand being the latest example of being de-monetized by YouTube.
In light of vaccine injuries and deaths, and the staggering profits that vaccines have delivered to the pharmaceutical industry, the number of people who believe the mainstream media, the government, and in the vaccines, is much smaller today than three years ago.
Conspiracy theory narratives have become conspiracy facts. The Endgame of FearSo, what’s the endgame of promoting and enforcing a climate of fear throughout society?
It’s simple. Fearful people are far more compliant and, therefore, are easily controlled, pacified, monitored, and dehumanized. Next thing you know, we’ll all be eating bugs and liking it.
The antidote to fear, of course, is freedom and access to real and contrary information so that each person can make up his or her own mind. The encouragement, enablement, and empowerment of private individuals to exercise informed judgment about their health and their livelihoods are also part of the solution. A vibrant, thinking, and active society of informed individuals isn’t nearly as vulnerable to the polarizing climate of fear our elites are foisting upon us. In short, to live in fear is to live in bondage. |
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Israeli Ministry of Health Mask Fear Porn PropagandaJerusalemCats Comments: This is the only mask you need. From the propaganda site called Arutz 7 Is COVID coming back? Health Ministry recommends masksMinistry of Health recommends that people at high-risk use a mask in closed places to minimize the risk of infection.Israel National News
The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday evening that there is a moderate increase in the number of people hospitalized from coronavirus in Israel.
“The ministry constantly monitors the morbidity trends and variants of the coronavirus and, as of this moment, a moderate increase in the number of hospitalized patients is evident in Israel. Both in Israel and in the world, there are a number of variants that cause morbidity,” it said.
Ahead of the holidays and as a result of the increase in morbidity, the Ministry of Health recommends that if a person is in a high-risk group or wishes to reduce the risk of infection, use of a mask in closed places with many people is advised. It is also recommended that a mask be used when meeting with people who are in high-risk groups. The Ministry of Health stated that it is important for a patient with symptoms to remain in isolation until the symptoms pass, and added that if a sick person needs to go outside, it is recommended that he wear a mask.
It was also noted that “it is important to maintain awareness and be tested at home for early detection when there is a suspicion of illness. The ministry is preparing to provide dedicated vaccines against the new subvariants in the near future.”
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CDC Data Show COVID Hospitalizations on the DeclineAfter multiple weeks of increasing COVID-19 hospital admissions, federal data shows that the figure is now falling.26September2023 Updated: 28September2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/cda-data-show-covid-hospitalizations-on-the-decline-5499008
After multiple weeks of increasing COVID-19 hospital admissions, federal data show that the figure is now falling.
In the week ending Sept. 16, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show hospitalizations are down 4.3 percent. The number had been increasing since July, although the CDC’s historical trends shows that hospitalization numbers were relatively low compared with previous increases in the virus—notably compared with a prior “surge” that occurred in the summer of 2022.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show that emergency department visits are down 19.3 percent and test positivity is down 1.6 percent. Deaths are up by about 12.5 percent, the data show, but that figure is also relatively low when compared with previous years.
The EG.5 variant, which has been dubbed Eris, accounts for about 24.5 percent of all cases, according to the CDC’s variant tracker. FL.1.5.1, known as Fornax, is estimated to be responsible for about 13.7 percent of COVID-19 infections, the CDC figures show.
About a month ago, amid a steady rise in hospitalizations, some health officials suggested that it doesn’t appear to be as bad as before.
“Looking at that graph [of] hospitalizations, even though it’s on an upward trend, that’s still lower than it was last year at this time,” Dr. John Segreti, an epidemiologist and the medical director of infection control and prevention at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told ABC News. “The fact that the numbers are going up fairly slowly, I think is a good sign.”<
Responding to the figures last month, Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, said that the recent “upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave.”
“What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news,” the doctor added.
Last week, the Biden administration announced it would use $600 million to produce new COVID-19 tests that it will send out for free to people who order them via the U.S. Postal Service.
Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states from California to Maryland have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said that though some portions of the public may be tired of the pandemic and its implications, at-home testing remains a key way to slow the spread of new cases.
“Whether or not people are done with it, we know the virus is there, we know that it’s circulating. We know, if past is prologue, it’ll circulate to a higher degree and spread, and cases will go up in the fall and winter seasons,” Ms. O’Connell said. “Anticipating that that would be true again, or something similar, we want to make sure the American people have these tools.”
Mandates?The publication of the new data comes after a handful of hospitals, county governments, and a small number of schools and colleges mandated mask requirements starting in August. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) again recommended new COVID-19 booster shots for anyone aged six months and older earlier this month.
And several Bay Area health agencies in California announced last week that mandatory masking would return to hospitals and health care settings for the fall and winter months. Contra Costa, Sonoma, Alameda, and San Mateo counties issued mask orders for health care staff in hospitals and other care facilities. The orders start on Nov. 1 and last until April 30, 2024, officials said, citing recent increases in COVID-19, influenza, and other respiratory viruses that are typically commonplace during the colder months, according to statements and local media reports.
“Each year we see that higher rates of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses that can cause severe respiratory infections occur annually between late fall and spring,” Dr. Karen Smith, the Sonoma County interim health officer, said in a statement.
Contra Costa Health Services CEO Anna Roth, meanwhile, the Northern California county’s board of supervisors last week that the mandate will be enacted, according to local media reports.
“We are issuing the health order today around masking for high-risk facilities, health care facilities specifically,” Ms. Roth stated, according to a local CBS affiliate station. “So again, masking in hospitals, masking in skilled nursing facilities, masking in high-risk facilities.”
Mask mandates have already been in effect at hospitals in San Francisco. The city is already enforcing year-round masking for health care staffers, visitors, and patients, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. Officials in Santa Clara County, which encompasses much of Silicon Valley, already set a mask mandate back in March.
Jack Phillips
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Dear fully vaccinated: The newly approved COVID shot is NOT a booster – it is literally a new (untested) vaccine15September2023 // Ethan Huff // https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-09-15-new-covid-shot-not-booster-kathy-hochul.html
If you already previously got “vaccinated” and “boosted” for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), congratulations: you accomplished absolutely nothing except for the destruction of your immune system because the latest circulating COVID “variants” are no match for anything other than the newest COVID jabs to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
This is basically what New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told her constituents this week following the FDA’s decision to approve and emergency use authorize (EUA) the “updated” COVID jabs from Pfizer and Moderna.
According to Hochul, all previous COVID injections are ineffective against newer variants like Omicron XBB.1.5. As such, the fully vaccinated will need to head on down to the clinic once again to take these latest Big Pharma shots if they hope to stay protected this fall and winter.
“It is literally a new vaccine,” Hochul said, delivering that line in her best “valley girl” voice. “It is not a booster shot. It is not an enhancer. It is a new vaccine designed to attack the new variants.”
Put another way, Hochul is basically saying that Operation Warp Speed did nothing, and that now everyone must get jabbed once again if they wish to survive COVID 2.0.
(Related: Did you know that Kathy Hochul wants to ban gas stoves in the state of New York because of “global warming?”)
Hochul: Refusing to take newest COVID jabs means you’re selfishIf that message alone is not enough, Hochul went on to state that this is all no big deal because Americans have already been getting jabbed again and again since the beginning.
“We’ve done this since March 2020 – no reason to stop now,” Hochul said, trying to be funny. “Don’t think about just yourself.”
“Tell everybody: Don’t rely on the fact that you had a vaccine in the past – it will not help you this time around,” she further emphasized. “Even for healthy adults, COVID is serious – you don’t want to get it.”
In other words, do not be upset that you already took two, three, four, or even more COVID jabs because the government promised you would be protected, only to have that protection disappear in an instant because oopsie. No, you should instead just shut up, stop being selfish and just get jabbed again, according to Hochul.
Playing the part of bureaucrat doctor, even though she is barely qualified to run a hot dog cart, Hochul promised New Yorkers that if they will just agree to take this new shot, then that will be the end of getting COVID jabbed – for now, anyway.
“I will be getting my vaccine very soon,” Hochul promised unconvincingly. “This news is coming at a perfect time. My team just got off a call with the FDA confirming the COVID vaccine is on its way to New York.
“The updated vaccine guards against the newer COVID strains because it was built off the Omicron … variant – that’s what we’re calling it. It’s really a customized vaccine … We’re waiting to find out what age groups the FDA and CDC are recommending should get the shot … You only need one, no more double doses, and again, this will be starting here in New York on Friday.”
Hochul would end her propaganda speech by reiterating the same tired lie that “the vaccine has always been the best way to protect yourself and your community against COVID-19,” even though she said earlier in the speech that “the vaccine,” referring to the old vaccines, have failed.
Want to keep up with the latest news about what becomes of folks who take the newly approved COVID jabs from Pfizer and Moderna? You can do so at Vaccines.news.
Sources for this article include:
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The Medical Industrial Complex is at it againMayo Clinic Nukes Hydroxychloroquine Information Page After People Take Noticeby Tyler Durden, 28September2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mayo-clinic-nukes-hydroxychloroquine-information-page-after-people-take-notice
One day after the Mayo Clinic’s endorsement of Hydroxychloroquine was highlighted for use in Covid-19 patients, they scrubbed the page and then blamed a 3rd party vendor for supplying the information.
The original page read: “Hydroxychloroquine may be used to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) in certain hospitalized patients,” which was highlighted various people and oulets, including ZeroHedge, and former Trump official Peter Navarro.
Now, the Mayo Clinic redirects people to a “safe” page.
Of course, pro-vax (we assume) outlets pounced on the fact that this information has been there since at least May of 2020.
Which means… by the transitive properties of woke outrage, the Mayo clinic has been spreading misinformation for three years? Cancel them!
Meanwhile, an analysis of dozens of studies on Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19 reveals a 72% lower mortality risk when taken early, and a 41% lower mortality risk when given early into hospitalization (when both HCQ and Ivermectin are known to be less effective vs. at first symptoms).
See the full study results here… |
Never Forget, Never Forgive
Elon Musk-tweet-10March2024-Trying to help people understand
strongElon Muskstrong-tweet-10March2024-Trying to help people understand
The So Called Experts promised Peace with Gaza-the Jews got Death
Tikkun HaKlali – Hebrew, English, and Transliteration
The Karens, Criminals, Narcissistic Megalomaniac Nannycrats and Naughty Beasts want ‘Pandemic Amnesty’
Then you have the “EVIL Vaxers” and their Zombies
If Only You Had Listened:
A Prophet For His Time
18 Marcheshvan 5784 02November2023 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-prophet-for-his-time.html
Today is the 33rd yahrzeit of Rabbi Meir David Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d. When HKB”H chose to take me as His daughter, He appointed for me the best teacher of Torah available to me, Rabbi Kahane, even though it was already seven years after his passing. I learned from his books as well as directly from his son, Rabbi Binyamin Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d, and his students, primarily Menachem Gottlieb, Lenny Goldberg, Rabbi Levi Chazan and Rabbi Yehudah Richter.
I thank HKB”H with all my heart for the men and women (Rebbetzin Libby Kahane and Rebbetzin Talya Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d) who carried on his legacy so that I and so many others, my own children and grandchildren included, could benefit from his Torah wisdom, his commitment to the Truth, and his fearless defense of it in every realm of his life.
How ironic that a man who has come to symbolize to the world a voice and face of “hatred,” was, in fact, filled to his very depths with an overwhelming and completely unselfish love – for his G-D and for his people, to the point that he sacrificed his very life for both. As everyone today must admit (and many do) “Kahane was right!” He was a prophet for his time, a prophet for OUR time…
Rabbi Meir Kahane H”YD – Election Promotion Film 1988
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I think this 2002 tribute that I wrote on the occasion of Rabbi Kahane’s 12th yahrzeit remains relevant, so I am reposting it here. The only thing I would add is that we should not view ourselves as eternally bereft because every generation has its own Mashiach ben Yosef and we are destined in our days to welcome the one who will complete the task.
12TH YAHRZEIT OF RABBI MEIR DAVID KAHANE ZT”L HY”D
We Could Have Had Kahane, But We Chose Arafat
On the occasion of HaRav Meir Kahane’s twelfth yahrtzeit, I humbly and respectfully offer the following essay in thanks and appreciation for the Torah that I learned from his writings. His memory is certainly a blessing for me and so should it be for all Am Israel.
On one of the videos of Rav Kahane which I had the privilege of viewing at the yeshiva which he established in Yerushalayim, he made the following statement: “You have a choice. You can have here Kahane or Arafat. If you don’t want Kahane, you will get Arafat.” And as the saying goes, “Today, everyone knows that Kahane was right.”</i
From our inception as a nation until now, we have had only one choice…blessing or curse. Once we accepted the Torah, it was a given that we would certainly fulfill it as we pledged to do, but by which course? Willingly, out of love and obedience? Or, G-d forbid, by force of punishment and through terrible suffering and fear?
This is the picture of Redemption-in-Haste or Redemption-in-its-Time, a subject which figured prominently in Rav Kahane’s writings. Many of the Rabbi’s students believe that he was Mashiach ben Yosef. But we know from our sources that it was not a given that Mashiach ben Yosef would have to die. We also know that Mashiach ben Yosef can be both a person and a process, but if so, it would be plausible to assume that their fates would be interwoven. Can a case be made for this idea? I offer the following for your consideration.
The State of Israel, from it’s beginnings as a yishuv, was not recognized by his brothers, the majority of world Jewry, because he appeared too much like an “Egyptian.” The mostly secular Zionists were not at all what religious Jews expected to see as the hand of G-d restoring Zion. However, in time, it became clear to most that the return to the Jewish homeland would uniquely provide for the physical survival of the Jewish people just as Yosef had done during the famine in Egypt. Just as Yosef’s going down into Egypt eventuated in the nurturing of the family of Ya’akov into a nation of millions, so has the State of Israel uniquely provided for the Jewish people to return to its homeland and renew itself as a nation. But it has provided for something else as well, something which might not appear to be so desirable at first glance, but which was altogether necessary. It has uniquely provided for the re-emergence and re-identification of the mixed multitude—the Erev Rav.
Only with the reappearance of Yosef, would we be able bring the Erev Rav out into the open. (And how the Erev Rav bark and bite and foam at the mouth whenever Kahane is in sight or hearing.) Mashiach ben Yosef is what makes it possible for Amiel Vardi to go out on the Sabbath and help Arabs harvest olives near Itamar. When threatened by Jewish residents of the area with warning shots, what was his response? Did he tell them that he was a fellow Jew? According to the newspaper report, Vardi said: “I am an Israeli. If you go on shooting, you will hit an Israeli.” The process of Mashiach ben Yosef is what makes it possible this week for a leading newspaper to refer to young residents of the Shomron as “skinheads in tzitziot” and for the politicians to “regret” the desecration of Shabbat for the dismantlement of Jewish homes and synagogues while warning about the threat halacha poses to the “rule of law.”
As Divrei Chayim says, “…they want to rule over the masses…” and as such they think they will kill Yosef and thereby destroy the Jews forever. Little do they know that this only hastens their own demise. They were only able to kill Rav Kahane because he was the last chance for Redemption-in-Haste. If he had been able to bring about the advent of Mashiach ben David through the democratic process of elections, Mashiach ben Yosef did not have to die—not Rav Kahane and not the State of Israel. But because of our many sins, we did not merit it and so Mashiach ben Yosef did die and so Mashiach ben Yosef will die, only to be resurrected by the hand of Mashiach ben David as the renewed Kingdom of Israel in the future.
It is no coincidence that the Persian Gulf War was launched only weeks after Rav Kahane’s cruel assassination. For the first time in the history of the modern State of Israel, the Jews failed to take the responsibility and initiative to defend themselves against an aggressor. The government in power was paralyzed by inaction as its people sat shaking in fear in sealed rooms with gas masks over their faces. Hints of things to come. Little did we know then that Rav Kahane’s removal paved the way for the Oslo death machine to roll into place. The rest, as they say, is history.
G-d, in His mercy, allowed us the comfort of Rav Binyamin Kahane’s words of truth and sanity to sustain us for a few more years, but our fate was already sealed. And since we did not listen and heed and act when it was time for such things, what have we arrived at today?
Today, we have the false messiah Effi Eitam heading the equally false religious-Zionist party Mafdal. When Effi Eitam rose so quickly to public prominence shortly after leaving the army on “principle,” it was legitimate to examine his words and actions and to determine what role he would play in our continuing drama. The favorable play given to his in-depth and detailed interview in Ha’aretz just as he took control of the NRP should have been a clue. Only after I heard him speak in English telling an audience of his supporters why the new security fence was a good and desirable thing was it clear to me that he had been planted by the evil regime as a decoy, a bone thrown to the religious public to make them think that they still had a voice in the government. What dupes we can be!
But Kahane was too extremist, so now we have Effi Eitam, a tranquilizer to calm us as we are herded like the faithless sheep we are straight to the spiritual slaughter…or so they think. As Redemption-in-its-Time progresses, the dawn is lightening on the horizon ever more and with the additional light, we are seeing more clearly than ever.
What happened at Pesach this last year? We are keenly aware that something happened. There was a shift of some sort in our reality. Suddenly, the army was back in Shechem and Hevron and even Aza! But, if these are the birthpangs of Mashiach that we are suffering through, where are we in the birth process? If we have taken the upper hand against our enemy, the Arabs, why do we not see more success?
We are facing a double enemy—a two-headed monster. The Erev Rav work hand-in-hand with the Arabs against us. People were getting too close to the light—too close to seeing the truth of our situation, so the battle shifted to a different realm. Tactics were changed, that’s all. Without stopping terror completely, the emphasis began to be placed in the political arena. I would suggest to you that the Arabs and Amalek have formed an alliance while Eisav has allied itself with the Erev Rav, so that all of our traditional enemies hover over the faithful of Hashem waiting for the opportunity to make the thrust that will finish us off for good.
Amalek is not only to be found among the indigenous peoples of the region, but as our history has proven time and again, it exists among the people of Europe. Is it any wonder that the EU is so very supportive of the so-called Palestinians?
And as for Eisav, he whom our sages told us was Edom/Rome and represents the Christian world, America stands as the prime representative and inheritor of that title. The so-called Christian Zionists are enamoured with the State of Israel and its leaders and politicians. They have regular love-fests, both here and abroad, where they all heap love and admiration on each other. The Erev Rav call for the West’s support because “we are a democracy just like you.” And the West responds, “We must support Israel because it is a democracy just like us. We share a Judeo-Christian heritage.”
When we will have become thoroughly and completely Americanized, G-d forbid!, we will have ceased to be the unique and treasured nation of G-d. Today, the only thing that has so far prevented this is the continuing war for physical survival. A ‘blessing’ in disguise. This is a battle on another front and we are fighting them all simultaneously—fighting for both physical and spiritual survival. While Amalek/Ishmael kill our bodies, Eisav/Erev Rav want to destroy our very souls. We should cease to be Jews and become democracy-worshiping Israelis instead.
An important lesson was taught this past Shabbat, but how many are willing to learn? We can only hope that Rav Kahane did not foresee the depths to which we would sink in our degradation at the hands of the Erev Rav. The lauded IDF stands today in disarray because soldiers were coerced by their commanders into violating the Shabbat through lies and subterfuge. As the Divrei Chayim says, “…they want to rule over the masses…”
One young soldier in a Nachal Chareidi unit, those established to enable fervently religious young men to serve in the army without compromising their religious principles, is not surprised. He tells of his chagrin at hearing the commander’s opening speech to the new recruits in which he informs them that the army is the means by which they will be mainstreamed into Israeli society. And this is no secret, that the army serves the regime as it’s change agent. Newspapers regularly report this aim at every opportunity they take to fault the chareidi public for not meekly acquiescing to self-annihilation.
The vaunted Jewish army which accepts goyim and attempts to turn them into faux-Jews through their own conversion courts and who allows 7,000 Christians to take their oath of allegiance on the Christian Bible; who, despite the pleas of hesder yeshiva rabbis, has begun mixing men and women in combat units and who brags to the world that their purity and morality rests on the fact that Jewish young men were sacrificed to save the lives of Arab women and children who by some accounts assisted and aided the terrorists in their midst. If we’d had our eyes wide open, we would not be so surprised.
The Arabs want to kill our bodies and we know this because we are bleeding and dying and burying our dead. We see the wounded and cover the graves and we know we have an enemy. Rav Kahane wanted us to understand that we have another enemy, no less lethal. He called it a modern-day Hellenism and the Erev Rav leads the way to spiritual destruction at their hands
How appropriate it is that we find ourselves at this occasion coming into the weeks just prior to Chanukah, that very holiday which commemorates our battle and victory over the Hellenists—the battle to remain loyal to our Holy Torah! And the purification of the Beit Hamikdash stands at the center of that story.
Denial of the Torah and our destruction as a unique nation are the goals which drive our enemies. Our identity and the realization of our destiny is bound up with one particular spot of earth which lies atop Har HaMoriah and this is not only our heart—our lifeblood—but the key to the end of everything.
From the beginning, the Zionists were not interested in keeping the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years, stories have been written in the papers about how the city could have been taken in 1948, but certain orders never came. And of course, everyone knows, to our shame, how the Defense Minister gave over the Mount to the Arabs in 1967. We can follow the whole sad, sorry story right up until today when Jews are not even allowed to set foot upon Har Habayit. Those with limited vision wonder how it is that the Israeli government is so afraid of Arab reaction that it would not enforce its own laws regarding freedom of access to religious holy sites there.
Mashiach ben Yosef is both dead and dying. If we had any doubts, the destruction and continuing desecration of Kever Yosef is testimony to the truth of it. What stands between us and our holiest place in this world? When one looks, he sees the WAKF guards and the Israeli police. They work together hand-in-glove and anyone who has ever ascended to Hashem’s holy place knows how chummy they are together. They have much more in common with each other than they do with the religious Jews who go up to present themselves before Hashem.
The evil regime which is in the hands of the Erev Rav has common cause with the Amalekim and Ishmaelim and together with Edom/Rome/Am-reika, they intend to see the establishment of a Palestinian State with the Old City of Jerusalem as its capital, an event, thank G-d!, which will never come about, but they don’t yet know that. The only thing they fear is that Jews will come into possession of Har Habayit and begin to build a Temple there. This is why they must see to it that the Arabs remain in control and possession of it at all costs. This is why they stood by while the Mount was plundered and raped. This is what ensures their own survival, or so they think.<
The fact is that their power is in some mystical way tied to their control of Har Habayit. Our Sages have taught us that the Ishmaelim would have control of it for 1300 years in the merit of brit milah. How this enables the Erev Rav, I do not understand, but one thing I highly suspect is that the bulging and crumbling of the supporting walls is a sign to us that their power is crumbling as well. The best experts on the subject have said that it is no longer a question of “if,” but only “when” the wall will fall. And newspapers have been quick to point out that the Israeli government will reap the blame if anything goes wrong there. How ironic can it be that in their attempt to wipe out every vestige of evidence of our right to the place, it would only bring it down on their own heads.
Recently, I wrote an essay describing the idea that history is not so much linear as it is circular. If we look at these three in a circular fashion, we see that the Temple precedes appointing a king. This shows us that before Mashiach ben David will come to power, the Arabs and the Erev Rav will lose control of Har Habayit. We begin with Akeidat Yitzchak atop Har HaMoriah and end with the Beit Hamikdash HaShlishit.
Har Habayit is the key as Chanuka reminds us. It is the key to remaining Jewish; to remaining true to Torah; to retaining possession of the land; and to bringing in the final redemption. What else can we understand from Chanuka? That our mitzva is to publicize the miracle of lights with Light.
In this time in which we are suffering the death of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David has not yet been revealed to us, what can we do? Each person must strengthen himself and those within his realm of influence. Look for the light of redemption that is breaking through in many places and reflect it out into every dark corner. Look for G-d’s hand in every event of our lives and make it known to as many as you can.
Devash
15 Marcheshvan 5763
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The events we are living today are preparing the way for an entire nation to heed the words of Mashiach ben Yosef and follow his lead. That is the silver lining (and the purpose) for all that we are enduring.
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Defy Divine commandments at your own peril; abide by the Divine guidance or risk courting your own downfall.
Psalm 20:7 These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we call on the name of HASHEM our God.
תהילים פרק כ
ח: אֵ֣לֶּה בָ֭רֶכֶב וְאֵ֣לֶּה בַסּוּסִ֑ים וַֽאֲנַ֓חְנוּ בְּשֵׁם־יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣ינוּ נַזְכִּֽיר׃
Source:
Haytham Algosaibi-tweet-15November2023-Defy Divine commandments at your own peril
Defy Divine commandments at your own peril; abide by the Divine guidance or risk courting your own downfall.
Haytham Algosaibi-tweet-15November2023-Defy Divine commandments at your own peril
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The Sin of the Golden Calf is Still With Us
21 Adar Alef 5784 01 March 2024 https://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sin-of-golden-calf-is-still-with-us.html
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Ki Tisa
From the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary on Parashat Ki Tisa…
Can anyone else see that we are still repeating the sins of the past instead of rectifying them??? Hashem yerachem!
~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
This is exactly what a coup looks like
Caroline Glick-tweet-3March2024-This is exactly what a coup looks like
– דחיית הגשת תוכנית לכיבוש רפיח (נצחון) לקבינט ע”י הרמטכ”ל,
– בגידתו של גלנט בקואליציה,
– נסיעתו החתרנית של גנץ לוושינגטון,
– חידוש מרד קפלן,
– התדרוך של ברק שצריכים בחירות עד יוני כדי להקים מדינה פלשתינית,
– הודעת ליברמן הבקר שצריכים בחירות עכשיו.
ככה בדיוק נראית הפיכה.
– Postponing the submission of a plan for the occupation of Rafah (Victory) to the Cabinet by the Chief of Staff,
– Gallant’s betrayal of the coalition,
– Gantz’s subversive trip to Washington,
– renewal of the Kaplan Rebellion,
– Barak’s briefing that elections are needed by June to establish a Palestinian state,
– Lieberman’s announcement that elections are needed now.
This is exactly what a coup looks like.
Caroline Glick-tweet-3March2024-This is exactly what a coup looks like
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Why won’t Muslim countries accept Palestine Refugees ?
Faerie-tweet-3March2024-Why won’t Muslim countries accept Palestine Refugees ?
Why won’t Muslim countries accept Palestine Refugees ?
Faerie-tweet-3March2024-Why won’t Muslim countries accept Palestine Refugees?
New York City-WOLPalestine with Hand Grenade
Canary Mission-tweet-3March2024-New York City-WOLPalestine with Hand Grenade
A mob of anti-Israel protesters in Times Square on Saturday blocked an NYPD vehicle carrying a bomb squad sent to investigate after an Uber driver noticed that someone left a grenade in his back seat. When @WOLPalestine protesters declare, “By Any Means Necessary,” believe them.
Canary Mission-tweet-3March2024-New York City-WOLPalestine with Hand Grenade
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Comment: T. Belman. At its core is the belief that peace is possible rather than the belief that there will never be peace. The left has long believed that what is necessary is to improve the living standards of the “Palestinians” in order to acheive peace. This a fantasy, not reality. There will never be peace.
The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune-logo https://jstribune.com/
The Intelligence Failure of October 7 – Roots and Lessons
by Amnon Sofrin November 2023 https://jstribune.com/sofrim-the-intelligence-failure-of-october-7-roots-and-lessons/
Hamas troops break down the Gaza border fence on October 7, allowing Gazans to cross into Israel. Photo credit: REUTERS.
Hamas’ sudden attack on the kibbutzim and the towns neighboring the Gaza Strip caught the IDF and the country by total surprise. During the first 24 hours, beginning at 6:30 in the morning of October 7, the Hamas Nukhba (name of the commando troops, means “elite”) and those who came in with them conquered and held an area of about 4-5 kilometers depth inside Israel, and in places penetrated well beyond that. The lack of any forewarning accounted also for the confused and disorganized, albeit often individually heroic, actions of the military and the police throughout the day.
What went wrong? How could Israel’s intelligence community have failed to “ring the bell”? To understand we have to analyze both the failure at the strategic level of analysis and the collapse at the tactical level of collection and detection.
The strategic level
Hamas’ leaders planned the attack over a long time and at an impressively high level of secrecy. We presume, based on what we know at this stage, that the planning for this operation began in 2021 and was carried out by Hamas leaders in Gaza Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar with a small group of people. The planning was very detailed; each unit was assigned a specific mission with files prepared for each targeted community and military base.
While the Hamas units had no prior idea as to what their mission would be before the morning of the attack, they were trained on generic models of an Israeli kibbutz as well as on models of Israeli tanks, bases and other targets. They were also studying the points of penetration above ground, once the attack tunnels system (of which there were more than 30 in 2014) were put out of use. And yet these activities went on without setting off alarms on the Israeli side.
At the strategic level of analysis in the Israeli intelligence community, as well as among the political decision makers and the highest military echelon, a widely-held groupthink took hold: namely, that Hamas was adapting to the duties of governance. Thus, Israel was willing to make sure that the economic situation in the Gaza strip would improve – by allowing the monthly delivery of money from Qatar (in suitcases – since the Palestinian Authority blocked the use of the banking system for these transactions); and by allowing more people from Gaza to work in Israel. The governing assumption, which seemed to be confirmed by events, was that Hamas’ leadership would have no incentive to launch a new confrontation with Israel since it would continue to focus on improving the lives of Gaza residents.
Moreover, the prevailing belief was that the Hamas leadership was deterred from new attacks after suffering what the IDF claimed, perhaps too conveniently, were serious losses inflicted by the Israeli Air Force during the fighting in May 2021. This groupthink seemed to be reaffirmed when Hamas chose twice, in August 2022 and again in May 2023, to stay out of the fighting when the IDF attacked leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, leading to short rounds of fighting. Hamas did not interfere, and Israel’s decision makers saw this as confirmation that Hamas was deterred and had no incentive to launch another major confrontation with Israel, at least for some years (given that seven years had passed between the fighting in 2014 and the Hamas rocket attacks in 2021).
Another aspect of the intelligence failure – which wove together the strategic level of analysis and the tactical level of collecting and assessing Hamas’ military capabilities – was the lack of knowledge and understanding of the remarkable improvement in Hamas’ ability to launch such an organized and coordinated attack, and the nature of the simple but effective devices it acquired – with help from Iran – in order to overcome Israel’s defenses.
Hamas troops burn an Israeli tank on October 7, 2023. Photo credit: IMAGO/APAimages via Reuters Connect.
The tactical level
To understand this failure it is necessary to revisit Israel’s growing tendency to rely on its well-established technological advantages. The surveillance system deployed along the border was based on a range of remote-controlled sensors – ground radars, cameras, and so-called “see and shoot” systems – which gathered the information and transmitted it backwards to a control room manned by young and skilled soldiers, often female. Each one of them was an expert on the territory on which she was focused.
Some of these soldiers sense that what was happening was unusual, watching Hamas activists training on Israeli models. They reported to their commanders: but the latter, until very late in the day, did not pay much attention to these reports, since the belief was “Hamas is deterred.” (On October 6, there was a sense at the high command and in the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, that something was up, but very limited actions were taken and there was no expectation of an early morning attack the next day).
Moreover, the sensors deployed along the border lines were well recognized by Hamas’ intelligence gathering, and since they were remote-controlled they were very vulnerable to attack by relatively simple means, such as explosive devices or hand grenades dropped from small drones. The IDF’s Gaza Division, deployed along the border, relied also on the complex obstacles built all around Gaza Strip border and considered it to be impassable. With three of the observation balloons down for a variety of reasons, the IDF was all the more easy to blind on the day of the attack.
Member of Hamas’s Nukhba unit on October 7, captured by a surveillance camera in Kibbutz Alumim, Israel. Photo credit: South First Responders/Handout via REUTERS.
The Attack
Hamas gathered information over a long time. They knew exactly which sensors were observing which areas. They followed the IDF’s units’ reactions to specific provocations – how long it took to reinforce the area, on what roads reinforcements were moving, and other relevant patterns of deployment. They learned, through workers from Gaza who collected such information for them, about possible points of entry to military bases and civilian communities.
On October 7, early in the morning, the Nukhba of Hamas were called and briefed on their real missions. Each unit was equipped with a large amount of weapon systems and ammunition, food and water that were meant to enable them to stay inside Israel for a long time. At the opening phase they neutralized the communication systems connecting the sensors to the control center by using drones that attacked the surveillance posts with hand grenades and bombs. The control centers were blinded and could not tell where the breaks through the physical obstacle were taking place. In order to isolate the area and prevent reserve units from getting there, they landed activists using paragliders that set blockades on the main roads leading to the area.
The Hamas troops then broke into the Gaza Division Headquarters, close to the border, and cut off all communications from there. The Division commander, besieged within the base (with his family), could not communicate with other units, nor with his superiors (or with Air Force assets). Thus the higher echelons – the Southern Region Command HQ in Beersheva and the GHQ in Tel Aviv – were not at first fully aware of the extent of the attack and were relying on civilian calls for help to understand where the Hamas invaders were carrying out their bloody massacres.
Israeli soldiers in a newly-built surveillance and situation room opened in a new location. On October 7, Hamas destroyed their former base in Nahal Oz, killing at least 14 female soldiers and taking others captive. Photo credit: ISRAELI ARMY HANDOUT via REUTERS.
Conclusions
Since the groupthink about Hamas being deterred prevailed at the higher echelons, the operational and tactical levels were also under that impression. They relied too much on the technology – the huge and sophisticated barrier, which cost 3 billion shekels (about 850 million dollars) to build, the surveillance systems and remote-controlled fire centers. At worst, they assumed that a few Hamas activists, at most, would try to cross the border and abduct a soldier or a resident to negotiate the release of people imprisoned in Israel (as happened in 2006 in the case of the soldier Gilad Shalit). The assumption was that if that were to happen, they would receive ample early warning sufficient to thwart such an attack.
Nobody within the Israeli intelligence community had the imagination to believe Hamas would be able to carry out such a complicated and coordinated attack and to succeed in killing so many people and abducting 240 hostages, carrying them to Gaza. If at all, such plans and capabilities were ascribed to the Radwan Force – Hizbullah’s equivalent (and role model) of Hamas’ Nukhba. IDF training exercises did have such Hizbullah scenarios. But the notion that Hamas would be capable of carrying out a massive attack was not given serious consideration.
The intelligence failure of October 7, 2023 had a predecessor 50 years and one day earlier, on October 6, 1973, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack. Both failures can be traced to Israel’s penchant for groupthink.
Israel’s intelligence technologies and overall capabilities have improved enormously in the 50 years since Yom Kippur 1973. But the intellectual failure in both cases was similar. The results this time were in many ways more tragic than those of the Yom Kippur War.
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Israeli Parliament Members Break Down After Watching Videos of Hamas Atrocities on October 7
“I can’t talk about the content, I can’t talk about the feelings. Just one sentence: never forget and never forgive.”
Posted by Mary Chastain 1November2023 https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/11/israeli-parliament-members-break-down-after-watching-videos-of-hamas-atrocities-on-october-7/
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/11/israeli-parliament-members-break-down-after-watching-videos-of-hamas-atrocities-on-october-7/
Members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, broke down in tears, and one fainted as they watched a 45-minute video of the brutality Hamas unleashed on Israelis on October 7.
They likely saw videos shown to journalists:
NBC News: Videos of Hamas “atrocities suggest that jihadism has evolved in chilling and perverse new ways”
“I just saw indescribable, raw footage of Hamas’ massacre along with 100 other international journalists”
raz_sauber-tweet-1November2023-Knesset-45-minute-video-that-reveals-the-atrocities-committed-by-Hamas
raz_sauber-tweet-1November2023-Knesset 45-minute video that reveals the atrocities committed by Hamas-2
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SOVEREIGNTY-logo https://www.ribonut.co.il/
Do Not Weep. Lead
2November2023 https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=839&lang=2
Israel’s triumphant blow over the enemy must be not only military, but also in the place most painful for it, the loss of the land that the enemy mistakenly imagined belonged to him. It is time for sovereignty.
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
Let us begin with four basic insights, axioms that we must instill in our consciousness:
Axiom 1: Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PLO) are one. Both organizations share the same aspirations, the same means, the same rhetoric, the same religion, and the same Koran.
Axiom 2: The world is hypocritical and loves Jews only when they are wallowing in their own blood. The moment that Jews rise and fight for their lives, they lose international legitimacy.
Axiom 3: Evolution in the Middle East dictates that the weak has not, does not, and will not survive.
Axiom 4: The State of Israel was not established to ensure the survival of the Jewish people, but for a much more profound and substantive purpose, to bring divine justice to the world.
We must act on the basis of these four fundamental insights.
There is no logic to decide to strike only in Gaza because the catastrophic disaster that took place on Simĥat Torah originated in Gaza. The Israeli strike should be painful and severe in the places that are the most painful for the enemy. Only then will they bow their heads and understand that the Jewish people are not to be trifled with.
The most powerful blow we can deliver to the enemy is the loss of territory.
The application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley is not only a matter of historical and moral justice of the highest order, but also a decisive and triumphant blow against terrorism.
In order to implement this obvious step, there is no need for war, but a courageous decision by a courageous government and a courageous Knesset that understands the profound justice of the Jewish people living in its G-d given Biblical land.
Members of Knesset, government ministers, and Prime Minister, come to your senses!
Do not go out to the media weeping and stunned after witnessing the horrors during the screening in the Knesset. Why were you surprised by these sights? Was it new for you? If so, you are divorced from reality.
Reality in its entirety cries out that if we don’t wake up, we are striding toward sights like these G-d forbid. So emerge from viewing these horrors with a clear and strong decision to respond to the enemy in a language that it understands.
The 217 trucks of humanitarian aid whose entry into Gaza you are enabling, are indications of weakness. These attest to the fact that the enemy’s lives are more precious to you than the lives of the hostages.
The reality in which the current government, which witnessed the horrors and vowed revenge, is still debating whether to commit the folly of transferring more money to the Palestinian Authority that funds terrorism, is a delusional reality.
Is there a reasonable person who believes this is the way that security can be achieved and that these are the Middle Eastern codes through which we can accomplish anything?
The time arrived long ago to change direction, to forsake the path of concessions, allowances, grants, and delusional hopes that our enemies will be on our side.
Now, when ever expanding circles have opened their eyes and seen the evil and the horror, we must instill fear and terror in our enemies with every means at our disposal. The first and most painful of these means is restoring the land back to Jewish hands and applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Gaza as well.
Leaders of Israel, do not wait for another black Shabbat to internalize this necessity. Apply sovereignty, settle the land, instill in the people a pioneering spirit, and learn from our wonderful people what determination, national pride, mutual responsibility, and striving for victory means.
With courage and unpredictability, we will also gain the appreciation of the United States and European countries. This is your great hour to prove leadership: apply sovereignty!
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Sabrina Maddeaux: I watched Hamas hack innocents to death. The worst part was their glee
Screened footage showed literal streams of blood, hacked off arms and legs, and an infant missing part of its skull, brain leaking out
Sabrina Maddeaux
Published Nov 06November2023 • Last updated 06November2023 • https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sabrina-maddeaux-i-watched-hamas-hack-innocents-to-death-the-worst-part-was-their-glee
A woman cries during the funeral of Israeli Col. Roi Levy at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Col. Roi Levy was killed after Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Over the span of 43 minutes, I watched 138 humans be murdered or witnessed their corpses, many brutalized beyond recognition and others clearly tortured, in the direct aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
That’s 3.2 bodies per minute— and less than 10 per cent of the more than 1,400 people killed that day.
The Consulate of Israel in Toronto screened the footage, taken from a mix of body cameras, dashboard cams, CCTV tapes, and victims’ cell phones, some used by Hamas to record and livestream their sadism, for a small group of media on Monday. Not everyone made it through the full 43 minutes, with others moved to tears and outbursts of emotion.
There were babies. Toddlers. So many children of all ages. Young men and women dressed for a music festival, not the wanton slaughter that saw their bloodied bodies piled atop one another in scenes reminiscent of some of the Holocaust’s worst images.
Parents. The elderly. A dad who, attempting to hide from Hamas attackers with his sons, all three of them still in their underwear, was blown up by a grenade in front of his children. The two young boys, covered in blood, crying, throwing themselves on the ground in grief, as a Hamas gunman raids the family’s fridge and takes a swig of soda. One of the sons’ panicked voice as he realizes he can no longer see out of one eye.
The man’s wife as kibbutz security bring her to identify her husband’s remains. The moment she literally collapses and has to be dragged away from the scene, thrashing wildly, her legs folding under her like every bone had simply vanished from her body.
A family attempting to decipher whether the burned remains in front of them, skirt hiked up above bare genitals, is the loved one they’re looking for.
The literal streams of blood, the hacked off arms and legs, the infant missing part of its skull, brain leaking out. The dog shot over and over again as its limbs splay in every direction until they don’t anymore. Mickey mouse pyjamas on a young corpse, skull fragments on floors, victims shot point blank. So much blood.
But none of what I’ve detailed so far was the worst part of those 43 minutes. The worst part was the glee.
The pure jubilation of Hamas terrorists as they filmed themselves killing and torturing; their excited voices bragging about their atrocities. The videos of them playing with victims’ heads with their feet, and excitedly shooting out the tires of a kibbutz’s ambulance before massacring its residents.
I’ll never forget the gore, but it’s the look of euphoria and pride in the terrorists’ eyes, cheering for the cameras as if they were the ones partying at a music festival that day, that will haunt me.
In the videos, Hamas attackers did not behave as soldiers or freedom fighters. They hunted their victims in their homes like serial killers in a horror film, peering through blinds, slashing through screen doors with knives, following families wherever they tried to run or hide. If they couldn’t find them, they’d use lighters to make sure fire did. They toyed with their victims’ lifeless bodies. They kept trophies, both physical and digital.
It’s unimaginable that anyone could watch this and still equate what happened on Oct. 7 to resistance or war. I’ve seen war footage; this was not that. These were terrorist attacks targeted at civilians and mass shootings of innocents. Hamas was indiscriminate in their cruelty, killing not for cause, but for pleasure.
I don’t know if the full footage will ever be made public, but if it ever is, every single Canadian should watch it to understand how far beyond any conceivable rules of engagement Hamas went, why this time was different, and why it must never, ever happen again.
National Post
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Riding the charidee train
by Rivka Levy 28December2023 https://thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/riding-the-charidee-train/#top
A couple of days ago, I got this email – even though I barely sign up for anything and I have no idea how they got my details.
Donation email IDF 910th Battalion
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Hmm.
No website…. no registered charity number…
But I click the link and it takes me to the donation platform Rayze.it, and this strange message:
Donation email IDF 910th Battalion-donation platform
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I’m not an expert on what brigades and battalions there are in the IDF.
Please, feel free to write to me and tell me exactly what this ‘910th Battalion’ is, because on the Wiki page listing the IDF’s brigades it’s not mentioned at all.
Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not.
Point is: I have no idea.
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So then, I start scooting around to see who exactly is running this slick marketing campaign for the 910th Battalion.
Scrolling down that same page on the Rayze-it platform, I get to this:
Donation email IDF 910th Battalion-Rayze-it platform
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They apparently already raised more than $16k….
But who are they?
And what is the connection to ‘EZRAT ACHIM’?
Apparently, EZRAT ACHIM is this organisation, being run out of Bet Shemesh.
Again, I don’t know if this is real, legit, or not – take a look at their ‘War support‘ tab and see just how much expensive military gear seems to be cropping up in those pictures…
The point is – the POINT IS – so many organisations have just jumped on to ‘the war’ to tap into all that fundraising ‘good vibe’ that is currently washing all over the place.
And probably, at least some of them are very good and ‘legit’.
But I would caution you to be extremely careful about where your money is really going.
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While we’re on the subject….
How much of the extra $1 billion + that was raised by the beginning of December by places like the ‘Jewish Joint’ and the ‘Jewish Federations of North America’ – how much of that do you think actually got to soldiers who need equipment, and evacuees who are stuck in hotels while their livelihood went down the pan?
If you check out the JDC’s page on their war effort for Israel…. it doesn’t really answer that question.
At all.
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If you go to the Wayback Machine HERE and click through the ‘evolution’ of that fundraising page since October 7th – it still doesn’t really answer the question of where did all that extra money actually go?!?
This is a screenshot from November 20, 2023, where the JDC talks about what they were going to do with all that extra cash being so generously donated by the Jews of North America:
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee fundraising page-20November2023
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Maybe, all this happened and I just have totally, absolutely no idea about it.
Set me straight, tell me all about your first-hand experiences of how this money got to those who really need it.
Because in my small dalet amot, I am seeing none of this happening around me.
What I AM seeing is amazing local volunteer efforts, with so many people giving their time, effort and money directly to the people who need it.
But nothing to do – at all – with the JDC.
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Here’s their ‘Israel Emergency fundraising page’ from today:
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Israel Emergency fundraising page
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Does this sound like a ‘billion dollars’ worth to you?
Does it sound like most of this stuff even went specifically to the people directly involved in the atrocity of October 7th?
Where was the government funding in all this – or are we meant to believe that those 8,300 ‘traumatised children and parents’ were only getting therapy funded by the JDC and nobody else?
Compare and contrast with the screenshot from November – you can see for yourself, they raised funds for one thing, and then basically spent most of those funds on stuff they were already doing.
(If, at all.)
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OK, we’ll stop there.
If our precious soldiers don’t have the equipment they need – let them come home already!
And let this most corrupt of corrupt, failed States find a different way to ‘solve’ the Hamas problem it created itself – with yet more of our taxpayers’ money.
And is continuing to support, by sending more humanitarian aid to Gaza, (including things like steel girders….) which Hamas just steals anyway.
So the Hamas has the strength and ‘energy’ they need to continue fighting against our poor soldiers.
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Personally, I have a way, way better place to be putting my charity money.
It’s going to poor families who are learning Torah mamash lishma.
It’s going to keep the lights on at the shul down on Ido HaNavi.
It’s going to buy clothes for girls who can’t afford new skirts.
And it’s going, most of all, to try to ‘sweeten the judgments’ on our poor, battered nation, so that our soldiers can come home, the evil will fall – and no other precious Jew has to be killed or injured, on the path to geula.
BH, I will tell you more about that soon.
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While I was typing this up, my newly-married daughter called me from the supermarket.
She was totally shocked at how much money she just spend – even in Osher Ad – to buy basic groceries for a week.
I don’t know what’s happening by you, but here in Israel, a lot of the food prices are starting to shoot up in a very alarming way.
I really am starting to fear for large families who don’t have a lot of cash, about how they can continue to buy even basic staples for their kids.
In this failed State that spends 60-100 billion a year on a useless army, that apparently can’t predict or stop massive ‘terrorist attacks’, can’t provide soldiers with even basic stuff like helmets and waterproof tents, and apparently also can’t give the families of reservists even basic financial help so they don’t implode while the husband and father is away fighting its wars for them….
I am feeling more and more like there needs to be a huge, massive re-organisation of priorities, even if Moshiach takes another few decades to show up, God forbid.
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Make sure the kids have enough food – every single kid in the country.
Make sure the ‘holocaust survivors’ – many of whom are also used as fundraising fodder, in such a disgusting way – are cared for with dignity.
Stop spending all the money on hitech ‘start-ups’ that are just excuses to funnel taxpayers’ money from the poor to the super-rich-and-still-grasping-for-more people who run the show here – and everywhere else in the world.
All this ‘yuck’ just continues, until the small people stop buying into this warped paradigm, and start really, really calling out to Hashem to save us from the evil.
That’s our main job right now – it’s our only real option.
And boy, do we need to get on with doing that.
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PS: This is a list of all the ‘official’ dead and wounded from the Gaza operation so far.
It’s already at well over a thousand…. 160+ dead, and well over 800 wounded.
We really need our soldiers back home, and out of the death trap that’s been carefully prepared for them by the same people who ‘let’ October 7 happen (at best….)
And someone else just sent me THIS interesting story, about Pfizer using wounded soldiers in Gaza for more medical experiments with zero informed-consent.
Sigh.
Tatty, come and rescue us all already. Please.
Reader’s Comments:
Hi Rivka,
I don’t give to any American Jewish Fundraisers nor do i respond (usually) to the rash of emails that come after an emergency situation. They are playing on people’ emotions. I go directly to the source.
Most organizations that operate on donations have web sites. Supporting the organizations that you personally know something about is the safest bet that your donation money is going to good ground. I try my best to do away with the middleman. I am not especially trustful of the American Jewish fundraising organizations, esp when the CEO’s get a 6 digit salary, or more. I feel if they can afford to pay their CEO that much, they really don’t need my pittance. I don’t want to offend anyone, however, there are ways to check out an organization to see where there donation money’s go. Charity Navigator is a great source for checking out the financial statements, CEO salary, source of income, etc. I have often wondered if there is something like this site in Israel. The only time Charity Navigator has info on Israeli funds is if the organization has offices in the US, from my experience.
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Update from the Rav
by Rivka Levy 2November2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/update-from-the-rav-2/
Just cutting and pasting this from ravberland.com.
It’s very powerful, from October 31, 2023, before the 16 soldiers were killed yesterday.
The Rav is the only source of ‘news’ I trust, at this point.
From HERE.
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Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland Shlit”a’s pained cry to say Tehilim for the protection of the Jewish people, especially now as our soldiers enter Gaza on the ground:
Now I read the Rambam [Hilchot Ta’aniot 1:1-3]: It is a positive Torah commandment, that all those who say Tehilim are fulfilling a positive Torah commandment, because now it is “a time of stress for Jacob, but he will be saved from it” (Yirmiyahu 30:7).
50,000 soldiers enter Gaza now. Every day, they progress only 100 meters. More than 100 meters isn’t possible.
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Already there are two seriously injured.
In the merit that girls took onto [themselves to dress] modestly, and to lengthen their dresses, in the meantime not a single soldier has been killed.
This is something that is above the natural order, itself these are miracles, but this will take a half-year if we progress only 100 meters. This will take a half-year, and people don’t have a home — 130,000 people without homes, without parents. The parents were taken — turned into ashes, like in Auschwitz, that they were turned into ashes.
It is impossible to even find the DNA, because the ashes became mixed with bricks and boards, and in cars people were burned.
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Everyone fled to cars; then they poured gasoline on them.
They prepared gasoline and ignited all the cars. Everyone turned into ashes, 300-1000 people turned into ashes. 300 turned into ashes, 300 were murdered at the party, and 300 are captives.
The Radbaz writes in Siman 40 that being captive is worse than death, because it’s impossible to know who they are torturing — the soldiers are certainly being tortured terribly.
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So now we are found in a positive commandment.
Every letter of Tehilim that we say now is a positive Torah commandment.
Because now is “a time of distress for Jacob, but he will be saved from it.” To scream and to blast Chatzotzrot (a type of trumpet prescribed by the Torah). We need Chatzotzrot with Shofars, that trouble will not come onto the congregation, as it says, “Against an enemy who oppresses you , you shall blast Chatzotzrot” (Bamidbar 10:9).
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That for three days it was impossible to retake the kibbutzim.
The government abandoned everything.
People called for help, the soldiers progressed, but it was impossible to enter, because in every kibbutz there were 500 terrorists, endless terrorists. It took three days to retake the kibbutzim — instead of protecting them to begin with.
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They called, said that 5,000 men were crossing the fence.
There’s no fence, the most sophisticated fence in the world which cost 50 billion dollars. If they would have given 100,000 shekels to some yeshiva, then the whole world is horrified — “those leeches, those blood-suckers,” Lapid goes out of his mind.
And here they spent 50 billion on a fence of paper. If they had made a fence of paper, of cardboard, that would have been a lot better.
There’s no remnant of the fence.
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Now it is “a time of distress for Jacob” — there’s no government.
People waited forty hours for the army to come, and they didn’t come.
In the meantime, they burned everyone alive.
There’s no houses, nothing. It’s possible to build a house in a day.
Five people are sleeping in a room of a square meter. They don’t give them food, don’t give them anything — such a government has never arisen since the creation of the world, that in this way are abusing people who went through a holocaust.
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The children are orphans, either there’s no father or no mother, or both are lacking, have already been turned to ashes.
This is obligatory for each person to know, that now is “a time of distress for Jacob,” and we are obligated from the Torah — like the Rambam says, that this is from the Torah — to say every moment another chapter of Tehilim, and another chapter of Tehilim.
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Because now they are afraid that they’ll launch a million missiles.
They have maybe 100,000 missiles. Egypt doesn’t care, it’s happy. And the entire strip is full of missiles, they are shooting missiles without end. Outside of Jerusalem, where missiles are not reaching here, because we are exactly in the middle of Israel, the furthest from Gaza, the furthest from Lebanon.
The entire north is under missile fire, the entire south is under missile fire; Kissufim is under missile fire.
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And this is one of the ways of repentance, that at “a time of distress for Jacob,” you need to feel the pain of the Jewish people.
— 130,000 people without houses, without apartments, with clothes — they fled in nightgowns.
We see the Jewish people in distress, then everyone needs to say Tehilim. And girls who can say three books of Tehilim, this is above everything.
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Bachurim [young men] should smash their Xiaomi, because the Xiaomi is bringing on all the calamities.
They see pictures of nudity, then immediately 1,000 soldiers are killed at that moment. We are every moment in the danger that 1,000 soldiers will be killed.
Because Hamas said that they are 40,000; really, they are 100,000, all of them armed with the most up-to-date weaponry, because Iran gave them the most up-to-date weaponry.
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And even though we here in Jerusalem are the most protected — Jerusalem protects us, but we need to pray for all the Jewish people.
This is from the Torah, to feel the pain, that we are like in a holocaust.
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This is all because they beat up [worshippers in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur].
Baruch Hashem, they saw prayer in public in Dizengoff Square, it’s possible to pray. A thousand girls came to pray. Then [Tel Aviv mayor] Ron Huldai went out of his mind: A thing such as this, all Tel Aviv is praying all of a sudden — they gave them a murderous beating.
Right after this, they paid. After ten days, they paid — unfortunately — a price that was too high.
And those who ascended to the Garden of Eden, these were Tinikot Shenishbu [like children taken captive and raised by gentiles and who don’t know not to sin].
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They beat them up on Yom Kippur, and there are those did not fast at all.
In Be’eri, maybe five people fasted. Now they admit everything; they said that everything is because they didn’t fast on Yom Kippur.
A person full of transgressions at least should fast once a year.
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Across the road, it’s all Hamas.
Today all the Arabs are Hamas, all of them are with weapons, missiles, cannons. We’re without anything, we have nothing, like it was in Egypt, that when when they left, [the Egyptians] came with tanks, 600 chariots — we are obligated to say Tehilim at least.
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If people don’t scream and shout, and [instead] say that this happened by chance — this is cruelty.
If people see that everyone is in mortal danger, and don’t say Tehilim, the Rambam says that this is the cruelest person that can be. This is cruelty not to say Tehilim — this is cruelty. One needs to finish three book of Tehilim every day.
This person who doesn’t pray — this is mamash cruelty, because he caused soldiers to die.
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And there will be another calamity, and another calamity, because it’s impossible to know, because in Germany, they said, “This is the last calamity.” Every moment, they are ready to add another calamity to the calamities, to vanquish us.
The Germans want to conquer all the Land of Israel anew — this is all so that we will repent.
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More hints from the Rav
by Rivka Levy 30December2023 https://thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/more-hints-from-the-rav-3/
Shavua Tov!
‘Weird world’ is continuing in Israel at the moment, with most of the population walking around in a semi-depressed state (at best….) because of what’s going on in Gaza.
The Rav didn’t come out for prayers over Shabbat, because he didn’t feel well.
BH, he will have a speedy recovery – please pray for Rav Eliezer ben Ettia to have a total refuah shleimah.
It’s not the first time – at all – that when the nation approaches some sort of serious crisis point, somehow it all gets ‘sweetened’ – as the Rav’s health takes a serious nose-dive.
BH, it won’t get to that again.
Bezrat Hashem.
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In the meantime, lots of interesting stuff from last week’s bunch of shiurim, brought down in Shivivei Or 1043.
I translated the bits that most took my eye….
Have a read, think for yourself what is really going on here.
It seems to me that more and more people are calling out the lies all over the place….
We are not yet at the place where that’s translating into things changing tachlis on the ground. But geula comes riding slowly on a donkey, where one person, then another person, than another person, wakes up, and stops participating in ‘the world of lies’.
Until one day, we wake up and it’s simply imploded all by itself.
Hopefully, with no more of our young men getting their limbs blown off, or losing their lives.
(We already covered the idea that all the psychos ‘cheerleading’ for war, war, and yet more war, are literally insane…. we don’t need to belabor that point.)
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[Watch the first couple of minutes of this interesting video of our dear PM addressing congress back in 2011…. and how chummy he obviously is with the then VP….Joe Biden… who obviously ‘crosses’ himself as he’s being addressed. We are so used to ‘weird’ from Joe Biden, this probably no longer registers on the ‘weird’ scale. But it’s still weird.]
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Speech at the Joint Session of Congress – May 24, 2011
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Of Likutey Halachot, Orach Chaim, Part 3 – written by Rabbi Natan Sternhartz.
[2] See Pele Yoetz, letter zayin, ‘Zugot’ (couples).
[3] In a footnote to this comment in the Shivivei Or Newsletter, the editor explains that in a seperate shiur, the Rav spoke about how shlichim from Chabad went around to army bases in the South during Sukkot with arbeh minot to have soldiers shake the lulav, etc, and they found that there were hardly any soldiers on the bases.
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PS: I just found THIS article on ‘Freemasonry Watch’…. very, very interesting.
The whole site is very interesting, but the article linked to above explains a lot of the stuff I’m also tripping over, from different angles, about who is really running our little patch of the world.
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‘The goal was a massacre of Tel Aviv’: Hamas’s full plan for October 7 revealed
As the horrors of October 7 unfolded, Hamas sought to initiate a second stage to their attack, which would have seen attacks on Tel Aviv and Dimona.
By MAARIV ONLINE
MARCH 26, 2024 02:23 Updated: MARCH 26, 2024 07:48 https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793710< In an interview with KAN to promote his new book, Ilan Kfir claimed that Hamas had an operative plan to reach the heart of Tel Aviv on October 7, but was ultimately thwarted. The veteran journalist published "Gaza Division Conquered," in March, the first book published in Hebrew about the October 7 massacre.
“Today the picture is much clearer than it was on October 7. Hamas was not satisfied with the phase one plan – but the test was if the phase one plan was successful, they would go on to phase two – and it was prepared with large forces ready on standby and prepared to set off at noon. At the heart of the plan was a breach in two areas, in the north as well as in the south and east, towards Dimona, which was singled out by the group as a very central target. The goal of the operation would have been a raid on Tel Aviv. They marked several focal points in the city that were expected to be crowded in the afternoon and evening in order to carry out a mass massacre in the city,” the author stated.
“Whoever from Hamas was planning to arrive in Tel Aviv and the north would have been forces with the mental willingness to commit suicide, because they knew they had no chance of returning from there. It was a plan that was formulated and in very advanced stages,” Kfir said.
Hamas sought to initiate second phase on October 7
“Towards noon on October 7, when Sinwar and his central command realized that they had achieved success above and beyond what was expected, an order was given to the forces of phase two to set off. Here, they encountered a big surprise because unlike in the morning – when the fence was broken and there was minimal IDF presence in the area – there was already an assessment and a huge influx of forces into the Nevatim area where a large blockade was carried out. There is no doubt that if Hamas had carried out its second phase, the trauma and disaster on October 7 would have been doubled.”
Kfir hypothesized that had “Sinwar believed that if an attack on Tel Aviv and Dimona were reported in the news, Hezbollah in the north and the other terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria would also attack. This is a diabolical plan, and if it had succeeded, the reality would have been many times worse.”
He also said that “maps found with terrorists indicated that they intended to reach Kiryat Gat. After that, a plan was discovered by a certain force to attack Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and release terrorists. Another plan was to attack the Hatzerim air base. All this testified to Sinwar’s pretensions of carrying out something that had never before been done.”
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They left each kibbutz with just one gun
by Rivka Levy 19November2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/they-left-each-kibbutz-with-just-one-gun/
Shavua Tov!
I am continuing to post up excerpts of the Rav’s recent shiurim from the last 3 weeks here.
They are giving way more info than you’ll find anywhere else, about what really happened here on October 7.
Here’s the latest excerpt.
====
Excerpt of shiur Thursday night, 27 Tishrey, to the ‘Mifal HaTorah’ – second shiur
====
More and more of the first-hand stories are also coming out about what happened that day, from eyewitnesses.
Of course, not in our state-run propaganda news.
But if you go HERE, [https://www.october7.org/] you’ll find a site in English called Eyewitness and first-hand stories from the massacre in Israel, October 7.
It’s not snuff movies, God forbid, but it’s full of people (survivors) just telling their stories, including some videos and pictures they took of what was going on at the Super Nova party when they were hiding in bushes, or in the kibbutzim in their safe rooms.
For anyone who is interested in piecing together the truth, it’s a very valuable resource.
And for anyone dealing with anti-Semites trying to claim that the slaughter of innocent Jews is all ‘fake news’ – it’s also a very valuable resource.
====
There are hints coming out here that the hostage situation is about to be resolved, but not in the way most of us were praying for.
Remember, even when things are very painful, they are all being orchestrated from Above, for the greater good.
And this time, nobody is about to forgive and forget what has gone here.
Very soon, all the truth will come out – and those responsible will be unmasked.
May it happen very soon, before any more good Jews lose their lives, God forbid.
Amen.
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IDF had concrete intel of imminent invasion and did nothing
26February2024 | Ticker, Virtual Jerusalem, https://virtualjerusalem.com/idf-had-concrete-intel-of-imminent-invasion-and-did-nothing/
Army intel was notified that hundreds if not thousands of Hamas terrorists switched to Israeli SIM cards at midnight on October 7
Multiple media resources report what has been kept under strict censorship till now. IDF army intelligence was notified that the Gazan cellular SIM cards had been suddenly replaced with Israeli SIM cards, a clear indication along with all the other reports, that a surprise invasion was planned.
And yet, according to reports, nothing was done and the political leadership was not notified.
This latest evidence contributes to the existence of anti-democratic forces in the IDF, intelligence, and security services that intentionally did nothing despite clear evidence of abnormal terrorist activity. In no case, it appears, the political echelon was notified. All of this darkly suggests that there was a conspiracy within the IDF and other agencies to allow a lapse that would ruin forever Benjamin Netanyahu’s reputation as Mr. Security.
In recent days, an extremely well-funded ad campaign sought to blame all on Bibi, because he was the head. But it seems to be backfiring as Netanyahu oversees the military and diplomatic campaigns with inimitable clarity and courage.
Unraveling October 7: Accountability Beyond Political Blame
The aftermath of the October 7 catastrophe has unfurled a narrative steeped in blame and political finger-pointing, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at its center. However, a closer examination reveals a more complex and disconcerting reality. It has become increasingly evident that the true failure lies not with Netanyahu personally but with a breakdown in communication and perhaps intentional obfuscation by elements within the military intelligence, the internal security agency, and possibly the Air Force. This disturbing scenario suggests a deliberate attempt to undermine the political echelon, using a horrific national tragedy as leverage in the broader context of protest against judicial reform and replacement of a democratically elected government not to the liking of the insurrectionists.
The notion that sections of the military and security apparatus may have withheld critical information from the government, and Netanyahu specifically, points to a deep-seated and deep disturbing issue within Israel’s security and governance structures. Such actions, if proven true, represent not just a failure of protocol but a direct challenge to the democratic oversight of the military by the elected government. This is a grave concern that transcends political affiliations and calls into question the integrity of the institutions tasked with national defense. It must be investigated to the end, and violators punished accordingly.
The Urgent Need for Investigation and Reform
The events surrounding October 7 and their aftermath have underscored a critical vulnerability in Israel’s security and political framework. Addressing this issue requires a commitment to transparency, accountability, and reform. It is not about absolving Netanyahu of personal blame. It’s about safeguarding the democratic principles that underpin Israel’s governance.
As Israel navigates these challenges, the need for unity and commitment to the nation’s democratic integrity has never been greater. Blaming Netanyahu is just a cover for those who have no shame and limits to advance their subversive political agenda.
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Why Benny Gantz is very afraid of an ‘effective’ commission of inquiry
Yossi Baum-tweet-7January2024-Why Benny Gantz is very afraid of an *effective* commission of inquiry
מדוע בני גנץ חושש מאוד מוועדת חקירה *אפקטיבית*
מפני שוועדת חקירה כזו, עשויה לשאול אותו שאלות מביכות בכמה וכמה נושאים. הנה חלקם, על קצה המזלג:
1. כשר ביטחון אסף נשקים מכיתות הכוננות בעוטף עזה ובצפון. אלוף פיקוד הדרום באותה עת היה אלמוני בשם הרצי הלוי, אגב.
2. כשר ביטחון אישר הכנסת עשרות אלפי פועלים עזתים לישראל. בסבירות גבוהה חלקם לפחות העביר מידע חשוב לחמאס לקראת הטבח ב7 באוקטובר.
3. כשר ביטחון אישר לארה”ב העברת מאות אלפי פגזים מהרזרבות בישראל (שישראל ‘בונה’ עליהם בעת חירום) לאוקראינה, ללא הצטיידות מיידית בהתאם
4. כרמטכ”ל קיצץ מכוח הצבא 600 טנקים (האלוף בריק, ראו ציוצים קודמים)
5. עשויה להיבחן גם תזת ה”סיכנתי חיי חיילים בגולני מטעמים ‘מוסרים'” והשלכותיה על רוח הלחימה בצה”ל ועל יכולת ההרתעה.
6. מה הוא ידע על בלוני ולווייני התצפית של צה”ל המכוונים לעזה, שלא תוחזקו וממילא לא פעלו ביום הטבח.
7. בזמן כהונתו כרמטכ”ל הועברה טייסת מסוקי הקוברה של צה”ל לירדנים חינם אין כסף, בהוראת אובאמה. בדיוק מה שהיה חסר בשבת השחורה.
8. כמי שהעלים מהקבינט ב’צוק איתן’ את מצב המנהרות מעזה לישראל, מה עוד הוא ידע או לא ידע, על המנהרות שחמאס חופר בעזה?
9. מאחר ומרבית ההכנות לטבח נעשו בתקופתו כשר ביטחון, מה הוא ידע או לא – על הכנות אלו?
10. יתכן גם שהוועדה תרצה לברר כיצד ומדוע מינה כמה מגורמי המפתח שאחראים ישירות לטבח. כמו:
* אהרון חליוה, שגנץ אישר את מינויו לראש אמ”ן. חליוה גם סגר את יחידת ‘חצב’ שאוספת מודיעין ממקורות גלויים.
* הרצי הלוי, אין צורך להכביר במילים. גנץ עשוי להזדקק להסביר מה היה כה דחוף למנותו בממשלת מעבר.
* יתירה מכך, הוא גם יצטרך להסביר את פשר המסמך שאישר את “דחיפות” המינוי, מסמך שלא הוכן ע”י אמ”ן אלא ע”י פקיד שלו…
* גם אלופי פיקוד הדרום, אלעזר טולדנו וירון פינקלשטיין, שתחת פיקודם הכין חמאס את הטבח, מונו על ידו.
שורה תחתונה: הרבה הרבה חמאה על ראשו של גנץ. לא ייפלא, אם כן, שגנץ עשה מעשה שלא ייעשה,
כשבמקום לגנות את הרמטכ”ל שמינה בעצמו את הוועדה שתחקור אותו – הוא מגבה אותו, ותוקף את המגנים.
מקורות:
Here are some of them, at the tip of the fork:1. As the Minister of Defense collected weapons from the standby units in the Gaza Envelope and in the north.
The commander of the Southern Command at that time was an unknown named Hertzi Halevi, by the way.2. As the Minister of Defense approved the bringing of tens of thousands of Gazan laborers to Israel.
It is highly probable that at least some of them passed important information to Hamas in preparation for the massacre on October 7.3. As the Minister of Defense, the US has approved the transfer of hundreds of thousands of shells
from the reserves in Israel (which Israel ‘builds‘ on during an emergency) to Ukraine, without immediate equipping accordingly.4. As Chief of Staff, he cut 600 tanks from the army (General Brik, see previous tweets)5. The thesis “I risked the lives of soldiers in the Golani for ‘moral’ reasons”
and its implications for the fighting spirit in the IDF and the ability to deter may also be examined.6. What did he know about the IDF’s observation balloons and satellites aimed at Gaza,
which were not maintained and in any case did not operate on the day of the massacre.7. During his tenure as Chief of Staff, the Cobra helicopter squadron of the IDF was
transferred to the Jordanians for free, no money, on Obama’s orders. Exactly what was missing on Black Saturday.8. As someone who revealed to the cabinet in ‘Tzuk Eitan’ the condition of the tunnels from Gaza to Israel,
what else did he know or not know about the tunnels that Hamas is digging in Gaza?9. Since most of the preparations for the massacre were made during his time as Minister of Defense,
what did he know or not – about these preparations?10. It is also possible that the committee would like to find out how and
why it appointed some of the key factors that are directly responsible for the massacre. same as:* Aharon Haliva, whom Gantz approved as head of the AMN. Haliva also closed the ‘Hatsev’ unit
that collects intelligence from open sources.* Harzi Halevi, there is no need to say much. Gantz may need to explain what was so urgent
about appointing him to a transitional government.* Moreover, he will also have to explain the meaning of the document that
confirmed the “urgency” of the appointment, a document that was not prepared by Amman but by his official…* The commanders of the Southern Command, Elazar Toledano and Yaron Finkelstein,
under whose command Hamas prepared the massacre, were also appointed by him.Bottom line: lots and lots of butter on Gantz’s head. It would not be surprising, then,
that Gantz did something that should not be done, when instead of condemning
the Chief of Staff who himself appointed the committee to investigate him – he backs him up, and attacks the defenders.Sources:
https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/2020_q3/Article-6e4c19c1a684471026.htm
https://www.makorrishon.co.il/news/527513/
https://mida.org.il/2023/11/30/
https://twitter.com/HmyMzh/status/1743740794576470087
https://www.telecomnews.co.il/
https://www.idf.il/
https://twitter.com/IsraelGaley/status/1693984298318323833
Yossi Baum-tweet-7January2024-Why Benny Gantz is very afraid of an effective commission of inquiry
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SOVEREIGNTY-logo https://www.ribonut.co.il/
Victory for Israel- Update # 1
1November2023 https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=838&lang=2
The chain of news reports in these days of war, require a few quick responses to some events, statements and headlines.
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
Jewish labor
In recent weeks, since the black Shabbat, we have learned that we must go back to Jewish labor. It will fortify us, keep us safe in the villages and cities and reduce our terrible dependence on hostile, foreign hands.
It has been proven beyond any doubt that the Arabs who worked in the Gaza envelope acquired and transferred such precise military and civilian information that the despicable murderers came with accurate lists of the members of every family and after breaking into their homes, if they knew that there was another child, they demanded to know where he was.
It is inconceivable for us to put ourselves into such a situation again. We must protect our people and our Land and keep this danger far from us. We should begin by training our sons and daughters for work in the fields, in construction, driving, medicine, pharmacy, cleaning, gardening, etc. For this, we must even now establish vocational colleges to train the youth for this work.
But primarily, we must instill in the young generation the great honor that has fallen to them to be those who build this Land with their own hands, we must make clear to them the value and importance of Jewish labor as it was since the early days of Zionism.
And now, in wartime, we must act to mobilize all yeshiva students and students in colleges and pre-military academies that are not already mobilized for military service, for the holy work of strengthening the Land and the state.
Zionism always championed Jewish labor, for paving roads and work in the orchards. It was and still is pure patriotism. Now, it is also the order of the hour!
Danino
Ariel Danino is held in administrative detention. Why? What is his sin? It is difficult to know.
As we know, there is no legal process for administrative detention, there is no need to present evidence or witnesses. The reasonable person is most likely convinced that of course, it is done to a person who was a danger to the state, and his sin is more severe because it was done during wartime, but it is we should all know the truth:
Ariel Danino works for news site Hakol HaYehudi -“The Jewish Voice”; he collects information on dangerous activities of Arabs, conducts investigations to help the system take care of failures. Ariel warns of the enemy’s activity in sabotage, which is sometimes carried out disguised as civil activity. He makes his voice heard every way he can and his cry is the painful cry of the entire people. Now, it is our turn to cry out for him. Release Ariel immediately! Those who arrested him are confused!
Shaul Mofaz
Former Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz “is proud of the expulsion from Gush Katif”, so he says, and even adds an explanation. Mofaz is convinced that if the expulsion had not been carried out, the residents of Gush Katif would have been slaughtered like those in the Gaza Envelope. And because he indeed cares for them so much, he mobilized himself for the task of expelling them from their homes. So very touching.
Let’s take another small logical step. According to the Mofaz school of thought, all of the kibbutzim and farming communities of the Gaza Envelope should also be expelled, since if only they had not been there, they would not have been slaughtered in the Hamas terror attack on Simhat Torah. But this is not enough. Why stop with the communities of the Envelope? If we expel all the Jews from Jerusalem, there would not be any terror attacks in Jerusalem and maybe we should adopt the slogan, “No Jews, no terror attacks” according to this logic, where would Mr. Shaul Mofaz go?
Mr. Mofaz, as a security person who worked many years alongside the pioneers in Judea and Samaria, you should know exactly why Jews settled precisely in Gush Katif. Out of a pioneering spirit and willingness to serve as a security belt for the entire country, just as the residents of the Gaza Envelope do, who defend Jewish villages with their presence.
Even the ordinary citizen without a high military rank understands quite well that without holding onto the land, our security is abandoned, and the deeper and stronger this hold is, the stronger and more stable is our security. Since the Six Day War, Israel has been pursued a policy of withdrawals and uprooting again and again and the longer Israel behaves this way, the more she loses the safety and security of her citizens.
Here is inevitable conclusion: Abandoning parts of the Land of Israel to foreigners brings disasters upon us. The correction is to restore Israel’s control over Gaza first. And afterward, over all of Judea and Samaria.
Thanks to the Security Forces
We must give many thanks to the soldiers and all members of the security forces for endangering their lives for the survival of the People and the Land in all of its parts, in the North, the South and the Center.
In Judea and Samaria as well, they are doing wonderful and vigorous work that is so effective that until now, more than a thousand terrorists have been caught and arrested and about a hundred have been eliminated. Good job! To our fighters, our soldiers and commanders. May G-d bless you and bring you success.
Haim Ramon
Haim Ramon spoke out vigorously in an interview that he gave to Maariv, which was published last Sabbath eve: “A Covenant with Satan. On the altar of the dream to annex Judea and Samaria Netanyahu and the Right sold their souls to Hamas when they stopped all attempts to topple the terror regime in the Gaza Strip”.
Let’s clarify things: The Right, which desires sovereignty, does not want the same terror authority in power that the Left brought from Tunisia to rule over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The wise and alert Right knows well that there is no fundamental difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They both desire to destroy Israel. One does it with clear language and hate-filled, murderous eyes and the other does it with a suit and tie and polished English, which deceives the entire world and even some of us, and because of this he is even more dangerous.
The fact that until now, the government of Israel has not found within itself the strength to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is what brought about the endless disasters culminating in the events of Simhat Torah.
Let’s, just for a moment, imagine where road of terror ultimately leads. Let’s imagine giving up, G-d forbid, Judea and Samaria and going back to the 67 lines (Auschwitz borders, as the late Abba Evan called them). Is there any reasonable person who thinks that our security situation would have been better? Will the Palestinian covenant, which calls for the destruction of Israel and establishing a Palestinian state from the River to the Sea, ever change? Would they give up Jaffa, Acre, Ramla and Lod?
Enough of this delusion! If we do not open our eyes now, we will very quickly find that the next murderous pogroms are already on the way G-d forbid.
Concluding Words
Thank G-d, most of the people in Israel are mentally and emotionally healthy, our soldiers are healthy in mind and spirit. They understand well the overt tendency of the Arabs, they see what they are capable of inflicting upon us. We have already learned that in the Middle East, it is dangerous to speak “European”. We must speak the language of the Bible. “To you I will give this Land!”
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JerusalemCats Comments: Israel like Russia needs to “Sanction Proof” it’s economy from the G7 and work with the BRICS Countries like India
Israeli MKs discuss overcoming US ‘settler’ sanctions
“We’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi told JNS.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-mks-discuss-overcoming-us-settler-sanctions/
(February 15, 2024 / JNS) Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi (Likud) summoned an urgent meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday to explore ways Jerusalem can come to the aid of citizens who face international sanctions.
On Feb 1., U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order sanctioning “persons undermining peace, security and stability” in Judea and Samaria, citing “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”<
The White House named four Israelis as the targets of sanctions: Yinon Levi of Meitarim Farm; David Chai Chasdai of Givat Ronen; Einan Tanjil of Kiryat Ekron; and Shalom Zicherman of Mitzpe Yair.
Biden’s “unacceptable” decision to levy sanctions was “not only unfriendly, but also unfair,” Halevi told JNS, noting that Israel takes “very strong—maybe more than needed” action against lawbreakers, “especially against the settlers in Judea and Samaria, unfortunately.”
Of the four, only Chasdai has ever run afoul of Israeli authorities. In 2023, he was sentenced to four months of administrative detention following his alleged participation in a riot in the Samaria town of Huwara.
However, fearing being cut off from the U.S. financial system, several Israeli banks have moved to proactively freeze the accounts of some of the sanctioned individuals, as well as their spouses.
“At the end of the day, it is a diplomatic [matter],” Tali Keisar, deputy supervisor of banks at the Bank of Israel, told lawmakers on Wednesday. “The Israeli banking system cannot be perceived as circumventing sanctions. This would harm the market and the economy.”
The committee meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the state, banks and the families harmed by the sanctions, focused on finding a solution.
“If the issue cannot be solved through political channels and if the regulator, the Bank of Israel, does not put out clear instructions, we suggest a new law. In these cases—when there are sanctions of foreign state of Israeli citizens— we must back those citizens,” said Halevi.
“Even according to the Biden presidential instruction, it’s not [required] that the Levi family, for example, should die of starvation,” he continued.
Sapir Levi told the committee that the family has been unable to purchase groceries and diapers for their children since Bank Leumi blocked a joint account with her husband earlier this month.
“We’re not talking about sanctions against businessmen that have billions, like [Roman] Abramovich, because he did business with Russia; we’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” said Halevi.
One of the options suggested by coalition lawmakers entails the government providing affected families with an open-ended loan for the duration of the sanctions against them.
Halevi noted that Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have, since the start of the war with Hamas, often urged Israel to take into account the rights of “uninvolved” civilians in Gaza.
“Let’s leave the question of whether Gazans are really not involved; this is another issue. But what about this principle?” charged Halevi.
During Wednesday’s summit, Committee chairman David Bitan and Moshe Passal, both of the ruling Likud Party, warned that “tomorrow,” Biden could decide to impose sanctions on all 500,000-plus Jews in Judea and Samaria, or on all Israeli soldiers who enter Rafah in Gaza.
On Tuesday, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman blasted the Biden administration’s sanctions of Jews in Judea and Samaria as a “disgrace” that could potentially apply to anyone who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
“So anyone who the State Department feels is hostile to creating a Palestinian terror state could wake up one morning and find his funds frozen at his local bank!” Friedman tweeted.
“Not only is this an unlawful interference in another nation’s internal politics (and a key ally to boot!) but it illegally punishes Israelis for exercising their free speech,” the ambassador claimed, calling the move a “remarkable betrayal” of the Jewish state.
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Honenu to defend Israelis sanctioned by US administration
Honenu announced that its attorneys had sent a “warning letter” to the Bank of Israel demanding that the Israelis’ bank accounts be unfrozen.
https://www.jns.org/honenu-to-defend-israelis-sanctioned-by-us-administration/
(February 15, 2024 / JNS) The Honenu lawyer’s collective, which represents Israelis sanctioned by the Biden administration for “undermining peace” in Judea and Samaria, on Tuesday filed a complaint with local regulatory authorities as the first step in a legal battle aimed at having the sanctions removed.
Honenu retained Dr. J. Weinroth & Co. Law Office, which has also defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past, to represent “the heroic farmers who are suddenly forced to think about how to transfer 100 shekels to the babysitter or how to get gas,” the group said.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order targeting “persons undermining peace, security and stability” in Judea and Samaria, citing “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”
The White House named four Israeli Jews as the targets of sanctions: Yinon Levi of Meitarim Farm; David Chai Chasdai of Givat Ronen; Einan Tanjil of Kiryat Ekron; and Shalom Zicherman of Mitzpe Yair.
Faced with the prospect of being cut off from the U.S. monetary system, Bank Leumi—Israel’s largest bank—subsequently informed Levi that his accounts would be suspended. Chasdai had his account at the state-owned Postal Bank frozen, while reports indicated that Tanjil’s and Zicherman’s accounts at Bank Hapoalim would follow shortly.
On Wednesday, Honenu announced that its attorneys had sent a “warning letter” to the Bank of Israel on behalf of the four families, demanding that the supervisor order the three financial institutions to “immediately remove all restrictions that were imposed on the bank accounts of the farmers.”
In the letter, Honenu stressed that Israeli banks have discretionary powers in individual cases and must examine the “unique and particular circumstances” of their customers before acting upon sanctions imposed by foreign countries.
Honenu vowed to “stand alongside these heroes who were hurt by the visceral hatred for the settlement” of Judea and Samaria.
“Our appeal to the supervisor is the first action within the framework of the legal procedures that we intend to take, as long as the cardinal damage is not rectified,” the organization said.
On Tuesday, attorney Marc Zell announced he would be filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
The suit will challenge the legality of Biden’s executive order, which was issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The suit is currently being drafted, and is expected to be filed within a couple of weeks. Zell is currently speaking to any potential plaintiffs.
Also this week, Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi summoned a meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday to explore ways Jerusalem can come to the aid of citizens who face sanctions.
“If the issue cannot be solved through political channels and if the regulator, the Bank of Israel, does not put out clear instructions, we suggest a new law. In these cases—when there are sanctions of foreign states of Israeli citizens—we must back those citizens,” Halevi told JNS.
One of the options suggested by coalition lawmakers during the committee meeting on Wednesday entails the Israeli government providing an open-ended loan to affected families.
“We’re not talking about sanctions against businessmen that have billions, like [Roman] Abramovich, because he did business with Russia; we’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” said Halevi.
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Biden sanctioning Itamar Ben Gvir
Caroline Glick-tweet-26February2024-Biden sanctioning Itamar Ben Gvir
The Biden administration is telling the media that it is considering sanctioning Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. They keep this up they will have no influence on Israel whatsoever.
kann_news-tweet-25February2024-
בממשל האמריקני בוחנים להטיל סבב סנקציות נוסף על ישראלים המעורבים, לטענתם, באלימות כלפי פלסטינים – כולל השר בן גביר או גורמים בעוצמה יהודית |
@AmichaiStein1 עם הפרטים
#חדשותהערב
The American administration is considering imposing another round of sanctions on Israelis who, according to them, are involved in violence against Palestinians – including minister Ben Gabir or elements of Otzma Yehudit | @AmichaiStein1 with the details
#חדשותהערב
Caroline Glick-tweet-26February2024-Biden sanctioning Itamar Ben Gvir
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Biden sanctions Israeli Iron Dome Company
David M Friedman-tweet-28February2024-Biden sanctions Israeli Iron Dome Company
This may be the dumbest move yet by the Biden Administration — sanctioning an Israeli company which is the only manufacturer of a key component of Iron Dome. Who needs BDS when antisemites have the US State Department?!!!
David M Friedman-tweet-28February2024-Biden sanctions Israeli Iron Dome Company
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The congressional reaction to Biden’s sanctions of Israel
February 29, 2024
https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-to-biden-rescind-directives-punishing-undermining-israelis
Cotton, Colleagues to Biden: Rescind Directives Punishing, Undermining Israelis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
February 29, 2024
Cotton, Colleagues to Biden: Rescind Directives Punishing, Undermining Israelis
Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), and Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), today sent a letter to President Biden urging him to rescind his February 1 executive order and February 8 memo that are intended to undermine Israel.
In part, the senators wrote:
“Your February 1 EO grants the State Department broad authority to arbitrarily punish Israelis in Judea and Samaria, with no defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted. Under the guise of ‘peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,’ it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants. Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes ‘pay to slay’ payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families.”
Full text of the letter may be found here and below.
February 29, 2024
President Joseph R. Biden
The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20502
President Biden,
We write regarding your February 1, 2024 Executive Order 14115 and February 8, 2024 National Security Memorandum 20 undermining Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza. Both documents undercut our most valuable alliance in the Middle East. We call on you to rescind both documents and to sanction terrorists and their supporters instead of their victims.
Your February 1 EO grants the State Department broad authority to arbitrarily punish Israelis in Judea and Samaria, with no defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted. Under the guise of “peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,” it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants. Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes “pay to slay” payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families. Nor has the State Department taken significant action to counter the surge in Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, which increased by 350 percent in 2023, including 300 shooting attacks.
Your February 8 memorandum similarly—and falsely—implies that Israel is committing mass war crimes in its campaign against Hamas and threatens to cut off aid unless Israel meets arbitrary deadlines for providing “assurances” regarding international humanitarian law. Yet, we already have rules requiring aid recipients to comply with applicable law and in line with American interests. Moreover, Israel has provided ample evidence of the steps it takes to avoid civilian casualties, which Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, John Kirby, acknowledged publicly.
You should immediately rescind both your February 1 order and February 8 memorandum. Further, please provide Congress no later than March 15 with a full explanation of what evidentiary basis and processes are intended to be employed when choosing to sanction Israelis while ignoring the serious crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority.
We appreciate your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
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Biden is throwing the Jewish state under the bus
Caroline Glick-tweet-6March2024-Biden is throwing the Jewish state under the bus
It’s official. Biden is throwing the Jewish state under the bus and going all in with the jihadist murderers and rapists.
RNC Research-tweet-5March2024-There’s gotta be a ceasefire because Ramadan
BIDEN: “There’s gotta be a ceasefire because Ramadan — if we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem, then you got — it could be very, very dangerous.”
Caroline Glick-tweet-6March2024-Biden is throwing the Jewish state under the bus
Shelley G-tweet-15March2024-US Stalling Munitions Shipments
🚨US Stalling Munitions Shipments as Full Blown Conflict with Hezbollah, Rafah Offensive Looms🚨
Israeli officials say the US has stalled aid, which U.S. officials deny, as evidence the relationship between the two allies is growing increasingly strained.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/senior-israeli-official-us-slow-walking-aid-us-disputes/story?id=108107192
Shelley G-tweet-15March2024-US Stalling Munitions Shipments
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The US and the UK cannot be trusted.
By Ted Belman 5November2023 https://www.israpundit.org/the-us-and-the-uk-cannot-be-trusted/
Israel owes its existence, not to Britain nor the US, but to Stalin.
Alex Markovsky wrote in For Israel, Failures Never Learned and Lessons for Today
This support was short-lived but enough to get Israel through the War for Independence.
Neither the British Foreign Office nor the US State Department expected Israel to be victorious. Britain for its part, prevented Jewish immigration after WWII and did its utmost to confiscate all guns in the possession of the Irgun and other resistance groups and turned over all such weapons and her police stations to the Arabs when she departed. The US did its part by placing an arms embargo on Israel which was instituted before the war and lasted til the ‘67 War. Both expected Israel to lose and saw their interests as aligning with the Arabs and their oil.
In The 100 Year Betrayal of Israel by the West, I listed most of the betrayals, by Britain and the US, of which there were many, but did not go into their motivations.
The primary reason Britain published the Balfour Declaration was to influence American Jews to get the US to enter the war and Soviet Jews to keep Russia in the war.
After the end of WWI, Britain recalibrated her interests and came down decidedly on the sides of the Arabs as the above article attests.
Britain created the Mandate system in order to maintain her influence in the Middle East without being considered as a colonizer which was going out of style. In her role as Trustee under the Mandate she violated her duty to the Jews, the beneficiary, in every way possible. It is for this reason that Jewish resistance did its utmost after WWII to end the Mandate.
In The West should make amends to the Jewish people for this historical injustice. I highlighted how Britain put pre-state Israel at a disadvantage by actively preventing Jewish immigration.
This article highlights the fact that after WWII, Britain embraced ethnic homogenization in redrawing Europe’s borders and partitioning India as the path to peace. Der Spiegel reported;
But she did the opposite in Palestine.
Even the UNGA Res 181, passed in 1947, called the Partition Plan, was in violation of the Mandate which designated all the land for the Jewish homeland.
Though Britain ended the Mandate by leaving, she was hoping to return. Geoffrey Clarfield, explained, in a CIJR webinar, about the British Plan to Conquer the Jewish State in the 1950’s.
In The Failed British Double-Cross of Israel, Edward N. Luttwak expanded on this.
Operation-Cordage
U.S.-U.K. Plan Alpha
This document is dated Aug 2, 1955. The full documents are available on TABLET.
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Biden, Democrats Turning from Israel’s Allies to Adversaries
By David Israel – 6 Kislev 5784 – November 19, 2023 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/biden-democrats-turning-from-israels-allies-to-adversaries/2023/11/19/
Politico reported on Saturday that “Democrats’ unequivocal support for Israel’s military has been eroding in recent weeks,” beyond the familiar anti-Israeli position of the progressives in the House. Citing one Democratic Senator and one Congress Member, Politico revealed that “Democrats in the House and Senate are discussing how to create conditions for future military aid to Israel.”
Politico reported in a separate story (Biden orders top aides to prepare reprimands for violent Israeli settlers in West Bank) that “President Joe Biden directed top officials to prepare visa bans and sanctions for extremist Israeli settlers attacking and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank.”
The Cabinet memo circulated on Friday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday, ordered them “to develop policy options for expeditious action against those responsible for the conduct of violence in the West Bank.”
Shortly after the Hamas attack, the Israeli government imposed a closure on the Palestinian Authority and barred entry for its residents, which included more than 100,000 Arab day workers. The decision also affected tens of thousands of PA Arabs with US citizenship. There’s no telling how many of them are Hamas sympathizers, nor does anyone in Israel have the time and resources to find out. It’s war, and you don’t take chances.
For that, Biden wants Israel to be punished.
According to Politico (Democrats in Senate, House discuss conditioning military aid to Israel), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a lunch on Wednesday for Senate Democrats where Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland, shared with them his take on the war in Gaza. Tom Friedman and Dennis Ross were in the meeting as well.
BERNIE ON THE WARPATH
On Sunday morning, Sanders tweeted: “The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the US unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions.”
Sanders released a memo titled, “Sanders Calls for Conditioning Aid to Israel Amidst the Growing Crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.” He acknowledged that “Hamas has made clear, before and after October 7, that its goal is to destroy Israel. Under those circumstances, Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself.”
And then launched into the following tirade:
“While Israel has the right to go after Hamas, Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government does not have the right to wage almost total warfare against the Palestinian people. That is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law. Displacing 1.6 million people from their homes, cutting off food, water, medical supplies, and fuel, and killing some 12,000 Palestinians – nearly half of whom are children – is in violation of every code of human decency. It must stop.”
The good Senator did not offer a solution to how exactly should Israel go after Hamas while not harming civilians in Gaza when Hamas surrounds itself with civilian human shields. He doesn’t offer a solution because he couldn’t care less.
In the past, we tended to belittle the influence Senator Sanders had on the more grownup Democrats who stood firmly in Israel’s corner, except, of course, when it came to the Iranian atomic program and the 2-state solution. But these days, the Sanders virus is spreading.
$14.3 HERE, $14.3 THERE ADDS UP TO SERIOUS MONEY
The Republican Jewish Coalition last week released this statement: “Democrat Senators – including Jacky Rosen (NV), Bob Casey (PA), Jon Tester (MT), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Sherrod Brown (OH) – denied Israel the support it desperately needs at this perilous time. The Jewish community and pro-Israel supporters across the country expect moral clarity and righteous leadership from their elected officials – today, Senate Democrats failed.”
Clarification: the Democrats in the Senate blocked a rather haphazard move of House Speaker Mike Johnson to take $14.3 out of the IRS budget and award it to Israel. The calculated cost of this move was around $28 billion in uncollected IRS debt. It wasn’t a good bill, it was mostly for show, and it was dead on arrival. But the swift readiness of the Democrats to kill it, instead of negotiating an alternative extra-budgetary support to Israel, is telling.
HELPING HAMAS REEMERGE FROM HELL
The Sanders memo continued: “The US provides $3.8 billion a year in aid to Israel and the Biden administration wants $14.3 billion more (it doesn’t – DI). The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the US unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions.”
Sanders repeats at every opportunity his wish that the Netanyahu government be toppled. One can only hope that the Biden government comes down first.
In any event, here are Sanders’s conditions, and, remember, this time around these anti-Israel ideas are shared by a growing number of Democrats in both houses:
I don’t envy Bibi Netanyahu this week (or any other week). He is facing a well-financed, well-organized “free the hostages at any cost” movement at home aimed at jeopardizing the war on evil; and another unyielding coalition of Democrats, starting with President Biden and going who knows how deep into the ranks of Democrats on the Hill, also aimed at jeopardizing the war on evil.
Please, God, don’t let evil win.
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Biden Regime Refuses Israeli Request for Vital Apache Attack Helicopters
By Pamela Geller – on 26December2023 https://gellerreport.com/2023/12/biden-regime-refuses-israeli-request-for-vital-apache-attack-helicopters.html/
Israel is on the front lines of the global jihad. She is the thin blue line that keeps jihadi terror at bay against the West. Look at how Islamic terror proxies are turning major cities in the West (USA and Europe) into war zones. Denying Israel cripples the West’s war in defense of freedom and Western civilization. This will come back to bite us – in spades.
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The results-Fatah
hanan_green-tweet-20November2023-Regavim’s new map
חשיפה: המפה החדשה של רגבים מפחידה אפילו למי שיודע ומכיר את תופעת הבתים הבלתי חוקיים שבונים הפלסטינים ביו”ש.
ראיתם איך המחבלים חצו את הגדר בעוטף עזה ויצאו לטבוח בנו? כך התוכנית המסוכנת שביצעה הרשות הפלסטינית על השולחן ובגאווה, תוך התעלמות בוטה של ממשלות ישראל, מסכנת את מדינת ישראל.
הבוקר בישראל היום
Translated from Hebrew by
Disclosure: Regavim’s new map is scary even for those who know and are familiar with the phenomenon of the illegal houses that the Palestinians are building in the West Bank.
Did you see how the terrorists crossed the fence in the Gaza Strip and went out to slaughter us? Thus the dangerous plan carried out by the Palestinian Authority on the table and with pride, while blatantly ignoring the governments of Israel, endangers the State of Israel.
This morning in Israel today
hanan_green-tweet-20November2023-Regavim’s new map
wraps Israel 2023-עוטף ישראל 2023
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The result-Hamas controls Judea and Samaria!
Israel-tweet-25November2023-Hamas executed Palestinians in West Bank
Last night, Hamas terrorists executed two Palestinians in the West Bank on suspicion of cooperating with Israel.
They hung their bodies on an electric pole and a Palestinian mob abused the bodies, filmed themselves and then uploaded the footage to social media.
Barbaric.
Israel-tweet-25November2023-Hamas executed Palestinians in (West Bank) Judea and Samaria
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Terror Tunnels in Jerusalem
yedidya_epstien-tweet-4March2024-Terror Tunnels in Jerusalem
שוב נרדמים במשמרת?
תחת הכותרת: “מנהרות בירושלים לאן הן מובילות” עיתונאי ממזרח ירושלים
תיעד את עצמו נכנס למנהרות הנראות חפורות בתוך בית במזרח ירושלים.
פניתי למשטרה לקבל תגובה לבנתיים לא הגיבו.
Falling asleep on shift again?
Under the title: “Tunnels in Jerusalem where do they lead” a journalist from East Jerusalem documented himself entering tunnels that appear to have been dug inside a house in East Jerusalem.
I contacted the police to get a response, but so far they have not responded.
yedidya_epstien-tweet-4March2024-Terror Tunnels in Jerusalem
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Hamas is the UN
Matthew Foldi-tweet-25November2023-Hamas is the UN
Hamas terrorist ID next to his UN ID badge
American taxpayers fund this
Matthew Foldi-tweet-25November2023-Hamas is the UN
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Hamas Rejects Major Ceasefire Offer Until Israel Withdraws From Gaza
by Tyler Durden, 23January2024 – https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hamas-rejects-major-ceasefire-offer-until-israel-withdraws-gaza
There are widespread reports emerging Tuesday that Hamas has rejected the major Israeli offer of a 2-month pause in fighting, which is being widely called the most significant and far-reaching ceasefire plan since the Gaza war began. The jihadist militant group is reportedly demanding that all Israeli forces first withdraw from Gaza for the plan to be possible.
However, Israeli media has also said that talks may still be underway despite the early reporting that Hamas has rebuffed the plan. The Jerusalem Post cautions, “Senior Israeli officials on Tuesday told Israeli media that the Qatari and Egyptian mediators have not notified them of Hamas’s rejection of the two-month cease-fire deal proposed by the Israeli government.”
The proposed deal includes multiple phases at the end of which all remaining hostages held in Gaza would be released. There’s believed to still be over 130 captives.
We previously detailed some aspects of the plan, but it has since emerged through Egyptian negotiators speaking to the Associated Press that along with returning Palestinian prisoners in exchange, Hamas leaders in the Strip would be given safe passage to relocate to other countries.
According to Tuesday reports, “But Hamas rejected the proposal, insisting that no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws its forces from Gaza entirely,” an unnamed official said.
Neither side has publicly commented as of Tuesday morning, but fighting has continued raging particularly in and around the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
John Kirby last week: “We don’t believe a ceasefire is gonna benefit anybody but Hamas”…
[EDD:…]
Israeli officials on Monday were cited as saying their outlook remains “cautiously optimistic.” Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk is in Egypt working with Qatar and other parties on hammering out the deal. According to more of the details via Axios:
The Israelis have yet to promise that will halt all military actions, but targeting would likely become more focused and smaller in scale. In the November deal, which included a successful ceasefire that held for a week, hundreds of Palestinians were freed from Israeli prisons.
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We are winning, despite the media failing us once again
It is the tiny disconnected far left elites in the media, universities, and Jewish-progressive foundations who have tremendous influence on IDF senior officials and career government staff, many of them retired failures, and want us to repeat their terrible mistakes. Op-ed.
Avi Abelow / 16January2024 / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/383661
Senior leadership of IDF and Shabak are now “advising” the government to allow Arab Muslim workers from Judea and Samaria to work in Jewish communities throughout Israel again as well as advising the government to strengthen the Palestinian Authority.
Many Israelis are in shock, because that was the exact “expert” advice they gave about allowing Gaza workers to work in Israel and giving Hamas money, to help them out economically and prevent terror. In the end, the massacre on Oct. 7th proved that theory tragically wrong. In the end, Gazan workers acted as spies, took part in the massacre, and celebrated with the whole Gazan population as the massacre was taking place. Israelis are in shock that the defense establishment is still stuck with the flawed strategic thinking of Oct. 6th!
If you ask me, every single one of the persons holding senior IDF and intelligence positions should have been fired on Oct. 8th for dereliction of duty. Yet, they are still in their positions pushing the same failed strategy as before the Oct. 7th massacre.
Now, I want to dig a little deeper, so please follow this timeline of events…
First the defense and media establishment claimed that withholding money from Hamas would lead to terror.
After Oct 7th the media establishment then blamed Netanyahu’s giving money to Hamas for what led to the horrific massacre.
Today the defense and media establishment claim that withholding money from the Palestinian Authority will lead to terror. (By the way, the only one standing and blocking this like a wall, stopping all payments to the Palestinian Authority, is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich).
Do you think the defense and media establishment have learned their lesson?
Wait, that’s not all…
Here is another example…
The defense and media establishment pushed for Netanyahu to release 1,000+ terrorists so that Hamas would release Gilad Shalit, because Netanyahu was against it. He then agreed to it, after the tremendous media campaign, marches and protests, with the support of defense “experts” in the security establishment. Sinwar was one of those releassed.
After the Oct. 7th massacre, led by many of those terrorists released in the Shalit deal, the media establishment shamed Netanyahu for releasing the terrorists in the Shalit deal.
Today, the same retired elites of the defense establishment and media establishment are pushing for Netanyahu to stop the war and release as many terrorists as necessary for Hamas to free the captives.
You think our defense “experts” and media establishment have learnt anything?
Why stop there!!!
In 1993, the defense and media establishment supported recognizing the biggest Jew-hating arch-terrorist, Yassar Arafat, as a “peace” partner, pushing us to give away our land and give his army of terrorists guns!
Half the country, the right-wing of course, protested in the streets screaming that it would bring terror upon Israel, which it did. The defense and media establishment called us “enemies of peace” and delegitimized our communities and voices.
In 2005, this same defense and media establishment then supported the disastrous Gaza “disengagement”, which meant destroying 21 thriving Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and expelling close to 10,000 Jews from their homes.
Half the country, the right-wing of course, protested in the streets screaming that it would bring even more terror upon Israel, including rockets on Ashkelon and massacred in Israeli communities, which it did. The defense and media establishment once again called us “enemies of peace” and delegitimized our communities and voices.
Today, the retired defense “experts” and media establishment are now blaming Netanyahu and the right-wing for the Oct. 7th massacre, calling to end the war and to bring down this government in the middle of the war in order to have new elections.
You think our defense “experts” and media establishment have learnt anything? The answer is a resounding No.
They are the most untrustworthy voices in the Jewish state of Israel for decades, demoralizing the nation and 100% responsible for creating the public pressure that led to the disastrous diplomatic and defense catastrophic decisions that paved the way for Hamas to commit the Oct. 7th massacre and take our people captive!
Ultimately, the IDF military and intelligence leaders are supposed to provide the advice, and leadership, to win wars and protect civilians from any harm, and they have consistently failed at this due to a misreading of reality, thinking that their duty is to “manage a conflict”, and manage an enemy population, instead of defeating a murderous enemy.
But, do not despair, there is an undercurrent of optimism in our reality today.
More than ever before in modern history, the Jewish people, especially in Israel, are very much united. It is only the tiny disconnected elites of the far left, who run the media, the universities, the major Jewish-progressive foundations that have tremendous influence on IDF senior and has-been (and more often than not, failed) retired officials, and career government staff, who have been leading the Jewish people to destruction for the past few decades.
And those days are coming to an end.
IDF soldiers pray / פלאש 90
Thankfully, the Jewish people in Israel are more united than ever, more Jewishly identified as a collective than ever before, and, as a whole, seeing the truth about our reality more than ever before, despite the demoralizing establishment media who have begun saying that we have lost the war and should give up, with all signs pointing to the contrary.
And the good news is, that this time, we will win! We will beat our external enemies and we will beat the tiny minority of our leftist elites as well. It might seem impossible and daunting, but it is happening. That is why they are so scared and calling for new elections in the middle of a war, despite the fact that a majority of the Israeli public supports ending this war with a clear victory that allows Israel to remain in full control of the Gaza strip.
This is making the defense and media establishment go crazy. A good sign that we are winning!
All one has to do is see the spiritual revolution going on around us today in Israel, on so many levels. It is that spiritual revolution that is our true salvation, and it is unbelievable!
It is all up to us together with the one above. Do not forget it – we are winning!!!
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
Avi Abelow is the host of the Pulse of Israel daily video/podcast (PulseofIsrael.com) and the CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation. After working as a change management consultant for Accenture in NYC and opening up their Israel office in Tel Aviv, Avi then produced the acclaimed movie “Home Game” about Gush Katif. Due to the success of “Home Game” worldwide, Avi made a career change to dedicate his time to using media, videos and social media to promote the politically incorrect truth about Israel, the Jewish people and the freedom-loving world. Today, Avi also is the Director of 12Tribe Films which manages IsraelUnwired.com.
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We can’t become addicted to America – opinion
Every American aircraft carrier that approaches our region exacerbates that concern, as, despite all the talk of shared values, not all of our interests align with those of our friend across the sea.
By YEHUDIT KATSOVER, NADIA MATAR 14NOVEMBER2023 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-773092
Our great friend, the United States, is worrisome, and to the extent that these days, the manifestations of its friendship in the military realm are deepening, that worry is gradually intensifying.
Every American aircraft carrier that approaches our region exacerbates that concern, as, despite all the talk of shared values, not all of our interests align with those of our great friend across the sea.
In that reality, the more the military power from the United States in our region increases, the more Israel’s ability to stand on its principles and safeguard its security and diplomatic interests, decreases.
A blatant example of this is the pressure currently being exerted on the Israeli government, even before the battle in the South has ended, to position the Palestinian Authority, in one form or another, as the alternative government to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The ostensible legitimacy for an American demand of that kind in the Gaza Strip is liable to get stronger when a similar demand is made regarding Judea and Samaria. We will, once again, find ourselves under immense American pressure to establish a Palestinian state in the heartland of the country and the South. We will be pressured to relinquish territories of our homeland, and once again, it will be ingrained in the consciousness of the Arab world that, ultimately, Israel was defeated.
Strategic depth is our most crucial interest
The dangerous idea of partitioning the land and establishing a terrorist state in its heart was a concept that appeared to have been removed from the negotiating table. Sadly, however, it is being reincarnated, and the search has already been renewed for the latest “moderate” Palestinian, with or without a tie, and with or without a prison uniform. As a result, names from the blood-soaked terrorist past, among them, Mohammed Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti, are resurfacing as partners suitable for leadership in the post-Sinwar era.
Is it reasonable that, for the sake of this absurd idea, our sons and daughters are fighting and sacrificing their lives in heroic battles in the Gaza Strip?
The most crucial interest that Israel must maintain for the security of its citizens is strategic depth. This is the only way to create a realizable and sustainable defense. Without it, Judea and Samaria will be like Gaza but even worse, threatening Kfar Saba, Herzliya, Netanya, and Azrieli with the same atrocities we experienced in Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.
Alongside the appreciation for the support that it provides us, we must remember that wherever the United States sought to impose its political will, it failed. This was the case in Egypt, Libya, Iran, and Afghanistan. We do not have an extra state in which to conduct another experiment of that kind. Israel will not be the next.
The true American interest is a strong Israel. A strong Israel constitutes a secure democratic axis, and its weakening will not help the Americans in their struggle against the Sunni and Russian efforts to supplant them from the Middle East.
Weakening Israel would be immediately translated by our neighbors, who are also allies of the United States, as American betrayal in times of trouble, resulting in their turning to other allies.
During the first 10 months of the current Netanyahu government, the American administration did everything it could to weaken Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was boycotted: Talks were held with the heads of the Israeli opposition and Israeli President Isaac Herzog was turned into a bypass axis to Netanyahu, among other things. This, in turn, weakened Israel and its regional standing, essentially leading to the October 7 massacre.
It is undeniable that Israel needs the United States in the diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and security arenas, but all of these are not enough to cause it to capitulate to every demand that comes from Washington. The United States would prefer to see a strong and resolute ally, one that stands up for its interests, even against the White House.
Just as in the past, the leaders of Israel knew how to stand up to American presidents on critical issues, like sovereignty in the Golan Heights and east Jerusalem, the bombing of the Iraqi reactor, and even the establishment of the State of Israel, so too, the leaders of Israel need to stand up to the Biden administration. They must make it clear that Gaza will be under exclusive Israeli control, there will be Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and the entire territory until the Litani River will be clear of Hezbollah terrorists. Only steadfastness of that kind will safeguard our security and preserve our regional standing.
The writers are co-chairs of the Sovereignty Movement.
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shuvubanim-international-logo https://ravberland.com
“The Whole World Regrets that Hitler Didn’t Finish Off the Jews” – R’ Eliezer Berland Shlit”a
By David Simcha 21November2023 https://ravberland.com/the-whole-world-regrets-that-hitler-didnt-finish-off-the-jews-r-eliezer-berland-shlita/
Why was Shimshon turned over to the Philistines?
Why did Shimshon kill every day a thousand Philistines in Gaza?
How did the Philistines attack Israel and in their audacity call Shimshon a savage (Pere Adam) when he fought back?
What miracle occurred for Shimshon?
The holy of words of Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland shlit”a:
Shimshon HaGibor was the greatest hero. He would go to Gaza every day; he would kill a thousand of their soldiers, a thousand Hamas-niks. It was impossible to harm him, so they decided to have him handed over. They brought 3,000 soldiers [of Israel] to hand him over. They said to Shimshon, “You know that we are under the Philistines. Today Hamas rules here! Who rules here? Hamas!”
Today the Philistines rule over us; the Philistines today are Hamas!
They asked Shimshon: Why do you do this, every day killing a thousand of their men?
Shimshon answered: They took my wife – what can I do?
Freedom of expression – today in England they are holding protests in support of Hamas [saying]: Hamas are right, killing Jews is totally legitimate. Since Hitler, the law still has not been repealed [that killing Jews is legitimate]. Hitler said that to kill a Jew is the greatest mitzvah. Mainly this is in England, where they remain with the laws of the past. They are conservative; they don’t change laws. So we see that they are siding with Hamas, screaming, “Death to the Jews,” and the British government supports it; they are in favor of it.
They ask them why, what’s the meaning of this?
[The English answer:] This is the law from seventy years ago.
The same thing with Shimshon. They asked him: Why do kill them? This is against international law. What are you doing to them? They are poor people, oppressed. What do you want from them?
Okay, so three thousand came to capture Shimshon. Shimshon said to them: Don’t do anything to me. Just don’t touch me. I’ll hand myself over alone. Swear to me. I want you to swear to me an oath, lest you harm me.
And they said to him: No, we have come to arrest you. “[They said to him, ‘No, rather we will only arrest you and give you over into their hand; but we will surely not put you to death.’ So they bound him with two new ropes] and brought him up from the rock” [Shoftim 15:13). They put him on the top of the rock, three hundred meters high.
The Philistines are blowing shofars, trumpets, “We won, we won. We have caught the savior of Israel, the greatest strongman. What bandits these Jews are. All of them are bandits, a people of murderers.” Hitler said: I’m not willing to live together with them. It’s impossible. They just murder day and night. We Germans are refined, [saying politely] “Bitte schon, Danke schon (you’re welcome, thank you very much)” all day. They [the Germans] don’t come close to a person, never touch a person, only caress everyone.
They said, “Those Jews, those murderers, this will be their end.” In the end, Germany fell; the poor thing, it fell. Then they said, “Who made us fall? The Jews!”
Those Jews who remained [are guilty]? – how many Jews remained already? 10,000 Jews?
Yes, they brought the Americans, brought the Russians, brought the English, brought the French. We lost because of the Jews, because we left a few Jews alive.
Hitler said if a single Jew remains, a single baby, we’re lost. There are no stubborn and murderous [people] like the Jews. The whole world believes in this until this day. Now there were attacks on Jews in the airport at Dagestan. Some thousand Muslims attacked an airplane.[1]
So Shimshon found a fresh jawbone of a donkey – [“He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and stretched out his hand and took it.] He struck down [a thousand people] with it” (ibid. 15). “Wow, Master of the Universe, what a savage! Wow, how did we come across such a savage!”
“Shimshon then said, ‘With the jawbone of a donkey, heap upon heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!’” – every blow, a thousand men. “When he finished speaking” – suddenly he faints from thirst. He hasn’t drunk already for three days. “And he cast the jawbone from his hand and he called that place Ramat-Lechi.” There is a Ramat-Lechi in Beit Shemesh. There is Ramat-Lechi; all of this is in the same area.
“He was very thirsty and called to Hashem, saying, ‘You have given into the hand of Your servant this great salvation, and now would I die from thirst?’” Will this be my end after I struck down a thousand men?
Then the tooth [in the jawbone] split open and a spring came out of there, from the hole that was in the tooth, from the “hollow,” which is the hole. “And God split open the hollow that was in the jawbone, and water came forth from it” — some flowing water, “and he drank” – cold water, cold like ice, “and his spirit was returned to him and he was revived.”
“Therefore, that place is called En-Hakkorei [Spring of the Caller],” and there Shimshon called to Hashem, and Hashem created for him a new spring, the spring of the jawbone.
“And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years” – twenty and another twenty is forty. For another twenty years, they had fear of Shimshon.
====
[1] In late October this year, a horde of Muslims stormed a hotel and airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan, a Muslim area in Russian, in search of Jews, upon hearing that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city.
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“THEY MUST GO”
6 Kislev 5784 19November2023 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2023/11/they-must-go.html
The news of note today is this very open and accelerating mini-war the United States is intent on waging against private Israeli citizens. Since the beginning of Oslo (1993), well, not the beginning of the plan, but the beginning of its implementation, the United States has been monitoring and micromanaging what I call a “mini-war” against “Jewish” terrorism in Eretz Yisrael. Since no such thing exists, the CIA and the Shin Bet had to manufacture it.
The first Jewish “terrorist” to be taken out (1990) was the head of that most dangerous of terror organizations called Kach, Rabbi Meir Kahane’s political party in Israel. I’ll concede they might have had a point here. Rabbi Kahane, a courageous and faith-filled scholar-warrior like King David who was having great success inculcating true Jewish values into a new generation, not only inspired terror in the hearts of the murderous Arab enemy, but the enemy ensconced in Washington, D.C., too.
A few years later, intent on shoving the Oslo debacle down the throat of our nation, a set-up of Dr. Baruch Goldstein (1994), who was lured into and then locked inside a room with murderous Arabs armed with axes, was used to create the myth of Jewish “terrorism.” In an impossible effort to save his own life, he managed to kill over a score of Arabs who, only days before had been chanting “Death to the Jews.” A doctor who was known for his humanitarianism as a physician was literally demonized, much the same as Rabbi Kahane before him and like Yigal Amir after him.
The assassination of Yitzchak Rabin (1995) was perhaps the most daring attempt to silence any opposition to capitulation to the American overlord. It was another set-up to smear the religious-settler public. Then seeing that the son, Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane, was following in his father’s footsteps (Kahane Chai), they took him out along with his wife, and then followed Yehuda Ben Yosef (2003).
How many others since then, I’ve lost track, but I know 15-year-old “Hilltop Youth” Ahuvia Sandak was one of the more recent ones. The entire group of them are at mortal risk. Basically, anyone the US State Department and/or the CIA with the cooperation of the evil Erev Rav regime deems a threat to the full implementation of their wicked plans against Israel (which is nothing less than a war on God), will be eliminated. Sometimes it’s an “accident” or “friendly fire,” but mostly they use Arabs or set it up like it’s an attack by Arabs. They call it the “Cycle of Violence.”
Thanks to the retention of the British Mandate practice of Administrative Detention, Jewish citizens of the Democratic State Repressive Regime of Israel, can be arrested without charge, without the advice or representation of an attorney, without trial and for an unspecified period of time. This has proved to be a very useful weapon in their arsenal against “the Settlers, the Hilltop Youth, the Jewish extremists, the Jewish terrorists” – well, let’s just call it like it is – ALL 500,000 of the Jewish residents of Yehudah v’Shomron!!!
And now, thanks to Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and the Rabbis of the Shomron who have done nothing to bring him to justice for his crime of establishing a base of avodah zarah inside the Jewish settlement enterprise there, that Christian Base of Operations (HAYOVEL) has now been publicly outed as a nest of spies visited regularly by high Washington officials and “connected” directly to the United States State Department.
This revelation comes at the very moment that Washington’s War on the Settlers has come out forcefully into the open.
Well, you get the idea. Just google “settler violence” and you get pages and pages like this. The campaign is really ramping up now.
So, yeah, here we are again, right back to the same issue. Any Jew whom they perceive as standing between them and their “Peace” (read Piece) goals is an enemy to be annihilated. When will we ever learn to view them the same way? Because this is the truth: every Torah-loving, Torah-abiding Jew is a threat to them, as they are to us! They are ultimately at war with God! If we want to live in real peace in our land, THE AMERICANS (along with the murderous Arabs),…
“THEY MUST GO!!!”
Rabbi Meir Kahane – They must go
US out
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Pop quiz!
Hillel Fuld-tweet-5November2023-
Pop quiz!
What do the following years have in common?
1937, 1947, 1967, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2020.
A: The years Israel accepted a peace treaty with its neighbors and offered concessions, painful concessions for peace.
B: The years the Arabs rejected a peace treaty with Israel because they don’t want peace with Israel. They want no Israel.
C: All of the above.
“But… but… They want peace! They want a state. They want freedom. They want independence.”
No problem, just don’t let the objective historical facts confuse you.
Hillel Fuld-tweet-5November2023-Pop quiz
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The Monaco Solution-Hamas and the PA have no place in Post-War Gaza
The Monaco solution is a practical model for those interested in genuine peace that is sustainable. It provides for self-government, independence and sovereignty, as well as, security for all parties concerned.
Leonard Grunstein
26January2024, https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384205
The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the ‘West Bank’ and the Gaza Strip, signed in Washington, D.C., on September 28, 1995 (known as Oslo II), formally ended even the pretense of the so-called ‘occupation’.
Lest there be any misunderstanding, the Palestinian Authority (PA) admitted this inconvenient fact in UN documents such as the recent 2023 UNESCO World Heritage Site designation relating to Jericho and in connection with UN aid regarding its property tax system in 2010. They describe the period from 1967-1994 (!) as the so-called “occupation period”. Indeed, the property tax documents expressly notes “After the occupied Palestinian territory was transferred to the sovereignty of the National Authority [PA], direct taxes and local taxes fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.”
Oslo II provides for self-government in the areas assigned to the PA and critical and essential security arrangements. This included Gaza, which was subsequently taken over by Hamas. Oslo II also includes extensive demilitarization requirements. Thus, while Oslo II provides for the PA to have a police force, other armed forces were not permitted.
Article XIV expressly provides:
“…no organization, group or individual in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shall manufacture, sell, acquire, possess, import or otherwise introduce into the West Bank or the Gaza Strip any firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, gunpowder or any related equipment.”
Article XV requires the parties to:
“take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other’s authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders.”
Had the PA and Hamas honored this milestone Agreement in good faith and kept the peace as intended, then what is commonly referred to as a two-state solution would have been implemented long ago.
Consider, for example, a similar model peace and security agreement involving France and Monaco, which has worked in practice for more than a century. Under the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1918, which was formally noted in the Treaty of Versailles, Monaco was recognized as a sovereign and independent state. However, it was France that was responsible for the defense of Monaco. France patrols the sea adjacent to and airspace above Monaco. The only security forces within Monaco are the police force and the Prince’s Guard; Monaco otherwise has no armed forces.
The foreign relations of Monaco are the responsibility of a Minister of State, who is a French citizen appointed by the Prince from among several senior French civil servants proposed by the French government. The cordial relations between the two states were further deepened in 2017 with the signing of a general security agreement.
The Monaco solution is a practical model for those interested in genuine peace that is sustainable. It provides for self-government, independence and sovereignty, as well as, security for all parties concerned, especially against foreign threats.
Just imagine if Hamas landed on Monaco’s beaches, took over Monaco and committed an October 7th invasion of France, brutally murdering French citizens, carrying out horrible atrocities and kidnapping French women and children and abusing them. It would be absurd to believe France would hesitate to use overwhelming force to eradicate Hamas and attempt to save the hostages. Is there any doubt that France would be morally justified in doing so, as well as, duty bound under its Treaty with Monaco to come to its defense?
In essence, Oslo II established a similar structure for Gaza as the Monaco solution. However, unlike Monaco, Gaza under the PA and then Hamas was not genuinely interested in living side by side in peace with Israel.
The PA was in charge at the beginning and entered into the 2005 Disengagement Agreement noted below. Hamas took over in 2007 and it might fairly be viewed as a foreign oppressive regime. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and effectively an agent of the terrorist Iranian Regime. Even its leadership resides in Qatar, a foreign country. Other than wielding locals as pawns in a war against Israel, it has no interest in developing Gaza for the benefit of those living there.
Hamas’ raison d’être is seeking the elimination of Israel and the extermination of Jews, as a part of a grand scheme to conquer the west and eliminate Christians and other non-Muslims. As outlined below, its leaders view Gaza merely as a secure base of operations against Israel.
The PA is not much better. As Arafat stated, in his infamous speech in a Johannesburg Mosque, when he attended the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, on May 10, 1994, the Jihad (Islamic Holy War) would continue and Jerusalem was not for the Palestinian Arab people, it was for the entire Muslim nation the Ummah). He also declared that the original Oslo Agreement of 1993 was nothing more than a temporary truce and his goal was to take all of Israel, starting with Jerusalem. He even said he was in need of the Moslems in the mosque audience to join as warriors of Jihad.
Abbas, Arafat’s deputy and then successor, has a long history of paying lip service to peace in discussions with US interlocutors and then laughing it off when addressing another audience. Thus, for example, Abbas said in an interview with the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi that he would not give in to the American and Israeli demand to stop payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs, calling them “fighters” and underlining his obligation to them. At the July 23, 2018 Ramallah ceremony, which was to honor prisoners, Abbas conferred medals on the families of the “martyred prisoners” and on the released prisoners, and said:
“We will neither reduce nor prevent [payment] of allowances to the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners, as some seek, and if we had only a single penny left, we would pay it to families of the martyrs and prisoners.”
He went on to stress:
“From our standpoint, the martyrs and prisoners are stars in the firmament of the Palestinian people’s struggle, and take priority in every matter. In 1965, a few days after the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution, the first mission undertaken by the martyr late president Yasser Arafat was to establish an institution to care for the families of the martyrs and the mujahideen of Palestine – for they are the pioneers and must be cared for, and we will care for them.”
He also expressed his deep appreciation for the activity on the prisoners’ behalf, and noted that it “paves the way for the liberation of Palestine.”
Is it any wonder that even the State Department reportedly determined that the PA had “not taken proactive steps to counter incitement to violence against Israel” and the “incitement to violence and glorification of terrorism occur in public statements and social media posts by PA officials and politicians, in official media broadcasts and social media outlets, and in school textbooks”.
Abbas’ deputy chairman at the PLO brazenly admitted that the PA security forces fight alongside terrorists against Israel and that they are all one.
It is also important to note that the PA reportedly does not have complete control over the areas it governs. Armed groups form rival factions, including Hamas, PIJ and others rein free. They are responsible for terrorist attacks on Israel and lawlessness, including in Jenin and Nablus. How can Abbas be trusted to govern Gaza or prevent it from reverting back into a terrorist state again? Moreover, as noted above, Abbas glorifies terrorists and rewards them financially under the PA Pay to Slay program. He also continues to block general elections for the PA, arrests and intimidates his political opponents, refuses to share power with others and muzzles freedom of expression.
We must also not forget the glaring failures of the past, which resulted from delusional fantasies that ignored facts like those summarized above. Remember that despite the fact that the PA utterly failed to honor Oslo II and even unleashed a new wave of terrorism directly contrary to the terms of the agreement, at the urging of the US, in a fool-hardy attempt to promote the ultimate goals of Oslo II notwithstanding PA willful defaults, a grand experiment was instituted. Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. For all intents and purposes peace should have been achieved then.
As the wise Charles Krauthammer, Z”L wrote, “…Israel evacuated Gaza completely. It declared the border between Israel and Gaza an international frontier. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory in history. Yet Gazans continued the war…Why? Because occupation was a mere excuse to persuade gullible and historically ignorant Westerners to support the Arab cause against Israel. The issue is, and has always been, Israel’s existence. That is what is at stake.”
However, predictably, the Gaza experiment turned out to be a catastrophic failure, as most recently evidenced by the October 7th Hamas invasion of Israel and the murderous massacre, unspeakable atrocities and horrible kidnappings it committed. Evil Hamas is an antisemitic, racist, misogynistic, ant-LGBTQ, tyrannical and oppressive regime. Ever since 2007, when it took over governing Gaza, it has been in a perpetual state of war with Israel. Hamas and its terrorist cohorts, backed by the Iranian Regime, have also succeeded in infiltrating areas controlled by the PA in Judea and Samaria.
Moreover, the PA also continues to flout its obligations under Oslo II. Indeed, instead of curtailing terrorist activity against Israel, it actually encourages and rewards it, under its notorious ‘Pay to Slay’ program. Neither Hamas nor the PA has reformed and each continues to maintain school systems that are virtual factories of Jew hatred. All this in spite of pledges to reform and funding conditioned on that reform.
Yet, regardless all these undeniable failures, there are still some in the Biden Administration who express a fanciful vision for a post-war Gaza that is nothing more than a re-heated version, with some possible window dressing, of Gaza pre-October 7th.
It’s well past time to wake up and recognize that no matter how well intentioned, the Gaza post-2005 experiment was a fiasco.
It is perilous to ignore this fact. Not only did it not lead to a lasting peace, but by the US and EU ignoring, excusing or condoning malign actions by Hamas and the PA and even continuing to reward the terrorist regimes, directly or indirectly, with funding despite their malevolent deeds, it can fairly be said that they too bear some responsibility for October 7th.
Undeterred by all of the foregoing, Secretary of State Blinken reportedly nevertheless took up the matter of post-war governance in Gaza with PA president Abbas, who expressed his desire to take over Gaza. The absurdity of this initiative is risible. After all, Gazans had rejected PA rule in 2007 and polls showing Hamas candidates would likely also beat Abbas and his Fatah party, if an election were held on Abbas’ home turf in the PA controlled areas. It would appear that Blinken previously did pay lip service to the issue when he noted, an
“effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” was needed to govern Gaza. Parenthetically, he just as well could have added for the PA controlled areas too.
However, did Blinken take up what was required in detail with Abbas?
-Indeed, did he tell Abbas that he must not make the Pay to Slay payments he promised to Hamas terrorists or their families or anyone else for that matter?
-Did he tell Abbas that he had to clean house and eliminate Hamas and PIJ operatives in the areas the PA controlled?
-Did he discuss what was required to reform the PA/UNWRA school system, including firing those teaching Jew hatred, eliminating antisemitic materials and revising the curriculum to acknowledge the existence and legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel and teach respect for Jews, Christians and those of other non-Muslim faiths?
-Did he demand that Abbas finally amend the PLO Charter to recognize Israel and do so under PA law?
-Did he demand the repeal of the Pay to Slay law, as well as, the law prohibiting land sales to Jews?
-Did he call out Abbas for his Temple denial and Holocaust denial?
-Did he insist that Abbas talk about all of this in a speech broadcast not only in English but also in Arabic to his people and lay out the vital need for these reforms and the steps that would be taken to implement them?
=Beyond talk alone, what are the tangible consequences for the PA’s misfeasance and malfeasance?
-When will aid payments to the PA be cut off until these essential reforms are achieved?
None of the reports of the meeting speak about any of this. It appears that there is no genuine belief that any of these necessary reforms can ever be achieved. Yet the virtue signaling and pious pronouncements continue without any appreciation that they not only serve no useful purpose; but, even embolden wrongdoers, because of the lack of any true accountability and tangible consequences for malign activities. Delusions are what enabled the Gazan terrorist state to be created in the first place and after its catastrophic failure why risk repeating the same fatal mistake.
In reality there is no substantive difference between Hamas and the PA led by Abbas.
Neither has accepted the existence of Israel and the PA hasn’t tangibly demonstrated its abhorrence of Hamas’ atrocities. Indeed, Abbas has actually committed to paying the Hamas terrorists, who perpetrated the atrocities, ‘Pay to Slay’ rewards of millions of dollars.
It’s also reported that Abbas’ party Fatah bragged about its own participation in the atrocities. Murderous terrorists who attacked Israel on October 7th had PA pay-slips in their pockets.
The streets of PA controlled areas witnessed rallies in support of Hamas, glorifying their despicable misdeeds. The muted condemnation by Abbas of Hamas’ outrages on October 7th are reportedly only spoken in private and not publically and are qualified by falsely referring to targeting of civilians by both sides, as opposed to just by Hamas.
Beyond that it is reported that one of the leaders of the PA, in talks with the US on a plan to run Gaza after the Hamas war has been insisting that the goal of fully defeating Hamas is unrealistic and that instead Hamas should join the PA under a new governing structure. PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reportedly revealed his preferred outcome of the Hamas war would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the broader PLO.
In Gaza, Hamas terrorists felt comfortable publicly parading their hostages and showing videos of their atrocities. The sadistic murderers were treated as heroes. Celebrations over the massacre also broke out in the PA controlled areas. The PA has not reined in terrorists operating from the PA controlled areas against Israel. In addition, Fatah calls for everyone with a weapon to join in committing terrorist attacks.
In a recent interview, Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, outright rejected the two-state solution.
He caustically noted how they keep pulling out the old merchandise of the two-state solution. He went on to say that there is a consensus among Palestinian Arabs that they were entitled to all of the existing land of Israel. He defined it as from the Jordan River to Mediterranean Sea and in the north from Rosh Hanikra to the south, Eilat and the Gulf of Aqaba.
He was very clear, no recognition of Israel, rather the elimination of Israel. He noted that this concept, embodied in the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’, is chanted in western capital cities by the Americans, western public and students.
Mashal said that October 7 has renewed this dream and hope and shown that it is a realistic idea, not merely a dream. He went on to discuss how Hamas coming to power was a necessity, in order to serve the people and to protect what he referred to as ‘the resistance’, meaning the goal of conquering all of Israel. It provided a political and administrative cover in all the Palestinian Arab institutions and gave the resistance a free hand to operate.
He noted that Hamas used its rule of Gaza to build up the resistance, including weapons, weapons production, planning, training and the tunnels, while its backs were safe. In this regard, he even took a swipe at the PA, noting Hamas operated without any security coordination with Israel as required under Oslo II and there was no PA in Gaza to persecute Hamas.
Both Israel and Egypt have made clear that neither wants to run Gaza. Indeed, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said Israel would not retain governance of Gaza after Hamas was eliminated. He offered, “The third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip…”
The only way to have an alternative to the repugnant Hamas and PA terror regimes is to organize one.
Responsible parties must be identified and supported to create a way out of this moral morass. They cannot resemble in any way the tyrannical, kleptocratic, antisemitic, anti-Christian and anti-American Hamas regime, which on October 7th, not only murdered and committed atrocities against Israelis, Americans and others, but also murders and oppresses its own people.
It begins with the Biden Administration stopping to circumvent the Taylor Force Act. By failing to cut off any support for Pay to Slay, the Administration is, in effect, financially rewarding the murder of over 30 Americans and kidnapping of others held hostage. We also must not forget that as recently as November 6, 2023, an Israeli-American policewoman in Jerusalem was murdered by a terrorist, as well as the other thousands of Israelis, Americans (like Taylor Force ob”m and Malki Roth z”l) and others who have been murdered or injured by terrorists originating from the PA controlled areas, over the years.
There is a reason why the Taylor Force Act was adopted and the lack of a serious enforcement effort under the Act is inexplicable. In a time when an unequivocal demonstration of moral clarity is critical, the failure to enforce the relevant and most cogent provisions of the Taylor Force Act is inexcusable.
The Biden Administration must also desist from interfering with Israel’s sacred mission of eradicating the evil that is Hamas and its cohorts, in Gaza and elsewhere. Israel is conducting a just war and doing so in compliance with the laws of war.
October 7th demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the status quo, delusions about a peace process and two-state solution and the Biden Administration’s appeasement policies are an abject failure.
There’s a reality that’s inescapable. Israel, America’s loyal and invaluable ally and friend, exists in a hostile environment made all the more dangerous by the current Administration’s pandering to the terrorist regime in Iran and its proxies, as well as the PA. Virtue signaling for domestic consumption and mixed messaging only serves to embolden the terrorists. It’s time to be clear and unequivocal not only in general support of Israel and its mission to eradicate evil Hamas, but also in detail so as to avoid any ambiguity or misunderstanding.
Hamas’ goal was not just to massacre 1,200 Israelis, Americans and others, but also to destroy Israel and massacre Jews. As noted above, the elimination of Israel is also the goal of Abbas’ PLO and by extension the PA. It’s also the stated goal of the axis of evil, led by terrorist Iranian regime, backing Hamas, as well as its other proxies, as demonstrated by the Houthis firing ballistic missiles against Israel and the rockets fired by Hezbollah. They also threaten America, which they derogatorily refer to as the ‘Big Satan’ (Israel’s referred to as the ‘Little Satan’), Christians and other non-Muslims.
Peace is possible with a former enemy that wants peace; it’s not possible with a current enemy that doesn’t desire it. So long as the PA doesn’t truly recognize Israel in word and deed, insists on retaining Hamas and actually supports Israel’s destruction, it cannot be a true peace partner.
The Biden Administration must recognize that there’s no chance for peace with the current PA regime or Hamas. A hybrid formulation or less than totally changed PA, under new leadership genuinely committed to pursuing and promoting peace with Israel is just a transparent artifice, a proverbial distinction without difference or merit. The US must accept that the PA is not the answer and move on and seek other real alternatives.
The major goal of this defensive war by Israel is to ensure that evil Hamas is totally defeated, free the hostages, assure there is no longer any threat of missiles or rockets being fired into Israel and enable the hundreds of thousands of Israelis evacuated from southern and northern Israel to be able to return safely to their homes. Gaza must be totally demilitarized and security protocols must be but in place that prevent rearming, rebuilding tunnels or the pursuit of any war or terrorism against Gaza’s neighbors, Egypt and Israel.
Until then there must not be any equivocation or ambiguity about the US’s support for Israel and its moral imperative to prosecute its defensive war against evil Hamas to conclusion and to achieve the legitimate war aims outlined above. May Israel succeed in its sacred mission and may the valiant solders of the IDF and the hostages be returned home safely.
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Bank Leumi blocks UNRWA bank account
UNRWA credit: Anas-Mohammed Shutterstock
4February2024 6 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-bank-leumi-blocks-unrwa-bank-account-1001469418#utm_source=RSS
Roi Weinberger
The Israeli bank has written to the UN Palestinian refugee agency saying it was seriously concerned that money from the account was reaching terrorist groups.
Bank Leumi (TASE:LUMI) has informed the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees that it has blocked its bank account, after it was revealed that 12 of its employees took part in the massacres by Hamas on October 7. Following the revelations the US, Germany, EU, UK and other countries halting their funding for UNRWA.
Bank Leumi said that it had identified unusual activity that has generated alerts in the compliance mechanisms of the bank’s risk management systems. Bank Leumi wrote to UNRWA explaining that recently, many money transfers have been identified in the account, in a way that does not allow the bank to trace their source and final destination. Leumi said it had demanded explanations from UNRWA representatives, but they had been unable to provide satisfactory explanations. Since such explanations have not been received, the Israeli bank said it had become seriously concerned that the money from UNRWA’s account was reaching terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA’s annual budget currently stands at $1.2 billion, which comes mainly from donations. As of this moment, regardless of Leumi’s decision, about 75% of UNRWA’s budgets have been suspended, following the decisions of donor countries that have already announced the halting of funding.
Bank Leumi declined to comment further.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 4, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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IRS urged to suspend nonprofit status of UNRWA American charitable arm
“It is no longer debatable; UNRWA is Hamas,” wrote the International Legal Forum and the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
David Swindle https://www.jns.org/irs-urged-to-suspend-nonprofit-status-of-unrwa-american-charitable-arm/
(February 1, 2024 / JNS) Daniel Werfel, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, received a joint letter calling for the suspension of the charity certification for a top funder of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA.
UNRWA USA is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides support for humanitarian work associated with the U.N. agency.
“It is no longer debatable; UNRWA is Hamas. Nor is it merely a ‘few rotten apples’ as some politicians and pundits have tried to suggest,” wrote the International Legal Forum and the National Jewish Advocacy Center. “The entire organization is a systematic incubator of hate, incitement and terror.”
Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, told JNS that the groups were “requesting in light of the recent evidence connecting UNRWA staff to the Oct 7 Hamas attacks and suspension of funds by a growing number of countries, including the U.S., that the exempt tax status of UNRWA USA be immediately suspended, pending an investigation, and then revoked.”
Ostrovsky told JNS, “At $3.8 million, UNRWA USA is the largest private donor to UNRWA in the United States.”
The letter stated that “providing support for an organization that incites and commits murderous violence while harboring members of U.S. designated terrorist groups that specialize in killing Jews and that call for Jewish genocide is obviously against both the law and public policy. UNRWA does all of those things, and UNRWA USA supports them.”
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The Karens, Criminals, Narcissistic Megalomaniac Nannycrats and Naughty Beasts want ‘Pandemic Amnesty’
No, There Will Not Be Any “Pandemic Amnesty”
BY TYLER DURDEN 03November2022 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-there-will-not-be-any-pandemic-amnesty
Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,
Nothing is Forgotten, Nothing Will Be Forgiven.
On the very first day of this year I wrote that the pandemic was over and that only the most brainwashed true believers would cling to the absurd narratives that enabled it. Since then, all of it has been exposed to be falsehoods, cluelessness and lies:
…and the final straws for the credibility of all involved:
Innumerable careers, reputations and lives have been destroyed in order to enforce a completely debunked narrative as truth. The mainstream media, Big Tech, governments at all levels, neo-liberal glee clubs like the WEF, all coordinated to gaslight the entire population of the world that we were facing existential annihilation, and would have to henceforth trade in our civil rights to these authorities to escape it.
The economic damage is only now beginning to be felt in runaway inflation with central banks powerless to contain it, at risk of destroying what’s left of the economy.
We don’t need to enumerate the litany of injustice, ridicule and persecution anybody who tried to counter these absurd narratives had to endure. Lost friends, family, jobs, position, businesses, cancelations, deplatformings – all of it.
So it is unsurprising, now that the edifice is crumbling, that those who piled on to the persecutions, those who feathered their nest being “on the right side of history”, seeing that it’s all turning to dust in realtime, are starting – one and all – to back away from their role.
Now the name of the game is to distance oneself from the most intense and virulent outbreaks of mass formation psychosis in recorded history:
Clifton Duncan-tweet-31October2022-You can fuck right off with this shit
There are many who were up to their eyeballs in this who will now try to frame themselves as “the voice of reason” who was trying to introduce some rationality into the conversation.
Mark Jeftovic, The C̶r̶y̶p̶t̶o̶ ₿itcoin Capitalist-tweet-10July2022-We’re into the truly nauseating phase now
Mark Jeftovic, The C̶r̶y̶p̶t̶o̶ ₿itcoin Capitalist-tweet-09February2022- every sociopathic zealot who wanted to literally wreck your life for non-compliance
Don’t believe them.
Nuremberg trials
“Sooner or Later Everyone Sits Down to a Banquet of Consequences”
If the globally botched pandemic response accomplished one thing, it was to open many people’s eyes to how obsolete and ill equipped our current institutions are for handling a global crisis in this new, decentralized, multi-polar world.
While these insular elites believed they had Divine Right to “re-imagine” every aspect of our lives for some grandiose Great Reset, it’s these sclerotic, self-serving institutions they inhabit who are going to get their asses re-imagined. With a vengeance.
Here’s what you can do to reclaim your life, and take your power back from those who abused it and used their positions against you:
Eva Vlaardingerbroek-tweet-01November2022-You can put that pandemic amnesty where the sun don’t shine
There will be no pandemic amnesty. More likely, by the time this is all over, there will be pandemic tribunals.
* * *
Mark E. Jeftovic is the CEO of easyDNS, co-founder of Bombthrower Media, author and investor. Sign up for The Bombthrower mailing list to get updates straight into your inbox and get a free copy of The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto while you’re at it. Follow me on Gettr, Telegram or Twitter.
JerusalemCats Comments: Take a page out of History. Hang the Basters!
Nuremberg trials hanging
These are people that want to be forgiven for a Nazi and Stalinist Holocaust of the World that listened to these Mad Men. Of stead of the industrial holocaust of the Nazi German Holocaust of the Death Camps of Europe the Mad Men just sent an untested “Vaccine” that they knew would kill. They lied and used Israelis as Lab Rats and the Israel “Ministry of Health” did their best to kill as many Religious Jews as possible as they did in the 1950 and 1960s with the X-Ray “treatments” of Sephardi Jewish Children..
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Watch: COVID Authoritarians Want Forgiveness – Here’s Why They Don’t Deserve It
by Tyler Durden, 31October2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/watch-covid-authoritarians-want-forgiveness-heres-why-they-dont-deserve-it<
Do authoritarians deserve a chance to be treated with grace and forgiveness? The question is circulating regularly these days in the wake of the complete failure of covid pandemic response and the victory of the anti-mandate movement. The answer relies on a series of counter-questions based on logic and predictable outcomes. It’s the kind of discussion that covid cultists don’t want to have; they just want everyone to forget because they now have something to lose politically
Scott Galloway, Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and member of the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders Of Tomorrow” list, is one of the cultists that now wants to be given a free pass as he debates the issue on Real Time with Bill Maher.
Eric Abbenante-tweet-28October2023- I wanted a harsher lockdown policy
The question that we need to ask Galloway is: How forgiving was he when confronted with people who opposed his authoritarianism? Galloway was rabidly pro-mandate. He consistently called for harsher punishments for people refusing to comply and he demanded that the unvaccinated be treated as second tier citizens banned from places of business. As he argued in his blog titled ‘Half Of America Has Its Head Up Its Ass. It’s Time For A Vaccine Mandate’:
“Enough already. Federal law should require any citizen who wants to cash a government check, use public transport, or enter a place of business to show proof of vaccination…”
Galloway cited the ever present inflated CDC data on covid deaths in America as the justification for his authoritarian position. Of course, data was available not long after the spread of covid indicating that the Infection Fatality Rate of the virus was a tiny 0.23% and that 99.8% of the population (including the unvaccinated) had nothing to fear. Not only that, but the CDC has recently and quietly published information showing that around 95% of people who died with covid also had one or more comorbidities and 75% had at least four – Meaning, if you did not have multiple comorbidities your chances of dying from covid were incredibly small.
Do Galloway and those like him deserve a clean slate? No, they don’t, and here’s why…
No Apologies
We hear many covid authoritarians talk about forgiveness but very few of them actually apologize for their behavior. Galloway calls for “grace”, perhaps trying to appeal to the Christian notion of “turning the other cheek.” He admits he was wrong on the mandates (because the data forces him to), but he doesn’t actually apologize for his behavior. In fact, he excuses his behavior and the behavior of leftist politicians as them doing the best they could do given the imperfect information they had at the time. This is a common tactic of misdirection.
Mandates-Love1_0
As noted above, within months of covid becoming active in the US, the data was already available showing that the virus was not a legitimate threat. So the claim that their information was “the best they had at the time” does not hold water. There was more than enough evidence to warrant opposition to unconstitutional policies (frankly, even if covid had been more deadly it doesn’t justify violations of the Bill of Rights). Millions of Americans tried to explain the truth to those panicking over covid, and they chose not to listen, calling us “selfish conspiracy theorists.”
But the greatest trespasses were among those analysts and “influencers” who used covid as an opportunity for political gain, knowing that there was information that debunked government and media spin. The worst people are those that have no intention of making amends because they plan to try again. People who do wrong and refuse to give a legitimate apology are the kinds of people that are likely to commit similar offenses in the future.
Mad With Power
The covidians were primarily from the left side of the political spectrum and wherever leftists were most concentrated is where the most egregious violations of liberty took place. The political left went absolutely mad with power, with a large number of Democrats supporting Orwellian controls to punish people refusing to submit to the mandates.
Dems-Covid-1
There were calls to fine the unvaccinated, imprison people who question the vaccine, put the vaccinated on home lockdown and even take away their children. In some states, like New York, there was active legislation put forward to create detention facilities for people that did not comply (covid camps). That is some serious Stalinist behavior and we are still waiting for it to be addressed and for certain political leaders to be punished.
As the old saying goes: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” We have now seen the character of the political left. We have seen the character of people like Galloway, and they have been found untrustworthy.
It Can And Will Happen Again
The covid event was really a litmus test for authoritarian tendencies in the US. At least half the public failed that test miserably. We may not see another pandemic agenda in our lifetimes, but that doesn’t really matter. There will be many other opportunities in the future for ignorant people and sociopathic people to act out on their darker impulses. It is important to make a note of how the individuals around us behave when they think it’s safe to be evil, and we must remember who they are. These are not people that should be given “grace” or trust down the road when the next crisis strikes; they have shown themselves to be unworthy of that.
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No Amnesty for Lockdowners
Jeffrey A. Tucker 01November2022 Updated: 02November2022 https://www.theepochtimes.com/no-amnesty-for-lockdowners_4834331.html
Commentary
Now that we can talk to our friends and neighbors about it, the reality is sinking in. What our public health experts and politicians did to this country was egregious. Inspired by the totalitarian lockdowns in Wuhan, China, and urged to replicate that policy by the World Health Organization in a report that Dr. Anthony Fauci and the National Institutes of Health approved, all constitutional rights were thrown out by the government.
The churches were shut. The schools were closed, in some places for as long as two years, thus sacrificing the education of a whole generation. We faced restrictions on house parties. We couldn’t visit the elderly in homes, not even their sons and daughters who were paying the rent. There were even restrictions on travel between states: Quarantine rules made it impractical.
Health authorities specifically demanded the need to close all venues where people congregate. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Once people were allowed to crawl out from their domestic holes, they were forced to mask up (even though we had zero evidence that this would achieve anything!) and eventually get vaccine shots that everyone said would end the pandemic but obviously didn’t.
It’s been nearly three years of imposed hell. We now live with the after-effects, including terrible inflation, learning loss, drug addiction, rising crime, cultural nihilism, and wholly justified public fury, which are driving the Democrats to doom on Nov. 8 because it was the Democrats who leaned in and perpetuated all these policies long after they obviously failed.
So sure, people are upset. The right answer would be for our health authorities and politicians to apologize and beg for forgiveness. But nothing like that has happened. They just keep on pretending that all of this was fine. There has been no repeal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s claimed power to quarantine you next time, and the Biden administration’s own pandemic planning scheme is to prohibit states from opting out the next time around.
So let’s discuss Emily Oster’s piece in The Atlantic in which she claims that everyone needs to immediately comply with some kind of amnesty that she has declared. We’re supposed to forget it all and move on. And why is this? Because, she says, there was so much uncertainty. They just didn’t know about the virus. It was the fog of war, after all, and everyone did their best.
“We didn’t know,” she wrote, and then kept invoking the supposed “uncertainty” of the times, a word she deployed five times. Why, if she (or they) were so uncertain, did they so quickly decide to wreck all liberty in the United States? The so-called precautionary principle would suggest that government should undertake no such policy because of the obvious harms it would impose. They did it anyway.
Here’s the problem. This is complete rot. We knew from February 2020 of the risk stratification of the disease’s serious outcomes. It was in all the papers. We had the data. We knew from the Diamond Princess experience in February 2020 that there were no deaths of those younger than the age of 70 on the ship. That comported with every bit of information we had at the time. Based on what we knew at the time, there was absolutely no case for locking down at all and every reason to not do this.
For that matter, Oster could have merely read the news. MSNBC on Jan. 30, 2020, reported that Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, formerly Barack Obama’s health adviser, said: “Everyone in America should take a very big breath, slow down, and stop panicking and being hysterical. We are having a little too much histrionics on this.”
On March 4, 2020, Slate reported: “There are many compelling reasons to conclude that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is not nearly as deadly as is currently feared. But COVID-19 panic has set in nonetheless. … Allow me to be the bearer of good news. These frightening numbers are unlikely to hold. The true case fatality rate, known as CFR, of this virus is likely to be far lower than current reports suggest.”
On the same day, Psychology Today reported: “Yes, this virus is different and worse than other coronaviruses, but it still looks very familiar. We know more about it than we don’t know. … It’s scary to think that an invisible enemy is out there to make you sick. But your doctor is not panicking, and you don’t need to, either.”
We can even turn to Fauci himself, who wrote as follows on Feb. 28, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine: “The overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1 percent) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10 percent and 36 percent, respectively.”
On March 17, 2020, legendary epidemiologist John Ioannidis broke it all down: “The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco. … One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric. At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.”
Wow, talk about prophetic! All of that happened. He knew this not because he was clairvoyant, but because he has a working brain. You can’t just shut down society without egregious consequences that affect health, economics, social relations, and so much more. In other words, authorities acted with extreme measures that were in no way justified by the data and did so with measures they knew for sure would massively damage the social fabric.
For that matter, we’ve known about the damage of lockdowns since they were first pushed in 2005–06. Famed epidemiologist Donald Henderson warned that such measures would turn a manageable pandemic into a catastrophe!
So here we are, living amid catastrophe. There are no apologies. There’s only coverup. Now, you might ask the following: Why, if the mainstream media from late-January through mid-February 2020 were counseling calm and urging against lockdown frenzy, and even Fauci was saying that we didn’t need a vaccine to get out of this pandemic, was there a sudden shift? What new evidence came in that caused Fauci, along with his minions and inner circle, to surround Trump in early March 2020 and demand that he greenlight the lockdowns?
Why did this happen? I have my own theories, but they’re only that. My suspicions are that 1) Fauci and his gang believed that they were culpable for the pandemic due to the National Institutes of Health’s funding of the Wuhan lab and so pushed the lockdowns in the hope of stopping the spread or just causing a chaotic diversion of attention, and 2) getting Trump to wreck the economy would be the surest path to unseating him in the November 2020 election. On the second point, it so happened that the manufactured disease panic allowed changes in absentee voting rules that ultimately led to Trump’s defeat.
Now, you could call this a conspiracy theory. I sincerely hope it isn’t true because it would be a scandal for the ages. And perhaps I’m wrong here, and there’s some other reason for the egregious actions that wrecked millions of businesses and lives. I would like to know what it is. But as for Oster’s excuse that we just didn’t know—that we believed that the virus was worse than it was, that masks would stop the spread, and so on—that claim is utterly baseless. So, too, does her demand for “amnesty” for the lockdowners fall flat.
We knew. We knew for sure, based on existing data what the nature of the threat was, and we knew for sure, based on historical experience and common sense, the deep damage that would be caused by the lockdowns. The plea of ignorance here simply doesn’t hold up to any evidentiary standard.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Moms for Liberty says NO AMNESTY for covid tyrants who committed “crimes against children”
04November2022 by: Ethan Huff https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-11-04-moms-for-liberty-no-amnesty-covid-tyrants.html
This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author
Children School Pandemic-Mask-Hand Sanitizer
(Natural News) In response to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten’s endorsement of The Atlantic for demanding “amnesty” for covid criminals, Moms for Liberty co-founders Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice are saying no way.
In a statement to the independent media, Descovich and Justice explained that Weingarten endorsed the Atlantic piece because she knows that she herself is one of the criminals who deserves to be punished for her crimes against children.
“No amnesty for the people that committed crimes against children,” Justice is quoted as saying to Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily. (Related: Remember when Weingarten decided to remove her face muzzle during a speech in violation of local mandates because supposedly nobody could hear her?)
“Of course Randi Weingarten [president of American Federation of Teachers] wants to forgive and forget everything that happened during COVID, because she was a key player,” Descovich added to the conversation.
“She kept schools closed. What unions did to children for over a year, in some places, and continuing in some places, between forced masking, quarantining for weeks and months on end, to these children – it is not easily going to be forgotten.”
Weingarten’s abuse of children “destroyed their lives,” Moms for Liberty says
For two years, America’s school children were forced to wear covid veils (face masks), stay away from their peers, and live under the heavy boot of medical tyranny – all because of tyrants like Weingarten who thought they would get away with it.
“It destroyed children’s lives,” Descovich says.
“The trajectory for children that lost two years of education, when you look at the NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] scores, you know, chances are a lot of these kids are not going to be able to graduate and their future is dismal because of women like her. So of course she wants to put it behind us and forget everything that has happened, but parents are not going to be able to do that very easily.”
What Descovich is referring to, here, is something called the Nation’s Report Card, which shows that scamdemic-related school closures led to children’s reading and math scores plummeting to the lowest levels in American history.
“The truth of the matter is – you know, Tina said they won’t be able to graduate,” Justice interjected. “The truth is they probably will, because the metrics are being changed, and they’re making it easier and easier to graduate.”
“We have, you know, declining student engagement, declining attendance, declining achievement scores, and yet graduation rates have never been higher. And so that just shows you this is a system that’s very intent on protecting itself. The union is very invested in protecting the system, and they want you to focus on what I like to call the alphabet soup: The CRT / SEL / DEI, ‘If only children felt safe and valued, if only this, if only that, then they could learn.’”
In other words, children in America are no longer learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, and are instead getting a steady diet of LGBT indoctrination, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” reprogramming, and various other anti-white, anti-American propaganda.
Together with the National Education Association (NEA), the AFT has reportedly pulled in some half a billion dollars in dues, nearly all of which ends up going towards far-left political causes.
“They are promoting radical progressive ideology in this country – they are so far away from their core issue of public education,” Descovich added about these two groups.
The latest news about the push for justice against the covid criminals can be found at Plague.info.
Sources for this article include:
NaturalNews.com
Breitbart.com
NaturalNews.com
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Doc Anarchy
You want amnesty? We want reparations.
There will be no forgiveness without repentance
15February2023 https://docanarchy.substack.com/p/you-want-amnesty-we-want-reparations
Benjamin Franklin
Do you remember those videos of people dying in the streets of China in the early days of covid?
Something smelled wrong. As a medical professional, I have seen people in rough shape. Heart attacks, strokes, overdoses, and so on.
With the exception of a massive pulmonary embolism, I have never seen anything drop a healthy-appearing, well-dressed man like the person below.
Covid-19 victim on the ground-China
Furthermore, when people die, they don’t fall flat on their backs in a perfect anatomic position like they’re playing the planking game. Sudden death is ugly. You twitch. You roll. Your froth at the mouth. This was simply not believable.
Still, it was hard not to get swept up in the hysteria. It was everywhere. Mainstream doctors and journalists were repeating fake talking points, inflated infection fatality data, and bad science.
The people who were supposed to be in charge of the public response (Fauci and company) were giving us mixed messages. “Don’t buy masks!” one week and, “e all need masks!” the next. This was taking place in the face of historic shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). I remember being taught how to sanitize an N-95 mask for reuse with some bleach water and a paper bag.
Treatments for covid-19 were rudimentary. We didn’t understand the full effects on the body well enough yet so mistakes were made. Ventilators were abused early and often. In some cases, satanic physicians threw patients on the ventilator to prevent them from aerosolizing covid.
Early treatment was disorganized. Azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, and zinc became the go-to for those who were informed. Slowly over time, we got better.
But it was always one step forward and two steps back. While heroes like Dr. Zelenko created early treatment protocols, villains like Dr. Fauci said they would kill you. Doctors McCullough and Malone railed against the way we were treating patients. They were censored on social media and had their licenses challenged for their trouble.
In the end, mainstream medicine landed on the following foolproof strategy for treating covid: Stay at home and take Tylenol while you test yourself with a cheap home oximeter and come into the hospital when your oxygen drops below 92% one time. Then you’ll be admitted where you’ll sit in a dirty hospital bed eating seed oil chicken and watching CNN all day with another covid patient seemingly dying on the other side of the curtain. When you can’t tolerate nasal oxygen anymore we might try Bipap, but those are in short supply so here comes the ventilator. Oh, and when you die, your family can’t come to see you and you also can’t have a funeral.
This is not an exaggeration. I saw this exact series of events occur over, and over, and over.
Those who disagreed with the risk posed by covid, the idiocy of the proposed treatments, or the ridiculous social precautions were called science deniers. They were accused of trying to kill grandma.
In October, one covid hysteric had the audacity to request a pandemic amnesty. Emily Oster, the author, correctly points out that they were so wrong on so many different things. Turns out, actions do have consequences.
When they shut down “nonessential” businesses the ramifications were felt worldwide. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics knew this was the case. The French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote about this phenomenon over 150 years ago in “What is Seen and What is Not Seen.”
The government mandated that certain people stayed home. They were not allowed to spend money on certain products. Businesses either closed entirely or had their revenue slashed due to a massive drop in demand (or supply in some cases). That is what is seen.
What is not seen, are the second and third-order effects of these decisions. You don’t see the young man who was saving for a can and can no longer buy it. You don’t see the used car dealer who was going to sell him that car and use the commission to buy his fiance an engagement ring. You don’t see the jeweler who was going to use that money to grow his 401K.
This basic principle was completely ignored and swept aside in favor of “free” money printed by the Federal Reserve.
Mask mandates and social distancing were next. Once lockdowns were lifted, mask mandates and social distancing fell into place.
There are countless videos of Karens and Kens screeching at passersby who casually strolled too close to their 6-foot safety bubble while walking down the street in the bright sunshine and breeze.
The 6-foot social distance stickers every store had to install still remain in place, to this day in many places. A relic of a bygone era. Restaurantors were forced to buy and install flimsy pieces of plastic between customers as if the aerosolized virus doesn’t equilibrate in the room as we all learned in Physics 101.
Those who chose not to comply were given fine after fine. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. They had their livelihood taken away because they refused to comply with the asinine dictates of the tyrants in the local and federal governments.
If you were unfortunate enough to have a family member or loved one die during covid, you know the cruelty these people were willing to force on you. Funerals were banned to maintain social distancing. Family members weren’t allowed in the hospital as their loved ones took their final breath before being ventilated for the rest of their lives.
Grandmothers were locked up in nursing homes and told not to leave their rooms. For months these people were not allowed to see their children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends. Their entire lives were disrupted. They didn’t ask for that.
You will never get that lost time back.
Despite no good science supporting their use, masks became the great hope. If you simply wore this poorly fitted piece of fabric made in China that you shoved in your pocket, we could beat this virus.
Never mind the fact that medical professionals are taught how to properly don and doff PPE so as not to contaminate themselves or those around them. Surely, your pocket is plenty clean enough.
Do you think it’s possible that untrained people could get some covid particles on their mask, put that mask in their pocket and contaminate the entire mask, and then put it back on their face later, thereby infecting themselves with covid?
I’m not even going to get into double masking. That was nothing more than a final gasp to stay relevant from a sad, sorry man losing his grip on power. I won’t hold my breath on Fauci being punished for his myriad lies to the American public.
In September 2021, President Biden began the federal vaccine mandates. This elevated covid tyranny to a whole new level. It gave businesses and individuals the ability to legally discriminate against others on the basis of unproven medical therapies.
History is not on the side of those who pushed the vaccine mandates. Turns out, Big Pharma isn’t as truthful as we wished. Their vaccines aren’t as effective as they claim. Turns out, they aren’t even safe.
Despite the mountains of evidence against the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines, these were used as the basis for countless layoffs. People had their lives ruined because they didn’t want an experimental therapy to prevent a cold.
Broadly, you can break the country into two groups: covid hysterics and covid skeptics. Certainly, there are crazies on both sides. We can safely ignore those people.
Covid hysterics bought into mask mandates, vaccines, and lockdowns. They were willing to go along with, or actively enforced, these dictates.
Covid skeptics may have bought into some part of these but didn’t buy the entire narrative they were being fed. Ironically, if you agreed with the covid hysterics on 2/3 of their policy decisions, that remaining 1/3 made you a heretic.
After 3 years of covid, we are not in a good place. It is becoming more and more clear that the covid skeptics were more correct more often, especially on the important things.
That leaves us with the question: what do we do now?
One side (average citizens) was systematically oppressed by a more powerful group of people with a monopoly on the use of force (government). I would go as far as to call it abuse.
One critical part of our justice system is punishment or justice. Another critical part is reform. The last part is reparations. In order for there to be any covid amnesty, these three factors must be met. Here is my proposal:
We can never go back in time and change the past. If you banned your own children from attending Thanksgiving because they didn’t get a vaccine, you will have to live with it.
We can fix it going forward. This list is a good place to start. If you want Amnesty, start with repentance.
A nation cannot function when it’s this fractured. Battle lines have been drawn. We have seen what people are willing to say or do to their fellow citizens in order to have a little piece of mind.
If I find myself in a foxhole, I pray the person in there with me doesn’t have a mask on.
JerusalemCats Comments:
Perhaps the mainstream media is suddenly realizing that they may have to face some payback for their covid zealotry? “We didn’t know! We were just following orders!” It all sounds rather familiar.
Doctors, have you recommended that people take the Covid-19 Vaccine? You need to DO THE RIGHT THING!
This is what “We were just following orders!” will get you:
Option 1: Nuremberg trial and execution
Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg trials hanging
Option 2: Hunt them Down and Kill them.
In a Saigon street, on February 1, 1968, during the North Vietman’s Tet Offensive, South Vietnam’s police chief raised a gun to the head of a handcuffed Vietcong prisoner and abruptly pulled the trigger.
Option 3: Hunt them Down and Eat them.
Cat eating meat
Cat eating meat
Canaan Dog
http://www.thepetowners.com/breed/Canaan-Dog.html
The Canaan Dog is Israel’s national dog
Introduction
The Canaan Dog is Israel’s national dog and although not everyone is familiar with the breed it is hardly surprising because they are among the rarest dogs on the planet. They are medium in size and boast having a distinctive wedge-shaped head. These lovely dogs only recently arrived here in the UK where they were an immediate hit, but with this said anyone hoping to share their home with a Canaan Dog might have trouble finding a puppy because fewer than 3000 dogs are known to exist in the entire world.
History
The Canaan Dog boasts being one of the most ancient breeds to have been developed in the Middle East where they were bred to guard and herd flocks of sheep. Over time and as the Israelites left their lands, they took their dogs with them, but only the fittest and strongest of these dogs survived the often harsh conditions they worked in. The dogs earned themselves a good reputation and were soon used by many Bedouin tribes of the desert to guard their herds and camps, a job the Canaan Dog did supremely well.
In the thirties guard dogs were needed to protect the many isolated settlements that were set up in Israel and the Canaan Dog was the perfect candidate for the job. At the time, these dogs were semi-feral which meant they could tolerate the harsh conditions of the region and today, many of them can still be seen guarding Bedouin flocks in the desert.
The breed has only just very recently been exhibited at shows here in the UK and as such, the Canaan Dog remains very much an unknown. They are still considered to be one of the rarest breeds on the planet although more interest in these dogs will ensure that with careful and selective breeding, the Canaan Dog may well become a popular choice as companion and family pet both here in the UK and elsewhere in the world.
Prof. Magnus Soderland having lunch break with a colleague-LG
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If You Want Forgiveness, Emily, Here’s Your Program
By Karen Kwiatkowski 03November2022 https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/11/karen-kwiatkowski/if-you-want-forgiveness-emily-heres-your-program/
Being lectured to, condemned, ridiculed and hated by elitist bullies is bad enough on a single day or for one issue.
This behavior went on for over two and a half years, for nearly a thousand days, in a thousand ways. The economic, social, interpersonal, and educational costs associated with the idiotic mandates and unscientific policies will last a lifetime for many, and certainly shortened the lifetimes of many more.
The suggestion printed by the WEF-loving, pro-war lefties at The Atlantic is that they and their global team of unscientific lemming-like nanny-state bullies – just possibly – were a bit misinformed (not their fault) in 2020/21 regarding masking, untested genetic injections, and actual death rates, etc (not their fault). This bully squad accepted without question the lies their government told them (not their fault). They not only eagerly, but radically and angrily defended and promoted those lies (partly their fault).
They hope we understand that it wasn’t entirely their fault, and that they are still smart and educated. They really just wanted to live and survive a flu-like disease with a death rate comparable to any other bad flu – and their nagging and incoherent jammering and name-calling was just so we also wouldn’t die – unless we refused the experimental free required shot and continued to live our lives and try and keep our businesses open, then if we died it was kind of funny to them.
Their excuse was fear, but in reality it was not fear at all, and nor was it hate although it looked like it. It was contempt from Day One. Leftover contempt from the Trump era, pumped up and recirculated via a government over-response to a disease that now we understand to have been created via gain of function in a government lab by American scientists, including several who had close personal and professional relationships with Fauci. It was individual contempt, political contempt, and institutional contempt for the masses as demonstrated by the Gates Foundation and its compadres, the Democratic Party, and numerous government aligned institutions and industries.
Emily Oster wants us to forgive each other, but it isn’t hate they dished out to us. If it had been, that hate might be forgiven. If they hated us because they didn’t know any better – and now they don’t hate us anymore because they know better – well, that can be forgiven.
However, contempt is not something that can be “forgiven” by the formerly contemptible. Their contempt for us has nothing to do with us, and it isn’t our problem. Their contempt for us should be eliminated – not by our “forgiveness” which is irrelevant – but by their own internal change, their own decisions, individually, that we are at least their equals, and quite possibly, in the case of the COVID policy fiasco, examples they could and should have followed, rather than condemned.
There are some steps that, if taken, would make me believe that they are serious. Oster has tossed out a veiled and somewhat worried request for a kind of “forgiveness” and tellingly she also used the word “amnesty.” She knows what we all know: crimes were committed, and citizen trust in governing institutions and their university/media/industry cohorts has been broken and will not be easily restored.
Clearly, most people harmed by the myriad of bad policies and bad attitudes by the virulent anti-critical thinking crowd are no where near ready to forgive. There could be a time for that after court cases are adjudicated, government bureaucrats fired, politicians kicked out of office, and the books and the science comes out from behind the shadows. When the ghoulish merger of government and big Pharma and the medical institutions is destroyed, and we gain back the freedom we should have always had with regards to our health care decisions and actions, then there could be time for forgiveness.
I’d like to see a 12 step movement embraced and acted upon by people like Emily. Addicts, like the The bullying anti-science left wing are addicts – they gave over personal responsibility to think and act soberly and fairly, to the thing they are addicted to – government centralized power and their own comfortable sense of superiority over people who disagree with them politically. To this end, I recommend that Emily Oster and all of her peers and allies:
I’d be happy if they simply looked into half of these 12 – choose any six steps and go for it. But I imagine that none of these steps is what Emily and her ilk had in mind.
Maybe when their icons are sitting in jail, having lied publicly one too many times, and having participated in mass murder, they will recognize their addiction, and seek to make a personal change. With Covid, this group of almost a hundred million Americans demonstrated a thousand days of collapses in critical thinking, a thousand days of lockstep unwillingness to question authority, and a thousand days of animalistic rage and aggression toward those who displayed a healthy distrust of large, nontransparent and unaccountable organizations and institutions.
So far, none of this is being addressed. No doubt we will suffer these kinds of freedom-destroying government-driven movements again, be the crisis a man-made disaster, a false flag, or an act of God. Next time, however, the other hundred million of contemptibles among us might not take it lying down.
The Best of Karen Kwiatkowski
Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D. [send her mail], a retired USAF lieutenant colonel, farmer and aspiring anarcho-capitalist. She ran for Congress in Virginia’s 6th district in 2012.
Copyright © Karen Kwiatkowski
JerusalemCats Comments: Sorry Evil is NOT a 12 Step Program! Even Adult Children of Alcoholics don’t do that kind of Evil. They may kill themselves 50% of the time but they won’t do that kind of Evil, Especially to children.
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Hospitals See Most First Quarter Defaults Since 2011
by Tyler Durden, 04April2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/hospitals-see-most-first-quarter-defaults-2011
By Andrew Cass of Beckers Hospital Review
Bonds of eight hospitals lapsed in “impairment” – meaning they experienced covenant issues amounting to a technical or monetary default – in the first quarter of 2023, the highest number of hospitals disclosing default since 2011, Bloomberg reported March 31.
Hospitals’ Financial Challenges
Only one hospital disclosed default in the first quarter of 2022, according to the report.
The data comes from Municipal Market Analytics. Lisa Washburn, the organization’s managing director, told Bloomberg that an unusual aspect of the impairments is some are coming from large, highly-rated systems.
“Some of the unusual parts about the impairments that we’re seeing is that they are coming from sometimes large, highly-rated systems,” she said in an interview. “That’s actually something that struck us at the beginning of the year when it started to happen because you wouldn’t expect normally to see covenant breaches happening for an A-rated system.”
Ms. Washburn said that is due to a combination of negative investment returns in 2022, federal COVID-19 relief funds drying up and rising costs, particularly labor, according to the report. She added that a backlog of patients who need to move to nursing homes but cannot due to staffing shortages also have affected finances.
“And now add to it that debt costs are higher,” she told Bloomberg.
Another source of pressure is competition for patients, Chris George, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, told the publication.
“You’re seeing a very slow evolution of care moving to an ambulatory setting,” he said.
“A lot of local hospitals, their biggest challenge is access to capital,” George told Bloomberg in an interview. “It’s going to be a tough year this year.”
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Democrats BEG for covid forgiveness after DESTROYING the lives of millions
02November2022 by: Mike Adams https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-11-02-democrats-beg-for-covid-forgiveness-after-destroying-the-lives-of-millions.html
This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author
(Natural News) In anticipation of the coming Nuremberg 2.0 criminal trials that will seek the indictment of covid co-conspirators who mass murdered millions of people across the globe, Democrats are now begging for “amnesty,” hoping we will all forgive and forget what they did to the victims. The raw tyranny and authoritarian spite demonstrated by Democrats in their mad push for mandatory vaccines, cruel lockdowns of children and the economic destruction of small businesses is simply supposed to be waved away and forgotten, according to Emily Oster, writing for The Atlantic, a left-wing globalist propaganda mouthpiece.
Oster — who pushed for vaccines, social distancing and masks — claims that the people pushing all the covid tyranny simply didn’t know what they were doing.
In other words, they were all just following orders and should therefore be forgiven. This is the same excuse offered by Nazis in East Berlin, who begged for mercy after slaughtering innocent civilians who were merely trying to escape tyranny.
According to rigorous estimates published by Steve Kirsh, Ed Dowd and others, covid vaccines have already likely killed more than one million people in America alone. Globally, at least 20 million people have been killed by these vaccines, with billions facing disability due to vaccine injuries.
An epic backlash against the tyrants
The backlash against Oster’s article has been truly epic. Across the ‘net, pundits and truthers unleashed a backlash of fury against Oster and The Atlantic for daring to suggest that all their crimes against humanity should simply be forgotten and forgiven without even an apology from those who mercilessly pushed covid tyranny (and destroyed millions of lives in the process). John Nolte from Breitbart.com probably said it best in a recent article, stating:
There will be no forgiveness before there’s a reckoning for the mercenary liars who abused our elderly and children.
There will be no moving on before there’s justice for those who were bankrupted, fined, jailed, mourned alone, forced into lonely despair, and stripped of youth’s magic and irreplaceable moments.
Most of all, there will be no reprieve because you are not sorry; because given the opportunity, you will do it all over again; because you are vicious, heartless, mercenary, politically-driven bullies only asking for amnesty so you can catch us off guard the next time.
Nolte is correct. The left-wing covid tyrants — sometimes called covidians — have no remorse. They offer no apology. They are begging for mercy simply because they got caught abusing others, and they hope to never face the consequences for their own actions.
If you want forgiveness, here’s what needs to happen
We call for a legal and lawful process of investigating and indicting all those who pushed covid crimes upon the world, followed by prosecutions and due process court hearings. Nuremberg 2.0 needs to get under way so that the truth is told and those responsible are exposed for their crimes.
In addition, we suggest all the following actions:
1) A nationwide apology by all the media outlets who pushed covid lies, vaccine propaganda, mask nonsense and social distancing disinformation. Front page. Large font. Full admission of guilt.
2) The reinstatement of all the people fired for refusing masks, vaccines, etc., with full back pay.
3) The construction of a “COVID Wall of SHAME” monument specifically naming the criminals who are found guilty in taking part in this global covid conspiracy that targeted humanity. At the same time, we must also erect a “COVID Wall of HEROES” to publicly acknowledge those who told the truth, who stood up to tyranny and who saved lives by resisting the covid insanity. (Let’s start with Z for Zelenko…)
4) We need some guarantee that left-wing tyrants won’t try this again, because they are constantly seeking new ways to control people, destroy lives and achieve global depopulation. How can we be assured they aren’t already cooking up another nefarious toxin or pathogen to unleash upon the world?
I cover all this and more in today’s podcast via Brighteon.com:
– Democrats are begging for covid AMNESTY because they got caught
– But they have NO remorse, and they aren’t sorry. They are EVIL.
– Dems need to offer nationwide APOLOGY for covid tyranny, censorship and lies
– Those who were FIRED need to be reinstated with back pay
– All assets of vax pharma executives should be SEIZED
– Funds should be used to pay families of VACCINE VICTIMS
– We donate nearly $14K to California attorneys suing hospitals for covid murder
– Why God rewards those who pay it forward and don’t hoard money for themselves
– Eurozone inflation soars beyond 10% as Europe faces winter of collapse
– Nearly 40% of small businesses in USA can’t pay rent
– The US economy has been WRECKED by Biden and the Dems
– Important thoughts about FORGIVENESS – but only after apologies are given
– Which items still work after an EMP attack
Brighteon: Brighteon.com/de3a9e26-dd44-40b3-b594-8be16369a12e
Libsyn: Healthrangerreport.com/situation-update-nov-2-2022-democrats-beg-for-covid-forgiveness-after-destroying-the-lives-of-millions
Bitchute: Bitchute.com/video/6HtWeu3EUSoz/
Rumble: Rumble.com/v1r2t9w-situation-update-11222-democrats-beg-for-covid-forgiveness….html
Banned.Video: Banned.video/watch?id=636266333f5060081608dcc1
Hear the full episode here:
Situation Update, Nov 2, 2022 – Democrats BEG for covid forgiveness after DESTROYING the lives of millions
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Grunt Proof
Grunt Proof 09February2023
Hard facts for stubborn people:
#preparedlivesmatter
We the People-Today
#preparedlivesmatter
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The Age Of Amnesia
by Tyler Durden, Dec 16December2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/age-amnesia
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
The main defense of Anthony Fauci in his legal deposition this month was pretty simple: he forgot. He said that he couldn’t recall nearly 200 times and versions of that many more. He said that he was so busy running his huge agency plus shepherding vaccines that he couldn’t possibly remember this or that email implicating him in a censorship scheme. He gets thousands of emails a day and there is no reason to think any in particular would grab his attention.
It’s all a bit implausible because we saw him on TV several times a day for the better part of three years. He was the hard-working actor out there. I do TV and interviews several times per week but I try my best to throttle them back and turn many down simply because they truly drain away energy and focus from other work. In short, they are all-consuming. The notion that he neglected issues of message in favor of serious science is an incredibly obvious strain on credulity.
So what was the point of this line of answer? Yes, he wants to save his skin. No question about that. But it occurs to me that there is another point too. He wants to model for the nation and the world how to think about the whole of the last three years. His view is that everyone should forget about it.
You have surely noticed this happening ever since the opening following lockdowns and the rest. We are all just supposed to forget. We are supposed to move on. I’ve heard already a thousand times that we never had a lockdown. There seems to be little in the way of official memory of two years of school closures or the shutting of churches on holidays.
We are being told to forget about the medical mandates that displaced millions from their jobs. We had relatives die and we couldn’t attend their funerals but we are supposed to forget about all that. I see claims daily that the censorship never really took place or wasn’t that bad really, so we should shut up already.
What about all the politicians who violated stay-at-home orders, went on vacations or got hairstyles, or were photographed partying without a mask even as they imposed them on everyone else? Hey, mistakes were surely made but let’s not make too big a deal of it.
Indeed, it was amazing to me how the most egregious and global attacks on human liberty in the name of public health were very quickly memory-holed by the major media, which we now know was the answer to public health agencies themselves the entire time. We all stood by in shock and wondered if we were the crazy ones.
That, after all, is the whole point of Orwell’s Memory Hole, the invention of an alternative history of the recent past that contradicts our own memories and invites us to believe that we are crazy or obsessed or otherwise thinking about things that truly do not matter. This is why the Memory Hole was so important in Orwell’s book. It becomes a means by which the population is controlled in its thinking and therefore in its psychological capacity to resist the next round of impositions.
This is why cultivating a solid memory is so crucial to the preservation of the good and civilized life. The barbarians all around us are constantly inviting us to forget so that we do not learn lessons and do not apply the lessons we learn. Instead we become blank slates for the ruling class to write on daily and then we are more likely to believe them. Better to never learn lessons at all. If we must learn something, it should be along the lines that we need more control and more acquiescence in the future.
Movements that truly seek to prevent horrors of the past must also seek to preserve memory. This is why there are Holocaust Museums, for example, to help us understand experiences that were not ours but from which we can still learn. Indeed, this is the whole point of learning in general, to extract wisdom from people and events that have come before in order that we can be better prepared to build a future.
People who invite us to forget are more than likely up to no good. It’s not just that they want to replace a real narrative with a false one. They want history to start over at any given moment so that we are more easy to manipulate in the future.
Perhaps this is why basic memory skills have been so de-emphasized in early childhood education for so long. It’s a true tragedy because young people do have a remarkable capacity for memorization. They might lack the ability to think abstractly or process difficult strings of logic but they do have the mental power to hear and repeat, which is why a classical education puts so much emphasis on this and probably why modern education regards memorization as a waste of time.
The urge to forget plays out in strange ways in our time. When accounts are banned on YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook, so too are the archives of those accounts blown away so that we can longer access information about the recent past. That is intentional, otherwise the banning would be a mere blocking of new content. No, the whole point is to wipe out what we know or think we know.
This is one of the tragedies of the Trump ban on Twitter, for example. We lost a narrative record over years of important data points, making even writing the history of our times more difficult. So when the account came back, so too did our memories and then we could scroll through and verify a version of events that is closer to reality rather than the fake history we were being told to accept from on high.
We’ve been through almost three years in which powerful elites have done their best to wipe out history. I recall the chills I got down my spine when major media organs began putting trigger warnings on links older than a few months. The clear message was: this is no longer valid or reliable because things have surely changed. This is also why Fauci kept saying that the science has changed. It was a call for us to forget all the statements that contradict his latest statements.
In this way, we have entered into an age of amnesia with a ruling class that wants everyone to forget the wisdom of the past and even the events of recent history, to forgive but mostly to forget and move on like good little pawns in their game. Just do what we are told and forget everything else.
We can all resist this little game. We can access Archive.org and, more importantly, we can consult the wisdom of the ages through books and poetry and religious teachings. If civilization is to survive the onslaught, it will be because we choose to remember and act on those memories in defiance of every demand that we forget.
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Professor Lockdown Denies Ever Calling For Lockdown
by Tyler Durden, 06November2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/professor-lockdown-denies-ever-calling-lockdown
Authored by Will Jones via The Brownstone Institute,
In one of the more bizarre moments at the Covid Inquiry so far, Professor Neil Ferguson, the architect of Britain’s lockdown, today denied ever calling for the first national stay-at-home order – in the latest instance of lockdown backpedalling.
The Mail has more.
Professor Neil Ferguson modelling on the Covid pandemic
Worth reading in full.
Ross Clark in the Spectator says that perhaps the most remarkable revelation from Professor Ferguson’s inquiry evidence is that “he spoke to and emailed Ben Warner at No. 10 on March 13th, three days before the Imperial paper [Report 9] was published.”
Warner was a data scientist brought into Downing Street by Dominic Cummings and whom Cummings later credited for inducing pandemic alarm in No. 10, so Ferguson contacting him directly beforehand is significant.
However, Clark notes that in his email to Warner,
Republished from DailySceptic
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Vaccines Could Impact Mortality and Risks of Other Diseases: Study
A recent review found non-live vaccines tend to increase a person’s risks of all-cause mortality, as well.
By Marina Zhang
8January2024 Updated: 10January2024 https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/vaccines-can-impact-long-term-survival-from-other-diseases-study-5559895
Apart from potentially preventing a particular disease, vaccines may cause persistent nonspecific effects that can affect a person’s lifetime survival.
In a review published on Dec. 26 in Vaccine, researchers found that non-live vaccines like influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis B, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP) tend to cause adverse nonspecific effects (NSE), increasing a person’s risks of all-cause mortality and the potential risk of infections from diseases they are meant to protect against.
A live vaccine contains a weakened form of the pathogen, which is less virulent but capable of replicating in the body, thus mimicking the actual disease progression. Non-live vaccines use inactivated viruses, fragments, or genes of the pathogen to trigger an immune response without pathogen replication.
Live vaccines elicit a much stronger immune defense, typically requiring only one shot, while non-live vaccines result in a weaker response, often necessitating multiple shots.
So far, research has identified several non-live vaccines that cause adverse nonspecific effects, namely DTaP and Tdap, influenza H1N1, malaria, hepatitis B, inactivated polio, and COVID mRNA vaccines.
The Vaccine study singled out DTaP, influenza, malaria, hepatitis B, and COVID mRNA vaccines.
On the other hand, live vaccines such as the oral live polio vaccine (OPV), the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis, and the smallpox vaccines all have beneficial nonspecific effects, according to the study.
“Live vaccines … elicit epigenetic alterations that train the innate immune system and increase immunity to unrelated infections. In opposition, non‐live vaccines may promote ‘tolerance’ that increases susceptibility to unrelated illnesses,” the authors suggested.
The study was primarily based on decades of work from Danish researchers Dr. Christine Stabell Benn and professor Peter Aaby.
“Our work is a tribute to their great scientific work that has not been recognized,” biologist Alberto Rubio-Casillas, one of the study’s authors, told The Epoch Times.
Non-Live Vaccines Are Like an ‘Ill-Prepared’ Army
“Historically, we’ve thought about the innate immune system as the first line of defense,” Dr. Benn told The Epoch Times.
It was thought that innate immunity could not store memory. To use war as an analogy, the immune system’s “army” could not learn from previous battles with pathogens. Adaptive immunity, on the other hand, could learn and be trained, forming antibodies to fight against the infection.
Therefore, for a long time, vaccines were evaluated based on their effects on the adaptive immune system, and antibodies were measured following vaccination.
But researchers in the Netherlands have since shown that the innate immune system can be trained. After vaccinating people with the BCG vaccines and harvesting some of the patients’ innate immune cells, researchers found that after vaccination, the innate cells exhibited a more robust immune response and demonstrated improved clearance of tuberculosis, as well as other bacteria and fungi when compared to patients’ prevaccination status.
However, the opposite was shown for non-live vaccines.
Thus, the innate immune system actually does learn something from its previous battles. This is called trained innate immunity.
Live vaccines, which mimic an actual disease, enhance the effectiveness of the innate immune system in defending against infections. Non-live vaccines, on the other hand, weaken the immune system’s ability to fend off infections.
In a TED talk, Dr. Benn compared infections to a competitive tennis match and live vaccines to a tennis coach. The tennis coach may change tactics and strategies, training the body to have “a wide variety of tricks” against the pathogen. Non-live vaccines, however, are like tennis ball machines that shoot out balls at a specific speed and spot. If a person only trains with a tennis ball machine, he or she will be less prepared for an actual match.
“So you may be ill-prepared and even worse off when a real opponent enters the court, and the balls start coming and hitting elsewhere than what you trained for,” Dr. Benn said.
Nonspecific Effects
Some vaccines result in positive nonspecific effects, but others may result in overall adverse nonspecific effects. The order in which vaccines are administered also factors in.
While non-live vaccines cause negative NSEs, administering a live vaccine after a non-live one neutralizes negative NSEs, Dr. Benn said.
This has been shown in studies evaluating the safety of measles vaccines, which are often given around the same time as DTP, a non-live vaccine. Studies have found that if the measles vaccine are given after the DTP vaccine, there is an overall positive effect, whereas if this order is reversed, then there is a negative effect.
“It seems that effects are strongest as long as the vaccine is the most recent vaccine,” said Dr. Benn.
Dr. Benn added that the BCG vaccine has long-term beneficial nonspecific effects “in spite of other vaccines being given afterwards.”
The DTaP vaccine has arguably the most evidence of adverse nonspecific effects. Girls who took the DTaP vaccine had a 50 percent higher risk of dying than boys who got it. Compared to girls who were DTaP-unvaccinated, vaccinated girls’ risk of dying was over 2.5 times higher.
Dr. Benn’s studies have generally shown that girls are at a greater risk of developing adverse nonspecific effects after being administered non-live vaccines.
Live Vaccines Replaced With Non-Live Vaccines
Non-live vaccines are increasingly replacing live vaccines. For example, live oral polio vaccines are no longer available on the U.S. market, and a non-live version is administered instead.
This substitution of live vaccines with non-live can pose potential health risks to the general immunity of the population, as the immune systems become less trained and potentially “lazy,” said Dr. Benn.
However, the main reason non-live vaccines are preferred over live vaccines is that they are believed to be safer for people with depleted immune systems.
Since a live vaccine causes mild disease in the body, people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome can develop a disease from the injection and may die since their bodies are unable to clear infections. Conversely, non-live vaccines comprise only disease components, so they cannot induce disease.
In this aspect, Dr. Benn said that the “risk of getting the real disease with the live vaccines has been seen as a bigger threat than I think it deserves.”
Research suggests that people with weaker immune constitutions due to age or chronic disease may sometimes benefit from having their immune systems trained using live vaccines.
In one study involving hospitalized older patients randomized to get the BCG vaccine or a placebo, the incidence of disease among those who took the BCG vaccine was about half the incidence of disease in the placebo group.
Health Authorities Still Skeptical
Despite the evidence suggesting the potential superiority of live vaccines, Dr. Benn’s research has been largely unacknowledged by the mainstays of academia.
“In my interpretation, whereas most researchers now acknowledge nonspecific effects, the major health organizations are reluctant to accept our findings because [the findings] imply the possibility that some vaccines may sometimes be harmful. So it is easier just to dismiss the whole thing,” she said.
“The vaccine skeptics, on the other side, may find that our observations on non-live vaccines confirm their worst fears—vaccines can be harmful—but they may be more reluctant to accept the beneficial effects. And their focus on the negative effects may make the vaccine supporters take an even more rigid stance.”
Immunologists now largely agree that some vaccines cause nonspecific effects, but how these effects should be quantified remains controversial.
This is because the nonspecific effects of vaccines are dependent on context, whereas a vaccine’s specific effects are generally considered context-independent. For example, females may make more antibodies than males and younger people more than older, but most people still get some form of immunity.
“In contrast, because the nonspecific effects act on the broader innate and general immune system, they are dependent on other factors going on in the immune system … like other health interventions that can alter and modify the nonspecific effects,” Dr. Benn explained. Not everybody will have the same benefit, she added.
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies may be more reluctant to produce live vaccines because they are harder to culture and manufacture.
“If you have ever tried to bake with sourdough, it’s a little bit like live vaccines; they are very dependent on the temperature of the room, the water used to culture it, and so on,” said Dr. Benn.
“But basically, all the live vaccines I’m talking about—they have no patents anymore, they’re super cheap to produce, and it’s some of the cheapest vaccines we have to make.”
Vaccine Safety: NSEs Versus Adverse Events
Though live vaccines tend to cause positive NSEs, that is not to say they cannot potentially cause adverse events. NSEs are considered a separate entity from adverse events, Dr. Benn explained. According to her, in rare cases, live vaccines may induce the actual disease in some recipients, such as people born with gross defects in their immune systems or who have severe immunodeficiencies, like fulminant AIDS.
In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, live vaccines were likely not considered due to concerns about the formation of recombinant viruses when a vaccinated person comes into contact with the circulating viral strain.
However, despite their potential beneficial NSEs, the COVID vaccines may still be associated with adverse events due to the presence of highly toxic spike proteins, which studies now link to long COVID and vaccine injuries.
In the medical textbook “The Immune Response,” the authors wrote that, in isolated cases, live viral strains administered to individuals can regain virulence, causing disease in recipients. Additionally, there is a risk of contamination with other viral strains during manufacturing.
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Florida Grand Jury’s COVID Policy Report: Interventions “Not Administered Based on the Best Available Scientific Data”
The Grand Jury followed the science behind COVID policies…and found little trace of it to follow.
Posted by Leslie Eastman 5February2024 at 07:00am
Back in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate possible crimes and wrongdoings the pharmaceutical industry may have committed against the state’s residents related to the COVID-19 vaccine. The plan was to have the Grand Jury impaneled between 12 and 18 months to investigate allegations and evidence.
The Florida Grand Jury has issued its first report. It is a disturbing review of the willingness of public health professionals to cooperate and the lack of scientific rigor used in developing pandemic response plans.
The entire 33-page report offers a master class in the type of analysis thoughtful review regular citizens can engage in when considering important issues of the day: “In a way, this Grand Jury has allowed us to do something that most Americans simply do not have the time, access, or wherewithal to do: Follow the science.”
While the entire document is worth reading for anyone concerned about the impact of COVID-19 policy on the nation, I will hit a few highlights.
To begin with, the Grand Jury received little cooperation from those in the administration associated with public health matters. The panel cannot compel cooperation, but its absence during this process, especially from those associated with The Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is extremely disturbing.
In addition to the vaccine, the Grand Jury also weighed science related to the benefit of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)…and found it wanting, especially in the area of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs).
The Grand Jury’s experience aligns with the congressional hearing in which master COVID-policy maker Dr. Anthony Fauci could not recall exactly what science the 6-foot rule was derived from.
The report also contained important facts which are familiar to Legal Insurrection readers but which were apparently ignored over the course of three years of pandemic mania.
The best part of the report summed up the quality of the “science” used in establishing pandemic policy [highlights mine].
In conclusion, the Grand Jury found little science to follow. Its next report will likely make for further fascinating and disturbing reading.
Here is an X-thread that offers a point-by-point analysis of this report.
Tracy Beanz-tweet-2February2024-First Interim Report
🚨READ: The first presentation of the FL Grand Jury investigating COVID.
Note: they state they aren’t finished yet.
I will offer perspective and thoughts once I’ve read this.
LINK: https://acis-api.flcourts.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/172e2f34-0a47-41fa-a92f-6fc5ad21b4c9/docketentrydocuments/b122c85c-d85a-439a-bdf5-d74e7a66f38f
Click to Download the report SC2022-1710 First Interim Report
Tracy Beanz-tweet-2February2024-First Interim Report
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Pfizer and Moderna COVID Vaccines’ Efficacy Exaggerated, Effectiveness ‘Well Below’ 50 Percent, Researchers Say
A key problem with the clinical trial is that the definition of vaccinated and unvaccinated is unclear, the paper says.
By Marina Zhang
26February2024 Updated: 1March2024, https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/pfizer-and-moderna-covid-vaccines-efficacy-exaggerated-effectiveness-well-below-50-percent-researchers-say-5595590
Researchers allege that biases and manipulation of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical data have exaggerated vaccine efficacy and underestimated vaccine adverse events.
While most clinical trials would evaluate the effects of a drug from the day it is administered, these COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are not being evaluated from the first day the vaccines are given. A later date is chosen, which inflates the vaccine’s perceived efficacy and safety, researchers say.
It could make an ineffective vaccine — a COVID vaccine with zero efficacy — have a perceived vaccine effectiveness of up to 48 percent, said researcher Raphael Lataster on Feb. 26, citing a paper authored by professor Peter Doshi from the University of Maryland and others.
Unclear Definitions of Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated
Mr. Lataster, associate lecturer at the University of Sydney, spoke at Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) Feb. 26 roundtable discussion on COVID-19 vaccines and public health messaging. He summarized findings from a collection of four commentaries published in a peer-reviewed journal, of which two were authored by him.
“We have found in the studies varying definitions of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated. Generally what we find is that they are ignoring COVID infections in the partially vaccinated,” Mr. Lataster said.
“In randomized trials, it is customary to define ‘time zero’ as the point in time, for each trial participant, when eligibility criteria are met, treatment is assigned, and follow‐up begins,” Mr. Doshi and another author wrote in one of the papers.
Instead, COVID cases in vaccinated individuals are only counted weeks after a person is vaccinated. In Pfizer’s clinical trials, a person is considered vaccinated and their COVID cases are counted a week after they received the second dose, whereas in Moderna’s clinical trials, a person is considered vaccinated two weeks after their second dose.
By substituting some of Pfizer’s phase 3 clinical data and defining a person as vaccinated or unvaccinated according to Pfizer’s criteria in the clinical trials, Mr. Doshi and his authors found that Pfizer clinical trial could inflate a vaccine with zero efficacy to 48 percent. Their finding was published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.
Additionally, they found that this hypothetical number could further inflate to 67 percent due to other real-life factors during vaccine rollouts.
As older people were more likely to get vaccinated early on due to being more at risk of infections, this may reduce the perceived vaccine efficacy.
However, people were getting vaccinated at the time when COVID cases were peaking and people were generating natural immunity to the virus. The subsequent decline in COVID cases coincided with increased vaccination rates, which would then inflate perceived vaccine efficacy, according to the paper.
Millions of Lives Saved Based on Modeling
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been promoted to have saved millions of lives. However, Mr. Lataster said that those statements may not reflect what happened in real life.
Mr. Lataster has been invited to partake in a study reviewing whether the mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives.
“There are many problems we found, over twelve issues with how the data is utilized and estimated. For one thing, it’s [based on] a model and the map is not the territory,” Mr. Lataster said. The study is currently unpublished.
He said that they have also been looking at verifying claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduced severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths.
One of the problems that has been identified is that most of these studies do not define or have different definitions of what counted as a vaccinated person.
Significant Number of Unconfirmed COVID Cases
According to an FDA briefing document, Pfizer acknowledged “3410 total cases of suspected but unconfirmed COVID‐19 in the overall study population.”
These suspected cases were split almost evenly between the treatment and placebo groups.
The Pfizer vaccines were estimated to have over 90 percent vaccine efficacy because while 850 out of around 22,000 people in the placebo group contracted COVID, only 80 out of 22,000 vaccinated participants contracted COVID. This difference in proportion of COVID cases is how the researchers calculated the vaccine efficacy
However, if all of the suspected cases were indeed COVID-19 cases, having a similar proportion of COVID-19 cases between the treatment and placebo group “would have drastically brought down treatment efficacy estimates,” Mr. Lataster wrote in his commentary.
“In any case, you can argue that figure is well below the 50 percent required for approval,” Mr. Lataster said.
Underrepresented Adverse Events
While Pfizer and Moderna phase 3 clinical trials followed adverse events from the day of vaccine administration, they defined an individual as vaccinated only if several weeks had passed following vaccination.
Therefore, some of the adverse events that may have occurred soon after vaccination and would therefore be more strongly linked to vaccination would not be attributed to the vaccine, leading to underestimated adverse event rates.
Also, the recording of the adverse events is mostly reliant on unsolicited reporting by vaccine participants, especially for serious adverse events, according to Pfizer’s fact sheet for health providers. If the participant dies following the COVID-19 vaccine, the trial researchers may be unable to track this since they need reporting from the participants, according to Mr. Lataster.
COVID vaccination adverse event reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reports System show that more than 12 percent of deaths occurred on the day or the day after vaccination.
Furthermore, the placebo group was later given the COVID-19 vaccines, effectively “unblinding” them. This meant that researchers would be unable to compare the placebo and the vaccine group for potential long-term safety signals.
The Epoch Times reached out to Pfizer and Moderna for comments.
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