wakingtimes--2020-03-20--German Physician Comments On How the Coronavirus is Being Over-Hyped and Misunderstood

“ And this reminds me of the fairytale about the king without clothes one .
And just as a child was able to say ‘ Hey , he is naked !
’ .
All the others in the courtyard – surrounding government and asking the government for advice , because they can ’ t know themselves – they all played along and joined the hype.
” – Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg is a German physician who appeared in an interview on Oval Media last week to talk about the coronavirus .
The clip was part of an ongoing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implications in media and society .
Wodarg has a distinguished past .
He has been in German politics since 1988 , and in medicine since 1973 , but lately he has been vocal in his view that panic around the Covid-19 Coronavirus has been overblown and exploited by individuals seeking power .
As he explains in the interview , Covid-19 is but one strain of coronavirus which account for roughly 10 % of respiratory virus cases each year .
This is the same reason we are pressured to get a new flu shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is one of about 100 viruses affecting the public each year , is always changing , making it a moving target for medical doctors .
One of Dr. Wodarg ’ s fears is that the original test for Covid-19 was developed too hastily .
As panic quickly arose , the first protocol was sent out across the world as the standard .
“ Usually , as a test is considered a product of medicine , it has to be validated , ” Wolfgang explains .
“ That means it has to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a person is dying of something else , but also has the coronavirus ?
In his view , this rushed testing method combined with hysteria and a lack of context surrounding Covid-19 cases has created a perfect storm for scientists to take advantage of goodhearted yet ignorant politicians and bureaucrats .
Unfortunately , government support of scientific institutions creates a situation where scientists are continuously trying to impress government officials and tout their abilities and need for funds , as many scientists argue .
“ And like this , politicians are being courted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be important in politics because they need money for their institutions .
Scientists who just swim along in this mainstream and also want their part…And what is missing at the moment is a rational way of looking at things.
” – Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg We all know that the media hypes up every virus and that people do not think clearly when in a panic .
Although nobody knows for sure the extent to which the coronavirus will harm us in the long run , it is certainly wise to be prepared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stage , while also being mindful of the long term implications that such radical government reactions can have on our future world .
Phillip Schneider is a student as well as a staff writer and assistant editor for Waking Times .
If you would like to see more of his work , you can visit his website , or follow him on the free speech social network Minds .
This article ( German Physician Comments On How the Coronavirus is Being Over-Hyped and Misunderstood ) as originally created and published by Waking Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Commons license with attribution to Phillip Schneider and WakingTimes.com .
It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution , author bio , and this copyright statement .

German Physician Comments On How the Coronavirus is Being Over-Hyped and Misunderstood
Phillip Schneider, Staff Writer
Waking Times
“And this reminds me of the fairytale about the king without clothes one. And just as a child was able to say ‘Hey, he is naked!’. All the others in the courtyard – surrounding government and asking the government for advice, because they can’t know themselves – they all played along and joined the hype.” – Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg
Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg is a German physician who appeared in an interview on Oval Media last week to talk about the coronavirus. The clip was part of an ongoing documentary about the coronavirus and its broader implications in media and society.
Wodarg has a distinguished past. He has been in German politics since 1988, and in medicine since 1973, but lately he has been vocal in his view that panic around the Covid-19 Coronavirus has been overblown and exploited by individuals seeking power.
As he explains in the interview, Covid-19 is but one strain of coronavirus which account for roughly 10% of respiratory virus cases each year.
“Every new year – worldwide – we have new types of viruses because the viruses have to change themselves.”
This is the same reason we are pressured to get a new flu shot every year. The flu virus, which is one of about 100 viruses affecting the public each year, is always changing, making it a moving target for medical doctors.
One of Dr. Wodarg’s fears is that the original test for Covid-19 was developed too hastily. As panic quickly arose, the first protocol was sent out across the world as the standard. “Usually, as a test is considered a product of medicine, it has to be validated,” Wolfgang explains. “That means it has to be checked very precisely.”
And what if a person is dying of something else, but also has the coronavirus? In his view, this rushed testing method combined with hysteria and a lack of context surrounding Covid-19 cases has created a perfect storm for scientists to take advantage of goodhearted yet ignorant politicians and bureaucrats.
Unfortunately, government support of scientific institutions creates a situation where scientists are continuously trying to impress government officials and tout their abilities and need for funds, as many scientists argue.
“And like this, politicians are being courted by many scientists. Scientists who want to be important in politics because they need money for their institutions. Scientists who just swim along in this mainstream and also want their part…And what is missing at the moment is a rational way of looking at things.” – Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg
We all know that the media hypes up every virus and that people do not think clearly when in a panic. Although nobody knows for sure the extent to which the coronavirus will harm us in the long run, it is certainly wise to be prepared and limit contact with others at this stage, while also being mindful of the long term implications that such radical government reactions can have on our future world.
Read more articles by Phillip Schneider.
About the Author
Phillip Schneider is a student as well as a staff writer and assistant editor for Waking Times. If you would like to see more of his work, you can visit his website, or follow him on the free speech social network Minds.
This article (German Physician Comments On How the Coronavirus is Being Over-Hyped and Misunderstood) as originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Phillip Schneider and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.


wakingtimes--2020-03-20--5 Ways You Can Help Your Fellow Humans During The Coronavirus Madness

On Monday , the Federal government implemented sweeping recommendations , bans , and of course , bailouts for the rich .
State and local governments then quickly followed suit and began to shut down restaurants , bars , gyms , churches , and other areas in which larger groups gather .
Primary elections are being suspended , millions of people are locked down , and curfews and police state actions are getting closer on the horizon .
Social distancing is undoubtedly the best way to stop the spread of this disease and most experts — not talking about the mainstream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or things will get really bad : as in millions dead in America alone .
Make no mistake , things will get much worse before they start to get better .
But it is not all doom and gloom .
There are things you can do in your local community and around the world to help those affected by these dark times.. Help those affected by the recent closures Monday marked a day in this country which has never happened .
From coast to coast millions of workers simultaneously found out that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day .
The impact was so large that it overwhelmed unemployment websites , causing them to crash .
The coronavirus measures could impact these people in extreme ways and for months to come .
Some dine-in restaurants are allowed to stay open during these times to serve take-out meals .
If you are still able to freely travel in your town , you should consider visiting some of these places if you can afford it and tipping well as the $ 2.13 an hour wage is not sustainable .
If you know others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them out with food or donations or work , if you have it .
Another way to help is to buy gift cards to your favorite local restaurants , stores , from your hair stylist and local spa .
The business will get the money today , but you can use it later .
Pay in cash , if possible , to avoid further lag time .
If you are one of the folks affected by these closures , check your state ’ s guidelines as some of them are already rolling out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is estimated that roughly 40 percent of the medical workforce is affected by the closure of schools .
If you can watch a healthcare worker ’ s child so they can get back to helping countless other sick people , this effort will prove to make a massive difference .
Run errands for those who can not leave their homes As the virus continues to spread , there will be more and more people who are quarantined in their homes .
The panic from self-quarantine has already caused runs on grocery stores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toilet paper .
Many of these folks who are now quarantined may not have had time to get supplies before they were unable to leave their homes .
You can help them .
Kelly Arsenault , in Knoxville , TN is providing an inspiring example of how this can look in your community .
She started a “ Kindness Committee ” to help those who can not leave their homes .
If your neighborhood doesn ’ t have one , it is as simple as creating a form on Google .
Arsenault ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homeowners in the neighborhood to volunteer help .
Then , those who are in need can request it .
This simple online tool is providing a much needed resource to those in need and all of it is being done without calling 911 or waiting for the government to help .
As Town and Country points out , the Red Cross is concerned that coronavirus will threaten America ’ s blood supply .
As more people contract the virus , fewer people will be eligible to donate blood .
The organization asks healthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and emphasizes that there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be contracted through blood .
More and more people are cancelling their blood donation appointments , which could cause bigger problems in the future .
The Red Cross emphasized that they are being meticulous to prevent spread during donations and keep everyone safe .
Help keep your neighbors from going hungry Grocery stores across the country have seen a recent spike in panic buying .
Empty shelves are now commonplace in every city in America .
Those who can afford it have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who can ’ t ?
Many municipalities have Meals on Wheels organizations that are set up to safely deliver food to senior citizens who are unable to leave their homes .
This charity is promising to make sure the elderly are not left to fend for themselves in the midst of this crisis .
But just as those in need will be relying on Meals on Wheels for help , Meals on Wheels can not help them without your help .
If you want to find a Meals on Wheels in your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this link .
If you want to donate to Meals on Wheels , you can do so at this link .
Meals on Wheels is not your only option either .
If you have food to give , seek out your local food bank and consider donating .
Many food banks also accept cash if you want to hold on to your non-perishable items .
If none of the above options are available , or if you are looking to give further , GoFundMe has set up a general fund to support individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as the organizations working to keep people safe , find a cure , or support their communities .
Funds raised on this campaign will be managed by GoFundMe.Org , an independent non-profit organization registered in the United States .
Donors support the GoFundMe.Org fund and GoFundMe.Org selects and then distributes donations to verified GoFundMe campaigns and aid to organizations that help those affected .
You can find that donation link , here .
It is important to remain vigilant during these uncertain times .
We have only seen a glimpse of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toilet paper debacle .
Imagine how that scene will look when it ’ s food people are fighting over .
By coming together and helping our fellow humans , we can come out on the other end of this with dignity and honor instead of despotism and chaos .
That choice is up to us .
What will you choose ?
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world .
Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and now on Minds .

5 Ways You Can Help Your Fellow Humans During The Coronavirus Madness
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
On Monday, the Federal government implemented sweeping recommendations, bans, and of course, bailouts for the rich. State and local governments then quickly followed suit and began to shut down restaurants, bars, gyms, churches, and other areas in which larger groups gather. Primary elections are being suspended, millions of people are locked down, and curfews and police state actions are getting closer on the horizon.
Social distancing is undoubtedly the best way to stop the spread of this disease and most experts — not talking about the mainstream media — are recommending we do this, or things will get really bad: as in millions dead in America alone.
Make no mistake, things will get much worse before they start to get better. But it is not all doom and gloom. There are things you can do in your local community and around the world to help those affected by these dark times..
Help those affected by the recent closures
Monday marked a day in this country which has never happened. From coast to coast millions of workers simultaneously found out that they will not have jobs the next day. The impact was so large that it overwhelmed unemployment websites, causing them to crash. The coronavirus measures could impact these people in extreme ways and for months to come.
Some dine-in restaurants are allowed to stay open during these times to serve take-out meals. If you are still able to freely travel in your town, you should consider visiting some of these places if you can afford it and tipping well as the $2.13 an hour wage is not sustainable.
If you know others affected by this shutdown, consider helping them out with food or donations or work, if you have it. Another way to help is to buy gift cards to your favorite local restaurants, stores, from your hair stylist and local spa. The business will get the money today, but you can use it later. Pay in cash, if possible, to avoid further lag time.
If you are one of the folks affected by these closures, check your state’s guidelines as some of them are already rolling out measures to support you.
Also, it is estimated that roughly 40 percent of the medical workforce is affected by the closure of schools. If you can watch a healthcare worker’s child so they can get back to helping countless other sick people, this effort will prove to make a massive difference.
Run errands for those who cannot leave their homes
As the virus continues to spread, there will be more and more people who are quarantined in their homes. The panic from self-quarantine has already caused runs on grocery stores as well as the idiotic hoarding of toilet paper. Many of these folks who are now quarantined may not have had time to get supplies before they were unable to leave their homes. You can help them.
Kelly Arsenault, in Knoxville, TN is providing an inspiring example of how this can look in your community. She started a “Kindness Committee” to help those who cannot leave their homes.
If your neighborhood doesn’t have one, it is as simple as creating a form on Google. Arsenault’s neighbor created a form that allows homeowners in the neighborhood to volunteer help. Then, those who are in need can request it.
This simple online tool is providing a much needed resource to those in need and all of it is being done without calling 911 or waiting for the government to help.
Donate blood
As Town and Country points out, the Red Cross is concerned that coronavirus will threaten America’s blood supply. As more people contract the virus, fewer people will be eligible to donate blood. The organization asks healthy people to donate blood despite the pandemic, and emphasizes that there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be contracted through blood.
More and more people are cancelling their blood donation appointments, which could cause bigger problems in the future. The Red Cross emphasized that they are being meticulous to prevent spread during donations and keep everyone safe.
“We need people to prevent the blood supply from getting depleted. We need it not to get to the point that surgeries are having to get canceled. That’s something we absolutely do not want to have happen,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “To ensure an adequate blood supply we need people to come out and donate blood.”
Help keep your neighbors from going hungry
Grocery stores across the country have seen a recent spike in panic buying. Empty shelves are now commonplace in every city in America. Those who can afford it have been stocking up. But what about those who can’t?
Many municipalities have Meals on Wheels organizations that are set up to safely deliver food to senior citizens who are unable to leave their homes. This charity is promising to make sure the elderly are not left to fend for themselves in the midst of this crisis. But just as those in need will be relying on Meals on Wheels for help, Meals on Wheels cannot help them without your help.
If you want to find a Meals on Wheels in your town, you can do so at this link. If you want to donate to Meals on Wheels, you can do so at this link.
Meals on Wheels is not your only option either. If you have food to give, seek out your local food bank and consider donating. Many food banks also accept cash if you want to hold on to your non-perishable items.
GoFundMe
If none of the above options are available, or if you are looking to give further, GoFundMe has set up a general fund to support individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the organizations working to keep people safe, find a cure, or support their communities.
Funds raised on this campaign will be managed by GoFundMe.Org, an independent non-profit organization registered in the United States. Donors support the GoFundMe.Org fund and GoFundMe.Org selects and then distributes donations to verified GoFundMe campaigns and aid to organizations that help those affected.
You can find that donation link, here.
It is important to remain vigilant during these uncertain times. We have only seen a glimpse of what a little panic can do with this toilet paper debacle. Imagine how that scene will look when it’s food people are fighting over. By coming together and helping our fellow humans, we can come out on the other end of this with dignity and honor instead of despotism and chaos. That choice is up to us. What will you choose?
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.


wakingtimes--2020-03-20--Detect, Deter and Annihilate: How the Police State Will Deal with a Coronavirus Outbreak

What do zombies have to do with the U.S. government ’ s plans for dealing with a coronavirus outbreak ?
Read on , and I ’ ll tell you .
The zombie narrative was popularized by the hit television series The Walking Dead , in which a small group of Americans attempt to survive in a zombie-ridden , post-apocalyptic world where they ’ re not only fighting off flesh-eating ghouls but cannibalistic humans .
For a while there , zombies could be found lurking around every corner : wreaking havoc at gun shows , battling corsets in movies such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ running for their lives in 5K charity races .
Understandably , zombie fiction plays to our fears and paranoia , while allowing us to “ envision how we and our own would thrive if everything went to hell and we lost all our societal supports.
” Yet as journalist Syreeta McFadden points out , while dystopian stories used to reflect our anxieties , now they reflect our reality , mirroring how we as a nation view the world around us , how we as citizens view each other , and most of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the U.S. government has spent a lot of time and energy in recent years using zombies as the models for a variety of crisis scenarios not too dissimilar from what we are currently experiencing .
For instance , back in 2015 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put together a zombie apocalypse preparation kit “ that details everything you would need to have on hand in the event the living dead showed up at your front door.
” The CDC , in conjunction with the Dept .
of Defense , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through their paces in mock military drills .
Forbes found Fear ’ s quick shift into a police state to be far-fetched , but anyone who has been paying attention in recent years knows that the groundwork was laid long ago for the government—i.e.
, the military—to intervene and lock down the nation in the event of a national disaster .
We ’ re seeing this play out now as the coronavirus contagion spreads .
What we have yet to experience ( although it may only be a matter of time ) is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ martial law could pose a greater threat to our safety ( and our freedoms ) than any virus .
Indeed , zombie fiction perfectly embodies the government ’ s paranoia about the citizenry as potential threats that need to be monitored , tracked , surveilled , sequestered , deterred , vanquished and rendered impotent .
Why else would the government feel the need to monitor our communications , track our movements , criminalize our every action , treat us like suspects , and strip us of any means of defense while equipping its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weapons ?
For years now , the government has been carrying out military training drills with zombies as the enemy .
In 2011 , the DOD created a 31-page instruction manual for how to protect America from a terrorist attack carried out by zombie forces .
In 2012 , the CDC released a guide for surviving a zombie plague .
That was followed by training drills for members of the military , police officers and first responders .
The zombie exercises appeared to be kitschy and fun—government agents running around trying to put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ zombies in the exercises were us , the citizenry , viewed by those in power as mindless , voracious , zombie hordes ?
Consider this : the government started playing around with the idea of using zombies as stand-ins for enemy combatants in its training drills right around the time the Army War College issued its 2008 report , warning that an economic crisis in the U.S. could lead to massive civil unrest that would require the military to intervene and restore order .
That same year , it was revealed that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ names of Americans considered a threat to national security , to be used “ by the military in the event of a national catastrophe , a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law.
” The program ’ s name , Main Core , refers to the fact that it contains “ copies of the ‘ main core ’ or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community.
” Also in 2008 , the Pentagon launched the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military-driven research project focused on studying social behavior in order to determine how best to cope with mass civil disobedience or uprisings .
The Minerva Initiative has funded projects such as “ Who Does Not Become a Terrorist , and Why ?
” which “ conflates peaceful activists with ‘ supporters of political violence ’ who are different from terrorists only in that they do not embark on ‘ armed militancy ’ themselves.
” In 2009 , the Dept .
of Homeland Security issued its reports on Rightwing and Leftwing Extremism , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ terrorist ” were used interchangeably to describe citizens they perceived to be disgruntled or anti-government .
Meanwhile , a government campaign was underway to spy on Americans ’ mail , email and cell phone communications .
News reports indicate that the U.S .
Postal Service has handled more than 150,000 requests by federal and state law enforcement agencies to monitor Americans ’ mail , in addition to photographing every piece of mail sent through the postal system .
Fast forward a few years more and local police were being transformed into extensions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of their community as suspects , trained to shoot first and ask questions later , and equipped with all of the technology and weaponry of a soldier on a battlefield .
The Obama administration then hired a domestic terrorism czar whose job is to focus on anti-government American “ extremists ” who have been designated a greater threat to America than ISIS or al Qaeda .
As part of the government ’ s so-called war on right-wing extremism , the Obama administration agreed to partner with the United Nations to take part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is training local police agencies across America in how to identify , fight and prevent extremism .
Nothing has changed for the better under the Trump Administration .
Those who believe in and exercise their rights under the Constitution ( namely , the right to speak freely , worship freely , associate with like-minded individuals who share their political views , criticize the government , own a weapon , demand a warrant before being questioned or searched , or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government , racist , bigoted , anarchic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promoted to the top of the government ’ s terrorism watch list .
“ We the people ” or , more appropriately , “ we the zombies ” are the enemy in the eyes of the government .
This coronavirus merely ups the ante .
So when presented with the Defense Department ’ s battle plan for defeating an army of the walking dead , you might find yourself tempted to giggle over the fact that a taxpayer-funded government bureaucrat actually took the time to research and write about vegetarian zombies , evil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ zombies , bio-engineered weaponized zombies , radiation zombies , symbiant-induced zombies , and pathogenic zombies .
However , in an age of extreme government paranoia , this is no laughing matter .
The DOD ’ s strategy for dealing with a zombie uprising , outlined in “ CONOP 8888 , ” is for all intents and purposes a training manual for the government in how to put down a citizen uprising or at least an uprising of individuals “ infected ” with a dangerous disease or dangerous ideas about freedom .
Rest assured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the “ fictional training scenario ” are all too real , beginning with martial law .
So how does the military plan to put down a zombie ( a.k.a .
citizen ) uprising ?
The strategy manual outlines five phases necessary for a counter-offensive : shape , deter , seize initiative , dominate , stabilize and restore civil authority .
Here are a few details : Phase 0 ( Shape ) : Conduct general zombie awareness training .
Monitor increased threats ( i.e.
, surveillance ) .
Carry out military drills .
Synchronize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Anticipate and prepare for a breakdown in law and order .
Phase 1 ( Deter ) : Recognize that zombies can not be deterred or reasoned with .
Carry out training drills to discourage other countries from developing or deploying attack zombies and publicly reinforce the government ’ s ability to combat a zombie threat .
Initiate intelligence sharing between federal and state agencies .
Assist the Dept .
of Homeland Security in identifying or discouraging immigrants from areas where zombie-related diseases originate .
Phase 2 ( Seize initiative ) : Recall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Fortify all military outposts .
Deploy air and ground forces for at least 35 days .
Carry out confidence-building measures with nuclear-armed peers such as Russia and China to ensure they do not misinterpret the government ’ s zombie countermeasures as preparations for war .
Establish quarantine zones .
Distribute explosion-resistant protective equipment .
Place the military on red alert .
Begin limited scale military operations to combat zombie threats .
Carry out combat operations against zombie populations within the United States that were “ previously ” U.S. citizens .
Phase 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military bases for 30 days .
Shelter all essential government personnel for at least 40 days .
Equip all government agents with military protective gear .
Issue orders for military to kill all non-human life on sight .
Initiate bomber and missile strikes against targeted sources of zombie infection , including the infrastructure .
Burn all zombie corpses .
Deploy military to lock down the beaches and waterways .
Phase 4 ( Stabilize ) : Send out recon teams to check for remaining threats and survey the status of basic services ( water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and lines of communication ) .
Execute a counter-zombie ISR plan to ID holdout pockets of zombie resistance .
Use all military resources to target any remaining regions of zombie holdouts and influence .
Continue all actions from the Dominate phase .
Phase 5 ( Restore civil authority ) : Deploy military personnel to assist any surviving civil authorities in disaster zones .
Reconstitute combat capabilities at various military bases .
Prepare to redeploy military forces to attack surviving zombie holdouts .
Restore basic services in disaster areas .
As I point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The War on the American People , if there is any lesson to be learned , it is simply this : whether the threat to national security comes in the form of imaginary zombies , actual terrorists , American citizens infected with the coronavirus , or disgruntled American citizens infected with dangerous ideas about freedom , the government ’ s response to such threats remains the same : detect , deter and annihilate .
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute , where this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

Detect, Deter and Annihilate: How the Police State Will Deal with a Coronavirus Outbreak
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“Fear is a primitive impulse, brainless as hunger, and because the aim of horror fiction is the production of the deepest kinds of fears, the genre tends to reinforce some remarkably uncivilized ideas about self-protection. In the current crop of zombie stories, the prevailing value for the beleaguered survivors is a sort of siege mentality, a vigilance so constant and unremitting that it’s indistinguishable from the purest paranoia.”— Terrence Rafferty, New York Times
What do zombies have to do with the U.S. government’s plans for dealing with a coronavirus outbreak?
Read on, and I’ll tell you.
The zombie narrative was popularized by the hit television series The Walking Dead, in which a small group of Americans attempt to survive in a zombie-ridden, post-apocalyptic world where they’re not only fighting off flesh-eating ghouls but cannibalistic humans.
For a while there, zombies could be found lurking around every corner: wreaking havoc at gun shows, battling corsets in movies such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and running for their lives in 5K charity races.
Understandably, zombie fiction plays to our fears and paranoia, while allowing us to “envision how we and our own would thrive if everything went to hell and we lost all our societal supports.” Yet as journalist Syreeta McFadden points out, while dystopian stories used to reflect our anxieties, now they reflect our reality, mirroring how we as a nation view the world around us, how we as citizens view each other, and most of all how our government views us.
Indeed, the U.S. government has spent a lot of time and energy in recent years using zombies as the models for a variety of crisis scenarios not too dissimilar from what we are currently experiencing.
For instance, back in 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put together a zombie apocalypse preparation kit “that details everything you would need to have on hand in the event the living dead showed up at your front door.” The CDC, in conjunction with the Dept. of Defense, even used zombies to put government agents through their paces in mock military drills.
Fear the Walking Dead—AMC’s spinoff of its popular Walking Dead series—drove this point home by dialing back the clock to when the zombie outbreak first appears and setting viewers down in the midst of societal unrest not unlike our own experiences of recent years (“a bunch of weird incidents, police protests, riots, and … rapid social entropy”). Then, as Forbes reports, “the military showed up and we fast-forwarded into an ad hoc police state with no glimpse at what was happening in the world around our main cast of hapless survivors.”
Forbes found Fear’s quick shift into a police state to be far-fetched, but anyone who has been paying attention in recent years knows that the groundwork was laid long ago for the government—i.e., the military—to intervene and lock down the nation in the event of a national disaster.
We’re seeing this play out now as the coronavirus contagion spreads.
What we have yet to experience (although it may only be a matter of time) is that the government through the imposition of martial law could pose a greater threat to our safety (and our freedoms) than any virus.
As the Atlantic noted about Fear the Walking Dead: “The villains aren’t the zombies, who rarely appear, but the U.S. military, who sweep into an L.A. suburb to quarantine the survivors. Zombies are, after all, a recognizable threat—but Fear plumbs drama and horror from the betrayal by institutions designed to keep people safe.”
Indeed, zombie fiction perfectly embodies the government’s paranoia about the citizenry as potential threats that need to be monitored, tracked, surveilled, sequestered, deterred, vanquished and rendered impotent.
Why else would the government feel the need to monitor our communications, track our movements, criminalize our every action, treat us like suspects, and strip us of any means of defense while equipping its own personnel with an amazing arsenal of weapons?
For years now, the government has been carrying out military training drills with zombies as the enemy. In 2011, the DOD created a 31-page instruction manual for how to protect America from a terrorist attack carried out by zombie forces. In 2012, the CDC released a guide for surviving a zombie plague. That was followed by training drills for members of the military, police officers and first responders.
As journalist Andrea Peyser reports:
Coinciding with Halloween 2012, a five-day national conference was put on by the HALO Corp. in San Diego for more than 1,000 first responders, military personnel and law enforcement types. It included workshops produced by a Hollywood-affiliated firm in…overcoming a zombie invasion. Actors were made up to look like flesh-chomping monsters. The Department of Homeland Security even paid the $1,000 entry fees for an unknown number of participants… “Zombie disaster” drills were held in October 2012 and ’13 at California’s Sutter Roseville Medical Center. The exercises allowed medical center staff “to test response to a deadly infectious disease, a mass-casualty event, terrorism event and security procedures”… [In October 2014], REI outdoor-gear stores in Soho and around the country are to hold free classes in zombie preparedness, which the stores have been providing for about three years.
The zombie exercises appeared to be kitschy and fun—government agents running around trying to put down a zombie rebellion—but what if the zombies in the exercises were us, the citizenry, viewed by those in power as mindless, voracious, zombie hordes?
Consider this: the government started playing around with the idea of using zombies as stand-ins for enemy combatants in its training drills right around the time the Army War College issued its 2008 report, warning that an economic crisis in the U.S. could lead to massive civil unrest that would require the military to intervene and restore order.
In 2009, the Dept. of Homeland Security issued its reports on Rightwing and Leftwing Extremism, in which the terms “extremist” and “terrorist” were used interchangeably to describe citizens they perceived to be disgruntled or anti-government.
Meanwhile, a government campaign was underway to spy on Americans’ mail, email and cell phone communications. News reports indicate that the U.S. Postal Service has handled more than 150,000 requests by federal and state law enforcement agencies to monitor Americans’ mail, in addition to photographing every piece of mail sent through the postal system.
Fast forward a few years more and local police were being transformed into extensions of the military, taught to view members of their community as suspects, trained to shoot first and ask questions later, and equipped with all of the technology and weaponry of a soldier on a battlefield.
The Obama administration then hired a domestic terrorism czar whose job is to focus on anti-government American “extremists” who have been designated a greater threat to America than ISIS or al Qaeda. As part of the government’s so-called war on right-wing extremism, the Obama administration agreed to partner with the United Nations to take part in its Strong Cities Network program, which is training local police agencies across America in how to identify, fight and prevent extremism.
Nothing has changed for the better under the Trump Administration.
Those who believe in and exercise their rights under the Constitution (namely, the right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share their political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), continue to be promoted to the top of the government’s terrorism watch list.
“We the people” or, more appropriately, “we the zombies” are the enemy in the eyes of the government. This coronavirus merely ups the ante.
So when presented with the Defense Department’s battle plan for defeating an army of the walking dead, you might find yourself tempted to giggle over the fact that a taxpayer-funded government bureaucrat actually took the time to research and write about vegetarian zombies, evil magic zombies, chicken zombies, space zombies, bio-engineered weaponized zombies, radiation zombies, symbiant-induced zombies, and pathogenic zombies.
However, in an age of extreme government paranoia, this is no laughing matter.
The DOD’s strategy for dealing with a zombie uprising, outlined in “CONOP 8888,” is for all intents and purposes a training manual for the government in how to put down a citizen uprising or at least an uprising of individuals “infected” with a dangerous disease or dangerous ideas about freedom.
Rest assured that the tactics and difficulties outlined in the “fictional training scenario” are all too real, beginning with martial law.
As the DOD training manual states: “zombies [stand-ins for “we the people”] are horribly dangerous to all human life and zombie infections have the potential to seriously undermine national security and economic activities that sustain our way of life. Therefore having a population that is not composed of zombies or at risk from their malign influence is vital to U.S. and Allied national interests.”
So how does the military plan to put down a zombie (a.k.a. citizen) uprising?
The strategy manual outlines five phases necessary for a counter-offensive: shape, deter, seize initiative, dominate, stabilize and restore civil authority. Here are a few details:
Phase 0 (Shape): Conduct general zombie awareness training. Monitor increased threats (i.e., surveillance). Carry out military drills. Synchronize contingency plans between federal and state agencies. Anticipate and prepare for a breakdown in law and order.
Phase 1 (Deter): Recognize that zombies cannot be deterred or reasoned with. Carry out training drills to discourage other countries from developing or deploying attack zombies and publicly reinforce the government’s ability to combat a zombie threat. Initiate intelligence sharing between federal and state agencies. Assist the Dept. of Homeland Security in identifying or discouraging immigrants from areas where zombie-related diseases originate.
Phase 2 (Seize initiative): Recall all military personal to their duty stations. Fortify all military outposts. Deploy air and ground forces for at least 35 days. Carry out confidence-building measures with nuclear-armed peers such as Russia and China to ensure they do not misinterpret the government’s zombie countermeasures as preparations for war. Establish quarantine zones. Distribute explosion-resistant protective equipment. Place the military on red alert. Begin limited scale military operations to combat zombie threats. Carry out combat operations against zombie populations within the United States that were “previously” U.S. citizens.
Phase 3 (Dominate): Lock down all military bases for 30 days. Shelter all essential government personnel for at least 40 days. Equip all government agents with military protective gear. Issue orders for military to kill all non-human life on sight. Initiate bomber and missile strikes against targeted sources of zombie infection, including the infrastructure. Burn all zombie corpses. Deploy military to lock down the beaches and waterways.
Phase 4 (Stabilize): Send out recon teams to check for remaining threats and survey the status of basic services (water, power, sewage infrastructure, air, and lines of communication). Execute a counter-zombie ISR plan to ID holdout pockets of zombie resistance. Use all military resources to target any remaining regions of zombie holdouts and influence. Continue all actions from the Dominate phase.
Phase 5 (Restore civil authority): Deploy military personnel to assist any surviving civil authorities in disaster zones. Reconstitute combat capabilities at various military bases. Prepare to redeploy military forces to attack surviving zombie holdouts. Restore basic services in disaster areas.
Notice the similarities?
Surveillance. Military drills. Awareness training. Militarized police forces. Martial law.
As I point out in my book, Battlefield America: The War on the American People, if there is any lesson to be learned, it is simply this: whether the threat to national security comes in the form of imaginary zombies, actual terrorists, American citizens infected with the coronavirus, or disgruntled American citizens infected with dangerous ideas about freedom, the government’s response to such threats remains the same: detect, deter and annihilate.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (John Lennon Was Right: The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.


wakingtimes--2020-03-20--LEGO Bricks Can Survive in Oceans for 1,300 Years, Study Shows

The Danish building block toy LEGO has sprouted an empire of amusement park like stores , movies , and reality TV competitions premised on building complicated characters , vehicles and settings from inter-locking pieces of plastic .
Unfortunately , all that plastic will be with us for a long , long time , according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Pollution .
The researchers from the University of Plymouth in England studied how the pieces from the popular toy broke down in a marine environment .
It turns out , LEGO bricks can survive in ocean waters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the study .
The research team conducted the study by examining 50 LEGO bricks that had washed up in Cornwall , England .
As Newsweek reported , the recovered pieces were cleaned , measured , weighed and then compared to unused bricks .
The scientists checked the chemical composition of each block .
By identifying chemicals no longer used in the production process , the scientists were able to estimate the age of each brick .
The team compared the level of wear and tear by comparing the bricks to pristine LEGO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ By conducting that complex comparison , the researchers were able to estimate that LEGO bricks can survive anywhere from 100 to 1,300 years in a marine environment , meaning their durability could be harmful to marine animals , according to a statement from the University of Plymouth .
The researchers said their findings mean people need to be very careful about how they discard everyday household items .
“ LEGO is one of the most popular children ’ s toys in history and part of its appeal has always been its durability , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth , said in a statement .
“ It is specifically designed to be played with and handled , so it may not be especially surprising that despite potentially being in the sea for decades it isn ’ t significantly worn down .
However , the full extent of its durability was even a surprise to us.
” Turner , who previously conducted extensive research on the chemical properties of items washed up as marine litter , warned about the scourge of microplastics as LEGO bricks wear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had smoothed and discolored , with some of the structures having fractured and fragmented , suggesting that as well as pieces remaining intact they might also break down into microplastics , ” he said in a statement .
“ It once again emphasizes the importance of people disposing of used items properly to ensure they do not pose potential problems for the environment.
” Environmental activists noted that the study shows the harm of not disposing of toys properly or being careless with them on a visit to a beach or river .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ children around the world for decades , but this joy comes with a heavy price , an ocean crisis , ” Chris Thorne , an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK , said to The Independent .
“ This study confirms what we already knew , that much of the plastic waste we ’ ve left in our oceans , including LEGO , will survive there for centuries , possibly even millennia.
” “ The impacts of this will be wide ranging , and harm marine ecosystems long after our generation is gone , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect our oceans from all the pressures facing them , from climate change to overfishing and plastic pollution .
”

LEGO Bricks Can Survive in Oceans for 1,300 Years, Study Shows
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Waking Times
The Danish building block toy LEGO has sprouted an empire of amusement park like stores, movies, and reality TV competitions premised on building complicated characters, vehicles and settings from inter-locking pieces of plastic. Unfortunately, all that plastic will be with us for a long, long time, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
The researchers from the University of Plymouth in England studied how the pieces from the popular toy broke down in a marine environment. It turns out, LEGO bricks can survive in ocean waters for up to 1,300 years, according to the study.
The research team conducted the study by examining 50 LEGO bricks that had washed up in Cornwall, England. As Newsweek reported, the recovered pieces were cleaned, measured, weighed and then compared to unused bricks. The scientists checked the chemical composition of each block. By identifying chemicals no longer used in the production process, the scientists were able to estimate the age of each brick. The team compared the level of wear and tear by comparing the bricks to pristine LEGO pieces from the 70s and 80s.
By conducting that complex comparison, the researchers were able to estimate that LEGO bricks can survive anywhere from 100 to 1,300 years in a marine environment, meaning their durability could be harmful to marine animals, according to a statement from the University of Plymouth. The researchers said their findings mean people need to be very careful about how they discard everyday household items.
“LEGO is one of the most popular children’s toys in history and part of its appeal has always been its durability,” Andrew Turner, associate professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth, said in a statement. “It is specifically designed to be played with and handled, so it may not be especially surprising that despite potentially being in the sea for decades it isn’t significantly worn down. However, the full extent of its durability was even a surprise to us.”
Turner, who previously conducted extensive research on the chemical properties of items washed up as marine litter, warned about the scourge of microplastics as LEGO bricks wear down.
“The pieces we tested had smoothed and discolored, with some of the structures having fractured and fragmented, suggesting that as well as pieces remaining intact they might also break down into microplastics,” he said in a statement. “It once again emphasizes the importance of people disposing of used items properly to ensure they do not pose potential problems for the environment.”
Environmental activists noted that the study shows the harm of not disposing of toys properly or being careless with them on a visit to a beach or river.
“LEGO has brought joy to countless children around the world for decades, but this joy comes with a heavy price, an ocean crisis,” Chris Thorne, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said to The Independent. “This study confirms what we already knew, that much of the plastic waste we’ve left in our oceans, including LEGO, will survive there for centuries, possibly even millennia.” “The impacts of this will be wide ranging, and harm marine ecosystems long after our generation is gone,” Thorne added. “We must protect our oceans from all the pressures facing them, from climate change to overfishing and plastic pollution.”
By Jordan Davidson | Creative Commons | EcoWatch


wakingtimes--2020-03-20--Childhood Stress Can Make You Ill as an Adult

Prolonged stress can have life-threatening consequences not only for adults but also for children .
Research shows adverse childhood experiences ( ACEs ) can predispose them to any number of health problems later in life .
In the early days of mankind ’ s evolution , the stress response saved our lives by enabling us to run from predators or take down prey .
Today , however , such dire circumstances are few and far between , yet we still turn on the same “ life-saving ” reaction to cope with countless everyday situations .
Constantly being in a stress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hormones around the clock , which can raise your blood pressure , add fat to your belly , shrink your brain and even unravel your chromosomes .
Stress disrupts your neuroendocrine and immune systems and appears to trigger a degenerative process in your brain that can result in Alzheimer ’ s disease .
Stress can also accelerate aging by shortening your telomeres , the protective genetic structures that regulate how your cells age .
In the words of Dr. Lissa Rankin , author of “ Mind Over Medicine ” : In a March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the work of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris , founder of a children ’ s medical clinical in one of San Francisco ’ s poorest neighborhoods .
A surprisingly large portion of her young patients struggled with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) , the hallmarks of which include an inability to focus , impulsivity and abnormal restlessness .
Many also had severe health problems and depression .
Piore writes : Alarmed by the obvious trend she was witnessing in her clinic , Harris began searching for answers in the medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the poor state of health of so many of her young patients ?
In 2020 , California is allocating $ 105 million to promote screening for ACEs , which have been shown to trigger toxic stress responses and epigenetic changes linked to a variety of health problems .
As reported by Piore , the biological switches flipped during ACEs increase a child ’ s risk for : What ’ s more , these stress-induced epigenetic changes can be passed on to future generations .
Indeed , you will often find that childhood trauma @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each subsequent generation playing out the same interpersonal dramas as their parents .
According to Harris , “ The social determinants of health are to the 21st century , what infectious disease was to the 20th century.
” Much of what we now know about ACEs are the result of the 1998 ACE Study , which examined the relationship between childhood trauma and subsequent risky behaviors and diseases in adulthood .
Categories of ACEs examined included : Of the 13,494 adults who received the questionnaire and had completed a standard medical evaluation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than half reported experiencing at least one ACE ; one-fourth reported two or more .
Not only did they find a direct “ dose-dependent ” relationship between the number of ACEs and future health problems and risky behaviors , childhood trauma appeared to be an independent risk factor for leading causes of death .
According to the authors : In the June 2019 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine , ( full text is behind a paywall ) Dr. Vincent J. Felitti commented on his 1998 ACE Study : Upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente weight loss study acknowledged sexual abuse — an absolutely staggering statistic Felitti could hardly believe at first .
Many of these patients also spoke about other childhood traumas .
Since these patients unconsciously used obesity as a defense mechanism , their weight loss efforts were often unsustainable , and they ’ d gain all the weight back .
Since the publication of the 1998 ACE Study , Felitti and co-principal investigator Dr. Robert Anda have published more than 75 articles on its findings and other follow-up investigations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while interest in ACEs has grown , there ’ s been a strong resistance to using the information in clinical medical practice .
For example , there were fears that questions about ACEs might enrage patients or trigger suicide .
However , when Felitti conducted an investigation , he found that when the ACE questions were included in an adult medical history intake , outpatient visits were actually reduced by 35 % and emergency room visits declined by 11 % in the subsequent year , compared to the year before the ACE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was no rise in referrals to psychotherapy , so the reduction was not due to more people seeking psychiatric help .
What they eventually discovered was that the mere ability to talk about their ACEs had a tremendously beneficial effect .
Felitti writes : “ We learned from patients that our apparent acceptance of them after hearing their dark secret was of profound importance .
After lengthy consideration , we came to see that ‘ Asking ’ … followed up by face-to-face ‘ Listening ’ and ‘ Accepting ’ was a powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words , we had come upon a mechanism for reducing traumatic shame , which shame had the secondary effect of causing stress-related symptoms and hence doctor visits .
Given our sample size , the economic implications of a reduction of this magnitude in medical utilization are in the multibillion-dollar range for any large organization .
Numerous legislatures , state and federal , have become involved because of the multibillion-dollar implications of the ACE Study findings for population health as well as medical care budgets .
The WHO has been collecting data annually with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in more than two dozen European and Asian nations , and the CDC has added since 2009 an ACE module to its annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study , with almost all states currently participating .
Thus , in spite of the slow progress over the past 20 years , the international breadth and strength of interest in understanding the implications and extent of the ACE findings strongly suggest that our keynote AJPM article will ultimately have a major role in advancing well-being and medical care.
” In the two decades since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigated the connection between childhood trauma and adult disease states from a variety of angles , looking for biological mechanisms to explain it .
One proposed mechanism involves the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal ( HPA ) axis , which controls stress reactions and regulates immune function , energy storage and expenditure , moods and emotions by way of hormones .
A key hormone involved is cortisol , which plays a role in energy regulation .
As explained by Piore : Interestingly , researchers have discovered that different ACEs impact cortisol regulation in different ways .
Children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sexual abuse tend to have abnormally high cortisol levels first thing in the morning , while children experiencing severe neglect tend to have abnormally low morning levels .
Low morning cortisol has been linked to delinquency and alcohol use , while high morning cortisol levels are associated with anxiety , depression and post-traumatic stress disorder .
Excessive amounts of cortisol also lower immune function , thus raising the risk of infection , and raises the risk of high blood pressure , insulin resistance , Type 2 diabetes , obesity and heart disease .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ cortisol increases the risk of an inflammatory immune response and exaggerated inflammatory response to stress .
“ Sickness behavior ” — lack of appetite , fatigue , social withdrawal , depressed mood , irritability and poor cognitive functioning — has also been shown to be related to insufficient cortisol , Piore reports .
Researchers have also discovered that the presence of ACEs is in and of itself not enough to trigger toxic stress .
Genetics also appear to play a role , as does interpersonal intervention .
If someone is around to offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be restored , allowing cortisol levels to normalize .
The problem is that chronic abuse is typically because no one is intervening on the child ’ s behalf .
“ Adversity and stress without adequate buffering can turn on genes that flood the system with enzymes that prime the body to respond to further stress by making it easier to produce adrenaline and reactivate the fight-or-flight response quickly , which can make it harder for children with toxic stress to control their emotions , ” Piore notes .
In 2019 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analyzed data from 144,017 individuals in 25 states , finding : • Nearly 1 in 6 adults ( 15.6 % ) has experienced four or more types of ACEs • ACEs raise the risk of at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death • Preventing ACEs could reduce adult depression rates by as much as 44 % , asthma rates by 24 % and stroke by 15 % • Preventing ACEs could also prevent up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease and up to 2.5 million cases of overweight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the role of ACEs and toxic stress is becoming more widely recognized , doctors can begin to address these issues , which is what Harris is pushing for in California .
Caregivers of stressed or traumatized children also need to be educated on the importance of emotional and physical buffering .
Piore writes : A 2017 paper in Health & Justice delineates further “ action steps using ACEs and trauma-informed care ” to improve patient resiliency without retraumatizing them .
Resilience is the ability of your body to rapidly return to normal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stressful situation .
One way to improve resilience is through breath work , as described in “ Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Develop Greater Resiliency.
” The Health & Justice paper also highlights the importance of incorporating neuroscience concepts to trauma-informed care programs and therapies , and stresses the use of a resilience-oriented approach in order to move “ from trauma information to neuroscience-based action with practical skills to build greater capacity for self-regulation and self-care in both service providers and clients.
” Problems and Challenges : ACE Score May Be Misleading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Services ACEs Aware Initiative kicked off January 1 , 2020 .
Health care providers in the state are encouraged to screen patients for ACEs that might influence their health , and connecting patients in need with the appropriate interventions and resources .
Some , however , including Anda , who helped develop the ACE score with Felitti , worry that the ACE score might not work well when applied to individual patients , as it does not take into account caregiver buffering and other factors that tend to be protective .
Piore writes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misused and lead to inappropriate labeling , recognizing the influence of ACEs in public health is an important step forward .
In coming years , we ’ re likely to see more advances in screening methods as well .

Childhood Stress Can Make You Ill as an Adult
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
Prolonged stress can have life-threatening consequences not only for adults but also for children. Research shows adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can predispose them to any number of health problems later in life.
In the early days of mankind’s evolution, the stress response saved our lives by enabling us to run from predators or take down prey. Today, however, such dire circumstances are few and far between, yet we still turn on the same “life-saving” reaction to cope with countless everyday situations.
Constantly being in a stress response may have you marinating in corrosive hormones around the clock, which can raise your blood pressure, add fat to your belly, shrink your brain and even unravel your chromosomes.
Stress disrupts your neuroendocrine and immune systems and appears to trigger a degenerative process in your brain that can result in Alzheimer’s disease. Stress can also accelerate aging by shortening your telomeres, the protective genetic structures that regulate how your cells age. In the words of Dr. Lissa Rankin, author of “Mind Over Medicine”:
“Our bodies know how to fix broken proteins, kill cancer cells, retard aging, and fight infection. They even know how to heal ulcers, make skin lesions disappear and knit together broken bones! But here’s the kicker — those natural self-repair mechanisms don’t work if you’re stressed!”
Childhood Stress and Mental Health
In a March 2020 Newsweek article, Adam Piore discusses the work of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, founder of a children’s medical clinical in one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods.
A surprisingly large portion of her young patients struggled with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the hallmarks of which include an inability to focus, impulsivity and abnormal restlessness. Many also had severe health problems and depression. Piore writes:
“Burke Harris noticed something else unusual about these children. Whenever she asked their parents or caregivers to tell her about conditions at home, she almost invariably uncovered a major life disruption or trauma. One child had been sexually abused by a tenant, she recalls. Another had witnessed an attempted murder. Many children came from homes struggling with the incarceration or death of a parent, or reported acrimonious divorces. Some caregivers denied there were any problems at all, but had arrived at the appointment high on drugs.”
Alarmed by the obvious trend she was witnessing in her clinic, Harris began searching for answers in the medical literature. Was childhood trauma responsible for the poor state of health of so many of her young patients?
“Childhood stress can be as toxic and detrimental to the development of the brain and body as eating lead paint chips off the wall or drinking it in the water — and should be screened for and dealt with in similar ways, in Burke Harris’ view. As California’s first Surgeon General … she is focusing on getting lawmakers and the public to act,” Piore writes.
Adverse Childhood Experiences Screening
In 2020, California is allocating $105 million to promote screening for ACEs, which have been shown to trigger toxic stress responses and epigenetic changes linked to a variety of health problems. As reported by Piore, the biological switches flipped during ACEs increase a child’s risk for:
Nicotine, alcohol and drug abuse Heart disease Suicide Cancer Mental illness Dementia Impaired immune function
What’s more, these stress-induced epigenetic changes can be passed on to future generations. Indeed, you will often find that childhood trauma “runs in families,” with each subsequent generation playing out the same interpersonal dramas as their parents. According to Harris, “The social determinants of health are to the 21st century, what infectious disease was to the 20th century.”
The ACE Study
Much of what we now know about ACEs are the result of the 1998 ACE Study, which examined the relationship between childhood trauma and subsequent risky behaviors and diseases in adulthood. Categories of ACEs examined included:
Psychological abuse Physical abuse Sexual abuse Violence against the mother Living with household members who were substance abusers Living with mentally ill or suicidal household members Living in a household in which a member has been or is imprisoned Early death of a parent Neglect Separation or divorce
Of the 13,494 adults who received the questionnaire and had completed a standard medical evaluation, 70.5% responded. Of those, more than half reported experiencing at least one ACE; one-fourth reported two or more.
Not only did they find a direct “dose-dependent” relationship between the number of ACEs and future health problems and risky behaviors, childhood trauma appeared to be an independent risk factor for leading causes of death. According to the authors:
“We found a graded relationship between the number of categories of childhood exposure and each of the adult health risk behaviors and diseases that were studied. Persons who had experienced four or more categories of childhood exposure, compared to those who had experienced none, had 4- to 12-fold increased health risks for alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide attempt; a 2- to 4-fold increase in smoking, poor self-rated health, > or = 50 sexual intercourse partners, and sexually transmitted disease; and 1.4- to 1.6-fold increase in physical inactivity and severe obesity. The number of categories of adverse childhood exposures showed a graded relationship to the presence of adult diseases including ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures, and liver disease. The seven categories of adverse childhood experiences were strongly interrelated and persons with multiple categories of childhood exposure were likely to have multiple health risk factors later in life.”
Origins of ACEs
In the June 2019 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, (full text is behind a paywall) Dr. Vincent J. Felitti commented on his 1998 ACE Study:
“The ACE Study was a direct outgrowth of significant counterintuitive findings derived from … the treatment of obesity in Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, California. Unexpectedly, we discovered that such major weight loss was actually threatening to many patients. Pursuing this, we came to realize that obesity, a major public health problem from a societal standpoint, was from the involved patient’s standpoint often an unconsciously chosen solution to unrecognized traumatic life experiences that were lost in time and further protected by shame, secrecy, and social taboos against exploring certain realms of human experience.”
Upon investigation, 55% of 286 patients enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente weight loss study acknowledged sexual abuse — an absolutely staggering statistic Felitti could hardly believe at first. Many of these patients also spoke about other childhood traumas.
Since these patients unconsciously used obesity as a defense mechanism, their weight loss efforts were often unsustainable, and they’d gain all the weight back. Since the publication of the 1998 ACE Study, Felitti and co-principal investigator Dr. Robert Anda have published more than 75 articles on its findings and other follow-up investigations.
The Importance of Sharing and Acceptance
Unfortunately, while interest in ACEs has grown, there’s been a strong resistance to using the information in clinical medical practice. For example, there were fears that questions about ACEs might enrage patients or trigger suicide.
However, when Felitti conducted an investigation, he found that when the ACE questions were included in an adult medical history intake, outpatient visits were actually reduced by 35% and emergency room visits declined by 11% in the subsequent year, compared to the year before the ACE questions were added.
They also found there was no rise in referrals to psychotherapy, so the reduction was not due to more people seeking psychiatric help. What they eventually discovered was that the mere ability to talk about their ACEs had a tremendously beneficial effect. Felitti writes:
“We learned from patients that our apparent acceptance of them after hearing their dark secret was of profound importance. After lengthy consideration, we came to see that ‘Asking’ … followed up by face-to-face ‘Listening’ and ‘Accepting’ was a powerful form of ‘Doing.’ In other words, we had come upon a mechanism for reducing traumatic shame, which shame had the secondary effect of causing stress-related symptoms and hence doctor visits. Given our sample size, the economic implications of a reduction of this magnitude in medical utilization are in the multibillion-dollar range for any large organization. Numerous legislatures, state and federal, have become involved because of the multibillion-dollar implications of the ACE Study findings for population health as well as medical care budgets. The WHO has been collecting data annually with an International Version of the ACE Questionnaire in more than two dozen European and Asian nations, and the CDC has added since 2009 an ACE module to its annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study, with almost all states currently participating. Thus, in spite of the slow progress over the past 20 years, the international breadth and strength of interest in understanding the implications and extent of the ACE findings strongly suggest that our keynote AJPM article will ultimately have a major role in advancing well-being and medical care.”
Mind-Body Connection
In the two decades since the ACE Study came out, researchers have investigated the connection between childhood trauma and adult disease states from a variety of angles, looking for biological mechanisms to explain it.
One proposed mechanism involves the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls stress reactions and regulates immune function, energy storage and expenditure, moods and emotions by way of hormones. A key hormone involved is cortisol, which plays a role in energy regulation. As explained by Piore:
“When all is calm, the body builds muscle or bone and socks away excess calories for future consumption as fat, performs cellular regeneration and keeps its immune system strong to fight infection. In the case of a child, the body fuels normal mental and physical development. In an emergency, however, all these processes get put on hold. The HPA axis floods the bloodstream with adrenaline and cortisol, which signals the body to kick into overdrive immediately. Blood sugar levels spike and the heart pumps harder to provide a fast boost in fuel … When the emergency goes on for a long time — perhaps over an entire childhood of abuse — the resulting high levels of cortisol take a big and lasting toll.”
ACEs and Cortisol Dysregulation
Interestingly, researchers have discovered that different ACEs impact cortisol regulation in different ways. Children who experience severe emotional, physical or sexual abuse tend to have abnormally high cortisol levels first thing in the morning, while children experiencing severe neglect tend to have abnormally low morning levels.
Low morning cortisol has been linked to delinquency and alcohol use, while high morning cortisol levels are associated with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Excessive amounts of cortisol also lower immune function, thus raising the risk of infection, and raises the risk of high blood pressure, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
On the other hand, too little cortisol increases the risk of an inflammatory immune response and exaggerated inflammatory response to stress. “Sickness behavior” — lack of appetite, fatigue, social withdrawal, depressed mood, irritability and poor cognitive functioning — has also been shown to be related to insufficient cortisol, Piore reports.
Genetics Also Play a Role
Researchers have also discovered that the presence of ACEs is in and of itself not enough to trigger toxic stress. Genetics also appear to play a role, as does interpersonal intervention. If someone is around to offer soothing reassurance, a sense of safety can be restored, allowing cortisol levels to normalize.
The problem is that chronic abuse is typically because no one is intervening on the child’s behalf. “Adversity and stress without adequate buffering can turn on genes that flood the system with enzymes that prime the body to respond to further stress by making it easier to produce adrenaline and reactivate the fight-or-flight response quickly, which can make it harder for children with toxic stress to control their emotions,” Piore notes.
Childhood Trauma Is a Significant Health Risk
In 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from 144,017 individuals in 25 states, finding:
Nearly 1 in 6 adults (15.6%) has experienced four or more types of ACEs
ACEs raise the risk of at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death
Preventing ACEs could reduce adult depression rates by as much as 44%, asthma rates by 24% and stroke by 15%
Preventing ACEs could also prevent up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease and up to 2.5 million cases of overweight or obesity
Interventions to Combat the Stress Response
The good news is that as the role of ACEs and toxic stress is becoming more widely recognized, doctors can begin to address these issues, which is what Harris is pushing for in California. Caregivers of stressed or traumatized children also need to be educated on the importance of emotional and physical buffering. Piore writes:
“Buffering includes nurturing caregiving, but it can include simple steps like focusing on maintaining proper sleep, exercise and nutrition. Mindfulness training, mental health services and an emphasis on developing healthy relationships are other interventions that Burke Harris says can help combat the stress response. The specifics will vary on a case-by-case basis, and will rely on the judgment and creativity of the doctor to help adult caregivers design a plan to protect the child — and to help both those caregivers and high-risk adults receive social support services and interventions when necessary … ‘Most of our interventions are essentially reducing stress hormones, and ultimately changing our environment,’ says Burke Harris. “
A 2017 paper in Health & Justice delineates further “action steps using ACEs and trauma-informed care” to improve patient resiliency without retraumatizing them.
Resilience is the ability of your body to rapidly return to normal, physically and emotionally, after a stressful situation. One way to improve resilience is through breath work, as described in “Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Develop Greater Resiliency.”
The Health & Justice paper also highlights the importance of incorporating neuroscience concepts to trauma-informed care programs and therapies, and stresses the use of a resilience-oriented approach in order to move “from trauma information to neuroscience-based action with practical skills to build greater capacity for self-regulation and self-care in both service providers and clients.”
Problems and Challenges: ACE Score May Be Misleading
California’s Department of Health Care Services ACEs Aware Initiative kicked off January 1, 2020. Health care providers in the state are encouraged to screen patients for ACEs that might influence their health, and connecting patients in need with the appropriate interventions and resources.
Some, however, including Anda, who helped develop the ACE score with Felitti, worry that the ACE score might not work well when applied to individual patients, as it does not take into account caregiver buffering and other factors that tend to be protective. Piore writes:
“The problem with applying it to individual patients, he says, is that it doesn’t take into account the severity of the stressor. Who’s to say, for instance, that someone with an ACE score of one who was beaten by a caregiver every day of their life is less prone to disease than someone with an ACE score of four who experienced these stressors only intermittently? On a population level, surveying thousands, the outliers would cancel each other out. But on the individual level they could be misleading.”
While screening tools can indeed be misused and lead to inappropriate labeling, recognizing the influence of ACEs in public health is an important step forward. In coming years, we’re likely to see more advances in screening methods as well.


wakingtimes--2020-03-21--In The Midst Of A Tragic Human Pandemic, The Environment Is Flourishing

As we have highlighted in a few different reports since the COVID-19 coronavirus quarantines began , the extreme decrease in human activity has given the planet some space to breathe .
Obviously , the situation that the people of the world are dealing with right now is tragic , lives are being lost , and there are millions now facing unemployment due to the economic shutdown that has resulted from the quarantines .
It is unfortunate that the world would only slow down after experiencing the type of suffering that we have seen in recent months , but the drastic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s affected by the outbreak , could be a potential silver lining to this terrible situation .
Sattelite images taken in the different parts of the world where there are intense quarantines have shown that there has been a drastic reduction of pollution in these areas .
Satellite images from NASA show falling levels of nitrogen dioxide over China in the past two months , correlating with the massive factor and travel shut down that has been taking place throughout the country .
Scientists with NASA say that the reduction in nitrogen dioxide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epicenter of the outbreak where the quarantine was first imposed .
When comparing satellite images of the past two years , it is apparent that nitrogen dioxide levels this year are significantly lower than last year .
It appears that something similar is also beginning to happen in Italy , which has also recently gone into a countrywide lockdown .
The European Space Agency ( ESA ) released a timelapse video taken from space , which shows how drastically the air pollution has decreased .
The iconic canals in Venice , Italy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has slowed down .
Now that the whole world is going into quarantine , it is very likely that similar results will be seen throughout the world , even in the United States , which is currently in the process of locking everyone down .
It would be great if humanity could learn some lessons through this experience .
We have now been able to prove just how quickly humans can reverse the environmental trend that we have been contributing to for so long .
Unfortunately , once the coronavirus is no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for industrialized nations will be getting back to work , and world leaders have already shown that they are happy to roll back environmental regulations in order to get the economy going again .
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

In The Midst Of A Tragic Human Pandemic, The Environment Is Flourishing
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
As we have highlighted in a few different reports since the COVID-19 coronavirus quarantines began, the extreme decrease in human activity has given the planet some space to breathe.
Obviously, the situation that the people of the world are dealing with right now is tragic, lives are being lost, and there are millions now facing unemployment due to the economic shutdown that has resulted from the quarantines. It is unfortunate that the world would only slow down after experiencing the type of suffering that we have seen in recent months, but the drastic drop in pollution in the region’s affected by the outbreak, could be a potential silver lining to this terrible situation.
Sattelite images taken in the different parts of the world where there are intense quarantines have shown that there has been a drastic reduction of pollution in these areas.
Satellite images from NASA show falling levels of nitrogen dioxide over China in the past two months, correlating with the massive factor and travel shut down that has been taking place throughout the country. Scientists with NASA say that the reduction in nitrogen dioxide was first noticed around Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak where the quarantine was first imposed. When comparing satellite images of the past two years, it is apparent that nitrogen dioxide levels this year are significantly lower than last year.
It appears that something similar is also beginning to happen in Italy, which has also recently gone into a countrywide lockdown. The European Space Agency (ESA) released a timelapse video taken from space, which shows how drastically the air pollution has decreased.
http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanSpaceAgency/videos/223306492195447/
The iconic canals in Venice, Italy, have become crystal clear since the traffic has slowed down.
Now that the whole world is going into quarantine, it is very likely that similar results will be seen throughout the world, even in the United States, which is currently in the process of locking everyone down.
It would be great if humanity could learn some lessons through this experience. We have now been able to prove just how quickly humans can reverse the environmental trend that we have been contributing to for so long. Unfortunately, once the coronavirus is no longer a major threat, the first priority for industrialized nations will be getting back to work, and world leaders have already shown that they are happy to roll back environmental regulations in order to get the economy going again.
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-03-21--Inmate Release Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Exposes Tyranny of America’s For Profit Prisons

The ostensible land of the free has more prisoners per population than any country in the world .
In fact , about 1 in every 110 U.S. adults is currently incarcerated and 1 in every 38 U.S. adults is under some form of correctional supervision .
The prison industry is booming .
And thanks to the coronavirus , that could soon change .
Currently , in the land of the free , there are more than 2 million people in cages .
When you are locked up with thousands of people , social distancing is impossible .
What ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as hand sanitizer is banned and inmates are told when they can wash their hands .
In other words , the prisoners — as well as the guards — are sitting ducks who could see explosions of COVID-19 infections if the jails were breached by the virus .
Though most prisons in the United States have yet to report an infection , on Wednesday , we found out that two already have .
A staffer at a medium security federal prison in Berlin , New Hampshire , and an employee at a Bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Texas , tested positive for the illness , said Sue Allison , a federal correctional agency spokeswoman .
It is now only a matter of time before someone who is not exhibiting symptoms brings it in to one of the many prisons across the country .
As the multiple cruise ship outbreaks illustrate , once the virus enters a closed space , it explodes and not just on the cruise ship .
The LA Times reported on how this happened in China and and Italy and caused a massive reverberation throughout the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfold , Iranians decided to release tens of thousands of prisoners as a precautionary measure .
The United States is now following suit .
Across the country , cities who have been paying attention and know the risk have been moving to set prisoners free .
In LA county , inmates with 30 days or less on their sentences are being set free .
Sheriff Alex Villanueva stated that the department will also limit arrests to only dangerous suspects , decreasing the re-entry level .
Also , anyone with a bail of $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In New York , Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said low-level offenses that don ’ t jeopardize public safety will not be prosecuted at all during the coronavirus outbreak .
Authorities are also moving to release certain demographics from the prisons as well .
In Cuyahoga County Court in Ohio , a judge ordered the release of more than 200 low-risk , non-violent incarcerated people from the county jail .
“ We are trying to make as much room as possible , so when this virus hits our jail , the jail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them and deal with it instead of letting them sit there and infect the whole entire jail , ” Brendan Sheehan , administrative judge of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court , told CNN .
Other jails are now preparing similar actions as the nation braces for COVID-19 impact as the virus in prisons will affect us all .
.
While this virus is certainly a serious problem , Americans can use this as a learning experience about our prison system .
COVID-19 aside , the release of prisoners across the US illustrates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the free — many of the people behind bars don ’ t belong bars .
However , they are there because their incarceration drives a for-profit system worth billions .
While privatized prisons can be dated back to before the Civil War , these were voluntarily funded operations that didn ’ t have an incentive to maintain a 99 % incarceration rate .
Not until the 1980s , when the war on drugs began to peak , did the private prison industry begin booming .
As of 2016 , about 19 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and this number continues to grow .
Locking up drug users has proven to be quite the profitable venture .
It is much easier to walk out on the street corner and shakedown a teenager who may have an illegal plant in his pocket than it is to examine the evidence in a rape or murder case .
The so-called “ Private ” Prisons know this and have subsequently found their niche in this immoral war on drugs .
What ’ s more , the term Private Prison is a farce from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be solely funded by taxpayer dollars .
These Private prisons are nothing more than a fascist mixture of state and corporate , completely dependent upon the extortion factor of the state , i.e.
, taxation , as a means of their corporate sustenance .
A truly Private prison would have a negative incentive to boost its population for the simple fact that it is particularly expensive to house inmates .
On the contrary , these fascist , or more aptly , corporatist prisons contractually require occupancy rates of 95 % -100 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occupancy rate creates a de facto demand for criminals .
Think about that for a second ; a need or demand for people to commit crimes is created by this corporatist arrangement .
The implications associated with demanding people commit crimes are horrifying .
Creating a completely immoral demand for “ criminals ” leads to the situation in which we find ourselves today .
People , who are otherwise entirely innocent are labeled as criminals for their personal choices and thrown in cages .
We are now witnessing a vicious cycle between law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminals — and the corporatist prison system that constantly demands more prisoners .
The police and prison corporations know that without the war on drugs , this windfall of money , cars , and houses — ceases to exist .
If you want to know who profits from ruining lives and throwing marijuana users in cages , we need only look at who bribes ( also known as lobbies ) the politicians to keep the war on drugs alive .
Private prison companies and state institutions alike lobby for longer mandatory sentences ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and less violent prisoners .
Corrections jobs are also a major source of rural employment which keep state officials begging for prisons to boast about “ job creation.
” What does it say about a society who ’ s resolute in enacting violence against their fellow human so they can have a job to go to in the morning ?
The person who wants to ingest a substance for medical or recreational reasons is not the criminal .
However , the person that would kidnap , cage , or kill someone because they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on many fronts .
Hopefully , as more people are released from amid the coronavirus outbreak , this will show Americans that they are paying to keep morally innocent people in cages who pose no threat to society .
Hopefully .
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state .
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and now on Minds .

Inmate Release Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Exposes Tyranny of America’s For Profit Prisons
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
The ostensible land of the free has more prisoners per population than any country in the world. In fact, about 1 in every 110 U.S. adults is currently incarcerated and 1 in every 38 U.S. adults is under some form of correctional supervision. The prison industry is booming. And thanks to the coronavirus, that could soon change.
Currently, in the land of the free, there are more than 2 million people in cages. When you are locked up with thousands of people, social distancing is impossible. What’s more, practicing safe hygiene is difficult as hand sanitizer is banned and inmates are told when they can wash their hands. In other words, the prisoners — as well as the guards — are sitting ducks who could see explosions of COVID-19 infections if the jails were breached by the virus.
Though most prisons in the United States have yet to report an infection, on Wednesday, we found out that two already have. A staffer at a medium security federal prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, and an employee at a Bureau of Prisons administrative facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, tested positive for the illness, said Sue Allison, a federal correctional agency spokeswoman.
It is now only a matter of time before someone who is not exhibiting symptoms brings it in to one of the many prisons across the country. As the multiple cruise ship outbreaks illustrate, once the virus enters a closed space, it explodes and not just on the cruise ship.
The LA Times reported on how this happened in China and and Italy and caused a massive reverberation throughout the two countries.
In China, a decline in new infections was quickly (although briefly) reversed because of rapid outbreaks in two prisons. In Italy, an atmosphere of fear and anxiety among prison inmates over the virus, together with an emergency ban on visitors, sparked deadly riots, escapes and a complete breakdown of authority.
Having watched this horror unfold, Iranians decided to release tens of thousands of prisoners as a precautionary measure. The United States is now following suit.
Across the country, cities who have been paying attention and know the risk have been moving to set prisoners free. In LA county, inmates with 30 days or less on their sentences are being set free. Sheriff Alex Villanueva stated that the department will also limit arrests to only dangerous suspects, decreasing the re-entry level. Also, anyone with a bail of $50,000 or less is being let out.
In New York, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said low-level offenses that don’t jeopardize public safety will not be prosecuted at all during the coronavirus outbreak. Authorities are also moving to release certain demographics from the prisons as well.
Statement from Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez regarding the #coronavirus (#COVID19). pic.twitter.com/gVKpsDbXDt — DA Eric Gonzalez (@BrooklynDA) March 17, 2020
In Cuyahoga County Court in Ohio, a judge ordered the release of more than 200 low-risk, non-violent incarcerated people from the county jail.
“We are trying to make as much room as possible, so when this virus hits our jail, the jail can deal with these people, quarantine them and deal with it instead of letting them sit there and infect the whole entire jail,” Brendan Sheehan, administrative judge of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, told CNN.
Other jails are now preparing similar actions as the nation braces for COVID-19 impact as the virus in prisons will affect us all. . While this virus is certainly a serious problem, Americans can use this as a learning experience about our prison system.
COVID-19 aside, the release of prisoners across the US illustrates a serious problem in the land of the free — many of the people behind bars don’t belong bars. However, they are there because their incarceration drives a for-profit system worth billions.
While privatized prisons can be dated back to before the Civil War, these were voluntarily funded operations that didn’t have an incentive to maintain a 99% incarceration rate. Not until the 1980s, when the war on drugs began to peak, did the private prison industry begin booming.
As of 2016, about 19 percent of federal prisoners are held in private prisons and this number continues to grow.
Locking up drug users has proven to be quite the profitable venture.
It is much easier to walk out on the street corner and shakedown a teenager who may have an illegal plant in his pocket than it is to examine the evidence in a rape or murder case. The so-called “Private” Prisons know this and have subsequently found their niche in this immoral war on drugs.
What’s more, the term Private Prison is a farce from the get-go.
A truly Private prison would not be solely funded by taxpayer dollars. These Private prisons are nothing more than a fascist mixture of state and corporate, completely dependent upon the extortion factor of the state, i.e., taxation, as a means of their corporate sustenance.
A truly Private prison would have a negative incentive to boost its population for the simple fact that it is particularly expensive to house inmates. On the contrary, these fascist, or more aptly, corporatist prisons contractually require occupancy rates of 95%-100%.
The requirement for a 95% occupancy rate creates a de facto demand for criminals. Think about that for a second; a need or demand for people to commit crimes is created by this corporatist arrangement. The implications associated with demanding people commit crimes are horrifying.
Creating a completely immoral demand for “criminals” leads to the situation in which we find ourselves today. People, who are otherwise entirely innocent are labeled as criminals for their personal choices and thrown in cages. We are now witnessing a vicious cycle between law enforcement — who must create and arrest criminals — and the corporatist prison system that constantly demands more prisoners.
The police and prison corporations know that without the war on drugs, this windfall of money, cars, and houses — ceases to exist.
If you want to know who profits from ruining lives and throwing marijuana users in cages, we need only look at who bribes (also known as lobbies) the politicians to keep the war on drugs alive.
Private prison companies and state institutions alike lobby for longer mandatory sentences; stricter enforcement; younger, healthier, and less violent prisoners. Corrections jobs are also a major source of rural employment which keep state officials begging for prisons to boast about “job creation.”
What does it say about a society who’s resolute in enacting violence against their fellow human so they can have a job to go to in the morning?
The person who wants to ingest a substance for medical or recreational reasons is not the criminal. However, the person that would kidnap, cage, or kill someone because they have a different lifestyle is a villain on many fronts.
Hopefully, as more people are released from amid the coronavirus outbreak, this will show Americans that they are paying to keep morally innocent people in cages who pose no threat to society. Hopefully.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.