wakingtimes--2020-08-27--New Research Confirms Statins Are Colossal Waste of Money

New Research Confirms Statins Are Colossal Waste of Money Get the latest Waking Times articles delivered to your inbox .
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The lecturer in the featured video , Maryanne Demasi , Ph.D. , produced the 2014 Australian Catalyst documentary , “ Heart of the Matter : Dietary Villains , ” which exposed the cholesterol/saturated fat myths behind the statin fad and the financial links which lurk underneath .
The documentary was so thorough that vested interests actually convinced ABC TV to rescind the two-part series.1 The Australian Heart Foundation , the three largest statin makers ( Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) and Medicines Australia , Australia ’ s drug lobby group , complained2 and got the documentary expunged from ABC TV .
Cholesterol and saturated fat have been the villains of heart disease for the past four decades , despite the many studies showing neither has an adverse effect on heart health .
The entire food industry shifted away from saturated fat and cholesterol , ostensibly to improve public health , and the medical industry has massively promoted the use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for the same reason .
Despite all of that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continues to be high.3 That really should tell us something .
Since the release of Demasi ’ s documentary , the evidence against the cholesterol theory and statins has only grown .
As noted in an August 4 , 2020 , op-ed by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick , a general practitioner with the British National Health Service:4 According to a scientific review5 published online August 4 , 2020 , in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine , lowering LDL is not going to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke .
“ Decades of research has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this approach , ” the authors note .
Since the commercialization of statin drugs in the late ’ 80s ( lovastatin being the first one , gaining approval in 19876 ) , total sales have reached nearly $ 1 trillion.7,8 Lipitor — which is just one of several brand name statin drugs — was named the most profitable drug in the history of medicine.9,10 Yet these drugs have done nothing to derail the rising trend of heart disease .
According to a press release announcing the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine review , the analysis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authors argue that since dozens of randomized controlled trials looking at LDL-cholesterol reduction “ have failed to demonstrate a consistent benefit , we should question the validity of this theory.
” They also cite the Minnesota Coronary Experiment,13 a double-blind randomized controlled trial involving 9,423 subjects that sought to determine whether replacing saturated fat with omega-6 rich vegetable oil ( corn oil and margarine ) would reduce the death rate from heart disease by lowering cholesterol .
It didn ’ t .
Mortality and cardiovascular events increased even though total cholesterol was lowered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mg/dL reduction in serum cholesterol , the death risk rose by 22 % .
In conclusion , the Evidence-Based Medicine study authors note that:14 If lowering cholesterol doesn ’ t reduce mortality or cardiovascular events , there ’ s little reason to use them , considering they come with a long list of adverse side effects .
Sure , there are studies claiming to show benefit , but many involve misleading plays on statistics .
One common statistic used to promote statins is that they lower your risk of heart attack by about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a 2008 study16 in the European Heart Journal .
One of the authors on this study is Rory Collins , who heads up the CTT Collaboration ( Cholesterol Treatment Trialists ’ Collaboration ) , a group of doctors and scientists who analyze study data17 and report their findings to regulators and policymakers .
Table 4 in this study shows the rate of heart attack in the placebo group was 3.1 % while the statin group ’ s rate was 2 % — a 36 % reduction in relative risk .
However , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difference between the two groups , i.e.
, 3.1 % minus 2 % — is only 1.1 % , which really isn ’ t very impressive .
In other words , in the real world , if you take a statin , your chance of a heart attack is only 1.1 % lower than if you ’ re not taking it .
At the end of the day , what really matters is what your risk of death is the absolute risk .
The study , however , only stresses the relative risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absolute risk ( 1.1 % ) .
As noted in the review18 “ How Statistical Deception Created the Appearance That Statins Are Safe and Effective in Primary and Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease , ” it ’ s very easy to confuse and mislead people with relative risks .
You can learn more about absolute and relative risk in my 2015 interview with David Diamond , Ph.D. , who co-wrote that paper .
Research questioning the veracity of oft-cited statin trials is also reviewed in “ Statins ’ Flawed Studies and Flawed Advertising.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ published in 2015 found that in primary prevention trials , the median postponement of death in those taking statins was a mere 3.2 days .
While potentially extending life span by 3.2 days , those taking statins are also at increased risk for : Oftentimes statins do not have any immediate side effects , and they are quite effective , capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more .
This is often viewed as evidence that your health is improving .
Side effects that develop over time are frequently misinterpreted as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harm perpetuated by the promotion of the low-fat , low-cholesterol myth is so significant , it could easily be described as a crime against humanity .
Ancel Keys ’ 1963 “ Seven Countries Study ” was instrumental in creating the saturated fat myth.19,20 He claimed to have found a correlation between total cholesterol concentration and heart disease , but in reality this was the result of cherry picking data .
When data from 16 excluded countries are added back in , the association between saturated fat consumption and mortality vanishes .
In fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who eat the most saturated animal fat tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease , which is precisely what other , more recent studies have concluded .
Procter & Gamble Co.21 ( the maker of Crisco22 ) , the American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest ( CSPI ) all promoted the fallacy for decades , despite mounting evidence that Keys had gotten it all wrong .
The AHA was issuing stern warnings against butter , steak and coconut oil as recently as 2017.23 That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute to promote heart health by lowering cholesterol.24 CSPI was also instrumental in driving heart disease skyward with its wildly successful pro-trans fat campaign .
It was largely the result of CSPI ’ s campaign that fast-food restaurants replace beef tallow , palm oil and coconut oil with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils , which are high in synthetic trans fats linked to heart disease and other chronic diseases .
CSPI and AHA Omit Their Role in Heart Disease Epidemic Today , you ’ ll have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devastating public health campaign .
In an act of deception , they erased it from their history to make people believe they ’ ve been doing the right thing all along .
Their historical timeline26 of trans fat starts at 1993 — the year CSPI decided to change course and start supporting the elimination of the same trans fat they ’ d spent years promoting .
Similarly , the AHA conveniently omits saturated fat and cholesterol from its history of “ lifesaving ” breakthroughs and achievements.27 It makes sense , though , considering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s recommendations to swap saturated fat for vegetable oils and synthetic trans fat never resulted in anything but an epidemic of heart disease .
The idea that the harms of trans fats were unknown until the 1990s is simply a lie .
The late Dr. Fred Kummerow started publishing evidence showing trans fat , not saturated fat , was the cause of heart disease in 1957 .
He also linked trans fat to Type 2 diabetes .
You can click on this link to watch my interview with him .
I traveled to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortly before he passed away .
In addition to the more recent studies mentioned earlier , many others have also debunked the idea that cholesterol and/or saturated fat impacts your risk of heart disease .
For example : Will Saturated Fat Myth Soon Be Upended ?
To learn more , be sure to listen to Dr. Paul Saladino ’ s interview with Nina Teicholz , previously featured in “ Why Chicken Is Killing You and Saturated Fat Is Your Friend.
” Teicholz , a science journalist , adjunct professor at NYU ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the executive director of The Nutrition Coalition , is also the author of “ The Big Fat Surprise : Why Butter , Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet , ” which reviews the many myths surrounding saturated fat and cholesterol .
In the interview , Saladino and Teicholz review the history of the demonization of saturated fat and cholesterol , starting with Keys , and how the introduction of the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980 ( which recommended limiting saturated fat and cholesterol ) coincided with a rapid rise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heart disease .
Teicholz also reviews a paper32 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology , published online June 17 , 2020 , which actually admits the long-standing nutritional guideline to limit saturated fat has been incorrect .
This is a rather stunning admission , and a huge step forward .
As noted in the abstract :

New Research Confirms Statins Are Colossal Waste of Money
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
The lecturer in the featured video, Maryanne Demasi, Ph.D., produced the 2014 Australian Catalyst documentary, “Heart of the Matter: Dietary Villains,” which exposed the cholesterol/saturated fat myths behind the statin fad and the financial links which lurk underneath.
The documentary was so thorough that vested interests actually convinced ABC TV to rescind the two-part series.1 The Australian Heart Foundation, the three largest statin makers (Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Merck Sharp & Dohme) and Medicines Australia, Australia’s drug lobby group, complained2 and got the documentary expunged from ABC TV.
Cholesterol and saturated fat have been the villains of heart disease for the past four decades, despite the many studies showing neither has an adverse effect on heart health.
The entire food industry shifted away from saturated fat and cholesterol, ostensibly to improve public health, and the medical industry has massively promoted the use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for the same reason. Despite all of that, the rate of heart disease deaths continues to be high.3 That really should tell us something.
Statins Are a Colossal Waste of Money
Since the release of Demasi’s documentary, the evidence against the cholesterol theory and statins has only grown. As noted in an August 4, 2020, op-ed by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, a general practitioner with the British National Health Service:4
“New research shows that the most widely prescribed type of drug in the history of medicine is a waste of money. One major study found that the more ‘bad’ cholesterol was lowered, the greater the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every other medical condition has been shoved onto the sidelines. However, in the UK last year, heart attacks and strokes (CVD) killed well over 100,000 people — which is at least twice as many as have died from COVID-19.
CVD will kill just as many this year, which makes it significantly more important than COVID-19, even if no one is paying much attention to it right now.”
According to a scientific review5 published online August 4, 2020, in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, lowering LDL is not going to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. “Decades of research has failed to show any consistent benefit for this approach,” the authors note.
Since the commercialization of statin drugs in the late ’80s (lovastatin being the first one, gaining approval in 19876), total sales have reached nearly $1 trillion.7,8 Lipitor — which is just one of several brand name statin drugs — was named the most profitable drug in the history of medicine.9,10 Yet these drugs have done nothing to derail the rising trend of heart disease.
Lowering Cholesterol Does Not Show a Beneficial Impact
According to a press release announcing the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine review, the analysis found that:11
“… over three quarters of all the trials reported no positive impact on the risk of death and nearly half reported no positive impact on risk of future cardiovascular disease.
And the amount of LDL cholesterol reduction achieved didn’t correspond to the size of the resulting benefits, with even very small changes in LDL cholesterol sometimes associated with larger reductions in risk of death or cardiovascular ‘events,’ and vice versa. Thirteen of the clinical trials met the LDL cholesterol reduction target, but only one reported a positive impact on risk of death …”
In their paper,12 the study authors argue that since dozens of randomized controlled trials looking at LDL-cholesterol reduction “have failed to demonstrate a consistent benefit, we should question the validity of this theory.”
In most fields of science the existence of contradictory evidence usually leads to a paradigm shift or modification of the theory in question, but in this case the contradictory evidence has been largely ignored, simply because it doesn’t fit the prevailing paradigm.
They also cite the Minnesota Coronary Experiment,13 a double-blind randomized controlled trial involving 9,423 subjects that sought to determine whether replacing saturated fat with omega-6 rich vegetable oil (corn oil and margarine) would reduce the death rate from heart disease by lowering cholesterol.
It didn’t. Mortality and cardiovascular events increased even though total cholesterol was lowered by 13.8%. For each 30 mg/dL reduction in serum cholesterol, the death risk rose by 22%. In conclusion, the Evidence-Based Medicine study authors note that:14
“In most fields of science the existence of contradictory evidence usually leads to a paradigm shift or modification of the theory in question, but in this case the contradictory evidence has been largely ignored, simply because it doesn’t fit the prevailing paradigm.”
Deception Through Statistics
If lowering cholesterol doesn’t reduce mortality or cardiovascular events, there’s little reason to use them, considering they come with a long list of adverse side effects. Sure, there are studies claiming to show benefit, but many involve misleading plays on statistics.
One common statistic used to promote statins is that they lower your risk of heart attack by about 36%.15 This statistic is derived from a 2008 study16 in the European Heart Journal. One of the authors on this study is Rory Collins, who heads up the CTT Collaboration (Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration), a group of doctors and scientists who analyze study data17 and report their findings to regulators and policymakers.
Table 4 in this study shows the rate of heart attack in the placebo group was 3.1% while the statin group’s rate was 2% — a 36% reduction in relative risk. However, the absolute risk reduction — the actual difference between the two groups, i.e., 3.1% minus 2% — is only 1.1%, which really isn’t very impressive.
In other words, in the real world, if you take a statin, your chance of a heart attack is only 1.1% lower than if you’re not taking it. At the end of the day, what really matters is what your risk of death is the absolute risk. The study, however, only stresses the relative risk (36%), not the absolute risk (1.1%).
As noted in the review18 “How Statistical Deception Created the Appearance That Statins Are Safe and Effective in Primary and Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease,” it’s very easy to confuse and mislead people with relative risks.
You can learn more about absolute and relative risk in my 2015 interview with David Diamond, Ph.D., who co-wrote that paper. Research questioning the veracity of oft-cited statin trials is also reviewed in “Statins’ Flawed Studies and Flawed Advertising.”
Statins Sabotage Your Health
A stunning review of statin trials published in 2015 found that in primary prevention trials, the median postponement of death in those taking statins was a mere 3.2 days. While potentially extending life span by 3.2 days, those taking statins are also at increased risk for:
Diabetes (if taken for more than two years, your risk for diabetes triples) Dementia, neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety and aggression Musculoskeletal disorders Osteoporosis Cataracts Heart disease Liver damage Immune system suppression
Oftentimes statins do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective, capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This is often viewed as evidence that your health is improving. Side effects that develop over time are frequently misinterpreted as brand-new, separate health problems.
Crimes Against Humanity
The harm perpetuated by the promotion of the low-fat, low-cholesterol myth is so significant, it could easily be described as a crime against humanity. Ancel Keys’ 1963 “Seven Countries Study” was instrumental in creating the saturated fat myth.19,20
He claimed to have found a correlation between total cholesterol concentration and heart disease, but in reality this was the result of cherry picking data. When data from 16 excluded countries are added back in, the association between saturated fat consumption and mortality vanishes.
In fact, the full data set suggests that those who eat the most saturated animal fat tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease, which is precisely what other, more recent studies have concluded.
Procter & Gamble Co.21 (the maker of Crisco22), the American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) all promoted the fallacy for decades, despite mounting evidence that Keys had gotten it all wrong.
The AHA was issuing stern warnings against butter, steak and coconut oil as recently as 2017.23 That same year, Procter & Gamble partnered with University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute to promote heart health by lowering cholesterol.24
CSPI was also instrumental in driving heart disease skyward with its wildly successful pro-trans fat campaign. It was largely the result of CSPI’s campaign that fast-food restaurants replace beef tallow, palm oil and coconut oil with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are high in synthetic trans fats linked to heart disease and other chronic diseases.
As late as 1988, CSPI praised trans fats, saying “there is little good evidence that trans fats cause any more harm than other fats” and that “much of the anxiety over trans fats stems from their reputation as ‘unnatural.'”25
CSPI and AHA Omit Their Role in Heart Disease Epidemic
Today, you’ll have to dig deep to unearth CSPI’s devastating public health campaign. In an act of deception, they erased it from their history to make people believe they’ve been doing the right thing all along. Their historical timeline26 of trans fat starts at 1993 — the year CSPI decided to change course and start supporting the elimination of the same trans fat they’d spent years promoting.
Similarly, the AHA conveniently omits saturated fat and cholesterol from its history of “lifesaving” breakthroughs and achievements.27 It makes sense, though, considering the AHA’s and CSPI’s recommendations to swap saturated fat for vegetable oils and synthetic trans fat never resulted in anything but an epidemic of heart disease.
The idea that the harms of trans fats were unknown until the 1990s is simply a lie. The late Dr. Fred Kummerow started publishing evidence showing trans fat, not saturated fat, was the cause of heart disease in 1957. He also linked trans fat to Type 2 diabetes. You can click on this link to watch my interview with him. I traveled to his home in Urbana, Illinois, shortly before he passed away.
The Truth About Saturated Fat
In addition to the more recent studies mentioned earlier, many others have also debunked the idea that cholesterol and/or saturated fat impacts your risk of heart disease. For example:
• In a 1992 editorial published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,28 Dr. William Castelli, a former director of the Framingham Heart study, stated: “In Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol. The opposite of what … Keys et al [said] …” • A 2010 meta-analysis,29 which pooled data from 21 studies and included 347,747 adults, found no difference in the risks of heart disease and stroke between people with the lowest and highest intakes of saturated fat. • Another 2010 study30 published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a reduction in saturated fat intake must be evaluated in the context of replacement by other macronutrients, such as carbohydrates. When you replace saturated fat with a higher carbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbohydrate, you exacerbate insulin resistance and obesity, increase triglycerides and small LDL particles, and reduce beneficial HDL cholesterol. According to the authors, dietary efforts to improve your cardiovascular disease risk should primarily emphasize the limitation of refined carbohydrate intake, and weight reduction. • A 2014 meta-analysis31 of 76 studies by researchers at Cambridge University found no basis for guidelines that advise low saturated fat consumption to lower your cardiac risk, calling into question all of the standard nutritional guidelines related to heart health. According to the authors: “Current evidence does not clearly support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of total saturated fats.”
Will Saturated Fat Myth Soon Be Upended?
To learn more, be sure to listen to Dr. Paul Saladino’s interview with Nina Teicholz, previously featured in “Why Chicken Is Killing You and Saturated Fat Is Your Friend.”
Teicholz, a science journalist, adjunct professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the executive director of The Nutrition Coalition, is also the author of “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet,” which reviews the many myths surrounding saturated fat and cholesterol.
In the interview, Saladino and Teicholz review the history of the demonization of saturated fat and cholesterol, starting with Keys, and how the introduction of the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980 (which recommended limiting saturated fat and cholesterol) coincided with a rapid rise in obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease.
Teicholz also reviews a paper32 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, published online June 17, 2020, which actually admits the long-standing nutritional guideline to limit saturated fat has been incorrect. This is a rather stunning admission, and a huge step forward. As noted in the abstract:
“The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke.
Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk.
It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution.


wakingtimes--2020-08-25--Russia Declassifies Footage Of Biggest Nuke Ever Tested: “Mushroom Cloud 7 Times Higher Than Everest

Russia Declassifies Footage Of Biggest Nuke Ever Tested : “ Mushroom Cloud 7 Times Higher Than Everest ” Get the latest Waking Times articles delivered to your inbox .
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Russia has for the first time released full declassified footage of the Soviet Union ’ s monster nuclear bomb known as the ‘ Tsar Bomba ’ hydrogen bomb ( codenamed “ Ivan ” ) .
Widely considered to be the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested , it was detonated 4,000 meters above a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea on Oct. 30 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nevertheless detected by US intelligence .
The bomb had a yield of an estimated 50 megatons , or the equivalent of 50 million tons of TNT , and though poor-quality images had already been released , just days ago the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation published a 40-minute full documentary featuring the new declassified video of the bomb detonation after being dropped by a Tu-95 Bear bomber on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Russia ’ s nuclear industry .
As shown in the new footage , the physical dimensions of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 26 feet and height of 7 feet .
BBC had previously profiled it as “ too big to use in war ” given the thermonuclear bomb was so powerful it could potentially wipe out any nearby Soviet outpost along with the enemy ( the Soviet long-range bomber that dropped it was said to have been impacted by the shock wave even though it was already at least a couple dozen miles away at the moment of detonation ) .
Aspects of the Tu-95V Soviet bomber that dropped it over the Arctic test @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
The new footage features never before seen images of the massive bomb being carefully transported by train .
As The Drive details , the footage reveals multiple never before seen angles to the blast which produced a shock wave felt at least 75 miles away and created a mushroom cloud that reached 42 miles into the air , or seven times taller than Mount Everest : The ‘ covert ’ Soviet test ended up not being so secret after all , given reports say the blast and resulting mushroom cloud were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further shattering windows in nearby Finland .
Below is the full declassified video published by Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation : It was considered the Soviet Union ’ s final great “ doomsday weapon ” and thankfully was never to be replicated , though Soviet leaders later boasted they could produce a blast twice as large in any final nuclear showdown with the United States .
For years analysts have said the detonation was so large as to make the bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki appear like mini-nukes in comparison .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ footage : “ The footage then returns to the aircraft , at a distance of 155 miles from the detonation and we see the huge fireball , rising slowly and expanding to reach a maximum of 12 miles across , ” the report adds .
And the cloud ends up reaching an unbelievable forty miles into the atmosphere : “ Forty seconds after the detonation , the fireball has reached a height of approximately 19 miles , after which a mushroom cloud begins to form , reaching a maximum height of 37-40 miles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clip focusing on the new blast footage showing multiple angles and distances from detonation site , which makes up the final minutes of the full declassified documentary :

Russia Declassifies Footage Of Biggest Nuke Ever Tested: “Mushroom Cloud 7 Times Higher Than Everest”
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
Waking Times
Russia has for the first time released full declassified footage of the Soviet Union’s monster nuclear bomb known as the ‘Tsar Bomba’ hydrogen bomb (codenamed “Ivan”).
Widely considered to be the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested, it was detonated 4,000 meters above a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea on Oct. 30, 1961 as part of a secretive test nevertheless detected by US intelligence.
The bomb had a yield of an estimated 50 megatons, or the equivalent of 50 million tons of TNT, and though poor-quality images had already been released, just days ago the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation published a 40-minute full documentary featuring the new declassified video of the bomb detonation after being dropped by a Tu-95 Bear bomber on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Russia’s nuclear industry.
As shown in the new footage, the physical dimensions of the Tsar Bomba was unprecedented at a length of 26 feet and height of 7 feet.
BBC had previously profiled it as “too big to use in war” given the thermonuclear bomb was so powerful it could potentially wipe out any nearby Soviet outpost along with the enemy (the Soviet long-range bomber that dropped it was said to have been impacted by the shock wave even though it was already at least a couple dozen miles away at the moment of detonation).
New declassified footage shows the detonation of the Soviet Union’s 50 megaton Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested http://t.co/kRndXfZzPs pic.twitter.com/v4mFPOAg1b — Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) August 22, 2020
Aspects of the Tu-95V Soviet bomber that dropped it over the Arctic test site had to be modified to accommodate it.
The new footage features never before seen images of the massive bomb being carefully transported by train.
As The Drive details, the footage reveals multiple never before seen angles to the blast which produced a shock wave felt at least 75 miles away and created a mushroom cloud that reached 42 miles into the air, or seven times taller than Mount Everest:
The documentary shows us inside the cockpit of the Tu-95V, where aircrew don protective goggles before we see the 26.5-ton bomb falls away gently under a parachute towards its intended target — the Russian Defense Ministry’s State Testing Site No. 6 — close to Novaya Zemlya’s Matochkin Strait. The detonation itself is recorded from several different aspects, including from the air.
The ‘covert’ Soviet test ended up not being so secret after all, given reports say the blast and resulting mushroom cloud were visible up to 621 miles away, further shattering windows in nearby Finland.
Below is the full declassified video published by Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation:
It was considered the Soviet Union’s final great “doomsday weapon” and thankfully was never to be replicated, though Soviet leaders later boasted they could produce a blast twice as large in any final nuclear showdown with the United States.
For years analysts have said the detonation was so large as to make the bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki appear like mini-nukes in comparison.
And The Drive describes further of the new footage:
According to the video, the Tu-95V was 28 miles away from the release point, and the detonation produced a fireball visible 621 miles away, despite cloudy conditions. “The explosion was accompanied by a bright flash of unusual strength,” the narrator explains. Within seconds, a column of dust had risen to a height of around 6 miles.
“The footage then returns to the aircraft, at a distance of 155 miles from the detonation and we see the huge fireball, rising slowly and expanding to reach a maximum of 12 miles across,” the report adds.
And the cloud ends up reaching an unbelievable forty miles into the atmosphere: “Forty seconds after the detonation, the fireball has reached a height of approximately 19 miles, after which a mushroom cloud begins to form, reaching a maximum height of 37-40 miles and a diameter of 56 miles.”
* * *
Clip focusing on the new blast footage showing multiple angles and distances from detonation site, which makes up the final minutes of the full declassified documentary:


wakingtimes--2020-08-28--Battered Souls #013 – Conspirituality & The Medicine Journey w/ Rak Razam

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Sign up here .
Dylan Charles talks with Rak Razam to understand a shamanic perspective on the cultural challenges and divide we are witnessing in civilization as it responds to multiple emergencies , from the coronavirus to economic collapse and ecological devastation .
As the ego drive for control brings in a new world order of advanced technologies that track , surveil and entrain an increasingly distanced and traumatized global population , is there a larger process at work ?
Are we undergoing a spiritual emergency that presages the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acknowledge the world grief of our unsustainable civilization ’ s collapse ?
Are we in a planetary ceremony right now , facing our egos , our traumas , and our shadow ?
And can we let go of blame , control and division to come together with a unified vision for a new way of being ?
Rak Razam is a journalist , author , filmmaker , and an articulate spokesperson for the global psychedelic movement .
Check his superb books , Aya Awakenings and The Toad of Dawn Visit us on the @ @ @ @

Battered Souls #013 – Conspirituality & The Medicine Journey w/ Rak Razam

Dylan Charles talks with Rak Razam to understand a shamanic perspective on the cultural challenges and divide we are witnessing in civilization as it responds to multiple emergencies, from the coronavirus to economic collapse and ecological devastation.
As the ego drive for control brings in a new world order of advanced technologies that track, surveil and entrain an increasingly distanced and traumatized global population, is there a larger process at work?
Are we undergoing a spiritual emergency that presages the emergence of something new?
Can we acknowledge the world grief of our unsustainable civilization’s collapse?
Are we in a planetary ceremony right now, facing our egos, our traumas, and our shadow?
And can we let go of blame, control and division to come together with a unified vision for a new way of being?
Rak Razam is a journalist, author, filmmaker, and an articulate spokesperson for the global psychedelic movement.
————————————
Visit Rak at RakRazam.com
Check his superb books, Aya Awakenings and The Toad of Dawn
Watch Rak’s film series, Shamans of the Global Village
————————————
Visit us on the web – Battered Souls
Stop by Dylan’s site – Waking Times
————————————
Support Battered Souls with Cryptos!
BITCOIN – 1PgkuMTxVwVEhgbKuXQQ1Qi8kYzsX2fn68
ETHEREUM – 0xaec9c156C492d964Ad6C8bD1377152b85Be230F6
————————————


wakingtimes--2020-08-28--Normal Has Failed. Be As Weird As You Like.

Normal Has Failed .
Be As Weird As You Like .
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Consumerism is unsustainable .
Competition is unsustainable .
Imperialism is unsustainable .
Our species is standing on the brink of an extinction-level event due to ecosystemic collapse or nuclear war , and it is because of the way that we have lived on this planet up until this point .
If we keep moving in this direction we will go the way of the dinosaur in the not-too distant future and take most terrestrial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of it .
The imperfect and immature nature of our newly evolved capacity for language and abstract thought , combined with our social nature as primates , has caused our species to consistently organize according to the will of the very worst of us–the most sociopathic , the most foolish , the most irresponsible of humans .
The one who is the most willing and capable of doing and saying whatever it takes in order to exert control over other humans has throughout our history been the one who ascended to leadership .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ society that has been built from the ground up almost entirely at the direction of sociopaths , for the benefit of sociopaths .
Nations point armageddon weapons at one another as a vast globe-spanning empire works toward total planetary domination .
Mass-scale human behavior is driven predominantly by the pursuit of profit , and all the most profitable behaviors involve inflicting trauma of some sort : war , militarism , monopolism , usury , strip mining , fossil fuels , factory farming , ads convincing us we ’ re deficient , etc .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ traumatize ourselves right out of existence very soon .
What this means is that , while on paper we are a successful organism in terms of population and domination of the food chain , we are actually as spectacular a failure as any life form can possibly be .
The only species which could arguably rival our failure might be the prehistoric cyanobacteria , which , like homo sapiens , became too populous too quickly for the ecosystem to sustain and caused a mass extinction .
We are not going to consume our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are not going to compete our way out of this mess .
And we are most certainly not going to imperialism our way out of this mess .
Those who think we will are delusional .
Our old way of doing things has failed .
The path out of this mess can only lie in the exact opposite direction of the path which led us into it .
This doesn ’ t mean ripping apart the earth searching for magical forms of renewable energy and sending rocket ships into space to warehouse all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing what we ’ ve been doing .
It means turning around and moving into a collaborative relationship with each other and with our ecosystem .
That is the only way .
What this means for you , personally , is that you have no responsibility toward any of the old mechanisms which have led us to the brink of extinction , because those mechanisms have failed .
Utterly and indisputably .
As a human being , you may safely flush your loyalties to any system which has been a part of humanity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the toilet .
The political systems , the mindsets , the religions , the culture .
It has all failed , so you owe none of it any loyalty .
In fact , you may feel free to reject anything that your society regards as “ normal ” , because your society is as sick and insane as a society can possibly be .
“ Normal ” has led to a world that is dying and a society that is insane .
So be happy with your weirdness .
A wild divergence from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our species has for survival , so as a member of our species it is your duty to participate in that divergence in any way that looks healthy to you .
Our civilization as it exists today is a dead man walking .
Do not dance with dead men .
Reject the norms .
Let the zombies think you are weird .
The values they are criticizing you for diverging from are the values that are choking us all to death .
Leave your crappy marriage .
Leave your crappy religion .
Change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Change your name .
Change your gender .
Change whatever you want .
Change things just for the hell of it .
If drastic change is what we need , then baby , be the change .
Wherever you see light , move there .
Don ’ t let any inhibitions hold you back , because those inhibitions are imposed by a culture that is an omnicidal maniac .
Dismiss all its arguments , because it is insane .
Be you , and don ’ t let any part of the dead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong .
Your own best guess is better than the “ normal ” of a society that has signed off on its own obliteration .
Step off from the old patterns .
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website , which will get you an email notification for everything .
Her articles are entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around , liking her on Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ checking out her podcast , throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal , or buying her book Woke : A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers .

Normal Has Failed. Be As Weird As You Like.
Caitlin Johnstone, Guest
Waking Times
Consumerism is unsustainable. Competition is unsustainable. Imperialism is unsustainable.
Our species is standing on the brink of an extinction-level event due to ecosystemic collapse or nuclear war, and it is because of the way that we have lived on this planet up until this point. If we keep moving in this direction we will go the way of the dinosaur in the not-too distant future and take most terrestrial life with us. Maybe even all of it.
The imperfect and immature nature of our newly evolved capacity for language and abstract thought, combined with our social nature as primates, has caused our species to consistently organize according to the will of the very worst of us–the most sociopathic, the most foolish, the most irresponsible of humans. The one who is the most willing and capable of doing and saying whatever it takes in order to exert control over other humans has throughout our history been the one who ascended to leadership.
So now we find ourselves in a society that has been built from the ground up almost entirely at the direction of sociopaths, for the benefit of sociopaths. Nations point armageddon weapons at one another as a vast globe-spanning empire works toward total planetary domination. Mass-scale human behavior is driven predominantly by the pursuit of profit, and all the most profitable behaviors involve inflicting trauma of some sort: war, militarism, monopolism, usury, strip mining, fossil fuels, factory farming, ads convincing us we’re deficient, etc.
And we’re on track to traumatize ourselves right out of existence very soon.
What this means is that, while on paper we are a successful organism in terms of population and domination of the food chain, we are actually as spectacular a failure as any life form can possibly be. The only species which could arguably rival our failure might be the prehistoric cyanobacteria, which, like homo sapiens, became too populous too quickly for the ecosystem to sustain and caused a mass extinction.
We are not going to consume our way out of this mess. We are not going to compete our way out of this mess. And we are most certainly not going to imperialism our way out of this mess. Those who think we will are delusional. Our old way of doing things has failed.
The path out of this mess can only lie in the exact opposite direction of the path which led us into it. This doesn’t mean ripping apart the earth searching for magical forms of renewable energy and sending rocket ships into space to warehouse all the excess humans so we can keep doing what we’ve been doing. It means turning around and moving into a collaborative relationship with each other and with our ecosystem. That is the only way.
What this means for you, personally, is that you have no responsibility toward any of the old mechanisms which have led us to the brink of extinction, because those mechanisms have failed. Utterly and indisputably.
As a human being, you may safely flush your loyalties to any system which has been a part of humanity’s march to extinction right down the toilet. The political systems, the mindsets, the religions, the culture. It has all failed, so you owe none of it any loyalty.
In fact, you may feel free to reject anything that your society regards as “normal”, because your society is as sick and insane as a society can possibly be. “Normal” has led to a world that is dying and a society that is insane. So be happy with your weirdness.
A wild divergence from our current trajectory is the only hope our species has for survival, so as a member of our species it is your duty to participate in that divergence in any way that looks healthy to you. Our civilization as it exists today is a dead man walking. Do not dance with dead men.
Reject the norms. Let the zombies think you are weird. The values they are criticizing you for diverging from are the values that are choking us all to death.
Leave your crappy marriage. Leave your crappy religion. Change your career. Change your entire lifestyle. Change your name. Change your gender. Change whatever you want. Change things just for the hell of it. If drastic change is what we need, then baby, be the change.
Wherever you see light, move there. Don’t let any inhibitions hold you back, because those inhibitions are imposed by a culture that is an omnicidal maniac. Dismiss all its arguments, because it is insane.
Be you, and don’t let any part of the dead man walking tell you it’s wrong. Your own best guess is better than the “normal” of a society that has signed off on its own obliteration.
Step off from the old patterns.
Diverge.
About the Author
Caitlin Johnstone – Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerrilla poet. Utopia prepper.
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website, which will get you an email notification for everything. Her articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.


wakingtimes--2020-08-28--Fight Rages On To Save Centuries-Old Giant Philippine Rosewood Tree

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Sign up here .
MINDANAO , Philippines — For centuries , a giant Philippine rosewood tree has stood as an iconic landmark along a stretch of the Pan-Philippine Highway that runs outside the rustic southern town of San Francisco .
Known locally as toog , and formally as Petersianthus quadrialatus , this particular specimen is believed to be 300 years old , dating back to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines .
It survived a strong typhoon in 1942 here in the village of Alegria in what is today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the southern island of Mindanao , and is considered the oldest and tallest tree of its species : it stands at 56 meters ( 184 feet ) , the height of a 13-story building , and its diameter close to the base is nearly 4 meters , or 12 feet , or about the length of the average car .
It holds significant cultural value and has become an iconic representative of a species that is losing ground in the Philippines .
Threatened by illegal logging and kaingin , the traditional practice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to habitat loss and unsustainable harvest .
Its sturdy ruby-tinged wood is prized for making furniture and musical instruments , among others .
While it has survived the test of time and the fury of nature — from floods to typhoons to earthquakes — the Alegria toog tree could soon become a thing of the past : it ’ s threatened with a slow death after officials decided to cut its upper half .
Without its crown , where the leaves thrive , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which would eventually kill it .
The decision to slash the height of the Alegria toog came after experts confirmed that it ’ s infested with fungi and termites .
Having been left unchecked and untreated over time , the problem has led from a small cavity in the trunk to a hole large enough for a person to enter .
In April 2019 , Marcelina Pacho , a pathologist and tree surgeon who assessed the health of the Alegria toog , noted that a basal cavity measuring 1.5 meters ( 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 feet ) high had formed at its base .
Pacho didn ’ t recommend that the tree be cut down ; instead , she suggested a course of fungicide treatment and the extraction of the decaying wood , which could then be filled in with concrete mix reinforced with gravel , cinder block and rebar .
Following Pacho ’ s assessment , the ERDB ’ s Forest and Wetland Research , Development and Extension Center ( FWRDEC ) conducted a biomechanics and structural analysis of the Alegria toog .
The agency reached @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down of the tree due to the high risk it posed to residents , commuters and surrounding properties .
( It stands 9 meters , or about 30 feet , from the highway . )
In its findings released in July last year , the FWRDEC said the trunk structure was continuously deteriorating due to mycelial infection and only two of its eight major buttresses were holding it steady .
The decision to cut down the Alegria toog triggered an outcry from local residents , conservationists and tree lovers across the country .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Indigenous Manobo tribe , who believe it houses the spirits of their ancestors .
Over time , it has also become a major tourism draw for the town of San Francisco .
In September 2019 , the iconic tree was saved from being cut down after officials yielded to public appeals to allow treatment for the decaying tree .
But almost a year later , the local government said it hadn ’ t seen any improvement in the toog ’ s health and scheduled it to be cut down , for a second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the decision sparked protests that forced officials to suspend the activity and call for a stakeholders ’ dialogue .
By Aug. 10 , officials headed by Solomon Rufila , the mayor of San Francisco , and members of the municipal council , following the stakeholders ’ consultative meeting , changed tack .
Instead of cutting down the tree entirely , they decided to reduce its height by cutting off the top half , including its leaf canopy .
Leaves produce food for their host plant through photosynthesis , so scalping the crown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death sentence , albeit a slow and painful one , according to scientists and officials .
Amando Palijon , a renowned tree surgeon and former forestry professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños ( UPLB ) , said the tree would gradually die if the upper portion is cut , according to a report by news portal MindaNews .
Lawrence Tinampay , a spokesman for the San Francisco municipal government , told Mongabay that officials had decided to trim the tree — the actual amount to be cut is still unknown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the legacy tree ( or at least its trunk ) at its exact location as part of a municipal landmark .
He agreed with the assessment that because the leaves of the tree , all on the topmost portion , would be cut off , the tree would eventually die .
Jurgenne Primavera , a renowned marine scientist and native of Agusan , blamed officials for their failure to curb the deterioration of the tree , which the municipal council recognized as a “ protected tree ” through a 2012 ordinance .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governance , ” she told Mongabay .
Primavera , a pioneering member of Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts , a social media group with some 14,000 members , said that up until the 1990s , there was still a wide swath of vegetation surrounding the tree .
In 2005 , the community had begun to encroach on the area as people cleared away the vegetation to build their houses , she added .
Leonilo Tandog Jr. , the San Francisco disaster risk reduction officer , said there are proposals to retrofit the tree with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevent it from falling over but will also double as viewing decks to keep the tourists coming to San Francisco .
The town offers views of Mount Magdiwata and Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary , a protected area spanning 15,000 hectares ( 37,000 acres ) of complex freshwater marshes and watercourses with numerous shallow lakes and ponds .
The local consortium Save the TOog tree Please ( STOP ) , headed by Mauro Bravo Jr. , urged the government not to cut the Alegria toog and instead allow the recommended scientific treatment to save @ @ @ @ @ @ @ third-party scientific reassessment of the state of the health of the Alegria toog .
Primavera said she believes the tree can still be rehabilitated , citing the case of a bitaog tree ( Calophyllum inophyllum ) in the town of Magallanes , in neighboring Agusan del Norte province .
Declared a Philippine centennial tree in 1998 , the bitaog ’ s two big branches broke down due to fungal rot in June 2017 .
Through a regimen of tree surgery , fungicide treatment and regular checkups , the bitaog tree is still alive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Francisco should do the same for the Alegria toog .
“ The toog tree can be saved , no need to cut it , ” she said , adding it ’ s also important to conduct further studies to improve its physical and structural stability .
Officials have not yet set a date for cutting the tree “ to a safe height , ” pending further instruction from the DENR .
For now , the STOP local consortium and Filipino tree conservationists say they ’ re committed to keeping the flame of protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from being destroyed .

Fight Rages On To Save Centuries-Old Giant Philippine Rosewood Tree
Bong S. Sarmiento, Mongabay
Waking Times
MINDANAO, Philippines — For centuries, a giant Philippine rosewood tree has stood as an iconic landmark along a stretch of the Pan-Philippine Highway that runs outside the rustic southern town of San Francisco.
Known locally as toog, and formally as Petersianthus quadrialatus, this particular specimen is believed to be 300 years old, dating back to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. It survived a strong typhoon in 1942 here in the village of Alegria in what is today the province of Agusan del Sur, on the southern island of Mindanao, and is considered the oldest and tallest tree of its species: it stands at 56 meters (184 feet), the height of a 13-story building, and its diameter close to the base is nearly 4 meters, or 12 feet, or about the length of the average car.
It holds significant cultural value and has become an iconic representative of a species that is losing ground in the Philippines. Threatened by illegal logging and kaingin, the traditional practice of slash-and-burn agriculture, the toog is included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to habitat loss and unsustainable harvest. Its sturdy ruby-tinged wood is prized for making furniture and musical instruments, among others.
While it has survived the test of time and the fury of nature — from floods to typhoons to earthquakes — the Alegria toog tree could soon become a thing of the past: it’s threatened with a slow death after officials decided to cut its upper half. Without its crown, where the leaves thrive, the tree would be deprived of food, which would eventually kill it.
The decision to slash the height of the Alegria toog came after experts confirmed that it’s infested with fungi and termites. Having been left unchecked and untreated over time, the problem has led from a small cavity in the trunk to a hole large enough for a person to enter.
In April 2019, Marcelina Pacho, a pathologist and tree surgeon who assessed the health of the Alegria toog, noted that a basal cavity measuring 1.5 meters (5 feet) wide and 3 meters (10 feet) high had formed at its base.
“The presence of few mycelia, the vegetative part of fungus, and the fungal odor are indicators or signs of wood decay,” said Pacho, who was formerly associated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB). “Rotting wood can be crumbled as well as the presence of moisture further indicated that the decay is in the advance and active phase.”
Pacho didn’t recommend that the tree be cut down; instead, she suggested a course of fungicide treatment and the extraction of the decaying wood, which could then be filled in with concrete mix reinforced with gravel, cinder block and rebar.
Following Pacho’s assessment, the ERDB’s Forest and Wetland Research, Development and Extension Center (FWRDEC) conducted a biomechanics and structural analysis of the Alegria toog.
The agency reached a different conclusion, recommending the cutting down of the tree due to the high risk it posed to residents, commuters and surrounding properties. (It stands 9 meters, or about 30 feet, from the highway.) In its findings released in July last year, the FWRDEC said the trunk structure was continuously deteriorating due to mycelial infection and only two of its eight major buttresses were holding it steady.
“The mechanical and structural strength and stability of the toog tree has already been compromised,” said Conrado Marquez, the FWRDEC head.
The decision to cut down the Alegria toog triggered an outcry from local residents, conservationists and tree lovers across the country. It’s considered sacred by the Indigenous Manobo tribe, who believe it houses the spirits of their ancestors. Over time, it has also become a major tourism draw for the town of San Francisco.
In September 2019, the iconic tree was saved from being cut down after officials yielded to public appeals to allow treatment for the decaying tree.
But almost a year later, the local government said it hadn’t seen any improvement in the toog’s health and scheduled it to be cut down, for a second time, on Aug. 7. Again, the decision sparked protests that forced officials to suspend the activity and call for a stakeholders’ dialogue.
By Aug. 10, officials headed by Solomon Rufila, the mayor of San Francisco, and members of the municipal council, following the stakeholders’ consultative meeting, changed tack. Instead of cutting down the tree entirely, they decided to reduce its height by cutting off the top half, including its leaf canopy.
Leaves produce food for their host plant through photosynthesis, so scalping the crown of the Alegria toog is a sure death sentence, albeit a slow and painful one, according to scientists and officials. Amando Palijon, a renowned tree surgeon and former forestry professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), said the tree would gradually die if the upper portion is cut, according to a report by news portal MindaNews.
“If you notice the tree is devoid of lateral branches from the base to the general crown level which is normal architecture of the tree,” Palijon said. “This means that this will not assure the tree will produce sprouts that will develop into branches that will subsequently form the crown that is needed to make it function physiologically.”
Lawrence Tinampay, a spokesman for the San Francisco municipal government, told Mongabay that officials had decided to trim the tree — the actual amount to be cut is still unknown — so the public can still see the legacy tree (or at least its trunk) at its exact location as part of a municipal landmark.
He agreed with the assessment that because the leaves of the tree, all on the topmost portion, would be cut off, the tree would eventually die.
“The toog tree will be cut off to a considerable height that it will no longer pose a danger to the lives of residents and commuters, and their properties,” Tinampay said. He denied allegations the government had been negligent about conserving the tree. The “time has come to choose between safety and heritage, and with the decision to cut it to a considerable height, local officials have achieved both ends,” he said.
Jurgenne Primavera, a renowned marine scientist and native of Agusan, blamed officials for their failure to curb the deterioration of the tree, which the municipal council recognized as a “protected tree” through a 2012 ordinance. “It’s a result of poor governance,” she told Mongabay.
Primavera, a pioneering member of Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts, a social media group with some 14,000 members, said that up until the 1990s, there was still a wide swath of vegetation surrounding the tree. In 2005, the community had begun to encroach on the area as people cleared away the vegetation to build their houses, she added.
Leonilo Tandog Jr., the San Francisco disaster risk reduction officer, said there are proposals to retrofit the tree with a support structure that will not only prevent it from falling over but will also double as viewing decks to keep the tourists coming to San Francisco. The town offers views of Mount Magdiwata and Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area spanning 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of complex freshwater marshes and watercourses with numerous shallow lakes and ponds.
But “we cannot compromise public safety,” Tandog told Mongabay.
The local consortium Save the TOog tree Please (STOP), headed by Mauro Bravo Jr., urged the government not to cut the Alegria toog and instead allow the recommended scientific treatment to save it. The group called for a third-party scientific reassessment of the state of the health of the Alegria toog.
Primavera said she believes the tree can still be rehabilitated, citing the case of a bitaog tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) in the town of Magallanes, in neighboring Agusan del Norte province. Declared a Philippine centennial tree in 1998, the bitaog’s two big branches broke down due to fungal rot in June 2017.
Through a regimen of tree surgery, fungicide treatment and regular checkups, the bitaog tree is still alive today. Primavera said officials in San Francisco should do the same for the Alegria toog. “The toog tree can be saved, no need to cut it,” she said, adding it’s also important to conduct further studies to improve its physical and structural stability.
Officials have not yet set a date for cutting the tree “to a safe height,” pending further instruction from the DENR. For now, the STOP local consortium and Filipino tree conservationists say they’re committed to keeping the flame of protest glowing to save the centuries-old Alegria toog from being destroyed.


wakingtimes--2020-08-28--Teachers ‘Bruised, Bloodied, Traumatized’ After Being Shot By Cops With Pellet Guns In Shooting Dril

Teachers ‘ Bruised , Bloodied , Traumatized ’ After Being Shot By Cops With Pellet Guns In Shooting Drill Get the latest Waking Times articles delivered to your inbox .
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Monticello , IN — In some sick and twisted act , Indiana elementary school teachers were ordered to kneel against a wall before being shot “ execution-style ” from behind with pellet guns during a safety drill .
The teachers were left bruised , bloodied and traumatized after this most insane “ drill ” and are now taking action .
Last year , some 30 teachers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underwent ALICE training which encourages teachers and students to be proactive when facing an active shooter , including rushing the attacker .
Shooting teachers with plastic pellets does not typically feature in ALICE training , however , and now those teachers are suing .
Eight schoolteachers from Meadowlawn Elementary School in Indiana have sued the local sheriff ’ s department after a traumatizing course of “ active shooter ” training left them physically and psychologically scarred .
According to the Indy Star , the lawsuit , filed last week in Indiana ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White County Sheriff ’ s Deputies subjected teachers “ verbal threats , expletives , and screaming , ” in addition to being struck with the plastic pellets fired from airsoft guns .
The experience was so horrific for the teachers that two of them had to stop teaching .
A first-grade teacher was also diagnosed with PTSD after the shooting drill .
When the White County Sheriff ’ s Department was exposed for the horrific treatment of the teachers in the shooting drill last year , Sheriff Bill Brooks said his deputies stopped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to the teachers , it had already gone too far .
When you are left physically injured by police who are shooting you at point blank range with a pellet gun , while hurling expletives at you in a deliberate attempt to incite fear — all to teach you about mass shootings — something has gone terribly wrong .
According to the Indy Star : Eight teachers , out of approximately 35 that were present for the Meadowlawn training , have signed on to the lawsuit , each with claims of being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from being shot with the airsoft guns from “ point-blank range.
” According to the complaint , the teachers were broken up in small groups and told by sheriff ’ s deputies to line up facing a wall and kneel .
Once they were kneeling , an officer shot the teachers across their backs .
They were told not to tell the other teachers , waiting in another room for their turn , what had happened .
Later in the day , teachers were also subject to a series of drills in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hide in classrooms , to try and barricade doors from potential intruders and to throw tennis balls at the officers .
During each drill , officers shot the teachers with the airsoft guns , according to the complaint .
The lawsuit states that each drill started out with a cop “ striding quickly down the hallway , loudly banging on walls while screaming furiously , yelling out numerous obscenities and threats , such as… ‘ I ’ m going to kill you all !
’ ” One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repeatedly shot with the pellet gun at point blank range as she hid under a table in the fetal position .
Exactly what the cops were attempting to prepare her for by doing this remains a mystery .
The injuries suffered by teachers were so significant , according to the lawsuit , that they took days and weeks to heal and a first-grade teacher was left permanently scarred .
Several of the teachers say the experience has left them fearing law enforcement and report constant anxiety while at work while others have sought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfortunate reality in America but drills like this one seem to be counterproductive to preventing or acting during them .
Attempting to train teachers like military personnel by subjecting them to such violent and traumatizing experiences is not the answer to the problem of mass shootings .
It is , however , a great way for sadistic cops to inflict pain and suffering on innocent people for personal joy .
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .

Teachers ‘Bruised, Bloodied, Traumatized’ After Being Shot By Cops With Pellet Guns In Shooting Drill
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
Monticello, IN — In some sick and twisted act, Indiana elementary school teachers were ordered to kneel against a wall before being shot “execution-style” from behind with pellet guns during a safety drill. The teachers were left bruised, bloodied and traumatized after this most insane “drill” and are now taking action.
Last year, some 30 teachers at the Meadowlawn Elementary School in Monticello underwent ALICE training which encourages teachers and students to be proactive when facing an active shooter, including rushing the attacker.
Shooting teachers with plastic pellets does not typically feature in ALICE training, however, and now those teachers are suing. Eight schoolteachers from Meadowlawn Elementary School in Indiana have sued the local sheriff’s department after a traumatizing course of “active shooter” training left them physically and psychologically scarred.
According to the Indy Star, the lawsuit, filed last week in Indiana’s northern federal court, claims that four White County Sheriff’s Deputies subjected teachers “verbal threats, expletives, and screaming,” in addition to being struck with the plastic pellets fired from airsoft guns.
“The teachers displayed obvious signs of anguish and physical pain, but were humiliated to find the law enforcement officers joking and laughing at them,” the complaint reads. “The terrifying and inexplicable experience left the teachers with lasting physical and emotional injuries.”
The experience was so horrific for the teachers that two of them had to stop teaching. A first-grade teacher was also diagnosed with PTSD after the shooting drill.
When the White County Sheriff’s Department was exposed for the horrific treatment of the teachers in the shooting drill last year, Sheriff Bill Brooks said his deputies stopped when the teachers became upset.
“We were made aware that one teacher was upset,” he said in a phone interview last March. “And we ended it.”
But according to the teachers, it had already gone too far. When you are left physically injured by police who are shooting you at point blank range with a pellet gun, while hurling expletives at you in a deliberate attempt to incite fear — all to teach you about mass shootings — something has gone terribly wrong.
According to the Indy Star:
Eight teachers, out of approximately 35 that were present for the Meadowlawn training, have signed on to the lawsuit, each with claims of being left with bruises, welts and abrasions from being shot with the airsoft guns from “point-blank range.” According to the complaint, the teachers were broken up in small groups and told by sheriff’s deputies to line up facing a wall and kneel. Once they were kneeling, an officer shot the teachers across their backs. They were told not to tell the other teachers, waiting in another room for their turn, what had happened. Later in the day, teachers were also subject to a series of drills in which they were instructed at different times to hide in classrooms, to try and barricade doors from potential intruders and to throw tennis balls at the officers. During each drill, officers shot the teachers with the airsoft guns, according to the complaint. The lawsuit states that each drill started out with a cop “striding quickly down the hallway, loudly banging on walls while screaming furiously, yelling out numerous obscenities and threats, such as… ‘I’m going to kill you all!’”
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a kindergarten teacher, reports being repeatedly shot with the pellet gun at point blank range as she hid under a table in the fetal position. Exactly what the cops were attempting to prepare her for by doing this remains a mystery.
The injuries suffered by teachers were so significant, according to the lawsuit, that they took days and weeks to heal and a first-grade teacher was left permanently scarred.
Several of the teachers say the experience has left them fearing law enforcement and report constant anxiety while at work while others have sought psychiatric help.
School shootings are an unfortunate reality in America but drills like this one seem to be counterproductive to preventing or acting during them. Attempting to train teachers like military personnel by subjecting them to such violent and traumatizing experiences is not the answer to the problem of mass shootings. It is, however, a great way for sadistic cops to inflict pain and suffering on innocent people for personal joy.
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--2020-08-28--Why The ‘Lesser Evil’ Is An Illusion

Why The ‘Lesser Evil’ Is An Illusion

Why The ‘ Lesser Evil ’ Is An Illusion Get the latest Waking Times articles delivered to your inbox .
Sign up here .
There was a simultaneously hilarious and nightmare-inducing meme format that was popular not long ago called Creepy Garfield , in which the familiar Jim Davis comic is re-imagined as a Lovecraftian horror genre in which the titular cat often features as an eldritch demigod who is tormenting his owner Jon in some existentially terrifying way .
A common theme is a comic which starts out like a normal Garfield cartoon in which Jon is talking to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we all grew up reading , then it turns out we were completely misperceiving the situation and the cat ’ s head is for example actually part of a tentacled hellbeast , perhaps dwelling within Jon himself .
Anyway , that ’ s basically what the “ two ” -party political system is like .
When the comic starts out , you ’ re looking at two separate and distinct political parties with completely different goals and platforms .
One of them seems nice , the other is a bit of a jerk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lasagna .
But subsequent panels reveal something far less comfortable to look at .
As you read on , it turns out that both the character on the left side of the panel and the one on the right side of the panel are actually just two tentacles on the same abyssal monster , who ’ d been putting on a two-headed performance within the small puppet show frame of the comic strip .
In reality , they are both extensions of the same murderous oligarchic forces .
Those oligarchic forces use the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public into consenting to their continued rule .
For example , in the US there ’ s a pretend presidential race on right now in which voters are being presented with a nasty , fascistic idiot incumbent who is running against a character who is far from perfect , but at least he ’ s not the tyrant who has been abusing and terrifying them for four years .
In reality , they ’ re both part of the same oligarchic Cthulhu monster , whose continued rule is ensured by manipulating people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left .
Joe Biden is a half-dead piece of beltway flotsam who is held together by nothing but Aricept and crazy glue , and it ’ s been his job to push for for wars , austerity and authoritarianism on behalf of his oligarchic donors since before most Bernie supporters were even born .
Yet American progressives are being told to believe that they can push him to the left during his administration to help them stomach the idea of voting for him .
If he wins the imaginary US election , Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having the most diverse , inclusive and intersectional cabinet of mass murderers ever assembled .
He will function in the same way a skin suit full of government agencies , war profiteers and rapacious corporations would function if it became president , because that ’ s essentially all he is as a person .
There are slightly different factions and agendas in the US oligarchy , and those can manifest as some of them backing one tentacle over the other in various puppet shows .
But what all oligarchs have in common is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ status quo upon which their respective kingdoms have been built , which means that while there might be some sectarian power struggles at the top , none of them are going to improve upon the oppressive , exploitative , Orwellian , imperialist status quo that is crushing ordinary human beings to death every single day .
So as far as ordinary human beings are concerned , all you ’ re ever looking at is a giant bully telling you to beg him to punch you with his left fist or he ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right .
What do you do in such a situation ?
What is the correct response when a powerful oligarchy is telling you that if you don ’ t consent to being ruled by one of its puppets , it will brutalize disadvantaged communities and take away people ’ s civil rights ?
Is it to do as it says , hold your nose , and do everything you can to get the puppet on the left elected so that the oligarchic tentacle beast won ’ t devour disempowered members of the population @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beast and elect the right tentacle in a deluded act of defiance ?
Is it to pour all your energy into building a third party ?
Or is it to actually fight ?
What if everyone just completely ignored the frame of the comic strip panels ?
What if they completely ignored the puppet show stage , and just stared directly at their infernal tormenter who is holding the puppets ?
What if instead of talking about elections all the time , they started pointing at the real reason elections never change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is dissatisfied with the presidential choices you are being offered in election after election , consider focusing your energy on the status quo itself .
Consider taking the energy you might have put into talking about Donald Trump and Joe Biden and putting it into waking up your countrymen to the fact that the political class is there to rob them and the media class is there to deceive them on behalf of their oligarchic owners .
What prevents real change from coming to the most powerful nation in the world is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evil ” loses elections , it ’ s the fact that everyone ’ s being manipulated into buying into a fake performance that is wholly owned and operated a single oligarchic force which benefits directly from oppression , exploitation and mass murder .
It ’ s that there is no “ lesser evil ” .
The conversation about the political system should be dragged kicking and screaming into these waters at every opportunity .
Refuse to clap along with any aspect of the puppet show , and keep pointing to the oligarchy behind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has invisible clothes until someone points out that his balls are showing .
Our job is to wake people up from this illusion .
Our job is to wake them up from the dream .
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website , which will get you an email notification for everything .
Her articles are entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around , liking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Twitter , checking out her podcast , throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal , or buying her book Woke : A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers .

Why The ‘Lesser Evil’ Is An Illusion
Caitlin Johnstone, Guest
Waking Times
There was a simultaneously hilarious and nightmare-inducing meme format that was popular not long ago called Creepy Garfield, in which the familiar Jim Davis comic is re-imagined as a Lovecraftian horror genre in which the titular cat often features as an eldritch demigod who is tormenting his owner Jon in some existentially terrifying way.
A common theme is a comic which starts out like a normal Garfield cartoon in which Jon is talking to his obese pet in the usual way we all grew up reading, then it turns out we were completely misperceiving the situation and the cat’s head is for example actually part of a tentacled hellbeast, perhaps dwelling within Jon himself.
Anyway, that’s basically what the “two”-party political system is like.
When the comic starts out, you’re looking at two separate and distinct political parties with completely different goals and platforms. One of them seems nice, the other is a bit of a jerk who’s always eating all the lasagna. But subsequent panels reveal something far less comfortable to look at.
As you read on, it turns out that both the character on the left side of the panel and the one on the right side of the panel are actually just two tentacles on the same abyssal monster, who’d been putting on a two-headed performance within the small puppet show frame of the comic strip. In reality, they are both extensions of the same murderous oligarchic forces.
Those oligarchic forces use the illusion of the puppet show to manipulate the public into consenting to their continued rule. For example, in the US there’s a pretend presidential race on right now in which voters are being presented with a nasty, fascistic idiot incumbent who is running against a character who is far from perfect, but at least he’s not the tyrant who has been abusing and terrifying them for four years.
In reality, they’re both part of the same oligarchic Cthulhu monster, whose continued rule is ensured by manipulating people into begging for the tentacle on the left.
Joe Biden is a half-dead piece of beltway flotsam who is held together by nothing but Aricept and crazy glue, and it’s been his job to push for for wars, austerity and authoritarianism on behalf of his oligarchic donors since before most Bernie supporters were even born. Yet American progressives are being told to believe that they can push him to the left during his administration to help them stomach the idea of voting for him.
If he wins the imaginary US election, Biden’s most progressive achievement will be having the most diverse, inclusive and intersectional cabinet of mass murderers ever assembled. He will function in the same way a skin suit full of government agencies, war profiteers and rapacious corporations would function if it became president, because that’s essentially all he is as a person.
There are slightly different factions and agendas in the US oligarchy, and those can manifest as some of them backing one tentacle over the other in various puppet shows. But what all oligarchs have in common is the need to maintain the same basic status quo upon which their respective kingdoms have been built, which means that while there might be some sectarian power struggles at the top, none of them are going to improve upon the oppressive, exploitative, Orwellian, imperialist status quo that is crushing ordinary human beings to death every single day.
So as far as ordinary human beings are concerned, all you’re ever looking at is a giant bully telling you to beg him to punch you with his left fist or he’ll punch you a bit harder with his right.
What do you do in such a situation? What is the correct response when a powerful oligarchy is telling you that if you don’t consent to being ruled by one of its puppets, it will brutalize disadvantaged communities and take away people’s civil rights?
Is it to do as it says, hold your nose, and do everything you can to get the puppet on the left elected so that the oligarchic tentacle beast won’t devour disempowered members of the population? Is it to refuse to appease the beast and elect the right tentacle in a deluded act of defiance? Is it to pour all your energy into building a third party?
Or is it to actually fight?
What if everyone just completely ignored the frame of the comic strip panels? What if they completely ignored the puppet show stage, and just stared directly at their infernal tormenter who is holding the puppets? What if instead of talking about elections all the time, they started pointing at the real reason elections never change anything?
If you are an American who is dissatisfied with the presidential choices you are being offered in election after election, consider focusing your energy on the status quo itself. Consider taking the energy you might have put into talking about Donald Trump and Joe Biden and putting it into waking up your countrymen to the fact that the political class is there to rob them and the media class is there to deceive them on behalf of their oligarchic owners.
What prevents real change from coming to the most powerful nation in the world is not the fact that the “lesser evil” loses elections, it’s the fact that everyone’s being manipulated into buying into a fake performance that is wholly owned and operated a single oligarchic force which benefits directly from oppression, exploitation and mass murder. It’s that there is no “lesser evil”.
The conversation about the political system should be dragged kicking and screaming into these waters at every opportunity. Refuse to clap along with any aspect of the puppet show, and keep pointing to the oligarchy behind the stage. The naked emperor only has invisible clothes until someone points out that his balls are showing.
Our job is to wake people up from this illusion. Our job is to wake them up from the dream.
About the Author
Caitlin Johnstone – Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerrilla poet. Utopia prepper.
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website, which will get you an email notification for everything. Her articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.


wakingtimes--2020-08-31--500 German Doctors and Scientists Question Official Covid-19 Story – ‘It is High Time That We Took T

500 German Doctors and Scientists Question Official Covid-19 Story – ‘ It is High Time That We Took This Into Our Own Hands ’ Get the latest Waking Times articles delivered to your inbox .
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More than 500 German doctors and scientists have officially formed an organization to investigate the global response to Covid-19 called the “ Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee ” , or Außerparlamentarischer Corona Untersuchungsausschuss ( ACU ) in Germany , and came to the conclusion that the freedom-limiting measures we are seeing taken across the globe are wildly excessive when compared with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is high time that we took this into our own hands ” says one member of the ACU regarding a lack of scientific debate about the virus .
“ We will invite and hear experts here in the Corona speaker group .
These are experts from all areas of life : Medicine , social affairs , law , economics and many more .
“ As the Corona-Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee , we will investigate why these restrictive measures were imposed upon us in our country as part of COVID-19 , why people are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the measures to this disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus .
We have serious doubts that these measures are proportionate.
” [ Source ] One member of the ACU reportedly confessed that , “ we have a lot of evidence that it ’ s a fake story all over the world , ” implying not that the virus itself is fake but that the danger it poses has been fiercely overestimated .
However , the video was removed by YouTube for violating the rule that no information which dissents from the World @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stance on the coronavirus may exist on the platform .
Censorship of factual coronavirus information is nothing new as YouTube has quite a history of removing content from doctors and journalists .
In April , they deleted a local NBC press conference of two California doctors , Dr. Dan Erickson , and Dr. Artin Massihi , simply for suggesting that the scale of the pandemic is not as vast as global authorities say .
Tenured journalist Sharyl Attkisson also had one of her reports removed by YouTube for reporting about Hydroxychloroquine , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wodarg was one of the earliest German doctors to speak out against media hype surrounding the novel coronavirus , particularly when used to justify draconian lockdowns which many countries began in March of this year .
Sweden is one notable exception to the lockdowns and they are faring much better than many other countries in terms of immunity .
“ The Swedish government decided early in January that the measures we take against the pandemic should be evidence-based and when you start looking around for the measures that are being taken now by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of them have a shred of evidence.
” – Johan Giesecke , Senior Epidemiologist and Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) [ Source ] Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi , another German scientist who specializes in microbiology , is part of the ACU and has believed since the beginning that the measures being taken to curb coronavirus infections are authoritarian and unreasonable .
Hydroxychloroquine , intravenous Vitamin C , and even some cannabis strains are proving for effective for some patients being treated for Covid-19 , yet governments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only in a vaccine to end freedom-stifling lockdowns and mask mandates .
Clearly , the authorities do not want us listening to alternative perspectives on the virus and how to treat it .
In times like these , we should be asking whether those in power truly care about our health or are simply using the pandemic to chip away at even more of our liberties .
About the Author Phillip Schneider is a staff writer and assistant editor for Waking Times .
For more of his work , you can visit his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him on the free speech social network Minds .
This article ( 500 Doctors and Scientists Question Official Covid-19 Story – “ It is High Time That We Took This into Our Own Hands ” ) 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 .

500 German Doctors and Scientists Question Official Covid-19 Story – ‘It is High Time That We Took This Into Our Own Hands’
Phillip Schneider, Staff Writer
Waking Times
More than 500 German doctors and scientists have officially formed an organization to investigate the global response to Covid-19 called the “Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee”, or Außerparlamentarischer Corona Untersuchungsausschuss (ACU) in Germany, and came to the conclusion that the freedom-limiting measures we are seeing taken across the globe are wildly excessive when compared with the infection rate of the pandemic.
“It is high time that we took this into our own hands” says one member of the ACU regarding a lack of scientific debate about the virus. “We will invite and hear experts here in the Corona speaker group. These are experts from all areas of life: Medicine, social affairs, law, economics and many more. “As the Corona-Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, we will investigate why these restrictive measures were imposed upon us in our country as part of COVID-19, why people are suffering now and whether there is proportionality of the measures to this disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus. We have serious doubts that these measures are proportionate.” [Source]
One member of the ACU reportedly confessed that, “we have a lot of evidence that it’s a fake story all over the world,” implying not that the virus itself is fake but that the danger it poses has been fiercely overestimated. However, the video was removed by YouTube for violating the rule that no information which dissents from the World Health Organization (WHO)’s stance on the coronavirus may exist on the platform.
Censorship of factual coronavirus information is nothing new as YouTube has quite a history of removing content from doctors and journalists. In April, they deleted a local NBC press conference of two California doctors, Dr. Dan Erickson, and Dr. Artin Massihi, simply for suggesting that the scale of the pandemic is not as vast as global authorities say. Tenured journalist Sharyl Attkisson also had one of her reports removed by YouTube for reporting about Hydroxychloroquine, a potential treatment for the virus.
Wolfgang Wodarg was one of the earliest German doctors to speak out against media hype surrounding the novel coronavirus, particularly when used to justify draconian lockdowns which many countries began in March of this year. Sweden is one notable exception to the lockdowns and they are faring much better than many other countries in terms of immunity.
“The Swedish government decided early in January that the measures we take against the pandemic should be evidence-based and when you start looking around for the measures that are being taken now by different countries you find that very few of them have a shred of evidence.” – Johan Giesecke, Senior Epidemiologist and Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) [Source]
Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, another German scientist who specializes in microbiology, is part of the ACU and has believed since the beginning that the measures being taken to curb coronavirus infections are authoritarian and unreasonable.
“Implementation of the current draconian measures that so extremely restrict fundamental rights can only be justified if there is reason to fear that a truly, exceptionally dangerous virus is threatening us. Do any scientifically sound data exist to support this contention for COVID-19? I assert that the answer is simply, no.” ~Dr. Bhakdi
Hydroxychloroquine, intravenous Vitamin C, and even some cannabis strains are proving for effective for some patients being treated for Covid-19, yet governments and media pundits seem to be interested only in a vaccine to end freedom-stifling lockdowns and mask mandates. Clearly, the authorities do not want us listening to alternative perspectives on the virus and how to treat it. In times like these, we should be asking whether those in power truly care about our health or are simply using the pandemic to chip away at even more of our liberties.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1wbgrhr2Bw&feature=emb_title
Read more articles by Phillip Schneider.
About the Author
Phillip Schneider is a staff writer and assistant editor for Waking Times. For more of his work, you can visit his Website, Facebook Page, or follow him on the free speech social network Minds.
This article (500 Doctors and Scientists Question Official Covid-19 Story – “It is High Time That We Took This into Our Own Hands”) 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--2020-08-31--Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Delivers Powerful Health Freedom Speech in Berlin

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Sign up here .
It ’ s hard to accept the idea of a Covid vaccine , especially a mandatory one , if you ’ re at all familiar with the work of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , or if you ’ ve been paying attention to the fact that world elites have been planning and looking forward to an event like this for a very long time .
It just doesn ’ t add up .
And if your mission is to force 7 billion healthy people to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t pull this off without controlling the narrative and news coverage of contrarian points of view .
Among those championing the right to informed consent , in opposition to vaccine makers and pharmaceutical companies , is RFK Jr. , and he ’ s taking flak from mainstream media and the rest of the bootlicker press .
Never-the-less , he has not given up , and in a recent speech in Berlin against the lockdown and anti-covid measures , RFK delivered a powerful message to those who are speaking out against this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not want leaders that make up arbitrary rules and regulations to orchestrate obedience of the population .
We want health officials who don ’ t have financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical industry , who are working for us and not big pharma .
We want officials who care about our children ’ s health , and not about pharmaceutical profits , or government control.
” Watch this powerful and inspiring speech here : Vic Bishop is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog .
He is an observer of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he loves to ponder the connection and relationship between them all .
A believer in always striving to becoming self-sufficient and free from the matrix , please track him down on Facebook .
This article ( Robert F. Kennedy Jr .
Delivers Powerful Health Freedom Speech in Berlin ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Vic Bishop and WakingTimes.com .
It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution , author bio , and this copyright statement .
Please contact @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Delivers Powerful Health Freedom Speech in Berlin
Vic Bishop, Staff Writer
Waking Times
It’s hard to accept the idea of a Covid vaccine, especially a mandatory one, if you’re at all familiar with the work of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or if you’ve been paying attention to the fact that world elites have been planning and looking forward to an event like this for a very long time. It just doesn’t add up.
And if your mission is to force 7 billion healthy people to take an experimental vaccine, you just can’t pull this off without controlling the narrative and news coverage of contrarian points of view.
Among those championing the right to informed consent, in opposition to vaccine makers and pharmaceutical companies, is RFK Jr., and he’s taking flak from mainstream media and the rest of the bootlicker press. Never-the-less, he has not given up, and in a recent speech in Berlin against the lockdown and anti-covid measures, RFK delivered a powerful message to those who are speaking out against this emerging global medical tyranny.
“People do not want leaders that make up arbitrary rules and regulations to orchestrate obedience of the population. We want health officials who don’t have financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical industry, who are working for us and not big pharma. We want officials who care about our children’s health, and not about pharmaceutical profits, or government control.”
Watch this powerful and inspiring speech here:
http://youtu.be/OIVYT796dNo
Read more articles from Vic Bishop.
About the Author
Vic Bishop is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an observer of people, animals, nature, and he loves to ponder the connection and relationship between them all. A believer in always striving to becoming self-sufficient and free from the matrix, please track him down on Facebook.
This article (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Delivers Powerful Health Freedom Speech in Berlin) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Vic Bishop and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement. Please contact WakingTimes@gmail.com for more info.