lewrockwell--2020-09-30--The Only Thing Systematic Is the Destruction of America

“ It is difficult to get a man to understand something , when his salary depends upon his not understanding it !
” – Upton Sinclair Upton Sinclair was describing willful ignorance based upon who butters your bread .
The rampant corruption of our society , as power has been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands , has resulted in our political , financial , cultural and economic systems being captured by a billionaire class who use their wealth to dictate the path we are forced to follow – or lose everything .
The sociopath class include the Silicon Valley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the six mainstream media companies , the rogue billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg who fund chaos and foment insurrection , the Deep State surveillance agency operatives like Clapper , Brennan , Comey and Mueller doing the bidding of the oligarchy , Wall Street criminals like Dimon , Paulson , and Blankfein doing god ’ s work , and last but certainly not least – Powell , Yellen , Bernanke and slimy Kashkari priming the pump for the never ending systematic pillaging of the nation ’ s wealth .
When you witness what passes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Local levels , you must weep for our future .
These pathetic excuses for leaders display none of the qualities a citizenry would want in those they have elected to manage our governmental affairs .
They are bought off hacks , lacking any intellectual honesty , and selling their votes to the highest bidder .
They lie , misinform , steal , and do the bidding of the monied interests who selected them because they are pliable dupes without an ounce of courage or forethought about the long-term best interests of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We are far from the republic Franklin and his fellow patriots gave us , and as Franklin foreshadowed , we were unable to keep it .
As the fledgling republic devolved into a mob democracy , with the Federal government grabbing more power during the Civil War , the banking cabal seizing control of the nation ’ s finances in 1913 with the creation from Jekyll Island , the growth of the welfare state with FDR and LBJ doing the most damage , the metastasis of the military industrial complex , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surveillance state execution , and now the final countdown to Armageddon as the state , media conglomerates , Wall Street criminals , mega-corporations , and billionaire oligarchs use this purposefully over-hyped flu pandemic to consolidate their power , wealth and control over a dumbed down , iGadget addicted , fearful , easily manipulated , compliant populace .
Most people go through life not questioning the motivations of their political , financial , economic and religious leaders .
They naively believe they have achieved their positions of power because they have earned it through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moral authority .
Most people are not sociopaths .
They are just trying to steer around the potholes of life , raising families , earning a living , finding some enjoyment , leaving a positive legacy and trusting those in positions of power are looking out for their best interests .
They are wrapped up in their day to day existence , so are not vigilant in monitoring what political , financial and corporate power players are plotting to further reduce their liberties , freedom , and bank accounts .
After decades of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the masses , relentless propaganda propagated by the corporate media mouthpieces of the Deep State , endless technological and sports distractions , and being lured into crushing levels of debt by Wall Street and Madison Avenue , the masses are incapable of critically assessing how they have been systematically screwed by the ruling class .
Even with the self-imposed economic depression initiated by politicians , at the behest of captured self-proclaimed medical “ experts ” and college drop-out techno-geek billionaires ( Bill Gates ) , resulting in tens of millions ( mostly blue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put out of work , there are still 147 million employed Americans .
That ’ s up 14 million from the April pandemic low , but to provide some perspective , it ’ s at virtually the same level as late 2007 just before the Wall Street/Fed created financial collapse .
Considering there are 260 million working age Americans in the country , with 26 million employed part time , 9 million self-employed and 21 million government workers paid for by the 91 million full-time wage earners , you understand why wage earners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something ” because their livelihood depends upon them pretending to not understand the truth .
The propaganda phrase “ we ’ re in this together ” is another Orwellian doublespeak example , as there are 10.7 million less private industry workers than a year ago , but the number of government workers is amazingly up by almost 200,000 .
So much for sharing the pain .
The other dichotomy is between college graduate white collar workers who can work from home and the mostly low paid service industry workers who “ serve ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ college graduate workers is up by 1 million in the last year versus down 9.3 million for all other workers .
These pandemic lockdowns have devastated the job prospects of blacks , teenagers , and anyone working in the hospitality industry .
We are not in this together .
The Federal Reserve actions have only benefited their Wall Street constituents and the .1 % who own most of the financial assets in this country .
The poor , blue collar workers , waitresses , bartenders , savers , and senior citizens ( who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homes by Cuomo and his fellow Democrat governors ) have been thrown under the bus once again .
The rich get richer and the poor are thrown a $ 600 bone and told to obey and stay like a good dog .
The Sinclair quote is even more apt in relation to the latest narrative being used by the powers that be to divide us and create chaos .
The false story line of “ systematic racism ” is being used as a cudgel to beat us into submission and compliance .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-funded traitorous endeavor by Soros and his ilk to undermine the basic moral tenets of our society in order to institute a Marxist new world order in the U.S. , Europe , Australia , New Zealand , and eventually the entire world .
They want to destroy our past by tearing down statues and promoting fake history like the NYT promoted 1619 Project .
They publicize and promote division and racial strife by publicizing the few murders of blacks by whites , while ignoring the daily slaughter of blacks by other blacks in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other Democrat run urban ghetto kill zones .
The lawlessness and savagery in black inner cities with black on black crime is ignored by the left-wing politicians who run these cities and their media mouthpieces .
There is clearly something systematic about what has happened , but it ’ s not due to systematic racism .
The term ‘ systematic ’ has been in vogue lately because the propagandized narrative since a black felon dying of a fentanyl overdose was videotaped being kneeled upon by a white cop with a history of abusing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the single most important problem in America , keeping black people from getting ahead and resulting in them fearing for their lives , as cops and white people target them because they ’ re black .
Once the narrative was unleashed , the leftist mainstream media carried the ball with a misinformation campaign , and the domestic terrorist organizations BLM and ANTIFA were funded with millions of dollars from Soros and other leftist billionaires to riot , loot , burn and destroy cities across America in the name of racial justice .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ along with sports leagues , Hollywood elites , and every virtue signaling toady in America .
Anyone questioning the narrative with facts is cancelled , attacked and destroyed by the mob of willfully ignorant lemmings .
A white person ’ s salary now depends upon them apologizing for being white and kneeling before BLM and begging for mercy because they are systematically racist .
The dictionary definition of systematic is : done or acting according to a fixed plan or system ; methodical in procedure or plan ; presented or formulated as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The “ systematic racism ” narrative has absolutely no factual basis .
Are there racists in our society ?
Sure .
There are white racists , black racists , Latino racists , and Asian racists .
Harvard , Yale and other elite Ivy League institutions have been cited by Federal authorities for racist policies against Asians and whites .
If systematic racism is keeping blacks from succeeding why are there numerous examples of whites pretending to be minorities ( Pocahontas Warren , Jessica Krug , Rachel Dolezal , Shaun King ) in order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advancement ?
Since the implementation of LBJ ’ s Great Society , trillions of taxpayer funds have been spent to boost the lives of black America , with a phenomenally detrimental impact on their lives .
The creation of the welfare state has enslaved the black community in dependence and squalor .
Incentivizing out of wedlock children has resulted in over 70 % of all black children being raised in fatherless households .
Even though urban school districts spend $ 12,000 to $ 16,000 per student , the majority of blacks are matriculated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , spell or speak the English language .
Their urban enclaves are drug infested homicide zones , with young fatherless black men killing each other at an astounding rate .
Chicago has at least 50 shootings every weekend , with nary a white shooter .
It seems black lives don ’ t matter to other blacks .
But , when a black rapist is shot by police while reaching for a knife , the BLM and ANTIFA terrorists use it as an excuse to loot , riot , kill white Trump supporters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ savages .
This entire contrived fairy tale shows all the signs of being systematic , but the methodical plan being implemented has nothing to do with racism or justice .
The Davos elitist lords have been emboldened by their success since 9/11 , as they have utilized every crisis as an opportunity to further their agenda of consolidating power , wealth , and control over the plebs .
This pandemic “ crisis ” is being used as an opportunity to reset the world in a manner most beneficial for the Davos billionaires , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaos , a fake climate crisis and economic anxiety to implement a corporate fascist world order , disguised as a green new deal , MMT , socialist paradise .
The apparently incomprehensible actions of left wing politicians , DA ’ s , the corporate media , surveillance state bad actors , compliant central bankers , and emboldened billionaires over the last few months begin to make sense when you realize it is part of the plan .
As we have learned over the last decade , conspiracy theorists have been proven right , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against a duly elected president has been revealed through texts and incriminating documents ; Snowden and Assange revealed the illegal surveillance program conducted by unaccountable spy agencies ; JP Morgan and other criminal banks have admitted to rigging precious metals , bond and stock markets ; Soros has funneled tens of millions to elect far left District Attorneys who refuse to enforce the law and prosecute violent criminals ; a captured left wing judge attempts to prosecute an innocent man who was setup by Obama ’ s FBI hacks ; and Bloomberg is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of tens of thousands of black and Hispanic ex-convicts in Florida to steal the presidential election .
The selection of a senile handsy blunder zombie as a presidential candidate is clearly a Trojan horse to install Kamala Harris ( who had 2 % popularity among Democrats ) as the evil conduit to inflict the Davos master plan upon our country .
“ Reason is poor propaganda when opposed by the yammering , unceasing lies of shrewd and evil and self-serving men.
” – Robert A. Heinlein I consider myself a rational fact-based person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live my life in a manner that would make my deceased dad and my children proud .
My negligible efforts , over the last twelve years , to try and expose the lies and corruption of those wielding power over our lives seems like a drop in this ocean of deceit .
My message is only able to reach the few who want to know the truth , while the unceasing propaganda and lies of powerful evil men is broadcast to the masses through mainstream and social media conglomerates to manipulate their emotions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ destruction .
This bad flu outbreak has been seized upon by the shrewd , evil , self-serving men who rule the world to test their universal basic income scheme , pushing green new deal idiocy , consolidating commerce and profits into fewer mega-corporations , waging a war on the white middle class , tyrannically imposing job crushing government lockdown mandates , and dehumanizing the populace by forcing mask compliance in order to gain admittance to places of business .
In Part 2 of this article I will demolish the mask narrative , describe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enlighten you about the true purpose of the Federal Reserve , and try to make sense of what might happen as the climax of this Fourth Turning rapidly descends upon an unprepared nation .
Reprinted with permission from The Burning Platform .
The Best of Jim Quinn

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” – Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was describing willful ignorance based upon who butters your bread. The rampant corruption of our society, as power has been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands, has resulted in our political, financial, cultural and economic systems being captured by a billionaire class who use their wealth to dictate the path we are forced to follow – or lose everything.
The sociopath class include the Silicon Valley social media titans, the billionaires running the six mainstream media companies, the rogue billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg who fund chaos and foment insurrection, the Deep State surveillance agency operatives like Clapper, Brennan, Comey and Mueller doing the bidding of the oligarchy, Wall Street criminals like Dimon, Paulson, and Blankfein doing god’s work, and last but certainly not least – Powell, Yellen, Bernanke and slimy Kashkari priming the pump for the never ending systematic pillaging of the nation’s wealth.
When you witness what passes for legislators at the Federal, State and Local levels, you must weep for our future. These pathetic excuses for leaders display none of the qualities a citizenry would want in those they have elected to manage our governmental affairs. They are bought off hacks, lacking any intellectual honesty, and selling their votes to the highest bidder. They lie, misinform, steal, and do the bidding of the monied interests who selected them because they are pliable dupes without an ounce of courage or forethought about the long-term best interests of the people they are supposed to be representing. Fruit from a Poisonous... Stamper, Mel Best Price: $35.00 Buy New $16.14 (as of 08:43 UTC - Details)
We are far from the republic Franklin and his fellow patriots gave us, and as Franklin foreshadowed, we were unable to keep it. As the fledgling republic devolved into a mob democracy, with the Federal government grabbing more power during the Civil War, the banking cabal seizing control of the nation’s finances in 1913 with the creation from Jekyll Island, the growth of the welfare state with FDR and LBJ doing the most damage, the metastasis of the military industrial complex, the elimination of privacy after the Patriot Act surveillance state execution, and now the final countdown to Armageddon as the state, media conglomerates, Wall Street criminals, mega-corporations, and billionaire oligarchs use this purposefully over-hyped flu pandemic to consolidate their power, wealth and control over a dumbed down, iGadget addicted, fearful, easily manipulated, compliant populace.
Most people go through life not questioning the motivations of their political, financial, economic and religious leaders. They naively believe they have achieved their positions of power because they have earned it through hard work, intellectual superiority, and moral authority. Most people are not sociopaths. They are just trying to steer around the potholes of life, raising families, earning a living, finding some enjoyment, leaving a positive legacy and trusting those in positions of power are looking out for their best interests.
They are wrapped up in their day to day existence, so are not vigilant in monitoring what political, financial and corporate power players are plotting to further reduce their liberties, freedom, and bank accounts. After decades of government school social indoctrination dumbing down of the masses, relentless propaganda propagated by the corporate media mouthpieces of the Deep State, endless technological and sports distractions, and being lured into crushing levels of debt by Wall Street and Madison Avenue, the masses are incapable of critically assessing how they have been systematically screwed by the ruling class.
Even with the self-imposed economic depression initiated by politicians, at the behest of captured self-proclaimed medical “experts” and college drop-out techno-geek billionaires (Bill Gates), resulting in tens of millions (mostly blue collar and service industry workers) being put out of work, there are still 147 million employed Americans. That’s up 14 million from the April pandemic low, but to provide some perspective, it’s at virtually the same level as late 2007 just before the Wall Street/Fed created financial collapse.
Considering there are 260 million working age Americans in the country, with 26 million employed part time, 9 million self-employed and 21 million government workers paid for by the 91 million full-time wage earners, you understand why wage earners can be intimidated into “not understanding something” because their livelihood depends upon them pretending to not understand the truth.
The propaganda phrase “we’re in this together” is another Orwellian doublespeak example, as there are 10.7 million less private industry workers than a year ago, but the number of government workers is amazingly up by almost 200,000. So much for sharing the pain. The other dichotomy is between college graduate white collar workers who can work from home and the mostly low paid service industry workers who “serve” the white-collar workers. The number of college graduate workers is up by 1 million in the last year versus down 9.3 million for all other workers. These pandemic lockdowns have devastated the job prospects of blacks, teenagers, and anyone working in the hospitality industry. We are not in this together.
The Federal Reserve actions have only benefited their Wall Street constituents and the .1% who own most of the financial assets in this country. The poor, blue collar workers, waitresses, bartenders, savers, and senior citizens (who avoided being sentenced to death in nursing homes by Cuomo and his fellow Democrat governors) have been thrown under the bus once again. The rich get richer and the poor are thrown a $600 bone and told to obey and stay like a good dog.
The Sinclair quote is even more apt in relation to the latest narrative being used by the powers that be to divide us and create chaos. The false story line of “systematic racism” is being used as a cudgel to beat us into submission and compliance. The only thing systematic is the organized and well-funded traitorous endeavor by Soros and his ilk to undermine the basic moral tenets of our society in order to institute a Marxist new world order in the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and eventually the entire world.
They want to destroy our past by tearing down statues and promoting fake history like the NYT promoted 1619 Project. They publicize and promote division and racial strife by publicizing the few murders of blacks by whites, while ignoring the daily slaughter of blacks by other blacks in Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia and the other Democrat run urban ghetto kill zones. The lawlessness and savagery in black inner cities with black on black crime is ignored by the left-wing politicians who run these cities and their media mouthpieces. There is clearly something systematic about what has happened, but it’s not due to systematic racism.
The term ‘systematic’ has been in vogue lately because the propagandized narrative since a black felon dying of a fentanyl overdose was videotaped being kneeled upon by a white cop with a history of abusing citizens has been “systematic racism” is the single most important problem in America, keeping black people from getting ahead and resulting in them fearing for their lives, as cops and white people target them because they’re black. Once the narrative was unleashed, the leftist mainstream media carried the ball with a misinformation campaign, and the domestic terrorist organizations BLM and ANTIFA were funded with millions of dollars from Soros and other leftist billionaires to riot, loot, burn and destroy cities across America in the name of racial justice.
Corporate America latched onto the narrative, along with sports leagues, Hollywood elites, and every virtue signaling toady in America. Anyone questioning the narrative with facts is cancelled, attacked and destroyed by the mob of willfully ignorant lemmings. A white person’s salary now depends upon them apologizing for being white and kneeling before BLM and begging for mercy because they are systematically racist.
The dictionary definition of systematic is:
done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical in procedure or plan; presented or formulated as a coherent body of ideas or principles.
The “systematic racism” narrative has absolutely no factual basis. Are there racists in our society? Sure. There are white racists, black racists, Latino racists, and Asian racists. Harvard, Yale and other elite Ivy League institutions have been cited by Federal authorities for racist policies against Asians and whites. If systematic racism is keeping blacks from succeeding why are there numerous examples of whites pretending to be minorities (Pocahontas Warren, Jessica Krug, Rachel Dolezal, Shaun King) in order to get an advantage in their career advancement?
Since the implementation of LBJ’s Great Society, trillions of taxpayer funds have been spent to boost the lives of black America, with a phenomenally detrimental impact on their lives. The creation of the welfare state has enslaved the black community in dependence and squalor. Incentivizing out of wedlock children has resulted in over 70% of all black children being raised in fatherless households.
Even though urban school districts spend $12,000 to $16,000 per student, the majority of blacks are matriculated into society unable to add, subtract, spell or speak the English language. Their urban enclaves are drug infested homicide zones, with young fatherless black men killing each other at an astounding rate. Chicago has at least 50 shootings every weekend, with nary a white shooter. It seems black lives don’t matter to other blacks. But, when a black rapist is shot by police while reaching for a knife, the BLM and ANTIFA terrorists use it as an excuse to loot, riot, kill white Trump supporters, kill cops, and generally act like savages.
This entire contrived fairy tale shows all the signs of being systematic, but the methodical plan being implemented has nothing to do with racism or justice. The Davos elitist lords have been emboldened by their success since 9/11, as they have utilized every crisis as an opportunity to further their agenda of consolidating power, wealth, and control over the plebs.
This pandemic “crisis” is being used as an opportunity to reset the world in a manner most beneficial for the Davos billionaires, by exploiting pandemic fear, engineered social chaos, a fake climate crisis and economic anxiety to implement a corporate fascist world order, disguised as a green new deal, MMT, socialist paradise. The apparently incomprehensible actions of left wing politicians, DA’s, the corporate media, surveillance state bad actors, compliant central bankers, and emboldened billionaires over the last few months begin to make sense when you realize it is part of the plan.
As we have learned over the last decade, conspiracy theorists have been proven right, time after time, as a coup against a duly elected president has been revealed through texts and incriminating documents; Snowden and Assange revealed the illegal surveillance program conducted by unaccountable spy agencies; JP Morgan and other criminal banks have admitted to rigging precious metals, bond and stock markets; Soros has funneled tens of millions to elect far left District Attorneys who refuse to enforce the law and prosecute violent criminals; a captured left wing judge attempts to prosecute an innocent man who was setup by Obama’s FBI hacks; and Bloomberg is using his billions to buy the votes of tens of thousands of black and Hispanic ex-convicts in Florida to steal the presidential election.
The selection of a senile handsy blunder zombie as a presidential candidate is clearly a Trojan horse to install Kamala Harris (who had 2% popularity among Democrats) as the evil conduit to inflict the Davos master plan upon our country.
“Reason is poor propaganda when opposed by the yammering, unceasing lies of shrewd and evil and self-serving men.” – Robert A. Heinlein
I consider myself a rational fact-based person who tries to seek the truth and live my life in a manner that would make my deceased dad and my children proud. My negligible efforts, over the last twelve years, to try and expose the lies and corruption of those wielding power over our lives seems like a drop in this ocean of deceit. My message is only able to reach the few who want to know the truth, while the unceasing propaganda and lies of powerful evil men is broadcast to the masses through mainstream and social media conglomerates to manipulate their emotions and lead them on a path to destruction.
This bad flu outbreak has been seized upon by the shrewd, evil, self-serving men who rule the world to test their universal basic income scheme, pushing green new deal idiocy, consolidating commerce and profits into fewer mega-corporations, waging a war on the white middle class, tyrannically imposing job crushing government lockdown mandates, and dehumanizing the populace by forcing mask compliance in order to gain admittance to places of business.
In Part 2 of this article I will demolish the mask narrative, describe the systematic destruction of small businesses, enlighten you about the true purpose of the Federal Reserve, and try to make sense of what might happen as the climax of this Fourth Turning rapidly descends upon an unprepared nation.
Reprinted with permission from The Burning Platform.
The Best of Jim Quinn


lewrockwell--2020-09-30--Colder ‘Climate Change’ Blamed for Excess Deaths in World War I

WASHINGTON—Scientists have spotted a once-in-a-century climate anomaly during World War I that likely increased mortality during the war and the influenza pandemic in the years that followed .
Well-documented torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures affected the outcomes of many major battles on the Western Front during the war years of 1914 to 1918 .
Most notably , the poor conditions played a role in the battles of Verdun and the Somme , during which more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded .
The bad weather may also have exacerbated the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed 50 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to the new study .
Scientists have long studied the spread of the H1N1 influenza strain that caused the pandemic , but little research has focused on whether environmental conditions played a role .
In a new study in AGU ’ s journal GeoHealth , scientists analyzed an ice core taken from a glacier in the European Alps to reconstruct climate conditions during the war years .
They found an extremely unusual influx of air from the North Atlantic Ocean affected weather on the European continent from 1914 to 1919 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ this influx of ocean air hung over major battlefields on the Western Front but also affected the migratory patterns of mallard ducks , the main animal host for H1N1 flu virus strains .
Mallard ducks likely stayed put in western Europe in the autumns of 1917 and 1918 because of the bad weather , rather than migrating northeast to Russia as they normally do , according to the new study .
This kept them close to military and civilian populations and may have allowed the birds to transfer a particularly virulent strain of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ water .
The findings help scientists better understand the factors that contributed to making the war and pandemic so deadly , according to Alexander More , a climate scientist and historian at the Harvard University/Climate Change Institute , associate professor of environmental health at Long Island University and lead author of the new study .
“ I ’ m not saying that this was ‘ the ’ cause of the pandemic , but it was certainly a potentiator , an added exacerbating factor to an already explosive situation , ” More said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that very heavy rainfall may have accelerated the spread of the virus , ” said Philip Landrigan , director of the Global Public Health Program at Boston College who was not connected to the new study .
“ One of the things we ’ ve learned in the COVID pandemic is that some viruses seem to stay viable for longer time periods in humid air than in dry air .
So it makes sense that if the air in Europe were unusually wet and humid during the years of World War I , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accelerated .
”

From the American Geophysical Union.
WASHINGTON—Scientists have spotted a once-in-a-century climate anomaly during World War I that likely increased mortality during the war and the influenza pandemic in the years that followed.
Well-documented torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures affected the outcomes of many major battles on the Western Front during the war years of 1914 to 1918. Most notably, the poor conditions played a role in the battles of Verdun and the Somme, during which more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded.
The bad weather may also have exacerbated the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed 50 to 100 million lives between 1917 and 1919, according to the new study. Scientists have long studied the spread of the H1N1 influenza strain that caused the pandemic, but little research has focused on whether environmental conditions played a role.
In a new study in AGU’s journal GeoHealth, scientists analyzed an ice core taken from a glacier in the European Alps to reconstruct climate conditions during the war years. They found an extremely unusual influx of air from the North Atlantic Ocean affected weather on the European continent from 1914 to 1919. The incessant rain and cold caused by this influx of ocean air hung over major battlefields on the Western Front but also affected the migratory patterns of mallard ducks, the main animal host for H1N1 flu virus strains. Still Winning: Why Ame... Hurt, Charles Best Price: $12.78 Buy New $13.38 (as of 08:43 UTC - Details)
Mallard ducks likely stayed put in western Europe in the autumns of 1917 and 1918 because of the bad weather, rather than migrating northeast to Russia as they normally do, according to the new study. This kept them close to military and civilian populations and may have allowed the birds to transfer a particularly virulent strain of H1N1 influenza to humans through bodies of water.
The findings help scientists better understand the factors that contributed to making the war and pandemic so deadly, according to Alexander More, a climate scientist and historian at the Harvard University/Climate Change Institute, associate professor of environmental health at Long Island University and lead author of the new study.
“I’m not saying that this was ‘the’ cause of the pandemic, but it was certainly a potentiator, an added exacerbating factor to an already explosive situation,” More said.
“It’s interesting to think that very heavy rainfall may have accelerated the spread of the virus,” said Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program at Boston College who was not connected to the new study. “One of the things we’ve learned in the COVID pandemic is that some viruses seem to stay viable for longer time periods in humid air than in dry air. So it makes sense that if the air in Europe were unusually wet and humid during the years of World War I, transmission of the virus might have been accelerated.”
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-09-30--Read The NY Times’s ‘Scoop’ on Trump’s Tax Returns andYou’ll See – From Its Own Weak Evidence – It R

Read The NY Times’s ‘Scoop’ on Trump’s Tax Returns andYou’ll See – From Its Own Weak Evidence – It Really Is Just Fake News

The NYT ’ s much-heralded exclusive claiming that Trump is ‘ profiting ’ from his presidency despite going ‘ broke ’ during his tenure has more holes than Swiss cheese .
You don ’ t have to look any further than at the big breaking story in the NYT this week about the US president ’ s taxes to find a treasure trove of evidence that it really does publish fake news .
In fact , it must relish doing so , or it wouldn ’ t have taken years to investigate and then simply rush out a story that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right there on the surface for all to see .
Here is the evidence that the paper of record misconstrues raw facts into fake news .
It ’ s demonstrated by the story ’ s internal inconsistencies and the wild leaps of logic that are necessary to take its newly disclosed evidence from Trump ’ s tax documents to where it was hoping the story would lead when it started gathering evidence .
The New York Times says Trump ’ s “ proceeds from fame continued to tumble , falling below $ 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million in 2018.
” It uses this statement to claim he “ was in need of financial reinvigoration.
” Then it states , as if it can determine Trump ’ s internal motives from these bare facts , this financial desperation motivated him to run for president .
It must be using some kind of ultra-new math to come up with the timeline-twisting logic to leap from those scant facts about a drop in Trump ’ s wealth in 2017 and 2018 to the conclusion that they must have been the reason he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
The paper ’ s numerical rabbit hole gains even more twists and turns when it tries to use Trump ’ s tax records as evidence for its own longtime claim that he is profiteering from the presidency .
After raising the question , once again , as to whether his businesses benefit from his being in office , the NYT answers its own question in the affirmative , saying “ in some respects.
” It points to the flood of new members joining Trump ’ s Florida resort , Mar-a-Lago , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , remember – as evidence , stating that his running for president allowed him to pocket millions of dollars more a year from his business .
That ’ s right – it claims he profited from becoming president before the election , oblivious to the fact that it just told us his fortunes after the election fell to $ 10 million in 2017 and then fell another 70 percent to $ 2.9 million in 2018 .
Without even realizing it , the NYT inadvertently proved Trump did exactly as he had said he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personal money-making enterprises when he became president , causing his personal annual income to plunge .
The paper notes that Trump ’ s Washington hotel , which opened just as he was elected , has lost more than $ 55 million .
Yet it also claims he has received a financial boost from all those lobbyists , politicians , and foreign officials who pay to stay at his properties or join his clubs .
Again , the numbers just don ’ t add up .
You ’ d expect his fancy Washington , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be the one from which Trump had profited most , by slotting in reservations from all those people wanting to spend time with him .
Yet the NYT reports that it ’ s been running at a loss throughout his term .
In fact , in trying to prove Trump has lied to the public about his vast wealth , the NYT claims the president paid no federal income taxes in 11 of the 18 years the paper examined .
In 2017 , the year after he was elected , it states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 750 .
It even presents graphs that demonstrate how his income has been running increasingly negative since he took up his tenure .
So , in trying to prove Trump is lying about his enormous wealth , the New York Times failed to notice it was undermining its own claim that he ’ s profited immensely from being president .
It ’ s hard to go broke by getting rich .
The NYT goes on to claim that , in recent years , most of Trump ’ s businesses have become loss makers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a loser , in financial terms .
The “ recent years ” it refers to would , of course , are the almost four years in which he ’ s been president .
It even claims that the purportedly profiteering president may actually drown in his own debt as soon as he leaves office .
This , the NYT avers , is why he needs to win another four years – to keep the collection agencies at bay , because who would want to go after a sitting president ?
No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guessed the NYT ’ s numbers wouldn ’ t support its claims when it introduced its exposé with the following pathetic justification for not providing evidence , which has been the mainstream media ’ s modus operandi throughout the Trump presidency .
Let ’ s just call it the new journalism of perpetually unidentified sources : “ We are not making the records themselves public , because we do not want to jeopardize our sources , who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public.
” This claim of protecting sources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ copies of someone ’ s tax documents reveal sources ?
There is nothing on most tax records that could give the slightest clue about who handed them over .
Most are boilerplate forms with numbers filled in .
The only informant who might thereby be identified would be his tax accountant , named at the bottom of his Form 1040 , and that would only be a problem if the accountant were the informant .
In that case , just black out the accountant ’ s name , which would be a professional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the one in question here .
It seems extraordinarily unlikely that Trump ’ s accountant would be the source of information about improper tax returns .
So , why hide the actual documents , instead of just redacting any telltale names ?
Could it be that a deeper look at the documents would reveal that they discredit more of the New York Times ’ longstanding claims against Trump than are even revealed by the inconsistencies on the surface and between the lines of the story ?
The NYT even manages to establish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s withholding his tax docs from the public because he ’ s subject to an Internal Revenue Service audit .
Yet it decries his refusal to show the public his tax returns as other presidents have .
What person under an audit so intense that it ’ s been ongoing for at least four years would display his tax information all over the universe ?
Trump must truly be the Teflon Don to have operated as a major real-estate developer in New York City and – after four years of extreme @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world ’ s greatest investigative agencies , such as the FBI and the IRS – still come out of the laundry lint free .
NYC has the reputation of being a place where a developer has to work with the mafia dons to get materials trucked to a project .
How did Trump get everything to come together on his massive projects , and get through all the legal red tape , and still be the kind of person against whom even the FBI – after years of intense investigation involving hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up with a single allegation ?
After “ an examination of decades of personal and corporate tax records for President Trump and his businesses ” in “ the most comprehensive picture of the president ’ s finances and business dealings to date , ” the NYT found itself pressed to confess in its own story that there appears to be no discovery of legal malfeasance in any information it could turn up .
In fact , it even had to admit that , “ Nor do [ the tax filings ] reveal any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Just when you thought it was on to something that would have made a hot story even hotter , they couldn ’ t find it – just as the Mueller investigation also found no hint of improper relations with Russia .
The NYT reports all these losses on Trump ’ s resort properties right when it would have loved to break a story presenting evidence he was using his golf courses to launder Russian money .
Quite the opposite , in fact , as it claims Trump went broke on those golf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slices through the heart of any money-laundering claims .
You can be sure numerous editors and reporters at the NYT pored over every document detail to find any particle they could use to underpin their broad speculations .
However , after four years of investigation by the paper itself , plus by the FBI , the IRS , and New York City ’ s attorney general , all we have , at the end of Trump ’ s first term , is a feature filled with leaps of logic from scant facts – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The worst it could come up with is that the president doesn ’ t seem to be making much money from the presidency and used tax write-offs for his expensive coiffure during his television days .
( Apparently , it costs a lot to get that look of a dead red squirrel on top of your head . )
It does list a number of other expensive and questionable tax write-offs too , but while they may be unusual , they ’ re not illegal .
The NYT had to admit in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leave many questions unanswered , many questioners unfulfilled.
” Indeed .
Good job , guys .
You ’ ve managed to find the most squeaky-clean human being among the millions living and working in New York .
Having spent so much energy for so many years , you ’ ve still come up with nothing but demonstrably fake news right when you needed to come up with something really big to tip the election the way of the Democrats .
The statements , views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ represent those of RT .

The NYT’s much-heralded exclusive claiming that Trump is ‘profiting’ from his presidency despite going ‘broke’ during his tenure has more holes than Swiss cheese.
You don’t have to look any further than at the big breaking story in the NYT this week about the US president’s taxes to find a treasure trove of evidence that it really does publish fake news. In fact, it must relish doing so, or it wouldn’t have taken years to investigate and then simply rush out a story that is so obviously littered with fake diamonds right there on the surface for all to see.
Here is the evidence that the paper of record misconstrues raw facts into fake news. It’s demonstrated by the story’s internal inconsistencies and the wild leaps of logic that are necessary to take its newly disclosed evidence from Trump’s tax documents to where it was hoping the story would lead when it started gathering evidence.
The numbers don’t add up
The New York Times says Trump’s “proceeds from fame continued to tumble, falling below $10 million in 2017 and to $2.9 million in 2018.” It uses this statement to claim he “was in need of financial reinvigoration.” Then it states, as if it can determine Trump’s internal motives from these bare facts, this financial desperation motivated him to run for president.
It must be using some kind of ultra-new math to come up with the timeline-twisting logic to leap from those scant facts about a drop in Trump’s wealth in 2017 and 2018 to the conclusion that they must have been the reason he ran for president in 2015. What? Witch Hunt: The Story ... Jarrett, Gregg Best Price: $15.38 Buy New $13.99 (as of 03:20 UTC - Details)
The paper’s numerical rabbit hole gains even more twists and turns when it tries to use Trump’s tax records as evidence for its own longtime claim that he is profiteering from the presidency. After raising the question, once again, as to whether his businesses benefit from his being in office, the NYT answers its own question in the affirmative, saying “in some respects.”
It points to the flood of new members joining Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, in 2015 – before Trump was even elected, remember – as evidence, stating that his running for president allowed him to pocket millions of dollars more a year from his business. That’s right – it claims he profited from becoming president before the election, oblivious to the fact that it just told us his fortunes after the election fell to $10 million in 2017 and then fell another 70 percent to $2.9 million in 2018. Without even realizing it, the NYT inadvertently proved Trump did exactly as he had said he would do: he gave up his personal money-making enterprises when he became president, causing his personal annual income to plunge.
The paper notes that Trump’s Washington hotel, which opened just as he was elected, has lost more than $55 million. Yet it also claims he has received a financial boost from all those lobbyists, politicians, and foreign officials who pay to stay at his properties or join his clubs. Again, the numbers just don’t add up.
You’d expect his fancy Washington, DC property next to the White House to be the one from which Trump had profited most, by slotting in reservations from all those people wanting to spend time with him. Yet the NYT reports that it’s been running at a loss throughout his term.
In fact, in trying to prove Trump has lied to the public about his vast wealth, the NYT claims the president paid no federal income taxes in 11 of the 18 years the paper examined. In 2017, the year after he was elected, it states that his tax bill was only $750. It even presents graphs that demonstrate how his income has been running increasingly negative since he took up his tenure. So, in trying to prove Trump is lying about his enormous wealth, the New York Times failed to notice it was undermining its own claim that he’s profited immensely from being president. It’s hard to go broke by getting rich.
The NYT goes on to claim that, in recent years, most of Trump’s businesses have become loss makers just to make him look like he’s a loser, in financial terms. The “recent years” it refers to would, of course, are the almost four years in which he’s been president. It even claims that the purportedly profiteering president may actually drown in his own debt as soon as he leaves office. This, the NYT avers, is why he needs to win another four years – to keep the collection agencies at bay, because who would want to go after a sitting president?
No source, of course
We might have guessed the NYT’s numbers wouldn’t support its claims when it introduced its exposé with the following pathetic justification for not providing evidence, which has been the mainstream media’s modus operandi throughout the Trump presidency. Let’s just call it the new journalism of perpetually unidentified sources:
“We are not making the records themselves public, because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public.”
This claim of protecting sources stretches thin. Since when does showing copies of someone’s tax documents reveal sources? There is nothing on most tax records that could give the slightest clue about who handed them over. Most are boilerplate forms with numbers filled in. The only informant who might thereby be identified would be his tax accountant, named at the bottom of his Form 1040, and that would only be a problem if the accountant were the informant.
In that case, just black out the accountant’s name, which would be a professional courtesy anyway, since the accountant is not the one in question here. It seems extraordinarily unlikely that Trump’s accountant would be the source of information about improper tax returns.
So, why hide the actual documents, instead of just redacting any telltale names? Could it be that a deeper look at the documents would reveal that they discredit more of the New York Times’ longstanding claims against Trump than are even revealed by the inconsistencies on the surface and between the lines of the story?
The Teflon Don
The NYT even manages to establish as true Trump’s claim that he’s withholding his tax docs from the public because he’s subject to an Internal Revenue Service audit. Yet it decries his refusal to show the public his tax returns as other presidents have. What person under an audit so intense that it’s been ongoing for at least four years would display his tax information all over the universe?
Trump must truly be the Teflon Don to have operated as a major real-estate developer in New York City and – after four years of extreme and sometimes even illegal scrutiny by the world’s greatest investigative agencies, such as the FBI and the IRS – still come out of the laundry lint free.
NYC has the reputation of being a place where a developer has to work with the mafia dons to get materials trucked to a project. How did Trump get everything to come together on his massive projects, and get through all the legal red tape, and still be the kind of person against whom even the FBI – after years of intense investigation involving hundreds of its best agents – cannot come up with a single allegation?
After “an examination of decades of personal and corporate tax records for President Trump and his businesses” in “the most comprehensive picture of the president’s finances and business dealings to date,” the NYT found itself pressed to confess in its own story that there appears to be no discovery of legal malfeasance in any information it could turn up. In fact, it even had to admit that, “Nor do [the tax filings] reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.” Darn. Just when you thought it was on to something that would have made a hot story even hotter, they couldn’t find it – just as the Mueller investigation also found no hint of improper relations with Russia.
The NYT reports all these losses on Trump’s resort properties right when it would have loved to break a story presenting evidence he was using his golf courses to launder Russian money. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it claims Trump went broke on those golf resorts – a much weaker story that slices through the heart of any money-laundering claims.
You can be sure numerous editors and reporters at the NYT pored over every document detail to find any particle they could use to underpin their broad speculations. However, after four years of investigation by the paper itself, plus by the FBI, the IRS, and New York City’s attorney general, all we have, at the end of Trump’s first term, is a feature filled with leaps of logic from scant facts – and, as usual, no sources.
The worst it could come up with is that the president doesn’t seem to be making much money from the presidency and used tax write-offs for his expensive coiffure during his television days. (Apparently, it costs a lot to get that look of a dead red squirrel on top of your head.) It does list a number of other expensive and questionable tax write-offs too, but while they may be unusual, they’re not illegal. The NYT had to admit in the end: “The filings will leave many questions unanswered, many questioners unfulfilled.” Indeed.
Good job, guys. You’ve managed to find the most squeaky-clean human being among the millions living and working in New York. Having spent so much energy for so many years, you’ve still come up with nothing but demonstrably fake news right when you needed to come up with something really big to tip the election the way of the Democrats.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-09-30--The Real Cost of Wind and Solar

The Real Cost of Wind and Solar

30The main problem with either wind or solar is that they generate electricity erratically , depending on the wind or sunshine .
In contrast , a fossil-fuel plant can generate electricity predictably upon request .
Blackouts are very expensive for society , so grid operators and designers go to a lot of trouble to make sure that blackouts are rare .
The electrical grid should have spare capacity sufficient to meet the largest demand peaks even when some plants are out of commission .
Plants in spinning reserve status stand by ready to take over if a plant trips ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the grid means that other plants have to seesaw output to balance the ups and downs of wind or solar .
Adding wind or solar to a grid does not mean that existing fossil fuel plants can be retired .
Often , neither wind nor solar is working and at those times a full complement of fossil fuel plants , or sometimes nuclear or hydro plants , must be available .
Both wind and solar have pronounced seasonality .
During low output times , as for summer wind , the fossil-fuel plants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Of course , solar stops working as the sun sets .
Wind behaves erratically hour to hour .
Even though the Texas 18,000-megawatt system has thousands of turbines spread over a wide area , the net output is erratic changing by thousands of megawatts in a single hour .
These shifts must be balanced by fossil-fuel plants slewing their output up and down to compensate and keep load matched to generation .
Even very sunny southwest cities have 50 or more cloudy days per year , stopping or reducing solar generation .
Wind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A 10 % change in wind speed will change power output by 30 % , amplifying the erratic nature of wind .
The big picture is that when wind or solar is added to a grid it is supplemental power .
No coal or gas plants are eliminated .
Those plants have to stay in place to handle periods when wind and solar are not producing electricity .
This does not stop claims that wind or solar is replacing fossil fuel , but it is fuel that is replaced , not fossil-fuel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ producing , the fossil fuel plants are throttled back and they use less fuel .
If , for example , a coal plant was closed when wind was added to the grid , the safety margin would be compromised .

30The main problem with either wind or solar is that they generate electricity erratically, depending on the wind or sunshine. In contrast, a fossil-fuel plant can generate electricity predictably upon request. Blackouts are very expensive for society, so grid operators and designers go to a lot of trouble to make sure that blackouts are rare. The electrical grid should have spare capacity sufficient to meet the largest demand peaks even when some plants are out of commission. Plants in spinning reserve status stand by ready to take over if a plant trips (breaks down). Injecting erratic electricity into the grid means that other plants have to seesaw output to balance the ups and downs of wind or solar.
Adding wind or solar to a grid does not mean that existing fossil fuel plants can be retired. Often, neither wind nor solar is working and at those times a full complement of fossil fuel plants, or sometimes nuclear or hydro plants, must be available. Both wind and solar have pronounced seasonality. During low output times, as for summer wind, the fossil-fuel plants are carrying more of the load. Of course, solar stops working as the sun sets.
Wind behaves erratically hour to hour. Even though the Texas 18,000-megawatt system has thousands of turbines spread over a wide area, the net output is erratic changing by thousands of megawatts in a single hour. These shifts must be balanced by fossil-fuel plants slewing their output up and down to compensate and keep load matched to generation.
The Russia Hoax: The I... Jarrett, Gregg Best Price: $4.40 Buy New $10.93 (as of 12:30 UTC - Details) Even very sunny southwest cities have 50 or more cloudy days per year, stopping or reducing solar generation. Wind turbines are very sensitive to wind speed. A 10% change in wind speed will change power output by 30%, amplifying the erratic nature of wind.
The big picture is that when wind or solar is added to a grid it is supplemental power. No coal or gas plants are eliminated. Those plants have to stay in place to handle periods when wind and solar are not producing electricity. This does not stop claims that wind or solar is replacing fossil fuel, but it is fuel that is replaced, not fossil-fuel plants. When wind or solar is producing, the fossil fuel plants are throttled back and they use less fuel. If, for example, a coal plant was closed when wind was added to the grid, the safety margin would be compromised.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-09-30--Bioweapon Labs Get More NIH Funding for Deadly ‘Research’

EcoHealth Alliance , a corporate-funded nonprofit organization that seeks to uncover novel viruses in the environment , has been working in China for decades , trapping bats and looking for previously unknown coronaviruses that could lead to a global pandemic.1 This may come as a surprise to many , but even more surprising is the fact that the research was carried out via a grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) .2 While the grant was initially supposed to continue through 2024 , it was cut off in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic gained steam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look into whether the coronavirus that started it all escaped from a biological laboratory in Wuhan , China.3 EcoHealth Alliance collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology for years , collecting coronavirus samples from bats and investigating whether they could jump to humans,4 and the NIH told the nonprofit that the project “ no longer fit with NIH goals and priorities.
” 5 In August 2020 , however , the NIH pivoted , granting a new $ 7.5 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance — part of an $ 82 million award being split @ @ @ @ @ @ @ origins of viruses and how they infect people .
The controversial move means that EcoHealth Alliance ’ s work will continue , this time targeting Southeast Asia instead of China.6 Gain-of-function ( GOF ) research refers to studies that have the potential to enhance the ability of pathogens to cause disease , including enhancing either their pathogenicity or transmissibility.7 Such research is by its very nature controversial , since there are clear risks should the information be misused or the pathogens escape ( or are maliciously released ) .
Further , Jonathan Latham @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virologist and Allison Wilson , Ph.D. , a geneticist , believe gain-of-function research performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology played “ an essential causative role in the pandemic.
” 8 Peter Daszak , EcoHealth Alliance president , however , said that the funding cut to their China bat research project would pose a threat to the U.S. public health .
“ Once this pandemic is over , we know of hundreds of other coronaviruses that we ’ ve found evidence of in China that are waiting to emerge , ” Daszak said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We are now going to be unable to know about the risk of that , which puts us completely at risk of the next pandemic.
” 9 Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID ) , which is part of the NIH , has also long backed dangerous GOF coronavirus research , including that conducted by EcoHealth Alliance .
According to Newsweek:10 Outrageously , Daszak has also been appointed to lead a task force examining whether COVID-19 may have leaked from a lab , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is looking into a variety of issues surrounding the pandemic and offering practical solutions.11 Part of the commission ’ s goal is to investigate the origins of COVID-19 and avert future zoonotic pandemics .
While Daszak said he would head the investigation with an open mind , critics such as Filippa Lentzos , an expert on biological threats at King ’ s College London , wrote on Twitter , “ Goodness .
I can ’ t imagine a lead investigator with more vested interests !
” 12,13 Not only has Daszak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the origins of COVID-19 previously , but his longtime collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology , which has been identified as the most probable source of a laboratory leak , is a glaring conflict of interest .
If it ’ s found that COVID-19 did , in fact , leak from a lab , the work of Daszak ’ s EcoHealth Alliance could come under fire , and future funding could be put in jeopardy .
As reported in GM Watch , “ … if more scientists fail to speak out against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s lead investigator , it will reflect the success of a censorship strategy that has not just allowed Daszak to evade serious scrutiny but to be put in charge of investigating himself and his associates.
” 14 Hundreds of Scientists Called for End of GOF Research in 2014 In 2014 , a series of accidents at laboratories led to more than 300 scientists to launch a petition calling for an end to gain-of-function research.15 The U.S. issued a temporary pause as a result16 but , according to Ronnie Cummins , co-founder of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alexis Baden-Mayer , OCA ’ s political director : In the NPR interview , Daszak said he really doesn ’ t understand the rationale behind the funding cut from NIH,17 as they were only researching how coronaviruses may spread from bats to people .
But as Cummins and Baden-Mayer explained in my interview with them ( linked above ) : In 2015 , the University of North Carolina collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology , performing gain-of-function research in which bat viruses were manipulated to create a chimeric virus capable of binding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular virus was called SHC014-MA15.20 EcoHealth Alliance had funded the research with a U.S. grant,21 but this wasn ’ t mentioned by Nature , which quoted Daszak as saying the findings “ move this virus from a candidate emerging pathogen to a clear and present danger.
” 22 Cummins and Baden-Mayer pointed out the irony of this statement : In my previously linked article , they added : EcoHealth Alliance ’ s new grant is distinct from the previous grant that funded the Chinese bat research .
The new grant is intended to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases , or CREID , a network of centers focusing on different geographical regions .
EcoHealth Alliance will be conducting research on coronaviruses and other pathogens that may emerge from bats , rodents and primates in Singapore , Thailand and Malaysia.24 As for their earlier grant , the NIH notified EcoHealth Alliance that they may restore its funding for the Chinese research if they meet certain conditions , including the following:25 • Obtain a sample of the SARS-COV-2 virus that the Wuhan lab used to determine its genetic sequence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lab to determine if it had possession of SARS-COV-2 prior to December 2019 • Determine the whereabouts of a Wuhan lab scientist whose photo was mysteriously removed from its website According to NPR , “ The scientist has been the focus of internet conspiracy theories suggesting she was in fact ‘ patient zero ’ for the coronavirus .
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has previously said that the scientist in question was a graduate student who had finished her master ’ s degree and moved on to other work.
” 26 EcoHealth Alliance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funding to be restored , with Daszak calling them “ preposterous ” and telling NPR , “ I ’ m not trained as a private detective .
It ’ s not really my job to do that.
” 27 The conditions do seem unusual , particularly for a U.S. government agency to be requesting of a nonprofit organization — unless , perhaps , they believe the organization knows something they don ’ t .
The U.S. NIH is investigating 189 scientists from 87 institutions for undisclosed ties to foreign institutions , with 54 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a result.28 Among them , 93 % received undisclosed support from China , and many had active NIH grants while accepting foreign grants that were not disclosed .
About 75 % of those being investigated had received active NIH grants , and close to half had at least two of them .
In all , 285 active grants totaling $ 164 million were counted among those being investigated .
Such ties are rampant , and 133 , or 70 % , of the researchers being investigated did not disclose to the NIH that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than half ( 54 % ) also did not disclose their participation in a foreign talent program , while 9 % hid ties to a foreign company and 4 % did not disclose a foreign patent.29,30 The investigation is part of larger efforts to limit threats to the U.S. economy and national security , as cutting-edge technologies and other information at the forefront of new industries that is being supported by federally funded research could be flowing into the wrong hands .
A broader investigation is also ongoing , with NIH highlighting 399 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 121 of which the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating .
According to Dr. Michael Lauer , NIH ’ s deputy director for extramural research , after the NIH looked into the scientists “ of possible concern , ” 63 % of the investigations came back positive , revealing the true scope of the underhanded dealings.31 Meanwhile , Fauci , who also supported GOF research on bird flu viruses 10 years ago,32 continues to support EcoHealth Alliance and their research into novel diseases , noting in a statement about the latest grants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early warnings of emerging diseases wherever they occur , which will be critical to rapid responses.
” 33 In reality , should further GOF research be allowed to continue , it ’ s possible that it could “ seed ” another pandemic.34 Admittedly , it ’ s quite a coincidence that the very viruses undergoing gain-of-function research turned out to be the ones causing pandemics .
The Best of Joseph Mercola

EcoHealth Alliance, a corporate-funded nonprofit organization that seeks to uncover novel viruses in the environment, has been working in China for decades, trapping bats and looking for previously unknown coronaviruses that could lead to a global pandemic.1
This may come as a surprise to many, but even more surprising is the fact that the research was carried out via a grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).2
While the grant was initially supposed to continue through 2024, it was cut off in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic gained steam, and U.S. intelligence agencies started to look into whether the coronavirus that started it all escaped from a biological laboratory in Wuhan, China.3
EcoHealth Alliance collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology for years, collecting coronavirus samples from bats and investigating whether they could jump to humans,4 and the NIH told the nonprofit that the project “no longer fit with NIH goals and priorities.”5
Let’s Call Him M... Webb, George Buy New $3.99 (as of 04:21 UTC - Details) In August 2020, however, the NIH pivoted, granting a new $7.5 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance — part of an $82 million award being split among 11 research teams looking into the origins of viruses and how they infect people. The controversial move means that EcoHealth Alliance’s work will continue, this time targeting Southeast Asia instead of China.6
EcoHealth Alliance’s Controversial Gain-of-Function Research
Gain-of-function (GOF) research refers to studies that have the potential to enhance the ability of pathogens to cause disease, including enhancing either their pathogenicity or transmissibility.7 Such research is by its very nature controversial, since there are clear risks should the information be misused or the pathogens escape (or are maliciously released).
Further, Jonathan Latham, Ph.D., a molecular biologist and virologist and Allison Wilson, Ph.D., a geneticist, believe gain-of-function research performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology played “an essential causative role in the pandemic.”8 Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance president, however, said that the funding cut to their China bat research project would pose a threat to the U.S. public health.
“Once this pandemic is over, we know of hundreds of other coronaviruses that we’ve found evidence of in China that are waiting to emerge,” Daszak said in an interview with NPR. “We are now going to be unable to know about the risk of that, which puts us completely at risk of the next pandemic.”9
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the NIH, has also long backed dangerous GOF coronavirus research, including that conducted by EcoHealth Alliance. According to Newsweek:10
“Just last year [2019], the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID], the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.
In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7 million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.
Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release.”
Daszak to Lead COVID-19 Task Force
Outrageously, Daszak has also been appointed to lead a task force examining whether COVID-19 may have leaked from a lab, as part of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission, which is looking into a variety of issues surrounding the pandemic and offering practical solutions.11 Part of the commission’s goal is to investigate the origins of COVID-19 and avert future zoonotic pandemics.
While Daszak said he would head the investigation with an open mind, critics such as Filippa Lentzos, an expert on biological threats at King’s College London, wrote on Twitter, “Goodness. I can’t imagine a lead investigator with more vested interests!”12,13
Not only has Daszak been widely criticized for spreading misinformation surrounding the origins of COVID-19 previously, but his longtime collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been identified as the most probable source of a laboratory leak, is a glaring conflict of interest. If it’s found that COVID-19 did, in fact, leak from a lab, the work of Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance could come under fire, and future funding could be put in jeopardy.
As reported in GM Watch, “… if more scientists fail to speak out against his appointment as the Lancet Commission’s lead investigator, it will reflect the success of a censorship strategy that has not just allowed Daszak to evade serious scrutiny but to be put in charge of investigating himself and his associates.”14
Hundreds of Scientists Called for End of GOF Research in 2014
In 2014, a series of accidents at laboratories led to more than 300 scientists to launch a petition calling for an end to gain-of-function research.15 The U.S. issued a temporary pause as a result16 but, according to Ronnie Cummins, co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Alexis Baden-Mayer, OCA’s political director:
“Exemptions to this ‘pause,’ eventually reviewed by a secret government panel, were nonetheless allowed to go forward. The ban was lifted in 2017. Yet between 2014 and 2016, the NIH and Fauci-led NIAID continued funding gain-of-function research overseas at the Wuhan lab, via Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance.
Not surprisingly both Fauci and Daszak have been staunch defenders of the official Chinese government story that the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) ‘naturally’ evolved from bats and/or other host species to infect humans.”
In the NPR interview, Daszak said he really doesn’t understand the rationale behind the funding cut from NIH,17 as they were only researching how coronaviruses may spread from bats to people. But as Cummins and Baden-Mayer explained in my interview with them (linked above):
“Daszak and his collaborators at the Wuhan Institute of Virology18 weren’t just studying how coronavirus spread from bats to humans, they were actually making coronavirus capable of spreading from bats to humans. They were the first to create19 a bat coronavirus capable of directly infecting humans (rather than first needing to evolve in an intermediate animal host).
EcoHealth Alliance has since funded additional gain-of-function research that Daszak has championed — without acknowledging his connection.”
Bat Virus Made Capable of Infecting Human Airway Cells
In 2015, the University of North Carolina collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, performing gain-of-function research in which bat viruses were manipulated to create a chimeric virus capable of binding to human upper airway cells. That particular virus was called SHC014-MA15.20
EcoHealth Alliance had funded the research with a U.S. grant,21 but this wasn’t mentioned by Nature, which quoted Daszak as saying the findings “move this virus from a candidate emerging pathogen to a clear and present danger.”22 Cummins and Baden-Mayer pointed out the irony of this statement:
“Daszak’s statement is odd, as it seems obvious that it was the research itself that made the virus a clear and present danger, and that couldn’t be what he meant.
… Even the creators of the coronavirus-SARS chimaera questioned the wisdom of tinkering with viruses to make them more dangerous to humans. As Nature reported, in their paper the study authors conceded that funders may think twice about allowing such experiments in the future.”23
In my previously linked article, they added:
“‘Scientific review panels may deem similar studies building chimeric viruses based on circulating strains too risky to pursue,’ they write, adding that discussion is needed as to ‘whether these types of chimeric virus studies warrant further investigation versus the inherent risks involved.’”
NIH Conditions for Restoring Prior Grant Go Unmet
EcoHealth Alliance’s new grant is distinct from the previous grant that funded the Chinese bat research. The new grant is intended to fund the creation of the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases, or CREID, a network of centers focusing on different geographical regions.
EcoHealth Alliance will be conducting research on coronaviruses and other pathogens that may emerge from bats, rodents and primates in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.24 As for their earlier grant, the NIH notified EcoHealth Alliance that they may restore its funding for the Chinese research if they meet certain conditions, including the following:25
Obtain a sample of the SARS-COV-2 virus that the Wuhan lab used to determine its genetic sequence
Have independent scientists examine the Wuhan lab to determine if it had possession of SARS-COV-2 prior to December 2019
Determine the whereabouts of a Wuhan lab scientist whose photo was mysteriously removed from its website
According to NPR, “The scientist has been the focus of internet conspiracy theories suggesting she was in fact ‘patient zero’ for the coronavirus. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has previously said that the scientist in question was a graduate student who had finished her master’s degree and moved on to other work.”26
EcoHealth Alliance has not met the conditions for the funding to be restored, with Daszak calling them “preposterous” and telling NPR, “I’m not trained as a private detective. It’s not really my job to do that.”27 The conditions do seem unusual, particularly for a U.S. government agency to be requesting of a nonprofit organization — unless, perhaps, they believe the organization knows something they don’t.
NIH Investigation Reveals Rampant Undisclosed Ties to China
The U.S. NIH is investigating 189 scientists from 87 institutions for undisclosed ties to foreign institutions, with 54 being fired or forced to resign as a result.28
Among them, 93% received undisclosed support from China, and many had active NIH grants while accepting foreign grants that were not disclosed. About 75% of those being investigated had received active NIH grants, and close to half had at least two of them. In all, 285 active grants totaling $164 million were counted among those being investigated.
Such ties are rampant, and 133, or 70%, of the researchers being investigated did not disclose to the NIH that they had received foreign grants. More than half (54%) also did not disclose their participation in a foreign talent program, while 9% hid ties to a foreign company and 4% did not disclose a foreign patent.29,30
The investigation is part of larger efforts to limit threats to the U.S. economy and national security, as cutting-edge technologies and other information at the forefront of new industries that is being supported by federally funded research could be flowing into the wrong hands.
A broader investigation is also ongoing, with NIH highlighting 399 scientists “of possible concern,” 121 of which the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating.
According to Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH’s deputy director for extramural research, after the NIH looked into the scientists “of possible concern,” 63% of the investigations came back positive, revealing the true scope of the underhanded dealings.31
Meanwhile, Fauci, who also supported GOF research on bird flu viruses 10 years ago,32 continues to support EcoHealth Alliance and their research into novel diseases, noting in a statement about the latest grants, “The CREID network will enable early warnings of emerging diseases wherever they occur, which will be critical to rapid responses.”33
In reality, should further GOF research be allowed to continue, it’s possible that it could “seed” another pandemic.34 Admittedly, it’s quite a coincidence that the very viruses undergoing gain-of-function research turned out to be the ones causing pandemics.
Sources and References
The Best of Dr. Joseph Mercola


lewrockwell--2020-09-30--Presidential Debate #1: They Both Lost

Presidential Debate #1: They Both Lost

Both candidates spoke over each other .
Both candidates barked out disputed facts .
The viewing audience couldn ’ t possibly sort out which one was telling the truth .
What is the electorate to think ?
Voters already camped in their support for their candidate would have no reason to change their mind , at least not tonight .
This is one of those debates that needed a streaker to run across the stage to bring some needed levity .
Maybe a streaker wearing a Nancy Pelosi mask .
Joe Biden surprisingly appeared mentally sharp and on point .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ at times , to the point of being a bit rude , but not fully realizing it ’ s not the facts , it ’ s the way a candidate expresses the facts .
Sensitive viewers are looking for empathy for the little guy , not toughness .
Viewers are searching for any hint a candidate is , underneath , a phony .
I can sense viewers are waiting for either candidate to take a big fall… to blunder themselves out of the election .
But President Trump doesn ’ t carry the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coal miners and oil field workers .
This time Trump has a bunch of boat and truck owners on his side .
Great !
: { Trump is pressing on the idea a COVID-19 vaccine will be available if the US allows the drug companies to proceed .
But most Americans are wary of a vaccine .
And there may never be a successful coronavirus vaccine — pharma companies haven ’ t been able to achieve licensure of a coronavirus vaccine in the past decade .
Now Trump is saying the economy should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points , but 40 minutes into the debate .
Now Trump is punching hard…….. he barks at Biden… “ the mayor of Moscow ’ s wife gave you $ 3.5 million.
” Below the belt .
That one hurt .
Biden calls Trump a clown .
Americans don ’ t like their Presidents being ridiculed .
Biden chides Trump for holding up a Bible in front of a church after the George Floyd death .
Trump does like to showboat , as if anybody doesn ’ t know that already .
Biden bites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t do something quickly , COVID will kill 1 in 5 African Americans.
” Joe , what would you do ?
The answer is to provide them vitamin D pills , but neither candidate has the intellect or that .
Trump says law enforcement is on his side .
Now Trump is ringing true… solve the problem in the streets that Americans see on TV .
“ We believe in law and order , you don ’ t , ” says Trump to Biden .
The American people want law and order , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is systemic racism in this country .
I ’ m going to call people to the White House to work this out .
We have to have a system where people are held accountable.
” A love fest in the Oval Office ?
Just what America needs .
Do both sides get to bring in their automatic weapons ?
Trump on disbanding racial sensitivity training in federal agencies : “ They were teaching people to hate our country.
” Biden : “ Nobody is doing that… there is racial insensitivity.
” Where Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be happy with the job we have done.
” But everyone knows there is something terribly wrong in our country .
It doesn ’ t ring true Mr. President .
Later in the debate Trump answers the question , why should voters elect you ?
” Trump : “ Because there has never been a President that has done more… despite the impeachment attempt.
” You are going in the wrong direction Mr. Trump .
The country is in a mess .
Trump : “ I think it ’ s a party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Our suburbs would be gone.
” “ He wouldn ’ t know a suburb if he saw one ” retorts Biden .
Biden “ I ’ m totally against defunding the police.
” It wasn ’ t that way a week ago .
Biden paraphrased : “ They need a psychiatrist in the police cars.
” Oh , boy .
Don ’ t think the Dems won ’ t actually do this , make it another jobs program .
Trump strikes : “ Name one group law enforcement group that came out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Chalk another one up for Trump .
Moderator Chris Wallace to Biden : “ Have you ever called the Democratic mayor of Portland or any other city ?
You never called the leaders in Portland to bring in the national guard ?
” Biden says they ( the cities ) can take care of it if we just stay out of the way .
Biden : “ He ( Trump ) wants to rile things up .
He pours gasoline in the fire.
” That may be true .
Biden : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , sicker , more violent.
” “ He is Putin ’ s puppy.
” The billionaires have gotten more wealthy .
The nation can ’ t stay divided .
How would that change under your administration Mr. Biden ?
From the Podium Biden points his finger at Trump .
Another bad idea by the Biden team .
Trump says Hunter Biden was thrown out of the military .
Biden says his son had a drug problem and overcame it and should be lauded for it .
“ This is not going to end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems .
They beat each other but neither won over the audience .

Running commentary by Bill Sardi
Both candidates spoke over each other. Both candidates barked out disputed facts. The viewing audience couldn’t possibly sort out which one was telling the truth. What is the electorate to think?
Voters already camped in their support for their candidate would have no reason to change their mind, at least not tonight. This is one of those debates that needed a streaker to run across the stage to bring some needed levity. Maybe a streaker wearing a Nancy Pelosi mask.
Joe Biden surprisingly appeared mentally sharp and on point. President Trump played bully in the debate at times, to the point of being a bit rude, but not fully realizing it’s not the facts, it’s the way a candidate expresses the facts. Sensitive viewers are looking for empathy for the little guy, not toughness. Viewers are searching for any hint a candidate is, underneath, a phony.
I can sense viewers are waiting for either candidate to take a big fall… to blunder themselves out of the election.
But President Trump doesn’t carry the working classes this time, nor the coal miners and oil field workers. This time Trump has a bunch of boat and truck owners on his side. Great! :{
Trump is pressing on the idea a COVID-19 vaccine will be available if the US allows the drug companies to proceed. But most Americans are wary of a vaccine. And there may never be a successful coronavirus vaccine — pharma companies haven’t been able to achieve licensure of a coronavirus vaccine in the past decade.
Now Trump is saying the economy should open up… now he is finally making points, but 40 minutes into the debate.
Now Trump is punching hard…….. he barks at Biden… “the mayor of Moscow’s wife gave you $3.5 million.” Below the belt. That one hurt.
Biden calls Trump a clown. Americans don’t like their Presidents being ridiculed.
Biden chides Trump for holding up a Bible in front of a church after the George Floyd death. Trump does like to showboat, as if anybody doesn’t know that already.
Biden bites back: “If he doesn’t do something quickly, COVID will kill 1 in 5 African Americans.” Joe, what would you do? The answer is to provide them vitamin D pills, but neither candidate has the intellect or that.
Trump says law enforcement is on his side. Now Trump is ringing true… solve the problem in the streets that Americans see on TV. “We believe in law and order, you don’t,” says Trump to Biden. The American people want law and order, he says.
Biden: “There is systemic racism in this country. I’m going to call people to the White House to work this out. We have to have a system where people are held accountable.” A love fest in the Oval Office? Just what America needs. Do both sides get to bring in their automatic weapons?
Trump on disbanding racial sensitivity training in federal agencies: “They were teaching people to hate our country.” Biden: “Nobody is doing that… there is racial insensitivity.”
Where Trump is making a mistake saying “voters will be happy with the job we have done.” But everyone knows there is something terribly wrong in our country. It doesn’t ring true Mr. President. Later in the debate Trump answers the question, why should voters elect you?” Trump: “Because there has never been a President that has done more… despite the impeachment attempt.” You are going in the wrong direction Mr. Trump. The country is in a mess.
Trump: “I think it’s a party issue” …….. crime in Democrat cities… “Our suburbs would be gone.” “He wouldn’t know a suburb if he saw one” retorts Biden.
Biden “I’m totally against defunding the police.” It wasn’t that way a week ago.
Biden paraphrased: “They need a psychiatrist in the police cars.” Oh, boy. Don’t think the Dems won’t actually do this, make it another jobs program.
Trump strikes: “Name one group law enforcement group that came out and supported you.” There are none. Chalk another one up for Trump.
Moderator Chris Wallace to Biden: “Have you ever called the Democratic mayor of Portland or any other city? You never called the leaders in Portland to bring in the national guard?” Biden says they (the cities) can take care of it if we just stay out of the way.
Biden: “He (Trump) wants to rile things up. He pours gasoline in the fire.” That may be true.
Biden: “under this President we have become weaker, sicker, more violent.” “He is Putin’s puppy.” The billionaires have gotten more wealthy. The nation can’t stay divided. How would that change under your administration Mr. Biden?
From the Podium Biden points his finger at Trump. Another bad idea by the Biden team.
Trump says Hunter Biden was thrown out of the military. Biden says his son had a drug problem and overcame it and should be lauded for it.
“This is not going to end well.” Trump referring to the ballot problems.
They beat each other but neither won over the audience.