lewrockwell--2020-10-15--What’s Behind The WHO’s Lockdown Mixed-Messaging

Last week , in a major departure from months of pro-lockdown messaging , Britain ’ s envoy to the WHO Dr. David Nabarro called for world leaders to stop locking down their countries and economies as a “ primary method ” of controlling COVID19 .
“ I want to say it again : we in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus , ” Dr. Nabarro told The Spectator .
“ The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganise , regroup , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers who are exhausted , but by and large , we ’ d rather not do it.
” Dr. Nabarro ’ s position aligns with the Great Barrington Declaration , of which he spoke favorably , in which 30,000 scientists and public health experts have joined in advocating an immediate return to normal life for those at low risk .
Nabarro and the thousands of signees of the Declaration opine that this approach will minimize overall mortality and lessen the disproportionate burden of lockdowns on the working class and underprivileged .
The day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus flatly contradicted him , declaring that lifting lockdowns would be a recipe for “ unnecessary infections , suffering and death.
” Tedros claims that herd immunity can only be “ safely ” achieved through vaccination , a conclusion premised upon the frightening assumption that the development of a safe and effective vaccine is guaranteed , and the dubious premise that natural infections can be held back “ as long as it takes ” to prepare and distribute the vaccine .
However , according to Tedros , there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dangerous virus that we don ’ t fully understand to run free is simply unethical .
It ’ s not an option.
” Zando Plaid Blanket Sc ... Buy New $ 13.99 It ’ s difficult to reconcile this stance with the data from states and nations which did not lock down for COVID19 .
For example , Swedish all-cause mortality is on average for 2020 – incredibly , the nation had higher per-capita mortality just five years ago , in a year in which there was no pandemic .
This undeniable , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the decimation of world economies on the premise of “ stopping ” a “ highly deadly ” pathogen .
Far from “ unethical , ” allowing the virus to “ run free ” produced a much better result than tight lockdowns such as those imposed in Argentina and Peru – yet Tedros is ignoring this .
The question is : why ?
The China-Paved Path to WHO Director-General In 2017 , Nabarro and Tedros competed for the WHO Director-General role .
For the first time , the position was filled by a direct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the WHO executive board .
Tedros ’ candidacy was mired in several scandals .
Ethiopians and concerned global citizens pleaded with the countries voting in the election to reject Tedros because he was a representative of a repressive political regime who had helped to build and maintain a surveillance state with a total lack of government transparency .
Critics pointed out that Tedros was “ comfortable with the secrecy of autocratic states ” — a characteristic that could wreak havoc on the world if he assumed a position of power within the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his role in covering up cholera epidemics while he was Ethiopia ’ s Health Minister from 2005 until 2012 .
Tedros summarily dismissed the complaint , raised by one of Nabarro ’ s advisers , likening it to James B. Comey ’ s reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton ’ s private email server just days before the 2016 presidential election .
He also attributed racial and elitist motives to his accuser , claiming “ Dr .
Nabarro ’ s backers have a ‘ typical colonial mind-set aimed at winning at any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developing country.
’ ” Rubies Thomas and Frie ... Buy New $ 18.74 However , the undisputed facts depict a Health Minister who is doing one of two things : grossly neglecting cholera testing , or intentionally prioritizing his nation ’ s economy over protecting people from cholera .
Tedros claimed that outbreaks of what he called “ acute watery diarrhea ” in 2006 , 2009 , and 2011 were not cholera , although he could not produce a test ruling out the deadly pathogen , and neighboring Somalia and Kenya disclosed cholera @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreaks .
Tedros claimed that testing in his country was “ too difficult , ” but this was belied by the fact that outside experts were able to test and find the cholera bacteria in stool samples .
Testing for cholera bacteria is simple and takes less than two days .
It is hard to fathom why outside experts and other countries would be able to test while the Ethiopian government could not .
Cholera can kill a person in as little as five hours .
News of cholera outbreaks can have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s economy , so African nations sometimes fail to declare cholera emergencies even when they know for a fact that they have one .
During the 2006 outbreak , for example , Ethiopia “ did not share the results of lab tests since [ the outbreak started ] ” because “ it can mean some serious economic losses , especially in terms of international trade and tourism , ” said Kebba O. Jaiteh , emergency officer in Ethiopia with the WHO .
During earlier outbreaks of cholera in Ethiopia ( or “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who you believe ) , The Guardian and The Washington Post investigated and reported that Ethiopian officials “ were pressuring aid agencies to avoid using the word ‘ cholera ’ and not to report the number of people affected.
” Research by Human Rights Watch found that the Ethiopian government “ was pressuring its health workers to avoid any mention of cholera , which could damage the country ’ s image and deter tourists.
” Despite this accumulation of evidence , Tedros stood by his denial , preventing aid from being delivered to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without permission and a declaration of an outbreak .
2PCS Toddler Baby Knit ... Buy New $ 10.99 Vaccines are also unavailable when a country fails to declare a cholera outbreak , so Tedros refused his countrymen this option even when their neighbors in Somalia and Kenya received it .
This seems to have escaped the notice of Dr. Seth Berkley , CEO of Gavi , the vaccine alliance , who praised Tedros ’ “ commitment ” to human health and vaccination : “ Tedros ’ s commitment to immunization is clear .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ethiopia ’ s health minister helped boost the proportion of children reached by vaccines from less than half to more than two-thirds.
” Other defenders of Tedros included former CDC director Tom Frieden , who was appointed by Barack Obama to head the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry .
Frieden praised Tedros as “ an excellent choice to lead the WHO , ” and today vocally agrees with Tedros on lockdowns , masks , and social distancing .
Tedros ’ strongest and most important backer throughout these controversies was not an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As an opinion writer in the Indian press described it , “ China propped Tedros.
” American apathy in the public health arena had allowed China to “ colonize ” global health : One reason that Tedros has gotten away with so much brazen cronyism is that America pays little to no attention to global public health , save pouring in money as a sugar daddy… China started a scheme for global health colonisation and won because America didn ’ t think it was important enough .
The Chinese leveraged their investments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to back Tedros , [ and ] also got Pakistan to withdraw its candidate who was opposing him , sources say .
.
.
India ’ s diplomatic credentials helped in covering up Tedros ’ shady past and the fact his main backer was a Communist dictatorship .

Last week, in a major departure from months of pro-lockdown messaging, Britain’s envoy to the WHO Dr. David Nabarro called for world leaders to stop locking down their countries and economies as a “primary method” of controlling COVID19. “I want to say it again: we in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus,” Dr. Nabarro told The Spectator.
“The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganise, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.” Dr. Nabarro’s position aligns with the Great Barrington Declaration, of which he spoke favorably, in which 30,000 scientists and public health experts have joined in advocating an immediate return to normal life for those at low risk. Nabarro and the thousands of signees of the Declaration opine that this approach will minimize overall mortality and lessen the disproportionate burden of lockdowns on the working class and underprivileged.
The day after Nabarro made his remarks, WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus flatly contradicted him, declaring that lifting lockdowns would be a recipe for “unnecessary infections, suffering and death.” Tedros claims that herd immunity can only be “safely” achieved through vaccination, a conclusion premised upon the frightening assumption that the development of a safe and effective vaccine is guaranteed, and the dubious premise that natural infections can be held back “as long as it takes” to prepare and distribute the vaccine. However, according to Tedros, there is no other way: “allowing a dangerous virus that we don’t fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It’s not an option.” Zando Plaid Blanket Sc... Buy New $13.99 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)
It’s difficult to reconcile this stance with the data from states and nations which did not lock down for COVID19. For example, Swedish all-cause mortality is on average for 2020 – incredibly, the nation had higher per-capita mortality just five years ago, in a year in which there was no pandemic. This undeniable, easily-verifiable fact is shocking in light of the decimation of world economies on the premise of “stopping” a “highly deadly” pathogen. Far from “unethical,” allowing the virus to “run free” produced a much better result than tight lockdowns such as those imposed in Argentina and Peru – yet Tedros is ignoring this. The question is: why?
The China-Paved Path to WHO Director-General
In 2017, Nabarro and Tedros competed for the WHO Director-General role. For the first time, the position was filled by a direct vote of the member-states, and not by the WHO executive board. Tedros’ candidacy was mired in several scandals. Ethiopians and concerned global citizens pleaded with the countries voting in the election to reject Tedros because he was a representative of a repressive political regime who had helped to build and maintain a surveillance state with a total lack of government transparency. Critics pointed out that Tedros was “comfortable with the secrecy of autocratic states”— a characteristic that could wreak havoc on the world if he assumed a position of power within the WHO.
Tedros also received criticism for his role in covering up cholera epidemics while he was Ethiopia’s Health Minister from 2005 until 2012. Tedros summarily dismissed the complaint, raised by one of Nabarro’s advisers, likening it to James B. Comey’s reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server just days before the 2016 presidential election. He also attributed racial and elitist motives to his accuser, claiming “Dr. Nabarro’s backers have a ‘typical colonial mind-set aimed at winning at any cost and discrediting a candidate from a developing country.’” Rubies Thomas and Frie... Buy New $18.74 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)
However, the undisputed facts depict a Health Minister who is doing one of two things: grossly neglecting cholera testing, or intentionally prioritizing his nation’s economy over protecting people from cholera. Tedros claimed that outbreaks of what he called “acute watery diarrhea” in 2006, 2009, and 2011 were not cholera, although he could not produce a test ruling out the deadly pathogen, and neighboring Somalia and Kenya disclosed cholera as the cause of their own simultaneous outbreaks. Tedros claimed that testing in his country was “too difficult,” but this was belied by the fact that outside experts were able to test and find the cholera bacteria in stool samples. Testing for cholera bacteria is simple and takes less than two days. It is hard to fathom why outside experts and other countries would be able to test while the Ethiopian government could not.
Cholera can kill a person in as little as five hours. News of cholera outbreaks can have a quick and devastating impact on a country’s economy, so African nations sometimes fail to declare cholera emergencies even when they know for a fact that they have one. During the 2006 outbreak, for example, Ethiopia “did not share the results of lab tests since [the outbreak started]” because “it can mean some serious economic losses, especially in terms of international trade and tourism,” said Kebba O. Jaiteh, emergency officer in Ethiopia with the WHO.
During earlier outbreaks of cholera in Ethiopia (or “acute watery diarrhea,” depending on who you believe), The Guardian and The Washington Post investigated and reported that Ethiopian officials “were pressuring aid agencies to avoid using the word ‘cholera’ and not to report the number of people affected.” Research by Human Rights Watch found that the Ethiopian government “was pressuring its health workers to avoid any mention of cholera, which could damage the country’s image and deter tourists.” Despite this accumulation of evidence, Tedros stood by his denial, preventing aid from being delivered to Ethiopia: the UN cannot act without permission and a declaration of an outbreak.
2PCS Toddler Baby Knit... Buy New $10.99 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details) Vaccines are also unavailable when a country fails to declare a cholera outbreak, so Tedros refused his countrymen this option even when their neighbors in Somalia and Kenya received it. This seems to have escaped the notice of Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, who praised Tedros’ “commitment” to human health and vaccination: “Tedros’s commitment to immunization is clear . . . His work with Gavi as Ethiopia’s health minister helped boost the proportion of children reached by vaccines from less than half to more than two-thirds.” Other defenders of Tedros included former CDC director Tom Frieden, who was appointed by Barack Obama to head the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Frieden praised Tedros as “an excellent choice to lead the WHO,” and today vocally agrees with Tedros on lockdowns, masks, and social distancing.
Tedros’ strongest and most important backer throughout these controversies was not an individual, but a government: China. As an opinion writer in the Indian press described it, “China propped Tedros.” American apathy in the public health arena had allowed China to “colonize” global health:
One reason that Tedros has gotten away with so much brazen cronyism is that America pays little to no attention to global public health, save pouring in money as a sugar daddy… China started a scheme for global health colonisation and won because America didn’t think it was important enough. The Chinese leveraged their investments across Africa to force the African Union to back Tedros, [and] also got Pakistan to withdraw its candidate who was opposing him, sources say . . . India’s diplomatic credentials helped in covering up Tedros’ shady past and the fact his main backer was a Communist dictatorship.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-10-15--How Rock Star Roger Waters Was Hung Out To Dry By Amnesty and Bellingcat for His Views on the Syrian

How Rock Star Roger Waters Was Hung Out To Dry By Amnesty and Bellingcat for His Views on the Syrian ‘Chemical Attack’

A leaked phone call reveals that outside pressure caused Amnesty to pull its promotion of a webinar featuring Pink Floyd ’ s Roger Waters – a vocal skeptic of the Douma ‘ chemical attack ’ that prompted Western powers to bomb Syria .
In August this year , environmental pressure group Amazon Watch broadcast an online panel discussion in support of Steven Donziger , a crusading attorney who dared try to hold US energy giant Chevron to account for widespread environmental destruction in the Amazon , and was left fighting for his life , livelihood and liberty as a result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found liable by an Ecuadorian court for contamination resulting from crude oil production in the region by its subsidiary Texaco between 1964 and 1992 , in a legal action that was many years in the making and led by Donziger .
Ownspace Vintage-Trump ... Buy New $ 59.88 Chevron is yet to pay a penny of the settlement though , for the landmark ruling was overturned in March 2014 by a US Federal Court on highly dubious grounds – in reaching his decision , presiding Judge Lewis A. Kaplan relied heavily on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subsequently admitted to fabricating his testimony .
Donziger has since been charged with contempt of court and sat under house arrest for over a year awaiting trial .
Dozinger himself was present on the Amazon Watch webinar that August evening , and was joined by a number of prominent campaigners , including Simon Taylor , founder of NGO Global Witness , and Roger Waters , co-founder of rock institution Pink Floyd .
The talk was widely promoted in advance by a number of prominent human rights activists , and NGOs , perhaps most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization ’ s endorsement triggered a deluge of criticism on social media from a number of notorious advocates for regime change in Syria .
This led to a post advertising the webinar published by Amnesty USA ’ s official Twitter account the day before broadcast to mysteriously disappear without explanation .
In response to one critic , Amnesty UK Campaigns Manager Kristyan Benedict said promoting the talk was “ not good at all ” and confirmed that the offending tweet had “ been deleted.
” A leaked recording of a September 25 phone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Amnesty International USA – Matt Vogel , head of artist relations , and Tamara Draut , chief impact officer – sheds fascinating light on the episode .
At the start of the conversation , Waters recalls he was not only informed Amnesty would promote the panel discussion on Twitter in advance , but also personally retweeted the endorsement so it reached his circa 375,000 followers at the organization ’ s express request .
Amazon Essentials Men & ... Buy New $ 29.50 However , an associate informed him just before the webinar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the post .
When the talk was over , he went about getting to the bottom of the tweet ’ s absence .
After conducting “ a bit of sleuthing , ” he determined that the removal followed pressure being brought to bear by a number of individuals , in particular his “ old adversary ” Eliot Higgins , founder of controversial website Bellingcat , due to Waters ’ views on the Syrian Civil Defense , aka White Helmets .
Seeking answers , he attempted to reach out to Amnesty , but was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ touch with Vogel and Draut .
In response , Draut confirmed that the tweet ’ s removal was indeed prompted by a “ difference of opinion ” on the White Helmets .
“ We believe they ’ re really champions for human rights , and have fought for their protection and freedom .
When the tweet went up on our end , it wasn ’ t fully vetted as it should ’ ve been , and immediately we heard from folks in the White Helmets , asking why we were promoting you , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about them .
We also heard from other Syrian human rights activists , who were quite hurt by our support of you… ” she began , before Waters interrupts , asking what relevance his views on the group has to “ the plight of rainforest dwellers in northern Ecuador.
” “ People interpreted our promotion of an event at which you were speaking as promoting your position on the White Helmets .
I got involved in this process too late , I wouldn ’ t have taken down the tweet , that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ follow , I would ’ ve much rather dealt with this openly and honestly… ” Draut explains .
Waters made headlines the world over in April 2018 , when he stopped mid-set during a concert in Barcelona to talk about a chemical weapons attack in Douma , Syria , which had allegedly taken place six days earlier .
Branding the White Helmets a “ fake organization ” creating “ propaganda for jihadists and terrorists , ” he suggested that Western public opinion was being manipulated in order that “ we would be encouraged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ start dropping bombs on people.
” Mere hours later , his prediction came to pass , as France , the UK and US carried out a series of military strikes against multiple government sites in the country .
inktastic Trump 2020 I ... Buy New $ 27.99 In May 2019 , Waters was again the subject of intense criticism when he claimed on his official Facebook page that a leaked document had vindicated his position .
The file in question was an engineering report produced by an Organization for the Prevention of Chemical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visited Douma in the days following the contested strike , which concluded there was a “ higher probability ” that cylinders found at two locations in Douma , alleged by the White Helmets to have been dropped from Syrian Air Force helicopters , were “ manually placed… rather than being delivered from aircraft.
” Photos of the cylinders circulated widely in the Western media and on social networks in the wake of the claimed incident .
Such images , along with footage of Douma residents being hosed down in hospitals , children seemingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dead bodies in a housing complex – all produced and disseminated by the White Helmets – were all damning evidence offered in favor of the idea that the Syrian government had targeted civilians with chemical weapons , a notion which in turn provided Paris , London and Washington with a pretext for military intervention .
The OPCW team ’ s dissenting appraisal was , for reasons unclear , entirely unmentioned in the organization ’ s final report on Douma , published two months prior to Waters ’ Facebook post .
Despite making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White Helmets or the ongoing crisis in Syria since , Waters has nonetheless been subject to an unending deluge of online abuse from their Western supporters .
Back on the call , an indignant Waters cites a since-deleted tweet from Eliot Higgins , which stated that Amnesty International “ needs to explain why Roger Waters is an appropriate person to talk about human rights.
” Rather than responding constructively to the question , the organization opted to simply yield to critical pressure .
Waters said : “ Why am I an appropriate person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great advocate for human rights all my life .
The White Helmets were clearly involved in something really dodgy .
Amnesty has never come out and said , ‘ It ’ s been brought to our attention the video the White Helmets made in Douma was absolutely fake.
’ “ Doctors there have said not only were there no deaths that we know about that day , but the people in the hospital were complaining of dust inhalation , not being gassed .
Do you still believe that video , do you believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ I appreciate your desire to defend your opinion , I don ’ t think it ’ s productive… all I can tell you is you asked why the tweet was taken down , and it was taken down because of the immediate backlash we received , which is in direct opposition to our position on the White Helmets , and is very hurtful… the position of Amnesty wasn ’ t that you don ’ t have any right or expertise or commitment to human rights to speak on that panel.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 40.00 Waters then countered : “ Why didn ’ t you explain why I am an appropriate person , and say you weren ’ t going to delete the tweet , because the webinar was important ?
!
“ When I was growing up , you pretended to care about human rights – you ’ ve demonstrated to me in this conversation that you don ’ t , particularly by refusing to answer my simple question about the video made by the White Helmets in Douma !
” he said .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reassuring Waters that Amnesty supports Donziger ’ s “ very critical case , ” and he personally considered the webinar “ a very important conversation to have.
” “ So this is just a blacklisting of me ?
!
This is you blacklisting me on the basis of evidence given by a scumbag like Eliot Higgins !
That ’ s what you ’ re telling me now !
” Waters contended .
“ You ’ ve made a special exception in my case ?
!
To blacklist me , and take a tweet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of trolls sending in their negative feelings about me – because I don ’ t subscribe to their opinions about regime change in Syria , and the non-existent chemical attack in Douma , Amnesty International will blacklist me and prevent me from acting for the people of Ecuador , in my capacity as a human rights activist .
Wow !
What a terrible indictment of your organization , if you don ’ t mind me saying !
” Draut then returns to the conversation , apologizing outright for the tweet ’ s removal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no way ” blacklisted by Amnesty , despite the organization “ disagreeing ” with his position on the White Helmets .
Thanking her , Waters asked whether Amnesty was willing to publicly explain how and why its promotion of the webinar was retracted , an act that was “ entirely outside the boundaries that Amnesty International pretends to hold sacred , ” and apologize to Stephen Donziger and the Ecuadorian people .
No commitment to do so was forthcoming from either Amnesty representative on the call , and no explanation or apology for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization as of October 12 .
While Waters ’ public comments in April 2018 have clearly made him a target for public vilification and censorship , a great many documents leaked since then strongly suggest his original suspicions were highly adroit – and the OPCW ’ s conclusions that there were “ reasonable grounds ” to believe a chemical weapons attack had occurred in Douma , and “ the toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine , ” were directly contrary to the overwhelming majority of the evidence which its investigators collected .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ previously suppressed internal files are now in the public domain , and while they ’ ve been universally ignored by mainstream journalists , they tell a damning story .
For instance , the documents demonstrate that in July 2018 , OPCW chiefs secretly removed all staff from the investigation who had actually visited Douma , bar a single paramedic .
Responsibility for completing the probe was handed to an entirely separate team , which had instead traveled to Turkey , and exclusively taken witness statements and soil samples hand-picked by the White Helmets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participated in either mission .
The conclusions drawn from this evidence differed sharply from evidence collected in Syria , and this incongruity was repeatedly noted in a draft report – references absent entirely from the version presented to the public .
Other key facts from the draft also indicate OPCW investigators quickly ruled out that a chemical attack of any kind had taken place .
For one , no samples of any nerve agent – which the White Helmets , Syrian American Medical Society , Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been employed in the attack – were found anywhere on the site , and this had been established by June 2018 .
Moreover , at the OPCW ’ s request , four chemical weapons experts conducted a toxicology review of available evidence from the incident .
They concluded that the observed symptoms of alleged victims in Douma , as depicted in White Helmets-provided footage from the incident , “ were inconsistent with exposure to chlorine ” and “ no other obvious candidate chemical causing the symptoms could be identified.
” Further undermining the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization ’ s tests of samples collected in Douma showed that chlorine compounds were detected overwhelmingly at trace quantities , in the parts-per-billion range – a finding referenced in the aforementioned draft , again absent from the version deemed fit for public consumption .
At a January 2020 meeting of the United Nations Security Council , former OPCW inspection team leader Ian Henderson , an 11-year veteran of the organization who was part of the Douma fact-finding mission ’ s inspection team , testified that the investigation into the alleged incident unambiguously concluded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and suggested it was likely staged by the Syrian opposition , in order to trigger Western military intervention .
That the White Helmets are a Western construct disseminating propaganda to facilitate governments dropping bombs on people , as per Roger Waters ’ phrase , was amply confirmed by the recent release of internal UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office ( FCO ) files by hacktivist collective Anonymous .
Among other things , the documents expose a vast and extremely well-funded multi-year operation to produce propaganda targeted both at Syrians and Western populations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , moderate opposition to the government of Bashar Assad and extremist groups such as Islamic State alike , and to cultivate support for British-facilitated regime change in the country .
Under the auspices of this project , ARK International – a “ conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy ” founded by Alistair Harris , a veteran FCO diplomat – developed and ran an “ internationally-focused communications campaign designed to raise global awareness ” of the White Helmets .
“ ARK created and continues to run a Twitter feed and Facebook page on behalf of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ photos and updates on their activities in English throughout the day .
This has received high-profile recognition from international websites and commentators… New York-based advocacy group , the Syria Campaign , reached out to the civil defenders through their Twitter feed , and following subsequent discussions with ARK , selected the civil defense to front its campaign to keep Syria in the news [ emphasis added ] , ” a leaked internal document states .
Intriguingly , ARK also extensively trained and equipped over 150 “ activists ” in Syria on “ camera @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , filming a story , ” post-production techniques including “ video and sound editing and software , voice-over , scriptwriting , ” and “ graphics and 2D and 3D animation design and software.
” Students were even instructed in practical propaganda theory – namely “ target audience identification , qualitative and quantitative techniques , media and media narrative analysis and monitoring , ” “ behavioral identification/understanding , ” “ campaign planning , ” “ behavior , behavioral change , and how communications can influence it [ emphasis added ] , ” and more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fed to ARK ’ s “ well-established contacts ” at media outlets including Al Jazeera , the BBC , CNN , The Guardian , the New York Times and Reuters , in some cases the firm ’ s students were hired directly as on-the-ground ‘ stringers ’ by these organizations , producing reports and conducting interviews .
The files offer no indication that ARK ’ s trainees were further schooled in how to stage chemical weapons attacks for a Western audience .
However , the techniques they learned could clearly so easily be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – making the question of whether they did so worthy of intensive further investigation .
The statements , views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT .

A leaked phone call reveals that outside pressure caused Amnesty to pull its promotion of a webinar featuring Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters – a vocal skeptic of the Douma ‘chemical attack’ that prompted Western powers to bomb Syria.
In August this year, environmental pressure group Amazon Watch broadcast an online panel discussion in support of Steven Donziger, a crusading attorney who dared try to hold US energy giant Chevron to account for widespread environmental destruction in the Amazon, and was left fighting for his life, livelihood and liberty as a result.
In February 2011, Chevron was found liable by an Ecuadorian court for contamination resulting from crude oil production in the region by its subsidiary Texaco between 1964 and 1992, in a legal action that was many years in the making and led by Donziger.
Ownspace Vintage-Trump... Buy New $59.88 (as of 04:31 UTC - Details) Chevron is yet to pay a penny of the settlement though, for the landmark ruling was overturned in March 2014 by a US Federal Court on highly dubious grounds – in reaching his decision, presiding Judge Lewis A. Kaplan relied heavily on the evidence of a former Ecuadorian justice who subsequently admitted to fabricating his testimony. Donziger has since been charged with contempt of court and sat under house arrest for over a year awaiting trial.
Dozinger himself was present on the Amazon Watch webinar that August evening, and was joined by a number of prominent campaigners, including Simon Taylor, founder of NGO Global Witness, and Roger Waters, co-founder of rock institution Pink Floyd.
The talk was widely promoted in advance by a number of prominent human rights activists, and NGOs, perhaps most prominently Amnesty International.
However, the organization’s endorsement triggered a deluge of criticism on social media from a number of notorious advocates for regime change in Syria. This led to a post advertising the webinar published by Amnesty USA’s official Twitter account the day before broadcast to mysteriously disappear without explanation.
I would appeal to @amnestyusa not to promote this event given Roger Waters participation because slandered #WhiteHelmets repeating Russian propaganda putting their lives at risk when saved over 150,000 lives & cannot remain silent as know them well as a filmmaker @SyriaCivilDef https://t.co/8e311Xcj2S — Ronan L Tynan (@RonanLTynan) August 5, 2020
In response to one critic, Amnesty UK Campaigns Manager Kristyan Benedict said promoting the talk was “not good at all” and confirmed that the offending tweet had “been deleted.”
A leaked recording of a September 25 phone call between Waters and two senior staffers at Amnesty International USA – Matt Vogel, head of artist relations, and Tamara Draut, chief impact officer – sheds fascinating light on the episode.
At the start of the conversation, Waters recalls he was not only informed Amnesty would promote the panel discussion on Twitter in advance, but also personally retweeted the endorsement so it reached his circa 375,000 followers at the organization’s express request. Amazon Essentials Men&... Buy New $29.50 (as of 04:31 UTC - Details)
However, an associate informed him just before the webinar began that they couldn’t locate the post. When the talk was over, he went about getting to the bottom of the tweet’s absence.
After conducting “a bit of sleuthing,” he determined that the removal followed pressure being brought to bear by a number of individuals, in particular his “old adversary” Eliot Higgins, founder of controversial website Bellingcat, due to Waters’ views on the Syrian Civil Defense, aka White Helmets. Seeking answers, he attempted to reach out to Amnesty, but was repeatedly stonewalled before finally being put in touch with Vogel and Draut.
In response, Draut confirmed that the tweet’s removal was indeed prompted by a “difference of opinion” on the White Helmets. “We believe they’re really champions for human rights, and have fought for their protection and freedom. When the tweet went up on our end, it wasn’t fully vetted as it should’ve been, and immediately we heard from folks in the White Helmets, asking why we were promoting you, due to comments you’ve made about them. We also heard from other Syrian human rights activists, who were quite hurt by our support of you…” she began, before Waters interrupts, asking what relevance his views on the group has to “the plight of rainforest dwellers in northern Ecuador.”
“People interpreted our promotion of an event at which you were speaking as promoting your position on the White Helmets. I got involved in this process too late, I wouldn’t have taken down the tweet, that’s not the policy I like to follow, I would’ve much rather dealt with this openly and honestly…” Draut explains.
Waters made headlines the world over in April 2018, when he stopped mid-set during a concert in Barcelona to talk about a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, which had allegedly taken place six days earlier.
Branding the White Helmets a “fake organization” creating “propaganda for jihadists and terrorists,” he suggested that Western public opinion was being manipulated in order that “we would be encouraged to encourage our governments to go and start dropping bombs on people.” Mere hours later, his prediction came to pass, as France, the UK and US carried out a series of military strikes against multiple government sites in the country. inktastic Trump 2020 I... Buy New $27.99 (as of 04:31 UTC - Details)
In May 2019, Waters was again the subject of intense criticism when he claimed on his official Facebook page that a leaked document had vindicated his position. The file in question was an engineering report produced by an Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding team that visited Douma in the days following the contested strike, which concluded there was a “higher probability” that cylinders found at two locations in Douma, alleged by the White Helmets to have been dropped from Syrian Air Force helicopters, were “manually placed… rather than being delivered from aircraft.”
Photos of the cylinders circulated widely in the Western media and on social networks in the wake of the claimed incident. Such images, along with footage of Douma residents being hosed down in hospitals, children seemingly foaming at the mouth, and piles of dead bodies in a housing complex – all produced and disseminated by the White Helmets – were all damning evidence offered in favor of the idea that the Syrian government had targeted civilians with chemical weapons, a notion which in turn provided Paris, London and Washington with a pretext for military intervention.
The OPCW team’s dissenting appraisal was, for reasons unclear, entirely unmentioned in the organization’s final report on Douma, published two months prior to Waters’ Facebook post.
Despite making few if any public comments about the White Helmets or the ongoing crisis in Syria since, Waters has nonetheless been subject to an unending deluge of online abuse from their Western supporters.
Back on the call, an indignant Waters cites a since-deleted tweet from Eliot Higgins, which stated that Amnesty International “needs to explain why Roger Waters is an appropriate person to talk about human rights.” Rather than responding constructively to the question, the organization opted to simply yield to critical pressure.
Waters said: “Why am I an appropriate person? Because I’ve been a great advocate for human rights all my life. The White Helmets were clearly involved in something really dodgy. Amnesty has never come out and said, ‘It’s been brought to our attention the video the White Helmets made in Douma was absolutely fake.’
“Doctors there have said not only were there no deaths that we know about that day, but the people in the hospital were complaining of dust inhalation, not being gassed. Do you still believe that video, do you believe that was real?”
Draut responded: “I appreciate your desire to defend your opinion, I don’t think it’s productive… all I can tell you is you asked why the tweet was taken down, and it was taken down because of the immediate backlash we received, which is in direct opposition to our position on the White Helmets, and is very hurtful… the position of Amnesty wasn’t that you don’t have any right or expertise or commitment to human rights to speak on that panel.” Amazon Brand - Goodthr... Buy New $40.00 (as of 04:31 UTC - Details)
Waters then countered: “Why didn’t you explain why I am an appropriate person, and say you weren’t going to delete the tweet, because the webinar was important?!
“When I was growing up, you pretended to care about human rights – you’ve demonstrated to me in this conversation that you don’t, particularly by refusing to answer my simple question about the video made by the White Helmets in Douma!” he said.
In response, Vogel hurriedly stepped in, reassuring Waters that Amnesty supports Donziger’s “very critical case,” and he personally considered the webinar “a very important conversation to have.”
“So this is just a blacklisting of me?! This is you blacklisting me on the basis of evidence given by a scumbag like Eliot Higgins! That’s what you’re telling me now!” Waters contended.
“You’ve made a special exception in my case?! To blacklist me, and take a tweet mentioning me down, on the basis of trolls sending in their negative feelings about me – because I don’t subscribe to their opinions about regime change in Syria, and the non-existent chemical attack in Douma, Amnesty International will blacklist me and prevent me from acting for the people of Ecuador, in my capacity as a human rights activist. Wow! What a terrible indictment of your organization, if you don’t mind me saying!”
Draut then returns to the conversation, apologizing outright for the tweet’s removal, and claiming Waters is “in no way” blacklisted by Amnesty, despite the organization “disagreeing” with his position on the White Helmets.
Thanking her, Waters asked whether Amnesty was willing to publicly explain how and why its promotion of the webinar was retracted, an act that was “entirely outside the boundaries that Amnesty International pretends to hold sacred,” and apologize to Stephen Donziger and the Ecuadorian people. No commitment to do so was forthcoming from either Amnesty representative on the call, and no explanation or apology for the deletion has been offered by the organization as of October 12.
While Waters’ public comments in April 2018 have clearly made him a target for public vilification and censorship, a great many documents leaked since then strongly suggest his original suspicions were highly adroit – and the OPCW’s conclusions that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe a chemical weapons attack had occurred in Douma, and “the toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine,” were directly contrary to the overwhelming majority of the evidence which its investigators collected.
A vast number of the organization’s previously suppressed internal files are now in the public domain, and while they’ve been universally ignored by mainstream journalists, they tell a damning story.
For instance, the documents demonstrate that in July 2018, OPCW chiefs secretly removed all staff from the investigation who had actually visited Douma, bar a single paramedic. Responsibility for completing the probe was handed to an entirely separate team, which had instead traveled to Turkey, and exclusively taken witness statements and soil samples hand-picked by the White Helmets, and staff who hadn’t participated in either mission.
The conclusions drawn from this evidence differed sharply from evidence collected in Syria, and this incongruity was repeatedly noted in a draft report – references absent entirely from the version presented to the public.
Other key facts from the draft also indicate OPCW investigators quickly ruled out that a chemical attack of any kind had taken place. For one, no samples of any nerve agent – which the White Helmets, Syrian American Medical Society, Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations and British and American governments all claimed had been employed in the attack – were found anywhere on the site, and this had been established by June 2018.
Moreover, at the OPCW’s request, four chemical weapons experts conducted a toxicology review of available evidence from the incident. They concluded that the observed symptoms of alleged victims in Douma, as depicted in White Helmets-provided footage from the incident, “were inconsistent with exposure to chlorine” and “no other obvious candidate chemical causing the symptoms could be identified.”
Further undermining the OPCW’s public conclusions, the organization’s tests of samples collected in Douma showed that chlorine compounds were detected overwhelmingly at trace quantities, in the parts-per-billion range – a finding referenced in the aforementioned draft, again absent from the version deemed fit for public consumption.
At a January 2020 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, former OPCW inspection team leader Ian Henderson, an 11-year veteran of the organization who was part of the Douma fact-finding mission’s inspection team, testified that the investigation into the alleged incident unambiguously concluded that no chemical attack had taken place, and suggested it was likely staged by the Syrian opposition, in order to trigger Western military intervention.
That the White Helmets are a Western construct disseminating propaganda to facilitate governments dropping bombs on people, as per Roger Waters’ phrase, was amply confirmed by the recent release of internal UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) files by hacktivist collective Anonymous.
Among other things, the documents expose a vast and extremely well-funded multi-year operation to produce propaganda targeted both at Syrians and Western populations, forging perceptions of a coherent, credible, moderate opposition to the government of Bashar Assad and extremist groups such as Islamic State alike, and to cultivate support for British-facilitated regime change in the country.
Under the auspices of this project, ARK International – a “conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy” founded by Alistair Harris, a veteran FCO diplomat – developed and ran an “internationally-focused communications campaign designed to raise global awareness” of the White Helmets.
“ARK created and continues to run a Twitter feed and Facebook page on behalf of the Syrian Civil Defense teams, posting photos and updates on their activities in English throughout the day. This has received high-profile recognition from international websites and commentators… New York-based advocacy group, the Syria Campaign, reached out to the civil defenders through their Twitter feed, and following subsequent discussions with ARK, selected the civil defense to front its campaign to keep Syria in the news [emphasis added],” a leaked internal document states.
Intriguingly, ARK also extensively trained and equipped over 150 “activists” in Syria on “camera handling, lighting, sound, interviewing, filming a story,” post-production techniques including “video and sound editing and software, voice-over, scriptwriting,” and “graphics and 2D and 3D animation design and software.”
Students were even instructed in practical propaganda theory – namely “target audience identification, qualitative and quantitative techniques, media and media narrative analysis and monitoring,”“behavioral identification/understanding,” “campaign planning,” “behavior, behavioral change, and how communications can influence it [emphasis added],” and more.
Content produced by trainees was then fed to ARK’s “well-established contacts” at media outlets including Al Jazeera, the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, the New York Times and Reuters, in some cases the firm’s students were hired directly as on-the-ground ‘stringers’ by these organizations, producing reports and conducting interviews.
The files offer no indication that ARK’s trainees were further schooled in how to stage chemical weapons attacks for a Western audience. However, the techniques they learned could clearly so easily be used and abused for such a purpose – making the question of whether they did so worthy of intensive further investigation.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-10-15--The Majority Are Already Immune Against SARS-CoV-2

The more data becomes available about SARS-CoV-2 , the more obvious it becomes that the response to this pandemic has been grossly overblown .
Fatality statistics1,2,3,4,5,6,7 from multiple sources , calculated in a variety of ways , show the risk of dying from COVID-19 is lower than your risk of dying from conventional influenza , at least if you ’ re under the age of 60 .
Overall , the data8,9 also show that the overall all-cause mortality has remained steady this year and doesn ’ t veer from the norm .
In other words , COVID-19 has not killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have died in any given year anyway .
Several studies also suggest immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection is far more widespread than anyone imagined , and that the threshold for herd immunity is far lower than previously estimated .
Most Are Already Immune to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Studies supporting the claim that widespread immunity against SARS-CoV-2 already exists include : Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 25.00 •Cell , June 202010,11 — This study found 70 % of samples from patients who had recovered from mild cases of COVID-19 had resistance to SARS-CoV-2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 40 % to 60 % of people who had not been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 also had resistance to the virus on the T-cell level .
According to the authors , this suggests there ’ s “ cross-reactive T cell recognition between circulating ‘ common cold ’ coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2.
” In other words , if you ’ ve recovered from a common cold caused by a particular coronavirus , your humoral immune system may activate when you encounter SARS-CoV-2 , thus rendering you resistant to COVID-19 .
•Nature Immunology , September 202012 — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a preprint server in June 2020 under the title , “ SARS-CoV-2 T-cell Epitopes Define Heterologous and COVID-19-Induced T-Cell Recognition.
” 13 It ’ s now published in the September 2020 issue of Nature Immunology with the slightly altered title , “ SARS-CoV-2-Derived Peptides Define Heterologous and COVID-19-Induced T Cell Recognition.
” 14 Much like the Cell study above , this investigation also found that that : In other words , even among those who were unexposed , 81 % were resistant or immune to SARS-CoV-2 infection .
The term “ heterologous immunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a given pathogen after you ’ ve been exposed to a nonidentical pathogen .
Typically , this occurs when viruses are sufficiently similar or from closely related species .
In this case , SARS-CoV-2 appears to be sufficiently similar to coronaviruses that cause the common cold , so that if you ’ ve been exposed to any of those coronaviruses , your immune system is also able to combat SARS-CoV-2 .
EcoNugenics u2013 Pect ... Buy New $ 104.53 ( $ 6.58 / Ounce ) •The Lancet Microbe , September 202015,16 — This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the common cold , largely prevented concurrent influenza infection by triggering the production of natural antiviral interferon .
The researchers speculate that the common cold virus could potentially help protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection as well .
Interferon is part of your early immune response , and its protective effects last for at least five days , according to the researchers .
Co-author Dr. Ellen Foxman told UPI:17 •Nature , July 202018,19,20 — Originally posted on a preprint server in May 2020,21 this Singaporean study was published in the July 2020 issue of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ colds caused by the betacoronaviruses OC43 and HKU1 might make you more resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infection , and that the resulting immunity could potentially be long-lasting .
Patients who recovered from SARS infection back in 2003 still had T cell reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV now , 17 years later .
These patients also had strong cross-reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 .
The authors suggest that if you ’ ve beaten a common cold caused by a OC43 or HKU1 betacoronavirus in the past , you may have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can recognize and help defend against SARS-CoV-2 .
According to the authors : Vegan Astaxanthin ( 12m ... Best Price : null Buy New $ 24.95 ( $ 0.28 / Count ) •Cell August 202023,24 — This Swedish study , initially posted on a preprint server in June 202025 and now published in the October 2020 issue of the journal Cell,26 found that SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells likely provide long-term immune protection against COVID-19 .
According to the authors:27 It ’ s important to realize you have two types of immunity .
Your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to attack foreign invaders at any moment and is your first line of defense .
Your adaptive immune system,28 on the other hand , “ remembers ” previous exposure to a pathogen and mounts a response when an old foe is recognized .
Your adaptive immune system is further divided into two arms : humoral immunity ( B cells ) and cell mediated immunity ( T cells ) .
The B cells and T cells are manufactured as needed from specialized stem cells .
The graphs below are from my vitamin D report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these systems and their timing .
If you have never been exposed to a disease but are given antibodies from someone who got sick and recovered , you can gain humoral immunity against that disease .
Your humoral immune system can also kick in if there ’ s cross-reactivity with another very similar pathogen .
As you can see from the list above , in the case of COVID-19 , evidence29 suggests exposure to other coronaviruses that cause the common cold can confer immunity against SARS-CoV-2 .
On the flip side , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ viral interference , where exposure to one virus makes you more susceptible to another virus .
Importantly , research30 has found that those who received the influenza vaccine were 36 % more susceptible to coronavirus infection .
If it ’ s true that a majority already have some measure of immunity against COVID-19 due to previous exposure to other coronaviruses , then we ’ ve probably already reached the threshold for herd immunity , and vaccinating every human on the planet ( or close to it ) will not be necessary .
Vegan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( $ 7.55 / Ounce ) Added support for the idea that herd immunity may already have been achieved in most countries comes from statisticians working with mathematical models .
In June 2020 , Freddie Sayers , executive editor of UnHerd , interviewed31 professor Karl Friston , a statistician who claims immunity against SARS-CoV-2 , globally , might be as high as 80 % , as reviewed in the video interview above .
Friston is credited with inventing a statistical parametric mapping technique that is now the standard for understanding brain imaging .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ applying this method of analysis ( which he refers to as “ dynamic causal modeling ” ) to COVID-19 data , coming up with a model that predicts far lower mortality rates than earlier models .
The reason for this is because the “ effective susceptible population , ” meaning those who are not already immune to COVID-19 and therefore at risk of infection , was never 100 % .
At most , it was 50 % and most likely only around 20 % .
Friston ’ s model effectively vaporizes claims that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sensible behaviors such as staying home when sick are entered into it , the positive effect of lockdown efforts on “ flattening the curve ” simply vanish .
In all likelihood , the global lockdowns were completely unnecessary , and certainly should not continue , now or in the future .
One country that bucked the global lockdown trend was Sweden , and they now appear to be head and neck ahead of most other countries in terms of herd immunity , while having a death toll that is very similar to nations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population ’ s mental health in the name of infection control .
Anders Tegnell , the chief epidemiologist in charge of Sweden ’ s coronavirus response , has stated32 he does not believe Sweden will see a second wave with widespread contagion as the country is seeing a rapid decline in positive tests , indicating herd immunity has been achieved.33 He told The Guardian34 that the primary goal was always merely to slow the spread to avoid overwhelming medical services .
The intention was never to prevent infection from spreading altogether , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in fact the original plan just about everywhere .
But while Sweden stuck to the original goal , and by mid-September boasted all-time low infection rates,35 other nations have twisted response plans to prevent infection transmission altogether , even among those for whom the risk of such an infection is vanishingly minor , such as school-aged children .
The two graphs from The Guardian,36 below , show Sweden ’ s infection rate and deaths per million , compared to other countries that enforced stricter lockdown rules .
As reported in “ Herd Immunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initially estimated that 70 % of the population or more would need to be immune before herd immunity would be achieved .
Now , more than a dozen scientists claim the herd immunity threshold is likely below 50 % .
High Potency Vitamin D ... Buy New $ 19.97 ( $ 0.06 / Count ) As stated earlier , if this is true — and as you can see by the studies reviewed , it appears a majority do have some level of immunity — then the need for a vaccine more or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using reproductive number , or R-naught ( R0 ) , which is the estimated number of new infections that may occur from one infected person.37 R0 of below 1 ( with R1 meaning that one person who ’ s infected is expected to infect one other person ) indicates that cases are declining while R0 above 1 suggests cases are on the rise .
It ’ s far from an exact science , however , as a person ’ s susceptibility to infection varies depending on many factors , including their health , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The initial R0 calculations for COVID-19 ’ s herd immunity threshold were based on assumptions that everyone has the same susceptibility and would be mixing randomly with others in the community .
“ That doesn ’ t happen in real life , ” Dr. Saad Omer , director of the Yale Institute for Global Health , told The New York Times.38 “ Herd immunity could vary from group to group , and subpopulation to subpopulation , ” or even zip code .
When real-world scenarios are factored into the equation , the herd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experts saying it could be as low as 10 % to 20 % .
Researchers from Oxford , Virginia Tech and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine are among those that found39,40 when individual variations in susceptibility and exposure are taken into account , the herd immunity threshold dips below 10 % .
Independent news source Off-Guardian also cited41 data from Stockholm County , Sweden , which shows a herd immunity threshold of 17 % ,42 as well as an essay by Brown University professor Dr. Andrew Bostom , who noted:43 All in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspect that continued lockdowns , social distancing and mask mandates are completely unnecessary and will not significantly alter the course of this pandemic illness , or the final death count .
Rain Soul Supplement P ... Buy New $ 145.80 ( $ 1.22 / Fl Oz ) As reported by British Sky News,51 October 7 , 2020 , many respected scientists are now calling for a herd immunity approach to the pandemic , meaning governments should allow people who are not at significant risk of serious COVID-19 illness to go back to normal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ declaration points out that current lockdown policies are having “ devastating effects on short and long-term public health ” that will result in excess mortality in the future , primarily among younger people and the working class .
The Best of Joseph Mercola

The more data becomes available about SARS-CoV-2, the more obvious it becomes that the response to this pandemic has been grossly overblown. Fatality statistics1,2,3,4,5,6,7 from multiple sources, calculated in a variety of ways, show the risk of dying from COVID-19 is lower than your risk of dying from conventional influenza, at least if you’re under the age of 60.
Overall, the data8,9 also show that the overall all-cause mortality has remained steady this year and doesn’t veer from the norm. In other words, COVID-19 has not killed off more of the population than would have died in any given year anyway.
Several studies also suggest immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection is far more widespread than anyone imagined, and that the threshold for herd immunity is far lower than previously estimated.
Most Are Already Immune to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Studies supporting the claim that widespread immunity against SARS-CoV-2 already exists include: Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $25.00 (as of 06:10 UTC - Details)
•Cell, June 202010,11 — This study found 70% of samples from patients who had recovered from mild cases of COVID-19 had resistance to SARS-CoV-2 on the T-cell level. Importantly, 40% to 60% of people who had not been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 also had resistance to the virus on the T-cell level.
According to the authors, this suggests there’s “cross-reactive T cell recognition between circulating ‘common cold’ coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2.” In other words, if you’ve recovered from a common cold caused by a particular coronavirus, your humoral immune system may activate when you encounter SARS-CoV-2, thus rendering you resistant to COVID-19.
•Nature Immunology, September 202012 — This German study was initially posted on a preprint server in June 2020 under the title, “SARS-CoV-2 T-cell Epitopes Define Heterologous and COVID-19-Induced T-Cell Recognition.”13
It’s now published in the September 2020 issue of Nature Immunology with the slightly altered title, “SARS-CoV-2-Derived Peptides Define Heterologous and COVID-19-Induced T Cell Recognition.”14 Much like the Cell study above, this investigation also found that that:
“Cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 peptides revealed pre-existing T cell responses in 81% of unexposed individuals and validated similarity with common cold coronaviruses, providing a functional basis for heterologous immunity in SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
In other words, even among those who were unexposed, 81% were resistant or immune to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The term “heterologous immunity” refers to immunity that develops against a given pathogen after you’ve been exposed to a nonidentical pathogen.
Typically, this occurs when viruses are sufficiently similar or from closely related species. In this case, SARS-CoV-2 appears to be sufficiently similar to coronaviruses that cause the common cold, so that if you’ve been exposed to any of those coronaviruses, your immune system is also able to combat SARS-CoV-2. EcoNugenics u2013 Pect... Buy New $104.53 ($6.58 / Ounce) (as of 03:48 UTC - Details)
•The Lancet Microbe, September 202015,16 — This study found that rhinovirus infection, responsible for the common cold, largely prevented concurrent influenza infection by triggering the production of natural antiviral interferon.
The researchers speculate that the common cold virus could potentially help protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection as well. Interferon is part of your early immune response, and its protective effects last for at least five days, according to the researchers. Co-author Dr. Ellen Foxman told UPI:17
“Infection with the common cold virus protected cells from infection with a more dangerous virus, the influenza virus, and [this] occurred because the common cold activated the body’s general antiviral defenses.
This may explain why the flu season, in winter, generally occurs after the common cold season, in autumn, and why very few people have both viruses at the same time. Our results show that interactions between viruses can be an important driving force dictating how and when viruses spread through a population.
Since every virus is different, we still do not know how the common cold season will impact the spread of COVID-19, but we now know we should be looking out for these interactions.”
•Nature, July 202018,19,20 — Originally posted on a preprint server in May 2020,21 this Singaporean study was published in the July 2020 issue of Nature.22 Here, they found that common colds caused by the betacoronaviruses OC43 and HKU1 might make you more resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that the resulting immunity could potentially be long-lasting.
Patients who recovered from SARS infection back in 2003 still had T cell reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV now, 17 years later. These patients also had strong cross-reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV-2.
The authors suggest that if you’ve beaten a common cold caused by a OC43 or HKU1 betacoronavirus in the past, you may have a 50/50 chance of having defensive T-cells that can recognize and help defend against SARS-CoV-2. According to the authors: Vegan Astaxanthin (12m... Buy New $24.95 ($0.28 / Count) (as of 11:05 UTC - Details)
“These findings demonstrate that virus-specific T cells induced by infection with betacoronaviruses are long-lasting, supporting the notion that patients with COVID-19 will develop long-term T cell immunity.
Our findings also raise the possibility that long-lasting T cells generated after infection with related viruses may be able to protect against, or modify the pathology caused by, infection with SARS-CoV-2.”
•Cell August 202023,24 — This Swedish study, initially posted on a preprint server in June 202025 and now published in the October 2020 issue of the journal Cell,26 found that SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells likely provide long-term immune protection against COVID-19. According to the authors:27
“Acute-phase SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells displayed a highly activated cytotoxic phenotype that correlated with various clinical markers of disease severity, whereas convalescent-phase SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were polyfunctional and displayed a stem-like memory phenotype.
Importantly, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were detectable in antibody-seronegative exposed family members and convalescent individuals with a history of asymptomatic and mild COVID-19.
Our collective dataset shows that SARS-CoV-2 elicits broadly directed and functionally replete memory T cell responses, suggesting that natural exposure or infection may prevent recurrent episodes of severe COVID-19.”
Innate and Adaptive Immunity
It’s important to realize you have two types of immunity. Your innate immune system is primed and ready to attack foreign invaders at any moment and is your first line of defense. Your adaptive immune system,28 on the other hand, “remembers” previous exposure to a pathogen and mounts a response when an old foe is recognized.
Your adaptive immune system is further divided into two arms: humoral immunity (B cells) and cell mediated immunity (T cells). The B cells and T cells are manufactured as needed from specialized stem cells. The graphs below are from my vitamin D report and will help you understand the components of these systems and their timing.
If you have never been exposed to a disease but are given antibodies from someone who got sick and recovered, you can gain humoral immunity against that disease. Your humoral immune system can also kick in if there’s cross-reactivity with another very similar pathogen.
As you can see from the list above, in the case of COVID-19, evidence29 suggests exposure to other coronaviruses that cause the common cold can confer immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
On the flip side, there’s a phenomenon known as viral interference, where exposure to one virus makes you more susceptible to another virus. Importantly, research30 has found that those who received the influenza vaccine were 36% more susceptible to coronavirus infection.
Mathematical Models Add Support for Widespread Immunity
If it’s true that a majority already have some measure of immunity against COVID-19 due to previous exposure to other coronaviruses, then we’ve probably already reached the threshold for herd immunity, and vaccinating every human on the planet (or close to it) will not be necessary. Vegan Superfood Daily ... Buy New $39.95 ($7.55 / Ounce) (as of 04:42 UTC - Details)
Added support for the idea that herd immunity may already have been achieved in most countries comes from statisticians working with mathematical models. In June 2020, Freddie Sayers, executive editor of UnHerd, interviewed31 professor Karl Friston, a statistician who claims immunity against SARS-CoV-2, globally, might be as high as 80%, as reviewed in the video interview above.
Friston is credited with inventing a statistical parametric mapping technique that is now the standard for understanding brain imaging. As the pandemic erupted, he began applying this method of analysis (which he refers to as “dynamic causal modeling”) to COVID-19 data, coming up with a model that predicts far lower mortality rates than earlier models.
The reason for this is because the “effective susceptible population,” meaning those who are not already immune to COVID-19 and therefore at risk of infection, was never 100%. At most, it was 50% and most likely only around 20%.
Friston’s model effectively vaporizes claims that social distancing is necessary, because once sensible behaviors such as staying home when sick are entered into it, the positive effect of lockdown efforts on “flattening the curve” simply vanish. In all likelihood, the global lockdowns were completely unnecessary, and certainly should not continue, now or in the future.
Signs of Herd Immunity Emerge in Sweden
One country that bucked the global lockdown trend was Sweden, and they now appear to be head and neck ahead of most other countries in terms of herd immunity, while having a death toll that is very similar to nations that destroyed their economy and sacrificed the population’s mental health in the name of infection control.
Anders Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist in charge of Sweden’s coronavirus response, has stated32 he does not believe Sweden will see a second wave with widespread contagion as the country is seeing a rapid decline in positive tests, indicating herd immunity has been achieved.33
He told The Guardian34 that the primary goal was always merely to slow the spread to avoid overwhelming medical services. The intention was never to prevent infection from spreading altogether, which has indeed proven impossible.
This was in fact the original plan just about everywhere. But while Sweden stuck to the original goal, and by mid-September boasted all-time low infection rates,35 other nations have twisted response plans to prevent infection transmission altogether, even among those for whom the risk of such an infection is vanishingly minor, such as school-aged children.
The two graphs from The Guardian,36 below, show Sweden’s infection rate and deaths per million, compared to other countries that enforced stricter lockdown rules.
Herd Immunity Threshold Likely Below 50%
As reported in “Herd Immunity ‘Ahead of Schedule’” experts initially estimated that 70% of the population or more would need to be immune before herd immunity would be achieved. Now, more than a dozen scientists claim the herd immunity threshold is likely below 50%. High Potency Vitamin D... Buy New $19.97 ($0.06 / Count) (as of 11:23 UTC - Details)
As stated earlier, if this is true — and as you can see by the studies reviewed, it appears a majority do have some level of immunity — then the need for a vaccine more or less vanishes.
Herd immunity is calculated using reproductive number, or R-naught (R0), which is the estimated number of new infections that may occur from one infected person.37 R0 of below 1 (with R1 meaning that one person who’s infected is expected to infect one other person) indicates that cases are declining while R0 above 1 suggests cases are on the rise.
It’s far from an exact science, however, as a person’s susceptibility to infection varies depending on many factors, including their health, age and contacts within a community. The initial R0 calculations for COVID-19’s herd immunity threshold were based on assumptions that everyone has the same susceptibility and would be mixing randomly with others in the community.
“That doesn’t happen in real life,” Dr. Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, told The New York Times.38 “Herd immunity could vary from group to group, and subpopulation to subpopulation,” or even zip code. When real-world scenarios are factored into the equation, the herd immunity threshold drops significantly, with some experts saying it could be as low as 10% to 20%.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. ~ Great Barrington Declaration
Researchers from Oxford, Virginia Tech and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine are among those that found39,40 when individual variations in susceptibility and exposure are taken into account, the herd immunity threshold dips below 10%.
Independent news source Off-Guardian also cited41 data from Stockholm County, Sweden, which shows a herd immunity threshold of 17%,42 as well as an essay by Brown University professor Dr. Andrew Bostom, who noted:43
“Lead investigator Dr. Gomes, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and her colleagues concluded: “naturally acquired immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may place populations over the herd immunity threshold once as few as 10-20% of its individuals are immune.“44
Separate HIT [herd immunity threshold] calculations of 9%,45 10-20%,46 17%,47 and 43%48,49 — each substantially below the dogmatically asserted value of ~70%50 — have been reported by investigators from Tel-Aviv University, Oxford University, University College of London, and Stockholm University, respectively.”
Declaration Urges Implementation of Herd Immunity Approach
All in all, there are many reasons to suspect that continued lockdowns, social distancing and mask mandates are completely unnecessary and will not significantly alter the course of this pandemic illness, or the final death count. Rain Soul Supplement P... Buy New $145.80 ($1.22 / Fl Oz) (as of 03:56 UTC - Details)
As reported by British Sky News,51 October 7, 2020, many respected scientists are now calling for a herd immunity approach to the pandemic, meaning governments should allow people who are not at significant risk of serious COVID-19 illness to go back to normal life. According to the article:52
“The so-called Great Barrington declaration, signed by leading experts from the universities of Oxford, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Cambridge, Sussex and York, suggests herd immunity as a way forward.
The declaration states: ‘The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this focused protection.”
The declaration points out that current lockdown policies are having “devastating effects on short and long-term public health” that will result in excess mortality in the future, primarily among younger people and the working class.
Sources and References
The Best of Dr. Joseph Mercola


lewrockwell--2020-10-16--Your Marxist Revolutionary Sons and Daughters

The violent riots , looting , arson , and even public execution of Trump supporters over the past six months has been primarily the work of the self-described communist revolutionaries associated with “ Antifa ” and Black Lives Matter ( BLM ) .
Mug shots of some of the Antifa/BLM criminals that have appeared in the news and online show that some of them are seriously mentally deranged ; some are hardened criminals with long criminal records ; there seems to be a preponderance of convicted sex offenders and pedophiles among them ; and what seems to be hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mobs of rather ordinary , run-of-the-mill , urban underclass looters , the products of the state ’ s life-destroying and crime-infested inner-city government schools , its family- and work-incentive-destroying welfare state , and its war on drugs .
Then there is the large army of useful idiots – the thousands of mostly white college-age or slightly-older kids .
They don ’ t seem to dominate the criminal mug shots published by urban police departments , but they appear to have comprised at least half of many of the mob scenes broadcast on American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I lost count how many times I watched the boob tube as a chubby white girl dressed like a masked homeless person screamed in the faces of black police officers about “ white supremacy ” and racism , as though these mostly middle-aged black men were unaware of racial discrimination .
Then there ’ s that Ivy League co-ed whose parents own several multi-million dollar homes who was arrested for setting fire to police cars during one of the riots in New York City .
One suspects that she was not the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : An Economic ... Ludwig von Mises Best Price : $ 6.00 Buy New $ 1.99 The criminals and the underclass looters are in it ( rioting ) for fun and profit , but the white college kids are there because they think they are being good Marxist revolutionaries by associating themselves with BLM , whose founders have proudly proclaimed that “ we are trained Marxists ” ( and who also advocate the abolition of the family , as did Karl Marx himself ) .
How on earth , one may ask , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been convinced that totalitarian communism , of all things , is what they want for their future ?
I am not speaking of all college students and recent graduates , of course , but a very large and vocal segment of that population – the so-called social justice snowflakes .
The answer to this question is obvious : They have been thoroughly indoctrinated by the socialist indoctrination academies known as “ American colleges and universities , ” and also by their middle-school and high school teachers who themselves were indoctrinated there first .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in techniques and ideologies that were pioneered by Marx , Engels , Lenin and others , and carried forward first by the “ 60s Marxist radicals ” and then by the radicals ’ students who now dominate nearly every university .
Ludwig von Mises wrote in his 1922 classic , Socialism , that “ the socialist idea is nothing but a grandiose rationalization of petty resentments ” and “ destruction is the essence of it , ” the “ spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created.
” Private property @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law , the civil society , constitutionalism , religion , the family , tradition , history , are all today routinely denounced and destroyed by the useful idiots rioting in American streets .
What else would one call the riots , looting , arson and mayhem in certain American cities but Marxist destructionism ?
Everything Mises said about the “ revolutionary Marxists ” of the early twentieth century applies to the American Left today .
“ Instead of refuting ” his critics , Mises said of Marx and Marxists , “ his disciples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example , reviling their opponents but never attempting to refute them by argument.
” This is one Marxist creed that today ’ s college students are very well schooled in indeed .
It is now almost routine that if a student group invites a conservative or libertarian speaker to campus he will be met with a loud mob shouting insults at him , prohibiting him from speaking , and , in the case of the University of California at Berkeley , home of “ the free speech movement , ” setting campus buildings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dissenting voices are ever invited to campus in the first place .
Only the “ oppressed ” classes deserve the right of free speech , today ’ s college students are taught from the writings of twentieth-century Marxist academic crank , Herbert Marcuse .
Everyone else is to be smeared , libeled , and slandered as a “ racist , “ sexist , ” “ fascist , ” etc.
, etc .
The “ oppressed ” classes are defined by today ’ s academic Marxists as everyone except white heterosexual males who are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are assumed to be inherent racists according to today ’ s Left , but being an outspoken campus commie earns one a get-out-of-jail card .
The Problem with Socia ... Thomas DiLorenzo Best Price : $ 9.49 Buy New $ 11.93 The “ socialist parties ” of Mises ’ time perfected “ the technique of agitation , the cadging for votes and for souls , the stirring up of electoral excitement , the street demonstrations , and terrorism.
” There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to being a Marxist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purpose of “ revolutionary socialism , ” wrote Mises , “ is primarily concerned to clear the ground for building up a new civilization by liquidating the older one.
” Of course , the whole history of Marxist revolutions is that the older civilization , which may have evolved over centuries , is in fact destroyed and then replaced with nothing but totalitarian thuggery , corruption , violence , and mass killing .
Today ’ s college students learn little or nothing about this – the real history of socialism – but are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as The Communist Manifesto .
I once used the Manifesto in a class called “ Capitalism and its Critics ” where I treated it as an historical artifact .
One student complained that it was the fourth time he was assigned to read it during his college career , but the first time it was not portrayed as a roadmap for the future .
Many Americans were not surprised when the revolutionary Marxist rioters , looters and arsonists ( RMRLA ) began toppling statues of Confederate soldiers and said nothing .
Many mocked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mob will move on to Thomas Jefferson and other founders .
They were ( and are ) befuddled , however , when the same gang began destroying statues of Christopher Columbus , Abraham Lincoln , Thomas Jefferson , Teddy Roosevelt , New England abolitionists , and just about every other kind of statue commemorating America ’ s past .
They have chopped off the heads of Virgin Mary statues at Catholic churches and spray painted vulgar graffiti on countless churches .
Once again , this is all textbook Marxism as taught to your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ higher education.
” Tradition is merely “ a tool of the bourgeoisie , ” said Marx .
“ In bourgeois society the past dominates the present ; in Communist society , the present dominates the past.
” Marxists will have none of that business about learning from the mistakes of history for they – and only they – know all the answers .
Marx and Engels called for the “ Abolition of Religion ” in The Communist Manifesto along with a plea to “ abolish the present state of things.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conditions ” was their goal .
“ Communists everywhere support the revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things , ” they said , something that was probably said many times over in American university classrooms in the past year .
“ Ruthless criticism of all that exists ” was also called for by Marx , who bloviated that “ the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.
” Communism “ abolishes eternal truths , ” Marx boasted , and “ acts in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As F.A .
Hayek wrote in The Road to Serfdom , in a totalitarian society truth is not determined by research , investigation , discussion , debate , and education but is handed down by the state in the form of statist platitudes .
The Problem with Linco ... DiLorenzo , Thomas J .
Buy New $ 29.99 Today this is called “ critical theory ” in the academic world and is quite prevalent .
When a business school professor ( actually a lawyer hired to preach left-wing politics to business students ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thinking ” at my former university I asked her what academic discipline she would be drawing on – philosophy , logic , political philosophy , economics , etc .
Her answer was “ Oh none of that ; we will just criticize people like you.
” Talking with many of her students over the years I have learned that they were taught nothing about how to structure a criticism by using logic , facts , and theory .
Instead , they are taught to condemn , slander , libel , denounce , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the standard leftist platitudes that all college students are bombarded with and have been since elementary school .
Ruthless criticism , in other words , just as Marx himself advocated .
“ Communism begins where atheism begins , ” wrote Marx and Engels , and “ communism is incompatible with religious faith.
” Marx would be proud indeed of his contemporary American minions .
A June 1 Catholic News Agency article reported that “ churches in 6 states were damaged by violent protests.
” Cathedrals were defaced and damaged and spray painted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ There is No God.
” In Europe , some 3,000 Christian churches and other buildings were vandalized , looted and defaced in 2019 .
While American parents slept , university Leftists have turned millions of their children into uneducated , empty-headed , slogan-chanting useful idiots for the most despicable political tyrants and would-be dictators on the planet .
Way to go , American parents .
The Best of Thomas DiLorenzo

The violent riots, looting, arson, and even public execution of Trump supporters over the past six months has been primarily the work of the self-described communist revolutionaries associated with “Antifa” and Black Lives Matter (BLM). Mug shots of some of the Antifa/BLM criminals that have appeared in the news and online show that some of them are seriously mentally deranged; some are hardened criminals with long criminal records; there seems to be a preponderance of convicted sex offenders and pedophiles among them; and what seems to be hundreds of pyromaniacs. They are always accompanied by mobs of rather ordinary, run-of-the-mill, urban underclass looters, the products of the state’s life-destroying and crime-infested inner-city government schools, its family- and work-incentive-destroying welfare state, and its war on drugs.
Then there is the large army of useful idiots – the thousands of mostly white college-age or slightly-older kids. They don’t seem to dominate the criminal mug shots published by urban police departments, but they appear to have comprised at least half of many of the mob scenes broadcast on American television over the past several months. I lost count how many times I watched the boob tube as a chubby white girl dressed like a masked homeless person screamed in the faces of black police officers about “white supremacy” and racism, as though these mostly middle-aged black men were unaware of racial discrimination. Then there’s that Ivy League co-ed whose parents own several multi-million dollar homes who was arrested for setting fire to police cars during one of the riots in New York City. One suspects that she was not the only one who fit that description. Socialism: An Economic... Ludwig von Mises Best Price: $6.00 Buy New $1.99 (as of 06:20 UTC - Details)
The criminals and the underclass looters are in it (rioting) for fun and profit, but the white college kids are there because they think they are being good Marxist revolutionaries by associating themselves with BLM, whose founders have proudly proclaimed that “we are trained Marxists” (and who also advocate the abolition of the family, as did Karl Marx himself). How on earth, one may ask, have so many college students and graduates been convinced that totalitarian communism, of all things, is what they want for their future?
I am not speaking of all college students and recent graduates, of course, but a very large and vocal segment of that population – the so-called social justice snowflakes. The answer to this question is obvious: They have been thoroughly indoctrinated by the socialist indoctrination academies known as “American colleges and universities,” and also by their middle-school and high school teachers who themselves were indoctrinated there first. They have been indoctrinated in textbook Marxism, in techniques and ideologies that were pioneered by Marx, Engels, Lenin and others, and carried forward first by the “60s Marxist radicals” and then by the radicals’ students who now dominate nearly every university.
Socialism Means Destructionism
Ludwig von Mises wrote in his 1922 classic, Socialism, that “the socialist idea is nothing but a grandiose rationalization of petty resentments” and “destruction is the essence of it,” the “spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created.” Private property, free enterprise, the rule of law, the civil society, constitutionalism, religion, the family, tradition, history, are all today routinely denounced and destroyed by the useful idiots rioting in American streets. What else would one call the riots, looting, arson and mayhem in certain American cities but Marxist destructionism?
Everything Mises said about the “revolutionary Marxists” of the early twentieth century applies to the American Left today. “Instead of refuting” his critics, Mises said of Marx and Marxists, “his disciples have faithfully imitated the master’s example, reviling their opponents but never attempting to refute them by argument.” This is one Marxist creed that today’s college students are very well schooled in indeed. It is now almost routine that if a student group invites a conservative or libertarian speaker to campus he will be met with a loud mob shouting insults at him, prohibiting him from speaking, and, in the case of the University of California at Berkeley, home of “the free speech movement,” setting campus buildings on fire. Consequently, very few dissenting voices are ever invited to campus in the first place. Only the “oppressed” classes deserve the right of free speech, today’s college students are taught from the writings of twentieth-century Marxist academic crank, Herbert Marcuse. Everyone else is to be smeared, libeled, and slandered as a “racist, “sexist,” “fascist,” etc., etc. The “oppressed” classes are defined by today’s academic Marxists as everyone except white heterosexual males who are not outspoken Leftists. All white people are assumed to be inherent racists according to today’s Left, but being an outspoken campus commie earns one a get-out-of-jail card. The Problem with Socia... Thomas DiLorenzo Best Price: $9.49 Buy New $11.93 (as of 06:45 UTC - Details)
The “socialist parties” of Mises’ time perfected “the technique of agitation, the cadging for votes and for souls, the stirring up of electoral excitement, the street demonstrations, and terrorism.” There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to being a Marxist revolutionary, in other words. The purpose of “revolutionary socialism,” wrote Mises, “is primarily concerned to clear the ground for building up a new civilization by liquidating the older one.” Of course, the whole history of Marxist revolutions is that the older civilization, which may have evolved over centuries, is in fact destroyed and then replaced with nothing but totalitarian thuggery, corruption, violence, and mass killing. Today’s college students learn little or nothing about this – the real history of socialism – but are well schooled in utopian pipe dreams such as The Communist Manifesto. I once used the Manifesto in a class called “Capitalism and its Critics” where I treated it as an historical artifact. One student complained that it was the fourth time he was assigned to read it during his college career, but the first time it was not portrayed as a roadmap for the future.
Many Americans were not surprised when the revolutionary Marxist rioters, looters and arsonists (RMRLA) began toppling statues of Confederate soldiers and said nothing. Many mocked President Trump when he predicted that the mob will move on to Thomas Jefferson and other founders. They were (and are) befuddled, however, when the same gang began destroying statues of Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, New England abolitionists, and just about every other kind of statue commemorating America’s past. They have chopped off the heads of Virgin Mary statues at Catholic churches and spray painted vulgar graffiti on countless churches. Once again, this is all textbook Marxism as taught to your sons and daughters in the institutions of “higher education.” Tradition is merely “a tool of the bourgeoisie,” said Marx. “In bourgeois society the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past.” Marxists will have none of that business about learning from the mistakes of history for they – and only they – know all the answers.
Marx and Engels called for the “Abolition of Religion” in The Communist Manifesto along with a plea to “abolish the present state of things.” “The forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions” was their goal. “Communists everywhere support the revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things,” they said, something that was probably said many times over in American university classrooms in the past year.
“Ruthless criticism of all that exists” was also called for by Marx, who bloviated that “the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.” Communism “abolishes eternal truths,” Marx boasted, and “acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.” As F.A. Hayek wrote in The Road to Serfdom, in a totalitarian society truth is not determined by research, investigation, discussion, debate, and education but is handed down by the state in the form of statist platitudes. The Problem with Linco... DiLorenzo, Thomas J. Buy New $29.99 (as of 11:50 UTC - Details)
Today this is called “critical theory” in the academic world and is quite prevalent. When a business school professor (actually a lawyer hired to preach left-wing politics to business students) initiated a new course called “Critical Thinking” at my former university I asked her what academic discipline she would be drawing on – philosophy, logic, political philosophy, economics, etc. Her answer was “Oh none of that; we will just criticize people like you.”
Talking with many of her students over the years I have learned that they were taught nothing about how to structure a criticism by using logic, facts, and theory. Instead, they are taught to condemn, slander, libel, denounce, and smear anyone who voices disagreements with any of the standard leftist platitudes that all college students are bombarded with and have been since elementary school. Ruthless criticism, in other words, just as Marx himself advocated.
“Communism begins where atheism begins,” wrote Marx and Engels, and “communism is incompatible with religious faith.” Marx would be proud indeed of his contemporary American minions. A June 1 Catholic News Agency article reported that “churches in 6 states were damaged by violent protests.” Cathedrals were defaced and damaged and spray painted with “God is Dead” and “There is No God.” In Europe, some 3,000 Christian churches and other buildings were vandalized, looted and defaced in 2019.
While American parents slept, university Leftists have turned millions of their children into uneducated, empty-headed, slogan-chanting useful idiots for the most despicable political tyrants and would-be dictators on the planet. Way to go, American parents.
The Best of Thomas DiLorenzo