lewrockwell--2020-12-17--Still Dreaming of a White Christmas

Still Dreaming of a White Christmas

In this climate of accelerating intolerance for any cultural expression that predates this morning ’ s ethical pinnacle of woke self-indulgence , Progressive catechisms have never rung more hollow .
The preposterous self-importance that recently witnessed “ adults ” debating whether or not the vintage holiday song “ Baby It ’ s Cold Outside ” constituted an “ ode to rape ” —and in the very summer that witnessed Amazon pull Gone with the Wind ( Selznik , 1939 ) before Atlanta being unironically burned to the ground by America ’ s extra-chromosome Left—is it silly to anticipate a comparable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of traditional America , the entire memeplex around the perennial bugaboo , White Christmas ?
I won ’ t rehearse the entire woke antipathy to Irving Berlin ’ s song , first popularized in Paramount ’ s Holiday Inn of 1942 and immortalized by Bing Crosby ’ s homey baritone and moody , scooping diphthongs .
It ’ s entirely possible that only an infinitesimal minority of Americans born between 1885 and 1995 would find themselves unable sing a few bars from memory .
As the world ’ s best-selling single in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s John ’ s 1997 remake of “ Candle in the Wind ” in honor of the late Princess Di which marked the significant transition to digital reproduction—it was incredibly simple , just fifty-four words and sixty-seven notes .
And while there is an interesting backstory to the various recordings in circulation , I was delighted to have my hunch confirmed that the set for Holiday Inn was reused for 1954 ’ s White Christmas ( Paramount ) .
Now , the real question I need answered is whether or not it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Warner Bros. , 1945 ) !
Ideas Have Consequence ... Richard M. Weaver , Rog ... Best Price : $ 6.84 Buy New $ 13.31 The lightning rod for the rebarbative Left is , as always , a semantic issue not an empirical one .
In this , one is reminded of Richard Weaver ’ s argument about the tragedy of the nominalist take-over of post-medieval culture in Ideas Have Consequences ( 1948 ) .
That words can trigger the psychologically frail reminds us of the sturdy folk wisdom we all grew up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The absence of this simple lesson alone probably accounts for more psychiatric prescriptions in this century than any other fact of life .
Today , “ silence is violence , ” but violence is… well , it ’ s censored unless it fits “ the Narrative.
” “ White.
” Do we need to go any further ?
And “ Christmas ?
” I mean , really , can there be another three syllables that so elegantly compress the entire Christo-fascist program into one hard gemstone of pure , lustrous hatred ?
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reveal the reasoning processes of lab animals and house pets , this is not the case for Progressives and socialists .
In the animal kingdom at least , these efforts are largely successful because the structure of inferential logic circuits in the cortices of most mammals exhibit a stable anatomical structure and clearly differentiated , if nested , functional operations that are repeatable and reproducible .
This is not the case for human beings who have had these logic circuits “ recoded ” by emotional noise , deactivating both simple calculation as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The “ recoding ” is indoctrination ; the “ emotional noise ” is the learned magnification of affective inputs .
What goes under the rubric of “ education ” in the United States is actually a form of intentional distortion of our innate capacity for empathy and detached , deliberative ratiocination .
Students acquire this intentional disability in order to consider themselves educated .
It ’ s a sick and twisted tale that goes back to the creation of the Prussian educational system in the wake of the humiliation wrought by Napoleon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mann ’ s importation of this system to our country in the 1840s .
Missing from this emotion-drenched approach to the world and human culture is the capacity to grasp actual , shared historical facts .
Anything that informs the mindset behind the creation of any artifact , especially one that strikes a chord with millions of people across three or four generations , is regarded as counterproductive to raised consciousness .
White Christmas ( Blu-r ... Best Price : $ 6.43 Buy New $ 11.99 While this isn ’ t the place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the symbolism of the entire “ White Christmas ” phenomena—from the 1942 single , its recording in Holiday Inn , and its regeneration in the blockbuster film—I think one can make reasonable statements about the lyrics , the script , and the 1954 staging that would probably align with the tacit assumptions and values of the national audience from this period ( 1942-1954 ) .
The rough prototype for my analysis is Stefan Zweig ’ s autobiographical epiphany that he had lived in three worlds : the world prior to the Great War @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wake , and the emergence of modern barbarisms of national and international socialism that prepared the second global conflagration of his lifetime .
His tragic suicide was his decision to avoid that third world , and the fourth world it would create .
My belief is that White Christmas does not simply invoke nostalgia for one ’ s youth and the rose-colored memories of long-lost relatives celebrating the birth of our Savior .
The film is actually a testimony to the good-natured resilience of the pre-Great War world where the values of humility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thrift were not lifestyle choices but survival strategies .
Like Remember the Night ( Paramount , 1940 ) —another Christmas classic from Hollywood ’ s golden age—the values of the protagonists ’ parents were pitted against their own pressing , personal appetites and the relentless , anonymous social forces of the situation in which they found themselves , in that case the justice system .
In both cases , the wisdom of the parents ’ generation wins out .
And White Christmas is a hymn to that victory .
I think the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chronological “ meridian , ” if you will , might be the year 1903 , the year of Crosby ’ s birth .
Crosby , whose voice provides the physical embodiment of the sentiments and affections evoked in the lyrics and score , would have had his deepest and most profound formative childhood experiences prior to his adolescence and the transformation of the country and the world in the events of World War One .
Zweig has a memorable passage describing how in 1941 , when visitors to the cinema are shown men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they “ break out into uncontrolled laughter.
” The norms of Zweig ’ s entitled youth had become “ historical and incomprehensible ” to the next generation , and that became the filter for Berlin , for Crosby , and for director Michael Curtiz ( 1886-1962 ) .
This was a world before automobiles were even a novelty in most parts of the country and a world where few people had indoor plumbing , to say nothing of electrical service .
There were only forty-five states at the time and the chances are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few Civil War veterans on one side or the other .
When Crosby was a small boy , if his parents wanted coffee they first had to make a fire ; and when anything was delivered , it was probably taken off a horse-drawn wagon .
It ’ s a Wonderful ... Best Price : $ 8.01 Buy New $ 7.40 He and his cohort would have not had vivid memories of the Great War beyond echoes in popular culture .
The dark theaters where silent films replaced the wholesome analog experience of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mass commodity .
Cars , phones , and radios went from being luxuries to being ubiquitous commodities during the 1920s .
All of this cultural , economic , and technological churn came to be the norm : standing still amidst all the change became the balancing act that enabled his generation to adapt first to roadways without paving , let alone traffic lights , and to the enormous wealth accumulation which would certainly have concerned their elders .
These themes form the plotlines of several Hollywood productions .
Make Way for Tomorrow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrenching exploration of the intergenerational moral friction between nineteenth-century parents and their twentieth-century offspring that , in many ways , offers a handy reference to twentieth-century parents and their twenty-first-century children .
White Christmas filters these frictions through the lenses of loyalty and patriotism .
The forms of expression may be novel , but we see though them an allegiance to the sources of pre-modern inspiration .
And unlike the Austrian belle-lettrist Zweig , with his “ livid steeds of the Apocalypse , ” Americans were quick to salvage what we could from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ artistic inspiration .
Entire production numbers leverage our useable past , and make it a springboard into contemporary expression— “ Choreography ” mocks modern European abstract dancing in favor of good ol ’ fashion , on-stage hoofing ; “ Minstrel Show ” is a post-blackface homage to the artistry of African American folk music and the roots of jazz .
With the exception of the seductive “ Mandy , ” most all of the numbers rely on stock American pop culture topoi to make a connection to the audience .
The working assumption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ river of cultural expression , we all add to it , and Hollywood is one funnel through which it is fed back out for refiltration , with new twists here and there but with an intact moral core .
Indeed the script of White Christmas , and the other holiday classics from this generation , holds fast to the moral wisdom of its elders ’ generations .
We did not twice host the scorched earth of post-war Europe and can be excused for seeing our past with less anger .
In the 1950s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the moral strictures of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus , we were building split-level neo-colonials and driving pink convertibles .
We were PoMo before we were Mo !
Miracle On 34th St ( bw ) Best Price : $ 8.01 Buy New $ 6.99 And beyond the white , look afresh at the lurid , saturated colors of White Christmas .
Reds and greens so deep and resonant that they buzz on your optic nerve as you follow the contour of the holly leaves in the opening credits .
The Argentinian blue of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the hemoglobin red of the linens in “ Minstrel , ” and the shocking pinks and hot yellows of other costumes , to say nothing of the warm , creamy flesh tones of the interiors .
There is more chromatic excitement in this movie than in anything prior to the time-travel sequence in Stanley Kubrick ’ s 2001 : A Space Odyssey ( MGM , 1968 ) .
If anything , the whiteness of White Christmas is a luminous and available source of moral energy , a light beam from a distant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see our “ great enrichment ” during the Industrial Revolution as the source of human misery , we chose to see it as it was : the antidote to a miserable , impoverished , short life stranded on a distant farm with limited capital and even less access to opportunity .
With the exception of “ Mandy ’ s ” white leotard , whiteness throughout is about purity and moral excellence .
Crosby ’ s character was a “ knight on a white steed ” until he is wrongly assumed to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s restored , in the final moments of the film , to his place .
The whiteness of White Christmas is the symbolic purity of a world energy uncorrupted by socialism , by world war , mass death , famine , genocide , fiat money , forced labor , and conscription .
It was a world in which people daily toiled , adjusted their lives to the output of that toil , and understood the moral balance within would be reckoned with the balance without , regardless of one ’ s faith .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mosaic faith is the subtext .
And that faith in the once-good and the Eternal Good is the core that makes us well up with tears as we watch and contemplate how such people faced tectonic change , constant upheaval , and industrial-grade inhumanity—and could go ahead and make these silly stories !
One of the great losses we have suffered in the corrosive onslaught of our American culture by the Cultural Marxists , the Progressives , and today ’ s cognitively and morally impaired Left is the outright destruction of middle-brow culture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the imagery and energy of high culture without the time and the mental demands ; as a trade-off , it conveyed a thumbnail sketch of the enduring themes of high-brow culture , of permanence , continuity , and moral comfort .
But this was seen by warlocks of the Frankfurt School as Kitsch , as non- or sub-art and unworthy of an adult .
I think one of the things we see today , in the wake of 2016 and 2020 , is that there are tens of millions of people who want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ though they may simply not have the time or bandwidth for the full message .
And thanks to the “ frauds and firebrands ” described by the late Roger Scruton , we have done away with middle-brow culture altogether .
Because high-brow culture will not scale , we are left with efforts that constantly refresh the low-brow with ever lower , more depraved sources of human experience .
We are denied Schlock because it is Kitsch , but are forced to ingest filth in its stead .
Fools , Frauds and Fire ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 15.32 Buy New $ 17.40 If there is a silver lining to a whiteness theme , it is that the whiteness of White Christmas—the glow of pure motives , loving families , of true hope in the payoff of genuine effort—is something that can be shared by everyone willing to put in the time and the effort .
And if anything else has been made clear in the last four years , it is up to us to demand and to supply the culture we deserve .
Originally published on Letters From Fly @ @ @

In this climate of accelerating intolerance for any cultural expression that predates this morning’s ethical pinnacle of woke self-indulgence, Progressive catechisms have never rung more hollow.
The preposterous self-importance that recently witnessed “adults” debating whether or not the vintage holiday song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” constituted an “ode to rape”—and in the very summer that witnessed Amazon pull Gone with the Wind (Selznik, 1939) before Atlanta being unironically burned to the ground by America’s extra-chromosome Left—is it silly to anticipate a comparable cancellation of a far more prominent icon of traditional America, the entire memeplex around the perennial bugaboo, White Christmas?
I won’t rehearse the entire woke antipathy to Irving Berlin’s song, first popularized in Paramount’s Holiday Inn of 1942 and immortalized by Bing Crosby’s homey baritone and moody, scooping diphthongs. It’s entirely possible that only an infinitesimal minority of Americans born between 1885 and 1995 would find themselves unable sing a few bars from memory. As the world’s best-selling single in the age of mechanically reproducible music—until Elton’s John’s 1997 remake of “Candle in the Wind” in honor of the late Princess Di which marked the significant transition to digital reproduction—it was incredibly simple, just fifty-four words and sixty-seven notes. And while there is an interesting backstory to the various recordings in circulation, I was delighted to have my hunch confirmed that the set for Holiday Inn was reused for 1954’s White Christmas (Paramount). Now, the real question I need answered is whether or not it was also used for Christmas in Connecticut (Warner Bros., 1945)! Ideas Have Consequence... Richard M. Weaver, Rog... Best Price: $6.84 Buy New $13.31 (as of 03:40 UTC - Details)
The lightning rod for the rebarbative Left is, as always, a semantic issue not an empirical one. In this, one is reminded of Richard Weaver’s argument about the tragedy of the nominalist take-over of post-medieval culture in Ideas Have Consequences (1948). That words can trigger the psychologically frail reminds us of the sturdy folk wisdom we all grew up with, “sticks and stones…” The absence of this simple lesson alone probably accounts for more psychiatric prescriptions in this century than any other fact of life. Today, “silence is violence,” but violence is… well, it’s censored unless it fits “the Narrative.”
“White.” Do we need to go any further? And “Christmas?”
I mean, really, can there be another three syllables that so elegantly compress the entire Christo-fascist program into one hard gemstone of pure, lustrous hatred?
While it is not difficult to design experiments to reveal the reasoning processes of lab animals and house pets, this is not the case for Progressives and socialists. In the animal kingdom at least, these efforts are largely successful because the structure of inferential logic circuits in the cortices of most mammals exhibit a stable anatomical structure and clearly differentiated, if nested, functional operations that are repeatable and reproducible. This is not the case for human beings who have had these logic circuits “recoded” by emotional noise, deactivating both simple calculation as well as higher forms of disinterested reason. The “recoding” is indoctrination; the “emotional noise” is the learned magnification of affective inputs.
What goes under the rubric of “education” in the United States is actually a form of intentional distortion of our innate capacity for empathy and detached, deliberative ratiocination. Students acquire this intentional disability in order to consider themselves educated. It’s a sick and twisted tale that goes back to the creation of the Prussian educational system in the wake of the humiliation wrought by Napoleon’s swift subjugation, and Horace Mann’s importation of this system to our country in the 1840s.
Missing from this emotion-drenched approach to the world and human culture is the capacity to grasp actual, shared historical facts. Anything that informs the mindset behind the creation of any artifact, especially one that strikes a chord with millions of people across three or four generations, is regarded as counterproductive to raised consciousness. White Christmas (Blu-r... Best Price: $6.43 Buy New $11.99 (as of 06:55 UTC - Details)
While this isn’t the place for a fully-developed, sympathetic analysis of the symbolism of the entire “White Christmas” phenomena—from the 1942 single, its recording in Holiday Inn, and its regeneration in the blockbuster film—I think one can make reasonable statements about the lyrics, the script, and the 1954 staging that would probably align with the tacit assumptions and values of the national audience from this period (1942-1954).
The rough prototype for my analysis is Stefan Zweig’s autobiographical epiphany that he had lived in three worlds: the world prior to the Great War, the world that followed in its wake, and the emergence of modern barbarisms of national and international socialism that prepared the second global conflagration of his lifetime. His tragic suicide was his decision to avoid that third world, and the fourth world it would create.
My belief is that White Christmas does not simply invoke nostalgia for one’s youth and the rose-colored memories of long-lost relatives celebrating the birth of our Savior. The film is actually a testimony to the good-natured resilience of the pre-Great War world where the values of humility, honesty, hard work, and thrift were not lifestyle choices but survival strategies. Like Remember the Night (Paramount, 1940)—another Christmas classic from Hollywood’s golden age—the values of the protagonists’ parents were pitted against their own pressing, personal appetites and the relentless, anonymous social forces of the situation in which they found themselves, in that case the justice system. In both cases, the wisdom of the parents’ generation wins out. And White Christmas is a hymn to that victory.
I think the first safe assumption is that White Christmas’ chronological “meridian,” if you will, might be the year 1903, the year of Crosby’s birth. Crosby, whose voice provides the physical embodiment of the sentiments and affections evoked in the lyrics and score, would have had his deepest and most profound formative childhood experiences prior to his adolescence and the transformation of the country and the world in the events of World War One. Zweig has a memorable passage describing how in 1941, when visitors to the cinema are shown men and women from the year 1900, they “break out into uncontrolled laughter.” The norms of Zweig’s entitled youth had become “historical and incomprehensible” to the next generation, and that became the filter for Berlin, for Crosby, and for director Michael Curtiz (1886-1962).
This was a world before automobiles were even a novelty in most parts of the country and a world where few people had indoor plumbing, to say nothing of electrical service. There were only forty-five states at the time and the chances are that your grandparents’ generation had a few Civil War veterans on one side or the other. When Crosby was a small boy, if his parents wanted coffee they first had to make a fire; and when anything was delivered, it was probably taken off a horse-drawn wagon. It’s a Wonderful... Best Price: $8.01 Buy New $7.40 (as of 06:55 UTC - Details)
He and his cohort would have not had vivid memories of the Great War beyond echoes in popular culture. The dark theaters where silent films replaced the wholesome analog experience of Vaudeville was making “entertainment” into a mass commodity. Cars, phones, and radios went from being luxuries to being ubiquitous commodities during the 1920s.
All of this cultural, economic, and technological churn came to be the norm: standing still amidst all the change became the balancing act that enabled his generation to adapt first to roadways without paving, let alone traffic lights, and to the enormous wealth accumulation which would certainly have concerned their elders. These themes form the plotlines of several Hollywood productions. Make Way for Tomorrow (Paramount, 1937) is a wrenching exploration of the intergenerational moral friction between nineteenth-century parents and their twentieth-century offspring that, in many ways, offers a handy reference to twentieth-century parents and their twenty-first-century children. White Christmas filters these frictions through the lenses of loyalty and patriotism. The forms of expression may be novel, but we see though them an allegiance to the sources of pre-modern inspiration.
And unlike the Austrian belle-lettrist Zweig, with his “livid steeds of the Apocalypse,” Americans were quick to salvage what we could from the past, pragmatically repurposing it for artistic inspiration. Entire production numbers leverage our useable past, and make it a springboard into contemporary expression—“Choreography” mocks modern European abstract dancing in favor of good ol’ fashion, on-stage hoofing; “Minstrel Show” is a post-blackface homage to the artistry of African American folk music and the roots of jazz. With the exception of the seductive “Mandy,” most all of the numbers rely on stock American pop culture topoi to make a connection to the audience. The working assumption is that we all share a broad river of cultural expression, we all add to it, and Hollywood is one funnel through which it is fed back out for refiltration, with new twists here and there but with an intact moral core.
Indeed the script of White Christmas, and the other holiday classics from this generation, holds fast to the moral wisdom of its elders’ generations. We did not twice host the scorched earth of post-war Europe and can be excused for seeing our past with less anger. In the 1950s, as Europe was rebuilding according to the moral strictures of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, we were building split-level neo-colonials and driving pink convertibles.
We were PoMo before we were Mo!
Miracle On 34th St (bw) Best Price: $8.01 Buy New $6.99 (as of 06:55 UTC - Details) And beyond the white, look afresh at the lurid, saturated colors of White Christmas. Reds and greens so deep and resonant that they buzz on your optic nerve as you follow the contour of the holly leaves in the opening credits. The Argentinian blue of the “Sisters” and their costumes, the hemoglobin red of the linens in “Minstrel,” and the shocking pinks and hot yellows of other costumes, to say nothing of the warm, creamy flesh tones of the interiors. There is more chromatic excitement in this movie than in anything prior to the time-travel sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM, 1968).
If anything, the whiteness of White Christmas is a luminous and available source of moral energy, a light beam from a distant star. Whereas the regressive Left chose to see our “great enrichment” during the Industrial Revolution as the source of human misery, we chose to see it as it was : the antidote to a miserable, impoverished, short life stranded on a distant farm with limited capital and even less access to opportunity. With the exception of “Mandy’s” white leotard, whiteness throughout is about purity and moral excellence. Crosby’s character was a “knight on a white steed” until he is wrongly assumed to be cutting a deal; then he’s restored, in the final moments of the film, to his place.
The whiteness of White Christmas is the symbolic purity of a world energy uncorrupted by socialism, by world war, mass death, famine, genocide, fiat money, forced labor, and conscription. It was a world in which people daily toiled, adjusted their lives to the output of that toil, and understood the moral balance within would be reckoned with the balance without, regardless of one’s faith. The microcosm and macrocosm that undergirds every Mosaic faith is the subtext. And that faith in the once-good and the Eternal Good is the core that makes us well up with tears as we watch and contemplate how such people faced tectonic change, constant upheaval, and industrial-grade inhumanity—and could go ahead and make these silly stories!
One of the great losses we have suffered in the corrosive onslaught of our American culture by the Cultural Marxists, the Progressives, and today’s cognitively and morally impaired Left is the outright destruction of middle-brow culture.
American middle-brow taste offered access to the imagery and energy of high culture without the time and the mental demands; as a trade-off, it conveyed a thumbnail sketch of the enduring themes of high-brow culture, of permanence, continuity, and moral comfort. But this was seen by warlocks of the Frankfurt School as Kitsch, as non- or sub-art and unworthy of an adult. I think one of the things we see today, in the wake of 2016 and 2020, is that there are tens of millions of people who want that access to those noble themes even though they may simply not have the time or bandwidth for the full message. And thanks to the “frauds and firebrands” described by the late Roger Scruton, we have done away with middle-brow culture altogether. Because high-brow culture will not scale, we are left with efforts that constantly refresh the low-brow with ever lower, more depraved sources of human experience. We are denied Schlock because it is Kitsch, but are forced to ingest filth in its stead. Fools, Frauds and Fire... Scruton, Roger Best Price: $15.32 Buy New $17.40 (as of 03:56 UTC - Details)
If there is a silver lining to a whiteness theme, it is that the whiteness of White Christmas—the glow of pure motives, loving families, of true hope in the payoff of genuine effort—is something that can be shared by everyone willing to put in the time and the effort.
And if anything else has been made clear in the last four years, it is up to us to demand and to supply the culture we deserve.
Originally published on Letters From Fly Over Country.


The Holy Jab

The Holy Jab is upon us .
More precisely , it is about to be forced upon us .
Not by law , probably – that being both harder to do and easier to challenge .
Rather , by economic means , via the “ private ” sector – which has become almost-indistinguishable from the “ public ” sector , i.e.
, the government .
The whole point of requiring that businesses obtain permission from the government to be in business – i.e.
, the business license – effectively makes them part of the government without the difficulty ( for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gesundheitsfuhrers have not had to bother about passing laws requiring everyone in America join a messianic religious movement – the Sickness Cult – and wear the Holy Vestment .
The government merely threatens businesses with the loss of their permission to be in business if they do business with heretics .
Beauty : A Very Short I ... Scruton , Roger Best Price : $ 6.75 Buy New $ 9.14 This is how the Holy Jab will be administered .
You won ’ t have to take it .
Technically .
You just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if you don ’ t .
They won ’ t actually kill you , probably .
But they will kill your life .
Your ability to earn a livelihood , for instance – which will become conditional upon receiving the Holy Jab and – if you are a business owner – that you do business only with those who have received the Jab .
How to be a conservative Scruton , Roger Best Price : $ 16.00 Buy New $ 13.38 Just as a jab ( several jabs , actually ) is already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if they wish to attend school – including many colleges .
Some of these have announced that the Holy Jab will be mandatory .
Just as it will become mandatory in order to be allowed to work , if you work for a McCorporation – which is where most Americans will be McWorking after the Great Reset .
It is not coincidental that the “ lockdowns ” did not lock-down large-scale corporate retailers such as WalMart , Costco nor large-scale corporate employers ; the purpose of the “ lockdowns ” being to herd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corporate pen – where they will have as much freedom to refuse the Holy Jab as they have had to refuse donning the Holy Vestment .
You don ’ t have to Diaper – or Needle .
You just no longer have a job .
The Best of Eric Peters

The Holy Jab is upon us.
More precisely, it is about to be forced upon us. Not by law, probably – that being both harder to do and easier to challenge. Rather, by economic means, via the “private” sector – which has become almost-indistinguishable from the “public” sector, i.e., the government.
Which isn’t accidental.
The whole point of requiring that businesses obtain permission from the government to be in business – i.e., the business license – effectively makes them part of the government without the difficulty (for the government) of legalities. The Gesundheitsfuhrers have not had to bother about passing laws requiring everyone in America join a messianic religious movement – the Sickness Cult – and wear the Holy Vestment. The government merely threatens businesses with the loss of their permission to be in business if they do business with heretics. Beauty: A Very Short I... Scruton, Roger Best Price: $6.75 Buy New $9.14 (as of 06:56 UTC - Details)
This is how the Holy Jab will be administered.
You won’t have to take it. Technically. You just won’t be allowed to live if you don’t.
They won’t actually kill you, probably. But they will kill your life. Your ability to earn a livelihood, for instance – which will become conditional upon receiving the Holy Jab and – if you are a business owner – that you do business only with those who have received the Jab.
How to be a conservative Scruton, Roger Best Price: $16.00 Buy New $13.38 (as of 04:51 UTC - Details) Just as a jab (several jabs, actually) is already the condition imposed on young people, if they wish to attend school – including many colleges. Some of these have announced that the Holy Jab will be mandatory.
Just as it will become mandatory in order to be allowed to work, if you work for a McCorporation – which is where most Americans will be McWorking after the Great Reset.
It is not coincidental that the “lockdowns” did not lock-down large-scale corporate retailers such as WalMart, Costco nor large-scale corporate employers; the purpose of the “lockdowns” being to herd as many Americans as possible into the corporate pen – where they will have as much freedom to refuse the Holy Jab as they have had to refuse donning the Holy Vestment.
You don’t have to Diaper – or Needle. You just no longer have a job.
Read the Whole Article
The Best of Eric Peters


lewrockwell--2020-12-17--California Sheriff Refuses ‘Absurd’ Order to Release Murderers and Rapists Due to Pandemic

You ’ ve got to hand it to the ACLU .
Their legendary defense of traitors , terrorists , and others who would try and destroy the United States is consistent and predictable .
Last April , the ACLU sued Orange County to release inmates who might be “ medically vulnerable ” to getting sick from the coronavirus .
What those inmates did to be in jail didn ’ t matter .
Can ’ t have a child rapist get sick and die from COVID .
That would be heartless .
A judge apparently didn ’ t care either .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerable prisoners no matter what their crimes .
He ruled that Don Barnes , the sheriff of Orange County , showed “ deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of serious harm from COVID-19 infection to … medically vulnerable people in [ his ] custody ” which “ violates their rights.
” 18 ” Genuine Leat ... Buy New $ 54.99 Barnes is a practical man and must have done a double-take when the judge gave that order .
“ We ’ ve released 1,400 inmates to date since March for low-level offenders .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ offenders , ” he explained .
“ Of the medically vulnerable , 90 of them are in custody for murder or attempted murder , 94 for child molestation.
” This may be why Barnes is dismissing the judge ’ s order and says his office will appeal .

You’ve got to hand it to the ACLU. Their legendary defense of traitors, terrorists, and others who would try and destroy the United States is consistent and predictable.
Last April, the ACLU sued Orange County to release inmates who might be “medically vulnerable” to getting sick from the coronavirus. What those inmates did to be in jail didn’t matter. Can’t have a child rapist get sick and die from COVID. That would be heartless.
A judge apparently didn’t care either. He ordered the release of all medically vulnerable prisoners no matter what their crimes. He ruled that Don Barnes, the sheriff of Orange County, showed “deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of serious harm from COVID-19 infection to … medically vulnerable people in [his] custody” which “violates their rights.” 18” Genuine Leat... Buy New $54.99 (as of 06:57 UTC - Details)
Barnes is a practical man and must have done a double-take when the judge gave that order.
Fox News:
“We’ve released 1,400 inmates to date since March for low-level offenders. The only inmates remaining now are serious offenders,” he explained. “Of the medically vulnerable, 90 of them are in custody for murder or attempted murder, 94 for child molestation.”
This may be why Barnes is dismissing the judge’s order and says his office will appeal.
Read the Whole Article


Les Enfants Terribles

Kids from generation baby-boom saw more than a few newborns coming up .
One thing the unsentimental ones can tell you is that infantile antics don ’ t always cut it as “ awwww-ain ’ t-that-cute ” behavior .
Little people are barely out of the womb and already trying to tell everybody something .
Some of them can be disturbingly demanding about it–without speaking an intelligible word .
No one—not even the late Dr. Jean Piaget—has translated the messages they try putting across .
But , personally , I ’ d never rule out the possibility of “ shut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on that bridge between crawling and toddling is where plucky imps take a first windy shot at public address .
You might be reading or watching TV as the tirade busts loose— it ’ ll get your attention—there ’ s something unsettlingly eerie about pre-linguistic oratory .
Holding the playpen rail—like a mini-Mussolini on a balcony—a torrent of emphatic , uncompromising and incomprehensible sounds are inflicted on a captive audience .
The most megalomaniacal baby blabber mouths can command real drama and reach true emotional heights .
They mean something—drastically—whatever in hell it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the ages .
Handmade Magnolia neck ... Buy New $ 99.99 It ’ s like listening to the genesis of human cruelty , intolerance and insatiable demands delivered in resolute , articulate cadence but a completely foreign tongue .
A good ear can catch echoes of the have-nots deprived , the unpopular persecuted , the alienated exiled , the dissenters imprisoned and the survivors of Bataan marched off to camps near Cabanatuan .
It ’ s the dominant feature in the pathology of every despot , totalitarian , plundering commander or authoritarian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sounds never interrupted , or put into check , by the forces of socialization .
That ’ s why all of their kind hates free speech so much—they might have to suffer thunder other than their own .
Where preserving the 1st amendment is concerned , the would-be reformers listening skills are the alpha and the omega .
What believable opponent or wannabe improver on that principle–before us so far–has any intention of being stifled themselves by expressive restrictions ?
That you need to listen is always the bottom line .
And if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requirements…that vinyl that you didn ’ t put a stylus to will spin again…until you at least know the chorus by heart .
The networks , urban newspapers , Google , Facebook , Twitter , major publishers , well funded ezines , academic satraps , movie moguls and street-corner hooligans are speaking in one voice—any brain that hasn ’ t heard enough by now must have petrified .
What universalists ever—in possession of the upper hand—have remained keen on wide latitude of discussion ?
Certainly not the early Church holding the reins of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who deposed the Bourbons , the Tsarist topplers of 1917 or the fascist powers of the 20th century—as if they need any more mention in the present fray .
Steve Coll , a man who retains a juvenile–almost baby—face into his sixth decade , commands a very adult capacity for delivery in reasoned based sound language .
He never comes off bombastic or hyperbolic ; the boy ’ s a model of correct deportment .
Lonesome Rhodes warned , “ When a fella ’ comes off looking too dignified , we figure he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” back in 1957 .
Rhodes was a fictional character , played by Andy Griffith , from the film A Face in the Crowd .
It was a role that had journalistic hair standing on end before the ink landed on Coll ’ s birth certificate .
The present fad of 4th estate sanctimony is gunning for loot a lot more precious than any time-piece .
Coll told Kasie Hunt of MSNBC and the world at large December , 7th : “ Those of us in journalism have to come to terms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a principle that we hold sacred is being weaponized against the principles of journalism and what do we do about that ?
As reporters we kind of march into this war with our facts nobly shouldered as if they were going to win the day and what we ’ re seeing is because of the scale of this alternate reality that you have been talking about , our facts , our principles , our scientific method , it isn ’ t enough ?
So what do we do ?
” Recycled Vintage Mason @ @ @ @ @ @ @ O ] ur scientific method ” ?
Is it something in a special caste ’ s possession ?
That doesn ’ t sound very scientific—and even less so when lined up against completely mythical trolls who are fiendishly deceiving the whole world .
Who gets to qualify—once they stop laughing–that what ’ s being “ nobly shouldered ” is straight dope ?
Wouldn ’ t a case by case examination be called for ?
And wouldn ’ t that , too , be properly subject to mass examination ?
Coll—in his plan to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a truth industry .
If he thinks existing , archaic media structures can lay any claim to general verity the man ’ s reading habits are Magooly myopic .
Googling “ scientific method ” gives us this definition : 1. a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century , consisting in systematic observation , measurement , and experiment , and the formulation , testing , and modification of hypotheses .
“ criticism is the backbone of the scientific method The Brittanica article on the term provides a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steps .
Is Coll suggesting that news copy is subjected to this kind of rigor—or anything close–before it goes to press ?
News media is a highly subjective art .
Fact checking is supposed to be an integral part of it .
But the idea of an ultimate verification process doesn ’ t fly .
What we call “ news ” is heavily laden with eyewitness testimony , hearsay , raw statistics , speculation , expert opinion and writers who pick and choose from that mix in composition of the final product—none of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ classic scientific method .
Francis Bacon ’ s idea was to eliminate dependence on opinion and human predilection altogether .
If the dean of Columbia Journalism School has any scientific credentials they ’ re due to be recertified—before the proper authorities move to certify him .
Coll and fellow travelers are finding Facebook the primary culprit allowing the Russkies , trolls , conspiracy theorists , the superstitious , the goofy and the just plain no good to mislead his epismetological inferiors .
Facebook is a platform that recently put a cover screen—warning of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Santa talking to a baby about Jesus .
If the idea that they are fanatically committed to free expression isn ’ t fake news what is ?
Coll also said to Hunt : “ And yes , Facebook has moved somewhat , they had a better election in 2020 than they did in 2016… ” Handmade Lightweight W ... Buy New $ 16.96 Facebook “ had better election ” ?
That noble shoulder of his comes about as close to bearing scientific principles as Rocinante would get to Justify in 12 furlongs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about Facebook ’ s influence in polls is 100 % presumptive .
What are the exact misconceptions we are supposed to believe have infected the proletarian brain ?
Any persuasive case of Russian hornswoggling 2016 requires a few good examples of the sleight-of-hand .
The lack of these in every description of the “ Russian hoax ” evinces a very different phenomenon of mass deception .
It ’ s the conviction , all too common in people lacking circumspection , that people who don ’ t see it their way are all depraved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into this war ” may lose some of us .
If the 4th estate is finding itself on some kind of battlefront we could all stand a more exacting description of the adversary—not to mention his deadly rhetorical ordnance .
Coll et al persistently refuse to square off publicly on anything specific—his pronouncement on freedom of the press have faced no more hostile inquiry than a babe still in diapers so far .
Once readers and listeners work their way beyond all the abstraction what do we get ?
The only thing concrete @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people like him .
A process made all the more efficient once they get to gag the miscreants .
In the film A Face in the Crowd a streetwise country boy gets a shot at TV and takes the nation by storm .
The staff that brought him to prominence is soon frightened of the power he wields .
The upper-crust of media—holed up in their exclusive milieu–can ’ t hope to fake authenticity like a guy who ’ s been around the track a few laps .
What eventually brings Lonesome down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for public opinion then as the fuming chardonnay swillers of our own era .
One thing director Elia Kazan , writer Bud Schulberg , the legions of critics and people writing about the film ’ s reflection of society today have all missed is what historically backfires .
The worst thing we find out about the politician Rhodes goes to bat for , Worthington Fuller , is that he ’ s “ the last of the isolationists.
” In the 1950 ’ s , after coups in Iran and Guatemala , deadly meddling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initial forays into Viet Nam—does a more hands off foreign policy look like a bad thing in retrospect ?
The irony in elitist fears of Lonesome Rhodes type personalites comes in the lines of his eminence grise General Haynesworthy : “ …in every strong , healthy society…the mass had to be guided with a strong hand by a responsible elite.
” Only one coherent thing is coming out of mainstream media mouths in this contrived free speech crisis : But we are supposed to be that elite !
The Best of Tim Hartnett

Kids from generation baby-boom saw more than a few newborns coming up. One thing the unsentimental ones can tell you is that infantile antics don’t always cut it as “awwww-ain’t-that-cute” behavior. Little people are barely out of the womb and already trying to tell everybody something. Some of them can be disturbingly demanding about it–without speaking an intelligible word. No one—not even the late Dr. Jean Piaget—has translated the messages they try putting across. But, personally, I’d never rule out the possibility of “shut up and listen to me.”
Somewhere on that bridge between crawling and toddling is where plucky imps take a first windy shot at public address. You might be reading or watching TV as the tirade busts loose— it’ll get your attention—there’s something unsettlingly eerie about pre-linguistic oratory. Holding the playpen rail—like a mini-Mussolini on a balcony—a torrent of emphatic, uncompromising and incomprehensible sounds are inflicted on a captive audience. The most megalomaniacal baby blabber mouths can command real drama and reach true emotional heights. They mean something—drastically—whatever in hell it may be is safer left a mystery into the ages.
Handmade Magnolia neck... Buy New $99.99 (as of 06:58 UTC - Details) It’s like listening to the genesis of human cruelty, intolerance and insatiable demands delivered in resolute, articulate cadence but a completely foreign tongue. A good ear can catch echoes of the have-nots deprived, the unpopular persecuted, the alienated exiled, the dissenters imprisoned and the survivors of Bataan marched off to camps near Cabanatuan. It’s the dominant feature in the pathology of every despot, totalitarian, plundering commander or authoritarian dictator: Infantile fascination with its own sounds never interrupted, or put into check, by the forces of socialization. That’s why all of their kind hates free speech so much—they might have to suffer thunder other than their own.
Where preserving the 1st amendment is concerned, the would-be reformers listening skills are the alpha and the omega. What believable opponent or wannabe improver on that principle–before us so far–has any intention of being stifled themselves by expressive restrictions? That you need to listen is always the bottom line. And if your belief system lacks certain necessary basic requirements…that vinyl that you didn’t put a stylus to will spin again…until you at least know the chorus by heart. The networks, urban newspapers, Google, Facebook, Twitter, major publishers, well funded ezines, academic satraps, movie moguls and street-corner hooligans are speaking in one voice—any brain that hasn’t heard enough by now must have petrified.
What universalists ever—in possession of the upper hand—have remained keen on wide latitude of discussion? Certainly not the early Church holding the reins of temporal power, nor the enlightened revolutionists who deposed the Bourbons, the Tsarist topplers of 1917 or the fascist powers of the 20th century—as if they need any more mention in the present fray.
Steve Coll, a man who retains a juvenile–almost baby—face into his sixth decade, commands a very adult capacity for delivery in reasoned based sound language. He never comes off bombastic or hyperbolic; the boy’s a model of correct deportment. Lonesome Rhodes warned, “When a fella’ comes off looking too dignified, we figure he’s out to steal your watch,” back in 1957. Rhodes was a fictional character, played by Andy Griffith, from the film A Face in the Crowd. It was a role that had journalistic hair standing on end before the ink landed on Coll’s birth certificate. The present fad of 4th estate sanctimony is gunning for loot a lot more precious than any time-piece.
Coll told Kasie Hunt of MSNBC and the world at large December, 7th:
“Those of us in journalism have to come to terms with the fact that free speech, a principle that we hold sacred is being weaponized against the principles of journalism and what do we do about that? As reporters we kind of march into this war with our facts nobly shouldered as if they were going to win the day and what we’re seeing is because of the scale of this alternate reality that you have been talking about, our facts, our principles, our scientific method, it isn’t enough? So what do we do?”
Recycled Vintage Mason... Buy New $21.00 (as of 06:58 UTC - Details) “[O]ur scientific method”? Is it something in a special caste’s possession? That doesn’t sound very scientific—and even less so when lined up against completely mythical trolls who are fiendishly deceiving the whole world. Who gets to qualify—once they stop laughing–that what’s being “nobly shouldered” is straight dope? Wouldn’t a case by case examination be called for? And wouldn’t that, too, be properly subject to mass examination? Coll—in his plan to re-“structure”—is proposing creation of a truth industry. If he thinks existing, archaic media structures can lay any claim to general verity the man’s reading habits are Magooly myopic.
Googling “scientific method” gives us this definition:
sci·en·tif·ic meth·od
/ˈˌsīənˈtifik ˈmeTHəd/
noun
1. a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
“criticism is the backbone of the scientific method
The Brittanica article on the term provides a flow chart with a minimum of 9 steps. Is Coll suggesting that news copy is subjected to this kind of rigor—or anything close–before it goes to press? News media is a highly subjective art. Fact checking is supposed to be an integral part of it. But the idea of an ultimate verification process doesn’t fly. What we call “news” is heavily laden with eyewitness testimony, hearsay, raw statistics, speculation, expert opinion and writers who pick and choose from that mix in composition of the final product—none of these things is remotely relevant to the classic scientific method. Francis Bacon’s idea was to eliminate dependence on opinion and human predilection altogether. If the dean of Columbia Journalism School has any scientific credentials they’re due to be recertified—before the proper authorities move to certify him.
Coll and fellow travelers are finding Facebook the primary culprit allowing the Russkies, trolls, conspiracy theorists, the superstitious, the goofy and the just plain no good to mislead his epismetological inferiors. Facebook is a platform that recently put a cover screen—warning of possible graphic or violent content—over a cartoon of Santa talking to a baby about Jesus. If the idea that they are fanatically committed to free expression isn’t fake news what is? Coll also said to Hunt: “And yes, Facebook has moved somewhat, they had a better election in 2020 than they did in 2016…” Handmade Lightweight W... Buy New $16.96 (as of 06:58 UTC - Details)
Facebook “had better election”? That noble shoulder of his comes about as close to bearing scientific principles as Rocinante would get to Justify in 12 furlongs. Without some valid citation any conclusion about Facebook’s influence in polls is 100% presumptive. What are the exact misconceptions we are supposed to believe have infected the proletarian brain? Any persuasive case of Russian hornswoggling 2016 requires a few good examples of the sleight-of-hand. The lack of these in every description of the “Russian hoax” evinces a very different phenomenon of mass deception. It’s the conviction, all too common in people lacking circumspection, that people who don’t see it their way are all depraved saps.
Talk of a “march into this war” may lose some of us. If the 4th estate is finding itself on some kind of battlefront we could all stand a more exacting description of the adversary—not to mention his deadly rhetorical ordnance. Coll et al persistently refuse to square off publicly on anything specific—his pronouncement on freedom of the press have faced no more hostile inquiry than a babe still in diapers so far. Once readers and listeners work their way beyond all the abstraction what do we get? The only thing concrete left is that we need to believe people like him. A process made all the more efficient once they get to gag the miscreants.
In the film A Face in the Crowd a streetwise country boy gets a shot at TV and takes the nation by storm. The staff that brought him to prominence is soon frightened of the power he wields. The upper-crust of media—holed up in their exclusive milieu–can’t hope to fake authenticity like a guy who’s been around the track a few laps. What eventually brings Lonesome down is that he has the same contempt for public opinion then as the fuming chardonnay swillers of our own era.
One thing director Elia Kazan, writer Bud Schulberg, the legions of critics and people writing about the film’s reflection of society today have all missed is what historically backfires. The worst thing we find out about the politician Rhodes goes to bat for, Worthington Fuller, is that he’s “the last of the isolationists.” In the 1950’s, after coups in Iran and Guatemala, deadly meddling in Indonesia and parts of Europe and initial forays into Viet Nam—does a more hands off foreign policy look like a bad thing in retrospect?
The irony in elitist fears of Lonesome Rhodes type personalites comes in the lines of his eminence grise General Haynesworthy: “…in every strong, healthy society…the mass had to be guided with a strong hand by a responsible elite.” Only one coherent thing is coming out of mainstream media mouths in this contrived free speech crisis: But we are supposed to be that elite!
The Best of Tim Hartnett


lewrockwell--2020-12-17--Vitamin C Treatment for Covid-19 Being Silenced

In the video above , Dr. Andrew Saul , editor-in-chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service , presents valuable information on the importance of vitamin C for disease treatment , including COVID-19 — information that ’ s being widely silenced via organized censorship.1 His Tokyo presentation , “ Orthomolecular Medicine and Coronavirus Disease : Historical Basis for Nutritional Treatment , ” highlights the fact that when used as a treatment , high doses of vitamin C — often 1,000 times more than the U.S .
Recommended Dietary Allowance ( RDA ) — are needed .
It ’ s a cornerstone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outcome , but this premise isn ’ t accepted when it comes to vitamin therapy the way it is with drug therapy .
Most vitamin C research has used inadequate , low doses , which don ’ t lead to clinical results .
Vitamin C : The Real St ... Steve Hickey , Andrew W ... Best Price : $ 8.91 Buy New $ 12.47 “ The medical literature has ignored over 80 years of laboratory and clinical studies on high-dose ascorbate ( vitamin C ) therapy , ” Saul notes , adding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that vitamin C is beneficial in fighting illness , controversy exists over to what extent .
“ Moderate quantities provide effective prevention , ” he says , while “ large quantities are therapeutic.
” Three Pioneers of High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Vitamin C is perhaps most well-known for its antioxidant properties — properties it maintains because of an ability to donate electrons to oxidized molecules .
Even in small quantities , vitamin C helps protect proteins , lipids and DNA and RNA in your body from reactive oxygen species that are generated during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toxin exposure ( such as to cigarette smoke and air pollution ) .
Vitamin C is also involved in the biosynthesis of collagen , carnitine and catecholamines , according to Rhonda Patrick , Ph.D. , and as such , “ vitamin C participates in immune function , wound healing , fatty acid metabolism , neurotransmitter production and blood vessel formation , as well as other key processes and pathways.
” 2 Vitamin C at extremely high doses , however , acts as an antiviral drug , actually killing viruses .
While it does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the massive cytokine cascade associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection , its antiviral capacity likely has more to do with it being a non-rate-limited free radical scavenger .
Three pioneers of high-dose vitamin C therapy include : 1.Dr .
Claus Washington Jungeblut — A professor of bacteriology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons , Jungeblut was a pioneer polio researcher and the first to report that vitamin C is an antiviral antitoxin .
Vitamin C was used as prevention and treatment for polio , an idea first published by Jungeblut in 1935.3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that if vitamin C were proven to be an antiviral , even in small doses , back in the 1930s , that interest would be there now , in the COVID pandemic , to use vitamin C as a preventive and , indeed , as a treatment for viral disease at the present time , ” Saul says .
Doctor Yourself : Natur ... Andrew W. Saul Best Price : $ 15.00 Buy New $ 18.21 2.Dr .
Frederick Robert Klenner — For decades , Klenner , a North Carolina-based board-certified chest specialist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ C ranging from 300 milligrams ( mg ) to 1,200 mg per kilogram ( kg ) of body weight per day , successfully treating polio , pneumonia and other serious viral diseases.4 Klenner , the first physician to use vitamin C therapy with 40 years of medical practice , said , “ When proper amounts are used , ascorbic acid will destroy all virus organisms.
” 3.Dr .
Robert F. Cathcart III — Cathcart was a California physician and orthopedic surgeon who developed the value of vitamin C as an antiviral and used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 200,000 mg per day .
Beginning in the late 1960s , Cathcart used large doses of vitamin C to successfully treat viral illnesses including influenza , pneumonia , hepatitis and AIDS .
It ’ s often asked how you can determine if you ’ ve taken too much vitamin C , and Cathcart described this in great detail in a paper in 1981.5 With oral doses , when you ’ ve had all the vitamin C your body can handle , you ’ ll develop loose stools .
With intravenous vitamin C , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Liposomal vitamin C will also allow you to take much higher dosages without getting loose stools .
You can take up to 100 grams ( 100,000 mg ) of liposomal vitamin C without problems and get really high blood levels , equivalent to or higher than intravenous vitamin C. This should be viewed as an acute treatment , however .
Cathcart , a physician with decades of experience using vitamin C to treat viral illness , said , “ I have not seen any flu yet that was not cured or markedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Saul believes this would apply to any viral illness , including COVID-19 .
He posted the quote on Facebook , which quickly flagged it as “ false information ” according to its fact-checkers : February 12 , 2020 , Saul made the statement on Facebook that based on the research of Jungeblut , Klenner and Cathcart , “ The coronavirus pandemic can be dramatically slowed , or stopped , with the immediate widespread use of high doses of vitamin C. ” Facebook immediately blocked his post claiming it was false , based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anonymous fact-checkers , most of whom have no formal medical training .
Orthomolecular Medicin ... Andrew W. Saul Best Price : $ 10.77 Buy New $ 15.65 He responded , “ Preventing and treating respiratory infections with large amounts of vitamin C is well established .
Those who believe that vitamin C generally has merit but massive doses are ineffective or somehow harmful would do well to read the original papers for themselves.
” Saul adds that while other nutrients are also important , he believes vitamin C is the most important “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves in the intensive care unit , extremely ill and at risk of dying from COVID-19 .
It ’ s also the least expensive preventive for the general public .
“ After I posted that one mention about vitamin C and COVID , ” Saul said , “ vitamin C started selling out and disappearing from shelves in stores around the world .
So I guess the fact-checkers were a little bit late .
But ultimately , they did shut down the spread of this information — information about viruses being treated with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a study , published in Chinese , that detailed the accounts of four patients admitted to Xi ’ an Jiaotong University Second Hospital with COVID-19 , who recovered in February 2020 .
“ High-dose vitamin C achieved good results in clinical applications , ” the researchers noted , adding , “ Vitamin C treatment should be initiated as soon as possible after admission , ” and , “ High-dose vitamin C can not only improve antiviral levels , but more importantly , can prevent and treat acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was not picked up by the media .
Another quote from Dr. ZhiYong Peng , chief of critical care at Zhongnan Hospital , Wuhan University , reads : Niacin : The Real Story ... Abram Hoffer M.D .
Ph ... .
Best Price : $ 9.68 Buy New $ 1.99 Further , according to Saul , the government of Shanghai , China , officially recommends treating COVID-19 with intravenous vitamin C at a dose of 200 mg per kg of body weight per day , an adult intravenous dosage of approximately 16,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chinese Medical Association.7 Facebook and its fact-checkers , again disagreed , flagging the information as “ partly false.
” “ They never contacted me to check my sources … They never contacted the hospitals … or anyone in China … They never contacted the experts that we quoted , and they never contacted the government of Shanghai , ” Saul said .
“ They simply decided it was false news , and that was the end of it .
I believe withholding vitamin C treatment information from the public withholds it from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of negligence.
” Even a commentary published in The Lancet : Respiratory Medicine in March 2020 states , “ Rescue therapy with high-dose vitamin C can also be considered ” 8 in patients with respiratory failure from acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS ) caused by COVID-19 .
“ Very little has been done with this , unfortunately , ” Saul states , despite it having been published in the earliest months of the pandemic .
Other articles and YouTube videos from physicians supporting the use of vitamin C for COVID-19 have also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ objection sometimes given is that high-dose vitamin C is dangerous , but as Saul notes , it ’ s one of the most studied therapies in history .
In 2007 , a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by Harri Hemila , considered to be an authority on vitamin C , called potential harms of large doses of vitamin C “ unfounded , ” and stated that patients with pneumonia can take up to 100 grams a day of vitamin C without developing diarrhea , “ possibly because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caused by the severe infection.
” 9 Past research by Hemila and colleagues found that 17,000 mg/day of intravenous vitamin C shortened intensive care unit stays by 44 % .10 According to Saul , Dr. Richard Cheng , a Chinese American physician , further reported that about 50 moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 infection were treated with high-dose vitamin C , involving 10,000 mg for moderate cases and 20,000 mg for more severe cases , for seven to 10 days .
Not only did all of the patients improve , but there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vitamin C therapy .
“ You guessed it , ” Saul said , “ Fact-checkers said it ’ s false .
Facebook said it ’ s false .
The media said it ’ s false .
And this report , by a physician direct from Shanghai , who personally worked with the chief of emergency medicine of a major hospital , right there , and had success … all of this was called false information and banned from Facebook.
” In February 2020 , Saul reports , the World Health Organization met with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google , Amazon and YouTube , instructing them to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation .
The group , which planned to meet every few months , has been targeting information related to natural health treatments like vitamin C , calling them fake news and conspiracies.11 But in reality , Saul said , the labeling of vitamin C for COVID-19 as fake news is “ organized censorship .
This does fit the description of conspiracy .
They are trying to stop the information on vitamin C from getting out .
And , unfortunately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ succeeded.
” Curing the Incurable : ... Levy , MD JD Thomas E Best Price : $ 22.60 Buy New $ 18.89 Even Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , said , on the record in 2016 , “ Take vitamin C. It can enhance your body ’ s defense against microbes.
” 12 Then , during the pandemic , he mentioned it again , in an Instagram interview , where he said that vitamin D will help your body resist infection , and added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take is vitamin C because it ’ s a good antioxidant , so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C , that would be fine.
” 13,14 Cheng also interviewed a family in Wuhan , China , which took large doses of vitamin C and didn ’ t get COVID-19 , despite close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient .
The video was removed by YouTube .
“ I can ’ t believe this is happening , ” Cheng said .
Dr. Paul Marik has also shown a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and thiamine ( vitamin B1 ) dramatically improves survival rates in patients with sepsis .
Since sepsis is one of the reasons people die from COVID-19 infection , Marik ’ s vitamin C protocol may go a long way toward saving people ’ s lives in this pandemic .
That protocol calls for 1,500 mg of ascorbic acid every six hours , and appears radically effective .
However , I would recommend taking even higher doses using liposomal vitamin C if you ’ re taking it orally .
Personally , I discourage people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a regular basis if they ’ re not actually sick .
I view high dose vitamin C as a very safe and effective intervention for acute upper respiratory infections largely because it converts to hydrogen peroxide , which your body uses to fight infections .
I don ’ t believe it is necessary to take high doses for long periods of time , however .
Vitamin C ’ s potential for treating severe illness , and helping to prevent it , is something that should be widely shared , not silenced .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saul ’ s Orthomolecular Medicine News Service has an archive of several dozen news releases on COVID-19 and nutrition that you probably have not seen in the media.15 The Best of Joseph Mercola

In the video above, Dr. Andrew Saul, editor-in-chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, presents valuable information on the importance of vitamin C for disease treatment, including COVID-19 — information that’s being widely silenced via organized censorship.1
His Tokyo presentation, “Orthomolecular Medicine and Coronavirus Disease: Historical Basis for Nutritional Treatment,” highlights the fact that when used as a treatment, high doses of vitamin C — often 1,000 times more than the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) — are needed.
It’s a cornerstone of medical science that dose affects treatment outcome, but this premise isn’t accepted when it comes to vitamin therapy the way it is with drug therapy. Most vitamin C research has used inadequate, low doses, which don’t lead to clinical results. Vitamin C: The Real St... Steve Hickey, Andrew W... Best Price: $8.91 Buy New $12.47 (as of 10:10 UTC - Details)
“The medical literature has ignored over 80 years of laboratory and clinical studies on high-dose ascorbate (vitamin C) therapy,” Saul notes, adding that while it’s widely accepted that vitamin C is beneficial in fighting illness, controversy exists over to what extent. “Moderate quantities provide effective prevention,” he says, while “large quantities are therapeutic.”
Three Pioneers of High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy
Vitamin C is perhaps most well-known for its antioxidant properties — properties it maintains because of an ability to donate electrons to oxidized molecules. Even in small quantities, vitamin C helps protect proteins, lipids and DNA and RNA in your body from reactive oxygen species that are generated during normal metabolism as well as due to toxin exposure (such as to cigarette smoke and air pollution).
Vitamin C is also involved in the biosynthesis of collagen, carnitine and catecholamines, according to Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D., and as such, “vitamin C participates in immune function, wound healing, fatty acid metabolism, neurotransmitter production and blood vessel formation, as well as other key processes and pathways.”2
Vitamin C at extremely high doses, however, acts as an antiviral drug, actually killing viruses. While it does have anti-inflammatory activity, which helps prevent the massive cytokine cascade associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, its antiviral capacity likely has more to do with it being a non-rate-limited free radical scavenger. Three pioneers of high-dose vitamin C therapy include:
1.Dr. Claus Washington Jungeblut — A professor of bacteriology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Jungeblut was a pioneer polio researcher and the first to report that vitamin C is an antiviral antitoxin. Vitamin C was used as prevention and treatment for polio, an idea first published by Jungeblut in 1935.3
“It’s astonishing to many that if vitamin C were proven to be an antiviral, even in small doses, back in the 1930s, that interest would be there now, in the COVID pandemic, to use vitamin C as a preventive and, indeed, as a treatment for viral disease at the present time,” Saul says. Doctor Yourself: Natur... Andrew W. Saul Best Price: $15.00 Buy New $18.21 (as of 10:15 UTC - Details)
2.Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner — For decades, Klenner, a North Carolina-based board-certified chest specialist, treated patients with injections of vitamin C ranging from 300 milligrams (mg) to 1,200 mg per kilogram (kg) of body weight per day, successfully treating polio, pneumonia and other serious viral diseases.4
Klenner, the first physician to use vitamin C therapy with 40 years of medical practice, said, “When proper amounts are used, ascorbic acid will destroy all virus organisms.”
3.Dr. Robert F. Cathcart III — Cathcart was a California physician and orthopedic surgeon who developed the value of vitamin C as an antiviral and used oral and IV doses of up to 200,000 mg per day. Beginning in the late 1960s, Cathcart used large doses of vitamin C to successfully treat viral illnesses including influenza, pneumonia, hepatitis and AIDS.
It’s often asked how you can determine if you’ve taken too much vitamin C, and Cathcart described this in great detail in a paper in 1981.5 With oral doses, when you’ve had all the vitamin C your body can handle, you’ll develop loose stools. With intravenous vitamin C, however, this doesn’t occur. Liposomal vitamin C will also allow you to take much higher dosages without getting loose stools.
You can take up to 100 grams (100,000 mg) of liposomal vitamin C without problems and get really high blood levels, equivalent to or higher than intravenous vitamin C. This should be viewed as an acute treatment, however.
Fact Checkers Flagged Expert Vitamin C Opinion as False
Cathcart, a physician with decades of experience using vitamin C to treat viral illness, said, “I have not seen any flu yet that was not cured or markedly ameliorated by massive doses of vitamin C.” Saul believes this would apply to any viral illness, including COVID-19. He posted the quote on Facebook, which quickly flagged it as “false information” according to its fact-checkers:
“Some so-called fact-checkers, employed by Facebook, decided that this statement is false. I do not understand how the opinion of a medical doctor can be considered false. You can disagree with it, but it’s not false. If this is what the doctor observed, if this is the doctor’s professional opinion, it is a valid point of view. But not on Facebook.”
February 12, 2020, Saul made the statement on Facebook that based on the research of Jungeblut, Klenner and Cathcart, “The coronavirus pandemic can be dramatically slowed, or stopped, with the immediate widespread use of high doses of vitamin C.” Facebook immediately blocked his post claiming it was false, based on the opinion — again — of anonymous fact-checkers, most of whom have no formal medical training. Orthomolecular Medicin... Andrew W. Saul Best Price: $10.77 Buy New $15.65 (as of 01:55 UTC - Details)
He responded, “Preventing and treating respiratory infections with large amounts of vitamin C is well established. Those who believe that vitamin C generally has merit but massive doses are ineffective or somehow harmful would do well to read the original papers for themselves.”
Saul adds that while other nutrients are also important, he believes vitamin C is the most important “crisis therapy” for those who find themselves in the intensive care unit, extremely ill and at risk of dying from COVID-19. It’s also the least expensive preventive for the general public.
“After I posted that one mention about vitamin C and COVID,” Saul said, “vitamin C started selling out and disappearing from shelves in stores around the world. So I guess the fact-checkers were a little bit late. But ultimately, they did shut down the spread of this information — information about viruses being treated with vitamin C.”6
Chinese Physicians Recommend Vitamin C Treatment for COVID
Saul also highlights a study, published in Chinese, that detailed the accounts of four patients admitted to Xi’an Jiaotong University Second Hospital with COVID-19, who recovered in February 2020.
“High-dose vitamin C achieved good results in clinical applications,” the researchers noted, adding, “Vitamin C treatment should be initiated as soon as possible after admission,” and, “High-dose vitamin C can not only improve antiviral levels, but more importantly, can prevent and treat acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress.”
Although Saul shared this information, it was not picked up by the media. Another quote from Dr. ZhiYong Peng, chief of critical care at Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, reads:
“In my department and other hospitals we highly recommend the patients use 12,000 milligrams to 24,000 mg a day of vitamin C. That works for significant reduction of COVID becoming a severe case. In my hospital, all the medical professionals are given vitamin C powder, to take 1,000 to 2,000 mg. I heard that the majority of the major hospitals in Wuhan are giving vitamin C powder to their medical professionals.”
Niacin: The Real Story... Abram Hoffer M.D. Ph.... Best Price: $9.68 Buy New $1.99 (as of 10:10 UTC - Details) Further, according to Saul, the government of Shanghai, China, officially recommends treating COVID-19 with intravenous vitamin C at a dose of 200 mg per kg of body weight per day, an adult intravenous dosage of approximately 16,000 mg/day. The protocol was published by the Chinese Medical Association.7 Facebook and its fact-checkers, again disagreed, flagging the information as “partly false.”
“They never contacted me to check my sources … They never contacted the hospitals … or anyone in China … They never contacted the experts that we quoted, and they never contacted the government of Shanghai,” Saul said. “They simply decided it was false news, and that was the end of it. I believe withholding vitamin C treatment information from the public withholds it from the patient. I accuse the media of negligence.”
Lancet Suggests High-Dose Vitamin C as ‘Rescue Therapy’
Even a commentary published in The Lancet: Respiratory Medicine in March 2020 states, “Rescue therapy with high-dose vitamin C can also be considered”8 in patients with respiratory failure from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by COVID-19. “Very little has been done with this, unfortunately,” Saul states, despite it having been published in the earliest months of the pandemic.
Other articles and YouTube videos from physicians supporting the use of vitamin C for COVID-19 have also been censored or removed completely. One objection sometimes given is that high-dose vitamin C is dangerous, but as Saul notes, it’s one of the most studied therapies in history.
In 2007, a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by Harri Hemila, considered to be an authority on vitamin C, called potential harms of large doses of vitamin C “unfounded,” and stated that patients with pneumonia can take up to 100 grams a day of vitamin C without developing diarrhea, “possibly because of the changes in vitamin C metabolism caused by the severe infection.”9
Past research by Hemila and colleagues found that 17,000 mg/day of intravenous vitamin C shortened intensive care unit stays by 44%.10 According to Saul, Dr. Richard Cheng, a Chinese American physician, further reported that about 50 moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 infection were treated with high-dose vitamin C, involving 10,000 mg for moderate cases and 20,000 mg for more severe cases, for seven to 10 days.
Not only did all of the patients improve, but there were no side effects reported from the vitamin C therapy. “You guessed it,” Saul said, “Fact-checkers said it’s false. Facebook said it’s false. The media said it’s false. And this report, by a physician direct from Shanghai, who personally worked with the chief of emergency medicine of a major hospital, right there, and had success … all of this was called false information and banned from Facebook.”
‘This Is Organized Censorship’
In February 2020, Saul reports, the World Health Organization met with about a dozen tech companies, including Google, Amazon and YouTube, instructing them to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation. The group, which planned to meet every few months, has been targeting information related to natural health treatments like vitamin C, calling them fake news and conspiracies.11
But in reality, Saul said, the labeling of vitamin C for COVID-19 as fake news is “organized censorship. This does fit the description of conspiracy. They are trying to stop the information on vitamin C from getting out. And, unfortunately, to a large extent they have succeeded.” Curing the Incurable: ... Levy, MD JD Thomas E Best Price: $22.60 Buy New $18.89 (as of 08:55 UTC - Details)
Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, on the record in 2016, “Take vitamin C. It can enhance your body’s defense against microbes.”12
Then, during the pandemic, he mentioned it again, in an Instagram interview, where he said that vitamin D will help your body resist infection, and added, “The other vitamin that people take is vitamin C because it’s a good antioxidant, so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine.”13,14
Cheng also interviewed a family in Wuhan, China, which took large doses of vitamin C and didn’t get COVID-19, despite close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient. The video was removed by YouTube. “I can’t believe this is happening,” Cheng said.
Dr. Paul Marik has also shown a protocol of intravenous vitamin C with hydrocortisone and thiamine (vitamin B1) dramatically improves survival rates in patients with sepsis. Since sepsis is one of the reasons people die from COVID-19 infection, Marik’s vitamin C protocol may go a long way toward saving people’s lives in this pandemic.
That protocol calls for 1,500 mg of ascorbic acid every six hours, and appears radically effective. However, I would recommend taking even higher doses using liposomal vitamin C if you’re taking it orally.
Personally, I discourage people from taking mega doses of vitamin C on a regular basis if they’re not actually sick. I view high dose vitamin C as a very safe and effective intervention for acute upper respiratory infections largely because it converts to hydrogen peroxide, which your body uses to fight infections.
I don’t believe it is necessary to take high doses for long periods of time, however. Vitamin C’s potential for treating severe illness, and helping to prevent it, is something that should be widely shared, not silenced.
For more information and further reading, Saul’s Orthomolecular Medicine News Service has an archive of several dozen news releases on COVID-19 and nutrition that you probably have not seen in the media.15
Sources and References
The Best of Dr. Joseph Mercola


lewrockwell--2020-12-17--Why People Don’t Trust Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories ?
Michael Shermer , a famous skeptic , was forced to admit that one of the reasons is that some of them are true .
In his research he found that the fact that some conspiracy theories are real feeds people ’ s suspicion and makes them susceptible to the belief in others that are far less credible .
We are increasingly herded into taking a hard line on issues which are nuanced .
One example of this is an apparent increase in two camps : some people are entirely against mainstream medicine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mount an extreme defense of the indefensible excesses of Big Pharma .
Overdosed America : The ... Dr. John Abramson Best Price : $ 1.20 Buy New $ 8.72 Drugs save lives .
Drugs are dangerous .
These should not be controversial statements , nor do they contradict one another .
According to the American Medical Association ’ s own figures , medical care has become the third leading cause of death in the United States , yet few would advocate a return to a time before we had modern medical care .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ no matter what and those companies are protected from liability for damages that may be caused by those drugs , it ceases to be surprising that people may question whether what is being offered up to them is safe or not .
One of the reasons why people believe in conspiracy theories about Big Pharma is because some of them are true .
A 2004 advert for Zoloft claimed that over 16 million Americans were affected by social anxiety disorder .
But here ’ s the thing : a study conducted by Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did a lot better overcoming social anxiety with “ exposure therapy , ” including counseling with a primary care doctor about their symptoms and homework to learn how to identify and break through social habits and fears , did better than people who took their drug .
When the Upjohn Company ( now Pfizer ) developed Minoxidil , a drug that was originally manufactured to lower blood pressure , they found that it could cause hair regrowth in some balding patients .
So they simply switched the marketed effect for the so-called side @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for balding which just so happened to lower blood pressure .
The Primal Prescriptio ... Murphy , Robert P. Best Price : $ 7.41 Buy New $ 16.87 The ALLHAT Study ( Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attacks Trial ) , was intended to compare the effectiveness of four drugs in preventing complications form high blood pressure .
It was originally intended to continue for between four and eight years , but part of it was stopped prematurely because those participants assigned to Cardura ( manufactured by Pfizer ) were developing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a diuretic .
At the time the results were published in JAMA ( Journal of the American Medical Association ) , about $ 800 million worth of Cardura was being sold each year—but the diuretic was proving more effective at preventing high blood pressure complications at a seventh of the cost .
Taking advantage of the fact that most doctors weren ’ t aware of the research , Pfizer hired damage-control consultants .
The American College of Cardiology ( ACC ) issued a press release recommending that doctors “ discontinue use ” of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wording to “ reassess.
” Could this be something to do with Pfizer contributing more than $ 500,000 a year to the ACC ?
Whoever funds the study comes out on top .
Companies commonly use positive results from head-to-head trials to encourage doctors to prescribe their drug rather than a competitor ’ s .
When the authors of a Journal of Psychiatry survey looked at the trials , they found a curious thing : in five trials that were paid for by Eli Lilly , its drug Zyprexa came out looking superior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company Janssen .
But when Janssen sponsored its own trials , Risperdal was the winner three out of four times .
When it was Pfizer funding the studies , its drug Geodon was best .
In fact , this tendency for the sponsor ’ s drug to come out on top held true for 90 percent of the more than thirty trials in the survey .
Overtreated : Why Too M ... Brownlee , Shannon Best Price : $ 1.60 Buy New $ 10.99 A 2017 article noted that “ prices for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past decade six times as far as the cost of goods and services overall.
” In a famous case Mylan was able to increase the price of the EpiPen by more than 450 percent , adjusting for inflation , between 2004 and 2016—despite the epinephrine in each injection costing only around $ 1—because they were the only legal supplier of the product .
This example , while extreme , is unfortunately not exceptional .
Pfizer , Biogen , Gilead Sciences , Amgem , AbbieVie , Turing Pharmaceutical , Envizo , Valeant Pharmaceuticals , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few ) all seem to have benefited from price gouging by obtaining legally protected monopoly power over certain healthcare products .
The covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer—having bypassed the usual 5–10 years of safety testing—may well be completely harmless , but so long as this kind of tomfoolery continues to be common within the medical field we can expect ever more skeptical people to be labeled by their critics as “ antivaxx.
” Ray Sipherd , “ The Third-Leading Cause of Death in US Most Doctors Don ’ t Want You to Know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 2018 , http : //bit.ly/100_errors .
In their famous report , To Err Is Human , the Institute of Medicine estimated that while 98,000 Americans are killed each year by medical errors , between 90,000 and 400,000 patients are harmed or killed by the innocent use of drugs .
They either received the wrong drug , the wrong dose of the right drug , or two drugs that interacted in the wrong way .
Institute of Medicine , To Err is Human : Building a Safer Health System , ed .
Linda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Molla S. Donaldson ( Washington , DC : National Academies Press , 2000 ) .
John Abramson , Overdosed America : The Broken Promise of American Medicine ( New York : Harper Perennial , 2013 ) , p. 232–33 .
Shannon Brownlee , Overtreated : Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer ( New York : Bloomsbury , 2008 ) , p. 230 .
Robert Pearl , “ New Checks and Balances For Big Pharma , ” The Health Care Blog , May 12 , 2017 , http : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hyman , Overcharged : Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care ( Washington , DC : Cato Institute , 2018 ) , p. 28 .

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?
Michael Shermer, a famous skeptic, was forced to admit that one of the reasons is that some of them are true. In his research he found that the fact that some conspiracy theories are real feeds people’s suspicion and makes them susceptible to the belief in others that are far less credible.
We are increasingly herded into taking a hard line on issues which are nuanced. One example of this is an apparent increase in two camps: some people are entirely against mainstream medicine while others will bend over backwards to mount an extreme defense of the indefensible excesses of Big Pharma.
Overdosed America: The... Dr. John Abramson Best Price: $1.20 Buy New $8.72 (as of 09:05 UTC - Details) Drugs save lives. Drugs are dangerous. These should not be controversial statements, nor do they contradict one another. According to the American Medical Association’s own figures, medical care has become the third leading cause of death in the United States, yet few would advocate a return to a time before we had modern medical care.
When the government is buying the drug no matter what and those companies are protected from liability for damages that may be caused by those drugs, it ceases to be surprising that people may question whether what is being offered up to them is safe or not. One of the reasons why people believe in conspiracy theories about Big Pharma is because some of them are true.
Some of Pfizer’s History
A 2004 advert for Zoloft claimed that over 16 million Americans were affected by social anxiety disorder. But here’s the thing: a study conducted by Pfizer (the manufacturer) discovered that participants did a lot better overcoming social anxiety with “exposure therapy,” including counseling with a primary care doctor about their symptoms and homework to learn how to identify and break through social habits and fears, did better than people who took their drug.
When the Upjohn Company (now Pfizer) developed Minoxidil, a drug that was originally manufactured to lower blood pressure, they found that it could cause hair regrowth in some balding patients. So they simply switched the marketed effect for the so-called side effect, and they had a drug for balding which just so happened to lower blood pressure.
The Primal Prescriptio... Murphy, Robert P. Best Price: $7.41 Buy New $16.87 (as of 07:00 UTC - Details) The ALLHAT Study (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attacks Trial), was intended to compare the effectiveness of four drugs in preventing complications form high blood pressure. It was originally intended to continue for between four and eight years, but part of it was stopped prematurely because those participants assigned to Cardura (manufactured by Pfizer) were developing significantly more cardiovascular complications than those taking a diuretic. At the time the results were published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), about $800 million worth of Cardura was being sold each year—but the diuretic was proving more effective at preventing high blood pressure complications at a seventh of the cost. Taking advantage of the fact that most doctors weren’t aware of the research, Pfizer hired damage-control consultants. The American College of Cardiology (ACC) issued a press release recommending that doctors “discontinue use” of Cardura but mere hours later downgraded its wording to “reassess.” Could this be something to do with Pfizer contributing more than $500,000 a year to the ACC?
Whoever funds the study comes out on top. Companies commonly use positive results from head-to-head trials to encourage doctors to prescribe their drug rather than a competitor’s. When the authors of a Journal of Psychiatry survey looked at the trials, they found a curious thing: in five trials that were paid for by Eli Lilly, its drug Zyprexa came out looking superior to Risperdal, a drug made by the company Janssen. But when Janssen sponsored its own trials, Risperdal was the winner three out of four times. When it was Pfizer funding the studies, its drug Geodon was best. In fact, this tendency for the sponsor’s drug to come out on top held true for 90 percent of the more than thirty trials in the survey.
Overtreated: Why Too M... Brownlee, Shannon Best Price: $1.60 Buy New $10.99 (as of 07:00 UTC - Details) A 2017 article noted that “prices for U.S. made pharmaceuticals have climbed over the past decade six times as far as the cost of goods and services overall.” In a famous case Mylan was able to increase the price of the EpiPen by more than 450 percent, adjusting for inflation, between 2004 and 2016—despite the epinephrine in each injection costing only around $1—because they were the only legal supplier of the product. This example, while extreme, is unfortunately not exceptional. Pfizer, Biogen, Gilead Sciences, Amgem, AbbieVie, Turing Pharmaceutical, Envizo, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals (to name a few) all seem to have benefited from price gouging by obtaining legally protected monopoly power over certain healthcare products.
The covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer—having bypassed the usual 5–10 years of safety testing—may well be completely harmless, but so long as this kind of tomfoolery continues to be common within the medical field we can expect ever more skeptical people to be labeled by their critics as “antivaxx.”
—
Ray Sipherd, “The Third-Leading Cause of Death in US Most Doctors Don’t Want You to Know About,” CNBC, Feb. 22, 2018, http://bit.ly/100_errors.
In their famous report, To Err Is Human, the Institute of Medicine estimated that while 98,000 Americans are killed each year by medical errors, between 90,000 and 400,000 patients are harmed or killed by the innocent use of drugs. They either received the wrong drug, the wrong dose of the right drug, or two drugs that interacted in the wrong way. Institute of Medicine, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, ed. Linda T. Kohn, Janet M. Corrigan, and Molla S. Donaldson (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2000).
John Abramson, Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine (New York: Harper Perennial, 2013), p. 232–33.
Doug McGuff and Robert P. Murphy, Primal Prescription: Surviving the “Sick Care” Sinkhole (n.p.: Primal Nutrition, 2015), p. 65.
Abramson, Overdosed America, p. 108–09.
Shannon Brownlee, Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer (New York: Bloomsbury, 2008), p. 230.
Robert Pearl, “New Checks and Balances For Big Pharma,” The Health Care Blog, May 12, 2017, http://bit.ly/New_Checks.
Charles Silver and David A. Hyman, Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2018), p. 28.
Silver and Hyman, Overcharged, pp. 25–30.