lewrockwell--2020-05-09--It’s The 10th Anniversary of WikiLeaks’ Publication of the Collateral Murder Video

Last month marked the 10th anniversary of WikiLeaks ’ publication of the Collateral Murder video .
The video shows how two Apache helicopters murdered 11 Iraqi people including two Reuters journalists .
Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded .
This is one of the publications Julian Assange is being indicted for espionage .
He faces 175 years in a US jail if extradited from the UK .
WikiLeaks obtained the video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers .
WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about this incident from a variety of source material and spoke to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident .
After the video was released , one of the soldiers involved in the incident , Ethan McCord , said the following : Permanent Record Snowden , Edward Best Price : $ 8.52 Buy New $ 9.85 “ If you feel threatened in any way , you ’ re able to engage that person .
Many soldiers felt threatened just by the fact that you were looking at them , so they fired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at them because they ( I ) felt threatened .
We were told if we were to fire on anybody , and if it were to be investigated , that ‘ officers will take care of you.
’ ” “ We were told by our battalion commander to kill every m***** f****** on the street .
Many soldiers would not do that , we decided we were going to shoot into the rooftops of buildings because , if you didn ’ t fire , the NCOs in your platoon would make your life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily basis , destroying vans full of children , the destruction of the Iraqi people happens on a daily basis.
” ( source ) When it comes to Julian Assange , most of the world knows why they hunted him , and why he ’ s been treated the way he ’ s been treated and tortured in prison .
The same goes for people like Edward Snowden , it ’ s because they expose lies , corruption , deceit , immoral and unethical actions that their own governments , as well as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He exposed these characteristics that seem to represents the backbone of the Western military alliance and the American empire .
He exposed , in the words of John F. Hylan , former Mayor of New York City , the “ real menace of the Republic ” , the “ invisible government , which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities , states and nation.
” He exposed the ones “ who virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes.
” ( source ) ( source @ @ @ @ @ @ @ telling the truth becomes a crime ?
How far have we sunk if we prosecute people that expose war crimes for exposing war crimes ?
How far have we sunk when we no longer prosecute our own war criminals ?
Because we identify more with them , than we identify with their people that actually expose these crimes .
What does that tell about us and about our governments ?
In a democracy , the power does not belong to the government , but to the people .
But the people have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because it prevents them from exercising democratic control , which is precisely why governments want secrecy .
Nils Melzer ( source ) The WikiLeaks Files : T ... WikiLeaks Best Price : $ 4.18 Buy New $ 6.95 Since this video was released , more people became aware of the connections that the US government had at the time with terrorist organizations .
Information about the US funding terrorist groups , arming terrorist groups and even staging terrorist attacks has come to light .
More people became aware of the fact that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overseas to locate and take down these terrorists are the same ones who created them in the first place .
This is referred to as ‘ false flag terrorism , ’ and the creation of terrorism has allowed powerful people to infiltrate other countries for ulterior motives .
Thanks to people like Julian Assange and many others , many people have had a big shift with regards to their perception of the world .
More people are becoming aware about aspects of the human experience they were once unaware of .
In order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first become aware of them .
With awareness comes a shift in consciousness , and that shift in consciousness then leads to action .
The world is changing , and it ’ s changing fast .
We have to go through the growing pains first .
Here is a recent release from Wikileaks , Collateral Murder 10 Years On : Short Documentary .

Last month marked the 10th anniversary of WikiLeaks’ publication of the Collateral Murder video. The video shows how two Apache helicopters murdered 11 Iraqi people including two Reuters journalists. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. This is one of the publications Julian Assange is being indicted for espionage. He faces 175 years in a US jail if extradited from the UK. WikiLeaks obtained the video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. They analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material and spoke to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.
WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work. (source)
After the video was released, one of the soldiers involved in the incident, Ethan McCord, said the following: Permanent Record Snowden, Edward Best Price: $8.52 Buy New $9.85 (as of 07:25 UTC - Details)
“If you feel threatened in any way, you’re able to engage that person. Many soldiers felt threatened just by the fact that you were looking at them, so they fired their weapons on anybody that was looking at them because they (I) felt threatened. We were told if we were to fire on anybody, and if it were to be investigated, that ‘officers will take care of you.’ ” “We were told by our battalion commander to kill every m***** f****** on the street. Many soldiers would not do that, we decided we were going to shoot into the rooftops of buildings because, if you didn’t fire, the NCOs in your platoon would make your life hell.” “This happens on a daily basis, destroying vans full of children, the destruction of the Iraqi people happens on a daily basis.” (source)
When it comes to Julian Assange, most of the world knows why they hunted him, and why he’s been treated the way he’s been treated and tortured in prison. The same goes for people like Edward Snowden, it’s because they expose lies, corruption, deceit, immoral and unethical actions that their own governments, as well as governments around the world have participated in. He exposed these characteristics that seem to represents the backbone of the Western military alliance and the American empire. He exposed, in the words of John F. Hylan, former Mayor of New York City, the “real menace of the Republic”, the “invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation.” He exposed the ones “who virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes.” (source)(source)
How far have we sunk if telling the truth becomes a crime? How far have we sunk if we prosecute people that expose war crimes for exposing war crimes? How far have we sunk when we no longer prosecute our own war criminals? Because we identify more with them, than we identify with their people that actually expose these crimes. What does that tell about us and about our governments? In a democracy, the power does not belong to the government, but to the people. But the people have to claim it. Secrecy disempowers the people because it prevents them from exercising democratic control, which is precisely why governments want secrecy. Nils Melzer (source)
The WikiLeaks Files: T... WikiLeaks Best Price: $4.18 Buy New $6.95 (as of 06:20 UTC - Details) Since this video was released, more people became aware of the connections that the US government had at the time with terrorist organizations. Information about the US funding terrorist groups, arming terrorist groups and even staging terrorist attacks has come to light. More people became aware of the fact that the same powers who claim to be going overseas to locate and take down these terrorists are the same ones who created them in the first place. This is referred to as ‘false flag terrorism,’ and the creation of terrorism has allowed powerful people to infiltrate other countries for ulterior motives.
Thanks to people like Julian Assange and many others, many people have had a big shift with regards to their perception of the world. More people are becoming aware about aspects of the human experience they were once unaware of. In order to stop these aspects, we must first become aware of them. With awareness comes a shift in consciousness, and that shift in consciousness then leads to action. The world is changing, and it’s changing fast. We have to go through the growing pains first.
Here is a recent release from Wikileaks, Collateral Murder 10 Years On: Short Documentary.


lewrockwell--2020-05-09--China Denying False Claims Is ‘Evidence’ of COVID-19 Cover-Up

China is being put in a no-win bind .
It is accused of misleading the world over the Covid-19 outbreak , which is in turn prompting demands for financial compensation .
The United States , Britain , France and Australia have pushed this narrative .
Demonization of China involves claims that Beijing has fomented disinformation about the pandemic .
The publicly documented timeline of the pandemic confounds this “ blame China ” narrative .
So too does the disproportionate mishandling of the crisis in the U.S. , Britain and Europe .
Yet when China protests such claims , this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cover-up ” , further fueling the demonization campaign .
Paradoxically , and more plausibly , it is China that is the victim of Western disinformation .
With twisted logic , however , any effort by China to deny the false claims is then invoked as “ evidence ” of guilt on the part of Beijing .
Take the headline in the New York Times on April 28 : “ China Mounts Aggressive Defense to Calls for Coronavirus Compensation ” .
The Vaccine-Friendly P ... Paul Thomas M.D.
, Jenn ... Best Price : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NY Times says : “ Beijing has adopted a ‘ no-holds barred ’ diplomatic push to quash criticism of its handling of the outbreak and to fend off efforts , including by President Trump , to hold it financially accountable.
” That followed an earlier report by the NY Times on April 24 which claimed that the Chinese government had “ pressured ” the European Union into “ suppressing ” a publication criticizing China over alleged disinformation .
Both the EU ’ s foreign affairs department and China denied the claims of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Peter Stano , spokesman for the EU ’ s foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell , wrote a letter to the NY Times protesting the report , saying : “ Let me be clear , the EU has not bowed to any alleged political pressure from outside.
” Here ’ s the thing : Stano heads up the European External Action Service ( EEAS ) which is a media unit dedicated to countering what it calls foreign disinformation .
The EEAS has in the past published reports alleging Russian and Chinese state-backed propaganda campaigns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his media unit are certainly no friends of Moscow or Beijing .
It if denies that Beijing was involved in coercing EU diplomats into suppressing a critical report , then it ’ s a fair assumption that the denial is accurately founded .
That is , the NY Times and its sources are wrong .
What the NY Times was citing in particular was a report published by a media sub-unit of the EEAS , called EUvsDisinfo .
The latter runs a disclaimer on its website that it does not represent the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ views are thus up for vetting by more senior EU officials .
If there was some kerfuffle and revision going on then it is a reflection of internal EU reviewing .
Why bring China into the picture ?
The NY Times cites sources within disgruntled EUvsDisinfo staff as “ claiming ” Chinese interference in its publication process .
This is getting into the realm of hearsay .
There is no evidence to support the allegation of interference .
All we know is that at the official level , the EU and China both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Vaccine Book : Maki ... Sears MD , Robert W. Best Price : $ 1.54 Buy New $ 6.30 We shouldn ’ t be surprised if EU executives pulled the plug on aspects of EUvsDisinfo ’ s so-called media monitoring .
Like its parent media unit , EEAS , the EUvsDisinfo “ reports ” are more than anything exhibits of shoddy rumor curation .
It collects examples of reports in Russian and Chinese media , and then deduces that Moscow or Beijing have sponsored these reports as part of state-backed disinformation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the wings of the EEAS and its EUvsDisinfo unit , it is probably because their claims were deemed outlandish and unprofessional .
In the latest EUvsDisinfo “ report ” accusing Russia and China of “ conspiracy narratives ” it cites the following examples : Media reports on RT and Sputnik that hand-washing is not effective in protecting against Covid-19 ; A media report on RT that anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine may be an effective treatment ; A media report on RT that zinc could help kill the coronavirus .
In a world turned upside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because Russian and Chinese media report on unverified claims ( a fraction of the total news cycle ) this does not constitute evidence of Moscow or Beijing-backed disinformation .
That kind of deduction by the EEAS and its media monitoring people is ludicrous .
No wonder if some of its unhinged claims were spiked by EU chiefs concerned to not cause unnecessary offense in foreign relations .
Let ’ s put this in perspective : President Donald Trump and Fox News have been very publicly touting hydroxychoroquine as an alternative treatment for Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ineffective and possibly injurious .
So why isn ’ t the EU ’ s so-called media watchdog flagging up a Washington-sponsored disinformation campaign ?
Vaccine Epidemic : How ... Best Price : $ 7.50 Buy New $ 12.99 Surely the most outrageous case of disinformation was Trump ’ s absurd proposal for humans to inject with household bleach as a possible treatment for the disease .
But that is Western disinformation at its crudest , most ridiculous level .
Trump and Fox News ’ other claims that China “ covered up ” the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it “ leak out ” of a laboratory is taking the disinformation to a relatively more sinister level , albeit still derisory for lack of evidence .
The NY Times has not quite stooped to Trump ’ s stupid tactics of crudely framing China over the Covid-19 pandemic .
Nevertheless , the newspaper has aligned with its hate-figure in the White House by pushing its own , seemingly more sophisticated disinformation to demonize China .
In that way , the NY Times is in effect working in a joint endeavor with the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it into forking out trillions of dollars in compensation .
The difference between Trump ’ s bullshit and the Times ’ bullshit is the pretentious adjective “ quality ” .
The NY Times presumes to deliver “ quality ” information , but it is bullshit nonetheless .
On April 22 , the NY Times ran a report claiming that “ Chinese agents helped spread messages that sowed virus panic in the U.S. ” .
Citing anonymous “ intelligence sources ” , it was claimed that China had infiltrated mobile phone users in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was going to declare martial law under the guise of a pandemic lockdown .
Vaccines , Autoimmunity ... Cowan MD , Dr. Thomas Best Price : $ 17.35 Buy New $ 17.29 As usual with such Western media reporting on alleged Chinese , or Russian , media agents , no evidence was forthcoming .
Indeed , the NY Times chose to ignore that the same speculation about martial law had already been published in several U.S. media outlets , such as Newsweek , Bloomberg , The Hill and NBC which did not mention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was homegrown U.S. activists .
Why the NY Times gave it the “ Chinese agents ” spin , and with no substantiation , suggests that it was engaging in a U.S. intelligence campaign to smear China .
For good paranoid measure , the paper further speculated that the alleged Chinese operatives “ had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls ” .
A ropey story is thus referencing another ropey story ( “ Russiagate ” ) as a way to prop up its credibility .
Hence , the so-called U.S. “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than the vulgar occupant in the White House and his Fox News echo chamber which the “ liberal ” NY Times snootily deprecates as uncouth and “ rightwing ” .
Russia ’ s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week pointed out that EU claims of Russian and Chinese disinformation over the Covid-19 pandemic have been made with “ zero evidence ” .
The same goes for equally dodgy accusations against China whether by the Trump wing or the more pretentiously sophisticated wing of American information warfare on the pages of the NY Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Western corporate media landscape that when China ( or Russia ) respond by slamming the absurd and reckless demonization campaigns , this is then cited as “ evidence ” of the aforementioned “ cover-up ” .
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation .

China is being put in a no-win bind. It is accused of misleading the world over the Covid-19 outbreak, which is in turn prompting demands for financial compensation. The United States, Britain, France and Australia have pushed this narrative. Demonization of China involves claims that Beijing has fomented disinformation about the pandemic.
The publicly documented timeline of the pandemic confounds this “blame China” narrative. So too does the disproportionate mishandling of the crisis in the U.S., Britain and Europe.
Yet when China protests such claims, this is then portrayed as evidence of a “cover-up”, further fueling the demonization campaign.
Paradoxically, and more plausibly, it is China that is the victim of Western disinformation. With twisted logic, however, any effort by China to deny the false claims is then invoked as “evidence” of guilt on the part of Beijing.
Take the headline in the New York Times on April 28: “China Mounts Aggressive Defense to Calls for Coronavirus Compensation”. The Vaccine-Friendly P... Paul Thomas M.D., Jenn... Best Price: $5.50 Buy New $11.19 (as of 06:55 UTC - Details)
The NY Times says: “Beijing has adopted a ‘no-holds barred’ diplomatic push to quash criticism of its handling of the outbreak and to fend off efforts, including by President Trump, to hold it financially accountable.”
That followed an earlier report by the NY Times on April 24 which claimed that the Chinese government had “pressured” the European Union into “suppressing” a publication criticizing China over alleged disinformation.
Both the EU’s foreign affairs department and China denied the claims of “pressure” and “suppression”.
Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU’s foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell, wrote a letter to the NY Times protesting the report, saying: “Let me be clear, the EU has not bowed to any alleged political pressure from outside.”
Here’s the thing: Stano heads up the European External Action Service (EEAS) which is a media unit dedicated to countering what it calls foreign disinformation. The EEAS has in the past published reports alleging Russian and Chinese state-backed propaganda campaigns infiltrating Western media.
Therefore, Stano and his media unit are certainly no friends of Moscow or Beijing. It if denies that Beijing was involved in coercing EU diplomats into suppressing a critical report, then it’s a fair assumption that the denial is accurately founded. That is, the NY Times and its sources are wrong.
What the NY Times was citing in particular was a report published by a media sub-unit of the EEAS, called EUvsDisinfo. The latter runs a disclaimer on its website that it does not represent the official views of the EU. Its views are thus up for vetting by more senior EU officials. If there was some kerfuffle and revision going on then it is a reflection of internal EU reviewing. Why bring China into the picture? The NY Times cites sources within disgruntled EUvsDisinfo staff as “claiming” Chinese interference in its publication process. This is getting into the realm of hearsay. There is no evidence to support the allegation of interference. All we know is that at the official level, the EU and China both rejected unsubstantiated claims of coercion and suppression. The Vaccine Book: Maki... Sears MD, Robert W. Best Price: $1.54 Buy New $6.30 (as of 04:07 UTC - Details)
We shouldn’t be surprised if EU executives pulled the plug on aspects of EUvsDisinfo’s so-called media monitoring. Like its parent media unit, EEAS, the EUvsDisinfo “reports” are more than anything exhibits of shoddy rumor curation. It collects examples of reports in Russian and Chinese media, and then deduces that Moscow or Beijing have sponsored these reports as part of state-backed disinformation campaigns.
If senior EU diplomats clipped the wings of the EEAS and its EUvsDisinfo unit, it is probably because their claims were deemed outlandish and unprofessional.
In the latest EUvsDisinfo “report” accusing Russia and China of “conspiracy narratives” it cites the following examples:
Media reports on RT and Sputnik that hand-washing is not effective in protecting against Covid-19;
A media report on RT that anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine may be an effective treatment;
A media report on RT that zinc could help kill the coronavirus.
In a world turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic, just because Russian and Chinese media report on unverified claims (a fraction of the total news cycle) this does not constitute evidence of Moscow or Beijing-backed disinformation. That kind of deduction by the EEAS and its media monitoring people is ludicrous. No wonder if some of its unhinged claims were spiked by EU chiefs concerned to not cause unnecessary offense in foreign relations.
Let’s put this in perspective: President Donald Trump and Fox News have been very publicly touting hydroxychoroquine as an alternative treatment for Covid-19 despite scientific warnings that the drug is ineffective and possibly injurious. So why isn’t the EU’s so-called media watchdog flagging up a Washington-sponsored disinformation campaign? Vaccine Epidemic: How ... Best Price: $7.50 Buy New $12.99 (as of 06:30 UTC - Details)
Surely the most outrageous case of disinformation was Trump’s absurd proposal for humans to inject with household bleach as a possible treatment for the disease.
But that is Western disinformation at its crudest, most ridiculous level.
Trump and Fox News’ other claims that China “covered up” the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak or let it “leak out” of a laboratory is taking the disinformation to a relatively more sinister level, albeit still derisory for lack of evidence.
The NY Times has not quite stooped to Trump’s stupid tactics of crudely framing China over the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the newspaper has aligned with its hate-figure in the White House by pushing its own, seemingly more sophisticated disinformation to demonize China.
In that way, the NY Times is in effect working in a joint endeavor with the Trump White House to incriminate China and force it into forking out trillions of dollars in compensation. The difference between Trump’s bullshit and the Times’ bullshit is the pretentious adjective “quality”. The NY Times presumes to deliver “quality” information, but it is bullshit nonetheless.
On April 22, the NY Times ran a report claiming that “Chinese agents helped spread messages that sowed virus panic in the U.S.”. Citing anonymous “intelligence sources”, it was claimed that China had infiltrated mobile phone users in the U.S. with messages that the Trump administration was going to declare martial law under the guise of a pandemic lockdown. Vaccines, Autoimmunity... Cowan MD, Dr. Thomas Best Price: $17.35 Buy New $17.29 (as of 04:07 UTC - Details)
As usual with such Western media reporting on alleged Chinese, or Russian, media agents, no evidence was forthcoming. Indeed, the NY Times chose to ignore that the same speculation about martial law had already been published in several U.S. media outlets, such as Newsweek, Bloomberg, The Hill and NBC which did not mention Chinese agents. The inference being it was homegrown U.S. activists.
Why the NY Times gave it the “Chinese agents” spin, and with no substantiation, suggests that it was engaging in a U.S. intelligence campaign to smear China. For good paranoid measure, the paper further speculated that the alleged Chinese operatives “had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls”. A ropey story is thus referencing another ropey story (“Russiagate”) as a way to prop up its credibility.
Hence, the so-called U.S. “newspaper of record” is no better than the vulgar occupant in the White House and his Fox News echo chamber which the “liberal” NY Times snootily deprecates as uncouth and “rightwing”.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week pointed out that EU claims of Russian and Chinese disinformation over the Covid-19 pandemic have been made with “zero evidence”. The same goes for equally dodgy accusations against China whether by the Trump wing or the more pretentiously sophisticated wing of American information warfare on the pages of the NY Times.
Such is the smoke and mirrors of the Western corporate media landscape that when China (or Russia) respond by slamming the absurd and reckless demonization campaigns, this is then cited as “evidence” of the aforementioned “cover-up”.
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.


lewrockwell--2020-05-09--Coronavirus Missives from Japan and the US

Five months into the coronavirus crisis , there is no consensus about anything .
When this virus was mostly limited to China , I tried to get as close as possible , so for two weeks , I stayed in Lao Cai , Vietnam .
Nearly each day , I walked along the Red River to look into Yunnan , and what I saw were shutted stores , empty streets and almost no pedestrians .
Each night , though , the highrises were lit up as usual .
Seeing such desolation , I never imagined it would soon spread across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there ’ s a large red banner showing Xi Jinping standing at a podium , with this message in Chinese , Vietnamese and English , “ Adhere to the Road of Peaceful Development / Promoting the Construction of a Community of Shared Destiny.
” In Lao Cai , there ’ s a Trump Kids Kindergarten , by the way , and it ’ s run by the local Communist Party .
Leaving Lao Cai , I went to Si Ma Cai .
Inhabited mostly by tribal peoples , this extremely remote district @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with plenty of smuggling going each way .
One fine morning , I decided to just trek into the mountains .
( I have a cousin whose estranged wife became a drug mule to China , by the way .
This quiet , sweet and stoic woman was caught and executed . )
Postcards from the End ... Linh Dinh Best Price : $ 7.22 Buy New $ 12.95 As I ’ ve stated elsewhere , I once crossed into Mexico from Candelaria , TX , because there was no border check @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was illegal to do so .
My vague plan to absentmindedly mosey into the Middle Kingdom didn ’ t succeed .
Here ’ s my caption to a photo from February 21st , “ One of the last houses before the border .
Couldn ’ t go any further .
A soldier ran out of that house right there to stop me , and he was courteous about it .
It took me three hours to walk here from Si Ma Cai .
Mountain roads , up and down , a real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one has heard of this village , Na Cáng , and it ’ s not on any map .
Two narrow lanes , too small for a car , lead to it .
There is an elementary school , so kudos to that teacher.
” Leaving the Chinese border , I took a bus to Hanoi , but instead of going further south to eternally warm Vung Tau , where a room by the beach could be had for just $ 128 a month , a Tiger Beer cost 64 cents , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me , I decided to fly to Seoul .
I emailed my buddy Rudy List in Michigan , “ I ’ m flying to South Korea tomorrow night .
Something this crazy , only you or I would do .
I want to see how an advanced society deal with this coronavirus crisis… ” Rudy , “ I have never received a more meaningful compliment .
Thank you !
!
!
” Actually , Rudy is much battier than I am .
In 1975 , he walked alone into Iraq from Iran , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trained on each other , “ It was the loneliest two hundred yards I ’ ve ever walked .
Either side could have shot me and blamed it on the other.
” Fact is , no one knows entirely why he does anything .
What may appear as courage is actually pant-soiling cowardice , and sadism is dressed up as empathy , or vice versa .
Maybe I ’ m just in love with Corona-Chan ?
As Anatoly Karlin will tell you , she ’ s one hot babe .
Outside Busan Station @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a woman ’ s coat , “ It ’ s either the flu or love… the symptoms are the same.
” Seeing my photo of it , Ian Keenan comments , “ Precisely the most commonly cited subtext of Garcia Marquez ’ Love in the Time of Cholera.
” If any plague is love , it must be the earth falling in love with itself .
As luck would have it , I ’ m in the freest country on earth right now , where stores , restaurants and bars are all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trains run on regular schedules .
I must have emerged from over half of Busan ’ s 150 subway stations .
There are a dozen beaches here , each with its own character , and even the countryside can be reached by public transportation .
As someone who walks compulsively for miles nearly each day , I ’ d be in a cranky mess if forced to be sheltered in place .
With its unmatched coronavirus coverage , Unz Review has become a vital symposium on this global catastrophe .
Brilliant analyses and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Since we do not know its provenance , we should treat the current epidemic as a potentially criminal act as well as a medical event .
We must begin the search for the perpetrators who may be at the centre of this possible crime of global genocidal proportions , ” and he calls on whistle blowers to come forward .
Citing a list of circumstantial evidences , including the fact that America ’ s intelligence agencies “ were aware of the deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Ron Unz is convinced this pandemic is an American biowarfare attack on China .
Agreeing with Unz , Kevin Barrett expands , “ Independent historians have convincingly argued that such history-changing crises as World War I , the Great Depression , World War II , the 1971 birth of the petrodollar , 9/11 , and the 2008 collapse were all engineered by the Zionist-dominated usury banking cartel that rules the West .
In every case , the bankster cartel has profited from the destruction of real economies and real value .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banksters buy up hard assets at pennies on the dollar , further consolidating wealth in the hands of the few .
And crises and wars force governments to go ever-deeper into debt , borrowing from the banksters at compound interest that will enslave future generations.
” As led by China and Russia , the economic integration of Eurasia leaves the US out in the cold , so it has no choice but to demonize and attack both relentlessly , on several fronts .
If the coronavirus pandemic is indeed the work of Uncle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself in the foot , or even worse , in the head .
Banksters can ’ t benefit from hard assets if the polity itself has been shredded .
Sure , the coming unrest will give the state a pretext to mow down discontents and browbeat the rest , but perhaps our rulers have , finally , underestimated our collective rage .
48u00b0116u00b0 NW - B ... BaseImage Publishing Buy New $ 24.95 Meanwhile , let ’ s hear how three individuals are dealing with this madness in Japan and Idaho : Renzo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s who ’ s been living in Japan for 17 years The hotel I am employed at was temporarily closed from April 7th following this situation , with reopening just now rescheduled for June 1st .
Fortunately , my salary has been guaranteed these two months , and also there will be a cash handout of about 1,000USD per person from the government .
We still can go out ; everyone here wears a mask but aside from that really not much else happening to prevent things getting worse .
Shops are bustling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 infections likely several times higher than government reports are indicating daily .
Back in Tuscany , in Castelfiorentino , regretfully one of my closest uncles ( already 87 ) died in hospital a week after he was admitted with Covid-19 symptoms .
Max von Schuler-Kobayashi is an American who has lived in Japan for 45 years .
Writing in Japanese and English , he is the author of six books on military history and present society .
We in Japan are much better off than the US or Great Britain .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Japanese people in general .
For example , Japanese people always remove their shoes when returning home .
And bathe every day .
A Japanese home is always kept very clean .
Also Japan has a very competent health care system .
We have National Health insurance , based on income .
It means that all people have access to the same general care .
I checked this morning , some 11,200 active cases .
A good number of these are foreigners , such as from cruise ships .
But the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outnumber the number of new cases per day .
Perhaps we have reached plateau .
Personally , since my work involves speaking in front of many people , so I am unemployed .
In Japan , we have a unique situation .
Our constitution was written and forced upon us post WWII by Americans .
So it severely limits Executive powers .
Our Prime Minister can not simply order a lockdown .
What has happened is the political leadership has asked for voluntary lockdown , well a partial one .
Bars and restaurants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order is at 7pm .
Schools are closed .
Movie theaters closed .
But this is all voluntary .
If a bar wants to remain open until late at night , the government can not send police .
My guess is that some 80 % of the Japanese population is complying with these guidelines .
For a while , pinball gambling establishments would not comply , but public shaming did the trick .
There is a vibrant sex industry in Japan .
Since most cases of Corona virus are male , it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases in Japan come from the sex industry .
However , they are now closed also .
The Japanese Mind : Und ... Ikeno , Osamu Best Price : $ 2.76 Buy New $ 10.98 The Japanese government has to decided finally to send relief payments of ¥100,000 yen per person to people unemployed by Corona , sex workers will be included .
I think I qualify .
In the future , I think world trade will shrink .
I think the Global economy is over .
The future Japanese economy will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t think Corona will disappear , but will be with us for a long time , as a seasonal epidemic .
I think Japan is better prepared to handle the transition to a more local economy .
This is not from any prescient government planning .
The government is mostly 2nd and 3rd generation idiots who grew up with a silver spoon .
I don ’ t think the present Japanese government will remain .
Rather , it is the native ability of the Japanese people to persevere and weather a crisis .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be some people who simply will not survive , say someone from an elite university , being involved in foreign trade , suddenly moving to the countryside to become a farmer .
But most people will adapt .
I think war on the Korean peninsula very possible , and perhaps in China .
The Chinese have been very dishonest about the state of Corona Virus in their country .
They never did get it under any kind of control , they just pretended to for business reasons .
Now it is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of present society .
The American Empire certainly over , I see civil war in America , and eventual breakup , into at least 5 entities .
I don ’ t see massed armies like the Blue and Grey of 150 years ago , but rather a guerrilla war .
I think the cities will depopulate , most city people will not survive rural life .
The future transport system of the US will be by river , some rail , and horse .
Most car and truck transport will disappear for lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see a national electric grid as maintainable .
The two countries that will still resemble present life the most will be Japan and Russia .
I have been reading your Coronavirus Missives and recent blog posts with fascination–curious about the different reactions , responses , and experiences around the world .
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute a post to your collection .
I live in Bonners Ferry , Boundary County , the northernmost county in Idaho , U.S.A. , bordering Montana , Washington , and British Columbia .
Bonners Ferry has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around 11,000 .
We have one stoplight ; a dozen restaurants and churches ; a few lumber mills , hair salons , and bars ; a couple of hardware and building supply stores ; a resort/spa/casino ; some grocery stores ; a bookstore ; a bowling alley ; a non-profit arts theater ; some thrift stores , banks , and fabric shops ; antique stores ; a pawn shop ; auto parts stores , a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities , a community hospital , some dental offices and veterinarians ; a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Service ranger station ; a sturgeon and burbot hatchery ; the county library ; a few gas stations and real estate offices ; and various other businesses .
This is the Kootenai Valley , ancestral home of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho .
Three mountain ranges meet here—the Selkirks , Purcells , and Cabinets .
Long ago the Purcell Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered everything here with thousands of feet of glacier .
Now , it ’ s forests and farms , including one of the largest hops farms in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ date , Boundary County has no official cases of Covid 19 , although we are proximal to places that do have cases , and people speculate–people who swear they ’ ve had it , people who know people who have it , people who say they called in , but were told there was no testing availability .
Here , as elsewhere , the “ numbers game ” has been an ongoing conversation .
I am not really sure what to think of the various layers , except that early on I read @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Vietnam , and from what I have heard , that has not been the case here .
The current number of cases in Idaho is 2,158 .
Idaho was under a “ Stay-Home ” Order from mid-March through April ; we just shifted to a “ Stay Healthy ” Order on May 1 and Stage One of the “ Idaho Rebounds : Our Path to Prosperity ” program .
From what I can tell , the whole situation raises compelling and thorny questions about jurisdiction , power , perceptions , ( mis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personal freedom , community responsibility , social class issues , urban-rural divides , culture , popular mythology , faith crises , the real estate market , etc .
I wonder if these issues are always here , maybe just more exposed by all of this .
There ’ s a sense of “ remoteness ” here–about 100 miles to Spokane , Washington and 500 miles to Boise , Idaho ’ s state capital–a geographical “ tension ” that the Covid 19 situation brings out .
For all the apparent or inherent “ isolation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connected ” than we might let on .
Ordinarily , I would be coaching high school and middle school track right now .
We ’ ll bus kids over a 100 miles one way to Kellogg , Idaho for an afternoon track meet on a school day .
We may live in communities that are far apart , but we also interact across those distances .
People go touristing from here—Mexico , Costa Rica , Hawaii , Tempe .
I had some friends who went to Palawan and Phú Quốc this winter .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ just as everything was ramping up in the U.S. We ’ re on a couple of major U.S. highway routes ( U.S. 95 and U.S. 2 ) and the Great Northern railroad .
Albertan cattle trucks roll through town every day , bound for feedlots and slaughterhouses–Spokane or maybe Yakima .
On New Year ’ s Day this winter , a rock slide derailed a Burlington Northern diesel freight train into the Kootenai River .
That one was bound for Pasco , coming from Minneapolis .
At night , when I listen to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think of all the trains–hauling oil from the Bakken in North Dakota , or Maersk and Yang Ming and Cosco shipping containers , or coal , or grain .
Or passengers on the Amtrak ’ s Empire Builder .
I think of our connection to the global system , even in this seemingly quiet corner of the world .
Will this whole thing make us think about complex realities ?
Political entities ?
Political unrest ?
Will we reflect on epidemiology , borders , regulations , public health , global travel , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just reacting and/or moving on ?
Maybe we won ’ t have the time or energy or resources to do much else .
I teach high school during the day and community college at night .
Our school district has been on a remote learning/ ” soft closure ” set up since the middle of March .
My college classes are now online .
It ’ s been challenging trying to figure it all out , but honestly , I ’ ve been amazed at how adaptable and resilient families , students , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m curious about where all of this will take “ school.
” One of my colleagues thinks we could be heading for significant changes .
Who knows ?
It feels like this right now is the greatest “ school ” lesson .
It ’ s been interesting talking to students .
I talked to a student yesterday who said he ’ s been working extra shifts at the grocery store and studying Norse mythology when he can .
A couple who are working at the hops farm .
Another who is working on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ Coronavirus Diary.
” A student who has been loading trees at one of nurseries and working on firefighter certifications , set to work the summer fire season with the Idaho Department of Lands .
My son worked as an “ essential laborer ” the last couple of days putting shingles on a roof with my brother-in-law .
Some students are flexing school and work around each other , some are buckling down on academics , preparing for the AP exams .
Some are just working jobs , maybe 60 hours a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ siblings .
And there are some I haven ’ t heard from or been able to contact .
One student who wrote , “ Mr .
Bonnell , if I wanted to go to school online I would have just left school freshman year to do it then .
I need the motivation of the classroom.
” I am concerned for students who have limited internet and other infrastructure access , challenging or dangerous domestic situations , food insecurity , homelessness , etc .
Students working one or two jobs to help out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off .
Students who live in the woods and don ’ t have internet access .
One student contacted me , worried about being late with an assignment because they had lost power in a wind storm and were having to keep their new chicks from freezing .
There are so many stories like this here and everywhere across the globe .
I read about all the people on the move in India , trying to outwalk starvation , even if it meant contracting the coronavirus .
Many of the details of my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the local resort , where I work and recreate on the weekends ; a canceled season of coaching track ; different teaching methods ; a daughter home early from college , finishing the semester at home and working in an “ essential ” industry at the grocery store ; a son doing high school at home and figuring out several weeks of not seeing friends or working and playing at the ski resort ; Rebecca navigating the challenges of working from home ; a couple of months of not playing music out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or church ; a canceled trip to the American Literature Association conference in San Diego , where I was supposed to present a hybrid project with the Circle for Asian American Literature on transnational adoption and documents ( including vaccination records , interestingly ) .
But these are just inconveniences and disruptions , not tragedies .
Many details of life have been similar .
We live close to town but in the middle of a beautiful stand of trees—western larch , cedar , Douglas fir , white fir , hemlock , Ponderosa pine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I go for morning and evening walks with lovely views of the valley and the surrounding mountains .
Around school responsibilities , I continue to work on research projects about the Chăm , Bru , and Ê Đê .
Some music .
Some photography .
Mostly , I have been working and thinking .
I think about the personal and collective social and psychological ramifications of all of this .
I am thankful to have survived war and wartime orphaning/abandonment , malaria , and adoption–and I guess I find that personal history to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Survival .
Making the best of difficult times .
I look around and see potential for good—kind deeds and art and storytelling/story listening—and also potential for various upheaval and fragmentation and destruction .
We ’ ll see what happens .
As published at Unz Review and TruthSeeker , 5/8/20 .
The Best of Linh Dinh

Five months into the coronavirus crisis, there is no consensus about anything.
When this virus was mostly limited to China, I tried to get as close as possible, so for two weeks, I stayed in Lao Cai, Vietnam. Nearly each day, I walked along the Red River to look into Yunnan, and what I saw were shutted stores, empty streets and almost no pedestrians. Each night, though, the highrises were lit up as usual. Seeing such desolation, I never imagined it would soon spread across much of the world.
In Hekou, there’s a large red banner showing Xi Jinping standing at a podium, with this message in Chinese, Vietnamese and English, “Adhere to the Road of Peaceful Development / Promoting the Construction of a Community of Shared Destiny.”
In Lao Cai, there’s a Trump Kids Kindergarten, by the way, and it’s run by the local Communist Party.
Leaving Lao Cai, I went to Si Ma Cai. Inhabited mostly by tribal peoples, this extremely remote district of 26,000 people blurs right into China, with plenty of smuggling going each way. One fine morning, I decided to just trek into the mountains. (I have a cousin whose estranged wife became a drug mule to China, by the way. This quiet, sweet and stoic woman was caught and executed.) Postcards from the End... Linh Dinh Best Price: $7.22 Buy New $12.95 (as of 05:45 UTC - Details)
As I’ve stated elsewhere, I once crossed into Mexico from Candelaria, TX, because there was no border check, only a universally ignored sign saying it was illegal to do so.
My vague plan to absentmindedly mosey into the Middle Kingdom didn’t succeed. Here’s my caption to a photo from February 21st, “One of the last houses before the border. Couldn’t go any further. A soldier ran out of that house right there to stop me, and he was courteous about it. It took me three hours to walk here from Si Ma Cai. Mountain roads, up and down, a real pain in the ass. Almost no one has heard of this village, Na Cáng, and it’s not on any map. Two narrow lanes, too small for a car, lead to it. There is an elementary school, so kudos to that teacher.”
Leaving the Chinese border, I took a bus to Hanoi, but instead of going further south to eternally warm Vung Tau, where a room by the beach could be had for just $128 a month, a Tiger Beer cost 64 cents, and deeply satisfying conversations with close friends awaited me, I decided to fly to Seoul.
I emailed my buddy Rudy List in Michigan, “I’m flying to South Korea tomorrow night. Something this crazy, only you or I would do. I want to see how an advanced society deal with this coronavirus crisis…”
Rudy, “I have never received a more meaningful compliment. Thank you!!!” Actually, Rudy is much battier than I am. In 1975, he walked alone into Iraq from Iran, as machine guns on either side were trained on each other, “It was the loneliest two hundred yards I’ve ever walked. Either side could have shot me and blamed it on the other.”
Fact is, no one knows entirely why he does anything. What may appear as courage is actually pant-soiling cowardice, and sadism is dressed up as empathy, or vice versa. Maybe I’m just in love with Corona-Chan? As Anatoly Karlin will tell you, she’s one hot babe.
Outside Busan Station, I saw this on the back of a woman’s coat, “It’s either the flu or love… the symptoms are the same.” Seeing my photo of it, Ian Keenan comments, “Precisely the most commonly cited subtext of Garcia Marquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera.” If any plague is love, it must be the earth falling in love with itself.
As luck would have it, I’m in the freest country on earth right now, where stores, restaurants and bars are all open, and subways, buses and trains run on regular schedules. I must have emerged from over half of Busan’s 150 subway stations. There are a dozen beaches here, each with its own character, and even the countryside can be reached by public transportation. As someone who walks compulsively for miles nearly each day, I’d be in a cranky mess if forced to be sheltered in place.
With its unmatched coronavirus coverage, Unz Review has become a vital symposium on this global catastrophe. Brilliant analyses and key statements abound.
Gilad Atzmon, “Since we do not know its provenance, we should treat the current epidemic as a potentially criminal act as well as a medical event. We must begin the search for the perpetrators who may be at the centre of this possible crime of global genocidal proportions,” and he calls on whistle blowers to come forward.
Citing a list of circumstantial evidences, including the fact that America’s intelligence agencies “were aware of the deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any officials in the Chinese government itself,” Ron Unz is convinced this pandemic is an American biowarfare attack on China.
Agreeing with Unz, Kevin Barrett expands, “Independent historians have convincingly argued that such history-changing crises as World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the 1971 birth of the petrodollar, 9/11, and the 2008 collapse were all engineered by the Zionist-dominated usury banking cartel that rules the West. In every case, the bankster cartel has profited from the destruction of real economies and real value. When smaller competitors go broke, the big banksters buy up hard assets at pennies on the dollar, further consolidating wealth in the hands of the few. And crises and wars force governments to go ever-deeper into debt, borrowing from the banksters at compound interest that will enslave future generations.”
As led by China and Russia, the economic integration of Eurasia leaves the US out in the cold, so it has no choice but to demonize and attack both relentlessly, on several fronts. If the coronavirus pandemic is indeed the work of Uncle Sam, then he may have shot himself in the foot, or even worse, in the head. Banksters can’t benefit from hard assets if the polity itself has been shredded. Sure, the coming unrest will give the state a pretext to mow down discontents and browbeat the rest, but perhaps our rulers have, finally, underestimated our collective rage. 48u00b0116u00b0 NW - B... BaseImage Publishing Buy New $24.95 (as of 04:08 UTC - Details)
Meanwhile, let’s hear how three individuals are dealing with this madness in Japan and Idaho:
Renzo, an Italian in his 40’s who’s been living in Japan for 17 years
The hotel I am employed at was temporarily closed from April 7th following this situation, with reopening just now rescheduled for June 1st.
Fortunately, my salary has been guaranteed these two months, and also there will be a cash handout of about 1,000USD per person from the government.
We still can go out; everyone here wears a mask but aside from that really not much else happening to prevent things getting worse.
Shops are bustling with people, the real number of COVID-19 infections likely several times higher than government reports are indicating daily.
Back in Tuscany, in Castelfiorentino, regretfully one of my closest uncles (already 87) died in hospital a week after he was admitted with Covid-19 symptoms.
Max von Schuler-Kobayashi is an American who has lived in Japan for 45 years. Writing in Japanese and English, he is the author of six books on military history and present society.
We in Japan are much better off than the US or Great Britain. I put this to the extreme cleanliness of Japanese people in general.
For example, Japanese people always remove their shoes when returning home. And bathe every day. A Japanese home is always kept very clean.
Also Japan has a very competent health care system. We have National Health insurance, based on income.
It means that all people have access to the same general care. I checked this morning, some 11,200 active cases.
A good number of these are foreigners, such as from cruise ships. But the number of recovered people per day is beginning to outnumber the number of new cases per day. Perhaps we have reached plateau.
Personally, since my work involves speaking in front of many people, so I am unemployed.
In Japan, we have a unique situation. Our constitution was written and forced upon us post WWII by Americans. So it severely limits Executive powers. Our Prime Minister cannot simply order a lockdown.
What has happened is the political leadership has asked for voluntary lockdown, well a partial one.
Bars and restaurants can be open until 8pm. Last order is at 7pm. Schools are closed. Movie theaters closed.
But this is all voluntary. If a bar wants to remain open until late at night, the government cannot send police.
My guess is that some 80% of the Japanese population is complying with these guidelines. For a while, pinball gambling establishments would not comply, but public shaming did the trick. There is a vibrant sex industry in Japan. Since most cases of Corona virus are male, it is estimated that some 40% of new cases in Japan come from the sex industry. However, they are now closed also. The Japanese Mind: Und... Ikeno, Osamu Best Price: $2.76 Buy New $10.98 (as of 04:08 UTC - Details)
The Japanese government has to decided finally to send relief payments of ¥100,000 yen per person to people unemployed by Corona, sex workers will be included. I think I qualify. In the future, I think world trade will shrink. I think the Global economy is over. The future Japanese economy will be much more local.
I don’t think Corona will disappear, but will be with us for a long time, as a seasonal epidemic.
I think Japan is better prepared to handle the transition to a more local economy.
This is not from any prescient government planning. The government is mostly 2nd and 3rd generation idiots who grew up with a silver spoon.
I don’t think the present Japanese government will remain.
Rather, it is the native ability of the Japanese people to persevere and weather a crisis. It will be hard, and there will be some people who simply will not survive, say someone from an elite university, being involved in foreign trade, suddenly moving to the countryside to become a farmer. But most people will adapt.
I think war on the Korean peninsula very possible, and perhaps in China. The Chinese have been very dishonest about the state of Corona Virus in their country. They never did get it under any kind of control, they just pretended to for business reasons. Now it is in Beijing. They too are facing collapse of present society.
The American Empire certainly over, I see civil war in America, and eventual breakup, into at least 5 entities. I don’t see massed armies like the Blue and Grey of 150 years ago, but rather a guerrilla war. I think the cities will depopulate, most city people will not survive rural life. The future transport system of the US will be by river, some rail, and horse. Most car and truck transport will disappear for lack of fuel. I don’t see a national electric grid as maintainable.
Western Europe will be similar.
The two countries that will still resemble present life the most will be Japan and Russia.
Paul Bonnell, a 47-year-old high school teacher and track coach, living in Bonners Ferry, Idaho
I have been reading your Coronavirus Missives and recent blog posts with fascination–curious about the different reactions, responses, and experiences around the world. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute a post to your collection.
I live in Bonners Ferry, Boundary County, the northernmost county in Idaho, U.S.A., bordering Montana, Washington, and British Columbia. Bonners Ferry has a population of about 3,000. Boundary County around 11,000. We have one stoplight; a dozen restaurants and churches; a few lumber mills, hair salons, and bars; a couple of hardware and building supply stores; a resort/spa/casino; some grocery stores; a bookstore; a bowling alley; a non-profit arts theater; some thrift stores, banks, and fabric shops; antique stores; a pawn shop; auto parts stores, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities, a community hospital, some dental offices and veterinarians; a U.S. Wildlife Refuge; a U.S. Forest Service ranger station; a sturgeon and burbot hatchery; the county library; a few gas stations and real estate offices; and various other businesses.
This is the Kootenai Valley, ancestral home of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. Three mountain ranges meet here—the Selkirks, Purcells, and Cabinets. Long ago the Purcell Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered everything here with thousands of feet of glacier. Now, it’s forests and farms, including one of the largest hops farms in the world, Elk Mountain Farms.
To date, Boundary County has no official cases of Covid 19, although we are proximal to places that do have cases, and people speculate–people who swear they’ve had it, people who know people who have it, people who say they called in, but were told there was no testing availability. Here, as elsewhere, the “numbers game” has been an ongoing conversation.
I am not really sure what to think of the various layers, except that early on I read about testing in places like South Korea and Vietnam, and from what I have heard, that has not been the case here. The current number of cases in Idaho is 2,158. Idaho was under a “Stay-Home” Order from mid-March through April; we just shifted to a “Stay Healthy” Order on May 1 and Stage One of the “Idaho Rebounds: Our Path to Prosperity” program.
From what I can tell, the whole situation raises compelling and thorny questions about jurisdiction, power, perceptions, (mis) trust of government, conspiracies, personal freedom, community responsibility, social class issues, urban-rural divides, culture, popular mythology, faith crises, the real estate market, etc. I wonder if these issues are always here, maybe just more exposed by all of this.
There’s a sense of “remoteness” here–about 100 miles to Spokane, Washington and 500 miles to Boise, Idaho’s state capital–a geographical “tension” that the Covid 19 situation brings out. For all the apparent or inherent “isolation,” we also are more “connected” than we might let on. Ordinarily, I would be coaching high school and middle school track right now. We’ll bus kids over a 100 miles one way to Kellogg, Idaho for an afternoon track meet on a school day. We may live in communities that are far apart, but we also interact across those distances. People go touristing from here—Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Tempe. I had some friends who went to Palawan and Phú Quốc this winter. They came back (wearing masks) just as everything was ramping up in the U.S.
We’re on a couple of major U.S. highway routes (U.S. 95 and U.S. 2) and the Great Northern railroad. Albertan cattle trucks roll through town every day, bound for feedlots and slaughterhouses–Spokane or maybe Yakima. On New Year’s Day this winter, a rock slide derailed a Burlington Northern diesel freight train into the Kootenai River. That one was bound for Pasco, coming from Minneapolis. At night, when I listen to the trains rumble through the valley, I think of all the trains–hauling oil from the Bakken in North Dakota, or Maersk and Yang Ming and Cosco shipping containers, or coal, or grain. Or passengers on the Amtrak’s Empire Builder. I think of our connection to the global system, even in this seemingly quiet corner of the world.
Will this whole thing make us think about complex realities? Political entities? Political unrest? Will we reflect on epidemiology, borders, regulations, public health, global travel, global trade, global war—or are we just reacting and/or moving on? Maybe we won’t have the time or energy or resources to do much else.
I teach high school during the day and community college at night. Our school district has been on a remote learning/”soft closure” set up since the middle of March. My college classes are now online. It’s been challenging trying to figure it all out, but honestly, I’ve been amazed at how adaptable and resilient families, students, and colleagues have been. I’m curious about where all of this will take “school.” One of my colleagues thinks we could be heading for significant changes. Who knows? It feels like this right now is the greatest “school” lesson.
It’s been interesting talking to students. I talked to a student yesterday who said he’s been working extra shifts at the grocery store and studying Norse mythology when he can. A couple who are working at the hops farm. Another who is working on a CDL. Another who is writing a “Coronavirus Diary.” A student who has been loading trees at one of nurseries and working on firefighter certifications, set to work the summer fire season with the Idaho Department of Lands. My son worked as an “essential laborer” the last couple of days putting shingles on a roof with my brother-in-law. Some students are flexing school and work around each other, some are buckling down on academics, preparing for the AP exams. Some are just working jobs, maybe 60 hours a week. Some are taking care of siblings. And there are some I haven’t heard from or been able to contact. One student who wrote, “Mr. Bonnell, if I wanted to go to school online I would have just left school freshman year to do it then. I need the motivation of the classroom.”
I am concerned for students who have limited internet and other infrastructure access, challenging or dangerous domestic situations, food insecurity, homelessness, etc. Students working one or two jobs to help out their families because their parents got laid off. Students who live in the woods and don’t have internet access. One student contacted me, worried about being late with an assignment because they had lost power in a wind storm and were having to keep their new chicks from freezing. There are so many stories like this here and everywhere across the globe. I read about all the people on the move in India, trying to outwalk starvation, even if it meant contracting the coronavirus.
Many of the details of my life have been altered—a truncated ski season at the local resort, where I work and recreate on the weekends; a canceled season of coaching track; different teaching methods; a daughter home early from college, finishing the semester at home and working in an “essential” industry at the grocery store; a son doing high school at home and figuring out several weeks of not seeing friends or working and playing at the ski resort; Rebecca navigating the challenges of working from home; a couple of months of not playing music out with friends at local bars or restaurants or church; a canceled trip to the American Literature Association conference in San Diego, where I was supposed to present a hybrid project with the Circle for Asian American Literature on transnational adoption and documents (including vaccination records, interestingly). But these are just inconveniences and disruptions, not tragedies.
Many details of life have been similar. We live close to town but in the middle of a beautiful stand of trees—western larch, cedar, Douglas fir, white fir, hemlock, Ponderosa pine, white pine, and birch. I go for morning and evening walks with lovely views of the valley and the surrounding mountains. Around school responsibilities, I continue to work on research projects about the Chăm, Bru, and Ê Đê. Some music. Some photography.
Mostly, I have been working and thinking. I think about the personal and collective social and psychological ramifications of all of this. I am thankful to have survived war and wartime orphaning/abandonment, malaria, and adoption–and I guess I find that personal history to be connected somehow to this present. Survival. Making the best of difficult times. I look around and see potential for good—kind deeds and art and storytelling/story listening—and also potential for various upheaval and fragmentation and destruction. We’ll see what happens.
As published at Unz Review and TruthSeeker, 5/8/20.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The Best of Linh Dinh


lewrockwell--2020-05-09--On the Necessity of Roots in Principle

On the Necessity of Roots in Principle

“ So the roots of the people who were unjust were cut off ; and all praise is due to God , the Lord of all that exists.
” Al-An ’ am , Ayah 45 With appreciation for recent Christian articles on this site , and apologies to Mr Walter Block ( surely an exception that proves the rule ) , one thing I am more certain about thanks to recent world events and turns is that secular societies do not have the strength to maintain their own purported convictions and principles .
This at least when the heat is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only when ) it counts .
And one can easily slip into a kind of lazy projection about this .
The error is all on whatever “ they ” one defines , and “ yes yes we are not perfect but the core problem is not with us ” .
All the while this dust-mote/beam impeded self and identity confirmation , creates a turbulence far from the the serenity promised by our Traditions .
I want to propose that there is tremendous spiritual ( and all below that ) danger in this .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Best Price : $ 5.16 Buy New $ 28.75 If I am right about secular societies and their long term fate , surely it is because principle is but a fair weather friend , without a strong footing in Principle .
And paralleling Gödel ’ s theorem , principle is impossible and riddled with internal contradiction , without the support of something which stands outside of and is not at all reliant on it .
I know a good man , whom I owe for guidance , that went from Nietzsche veneration to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ healthily I think ) via the full implications of Gödel ’ s theorem .
He understood how what he thought was a complete self supporting worldview was only an Illusion slapped together with “ Prejudice ” branded superglue , “ Prideful solipsism ” s famous and popular selling duct tape , and with a good coat of “ Hypocrisy ” logo paint , completing the package .
I was very much inspired to write this after enjoying my reading of Ms Yvonne Lorenzo ’ s “ The Love of many shall wax cold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose voice is deeply respected amongst my circles , and his analysis of the Nihilism underlying Liberalism and the modern zeitgeist is some of the most poignant and beautiful .
I think it ’ s useful to see Nihilism and modernity as a kind of epidemic disease of the Soul .
It works to weaken our “ Roots ” first of all , so that we are wide open then to all kinds of influences that our ancestry does not provide us yet any effective defense against , or ability to moderately interact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with .
Look how the originally African Spiritual beats of rock and roll took over all the West so fast and so readily , sending hordes of screaming fans at the time literally hysterical , in a way that was highly addictive .
An infection that becomes an identity ( idol ? )
, that then makes further infections likely .
When in late imperial China , Western Christian missionaries were conceded the right to promote their faith as they wished , one of the reactions that arose from the Chinese people ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was intense resentment to the spread of an influence ( or at least a manner of spreading that influence ) encouraging complete abandonment and denial of the legitimacy of the extant Traditions of the Chinese people .
It was the people themselves that started committing understandable ( if not acceptable ) violence against Christian missionaries , but especially against Chinese Christian converts .
The Boxer Rebellion and it ’ s sequelae , once the imperials began to support this tide , only served to further weaken China ’ s power as an empire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Communism is in many ways well ahead of Republican democracy in Nihilism , modernity , and Quantity over Quality .
The Indigenous Australian experience in encountering Western Christianity and Christian civilisation has many parallels too unfortunately .
The core of both Chinese and Indigenous Australian native “ faith ” ( easily missed as cultural artifact ) has much to do with ancestral and familial roots .
The Communist tinged turn in each People ’ s contemporary response is surely not coincidental .
I first become interested in Ms Lorenzo ’ s articles when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” using Western pagan imagery , much like Tolkien and C. S. Lewis .
Roots and ancestry , which Liberalism has such difficulty grappling with , and perhaps the Alt-Right overshoot on but are on the mark I think , and William Blake clearly wrestled with in his “ Everlasting Gospel ” , are vitally important .
They and our path on Principle are mutually stabilising .
As a recent Chinese Muslim Sufi “ revert ” myself , born and bred in the West ( Australia ) to become a deep appreciator of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the spirit underlying Ms Lorenzo ’ s conclusion here : “ My own recommendation… is for each of us to become less worldly , to help those we can , social distancing notwithstanding , to love God , Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit , to be watchful , to pray , and to resist , even at the pain of death , any who would compel us to deny our faith.
” Peace , blessing and strength to all of the beings that peruse this site for the sake of adhering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Contrary to popular opinion , a thing materialised is not made more real , just more clear .
Obvious , blunt and vulgar even .
God ’ s Revelation ... Fr .
Seraphim Rose Best Price : $ 2.00 Buy New $ 5.00 It is a fatal error to use the material as foundation below us from which to make a stand .
Much better rooted sub-stance should be sought and will be found in the form-al , God Willing .

“So the roots of the people who were unjust were cut off; and all praise is due to God, the Lord of all that exists.”
Al-An’am, Ayah 45
With appreciation for recent Christian articles on this site, and apologies to Mr Walter Block (surely an exception that proves the rule), one thing I am more certain about thanks to recent world events and turns is that secular societies do not have the strength to maintain their own purported convictions and principles. This at least when the heat is on, namely when (and perhaps only when) it counts.
And one can easily slip into a kind of lazy projection about this. The error is all on whatever “they” one defines, and “yes yes we are not perfect but the core problem is not with us”. All the while this dust-mote/beam impeded self and identity confirmation, creates a turbulence far from the the serenity promised by our Traditions. I want to propose that there is tremendous spiritual (and all below that) danger in this.
Gu00f6del’s Theorem Franzu00e9n, Torkel Best Price: $5.16 Buy New $28.75 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details) If I am right about secular societies and their long term fate, surely it is because principle is but a fair weather friend, without a strong footing in Principle. And paralleling Gödel’s theorem, principle is impossible and riddled with internal contradiction, without the support of something which stands outside of and is not at all reliant on it. I know a good man, whom I owe for guidance, that went from Nietzsche veneration to Traditional Catholicism (retaining Nietzsche appreciation, healthily I think) via the full implications of Gödel’s theorem. He understood how what he thought was a complete self supporting worldview was only an Illusion slapped together with “Prejudice” branded superglue, “Prideful solipsism”s famous and popular selling duct tape, and with a good coat of “Hypocrisy” logo paint, completing the package.
I was very much inspired to write this after enjoying my reading of Ms Yvonne Lorenzo’s “The Love of many shall wax cold“. Fr Seraphim Rose is one whose voice is deeply respected amongst my circles, and his analysis of the Nihilism underlying Liberalism and the modern zeitgeist is some of the most poignant and beautiful. I think it’s useful to see Nihilism and modernity as a kind of epidemic disease of the Soul. It works to weaken our “Roots” first of all, so that we are wide open then to all kinds of influences that our ancestry does not provide us yet any effective defense against, or ability to moderately interact and come to a wholesome equilibrium/mutual assimilation with. Look how the originally African Spiritual beats of rock and roll took over all the West so fast and so readily, sending hordes of screaming fans at the time literally hysterical, in a way that was highly addictive. An infection that becomes an identity (idol?), that then makes further infections likely.
When in late imperial China, Western Christian missionaries were conceded the right to promote their faith as they wished, one of the reactions that arose from the Chinese people (not the authorities to start with) was intense resentment to the spread of an influence (or at least a manner of spreading that influence) encouraging complete abandonment and denial of the legitimacy of the extant Traditions of the Chinese people. It was the people themselves that started committing understandable (if not acceptable) violence against Christian missionaries, but especially against Chinese Christian converts. The Boxer Rebellion and it’s sequelae, once the imperials began to support this tide, only served to further weaken China’s power as an empire and as a Tradition however. Centralised Communism is in many ways well ahead of Republican democracy in Nihilism, modernity, and Quantity over Quality.
The Indigenous Australian experience in encountering Western Christianity and Christian civilisation has many parallels too unfortunately. The core of both Chinese and Indigenous Australian native “faith” (easily missed as cultural artifact) has much to do with ancestral and familial roots. The Communist tinged turn in each People’s contemporary response is surely not coincidental.
I first become interested in Ms Lorenzo’s articles when I learned she wrote “Christian fiction” using Western pagan imagery, much like Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Roots and ancestry, which Liberalism has such difficulty grappling with, and perhaps the Alt-Right overshoot on but are on the mark I think, and William Blake clearly wrestled with in his “Everlasting Gospel”, are vitally important. They and our path on Principle are mutually stabilising. As a recent Chinese Muslim Sufi “revert” myself, born and bred in the West (Australia) to become a deep appreciator of Hoppean anarcho-capitalism, I can only stand with the spirit underlying Ms Lorenzo’s conclusion here:
“My own recommendation… is for each of us to become less worldly, to help those we can, social distancing notwithstanding, to love God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, to be watchful, to pray, and to resist, even at the pain of death, any who would compel us to deny our faith.”
Peace, blessing and strength to all of the beings that peruse this site for the sake of adhering to Principle, God Willing.
—
Contrary to popular opinion,
a thing materialised
is not made more real,
just more clear.
Obvious, blunt and vulgar even. God’s Revelation... Fr. Seraphim Rose Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $5.00 (as of 02:42 UTC - Details)
It is a fatal error
to use the material
as foundation
below us from which
to make a stand.
Much better rooted sub-stance
should be sought
and will be found
in the form-al,
God Willing.


lewrockwell--2020-05-09--Virus Mania: How the Medical Industry Continually Invents Epidemics, Making Billions

The authors of Virus Mania , journalist Torsten Engelbrecht and doctor of internal medicine Claus Köhnlein , show that these alleged contagious viruses are , in fact , particles produced by the cells themselves as a consequence of certain stress factors such as drugs .
These particles are then identified by antibody and PCR tests and interpreted as epidemic-causing viruses by doctors who have been inoculated for over 100 years by the theory that microbes are deadly and only modern medications and vaccines will protect us from virus pandemics .
In this book is discussed the decades-old recipe for profiteering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alternative toxic causes ; Good Intentions : How B ... Nussbaum , Bruce Best Price : $ 42.79 4 ] manipulating epidemiology with non-verifiable numbers to maximize the false perception ofan imminent catastrophe ; and The Content of this Book Has to Be Read , Quickly and Worldwide The book Virus Mania by Torsten Engelbrecht and Claus Köhnlein presents a tragicmessage that will , hopefully , contribute to the re-insertion of ethical values in the conduct ofvirus research , public health policies , media communications , and activities of thepharmaceutical companies .
Obviously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a verydangerous extent , neglected in many of these fields for an alarming number of years .
When American journalist Celia Farber courageously published , in Harper ’ s Magazine ( March 2006 ) the article “ Out of control—AIDS and the corruption of medical science , ” somereaders probably attempted to reassure themselves that this “ corruption ” was an isolatedcase .
This is very far from the truth as documented so well in this book by Engelbrecht andKöhnlein .
It is only the tip of the iceberg .
Corruption of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many major , supposedly contagious health problems , ranging from AIDS to Hepatitis C , Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE or “ mad cowdisease ” ) , SARS , Avian flu and current vaccination practices ( human papillomavirus or HPVvaccination ) .
The Chronic Fatigue Sy ... Ortleb , Charles Best Price : $ 16.55 Buy New $ 17.95 In research on all of these six distinct public health concerns scientific research on viruses ( or prions in the case of BSE ) slipped onto the wrong track following basically the samesystematic pathway @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steps : inventing the risk of adisastrous epidemic , incriminating an elusive pathogen , ignoring alternative toxic causes , manipulating epidemiology with non-verifiable numbers to maximize the false perception ofan imminent catastrophe , and promising salvation with vaccines .
Following this recipe guarantees largefinancial returns .
But how is it possible to achieve all of this ?
Simply by relying on the mostpowerful activator of human decision-making process , i.e .
FEAR !
We are not witnessing viral epidemics ; we are witnessing epidemics of fear .
And both themedia and the pharmaceutical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amplifying fears , fears that happen , incidentally , to always ignite fantastically profitable business .
Researchhypotheses covering these areas of virus research are practically never scientifically verifiedwith appropriate controls .
Instead , they are established by “ consensus.
” This is then rapidlyreshaped into a dogma , efficiently perpetuated in a quasi-religious manner by the media , including ensuring that research funding is restricted to projects supporting the dogma , excluding research into alternative hypotheses .
An important tool to keep dissenting voicesout of the debate is censorship at various levels ranging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fauci : The Bernie Mado ... Ortleb , Charles Buy New $ 5.99 We haven ’ t learnt well from past experiences .
There are still many unanswered questions onthe causes of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic , and on the role of viruses in post-WWII polio ( DDT neurotoxicity ? )
.
These modern epidemics should have opened our minds to morecritical analyses .
Pasteur and Koch had solidly constructed an understanding of infectionapplicable to many bacterial , contagious diseases .
But this was before the first viruses wereactually discovered .
Transposing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was , ofcourse , very tempting but should not have been done without giving parallel attention to theinnumerable risk factors in our toxic environment ; to the toxicity of many drugs , and to somenutritional deficiencies .
Cancer research had similar problems .
The hypothesis that cancer might be caused byviruses was formulated in 1903 , more than one century ago .
Even today it has never beenconvincingly demonstrated .
Most of the experimental laboratory studies by virus-huntershave been based on the use of inbred mice , inbred implying a totally unnatural geneticbackground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the study of human cancer ?
( we arefar from being inbred ! )
True , these mice made possible the isolation and purification of “ RNAtumor viruses , ” later renamed “ retroviruses ” and well characterized by electron microscopy .
But are these viral particles simply associated with the murine tumors , or are they truly theculprit of malignant transformation ?
Are these particles real exogenous infective particles , orendogenous defective viruses hidden in our chromosomes ?
The question is still debatable .
What is certain is that viral particles similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mice have never been seen nor isolated in human cancers .
Of mice and men… However , by the time this became clear , in the late 1960s , viral oncology had achieved adogmatic , quasi-religious status .
If viral particles can not be seen by electron microscopy inhuman cancers , the problem was with electron microscopy , not with the dogma of viraloncology !
Data and Goliath : The ... Bruce Schneier Best Price : $ 3.33 Buy New $ 11.03 This was the time molecular biology was taking a totally dominant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” for retroviruses were therefore invented ( reverse transcriptasefor example ) and substituted most conveniently for the absent viral particles , hopefullysalvaging the central dogma of viral oncology .
This permitted the viral hypothesis to survivefor another ten years , until the late 1970s , with the help of increasingly generous supportfrom funding agencies and from pharmaceutical companies .
However by 1980 the failure ofthis line of research was becoming embarrassingly evident , and the closing of some viral oncology laboratories would have been inevitable , except that… Except what ?
Virus cancer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ except that , in 1981 , fivecases of severe immune deficiencies were described by a Los Angeles physician , all amonghomosexual men who were also all sniffing amyl nitrite , were all abusing other drugs , abusing antibiotics , and probably suffering from malnutrition and STDs ( sexually transmitteddiseases ) .
It would have been logical to hypothesize that these severe cases of immunedeficiency had multiple toxic origins .
This would have amounted to incrimination of thesepatients ’ life-style… Unfortunately , such discrimination was , politically , totally unacceptable .
Therefore , anotherhypothesis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a contagious diseasecaused by a new…retrovirus !
Scientific data in support of this hypothesis was and , amazinglyenough , still is totally missing .
That did not matter , and instantaneous and passionate interestof cancer virus researchers and institutions erupted immediately .
This was salvation for theviral laboratories where AIDS now became , almost overnight , the main focus of research .
AIDSgenerated huge financial support from Big Pharma , more budget for the CDC and NIH , andnobody had to worry about the life-style of the patients who became at once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon labeled as HIV .
Twenty-five years later , the HIV/AIDS hypothesis has totally failed to achieve three majorgoals in spite of the huge research funding exclusively directed to projects based on it .
NoAIDS cure has ever been found ; no verifiable epidemiological predictions have ever beenmade ; and no HIV vaccine has ever been successfully prepared .
The Deep State : How an ... Chaffetz , Jason Best Price : $ 5.03 Buy New $ 17.05 Instead , highly toxic ( butnot curative ) drugs have been most irresponsibly used , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yetnot a single HIV particle has ever been observed by electron microscopy in the blood ofpatients supposedly having a high viral load !
So what ?
All the most important newspapersand magazine have displayed attractive computerized , colorful images of HIV that alloriginate from laboratory cell cultures , but never from even a single AIDS patient .
Despitethis stunning omission the HIV/AIDS dogma is still solidly entrenched .
Tens of thousands ofresearchers , and hundreds of major pharmaceutical companies continue to make hugeprofits based on the HIV hypothesis .
And not one single @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , HIV/AIDS is emblematic of the corruption of virus research that is remarkably andtragically documented in this book .
Research programs on Hepatitis C , BSE , SARS , Avian flu and current vaccination policies alldeveloped along the same logic , that of maximizing financial profits .
Whenever we try tounderstand how some highly questionable therapeutic policies have been recommended atthe highest levels of public health authorities ( WHO , CDC , RKI etc . )
, we frequently discovereither embarrassing conflicts of interests , or the lack of essential control experiments , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debate with authoritative scientists presentingdissident views of the pathological processes .
Manipulations of statistics , falsifications ofclinical trials , dodging of drug toxicity tests have all been repeatedly documented .
All havebeen swiftly covered up , and none have been able to , so far , disturb the cynical logic oftoday ’ s virus research business .
The Vitamin D Revoluti ... Soram Khalsa Best Price : $ 1.25 Buy New $ 10.69 The cover-up of the neurotoxicity of the mercury containingpreservative thimerosal as a highly probable cause of autism among vaccinated childrenapparently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government… ( see article “ DeadlyImmunity ” from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in chapter 8 ) Virus Mania is a social disease of our highly developed society .
To cure it will requireconquering fear , fear being the most-deadly contagious virus , most efficiently transmitted bythe media .
Errare humanum est sed diabolicum preservare… ( to err is human , but to preserve an erroris diabolic ) .
Professor Emeritus of Pathology at the University of Toronto and Member of the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research , New York ( 1956 – @ @

The authors of Virus Mania, journalist Torsten Engelbrecht and doctor of internal medicine Claus Köhnlein, show that these alleged contagious viruses are, in fact, particles produced by the cells themselves as a consequence of certain stress factors such as drugs. These particles are then identified by antibody and PCR tests and interpreted as epidemic-causing viruses by doctors who have been inoculated for over 100 years by the theory that microbes are deadly and only modern medications and vaccines will protect us from virus pandemics.
In this book is discussed the decades-old recipe for profiteering in viral epidemics:
1] inventing the risk of a “disastrous” epidemic;
2] incriminating an elusive pathogen;
3] ignoring alternative toxic causes; Good Intentions: How B... Nussbaum, Bruce Best Price: $42.79 (as of 05:07 UTC - Details)
4] manipulating epidemiology with non-verifiable numbers to maximize the false perception ofan imminent catastrophe; and
5] promising salvation with vaccines.
Foreword by Etienne de Harven
http://whale.to/a/virus_mania1.html
The Content of this Book Has to Be Read, Quickly and Worldwide
The book Virus Mania by Torsten Engelbrecht and Claus Köhnlein presents a tragicmessage that will, hopefully, contribute to the re-insertion of ethical values in the conduct ofvirus research, public health policies, media communications, and activities of thepharmaceutical companies. Obviously, elementary ethical rules have been, to a verydangerous extent, neglected in many of these fields for an alarming number of years.
When American journalist Celia Farber courageously published, in Harper’s Magazine(March 2006) the article “Out of control—AIDS and the corruption of medical science,” somereaders probably attempted to reassure themselves that this “corruption” was an isolatedcase. This is very far from the truth as documented so well in this book by Engelbrecht andKöhnlein. It is only the tip of the iceberg.
Corruption of research is a widespreadphenomenon currently found in many major, supposedly contagious health problems,ranging from AIDS to Hepatitis C, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or “mad cowdisease”), SARS, Avian flu and current vaccination practices (human papillomavirus or HPVvaccination). The Chronic Fatigue Sy... Ortleb, Charles Best Price: $16.55 Buy New $17.95 (as of 05:07 UTC - Details)
In research on all of these six distinct public health concerns scientific research on viruses(or prions in the case of BSE) slipped onto the wrong track following basically the samesystematic pathway. This pathway always includes several key steps: inventing the risk of adisastrous epidemic, incriminating an elusive pathogen, ignoring alternative toxic causes,manipulating epidemiology with non-verifiable numbers to maximize the false perception ofan imminent catastrophe, and promising salvation with vaccines.
Following this recipe guarantees largefinancial returns. But how is it possible to achieve all of this? Simply by relying on the mostpowerful activator of human decision-making process, i.e. FEAR!
We are not witnessing viral epidemics; we are witnessing epidemics of fear.
And both themedia and the pharmaceutical industry carry most of the responsibility for amplifying fears,fears that happen, incidentally, to always ignite fantastically profitable business.
Researchhypotheses covering these areas of virus research are practically never scientifically verifiedwith appropriate controls.
Instead, they are established by “consensus.”
This is then rapidlyreshaped into a dogma, efficiently perpetuated in a quasi-religious manner by the media,including ensuring that research funding is restricted to projects supporting the dogma,excluding research into alternative hypotheses.
An important tool to keep dissenting voicesout of the debate is censorship at various levels ranging from the popular media to scientificpublications. Fauci: The Bernie Mado... Ortleb, Charles Buy New $5.99 (as of 02:55 UTC - Details)
We haven’t learnt well from past experiences. There are still many unanswered questions onthe causes of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, and on the role of viruses in post-WWII polio(DDT neurotoxicity?).
These modern epidemics should have opened our minds to morecritical analyses. Pasteur and Koch had solidly constructed an understanding of infectionapplicable to many bacterial, contagious diseases. But this was before the first viruses wereactually discovered. Transposing the principles of bacterial infections to viruses was, ofcourse, very tempting but should not have been done without giving parallel attention to theinnumerable risk factors in our toxic environment; to the toxicity of many drugs, and to somenutritional deficiencies.
Cancer research had similar problems. The hypothesis that cancer might be caused byviruses was formulated in 1903, more than one century ago. Even today it has never beenconvincingly demonstrated. Most of the experimental laboratory studies by virus-huntershave been based on the use of inbred mice, inbred implying a totally unnatural geneticbackground. Were these mice appropriate models for the study of human cancer? (we arefar from being inbred!) True, these mice made possible the isolation and purification of “RNAtumor viruses,” later renamed “retroviruses” and well characterized by electron microscopy.
But are these viral particles simply associated with the murine tumors, or are they truly theculprit of malignant transformation? Are these particles real exogenous infective particles, orendogenous defective viruses hidden in our chromosomes? The question is still debatable.
What is certain is that viral particles similar to those readily recognized in cancerous andleukemic mice have never been seen nor isolated in human cancers. Of mice and men…
However, by the time this became clear, in the late 1960s, viral oncology had achieved adogmatic, quasi-religious status. If viral particles cannot be seen by electron microscopy inhuman cancers, the problem was with electron microscopy, not with the dogma of viraloncology!
Data and Goliath: The ... Bruce Schneier Best Price: $3.33 Buy New $11.03 (as of 06:05 UTC - Details) This was the time molecular biology was taking a totally dominant posture in viralresearch. “Molecular markers” for retroviruses were therefore invented (reverse transcriptasefor example) and substituted most conveniently for the absent viral particles, hopefullysalvaging the central dogma of viral oncology.
This permitted the viral hypothesis to survivefor another ten years, until the late 1970s, with the help of increasingly generous supportfrom funding agencies and from pharmaceutical companies. However by 1980 the failure ofthis line of research was becoming embarrassingly evident, and the closing of some viral oncology laboratories would have been inevitable, except that…
Except what? Virus cancer research would have crashed to a halt except that, in 1981, fivecases of severe immune deficiencies were described by a Los Angeles physician, all amonghomosexual men who were also all sniffing amyl nitrite, were all abusing other drugs,abusing antibiotics, and probably suffering from malnutrition and STDs (sexually transmitteddiseases). It would have been logical to hypothesize that these severe cases of immunedeficiency had multiple toxic origins. This would have amounted to incrimination of thesepatients’ life-style…
Unfortunately, such discrimination was, politically, totally unacceptable. Therefore, anotherhypothesis had to be found—these patients were suffering from a contagious diseasecaused by a new…retrovirus!
Scientific data in support of this hypothesis was and, amazinglyenough, still is totally missing. That did not matter, and instantaneous and passionate interestof cancer virus researchers and institutions erupted immediately. This was salvation for theviral laboratories where AIDS now became, almost overnight, the main focus of research. AIDSgenerated huge financial support from Big Pharma, more budget for the CDC and NIH, andnobody had to worry about the life-style of the patients who became at once the innocentvictims of this horrible virus, soon labeled as HIV.
Twenty-five years later, the HIV/AIDS hypothesis has totally failed to achieve three majorgoals in spite of the huge research funding exclusively directed to projects based on it. NoAIDS cure has ever been found; no verifiable epidemiological predictions have ever beenmade; and no HIV vaccine has ever been successfully prepared. JUST IMAGINE...: A SEC... Holmes, Dr Joel S Buy New $7.95 (as of 11:28 UTC - Details)
Instead, highly toxic (butnot curative) drugs have been most irresponsibly used, with frequent, lethal side effects. Yetnot a single HIV particle has ever been observed by electron microscopy in the blood ofpatients supposedly having a high viral load! So what?
All the most important newspapersand magazine have displayed attractive computerized, colorful images of HIV that alloriginate from laboratory cell cultures, but never from even a single AIDS patient. Despitethis stunning omission the HIV/AIDS dogma is still solidly entrenched. Tens of thousands ofresearchers, and hundreds of major pharmaceutical companies continue to make hugeprofits based on the HIV hypothesis. And not one single AIDS patient has ever been cured…
Yes, HIV/AIDS is emblematic of the corruption of virus research that is remarkably andtragically documented in this book.
Research programs on Hepatitis C, BSE, SARS, Avian flu and current vaccination policies alldeveloped along the same logic, that of maximizing financial profits. Whenever we try tounderstand how some highly questionable therapeutic policies have been recommended atthe highest levels of public health authorities (WHO, CDC, RKI etc.), we frequently discovereither embarrassing conflicts of interests, or the lack of essential control experiments, andalways the strict rejection of any open debate with authoritative scientists presentingdissident views of the pathological processes.
Manipulations of statistics, falsifications ofclinical trials, dodging of drug toxicity tests have all been repeatedly documented.
All havebeen swiftly covered up, and none have been able to, so far, disturb the cynical logic oftoday’s virus research business. The Vitamin D Revoluti... Soram Khalsa Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $10.69 (as of 08:00 UTC - Details)
The cover-up of the neurotoxicity of the mercury containingpreservative thimerosal as a highly probable cause of autism among vaccinated childrenapparently reached the highest levels of the US government… (see article “DeadlyImmunity” from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in chapter 8)
Virus Mania is a social disease of our highly developed society. To cure it will requireconquering fear, fear being the most-deadly contagious virus, most efficiently transmitted bythe media.
Errare humanum est sed diabolicum preservare… (to err is human, but to preserve an erroris diabolic).
Etienne de Harven, MD
Professor Emeritus of Pathology at the University of Toronto and
Member of the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York (1956 – 1981)
Member of Thabo Mbeki’s IDS Advisory Panel of South Africa
President of Rethinking AIDS (www.rethinkaids.net)