lewrockwell--2020-04-18--Stepping Outside the Medical Fortress

Stepping Outside the Medical Fortress

Once upon a time , men built a medical fortress to protect humans from dangers .
Eventually , some of the protected began to realize the new problem : they were inside the fortress .
That ’ s where a great deal of the trouble was .
The casual observer knows bits and pieces of modern medicine ’ s history : the famous Flexner Report of 1910 , sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation ; the switch from a patchwork quilt of snake oils , nostrums , simple natural practices , and sophisticated therapies to Rockefeller pharmaceutical medicine ; the advancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Med was a new entry on the scene ; muscling in , striving to become the leading competitor in a crowded field .
How Fear Works : Cultur ... Furedi , Frank Best Price : $ 10.04 Buy New $ 10.90 But soon enough , what was lurking in the shadows emerged : the ambition for monopoly .
The rigging of an exclusive Pharma Standard , against which “ lesser ” healing approaches would have to be measured .
Resulting from an alliance between pharmaceutical medicine and government , those older approaches would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best , suffer classification as second-class citizens .
What an idea—government sanctioned and protected medicine .
Where in the Constitution was a provision made for such an audacious and tyrannical concept ?
Flash forward to these times .
There are so many illustrations of the power of Pharma and medical care , you can close your eyes and point in any direction and they ’ ll be there .
On television , the veteran viewer is pounded by drug commercials around the clock .
These ads conspire to claim hundreds and hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world and require immediate diagnosis and treatment .
The world IS medical .
The breaks between commercials brim with fact and fiction story telling about doctors , hospitals , and prominent people who suddenly faced medical crises and achieved rescue through treatment .
( Absurdly , networks employ “ reporters ” who actually specialize in digging up these human interest tragedy-to triumph mini biographies . )
Step by step , leap by bound , the whole culture has become saturated with The Medical .
For many people now , the thought of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adolescence , without doctors issuing edicts and writing prescriptions every few months… “ I mean , I guess I can imagine it , the way I can imagine the old days when people didn ’ t have refrigerators.
” Mothers watching their children for early signs of a sniffle resemble momma cheetahs crouched on promontories scanning the horizon for predators with a yen for their cubs .
THE NATURAL AND INEVITABLE OUTGROWTH OF ALL THIS “ CULTURE ” IS EPIDEMICS .
If they didn ’ t exist , they would have to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Recent history reveals they don ’ t exist and the fake IMPRESSION of them HAS been invented .
In Harm ’ s Way : H ... Matsakis PhD , Aphrodit ... Best Price : $ 3.99 Buy New $ 45.00 And why stop with advertising an epidemic ?
Call it a pandemic .
Inventing the idea of a pandemic is now as easy as selling a new Honda .
The benefits to the monopolists are obvious .
Profits from the sale of drugs and vaccines .
De facto if not legal mandates to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cashing in on conditioning populations to accept medical orders of any kind—thus enrolling humans in utero-to-grave care as they trudge along bleak highways of diagnoses and treatments .
“ So , people , tell me what we ’ re shooting for now .
Is it forty , sixty , a hundred diagnoses per life per human ?
Our marketing departments are restructuring and they want to know.
” Pandemics with mass lockdowns are the next frontier , and we ’ re there .
The lockdowns , plus television , FOCUS people on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It would be on the order of the Cadillac Company having the ability to induce people to contemplate their cars day and night .
Sitting alone , in rooms .
This is what the alliance between modern medicine and government has achieved .
And as I say , the invention of fake pandemics is entirely expected .
I Can ’ t Get Over ... Matsakis PhD , Aphrodit ... Best Price : $ 2.41 Buy New $ 15.00 An unscrupulous pharmaceutical CEO who shoots 100 on the country club golf course…he and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woods trying to find his lost ball…the CEO pulls a new ball out of his pocket , looks around furtively , and places it in a nice little patch of short grass and says : FOUND IT .
The obsessive caddy whispers to his boss , “ Sir , just want to make sure you know , when people take enough drugs and vaccines , they ’ re debilitated .
They follow orders more dutifully .
They ’ re easier to…rule.
” The CEO gives the caddy a look that says it all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m the boss .
I ’ m in the greatest business in the world .
It ’ s self-perpetuating .
Now hand me my six-iron .
Spread out along the fairways , towers support giant neon signs flashing : ZOLOFT , PAXIL , VICODIN , ZOCOR , LISINOPRIL , LEVOTHYROXIN , METFORMIN , DTaP , TWINRIX , HAVRIX , GARDASIL… Beyond the fences of the golf course , we can see stone and brick walls rising , and turrets , and gatehouses , and keeps .
The golf course is inside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sits a hospital .
Red lights blazing , ambulances are pulling up .
Workers are unloading people on stretchers .
Outside the fortress , armed guards are patrolling the perimeter .
One guard with gray hair and a rough weathered face turns to his buddy and says , “ You know the boss in there , the fat guy who shoots a hundred , who owns the place ?
A few months ago , I met him at a charity event .
I introduced him to my son .
Can you believe it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I told him Jimmy is getting good grades in high school , and the next day Jimmy has a job cleaning the signs on the fairway .
Now it looks like he ’ s going to get a scholarship to college .
I mean , I cried .
I never asked the boss for a dime .
There are some good people around here .
You just have to be patient… ” Dr. Mary ’ s Monke ... Haslam , Edward T. Best Price : $ 11.15 Buy New $ 10.00 Deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clubhouse , the CEO is addressing a gaggle of his senior aides in a quiet room : “ We ’ re leaking , people .
Or someone is leaking somewhere .
Details about the operation are finding their way into articles and videos .
I hold you responsible .
We must have a tight seal on this thing .
I go back to basics .
PANDEMICS ARE MARKETING TOOLS .
Nothing more , nothing less .
If we know that , we approach our business with a keen eye .
A hundred years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ culture are NOT going to go down the drain because somebody with a conscience decides to blow the whistle .
The virus is real because we say it ’ s real .
People are dying for the reasons WE announce .
Our current pandemic label , COVID-19 , is legitimate because we made it up , and what we invent is automatically true .
Nothing else is .
Do you get it ?
We control the story .
Without us , there is no story .
Now , to bury the leaks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Our brand .
Spread it like peanut butter and jelly and clouds and rain and snow and demons on the loose and Armageddon and cyanide and I want the great unwashed snitching on each other for a cough like East Germany and I want Biblical plagues falling from the sky and I want case numbers jacked up into the hundreds of millions and I want those idiots at Google and Facebook and Twitter to black out every single goddamn counter to our position by tomorrow and I want the biggest celebrities in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the moon saying we ’ re all in this together and we ’ ll get through it and I want Obama and Bush and Hillary and Romney and the Pope to say stay at home and I want China to report a wave of new cases and I want Italy to say Michelangelo ’ s David is infected and I want the CDC and WHO to say the danger of reinfection is death and I want hundreds more high-production made-on-sound-stage videos of wild chaotic overflowing ICUs distributed to the press and I want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to every American immediately and I want a slam bang in your face and down you go VACCINE to hit the market by next week and I want a slew of military vessels at sea to declare quarantines and I want… ” There was silence in the room .
Finally , one aide asked , “ Where will you be , Rex , if we need to talk to you up close and personal ?
” “ Out on the golf course looking for a lost ball .
Those things cost six dollars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ... Illich , Ivan Best Price : $ 8.93 Buy New $ 13.03 “ Rex , Rex , ” the aide says , “ you send kids to college on scholarships , and you ’ re worried about the price of a golf ball ?
” “ Some of those kids become doctors .
Pharmaceutical agents .
Golf balls don ’ t do anything for me.
” “ They sure don ’ t .
Have you broken a hundred yet ?
” Rex nods .
“ Good point .
But playing lousy golf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anger into my work .
With genetic implants—if I don ’ t turn into a gargoyle—I hope to live long enough to see the day when every damn human on Earth is hooked on our drugs .
For that to come true , we ’ re going to need more pandemics… ” The Best of Jon Rappoport

Part 1
Once upon a time, men built a medical fortress to protect humans from dangers.
Eventually, some of the protected began to realize the new problem: they were inside the fortress. That’s where a great deal of the trouble was.
The casual observer knows bits and pieces of modern medicine’s history: the famous Flexner Report of 1910, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation; the switch from a patchwork quilt of snake oils, nostrums, simple natural practices, and sophisticated therapies to Rockefeller pharmaceutical medicine; the advancing technology of surgery…
At first, Rocky Med was a new entry on the scene; muscling in, striving to become the leading competitor in a crowded field. How Fear Works: Cultur... Furedi, Frank Best Price: $10.04 Buy New $10.90 (as of 03:28 UTC - Details)
But soon enough, what was lurking in the shadows emerged: the ambition for monopoly. The rigging of an exclusive Pharma Standard, against which “lesser” healing approaches would have to be measured.
Resulting from an alliance between pharmaceutical medicine and government, those older approaches would go down to defeat, or at best, suffer classification as second-class citizens.
What an idea—government sanctioned and protected medicine. Where in the Constitution was a provision made for such an audacious and tyrannical concept?
Flash forward to these times. There are so many illustrations of the power of Pharma and medical care, you can close your eyes and point in any direction and they’ll be there.
On television, the veteran viewer is pounded by drug commercials around the clock. These ads conspire to claim hundreds and hundreds of conditions and diseases are loose in the world and require immediate diagnosis and treatment. The world IS medical.
The breaks between commercials brim with fact and fiction story telling about doctors, hospitals, and prominent people who suddenly faced medical crises and achieved rescue through treatment. (Absurdly, networks employ “reporters” who actually specialize in digging up these human interest tragedy-to triumph mini biographies.)
Step by step, leap by bound, the whole culture has become saturated with The Medical. For many people now, the thought of a time when humans managed to survive beyond adolescence, without doctors issuing edicts and writing prescriptions every few months… “I mean, I guess I can imagine it, the way I can imagine the old days when people didn’t have refrigerators.” Mothers watching their children for early signs of a sniffle resemble momma cheetahs crouched on promontories scanning the horizon for predators with a yen for their cubs.
THE NATURAL AND INEVITABLE OUTGROWTH OF ALL THIS “CULTURE” IS EPIDEMICS.
If they didn’t exist, they would have to be invented. Let me qualify that. Recent history reveals they don’t exist and the fake IMPRESSION of them HAS been invented. In Harm’s Way: H... Matsakis PhD, Aphrodit... Best Price: $3.99 Buy New $45.00 (as of 05:19 UTC - Details)
And why stop with advertising an epidemic? Call it a pandemic.
Inventing the idea of a pandemic is now as easy as selling a new Honda.
The benefits to the monopolists are obvious. Profits from the sale of drugs and vaccines. De facto if not legal mandates to take the drugs and vaccines. Long-term cashing in on conditioning populations to accept medical orders of any kind—thus enrolling humans in utero-to-grave care as they trudge along bleak highways of diagnoses and treatments.
“So, people, tell me what we’re shooting for now. Is it forty, sixty, a hundred diagnoses per life per human? Our marketing departments are restructuring and they want to know.”
Pandemics with mass lockdowns are the next frontier, and we’re there. The lockdowns, plus television, FOCUS people on the inner game of Medical: THINK SICK.
It’s a major winner.
It would be on the order of the Cadillac Company having the ability to induce people to contemplate their cars day and night. Sitting alone, in rooms.
This is what the alliance between modern medicine and government has achieved.
And as I say, the invention of fake pandemics is entirely expected.
Part 2
I Can’t Get Over... Matsakis PhD, Aphrodit... Best Price: $2.41 Buy New $15.00 (as of 05:19 UTC - Details) An unscrupulous pharmaceutical CEO who shoots 100 on the country club golf course…he and his CDC caddy are thrashing through the woods trying to find his lost ball…the CEO pulls a new ball out of his pocket, looks around furtively, and places it in a nice little patch of short grass and says: FOUND IT.
The obsessive caddy whispers to his boss, “Sir, just want to make sure you know, when people take enough drugs and vaccines, they’re debilitated. They follow orders more dutifully. They’re easier to…rule.”
The CEO gives the caddy a look that says it all: Of course I know. I’m the boss. I’m in the greatest business in the world. It’s self-perpetuating. Now hand me my six-iron.
Spread out along the fairways, towers support giant neon signs flashing: ZOLOFT, PAXIL, VICODIN, ZOCOR, LISINOPRIL, LEVOTHYROXIN, METFORMIN, DTaP, TWINRIX, HAVRIX, GARDASIL…
Beyond the fences of the golf course, we can see stone and brick walls rising, and turrets, and gatehouses, and keeps.
The golf course is inside the fortress.
Just behind the 18th green sits a hospital. Red lights blazing, ambulances are pulling up. Workers are unloading people on stretchers.
Outside the fortress, armed guards are patrolling the perimeter. One guard with gray hair and a rough weathered face turns to his buddy and says, “You know the boss in there, the fat guy who shoots a hundred, who owns the place? A few months ago, I met him at a charity event. I introduced him to my son. Can you believe it? My son met the big honcho. I told him Jimmy is getting good grades in high school, and the next day Jimmy has a job cleaning the signs on the fairway. Now it looks like he’s going to get a scholarship to college. I mean, I cried. I never asked the boss for a dime. There are some good people around here. You just have to be patient…”
Dr. Mary’s Monke... Haslam, Edward T. Best Price: $11.15 Buy New $10.00 (as of 11:10 UTC - Details) Deep in the recesses of the lavishly appointed clubhouse, the CEO is addressing a gaggle of his senior aides in a quiet room: “We’re leaking, people. Or someone is leaking somewhere. Details about the operation are finding their way into articles and videos. I hold you responsible. We must have a tight seal on this thing. I go back to basics. PANDEMICS ARE MARKETING TOOLS. Nothing more, nothing less. If we know that, we approach our business with a keen eye. A hundred years of building a wall to wall medical culture are NOT going to go down the drain because somebody with a conscience decides to blow the whistle. The virus is real because we say it’s real. People are dying for the reasons WE announce. Our current pandemic label, COVID-19, is legitimate because we made it up, and what we invent is automatically true. Nothing else is. Do you get it? We control the story. Without us, there is no story. Now, to bury the leaks, our tactic must be MORE STORY. Our brand. Spread it like peanut butter and jelly and clouds and rain and snow and demons on the loose and Armageddon and cyanide and I want the great unwashed snitching on each other for a cough like East Germany and I want Biblical plagues falling from the sky and I want case numbers jacked up into the hundreds of millions and I want those idiots at Google and Facebook and Twitter to black out every single goddamn counter to our position by tomorrow and I want the biggest celebrities in the world on every channel from here to the moon saying we’re all in this together and we’ll get through it and I want Obama and Bush and Hillary and Romney and the Pope to say stay at home and I want China to report a wave of new cases and I want Italy to say Michelangelo’s David is infected and I want the CDC and WHO to say the danger of reinfection is death and I want hundreds more high-production made-on-sound-stage videos of wild chaotic overflowing ICUs distributed to the press and I want two thousand dollar pacifying checks sent out to every American immediately and I want a slam bang in your face and down you go VACCINE to hit the market by next week and I want a slew of military vessels at sea to declare quarantines and I want…”
He stopped talking.
There was silence in the room.
Finally, one aide asked, “Where will you be, Rex, if we need to talk to you up close and personal?”
“Out on the golf course looking for a lost ball. Those things cost six dollars apiece.” Limits to Medicine: Me... Illich, Ivan Best Price: $8.93 Buy New $13.03 (as of 03:19 UTC - Details)
Laughter, applause.
“Rex, Rex,” the aide says, “you send kids to college on scholarships, and you’re worried about the price of a golf ball?”
“Some of those kids become doctors. Pharmaceutical agents. Golf balls don’t do anything for me.”
“They sure don’t. Have you broken a hundred yet?”
More laughter.
Rex nods. “Good point. But playing lousy golf makes me angry. I channel that anger into my work. With genetic implants—if I don’t turn into a gargoyle—I hope to live long enough to see the day when every damn human on Earth is hooked on our drugs. For that to come true, we’re going to need more pandemics…”
Reprinted with permission from Jon Rappoport’s blog.
The Best of Jon Rappoport


Remain Indoors

As a bit of light relief , to round out a sunny Bank Holiday weekend , we ’ d like @ @ @ @ @ ’ s chillingly brilliant – and tragically topical – series of sketches on…The Event .
@ @ @ @ @ dystopian landscape perhaps years in the future , or possibly as close as next Wednesday @ @ @ @ @ off to be voltage-calmed , chow down on a protein fudge , and prepare to @ @ @ @ @ of the Riches ... Donald Jeffries Best Price : $ 7.29 Buy New $ 11.50 @ @ @ @ @ : ... Kiriakou , John Best Price : $ 13.51 Buy New $ 13.51

As a bit of light relief, to round out a sunny Bank Holiday weekend, we’d like to present Mitchell and Webb’s chillingly brilliant – and tragically topical – series of sketches on…The Event.
A stark depiction of a dystopian landscape perhaps years in the future, or possibly as close as next Wednesday.
So send the children off to be voltage-calmed, chow down on a protein fudge, and prepare to enjoy the show.
Originally published at OffGuardian.
Survival of the Riches... Donald Jeffries Best Price: $7.29 Buy New $11.50 (as of 07:10 UTC - Details) Doing Time Like A Spy:... Kiriakou, John Best Price: $13.51 Buy New $13.51 (as of 04:59 UTC - Details)


lewrockwell--2020-04-20--Coronavirus Crisis Reopens 150-Year-Old Controversy

I look at the coronavirus crisis differently from most people .
To me , it ’ s the reopening of a 150-year-old scientific controversy that much of the western world has forgotten .
French scientist Louis Pasteur ( 1822-1895 ) is widely celebrated as “ the father of germ theory ” — the idea that we become sick when our bodies are invaded by foreign organisms such as bacteria , molds , fungi , and of course viruses .
Although the idea had been circulating long before Pasteur achieved eminence , his laboratory work in the 1860s appeared to provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missing .
What ’ s not widely known is that other French scientists working in the same field in that era held somewhat different beliefs , known as the “ terrain theory ” .
They believed that the most important factor that determines whether or not a person becomes ill is not the presence of a germ , but rather the preparedness of the body ’ s internal environment ( the “ soil ” or terrain ) to repel or destroy the germ .
One of the main terrain-theory scientists was Antoine Béchamp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were bitter rivals over several scientific issues .
The book Pasteur : Plagiarist , Imposter ( R. B. Pearson , 1942 ) even suggests that Pasteur plagiarized some of his work from Béchamp—no doubt a sore point with the latter , who ultimately died in obscurity .
Pasteur , by contrast , became a skilled self-promoter who literally managed to make his name a household word long past the time of his death .
Pasteur : Plagiarist , I ... R. B. Pearson Buy New $ 44.95 The other main proponent of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , who ( notwithstanding their differences of opinion on scientific issues ) was a close friend and associate of Pasteur ’ s .
At the end of his life , Pasteur is said to have recognized the importance of what Bernard had been trying to tell him , remarking , “ Bernard avait raison .
Le germ n ’ est rien , c ’ est le terrain qui est tout.
” ( Bernard was right .
The germ is nothing , it ’ s the soil that is everything . )
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her doctoral thesis on Béchamp , alleging that Pasteur was not only a plagiarist but also a fraud and falsifier of experimental data .
But regardless of Pasteur ’ s character , and regardless of whether he recanted at the end or not , what lives on after him is the mindset , clearly visible amongst most of today ’ s medical professionals and health care bureaucrats , that it is the germ ( formally designated SARS-CoV-2 ) that has to be tracked down , isolated , avoided , and eradicated—and that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrain ” , to conventional modern thinkers , is nothing .
For instance , on the Ontario government ’ s website telling its citizens what to do about COVID-19 , its advice consists entirely of measures designed to prevent people from coming in contact with the virus : stay home , wash your hands often , don ’ t touch your face , maintain physical distancing and wear a mask when you have to go out .
No mention is made of any measures individuals can take to ensure their immune systems are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the French scientists would have put it , their terrain is well prepared to mount a defence ) .
It ’ s almost as though the Ontario government doesn ’ t believe human beings have immune systems or that they ’ re of any use whatsoever .
The only hope , Ontario seems to believe , is for a pharmaceutical company to patent a vaccine , because that is the only way that human beings can defend themselves against a virus , or acquire immunity .
In fact , Ontario and Canada have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people from looking for methods of helping themselves .
Ontario ’ s website says “ there is no specific treatment ” for COVID-19 .
End of story .
Canada ’ s government-owned broadcasting company , the CBC , recently published this article denouncing “ bogus cures ” including vitamin C , zinc , medicinal mushrooms and oil of oregano .
Vitamin D3 , Zinc and M ... Jeffers , Nancy Best Price : null Buy New $ 6.98 This official attitude is utter nonsense—there is actually an abundance of scientific evidence supporting various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people ’ s immune systems to repel or overcome viral infections .
Take zinc , for example .
Many COVID-19 patients have mentioned as symptoms the loss of their senses of smell and taste .
According to the BBC , these symptoms affects as many as 18 percent of infected patients .
This CNN article says that some people will take days or weeks to recover these senses after having the virus , while others may take months or years .
But the loss of these senses is a well-established symptom of zinc @ @ @ @ @ @ @ either of the two articles cited , and apparently not known to most of the mainstream medical community .
Yet here is a PubMed study connecting zinc deficiencies with “ smell and taste disturbances ” .
Here ’ s one specifically connecting “ older patients ” with zinc deficiencies and loss of acuity in the senses of taste and smell .
Both of these studies also mention that zinc deficiencies lead to impaired immune function or an increased risk of infection .
Can medical “ experts ” and governments not connect the dots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hormone , actually ) well recognized by scientists to have antiviral benefits .
Google Scholar lists 3,670 research reports published in 2020 alone containing the words “ vitamin D ” and “ virus ” .
But rather than recommending adequate amounts of vitamin D to Canadians , Health Canada has for many years discouraged people from supplementing with it .
“ Most Canadians are getting enough vitamin D ” says this government website , recommending only that people over 50 might want to take the paltry amount of 400 international units ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pages recommend slightly more—this one , for instance , which says adults over 70 should take up to 800 IU daily .
Never do their recommendations come even close to those of the Vitamin D Society , a consortium of scientists who study this subject .
Their FAQ brochure recommends at least 4,000 IU daily to maintain a healthy serum vitamin D level .
But it gets worse .
Vitamin D is actually free , if people would only go outdoors in the summer and expose their skin appropriately to the sun .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ phone apps that tell you when the sun is in the right position for your location , how long you should stay out , and how much of your body needs to be exposed in order to get the right dosage .
The apps can also be used to determine how to prevent a burn .
The Healing Nutrients ... Eric R. Braverman Best Price : $ 2.00 Buy New $ 1.99 Instead of telling Canadians how to get this free vitamin , Health Canada has told them for years to do exactly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every time they go outdoors in summer and never to expose their skin to the sun .
How many Canadians have died , and will continue to die , of unnecessary health ailments ( including COVID-19 ) because their government has given them this extraordinarily bad advice ?
Americans are no better off .
The National Institutes of Health fact sheet on vitamin D recommends the same 800 IU maximum that Canada recommends .
And it says , “ The American Academy of Dermatology advises that photoprotective measures be taken , including the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposed to the sun.
” That ’ s no surprise , really .
The US government is bedded down even more cozily than the Canadian government with the pharmaceutical companies who will eventually be licenced to produce the sacred vaccine .
But while Pasteur ’ s germ-theory mindset reigns in officialdom , savvy consumers seem to be following Béchamp and Bernard , without ever having heard of them .
Vitamin C , zinc lozenges , and more exotic supplements such as monolaurin ( a derivative of coconut oil which in laboratory tests destroys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to soap ) have been flying off store shelves .
Online sellers can ’ t keep them in stock as word spreads among the public that there ’ s more they can do than merely trust their governments .
Epidemiologists busily debate the pros and cons of lockdowns and masks in controlling the spread of the virus , but I have yet to see a single report of anyone who has thought to compare the serum vitamin D levels of those who succumbed , versus those who recovered , versus those who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sort of data they should be looking at , but imbued with the germ-theory mindset , they are allowing this valuable information to slip away .
I hope this article will change that .
How Not To Die With Tr ... Henriques , Tiago Best Price : $ 18.23 Buy New $ 17.97 The Vitamin D Revoluti ... Soram Khalsa Best Price : $ 1.25 Buy New $ 10.69

I look at the coronavirus crisis differently from most people. To me, it’s the reopening of a 150-year-old scientific controversy that much of the western world has forgotten.
French scientist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) is widely celebrated as “the father of germ theory”— the idea that we become sick when our bodies are invaded by foreign organisms such as bacteria, molds, fungi, and of course viruses. Although the idea had been circulating long before Pasteur achieved eminence, his laboratory work in the 1860s appeared to provide the scientific proof that had previously been missing.
What’s not widely known is that other French scientists working in the same field in that era held somewhat different beliefs, known as the “terrain theory”. They believed that the most important factor that determines whether or not a person becomes ill is not the presence of a germ, but rather the preparedness of the body’s internal environment (the “soil” or terrain) to repel or destroy the germ.
One of the main terrain-theory scientists was Antoine Béchamp (1816-1908). Pasteur and Béchamp were bitter rivals over several scientific issues. The book Pasteur: Plagiarist, Imposter (R. B. Pearson, 1942) even suggests that Pasteur plagiarized some of his work from Béchamp—no doubt a sore point with the latter, who ultimately died in obscurity. Pasteur, by contrast, became a skilled self-promoter who literally managed to make his name a household word long past the time of his death. Pasteur: Plagiarist, I... R. B. Pearson Buy New $44.95 (as of 04:02 UTC - Details)
The other main proponent of the terrain theory was Claude Bernard (1813-1878), who (notwithstanding their differences of opinion on scientific issues) was a close friend and associate of Pasteur’s. At the end of his life, Pasteur is said to have recognized the importance of what Bernard had been trying to tell him, remarking, “Bernard avait raison. Le germ n’est rien, c’est le terrain qui est tout.” (Bernard was right. The germ is nothing, it’s the soil that is everything.)
In 1982, French scholar Marie Nonclercq published her doctoral thesis on Béchamp, alleging that Pasteur was not only a plagiarist but also a fraud and falsifier of experimental data. But regardless of Pasteur’s character, and regardless of whether he recanted at the end or not, what lives on after him is the mindset, clearly visible amongst most of today’s medical professionals and health care bureaucrats, that it is the germ (formally designated SARS-CoV-2) that has to be tracked down, isolated, avoided, and eradicated—and that’s all that matters. The “terrain”, to conventional modern thinkers, is nothing.
For instance, on the Ontario government’s website telling its citizens what to do about COVID-19, its advice consists entirely of measures designed to prevent people from coming in contact with the virus: stay home, wash your hands often, don’t touch your face, maintain physical distancing and wear a mask when you have to go out.
No mention is made of any measures individuals can take to ensure their immune systems are operating at peak efficiency (or as the French scientists would have put it, their terrain is well prepared to mount a defence). It’s almost as though the Ontario government doesn’t believe human beings have immune systems or that they’re of any use whatsoever. The only hope, Ontario seems to believe, is for a pharmaceutical company to patent a vaccine, because that is the only way that human beings can defend themselves against a virus, or acquire immunity.
In fact, Ontario and Canada have gone out of their way to discourage people from looking for methods of helping themselves. Ontario’s website says “there is no specific treatment” for COVID-19. End of story. Canada’s government-owned broadcasting company, the CBC, recently published this article denouncing “bogus cures” including vitamin C, zinc, medicinal mushrooms and oil of oregano. Vitamin D3, Zinc and M... Jeffers, Nancy Buy New $6.98 (as of 03:40 UTC - Details)
This official attitude is utter nonsense—there is actually an abundance of scientific evidence supporting various nutritional supplements as being instrumental in preparing people’s immune systems to repel or overcome viral infections.
Take zinc, for example. Many COVID-19 patients have mentioned as symptoms the loss of their senses of smell and taste. According to the BBC, these symptoms affects as many as 18 percent of infected patients. This CNN article says that some people will take days or weeks to recover these senses after having the virus, while others may take months or years.
But the loss of these senses is a well-established symptom of zinc deficiency, a fact not mentioned in either of the two articles cited, and apparently not known to most of the mainstream medical community. Yet here is a PubMed study connecting zinc deficiencies with “smell and taste disturbances”. Here’s one specifically connecting “older patients” with zinc deficiencies and loss of acuity in the senses of taste and smell. Both of these studies also mention that zinc deficiencies lead to impaired immune function or an increased risk of infection. Can medical “experts” and governments not connect the dots?
Vitamin D is another nutrient (a hormone, actually) well recognized by scientists to have antiviral benefits. Google Scholar lists 3,670 research reports published in 2020 alone containing the words “vitamin D” and “virus”.
But rather than recommending adequate amounts of vitamin D to Canadians, Health Canada has for many years discouraged people from supplementing with it. “Most Canadians are getting enough vitamin D” says this government website, recommending only that people over 50 might want to take the paltry amount of 400 international units (IU) daily. Other Canadian governments pages recommend slightly more—this one, for instance, which says adults over 70 should take up to 800 IU daily. Never do their recommendations come even close to those of the Vitamin D Society, a consortium of scientists who study this subject. Their FAQ brochure recommends at least 4,000 IU daily to maintain a healthy serum vitamin D level.
But it gets worse. Vitamin D is actually free, if people would only go outdoors in the summer and expose their skin appropriately to the sun. These days, there are even cell phone apps that tell you when the sun is in the right position for your location, how long you should stay out, and how much of your body needs to be exposed in order to get the right dosage. The apps can also be used to determine how to prevent a burn. The Healing Nutrients ... Eric R. Braverman Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $1.99 (as of 04:25 UTC - Details)
Instead of telling Canadians how to get this free vitamin, Health Canada has told them for years to do exactly the opposite: to slather on sunscreen every time they go outdoors in summer and never to expose their skin to the sun.
How many Canadians have died, and will continue to die, of unnecessary health ailments (including COVID-19) because their government has given them this extraordinarily bad advice?
Americans are no better off. The National Institutes of Health fact sheet on vitamin D recommends the same 800 IU maximum that Canada recommends. And it says, “The American Academy of Dermatology advises that photoprotective measures be taken, including the use of sunscreen, whenever one is exposed to the sun.”
That’s no surprise, really. The US government is bedded down even more cozily than the Canadian government with the pharmaceutical companies who will eventually be licenced to produce the sacred vaccine.
But while Pasteur’s germ-theory mindset reigns in officialdom, savvy consumers seem to be following Béchamp and Bernard, without ever having heard of them. Vitamin C, zinc lozenges, and more exotic supplements such as monolaurin (a derivative of coconut oil which in laboratory tests destroys the viral envelope in a manner similar to soap) have been flying off store shelves. Online sellers can’t keep them in stock as word spreads among the public that there’s more they can do than merely trust their governments.
Epidemiologists busily debate the pros and cons of lockdowns and masks in controlling the spread of the virus, but I have yet to see a single report of anyone who has thought to compare the serum vitamin D levels of those who succumbed, versus those who recovered, versus those who have never become infected. This is the sort of data they should be looking at, but imbued with the germ-theory mindset, they are allowing this valuable information to slip away.
I hope this article will change that.
How Not To Die With Tr... Henriques, Tiago Best Price: $18.23 Buy New $17.97 (as of 08:00 UTC - Details) The Vitamin D Revoluti... Soram Khalsa Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $10.69 (as of 08:00 UTC - Details)
The Best of Karen Selick


Surgical Masks

It has been a few years since I last wrote an essay for your superb website , a little fresh virtual ink so to speak .
As always government turns things upside down .
I spent nine years working in Cardiac Surgery and I learned a thing or two about healthcare during this time .
Here are my opinions along with a little science .
Surgeons .
nurses and other operating room personnel in a surgical suite wear masks .
They wear these masks in an attempt to mitigate the affects of the normal human body .
During surgery the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sterile interior to the outside un-sterile world .
This world is a biological soup of dirt , debris , chemicals , viruses and bacteria .
Any of these landing in the sterile interior can potentially be very bad leading to infections , sepsis and death .
Human beings respire and with the warm breath can come any number of things of the aforementioned biological soup .
Surgical suites can not prevent airflow and the wind can bring lots of un-sterile things into the sterile field .
I have never seen a gas tight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the patient/staff enter/exit the air we breathe can drag a lot of other things along for the ride .
Homemade Hand Sanitize ... Smith , Rebecca Buy New $ 8.99 Surgical masks protect the patient from the surgical staff and the un-sterile surgical environment they were not designed to protect the wearer of the mask from the patient !
Fast forward to the current mess the government has thrown us into and daily there is a cry for more masks to protect everyone from the coronoavirus .
Social distancing is a policy designed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I go to the grocery store every day to get a feel for what is available and what is not , my own economic research .
I also buy things that were not available yesterday but might ne today .
In the past week about half the customers in the store have started to wear masks so the other half do not .
Same thing with the staff .
Many of these masks you can tell have been worn many times , not the use once and discard one finds in a surgical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put on , taken off and stored ( who knows where ) so much for their cleanliness .
A little physics here is what the ideal gas law and kinetic theory can tell us .
Gases at room temperature have an average velocity around 400 meters/second .
Fast .
Now gas molecules bump into one another thus the mean free path ( how far they move between collisions ) is relatively small ; which means gas molecules do not go very far before they bump into one another .
In vacuum a feather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same speed but in the atmosphere at ground level the feather will stay in the air longer , same thing with a virus particle .
A coronoavirus is much bigger than an atom but is still tiny compared to the macroscopic world of multi-cellular animal life like us .
This means that they will stay in the air for sometime before being pulled down by gravity .
Thus cornoavirus particles can and will seep around the edges of the surgical mask .
These masks do not make a gas tight seal .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from talking , breathing , coughing or sneezing of the surgical staff from getting into the sterile body cavity !
Same thing goes for whatever is found in mustaches and beards .
Washing one ’ s hands every time you are outside of your home promptly when you return and not touching your eyes , face and mouth are very important as these are the portal through which viruses can enter the body .
In my opinion this is more important than wearing a mask unless you are positive for coronoavirus and you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I would also recommend buying a sterile saline nose spray to keep the lining of your nose moist which is known to prevent viruses and bacteria from getting across the skin barrier into the blood stream .
The Doctors Book of Ho ... Prevention Magazine Ed ... Best Price : $ 0.15 Buy New $ 9.28 Hand sanitizer is in short supply .
My local Walgreen ’ s ran out of rubbing alcohol a day or two into the declared social distancing .
Rubbing alcohol ( also known as isopropyl alcohol ) is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect will posion any virus or bacteria it comes in contact with .
A little chemistry here : liquid dish detergent is a superb cleaning agent .
Put a spot the size of a quarter in your hand , rub it all over your hands before wetting with water .
Detergents are a class of chemicals called surfactants ; they lower the surface tension of water thus serve to dissolve contamination from the surface of the skin .
Add a small amount of water and vigorously rub your hands together before rinsing with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to feel when your hands are rinsed clean .
I always recommend buying generic household chemicals as they are less expensive since they do not have advertising budgets and TV time priced into their contents .
Sam ’ s Club sells a gallon of pink dish washing liquid for $ 5 , a very cost effective solution .
While they limit purchases to one per day they have not run out so far .
If all else fails and you are desperate for a sanitizing solution go to your local hardware store , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buy a gallon of denatured alcohol , it costs about $ 15 .
Quarts are about $ 8 .
Use a tablespoon in place of hand sanitizer and it will get the job done .
There are a lot of tablespoons in a gallon .
You CAN NOT drink it , it is not that kind of ethyl alcohol !
!
!
The government requires a poison be added , this is the denaturing part , to prevent drinking !
It will work just fine as a hand sanitizer .
Do not buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you can not get denatured alcohol , as they really are poisonous .
All of these sanitizing agents also strip the natural oils and chemicals the body coats the surface of the skin with .
Every pore of your skin exudes these chemicals .
They are an essential part of your immune system !
Use a ‘ skin moisturizing ’ lotion .
I prefer Lubriderm and Cerave but almost any one will do .
Read the ingredients listed .
Ingredients are required by law to be listed in the order of decreasing amount @ @ @ @ @ @ @ present in the greatest amount , the second next largest on down .
A useful federal law !
Use this to restore ‘ moisture ’ .
This moisture is actually a layer of an oily chemicals and it will help protect the skin while it your metabolism restores its chemical balance .
Curing the Incurable : ... Best Price : $ 12.95 Buy New $ 44.02 Americans have been conditioned by advertising to bathe daily and keep ‘ clean ’ .
This is a product of the marketing department to increase sales but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at large .
Animals spent roughly 500 million years evolving and nature always knows best .
If nature went to the trouble of developing skin as part of your immune system then it is best to try and preserve it .
We do not need to use/scrub surfactant chemicals every day to get that clean feeling ; we are stripping these essential chemicals from our skin .
I recommend washing the crotch/arm pits with surfactant cleaners and let flowing water do the rest .
Shampoo strips natural chemicals from your hair .
Back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test of rinsing my hair with water when showering but not using shampoo and I found that after about three weeks the luster returned once I stopped stripping away the essential chemicals that nature provided .
no more shampoo , not that I need it anymore .
Asthma is literally unknown in the third world ; a world with as lot less bathing and daily surfactant application .
Many believe this is the cause of asthma .
I do not know but I do know someone severely asthamatic and their solution was to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solution .
A little chemistry here can go a long way with helping the body and its natural biochemistry provide the immunity which is what always saves us .
The great Roman orator Cicero wrote , roughly fifty years before Christ was born that , “ the physician treats but nature heals.
” He was beheaded by the Roman government at age 63 , a classic government program if ever there was one .
“ It is not knowledge , but the act of learning , not possession but the act of getting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777-1855 The Best of George Giles

As always government turns things upside down. I spent nine years working in Cardiac Surgery and I learned a thing or two about healthcare during this time. Here are my opinions along with a little science.
Surgeons. nurses and other operating room personnel in a surgical suite wear a mask. They wear these masks trying to mitigate the effects of the normal human body. During surgery the body cavity is open, exposing the sterile interior to the outside un-sterile world. This world is a biological soup of dirt, debris, chemicals, viruses and bacteria. Any of these landing in the sterile interior can potentially be very bad leading to infections, sepsis and death.
Human beings respire and with the warm breath can come any number of things of the aforementioned biological soup. Surgical suites cannot prevent airflow and the wind can bring lots of un-sterile things into the sterile field. I have never seen a gas tight surgical suite with an airlock so when the patient/staff enter/exit the air we breathe can drag a lot of other things along for the ride. Homemade Hand Sanitize... Smith, Rebecca Buy New $8.99 (as of 09:37 UTC - Details)
Surgical masks protect the patient from the surgical staff they were not designed to protect the wearer of the mask from the patient!
Fast forward to the current mess the government has thrown us into and daily there is a cry for more masks to protect everyone from the coronoavirus. Social distancing is a policy designed to implement this along with masks. I go to the grocery store every day to get a feel for what is available and what is not, my own economic research. I also buy things that were not available yesterday but might be today. In the past week about half the customers in the store have started to wear masks so the other half do not. Same thing with the staff. Many of these masks you can tell have been worn many times, not the use once and discard one finds in a surgical environment. This means they have been put on, taken off and stored (who knows where) so much for their cleanliness.
A little physics here is what the ideal gas law and kinetic theory can tell us. Gases at room temperature have an average velocity around 400 meters per second. Fast. Now gas molecules bump into one another thus the mean free path (how far they move between collisions) is relatively small; which means gas molecules do not go very far before they bump into one another. In vacuum a feather and an iron shot-put fall at the same speed but in the atmosphere at ground level the feather will stay in the air much longer than the shot put, same thing with a virus particle. A coronavirus is much bigger than an atom but is still tiny compared to the macroscopic world of multi-cellular animal life like us. This means that they will stay in the air for some time before being pulled down by gravity. Coronavirus particles can and will seep around the edges of the surgical mask. These masks do not make a gas tight seal. They were designed to contain spittle and particles from talking, breathing, coughing or sneezing of the surgical staff from getting into the sterile body cavity! Same thing goes for whatever is found in mustaches and beards. The Doctors Book of Ho... Prevention Magazine Ed... Best Price: $0.15 Buy New $9.28 (as of 02:47 UTC - Details)
Washing one’s hands every time you are outside of your home promptly when you return and not touching your eyes, face and mouth are very important as these are the portal through which viruses can enter the body. In my opinion this is more important than wearing a mask unless you are positive for coronavirus and you do not want to infect others! I would also recommend buying a sterile saline nose spray to keep the lining of your nose moist which is known to prevent viruses and bacteria from getting across the skin barrier into the blood stream.
Hand sanitizer is in short supply. My local Walgreen’s ran out of rubbing alcohol a day or two into the declared social distancing. Rubbing alcohol (also known as isopropyl alcohol) is what ‘sanitizes’ as it in effect will posion any virus or bacteria it comes in contact with.
A little chemistry here: liquid dish detergent is a superb cleaning agent. Put a spot the size of a quarter in your hand, rub it all over your hands before wetting with water. Detergents are a class of chemicals called surfactants; they lower the surface tension of water thus serve to dissolve contamination from the surface of the skin. Add a small amount of water and vigorously rub your hands together before rinsing with flowing water. You will be able to feel when your hands are rinsed clean. I always recommend buying generic household chemicals as they are less expensive since they do not have advertising budgets and TV time priced into their contents. Sam’s Club sells a gallon of pink dish washing liquid for $5, a cost-effective solution. While they limit purchases to one per day they have not run out so far.
Curing the Incurable: ... Best Price: $12.95 Buy New $44.02 (as of 03:06 UTC - Details) If all else fails and you are desperate for a sanitizing solution go to your local hardware store, Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy a gallon of denatured alcohol, it costs about $15. Quarts are about $8. Use a tablespoon in place of hand sanitizer and it will get the job done. There are a lot of tablespoons in a gallon. You CANNOT drink it, it is not that kind of ethyl alcohol!!! The government requires a poison be added, this is the denaturing part, to prevent drinking! It will work just fine as a hand sanitizer. Do not buy acetone, mineral spirits or turpentine if you cannot get denatured alcohol, as they really are poisonous.
These sanitizing agents also strip the natural oils and chemicals the body coats the surface of the skin with. Every pore of your skin exudes these chemicals. They are an essential part of your immune system! Use a ‘skin moisturizing’ lotion. I prefer Lubriderm and Cerave but almost any will do. Read the ingredients listed. Ingredients are required by law to be listed in the order of decreasing amount. The first chemical listed will be present in the greatest amount, the second next largest on down. A useful federal law! Use this to restore ‘moisture’. You can use tis to compare contents of the different brands. This moisture is actually a layer of an oily chemicals and it will help protect the skin while your metabolism restores its chemical balance.
Americans have been conditioned by advertising to bathe daily and keep ‘clean’. This is a product of the marketing department to increase sales but works to the detriment of society at large. Animals spent roughly 500 million years evolving and nature always knows best. If nature went to the trouble of developing skin as part of your immune system then it is best to try and preserve it. We do not need to use/scrub surfactant chemicals every day to get that clean feeling; we are stripping these essential chemicals from our skin. I recommend washing the crotch/arm pits with surfactant cleaners and let flowing water do the rest. Shampoo strips natural chemicals from your hair. Back when I had hair I did a test of rinsing my hair with water when showering but not using shampoo and I found that after about three weeks the luster returned once I stopped stripping away the essential chemicals that nature provided. no more shampoo, not that I need it anymore. Antiviral Strategies a... Vasquez, Alex Best Price: $24.05 Buy New $23.75 (as of 11:07 UTC - Details)
Asthma is literally unknown in the third world; a world with a lot less bathing and daily surfactant application. Many believe this is the cause of asthma. I do not know but I do know someone severely asthmatic and their solution was to cut down on showering, a natural solution.
A little chemistry here can go a long way with helping the body and its natural biochemistry provide the immunity which is what always saves us. The great Roman orator Cicero wrote, roughly fifty years before Christ was born that, “the physician treats but nature heals.” He was beheaded by the Roman government at age 63, a classic government program if ever there was one.
The Best of George Giles


lewrockwell--2020-04-20--Why the Shutdown Must End

Why the Shutdown Must End

The shutdown of the American economy should end as soon as possible .
We have reached the point where fear and panic have precluded logic and facts .
The damage from our overreaction to the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to prove greater than the death toll from the disease itself .
The virus is not containable , and our attempt to achieve the unachievable grows more costly every day .
Covid-19 is not proving as deadly as first imagined .
Last March 16 , a group of researchers at Imperial College in London predicted 510,000 deaths in the UK and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ten days , these early estimates were revised downward by more than an order of magnitude .
As I write , the best estimate of ultimate deaths from Covid-19 in the US is about 60,000 , the same as the 61,000 people who died from influenza during the winter of 2017-2018 .
Yet we continue to suffer from a shutdown whose imposition was justified by a fallacious model prediction .
Black & White : Politic ... Deming , David Best Price : $ 4.47 Buy New $ 12.58 The spread of the Corona @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is necessary because , in the absence of a vaccine , the only way to counteract the disease is to build immunity in the population .
A person who contracts the infection and recovers is immune .
They can no longer become ill or spread the disease .
Infection and recovery is the most effective vaccination possible .
Last March 3 , the World Health Organization estimated the mortality rate from Covid-19 to be 3.4 percent .
We now know that this early estimate was much too high because testing was limited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , more extensive testing has found that half the infected population is entirely asymptomatic , and that the corresponding mortality rate is in the neighborhood of 0.1 percent .
Thus 99.9 percent of the people who get the disease further the goal of building immunity in the population .
Although this is an inconvenience for those who are affected , these infections accomplish an ultimate good .
The whole idea behind shutdowns and quarantines is not to reduce cumulative mortality , but to “ flatten the curve ” so that our health care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need intensive care may be saved by this strategy but the net mortality reduction is likely to be small .
Shutdowns and quarantines will prolong the course of the pandemic .
When social distancing ends , as it must eventually , the disease will simply resume its inevitable course through the population .
Flattening the curve does not reduce the area under the curve .
Where did we get the idea that some businesses and occupations are “ non-essential ?
” In a market economy , every job is essential .
And every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who depends on it for their livelihood .
In the midst of a pandemic it ’ s sensible to ban mass gatherings of hundreds and thousands of people .
But local governments are now imposing restrictions that make little sense .
Parks and golf courses have been closed .
The imposition of evening curfews is baffling .
Every government official with totalitarian instincts now has the moral justification to impose arbitrary and senseless curtailments on freedom of movement and association .
When Money Dies : The N ... Adam Fergusson Best Price : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in the midst of a supposed epidemic , hospitals all over the nation are closing down for a lack of patients .
Why ?
Because government officials ordered them to cancel all elective medical procedures so they could be prepared to receive a crush of Covid-19 patients that never arrived .
In the last four weeks , we ’ ve lost 22 million jobs .
In our panic over the Covid-19 pandemic , we seem to have forgotten that a robust economy supports health care , education , fire and police protection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical infrastructure that maintains human civilization .
The toll from the artificial induction of poverty may ultimately exceed lives lost to the disease .
In 2011 , researchers at Columbia University found that poverty contributes to 133,000 premature deaths annually in the US .
Our stop-gap solution , massive government spending , is no panacea .
Prosperity comes from production , not spending , borrowing , and taxing .
If we don ’ t reverse course in a matter of days , we ’ re on our way to national suicide .
Economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Price : $ 6.50 Buy New $ 6.00 From Bretton Woods to ... Hazlitt , Henry Best Price : $ 12.00 Buy New $ 52.12 The Best of David Deming

The shutdown of the American economy should end as soon as possible. We have reached the point where fear and panic have precluded logic and facts. The damage from our overreaction to the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to prove greater than the death toll from the disease itself. The virus is not containable, and our attempt to achieve the unachievable grows more costly every day.
Covid-19 is not proving as deadly as first imagined. Last March 16, a group of researchers at Imperial College in London predicted 510,000 deaths in the UK and 2.2 million in the US. Within ten days, these early estimates were revised downward by more than an order of magnitude. As I write, the best estimate of ultimate deaths from Covid-19 in the US is about 60,000, the same as the 61,000 people who died from influenza during the winter of 2017-2018. Yet we continue to suffer from a shutdown whose imposition was justified by a fallacious model prediction.
Black & White: Politic... Deming, David Best Price: $4.47 Buy New $12.58 (as of 01:22 UTC - Details) The spread of the Corona virus is both inevitable and necessary. It is necessary because, in the absence of a vaccine, the only way to counteract the disease is to build immunity in the population. A person who contracts the infection and recovers is immune. They can no longer become ill or spread the disease. Infection and recovery is the most effective vaccination possible.
Last March 3, the World Health Organization estimated the mortality rate from Covid-19 to be 3.4 percent. We now know that this early estimate was much too high because testing was limited to individuals exhibiting severe symptoms. Subsequently, more extensive testing has found that half the infected population is entirely asymptomatic, and that the corresponding mortality rate is in the neighborhood of 0.1 percent. Thus 99.9 percent of the people who get the disease further the goal of building immunity in the population. Although this is an inconvenience for those who are affected, these infections accomplish an ultimate good.
The whole idea behind shutdowns and quarantines is not to reduce cumulative mortality, but to “flatten the curve” so that our health care facilities are not overwhelmed. Individuals who need intensive care may be saved by this strategy but the net mortality reduction is likely to be small. Shutdowns and quarantines will prolong the course of the pandemic. When social distancing ends, as it must eventually, the disease will simply resume its inevitable course through the population. Flattening the curve does not reduce the area under the curve.
Where did we get the idea that some businesses and occupations are “non-essential?” In a market economy, every job is essential. And every job is certainly essential to the person who depends on it for their livelihood. In the midst of a pandemic it’s sensible to ban mass gatherings of hundreds and thousands of people. But local governments are now imposing restrictions that make little sense. Parks and golf courses have been closed. The imposition of evening curfews is baffling. Every government official with totalitarian instincts now has the moral justification to impose arbitrary and senseless curtailments on freedom of movement and association. When Money Dies: The N... Adam Fergusson Best Price: $1.97 Buy New $10.08 (as of 10:10 UTC - Details)
Ironically, in the midst of a supposed epidemic, hospitals all over the nation are closing down for a lack of patients. Why? Because government officials ordered them to cancel all elective medical procedures so they could be prepared to receive a crush of Covid-19 patients that never arrived. In the last four weeks, we’ve lost 22 million jobs. In our panic over the Covid-19 pandemic, we seem to have forgotten that a robust economy supports health care, education, fire and police protection, and the construction and maintenance of critical infrastructure that maintains human civilization. The toll from the artificial induction of poverty may ultimately exceed lives lost to the disease. In 2011, researchers at Columbia University found that poverty contributes to 133,000 premature deaths annually in the US. Our stop-gap solution, massive government spending, is no panacea. Prosperity comes from production, not spending, borrowing, and taxing. If we don’t reverse course in a matter of days, we’re on our way to national suicide.
Economic Depressions (... Murray N. Rothbard Best Price: $6.50 Buy New $6.00 (as of 06:35 UTC - Details) From Bretton Woods to ... Hazlitt, Henry Best Price: $12.00 Buy New $52.12 (as of 03:11 UTC - Details)
The Best of David Deming


lewrockwell--2020-04-20--Cakes and Ale for Shut-ins

Cakes and Ale for Shut-ins

“ There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man , by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.
” Samuel Johnson Hermitic homebodies might not go along with Boswell ’ s drinking buddy .
It ’ s the wayfarers who can all agree : Johnson is as right in 2020 as he was in 1791 when his life story hit stands .
Cabin fever is about the next worst thing to the coronavirus .
Card-carrying true believers in hitting town and throwing down would even say that that order is reversed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ who ’ d be willing to take their chances bellying up to the bar tonight .
In the meantime , no one has got a clue how long going out will continue to seem like a distant fantasy .
People who used to get every meal at a public table are learning mysteries of the microwave .
George H W pegged it 28 years too early when he said : “ We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much.
” Roadhouses have staged English-speaking culture ’ s rowdy animation for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only drive communal boozing slightly underground .
The American Revolution got a lot of it ’ s rolling steam in The Green Dragon of Boston .
Places like it all over the original 13 served a similar function .
Chaucer begins his tales in the seedy and sordid Tabard Inn .
Henry Fielding ’ s rascals and anti-heroes , from Joseph Andrews , Tom Jones and elsewhere , were constantly conniving ways to fund another pub crawl .
Their escapades would deliver a lot less color without louche dives as backgrounds .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Best Price : $ 5.13 Buy New $ 12.95 Languid hours in front of laptops , even when bottles are on hand , supply sorry substitutes to fancy French joints , pretentious bistros , greasy gin mills and everything in between .
Friends , strangers , and often foes , provide a lot more entertainment , not to mention potential adrenaline , in the flesh .
Meanwhile , as the shutdown continues , George III ’ s henchmen ’ s successors , in a federal snoop center near you , are in on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everything else on the planet , are always going through changes .
Since the ‘ 70s shifts have accelerated and not necessarily by popular demand .
Computers frequently stand in the way of ease in communication .
Culinary trends and exorbitant rents have driven places that thrived for decades out to be replaced by others , more “ conceptual , ” that never make the first penny before closing shop .
Government intrusions and litigious havoc place elements of fear into environments designed , theoretically , for relaxation .
Dietary alarmists don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that accuse commonly consumed foods of being poisons .
Their hypochondriacal disciples tend to arrive in packed houses , otherwise , tyrannical demands don ’ t get the full effect .
Ravenous—and emotionally healthy–guests , placing naïve trust in a kitchen running at full tilt , will just have to wait .
Pompous patrons who enjoy throwing weight around were once allowed only so much leeway .
Social media sites , that put cranks on a par with the Michelin Tire Co. , enable pathological vipers ’ free shots at victims that can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a modern convenience that allows everyone–from proprietors to the dishwasher—to be a subject of anonymous sadistic humiliation .
The 30-Minute Autoimmu ... Thompson , Connor Buy New $ 17.99 The cultural carnage of coronaphobia will hit hardest in places where people once felt at home—in no few cases more at home than at home—when they are not there .
By the time regular haunts are ready for haunting again that barkeep who made the place might be found under the bridge .
What is likely to remain standing when this gale subsides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locations around the continent—a board room will decide what is good enough for you .
Pre-programmed , depersonalized and bland to the level of your highschool cafeteria may be the next phase .
Soylent green brought to you by a kitchen with shares traded on the NYSE .
In some ways the dining out scene has been trending towards one size fits all without Wall Street ’ s help .
Before the turn of the latest century , lively debate—between strangers or regulars–was thriving in public spaces—including ones that served alcohol .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reason to go in .
Shrill , sensitive personalities felt social pressure to restrain themselves rather than everybody else .
Bartenders could be erudite souls with wry punchlines…and some patrons might object .
Other options were just steps away .
It ’ s getting harder all the time to find places where witlessness is not a requirement of welcome .
The moment an exchange becomes interesting you ’ ve crossed a line .
Among other things , a good tavern can be perpetual performance art .
Why go to the Bauhaus gallery when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
How to Cook Everything ... Bittman , Mark Best Price : $ 24.05 Buy New $ 11.65 Restaurateurs are suffering waves of pressure to be all things to all people .
It isn ’ t just the political correctness and creative angles of taking offense .
Receipts barely keep pace with bills , particularly the landlords—on that count South Manhattan is not necessarly guiltless—so management begins to bend to all comers .
The demands of eccentrically insecure people paint the experience gray for customers who know why they are there and what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t know the Barbizon School from the Ashcan , maybe Olive Garden ’ s “ hospitaliano ” will hit your special spot .
In a high-stress environment like a restaurant , wherein a clutch things must stay in rapid motion , one dunder-head–and that head doesn ’ t have to start with “ dunder ” –goes an enormously long way .
That ’ s something to keep in mind if there ’ s any hope that our once rich nightlife culture might revive .
Never invent a problem that doesn ’ t exist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , pubs , dining establishments—are vital to healthy society not just for the commodities they purvey but because they help make people think .
If the British really recognized what they were up against their dragoons would have torched the Green Dragon—before Sons of Liberty mobs sparked the homes of Crown revenuers .
East India company tea would have steeped at 212 degrees Fahrenheit instead of floating in the icy December waters of Boston Harbor .
Anyone finding happiness basting in his own unconfronted thoughts makes a subtle distinction with misery .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in clutches of algorithmists at Google , Facebook , Twitter and their kindred .
An isolated population makes an ideal audience for central sources of propaganda .
Virtual human contact is a recipe for virtual human happiness .
In that stage of civilization , Dr. Johnson ’ s notion of bliss may come to resemble poetry from an untranslatable dead language .
The Best of Tim Hartnett

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.” Samuel Johnson
Hermitic homebodies might not go along with Boswell’s drinking buddy. It’s the wayfarers who can all agree: Johnson is as right in 2020 as he was in 1791 when his life story hit stands. Cabin fever is about the next worst thing to the coronavirus. Card-carrying true believers in hitting town and throwing down would even say that that order is reversed. There are healthy herds in every hamlet who’d be willing to take their chances bellying up to the bar tonight. In the meantime, no one has got a clue how long going out will continue to seem like a distant fantasy. People who used to get every meal at a public table are learning mysteries of the microwave. George H W pegged it 28 years too early when he said: “We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much.”
Roadhouses have staged English-speaking culture’s rowdy animation for centuries. Prohibition and government goons could only drive communal boozing slightly underground. The American Revolution got a lot of it’s rolling steam in The Green Dragon of Boston. Places like it all over the original 13 served a similar function. Chaucer begins his tales in the seedy and sordid Tabard Inn. Henry Fielding’s rascals and anti-heroes, from Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and elsewhere, were constantly conniving ways to fund another pub crawl. Their escapades would deliver a lot less color without louche dives as backgrounds. The Micronutrient Mira... Calton CN, Mira Best Price: $5.13 Buy New $12.95 (as of 04:55 UTC - Details)
Languid hours in front of laptops, even when bottles are on hand, supply sorry substitutes to fancy French joints, pretentious bistros, greasy gin mills and everything in between. Friends, strangers, and often foes, provide a lot more entertainment, not to mention potential adrenaline, in the flesh. Meanwhile, as the shutdown continues, George III’s henchmen’s successors, in a federal snoop center near you, are in on every conversation.
Public eateries, like everything else on the planet, are always going through changes. Since the ‘70s shifts have accelerated and not necessarily by popular demand. Computers frequently stand in the way of ease in communication. Culinary trends and exorbitant rents have driven places that thrived for decades out to be replaced by others, more “conceptual,” that never make the first penny before closing shop. Government intrusions and litigious havoc place elements of fear into environments designed, theoretically, for relaxation.
Dietary alarmists don’t improve the climate selling faddish myths that accuse commonly consumed foods of being poisons. Their hypochondriacal disciples tend to arrive in packed houses, otherwise, tyrannical demands don’t get the full effect. Ravenous—and emotionally healthy–guests, placing naïve trust in a kitchen running at full tilt, will just have to wait. Pompous patrons who enjoy throwing weight around were once allowed only so much leeway. Social media sites, that put cranks on a par with the Michelin Tire Co., enable pathological vipers’ free shots at victims that can’t strike back. It’s a modern convenience that allows everyone–from proprietors to the dishwasher—to be a subject of anonymous sadistic humiliation. The 30-Minute Autoimmu... Thompson, Connor Buy New $17.99 (as of 02:51 UTC - Details)
The cultural carnage of coronaphobia will hit hardest in places where people once felt at home—in no few cases more at home than at home—when they are not there. By the time regular haunts are ready for haunting again that barkeep who made the place might be found under the bridge. What is likely to remain standing when this gale subsides will look familiar—in ten thousand or more locations around the continent—a board room will decide what is good enough for you. Pre-programmed, depersonalized and bland to the level of your highschool cafeteria may be the next phase. Soylent green brought to you by a kitchen with shares traded on the NYSE.
In some ways the dining out scene has been trending towards one size fits all without Wall Street’s help. Before the turn of the latest century, lively debate—between strangers or regulars–was thriving in public spaces—including ones that served alcohol. A stirring level of civil confrontation was a reason to go in. Shrill, sensitive personalities felt social pressure to restrain themselves rather than everybody else. Bartenders could be erudite souls with wry punchlines…and some patrons might object. Other options were just steps away. It’s getting harder all the time to find places where witlessness is not a requirement of welcome. The moment an exchange becomes interesting you’ve crossed a line. Among other things, a good tavern can be perpetual performance art. Why go to the Bauhaus gallery when you’re keen on Norman Rockwell?
How to Cook Everything... Bittman, Mark Best Price: $24.05 Buy New $11.65 (as of 04:05 UTC - Details) Restaurateurs are suffering waves of pressure to be all things to all people. It isn’t just the political correctness and creative angles of taking offense. Receipts barely keep pace with bills, particularly the landlords—on that count South Manhattan is not necessarly guiltless—so management begins to bend to all comers. The demands of eccentrically insecure people paint the experience gray for customers who know why they are there and what they want. If you don’t know the Barbizon School from the Ashcan, maybe Olive Garden’s “hospitaliano” will hit your special spot.
In a high-stress environment like a restaurant, wherein a clutch things must stay in rapid motion, one dunder-head–and that head doesn’t have to start with “dunder”–goes an enormously long way. That’s something to keep in mind if there’s any hope that our once rich nightlife culture might revive. Never invent a problem that doesn’t exist.
Informal public spaces to convene—coffee shops, pubs, dining establishments—are vital to healthy society not just for the commodities they purvey but because they help make people think. If the British really recognized what they were up against their dragoons would have torched the Green Dragon—before Sons of Liberty mobs sparked the homes of Crown revenuers. East India company tea would have steeped at 212 degrees Fahrenheit instead of floating in the icy December waters of Boston Harbor. Anyone finding happiness basting in his own unconfronted thoughts makes a subtle distinction with misery.
While everyone is stranded the truth will founder in clutches of algorithmists at Google, Facebook, Twitter and their kindred. An isolated population makes an ideal audience for central sources of propaganda. Virtual human contact is a recipe for virtual human happiness. In that stage of civilization, Dr. Johnson’s notion of bliss may come to resemble poetry from an untranslatable dead language.
The Best of Tim Hartnett


Coronavirus Over-Reaction

Throughout my 30 years in Congress , I noticed that very few of the Democrats in the House had ever run or even worked in a small or medium-sized business .
In fact , while I got along with them personally , I found that some Democratic members and career bureaucrats seemed to have an anti-business attitude .
Now , I am witnessing a very similar and fascinating corollary in response to the shutdown of most of America ’ s small businesses .
Those who are government employees at all levels , including members of Congress , don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably even enjoying their extended vacations .
After all , they are still drawing their salaries .
Many government employees and members of Congress seem to be supporting , or in some cases , even demanding that the shutdown continue for an even longer period of time .
In Harm ’ s Way : H ... Matsakis PhD , Aphrodit ... Best Price : $ 3.99 Buy New $ 45.00 Most who own small businesses want to get their firms open again before they go under .
And the Rush Limbaugh Show recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over 80 % of U.S. jobs were in small and medium-sized businesses .
When I see all these governors and mayors on television , they appear to me to be at the height of their glory , holier than thou , and feeling very heroic and powerful .
I am not downplaying the seriousness of this Coronavirus .
It is terrible that so many have died from this and that so many more have been sickened by it .
But one of the early reports said the flu causes from 29,000 to 63,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the average being around 36,000 .
I wonder what the reaction would have been two or three years ago if there had been several weeks of nonstop , 24-hour-a-day news reports about how many thousands around the world had been sickened and/or had died from the flu that year .
Dr. Alex Berezow , a microbiologist , wrote a column in the April 4th USA Today enttled “ Stop the panic .
Don ’ t let the Coronavirus win.
” How Fear Works : Cultur ... Furedi , Frank Best Price : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote that “ a total economic collapse would tear at the fabric of society and also pose a threat to public health .
And it raises the specter that our ‘ cure ’ for COVID-19 may be far more harmful than the disease itself .
This Country is over $ 23 trillion in debt already .
The Congress has passed bills totaling well over another two trillion , spending money we do not have at an unprecedented rate .
Added to this are reports that the Federal Reserve has added another four trillion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all this money out of very thin air runs a real risk of inflation such as Germany had in the 1920s .
Eric Metaxas , in his book Bonhoeffer , wrote that the German mark began a “ free fall ” in 1921 , dropping to 75 marks to the dollar , and by “ disastrous “ 1923 , had dropped to 7,000 marks to the dollar early that year , but to an unimaginable four billion to the dollar by November .
And Germany was considered the best-educated country in the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our senses before it is too late .
The Best of Rep. John J. Duncan

Throughout my 30 years in Congress, I noticed that very few of the Democrats in the House had ever run or even worked in a small or medium-sized business.
In fact, while I got along with them personally, I found that some Democratic members and career bureaucrats seemed to have an anti-business attitude.
Now, I am witnessing a very similar and fascinating corollary in response to the shutdown of most of America’s small businesses.
Those who are government employees at all levels, including members of Congress, don’t seem to mind, and many are probably even enjoying their extended vacations. After all, they are still drawing their salaries.
Many government employees and members of Congress seem to be supporting, or in some cases, even demanding that the shutdown continue for an even longer period of time. In Harm’s Way: H... Matsakis PhD, Aphrodit... Best Price: $3.99 Buy New $45.00 (as of 05:19 UTC - Details)
Most who own small businesses want to get their firms open again before they go under. And the Rush Limbaugh Show recently ran a report from CNN saying that over 80% of U.S. jobs were in small and medium-sized businesses.
When I see all these governors and mayors on television, they appear to me to be at the height of their glory, holier than thou, and feeling very heroic and powerful.
I am not downplaying the seriousness of this Coronavirus. It is terrible that so many have died from this and that so many more have been sickened by it.
But one of the early reports said the flu causes from 29,000 to 63,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, with the average being around 36,000.
I wonder what the reaction would have been two or three years ago if there had been several weeks of nonstop, 24-hour-a-day news reports about how many thousands around the world had been sickened and/or had died from the flu that year.
Dr. Alex Berezow, a microbiologist, wrote a column in the April 4th USA Today enttled “Stop the panic. Don’t let the Coronavirus win.” How Fear Works: Cultur... Furedi, Frank Best Price: $10.04 Buy New $10.90 (as of 03:28 UTC - Details)
He wrote that “a total economic collapse would tear at the fabric of society and also pose a threat to public health. And it raises the specter that our ‘cure’ for COVID-19 may be far more harmful than the disease itself.
This Country is over $23 trillion in debt already. The Congress has passed bills totaling well over another two trillion, spending money we do not have at an unprecedented rate.
Added to this are reports that the Federal Reserve has added another four trillion. It seems to me that printing all this money out of very thin air runs a real risk of inflation such as Germany had in the 1920s.
Eric Metaxas, in his book Bonhoeffer, wrote that the German mark began a “free fall”in 1921, dropping to 75 marks to the dollar, and by “disastrous “ 1923, had dropped to 7,000 marks to the dollar early that year, but to an unimaginable four billion to the dollar by November. And Germany was considered the best-educated country in the world then.
I hope we come to our senses before it is too late.
The Best of Rep. John J. Duncan