37. The Basket
3.26.2023 The best of Rational Ground, Team Reality and many others...
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Note: I read a lot of Substacks each day. The Basket is intended to be a collection of the money quotes from the best of what I read. My goal is that you enjoy this service because it saves you time and quickly informs you. And my hope is that you find one or two articles that you click into because you want more.What you can find in this collection (these are my headlines, not the authors’):
The Pirate Elite by Dr Tess Lawrie
Lockdowns, Masks & Vaxes Failed by Chris Waldburger
Long Covid Treatment Options by Dr. Peter McCullough
CDC Exaggerates Risks by Josh Stevenson
Collective Hysteria by Mark Changizi
CDC Does Not Meet Basic Standards by Kelley K
Moderate Message Of Medical Freedom by Midwestern Doctor
Losing Confidence In The Banking System by Jordan Schachtel
AEs: 4th Leading Cause Of Death by Kim Witczak
Western Australia Vax Changes by Rebekah Barnett
Buy Gold by Cruising Economist
Biden Asked To Censor WhatsApp by David Zweig
Brits Love Lockdowns by Naked Emperor
Perverting God’s Word by Douglas Farrow
Calling Out Iraq War by Celia Farber
Diverse & Balanced Microbiome by Sasha Latypova
"Queer" Everything by Andrew Sullivan
DHS Scraps Ministry Of Truth by Matt Taibbi
Moving On From The Nanny State by Matt Taibbi
Monovalent Is Contaminated With DNA Too by Anandamide
The Pirate Elite by Dr Tess Lawrie
let’s stop being polite to pirates. There’s no need. Their ship is sinking and we are set free.
Pirate raiders are now called ‘elites’ – more inversion – and are still pillaging and plundering. Our taxes have fuelled their propaganda machines and illegitimate wars, and now they are using our hard-earned cash to build the very infrastructure for our own enslavement: digital IDs and the internet of bodies.
Launching Covid to scare us into compliance, they exploited our love for one another to systematically harm us. They now seek to monitor and control our food, transactions, speech and indeed our every movement and vital sign. Through the insertion of internal microchips, it is now our personal data that they are stealing. They will not stop at owning our data, because it is the human spirit that has always been the pirates’ most prized bounty.
Lockdowns, Masks & Vaxes Failed by Chris Waldburger
If lockdowns were necessary, then countries which did not lock down would show spikes in their mortality rates.
This is not the case. We were fortunately provided with a control nation in the shape of Sweden, where there has been no evidence of a pandemic at all. And, no, Sweden did not do a ‘voluntary’ lockdown.
Masks were entirely political and for the sake of social control.
Bulgaria and Romania are two of the least vaccinated countries in Europe, and Germany one of the most vaccinated. Yet the EU’s Eurostat website reports that in December 2022, Bulgaria and Romania recorded little or no excess deaths, while, Germany recorded an excess mortality rate of 37.3 %.
Long Covid Treatment Options by Dr. Peter McCullough
Approximately half of patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 will have post-COVID syndrome which is now understood to be due to persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein within cells, tissues, and organs. Those vaccinated have been additionally loaded with Spike, so may have even a worse course with prolonged symptoms
a preprint paper published by Halma et al summarizing the prescription drug and over-the-counter candidates for therapy.
If there are lingering signs of infection, then a course of full dose ivermectin can be considered. Aspirin is reasonable given increased rates of heart attack and stroke after the illness. I have found the colchicine appears to have an important role in pleurodynia or chest wall discomfort. Additionally it is used with corticosteroids in vaccine-induced myopericarditis. Low-dose naltrexone has been reported to ameliorate fatigue and inanition. Metformin has supportive data and would be appropriate in pre-diabetes and those with diabetes mellitus.
From the OTC list, I have found nattokinase…to be the most compelling and scientifically supported approach to clear Spike protein out of the body via proteolytic degradation. A host of cellular protective, anti-oxidant approaches are listed with vitamin C and NAC being readily available and widely used.
CDC Exaggerates Risks by Josh Stevenson
A new paper by Kelley Krohnert , Alyson Haslam , Tracy Beth Hoeg , and Vinay Prasad was just published today. It documents CDC’s history of exaggerations, errors, and outright misuse of statistics- particularly about Covid’s risk to Children.
Of the 16 cases that included data pertinent to children alone, 15 (94%) enhanced the perceived risk of COVID-19 in children, and one exaggerated their risks from the COVID-19 vaccine.
Of the 3 instances where the direction of the error was “mixed”, all 3 (100%) exaggerated risks to children and understated risks to adults.
Errors included basic vital statistics such as the number of deceased children. Thirteen (52%) involved mortality statistics. An error made in four instances pertained to comparisons of different causes of childhood death.
The CDC compared COVID-19 deaths, where COVID-19 was one of multiple causes listed on the death certificate, to other causes of death in children, which were listed as the single underlying cause of death. This error exaggerated the risk of COVID-19 death.
Collective Hysteria by Mark Changizi
if one mistakenly thinks only bad intent can be evil — and our normal everyday intuitions about free will, moral responsibility and culpability bias one to think this — one will keep looking to find the “true” villains, the ones that actually DID have bad intent, the ones that *must* be external to the system and are puppeteering it all rather than themselves having drunk the opposition’s KoolAid.
And… they will end up excusing the actual culprits.
if one just believes this is all due to evil cabals that did this to us, one will not identify the deeper dangers, the dangers that have always been with us: our propensity toward collective hysteria and to develop new “cults” and hated out groups that we then destroy. This repeatedly happens because we humans are prone to it.
CDC Does Not Meet Basic Standards by Kelley K
During the pandemic, the CDC was tasked with reporting and analyzing Covid data, as well as setting policy recommendations that in many cases were codified into local/state/federal mandates. As a result, it is particularly important for the data to be without error, and people must trust the veracity of the data being presented.
Even a perceived bias within the CDC affects the public’s trust of both the data and the resulting policies. It leads reasonable people to wonder if the policies are data-driven, or if the data is policy-driven.
underlying all of these debates is an understanding that the CDC must provide accurate information, and when errors are identified, they should be corrected promptly and not repeated. In many instances, the CDC has failed to meet that basic standard.
Moderate Message Of Medical Freedom by Midwestern Doctor
One of the most remarkable aspects of COVID-19 is how the rapid institutional decline we’ve witnessed in science and medicine has caused many with previously respectable professional positions to now be viewed as extremists (and frequently linked to the “far-right”).
it is critical to prioritize allowing patients and physicians the freedom to utilize the treatments they believe to be effective, regardless of what commercial interests those treatments threaten. This, I would argue, is because the systemic issues within our healthcare system will persist until therapies that can compete with the present medical monopoly are made available to the public.
while I hope the events of the last few years will support increased medical freedom within the United States, I believe Atlas’s much more moderate message (allowing open scientific debate, accurately examining the existing data, and not mandating questionable health policies on the public) is something most of the public can get behind as we move towards holding those responsible for the past three years accountable for their actions.
Losing Confidence In The Banking System by Jordan Schachtel
America’s fiat fractional reserve system has transformed into a faith-based credit system, and the people who use the dollar are losing confidence in a system that relies entirely upon their complete and total trust.
Should our collective faith in the system continue to decline, the American ruling class will decide that their path forward involves regrasping full control of their confidence scheme through the implementation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
This system could provide authorities with an almost unlimited digital toolkit to both surveil and censor citizens.
For the forces that control our money, a CBDC had once been understood as too risky an endeavor
In recent weeks, however, times have changed. Wall St and Washington is backed into a corner, America is now faced with the prospect of a burgeoning financial contagion, and financial markets are showcasing global ramifications.
AEs: 4th Leading Cause Of Death by Kim Witczak
Did you know that the 4th leading cause of death is adverse reactions from prescription drugs? Over 128,000 + people die every year from properly prescribed medications. Forty-six million adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are reported each year, leading to 1.3 million emergency room visits.
Right now, we live in a world where injuries and harms from “safe and effective” drugs and vaccines are often ignored, gaslit, or blamed on your “disease” — Not the drug.
Western Australia Vax Changes by Rebekah Barnett
In its most recent Covid booster advice, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) finally acknowledges that for healthy young people, the risks may outweigh the benefit: “Adolescents and younger adults have a lower age-related risk of severe COVID-19, and a comparatively higher risk of myocarditis following vaccination.”
This was evident in the WA vaccine safety data that I reported on last week, in which the highest rates of myocarditis (and myopericarditis) are clustered around the youngest age groups.
Additionally, ATAGI acknowledges that Covid doesn’t pose much threat to young people, which respected experts have only been saying for about three years now.
Buy Gold by Cruising Economist
fiat currency is supported by confidence alone, and as history attests that confidence can be shattered suddenly and unexpectedly when expansion of the money supply continually accelerates
Debasement of currency is the fundamental motive force propelling price inflation but collapse in confidence (i.e. demand) is the trigger which unleashes episodes of severe price inflation and consequent financial paper wealth destruction.
owning real estate can provide security amid currency debasement but real property also presents some problems such as increasing carrying costs (e.g. insurance, maintenance, taxes) and high transaction costs when sold.
Precious metals are ultra liquid and enjoy the key qualities of sound money. They are scarce, uniform in quality, durable, easily divisible, portable AND they can’t be conjured out of thin air through accounting entries in anyone’s account (sorry politicians).
Biden Asked To Censor WhatsApp by David Zweig
As early as January 26, 2021, almost immediately after Biden took office, communications between the White House and Meta were underway regarding content moderation…repeated queries about another Meta property, WhatsApp, a service designed for private messaging.
Flaherty wanted to know what they were doing to reduce harm on the messaging app. Seemingly dissatisfied with earlier explanations, on March 22, 2021, he wrote, “If you can’t see the message, I’m genuinely curious—how do you know what kinds of messages you’ve cut down on?”
In a reply [blue text in image below] a Meta employee said reducing forwards was just one measure of lowering virality on WhatsApp. They also banned accounts that engaged in mass marketing and scams, including those related to Covid-19 misinformation. And they tracked engagement through proactive work such as WhatsApp’s connection with governments and nonprofits sending 3 billion Covid-19 messages through the service.
Brits Love Lockdowns by Naked Emperor
Lockdowns themselves cause people to support lockdowns.
Lead author, Dr Colin Foad said: “Surprisingly, we found that people judge the severity of the COVID-19 threat based on the fact the government imposed a lockdown – in other words, they thought ‘it must be bad if government’s taking such drastic measures’. We also found that the more they judged the risk in this way, the more they supported lockdown.”
So the study found that people thought because they had been locked down, the threat from Covid must be so severe that the response was justified. Not only did going into lockdown make people think that Covid was more dangerous than it was but also that lockdowns were the only thing that could stop it.
People, devoid of critical thinking, believed that governments had their best interests at heart and would only lock them down if it was truly necessary. They believed whatever the selected expert would say as if they were a priest reciting the word of God. Governments love us, experts are the source of all truth.
Perverting God’s Word by Douglas Farrow
I received a call from the editor about the palpable fear he was witnessing on the streets of Manhattan. Where are the theologians, he asked, and why are they not saying anything?
Three years on I still don't know the answer to that question.
No doubt you noticed that churches were the first habitations to be closed and the last to be opened. That's a signal none should ignore, a signal that there was more to lockdowns than met the eye.
the Church's very own laws were either abandoned or overruled. The Church's divine mandate was set aside. The ministry of word and sacrament all but ceased.
That was not an accident. Those who were playing God had planned it. They deployed the same tactics Satan used on Jesus in the desert. The word of God was perverted, making it serve a purpose that was not God's. The first great commandment was set aside. The love of God, who alone is to be worshiped and served, was forgotten.
Calling Out Iraq War by Celia Farber
We killed at least 300,000 Iraqi people. Total of dead in the whole “conflict” may be up to 600,000.
Cost was either $2 trillion or perhaps $3 trillion.
4,400 American servicemen were killed.”This was fraud, and I can’t say that often enough. No mistake—fraud.”—Ray McGovern
”Iraq shows how dangerous it is to stifle opinions that break from the mainstream.”
Diverse & Balanced Microbiome by Sasha Latypova
once you start thinking in terms of microbiome, the virus-no-virus debate turns into a false binary, as it should…Health as absence of illness, and presence of vitality, stability and longevity can be attributed to a vibrant, resilient microbiome which is to your body as good soil is to a well tended garden. It always starts with healthy soil, the terrain!
Microbiome is part of our bodies’ terrain. Humans cannot function without microbes, nor without viruses. Bacteria and viruses do exist, but they are not scary nor pathogenic in and of themselves, in fact they are vital and necessary for our health. Viruses can be thought of as a communication and messaging protocol/language of microorganisms (and cells in multicellular organisms). Thus, they do not cause an “infection”, but may be involved in cellular miscommunication that accompanies a disease (synonymous to imbalance) state.
The most important defense being healthy, diverse and balanced microbiome, that can filter and eliminate viral junk mail in no time.
"Queer" Everything by Andrew Sullivan
Orwell was not talking about the way in which spoken English has always mutated and shifted from the ground up…He was talking rather about how people in power can use and create new language to deceive, conceal or confuse.
Which brings me to that old English term “sex change.” Everyone instantly understands it. Which is, of course, precisely the problem. So now we say: “gender-affirming care.” Or take another word we all know: “children” — kids usually up to puberty. Also way too understandable. So “sex changes for children” suddenly becomes “gender-affirming care for minors.” These are the words, again, that are “needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.”
confusion and conflation is the point — in the way that the impenetrably hideous prose of Judith Butler is the point. The point is to “queer” everything — the trans experience, the gay one, the lesbian one, and the straight one — to foment a permanent revolution against the sex binary, which is to say, against reality itself. It’s just a bonus that this also means vast amounts of money — for surgeons and endocrinologists and “DIE” entrepreneurs.
DHS Scraps Ministry Of Truth by Matt Taibbi
The Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to present a less Orwellian exterior to the public took a big step forward this week, as it disbanded a key subcommittee linked to the Department’s ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board, announced last year and quickly “paused” amid public outcry.
CISA’s unique approach to website maintenance has drawn attention of late. Last week, Mike Benz of the Foundation for Freedom Online reported that CISA scrubbed key sections of its web page about its campaign against “Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation.” Crucially, the agency appeared to remove references to “domestic threat actors” as purveyors of “MDM.”
The updated page now refers to foreign actors only, and no longer makes reference to other domestic-facing programs
“MDM” was once central to CISA’s mission. In fact, it appeared to be the inspiration for the infamous Governance Board, which was designed to be a centralized hub uniting various public and private “anti-disinformation” initiatives.
Moving On From The Nanny State by Matt Taibbi
We've been trained to think that endless rule by tiny minorities of really horrible people is the natural order of things, but that turns out to be just another lie
Each year, more and more of government became classified, and we had less and less access to information about where tax dollars were being spent, or what was going on at places like the Federal Reserve. We let it happen, abandoning the democratic responsibility to govern ourselves, in the process willing the world’s smuggest aristocracy into existence. It wasn’t the worst time — a lot of good TV was made in those years — but while we were napping, these people were turning America into a secret administrative state committed to endless war, mass surveillance, social credit scoring, censorship, and other horrors, a system that’s only just now beginning to show itself.
we’ve now had enough opportunities to examine up close the loathsome nanny-staters to whom we surrendered all those years ago…and we can start thinking about moving on to something better.
Monovalent Is Contaminated With DNA Too by Anandamide
Our first survey of Pfizer monovalent vaccines implies the contamination is also present in these widely distributed vaccines and even the vaccines targeting 5-12 year olds
equates to a 128 fold difference (2^7) between the spike Nucleic Acids and the vector Nucleic Acids.
More vials need to be surveyed. These vials were unopened, however, they are 1 year old and we know very little of their storage conditions. It is possible poor storage would adversely impact RNA more readily than DNA and narrow the CT offset between the two measurements, however these CT offsets (5-7CTs) are similar to what is seen with the bivalent vaccines which have been exposed to less shelf life.
If you like this, and have a tinfoil hat, you might like The Conspiracy Basket. Check it out!
And in case you missed it…
Interesting list. I'm quite new to Substack so guidance to thoughtful, informative Substacks is appreciated as are your well selected clips from posts listed. Thank you.
Will "Covid writers" be able to transition to a world where interest in this topic perhaps wane?
I think so and here's why ...
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/can-writers-like-me-prosper-once