#49: Several Headlines that Prove We're Living in a Dysfunctional Society
To dig out of this mess, we have a lot of work to do...
Hello All,
Happy Saturday - As is normally the case, I don’t plan a Saturday post but here we are. I blame the headlines.
Multiple headlines, in fact. All circling the same, disappointing truth - we live in a dysfunctional society. COVID-19 has fractured more than jobs, communities and relationships. Let’s start at the top.
DHS Bulletin: Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security released a bulletin that communicated several points. Full link below courtesy of Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson.
As Senator Johnson notes, the crux of this bulletin centers around what is deemed “mis-dis- and mal-information.” From the text itself:
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors. These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence…
Key factors contributing to the current heightened threat environment include:
The proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions:
For example, there is widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19.
In the eyes of the Department of Homeland Security, proliferation of “mis- dis- and mal-information” is now grouped in with domestic terrorism. The issue for law-abiding citizens like the readers of this blog (and its author!), of course, is what defines misinformation? (I’m trimming out the dis and mal moving forward - I think we all know what they’re getting at with “misinformation” alone!)
As the pandemic has proven, the science behind COVID-19 is ANYTHING but settled. Everyday, “new information” breaks that challenges long-established pieces of the official narrative. Many components of that new info were actually “old info” - meaning it was already known or asked. But along the way, that info was cancelled, censored or ridiculed into oblivion. There are countless examples of this - and I don’t even have to go beyond the news of the week to make my point. Let’s run through some here.
1.) Vitamin D and Immune Response
Remember our Thanksgiving Day post and Vitamin D? I was excited to share that one, as it represented an affordable, easy way for folks to protect themselves from COVID-19. Well, again research has shown that pre-infection deficiency of Vitamin D is associated with increased severity and mortality among those hospitalized with COVID-19. David Bell includes a chart with severity falling fast as Vitamin D levels increase.
This is further confirmation of pre-existing great news, of course. But how often have you heard government officials talk about Vitamin D? If you strictly relied on “official” sources for how to protect yourself from COVID-19, would you have ever heard about Vitamin D and its impact on COVID severity and mortality? Would you know the takeaway below from the study featured in our Thanksgiving Day post?
“Regression suggested a theoretical point of zero mortality at approximately 50 ng/mL D3.”
2.) Omicron and Disease Severity
Our 10th post featured a brief interview with the doctor on the frontline of the Omicron variant, all the way back toward the end of November 2021. In the clip, Dr. Coetzee clarified that Omicron was associated with mild disease. “Very, very mild,” were her words.
And yet, according to Dr. Coetzee, health officials pressured her NOT to communicate the mildness of Omicron.
From the ZeroHedge article linked:
The doctor who discovered the Omicron Covid-19 strain, Angelique Coetzee, says that she was pressured by European governments not to reveal that it had mild presentation, according to an interview in Germany's Welt.
When asked if it's true, Coetzee replied: "I was told not to state publicly that it was a mild illness. I have been asked to refrain from making such statements and to say that it is a serious illness. I declined." (translated).
Worth repeating here - the Doctor widely credited with discovering the Omicron variant was pressured by governments to refrain from telling the truth about its mildness. Why is that? Thankfully, Omicron has proven itself to be associated with milder disease. So much so that governments have changed quarantine procedures and restrictions over it. Wouldn’t this have been helpful information for the rest of us?
Props to Dr. Coetzee for sticking to her experience and spreading the truth anyway.
3.) “Taking Down” the Good News on Natural Immunity
One of our recent posts looked at a hugely important study on the prevalence and durability of natural immunity to COVID-19 following recovered infection. Over 99% of previously COVID-19 positive participants tested positive for antibodies, and they were remarkably consistent for 20 months (the time limit of the study, not a drop-off for the antibodies themselves).
This was massive news - antibodies derived from natural immunity proved far more durable than previous estimates. But according to one of the study’s authors, Dr. Marty Makary, not everyone seemed thrilled with the result.
Let’s be clear - I’m not doctor. But a study showing that antibodies from recovered infection are prevalent and durable - in other words, lots of people have them and they last - that’s pretty darn good news in a pandemic. Worth celebrating, actually - with the millions of previously-infected Americans out there, that’s a lot of antibodies!
Why would a study like this be taken down?
4.) The Changing Definition of Vaccination
Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie has long been a questioner of the government’s actions during the pandemic - including the CDC’s definition of “vaccination.” As he pointed out months ago, the CDC quietly changed it - look at the definitions over time (pre-2015, from 2015-2021 and then from September 2021 onward).
When an elected member of the House references actual government information, pointing out that definitions changed after the widespread release of COVID-19 vaccinations - what is there to fact-check?
5.) Harsh Treatment of Those Proven Right
Thinking back to early 2020, there were many precautions taken that seem more than a little overboard in retrospect. Remember leaving packages out in the sun, or vigorously washing groceries? How about closing outdoor playgrounds with yellow caution tape?
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was ahead of the curve with many of his decisions - and he’s been attacked for it every step of the way. Consider the article below, which knocked the Governor for refusing to close beaches amidst rising cases. Admittedly, this article is old - stretching all the way back to March 2020. But it was brought back to life my one of my follows in Twitter, and fits nicely within the context of this post.
While many of us were forced indoors, isolated from others just as spring began to emerge in 2020 - Florida chose a different path. And now, it’s widely accepted that outdoor transmission isn’t very significant - and in fact, adequate Vitamin D levels in the blood are significantly protective from severe COVID-19 outcomes (as a new study just reaffirmed). One of the ways the body gets its Vitamin D, of course, is through sunlight exposure.
Another case of restrictions going against the data in the long run. If no one was there to question them, would we have ever learned from our mistakes?
6.) Quick Denials of Possible Side Effects… Without Anyone Really Knowing Either Way
Very few topics in the last year have proven more charged than possible adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccinations. We covered alarming changes to predictive heart scores in post #5 following vaccination - all despite assurances that the vaccines are safe and effective.
I preface much of what I write with the “I’m not a doctor” disclaimer - and I won’t make any grand claims here. What I WILL say, however, is that researchers deserve to be heard and taken seriously. When you’re dealing with the health and safety of people, nothing short of maximum effort to protect the public should be tolerated.
Needless to say, any efforts to censor or drown-out possible side effects can prove harmful down the road. Here we are in 2022, and the European Medicines Agency's safety committee is investigating reports of menstrual disorders after mRNA vaccination. To be clear, noting is proven yet. But this should be another reminder (among many) not to squash scientific inquiry - we’re still learning more about potential effects of these vaccinations, even today.
And to add to this, there is still so much more that we don’t know. I’ve yet to see a reasonable explanation for the rise in all-cause mortality noted by the insurance industry. This is addressed by medical professionals who penned the open letter below, specifically with regard to males aged 15-19.
7.) The FDA Fiasco - Vaccinations for 6 months to 4 Year-Olds
Dr. Vinay Prasad has the full write-up in the linked tweet below - but the short version is that the FDA announced a postponement of the advisory meeting to discuss an emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccinations in 6 month to 4 year-olds, following a push to authorize two doses for now and a possible third down the road.
As Dr. Prasad describes - this process has been a “colossal screw up,” undermining public trust and FDA vaccine credibility.
In a not-to-distant past, I trusted FDA recommendations intrinsically. From everything I’ve seen over the course of two years, will I ever be able to feel this way again? (That’s more of a rhetorical question - spoiler alert, the real answer is a resounding ‘no’)
8.) The Decision to Ignore Natural Immunity
Yes, another bullet-point on natural immunity. I told you, it’s my favorite topic.
In the clip below (and the extended thread from Alexandros Marinos), you have Dr. Paul Offit, MD, the Director of the Vaccine Education Center, describing the moment the officials decided against natural immunity early on - specifically, to the question of should recovering from natural infection “count” as a vaccine, in situations where the vaccine is mandated?
“The four of us were asked to comment… I was one of the two people who said yes. The other two people said no.”
Interesting names dropped as being present in the meeting, including Collins and Fauci.
Of course, natural immunity has proven itself despite the high-powered naysayers that voted to ignore it. Another unfortunate miscalculation on the part of the experts that history will not judge kindly.
Conclusion
I have at least three more examples teed up here - but hopefully, my point is made abundantly clear already. In just a week, we’ve stumbled across at least 8 examples where the mainstream narrative was either incomplete, incorrect, or seriously misguided. “Misinformation” is a relative term - especially with a moving target such as COVID-19. For an agency of the federal government to take the position that misinformation on COVID-19 is akin to domestic terrorism, we have to ask… who is defining misinformation? Because there has been plenty of it from official sources throughout this pandemic.
There’s no other way to say it - in 2022, we live in a dysfunctional society. And if we’re going to fix it, we need the swift return of open, honest discourse and scientific inquiry. No more censorship, no more bullying, no more “taking down” scientific studies that don’t align with the company line - we need truth, honesty and a return to a simple scientific fact.
Science is never settled. Hopefully, as a society we remember this. And soon.
Thanks for reading, all! Have a nice weekend!
-G