<h3>Why does America’s wealth and purported medical expertise not produce better COVID care for its citizens? </h3>There are 215 hospitals in New York state.[1] &nbsp; There are 113 hospitals in New Jersey.[2] &nbsp; There are 97 hospitals in Massachusetts.[3] &nbsp; Five of the nation’s top 20 hospitals are located in these three states. &nbsp;Prominent NY Hospitals include NYP/Columbia, Weill Cornell, NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, and Memorial Sloan Kettering. &nbsp;Prominent Massachusetts hospitals include Brigham &amp; Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, as well as Harvard Medical School and Boston University. &nbsp;Three of the nation’s top four medical school are located in these states. &nbsp;New York City has multiple medical schools: SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn; Albert Einstein in the Bronx; and CUNY, Touro, Columbia, Cornell, Mount Sinai, and NYU in Manhattan.[4] &nbsp; Massachusetts and New York are among the top three states in terms of practicing physicians per capita.[5] &nbsp; A European firm, MedBelle, has ranked Boston and New York City as two of the three best ‘hospital cities’ in the US and Boston the second best in the world.[6] &nbsp; Massachusetts and New Jersey are two of the three riches states in the U.S.[7] &nbsp; New York City is the richest city in the world’s richest country with 92 billionaires and a net worth of US $424 billion.[8] &nbsp; &nbsp; Yet, despite these vast resources and stellar medical credentials, a full year into the COVID pandemic, these three states have some of the worst COVID outcomes in the entire world. &nbsp;See the charts below. &nbsp;COVID outcomes in these three states are about seven times worse than the rest of the world.<figure class="w-richtext-figure-type-image w-richtext-align-fullwidth" style="max-width:1010px"><div><img src="http://rafaelr58.sg-host.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/6086ec8e116bf11a4cb3e636_photo_2021-04-26_19-37-18.jpg" loading="lazy" width="auto" height="auto"></div></figure>[9]<figure class="w-richtext-figure-type-image w-richtext-align-fullwidth" style="max-width:957px"><div><img src="http://rafaelr58.sg-host.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/6086ec745015271e9d408dc8_photo_2021-04-26_19-37-08.jpg" loading="lazy" width="auto" height="auto"></div></figure>[10]This is the elephant in the room, the emperor’s new clothes. &nbsp;U.S. COVID fatality rates are about five time worse than the rest of the world.[11] &nbsp;COVID fatality rates of our wealthiest and most medically sophisticated states are 50% higher than the rest of the U.S. and about 600% higher than the rest of the world.[12] &nbsp;When President Biden tells us to “follow the science,” which science are we supposed to follow, the science that gives us 2,300 COVID deaths per million? &nbsp;The science that produces COVID outcomes seven times worse than the rest of the world? &nbsp;This is what the U.S. medical/scientific establishment has given us. &nbsp;These horrific U.S. COVID outcomes occurred in the shadow of Harvard and the New York medical centers. &nbsp;The worst part is that these terrible COVID outcomes have been accompanied by the shrill, condescending banning of outpatient COVID treatment and enforcement of those treatment bans by all manner of intimidation not the least of which are the Twitter/Facebook brown shirts. &nbsp;Fortunately, there is better science to follow. &nbsp;It’s called “real world experience” and it is not unknown to the scientific community, especially the FDA. &nbsp;There are scores of countries and individual physicians whose COVID treatment outcomes are far superior to the U.S. medical/scientific establishment.[13] &nbsp;There are scores of countries and individual physicians who achieve their excellent COVID outcomes with outpatient treatment. &nbsp;We have better science to follow. &nbsp;It’s time to follow it. [1]&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.health.ny.gov/hospital/bed_type/Total+Beds">https://profiles.health.ny.gov/hospital/bed_type/Total+Beds</a>[2]&nbsp;<a href="http://www.njha.com/pressroom/nj-hospital-fast-facts/">http://www.njha.com/pressroom/nj-hospital-fast-facts/</a>[3]&nbsp;<a href="https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ma">https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ma</a>[4] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_New_York_City#Medical_schools">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_New_York_City#Medical_schools</a>[5] <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/50-states-ranked-by-most-active-physicians-per-100-000-population.html">https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/50-states-ranked-by-most-active-physicians-per-100-000-population.html</a>[6] <a href="https://www.mdlinx.com/article/researchers-rank-best-hospital-cities-in-the-us-and-the-world/lfc-4933">https://www.mdlinx.com/article/researchers-rank-best-hospital-cities-in-the-us-and-the-world/lfc-4933</a>[7]&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/10-wealthiest-states-in-america?slide=12">https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/10-wealthiest-states-in-america?slide=12</a>[8] <a href="https://www.gq.com.au/success/finance/these-are-the-10-richest-cities-in-the-world-for-2021/image-gallery/32053eff890eee4328276b3b3aae4ef8?pos=2">https://www.gq.com.au/success/finance/these-are-the-10-richest-cities-in-the-world-for-2021/image-gallery/32053eff890eee4328276b3b3aae4ef8?pos=2</a>[9] OWID, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-03-01..latest&country=USA~OWID_WRL&region=World&pickerMetric=location&pickerSort=asc&Metric=Confirmed+deaths&Interval=Cumulative&Align+outbreaks=false&Relative+to+Population=true">https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&amp;time=2020-03-01..latest&amp;country=USA~OWID_WRL&amp;region=World&amp;pickerMetric=location&amp;pickerSort=asc&amp;Metric=Confirmed+deaths&amp;Interval=Cumulative&amp;Align+outbreaks=false&amp;Relative+to+Population=true</a>[10] Graph prepared by GCM from historical data from <a href="https://covidtracking.com/data">https://covidtracking.com/data</a> through March 7, 2021. Verified via <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/">https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/</a> and JHU Dashboard.[11] Updated COVID deaths as of April 8, 2021, New Jersey – 2,790, New York – 2,610 &amp; Massachusetts – 2,520, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/">https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/</a>[12] Updated COVID deaths as of April 8, 2021, New Jersey – 2,790, New York – 2,610 &amp; Massachusetts – 2,520, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/">https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/</a>[13] In no particular order: 62 countries per c19hcq.com; see also c91study.com &amp; hcqtrial.com; Brian Tyson, MD; Zev Zelenko, MD; Didier Raoult, MD; Peter McCullough, MD; Harvey Risch, MD; Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD and the Great Barrington Declaration; America’s Frontline Doctors; Brian Proctor, MD.; et. al.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

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Whose Science Should We Follow?

<h2>Education has changed over the last 40 years!</h2>Someone recently returned a library book that was 37 years overdue to the Riverside Library and Cultural Center in Weld County, Colorado. The book “Psychedelics” which was checked out in 1987, finally found its way home last month, with a Post-it note inside stating: “Sorry so late! It’s been a long, strange trip,” beside a drawing of a smiley face.The most interesting aspect of the book's return, though, may be its designation as a “young adult” book. Were children on a higher academic level 40 years ago? Community relations and marketing manager for the library district, James Melena, <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/overdue-library-book-returned-37-years-late-with-funny-note-inside-heres-what-the-borrower-wrote-5615381" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> Louise Chambers, in an interview for The Epoch Times, that today this book would be considered college-level psychology.&nbsp;Now, “young adult” books call to mind books like "The Hunger Games." Melena added “it really might be just showing a sign of the times that the term ’young adult' meant a lot more, or meant something very different, back then.”<h2>Pornography bared from TV, offered in school libraries</h2>The change in what's considered “young adult” isn't the only shift in education that's taken place. Public schools, long thought to be safe havens for children, have become dangerous places in some localities as many public school libraries now carry sexually explicit books.Pornography and indecency have long been understood as being inappropriate for children. Television programming had been severely restricted during those hours when children were expected to be awake and watching. Yet, today, children are picking sexually explicit books off the shelves of public school libraries across the country.&nbsp;Articles such as <a href="https://www.westernjournal.com/virginia-public-schools-toxic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Virginia Public Schools Are Toxic</a>, written by Julie Gunlock in November 2021 for The Western Journal, explain what students are being exposed to. Gunlock, who removed her three sons from the public school system, shared the following:<blockquote>Consider this: It recently came to light that numerous Virginia high school libraries stock a graphic novel (a genre geared to preteens) that includes extreme and violent sexual content. Parents understandably objected.. . .A parent brought the existence of this book to the attention of the Fairfax County school board and read sections of the book out loud, revealing the obviously inappropriate content. The school board pulled the book from the libraries and is reviewing whether it should continue to be carried.</blockquote>Not only was the book's material inappropriate for children, but for adults as well, Gunlock continued.<blockquote>Independent Women’s Voice created an advertisement to raise awareness about this issue, which included images from the book. The ad was rejected as too explicit to run during the 11 p.m. hour on television in Virginia. Think about everything you see on TV and imagine what it takes for a television station to decline to run an ad that late at night.Parents and citizens should be asking one question: Why are our schools so much less protective about what high school students as young as 14 are exposed to than TV stations catering to adults?</blockquote><h3>Back on the shelves</h3>The books, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, were both removed from Fairfax County library shelves only to find their way back not long ago. Reasons given for their return included that the books “reflect the student population” and that they would be helpful to children who could relate to them, as Heather Zwicker <a href="https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fcps-reinstates-pornographic-books-to-school-libraries/article_cf63abf2-53ab-11ec-affa-cbfc8074da6a.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> for the Fairfax County Times. &nbsp;The anonymous committee that reviewed the books in question also determined that they don't violate any legal codes.<blockquote>The committee determined that the images in the book do not qualify as obscene per the definition in Virginia Code 18.2-372 and is also not harmful to juveniles as defined in 18.2-390. They also found Code of Virginia 18.2-376 inapplicable and said “the book aligns with FCPS Regulation 2603 supporting members of the gender expansive community and affirming individuals in their identity.” They found that the book was an appropriate addition to library collections in accordance with FCPS Regulation 3013.</blockquote>Two years later, at the end of December 2023, as Frontline News previously <a href="https://frontline.news/post/virginia-school-board-official-sworn-in-on-child-pornography-books" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">covered</a>, a Fairfax County, Virginia man was sworn in as a school board official on a stack of pornographic books aimed at children rather than on a Bible.<h2>Some kids get it, even if adults can't</h2>While some adults don't seem to identify pornography as inappropriate in a school library, there are students, such as Knox Zajac, who do. “Nick and Charlie” is a sexually explicit book that he found displayed in his Maine middle school library and brought to the attention of his father, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/11-year-old-speaks-out-against-pornographic-content-maine-middle-school-admin-should-be-prosecuted" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Fox News's Joshua Q. Nelson. When he went to check out the book to show his father, the librarian asked him if he wanted others and if he wanted the graphic novel version. He is 11 years old and in sixth grade. The age advisory in the book is 14 years of age and older.Knox Zajac is seen reading from the book at a school board meeting in the tweet below.&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">An 11–year-old sixth grader reads a sexually explicit book "Nick and Charlie" in front of the school board in Maine. The book was on display at his middle school library. These are the books being offered to kids in public schools. <a href="https://t.co/rLzxlFoNmZ">pic.twitter.com/rLzxlFoNmZ</a>— 3sidedstory (@3sidedstory) <a href="https://twitter.com/3sidedstory/status/1629505943569584129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><h2>School board members protect their ears</h2>Pastor John K. Amanchukwu, Sr., <a href="https://13wham.com/news/nation-world/this-is-immoral-pastor-slams-nc-school-board-over-pornographic-library-book-john-amanchukwu-north-caolina-asheville-city-perfectly-normal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">confronted</a> a North Carolina school board about a book in their library called “It's Perfectly Normal,” asking the school board who gets to decide what's normal. Even school board members didn't want to listen to pornography — they cut him off as he was about to read from the book:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pastor <a href="https://twitter.com/REVWUTRUTH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@REVWUTRUTH</a> confronts NC school board over 'pornographic' library book 'It's Perfectly Normal,' board cuts him off when attempting to read a passage. <a href="https://t.co/0DrE4zYMpH">pic.twitter.com/0DrE4zYMpH</a>— Crisis in the Classroom (@CITClassroom) <a href="https://twitter.com/CITClassroom/status/1658884132577869843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Learn more about the debate on pornography in public schools:<ul><li><a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/02/23/ryan-walters-says-library-books-contain-porn-what-do-experts-say/72697294007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Walters claims 'Glass Castle,' 'Kite Runner' contain porn. What do experts say?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/oregon-school-district-books-contains-pornographic-sex-acts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oregon school district books contain pornographic imagery of sex acts, according to portal</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://nypost.com/2022/11/16/dearborn-parent-reads-graphic-passages-in-revolt-against-pornographic-books-in-school-libraries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michigan mom reads graphic passages in revolt against pornographic books in school libraries</a></li><li><a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/parents-objecting-pornographic-material-school-libraries-arent-book-banners" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parents Objecting to Pornographic Material in School Libraries Aren’t “Book Banners”</a></li><li><a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2022/10/24/heres-how-many-utah-parent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Here’s how many Utah parent complaints have been filed — so far — about ‘pornographic’ books in schools</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/ED/ED14/20231019/116471/HHRG-118-ED14-20231019-SD004.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Independent Women's Forum: Written Statement Before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Hearing: Combatting Graphic, Explicit Books in School Libraries</a></li><li><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-libraries-book-challenges-1.6851688" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Libraries are being accused of offering child porn. Librarians explain why that's not true</a></li><li><a href="https://yaf.org/news/illinois-to-defund-schools-public-libraries-that-protect-children-from-graphic-sexual-content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Illinois To Defund Schools, Public Libraries That Protect Children From Graphic Sexual Content</a></li><li><a href="https://www.whqr.org/local/2022-07-08/nhcso-investigated-schools-for-obscene-and-pornographic-books-da-found-no-unlawful-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NHCSO investigated schools for ‘obscene and pornographic’ books, DA found no unlawful content</a></li><li><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/do-these-books-belong-public-school-libraries-you-judge-opinion-1802689" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Do These Books Belong in Public School Libraries? You Be The Judge | Opinion</a>&nbsp;</li></ul><h2>How to porn-proof your kids</h2>While parents can become more vigilant about what their children are being exposed to in their schools, as Gunlock and others have done, children can be exposed to pornography by many other means.&nbsp;In an upcoming article, Frontline News will show parents how they can help keep their children safe from pornography.Related articles:<ul><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/appellate-court-upholds-texas-right-to-protect-children-from-online-porn">Appellate court upholds Texas' right to protect children from online porn</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/virginia-school-board-official-sworn-in-on-child-pornography-books">Virginia school board official sworn in on child pornography books</a></li></ul>

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Education

wokeness

'Why are schools so much less protective about what high school students as young as 14 are exposed to than TV stations catering to adults?'

Pornography now in public school libraries. Did you know?

Almost three years ago, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), Pharma's latest wonder-drug, was being portrayed as just what everyone had been waiting for.People didn't have to wait long for the drug—it was the clinical trial results showing that it worked that they had to wait for.Well, now they're here.We'll allow <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/authors/jeremy-samuel-faust-md-ms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Jeremy Faust</a>, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Editor-in-Chief of Medpage Today, and author of Inside Medicine on Substack, to <a href="https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/paxlovid-does-not-reduce-symptoms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">present</a> them for us.Frontline News' comments follow in red.&nbsp;Jeremy Faust MD: Pfizer finally&nbsp;published its <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309003?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study&nbsp;</a>of Paxlovid’s effects on symptoms for standard-risk and high-risk vaccinated patients with Covid-19.Finally. Pfizer actually commenced this study in August, 2021 and promised to release the results by December of the same year, when public interest in the drug was probably at its peak. By now, most people have forgotten about it.JF: The upshot of the trial, known as EPIC-SR and published in the&nbsp;New England Journal of Medicine, is that Paxlovid did not reduce the amount of time until patients got symptom relief. For anyone who thinks Paxlovid helps reduce symptoms, we now have high-quality, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial data—from the makers of the drug&nbsp;and published in the most prestigious medical journal in the world—saying otherwise.&nbsp;This isn’t actually the first time that the “upshot of the trial” has been published. Another “<a href="https://www.epicresearch.org/articles/paxlovid-significantly-reduces-covid-19-hospitalizations-and-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">upshot</a>” appeared in September, 2022 and was hailed by no less than the White House COVID commissar, Dr. Ashish Jha, as “pretty compelling stuff”—despite the fact that the results released back then were not from a “high-quality, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled” study, but rather, from the unadjusted data. In other words, <a href="https://frontline.news/post/why-is-the-white-house-covid-czar-promoting-junk-science-analysis" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">junk science</a>.Based on those “findings,” the United States government spent $5 billion on Paxlovid.JF: Here’s what played out: In the Paxlovid group, 0.8% (5 of 654 participants) were either hospitalized for Covid or died (any cause), compared to 1.6% (10 of the 634 participants) in the placebo group. Though some might see that as a 50% relative reduction, the 0.8%&nbsp;absolute&nbsp;difference (1.6%-0.8%=0.8%) was not statistically significant.A 50% relative reduction sounds quite impressive to the average Joe. Not quite as impressive as the 95% relative reduction of Pfizer’s COVID shots, of course.But wait. Dr. Faust is now saying that relative reduction isn’t the thing. It’s absolute difference that matters. For Paxlovid, that was just 0.8%, not statistically significant, and therefore, the science has determined that Paxlovid is a dud.What was the absolute difference between the Pfizer shots and placebo? Curiously, it was <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9115787/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">0.85%</a>.JF: So, while not a death knell for Paxlovid, this study should profoundly change our “priors” on what to expect from the forthcoming PANORAMIC&nbsp;<a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1096e8d1-552f-40aa-a21d-41dac299ab3f?j=eyJ1IjoiMXVkdWlhIn0.OUHglwwANIeBURA5ROrUJlpPIzMYTcsRBuDu5k8pS6Q">trial</a>&nbsp;out of the United Kingdom (a massive study of thousands of vaccinated patients randomized to get Paxlovid or not).Not a death knell? Well... But at least it should “profoundly change our ‘priors’” on the efficacy of the COVID shots. And perhaps a large randomized long-term study would be in order there, too, only unfortunately that is now impossible, because the randomized studies already conducted were unblinded just a few months into the trial, and everyone was given the shots.JF: Why does this study go against what you’ve heard?Maybe we can help Dr. Faust out with some answers.<ol><li>Because all the three-letter agencies pushed Paxlovid as the greatest thing since sliced bread (other than the shots themselves)?</li><li>Because none other than Dr. Fauci, aka “The Science,” promoted it, donating his own body to scientific research when he took not just one but two courses of the drug (because his COVID rebounded after the first dose)?</li><li>Because the preliminary (albeit worthless) results from the trial were published years ago and gave a highly misleading impression?</li></ol>JF: We are in a weird moment here. Paxlovid remains the best anti-viral we have, but the data supporting it are not nearly as impressive as they once were.&nbsp;It truly is a weird moment when Paxlovid is, despite devastating trial results, still considered “the best anti-viral we have” by a doctor. Many readers may have suggestions for other “best anti-virals” such as ivermectin. But perhaps Dr. Faust still thinks that’s a horse drug.JF: It’s time to think ahead. The search for better anti-viral options for high-risk Covid-19 patients should start to feel more urgent. I hope the drug companies see an opportunity here.Don’t worry, Dr. Faust. Drug companies are always seeing opportunities.

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Paxlovid

Harvard Medical School professor doesn't connect the dots?

According to 'The Science,' Paxlovid's a dud. By the same criteria, so are the shots

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World News

White House demands ceasefire before Hamas removed from power despite historically low civilian-casualty rate

Extraordinary Gaza achievement overlooked - 200 terrorists eliminated in hospital; none of 6200 human shields killed

Accountability?On May 1, 2024, Dr. Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance will be <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/eco-health-alliance-president-peter-daszak-to-appear-for-public-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">testifying</a> at a public hearing during which he will be questioned on discrepancies in his previous closed-door testimony to a House Committee, relating to the origins of COVID-19, gain-of-function research, and his connection with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak will testify at a public hearing on May 1, 2024. Dr. Daszak must answer questions about COVID-19 origins, dangerous gain-of-function research, and his relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. <a href="https://t.co/CyTGoEBvDr">pic.twitter.com/CyTGoEBvDr</a>— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) <a href="https://twitter.com/COVIDSelect/status/1775944394941551045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance is a U.S.-based non-profit, publicly funded organization whose mission is ostensibly to prevent pandemics from occurring. Despite growing evidence to the contrary, EcoHealth continues to maintain that the research it funded at the Wuhan Institute, using taxpayer money, had no connection with the spread of COVID around the globe.The Chairs of several House Committees have now demanded that Daszak clarify inconsistencies in his statements with information that later became available, writing to him:<blockquote>These revelations undermine your credibility as well as every factual assertion you made during your transcribed interview. The Committees have a right and an obligation to protect the integrity of their investigations, including the accuracy of testimony during a transcribed interview. We invite you to correct the record.</blockquote>&nbsp;Investigating ‘national security threats’The question of COVID's origins refuses to disappear from the headlines, even four years later; a recent study in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/risa.14291" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Risk Analysis</a> conducted last month found a 68% likelihood of an "unnatural [rather] than natural origin of SARS-CoV-2." The study's authors noted the extraordinary amount of overlap between a specific bat coronavirus and COVID:<blockquote>One of the closest known bat coronaviruses, RaTG13, was being studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and has 96.1 percent homology with SARS-CoV-2.</blockquote>As reported by <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2024/03/21/the-new-covid-origins-inquiry-is-bipartisan-00148173?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Politico,&nbsp;</a> a new bipartisan inquiry into the virus' origins has recently been established, headed by Senators Rand Paul, M.D. (R-Ky.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee:<blockquote>The duo announced yesterday they are investigating where Covid came from, the high-risk research that Paul believes caused the pandemic, as well as broader “national security threats posed by high-risk biological research and technology.”Why it matters: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are concerned about risky research.The collaboration between Paul and Peters also means more scrutiny for government scientists.</blockquote>&nbsp;Meanwhile, closer to home…Focusing attention on an institute far away in China has certain advantages for politicians, given that there are over 200 biolabs located on American soil (providing Americans—their constituents—with jobs), as revealed almost a decade ago by two journalists writing for USA Today (their article appears to have been taken down, but is accessible via the internet archive <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170719115751/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>).Research continues unabated, as does the fascination of scientists, most of them government-funded, for the bat species:<blockquote>It has been an age-old question: what makes bats so fascinating to humans?&nbsp;</blockquote>As the authors of a study published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867423000417" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cell</a> last year noted, people are fascinated by bats due to echolocation—their ability to maneuver in the dark using sound waves. Scientists, however, focus their research on bats for a different reason:<blockquote>Bats are distinctive among mammals due to their ability to fly, use laryngeal echolocation, and tolerate viruses … bats have evolved mechanisms to tolerate a large load of viral sequences… [emphases added]</blockquote>Their research is not merely theoretical; it centers on diseases that already pose a threat to humans:<blockquote>… what makes bats most distinctive is that many species … have been shown to tolerate and survive many viruses that have high mortality rates in humans, such as SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, Marburg, and henipaviruses. This is potentially due to a modulation of their innate immune response rendering them as asymptomatic and tolerant viral hosts.</blockquote>&nbsp;So much knowledge, so little understanding of what to do with itAnd much more research is, allegedly, needed, because despite the years of study, with their corresponding risk, very little (and perhaps no) progress has been made in understanding how bats thrive despite having high viral loads (although hypotheses abound). What have humans gained, in fact, from all the knowledge acquired in the hundreds of biolabs located around the globe?<blockquote>To date, how bats deal with viruses is still poorly understood, with only a limited number of immune cells documented and characterized in a few [of the hundreds of] bat species … Further, developing cellular resources and assays is required to uncover and validate the molecular adaptations that have evolved in bats to tolerate these viral pathogens. The prevailing hypothesis supported by recent comparative genomic analyses of multiple bat families is that viral tolerance results from specific adaptations of their innate immune system. Accordingly, bats mount an inaugural antiviral reaction after viral inoculation—like all mammals—but then quickly “dampen” this very response before it becomes overly pathological. Critically, this unusual way to deal with viruses could be caused in part by molecular adaptations that stifle canonical virus sensing and the subsequent inflammatory response… [emphases added]</blockquote>&nbsp;Not just China, not just America — it's globalPerhaps it would be more pertinent to ask not what humans have gained, but what they have lost—and what they are likely to lose in the future?According to a former director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, the stakes could not be higher:<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="709" height="399" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HnoKQnhGwg4" title="DR. ROBERT REDFIELD ON RISING: Gain of Function, Fauci, &amp; More" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><blockquote>The great pandemic is coming. It’s not coming from spillover. It’s going to come from intentional bioterrorism or gain of function research. It’s gonna be a bird flu virus that is manipulated to be transmitted from human to human. Very similar to what we saw with COVID.This research is being done in university laboratories all over the world. It hurts me to say this, but I do believe that the most likely answer when we get to the truth is it was caused by science, not by a natural spillover [emphases added].</blockquote>&nbsp;More money for bat research in “safe” surroundingsOver a year into the COVID “pandemic,” in late 2021, Colorado State University (CSU) received a $6.7 million grant toward the construction of a biological facility at the Fort Collins campus, where yet more research into bats would be conducted, much of it focused on coronaviruses. In this new project, CSU is partnering with Dr. Daszak's Ecohealth Alliance.According to the university,&nbsp;<blockquote>… bats hold unique, critically-important clues to understanding why and how people and animals get sick when exposed to disease-causing organisms known as pathogens…</blockquote>Anticipating concern, <a href="https://batresearch.colostate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CSU reassures</a> that the Fort Collins biolab will only be dealing with “mild” diseases (such as COVID?) which can be “easily treated" (with cheap, safe, repurposed drugs such as ivermectin?):<blockquote>In the new building, researchers will work with mild infectious disease pathogens that can be easily treated…</blockquote><a href="https://source.colostate.edu/qa-csu-lab-safety/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Furthermore</a>, they will only be conducting the kind of gain-of-function research regarding which people apparently have no concern:<blockquote>Q: Does CSU do gain-of-function research?A: … CSU has no plans to conduct gain-of-function research of concern [emphases added].</blockquote>They add that the university has a reputation for safety:<blockquote>CSU has studied infectious diseases since the 1960s and has a long track-record of expertise, safety, and compliance…&nbsp;</blockquote>This reputation was challenged not long ago by the UK <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13227783/Staff-taxpayer-funded-Colorado-virus-lab-bitten-Covid-infected-HAMSTERS-disease-ridden-bats-shocking-spate-accidents-exclusive-documents-show.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Mail</a>, which excoriated Colorado State University for a “shocking number of accidents in recent years”:<blockquote>Bombshell documents show there were at least 50 incidents involving safety control lapses at Colorado State University between 2020 and 2023, including workers who were bitten by a Covid-infected hamster, splashed in the face with blood from mice with tuberculosis and scratched by rabies-infected cats.The reports were never disclosed to the public despite occurring at the height of the Covid pandemic, which many officials, including the FBI, suspect was borne out of a similar lab accident in China.</blockquote>&nbsp;It's not Fauci or Daszak — it's YOUR faultMainstream media in the United States, meanwhile, is concerned about bats for a different reason: climate change. According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2024/03/26/1240779167/how-do-we-halt-the-next-pandemic-be-kind-to-critters-like-bats-says-a-new-paper" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NPR</a>,<blockquote>Almost every pandemic we've seen over the last century has come from a virus that's spilled over into humans from an animal…</blockquote>Their article goes on to “explain” how deforestation forces bats to invade cities to find food, leaving behind droppings that cause “spillover” diseases.Therefore, government attention and funding is best directed, so this theory goes, toward research into bat habitats and global warming, as a recent article in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46151-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nature</a> describes:<blockquote>Reducing the risk of future pandemics requires investment in prevention, preparedness, and response. At present, most attention and funding is allocated to mitigation after a pathogen is already circulating … By contrast, primary pandemic prevention—defined as reducing the likelihood a pathogen transmits from its animal host into humans (zoonotic spillover; Fig. 1)—has received less attention in global conversations, policy guidance, and practice…</blockquote>So, don't blame the biolabs. Blame regular humans, for the crime of “using land”:<blockquote>To effectively prevent pandemics, we must recognize two key points: first that pandemics almost always start with a microbe infecting a wild animal in a natural environment and second that human-caused land-use change often triggers the events–whether through wildlife trade or other distal activities–that facilitate spillover of microbes from wild animals to humans. As land-use change becomes more intense and extensive, the risk of zoonotic spillovers, and subsequent epidemics and pandemics, will increase [emphases added].</blockquote>

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You are not a bat. Seriously, y'all. Stop it.