An openly voluntary man is curious about COVID-19 and #theresponse and is doing research and sending emailed letters to friends. He allowed us to share his work here. A note from the author regarding the following COVID-19 Information:
I decided to parse what I’ll share into a few chunks. I began writing as a way of compiling my own thoughts and coordinating analysis with close friends, who rather than think me weird, were reaching the same conclusions and afraid to speak up. I welcome your feedback/contributions (send URLs!), I don’t require your agreement, and the last thing I wish to do is add undue stress or noise. And if I get anything wrong, blame my ignorance and intellect, not my integrity, and send me your corrections. Thanks.
My goal is to a) cast doubt on the severity of coronavirus (“CV“), b) offer initial “what am I doing?” thoughts, and c) queue up other topics I’ll cover subsequently.
To cast doubt, I will share:
- Intro: a series of questions I challenge you to honestly consider.
- First, a source with well-documented statistics (and a few sample excerpts) that counter the “morbidity mayhem” pushed by the media
- Second, a collection of quotes from a few MDs, virologists, and various other researchers, each of whom will weigh in on the problem they see, which is not the “virus” portrayed by most media channels.
- Third, a collection of Citizen Journalist efforts to verify the “apocalyptic war zones” at various hospitals
- Suggestions for you to consider: To avoid missing a window of opportunity, a few thoughts about what I’m trying to do that you may wish to copy.
- My personal biases (that I know about): Because we may interpret data differently, compare your own biases with mine in preparation for your own due diligence of everything I’ve written, so that my worldview doesn’t unduly lead you astray.
As an introduction, I encourage you to separate out what you actually know from first-hand experience vs. what we’ve been told to think. Categorically, do you (or does anyone) even know what is causing illness and death? Here are a few mind benders that are not precursors to direct answers, but should instead accentuate how little most of us actually know about the entire virus business, from identification to cure:
- How is a virus identified? Were the gold standard, “Koch’s postulates” followed in the identification of CV or any “virus” outbreak in memory? SARS, Swine Flu, Zika, etc. etc.
- What does a virus test even check? Trust that this isn’t as obvious as it might appear.
- What if CV exists, but something else was the cause of illness and death? How did anyone determine that CV was hurting or killing people? Certainly they know, right?
- What if CV exists, but is not contagious? That people contract the disease not from each other, but because they were all subjected to the same toxin (e.g. bacteria laden food, poisoned water, a bad vaccine) or are merely in proximity to some geographically dispersed external factor (e.g. 5g roll out or pollution)?
- What if CV didn’t exist at all? Ie. there was no aggressively attacking pathogen that we presently believe to be a virus called CV?
- More broadly, what if what we presently call viruses are not a significant source of disease? Ie. What if coronavirus, as well as other viruses (SARS, H1N1, HIV, Zika, etc.) are merely present in ill people, but not a pathogen…. not the root cause of any +significant+ disease? Could “viruses” instead be the RESULT of a disease? In other words, what if the body produces these “viruses” after being diseased through some other matter/cause, so the R2 correlation is very high, but causality = 0? For example, water is present in every sick body that is “infected by coronavirus”, yet no one associates any disease or malady with water for obvious reasons, namely we feel water is a building block and necessity, not harmful to life.
- What does “cured” mean? What changes take place inside the body that signify the PROBLEM has disappeared? Can an infection reoccur? We can get “chicken pox” only once in our lives, while herpes is incurable and permanent. We have heard of recurring CV cases. Why is CV similar or different?
- What does “immunity” mean? Sure, we’ve heard of antibodies, but what physiological changes take place inside the body to signify that the RISK of infection and disease has disappeared?
Note: These will not be chapters in subsequent letters; I’ve not the depth of knowledge to definitively answer these questions, but will try to add some depth behind each of these, as it queues up a very different set of personal and community actions that one might logically pursue.
Ok, with those few questions in mind, let’s dive into some “Virus Deniers” or whatever you wish to call the antithesis of “Virus Conspiracy Theorists / Virus Alarmists / Media Pundits / Public Health Propagandists” seen on television.
First, bless the Swiss (or at least this one Swiss website) for compiling and documenting some great quotes and data, which shows that despite the hype, coronavirus is rarely a cause of death, but at most a contributor and often found to be not even harmful throughout its “infection life cycle”. Certainly, some of this you have already heard, but I doubt all of it. I encourage reading that webpage in entirety (20 min of study?), then bookmarking the link and returning periodically, as it’s updated nearly daily. I’ll offer a few highlights and my comments.
- Age is a leading cause of death. [No shit?! –Ed.] It’s not much of a stretch to see that people are dying WITH CV, not necessarily FROM CV. In Italy, less than 1% of the deceased have been healthy persons, i.e. persons without pre-existing chronic diseases. The average age of the positively-tested deceased in Italy is currently about 81 years. 10% of the deceased are over 90 years old. 90% of the deceased are over 70 years old. And then in Germany… The director of the German National Health Institute (RKI) admitted that they count all test-positive deaths as „coronavirus deaths“ irrespective of the actual cause of death. The average age of the deceased is 82 years, most with serious preconditions.
- Other toxins, beyond CV, are clearly present. Northern Italy has one of the oldest populations and the worst air quality in Europe, which had already led to an increased number of respiratory diseases and deaths in the past and is likely an additional risk factor in the current epidemic. A leading Italian doctor reports that „strange cases of pneumonia“ were seen in the Lombardy region already in November 2019, raising again the question if they were caused by the new virus (which officially only appeared in Italy in February 2020), or by other factors
- An extensive survey in Iceland found that 50% of all test-positive persons showed „no symptoms“ at all, while the other 50% mostly showed „very moderate cold-like symptoms“. According to the Icelandic data, the mortality rate of Covid19 is in the per mille range, i.e. [~0.1% or ~1 in 1000, which is] in the flu range or below. Of the two test-positive deaths, one was „a tourist with unusual symptoms“. <– no description of what was unusual or complicating!
- In Italy, similar to Iceland: The renowned Italian virologist Giulio Tarro argues that the mortality rate of Covid19 is below 1% even in Italy and is therefore comparable to influenza. The higher values only arise because no distinction is made between deaths with and by Covid19 and because the number of (symptom-free) infected persons is greatly underestimated.
As an aside, globally, it is difficult to baseline the accuracy of the CV testing, but Iceland may be the best country to watch. To my knowledge, Iceland was one of the first, perhaps only, to embrace mass testing at the early onset of the virus’ arrival — show up, get a test. With this broader swath of testing, while there still is not a control group, Iceland may have the best shot at understanding the false negatives and positives. A surprisingly high 5.7% of those tested were found positive (but of course, no view into the % of false positives!), and 50% of these 5.7% positives had been traveling abroad (e.g. northern Italy/Alps). Yet despite these high %’s, Iceland morbidity is so low as to be questionable about whether or not CV has killed anyone there at all.
Elsewhere, such as in the US, tests were often restricted to sick or recently-traveled people, with doctors requiring CDC/FDA permission to develop, much less administer a test even to their own nurses caring for patients. By delaying mass testing, no baseline could be determined as to the source of CV shown in a positive test result. Had people tested positive in January or February, having had minimal (if not zero) exposure to any chain of people having been near China outbreaks, then we would have a control group with which to measure testing. By delaying testing until people have mingled about for a few months, there is no control group from which to baseline anything. If someone tested positive having had zero chance of exposure to the “official Wuhan wet market source”, then everyone would be asking,
- what really is CV and/or what the heck are these tests revealing?
- from where did this thing (CV/disease/whatever) actually originate?
Regardless, with up to 40% false positive testing rates in the US, the validity of the testing is under serious scrutiny. Definitive false positive %’s of the various testing methods are VERY hard to find (anyone have a few sources to share?) and may be impossible for reasons we’ll get to in a minute. The only paper I could find supported why the Chinese stopped traditional testing weeks ago, I believe is the result of the March 5 published paper on how 80.33% of active nucleic acid testing produced false positives, which while this paper was withdrawn, is still accessible from the US NIH. The Chinese ditched traditional swab/blood tests for CT scans (sorry I can’t locate the link) as a result. Yes, I’m aware of PCR testing, though this is not the commonly used form, nor by any means perfect. I continue to search for peer reviewed false positive test result reports of any testing, but frankly, if these are not clearly accessible and understood, then science dictates that the testing is +garbage+. Pick your methodology and the you’ll find the same answer: it is impossible and nonsensical to improve something that cannot be consistently measured.
I should add that indeed, there are now many different tests, each with their own accuracy, but I never see which test is used for which reported statistics, so it’s unclear what accuracy is being cited as the margin of error for these case #’s widely reported and hyped on TV. To that point, it will take you under 2 minutes (from 0min:35sec to 1min:40sec) watching this video to decide that Gov Cuomo of NY has no idea what the #’s he is presenting actually represent. We’re should regard ourselves as lucky in that he volunteered the info, as such bumbling, illogical explanations are rarely offered along with the statistics shared in the media. Even if you believe the media tries to be fair and balanced, don’t for a moment believe that they’re ACCURATE and PRECISE, as there is no meaningful way that they could be. If you want to read more about how testing is actually performed, why there’s variance, what the gold standard (“Koch’s postulates”) for determining if there even IS a virus at all that is hurting anyone… read this article. There are several such articles describing this dark corner of detail that are never discussed in mainstream media, but are essential to understanding the depth of the nonsensical approach to every statistic you’ve seen so far. I wager that someday, the virus testing practices we use today, and all results and reports we’ve read, will fall apart like Theranos’ miniLab, one of the largest testing fraud machines in the history of humanity.
Second, in agreement with the above materials, is a compilation of quotes, many along with the related interviews, from a dozen world renown scientists. https://off-guardian.org/2020/
- “We are afraid that 1 million infections with the new virus will lead to 30 deaths per day over the next 100 days. But we do not realise that 20, 30, 40 or 100 patients positive for normal coronaviruses (ie. “the everyday flu”) are already dying every day. [The government’s anti-COVID19 measures] are grotesque, absurd and very dangerous…”
- “I am deeply concerned that the social, economic and public health consequences of this near-total meltdown of normal life will be long-lasting and calamitous, possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself.“
- “Should it turn out that the epidemic wanes before long, there will be a queue of people wanting to take credit for this. But remember the joke about tigers. “Why do you blow the horn?” “To keep the tigers away.” “But there are no tigers here.” “There you see!”
- “Politicians are being courted by scientists…scientists who want to be important to get money for their institutions… We should be asking questions like `How did you find out this virus was dangerous?’ “
Third, there is a gradual movement of people (“citizen journalists”) breaking “shelter in place” quarantines to go look at their hospital, interview workers, and get a real sense of what is actually happening. Several recent ones come from:
- Elmhurst Hospital, Queens NY, March 24, 2020. The NY Times did an article and video, complete with spooky music, about the “mayhem” at the Elmhurst hospital in Queens, where the staff was over-committed with ER seeing 400 people per day (2:30), there weren’t enough ventilators (until the hospital system said this was a big mistake), there were standing lines outside waiting to get in (2:35), and a dozen people had just died, requiring a refrigerated truck to pile up the bodies. Calling Elmhurst Hospital “the epicenter within the epicenter,” Mayor De Blasio decided to become a healthcare administrator and sent personnel and machines there to the rescue. So Jason Goodman went there to check it out — literally to the “New Taste of China” restaurant at the corner of Layton & Baxter — and video’d his experience, which didn’t match anything that the NYT had reported. I’ve hung out with Jason during my travels and I believe he is honest. Since then, the hospital system announced several corrections to the story, including that there were more than enough ventilators to go around, etc. What was also interesting was the people involved in the story. First, there’s little way of verifying interviewee Dr. Colleen Smith — some have commented on her expertise including medical/operational “Simulation” which is interesting. It’s also interesting that she doesn’t have a LinkedIn profile (or one that I could find — it’s difficult if she is married and used her maiden name, which I wouldn’t know), and the only public write-up/reference I could find on her was from 2016 stating that her med license was valid until 2018. And resident Dr. Ashley Bray? Also pretty much a ghost prior to 1 year ago — she appears to have graduated from a med school in Grenada (which seems fine) her address is listed as either at Elmhurst Hospital or 180 Hoyt St. #1 which looks like this though at age 27, graduating last year, she doesn’t have much other info about her anywhere, including LinkedIn, though poor self-promotion isn’t conspicuous. Her alumni page, for May 2019 graduation, seems to have been first created in March 2018, but maybe was just an accident. Let’s look at the two reporters Robin and Caroline (identified by this puff piece write-up), neither of which appear as interviewers, despite the Q&A format sometimes employed. Producer, Robin Stein, who does have a LinkedIn profile surprised me that she had so few Skills & Endorsements (2 for Journalism? 2 for writing? 1 for Video?), despite having led a Frontline investigation that won a Pulitzer Prize and an 18 year career history, spanning 5 prestigious companies. Editor Caroline Kim is a complete ghost, with only references to her work in a myriad of publications in many different states, leading me to believe she is freelance (maybe the past year at NYT), yet does a terrible job of promoting herself. Mark Scheffler and Whitney Hurst seem a lot more credible, though it would have been nice to see any of the people involved in this Elmhurst video listed in the posted NYT employee list. Who knows. As an aside, a parallel story to this is the death of “Kias Kelly”, the 48yo Elmhurst Hospital Nursing Manager, who apparently died on this same day, March 24, from CV, as she seems to be a ghost – nothing in any search engine,
If you “get” this article, please check into Mensa! except repeats of the article discussing her death; nothing on LinkedIn either. Lastly, I took several screenshots from the video and analyzed them through a photo-forensics tool because they looked fishy to me. I began analyzing these videos because the Elmhurst sign @1:51, 1) didn’t seem to move relative to the camera, during the 4 screenshots I captured and 2) there was nothing written below or after it (no “medical center” or “Emergency Room” or whatever) — it looked like someone had white’d-out the lettering below it. Using the Photo-forensics tool, I admit that I made zero progress finding that to be fake. That doesn’t make it actually Elmhurst hospital, as it could have been a real video shot in Hollywood, but I could not definitively find oddities worth sharing. One last note was that in September 19, 2019, this hospital’s performance was evaluated by ProPublica and given rather poor ratings (e.g. 11+ hours average wait time from ER before admission into the hospital is far worse than national or even NY averages). If they are challenged, who is to say they weren’t before, since their stats were so poor 6 months ago, prior to CV? So in summary, was the NYT video real and is it apocalyptic? I’d give this video and the story a 3/10 on plausibility. I don’t wish to spread fake news, but I find the video and story hard to defend given the minimally credible people involved, the contradictions documented in the media, past poor performance, and the ways this could have been faked (offer free masks to anyone who would stand in the cordoned off area to show a big line of people the day it was filmed, shoot most of the interior video elsewhere a week or two in advance, etc.). Was it an appeal for more funding? Tell me a hospital that doesn’t seek that. Was it fake news designed to push a broader agenda (e.g. medical martial law)? Was it done for good intentions (pre-empt what was seen as an upcoming calamity and therefore save lives by escalating urgency today) or ill intentions? I don’t know. Jason and I seem to conclude that the article and video do not WELL represent real life, but the “why” is impossible to answer.
- New York Presbyterian Hospital — Also a non-event. Jason Goodman video’d another hospital and confirmed with a walk around and a brief interview with an EMT that the hospital is empty and if there is a pandemic, it certainly isn’t in this hospital.
- Brooklyn Hospital Center, NYC — Labeled a “war zone”, Reuters offers a video with a voice overlay that says: “As the death toll rises… bodies are loaded into a refrigerated truck with a forklift.” Meanwhile, an independent report (with 66 subscribers!) shows the disaster inside this hospital… until it’s clear from the sign that this is in a Spanish speaking country with no voice over and an unknown date of recording. Ie. Fake news. Todd Starnes shows another independent video of what the “war zone” of this hospital really looks like– another non-event with no one around and nothing happening.
- Torrance Memorial Medical outside of LA — shown setting up tents to separate the traffic flow of new patients yet this video literally shows a ghost town with no cars in the garage, traffic around ER, no tents to be seen, etc. I cannot vouch for the video or its producer, DeAnna Lorraine, who is running for Congress, is plastered all over the Intenet, and probably has more to lose from lying than she has to gain.
- Huntington Hospital in Pasadena/Los Angeles and other nearby hospitals – A non-event. Nobody around. Often no eye protection and some have people walking around without masks on or masks lowered. A joke. Wish the videographer had named the other facilities, but they’re real enough. Great admittance criteria: “only come in if you have other issues or are older…” “If you’re positive, stay at home and stay away from people…”
- NYC is now Bergamo, Italy? Recently, CBS blatantly faked a video, claiming that a NYC hospital is a war zone… yet the video at 1:23 was actually video in Italy, not NYC. A side by side comparison is offered by @ALX on Twitter. I think at 2:09, I’ve seen this guy adjust his ventilator before. Remember, this is the same Mayor Cuomo whose N.Y.C. Public Hospital Head told NY Times that they had all the ventilators they needed and that Elmhurst (their “epicenter of epicenters”) has never come close to running out of ventilators, yet there he is at 1:27 in the CBS video the same day (March 25) or a day or two after the NYT recorded their Elmhurst short documentary, proclaiming a need for 30,000 ventilators. Someone is lying, and my vote is for whomever is video’d standing in front of a flag with a gold trim.
- “Berlin Virchow Hospital” – This is a major hospital — in 2019, Newsweek ranked the hospital as fifth best in the world and the best in Europe. It should handle the bulk of regional CV cases. 2 weeks ago, with Berlin seeing ~383 cases, the city council (?) approved plans to build a 1,000-bed coronavirus hospital (leveraging the military’s help) in Berlin to handle the flow they expected. Within 4-5 days, the case #’s had tripled to >1000. So a guy named “Billy Six” (I cannot verify at all) claims to have walked through the hospital, talked to people, and learned that there are no CV victims, no mayhem, no capacity problems, etc. Had I seen this first, I might have dismissed it, or dozens of others that are beginning to emerge with similar stories.
- https://twitter.com/hashtag/
FilmYourHospital?src=hashtag_ click Denver CO, Fall River MA… there are people documenting the conditions at their hotels. Maybe they are lying, but I rather doubt it. One of the people on BCC: sent me his on-site recording of his Florida hospital with the same story — nothing was happening, there was no emergency. Obviously, patients are treated inside where filming is a challenge, if not arrest-worthy, but some have done so. - Another measure of “mayhem” is the ER wait times at hospitals, which as an example, using the hospital-system’s own website, 7 of the 13 hospitals near Alexandria VA show 6 min or less ER wait time, which is nothing. The average is about 10min with only 1 hospital presently quite busy @ 27min. Interestingly, captured within seconds of that same report, another website, hospitalstats.org shows 10x-100x the waiting times for the same hospitals — I’ve attached both reports as evidence. I cannot explain why there’s such a difference and assume it’s either very different measures using the same name, a huge & consistent mistake, or unfortunately, just a big fat lie. I’m not going to bother trying to correct their mistakes, but simply show that online data needs reality-checking.
Ponder this
Why do NYC and L.A. need special ocean-going ships (e.g. the USNS Mercy) to arrive into their ports and offer capacity to serve thousands of struggling patients, when many of these existing hospitals are empty and bored?
Appeal for help: What’s happening at your hospital? 2 people on this mailing list have friends or family (Pittsburgh and Boston) working at hospitals where there are claims of serious CV disasters. CBS said in the above video that city hospitals were “at capacity” in Atlanta with their ICU beds and “will have to start using a field hospital”. I’d welcome (and am happy to relay) whatever you can share from your hospital and will repeat your words precisely, but do ask that you (or your friends/family) actually verify. Sadly, if a patient tests positive (false or not, who is to say?), the CDC will mark patients as “CV positive” even if they’re dying from cancer or something else completely unrelated. As such, it is not CV-tagged patients and deaths we should understand, but the severity of the CV actually witnessed, supported by the actual safeguards being used in the actual ER, dedicated ICU floors, and morgue — if the workers aren’t taking this deadly serious, it’s probably not deadly serious. Are people walking around in cleanroom full protective suits and full face masks? Or not? Can you post on Twitter with the #Filmyourhospital hashtag? What are the ER waiting times in reality?
In closing, while I sought to sew doubt into the omnipresent mainstream narrative that we’re all doomed to die from an invisible bug, I DO wish to emphasize the seriousness of our situation. Governments are either confused or corrupt and are overturning centuries of human rights progress globally. Meanwhile, the nationalization of industries and transfer of wealth is a dramatic shift towards left-wing fascism. This is pushed by both main parties in the U.S. and in most other countries. People, in justifiable fear, are ill-equipped to push back. I’ll discuss more later, but immediately recommend (not financial advice, but what I share with those I love as thoughtful suggestions for them to consider and discuss with their financial advisor, blah legaleze blah):
- Get safe. Read the advice and take rational precautions. While I’m convinced CV is greatly exaggerated, if you think you could be at real risk, then it’s better to be safe than sorry. Much better published elsewhere, I’ll offer only one suggestion: get a P100 mask like Spherion/Honeywell Saf-T-Fit with a foam surround and a ventilation check-valve — far safer and far more comfortable than the masks you see most people wear, which are honestly garbage. New retail was $15-$20, now who knows, but still worth buying one and taking great care of it, as you won’t mind using it for home projects even if you never bother using it for CV protection. Good luck finding them, but setting alerts with a few online firms and calling remotely located (not in a city center) home improvement centers is your best bet. Some websites allow real-time inventory checks of popular retailers — YMMV. There’s no end to the list, from disposable latex gloves (cheap) and goggles (cheap) to full body suits ($). Full face masks with disposable P100 filters are socially scary and probably overkill, but are at least comfy and useful for household projects when nasty chemicals or bad dust are involved.
- Stock up. Have at least 1 year of food and supplies, including vitamins (A-E) and key minerals (e.g. magnesium, selenium, iodine…) and any meds that your MD/PCP convinced you are better for you than your ailments. Buy what you think you would eventually use anyway. Start with staples, expand into niche products. Source longer shelf-life substitutes for your preferred protein and dairy, depending on your tastes. Check what “expired” means — during the last big flu outbreak, Tamiflu expired 5 years prior, was permitted for sale because the feeling was that weak, non-toxic drugs were better than no drugs (not that Tamiflu is safe to use when new — different topic). Beyond availability risks, and potentially contaminated product risks, rest assured we are moving into a time of higher inflation, likely stagflation, and possibly hyperinflation, where in all cases, the purchasing power of your savings today will erode. So turning your cash into tangible goods de-risks your life, preserves your wealth, and offers you items to directly trade or gift to those who need it more than you. [more on prepping]
- Get liquid. Pull excess cash from your bank account (anything beyond 3 months operating cash). Bigger topic than I care to cover here, but there’s a significant risk of bank defaults and closures and loss of your “deposits”, which in recent times are now unsecured loans to your bank and cease being your money when you “deposit” funds. In the US, FDIC insurance is a joke, if for no other reason than they don’t guarantee WHEN you will get your cash, much less what purchasing power it will have if/when you ever get your funds. Save nothing larger than $20 bills in the US. If you have so much $ in the bank that you can’t get it out quickly, setup multiple accounts in other banks and use wire transfers or cashiers checks to effectively split your electronic money across banks, then pull out $4k from each. If anyone asks, tell them you’re buying an asset for an uncertain amount and the seller won’t take a cashier’s check or wire. Max out daily ATM withdrawals thereafter. You can always re-deposit it if you think that’s a good idea someday.
- Get out of the markets. Glad they went up last week on various Fed and Fiscal spending news, but this is front-running inflation, nothing more. These global markets (DOW, DAX, etc.) may well be where all newly created currencies go, so you pick your exit timing, but take a look around and decide for yourself if these publicly traded companies will profitably grow in the near future. If you think they will, ok, good luck. If you think they won’t, then find another risk-off inflation hedge… like in-your-hand precious metals (silver for us poor people). Gainesville Coins offers some of the last decent (premiums of only 10%-15% over fake “spot” prices on silver bullion) prices in the US if you’re willing to wait a few weeks for your product to ship. It’s not that everyone else is gouging, but that physical markets have separated from electronically traded “paper” markets (e.g. SLV, GLD and similar ticker symbols). Understand how and when you should get out of any investment before you buy it and how it should fit within your portfolio. I’m a metals bull, but I’m definitely not “all in” on it.
- Prepare to defend yourself and property. If this drags on (and it certainly has the potential to do so), it might get sporty. No smiles in this topic, but better now than after an incident. Improved locks, doors, door hinges, lighting, cameras and yes, weapons. Most such upgrades and assets are investments, not expenses, so are a shift of a little cash to another form of wealth and should not be a financial loss. Check your insurance policies and if you can save $ through your home/auto security investments (also: consider the solvency of your insurer in backing a future claim).
- Reconnect with friends, family and neighbors. How your community scales to look out after its members is key to weathering this storm. Help how you can. Elderly neighbors or physically challenged may be scared to death of what they’ve seen and are fearful to shop or associate with others, breaking former bonds. Volunteer to shop for them (and have them pay you back if you both can afford it), run errands, or whatever puts them at ease. (Re-)establish a neighborhood watch. Consider setting up a community forum with online software, matching help requests with support. Find ways to demonstrate your commitment in exchange for that of others. This is key to overcoming the distrust and worry that is accelerating from social distancing. Set a positive tone and expect it from others.
- Consider all of the above with respect to your extended family, friends, and neighbors. If you are in good shape, but your neighbor is not, would you turn away them and their hungry, scared kids? Once you help them and others learn of it and seek similar help, at what point do you deny sharing? Who will you help and who will you not? Under what conditions? And under what conditions will you ask for help and from whom? These are heartbreaking questions that are better answered in advance and made to be your personal policy and are deeply personal. I suggest that the best help is by helping them prepare so that they do not (hopefully) need, building goodwill and trust in the process so that if either needs help, a path has already been paved.
The attached presentation (borrowed in part from Robert David Steele) offers a bit of final thought provocation. CV, even in countries on the decline of new cases, is a rounding error compared to any of the top 20 causes of death, yet no one is trying to shut down a $20T/year US economy, or >$80T/year GLOBAL economy, over any of these problems. The real pandemic is an idea, pumped by a complicit media and political apparatus, not a pathogen. And indeed, regardless of origin or whether or not this was a staged act, the challenges we face as a result of this socio-economic collapse and authoritarian power grab far, far exceeds the “big, bad, bug.” On our present course and speed, our world will be dramatically different in 2021 than it was in 2019, yet information is the light that dispels darkness.
Ok — that’s beyond enough. If you read this far and agree with any of it, share with others what parts you feel you can and snip out what you can not. Burke said, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.” Please do what you feel is best for your friends, family, colleagues and community.
Until next time: stay safe, sane and well.
-Author
P.S.> To be fair, I’ll cite a few of my biases, just in case anyone doesn’t already know. I only emailed intelligent people (you!), but still suggest doing your own due diligence, trusting neither what I’ve written, nor what I excluded, given that:
- I’m more risk averse than most people. Usually, anyway.
- I’ve anticipated some form of financial and economic collapse. Whole different topic, but related, given the unprecedented changes we are witnessing. It’s not likely to happen — it already did and we’re just beginning to figure out what global debt restructuring and fiat currency destruction actually looks like.
- Similarly, I am very skeptical of the intention and construction of the BIS, IMF, World Bank, Federal Reserve, member banks, primary dealers, and the global fiat currency banking apparatus. “From now on, depressions will be scientifically created.” – Charles Lindbergh. Amen. If you don’t understand the P<P+I formula (Principal loaned < Principal owed + Interest not created), well, you’re certainly not alone, but I highly encourage you to learn about the global central-banking facilitated debt-based monetary system and the petrodollar as the world reserve currency. Now. Mike Maloney’s materials and Money Masters are but a start. Understanding precious metals is equally important. “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” – Henry Ford
- I’m no fan of government, because interaction with it is generally involuntary and therefore immoral. Maybe I took one too many classes in Agile programming, but I’ve become a socio-political “voluntarist.” Wiki’s article is weak and there are better overviews, but like the other biases, I simply want to call it out, not dive further into this topic here.
- Unsurprisingly, I am skeptical of all politicians. Know how to tell if a politician is lying? goes the joke… I’m not alone, of course. Approx. 74% of US citizens disapprove of their “elected leaders” in Congress (that’s only marginally better than it was in 2015!).
- I am skeptical of anything reported anywhere. This includes all mainstream media. BBC, Fox, RT, CNN… and any altnews site… doesn’t matter. While I’m willing to consider anything, I accept nothing as true simply because it was reported… there are errors of presentation, of omission, of speculation and of poor or misleading statistics. I more trust friends (and trusted friends of trusted friends!), but accept that anyone may be misguided, even if they are 100% honest in reporting what they think they have witnessed. On this point, I completely agree with Mike Krieger’s delineation between “experts” and “expertise”. Expertise is hard to acquire and share, but an expert is just a “former drip, under pressure”.
- I am careful to avoid becoming an example of the Dunning Kruger Effect, which mutes what I really think. I will try to mind my biases and ignorance to avoid endorsing or hyping anything I cannot personally verify. That said, rather than gloss over too much, I’ll attempt to caveat what I sense but cannot prove.
