Corrupting American healthcare

 

In his article "The Sovietization of Medical Care," Jeffrey A. Tucker, President of the Brownstone Institute, compares the failures in the old Soviet Union’s “health care” system to America’s politicization of our healthcare system, using the introduction of the COVID virus as the cudgel:

. . . In the US, in nearly every state, regardless of whether the virus was spreading rapidly with significant medical consequences, hospitals were forcibly reserved only for emergencies and Covid patients. Elective surgeries were out of the question, as were cancer screenings or other routine checkups. This left most hospitals in the country with very few patients and a gutting of their profitability models, leading to furloughs of thousands of nurses during a pandemic. 

It also created a situation in which hospitals were desperate for a revenue source. By government legislation, a subsidy was provided to them for Covid patients and Covid deaths, thus incentivizing medical institutions to classify everyone with a positive PCR test as a Covid case, regardless of what else was wrong with the patient. 

This began almost immediately. Here is Deborah Birx speaking to the issue on April 7, 2020. 

[Video clip & tweet:]  Here is Dr. Birx saying that the government is recording anyone who dies with coronavirus in the United States, regardless of any other health issue, as a death from coronavirus.

This practice continued for two years, leading to a massive confusion about how many people actually died of Covid and skewing all existing data on the case fatality rate.  . . .

Further, doctors all over the country are facing massive pressure to list as many deaths as possible as Covid deaths. 

These programs create a vicious circle. They establish incentives to overstate the danger of Covid. The overstatement provides a justification to continue the state of emergency, which keeps the perverse incentives going. With effective vaccines and treatments widely available, and an infection fatality rate on par with flu, it’s past time to recognize that Covid is no longer an emergency requiring special policies.

. . . The further we move away from health care as essentially a doctor/patient relationship, with freedom of choice on all sides, and the more we allow central plans to replace on-the-ground clinical wisdom, the less it looks like quality health care and the less it contributes to public health. 

The full report is here.  Recommended. 

The website for Dr Simone Gold’s America’s Frontline Doctors no longer comes up in my online searches.  Instead, I find reports advising readers that these doctors were pushing “misinformation” and prescriptions of ineffective and harmful medications, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (which, in reality, have been very effective in mitigating COVID symptoms).

Dr Gold was imprisoned for showing up at the January 6 “insurrection” in DC.  ABC described her as a “leading anti-vax figure.”  No, she was/is against the mandates and the particular mRNA injection.  If you want to see how blatant censorship and political propaganda corrupts the public discourse, have a look at the Wikipedia page for Dr Gold here.  My take-away:  I would not trust Wikipedia on any topic that has generated controversy.      

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Here come the bugs

 

A F Branco cartoon

The Green New Deal, the New World Order, or by whatever name you call it – our betters at the World Economic Forum want us to eat bugs instead of meat.  John Hinderaker at PowerLine takes it seriously:

The Left’s two main targets, so far, are fertilizers and animal husbandry. What is the end game? Leftists want us to eat a largely vegetarian diet, with insects as a protein source instead of cows, pigs and poultry.

This is no secret if you follow leftist writing, but many people find it hard to believe. To be fair, there is a great deal about modern liberalism that I find hard to believe. But the plan to convert us all to insect-eaters is real.

Thus this headline: EU Gives Green Light for Use of Two Insect Species in Human Food.

For a deeper dive on how all this is fulfilling the Davos crowd’s dreams of making us eat insects, here’s part of Itxu Diaz’s column at The American Conservative:

Until now, common sense led us to unhesitatingly step on any insects we find dragging their bellies across the kitchen floor. But currently, the masters of the universe are set on correcting this practice: They prefer you to eat them.

In recent months there has been a worldwide campaign, especially intense in the European Union, to convince us to incorporate crickets and worms into our diet. And, as we are not yet crazy enough to do so, they have found a way to make us do it anyway: by including them as a substitute for flour and protein in products we consume on a daily basis.

. . .

It is a battle that can obviously be won on the street without much effort. I don't know anyone who wants to leave their children a world where you can only get around by bicycle or, at best, electric cars, where heating is banned, and at lunchtime you find a salad with crickets, worms, and fake steaks by Bill Gates waiting for you on your plate. That is not a world, that is hell.

For centuries, much of the superiority of Western civilization has been apparent in our food. There is no need to give our moral decline a seat at the dinner table. Refusing to eat insects is a show of respect and obedience to our mothers, who, when as babies we lifted bugs from the ground to our mouths, told us, "Don't eat that!"

The PowerLine report is here. The American Conservative report is here. In our household, we’re starting to read labels on packaged food even more carefully.

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Sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine

PowerLine’s "Week In Pictures" published this meme:

 

Hidden Pictures:  can you spot Sesame Street’s Purple Monster in the meme?

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Republicans would rather lose

 

JD Rucker at The Liberty Daily reports: 

The UniParty Swamp scored a major victory yesterday by reelecting Ronna Romney McDaniel as Republican National Committee Chairwoman. This comes despite the fact that she has presided over the last three failed election cycles. Republicans haven’t performed up to expectations since BEFORE she took office.

So why would the 168-member body endorse further failure when they had America First patriot Mike Lindell and legal warrior Harmeet Dhillon as better options? There was one interesting data point in a survey conducted by the NY Times of the RNC members that points to the likely reason. According to poll results, “just four offered an unabashed endorsement of Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign.”

It’s actually more insidious than that.  Harmeet Dhillon is not really a better option.  Here's Sundance at Conservative Treehouse on the continuing Kabuki Theater:

Mike Lindell announced he was going to challenge Ronna McDaniel for the RNC chair.  This sent a shockwave through the Big Club because the potential for support from President Trump loomed over the Lindell announcement.  America-First Mike Lindell is not controlled by corporate money, Wall Street, the multinationals or billionaire Big Donors who ultimately control the RNC as a big private club.

So, what happened?…  Facing the possibility that Ronna McDaniel might be unseated, a week after Lindell’s announcement, Harmeet Dhillon steps into the picture.

Dhillon is a tenured Big Club member and voice for the billionaire class who fund her.  Remember, Dhillon was paid over $1 million by the RNC, separate and above any costs connected to the Trump legal defense fund.   Dhillon makes her money from the RNC, and if Lindell won the chairmanship, in addition to her friend losing the seat, Dhillon was financially at risk.  Dhillon enters the race as an insurance policy, on behalf of the Big Club donors.

. . .

It’s not organic.  All of this is scripted.  All of it.  Every bit of it.  Harmeet Dhillon is already part of the DeSantis Big Club operation.  The RNC roadmap in 2008 was for John McCain. The RNC roadmap for 2012 was for Mitt Romney.   The RNC roadmap for 2016 was for Jeb Bush, and the RNC, Big Club, Wall Street, Billionaire and multinational corporate roadmap in 2024 is for Ron DeSantis.  None of this is organic.  All of this is scripted.

The RNC raises a lot of money.  Whether they win or lose.  More at Liberty Daily here and at Conservative Treehouse here.   

JD Rucker concludes:

If you are an America First patriot, the RNC hates you. They’ll use you for your donations and beg you for your votes, but in the end they despise everything you represent. You shouldn’t give them a penny.

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Mark Wauck: “settled science” and "misinformation"

 

Whether it’s challenges to the claims about “man-made climate change,” the COVID vaxx, or other examples of “misinformation,” a judge in California has issued an injunction against that state’s attempt to muzzle and penalize any doctors who disagree with the CDC’s and other government mandates on COVID (vaxx, masks, etc.). Mark Wauck at Meaning in History reports:

This tactic cleverly relies upon the common misconception that “science” consists of a body of settled knowledge that is above challenge, rather than being a process of continuing inquiry that relies to a great degree precisely upon challenges to previous consensus (I simplify, of course). This notion of a settled body of knowledge—identified as such by Leftist ideologues without regard to evidence as such—is then used to shut down debate on whatever happens to be the latest Leftist pseudo scientific cause—”settled science” so just shut up! You’re an ignoramus if you dare object, or if you demand evidence to back up the Left’s latest campaign.

We’ve seen this tactic employed repeatedly, first in “social science” fields and now even in the “hard” sciences. Most recently, with the use of the charge of “misinformation—it has evolved into a full assault of the First Amendment and an instrument of social control. The Covid Regime, with its numerous scientifically unjustified mandates—masks, distancing, plexiglass screens, and so forth—has offered fertile ground for the extension of draconian anti-freedom controls over the populace. All in the name of an invented and often contradictory “scientific consensus” which usually boils down to an uninformed and arbitrary bureaucratic consensus.

. . . Specifically, [Judge William] Shubb attacks the definition of “misinformation” as something that is contradicted by a supposed “scientific consensus”—a highly problematic concept.

In an order Wednesday, Shubb criticized the law’s definition of “misinformation,” which is “false information contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care.”

Shubb, who called the definition “nonsense” at a court hearing Monday, said in Wednesday’s order that it was “grammatically incoherent.”

Beyond that, Shubb’s order also criticized the phrase “contemporary scientific consensus,” saying that it doesn’t have an established meaning in the medical field.

“The statute provides no clarity on the term’s meaning, leaving open multiple important questions,” the order said. “For instance, who determines whether a consensus exists to begin with? If a consensus does exist, among whom must the consensus exist (for example practicing physicians, or professional organizations, or medical researchers, or public health officials, or perhaps a combination)?”

That lack of clarity, the judge added, makes it impossible to determine what the new law prohibits.

“I think he correctly analyzed the facts and the law and understood that the concept of a ‘contemporary scientific consensus’ is highly problematic,” said Richard Jaffe, an attorney representing one of the challenges to the rule.

Mr. Wauck concludes:

Given that the federal judiciary—right up to the SCOTUS—has largely been missing in action while the Left has been running roughshod over our constitutionally protected freedoms, it’s refreshing to see a judge directly challenging these tactics. Hopefully this case will establish a precedent for dismantling this Leftist assault on freedom.

Source links are here and here.

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Phantom ballots: who is cleaning the voter rolls?

Jay Valentine at American Thinker has published a couple of columns expressing his concern:

You would think rational electioneers in the Republican Party would, in 2022, do everything to stop the election jiggering that took place in 2020.  You would be wrong.

And from his column yesterday:

Two years ago, most Americans thought phantom voters were comic book characters.  Nobody had ever seen one.

This week, we reached our 5,000th volunteer request (in 60 days) to help clean voter rolls — and we never asked for a single volunteer.  We are just technology guys.

Americans are fed up; they get it that their elected officials are not going to clean voter rolls.  Perhaps some people did not dig the Big Steal for the Trump election — but after Kari Lake, the Senate in Nevada, and dozens of local races, they are on fire now.

Mr Valentine’s Omega4America website is here. And he has expressed frustration at the lack of attention to election fraud from top politicians.

However, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch mailed subscribers, including this blogger, the following message:

President Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, delivered the keynote address last night [Jan 19] at our 6th Judicial Watch Annual Roundtable, a private event, which was held at the Trump National Doral in Miami, FL.

President Trump engaged in a historic battle against government corruption and abuse, a battle that continues to this day. We are honored that he addressed and educated our supporters about the ongoing rule of law crisis that so threatens our Republic.

The Roundtable also featured important discussions on the election integrity crisis, the border crisis, the Left/government/Big Tech attack on free speech, the January 6 political prisoners, Biden corruption [emphasis added] and more!

This is good news:  President Trump participated in an event that directly addressed election integrity.  Judicial Watch is one of the few watchdog agencies that regularly files FOIA lawsuits to expose government corruption, and their recent conference tells us that they have their eye on the ball, so to speak.

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Basics of the New World Order

 

Antonio Graceffo at The Epoch Times reports on some of the basics of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and why this blog continues to follow the developments:

. . . The WEF effectively recommends policies on everything, from creating digital identity systems and restructuring the global political system to the cessation of fossil fuel use, individual car ownership, and the banning of eating meat.

Even though it’s a private organization with no global or political authority, the event was attended by a long and distinguished list of elected officials and political appointees. This year, 51 heads of state, including Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, presidents of Spain, South Korea, Poland, and the Philippines, and China’s Vice-Premier Liu He, in addition to 56 finance ministers, 19 central bank governors, 30 trade ministers, and 35 foreign ministers, were at the forum.

Also present were the heads of global organizations, such as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

A U.S. congressional delegation was also there, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.). On the industry side, there were more than 600 CEOs like JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman. . . .

. . . The WEF is a globalist organization that wants to compromise the sovereignty of nations, rewrite the world order, and dictate how we live, eat, and think. And for some reason, our leaders and media support them.

As powerful as the WEF participants may be, there are more of us little people than there are of them, and this blog is trying to stay on top of developments.  At the end of the day, I like Neil Oliver’s attitude:

They think they’ve got us scared enough to accept the whole damned lot of it.  Here’s the thing: I am not afraid of them.  I don’t even take them seriously.

Read the rest of Mr Graceffo's column here. 

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