| Wonder Pot (Hebrew: סיר פלא, seer peh-leh) is an Israeli invention for baking on top of a gas stove rather than in an oven. It consists of three parts: an aluminum pot shaped like a Bundt pan except smooth-sided rather than fluted, a hooded cover perforated with venting holes, and a thick, round, slightly domed metal disc with a center hole that is placed between the pot and the flame. A Wonder Pot can be used to bake cakes, casseroles, rice, potatoes, apples, and even meat and chicken. | |
Shavot Wonder Pot סיר פלא Recipe – Cheesecake |
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 The Wonder Pot for Shavot Cheesecake-P1 |
Shavot Cheesecake with a Wonder Potby Auntie NosebagCrust: |
 Mix with beater all the ingredients except egg whites. Beat up the egg whites frothy and fold into cake batter and pour on top of the cookie crust and fill pan. Place on flame diffuser (bottom) of wonder pot and put on lowest setting and bake for 1 hour til sets.
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The Wonder Baker Pot סיר פלא, . The Cheesecake is done very quickly.. |
 Let the Cheesecake completely cool, then slide a sharp knife around the inside of the Wonder Pot to unmold the Cheesecake. Place your serving plate upside down on the Wonder Pot, Flip the whole thing over and gently tap the bottom of the pot to release the cake. |
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 Wonder Pot-סיר פלא-potato-תפוחי אדמה |
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Ben and Jerry’s Israel-All Kashrut Cholov Yisroel NO Kitniyot-Pesach Ice Cream
 Michael Dickson-tweet-16March2023-Passover flavors of Israeli-owned Ben & Jerry’s  Ben and Jerry’s-All-Kashrut-Pesach-כל-כשרויות-פסח |
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New Ben & Jerry’s Limited-Edition Flavor for Lag B’Omer in IsraelBy Hana Levi Julian  Ben & Jerry’s new flavor for Lag B’Omer, ‘S’mores’
Israeli ice cream lovers, rejoice! Ben & Jerry’s Israel has announced it will offer a brand-new flavor – in a limited edition – for the upcoming Lag B’Omer holiday. The new flavor, “S’mores” will reprise the long-beloved sweet, created annually by countless children at summer campfires, using sweet crackers, chocolate bars and gooey, roasted marshmallows. The name “s’mores” is an abbreviation of the phrase “some more.” The Ben & Jerry’s version – only in Israel and only for the Lag B’Omer holiday, will feature ice cream that combines marshmallow with cookie crumbs, chocolate cookie crumbs and pieces of fudge. The new flavor will be available in all the Israeli food chains, convenience stores and supermarkets where Ben & Jerry’s is sold.  Ben & Jerry’s new Lag B’Omer S’mores flavor |
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Shavot Wonder Pot סיר פלא Recipe – Cheesecake
Yom HaAtzma’ut יום העצמאות
Independence Day (Hebrew: יום העצמאות Yom Ha’atzmaut, lit. “Day of Independence”) is the national day of Israel, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. The day is marked by official and unofficial ceremonies and observances.Because Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, the 5th of Iyar (ה’ באייר) , Yom Ha’atzmaut was originally celebrated on that date. However, to avoid Sabbath desecration, it may be commemorated one or two days before or after the 5th of Iyar if it falls too close to the Jewish Sabbath. Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day is always scheduled for the day preceding Independence Day.In the Hebrew calendar, days begin in the evening.
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To the true Heroes and leaders of Am Israel “בית מקדש שלישי בירושלים Third Beit HaMikdash Holy Temple in Jerusalem; And rebuild Jerusalem the holy city soon in our days! Blessed are You, O Lord, Who will rebuild Jerusalem in His mercy. |
 Nahal Haredi IDF raising a Torah Scroll Nahal Haredi was founded on the premise that physical strength alone is not enough – the spirit of Torah and Mitzvot must underlie all that is achieved. The Nahal provides religious men who seek to contribute to Israel’s military defense with a framework for personal and professional achievement that in every way promotes a Torah-true lifestyle.Nahal Haredi was created in 1999 by a group of rabbis in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense, as a venue for young men who wish to serve the national interests of Eretz Yisrael while adhering to the highest religious standards. From a small unit of 30 soldiers, Nahal Haredi has become an IDF battalion of close to 1,000 troops, and now aims to reach the requisite threshold for designation as a fully operative infantry brigade. Nahal Haredi continues to develop and implement programming designed to provide military, educational, and economic opportunity to Israel’s growing Haredi community.  Unity in Israel: A Haredi Man giving a hug to an IDF Soldier |
 Nahal Haredi IDF praying in combat  Breslov Hasidim and the IDF – learning and praying together |
 The Jerusalem Light Rail Train covered in Snow and still running!  The Jerusalem Chords Bridge or Jerusalem Bridge of Strings גשר המיתרים, Gesher HaMeitarim, also called the Jerusalem Light Rail Bridge is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge at the entrance to the city of Jerusalem, Israel, designed by the Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava. The bridge is used by Jerusalem Light Rail’s Red Line, Incorporated in the structure is a glass-sided pedestrian bridge enabling pedestrians to cross from Kiryat Moshe to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. |
Ani Maamin – Mordechai Shapiro Single |
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Israel’s Declaration of IndependenceDeclaration of Independence of the State of Israel (English subtitles) The Palestine Post 16 May 1948 State of Israel is born
 The front page New York Times in 1948 The state of Israel is created
From the archive: the establishment of Israel – May 1948The new state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948. See how the Manchester Guardian covered the story David Ben Gurion reads out the proclamation of independence and creation of the Jewish State of Israel, 1948. Richard Nelsson 14 May 2012 16.42 BST https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2012/may/14/archive-1948-establishment-israel-jewish-state The state of Israel was founded on 14 May 1948. The following day the Manchester Guardian reported David Ben Gurion’s proclamation of independence, his appointment as Prime Minister, and the reaction of other countries to the creation of the Jewish state.  Manchester Guardian 15 May 1948-The Jewish state Born Manchester Guardian, 15 May 1948. Read the full article.Ben Gurion announced that his government’s first act was the revocation of the White Paper of 1939 limiting immigration, and of the mandatory’s restrictions on land sales.  Manchester Guardian, 15 May 1948-Natural and Historic Right Manchester Guardian, 15 May 1948. Read the full article.How the United Nations partition scheme of the region looked was illustrated in a graphic.  Manchester Guardian 15 May 1948-Partition in Being Map Manchester Guardian, 15 May 1948. Meanwhile, the paper’s leader column noted:
 Medina & Halacha – Exploring the Jewish State through the lens of Jewish Law by Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel Medina & Halacha – Exploring the Jewish State through the lens of Jewish Law by Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen NadelIsrael’s Declaration of IndependenceTorah Tidbits #1327 – B’ha’aalot’cha – June 14-15 – 12 Sivan 5779 website: www.ttidbits.com Last week, MK Bezalel Yoel Smotrich of Ichud Leumi (who is seeking the post of Minister of Justice) said in an interview that Israel should “return to the way it was run in the days of King David and King Solomon.” He continued, “My desire long-term is that the State of Israel be run according to the Torah.”
In response, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that “the State of Israel will not be a Medinat Halacha.” I do not know if the Prime Minister is a reader of this column, but I would be very happy to sit down with him and discuss just what a Medinat Halacha might look like. Either at his home or mine.
The truth is, since the very birth of the State of Israel, this nascent Jewish Nation has struggled with its Jewish character: Would the Jewish State be a ‘Jewish’ state or a state ‘for the Jews’? A religious state, or just another Western Democracy? One vivid example of this ‘identity crisis’ is the disagreement and debate that took place over the text of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.
This met with much opposition by secular party leaders, and changes and additions were made by Zvi Berenson, the Histadrut trade union’s legal advisor and later a justice on Israel’s Supreme Court.
Berenson’s version was also problematic for some, and so in the days and weeks preceding the withdrawal from Palestine by British Mandatory authorities, a new draft was prepared by politicians, lawyers and writers (including Shai Agnon). The final draft of the Declaration of Independence was drafted by a small committee including David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman- Maimon, and Aharon Zisling.
Rabbi Maimon, head of the Mizrachi party and later Israel’s first Minister of Religion, along with other Religious Zionist leaders, believed strongly that Israel’s Declaration of Independence should mention Hashem. After much opposition, Rabbi Maimon recommended using “Tzur Yisrael V’Go’alo – Rock of Israel and Redeemer”, an expression found in Tanach and our liturgy.
The Declaration of Independence begins by affirming the Jewish People’s ancestral and spiritual connection the land, but instead of the word “Torah”, uses “Book of Books”: “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.” The Declaration concludes: “Placing our trust in the Rock of Israel, we affix our signatures to this proclamation at this session of the provisional Council of State, on the soil of the Homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, on this Erev Shabbat, the 5th day of Iyar 5708, 14 May 1948.”
Ben-Gurion was comfortable in using “Rock of Israel”, as he felt every individual can decide for himself what the “Rock of Israel” means to him. But it is clear from Tanach that “Rock of Israel” is an expression of our steadfast faith in Hashem as our rock, our strength, and our protector. On his deathbed, King David says, “The Rock of Israel has spoken to me: ‘Become a ruler over men; a righteous one, who rules through the fear of G-d'” (Shmuel Bet 23:3). “Rock of Israel” is a also mentioned in Yishayahu 30:29.
In Chana’s prayer, she recognizes “there is no Rock like our G-d” (Shmuel Alef 2:2). In Tehillim 18:3, Hashem is the “Rock in Whom I take shelter,” and in Tehillim 19:15 he is “my Rock, and my Redeemer”. In Tehillim 62:3, “He alone is my Rock and my Salvation,” and in Tehillim 73:26 Hashem is the “Rock of my heart.”
According to some, Rav Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog’s choice to begin the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel with “Tzur Yisrael V’Go’alo” was no coincidence. His intention was to invoke Israel’s Declaration of Independence and imbue it with religious meaning.
Just hours after its final wording was decided, party leaders lined up to sign their names to the Declaration of Independence. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman-Maimon added something small just above his signature: The Hebrew letters Bet, Ayin, Zayin, Hei, representing “Be’ezrat Hashem.” |
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Ever Wondered How it All Started?The Origins of the Israel Defense ForcesYou know the names of our wars, our tanks, our tech… You read about our operational capabilities and our different units. But a military isn’t born overnight. These are the IDF’s origins:
1887 – ZionismThe end of the 19th century marked the start of a new movement––Zionism. Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, called for Jews across the globe to come together and form a national home for the Jewish people.
Back then, the Land of Israel was part of the Ottoman Empire. It was populated mainly by Arabs from throughout the Middle East and Jewish communities in holy cities such as Jerusalem and Safed that had existed for centuries.
Inspired by Zionism and facing violent pogroms in eastern Europe, more and more Jews felt the need to escape to a place they could call their own. They came to Israel and established the first “Moshavot”––Jewish agricultural communities and towns.
As Jewish communities bloomed throughout the Land of Israel, the concept of “Hebrew Labor” became the cornerstone of Israel’s national revival process. By shaping a new society and building a country with their own hands, the Zionist movement was brought to life. At the time, the Jewish communities in the country would hire local Arabs to guard their homes, fields and plantations. However, Jewish pioneers aspired to take their security into their own hands. 1907 – Bar Giora and HaShomerA secret order called Bar Giora was formed in order to lead Hebrew Labor, train Jews in combat, build Jewish communities and secure Jewish towns. The ultimate goal was to create a defensive Jewish force. Bar Giora set up a farm in Sejera (modern-day Ilaniya) and then spread out to guard the entire town as well as their neighboring town, Mas’ha (Modern day Kfar Tavor). Following their success in Sejera and Mas’ha, the demand for Jewish security increased. The members of Bar Giora decided to focus their efforts solely on securing Jewish communities. Therefore, they founded a legal organization––as opposed to Bar Giora, which was underground––called HaShomer. Soon, HaShomer guarded Jewish communities all throughout the Land of Israel.  Members of HaShomer, 1909
World War IIn 1917, in the midst of World War I, Jews volunteered to join the British Army to fight against the Ottoman Empire. They formed the Jewish Legion––the 38th to 42nd Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers in the British Army––and hoped that in exchange for their contribution, they would be credited in favor of establishing the State of Israel as the country of the Jewish people once a new world order was set at the end of the war. The Jewish Legion was the first Jewish military force of the modern era, with Jewish symbols and names and Hebrew as its spoken language. The existence of the five Jewish battalions gave proof of the potential power of the Jews as a nation. The military experience its soldiers gained, as well as their spirit, became the foundation of the Jewish underground resistances which would later operate across the Land of Israel.
Once World War I came to an end, the British gained control over the Land of Israel as part of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which divided the Middle East between the British and French.
In 1917, The British Government published the Balfour Declaration, solidifying its support and recognizing the Land of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. The number of Jews immigrating to the British Mandate of Palestine continued to grow. These new Jewish immigrants formed a new way of living––the Kibbutz.
Triggered by the fall of the Ottoman Empire, in 1919, Arabs increased their attacks on Jewish communities in the Galilee region. The most well-known event is the Battle of Tel Hai, when a Small Arab squad attacked the small Jewish community living there, resulting in the death of eight Jews. One of the fallen was Joseph Trumpeldor, a Zionist role model and national hero. 1920 – HaganahMeanwhile, HaShomer had been gaining members, including Eliyahu Golomb, David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Tabenkin, who argued that the guard should become a countrywide body. This caused controversy amongst HaShomer veterans, who aspired to maintain the selective and elitist tradition of the organization.
This led to HaShomer voluntarily disbanding, and the Haganah, a defensive organization open to all, was established. Based upon the principles of HaShomer and under the authority of the World Zionist Organization, the Haganah’s mission was to protect the Hebrew Yeshuv (the Jews who lived in the Land of Israel) from Arab attacks.  Women in the Haganah, 1924
Almost immediately after the establishment of the Haganah began the Nabi Musa riots. Jewish homes were raided and attacked by Arabs. As the British Army stood to the side, the Haganah managed to evacuate around 300 Jews from the Old City of Jerusalem. The violence continued for four days. Once the situation deescalated, the British accused the Haganah of causing the riots and sent the Jewish soldiers to the Acre Prison.
Just a few months later, in May, 1921, the Jaffa riots occurred. Arabs attacked Jewish communities in Jaffa and throughout central Israel, killing 47 Jews. In 1929, a series of violent Arab massacres of Jewish communities took place. 133 Jews were brutally murdered as Arab mobs targeted ancient Jewish communities in holy cities such as Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron, and Nablus. Jewish families who had lived there for centuries were wiped out while British forces stood idly by. 1931 – EtzelFollowing these horrific events, a group of Haganah commanders split and formed an organization called the Etzel. The Etzel abandoned the Haganah’s defensive approach and advocated for a more offensive and deterrent one, demanding decisive action against Arab aggression and British indifference. 1936 – The Arab RevoltMeanwhile, in Europe, the Nazi party was rising to power. More and more Jews frantically fled Europe and immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine. This resulted in the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine, during which Arabs committed acts of terror against British forces and their representatives as well as attacks on Jews and their property. These events were more brutal than the previous riots both in scope and intensity.
The Haganah’s policy was “Havlagah – Restraint”.
The Haganah headquarters received real-time reports from various agents in the Yeshuv, using an underground radio system and Morse code in order to gather intelligence and thwart Arab attacks. However, as the attacks increased, the Haganah decided to expand their fighting front. They established POSH (Field Companies), the elite commando unit of the Haganah. Its commander, Yitzhak Sadeh, developed offensive combat techniques: not to “stay behind the fence” but to operate at nighttime, conduct squad ambushes, all the while familiarizing themselves with the terrain.
Concurrently, the Haganah began to collaborate with the British Mandate and formed the PALAM, the “Special Night Squads”, an elite unit under the command of Cpt. Orde Wingate, a British officer. Cpt. Wingate selected his recruits personally. He developed a unique combat method for the unit, specializing in guerrilla warfare, memorizing the land’s topography while forming small, mobile striking units capable of taking down Arab terror squads.
When the Arab revolt ended in 1939, the Yeshuv and the Haganah had only grown stronger. With new, fortified Jewish communities and kibbutzim, the organizations were able to expand their combat capabilities via their special units, PALAM and POSH. The POSH was later turned into HISH (Field Corps), a young guard who trained to protect the Yeshuv and its people, and HIM (Guard Corps) a guard who defended Jewish communities and towns. World War II, Lehi and PalmachSeveral months later, the British government issued the White Paper of 1939, limiting Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel almost entirely. The Holocaust was just beginning, and more than ever, the Jewish people needed a safe place to go. Thousands of Jews who managed to escape the Nazis came by boat to Mandatory Palestine for survival––only to be turned back at its shores. While the Jewish people supported British efforts to fight against the Nazis, they could not stand by while desperate Jewish refugees were denied entry into the country.
“We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war against Hitler,” declared David Ben Gurion, prominent Haganah leader and Israel’s first prime minister, “and we will fight Hitler as if there is no White Paper.”
More than 40,000 Jews enlisted into the British Army during World War II to fight against the Nazis. Throughout the war, Jews served in various positions, including the famous Jewish Parachutists, made up of 37 brave men and women who volunteered to parachute into Nazi-occupied Europe in order to gather intelligence, rescue Allied forces who had fallen into enemy territory, and try to save Jews in Europe.
Meanwhile, the Etzel had internal disagreements over whether or not they should cease fire with the British and assist them during the war or continue to act in defiance of the White Paper. Eventually, those who opposed the British split and formed a new organization—the Lehi. It was a small organization, but it carried out daring missions against British rule.  idf-Poster calling for Jews to enlist into the British Army
Poster calling for Jews to enlist into the British Army News of the Nazis’ plan to conquer the Middle East spread rapidly as France, which controlled Lebanon and Syria, came under pro-Nazi Vichy’s rule, and German Gen. Rommel made his way through north Africa’s shores to the Suez Canal.
This resulted in the establishment of the Palmach, the Haganah’s official military branch, to supplement the HISH and HIM. The Palmach was created as a force to protect and defend the Jewish people in Israel in the event of a Nazi invasion. It was an integral part of the Haganah. Every Palmach member was loyal to the Haganah as well.
The British initially sponsored the Palmach and provided its members with weapons as well as military training. The Palmach operated using methods of guerrilla warfare, combat patrols, reconnaissance, strike and sabotage. They even had a “German Platoon”, in which German-speaking soldiers impersonated Nazi military officers, trained to operate German weapons, completed intensive exercises, and studied German military history and strategy.
However, after the British victory over Gen. Rommel in Africa in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the British no longer saw the need for the Palmach’s existence and cut off all funding and assistance.
The organization was forced to go underground and support itself through work in the kibbutzim—each Palmach platoon was assigned a kibbutz to live on, where they were provided with food, housing and other resources. In return, the platoons worked on the kibbutz for half of the month and trained for combat during the other half. This combination of agricultural work and training created a combat-ready, self-sufficient force.
The Palmach managed to establish the “Palyam” (naval companies) and the “Sha” (air force service), as well as special units such as the “Sachar”, known as the Arab Platoon, which trained Arabic-speaking Jews to gather intelligence and secret information in the Middle East. Known for conducting informal social activities apart from training, its free spirit and high morale was the Palmach’s essence and source of strength.
At the time, most Yeshuv members wanted to join the Allies in the fight against the Nazis and be a part of an established, respected military rather than a newly formed paramilitary with limited resources. In order to convince Jews to join the Palmach, Yitzhak Sadeh, the Palmach’s first commander, insisted: “The Russian gun is carried by the Russian soldier, the English gun is carried by the English soldier, but friends, who will carry the Hebrew gun?”
The Jews and the British had a common enemy: the Nazis. Therefore, as long as Europe was occupied by the Nazis, the World Zionist Organization decided to refrain from using weapons against the British. However, the Etzel dismissed this decision in the last few months of the war; as news about the horrors of the Holocaust made its way overseas, the White Paper’s policy still kept Jews seeking refuge from immigrating to Mandatory Palestine. The Etzel announced their resumption of the armed struggle against British rule with the aim of expelling the British from the country and establishing an independent Jewish state instead.
That started “The Saison”––The Haganah and the Palmach’s fight against the Etzel in order to stop them from operating against the British Mandate. The Haganah began to track Etzel members and gather information to pass on to the British, sometimes even handing over Etzel members themselves. Despite rising tensions, all three organizations remained careful not to spark infighting, for they all had the same mission––to establish the State of Israel. 1945 – Jewish Resistance MovementImmediately after World War II, the Etzel, the Lehi, the Haganah and the Palmach all came together to form a united “Hebrew Resistance Movement”. Together, they organized wide-scale operations in order to bring Jewish immigrants safely to the Land of Israel. They broke into the Atlit internment camps and released all 200 Jewish immigrants and Holocaust survivors who were imprisoned there, and sabotaged British railways, ships, jets, airports and radar stations with which the British Army used to detect Jewish immigration ships.
One of their most well-known operations is “Night of the Bridges”. On the night of June 16th, 1946, the Jewish Resistance Movement destroyed ten bridges linking Mandatory Palestine to its neighboring countries––Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt––in order to sever the British Army’s strategic and economic ties.
In response, on June 29, 1946, the British implemented their plan to eliminate the Jewish resistance: Operation Agatha, also known as the “Black Shabbat”. The British seized Jewish cities, kibbutzim and towns, confiscated important documents, arrested thousands of members, and raided homes to find guns and weapons. The “Black Shabbat” constituted a significant blow to the Yeshuv. They swiftly planned to retaliate.
At the time, the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was known to be the headquarters of the British government in Israel. The Jewish Resistance Movement’s original plan was to plant explosives and destroy the hotel as a warning sign to the British, but after consulting with the World Zionist Organization, they cancelled the mission. However, the Etzel carried on with the mission on their own. Even though they called for the hotel to be evacuated, the British dismissed their warning. 91 people died in the attack—Jews, Arabs and British. The disaster sent a massive shock through the Hebrew Resistance Movement and led to its dissolution.  The Haganah’s weapons, found by the British in Kibbutz Yagur during the “Black Shabbat”, 1947
The Haganah’s weapons, found by the British in Kibbutz Yagur during the “Black Shabbat”, 1947 1947 – The Fight for Israel’s IndependenceAnd so, each organization resumed their previous mission––the Etzel and the Lehi continued to openly fight against the British while the Haganah and the Palmach focused on rescuing Jewish refugees and bringing them to Mandatory Palestine.
A turning point in the Haganah’s effort to save Jewish immigrants was when the British seized the Exodus 1947 illegal immigration ship, forcing thousands of Holocaust survivors seeking refuge in the Land of Israel to go back to Europe. This incident was covered heavily in the media. Members of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) who were visiting Israel at the time witnessed the event, influencing them to recognize the necessity of a state for the Jewish People.  Exodus 1947 in Haifa’s harbor, after it was seized by the British
Exodus 1947 in Haifa’s harbor, after it was seized by the British On the 29th of November, 1947, the UN General Assembly approved Resolution 181, marking the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. This was a historic moment for the Jewish people. The Arab population within Mandatory Palestine immediately rejected the resolution and declared war on the Jews.
The Haganah, Etzel and Lehi joined together to fight for the existence of an independent Jewish state in their ancestral homeland.
The Haganah’s six brigades of HISH and three brigades of Palmach were the main entities acting as the backbone of the Yeshuv’s military force and played a key role in Israel’s War of Independence. Half of the fighting forces were also made up of “Gahal soldiers”––Jews recruited from Europe, most of them Holocaust survivors.
After six months of war, the Haganah decided to shift from their typical defensive approach to an increasingly offensive one that led them to a series of small victories, bringing the Yeshuv enough stability to arrive at this historic moment: On the 15th of May, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s independence from the British Empire, based on Resolution 181 and the Partition Plan. Immediately after, Israel was attacked by six foreign Arab armies.
On the 26th of May, 1948, Ben Gurion ordered to disassemble all the underground resistance movements and form a new, united army called the Israel Defense Forces.
Despite being drastically outnumbered, the newly-formed IDF worked together to win the war. Israel emerged victorious, and, once and for all, the Jewish people began to build their nation, the State of Israel.
Since then, the IDF has transformed from a small, newly-formed army to one of the most respected and powerful militaries in the world. For over 73 years, the IDF has protected the Israeli people, and this was made possible because of the Haganah, the Palmach, and all the resistance movements who built the foundation for the IDF we know today. We owe it to them to continue their legacy and fight for Israel’s future. Defence Army of Israel Ordinance No. 4 – פקודת צבא הגנה לישראל מס’ 4
 Defence Army of Israel Ordinance No 4-HEB  Defence Army of Israel Ordinance No 4-ENG Israel Independence Day IAF jets fly over country for its 75th birthday Israel Independence Day IAF jets fly over country for its 75th birthday |
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Psalm 20:7 These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we call on the name of HASHEM our God. |
תהילים פרק כח: אֵ֣לֶּה בָ֭רֶכֶב וְאֵ֣לֶּה בַסּוּסִ֑ים וַֽאֲנַ֓חְנוּ בְּשֵׁם־יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣ינוּ נַזְכִּֽיר׃ |
 Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH UK 0800-085-2105 Come home to the Land of Emuna |
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Living The Dream – Nefesh B’Nefesh (hi-res) |
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Thank you Yerushalayim Torah Academy for Girls! |
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OU Israel Yom HaAtzmaut 70th Anniversary Celebration |
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Nefesh B’Nefesh Yom Haatzmaut 2014: 66 Israeli Heroes Share a Powerful Message | NBN |
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“Home” – Nefesh B’Nefesh Yom Ha’atzmaut 2017 |
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We will continue no matter what happens with unity and love for Am Israel Tehillim-1Million Man Atzeret-3March2014  Rav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L (September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) |
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 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men study at Jerusalem’s Mir Yeshiva, the largest Jewish seminary in Israel  Israeli Mother |
 Israeli Family |
Our lands and tribal borders in the past Map of the 12 Tribes of Israel |
 Dry-Bones-1990-Yom HaAtzma’ut Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. Back in 1990 we were coming to grips with the twin surprises of the West turning its back on us and the miraculous rescue/return of the Jews from Russia and Ethiopia! |
גלי-עטרי-אין-לי-ארץ-אחרתגלי עטרי – אין לי ארץ אחרת Ein li eretz acheret (I have no other country) Dry Bones: Israel at 30 (1978)” Note that there are two images of Israel. The more “Westernised” business-suited version of herself (at 30) and her remembering her early “oriental” look. Also notice the take on Jimmy “one term” Carter, and the fact that we were both excited and nervous about how things were proceeding with Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt. At the bottom of the page Doobie the Dog adds his earthy and cynical comment in his own strip. אין לי ארץ אחרת אין לי ארץ אחרת אין לי ארץ אחרת בגוף כואב, בלב רעב |
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| EIN LI ERETZ ACHERETEin li eretz acheret Gam im admati bo’eret Rak mila be’ivrit choderet el orkai el nishmati – Beguf ko’ev, belev ra’ev Kan hu beiti –Lo eshtok ki artzi shinta et panehaLo avater lehazkir la Ve’ashir kan be’ozneha Ad shetiftach et einehaEin li eretz acheret Gam im admati boeret Rak mila beivrit hoderet el orkai el nishmati Beguf koev, belev raev Kan hu beiti –Lo eshtok ki artzi shinta et paneha Lo avater lehazkir la Veashir kan beozneha Ad shetiftah et einehaEin li eretz aheret Ad shetichadesh yameha Ad shetiftah et einehaEin li eretz aheret Gam im admati boeret Rak mila beivrit hoderet el orkai el nishmati Beguf koev, belev raev Kan — hu beitiBeguf koev, belev raev Kan — hu beiti |
I HAVE NO OTHER COUNTRYI have no other country even if my land is aflame Just a word in Hebrew pierces my veins and my soul – With a painful body, with a hungry heart, Here is my home.I will not stay silent because my country changed her faceI will not give up reminding her And sing in her ears until she will open her eyesI have no other country even if my land is aflame Just a word in Hebrew pierces my veins and my soul – With a painful body, with a hungry heart, Here is my home.I won’t be silent because my country has changed her face. I will not give up reminding her And sing in her ears until she will open her eyesI have no other country until she will renew her glorious days Until she will open her eyesI have no other country even if my land is aflame Just a word in Hebrew pierces my veins and my soul – With a painful body, with a hungry heart, Here is my home.With a painful body, with a hungry heart, Here is my home.TOP |
Speech by the president of the Czech Republic at the reception held to celebrate Israel’s Independence DayMiloš Zeman, the president of Czech Republic, gave the following speech last Monday at a reception to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. Many thanks to Gemini for the translation from the official text posted at the Czech government’s website. May 26, 2014
— Miloš Zeman, president of the Czech Republic, Hilton Hotel, 26th of May 2014 |
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Independence Means Never Having To Say You’re SorryBy Tamar Yonah 06May2014 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/5706#.U3LmfYZxMxA Independence means never having to say you’re sorry.
(updated version from a blog I wrote in 2011)
Independence means never having to ask another country for arms and how we can use them.
Independence means never having to ask another nation where Jews can and cannot live.
Independence means never having to ask the U.N. to condemn terrorist attacks against us, because Israel would have already dealt out justice herself!
Independence means never having to apologize for hitting an anti-semitic, terror supporting, anarchist in the face with your gun.
Independence means never having to put a soldier on trial for cocking his gun while being threatened by enemies of the Jewish people.
Independence means never having to board a terrorist-supporting flotilla ship, where we arm our soldiers with paint guns, instead of meaning business.
Independence means not giving in to the Obamas and Kerrys of the world and releasing murdering terrorists out onto the streets for a goodwill gesture.
Independence means not having to cave into world pressure and cut yourself in pieces to carve out a terrorist state in your belly.
Independence means never having to ask another entity for permission… to exist. |
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Latma’s song for Yom Haatzmaut – Please give me back my country! |
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New initiative – 10 days of gratitude This book is the next step up the ladder of inner peace and self-realization from Rabbi Shalom Arush |
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 Elder of Ziyon logo http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/ The Jews had every reason to fear genocide in 194805May2023 https://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-jews-had-every-reason-to-fear.html There is an interesting thread by Yair Wallach, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, where he minimizes any threats made by Arabs towards Jews in 1948, and says that Jews exaggerate those threats in order to pursue their goal of Jewish supremacism:
It is true that in 1948, Zionist analysts felt that the war would go their way. It is probably true that some sober Arab leaders did not plan genocide against the Jews and “merely” wanted them to remain despised second class citizens as they had been forever under Muslim rule. But there is a huge leap in logic there to claim that there was no fear of another genocide, and an even larger leap to say that Jewish racism is keeping that myth alive in order to subjugate Palestinians.
First of all, there were threats – real threats – by Arab leaders promising a massacre of Jews that were recorded in major media, and not difficult to find at all. And they included at least one explicit call to throw Jews into the sea.
Here’s one genocidal threat from November 1947:
Another one was from Abdul Azzam Pasha, secretary general of the Arab League. Right before the UN partition vote on November 29, 1947, he publicly threatened not only the Jews of Palestine but all Jews in the Middle East.
Azzam Pasha is saying here that it is a point of pride for Arabs not to accept Jews as equals or victors. He proudly calls Arabs racists against Jews. So even if they wouldn’t have literally thrown all the Jews into the sea, all the Arab proposals of what to do with the Jews ensured that Jews would be forever subjugated.
Now, let’s look at what happened in the immediate aftermath of Azzam Pasha’s threat. As soon as the UN partition vote ended – -within hours – Arabs in Palestine started attacking every Jew they could find.
Not Haganah members. Jews.
And for months, until the Haganah started going on the offensive, Jews were murdered every day just because they were Jewish.
In the Palestine Post of December 31, 1947, we read about:
– 39 Jews massacred at a Haifa oil refinery when 2000 Arab employees ran amok after an apparent Irgun bomb killed six Arabs.  Hospital Bus shot up-Jerusalem 31December1947
– A funeral procession to the Mount of Olives (for Jews previously murdered by Arabs) was raked by gunfire, killing one of the mourners and a British policeman.
– Two Jews were killed in separate events near Safed.
– One Jew was killed and several injured in sniping from Jaffa to Tel Aviv.
And these are only the stories about fatal attacks. There were many others that were either repulsed or “only” resulted in injuries.
This is what the paper was like every day. Jewish doctors killed in hospitals. Jews killed trying to help Arabs in trouble. Arab neighbors who had been friends with Jews turned around and started ululating in support of Iraqi troops in their villages. It was open season on Jews.
And Jewish civilians in the Arab world were also targets at that time – in Tehran and Yemen, in Bahrain and Syria, in Morocco and Egypt.
These are not myths. Azzam Pasha’s threats were coming true.
There was also at least one threat to throw Jews into the sea. In August, 1948, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Banna told the New York Times, “If the Jewish state be-comes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea.” This is referring to the Jews of Arab countries, and the NYT added that “the Sheikh granted that this was a figure of speech,” but later in the article he explicitly said that if it wasn’t for politics, the Arab world would have “destroyed the Jews” in Palestine.
Wallach, whose Twitter feed has a number of statements disparaging those who are arguing with him because they are not real historians like he is, apparently found these explicitly genocidal statements against all Jews in the Middle East by Arab leaders too difficult to find. These are not “dubious” quotes – they are explicit calls to wipe out the Jews.
Coming only three years after the Holocaust, why wouldn’t Jews take these threats seriously? More importantly, how can anyone consider these public statements from Arab leaders, backed up by Arab actions on the ground, not genocidal? The only thing protecting the Jews in Palestine was the Haganah – without them they would have been defenseless. They weren’t defending themselves only from armies but from their neighbors. The Hadassah Hospital convoy massacre was not exactly an invitation by Arabs to work out their differences with the Jews.
Wallach’s evidence that some Arabs discussed how to not eradicate the Jews and only subjugate them may very well be true, but there was also counter-evidence – the leader of the Arab Higher Committee being a Nazi collaborator, the organized attacks against Jews the previous decade during the Arab Revolt, the 1929 pogroms against Jews throughout the land – these were all fresh memories. Maybe Arab leaders really were against genocide, and maybe they just felt it was not a practical solution, but the Arab leaders throughout the Middle East were inciting their people to murder Jews, whether in the media or speeches to mobs.
No one says that every Arab wanted to kill every Jew. But given the events that followed the partition vote, and the recent history of Arab attacks on Jews, it would have been stupid indeed for Jews to rely on the goodwill of Arabs to keep them safe.
It is true that things aren’t black and white. One can look at the relative strength of the armies and conclude that the Zionists probably wouldn’t be destroyed. But at the time, as political winds swirled around – the US changed its position about partition before Truman recognized Israel, the UN meetings on Palestine brought different news every day, the British stumbled between pretending to defend Jews to abandoning them — there was no room for the Jews to be confident. Thousands of Jews were killed during the war, and everyone knew friends and family who fell. The Jews had no less fear than the Arabs who fled – but the Jews had nowhere else to go. No matter how much Arab leaders insisted they weren’t antisemitic, it isn’t like the Jews of Palestine could expect safe passage or asylum in the neighboring states.
Wallach the historian also plays fast and loose in order to make his non-historic, purely political conclusion. What do these supposed “myths” of 1948 have to do with the “occupation” that began in 1967? If the “founding myths” were what animates Israel’s actions today, then shouldn’t they be treating Israeli Arabs the exact same as Palestinians?
He knows that Israeli Arabs having equal rights destroy his assertions, so he switches contexts to Palestinians who are not citizens, and jumps from 1948 to 1967.
Similarly, if Israel regards all Arabs as genocidal and violent, as Wallach asserts as a fundamental belief, then why did Israel make peace with Arab countries?
It is so sad when that reality gets in the way of a juicy, anti-Zionist theory.
Modern historians have the benefit of hindsight, and too often exhibit the proclivity to cherry pick the historic evidence that support their positions and ignore the inconvenient facts that say otherwise. But as we see here, being a historian does not mean being free of bias – on the contrary, it often gives the historian the hubris to discount or ignore the messy facts that don’t fit their theories.
(h/t Nurit Baytch for Hassan Banna quote) |
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Yom Hazikaron: יום זיכרון We Remember and Honor our fallen
 Yom Hazikron Soldiers saluting the Israeli Flag: “We Remember and Honor our fighting men and women and ..WE SALUTE YOU!”
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 Israel Defense Forces tweet-19April2018 Harold Simon, AKA Smoky Simon, fought in the War of Independence. Here’s his story: |
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 Israel Defense Forces tweet-18April2018 “He said three words to me- these are the three words that allow me to go on. He said to me- Mom, I can.”- Miriam Peretz talking about one of her two sons, both of whom are fallen IDF soldiers |
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The Story of the Six Day War |
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 יום הזכרון Yom HazikaronFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Yom HaZikaron (Hebrew: יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן, lit. ‘Memorial Day’), in full Yom HaZikaron LeHalalei Ma’arakhot Yisrael ul’Nifge’ei Pe’ulot HaEivah (Hebrew: יוֹם הזִּכָּרוֹן לְחַלְלֵי מַעֲרָכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל וּלְנִפְגְעֵי פְּעֻלּוֹת הָאֵיבָה, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism’), is Israel‘s official remembrance day,4th of Iyar (ד׳ באייר ). While Yom HaZikaron has been traditionally dedicated to fallen soldiers, commemoration has also been extended to civilian victims of terrorism. To avoid the possibility of Sabbath desecration should either Yom HaZikaron or Independence Day take place on Saturday night, both are observed one or two days earlier (the 3rd and 4th, or the 2nd and 3rd, of Iyar) when the 5th of Iyar falls on a Friday or Saturday (Shabbat). Likewise, when Yom HaZikaron falls on Saturday night/Sunday day, both observances are rescheduled to one day later. This means that Yom HaZikaron is only actually observed on the 4th of Iyar if that date is a Tuesday. The day opens with a siren the preceding evening at 20:00 (8:00 pm), given that in the Hebrew calendar system, a day begins at sunset. The siren is heard all over the country and lasts for one minute, during which Israelis stop everything, including driving on highways, and stand in silence, commemorating the fallen and showing respect. A two-minute siren is sounded at 11:00 the following morning, which marks the opening of the official memorial ceremonies and private remembrance gatherings at each cemetery where soldiers are buried The Miracle of Ad HalomBy: Rabbi Lazer Brody Israel’s Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, begins this year on Sunday evening, April 14, 2013. Israel never forgets its debt of eternal gratitude to its sons and daughters who gave their lives for the achievement of the country’s independence and its continued existence. It is a day of collective and personal heartache mingled with awe and honor for our holy martyrs. When looking at Israeli military history, most people consider the Six-Day War of 1967 as Hashem’s greatest miracle of modern times. My choice would be the War of Independence of 1948-49.  The Miracle of Ad Halom “The Pillbox” – the Hagana gun emplacement that guarded the Ad Halom bridge outside of Ashdod The “Ad Halom” Memorial commemorates the courageous soldiers that sacrificed their lives to stop the advancement of the Egyptian Army northward in the Israel Independence War of 1948 In the initial stage of the War of Independence, the Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian armies scored notable successes. It looked like the tiny Jewish nation would be finished before it began its modern-day rebirth. The formidable Egyptian army – backed by tanks, artillery, armor and aircraft, which Israel did not have – were able to cut off the entire Negev and to occupy parts of the land that had been allocated to the Jewish state, reaching as far north as Ashdod. The Jordanian Legion succeeded in defending their key position in Latrun after a bloody aborted attempt by an untrained and inexperienced Israeli assault force that included quite a few Holocaust survivors that had recently arrived in Israel from the deportation camps of Europe. They also overran and captured Gush Etzion. The Iraqis had almost reached the Mediterranean and the Syrians were dangerously near Haifa. Jerusalem, with 100,000 Jews was virtually cut off from the rest of Israel. Hacked to pieces in this way, Israel was not very far from collapse in June of 1948. “The Pillbox” – the Hagana gun emplacement that guarded the Ad Halom bridge outside of Ashdod The Israeli Army then was not much more than new immigrants from Europe and Morocco with a few kibbutznik commanders. Many of the soldiers had no firearms. Some had never shot a rifle and had little idea of what to do in a battle. If a “rare” machine gun broke down or needed assembly, it was necessary to wait for a rare expert to come along who knew how to assemble and repair machine guns. Most of the Israel’s soldiers had had little or no training. Thousands of them were new immigrants rushed off the boats and given guns, most unable to speak Hebrew and understand commands. The Egyptian Army dealt a nasty blow to the Givati brigade in the Battle of Nitzanim, a mile south of Ashdod. It looked like nothing could stop the Egyptians from reaching Tel Aviv; then, the war would be over and so would the State of Israel, Heaven forbid. The morale of the Egyptians was high and the Egyptian press and people were already celebrating. First, they seized Gaza, then Majdal (Ashkelon), then Beersheba and now Nitzanim with Ashdod next on the list. By Egyptian calculations, Israel’s ill-equipped armies and settlements would fall swiftly. Egypt also hoped to reach the Ramle area to link up with the Arab Legion’s forces at Latrun. Such a move would be a mortal blow to the Jewish forces. Yet Hashem had other plans. An Egyptian column of some 500 vehicles was making its way up the Coastal Road towards Tel Aviv. The column was confronted by a bold company of Givati soldiers who had miraculously exploded the sturdy Turkish bridge over the Lachish river at the Southern entrance of Ashdod to delay the Egyptian advance. Barely 20 miles separated the enemy from its objective. With no time to waste before the Egyptians could circumvent the bombed out “Ad Halom” (“up to here” in Hebrew, the northernmost point of the Egyptian thrust into Israel) bridge, Israel tried its first aerial attack. Lou Lenart, an experienced American volunteer, was selected to lead the historic mission. He was joined by Moddy Alon, Ezer Weizman, and Eddie Cohen. Each plane swooped down on the enemy with two 70-kg bombs. They tried to strafe the Egyptian column despite heavy ground fire. Unfortunately, the Messerschmitts’ untested 20 mm cannons and machine guns jammed quickly and the few rounds that they fired didn’t inflict much damage. But the psychological effect was enormous. The surprised Egyptians thought they were being hit by a massive air bombardment. They panicked and scattered all over the adjacent sand dunes. By the time they regrouped, they had lost the offensive. Israel’s outnumbered Givati forces seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack. With Hashem’s loving grace, they stopped the advance in its tracks. The Turkish Bridge (Rebuilt) over the Lachish River at the Ad Halom crossroads – if the Egyptian Army’s progress would not have been thwarted here, then nothing would have stopped them from reaching Tel Aviv The price of success was high: Eddie Cohen, a South African-born pilot, was killed when his Messerschmitt – apparently hit by anti-aircraft fire – crashed and burned trying to land after the mission. As a result, the First Jewish Fighter Squadron lost one-fourth of its aircraft and one-fifth of its pilots on its maiden combat sortie. Eddie Cohen of blessed memory was not the macho type of pilot. Indeed, he was contemplative, calm, scholarly, never daring, and never reckless or adventurous. This anti-hero was the Israeli Air Forces’s first heroic martyr. He merited being Hashem’s emissary in the formidable miracle that turned the tide of Israel’s War of Independence. With an army that wasn’t an army, an air force that wasn’t an air force, and a pilot that preferred classical music and archeology to flying warplanes that weren’t much more than souped-up Piper Cubs, Hashem chose to perform the miracle of Ad-Halom on the outskirts of my beloved hometown of Ashdod. “They have their chariots and they have their horses, but we shall call the Name of Hashem our G-d!” (Psalm 20:8). |
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Yom Hazikaron: Israel’s Memorial DayThis day honoring fallen soldiers, immediately precedes Israel’s Independence Day. By MJL Staff http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Yom_Hazikaron.shtml The fourth of Iyar, the day preceding Israel’s Independence Day, was declared by the Israeli Knesset (parliament) to be a Memorial Day for those who lost their lives in the struggle that led to the establishment of the State of Israel and for all military personnel who were killed while in active duty in Israel’s armed forces. Joining these two days together conveys a simple message: Israelis owe the independence and the very existence of the Jewish state to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for it.
Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day, is different in its character and mood from the American Memorial Day. For 24 hours (from sunset to sunset) all places of public entertainment (theaters, cinemas, nightclubs, pubs, etc.) are closed. The most noticeable feature of the day is the sound of a siren that is heard throughout the country twice, during which the entire nation observes a two-minutes “standstill” of all traffic and daily activities. The first siren marks the beginning of Memorial Day at 8 p.m., and the second is at 11 a.m., before the public recitation of prayers in the military cemeteries. All radio and television stations broadcast programs portraying the lives and heroic deeds of fallen soldiers. Most of the broadcasting time is devoted to Israeli songs that convey the mood of the day. “Magash Hakesef” (The Silver Platter), a poem written by Nathan Alterman during the 1948 War of Independence, was during the 1950s and ’60s the most common reading for Yom Hazikaron ceremonies. The poem attained a status almost similar to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in U.S. culture. |
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The Silver Platter Natan Alterman And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky slowly dimming over smoking frontiers As the nation arises, Torn at heart but breathing, To receive its miracle, the only miracle As the ceremony draws near, it will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward the nation Dressed in battle gear, dirty, Shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly To change garb, to wipe their brow Full of endless fatigue and unrested, Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death Then a nation in tears and amazement And they will answer quietly, “We Are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given.” Thus they will say and fall back in shadows |
 The Silver Salver-1947 |
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During the ’70s, especially following the Six-Day War (June 1967) and the Yom Kippur War (October 1973), numerous new poems and songs commemorating fallen soldiers became popular and often replaced “The Silver Platter” in public ceremonies. “Hare’ut” (“Friendship”), a song composed a year after the 1948 war, had an impressive comeback in the 1980s and ’90s. The late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin considered this poem/song to be his favorite. להקת הנח”ל – שיר הרעותAlmost every high school in Israel has a “memorial corner” with the photos of the school graduates who fell in battle or while on military duty. Some high schools organize their own Yom Hazikaron ceremonies and invite the families of the fallen graduates to participate. The unique atmosphere of the day is enhanced by the sight of teenagers and children, all dressed in white shirts and blue pants or skirts, on their way to school, and thousands of soldiers in uniform on their way to the military cemeteries. The list of fallen soldiers becomes longer every year. The inevitable tendency of radio and television programs is to focus on individual stories of soldiers who lost their lives in recent decades, rather than on those who fought in the pre-state undergrounds and 1948 war, who have fewer surviving immediate family relatives today. Yom Hazikaron is not conceived as a religious commemoration by the majority of Israelis, but as part of the civil culture. The siren sound seems to inspire awe and sanctity no less than any traditional religious ceremony. Outside of Israel, Yom Hazikaron is commemorated as part of Israel Independence Day observance. There is usually a short memorial or a moment of silence preceding the communal Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration. In synagogues that observe Yom Ha’atzmaut, a special reading may be added to the service, often preceding the Kaddish [memorial prayer]. |
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Inoffensive SavageryBy Pamela Geller 14November2012 https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/11/inoffensive_savagery.html
When is the word “savage” not racist and offensive? In Tunisian citizen Souhir Stephenson’s “Tunisia, a Sad Year Later,” published last Wednesday in the New York Times, she wrote: “Tourism is dwindling. Who wants to vacation among bands of bearded savages raiding embassies, staking their black pirate flag over universities or burning trucks carrying beer?” “Bearded savages.” This appeared in the Times just six weeks after the paper ran a piece calling my American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) subway ads “potentially inflammatory” and quoting Muneer Awad of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) calling me “a bigot and a racist” for the ad, which reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” Indeed, this ad touched off a nationwide firestorm, with pundits and activists all over the country excoriating me for using the word “savage” to describe Islamic jihadists and supremacists. CNN “journalist” Mona Eltahawy was actually caught in the act of spray-painting over the ad, and was arrested, after which little act of fascism she had the gall to claim that she was merely exercising her freedom of speech. What is the difference between the New York Times’s use of the word savage and the AFDI use? Or Hillary Clinton’s, for that matter? In a statement on September 12, she used the same word to characterize those who had attacked our consulate in Benghazi and murdered Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials: “This was an attack by a small and savage group — not the people or Government of Libya.” Is Clinton’s use of the word savage offensive? In all of these instances, we are all describing the same barbarians: Islamic jihadists who glory in violence and murder. So why is my ad unacceptable, but no one is angry with Souhir Stephenson or the Secretary of State? My use of the word “savage” has been widely decried as “racist” and “dehumanizing.” Critics have invoked the use of the term to describe Native Americans and others in attempts to prove that any use of it is clear evidence of racist and even genocidal inclinations. But is any and every use of the word “savage” really some kind of thinly veiled call for genocide? Nonsense. Franklin Delano Roosevelt called the Nazis “savages.” And they were. Would Muneer Awad call him “a bigot and a racist” as well? Nor do the critics of the AFDI ad have anything at all to say about the very real savagery that is committed in the name of the jihad against Israel. And that in itself raises questions about their real agenda. The AFDI ad refers not to all Muslims, as has often been claimed, but to those jihadis who rejoice in the murders of innocent civilians. The war on Israel is a war on innocent civilians. The targeting of civilians is savage. The murder of Ambassador Stevens was savage. The relentless 60-year campaign of terror against the Jewish people is savage. The torture of hostage Gilad Shalit was savage. The bloody hacking to death of the Fogel family was savage. The Munich Olympic massacre was savage. The unspeakable torture of Ehud Goldwasser was savage. The tens of thousands of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel (into schools, homes, etc.) are savage. The vicious Jew-hatred behind this genocide is savage. The endless demonization of the Jewish people in the Palestinian and Arab media is savage. The refusal to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state is savage. The list is endless. This kind of savagery goes on in the name of jihad on a daily basis around the world — and my ads are the problem? Souhir Stephenson’s piece in the Times demonstrates the hypocrisy of the ad’s critics, and their moral myopia in identifying the resistance to savagery as worse than the savagery itself. It is time for all genuine supporters of human rights to stand against the savagery that Hillary Clinton identified in Libya and that Souhir Stephenson rightly excoriates in Tunisia, and that is regularly celebrated as heroism in Gaza. But do the guardians of acceptable opinion have the courage to be consistent? Note: I submitted this piece as an op-ed to the New York Times last week, after the Times attacked me for using the word “savage” of jihadists and then using it themselves. Predictably, they never responded. So that just adds to this tale of media bias and irresponsibility. Pamela Geller is the publisher of AtlasShrugs.com and the author of the WND Books title Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance.
 The historic AFDI pro-freedom campaign that changed the discourse and finally had press, politicians and pundits calling savages savages (not militants, insurgents, resistance blah blah blah). We took a lot of heat, but the truth won out. |
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 On Jan. 29, 2004, 11 people lost their lives and 50 were wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged Bus 19 in Jerusalem. Since that tragic incident, the remains of Bus 19 have travelled around the world as a reminder of the horrors of terrorism. First stopping at The Hague for the International Court of Justice hearing regarding the Israeli West Bank barrier, the wreckage was then brought to the United States, where it toured among various cities, college campuses, synagogues, and churches. |
 Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing was the suicide bombing of a crowded public bus (Egged bus 2) in the Shmuel HaNavi quarter in Jerusalem, Israel, on August 19, 2003. Twenty-four people were killed and over 130 wounded. Many of the victims were children, some of them infants. The Islamist militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. |
Miracles in Gaza IDF The Israeli Defense Forces |
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Mother Rachel testimony from IDF soldiers |
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Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption ad – Boyfriend – with English subtitles  These flags are flags of the Nazi Youth Organization “Hitler-Jugend”, regional branch of Palestine. The historical context to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini.” Every Israeli will understand this message. Will the Americans understand what we have to go through both as Civilians and in the Military? Just because someone is not in uniform does not mean they are not a target for an Arab Nazi (Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah ect.) terrorist. The Arabs have always been Nazis and they are still Nazis.  Iktiba High school posts picture presenting Hitler as admirable This will not stop until Israel either transfers then or goes for Total Victory like the Allies did during World War II. For Example: Soviet reprisalsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia< In the Soviet occupation zone, thousands of youths were arrested as “Werwolves”.[53][54] Evidently, arrests were arbitrary and in part based on denunciations.[53] The arrested boys were either “shot at dawn” or interned in NKVD special camps.[53] with an total “Isolation policy“.
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Eli Groner, Israel’s PMO Director General – Israel`s 69 Independence Day in LA |
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שערי שמים . Gates of Heaven |
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Israel is Fighting the World’s WarDaniel Greenfield April 25, 2023 http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2023/04/israel-is-fighting-worlds-war.html The dead included a 6-year-old boy and his 8-year-old brother killed in a car ramming attack in Jerusalem, a British mother and daughters gunned down on the road, a 27-year-old from Connecticut traveling to a wedding, and an Italian tourist run over on the beach.
In some countries, the soldiers fight wars, in Israel, they fight to stop a genocide.
Ever since the “throw the Jews into the sea” era, the agenda has never changed.
After the shooting of two brothers driving through the occupied village of Huwara, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted a poll asking the Arab Muslim settlers if they approved of the terrorist attack. 71% of them supported the killings.
When Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, arrives on Monday evening, it finds a nation at war against a genocidal enemy that has half the world under siege.
In the past several weeks, five terrorists were arrested in Sweden, four in France in yet another plot to carry out an attack the Champs-Elysées, a teenager in the UK will be tried for plotting an attack at the Isle of Wight Festival and an Islamic terrorist leader in Australia was sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning to behead a non-Muslim and drape his body in the ISIS flag.
Stories like these have become so routine and overshadowed that we no longer pay any attention to them. Islamic terrorism unites us all. Its victims include America and Europe, India, China and Russia. It crosses the world from Africa to Asia and ends up on our doorstep.
With so much of the world under siege, it is a wonder that a tiny country so narrow you could walk its width has been the finger in the dike, holding out against a tide of death flooding the world.
The Jihad did not begin in Israel, but it was a warning to the world of what was to come. The prediction that we would one day all be Israelis, that Islamic terrorism would become a part of our everyday lives and we would go on while trying to ignore it, has long since come to pass.
Surrender is not an option, but it has never been an option in a country where it would mean the mass murder, with occasional side mass rape, of the population. Israel has retreated, it has negotiated, but it has never surrendered. The terrorist attacks serve as a constant reminder of an enemy that obsessively kills women and children because its mission is total extermination.
Only 38% of the Israelis killed in Islamic terrorist attacks in 2023 were military age men. 27% were female and 22% were children. The murdered included 6-year-old and 8-year-old boys run down in the street, a 14-year-old boy on the way to synagogue and a 15-year-old British girl traveling with her family.
This is why the Israeli soldier serves. He is there to put his body on the line between Islamic terrorists and the most vulnerable and innocent children whose lives they lust to take.
Islamic terrorists don’t kill children by accident, they see it as their highest calling.
House Democrats recently protested the arrest of Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi, of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Movement, who had called for “unceasing war against the Americans”.
“There are no civilians in Israel. The population—males, females and children—are the army reserve soldiers, and thus can be killed,” Ghannouchi had also declared.
The Islamic cleric has often been described as a “moderate” by the media. Moderate Muslim clerics believe in exterminating all the women and children. What do the “extremists” believe?
Despite Israel’s turbulent politics, Yom HaZikaron, the commemoration of the fallen, briefly clarifies the stakes.
And the stakes are the children. And the world.
The Muslim world convinced the international community to pressure Israel by promising that the Jihad would stop there. “Give us Israel and it will end,” they urged. Despite all those promises, the Islamic war against civilization has spread across the world. Most of the world’s major nations and some of the minor ones have their own Islamic insurgency that plays by the same rules: alternating political demands with brutal massacres in the name of Islamic rule.
Generations of Israelis have gone to an endless war, sacrificed sons and daughters, to hold back the tide. They did it in defiance of the ignorance, hostility and pressures of the world.
They did it because they believed, they did it because they refused to die and they did it because surrendering to an enemy that gleefully butchers children was unthinkable.
Despite everything that has happened in the last generation, the world has learned little. But the Israelis have learned that peace is an illusion and that all they can do is hold the line.
When the torches are lit and loved ones weep, when the ‘blood of the maccabees’ blooms, a nation reckons again with the price that it pays for survival. Whatever myths pacifists may harbor and anti-war activists preach, there is no escape for any nation from paying that price.
Some nations have it paid by others, as the United States of America has done for so much of the globe, but in a world where evil is a reality writ in the black ink of the Koran, there can only be temporary refuges from the reckoning.
Israel still relies on a draft army. The price paid for war is a shared burden, but so is the price paid for appeasement. The fallen and their families come from all walks of life. These men and women, grandmothers, sisters, sons and nephews, have paid the world’s price in tears. They did not do it for the world, but their nation’s memorial day is nonetheless a lesson for the world.
Paying the price for freedom has long since become a cliche. Israelis do not pay the price for freedom. They pay it so that their children, their loved ones and their people are not eradicated from the earth by a brutal enemy that has no concept of mercy and worships barbarism.
The Israelis have come up against a choice that we will all have to make sooner or later. They chose not to die. The day will come when we may face that choice as starkly as they do.
Let us hope and pray that we choose well. |
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YOM HASHOAH יום שואה
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National Socialist Movement rally in Madison WI 2006 |
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SHOCKING Antisemitism: SDSU invited Nation of Islam spokesperson, Ava Muhammad |
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shocking Antisemitism Reaction to the New Jersey Kosher Market Shooting |
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Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus |
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Yom HaShoah 10 AM air raid siren soundsYom HaShoahFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_HaShoah Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah (Hebrew: יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, lit. ‘Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day’), It is held on the 27th of Nisan (which falls in April or May), unless the 27th would be adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, in which case the date is shifted by a day.[2] Evening Daytime On the eve of Yom HaShoah and the day itself, places of public entertainment are closed by law. Israeli television airs Holocaust documentaries and Holocaust-related talk shows, and low-key songs are played on the radio. Flags on public buildings are flown at half mast. At 10:00 AM, an air raid siren sounds throughout the country and Israelis are expected to observe two minutes[10] of solemn reflection. Almost everyone stops what they are doing, including motorists who stop their cars in the middle of the road, standing beside their vehicles in silence as the siren is sounded.[11] |
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This was 70 years age in Europe. Has anything changed?Yom HaShoah |
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Elder of Ziyon logo http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/ The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland, published December 1942, ignored by the worldElder of Ziyon 20April2020 http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-mass-extermination-of-jews-in.html The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland was published by the Polish government-in-exile in December 1942 and sent to the foreign ministers of the 26 government signatories of the Declaration by United Nations. It was the first official document informing the Western public about the Holocaust.[ Though the document contained extensive information on the persecution and murder of Jews in Poland, its effect was limited because many people outside German-occupied Europe found it difficult to believe the Germans were systematically exterminating Jews. After meeting with Jan Karski, who had made multiple undercover trips into occupied Poland and escaped to warn the Allies, Jewish U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter said he did not think Karski was lying, but that he could not believe him. Historians are divided as to why the Polish government in exile did not publicize this earlier. The most important item in the brochure is known as Raczyński’s Note, by Edward Bernard Raczyński, the foreign minister of the Polish government-in-exile. Raczyński discussed the Germans’ initial shooting executions and subsequent lethal gassings of Polish Jews. As horrible as his descriptions are, the reality was even worse. And the world stayed silent. |
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 Torah Tidbits-1321-Kdoshim My Grandfather Survived The Holocaust and This is His Story.Israel Defense Forces 27January2020 |
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Reb Shlomo Carlebach -The Last Seder In The Warsaw Ghetto– שלמה קארליבאך20 April 2011 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2011/04/reb-shlomo-carlebach-the-last-seder-in-the-warsaw-ghetto.html Reb Shlomo Carlebach -The Last Seder In The Warsaw Ghetto- שלמה קארליבאךRemember that our return to Hashem in the holy Land of Israel is the only guarantee that there’ll never again be a Warsaw Ghetto. Let’s hope that this coming Pesach will be the real freedom holiday for our people Israel, once and for all coming home to the Land of Israel and the rebuilt united Jerusalem, amen. Shema Yisrael: Yaacov Shwekey15September2013 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2013/09/shema-yisrael-yaacov-shwekey.html My dear and esteemed friend Yaacov Shwekey sings a moving rendition of the above story in “Shema Yisroel”. In answer to all the Holocaust deniers, here is Yaacov singing with the backdrop of photos and film clips from the Holocaust. If you want to know why we need unshakable emuna and our uncompromising presence in our holy Land of Israel, see this (don’t be discouraged by the first 60 seconds which tells the story of Rabbi Kahaneman in Hebrew). This is a must see: קליפ מרגש עד דמעות שוואקי שמע ישראל Shema Israel yaakov shwekey |
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Where was Hashem, the protector of Israel, during the Holocaust?
The Holocaust OperationHolocaust Remembrance Day is 18-April. It’s so difficult to see suffering! How can we look “through it” to see the greater good that will be born from it?Kalever Rebbe Posted on 30January2023 https://breslev.com/3906980/
Elokim spoke to Moshe, and He said to him, “I am the Havayah (the Lord).” (Shemot 6:5) Pain with PurposeOver the years, while traveling throughout the world, meeting with Jews from diverse backgrounds, many secular Jews would commonly ask me: “Where was Hashem, the protector of Israel, during the Holocaust?”
I would answer this question with an analogy: A father had one child, a son, that was born later in his life. He cherished his only child and loved him dearly. When the boy was young, tragedy struck, and he became severely ill with a life-threatening disease. Seeking a cure, the father brought his son to a specialist who recommended a surgery that, while excruciating and painful, would cure the boy.
Obviously, the loving father agreed. However, his son was too young to truly appreciate the gravity of the situation. And, as the doctor proceeded with the surgery, the son cried out in agonizing anguish to his father to stop the surgery. When his father remained stoic and allowed the doctor to continue, the son thought his father had abandoned him.
However, when the boy grew up, he understood that that surgery saved his life and the pain he had to experience was for his ultimate good.
The lesson is clear. Hashem, the Creator of everything in the world, selected the Jewish people as His only child. And Hashem loves and cherishes every Jew, and He only showers goodness and kindness on the Jewish people. However, like the father in the analogy, there are times when Hashem knows that it is necessary for a Jew to endure a challenge or to suffer for a finite amount of time on this world, to merit ultimate and eternal goodness for their soul.
However, like the child, that person doesn’t always understand how that pain is saving his life and paving the way to an outcome that is only and fully good. They falsely feel like Hashem has abandoned them. And, they start to believe that this pain is without purpose, that their suffering is not Hashgacha Pratit, Divine Providence.
Millions of precious Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. It is understandable that someone might begin to forget that suffering in this world is for an ultimate good; that the pain has a purpose. However, when a person comes to the Upper Worlds, he will be able to clearly see that everything that had happened in this world, in his life, was only for the ultimate good. The pain was the path to the cure. Rescued Through an IllnessIn fact, we clearly saw Hashgacha Pratit throughout the Holocaust. There are countless miraculous stories of yidden being saved within those darkest moments of human suffering. And many of the survivors who suffered in the days of the Holocaust, managed to see how their suffering was an Hashgacha Pratit to save their lives. Through the temporary suffering they were able to live long and sweet lives, and merited to see their families and communities rebuilt and thrive.
Let me share one example of my own life. I was born before the war in Mihalyfalva, Hungary. When I was a child, my holy father ztz”l had developed an illness that required specific medical attention and care that was simply not available in our town. Therefore, he would travel to the Romanian town of Arad where there were doctors who could treat him. He traveled so often, that eventually our family had made the difficult decision to relocate to Arad. During the Holocaust, when the Germans occupied Hungary, the entire town of Mihalyfalva, every single Jew, was sent to Auschwitz. The illness led our family to moving, which, in the end, saved our lives. The Stolen BreadWe can see a similar example in the following story: A Jew was in one of the concentration camps towards the end of the war. Food was even more scarce than usual, and he hadn’t eaten for some time. One day, the Nazis were handing out small parcels of bread, barely larger than crumbs. But, in that state of hunger, the Jew eagerly accepted his portion. But then a non-Jewish prisoner stole his small piece of bread.
He was devastated and angry. He furiously screamed, “Hashem, why would You do something so cruel to me!?” His anger was so overpowering, and his body was so frail from starvation, that he fainted from sheer exhaustion.
When he regained consciousness, there was an eerie silence throughout the camp. There was not a sound. Just stillness. Confused, he went looking around to see where everyone had gone. He quickly learned that the allied forces were rapidly approaching and would be liberating the camp. Before the Nazis fled, they poisoned all the prisoners with the bread they had handed out. This Jew was the sole remaining survivor.
When the bread was stolen, he was angry and thought that Hashem was being cruel. He only saw the momentary suffering. However, in retrospect, he was able to realize that his bread being stolen saved his life. The source of that pain itself was salvation. Only GoodnessReb Shmuel Eliyahu from Madzitz ztz”l once shared with me the following incredibly inspiring and powerful Devar Torah that can uplift someone facing the most difficult challenges:
Suffering and tragedies come from the heavens in two different ways. For the non-Jews, they are punished for their behavior. However, when suffering and hardships are sent into a Jew’s life, they come from a place of love. The Jew’s suffering is solely for the goodness that will inevitably come after. It is truly an act of Hashem’s love. We can see this very concept from the pasuk that says (Shemot 15:26), all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you, for I, the Lord (Havayah), heal you. This pasuk can be understood as follows:
The plagues were all the sicknesses that Hashem vengefully inflicted upon the Egyptians. This type of pain, I will not visit upon you. Rather, Hashem always interacts mercifully with the Jews for their “healing” and for their goodness. [Each name of Hashem reflects a different character trait or attribute. The name used at the end of this pasuk, Havayah, is the Name that expresses Hashem’s Mercy. for I, the Lord (Havayah), heal you: meaning that Hashem always interacts with the Jews with Havayah and mercy for the sake of healing them.] Therefore, when we see a Jew suffering, you need to know that that suffering itself is the catalyst for the healing; the pain is the cure because it purifies the soul from sins etc. Why “Woe”?!The Yerushalmi taught (Shekalim 23b) that ‘Nachum Ish Gam Zoo’ became very ill, and his entire body was covered with painful boils. R’ Akiva came to visit him and said, “Woe to me that I have to see you like this. Nachum rebuked him saying, “Why are you kicking my suffering?” Why was Nachum upset?
R’ Yitzchak Isaac of Kamarno, zt”l, explained that when Nachum heard R’ Akiva say “Woe” he interpreted that as revealing that R’ Akiva only saw the suffering and pain for its face value. He didn’t see that through this illness R’ Nachum could only obtain greater goodness and blessings in his life. Nachum felt that all suffering and pain will eventually lead to a greater good, that Hashem only desires goodness for the Jews and, therefore, the suffering must be accepted with love.
The early philosophers mistakenly espoused that there were two dominions in this world, God Forbid. One that delivered good things into the world, and one that inflicted pain and suffering. They thought that it was impossible for mercy itself to do something that seemed terrible or evil. Moshe Rabbeinu’s MessageWhen Moshe saw the circumstances in Egypt get worse for the Jews, he asked Hashem, “Why have You harmed this people? (Shemot 5:2). Moshe questioned why there had to be further suffering.
And Hashem responded (Shemot 6:2) “Elokim spoke to Moshe.” The name of Elokim represents din and punishment. However, that din, that suffering itself is a chessed, a kindness, as the pasuk continues, “and He said to him, “I am Havayah.” Meaning, even though it seems like din, it feels like suffering, it is still I, the source of all kindness, that directs that pain for a greater good. The Elokim is Havayah which represents kindness.
In the margins of my father’s Chumash, at the beginning of the next Pasuk, next to the word וארא- I appeared (Shemot 6:3), he wrote: Ve’era is an acronym for the words in the pasuk (Yeshayahu 44:6), א’ני ר’אשון ו’אני א’חרון-I am first and I am last. Hashem alone oversees and intervenes in the world. At times, He first sends suffering and hardships, but in the end it will be good. That same essence of goodness is present in the “beginning” and the “last”. *** The Kalever Rebbe is the seventh Rebbe of the Kaalov Chasidic dynasty, begun by his ancestor who was born to his previously childless parents after receiving a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov zy”a, and later learned under the Maggid of Mezeritch zt”l. The Rebbe has been involved in outreach for more than 30 years, and writes weekly emails on understanding current issues through the Torah. You can sign up at www.kaalov.org. |
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Out of the AshesIn the aftermath of horrible destruction, HaShem is setting the foundation for the future, just like a seed that rots before it germinates and grows into a mighty tree…Natalie Kovan Posted on 22December2010 https://breslev.com/367446/ I am a third generation Holocaust survivor.
I never understood exactly what this was supposed to mean. Was that like first cousin once removed? Second survivor twice removed? How does one ‘become’ a survivor without having survived the actual event?
It wasn’t until about junior high school that the reality of what this really means hit me with full force. I remember sitting on the school bus, waiting for our ride home to begin. I don’t remember if the bus was running late, or what the exact circumstances were. This was, of course in the pre-cellphone era, (or as my children say—the Olden Days) and I couldn’t reach my mother to tell her. I pressed my nose to the grimy window and suddenly realized that my safety—and well being mattered—really mattered—to my parents, and ultimately, my grandfather. That the unspoken vibes I had been receiving since my appearance as a physical being on this earth were born on the double edged sword of hope and fear. Hope, for I was the next chain in the link of our family—and the ever pervading fear that accompanies all survivors of not knowing what may be around the bend.
As survivors go, my grandfather has been and continues to be (may HaShem grant him long life) the epitome of optimism in a world gone mad. From his example, I have learned to overcome adversity. To pick myself up and move on. To laugh at life—and embrace it. He’s always been involved and takes an interest in the minutia of our daily lives. Whatever scars he carries, he carries them well, and they never allowed him to distance himself from his family. On the contrary, his family became the center of his existence, his greatest testament to a Jew’s power to rebuild through emuna.
Even so, one can’t live through one of the worst disasters of the Jewish people without some degree of apprehension. When I was born, my grandfather cried incredulous tears of joy. I, as the first grandchild, represented the ultimate miracle of his survival, one that at times he never thought he’d see. And When I took my first steps, he would walk behind me, lest I should fall and hurt myself. Caution was of utmost importance. There was an unspoken, underlying disquietude below the surface of our lives to always tread carefully. Cautiously. To always have passports in order, for one never knows what’s coming. Even in my most reckless teenaged moments I was aware of this awesome responsibility to take care of myself, and thus, I was always the designated driver. This was Hitler’s (may his name be erased) inheritance to us, to our family. The word carefree is rare in a family of ‘survivors’, for that is what we are—we continue to survive the ill effects of one of Judaism’s darkest hours to this very day.
My grandfather survived in the forests of Europe with his brother until the end of the war. They lived like animals, living in caves, in trees, surviving on the kindness of the forest keeper who had mercy on them and who provided them with much needed provisions. At times, they were running for their lives from the Germans, sprinkling their trail with paprika to confuse the scent of the German dogs. To this day, when I see a German Shepherd I think of the Nazis. And that is the bottom line—because my grandfather survived, my entire world is seen through the lens of the Holocaust. And that is why, even now, I am a third generation Holocaust survivor, and my children are the fourth. Because those fears are carried from one generation to the other—even without us wanting them to.
The Holocaust is the Achilles heel in a lot of peoples emuna. How, people ask, can HaShem, Who is so Kind and Merciful, allow the rampant destruction of His nation?How could He hide Himself, and turn away from the cry of His children?
I have recently been reading a number of Holocaust stories in Jewish periodicals and e-mails I received, and I was struck with a sudden realization. The common thread that ran through these narratives was of families reuniting after decades of separation. Families who had lost hope of ever seeing their loved ones were brought together through the most incredible twists and turns. HaShem’s Loving Hand was evident throughout. And that’s when the fallacy that HaShem was hidden during the Holocaust was completely shattered for me. HaShem was busy orchestrating the survival and salvation of all those slated to live. For all those neshamas that perished, there were thousands upon thousands of survivors who miraculously lived, who continued on to rebuild from the ashes of Europe. Even in the aftermath of horrible destruction, HaShem was setting the foundation for the future.
I remember a few years back, as we were packing for our trans-Atlantic move to Eretz Yisrael. My grandfather sat in my box strewn house, contemplating his granddaughter’s move to the other side of the world. My grandfather, who had come to Eretz Yisrael after the war, left after only a few years, my Israeli grandmother accompanying him to begin a family outside of the Holy Land. And here was his granddaughter, returning to that very place, with a yearning to live where millions of Jews throughout the millennium have yearned to live; the very Land, where her great grandparents who died in Auschwitz had dreamed of.
My grandfather, who has lived in several countries, including South America, where I was born, epitomizes the wandering Jew. Wandering and wondering about the Jew’s place in this world. And here comes his granddaughter who wants to not merely survive, but to LIVE in The Land of Israel, throwing her usual caution to the wind, in order to build a stronger foundation, with HaShem’s help, for the next generation.
Before we took leave of one another, my grandfather kissed me and whispered the same refrain that he has been whispering in my ear since my earliest recollections. “May HaShem watch over and protect you…” Here is a man who saw gehinnom on this earth—who saw with his own eyes the decimation of his family—and his people. A man who lived through a tragedy whose scope we should never know. And yet, my entire life, he drilled into my subconscious that HaShem is still the one in charge, and thus we should always beseech Him to watch over us.
Yes, the Holocaust is difficult to comprehend on all levels. Millions of Jews were wiped out in a matter of a few years, entire communities disappeared as if they never existed. And maybe—isn’t it time to try and focus on the miraculous salvation of so many? Maybe it’s time to give HaShem some credit when it comes to this sad chapter in our collective history? For there is no doubt about it—the Holocaust changed the entire Jewish landscape. But how about those who survived, and whose families continue to survive to this very day, because of HaShem’s loving kindness?How about all the scenarios HaShem orchestrated to ensure the survival of so many?
The Holocaust is a test of emuna. Either one sees it as a punishment on an entire nation, or one can view it as the catalyst for rebirth of that very same nation. As the grandchild of a survivor, I have grown up with the shadows of the Holocaust on the periphery of my life. If it’s cold, I think of all those in the camps who stood outside in below freezing conditions in threadbare clothing. If I see a train track, I think of the picture of my grandfather working on a similar setting in the labor camp. Barbed wire—forget about it. When I cook with paprika, I remind myself that this was one of the tools HaShem used to save my grandfather’s life—and time and again I have to remind myself to have emuna, and to just let my kids be—and try not to pass on the silent fears that continuously plague us– a family of survivors. These are the tests wrought by the Holocaust. But HaShem gave us an antidote called emuna—and we should use it generously in order to make peace with this period of Jewish history.
We see with our own eyes how HaShem’s plan is taking shape. We are constantly seeing prophecies fulfilled. Post Holocaust, we were gifted with our Land once more, an unprecedented move in all of our years in exile, beseeching us to return, to make it ours once again. We have seen a disproportionate number of baal teshuvas suddenly waking up—and picking up where their ancestors who perished in the infernos of Europe left off. HaShem is continuously building on the ruins of our past, brick by brick, steering us to an even greater future, which will beezrat HaShem culminate with our redemption. We can’t allow ourselves to stay stuck in our past, when it is obvious that we should be moving towards our future.
Watching my grandfather from the sidelines all these years, I am the last one to say that ‘we should forget’. On the contrary, we should never forget the crimes against humanity, as Eli Wiesel so aptly put it, that were perpetrated on our people. But in remembering, we should also focus on the miracles HaShem wrought for so many—like my grandfather. Like myself. Because he survived, I survive. Some questions, like the Holocaust, will not be fully answered until the coming of Moshiach. And the world should always hold the Holocaust as an example of the degenerative acts one man—and one nation—can inflict on another. But for a Jew like myself, I am going to try to focus on the miracles HaShem wrought for the Jewish people. For my grandfather. And for me.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank my grandfather for being a beacon of emuna in my life—and for always having faith in me. As his grandaughter, I can’t possibly repay him for all he has done for me throughout my life. But with Breslev Israel’s permission, I would like to request if possible, to say a kappittel of Tehillim, or a small prayer in your own words, for my grandfather, Dov ben Tzipporah Hindel, that he should regain his full eyesight—in the zechus of always seeing the world through the eyes of emuna. Thank you. |
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 What a statement: thousands attend funeral of 4 murdered Paris Jews who were buried today in Israel: pic.twitter.com/op5Evv9oQm via @LukeReuters Yair Rosenberg @Yair_Rosenberg Thousands attend funeral in Jerusalem for victims of Paris supermarket attack Thousands attend funeral in Jerusalem for victims of Paris supermarket attack January 13, 2015 https://www.jta.org/2015/01/13/israel/thousands-attend-funeral-in-jerusalem-of-victims-of-paris-supermarket-
The victims “were murdered on the eve of the Sabbath, in a kosher supermarket in Paris, in cold blood, because they were Jewish,” Rivlin said, adding, “This is sheer hatred of Jews; abhorrent, dark and premeditated, which seeks to strike, wherever there is Jewish life.”
He called on the leaders of Europe to work to “commit to firm measures” to protect their communities’ Jews. The men were killed by Amedy Coulibaly, who took more than 20 people hostage at the market. Coulibaly was killed when police stormed the shop. He reportedly told the hostages during the standoff: “I will die today, but you before. You are Jewish, and today you are going to die.”
Some attending the funeral held signs in French reading “Je suis Juif” and “Je suis Israelien” — “I am Jewish” and “I am Israeli” — above photos of the victims.
The family members recited together the Mourner’s Kaddish after being assisted in tearing their clothes in the traditional Jewish sign of mourning. They then lit memorial torches for their loved ones.
“I have been saying for many years and I say it again today: These are not only enemies of the Jewish people, they are enemies of all mankind,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the terrorists. “It is time for all people of culture to unite and uproot these enemies from our midst.”
Netanyahu issued a call, as he has several times since the attack, for Jews to make their homes in Israel. “Jews have a right to live in many countries and have full security, but I believe that they know in their heart, there is one country which is their historic home, a state which will always accept them with open arms. This is the hope of the entire Jewish people,” he said.
French government minister Segolene Royal told the mourners in her native language that “Anti-Semitism has no place in France. Each hit suffered by a Jew is a hit suffered by the French people.”
Following her address, Royal bestowed the Order of the Legion of Honor, the country’s highest civilian honor, on each victim, and then went to each family member to express individual condolences. |
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From Rav Lazer Brody:A Nazi by Any Other Name…27April2014 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/04/a-nazi-by-any-other-name.htmlIn “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare, Juliet says: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”Tonight and tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day. If it were up to me, I’d remove the “remembrance” part and simply call it “Holocaust Day”. Why? The Holocaust still lurks all around the world. It’s ugly and deadly seeds are germinating and sprouting in the fertile growth medium of growing antisemitism.To paraphrase Juliet, “What’s in a name? that which we call a Nazi by any other name would smell as foul.”Here’s what I mean: Today’s USA: The Ku Klux Klan, Skinheads and Neo Nazis Today’s Ukraine: Svoboda Today’s Italy: Casa Pound Today’s France: Front Nationale Today’s Greece: Golden Dawn Today’s Hungary: Jobbik Party Every other country in Europe has growist Fascist and neo-Nazi movement, some already violent, like the one in Poland. Now, let’s add the growing global Jihadi groups, many hiding behind the back of so-called “moderate Islam”, in Scandinavia, the UK, Germany, France and the USA. How many times have the Iranians, Hizbulla, Hamaz and Islamic Jihad declared their intent to destroy Israel? Don’t be foolish enough to think that they’re only talking about Zionists; that’s merely a polite term for Jew. An Al-Qaida bomb in New York City or a Hizbulla booby trap in Buenos Aires is not intended for Zionists – the target is Jews. There’s a concept in the Jewish Laws of Purity: Immersion in the mikva doesn’t help someone who is holding a dead mouse in his or her hand. Why cry about Holocaust Day while perpetuating the Diaspora and being the victim of another potential Holocaust? Why aren’t people reading the global anti-Semitic writing on the wall? Can’t they realize that Hashem is telling everyone that it’s time to come home? Do you really want to do something about the Holocaust? Do you really want to prevent another Holocaust, G-d forbid? Rabbi Yehoshua Fass of Nefesh B’Nefesh is a dear friend of mine. Write him an email right now (tell him that Lazer sent you) and tell him that you’re interested in getting the ball of your aliya rolling. He’ll tell you what to do. The greatest memorial for the 6,000,000 Jews who died in the Holocaust is a strong, truly Jewish homeland. Cherished brothers and sisters, help us build it. Come home now; we’re waiting for you with open arms. Comment:
It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAHCome Back – Nefesh B’NefeshLiving The Dream – Nefesh B’NefeshIt’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH UK 0800-085-2105 Come home to the Land of EmunaNefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US&CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH UK 0800 075 7200 Israel 02-659-5800 www. nbn.org.il  Night by Elie Wiesel The home page of Yad VashemYom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah (יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה; “Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day”), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel’s day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany and its accessories, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day.On Yom HaShoah, ceremonies and services are held at schools, military bases and by other public and community organizations.On the eve of Yom HaShoah and the day itself, places of public entertainment are closed by law. Israeli television airs Holocaust documentaries and Holocaust-related talk shows, and low-key songs are played on the radio. Flags on public buildings are flown at half mast. At 10:00 a.m., an air raid siren sounds throughout the country and Israelis observe one minute of solemn reflection. People stop what they are doing and motorists stop their cars in the middle of the road, standing beside their vehicles in silence as the siren is sounded.
 יוסף חיים לוין @Rabbi224 Tweet-03May2019 Each of the soldiers in the bottom pic is the grandson of a man in the top pic. @GameOnJD @ScotsFyre @PolitiBunny
 Stephen Uzzell-tweet-15September2022-The Israeli soldiers in the bottom photo are the granddaughters of the four women at the front of the line at the Nazi concentration camp.
Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US&CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH UK 0800 075 7200 Israel 02-659-5800 www. nbn.org.il
 “Israeli eggs are so strong that they can survive adversity  An Israeli vacuum cleaner Ani Maamin – Mordechai Shapiro |
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JerusalemCats Comments: in 1987 at Yad Vashem on the wall on the entrance they had a furious British Lion guarding the Closed gates of Eretz Yisrael. No one could Enter! |
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JerusalemCats Comments: Remember what Israel did on July 4th, 1976, The Entebbe Raid. 102 hostages were rescued! If Israel could do that after the 1973 Yom Kippur War what could it have done in 1939? Just imagine if Menachem Begin was Prime Minister of Israel in 1938.IDF-tweet-4July2016-Entebbe-RescueElder of Ziyon logo http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/ How many could have been saved if Israel was reborn in 1938 instead of 1948? (posters)April 24, 2023 https://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2023/04/how-many-could-have-been-saved-if.html There are always discussions on how to teach the Holocaust in a way that young people can internalize the horror of what happened. These discussions become more prominent around Yom Hashoah.
At the same time, with the upcoming Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel haters try to frame Israel as pure evil whose existence is itself a human rights crime and which reduces the security of Jews, not enhances.it.
Last week, pseudo rabbi Brant Rosen said this on Al Jazeera: [EDD: Al Jazeera is a known Antisemetic website, Video is antisemitic.]I responded with a tweet that received hundreds of Likes:
 Elder of Ziyon-tweet-21April 2023-Six million Jews were unavailable for comment.
On Sunday night, I decided to combine these two themes. I took actual photos of victims of the Holocaust, but I specifically chose photos that non-Jews could identify with. Except for the first, which as taken in the Birkenau camp before that family was murdered, I chose photos without the yellow star, without the emaciated victims. And I colorized them so they would look recent and not like they came from a long ago era.
I then wrote fairly angry posters noting that no one tried to save these Jews from being murdered – but if Israel existed, things might have been different.
I admit, this exercise really affected me as I was doing it. I was too emotionally drained after four posters to continue.  If Israel had existed ten years earlier this Family might not Have been Murdered
 If Israel had existed ten years earlier Florika Liebmann Might Have Been A Great Grandmother Today
 If Israel had existed in 1939, Elisabeth Gersch Might Have raised Her Daughter Eve in Haifa instead of Them Being Gassed To Death in Auschwitz
 Not ONE NATION OF EARTH CARED to Save Marina Smargonski from Death in the Riga Ghetto in 1941. Israel Would Have tried.
I don’t know if others would be as impacted, but perhaps this is a direction that might be useful for teaching both about the Holocaust and the importance of Israel. It won’t help for the many real Jew-haters out there (there are plenty of people on Twitter responding that Israel’s crimes are worse than Nazi Germany’s) but there will always be Jew-haters – the point is to reach normal people. |
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Leaving California
 California Exodus |
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Downtown San Francisco Becomes A Ghost Town As Major Retailers Fleeby Tyler Durden, 08May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/downtown-san-francisco-becomes-ghost-town-major-retailers-flee Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com, Retailers abandon downtown San Francisco in droves. Nordstrom is the latest, signaling the death of the area…  downtown SF retail closures
That image from the Tweet below is from April 29. Since then, there have been more closures…
 San Francisco Chronicle-tweet-29April2023-biggest merchants and beloved small businesses shuttered in downtown San Francisco Nordstrom closes two stores and Saks Off 5th says goodbye as well.
 San Francisco Chronicle-tweet-03May2023-Nordstrom will close two downtown locations Walgreens and Whole Foods Leave
 Greg Gallagher-tweet-2May2023-Walgreens announces another store closure in San Francisco San Francisco’s Dying DowntownThe San Francisco Standard says Nordstrom’s Exit From San Francisco Calls Downtown Mall’s Future Into Question
Call Out the GuardZerohedge comments Gov. Newsom Activates National Guard And Highway Patrol To Combat San Francisco’s Drug Crisis
San Francisco Ghost Town
 Brian Altano-tweet-03May2023-San Francisco become a ghost town in real time “It’s been completely surreal watching a major city like San Francisco become a ghost town in real time. Tons of restaurant and business closures. Way less commuters. Empty buildings everywhere. All the tech companies bounced and people got priced out. Just a hollow city now.” Q&A on the Exodus
 MishGEA-tweet-04May2023-don’t people want to live there
Other than A through F downtown San Francisco is a great place to be. * * *
 Andrew Wong 🇺🇸-tweet-18April 2023-This is one way to defund Jeff Bezos
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“There’s Poop Everywhere”: San Francisco’s Office District Not Only A Ghost Town, It’s Also Covered In Sh*tby Tyler Durden, 25May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/theres-poop-everywhere-san-franciscos-office-district-not-only-ghost-town-its-also  Urban Alchemy employees pick up trash while people gather belongings in the Tenderloin neighborhood. | Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images Everyone knows that San Francisco is the nation’s largest public toilet – requiring the city to employ six-figure ‘poop patrol’ cleanup team, however a new report from the city Controller’s Office really puts things in poo-spective.  SF Feces Query For starters, feces were found far more often in commercial sectors, covering “approximately 50% of street segments in Key Commercial Areas and 30% in the Citywide survey,” second only to broken glass as can be seen in the ‘illegal dumping’ section.  SF Feces moder If you’re wondering about the city’s fecal methodology, look no further than a footnote on page 43;
As far as where most of the poo is found, Nob Hill takes the top spot, followed by the Tenderloin and The Mission districts.  Feces Observed in SF Neighborhoods Via the San Francisco Standard “It’s terrible; this street is covered,” Tenderloin resident Joe Souza told The San Francisco Standard earlier this month. “There’s poop everywhere. You always see it along the wall and in front of the garage there.”  Percentage of Evaluation with Feces by Neighborhood Meanwhile, nearly 2/3 of key commercial routes reported moderate to severe street litter, vs. 41% of the citywide streets struggling with the same problem.  San Francisco’s Streets Are Filthy. A New Survey Shows Just How Dirty Via the San Francisco Standard As the San Francisco Standard reports; San Francisco’s commercial and residential streets are also highly tagged up, with every neighborhood except one—Visitacion Valley—reporting high levels of graffiti last year. The issue is once again worse in commercial areas, of which 71% said they had severe or moderate graffiti.  A Clean City team in the Tenderloin power washes the sidewalk on Hyde Street in San Francisco. | Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images “In terms of actual counts of graffiti observed, there were about 10 times (160,000 vs. 16,000 respectively) as many instances of graffiti reported in the Key Commercial Areas survey in comparison to the Citywide sample,” the report said.
And San Francisco’s favorite cleanliness fixation, human or animal feces, continues to be a sore spot for the city: Almost half of the surveyed commercial areas observed feces. Citywide, that figure was just 30%. * * * San Francisco’s poopocalypse comes amid a staggering commercial office vacancy rate as a combination of pandemic-era work-from-home policies, and people fleeing the city’s notorious violence and poo-covered streets have made the once-thriving city into a ghost town.
 jason-tweet-23May2023-This used to be gridlock-now it’s a ghost town-SF |
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Bob Hope Says Democrats Are Like Zombies
Democrat-run metro cities overrun with ZOMBIE DRUG “TRANQ” that’s cooked down into powder form and mixed with heroin and fentanyl – eats human flesh21May2023 by: S.D. Wells This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) Just take a stroll down any metropolitan street in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, or New York City, and you will feel like you just stepped onto the movie set of “World War Z.” There are actual zombies roaming the streets, sleeping standing up, and moaning from the flesh-eating disorder they have from taking a pet tranquilizer that eats human flesh (they thought they were just smoking fentanyl and crack). The zombie drug “tranq dope,” also known by veterinarians as xylazine, is now frequently used by drug dealers to “cut” other drugs (spread them out so they make more money), while further complicating the drug addiction nightmare for users. Zombie drug tranq infiltrating heroin, fentanyl, counterfeit prescription pills, and sedativesJust as one may have thought the illicit drug supply couldn’t get any more dangerous and deadly, it did. Many drug dealers use baby laxatives to cut cocaine and crack so they can make it look like there’s more to buy and use, and double or triple their profits. The side effects for drug users boiled down to a bad case of the runs, and then whatever else happens to the heart, brain, and cleansing organs from the continued drug use.
Now there is xylazine, a drug used by veterinarians and fellow surgeons for anesthesia, sedation, muscle relaxation, and analgesia. Doesn’t sound so bad for drug addicts, but the drug wasn’t made for humans, but mainly cattle, horses, and other mammals. Turns out, it’s too dangerous to use on humans because it causes dangerously low blood pressure, critically low heart rates, and wait for it… a disorder that eats away at the flesh.
Also, because xylazine is a non-opioid sedative, it’s also not a “controlled substance” in the USA, and NARCAN does not work as an anecdote to save people from overdosing, like it can with heroin or fentanyl. Xylazine cannot be purchased without a veterinary license, so how are so many drug dealers getting a hold of it to use to cut street drugs? DEA puts out safety alert about “widespread threat” of fentanyl cut with xylazine in 1/4th of all fentanyl powder sold in America‘s socialist citiesThe DEA is warning of a “widespread threat” of fentanyl cut with xylazine, the “zombie drug” that is stolen from veterinary clinics and mixed with other street drugs. Xylazine is ultra-deadly and can eat away at human flesh when consumed or smoked. Also, the fentanyl anecdote NARCAN does not work to save people from xylazine overdose.
About one-fourth of all fentanyl powders sold on the streets is now laced/mixed with the zombie drug, warns the DEA.
Xylazine causes CNS depression, respiratory depression, heart rate slow down, and death. This veterinarian drug for putting animals under for surgery is being taken in pills and smoked by druggies in Democrat-run metropolitan cities and it’s eating their flesh. Drug dealers are mixing this with fentanyl and people don’t know, and NARCAN won’t save them from this. It’s like a real-life scene from the Walking Dead show. Will these zombies still be able to vote for Biden in 2024, for more free money and new crack pipes for smoking Tranq?
Tranq gives it’s users leper-looking sores and can result in amputation of limbs. When combined with fentanyl the chances of death skyrocket from just one use. Many druggies die the first try, and most don’t even know they’re getting xylazine at all. The Democrats in DC like this, because it’s part of the depopulation program, along with Covid vaccines and open borders.
Tune your internet dial to NaturalMedicine.news for more tips on how to use natural remedies for preventative medicine and for healing, instead of succumbing to Big Pharma for toxic injections that spread disease and disorder. Sources for this article include:
DEA Warns ‘Zombie Drug’ Hitting US Streets, Set To Worsen Overdose Crisisby Tyler Durden, 24March2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dea-warns-zombie-drug-hitting-us-streets-set-worsen-overdose-crisis President Biden’s efforts to end a nationwide drug crisis, which he promised to end during the 2020 election campaign, may face further challenges as the Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert on Monday regarding a new concoction of fentanyl and a veterinary tranquilizer hitting American cities and towns.
 DEA HQ-tweet-20March2023-𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 When combined, xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, also commonly known as “tranq,” and fentanyl make drug overdoses even deadlier because the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone, also known as Narcan, won’t reverse its effects.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between August 2021 and August 2022. About two-thirds of the deaths involved synthetic opioids.  Overdoses are the leading cause of death among the young in the US
The grim statistics are a significant concern for the Biden administration, who promised to end the drug crisis during the 2020 election campaign. But with open borders and record amounts of migrants flooding into the US, it’s no wonder the drug crisis is worsening.
Some have warned the proliferation of fentanyl, and surging overdose-related deaths nationwide should be designated as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
The DEA’s new alert of xylazine-laced fentanyl (some have called it the “zombie drug”) should concern all Americans because it renders Narcan useless.
[EDD: Tweets to Graphic to Post.]
 HARD FACTOR-tweet-01March2023-Hot new drug Tranq is causing people’s skin to fall off
 Brandon Farley-tweet-3March2023-Today In Portland a Fentanyl Junkie Obstructs Driveway
 1r0nm41d3n-tweet-01March2023-Dude is tweaking hard and could this be a tranq sore
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California Defaults On $18.6 Billion In Debt, Saddling Employers With The Expenseby Tyler Durden, 08May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/california-defaults-186-billion-debt-saddling-employers-expense California’s recent decision not to pay back some $20 billion borrowed from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic will fall on the shoulders of employers, according to experts.
“The state should have taken care of the loans with the COVID money it received from the government in 2021,” said Marc Joffe, policy analyst at the Cato Institute—a public policy think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., in a statement to the Epoch Times.
In the state’s proposed 2023-2024 budget, $750 million was allocated to start paying down the loans, until Governor Gavin Newsom nixed the provision in early January, leaving businesses in the state responsible for the loans, as mandated by federal regulations – so that the federal unemployment tax rate of .6 percent will increase by .3% per year starting in 2023 until the loan is extinguished.
“California is just not really an employer-friendly state,” said Joffe. “This one thing will not be a difference between a business remaining open or closing, but it’s just another burden on top of the many burdens the state puts on employers.”
In total, 22 states borrowed money for unemployment insurance from the federal government. All but four, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and New York, have paid back their debts – with California owing the most by far at $18.6 billion as of May 2, followed by New York at $8 billion, Connecticut at $187 million and Colorado at $77 million, according to data from the US Treasury.
More via the Epoch Times, Initially, the state borrowed from its reserves to pay the benefits, but after exhausting its coffers borrowed to cover expenses, analysts said.
Exacerbating the situation were unprecedented levels of fraud occurring across the state, due to limited oversight and antiquated computer systems, according to Lee Ohanian, professor of economics at the University of California–Los Angeles.
Analytics firm LexisNexis estimated the total cost of the fraud at $32.6 billion. Investigations have since uncovered that illegitimate unemployment benefits payments were paid to convicted felons, with one address receiving 60 separate fraudulent payments.
Fraud is a persistent issue historically with the program, and a $2 million federal grant in 2013 sought to address the issue with new computer software systems.
The upgrade successfully stopped instances of fraud, but further improvements stopped with the end of the grant in 2016, reportedly due to the agency’s reluctance to take on the annual expense for the third-party service. “They were penny wise and pound foolish,” Ohanian told The Epoch Times. At a cost of $2 million annual investment, the program would have cost $14 million to operate since it was terminated.
“Sadly, this is just a trifecta of bad decisions,” Ohanian said. “The [Employment Development Department] made a bad decision to not renew its lease for the fraud detection software, the state government took out a loan and chose to welch on the debt—which is outrageous—and now businesses are repaying more in taxes for the incredibly unwise decisions and mistakes of the state government.”
Reports that the state is seeking forgiveness from the federal government were met with resistance by policy experts, including Ohanian.
“We’ve made a lot of bad decisions and we expect the rest of the country to pay for it,” he said. “It also raises questions about the future: If the state is going to default on the $20 billion federal loans, how safe are municipal bonds from California?” |
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The Suffering Is Off The Chartsby Tyler Durden, 02June2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/suffering-charts Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, Things have taken a turn for the worse. In recent months, economic activity has been dropping all over the nation, and that decline appears to be accelerating. We just learned that gross domestic income has now fallen for two quarters in a row, and the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has now been plummeting for 13 consecutive months. Unfortunately, when economic conditions deteriorate it is the people at the low end of the economic pyramid that get hit the hardest.
Thanks to our rapidly rising cost of living, we are seeing a dramatic explosion in the number of “working homeless” that are living out of their vehicles on a daily basis even though they are currently employed. In particular, the RV “communities” that are springing up from coast to coast are starting to get quite a bit of attention…
Most of these people get up and go to work in the morning. In fact, the Daily Mail spoke to one man that actually “works for a New York City hospital”…
If you work at a hospital, you should be able to afford a place to live.
But this is our country now. We are absolutely destroying the middle class, and as a result we now have a massive homelessness crisis on our hands…
No matter what you or I are facing right now, at least we aren’t sleeping in the streets.
So we should count our blessings. Hunger is also rapidly growing all over America. Right now, record numbers of people are coming for help at one food bank in the Seattle area…
And in Boston, the line for food on one recent weekend morning “stretched the length of two football fields”…
We are witnessing so much suffering all over the country right now. And there are so many more people that are living right on the edge of disaster.
According to one recent survey, approximately 38.5 percent of U.S. adults experienced “some form of difficulty in covering expenses between April 26 and May 8”…
Of course this is just the beginning. As I keep warning my readers, things will eventually get much worse.
And finally, whatever happens in Washington is not going to fundamentally alter our long-term trajectory, and that means that much more suffering is coming in the days ahead. * * * |
The Decline and Fall of the American EmpireBy Steve McCann
A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past. The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable. Can this nation avoid a similar fate?
Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas. Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration. The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026.
In 1976, Sir John Glubb, a distinguished British diplomat and general, wrote an essay on the fate of empires throughout history. He enumerated, based on 3,000 years of historical data, the six various stages in the rise and fall of empires.
These stages and how they apply to the United States are as follows:
The Age of Decadence is marked by debauchery, defensiveness, pessimism, materialism, a significant weakening of religion, frivolity, a welfare state, and a massive influx of unassimilated foreigners. These symptoms of national decadence are the end product of long periods of prosperity and power, love of wealth and status, and self-obsession by the ruling elites leading to fateful government corruption and instability.
Sir John Glubb is definitive in stating that in all ancient and modern fallen empires, “there does not appear to be any doubt that money is the agent which causes the decline of strong, brave and self-confident people.”
An examination of various empires from the Persian Empire to the Roman Empire to the British Empire confirms Glubb’s hypothesis that pursuit and accumulation of money or wealth is the portal through which power over the masses is achieved. The amassing of wealth and thus power evolves into a quasi-religion that over time triggers the descent into the age of decadence and corruption that inevitably leads to the collapse and conquering of empires by their external enemies.
In the early stage of the age of decadence, materialism becomes a driving force in society, inducing many in the upper classes to indulge in excessive, often conspicuous consumption as an absurdly wealthy elite emerges. Far too many societal elites and non-elites become convinced that increased consumption and social status is the key to happiness, but in its pursuit they become demonstrably more pessimistic and less happy and fulfilled.
The search for happiness and fulfillment leads to imprudence and voyeurism becoming central to the culture. Unhappy people searching for diversion became fixated on celebrities and captive to evolving voyeurism. And voyeurism takes on a more sinister aspect as people in both ancient and modern empires become increasingly desensitized to graphic images and willing spectators or participants in violence and debauchery.
Debauchery is an oft-recurring theme in the demise of empires. Societies develop an abnormally immature obsession with sex. An obsession that requires increasing deviancy to satiate coupled with concurrent abuse of children and the marginalization and exploitation of women. Meanwhile, the use of drugs and alcohol expands exponentially. Debauchery is a symptom of the absence of meaning in people’s lives leading to the self-destruction of society and concomitantly a loss of a sense of duty and patriotism.
Other symptoms common among many empires in the last stages of decline include:
Additionally, while the decline of empires is precipitated by internal factors, the final collapse is marked by defeat at the hands of powerful external enemies. The United States is presently facing an implacable and powerful external enemy, Communist China. A foe this nation’s elites, in their self-indulgent pursuit of wealth, essentially created by willfully intertwining the American economy with a ruthless and dictatorial communist regime.
Unfortunately, the vast bulk of the American citizenry is not aware of the historically precarious situation this nation finds itself. Nor are they aware that the policies and actions of the Marxist controlled Democrat party over the past 20 years is a window into what will happen to this nation if they continue in power. Another four to eight years of Democrat Party rule will permanently embed:
As the last three years have amply proven, decadence and sexual debauchery will continue apace. All forms of deviancy, including but not limited to pedophilia, will be forcefully mainstreamed. Religious liberties will be denigrated and curtailed. Infanticide and state-sponsored euthanasia will be legalized. Materialism and voyeurism will become the new state religion. And virtually all drugs will be legalized and easily available.
As the United States descends into insolvency, societal chaos and upheaval, Communist China, with which the Democrat party is intertwined, will actively abet and promote the dissolution of this country as it will be waiting vulture-like to feast on the carcass.
The inevitable can perhaps be mitigated if a significant majority of the populace acknowledges the current plight of the nation and initiates a return to the nation’s founding Judeo-Christian principles. Additionally, it is imperative that either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis wins in November of 2024 and for a populist Republican Party to control both the presidency and Congress for a minimum of two presidential terms.
Republican primary voters must also acknowledge reality and not be captive to cultlike sycophancy for either Trump or DeSantis. They need to ask themselves: who can win against a corrupt and devious Democrat party reliant on voter fraud and manipulation in the battleground states of Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania? Who has the coattails to assure the capture of both Houses of Congress? And can that person can either serve a second term or make certain another Republican will win in 2028?
It is not hyperbole to say the upcoming election cycle is the most determinative in American history. If the Republicans fail to win the presidency and Congress in 2024, this nation will have passed the point of no return and a new chapter in the annals of the decline and fall of great nations will be written. |
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The Burning Platform
FALL OF AMERICAN EMPIRE AND DESCENT INTO A NEW DARK AGESPosted on https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/05/31/fall-of-american-empire-and-descent-into-a-new-dark-ages/ “The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigor of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.” — Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 38 “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West”  Cole Thomas – The Course of Empire Destruction 1836
The moniker of my website originated from a quote by David Walker, then Comptroller General of the U.S., in 2007. I wholeheartedly endorsed Walker’s viewpoint and become politically active in trying to get Ron Paul elected as president in 2008 and 2012. It was a fruitless effort, as the uni-party in Washington DC, controlled by the dark forces of the Deep State, do not allow men and women who truly want to reduce the size and scope of government to ever get elected. His warning sixteen years ago is a perfect example of being right but being early. When talking about the decline of empires, you are really deliberating about a process, not an event. The Roman Empire did not fall on a specific day due to a specific cause. It collapsed in stages over hundreds of years due to numerous reasons, each triggering events which compounded upon each other and ultimately led to the final collapse.
Walker said, “The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon.” He believed we were resting on the laurels of being the sole superpower, as our empire built on debt was slowly and methodically crumbling. He cited three reasons for the fall of the Roman Republic that resonated in 2007 regarding the American Empire (formerly a republic):
It’s almost humorous Walker was issuing these dire warnings when the 2007 annual deficit was $160 billion. At our current rate of debt accumulation, it takes only one month to reach $160 billion. In 2020 and 2021 it only took 20 days to accumulate $160 billion. The national debt in 2007 was $9 trillion, up from $5.6 trillion in 2000. Today it stands at $31.8 trillion. Interest on the national debt will approach $900 billion this year, exceeding defense spending.
Walker warned about our debt ratios skyrocketing when the baby boomers retired. Well, the debt to GDP ratio has doubled from 62% in 2007 to 124% today, and most boomers can’t even afford to retire. U.S. unfunded liabilities total $188 trillion. Personal debts total $25 trillion, with $1.8 trillion of student loan debt and $1.3 trillion of credit card debt. The fiscal irresponsibility of our government and its citizens is breathtaking, unsustainable, and ultimately fatal to our empire. Walker may have been early, but he certainly was not wrong.  Federal deficits trends Over Time-FY 2001-2022
The current Kabuki theater farce regarding the raising of the debt limit is a perfect example of how spineless politicians blatantly deceive the public, with the full support of the regime media, in proclaiming spending cuts and fiscal responsibility, when the CBO projections show the national debt growing to more than $50 trillion in the next ten years, as most of the spending is on automatic pilot. And this is before the coming recession/depression provokes the usual political response of fiscal stimulus, which will drive the debt higher.
Threats of government default, hysterical articles in the regime media, and last-minute deals are nothing but a show for the ignorant masses, while the true globalist agenda of one world order, where the peasants will own nothing and be happy, is rolled out at an accelerated pace. They know the fiscal sustainability of the western world is dire, therefore they are acting in a reckless manner, which imperils the world with a potential global war.  World Economic Forum-twet-19November2016-You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy. This is how our world could change by 2023
Walker’s first point about the decline in moral values and political incivility has reached civil war instigating levels of degradation, deviancy, and treasonous political activity. Not in Walker’s wildest dreams did he envision the grooming and trafficking of children, drag queen story hour for toddlers, pushing children to be mutilated and propagandized into believing they are the opposite sex, promoting deviancy, and having this degenerate behavior jammed down our throats by the government, corporations, and the media.
Destroying our culture, promoting abnormality and sloth, tearing the fabric of our society to shreds, encouraging lawlessness, looting and murder, and persecuting normal white Americans who dissent, is actively promoted, and funded by Soros, Gates, and the rest of the Davos – WEF globalist psychopaths. The devaluation of our lives was never more evident than during the covid plandemic, where the annual flu was weaponized to lockdown the world, create havoc and chaos, institute totalitarian measures to abscond with our liberties and freedoms, destroy the lives of vaxx dissenters, and ultimately destroy the lives of millions who obeyed and were injected with the untested, gene altering, spike producing, Big Pharma enriching concoction.  Covid-19 Protests-Free_Ohio_Now_Columbus
To put a Roman Empire slant on it, what has been wrought by Clinton, Obama, Comey, Wray, Brennan, Clapper, Pelosi, and their gaggle of treasonous co-conspirators since 2016 has marked our current day crossing of the Rubicon. Politics has always been a dirty game, but the machinations to bring down a duly elected sitting president, which continue to this day under the direction of Biden’s handlers, is reminiscent of the plots, coups, and murders as the Roman empire descended into corruption, madness, and deviant behavior.
The Durham report documented the unequivocal facts regarding the relentless coup attempt against Trump, but the complete coverup by the regime media and the toothless non-existent prosecution of the criminal Deep State characters involved in this treasonous act proves there no longer is a representative government looking out for the citizens of this country. We are a corporate fascist oligarchy, ruled by the few, for the few. We are nothing more than serfs, peasants, and useless eaters to the ruling class, as they continue to pillage and plunder what remains of the Treasury.
Walker thought our military was stretched thin in 2007, as the neo-cons had us fighting a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan to enrich the military industrial complex, based on false WMD claims and a fruitless effort to find our CIA created global terrorist mastermind – Osama bin Laden. Little did he know that twenty years after invading Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban, we would conduct a disastrous retreat and hand the country back to the Taliban, with a gift of about $10 billion in military hardware.  Taliban’s new arsenal
The defense budget in 2007, while fighting two wars, was $700 billion. Today the budget approaches $900 billion when we are supposedly not at war with anyone. With the Deep State firmly in control of both political parties, the arms dealers will always be swimming is your tax dollars, whether they are shipping their murderous wares to Zelensky, Israel, Taiwan, or any other country fighting our current mortal enemies – Russia, China, Syria, and Iran.
Mr. Walker was naïve in his assessment about the U.S. military’s strength. Winning wars to protect America has never been the goal. War is big business and keeps the politicians on both sides of the aisle satiated with political donations (aka bribes). The ruling class had no issue using a few hundred thousand poor patriotic useless eaters as cannon fodder in Iraq and Afghanistan to further enrich themselves. But it is much easier to create chaos and war in other countries and let their poor suckers die for a forlorn false cause, while providing weapons to both sides. I wonder if Walker was blindsided by Obama’s creation of wars in both Libya and Syria in 2011.
We killed Ghaddafi and left Libya a smoking chaotic ruin, with Islamic terrorists running rampant. Obama created ISIS so we had a reason to destroy Syria and Assad. Russia obliterated ISIS and has successfully kept Assad in power, infuriating the neocons and provoking the next move on the global chessboard. All the NPC Ukrainian Flag waving dolts who believe everything the regime media regurgitates, as instructed by their masters, are clueless as to why Biden and his neocon handlers are pushing us towards a direct conflict with Russia. Obama, Clinton, Victoria Nuland, John Brennan, McCain, Graham, and a slew of other Deep State lackeys overthrew the democratically elected president of Ukraine in 2014, because he was friendly towards Russia, initiating a domino effect in the Ukraine which has left us at the doorstep of World War III.  State flag of Ukraine carried by a protester to the heart of developing clashes in Kyiv, Ukraine. Events of February 18, 2014.
The Roman economy was basically a rapine economy. Like all slave-owning societies, Rome had no middle class, a debased currency, and no export production – it lived by conquests, slave trade, and plundering the conquered provinces. Such economies can exist only as long as they expand; when the expansion ends, downfall is inevitable. See any resemblance to the American economy? When the Fed stops printing, it all comes crashing down. By the third century their currency was worthless, and a barter economy sprung to life.
By 451 AD the empire was bankrupt, taxes were 40% to 60%, and there was nothing left in the coffers to pay the military or keep the infrastructure from crumbling. The barbarians applied the final blow with the sacking of Rome, and the Dark Ages were born. Slavery and serfdom were the fate of Roman peasants. The collapse of Mediterranean trade meant the collapse of papyrus imports, and the means of writing disappeared. Literacy dissipated. The Roman civilization was kept alive only in churches and monasteries, which could afford parchment and vellum. What will the bankruptcy of the American empire entail and how will the city dwelling welfare recipients’ fare? My guess is not very well.  Heinrich Leutemann,-Rome’s plundering by the vandals (c.1860–1880)
Just as the Romans became fat and happy, enjoying the fruits of efforts, innovation and sacrifices put forth by prior generations, Americans have grown to believe they are the richest, freest, and most powerful nation on earth. They believe it is their privilege to rule the world. Just as the Romans hired mercenary armies to fight their wars because it was beneath their citizens to defend their vast empire, the U.S. used paid mercenaries (Blackwater) in Iraq and Afghanistan to fight their wars. Now we just outsource the dying to Ukrainians, Libyans, Syrians, and Somalis, while providing them the weapons, technology, and logistics to wage endless war on our behalf.  IRAQ-LIBYA-YEMEN-SYRIA-before-after US intervention
Next up will be the Taiwanese, as we provoke China into our next war. As documented earlier, the fiscal trajectory of our empire is on a course towards Armageddon, and the tens of billions in weapons being handed to the most corrupt nation on earth – Ukraine – is simply insane. Biden acts like a Roman emperor dictator (with dementia) during the final stages of Rome’s collapse, while the feckless politicians in the House & Senate sit idly by, cheering on our descent into national bankruptcy.
The final collapse of the Western Roman Empire was mainly triggered by the weakness of its late-stage emperors, failure of its civil administrators, disease, epidemics, and the unceasing invasion of its lands by the barbarian Visigoths and Vandals. Military failure and monetary weakness were the final nails in the coffin. The parallels with the American empire’s late stages are uncanny.  Joe Biden-child sniffing fool
Can anyone conceive of a weaker emperor than Dementia Joe Biden? He is a low IQ, lying, corrupt to his core, bumbling, child sniffing fool, acting on behest of the Deep State and their globalist cabal. His administration is crawling with deviants, dopes, and those seeking the destruction of our country. The barbarian hordes are streaming across our southern border and being ushered into communities across the country by government sanctioned flights and bus rides. These mostly male Hispanics, Haitians, Somalis, Muslim terrorists, and Chinese nationals are not going to strengthen our country, but contribute greatly to its fall. But at least the ruling class will have maids and gardeners, while Big-Agra will have cheap labor to pick their crops.  The Longest Welfare line in the World
Edward Gibbon’s discernment that the number one cause for the ruin of Rome was “The injuries of time and nature”, is more profound than it might seem. Its ability to be sustained for almost one thousand years is remarkable, but as with all large entities it succumbed to entropy, currency debasement, deviancy, corruptibility of its ruling class, and apathy of its citizenry. Everything trends towards disorder, chaos, and ultimately collapse. Pleasure without pain, glory without sacrifice, indolence without work, degeneracy disguised as creativity, and treason portrayed as politics, led to a slow spiraling disintegration of their society and culture over the course of centuries.
These exact same characteristics are rearing their ugly head in the late stages of the American Empire decline. It is fascinating that Roman historian Tacitus was documenting traits of a declining nation state during the first century, while it took until the fifth century for the Western Roman Empire to finally collapse. The timing of the downfall is always in doubt, as grains of sand are added to the pile until entropy wins and all comes crashing down.  Invasions of the Roman Empire
 American Flag in Tatters
It’s as if Tacitus lived among us today. His description fits perfectly in describing the psychopaths controlling the U.S. Empire, along with most of the western world, as they rape, pillage, plunder, and desolate foreign lands in the name of freedom and call it peace keeping. The U.S. Empire is willing to fight Putin until the last Ukrainian is dead on the battlefield. How noble. Slaughter and seizing natural resources under false pretenses (WMD) are hailed as spreading democracy to third world countries.
It took the Roman Empire about 1,000 years to fall. The British Empire fell in approximately 300 years. The United States has been around for 234 as a nation, but only an empire since 1946, a mere 77 years. Has the advancement of technology, speed of communications, monetary manipulations, and level of military firepower coalesced into accelerating the demise of empires? It certainly appears so, as the American Empire is on course to fall by the end of this Fourth Turning, within the next ten years.
It is commonly believed the Dark Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire. Of course, the definition of the Dark Ages has been debated for centuries, with the time frame sometimes set from 500 AD to 1000 AD, and sometimes until 1500 AD. They overlapped with the Middle Ages and some scholars contend they weren’t even that dark. I find it interesting as we enter a new Dark Ages, the regime media is busy writing articles contending the previous Dark Ages weren’t so bad after all.
The level of gaslighting produced on a daily basis by the propaganda peddlers doing their assigned task of keeping the masses ignorant and confused, is beyond the comprehension of average Americans trying to make a living and trusting their government. In reality, the Dark Ages coincided with the cultural decay and decadence of Rome in its late stages, as the vices of gluttony, lust and greed became the root of their civilization and functioned as chains enslaving and weighing down their culture.  The Dark Ages by JonasDeRo
During the glory days of the Roman Empire, they achieved tremendous advancements in the areas of science, literature, philosophy, government, and architecture. The fall of the empire left a vacuum in these areas for centuries. The death of a culture is not an easy event to recover from. Record keeping during the Dark Ages was minimal, leaving historians in the dark as to what happened. After the fall, feudalism emerged, and the Catholic Church gained increasing power.
The intermingling of the church and state contributed to the lack of cultural advancement. The uneducated peasants were fearful and superstitious, living lives of subsistence and want. The Renaissance Age of enlightenment, which followed the Dark Ages, provided the inverse paradigm to the Dark Ages. Italian scholar Petrarch, who lived in the 14th century referred to the time period as ”those men of intellectual prowess as living cloaked in darkness”.
I would contend we have already entered a new Dark Ages, based upon the collapse of our culture, ignorance of the masses, failure of our educational system, celebration of deviancy, lack of civility, and lawlessness in our cities. Most Americans would scoff at the notion we have already entered a new dark age. Everyone (including the desperately “poor” illegal aliens swarming across our border) has a super-computer phone in their hands 24/7. Every piece of knowledge ever conceived is available at our fingertips through the internet.
We spend tens of thousands of dollars per student per year in our public schools to educate our children. Our universities are world renowned. We are the wealthiest nation in history. We have tens of thousands of laws, regulations, and rules, to keep us safe. And supposedly, the American dream is attainable by everyone born in this country. Sounds like we should be living in a new age of enlightenment. But nothing could be further from the truth. Mistaking technological advancement and passage of laws with cultural and societal advancement is a complete fallacy, as described by Albert Einstein and Aldous Huxley almost a century ago:  “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Albert Einstein
In case you haven’t noticed, our culture has descended into the gutter, societal norms which kept the country relatively cohesive since its inception are being attacked and obliterated by deviants and degenerates, and any semblance of a unified vision of what America stands for is actively being destroyed by the globalist Davos crowd seeking to implement their Great Reset agenda of technocratic control over the lowly peasants, while they feast, plunder and pillage the planet – the true psychopath barbarian billionaire horde.
The perversion of normalcy into glorifying pedophiles, drag queens, transgender freaks, drug addict felons, race hustlers, and organizations promoting lawlessness, looting, and killing, while persecuting and prosecuting normal, hard-working, civilized white people has left the country on the brink of chaos. Technology has done nothing but make us dumber, distracted and easily manipulated by the Bernaysian masters of manipulation.
Multiple generations have now been socially indoctrinated by government schools to obey, emote, believe, and fear whatever (Covid) and whoever (Putin) they are commanded to fear. What they are not taught is how to think critically, question everything, and make their own decisions based upon actual facts. Test scores in reading, writing and math are at all-time lows. The solution is to continually lower the standards and never hold anyone accountable for results.
We are a nation of morons led by a cadre of psychopaths. Children are encouraged by their parents and doctors to cut off their breasts and penises due to peer pressure and deviants controlling the schools and media. Groomers make toddlers watch transgender freaks perform sex acts on stage. Library books for 8-year-olds describe anal sex, masturbation, and other perverted acts.
 Matt Walsh-tweet-4October2022-I believe that gender ideology Statues portraying our history are torn down by mobs, while what passes for art and architecture today is perverted, frivolous and inconsequential. There are no masterpieces of literature created in our rotting society. The only thing that matters is monetizing content and number of eyeballs. Quality is non-existent, overridden by quantity and replaceability. Movies and television programs are created by untalented hacks, responding to focus groups, and required to insert the required racial and homosexually woke storylines into every program.
There are no Godfathers or Casablancas being produced. There are no novelists writing masterpieces on par with Steinbeck or Hemingway. But we do have Cardi B belting out her best-selling song WAP (acronym for Wet-Ass Pussy) and Sports Illustrated with transgender and obese swimsuit models. Based on TV commercials, 90% of Americans are either black, in an interracial relationship, gay, or transgender. We are an epically unserious society. Anyone observing America and most of the western world in an impartial manner would have to conclude we are already living in a new Dark Age of ignorance, superstition, and degradation, even before the final collapse of empire.  Hank Willis Thomas Sculpture Honoring Martin Luther King Jr on Boston Common
While doing research on the Dark Ages I was surprised to stumble across some climate related information which puts the current hysterical climate change narrative in perspective. The current war on CO2, cow farts, petroleum powered vehicles, farmers, and human beings living in peace, is nothing more than an agenda to depopulate the planet, make our lives miserable, and further enrich those controlling the narrative, flying on private jets, vacationing on enormous yachts, and living in 50 room mansions in the Hamptons.
The green agenda is built on taxing you more, with zero impact on climate, while virtue signaling success. Meanwhile, the sun and power within our earth’s core will dictate our climate, despite all fruitless manmade efforts to have an impact. George Carlin’s The Planet is Fine diatribe captures the hypocrisy of humans thinking they matter at all when it comes to the planet.
 Solar Cycles-Brey and Eddy Solar Cycles
As you can discern, Rome flourished during a warming period and the Dark Ages coincided with a cooling period. Neither was due to human activity, petroleum products, not recycling enough, or cow farts. It was due to solar and volcanic activity, which may have gone hand in hand in creating the dynamics that made the Dark Ages dark. The Little Ice Age coincided with the Maunder Minimum from 1645 to 1715 when sunspots were at a minimum. Major volcanic eruptions in the 13th century, dimming sunlight across the planet also contributed to the cooling of the planet.
It seems recent studies of ice cores by real scientists confirm the period around 536 AD may have been the worst time to live on our planet in history. A cataclysmic volcanic eruption in Iceland in 536 AD spewed ash across the Northern Hemisphere, producing a mysterious fog plunging Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. Snow fell during the summer in China. Two other massive eruptions followed, in 540 and 547. The repeated blows, followed by Bubonic plague, plunged Europe into economic stagnation that lasted until 640.  Natural disasters on European society
Humans will always be at the mercy of Mother Nature, the sun, and the volcanic activity within the bowels of our planet. Taxes, recycling, and electric cars won’t have one iota of impact on the future of the planet. The impact of little or no sun over the course of years led to crop failures, famine and plague, bathing sixth-century Europe in darkness and despair. Crops cannot grow without sun. Hunger and lack of vitamin D left the populations susceptible to disease. The bubonic plague killed half the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire during these dark days, hastening its collapse.
With no wheat, there was no bread, a staple of the diet in those days. The people of Europe were occupied with survival, living a brutish existence, leaving little time for cultural advancement. The trials and tribulations documented throughout history are determined by a combination of controllable human actions and uncontrollable natural causes.  Under dark skies, St Augustine brings a message of Christian hope to 6th-century King Ethelbert of Kent. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images
Our helplessness at the hands of nature happens every day across the globe, with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami deadly reminders of our vulnerability and powerlessness. We already know Schwab, Soros, Gates, Tedros, and the rest of the Great Reset New World Order cabal are actively attempting to bring down the American Empire and replace it with a global oligarchy, where we own nothing, and they own it all. Using climate change as their cudgel, they are already conducting a war on farmers, purposely restricting the output of food for the masses.
Combined with rampant raging central bank created inflation across the world, wars being conducted in breadbasket regions of the globe, and extreme drought conditions in key agricultural regions, the landscape is already in the danger zone. With Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano showing signs of a major eruption, and hundreds of other dormant volcanoes around the world capable of eruptions on par with the 536 AD eruption, it’s only a matter of when, not if. Many scientists postulate the Sun has entered into the modern Grand Solar Minimum (2022–2053) that will lead to a significant reduction of solar magnetic field and activity like during Maunder minimum, leading to noticeable reduction of terrestrial temperature. We have zero control or influence over these events.  AMECAMECA, MEXICO – MAY 23: Popocatepetl volcano spews incandescent material as seen from Paso de Cortés on May 23, 2023 in Amecameca, Mexico. The second highest volcano in the country increased its activity while Mexican authorities raised the alert to yellow phase 3. Popocatepetl volcano caused the fall of ashes in different municipalities in Puebla, Estado de Mexico and Mexico City. Mexican army has spread forces as a preventive measure while the 3 levels of government are in coordination to observe the activity of the volcano and the situation in the surroundings. (Photo by Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images)
Quotes from Tacitus nearly 2,000 years ago are proof human nature never changes and the cycles of history repeat themselves across empires. Biden’s illegal executive orders, disregard of the Constitution, and blatant corruption, along with the regime media suppressing legitimate dissent about Fauci’s lies, Pfizer’s falsification of trial data, and the FDA colluding with Twitter to censor doctors, fit perfectly into Tacitus’ view of the world.
 CORONAVIRUS-BIDEN-FAUCI
The traitorous acts of Obama, Biden, Clinton, Comey, Brennan and the entire FBI and CIA complex in conducting a coup against a duly elected president and then covering up their treason with the full cooperation of the regime media was and still is an audacious crime. These crimes are fully detailed in the Durham Report and on Hunter Biden’s laptop, but no one will go to jail, because half the country supports the crime the other half is apathetic and uninterested, and our elected leaders are in on it. Two thousand years and nothing changes.
 spies who lie
The American Empire is displaying all the worst attributes of Rome in its death throes, as the oligarchy grows more audacious, knowing they are illegitimate, but unconcerned with being brought to justice because they control the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government. They fear no one and dare the peasants to try and stop them. The oligarchs provoke crisis, chaos, fear, and strife. They hide in the shadows, functioning as an invisible governing power, manipulating the minds of the masses, in their psychotic belief they can control and rule the world because they are superior in intellect, integrity, and ability to envision the future.
This relatively small circle of psychopaths, who have gotten the empire into this mess, grow ever more powerful as they lead us on a path to disaster. Their hubris and an arrogant disregard for the wishes of the people, belief in their own invincibility, and not fearing any retribution for their crimes of treason, leave them at the top of a crumbling empire – so they will have the farthest to fall.
Everything about our empire is unsustainable. Ultimately it will collapse financially under the weight of its unpayable debts. With psychopaths running the show who believe they can win a two front war against Russia and China, we will be lucky if our empire isn’t just a pile of smoldering ruins when they are done with it. There is absolutely no way to vote ourselves out of this because the Deep State counts the votes.
The dissenters are not united enough to shoot our way out of this. You can run, but you can’t hide from the impact of the coming collapse. The unknown ingredient to this toxic mixture of death is nature’s influence. If a volcanic eruption, or several volcanic eruptions on par with the 536 AD occurrence, were to happen concurrently with economic collapse, the earth’s population of 8 billion would be drastically reduced in short order.  Amish Community: The Caretakers Of The Earth
At this point, the best we could hope for is a relatively non-violent collapse where the critical thinking self-reliant people would migrate to rural regions and learn to live off the land again. The simple life of thriving day to day based on your own efforts, along with the efforts of your small homogeneous community, is the likely destiny for millions. No one is coming to save us. We’ll have to save ourselves. We happened to be born at a juncture of history where a Fourth Turning crisis ended an empire. We didn’t choose our fate, but we need to prepare and make the best of our situation.
I find nothing more appropriate to visually represent our clownworld empire falling than a picture of a dwarf clown, smoking a cigarette while holding a bouquet of wilted flowers in the pouring rain in front of a defunct circus tent. If the clown shoe fits, wear it. The season is turning. A time to be born, a time to die
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Once Trust Has Been Lost, There’s No Going Backby Tyler Durden, 08May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/once-trust-has-been-lost-theres-no-going-back Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Now that the overlapping crises are upon us and the banquet of consequences is being served, we’ll see just who our elites and leadership really are.
The erosion of trust doesn’t require intent, it only requires the blind pursuit of self-interest above all else. Trust is fundamentally reciprocity and honesty: to build trust, we must each perform our agreed-upon responsibilities and be truthful about our performance and actions.  US Social Trust Lies, obfuscation, misdirection and the sins of omission are all Kryptonite to trust. Those who put the pursuit of self-interest above all else like to think they can finesse their greed by omitting the truth rather than presenting a fabrication / lie. But being social animals whose survival ultimately rests on trust, humans are keenly sensitive to the difference between the truth / honesty and self-serving prevarications such as the sins of omission.
America’s elites and those living large in protected fiefdoms have persuaded themselves that their relentless pursuit of self-interest has no cost or consequence. Conveniently ignoring Adam Smith’s volume on the moral foundations needed to support capitalism, they think “the invisible hand” of the market is nothing more than a feeding frenzy of self-serving greed, and so their relentless pursuit of self-interest will somehow magically transform their looting and free-riding into a stable economy and society.  Share of Total Net Worth of the Middle Class
This is why trust has been lost in America. Everyone with any hold on power uses that power solely to benefit themselves and their cronies, under the tissue-thin guise of “serving the public” (or even more egregiously, “doing God’s work”–please hand me a barf-bag…).
When everyone is issuing an endless spew of BS to cover their own self-enrichment, trust is eroded and then lost. When everyone with any shred of power is scrambling to free-ride the system to serve their private interests above all else, the system itself can no longer be trusted.
This is why institutions have lost public trust. Those happily ensconced in a politically powerful fiefdom can increase their private gains at the expense of the public interest without any worries that the public can ever make it through the complexity thickets they’ve erected to ring-fence their fiefdom.
The elites rig the system behind flimsy legal screens and declare the system one of “endless opportunity” without mentioning some are more equal than others. Markets are rigged, politics is theater and those in the know gloat as their personal fortunes expand like clockwork.  Share of Total Net Worth of the Top 1 Percent
All of this is betrayal of the public trust and the public interest, and betrayal has a cost and consequence: trust is lost. Betrayal hurts because we believed the pretenses and promises of the lying, cheating prevaricator. Once the truth seeps out, we’re done with the liar / free-rider / self-serving BSer.
This is where we are: trust has been lost and there’s no going back. As the first chart above illustrates, social trust–our willingness to trust strangers–has declined for decades. There are many threads in this decline, but one is that everyone has transmogrified into a scammer or grifter, trying to extract something from us while giving us nothing in return except empty promises, phony gratitude or the pretense of reciprocity.
What exactly is the difference between the beggar with a phony story, a politician “explaining” a new junk fee or a private-sector elite rigging the system to benefit their enterprise? There is no difference. All are masking their pursuit of self-interest behind a phony story. The beggar’s story of needing $10 for gas is obviously threadbare; so too are the stories of pickpocketing “leaders” and SillyCon Valley monopolists.
As the chart below shows, the middle class that once trusted markets, institutions and civic leaders has seen its share of the national wealth decline as the top 1%’s share increased. Wealth wasn’t “grown,” it was transferred. Eventually “investors” finally accept they’re nothing but marks for the financial elite to skim and scam and so they exit the fake 3-card-monte “market.” The skimmers and scammers, bereft of marks, whine and beg for a return to the good old days when they could exploit all the trusting marks.  Percentage household financial assets in stocks 1950 -1985
Those who have looted the public trust for their own private gain now decry the loss of trust. Their tears are as fake as all their other stories. What they mourn is the marks awakening to their endless skims and scams, and the opting out of those who’ve finally had enough.
Everything’s gone so well that those with wealth and power have been able to pretend to be fantastic. But now that the overlapping crises are upon us and the banquet of consequences is being served, we’ll see just who our elites and leadership really are.  Overlapping Crises: “Solutions” Are Now Mutually Reinforcing Problems
Pretending will no longer work, and all the self-serving prevarications in the world will no longer shield us from the consequences of a society stripped of public trust.  When things go wrong in life, that is when it shows who you are. When things go well, everyone can pretend to be fantastic.
Once trust has been destroyed, there’s no going back. * * * |
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The Extinction Event Hitting Corporate Media…by Tyler Durden, 12May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/extinction-event-hitting-corporate-media Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com, MSM went “all-in” on a discredited COVID narrative.Since the pandemic I’ve been saying that confidence in the mainstream, corporate press has been irreparably damaged. After four years of non-stop Trump Derangement Syndrome so intense that even some liberals were wondering if the press had gone overboard on editorializing – Covid hit, and a lot of normies now see the MSM for what it really is: agitprop and brainwashing.
Cancel culture and censorship reached such absurd levels that we started to see an exodus of high profile reporters (Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, et al) exiting corporate news outlets and setting up on their own, after they committed the sin of colouring outside the lines of establishment precepts. The MSM went all-in in Covid, but every core tenet of the Covid narrative has since fallen apart:
Not good.  Russian TV test Pattern
With the tempo being set by numerous media collapses, especially by overtly “woke” ones: Buzzfeed’s bankruptcy, Vice circling the drain – and television viewership plummeting, the stage was set for a few key moments that will be remembered as defining the extinction level event rolling through corporate media: #1) The Rise of Dark CarlsonAfter Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, the number 1 pundit on television with the highest viewership today, he didn’t go to a rival network (Newsmax offered him $25 million), he decided to take his own show out on Twitter.
 Mark Jeftovic, The ₿itcoin Capitalist-tweet-9May2023-This is a defining moment in the extinction event Apparently, on his own, not part of any deal with Elon Musk, Carlson is just letting it all hang out. In one of his first installments, he called into question the 9/11 narrative (Why did Building 7 just fall into its own footprint for no reason?). It prompted one observer to coin the term “Dark Carlson” for what is transpiring via this channel. #2) The Schism of RFK Jr. coverageRFK Jr, having thrown his hat into the ring to challenge Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, immediately drew fire from the MSM, having unilaterally decided that anything RFK says is automatically “misinformation” (see the closing remarks on “rhetorical circularity”, below). RFK Jr, for his part, created an account on Nostr.
 Mark Jeftovic, The ₿itcoin Capitalist-tweet-11May2023-Nothing epitomizes the Industrial Age vs Network Era Nostr is a fast growing decentralized social media network, contrast with Twitter – which is governed by the vagaries and whims of whomever owns it – Nostr is decentralized at the server level to relays (which anybody can run) at the the account level to individual users. This protocol is spreading like wildfire and it’s beyond censorship.
The juxtoposition between a sclerotic, industrial era, mediocre network clutching their pearls over RFK’s “misinformation” and RFK showing up on Nostr tells us a lot.
While this is not seen as much of a big deal yet, this is a signal worth paying attention to. #3) CNN’s disastrous town-hall with TrumpI didn’t watch it, and when you look at the reporting on it, both left and right traditional outlets are declaring victory – but the reality is that CNN pulled the plug on it 20 minutes earlier than scheduled (ten key moments here).
Love him or hate him, Trump draws attention and viewers unlike any other personality – and the fact that CNN drew the curtain early signals one thing: it was a disaster for the network and probably didn’t hurt Trump. After deftly manipulating a hostile media and leveraging social media cunning to win the presidency in 2016, it doesn’t look like the MSM has learned much. When the media falls, so does the system it supportsWhen the Soviet Empire fell in 1989 – 1990, anybody predicting it even months earlier would have been ridiculed. When it happened it took everybody by surprise (even the CIA) and unfolded at astonishing speed (Victor Sebestyen’s Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire covers it brilliantly).
Things move even quicker today – where we are in the early innings of what will possibly be the final financial crisis of the fiat money system.
In another great book about Late Stage Communism, “Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More“, Alexey Yurchak chronicles the hyper-normality that saturated the zeitgeist during “the last Soviet Generation”. The “Dead Irony” chapter outlines the ingenious forms of unauthorized humour.
A contemporary parallel is when you come across a Twitter account that exhibits such over-the-top support for All The Latest Things™ that you can’t tell if its satire or not. That is a type of performative dissidence called “Stiob” (unless it’s real).
Yurchak’s examination of “the hegemony over meta-discourse” and it’s disintegration ring eerily familiar to those keeping score today. One example is what he called “rhetorical circularity”: in our case it means that anything the MSM refuses to cover is “misinformation”, because there are no MSM citations to support it.
As I frequently comment, we’re in Late Stage Globalism. While many view Covid as the gateway to a “Great Reset” technocracy – it looks to me like it was instead, the a-c-c-e-l-e-r-a-t-i-o-n event of the millennia.
I’m not an accelerationist and the elites are certainly still pushing hard for that WEF-style authoritarianism.
But I’m just an observer and I’m here to tell you, that is what’s happening. Given the nature of technological compounding (“Future Shock”, as Alvin Toffler called way back in 1970), accelerationism is somewhat baked in and we just have to watch the implosion of corporate media (not to mention the self-destruction of Woke capitalism) to know it is happening. * * * |
Truth or Consequences Covid-19: More Consequences
COVID-19 Vaccine: The Lies they Tell
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The Ministry of Health has been lying and making thing up from April 2020. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman quit over the lies
COVID-19: The Lies they Tell
COVID-19 TESTING: The Lies they Tell
What to do if you got the Covid-19 mRNA Vaccine Shot – Suggestions
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FDA: Vaccines Don’t Have to Prevent Infection or Transmission U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Zachary StieberApril 25, 2023 Updated: April 25, 2023
Vaccines don’t have to prevent infection or transmission to be cleared in the United States, the country’s top regulatory agency said in a new document.
“It is important to note that FDA’s authorization and licensure standards for vaccines do not require demonstration of the prevention of infection or transmission,” Dr. Peter Marks, a top official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in the document.
Marks was writing as he rejected nearly all recommendations from a group of experts that advised the FDA to update the labels for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
Vaccines are traditionally known as drugs that prevent an illness. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for years said a vaccine is a product that “produces immunity” while vaccination is an injection of an infectious organism “in order to prevent the disease.” The agency changed its definitions after people correctly noted that COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent infection.
The Coalition Advocating for Adequately Labeled Medicines, a group of experts, had called for the FDA to make clear that the COVID-19 vaccines don’t prevent infection or transmission.
“There is a widespread (but inaccurate) notion that efficacy against infection and transmission have been established by substantial evidence, and that these vaccines contribute to herd immunity,” the group said, pointing to claims from President Joe Biden, the head of the CDC, and Dr. Anthony Fauci that vaccinated people would not get sick or infected.
Biden, for instance, falsely said in 2021 that “you’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”
“To remedy this situation, language clarifying that phase III trials were not designed to determine and failed to provide substantial evidence of vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 transmission or death must be added to labels,” the coalition said. SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19.
While it’s uncommon to include in product labeling what a product has not been proven to do, there are cases where it’s necessary due to inaccurate assumptions, the coalition said. They pointed to the FDA stating that the influenza medicine Tamiflu “has not been shown to previous serious complications of influenza” after the drug’s manufacturer said it reduced complications by nearly half.
Marks rejected the request, writing that the petitioners included “selected statements by U.S government officials suggesting that vaccination against COVID-19 may prevent infection or transmission” but omitted statements from Fauci and others that later acknowledged vaccines don’t prevent infection or transmission.
“In responding to your Petition, we are not agreeing or disagreeing with any of the statements that are selected in the Petition,” Marks said. “Rather, we are observing that the statements referenced by the Petition do not demonstrate a commonly held belief that the clinical trials provided substantial evidence of efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 transmission. We are not convinced that there is any widespread misconception about this.”
The head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is among those maintaining to the present day that the vaccines at one point completely prevented transmission and symptomatic illness.
Trial data showed high efficacy against symptomatic illness but not 100 percent efficacy. Real-world data has shown lower effectiveness. The trials were not designed to measure transmission, the FDA has said in various documents. Authorization StandardsMarks also said that the FDA can authorize or approve a vaccine even if there’s no “demonstration of the prevention of infection of transmission.”
“A vaccine can meet the licensure standard if the vaccine’s benefits of protecting against disease outweigh the vaccine’s risks for the licensed use,” he added. “There is no requirement that the vaccine also prevents infection with the pathogen that can cause the disease or transmission of that pathogen to others.”
Emergency use authorization (EUA) can be granted “without any evidence that the vaccine prevents infection or transmission,” he also said.
EUAs were given to the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 due to a March 2020 declaration by then-Health Secretary Alex Azar under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP Act) Act. The vaccines were later approved, though the FDA reverted to emergency authorization this month when it switched all existing COVID-19 vaccines from the companies to the updated, unproven bivalent formulations.
Linda Wastila, a professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, said she was surprised by Marks’ assertion.
“I am totally flabbergasted that the FDA responded that proof of prevention of infection and transmission is not necessary for an EUA vaccine,” Wastila, who is part of the coalition, told The Epoch Times via email. The comment “makes me wonder if the FDA has ANY standards of safety and efficacy of the EUA vaccines,” she added.
Under the PREP Act, an emergency authorization can be given for a product used to diagnose, treat, or prevent a disease or condition when officials conclude that the product “may be effective” in diagnosing, treating, or preventing the disease or condition and “the known and potential benefits of the product, when used to diagnose, prevent, or treat such disease or condition, outweigh the known and potential risks of the product.”
That assessment is based on “the totality of scientific evidence available … including data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials.” No clinical trial efficacy data has been made public for the bivalent vaccines.
The FDA did not respond to a request for comment. Marks noted that the FDA cleared the vaccines “for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2.”
“The vaccines are not licensed or authorized for prevention of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or for prevention of transmission of the virus, nor were the clinical trials supporting the approvals and authorizations designed to assess whether the vaccines prevent infection or transmission of the virus,” he said. Lack of Safety DataOther proposed changes that were rejected, included making clear that the FDA authorized a new Pfizer vaccine formulation with a different buffer without requiring studies to evaluate the efficacy or safety.
Kim Witczak, founder of Woodymatters and another member of the coalition, criticized the response letter.
“Honest communication and transparency is key to trusting our regulatory agencies. However, the FDA’s response to the citizen petition shows they are not really interested in transparency and sharing more information with the public,” she told The Epoch Times in an email. “With an experimental rushed product, safety is paramount and the public deserves the good, the bad and ugly in real time.”
The FDA only accepted a single proposal. It added some data from a trial to the labeling for the new Pfizer bivalent vaccine.
Before this month, the labels did not include any data from trials, because the FDA authorized the new vaccines as boosters without any trial data.
After the fall 2022 authorizations, Pfizer and Moderna announced that trials showed the bivalent triggered higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than the old vaccines. Antibodies are thought to protect against COVID-19. Pfizer said the data showed a favorable “safety profile” while Moderna said that “no new safety concerns were identified.” The coalition said the labeling “should be updated to reflect current data.”
While granting authorization for the bivalents as regular shots, the FDA updated the health care provider and recipient fact sheets for Pfizer’s bivalent to include the safety data Pfizer announced. But it did not include any immunogenicity data or any data on Moderna’s vaccine.
“FDA has not conducted an evaluation of the data that is referenced in the press release,” Marks said. |
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Top 7 SERIOUS HEART PROBLEMS caused by the vascular-clogging Covid jabs25April2023 by: S.D. Wells https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-04-25-7-serious-heart-problems-caused-by-covid-jabs.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author  human heart (Natural News) There are not many things more devastating to a parent than to watch their child’s health spin out of control, or worse yet, the child passes away before they do. As of late, even the healthiest kids and teens on the planet are experiencing serious heart problems after getting the mRNA Covid spike-protein-producing “vaccines.” In case you are unaware, mRNA instructs human cells to produce millions of microscopic prions that resemble an influenza virus and invade every organ of the human body. Once there, the human immune system instructs the fight or flight system to respond accordingly, attacking the foreign pathogens across all systems and throughout the vascular system. This in turn creates massive stress on the heart, as the arteries are clogged and clotted, limiting blood, oxygen, and nutrient flow. Healthy kids get struck hard, just take a look at all the athletes dropping to their knees, clutching their chests in agony. The Covid clot shots can cause the human heart to suffer from muscle thickening, irregular beating, relentless pressure, and a long-term weakeningSome people who got the clot shots experience irregular heartbeats afterwards and can’t even fathom that it’s caused by a “vaccine,” because all they hear and read about is the fake mantra that all vaccines are “safe and effective.” The Fauci falsehoods flood the televisions and newspapers. The CDC spews the disinformation across the nation daily. Arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat that can feel like the heart is beating too fast, or too slow, or out of rhythm. Often, this is caused by blockages (sticky spike proteins) in blood vessels that cause a buildup of pressure, making the heart work harder, its muscle thicken, and eventually, a total weakening. Risk of heart attack and stroke rise quickly.
Angina is chest pain from insufficient blood flow to the heart, as spike proteins clot and clog the arteries, blood vessels, and capillaries. There is no set time limit to how long mRNA “technology” causes the manipulated human cells to create these toxic prions, and the effects can be felt long after the toxic jabs have been administered. Fauci calls this “Long Covid,” but it’s really just “Long Vaccine Damage.”
Myocarditis is the swelling or inflammation of the actual heart muscle, and pericarditis is the swelling or inflammation of the sac-like tissue surrounding the heart. Both can be caused by mRNA jabs, as we see happening to athletes, pilots, and military members, even though they are some of the healthiest folks on the planet. That is why the RISK of Covid vaccine damage is FAR GREATER than any benefit, especially since kids and teens are at next-to-zero risk of complications from catching Covid, or any other flu for that matter. Think about that long and hard. This is worth careful consideration, especially with the upcoming plandemics that the Democrats and Bill Gates keep warning the world about. They must have something “up their sleeves,” besides some rubbing alcohol on a piece of cotton. Top 7 serious heart complications caused directly or indirectly by the vascular-clogging Covid jabs#1. Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) #2. Pericarditis (swelling of sac-like tissue surrounding the heart) #3. Arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) #4. Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) #5. Hypertension (Hypertensive heart disease) #6. Angina (chest pain from insufficient blood flow to the heart) #7. Coronary artery disease Bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on experimental gene therapy injections the CDC and fake news claim are “safe and effective” when they’re really dangerous and health-damaging. Sources for this article include: |
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Do Not Forget about the Children:
TURBO CANCER: Children are DYING within hours or days of leukemia diagnosis, often after receiving vaccine jabs09May2023 by: Zoey Sky https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-05-09-children-are-dying-within-hours-leukemia-diagnosis.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) Children and young adults are dying within hours or days after being diagnosed with leukemia. Some say the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have something to do with these untimely deaths. Julia Chavez, 13 years oldOn Feb. 13, Julia Chavez, a 13-year-old girl from Augusta, Georgia, died only hours after her leukemia diagnosis. She was a student at Harlem Middle School.
Chavez was taken to the ER with a headache and ear infection. According to reports, she had “bleeding in her brain, lungs, stomach and throughout her body.”
Jenna Randall, Julia’s mother, said the family didn’t know the young girl had leukemia. She added that Julia “never had more than a sniffle and she’s never been hospitalized for anything since she was born.” (Related: Defective brands of chemo drug still being used to “treat” leukemia in children worldwide.)
Julia did not experience any warning signs, aside from being tired and bruising easily, which her family previously accredited to her just being a tomboyish child. Kyle Limper, 16 years oldKyle Limper, a 16-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died within 24 hours after being diagnosed with leukemia on April 13.
Ken Limper brought his son to urgent care for back pain after Kyle played basketball before taking him to Jefferson Hospital. Ken was then told to bring Kyle back to the hospital if his condition didn’t improve over several days.
He added that after a couple of days, Kyle was so weak that he couldn’t even stand up. Kyle was too weak to get out of bed and Ken had to help him up.
Even then, Kyle was too weak and he would just fall back down on his bed.
The boy was eventually rushed to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where doctors said the young athlete’s organs were shutting down from leukemia. He passed away within 24 hours after he arrived at the hospital.
According to Kyle’s family, they didn’t notice any warning signs of leukemia prior to his diagnosis.
Experts still haven’t confirmed what type of cancer Kyle had, but the two most common types in young adults are acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
In patients with these types of cancers, white blood cells start to grow out of control in the body before spreading to the blood vessels and vital organs. The cancer can also progress rapidly because it inherits white blood cells’ ability to multiply rapidly.
This can be bad for the patient because it is only meant to be deployed when they are fighting infections.
Dr. Arif Kamal, the chief patient officer of the American Cancer Society, explained that patients could die from leukemia within 24 hours of diagnosis because the cancer was fast growing and may only be caught in the late stages when it has spread.
For example, celebrity Jerry Springer, 79, died from pancreatic cancer at least months after his diagnosis.
Kamal thinks that the late detection of Kyle’s cancer could be due to a combination of symptoms being missed and the speed at which the cancer progressed. He added that in most cases, patients with cancer will feel very tired, sleep a lot and “may be losing weight unintentionally.”
However, it is also possible for someone to miss these signs, particularly if, like Kyle, they are an athlete and are too distracted with other strenuous activities.
It also remains to be seen how long Kyle had cancer before he started experiencing pain in his back.
According to Kamal, in some types of leukemia, like chronic leukemia, patients can have the disease for months or years without having symptoms. But with AML and ALL, symptoms often appear within a few weeks as the initial cancerous cells divide rapidly and spread within the patient’s body. Kavieriona White, 11 years oldKavieriona White, an 11-year-old girl from Omaha, Nebraska, died two days after her leukemia diagnosis. She passed away on Feb. 16.
First, White was sent home from school with a fever.
Antonio White, her father, said the family thought she had a head cold. After taking her to the doctor, they gave her some nausea medicine and sinus medicine.
Several days later, she was found unresponsive and was rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Antonio said the doctor told him Kavieriona’s leukemia “was treatable and curable, but the main problem was the brain bleeds.” Kavieriona had always been healthy, and she had never shown symptoms or had any head trauma. Unnamed vaccinated girl, 13 years oldAccording to a case report (VAERS ID: 2228276), a 13-year-old girl died just over a month after being diagnosed with leukemia.
The girl received the second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 20 and she reported feeling very tired. She previously had a headache and experienced dizziness after the first Pfizer dose.
On Jan. 24, 2022, she was taken to the emergency room because she was weak and pale. On Jan. 25, she was diagnosed with B-cell ALL.
She was hospitalized and died on March 2, 2022. COVID-19 vaccines and leukemia riskData suggests that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines deliver lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) with mRNA to the bone marrow. What does this have to do with these cases?
Leukemia is a broad term for cancers of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. Leukemia usually involves white blood cells. In patients with leukemia, their bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells, which don’t function properly.
These cases should be reevaluated since both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines deliver a lot of LNPs filled with mRNA to the bone marrow.
The COVID-19 vaccine spike protein is very toxic. Once it is expressed in the bone marrow, it could be causing these “turbo cancers” in children that are fatal within hours or days. Visit VaccineDamage.news for more reports on the adverse effects of vaccines.
Watch the video below as Health Ranger Mike Adams talks to Dr. Paul Cottrell about cases of “turbo cancer” following COVID-19 vaccination. Dr. Paul Cottrell drops bombshells on the “turbo cancer” following covid and the jabsThis video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories:Children in China develop LEUKEMIA after getting injected with COVID shots. Flame retardants in household items linked to chronic diseases. HISTORY REPEATS: Pfizer paid out $1.2B after its drug caused thousands of BREAST CANCER cases. Sources include: |
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FACT CHECK: Covid was mild and barely killed anyone – ventilator-acquired pneumonia, on the other hand, killed millions19May2023 by: Ethan Huff https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-05-19-covid-mild-ventilator-pneumonia-killed-millions.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) New research out of Northwestern University in Illinois has confirmed that most of the pre-“vaccine” deaths that occurred in the early days of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “pandemic” were caused by ventilators, and specifically ventilator-acquired pneumonia, rather than the “virus.” SARS-CoV-2, it turns out, was relatively mild the entire time, afflicting most people with little more than a cold or sniffles. The establishment health system, however, was told and incentivized to make it appear like another black plague, which sent countless millions to an early grave through the “treatment” modalities they were offered. One of those so-called treatments was ventilators, which caused patients who otherwise would have survived, in most cases, to develop a serious case of ventilator-acquired pneumonia. This, Northwestern researchers found, is why millions died – again, not because of covid itself. “Covid itself has a ‘relatively low mortality rate’ compared to other respiratory illnesses, the researchers found after examining about 600 patients with severe pneumonia,” reported Alex Berenson on his Substack. “Yet Covid patients remained intubated longer than other patients and developed secondary bacterial infections more often. “Those extra infections caused many deaths in Covid patients, the researchers wrote. More patients may have died from the bacterial infections than Covid itself.” (Related: Be sure to also check out our recent coverage about how hospitals across America became death and murder facilities during covid.) American hospitals murdered patients with ventilators, data showsThis revelation is really bad news for the corporate media and establishment medicine, both of which aggressively pushed for all admitted covid patients to have a ventilator smashed over their breathing holes. These same entities then tried to blame President Donald Trump for not doing enough to “save lives” by imposing even more medical tyranny. Early on in the scamdemic when Trump openly stated that he did not believe the medical establishment needed so many ventilators, let alone even more ventilators after their overuse created a shortage, he was blasted by the powers that be for spreading “misinformation.” “Doctors often preemptively put patients on ventilators,” The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2020, noting that the medical establishment’s excuse for ventilator overuse is that it would help protect hospital staff from “catching covid” from patients breathing out covid “viral particles.” It was already long established at the time that putting patients on mechanical ventilation, especially for long periods of time, is really dangerous because tracheostomy tubes “are a highway to bacterial lung infections,” to quote Berenson, who warns that ventilator-acquired pneumonia is very difficult to treat, even with powerful antibiotics. “The importance of VAP [ventilator-acquired pneumonia] as a driver of mortality in patients with COVID-19 has been underestimated,” wrote the researchers behind the new study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The truth about ventilators eventually came out, resulting in many hospitals simply abandoning them altogether. This resulted in truckloads of brand-new ventilators having to be given away – though nobody wanted them, so most ended up in landfills. “By then, though,” Berenson notes, “it was too late for Covid patients admitted – and ventilated – in 2020.” “It is incredible the speed at which the – once revered – medical profession was effortlessly dismantled,” wrote one of Berenson’s readers about what covid did – or perhaps simply brought to light – concerning the deeply embedded corruption within the medical establishment. “Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s right-hand man, once said: ‘Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome,’” – and, man, was this right as far as what happened during covid, resulting in millions of needless deaths. The latest news about the covid scamdemic and what it did to the world can be found at Genocide.news. Sources for this article include:
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The lies about hydroxychloroquine were the worst of the COVID eraBy John Klar 19April2023 There has been little accountability for the lies of the COVID pandemic. Clearly the disease originated at the Wuhan Virology Lab. The mRNA vaccines were not nearly as effective as touted (if they worked at all), and possibly unsafe. Another glaring dishonesty, exposed by doctors like Meryl Nass, relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID.
Whether or not hydroxychloroquine is effective against COVID, government authorities thwarted doctors from honestly attempting to find out, and interfered with doctor-patient relationships to do so. Agencies conspired to undermine and discredit doctors like Dr. Meryl Nass, discouraging alternative therapies possessing strong safety records while hard-selling experimental and relatively untested mRNA vaccines.
In the case of Dr. Nass, a nationwide pattern of censorship against physicians who supported hydroxychloroquine was reflected when the State of Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine suspended her medical license and referred her for a psychiatric evaluation. The Board slandered the good doctor by claiming her provision of care constituted “an immediate jeopardy to the health and physical safety of the public” and even suggested she might be using drugs:
Dr. Nass was not doing anything extreme in her patient care: she was targeted because she spoke up forcefully against the mRNA vaccine narrative. She got in the way of efforts by politicians and pharmaceutical companies to ensure maximum jab compliance.
The immediate insistence by authorities that Covid skipped species in an open air market flew in the face of common sense—that it may have come from a lab studying that very virus with gain-of-function methodology, using bats carrying that virus, in the city where that virus then broke out. Similarly, the rush to dismiss hydroxychloroquine as a potentially effective therapy could not have been known without study (much like early dismissals of natural immunity). Banning its use made no sense.
As a person who had taken hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for many years for Lyme Disease, the slandering of the drug (and doctors who prescribed it) was rather stunning to me. I knew the risks of the drug were minor. Yet Dr. Anthony Fauci and others very aggressively opposed trying to save lives with this drug before mRNA vaccines were available, using illogical and extremist justifications. Dr. Nass stood up boldly and early. At her website and in her newsletters, she has competently established that:
All of these and other facts have been meticulously documented by Dr. Nass and other ethical physicians. It appears to be her opposition to the Big Pharma COVID narrative, not concern for her patients, that caused this brave patriot to be targeted.
Many have suggested that countries that employed hydroxychloroquine against COVID experienced better health outcomes than wealthy nations that imposed lockdowns and coerced vaxxing:
Other studies claimed the stuff actually worked very well:
This is the polar opposite of claims by the usual suspects The Lancet, WHO, CDC, and FDA who in unison pushed experimental jabs to the exclusion of alternative interventions. Many patients distrusted the so-called science of these proven liars (remember when Fauci said COVID vaccines were “just like measles”?), and sought alternative scientific voices for guidance.
Dr. Meryl Nass has stood up to the Orwellian stranglehold narrative, just as she has continued to defy the Maine licensing board whose case against her continues to deteriorate like an Alvin Bragg indictment. Americans should take their spoon of modern experimental medicine with a generous pinch of salt. Are doctors permitted to suggest mRNA vaccines are not warranted for young children, or will that too be targeted as verboten?
Doctors like Meryl Nass are the salty hope of free-thinking physicians and patients alike. Her case in Maine continues, and must be watched closely. So too should the now-discredited talking heads who have spewed a litany of lies about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine and mRNA vaccines. John Klar hosts the Small Farm Republic Substack and podcast from his Vermont farm. His new book is Small Farm Republic: Why Conservatives Must Embrace Local Agriculture, Reject Climate Alarmism, and Lead an Environmental Revival. |
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US Failure to Recognize Natural Immunity Negatively Affected Pandemic Response: NIH ScientistZachary Stieber
The failure to recognize how post-infection immunity is similar or superior to that bestowed by vaccination led to prolonged school closures and other problems, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientist told Congress on May 11.
U.S. public health agencies “chose to disregard natural immunity,” leading to “lost jobs, staffing shortages, children kept out of school, and wasted vaccines,” said Margery Smelkinson, a research scientist at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
She was one of three experts who testified at a hearing on immunity during the pandemic conducted by the U.S. House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in Washington.
Smelkinson, who said she was testifying in her personal capacity, is employed by the same agency that was led for decades by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who repeatedly downplayed natural immunity along with other top public health officials.
Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were among the officials to meet secretly in 2021 to decide whether post-infection immunity should count as one or more vaccine doses in the recommended COVID-19 vaccination schedule, according to documents obtained by The Epoch Times. The meeting resulted in no changes to the recommendations, which advise virtually all Americans to get a vaccine even if they’ve recovered from COVID-19.
The government’s position on natural immunity meant that COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country featured no exceptions for the naturally immune, in contrast to some other countries.
The CDC has said that there is post-infection protection but that it varies by person, it’s unclear how long it lasts, and recovered people should still get vaccinated.
But evidence from before the vaccines were even available signaled that natural immunity was robust, and later studies provided evidence that natural immunity was similar to or even better than vaccination, Smelkinson noted.
One study in July 2020, for instance, found a strong immune response in people who had recovered from COVID-19. Another in October 2020 provided similar findings. And a paper in November 2020 found that mild infections also triggered strong responses.
As early as April 2021, research suggested protection on par with that from vaccines. A CDC study found natural immunity was better than vaccination against the Delta variant, and a more recent CDC paper provided the same conclusions for the Omicron strain. An analysis of dozens of studies found that post-infection protection was similar to or better than vaccination, depending on the strain.
Smelkinson said the government’s position resulted in staffing shortages, including in the health care sector, and “caused needless loss of life as vaccines were given to essential workers with natural immunity instead of being prioritized for the elderly.”
“Additionally, the daily quarantine of thousands of students could have been significantly reduced if districts had, at least, made exceptions for students with natural immunity. At least,” she said. “Disregarding the wealth of evidence of natural immunity led to missed opportunities to implement policies that could have been more effective and efficient in controlling the pandemic and limiting collateral damage.”
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the panel, said that the government shouldn’t have mandated vaccination for the naturally immune. Other ExpertsDr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the panel that the stance against natural immunity adopted by Fauci and others didn’t make sense. He pointed in part to Fauci saying previously that people who had recovered from influenza didn’t need vaccination “because the most potent vaccination is getting infected yourself.”
“They dismissed it, saying there was uncertainty, ‘We don’t know how long it’s going to last.’ As if we knew how long vaccinated immunity was going to last,” said Makary, who also said he was testifying in a personal capacity.
Studies have shown that natural immunity does wane over time, particularly against infection. But the protection from vaccines also drops, with a number of papers indicating the waning is more rapid.
Makary estimated that prioritizing naturally immune health care workers to get vaccinated early on resulted in the deaths of thousands of people who actually needed vaccines but were unable to get them. Another result was higher medical bills, he said.
Dr. Tina Tan, a professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, was also called to testify to the panel as the minority witness for the Democrats. Tan acknowledged that post-infection immunity exists but aligned with the CDC as she asserted that the level of protection after recovery “may vary from person to person.”
Tan championed so-called hybrid immunity, or vaccination on top of natural immunity. She pointed to papers including a study published in January that found hybrid immunity triggered a stronger immune response against Omicron than natural immunity alone.
“Recent data suggests that the best immunity comes from ‘hybrid immunity,’ the combination of vaccination and immunity after infection,” Tan said.
The doctor claimed that the currently available COVID-19 vaccines provide “substantial protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death.” There is no clinical trial data available for the updated formulations of the most widely used vaccines, manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna, and observational data indicate the vaccines provide subpar protection against symptomatic infection and short-lived protection against hospitalization.
Tan also said that the vaccines are “safe,” noting that most adverse events are typical post-vaccination symptoms such as fever. But many serious side effects are either caused by the vaccines or suspected to be linked to them, including heart inflammation and blood clotting.
“We know that CDC has conducted extensive monitoring of adverse events associated with vaccines and the risks associated with getting a natural COVID-19 infection are far greater than the risks associated with COVID-19 vaccination,” Tan said.
One of the latest sets of risk-benefit analyses from the agency concluded that the benefits outweighed the risks, but was criticized by several experts for relying on hospitalization rates that didn’t include children even when estimating hospitalizations among children.
“The risk-benefit analysis is a marketing strategy to maximize uptake of the vaccine,” Allison Krug, an epidemiologist, told The Epoch Times previously. “It is not an honest effort to estimate risks and benefits because it ignores the most durable protection on the ‘market’—immunity from prior infection—which is near universal now.” |
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Why Are So Many COVID Authoritarians Suddenly Shifting Their Narratives?by Tyler Durden, 01May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/why-are-so-many-covid-authoritarians-suddenly-shifting-their-narratives In February of 2019, the White House under Trump established the position of Chief Medical Advisor to the President. The fist person to occupy that position was a physician by the name of Ronnie Jackson and his job was to advise Donald Trump on public health policy. Right before the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jackson left the post and it remained vacant for a year; instead the role was filled for the most part by Anthony Fauci, who did not become the next Chief Medical Advisor officially until Joe Biden entered office.
After numerous conflicts with Trump on policies and mandates, Fauci transitioned seamlessly into the new Democrat controlled White House. Biden and Fauci were like two peas in a pod.
Fauci is a figure with a controversial career in virology and medicine and the key official best known for spreading false claims that created nationwide hysteria over the HIV/AIDS virus. Why Trump brought him in as an adviser and who recommended him is not widely known and opinions vary. What we do know is that the elevation of Fauci as a primary point of contact for covid rules was disastrous for the country as a whole. Specifically, his prominence within the Biden Administration brought America to the brink of medical authoritarianism on a scale that could have erased the Bill of Rights for good.  Dr. Anthony Faucii Lies – Artwork
Of course, Fauci didn’t act alone during the march towards total societal lockdowns and perpetual vaccine mandates, he was just one bureaucrat among many that joined forces to spread fear and panic over a virus with an average official Infection Fatality Rate of 0.23%. Covid was a non-threat to the vast majority of the population, and yet it was presented as if there would soon be bodies in the streets if Americans did not comply with every government demand.
As if to acknowledge the ultimate failure of the pandemic narrative, multiple government officials have suddenly (and perhaps begrudgingly) started to back away from their original positions. However, instead of admitting they were wrong and apologizing to the public, they are trying to rewrite history and claim that they were actually against many of the measures and restrictions they implemented.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Anthony Fauci made some surprising admissions on “mistakes made” during the pandemic. Fauci tried to distance himself from the lockdowns and school closures as if he had no say or influence in how they were enacted:
Here is the truth:
 Brandon Taylor Moore-tweet-26April2023-Fauci this morning vs Fauci 2020 Fauci also noted that:
Here is the truth – Fauci changed positions multiple times on the masks according to the political theater involved: Dr. Fauci Explains Mask Guidance Changed | NBC News NOW
Interestingly, Fauci’s latest flip-flop has been published in tandem with multiple other officials who have also tried to adjust the optics surrounding their medical tyranny. For example, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and a member of the AFL–CIO, advocated for the forced shutdowns of US schools for years despite extensive data showing the lockdowns were pointless. In fact, she threatened union strikes if schools were allowed to reopen. Now, she claims she had been trying to reopen schools the whole time…
 Washington Free Beacon-tweet-26April 2023-AFT President Randi Weingarten
 Tommy Schultz-tweet-26April2023-Never forget what the teachers unions were saying for two years
Justin Trudeau, one of the more malicious leaders among western nations when it came to covid authoritarianism, now claims that he never tried to force Canadians to get vaccinated. Keep in mind that Trudeau regularly spread propaganda associating anti-mandate protesters with “racists” and “terrorists,” while also arresting those who refused to submit to his lockdowns:
 Michael P Senger-tweet-24April2023-Justin Trudeau claims he never forced anyone to get vaccinated The reason these staunch advocates for limiting freedoms in the face of covid are now acting defensively may be because the truth about the science on Covid is becoming insurmountable. Nearly every narrative that was originally promoted by government officials in the past three years has been debunked. To summarize, here are the realities of the mandates and vaccines:
The masks were never effective in stopping the spread of covid and mask mandates made little to no difference. Children were never at any serious risk from covid. School shutdowns made no difference in stopping the spread, and did more harm than good. Economic lockdowns made no difference, doing more harm than good.
There was never any evidence of hospitals in the US being overwhelmed by covid patients (in fact, hospital admissions fell dramatically in 2020). There is also evidence that the number of deaths associated with covid were inflated by incidental covid infections; covid was blamed for deaths caused by other conditions.
There is no such thing as “Covid Heart” (heart failure caused by covid). The vaccines do not stop transmission of the virus. Vaccinated people still die from the virus. Natural immunity is more effective than the vaccines. The much hyped “pandemic of the unvaccinated” never happened. And yes, there is ample evidence of negative side effects including heart failure associated with the mRNA vaccines.
The narratives and the agenda fell apart in spectacular fashion. Now, the people that rallied around the virus panic and tried to exploit it for their own ends are attempting to fade into the background as if nothing ever happened. Perhaps even more damning data is on the horizon and officials are preemptively positioning to deflect responsibility. |
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ANALYSIS: Top Officials Who Pushed Aggressive COVID-19 Policies Now Try to Reframe Their Positions Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci listens to President Joe Biden (out of frame) speak during a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., on Feb. 11, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) Petr Svab Publish May 3, 2023 Updated: May 4, 2023
News Analysis Some of the people most strongly associated with promoting lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have recently sought to recast their positions. Examples include Anthony Fauci, former leader of the federal COVID-19 response, teachers’ union head Randi Weingarten, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Fauci seemed eager to shirk responsibility for the lockdowns when talking to The New York Times last week.
“Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did,” he said.
It was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that produced the lockdown recommendations, he emphasized.
“I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the CDC’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that,” he said, noting that he “happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations.”
That perception wasn’t mere happenstance though. Fauci hardly missed an opportunity for a media spotlight, accepting accolades for supposedly leading the country through the crisis.
Fauci boasted in October of 2020 that, early in the pandemic, it was he who recommended that President Donald Trump “shut the country down.”
“This was way before” the major outbreak in the New York City area at the onset of the pandemic, he said.
Moreover, Fauci now argues he was appreciative of those who had their reasons for not following the advice of federal public health agencies.
“I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other,” he said.
That doesn’t appear to be accurate.
Fauci was repeatedly cited by the media as criticizing states that diverged from federal guidance.  A driver holds out a sign as hundreds of people gather to protest the lockdown in spite of shelter-in-place rules still being in effect at California’s state capitol building in Sacramento, California on April 20, 2020. – Some people intentionally jammed roads while honking and holding out signs while others disrespected social distancing rules by gathering in close proximity, blaring Americana music and shouting to end the lockdown. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) A driver holds out a sign as hundreds of people gather to protest the lockdown in spite of shelter-in-place rules still being in effect at California’s state capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., on April 20, 2020. (Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)On one occasion he called it “risky” and on another warned of “needless suffering and death” if states lifted COVID-19 restrictions earlier than federal guidelines suggested.
The former pandemic adviser now acknowledges that COVID-19 vaccines were presented to the public in a less-than-ideal way.
“We probably should have communicated better that the clinical trials were only powered to look at the effect on clinically recognizable disease, symptomatic disease,” he told the New York Times.
Nonetheless, various officials made comments to the effect that the vaccines stopped transmission of the virus—which was incorrect—while people who pointed out the limitations of the vaccine clinical trials were dismissed as “anti-vax” and censored by social media.
“Records can be shown to demonstrate Fauci’s undeniable leadership on decisions that led to substantial pain for otherwise healthy and productive Americans,” commented Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, a group that pushes for government transparency and impartiality. School ReopeningWeingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), recently told Congress that the union advocated for school reopening from early on in the pandemic.
“We spent every day from February [2020] on trying to get schools open,” she said.
That appears to be only partially true.
The union did issue a paper in April of 2020 that proposed reopening schools that were largely shut down the month before amid the rising spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 (pdf).
In practice, however, Weingarten always appeared to demand more to be done before schools could be opened “safely.”  PITTSBURGH – JULY 13: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks to the audience at the annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers Friday, July 13, 2018 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks in Pittsburgh, Pa., on July 13, 2018. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)Some of the core demands included universal masking of teachers and students, improving ventilation at school buildings, and maintaining 6-foot physical distancing at all times. But those requirements, according to the union, required major investment or sacrifices of classroom time. Classes needed to be much smaller, for example, to ensure the distancing.
“If you do 6 feet of physical distancing, you’re essentially saying in a school you’re going to have about 50 percent or 60 percent of people in there at any one time, not a 100 percent,” Weingarten told NBC News in February of 2021.
And the demands went on.
United Federation of Teachers’ (UFT’s) reopening report from February of 2021 called for 20 percent of all students and staff to be tested each week. If one student tested positive, the whole classroom should be sent home for 14 days; if two students in different classrooms tested positive, the whole school should shut down in-person learning for 14 days, the document recommended (pdf).
New York City schools tried to implement similar if less stringent rules, only to prompt protests from parents.
“Day 2 of school. A positive case was found in daughter’s classroom. 25 kids now have remote school for 10 days,” Jill Goldstein, who has a child in one of the city schools, wrote on Twitter.
“This is unacceptable.” There also appeared to be a tendency to delay school reopening until teachers had ample opportunity to get vaccinated.
On one hand, the AFT said vaccinations weren’t necessary for school reopening, but on the other, it argued that teachers needed to be prioritized for vaccination and that vaccination progress should be “aligned” with the reopening.
“Teachers and school-related personnel need the layer of protection vaccines provide. It is the bare minimum of what they need to get back into the classroom,” Weingarten said in a February 24, 2021, tweet.
In some of the districts with large local unions and robust reopening demands, it was only after the vaccines became widely available that local authorities were able to reach reopening deals, according to a report by the Defense of Freedom Institute (pdf).
Some of the AFT’s largest local affiliates went even further.
United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), one of the AFT’s largest and most powerful affiliates, argued that reopening would require “broader community preparedness and increased funding.” That was supposed to include not only prolific testing, masking, and social distancing, but also expanded sick leave, a wealth tax, a millionaire tax, “Medicare for all,” and a moratorium on charter schools, according to a document issued by the union in July of 2020 (pdf). The document is no longer accessible on the UTLA website. Facing public resistance, the UTLA in the end agreed to a reopening plan without such extraneous demands. Resources, Red Zones, and PoliticsWeingarten seemed rather inflexible in her demands. When the CDC lifted mask recommendations for COVID-19-vaccinated people in May of 2021, Weingarten criticized Texas for no longer requiring masks in schools, pointing out that children weren’t eligible for the vaccine yet. Two months later, the CDC recommended masks again regardless of vaccination, citing the spread of the virus’ Delta variant and data showing vaccinated people were spreading it just as much as the unvaccinated.
Experts have warned that masking children, especially the youngest ones, could stunt their development. Some people have also criticized what they perceived as arbitrary masking rules. If classes were held at restaurants, for example, students would have been presumably allowed to take their masks off while sitting, based on rules once in place in many jurisdictions.
When the CDC cut the school social distancing guideline to 3 feet, Weingarten pushed back: “The issue with the change in distancing in schools is that overcrowded and under-resourced schools are already having trouble meeting basic safety guidelines. We need to be focusing on actually getting all of the mitigation strategies in place first.”  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 28, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)The UFT also pushed for the CDC to issue universal guidelines as a condition of schools reopening. The CDC did so in February of 2021, but only after extensive consultations with the UFT and the inclusion of several of its demands.
Just as Weingarten wanted, the guidelines called for reopening based on the level of detected COVID-19 cases in the community. Schools in “red zones”—those that couldn’t offer COVID-19 tests to all teachers and students at least once a week—should have held virtual classes, unless they could “strictly implement all mitigation strategies.”
The thresholds were so low that almost all schools were in “red zones” back then.
Weingarten made clear the guidelines couldn’t in fact be universally implemented—not unless Congress gave public schools much more money.
“Educators, students, and parents all want our schools to #ReopenSafely. But we need the resources from the #AmericanRescuePlan to do it,” she said in a February 17, 2021, tweet. She was referring to the $1.9 trillion spending package pushed by the Biden administration, which promised public schools $130 billion on top of the $110 billion given by Congress to schools and colleges in the previous COVID-19 packages.
In fact, the massive amount of federal funding had little to do with school reopening. The Congressional Budget Office stated in February of 2021 that most of the $110 billion remained unspent and less than 5 percent of the $130 billion was to be spent by September of 2021 (pdf).
Surveys have indicated that many teachers didn’t want to return to work because they were afraid they would catch COVID-19 (pdf). Yet research has indicated that the virus was spreading in schools no more than outside of schools and that children were actually less likely to spread it—even in areas that, according to Weingarten, opened prematurely, such as Florida.
Teachers could theoretically avoid the virus by shutting themselves in their homes, but that would only shift the risk from themselves to other people who still had to operate in the outside world on their behalf, delivering food and other necessities to them.
In the end, school reopening appears to have had little to do with resources and federal guidelines. Poorer districts that masked less vigorously, for example, were somewhat more likely to be open in 2021, according to the Return to Learn Tracker. The factors most prominently associated with in-person instruction were the political leaning of the district and the estimated strength of the local teachers’ union, one research paper showed.
“The decision to return students to in-person classes this fall was strongly correlated with the county level share of the vote won by Donald Trump in 2016,” according to the working paper. ‘Gaslighting’“The efforts to rewrite history by those who advocated for severe restrictions and school closures are absolutely galling, especially considering their documented roles in forming those very policies they are running from now,” Chamberlain told The Epoch Times.
“They pushed for the lockdowns that destroyed lives and livelihoods, pressed to keep students out of schools while parents watched their kids deteriorate academically, physically, and socially-emotionally, some to the point of suicide.”
National testing showed a dramatic drop in test scores after children finally returned to classrooms.
Meanwhile, hotline calls regarding children and domestic violence went up more than 50 percent during the initial lockdown months, and reports of predators enticing minors online almost doubled in 2020. Suspected suicides by self-poisoning increased by 30 percent in 2021, compared to 2019, an April paper revealed.  PROVO, UT – FEBRUARY 10: A student wears a mask as he does his work at Freedom Preparatory Academy on February 10, 2021 in Provo, Utah. Freedom Academy has done in person instruction since the middle of August of 2020 with only four days of school canceled due to COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) A student wears a mask at a school in Provo, Utah, on Feb. 10, 2021. (George Frey/Getty Images)Still, Weingarten appeared at times reluctant to acknowledge how much the lack of in-person instruction set children back.
“Clearly there was education disruption, but our members push back on the idea that there was a loss of education,” she said, according to a May 18, 2021 AFT tweet.
Chamberlain accused the likes of Fauci and Weingarten of gaslighting: “trying to convince the American public that they did and said exactly the opposite of what they actually did and said.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed last week that he never forced anyone to get the vaccine, although he “chose to make sure that all the incentives and all the protections were there to encourage Canadians to get vaccinated.” “This is precisely why the public’s trust in government has fallen off a cliff during the pandemic,” Chamberlain said. |
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Spring Breakdown: LA Teachers’ Union Tries to Hide Vacations Amid School Reopening FightAlex Nester 9March2021 https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/spring-breakdown-la-teachers-union-tries-to-hide-vacations-amid-school-reopening-fight/ Los Angeles’s largest teachers’ union told its members not to post spring break photos on social media because it would make it harder to fight against reopening schools.
A private United Teachers Los Angeles Facebook post obtained by Fox 11 Los Angeles contained a “friendly reminder” for educators to refrain from posting vacation photos because it would be hard to argue to keep schools closed if parents and others saw teachers traveling.
“If you are planning any trips for Spring Break, please keep that off of Social Media,” the post read. “It is hard to argue that it is unsafe for in-person instruction, if parents and the public see vacation photos and international travel.”
While districts across the country have begun reopening schools after nearly yearlong closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, United Teachers Los Angeles has gone to great lengths to keep schools closed. The union recently gathered data on the race of parents who have vocalized their support of reopening schools for a report released last week. The report found that “whiter, healthier, and wealthier” families are overrepresented in stories about school reopening, while black and Latino voices are ignored.
Studies have shown, however, that minority students have been the most adversely affected by school closures. Black and Hispanic students in San Francisco were found to be 60 percent more likely to miss virtual class, according to a recent analysis.
The cost to students comes despite the fact that coronavirus transmission in school settings has been found to be “extremely rare.” Research from the Centers for Disease Control has found that it would be safe to bring students back to the classroom even before teachers receive the coronavirus vaccine. Still, many teachers’ unions have made vaccination a condition for a return to the classroom.
One teachers’ union leader who opposed reopening schools landed in hot water last year after posting a vacation photo online. Sarah Chambers, a Chicago Teachers Union executive-board member who rallied against school reopening, posted a photo of herself in Puerto Rico just hours after she tweeted that it was unsafe to teach face-to-face. |
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U.S. student test results show toll of pandemic lockdowns on learningBy Rami Ayyub 25October2022 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-student-test-results-document-pandemics-toll-learning-2022-10-24/  Students’ desk adhere to social distancing requirements in a classroom during a news conference at New Bridges Elementary School, ahead of schools reopening, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in New York, U.S., August 19, 2020. Jeenah Moon/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Oct 24 (Reuters) – U.S. students have suffered historic learning setbacks with math and reading scores falling to their lowest levels since before the COVID-19 pandemic, national exam results released on Monday showed, the latest sign of the damage school closures wrought on children.
Math scores saw their largest drop on record, a trend consistent across most U.S. states and almost all demographic groups, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.”
The tests were administered to nationally representative samples of fourth- and eighth- graders between January and March 2022.
Reading scores declined for most jurisdictions, though not as dramatically as in math. Eighth-graders’ math proficiency scores dropped by seven percentage points compared with 2019, results showed. Reading proficiency fell by two points.
The test is considered to be the first comprehensive, nationwide account of student performance since the onset of the pandemic. Previous studies documented similar dips in reading and math after political leaders and school districts shut down classrooms for “remote learning” online.
Among students kept home during the 2020-2021 school year, high performers had more frequent access to a computer, a quiet workspace and extra assistance from their teachers, NAEP said.
Higher-performing eighth-graders reported more participation in real-time video lessons with their teachers than their lower-performing peers, NAEP added.
Test scores dropped most sharply among minority children, and performance gaps between white students and their Black and Hispanic peers have widened since the exam was last proctored in 2019.
California issued a separate report on Sunday evening, showing that students in the nation’s most populous state also showed declines in reading and math scores, although to a lesser degree. But California students lagged nationwide scores before the pandemic.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a written statement described the test results as “appalling” but said they were a call for action.
“We must treat the task of catching our children up in reading and math with the urgency this moment demands,” Cardona said.
Pandemic lockdowns were largely imposed by state governors and local officials. The U.S. government did not call for nationwide school closures under either the Trump or Biden administrations. |
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naked capitalismIs Our Health Care System Turning Hospitals into (Covid) Death Traps?Posted on 27March2023 by Lambert Strether https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/03/is_our_health_care_system_turning_hospitals_into_covid_death_traps.html By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Patient readers, after reading this post, you may well decide to throw a flag on a Betteridge’s Law violation, but hear me out. Clearly, one goes to a hospital to be tested, or to be treated and hopefully cured; Caveat Patiens should not be part of the deal. However, for nosocomial infection (also known as Hospital-Acquired Infection, HAI, which at CDC stands for Hospital-Associated infection, neatly removing agency) Caveat Patiens does seem to be part of the deal, at least in the United States, which I find more than a little troubling.
In this post I’ll take a quick look at HAI generally, and then HAI in relation to Covid. Both are troubling. I had hoped to go further, and lay hold of the institutional factors behind our health care system’s failures to recognize aerosol transmission and support universal masking, but — sadly, like the New Yorker writer who entered the swamp on the trail of a thought-to-be-extinct bird, and never found the bird — I’m reduced to mere speculation, and I did try. (That I can’t hold anybody in accountable for demonstrable failure is in itself an interesting data point; perhaps some kind readers will help out with pointers in links, or throw some hospital administrator’s PowerPoint over the transom. Your anonymity is guaranteed. But perhaps all the real decisions are taken out on golf courses, where private equity goons chat among themselves!)
The newest HAI scare — Cordyceps fans, take note — is a fungus. And it is scary. From NBC:
The absolute numbers, however, are small compared to Covid, which would lead a certain type of mind to conclude that, even though C. auris is nasty, the CDC is trying to change the subject:
The same sort of mind would conclude that CDC is very happy to get back to fomite transmission. More:
So MRSA and CDC have form on HAI. And it’s not good. In fact, things aren’t good with HAI generally. CDC:
Granted, 72,000 deaths a year isn’t all that big a number — Joe Biden really hit the death ball out of the park at 700,000 and counting — but it’s still a lot. WaPo blames budgets:
Frankly, I find AHA crying poor just a wee bit unpersuasive. Stoller writes:
Naturally, some of the deaths in that 72,000 aggregate are from Covid. From the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:
(No kidding.) Granted, these figures are from 2021, with different variants and higher transmission, but just to keep on Mr. Spike’s bright side, we’re not tracking anything any more, and we’re relaxing non-pharmaceutical interventions like masking, as we are about to see. So maybe it all evens out!
So our health care system’s performance on HAI is bad, and it’s performance on Covid HAI is also bad. Now let’s turn the specifics of Covid HAI with respect to masking, also bad. Readers of my long-ago ObamaCare coverage may recall a metaphor I often used: “In any system as baroque and Kafaesque as ObamaCare, some citizens will get lucky, and go to HappyVille; others, unlucky, will go to Pain City.” Well, our healthcare system has gone all baroque and Kafaesque on masking in hospitals, too, so whether you are more or less likely to catch Covid as an HAI — less politely, whether your hospital is a death trap — is random.
If we roll the tape back to 2020, we’ll find stories like this: “Frontline healthcare workers are locked in a heated dispute with many infection control specialists and hospital administrators over how the novel coronavirus is spread – and therefore, what level of protective gear is appropriate“:
Fast forward to 2023. The CDC lifted the federal mandate requiring masks in health care facilities in September 2022. (For the fantastically destructive role the CDC has played in hospital infection control during Covid, see NC here.) This is what happened in the state of New York:
So, New York has gone fractal; baroque and Kafka-esque. Ditto Illinois:
Ditto the state of Washington:
“Many,” but not all. I have not been able to find national data on mask usage in hospitals in the United States. I do see a lot of anecdotes, the first being more representative on my extremely unrepresentative Twitter timeline:
 AndyAF-tweet-25March2023-The hospital where I work in OR is ditching masks
But the second:
 JustWee-tweet-27March2023-Husband had surgery in Nov 22 at MU
Back to the “heated dispute” in 2020. You will recall that both administrators and hospital infection control epidemiologists were united in favor of droplet dogma and against aerosol transmission (hence against masking). By 2023, the administrators and epidemiologists are split, with the epidemiologists following the science. (There’s plenty of evidence that masking substantially reduces aerosol-borne HAI, including Covid; see here, here, and here). From Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, “Hospital approaches to universal masking after public health ‘unmasking’ guidance“:
And from an epidemiologists’ trade association, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology:
And Jackson specficiallly trashes, as she ought to have done, the “fool’s gold” Cochrane study:
This makes me happy. I take back everything bad I ever sad about hospital infection control departments; as it turns out, the vile and hegemonic Dr. John M. Conly — corresponding author of the Cochrane study — was an inappropriate proxy or synecdoche for the field.
To conclude, or at least to end, for patients the key point is that masking requirements will vary not merely by state but by hospital. If you are lucky, good health in Happyville. Unlucky, a death trap in Pain City. Such is our health system, the finest in the world!
That said, I am not clear at all where the health care system, taken as a whole, stands on masking in hospitals, or how much masking is still taking place. It is clear that at the Federal level, CDC — cognitively captured, no doubt, by anti-mask elites — would like to do away with masking entirely. It is also clear that many states, though not all, are following CDC’s lead. No doubt our complaisant, superspreading press — who are building the depressing anti-mask narrative I read, after all — follows CDC as well (see under Gridiron club). However, mask policy is ultimately a hospital’s decision. The survey I quoted reported that 97.1% of hospital epidemiologists surveyed[1] reported that their hospital had retained universal masking, so the machinations of the CDC and the states were for nought. If this is true, that means that hospital administrators listened to their epidemiologists[2]. And presumably the hospital owners or boards listened to the administrators. But I’m not sure whether to believe that study or not, not least because at this point I’m very suspicious of good news. And the Twitter say that things are a lot worse than that survey says.
All I can do is throw the matter open to readers. Readers, are hospitals requiring universal masking in your area? NOTES [1] The methodology: “From participants in an informal e-mail–based list serve, we invited one representative from each US-based, nonfederal, acute-care hospital or health system.” “Informal” seems a little weak. [2] And their lawyers? From Harvard Law: “Science, law, and the principle of “do not harm” all concur about the path to keeping patients safe from disease and hospitals safe from liability: at a minimum, continue requiring masks amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, hospitals are proceeding at their own risk — and that of their patients.” |
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What Happened in Hospitals During Covid?By Stella Paul
Hospitals should be places you can trust to provide comfort and healing when you’re most vulnerable. But that trust may have been shattered by brutal Covid protocols that critics claim turned many hospitals into hellscapes of systematic medical murder.
The victims’ stories have been muffled by the mainstream media, but they’re starting to break through. For one thing, lawsuits against three hospitals have been filed in California by 14 bereaved families who claim their loved ones were killed by a deadly protocol. Meanwhile, activist organizations like Protocol Kills, the FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation, and American Frontline Nurses are collecting and documenting stories from bereaved families about what happened to their loved ones when they entered a hospital hoping for healing and, instead, were led to bizarre and tortured deaths.
I find it heartbreaking to read their stories, which share a haunting similarity, a feeling of being trapped in a highly organized nightmare. The ritual progresses in predictable stages: first, the patient is isolated from family, who are unable to advocate for their loved one or monitor what’s happening. Next, the patient is diagnosed with Covid-19 or Covid pneumonia, even if they came to the hospital because of a broken arm. Then, they’re bullied into getting remdesivir, a highly toxic drug which killed 53 percent of Ebola patients who had the misfortune to take it. Next, according to the California lawsuit, “They are placed on a BiPap machine at a high rate, making it difficult for them to breathe. Their hands are often tied down so they can’t take the BiPap machine off their face.”
I know this is getting unbearably painful to read, but stay with me to the bitter end to memorialize the victims’ suffering. As the patients writhe in agony, psychiatrists are brought in to diagnose them with agitation and sedate them. Now, shot up with remdesivir, sedated with drugs that make it tough to breathe against the BiPap ventilator, and strapped down in restraints, the victims are denied food and sometimes even water. Should they try to summon help, they may find the hospital played a vicious trick on them, placing their phone and call button for the nurse out of reach. In the final stages, they are intubated and slowly die alone, left to rot into a skeletal corpse with bed sores. Is this America?
It’s almost impossible to comprehend the magnitude of this moral collapse. How did doctors and nurses who spent years studying so they could help people all of a sudden turn into ruthless sadists, presiding over enforced deaths? How did hospitals metastasize from places of healing into chambers of horror? According to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), the answer is quite simple: money. The federal government incentivized this protocol with massive payouts to the hospitals. AAPS writes, “Our formerly trusted medical community of hospitals and hospital-employed medical staff have effectively become “bounty hunters” for your life.”
AAPS explains that two Covid emergency acts from the government created this catastrophic loss of life. The CARES Act, a $2 trillion stimulus package, was passed in 2020, purportedly to ease the financial impact of Covid on American families. It provided gigantic bonuses to hospitals to institute federal protocols on Covid, ensuring that Covid would be massively diagnosed and treated with deadly combinations of remdesivir, ventilators, and other lethal methods.
Now that this top-down death protocol was bought and paid for, the government made sure that patients and their families were helpless to fight against it. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted waivers to hospitals allowing them to remove critical patient rights. Your ability to give informed consent, receive visitors, and be free from solitary confinement – gone! Vanished, obliterated with a single magical government “waiver.”
These actions destroyed the ability of doctors to make independent judgements based on their patients’ needs and turned highly trained medical staff into killer robots obeying the federal government’s commands. If you want to understand the enormity of the government money gusher, here’s AAPS on what the hospital payments included:
Hundreds of thousands of Americans may have died due to these protocols, and we urgently need an investigation into this butchery. Who designed this protocol, which forbade safe drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and incentivized known toxins like remdesivir? Who enforced it? Were hospital administrators personally rewarded for their participation in this scheme? Were patients illegally deprived of their constitutional rights and defrauded with phony medical information? Why were patients denied nutrition and water? How was hospital staff forced to comply? Where’s the money trail? Who signed off on it?
Understanding what happened in the hospitals is a crucial piece of solving the Covid puzzle. A vast ecosystem of confusion, manipulation, and artificially induced panic was created by the government and their media lackeys to stampede the public into welcoming soul-crushing lockdowns and dangerous experimental injections. Hospitals were shut down for elective surgeries, depriving them of their usual income and making them more desperate for government payouts. Covid patients were forced into nursing homes, immediately killing thousands of frail victims and terrifying the public with the skyrocketing death count. Safe, widely used drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were demonized, and studies were fabricated to lie about their effectiveness. Doctors and scientists who tried to speak the truth were fired, investigated, and censored. Why?
We’re living through a time of historic crimes against humanity, rife with atrocities that once would have been unimaginable in America. We don’t yet know how many innocent people were killed in the hospitals during Covid, but whatever that number is — some experts estimate hundreds of thousands — it’s too many. Every one of those innocent dead was someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, friend.
For all the faceless dead, let’s pause for a moment to pay tribute to Grace Schara, a sweet 19-year-old girl with Down Syndrome who died on October 13, 2021, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, Wisconsin. Grace was injected with a lethal mix of sedatives and as she sank into death, her sister was prevented from seeing her by an armed guard. Her parents begged over Facetime for the nurse to save her, but they were told that Grace was coded DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), although they had ordered the hospital to take all life-saving measures. Alone, uncomprehending, and in pain, Grace slowly died as her parents watched on Facetime. Her father, Scott Schara, is now suing the hospital to “pave the way for thousands of other victims’ families to file similar claims.” Grace was loved. May her memory be a blessing and an inspiration. Stella can be reached through twitter @StellaPaulNY |
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Post-Pandemic Burnout: 20% Of Nurses May Quit In Next Four Years, Says Surveyby Tyler Durden, 20April2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/post-pandemic-burnout-20-nurses-may-quit-next-four-years-says-survey The total American nursing workforce has fallen 3.3% over the past two years, but experts expect the trend is about to rapidly accelerate — to the point that one in five nurses could call it quits by 2027.
“High workloads and unprecedented levels of burnout during the COVID‑19 pandemic have stressed the U.S. nursing workforce, particularly younger, less experienced RNs,” write the authors of a survey-study published on Thursday in the Journal of Nursing Regulation. We pause to ask…was any of that burnout due to practicing choreographed dance routines for TikTok?
 Guy’s Politico Channel-tweet-29November2022-Nurses, with nothing else to do “during COVID”, performing exquisitely choreographed dance routines for their TikTok fan base. They’d like it if you forgot this
More than 100,000 left nursing during the pandemic, and researchers say another 800,000 could bail in the next few years. The paper was the focus of a panel discussion at the National Press Club hosted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), reports MedPage Today.
Such an exodus would have powerful ripple effects throughout healthcare, said Brendan Martin, NCSBN’s director of nursing regulation. The survey included more than 54,000 respondents, with 92.5% of them being women. Key findings:
In an ominous sign for what’s to come, quitting nurses skew young: 41% of the post-pandemic flameouts had an average age of 36 and fewer than 10 years on the job. Age and workload are key factors, say the study’s authors:
 At the height of the pandemic, this Russian nurse opted to wear just a bra and panties under see-through PPE. Despite patients having “no complaints,” she was disciplined. At the height of the pandemic, this Russian nurse opted to wear just a bra and panties under see-through PPE. Despite patients having “no complaints,” she was disciplined.(New York Post) ThePatriotNurse: You BETTER Know This The New Healthcare Nightmare
ThePatriotNurse:What you BETTER KNOW Before Going to the Hospital |
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Never Forget What They Did… Never!by Tyler Durden, 09May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/never-forget-what-they-did-never Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via DailyReckoning.com, These are the days of grasping for excuses. In sector after sector, leaders who gave us lockdowns and all that followed are trying to account for their actions, not apologizing of course but admitting that, in the classic formulation, mistakes were made.
That said, they all agree on the core point. The government had to take big steps to deal with the pandemic. A book just released from the original lockdown gangsters (about which I will write more later), a book celebrated by the Washington Post as the authoritative account, puts it this way:
Excusable is the new watchword, and Anthony Fauci has picked it up. In a recent interview, he admits that many things went wrong but adds: “I don’t think anybody would argue with the fact that you had to shut down.” Freezer Trucks as Propaganda ToolsThen he adds what he clearly considers the key talking point. We know because he has said this is in several interviews. He says that the obvious disaster of freezer trucks at hospitals signaled and proved the desperate need for lockdowns.
Notice too how CNN had a terrifying graphic ready to run alongside his comments. This still is particularly evocative with the Statue of Liberty in the background, not that anyone would suggest that this was staged (he said with a nudge).  Freezer Trucks as covid-19 Propaganda Tools
These images from Getty are not even from March or April 2020. The Daily Mail ran them alongside an article posted on May 6, noting that the images were from May 6 and 7, 2020.
So the excuse that we had to lock down because of freezer trucks does not hold water. The lockdown edict was issued on March 16, 2020, following the declaration of emergency on March 13, three days after Trump’s advisers convinced him to issue the lockdown.
In that time, the funeral parlors and morgues closed too, as did most all medical services. The country was also in panic, which is not generally good for public health. Was It Necessarily COVID That Was Killing People?That there was a wave of death in those two weeks is clear. What’s not clear is whether that was Covid alone. After all, the virus had been circulating in the US for a while. The period of 15 days was also the time when intubation was deployed as the best method to deal with a seemingly problematic Covid case, resulting in many unnecessary deaths.
What’s crucial here is the timing. Two weeks following the lockdowns, the news media began running alarmist stories of the legendary freezer trucks at hospitals, giving the impression of a movie-like pandemic sweeping the country, whereas the problem was centered in only a few locations. These stories ran for a full month throughout April and into May.
On March 29, 2020, the New York Times quoted Trump himself: “I have been watching them bringing in trailer trucks, freezer trucks because they can’t handle the bodies. There are so many of them. This is in essentially my community in Queens, New York. I have seen things that I have never seen before.”
Not much of this makes sense. In this very period, New York City hospitals saw an overall 50% drop in admissions, which is what happens when you close down all services to spare all resources for one virus. If you add to that a shutdown of the entire industry of funerals, funeral homes, morgues, and cemetery services, one can imagine that a crisis would ensue. No Wonder Why the Bodies Piled upEven the normal embalming protocols were disrupted on the advice of the WHO and CDC. The bodies of the dead were treated as icky and untouchable and this attitude was encouraged by authorities. Workers were terrified.
It’s hardly surprising that bodies piled up and needed to be stored. The whole population and especially the health community was told that the whole of life should be organized around running away from the bad bug.
These events unfolded two weeks following essentially the same events in Italy. Morgues closed. The normal process of dealing with the dead was dramatically interrupted. Workers were at home. Funerals were banned and this ban was heavily enforced. Medical personnel were especially terrified of the death.
All of the factors led to a pile-up of bodies in the midst of a panic. The chaos caused by the panic itself was deployed by the media, and used as an excuse by government, to intensify and prolong the lockdowns.
This is like shouting fire in a crowded theater and citing the ensuing panic as the reason for an evacuation order. The fomenting of panic itself created the conditions for the panic managers to enhance their own power.
In this case, however, the ploy is pretty obvious simply because of the timing. The freezer-truck excuse frankly does not fit the timeline. More Fauci DoubletalkOr we can give Fauci the most charitable interpretation of his comments and say that he cited the freezer trucks as evidence that they did the right thing in locking down two weeks (or one month) earlier.
Even then, if that is his thinking, that doesn’t justify the initial lockdown at all. It only cites the evidence of the failed policy as the reason for the policy itself.
In addition, the problem was localized whereas the shutdown was countrywide. This led to a bizarre situation in which hospitals all over the country were empty of the usual stream of patients.
People missed diagnostics. They missed elective surgeries. At least 300 hospitals furloughed nurses because they had nothing to do except practice dance routines and put the results on TikTok. All of this transpired at a time when Fauci and Trump were going on about mass waves of death.
Indeed, in this exact period, healthcare spending actually declined by 8.6%. On the urging of intellectuals and officials from February, hospitals all over the country closed their services at the very time when they were likely needed most. Never ForgetGone was any serious discussion about how to treat Covid other than to invoke ventilation and Remdesivir (which was a disaster). Early treatment was dogmatically rejected as nothing but a quack cure. How many people needlessly died because they were denied effective early treatment? We may never know, but I believe the number is probably staggering.
All efforts, even from the earliest days, were focused on the vaccine as the only way to get out of the pandemic.
Regardless of the excuse, the public-relations team that defends the lockdowns never mention Sweden because this case demonstrates that panicked rights violations are generally not a good path for boosting public health in the case of a new virus that newly appears in the awareness of powerful people.
To this day, no one can give a clear official reason how or why this happened or what was achieved by it all relative to the cost. Even so, they will not admit that their entire lockdown paradigm was wrong from the very beginning. They should but they will not.
It wasn’t just implemented poorly and inefficiently. It never should have happened at all. And it should never happen again. Never forget what they did. Never. |
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Never Forget: A Retrospective On The Media Lies Surrounding COVIDby Tyler Durden, 14May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/never-forget-retrospective-media-lies-surrounding-covid Lest we get too comfortable once again and forget that only a couple years ago the western world was on the verge of perpetual medical tyranny, it is important to look back at the massive media disinformation campaign concerning the effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) of the pandemic mandates and the mRNA vaccines. Only two years ago, the public was bombarded by possibly the most aggressive global propaganda attack in modern history. And, this campaign was a conjoined effort between national governments, global institutions and corporations.
Keep in mind, all the hysteria was generated over a virus with a median official Infection Fatality Rate of only 0.23%. That’s right, all the fear mongering featured in the video below was in reaction to a “pandemic” that 99.8% of the population would easily survive, and this death rate was known only months after the spread started. Also keep in mind that essentially every single claim made by the media concerning covid featured below ended up being false. In many cases, the media knew that scientific evidence ran contrary to their narrative, but they promoted that narrative anyway. Enjoy this flashback of corporate media covid fear mongering, and never forget…
 Tom Elliott-tweet-12May2023-Covid Retrospective Series, Vol. 1 Media: The Unvaccinated Are Scum |
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NEVER FORGET: Democrats wanted the unvaccinated fired from their jobs, thrown in prison for rejecting covid jabs17May2023 by: Ethan Huff https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-05-17-democrats-wanted-unvaccinated-fired-prison-never-forget.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author  Democrats wanted the unvaccinated fired from their jobs, thrown in prison for rejecting covid jabs (Natural News) The era of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) is finally over, except for a few deranged diehards who are still choosing to wear a mask while driving alone or walking solitary through the local park. What is not over, though, are the repercussions that the covid tyrants inflicted upon society, which need to be remembered, and more importantly dealt with, through the criminal justice system.
Just because the Biden regime and other globalist power structures have suddenly decided that the covid “emergency” has ended – which is convenient since the whole thing fell apart before they could salvage the narrative – does not mean that these criminals get to walk away scot-free.
Untold millions of lives were destroyed because of this ritualistic psy-op, which included the experimental mass-drugging of the global population with a deadly chemical concoction known as covid “vaccines.” There was, in fact, a time when the perpetrators were calling for those who rejected this drugging to be jailed, or even killed, for resisting the effort to “save lives.”
Remember in early 2022 when a Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Democrats thought the unvaccinated should be locked up at home and fined until they agreed to get jabbed? Most Democrats also wanted the unvaccinated to be imprisoned, if necessary, to force their compliance.
One in three Democrats also said at the time that they believe unvaccinated parents should have their children forcibly removed from their homes by the government, while others promoted the idea of throwing vaccine resisters into government-run quarantine camps, also known as concentration camps.
(Related: Don’t forget that the Biden regime also intentionally disrupted the supply chains in an effort to punish unvaccinated Americans for their non-compliance with its demands.) Remember when The View hosts called unvaccinated Americans “scum?”Sadly, about one in four Republicans also told Rasmussen that unvaccinated Americans should be fined, locked up at home, or sent to a concentration camp until they agreed to obey, which makes many of them criminals just like the Democrats.
The idea of health freedom and medical choice is apparently lost on a sizeable portion of the population, which somehow still believes that government “authorities” have the rightful power to rule over their “subjects” like tyrants. The United States Constitution permits no such thing, and it is time We the People remind the others of this whenever we get the chance.
As another reminder of what the left, which apparently includes some Republicans, thought about the unvaccinated, check out the clip below from The View, in which the unvaccinated are referred to as “scum:” The below mashup of clips shows many other leftists referring to the unvaccinated in much the same way:
Tom Elliott-tweet-12May2023-Covid Retrospective Series, Vol. 1 Media: The Unvaccinated Are Scum
It should also be noted that Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) throughout the covid scamdemic saga, is an anti-science loon who claims that natural immunity does not exist, among other bizarre claims:
 Chief Nerd-tweet-12May2023-Dr Marty Makary Roasts CDC Dir Rochelle Walensky
In response to Walensky’s false claims about natural immunity, one commenter had this to say, which sums it up nicely:
“‘Science’ is man-made. ‘Natural immunity’ is God-made. I choose God.”
The latest news about what comes next for the covid criminals who committed flagrant acts of medical violence while unleashing medical fascism on the world under the guise of promoting “public health” can be found at Plague.info.
Sources for this article include: |
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STUDY: Short-term face mask use causes carbon dioxide poisoning – cognitive impairment, testicular damage, stillbirth and impaired memory28April2023 by: Lance D Johnson This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author  Covid-19 Facemask child
(Natural News) Studies continue to show that face masks provided no protection against covid-19. Now, a new peer-reviewed study out of Germany finds that short-term face mask use causes carbon dioxide poisoning, leading to testicular dysfunction in young men, increased risk of stillbirth for pregnant women, cognitive decline in children, as well as impaired memory, anxiety, and other serious health problems. Masks force a person to inhale unsafe levels of CO2, synthetic microfibers, carcinogenic compounds, volatile organic compounds, and microorganisms that have adapted to the moist environment inside the mask. The researchers warn that face masks suffocate people in their own exhaled waste, increasing CO2 levels in their blood while driving up blood pressure and inflammatory markers.
The study, Possible toxicity of chronic carbon dioxide exposure associated with face mask use, particularly in pregnant women, children, and adolescents was published in the peer reviewed journal, Helion. Face masks spike CO2 blood levels, destroying childhood brain development, depleting men’s spermFresh air typically contains just .04% CO2. When a person puts on a mask, they are exposed to low level carbon dioxide poisoning in the range of 1.4–3.2%. In the study, CO2 concentrations as low as .3% were associated with significant brain damage, impaired memory, and increased anxiety in children. The study found that just five minutes of mask wearing can expose an individual to dangerous CO2 levels – laying the groundwork for serious health issues and developmental disorders in children.
In one study, 0.3% CO2 exposure on adolescent brain neurons “can cause destruction in the gyrus dentatus and the prefrontal cortex with decreased IGF-1 levels resulting in less activity, increased anxiety and impaired learning and memory.”
The concentration of CO2 in the blood has an important influence on intra- and extracellular pH. When CO2 passes quickly through the cell membranes, it goes on to form carbonic acid with H2O, causing the release of H + ions, leading to acidosis and the die-off of neurons.
When male mice are exposed to 2.5% CO2 for four hours, their testicular cells and sperm are destroyed. For humans, this exposure is equal to .5% CO2 — a common exposure during mask mandates. In the study, four hours of low-level CO2 exposure causes spermatid and Sertoli cells in testes to self-destruct, causing streaking & vacuolization of the tubular components and consequentially no maturation of the spermatids. CO2 poisoning of pregnant women causes birth defects, higher risk of stillbirthCarbon dioxide exposure can cause oxidative stress and the formation of lipid hydroperoxides that cause DNA fragmentation and subsequent mitochondrial damage and cell death. Pregnant rats exposed to 3% CO2 were more likely to suffer stillbirths and have offspring with birth defects. This is equal to 0.8 percent CO2 exposure for humans – a common exposure for pregnant women who worked under mask mandates.
Before widespread mask use, the stillbirth rate in humans was 7 per 1000 births. During the masking pandemonium, stillbirths increased to 21 per 1,000 births. A prominent UK hospital reported a fourfold increase in stillbirths during the covid-19 scandal, and carbon dioxide poisoning was a major contributing factor. The damage was also observed in Australia, where people were forced to wear masks for years. These increase in stillbirths was not observed in Sweden, where there were no mask mandates.
“Circumstantial evidence exists that popular mask use may be related to current observations of a significant rise of 28 percent to 33 percent in stillbirths worldwide,” the German researchers concluded.
Forceful and coercive face mask policies continue to violate the sovereign rights and health of the individual, weakening their immune system and setting up their oxygen-deprived cells for oxidative damage, inflammation, and severe disease. Pregnant women and their fetuses were directly harmed by policies of forced CO2 poisoning. Forced masking of children caused negative psychological effects and additional physiological damage to their brains, their immune system, and their development. Sources include: BMCPublicHealth.BioMedCentral.com Cell.com [PDF] |
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Infectious Disease Experts Advise Health Care Facilities to Drop Universal Mask PoliciesDoctors discuss the downside of continued masking, including the impact on the quality of careFEATURED Health News
In another sign of changing attitudes to pandemic policy, infectious disease specialists writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine this month argued against the continuation of universal masking policies for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.
In the article, the eight authors, who are infectious disease specialists associated with Harvard and Washington University medical schools among others, offer a timeline of the evolving responses to the pandemic. The timeline leaves out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) initially confusing advice on masking but acknowledges that factors like the development of immunity, the evolution of the virus, and development of pharmaceutical “countermeasures” have fundamentally reshaped the landscape of the pandemic. ![© 2023 American College of Physicians. Used with Permission. Erica S. Shenoy, Hilary M. Babcock, Karen B. Brust, et al. Universal Masking in Health Care Settings: A Pandemic Strategy Whose Time Has Come and Gone, For Now. Ann Intern Med. [Epub 18 April 2023]](http://www.jerusalemcats.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Universal-Masking-in-Health-Care-Settings.jpeg) © 2023 American College of Physicians. Used with Permission. Erica S. Shenoy, Hilary M. Babcock, Karen B. Brust, et al. Universal Masking in Health Care Settings: A Pandemic Strategy Whose Time Has Come and Gone, For Now. Ann Intern Med. [Epub 18 April 2023]
They conclude that “SARS-CoV-2 has transitioned to a more stable phase, during which the choice and intensity of mitigation efforts must be commensurate with the risk and align with management strategies” for other endemic, transmissible diseases.
“Recognizing these changes,” the authors state, “many pandemic interventions have been deimplemented,” but, “Masking requirements and other restrictions remain notable exceptions.”
Some in the medical field, such as Dr. Kalu Ibukunoluwa and co-authors writing in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology in January, argue for making universal masking requirements in health care settings permanent, stating that such “universal source control masking … should become the ‘new normal’ for all healthcare institutions.”
However, Dr. Erica Shenoy, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, lead author of the study and her co-authors disagree.
While acknowledging that masking may “marginally reduce the risk of transmission” between health care workers and patients (and vice versa), the authors argue that this potential benefit is outweighed by the barriers to communication masking brings to interactions with patients.
According to the specialists, “masking impedes communication, a barrier that is distributed unequally across patient populations,” such as those for whom English is not their first language as well as those who are hard of hearing due to age or other causes.
“The increase in listening effort required when masks are used in clinical encounters is associated with increased cognitive load for patients and clinicians,” the authors contend, citing several studies to support their argument. “Masks obscure facial expression; contribute to feelings of isolation; and negatively impact human connection, trust, and perception of empathy.”
The authors go on to question other pandemic-era strategies, including asymptomatic testing and resource-intensive contact tracing, “which similarly have experienced a shift in their risk-benefit balance over the course of the pandemic.”
A controversial meta-analysis from the highly regarded research institution, The Cochrane Library, published in March found “no clear difference” between masked and unmasked health care workers in preventing transmission of the flu, nor any clear difference in results using N95 masks versus other masks.
According to Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopathic medical doctor who founded the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center in Ohio, “Masks didn’t protect people from getting sick during the pandemic and they certainly should not be used now. More than 150 comparative studies and articles have been published that show mask ineffectiveness and document how masks harm the health of persons who wear them.”
She went on to tell The Epoch Times in an email that “masking policies for everyone, including health care professionals, should be eliminated because they are not an ‘effective infection prevention strategy.’”
“They don’t prevent infection or transmission,” she said. “They are a belief system, and beliefs are difficult to change. If a person chooses to wear a mask for ‘political correctness’ or as a sign of ‘social signaling,’ it is even more difficult for them to stop. They will cling to the lie that masks are of value, even when they are shown a mountain of evidence to the contrary.”
The CDC continues to cite mask wearing along with other measures such as social distancing and school closures as contributing to the dramatic drop in influenza rates during the pandemic. |
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DIRTY SHOTS: Researchers raise concerns about high levels of bacterial DNA found in mRNA COVID vaccines09May2023 by: Laura Harris This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author  Coronavirus or sars-cov-2 virus cell with messenger RNA or mRNA and syringe on blue background 3D rendering illustration with copy space. Vaccination or vaccine, immunity, pandemic, science, medicine, medical technology concept. (Natural News) Researchers have raised concerns about the “alarmingly high” concentrations of bacterial DNA in the mRNA Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
Dr. Kevin McKernan, a leading expert in sequencing methods for DNA and RNA, first shined a light on this issue. Canadian physician and medical researcher Dr. Mark Trozzi expounded on McKernan’s findings in an interview with the New American.
He told the magazine’s senior editor Veronika Kyrylenko that any traces of bacterial plasmids, including that from the Escherichia coli bacteria, should have been filtered out in the final batches of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. However, Trozzi pointed out that this filtration wasn’t done.
He emphasized that the contamination risks integrating bacterial plasmid DNA into E. coli bacteria entering the intestinal microbiome. This could result in ongoing spike protein production, triggering autoimmune reactions in the vaccinated and raising concerns about the potential shedding of the spike protein when breathing.
The highly persistent bacterial plasmids may explain why vaccinated individuals produce the spike protein for prolonged periods. The spike protein has been demonstrated to be a potent toxin associated with various conditions, including chronic inflammation, autoimmune-like responses and blood clotting. Additionally, the integration of bacterial DNA with human chromosomes can alter genetic information and potentially lead to malignant diseases.
“We’re at the crime scene and there’s hope for accountability,” Trozzi told Kyrylenko during his interview.
Spike protein reprograms immune system in a strange wayThe SARS-CoV-2 spike protein – particularly the one in Pfizer’s BNT162b2 vaccine – reprograms adaptive and innate immune responses as it penetrates the blood-brain barrier and cell nucleus, according to the Daily Expose. The spike protein even affects DNA replication, added the outlet.
“The worst part of this is that COVID-19 infection usually goes away in a week,” the Expose wrote. “But spike production in [the vaccinated] continues for 60 days, exposing [them] to much more spike protein damage.”
Moreover, new evidence suggests that the immune system response of vaccinated individuals may not be as broad and effective as previously thought.
Surveillance data from the U.K. Health Security Agency indicates that individuals vaccinated and subsequently infected with COVID-19 have lower levels of N antibodies produced against the virus’s nucleocapsid protein. This lack of N antibodies may leave vaccinated individuals vulnerable to any mutations of the COVID-19 virus that occur in the future.
In contrast, unvaccinated individuals contracting COVID-19 and recovering from it can produce both S and N antibodies, which may provide better immunity to mutations.
America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) issued two warnings about the COVID-19 shot.
“First, these vaccines’ mis-train the immune system to recognize only a small part of the virus [the spike protein]. Variants that differ, even slightly, in this protein can escape the narrow spectrum of antibodies created by the vaccines,” AFLDS noted. “Second, the vaccines create ‘vaccine addicts,’ meaning persons become dependent upon regular booster shots because they have been ‘vaccinated’ only against a tiny portion of a mutating virus.”
Visit BadMedicine.news for more stories about the “dirty” COVID-19 vaccines. Watch the Health Ranger Mike Adams and Dr. Peter McCullough explain how the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine bioweapons turn the body into a walking spike protein factory. The #Mrna ‘Vaccine’ Is A Bioweapon! It Literally Turns Your Body Into A Spike Protein Production Factory.The Spike Protein Is A Neurotoxin.It Binds To Ace2 Receptors, Crosses The Bbb Critical ThinThis video is from the Perfect Society channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories:New study: mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can cause brain diseases. Large Nordic study finds that mRNA covid “vaccines” increase risk of myocarditis. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny: mRNA COVID vaccines increase hospitalization and death rates – Brighteon.TV. Cancer “hijacks” your cells and turns your body against itself, just like mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. Sources include: |
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People are losing their teeth and dentists say the cause could be covid “vaccines”26April2023 by: Ethan Huff This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) Ever since Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccines” were unleashed through Operation Warp Speed, there has been a sharp uptick in the number of patients suffering from mysterious and severe symptoms associated with their teeth and bones.
Dr. Amy Hartsfield, an Alabama-based orofacial pain and dental sleep medicine specialist, says she has seen a massive increase in patients as of late who say their otherwise healthy teeth and jaw bones are hurting and even deteriorating for no apparent reason.
“I’ve seen patients with no previous history of health issues [who] have perfectly healthy teeth and now have pain syndromes associated with these healthy teeth,” Hartsfield told the independent media.
Many of Hartsfield’s patients are suffering with head and facial neurovascular and myofascial pain that includes headaches, toothaches unrelated to the actual tooth or teeth, osteonecrosis of the jaw, sleeping problems, tinnitus, and oral and facial autoimmune conditions. Such conditions are linked to the propensity of Fauci Flu shots to cause “micro” blood clots throughout the body, Hartsfield explained. (Related: Covid vaccines are also linked to baldness.) Covid jabs are causing a lot of destruction to people’s bodies, eventually leading to early deathOne such person who started suffering severe bone loss after getting injected with Moderna’s mRNA injection is 79-year-old Cheryl Alverson, who had to have all of her lower teeth extracted due to a massive recurring infection caused by extensive, post-injection bone loss.
Alverson went to see Hartsfield, who ordered multiple blood tests, including several specifically associated with blood clotting. They showed that Alverson’s body had become overloaded with microclots from the shots.
Hartsfield discovered that these microclots directly interfere with bone healing following extractions, not to mention the fact that they typically only occur in patients who are taking osteoporosis medication or who underwent radiation therapy, neither of which applied in Alverson’s case.
The only thing Alverson did prior to developing these symptoms was take the Moderna mRNA series of injections for covid, as well as a follow-up booster shot. And almost immediately afterwards, her bone and teeth problems began.
Dr. Doug Denson, another Alabama-based oral surgeon, says he is seeing much the same thing with his patients, many of whom he is now referring to Hartsfield for treatment. Denson says he is not 100 percent sure covid jabs are the cause behind his patients’ troubles, though there does seem to be a connection.
“In my opinion, correlation does not always equal causation … again, there have been some odd symptoms since the pandemic started,” he said. “It’s just impossible to tell the exact mechanism or cause.”
Hartsfield has had to start screening her patients for their vaccine status due to the onslaught of new patients she is seeing who are suffering from teeth and bone problems post-injection.
“I have to screen these people to see if they’ve been vaccinated, when and how many times, and then I see if I can treat them,” she said, adding that most practitioners do not screen for covid shots.
“When you ask the whole population to have a mandatory vaccine that has more side effects than any other vaccines in history showing in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, you will definitely see injuries.”
In the comments, someone emphasized the fact that so-called SARS-CoV-2 has still never been isolated or proven to exist. The disease is the “vaccine,” this person argued, adding that lockdowns, mask mandates, job losses, and social isolation only made matters worse.
“Another monumental scam, from the fake PCR test to wearing disgusting face diapers that lower your oxygen uptake and increase carbon dioxide inhalation from your own breath, which increases bacteria growth in the mouth.” Covid jabs are a death sentence. To learn more, visit ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: |
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Biden Administration Announces End to Federal COVID Vaccine MandatesRemember the COVID-19 Lie “Flattening the curve” Flattening the curve was a public health strategy to slow down the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The curve being flattened is the epidemic curve, a visual representation of the number of infected people needing health care over time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flattening_the_curve
15 Days Finally Ends After 1,141 Daysby Tyler Durden, 04May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/15-days-finally-ends-after-1141-days On Monday, the White House announced its Covid-19 vaccine requirements for federal employees, federal contractors, and international air travelers will expire on May 11, coinciding with the end of the Covid public health emergency. The 15 Days to Flatten the Curve that began on March 16, 2020, stretched to 1,141 days.
 Nautical sundial compass with a zodiac sign celestial globe In some ways, the repeal is a victory against the irrational tyranny behind the vaccine mandates that have been part of the entire lockdown paradigm. Americans no longer have to choose between taking an experimental, ineffective medical product and keeping their job. We no longer have to endure the irrationality of enforcing vaccine mandates for air travelers but not for illegal immigrants at our southern border. We no longer have to listen to the tyrannical paternalism behind forcing people to receive a shot that they don’t want while insisting that it is saving their lives.
At the same time, however, it is far from a victory; we have returned to what should be the normal state, and we already witnessed the suffering that the mandates incurred. Millions of people were forced to choose between the truth of their convictions and earning a living. Others lost years of visiting loved ones in foreign countries. The people who implemented this Hell remain in power, and they appear unremorseful. The Biden Administration did not admit error in its policies; instead, it took great pride in its two years of forced jabs.
There is no solid evidence for any of those claims. And substantial policy questions remain. Since March 2020, Covid served as the basis for political initiatives far beyond the realm of public health. It was used as the justification for eviction moratoriums, travel restrictions, domestic-capacity restrictions, closures, mask mandates, and student debt relief. Considering the future requires an understanding of the Biden White House’s mandate regime. The History of the MandatesBeginning in July 2021, President Biden issued a series of Covid vaccine mandates. In September 2021, he announced, “Next, I will sign an executive order that will now require all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated — all. And I’ve signed another executive order that will require federal contractors to do the same. If you want to work with the federal government and do business with us, get vaccinated.” He then announced that the Department of Labor would require all employers with 100 or more workers to get vaccinated.
“We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” he scolded unvaccinated Americans. “Your refusal has cost all of us.”
The following month, Biden banned international air travelers from entering the United States without proof of receiving the Covid shots. Visitors remained able to enter the country testing positive for the virus so long as they had agreed to the President’s mandatory injection program.
But President Biden’s disappointment in his citizens did not convince the American public of the righteousness of his crusade. In the ensuing months, the shots’ lack of efficacy became readily apparent, and Americans were reluctant to get their “boosters.”
Biden did not relent, however. He publicly scolded Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for not getting the shots and insisted that there was a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” going into 2022.
In August 2022, the White House faced backlash when tennis superstar Novak Djokovic was unable to participate in the U.S. Open because of the ban on unvaccinated international air travelers. The strict enforcement did not apply to illegal immigrants crossing the southern border. A reporter asked the White House to explain this enforcement discrepancy later that month.
“How come migrants are allowed to come into this country unvaccinated but world-class tennis players are not?” asked Fox’s Peter Doocy.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to articulate an explanation. “So as far — you know, just to — just since you asked about me — about him — you asked me about him. So, visa records are confidential under U.S. law. Therefore, the U.S. government cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases. Due to privacy reasons, the U.S. government also does not comment on medical information of individual travelers,” she stammered as she avoided the question.
She then told Doocy that the issue comparison between illegals crossing the border and international air travelers was unfounded because “they’re two different things.”
Djokovic reentered headlines in March 2023 when he was unable to participate in a Florida tournament because of the ongoing travel ban. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called on Biden to lift the restriction. When asked about the ban stemming from the President’s ban, Ms. Jean-Pierre deflected blame to the CDC, telling the press, “They’re the ones who deal with that. [The ban’s] still in place, and we expect everyone to abide by our country’s rule, whether as a participant or a spectator.”
Djokovic was unable to play in the tournament, but momentum against the Biden regime’s edicts gained steam. Later that month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking President Biden’s mandate for federal employees to receive the Covid jabs.
In April, President Biden signed a law that ended the Covid national emergency in a bill introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar. The bill passed the House in a 229-197 vote and the Senate in a 68-23 vote. What happens nowA number of other pandemic-era policies will also end on May 11, including Title 42, which allows Border Patrol to immediately send illegal immigrants at the southern border back to Mexico. Texas Governor Greg Abbott expects up to 13,000 illegal immigrants to cross the US-Mexico border every day after the expiration.
This may exacerbate the ongoing crisis at the border. In the last 10 days alone, over 73,000 migrants have crossed the southern border as Title 42 comes closer to expiration. Border Patrol announced that in that time it stopped 19 sex offenders, six gang members, and a convicted murderer from entering the United States. Additionally, Border Patrol seized 19 pounds of heroin, 54 pounds of fentanyl, 1,052 pounds of meth, 676 pounds of cocaine, and 823 pounds of marijuana.
There are more issues at stake than immigration. The Supreme Court is considering whether the White House’s order to cancel student debt was constitutional. The Biden White House has defended its actions by claiming that the Heroes Act of 2003 allows the US Education Secretary to change federal student loan programs during national emergencies such as the Covid pandemic. Going forward, the White House will have to adopt new rationales for future executive actions related to student debt.
On the legal front, employment law firm Jackson Lewis reports that there are over 2,000 existing challenges to Covid 19 vaccine mandates in the courts right now, and over 35 percent involve public employers. Challenges to the federal mandates may now be moot, meaning courts will dismiss the cases because the mandates are no longer in effect. Plaintiffs will be able to return to work without adhering to the White House’s vaccine requirements, but there will also be no accountability for those in charge.
These days and for many months and years following, all the people involved in the pandemic response – not only government officials but media mouthpieces and Big Tech accomplices – will be rewriting history and hoping that everyone will forget the real history.
They are trying to avoid accountability and save whatever vestiges of despotism that they can, while hoping to institutionalize the powers that made all of this possible. They cannot be allowed to win this struggle for essential rights, liberties, and truth. |
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 CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta CDC Officials Make False Statements About Possible COVID-19 Vaccine Side EffectsBy Zachary Stieber April 26, 2023 Updated: April 26, 2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-officials-make-false-statements-about-possible-covid-19-vaccine-side-effects_5220039.html Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made multiple false statements this month regarding possible COVID-19 vaccine side effects, continuing a trend of mis- and disinformation from the public health agency.
Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a top CDC official, recently repeated the lie that the agency has never detected a safety signal for ischemic stroke for the old COVID-19 vaccines.
“No safety signals were detected for ischemic stroke for primary series or monovalent boosters for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in U.S. and global monitoring,” Shimabukuro told the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a CDC advisory panel, on April 19.
CDC researchers identified ischemic stroke as a safety signal for the original Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, according to files obtained by The Epoch Times. More recently obtained documents show that the CDC detected the signal as early as May 6, 2022.
The CDC acknowledged in official documents that any adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination that meet certain criteria constitute “a safety signal.”
Shimabukuro, who also made the false claim during a meeting in February, hasn’t responded to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.
A CDC spokesperson previously doubled down on the claim, saying Shimabukuro was correct. Ischemic stroke happens when the brain fails to get enough blood, according to the Mayo Clinic. It causes brain cells to die within minutes and often leads to death.
Another unnamed CDC official falsely told NBC that the agency hasn’t found data “suggesting a link between COVID-19 vaccines and tinnitus,” or ringing in the ears.
The CDC identified tinnitus as a safety signal in its analysis of possible signals in data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), according to the files obtained by The Epoch Times.
Bert Kelly, a CDC spokesman, told The Epoch Times in an email: “To date, we have no data to support tinnitus and its link to COVID-19 infection or vaccination.”
After becoming aware of reports made to the adverse event system of tinnitus after COVID-19 vaccination, the CDC analyzed data from a different surveillance system called the Vaccine Safety Datalink. CDC researchers didn’t identify any “clustering of tinnitus diagnoses” in the datalink system in the 70 days after COVID-19 vaccination, according to Kelly.
He didn’t make the data available. Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, noted that there have been more than 24,000 reports of tinnitus submitted to VAERS after COVID-19 vaccination.
“There is mounting evidence in the medical literature that tinnitus involves inflammation in the brain,” Fisher said, pointing to several studies. “CDC officials should be taking the tinnitus signal seriously and actively pursuing every available avenue of research to find out what is going on rather than doing everything they can to quickly dismiss the reported risk for developing chronic ringing in the ears after COVID shots.”
Tinnitus is listed as a potential side effect of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, and regulators in some countries list the condition as a potential adverse event following AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer haven’t been formally linked with tinnitus, although some research has found a statistically significant increase in tinnitus following COVID-19 vaccination, which researchers said “[suggests] an association between the COVID-19 vaccines” and tinnitus.
One sufferer recently told The Epoch Times that she has a dull ringing in her ears that started an hour after receiving a dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Another said she suffered hearing loss after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Another Official Gives False InformationThe CDC stated that it would analyze VAERS data through a data mining technique called Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR). The agency later falsely stated that the mining wasn’t in the agency’s purview before changing its tune and saying it had actually started running PRRs in February 2021.
Dr. John Su, head of the CDC’s VAERS team, provided the new dates in a statement to The Epoch Times. Su has since acknowledged that the date was incorrect. The CDC now says it actually didn’t start the PRRs until March 2022 and stopped before the year ended.
Newly obtained emails show that Su was told by a colleague that the CDC wasn’t running PRRs between February 2021 and September 2021 but still gave the false information.
“We were not running any PRRs during this time,” Paige Marquez, a CDC employee, told Su and others in a June 2, 2022, email. A month later, Su conveyed the false information to a CDC spokesperson, who relayed it to The Epoch Times. “We’ve been performing PRRs since [February] 2021 and continue to do [so] to date,” he claimed. Su didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. He also gave the false information in August 2022 to a colleague, Jeremy Goodman, before Marquez stepped in, the newly obtained messages show. “I stand corrected: we did not conduct PRR analysis during the specified period,” Su wrote in one email. The CDC has stated that none of its workers intentionally gave false information about PRRs. |
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Most Infected in COVID Outbreak at CDC Conference Were Vaccinated, Agency ConfirmsZachary Stieber
A COVID-19 outbreak unfolded at a conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) despite most attendees being vaccinated.
About 1,800 CDC staffers and others gathered in April in a hotel in Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered, for a conference focused on epidemiological investigations and strategies.
On April 27, the last day of the conference, several people notified organizers that they had tested positive for COVID-19. The CDC and the Georgia Department of Public Health worked together to survey attendees to try to figure out how many people had tested positive.
“The goals were to learn more about transmission that occurred and add to our understanding as we transition to the next phase of COVID-19 surveillance and response,” the CDC said in a May 26 statement.
Approximately 80 percent of attendees filled out the survey. Among those, 181 said they tested positive for COVID-19.
Pretty much all respondents—99.4 percent—had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The number of unvaccinated people who got sick, if any, was not disclosed. Officials also did not break down the vaccinated between those who had received a dose of the updated bivalent vaccines and those who had not. The CDC has not responded to requests for more information.
About 360 people did not respond to the survey, so the actual outbreak may have been larger.
Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said on Twitter that the numbers made the conference a “superspreader event.”
Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, added that the outbreak shows COVID-19 is “still capable of causing big outbreaks and infecting many.”
A Georgia Department of Public Health spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that many people who attended the conference were not residents of Georgia, and that many used tests at home. Bivalent ProtectionThe CDC said the survey results “underline the importance of vaccination for protecting individuals against severe illness and death related to COVID-19” because none of the people who said they tested positive reported going to a hospital.
No clinical trial efficacy data are available for the bivalent shots, even though they were first cleared nine months ago. They provide little protection against infection, according to observational data, though officials maintain they protect against severe illness. That protection is short-lived, according to studies, including non-peer-reviewed CDC publications.
The most recent publication, released on May 26, showed poor effectiveness against hospitalization from the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, which replaced the old vaccines earlier this year.
Among adults without “documented immunocompromising conditions,” the protection was 62 percent between seven and 59 days but went to 47 percent before plunging to just 24 percent after 120 days.
Among adults with “documented immunocompromising conditions,” the effectiveness peaked at just 41 percent, hitting 13 percent after 120 days.
Researchers did not provide the effectiveness estimates among all adults, or the combined population of those with and without “documented immunocompromising conditions.” They also did not provide the unadjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates, or estimates before adjusting for certain variables.
“Both the crude VE and adjusted VE should be reported so that big discrepancies are evident to the reader and questioned,” David Wiseman, founder and president of Synechion, told The Epoch Times via email.
Effective against critical illness—defined as admission to intensive care, or death—peaked at 85 among the people deemed immunocompetent, but plunged to 33 percent after 120 days. Among those described as immunocompromised, the effectiveness was not estimated above 53 percent.
Effectiveness was not measured beyond 180 days.
Effectiveness for children was not examined as part of the research.
CDC researchers looked at data from its VISION Network, a network of hospitals in the United States. Exclusions included people under 50 who received four or more old vaccine boosters.
Just 23.5 percent of the immunocompetent and 16.4 percent of the immunocompromised were vaccinated, while the rest had received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
About 8 percent of American adults are still unvaccinated, according to CDC data, though that percentage may be a big overestimate (pdf).
Researchers said the data showed that bivalent doses “helped provide protection against COVID-19-associated hospitalization and critical disease” adding that “waning of protection was evidence in some groups.” |
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The government’s sprawling effort to censor (true) information during the pandemic27April2023 by: News Editors https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-04-27-governments-effort-to-censor-information-during-pandemic.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) The Twitter Files exposed a lot of malfeasance, but one effort spearheaded by Stanford University and federal agencies was particularly Orwellian in both concept and practice. (Article by Jon Miltimore republished from Fee.org) In July 2022, Twitter permanently suspended Rhode Island physician Andrew Bostom after awarding the epidemiologist and longtime researcher at Brown University a fifth strike for spreading “misinformation.”
A July 26 tweet alleging that there was no solid evidence Covid-19 vaccines had prevented any children from being hospitalized—”only RCT data we have from children reveals ZERO hospitalizations prevented by vaccination vs. placebo”—was apparently the final straw.
The funny thing was, it appeared Bostom’s tweet was true. Dr. Anish Koka, a cardiologist and writer, said he was initially skeptical of Bostom’s claim. But after speaking with him for more than an hour, he realized Bostom was citing the government’s own data, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) briefing document that included randomized controlled trial (RCT) data on children.
“…Dr. Bostom’s tweet appears quite correct as per the FDA documents,” Koka wrote on Substack. “In the RCTs available, there does not appear to be evidence that the vaccine prevented hospitalizations.” ‘They Veered From CDC Guidance’Bostom’s permanent suspension was one of many anecdotes shared by journalist David Zweig in a December Twitter Files thread viewed by more than 64 million people, which exposed how the government worked with Twitter to try to “rig the Covid debate.”
It turns out this was not the only one of Bostom’s tweets that was true but was nevertheless flagged for “misinformation.” “A review of Twitter log files revealed that an internal audit, conducted after Bostom’s attorney contacted Twitter, found that only 1 of Bostom’s 5 violations were valid,” Zweig notes. “The one Bostom tweet found to still be in violation cited data that was legitimate but inconvenient to the public health establishment’s narrative about the risks of flu versus Covid in children.”
In other words, all five of Bostom’s tweets that had been flagged as “misinformation” were legitimate. At the very least, four-out-of-five were, and that’s according to Twitter’s own internal audit.
How this happened was partially explored by Zweig, who explained Twitter’s convoluted censorship process, which relied heavily on bots, contractors in foreign countries who lacked the expertise to make informed decisions, and Twitter brass who carried their own biases and incentives. This structure led to a predictable result.
“In my review of internal files,” writes Zweig, “I found countless instances of tweets labeled as ‘misleading’ or taken down entirely, sometimes triggering account suspensions, simply because they veered from CDC guidance or differed from establishment views.” The CDC had effectively become the arbiter of truth. This is alarming for at least two reasons. First, for anyone familiar with the government’s track record on truth, there’s reason to be skeptical of putting any government agency in charge of deciding what is true and false. Second, the CDC has been, to put it kindly, fallible throughout the pandemic. Indeed, the agency has been plagued with so much dysfunction and made so many crucial mistakes that its own director announced less than a year ago the organization needed an overhaul.
So there’s some reason to believe that Bostom and people like him—including epidemiologists like Dr. Martin Kuldorff (formerly of Harvard) and mRNA vaccine creator Dr. Robert Malone—were being suspended, banned, and de-amplified simply because Twitter was poorly situated to determine what was true and what was false. There’s reason to doubt this claim, however.
 David Zweig-tweet-26December2022-THE TWITTER FILES: HOW TWITTER RIGGED THE COVID DEBATE ‘Worrisome Jokes,’ ‘Natural Immunity,’ and Other ‘Potential Violations’Months after Zweig published his report on the Twitter Files, journalist Matt Taibbi published a separate deep dive exploring the Virality Project, an initiative launched by Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center.
The project, which Taibbi described as “a sweeping, cross-platform effort to monitor billions of social media posts by Stanford University, federal agencies, and a slew of (often state-funded) NGOs,” is noteworthy because officials made it clear that a goal was not just to flag false information, but information that was true but inconvenient to the government’s goals. Reports of “vaccinated individuals contracting Covid-19 anyway,” “worrisome jokes,” and “natural immunity” were all characterized as “potential violations,” as were conversations “interpreted to suggest that coronavirus might have leaked from a lab.”
In what Taibbi describes as “a pan-industry monitoring plan for Covid-related content,” the Virality Project began analyzing millions of posts each day from platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Medium, TikTok, and other social media sites, which were submitted through the JIRA ticketing system. On February 22, 2021, in a video no longer public, Stanford welcomed social media leaders to the group and offered instruction on how to join the JIRA system.
In contrast to Twitter’s previous internal guidance, which required narratives on Covid-19 to be “demonstrably false” before any censorship actions were taken, the Virality Project made it clear that information that was true was also fair game if it undermined the larger aims of the government and the Virality Project.
Specifically noted were “true stories that could fuel [vaccine] hesitancy,” personal testimonials about adverse side effects of vaccination, concerns over vaccine passports, and actual deaths of people following vaccination, such as Drene Keyes.
As NBC noted in 2021, Keyes, a 58-year-old black woman, died after receiving the Pfizer vaccine in February 2021. Described as an “elderly Black woman” by the Virality Project, Keyes’s death became a “disinformation” event after it garnered attention from “anti vax groups”—even though no one denied that she died within hours of taking the vaccine.
No autopsy was conducted on Keyes and there’s no way of knowing if the vaccine caused her death. But merely raising the possibility could have resulted in a ban. Officials at the Virality Project warned platforms that “just asking questions”—at least the wrong questions—was a tactic “commonly used by spreaders of misinformation.”
Ironically, Taibbi notes, the Virality Project itself was often “extravagantly wrong” about Covid science, describing breakthrough events as “extremely rare events” (a fact it later conceded was wrong) and implying that natural immunity did not offer protection from Covid.
“Even in its final report, [the Virality Project] claimed it was misinformation to suggest the vaccine does not prevent transmission, or that governments are planning to introduce vaccine passports,” Taibbi writes. “Both things turned out to be true.”
 Matt Taibbi-tweet-17March2023-TWITTER FILES #19-The Great Covid-19 Lie Machine
‘You Can’t Handle the Truth’It’s clear that the Virality Project’s primary purpose was not to protect Americans from misinformation. Its goal, as Taibbi notes, was to get the public to submit to authority and accept the state’s Covid narrative, particularly the pronouncements of public figures such as Drs. Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky.
The official policy can be summed up in the immortal words of Colonel Nathan Jessup, the villain portrayed by Jack Nicholson in Aaron Sorkin’s popular 1992 film A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth.”
It’s important to understand that public officials, just like Col. Jessup, genuinely believe this. Jessup utters these words in anger in a wonderful monologue, after he is baited by Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) into telling the court how he really feels. Similarly, the Twitter Files reveal a program designed to control information—even true information—because it serves the state’s plan.
The last word—plan—is important, because it calls to mind Ludwig von Mises’s warning about those seeking to plan society. “The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans,” Mises wrote. “He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute preeminence of his own plan.” ‘Sometimes They Are Five’Mises’ words apply perfectly to the Virality Project, a program designed specifically to get people to submit to the government’s narrative and objectives, not their own. The preeminence of the plan is so important that it requires censoring information and targeting individuals—as the Virality Project did—even if it’s true.
It’s difficult to overstate how Orwellian this is. In Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston Smith, the protagonist of the story, says, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four.”
Absent any context, the quote doesn’t make much sense. But it’s important to understand that Orwell saw statism and politics as forces destructive to the truth. His own brushes with state propaganda during the Spanish Civil War left him terrified that objective truth was “fading out of the world,” and he saw the state as inherently prone to obfuscation and euphemism (regardless of party).
“Political language,” he wrote, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
Within the context of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the meaning of Winston Smith’s words becomes crystal clear. Saying “two plus two makes four” might be an objective truth, but sometimes objective truth runs counter to Big Brother’s plan. Winston Smith is a slow learner, state agents tell him, because he can’t seem to grasp this simple reality.
Many people who lived through the Covid-19 pandemic likely can identify with the terror of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Orwell’s fear that objective truth is “fading out of the world.” We witnessed public officials say things that were demonstrably false and face no consequences, while Andrew Bostom and countless others were exiled from public discourse because they said things that were true, but ran counter to the state’s narrative.
Fortunately, in large part because of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, we now know how this happened. “Government, academia, and an oligopoly of would-be corporate competitors organized quickly behind a secret, unified effort to control political messaging,” Taibbi writes.
All of it was designed to control information. And in doing so, the state—which actually attempted to create a “Disinformation Governance Board,” which critics promptly dubbed a Ministry of Truth—created an environment hostile to free speech and truth.
Ironically, despite the egregious abuse delivered upon the truth over the last three years in the name of fighting “misinformation,” polls show roughly half of Americans believe social media companies should be censoring such material from their sites. Few seem to realize this will almost certainly involve those with influence and power—especially the government—deciding who and what are censored.
This is a recipe for disaster. History shows there’s no greater purveyor of falsehood and propaganda than the government itself. The Twitter Files are a reminder of that. Read more at: Fee.org |
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Oracle Drops UK-Based Disinfo Nannies After Conservative Blacklisting Cited In Lawsuitby Tyler Durden, 22April2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/oracle-drops-uk-based-disinfo-nannies-after-conservative-blacklisting-cited-lawsuit Gabe Kaminsky of the Washington Examiner is out with another report on the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a UK-based group which targets and blacklists conservative websites in order to drain them of revenue and support by working with “advertisers and the ad tech industry in assessing the reputational and brand risk when advertising with online media outlets and to help them avoid financially supporting disinformation online.”  Big Brother – Apple 1984 commercial
As Kaminsky reports, software giant Oracle announced on Wednesday that it will no longer collaborate with GDI, which has received just under $666,000 from the US State Department between 2020 and 2021. The news comes one day after GDI was cited in a lawsuit against the Biden administration which claims the government has colluded with big tech to censor free speech.
“All signs point to a growing government influence over social media,” reads the brief. “The Biden Administration admitted as early as 2021 that it was flagging and reporting posts on Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms as COVID-19-related ‘misinformation.’ A recent report found that the U.S. State Department sent $330 million [sic] to The Global Disinformation Index, a British organization that is attempting to discredit and blacklist many conservative news outlets for peddling ‘disinformation.'”
Kaminsky notes that the brief mistakenly attributes $330 million sent to the National Endowment for Democracy to the GDI, when in reality the NED has granted money to GDI out of the $330 million. Following the Examiner‘s reporting on the grants, the NED announced in late February that they were cutting off funding to GDI.
“Government should be freedom’s strongest defender, not its greatest threat,” said senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, Travis Barham, in a Wednesday statement. “Americans don’t look to the White House or Silicon Valley to discover and express the truth. That’s not the role of government, and it certainly isn’t the role of Big Tech.”
Oracle, meanwhile, told the Examiner that it would no longer maintain a relationship with GDI, which they had previously announced a 2021 collaboration with in order to engage in “brand safety.”
“After conducting a review, we agree with others in the advertising industry that the services we provide marketers must be in full support of free speech, which is why we are ending our relationship with GDI,” said Michael Egbert, vice president for corporate communications at Oracle.
Microsoft has similarly launched an internal investigation into its partnership with GDI after ad industry whistleblowers revealed how conservative sites were being blacklisted by the Microsoft-owned Xandr as “false/misleading” , “reprehensible/offensive” , or “hate speech.”
“This is outrageous,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog that plans to file an IRS complaint against both GDI groups, in a statement last week. |
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Farewell Questions For Rochelle Walenskyby Tyler Durden, 15May2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/farewell-questions-rochelle-walensky Authored by El Gato Malo via The Brownstone Institute, Given what we now know about the complete failure of covid vaccines to provide sterilizing immunity, stop infection, or stop spread as well as the fact that such issues were not even tested for in the drug trials that approved them, certain questions would seem to demand asking: Just what was this “Data from the CDC today” that suggested that “Vaccinated people do not carry the virus?”
 The Recount-tweet-30March2021-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensk Was there, in fact, any data at all? Or was this a completely fabricated claim used to underpin the mass rollout of a product that failed so spectacularly right out of the gates and:
There seem to be an awfully large body of claims made by CDC that appear to have lacked foundation in fact or data. Both Dr Walensky and her predecessor Robert Redfield would seem to have a great deal to answer for here.
This talking point was simply everywhere all at once.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla certainly pushed this narrative. Presumably, the fact that he was allowed to do so (itself quite an exceptional situation) implies the acquiescence of FDA, CDC, and other regulators.
Upon what was this seemingly widespread consensus based?
The matter appears to have never even been studied at the time the claims were made.
Why were the usually strict and fastidious US regulators so sanguine about such unusually aggressive and certain statements?
This is a most unusual situation and such an extraordinary outcome would seem to demand an extraordinary explanation.
Yet none seems forthcoming.
“The mRNA and the spike protein do not last long in the body” constitutes another key early safety claim similarly rooted in opaque or absent evidence or perhaps simply assumed or invented. (before being quietly retracted later).
“Protein do not last long in the body” was a key early safety claim similarly rooted in opaque or absent evidence or perhaps simply assumed or invented. (before being quietly retracted later).  CDC – Facts about mRNA Covid Vaccines
This claim also proved extravagantly incorrect.Wherever one looks, it seems one finds that these grand claims of safety and efficacy were underpinned by a paucity or utter absence of supporting evidence.
Even the definitions themselves such as “Any positive for trace covid from a PCR test at a 40 Cycle Threshold is covid” or “No disease outcomes from vaccines are to be counted until 2 weeks after the second (or third) dose” which left a large window (4-6 weeks) during a period of known immune suppression from the jabs uncounted or even, in many cases, attributed to the unvaccinated in a manner that can make placebo look like high efficacy preventative are so unusual and inconsistent with past practice or sound science as to demand the most pointed of questions as to how such practices came to be and who the decision makers who put them in place were.
This series of unfounded claims and distortionary definitions seems both a poor and a deeply dangerous practice for Public Health.
If we are to have any hope of restoring faith in this field, we must ask and answer the pointed questions of “How did this happen?” and “At whose behest?”
Someone made these choices for some reason. Who and why would seem to be the bare minimum of post mortem here.
It is oft opined that a bad map is worse than no map at all and in this, I must wholeheartedly agree. The public health agencies in America have become the most calamitous of cartographers.
If we would seek to have the agents of public health act as something other than a marketing arm and apologist for the revolving door of Pharma with whom they seem to so regularly swap staff and sinecure then it must once more be turned to serve the public. It may do so only if it regains the public trust and such trust, once lost, may only be restored by asking the hard questions and diligently following the answers wherever so they may lead until we may understand what went wrong, hold the malefactors to account, and effect the means to prevent this from happening again.
Please make no mistake, if nothing is done and this is swept beneath some august Congressional rug or societal memory hole, it will happen again. And soon. This is not a choice I would have for America and one I do not believe you should countenance. Public health runs on public trust. I ask you to restore it. |
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FDA “turned a blind eye” to “submission of fraudulent data” on covid injections, investigator reveals15December2022 by: Ethan Huff https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-12-15-fda-blind-eye-fraudulent-data-covid-vaccines.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Natural News) Documents released as part of a whistleblower complaint against Pfizer reveal that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “turned a blind eye” to the “fraudulent data” that Pfizer submitted alongside its messenger RNA (mRNA) Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccine.”
An agent within the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigation (OCI) admitted in an email that the agency knew Pfizer’s data was fraudulent but accepted it anyway, using it to emergency authorize (EUA), then approve, Pfizer’s covid injection products.
The OCI operates much like a police force, conducting criminal investigations into illegal activities involving FDA-approved products. It then presents cases before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for prosecution.
Roughly 200 federal agents hired from the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigations unit work at the OCI, which has agents stationed all across the country, as well as at some overseas posts.
The OCI, which has the same arresting authority as other federal law enforcement agents, was established by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler following the generic drug scandal of the late 1980s. Kessler wanted to crack down on FDA employees for accepting bribes in exchange for drug approvals.
“What I care about most is restoring the credibility and the integrity of the Food and Drug Administration,” Kessler stated at the time. “And the only way to do that is to focus on strong enforcement. We are going to enforce the law.” (Related: Back in May, the FDA finally admitted that covid jabs cause clots.)
FDA knew about fraudulent data from AstraZeneca, tooThe email in question from the OCI agent, dated March 26, 2021, was leaked as part of whistleblower Brook Jackson’s complaint against Pfizer. Jackson, as you may recall, blew the lid on Pfizer’s fraudulent clinical trials and “falsified data.”
“Having worked at FDA, I see it as surprising, for many reasons, that the agency turned a blind eye to a company’s knowing submission of fraudulent data,” is what the OCI officer wrote in the discourse.
The FDA, he added, “likely feared the criticism they undoubtedly would have received for holding up a vaccine (which they knew they would eventually approve anyway) at the expense of untold lives lost,” noting that the agency was also “weighing the risk / benefit ratio.”
It was a decision between telling the truth or telling a lie, though the OCI officer presented it in somewhat more anomalous, politically charged terms. The answer is the simple one: tell the truth – but we know the FDA is reluctant to ever choose that option.
There was also mention of AstraZeneca’s failed covid injection, and the fraudulent clinical trial data that was used to push that one as well. The company trial’s own Data and Safety Monitoring Board drew attention to the “outdated and potentially misleading data” submitted to the FDA, and the OCI officer addressed this matter, too.
“The general public must be able to trust that the clinical results are valid to sell, approve or take medication,” he wrote, adding the politically correct caveat that the jab is probably “still extremely likely to be safe and effective.”
“My point here is that instead of the regulators protecting the public, in our case, they were complicit in a fraud,” he further suggested in a later statement about the matter.
“At the time, they may have been doing what they believed to be the right thing under extraordinary circumstances. But now they may soon have some explaining to do.”
More of the latest news coverage about covid injections and the fraudulent data the FDA used to emergency authorize and approve them can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.
Sources for this article include: |
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A Colossal Failure Around the WorldThe safety data are nothing less than horrifyingHealth Viewpoints 12May2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/a-colossal-failure-around-the-world_5260961.html
Let’s summarize what we now know of the negative efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, and why vaccinated people—not the unvaxxed—suffer frequent bouts of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 vaccines—and the new bivalents, of which they are a part—are alarmingly and irredeemably unsafe, as well as ineffective for the advertised purposes. It is increasingly recognized by laypeople, physicians, and scientists throughout the world that the COVID-19 vaccines are neither safe, nor effective, nor reversible.
In this article, I show irrefutable proof that the COVID-19 vaccines are irredeemably ineffective. (See many dozens of my other Substack articles, and my book, “Neither Safe Nor Effective,” on how dangerous these vaccines are.) BackgroundU.S. mortality data at the end of 2020 did not support the allegation of a pandemic, because there was no more of an outlying peak in excess deaths in 2020 than other peaks throughout the past two decades, as reported at that time. A series of CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] revisions have continually increased the number claimed dead in 2020. Even now, as of April 24, the CDC shows that 3,383,729 people died from all causes in the United States in 2020 on one page written in December 2021, [1] |
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 NCHS Data Brief-No 427 December2021 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db427.pdf and also claims that 3,390,079 people died from all causes in the United States in 2020 on a different page.  NCHS Table 1 Deaths involving Covid-19 pneumonia flu https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm If even two years after the end of 2020, allegations of the number of those dead in 2020 continue to increase, at what point will that number be settled? How is it that by December 2021 an accurate number of deaths in 2020 was not available to the CDC?
In either case, mortality for 2020 (the year of COVID-19 virulence) was less than for 2021 (the year of the COVID-19 vaccine), which was 3,464,000. [2] The 2020 mortality number remained at about one percent of the total U.S. population, as in each of the previous three years, in which there was no pandemic.
Notably, December 2020 had by far the highest deaths of any month in 2020 in the United States, 32 percent higher than the average of the previous 11 months of what had been advertised to be the worst pandemic in a century, but in fact had no more than typical numbers of deaths in the U.S. during that alleged pandemic.
Data released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that each of those last three weeks in December 2020, excess deaths (number of deaths over those expected) had higher excess deaths than any of the previous weeks of the alleged pandemic. [3] Each of those last three weeks of December 2020 exceeded 25,000 excess deaths per week, whereas even the worst COVID-19 hospitalization weeks, the first two weeks of April 2020, did not exceed 25,000 excess deaths per week.
The Pfizer vaccines were released to the American public on Dec. 14, 2020. [4] |
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 2020 US Excess Mortality by Week As of this time, no children are known to have died in the United States with a COVID-19 diagnosis except for those having terminal leukemia and other advanced cancers and grave terminal illnesses and other non-COVID-19 life-threatening circumstances. It has been calculated that seasonal flu, lightning, and being a passenger in a motor vehicle are all more life-threatening to children and adolescents than any of the COVID-19 variants.
It may be no coincidence that December 2020 was the month that the vaccines became available to the public. Early 2021 showed striking excess deaths, and the COVID-19 vaccine was the new factor. Furthermore, January to November 2020 show an average of 274,000 deaths in the United States per month, but since December 2020, according to the same CDC tables of data, the average deaths per month jumped to 288,250.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines first became available for mass vaccination in the United States on Dec. 14, 2020, followed by the Moderna vaccine a few days later. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine would not become available till Feb. 27, 2021. As soon as the earlier vaccines became distributed en masse, the total number of deaths per week for the rest of 2020 from all causes in the United States jumped from 63,000 to 84,000, which is a 32 percent increase, unlikely to be attributable to any other cause but the vaccines. Before the officially reported numbers change yet again, let’s take a screenshot from the CDC.  Monthly and 12 month-ending number of live births, deaths and infant deaths United States CDC National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System. Monthly and 12 month-ending number of live births, deaths, and infant deaths: United States. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-tables.htm
Notice how much higher January 2021 deaths are than for each of the next five months. Although January is typically the month with highest deaths in most years, January’s death rate was 32 percent higher than February’s.
It can be seen from the CDC data, that the deaths per week in the United States in each of the first seven weeks following the Pfizer and Moderna rollout all exceeded even the deadliest weeks of 2020 (the two weeks ending April 11 and April 18 of 2020). [5] This should be enough to make anyone hesitant about the vaccines, and logically, more fearful of the vaccines than of COVID-19. Public Health ‘Experts’ Have Not Been Straightforward With the DataA confounding factor for assessing safety or efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines has been a deceptive use of the word “unvaccinated” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to not only include those who were never COVID-19-vaccinated but also those who have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine less than seven or 14 days ago. This “case-counting window bias” allows infections, injuries, and deaths immediately following vaccination to be assigned to, and sometimes even attributed to, the “unvaccinated” category, by deceptive sleight of hand.
Fung, Jones, et al. write of such deception: “This asymmetry, in which the case-counting window nullifies cases in the vaccinated group but not in the unvaccinated group, biases estimates.” [6] A problem with this miscategorization is that injuries and deaths have all peaked closely following COVID-19 vaccination—mostly on the first day—as in the graph below. Yet those individuals, for being so recently vaccinated, are falsely assigned the label “unvaccinated,” confounding much of the reported data.  VAERS COVID-FLU Vaccine Reported Deaths by Days to Onset All Ages https://openvaers.com/covid-data/mortalityThe only good about this mis-categorization problem is that it is no longer such an issue now in 2023 and going forward. This deception really confounded much data in 2021, the year of peak COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and to a much lesser extent in 2022.
Now in 2023, very few individuals are still being COVID-19-vaccinated, so nearly everyone has made their decision to be vaccinated or not, more than 14 days ago, and are therefore now in widely agreed upon and accurate categories at this late time. But there is little likelihood at this point of eventual correction of previous miscategorization—and therefore corruption—of this essential public health data, 2020 through 2022. |
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COVID-19 Vaccines Have Negative Efficacy, and What That MeansThe COVID-19 vaccines are so ineffective against COVID-19 that they have negative efficacy. This means that you have a greater likelihood of infection and/or hospitalization from COVID-19 after having received the vaccine than not receiving it. The COVID-19 vaccines have not only failed to reduce cases and hospitalizations from Omicron and COVID-19 generally, but they have actually increased the incidence of both. Results of negative efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines are seen all over the world.
Neither the Pfizer nor Moderna clinical trials addressed preventing transmission. Tal Zaks is the chief medical officer at Moderna. He told the British Medical Journal, “Our trial will not demonstrate prevention of transmission, because in order to do that you have to swab people twice a week for very long periods, and that becomes operationally untenable.” [7]
Dr. Larry Corey oversaw the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. He said on Nov. 20, 2020: “The studies aren’t designed to assess transmission. They don’t ask that question, and there’s really no information on this at this point in time.” (The article where he was quoted as saying this had not been, but is now, behind a paywall.) [8] Negative Efficacy Shown by the Most Prestigious Medical JournalsThe New England Journal of Medicine shows that those who are fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 recover significantly more slowly from the illness and remain contagious for longer periods of time after SARS-CoV-2 infection. [9]  Fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 recover more slowly from the illness remain contagious From Figure 1, J Boucau and C Marino, Duration of shedding of culturable virus in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (BA.1) infection. Jun 29, 2022. N Eng J Med. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9258747/
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published data showing that persons receiving two or more doses of COVID-19 vaccines experienced more re-infections with COVID-19 than people receiving 0 to 1 dose and that the probability of reinfection increased with time. “Surprisingly, 2 or more doses of vaccine were associated with a slightly higher probability of reinfection compared with 1 dose or less.” [10] |
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An analysis in the British Medical Journal found a “net expected individual harm” from the COVID-19 vaccines in the context of college mandates, and calculated that “boosting young adults with BNT 162b2 [BNT162b2 is a lipid nanoparticle–formulated, nucleoside-modified RNA vaccine that encodes a prefusion stabilized, membrane-anchored SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike protein] could cause 18.5 times more SAEs [significant adverse events] per million (593.5) than COVID-19 hospitalizations averted (32.0).” And “for each hospitalization averted we estimate approximately 18.5 SAEs and 1430-4626 disruptions of daily activities—that is not outweighed by a proportionate public health benefit.” [11]
Negative Efficacy of the COVID Vaccines Is Seen Throughout the WorldSubramanian and Kumar examined COVID vaccination across 68 countries and found “… the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people.” [12]
Switkay showed that Subramanian and Kumar’s trend line regarding relation between new COVID-19 cases and vaccination is not only positive but “… indeed, there is a very strong positive association.” [13]  Relation between new COVID-19 cases and vaccination is positive H Switkay. Comment on Subramanian and Kumar… Mar 13, 2022. PDMJ. https://pdmj.org/papers/Comment_on_Subramanian_and_Kumar A Bayesian analysis of data from 145 countries shows that the COVID-19 vaccines cause more COVID-19 cases per million and more COVID-19-associated deaths per million over the vast international scope of this study. [14] The study found “a marked increase in both COVID-19 related cases and death due directly to a vaccine deployment …” The results in the United States were 38 percent more cases per million [15] and 31 percent more deaths per million [16] caused by the COVID-19 vaccines.
Other studies found no difference in viral loads or rates of infection between vaccinated and unvaccinated. [17] [18] [19] In order to further comprehend this vast worldwide lack of efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, let’s now look at analyses of the phenomenon of negative efficacy of the vaccines in specific countries.
A study of 51,011 employees of the Cleveland Clinic in the United States was done. It found the “Risk of COVID-19 increased with time since the most recent prior COVID-19 episode and with the number of vaccine doses previously received.” [20]
The following graph shows increasing cumulative incidence of COVID-19 disease starting after the first day of the Cleveland Clinic study. We can see a clear dose-dependent increase in infections made worse by each successive dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, with the unvaccinated having far less COVID-19 disease than their vaccinated co-workers.
The small print at the right says, going down from the top [in yellow] more than 3 doses. [in blue] 3 doses, [in green] 2 doses, [in red] one dose, [in black] 0 doses.  Risk of COVID-dose-dependent increase in infections N Shrestha, P Burke, et al. Effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) bivalent vaccine. Dec 19, 2022. “Cumulative incidence of COVID-19 [infections] for subjects stratified by the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses previously received. Day zero was 12 September 2022, the day the bivalent vaccine began to be offered to employees. Point estimates and 95% confidence intervals are jittered along the x-axis to improve visibility.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.17.22283625v1.full.pdf |
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An Oxford University study of 900 hospital staff members in Vietnam showed that peak viral loads among the infected vaccinated (“breakthrough” infected) staff were 251 times higher than those of unvaccinated personnel. [21]This Danish study [22] showed that both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines showed negative efficacy against the Omicron variant within only 90 days of administration and that that decline in efficacy was even faster for Omicron than for the earlier Delta variant. This sharp decline is illustrated in the following graph.
 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines predispose toward increased risk for Omicron infection C Hansen, A Schelde, et al. Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron or Delta variants following a two-dose or booster BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination series: A Danish cohort study. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v3.full.pdf
The above graph shows that both of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines predispose toward increased risk for Omicron infection, as the timeline passes the 90-day point, due to negative efficacy.
89.7 percent of people infected with Omicron in Denmark were either “fully vaccinated” or had their first booster. 77.9 percent of the Danish population was fully vaccinated as of the time of the study. [23] Therefore, the vaccinated have been more predisposed to Omicron infection than the unvaccinated in Denmark.
Data from the UK government, Office for National Statistics, shows that each successive vaccine dose has increased the likelihood of testing positive for the Omicron variant, in a stunning display of negative vaccine efficacy. [24]
Worse yet, risk of death from COVID-19 is shown to increase with each successive dose of vaccine for most age groups, as in the following table published by the UK government’s Health Security Agency. [25]  UK Health Security Agency COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report Week 9 March 3 2022 UK Health Security Agency. COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report. Week 9. Mar 3, 2022. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1058464/Vaccine-surveillance-report-week-9.pdf
On a population-wide level in Ireland, mass vaccination is correlated in timing with dramatically rising COVID-19 cases. The Irish population has had among the highest rates of vaccine penetration in its adult population, 94.8 percent fully vaccinated as of Jan. 22, 2022, yet COVID-19 cases rose 317 percent over the previous January before the vaccines were in use. [26] |
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In Scotland also, among those who had received one, two, or three vaccines, or none at all, the unvaccinated had the lowest case rates in January 2022 of all four groups, as seen in this table [27] and graph. [28]
 Public Health Scotland COVID-19 & Winter Statistical Report Jan 17 2022 p38 Public Health Scotland. Public Health Scotland COVID-19 & Winter Statistical Report. Jan 17, 2022. p. 38. https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11802/22-01-19-covid19-winter_publication_report_revised.pdf  Covid-19 age-standardised case rate per 100000 individuals by vaccine status Public Health Scotland. Public Health Scotland COVID-19 & Winter Statistical Report. Jan 17, 2022. p. 40. https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11802/22-01-19-covid19-winter_publication_report_revised.pdf
Two other very heavily vaccinated countries saw their case rates skyrocket following mass vaccination. Here are South Korea and Germany: [29]  South Korea saw their case rates skyrocket following mass vaccination Johns Hopkins University. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#explore-the-global-situation  Germany saw their case rates skyrocket following mass vaccination Johns Hopkins University. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#explore-the-global-situation
A study of 4,020 cases of Omicron in Germany on Dec. 31, 2021, showed that of those, 1,137 were boosted. There were only 1097 unvaccinated Omicron cases. [30] [31]
However, there are similar numbers of people in the three categories of “boosted,” fully vaccinated” and “unvaccinated” in Germany as of Dec. 31, 2021. German scientists studying the German government’s excess mortality data observed that the higher the vaccination rate, the higher the excess mortality. [32]
As we can see, the unvaccinated have had a strong advantage against Omicron, which was the prevalent COVID-19 strain throughout the world at that time. The COVID-19 vaccines do not work against the Delta strain either. In July 2021, in the United States, in Massachusetts, at a time and place that Delta was predominant, of a total of 469 new COVID-19 cases, 346 of those (74 percent) were in people who were partially or fully vaccinated, and 274 of the vaccinated were symptomatic. [33]
In Delhi, India, of 34 Omicron cases at a hospital, 33 were fully vaccinated (97 percent). However, India’s COVID-19 vaccination rate was only 40 percent at that time. [34]
Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were found to plunge to negative efficacy within months. [35] [36] [37] The Implications of Negative Efficacy in a Heavily Jabbed WorldA study by Chemaitelly et al. in Qatar of over 2,000,000 people, for whom vaccination status and COVID-19 disease incidence data were available, showed, just as the preceding studies, that zero to negative efficacy was apparent within months after injection. Authors attributed that decline to “immune imprinting compromising protection in people who had the booster vaccination against the newer omicron sublineages.” The authors explain the mechanism further as [the booster] “could have trained the immune response to expect a specific narrow pre-omicron challenge; thus the response was suboptimal when the actual challenge was an immune-evasive omicron subvariant.” [38] Original Antigenic SinOAS is likely exacerbated by the mistaken approach of vaccinologists, tampering with the blood, whereas the body is well-prepared to confront new microbes by way of the respiratory tract, not by way of first introduction through the blood.
If the COVID-19 vaccines merely predisposed one to higher risk of the common cold now known as the Delta and Omicron and subsequent variants, then we might simply laugh off these vaccines as a frivolous and superstitious activity. However, the safety data are nothing less than horrifying. Reposted from Colleen Huber’s Substack. |
| ◇ References: | |
| [1] U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NCHS Data Brief No 427. Mortality in the United States, 2020. December 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db427.pdf |
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| [2] U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Vital Statistics System. State and national provisional counts. Monthly and 12-month ending number of live births, deaths, and infant deaths: United States. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-tables.htm |
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| [3] Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Stat. Health, COVID-19 health indicators, Excess deaths per week, 2020-2023. https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx |
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| [4] BBC. COVID-19: First vaccine given in U.S. as rollout begins. Dec. 14, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55305720 |
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| [5] U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Vital Statistics System. State and national provisional counts. Monthly and 12-month ending number of live births, deaths, and infant deaths: United States. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-tables.htm |
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| [6] K Fung, M Jones, et al. Sources of bias in observational studies of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. Mar 26, 2023. J Eval in Clin Practice. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jep.13839 |
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| [7] P Doshi. Will COVID-19 vaccines save lives? Current trials aren’t designed to tell us. Oct. 21, 2020. British Medical Journal. 371. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037 |
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| [8] A Ault. Can a COVID-19 vaccine stop the spread? Good question. Nov. 20, 2020. Medscape. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/941388 |
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| [9] J Boucau, C Marino. Duration of shedding of culturable virus in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (BA.1) infection. Jun 29, 2022. N Eng J Med. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9258747/ |
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| [10] E Eythorsson, H Runolfsdottir, et al. Rate of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection during an omicron wave in Iceland. Aug. 2022. JAMA Netw Open. 5 (8). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9350711/ |
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| [11] K Bardosh, A Krug, et al. COVID-19 vaccine boosters for young adults: a risk benefit assessment and ethical analysis of mandate policies at universities. Dec. 5, 2022. BMJ J Med Ethics. https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2022/12/05/jme-2022-108449 |
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| [12] S Subraminian, A Kumar. Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States. Sept. 30, 2021. Eur J Epidemio. 36(12) 1237-1240. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8481107/ |
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| [13] H Switkay. Comment on Subramanian and Kumar, “Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination.” Mar 13, 2022. PDMJ. https://pdmj.org/papers/Comment_on_Subramanian_and_Kumar |
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| [14] K Beattie. Worldwide Bayesian causal impact analysis of vaccine administration on deaths and cases associated with COVID-19: A big data analysis of 145 countries. Preprint. Nov. 15, 2021. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLlRa9rUqvW9pG1vNEsWMEydWwsmSMbe/view |
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| [15] Ibid Beattie. p 41. | |
| [16] Ibid Beattie. p 39. | |
| [17] K Riemersma, B Grogan, et al. Vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals have similar viral loads in communities with a high prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 variant. July 31, 2021. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.31.21261387v1.full.pdf |
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| [18] C Brown, J Vostok, et al. Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections, including COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections, associated with large public gatherings, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021. Aug 6, 2021. MMWR Morb Moral Wkly Rep. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8367314/ |
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| [19] C Acharya, J Schrom, et al. No significant difference in viral load between vaccinated and unvaccinated,asymptomatic, and symptomatic groups when infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. Oct 5, 2021. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.28.21264262v2.full.pdf |
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| [20] N Shrestha, P Burke, et al. Effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) bivalent vaccine. Dec. 19, 2022. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.17.22283625v1.full.pdf |
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| [21] N Chau, N Ngoc. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant among vaccinated healthcare workers, Vietnam. Oct 11, 2021. The Lancet. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract id=3897733 |
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| [22] C Hansen, A Schelde, et al. Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infectionwith the Omicron or Delta variants following a two-dose or booster BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination series: A Danish cohort study. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v3.full.pdf |
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| [23] Status of the SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron in Denmark. COVID-19 Omicron variant report. Dec 31, 2021. Statens Serum Institut. https://files.ssi.dk/covid19/omikron/statusrapport/rapport-omikronvarianten-31122021-ct18 |
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| [24] Office for National Statistics. Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection survey, UK:Characteristics related to having an Omicron compatible result in those who test positive for COVID-19. Dec. 21, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/adhocs/14107coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveyukcharacteristicsrelatedtohavinganomicroncompatibleresultinthosewhotestpositiveforcovid19 |
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| [25] UK Health Security Agency. COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report. Week 9. Mar 3, 2022. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1058464/Vaccine-surveillance-report-week-9.pdf |
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| [26] J Horgan-Jones. The Irish Times. Jan. 22, 2022. Total of 100,000 Covid vaccines expire amid slowing demand, Ministers told. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/total-of-100-000-covid-vaccines-expire-amid-slowing-demand-ministers-told-1.4782708 |
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| [27] Public Health Scotland. Public Health Scotland COVID-19 & Winter Statistical Report. Jan. 17, 2022. p. 38. https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11802/22-01-19-covid19-winter_publication_report_revised.pdf |
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| [28] Ibid, Public Health Scotland. p. 40. | |
| [29] Johns Hopkins University. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#explore-the-global-situation |
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| [30] Robert Koch Institut. COVID-19 in Germany. https://www.rki.de/EN/Home/homepage_node.html |
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| [31] Wochentlicher Lagebericht des RKI zur Coronavirus-Krankheit-2019 (COVID-19) [article in German] Dec 30 2021. Robert Koch Institut. https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Situationsberichte/Wochenbericht/Wochenbericht_2021-12-30.pdf?__blob=publicationFile |
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| [32] R Steyer, G Kappler. The higher the vaccination rate, the higher the excess mortality. Nov. 16, 2021. https://www.skirsch.com/covid/GermanAnalysis.pdf https://www.utebergner.de/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/%C3%9Cbersterblichkeit-KW-36-bis-40-in-2021-003.docx |
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| [33] G Kampf. COVID-19 stigmatizing the unvaccinated is not justified. Nov. 20, 2021. The Lancet. 398: 10314. P 1871. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02243-1/fulltext |
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| [34] A Dutt. Out of 34 Omicron cases at Delhi hospital, 33 are fully vaccinated. The Indian Express. Dec. 23, 2021. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/out-of-34-omicron-cases-at-delhi-hospital-33-are-fully-vaccinated-7686188/ |
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| [35] C Hansen, A Schelde, et al. Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron or Delta variants following a two-dose or booster BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination series: A Danish cohort study. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v3.full.pdf |
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| [36] H Tseng, B Ackerson, et al. Effectiveness of mRNA-1273 against infection and COVID-19 hospitalization with SARS-CoV-2 omicron subvariants: BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5. Oct. 1, 2022. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.30.22280573v1.full.pdf |
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| [37] H Tseng, B Ackerson, et al. Effectiveness of mRNA-1273 against SARS-CoV-2 omicron and delta variants. Jan 8, 2022. medRxiv. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.07.22268919v1.full.pdf |
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| [38] H Chemaitelly, H Ayoub, et al. Long-term COVID-19 booster effectiveness by infection history and clinical vulnerability and immune imprinting: a retrospective population-based cohort study. Mar 10, 2023. Lancet Infect Dis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10079373/ |
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| [39] A Vatti, D Monsalve, et al. Original antigenic sin: A comprehensive review. September 2017. J Autoimmun. 83. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0896841117302226?via%3Dihub |
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| [40] A Schiepers, M van’t Wout, et al. Molecular fate-mapping of serum antibody responses to repeat immunization. Jan. 16, 2023. Nature. 615. 482-489. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05715-3 |
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| [41] D Burnett, R Bull. Total recall? Understanding the effect of antigenic distance on original antigenic sin. March 7, 2023. Immunol and Cell Biol. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imcb.12638 |
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| Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. |
Colour Revolution in Israel
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Leftist fascist zombies Rioting vs. Peaceful Right Wing protest
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| JerusalemCats Comments: From the Pesach (Passover) Haggadah The Cup of Elijah is poured at this point, after which the door is opened in accordance with the verse, “It is a guarded night.” Then the following paragraph is recited. |
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Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not recognize You, and upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his habitation. Pour out Your anger upon them, and let Your fiery wrath overtake them. Pursue them with wrath and annihilate them from beneath the heavens of HASHEM. |
שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּךָ וְעַל־מַמְלָכוֹת אֲשֶׁר בְּשִׁמְךָ לֹא קָרָאוּ. כִּי אָכַל אֶת־יַעֲקֹב וְאֶת־נָוֵהוּ הֵשַׁמּוּ. שְׁפָךְ־עֲלֵיהֶם זַעֲמֶךָ וַחֲרוֹן אַפְּךָ יַשִּׂיגֵם. תִּרְדֹף בְּאַף וְתַשְׁמִידֵם מִתַּחַת שְׁמֵי ה’. |
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BREAKING : Gaza and its Media Allies |Caroline Glick’s Brief11May2023 |
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The USA IS funding the protests – proof29March2023 https://rivkalevy.com/the-usa-is-funding-the-protests-proof/  MQGI-front-page-screenshot So, a reader just sent me a link to this.BIDEN GOES AFTER MATT TAIBBI – ISRAEL PROTESTS – NEOCONS TAKE ANOTHER “L” IN THE MIDDLE EAST==== Skip ahead to minute 18, where he starts to talk about the ‘suggestion’ that the USA is funding the anti-judicial reform protests.He talks about this organisation called: The Movement for Quality Government in Israel. This is their front page: MQGI-front-page-screenshot ==== Here’s a snippet of what they are saying:
==== So, the Movement for Quality Government is saying themselves, on their home page, that all the riots going on against the Government are ‘their demonstrations’, and a result of them initiating their ‘broad public struggle’. Got that? Now, let’s see who funds the Movement for Quality Government, screenshot from HERE:  The-Bracha-Foundation-screenshot ==== What’s the MEPI Foundation, highlighted above?It’s this:  About MEPI-screenshot ==== And here is the MEPI grant program being rolled out, via the US Embassy in Tel Aviv:  MEPI-US-embassy-screenshot ==== So, walk through this with me. Who is a key player behind the anti-judicial reform protests in Israel?The Movement for Quality Government in Israel. Who is funding the Movement for Quality Government in Israel?The MEPI Foundation (amongst others). What is MEPI?It’s a branch of the US State Department, funding NGOs and pushing it’s own agenda inside the Holy Land. So, who is really funding all these riots?The US State Department, or ‘Deep State’ Department, whichever you prefer. ==== Of course, that doesn’t make Netanyahu instantly ‘good’.We are still dealing with evil vs evil, just it’s enlightening to understand who is actually paying for what, in this puppet show called ‘politics’. ==== Apparently, Jews who are getting their cars stoned by Arabs in Huwara – aka Route 60, the only way in and out of many of the yishuvim in the Shomron – are now being arrested and violently attacked by yassamnikim, when they call the police or army for help.I am trying to get more first-hand details of what is really going on up there, but in the meantime, understand that whoever these ‘security forces’ are, they aren’t working for you and me. The question is, at this stage, whether they are even working for the Israeli government at all, or whether they are just violent thugs put here by the US Deep State, and Europeans, to continue terrorising and harassing the Jews here regardless of who we vote into power. I don’t know what the answer is, whether our government is actually just acting as the US Deep State’s ‘kapo’, or whether they are taking the initiative on their own. But what is clear, is that we only have Hashem to rely on, and there is no way of ‘voting’ ourselves out of this mess.May Hashem come and rescue us from all the evil very soon! ==== PS: I just looked up other funders of the ‘Movement for Quality Government’ in Israel who is funding the anti-reform protests. The Meyerhoff Joseph Fund seems to be one and the same as The Jerusalem Foundation. You’ll recall The Jerusalem Foundation was set up by the former traitor and spy for the British, during the British Mandate, Teddy Kollek. There is nothing new under the sun.==== Meanwhile, THIS is the official website of the David Berg Foundation. Not much to see there, but if you go to their IRS 990 form for 2020, you learn a little bit more about who else they are funding, apart from all the usual universities and Jewish Museums and Yad Vashems, These are the ones that took my eye:
Doesn’t that say it all? ==== I can’t find much for the ‘Bracha Foundation’ – always a sign that this is the place to really dig.What I can find shows they have a huge amount of cash, and tight links with the government. Screenshot from Globes, HERE: The-Bracha-Foundation-screenshot ==== Ah, so now I tracked it down, deliberately misspelt on the MQGI website (I wonder why….)HERE is it’s home page. It’s the usual ‘social engineering’ racket, trying to ‘infect’ the Holy Land with all the woke rubbish they are corrupting the whole world with. One screenshot:  Beyadaim-Tovot ==== And here’s some of that sites other donors – all the usual names, many of whom connect back to Frankist-Freemasonry and Reform Judaism: https://www.120plus1.org.il/en-financing-sources/ Getting the picture? ==== UPDATE:And this is also very interesting – explaining what is really going on with the Bagatz, and how it represents ‘foreign interests’ in the Holy Land. A lot more food for thought. (11 minutes, in Hebrew) ==== Of course, the ‘right’ isnt’ the answer to this problem, either, they are also totally corrupt. We only have Hashem to rely on.But it’s very positive, that the truth is finally starting to come out about what is really going on in Israel, however horrible it really is. ==== JerusalemCats Comments:
 Benjamin Netanyahu-tweet-29March2023-Israel is a sovereign country |
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GT Investigates: US wages global color revolutions to topple govts for the sake of American controlTRUE COLORS OF ‘DEMOCRACY’By GT staff reporters Published: 02December2021 08:25 PM Updated: 03December2021 07:38 PM https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1240540.shtml GLOBAL TIMES – WEAPONIZED DEMOCRACY PART 2 – TRUE COLORS OF ‘DEMOCRACY’Editor’s Note: How many evils have been committed in the name of democracy? Exporting wars, launching “color revolutions,” fomenting extremist ideologies, and promoting economic instability… the US has left endless trails of bloodshed and turmoil around the world. While the “model of democracy” loses its shine, the US still attempts to establish exclusive cliques through the so-called democracy summit. To expose the nature of “American democracy,” the Global Times is publishing a series of articles to unmask the US’ four democratic hegemonic sins. This is the second such piece. The previous ones are: US war-mongering under guise of ‘democracy’ inflicts untold damage on the world; US cultivates pseudo-religious groups overseas, pumps support to terrorists to wreck its adversaries; US’ wanton sanctions deal humanitarian disasters in countries it dislikes.  Egyptian demonstrators demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak gather on the statue of Alexdander the Great in Alexandria on January 28, 2011. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo by AFP)
Egyptian protesters gather on the statue of Alexander the Great in Alexandria on January 28, 2011. Photo: AFP To start a revolution, first you need to pick a color. Whether it is the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003, the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine in 2004, the “Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgyzstan in 2005, or the “Arab Spring” in Asia and Africa in 2011, the past decades have seen the US plan and implement “color revolutions,” or wars without gunpowder in many places around the world, frantically exporting “American values.”
Instead of launching military operations directly in the name of “democracy,” the US prefers to use color revolutions as a tool to intervene in other countries’ internal affairs to subvert governments in order to reinforce its global control, which the US has found more efficient and economical.
It is estimated that in the past three decades, among all the toppled governments, those that were subverted by such “non-violent revolutions” accounted for more than 90 percent.
Before that, during the Cold War, the US engaged in 64 covert and six overt attempts at regime change, according to Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War, by Lindsey A. O’Rourke.
However, what color revolutions left in their wake are neither peace nor Western democracy, but mass confusion, chaos, and destruction in the target countries.
It is the origin of the world’s instability today, observers said. Scourge on the world Since late 20th century, color revolutions have swept through Central Asia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern European countries. Deeply digging into these color revolutions, behind the scenes, you are always likely to find the conspicuous black hands of the US.
Eurasian countries have been the worst-hit area by color revolutions where the US has been keen on inciting anti-government emotions and regime changes.
At the end of 2003, the US forced Eduard Shevardnadze, then president of Georgia, to resign on grounds of “fraud” in vote counting in parliamentary elections and supported the opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili to be president. It is known as the “Rose Revolution.”
Following Georgia, a similar scene played out in Ukraine in October 2004, as the US concocted a “fraud” scandal in Ukrainian elections and incited local youth to take to the streets and support the leader of the opposition, Viktor Yushchenko, who then was elected president. The event is known as the “Orange Revolution.”
Once again in March 2005, the US drove Kyrgyzstan’s opposition to protest against the results of the parliamentary elections, which eventually turned into riots. The “Tulip Revolution” ended with the President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, abandoning power and fleeing.
In October 2020, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin accused the US of planning to start a “color revolution” in Moldova. Naryshkin pointed out in a statement that the US has brutally interfered in the internal affairs of Russia’s neighboring countries.  Egyptian protesters clashes with riot police at Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on November 19, 2011, as Egyptian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a sit-in among whose organisers were people injured during the Arab Spring which overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak. AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI / AFP) Protesters clash with police in Cairo, Egypt on November 19, 2011. Photo: AFP The US was also behind the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Arab world, during which the wave of anti-government protests and violence led to civil wars in some countries and brought unrest and devastation to people there. The region has undergone major changes, but many countries were still reeling from the heavy blow dealt by the movement.
The color revolution has always closely worked alongside the US’ global system of controlling the world, Zhang Shengjun, vice dean of the School of Political Science and International Relations at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
In recent years, the US has turned its direction of applying color revolution tactics to countries and regions related to China in order to realize its purpose of containing the development of China, Zhang noted. Textbook meddling case The “color revolution” is not an impromptu performance orchestrated by an individual, but a deliberate political act. It is a coordinated action by planners, trainers, funders, instigators, troublemakers, followers, and occasionally, violent terrorists and even hired mercenaries.
Observers said that after decades of conducting color revolutions across the world, the US has developed a mature system of operation.
First, planners find a target they “dislike,” after which they launch a psychological war. Usually they find and organize a group of political activists and provide them with information and financial support to intensify their opposition sentiment. Then, the planners help mobilize the masses to initiate political protests, including compelling nongovernmental organizations and the media to intervene or participate in the protest movement. Therefore, a chain of protests is set off with the planners just helping increase the intensity and expand the team to await the fall of the government.
There are some means that have frequently been adopted in color revolutions. “NGOs” under the US government’s control are often used to carry out long-term infiltration in targeted countries. The infamous National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the US, a self-proclaimed “NGO” for instance, has been using state funding to preach the hegemonic doctrine of the US government. As of 2016, NED had provided some $96.52 million to at least 103 anti-China entities, including notorious separatist groups, such as the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC).
The US has also been supporting radical youth organizations and fostering leaders for agents. A leader of Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement, an anti-government activist, was invited to New York for the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations in 2008. He admitted later in a documentary that he had undergone an “internship” and was familiar with how to cope with the police.
The media is also used to implant Western ideologies among people. The US Congress-founded Radio Free Europe played a significant role in the containment of the Soviet Union during the Cold War through the delivery of news and transmission of Western ideologies to Eastern European countries. In 2019, it had received total funding to the tune of $124 million, broadcasting in 26 languages and reaching 37.6 million people every week.  An opposition supporter climbs up a giant Georgian national flag during a rally in central Tbilisi on November 2, 2007. Photo: AFP
An opposition supporter climbs up a giant Georgian national flag during a rally in central Tbilisi on November 2, 2007. Photo: AFP
In the name of aid, the US intervenes in the internal affairs of the “target country” and provides financial support to the country’s opposition parties. Years before the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003, foreign states and organizations began to give financial assistance to NGOs and opposition parties within Georgia. USAID for instance, spent $1.5 million to computerize Georgia’s voter rolls.
Moreover, some protests during the color revolution, including members of opposition organization Otpor! in the 2004 Ukrainian revolution, “practically used a textbook” in lectures, which is the notorious From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp, known as the guru of nonviolence, according to media reports. The Albert Einstein Institution founded by Sharp is also allegedly funded by NED.
The purpose of the US inciting color revolutions abroad is to overthrow powerful anti-America regimes and cultivate pro-America ones in their stead, said Song Quancheng, head of the Institute of Migration Studies at Shandong University.
A favorite trick of the US is to depict and mold the image of an anti-US or anti-NATO regime as a dictatorial regime that “poses a serious threat to the human rights of its people,” and intervenes under the guise of “averting a humanitarian disaster,” Song pointed out.
Meanwhile, the means of color revolution has been insistently improving to be more effective. In the “Arab Spring” of 2011, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter were widely used to organize protests, spread information, and communicate with the external forces.
During what happened in January 2011 in Egypt, many young people who were deeply influenced by social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were misled and brainwashed by promises of “democracy and freedom” made by the US and the West, and began to take part in protests, Ahmed Elhusseiny, a China-Africa researcher with the Cairo University, told the Global Times.
They thought they were helping their country, but the fact was they were being used by the US and its political forces to oust a national leader that the US and the West considered ineffectual, he said.
“Any evil to have happened in any corner of the world can be traced back to the tainted hands of the US,” he said. Moreover, the US is also switching its strategies in its practice of color revolutions, Zhang said. “Funding the oppositions to achieve regime change was the main method, but now the US is increasingly trying to change other countries’ diplomatic policies to ensure the countries’ likely support of US global policies. This has been shown to be the stance of Lithuania and a few other countries.” Origin of world’s instability The color revolution fails to bring democracy and peace, but rather an open Pandora’s Box that has left many countries and regions around the world in political turmoil, economic regression, and social disasters. The color revolution is the origin of world’s instability, said analysts.
For instance, during the “Lotus Revolution” in Egypt in 2011, protests shouted the slogan “Bread, Freedom, Social Justice,”, but the economic indexes showed that the situation worsened after the revolution and the negative effect lasted for years.
Official data from Egypt showed that from 2012 to 2016, the export scale of Egypt had shrunk from $27 billion to $18.7 billion. It also caused severe unemployment and massive inflation.
In total, the “Arab Spring” and the following wars, along with refugee crises and economic downturns, cost the countries more than $830 billion, according to analysis at the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai in December 2015.
“The main danger of color revolutions is putting a country with all its people and resources under external control,” Andrei Manoilo, a professor of political science at Moscow State University, told the media in 2019 as turmoil ensued in China’s Hong Kong.
 Supporters of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko wave flags during a rally in Kiev, 28 November 2004. Ukraine’s pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko on Sunday demanded that prosecutors open a criminal inquiry into the heads of pro-Russian eastern and southern regions for threatening to declare autonomy. AFP PHOTO / MLADEN ANTONOV (Photo by MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP)
Supporters of US-backed Ukrainian opposition leader wave flags during a rally in Kiev, November 28, 2004. Photo: AFP “Many countries in the Middle East and the North African regions didn’t actually build so-called modern, democratic, Western-like countries after their ‘authoritarian’ anti-America regimes were overthrown in color revolutions,” Song told the Global Times.
After not having been modernized, these countries and regions, in which traditional tribal chieftain management system styles remain and frictions between different religions, sects, tribes, and cultures still exist, are very likely to fall into discord after losing strong and powerful leaders, Song explained.
It is there for all to see that the “democracy” that the US has been promoting via color revolutions has a huge gap with real democracy, Zhang said. “History has proven again and again that the US’ democracy could only make other countries victims of capitals.”
The US has been building fragile “democratic” systems in other countries for its convenience to control them. “In the fake name of ‘democracy,’ the US has been conducting color revolutions and promoting its ‘universal value’ in the world, but the essential purpose is to control the resources of other countries,” Zhang said.
“The motivation is incredibly covert, but it should not be ignored that it is the origin of current global instability,” he noted.  Exporting wars, launching “color revolutions” and inciting extremist ideologies – in the name of democracy. While the #US has left endless bloodshed and turmoil around the world, it still attempts to establish cliques with “democracy summit.”
Exporting wars, launching “color revolutions” and inciting extremist ideologies – in the name of democracy. While the #US has left endless bloodshed and turmoil around the world, it still attempts to establish cliques with “democracy summit.” |
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JerusalemCats Comments: Another COLOR REVOLUTION brought to you by Victoria Nuland and the 2014 Ukraine Maidan NAZI coup lead US State departmentThey’ve been heavily involved in this from the beginning, and probably were instrumental in initiating it! State Dept is funding Group bankrolling Anti-Netanyahu Protests08March2023 https://www.israpundit.org/state-dept-is-funding-group-bankrolling-anti-netanyahu-protests/
How Taxpayer Funds Are Flowing to a Group Bankrolling Anti-Netanyahu ProtestsBy Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON 06March2023 https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/how-taxpayer-funds-are-flowing-to-a-group-bankrolling-anti-netanyahu-protests/ The U.S. government has been funneling taxpayer money to the left-wing group bankrolling protests against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israeli funding documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The documents indicate that, since 2020, Foggy Bottom has sent over $38,000 to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), the Israeli nonprofit stoking nationwide anti-Netanyahu protests that have seen protesters clash with police and target Netanyahu’s family members. MQG is seeking to takedown Netanyahu’s government over his support for major reforms to the Israeli supreme court that would significantly limit its power. The organization petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court earlier this year to oust Netanyahu, claiming he is unfit for office due to ongoing investigations into allegations of political corruption and bribery.
The State Department, which confirmed the funding, calls the group a nonpartisan organization, but its work opposing Netanyahu raises questions about how the group was able to obtain U.S. funding. The United States typically avoids funding foreign partisan groups to avoid claims of political meddling. Even before MQG emerged as the leading force behind the current wave of anti-Netanyahu protests, it made a name for itself as a leading critic of the Israeli right, which has long seen Netanyahu as its leader. Given the Biden administration’s chilly diplomatic relationship with Netanyahu—which includes repeated criticism of Israeli settlement construction and the decision to launch an unprecedented FBI probe into Israel’s anti-terrorism operations—the U.S. funding to MQG has come under new scrutiny.
“The State Department should never fund foreign partisan organizations in allied democracies,” Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Free Beacon. “If the shoe was on the other foot, the Biden administration would accuse Israel of interfering in our elections. Congress should absolutely review the State Department’s potential funding of partisan politics in Israel.”
The State Department downplayed its funding for MQG and would not answer questions about whether U.S. funds could have been diverted to the organization’s anti-Netanyahu activities.
“The State Department has provided small grants to the Movement for Quality Government, including a grant signed in 2020 during the previous administration and continued under the Biden administration that focused on teaching civic education and supporting good governance,” a State Department official told the Free Beacon. The last tranche of funding was awarded in September 2022. The money was meant to be used for democracy training programs in the Israeli school system.
The State Department described MQG as “a respected, independent, non-partisan, grassroots non-governmental organization committed to promoting values of democracy, transparency, good governance, and civic participation.”
The United States provided funding to the group beginning in 2020, near the end of the Trump administration. One former senior U.S. official familiar with the matter said the grant was likely approved by career State Department officials and that the small amount of money likely went unnoticed by Trump administration political appointees who could have blocked it.
The State Department typically allows its grantees to self-report how the money is used, meaning there are few guardrails in place to prevent it from being spent on other causes, according to Gerald Steinberg, founder of NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that monitors these issues. “Few if any funders even attempt to monitor the actual use of grants,” he said.
Steinberg, who has closely followed MQG’s activities, noted that “if a foreign government had funded a similar NGO operating in the United States, the Biden administration would have taken immediate action.”
Grant information shows that MQG received grants of around $10,000 to $15,000 dollars in 2020, 2021, and 2022. In each of those years, the State Department was listed as the group’s sole foreign donor.
The majority of MQG’s funding comes from its membership dues and from donations made by charitable organizations. The group says it “is not willing, by principle, to receive any assistance from the governmental system,” but does not include a similar prohibition on foreign government funding. MQG did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment about how the U.S. funds were used. Israeli political observers also have raised concerns about whether the U.S. funding is helping to fuel opposition to Netanyahu’s government.
“The Movement for Quality Government has worked for decades to subvert Israeli democracy,” Caroline Glick, an Israel-based political pundit who first raised questions about State Department funding for the group in a column last month, told the Free Beacon. “It is a slap in the face of the Israeli public and an expression of contempt for Israeli democracy that the State Department is funding this radical group.”
The State Department has come under fire in the past for funding foreign groups opposed to Netanyahu. During the Obama administration, the State Department was caught deleting emails that showed it funded the OneVoice Movement, a liberal group that was waging an anti-Netanyahu smear campaign at the time.
The Biden administration also has come under fire for pushing an anti-Israel agenda through the Justice Department, which announced last year that it is conducting an unprecedented FBI investigation into Israel’s accidental shooting of a Palestinian-American reporter. |
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Color Revolutions: Biden Regime Sponsoring a Coup and Training Palestinian Terrorist Army in Israelby Richard Abelson, 15March2023 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/color-revolutions-biden-regime-sponsoring-a-coup-and-training-palestinian-terrorist-army-in-israel/ While US banks fail and the world teeters on the brink of WW III, the criminal Biden Regime is embarking on a series of regime change “color revolutions” around the world, seeking to destabilize conservative governments and install Washington-controlled puppets to do their bidding. The Gateway Pundit will expose these Open Society / National Endowment for Democracy led coup attempts, which seem to be the only thing the Blinken / Nuland / Sullivan Regime is any good at. Today: Israel. Thanks to phony corruption charges against Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has gone through five elections in three years, finally getting a stable conservative government again this year. Since the Israeli population is one of the few around the world to reliably vote for conservative, patriotic, right-wing parties, the Soros-funded Israeli left has no option other than to use foreign-funded NGOs and lawfare in the left-wing legal system to sabotage their country.
The Israeli Supreme Court has usurped the right to strike down democratically-ratified laws it finds “inappropriate”, to veto democratically elected ministers, and to nominate its own members in perpetuity. That is the reason why the top priority for the new Netanyahu government is to reform the legal system to be more like that in the US and other Western countries, where judges are appointed by the executive and ratified by parliament, and can only strike down laws that explicitly violate the Constitution. The reform enjoys broad support in Israel, since the Israeli populace has grown ever more right-wing, while the courts have veered ever further to the hard left. Watch Avi Abelow explain judicial reform in Israel here: The Shocking Truth about the Judicial Reform that the Media & Jewish Leadership are Hiding from usThe judicial reform would rob the Israeli and Soros left of their only tool in Israel. So naturally, they are going apeshit bonkers, threatening civil war, “Death to Netanyahu“, and calling for a violent coup. Last week, a crowd of 1000 radical leftists surrounded the Prime Minister’s wife Sarah Netanyahu at her hairdresser’s, where she had to be rescued by 300 policemen. Last week, radical leftists also demolished the offices of conservative think tank Kohelet and terrorized employees.
Now, journalist Caroline Glick has revealed how the Biden Regime is funding the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), “the far-left organization at the epicenter of the Israeli left’s war against the Netanyahu government. MQG began its current campaign of delegitimization, subversion and demonization immediately after the Netanyahu government was sworn into office on Dec. 29.” The Woke Penetration of Israel | Caroline Glick Show“According to MQG’s annual reports, for the past three years the State Department has been funding its programs for “democracy education” in Israeli high schools. Since MQG’s primary activity is subverting democracy in Israel by waging lawfare and sowing chaos in a bid to block democratically elected right-wing governments from fulfilling their pledges to voters, it’s fairly clear that when MQG refers to “democracy education,” it doesn’t mean majority rule”, Glick writes.
In an e-mail released by Israel’s Channel 14, the Soros-funded New Israel Fund admitted it was funding the anti-government protests, as JNS reports: “The New Israel Fund assisted with a special grant to the many civil society organizations that took part in the production of the huge demonstration on Saturday night in Tel Aviv,” the email quoted by Channel 14 stated, referring to a protest Jan 7. “Shatil from the New Israel Fund took part in coordinating and synchronizing the various parties that participated in the show of force,” it continued. Shatil is the operating arm of the New Israel Fund in Israel. According to Shatil’s website, “We support organizations and activists working to strengthen democratic society, offering cutting-edge capacity building, training, and guidance.” Channel 14 described the email as “precedent-setting,” as the New Israel Fund generally keeps a low profile and “works behind the scenes.”
Last week, Israel National News intercepted WhatsApp messages offering $70 plus gas money to help blockade the freeway leading to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
“Want to make a few shekels this Thursday?” the message read. “Come and shut down Ben Gurion Airport, and you’ll get 250 shekels plus gasoline. “This Thursday, at nine a.m., we’re all going to Ben Gurion Airport, with cars arriving from all over the country. We’ll be using a simple tactic: Driving around slowly, between the entrance to the airport and Terminal 3, and then back again, over and over again. The more cars there are, the bigger the impact at the airport for more hours. The idea is to enjoy a slow drive around the airport. Bring music, podcasts,” the message adds. The organizers stressed that, “Anyone who doesn’t coordinate with the organizers will not be paid,” and that people should “send your full name and make of vehicle to the organizers, so that we can register you and ensure that you’re paid.”
A senior government official traveling in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage on his weekend trip to Italy claimed on Friday that the mass protests against the government are funded by the Biden administration, The Times of Israel wrote: “This protest is financed and organized with millions of dollars,” he said. “We are following what is happening. This is a very high-level organization. There is an organized center from which all the demonstrators branch out in an orderly manner,” the senior official said. “Who finances the transportation, the flags, the stages? It’s clear to us,” he said.
While the Biden Regime and their Open Society allies are funding the attempted “color revolution” in Israel, it has also launched “a far more potentially dangerous and lethal attempt to destabilize the leading military power in the Middle East”, Tony Badran writes in Tablet. “The wave of domestic protests in Israel comes on the heels of the most deadly series of Palestinian terror attacks since the end of the Second Intifada. Incredibly, the U.S. is now proposing to take advantage of its ally’s political weakness by standing up a potential 5,000-man Palestinian terror army that would ostensibly fight terrorism in the West Bank in place of the (Israeli Army) IDF.”
On Sunday evening, Israel’s Channel 14 revealed that the summit’s agenda was a U.S. security “plan” to tamp down terrorist violence—and Israeli counterterror operations in Judea and Samaria”, Caroline Glick reports, “Among other things, the U.S. proposal entails a massive increase in the number of U.S.-trained Palestinian security personnel. The Biden administration wishes to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan and then deploy them to northern Samaria, and perhaps the South Hebron Hills—both major nodes of Palestinian terrorist activity.”
“The U.S. proposal would also require Israel to sharply curtail IDF counterterror operations. It foresees the deployment of foreign forces, including U.S. military forces, on the ground. The ostensible purpose of those forces would be to separate Palestinians from Israelis. In practice, such a deployment would pit U.S. and other forces against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians on behalf of the Palestinians.
Among the many alarming aspects of the U.S. plan is the fact that it ignores completely the direct involvement of Palestinian forces in terrorist attacks. During the course of the Palestinian terror war 20 years ago, U.S.-trained P.A. forces murdered 26 IDF soldiers in 2002 alone. The Palestinians learned how to use cell phones as remote detonation devices from their American trainers. Over the years, they have put that knowledge to use not to fight terror but to kill Israelis in terrorist attacks.
The P.A., whose forces the U.S. seeks to “empower,” is controlled by the Fatah terror group. P.A. chairman Mahmoud Abbas is the chairman of Fatah. Fatah terrorists carried out most of the murderous terror attacks in 2021-2022. Several of those attacks were carried out by P.A. security officers.” The Israel Guys: America PRESSURES Israel to Let The U.S. TRAIN a Palestinian ARMY “The State Department should never fund foreign partisan organizations in allied democracies,” Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon. “If the shoe was on the other foot, the Biden administration would accuse Israel of interfering in our elections. Congress should absolutely review the State Department’s potential funding of partisan politics in Israel.”
US Senator Tom Cotton wrote that Joe Biden “is simply following in Obama’s footstep by trying to sabotage Netanyahu. In 2021, the Biden administration reportedly pressured the United Arab Emirates to cancel an Abraham Accords Summit—all to deprive Netanyahu of a diplomatic victory ahead of that year’s election. And after Netanyahu won the 2022 election, the Biden administration immediately sought to undermine his coalition government by trying to veto key cabinet appointments.
This most recent scandal is not an aberration, therefore. It’s been the de facto policy of the Democratic Party for a quarter century to beat Netanyahu, though he keeps beating the Democrats. Though it does provide more evidence yet again for the old saw, that while it’s dangerous to be America’s enemy, it can be fatal to be America’s friend—at least when Democrats are in charge.
Instead of trying to topple the democratically elected government of Israel, I would suggest we should support it. Israelis are more than capable of managing their domestic affairs without Democratic meddling. But they need our help to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, they need our help to achieve peace with their neighbors, and they need our help to defeat the terrorists threatening both our nations.
Yet they don’t get that from the Biden administration, either. Iran is racing toward a nuclear breakout while the president dithers. His administration can barely utter the words ‘Abraham Accords.’ And President Biden is breaking U.S. law to subsidize the Palestinian Authority’s support for terrorism.” Avi Abelow speaks to Mort Klein, Zionist Organization of America: The Israel Guys visit the supposedly destroyed Palestinian village of Huwarrah:
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JerusalemCats Comments: The Hatred for Israel by the Democrats is not new. Just look at their past Democratic National Conventions.At the Democratic National Convention 2016
Protester burn Israeli flag outside DNC, Byron Tau/ Wall Street Journal
Palestine sic flag at Democrat Convention, Social Media Protesters burn Israeli flags outside the DNC and DNC delegates wave Palestine sic flags inside the DNCThe long-time Jewish worship of the Democratic Party is based on the false premise, that U. S. President F.D. Roosevelt was pro-Jewish and saved the world by defeating the Nazis. He is also credited with ending the Great Depression, and that is another untruth.
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How Some Americans Support Terrorism Against Israel by Bassam Tawil
 Pictured: Palestinian terrorists in Jenin on March 8, 2023, at the funeral of fellow terrorists who were killed the previous day when they attacked Israeli soldiers. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images) Pictured: Palestinian terrorists in Jenin on March 8, 2023, at the funeral of fellow terrorists who were killed the previous day when they attacked Israeli soldiers. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images) As Israel continues to face daily threats and terror attacks from Iran and its militia proxies, fourteen Democratic members of the US Congress have joined the Jihad (holy war) against Israelis by urging the Biden administration to reconsider US military aid to Israel.
The appeal, included in a letter signed by Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Bernie Sanders, was made public shortly after Palestinian terrorists shot dead a Jewish mother, Lucy Dee, 48, and her two daughters, Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, as they were driving to the north of Israel to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover.
In the letter, the lawmakers urged the Biden administration to ensure US taxpayer funds are not supporting “Israeli settlement projects,” and to determine whether US military aid is in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, which stipulates that US weapons are sold only for legitimate self-defense. “Furthermore, we call on your administration to ensure that all future foreign assistance to Israel, including weapons and equipment, is not used in support of gross violations of human rights,” the lawmakers said.
Lucy Dee and her two daughters, Rina and Maia, were among 19 Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the past two-and-a-half months. Last year, 33 Israelis were murdered and 192 injured in an unprecedented wave of terror attacks carried out by the Iranian-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) groups, in addition to other militias affiliated with the Palestinian ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Congressmen’s letter ignores the dramatic increase in terror attacks against Israelis and makes no reference to the scores of innocent civilians murdered over the past year by Palestinian terrorists. The letter further ignores that Israel’s counterterrorism measures, which aim to save the lives of Israelis and Palestinians alike, are a legitimate act of self-defense.
The Israeli measures, including raids on the homes of terrorists and confiscation of weapons and ammunition, are the direct result of a 300% increase in terror attacks over the past year. In 2022, there were more than 8,000 terror attacks, including 230 shootings, eight stabbings and seven car-rammings. When there is no terrorism, there is no need for Israel to launch counterterrorism operations.
By stating that the US should halt military aid to Israel, the signatories of the letter signatories of the letter are in fact saying that Israel has no right to defend itself against those who are openly calling for the elimination of Israel and engaged in daily attempts to murder Jews.
When Israel uses weapons, it is with the purpose of combating terrorism and protecting the lives of its people. When Palestinians use weapons, it is always with the aim of murdering Jews.
The Palestinians do not distinguish between a Jew living in Tel Aviv and a Jew living in the West Bank. As far as the Palestinians are concerned, all Israeli Jews are “settlers” living in one big illegitimate settlement, Israel, which needs to be replaced by a 57th Muslim state, as optimistically noted by the presence of “Palestine” among the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), reportedly the world’s “second-largest inter-governmental organization.”
The members of Congress, in their letter, talk about the need for the US to stop funding “Israeli settlement projects.” If this happens, it would be a big boost for Iran and its proxies — Hamas and PIJ in the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah in Lebanon — and even the Palestinian Authority. They outspokenly consider construction everywhere in Israel a “settlement project” and all Israeli Jews “settlers.” As official Palestinian television remarked, “All Israel is ‘our land Palestine’ – including Safed, Haifa, Acre, and Jaffa,” and “Israelis living in Haifa, Jaffa, and Be’er Sheva are ‘settlers.‘”
Hamas and its patrons in Iran are openly opposed to Jews building homes not only in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but anywhere in Israel. The reason? The mullahs in Tehran — and their proxies in Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah — believe that the entire country of Israel has no right to exist (here, here, here and here) and state (here, here and here) that Israel should be eradicated, primarily through Jihad (holy war).
Iran and its agents are undoubtedly delighted to see the Congressmen’s attacks on Israel and calls for halting US financial and military aid. The Iranian regime and its friends want to see no country supporting Israel — not politically, not financially, not militarily. They want to see a weak Israel that they can then rip to shreds, as they have done, and are still doing, to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
“The U.S. State Department reports that Iran provides some $100 million a year to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” multiple news outlets reported last week.
It is safe to assume that the letter signed by the Congressmen offers Iran’s mullahs and their proxy militias a ray of hope that US politicians and lawmakers are also seeking ways to undermine Israel by depriving it of financial and military aid, hence facilitating their mission of eliminating it.
Iran and its proxy terror groups are already encircling Israel. They are sitting on its southern border, in the Gaza Strip, from where Hamas and PIJ continue to fire rockets regularly at Israel. They are sitting on Israel’s northern border, in Lebanon and Syria, where Hezbollah also has a strong political and military presence. According to the Alma research center in northern Israel, “Hezbollah currently possesses several hundred advanced conventional weapons, 70,000 ‘regular’ Long – medium – short missiles and rockets, 145,000 mortars of all kinds, and about 2,000 UAVs.” — all pointed at a country, Israel, about the size of New Jersey, and posing a genocidal threat.
The Congressmen’s letter, however, does not make any reference to these existential threats that Israel continues to face from Iran and Palestinian and Lebanese terror groups.
The Congressmen who signed the letter claim that US aid to Israel is being used to fund abuses of Palestinians’ rights is, bluntly, nothing but libels and lies. Israel’s counterterrorism operations are directed solely against the terrorists and their enablers, not against the Palestinian people, most of whom are not involved in the latest spate of terror attacks.
That is why most of the Palestinians killed in these operations were not civilians but armed terrorists. Regrettably, a few civilians were unintentionally killed during the Israeli counterterrorism operations — but that is what happens when terrorists operate in dense residential areas and shoot at Israeli troops from the rooftops and windows of private homes. The terrorists are using “human shields” — innocent people deliberately placed in harm’s way during incoming fire. These antics are part of shopworn plan to try to make Israel, when it engages in a counterterrorism operation, look bad. As the schoolyard bully put it, “It all started when he hit me back.”
If the members of Congress want to find out about human rights violations, they are invited to take a look at the repressive measures taken by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip against their own people.
Where were these members of Congress when the Palestinian Authority security forces beat to death human rights activist Nizar Banat? Where were these members of Congress when Hamas recently arrested Salem al-Sabah, head of the University of Palestine? Hamas did not offer any explanation as to why al-Sabah was arrested, but according to unconfirmed reports he had been accused of “corruption” — a charge that may have been spurious. Hamas often just arrests political activists, journalists and academics who dare to criticize the terror group or its leaders.
Al-Sabah’s family and several academics denounced the arrest as “illegal and arbitrary.”
Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, Palestinian Authority governor of Gaza, also expressed solidarity with al-Sabah: “It is important that we preserve our reputation and cultural and scientific heritage,” he said. The University of Palestine issued a statement condemning the arrest, as well.
Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, there is no such thing as “free media.” Palestinian journalists are targeted on a dismayingly regular basis.
Do the members of Congress who signed the letter have anything to say about the abuses committed by Palestinians against Palestinians? Will these Congressmen call on the US administration to halt funding to the Palestinian leaders who are abusing their own citizens?
On the same day the letter was published, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces said he was optimistic about the chances that Israel would soon be destroyed. “With divine grace, soon there will be nothing called the Zionist regime,” he said. “The countdown for the disintegration of Zionism has begun.” In official jargon used by the Iranian regime, Israel is called “the Zionist entity” or “the Zionist regime.”
It is not clear whether the mullahs in Tehran were aware of the letter sent by their friends in the US Congress when they voiced hope that Israel was on its way to vanishing. What is clear, is that Israel’s ruthless enemies must be rejoicing each time they see Americans calling for punishing and imposing sanctions on the small state.
Israel and the Jews living in the land, for more than 100 years, have been under attack – since long before there ever were such political pretensions as “1948 borders” or “1967 borders.”
Now, as Israelis are once again burying their dead, a group of US Congressmen, instead of standing with Israel and condemning the terrorists, have chosen to call for weakening Israel and preventing it from carrying out even its basic duty of defending itself against terrorists who murder people for the “crime” of being Jews.
The Congressional letter awards a gold medal to the terrorists: it sends the message that if you are a terrorist, the US has your back.
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Biden’s Coup in IsraelBy Daniel Greenfield 04April2023 http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2023/04/bidens-coup-in-israel.html In the early days of March, a small crowd of leftists gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv holding up signs reading, “Biden help!” and “Biden, Blinken, Our democracy is sinking”. A speaker at the rally appealed to Biden to “save us from ourselves”.  leftists gathered outside U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv holding up signs Biden help! The consulate rally was held under the banner of “Defend Israeli Democracy” which had organized international protests against democratic judicial reform that would have restored checks and balances. International rallies, including one in Berlin which featured women dressed as the ‘handmaids’ from the TV show and signs accusing Israel of “fascism” and being an “apartheid state”, were not speaking to Israelis, but to the international anti-Israel Left.
Clips from the Tel Aviv rally were remixed by another of the interchangeable anti-democracy groups, Yalla Tikva, urging Biden to save Israeli democracy. The operation was as slick with professional videography, editing and branding as it lacked a clear transparent structure.
Protests like these were not so much appealing to Biden as coordinating with the administration.
The anti-democracy rallies by organizations claiming to be fighting for democracy paralleled an unprecedented degree of interference from the Biden administration.
“We don’t want to interfere,” Biden told reporters after Israel had surrendered on reforming the judiciary. “Anyway, we’re not interfering.”
“They cannot continue down this road,” he warned.
On Monday morning, Biden’s ambassador delivered an ultimatum to Netanyahu ordering him to stop the reforms. Later that day, Netanyahu officially announced a pause on judicial reform.
This followed public statements from every Biden administration official, including Secretary of Defense Austin, warning Israel not to proceed and urging the democratically elected government to turn over the process to its political opponent: leftist figurehead Herzog who had served as Marc Rich’s lawyer when negotiating a pardon with the Clinton administration.
Why was the Biden administration so obsessed with internal questions such as who picked Israeli Supreme Court justices and whether they could ever be overruled by the legislature?
While the leftist rioters in the streets clamored that they were fighting for democracy, the Supreme Court is the least democratic institution and the mobs were demanding that it stay that way. None of the American media outlets or politicians accusing the Israeli government of threatening democracy ever got around to explaining why elected officials selecting justices is a good thing in America and a bad thing in Israel. As Ruth Wisse, the greatest living Jewish academic, pointed out in the Wall Street Journal, some of the same advocates of weakening the United States Supreme Court violently denounced efforts to check the power of Israel’s court.
The Israeli Supreme Court is mostly immune to democratic influences like elections, and is not governed by a constitution, but derives its power from claiming unlimited standing to take on any cases it likes. But to trigger this superpower, it needs nonprofit groups to bring cases to it. These nonprofits are primarily funded by foreign interests from George Soros, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Tides Center to foreign governments in the European Union and America.
How it works is simple enough. A leftist nonprofit funded by a foreign government sets out to stop a policy by a democratically elected government. Even though it is in no way affected by a policy, such as building homes in Judea or cracking down on terrorism, it sues anyway. And even though it lacks any standing, the Supreme Court takes the case anyway and rules for it.
The actual case however was really brought by Soros or the EU or D.C. The Israeli Supreme Court acts as a rubber stamp for rule by foreign governments through leftist groups.
While a lot of the online protest groups conducting anti-democracy rallies were unknown, the larger Israeli rallies were led by the Movement for Quality Government. MQG is a serial plaintiff which repeatedly brings cases to the Supreme Court. In 2020, MQG hired a D.C. law firm to investigate Netanyahu. That same year, MQG began getting money from the State Department.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel claimed that this was false because MQG “received a modest grant from the State Department that was initiated during the previous administration” meant to promote civics in schools.
“Any notion that we are propping up or supporting these protests or the initiators of them is completely and demonstrably false,” Patel fumed.
But money is fungible and the State Department was well aware that MQG’s primary field of activity was lawfare. The plague of leftist nonprofits funded by foreign governments is an old problem that predates this administration. And touching it is the real red line.
In 2016, there was outrage when the Israeli legislature passed a law requiring nonprofits to disclose foreign funding. Even though the government bureaucracy refused to enforce the law, it nonetheless resulted in MGQ disclosing its funding from the State Department.
The State Department had claimed then that asking nonprofits to reveal foreign funding would “have a chilling effect on the activities that these worthwhile organizations are trying to do”.
Examples of such worthwhile activities had included the State Department funding a previous protest campaign against Netanyahu in 2015 using a “peacebuilding” nonprofit named One Voice.
In 2021, Israel cracked down on six nonprofits tied to terrorist organizations. The State Department warned, “we will be engaging our Israeli partners for more information regarding the basis for the designation. We believe respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance.”
The pattern is not difficult to spot.
The Biden administration, the EU and other leftist foreign governments use nonprofits and the legal system to control Israeli policy. When those tools of control are threatened, they step in.
The Obama and Biden administrations had fumed when Israel began forcing nonprofits to follow the law, but judicial reform was a line in the sand. Had judicial reform passed, democracy would have come to Israel. And a bunch of leftist governments couldn’t have used their puppets to overrule the will of the people. That was why they did everything they could to stop it.
What the media portrayed as organic protests were nothing of the kind. They were often backed and organized by tech companies. Some of those same companies, to protest judicial reform, announced that they were pulling their money out of Israel and sending them to SVB. The collapse of the bank, closely associated with leftist interests in the United States, was only a brief inconvenience since the Biden administration rushed to bail out its depositors.
Israeli startups draw on investments from American companies and investors: many of them close to the Biden administration. The SVB connection, a clearinghouse for woke capital, just spelled out the obvious. The coup against democracy was backed by foreign interests and implemented by the billionaires, who control much of the Israeli media, and leftist activists who are employed by nonprofits funded by foreign governments and foundations.
Political consultants rushed to brand the coup as a “democracy” movement even though there’s nothing less democratic than protecting an undemocratic institution from democratic change.
The Biden administration, which had been in on it all along, pushed for a “compromise” from Marc Rich’s former lawyer that would have kept the Left in power even while denying what it was doing, or that judicial reform was shut down after a Biden ultimatum.
Prime Minister Netanyahu backed down, as he often has, but the confrontation was revealing because the puppet masters were forced to show their hand. American Jews were largely fooled by the media’s propaganda campaign, but Israelis saw all too clearly who the activists and, more importantly, the Supreme Court really works for and whose power it serves.
The Israeli Left has consistently lost elections while clinging to power through undemocratic institutions like the Supreme Court and fake third parties. It’s fighting a war on democracy that it’s bound to lose. The ‘handmaids’ marching in Berlin and the radicals holding up posters accusing Israel of fascism in Hitler’s city have shown Israelis what they really are.
The greatest threat to democracy in Israel has always come from the Left. What was once a domestic oligarchy has evolved into a puppet regime. And the Israeli Zionists have learned that they can expose the puppet masters by pulling on the puppets and seeing who comes for them.
“Biden help!”, “Biden, Blinken, Our democracy is sinking”, “save us from ourselves”. Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center’s Front Page Magazine. |
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Zionism’s Moment of DecisionThe massive protests preceding Israel’s 75th birthday have resurrected a century-old question that now demands an answer: A Jewish state or state for Jews?by Liel Leibovitz April 19, 2023 https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/zionisms-moment-decision
Having just returned from Israel, the country where I was born and grew up, and of which I am still a proud citizen, I apologize for being the bearer of bad news: There will be no easy, sane, or rational end to the protest movement that erupted in response to the ruling coalition’s proposed judicial reforms. In fact, the content of those reforms has ceased to matter to anyone involved on either side. The government’s promise to temporarily halt the legislation and convene a broad-based committee tasked with finding a compromise under the supervision of President Herzog has barely registered with the protesters, and one major member of the opposition, the Labor Party, has already quit the negotiations. Nor did a string of gruesome terror attacks, coming on the heels of Passover, shift the collective focus away from taking to the streets. What is going on in Israel now has passed from the realm of the political to the metaphysical, which means that compromise is not possible. Instead, day by day, the arguments are getting louder and more cutting, and animosity is everywhere on display.
This is because Israelis realize, consciously or not, that they’re no longer arguing about a series of proposed bills designed to change the balance of power between the executive and the judiciary branches. Nor are they arguing about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition. Nor does it matter whether Netanyahu continues to lead his coalition, or steps down, or offers Benny Gantz the job of defense minister. Nor does it have anything to do with Jewish or Muslim demography, or with a future Palestinian state—whether or not such an entity ever exists, or doesn’t exist, in any part of the West Bank or Jordan.
Israelis aren’t arguing about politics anymore. They are fighting about the future, not only of Israel but of Zionism, the miraculous movement that, in the span of one century, freed the Jews from their respective houses of bondage, returned them to their indigenous homeland, taught them the spells of sovereignty, and powered their miniscule nation’s growth from embattled weakling to global powerhouse. And as a result, this is strictly an inter-Jewish affair, one pitting millennia of Jewish particularity against the promise of universalism once embodied in the Catholic Church, then in the Enlightenment, and now in the technocratic politics that unite the civilized right and the progressive left in the club of advanced countries that has, with increasing misgivings, included Israel among their number.
It’s a fight that isn’t going to end quickly, or with anything remotely resembling a compromise, because it’s about a question so central even the brave and prescient founders of the country avoided answering it. Israelis must now decide if they want a state for Jews, or a Jewish state.
Writing in 1888, the critic and essayist Asher Zvi Ginsberg, better known as Ahad Ha’am, or One of the People, argued that merely ushering scores of Jews to Eretz Yisrael would achieve little. Unless the Jews created a robust Jewish culture, he thundered, their experiment at self-government would produce just another diaspora, this one more tragic for taking root in the sacred soil of the Promised Land. Israel, he concluded, needed to become a spiritual center, a state unlike any other on Earth.
To today’s protesters, even the decidedly secular Ahad Ha’am’s answer sounds like more of a threat than a promise. Late at night at a Tel Aviv sidewalk cafe, I asked one of the leaders of the massive demonstrations now entering their 15th week to share with me her vision for Israel’s future. She declined to be identified by name—the movement’s leaders are reluctant to talk about who is organizing what, or paid for by whom—but she was happy to answer my question. “We’re here because we want this to be a normal state, you understand?” she said, “just like the United States or France or Germany. We don’t want this country to be taken over by those fanatics with their beards and their religion.” |
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The true agenda of Israel’s mass protests has been laid bareThat agenda includes America’s outrageous attack on Netanyahu’s right to govern. Op-ed.Melanie Phillips, 31March2023, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369482 (JNS) Whatever one thinks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, any true Israeli patriot will surely react viscerally to U.S. President Joe Biden’s outrageous attack on Israel’s right to govern itself without foreign interference.
On Monday, Netanyahu announced he was suspending his coalition’s judicial reform legislation in order to negotiate a compromise with the opposition.
The next day, Biden told Netanyahu to “walk away” from the legislation, saying he was “very concerned” about the health of Israeli democracy. Warning that Israel “cannot continue down this road,” he added for good measure that he wouldn’t be inviting Netanyahu to the White House “in the near term.”
It is deeply disturbing that the U.S. should brazenly and insultingly interfere in the internal affairs of another country and tell its prime minister how to behave. Biden was supposedly speaking as Israel’s friend, but he sounded like a colonial administrator barking at the natives to fall into line.
While Likud politicians hit the roof, left-wing and centrist politicians and commentators got behind Biden and kicked Netanyahu even more viciously in the head.
After three months of mass protests, incitement to hysteria and ludicrous hyperbole about the end of democracy that have caused Israel untold social, financial and reputational damage, those who shared responsibility for the crisis took their cue from Biden and blamed Netanyahu instead.
Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, called Biden’s comments “an urgent wake-up call for the Israeli government,” which he accused of delivering a “strategic blow” to Israel’s ties with the U.S.
One of his MKs, Gideon Sa’ar, declared, “Never has any government caused such immense damage to the country in such a short time.” He called Likud politicians’ objection to Biden’s unprecedented foreign interference “a total loss of judgment.”
This is all straight out of the Palestinian Arabs’ Orwellian playbook: Subject Israel to aggression and then blame Israel for causing that aggression by choosing to exist.
That’s not to say there aren’t valid concerns about Israel’s beleaguered prime minister. How could this master political strategist have been so maladroit that he ended up waving a white flag to the mob, thus dealing a terrible and possibly terminal blow to his own authority and to Israel’s defense against its enemies?
The obvious answer is that he was trapped. On the one hand, he should have realized far earlier than he did that he hadn’t taken enough of the public with him and therefore needed to make a tactical retreat to regroup. On the other hand, he needed to prevent his coalition allies from bolting and bringing down his government.
The truth is, however, that creating the current coalition, with its members over whom there are anxieties and for whose inflammatory agenda Netanyahu would personally have had little time, was the only way he could return as prime minister.
The reason for this was that Netanyahu had become a fatally divisive figure. It was obvious several years ago that, if he had stepped down, the Likud would probably have comfortably returned to power. The reason it did not, despite the blocs of voters who will always vote for Netanyahu, was because of the passionate dislike the prime minister now provokes.
Even among those who had previously voted Likud, many were alarmed by the way in which Netanyahu marginalized his ministers and concentrated power on himself. They believed he would say anything to get himself out of tight spots and then go back on his word.
The reason so many nevertheless stuck with him was his unmatched global strategic sense and clear understanding of the dire threats from both Iran and its Biden administration appeasers.
Now, his missteps have exhausted this priceless political capital and allowed the Biden administration to say that he’s finished—thus helping to potentially bring this about.
Even some of Netanyahu’s erstwhile supporters are wondering if he’s lost his touch. According to one poll this week, 53% of those who voted Likud in the last election said he was doing a bad job as prime minister.
Notwithstanding reservations about Netanyahu, however, we need to be very clear about what’s actually going on here. Biden’s remarks merely crystallize what’s been obvious from the start to those with eyes to see.
Whatever individual protesters may have told themselves, the real purpose of the uprising was not to stop judicial reform. It was to get rid of Netanyahu.
As the veteran law professor and Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz said on the TV station i24 a couple of weeks ago, the claim that the protests were intended to stop the judicial reforms from destroying democracy was patently ridiculous. The reforms, he said, would make Israel’s political system similar to that of countries like the U.S., Britain and Canada.
As Dershowitz observed, the real purpose of the massive protests was to overturn the result of Israel’s democratic election. And it would do this by making it impossible for Netanyahu to govern.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid launched the uprising with his battle cry of “bring the government down.” Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that, if the reforms passed, people were duty-bound to refuse orders by “an illegitimate regime” because it risked becoming a “de facto dictatorship.”
Protesters absurdly claimed that the reform program—proposed by a democratically elected government—was a “coup.” Since the obvious response to an actual dictator’s coup is to try to bring him down, it was disingenuous for those protesters to pretend they were merely objecting to the judicial reforms.
For its part, the Biden administration wants a pliable Israeli prime minister who won’t challenge its all-too-obvious decision to live with an Iranian nuclear bomb. It also requires a prime minister who will kowtow to American demands to give away land and Israel’s security to the Palestinian Arabs.
So, the Bidenites have been supporting the protests, not only verbally but reportedly financially too. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) tweeted this week: “It’s clear that Biden and his officials are high from funding what they believe to be successful anti-government protests in Israel.”
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon said the Biden administration believed Netanyahu was “imperiling the security interests of the U.S.” because “to them, democracy is like a religion; they don’t compromise.”
The administration’s views are preposterous. First, the “risk to democracy” from the judicial reforms is no more than feverish agitprop cynically aimed at enlisting the Israeli middle-class as useful idiots.
On Unherd, protest organizers admitted that they abandoned their original agenda of solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs when they realized the public relations damage done by waving the Palestinian flag. So, they flooded the protests with Israeli flags instead. One organizer said, “We sacrificed our own agenda so the middle-class would come.”
Moreover, the Biden administration is itself imperiling American and Israeli security by groveling to the Iranian regime and merely administering feeble slaps on the wrist when Iran attacks American assets.
Now that the left has been empowered by humbling Netanyahu, there will be no end to this. One of the elite reserve pilots who threatened not to serve over the reforms denounced Netanyahu’s pause as irrelevant. There was no need for negotiations, he said chillingly. No compromise would be acceptable. There should be no judicial reform at all.
A leader of the protesting pilots said that, although they were returning to duty, they will renew their threat if the negotiations don’t satisfy them.
The protesters’ success with their street uprising means they will henceforth use their newfound power to thwart the coalition’s ability to govern again and again.
That is the antithesis of democracy. It is truly frightening that so many in Israel today refuse to see it. Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for “The Times of London,” her personal and political memoir “Guardian Angel” has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, “The Legacy.” Go tomelaniephillips.substack.comto access her work. |
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