While many have hitched their hope for a return to normalcy and a sense of safety to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, early reports are cause for concern. It didn't take long before reports of serious side effects started emerging in popular media and on social media networks. Examples include:
High Rate of Side EffectsAccording to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,16 by December 18, 2020, 112,807 Americans had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Of those, 3,150 suffered one or more "health impact events," defined as being "unable to perform normal daily activities, unable to work, required care from doctor or health care professional." That gives us a side effect rate of 2.79%. Extrapolated to the total U.S. population of 328.2 million, we may then expect 9,156,780 Americans to be injured by the vaccine if every single man, woman and child is vaccinated. When I checked the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) January 13, 2021, the total number of reported adverse events for the COVID-19 vaccine (any manufacturer) stood at 3,920. Effectiveness QuestionedIn a January 4, 2021, article17 in The BMJ Opinion, Peter Doshi, associate editor of The BMJ, again raised questions about the stated efficacy rate of Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines, saying "we need more details and the raw data." Previously, in a November 26, 2020, BMJ article,18 Doshi had pointed out that while Pfizer claims its vaccine is 95% effective, this is the relative risk reduction. The absolute risk reduction is actually less than 1%. This is the typical Big Pharma trick: confusing absolute and relative risks. They played this card in spades with the statin drugs and made tens if not hundreds of billions in profits. He also stressed that severe side effects appear commonplace:
In his January 4 article,19 Doshi delves into recently released summary data20 given to the Food and Drug Administration. "While some of the additional details are reassuring, some are not," he says. In fact, his article outlines yet additional concerns "about the trustworthiness and meaningfulness of the reported efficacy results" of these two vaccines based on that data. Relative Risk Reduction May Be Far Below Required ThresholdFor starters, Doshi points out that Pfizer did not consistently confirm whether test subjects who showed symptoms of COVID-19 were actually PCR positive. Instead, a large portion of them were simply marked as "suspected COVID-19." In all, there were 3,410 cases of "suspected but not confirmed" COVID-19 in the total study population (vaccine group and controls), 1,594 of which occurred in the vaccine group. Only eight cases in the vaccine group were actually confirmed with PCR testing. The problem with this is that the 95% effectiveness rating is based on PCR confirmed cases only. Doshi writes:21
It's worth noting that, for some reason, far more people in the vaccine group ended up with COVID-19 symptoms within that first week than did those in the placebo group. Doshi goes on to state that if suspected cases occurred in people who had false negative PCR test results, then the vaccine's efficacy would be lowered even further. He also stresses that "average clinical severity" is not really all that important. What really matters is the "incidence of severe disease that affects hospital admissions." Unfortunately, and this is really shocking, the trials were not designed to assess whether the vaccines prevent transmission of the infection. Since they don't, "an analysis of severe disease irrespective of etiologic agent — namely, rates of hospitalizations, ICU cases, and deaths amongst trial participants — seems warranted, and is the only way to assess the vaccines' real ability to take the edge off the pandemic," Doshi writes. Why Were so Many in Vaccine Group Excluded?Another concern brought forth in Doshi's article is the exclusion of 371 participants from Pfizer's efficacy analysis due to "important protocol deviations on or prior to seven days after Dose 2." Of those, 311 were from the vaccine group while only 60 were in the placebo group. This marked imbalance is cause for concern. Why were five times as many in the vaccine group excluded from the efficacy analysis than in the placebo group? And what exactly were these "protocol deviations" that caused them to be excluded? This is called stacking the deck so the results can be manipulated in the desired direction to "prove" effectiveness, when it is merely a statistical manipulation. Confounding FactorsDoshi is also concerned about the confounding role of pain and fever medications. These kinds of medications can mask symptoms, resulting in mild cases of COVID-19 going undetected, especially since all participants were not tested. They can also mask side effects of the vaccine. The data suggest that in the Pfizer trial, pain and fever medication was taken three to four times more often by vaccine recipients than among those in the placebo group though, and according to Doshi:
He also questions Pfizer's use of an "adjudication committee" to count COVID-19 cases. "Were they blinded to antibody data and information on patients' symptoms in the first week after vaccination?" he asks. "What criteria did they employ, and why, with a primary event consisting of a patient-reported outcome (COVID-19 symptoms) and PCR test result, was such a committee even necessary?" Furthermore, the committee consisted not of licensed doctors but of Pfizer staff members, which makes one wonder whether they had the appropriate qualifications to determine whether someone might have COVID-19 or not. Does Vaccine Work in Those Who Already Had COVID-19?Lastly, it's important to ascertain how the vaccine works for those who have already had COVID-19, seeing how the vaccine is recommended for everyone, regardless of whether or not you've already recovered from the infection. Here, the data reveal something rather odd. Doshi writes:22
Vaccine Rollout Coincides With OutbreakWhether or not the vaccine is helpful or harmful in people who either had COVID-19 before, or are currently positive for SARS-CoV-2 or ill with COVID-19 symptoms, is an important question now that these vaccines are being rolled out. Case in point: In Auburn, New York, a COVID-19 outbreak began December 21, 2020, in a Cayuga County nursing home.23,24 Before this outbreak, no one in the nursing home had died from COVID-19. The next day, December 22, they started vaccinating residents and staff. The first death was reported December 29, 2020. Between December 22, 2020, and January 9, 2021, 193 residents (80%) received the vaccine, as did 113 staff members. As of January 9, 2021, 137 residents had been infected and 24 had died. Forty-seven staff members had also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and one was on life-support. Considering we're seeing cases in which healthy young and middle-aged individuals die within days of receiving the vaccine, it's not inconceivable that the vaccine might have something to do with this dramatic rise in deaths among the elderly. In fact, I'd expect it. You can rest assured that the public health authorities and media will never report on these observations. Anything that conflicts with vaccine safety and effectiveness will be intentionally and universally buried. This is precisely their modus operandi of the past three decades. If anything, the suppression of the facts will only be amplified. Vaccine May Trigger More Serious IllnessOne of the original concerns with COVID-19 vaccines was the possibility of paradoxical immune enhancement or antibody-dependent enhancement. As discussed in my May 2020 interview with Robert Kennedy Jr., embedded above for your convenience, this is why previous coronavirus vaccines have failed. As noted in the study,25 "Informed Consent Disclosure to Vaccine Trial Subjects of Risk of COVID-19 Vaccine Worsening Clinical Disease," published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice October 28, 2020, "COVID‐19 vaccines designed to elicit neutralizing antibodies may sensitize vaccine recipients to more severe disease than if they were not vaccinated."
The 2003 review paper, "Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Virus Infection and Disease," explains it this way:27
Pathogenic Priming — Another Significant RiskBut that's not all. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines may also trigger autoimmune reactions through a process called "pathogenic priming." According to a 2020 paper28 in the Journal of Translational Autoimmunity, "Pathogenic priming likely contributes to serious and critical illness and mortality in COVID-19 via autoimmunity," noting that the same may apply post-vaccination. As explained in this paper, all but one of SARS-CoV-2 immunogenic epitopes are similar to human proteins. Epitopes29 are sites on the virus that allow antibodies or cell receptors in your immune system to recognize it. This is why epitopes are also referred to as "antigenic determinants," as they are the part that is recognized by an antibody, B-cell receptor or T-cell receptor. Most antigens — substances that bind specifically to an antibody or a T-cell receptor — have several different epitopes, which allow it to be recognized by several different antibodies. According to the author, some epitopes can cause "autoimmunological pathogenic priming due to prior infection or following exposure to SARS-CoV-2 … following vaccination." In other words, if you've had the infection once, and get reinfected (either by SARS-CoV-2 or a sufficiently similar coronavirus), the second bout has a great potential to be more severe than the first. Similarly, if you get vaccinated and are then infected with SARS-CoV-2, your infection may be more severe than had you not been vaccinated. For this reason, "these epitopes should be excluded from vaccines under development to minimize autoimmunity due to risk of pathogenic priming," the paper warns. The abstract lays out the basics of the pathogenic priming process.30 Autoimmune Reactions Involved in Many Lethal COVID-19 CasesAccording to the author, autopsies suggest many lethal COVID-19 cases were likely due to autoimmune reactions. A combination of genetic and environmental factors will influence a person's individual risk for this, just as genetic and environmental factors influence your risk of getting sick from the virus in the first place.
Do a Risk-Benefit Analysis Before Making Up Your MindAdditional studies explaining how coronavirus vaccines can cause problems can be found in "How COVID-19 Vaccine Can Destroy Your Immune System." In closing, I would urge you to review the science before making up your mind about the vaccine. That includes mortality data for COVID-19, which is actually surprisingly low. The lethality of COVID-19 is actually lower than the flu for those under the age of 60.31 If you're under the age of 40, your risk of dying from COVID-19 is just 0.01%, meaning you have a 99.99% chance of surviving the infection. And you could improve that to 99.999% if you're metabolically flexible, insulin sensitive, and vitamin D replete. So, really, what are we protecting against with a COVID-19 vaccine? As mentioned, the vaccines aren't even designed to prevent infection, only reduce the severity of symptoms. Meanwhile, they could potentially make you sicker once you're exposed to the virus, and/or cause persistent serious side effects such as those listed at the beginning of this article. While I won't tell anyone to do, I would urge you to take the time to CAREFULLY review the science and weigh the potential risks and benefits based on your individual situation before you make a decision that you may regret for the rest of your life, which can actually be shortened with this vaccine. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/26/covid-vaccine-side-effects.aspx
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Tech giants with deep ties to the U.S. national security state — Microsoft, Oracle and the MITRE Corporation — announced that they had partnered with several health care companies to create the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI) to advance the implementation of digital COVID-19 vaccination records. According to a Reuters report, the VCI “aims to help people get encrypted digital copies of their immunization records stored in a digital wallet of their choice” because the “current system [of vaccination records] does not readily support convenient access and sharing of verifiable vaccination records.”1 The initiative, on its website,2 notes that the VCI is a public-private partnership “committed to empowering individuals with digital vaccination records” so that participants can “protect and improve their health” and “demonstrate their health status to safely return to travel, work, school and life while protecting their data privacy.” The initiative is essentially built on a common framework of digital vaccination “wallets” called SMART Health Cards that are meant to “work across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries”3 as part of a new global vaccination-record infrastructure. The host of the VCI website and one of the initiative’s key backers is the Commons Project Foundation. That foundation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF), runs the Common Trust Network,4 which has three goals that are analogous to those of VCI. As listed on the WEF website, the network’s goals are (1) to empower individuals by providing digital access to their health information; (2) to make it easier for individuals to understand and comply with each destination’s requirements; and (3) to help ensure that only verifiable lab results and vaccination records from trusted sources are presented for the purposes of cross-border travel and commerce. To advance these goals, the Common Trust Network is powered by “a global registry of trusted laboratory and vaccination data sources” as well as “standard formats for lab results and vaccination records and standard tools to make those results and records digitally accessible.” Another, and related, Commons Project Foundation and WEF partnership is CommonPass. CommonPass, which is also supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, is both a framework and an app that “will allow individuals to access their lab results and vaccination records, and consent to have that information used to validate their COVID status without revealing any other underlying personal health information.” Current members5 of CommonPass, including JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, are also members of the Common Trust Network. This overlap between the Commons Project Foundation/WEF partnerships and the VCI illustrates that the WEF itself is involved with the VCI, albeit indirectly through their partners at the Commons Project Foundation. The Commons Project Foundation itself is worth exploring, as its cofounders, Paul Meyer and Bradley Perkins, have long-standing ties to the RAND Corporation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Rescue Committee, as noted by MintPress News.6 The IRC, currently run by Tony Blair protégé David Milliband, is developing7 a biometric ID and vaccination-record system for refugees in Myanmar in cooperation with the ID2020 Alliance, which is partnered with CommonPass backer, the Rockefeller Foundation. In addition, the ID2020 Alliance funds the Commons Project Foundation and is also backed by Microsoft, one of the key companies behind the VCI. Wearable IDs for Your Health and Your WalletOverlap between digital vaccination records, promoted via initiatives such as CommonPass and VCI, and the push for a new global digital-identity system is no coincidence. Indeed, the developer of VCI’s SMART Health Cards framework at Microsoft Health, Josh C. Mandel, noted in his overview presentation8 on that framework that digital identity is integral to the digital vaccination-record effort. SMART Health Cards, as of now, are expected to include a person’s complete name, gender, birth date, mobile phone number and email address in addition to vaccination information, though it is possible and likely that more personal information will be required as the initiative advances, given that VCI states that these identifiers are merely a starting point.9 While advertised as digital vaccination records, SMART Health Cards are clearly intended to be used for much more. For instance, public information on the framework notes that SMART Health Cards are “building blocks that can be used across health care,” including managing a complete immunization record that goes far beyond COVID-19 vaccines, sharing data with public health agencies and communication with health care providers. Yet, this framework will not be limited to health care information, as Mandel has said. In his presentation, he notes the application of SMART Health Cards could soon be used as IDs for commercial activity, such as renting a car. The VCI framework’s use of the term “digital wallet” to refer to its digital vaccination record is also suggestive of future connectivity to economic activity. Efforts to link digital identity, not just to economic activity but also to health data, have recently escalated, for example with the piloting of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (aka GAVI)–Mastercard–Trust Stamp partnership in Africa.10 That program, first launched in 2018, links Trust Stamp’s digital-identity platform with the GAVI-Mastercard Wellness Pass, a digital vaccination record, and Mastercard’s click-to-pay system run on AI technology called NuData. Mastercard and GAVI are both partnered with the ID2020 Alliance, which includes VCI member Microsoft. Given the reasonable speculation that such platforms would utilize digital currency, specifically cryptocurrency, for financial activity, it is worth noting that VCI member Microsoft filed a patent in 201911 that would allow “human body activity,” including brain waves and body heat, to mine (i.e., generate) cryptocurrency. This, of course, would link biometrics to financial activity, among other things. Such a system, as laid out in the Microsoft patent, would likely require the introduction of wearables in order to be implemented. Notably, numerous wearables for contactless identity, digital travel passes and payment devices have recently been launched. Examples include DigitalDNA,12 Proxy,13 and FlyWallet.14 FlyWallet is particularly notable as their latest product, Keyble,15 is a wearable that combines digital identity through fingerprint authentication, which enables both contactless payments and health applications such as vital-sign monitoring and data sharing with insurance companies and health care providers. Sponsored by Spooks and Silicon ValleyThe SMART Health Cards framework was developed by a team led by the chief architect of Microsoft Healthcare, Josh Mandel, who was previously16 the Health IT Ecosystem lead for Verily, formerly Google Life Sciences. Verily is currently heavily involved in COVID-19 testing17 throughout the U.S., particularly in California, and links test recipients’ results to their Google accounts.18 Their other COVID-19 initiatives have been criticized due to still-unresolved privacy concerns,19 something that has also plagued several of Verily’s other efforts20 pre-COVID-19, including those involving Mandel. Of particular concern is that Verily, and by extension Google, created Project Baseline, which has been collecting21 “actionable genetic information” with a focus on “population health” from participants since 2017. Yet, during the COVID-19 process, Project Baseline has become an important component22 of Verily’s COVID-19 testing efforts, raising the unsettling possibility that Verily has been obtaining Americans’ DNA data through its COVID-19 testing activities. While Verily has not addressed this possibility directly, it is worth noting that Google has been heavily involved in amassing genomic data for several years. For instance, in 2013, Google Genomics was founded23 with the goal of storing and analyzing DNA data on Google Cloud servers. Now known as Cloud Life Sciences, the Google subsidiary has since developed AI algorithms24 that can “build your genome sequence” and “identify all the mutations that an individual inherits from their parents.” Google also has close ties with the best-known DNA testing companies in the U.S., such as Ancestry.com. Ancestry, recently purchased by private-equity behemoth Blackstone, shares data with a secretive Google subsidiary25 that uses genomic data to develop lifespan-extending therapies. In addition, the wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, is the cofounder and CEO of DNA testing company 23andMe. Wojcicki is also the sister of the CEO of Google-owned YouTube, Susan Wojcicki. Google and the majority of VCI’s backers — Microsoft, Salesforce, Cerner, Epic, the Mayo Clinic, and MITRE Corporation, Change Healthcare — are also prominent members of the MITRE-run COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition.26 Other members of that coalition include the CIA’s In-Q-Tel and the CIA-linked data-mining firm Palantir,27 as well as a myriad of health care and health-record companies. The coalition fits well with the ambitions of Google and like-minded companies that have sought to gain access to troves of American health data under the guise of combating COVID-19. The COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition describes itself28 as a public-private partnership that has enabled “the critical infrastructure to enable collaboration and shared analytics” on COVID-19 through the sharing of health-care and COVID-19 data among members. That this coalition and VCI are intimately involved with MITRE Corporation is significant, given that MITRE is a well-known, yet secretive, contractor for the U.S. government, specifically the CIA and other intelligence agencies, which has developed29 Orwellian surveillance and biometric technologies, including several now focused on COVID-19. Just three days before the public announcement of VCI’s establishment, Microsoft Healthcare and Google’s Verily announced a partnership30 along with MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute to share the companies’ cloud data and AI technologies with a “global network of more than 168,000 health and life sciences partners” to accelerate the Terra platform.31 Terra, originally developed by the Broad Institute and Verily, is an “open data ecosystem” focused on biomedical research, specifically the fields of cancer genomics, population genetics and viral genomics. The biomedical data32 Terra amasses includes not only genetic data but also medical-imaging, biometric signals and electronic health records. Google, through its partnership with the Pentagon, which was announced last September, has moved to utilize the analysis of such data in order to “predictively diagnose”33 diseases such as cancer and COVID-19. U.S. military contractors, such as Advanced Technology International,34 have been developing wearables that would apply that AI-driven predictive diagnosis technology to COVID-19 diagnoses. Predictive COVID-19 diagnosis is also an ambition of another company that backs VCI, Salesforce. Salesforce is one of three companies that created COVID 360,35 which Salesforce senior vice president Bob Vanstraelen describes as36 a “free full Coronavirus treatment solution for patients and citizens at risk” that is hosted on Salesforce Health Cloud and was by Deloitte’s Israel branch and the Israeli intelligence-linked AI firm Diagnostic Robotics.37 COVID 360 uses the Diagnostic Robotics clinical-predictions platform and applies it to COVID-19 so that “government agencies or caretakers” can identify individuals “in proximity to a potential positive coronavirus case” and mandate coronavirus testing and/or treatment regimes, based on a risk profile generated by COVID 360. Diagnostic Robotics and Salesforce are both members of the MITRE-run COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition. Salesforce founder, chair, and CEO Marc Benioff was previously a vice president at Oracle. Oracle, another VCI backer, was created as a spin-off of a CIA project38 of the same name, and its top executives have close ties to the outgoing Trump administration and also to Israel’s government. While Benioff’s pre-Salesforce history to a CIA-linked company like Oracle is significant, Benioff’s close ties to the World Economic Forum39 also deserve greater scrutiny. Benioff is not only a member of the WEF’s board of trustees, but he is also the inaugural chair of the forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a “revolution” that its architect and WEF founder Klaus Schwab defines40 as a merging of humans’ physical, digital and biological identities. Benioff is also the owner and co-chair41 of Time magazine, which recently ran an entire issue42 focused on promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the WEF-backed Great Reset. Benioff also serves on the Council for Inclusive Capitalism,43 a collaboration between the Vatican and oligarchs to create a “more inclusive, sustainable and trusted economic system” for the 21st century. Alongside Benioff on the council are well-known figures such as Lynn Forester de Rothschild (close associate of Jeffrey Epstein and the Clintons44), Mark Carney (UN special envoy for Climate Action and former governor of the Bank of England), and William Lauder (executive chairman of Estée Lauder, nephew of Mega Group45 member Ronald Lauder) as well as the top executives of MasterCard, Visa, Dupont, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, BP and Bank of America. Also present are the heads of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. Benioff and others mentioned in this article are perfect examples of the cross-pollination between groups of oligarchs and their associated foundations and organizations and how these networks are working together to pursue a common agenda. While the push for combining digital identity with vaccination records and economic activity appears, superficially, to be the effort of various organizations and groups, the same individuals and entities appear time and again, pointing to a coordinated push to not only implement such a system but manufacture consent for such a system among the global population. The effort to manufacture consent for an all-encompassing digital identification system is notable given that its main selling point thus far has been coercion. We have been told that without such a system we will never be able to return to work or school, never be able to travel or never be allowed to participate normally in the economy. While this system is being introduced in this way, it is essential to point out that coercion is a built-in part of this infrastructure and, if implemented, will be used to modify human behavior to great effect, reaching far beyond just the issue of COVID-19 vaccines. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/26/global-initiative-for-covid-19-vaccine-records.aspx 1 Which of the following statements is correct?
2 To create the vaccine-acquired herd immunity required to end the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines must be able to:
3 Which of the following appears to play an important role in COVID-19, influencing COVID-19-specific disease processes such as viral replication and invasion, cytokine storm induction, adaptive immunity and hypercoagulability?
4 Compared to wild-caught salmon, farmed salmon contains:
5 According to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, which of the following companies has monopoly power and is using that power to eliminate its competition?
6 Who is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit U.S. organization that has worked closely with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China?
7 More than 99% of your genes come from which of the following?
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/25/week-166-health-quiz.aspx Knowledge is power. So is ownership, including land ownership. Did you know that Bill Gates is America’s top farmland investor? This short video reveals many of the global strategies Gates has been using to influence your health and the food supply. Through his founding of the second-largest technological company in the world,1 Gates has developed financial and influential relationships with powerful organizations responsible for many global decisions that affect your life. Subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, his movements have grown a massive financial empire and expanded his ability to create change to support his goals. Gates is also a supporter of the “Great Reset” that promises "social cohesion, fairness, inclusion and equality,"2 while allowing elite billionaires to practice strategies that grew his and other billionaires’ wealth by 26% during the pandemic in 2020.3 In other words, while supporting Marxist principles to spread the wealth — so by 2030 you can say, “I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy and Life Has Never Been Better”4 — he is enjoying the fruits of his labor by accumulating more wealth and property, a decidedly different approach to the Great Reset he promotes. Put plainly, the political and ideological foundations of Marxism have once again surfaced, and in some arenas, are celebrated. However, it’s vital to remember that unlike Walgreens’ advertising campaign featuring a picture-perfect town of “Perfect,”5 Marxist philosophy has created tyranny and was responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million people in the last century, as aptly described by James Bovard in USA Today.6 History is studied and shared so the mistakes of the past are not repeated. However, it’s evident there are many who have forgotten, or never learned, what resulted behind the Iron Curtain from implementing the socialist principles which now underpin the Great Reset. The Great Reset or Fourth Industrial Revolution has strong supporters among wealthy technocrats who will not redistribute their own wealth, but will only continue to grow their financial empires as the rest of the world suffers. Indeed, 2020 has only been a taste of what could come as more people lose their jobs and financial security, while those controlling the event become wealthier. Bill Gates Is Now the Biggest Farmland OwnerThe Land Report announced that multibillionaire Bill Gates currently holds the title as America’s biggest private farmland owner. He owns 242,000 acres, nearly 52,000 more than the next largest farmland owner.7 To put this in perspective, 52,000 is equal to 39,325 football fields, including the end zones.8 His farmland (approximately 378.125 square miles) would rank in total land mass as the eighth largest city in the U.S. in 2010.9 It was Eric O'Keefe from the Land Report10 who ferreted out the story after reading that 14,500 acres of choice farmland in Benton County, Washington, had been sold for $171 million, or nearly $12,000 per acre. O'Keefe describes the area as “some of the richest farmland in the Lower 48,” that “savvy investors have been plowing millions of dollars into.”11 Although the seller was listed as John Hancock Life Insurance, the buyer was reported as a limited liability company from Louisiana. Digging deeper and engaging their research team, he discovered the paper trail led to a company managed by Michael Larson, manager of the Gates’ personal portfolio and much of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the last 25 years. Larson primarily uses Cascade Investment LLC as the entity through which he manages their personal portfolio. O'Keefe details the sequence in which the land changed hands over 10 years. The largest single block of farmland was quietly acquired by Cascade in 2017, one year after it was purchased by a Canadian firm.12 The sale was revealed in the Canadian firm’s quarterly statement, in which they reported offloading $520 million in farmland offered in a single block. An investigative journalist ultimately found the half-billion-dollar sale led to Cascade Investment LLC. Gates Is Not the Largest Individual LandownerGates owns a substantial amount of land, for a total of 268,894 acres if you count his transitional and recreational properties. But, he's not the only billionaire who tops the Land Report list. Stewart and Lynda Resnick, co-founders of Wonderful Company, come in at No. 2, owning 190,000 acres. They use their farmland to support their food products, such as Wonderful Pistachios and Wonderful Halos Mandarin oranges.13 Gates also is not the largest individual landowner overall, as that spot goes to John Malone, chairman of the board at Liberty Media Corporation and former chief executive officer for Tele-Communications Inc.14 Malone owns 2.2 million acres of forest and ranch land; media Mogul Ted Turner owns 2 million across eight states.15 Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is also heavily invested in land, coming in the 25th spot at 420,000 acres located mostly in Texas.16 The remaining list is filled with recognizable names, including the King Ranch, Ford family and the Kennedy Memorial Foundation.17 In addition to farmland, Cascade Investment has purchased 24,800 acres of transitional property west of Phoenix, which is poised for city expansion projected to include: “up to 80,000 homes; 3,800 acres of industrial, office and retail space; 3,400 acres of open space; and 470 acres for public schools.”18 Cascade also bought 1,234 recreational acres, making the land Gates owns through just Cascade Investment LLC at 268,984 acres. Separate from the Gates’ personal holdings is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has no ties to Cascade, but does have a farmland initiative called Gates Ag One, which19
What Is the Leading Harvest Standard?Although Cascade Investment has declined to make any comment on the quiet transactions through the Canadian company, they have come out in support of sustainable farming. One of the entities owned by Cascade, Cottonwood Ag Management, is an initial member of Leading Harvest, a nonprofit organization formed to advance:20
As O'Keefe describes it, the goal is to create a “sustainability standard that can be implemented across the greatest swath of agricultural acreage.”21 Yet, while this goal is commendable, they remain words on paper without a substantive foundation. In other words, according to the organization, they do not offer farmers guidance to achieve the goal, only the formation of a certification program to audit the farmers’ results.22 In their publication, they describe the program:23
In other words, instead of guidance and standards for how the farmer achieves sustainability and protects the future of farming, they created a certification for farmers to demonstrate their participation in developing practices where the end result meets their standard — do the ends justify the means? Gates Seeking Sustainable Energy in All the Wrong PlacesGates has been calling for sustainable energy and a reduction of carbon emissions for over a decade.24 At one point in a 2010 TED talk, he questioned if we need another Manhattan Project to discover a renewable and safe energy source. If you don’t remember, the Manhattan Project was the code name given to an operation aimed at discovering a functional nuclear weapon,25 that resulted in a bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. When asked how he would deal with climate change skeptics, he said:26
Gates spoke about climate change and the technological advancements that may be necessary in an interview with a journalist from The Atlantic in 2015. The journalist recorded this response:27
Gates Calls Plant-Based and Lab-Grown Meat SustainableWhile Gates may not think highly of the government or entrepreneurs, he does believe that plant-based and lab-grown meat alternatives are healthy and sustainable. Historically, some of the decisions from the Gates Foundation haven’t been focused on the environment but, rather, cloaked in rhetoric that appears environmentally friendly. For example, despite a lack of consensus on GMO safety,28 in 2010 the Gates Foundation aligned itself with Monsanto and Cargill. They invested nearly $23 million in 500,000 Monsanto shares. Subsequently, a South African watchdog group discovered the Gates Foundation had also invested $10 million in Cargill to “develop the soya value chain,”29 which The Guardian wrote probably meant the “big time introduction of GM soy in southern Africa.”30 In 2010, The Guardian also reported that Gates had funded research to develop machines that would spray seawater into the clouds with the goal of increasing the ability to reflect sunlight into space, and therefore reduce global warming. The move triggered a call for a global ban on geoengineering experiments from the ETC Group and a comment from co-executive director Jim Thomas:31
Not to be deterred by naysayers, eight years later in 2018 Gates agreed to help fund experiments for Harvard scientists, who proposed to spray the stratosphere with calcium chloride to help slow the Earth’s warming.32 In keeping with past decisions, Gates also supports plant-based and lab-grown meat alternatives,33,34 which are riddled with patented chemicals and genetically engineered ingredients. Seth Itzkan from Soil4Climate, characterizes one fake-meat product this way:35
Presumably, his support of chemical food, reminiscent of the DuPont slogan “Better things for better living through chemistry,”36 is to reduce carbon emissions. However, as has been documented and covered in “More Reasons to Avoid “Beyond” Fake Meat,” regenerative farming practices are better for the land, the animals and your health. Your Health Depends on Whole FoodConvinced that their method of producing chemical-based food reduces the carbon footprint, Impossible Foods hired Quantis to give them scientific evidence.37 According to the executive summary published on their website, their product reduces the environmental impact between 87% and 96% in the categories Quantis studied, including global warming potential, land occupation and water consumption. However, Quantis compared fake meat production against CAFOs, which are notoriously destructive. On the other hand, White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, practices true sustainable, regenerative farming and produces high-quality, grass fed products. White Oak Pastures commissioned the same analysis, by the same company, which showed they had a net total emission in the negative numbers.38 It's also worth noting that the Impossible Burger is made from GMO soy containing glyphosate. Your health and longevity are dependent on providing your body with necessary nutrients from whole food. It's simply impossible to be sustained by synthetic chemicals, toxic GMO grains contaminated with pesticides and fake meat. Regenerative farming practices can provide whole food and can have a positive impact on the environment. Imagine the powerful influence Gates could have on the environment and the country if he would move his massive acreage into regenerative farming practices. This could raise the quality of food the land produces and demonstrate sustainable practices that can be followed around the world. Instead, it appears that financial motivations are helping to drive environmental decisions to support his personal goals. The movement to develop fake food is lucrative as I discuss in “The Fake Food Race is Worth $3 Trillion.” However, you can protect your health and your future by starting with a few simple guidelines that I outline in the linked article. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/25/bill-gates-biggest-private-farmland-owner.aspx When it comes to the treatment of COVID-19, many Western nations have been hobbled by the politicization of medicine. Throughout 2020, media and many public health experts warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, despite the fact that many practicing doctors were praising its ability to save patients. Many of them were silenced through online censorship. Some even lost their jobs for the “sin” of publicly sharing their successes with the drug. Another decades-old antiparasitic drug that offers great hope is ivermectin, but it too is being hushed up by mainstream media. Trial Site News1 tells the story of a 77-year-old Indian couple, both of whom became ill with COVID-19. One successfully recuperated following treatment with hydroxychloroquine. The other with ivermectin. While ivermectin certainly appears to be a useful strategy, which is why I am covering it, please understand it is not my primary recommendation. If you are looking at this as a magic bullet, think again. You are far better off first optimizing your vitamin D levels as I have discussed in dozens of previous articles that you can easily find in the search engine at the top of the page. Remember, you need vitamin D for a wide variety of functions in your body in addition to optimizing your immune response. Although ivermectin is a relatively safe drug, it is still an unnatural synthetic chemical that can have side effects. Vitamin D is something your body absolutely requires for optimal health, which is why I would encourage you to focus on vitamin D first. Inexpensive Treatment Responsible for India’s Success?Getting back to ivermectin, Trial Site News reported2 that “Ten months into its battle with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, India is on track to become an unexpected warrior in the fight against this global pandemic. Although the densely-populated nation has four times the population of the U.S., India has less than half the U.S. COVID deaths.” While India had a daily positive test rate of nearly 100,000 back in September 2020, by the end of December 2020, the infection rate had dropped by 75%. While this rapid decline is by and large being attributed to strict lockdowns, universal mask wearing and extensive contact tracing and testing, the availability and use of effective treatments likely plays a pivotal role. In late March 2020, India added hydroxychloroquine to its national treatment guidelines, urging the drug be used “as early in the disease course as possible.” It was not recommended for those hospitalized with severe illness. Then, in August 2020, India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, which has some 230 million residents, added ivermectin to its recommendations and distributed the drug for home care free of charge. The state of Bihar, which has 128 million residents, also started recommending ivermectin, and by the end of 2020, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had the lowest and second-lowest COVID-19 fatality rates in all of India. Uttar Pradesh, however, took it a step further than Bihar. They also used ivermectin as a prophylactic, first among health care workers and then among people who had come in contact with a person who tested positive. This drug makes far more sense in India as the vast majority of the population indeed suffer with parasites as a result of largely contaminated municipal water supplies. Frontline Doctors Call for Adoption of IvermectinIn the U.S., the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) is now calling for widespread adoption of Ivermectin, both as a prophylactic and for the treatment of all phases of COVID-19.3,4 December 8, 2020, FLCCC president Dr. Pierre Kory, former professor of medicine at St. Luke’s Aurora Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where he reviewed the evidence supporting the use of the drug. (He resigned from St. Luke’s shortly after giving this testimony, saying the medical center wanted to restrict his freedom of speech.5) As noted on the FLCCC website:6
January 6, 2020, Kory and Dr. Paul Marik, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia — both are founding members of FLCCC — also presented evidence to the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel, which is working to update NIH guidance.7 The NIH panel is expected to update treatment guidelines by early February 2021. According to the FLCCC:8
A one-page summary9 of the clinical trial evidence for Ivermectin can be downloaded from the FLCCC website. A more comprehensive review10 of trials data has been published in the journal Frontiers of Pharmacology. A listing of all the Ivermectin trials done to date, with links to the published studies, can be found on c19Ivermectin.com.11 How Ivermectin Protects Against COVID-19Like hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug with a well-documented safety profile and “proven, highly potent, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.”12 It’s been on the market since 1981 and is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. It’s also inexpensive, with a treatment course costing less than $2 in countries such as India and Bangladesh.13 While the U.S. FDA has not yet approved ivermectin for prevention of or treatment for SARS-CoV-2,14 studies have shown ivermectin:15
The FLCCC website also has a helpful FAQ section16 where Kory and Marik answer common questions about the drug and its recommended use. While FLCCC members have been criticized for their insistence that we should not wait for randomized controlled trials before using Ivermectin more widely, the group argues that the drug has a long history of safety and clearly works, so, why wait?
One week after Kory and Marik presented their data, the National Institutes of Health updated their stand18 on use of the drug with a statement that they would not recommend for or against it. The FLCCC quickly followed up with their own statement:19
WHO’s Ivermectin ReviewWhile a 75% reduction in mortality is impressive enough (which is the average reduction based on 18 trials according to the FLCCC20), a WHO-sponsored review21 suggests ivermectin can reduce COVID-19 mortality by as much as 83%. As reported by Swiss Policy Research:22
In the video above, Dr. Andrew Hill of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool, U.K., who is leading this review, discusses the preliminary findings. At the end, he too describes ivermectin as a potentially transformative treatment against COVID-19. Ivermectin Best as ProphylaxisWhile preliminary evidence seems to suggest Ivermectin can be useful at all stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection, its real strength appears to be prophylactic. December 26, 2020, Dhaka Tribune23 reported the findings of an observational study24 from Bangladesh, which looked at ivermectin as a pre-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19 among health care workers. Fifty-eight volunteers took 12 mg of ivermectin once per month for four months. Only four (6.96%) came down with mild COVID-19 symptoms during the May through August 2020 trial period. In comparison, 44 of 60 health care workers (26.67%) who had declined the medication were diagnosed with COVID-19. Both groups worked with COVID-19 positive patients at the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital. Lead researcher Mohammed Tarek Alam told Dhaka Tribune that ivermectin is “apparently very effective as a preventive drug.” His team will be seeking permission to conduct a randomized control trial to validate their findings. Other Effective Treatment OptionsIt’s worth noting that while the FLCCC is encouraging the use of ivermectin as a prophylactic and early at-home treatment, they also have a more comprehensive early treatment protocol available, as well as an in-hospital protocol. The treatment protocol was initially dubbed MATH+ (an acronym based on the key components of the treatment), but after several tweaks and updates, the prophylaxis and early outpatient treatment protocol is now known as I-MASK+25 while the hospital treatment has been renamed I-MATH+,26 due to the addition of the drug ivermectin. Vitamin C — which has important antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating effects27 — is a central component of this treatment. As noted in a recent landmark review28 on vitamin C for COVID-19, it’s common for hospitalized patients to have overt vitamin C deficiency. This is particularly true for older patients and those hospitalized for respiratory infections. The two protocols (I-MASK+29 and I-MATH+,30) are available for download on the FLCCC website in multiple languages. The clinical and scientific rationale for the I-MATH+ hospital protocol has also been peer-reviewed and was published in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine31 in mid-December 2020. Nebulized Peroxide — My Favorite Treatment ChoiceMy personal choice for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19 symptoms is nebulized peroxide. This is a home remedy I recommend everyone familiarize themselves with, as in many cases it can improve symptoms in mere hours. Nebulizing hydrogen peroxide into your sinuses, throat and lungs is a simple, straightforward way to augment your body’s natural expression of hydrogen peroxide to combat infections and can be used both prophylactically after known exposure to COVID-19 and as a treatment for mild, moderate and even severe illness. Dr. David Brownstein, who has successfully treated over 100 COVID-19 patients with nebulized peroxide, published a case paper32 about this treatment in the July 2020 issue of Science, Public Health Policy and The Law. He also reviews its benefits in “How Nebulized Peroxide Helps Against Respiratory Infections.” Nebulized hydrogen peroxide is extremely safe, and all you need is a desktop nebulizer and food-grade hydrogen peroxide, which you’ll need to dilute with saline to 0.1% strength. I recommend buying these items beforehand so that you have everything you need and can begin treatment at home at the first signs of a respiratory infection. In the video above, I go over the basics of this treatment. The nebulizer I use is the Pari Trek S Compressor Aerosol System. The large battery option is unnecessary as you can simply plug in the device to run it when you need it. There are likely other nebulizers you can use instead, as long as it plugs into an electrical outlet and doesn’t use batteries, as they are low-powered and ineffective nebulizers that don’t work as well. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/25/ivermectin-for-coronavirus.aspx In this interview, Rodney Dietert, Professor Emeritus of immunotoxicology at Cornell University, reviews the interrelationship between your immune system and your gut microbiome. He's spent several decades researching and teaching students about the immune system. As noted by Dietert, your gut microbiome is crucial not just for immune function, but also for your health status in general, as it affects nearly all other physiological systems. He first became aware of the importance of the gut when given the opportunity to write a research paper about which biomarker would be the best to predict the future health of a baby.
Ancestral MicrobiomesHe points out that "more than 99% of your genes are from microbes, not from your chromosomes." You have approximately 3.3 million microbial genes, mainly bacterial. Across the entire population of humans, there are just under 10 million different microbial genes, so you won't necessarily have all of them. You also have 22,000 to 25,000 chromosomal genes (these genes are what were analyzed through the Human Genome Project), which means you only have about 2,000 more chromosomal genes than an earthworm. As noted by Dietert, since we have about 3.3 million microbial genes, that means we're more than 99% microbial, genetically. This is why he concluded that the gut microbiome at birth would be the best predictor of future health. Granted, your microbiome can be altered through diet and environmental exposures, and that will impact and influence your health throughout your life. But initially, the infant microbiome is the best overall predictor of future health.
According to Dietert, there's really no single measure of any particular bacterial species that will give you a definitive answer to what your health will be like. Rather, the most important predictive aspect is the seeding process. If the baby goes through an ideal seeding process at birth, he or she stands a greater chance of experiencing good health. For example, elective cesarean and antibiotic regimens — both in the mother and the baby — are known to degrade the baby's microbiome. Since 2012, when he had that dream, he's been able to map out more specifics, but there's no single ideal microbiome per se. There are many different healthy microbiomes.
Compensatory PracticesPast dogma stated that the infant's immune system was complete at birth with little to no maturation or adjustment required in the infant. Now we realize that this is not true. The baby's immune development in utero is not uniform. It is skewed to protect maintenance of the pregnancy. This skewing then needs to be adjusted in the newborn/infant and the immune system must be expanded, redistributed, and rebalanced. The best way to do this is by ensuring that rebalancing the baby's microbiome is complete and that a healthy infant microbiome can drive necessary post-natal immune maturation. If microbially-driven, infant immune maturation does not happen, then immune dysfunction-driven disease is an increased likelihood for that child. Remember that 60% to 70% of your immune cells are located in your gut and these immune cells are in close proximity to your gut microbiome. So, gut microbiome status and immune status are intimately intertwined. As mentioned, having a C-section puts your newborn at serious risk for developing a less than optimal microbial population. However, in some cases, a C-section is necessary, and the good news is you can compensate for the loss of microbial seeding that would have occurred during vaginal birth. Gloria Dominguez Bello, Ph.D., at Rutgers University, who has pioneered much of this work, uses a vaginal swab technique where the microbes from the mother's vagina are manually transferred to the baby immediately after birth. You can learn more about this technique in "The Importance of Reducing Your Toxic Burden When Planning to Start a Family." "While it's not 100% equivalent, it is very good," Dietert says.
Aside from the vaginal tract, the baby also receives valuable microbes via skin-to-skin contact, including oral contact with breast tissue, as well as from the breast milk itself, which is why breastfeeding is so important and can impact your child's health well into the future. As mentioned above, environmental exposures from soil, food and animals also play a role. Epigenetic InteractionsYour microbiome (in additional to directly metabolizing your food, drugs and chemicals) also influences the epigenetic expression of your (chromosomal) genes. For example, Dietert cites the work of Curtis Klaassen, former president of the Society of Toxicology and an expert on liver metabolism, who years ago shifted focus to microbiome metabolism because, epigenetically, microbes influence liver metabolism.
How Your Gut Microbiome Impacts ImmunosenescenceHistorically, the thymus gland has been known to be really important for the development of the immune system, and in older individuals, the deterioration of the immune system is frequently related to thymic deterioration. The good news is this can to some extent be compensated for by improving your gut microbiome. Dietert explains:
One factor that plays a significant role in the destruction of your gut microbiome is the use of medications. According to Dietert, 25% to 50% of all drugs, including over-the-counter medications, damage your microbiome in predictable ways. Other drugs interact with the microbiome modifying drug treatment outcomes. We ignore these drug-microbiome interactions at our own peril.
So, the more microbe-damaging drugs you use, the greater the degradation of your microbiome will be over time. When combined with a poor diet, you end up with immunosenescence — the gradual deterioration of your immune system — but it's not a given just because you get old if you protect and support your microbiome and immune system across the life span.
Avoid Unnecessary Antibiotic ExposureOne simple strategy that will protect your microbiome is to avoid antibiotics. While they may be necessary to combat an active infection, the vast majority of antibiotics you're exposed to come from food. Animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are routinely fed antibiotics that you then ingest when you eat that animal. That's one of the reasons why I strongly support and recommend eating organic, as organically raised animals are not allowed to be given antibiotics unless the animal is actually ill. CAFO animals are also more prone to carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased the use of antibacterial products. People think they're killing harmful germs but, in reality, they're just killing their immune system. As explained by Dietert:
Colonization ResistanceAs explained by Dietert, you carry coronaviruses in your airways. Most have some coronavirus in the airway, but it won't cause illness as long as you have a healthy airway microbiome. A healthy airway microbiome is supported and promoted by things like physical exercise and spending time outdoors where sun exposure will optimize your vitamin D level.
As just one example of how healthy bacteria can prevent infection, Lactobacillus acidophilus has been shown to block salmonella infection and spread in chickens. In the early 1990s, this type of intervention actually ended up saving the poultry industry that was having a massive salmonella problem, yet you never hear about that.
It's really a classic example of competitive inhibition, and it works the same way in the human body. According to Dietert, as few as 15 beneficial bacteria are able to create a metabolic environment in the gut that keeps the salmonella bacterium in check, thereby preventing it from multiplying out of control and causing disease. So, with a robust diversity of beneficial bacteria in your gut, you're effectively able to block infection from occurring even though you may be exposed to dangerous pathogens. Keep in mind that the composition of your microbiome will also play a significant role in how well you can handle dietary "cheating" or the occasional junk food indulgence. As noted by Dietert:
From Gut to BrainOne way by which beneficial bacteria protect your health is through the production of butyrate and mucin, the mucous layer that protects the intestine. Gut microbes also make neuroactive peptides and neurotransmitters. There's a whole field that's been developed called psychobiotics that focus on using bacteria for neurological and mental health. Certain bacterial species and strains will produce serotonin, for example. Others produce dopamine. Some produce GABA or acetylcholine. While most of the neurotransmitters produced in the gut cannot penetrate the blood-brain barrier, and therefore will not increase levels in the brain directly, they still have an indirect and measurable effect, Dietert says. The vagus nerve is one path through which the gut microbes influence brain chemistry and physiology. How to Address Leaky GutLeaky gut is now recognized by most conventional physicians as a condition that contributes to other pathologies and chronic diseases. One important strategy to address leaky gut is to optimize your vitamin D, as it helps regulate your innate immune system and increases your body's ability to repair epithelial cell damage and gaps in the intestinal barrier. Dietert also recommends supplementing with keystone species bacteria such as the genus Akkermansia, which is involved with mucin regulation. There are only a couple of bacteria that do that. He stresses that while vitamin D is important for gut repair, you also need bacteria to help maintain the mucin layer, as this is what keeps inflammatory bacteria and particles from seeping through the intestinal barrier. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or potassium bicarbonate can also be very helpful. I prefer potassium bicarb because most of us have excess sodium and not enough potassium. I personally take about a half a teaspoon of potassium bicarb three times a day. I use a urinary pH to monitor and adjust my dosage. Your urine pH should be about 7, which is neutral. This will also help prevent the leaching of minerals from your bone. Your Health Begins in Your GutIn closing, Dietert reminds and encourages us to "do things that support your whole body, do things that support your immune system, even as you're focused on a specific disease or a specific pathogen." The reason for doing this is because everything is connected.
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/24/how-does-the-microbiome-affect-your-immune-system.aspx Dr. Mercola Interviews the Experts This article is part of a weekly series in which Dr. Mercola interviews various experts on a variety of health issues. To see more expert interviews, click here. In this interview, Dr. Peter Martone, a Boston-based chiropractor and physiologist, shares some incredibly important techniques that can help you achieve proper cervical posture while sleeping, as well as other strategies to help prevent degenerative disc disease. About 10 years ago, when we first met at an event, Martone pointed out I had problems in my cervical spine. I ended up going to see him for a proper diagnosis. Digital X-rays revealed degeneration in the fifth and sixth vertebrae. Martone prescribed a set of home treatments that I've been doing ever since. He describes what motivated him to, in part, reinvent how he looks at chiropractic:
What Causes Degeneration?"Use it or lose it" is one of the adages that apply to your physical body, both muscles and bones. If you don't use a joint for a long time, degeneration sets in. As noted by Martone, "your body adapts to the consistent stresses placed on it over a long period of time." How then do you regenerate that degeneration? It stands to reason that if lack of motion has caused degeneration of a joint, restoring motion causes regeneration. By looking at a person's X-rays, Martone is able to pinpoint how long the damage has been accruing, which will then give him an idea of how to "backtrack" and undo the damage based on the various laws governing physiology.
How Cervical Curvature Is DamagedMartone has developed a hybrid approach involving exercise and chiropractic adjustments to regain ideal cervical curvature, improve disc height and help resolve degeneration over time. Martone struggled with chronic back pain for about 15 years, then herniated L5 about five years ago in a mountain biking injury. His own recovery led him to understand how your sleeping position can influence your recovery and regeneration. After reviewing 2,000 X-rays, he discovered a pattern previously unmentioned in the literature. He concluded that his own longstanding back problems were not due to extreme sports; rather, the problem originated in his neck.
In summary, when your head comes forward, your body compensates. Your psoas major muscle goes into spasm, which rotates your pelvis. The psoas major is made up of a series of overlapping fascicles or bundles of fibers that connect bilaterally to your lumbar intervertebral discs. The spasms weaken the particular disc the psoas major is attached to, thereby allowing it to herniate. Also, because your head is in a forward position, your body loses proprioception — balance and awareness in space — which causes your spine to curve. Your head weighs about 15 pounds, and when your head is forward, with your chin jutting out, it places enormous stress on your neck, which then contributes to arthritic changes. It also decreases cerebrospinal fluid flow. What's the Solution?Part of Martone's solution was to figure out how to properly support his cervical spine while sleeping. Initially, he came up with a novel way to do that using a down pillow to support his neck, not his head. Chiropractic adjustments are also important, as this will encourage your body to replenish the water in the degenerated disc, thereby increasing the space between the vertebra. Martone explains:
A third strategy that is really important is working on restoring your balance. As mentioned, when your head is in forward position, you lose proprioception, which in turn ends up atrophying a portion of your brain called the vermis.
Weight DistributionYour bilateral weight distribution also plays a role in your spinal curvature and health. Martone uses two scales during his initial evaluation to ascertain whether the patient is distributing their weight more onto the right or left foot. Your body follows where your eyes go. So, if you lean your head to one side, you're going to put more weight on that side. If you have damage in your neck, cervical spine or any part of the atlas, scar tissue may be holding your head to one side or the other, causing you to lean and have uneven weight distribution. This too will cause your spine to curve in order to keep your head straight.
The Rationale for Sleeping on Your BackMartone believes it is critically important to sleep on your back in a neutral sleeping position. However, there are a large number of people whose airway will close during the night. This can easily be prevented by applying paper tape over your lips before you go to sleep. I have been doing this for a few years now and is part of my night time ritual. He explains:
The Neck NestYou know you're in the correct position when your eyes are looking straight up toward the ceiling and your chin is pointed up to the ceiling as well. Martone eventually developed Neck Nest1 — a special pillow designed to provide ideal support for the cervical spine. When used in conjunction with other treatment strategies, it's been shown to restore the natural 45-degree angle in the neck.
Cervical Traction Units and Weighted HeadbandsMartone also likes to integrate the use of cervical traction units that you can put over your door. I've been using such a device for a few years now, and it seems to have a powerful synergy with the nighttime passive traction. Martone explains the purpose for active cervical traction:
Another device that is widely recommended is the use of a weighted headband that you wear. As you lean your head to one side, you stimulate and strengthen the muscles on the opposite side. I've been doing this for a few years as well, and my X-rays show a fairly significant improvement. It's important to note that I was never symptomatic. I had no neuropathies, no nerve tingling or pain, but it's key to address any abnormality as early as possible. The earlier you address it, ideally before you have symptoms, the more likely you are to resolve it at a deep fundamental level. Again, ideally, you'd want to hit it from several angles, getting regular chiropractic adjustments, sleeping on your back with proper cervical support, and using a cervical traction device. As explained by Martone:
More InformationIn our interview, we also review a number of ways you can improve your sleep more generally, aside from sleeping on your back, so for more details, be sure to listen to it in its entirety. If you're committed to improving your sleep and cervical spine, consider getting Martone's Neck Nest pillow. For a special deal, see necknest.com/Mercola. For the price of the Neck Nest pillow, you also get a custom pillow cover and Martone's 30 Day Sleep Quest program for free. I don't earn any affiliate commissions on this product, I just use it myself personally and believe that it would help many achieve a good night sleep and improve spinal health. On his site, you'll also find X-ray images of patients before and after using the Neck Nest pillow, showing visible improvement in their cervical spine curvature. Again, early diagnosis is important, since it gives you much more time to counteract the damage taking place. Had Martone not diagnosed my problem, which I had no idea I had, it would have continued to degenerate, causing problems in my later years. As noted by Martone, you cannot degenerate and regenerate at the same time. You're going one way or the other. Had I not taken action to regenerate my cervical spine, it eventually would have fused, Martone says. Fusion, in turn, results in lack of motion, nerve compression and atrophy of the central nervous system. And, since each nerve goes somewhere, a range of effects can take place. Perhaps it affects your thyroid gland or throat. Tingling in the fingers can occur, or weakness in your arm. Once you have bone-on-bone fusion, there's very little you can do to restore your function. So, truly, prevention is the name of the game here. It's so key, which is why I'm excited to share Martone's knowledge with you. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/24/correct-sleeping-posture.aspx Carrots (Daucus carota) are root vegetables and one of the most popular food ingredients used worldwide. Researchers have found this popular vegetable may hold one key in the fight against COVID-19.1 Historians believe the history of the carrot is somewhat obscured since, initially, carrots and parsnips were used interchangeably and it has been difficult to identify when wild carrots were first cultivated.2 It is believed they originated in Iran and Afghanistan and were popular in ancient Egypt, where the most-used carrot was believed to be purple. English settlers brought the modern-day carrot to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609, where they spread to South America and then made the jump to Australia. Wild carrots are still indigenous to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia and appear in temperate regions around the world.3 The modern carrot appeared in the 17th century after selective breeding reduced the wooden core and increased the sweetness.4 But it was only after World War I that carrots became popular in the U.S. China leads the market for turnips and carrots combined, producing 48.2% of world sales for the two veggies.5 Global production in 2019 was 44.7 million metric tons and the market is expected to continue to grow at 3.4% through 2025. The major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the impact on the supply chain, which has increased direct farm-to-consumer sales and delayed shipping. Some Components of Carrots Influence SARS-CoV-2 ProteinsMany scientists have begun studying the relationship between nutrition, your immune system and COVID-19 infection. Since carrots are consumed around the world, scientists at a private institution in Mexico developed a study in which they analyzed the effect retinol RTN from carrots has on amino acids that make up SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.6 Preformed vitamin A, called retinol, comes only from animal products such as buttercream, cod liver oil, eggs and liver.7 However, carrots contain beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in a range of 3-to-1 or 28-to-1, depending on factors such as thyroid function and zinc levels. Researchers used the HyperChem molecular modeling software to evaluate electron transfer coefficients of the nutritional compounds found in carrots and the SARS-CoV-2 amino acids. What they found was the interaction between carrot RTN and the virus amino acids was the most stable, concluding that the results of their analysis “may indicate a recommendation to increase carrot consumption to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.”8 They point out that carrots are a rich source of vitamins C and A, as well as energy, fiber, calcium and beta-carotene. In the past researchers have demonstrated carrots have anti-inflammatory properties, anticancer activity and antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals, which is essential for your immune system. Their present work looked at the interaction between the amino acids in the COVID-19 coronavirus and multiple components found in carrots. Using chemical quantum analysis, they found RTN was the most stable substance and functioned as an antioxidant agent. The data showed RTN, with other chemical compounds found in carrots, worked together to fight SARS-CoV-2. Interestingly, when they compared the power of RTN against commonly used allopathic medicines used for COVID-19, including remdesivir, ivermectin, aspirin and favipiravir, the natural substances in carrots appeared to be more powerful.9 Retinoids and Carotenoids Support Your Immune HealthWhile beta-carotene-rich vegetables, such as carrots, are helpful, you absorb more vitamin A from animal-based products. However, John Stolarczyk, from the World Carrot Museum, points out it’s easier to get people to eat carrots than it is to eat liver or cod liver oil:10
For nearly 100 years, scientists have understood that vitamin A is an essential component in your body's ability to resist infectious disease.11 However, it is only recently that researchers have begun to understand the mechanism vitamin A uses to regulate cell- and humoral-mediated immunity. This includes the discovery that retinoic acid plays an important role in cell regulation on immunity.12 Retinoic acid helps balance TH17 and T cell regulatory responses, as well as having a therapeutic role in autoimmune diseases. Researchers have found that retinoic deficiency plays an important role in the development of a broad range of autoimmune diseases.13 Your skin is an important part of your immune health, functioning as the front line of defense against bacteria and viruses and other pathogens. Scientists have known that vitamin A plays a unique and vital role in the formation and maturation of epithelial cells.14,15 But this doesn't happen on just the outside of your body. Vitamin A also plays an integral role in the production of the mucus layer that lines your respiratory and intestinal tracts and plays a primary role in promoting the secretion of mucin. This is a glycoprotein that plays a central role in limiting infectious disease and in adaptive immunity.16 Researchers have also identified the role it plays in the defense of your oral mucosa and improving the integrity of your intestinal mucosa. In addition to being important to protect your immune system, researchers, using animal models, have found a vitamin A deficiency (VitAD) can result in a:17
Beta-Carotene May Help Promote Cholesterol HomeostasisCholesterol and beta-carotene have considerable overlapping properties, including transportation facilitated by lipoproteins and the body’s use as precursors for hormones.18 While cholesterol and beta-carotene are present in atherosclerotic plaque lesions, elevated concentrations of beta-carotene are associated with a lower incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers believe they have shed new light on the interaction between beta-carotene and cholesterol metabolism that has been called a “potential game-changer.”19 After a preclinical study in which they compare the effects of a 10-day diet high in beta-carotene on the plasma cholesterol of beta-carotene oxygenase 1 (BCO1) deficient mice, the research team aimed at determining whether the same BCO1 locus could affect serum cholesterol concentrations in humans. They evaluated a cohort of college applicants of Mexican ethnicity in the Multidisciplinary Investigation on Genetics, Obesity, And Social Environment. BCO1 is the enzyme that converts beta-carotene into vitamin A.20 Analysis of the animal study showed that the mice without BCO1 had elevated plasma level concentrations of beta-carotene as they could not convert it to vitamin A.21 The higher concentrations were associated with an increase in cholesterol as compared to the wild type mice control, which converted beta-carotene to vitamin A and had lower levels of cholesterol. Cholesterol changes occurred almost exclusively in non-HDL cholesterol.22 One commentator points out many are deficient in beta-carotene and speculates:23
More Health Benefits of Carrots and Seed ExtractThe flavonoids, vitamins, minerals and carotenoids in carrots all contribute to numerous other health benefits. Data have demonstrated the compounds found in carrots have properties that lower the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and cancer.24 They also are known for hepatoprotective, renal protective and anti-inflammatory properties. When you develop a habit of including carrots in your daily routine, you enjoy some important health benefits. • Cancer -- Data show smokers who eat carrots more than once weekly have a lower risk of lung cancer,25 and a beta-carotene rich diet may help protect against prostate cancer26 and colon cancer,27 and to reduce the risk of gastric cancer.28 Carrots also contain falcarinol, a natural toxin they use against fungal disease, which may stimulate cancer-fighting mechanisms in your body and has demonstrated the ability to reduce the risk of tumors in rats.29 • Vision -- Carrots have long been associated with good eyesight. Vitamin A deficiency can speed the deterioration of your eyes’ photoreceptors leading to vision problems and night blindness.30 Carrots can also reduce your risk of age-related macular degeneration31 and cataracts.32 Both are eye diseases that get worse over time and may lead to blindness. Additionally, data have shown that women can reduce their risk of glaucoma by 64% when they eat more than two servings of carrots per week.33 • Metabolic syndrome -- Carrots contain beta-carotene and lycopene, both of which have been associated with lower incidence of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged and elderly men.34 Metabolic syndrome is associated with Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. • Brain health -- Data show middle-aged men and women who eat a high number of root vegetables, such as carrots, show a reduction in cognitive decline.35 Carrot extract has also demonstrated a positive effect on the management of cognitive dysfunction.36 • Antiaging effect -- Carrots are replete with antioxidants that help reduce the damage caused by free radicals.37 Carrot seeds also have anti-inflammatory properties, which are significant even when compared against drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen and Naproxen.38 Vegetables that are rich in beta-carotene also help prevent premature skin aging. Data also show people with scleroderma, a disorder of connective tissue, had low levels of beta-carotene.39 Choose Your Carrots CarefullyDemand for baby carrots in the U.S. continues to rise as more people are choosing them for snacks over junk foods.40 Baby carrots are made from full-length carrots that are peeled and shaped. Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms are the two leading producers that have focused on advertising campaigns and packaging to improve snack food sales. However, part of the process of making baby carrots includes a chlorine bath. Grimmway Farms reports they use chlorine on all their baby carrots to prevent food poisoning.41 Chlorine can also be used to extend the shelf life of baby carrots. Buffing and processing increase the rate at which the carrots begin to deteriorate and develop a white blush on the exterior as the vegetable begins drying out.42 Although the amount of chlorine in each individual baby carrot is minute, it has an additive value to your overall toxic burden. Additionally, it isn't the chlorine that causes most problems but, rather, the disinfection byproducts produced when the chlorine interacts with organic matter.43 In this case, the term organic means a carbon-based compound. Disinfection byproducts are far more toxic than chlorine and are produced in all baby carrots, whether toxic pesticides were used in the growing process or not. Long-term exposure includes excessive free radical formation, which accelerates aging and vulnerability to genetic mutation and cancer. Scientists are only beginning to understand the long and short-term impact of chlorine base chemicals. Your healthiest option is to grow your own or buy whole, unprocessed, ideally organic carrots and then wash, peel and cut them yourself. Carrots can stay fresh in the coolest part of your refrigerator for about two weeks when they are wrapped in a paper towel or placed in a sealed bag. Avoid storing them near apples, pears or potatoes since the ethylene gas released from these vegetables and fruit can create a bitter flavor to your carrots.44 If your carrots still have green tops, remove those before storing in the refrigerator since the carrots will wilt faster. However, carrot tops are nutritious and can easily be added to fresh vegetable juice or your salad. Warning!This recommendation on carrots is general and I don't want you to believe that carrots should be used to treat COVID. It is important to understand that many are unable to effectively convert the carotenoids to the active form retinol that improves immune function. So if you or anyone you know has an active infection it is FAR better to use retinol. A good form would be emulsified vitamin A. Don't eat a pound of carrots and think that it will help you fight COVID as it likely won't. You need the real vitamin A. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/23/can-carrots-help-combat-covid.aspx Questions about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 continue to swirl as Chinese officials delete some 300 coronavirus studies, including all of the papers published by Shi Zhengli, the bat coronavirus researcher at the center of this drama. As reported by the Daily Mail, January 9, 2021:1
The data deletion came on the heels of President Xi Jinping’s decision to block World Health Organization investigators from entering China. State media have also reportedly published “hundreds of stories” claiming SARS-CoV-2 did not originate in Wuhan. Mounting Evidence Points to Lab LeakMeanwhile, evidence that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a lab in China continues to mount — this according to U.S. deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger.2 According to a January 2, 2021, Mail Online article:3
According to the Daily Mail, the WHO — already accused of being too accommodating to China — has raised additional controversy with its decision to not include the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in its investigation, despite the fact that the WIV is the lab with the highest biosecurity in China and the most likely source.4 Conflicts of Interest Taint Investigations Into OriginThe WHO is also under critique for its decision to include Peter Daszak, Ph.D., in its investigative committee.5 Daszak is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on pandemic prevention that has worked closely with the WIV. When SARS-CoV-2 first emerged in Wuhan, the EcoHealth Alliance was actually providing funding to the WIV to collect and study novel bat coronaviruses. Daszak is also heading up a second commission to investigate the origin of the virus, The Lancet COVID-19 commission,6 despite having openly and repeatedly dismissed the possibility of the pandemic being the result of a lab leak.7 Importantly, correspondence obtained by U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) show Daszak played a central role in the plot to obscure the lab origin of SARS-CoV-2 from the very beginning by crafting a scientific statement condemning such inquiries as “conspiracy theory.”8,9 This manufactured “consensus” was then relied on by the media to counter anyone presenting theories and evidence to the contrary. Critics Call on Daszak to Step DownDaszak’s blatant conflicts of interest were highlighted in a second January 9, 2021, Daily Mail article.10 “How can Peter Daszak, a British scientist who helped fund controversial experiments on coronaviruses by China’s Batwoman, be part of WHO’s team investigating the original source of the outbreak?” the Daily Mail asked. According to the article, Daszak is now “facing calls to step down” from both investigative committees. As reported by the Daily Mail:11
Daszak Has Previously Warned About Lab Escape DangersStrangely enough, according to the Daily Mail,12 in an October 2015 article in the journal Nature, Daszak actually warned a global pandemic might occur from a laboratory incident and that “the risks were greater with the sort of virus manipulation research being carried out in Wuhan.” Earlier that year, he was also a key speaker at a National Academies of Science seminar on reducing risk from emerging infectious diseases. Among the material Daszak presented at that meeting was a paper titled, “Assessing Coronavirus Threats,” which included an examination of the “spillover potential” from “genetic and experimental studies” on viruses. In particular, he highlighted the danger of experimenting on “humanized mice,” meaning lab mice that have been genetically altered to carry human genes, cells or tissues. Such concerns were apparently swept under the rug, because January 2, 2020, Daszak sent out a tweet announcing he’d successfully isolated SARS coronaviruses “that bind to human cells in the lab,” and that the work of other scientists show some of these viruses have pandemic potential as they can infect humanized mice.13
Is SARS-CoV-2 the Result of Passage Through Transgenic Mice?Might SARS-CoV-2 be the result of close ancestor viruses being passed through transgenic mice equipped with human ACE2 receptors? This is one of the latest hypotheses raised in recent weeks.15 As reported by The Jackson Laboratory,16 structural differences between the mouse ACE2 and the human ACE2 proteins make regular lab mice unsuitable for research relating to SARS-CoV-2, as the virus cannot readily infect them. However, there are transgenic mice that express human ACE2. The first of these transgenic mice, known as K18-hACE2, was developed in 2007. Other transgenic mice with human ACE2 have been created since then. At least two recent studies have shown that transgenic mice with human ACE2 are easily infected and killed by SARS-CoV-2: • The first, published in the July 8, 2020, issue of Cell Host & Microbe found transgenic mice with human ACE2 of all ages had far higher viral loads in the lungs, trachea and brain than wild-type mice. While none died, older transgenic mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 came down with pneumonia and had elevated cytokines. The virus was found to produce “productive infection” both via intranasal and intragastric infection.17 • The second, published in the July 9, 2020, issue of the journal Cell found SARS-CoV-2 infected HFH4-hACE2 transgenic mice, causing death. The infection was primarily localized to the lungs, causing interstitial pneumonia similar to that seen in COVID-19 patients. Low levels of viral RNA were also found in the eyes, heart and brain in a small number of animals.18 Zhengli Experimented on Humanized MiceIn response19 to questions for a July 31, 2020 Science article, WIV researcher Zhengli stated that:20,21
So, Zhengli admits experiments were done on transgenic mice using a bat-derived SARS-related coronavirus — which closely resembles SARS-CoV — as recently as 2018 and 2019. (SARS-CoV is the virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), that broke out in 2003.) Could this be the missing intermediate species that explains why SARS-CoV-2 is so well-adapted to infecting humans via the ACE2 receptor? As reported by Taipei News, January 11, 2021:22
Bostickson is a researcher with the Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19 (DRASTIC). DRASTIC has created a petition23 to the WHO COVID-19 International Investigation Team, asking for answers to 50 key questions about the outbreak. They’re also requesting access to the currently missing WIV database and lab records spanning two decades. The Qingdao OutbreakIn the featured video above, Dr. John Campbell reviews the latest updates on the investigation into the origin of the pandemic. This includes findings from an investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak in Qingdao that occurred in October 2020.24 According to Wu Zunyou, a researcher with the Chinese equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak was traced back to imported frozen cod. According to Wu, the virus can infect people after extended periods of deep freeze, which Campbell agrees is logical from a virological perspective. However, while being a weak argument, to say the least, the Chinese are using this finding as evidence that the virus did not originate in Wuhan but, rather, was imported from overseas. Campbell goes on to review some of the background of the WIV, which is located 11 miles from the open market initially identified as “ground zero” for the COVID-19 outbreak. It’s an interesting coincidence, and since even the Chinese authorities have now dismissed the market as being the source, the possibility of the virus originating in WIV seems all the more plausible. Importantly, the WIV specializes in the study of bat-borne viruses. WIV has also collaborated with U.S. researchers, and has received study grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (some of it being funneled through the EcoHealth Alliance). What’s more, in 2018, U.S. state department officials who had inspected the lab warned there were safety weaknesses that might facilitate the emergence of a SARS-like pandemic,25 which is precisely what we’ve been dealing with for the past year. Can We Get to the Truth?Whether either of the two investigative commissions will actually unearth the truth about SARS-CoV-2’s origin or simply bury it deeper remains to be seen, but based on key members’ clear conflicts of interests, it doesn’t look promising. Daszak — who is part of both of these investigations — has every reason to make sure that a) SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t get traced back to the WIV, seeing how he’s been working with them, and b) the virus is declared a natural occurrence, since his own livelihood as a scientist would otherwise be threatened. Still, as noted by Campbell, we must try to get to the bottom of where SARS-CoV-2 came from, even if efforts to obfuscate the truth are at work. It’s really crucial if we are to prevent a similar pandemic to erupt in the future. As noted by the National Review:26
Historical facts tell us accidental exposures and releases have already happened, and we only have our lucky stars to thank that none have turned into pandemics taking the lives of millions. From my perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic is a clarion call to the research community and the public alike. Over the past year, we’ve seen a relatively nonlethal virus sweep the globe causing unprecedented damage in myriad ways. By continuing gain-of-function research on lethal pathogens, we may be sealing our own fate. Considering safety breaches at these labs number in the hundreds,27,28,29,30 it’s only a matter of time before something really nasty gets out. The question is, will we make the right choice and ban this kind of research before it’s too late? from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/23/peter-daszak-coronavirus-origin.aspx In recent days and weeks, we've seen an unprecedented wave of censorship sweep across the internet. As noted by Coindesk.com,1 that we need a decentralized web is more evident than ever, and now's the time to advance such plans:
Major Decentralization Advances Are in the WorksThe Coindesk article points out that movement toward decentralized storage and databases has been fast and furious, and includes an extensive list of developments. Even changes to how the Domain Name System (DNS) functions are in the works. Why decentralize the DNS? As noted in the article:2
One decentralized DNS service is UnstoppableDomains.com, which uses blockchain technology. I recognized this early last year, which is why we purchased the mercola.crypto domain that we hope to launch later this year. Additionally, I am currently in the process of connecting with the founder of Signal, Moxie Marlinspike, probably the best encrypted private communications platform out there, to strategize about how to decentralize a social platform like Parler. Affirming the validity of this approach, one of my favorite crypto analysts that I subscribe to is Anthony Pompliano. In a January 11, 2021, blog post,3 he points out that literally everything for the decentralized web must be rebuilt.
Parler Takedown Proves Necessity of DecentralizationClearly, many others are in agreement that a decentralized web — one in which monopolies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube cannot rule with impunity — has become an urgent necessity.4 Alternatives cannot be created fast enough. While tech giants have brushed off accusations of monopolizing services saying that they welcome competition, they have in recent days proven they will accept no such thing. Case in point: In what appears to be a coordinated attack, Google, Apple and Amazon destroyed Parler, a main competitor to Twitter and Facebook, literally overnight by yanking it from their app stores and web hosting service.5,6,7,8 January 10, 2021, Parler CEO John Matze announced the company had been "dropped by virtually all of its business alliances after Amazon, Apple and Google ended their agreements … Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day."9 As reported by the St. Louis Discussing the recent social media purge and the destruction of Parler, Glenn Greenwald writes:10
Greenwald is one of my absolute favorite journalists. His brilliant and deep insights into the progressive tyrannical destruction that is occurring is an important perspective that will open your eyes to what is happening to our world. Glenn actually quit the publishing company he founded, The Intercept, because they censored him.11 This is a man of integrity, committed to the highest ethical principles. He started a substack newsletter to help fund his efforts and you can subscribe to it for $5/month. Standards Not Applied to Big Tech Apply to CompetitionThe justification given by Google, Apple and Amazon for their takedown was that Parler had "the potential of spreading violent content" and had refused to censor its users over and above taking down posts that violate its stated terms of service. However, can anyone with a straight face claim that violent content cannot and has not been disseminated via any other social media platforms or telecommunications services? All communications services have the ability to carry this kind of information. It's inevitable, seeing how bad actors will use one service or another to communicate ill intent with others. They're hardly using carrier pigeons or paper bulletin boards anymore. As reported by Vision Times,12 Apple told Parler it is "responsible for all the user generated content present on your service and for ensuring that this content meets App Store requirements for the safety and protection of our users." In response, Matze stated:13
Indeed, crimes occur on big tech platforms every day. The April 5, 2018, ABC News article14 "Mayhem and Murder: 10 Most Shocking Facebook Live Moments Ever" detailed some of the most stunning ones. In 2012, The Guardian reported15 that social media-related crime reports had risen 780% in four years. Data from the British police showed 4,908 crimes in 2012 had been committed in which Facebook or Twitter was a factor. According to a June 4, 2012, article16 in Mail Online, 12,300 crime cases had been linked to Facebook, with a crime happening on the platform every 40 minutes. News reports from 201417 and 201518 noted the number of crime cases linked to Facebook and Twitter was continuing to climb precipitously, including sexual offenses, harassment and outright death threats. Of course, when we start talking about intelligence agencies' use of big tech services the stakes get even higher. The CIA, for example, which has a history of mind control abuses and secret assassination programs,19 uses Amazon web services, Microsoft, Google, Oracle and IBM.20 Are these companies taking responsibility for atrocities committed by the CIA, such as its "deadly double tap" drone strikes in Pakistan that caused outrage in 2012?21 Is Amazon taking responsibility for the actions of DARPA, since it's hosting DARPA and provides them with cloud services?22 Parler Refuses to Censor Constitutional RightsMatze also pointed out that the allegation that Parler can or should be held responsible for the January 6, 2021, violence in Washington, D.C., is false for a number of reasons. First of all, Parler does not have a group feature that will allow people to organize. In fact, Facebook groups were used to plan that and other protests that turned violent. Secondly, peaceful protests are protected under the U.S. Constitution, and therefore blocking the planning of such events would be unconstitutional. "Bad actors" turned what was a peaceful protest into a riot. Incidentally, the same happened during many protests held during 2020. In response to the Parler ban, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is calling for a racketeering investigation into Big Tech, saying Amazon, Apple and Google's suspension of the Twitter competitor is "clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act."23 Indeed, according to an October 2020 report24 by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google all have monopoly power and are using that power to rid themselves of competition. The Great Social Media PurgeThen there's the great social media purge, which began in earnest January 7 and 8, 2021, with the permanent ban of President Trump and a long list of other conservatives from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. According to some reports, Twitter suspended more than 70,000 accounts during its weekend purge. Again, the primary excuse given was that these individuals may incite violence. Other justifications include posting "misleading information about the election outcome" or statements suggesting there was election fraud.25 Even signed witness affidavits and live testimony have been censored since election day.26 As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:27
Contrast this scenario with all the violence and property destruction that was done by the Black Lives Matter movement this past summer and was clearly orchestrated over the Google, Apple and Twitter platforms. The violence and damage was exponentially worse, yet not a word of censoring these platforms was ever mentioned. Gab Strikes Back Against 'Mockingbird Media Complex'The Gab social network also claims to be under coordinated attack. According to Gab CEO Andrew Torba, there's been a suspicious rise in violent content on the site that doesn't appear to be generated by real users. In a January 8, 2021, statement, Torba said:30
Antiwar Conservative BannedWhile "incitement of violence" is being used as the justification for banning social media accounts, Facebook's suspension of Dr. Ron Paul, a former Republican congressman for Texas and presidential candidate in 2011, punctures that narrative. He's one of the most peaceful antiwar personalities out there. However, he's also an outspoken defender of civil liberties and health freedom. In September 2020, he interviewed me for his Liberty Report, discussing strategies to boost your immune system.31 Paul also promotes sound money and exposes political and financial corruption, so perhaps this is where the problem lies. In a January 11, 2021, Twitter post, Paul noted:32
The article in question apparently discussed "shocking increase in censorship on social media," though,33 which may have tripped Facebook's blocking apparatus. Discussing the incident in an article on RonPaulInstitute.org, Jonathan Turley writes:34
In the video35 featured at the top of this article, Paul discusses the dangers of big tech censorship. Unfortunately, he falls short on solutions in that video. In my view, one key strategy that we must focus on is to uphold the Constitution. If you want to live in a free society, you must first understand what a free society is, so educate yourself about your Constitutional rights. As noted by Greenwald:36
What's Behind the Push for Censorship?According to Big Tech, free speech is "dangerous." I guess a follow-up question to such a statement would be: "To whom?" As mentioned earlier, agencies such as DARPA are using the online services of private companies, and according to independent journalist Whitney Webb,37 the COVID-19 pandemic has given "a dangerous boost to DARPA's darkest agenda."
She goes on to review some of these historical events, and some of the DARPA-developed technologies that are now likely to come into play, from DNA and RNA vaccines to implantable biosensors and nanoplatforms said to detect disease. If history is our guide, could the clamp-down on free speech be part of a bigger control and manipulation agenda — one that is directed not toward foreign enemies but the local population? Might it be part of the Great Reset agenda, with its transhumanist bend? As explained by Webb in her article, DARPA has a transhumanist vision for the military, so why not for the general population? Especially seeing how its "health based" biotechnologies end up meshing so seamlessly with new surveillance technologies. I believe there may be some truth in that. Most certainly, big tech and social media monopolies are playing a central role in the social engineering currently taking place to pave the way for the technocratic "reset" of the global economy and way of life. That plan simply cannot occur without a sufficient number of the population being onboard with authoritarian conduct. Greenwald has been a longstanding progressive and no fan of the Republican party, yet he notes that Silicon Valley giants may also be catering to the Democratic party in the hopes they won't be regulated.
Just Wait — You're NextWhile many appear to be caught up in the schadenfreude of the moment, basking in the perceived power of cancel culture, make no mistake — the censorship will not be limited to conservatives. Years ago, I warned that online censorship would not end at alternative health sites like mine, and guess what? It didn't. Then I warned it would not stop at questioning vaccine safety, and of course, it didn't. In 2020, discussions about certain medical treatments for COVID-19, the sensibility of mask wearing and the origin of the virus all became targets for massive censoring and deplatforming. Next came bans on criticism against protests that frequently turned violent. Now one political party is being silenced en masse. Make no mistake. Eventually, all will be targeted. Acceptable speech will continue to narrow until everyone has something to lose by opening their mouth and expressing an opinion. It's inevitable, which is why supporting censorship is so ill advised. As noted by Greenwald:40
Take Control of Your Online PresenceCensorship is never directed to specific groups, eventually it is applied to anything deemed threatening to the ruling class. So, while you wait for a decentralized, censorship-free internet, what can you do to protect your online privacy and your right to free speech? Here are a few suggestions:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/22/big-tech-censorship.aspx |
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