tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26224325912972530652024-03-13T04:49:20.223+00:00Fintan Dunne: News is NuancedFintanDunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13110494763820672827noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-40685669515955909572022-10-13T23:14:00.003+01:002022-10-13T23:20:14.944+01:00Billion-Dollar Transgender Industry Leaves Broken Families and Lives<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/billion-dollar-transgender-industry-leaves-broken-families-and-lives_4777773.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/billion-dollar-transgender-industry-leaves-broken-families-and-lives_4777773.html</a></span></p><div class="post_title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 40px; line-height: 49px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 40px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Billion-Dollar Transgender Industry Leaves Broken Families and Lives</span></h1></div><div class="author_date_tools" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: "Ringside Condensed", D-DIN, Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: unset; vertical-align: baseline;">By <span class="author_name" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3f6eb9; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Darlene McCormick Sanchez</span></div> <div class="date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: "Ringside Condensed", D-DIN, Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="publish" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">October 7, 2022</span> <span class="update" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Updated: October 13, 2022</span></div><div class="tools" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; bottom: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="text_sizes" id="font_sizes" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="RNgXV73f5mbgXSYq9GUc" style="align-items: flex-start; background: transparent; border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(29, 60, 103); box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="tl3NKRWVw3a7rlJwJlgx" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 15px 15px auto auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><button style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #1d3c67; cursor: pointer; font-size: 16px; padding: 0px; width: 50px;"><svg fill="none" height="42" viewbox="0 0 42 42" width="42" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M21 38.5C30.665 38.5 38.5 30.665 38.5 21C38.5 11.335 30.665 3.5 21 3.5C11.335 3.5 3.5 11.335 3.5 21C3.5 30.665 11.335 38.5 21 38.5Z" fill="#1D3C67"></path><path d="M17.5 14L28 21L17.5 28V14Z" fill="white"></path></svg></button></div><div class="Fb2_LSme0PGd0Pp7agiA" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 70px);"><div class="iWt5pogUMw73ggWiPMtY" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: auto auto 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Photos of Jeff Younger’s smiling twin boys are scattered throughout his home in the Dallas suburbs—happy moments, frozen in time.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Next to the back door, a jump rope and youth-sizes boxing headgear haven’t moved from the corner where they were tossed 13 months ago. Outside, a punching bag hangs silent from a sturdy shade tree towering over a yard once filled with the tap-tap-tap sound of little fists pounding canvas.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger spent hours at a time in that space with his boys, James and Jude, who were 9 at the time, teaching them how to wrestle and how to land a punch—just as his father taught him when he was a kid.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I remember people by the things they do,” Younger said.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4777841" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 640px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff-Younger_boxing_2902-1200x803.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4777841 size-large ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff-Younger_boxing_2902-1200x803.jpeg" height="428" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff-Younger_boxing_2902-1200x803.jpeg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="640" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff-Younger_boxing_2902-1200x803.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Jeff Younger stands in the backyard of his home, where he used to box with his sons, on Sept. 16, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">He took the boys to parks, teaching them how to hurl sticks and track rabbits along a creek, all part of growing his boys into men.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But for James, now 10, manhood may never come.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">James is like so many swept up in the hype of transgenderism, part of an exploding trend among youth and young adults. And Younger is among a swarm of objectors, many of them parents, fighting an uphill battle against a $2.1 billion <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-transgender" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">transgender</a> industry in the United States.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger’s ex-wife, Anne Georgulas, a pediatrician in Coppell, Texas, says that James has wanted to identify as a female since preschool, wears dresses, and goes by the name Luna. Younger hasn’t seen James in more than a year because he has refused to go along with the idea that James is a girl.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Now, the Texas father, who’s embroiled in a <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-father-fears-custody-ruling-could-mean-chemical-castration-for-10-year-old-son_4751890.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">high-profile custody battle</a>, fears that a court ruling in September could allow his ex-wife to move to <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-california" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">California</a> and chemically castrate his son.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger worries that his ex-wife now will transition James medically. He said documents he obtained during court proceedings show that she took James to a therapist who recommended that the family “explore” gender transitioning at the Dallas-based Genecis medical clinic.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger said his former wife’s medical practice is scheduled to close on Oct. 31. Georgulas declined to comment about a potential move to California when contacted by The Epoch Times.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But California is a welcoming place for young people seeking to medically transition.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sept. 29 giving the state authority over transgender minors, creating a potential nightmare for Younger. Gender-altering surgery and drugs, referred to as “gender-affirming care” by its supporters, is legal in California, and the new law shields Californians from laws and court actions in other states that could block transition treatments.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_3125173" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 1024px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2019/10/23/Youngers.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Jeff (L) and James Younger" class="lazy wp-image-3125173 size-full ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2019/10/23/Youngers.jpg" height="585" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2019/10/23/Youngers.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="1024" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2019/10/23/Youngers.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Jeff Younger with his son, James Younger, then 7. In the midst of a publicized legal battle, Jeff Younger, who opposes the transition of James, is fearful that his ex-wife will chemically castrate his son, now 10. (Courtesy of SaveJames.com)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger believes that the new California law will allow his ex-wife to get around a previous Texas court order preventing either parent from treating the child with hormonal suppression therapy, puberty blockers, or <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-transgender" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">transgender</a> reassignment surgery without both parents’ consent or a court order.</p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Transgender Money Machine</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Money and a hysteria epidemic are driving the transgenderism phenomenon, according to Clifford Alan Hopewell, a Fort Worth neuropsychologist who spoke to The Epoch Times.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Hopewell—a trained behaviorist, a former Texas Psychological Association president, and a fellow with the American Psychological Association—said therapy has become the gateway to a bustling transgender economy.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_4778056" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: right; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px 16px; max-width: 100%; width: 320px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/320x400.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4778056 size-full ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/320x400.jpg" height="400" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/320x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="320" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 320px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/320x400.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Clifford Alan Hopewell, a Fort Worth neuropsychologist. (Photo courtesy of Hopewell’s office)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Gender dysphoria is a relatively new diagnosis, made up so insurance companies will cover the costs of so-called gender-affirming care, he said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Therapists will write out a prescription with no questions asked, he said. Mental health providers “just see the money.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“It’s all bogus,” Hopewell said. “There’s this transgender money-making machine.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The current market for transgender surgery is expected to increase to $5 billion in 2030 from $2.1 billion in 2022, an 11 percent compound annual growth rate, according to Grand View Research, a market research company.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Breast or chest surgery in females transitioning to males showed the most growth in terms of transitioning surgeries, which increased by 15 percent over the 2019–20 period, according to the Plastic Surgery Statistics by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The absurdity of the cycle is astonishing, Hopewell said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A man or woman can visit a licensed mental health provider and express interest in becoming the opposite sex. The therapist affirms the patient, who has self-diagnosed, he said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“If you walk in and say, ‘Amputate my leg,’ nobody would do it,” Hopewell said. “You walk in and say, ‘Amputate my penis,’ ‘Oh, well, let’s get you on the surgery list right now [is the response].'”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">He cited a recently exposed 2018 Vanderbilt University video in which a hospital representative talked about money-making opportunities in the transgender industry. Top surgeries could bring in $40,000 per patient, the representative told the audience enthusiastically.</p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Creating a Need</h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">People who decide to transition need transgender care for the rest of their lives, Hopewell said. Hormones and other needed medications could cost $200,000 or more over the lifetime of a transgender person.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But as some transitioners have discovered, the total cost can be much higher—and can’t be counted just in dollars.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4774362" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 1043px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/04/image000001.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4774362 size-full ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/04/image000001.jpg" height="585" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/04/image000001.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="1043" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/04/image000001.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Scott Newgent, a biological female who had surgery to transition to appear male, is featured in the 2022 documentary “What is a Woman” by Matt Walsh. (Courtesy of Scott Newgent)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">For 49-year-old Scott Newgent, a woman who began transitioning to appear male seven years ago, the journey has been filled with expensive medications, surgeries, and complications.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Newgent, who lives in Texas, estimates that the transition has cost about $1.2 million so far.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Like Hopewell, Newgent believes that transitioning represents a lucrative new revenue stream for the health care industry.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“It’s all very, very evil,” Newgent told The Epoch Times. “There’s too much money.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Cross-sex hormones prescribed to Newgent have cost roughly $30,000. The price of phalloplasty was $309,000. During that procedure, a surgeon cuts into the forearm to remove a tissue flap to form and attach a pseudo-penis and extend the urethra.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Insurance has paid for much of the transition, Newgent said, noting that without insurance, the surgery would have cost $70,000 in cash.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4777901" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 640px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/image000004-1200x900.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4777901 size-large ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/image000004-1200x900.jpg" height="480" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/image000004-1200x900.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="640" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/image000004-1200x900.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Skin was cut from Scott Newgent’s arm as part of transition surgery, leaving permanent scars. (Courtesy of Scott Newgent)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Newgent now refers to the surgeon who performed the surgery as a “monster.” Complications from the procedures led to months of infections, emergency room visits, and maddening pain. The cost of care climbed by another $850,000.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">In a recently released documentary titled “What is a Woman?” Newgent passionately described the suffering in hopes of warning the world about the dangers of transition surgeries.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">If she had known the dangers, transitioning wouldn’t have been an option for her, Newgent said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The transgender industry, which now appears to be targeting children, is driven by greed, Newgent said, pointing out that the cost of hormones for transitioning children is <a href="https://khn.org/news/hormone-blocker-shocker-drug-costs-8-times-more-when-used-for-kids/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">eight times that of adults</a>.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A one-year supply of hormones that block puberty for children, such as Supprelin LA, has a list price of $37,300. In contrast, the cost of Vantas, a hormone prescribed to adults, is listed at $4,400, National Public Radio reported in 2020.</p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Social Hysteria</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Driving the transgender boom is a hysteria epidemic, which some say stems from social media, according to Hopewell.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Hysteria can impact small communities and tends to affect females more than males.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">He compared the surge in gender dysphoria, discussed obsessively in some online communities, to other mass-hysteria events. He pointed to sudden, unexplained outbreaks of multiple personality disorder cases and the historic and tragic Salem witch trials.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">In the 1980s, cases of multiple personality disorder—now known as dissociative identity disorder—began to pop up in Texas and elsewhere so frequently that new hospitals were built to deal with the problem, Hopewell said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But when insurance companies began to limit what they would pay for regarding multiple personality disorder claims, the cases suddenly dried up, he said. Now those diagnoses are rare again.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I’ve never seen one in my entire career,” he said. “I’ve never seen somebody come in with a claim they had multiple personalities.”</p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Explosive Growth</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Studies show that growth in transgenderism is booming in society’s most vulnerable demographic—children. To Hopewell, the trend of minors being affirmed as transgender amounts to child abuse.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4222468" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 640px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/01/19/Transgender-student-California-1200x806.jpg-1200x806.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4222468 size-large ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/01/19/Transgender-student-California-1200x806.jpg-1200x806.jpg" height="430" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/01/19/Transgender-student-California-1200x806.jpg-1200x806.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="640" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/01/19/Transgender-student-California-1200x806.jpg-1200x806.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>A transgender high school student (C) and classmate (L) visit the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles booth during a college and career convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Dec. 8, 2010. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A recent <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">report based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data</a> shows that an estimated 150,000 teens aged 13 to 17 identified as transgender.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Numbers were similar for Americans aged 18 to 24. In 2017, 206,000 young adults identified as transgender. By 2020, that number had swelled to 399,000.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Methodology and more comprehensive data may account for the increase in transgender identification, according to the Williams Institute.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4694692" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 640px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/08/28/HEADLINE_Gender-Treatment-1_JF_08262022-1200x772.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4694692 size-large ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/08/28/HEADLINE_Gender-Treatment-1_JF_08262022-1200x772.jpeg" height="412" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/08/28/HEADLINE_Gender-Treatment-1_JF_08262022-1200x772.jpeg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="640" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600.737px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/08/28/HEADLINE_Gender-Treatment-1_JF_08262022-1200x772.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old woman who regrets surgically removing her breasts, holds testosterone medication used for transgender patients in Northern California on Aug. 26, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Transgender Gateway</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The path to becoming transgender often starts with a mental health provider, Hopewell said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Patients he saw in the 1970s while working at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston appeared to be following a script in requesting sex-change surgery so they could get the diagnosis they wanted. And they were suffering from mental illness, he said. It’s unclear who produced and distributed the script.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But today, the media and academia have cut off discussion and studies into the causes behind the transgender fad and the harm it may cause—especially in children, he said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“Science has been perverted. Psychology, frankly, is no longer scientific,” Hopewell said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Therapy sessions cost as much as $5,000 per year, according to <a href="https://health.costhelper.com/sex-reassignment-surgery.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">health.costhelper.com</a>. Treatments for the resulting “gender-affirming care” can include puberty blockers, hormones, and psychological evaluations.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A letter from a licensed mental health provider is usually needed before going further with “top surgery” or “bottom surgery,” as they’re known.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A range of options is available.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">For males seeking to become female, procedures to consider include an orchiectomy to remove testicles and a vaginoplasty, which aims to create a vagina and vulva. Breasts can be constructed with implants, which costs about $8,000.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Bottom surgery to remove testes and create a vagina <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1492" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">costs</a> about $20,000, according to a University of Florida informational website about the procedures. Surgery to soften facial features and feminize voice pitch can cost between $19,000 and $45,000.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Options for females hoping to live as males include a hysterectomy to remove the uterus and a mastectomy to remove the breasts and sculpt the chest to appear more masculine. And with phalloplasty, a surgeon aims to create a penis.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">For female-to-male transitions, the price tag for top surgery is $6,000 to $8,000. Bottom surgery costs $21,000 or more.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Some procedures, such as a hysterectomy, may become necessary after years of hormone treatments.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4777979" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/1Abel-Garcia_2948-1200x850.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-4777979 ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/1Abel-Garcia_2948-600x425.jpg" height="425" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/1Abel-Garcia_2948-600x425.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/1Abel-Garcia_2948-1200x850.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Abel Garcia, which is an alias, detransitioned back to living as a male after realizing he would never be a woman. He holds paperwork detailing his medical procedures at a friend’s home in the Dallas area on Sept. 18, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sold a Lie</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">When 19-year-old Abel Garcia decided he was transgender in 2016, he was eager to recreate himself as a woman.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia—who asked to use an alias—allowed doctors to inject him with hormones and paid surgeons to implant breasts. He renamed himself April.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">As the architect of his new self, Garcia told The Epoch Times that he was confident it would satisfy something missing in his life.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But after six years, 25-year-old Garcia, now living in north Texas, became one of a growing number of “detransitioners” realizing that they would never actually be the other sex. He realized he had been sold a lie.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“To my knowledge, no one tried to stop me or anything,” he said. “The only one who ever questioned anything was my mother. But that was when I first told her.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">His mother cried at the news. His father tried to convince him that he was a man.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Shortly after the announcement, his father asked Garcia to drive him to a dental appointment in Mexico. Afterward, his father told him they were going to a restaurant, but in reality, he took his son to see a prostitute.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia’s father believed it would somehow cure the young man of his confusion.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The experience of having sex for the first time, with a stranger with whom he had no connection, was traumatic. It had the opposite effect than the one that his father wanted. It drove him toward transitioning to a woman, Garcia said.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4723385" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/09/11/Abel-Garcia-4-1200x1585.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy wp-image-4723385 size-medium ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/09/11/Abel-Garcia-4-600x792.jpeg" height="792" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/09/11/Abel-Garcia-4-600x792.jpeg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/09/11/Abel-Garcia-4-1200x1585.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Abel Garcia (an alias) in Denton, Tex., in a recent photo. (Courtesy of Abel Garcia)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia said he had a lonely upbringing and wanted to explore his feelings on gender with a therapist.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">As the son of Mexican immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally to find work, he remembers moving from city to city as a child in the Central Valley region of Southern California.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">With no roots in one community, it was hard for Garcia to make friends growing up. His parents constantly worked, and his father was absent for long periods.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I didn’t really have a role model in my childhood growing up because my dad was always working 24/7,” he said. “So I never really learned how to be a man.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia was born in Utah, the first of his parents’ children born in the United States. Although his parents eventually became U.S. citizens, he always had a nagging feeling that he didn’t belong.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">When he went to see a therapist in order to sort out his feelings on gender, she never questioned him. Instead, she immediately wrote him a referral letter to start the transition process, which began with hormones, he said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“She told me that I’m definitely transgender, even though it was my first session,” he said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia was raised to trust medical professionals because they’re “trained and knowledgeable.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I thought, ‘Great. This therapist knows what she’s talking about. I must definitely be transgender.'”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">After a year of hormones, the therapist wrote another letter—this time recommending surgery for breast implants.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Without asking for a second referral, he a letter recommending him for “bottom” surgery—penile inversion to transform his male genitals into parts that looked female.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4777971" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/IMG_2190-4-1200x469.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-4777971 ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/IMG_2190-4-600x234.jpg" height="234" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/IMG_2190-4-600x234.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/IMG_2190-4-1200x469.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Abel Garcia was approved for transgender surgery by a mental health professional with no questions asked. (Darlene Sanchez/The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Something told him to wait on the bottom surgery. In the back of his mind, his conscience nagged at him on whether it was the right thing to do, Garcia said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">He now realizes that the therapist worked at a pro-transgender clinic, where there’s only approval for such requests. He remembers being told that he would become “the woman he always wanted to become” by a transgender activist working in the clinic, a cheerleader for those who are considering transitions.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">One day, as Garcia sat in a room waiting for his appointment, the activist asked Garcia to stand up and “do a little twirl.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia said the activist gushed, “Oh, yeah, I can definitely tell you were supposed to be born a woman. Your body picture says that.”</p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Human Cost</strong></h2><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Many media outlets and social media platforms paint transitioning as having a beneficial effect on the mental health of those suffering from gender dysphoria. Those who don’t support transgender people are labeled bigots and transphobic.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Some people report feeling happier after socially and medically transitioning.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Morgan, an 18-year-old woman transitioning to a male, told Buzzfeed News in 2017 that since starting the process, her mental health had dramatically improved.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I feel genuine joy in life now that I have a future. I’m finally in love with my body. I’ve never had so much confidence until now, and I have never felt so happy!” Morgan told the media outlet.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Most of the anecdotal accounts in the Buzzfeed article were from people in the early stages of transitioning.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">It’s often later that transitioners experience problems, detransitioners told The Epoch Times.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043071/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">30-year study</a> conducted by researcher Cecilia Dhejne tracked 324 sex-reassigned people in Sweden. It calculated their mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgery through 2003.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The study, published in 2011, shows that those who transition through surgery or hormones have a higher mortality rate, particularly from suicide. It also found that transitioners had an increased risk for suicide attempts and psychiatric inpatient care.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Advocates of transitioning point out that the study doesn’t state that the sex reassignment caused the increases in morbidity and mortality. The results may have been worse had participants not undergone sex reassignment, they argue.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Many media outlets ignore the human cost of transitioning, often paid in terms of broken families and lives, detransitioners say. Instead, the outlets play advocate.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">A recent headline at <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23281683/trans-kids-transition-medicine-surgery" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Vox</a> focused on the “rights” of transgender children. “What’s so scary about a transgender child? Stop worrying about what happens if we let kids transition. Worry about what happens if we don’t,” the headline reads.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">About three months after receiving breast implants in 2018, Garcia knew something was wrong. He woke up one day feeling as though he had made a terrible mistake.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“‘What the hell am I doing?'” he said remembers asking himself. “And that’s when I looked at my body, and I realized, no matter what I would have done, I would always be a man. I’d be just becoming a caricature of what I believed a woman was.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia had his breast implants removed in 2020 as part of detransitioning, but he acknowledged that he may never be the same.</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4778004" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Abel_Garcia_Scars_3113-1200x1799.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-4778004 ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Abel_Garcia_Scars_3113-600x899.jpg" height="899" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Abel_Garcia_Scars_3113-600x899.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Abel_Garcia_Scars_3113-1200x1799.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Abel Garcia, photographed at a Dallas home on Sept. 18, 2022, shows his scars from the removal of breast implants. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Garcia said years of cross-sex hormones have made urination difficult. He fears that the drugs have caused him to be sterile—a reality that would shatter his hope of having children one day.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Since detransitioning, Garcia has become outspoken against the gender reassignment movement, comparing it to a cult.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Transgender activists pretend to “love you” and become your new family, he said. He realized too late that their tactics were abusive and meant to divide families.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“Anyone who doesn’t support you is a hateful, transphobic bigot,” Garcia said. “They try to ostracize you, get between you and your family.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Like Garcia, Newgent said the idea of becoming the opposite sex was an illusion.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I’ll never be a man,” Newgent said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">And there’s no way to go back to appearing female after surgery, she said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Newgent said a pattern of discontent among some transitioners occurs five to six years after completing all the surgeries. That’s often when they realize that they’ll never be the opposite sex.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">When the reality sets in and the complications arise, it can be a devastating combination that can drive some to suicide, she said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">In Newgent’s opinion, phalloplasty is a “barbaric” procedure that should be outlawed.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">She believes that even the best surgeons would have trouble with the intricacies of reconnecting blood vessels and extending the urethra. It’s no wonder that the surgeries fail.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">After phalloplasty, the pain from an undiagnosed infection was so great that Newgent couldn’t sleep. Emergency room visits became the norm night after night, a desperate attempt to find relief, only to be told that nothing was wrong.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">At one point, she was sure death was near. At first, it was a relief. But then Newgent, who has three children, imagined what life would be like for them.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">She promised the Almighty to tell the world the story of what transitioning is really like.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Finally, a doctor discovered the source of the pain—a six-inch hair had grown inside the extended urethra, causing an infection. The surgeon had used the wrong type of skin that allowed hair growth inside the new appendage, Newgent was told.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">And discovering the same procedures now are performed on children who want to change their gender, her resolve galvanized her to fight back by speaking out against transitioning.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Newgent now has a <a href="https://www.trevoices.org/scottnewgent" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">website</a> called TreVoices and states that it’s “the original trans against groomers.”</p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_4778025" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 25px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; max-width: 100%; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff_Younger_2928-1200x816.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Epoch Times Photo" class="lazy size-medium wp-image-4778025 ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded" data-src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff_Younger_2928-600x408.jpeg" height="408" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff_Younger_2928-600x408.jpeg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 6px; width: 600px;"><a href="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/05/Jeff_Younger_2928-1200x816.jpeg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"></a>Jeff Younger at his Texas home on Sept. 16, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)</figcaption></figure><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger knows all too well the consequences of transitioning children. Wearing a black T-shirt with “Save James” on the front, he has an intense stare when he speaks of his son.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">At six feet four inches tall, Younger was a boxer in the military and embraced masculinity. He wants his sons to do the same.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">But his ex-wife has full custody of the boys, James and Jude.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">She started questioning James’s gender when he was a<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjGDrSstVfc" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> toddler</a>, Younger said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">She argued that James chose to identify as a female from a young age. Eventually, she socially transitioned the boy and presented him at preschool as a girl. The school supported that after the couple separated in 2015.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger accused his ex-spouse of leading their young child to socially transition before he could understand the concept or its implications. He said James rejected his female identity and didn’t wear dresses at his home during visits.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">In 2021, Dallas District Judge Mary Brown stripped Younger of most parental rights, giving full custody in a temporary order to his ex-wife. That was after Younger was late making child support payments, medical support, and interest as ordered by the court.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Brown also ordered Younger to pay hundreds of dollars for each supervised visit and said he must not change James out of a dress when he visited. Younger refused to agree to that.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">What started as a custody battle has now moved into the political arena for Younger.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">This spring, he made an unsuccessful bid for the state legislature in the hopes of changing Texas law, making it illegal to transition children.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“Puberty is the cure for gender dysphoria,” Younger said.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The transition trend is, in his words, “mass genital mutilation.”</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">He’s desperate to save his son from the fate of other transitioners and vowed to continue speaking out despite a gag order issued by the judge.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Younger said he would never give up his fight for James.</p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">“I’m a Texas father,” he said. “I don’t give up.”</p><div class="author_wrapper" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: auto auto 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="one_author_block round" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="top_row" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/author-darlene-sanchez" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Darlene McCormick Sanchez" src="https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/01/25/WEB_DarleneSanchez.jpg" style="background: transparent; border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 60px;" /></a> <div class="names" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="name" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/author-darlene-sanchez" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: capitalize;" target="_blank">Darlene McCormick Sanchez</a></div><div class="title" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #777777; font-family: "D-DIN Bold"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div class="follow_author right" data-id="159937" style="background: rgb(63, 110, 185); border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: right; font-family: D-DIN; font-size: 16px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; max-width: 128px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 22px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Follow</div></div><div class="bio" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Darlene McCormick Sanchez reports for The Epoch Times from Texas. She writes on a variety of issues with a focus on Texas politics, election fraud, and the erosion of traditional values. Before writing for The Epoch Times, she worked as an investigative reporter and covered crime, courts, and government for newspapers in Texas, Florida, and Connecticut. Her work on The Sinful Messiah series, which exposed Branch Davidians leader David Koresh, was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting in the 1990s.</div><div class="social_row" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div class="social_row" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div class="social_row" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">Reproduced here for public information & research purposes.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 17px;">Copyright material.</span><br /><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/billion-dollar-transgender-industry-leaves-broken-families-and-lives_4777773.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">https://www.theepochtimes.com/billion-dollar-transgender-industry-leaves-broken-families-and-lives_4777773.html</span></a></div></div></div><div class="article-below-offers under-article-container desktop piano-templates standard" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 17px; margin: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-53595492329919849372022-09-09T14:14:00.010+01:002022-09-09T18:27:28.908+01:00<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_B9gm_EY6FalqaQP049DwaZuha_2lkAcRm2AtCH_T6JfYlWG9sObl-TOARA_2nZ3G0bXWAinAhcpTpHO2o7AzUSxOOOQN9EBRcAAyNHSLKD_vA2-jifSie8Mcf6tT7tSxiFun_enaMBt_pR-zt5YXxUdaQhpgY_VEEhkXIaKjDrKttH-EdhdWlcyrdQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_B9gm_EY6FalqaQP049DwaZuha_2lkAcRm2AtCH_T6JfYlWG9sObl-TOARA_2nZ3G0bXWAinAhcpTpHO2o7AzUSxOOOQN9EBRcAAyNHSLKD_vA2-jifSie8Mcf6tT7tSxiFun_enaMBt_pR-zt5YXxUdaQhpgY_VEEhkXIaKjDrKttH-EdhdWlcyrdQ=s16000" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Source Sans Pro", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #83858f; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 600; text-align: left;">Enoch Burke at the Four Courts accompanied by his father, Sean Burke. Picture: Collins Courts<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">WHAT IF ENOCH BURKE WAS A MUSLIM?</span></h1><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">by Fintan Dunne <a href="http://FintanDunne.com">http://FintanDunne.com</a> <a href="http://BreakForNews.com">http://BreakForNews.com</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">9 September, 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Enoch Burke’s biggest problem is that he is not a Muslim.</b> If he had refused to use gender pronouns because it conflicted with the Koran –we would be falling over ourselves to accommodate him on the basis of religious tolerance.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But he is a devout Christian. And Irish media is hostile to such beliefs with their own religious fervour. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tell me they would persecute a Muslim teacher in precisely this manner and I will call you a naive fool. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is not a level playing field.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That secular hostility extends to the point of intolerance. Such as the intolerance of the school where Enoch voiced his religious objections to being forced to buy into condoning a process which often ends via the dubious medical benefits of surgical transgenderism. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I say dubious because the U.K. Tavistock clinic cheerleading such surgery has recently been closed after a review.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But as far as the Irish Examiner is concerned, Enoch Burke –currently incarcerated in Mountjoy jail– is simply tiring us all out with his antics; he and his siblings are nothing but a nuisance. Mick Clifford writes that: "The world tires of keeping up with the Burkes".</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Welcome to the double standard. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When Clifford was Burke’s age, such radical court theatrics in pursuit of social change were applauded for helping sweep traditional values aside. Petrol bombs and violent attacks on police were but ammunition in a just war of change.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">By comparison, Enoch Burke has not been charged with a single act of violence, intimidation or threat. But in leftist lore merely being a stalwart Christian without violence and using the courts to seek redress, puts you beyond the pale.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Clifford’s hit piece there is no acknowledgement that the Burke family are an activist family campaigning peacefully for what they see as necessary social changes. Mick Clifford sees no redeeming value in such acts. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For example when Enoch’s sister, Ammi Burke challenged the procedures in her Workplace Relations Commission hearing over unfair dismissal –she is just a nuisance. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">No mention of the fact that the WRC has never ruled in favour of a single applicant subjected to summary eviction from retail stores despite having valid medical mask exemption. The State’s arms are above criticism and WRC victim’s complaints are just tiring. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">More bias when Clifford reports on Enoch, Ammi, Isaac and Kezia, taking a High Court action over being banned for life from college societies in NUI university Galway. The Examiner says the High Court threw out the case and accused the Burke siblings of misuse of their own Christian society’s funds. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It fails to report the reason the case was lost: NUI withdrew the lifetime ban to thwart justice -making the case moot in the judge’s eyes. It fails to report that the Burkes have challenged the misuse of funds allegation with a copy of a cheque proving that claim false.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Again when another sibling Jemima challenged chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, at a Covid-19 press conference –Clifford says others thought her “intemperate” in a viral video. Indeed. How dare some lowly Christian take on one of the top bishops of the secular medico–religious establishment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">One man’s nuisance is another person’s hero.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mick Clifford is old enough and wise enough to know this. His blindness does not reflect well. Mirrors do reflect well. Mick should take a look in one and see if he can spot another zealot.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Time to Convert.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for the Burkes - the path ahead is clear. They all should immediately change religion and claim the Prophet as their new saviour. The Muslim faith has much to recommend it to any Christian.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And the benefits would be immense.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enoch could voice his transgender religious exemption and the school would flagellate itself with remorse for even having impinged on his sensitivities and would find a tolerant and Christian way to accommodate him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And can you see the High Court incarcerate a Muslim in Mountjoy as it did a Christian? In theory, yes - but imagine the national, and indeed global outrage. I doubt the school would force that issue.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is not a level playing field. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So-called “tolerance” in Ireland is bounded.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It does not extend to those damn “nuisance” Covid Pharma skeptics.<br />It does not extend to those damn “nuisance” Climate Scam skeptics.<br />It does not extend to those damn “nuisance” Ukraine War skeptics.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And it does not extend to those damn “nuisance” Christians.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then they call you a nuisance.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then you win.</span></b></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://FintanDunne.com">http://FintanDunne.com</a> </span></div><div><a href="http://BreakForNews.com"><span style="font-family: verdana;">http://BreakForNews.com</span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Article:</b> <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40955927.html" target="_blank">Mick Clifford: -The world tires of keeping up with the Burkes</a></span></p><p>Research: <a href="https://www.one-tab.com/page/jTh4E0JvRqGo4k-_lpZqGA">https://www.one-tab.com/page/jTh4E0JvRqGo4k-_lpZqGA</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="336" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OP3Pmz5Auxg" width="404" youtube-src-id="OP3Pmz5Auxg"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-47022460761608718512021-05-03T01:32:00.000+01:002021-05-03T01:32:25.664+01:00<p> </p><div class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;"><h1 class="fg dk fh ba cz fi fj fk fl fm fn fo fp fq fr fs ft fu fv fw fx fy fz ga gb gc gd" id="79cf" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 46px; letter-spacing: -0.011em; line-height: 56px; margin: 0.6em 0px -0.27em;">COVID Vaccines: Necessity, Efficacy and Safety</h1><div class="cw" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 32px;"><div class="n cj ge gf gg" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="o n" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://doctors4covidethics.medium.com/?source=post_page-----b1d8bfbc9d2--------------------------------" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Doctors for Covid Ethics" class="s gh gi gj" height="28" src="https://miro.medium.com/fit/c/56/56/1*mXXyIIe1jM3z7eG3egV--Q.jpeg" style="border-radius: 50%; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; height: 28px; vertical-align: middle; width: 28px;" width="28" /></a></div><div class="dy w n ct" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; margin-left: 12px; width: 312.926px;"><div class="n" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 1 1 0%;"><span class="ba b bb bc gd" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="35" aria-hidden="false" aria-labelledby="35" class="bv" role="tooltip" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block;"><a class="" href="https://doctors4covidethics.medium.com/?source=post_page-----b1d8bfbc9d2--------------------------------" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><p class="ba b bb bc bd" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1a8917; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px;">Doctors for Covid Ethics</p></a></div></div></span></div></div><span class="ba b bb bc by" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><a class="" href="https://doctors4covidethics.medium.com/covid-vaccines-necessity-efficacy-and-safety-b1d8bfbc9d2?source=post_page-----b1d8bfbc9d2--------------------------------" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><p class="ba b bb bc by" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px;"><span class="gk" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 4px;"></span>2 days ago<span class="gl" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 7px;">·</span>14 min read</p></a></span></div></div><div class="n cs gm gn go gp gq gr gs gt" style="align-items: flex-end; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; margin-left: 30px;"><div class="n o" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><div class="gu s" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-right: 8px;"><div aria-describedby="postFooterSocialMenu" aria-hidden="false" aria-labelledby="postFooterSocialMenu" class="bv" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="1" aria-hidden="false" aria-labelledby="1" class="bv" role="tooltip" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block;"><button aria-controls="postFooterSocialMenu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Share Post" class="ds dt bz ca cb cc cd ce cf bl du dv cg dw dx" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; fill: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px;"><svg class="r" height="25" width="25"><g fill-rule="evenodd"><path d="M15.6 5a.42.42 0 0 0 .17-.3.42.42 0 0 0-.12-.33l-2.8-2.79a.5.5 0 0 0-.7 0l-2.8 2.8a.4.4 0 0 0-.1.32c0 .12.07.23.16.3h.02a.45.45 0 0 0 .57-.04l2-2V10c0 .28.23.5.5.5s.5-.22.5-.5V2.93l2.02 2.02c.08.07.18.12.3.13.11.01.21-.02.3-.08v.01"></path><path d="M18 7h-1.5a.5.5 0 0 0 0 1h1.6c.5 0 .9.4.9.9v10.2c0 .5-.4.9-.9.9H6.9a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9V8.9c0-.5.4-.9.9-.9h1.6a.5.5 0 0 0 .35-.15A.5.5 0 0 0 9 7.5a.5.5 0 0 0-.15-.35A.5.5 0 0 0 8.5 7H7a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v10c0 1.1.9 2 2 2h11a2 2 0 0 0 2-2V9a2 2 0 0 0-2-2"></path></g></svg></button></div></div></div></div><div class="gv s" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-right: 8px;"><div class="tj" style="box-sizing: inherit; fill: rgb(117, 117, 117);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="ds dt bz ca cb cc cd ce cf bl du dv cg dw dx" href="https://medium.com/m/signin?actionUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F_%2Fbookmark%2Fp%2Fb1d8bfbc9d2&operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fdoctors4covidethics.medium.com%2Fcovid-vaccines-necessity-efficacy-and-safety-b1d8bfbc9d2&source=post_actions_header--------------------------bookmark_preview-----------" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; fill: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><svg height="25" viewbox="0 0 25 25" width="25"><path d="M19 6a2 2 0 0 0-2-2H8a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v14.66h.01c.01.1.05.2.12.28a.5.5 0 0 0 .7.03l5.67-4.12 5.66 4.13a.5.5 0 0 0 .71-.03.5.5 0 0 0 .12-.29H19V6zm-6.84 9.97L7 19.64V6a1 1 0 0 1 1-1h9a1 1 0 0 1 1 1v13.64l-5.16-3.67a.49.49 0 0 0-.68 0z" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg></a></span></div></div><div class="s ay" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 1 0 auto;"></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz ha hb hc hd he hf hg hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="984d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 24px 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Abstract:</span> COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have been exempted from legal liability for vaccine-induced harm. It is therefore in the interests of all those authorising, enforcing and administering COVID-19 vaccinations to understand the evidence regarding the risks and benefits of these vaccines, since liability for harm will fall on them.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3ba3" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In short, the available evidence and science indicate that COVID-19 vaccines are unnecessary, ineffective and unsafe.</p><figure class="hw hx hy hz ia ib eu ev paragraph-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="ic id ao ie w if" role="button" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: zoom-in; position: relative; transition: transform 300ms cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0.2, 1) 0s; width: 680px; z-index: auto;" tabindex="0"><div class="eu ev hv" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 600px;"><img alt="" class="ig ih" height="336" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*SY-k8uEHhv50XCJuA3d5BQ.jpeg" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="600" /></div></div></figure><ul class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp ii ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="df38" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 2em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Necessity:</span> Immunocompetent individuals are protected against SARS-CoV-2 by cellular immunity. Vaccinating low-risk groups is therefore unnecessary. For immunocompromised individuals who do fall ill with COVID-19 there is a range of medical treatments that have been proven safe and effective. Vaccinating the vulnerable is therefore equally unnecessary. Both immunocompetent and vulnerable groups are better protected against variants of SARS-CoV-2 by naturally acquired immunity and by medication than by vaccination.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp ii ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="791f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Efficacy:</span> Covid-19 vaccines lack a viable mechanism of action against SARS-CoV-2 infection of the airways. Induction of antibodies cannot prevent infection by an agent such as SARS-CoV-2 that invades through the respiratory tract. Moreover, none of the vaccine trials have provided any evidence that vaccination prevents transmission of the infection by vaccinated individuals; urging vaccination to “protect others” therefore has no basis in fact.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp ii ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7d3a" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Safety:</span> The vaccines are dangerous to both healthy individuals and those with pre-existing chronic disease, for reasons such as the following: risk of lethal and non-lethal disruptions of blood clotting including bleeding disorders, thrombosis in the brain, stroke and heart attack; autoimmune and allergic reactions; antibody-dependent enhancement of disease; and vaccine impurities due to rushed manufacturing and unregulated production standards.</li></ul><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5891" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">risk-benefit calculus</span> is therefore clear: the experimental vaccines are needless, ineffective and dangerous. Actors authorising, coercing or administering experimental COVID-19 vaccination are exposing populations and patients to serious, unnecessary, and unjustified medical risks.</p><h1 class="iq ir fh ba is it iu ha iv iw ix hd iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e542" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 36px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">1. The vaccines are unnecessary</h1><ol class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz jm ha hb hc jn hd he hf jo hg hh hi jp hj hk hl jq hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1cc8" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0.86em; padding-left: 0px;">Multiple lines of research indicate that immunocompetent people display <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">“robust” and lasting</span> cellular (T cell) immunity to SARS-CoV viruses [1], including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants [2]. T cell protection stems not only from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 itself, but from cross-reactive immunity following previous exposure to common cold and SARS coronaviruses [1,3–10]. Such immunity was detectable after infections up to 17 years prior [1,3]. Therefore, immunocompetent people do not need vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7e4f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Natural T-Cell immunity provides stronger and more comprehensive protection</span> against all SARS-CoV-2 strains than vaccines, because naturally primed immunity recognises multiple virus epitopes and costimulatory signals, not merely a single (spike) protein. Thus, immunocompetent people are better protected against SARS-CoV-2 and any variants that may arise by their own immunity than by the current crop of vaccines.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c6a5" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">The vaccines have been touted as a means to prevent asymptomatic infection [11], and by extension “asymptomatic transmission.” However, <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">“asymptomatic transmission” is an artefact</span> of invalid and unreliable PCR test procedures and interpretations, leading to high false-positive rates [12–15]. Evidence indicates that PCR-positive, asymptomatic people are healthy false-positives, not carriers. A comprehensive study of <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">9,899,828</span> people in China found that asymptomatic individuals testing positive for COVID-19 never infected others [16]. In contrast, the papers cited by the Centre for Disease Control [17,18] to justify claims of asymptomatic transmission are based on hypothetical models, not empirical studies; they present assumptions and estimates rather than evidence. Preventing asymptomatic infection is not a viable rationale for promoting vaccination of the general population.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e208" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">In most countries, <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">most people now have immunity to SARS-CoV-2</span> [19]. Depending on their degree of previously acquired cross-immunity, they will have had no symptoms, mild and uncharacteristic symptoms, or more severe symptoms, possibly including anosmia (loss of sense of smell) or other somewhat characteristic signs of the COVID-19 disease. Regardless of disease severity, they will now have sufficient immunity to be protected from severe disease in the event of renewed exposure. This majority of the population will not benefit at all from being vaccinated.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="640d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Population survival of COVID-19 exceeds </span>99.8% globally [20–22]. In countries that have been intensely infected over several months, less than 0.2% of the population have died and had their deaths classified as ‘with covid19’. COVID-19 is also typically a mild to moderately severe illness. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of people are not at risk from COVID-19 and do not require vaccination for their own protection.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="441b" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">In those susceptible to severe infection, <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Covid-19 is a treatable illness</span>. A convergence of evidence indicates that early treatment with existing drugs reduces hospitalisation and mortality by ~85% and 75%, respectively [23–27]. These drugs include many tried and true antiinflammatory, antiviral, and anticoagulant medications, as well as monoclonal antibodies, zinc, and vitamins C and D. Industry and government decisions to sideline such proven treatments through selective research support [24], regulatory bias, and even outright sanctions against doctors daring to use such treatments on their own initiative, have been out of step with existing laws, standard medical practice, and research; the legal requirement to consider real world evidence has fallen by the wayside [28]. The systematic denial and denigration of these effective therapies has underpinned the spurious justification for the emergency use authorisation of the vaccines, which requires that “no standard acceptable treatment is available” [29]. Plainly stated, vaccines are not necessary to prevent severe disease.</li></ol><h1 class="iq ir fh ba is it iu ha iv iw ix hd iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c617" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 36px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">2. The vaccines lack efficacy</h1><ol class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz jm ha hb hc jn hd he hf jo hg hh hi jp hj hk hl jq hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a0ac" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0.86em; padding-left: 0px;">At a mechanistic level, the concept of immunity to COVID-19 via antibody induction, as per <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">COVID-19 vaccination, is medical nonsense</span>. Airborne viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 enter the body via the airways and lungs, where antibody concentrations are too low to prevent infection. Vaccine-induced antibodies primarily circulate in the bloodstream, while concentrations on the mucous membranes of lungs and airways is low. Given that COVID-19 primarily spreads and causes disease by infecting these mucous membranes, vaccines miss the immunological mark. The documents submitted by the vaccine manufacturers to the various regulatory bodies contain no evidence that vaccination prevents airway infection, which would be crucial for breaking the chain of transmission. Thus, vaccines are immunologically inappropriate for COVID-19.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3f02" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Medium to long-term vaccine efficacy is unknown.</span> Phase 3, medium term, 24-month trials will not be complete until 2023: There is no medium-term or long term longitudinal data regarding COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a6ff" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Short term data has not established prevention of severe disease.</span> The European Medicines Agency has noted of the Comirnaty (Pfizer mRNA) vaccine that severe COVID-19 cases “were rare in the study, and statistically certain conclusion cannot be drawn” from it [30]. Similarly, the Pfizer document submitted to the FDA [31] concludes that efficacy against mortality could not be demonstrated. Thus, the vaccines have not been shown to prevent death or severe disease even in the short term.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="aa7d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">The <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">correlates of protection against COVID-19 are unknown.</span> Researchers have not yet established how to measure protection against COVID-19. As a result, efficacy studies are stabbing around in the dark. After completion of Phase 1 and 2 studies, for instance, a paper in the journal Vaccine noted that “without understanding the correlates of protection, it is impossible to currently address questions regarding vaccine-associated protection, risk of COVID-19 reinfection, herd immunity, and the possibility of elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from the human population” [32]. Thus, Vaccine efficacy cannot be evaluated because we have not yet established how to measure it.</li></ol><h1 class="iq ir fh ba is it iu ha iv iw ix hd iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9c76" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 36px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">3. The vaccines are dangerous</h1><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz jm ha hb hc jn hd he hf jo hg hh hi jp hj hk hl jq hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3895" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 0.86em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">1.<span id="rmm" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span></span>Just as smoking could be and was predicted to cause lung cancer based on first principles, <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">all gene-based vaccines can be expected to cause blood clotting and bleeding disorders</span> [33], based on their molecular mechanisms of action. Consistent with this, diseases of this kind have been observed across age groups, leading to temporary vaccine suspensions around the world — The vaccines are not safe.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c9b7" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">2.</span> Contrary to claims that blood disorders post-vaccination are “rare”, many <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">common vaccine side effects</span> (headaches, nausea, vomiting and haematoma-like “rashes” over the body) <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">may indicate thrombosis and other severe abnormalities</span>. Moreover, vaccine-induced diffuse micro-thromboses in the lungs can mimic pneumonia and may be misdiagnosed as COVID-19. Clotting events currently receiving media attention are likely just the “tip of a huge iceberg” [34] — The vaccines are not safe.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a693" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">3</span>. Due to immunological priming, <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">risks of clotting, bleeding and other adverse events can be expected to increase with each re-vaccination</span> and each intervening coronavirus exposure. Over time, whether months or years [35], this renders both vaccination and coronaviruses dangerous to young and healthy age groups, for whom without vaccination COVID-19 poses no substantive risk.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3544" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Since vaccine roll-out, COVID-19 incidence has risen in numerous areas with high vaccination rates [36–38]. Furthermore, multiple series of COVID-19 fatalities have occurred shortly after the onset vaccinations in senior homes [39,40]. These cases may have been due not only to antibody-dependent enhancement but also to a general immunosuppressive effect of the vaccines, which is suggested by the increased occurrence of Herpes zoster in certain patients [41]. Immunosuppression may have caused a previously asymptomatic infection to become clinically manifest. Regardless of the exact mechanism responsible for these reported deaths, we must expect that the vaccines will increase rather than decrease lethality of COVID-19 — The vaccines are not safe.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d136" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">4</span>. <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">The vaccines are experimental by definition</span>. They will remain in Phase 3 trials until 2023. Recipients are human subjects entitled to free informed consent under Nuremberg and other protections, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s resolution 2361 [42] and the FDA’s terms of emergency use authorisation [29]. With respect to safety data from Phase 1 and 2 trials, in spite of initially large sample sizes the journal Vaccine reports that, “the vaccination strategy chosen for further development may have only been given to as few as 12 participants” [32]. With such extremely small sample sizes, the journal notes that, “larger Phase 3 studies conducted over longer periods of time will be necessary” to establish safety. The risks that remain to be evaluated in Phase 3 trials into 2023, with entire populations as subjects, include not only thrombosis and bleeding abnormalities, but other autoimmune responses, allergic reactions, unknown tropisms (tissue destinations) of lipid nanoparticles [35], antibody-dependent enhancement [43–46] and the impact of rushed, questionably executed, poorly regulated [47] and reportedly inconsistent manufacturing methods, conferring risks of potentially harmful impurities such as uncontrolled DNA residues [48]. The vaccines are not safe, either for recipients or for those who administer them or authorise their use.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="793e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">5.</span> Initial experience might suggest that the adenovirus-derived vaccines (AstraZeneca/Johnson & Johnson) cause graver adverse effects than the mRNA (Pfizer/Moderna) vaccines. However, upon repeated injection, the former will soon induce antibodies against the proteins of the adenovirus vector. These antibodies will then neutralize most of the vaccine virus particles and cause their disposal before they can infect any cells, thereby limiting the intensity of tissue damage.</p><p class="gw gx fh gy b gz hq ha hb hc hr hd he hf hs hg hh hi ht hj hk hl hu hm hn hp dm gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7073" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In contrast, in the mRNA vaccines, there is no protein antigen for the antibodies to recognize. Thus, regardless of the existing degree of immunity, the vaccine mRNA is going to reach its target — the body cells. These will then express the spike protein and subsequently suffer the full onslaught of the immune system. <span class="gy cz" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">With the mRNA vaccines, the risk of severe adverse events is virtually guaranteed to increase with every successive injection.</span> In the long term, they are therefore even more dangerous than the vector vaccines. Their apparent preferment over the latter is concerning in the highest degree; these vaccines are not safe.</p><h1 class="iq ir fh ba is it iu ha iv iw ix hd iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8cba" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 36px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">4. Ethics and legal points to consider</h1><ol class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz jm ha hb hc jn hd he hf jo hg hh hi jp hj hk hl jq hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9210" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0.86em; padding-left: 0px;">Conflicts of interest abound in the scientific literature and within organisations that recommend and promote vaccines, while demonising alternate strategies (reliance on natural immunity and early treatment). Authorities, doctors and medical personnel need to protect themselves by evaluating the sources of their information for conflicts of interest extremely closely.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0113" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Authorities, doctors and medical personnel need to be similarly careful not to ignore the credible and independent literature on vaccine necessity, safety and efficacy, given the foreseeable mass deaths and harms that must be expected unless the vaccination campaign is stopped.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ed85" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Vaccine manufacturers have exempted themselves from legal liability for adverse events for a reason. When vaccine deaths and harms occur, liability will fall to those responsible for the vaccines’ authorisation, administration and/or coercion via vaccine passports, none of which can be justified on a sober, evidence-based risk-benefit analysis.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="6cab" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">All political, regulatory and medical actors involved in COVID-19 vaccination should familiarise themselves with the Nuremberg code and other legal provisions in order to protect themselves.</li></ol><h1 class="iq ir fh ba is it iu ha iv iw ix hd iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="440d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 36px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">References</h1><ol class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz jm ha hb hc jn hd he hf jo hg hh hi jp hj hk hl jq hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="169f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 0.86em; padding-left: 0px;">Le Bert, N.; Tan, A.T.; Kunasegaran, K.; Tham, C.Y.L.; Hafezi, M.; Chia, A.; Chng, M.H.Y.; Lin, M.; Tan, N.; Linster, M.; Chia, W.N.; Chen, M.I.; Wang, L.; Ooi, E.E.; Kalimuddin, S.; Tambyah, P.A.; Low, J.G.; Tan, Y. and Bertoletti, A. 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(2020) Navigating the Quagmire: Comparison and Interpretation of COVID-19 Vaccine Phase 1/2 Clinical Trials. <a class="ds js" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8040746" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Vaccines</em> 8:746</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7022" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Bhakdi, S.; Chiesa, M.; Frost, S.; Griesz-Brisson, M.; Haditsch, M.; Hockertz, S.; Johnson, L.; Kämmerer, U.; Palmer, M.; Reiss, K.; Sönnichsen, A.; Wodarg, W. and Yeadon, M. 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(2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://tinyurl.com/d4ce-rebuttal" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Rebuttal letter to European Medicines Agency from Doctors for Covid Ethics, April 1, 2021</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1d64" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Ulm, J.W. (2020) <a class="ds js" href="https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037/rr-19" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Rapid response to: Will covid-19 vaccines save lives? Current trials aren’t designed to tell us</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7f9c" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Reimann, N. (2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://tinyurl.com/forbes-reimann" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Covid Spiking In Over A Dozen States — Most With High Vaccination Rates</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="49e0" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Meredith, S. (2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/19/covid-chiles-coronavirus-cases-%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20hit-record-levels-despite-vaccine-rollout.html" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Chile has one of the world’s best vaccination rates. Covid is surging there anyway</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e967" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Bhuyan, A. (2021) Covid-19: India sees new spike in cases despite vaccine rollout. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=33785519" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">BMJ</em> 372:n854</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="79e5" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Morrissey, K. (2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://archive.org/details/irish-covid-vaccination-deaths" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Open letter to Dr. Karina Butler</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3335" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Anonymous, (2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://tinyurl.com/tly3i6eb" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Open Letter from the UK Medical Freedom Alliance: Urgent warning re Covid-19 vaccine-related deaths in the elderly and Care Homes</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="51a3" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Furer, V.; Zisman, D.; Kibari, A.; Rimar, D.; Paran, Y. and Elkayam, O. (2021) Herpes zoster following BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccination in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a case series. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=33848321" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Rheumatology</em> -:x-x</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9548" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Anonymous, (2021) <a class="ds js" href="https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29004/html" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Covid-19 vaccines: ethical, legal and practical considerations</a>.</li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2c07" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Tseng, C.; Sbrana, E.; Iwata-Yoshikawa, N.; Newman, P.C.; Garron, T.; Atmar, R.L.; Peters, C.J. and Couch, R.B. (2012) Immunization with SARS coronavirus vaccines leads to pulmonary immunopathology on challenge with the SARS virus. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=22536382" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">PLoS One</em> 7:e35421</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bfbe" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Bolles, M.; Deming, D.; Long, K.; Agnihothram, S.; Whitmore, A.; Ferris, M.; Funkhouser, W.; Gralinski, L.; Totura, A.; Heise, M. and Baric, R.S. (2011) A double-inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus vaccine provides incomplete protection in mice and induces increased eosinophilic proinflammatory pulmonary response upon challenge. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=21937658" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">J. Virol.</em> 85:12201–15</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c531" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Weingartl, H.; Czub, M.; Czub, S.; Neufeld, J.; Marszal, P.; Gren, J.; Smith, G.; Jones, S.; Proulx, R.; Deschambault, Y.; Grudeski, E.; Andonov, A.; He, R.; Li, Y.; Copps, J.; Grolla, A.; Dick, D.; Berry, J.; Ganske, S.; Manning, L. and Cao, J. (2004) Immunization with modified vaccinia virus Ankara-based recombinant vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome is associated with enhanced hepatitis in ferrets. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=15507655" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">J. Virol.</em> 78:12672–6</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="91fa" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Czub, M.; Weingartl, H.; Czub, S.; He, R. and Cao, J. (2005) Evaluation of modified vaccinia virus Ankara based recombinant SARS vaccine in ferrets. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=15755610" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Vaccine</em> 23:2273–9</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8ee3" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Tinari, S. (2021) The EMA covid-19 data leak, and what it tells us about mRNA instability. <a class="ds js" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=33692030" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">BMJ</em> 372:n627</a></li><li class="gw gx fh gy b gz il ha hb hc im hd he hf in hg hh hi io hj hk hl ip hm hn hp jr ij ik gd" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3224" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-left: 30px; margin-top: 1.05em; padding-left: 0px;">Anonymous, (2021) <a class="ds js" href="http://enformtk.u-aizu.ac.jp/howard/gcep_dr_vanessa_schmidt_krueger/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Interview with Dr. Vanessa Schmidt-Krüger</a>.</li></ol>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-78335265384901135102021-02-10T04:55:00.009+00:002021-02-10T05:08:37.797+00:00<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ISWW33POkc" width="720" youtube-src-id="-ISWW33POkc"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">"<b>WE'RE SUING BETFAIR</b>"
-TRUMP PUNTERS TO FILE
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT</span><span style="font-size: 15px;">
</span></span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">10th Feb 2021 | <b>Hundreds of Betfair customers</b> who backed Trump for reelection are in legal talks to mount a class action and sue the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">online gambling giant </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">over it's early settlement of the Next President betting market on 14th December, 2020.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">At issue is whether the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">firm </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">was right to settle the market before there was certainty as to the outcome -which was only resolved three weeks later in the early hours of January 7th, 2021 during a joint session of the US Houses of Congress.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 'Betfair Trump Punters' group has over 1,500 members on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/betfairfraud">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://t.me/BetfairTrumpLegalAction">Telegram</a>. They say the early settlement of the market caused them losses by denying them cash-out opportunities. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a video announcement today, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">founder of the online group, Fintan Dunne confirmed they are in legal talks to launch a class action lawsuit -first in the United Kingdom and then internationally.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Group members say that Betfair made repeated assurances to customers by phone and in online tweets that they would await legal "certainty" regarding the outcome of the presidential race. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Betfair claim the bet's small print means they can settle when one candidate has a majority of projected electoral college votes. But outraged punters say that they bet on an outcome and the outcome was contested all the way to January 6th, 2021.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The group says that Betfair have set new rules for the 2024 presidential race. The amended rules mean that </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">if the exact same situation were to repeat in 2024, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the market would no longer be settled early. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The class action litigants say those rule changes came about </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">because Betfair belatedly recognized that their 2020 rules were indefensibly unfit for purpose.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Connect Social:
<a href="https://t.me/BetfairTrumpLegalAction">https://t.me/BetfairTrumpLegalAction</a>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/betfairfraud">https://www.facebook.com/groups/betfairfraud</a></span></span>
</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Betfair Trump Backers Email List:
</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://bit.ly/betfairlawsuit">http://bit.ly/betfairlawsuit</a>
</span></span>
</p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://t.me/FintanDunne">https://t.me/FintanDunne</a>
</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://Fintan Dunne.com">http://Fintan Dunne.com</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span>
</span></p><p><br /></p>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-43671024884666765212020-08-26T07:01:00.021+01:002020-08-26T10:09:05.697+01:00<p> <b><a href="http://informedconsent.ie">informedconsent.ie</a><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="532" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sZmTbPbc4yY" width="640" youtube-src-id="sZmTbPbc4yY"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>WATCH PROF HARVEY RISCH INTERVIEW</b></span></div><p></p><header class="fl-post-header" role="banner" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 25px;"><h1 class="fl-post-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 36px; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How A False COVID-19 Narrative Has Been Created & Sustained For Six Months</span></h1><div class="fl-post-meta fl-post-meta-top" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="fl-post-date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://ahrp.org/how-a-false-covid-19-narrative-was-created-sustained-for-six-months/">August 20, 2020 ahrp.org</a> </span></span></div><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/InteractionCounter" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></header><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Those who demonized hydroxychloroquine bear responsibility for causing preventable deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of patients.</span></b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Following publication by <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Lancet</em> of a demonstrably fraudulent study, the World Health Organization suspended its hydroxychloroquine studies and urged countries around the world to suspend both their clinical trials, and prevent doctors from using the drug for Covid. Several governments did ban the use of the drug. Some lifted the ban after the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lancet</em> study was retracted two weeks after publication.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Switzerland, which had been using hydroxychloroquine for months, banned the drug from May 27<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> until June 11<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>. Here is the Johns Hopkins graph showing a precipitous increase in the case fatality rate (CFR) – i.e., preventable deaths that occurred in Switzerland during the 13-day period during which patients were denied this life-saving treatment.</span></p><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_39942" style="background: rgb(247, 247, 247); border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 10px; text-align: center; width: 1027px;"><a href="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-39942" class="size-large wp-image-39942" height="572" sizes="(max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px" src="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French-1017x572.jpg" srcset="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French-1017x572.jpg 1017w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French-300x169.jpg 300w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French-768x432.jpg 768w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French-180x100.jpg 180w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-Deaths_Swiss_French.jpg 1110w" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" width="1017" /></span></a><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-39942" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The graph charting high Covid-19 deaths in Switzerland during the 13 day ban, following the fraudulent </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">Lancet</em><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> report proves that the drug had reduced the rate of deaths; that rate increased precipitously when the drug was withheld. The Swiss death rate from Covid-19 dropped as soon as patients were again treated with Hydroxychloroquine.</span></span></p></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><br /></span><span>This constitutes scientific proof of the curative effect of Hydroxychloroquine for patients with Covid-19, by means of </span><a href="https://www.c3isolutions.com/blog/challenges-prechallenges-dechallenges-and-rechallenges/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; font-size: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;">challenge-dechallenge-rechallenge</a><span>. In this case, it was not an experiment by design, but rather as a result of government edicts.</span></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The graph further demonstrates that France whose government issued a series of regulations to restrict the use of this effective treatment, such as <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/why-france-is-hiding-a-cheap-and-tested-virus-cure/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">changing the drugs’ status</a> from over-the-counter to prescription only on January 13<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>, followed by a ban on the use of the drug two months later. In contrast to Switzerland, France has a high <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">19.12% </strong>Covid-19 mortality rate<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</strong></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>Further evidence demonstrating the life-saving benefit of Hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 infected patients comes from clinical trials conducted by the world renowned virologist, Didier Raoult, MD, PhD: patients treated with Hydroxychloroquine were at minimal risk (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;">0.52%)</span><span> of death. </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px;">.</strong></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></b></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US government, like France, issued draconian restrictions on the use of Hydroxychloroquine – nationally and through numerous state edicts that resulted in exceedingly high death rates. The US leads the world with the most reported COVID-19 deaths --a smoking gun providing grounds for legal action.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>On August 18</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span><span> US Senators Ron Johnson, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz wrote a </span><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5zs3guc" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; font-size: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;">letter to FDA</a><span> Commissioner, Stephen Hahn, requesting substantiating scientific evidence in support of FDA’s withdrawal of the Emergency Use Authorization for Hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of the coronavirus. And they requested outcome studies, reports, and data from the US and internationally, about the treatment of patients with HCQ or Chloroquine under a doctor’s supervision outside of hospitals. </span></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Doctors who dispute the official Covid-19 narrative are under siege --subjected to a coordinated government-media censorship campaign. Medical doctors are being threatened for using their professional judgment which is supported by both scientific and clinical evidence.</span></p><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Doctors are being vilified for putting the lives of their patients first – which is their sworn duty under the Hippocratic Oath, “First, do no harm.”</span></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Frontline Doctors who speak publicly about the evidence from their own clinical experience of having saved hundreds of lives by use of hydroxychloroquine in combination with Zinc, and Azithromycin, are being threatened by state Medical Licensing Boards and by Congressional representatives.</span></p><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_39943" style="background: rgb(247, 247, 247); border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 10px; text-align: center; width: 484px;"><a href="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Frontline-Doctors_-DCSupreme-Court.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-39943" class="size-full wp-image-39943" height="244" sizes="(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px" src="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Frontline-Doctors_-DCSupreme-Court.jpg" srcset="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Frontline-Doctors_-DCSupreme-Court.jpg 474w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Frontline-Doctors_-DCSupreme-Court-300x154.jpg 300w" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" width="474" /></span></a><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-39943" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fronline Doctors in DC</span></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">On July 27, America’s Frontline Doctors held a “White Coat Summit” in Washington D.C., during which they exposed a “massive disinformation campaign” against the life-saving ability of Hydroxychloroquine. The Big Tech cartel totally blacked out the event from the Internet and shut down America’s Frontline Doctors’ website in a grotesque effort to prevent the truth from reaching the public. This is the equivalent of Nazi book burning. Indeed the tactics of Big Tech follow closely the Goebel’s Propaganda playbook</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">These tech giants are financially intertwined with Big Pharma; they have captured the media narrative, deliberately preventing the public from gaining access to the truth.</span></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Corona_Money-GreenMedInfo.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-39944" height="200" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Corona_Money-GreenMedInfo-300x200.jpg" srcset="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Corona_Money-GreenMedInfo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Corona_Money-GreenMedInfo.jpg 600w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: auto; margin: 5px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="300" /></span></a></p><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The truth about Covid-19, and the truth about an existing effective treatment, poses a serious financial threat to the projected market of 7 billion people – for a yet undeveloped vaccine.</span></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr. Anthony Fauci’s narrative about Covid-19 is identical to that of Bill Gates, who has billions of dollars invested in a yet to be developed vaccine – and investment in technology aimed at tracking compliance with vaccination mandates that he promotes. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Gates–Fauci false market-driven narrative is parroted by the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health, and the Center for Disease Control – all of who have private-public partnerships with the Gates Foundation.</span></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This marketing propaganda juggernaut has paralyzed much of the Western world for over six months; it has devastated economies, and has resulted in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths!</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/us-frontline-doctors-expose-criminal-campaign-by-tech-giants-govt-agencies-to-block-covid-cure" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">US ‘frontline’ doctors’ website exposes ‘criminal’ campaign by tech giants, govt agencies to block COVID med</a>, Aug. 5, 2020</span></strong></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Read the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-gsn_Ye2EYDDkV_79Ag1tgUqZLNCMSt-/view" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">White Paper</a> on Hydroxychloroquine by Simone Gold, MD, JD in which she documents the indisputable safety of the drug that has been FDA-approved for 65 years.</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Examine also, a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l6y3L_KGb1ilMW0FaP4VZsd7WvX2IU3z/view" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">compilation of medical studies</a> in support of prescribing Hydroxychloroquine for Early Stage Covid-19 by Vladimir Zelenco, MD, Harvey A Risch, MD, PhD and George C Fareed, MD; and a <a href="https://c19study.com/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">list of 78 global studies</a> (47 peer reviewed and 31 preprints). These studies demonstrate that early treatment with Hydroxychloroquine is effectove, whereas late treatment shows mixed results.</span></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can sign <a href="https://lifepetitions.com/petition/petition-tell-the-fda-to-reverse-its-opposition-to-hydroxychloroquine-and-help-save-lives" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">a petition in support of medical freedom</a>. Tell the FDA to release hydroxychloroquine as a possible cure for COVID-19.</span></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Physicians – not government bureaucrats – must be free to use their professional judgement to prescribe what’s best for their patients. So far, there are 41,462 co-signatories to the petition.<br /><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">DEMONIZING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE:</span><br />THE CHECKLIST PROOF</span></h3><p></p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_39947" style="background: rgb(247, 247, 247); border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 18px; margin: 5px 20px 20px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 10px; text-align: center; width: 410px;"><a href="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Meryl-Nass-MD-4.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-39947" class="wp-image-39947" height="266" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" src="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Meryl-Nass-MD-4.jpg" srcset="https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Meryl-Nass-MD-4.jpg 600w, https://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Meryl-Nass-MD-4-300x200.jpg 300w" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" width="400" /></span></a><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-39947" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meryl Nass, MD</span></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr. Meryl Nass has compiled a damning <a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-false-hydroxychloroquine-narrative.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">checklist</a> that keeps increasing; it currently lists 47 fully documented facts that constitute a legal case against government officials’ collusion to demonize an effective existing medicine. <br /><br />Dr. Nass’ checklist begins with government edicts that were issued to prevent medical doctors from using the drug in ways it is most likely to be effective (in outpatients at onset of illness). Government prohibitions against the use of the drug outside of controlled clinical trials – that were designed to show no benefit – included 3 large, randomized, multi-center clinical trials — <a class="mtli_attachment mtli_pdf" href="https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url("../images/pdf-icon-16x16.png"); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; display: inline-block; height: auto; min-height: 16px; padding-left: 19px; text-decoration-line: none;">Recovery</a>,<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"> Solidarity</a> and<a class="mtli_attachment mtli_pdf" href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cde3c7d9a69340001d79ffe/t/5ea3fd83f222897b8d528195/1587805583231/REMAP-CAP+-+COVID-19+Antiviral+Domain-Specific+Appendix+V2.0+-+01+April+2020_WM.pdf" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url("../images/pdf-icon-16x16.png"); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; display: inline-block; height: auto; min-height: 16px; padding-left: 19px; text-decoration-line: none;"> REMAP-Covid</a>) – each of them controlled the dose by specifying extremely high doses of hydroxychloroquine; doses <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">that were known to be toxic and potentially lethal. [</strong>Dr. Nass’ previous articles analyzed these trials in detail<a href="http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/who-trial-using-potentially-fatal.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"> here</a> and<a href="http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/even-worse-than-recovery-potentially.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;"> here</a>.]</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A 4<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> study, conducted in <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1849" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #960410; text-decoration-line: none;">China</a> also used comparable toxic high doses of hydroxychloroquine (3.6 g HCQ in the first three days and 800mg/day thereafter). This study also reported no benefit from HCQ.</span></p><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why would scientists design clinical trials that subject thousands of patients to known to be toxic doses of a drug? And why would governments support these unethical trials?</span></span></div><div class="fl-post-content clearfix" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr. Nass points out in #41 of her checklist: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hydroxychloroquine use is truly the wedge issue for understanding and turning around the pandemic. </strong> If hydroxychloroquine works reasonably well as a prophylactic and treatment for Covid-19, it could potentially end the seriousness of the pandemic and return us to life as we knew it.</span><br /><br /></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: #fff6d2; color: #cc0000; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22.152px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-false-hydroxychloroquine-narrative.html" style="color: #cc0000;">How a false hydroxychloroquine narrative was created, and more</a></h3><div class="post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #fff6d2;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><span>by Dr. Meryl Nass</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><span><br /></span><span>It is remarkable that a large series of events taking place over the past 3 months produced a unified message about hydroxychloroquine, and produced similar policies about the drug in the US, Canada, Australia, NZ and western Europe. The message is that generic,</span></span><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/would-be-coronavirus-drugs-are-cheap-make" style="color: purple; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> inexpensive hydroxychloroquine</span></a><span face=""><span> is dangerous and should not be used to treat a potentially fatal disease, Covid-19, for which there are no (other) reliable treatments. </span></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Hydroxychloroquine has been used safely for 65 years in many millions of patients. <b>And so the message was crafted that<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-temporarily-halts-trial-hydroxychloroquine-over-safety-concerns-n1214341" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> the drug is safe for its other uses, but dangerous when used for Covid-19</span></a></b>. It doesn't make sense, but it seems to have worked.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />In the US, "Never Trump" morphed into "Never Hydroxychloroquine," and the result for the pandemic is "Never Over." But while anti-Trump spin is what characterized suppression strategies in the US, the frauds perpetrated about hydroxychloroquine and the pandemic include most western countries.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span face="">Were these acts carefully orchestrated? You decide.</span></b><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Might these events have been planned to keep the pandemic going? To sell expensive drugs and vaccines to a captive population? Could these acts result in prolonged economic and social hardship, eventually transferring wealth from the middle class to the very rich? Are these events evidence of a conspiracy?</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Here is a list of what happened, in no special order. Please help add to this list if you know of other actions I should include. This will be a living document, added to as new information becomes available. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">I have penned this as if it is the <b>"To Do" list</b> of items to be accomplished by those who pull the strings. The items on the list have already been carried out. One wonders what else might be on their list, yet to be carried out, for this pandemic.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">---------------------</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">1. You stop doctors from using the drug in ways it is most likely to be effective (in outpatients at onset of illness). You prohibit use outside of situations you can control. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Situations that were controlled to show no benefit included 3 large, randomized, multi-center clinical trials (<a href="https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Recovery</span></a>,<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> Solidarity</span></a> and<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cde3c7d9a69340001d79ffe/t/5ea3fd83f222897b8d528195/1587805583231/REMAP-CAP+-+COVID-19+Antiviral+Domain-Specific+Appendix+V2.0+-+01+April+2020_WM.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> REMAP-Covid</span></a>), the kind of trials that are generally believed to yield the most reliable evidence. However, each of them used excessive hydroxychloroquine doses that were known to be toxic and may have been fatal in some cases; see my previous articles<a href="http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/who-trial-using-potentially-fatal.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> here</span></a> and<a href="http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/even-worse-than-recovery-potentially.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> here</span></a>. And a 4th <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1849" style="color: purple;">Chinese study</a> that also used excessive doses (3.6 g HCQ in the first three days and 800mg/day thereafter, comparable to the above studies) also found no benefit from HCQ.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">2. You prevent or limit use in outpatients by controlling the supply of the drug, using different methods in different countries and<a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-04/board-of-pharmacy-covid-19-prescribing.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> states</span></a>. For example, in New York state, by<a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-20210-continuing-temporary-suspension-and-modification-laws-relating-disaster-emergency" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> order of the governor</span></a>, hydroxychloroquine could only be prescribed for hospitalized patients. In Nevada, the governor outright <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-04/board-of-pharmacy-covid-19-prescribing.pdf" style="color: purple;">prohibited</a> <i>both</i> prescribing and dispensing chloroquine drugs for a Covid-19 diagnosis. In New Jersey, the Department of Consumer Affairs <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-04/board-of-pharmacy-covid-19-prescribing.pdf" style="color: purple;">required a positive test result</a> before a chloroquine prescription could be dispensed or prescribed.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">France has issued a series of different regulations to limit prescribers from using it. France's Health Minister also <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/why-france-is-hiding-a-cheap-and-tested-virus-cure/" style="color: purple;">changed the drugs' status</a> from over-the-counter (OTC) to a drug requiring a prescription on January 13.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">3. You play up the danger of the drug, emphasizing side effects that are very rare when the drug is used correctly. You make sure everyone has heard about the<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/52012242" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> man who died</span></a> after consuming hydroxychloroquine in the form of fish tank cleaner. Yet its toxicity at approved doses is minimal. Chloroquine was <i><a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/oxford-recovery-clinical-trial-le-modele-pharmacocinetique-utilise-pour-calculer-le" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">added to table salt</span></a></i> in some regions in the 1950s as a malaria preventive, according to Professor Nicholas White in his <a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/oxford-recovery-clinical-trial-le-modele-pharmacocinetique-utilise-pour-calculer-le" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">study</span></a> for the Recovery trial.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">4. You limit clinical trials to hospitalized patients, instead of testing the drug in outpatients, early in the illness, <a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/05/it-is-medically-illogical-to-wait-until.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">when it is predicted to be most effective</span></a>.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />Finally, but not until May, you have Fauci's NIAID conduct a <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04358068" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">trial</span></a> in outpatients, using hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin, but you only enroll 20 patients, after <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT04358068?A=7&B=11&C=merged#StudyPageTop" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">planning for 2,000</span></a>. You <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT04358068?A=7&B=11&C=merged#StudyPageTop" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">reduce the duration of followup</span></a> from 24 weeks to 13 days post treatment. You <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT04358068?A=7&B=11&C=merged#StudyPageTop" style="color: purple;">cancel the study after only 5 weeks</a>, claiming inadequate enrollments.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">5. You design clinical trials to give<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/who-trial-using-potentially-fatal.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> much too high a dose</span></a>, ensuring the drug will cause harm in some subjects, sufficient to mask any possible beneficial effect. You make sure that trials in<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> 400 hospitals in 35 countries</span></a> (Solidarity) plus most hospitals in the UK (Recovery) use these dangerous doses, as well as additional sites in 13 countries (REMAP-Covid trial).</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">6. You design clinical trials to<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/who-trial-using-potentially-fatal.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> collect almost no safety data</span></a>, so any cause of death due to drug toxicity will be attributed to the disease instead of the drug.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">7. You issue rules for use of the drug based on the<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/hydroxychloroquine-does-not-cure-covid-19-say-drug-trial-chiefs" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> results</span></a> of the UK<a href="https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> Recovery</span></a> study, which overdosed patients. Of course the Recovery results showed more deaths in the hydroxychloroquine arm, since they gave patients 2.4 g in the first 24 hrs, 800 mg/day thereafter. Furthermore, the UK has the 2nd highest death rate in the world for Covid-19 (Belgium is 1st), so simply conducting the trial in the UK may have contributed to the poor results. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">8. You publish, in the world's most-read medical journal, the <i>Lancet</i>, an observational<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> study</span></a> from a massive worldwide database (96,000 Covid cases) that says use of chloroquine drugs caused significantly <u>increased </u>mortality. This was said to be the paper to end all controversy about HCQ and Covid-19. You make sure that all major media report on this result. This was said to be the nail in the coffin for hydroxychloroquine. Then you have<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-fr/update-1-france-italy-belgium-act-to-stop-use-of-hydroxychloroquine-for-covid-19-on-safety-fears-idUKL1N2D911J" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> 3 European countries announce they will not allow doctors to prescribe the drug</span></a>.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">9. You do your best to ride out any controversy, never admitting culpability. Even after hundreds of people renounced the <i>Lancet's </i>observational study due to easily identified fabrications--the database used in the study did not exist, and the claimed numbers did not agree with known numbers of cases--the <i>Lancet</i> held firm for two weeks, serving to muddy the waters about the trial, until finally 3 of the 4 coauthors (but not the<i> Lancet</i>)<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31324-6/fulltext" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> retracted the study</span></a>. Neither the authors nor the journal have admitted responsibility, let alone explained what it was that induced them to coauthor and publish such a fraud.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">You made sure very few media reported that the data were<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/health/virus-journals.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> fabricated</span></a>, the "study" was fraudulent, and the drugs were actually safe. Even though the story of the database company, Surgisphere, was full of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgisphere-who-world-health-organization-hydroxychloroquine" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">scandalous details</span></a>, the story of the study's retraction went largely unnoticed by the public. You made sure most people remember the original story: that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine frequently kill patients.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">10. You ensure federal agencies like FDA and CDC hew to your desired policies. Some examples: a)<a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> FDA advised use only in hospitalized patients</span></a> (too late)<a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> and later advised use restricted to only clinical trials</span></a> (which are limited, are difficult to enroll in, have been halted prematurely, or may use excessive doses). </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">b) you have FDA make unsubstantiated and false claims, such as: "<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/138945/download" style="color: purple;"><i><span style="color: #954f72;">Hospitalized patients were likely to have greater prospect of benefit (compared to ambulatory patients with mild illness)</span></i></a><i>"</i> and claim the chloroquine drugs have a<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/138945/download" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> slow onset of action</span></a>. If that were really true, they would not be used for acute attacks of malaria or in critically ill patients with Covid. (Disclosure: I once dosed myself with chloroquine for an acute attack of <i>P. vivax</i> malaria, and it worked very fast.).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">c) although providing treatment advice is a large part of its <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/mission.htm#:~:text=As%20the%20nation's%20health%20protection,and%20responds%20when%20these%20arise." style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">mission</span></a>, CDC instead <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-options.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">refers clinicians to the NIH guidelines</span></a>, discussed below.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />d) Despite the fact that <a href="https://covid-19.sciensano.be/sites/default/files/Covid19/COVID-19_InterimGuidelines_Treatment_ENG.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Belgium's COVID treatment guidelines</span></a> repeatedly mention that the doses of HCQ in the Recovery and Solidarity trials were 4 times the cumulative dose used in Belgium, you make sure the Belgian guidelines, paradoxically, only recommend use of HCQ within clinical trials.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">11. You make sure to avoid funding/encouraging clinical trials that test drug combinations like hydroxychloroquine with zinc, with azithromycin, or with both, although there is ample clinical evidence that such combinations provide a cumulative benefit to patients. For example, <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.02.20080036v1" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">one</span></a> study that did look at this combination had no funding.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">12. You have federal and UN agencies make false, illogical claims based on models (or invention) rather than human data. For example, you have the FDA state on June 15 that the dose<b> required</b> to treat Covid is so high it is toxic, after the <a href="https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Recovery</span></a> and<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> Solidarity</span></a> trials have been exposed for toxic dosing. This scientific double-speak gives some legal cover to the clinical trials that overdosed their patients.<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/138945/download" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> According to Denise Hinton,</span></a> RN, the FDA's Chief Scientist (yes, a registered nurse without scientific qualifications is the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/node/374121" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Chief Scientist at FDA</span></a>), or perhaps a clumsy FDA wordsmith: </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">"Under the assumption that in vivo cellular accumulation is similar to that from the in vitro cell-based assays, the calculated free lung concentrations that would result from the EUA suggested dosing regimens are well below the in vitro EC50/EC90 values, making the antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2 not likely achievable with the dosing regimens recommended in the EUA. The substantial increase in dosing that would be needed to increase the likelihood of an antiviral effect would not be acceptable due to toxicity concerns."</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">You have a <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/informal-consultation-on-the-dose-of-chloroquine-and-hydroxychloroquine-for-the-solidarity-clinical-trial---8-april-2020" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">WHO report</span></a> claim toxic doses are needed. This is nonsense since:</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><ul style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">CDC researchers<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1232869/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> showed strong effects against SARS-1 at safely achievable concentrations</span></a>, </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">the drug at normal doses is being<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/04/covid-19-clinical-trials-databases-that.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> tested in over 30 different medical conditions</span></a> (see<a href="http://clinicaltrials.gov/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> clinicaltrials.gov</span></a>), and </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><a href="https://c19study.com/" style="color: purple;">reports from many different countries</a> say that the drug is effective for Covid-19 at normal doses, while a high dose chloroquine treatment trial was<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/health/chloroquine-coronavirus-trump.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> halted in Brazil and a preprint of the study was posted April 11</span></a>, or<a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-monde/oxford-recovery-et-solidarity-overdosage-two-clinical-trials-acts-considered" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> perhaps April 7</span></a>, after finding that drug effects were causing ventricular arrhythmias and deaths. <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2765499" style="color: purple;">JAMA</a> published the results in their April 24 edition.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Toxicity in the Brazilian study was seen after only 3 days of treatment, during which 3.6 grams of chloroquine were administered. But the Solidarity (3.2 grams of hydroxychloroquine in 3 days), Recovery (3.6 grams of hydroxychloroquine in 3 days) and REMAP-Covid trials (3.6 grams of hydroxychloroquine in 3 days) <b>continued overdosing patients until June</b>, despite Brazil's evidence of deaths by overdose.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Tellingly, JAMA editor Gordon Rubenfeld<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2765499" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> wrote</span></a> in April, after the Brazilian study came out in JAMA, <i>"if you are prescribing HCQ after these JAMA results, do yourself and your defense lawyer a favor. Document in your medical record that you informed the patient of the potential risks of HCQ including sudden death and its benefits (???)." </i></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">13. You create an NIH Guidelines committee for Covid treatment recommendations, in which<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB-_SV-y11Y" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> 16 members have or had financial entanglements with Gilead</span></a>, maker of Remdesivir. The members were<a href="https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/introduction/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> appointed by the Co-Chairs</span></a>. Two of the three Co-Chairs are themselves financially entangled with Gilead. Are you surprised that their<a href="https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/whats-new/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> guidelines</span></a> recommend specifically against the use of hydroxychloroquine and in favor of Remdesivir, despite a Chinese Phase III study showing no benefit, which was <a href="https://www.clinicalomics.com/topics/patient-care/infectious-diseases/who-gaffe-releases-data-showing-remdesivir-not-effective-against-covid-19/" style="color: purple;">mistakenly posted on the WHO website, then taken down</a>? The guidelines authors deem their recommendations the new "standard of care."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">You create an <a href="https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/antiviral-therapy/chloroquine-or-hydroxychloroquine/" style="color: purple;">NIH treatment guidelines summary</a> that cherry picks the literature to claim HCQ provides no benefit.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">14. You frighten doctors so they don't prescribe hydroxychloroquine, if prescribing it is even allowed in their jurisdiction, because prescribing outside the new<a href="https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/whats-new/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> NIH "standard of care"</span></a> leaves them open to both malpractice lawsuits and potential loss of license. For example, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/michiganLARA/posts/2854268934622530" style="color: purple;">Michigan's Medical Licensing Board</a> issued the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">"Prescribing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine without further proof of efficacy for treating COVID-19 or with the intent to stockpile the drug may create a shortage for patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or other ailments for which chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are proven treatments. Reports of this conduct will be evaluated and may be further investigated for administrative action...</span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span face="">It is also important to be mindful that licensed health professionals are required to report inappropriate prescribing practices." <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">In other words, Michigan pharmacists are <b>required </b>to snitch on doctors prescribing the drugs for Covid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">You further tell doctors (<a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">through the FDA</span></a>) they need to monitor a variety of lab parameters and EKGs when using the drug, although this was never advised before, which makes it very difficult to use the drug in outpatients. You have the<a href="https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/covid-19-reminder-risks-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> European Medicines Agency issue similar warnings</span></a>. In Australia only physicians in certain specialties are allowed to prescribe the drug for Covid. And <a href="https://www.health.qld.gov.au/system-governance/legislation/cho-public-health-directions-under-expanded-public-health-act-powers/prescribing-dispensing-or-supply-of-hydroxychloroquine-direction" style="color: purple;">in Queensland</a>, physicians or pharmacists who do not comply (for example, by prescribing the drug for prevention of Covid) face up to 6 months' imprisonment and a fine up to <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/doctors-banned-from-prescribing-potential-covid-19-drug-20200408-p54ic1.html" style="color: purple;">$13,000 Australian dollars</a>.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">15. You manage to control the conduct of most trials around the world by specially designing the WHO-managed<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> Solidarity trials</span></a>, currently conducted in 35 countries. WHO halted hydroxychloroquine clinical trials around the world, twice. The<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-hydroxychloroquine-and-covid-19" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> first time</span></a>, May 25, WHO<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-hydroxychloroquine-and-covid-19" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> claimed</span></a> it was in response to the (fraudulent)<i> Lancet</i> study. The<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> second time</span></a>, June 17, WHO claimed the stop was in response to the<a href="https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> Recovery</span></a> trial results. Recovery used highly toxic doses of hydroxychloroquine in over 1500 patients, of whom 396 died. You stop the trial<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/26/australian-hydroxychloroquine-trial-under-review-world-health-organization-concern-over-safety" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> before the data safety monitoring board has looked at your data</span></a>, a move that is unlikely to be consistent with trial protocol. WHO's trial in over 400 hospitals <a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/who-trial-using-potentially-fatal.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">overdosed patients with 2.0 g hydroxychloroquine in the first 24 hours</span></a>. The trial was halted 3 days after the toxic doses were exposed (by me). The trial involved doctors around the world typing minimal patient information into an online WHO platform, which assigned the patient a treatment.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">The <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/who-launches-global-megatrial-four-most-promising-coronavirus-treatments" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">only "safety" information</span></a> collected during the trial was whether patients required oxygen, required a ventilator, or died. This effectively masked the adverse effects of the drugs tested. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">I should mention that WHO's initial plan for its Solidarity trial entirely omitted the chloroquine drugs, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/who-launches-global-megatrial-four-most-promising-coronavirus-treatments" style="color: purple;">but they were added at the urging of participating nations</a>. WHO's fallback position appears to have been to use toxic doses.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">16. You have the<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-indonesia-chloroqu/exclusive-indonesia-major-advocate-of-hydroxychloroquine-told-by-who-to-stop-using-it-idUSKBN23227L" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> WHO pressure governments</span></a> to stop doctors prescribing hydroxychloroquine. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">17. You have the <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/05/27/indonesia-major-advocate-of-hydroxychloroquine-told-by-who-to-stop-using-it.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">WHO pressure professional societies</span></a> to stop doctors prescribing hydroxychloroquine.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">18. You make sure that the most-consulted US medical encyclopedia, UptoDate, <a href="https://www.uptodate.com/contents/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-management-in-hospitalized-adults" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">advises physicians to restrict hydroxychloroquine to only clinical trials</span></a>, citing the FDA.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">19. You have the head of the Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Tony Fauci, <a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-avuncular-dr-fauci-fluent-yet.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">insist the drug cannot be used in the absence of strong evidence</span></a>...while he insisted exactly the opposite in the case of the MERS coronavirus outbreak several years ago, when<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/04/fauci-hypocrite-do-niaid-royalties.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> he recommended an untested drug combination for use</span></a>...which had been developed for that purpose by his agency. And while he was bemoaning the lack of evidence,<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/28/health/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-trial/index.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> he was refusing to pay for trials to study</span></a> hydroxychloroquine, and cancelled two trials of outpatient HCQ before completion. And he was<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/05/faking-results-faucis-niaid-paid.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> changing the goalposts on the Remdesivir trial, not once but twice</span></a>, to make Remdesivir show a tiny bit of benefit, but no mortality benefit. And don't forget, Fauci was thrilled to<a href="https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/nih-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> sponsor a trial of a Covid vaccine in humans before there were any data from animal trials</span></a>. So much for Fauci's requirement for high quality evidence, before risking use of drugs and vaccines in humans.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">20. You convince the population that the crisis will be long-lasting. You have the 2nd richest man in the world, and biggest funder of the WHO, Bill Gates, keep repeating to the media megaphone that <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/What-you-need-to-know-about-the-COVID-19-vaccine" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">we cannot go back to normal until everyone has been vaccinated or there is a perfect drug.</span></a> (The Gates Foundation helped design the WHO Solidarity trial, which says only that it has <a href="http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN83971151" style="color: purple;">multiple funders</a>, helped <a href="http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN50189673" style="color: purple;">fund</a> the Recovery trial, and Gates is heavily invested in Covid pharmaceuticals and vaccines.)</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">21. You have CDC (with help from FDA)<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/16/cdc-who-coronavirus-tests/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> prevent the purchase of coronavirus test kits</span></a> from Germany, China, WHO, etc, and fail to produce a valid test kit themselves. The result was that during January and February, US cases could not be tested, and for several months thereafter insufficient and unreliable test kits made it impossible to track the epidemic and stop the spread.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">22. You have trusted medical spokesmen lie to the public about the pandemic's severity, so precautions weren't taken when they might have been more effective and less long-lasting. Congress was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/how-coronavirus-shook-congress-complacency-155058" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">repeatedly briefed about the pandemic in January and February</span></a>, which scared several Congress members enough that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/16/cdc-who-coronavirus-tests/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">they sold off large amounts of stock</span></a>, risking insider trading charges. Senator Burr is one of them, currently<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/16/836126532/senator-burrs-pre-pandemic-stock-sell-offs-highly-unusual-analysis-shows" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> under investigation</span></a> for major stock sales on February 13.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Yet Dr. Fauci<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/02/17/nih-disease-official-anthony-fauci-risk-of-coronavirus-in-u-s-is-minuscule-skip-mask-and-wash-hands/4787209002/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> told</span></a> USA Today on February 17 that Americans should worry more about the flu than about coronavirus, the danger of which was "just miniscule." Then on February 28, Drs. Fauci and Robert Redfield (CDC Director)<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> wrote</span></a> in the <i>New England Journal</i>:</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">"...the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively."</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">23. You destroy the reputation of respected physicians who stand in your way. Professor Didier Raoult and his team in Marseille have used hydroxychloroquine on over 4,000 patients, reporting a mortality rate of about 0.8%. (The mortality rate of patients given hydroxychloroquine in the Recovery trial was 25.7%.) Raoult is very famous for discovering over 100 different microorganisms, and finding the long-sought cause of Whipple's Disease. With this reputation, Raoult apparently thought he could treat patients as he saw fit, which he has done, under great duress. Raoult was featured in a New York Times Magazine <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/magazine/didier-raoult-hydroxychloroquine.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">article</span></a>, with his face on the magazine cover, on May 12, 2020. After describing his accomplishments, the Times very unfavorably discussed his personality, implied he conducted unethical trials without approval, and using anonymous sourcing produced a detailed hit piece. Raoult is now considered an unreliable crank in the US.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />You gather a group of Yale professors to dispute their Yale colleague Harvey Frisch, MD, PhD epidemiologist on his publications and vocal support of the benefits of HCQ for Covid. Their first argument is that he is not an infectious disease doctor. Notably, the first signer of the <a href="https://medium.com/@gregggonsalves/statement-from-yale-faculty-on-hydroxychloroquine-and-its-use-in-covid-19-47d0dee7b2b0" style="color: purple;">statement </a>opposing Dr. Frisch is an economist.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />Physician and state senator Scott Jensen of Minnesota is being <a href="https://www.startribune.com/sen-scott-jensen-says-complaints-about-covid-19-comments-may-be-political/571650782/?refresh=true" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">investigated by his state medical board</span></a> due to anonymous complaints about 'spreading misinformation' and giving 'reckless advice' about COVID in interviews. Jensen was previously selected as "Family Physician of the Year" in his state. Now his medical license is at risk, not because of how he treated a patient, but for what he said outside of the office. Unprecedented.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span face="">UPDATE:</span></b><span face=""> Jensen was <a href="https://minnesotanewsnetwork.com/sen-jensen-gratified-allegations-of-spreading-misinformation-dismissed-audio/" style="color: purple;">exonerated</a>.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">24. You have social media platforms ban content that does not agree with the desired narrative. As YouTube CEO and ex-wife of Google founder Sergey Brin, Susan Wojcicki<a href="https://fee.org/articles/youtube-to-ban-content-that-contradicts-who-on-covid-19-despite-the-un-agency-s-catastrophic-track-record-of-misinformation/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> said,</span></a></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">“YouTube will ban any content containing medical advice that contradicts World Health Organisation (WHO) coronavirus recommendations. Anything that would go against World Health Organisation recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">25. When your clinical trials are criticized for overdosing patients, you have Oxford-affiliated, Wellcome Trust-supported scientists at Mahidol University publish papers (a<a href="https://www.tropmedres.ac/news/covid-19-prevention-and-treatment-a-critical-analysis-of-chloroquine-and-hydroxychloroquine-clinical-pharmacology" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> literature review with modeling</span></a> and a<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20078303v2" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> modeling study</span></a>) purporting to show that the doses used were not toxic. You<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.23.20137992v1.full.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> develop a new method</span></a> to measure hydroxychloroquine in a handful of Recovery patients who were not poisoned. However, there are 2 problems you forgot with this approach: </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><ul style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">The Brazilian data, including 16 deaths, extensive clinical information and documented ventricular arrhythmias, are much more persuasive than a theoretical model of hydroxychloroquine pharmacokinetics.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span face="">Either</span></b><span face=""> the drug is too toxic to use, even at normal doses, for a life-threatening disease, <b>or </b>even extremely high doses are safe. <b>You can't have it both ways.</b></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />Oxford is the institution running the Recovery trial, and invented a Covid vaccine that already has<a href="https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-to-supply-europe-with-up-to-400-million-doses-of-oxford-universitys-vaccine-at-no-profit.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> 400 million doses on order</span></a>. The Wellcome Trust funded the Recovery trial.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">26. You change your trial's primary outcome measures after the trials have started, in order to prevent detection of drug-induced deaths (<a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-monde/oxford-recovery-et-solidarity-overdosage-two-clinical-trials-acts-considered" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Recovery</span></a>) or to make your drug appear to have efficacy (<a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/05/faking-results-faucis-niaid-paid.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">NIAID Remdesivir trial</span></a>).</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">27. You stop manufacturers from supplying the drug. Shortly after the fraudulent <i>Lancet</i> paper came out, Sanofi<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-healthcare-coronavirus-hydroxychloroq/exclusive-sanofi-stops-enrolling-covid-19-patients-in-hydroxychloroquine-trials-idUSKBN2352IH" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> announce</span></a>d it would no longer supply the drug for use with Covid, and would halt its two hydroxychloroquine clinical trials. One of the cancelled Sanofi trials was expected to test 210 outpatients early in the course of disease.<a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333654?term=sanofi&cond=Covid-19&cntry=US&draw=2&rank=1" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;"> The trial remains suspended at the time of writing, while the Lancet paper was retracted 13 days after publication.</span></a> You surely don't want a trial of hydroxychloroquine treatment early in the disease, since it might show an excellent effect.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Sanofi (a pharma company) begins acting like a regulator. From the Australian DOH's Therapeutic Goods Administration <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/alert/amendments-new-restrictions-prescribing-hydroxychloroquine-covid-19" style="color: purple;">website</a>:</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">Sanofi, the supplier of one of the hydroxychloroquine products marketed in Australia (Plaquenil), has also written to health professionals reinforcing that hydroxychloroquine is not approved for use in Australia for treatment of COVID-19 outside the confines of a clinical trial. Sanofi also reinforced some of the known risks of prescribing hydroxychloroquine, in particular potentially serious cardiac issues. Globally, Sanofi has received an increased number of reports of serious cardiac issues, including deaths, in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine, This appears to be more common in patients also treated with other medicines that can affect the heart.</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Then Sanofi started collecting <a href="https://www.sanofi.com.au/en/our-products/Plaquenil-Update-New-Zealand" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">information on all off-label use</span></a> of hydroxychloroquine in New Zealand <a href="https://www.sanofi.com.au/en/our-products/Plaquenil-Update-Australia" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">and Australia</span></a>. Why is Sanofi, a drug manufacturing company, becoming a surveillance/enforcement mechanism intended to frighten medical providers from using the drug for Covid, which use is by definition "off label." Sanofi alternatively suggests one may report (<a href="https://nzphvc.otago.ac.nz/confidentiality-information-for-reporters/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">anonymously</span></a> or not) others' off-label use to New Zealand's Pharmacovigilance Center or the Australian equivalent.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />And see this: <a href="https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-discontinues-hydroxychloroquine-clinical-trial-based-slow-enrollment-remains-committed-pandemic-research-efforts" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Novartis</span></a> will supply HCQ only under certain conditions, and halted its HCQ trial due to lack of enrollments, although enrollment was not an issue for its other COVID trials.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />28. You <a href="https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Response-to-Mr.-David-Spencer-ELSEVIER.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">attempt to retract published papers</span></a> that provide evidence to support use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />29. You have your 'bought' scientists <a href="https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Response-to-Mr.-David-Spencer-ELSEVIER.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">conceal their financial conflicts of interest in their HCQ clinical trials and publications</span></a> as well as in the guidelines they produce.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />30. You can get your <a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/eisai-remap-covid-study/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">experimental, unlicensed drugs tested</span></a>, much more expeditiously and cheaply than under ordinary circumstances, on Covid patients in large clinical trials, but only as long as no drug is designated effective for the condition. This opportunity only lasts while the "standard of care" is nothing more than supportive measures.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />31. You have a research organization with big Pharma members (A.O.K.I.) <a href="https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-53310502" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">pressure the Russian Ministry of Health</span></a> to remove hydroxychloroquine from its treatment guidelines.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />32. You stopped use of hydroxychloroquine, allegedly in response to the fabricated Lancet study, in France, Italy and Belgium (countries with very high COVID mortality rates) then Portugal then Switzerland. But Switzerland restarted using HCQ 15 days later. <a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/covid-19-lhydroxychloroquine-marche-une-preuve-irrefutable" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">This created a natural experiment in Switzerland</span></a>. About 2 weeks after hydroxychloroquine use was halted, death rates approximately tripled, for about 15 days. Then, after its use was allowed again, two weeks later death rates from Covid fell back to their baseline. (Thanks to <i><a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/covid-19-lhydroxychloroquine-marche-une-preuve-irrefutable" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">FranceSoir</span></a>:</i></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/covid-19-lhydroxychloroquine-marche-une-preuve-irrefutable" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">http://www.francesoir.fr/societe-sante/covid-19-lhydroxychloroquine-marche-une-preuve-irrefutable</span></a>)</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">33. You reverse an old trick of clinical trials, to mask benefit of hydroxychloroquine. The trick was to replace the saline placebo with a substance that is being used <a href="https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/Marik-Covid-Protocol-Summary.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">by many clinicians</span></a> and in <a href="https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets/pharmacy-practice/resource-centers/Coronavirus/docs/ASHP-COVID-19-Evidence-Table.ashx" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">many trials</span></a> against Covid, thus by comparison likely to reduce the positive effect of your tested medication. This was done in trials both <a href="https://nyulangone.org/news/clinical-trial-tests-efficacy-common-antimalarial-drug-prevent-covid-19-infection" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">at NYU</span></a> and at <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04354428" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">University of Washington</span></a>, using vitamin C or vitamin C and folate respectively as placebos.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />34. You have the chief medical officers of Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the director of the UK's National Health Service, write to UK doctors, a) urging them to enroll their Covid patients in one of 3 national clinical trials, two of which greatly overdosed patients with hydroxychloroquine, and b) stopping their use of "off license treatments" outside of a trial. Yet again, we encounter a veiled threat against clinicians actually attempting to treat the primary SARS-Cov-2 infection. <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cde3c7d9a69340001d79ffe/t/5e8d413e713b2d6cd799e143/1586315583723/CEM_CMO_2020_012.pdf" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">The chief doctors wrote</span></a>:</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">While it is for every individual clinician to make prescribing decisions, we strongly discourage the use of off-licence treatments outside of a trial, where participation in a trial is possible... Any treatment given for coronavirus other than general supportive care, treatment for underlying conditions, and antibiotics for secondary bacterial complications, should currently be as part of a trial, where that is possible."</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">35. You have a state Pharmacy Board <b>r<a href="https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/viewSingleRule.action?ruleVrsnRsn=271619" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">efuse to dispense hydroxychloroquine outside of clinical trials</span></a></b> on June 15, citing the FDA recommendation for use only in trials. You issue this new regulation on the same day that FDA publishes its recommendation, indicating prior coordination. But when your regulation is <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/johnandandyschlafly/2020/07/15/hydroxychloroquine-should-be-available-over-the-counter-n2572496" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">exposed </span></a>on July 14, you immediately rescind it. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />36. You have the IMF offer rapid financing to Belarus, but <a href="https://eng.belta.by/president/view/belarus-president-unwilling-to-accept-additional-terms-to-get-foreign-loans-131164-2020/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">only if it follows the recommended model of Covid response</span></a> and imposes quarantines, isolation and curfews.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />37. A group of doctors went to Washington DC July 27-28. They called themselves "America's Frontline Doctors" and gave a press conference and livestream talks about the Covid-19 pandemic as well as about the need for physicians to be able to prescribe HCQ freely. While the media sparsely attended the press conference, the livestream got millions of views. And within hours, their livestream was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/tech/facebook-youtube-coronavirus/index.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">banned</span></a> by Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Twitter was said to additionally ban comments about its ban. Then Squarespace <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesTodaroMD/status/1288169004985724929" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">took down </span></a>the Frontline Doctors' website. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />Today, <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/PZLBQoi0vD9G/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Bitchute is hosting their press conference.</span></a> So is <a href="https://www.brighteon.com/3571f9ae-ec43-4254-8a56-1a931c250888" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Brighteon</span></a>. In those media that describe what happened, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/tech/facebook-youtube-coronavirus/index.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">the group is tarred for providing misinformation.</span></a> </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />38. After the HCQ issue got so much attention on social media, you <a href="https://breaking911.com/breaking-ohio-dept-of-health-bans-hydroxychloroquine-in-treating-covid19/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">impose another ban on July 29 on the prescribing of HCQ for Covid</span></a>, starting July 30 in Ohio, using its Pharmacy Board to dictate to physicians what they may not prescribe. (A repeat of #35 in a different state.)</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">This ban got so much attention that the Ohio Governor (who must have initially supported it) <a href="https://twitter.com/drsimonegold/status/1288851070920187905/photo/1" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">rescinded it the next morning.</span></a> July 30, saying he agrees with FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who said in a July 30 interview that <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/509733-fda-chief-hydroxychloroquine-use-a-decision-between-doctor-and-patient" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">the prescribing of HCQ is between a doctor and patient</span></a>.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">39. After having Google take down physician <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj2SwRPodtscFio7bJ7GdNgbJAGbdfF67WuRJB3ZsidgpidB2eocFHAVjIL-7deJ7/pub" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">James Todaro's article on hydroxychloroquine</span></a> for 4 months, you <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesTodaroMD/status/1288694517848211457" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">allow it to resurface</span></a> right before Google's (and Facebook's and Amazon's and Apple's) CEOs <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/07/29/big-tech-ceos-congress-house-judiciary-testimony-facebook-google-apple-amazon/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">testify before Congress on July 29 on censorship and abuse of power</span></a>. You have Twitter warn that Todaro's article is at <a href="https://twitter.com/safety/unsafe_link_warning?unsafe_link=https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj2SwRPodtscFio7bJ7GdNgbJAGbdfF67WuRJB3ZsidgpidB2eocFHAVjIL-7deJ7/pub" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">an unsafe link.</span></a></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">40. After massive attention to the banning of the videos posted by the physician group 'America's Frontline Physicians' and its website, you make intense efforts to discredit the physicians involved. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br /><a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87797" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">MedPageToday</span></a> claimed it</span><span face="" style="color: #222222;"> "<i>could find no evidence that any of the speakers worked in hospitals with significant numbers of COVID-19 patients.</i>" But the doctors claimed they used the drug early and prevented hospitalizations and deaths. With <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">over 4.4 million Americans</span></a> diagnosed with Covid, what doctor <i>hasn't</i> seen a Covid patient? </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />USAT headlined: <b> </b></span><b><span face="" style="color: #303030;">'America's Frontline Doctors' may be real doctors, but experts say they don't know what they're talking about.</span></b><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">You have <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/30/americas-frontline-doctors-tout-hydroxychloroquine-covid-who-they/5535096002/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">USA Today</span></a> review and publish detailed information on the licenses, practice locations and malpractice histories of the doctors who spoke out. USAT reporters claim these doctors are not experts and lack knowledge about the use of HCQ in Covid-19, despite the fact that most work in primary care, urgent care or emergency medicine and report using the drug for Covid. Yet no one asks how many years ago 'expert' Fauci last treated a patient? Expert Birx' <a href="https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/white-house-coronavirus-official-birx-under-attack-no-active-doctors-license" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">medical license expired in 2014</span></a>, so she hasn't treated a Covid patient either.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />41. <b>Hydroxychloroquine use is truly the wedge issue for understanding and turning around the pandemic. </b> If hydroxychloroquine works reasonably well as a prophylactic and treatment for Covid-19, it could potentially end the seriousness of the pandemic and return us to life as we knew it. You must make use of the levers of government, mainstream media and social media to stop that from happening.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />So, just in case doctors thought the Frontline Doctors' video, or a new <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.17.20155960v1.full" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">study from Spain</span></a> showing the drug's usefulness meant they should use hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid, you must act fast. You use Representatives at a Congressional <a href="https://veterans.house.gov/events/hearings/whos-in-charge-examining-oversight-of-state-veterans-homes-during-the-covid-19-pandemic" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">health subcommittee hearing</span></a> on July 29 to threaten doctors about the use of the drug last April in veterans who were nursing home patients. Per the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/30/house-lawmakers-probe-patient-care-hydroxychloroquine-use-state-homes-veterans/" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #954f72;">Washington Post</span></a>:</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><i><span face="">"doctors</span></i><i><span face="" style="color: #2a2a2a;"> at the 238-bed nursing home dosed [30] patients with what came to be called a “covid cocktail” for more than two weeks in April, often over the objections of nurses and without the full knowledge of residents’ families. At least 11 residents received the drug even though they had not been tested for covid-19, The Post found."</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">I have treated patients in nursing homes, and one rarely discusses medication changes with family, unless the patient is seriously ill. When nursing home residents were dying like flies last April, when tests were hard to come by and confirmed diagnoses few and far between, doctors used this medicine to try to prevent nursing home deaths during a pandemic. And now they are being scapegoated for doing so.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />The WaPo article does not even tell us whether the patients survived, thrived or were harmed. The article hardly makes sense. Its only purpose is to blacken the drug and the physicians who use it.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">42. You use state Medical Licensing Boards to <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/article/Texas-medical-board-warns-physicians-who-claim-15458287.php" style="color: purple;">threaten doctors who claim there is a cure</a> for Covid-19. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">43. You have Dr. Fauci <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/31/897728431/fauci-optimistic-americans-will-get-coronavirus-vaccine-next-year" style="color: purple;">discredit published observational studies</a> that show benefit during a Congressional hearing, demanding randomized controlled trials. Fauci never tells the Committee he has cancelled the one randomized controlled trial of HCQ that his agency, NIAID, was supposed to conduct on HCQ. NIAID claimed that it could not enroll enough subjects, and was cancelled after only 20 were enrolled. However, Fauci told the Committee that <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/31/897728431/fauci-optimistic-americans-will-get-coronavirus-vaccine-next-year" style="color: purple;">250,000 Americans have shown interest in participating in trials</a> of a Covid vaccine. It is difficult to believe there was extreme lack of interest in a treatment trial, and such massive interest in a vaccine trial. </span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">Doctors who wrote studies showing benefit (50% mortality reduction) <a href="https://bigleaguepolitics.com/authors-of-pro-hydroxychloroquine-study-defend-their-work-after-being-attacked-by-dr-fauci/" style="color: purple;">defended their work</a> from Fauci's criticism.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">44. You <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/magazine/covid-drug-wars-doctors.html" style="color: purple;">erode the doctor's primary responsibility to the patient, replacing it with the need to perform clinical research</a>. This is the first time I have ever heard such a thing: research physicians are pressuring frontline doctors not to veer from protocol-determined treatment, even when patients enrolled in treatment trials are at risk of death.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">45. You use the term "stellar" to describe the Recovery trial in the August 5 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/magazine/covid-drug-wars-doctors.html" style="color: purple;">NY Times</a>, but avoid any hint that the Recovery trial's hydroxychloroquine arm gave 1500 patients a toxic, potentially lethal dose.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">46. You <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2020/04/25/detroit-democrats-unanimously-censure-lawmaker-karen-whitsett-who-credited-trump-covid-19-recovery/3025907001/" style="color: purple;">censure and oust</a> from the Detroit Democrats a state legislator because she credited HCQ for saving her life when she had Covid-19, and she publicly thanked President Trump for bringing the drug to her attention. It had been extremely difficult for her to obtain the drug, because <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/michigan-democrat-says-hydroxychloroquine-saved-her-life/" style="color: purple;">her governor, Gretchen Whitmer, had banned use of the drug for Covid</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">47. Despite assuring you control the outcome of the vast majority of randomized clinical trials of the chloroquine drugs, you have been thwarted by physician researchers in <a href="https://www.henryford.com/news/2020/07/hydro-treatment-study" style="color: purple;">Detroit</a>, Spain, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971220306007" style="color: purple;">Italy</a>, France, <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.16.20175752v1.full.pdf" style="color: purple;">Saudi Arabia</a> who publish their observational results with hydroxychloroquine, showing the drug dramatically reduces mortality from Covid. So you have frontman Tony Fauci repeatedly dismiss this evidence from thousands of patients, since it did not come from randomized controlled trials. See <a href="https://c19study.com/" style="color: purple;">c19study.com</a> for a compilation of 78 studies of the chloroquine drugs' efficacy.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">------------------------</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span face="">Remember: the system would not be going to these lengths <i>if hydroxychloroquine didn't work. </i>Please think about that.</span></b><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">------------------------</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><h3 style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span face="">The People and the Professionals Fight Back</span></b></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">I am starting a new "live" list of ways in which the people are pushing back against the abrogation of our rights, the propagation of lies, and our ability to access the medical care we choose. Please help contribute to it.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">1. A huge <i>Thank You</i> goes to <i><a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-france/le-communique-de-presse-du-ministre-des-solidarites-et-de-la-sante-laisse-intacte" style="color: purple;">FranceSoir</a></i>, which has covered the hydroxychloroquine restrictions in a long series of articles, has done the digging that the mainstream media refuses to do, and has brought the issue before a judge. The judge <a href="http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-france/le-communique-de-presse-du-ministre-des-solidarites-et-de-la-sante-laisse-intacte" style="color: purple;">ruled</a> that a Press Release issued on May 27 by France's Minister of Solidarity and Health, informing doctors they cannot use hydroxychloroquine for Covid, has no legal meaning, and cannot restrict the prescribing of medicines by France's medical providers.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />2. Italian citizens <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2020/08/13/news/inchiesta_coronavirus_avvisi_garanzia_conte_e_ministri-264550317/" style="color: purple;">take their government to court</a> over the handling of the pandemic and the lockdown.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face=""><br />3. Skye News Australia <a href="https://www.thetruthbarrier.com/2020/08/17/mark-crispin-miller-sweden-and-switzerland-prove-lockdowns-catastrophic-and-so-is-not-using-hcq/" style="color: purple;">presents information</a> on the effective responses to the pandemic in Sweden and Switzerland. The pandemic is over in Sweden. Switzerland proved (again) the benefits of HCQ used at the proper dose, in conjunction with other drugs/supplements. <i>"The destruction of our economies was completely pointless."</i></span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">4. The statistical methods of 3 major, randomized controlled trials of hydroxychloroquine efficacy in Covid have been questioned by a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZOJ57fM0RTaHD1t_9w2iua7lUJhOgWT/view" style="color: purple;">large group of statisticians, researchers and clinicians</a>. All 3 trials were inadequately powered, with large p values. In fact, evaluated differently, "<i>the evidence from all these trials points to [HCQ] treatment effectiveness</i>" according to the group of professionals providing the critique.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span face="">5. The assertion that antibodies only last a few months, and therefore immunity wanes rapidly, seems to be another misleading claim from the fake-science influencers. As with many other viruses, T and B lymphocytes are critical for coronavirus immunity, and a lot more durable than antibodies. From a U. Washington <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.11.20171843v2?fbclid=IwAR1-rEzWPDfNZpCAoNW_4mMSLYvMSf88LGAJsiC65RbifXV9P70yqQWipOU" style="color: purple;">study</a>, "</span><i><span face="" style="color: #191919;">the SARS-CoV-2-specific memory lymphocytes exhibited characteristics associated with potent antiviral immunity: memory T cells secreted IFN-γ and expanded upon antigen re-encounter, while memory B cells expressed receptors capable of neutralizing virus when expressed as antibodies.</span></i><span face="">"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">6. The governor of Minnesota on August 12 <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/08/17/mn_governor_quietly_reverses_course_on_hydroxychloroquine__143978.html" style="color: purple;">rescinded</a> his state's ban on the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">7. Three US Senators <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2020-08-18%20RHJ%20Letter%20to%20FDA%20on%20HCQ%20+%20CQ.pdf" style="color: purple;">demand answers from the FDA</a> on what evidence it used to recommend against outpatient treatment with HCQ, whether states have the right to regulate what drugs can be used, etc. Very powerful letter that cuts to the heart of the legal confusion regarding HCQ restrictions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Latest: <br /></span><a href="https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-false-hydroxychloroquine-narrative.html">https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-false-hydroxychloroquine-narrative.html</a></div></div></div></div></div></div>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-79181222766435365502020-08-12T16:11:00.001+01:002020-08-12T16:11:59.368+01:0035% of Americans Would Reject Covid Vaccine<p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> <span style="color: #050505; font-size: 30px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;">Poll: 35% of Americans, <br /></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 30px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;">most Republicans would<br />reject COVID-19 vaccine</span></span></p><div class="news-head" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><div class="row author-social row-eq-height" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px; margin-top: 30px; padding-bottom: 30px;"><div class="col-lg-6 col-md-7 col-sm-6 m-left-text-right m-t-margin-15" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: 46px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; text-align: right; width: 64.1%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><div class="btn-group" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 38px; position: static; top: 160px; vertical-align: middle;">
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><img alt="Politically, 81% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 47% of Republicans said they would take a vaccine, if one were available. File Photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew Lotz/U.S. Air Force/UPI" src="https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/upi_com/7681596796789/2020/1/d0e230470331c4579a6c09bacc5224e3/Poll-35-of-Americans-most-Republicans-would-reject-COVID-19-vaccine.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: currentColor; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: currentColor; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: currentColor; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: currentColor; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #6d6d6d; max-height: 480px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; z-index: 5;" title="Politically, 81% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 47% of Republicans said they would take a vaccine, if one were available. File Photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew Lotz/U.S. Air Force/UPI" />
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span class="story_dl" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Aug. 7 (UPI) --</span> <b>More than one-third of U.S. adults and a majority of Republicans would <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">not</i> receive a free, government-approved <a class="tpstyle" href="https://www.upi.com/topic/COVID-19/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006699; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;" title="COVID-19">COVID-19</a> vaccine if one was presently available, a Gallup survey showed Friday.</b></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">According to the poll, 35% of U.S. adults said they would not get the vaccine, compared to 65% who said they would. The share was the exact same 65/35 split among both men and women. <span style="letter-spacing: 0.02em;">The age group that expressed the most skepticism about a vaccine were those between</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;"><b>50 and 64 years old (59%)</b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.02em;">-- and the group that was most accepting of a vaccine were between 18 and 29 (76%).</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">By race, the survey found that two-thirds of White Americans (67%) and 59% of non-Whites would take the vaccine, despite the virus more heavily affecting the Black and Latino communities.</span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Politically, 81% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 47% of Republicans said they would take the vaccine.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.02em; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Gallup polled 7,600 U.S. adults for the survey, which has a margin of error of 2 points. </span></p></article>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-86674018146064588072020-07-18T21:59:00.000+01:002020-07-18T22:18:05.460+01:00TWITTER BANS IRISH COVID CRITIC DR MARCUS DE BRUN <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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TWITTER <span class="_4yxo" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">BANS</span> LEADING COVID POLICY SCEPTIC <span class="_4yxo" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">DR MARCUS DE BRUN </span></h2>
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by <a ajaxify="/groups/member/?group_id=2661030000846428&member_id=765089106&ref=floc2" class="_2u0z" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=765089106&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARBJpNOGBjv1lSiY0D5QqsW06WDYnGu9su-_wZq5cEW4dw3_G4cwhlyN6h2wV79VWGSEk3RRBJdEAVye%22%2C%22directed_target_id%22%3A2661030000846428%2C%22fref%22%3A%22gs%22%2C%22dti%22%3A2661030000846428%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22group%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/fintan.dunne.journalist?fref=gs&__tn__=%2CdK-R-R-R&eid=ARBJpNOGBjv1lSiY0D5QqsW06WDYnGu9su-_wZq5cEW4dw3_G4cwhlyN6h2wV79VWGSEk3RRBJdEAVye&dti=2661030000846428&hc_location=group" rel="dialog" role="button" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" title="Fintan Dunne">Fintan Dunne</a> 18-7-2020 21:00</div>
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<span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">Prominent Irish critic of official Covid-19 policies, Dr. Marcus De Brun has had his Twitter account suspended by the company. </span></div>
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<span class="_4yxo" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">RedFM Interview > <a href="https://youtu.be/1v6YjvrENnk">https://youtu.be/1v6YjvrENnk</a></span></div>
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The ban comes days after the Times Ireland reported comments by Dr. De Brun in an <span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">interview</span> on RedFM. He told host, Niall Prendeville that healthy people could shield the vulnerable and should not be wearing marks. D<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">r. De Brun also echoed calls for a <span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">full public inquiry</span> by the bereaved families of those who died in residential care homes. </span></div>
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The Irish Times on 9th July reported the contents of an email on Easter Sunday last from the owner of one of the affected homes to then Minister of Health, Simon Harris.</div>
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Mr Fintan Farrelly alerted Mr Harris to his concerns:</div>
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“<span class="_4yxo" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">I fear that when the history of Ireland’s Covid-19 pandemic is written, the failure to adequately support nursing homes during the month of March and up to the current time, will have resulted in multiple avoidable deaths and will be identified as the greatest tragedy of the pandemic...”</span></blockquote>
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However it is his comments on masks which likely officially lie behind the ban imposed on Dr de Brum by Twitter since late Friday.</div>
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The Times Ireland has recently run articles targeting individuals expressing non-mainstream views on official Covid19 policies. A covert campaign to silence critics may be in progress.<br />
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Dr De Brun on Twitter: </div>
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<a data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Findepdubnrth%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0t7A7_xqIxSIfuNCLN2VvUzWQGoYVgUpSGz1sGz3OB5zEzCK0pi9_r2lU&h=AT2HA6FOhZFaqrBgSO5GUDXQy3DMkSlIiGbJcNKvJwbcZB0AF_kLbIGb4GA0wRQzdwfZqn3PyepraUuSOb1lnTGucMvC-XZ-lOwAHX11T_AvLU88wQeAntI72q-pOXlKvw4zmGWe-9sH3FXiaeKrbA" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/indepdubnrth</a></div>
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Sign <span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">Petition for residential homes public inquiry</span>:<br />
<a data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FIreland-Covid-Inquiry-Now%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2ckXM2gJ6HZMbcX0hYuYKyZeCdEU18AVAgnoOe8xUdUCHc2m7gaziKx-w&h=AT1oM2-pHIzNfedGMNdahahNQYQ0U7Tio3UWvmI-Ja3g_x3RevdDeKdoi5Okr8aDio6a3naYDzX0Bhdz2lHLxY8M7LCxftAqqmue4yiWxx25vB03eZ5iJ1pioC-KFoZBezZ1Gy7kOiUIn95SCVhbfw" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/Ireland-Covid-Inquiry-Now</a></div>
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<a data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fcoronavirus-in-ireland-marcus-de-brun-claims-healthy-people-should-not-be-wearing-masks-l929n8hwd%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR14PkvwiH7XF43tsmGEyr-qz2RWOxOwGLgxaiyZHhwHulD11Ia7_Ku15-A&h=AT3-7sEztfqxbK04pk4h09JNcfxEabqBotSP7Xl6cm928dKF2f7u8bhgQmQgWIbdr_sMS3cZmjMJ1-El6rEt5-o-cQbv0N_jbKjyv0rmqatUgLKZN78wYxG9i5Yjem8NrQc7fFccv69L3gfV63JXhA" href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-in-ireland-marcus-de-brun-claims-healthy-people-should-not-be-wearing-masks-l929n8hwd?fbclid=IwAR14PkvwiH7XF43tsmGEyr-qz2RWOxOwGLgxaiyZHhwHulD11Ia7_Ku15-A" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-in-ireland-marcus-de-brun-claims-healthy-people-should-not-be-wearing-masks-l929n8hwd</a></div>
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by Fintan Dunne for <a data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FinformedConsent.ie%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR111viRG689gGEzmnNv0by9o6bExfSiSXySKNEVNyQE9RmQ1lbxw4N6UxU&h=AT0_obwQQfvBGGL4y4seDP2FF-hyQ_S0AyLPXD7lcF8jsIZdzpiGvz6aPMGxtOll_BmZ9mAZAYNEXiSsBYfrMoVT24v0rUafZiqcWaEhapAaeAfLZEA_30h5x8Z_xOcMmxf5GjWbc9VzVHDoaf-aQw" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">http://informedConsent.ie</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/InformedConsent/" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/InformedConsent/</a></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-54978375903839665672020-07-07T19:40:00.001+01:002020-07-07T19:40:36.928+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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DUTCH COURT REJECTS COVID19<br />CASE BY 'VIRUS MADNESS' GROUP</h2>
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<span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">by </span><a ajaxify="/groups/member/?group_id=2661030000846428&member_id=765089106&ref=floc2" class="_2u0z" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=765089106&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARBPCDct9y96SWKqbXsxEzXKl35tx8E3kJFk63HdraKHYDIIvKkKFTqp_4dtFFPh5E09RxmPTq-t_Moo%22%2C%22directed_target_id%22%3A2661030000846428%2C%22fref%22%3A%22gs%22%2C%22dti%22%3A2661030000846428%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22group%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/fintan.dunne.journalist?fref=gs&__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARBPCDct9y96SWKqbXsxEzXKl35tx8E3kJFk63HdraKHYDIIvKkKFTqp_4dtFFPh5E09RxmPTq-t_Moo&dti=2661030000846428&hc_location=group" rel="dialog" role="button" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Fintan Dunne"><span class="_4yxo" style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">Fintan Dunne</span></a></div>
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<span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">July 7, 2020 - The Hague District Court has today rejected the appeal of the Virus Madness campaign in relation to the dismissal of their case by Judge Hoekstra-Van Vliet on the 25th June. According to today's ruling, the judge at that earlier hearing showed no bias. </span></div>
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Virus madness, co-founder Jeroen Pols expressed the group's disappointment with the outcome. However, he said the result was in line with the<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">ir expectations: "In 2019 there were 693 challenge requests, of which twenty were granted."</span></div>
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Pols thinks the challenge request made sense nevertheless. “It now appears that the State misled the court during the hearing on June 25. They refused to respond to the question of how dangerous the virus actually is. According to their lawyer, this could only be answered in a few months."</div>
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"We found that very strange, because that is what this interim relief is about. <span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">To our great surprise, the minister sent a letter to Parliamentary questions a few hours after the hearing: The COVID-19 virus is considerably less dangerous than the flu epidemic of 2017-18</span>.</div>
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The mortality rate of people infected with the virus was 1% at the time. The mortality rate for this virus is well below 1%. <span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">This confirms our position</span>, namely that COVID-19 is not a killer virus. The judge can still include this information in the judgment. This was not possible without a challenge request. So we are hopeful”, says Pols.</div>
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The Virus madness group is a movement of lawyers, doctors, scientists and concerned citizens demanding that all measures against the COVID-19 virus be ended immediately and that the Dutch special emergency law is rescinded. The campaign also demands transparency about the policy pursued. </div>
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According to Virus Madness, the measures lack any rationality with disastrous consequences for society, the economy and the rule of law. The organization believes that there are more fatalities as a direct result of the measures than the virus itself.<br />
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<span class="_4yxo" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600;">WATCH: ></span> <a data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FfkuxwekHS0s%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR35ucIZKUnMCMRYHyQL7EnKnTL_OPy4PXK03epF0ue3qvhS3FTOlwBIHNY&h=AT35JHIcS-V0xLZryqjmktsLD0FaQ0mZsx9qPOMqsbIP8StEkSZCDqInHfOVUukZB7toCV4X7SrrrLxj6EeLBVSYAFNUauUEbQ260SfsRT4mlFl2GQhAnQt-297iAUUhbsjbH-Los8ae3N5dSc4" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/fkuxwekHS0s</a></div>
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Willem Engell, co-founder of the Dutch group VirusWaanzin (Virus Madness) is greeted by hundreds of cheering supporters on emerging from a court hearing in The Hague on 25th June, 2010.</div>
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<span class="_4yxp" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">By Fintan Dunne, translated and edited<br />from VirusMadness official press release.<br />Footage courtesy AnonymousBitesBack</span></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-61589810371686129582019-01-06T14:12:00.004+00:002019-01-06T15:45:45.466+00:00Tusla and Family Courts Protect Irish Pedophile<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>FAIL TO PROTECT HER SON FROM IRISH PEDOPHILE</b><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;">by Fintan Dunne</span><br />
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Irish police, family courts and the social services body Tusla all failed to protect the nine-year-old son of a Polish woman who was sexually abused by his Irish father, according to a documentary broadcast on the national Polish television station TVP1. The boy's mother was denied custody and contact despite a doctor's medical evidence confirming that the child's behaviour was consistent with having been sexually abused. Eyewitnesses testimony also confirmed his bizarre behaviours with sexual abuse overtones.</div>
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The mother Danuta(*pseudonym) began to be physically and verbally abused after she became pregnant and with alcohol as a prime factor. The case officially began when Danuta fled the family home with her son for the sanctuary of a domestic violence facility.</div>
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She was distraught when the child revealed to a family friend and then to her that he was a victim of digital anal penetration. She and her friend attempted to pursue the allegations with the Irish police, but she maintains that the esteemed position and social power of the abuser prevented proper investigation.</div>
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The documentary includes a voice interview with Danuta's friend -who confirmed that her own statement of complaint to police on the matter somehow disappeared. She was too fearful to appear on camera. The documentary crew were also unable to secure an interview with a therapist who dealt with the boy's case. The therapist now works for Tusla.</div>
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However they were able to publish the therapist's evaluation report which states that the boy had given many signs of being sexually molested -including initiating sexual behaviour with other children. Tusla were given a copy of that formal evaluation -which recommended psychiatric intervention. His mother says he was asking other children to kiss his penis and touching them genitally.</div>
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Professor Michael Fitzgerald, an Irish professor of child and adolescent psychiatry was consulted and issued a formal report which said the child needed immediate medical care for trauma and the visible effects of abuse. He described the child's allegations as "absolutely true". However the family court subsequently refused to allow Prof. Fitzgerald's professional assessment to be presented in evidence -on the basis that there was no formal police investigation underway.</div>
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A local medical doctor who had initially treated the child was allowed to give evidence to the Cork family court. She told the documentary crew that she was humiliated and degraded in her bid to provide supporting evidence.</div>
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The court insisted that the mother undergo examination including a lie detector test which was administered by an institution which has a long history of working with Tusla. Tusla was hostile to her allegations. Fearing bias in the examination she requested a witness and the recording of events. This was refused. The report found against her.</div>
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With help from the Polish community and her own earnings from house cleaning, Danuta has paid thousands of Euro on legal fees to no avail. She says she was exploited and rendered into poverty by lawyers -some of whom demanded cash payments without receipt.</div>
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The documentary feature ends with the crew departing Cork by air and making final reference to the "kangaroo courts" which oversee family law in Ireland.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">Watch Video: </span><a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FTuslaPedoProtect%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2LoeBHfqNDhFTbX8F_PXbvmwC9omNwoDdkDHmwPijrquqm8Cm1IXXSk18&h=AT1oFuFqVK8XpTopNUpGsQ6-XdlbN6bB0qdbJYgmcV22Ws0YVoPZ7hRV02esY9b7p2LI0fjIiun2PG675foVG0pfTbcZrbkXZy82ULYN0JwDTevVj1RJ6PYqkkCvgQ5r1pkqCcDzxA8XxB5MdNQXMAAb8SRC" href="https://bit.ly/TuslaPedoProtect?fbclid=IwAR2LoeBHfqNDhFTbX8F_PXbvmwC9omNwoDdkDHmwPijrquqm8Cm1IXXSk18" rel="nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TuslaPedoProtect</a></span></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-10758446431831549392018-05-29T02:59:00.000+01:002018-05-29T02:59:10.067+01:00EU holds back Italy’s anti-euro tide for now<h1 class="article__heading" style="background-color: white; font-family: Archivo, sans-serif; font-size: 2.6em; line-height: 1.19em; margin: 0px 0px 0.38em; padding: 0px;">
Brussels-Rome war:<br /><a href="https://www.rt.com/op-ed/428040-italy-crisis-euro-eu/">EU holds back Italy’s anti-euro tide for now</a></h1>
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<a href="https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/steve-keen/" style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Steve Keen" class="blog-autor__image" src="https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.10/original/59db691efc7e9379128b4567.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 60px;" /></a></div>
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Steve Keen is an Australian economist and author. He’s professor and Head of the School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University in London. You can support his attempts to build a new economics https://www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen.</div>
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<time class="date date_article-header" style="color: #999999; display: block; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.230769em; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;">Published time: 28 May, 2018 15:44</time></div>
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By pushing a presidential veto of Rome’s proposed new government, Brussels may have secured the euro’s status in Italy, for now. However, it may prove to be only a stay of execution.</div>
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As I write, a constitutional crisis has erupted in Italy after its President – who normally fulfils only a ceremonial role – refused to allow the prospective new coalition government to appoint Paolo Savona as finance minister.</div>
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Superficially, this is a ridiculous decision: Savona is a distinguished 81-year-old economist who has worked at Italy’s Central Bank and Treasury, created the first model of the Italian economy, and – among numerous other honors – was a minister in a previous Italian government in 1993-94. Was his age the problem?</div>
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No, President Sergio Mattarella’s problem with Savona is that he is a critic of the euro. And Mattarella’s obstructionism is a problem for the prospective coalition government of the self-described anti-establishment Five Star Movement (founded by the satirist and activist Beppe Grillo) and the originally secessionist, but now federalist, Lega Nord (Northern League) – because about the only thing they have in common is opposition to the euro and the austerity policies that have come with it following the 2008 crisis.</div>
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In round one of what will be a protracted battle, the prospective prime minister Giuseppe Conte has resigned; the leader of Five Star has called for the president to be impeached; and the president has invited former International Monetary Fund director, Carlo Cottarelli, to form a government instead.</div>
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This conflict won’t end by making Cottarelli interim prime minister. He gained the nickname of “Mr Scissors” when he was put in charge of reviewing government spending by a previous, short-lived government in 2013. He is a vocal critic of the Five Star/Northern League proposals, but these parties hold a majority of seats in the parliament. They will almost surely vote him out of office.</div>
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The likely short-term outcome is the calling of fresh elections – three months after the vote which made Five Star the largest political party in Italy.</div>
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Read more</div>
<a class="read-more__link" href="https://www.rt.com/news/428003-italy-pm-government-elections/" style="background: transparent; border: none !important; color: #044faa; display: block; font-size: 1.6em; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="© Tony Gentile" class="read-more__cover" src="https://cdni.rt.com/files/2018.05/thumbnail/5b0bdfeefc7e935a188b4621.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 325.292px;" /><span class="read-more__footer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ex-IMF head made Italy's interim PM amid rage over ‘unconstitutional’ blocking of Euroskeptic govt</span></a></div>
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Opening Salvo </h2>
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The first battle in the war between Brussels and Rome has thus been won by Brussels: I have little doubt that Mattarella was lobbied very strongly by EU figures to block Savona, because he is capable of developing the real weapon that Five Star/Northern League could bring to bear against the euro – the “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">mini-BOT</em>.” Named in reference to Italy’s “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">buoni ordinario del tesoro,</em>” which are short-term government bonds, these would be government-issued notes valued at between €1 and €500, which would be issued to people and companies owed tax refunds by the government. These, in turn, would be valid for paying taxes, buying train tickets, getting petrol at government-owned fuel stations, and so on.</div>
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These sidestep the euro’s monopoly as legal tender in the eurozone because a vendor does not have to accept these if they are tendered in an exchange. But they can be accepted, perhaps at a discount to face value, and thereby become an alternative means of payment to the euro.</div>
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This is a weapon that Greece prepared, but never used, because Yanis Varoufakis, in what he describes in<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Adults-Room-European-American-Establishment/dp/0374101000/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background: transparent; color: #044faa; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Adults in the Room</a> as “Mea Maxima Culpa” (“<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">my most grievous fault</em>”) decided to leave the decision to Alexis Tsipras. Tsipras demurred, and the result was a Greek tragedy.</div>
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An alternative-means-of-payment is a much more cogent weapon in Italy’s hands than it would have been in Greece’s. Italy’s economy is six times larger than Greece’s and average salaries are almost double (though per-capita income has fallen substantially since the global financial crisis); its economy, particularly in the north, is an industrial powerhouse; and its climate supports a huge range of agricultural products. Much more of what Italians need to buy can be purchased from other Italians than was ever feasible for Greece (the only categorical exception is oil). The mini-BOT could really free Italy from the stranglehold of the euro.</div>
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Poor Design </h2>
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And a stranglehold it is. The Maastricht Treaty’s pact to limit government debt to 60 percent of GDP and government deficits to three percent appeared as “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">sound finance</em>” to its drafters, but was really a decision to hand over money creation to private banks.</div>
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The Maastricht limits on government spending and debt were also farcical: Italy’s government debt when the euro came into being was more than twice the Maastricht limit. The fact that Italy was allowed in under these rules shows that the euro project was driven far more by politics and naive economics than it was by financial imperatives.</div>
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The vague hope was that Italy would use growth and the discipline of the euro to reduce its government-debt ratio. But progress stagnated and private debt rose because, under the Maastricht Treaty, Italians had only one source for new money: borrowing from the private banks. Before the euro, an Italian government deficit (if backed by Central Bank bond purchases) injected lira into the economy; after it, that injection was limited to no more than three percent of GDP.</div>
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The impact was immediate: with the fiscal space, Italian firms and households turned to the banks. Private debt, which had been low and trending downward before the euro, exploded when its shackles were in place.</div>
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The additional credit-based demand this generated enabled the government to reduce its debt level somewhat, but only until the global financial crisis (GFC) brought Europe’s private debt binge to a shuddering halt. As credit dried up, government spending exploded, hitting four times the Maastricht limit in 2010 before severe austerity measures were imposed.</div>
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This budget blowout had to happen, because the collapse in credit drove unemployment skywards. Though unemployment had fallen from 11 percent when the euro began to six percent when the GFC struck, it skyrocketed to over 13 percent of the workforce when credit crashed from 14 percent of GDP in 2008 to minus 7 percent in 2010.</div>
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Austerity was then imposed by technocratic governments following Maastricht-style spending rules, and incomes and employment fell further behind. Per-capita GDP has fallen by over 10 percent since the GFC, and is now lower than before the euro was adopted in 1999.</div>
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Losing Game </h2>
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Italy’s other euro-related problem is inflation-driven by a lack of competitiveness with Germany. Since the euro began, the average inflation rate in Italy has been 1.8 percent. That is very low by historical standards, but it’s still above the 1.35-percent rate in France and the 1.4-percent rate in Germany. Though the differences are tiny, over the two decades since the euro began, Italy has become 10 percent less competitive with Germany. That’s a handicap that could easily be corrected by a 10-percent devaluation of the lira against the deutschmark. Unfortunately, such an option doesn’t exist today.</div>
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By the time this war between Brussels and Rome is over, that might change. Brussels has won the first round, with the boxing equivalent of not merely a below-the-belt punch, but of the referee knocking out the winner and declaring his opponent the victor. The next round will go to Brussels as well, as Mattarella appoints Cottarelli as prime minister. Round three will go to the Five Star/League as they vote to impeach Mattarella. Round four will be the campaign for the subsequent election, which will further polarize Italian politics: Brussels and its local allies will attempt to undermine or divide Five Star and the League with scandals and official opprobrium, while the Five Star/League will try to harness outrage at the undemocratic forces controlling Italy to increase their vote.</div>
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Brussels will seek to blame the anti-euro rebels, but the real villains of this crisis are the euro itself and the Maastricht Treaty. As the rebel British economist Wynne Godley stated back in 1992 when the Treaty was signed:</div>
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“<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">If a country or region has no power to devalue, and if it is not the beneficiary of a system of fiscal equalization, then there is nothing to stop it suffering a process of cumulative and terminal decline leading, in the end, to emigration as the only alternative to poverty or starvation.</em>” (Wynne Godley, ‘<a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v14/n19/wynne-godley/maastricht-and-all-that" style="background: transparent; color: #044faa; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Maastricht and All That</a>’ London Review of Books, October 1992)</div>
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Emigration, poverty, or starvation? There is a fourth alternative: leaving the euro. Brussels has blocked this for today, but the odds of it happening in the near future have risen dramatically thanks to Mattarella’s veto of Savona.</div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-76005336163794500572018-04-24T10:48:00.005+01:002018-04-24T10:54:16.031+01:00Zappone Repeatedly Misled Oireachtas - Lied About U.N. Special Rapporteur<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqXuJSIgIvZojPkyK6FkUCOU2-4sVos37eTTdoh0VKLzo3aKBX3MlAIIcToFkajk3Bd1Fo7KCQFnUjBfgZvxjkwEnbfLz9X9ek7nWmGlzy6Rm68NgucMM0WXazODr14YwQeFbU06UEf5ei/s1600/MBH-1024x570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1024" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqXuJSIgIvZojPkyK6FkUCOU2-4sVos37eTTdoh0VKLzo3aKBX3MlAIIcToFkajk3Bd1Fo7KCQFnUjBfgZvxjkwEnbfLz9X9ek7nWmGlzy6Rm68NgucMM0WXazODr14YwQeFbU06UEf5ei/s640/MBH-1024x570.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone has lied repeatedly --including to the Oireachtas-- about her intent to invite U.N. Special Raporteur, Pablo de Greiff to Ireland</b> to provide international human rights oversight of the Government's response to issues around the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <b>Big Lie</b> began on 1st June, 2017 when Dr de Greiff's proposed visit to Ireland was <a href="https://merrionstreet.ie/en/News-Room/Releases/Minister_Zappone_appoints_a_team_of_international_experts_to_advise_on_burial_site_in_Tuam_during_Dail_Statements_on_Mother_and_Baby_Homes.html"><b>first mentioned</b></a> by Minister Zappone -who cited his "<i>extensive experience and insights which I believe will help me as a Minister</i>".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The deception deepened on 12 December 2017 when the Seanad was told that the <b><a href="https://www.kildarestreet.com/sendebates/?id=2017-12-12a.19#g22">Government had formally decided</a></b> to invite the UN Special Rapporteur. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I<i> will work with my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to arrange this invitation</i>," said the Minister. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Full steam ahead then, eh? It sure seemed like it, because by 13th February, <a href="http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/takes/dail2018021300037#N8">Zappone told the Dáil</a> that </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"<i>Arrangements are at an advanced stage and I expect an invitation to be issued to Mr. de Greiff in the coming days.</i>"</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />That was over <b>two months ago</b>. No further word has issued.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, guess when Dr. de Greiff reaches the <b>end</b> of his term as Special Rapporteur? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Try this:</b> "<i>Pablo de Greiff was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council... in 2012. He was renewed in 2015 and will hold the position <b><a href="https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=41728">until May 2018</a></b></i>."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">May 2018 is a mere week away!! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So go ahead and ask Minister Zappone:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not, when did the Government <b>decide to invite</b> Dr. de Greiff</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We know that was in </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">December 2017</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Rather, ask her</b>: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1) W</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hen did the government actually <b>extend <i>any</i> invitation</b> to Dr. de Greiff?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) What <b>specific</b> invitation was extended?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) When <i>does</i> Dr. de Greiff's term in office <b>end</b>?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3) On what <b>date</b> will Dr. de Greiff visit Ireland?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4) In what <b>capacity</b> will he visit?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5) With <b>whom</b> will he meet?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's <b>definitely</b> worth asking.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">References:</span></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>1 June, 2017 </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>-</b> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am asking my Government Colleagues to support me in inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Reparation and Guarantee of Non-Repetition, Pablo de Greiff to visit Ireland.Dr de Greiff has extensive experience and insights which I believe will help me as a Minister and us as a Government to promote truth, justice and reparation as he has done with a wide range of other governments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://merrionstreet.ie/en/News-Room/Releases/Minister_Zappone_appoints_a_team_of_international_experts_to_advise_on_burial_site_in_Tuam_during_Dail_Statements_on_Mother_and_Baby_Homes.html">MerrionStreet.ie</a> Gov PR</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Further to her previously announced idea of establishing some kind of a truth commission, Ms Zappone also said </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">she will be inviting the UN Special Rapporteur</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence Pablo de Greiff, from Columbia, to Ireland.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.broadsheet.ie/2017/06/01/will-it-be-a-year-where-we-womaned-up/" target="_blank">‘Will It Be A Year Where We Womaned Up?’</a> Broadsheet </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>2 June, 2017 </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Dáil</b></span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- </b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">The minister also announced her intention to invite the UN's special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, reparation and guarantee of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, to visit Ireland in the coming months. </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>He could help ensure that we are taking the right approach</b> in terms of our response into the future," she said.</span><br />
<a href="https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/experts-to-analyse-remains-at-tuam-35780705.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">Experts to analyse remains at Tuam</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> Independent</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>7 June, 2017 </b></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b>Dáil</b></span></span><b style="color: #111111; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">-</b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 23.4px;">She also confirmed that <b>she has requested UN special rappoteur</b> for the promotion of truth and justice Pablo de Greiff to examine whether a truth and reconciliation review of what happened should be set up.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/magdalene-laundries-truth-commission-3429242-Jun2017/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">You weren't allowed touch your own baby</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Journal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b>5 December 2017 </b></span></span></span><b style="color: #111111; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">DCYA </b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b>-</b> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">The Government believes that the expertise and experience of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, <b>Mr. Pablo deGreiff, would provide valuable assistance</b> in responding to the issues relating to mother and baby homes..... </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> <b>The Government will specifically invite the Special Rapporteur to participate in a conference</b> on how Ireland is addressing these matters. The Minister will work with her colleague the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to arrange this invitation.</span></div>
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<a href="http://government%20approves%20extension%20of%20time%20for%20the%20commission%20of%20investigation%20into%20mother%20and%20baby%20homes/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Government approves extension of time for Commission</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> DCYA.gov.ie</span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>12 December 2017 Dáil</b> - The <b>Government has decided to invite the UN Special Rapporteur</b> on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Mr. Pablo de Greiff, to visit Ireland. I will work with my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to arrange this invitation. It is important to say that <b>these developments have been welcomed by a number of advocates</b> who recognise the progressive nature of the Government's approach.</span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><a href="https://www.kildarestreet.com/sendebates/?id=2017-12-12a.19#g22" target="_blank">Seanad Debate</a> KildareStreet.ie</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>13 February 2018 </b></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dáil </span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>-</b> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have previously relayed my commitment to the House to inviting the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Mr. Pablo de Greiff, to come to Ireland. I believe he can assist us in our endeavours to establish the truth and advise us on how best to move forward and deal with this part of our history. <b>Arrangements are at an advanced stage and I expect an invitation to be issued to Mr. de Greiff in the coming days</b>.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/takes/dail2018021300037#N8" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Dáil Éireann</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Oireachtas.ie</span></div>
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<br />Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-32639043413498363962018-04-23T13:33:00.000+01:002018-04-23T21:12:00.729+01:00Irish Elites Deploy Adoptees, Academics As Shield Against Unwed Mothers<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ireland's political, bureaucratic and media elites are using adopted persons and academics to substitute for the mothers who witnessed genocidal, state-sanctioned practices in Mother and Baby Homes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">F</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">irst Mothers group has filed a complaint against RTE with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Here's why.</span></li>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Philomena Lee</b> - Does She Take Sugar?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">RTE's <b>Claire Byrne</b> Buries the Genocide</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">RTE's <b>Sean O'Rourke</b> Keeps it in The Family</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Six One News</b> with Joe Little At Large</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Examiner's <b>Conall Ó Fátharta</b> Buries the Lead</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Katherine Zappone</b> Stacks the Political Deck</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Epilog</span></li>
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<span style="color: #999999;">Philomena Lee and Kathy McMahon of Irish First Mothers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1) <b>Philomena Lee - Does She Take Sugar?</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"<i>U.K.‘s Radio 4 ran a series called “<b>Does He Take Sugar?</b>”, referring to when someone asks the carer about sugar, instead of directly asking the person...</i>"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">--</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.4px;"><a href="http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/july-august-2013/does-he-take-sugar" target="_blank">Yvonne Rogers, Gary Marsden</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ms Philomena Lee, like most women from the Magdalen Laundries is by now in advanced years. On her most recent Late Late Show appearance she could be seen looking around for cues as to how to answer one of the questions put to her. It's fortunate then that she and other women of her era had activists to campaign on their behalf. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But only around five percent of the Magdalens had anything to do with a Mother and Baby home. These institutions are the subject of a new and ongoing Irish government investigation. These much younger mothers belie the older stereotype and range in age from mid forties to late sixties. Irish First Mothers is their </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">representative group. Just as modern black civil rights groups no longer need white activists</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, these modern women need no proxies to articulate their views. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But that hasn't stopped seasoned activists from asserting a right to speak on their behalf. Which suits Irish political, media and bureaucratic elites just fine. They prefer to perpetuate the aged stereotype and use second hand accounts to shield them from the raw truth of these women's first hand experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) <b>RTE's Claire Byrne Buries the Genocide</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On 5th March, 2017 Minister Katherine Zappone admitted what the Irish Government had denied ever since the 'Tuam Babies' story broke in international media. There were after all significant irregular infant remains on the site of the former unmarried mothers home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Within 48 hrs Irish First Mothers raised the question of <a href="http://irishfirstmothers.blogspot.ie/2017/03/MotherAndBabyGenocide.html" target="_blank"><b>genocide</b></a> with the Irish attorney general. The following Monday morning the pre-eminent Irish broadcaster, Pat Kenny led his national radio show with an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLiY2m53pWdLfQUkINfAX-lRsrATQaphus&v=xAQ4tyEtObw" target="_blank"><b>exclusive interview</b></a> with Kathy McMahon and reported that genocide claim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later that day, Kathy was invited to appear on the RTE TV show, Claire Byrne Live. Sitting among a specially invited audience with adopted persons before the show began, she told presenter Claire Byrne that she wanted to discuss the genocide claim. Byrne never responded and began the show by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLiY2m53pWdLfQUkINfAX-lRsrATQaphus&v=zWguRBzUS2U" target="_blank"><b>quizzing Kathy solely on her personal experience</b></a> of unwed pregnancy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Byrne never came back to Kathy re genocide and she concluded the segment by means of an interview with an academic historian, Desmond Ferriter. Kathy had founded Ireland's largest and properly representative group of affected mothers. <i>She</i> should have been interviewed - not Ferriter. Genocide should have been their topic. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But it is station practice to interview adopted persons; to feature adopted persons opinions; and to interview academics. The affected women are disallowed political expression. RTE is a state broadcaster and the state is hostile to such claims for fear of liability to redress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus did Claire Byrne bury <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoSKi-2iFf8" target="_blank"><b>the genocide of Irish women</b></a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3) <b>RTE's Sean O'Rourke Keeps it In the Family</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The national broadcast station's unwritten policy again ruled when the interim report of Judge Murphy's Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes was published. The mothers who are the inquiry's predominant focus were excluded from Sean O'Rourke's flagship morning radio show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instead it was Susan Lohan of the Adoption Rights Alliance(ARA) -an adopted person who has been a member of the Labour Party's executive committee- who provided commentary and analysis. Lohan runs the ARA with academic Claire McGetrick. The pair have spawned a cottage industry of bodies from the Philomena Project to Justice for Magdalens Research(JFMR) and the Clann Project, in addition to the ARA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On a point of information, Sean O'Rourke's daughter, Maeve is a long-time legal adviser to the ARA. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Note also that O'Rourke wife, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Caroline Murphy</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">recently took up a role as media advisor to FG Justice Minister</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Charles Flanagan. It's impossible to write about this nexus without using the words cozy cartel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such arrangements breed self-reinforcing ignorance, and that ignorance was on full display when O'Rourke subsequently interviewed Minister Zappone on the interim report -alone and again without the balancing participation of the affected mothers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Where were the men?," jeered O'Rourke -referring to the alleged desertion of unwed mothers by males. He and feminist Zappone shared a short snigger over that. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Had they a mother from Irish First Mothers in studio their </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">raw stereotype might have been enlightened. In truth, many men were driven away by religious and bureaucrats. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of those men loved their partners dearly and some -despite the interference of the state- went on to marry their beloved and have subsequent children together. Those couples had in effect been robbed of their first child by state-sanctioned forced adoption. Such cases are among the Irish First Mothers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Zappone was as ignorant as</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> was O'Rourke, because incredible as it may seem, she has to this day never sat down with the First Mothers group. The pair's sneering, born of unprofessional nepotism and elitist authoritarianism badly let let those couples and all affected mothers on that day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4) <b>RTE Six One News' with Joe Little At Large</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Joe Little is RTE's religious affairs reporter at large on issues including Mother and Baby homes. He may be at large but if you spot him, let First Mothers know. They have never seen or heard from him. Correction, he did telephone McMahon once. "Joe Little here," said he. Then: "Sorry..., call you right back." He never did. That was it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So it will hardly surprise you that when then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. James Reilly announced the terms of reference of the now ongoing Commission of Investigation, it was again groups run by adopted people who appeared on Six One News to lavish praise on the Minister. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Adopted persons, Paul Redmond and Susan Lohan headlined the news coverage and analysis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Redmond was also recently interviewed in depth by Miriam O'Callaghan for her radio show. He spent a total of 17 days in a Mother and Baby Home -as an infant. Hardly a searing experience and he likely wasn't kept awake by the constant sobbing of mothers grieving for their stolen newborn infants. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kathy McMahon <i>was</i> sleepless to that sound, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFHzvJ6GKbA" target="_blank"><b>she told a Dail committee</b></a> in 2015. But her account of that horror and indeed her </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">entire</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">testimony was omitted from the report sent to the Seanad by Chairperson, Mr. Jerry Buttimer, FG.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nobody among the RTE shows mentioned replied to request for comment -except Joe Little, who offered to have an off-the-record chat in the RTE canteen because "I </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">share your determination to ensure that the contributions of Irish First Mothers to public debate should be reported in more detail by RTÉ.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">" I declined the offer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5) <b>Examiner's Conall Ó Fátharta Buries the Lead</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Turning to print media, the picture is no less disturbing. The Examiner's </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Conall Ó Fátharta</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> is the paper's main writer on the Commission of Investigation. Yet he has only once even telephoned Irish First Mothers, let alone interviewed any of the group. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His invariable methodology is an email requesting comment, from which he plucks a sentence for his resulting article. Sometimes as much as two sentences.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A recent article highlights the problem. Journalists are taught to never 'bury the lead'. In other words: don't headline a story about apples, and then spend the first half of the piece writing about oranges. But </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ó Fátharta -who has spent a decade reporting on Lohan and McGettrick's social justice campaigns- is a master at this error when it comes to Irish First Mothers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His recent article "<a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/baby-home-survivors-denied-public-hearings-469201.html" target="_blank"><b>Baby home survivors denied public hearings</b></a>" has the sub-heading "<i>A number of requests by mother and baby home survivors to have their evidence heard in public have been refused by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission</i>.".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kathy McMahon, founder of Irish First Mothers had replied to an email from </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ó Fátharta confirming that five women from the group were denied public hearing of their evidence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But his resulting article promoted the groups run by </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">adoptees,</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Lohan and McGetrick, despite that they had <i>not</i> requested mothers be allowed public testimony. Their demand was that their own group testimony be public. The article carries quotes from all and sundry, but does not mention or quote his prime source for the piece: Kathy McMahon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another example is his 2017 article, again based on information provided by First Mothers: "</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/trio-ready-to-give-evidence-at-hearing-444386.html" target="_blank"><b>Trio ready to give evidence at hearing</b></a>". The sub-heading is: "</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Three women who lived in mother and baby homes have informed the commission they are prepared to give sworn evidence to a formal public hearing</i>.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">" That's where the substance ends, because the body of the article is instead all about issues around the Tuam home site.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again and again in his reporting, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ó Fátharta manages to devote scant coverage to the affected mothers, rarely quotes them directly and gives prominence to adoptee groups. Mr. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ó Fátharta did not reply to a request for comment, but Examiner editor, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allan Prosser roundly defended his paper's coverage and threatened legal action to boot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6) <b>Katherine Zappone Stacks the Political Deck</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can add Katherine Zappone to the list of those who have never met with First Mothers -despite the fact that her two ministerial predecessors in the Department had invited the group to consult over legislation and despite her political perspective as a feminist. No Irish feminist group has ever offered support, by the way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ahead of the final report of the Commission of Investigation, Minister Katherine Zappone <a href="http://childrensdatabase.ie/viewdoc.asp?Docid=4616&CatID=11&mn=&StartDate=01%20January%202018" target="_blank"><b>announced</b></a> the formation of a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">consensus-based </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Collaborative Forum -supposedly to involve those affected in shaping the Government response prior to the Commission's final report due before February, 2019. A selection panel would pick the members of the Forum. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet again, adopted persons and academics formed the majority of the selection panel: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ms Clodagh Malone</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"> Coalition of Mother and Baby Homes Survivors </span><br style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ms Mari Steed</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"> Adoption Rights Alliance (based in USA) </span><br style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dr James Gallen</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"> Dublin City University </span><br style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Prof Patricia Lundy</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"> Ulster University</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ms Teresa Blake SC</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mr Fintan Dunne</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Irish First Mothers</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Ms Malone and Ms Steed are adopted persons. I was a sole voice for mothers interests. By the second meeting of the panel, the offer of consensus had turned into an inflexible government agenda and debate was shut down. <a href="http://irishfirstmothers.com/press/Mother-And-Baby-Home-Panel-Boycott.htm" target="_blank">I resigned forthwith</a> at the start of the second meeting. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">If legislators and bureaucrats were better informed they might realize that adopted people are often conflicted in their attitudes to First Mothers -exhibiting either conscious or unconscious hostility arising from feelings of abandonment. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Inclusion of adopted persons in state structures overseeing the welfare of so-called birth mothers is therefore ill advised. B</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">ut such a level of nuanced understanding by a department of government is rare. Especially if they refuse to meet with those at the coal face who are better informed.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Susan Lohan in my presence, after Kathy McMahon had spoken of the need for redress for mothers remarked: "<i>what would mothers want redress for?</i>" One can only speculate on the reasons underlying that remark. But it might be a class bias. Because another wrinkle is that adopted infants went quite disproportionately into wealthier families; whereas the victims of forced adoption were easier prey if from a lower social class. Many of the illegally taken infants went to judges, lawyers, doctors, business leaders and others socially advantaged. The groups with power in society today.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">To directly answer Ms Lohan, mothers might want redress for illegal incarceration; forced removal of infants; lifelong trauma; ongoing PTSD and diminished life potential. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">But, rather ominously Judge Murphy's interim report made no finding of harm in respect of mothers. As if harm to the mothers can only be adjudged in the limited form of physical abuse or neglect in the homes under scrutiny. Perhaps a judge a score years younger would have been a better choice to lead this Commission.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>EPILOG</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Propaganda often relies on adjusting the words we use to reframe an issue. There is and was no such thing as a Mother and Baby home. They were called Unmarried Mothers homes. Places where unmarried mothers were socially imprisoned -overseen by the state.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Years ago when this deliberately protracted and constructively ineffective state examination of these issues began, Kathy McMahon was invited to consult with then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Mr. Charles Flanagan, FG. She told him that she wanted a prosecutions arm to any investigation to uncover unreported rapes of women and sexual abuse of minors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Minister Flanagan dismissed the idea curtly. "</span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">There are Garda stations in every town -some of them are even open 24 hours. Any crimes should be reported there</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What Mr Flanagan cared little to know about, the listeners to LMFM were enthralled to hear, when McMahon later <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytcR84YpCWE" target="_blank"><b>went on air</b></a> with Deirdre Hurley to recount the appalling multiple rape of "Angela" a woman with the mental capacity of a seven-year-old. She was then </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">37 years</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> old, in St. Patrick's Unmarried Mothers home, Navan Rd., Dublin and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on her fourth pregnancy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By any prudent calculation of the crimes of a careful abuser, Angela must have been raped well over 200 times. She later gave birth to her fourth child while sitting on a toilet in St. James' hospital. Fourth time around, she literally didn't know what being pregnant was. Most other women in First Mothers have similar tales of pregnant minors. What kind of evil regime oversaw such repeated abuse? </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What kind of evil regime</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> fails to investigate this?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On LMFM, Kathy McMahon recounted how when the women would sneak out for a cigarette, Angela would tell them about the prize she had won for being the sugar plum fairy. And she in her betrayed innocence would dance the sugar plum fairy dance for the other mothers. It's an image I can't shake, and I can't write about without shaking, right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You won't hear about that on RTE. It might cost the state money. But don't take my word for it. I'm just a male journalist and supporter. These women are outspoken on Irish regional radio shows and elsewhere. I'm a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">messenger. </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">These women</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> are the message.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So it's better that you hear from the women themselves. Theirs is the authentic voice which our elites would rather silence. If you t</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hink you already know about Unmarried Mothers homes, you don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They <i>do</i>. Go listen. That LMFM interview about Angela is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytcR84YpCWE" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My interviews with seven of the women are on a webpage <a href="http://fintandunne.com/" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See also: <a href="http://irishfirstmothers.com/">http://IrishFirstMothers.com</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-6080320890499768602018-02-11T01:31:00.000+00:002018-02-11T13:31:59.316+00:00PADDOCK DIED AT NOON ON DAY AFTER SHOOTINGS? | FAKE NEWS ALERT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCt0FJIzkrW1QMEBIzR206MN2iKos6G5EbnT0sfoZrjMJxBLl5CsNRrGqpcYI1fnkgUXIS979bph-Qru-wbvDaGybAiQjjHYcldVckA6sR7jsPJds9rz7S40QWtPboKH5eUEIGaCy1del1/s1600/cccd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="708" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCt0FJIzkrW1QMEBIzR206MN2iKos6G5EbnT0sfoZrjMJxBLl5CsNRrGqpcYI1fnkgUXIS979bph-Qru-wbvDaGybAiQjjHYcldVckA6sR7jsPJds9rz7S40QWtPboKH5eUEIGaCy1del1/s640/cccd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999;">"Las Vegas mass shooting suspect, Stephen Paddock<br /><b>did not die until noon</b> on the day following the attack."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>That's a <a href="http://www.ntd.tv/2018/02/10/las-vegas-shooting-suspect-died-at-noon-on-day-after-massacre-autopsy-finds/" target="_blank">startling</a> <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/las-vegas-shooting-suspect-died-at-noon-on-day-after-massacre-autopsy-finds_2438063.html" target="_blank">claim</a></b>, but it's seemingly founded on actual <b><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4375783-Vegasautopsy.html" target="_blank">autopsy</a></b> documents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Don't be misled.</b> Here's the cherry-picked part of the full report:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUsKLRKIID3CWUnFIMdzmSpzHC5x_AeVHb8Cx-ZYmxYUCwT7DWfi6ZeRgKF-5Yj2ALvDExQG0qRVKnnbIxkXTxqQU_WoL9_iWCfzgypNs4kkw_aq-ilj-U1eEtikiiygZ5wPh7Ewglmtj0/s1600/ccc1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUsKLRKIID3CWUnFIMdzmSpzHC5x_AeVHb8Cx-ZYmxYUCwT7DWfi6ZeRgKF-5Yj2ALvDExQG0qRVKnnbIxkXTxqQU_WoL9_iWCfzgypNs4kkw_aq-ilj-U1eEtikiiygZ5wPh7Ewglmtj0/s640/ccc1.png" width="636" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's obvious that <b>1200 hours</b> on the 2nd of October could easily mean midnight of the night before. Admittedly, 1200 hours could also indicate noon of the following day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Which of those two did the report mean to say? Well, the very next page puts paid to any idea that Paddock had only passed away a few hours before his body arrived to be stored for autopsy four days later on the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6th October</span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The coroner records that when the autopsy examination commences, Paddock's refrigerated body has <b><i>rigor mortis</i></b> which is beginning to fade.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Had Paddock been deceased only since noon, the speedy refrigeration of his<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>body would have significantly slowed the <i>rigor mortis</i> cycle, and it's unlikely rigor would be already fading as reported:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCi4Sd1xQsYr8M2BT8jvUscXfG0ejwgQ_HwnYKEIhca_2i7ikvrL5N-BB58gS-1ff8T5lAOOTbl39SLx477NiYGhyphenhyphenMjwucIzkJVvtYMapsiZbk0xc7Cyvtgk8of9DkJGHlEK2tv-Slr4KM/s1600/ccc2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCi4Sd1xQsYr8M2BT8jvUscXfG0ejwgQ_HwnYKEIhca_2i7ikvrL5N-BB58gS-1ff8T5lAOOTbl39SLx477NiYGhyphenhyphenMjwucIzkJVvtYMapsiZbk0xc7Cyvtgk8of9DkJGHlEK2tv-Slr4KM/s640/ccc2.png" width="609" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In passing, we<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> note</span></span> the coroner thinks Paddock's neck is "unremarkable".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />What looks like a "13" is visible is one prior photo widely released by news media of record. That number, almost tatto<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">oed in appearance<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> i</span>s absent in the sole image we have of the occupant of the Mandalay Bay -and from the coroner's report</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsHxktCxICX4pX1NfLeNX0xC-XtTY2GxiLpLHjdK0EwHzWfWONoqCIisQ7pYOzfu6pyDzQP3t096o_o0CFnj1__muvAMZg03Dbu219UQWLc3-lctjwPsN-ptRAzOl_gNPaNPhqNK4bLxOK/s1600/sp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="400" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsHxktCxICX4pX1NfLeNX0xC-XtTY2GxiLpLHjdK0EwHzWfWONoqCIisQ7pYOzfu6pyDzQP3t096o_o0CFnj1__muvAMZg03Dbu219UQWLc3-lctjwPsN-ptRAzOl_gNPaNPhqNK4bLxOK/s400/sp2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The most startling finding of the examinations of Paddock's remains are the lack of significant psychoactive substances. Paddock was <b><a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/investigations/las-vegas-shooters-autopsy-gives-no-clues/" target="_blank">neither drunk nor doped</a></b> in any fashi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on. Neither di<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d he display signs of previous addict<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ion, nor had he an<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y evident </span></span>significant deterioration</span></span> of his </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">personal healt<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">h.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No matter what social facade Paddock wore, it's reasonable to question the absence<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> of the physical effects of private mental collapse.</span></span></span> That's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">quite</span> anomalous.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Coroners <b><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4375783-Vegasautopsy.html" target="_blank">Report</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- LVMPD <b><a href="https://www.lvmpd.com/en-us/Documents/1_October_FIT_Report_01-18-2018_Footnoted.pdf" target="_blank">Report</a></b></span></span>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-19119199243683062002017-06-15T17:24:00.002+01:002017-06-15T17:48:15.241+01:00Boris Johnson: We're Reducing Fire Deaths Despite Fire Cuts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In 2013, while under questioning from London Assembly members at City Hall, the then-London Mayor Boris Johnson was asked about cuts to fire services which had lost London 600 firefighter jobs and 10 fire stations.<br />
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Labour member
Andrew Dinsmore asked him: “How can cutting fire stations, cutting fire
engines, cutting firefighters posts not be a reduction in fire
coverage?”</div>
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Boris replied: “Because we're improving fire cover, as I've said several times."<br />
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"How?" came a call from the public gallery.<br />
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"By continuing to reduce deaths from fire and continuing to reduce the incidents of fire," claimed Johnston. "That is the name of the game. It's not about....”<br />
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Dinsmore interrupted: “You’ve lied to the people of London in your election.”<br />
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“Oh, get stuffed,” retorted Johnston.<br />
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Johnson, who is now the UK's Foreign Secretary, yesterday tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with everyone caught up
in the horrific tower block fire in London.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrQpYDoS_nyMsH0B0jEb3xLZYfJJrgV_4mCNhFj2Hzt6EEobv3QXncE1ROWRYKGvGhzxVL_IhmoKALiNoOja7kYLERyAmFLakFDk1qypNqnTBy1viy3y0Tvc32cCwKXa0YBvmK2YxUV9d/s1600/stuffed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrQpYDoS_nyMsH0B0jEb3xLZYfJJrgV_4mCNhFj2Hzt6EEobv3QXncE1ROWRYKGvGhzxVL_IhmoKALiNoOja7kYLERyAmFLakFDk1qypNqnTBy1viy3y0Tvc32cCwKXa0YBvmK2YxUV9d/s1600/stuffed.jpg" /></a></div>
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Labour MP Grahame Morris tweeted that 10 stations had closed when Johnson was mayor.</div>
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<a data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":12,"plid":"http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/james-obrien-highlights-boris-johnsons-take-on-fir/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral"}}" href="http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/james-obrien-highlights-boris-johnsons-take-on-fir/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral" target="_blank">Outspoken LBC host James O’Brien said of the clip</a>:
“I’ve spent my whole life being a trusting, naive little boy, thinking
the people in charge would somehow deep down have our best interests at
heart.</div>
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“Surely no one would
actually turn a flat full of poor people into a potential bonfire, just
to save a few quid or make the view better for the rich neighbours over
the road.</div>
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“I didn’t think that level of cynicism exists.</div>
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“Then I saw this man sitting in this studio and thought ‘God, it really is a game for some people’.”</div>
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<strong>People felt Johnson’s thoughts and prayer might not be enough.</strong></div>
Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-68132520686364506022017-06-11T23:31:00.000+01:002017-06-12T02:05:33.455+01:00Corbyn: Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Statesman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Theresa May might well say: "if this is Victory, give me Defeat". But the reason for Jeremy Corbyn's combative declaration about imminently toppling her is that those sentiments are felt even more deeply by the Tory party itself.<br />
<br />
The unfolding events since the election result have only deepened their concern. Their growing worries are felt across all political shades. The U.K. business and political establishment simply will not eat a May-baked Brexit cake topped with DUP icing. Here's an outline of the political dynamics now playing out and the rationale behind Corbyn's strategy.<br />
<br />
Saturday's torpedoing of May's plan for a DUP-Tory grand coalition is the beginning of the end for her. It showed that she has no hand to play and demonstrated that the DUP have overplayed theirs. May's attempt to bind the DUP to the Tories in a formal coalition which envisaged junior ministerial posts going to the DUP was bereft of political nous.<br />
<br />
It was quickly shot down by senior Conservatives agast at the thought of being doggedly wagged by the Ulster hardliners. Even worse, despite a claim by 10 Downing Street that a more hands-off confidence and supply arrangement was agreed, the DUP ended a tragic day for May with a midnight declaration that there was no such deal.<br />
<br />
This comedy of errors by the two parties was their undoing. If May could be bounced around so pathetically by the DUP, then what hope is there for her ability to hack a deal with the EU? And if the DUP could not see that this was a time to play loyal softball in public -even if negotiating in a hardball fashion, then they are blind to the sensitivities of mainstream mainland opinion.<br />
<br />
Then there's the terrorism risk. Already reeling from ISIS lunatics reddening the streets of Manchester and London with blood, the conservative leader's marriage of convenience in Ulster would hand a second bunch of lunatics in the rump of the IRA all they need to recruit support for their own terror war. "We told you the Brits would sell us out," they would shout. "Sinn Féin were wrong to ever trust them."<br />
<br />
So let's just nail the real requirements for a DUP deal. The power-sharing devolved government in Northern Ireland is currently suspended and in lock-jam because the DUP have already been overplaying their hand. There can be no deal with the DUP which does not include the resumption of agreed government in the province. Empowering Irish terrorists while politically neutering Sinn Fein would be the gravest of security blunders. That such a plan was ever conceived of has shocked senior political figures in Britain's establishment.<br />
<br />
There is a deepening cross-party conviction that it is time for Britain to stop shooting itself in the foot. Among leading Tories a conviction that opportunists and fundamentalists are wrecking the nation politically and economically. That is why May has attempted to placate liberal Conservatives and appeal to ambitious Brexiteers by co-opting representatives of both elements to her cabinet. But it's too little, and far too late.<br />
<br />
The opposite of fundamentalism is pragmatism. The opposite of the political opportunist is the political statesman. Corbyn was not a statesman when elected leader of Labour. But he became one over the course of that party's internecine battles and during this recent general election campaign. His party colleagues have seen that transformation and now realize that they have on their hands a leader who can reconnect politics with the people.<br />
<br />
The Tories realize that also. They fear that any alliance with the DUP will only paint the Conservative Party into an ageing demographic corner from which they could never hope to escape. The same problem of an ageing conservative power-base had confronted the GOP in the United States. Regardless of what you think of the man, Trump rescued that party from certain demographic death.<br />
<br />
Tories know that May is digging the party's grave. They now understand that the politics of all this means Corbyn will one day be prime minister. They realize that May staggering on for some months in a minority government while Corbyn builds on his success, is a path to decadeal demise for the Conservatives.<br />
<br />
Corbyn is savvy to these political realities. He is about to take the high moral ground. He is about to make the Queen's Speech of a statesman. His will be a call to national unity and the national interest. In the same way as he has avoided vindictiveness in his own party's internal wars, he will extend an olive branch to political opponents who share his focus on Britain's national interest.<br />
<br />
Such a grand vision is the secret to his declaration about unseating May within days. He is aiming at political realists among Tories who understand that their own party needs to rebuild without May and perhaps without governing. There's clever political calculation also at play. If his gracious entreaties are rejected, it will enable him to rob the Tories of middle-ground voters at a general election which would come sooner than later.<br />
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Cometh the hour, cometh the pragmatic statesman.<br />
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Jeremy Corbyn's hour has come.<br />
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-15730446521727344112017-06-09T21:53:00.001+01:002017-06-09T22:10:35.169+01:00Corbyn Missed Majority By 0.007% of Total Vote<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><b>
Jeremy Corbyn missed becoming Prime Minister by a mere seven thousandths of one percent (0.007%) of the total votes cast in the 2017 U.K. election. That equates to just 2,227 votes which made the difference.</b><br />
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According to the London Independent, Labour lost seven constituencies to the Conservatives by the following narrowest of margins:<br />
<br />
Southampton Itchen (majority 31);<br />
Preseli Pembrokeshire (majority 314);<br />
Hastings and Rye (majority 346);<br />
Chipping Barnet (majority 353);<br />
Thurrock (majority 345);<br />
Norwich North (majority 507); and<br />
Pudsey (majority 331).<br />
<br />
Victories in those constituencies would have yielded 321 Commons seats for an alliance of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and one independent MP.<br />
<br />
The total votes cast in the election were 32,094,534.<br />
<br />
But Labour are not the only party entitled to lament the closeness of the result. The Conservative party was only 287 votes shy of their own sole majority.<br />
<br />
The party lost narrowly to Labour in four constituencies:<br />
<br />
Dudley North (22 majority);<br />
Newcastle-under-Lyme (30 majority);<br />
Crew and Nantwich (48 majority); and<br />
Canterbury (187 majority).<br />
<br />
(This analysis excludes Kensington which is in recount.)<br />
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-21034846308082214292017-06-04T01:04:00.001+01:002017-06-04T14:37:54.989+01:00Young Britons Will Put Corbyn Into Number 10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Photo copyright PA</i></div>
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by Fintan Dunne | Sunday 4th June, 2017 | 01.00BST</div>
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<b>Data in a new Ipsos Mori poll are indicating that Labour are on course for a general election win – courtesy of a record young turnout, paired with disenchantment among traditional Conservative supporters.</b></div>
<br />
Their survey, conducted last Monday and Tuesday put the Conservatives on <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-ahead-of-conservatives-tories-ipsos-mori-poll-unadjusted-a7770651.html" target="_blank">a five point lead of 45-40</a> – but hedged its bets with an alternative analysis where all who expressed intention to vote were counted. In that case, Labour would have a 43 point score to the Tories on 40 points.<br />
<br />
That alternative scenario includes the “don’t knows” and demographic groups historically unlikely to vote, including minorities, the under 35s and the poorest older people. The pollsters have good reason to second guess their official prediction. <br />
<br />
There are three factors which will bring about a Labour victory -albeit in a minority government.<br />
<br />
The Captain Ska Factor.<br />
The Theresa Factor.<br />
The Manchester Factor.<br />
<br />
<b>1. The Captain Ska Factor</b>. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-election-entertainment-idUSKBN18T2NB" target="_blank">chart-topping</a> 'Liar, Liar' video on YouTube passed the 2 Million views mark late on Saturday. The meteoric rise of the song was helped as much as hindered by a mainstream radio ban. Its popularity is being driven by younger voters, the very demographic group which supports Corbyn most strongly.<br />
<br />
Pollsters routinely discount the opinion of around 30% of younger voters - because they simply won't show up to vote. But back in the nineties, over nine in ten of them showed up to make their voice heard. Three times as many voters aged under 25 years support Labour than back the Conservatives, so the effect of any turnout increase has treble the bang for Corbyn.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, The '<b><a href="https://youtu.be/HxN1STgQXW8" target="_blank">Liar, Liar</a></b>' song is inadvertently, yet relentlessly good at political marketing. Advertising persuades by repetition. Captain Ska has beaten a simplistic, yet powerful message home to young minds "She's a liar. You can't trust her. No, no, no no." The ban adds a lure of the forbidden to further entice the young voter.<br />
<br />
According to MTV, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/3017267/liar-liar-captain-ska-may-brexit/" target="_blank">ska is suddenly popular</a> again. Perhaps counter-cultural youth voting is too. A recent ICM poll found that most younger voters were '<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/two-thirds-young-people-vote-icm-poll-general-election-hope-not-hate-national-union-of-teachers-a7771431.html" target="_blank">absolutely certain</a>' to vote. If the Captain Ska factor plays out in that fashion -then a major generational political shift is underway.<br />
<br />
<b>2. The Theresa Factor.</b> What misguided backroom tacticians thought it would be a good idea to re-brand the post-Brexit Tories with a Margaret Thatcher meme? Anyone with political nous should surely have realized that a move to the center would easily see off Corbyn. Ideology is to blame. The ideological battle inside the Conservatives and a romantic ideology which harkens back to past glories.<br />
<br />
Compounding that error is the most inept campaign performance by any Tory leader in modern times. May has stumbled, fumbled, fudged and flailed about. This combination of a wrong leader with a polarizing message indicates a Tory party bereft of competence. Middle-ground voters who are otherwise politically uninterested tend to vote for what seems the most accomplished campaigner. That won't be May.<br />
<br />
<b>3. The Manchester Factor.</b> The gruesome bombing attack broke the trance of normality which would have aided May. Four days later, I <a href="http://fintandunne.blogspot.ie/2017/05/Corbyn-Victory.html" target="_blank">penned an article</a> calling the election for Corbyn. Here's some of the logic behind that bet:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;">The British people have a stoic durability to their character. However that stoicism does not extend to them sacrificing their young children on the altar of the elite's warmongering. At least in World War II, many could send the young and innocent away from the cities to sequester them in relative safety, while parents faced the horrors of gory combat.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;">There has been 48 hours of quiet, stunned national reflection. It culminated spontaneously on Thursday morning as a grieving Manchester crowd symbolically disavowed hatred to <b><a href="https://youtu.be/cDdl-ALVY9c" target="_blank">sing a chorus</a></b> from the Oasis classic 'Don't Look Back in Anger'.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;">The people of Britain are not prepared to spill the blood of their children. If anger is one of the energies fueling the reciprocal violence which led to this grotesque outcome, then Britain is ready now to cast anger aside. It is also ready now to cast aside the political class which produced this tragic result. Jeremy Corbyn knows it. Like many in politics and media, he senses that mood.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;">On Friday, he will will tell a London audience that the 'War on Terror' is an oxymoron, a failed contradiction. To defeat terror, you wage peace and not war. He will say that Britain's wars have fostered terror, and that Government foreign policy must reduce -not increase- the threat to the nation.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #073763;">Theresa May will be reenacting Thatcher while religiously reiterating the tired security mantras which have dominated the last 15 years. Meanwhile Corbyn will outline a far more savvy and modern vision which tackles the prescient, sickening reality of the scenes in Manchester.</span><br />
<br />
Late on Saturday, as I am writing this new article, news has just come through that London <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/03/london-bridge-closed-after-serious-police-incident-live" target="_blank">police are responding</a> to potentially three terrorism incidents at London Bridge, Vauxhall and Borough Market. The specific details of those attacks matter little to this political analysis. Here's why. Bear with me as I repeat <a href="http://breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=86538#86538" target="_blank">what I blogged</a> only one week ago:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #073763;">May is now on incredibly thin ice. For two reasons. One is this: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #073763;">“I want to make something clear to Jeremy Corbyn and to you: there can never be an excuse for terrorism, <b>there can be no excuse for what happened in Manchester</b>.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #073763;">But it happened on <b>her</b> watch and is rooted in <b>her</b> party's policies. The danger is that the "no excuse" logic could rebound on herself. That's reason two: <b>a terror attack before voting and May is toast</b>.</span><br />
<br />
I rest my case. I will now press 'Publish' and go and make some toast.Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-71910004772739680352017-05-28T15:09:00.000+01:002017-05-28T15:37:11.748+01:00Frankie Gaffney: Non-Simultaneously Straight, While and Male<h3>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">First : </span>The "Straight White Male" <span style="font-weight: normal;">/rants</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Further on: </span>Feminist Hierarchy <span style="font-weight: normal;">/replies</span></span></div>
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Identity politics is utterly ineffective at anything<br />other than dividing people</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>It is facile to equate ‘straight, white men’ with privilege</i></span></h3>
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<time title="Fri, May 19, 2017, 01:10"><br />Fri, May 19, 2017, 01:10 by </time><b>Frankie Gaffney</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I</span> grew up in Dublin’s inner city, an environment where poverty, violence, and addiction were normal. Given the odds I had to overcome to get where I am today, I thought I’d meet a lot of allies among those who preach equality. But instead, I was often met with open hostility, despite the fact I campaign on a variety of related issues. Why? Because I happen to be straight, white, and male.<br />
<br />
“<b>Straight white male</b>” is an identity I didn’t choose. I mean it wasn’t a decision I had any say in, what sexuality, race, or gender I am. I was born this way. But also, “straight white male” was never something I chose to “identify” as. At various times if you’d asked me about my identity, I might have said “Irish”, “a Dub”, or “working class”, but never straight, white, or male – let alone the arbitrary combination of all three. But people who talk a lot about “choice” and “freedom” chose for me, and decided that’s what my identity should be reduced to.<br />
<br />
Although he might also be straight, white and male, it would be perverse to describe Ballymun native and founder of Home Sweet Home Dean Scurry as “privileged”. A few weeks ago Scurry established a new podcast series, <i><b>Pow Wow with Dean</b></i>. In the first episode (featuring John Connors and Philly McMahon), Scurry discusses Home Sweet Home’s occupation of Apollo House last December. Within minutes of him releasing this debut, a woman leapt in on Twitter to admonish him for using the word Pow Wow. She confidently asserted it was “not appropriate” because the word “belongs” to “First Nations culture”.<br />
<br />
I replied that words are not like land, or food, or water. Using them doesn’t deprive anyone else of their use. Words don’t have owners, only users. And the usage here was far from disrespectful, insulting, or “inappropriate”. She went on, as usually happens in these instances, to explain to me why I was wrong.<br />
<br />
<b>Patronising preachers</b><br />
<br />
A recurrent theme of this ideology is patronising people. It’s a nice word, “patronise” – kind of similar to “mansplain”, except gender-neutral. And time was, people who were into equality wanted to avoid gendered stereotyping, not invent new forms of it. The further irony is the most patronising people I’ve ever encountered are the people who explain to me why it’s fine to use words and phrases such as “mansplain”, “manspreading”, “toxic masculinity”, “fragile masculinity”, and to use “straight white male” as a pejorative, while simultaneously decrying gender stereotyping and the use of negative genderd terms. The proponents of identity politics discuss these concepts as if they were talking about the second law of thermodynamics, the periodic table of elements, or the disciplinary handbook of the GAA. In actual fact, they are using an imprecise and flimsily justified shorthand jargon. One they can’t so much as agree on among themselves.<br />
<br />
If the CIA or MI5 wanted to encourage a style of “activism” that could consume an infinite amount of energy, yet was utterly ineffective at anything other than dividing people, it would be the prominence of this very type of politics. We need politics that unites us in our shared humanity, for the 99.9 per cent to come together and fight the 0.1 per cent who are stealing the wealth of the Earth, pitting the poor against the poor and entrapping us in ignorance. We do not need politics that explicitly sets out to divide us and perfectly mirrors what it claims to oppose.<br />
<br />
<b>Proponents of this ideology demand:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Intellectual dishonesty</li>
<li>Faith over reason</li>
<li>Disdain for evidence</li>
<li>That challenges be condemned as blasphemy</li>
<li>Their own liturgy</li>
<li>Strict orthodoxy</li>
<li>Public displays of adherence</li>
<li>And most shamefully, the regular public flagellation of heretics.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>New order</b><br />
<br />
These people don’t want to separate church and state, they want to institute a new religion, just with themselves at the helm. And just like with Eve and the apple, they demand that individuals should be held responsible for the sins of their gender. I’m considered part of “the most powerful group in the world”, not because of my actions or experiences, but by simple virtue of how I was born. But of course, don’t even dare mention the fact that men are statistically more at risk of homelessness, addiction and suicide.<br />
<br />
Later on that same day my mate Eric from Tallaght shared a video on Facebook of a woman assaulting a white fellow because he had dreadlocks. This woman has many defenders, who will explain at great length the evils of “cultural appropriation”. “F***in’ eejit” was Eric’s view of her, and I’m inclined to agree. I wonder if the people who spend their “activism” on these issues ever went hungry, ever worried where they were going to live or had their electricity cut off. I experienced all these things while still a child, long before anyone told me I was just a “straight white male”.<br />
<br />
Unlike those who need an ever-expanding lexicon to express their beliefs, what I believe can be summed up in one word: equality. We should all be subject to the same laws, all have the same opportunities, all have the same rights, all have the same responsibilities and all be able to use the same language. Now that’s something worth fighting for.<br />
<br />
Postscript? My mate Eric happens to be black and wear his hair in dreads. John Connors actually spent time with the Lakota tribe, who love this use of the term “pow wow”. Like me, both John and Eric have overcome an awful lot in their lives. And they don’t don the mantle of oppression just to belittle or exclude others.<br />
<br />
<i>Frankie Gaffney is a wruter. His debut novel Dublin Seven was published in 2015</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">#CopOnComrades:<br />Statement from feminists based in Ireland.</span></h2>
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<span class="posted-on" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/coponcomrades-statement-from-irish-feminists/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;">MAY 25, 2017</a></span><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="sep" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #dddddd; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> / </span><span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/author/soundmigration/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;">SOUNDMIGRATION</a></span></span></div>
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We are a group of activist women from a wide variety of backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Last week, a good number of the left-wing men we work and organise with seriously disappointed us. These men – our friends, our fellow trade unionists, activists, writers, organisers, and artists – shared and commented on a reductive and damaging article written by Frankie Gaffney, which was <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/identity-politics-is-utterly-ineffective-at-anything-other-than-dividing-people-1.3087639" target="_blank">published</a> in the Irish Times.</div>
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<img alt="feminism_icon" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2322" data-attachment-id="2322" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="feminism_icon" data-large-file="https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=676?w=676" data-medium-file="https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=676?w=300" data-orig-file="https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=676" data-orig-size="2000,1200" data-permalink="https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/coponcomrades-statement-from-irish-feminists/feminism_icon/" height="384" sizes="(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px" src="https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=676" srcset="https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=676 676w, https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=1352 1352w, https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=150 150w, https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=300 300w, https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=768 768w, https://soundmigration.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/feminism_icon.jpg?w=1024 1024w" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></div>
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We live in a world where our advantages are tangled up with the things that disadvantage us – some of us are working class, some queer, some of us are poor, some of us come from minority ethnic groups or have disabilities or don’t enjoy the security of citizenship. As well, some of us have had a multitude of opportunities in our lives while some of us have had to fight our way through. It is an obligation on all of us to honestly look at our different positions within the structures of oppression and privilege under patriarchal racial capitalism. It is only by acknowledging all these differences that we have any chance of imagining and building a better world that includes us all.</div>
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Working-class ‘straight white men’ in Ireland don’t have it easy these days. They never did. They are ignored by a political class that couldn’t care less about them. They should have a say in the decisions that affect their lives, but they often don’t.</div>
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However, that doesn’t make them immune to critique. We all have to examine ourselves as oppressor as well as oppressed – because we are all both. The response to the article felt like a silencing to us and we are writing this because we are way past putting up with that. You will see from the names on this letter that we are women who have been in the thick of things. Whether in political parties and organisations, education, trade unions, or grassroots and community-based movements, we are tired of being accused of ‘bourgeois feminism’ and of betraying the struggle when we raise our voices. No campaign in this country could survive without women, without us – our work and energy and knowledge and organising have been instrumental in all the progressive movements in this country. When we say we need to be recognised and respected within our movements, we need you to listen.</div>
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The article expressed the view that identity politics is good for nothing except dividing movements, using language and narratives that have been made popular by MRA (Men’s Rights Activist) groups and the alt-right. According to such narratives, straight white men are the new most oppressed group. This ignores the struggles of women and others at the sharp end of misogyny, racism, anti-trans and anti-queer violence. It aims to silence those who will no longer tolerate the violence, abuse and marginalisation we have suffered for so long. These alt-right arguments have been used by people on the left to support the view that women, and feminists in particular, are to blame for the rise of the far right – for instance, for Trump’s election – and for neoliberal capitalism, which is seen as having damaged working class men in particular.</div>
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In this version of events, straight white men are made to feel uncomfortable about being ‘born this way’ by social media-fuelled ‘political correctness’. They are too afraid to say what they think or express opinions for fear of online retribution. Men who claim to be silenced in this way might try a week or even a day as a vocal woman or person of colour online and see how they deal with the rape threats and threats of racist violence that follow.</div>
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We are not concerned here about one opinion piece by one person. Rather we have all been aware of the increasing trend towards this particular new type of silencing of women from our supposed fellow activists on the left. The arguments mounted here and elsewhere are apparently to criticise some of the worst aspects of ‘call-out culture’, as well as the lean-in type of so-called feminism that disregards class and race. Yet they seem to be used now by some of our left-wing activist comrades as an excuse not to deal with the complexities of gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation in our political organising. These excuses, when accepted, prevent us from seeing clearly the state of our movements – who is taking part in them, who is heard and represented, who is doing the work. These are massive issues that have to do with how we are creating mass movements, which need to be addressed and faced to ensure that people of different classes, races, ethnicities, sexual orientation and gender have not just a voice but leading roles in our struggle. Without this solidarity in working together, we are simply imitating the oppressive structures we want to fight – the structures that say “not now, your life comes second.” It is not the straight white men who are being silenced when this argument is made.</div>
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We are working-class women, women of colour, migrant women, trans women, Traveller women, disabled women, queer women, women who are sex workers, women with children, and women who are none of these, active in our communities and committed to an anti-capitalist struggle. We are well aware that a right-wing, neoliberal distortion of feminism and what is called ‘identity politics’ exists. We know this because it erases our experiences and struggles and we resist this erasure through our work as activists every single day. It is distressing and enraging that we also have to fight against the bad faith of fellow activists on the left – mostly men, sometimes women – who, for their own reasons, blur the distinction between this kind of middle-class neoliberal faux-feminism, and a truly radical feminist politics that has class struggle at its very core. This hurts us because it erases and undermines our realities, our suffering, our analyses, and our organising, and gives more strength to the powers that are ranged against us. For many of us, it is heart-breaking to look at some of the men around us and realise that they are nodding in agreement with this erasure of their working class women friends and comrades.</div>
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Most of us have grown up learning to appease men. How to give them our space, how to deal with the fact that they dominate any political discussions, that they are paid more, heard more and believed more. However, most of us expect that the men we work with in all the social justice movements we are part of should have at least considered how they are complicit in this domination when they refuse to recognise that it exists. Patriarchy forces men into roles that damage them as well as us. Most of us have men that we love, admire and respect in our lives and for that reason, not only because it damages and diminishes the life experiences of women, we should all be fighting patriarchy together.</div>
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Niamh McDonald<br />
Zoe McCormack<br />
Jen O’Leary<br />
Aline Courtois<br />
Emily Waszak<br />
Theresa O’Keefe<br />
Sinéad Redmond<br />
Aislinn Wallace<br />
Hazel Katherine Larkin<br />
Linnea Dunne<br />
Natalia Fernandez<br />
Helen Guinane<br />
Maggs Casey<br />
Stephanie Lord<br />
Anne Mulhall<br />
Eileen Flynn<br />
Ellie Kisyombe<br />
Elaine Feeney<br />
Wendy Lyon<br />
Sarah Clancy<br />
Brigid Quilligan<br />
Emily Duffy<br />
Clara Purcell<br />
Aoibheann McCann<br />
Aoife Frances<br />
Shauna Kelly<br />
Eilís Ní Fhlannagáin<br />
Dearbhla Ryan<br />
Michelle Connolly<br />
Siobhán O’Donoghue<br />
Aoife FitzGibbon O’Riordan<br />
Stephanie Crowe Taft<br />
Denise Kiernan<br />
Aisling Egan<br />
Donnah Vuma<br />
Kate O’Connell<br />
Natalia Fernández<br />
Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird<br />
Mary McAuliffe<br />
Marie Mulholland<br />
Margo Harkin<br />
Avril Corroon<br />
Juliana Sassi<br />
Ailbhe Smyth<br />
Kate McGrew<br />
Ciara Miller<br />
Aoife Dermody<br />
Emer Smith<br />
Francisca Ribeiro<br />
Jerrieann Sullivan<br />
Marie McDonnell<br />
Kathleen Gaul<br />
Liz Martin<br />
Laura Lee<br />
Roisin Blade<br />
Kerry Guinan<br />
Gráinne O’Toole<br />
Edel McGinley<br />
Máiréad Enright<br />
Erin Fornoff<br />
Sarah Fitzgibbon<br />
Cliona Kelly<br />
Ciara Fitzpatrick<br />
Bronwen Lang<br />
Shonagh Strachan<br />
Dervla O’Neill<br />
Hilary Darcy<br />
Jane Xavier<br />
Emma Campbell<br />
Clara Rose Thornton IV<br />
Linda Connolly<br />
Nomaxabiso Maye<br />
Rosa Thompson<br />
Liz Nelson<br />
Eavan Brennan<br />
Doireann Ní Ghríofa<br />
Elaine D’alton<br />
Anne Rynne<br />
Elaine Crory<br />
Jodie Condon<br />
Clare Kelly<br />
Catriona O’Brien<br />
Meireka Radford<br />
Lisa Keogh Finnegan<br />
Fiona Dunkin<br />
Lelia Doolan<br />
Jacinta Fay<br />
Mary O’Donoghue<br />
Mariel Whelan<br />
Aine Treanor<br />
Flavia Simas<br />
Meabh Savage<br />
Noirin Lynch<br />
Claire Brophy<br />
Liz Price<br />
Linda Kavanagh<br />
Linda Devlin<br />
Aileen O’Carroll<br />
Anita Koppenhofer<br />
Vicky Donnelly<br />
Marianne Farrelly<br />
Aisling Walsh<br />
Ronit Lentin<br />
Sarah Ferrigan<br />
Neltah Chadamoyo<br />
Aine Ni Fhaolain<br />
Rosi Leonard (107 signatories)</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Contains Copyright Material. Republished for information and education purposes.</span></i></div>
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</section>Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-24880218495334595102017-05-26T03:27:00.003+01:002017-05-26T13:03:59.688+01:00Corbyn Set For Victory As Yesterday's Woman Falters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When the snap election came, there wasn't a chance that Jeremy Corbyn could win. Or so said media elites and the chattering classes. But that was before the cruel downsides of a Tory victory became clearer, and before the Manchester Arena attack.<br />
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The British people have a stoic durability to their character. However that stoicism does not extend to them sacrificing their young children on the altar of the Elite's warmongering. At least in World War II, many could send the young and innocent away from the cities to sequester them in relative safety, while parents faced the horrors of gory combat. But not in the Blairite Britain inherited by Theresa May.<br />
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There has been 48 hours of quiet, stunned national reflection. It culminated spontaneously on Thursday morning as a grieving Manchester crowd symbolically disavowed hatred to sing a chorus from the Oasis classic 'Don't Look Back in Anger'.<br />
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The people of Britain are not prepared to spill the blood of their children. If anger is one of the energies fueling the reciprocal violence which led to this grotesque outcome, then Britain is ready now to cast anger aside. It is also ready now to cast aside the political class which produced this tragic result.<br />
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Jeremy Corbyn knows it. Like many in politics and media, he senses that mood.<br />
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On Friday, he will will tell a London audience that the 'War on Terror' is an oxymoron, a failed contradiction. To defeat terror, you wage peace and not war. He will say that Britain's wars have fostered terror, and that Government foreign policy must reduce -not increase- the threat to the nation.<br />
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In the speech, which is already in the media's hands, he will also say: “Many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services, have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home... We need a smarter way to reduce the threat from countries that nurture terrorists and generate terrorism."<br />
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His words will come as a new poll shows that the Conservative lead over Corbyn’s Labour has been cut to a mere five points. The mid-week poll puts the Tories on 43 per cent but shows Labour edging much closer on just 38 per cent. Corbyn's personal rating has also narrowed the gap.<br />
<br />
Theresa May will be reenacting Thatcher while religiously reiterating the tired security mantras which have dominated the last 15 years. Meanwhile Corbyn will outline a far more savvy and modern vision which tackles the prescient, sickening reality of the scenes in Manchester.<br />
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Corbyn will say: "I want the solidarity, humanity and compassion that we have seen on the streets of Manchester this week to be the values that guide our government."<br />
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The media will meltdown. The chattering classes will chatter all the more. But yesterday's woman is now set to lose out to a post-election coalition led by today's man for tomorrow's problems.<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;">by Fintan Dunne | 26 May 2017 | 3:00 BST</span><br />
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-67752024792534371342017-05-25T15:19:00.000+01:002017-05-25T16:29:08.075+01:00Open Letter from Kim Dotcom to Family of Seth Rich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;"><b>P L A Y V I D E O</b></span></div>
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OPEN LETTER FROM KIM DOTCOM TO FAMILY OF SETH RICH</h3>
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Family of Seth Rich<br />
c/- Aaron Rich<br />
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</div>
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Dear Aaron<br />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SETH RICH – DNC LEAKS</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Introduction</strong></div>
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<b>1</b>. As you know, you and I have previously corresponded after I reached out to you to offer<br />
my assistance with the GoFundMe campaign on behalf of the family of Mr Rich (family).<br />
I understand from our communications that you are representing the family in relation to<br />
the ongoing investigation into Mr Rich's death and I am writing to you in that capacity.</div>
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<b>2</b>. In particular, I am writing regarding recent statements about me that have been reported<br />
globally (including in New Zealand) and attributed to the family. As set out in more detail<br />
below, some of these statements are false and defamatory.</div>
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<b>3</b>. The purpose of this letter is to formally request that the family and their representatives<br />
cease from making such statements about me going forward. This request is made in the<br />
spirit of us constructively moving forward and allowing the investigation into the DNC leak<br />
to progress without delay so that there can be an informed decision on whether it had any<br />
involvement in Mr Rich's death, as many fear.</div>
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<b>4</b>. However, if these statements do not cease, it will be necessary for me to take further<br />
action. It is ironic that the family complain of others potentially making statements that<br />
they fear (without actually knowing) will be incorrect and then make incorrect statements<br />
about me themselves.</div>
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<b>5</b>. I remain prepared to assist in the investigation, as I have said. While I want to show<br />
understanding to the family in this difficult time, I also maintain that what I have said is true<br />
and will be substantiated upon investigation. While that may be difficult for the family to<br />
accept, in time I expect it to play a valuable part in revealing the truth. However, that is a<br />
matter for the current investigation. I simply wish to make sure that the investigators have<br />
the benefit of my evidence.</div>
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<b>6</b>. I have said that I will share what I know, and why, with the relevant authorities if the</div>
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appropriate arrangements can be made. That is what I understand from our</div>
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communications the family also want. The family, once fully informed, can then make up</div>
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their own mind, as will the investigation. However, that will not happen by ignoring the</div>
<span style="color: #222222;">evidence of witnesses like me who are prepared to speak up, or by seeking to discredit such witnesses by pre-emptively attacking their credibility. </span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #660000;">I simply ask that the family <span style="line-height: 25.16px;">listen, before attacking.</span></span></b></div>
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The statements</h3>
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<b>7</b>. The statements in question include:</div>
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(<b>a</b>) variations on the statements below reported in the Washington Post article '<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/the-life-and-death-of-the-seth-rich-conspiracy-theory/2017/05/23/aba640c4-3ff3-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html?utm_term=.8132f39ac93d" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(138, 219, 43); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0e0e0e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The life<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />and death of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory</a>'; and</div>
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(<b>b</b>) allegations in the letter I understand the family sent to Fox News to the effect that I<br />
have previously used false evidence.</div>
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<b>8</b>. Both are without any factual basis, for the reasons set out below.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington Post article</em></div>
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<b>9</b>. The Washington Post article states (in part):</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">When Seth Rich's Gmail account received an alert this week from Mega.com,</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">attempting to start a new account on a website created by the New Zealand-based</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Internet businessman and convicted hacker Kim Dotcom, his family knew that</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">something was off.</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Over seven frenzied days, Dotcom had become a leading purveyor of the theory</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">that Rich, a staffer at the Democratic National Committee who was shot dead</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">near his home in Northeast Washington last summer, had supplied DNC</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">documents to WikiLeaks and was killed as a result. Multiple security analysts and</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">an FBI investigation have tied the release to hackers with ties to Russia. D.C.</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">police have said repeatedly that they think Rich was slain in a random robbery</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">attempt.</em></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; width: 738px;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">According to experts and Rich's family, the emailed invitation from</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">welcome@mega.nz appeared to be an attempt to gain access to Rich's email.</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Joel Rich, who maintains his late son's Gmail account, did not click the link.</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Meanwhile, Dotcom was promising on Twitter to prove that the younger Rich had</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">been in contact with WikiLeaks — and Fox News host Sean Hannity was telling</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">his 2.37 million Twitter followers to be ready for a revelation.</em></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; width: 738px;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">...</em></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The latest revelation — that a hacker from New Zealand may have been trying as</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">recently as this week to hack into Rich's email — offered fresh evidence that the</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">conspiracy theory is false. Dotcom, it seemed, may have been willing to create a</em><br />
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">fake archive of emails from Rich to "prove" his role in the DNC hack.</em></div>
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<b>10</b>. The clear inference the reader is invited to draw from the above is that I attempted to<br />
hack Mr Rich's email account. This is simply not true and is made without any genuine<br />
foundation. As you know, the email correspondence between us can be checked and<br />
contains no such threat.</div>
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<b>11</b>. It is alleged that Mr Rich's email account received a verification email from mega.nz.<br />
That may be so. But that does not mean that any attempt was made to hack his email<br />
account. Literally anyone could have gone to Mega.nz and registered an account there<br />
using Mr Rich's gmail address, which was publicly known. That would then have<br />
resulted in Mega sending a verification email to that address. If someone had registered<br />
Mr Rich's email at Dropbox for example, Dropbox would likewise have sent a<br />
confirmation link. That has nothing to do with hacking.</div>
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<b>12</b>. If there has been an attempt to hack Mr Rich's email account, I know nothing of it and<br />
there is no connection to me. There is no credible basis in fact to link me to any attempted<br />
hacking of Mr Rich's email. If the family genuinely believe they can establish a link, which<br />
I do not accept, then by all means disclose that and I will respond to it and rebut it openly.<br />
I would welcome this. Once the allegation is shown to be without foundation, the focus<br />
could once again return to the DNC leaks and Mr Rich's death.</div>
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<b>13</b>. The suggestion that I am attempting to plant evidence into Mr Rich's email account<br />
would appear to be an attempt to discredit any evidence I may give before I have a<br />
chance to give it. That those who seek to speak the truth are, as I have been, subjected<br />
to a smear campaign to try to discredit them indicates to me that the truth is known and<br />
not welcome.</div>
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Letter to Fox News</h3>
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<b>14</b>. The family's letter to Fox News includes the following false statements about me:</div>
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(<b>a</b>) "In March, Kim circulated a letter purporting to show a conspiracy against him".</div>
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(<b>b</b>) "New Zealand law enforcement officials investigated the letter thoroughly and<br />
discovered without a shadow of a doubt that the letter was a forgery".</div>
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(<b>c</b>) "[He has] in the past, been caught using fabricated email evidence to forward his<br />
own agenda and confuse people".</div>
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(<b>d</b>) "[He is] known to have pushed false evidence in the past".</div>
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<b>15</b>. These statements are incorrect because:</div>
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(<b>a</b>) I did not, in March or at any other time, circulate a letter purporting to show a<br />
conspiracy against me. The alleged "letter" and "fabricated email evidence"<br />
referred to is an alleged email from Kevin Tsujihara (Chief Executive of Warner<br />
Brothers) to Michael Ellis (Asia-Pacific president of the Motion Picture Association<br />
of America) (<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Email</strong>). The Email came to light in 2014. I did not publish, and never<br />
used, this email as, once it was provided to me, I was concerned as to whether it<br />
was reliable.</div>
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(<b>b</b>) I did not circulate the Email. Rather, the New Zealand Herald obtained a copy of<br />
the Email and published it. For my part, I have publicly and transparently stated<br />
that the email was easy to discredit because it did not have headers and I declined<br />
to use it for that reason. It is a matter of public record that the Email was not in fact<br />
used or disclosed by me. This is of course the opposite of what the statements in<br />
the family's letter contend.</div>
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<b>16</b>. Accordingly, there is no factual basis for the statements in the letter. To the contrary, the<br />
facts clearly indicate that I was not prepared to, and did not, use evidence that could not<br />
be verified. To suggest otherwise is misleading and defamatory.</div>
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A way forward</h3>
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<b>17</b>. The statements above appear to have been a calculated "pre-emptive strike" on my<br />
reputation and credibility. The sad irony is that, as my conduct since receipt of the family's<br />
email clearly shows, I was, and remain, prepared to accommodate the family's wishes.<br />
Indeed, for respecting their wishes and making no further public comment, I have been<br />
subjected to considerable criticism online and in the global media. However, I was<br />
prepared to weather this criticism in the interests of accommodating the family's concerns.</div>
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<b>18</b>. It is unfortunate that matters have come to this as my objective is the same as the family's<br />
– to see that the truth comes out and justice is done. What appears to have been<br />
overlooked is that the easiest thing for someone in my position to do in this situation would<br />
be to say nothing at all. However, that would not have helped or been right.</div>
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<b>19</b>. As should be clear from my conduct, and the emails we exchanged, I do not wish to cause<br />
any distress for the family. But nor can I sit idly by without communicating what I know to<br />
the appropriate authorities. I will, through my legal team, progress the necessary<br />
arrangements with the authorities.</div>
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<b>20</b>. As I have repeatedly stated, while this process is ongoing, I do not intend to make further<br />
public comment. However, I now find myself in the invidious position where, out of<br />
deference and respect to the family, I have declined to make further public comment but<br />
now find my reputation and credibility under attack from the family. If I am forced to<br />
respond publicly to these incorrect and unfair allegations, it would have the opposite effect<br />
of what the family has asked me to do and I have sought to accommodate.</div>
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21. I therefore request that, in the meantime, the family refrain from repeating the false<br />
statements described in this letter. I have not taken the step of commencing defamation<br />
proceedings in relation to the above statements although I would be entitled to do so in<br />
New Zealand. I reserve all of my rights and remedies in this regard. My preference is that<br />
the family and I move forward together. If, after learning what I have to say through the<br />
appropriate channels (as requested by the family), the family choose not to accept it, that<br />
is a matter for the family. I seek only to pass on what I know so that the truth can be fully<br />
and openly investigated and then reported on. Why that should cause me to be unduly<br />
attacked raises more questions than it answers. My view is that the truth is not something<br />
to be feared.</div>
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<b>22</b>. If, however, the statements are repeated, I will have no choice but to consider the formal<br />
legal options available to me. I hope this will not be necessary, hence this correspondence.</div>
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<b>23</b>. Please consider this request made in good faith and confirm by return that the family and<br />
its agents will cease from further linking me to the alleged attempted hack of Mr Rich's<br />
email and other unsupportable allegations.</div>
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Yours sincerely, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 25.16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://kim.com/" target="_blank">Kim Dotcom</a></strong></div>
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<span style="line-height: 25.16px;">Also: </span><a href="http://bit.ly/2r08Yk6" style="line-height: 25.16px;" target="_blank">1</a><span style="line-height: 25.16px;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/KimDotcom" style="line-height: 25.16px;" target="_blank">2</a><span style="line-height: 25.16px;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/EvilHillaryPics/status/867426258874908672" style="line-height: 25.16px;" target="_blank">3</a></div>
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<span style="color: #14171a;">KIM DOTCOM TAKES ON KILLERS </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span style="color: #14171a;">OF
</span></span><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SETHRICH?src=hash" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #d02b55; letter-spacing: 0.01em; text-decoration: none;">#SETHRICH</a><span style="color: #14171a; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"> More:</span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">M </span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/2qY3xC8" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/Tut1fdqssC" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #d02b55; letter-spacing: 0.01em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/2qY3xC8"><span class="js-display-url">bit.ly/2qY3xC8</span></a></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-9590918679791709862017-05-16T00:02:00.000+01:002017-05-16T00:02:48.507+01:00The Liberal Order Is Rigged<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 16.416px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Liberal Order Is Rigged</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 16.416px;">Fix It Now or Watch It Wither</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span style="line-height: 16.416px;">By Jeff D. Colgan and Robert O. Keohane<br />May/June 2017 <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2017-04-17/liberal-order-rigged" target="_blank">Issue</a> | Foreign Affairs</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 16.416px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-size: large;">P</span>rior to 2016, debates about the global order mostly revolved around its structure and the question of whether the United States should actively lead it or should retrench, pulling back from its alliances and other commitments. But during the past year or two, it became clear that those debates had missed a key point: </span></span></span><strong style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="color: red;">today’s crucial foreign policy challenges arise less from problems between countries than from domestic politics within them.</span></strong><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">That is one lesson of the sudden and surprising return of populism to Western countries, a trend that found its most powerful expression last year in the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, or Brexit, and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It can be hard to pin down the meaning of “populism,” but its crucial identifying mark is the belief that <strong><span style="color: red;">each country has an authentic “people” who are held back by the collusion of foreign forces and self-serving elites at home.</span></strong> A populist leader claims to represent the people and seeks to weaken or destroy institutions such as legislatures, judiciaries, and the press and to cast off external restraints in defense of national sovereignty. Populism comes in a range of ideological flavors. Left-wing populists want to “soak the rich” in the name of equality; right-wing populists want to remove constraints on wealth in the name of growth. Populism is therefore defined not by a particular view of economic distribution but by a faith in strong leaders and a dislike of limits on sovereignty and of powerful institutions. <span id="more-43826"></span>Such institutions are, of course, key features of the liberal order: think of the UN, the EU, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and major alliances such as NATO. Through them, the Washington-led order encourages multilateral cooperation on issues ranging from security to trade to climate change. Since 1945, the order has helped preserve peace among the great powers. In addition to the order’s other accomplishments, the stability it provides has discouraged countries such as Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This <strong><span style="color: red;">peace-building aspect of the liberal order has been an extraordinary success.</span></strong> So, too, is the way in which the order has allowed the developing world to advance, with billions of people rising out of crippling poverty and new middle classes burgeoning all over the world. But for all of the order’s success, its institutions have become disconnected from publics in the very countries that created them. Since the early 1980s, the effects of a neoliberal economic agenda have eroded the social contract that had previously ensured crucial political support for the order. Many middle- and working-class voters in the United Kingdom, the United States, and elsewhere have come to believe—with a good deal of justification—that the system is rigged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Those of us who have not only analyzed globalization and the liberal order but also celebrated them share some responsibility for the rise of populism. <strong><span style="color: red;">We did not pay enough attention as capitalism hijacked globalization.</span></strong>Economic elites designed international institutions to serve their own interests and to create firmer links between themselves and governments. <strong><span style="color: red;">Ordinary people were left out</span></strong>. The time has come to acknowledge this reality and push for policies that can save the liberal order before it is too late.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">THE BOATS THAT DIDN’T RISE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: red;">In 2016, the two states that had done the most to construct the liberal order—the United Kingdom and the United States—seemed to turn their backs on it. In the former,</span> </strong>the successful Brexit campaign focused on restoring British sovereignty; in the latter, the Trump campaign was explicitly nationalist in tone and content. Not surprisingly, this has prompted strong reactions in places that continue to value the liberal order, such as Germany: a poll published in February by the German newspaper Die Welt found that only <strong><span style="color: red;">22 percent of Germans believe that the United States is a trustworthy ally,</span> </strong>down from 59 percent just three months earlier, prior to Trump’s victory—a whopping 37-point decrease.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Brexit and Trump phenomena reflect a breakdown in the social contract at the core of liberal democracy: those who do well in a market-based society promise to make sure that those disadvantaged by market forces do not fall too far behind. But fall behind they have. Between 1974 and 2015, the real median household income for Americans without high school diplomas fell by almost 20 percent. And even those with high school diplomas, but without any college education, saw their real median household income plummet by 24 percent. On the other hand, those with college degrees saw their incomes and wealth expand. Among those Americans, the real median household income rose by 17 percent; those with graduate degrees did even better.<em></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em></em>As political scientists such as Robert Putnam and Margaret Weir have documented, such trends have led to <strong><span style="color: red;">different sets of Americans living in separate worlds.</span></strong> The well-off do not live near the poor or interact with them in public institutions as much as they used to. This self-segregation has sapped a sense of solidarity from American civic life: even as communications technology has connected people as never before, different social classes have drifted further apart, becoming almost alien to one another. And since cosmopolitan elites were doing so well, many came to the conclusion—often without realizing it—that solidarity just wasn’t that important for a well-functioning democracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Elites have taken advantage of the global liberal order</span></strong>—sometimes inadvertently, sometimes intentionally—to capture most of the income and wealth gains in recent decades, and they have not shared much with the middle and lower classes. Wealthier, better-educated Americans have pushed for or accepted regressive tax policies, trade and investment agreements that encouraged corporate outsourcing, and the underfunding of public and higher education. The result of such policies has been to undermine what the political scientist John Ruggie once called “embedded liberalism”: a global order made up of free-market societies that nevertheless preserved welfare states and labor-market policies that allowed for the retraining of people whose skills became obsolete, compensation for those who lost out from trade liberalization, and validation of the self-worth of all citizens, even if they were not highly productive in economic terms. Elites pushed for and supported the first part of this vision—free markets, open borders, and multilateralism—but in the 1970s and even more so in the 1980s, they began to neglect the other part of the bargain: a robust safety net for those who struggled. That imbalance undermined domestic support for free trade, military alliances, and much else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The bill for that broken social contract came due in 2016 on both sides of the Atlantic. And yet even now, many observers downplay the threat this political shift poses to the liberal order. Some argue that the economic benefits of global integration are so overwhelming that national governments will find their way back to liberalism, regardless of campaign rhetoric and populist posturing. But the fact is that politicians respond to electoral incentives even when those incentives diverge considerably from their country’s long-term interests—and in recent years, many voters have joined in the populist rejection of globalization and the liberal order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Moreover, business leaders and stock markets, which might have been expected to serve as a brake on populist fervor, have instead mostly rewarded proposals for lower taxes with no accompanying reduction in government spending. This is shortsighted. Grabbing even more of the benefits of globalization at the expense of the middle and working classes might further undermine political support for the integrated supply chains and immigration on which the U.S. economy depends. This position is reminiscent of the way that eighteenth-century French aristocrats refused to pay taxes while indulging in expensive foreign military adventures. They got away with it for many years—until the French Revolution suddenly laid waste to their privilege. Today’s elites risk making a similar mistake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Some portion of the blame for the liberal order’s woes lies with its advocates. Policymakers pursued a path of action favored by many academics, including us: building international institutions to promote cooperation. But they did so in a biased way—and, for the most part, we underestimated the risk that posed. Financial firms and major corporations enjoyed privileged status within the order’s institutions, which paid little attention to the interests of workers. WTO rules emphasized openness and failed to encourage measures that would cushion globalization’s effects on those disadvantaged by it, especially workers in the traditional manufacturing sectors in developed countries. Meanwhile, investment treaties signed in the 1990s featured provisions that corporate lawyers exploited to favor big business at the expense of consumers. And when China manipulated trade and currency arrangements to the disadvantage of working-class Americans, Washington decided that other issues in U.S.-Chinese relations were more important, and did not respond strongly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Working-class Americans didn’t necessarily understand the details of global trade deals, but they saw elite Americans and people in China and other developing countries becoming rapidly wealthier while their own incomes stagnated or declined. It should not be surprising that many of them agreed with Trump and with the Democratic presidential primary contender Bernie Sanders that the game was rigged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Much ink has been spilled on the domestic causes of the populist revolt: racism, growing frustration with experts, dysfunctional economic policies.</span> </strong>But less attention has been paid to two contributing factors that stemmed from the international order itself. The first was a loss of national solidarity brought on by the end of the Cold War. During that conflict, the perceived Soviet threat generated a strong shared sense of attachment not only to Washington’s allies but also to multilateral institutions. Social psychologists have demonstrated the crucial importance of “othering” in identity formation, for individuals and nations alike: a clear sense of who is not on your team makes you feel closer to those who are. The fall of the Soviet Union removed the main “other” from the American political imagination and thereby reduced social cohesion in the United States. The end of the Cold War generated particular political difficulties for the Republican Party, which had long been a bastion of anticommunism. With the Soviets gone, Washington elites gradually replaced Communists as the Republicans’ bogeymen. Trumpism is the logical extension of that development.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In Europe, the end of the Cold War was consequential for a related reason. During the Cold War, leaders in Western Europe constantly sought to stave off the domestic appeal of communism and socialism. After 1989, no longer facing that constraint, national governments and officials in Brussels expanded the EU’s authority and scope, even in the face of a series of national referendums that expressed opposition to that trend and should have served as warning signs of growing working-class discontent. In eastern Europe, anti-Soviet othering was strong during the 1980s and 1990s but appears to have faded as memories of the Cold War have become more distant. Without the specter of communist-style authoritarianism haunting their societies, eastern Europeans have become more susceptible to populism and other forms of illiberalism. In Europe, as in the United States, the disappearance of the Soviets undermined social cohesion and a common sense of purpose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The second force stirring discontent with the liberal order can be called “multilateral overreach.” Interdependence requires countries to curb their autonomy so that institutions such as the UN and the World Bank can facilitate cooperation and solve mutual problems. But the natural tendency of institutions, their leaders, and the bureaucracies that carry out their work is to expand their authority. Every time they do so, they can point to some seemingly valid rationale. The cumulative effect of such expansions of international authority, however, is to excessively limit sovereignty and give people the sense that foreign forces are controlling their lives. Since these multilateral institutions are distant and undemocratic—despite their inclusive rhetoric—the result is public alienation, as the political scientist Kathleen McNamara has documented. That effect is compounded whenever multilateral institutions reflect the interests of cosmopolitan elites at the expense of others, as they often have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">SYSTEM UPDATE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Derigging the liberal order will require attention to substance but also to perceptions. The United States has made only feeble attempts to sustain something like Ruggie’s embedded liberalism, and even those attempts have largely failed. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have done better, although their systems are also under pressure. Washington has a poor track record when it comes to building government bureaucracies that reach deep into society, and the American public is understandably suspicious of such efforts. So U.S. officials will have to focus on reforms that do not require a lot of top-down intervention.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To that end, Washington should be guided by three principles. First, global integration must be accompanied by a set of domestic policies that will allow all economic and social classes to share the gains from globalization in a way that is highly visible to voters. Second, international cooperation must be balanced with national interests to prevent overreach, especially when it comes to the use of military force. Third, Washington should nurture a uniquely American social identity and a national narrative. That will require othering authoritarian and illiberal countries. Fostering U.S. opposition to illiberalism does not mean imposing democracy by force, but it does require more than occasional diplomatic criticism of countries such as China or Saudi Arabia. A willing president could, for instance, make it clear that although the United States may have an interest in cooperating with nondemocratic countries, it identifies only with liberal democracies and reserves its closest relationships for them. Done properly, that sort of othering could help clarify the American national identity and build solidarity. It might at times constrain commercial relationships. However, a society is more than just an economy, and the benefits of social cohesion would justify a modest economic cost.</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Like it or not, “America first” is a powerful slogan.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em></em>Developing policies that satisfy those principles will require innovation and creativity. Some promising ideas include tax credits to businesses that provide on-the-job training for dislocated workers and earned-income tax credits for individuals. Progressives have pursued such policies in the past but in recent times have retreated or compromised for the sake of passing trade deals; they should renew their commitment to such ideas. Officials should also require that any new trade deals be accompanied by progressive domestic measures to assist those who won’t benefit from the deals. At a minimum, Congress should avoid regressive tax cuts. If, for example, the Trump administration and its GOP allies in Congress decide to impose a border adjustment tax on imports, the revenue raised ought to benefit the working class. One way to make that happen would be to directly redistribute the revenue raised by the tax on a per capita basis, in the form of checks to all households; that would spread the wealth and build political support for the combination of economic openness and redistribution. Another way to benefit the working class would be to stimulate job creation by lowering employers’ payroll tax burden. Such ideas will face an uphill battle in the current U.S. political environment, but it is essential to develop plans now so that, when political opportunities emerge, defenders of the liberal order will be ready.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The more difficult task will be developing a national narrative, broadly backed by elites across the ideological spectrum, about “who we are”—one built around opposition to authoritarianism and illiberalism. The main obstacle will likely be the politics of immigration, where the tension between cosmopolitanism and national solidarity surfaces most clearly. Cosmopolitans argue (correctly) that immigrants ultimately offer more benefits than costs and that nativist fears about refugees are often based more on prejudice than fact. The United States is a country of immigrants and continues to gain energy and ideas from talented newcomers. Nonetheless, almost everyone agrees that there is some limit to how rapidly a country can absorb immigrants, and that implies a need for tough decisions about how fast people can come in and how many resources should be devoted to their integration. It is not bigotry to calibrate immigration levels to the ability of immigrants to assimilate and to society’s ability to adjust. Proponents of a global liberal order must find ways of seeking greater national consensus on this issue. To be politically sustainable, their ideas will have to respect the importance of national solidarity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Like it or not, global populism has a clear, marketable ideology, defined by toughness, nationalism, and nativism: “America first” is a powerful slogan. To respond, proponents of an open liberal order must offer a similarly clear, coherent alternative, and it must address, rather than dismiss, the problems felt keenly by working classes. For Democrats, “the party of jobs” would be a better brand than “the party of increasing aggregate welfare while compensating the losers from trade.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Without dramatic change to their messages and approach, established political parties will fade away altogether. An outsider has already captured the Republican Party; the Democrats are cornered on the coasts. In Europe, the British Labour Party is imploding and the traditionally dominant French parties are falling apart. To adapt, establishment parties must begin to frame their ideas differently. As the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has argued, progressives must learn to speak of honor, loyalty, and order in addition to equality and rights.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em style="background-color: #fafcff; color: #2a2a2a;"></em><em style="background-color: #fafcff; color: #2a2a2a;"></em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To derig the liberal order and stave off complete defeat at the hands of populists, however, traditional parties must do more than rebrand themselves and their ideas. They must develop substantive policies that will make globalization serve the interests of middle- and working-class citizens. Absent such changes, the global liberal order will wither away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Copyright material. Reproduced for education and information purposes.</span></div>
Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-22035921098520057482015-08-22T18:46:00.000+01:002015-08-22T18:46:03.351+01:00US Vet In Murder, Suicide Was Whistleblower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gECy6rvI5CRsVRMYlfRGs8LZLS3SDMr-Tah0FtzbNI91MxdyIKSANifP6qaYKN7TD6MsDvjQjMMLZt64KEZdj8MmLsXVQtBcvsJqw74g1TkJ2AJq_kigb0BP19RJYykUagAA_kCnrPHW/s1600/downing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gECy6rvI5CRsVRMYlfRGs8LZLS3SDMr-Tah0FtzbNI91MxdyIKSANifP6qaYKN7TD6MsDvjQjMMLZt64KEZdj8MmLsXVQtBcvsJqw74g1TkJ2AJq_kigb0BP19RJYykUagAA_kCnrPHW/s640/downing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A New Jersey congressman says a man who gunned down a security guard at a federal building in Manhattan before killing himself was a whistleblower who had been given "a raw deal" by the agency that fired him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The armed US veteran named as Kevin Downing broke into a federal Department of Labor building in Lower Manhattan via a side door, shooting Idrissa Camara, a security guard in the head and killing him. He took his own life before police were able to arrive at the scene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell said Saturday that his staff worked with Downing to resolve his case and says he has no idea why Downing snapped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Downing was been fired from his job at the New York City office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1999 for blowing the whistle on 'inexcusable taxpayer waste' according to a Change.org petition opened a year ago. The petition only attracted 48 supporters before it was closed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In his statement of petition Downing says that "[BLS] management made an example" out of him to show union officials and employees that talking to Congress would endanger their jobs and pensions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After more than six years and a costly legal battle, says the petition, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his case, and despite the truth of his case, employers routinely cancel job interviews and offers. Worse yet, during Kevin's financial hardship his fiancee died of breast cancer as a Medicaid patient and his home is on the brink of foreclosure.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9GlwBjipmupuTXhu-nW6-_3Z6UQ6WcPO95mL3qiwRYc5aVRDmG1ncHm8lgCCv0_t8ZcFci9tuhInEUvmdqEAZy3f8JerEEA5ct2hyphenhyphenyCfYx_8O_b6D98fjulXKR_mH2C48ew5Q1PR56Zd/s1600/vet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9GlwBjipmupuTXhu-nW6-_3Z6UQ6WcPO95mL3qiwRYc5aVRDmG1ncHm8lgCCv0_t8ZcFci9tuhInEUvmdqEAZy3f8JerEEA5ct2hyphenhyphenyCfYx_8O_b6D98fjulXKR_mH2C48ew5Q1PR56Zd/s320/vet.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We extend out sympathies to all those bereaved in this tragedy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kevin Downing was an American hero. But he was not Superman. The "system" thwarted his noble instincts, stole his life and broke his spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Enough "good people" did not care - and he was abandoned to the vicissitudes of evil people. He cracked mentally - with dire results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I can see NO blood on his hands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The guilt is tangled in layers of bureaucracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And the executioner's face is always well hidden.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">MORE AT http://dailym.ai/1I2OjuJ</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">See Also http://chn.ge/1MKoUxQ</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://strib.mn/1WLivWb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where black is the color, where none is the number</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it.."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Full Lyric: http://bit.ly/1NsOh7g</span></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-85314345042323858372015-07-10T15:16:00.001+01:002015-07-10T15:16:41.576+01:00Greek Offer Puts Spotlight On Bankers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgIc5n8cDPX-QtTi0SHqEXiaEWF_kWqB2WNM-tfE1CpD9YiupuUZSkELLPrYV3CMlmeUU2OTFCsd1LV0Fzq93DrK1oAfY9c6Rcv2BLsb6E64uxfz1gP4E8tYuqSxRTFMPNAPI1NtpJxRI/s1600/tsip4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgIc5n8cDPX-QtTi0SHqEXiaEWF_kWqB2WNM-tfE1CpD9YiupuUZSkELLPrYV3CMlmeUU2OTFCsd1LV0Fzq93DrK1oAfY9c6Rcv2BLsb6E64uxfz1gP4E8tYuqSxRTFMPNAPI1NtpJxRI/s1600/tsip4.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
The dynamics of Friday's Greek situation are as follows.<br />
<br />
Tsipras <a href="http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/07/10/greek-pm-tsipras-we-got-mandate-to-reach-a-deal-not-a-grexit/" target="_blank"><b>says</b></a> he has a mandate for a deal not a Grexit. True.<br />
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Syriza is proposing near the SAME deal as it offered in June - one with wealth taxes the EU elites hate, but with even more austerity of the kind which Greeks just voted against.<br />
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Sounds illogical? The flip-side that mainstream media are leaving out of the picture (so as to paint Tsipras as a fool?) goes to the core of Syriza's ethos and position.<br />
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The flip-side is: DEBT WRITE DOWN, by any name you prefer.<br />
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The Banksters- more than the EU are --and have been- key holdouts. This Syriza offer is designed to flush them out. No Debt Write Down, No Bailout Deal.<br />
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Call the write down a reprofiling or a restructuring or call it an extension. Route it through any alphabet soup of acronymic institutions: ESM, EFSF, EFSM, IMF, KISS, MY, ASS.<br />
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But - No Debt Write Down, <b>NO</b> Bailout Deal. #OXI<br />
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Of course, in the event the Banksters force a Grexit, then the reform measures now already in train would strengthen the hand of Tsipras and his financial team in seeking international investment. Like this:<br />
<br />
"We've begun reforms, ditched our unsustainable debt burden and our currency is cheap."<br />
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"Think on that, and COME ON IN!!"Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-32011126241610453642015-07-08T18:41:00.000+01:002015-07-08T19:02:48.516+01:00Tsipras Watches the Withering EU Dream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P84tN0z4jqM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P84tN0z4jqM?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I just watched the dream of European Union wither before my eyes in the EU parliament during a seven minute gutter level, populist and outright lying haranguing of Alexis Tsipras - by so-called 'EU centrist' Guy Verhofstadt.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of Verhofstadt's flourishing rhetoric - was just that: mere rhetoric. There was not even an attempt at balancing the gutter with the spire. Lies marched over damn lies. Gutter it was - all the way, until a self-satisfied Verhofstadt sat down</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Merkel-led, right-wing EPP politics has long already trumped true economics and has asphyxiated our aspirational EU ethos. Verhofstadt's liberal ALDE group is clearly comfortable with the EPP in that political gutter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Their hysterical rhetoric is required as cover for their own failure. It was they who foisted upon Greece, two failed financial looting campaigns disguised as alleged 'Bailouts'. Thus did a banking class benefit from a cozy cartel with a political class. And still does - via the revolving doors of corporate boardrooms.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje66JWrYIvOnrjE26PO9JsFWjIjLtgoroiZNkiQ_-y_hGoUoFneM0N5EYvAaHsVKKQRdZJGUfwj1tJmkGfZqHiLrdZTewYgsKD4XbHT5aDPtjuf-p7l3mdAeeoPct405bgQDXcYx0nsSXA/s1600/tsipras_ep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje66JWrYIvOnrjE26PO9JsFWjIjLtgoroiZNkiQ_-y_hGoUoFneM0N5EYvAaHsVKKQRdZJGUfwj1tJmkGfZqHiLrdZTewYgsKD4XbHT5aDPtjuf-p7l3mdAeeoPct405bgQDXcYx0nsSXA/s640/tsipras_ep.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I looked into the eyes of Alexis Tsipras as our dream of European Union withered. I saw there a confirmation solidify of what I guessed was already there.<br /><br />"Be a leader," Verhofstadt had jeered.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">More than you dreamed Verhofstadt. Or ever could.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Burns in those eyes the calm flame of a Greek Exit from economic imprisonment by chains of illegitimate debt married to corporatism and fascist paternalism. Underestimate it at your cost.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The quieter the soft sound of that flame - the more intensely it burns.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A countdown advances remorselessly. Varoufakis is busy preparing for Zero.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The brilliance of this skyward rise will light all Europe and outshine even Apollo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">18:40gmt 2015-07-08<br /><b>by <a href="http://fintandunne.com/" target="_blank">Fintan Dunne</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbt62rXjLdVLkmIW6kUVEhj6QitISsJF26fDOO2o_CE3_5yfq7i5DdkRcXZrXC6ZkzDw1tckFLih7pbCpzS3d7f2sAbNwpVkeCQYDTRbskL1mewqS2Q7HtkRnAC2O9Waa9P4xwKgRgULtk/s1600/tsipras_ep2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbt62rXjLdVLkmIW6kUVEhj6QitISsJF26fDOO2o_CE3_5yfq7i5DdkRcXZrXC6ZkzDw1tckFLih7pbCpzS3d7f2sAbNwpVkeCQYDTRbskL1mewqS2Q7HtkRnAC2O9Waa9P4xwKgRgULtk/s400/tsipras_ep2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyVerhofstadt/posts/10153988645665016" target="_blank">View on Facebook ></a><br />
<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyVerhofstadt/posts/10153988645665016" data-width="500">
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<blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/GuyVerhofstadt/posts/10153988645665016">
I am angry Mr Tsipras, because let's face it. We have been sleepwalking towards a Grexit. For five years now. And the...<br />
Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyVerhofstadt">Guy Verhofstadt</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyVerhofstadt/posts/10153988645665016">Wednesday, July 8, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622432591297253065.post-59951338747432008342015-07-04T23:19:00.002+01:002015-07-05T01:39:19.329+01:00'NO' Vote More Likely After Germany Blinks On 'Grexit'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBpA-9PtsGRYaSMjNCynkSMYbJHHO2QPNE22FfLxtLnqoUC08Brllqtyp4OooQ5ka2_UvrEha3qKLSE-ULLwBBzeRnwM5hVvwkgpGw88EDbcwkOPut8Igicr_pArOooJgA5QjrG0v8Z-J/s1600/scheuble2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBpA-9PtsGRYaSMjNCynkSMYbJHHO2QPNE22FfLxtLnqoUC08Brllqtyp4OooQ5ka2_UvrEha3qKLSE-ULLwBBzeRnwM5hVvwkgpGw88EDbcwkOPut8Igicr_pArOooJgA5QjrG0v8Z-J/s1600/scheuble2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>In the final hours before Greeks vote in a referendum Sunday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has abandoned his country's stance that a 'NO' vote means a certain exit from the euro currency.</b> <br /><br />The hardline CDU colleague of Angela Merkel also seemed to indicate that ECB liquidity support for Greek banks --currently withdrawn for a week, forcing their closure-- would resume after the referendum, regardless of the outcome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In an <a href="http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/wolfgang-schaeuble/im-griechenland-interview-41627016.bild.html" target="_blank"><b>interview</b></a> with Bild, Schäuble said: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“<b>Greece is a member of the eurozone. There’s no doubt about that.</b> Whether with the euro or temporarily without it: only the Greeks can answer this question. And it is clear that <b>we will not leave the people in the lurch.</b>”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parsing his words carefully, the first two sentences of his statement above seem to quite definitively rule out a Greek exit from the Euro zone, despite his lukewarm reference to a "temporary" conditionality.</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“It is clear that we will not leave the people in the <b>lurch</b>.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Coupled with the no "lurch" assurance which follows, the whole is typical of oblique central banker 'speak' about market support. It's a clear signal that Greece belongs in the euro currency and it intimates a </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">resumption of euro </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">liquidity support for Greek banks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />Whatever the interpretation, the significant softening in Germany's position on the vote, was noted by international media:</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"<b>German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, appears to bolster No vote</b><b> in last-minute intervention on Saturday</b>" - <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/greek-referendum-germany-no-vote" target="_blank">Guardian UK</a> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After more than five months of eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between Alexis Tsipras’s radical left-led government and Greece’s creditors, and with only hours to go before voting began, one of the most hawkish of the lenders appeared to blink. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, until now even more of a hardliner than his chancellor Angela Merkel, suddenly turned a more conciliatory face towards Athens.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The policy adjustment is the second seismic shift among the so-called "Troika" of financial interests negotiating with the Greek Syriza government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just two days ago <a href="http://bit.ly/1T8MYL5" target="_blank"><b>we reported</b></a> a clarification of the IMF position in an unattributed briefing to the Guardian newspaper:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">The IMF has electrified the referendum debate in Greece after it conceded that the crisis-ridden country needs up to €60bn of extra funds over the next three years and a 20-year grace period on debt repayments to create “a breathing space”.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We can reasonably assume that prudent private polling may be informing these two shifts in position. If so, the scale of the policy moves mean that any early tide towards a '<b>YES</b>' may have stalled -or even reversed. We should discount local media polls for potential bias.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">An unquenchable '</span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NO'</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> fire may be behind the smoke which has caused all this institutional blinking, so to speak. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As Greeks get wind of these latest policy shifts - it can only further embolden potential 'NO' voters.<br /><br />Something that Wolfgang Schäuble would have foreseen - before fanning those very flames with his latest words.</span></div>
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Fintan Dunnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04088246498243648934noreply@blogger.com0