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Joe Biden Acts Like the Defender of Gazans, But He is the Destroyer

By Adam Dick | Peace and Prosperity Blog | February 13, 2024

This week President Joe Biden was again talking about his ideas of how the Israel government should exercise more restraint in its war in Gaza. But, he remains all talk and no action on this count.

It is tedious to repeatedly hear the man who is, in the absence of congressional action to provide special assistance to Israel for its war, unilaterally providing the key aid including weapons and intelligence for prosecuting Israel’s war continue to insist he supports restraint while the Israel government keeps pursuing relentless devastation.

Biden, in a Monday statement he made at the White House after meeting with Jordan King Abdullah, said the following regarding impending Israel military action:

As I said yesterday, our military operation in Rafah — their — the major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan — a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than one million people sheltering there. Many people there have been displaced — displaced multiple times, fleeing the violence to the north, and now they’re packed into Rafah — exposed and vulnerable. They need to be protected.

This schtick is way past its expiration date. The Israel war, now in its fifth month, continues to rack up destruction of life, health, and the physical manifestations of civilization in Gaza at an astounding pace, with the brunt of the suffering imposed on civilians. Israel is taking the actions. But, the US is the key accomplice to the atrocities because of the aid it provides.

This is Biden’s war as much as it is Israel’s war.

Biden is notoriously prone to make blunders in his public presentations. The blunder he made in his comment in his Monday White House statement is different than many. Biden quickly corrected his mention of “our military operation in Rafah” to clarify that the military operation is Israel’s. The slipup here was not that Biden had stated something false. Instead, it was that Biden had stated the truth that he and his administration are trying their best to hide.

February 13, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Khan v the generals

By Junaid S. Ahmad | MEMO | February 13, 2024

Pakistan’s election lived up to some expectations, but didn’t live up to other expectations. What was predicted was that there would be vote rigging and outright fraud as a central feature of the Pakistani generals’ plan, and there was. What was not anticipated was that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, the PTI (Movement for Justice), would win the most parliamentary seats of any single party. It was a miraculous outcome, given the horrendous levels of repression of the PTI, and the efforts by the military establishment to prevent the party from even contesting in the election.

What we know now is that the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, following its violence and terror campaign against the population after Khan was ousted in April 2022, is the proverbial emperor with no clothes. It stands exposed not only for its reign of terror, corruption and fraud, but also for its incompetence by failing to deliver the election results desired by domestic and foreign power centres.

In many ways, perhaps the most analogous relatively recent event was the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election. The Israelis, the Americans and the Gulf monarchies wanted to give legitimacy to their chosen occupation sub-contractor, the collaborationist and hopelessly corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) largely controlled by Hamas rival Fatah. These forces believed that they had invested enough financial and political capital to enable Fatah candidates to win an “election under occupation”. To their great surprise — and to the surprise of Hamas, to be fair — the Islamic Resistance Movement won.

Similarly, the military and political elites in Pakistan had guaranteed themselves and their patrons in Washington that the election in Pakistan was a done deal.

This narrative claimed that the appeal of the PTI had diminished, and any remaining popularity of Khan and his political party would be offset by the investment of tens of millions of dollars to buy off the military high command, politicians in all of the provinces and, crucially, the judges of the provincial high courts, as well as the Supreme Court.

The generals said that they had a plan B, and if needed, a plan C, ready in case plan A did not work. Plan A was the simple ousting of Khan from power in April 2022. It was thought that this would eradicate the “Khan virus”. To the surprise of many, including Khan himself, a massive, unprecedented outpouring of support erupted spontaneously, with rallies taking place in cities and towns in every province of the country.

So, the military elites began the charge sheet against Khan to get him embroiled in one court case after another: plan B. That failed to work, and Khan’s popularity continued to soar. Incessant reassurances were meted out from former Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa to Washington and the House of Sharif, the family in control of one of the two dominant dynastic political parties, the PML(N). Bajwa claimed that the situation was under control and that his successor, General Asim Munir, would finish the job. Bajwa was lucky. All he agreed to was to remove Khan from power, and he delivered. He was detested, but he was able to leave the political scene after a few months. Munir was not so fortunate.

Plan C needed to be activated. Public sentiment was turning so antagonistic towards the military top brass for their unashamed targeting of Khan that the “final solution” had to be implemented: assassination. Two attempts, one of which injured Khan in the shin, were unsuccessful.

There really was no plan D, and so one was concocted quickly. Khan faced the most absurd but very serious charges of terrorism and treason, and was imprisoned in complete isolation. He was charged with leaking state secrets in the now infamous “cypher-gate” case, with the allegation that he spoke recklessly about a top-secret diplomatic cable sent to the foreign ministry by Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. The cable stated, in no uncertain terms, Washington’s desire that Khan be removed from power.

Both the military elite as well as, sadly, many in the intellectual class, mocked Khan and his supporters for over a year for this “conspiracy theory” and for inventing this “fictional” cypher. Only when the The Intercept confirmed the veracity of the contents of the diplomatic cable as Khan had described them, did Munir and other senior army officers not only concede that such a cypher does exist, but that Khan would now face charges of treason for revealing its contents. This leak by the former prime minister constituted a grave threat to “national security”. In reality, it presented a palpable unmasking of the collusion of the US foreign policy establishment, Pakistani generals and Pakistani kleptocrats of the two major political parties — the House of Sharif and the House of Bhutto-Zardari – in wanting to depose the democratically-elected Khan from power.

Once the hastily assembled plan D was put in motion, the idea was that it would lead seamlessly to plan E, the ruthless repression of the PTI, so that by the time of this election there would be nothing left of Khan and his party. What the election results last week demonstrated, however, is that even though Khan’s party members could not run on their party ticket and had to run as independents, there is huge popular support for the PTI.

There doesn’t seem to be a plan F, considering the frantic responses of the army chief and the head of the intelligence agencies, or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Munir is no longer concerned with his big picture “obligations”. He has been reduced to trying to save himself. The only party that he is trying to please at this point is the one footing the bill: the House of Sharif. The general is now arguably the most hated Chief of Staff in Pakistan’s history, and there has been no shortage of competition for that title.

What about Washington’s planners? How are they reacting? One senior State Department official commented very bluntly: “These imbeciles can’t even crush a political novice like Khan. They command one of the largest armed forces in the world, nuclear armed. What is all that for?”

The US foreign policy establishment, after the ouster of Khan, had outsourced the job of managing the old “Af-Pak” (Afghanistan-Pakistan) theatre of the “Global War on Terror” to the Pentagon. Washington believed that its Cold War framework of dealing with the generals would produce a “stable” and pliant Pakistan. There is no entity as irate at the incompetence of the Pakistani military high command as the US Department of Defence, to which both Bajwa and Munir promised the moon. Actually, though, State Department officials are equally incensed since they were tasked to prevaricate for almost two years to conceal Washington’s role, as well as that of Pakistani generals, in this entire scenario.

The State Department had denied any knowledge of the cypher, but that position began to change after the Intercept’s publication of the contents of that damning diplomatic cable. At that point, it was not so much about asserting the non-existence of the cypher, but underscoring how such communication between two governments was nothing abnormal. Washington was willing to give Islamabad a few more months to fix everything by holding faux elections that would quash Khan and his party once and for all.

And now, it seems clear that the US foreign policy establishment is looking for vengeance, and keen on punishing the generals who promised to produce an unashamedly subservient Pakistani political establishment. This is why there has been such an explosion of harsh criticism of the Pakistani army from the State Department and numerous members of Congress.

There were, undoubtedly, members of Congress, such as Representative Ilhan Omar, who wanted to express their displeasure much earlier. But they also acquiesced to their Democratic Party leadership in the White House and in Congress, who hung on by a thread to the idea that “stability” would be brought about by the traditional political and military elites. The White House maintained unceasingly that “our guys” in Islamabad would facilitate a smooth and relatively quiet transition to the post-Khan period, without ringing any international alarm bells.

Of course, now it’s become patently obvious that Washington is revising its stance radically, one that effectively tells Pakistan’s generals, “You had your chance, you failed, and now you’re making things worse.” America’s 180-degree turnaround is an attempt to salvage some respect, or at least some tolerance, from the people of Pakistan who know full well Washington’s role in the regime change operation. The generals have put Washington in a deeply embarrassing situation.

However, Washington apparatchiks may be unfair in their treatment of their clients in khaki in Pakistan. The former do not realise that it’s the political has-beens who the generals can control, not the relative new boys on the block like Khan. The old political bigwigs know the rules of the game — proper balance between the enrichment of both the political and military elites — and abide by them. The newbies are too recalcitrant to even learn those rules properly, let alone abide by them. In sum, Washington now considers General Munir a dreadful liability, after only his first year as Chief of Staff, unlike General Pervez Musharraf, who provided Washington with “stability in Pakistan” for eight years until he also became a liability in 2007.

In this entire saga, what’s been truly disappointing is the role of the Pakistani media. The country’s leading and, deservedly, most respected periodical, Dawn, suddenly began to churn out columns praising the democratic “defiance” of the people in this election. It’s a shame that the people’s defiance was not covered over the past twenty months, when apparently it was simply an expression of a cult-following, and the totalitarian and conspicuously undemocratic repression was not worth reporting. The resistance of the Pakistani people could have certainly benefited from some coverage then. Now, such voices in the media are commonplace. It’s rather sad how the Pakistani media seems to be taking its cues from the US State Department about when to cover/report, and when not to. Dawn columnists had many months to praise the democratic will of the people, but did not.

At this point, the divisions within the military officer corps have become evident. Munir and others in the top brass realise how dangerous it is to give the wrong orders to junior officers and soldiers. How many times will the Pakistani armed forces be commanded to open fire, imprison, torture and disappear their population on a massive scale? The crimes of the military establishment in the provinces of Balochistan and KPK have been bad enough.

For almost two years now, the brutal suppression by the army was meant to instil paralysing trepidation in the population. But just as the people of Gaza, of Palestine, of West Asia, have overcome a psychological sense of fear of Israel, so too have the people of Pakistan lost any fear of their national security state and its violent shenanigans. This is a major development.

Whatever political configuration emerges after the election, one thing is certain: this round has been a resounding victory for former Prime Minister Imran Khan, smiling in his wretched jail cell, as well as the people of Pakistan, regardless of their political affiliation.

February 13, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Deception | , | Leave a comment

Magical Thinking

By Karen Kwiatkowski | LewRockwell | February 13, 2024

In 2005, Joan Didion published “The Year of Magical Thinking” that about grieving the loss of her husband, the unavoidable instant reduction of a rich marriage to aimless solitude.

Beyond the obvious arena of modern imperial foreign policy, magical thinking is a well-known psychological concept. It is “the belief that wishes can impose their own order on the material world.” It is driven by human goals of fulfillment “without consideration of the constraints of the external world.”

We’ve been reminded of this concept in many different ways over the past few weeks. The befuddled fumbling old man in the White House insulting reporters who ask him about his memory lapses, then demonstrating his disability several times later in the press conference.

He wishes to remain President, yet he is incapable of being President. He wants that particular fulfillment regardless of its fundamental impossibility.

We see the same in many modern political leaders, no doubt Canada’s Trudeau, who was upset that Putin, in a wide ranging interview last week, mentioned the Canadian Parliament’s celebration of World War II Ukrainian Nazi Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old surviving member of the Waffen SS Galicia Division. Zelensky had just spoken, and all present sincerely wished that killing Russians was great Western tradition, habitual and just. Instead we saw the impossibility of wishes making their own reality, their own order; the impossibility of changing fact to fantasy, and fantasy to fact.

Access to the most casual and shallow history of World War II should have revealed to any one of the hundreds of educated and cosmopolitan MPs, and the media covering the event, that those killing Russians in WWII were either part of Nazi Germany, or allied with Nazi Germany. It is modern Russian intolerance for Nazis that we find to be traditional, habitual and just. The propagandized West seeks a better world through magical thinking, not through the embrace of reality.

We see magical thinking in Kiev, but somehow I suspect Ukrainians have a far better understanding of reality than do Zelensky’s American and British advisors – who seem permanently afflicted with lies becoming truth if only we all wished for it hard enough. The best example of this is our puppet in Kiev who insists on no negotiations with Russia until the popular and extremely rational “history buff” President Putin, steps down to face the Ukrainian music for his war crimes.

Yet when Tucker Carlson asked Putin what it was all about – we found simply that the protection of Russia and Russian people are a cause for which Putin is willing to fight. It is a concept that shocks the Western empire circa 2024.

We also learned that years of western actions, like withdrawing from nuclear treaties and pursuing first strike capabilities, drove Russian development of hypersonic missiles and a whole range of capabilities to survive and defeat such extreme threats coming from an increasingly unpredictable West. Meanwhile, US and NATO naval capability is underwhelming, recruitment abysmal, technology plateaued and inappropriate for offense or defense, and funds are dwindling.

We learned that while politicians and academics continue to push for ever more massive sanctions against Russia – new markets materialized and Russia’s economy adapted and thrived, as the economy of the western allies shrank and struggled.

We learned that western cultural fetishes of magic energy replacing hydrocarbons, 72 genders, modern monetary theory and unlimited immigration without cultural integration have all been rejected – rationally and straightforwardly – by Russia. The former Communist empire has become a sanctuary for Orthodox Christianity, while the West bans and abandons Christian churches and principles in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Europe and in America. It sounds unbelievable, unpredictable, a rabbit from a hat and a lady cut in half all in one show  – but it’s true.

A key advisor to Zelensky on US-UK-EU proxy war, and former UK PM Boris Johnson is an exemplar of magical thinking. He was outraged that Putin explained with evidence how the last 18 months of war in Ukraine could have been prevented, and ended peacefully, as peace talks in Turkey produced a draft treaty acceptable to both Ukrainian and Russian teams. This was abruptly canned after Boris rushed to Kiev, where he demanded the Ukrainians reject the nascent agreement. Boris, bobbing in the flotsam of magical thinking, is a liar, and yet, one marvels at the power of believing that your desires and wishes can create a new world order.

We see this in the US, in both its obsession with Julian Assange despite the utter irrationality of its pursuit of a man who exposed US lawbreaking and evil – something top politicians in the US should always be eager to correct in the name of American heroism and honor.

We see this in the continued fantasy of electoral honesty in the US, in the imperial two-tiered system of law, in the incomprehensible funding and moral support provided to Israel as it directly and systematically exterminates 2 million people, destroys their homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses, and takes their land. We see it in Israel, as it imagines what it is doing will save rather than destroy her. Magical thinking.

Joan Didion popularized the term, documenting her grief at the sudden end of a life, marriage, meaning, and purpose. Magical thinking may be part of a process by which people and institutions cope with the innate realization of irretrievable loss.

The US government, and its very federalism, is undergoing an imperial metamorphosis from rapacious caterpillar, to life in a rapidly decaying cocoon, to something entirely different and unrecognizable – life in the air, with little baggage, free, vulnerable and alive. It will own nothing and be happy. Dissolution and death of empire is a story told many times, a pattern of nature, and it cannot be stopped. Magical thinking is simultaneously necessary and futile, and Washington and many of the European capitols are deeply engaged in this phase. They are ending, ungracefully, ungratefully, undeniably.

But for the people, who live with feet on the ground, and eyes wide open, who bear the costs of the magical thinking of their governments, and the lies of their propagandists, and the waste of their wars, and the contamination of everything that was good – for us the only value is seeing the reality of things. Recognizing reality, acting upon it, rejecting even the most subtle suggestions of magical thinking and fantasy and imaginations of world orders – in this way imperial error can be stopped, and reversed.

Peace, transparency, prosperity, exchanges of goods, ideas, and many charming conversations with partners and friends around the planet – none of this is fantasy, and it doesn’t require magic. Let’s get on with it.

Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D. [send her mail], a retired USAF lieutenant colonel, farmer and aspiring anarcho-capitalist. She ran for Congress in Virginia’s 6th district in 2012, is a Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, and an Associated Scholar of the Mises Institute.

The Best of Karen Kwiatkowski

Copyright © Karen Kwiatkowski

February 13, 2024 Posted by | Deception | , , , , | Leave a comment

“But those [Lipid] Nanoparticles can lead to dangerous side effects, especially if a patient has to take repeated doses”

Quote from a story following an interview in 2016 with Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna

By Dr. Byram W. Bridle | COVID Chronicles | February 9, 2024

Please share this information with anyone considering taking another dose of a modified RNA shot.

Did you know that the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used to make Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots were re-purposed to serve as vaccine platforms? They were originally intended to be a delivery mechanism for drugs and/or gene therapies. The problem is that the LNPs were toxic if administered multiple times. And treatment of cancers and other diseases with LNPs containing drugs or gene therapies required multi-dosing protocols.

For this reason, several companies abandoned the use of LNPs. Moderna decided to change course and use LNPs as a vaccine delivery system. Why? Because they understood that an ideal vaccine is one that requires a single dose and then the person is protected from getting the disease for the rest of their life. If you don’t believe me, please review Health Canada’s official definition of an ideal vaccine. This is the relevant quote…

“An ideal vaccine is: safe with minimal adverse effects; effective in providing lifelong protection against disease after a single dose that can be administered at birth; inexpensive; stable during shipment and storage; and easy to administer.“

So, problem solved. A good LNP-based vaccine would require only a single dose. No multi-dosing = none of the toxicities known to be associated with multiple administrations of LNPs.

But, don’t take my word for it. Instead, I defer to a journalist that interviewed Stéphane Bancel. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the American company Moderna, which makes one of the two available modified RNA COVID-19 shots. A story was published on September 13, 2016, after an interview with him. Please heed his serious concerns about the LNPs that his company is using. Here are quotes from the story about the interview; brace yourself…

“In nature, mRNA molecules function like recipe books, directing cellular machinery to make specific proteins. Moderna believes it can play that system to its advantage by using synthetic mRNA to compel cells to produce whichever proteins it chooses. In effect, the mRNA would turn cells into tiny drug factories. It’s highly risky. Big pharma companies had tried similar work and abandoned it because it’s exceedingly hard to get RNA into cells without triggering nasty side effects.”

“Delivery – actually getting RNA into cells – has long bedeviled the whole field. On their own, RNA molecules have a hard time reaching their targets. They work better if they’re wrapped up in a delivery mechanism, such as nanoparticles made of lipids. But those nanoparticles can lead to dangerous side effects, especially if a patient has to take repeated doses over months or years. Novartis abandoned the related realm of RNA interference over concerns about toxicity, as did Merck and Roche.”

I encourage you to re-read the two quotes above a couple of times. Let them sink in. Then think about the billions of people around the world that have taken multiple doses. Isn’t it astonishing?

Why did Bancel not remind the world of these concerns in 2020 when he realized that his ‘vaccine’ was far from ideal and that multiple doses would be required.

I don’t know if it is relevant, but this is the second last sentence in Wikipedia’s description of Stéphane Bancel…

“In April 2020, with the Moderna share price rising on news of imminent phase 2 human trials for its potential COVID-19 vaccine, Bancel’s stake of about 9% became worth over $1 billion.“

Also, note that Moderna, which was a small start-up company not all that many years ago would have gone under had its attempt at a LNP-based vaccine not been successful. Moderna was ‘all in’ on this business move.

Remarkably, some people are still eager to get more doses. I have heard of some that have received at least nine doses. This is downright frightening in light of concerns identified after the interview with CEO Bancel, “especially if a patient has to take repeated doses over months or years.“

I would love to know how many legitimate doses Stéphane Bancel has taken of his own COVID-19 shot.

And journalists should ask him to explain the information he relayed in 2016, as presented in the follow-up to his interview.

More doses anyone?

How about more LNP-based shots for other problems, like disease X, in the future?

February 12, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

People in Gaza suffer unprecedented levels of famine-like conditions: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

Press TV – February 12, 2024

Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza has brought “unprecedented” levels of “near famine-like conditions” in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Virtually 550,000 people are currently facing catastrophic food insecurity levels, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.

FAO Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol said on Monday all the 2.2 million people in Gaza are in the top three hunger categories, from level three, which is considered an emergency, to level five, or catastrophe.

“We are seeing more and more people essentially on the brink of and moving into famine-like conditions every day.”

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) rates hunger levels from one to five.

“At this stage, probably about 25 percent of that 2.2 million are in that top-level IPC five category,” Bechdol said.

International agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm that Gaza is starving.

UN special rapporteurs say one in four people are starving and nine out of ten families in some areas spend a day and night without food. They say every single person in Gaza is hungry as Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.

There is no estimate of how many Palestinians have died directly or indirectly of hunger since Israel launched the war on October 7, 2023. The few remaining hospitals in Gaza typically only record deaths from Israeli attacks.

Israel has killed more than 28,000 people, many of them women and children, since that October day, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The vast majority of the Gaza population has been displaced and the medical system lies in ruins, meaning many deaths go uncounted.

Israel’s evidence of UNRWA Hamas allegations examined

#Gaza Testimonies; Forcibly displaced families face harsh winter

14-year-old Ziad and his father escaped Israeli snipers

February 12, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video, War Crimes | Leave a comment

Kremlin comments on Starlink claims

RT | February 12, 2024

The Russian military never officially ordered SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet terminals and they are not certified for use in Russia, the Kremlin has said. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made the comment shortly after Ukrainian intelligence claimed that Russian forces were using the technology amid the ongoing armed conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk donated some 20,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its offensive against the country in February 2022. Ukrainian troops are using them to operate drones along the front line. However, the billionaire said last year that he had refused Ukraine’s request to activate the Starlink service in Crimea.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov noted that Starlink had never been certified in Russia, meaning that it “cannot be and is not being delivered here officially.” He added that, for this reason, the technology cannot be used in any official capacity in Russia.

The Kremlin’s representative concluded by saying that there was no point in Moscow getting involved in a “discussion between the Kiev regime and entrepreneur Musk.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Musk lamented that “a number of false news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia.”

“To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia,” the SpaceX CEO added.

In a separate statement on Thursday, SpaceX insisted that it “does not do business of any kind with the Russian government or its military,” and has “never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it shipped equipment to locations in Russia.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) claimed to have intercepted a conversation between Russian military personnel, where one service member could be heard saying in Russian “Starlink is working, we have internet [access].”

GUR spokesman Andrey Yusov alleged that Russian troops are “systematically” using Starlink terminals.

In September, Musk said his company had refused to enable Starlink coverage over Crimea. “Now, the reason it was turned off was actually because… the United States has sanctions against Russia… and that includes Crimea,” he explained at the time. In the absence of any direct orders from the US leadership, SpaceX opted not to run afoul of the regulations despite Kiev’s request to do so, the entrepreneur noted.

Earlier, CNN reported that Musk’s decision had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

February 12, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

New Jeffrey Epstein autopsy photo proves he didn’t kill himself – brother

RT | February 10, 2024

The brother of Jeffrey Epstein has revealed a previously unreported autopsy photo, arguing that it proves the convicted child-sex trafficker couldn’t have committed suicide in his jail cell.

Mark Epstein discussed the photo and other evidence in an interview on Friday with US podcast host Megan Kelly. The graphic picture shows a large red scar across the middle of the deceased pedophile’s neck, which his brother said was inconsistent with reports by authorities that he hung himself in his New York City jail cell.

If Jeffrey Epstein had been found hanging from the upper bunk, as reported, ligature marks should have gone up under his chin and behind his ears, his brother said. “From that picture, the ligature mark on his neck is more in the middle of his neck and sort of goes straight back,” he said. “In a hanging, it goes really high up in the front of the neck because you sink down into that noose.”

Jeffrey Epstein was found dead inside his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide by the city’s chief medical examiner. A doctor hired by Epstein’s family who was present for the autopsy claimed that some of the evidence, including multiple neck fractures, suggested that he was murdered.

Doubts cast on the official findings stoked speculation that Epstein was killed to prevent possible exposure of the rich and politically powerful people on his client list. Previously sealed court documents from a case involving one of the pedophile’s alleged victims were released last month but didn’t contain any of the bombshell information that some observers expected.

Mark Epstein has speculated that another inmate in the section of the jail where his brother was held killed him. The camera in that section wasn’t working on the night of Epstein’s death, according to government authorities, who have refused to release footage from a camera outside the wing or to disclose the identities of the other inmates.

“All I got from them, for every question I asked, was, ‘After a thorough investigation, we determined it was a suicide,’” Mark Epstein said. “That was the answer I got to every question.” He claimed that normal investigative practices weren’t followed, such as leaving the body in place until the medical examiner arrived.

Mark Epstein also raised questions about an autopsy photo of his brother’s legs, which didn’t have lividity marks, contrary to official claims about his body position. “If he was hanging the way they said, there would be evidence of lividity in his legs and buttocks,” he said.

February 10, 2024 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | | Leave a comment

Are You an Anti-Paxxer?

As doctors drop Paxlovid because of drug interactions, Covid rebounds, and virus shedding, Pfizer cranks the PR machine to hide the facts and shame “anti-paxxers.”

BY LINDA BONVIE | RESCUE | FEBRUARY 9, 2024

When an article by Los Angeles Times metro reporter Rong-Gong Lin II recommended last month that practically everyone who tests positive for Covid takes Pfizer’s Paxlovid, some media veterans may have wondered what had become of the traditional wall between news reporting and advertising.

The story, which appeared on January 28, swept away almost all of the reservations that have been raised about the safety and effectiveness of this patent medicine, assuring us that “Paxlovid rebound” is a non-issue and fear of serious side effects is “erroneous.” It even went so far as to suggest that if your doctor won’t prescribe this “highly effective” medication, it’s time to go doctor shopping.

So why is this LA Times writer so desperately trying to sell us this fast-tracked antiviral that comes with a black box warning?

The article appeared at a particularly critical time for Pfizer just as it transitions from Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA Paxlovid, to FDA-approved Paxlovid. Originally free to patients, the medication was stockpiled by the U.S. government to the tune of 24 million treatment courses at a cost to taxpayers of $530 a box. Now, the FDA-approved version (same drug, different box) sells for a list price of up to $1,500. (According to an analysis by researchers at Harvard University, the actual cost to Pfizer for a five-day Paxlovid course is $13).

But to Pfizer’s chagrin, it now doesn’t seem to be able to even give the stuff away, let alone sell it at a premium price. Last fall Pfizer accepted a return of nearly 8 million boxes sent back by the U.S. government.

What’s a drugmaker to do when both patients and doctors shun a product that was anticipated to be the better half of Pfizer’s post-Covid “multibillion-dollar franchise?

Flush with all that Covid cash and new Paxlovid FDA approval last May, Pfizer went shopping for partners to help promote its products.

No stranger to top-tier PR firms such as Edelman and Ogilvy, the drugmaker tagged two of the biggest names in contemporary communications companies, Publicis Groupe, a Paris-based giant PR and ad agency, and the humongous Interpublic Group. These high-level agencies come at a big price tag, but what they can offer is priceless—a way to get your story told by respected media outlets.

That’s right, if you have enough money to hire the folks with all the right contacts, you too can create your own “news!” And these special contacts are something that PR firms, such as Edelman, are very proud of. Many agency hires, in fact, are recruited directly from major media outlets, such as Edelman NYC Brand Director Nancy Jeffrey, who spent a decade at the Wall Street Journal.

As quoted in an Edelman website blog, Jeffrey recalls how Richard Edelman (son of founder Dan) would call her during her time working at the paper “to meet a client with a story to tell.” As Jeffrey says, “No one at Edelman ever rises too high to pitch a reporter.”

So was our LA Times reporter “pitched,” or does he just have an evangelical connection with Paxlovid?

Let’s take a close look at his story and see what we find.

First, there’s the article’s headline, which began: “If it’s COVID, Paxlovid”? Getting your oft-advertised product’s rhyming tagline in a headline—now that’s branding! And we don’t have to tell any of the side effects in this venue. The LA Times piece was off to a great start.

Why aren’t more people being given Paxlovid, the reporter wanted to know. It’s “cheap or even free for many,” he said. And then he delivered his first rave review, calling it “highly effective.”

By paragraph four, however, our intrepid reporter had uncovered the bad news that “a number of doctors are still declining to prescribe it.” But why? It must be those pesky “outdated arguments” about “Paxlovid rebound.” Anyone who gets Covid “has a similar rare chance of rebound,” he told us. For extra punch, he called on Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine at UCSF, to back up that statement. Rebound is “like, bogus” and “just dumb,” Chin-Hong said.

What Lin didn’t report is that a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in November 2023, by researchers from Mass General Brigham, found that in Covid patients taking Paxlovid, rebound was “much more common” and often without symptoms. Nearly 21 percent had virologic rebound versus under 2 percent not on the drug. Of perhaps even more significance, prolonged viral shedding for an average of fourteen days was noted in those who rebounded, indicating that they “were potentially still contagious for much longer.” The virologic rebound “phenomenon,” in Paxlovid patients, the authors noted, “has implications for post-N-R (Paxlovid) monitoring and isolation recommendations.” This study closely monitored patients with follow-ups three times a week “sometimes for months.”

After quoting from several Paxlovid-positive FDA and CDC statements and referencing a California Public Health commercial where people dance to an upbeat tune singing “Test it, treat it, beat it, California you know you need it,” Lin got around to some serious stuff—side effects.

Not mentioned by Lin, but good to know anyway, Paxlovid bears an FDA-required black-box warning about drug interactions, cautioning of “potentially severe, life-threatening, or fatal events.” But the article carefully danced around this inconvenient issue, simply mentioning that some Paxlovid takers may need to have their medications adjusted. The fear of “serious side effects . . . is largely erroneous,” it claimed.

Really?

“There are 125 drug interactions (for Paxlovid) across twenty-five different classes of medicines,” author and FLCCC President Dr. Pierre Kory said in a phone interview. “I’ve never used any medicine that had that number and degree of drug interactions, and I find it absurd,” added Kory, who is an expert in early Covid treatment.

And this is no secret. The Paxlovid package insert lists thirty-nine specific drugs that interact with this anti-viral (which is not a complete list, we’re warned) including medications that treat conditions such as an enlarged prostate, gout, migraines, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arrhythmias, and angina.

With side effects out of the way, our reporter moved on to an interesting idea—doctor shopping.

If your doctor turns you down for Paxlovid, “what other options are there?” How about “reaching out to another healthcare provider” we’re advised, one “who might be more knowledgeable about Paxlovid . . .”

Don’t be an ‘Anti-Paxxer!’

The LA Times isn’t alone in this timely pushing of Paxlovid. The New York Times also ran a glowing Paxlovid piece at the beginning of January. The black-box warning was glossed over by simply saying that some “doctors balk” over the “long list of medications not to be mixed with Paxlovid,” referring to the drug as being “stunningly effective.” The NYT reporter also added five mentions of a study—actually a preprint (not yet peer reviewed or published)—which through the use of statistical magic concluded that during the course of the research had only half of the eligible Covid patients in the U.S. taken Paxlovid, 48,000 lives would have been saved.

The server where the research was posted warns journalists and others when discussing preprints to “emphasize it has yet to be evaluated by the medical community and information presented may be erroneous.”

Paxlovid is not the only drug that gets special treatment by the media. Last January, a 60 Minutes segment was called out by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine as “an unlawful weight loss drug ad” for the med Wegovy. The piece, it noted, “looked like a news story, but it was effectively a drug ad,” the group said in a press release. PCRM also stated that Novo Nordisk, which makes Wegovy, paid over $100,000 to the doctors CBS interviewed for the segment.

With this new frenzy to sell Paxlovid, one can’t help but compare it to the campaign against ivermectin. Kicked off by the FDA in August 2021, it successfully branded this Nobel Prize-winning, FDA-approved drug as nothing more than a horse dewormer endorsed by fanatical outlier doctors and accepted by gullible patients. Despite being found to be an extremely safe treatment as well as an effective one for Covid, the FDA, CDC, and its media “partners” made ivermectin the subject of false accusations and warnings about the supposed risks of using it.

But early on in the game it was decided, as Dr. Kory pointed out, “to keep the market open for their novel pricey Paxlovid pill.” And to that effect, nothing was going to stand in the way. In an interview last summer with the head of the UCSF Department of Medicine, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf admitted that he helped promote Paxlovid—something he acknowledged is explicitly against the rules.

“In normal times, the FDA should not be a cheerleader . . .” Califf said. But since back then EUA drugs could not be advertised (a policy that changed in the fall of 2022) he went ahead and pitched it himself.

The Paxlovid campaign is far from over. In fact, it may now be revving up to full throttle. There’s even a name being bandied about for those who question the drug: “Anti-Paxxers.”

And if we can take any insight from the new Pfizer tagline (just filed for protection with the US Patent and Trademark Office), “Outdo Yesterday,” there are even more spurious strategies in its pharmaceutical pipeline.

Linda Bonvie is an investigative journalist, freelance health and environmental writer and co-author of several books including “Chemical-Free Kids” and most recently “A Consumer’s Guide to Toxic Food Additives.”

February 10, 2024 Posted by | Corruption, Deception, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , | Leave a comment

Who does ‘our’ NHS really serve?

Still relentlessly promoting covid ‘safe and effectives’

Health Advisory & Recovery Team | February 7, 2024

A concerned reader sent in this letter inviting him for more covid and flu injections, as he was considered a ‘priority’ case:

The fact that the NHS is wasting millions of taxpayer pounds continuing to promote and administer these ineffective and harmful products is symbolic of what the health service has become; another cog in the medical industrial machine, whirring to improve Pharma profits with little or no concern for end-user health. In a service allegedly crushed by lack of resources, why on earth are they still pushing these products on an unsuspecting public?

You will note in the full letter that:

  • There is no mention that the injections stop infection;
  • There is no mention that the injections stop transmission;
  • They make the dubious claim that injections lead to “less severe illness” without backing up this statement.
  • They use the misleading statement that ‘seasonal vaccines have proven safety records‘. This is certainly not the case for covid injections as they have not existed long enough and no-one has bothered to collect the data.

It seems that even the NHS has abandoned the mendacious claims originally attached to the ‘Safe and Effectives™’ probably because they know it would open them up to legal action. The propaganda job is complete. For those poor souls still unquestioningly worshipping at the alter of the quasi-religious NHS, a promise of real benefit is now surplus to requirements in the ad campaign. It has seamlessly transformed into an annual ritual to benefit drug companies whilst causing insidious harm to the collective health of the nation. What a clever spell they have cast to make entire populations believe that good health is only achievable by injecting unidentified substances into their body on a seasonal basis. And if they feel awful directly afterwards? It means its working!!

Evil genius.

If anyone can find the time and has received such a letter, the claim of “proven safety records” deserves a Freedom of Information request to “please supply all reports memos papers statistical analyses etc supporting the claim of “proven safety records”. We would love to see the response should one be forthcoming. We won’t hold our breath.

February 9, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Science and Pseudo-Science | , | Leave a comment

‘Unacceptable’: Hungarian FM Hits Out at Nord Stream Blasts Not Being Investigated

Sputnik – 08.02.2024

The absence of any serious investigation into the Nord Stream blasts is unacceptable, and Hungary urges other countries to take this issue seriously, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Sputnik after Sweden terminated its probe into the explosions.

On Wednesday, the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office announced the termination of its investigation into the blasts, ruling it does not belong to its jurisdiction. Sweden has handed the materials on the issue to Germany for its investigation into the matter, Swedish public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said.

“Hundreds of days have been passed, and no serious investigation has taken place yet. No details have been revealed yet. And I think it’s unacceptable,” Szijjarto said.

The minister called it “a terrorist attack against a strategic infrastructure in Europe.”

“An attack against the safe supply of energy of ours, is a strategic issue, and the matter of European security. And the fact that no investigation has taken place is very irresponsible and from our perspective, it’s really unacceptable. Therefore we urge authorities, be they national or international to take it seriously,” Szijjarto said.

February 8, 2024 Posted by | Deception, False Flag Terrorism | , | Leave a comment

CNN Staffers Say Network Has ‘Systemic and Institutional Bias Toward Israel’

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | February 5, 2024

Several employees of CNN spoke out against the outlet’s bias towards Israel in its reporting on the war on Gaza. Other US corporate media outlets have shown significant favoritism toward Tel Aviv.

The Guardian reports speaking with six staffers from different newsrooms who said that there is growing backlash against the leadership’s pro-Israel slant. “The majority of news since the war began, regardless of how accurate the initial reporting, has been skewed by a systemic and institutional bias within the network toward Israel,” said one CNN staffer. “Ultimately, CNN’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war amounts to journalistic malpractice.”

“There’s a lot of internal strife and dissent. Some people are looking to get out,” the CNN staffer explained. “Senior staffers who disagree with the status quo are butting heads with the executives giving orders, questioning how we can effectively tell the story with such restrictive directives in place.”

A staffer speaking with the Guardian explained how systemic censorship occurs. “Many have been pushing for more content from Gaza to be alerted and aired.” The source continued, “By the time these reports go through Jerusalem and make it to TV or the homepage, critical changes – from the introduction of imprecise language to an ignorance of crucial stories – ensure that nearly every report, no matter how damning, relieves Israel of wrongdoing.”

The CNN employees say the bias starts at the top, with CEO Mark Thompson. The Guardian obtained emails and members that backed up the accusations made by the CNN staff members. The employees say the slant is causing a backlash.

In one memo obtained by the Guardian, Thompson gave orders that all stories mentioning the atrocities committed by the Israelis in Gaza must mention the war is only occurring because of the Hamas attack on October 7.

The memo reads, “We must continue always to remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of civilians.” One staffer confirmed that the memo was interpreted “as an instruction that no matter what the Israelis do, Hamas is ultimately to blame.”

CNN’s bias towards Tel Aviv is matched by the Washington Post and New York Times. Writing at FAIR, Julie Hollar explains,” At the New York Times and Washington Post, opinion editors have skewed the Gaza debate toward an Israel-centered perspective, dominated by men and, among guest writers, government officials.”

“While both papers did include a few strong pro-Palestinian voices—their pages leaned heavily toward a conversation dominated by Israeli interests and concerns.” She continued, “That was due in large part due to their stables of regular columnists, who tend to write from a perspective aligned with Israel. As a result, the viewpoints readers were most likely to encounter on the opinion pages of the two papers were sympathetic to, but not necessarily uncritical of, Israel.”

February 5, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , , | Leave a comment

HHS Official ‘Stonewalling’ House Committee Charged With Investigating Pandemic, Lawmakers Allege

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | February 1, 2024

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official on Wednesday evaded lawmakers’ questions about her agency’s response to the pandemic and its failure to produce requested documents related to COVID-19 vaccine approvals, vaccine mandates and booster guidance.

Melanie Egorin, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for legislation, was the sole witness to appear before the hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

“When the Select Subcommittee requested documents, HHS ignored our letters and provided suspect excuses,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chair of the subcommittee, in a statement released before the hearing. “When we asked for important testimony, HHS seemed to purposefully mislead Select Subcommittee investigators.”

“This pattern of avoiding accountability to the American people can not, and should not, be tolerated any longer,” Wenstrup added.

In November 2023, the subcommittee subpoenaed HHS. During Wednesday’s hearing, Wenstrup and other Republican lawmakers again threatened the agency with a subpoena and “further congressional action.”

HHS ‘continues to stonewall this committee’

In his opening remarks, Wenstrup launched into a scathing criticism of HHS and Egorin, who heads the office that responds to legal requests the agency receives.

“I’ve read your opening statement,” Wenstrup said. “Frankly, it’s somewhat insulting. There’s no significantly relevant facts or data in there. There are no explanations for the questions we have. In fact, it raises more questions than it does answers.”

Remarking on the November 2023 subpoena, Wenstrup said HHS “assured us things would improve and your testimony was unnecessary. The department’s compliance has not improved to this day.”

Wenstrup cited documents HHS provided “with unnecessary and some illegitimate redactions” and “documents that are simply unrelated to our request,” including “hundreds of pages of news articles,” which Wenstrup said, “simply seems to be a tactic to inflate your productive page count.”

Egorin claimed that redactions in records HHS provided to the subcommittee were meant to protect “personal information” of “government officials” and “public servants” mentioned in the documents, “for their personal safety.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic should not be partisan, it should not be controversial, but it needs to be based on facts — facts that you have that we are not getting,” Wenstrup said.

Noting that Congress created HHS, funds the agency and “has the absolute right” to oversee it, Wenstrup said, “The department’s honesty and cooperation is non-negotiable.”

Wenstrup outlined instances when the subcommittee requested documentation from HHS, including information about the origins of COVID-19, the process of approving the COVID-19 vaccine, the Biden administration’s school reopening guidance, the implementation of COVID-19 mandates, COVID-19 booster guidance and other issues.

HHS was largely unresponsive, Wenstrup said.

Regarding requests for HHS records on COVID-19’s origins, for instance, Wenstrup said the documents the subcommittee received were “more redacted than FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] productions” or were “non-responsive to the questions or [were] copies of press articles.”

Wenstrup said it took “two follow-ups, a subpoena threat and scheduling transcribed interviews” before HHS delivered documents regarding the Biden administration’s school reopening guidance.

For requests related to the implementation of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and booster recommendations, Wenstrup said HHS has “not produced a single document.”

In response to a request for records related to the use of personal email by an employee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), Wenstrup said HHS did not deliver documents on the basis that “It was an internal investigation.”

Wenstrup said that’s “an excuse that’s not founded” because the subcommittee is conducting its own investigation and has “oversight over HHS.”

Egorin acknowledged that her office “serves as the primary link between the department and Congress, which includes facilitating responses to Congressional oversight.” But she also frequently relied on pre-prepared talking points.

“HHS has a demonstrated record of working diligently across a broad range of oversight requests from Congress including this subcommittee and is committed to continuing to engage in good faith,” she said, adding, “We have produced 35 productions totaling more than 10,000 pages, including a production just this week.”

Egorin also praised her agency’s mission to enhance “the health and well-being of all Americans.” She said:

“We accomplish this mission every day by providing effective health and human services by fostering sound sustained advances in the sciences, underlining health medicine and the social services.

“We protect Americans from health, safety and security threats both foreign and domestic and we oversee the safety, effectiveness and quality of foods, drugs, vaccines, and medical devices.”

Egorin also used the hearing as an opportunity to praise the Biden administration, saying that HHS would “continue to work to ensure Americans are safe and have access to care and support they need,” citing the agency’s administration of “more than 7 million COVID vaccines.”

HHS accused of ‘intimidating witnesses and interfering with their testimony’

Wenstrup brushed aside Egorin’s claims, arguing that she and her agency have attempted to “run out the clock” of the current Congressional session.

In one exchange, Wenstrup asked Egorin whether the 274 pages the subcommittee received “regarding the approval of the Pfizer COVID vaccine” was “the entirety of responsive documents in the department’s possession.”

Egorin replied, “We did produce documents and we are happy, if that is a priority for the subcommittee, to go back and continue to work with your committee to respond to that request.”

When Wenstrup pressed for an answer as to whether HHS would “produce every responsive document in the department’s possession,” Egorin said, “What I commit to you is to continue to work with the staff’s priorities and to continue to do productions. Some of the requests that we got were incredibly broad.”

Wenstrup countered:

“You argue that our search terms are too broad despite the fact that we have continually negotiated with your staff to scope these requests.

“If you don’t want to answer my questions about process, that’s fine, but I’m going to continue to ask them and the record will show that you’re not answering.”

Wenstrup also accused Egorin and HHS of obstructing witness testimony. “The night before each interview, you personally issue a memo to the subcommittee and the witness, instructing the witness as to what they can and cannot testify to.”

Rep. John Joyce (R-Penn.) accused HHS of “stonewalling” multiple House committees, including the Committee of Energy and Commerce, saying that requests from both bodies “have been ignored repeatedly” by HHS.

Joyce mentioned an Aug. 1, 2023 request concerning the development and implementation of vaccination policies and mandates, saying the subcommittee received no documents.

“And yet you told me that you have been responsive. Is there a reason why this information has not yet been produced?” Joyce asked.

“We have shown a good faith accommodation to work with this subcommittee and the Committee on Energy and Commerce,” Egorin claimed. “We did provide a response and if it is a priority for the subcommittee, I’m happy to continue to work with you and work with the staff.”

“We on this side don’t see that responsiveness,” Joyce said.

Regarding documents pertaining to an NIAID employee’s use of personal email, which Wenstrup described as an “illegal … evasion of transparency laws,” Egorin said that she “cannot speak to internal investigations and timelines, but I’m happy to get back to you.”

Wenstrup, pressing Egorin, produced a memo in which she appeared to instruct the NIAID employee not to divulge information regarding his official work.

Egorin acknowledged that she personally approved the memo, saying it was “a longstanding practice of the department” to provide such memos, which she claimed were “advisory.”

“It seems the department council treats these memos as mandatory and I think there is an argument to be made that even by issuing them, the department is intimidating witnesses and interfering with their testimony in violation of the law,” Wenstrup said.

NIAID is the agency formerly headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Subcommittee accused of obstructing preparations for ‘the next pandemic’

In contrast to Wenstrup’s animated opening statement and line of questioning, the subcommittee’s standing member, Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) posed a softer set of questions, appearing to praise the work of HHS while claiming Republican subcommittee members were obstructing preparations for “the next pandemic.”

“The department has also worked to make a dozen current and former federal officials available for more than 80 hours of testimony, correct?” Ruiz asked. “And just to confirm, you’ve made all these efforts on a voluntary basis, correct?”

“I’ve called for a focus on the forward-looking work of preventing and preparing for future pandemics,” Ruiz said, “But instead of doing this work, our first hearing of the new year is focused on creating a false narrative … for Republicans’ partisan gain.”

“This is not putting people over politics, this is putting politics over people and the critically important work of preparing for future pandemics,” Ruiz added.

Ruiz also appeared to promote the zoonotic theory of COVID-19’s origin — that the virus crossed over from animals to humans.

In one instance, he asked Egorin, “What steps has HHS taken to prevent, control and respond to the emergence of zoonotic diseases?”

Egorin responded, “One of the things coming out of the COVID pandemic and other lessons learned is really looking at how we do better at data collection and coordination across the department.”

“There is no consensus as to whether this leaked from a lab or whether it was a zoonotic origin,” Ruiz later claimed. “We should be focusing on what the administration is doing to help prevent a future pandemic, whether it’s a lab leak or whether it’s zoonotic.”

“We have not seen or heard so much as a shred of evidence substantiating their claims of a coverup of the pandemic’s origins or suppression of the lab leak theory on the part of Dr. Fauci,” Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) said.

In February 2023, the Department of Energy found SARS-CoV-2 likely emerged from a lab leak at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

HHS accused of covering up SARS-CoV-2 origin

During the hearing, lawmakers addressed EcoHealth Alliance, which has been implicated in gain-of-function research at the WIV, the alleged site of the SARS-CoV-2 lab leak, and a January report in the Wall Street Journal that a Chinese lab mapped the genome of SARS-CoV-2 two weeks before China publicly revealed it.

“We wonder why HHS has blocked witnesses from discussing EcoHealth’s current grant status,” Wenstrup said.” Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) claimed HHS is “covering for EcoHealth and for NIAID,” which Egorin denied.

Referring to the Journal’s report, in which Egorin was quoted and which was entered into the Congressional record at Wednesday’s hearing, Miller-Meeks asked Egorin why HHS did not share information about the genome, despite being aware of it in December 2019.

“Is it not important, if a genetic sequence was released on Dec. 28, that that would be important to developing vaccines, important to developing testing?” Miller-Meeks asked. “And why wasn’t that information shared? When did you know about the sequence? … Why wasn’t the committee informed or Congress informed?”

Egorin responded, “The documents related to this in the letter that you quote was when we informed Congress, when we came across a responsive document, I believe, and I need to double check that that was provided.”

“You’ve yet to say when you had access to the document, when HHS knew of this and why it was not reported,” Miller-Meeks said. “I would say this is extraordinarily important for preparing for the next pandemic.

Miller-Meeks added, “I find your response to be lacking and I think it, in fact, creates impediments to us going forward to prepare for the next pandemic.”

Democrats accuse Republicans of vaccine ‘skepticism’, promoting ‘unhinged conspiracies’

Other Republican members of the subcommittee also expressed frustration with HHS.

“It’s both unfortunate and unacceptable that you and HHS do not take your accountability to Congress and, by extension, to the American people seriously,” Miller-Meeks said. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) said Egorin’s “inability to provide the pertinent information is either deliberate or it is complete incompetence.”

“When agencies like HHS refuse to cooperate with requests from Congress, you are not only insulting this institution, you are insulting and disrespecting the American people,” Joyce said.

“I find it very hard to believe that somebody that is in charge of this, that knows that they’re coming in front of a committee that has, for a year, requested information, knows nothing and will just get back to us, even though you probably won’t get back to us because you haven’t for a year,” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said.

But Ruiz praised Egorin:

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Assistant Secretary Egrin on numerous fronts and she’s been nothing but forthcoming and cooperative in all aspects of our work.

“To characterize the department’s behavior as intentional obstruction when it has time and time again been responsive to this committee’s request is a gross politically calculated mischaracterization.”

“Under the guise of determining COVID-19’s origins, the majority has pursued a politically motivated probe, vilifying our nation’s public health officials and politicizing the intelligence community in the process.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said, “These investigations into the Biden administration and our public health officials are really quite shameful.” He characterized them as a “hatchet job on our nation’s health officials,” accusing Republicans of spreading “unhinged conspiracies” and “forcing their extreme ideology on the American people.”

Garcia said:

“This is the same majority that encourages skepticism … and attacks on our healthcare system … even [the] COVID vaccination process and vaccines in general.

“They’ve encouraged … followers on social media to ignore recommendations of doctors, to ignore vaccinations for children, comparing getting vaccines to essentially causing mass harm to the American public, which we all know is both shocking and incredibly irresponsible.”

Along similar lines, Ruiz said, “We have a debilitating distrust in our nation’s public health systems that was manufactured, and we have childhood vaccination rates at an all-time low.”

Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) also appeared to speak for HHS, saying it “has consistently worked to address the majority’s requests and expedite their stated priorities.”

HHS threatened with new subpoena

Unsatisfied with Egorin’s testimony, Republican members of the subcommittee threatened HHS and Egorin with new subpoenas and other potential sanctions.

“I just hope that we get ourselves in a situation pretty soon … where we can do something to make you take the oversight of Congress seriously,” Jackson said, promising to find ways to “fence off some money to your organization. We’re going to have to do something drastic.”

In his closing remarks, Wenstrup said, “If we don’t receive explicit answers for the record, unfortunately we’ll be forced to evaluate a subpoena to receive the outstanding documents and further testimony.”

A press release the subcommittee issued today stated that “further congressional action” is “on the horizon.”

Watch the hearing here.

Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece, is a senior reporter for The Defender and part of the rotation of hosts for CHD.TV’s “Good Morning CHD.”

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

February 3, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

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