A renowned French historian and sociologist better known for predicting the Soviet Union’s dissolution well in advance now foretells the West’s overthrow in his newest book.
French historian Emmanuel Todd believes that NATO is already losing the Ukrainian conflict. He likewise concluded that the defeat would eventually culminate in Russia’s reconciliation with Europe and its rapprochement with Germany, contrary to the wishes of the United States.
This view was expressed to Le Point Magazine during an interview ahead the release of his new book La Defaite de L’Occident (The Defeat of the West).
In the book, he denounces the Western attitude toward Russia, stating that “Avoiding the rapprochement between Germany and Russia was one of the US goals. This rapprochement would have signed the ejection of the United States from the European system of power. Americans have preferred to destroy Europe rather than save the West.”
Todd’s La Defaite de L’Occident excerpt highlights America’s waning status as a global superpower and its weak military-industrial complex.
The French historian also underlined the diminished influence of Europe, once represented by a strong partnership between France and Germany, highlighting that Germany has taken a dominant role since the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Furthermore, he pointed out that in the wake of the Ukrainian conflict, the European Union has distanced itself from Russia, therefore hurting its own trade and energy interests.
“We also saw Emmanuel Macron’s France vaporize on the international stage, while Poland became Washington’s main agent in the European Union, succeeding in the role of the United Kingdom that became outside the Union by the grace of Brexit… On the mainland, overall, the Paris-Berlin axis replaced a London-Warsaw-Kiev axis piloted from Washington,” Todd opined.
Todd decried the dominant narrative in the West about the conflict in Ukraine: “We are in a completely Putinophobic and Russophobic world.” He went on to argue for a pluralistic view that recognizes different perspectives. “I am fighting to keep the West pluralistic. If we look for my values, they are values of truth and pluralism,” he remarked.
Addressing the question of how this year’s US election might alter the trajectory of the Ukrainian conflict, the expert highlighted Russia’s steadfast commitment to its existing course. “For the Russians, it makes no difference. For Russia is at war with America, and they ignore changes in rulers,” according to Todd.
The societal costs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the U.S. are projected to reach $589 billion per year by 2030, $1.36 trillion per year by 2040 and $5.54 trillion per year by 2060 if steps are not taken to prevent the disorder, according to a study published last month.
The paper, “Autism Tsunami: The Impact of Rising Prevalence on the Societal Cost of Autism in the United States,” was first published in 2021, in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD). It was retracted almost two years later by the publisher and editor, citing “concerns” with methodology and the authors’ “non-financial interests.”
Last month,Science, Public Health Policy and the Law peer-reviewed and republished the study — the first to project present and future costs of ASD that links rising costs to the increasing prevalence of the disorder.
The authors found that previous studies, which didn’t account for increasing prevalence, tended to overestimate current costs — because they assumed prevalence rates among adults are the same as rates among children — and underestimate future costs associated with a growing autistic population with shifting care needs.
Researchers Mark Blaxill, Cynthia Nevison, Ph.D., and Toby Rogers, Ph.D., projected future ASD costs in three scenarios: a base case scenario assuming the continuation of existing trends; a low scenario providing a conservative estimate of future costs; and a prevention scenario exploring possibility of future mitigation of environmental causes.
But these two premises of the paper — that prevalence is increasing and that environmental intervention is possible — made a straightforward modeling paper controversial and were the basis of the “concerns” raised that led to its retraction.
Those premises ran counter to the deeply held assumptions of the autism research and treatment industry, which continues to sidestep the issue of increasing prevalence and holds that autism is primarily a genetic and not an environmental disease.
U.S. could surpass 6% rates of ASD in children in 2024, 7% in 2032
To build their model, the researchers estimated four key parameters: the historic and future prevalence of ASD, the future size of the ASD population, the cost per individual over the course of a lifetime, and inflation projections.
Prevalence projections were based on the California Department of Developmental Services caseload data from 1931 to 2016. The researchers used U.S. Census Bureau population predictions to translate prevalence into actual numbers of people with autism. They multiplied those by different cost categories partitioned by age group and severity of ASD and applied an inflation index to their projections.
Nevison told The Defenderthis approach to calculating future costs was built on previous models that similarly identified cost categories and multiplied them by autism populations in each age group.
“But we used a more sophisticated prevalence model, and that provided an advance over previous work,” she said.
Their ASD prevalence model showed that based on current trends, the U.S. could surpass 6% rates of ASD in children in 2024 and 7% in 2032, and then would likely rise more slowly after that. This differed from previous models, which predicted continuous exponential growth.
Costs associated with ASD included “non-medical services” like community care and day programs, individual and parent productivity losses, estimated special education costs, early and behavioral intervention and medical costs.
Rising prevalence itself makes costs go up, the study showed, but so does the fact that the mix of costs changes over time as the autism population ages and has different care needs.
As people age, their needs change, Blaxill told The Defender, “You’re dealing with education and parental loss productivity in the early years, and you’re dealing with residential services and medical care and lost adult productivity of disabled people. So it’s a whole different profile.”
As the first generation of parents of children of the autism epidemic, who shouldered much of the burden of care-taking, begin to die around 2040, according to the study, costs of care that had been borne by them will shift onto state and federal governments.
The cost increase, Blaxill said, “is radical, it will cost $5 trillion a year.”
Nevison told The Defender that for their “prevention” scenario they looked to an existing example with good data where ASD rates had gone down.
She and a colleague published that research in JADD in 2020, showing that while ASD rates, which had increased for all U.S. children across birth years 1993-2000, either plateaued or declined among white families living in wealthy counties, suggesting those families made changes that lowered their children’s risk of ASD.
“The Prevention scenario assumes that these parental strategies and opportunities already used by wealthy parents to lower their children’s risk of ASD can be identified and made available rapidly to lower-income children and ethnic minorities, who are currently experiencing the most rapid growth in ASD prevalence,” the “Autism Tsunami” authors wrote.
The paper does not indicate what those changes may have been, but Blaxill told The Defender they hypothesized the changes happened among families who followed alternative vaccination schedules and other lifestyle changes.
Even in the prevention scenario, the paper found, the cost of ASD will skyrocket to $3.7 ± 0.8 trillion annually by 2060 because it still needs to account for the demographic momentum of the large ASD population born over the last three decades.
The authors concluded that rising autism rates must be taken seriously as a public health and economic policy issue.
“Paradoxically, the future costs of autism loom so large that, rather than responding with a sense of urgency as one might expect, policymakers thus far have generally failed to engage with the policy implications at all,” the authors wrote.
“We hope this paper will serve as a wake-up call for the public health emergency that the societal cost of autism represents to the economic future of the U.S.”
A ‘digital scarlet letter for eternity’
After the paper “sailed through peer review” at JADD, and became one of the journal’s most downloaded papers, there was immediate pushback, particularly in articles posted on the Spectrum News website (now The Transmitter ). Former JADD Editor-in-Chief Fred Volkmar launched an investigation into the study based on concerns raised.
One article on Spectrum even included a Twitter post that implied the authors’ idea of prevention was “eugenics,” an accusation the authors told The Defender was extremely shocking and hurtful and clearly an attempt to “cancel” them.
Rogers told The Defender, and detailed in a Substack post, that they had expected some negative response from gatekeepers, “because we broke new ground and the autism debate is always fraught in this country.”
But, he said, he and his co-authors were surprised when they were informed that Volkmar solicited new critical reviews and gave them one week to respond.
Rogers said in retrospect they realized “the die was cast at that point” and a decision had been made to undermine the article. However, the researchers “naively believed” they could provide rigorous responses to the reviews, which offered “nothing substantive” and the publication would stand.
The retraction statement indicated there were methodological concerns along with concerns that the authors, Blaxill, editor-at-large for Age of Autismand chief financial officer of the Holland Center, Nevison, a former board member of SafeMinds, and Rogers, who writes the uTobianSubstack and according to Spectrum had “written for the Children’s Health Defense Fund,” had not revealed their “non-financial” conflicts of interest.
According to Spectrum News these “undeclared conflicts” were the authors’ “anti-vaccine” views. Blaxill and Nevison had both previously published papers in JADD, with no similar concerns raised.
The authors noted in their response to reviewers, that the concerns enumerated by Volkmar mirrored those in Spectrum’s “hostile blog post.”
Rogers wrote, “The Simons Foundation has largely captured the field of autism research and they have hundreds of academics who are dependent on their largesse.”
“Rather than change direction based on new information the Simons Foundation doubled down on their wrongheaded strategy and they put the word out that ‘this article needs to get got,’” he added.
The authors also noted that no researcher in the history of JADD had listed a personal belief as an “undisclosed non-financial conflict of interest,” and that their premise that the rise in autism numbers is real and is primarily driven by environmental factors is a legitimate scientific viewpoint shared by others.
The authors also responded in detail to what they deemed to be minor comments by three reviewers.
Yet, the journal decided to retract the article, attaching what Rogers described as “a digital scarlet letter for eternity, ‘RETRACTED!’”
The authors attempted to sue but did not prevail.
“The whole process has been weaponized to serve power and money and nobody’s standing up for, or very few people are standing up for good science and proper methods and scientific norms and all that stuff that we would expect to be foundational to all this sort of thing,” Rogers told The Defender.
“We are being censored because of a word that does not even appear in the article — vaccines,” Rogers wrote.
“The unstated implication about the California study was that those parents were likely operating on different vaccine schedules or skipping vaccines. The public health agencies never investigated this trend,” Rogers said, “because they are scared that they might find an association between vaccines and autism.”
He added:
“This cowardly act of censorship by JADD and Springer [its publisher] is a stunning admission of guilt by the mainstream gatekeepers. They simply cannot have a conversation about the facts because they know that they will lose. Censorship is all that they have left.”
Study predictions proving true
Since “Autism Tsunami” was first published, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, which conducts biannual surveillance of ASD prevalence, has issued two reports confirming a continued rise in ASD rates.
When the CDC first began collecting data in 2000, rates were 1 in 150 children diagnosed with ASD. In the 2021 report, the ADDM found that 1 in 44 or 2.27% of American 8-year-olds had ASD and in the 2023 report, it found that 1 in 36 (2.8%) 8-year-old children — 4% of boys and 1% of girls have ASD.
ADDM also reported that autism prevalence was higher among Black, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander children than among white and biracial children.
Yet the CDC continues to suggest that the numbers “might reflect improved screening, awareness and access to services” rather than actual growing rates.
Nevison told The Defender that given these growing rates, she is very concerned about the future of those living with ASD, especially given that it is already apparent that public services are unable to keep up with the needs of children on the autistic spectrum.
In her own school district, there is a critical shortage of educators who could serve children with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), many of whom have ASD.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education indicate this is a national problem — 42 states and Washington, D.C., have fewer special education teachers than schools need. Many children in special education are diagnosed with ASD.
Shortage of adult facilities already a reality in Massachusetts
“Autism Tsunami” pointed to the fact that the growing numbers of children diagnosed with ASD over the last few decades are or will be soon entering adulthood and will need different, and expensive, services from those provided by the already stretched Department of Education, such as residential care.
A new investigation on residential care for people with ASD published last week by the Boston Globe reported that the numbers predicted by “Autism Tsunami” are already materializing in Massachusetts.
“A record number of children with intellectual disabilities or autism turn 22 years old this year and qualify for adult services with the Department of Developmental Services,” the Globe wrote.
That number has doubled in the past 10 years to more than 1,430 people “driven by the tremendous increase in children with autism. Autistic children now account for more than half of these new adults.”
“There has been very little planning to prepare for this,” Michael Borr, the parent of an adult son with autism and former chairman of Advocates for Autism of Massachusetts, told The Globe.
In the past, Borr said, “I would talk about the tsunami that is coming. It’s not coming any more; it’s here.”
The Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, which licenses and runs group homes, last year informed the legislature that it has an “extremely limited” capacity to provide housing to autistic adults who have different needs than their typical clients.
The Globe investigation also found that many hundreds of children and adults with autism in residential schools have been physically assaulted or neglected at residences with low-paid and poorly trained caregivers.
The newspaper provided several examples of serious assaults on non-verbal residents by caregivers.
Massachusetts group homes for adults have more than 4,000 vacancies for direct care staff, which is more than one-quarter of the necessary workforce.
And “while federal law guarantees special education services for disabled children, adult services are largely dependent on eligibility criteria and funding,” according to The Globe, leading to a lot of uncertainty for the aging parents of autistic young adults.
Blaxill told The Defender that without interventions to slow ASD prevalence rates, “It’s going to grow so fast, it’ll break the system. If we go from maybe 1 or 2 million people — most of them children with autism — to 10, 15, or 20 million people with autism — most of them adults — that’s a dramatically different service population and cost problem and cost profile.”
Blaxill, who also is the parent of an autistic child, said the problem isn’t only the cost, but for people with ASD, “The parents are their advocate. We take care of them. But we’re all getting old.”
He said he’s constantly worried for his daughter’s future. “When we’re gone, who’s going to watch over her? Who’s going to advocate for her with the state? Who’s going to protect her from abuse or violence?”
“It’s a crisis,” he said.
The major barrier to confronting this crisis, Rogers told The Defender, isn’t just Big Pharma. There is an entire autism industry that has sprung up that includes pharma, but also researchers, nonprofits, academic journals and more, he said.
“That industry is worth upwards of a trillion dollars and they don’t want to have a conversation about root causes or prevention. They want to make money from the disease industry.”
Brenda Baletti Ph.D. is a reporter for The Defender. She wrote and taught about capitalism and politics for 10 years in the writing program at Duke University. She holds a Ph.D. in human geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin.
Huge military expeditions have explored Antarctica and billions of dollars are spent each year to maintain expensive bases there. The United States maintains three large bases in Antarctica in a Polar program with 3000 people, plus military transport support. McMurdo Station has 1650 personnel, was built by the US Navy, and happens to exist near an active volcano. What are they really doing there? This expense is not justified by the research claimed of dubious value. These are not tests or experiments, they are permanent facilities that collect and transmit data for unknown purposes. There are top secret activities in Antarctica that huge corporations don’t want the American people and US Congress to know exist.
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“Scientists find cave systems around active volcanoes in Antarctica that could house life”; Andriana Bello; Pulse; September 9, 2017; https://www.pulseheadlines.com/scient…
“Operation Highjump | Mission: Find and Destroy the Secret Nazi UFO Base in Antarctica”; The Why Files; YouTube; July 7, 2022; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aga-f…
British historicist Arnold Toynbee once described Judaism as a unique aberration within the human experience. Fossilized in their fanatical hatred of non-Jews, Jews throughout history have been ready to violently oppose every single culture and nation they encountered, even at the cost of their internal intellectual and civilizational development. For the Jewish people, the story of “Hanukkah” is a vital reference point central to their antagonistic and insular identity.
In the books of Maccabees, this race-feeling is explored in vivid detail. Here, Jews define themselves as irreconcilable with Greek civilization, gnawing at the Hellenic hand which at the time had touched the entire known world through the conquests of Alexander the Great. As a rule, the Hellenic empires of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria that followed Alexander’s passing treated the Jews and their customs with dignity and respect.
But a drastically different narrative is spun up for “Hanukkah.” According to Jewish sources, a Seleucid tyrant, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (215 BC – 164 BC), decided without warning to pass a decree that would forcibly Hellenize the religious customs of all the peoples in his vast empire. Antiochus was particularly fixated in his irrational hatred on the monotheistic Jews, who he indiscriminately mass murdered and robbed, and whose sacred Temple he profaned with his and his people’s “animal-like” Greek ways. Supporting Antiochus IV in this campaign were local Jewish traitors who had bought the position of high priests from the Seleucid throne, offering the treasures of the Temple as bribe. Eventually, the honorable Jews — Hasidim — could no longer stand the flagrant abuses and formed revolutionary bands that, with the help of angels, waged a seven year war beginning in 167 BC, where they won epic battles against the formidable Seleucid army, executed traitors, and eventually won the liberation of the Jews.
The problem with this legend is that many take this narrative, one of a one-dimensional, Greek Hitler waking up one day to persecute the Jews, at face value. Part of the problem is that unlike, for example, the Ptolemaic Egyptians who meticulously documented everything on papyrus, little is known about the Seleucids outside of coins and cuneiform. This presents a challenge in our understanding of human development and the broader importance of Seleucid civilization, which syncretically combined Hellenism with Syriac culture (which the Jews belong to) that was of paramount consequence in the later creation of important world religions such as Christianity and Islam.
More narrowly, the lack of Seleucid sources leads to an overreliance on highly prejudiced and downright dishonest Jewish writers. There are historians, often Jewish and some Gentiles, that treat the likes of the books of Maccabees, the book of Daniel, and serial slanderer Flavius Josephus (who relies on the book of Maccabees as the source of his history) to a positivist reading. Some go as far as to suspend established convention in historical investigation by inventing new, laughable categories such as “Theological History” in hopes that the broader public treat the “Hanukkah” legend — which evidence available elsewhere sharply refutes — as common knowledge. The outcome of all of this is that the unambiguously positive contributions of Greek civilization and the men who led it are stained with frivolous accusations of monstrous atrocities pulled out of thin air.
Let us examine the problem with the veracity of these source texts. The books of Maccabees assert that the five volumes were authored by a so-called Jason of Cyrene, a Greek-speaking Jew who nonetheless supported the anti-Greek rebellion, but there is no evidence this Jason of Cyrene ever existed. Modern scholars, including Israeli academics such as Sylvie Honigman, have concluded that these texts were instead authored by Hasmonean dynasty’s courtiers as a piece of self-aggrandizing propaganda and founding myth meant to legitimize themselves while uniting the Jewish people against outsiders in a time marked by ceaseless internal power struggles. As for the less important book of Daniel, which says it is the work of a 6th Century BC prophet foreseeing the Maccabean rebellion, the story was really written in 164 BC.
Maccabees is polluted by blood libel, where the Seleucids are charged with engaging in impossible acts of genocide against the Jews. In one instance ( 2 Maccabees 5:11–14), it is stated that Antiochus IV led his army through a rampage through Jerusalem, slaughtering 80,000 Jewish men, women and children and placing another 80,000 into slavery. According to the research of Israeli archaeologist Hillel Geva, physical evidence suggests that in reality, the total 2nd Century BC population of Jerusalem was well under 10,000.
Claims of Antiochus IV’s intolerance of Jewish customs, or that he passed a royal decree to force Hellenize the religions of peoples of his empire are also fiction. While it is true that both Romans and Greeks generally came to view Jews in a highly negative light, the Hellenistic empires followed the Achaemenidean structure of rule, where they provided religious and cultural toleration to prevent rebellions, preferring instead to leave cultural matters in the hands of local elites. When Coele-Syria (where historic Palestine was located) was under Ptolemaic rule, Jews enjoyed a great deal of self-determination and the freedom of religion. When the Seleucids defeated the Ptolemaic Egyptians in the 3rd Century BC and took over the region, Ptolemy IV attempted a counter-attack to reclaim Jerusalem, under the assumption that the Jews who he had treated benevolently would remain loyal to him. Instead, they betrayed him by taking up arms on behalf of the Seleucids, an opportunistic act King Antiochus III (the father of Antiochus IV) repaid by allowing Jerusalem to enjoy Mosaic law as their constitution.
Later on, Antiochus IV took power. He prayed to Zeus, but there is no evidence he held particular disdain for Judaism or monotheism. Seleucid coinage minted at the time of Antiochus IV’s alleged decree restricting religious liberty show the leader’s face alongside local non-Greek Gods and Goddesses portrayed in an honorific fashion, which is consistent with what we know about how Greeks interacted with the native peoples and their religions in the vast regions they governed. The cult of Yahweh would’ve also been unremarkable to Antiochus IV, as the king had spent much of his formative years in Greece, where he was exposed to the positive appraisal of ideas pointing to an eternal, supreme and universal God that existed solely in the realm of metaphysics. This conceptualization of God is embraced in the works of Xenophanes and Parmenides, as well as in Aristotle’s (Alexander the Great’s teacher) concept of the “Prime Mover” and Plato’s “The One.” Leading Greek intellectuals were transitioning Hellenic thought towards monotheism centuries before Antiochus was even born.
As for Antiochus IV’s temperament, there is not a shred of evidence that he was a bloodthirsty dictator outside of prejudiced Jewish texts. Reliable Greek sources, such as Polybius (from which Livy draws upon) describe him as a populist, kind, and easygoing figure. Antiochus IV was known for displays such as wearing toga and campaigning for votes, which suggests that he held political consent in high esteem. He was, contrary to how he is portrayed in Jewish sources, fixated on being popular, generally showing deference to the local customs of people in his multi-ethnic empire and having a propensity to giving unexpected gifts. He freely mingled with commoners, took to the stage to act in plays, loved to hang out in public spaces, and was known for handing money out to the poor on the street, all which earned him mockery among his snobby peers but won him the love of his people. His greatest flaw was not that he was particularly ruthless, but instead a poor administrator who bit off more than he could chew when dealing with external foes such as the Romans and Parthians.
It must be conceded that virtually all ancient historians relished in exaggeration, held political biases, and even traded in ironic contradiction, but special scrutiny must be applied when utilizing even “secular” Jewish sources, such as Flavius Josephus (the sole writer promoting the Maccabees story as fact), as primary texts. Josephus, a Jew who managed to enter Roman high society and influence its public opinion, was a Pharisee who, while predictably expressing opposition to the Jewish rebellion against his Roman benefactors in the first century AD, nevertheless used his new status to spread flagrant falsehoods against perceived enemies of Jews.
Josephus trafficked heavily in vindictive lies and laundered sources he likely knew were phony. For example, he is the sole source for the accusation that Cleopatra VII murdered her sister Arsinoe IV in Against Alpion, a claim that has no corroborating evidence and was never treated seriously by historians in the past or the present. He also asserts that Cleopatra was committing atrocities against the Jews, such as allowing them to die off in a famine she refused to relieve, once again there is no substantiating source to suggest this ever happened. In truth, Josephus appears to have targeted Cleopatra with smears to intensifying Roman antipathy towards her in vengeance for her attempt to fight back against the treacherous Jewish king Herod, who broke his agreement with the Ptolemaic Egyptians and sold them out to the Romans.
Josephus, along with fellow Jews Aristobulus and Philo, is also responsible for perpetuating the brazen 2nd Century BC forgery known as the “Letter of Aristeas.” This document, which these Jewish “historians” declare is an authentic account written by an advisor to Ptolemy II Philadelphus, features a Greek who is dismayed by the moral inferiority of his own race compared to the pious and perfect Jews. The letter goes on to detail claims of Greek sexual depravity and the mass enslavement of Jews (another fake atrocity, this time contradicted by countless Ptolemaic sources).
This letter is today universally understood by scholars to have actually been an appalling conspiracy of ancient Jewish deception. The Letter of Aristeas was fabricated by a group of malicious Jews with no connection to Ptolemy II whatsoever with the sole intent of reversing the ancient world’s unanimously negative opinion of Jews by slandering the reputation of the highly respected Greeks.
When examining all of this information, serious historians have no choice but to dismiss Jewish sources — from Maccabees to Josephus — as low-quality references at best and deceitful fiction at worst.
This then brings us to the question, what actually transpired between Antiochus IV and the Maccabees?
Here, we can consult with Book V of Tacitus’ Histories, one of the few non-Jews to comment on this incident and generally seen as reliable by classical scholars:
There stood a temple of immense wealth. First came the city with its fortifications, then the royal palace, then, within the innermost defenses, the temple itself. Only the Jew might approach the gates; all but priests were forbidden to pass the threshold. While the East was under the sway of the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, Jews were the most contemptible of the subject tribes. When the Macedonians became supreme, King Antiochus strove to destroy the national superstition, and to introduce Greek civilization, but was prevented by his war with the Parthians from at all improving this vilest of nations; for at this time the revolt of Arsaces [modern day Iran] had taken place. The Macedonian power was now weak, while the Parthian had not yet reached its full strength, and, as the Romans were still far off, the Jews chose kings for themselves. Expelled by the fickle populace, and regaining their throne by force of arms, these princes, while they ventured on the wholesale banishment of their subjects, on the destruction of cities, on the murder of brothers, wives, and parents, and the other usual atrocities of despots, fostered the national superstition by appropriating the dignity of the priesthood as the support of their political power.
From here, we can begin to piece together a more accurate story.
According to the work of Jewish historian Elias Bickerman, tension between Jews and the Seleucid state began when local Jewish leaders petitioned Antiochus IV to transform Jerusalem into a polis. While the Seleucids were usually reluctant to incorporate parts of their empire without a strong presence of Greek settlers, Jewish elites saw advantages in the reduced taxation rate and prestige they would enjoy under these circumstances.
King Antiochus IV, in other words, was largely a passive actor in what was effectively an internal Jewish fight between those who sought to voluntarily Hellenize and those who rejected the concept entirely. He did seem to back the Hellenizing faction, but there is no evidence that this was particularly aimed at stamping out the Jewish religion, only to increase the local power of the pro-Greek Jews. Jewish scripture presents this as the battle between the pro-Greek Jason and his brother, Onias III, who opposed all semblances of Greek culture. Jason eventually won the conflict and became high priest, then was himself overtaken by a rival Hellenized Jew Menelaus, which then led to a coup attempt by Jason, and so on.
At first, one might be tempted to conflate Hellenization with religious systematization, but parallel cases would prove this to be a false assumption. The Samaritans, a non-Jewish people who adhered to the Torah and most Jewish rituals, enthusiastically embraced Hellenism in the 4th Century BC and lived under Seleucid rule, but their religious customs were never repressed or disrespected by the Greeks (this changed under the Byzantine Empire due to Samaritan refusal to convert to Christianity).
In fairness to the Jews and possibly substantiated by Tacitus, there is a possibility that Antiochus IV considered backing the local Hellenizing faction in ways that could be perceived as attacks on the Jewish religion, such as laws forbidding practices Greeks and Romans remarked upon as acts of barbaric superstition, specifically circumcision, which would’ve provoked the ire of puritanical Jews.
But is nonetheless abundantly clear that the Hellenization process of Jerusalem was not a conscious policy of the Seleucid bureaucracy, nor was it important to Antiochus IV. For Jerusalem to have been transformed into a polis, the prerequisite would’ve been the construction of an agora, the existence of a theater, an archeion, and most notably, the establishment of a gymnasion the book of Maccabees indignantly claims was built across from the Temple as an affront to Judaism. There is no archaeological evidence that any of these structures ever existed.
Antiochus’ decree to crush non-Greek religion? Sylvie Honigman and others concur that it never happened.
We can only speculate what, if any, kinetic military engagement the Seleucids even had with the Jews. The Olympiodoros inscription suggests that a Jewish tax rebellion may have occurred, but the chronology of this artifact is disputed. There is a possibility that the civil war that broke out between the various factions of Jews vying for high priesthood described in Jewish texts could have spurred Seleucid intervention, or that political and legal measures were taken by Seleucids to punish the Jews for their insolence. None of this is clear.
What is self-evident is that Antiochus IV would not have been away waging war in Parthia if the gravity of the supposed Maccabee rebellion situation in the heart of the Coele-Syria satrapy was as Jewish sources describe. The man accused of being a single-minded anti-Semite appears to have had much more pressing concerns than how Jews prayed or mutilated one another’s genitals.
Antiochus IV perished while campaigning in Parthia in 164 BC. The subsequent and rapid collapse of the Seleucid empire, brought down by elite infighting and devastating defeats at the hands of the Persians and Romans created a power vacuum that the Hasmoneans (who claimed to be the heirs of the anti-Greek rebels) later filled in 141 BC with no resistance. 100 years later, the Hasmoneans fought again amongst themselves to take control of the throne, a civil conflict that only ended with Roman intervention.
What we can concur with confidence is that the most notorious episode of religious persecution in the ancient world, that of Greeks orchestrating a genocide of Jews, never happened. The Maccabees revolt itself either never occurred, or if it did, was far more reduced in scope and far less noble (driven by economic incentives) than is commonly believed.
And in spite of increasing interest in the historical and archaeological evidence vindicating Antiochus IV and the Seleucid empire, the blood libel of “Hanukkah” — a self-aggrandizing and hateful piece of fake news — continues to be celebrated as a sacred triumph of Judaism over Western civilization.
A purported rapist lawyer will likely defend the Israeli regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against allegations of genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip.
South Africa filed an 84-page suit against Israel at the ICJ on December 29, asking the top UN court to urgently declare that the regime has breached its responsibilities under international law since October 7, when it launched its genocidal campaign in Gaza.
Barak Ravid, the political reporter at Axios, has revealed that American lawyer Alan Dershowitz, 85, will likely defend the case for Israel.
“Israeli officials say [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wants Alan Dershowitz to represent Israel at the @CIJ_ICJ hearing next week about South Africa’s accusation that it is conducting genocide in Gaza,” Ravid said on X.
Often referred to as Israel’s “attack dog,” Dershowitz in 2004 alleged that the top court was “founded” on discrimination, only because it had ruled that the Israeli-built “Separation Wall” was erected “contrary to international law.”
Dershowitz, among others, has defended sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. This is while a federal judge in New York last month ordered the identities of more than 150 people mentioned in court documents related to the crimes of Epstein to be released.
One of the victims said Epstein trafficked her to Dershowitz for sex at least six times, beginning when she was only 16.
A long-time friend and advisor of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Dershowitz also defended convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, a disgraced Hollywood producer who was arrested and charged with rape in New York back in May 2018, and was finally found guilty of two of five felonies in February 2020.
South Africa says Israel has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention, stressing that it “has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
South Africa will present its arguments on January 11, while Israel is set to counter on January 12.
Will the more than 100 Iranians killed by terrorist bombs today be mourned in the West as victims of terrorism? Certainly not. Allied doctrine has it that the killing of Israeli or American civilians is a crime of cosmic proportions, while shedding the blood of “enemy” women and children is perfectly acceptable; indeed commendable.
The West does not memorialize the hundreds of thousands of civilians bombed by the U.S. in Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan and every major German city 1943-1945. America’s fire-bombing of the city of Tokyo by General Curtis LeMay in March 1945 was followed by Harry Truman’s atomic incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that year. Truman never had a moment of doubt or regret over the murder of more than a 100,000 Asian children, mothers and non-combatant boys and men. It was business as usual for the “noble” Allies during the “Good War.”
In the West human rights signifies passionate concern only for civilians designated as truly human: Israelis first, then Americans and British, followed by their satraps.
This inhumanity is the legacy of Talmudic ideology, beginning with tractate Sanhedrin 57a from 400 A.D., concerning liability for capital punishment: “If a Jew murders a gentile, he is exempt.”
This teaching of contempt was reiterated in the dogma of Chabad Lubavitch founder Rabbi Shneur Zalman in the 18th century:
“In the Tanya of Zalman we encounter the doctrine that the souls of the gentiles contain no good whatsoever: Tanya Likutei Amarim I: ‘This law is taught: in the case of Israel, this soul of the kelipah is derived from kelipat nogah, which also contains good, as it originates in the esoteric ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.’ The souls of the nations of the world (gentiles) however, emanate from the other, unclean kelipot which contain no good whatever.”
The unbroken chain of this dogmatic hate speech was continued by the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in the 1920s. Kook weaponized the Talmud by uniting it with war-Zionism. He took the racism of the Talmud and “married” it to the Herzl/Ben Gurion ideology. Kook reiterated the Talmud’s ancient hostility to gentiles. He declared:
“The difference between the Israelite soul… and the souls of all the nations (gentiles), in their various grades, is greater and deeper than the difference between the soul…of man and the soul of animals. For between the latter there is only a quantitative difference, while between the former there exists a qualitative, essential difference.”
[Source: David Dishon,“The Beauty of Yefet in the Tents of Shem-Gentiles and Jews in the Thought of Rav Kook,” in Havruta: A Journal of Jewish Conversation. Shalom Hartman Institute. 1 (2): 80–89.]
Talmudic Zionist delegation to New York, 1924. Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Kook is on the right. Mayor John Hylan is at center.
The Cryptocracy clandestinely reverences the Talmud and the Kabbalah as the holiest books of Western civilization. This esteem has emerged in public in “Conservative” circles in the US and Britain, where Talmudism is hailed as an integral pillar of western civilization, an assertion which is unsustainable from the point of view of historiography, but a fervent article of faith on the Right, in that the Right wing believes that its agenda can’t prevail against the winds of woke without swearing fealty to this myth.
Influential Conservative Pastor Douglas Wilson advances his pro-nationalist views on the coattails of Talmudist philosopher Yoram Hazony of the Jerusalem Herzl Institute. I’m probably on safe ground in supposing that Rev. Wilson would never do the same partnered with an exponent of the Quran. Wilson, in spite of being acutely aware of the hate speech and blasphemous contents of the Talmud, offers a qualified “two cheers” for it in his new book, American Milk and Honey.
The august Acton Society, which bills itself as a paladin in the revival and restoration of our civilization, last month virtually canonized Lord Jonathan Sacks, the late Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth. Their gushing paean, brimming with rapture for Sacks’ life work, cited his mentor, the late Zionist Grand Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Chabad-Lubavitch, disciple of the aforementioned racist Shneur Zalman.
“It was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as Schneerson is known, who inspired Sacks to pursue his rabbinic ordination and dedicate himself to the Jewish people. These encounters would influence Sacks’ intellectual sensibility and approach to Jewish institutional leadership for the rest of his career.
“… Sacks delivered the Erasmus Lecture, hosted by First Things magazine in New York… under the auspices of Pope Francis, Sacks delivered the keynote address at the Vatican’s International Colloquium on ‘The Complementarity of Man and Woman.”
The Talmudic content of Rabbi Sacks’ teaching is not mentioned by the Acton institute. In a review of Jonathan Rosen’s book, The Talmud and the Internet, Chief Rabbi Sacks wrote:
“Rosen loves, as I do, the extraordinary moment in the Talmud in which God is outvoted on a point of Jewish law and celebrates the fact that his children have defeated him. In the world of the rabbis not only do men study the Word of God, God studies the word of men.”
Rabbi Lord Sacks was referring to tractate BT Bava Metzia 59b in which Rabbi Yehoshua contradicts God by declaring that the law is rightfully decided on earth by the rabbis, not in heaven. The Talmud has God admit he was wrong. It puts these words into God’s mouth: “My sons have defeated me! “My sons have defeated me!”
This is what Sacks “loves.” What does Mr. Sacks’ rabbinic megalomania have to do with the gospel of Jesus, or the literature of Augustine, Aquinas or Shakespeare? Nothing. In fact, it is profoundly inimical to it: the Talmudic mentality boasts of contradicting God. The Talmud of Mystery Babyon is an occult dictatorship emanating from the Torah sheBeal peh (the counterfeit “Torah” founded upon “the traditions of men” — cf. Mark 7 and Matthew 15).
The bipolar contradictions evident in the promotion of the demonstrably false legend of the West’s civilizational debt to Orthodox rabbinic theology carry the seeds of the downfall of the Conservative movement.
Meanwhile, Muslims in Iran today, and Arab civilians both Muslim and Christian in Gaza, die under the bombs of Western-enabled terrorists. This bloodshed is privately applauded in the salons and think tanks of America and Britain, given that the victims have been judged “qualitatively” and “essentially” to be a lesser “grade” of human.
Michael Hoffman manages the podcast, Revisionist History®. He is the author of the banned 2008 textbook Judaism Discovered (1,102 pages), and nine other volumes of history and literature, as well as 122 issues of the periodical, Revisionist History®. He is a former reporter for the New York bureau of the Associated Press and a former consultant to the news department of the New York Times. His books have been published in translation in Japan and France. He resides with his family in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Revisionist History® is a registered trademark of Independent History and Research, Box 849, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83816. All Rights Reserved.
A member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Tuesday that it is becoming increasingly clear to Israelis that “all Gazans must be destroyed,” it has been reported.
“My friends at the prosecutor’s office, who fought with me on political matters, in debates, tell me, ‘Moshe, it is clear that all the Gazans need to be destroyed,’ and these are statements I have never heard,” Moshe Saada told Channel 14. He claimed that the rise in calls to destroy all Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip proves that the right-wing was correct “all along”.
Today, he added, the matter is simple. “Everywhere I go, they [Israelis] tell me that all the residents of Gaza must be destroyed.”
Explicit calls for Israel to annihilate the population of the Gaza Strip have increased in number since the start of the apartheid state’s war on the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
Commenting on the MK’s comments, Israeli journalist Avner Hopstein said: “A former senior official in the law enforcement agencies is submitting evidence to the [International Criminal] Court in The Hague, saying that his friends in the Attorney General’s Office insist that all Gazans must be exterminated… The man is very stupid. When [former Attorney General] Shai Nitzan fired him, he did at least one good thing.”
Calley is the co-founder of TrueMed.com , a company that enables Americans to buy exercise and healthy food with FSA/HSA dollars, and the co-author (with his sister, Dr. Casey Means) of an upcoming book on food-as-medicine. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant for food and pharma companies and is now exposing practices they use to weaponize our institutions of trust. He is a graduate of Stanford and Harvard Business School. twitter.com/calleymeans
ICAN Lead Counsel, Aaron Siri, Esq., gives presentation ‘What is Informed Consent’ before members of the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee in Arizona. He explains the imperative of Informed Consent, and pillars that make it an essential tenet of freedom and liberty.
My initial encounter with the mental health system has had a lasting impact on my life. At the age of 22, my first post-undergraduate job took me to a children’s psychiatric hospital, where I worked with children between the ages of 5 and 10.
These children, many of whom were victims of abuse and neglect, were placed on a cocktail of mind & mood-altering drugs to manage their behavior. Despite clear signs of acute stress, they were assigned pseudoscientific labels such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, and Bipolar Disorder, and subsequently treated with the latest psychiatric medications.
It became clear to me that the main goal was to numb and sedate the children, with the intention of reducing behavioral issues and making them more manageable. Lethargy, excessive sleep, and emotional numbness were considered secondary; the absence of aggression was viewed as a successful treatment outcome.
Unfortunately, the path to sedation often led to worsening mood, increased aggression, ticks, akathisia, and other disturbing side effects. Shockingly, many of these adverse drug reactions were misinterpreted as symptoms of their supposed “mental illness.”
The prevailing belief was that they needed their “medicine” to balance their brain chemicals. Disregarding their behavior as a result of their living conditions or natural post-trauma responses was overshadowed by the declaration of a mental illness.
Recalling that period in my life, nights were restless for me, haunted by distressing images of young children suffering with horrific side effects from their prescribed “medicine.”It weighed heavily on my conscience, knowing that I was part of a system that would inevitably return these same children to environments marked by abuse, often worse off than when they arrived.
What would happen to these kids? What is the implication of labeling them as mentally ill when it was clearly their environment that was the problem?
The duration of their stay in the psychiatric hospital was relatively brief, typically spanning 7-10 days for “stabilization” before being sent back home. For many of these kids, it became a disheartening pattern – a revolving door in and out of the hospital until they were eventually discharged to a residential facility.
What troubled me even more was the emotional detachment exhibited by the staff. I often found myself wondering if others shared my concerns.
Were there others struggling with sleepless nights as I did?
How could a psychiatrist rationalize such treatment as humane?
I questioned the bystanders—the nurses, social workers, and counselors on staff—did anyone else share my reservations and question the ethics of this approach?
What about the human condition can allow seemingly good people to accept this as safe and ethical care?
What I uncovered was a diffusion of responsibility among the staff—an acceptance that they had no authority and the doctor must possess greater knowledge. There was an uncanny ability to deny reality. Many staff members seemed to assume that there must be a valid medical reason necessitating these drugs for the children.
Some held onto the belief that a complex medical treatment was at play, where the doctor, armed with advanced knowledge of biochemistry, was meticulously fine-tuning the dosage of a medication to enhance a child’s life. I recall saying “like a mad chemist?”
The concept of mental illness as a brain disorder was widely accepted.
I began to question the evidence supporting these practices. It struck me that many staff members knew little beyond what they were told, yet they were entirely comfortable accepting it as unquestionable truth.
There appeared to be little motivation to challenge the authority or a seeming lack of concern about the veracity of the information. This lack of critical inquiry and complacency deeply troubled me and became an enduring source of concern.
After moving on from the hospital and continuing my education with the ultimate aim of becoming a clinical psychologist, I realized that the psychiatric treatment I had observed with children in the hospital was unfortunately the norm in most community settings.
Children, teens, and adults alike were often assigned pseudoscientific labels and placed on multiple drugs, with little evidence of substantial help. This was mental health care. The predominant approach seemed to revolve around offering various methods of numbing or sedation.
The typical “treatment” involved assigning a diagnose, adjustments to dosages, the addition of new drugs, or discontinuation of existing ones, all within the framework of managing, rather than believing in, any form of recovery. The prevailing attitude was that, being deemed mentally ill, genuine recovery was not a realistic expectation—only ongoing management. Working in some of these settings proved to be a soul-crushing experience.
Many readers may be all too familiar with mental health treatment in the United States, but the focus here isn’t on the system itself. Instead, the question at the heart of this article is about human nature: How can seemingly rational and compassionate professionals reconcile endorsing such a treatment as ethically sound?
What does this reveal about human nature?
This has been a persistent question for me over decades. How can fellow human beings become so disconnected from the suffering of others? How can intelligent doctors endorse the notion of a “chemical imbalance,” witness the decline of their patients, and continue justifying the treatment?
Why do bystanders choose not to act?
Indeed, let’s confront the reality: the entire psychiatric drug movement can be characterized as a form of mass experimentation on the human brain. The profound implications and consequences of this approach warrant serious reflection and examination.
Not on the experiment itself… but what it demonstrates about humanity.
What is Sociopathy?
A sociopath, clinically referred to as someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), is an individual characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of others, coupled with a lack of empathy and remorse.
Sociopathy is marked by deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability, aggressiveness, and a consistent failure to conform to societal norms. These people can exhibit a charming and manipulative demeanor, enabling them to navigate social situations adeptly while lacking genuine emotional connections. They may engage in deceitful or criminal behavior without experiencing guilt or remorse, displaying a persistent pattern of exploiting others for personal gain.
The term sociopath is used interchangeably with psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder.
What distinguishes a sociopath from the general population is the striking inability to experience fundamental human emotions, most notably empathy, guilt, and remorse. There exists a profound detachment from the typical spectrum of human feelings, and, notably, some sociopaths may derive pleasure from the suffering or exertion of control over others.
This absence of moral and emotional anchors can lead to a disturbing capacity for manipulation and exploitation, as sociopaths navigate social interactions with a calculated and often self-serving perspective, void of the emotional connections that guide typical human behavior.
An early Radically Genuine Podcast episode explored this topic: Episode 25 titled “The Sociopath Next Door”: Listen here
The central theme of the episode was to educate the listener on the prevalence of sociopathy in society and its implications, revealing how 4% of the general population meets the criteria for this condition. This translates to approximately 1 out of every 25 people, a far more common occurrence than many realize.
Importantly, not every sociopath fits the stereotype of a mass murderer or repeat offender. Instead, sociopaths can be found in various roles of power and authority within our society. Some may choose careers in politics, medicine, or leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies, while others could be working at your local grocery store. The recognition of this broader spectrum highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of sociopathy and its potential impact across diverse facets of daily life.
I am not suggesting that every medical professional involved in psychiatric practices is a sociopath, but rather recognizing that a percentage of individuals in all fields exhibit sociopathic traits, while others may display characteristics such as deference to authority, adherence to established rules, and a fear of acting outside the norms defined by their profession.
When individuals in positions of power, wielding both financial and political influence, have the ability to shape the narrative, it becomes clear how detrimental medical practices could persist and thrive.
This realization has shaped my understanding of the perpetuation of harmful practices. I’ve dispelled the illusion that all human beings invariably act in each other’s best interests. History has consistently demonstrated that people often prioritize their own self interest when confronted with moral dilemmas. Embracing this recognition has been instrumental in fostering a more realistic perspective on human behavior and motivations, especially within the context of challenging ethical considerations.
In fact, we are compelled to confront the reality that a contemporary movement exists, expressing a strong aversion for human beings and propagating the belief that the majority of us are mere parasites to them, consuming resources without providing any inherent value.
Transhumanism
Transhumanism is the position that human beings should be permitted to use technology to modify and enhance human cognition and bodily function, expanding abilities and capacities beyond current biological constraints.Ultimately, by merging man and machine, science will produce humans who have vastly increased intelligence, strength, and lifespans; a near embodiment of gods.
Transhumanist perspectives include the notion that human life is expendable in the pursuit of scientific advancements and innovation. This philosophical stance raises ethical considerations about the balance between technological progress and the preservation of human dignity, prompting a broader societal conversation about the potential consequences and moral implications of prioritizing scientific pursuits over the inherent value of human life.
The conflict between spiritual or religious beliefs and transhumanist ideologies encapsulates a profound clash of worldviews. On one side, individuals rooted in spirituality or religious traditions prioritize the sanctity of life, viewing it as divinely ordained and deserving of respect and preservation.
In contrast, transhumanists advocate for the enhancement and transcendence of human limitations through technological means, sometimes challenging traditional notions of mortality and the human experience. This dichotomy raises complex questions about the ethical boundaries of scientific intervention, the nature of existence, and the role of spirituality in shaping our understanding of humanity.
When Virtue Becomes a Blindspot
I genuinely believe that most individuals who support psychiatric medications perceive it as an inherently virtuous and compassionate act. The primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and countless frontline psychiatrists prescribing medications daily are not inherently malevolent. Similarly, the parents who trust medical advice and diligently administer prescribed pills to alleviate their children’s suffering do so with the best intentions.
This belief is grounded in the recognition that, when someone is facing considerable distress, seeking solutions to ease their pain is inherently humane. Take persistent anxiety as an example, a condition that can be profoundly debilitating. Attempting to decrease anxiety to improve quality of life, on the surface, is reasonable.
Yet, beneath the surface lies a trust that these drugs, influencing the brain in ways that nobody could fully comprehend, will yield only positive outcomes. It’s a belief that suggests essential aspects of human nature and our inherent design are flawed. It suggests that a medical doctor can modify this experience by utilizing synthetic chemical compounds produced in a factory, with the expectation that this pharmaceutical will enhance the human experience.
These convictions are deeply ingrained in our culture, to the extent that people often reject contrary evidence when confronted with it. The reality, however, is that these chemical compounds seldom, if ever, result in a positive transformation of the human experience.
In some cases, these compounds lead to worsening conditions, while others find themselves in a state of numbness and sedation. Despite facing debilitating side effects, individuals endure them, driven by the idea that they themselves are fundamentally flawed—a supposed design error necessitating the intervention of these chemical compounds.
In the face of persistent suffering and worsening conditions brought on by the use of psychiatric drugs, I’ve observed mental health professionals attributing the decline to a “mental illness” rather than recognizing the consequences of the ongoing experiment on the patient’s brain.
This constitutes a form of brainwashing, a mass conditioning that persists for various complex reasons. Sociopaths, driven by a lack of empathy and fueled by a desire for profit and control, vehemently strive to maintain their position of authority and exploit the vulnerable for financial gain. Concurrently, the underlying transhumanism movement persistently conducts perverse experiments on human beings in an attempt to advance the human condition. Throughout history, there are also the bystanders who, for various reasons, allow these unethical practices to persist.
Lessons in Conformity
It runs deep. Our education system, spanning from grade school to medical school, often places a heavy emphasis on rote learning at the expense of fostering critical analysis and ethical considerations. The prevailing culture of standardized testing and rigid curricula tends to prioritize memorization of facts and figures rather than nurturing a deeper understanding of concepts and encouraging thoughtful inquiry.
Unfortunately, the result is a learning environment produces students who excel at regurgitating information but may lack the skills for independent thinking or ethical decision-making. Particularly in fields like medicine, where ethical considerations are paramount, the absence of dedicated education on ethics can have profound consequences.
In the realm of healthcare within a free society, an unquestioning deference to authority can prove particularly perilous. When individuals blindly trust medical professionals or institutional directives without engaging in critical scrutiny, it opens the door to harmful medical practices and compromises patient well-being.
The ethos of a free society demands an active and informed citizenry, especially in matters as personal and crucial as healthcare. Excessive deference in the medical realm can result in a lack of accountability and transparency, permitting harmful practices to persist. To safeguard the principles of individual health and autonomy, it is imperative for individuals to question medical authority, advocate for informed decision-making, and actively participate in shaping the ethical standards of healthcare delivery.
Indeed, it is a slippery slope. Without fostering critical analysis and ethical decision-making, we run the risk of relinquishing our medical freedom and blindly surrendering to medical authority.
Forced medical interventions without consent represent a blatant violation of free will and personal freedom, striking at the very core of individual autonomy. In a society that values personal agency and the right to make decisions about one’s own body, coercive medical practices undermine the fundamental principles of freedom. Such interventions strip individuals of their right to give informed consent, turning medical care into a tool of control rather than a service that respects individual choices.
The imposition of medical procedures without consent not only disregards the principle of bodily autonomy but also erodes the trust between individuals and the healthcare system. In a free society, respecting the sovereignty of personal decisions in matters of healthcare is paramount, and any breach of this principle threatens the foundation of individual freedom and self-determination.
If we relinquish the right to make informed medical decisions, we risk placing authority in the hands of individuals who may not prioritize our well-being. Sociopaths, lacking empathy and driven by personal gain, could exploit such a vacuum of autonomy for their own agendas.
Furthermore, a transhumanistic agenda, seeking to merge human biology with technology, might capitalize on the absence of individual decision-making, potentially leading to the imposition of radical medical interventions without regard for personal values or consent. Safeguarding the right to make our own medical choices becomes a crucial defense against potential abuses of power, ensuring that decisions about our health remain aligned with our individual beliefs and values rather than dictated by those who may not have our best interests at heart.
In April 2021 I had my AstraZeneca jab, ‘doing the right thing’ to protect myself and my family. I was a full-time teacher, fully fit: gym and swim three times a week. That Friday night I had a severe headache and tiredness.
By Monday morning, I couldn’t dress because of vertigo, nausea and migraines. By Thursday, my employer suggested I go to A&E as I’d been absent. A&E were concerned about my blood pressure and clots given that I’d had AZ. I was sent home and told to rest. I continued to be unable to work or function. In early May the GP sent for an ambulance from the surgery as my heart rate was 150 bpm at rest.
In the High Dependency Unit, I was asked after nine hours if I’d taken drugs as it was abnormal to have a heart rate and blood pressure like mine. I answered no and was discharged. Four days later I was back there via an ambulance, having blacked out trying to have a shower. The doctors were alarmed by my BP and HR again and gave me an analgesic. I was discharged.
I returned eight more times by ambulance with a racing heart rate, unable to breathe, pressure on my chest, gastroesophageal reflux, nausea, migraines, pins and needles, inability to control my temperature, slurred speech and vertigo. Despite all these symptoms, and being admitted with an irregular ECG I was told, ‘It’s stress. Go home with beta-blockers and we’ll arrange a heart echo and tape.’ The nurse said, ’This is wrong, you’ve pressure on your chest.’ Unable to breathe on beta-blockers, I was told by a GP: ‘It’s asthma, we’re not referring you, just use an inhaler.’ The hospital rang, said, ‘Your heart fell below 39 bpm. If this happens again call 999.’ The GP responded, ‘Just reduce beta-blockers.’
The hospital advised me to have Pfizer as my second jab. When I questioned this, I was told, ‘Do you want to die from Covid? You’re sick but you’ll be sicker if you catch it.’
In July 2021 I had my second jab. I experienced pins and needles but was told ‘You’re fine’ by the dispensing chemist. Two hours later my face swelled. That night I had to prop pillows under my back to breathe. I felt every nerve ending on my left side and my arm went dead. The metallic taste in my mouth was followed by a swollen tongue and an inability to swallow. My eyes were yellow. My heart raced.
The GP called and said ‘Come off the beta-blockers.’ My blood pressure dropped, I collapsed and an ambulance paramedic said, ‘It’s an SVT’. (Supraventricular tachycardia is a condition where your heart suddenly beats much faster than normal.) I was referred to a heart hospital. A cardiac nurse said, ‘You’re stressed, you need to go back to work and have CBT.’ (Cognitive behavioural therapy or ‘talking therapy’.) A later test showed ectopic beats and tachycardia. No phone call nor follow-up.
A gastroenterologist said, ‘I think you’re burping for attention, try Gaviscon.’ An allergy consultant said, ‘You’re struggling, it could be histamine.’ By now I couldn’t swallow properly, burped incessantly and struggled with speech/co-ordination/brain fog and living.
I fought to be referred to a long Covid clinic reluctantly by a GP. The clinic sent a link to an app and I had one online breathing session. That was it. I have paid thousands for referrals, private physio, holistic care just to get some semblance of a life back.
I was rejected by the benefits system by a phone call assessment in which they said, ‘Well, you concentrated for the assessment, so you can work.’ This was even though I broke down several times and asked for breaks. The small amount of ESA (employment and support allowance) I claimed in September 2021 was stopped as I missed a call from them.
The mental torture of being rejected by the NHS system, denied any help – financial or otherwise – and being branded a liar or fantasist by the very system that abused me, is as cruel as the broken body and devasting, life-changing symptoms the jab has left me with.
I now live with my parents. A one-night stay in April 21 turned into 20 months and full-time care. I lost my flat as I couldn’t work. I lost my job by September 2021 as I couldn’t dress, wash or eat independently. I couldn’t breathe, walk or function.
These injections have destroyed my life, my body and to some degree my soul. I’m lucky I had somewhere to go; someone to call an ambulance; someone to financially support me, to feed me and take care of me. Thousands haven’t and I understand the suicide rate is high. I am not surprised. It is the lack of empathy and understanding, and the brandishing of people as ‘liars and fantasists’ by the very system that abused us, that is as cruel as the initial violence itself.
I don’t know my future, but I do know this has been a cruel, abusive and life-altering ‘experiment’ on my body and mind. My message would be to support victims, at least believe them. This IS happening.
"Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza", a short film by Abu Ali Mustafa, released in 1973. As the title suggests, this film presents what everyday life was like for Gazans back in the 1970s, documenting the IOF's barbarism and also the steadfast resistance. pic.twitter.com/nvT2mYMUFP
I am sharing my reflections from my visits to Palestine over the years. I was truly saddened and shocked by the way Israel treated the Palestinians. It’s important to note this was years before Oct 7, which provides a Palestinian perspective. pic.twitter.com/XcOmcp6X4c
Living through five or six major wars has hardened me to what I thought were the extremes of inhuman cruelty and brutality.
Two things made those extremes almost bearable: the brutality always revealed – at least according to the media coverage – the viciousness of the enemy. It was therefore quite understandable when our “brave men and women” pulverized the enemy.
Films of Japanese torturing captive Americans somehow justified holding Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II; and only a small percentage of Americans found the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki unreasonably vengeful at best, at worst, depraved.
The media giants in America portrayed the North Koreans as barbaric beasts with their captives, quite unlike their southern counterpoints – our allies during the Korean War. No one ever felt the need to explain how the South Koreans were a civilized breed while the North Koreans were absolute savages, at least according to the official line.
In Vietnam, our warriors justifiably (or so the media made us believe) dropped napalm on the North Vietnamese who had the gall to hide in villages and tunnels to ravage our invaders. At least it was accepted practice until some rogue photojournalist filmed a young girl screaming down a Vietnamese road in flames. … continue
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