Nebraska Attorney General: Physicians Should be Allowed to Use Off-Label Ivermectin & Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

In what some might consider a bombshell breakthrough, the Attorney General of the State of Nebraska provided a legal opinion to the state’s Health and Human Services Department head. This just-released formal legal opinion suggests that the off-label use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 is acceptable. The Attorney General’s conclusions: “Allowing physicians to consider these early treatments will free them to evaluate additional tools that could save lives, keep patients out of the hospital, and provide relief for our already strained healthcare system.”  

This bombshell finding comes from a letter from Douglas J. Peterson, Attorney General, as well as James A Campbell, Solicitor General, and Mindy L. Lester, Assistant Attorney General to Dannette R. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Smith requested an analysis from the Attorney General’s Office to assess whether it was unlawful or otherwise subject to discipline under Nebraska law for a licensed health care provider to prescribe ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, or other “off-label use medications for the treatment of COVID-19” once informed patient consent has been obtained.  

The HHS head was interested in this opinion, since the Health and Human Services Department, via the Division of Publish Health, enforces the Nebraska Uniform Credentialing Act or “UCA.”

The Attorney General provided a detailed, lengthy analysis to the Nebraska HHS lead, declaring that based on the available data, they “do not find clear and convincing evidence that a physician who first obtains informed consent and then utilizes ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine after COVID-19 violates UCA.” Of course, there are exceptions. The physician must A) secure informed consent, B) not deceive their patients, C) not prescribe excessively high doses, D) check for contraindications, and E) not engage in other misconduct. 

In this bombshell of a letter, the Attorney General brought up disturbing trends evidencing misinformation during the pandemic, questionable studies (such as the one in The Lancet about hydroxychloroquine), which were then retracted, and other evidence of misinformation targeting off label drugs. TrialSite has chronicled a number of these alarming observations ranging from top medical journals to leading mass media newspapers.

Call to Action: Follow the link to read the opinion in its entirety. 

Armed robber shot in face by armed victim in Texas just days after permitless carry begins

An armed robber was shot in the face in Texas when his victim pulled out his own gun and shot at him, just days after a Texas law went into effect allowing residents to carry handguns without permits. 

"He was shot in the face one time. He’s at the hospital. He’s going to live. He’s conscious and breathing right now," Houston Police Department Lieutenant R. Willkens said. 

The incident unfolded Wednesday evening in Houston when the victim was walking to a local Shell gas station to make a few purchases, SBG San Antonio reported. 

TEXANS WILL BE ABLE TO CARRY HANDGUNS IN PUBLIC WITHOUT A LICENSE ON SEPT. 1 UNDER 'CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY' LAW

The suspect in the case was dropped off by a driver around the same time, and approached the victim by lifting his shirt to expose a gun and demanded he fork over any valuables. 

The victim, however, was also armed and pulled out his weapon and shot the suspect in the face. The suspect is in the hospital and in police custody. 

TEXAS 'CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY' BILL ALLOWING HANDGUNS TO BE CARRIED WITHOUT A PERMIT CLEARS SENATE

Additionally, no charges are expected to be brought against the victim, as he was defending himself. 

"He’s being extremely cooperative. He has no criminal history whatsoever," Willkens said of the victim.  

The incident comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a "constitutional carry" bill into law this summer allowing Texans to carry handguns in public without going through training or obtaining permits. 

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"You could say that I signed into law today some laws that protect gun rights," Abbott said at the bill signing in June. "But today, I signed documents that instilled freedom in the Lone Star State."

The law went into effect on Sept. 1.

Keep looking at snapshots and you’ll never see where this pandemic is headed until it reaches its final destination.

The debate and tension over the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines are flaring up. Comparative assessments of vaccine-mediated protection from infection, disease, hospitalization, and death in vaccinated and unvaccinated people are all over the place, with results ranging from convincing evidence of benefit to compelling proof of failure depending on the source of information. Those who’ve become addicted to these comparative statistics seem to forget that gauging the success of human intervention in a pandemic is about measuring success in a dynamic phenomenon and that snapshots taken under certain conditions/settings do not provide information about the overall evolutionary trend and likely health outcome of a pandemic. The latter can only be monitored by measuring temporal changes of parameters that are relevant to public and individual health. 

By March 2021, molecular epidemiologists had already expressed their concern about the emergence of a super-variant that ‘might have any combinations of increased transmissibility, altered virulence and/or increased capacity to escape population immunity’ and would, therefore, enjoy a huge fitness advantage1. Back then, their concern was based on phylogenetics-based natural selection analysis indicating that immunity-mediated selective pressure is driving convergent evolution of a diversified spectrum of mutations to ensure viral persistence in the face of mounting infectious and vaccine-induced host immune pressure

Their findings lead one to conclude that mass vaccination in the presence of more infectious variants inevitably involves selection-driven convergence of compensatory adaptive mutations at positively selected genome sites, and hence promotes enhanced expansion in the prevalence of more transmissible immune escape variants. This would imply that vaccine efficacy is expected to diminish over time while the infection rate would progressively increase. It is reasonable to assume that the evolutionary convergence of more infectious immune escape variants and the culmination thereof into a ‘super -variant’ will also cause distinct trajectories of the pandemic to increasingly converge in countries/regions that are subject to mass vaccination.  

An increase in infectious pressure leads to a higher risk of rapid viral re-exposure in the population. As far as previously asymptomatically infected unvaccinated individuals are concerned, rapid re-exposure to SARS-CoV-2  may lead to viral replication on a background of a suboptimal spike (S)-directed immune pressure (due to suboptimal, short-lived anti-S antibodies [Abs] of low affinity) and even to enhanced susceptibility to disease (due to suppression of functional innate Ab capacity by the afore-mentioned suboptimal anti-S Abs). When such suboptimal anti-S immunity occurs in a substantial part of the population it is likely to further increase natural immune selection pressure on viral infectiousness and, therefore, promote further expansion of more infectious variants, thereby giving rise to additional waves of infectious cases and morbidity. As the evolutionary dynamics of the virus in highly vaccinated countries/regions are now placing huge immune selection pressure on the viral fitness landscape, it is fair to postulate that the highly diversified spectrum of evolutionary trajectories of this pandemic seen in different highly vaccinated countries will now rapidly narrow down to a more uniform path characterized by the following, prognostically unfavorable features:

  • Waning of vaccine efficacy as mirrored by a relative increase of morbidity and mortality rates in vaccinees over time

  • A relative increase of morbidity and mortality rates over time in vaccinees as compared to the unvaccinated

  • A relative increase in suboptimal immunity over time in both the vaccinees and unvaccinated individuals (due to diminished vaccine efficacy and suboptimal naturally elicited Abs, respectively), which may translate into a relative increase in cases of ADE (Ab-dependent enhancement of Covid-19 disease pathology)

  • A relative increase in the base-line infectivity rate over time

  • Continuing waves of increased infection, morbidity, and mortality rates

  • A relative increase in the frequency of more infectious viral variants with immune-resistant phenotypes over time

Conclusion: All experts and public health authorities seem to agree that the evolutionary dynamics of a pandemic are very complex and shaped by an interplay between infectious pressure exerted by the virus on the host immune system and immune pressure exerted by the host on viral infectiousness and that a pandemic can only come to an end when sufficient herd immunity is developed to control the virus. It is, therefore, surprising that none of these authorities seem to worry about the impact that massive immune intervention could have on the evolutionary dynamics of a pandemic that is now characterized by widespread dominance of highly infectious variants. The impact of any human intervention on these dynamics can only be assessed and measured by monitoring changes in population-level infection, morbidity, and mortality rates, and comparing these rates between vaccinees and unvaccinated individuals as a function of time. Likewise, phylogenetics-based natural selection studies should be conducted on viral sequences to monitor the evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 adaptation to public health interventions.

If mass vaccination eventually enables SARS-CoV-2 to evolve dominant immune-escape variants that are capable of escaping from both the adaptive and innate immune systems, the outcome of this pandemic will resemble that of introducing a pathogenic virus into a naive host species. This is actually likely to enhance viral virulence instead of controlling viral disease. 

Europe–between life and death

While strong families have built civilizations, statistics show unequivocally that civilization is crumbling. A recent demographic summit in Budapest is asking the tough questions regarding unprecedented "population bankruptcy".

Viktor Orbán is not the first in Europe to focus on demography as one of the most important issues at the moment. However, he is the most persistent and seems to be the most interested in this matter. He organized a demographic summit in Budapest for the fourth time in a row. Gathering numerous individuals from politics and academia, thus expanding the “intellectual circle”, the summit consequently involved a larger number of topics for discussion.

The demographic ebb, evident in almost all European countries, is no longer analyzed only through the immediate measures that state authorities can take in order to stop adverse trends, but also from an ideological point of view; and increasingly so.

Hungary has come a long way in defining measures to encourage parenthood. For quite some time now, this has no longer been based on what is essentially the simplest model–the payment of child allowances–but rather on the introduction of a special institution which Russia calls “maternal capital”. It implies guarantees for housing loans (currently amounting to around 35,000 euros, and non-refundable for a family with a third child), exemptions from income tax, a progressive reduction of payments of various duties, and so forth.

The point is not only in providing financial benefits. Rather, there is also an economic and social dimension to the issue. Firstly, it has been documented that families with many children (regardless of whether they are families with two or more children) are a kind of initiator to microeconomic processes. In their place of residence, these families spend more money on compulsory and additional education of children, learning languages, sports activities, cultural events, health services, and finally on the expansion of housing, which requires bank loans, along with all other usual costs.

Simply put, through these subsidies, the money is “returned to the system” and it stimulates economic dynamics. It does not go to “luxury needs” and it “does not leave” the “local community”. Critics say this kind of assistance is a “drop in the ocean”; however, over time, many drops can form a river.

“Inclusive policy”

Secondly, this is how “inclusive policy” is best implemented. It is in the interest of parents to “go after every job” and to get involved in economic and social activities, and when they are guaranteed that their gross earnings are equal with the net salary, it is a very profitable option for them to work more. Subsidies then cease to be a “social category”. Thus, we can avoid fruitless discussions like “why would child allowances be paid from the budget”, or “why did those couples give birth to so many children in the first place if they cannot support them”.

Practical life shows us that adults who were raised in such families are prepared to make greater sacrifices, endure more for their families, and are aware of the need to work harder. Again, all that extra money is mostly spent on the needs of the local community, and is returned to the budget through taxes on the purchased products and services.

As far as the state treasury is concerned, these incentives are ultimately not a minus. But when we talk about what researchers mean when they say “human capital”, the pluses are multiple. A society cannot develop without children. We cannot even think optimistically about the future, or fill up the budget, ensure national security, improve science and education without children.

Population bankruptcy

Although the demographic ebb is evident throughout Europe–after all, year after year, Germany is allocating more and more funds for “covering up the holes” in the pension system–countries in the east of the continent are in the worst position. The already poor indicators of the number of births and deaths, the causes of which are multiple, are coupled by the galloping migration of the young (and mostly educated) population to Western countries. This is also detected in poorer EU member states.

Germany thus “compensates for the deficit” by accepting people from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Serbia. To some extent, Poles are also managing by opening their borders for Ukrainians, while Hungarians are attracting compatriots from the area. But essentially, the question remains: how long can such an approach last?

The preliminary results of the population census from North Macedonia have shocked the public. And more shocks are yet to come as data is published elsewhere in the Balkans. The population decline in Southeast Europe between the two censuses is estimated in millions of people.

In their great book Empty Planet, Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson warn that something similar will continue around the world in only three decades.

A change in the way of life, the adoption of different values and the inevitability of a new phase of demographic transition will take humanity towards the stage of “population bankruptcy”. There is logic in their conclusion. Just as there is logic in the fact that such a scenario will produce dramatic political and social changes. So dramatic that we can’t even imagine them at the moment.

The imposition of different values was also discussed at the Budapest summit. Former US Vice President Mike Pence emphasized:

“Our families have built our civilizations. They need to be renewed and preserved. Strong families make strong communities, and strong communities make strong nations.”

It should be borne in mind here that the the term ‘nation’, as used by American conservatives, actually implies cultures and civilizations. The definition of the family is changing, as is the attitude towards heritage, tradition and–what is especially noticeable–religion. The God-like man is replacing the man-like God. With such a change, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil.

As expected, because of such discussions, topics and messages, opponents characterized the summit as an “anti-civilization” event; a gathering of proponents of anti-immigrant policy, homophobes, and radicals of various beliefs. Everyone is trying to defend their positions. The story of demographic renewal and family values does not go hand in hand with “pride parades” and the concept of gender equality.

And it is at this very moment that completely new, possible, and crucial topics are appearing on the “agenda” of future debates about the “fate of Europe”. Who is for the “culture of life”, and why? And who is for the “culture of death” and, again, why? How are human rights and freedoms interpreted in this context? Is there a European civilization without a European tradition and Christian heritage?

The latest summit indicated, like none before, that the story is moving from the narrow framework of taking concrete institutional measures to a far wider field of ideology.

Dušan Proroković, PhD, is a research fellow at the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Serbia. He earned his MA in the Czech Republic (Faculty for International Relations and Public Affairs, Prague), and his PhD in Slovakia (Faculty for Political Science and International Relations, Banska Bistrica). He is the author of four books about geopolitics, a distinguished scholar in Serbia, and a regular contributor to several news papers.

Can You Really Trust Vaccine Fact Checkers?

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Big Tech, including Facebook, however, is actively manipulating the spread of information by censoring and silencing whatever it deems to be “misinformation”

  • FactCheck.org is funded, in part, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which holds nearly $2 billion in Johnson & Johnson stock

  • FactCheck.org’s SciCheck COVID-19/Vaccination Project, which targets vaccine “misinformation,” was made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which was founded by the late Robert Wood Johnson II — Johnson & Johnson’s president from 1932 to 1963

  • Its CEO, Richard Besser, is a former (2009) director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  • Essentially, vaccine companies are controlling the flow of social media information about vaccines via “fact checkers”

Social media has emerged as a primary source of news and other information for Americans, with 53% of adults stating that they “often” or “sometimes” get news from social media. Facebook is the most popular among the social media sites, with 36% of Americans choosing it as a regular source of news, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center.1

Big Tech, including Facebook, however, is actively manipulating the spread of information by censoring and silencing whatever it deems to be “misinformation.” They use “fact checkers” for this purpose. Facebook has partnered with FactCheck.org,2 which claims “to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”3

But are the fact checkers truly independent? In a series of tweets, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., questioned FactCheck.org’s independence, stating they’re funded by an organization that holds nearly $2 billion of stock in Johnson & Johnson, the maker of a COVID-19 injection.4 As Russel Brand said in the video above:5

“So Facebook, as one of the primary places where people in the world get their information these days has a kind of de facto commitment to objectivity that, if it’s not fulfilled — for example by having its fact checkers funded by Johnson & Johnson — that’s a serious issue.”

Facebook Fact Checkers in Collusion With Vaccine Maker?

Have you ever wondered who is behind Facebook’s fact checks? FactCheck.org is funded, in part, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which holds nearly $2 billion in Johnson & Johnson stock. “Bless your heart if you think factcheck.org is an unbiased source of vaccine information,” Massie tweeted.6

According to FactCheck.org, they began a “SciCheck” feature in 2015 that was intended to “increase public knowledge and understanding of science and scientific research.” In December 2020, they launched SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project, which, they state, aims “to increase exposure to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines, while decreasing the impact of misinformation.”7

Conveniently, SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project was made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which not only holds billions of Johnson & Johnson stock but was founded by the late Robert Wood Johnson II — Johnson & Johnson’s president from 1932 to 1963.8 What’s more, its CEO, Richard Besser, is a former (2009) director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.9

FactCheck.org states, “The foundation has no control over our editorial decisions,”10 but Facebook’s “independent” arbiters are profiting from the vaccines. “Who pays the paychecks of the factcheckers?” Massie tweeted, again pointing out the glaring conflict that “The vaccine fact checkers at @factcheckdotorg, who claim to be independent, are funded by an organization that holds over $1.8 billion of stock in a vaccine company, and is run by a former director of @CDCgov.”11

Fact Checkers Prey on Vaccine Information

Daniel Horowitz, senior editor at The Blaze, put it this way, “In other words, the vaccine companies control the flow of information about vaccines. Welcome to the world of ‘independent fact checkers.’”12

What happens when heavily conflicted “fact checkers” control the narrative on social media? Open debate is silenced and science is stifled. It’s comical that FactCheck.org has the gall to state, “[T]he views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.”13

“In fact,” Horowitz said, “the views expressed almost assuredly do reflect the views of the foundation … have you ever seen the organization offer balanced coverage or flag a single post on the other side of this debate as false, no matter how outlandish the claim might be, including articles advocating experimental emergency use authorization vaccines for little children?”14

Horowitz is among those who, like me, have had information they shared censored if they questioned the science behind lockdowns and mask mandates. Other commonly “flagged” articles may discuss potentially lifesaving drugs like ivermectin or mention vitamin D15 and zinc for SARS-CoV-2. But nothing has been more heavily targeted by fact checkers than vaccine “misinformation.”

“Indeed, we all know the goal is to promote only positive information and zero concerns about the vaccine at all costs,” Horowitz stated. “Facebook, which is the largest promoter of their [FactCheck.org’s] work, has openly made this its policy.”16

The Corruption Runs Deep

NewsGuard is another self-appointed internet watchdog that sells a browser plugin to rate websites on nine criteria of credibility and transparency. It has also been tracking Facebook pages that it claims are “super-spreaders” of COVID-19 information.17 NewsGuard received much of its startup funds from Publicis Groupe, a giant global communications group with divisions that brand imaging, design of digital business platforms, media relations and health care.

Publicis Groupe’s health subsidiary, Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, and its several subsidiaries name Pfizer, Abbott, Allergan, Merck, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, Bayer and what they describe as “40 clients in the life sciences industry which includes being a preferred partner with 13 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies.”18 In fact, the PR firm that created and ran Purdue Pharma’s deceptive marketing campaigns for the opioid Oxycontin is none other than Publicis.

At the beginning of May 2021, the Massachusetts attorney general filed a lawsuit19 against Publicis Health, accusing the Publicis subsidiary of helping Purdue create the deceptive marketing materials used to mislead doctors into prescribing OxyContin.

Overall, Publicis appears to be playing an important role in the global censorship of information relating to COVID-19, and Publicis Health admitted its involvement in this agenda in an April 2021 tweet, in which the they announced its partnership with NewsGuard, “to fight the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines.”20

NewsGuard is clearly in the business of censoring the truth and previously classified Mercola.com as fake news because we reported the SARS-CoV-2 virus as potentially having been leaked from the biosafety level 4 (BSL4) laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Seeing how Publicis represents most of the major pharmaceutical companies in the world and funded the creation of NewsGuard, it’s not far-fetched to assume Publicis might influence NewsGuard’s ratings of drug industry competitors, such as alternative health sites. Being a Google partner,21 Publicis also has the ability to bury undesirable views that might hurt its clientele.

NewsGuard’s health-related service, HealthGuard,22 is also partnered with the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) — a progressive cancel-culture leader23 with extensive ties to government and global think tanks that has labeled people questioning the COVID-19 injection as “threats to national security.”

A One-Stop Shop Pushing the COVID-19 Narrative

These connections, taken together, explain how views that counter the official narrative can be so effectively erased. One of Publicis’ selling points is “the power of one.”24 It’s a one-stop shop, offering clients seamless end-to-end “marketing, communication and digital transformation, driven through the alchemy of data, creativity, media and technology, uniquely positioned to deliver personalized experience at scale.”25

In addition to being a global hub for pharmaceutical marketing as a partner of the World Economic Forum,26 which is leading the call for a Great Reset of the global economy and a complete overhaul of society,27 Publicis is also linked to the technocratic, transhumanist deep state.

Censoring COVID-19 truth and manufacturing pro-industry propaganda simultaneously serves three key masters — Big Pharma, Big Tech and the deep state — as the pandemic is fueling a manufactured psychological operation designed to usher in the Great Reset, all while allowing Big Pharma to make a killing on pandemic vaccines and using the “need” for vaccination as justification for biosurveillance.

To put it another way, if Publicis and FactCheck.org represent the drug industry, and the drug industry wants you to think you’re helpless against COVID-19 without their expensive drugs and vaccines, what do you think Publicis and NewsGuard will rate as “misinformation”?

Preventive strategies and alternative therapies, perhaps? And it doesn’t matter how much science there is to support such therapies, because it’s not about science. It’s about controlling what you believe works.

Conflicted Entities Have Become Societal Regulators

Social and mainstream media have played an outsized role in deciding who is an “expert” worthy of sharing information and who is not, while those who question the “expert” data or ask for more evidence are vilified — a “dismissive, authoritarian approach ‘in defense of science,’” according to John Ioannidis, professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford University, in Tablet.28

The end result is an altered reality in which heavily conflicted corporations have emerged as regulators of society instead of being regulated themselves:29

“Other potentially conflicted entities became the new societal regulators, rather than the ones being regulated. Big Tech companies, which gained trillions of dollars in cumulative market value from the virtual transformation of human life during lockdown, developed powerful censorship machineries that skewed the information available to users on their platforms.

Consultants who made millions of dollars from corporate and government consultation were given prestigious positions, power, and public praise, while unconflicted scientists who worked pro bono but dared to question dominant narratives were smeared as being conflicted.”

Social media and its fact checkers are also skewing science itself via their conflicted “misinformation” labels.

Even healthy skepticism has become viewed as intolerable, while the COVID-19 science cult — made “out of science, expertise, the university system, executive-branch ‘norms,’ the ‘intelligence community,’ the State Department, NGOs, the legacy news media, and the hierarchy of credentialed achievement in general”30 — has been held as gospel during the pandemic.

Increasingly, Big Tech is being trusted to dictate the truth, via conflicted fact checkers indebted to Big Industry through their funding. It’s dangerous to rely on any one source or group of individuals as authorities on truth, as it sets up the path for inevitable censorship. Even under the best circumstances, everyone is subject to their own biases, and when billions of dollars are involved, the bias is impossible to ignore.

Yet, it remains true that the path to the truth depends on continued scientific exploration, open debate, challenges and skepticism — all things that are now being challenged by fact checkers on social media and increasingly seen as anathema due to the authoritarian and conflicted control that has taken over during the pandemic.

Vaxxer Regime Has a Real Problem Denying Natural Immunity

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • During a September 30, 2021, U.S. Senate hearing, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called out Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for ignoring the science of natural immunity

  • An Israeli study of 2.5 million people found the vaccinated group was seven times more likely to get infected with COVID than those with natural immunity from a previous infection

  • Another Israeli study that included 700,000 people found those with prior SARS-CoV-2 infections were 27 times less likely to develop symptomatic infection for a second time, compared to those who were vaccinated

  • A June 11, 2021, Public Health England report showed that as a hospital patient, you are six times more likely to die of the COVID Delta variant if you are fully vaccinated, than if you are not vaccinated at all

  • In addition to having the best protection available, those with natural immunity also face higher stakes when taking the COVID shot, as their preexisting immunity makes them more prone to side effects

During a September 30, 2021, U.S. Senate hearing, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., went head to head with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Paul called out Becerra for ignoring the science of natural immunity.

Becerra, who is neither a medical doctor nor a scientist — Paul pointed out that Becerra doesn’t even have a degree in science — is traveling the country calling people “flat-earthers” for believing that if they’ve already had COVID they don’t need the vaccine, Paul said.

“We find that very insulting. It goes against the science,” Paul said. And, Paul added, Becerra is doing this in spite of an Israeli study1,2,3 of 2.5 million people that found the vaccinated group was actually seven times more likely to get infected with COVID than those with natural immunity from a previous infection.

When Becerra said he wasn’t familiar with that study and “would have to get back” to Paul on it, Paul chastised Becerra for his ignorance, saying he was making decisions for 100 million Americans who already had COVID when he isn’t even keeping up with the science.

“You alone are on high and you’ve made these decisions, a lawyer with no scientific background, no medical degree. This is an arrogance coupled with an authoritarianism that is unseemly and un-American,” Paul said. “You, sir, are the one ignoring the science.”

Another Israeli study4 that included 700,000 people, posted August 25, 2021, on the preprint server medRxiv, found those with prior SARS-CoV-2 infections were 27 times less likely to develop symptomatic infection for a second time, compared to those who were vaccinated.

A June 11, 2021, Public Health England report5 also showed that as a hospital patient, you are six times more likely to die of the COVID Delta variant if you are fully vaccinated, than if you are not vaccinated at all.

October 4, 2021, Project Veritas released a video6 (below) in which Pfizer scientist Nick Karl states, “When somebody is naturally immune … they probably have more antibodies against the virus,” correctly explaining that “When you actually get the virus, you’re going to start producing antibodies against multiple pieces of the virus … So, your antibodies are probably better at that point than the [COVID] vaccination.”

Yet another senior associate scientist at Pfizer, Chris Croce, is caught saying that “You’re protected for longer” if you have natural COVID antibodies compared to the COVID vaccine. Croce adds that he works “for an evil corporation” that is “run on COVID money.”

Natural Immunity Appears Robust and Long-Lasting

As noted by Paul, there are dozens of studies showing natural immunity from a previous infection is robust and long-lasting, something that cannot be said for the COVID shots. Natural immunity is typically lifelong, and studies have shown natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is at bare minimum longer lasting than vaccine-induced immunity.

Here’s a sampling of scholarly publications that have investigated natural immunity as it pertains to SARS-CoV-2 infection. There are several more in addition to these:7

Science Immunology October 20208 found that “RBD-targeted antibodies are excellent markers of previous and recent infection, that differential isotype measurements can help distinguish between recent and older infections, and that IgG responses persist over the first few months after infection and are highly correlated with neutralizing antibodies.”

The BMJ January 20219 concluded that “Of 11, 000 health care workers who had proved evidence of infection during the first wave of the pandemic in the U.K. between March and April 2020, none had symptomatic reinfection in the second wave of the virus between October and November 2020.”

Science February 202110 reported that “Substantial immune memory is generated after COVID-19, involving all four major types of immune memory [antibodies, memory B cells, memory CD8+ T cells, and memory CD4+ T cells]. About 95% of subjects retained immune memory at ~6 months after infection.

Circulating antibody titers were not predictive of T cell memory. Thus, simple serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies do not reflect the richness and durability of immune memory to SARS-CoV-2. A 2,800-person study found no symptomatic reinfections over a ~118-day window, and a 1,246-person study observed no symptomatic reinfections over 6 months.”

A February 2021 study posted on the prepublication server medRxiv11 concluded that “Natural infection appears to elicit strong protection against reinfection with an efficacy ~95% for at least seven months.”

An April 2021 study posted on medRxiv12 reported “the overall estimated level of protection from prior SARS-CoV-2 infection for documented infection is 94.8%; hospitalization 94.1%; and severe illness 96·4%. Our results question the need to vaccinate previously-infected individuals.”

Another April 2021 study posted on the preprint server BioRxiv13 concluded that “following a typical case of mild COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells not only persist but continuously differentiate in a coordinated fashion well into convalescence, into a state characteristic of long-lived, self-renewing memory.”

A May 2020 report in the journal Immunity14 confirmed that SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies are detected in COVID-19 convalescent subjects, as well as cellular immune responses. Here, they found that neutralizing antibody titers do correlate with the number of virus-specific T cells.

A May 2021 Nature article15 found SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells, which are a crucial source of protective antibodies. Even after mild infection, anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies were detectable beyond 11 months’ post-infection.

A May 2021 study in E Clinical Medicine16 found “antibody detection is possible for almost a year post-natural infection of COVID-19.” According to the authors, “Based on current evidence, we hypothesize that antibodies to both S and N-proteins after natural infection may persist for longer than previously thought, thereby providing evidence of sustainability that may influence post-pandemic planning.”

Cure-Hub data17 confirm that while COVID shots can generate higher antibody levels than natural infection, this does not mean vaccine-induced immunity is more protective. Importantly, natural immunity confers much wider protection as your body recognizes all five proteins of the virus and not just one. With the COVID shot, your body only recognizes one of these proteins, the spike protein.

A June 2021 Nature article18 points out that “Wang et al. show that, between 6 and 12 months after infection, the concentration of neutralizing antibodies remains unchanged. That the acute immune reaction extends even beyond six months is suggested by the authors’ analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific memory B cells in the blood of the convalescent individuals over the course of the year.

These memory B cells continuously enhance the reactivity of their SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies through a process known as somatic hypermutation. The good news is that the evidence thus far predicts that infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces long-term immunity in most individuals.”

Another June Nature paper19 concluded that “In the absence of vaccination antibody reactivity [to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2], neutralizing activity and the number of RBD-specific memory B cells remain relatively stable from 6 to 12 months after infection.” According to the authors, the data suggest “immunity in convalescent individuals will be very long lasting.”

A September 2021 paper20 in the European Journal of Immunology assessed the persistence of serum antibodies following wild-type SARS-CoV-2 infection at 8 and 13 months after diagnosis in 367 patients. At 13 months, neutralizing antibodies against the wild-type virus persisted in 89% of cases, and SARS-CoV-2 spike immunoglobulin G (S-IgG) persisted in 97% of cases.

What Makes Natural Immunity Superior?

The reason natural immunity is superior to vaccine-induced immunity is because viruses contain five different proteins. The COVID shot induces antibodies against just one of those proteins, the spike protein, and no T cell immunity. When you’re infected with the whole virus, you develop antibodies against all parts of the virus, plus memory T cells.

The COVID jabs actually actively promote the production of variants for which they provide virtually no protection at all, while those with natural immunity do not cause variants and are nearly universally protected against them.

This also means natural immunity offers better protection against variants, as it recognizes several parts of the virus. If there are significant alternations to the spike protein, as with the Delta variant, vaccine-induced immunity can be evaded. Not so with natural immunity, as the other proteins are still recognized and attacked.

Not only that, but the COVID jabs actually actively promote the production of variants for which they provide virtually no protection at all, while those with natural immunity do not cause variants and are nearly universally protected against them.

Those With Natural Immunity Have Higher Risk of Side Effects

In addition to having the best protection available, those with natural immunity also face higher stakes when taking the COVID shot, as their preexisting immunity makes them more prone to side effects.

An international survey21 published in mid-March 2021 surveyed 2,002 people who had received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, finding that those who had previously had COVID-19 experienced “significantly increased incidence and severity” of side effects, compared to those who did not have natural immunity.

The mRNA COVID-19 injections were linked to a higher incidence of side effects compared to the viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines, but tended to be milder, local reactions. Systemic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, flu-like illness and breathlessness, were more likely to occur with the viral vector COVID-19 vaccines.

Based on these findings, the researchers called on health officials to reevaluate their vaccination recommendations for people who’ve had COVID-19:22

“People with prior COVID-19 exposure were largely excluded from the vaccine trials and, as a result, the safety and reactogenicity of the vaccines in this population have not been previously fully evaluated. For the first time, this study demonstrates a significant association between prior COVID19 infection and a significantly higher incidence and severity of self-reported side effects after vaccination for COVID-19.

Consistently, compared to the first dose of the vaccine, we found an increased incidence and severity of self-reported side effects after the second dose, when recipients had been previously exposed to viral antigen.

In view of the rapidly accumulating data demonstrating that COVID-19 survivors generally have adequate natural immunity for at least 6 months, it may be appropriate to re-evaluate the recommendation for immediate vaccination of this group.”

Natural Immunity Has Become a Political Problem

By the looks of it, the refusal to acknowledge the reality of natural immunity appears to be rooted entirely in some sort of geopolitical agenda. There certainly are no medically valid reasons to claim vaccine-induced immunity is the only way forward. That narrative is clearly based on financial considerations alone. As noted by Ryan McMaken in a recent Mises Wire article:23

“Since 2020, public health technocrats and their allies among elected officials have clung to the position that absolutely every person who can possibly get a covid vaccine should get one.

Both the Mayo Clinic website and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, for example, insist that “research has not yet shown” that people who have recovered from covid have any sort of reliable protection …

This narrative is reflected in the fact that the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates are a one-size-fits-all policy insisting that virtually all adults, regardless of whether or not they’ve already had the disease, receive a covid vaccine …

The regime has attached itself closely to a vaccinate-everybody-no-matter-what policy, and a sudden u-turn would be politically problematic. So it's no wonder there's so little interest in the topic …

Indeed, in a September 10 interview, senior covid technocrat Anthony Fauci claimed that the matter of natural immunity was not even being discussed at government health agencies …

But some physicians aren’t as obsessed with pushing vaccine mandates as Anthony Fauci, and the evidence in favor of natural immunity is becoming so undeniable that even mainstream publications are starting to admit it.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post24 last week, Marty Makary of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine argues that the medical profession has hurt its credibility in pretending that natural immunity is virtually irrelevant to the covid equation.

Moreover, the dogmatic ‘get vaccinated’ position constitutes a lack of honesty about the data … The policy bias in favor of vaccines ignores many other facts as well, such as the relative risks of vaccines, especially for the young.”

COVID Jab May Damage Your Heart

Indeed, Israeli data show myocarditis (heart inflammation) occurs at a rate of 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 6,000 among men aged 16 to 24 who get the Pfizer shot.25 This condition can cause symptoms similar to a heart attack, including chest pain, shortness of breath, abnormal heartbeat and fatigue.26

When myocarditis occurs, it reduces your heart’s ability to pump and can cause rapid or abnormal heart rhythms that can be deadly. In severe cases, myocarditis can cause permanent damage to the heart muscle and lead to heart failure, heart attack, stroke and sudden cardiac death.27

Another Israeli study28 published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which looked at all age groups and genders, found the Pfizer mRNA jab is associated with a 3.24 times increased risk of myocarditis,29 leading to the condition at a rate of one to five excess events per 100,000 persons.30

Other elevated risks were also identified following the COVID jab, including lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), appendicitis and herpes zoster infection.31

While health authorities are shrugging myocarditis off as an acceptable and negligible risk, as most cases are “mild” and “transient,” some medical doctors vehemently disagree, noting there’s nothing “mild” or “transient” about myocarditis.

Among them is Dr. Charles Hoffe, a family physician from Lytton, British Columbia, who warned health officials about the ramifications of myocarditis.32 About his young, male patients, Hoffe explained, “They have permanently damaged hearts”:33

“It doesn’t matter how mild it is, they will not be able to do what they used to do because heart muscle doesn’t regenerate. The long-term outlook is very grim, and with each successive shot, it will add more damage. The damage is cumulative because you’re progressively getting more damaged capillaries.”

Risk-Benefit Analysis Is a Personal Undertaking

If a person has a negligible risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 — such as children, those who do not have chronic comorbidities and, really, anyone under the age of 60 — then the risks associated with the jab may well outweigh any potential benefit. But the only one who can really make that determination is the patient (or parent in the case of children). As noted by McMaken:34

“In the real world … many medications — including these new vaccines — come with risks that must be weighed against potential benefits. These decisions can only be made at the individual level, where patients must make their own decisions about what substances to put into their own bodies.

In other words, blanket policies proclaiming ‘everyone must receive this medical treatment immediately, or else’ contradicts the realities of the uncertainties and varying risk levels that affect individuals.

The facts of uncertainty and informed consent were once considered a mainstay of medical ethics — and of any political ideology that actually respects self-determination and basic human rights. Unfortunately, the philosophy of ‘public health’ appears to be uninterested in such trivialities.

At this point, it would be embarrassing for the regime to admit what actual scientific inquiry has shown: that natural immunity is generally superior to receiving the vaccine. The regime doesn't like to be embarrassed, and neither do the countless doctors and nurses who have long toed the regime's political line. So expect more of the same.”

While we can expect irrational rhetoric from our so-called leaders to continue, we must never resign ourselves to their Orwellian version of reality. They’re wrong, and eventually, the truth will become so obvious that their narrative will simply fall apart.

‘Don’t Tread on Me’: Did Airline Employees Create a Southwest Shutdown-Showdown?

Southwest Airlines has been rocked by on-the-ground turbulence after canceling more than 2,000 flights since Friday, Oct. 8. Many passengers were left stranded, and videos circulated the internet of passengers who grew outraged with how the airline chose to handle the situation and the way, or lack thereof, they accommodated their delayed passengers. Southwest Airlines and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association have since denied the swirling rumor that there was a “sick-out” performed by airline employees as their way to strike against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. However, the coincidental timing of events makes it almost effortless to question what is really going on behind closed doors-especially when no other airline seemed to have a major disruption due to weather. 

Timeline of events leading up to the Southwest calamity: 

Although this media platform primarily focuses on biomedical and health research during COVID times the topics we address expand to follow the pandemic’s social, economic, and political fallout. TrialSite provides a chronology of events to help the reader better understand the situation” 

Sept. 9  

  • President Joe Biden addresses the nation saying, ”We’ve been patient but our patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us.” He then issues several executive orders such as Executive Order 14042 for federal contractors and Executive Order 14043 for federal employees. Biden announced that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would be issuing an emergency rule that requires all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. If a covered employer fails to comply with emergency rules, it could result in enforcement action and fines from OSHA. Take note that there is no mentioning of private-sector employers with over 100 employees in Executive Order 14042 or Executive Order 14043, OSHA is who Biden wants to enforce this. As of Oct. 12, OSHA has not yet released such action to enforce an ETS. An ETS measure has only been declared 10 times in their 50-year history and courts have thrown out or halted four and partially blocked one. The last ETS was issued by OSHA in June 2020 on healthcare workplace rules to slow the spread of COVID-19, but before that, the last ETS issued by OSHA was 38 years ago. David Michaels, who ran OSHA for seven years said that OSHA can “impose heavy fines, publicize to workers that they can complain if their employer is not complying, and they can do spot inspections,” told by NBC News.

Oct. 4  

  • Southwest Airlines announces that all 56,000 employees need to get vaccinated by Nov. 24 or face termination.

Oct. 8 

  • The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association makes a filing with the courts and requests an immediate hearing before a federal court in Dallas, claiming that Southwest Airlines has continued to violate terms of the Railway Labor Act, which makes rulings over airline-union relations, and that includes a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. “The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021,” the legal filing said, told by Bloomberg. “Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.”

Oct. 9   

  • Southwest cancels 808 flights (24% of their flight schedule) and delays 1,154 flights (35% of their flight schedule).

  • Southwest announces on Twitter that, “ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation.”

Oct. 10  

  • Southwest cancels 1,007 flights (27% of their flight schedule) and delays 120 flights (3% of their flight schedule)

  • FAA announces on Twitter that there have been no FAA air traffic staffing shortages reported since Friday, contradicting Southwest Airlines’ initial statement that placed partial blame on air traffic control staffing shortages.

Oct. 11   

  • Southwest cancels 435 flights (12% of their flight schedule) and delays 1,558 flights (43% of their flight schedule).

  • Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) issues an executive order issuing a ban on vaccine mandates for private businesses with over 100 employees. Southwest is based in Dallas, Texas.

Oct. 12  

  • Southwest cancels 93 flights (2% of their flight schedule) and delays 1060 flights (31% of their flight schedule) as of late evening.

  • Southwest issues a written statement that the president’s executive order “supersedes any state mandate or law,” and that they are required to adhere to it despite Abbott’s action “to remain compliant as a federal contractor.” As a reminder, there was no such issuance of this in the President’s executive orders from Sept. 9. He placed this on OSHA’s shoulders.

  • President of Southwest Airlines Pilot Association Capt. Casey Murray is interviewed on CBS News and denied that the weekend disruption was caused by vaccine mandate or pilots calling out. Capt. Murray blames it “Squarely on Southwest, I point to how they manage the network and how their I.T. also supports that network,” Capt. Murray said. “Once a little hiccup occurs due to the internal processes, our pilots aren’t getting to where they need to be. We’ve been sounding this alarm for about four years and have seen very little approach to correcting it.”

  • Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly is interviewed on ABC News: Good Morning America and backtracks on several previous statements, admitting that there were no air traffic control shortages and that no employees will be terminated from the vaccine mandate.

Airline employees dish out the truth on social media 

Although airline and union leaders have denied the claims of a sick-out, many airline employees have taken to social media claiming the exact opposite. 

“Pilots are using their sick time before they are terminated on Nov. 24 due to the (vaccine) mandate,” said a Facebook post.

“I work for TSA and was briefed this morning that our southwests delays were from ‘staffing issues,'” said TikTok user aquarissssun. 

“A lot of misinformation in comments. I’m ATC. We didn’t walk out. SWA does have a lot of pilots taking sick leave for mandates though. News won’t share,” said TikTok user shelbysmith0317. 

American Political Columnist Benny Johnson shared on Twitter a picture of an alleged Southwest Airplane with a Gadsen flag with the words “Don’t tread on me” hanging out the window of the cockpit. The Gadsen flag was named after Christopher Gadsen, the man who designed the flag in 1775 during the American Revolution. 

“This photo was just sent to me of a grounded Southwest plane flying a Gadsden flag out of the cockpit,” Johnson’s Tweet said. “The Hero Pilots at Southwest and other Airlines deserve our support. True patriots worthy of the American Freedom Fighter tradition. Don’t Tread On Me. God Bless Them.” 

Can Southwest Save Face? 

For an airline that has taken years to build an outstanding reputation, it’s mind-boggling to see it be tarnished so quickly and what seems like overnight. The Dallas-based airline has been long read about in graduate-level textbooks as a golden example of servant leadership, a style of leadership that can be carried out by the leader serving the employee and unlocking their sense of purpose instead of issuing orders. This has been proven effective in several studies and businesses who leveraged this leadership style saw their performance skyrocket.  

“Southwest treats its employees well by backing the decisions of individual employees as well as providing everyone with quality benefits,” business.com reported. “For example, the company offers a 401(k) plan and match contributions dollar for dollar up to 9.3% of the employee’s eligible earnings. They also offer a Profits Sharing plan and Employee Stock Purchase plan, as well as health and wellbeing rewards and quality medical, vision and dental coverage.” 

Kelly even contributed an article titled Why leadership is only ever about people to the World Economic Forum in 2015 and spoke of the characteristic traits of a good leader.  

“I think it goes without saying, leaders must have courage,” Kelly wrote in the article. “It’s very hard to be a leader. It’s a lot easier to be a follower. It’s a lot easier to let someone else own the problem or make the decision. It’s a lot harder to stand up, speak up and be accountable.” 

Has Kelly apologized for the catastrophic events? Absolutely, but anytime you use a “but” in the sentence, it negates whatever was said before it, and although the President likely added fuel to Southwest’s weekend failure, Kelly isn’t holding himself accountable when apologizing then deflecting and shifting the blame onto the president. If there is really more behind this Southwest story, Kelly should take his own advice and not let someone else own the problem. It just might be the only way to save himself from this meltdown.  

After all, the truth doesn’t cost anything but a lie could cost him everything.