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Brownstone Journal features in-depth articles, news, research, and commentary on public health, science, economics, social theory, and related policy issues — offering critical perspectives on institutional failures, government interventions, and threats to liberty.

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Wait! There’s a Pandemic?

Before Covid-19 there had been other pandemics. But in the past 100 years, with the exception of the Spanish flu in 1918, the other pandemics came and went without much notice for the majority of the world’s population. For example, much press coverage of the first SARS in 2003 neglected to report there were only 774 total deaths worldwide. Likewise, the heightened reporting of the 2012 MERS pandemic failed to summarize that there were only 858 total deaths. In contrast, recurring influenza strains kill an average of 400,000 people worldwide each year. 

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Patents, Pharma, Government: The Unholy Alliance

Patents, Pharma, Government: The Unholy Alliance 

The unholy alliance between Big Pharma and the FDA and Federal Government is truly breathtaking to behold. Unfortunately, its nature is so arcane and obscure that only a few notice this, other than those who benefit from it and keep their lips shut. To unpack this we must explore a few separate but interrelated issues.

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Two Weeks to Flatten Became Eight Months to Change the Election

Two Weeks to Flatten Became Eight Months to Change the Election 

This is all theater. From the outset of the pandemic response, the liberalization of voting rules was integral, all justified based on nonscientific grounds while invoking the cover of science. It wasn’t stopping disease spread that drove the dramatic upheaval in the American system of voting that has caused such widespread distrust. It was the drive for a result different from one that swept the country four years earlier.

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The CDC Intervened in Voting Protocols

The CDC Intervened in Voting Protocols

Does this imply that the goal of the whole wild episode was to unseat Trump from power? This would not explain why many of these same protocols were followed all over the world. Was Trump’s loss, real or manufactured, a benefit for those who ran the pandemic response? Most certainly. And the unearthing of this little change from the CDC – which found itself in the middle of the most contentious political struggle of modern times – certainly underscores the point.

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Fact-Checker, Check Thyself

Fact-Checker, Check Thyself

Thorsteinn Siglaugsson was wickedly accurate in sketching the typology of fact-checking techniques. Create a straw-man argument that can be easily knocked down. Assert that a claim is not supported by evidence, is questioned by other experts, lacks context, is misleading, or is only partly true, etc. Engage in ad hominem attacks against the person rather than with their evidence and argument.

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2024 Brownstone Institute Books and Publications

Where We Are Now

The influence of this work has been extremely broad and deep throughout the world. And keep in mind, we were only founded in May 2021 and still only have the tiniest of staff, with a budget that is a miniscule fraction of what major think tanks in Washington and elsewhere spend every year, to say nothing of the Gates Foundation and government agencies. The experience absolutely proves that one dedicated group of people can do so much with just a little. 

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Mechanisms of Harm: Introduction

This report is not a medical study or conclusive document. It presents various ideas and concerns shared by so-called “Covid dissidents” who, from the beginning, were concerned that our pandemic response was causing more harm than Covid-19 itself. No doubt there are other relevant points, and points of view, that are missing from this collection, but it’s a start. My hope is that this book will lead to thoughtful consideration, fruitful conversations, and the pursuit of additional knowledge.

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The Amateur Who Unraveled Wuhan

The Amateur Who Unraveled Wuhan

Matthew Tye, an independent documentarian with a chronicled decade of living in (and motorcycling throughout) China, developed a profound understanding of its culture and language. In March 2020, Tye emerged as a singular figure in the scrutiny of the origins of the Covid-19 virus, using primary sources such as job postings and communications between Chinese researchers – putting to shame a New York Times reporter’s top-down approach of channeling Dr. Fauci.

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