Ulrich Beck and Our ‘Risk Society’
Growing evidence suggests that most of the ‘ultra-risks’ that have emerged recently have been produced by design, and that it is too late to undo most of them, although others may possibly be prevented.
Where Are We Now?
I learned how easy it is for us to betray one another and how COVID exposed the fault lines in our relationships. But I also saw humanity all around. I saw hugs and connection and immense warmth everywhere I went. I saw the worst side of humanity and the best, and I witnessed the indomitable power of inconvenient truths. The COVID-19 battleground has certainly created its heroes and villains, and we have all taken sides about which is which.
Healthcare Students Still Forced to Inject Vaccines
Despite the fact that there has not been one documented Covid case on college campuses in the last four years that led to either an outbreak of severe illness or death from Covid, thousands of students are forced to decide whether to take a vaccine that they do not need or walk away from the degree for which they have invested tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours due to coercive policies the likes of which we have never seen before. The “winter of death” never came to pass and neither did the spring or fall of death, but healthcare students all around the country have no choice; take updated Covid vaccines or withdraw from your program as if these seasons of death might still come to pass.
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The Legal Batteries That Supercharge the Bureaucratic State
There is a legal thing called “Chevron deference” and it has encouraged the massive growth of the power and scope of the bureaucratic state over the past 40 years. Named after a 1984 legal case, the doctrine holds (in a nutshell) that courts must defer to the wisdom of the implied expertise of a government agency when deciding certain legal questions.
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The Loosening of Rules on Informed Consent
On January 22, 2024, amendments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations (21 CFR 50) covering Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) were finalized and implemented. The amendments added a new section 50.22 that allows for exceptions to informed consent requirements for minimal risk research.
The Wheels of Life
The bicycle is the ultimate freedom machine; cheap, reliable, and largely beyond the ever-creeping reach of regulating authorities. It doesn’t saddle you with debt, fuel costs, or garaging fees. And it keeps you fit besides. If they have any downsides, I don’t see them.
We Can’t Ban Our Way to a Better World
It is clear beyond any doubt that bans simply don’t work. I was a child during the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign. Drugs were banned, and yet always available. Chicago has banned guns for years and yet has incredibly high gun violence. We banned smiles, playgrounds, and normal personal interaction for years in order to ban Covid and we still catch Covid.
How to Repair Our Post-Repentance Culture
Maybe I’m blind to their existence, but outside the largely narcissistic and comfortably non-personal woke rituals of remorse, I see few institutional pressures in our culture for young people, or anyone for that matter, to undertake the serious and always consequential act of examining their behaviors in the light of moral principles. Just the opposite, in fact.
Room Filtration Didn’t Work Either
Yes, you remember those days. Let’s say you have installed a new HVAC system. That’s good but it does not quite do the trick. You still must stay away from everyone. You have to mask up, outdoors even. You have to wash your hands constantly. You have to spray everything down with sanitizer. I mean, it seems like your whole life is consumed by fear of disease.
Disease X and Davos: This is Not the Way to Evaluate and Formulate Public Health Policy
To gain legitimacy, public health policy must be vested in institutions answerable to the public and based on reliable evidence. In the case of the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) venture in public health policy advocacy in Davos, neither of these measures of legitimacy were met. Also in question is legitimacy in the media coverage, where the basic tenets of journalism – questioning evidence, corroborating sources, providing context, and awareness of conflict of interest – seem to have gone missing.
Federal Court Judge Pulls Canada Back from the Brink
The Canadian government’s use of the Emergencies Act was unlawful. The Trucker Convoy did not constitute a national emergency. So said a judge of the Federal Court on Tuesday. The decision may help to pull Canada back from the brink of authoritarian rule.
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Did Pfizer-BioNTech “Placebos” Contain Empty Lipids?
The focus of my report was the discovery by the German professors that all but one of the “yellow” batches, which are almost entirely innocuous per the Danish data, had not been subject to quality control testing by the agency responsible for batch release throughout the EU: namely, Germany’s own Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI).
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