Brownstone Journal

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.

Explore topics like vaccine trials, post-pandemic public sentiment, cancer screening dilemmas, weight loss drugs, food systems, digital ID, antidepressants, pandemic profit motives, collapse in public trust, and paths to evidence-based reform, personal freedoms, and a healthier society.

All Brownstone Institute articles are translated into multiple languages to reach global readers, foster international dialogue, and support challenges to centralized narratives worldwide.

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covid controls china

Covid Controls Removed in China but Persist in the US

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Emanuel and the lockdown crowd he caucuses with lament that the return of freedom to the Chinese people “could have been done responsibly.” Too much freedom too fast according to Emanuel et al. He writes that rather than gradually giving it back with experts like him fully in charge, “China ended zero Covid in the most dangerous way possible – precipitously.”

Covid Controls Removed in China but Persist in the US Continue Reading

coronavirus lab leak

Rumors of the Lab Leak Began with US Intelligence

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The first known mention of the idea that the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese lab appeared on January 9th 2020 in a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). This was just days after the virus had first entered public consciousness, and at the time, no deaths had yet been reported and few people were worrying about the virus – including, it seems, the Chinese, who were claiming it wasn’t even clear whether it was spreading between humans. 

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Scott Gottlieb censor

The Censorious Scott Gottlieb Was a Major Influence on Lockdowns 

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The person and role of Gottlieb is a paradigmatic case of why and how solving the mysteries of the lockdowns and mandates is such a complicated undertaking. It’s not just about government intervention and it’s not just about private corruption. It’s about a complicated relationship between the two, involving a range of public and private actors in and out of government who seized control of the policy machinery to achieve private ends at enormous public expense. 

The Censorious Scott Gottlieb Was a Major Influence on Lockdowns  Continue Reading

Ineffective Maltruism

Ineffective Maltruism

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The current fad of the financially fabulous is Effective Altruism, which essentially involves promising to give your money while you are still alive to causes and organizations that “do good,” while simultaneously tethering them to your whims through financial dependence. A very specific example of this is the massive money going to barely-surviving but purportedly legit media organizations (or you can just buy the Washington Post.) You get good press when you own it.

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travel ban

The Travel Ban Wrecks Commerce, Constitution, and Civility

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Fiancés and other nonimmigrant family members cannot reunite with their loved ones after years separated. Unfortunately, my family will remain divided, just like countless others, until this Administration decides whether it will defend our Constitution, freedoms, and economy on the world stage or keep doubling down on failed policies until there’s no republic left.

The Travel Ban Wrecks Commerce, Constitution, and Civility Continue Reading

death in a nutshell

The Boy Who Trapped Death in a Nut

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Life is a messy, risky, and at times lethal adventure, and while it’s perfectly acceptable and in fact compassionate to try to lower this risk to some extent, a complete elimination of all risk would create a dull, lifeless world devoid of conviviality and meaning. The people of Jack’s town are willing to accept some level of pain, sadness and suffering in order to reap the concomitant rewards that come with living life to the fullest.

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Woodward and Bernstein

Where’s the Woodward and Bernstein of the Covid Scandals?

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When you stop and think about it, there’s no way a “Woodward and Bernstein” could tell the story of the Covid Scandal. There’s simply too many scandals that would have to be exposed. It would take an army of Woodward and Berstein’s to break the pieces down into individual, sub-scandal components. 

Where’s the Woodward and Bernstein of the Covid Scandals? Continue Reading

Consequences for Children: Data So Far

Consequences for Children: Data So Far

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Lockdowns resulted in a 10-20% increase in new cases of severe child abuse and a 50-80% increase in fatalities from child abuse, caused a 30-50% increase in cases of malnutrition and a 50-100% increase in fatalities from malnutrition, and resulted in a 40-60% increase in new cases of mental illness in children and adolescents and a 100-200% increase in suicides by young people.

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Fear of Covid is the opiate of the people. 

Fear of Covid Is the Opiate of the People

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Like any old school respiratory virus, this one made us feel lousy, albeit with a different constellation of symptoms. We handled it the same way as other viral illnesses: we drank extra water, took some home remedies, and tried to get some extra sleep. A few years ago, no one made a big deal about, or needed to categorize, being sick like this. People rode it out. No one cared what you had. Or didn’t have.

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