In recent congressional hearings, it was revealed that top US public health officials created ‘secret’ back channels for communications on federal business in order to avoid prying eyes. David Morens, a former top advisor to Anthony Fauci, allegedly destroyed public documents and boasted to colleagues that he would communicate with Fauci on personal Gmail accounts to circumvent FOIA requests.
We have traveled a very long way from the vision of John Perry Barlow in 1996, who imagined a cyberworld in which governments were not involved to one in which governments and their “multi stakeholder partners” are in charge of “a rules-based global digital economy.” In the course of this complete reversal, the Declaration of Internet Freedom became the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, with the word freedom consigned to little more than a passing reference.
In a moment of rare bipartisan denunciation, Democrat Representative Kweisi Mfume confronted Dr. David Morens, longtime advisor to Dr. Fauci: “Sir, I think you’re going to be haunted by your testimony today.”
Independent journalists, empowered by FOIAs, were the ones who learned that Andersen et al. first believed a lab origin was likely and told the NIAID official whose reputation would be undermined if gain-of-function research of concern funded by his agency caused the pandemic.
The US Government will be paying 100 countries to implement “pandemic preparedness.” This will include many of the awful provisions in the treaty and amendments, ho ho ho.
Pandemic Preparedness: Coming to a Country Near You Continue Reading
There are myriad opportunities to give today, many worthy. But Brownstone has a proven model of precision, timing, principle, and relentless courage. As a young institute with a crucial mission, we need your support, with every dime going to support this great calling. We must turn this loss of public trust in virtually everything into a massive effort to rebuild freedom, community, science, law, medicine, media, and our lives. It can happen but not without all our efforts.
In sum, therefore, looked at together, the two pairs of examples from North America and Australasia indicate a weak to negligible role of vaccines and the critical role of infection-acquired immunity in ending the pandemic. It’s called relearning the same lessons all over again.
Quite understandably given the billions Moderna made from Warp Speed, Arbutus and parent company Genevant are suing for infringement. Which is where it gets weird, or actually not very weird. If government was going to lean on pharmaceutical firms to rush a vaccine, indemnity from liability had to come next. And so it is for Moderna via-a-vis Arbutus. The Department of Justice agreed last year to take on Moderna’s liability for patent infringement which, given the billions Moderna earned via federal largesse, could easily add up to billions.
The Story of Operation Warp Speed Gets Worse Continue Reading
To simply vote no would leave the current situation – the situation that led to the many Covid-19 pandemic failures – unaddressed. But any putative “benefit” of the new treaty is likely to be marginal at best. More importantly, the treaty and amendments as they are currently written do enormous, identifiable harm and would leave everyone, except those with stakes in Big Pharma, IT services, and global finance, far worse off.
The Pandemic Treaty Will Compound Past Mistakes Continue Reading
So, rather than arguing over the fine print in these pandemic agreements, we first must make an obvious and fundamental decision. Is the intent of all this to live longer, more equitably, and healthily? Or is it to grow the pharmaceutical sector of wealthy countries? We cannot do both, and we are currently set up to support Pharma. It will take a lot of unraveling, and rethink on conflict-of-interest rules, to make this a public health program. It probably comes down to who makes decisions, and whether they want an egalitarian society or a more traditional feudalistic and colonialist approach. This is the real question to be addressed in Geneva.
Pandemics: The Healthcare Dilemma of Our Time Continue Reading
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) released the transcript from Dr. Francis Collins’ transcribed interview. Dr. Collins helped lead the government’s Covid-19 pandemic response as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) until his resignation at the end of 2021. In conjunction with the transcript, the Select Subcommittee also released a new staff memo that highlights the key takeaways from Dr. Collins’s transcribed interview.
Wenstrup Releases Francis Collins’ House Testimony Continue Reading
Sooner or later, EU citizens and political leaders will have to decide which Europe they wish to back: a highly integrated political union with major policies decided from Brussels, or an economic union of sovereign nations with central coordination reserved primarily for issues of mutual economic interest. Neither of these two options is guaranteed to succeed. But trundling along in a political and institutional halfway house, with policies that upset a lot of people but no serious attempt to articulate a shared vision of where Europe is headed or what it stands for, is a recipe for political mediocrity, disillusionment, and chronic instability.
Search 4,000+ articles & events
