Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 445
March 16, 2023
Banking Crisis Worsens: Swiss Bank is First “Too Big to Fail” Bank to be Bailed Out as Saudis Withdraw Support
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, which has been experiencing bank runs and plummeting stock valuations since the end of 2022, became the first SIFI (systemically important financial institution), or “too big to fail” bank, to crash today forcing regulators to step in and ensure a bailout.
The Saudis almost single-handedly crashed the U.S. Stock Market (and stock markets around the world) this morning when they announced that they were not going to put any more money into the failed Swiss bank.
Problems at Switzerland’s second-biggest lender are causing stocks around the world to falter—and reigniting fears for the banking sector.
On Wednesday, Credit Suisse ‘s top shareholder said in a Bloomberg interview that it wouldn’t invest additional money in the Swiss bank. Saudi National Bank Chairman Ammar Al Khudairy told the media outlet that taking a stake of more than 10% in Credit Suisse would trigger regulatory complications.
That pushed shares of Credit Suisse to a new low on Wednesday. The stock closed down 24% in Zurich and its American depositary receipts (CS) were down 25% in U.S. trading. (Full article.)
While the U.S. Stock Market did end lower today, it most assuredly would have been a blood bath if Swiss Regulators had not stepped in to ensure the world that it was going to bail out their troubled bank. This was after European markets had closed, however, and European banks’ stock values lost 7% at end of trading in Europe today.
Swiss National Bank Issues Statement: “Will Provide Liquidity If Necessary”
Summary:
Saudis fold – refuse to throw any more money at Credit SuisseCredit Suisse stock hits record lowCredit Suisse 1Y CDS explodes as counterparty risk hedging soarsCredit Suisse execs urged a “show of confidence” from the Swiss National BankECB quantifying exposures to Credit SuisseUS Treasury monitoring situation, talking with other regulatorsFed working with UST to quantify exposuresOne major govt is pressuring Swiss to interveneSystemic risk threat spreads globallySwiss authorities seeking to stabilize bankSwiss National Bank and Finma issue statement of supportThe Swiss National Bank and the country’s regulator said Credit Suisse meets the capital and liquidity requirements imposed on systemically important banks and that the SNB will provide the bank with liquidity if necessary, in a statement. (Full article.)
Since a simple statement made by Saudi National Bank Chairman Ammar Al Khudairy almost crashed the entire world’s financial system today, what does that tell you about the frailty of the current banking system?
[…]
The Ancient Origins of Southwest Pueblo Culture
Episode 16: Basket Maker Culture
Ancient Civilizations of North America
Dr Edwin Barnhart (2018)
Film Review
In the Southwest, the Archaic period (10,000 – 3,000 BP) began after the last Ice Age ended (around 10,000 BP). Complex hunter gatherer groups emerged who migrated seasonally and lived in temporary housing during winter. Around 5000 BC, the climate changed again, becoming very dry, forcing peoples living in southern Mexico to migrate north, forming the Picosa culture.
Picosa peoples settled in three areas: around Joshua Tree National Park In Southern California, Lake Cochise in the southeast corner of Arizona and San Pedro River on the southern border of Arizona and New Mexico. Each of the three settlements had slightly different projectile points but otherwise enjoyed very similar cultures. The Oshura peoples, at the northern tip of this region, were the early ancestors of the Pueblo.
Corn agriculture seems to have begun gradually between 1500 BC and 50 AD, with a few people staying behind to guard corn crops while other clan members hunted in highland areas during summer. Those put in charge of corn crops lived in shallow temporary pit houses with storage pits, pole walls and grass roofs and began weaving Yucca fiber baskets to carry and store the corn.
Unlike squash, which arrived from Mexico 1000 years later, corn didn’t need full time tending. With the arrival of squash cultivation, the Picosha and Oshura would form full time sedentary communities of more elaborate pit houses.
Around 200 AD, the Picosha began making crude brown pottery to facilitate bean soaking and cooking. They also made themselves woven yucca sandals and rabbit or deer skin clothing for winter.
Around 500-750 AD, the first evidence of Ancestral Pueblo culture emerges in the form of permanent villages surrounded by fields of corn, squash and beans and the production of intricate painted pottery.
In the Pleasant View region, communities built stockades around their villages (presumably to keep dogs and turkeys from escaping). In Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon each community had an early kiva pit house they for ceremonial purposes.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/5713021/5712766
March 15, 2023
RFK Jr Says CIA Connected to Anthrax Attacks
Gateway Pundit
Robert F. Kennedy was recently a guest on the Jimmy Dore Show and during his interview, he shared a wealth of knowledge about the 2001 anthrax attacks and the development of bioweapons in the United States.
The anthrax attacks also known as the “Amerithrax” attacks occurred just one week after the September 11th terror attacks in 2001.
The attacks consisted of anthrax being sent through the United States Postal System via letters and delivered to several news organizations, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Tom Daschle.
Kennedy shared that the letters were sent to both Sen. Leahy and Sen. Daschle because they were trying to block the Patriot Act in 2001.
He went on to reveal the Patriot Act was a vicious attack against the US Constitution and “re-opened the bioweapons arms race that was shut down by Nixon in 1969.”
The son of the late US Attorney General Robert Kennedy then captivated Dore’s listeners by sharing that the FBI discovered anthrax in the letters originally “stemmed from a CIA lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland.”
.@RobertKennedyJr tells @jimmy_dore anthrax was mailed to the two senators trying to block the Patriot Act in 2001, and the FBI discovered that the anthrax came from the CIA lab in Fort Detrick:
"By the time they figured it out, they had already passed the Patriot Act, and we… https://t.co/O4QOrPMykZ pic.twitter.com/Y1EPcSfh6n
— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 14, 2023
No one was ever convicted of the 2001 Anthrax attack but the FBI labeled Bruce Ivins a scientist at the US Biodefense lab in Fort Detrick as a suspect.
Ivins was never convicted of any crimes but instead was found dead in 2008 and his death was ruled a suicide.
Later in the interview, Kennedy would take aim at Dr. Fauci.
Robert Kennedy, Jr. stated ‘Dr. Anthony Fauci has been in charge of developing bioweapons for the Pentagon since 2002.
Robert Kennedy Jr. tells Jimmy Dore that Dr. Anthony Fauci has been in charge of developing bioweapons for the Pentagon since 2002, and in 2014, three viruses escaped from US labs, so he moved his bioweapons research to the Wuhan lab: "They took the money that Cheney gave them…… https://t.co/eeeL7DLikv pic.twitter.com/AEmo5VDWSY
— Paul Kikos
(@PKikos) March 14, 2023
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Robert Kennedy Jr. has been making headlines for teasing a possible presidential run.
Via https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/rfk-jr-says-cia-is-connected-to-2001-anthrax-attacks/
Telegraph calls for arrest of covid lockdown health secretary Matt Hancock
Dr Eddy Betterman
Former United Kingdom Health Secretary Matt Hancock is in very hot water for his involvement in the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “pandemic” conspiracy.
The Telegraph this week published a headline calling for Hancock to be arrested and thrown in prison “for wilful misconduct in public office,” citing the recent U.K. Lockdown Files leak exposing Hancock’s criminal activity throughout the scamdemic.
More than 100,000 private WhatsApp messages, in case you missed it, were brought to light showing that Hancock was engaged in mass deception, fraud, and criminal conspiracy against the people of Great Britain. Here is what Allison Pearson, the author of the Telegraph article in question, tweeted about Hancock and his ilk:
“Even at the height of WW2, Government never used propaganda to frighten its own people. This lot did. Kids killed themselves, mental health collapsed. Unforgivable. Matt Hancock should be arrested wilful misconduct in pub office.”
(Related: Check out our earlier coverage about the U.K. Lockdown Files to learn more about Hancock’s crimes against humanity.)
Care-home resident families to sue Matt Hancock for crimes against humanityPearson explains in her article that Hancock lied, as many other politicians at the time did, about hospitals supposedly overflowing with covid patients. This was intended to scare the public while bringing the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) to its knees under oppressive lockdowns.
Children “with special educational needs” were also used “as leverage” by Hancock and other political cronies, Pearson reveals. This is part of why she hopes Hancock will be brought before a Select Committee for investigation and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.
“Personally, I would like to see him in jail for the vast hurt he has caused,” Pearson expressed about Hancock.
There are apparently a number of lawsuits in the works as well. The families of care-home residents who were impacted by Hancock’s criminality plan to sue him now that the WhatsApp messaging evidence has been unleashed.
“Today for the first time a major mainstream media (The Telegraph) in a Western country (UK) called for arrest and prosecution of health minister (Matt Hancock) for his Covid crimes,” said researcher and lecturer Dr. Eli David in a tweet about the matter.
“The first domino has fallen.”
The first domino has fallen indeed, and there are many more to follow. Hancock is just one covid crony among many who abused, tortured, and murdered members of the public with his medical fascism.
In the comments, someone wrote further that what Hancock and his ilk did throughout covid “was a despicable global attack by elite minorities in a class war for total control.”
Another wrote that what Hancock did amounts to terrorism in that the very definition of this word covers “the purposeful use of tactics meant to engender fear in a population to achieve specific responses, actions, etc.”
“Just exactly how are these people NOT worthy of domestic if not even international terrorism charges?” this same person asked. “I mean of course in addition to the charges of crimes against humanity.”
Someone else responded that just like how weapons are “deployed,” so was the control and fear narrative being peddled by Hancock and his ilk.
“Compliance, fear and submission of the populace was the obvious goal, which is CONTROL,” this person added. “This agenda, still being pushed is an evil attack on liberty.”
As to be expected, the American media, save for independent outlets like this one, is all but ignoring the Matt Hancock revelations and their implications for the rest of the covid criminals throughout the world who await justice.
[…]
Via https://dreddymd.com/2023/03/14/telegraph-uk-calling-arrest-health-secretary-matt-hancock/
MP and American cardiologist call on UK Parliament to hold US government accountable for violation of the Biological Weapons Treaty
By Rhoda Wilson • The Exposé • March 14, 2023
Aletho News
UK Member of Parliament Andrew Bridgen and Dr. Richard Fleming have jointly called on the UK Houses of Parliament to hold the USA government accountable for their violation of the Biological Conventions Weapons Treaty resulting in the covid pandemic and unprecedented use of experimental genetic vaccines.
In a press release dated 13 March 2023, Mr. Bridgen and Dr. Fleming – a Physicist, Internist, Cardiologist and Nuclear Cardiologist – encouraged the US Congress to investigate the US funding of covid and highlighted that British citizens were paying the price for the US biological viral weapon and genetic vaccine programme funded by the US NIAID and Department of Defence. “Either the US will hold its criminals accountable or we should.”
“The world death count from the viral bioweapon is over 6.7 million, including more than 203,000 deaths in the UK. Based upon information as of 3 months ago (October 2022) there have been more than 2,400 deaths in the UK following the use of the genetic vaccine products, which are copies of the US biological viral bioweapon,” the statement said.
The statement also noted that there have been 1.6 million adverse effects reported to the Yellow Card system after being injected with the “genetic vaccines.” It continued:
“We call upon the Houses of Parliament to demand accountability on the part of the US Government for their violation of the Biological Weapons Convention Treaty resulting in the Covid pandemic and unprecedented use of experimental genetic vaccines that turn red blood cells grey and cause blood to clot upon contact, thus causing heart damage including prion disease (amyloidosis) and myocarditis, strokes, cancer, miscarriages and death.”
We have included an image of the full press release below.
The press release follows a tweet from Mr. Bridgen on Sunday where he confirmed that during his visit to Washington DC at the end of last year he was “informed that the US DoD were responsible for both the virus and the vaccines. Fort Detrick was named. Also, a facility in Canada. By the end of the month, I expect to see the start of criminal proceedings against the many politicians and officials who are responsible around the world.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Discusses The CIA’s Longstanding War Against The Kennedys
Charles Burris
Lew Rockwell
Link to CBS This Morning interview: https://rumble.com/v22r7ga-robert-kennedy-jr-was-right-about-the-cia.html
Robert Kennedy Jr. briefly discusses the CIA’s war waged against his family beginning with his grandfather, former U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain Joseph P. Kennedy, who in 1956 had been named by President Eisenhower as a member of the President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities. The Board was to provide advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities. Kennedy’s actions and remarks there greatly displeased CIA director Allen Dulles. Kennedy wanted to eliminate the covert paramilitary aspects of the Agency and return it to an intelligence gathering entity.
The CIA’s war against the Kennedys continued on to the firing of Dulles by Eisenhower successor, President John F. Kennedy, after the CIA’s Bay of Pigs debacle. JFK later remarking to a high administration official “I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.” RFK Jr. then alludes to the Kennedys’ differences with the CIA on the War in Vietnam leading to the assassinations of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and subsequently of his father, Attorney General and U. S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Former President Harry Truman, who had created the CIA by signing the National Security Act of 1947, wrote an article published in the Washington Post exactly one month after JFK’s assassination, regretting doing so because he believed the Agency had superseded its mandated charter engaging in improper activities. An embittered Allen Dulles flew to Truman’s home in Missouri and tried to get Truman to renounce what he had written, to no avail. Truman stood adamantly steadfast in what he had written. Dulles then returned to CIA headquarters in Langley and falsified the official record of his visit and conversation with Truman.
[…]
Russia, China, Iran… and Saudi Arabia?
Ron Unz
Unz Review
On Friday geopolitical plates of tectonic scale may have visibly shifted as Iran and Saudi Arabia, two of the most important countries in the Middle East and erstwhile bitter adversaries, announced that they had reestablished diplomatic relations after a lengthy round of negotiations held with top Chinese officials in Beijing.
Back in 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt famously met on an American cruiser with Ibn Saud, and our important alliance with oil-rich Saudi Arabia came into being.
Though sometimes stressed during the 1973 Oil Embargo and in the aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks, the relationship remained our most important in the Arab World, being responsible for the rise of the Petrodollar and the maintenance of our own greenback as the world’s reserve currency. With America’s industrial base having been reduced to a mere shadow of its once global dominance and our country plagued by horrendous annual budget deficits and accumulated debt, much of our national prosperity and current standard of living probably today depends upon that maintaining that status.
Meanwhile, during the four decades since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, no country in the region has been a greater object of American hostility than Iran. As recently as January 2020, we assassinated Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s greatest military commander, who had been considered a likely presidential candidate in their 2021 elections.
There are obviously many long-term factors behind this apparent diplomatic revolution, notably including China’s economic rise and its position as the leading purchaser of Middle Eastern oil. Over a decade ago, I had described these powerful trends, which have now become obvious to the entire world.
However, I think that the colossal arrogance of our own country, and the extent to which we have increasingly abused and victimized our own allies and vassals over the years must surely have been a huge contributing factor. One problem with relying too heavily upon the power of your dishonest propaganda is that you may continue to believe in it yourself even after most of the intended targets of your deception have stopped doing so.
In late September, a series of massive underwater explosions severely damaged the Russian-German Nord Stream pipelines, perhaps Europe’s most important civilian energy infrastructure, a particularly devastating blow at a time when Europe was suffering its worst energy crisis in generations.
The enormous scale and extreme difficulty of these deep water demolitions led German investigators to quickly declare that a state actor had likely been responsible. Yet strangely enough, this huge event received minimal coverage in the American mainstream media. After briefly quoting anonymous government officials who absurdly suggested that the Russians had destroyed their own pipelines, our press immediately lost interest in the story, which soon disappeared with almost no follow-up or investigation. A gigantic environmental disaster seemed to draw negligible media interest from the legions of normally hair-trigger environmentalists.
The obvious reason for this strange lack of curiosity and the resulting blanket of silence was the likely identity of the perpetrators, which had grave political implications. Top American leaders had issued numerous public threats against those pipelines and seemed to rejoice in their successful destruction, so there seemed an overwhelming likelihood that our own country had played a central role in the illegal attacks, among the worst peacetime examples of industrial terrorism in world history. If enough Europeans began to suspect that their American allies had destroyed energy infrastructure so vital to Germany and the rest of the continent, our NATO alliance would be dealt a devastating blow and might be set on the road to dissolution.
One of America’s most powerful international weapons is its overwhelming control over the global news ecosystem, and a complete blanket of media silence was soon enforced, causing that huge event to quickly fade from public consciousness. When someone such as Prof. Jeffrey Sachs mentioned what had probably happened on Bloomberg TV, he was quickly yanked off the air.
Most ordinary Westerners live their lives trapped within the cocoon of our controlled media, and only a small minority of them may have recognized the magnitude of this historic event, with only a sliver blaming anyone other than the demonized Russian enemy.
But I doubt that this blindness applied to political leaders worldwide, who certainly understood what had probably happened. If America’s reckless and criminal government had wantonly destroyed the vital civilian infrastructure of its closest NATO allies, potentially crippling Europe’s economy, how could it ever be trusted to respect the lives and property of other countries? Surely the leadership of Saudi Arabia and many other important nations began asking themselves such questions.
Then a month ago, any remaining doubts vanished, as the exact details of America’s attack against Germany’s energy infrastructure were revealed in a bombshell expose by Seymour Hersh, who had spent a half-century as one of America’s most renowned investigative journalists.
Although Hersh’s story was totally boycotted by the mainstream press, within 24 hours over a million people had read it worldwide on Substack. His subsequent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! was viewed over two million times on Youtube, with various other interviews adding many hundreds of thousands of additional views.
Hersh’s revelations prompted Russia to call a special session of the UN Security Council to discuss the pipeline attacks, and this drew important testimony from Prof. Sachs and former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern. These developments finally forced the Washington Post to grudgingly mention Hersh’s blockbuster weeks after it had first been published, finally breaking the mainstream media blockade.
With the ripples of Hersh’s reporting beginning to spread, the German government and its Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced a very difficult dilemma.
During late 2021, Scholz had been standing next to President Joseph Biden at a press conference when the latter publicly threatened to eliminate the pipelines, so German voters might reasonably suspect their own leader’s complicity after that threat was carried out. Attention had to be diverted in a different direction.
Last week, Scholz took a sudden, unscheduled trip to privately meet with Biden in DC, and a couple of days later stories suddenly appeared in the New York Times and Germany’s Die Zeit weekly blaming the pipeline attacks upon an unspecified group of pro-Ukraine activists. The articles cited anonymous government sources, with most of the details being both vague and risible.
Deploying a ton of powerful military explosives in deep water was obviously a very challenging covert operation, requiring highly-specialized diving equipment and skilled demolitions experts, but according to German sources it had been carried out by a handful of unknown activists on a rented sailboat, a total absurdity. The Times account was more vague if hardly more persuasive, pointing to mysterious Ukrainian activists as the culprits and only acknowledging the very detailed expose of Hersh, one of its former star reporters, in the 26th paragraph. The German claims of a sailboat-based attack was soon discussed in the Wall Street Journal, though the skeptical reporters emphasized how extremely difficult it would have been to carry out such a major undersea operation in such limited circumstances.
A German who blogs at the Moon of Alabama website had been heavily following the pipeline attacks from the beginning. He reasonably described these sudden anonymous media stories as merely constituting journalistic chaff, aimed at obscuring the very detailed account of the attack already provided by Hersh and perhaps diverting attention from some of the follow-up stories the Pulitzer Prize winner might plan to release.
The hosts of the Grayzone podcast showed photos of the sailboat allegedly used in the massive military attack and ridiculed the absurd cover-story that our government had concocted.
Indeed, when Hersh was informed what his former newspaper had published, he was stunned, saying that he couldn’t believe that they would have ever written anything so stupid.
[…]
Via https://www.unz.com/runz/russia-china-iran-and-saudi-arabia/
March 14, 2023
Michigan Governor Admits COVID-19 Lockdowns Went Too Far
Zero Hedge
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) admitted on Sunday that her administration’s pandemic-era lockdown policies went too far, such as her April 2020 executive order barring most stores from selling gardening supplies, including seeds and plants, to Americans who anted to grow their own fruits and vegetables.
“There were moments where, you know, we had to make some decisions that in retrospect don’t make a lot of sense, right? If you went to the hardware store, you could go to the hardware store but we didn’t want people to be congregating around the garden supplies,” Whitmer told CNN’s Chris Wallace.
“People said ‘oh, she’s outlawed seeds.’ It was February in Michigan, no one was planting anyway,” she continued (except it was in April). “But that being said, some of those policies I look back and think, you know, maybe that was a little more than what we needed to do.”
Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer very grudgingly admits restricting seed sales during her endless lockdown orders "maybe was a little more than we needed to do." pic.twitter.com/HMRe6oNPNl
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 13, 2023
Whitmer’s office even published a list of prohibited items deemed “not necessary to sustain or protect life,” which couldn’t be sold during the height of the pandemic, and which required that businesses physically restrict customers from certain areas of stores, or to remove nonessential items – including gardening items, flooring materials, furniture and paint.
Just weeks after Whitmer imposed the statewide controversial ban, the order was rescinded due to widespread backlash, including from the Institute for Justice.
In a letter (pdf), the non-profit law firm criticized the governor’s “unconstitutional prohibition” for “impeding the rights of the many Michigan families who seek to grow their own food.” -Epoch Times
Whitmer’s order even banned travel from one residence to another, including vacation properties, rental properties, or second homes within the state.
[…]
Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/michigan-governor-admits-covid-19-lockdowns-went-too-far
UK Medical Advisers Warned Against Fast-Tracking COVID Vaccines
A new set of documents released last week in the U.K. as part of the “Lockdown Files” shed more light on how U.K. government officials made COVID-19 public health policy decisions and revealed how the country became the first to roll out the vaccines — against the advice of medical experts.
A new set of documents released late last week in the U.K. as part of the “Lockdown Files” revealed U.K. scientists were aware of the COVID-19 “Alpha variant,” but withheld data from government officials until just before Christmas 2020 — leading to lockdowns over the holidays that year.Part of an ongoing release by The Telegraph, the documents also included additional details about how U.K. Parliament members made public health decisions based on political, rather than scientific, criteria — including fast-tracking the vaccines even though government ministers knew the virus wasn’t deadly enough to warrant it and medical advisers warned against it.
Other documents showed how government officials’ fear of being labeled racist factored into how they made public health decisions.
The first release of the Lockdown Files — private WhatsApp messages between U.K. health officials, including former health secretary Matt Hancock — generated substantial media coverage in the U.K., but U.S. media interest was minimal and quickly tapered off.
Scientists mum on Alpha variant until just before 2020 holiday season
The latest Lockdown Files show U.K. scientists knew of the Alpha variant as early as Sept. 20, 2020 — but didn’t inform government officials until Dec. 11, 2020.
The timing raises questions about whether the announcement was withheld intentionally, so as to align it with the 2020 holiday season.
Sharon Peacock, professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, chairs the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, which sequences and analyzes the virus. She reportedly was aware of the variant in September.
Hancock discussed the variant with his media adviser, Damon Poole, in WhatsApp messages dated Dec. 13, 2020.
Hancock said it was “a total outrage” that he was not informed about the existence of the variant. Poole said that “back then, [scientists] wouldn’t have known the implications.”
Nevertheless, it appears that Hancock sought to take political advantage of the situation. He spoke with then-Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove and “floated cancelling Christmas,” which Gove said he could “see the point of.”
At the time, the U.K. had entered into its second lockdown, but a temporary easing was scheduled to take effect Dec. 18. On Dec. 19, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the cancellation of Christmas, in response to the spread of the Alpha variant.
Documents previously released as part of the Lockdown Files showed that on Dec. 13, 2020, Hancock and Poole discussed using fear and guilt as “vital tools” to ensure compliance with new lockdown measures.
Poole suggested to Hancock that “we can roll pitch with the new strain,” referring to the Alpha variant, to which Hancock responded, “We frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain.” Poole replied, “Yep that’s what will get proper bahviour [sic] change.”
[…]
Medical advisers warned against fast-tracking vaccines
U.K. government medical advisers believed COVID-19 wasn’t deadly enough to fast-track the development of vaccines, and instead emphasized the need for safety, according to the latest Lockdown Files.
[…]
Nevertheless, on Dec. 8, 2020, the U.K. became the world’s first country to administer COVID-19 vaccines to the general public.
Previous releases of the Lockdown Files revealed that in April 2020, Hancock and media adviser Jamie Njoku-Goodwin had discussed how “pushing on vaccine” and being “first out of the blocks on vaccine” would be “politically beneficial.”
This strategy was described as “purely a comms/political thing.”
Politicians worried about optics of locking down certain communities
In deciding whether to impose local lockdowns, Hancock and his advisers were concerned about potential accusations of racism and targeting areas politically opposed to the ruling Conservative party.
The U.K.’s national lockdown ended July 4, 2020, but throughout that summer, local lockdowns were implemented in areas with a high COVID-19 caseload.
With COVID-19 feared to be spreading fastest in poorer, densely populated areas with large Black and Asian communities, Hancock was warned by advisers that they could be labeled “racists” if those areas were locked down while neighboring areas were not.
In response to these concerns — and citing fears the government was “very white” — officials mobilized non-white cabinet ministers, including Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel and Nadhim Zahawi, to spread the government’s public health message to these communities.
Hancock also was warned that “race riots” could ensue if the government decided to lock down “white working-class” areas.
[…]
Files elicited strong reactions in the UK
The release of the “lockdown files” elicited strong reactions from public figures and the general public in the U.K., which were then shared by The Telegraph.
British journalist, television presenter and author Rachel Johnson — sister of Boris Johnson — wrote that she had “profound misgivings about lockdown” from the start, stating that her father was pursued by police for alleged lockdown violations while her “lonely” mother “endured care home prison.”
Lockdowns “must never, ever, happen again,” she wrote.
Calling Hancock “slithy,” columnist Allison Pearson said he “should be arrested for wilful misconduct in public office” and must “be dragged before a Select Committee and made to answer for his actions and the vast hurt they have caused.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, former leader of the British House of Commons and a Conservative, said decisions about lockdowns and other COVID-19 countermeasures were made by a “quad” of political figures, and that he and other members of Parliament were denied evidence needed to make an anti-lockdown case.
Esther McVey, a Conservative member of Parliament and television presenter, wrote that the U.K.’s public inquiry into the response to COVID-19 must answer “inconvenient questions” that must “go beyond the direct costs of the disease and quantify the unintended damage that COVID policy inflicted.”
In justifying her decision to release Hancock’s WhatsApp messages, Oakeshott has accused the official public inquiry of moving slowly and warned of a “whitewash.”
Camilla Tominey, associate editor of The Telegraph, wrote that it is “time for the lockdown nostalgics to confront the true horror of what Britain lived through.”
British physician Karol Sikora, Ph.D., said backlogs in the U.K.’s National Health Service as a result of COVID restrictions led to “thousands of non-COVID excess deaths” — but that he was called a “killer” for opposing lockdowns.
Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, compared the U.K.’s response unfavorably to that of Sweden, which never imposed lockdowns or mask mandates. He questioned how the U.K. ended up with more than twice as many excess deaths as Sweden and warned that “Britain may well repeat its lockdown blunders sooner than anyone thinks.”
[…]
Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/uk-lockdown-files-covid-vaccine/
Big Pharma Eyes Exponential Growth in Multi-Billion Market for Autism Drugs
By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. The global Autism Spectrum Disorder treatment market is projected to reach $11.42 billion by 2028, according to a new report by 360 Research Reports. Critics called the report “heartbreaking” and called for more focus on prevention by keeping “toxicants out of kids’ bodies.”
The global Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) treatment market is projected to reach $11.42 billion by 2028, growing from $9.01 billion in 2021, according to a market research report by 360 Research Reports and announced in a press release on Monday.It’s the latest in a series of reports published over the last 12 months predicting massive growth in the ASD treatment industry over the next several years due to rising global rates of autism and increasing investment in pharmaceutical research and development.
Commenting on the report, James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., told The Defender:
“For decades, the increase in autism was denied, and any discussion of the treatment of autism was met with the same derisive forces that would malign and mischaracterize the parents and physicians trying to give these kids a better day.”
Lyons-Weiler, author of “The Environmental and Genetic Causes of Autism,” added:
“Now that Pharma has recognized the scale of the clinical population of people on the spectrum and is charting a translational path toward their profits, it’s finally considered ok to admit the increase and to rush headlong into treatment programs.
“I say to the parents of kids with autism, and to adults with autism: Beware Pharma.”
Toby Rogers, Ph.D., who has a Master of Public Policy, told The Defender, “Everything about that press release is heartbreaking.”
Rogers said the press release is about the market for psychopharmaceuticals, including antipsychotics Risperdal and Abilify, to “treat” autism.
“These drugs are incredibly toxic and do not work very well,” he said, noting that Johnson & Johnson paid $2.2 billion in civil and criminal fines for improperly marketing Risperdal to treat autism (and other conditions) and then kept right on doing it.
Rogers added:
“Johnson & Johnson has also paid billions of dollars in civil suits because Risperdal is linked with gynecomastia — growth of breast tissue in males (the primary target for this drug).
“The fact remains that there is no pill to treat autism but the market is massive because families are desperate for help.”
Assessments of the current market value and its future projections vary widely in different reports. But all estimates project massive market expansion — between 3.4% and 7.4% compound annual growth rate between now and 2030.
At the low end, Grand View Research reported a market value of about $2 billion in 2021 and projected growth to $3.29 billion by 2030. At the high end, Market Research Future assessed the industry value at $23.7 billion in 2021 and projected growth to $42.3 billion by 2030.
The latest report by 360 Research Reports assesses treatments and drugs used to diagnose and treat ASD, projects future profits by age group, geographic region and other factors and analyzes the top Big Pharma industry players.
According to the report, the top industry players set to profit are Otsuka — which currently controls 6% of the market — followed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Roche.
Growing market for autism treatment drugs — that come with serious side effects
A recent study showed that in the U.S., roughly 1 in 30 — 3.49% — of children and adolescents ages 3 to 17 were diagnosed with ASD in 2020 — a 53% increase since 2017.
The U.S. is currently the largest ASD treatment market. However, reports cite the growing global prevalence of the disease coupled with greater awareness about the condition and treatment options, and increasing investment “by key players in R&D initiatives for the launch of effective drugs” as key factors expected to drive the ASD therapeutics market.
The biggest market limitation is the lack of approved drugs for treating ASD, according to Grand View Research.
ASD symptoms typically are treated with stimulants, anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, and anxiety medications sold through retail pharmacies, which dominated the market, Grand View Research reported.
Approximately 30% to 50% of all patients with ASD were treated with at least one of the above medications, leading to reports concluding that the more people diagnosed with autism, the larger the market for drug sales.
Several behavioral and mental health conditions in children, including autism, are associated with high rates of psychotropic polypharmacy (the simultaneous use of multiple psychotropic drugs.
One systematic review found that up to 87% of children and youth with autism are prescribed two or more medications simultaneously.
Some of the most commonly prescribed drugs for ASD include antipsychotics Abilify and Risperdal for treating irritability in children under 12, but they were also found to cause adverse events including serious weight gain, involuntary muscle spasms, addictive behaviors and heart problems.
A 2016 study found that approximately 1 in 6 children diagnosed with autism were taking antipsychotic medications.
“That is concerning and suggests possible over-prescription or overuse,” Dr. Matthew Siegel, vice president of Medical Affairs for the Developmental Disorders Service Line of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, told Spectrum News.
“Those are our most powerful, potentially most problematic drugs,” Siegel said. “Should that really be the most common [type of] drug we use?”
Most market projections focus on drug development and sales, but other market researchers, Like John LaRosa, writing on the Market Research blog, also points to a “Huge Untapped Demand in the $4+ Billion U.S. Autism Treatment Centers Market,” which he writes is “is truly a growth market/industry.”
But Rogers told The Defender the costs of autism extend well beyond the price of medication:
“Psychopharmaceuticals are just a small fraction of the societal costs of autism. Other costs include lost wages (for people on the spectrum and caregivers, usually mothers), supportive services, higher medical costs, higher educational costs, and supportive housing.
“All comprehensive estimates of the cost of autism in the U.S. show hundreds of billions of dollars a year in current costs rising to a trillion dollars a year in costs sometime within the next decade.”
The way forward: ‘Keep toxicants out of kids’ bodies’
As autism rates skyrocketed among U.S. children over the past several decades, along with concern among parents, much research turned to investigate the role of environmental risk factors in compounding underlying diverse genetic factors.
Environmental risk factors include metals like aluminum and mercury in vaccines, glyphosate exposure, use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and infancy, heavy metals in baby food and other organic environmental pollutants.
Studies also link industrial chemicals, such as lead, arsenic, copper, selenium, iron and magnesium, to the disorder.
A number of studies over the last several years identified a link between autism and Tylenol, which also is linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other developmental problems.
More than 100 families are suing Tylenol.
Despite growing evidence that environmental factors may play a role in the development of ASD, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research through the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network does not investigate environmental exposures as a potential cause.
Current market projection reports for ASD diagnosis and treatment make no comment on prevention.
Rogers said:
“The tragedy in all of this is that we know how to prevent most cases of autism — keep toxicants out of kids’ bodies. But most politicians and the mainstream media refuse to have that conversation lest it anger the toxic industries (especially Pharma) that run this country and pay for the bulk of advertisements on the TV ‘news.’
“We absolutely must find a way to keep toxicants out of kids’ bodies, both through legislation and boycotts of the products that cause harm. That’s the only way forward.”
Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/multi-billion-market-autism-treatment-drugs/
The Most Revolutionary Act
- Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's profile
- 11 followers
